2018.11.18 Thankful Day by Day Philippians 4:4-9 Reverend Donald Chase
Have you ever wondered what a perfect world might look like? Sometime back, John Gratton in the Drexel, Missouri STAR newspaper gave us a description of what it would be like to live in a perfect world. Here are a few of his thoughts:
world.’ Perfect worlds don’t exist. Our gospel writer reminds us of this fact. In today’s gospel, Jesus says: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.
My goodness, did you hear that passage? Buildings falling down. Wars. Rumors of wars. Earthquakes. Family turmoil. Persecution. Almost sounds like a hockey game! Here you are, in church on Thanksgiving Sunday, and a hockey game breaks out!!
Not exactly THANKSGIVING CALIBER scripture here. So we turn to the Apostle Paul and his letter to the church at Philippi. Our text in Philippians, chapter four, bears witness to the power of a healthy “thank you.” The Apostle declares that Christians are grateful people who say “thank you” to all of life. In fact, Paul surrounds that simple but huge thought with some equally simple but powerful sentences. “Rejoice in everything,” St. Paul writes. “I’ll say it again, rejoice. Be gentle. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything. Pray about everything. Say ‘Thank you.’ If you do, he goes on, God’s peace will stand guard over your heart like a sentinel!”
These are not empty words from a pious and out-of-touch religion writer from the Philippi Herald-Leader newspaper. The letter was written from jail. Arrested and sentenced on bogus charges, Paul had spent more than two years in prison. He had little chance of freedom, and he knew it. Nevertheless, he begins this letter from jail with a series of THANK YOU’s.
“I thank God for all of you, the church in Philippi. You’ve been a community of grace to me for so long. Thank you. Believe it or not, I thank God for my imprisonment. It’s doing some good for the church. I thank God for your friend and mine, Epaphroditus. He risked his life for me and the faith. I thank God for Jesus Christ, who came to show us real life. In it all, thank you, God.”
Have you ever noticed that thankfulness has little to do with people’s circumstances? Why is it that some people who have very little have such grateful spirits – they can bless God day-by-day so joyfully – while many others who have so much more of the world’s goods grumble that they do not have more? That is one of those deep, puzzling questions that reveal so much about human character.
Some years ago a letter appeared in the “Dear Abby” column that read: “Dear Abby, happiness is knowing your parents won’t kill you if you come home a little late. Happiness is having your own bedroom. Happiness is getting the telephone call you have been praying for. Happiness is something I don’t have!” It was signed: “Healthy, but unhappy and ungrateful.”
A few days later, a second letter appeared: “Dear Abby, happiness is being able to walk; happiness is being able to talk. Happiness is being able to see. Happiness is being able to hear. Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15-year-old girl who can do all of these things and still says she unhappy. I can talk. I can see, I can hear, but I can’t WALK.” That letter was signed: “13 and happy and grateful for life.” A 13-year-old unable to walk, but grateful or life; a letter written from prison. Thankfulness has little to do with people’s circumstances.
Yes, certainly, we live in an IMPERFECT WORLD. No doubt about it. Raging fires, vicious hurricanes, rampant pollution. Sickness and disease. Hurtful, fear-mongering speech intended to tear down and divide families and neighbors. Polarizing forces that promote war and rumors of war. So what’s the answer for being grateful despite all of the craziness going on in our world today? We need to remember that we have a choice; and through our choices, we create our own reality. That’s right, we create our own reality. Scripture clearly teaches that everything is a gift from the hand of a most generous God. God surrounds us with a beautiful and bountiful world. If we keep our eyes open and pay attention, God’s world cannot run out of ways to amaze us and cause us to say, “Thank you, God.” Crashing surf, peaceful lakes, soaring mountains, simple gardens and vast prairies, a crying baby, laughter with friends, teachers who delight in transforming us, twinkling stars on frosty nights, a walk on a crisp November afternoon. I can almost, right now, hear LOUIE ARMSTRONG singing, “What a Wonderful World!”
And yet, another reason why we can live with thanksgiving in this imperfect world is that God – in God’s marvelous grace – filled the world with other people with whom we share the world’s beauty. God places us in families and in faith communities to make this wonderful world take on another and more important kind of beauty: WE ARE LOVED. God has given us a rich mosaic of people, diversity, relationships to enrich our lives. I actually feel deep sadness for people who spend their life condemning, demonizing and villainizing others who do not look and think as they do. Maybe instead of focusing on the family as they so-often claim, perhaps they need to spend more time focusing on Jesus.
There’s something else I want to say about thankfulness, about giving thanks every day: A grateful heart and a gracious personality is not something we are born with; it is something that we develop. It is something that we cultivate and nurture over a lifetime. Practice makes perfect, as they say. Now, if we had a pathologist in the house – oh, wait a minute, we do have a pathologist in the house – I am sure Rob would tell us that the human body consists of 840 muscles. I would like to add one more: let’s just call it the ‘thankfulness muscle.’ Simply put, if we exercise it regularly, the ‘thankfulness’ muscle will become strong and durable. A thankful, gracious spirit will naturally follow, define us, become part of our personality.
On the other hand, if we don’t exercise the thankfulness muscle, ATROPHY (atrəfē) sets in. When that happens, we become cynical, filled with anxiety, slow to trust others, always looking for the negative. Instead of the glass being half-full, we become half-empty people.
Perhaps you have heard the old story about the young man who enthusiastically joined the monastery? He was going to change the world. Wanting the highest and the best, the young monk immediately took the vow of silence. This solemn vow meant the monk could only speak two words a year and those were reserved for his annual evaluation with the Abbott.
The first year passed and the Abbot asked the monk how he was doing. Without hesitation the monk replied, “Food Bad." Another year passed and the Abbott again asked the monk how he was doing. The monk replied, “Bed hard." When asked for an evaluation the third year, the young monk said, “I quit." “Well", said the Abbott, “I'm not surprised. All you have done since you came here is complain, complain, complain."
Have you ever wondered what a perfect world might look like? Sometime back, John Gratton in the Drexel, Missouri STAR newspaper gave us a description of what it would be like to live in a perfect world. Here are a few of his thoughts:
- In a PERFECT WORLD. . . a person should feel as good at 50 as he did at 17, and he would actually be as smart at 50 as he thought he was at 17.
- In a PERFECT WORLD. . . you could give away a baby bed without getting pregnant.
- In a PERFECT WORLD. . . pro baseball players would complain about teachers being paid contracts worth millions of dollars.
- In a PERFECT WORLD . . . the mail would always be early, the check would always be in the mail, and it would be written for more than you expected.
- In a PERFECT WORLD . . . potato chips might have calories, but if you ate them with French Onion dip, the calories would be neutralized.
- In a PERFECT WORLD . . . every once in a while at least, a kid who always closed the door softly would be told, "Go back and slam the door."
world.’ Perfect worlds don’t exist. Our gospel writer reminds us of this fact. In today’s gospel, Jesus says: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.
My goodness, did you hear that passage? Buildings falling down. Wars. Rumors of wars. Earthquakes. Family turmoil. Persecution. Almost sounds like a hockey game! Here you are, in church on Thanksgiving Sunday, and a hockey game breaks out!!
Not exactly THANKSGIVING CALIBER scripture here. So we turn to the Apostle Paul and his letter to the church at Philippi. Our text in Philippians, chapter four, bears witness to the power of a healthy “thank you.” The Apostle declares that Christians are grateful people who say “thank you” to all of life. In fact, Paul surrounds that simple but huge thought with some equally simple but powerful sentences. “Rejoice in everything,” St. Paul writes. “I’ll say it again, rejoice. Be gentle. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything. Pray about everything. Say ‘Thank you.’ If you do, he goes on, God’s peace will stand guard over your heart like a sentinel!”
These are not empty words from a pious and out-of-touch religion writer from the Philippi Herald-Leader newspaper. The letter was written from jail. Arrested and sentenced on bogus charges, Paul had spent more than two years in prison. He had little chance of freedom, and he knew it. Nevertheless, he begins this letter from jail with a series of THANK YOU’s.
“I thank God for all of you, the church in Philippi. You’ve been a community of grace to me for so long. Thank you. Believe it or not, I thank God for my imprisonment. It’s doing some good for the church. I thank God for your friend and mine, Epaphroditus. He risked his life for me and the faith. I thank God for Jesus Christ, who came to show us real life. In it all, thank you, God.”
Have you ever noticed that thankfulness has little to do with people’s circumstances? Why is it that some people who have very little have such grateful spirits – they can bless God day-by-day so joyfully – while many others who have so much more of the world’s goods grumble that they do not have more? That is one of those deep, puzzling questions that reveal so much about human character.
Some years ago a letter appeared in the “Dear Abby” column that read: “Dear Abby, happiness is knowing your parents won’t kill you if you come home a little late. Happiness is having your own bedroom. Happiness is getting the telephone call you have been praying for. Happiness is something I don’t have!” It was signed: “Healthy, but unhappy and ungrateful.”
A few days later, a second letter appeared: “Dear Abby, happiness is being able to walk; happiness is being able to talk. Happiness is being able to see. Happiness is being able to hear. Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15-year-old girl who can do all of these things and still says she unhappy. I can talk. I can see, I can hear, but I can’t WALK.” That letter was signed: “13 and happy and grateful for life.” A 13-year-old unable to walk, but grateful or life; a letter written from prison. Thankfulness has little to do with people’s circumstances.
Yes, certainly, we live in an IMPERFECT WORLD. No doubt about it. Raging fires, vicious hurricanes, rampant pollution. Sickness and disease. Hurtful, fear-mongering speech intended to tear down and divide families and neighbors. Polarizing forces that promote war and rumors of war. So what’s the answer for being grateful despite all of the craziness going on in our world today? We need to remember that we have a choice; and through our choices, we create our own reality. That’s right, we create our own reality. Scripture clearly teaches that everything is a gift from the hand of a most generous God. God surrounds us with a beautiful and bountiful world. If we keep our eyes open and pay attention, God’s world cannot run out of ways to amaze us and cause us to say, “Thank you, God.” Crashing surf, peaceful lakes, soaring mountains, simple gardens and vast prairies, a crying baby, laughter with friends, teachers who delight in transforming us, twinkling stars on frosty nights, a walk on a crisp November afternoon. I can almost, right now, hear LOUIE ARMSTRONG singing, “What a Wonderful World!”
And yet, another reason why we can live with thanksgiving in this imperfect world is that God – in God’s marvelous grace – filled the world with other people with whom we share the world’s beauty. God places us in families and in faith communities to make this wonderful world take on another and more important kind of beauty: WE ARE LOVED. God has given us a rich mosaic of people, diversity, relationships to enrich our lives. I actually feel deep sadness for people who spend their life condemning, demonizing and villainizing others who do not look and think as they do. Maybe instead of focusing on the family as they so-often claim, perhaps they need to spend more time focusing on Jesus.
There’s something else I want to say about thankfulness, about giving thanks every day: A grateful heart and a gracious personality is not something we are born with; it is something that we develop. It is something that we cultivate and nurture over a lifetime. Practice makes perfect, as they say. Now, if we had a pathologist in the house – oh, wait a minute, we do have a pathologist in the house – I am sure Rob would tell us that the human body consists of 840 muscles. I would like to add one more: let’s just call it the ‘thankfulness muscle.’ Simply put, if we exercise it regularly, the ‘thankfulness’ muscle will become strong and durable. A thankful, gracious spirit will naturally follow, define us, become part of our personality.
On the other hand, if we don’t exercise the thankfulness muscle, ATROPHY (atrəfē) sets in. When that happens, we become cynical, filled with anxiety, slow to trust others, always looking for the negative. Instead of the glass being half-full, we become half-empty people.
Perhaps you have heard the old story about the young man who enthusiastically joined the monastery? He was going to change the world. Wanting the highest and the best, the young monk immediately took the vow of silence. This solemn vow meant the monk could only speak two words a year and those were reserved for his annual evaluation with the Abbott.
The first year passed and the Abbot asked the monk how he was doing. Without hesitation the monk replied, “Food Bad." Another year passed and the Abbott again asked the monk how he was doing. The monk replied, “Bed hard." When asked for an evaluation the third year, the young monk said, “I quit." “Well", said the Abbott, “I'm not surprised. All you have done since you came here is complain, complain, complain."
2017.09. 17 God Is About Grace Alone
Matthew 18:21-35
21Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. 23“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
We are the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), “a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” A Church founded on the premise of “we are not the Only Christians, but Christians Only.” We have so many nicknames! “People of the Chalice” “People of the Parenthesizes” “People of the Table” – Over the years I have heard so many nicknames for us. It is a noble and worthy cause which created this denomination during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century – Christian Unity. Because the Campbellites and the Stone movements knew that it was a great sadness to God that we, as a faith movement, were separating ourselves from each other and judging each other. And this scripture is one that can show what a sin separation of each other through lack of forgiveness and judgment really is.
God’s entire power comes from the grace offered to us, and how we pay it forward. Jesus is talking to the Disciples about a KING – the most powerful person known to the people, who is doing what Kings do – they gathering money. The currency for this earthly powerful person is money. The currency for our Heavenly powerful being is grace.
And just as there are consequences on this earth for those who do not pay their bills, there are consequences on this earth for everyone who does not seek unity with each other through forgiveness and grace. Forgiveness and grace have been proven through science to be a truly powerful healing medicine, and a major contributor of peace and happiness in individual human lives.
In an article by Amanda L. Chan on October 25th, 2014, called “8 Ways Forgiveness Is Good For Your Health”, she wrote:
People who practice conditional forgiveness — in other words, people who can only forgive if others say sorry first or promise not to do the transgression again — may be more likely to die earlier, compared with people who are less likely to practice conditional forgiveness . . .
When you’re chronically angry, you’re in a flight-or-flight mode — which can have effects on blood pressure and heart rate, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. But when you truly forgive, that leads to decreased stress, which can help to tamp down the anger. “There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a statement.
And not forgiving someone is associated with more anger, arousal, sadness and feelings of not being in control, according to a 2001 study in the journal Psychological Science. WebMD reported on a Hope College study, showing that when people held on to a grudge, they had higher physiological activity — facial muscle tension, heart rate, blood pressure and sweating — compared with when they forgave.
A 2005 Journal of Behavioral Medicine study showed that forgiveness is associated with a whole range of health measures, including medications taken, sleep quality and fatigue.
The health benefits of forgiveness seem to come largely from its ability to reduce negative affect (feelings of tension, anger, depression and fatigue), researchers found. With forgiveness, “the victim relinquishes ideas of revenge, and feels less hostile, angry, or upset about the experiences,” the University of Tennessee researchers wrote. “The present study suggests that this pathway most fully mediates the forgiveness-health relationship. Thus, health consequences of lack of forgiveness may be carried by increased levels of negative emotion.”
“If there is a causal role between forgiveness and health, then reduction of anger, anxiety, and depression may explain how forgiveness operates on the body,” they added.
WOW. We are finally getting around to knowing what Jesus knew and taught so long ago. What God has constantly wanted for us – to be contented with living and loving each other, and this is true life. The sin of wanting to be better than, wiser than, others – even replacing God as the judge of life has been with us since the beginning it seems ~ thus the story of the Garden of Eden and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They ate from it because they were just so tempted to want to be the ones to determine for themselves what good and evil is or should be.
And don’t we all do this still? Determine how people should behave, and then leave the community or hold grudges against each other or judge each other based on OUR determination of how others should behave. It is not only unhealthy – but it is against God’s law.
Rev. Kathryn Blanchard wrote that this scripture is about “Sin, law and grace . . . God’s law is a mirror that brings the servant/sinner to self-knowledge and repentance . . . and this is important because when humans see themselves clearly [and their need for grace] . . . [Then] Those who truly understand the magnitude of God’s mercy must pay it forward to their debtors…The servant’s unwillingness to forgive reveals his lack of gratitude, which brings him crashing back into his own debt. Luther argues that while personal rights exist in worldly kingdoms, they have no place in the reign of God, where total forgiveness is the rule.”
God’s forgiveness is the rule! We heard from the Epistle: “Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own Lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then, each of us will be accountable to God.”
Forgiveness is about freeing ourselves, and all the world, from the pain of perceived imperfections. Haven’t we noticed that often what we judge others most harshly on, are those areas where we feel most weak and vulnerable about ourselves? Other’s weaknesses reverberate in our souls and cause us to feel immense discomfort, causing us to lash out . . . When we are in our healthy spiritual and communal practice; we can be aware of what is truly stirring within us and we can forgive ourselves, bringing about the ability to forgive others.
What is more – we really need to practice forgiveness and grace for others, because being aware of what stirs our judgments of others is often first a calling for what aches our own souls which are in need of self forgiveness and grace. If we don’t heal that wound first, we will continually be creating pains in our lives and relationships – unable to forgive – making ourselves, and the world more embittered and angry. God is about Grace alone. There is no other currency. And in this, we all have an unlimited credit line! We have no charges or fees, and the interest actually grows for the whole world the more we use it! So for our health’s sake, for our churches’ sake, for our town, nation, world’s sake – lets us take this grace and give this grace as though the universe depends upon it! Because it does!
Let us pray:
Dear God, we come to you in silence, to search within our souls for those tender places, where our nerves are frayed, where we hold grudges and feel ancient pains from ancient wounds, where someone has wronged us. Some places may be harder to touch, some may be newer and less painful. And we ask and pray that you will show us your strength and comfort – that you will be with us, that we won’t be revisiting a pain that your son has not already suffered, and we will not be alone. We pray that we will be aware of those around us and know that everyone in this room wants the best for us as well. Together we are your Body, Lord, and we love and care for each soul here, as you would have us. And we ask, dear Holy sacred Spirit of the LIVING God, that you help us to consider forgiveness, and to try to begin to actively choose to forgive. If we are struggling, help us to reach out to each other for grace and mercy, and continue the process until we are free of the pain. Help us to let loose the control and power that the offending person and situation has had in our lives, and we pray that we will be freed of how those wounds may have affected our sense of being. May we commit ourselves to this process now and forevermore, for you told us to forgive 70 X 7 times, and that includes us forgiving ourselves, others, and asking forgiveness of others as well, when we know we have wronged them. For this is the price of God’s love – grace and mercy for all. Amen
Matthew 18:21-35
21Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. 23“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
We are the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), “a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” A Church founded on the premise of “we are not the Only Christians, but Christians Only.” We have so many nicknames! “People of the Chalice” “People of the Parenthesizes” “People of the Table” – Over the years I have heard so many nicknames for us. It is a noble and worthy cause which created this denomination during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century – Christian Unity. Because the Campbellites and the Stone movements knew that it was a great sadness to God that we, as a faith movement, were separating ourselves from each other and judging each other. And this scripture is one that can show what a sin separation of each other through lack of forgiveness and judgment really is.
God’s entire power comes from the grace offered to us, and how we pay it forward. Jesus is talking to the Disciples about a KING – the most powerful person known to the people, who is doing what Kings do – they gathering money. The currency for this earthly powerful person is money. The currency for our Heavenly powerful being is grace.
And just as there are consequences on this earth for those who do not pay their bills, there are consequences on this earth for everyone who does not seek unity with each other through forgiveness and grace. Forgiveness and grace have been proven through science to be a truly powerful healing medicine, and a major contributor of peace and happiness in individual human lives.
In an article by Amanda L. Chan on October 25th, 2014, called “8 Ways Forgiveness Is Good For Your Health”, she wrote:
People who practice conditional forgiveness — in other words, people who can only forgive if others say sorry first or promise not to do the transgression again — may be more likely to die earlier, compared with people who are less likely to practice conditional forgiveness . . .
When you’re chronically angry, you’re in a flight-or-flight mode — which can have effects on blood pressure and heart rate, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. But when you truly forgive, that leads to decreased stress, which can help to tamp down the anger. “There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a statement.
And not forgiving someone is associated with more anger, arousal, sadness and feelings of not being in control, according to a 2001 study in the journal Psychological Science. WebMD reported on a Hope College study, showing that when people held on to a grudge, they had higher physiological activity — facial muscle tension, heart rate, blood pressure and sweating — compared with when they forgave.
A 2005 Journal of Behavioral Medicine study showed that forgiveness is associated with a whole range of health measures, including medications taken, sleep quality and fatigue.
The health benefits of forgiveness seem to come largely from its ability to reduce negative affect (feelings of tension, anger, depression and fatigue), researchers found. With forgiveness, “the victim relinquishes ideas of revenge, and feels less hostile, angry, or upset about the experiences,” the University of Tennessee researchers wrote. “The present study suggests that this pathway most fully mediates the forgiveness-health relationship. Thus, health consequences of lack of forgiveness may be carried by increased levels of negative emotion.”
“If there is a causal role between forgiveness and health, then reduction of anger, anxiety, and depression may explain how forgiveness operates on the body,” they added.
WOW. We are finally getting around to knowing what Jesus knew and taught so long ago. What God has constantly wanted for us – to be contented with living and loving each other, and this is true life. The sin of wanting to be better than, wiser than, others – even replacing God as the judge of life has been with us since the beginning it seems ~ thus the story of the Garden of Eden and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They ate from it because they were just so tempted to want to be the ones to determine for themselves what good and evil is or should be.
And don’t we all do this still? Determine how people should behave, and then leave the community or hold grudges against each other or judge each other based on OUR determination of how others should behave. It is not only unhealthy – but it is against God’s law.
Rev. Kathryn Blanchard wrote that this scripture is about “Sin, law and grace . . . God’s law is a mirror that brings the servant/sinner to self-knowledge and repentance . . . and this is important because when humans see themselves clearly [and their need for grace] . . . [Then] Those who truly understand the magnitude of God’s mercy must pay it forward to their debtors…The servant’s unwillingness to forgive reveals his lack of gratitude, which brings him crashing back into his own debt. Luther argues that while personal rights exist in worldly kingdoms, they have no place in the reign of God, where total forgiveness is the rule.”
God’s forgiveness is the rule! We heard from the Epistle: “Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own Lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ So then, each of us will be accountable to God.”
Forgiveness is about freeing ourselves, and all the world, from the pain of perceived imperfections. Haven’t we noticed that often what we judge others most harshly on, are those areas where we feel most weak and vulnerable about ourselves? Other’s weaknesses reverberate in our souls and cause us to feel immense discomfort, causing us to lash out . . . When we are in our healthy spiritual and communal practice; we can be aware of what is truly stirring within us and we can forgive ourselves, bringing about the ability to forgive others.
What is more – we really need to practice forgiveness and grace for others, because being aware of what stirs our judgments of others is often first a calling for what aches our own souls which are in need of self forgiveness and grace. If we don’t heal that wound first, we will continually be creating pains in our lives and relationships – unable to forgive – making ourselves, and the world more embittered and angry. God is about Grace alone. There is no other currency. And in this, we all have an unlimited credit line! We have no charges or fees, and the interest actually grows for the whole world the more we use it! So for our health’s sake, for our churches’ sake, for our town, nation, world’s sake – lets us take this grace and give this grace as though the universe depends upon it! Because it does!
Let us pray:
Dear God, we come to you in silence, to search within our souls for those tender places, where our nerves are frayed, where we hold grudges and feel ancient pains from ancient wounds, where someone has wronged us. Some places may be harder to touch, some may be newer and less painful. And we ask and pray that you will show us your strength and comfort – that you will be with us, that we won’t be revisiting a pain that your son has not already suffered, and we will not be alone. We pray that we will be aware of those around us and know that everyone in this room wants the best for us as well. Together we are your Body, Lord, and we love and care for each soul here, as you would have us. And we ask, dear Holy sacred Spirit of the LIVING God, that you help us to consider forgiveness, and to try to begin to actively choose to forgive. If we are struggling, help us to reach out to each other for grace and mercy, and continue the process until we are free of the pain. Help us to let loose the control and power that the offending person and situation has had in our lives, and we pray that we will be freed of how those wounds may have affected our sense of being. May we commit ourselves to this process now and forevermore, for you told us to forgive 70 X 7 times, and that includes us forgiving ourselves, others, and asking forgiveness of others as well, when we know we have wronged them. For this is the price of God’s love – grace and mercy for all. Amen
2017.09.03 The Delicate Balance
Romans 12:9-21
9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
A week ago we were gathered here to worship God in word and song, in community and in prayer, and we had just, freshly heard and seen the early reports of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. We were worried about Mary Claire’s hometown and her parents. Those of us who have had experience with living through disasters like flooding, hurricanes, tornados, fires . . . may have been having memories of them and feeling anxious, knowing that one can never really imagine what things like this will bring with it, and what will be left behind when it is over.
Today we return, to worship God in word and song, in community and in prayer, and we are relieved to know Mary Claire’s parents are OK, but her hometown is drastically changed, as are so many places. As the water leaves the areas, more bodies and devastation are discovered, and the world just shivers at the enormous shock and life transformations that can come so unexpectedly.
We see pictures and hear stories of how lives were lost, how lives were saved, how people lined up for water, how people lined up to volunteer . . . . These times awaken us from our complacent lives and remind us how fragile and yet powerful humanity and this earth are. It is such a balance – power and fragility.
This sermon was to take a different emphasis when I had designed this about a month ago. I had thought that the delicate balance would be about balancing a zeal for justice and compassion for all others, and it will still be about that, but the delicate balance of how we live in our community as Christians takes on a more urgent call in the midst of such catastrophic experiences as a hurricane. It reminds us all of how vulnerable we are, and reminds us of the necessity to be open to serving each other, as we live our vulnerable lives.
I venture to say, that for those who are, or have loved ones who are, struggling with illness, addiction, poverty, loss, bigotry, injustice, they need no reminder that life is precious and pain is near. Every day is a hurricane in their souls. And the question comes, where do they, where do we, as individuals and as a Body of Christ, get our power to face the catastrophes, and keep going?
The early Christian communities needed some guidance on how to keep going in the face of adversity, and how to remain different than the culture around them which was not as focused on love and integrity as those who wanted to follow Jesus were. And Paul was writing to them about how to be while surrounded by a culture which would cause storms in the souls of those seeking justice and peace. This piece of scripture sets it all out so beautifully, like an oath.
The Rev. Dr. Christopher R. Hutson, New Testament and Greek professor at Hood Theological Seminary in NC, wrote that the word “genuine” in the first verse – literally translated from the Greek means “un-hypocritical”. Un-hypocritical! Calling forth a love that in turn, calls the bearer to be self aware and modest at the same time. How easy it is to point to others demanding they change to fit your definition of love. And yet, often that very basis ~ is one of egotism ~ and can negate the very definition of love. Un-hypocritical love – genuine love – needs more defining. So Paul proceeds.
Dr. Hutson continues in his translation of the Greek in this scripture, he translates the verse 9-13 so:
“9Genuine [un-hypocritical] love is: abhorring the evil; clinging to the good. 10being affectionate to one another in [philial (like siblings)] love. outdoing one another in honor, 11not lagging in diligence, being afire in the spirit, serving the Lord, 12rejoicing in hope, persevering in affliction, being devoted to prayer, 13contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality.”
This reminds us of 1 Corinthians 13, which spells out so clearly what love is. This is how Paul spells out for the community how to be church amongst the community that surrounds them. “A minimalist count discovers twenty-three separate imperatives.”(David Bartlett) It is a recipe for how we are called to live both within the church, as well as outside in the community. These ways to grow in understanding who Christ is and how we are called to live in his name, as well as what defines Christ to those who do not know him. Paul is expounding on the simple words of Christ, Love your enemies . . . He is giving details. These words are to give us all focus, like mantras, on how to get through rough times, when personal troubles, or societal injustices feel like they may take over the power of our lives. We have these words to keep us focused on God, who has the power, and will create justice for and with us.
Eleazar Fernandez wrote that, “what the church really has to offer is an invitation to a new community that nurtures believers to live differently and to live out their calling both within the faith community and the wider society. Identity and mission are central here.” And that calling is the delicate balance of love and action – hospitality, charity and justice. “Hospitality as charity offers crumbs from our table; hospitality as justice offers a place at the table.” So the balance is to live in church justly and kindly and serve the community inviting all to the table of Christ, to be one with God’s power.
From our Gospel, we see Jesus chastising Peter, who was merely wanting to show Jesus how much he loved him and wanted to spare him pain. Peter might also have been afraid that seeing the leader of their movement “weakened” through suffering may not have been good for their image. Peter was looking through the eyes of culture, not through the trusting in God’s son. Jesus replied, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” We are all called to set our minds on divine things.
And divine things can cause us pain. Jesus showed us we can get through pain and still love. In fact he seemed to not shy away from calling people on their stumbling blocks, and he did go through the dark night in Gethsemane, although he apparently did not really want that cup, he showed us that even in the darkest of times, we can trust God.
In fact, our pain, our shame, can be a learning process which brings about growth and revelations. If we can get through our most difficult challenges, as Paul is asking us to do, by: blessing those who persecute us; rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep; living in harmony with one another; not being haughty, associating with the lowly, not claiming to be wiser than we are.; not repaying anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble; and to strive to live peaceably with all ~ if we can cling to these goals, even our greatest shame can become a blessing.
Paul reminded his readers of Proverbs 25:21-22: “21 If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink; 22 for you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the Lord will reward you.” The most general understanding of the heaping of coals is not literal, but that it represents how we feel when we are experiencing shame. The blood rises to our head; we may feel hot and red, and perhaps even dizzy. But what is more - we are fully alert! We are highly aware of what is going on. And if we can take the time to discern, while in that heightened awareness, there is so much we can learn about ourselves, about others, and about the eternal grace of God. We can go from shame to awareness and glory.
We never have to stay in a state of shame. Shame can be overwhelming, and destructive. Being aware of the hot coals of guilt can bring us to justice – to confession of sins, to righteousness. Shame keeps you bound to an injustice – admitting guilt and striving for blessing, creates a balance and a power that shows the world whose we are – and shows the world, that our God is so good. Our God is good, because he is with all those who suffer, he empowers those willing to work for kindness and justice in times of peril. God is the balancing rod which we cling to in rough times and in good times. The sacredness is our core centeredness.
Let us pray,
Creator God, parent God, friend God, God of power and God of justice, God of grace and God of self awareness, we pray that we will find ways to know your truths, and to follow your calling to let our love be genuine, un-hypocritical, and sacrificial. Helps us to go beyond a focus on ourselves and center ourselves upon your guidelines; that we may live in this community radiant in our love for each other and for you, and that we may carry this practice into the greater community, who aches for the hope you have to offer. May our love and hospitality be so real that all are drawn to your table, desiring to be a part of this life of abundance that you have to give us…
Romans 12:9-21
9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
A week ago we were gathered here to worship God in word and song, in community and in prayer, and we had just, freshly heard and seen the early reports of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. We were worried about Mary Claire’s hometown and her parents. Those of us who have had experience with living through disasters like flooding, hurricanes, tornados, fires . . . may have been having memories of them and feeling anxious, knowing that one can never really imagine what things like this will bring with it, and what will be left behind when it is over.
Today we return, to worship God in word and song, in community and in prayer, and we are relieved to know Mary Claire’s parents are OK, but her hometown is drastically changed, as are so many places. As the water leaves the areas, more bodies and devastation are discovered, and the world just shivers at the enormous shock and life transformations that can come so unexpectedly.
We see pictures and hear stories of how lives were lost, how lives were saved, how people lined up for water, how people lined up to volunteer . . . . These times awaken us from our complacent lives and remind us how fragile and yet powerful humanity and this earth are. It is such a balance – power and fragility.
This sermon was to take a different emphasis when I had designed this about a month ago. I had thought that the delicate balance would be about balancing a zeal for justice and compassion for all others, and it will still be about that, but the delicate balance of how we live in our community as Christians takes on a more urgent call in the midst of such catastrophic experiences as a hurricane. It reminds us all of how vulnerable we are, and reminds us of the necessity to be open to serving each other, as we live our vulnerable lives.
I venture to say, that for those who are, or have loved ones who are, struggling with illness, addiction, poverty, loss, bigotry, injustice, they need no reminder that life is precious and pain is near. Every day is a hurricane in their souls. And the question comes, where do they, where do we, as individuals and as a Body of Christ, get our power to face the catastrophes, and keep going?
The early Christian communities needed some guidance on how to keep going in the face of adversity, and how to remain different than the culture around them which was not as focused on love and integrity as those who wanted to follow Jesus were. And Paul was writing to them about how to be while surrounded by a culture which would cause storms in the souls of those seeking justice and peace. This piece of scripture sets it all out so beautifully, like an oath.
The Rev. Dr. Christopher R. Hutson, New Testament and Greek professor at Hood Theological Seminary in NC, wrote that the word “genuine” in the first verse – literally translated from the Greek means “un-hypocritical”. Un-hypocritical! Calling forth a love that in turn, calls the bearer to be self aware and modest at the same time. How easy it is to point to others demanding they change to fit your definition of love. And yet, often that very basis ~ is one of egotism ~ and can negate the very definition of love. Un-hypocritical love – genuine love – needs more defining. So Paul proceeds.
Dr. Hutson continues in his translation of the Greek in this scripture, he translates the verse 9-13 so:
“9Genuine [un-hypocritical] love is: abhorring the evil; clinging to the good. 10being affectionate to one another in [philial (like siblings)] love. outdoing one another in honor, 11not lagging in diligence, being afire in the spirit, serving the Lord, 12rejoicing in hope, persevering in affliction, being devoted to prayer, 13contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality.”
This reminds us of 1 Corinthians 13, which spells out so clearly what love is. This is how Paul spells out for the community how to be church amongst the community that surrounds them. “A minimalist count discovers twenty-three separate imperatives.”(David Bartlett) It is a recipe for how we are called to live both within the church, as well as outside in the community. These ways to grow in understanding who Christ is and how we are called to live in his name, as well as what defines Christ to those who do not know him. Paul is expounding on the simple words of Christ, Love your enemies . . . He is giving details. These words are to give us all focus, like mantras, on how to get through rough times, when personal troubles, or societal injustices feel like they may take over the power of our lives. We have these words to keep us focused on God, who has the power, and will create justice for and with us.
Eleazar Fernandez wrote that, “what the church really has to offer is an invitation to a new community that nurtures believers to live differently and to live out their calling both within the faith community and the wider society. Identity and mission are central here.” And that calling is the delicate balance of love and action – hospitality, charity and justice. “Hospitality as charity offers crumbs from our table; hospitality as justice offers a place at the table.” So the balance is to live in church justly and kindly and serve the community inviting all to the table of Christ, to be one with God’s power.
From our Gospel, we see Jesus chastising Peter, who was merely wanting to show Jesus how much he loved him and wanted to spare him pain. Peter might also have been afraid that seeing the leader of their movement “weakened” through suffering may not have been good for their image. Peter was looking through the eyes of culture, not through the trusting in God’s son. Jesus replied, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” We are all called to set our minds on divine things.
And divine things can cause us pain. Jesus showed us we can get through pain and still love. In fact he seemed to not shy away from calling people on their stumbling blocks, and he did go through the dark night in Gethsemane, although he apparently did not really want that cup, he showed us that even in the darkest of times, we can trust God.
In fact, our pain, our shame, can be a learning process which brings about growth and revelations. If we can get through our most difficult challenges, as Paul is asking us to do, by: blessing those who persecute us; rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep; living in harmony with one another; not being haughty, associating with the lowly, not claiming to be wiser than we are.; not repaying anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble; and to strive to live peaceably with all ~ if we can cling to these goals, even our greatest shame can become a blessing.
Paul reminded his readers of Proverbs 25:21-22: “21 If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink; 22 for you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the Lord will reward you.” The most general understanding of the heaping of coals is not literal, but that it represents how we feel when we are experiencing shame. The blood rises to our head; we may feel hot and red, and perhaps even dizzy. But what is more - we are fully alert! We are highly aware of what is going on. And if we can take the time to discern, while in that heightened awareness, there is so much we can learn about ourselves, about others, and about the eternal grace of God. We can go from shame to awareness and glory.
We never have to stay in a state of shame. Shame can be overwhelming, and destructive. Being aware of the hot coals of guilt can bring us to justice – to confession of sins, to righteousness. Shame keeps you bound to an injustice – admitting guilt and striving for blessing, creates a balance and a power that shows the world whose we are – and shows the world, that our God is so good. Our God is good, because he is with all those who suffer, he empowers those willing to work for kindness and justice in times of peril. God is the balancing rod which we cling to in rough times and in good times. The sacredness is our core centeredness.
Let us pray,
Creator God, parent God, friend God, God of power and God of justice, God of grace and God of self awareness, we pray that we will find ways to know your truths, and to follow your calling to let our love be genuine, un-hypocritical, and sacrificial. Helps us to go beyond a focus on ourselves and center ourselves upon your guidelines; that we may live in this community radiant in our love for each other and for you, and that we may carry this practice into the greater community, who aches for the hope you have to offer. May our love and hospitality be so real that all are drawn to your table, desiring to be a part of this life of abundance that you have to give us…
2017.08.27 The Joy and Necessity of Diversity
Romans 12:1-8
1I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
The Spirit of God Speaks to the church . . .
It has been said that this letter, which Paul wrote to those believers in Rome between 54 and 58 AD, is the longest and most influential, and it “conveys the full richness of his experience of Christ as well as the full maturity of his thought.” (the new oxford annotated Bible p. 208 (NT) It is the first in our Epistle collection in the Bible, following the book of Acts, but it is one of his latest letters. This converted Jew found it his calling to unite very different people - the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians – and that was not easy. Culture clashes and divergent beliefs and traditions ran amok!
There are 16 Chapters in Romans, so, we are pretty far along in his mature theological treatise when we come to this reading. In the first 11 chapters he laid out the foundation of his thoughts, and this chapter expounds on them with clear moral callings. The editors of the Jewish annotated New Testament wrote about this particular chapter in this way:
Most of this chapter gives general instructions for how to live with respect and consideration toward everyone in their lives, including those who may oppose them and their claims. This they can do if they work together and look to God’s empowerment, since God is the just judge who indeed knows the intentions and actions of everyone. Their responsibility is instead to serve the other, and they are to realize that they only play a small part, however important, in the midst of all humanity, so they must learn to live on behalf of everyone, even on behalf of those who may seem to be obstacles to their own success or happiness. As he argued in chapter 2, things (and people) may not be as they seem; leave the judging to God.
This reminds me of something my beloved Professor Windsor from College who, on the first day of class on World religions said, “If you can’t get the point where you respect someone else’s religion, then you don’t understand it yet.”
These 8 verses are precious in that they care calling us all, even to this day, 1,959 years after it was written, to: “2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” For centuries followers of God have been asking us to constantly be re-new-ing our minds ~ calling us to always be prepared to change our minds ~ so that we may be more aligned with God’s grace as we continue to live on this planet.
Try to imagine for a moment what the situation was like then. These beginners of our faith were trying to live with each other and learn and grow in the understanding of exactly who this Jesus was, and what they needed to do to preserve his life giving memory and his Holy Spirit. They had a mixed matched group of people all from different spiritual practices, and they were living in the capital city of the most powerful people in their known world. And these powerful people were not exactly accepting of people who did not worship their Emperor as a God.
How does one continue to teach Christ’s love, and faith in him, while so many people in the same space, as well as the powers that be had different practices, which worked for them? These early Christians had to embrace newness of thought, and believe in a God that was always CREATING ANEW – welcoming all into love and grace.
Today, there is not one part of this world which does not know of Christ. Christians are a part of every race and culture. This little group of converted Jews and growing community of converted Gentiles, were able to overcome their differences, and focus on loving as Jesus told us to love, and not judging, leaving that to God, and the joy of this experience, spread. Joy comes when you aren’t busy closing people off due to their lack of perfection according to our own standards.
The diversity of Christianity is so immense that our understanding of Mission has changed over the years. We are no longer able to go any country on this earth where there is not already some form of an established native Christian church. US Missionaries are sent as resources to the established churches in the countries. What is more - we have been receiving Missionaries from other countries, because understanding how God speaks to all people in all cultures is so very important to all of us us today!
So, not only is there a joy in the continuing creativity of learning of God anew, and not only is there much to learn from other cultures of how God works in their context – be there is a true necessity for our oneness. No one on this planet can ever be enough on their own. We learn from each other, we help each other – most everything we have is the result of the works of other people. The streets we drive on, this building, the food we eat, the knowledge we have, limited as it is today, is the result of the work of others since time began! And we will know more and grow in to the future, because of the works of others! The diversity of who we are, and what we all have to offer now and for those to come, are necessary for all of this world. At the very least, we can thank God that we have Tacos and Chinese food because of our diversity!
Paul is asking the early believers to trust each other, to trust God, and to strive to live a life of modesty ~ not having a big ego ~ and this is important because when we do, we trespass over the gifts that others have to offer. He lists the gifts that people have to offer and they are divided in between gifts of teaching and gifts of giving. We all have different gifts and need each other. Sometimes it is exactly when we want to define our independence that we discover how wrong we can be and how grateful we are that someone else could be there for us. This is how it is between all humanity. We need each other, maybe more than we could ever know.
Rev. Kirk Bryon Jones wrote:
In just eight verses Paul communicates weighty, useful truth about what the faithful must do in order not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of their minds: godly sacrifice, radical commitment, sacred mindfulness, transformative grace; intentionality, communal unity, and vocational awareness. Moreover, transformation is a result of God’s gracious activity alongside human initiative throughout the text. Transformed individuals become the transformed community . . . when we recognize that we need one another. There is an ongoing process of divine-human interaction. By God’s grace, we are given gifts; when we accept that individuals receive different gifts from God, we become a vibrant sacred (transformed) community.
Doesn’t that sound marvelous!?!?! Becoming a VIBRANT, SACRED, TRANSFORMED COMMUNITY!!! Just when we felt like the world was going to hell in a hand-basket, we hear a hope of becoming VIBRANT! Vivacious, Exciting, Vital! We hear hope of becoming SACRED ~ Holy, Blessed, Hallowed. We hear hope of being Transformed! Changed Converted, renewed! Don’t we all wish we could be these things today, for all those who love and need us? Vibrant, sacred and transformed through accepting, seeking, working towards the unity of all of those who love Christ! There is a joy and a necessity of living for the acceptance of all into this community – for there is already an acceptance of all into the Body of Christ – and the more we look and act like the true Son of God, the more we are his Body, the more joy and hope we offer this world. And we all know how desperately this world needs that love and hope!
Let us pray,
Holy Trinity: God, Son and Holy Spirit – we are made more whole because of the variety of ways and dimensions we can receive you, and for that we are so grateful. You are all of time and history from the past throughout the future – you are the Alpha and the Omega. In all of that there is a tremendous amount of diversity of thought and being ~ and you created it all. And you devised us all to seek full life, hope, joy and love. May we be transformed from whatever our small beings are and seek to be a part of your greater truth and power. We pray for conviction and forgiveness, that we may shed off all that would limit our ability to embrace your multiplicity. Lift us this day into the hope of your sacred community, and give us the joy of your promise of unity and transformation.
Romans 12:1-8
1I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
The Spirit of God Speaks to the church . . .
It has been said that this letter, which Paul wrote to those believers in Rome between 54 and 58 AD, is the longest and most influential, and it “conveys the full richness of his experience of Christ as well as the full maturity of his thought.” (the new oxford annotated Bible p. 208 (NT) It is the first in our Epistle collection in the Bible, following the book of Acts, but it is one of his latest letters. This converted Jew found it his calling to unite very different people - the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians – and that was not easy. Culture clashes and divergent beliefs and traditions ran amok!
There are 16 Chapters in Romans, so, we are pretty far along in his mature theological treatise when we come to this reading. In the first 11 chapters he laid out the foundation of his thoughts, and this chapter expounds on them with clear moral callings. The editors of the Jewish annotated New Testament wrote about this particular chapter in this way:
Most of this chapter gives general instructions for how to live with respect and consideration toward everyone in their lives, including those who may oppose them and their claims. This they can do if they work together and look to God’s empowerment, since God is the just judge who indeed knows the intentions and actions of everyone. Their responsibility is instead to serve the other, and they are to realize that they only play a small part, however important, in the midst of all humanity, so they must learn to live on behalf of everyone, even on behalf of those who may seem to be obstacles to their own success or happiness. As he argued in chapter 2, things (and people) may not be as they seem; leave the judging to God.
This reminds me of something my beloved Professor Windsor from College who, on the first day of class on World religions said, “If you can’t get the point where you respect someone else’s religion, then you don’t understand it yet.”
These 8 verses are precious in that they care calling us all, even to this day, 1,959 years after it was written, to: “2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” For centuries followers of God have been asking us to constantly be re-new-ing our minds ~ calling us to always be prepared to change our minds ~ so that we may be more aligned with God’s grace as we continue to live on this planet.
Try to imagine for a moment what the situation was like then. These beginners of our faith were trying to live with each other and learn and grow in the understanding of exactly who this Jesus was, and what they needed to do to preserve his life giving memory and his Holy Spirit. They had a mixed matched group of people all from different spiritual practices, and they were living in the capital city of the most powerful people in their known world. And these powerful people were not exactly accepting of people who did not worship their Emperor as a God.
How does one continue to teach Christ’s love, and faith in him, while so many people in the same space, as well as the powers that be had different practices, which worked for them? These early Christians had to embrace newness of thought, and believe in a God that was always CREATING ANEW – welcoming all into love and grace.
Today, there is not one part of this world which does not know of Christ. Christians are a part of every race and culture. This little group of converted Jews and growing community of converted Gentiles, were able to overcome their differences, and focus on loving as Jesus told us to love, and not judging, leaving that to God, and the joy of this experience, spread. Joy comes when you aren’t busy closing people off due to their lack of perfection according to our own standards.
The diversity of Christianity is so immense that our understanding of Mission has changed over the years. We are no longer able to go any country on this earth where there is not already some form of an established native Christian church. US Missionaries are sent as resources to the established churches in the countries. What is more - we have been receiving Missionaries from other countries, because understanding how God speaks to all people in all cultures is so very important to all of us us today!
So, not only is there a joy in the continuing creativity of learning of God anew, and not only is there much to learn from other cultures of how God works in their context – be there is a true necessity for our oneness. No one on this planet can ever be enough on their own. We learn from each other, we help each other – most everything we have is the result of the works of other people. The streets we drive on, this building, the food we eat, the knowledge we have, limited as it is today, is the result of the work of others since time began! And we will know more and grow in to the future, because of the works of others! The diversity of who we are, and what we all have to offer now and for those to come, are necessary for all of this world. At the very least, we can thank God that we have Tacos and Chinese food because of our diversity!
Paul is asking the early believers to trust each other, to trust God, and to strive to live a life of modesty ~ not having a big ego ~ and this is important because when we do, we trespass over the gifts that others have to offer. He lists the gifts that people have to offer and they are divided in between gifts of teaching and gifts of giving. We all have different gifts and need each other. Sometimes it is exactly when we want to define our independence that we discover how wrong we can be and how grateful we are that someone else could be there for us. This is how it is between all humanity. We need each other, maybe more than we could ever know.
Rev. Kirk Bryon Jones wrote:
In just eight verses Paul communicates weighty, useful truth about what the faithful must do in order not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of their minds: godly sacrifice, radical commitment, sacred mindfulness, transformative grace; intentionality, communal unity, and vocational awareness. Moreover, transformation is a result of God’s gracious activity alongside human initiative throughout the text. Transformed individuals become the transformed community . . . when we recognize that we need one another. There is an ongoing process of divine-human interaction. By God’s grace, we are given gifts; when we accept that individuals receive different gifts from God, we become a vibrant sacred (transformed) community.
Doesn’t that sound marvelous!?!?! Becoming a VIBRANT, SACRED, TRANSFORMED COMMUNITY!!! Just when we felt like the world was going to hell in a hand-basket, we hear a hope of becoming VIBRANT! Vivacious, Exciting, Vital! We hear hope of becoming SACRED ~ Holy, Blessed, Hallowed. We hear hope of being Transformed! Changed Converted, renewed! Don’t we all wish we could be these things today, for all those who love and need us? Vibrant, sacred and transformed through accepting, seeking, working towards the unity of all of those who love Christ! There is a joy and a necessity of living for the acceptance of all into this community – for there is already an acceptance of all into the Body of Christ – and the more we look and act like the true Son of God, the more we are his Body, the more joy and hope we offer this world. And we all know how desperately this world needs that love and hope!
Let us pray,
Holy Trinity: God, Son and Holy Spirit – we are made more whole because of the variety of ways and dimensions we can receive you, and for that we are so grateful. You are all of time and history from the past throughout the future – you are the Alpha and the Omega. In all of that there is a tremendous amount of diversity of thought and being ~ and you created it all. And you devised us all to seek full life, hope, joy and love. May we be transformed from whatever our small beings are and seek to be a part of your greater truth and power. We pray for conviction and forgiveness, that we may shed off all that would limit our ability to embrace your multiplicity. Lift us this day into the hope of your sacred community, and give us the joy of your promise of unity and transformation.
2017.08.20 Persistence of Hope
One of the most memorable sermons I have ever heard on the upcoming Gospel scripture was given at the Ecumenical Advocacy Days on March 27th, 2011. It was written by Rev. Peg Chemberlin, former executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches and former president of the National Council of Churches. The sermon was entitled, “Be a Holy Nag for Jesus.” She started her sermon thusly:
How wonderful to be part of this, today, in this way. Here together we are able to accomplish something we can't accomplish without each other. Here, together, we go where we can't alone. Here together we witness to the undeniable Oneness and broad diversity of the Body of Christ. And I say, “Thank you, Jesus.” In this coming together, we witness to the reality that there is enough grace to go around-- across denominational lines, across racial lines; across geographic boundaries, across gender lines, there is enough grace to go around. It’s appropriate that we begin with this declaration, a declaration that is made simply by our coming together in Christ. It is this abundance of grace that allows us to pull down the walls that divide in order to claim an inclusive community.
How often I have felt the same way ~ perhaps each and every time I have stood before this congregation! Because this is the clarion call for this church, “All means All,” inclusivity, unity in Christ, diversity . . .
And if there is anything more obvious in this world that is necessary, right now, it is the tremendous need to “pull down the walls that divide in order to claim an inclusive community”! How anyone could argue against an inclusive community is beyond my imagination.
Whenever we find ourselves, in anger, telling others what they need to do or believe, we are claiming the other must be different before they can be accepted fully by us. It is OK to say, “I cannot do something because it is against my beliefs,” but it is not OK to say, “YOU cannot do something because it is against by beliefs.” If only for the very clear, simple truth that that separates us from one another, and even more impressively – the fact that even God does not do that! God gives us all free will to choose to follow the path of learning to live as he wants us to live – that is – living in love with everyone.
Radical Inclusivity must be our goal. Just because someone else lives – even radically different from how we live – this does not stop us from God’s commandment to love each other. Our souls will not be sullied by someone else’s differences. If anything, our exclusion of others severely limits our ability to know God, and this is what sullies our souls. This is why I have included in my sermon the previous verses of Chapter 15, to our text for today.
Matthew 15:1-28
1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” 3He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ 5But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’ then that person need not honor the father. 6So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 8‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 9in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’” 10Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” // 21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
The Spirit of God speaks to the church . . .
Matthew was writing to the early church. Here, Hebrew people as well as Gentiles, were gathering together, sorting through what traditions they were going to keep, or create. And in this whole chapter, he is telling stories of how Jesus was breaking forms and patterns of faith which concerned the faith leaders of his day, and sharing why. Matthew was opening up the faith experience to be not one of doctrine or law or custom, but one that focuses on the desire of God’s followers to radically do faith differently, so that God’s children will find ways to love abundantly!
Rev. Gary Charles wrote: “In verses 1-10, Jesus mocks how religious leaders have used tradition in perverse ways to contravene the will of God, and echoes of this exchange are still nearly deafening in the twenty-first-century church.” When Jesus says, “11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” “This is not just a curious aphorism that Jesus tosses into the conversation to baffle believers: it is a prophetic statement by the one who refuses to allow ’tradition’ and traditions to be used as a ‘holy’ reason for claiming God’s grace and eternal affection are reserved only for the ritually pure, that is, the people of Israel.”
Being a Christian is not the traditions we adhere to, or what theology we profess. Being a Christian is how we live our lives struggling to follow and embody the paradigm changing love that Jesus taught, and we have yet to perfect that, even after all these years of trying. The church is not a place to show to show our strengths – the church is place to share our strengths.
We are called as followers of this love to be the workings of Christ together in this community and beyond. And do not misunderstand me I am not saying this is easy. It is hard enough, at times, to like everyone in this building, let alone out there, but we are called to try, and believe ~ that we can do hard things in God’s name ~ because God is our source; because we have been called by Christ, in so many ways, so often, to love one another, with no boundaries! Because God loves each and every one of us, and Christ showed us that we can live our lives without judgment and at the same time, love and ache for those who are causing us pain! This can be for each and every one of us, our most persistent hope as we travel along our lives on our Christian journey.
Mercy is what Jesus offers – radical, unbound, mercy! “Mercy is the cornerstone of [Jesus’] critique of [the Pharisees and scribes’] religion and lifestyle.” (Iwan Russell-Jones) And the Canaanite woman came begging for mercy. She was nagging him for mercy! And she was a perfect example to learn about unlimited grace. She was a Canaanite, she was unclean, she was an outsider, she was not one of them, and she recognized, she knew with all her being that Jesus was someone who could give her and her daughter mercy.
Jesus did all the right things, at first; gave all the right answers, according to the traditions of those around him. First of all ignoring her – as though she were not even there, then he gave her the standard line, “No grace for you!” “You are not one of us!” Perhaps his words may even have pleased some who were listening, like those who believed that God’s mercy is somehow limited, and should only be given to special people who agree with them on some religious or cultural fact.
But she knew from her heart who he was, and was willing to continue to speak her truth to power. She knew love, she had so much love for her daughter that she risked all kinds of social embarrassment to get her daughter the mercy she needed, and she believed that even the crumbs of what Jesus has to offer is enough to heal her daughter! Great is her faith!
And how many of us know her pain? The pain of watching someone we love be tormented by this world. We see their pain, and wish them heaven, but they are going through hell. And we can’t do anything to stop it. So we try everything we can, we try, and yet we are limited. We do cry out to Jesus for mercy, and we feel like nags, or we feel somehow unworthy, because our pain is great, and the miracles we desire are not immediately forthcoming.
Jesus’ call for mercy is a call for the love that he embodies. The woman calling out for mercy recognized the love that Jesus is and when the miracle occurred it was an exchange and acknowledgement that they adored each other. Mercy is love and there is no limit from God to all of us on that love. Who on earth could ever say that God would withhold that love for anyone or anything on this planet?
This scripture is guiding us into a frame of mind where we keep on persisting to hope for love and justice and mercy to rule this world. It is the nagging and the persistence which creates in us answers, and comfort. When we watch the world do destructive unjust things, when we watch our beloved ones suffer, we can only imagine what God may be feeling – and what God felt when he had to sit back and watch his beloved son suffer. God suffers when any of us suffer, and one day, if we all continue to nag for love and limitless mercy, we will find solutions to the ills of this world.
Not just us alone, this is why we have communities of believers, and why the clarion call for unity is so important – because the more we know the love of God, the more we can act upon our awareness of the unlimitedness of our power in God to be a movement for wholeness, our persistence will bring about changes for Grace. God has been calling us forever to be of one mind – that the love of all is far more important than our individual desires.
I want to close as Peg Chemberlin closed her sermon 6 years ago:
We are, of course, both the woman and Jesus, both the ones in need of the gift and the ones called to expand our ministry. The hosts by virtue of being of having been the guests. The Canaanite woman in the midst of her pain had a hope in the abundance of God’s activity. She found hope in her conviction that she and her daughter were included and Jesus recognizes his own ministry in her nagging.
So let us work and pray that a renewed paradigm of abundance and inclusion will overturn the indifference and fear sweeping our nation. Let a renewed sense of abundance rise above our fear of loss and pain. Let a renewed sense of abundance free us to embrace our brothers and sisters in need rather than keeping them at bay. Let us commit to tear down the barriers that would keep anyone from the table. Let us become the voices and the actors who will speak and act for all those who ask: “Aren’t I included? Let us, today, in this place, and as we go from this place tomorrow, hear the voice that nags at us to become for others holy nags, relentless paradigm changers in the church and in the world.
AMEN
Let us pray:
Creator God,
When we spend time tomorrow experiencing the amazing eclipse of the sun, help us to remember that every day anew you are offering us boundless hope and wonders. You created this universe, and it is more than we could ever comprehend. Yet we know more now about the workings of your creation, then we ever have before. And every day we are discovering, and researching, and learning more. Help us to expand our souls as we expand our minds; that we may find ways to love others from whom we may not even have been aware that we were withholding your mercy.
May we know and rejoice as the holy nag did, that your mercy is boundless, and may we be persistent in finding ever new ways of expressing our faith. We pray for mercy for all those who are suffering, and may we never give up the plea for the addicts, the hungry, the homeless, the struggling, the fearful, the anxious, the ill, the confused, the sad, and the lonely. Our Global Missionary for this week is . . .
One of the most memorable sermons I have ever heard on the upcoming Gospel scripture was given at the Ecumenical Advocacy Days on March 27th, 2011. It was written by Rev. Peg Chemberlin, former executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches and former president of the National Council of Churches. The sermon was entitled, “Be a Holy Nag for Jesus.” She started her sermon thusly:
How wonderful to be part of this, today, in this way. Here together we are able to accomplish something we can't accomplish without each other. Here, together, we go where we can't alone. Here together we witness to the undeniable Oneness and broad diversity of the Body of Christ. And I say, “Thank you, Jesus.” In this coming together, we witness to the reality that there is enough grace to go around-- across denominational lines, across racial lines; across geographic boundaries, across gender lines, there is enough grace to go around. It’s appropriate that we begin with this declaration, a declaration that is made simply by our coming together in Christ. It is this abundance of grace that allows us to pull down the walls that divide in order to claim an inclusive community.
How often I have felt the same way ~ perhaps each and every time I have stood before this congregation! Because this is the clarion call for this church, “All means All,” inclusivity, unity in Christ, diversity . . .
And if there is anything more obvious in this world that is necessary, right now, it is the tremendous need to “pull down the walls that divide in order to claim an inclusive community”! How anyone could argue against an inclusive community is beyond my imagination.
Whenever we find ourselves, in anger, telling others what they need to do or believe, we are claiming the other must be different before they can be accepted fully by us. It is OK to say, “I cannot do something because it is against my beliefs,” but it is not OK to say, “YOU cannot do something because it is against by beliefs.” If only for the very clear, simple truth that that separates us from one another, and even more impressively – the fact that even God does not do that! God gives us all free will to choose to follow the path of learning to live as he wants us to live – that is – living in love with everyone.
Radical Inclusivity must be our goal. Just because someone else lives – even radically different from how we live – this does not stop us from God’s commandment to love each other. Our souls will not be sullied by someone else’s differences. If anything, our exclusion of others severely limits our ability to know God, and this is what sullies our souls. This is why I have included in my sermon the previous verses of Chapter 15, to our text for today.
Matthew 15:1-28
1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” 3He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’ 5But you say that whoever tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,’ then that person need not honor the father. 6So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 8‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 9in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’” 10Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” // 21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
The Spirit of God speaks to the church . . .
Matthew was writing to the early church. Here, Hebrew people as well as Gentiles, were gathering together, sorting through what traditions they were going to keep, or create. And in this whole chapter, he is telling stories of how Jesus was breaking forms and patterns of faith which concerned the faith leaders of his day, and sharing why. Matthew was opening up the faith experience to be not one of doctrine or law or custom, but one that focuses on the desire of God’s followers to radically do faith differently, so that God’s children will find ways to love abundantly!
Rev. Gary Charles wrote: “In verses 1-10, Jesus mocks how religious leaders have used tradition in perverse ways to contravene the will of God, and echoes of this exchange are still nearly deafening in the twenty-first-century church.” When Jesus says, “11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” “This is not just a curious aphorism that Jesus tosses into the conversation to baffle believers: it is a prophetic statement by the one who refuses to allow ’tradition’ and traditions to be used as a ‘holy’ reason for claiming God’s grace and eternal affection are reserved only for the ritually pure, that is, the people of Israel.”
Being a Christian is not the traditions we adhere to, or what theology we profess. Being a Christian is how we live our lives struggling to follow and embody the paradigm changing love that Jesus taught, and we have yet to perfect that, even after all these years of trying. The church is not a place to show to show our strengths – the church is place to share our strengths.
We are called as followers of this love to be the workings of Christ together in this community and beyond. And do not misunderstand me I am not saying this is easy. It is hard enough, at times, to like everyone in this building, let alone out there, but we are called to try, and believe ~ that we can do hard things in God’s name ~ because God is our source; because we have been called by Christ, in so many ways, so often, to love one another, with no boundaries! Because God loves each and every one of us, and Christ showed us that we can live our lives without judgment and at the same time, love and ache for those who are causing us pain! This can be for each and every one of us, our most persistent hope as we travel along our lives on our Christian journey.
Mercy is what Jesus offers – radical, unbound, mercy! “Mercy is the cornerstone of [Jesus’] critique of [the Pharisees and scribes’] religion and lifestyle.” (Iwan Russell-Jones) And the Canaanite woman came begging for mercy. She was nagging him for mercy! And she was a perfect example to learn about unlimited grace. She was a Canaanite, she was unclean, she was an outsider, she was not one of them, and she recognized, she knew with all her being that Jesus was someone who could give her and her daughter mercy.
Jesus did all the right things, at first; gave all the right answers, according to the traditions of those around him. First of all ignoring her – as though she were not even there, then he gave her the standard line, “No grace for you!” “You are not one of us!” Perhaps his words may even have pleased some who were listening, like those who believed that God’s mercy is somehow limited, and should only be given to special people who agree with them on some religious or cultural fact.
But she knew from her heart who he was, and was willing to continue to speak her truth to power. She knew love, she had so much love for her daughter that she risked all kinds of social embarrassment to get her daughter the mercy she needed, and she believed that even the crumbs of what Jesus has to offer is enough to heal her daughter! Great is her faith!
And how many of us know her pain? The pain of watching someone we love be tormented by this world. We see their pain, and wish them heaven, but they are going through hell. And we can’t do anything to stop it. So we try everything we can, we try, and yet we are limited. We do cry out to Jesus for mercy, and we feel like nags, or we feel somehow unworthy, because our pain is great, and the miracles we desire are not immediately forthcoming.
Jesus’ call for mercy is a call for the love that he embodies. The woman calling out for mercy recognized the love that Jesus is and when the miracle occurred it was an exchange and acknowledgement that they adored each other. Mercy is love and there is no limit from God to all of us on that love. Who on earth could ever say that God would withhold that love for anyone or anything on this planet?
This scripture is guiding us into a frame of mind where we keep on persisting to hope for love and justice and mercy to rule this world. It is the nagging and the persistence which creates in us answers, and comfort. When we watch the world do destructive unjust things, when we watch our beloved ones suffer, we can only imagine what God may be feeling – and what God felt when he had to sit back and watch his beloved son suffer. God suffers when any of us suffer, and one day, if we all continue to nag for love and limitless mercy, we will find solutions to the ills of this world.
Not just us alone, this is why we have communities of believers, and why the clarion call for unity is so important – because the more we know the love of God, the more we can act upon our awareness of the unlimitedness of our power in God to be a movement for wholeness, our persistence will bring about changes for Grace. God has been calling us forever to be of one mind – that the love of all is far more important than our individual desires.
I want to close as Peg Chemberlin closed her sermon 6 years ago:
We are, of course, both the woman and Jesus, both the ones in need of the gift and the ones called to expand our ministry. The hosts by virtue of being of having been the guests. The Canaanite woman in the midst of her pain had a hope in the abundance of God’s activity. She found hope in her conviction that she and her daughter were included and Jesus recognizes his own ministry in her nagging.
So let us work and pray that a renewed paradigm of abundance and inclusion will overturn the indifference and fear sweeping our nation. Let a renewed sense of abundance rise above our fear of loss and pain. Let a renewed sense of abundance free us to embrace our brothers and sisters in need rather than keeping them at bay. Let us commit to tear down the barriers that would keep anyone from the table. Let us become the voices and the actors who will speak and act for all those who ask: “Aren’t I included? Let us, today, in this place, and as we go from this place tomorrow, hear the voice that nags at us to become for others holy nags, relentless paradigm changers in the church and in the world.
AMEN
Let us pray:
Creator God,
When we spend time tomorrow experiencing the amazing eclipse of the sun, help us to remember that every day anew you are offering us boundless hope and wonders. You created this universe, and it is more than we could ever comprehend. Yet we know more now about the workings of your creation, then we ever have before. And every day we are discovering, and researching, and learning more. Help us to expand our souls as we expand our minds; that we may find ways to love others from whom we may not even have been aware that we were withholding your mercy.
May we know and rejoice as the holy nag did, that your mercy is boundless, and may we be persistent in finding ever new ways of expressing our faith. We pray for mercy for all those who are suffering, and may we never give up the plea for the addicts, the hungry, the homeless, the struggling, the fearful, the anxious, the ill, the confused, the sad, and the lonely. Our Global Missionary for this week is . . .
17.08.13 The Power of Sheer Silence
1 Kings 19:9-18
For the sake of a little more clarity, I am going to read the first 8 verses of chapter 19 in addition to the lectionary text given to us today:
1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ 3Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ 5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ 6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God [which is where Moses communed with God].
9At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 15Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
The Spirit of God Speaks to the Church . . .
I first came to fall in love with this scripture in the early 80’s, when I was on a spiritual retreat with Lexington Theological Seminary to the Sisters of Loretto and Gethsemane. Sister Elaine Marie Prevallet was leading us in a silent retreat and this was the scripture we used to help us prepare for the experience. I came to treasure the experience for the rest of my life because it was there that I discovered the mystical power of sheer silence was undeniable.
Up unto that point I had been listening like crazy, desperate to learn and hear what everyone was teaching in class or responding to. I was thinking about what brilliant response I should come up with to prove to the professors that I valued what they were teaching ~ thinking about the answer before I was even finished listening to the question . . . And this woman, at this place was telling us to turn off our brains, and listen, and in doing so, we will become wiser and know God.
And this was before we had cell phones. We did have walkmans, and radios, and there was, even then, a drive to have something with noise going on all the time, or to be in conversation. Silence was an awkward experience. If you were sitting in a room and no one was talking, there was a discomfort. And here we were being instructed to be silent ~ which was suddenly a relief! We all had permission to find comfort in quiet and not have to find something to say.
After the retreat we all spoke gently of what a blessing it was. In the silence we found our souls under all that anxiety, projections, “shoulds” and thoughts. And we could so relate to the Prophet Elijah in ways we had never thought of before. Let me explain . . .
First of all, I added the first 8 verses because I love the drama of those verses. In Chapter 18, there was a drought which had gone on for 3 years, and Elijah was sent by God to set the King of Israel, Ahab, straight about not worshipping Baal and then God would send rain. So, Elijah competed with the prophets of Baal, God to God, and our God won, so many of the people of Israel repented and believed in Yahweh, and then Elijah killed all of the Prophets of Baal. So, just saying, as far as prophets go, he was doing pretty well in that chapter, right before this one! Pretty successful show of power!
And then, the very next chapter, Elijah is running away terrified! “He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’” I don’t know about you, but I can just so relate!!! We are feeling pretty good about ourselves, and the next setback, suddenly we are worthless. Any memory of anything good we may have done is gone, all that is left is the immediate experience of failure and fear.
And how did God treat Elijah? God sent angels; they fed him, encouraged him, and sent him on a mission. God gives Elijah some distraction from his self absorbed sense of loss, but Elijah doesn’t seem to give up on the notion that he is forsaken. He gets to Horeb and when asked what he was doing, he claims the Israelites had forsaken God and he was all alone. Again, not really true . . . he had changed a lot of people’s minds! He seemed to have forgotten his accomplishments.
One interesting point to me from this scripture is that “the word of the Lord” came to Elijah. They already were talking with each other, but God wanted Elijah to have a lesson he would not soon forget. The Lord told him to go and stand on the mountain. Why? Why not just continue the conversation they were already having right there? There was a lot of calm cool and collected conversation going on, why did God have to do all the flashy stuff, with the wind which split mountains, the earthquake, and the fire?
Well, I believe, that until Elijah could hear the true spirit of God, and know it in his heart, he had to work out a lot of the left over adrenaline from the violence and fear he had been experiencing. He does this huge miracle, kills hundreds of prophets of Baal, gets a threat from the Queen, escapes in fear, is so overwhelmed he wants to die, gets sent on a mission to a cave on a sacred Mountain, it is almost as if the flashy stuff was God’s way of cleansing Elijah of his left over stress.
After all he had been through; I can imagine he was expecting God to be just like what he had been experiencing. I envision him expecting God in the wind, and being a little confused when he wasn’t there . . . then looking for him in the earthquake, again, what’s the deal? So, comes the fire – on this sacred Mountain where God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, and . . . not there! But he had to listen very closely and focus all his energy to hear the still small voice of sheer silence. How many teachers have done this? In order to get the class’s attention, you’ve lowered your voice?
Elijah came to see that nothing has more influence than the mystical power of God. Not Jezebel, nor the great wind, or the splitting mountains and breaking rocks; not the earthquake, or the fire! More powerful than militaries and nature was a sound of sheer silence. And this silence communicated so clearly with him as a voice. Silence is where we meet God in ourselves, and with God there is hope which defies the world. This voice will always call God’s children and heirs into a life that is holy, one that is striving for clarity in the midst of all the noise the world puts into our lives. This means we must be careful not to fall into routines, but to keep our minds ever open for that still voice which has more power than all the bombs our world can muster. Have no fear of the blustering noise, but listen and serve in silence and determination.
We are starting a new school year, and there will be lots of noise, and words, and new experiences, new people, but this is the place to experience God, in between the words, in our hearts, in our prayers, in the comfort of simply being next to each other in the pew, in the mystery of the communion . . . and then, when we go outside, and see the majesty of the nature surrounding us in this sacred place, may be always reminded of how sacred we are, as are those around us. AMEN
Let us practice now a few moments of sheer silence . . .
Dear God,
For every soul that is here today, we pray, let us hear your breath and trust that we are a part of it.
Help us to seek the silence of those around us and create places of comfort and trust.
If someone is being threatened by violence, help us to call upon your righteousness and to act in ways of compassion and trust, for the sake of your precious spirit which is in all.
If someone is lonely and afraid, help us to be kind and gentle with them and to help them to know they are not alone.
If someone has forgotten that they are beloved, may you guide us in bringing them back into your mystical realm of unity in Christ.
We pray for all who may think they are lost, that they will be found, and that we can all recognize you in every face we meet.
For this we hope and seek to find the paths to your cave of sheer truth and silence . . .
1 Kings 19:9-18
For the sake of a little more clarity, I am going to read the first 8 verses of chapter 19 in addition to the lectionary text given to us today:
1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ 3Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ 5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ 6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God [which is where Moses communed with God].
9At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 15Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
The Spirit of God Speaks to the Church . . .
I first came to fall in love with this scripture in the early 80’s, when I was on a spiritual retreat with Lexington Theological Seminary to the Sisters of Loretto and Gethsemane. Sister Elaine Marie Prevallet was leading us in a silent retreat and this was the scripture we used to help us prepare for the experience. I came to treasure the experience for the rest of my life because it was there that I discovered the mystical power of sheer silence was undeniable.
Up unto that point I had been listening like crazy, desperate to learn and hear what everyone was teaching in class or responding to. I was thinking about what brilliant response I should come up with to prove to the professors that I valued what they were teaching ~ thinking about the answer before I was even finished listening to the question . . . And this woman, at this place was telling us to turn off our brains, and listen, and in doing so, we will become wiser and know God.
And this was before we had cell phones. We did have walkmans, and radios, and there was, even then, a drive to have something with noise going on all the time, or to be in conversation. Silence was an awkward experience. If you were sitting in a room and no one was talking, there was a discomfort. And here we were being instructed to be silent ~ which was suddenly a relief! We all had permission to find comfort in quiet and not have to find something to say.
After the retreat we all spoke gently of what a blessing it was. In the silence we found our souls under all that anxiety, projections, “shoulds” and thoughts. And we could so relate to the Prophet Elijah in ways we had never thought of before. Let me explain . . .
First of all, I added the first 8 verses because I love the drama of those verses. In Chapter 18, there was a drought which had gone on for 3 years, and Elijah was sent by God to set the King of Israel, Ahab, straight about not worshipping Baal and then God would send rain. So, Elijah competed with the prophets of Baal, God to God, and our God won, so many of the people of Israel repented and believed in Yahweh, and then Elijah killed all of the Prophets of Baal. So, just saying, as far as prophets go, he was doing pretty well in that chapter, right before this one! Pretty successful show of power!
And then, the very next chapter, Elijah is running away terrified! “He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’” I don’t know about you, but I can just so relate!!! We are feeling pretty good about ourselves, and the next setback, suddenly we are worthless. Any memory of anything good we may have done is gone, all that is left is the immediate experience of failure and fear.
And how did God treat Elijah? God sent angels; they fed him, encouraged him, and sent him on a mission. God gives Elijah some distraction from his self absorbed sense of loss, but Elijah doesn’t seem to give up on the notion that he is forsaken. He gets to Horeb and when asked what he was doing, he claims the Israelites had forsaken God and he was all alone. Again, not really true . . . he had changed a lot of people’s minds! He seemed to have forgotten his accomplishments.
One interesting point to me from this scripture is that “the word of the Lord” came to Elijah. They already were talking with each other, but God wanted Elijah to have a lesson he would not soon forget. The Lord told him to go and stand on the mountain. Why? Why not just continue the conversation they were already having right there? There was a lot of calm cool and collected conversation going on, why did God have to do all the flashy stuff, with the wind which split mountains, the earthquake, and the fire?
Well, I believe, that until Elijah could hear the true spirit of God, and know it in his heart, he had to work out a lot of the left over adrenaline from the violence and fear he had been experiencing. He does this huge miracle, kills hundreds of prophets of Baal, gets a threat from the Queen, escapes in fear, is so overwhelmed he wants to die, gets sent on a mission to a cave on a sacred Mountain, it is almost as if the flashy stuff was God’s way of cleansing Elijah of his left over stress.
After all he had been through; I can imagine he was expecting God to be just like what he had been experiencing. I envision him expecting God in the wind, and being a little confused when he wasn’t there . . . then looking for him in the earthquake, again, what’s the deal? So, comes the fire – on this sacred Mountain where God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, and . . . not there! But he had to listen very closely and focus all his energy to hear the still small voice of sheer silence. How many teachers have done this? In order to get the class’s attention, you’ve lowered your voice?
Elijah came to see that nothing has more influence than the mystical power of God. Not Jezebel, nor the great wind, or the splitting mountains and breaking rocks; not the earthquake, or the fire! More powerful than militaries and nature was a sound of sheer silence. And this silence communicated so clearly with him as a voice. Silence is where we meet God in ourselves, and with God there is hope which defies the world. This voice will always call God’s children and heirs into a life that is holy, one that is striving for clarity in the midst of all the noise the world puts into our lives. This means we must be careful not to fall into routines, but to keep our minds ever open for that still voice which has more power than all the bombs our world can muster. Have no fear of the blustering noise, but listen and serve in silence and determination.
We are starting a new school year, and there will be lots of noise, and words, and new experiences, new people, but this is the place to experience God, in between the words, in our hearts, in our prayers, in the comfort of simply being next to each other in the pew, in the mystery of the communion . . . and then, when we go outside, and see the majesty of the nature surrounding us in this sacred place, may be always reminded of how sacred we are, as are those around us. AMEN
Let us practice now a few moments of sheer silence . . .
Dear God,
For every soul that is here today, we pray, let us hear your breath and trust that we are a part of it.
Help us to seek the silence of those around us and create places of comfort and trust.
If someone is being threatened by violence, help us to call upon your righteousness and to act in ways of compassion and trust, for the sake of your precious spirit which is in all.
If someone is lonely and afraid, help us to be kind and gentle with them and to help them to know they are not alone.
If someone has forgotten that they are beloved, may you guide us in bringing them back into your mystical realm of unity in Christ.
We pray for all who may think they are lost, that they will be found, and that we can all recognize you in every face we meet.
For this we hope and seek to find the paths to your cave of sheer truth and silence . . .
2017.08.06 The Generosity of God
Allow me to give a little background, before I read the sermon scripture from Matthew 14:13-21. First of all, Chapter 13 is about the parable of the sower, and then there is the parable of the mustard seed, “the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown is it the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree.” And THEN there is the parable of the yeast, where, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” All of Chapter 13 were examples of taking actions, and when you “do” with heaven in mind – even the smallest things grow into big things.
At the end of Chapter 13, Jesus was at his hometown, and because the people there knew him as a child and all his relatives, they rejected him. He seemed to reaching beyond his social status. Jesus said, ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house,’ so he just moved on. The ground of the receivers does make a difference.
Then, at the beginning of chapter 14, he hears about John the Baptist’s death, and so, grief stricken, he decided to leave where he had been, to go to a safer place. According to Jae Won Lee, “he is choosing an alternative to the tentacles of Rome. Crowds follow him . . . They forsake their towns, which are caught up in (1) dominion by the status quo, and (2) domination by the empire through local collaborators . . . Jesus offers the crowds an alternative world where compassion overturns status and stands in stark contrast to imperial brutality.” So we find Jesus, away from his hometown, away from the rule of Rome, in the desert, preaching to the crowd of those who felt blessed by him, and craved more.
Also, it might be interesting to note, that this is the only miracle which has been recorded in all four canonical Gospels. It is considered to be a reference to when the Israelites were fed Manna in the desert and it is also foreshadowing the Lord’s Supper.
I the light of the otherworldliness of this scripture, I do believe I can speak on behalf of this congregation that it is our hope ~ that when we enter into the worship experience here, or online, we enter into a safe space, where compassion overturns status, and, if only for the time we are together here, we feel the presence of enlightenment and the surprise and awe of God’s grace. Let us prepare to hear the Gospel reading for today while in a state of wonder, as the crowds were on that day:
13Now when Jesus heard [that John the Baptist had been killed], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. The Spirit of God Speaks to the church . . .
As we can see, from the foundation of this miracle, and all that led up to it, Jesus is all about taking action, now, and trusting all that is HOLY that even the smallest action will bring forth great things. The Disciples wanted to send all these people away, but Jesus took compassion on them and told his Disciples to feed them. Jesus did not feed them himself – he told his Disciples to feed them! All he did was bless and break the bread – it was the Disciples who fed the 5,000. It wasn’t just a theory that Jesus loves – he emphasized that his followers must take action! This is so important to the faith, that every one of the Gospels included this story.
Now, many people have tried to make this a logical event, like, saying that once the crowds saw that there were some willing to share, the abundance factor took over, and everyone else decided to bring out what they had hidden and share it, too. That may well be what happened, but that is not what we have been told. We have been told that there was no food, and because of that, the thoughtful wise ones in control might have to stop the experience of being consoled, during this time of mourning for their lost spiritual leader. If we were to dismiss the part of this story where a miracle from God occurred, we would cut out the whole point.
During that time, Rome took pride in its ability to feed the world. Nero had a coin minted where his head was “on one side, and on the other side was Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, with words meaning ‘the annual harvest of the Emperor.’“ The understanding being, that the Emperor was the goddess’ agent for food(again, Jae Won Lee). With this story, it was made clear, that it was God’s ability, Jesus’ ability – the Disciples’ ability – OUR ability to feed! It is God’s ruling ability to feed God’s people, and it was done in this story, differently than how things were done in Rome.
In this story, no one needed to do anything to prove that they were worthy; all they need to do was to be hungry. There were no distinctions according to social status as to what you would get, everyone was loved and served, and no one needed to know how hungry you may have been. What was urgent for everyone, was the presence of Jesus, and the company of the believers. What were they going to learn, feel, and be made aware of next? How were they going to live in such an unjust world as the one where someone as good as John the Baptist could get killed on the whim of a young woman and the lust of a leader?
This story is about the abundance of God! From 5 loaves and 2 fish ~ 5,000 men, and in addition to that the women and children, were fed, and there were 12 baskets were left over. If we start to understand and limit the story in order to fit our sense of common sense today, we will lose the most important part of Jesus – and that is that faith, and especially faith in community – can bring about the mustard bush, the leaven in the loaves, the feeding of the 5,000 – with enough baskets left over so that there was a basket for every one of the 12 tribes of Israel – in other words – all the people.
In truth, there is enough food to feed all the people of the world. But the way the world is designed make it almost impossible to make feeding all a reality. This can be really overwhelming! If you know enough about some problems facing the people of the world, we can understand why the Disciples were saying, “Look, Jesus, we gotta send these folks away or something . . . it’s too much!” And they heard, what we hear, Jesus blesses and prays and tells us to go and feed, and live in faith that the small things we do today will yield great results!
There is an unlimited desire of God to love all of this creation which can be beyond our own ability to comprehend. Luckily, we do not need to understand it all. We need to trust Jesus when he tells us to go and do likewise. At times, we seem to be unable to limit how much we can or should do for each other, and this story of this miracle is here to remind us to step into the place of mystery and do what we need to do, just a little at a time can yield amazing results.
Let us pray,
We are so grateful, dear God, that we are fed and housed, and we have so many blessings, not the least of which being ~ that we are a part of this loving community of believers. May we grow in compassion and understanding more each day, and may we discover the miracle of your leaven in our souls.
Help us to face those weaknesses we have which may cause us to cut someone out of our lives. For whenever we draw a circle to exclude, Jesus is on the other side. We are called to love each other unconditionally, and to seek what grace Jesus has to give us, and his wisdom which brings us together as one.
May our hearts be made more generous each day as we are filled with the generosity of God.
We pray for those who know hunger, that they will be fed. We pray for those who know fear, that they may be filled with your abiding hope. We pray for those who are facing changes which are confusing that they will be comforted. For those who are ill, may they know your healing, and may we go out and do your Will. . . .
Allow me to give a little background, before I read the sermon scripture from Matthew 14:13-21. First of all, Chapter 13 is about the parable of the sower, and then there is the parable of the mustard seed, “the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown is it the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree.” And THEN there is the parable of the yeast, where, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” All of Chapter 13 were examples of taking actions, and when you “do” with heaven in mind – even the smallest things grow into big things.
At the end of Chapter 13, Jesus was at his hometown, and because the people there knew him as a child and all his relatives, they rejected him. He seemed to reaching beyond his social status. Jesus said, ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house,’ so he just moved on. The ground of the receivers does make a difference.
Then, at the beginning of chapter 14, he hears about John the Baptist’s death, and so, grief stricken, he decided to leave where he had been, to go to a safer place. According to Jae Won Lee, “he is choosing an alternative to the tentacles of Rome. Crowds follow him . . . They forsake their towns, which are caught up in (1) dominion by the status quo, and (2) domination by the empire through local collaborators . . . Jesus offers the crowds an alternative world where compassion overturns status and stands in stark contrast to imperial brutality.” So we find Jesus, away from his hometown, away from the rule of Rome, in the desert, preaching to the crowd of those who felt blessed by him, and craved more.
Also, it might be interesting to note, that this is the only miracle which has been recorded in all four canonical Gospels. It is considered to be a reference to when the Israelites were fed Manna in the desert and it is also foreshadowing the Lord’s Supper.
I the light of the otherworldliness of this scripture, I do believe I can speak on behalf of this congregation that it is our hope ~ that when we enter into the worship experience here, or online, we enter into a safe space, where compassion overturns status, and, if only for the time we are together here, we feel the presence of enlightenment and the surprise and awe of God’s grace. Let us prepare to hear the Gospel reading for today while in a state of wonder, as the crowds were on that day:
13Now when Jesus heard [that John the Baptist had been killed], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. The Spirit of God Speaks to the church . . .
As we can see, from the foundation of this miracle, and all that led up to it, Jesus is all about taking action, now, and trusting all that is HOLY that even the smallest action will bring forth great things. The Disciples wanted to send all these people away, but Jesus took compassion on them and told his Disciples to feed them. Jesus did not feed them himself – he told his Disciples to feed them! All he did was bless and break the bread – it was the Disciples who fed the 5,000. It wasn’t just a theory that Jesus loves – he emphasized that his followers must take action! This is so important to the faith, that every one of the Gospels included this story.
Now, many people have tried to make this a logical event, like, saying that once the crowds saw that there were some willing to share, the abundance factor took over, and everyone else decided to bring out what they had hidden and share it, too. That may well be what happened, but that is not what we have been told. We have been told that there was no food, and because of that, the thoughtful wise ones in control might have to stop the experience of being consoled, during this time of mourning for their lost spiritual leader. If we were to dismiss the part of this story where a miracle from God occurred, we would cut out the whole point.
During that time, Rome took pride in its ability to feed the world. Nero had a coin minted where his head was “on one side, and on the other side was Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, with words meaning ‘the annual harvest of the Emperor.’“ The understanding being, that the Emperor was the goddess’ agent for food(again, Jae Won Lee). With this story, it was made clear, that it was God’s ability, Jesus’ ability – the Disciples’ ability – OUR ability to feed! It is God’s ruling ability to feed God’s people, and it was done in this story, differently than how things were done in Rome.
In this story, no one needed to do anything to prove that they were worthy; all they need to do was to be hungry. There were no distinctions according to social status as to what you would get, everyone was loved and served, and no one needed to know how hungry you may have been. What was urgent for everyone, was the presence of Jesus, and the company of the believers. What were they going to learn, feel, and be made aware of next? How were they going to live in such an unjust world as the one where someone as good as John the Baptist could get killed on the whim of a young woman and the lust of a leader?
This story is about the abundance of God! From 5 loaves and 2 fish ~ 5,000 men, and in addition to that the women and children, were fed, and there were 12 baskets were left over. If we start to understand and limit the story in order to fit our sense of common sense today, we will lose the most important part of Jesus – and that is that faith, and especially faith in community – can bring about the mustard bush, the leaven in the loaves, the feeding of the 5,000 – with enough baskets left over so that there was a basket for every one of the 12 tribes of Israel – in other words – all the people.
In truth, there is enough food to feed all the people of the world. But the way the world is designed make it almost impossible to make feeding all a reality. This can be really overwhelming! If you know enough about some problems facing the people of the world, we can understand why the Disciples were saying, “Look, Jesus, we gotta send these folks away or something . . . it’s too much!” And they heard, what we hear, Jesus blesses and prays and tells us to go and feed, and live in faith that the small things we do today will yield great results!
There is an unlimited desire of God to love all of this creation which can be beyond our own ability to comprehend. Luckily, we do not need to understand it all. We need to trust Jesus when he tells us to go and do likewise. At times, we seem to be unable to limit how much we can or should do for each other, and this story of this miracle is here to remind us to step into the place of mystery and do what we need to do, just a little at a time can yield amazing results.
Let us pray,
We are so grateful, dear God, that we are fed and housed, and we have so many blessings, not the least of which being ~ that we are a part of this loving community of believers. May we grow in compassion and understanding more each day, and may we discover the miracle of your leaven in our souls.
Help us to face those weaknesses we have which may cause us to cut someone out of our lives. For whenever we draw a circle to exclude, Jesus is on the other side. We are called to love each other unconditionally, and to seek what grace Jesus has to give us, and his wisdom which brings us together as one.
May our hearts be made more generous each day as we are filled with the generosity of God.
We pray for those who know hunger, that they will be fed. We pray for those who know fear, that they may be filled with your abiding hope. We pray for those who are facing changes which are confusing that they will be comforted. For those who are ill, may they know your healing, and may we go out and do your Will. . . .
2017.07.30 Uprightness of Heart
1 Kings 3:5-12
5At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” 6And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” 10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.
This lovely story is about what pleases God. In this story, Solomon was about 20 years old when he came into his Kingdom, and he went to Gibeon to perform some rituals, and in a dream he was approached by God, asking for what he wanted. Perhaps it was because Solomon was in a dream state, and his cognitive, ego based brain was not ruling, that he came to realize how insecure a leader he was. Up until this point, he had shown some very astute political insights in dealing with his brother who had schemed to be King in his stead, so while awake he was portrayed as very competent.
In his dream state, however, he confessed that he was feeling not totally confident in the job and asked for “an understanding mind …able to discern between good and evil.” Now, this is a theme in the Bible, with God. Adam and Eve were told straight out what not to do, and they did it anyway. Their wisdom was failed. So God was very pleased that Solomon had a thin enough layer between his conscious and his unconscious to be able to come to this realization. Some people carry so many layers of protection that the revelations which come from an innocent heart may never reach the light of day!
Solomon recognized what drew God to David – he saw that, in spite of his father’s weaknesses, he was beloved by God because of his “uprightness of heart,” and because he could see that in his father, he could see what he needed as well, a discerning, listening heart, which can be known by his mind. And this pleased God.
Rev. Thomas W. Blair wrote, “the marks of true wisdom have to do with the acknowledgement of our need, our want, and our emptiness . . . The Hebrew word for ‘soul’, nephesh, carries an anatomical and biological meaning . . . it implies neediness, vulnerability, and emptiness at the physical center of what it means to be human. The soul is empty. It is a bucket, not a geyser. The soul is made to want . . . The essence of sin is the desire to fill up our buckets without God, to be self-sufficient and invulnerable . . . Wisdom pleases the Lord when it is not self serving, but other serving.”
And this is the key to knowing God, having wisdom, Being not Doing a Christian ~ it is the desire to fill our souls with what God desires of us. And this is a hard things to do, for we are wanting creatures, and it is not always easy to see ourselves apart from our human wants. This is why I love the Romans scripture reading, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Solomon was aware in the onset of his reign, while in a dream state what he needed, but he did not stick with it forever. He has a great record of wisdom, and stories of discerning, and yet his Kingdom ended up, at the end of his life, torn in two and in a civil war, and it was credited to his loss of devotion to the God of the Hebrew people. The growth of his Kingdom brought with it wives as gifts from foreign treaties, and with them, a variety of pagan practices. He allowed his bucket to be filled with material gain, and it was said of him that once he built the Temple, there was little record of his faith practices. He counted on his Doings to show God favor, not on his Being.
When you are looking for affirmation because of what you do, this is telling yourself that you are only valuable on the condition of what you do. When you are seeking affirmation for who you are, genuinely a beloved child of God, seeking to fill your souls bucket up with the holy spirit, which seeks justice, and kindness and mercy, then you are saying that you are valuable unconditionally. And you can then be free to sigh, to love, to act, ~ to know what you don’t know and seek answers ~ to spontaneously love those who are different than you, and this brings about the Kingdom of heaven on earth!
Knowing that you are a valuable being is the proof of a discerning heart, knowing you are imperfect but precious, creates a spirit in you that can easily do the same for those who do not know this truth about themselves, yet. And this is our calling – to spread the Good News that there is no original sin, and we all have the capacity to BE loved!
Theologian Matthew Fox points out that "Jesus never heard of 'Original Sin.’ The term wasn't even used until the 4th century, so it's ‘strange to run a church, a gathering, an ekklesia - supposedly on behalf of Jesus - when one of its main dogmatic tenets, Original Sin, never occurred to Jesus.’ Sadly, Western Christianity is dependent on and chronically ‘attached to Original Sin - but what they're really attached to is St. Augustine. The fact is that most Westerners believe more in Augustine ... then they do in Jesus.’”
So, especially for us from the Stone-Campbell movement (where the Bible speaks, I speak where the Bible is silent, I am silent) we need to spread the joyous news that there is no original sin – and NOTHING can separate us from the love of God!!!! “[N]either death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We can fill our bucket with God not fear – we can BE instruments of Love on earth not Fear – when we strive to be upright in our hearts and know that we are loved!!! King David – so aptly named because it means Beloved - was not perfect, we all know this - but he knew he was loved, and he kept his heart open for God, and mercy and kindness. And we too are not perfect – but we do not have to be. We can live our lives in grace, doing what Jesus asks us to do, because we have the joy and the power of knowing the love we have to offer. For once we know whose we are, and have filled our souls buckets, we become like Christ and can then do what he asked of those who call themselves by his name.
Online there was an article by a theologian from Yale named Zack Hunt, and he wrote:
What does it actually mean to be a Christian? Is Christianity simply a belief system to be defended at all costs? A set of magic words to be prayed at an altar in order to avoid hell? Is all that matters our agreement to the right list of doctrines while condemning everyone who disagrees? Or is there more to being a Christian than that?
Have we perhaps misunderstood what Paul meant by “works”? Have we conflated his criticism of pharisaical legalism and religious ritual with a call to radical discipleship? In our righteous zeal to throw open the doors of salvation to all, have we perhaps forgotten that grace is costly? Not that we have to pay a price to receive it, but rather it is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ, which means living like Christ — and living like Christ is anything but cheap and easy.
All of this begs the question: in crying out “Sole fide [salvation by faith alone]!” for the past 500 hundreds years, have we somehow forgotten the equally important call to “Go and do likewise?”
Is a particular way of life essential to Christianity — and perhaps even to salvation itself — as Jesus seems to imply in Matthew 25? Or are the things we say we believe all that really matter both in the here and now and at the end of all things?
How we answer this question, how we understand the nature of Christianity and the demands Christ’s life does or does not place on our own, will determine not just the Church’s relationship to American politics, but the future of the Christianity itself for generations to come.
Today it is so important to spread the word that Jesus loves unconditionally and we are called to go and do likewise. Not one day can be wasted in judging and anger. Today we must see those around us and love them, for God loved us. In spite of the other’s religious, or political beliefs, in spite of the other’s psychological profile, in spite of any differences we may have with the other – we are loved unconditionally, and we need to find a way to let them know they are too. Because the contrary beliefs have been around so long, and are so entrenched, it will be a mighty work to overcome the poor teachings of some who use Jesus’ name to make others feel unworthy. We need to save his reputation by loving as he loved, and have no fear, because we know we can do it! Nothing, “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” AMEN!
Let us pray:
We come to you, Yahweh, God of ancient times, God in our present moments, and the future of our humanity. We come to you in humility, in the hope that you will see into our hearts and know that they are pure. We may fear some of our dark corners, but in essence, we so desire to know you and be with you – and to act in your spirit of mercy and hope, and love.
We know love, dear God, we have felt it. And even though there may be some pain in those memories, our hope is that the more we acknowledge your unconditional love in our lives, the more empowered we will be to go and do as your son told us. We can do, because through him we are.
We acknowledge those time where we have tried to legalize ourselves out of doing and argued over faith questions so as to be seen in favor. We confess that we would not feel the need to defend ourselves, if we knew we were being upright and filled with the knowledge of your affection.
Help that we will be the yeast in the bread for all that we can share and grow in justice and truth. Help that we will be able to compassionately share your grace in all that we do.
1 Kings 3:5-12
5At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” 6And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” 10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.
This lovely story is about what pleases God. In this story, Solomon was about 20 years old when he came into his Kingdom, and he went to Gibeon to perform some rituals, and in a dream he was approached by God, asking for what he wanted. Perhaps it was because Solomon was in a dream state, and his cognitive, ego based brain was not ruling, that he came to realize how insecure a leader he was. Up until this point, he had shown some very astute political insights in dealing with his brother who had schemed to be King in his stead, so while awake he was portrayed as very competent.
In his dream state, however, he confessed that he was feeling not totally confident in the job and asked for “an understanding mind …able to discern between good and evil.” Now, this is a theme in the Bible, with God. Adam and Eve were told straight out what not to do, and they did it anyway. Their wisdom was failed. So God was very pleased that Solomon had a thin enough layer between his conscious and his unconscious to be able to come to this realization. Some people carry so many layers of protection that the revelations which come from an innocent heart may never reach the light of day!
Solomon recognized what drew God to David – he saw that, in spite of his father’s weaknesses, he was beloved by God because of his “uprightness of heart,” and because he could see that in his father, he could see what he needed as well, a discerning, listening heart, which can be known by his mind. And this pleased God.
Rev. Thomas W. Blair wrote, “the marks of true wisdom have to do with the acknowledgement of our need, our want, and our emptiness . . . The Hebrew word for ‘soul’, nephesh, carries an anatomical and biological meaning . . . it implies neediness, vulnerability, and emptiness at the physical center of what it means to be human. The soul is empty. It is a bucket, not a geyser. The soul is made to want . . . The essence of sin is the desire to fill up our buckets without God, to be self-sufficient and invulnerable . . . Wisdom pleases the Lord when it is not self serving, but other serving.”
And this is the key to knowing God, having wisdom, Being not Doing a Christian ~ it is the desire to fill our souls with what God desires of us. And this is a hard things to do, for we are wanting creatures, and it is not always easy to see ourselves apart from our human wants. This is why I love the Romans scripture reading, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Solomon was aware in the onset of his reign, while in a dream state what he needed, but he did not stick with it forever. He has a great record of wisdom, and stories of discerning, and yet his Kingdom ended up, at the end of his life, torn in two and in a civil war, and it was credited to his loss of devotion to the God of the Hebrew people. The growth of his Kingdom brought with it wives as gifts from foreign treaties, and with them, a variety of pagan practices. He allowed his bucket to be filled with material gain, and it was said of him that once he built the Temple, there was little record of his faith practices. He counted on his Doings to show God favor, not on his Being.
When you are looking for affirmation because of what you do, this is telling yourself that you are only valuable on the condition of what you do. When you are seeking affirmation for who you are, genuinely a beloved child of God, seeking to fill your souls bucket up with the holy spirit, which seeks justice, and kindness and mercy, then you are saying that you are valuable unconditionally. And you can then be free to sigh, to love, to act, ~ to know what you don’t know and seek answers ~ to spontaneously love those who are different than you, and this brings about the Kingdom of heaven on earth!
Knowing that you are a valuable being is the proof of a discerning heart, knowing you are imperfect but precious, creates a spirit in you that can easily do the same for those who do not know this truth about themselves, yet. And this is our calling – to spread the Good News that there is no original sin, and we all have the capacity to BE loved!
Theologian Matthew Fox points out that "Jesus never heard of 'Original Sin.’ The term wasn't even used until the 4th century, so it's ‘strange to run a church, a gathering, an ekklesia - supposedly on behalf of Jesus - when one of its main dogmatic tenets, Original Sin, never occurred to Jesus.’ Sadly, Western Christianity is dependent on and chronically ‘attached to Original Sin - but what they're really attached to is St. Augustine. The fact is that most Westerners believe more in Augustine ... then they do in Jesus.’”
So, especially for us from the Stone-Campbell movement (where the Bible speaks, I speak where the Bible is silent, I am silent) we need to spread the joyous news that there is no original sin – and NOTHING can separate us from the love of God!!!! “[N]either death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We can fill our bucket with God not fear – we can BE instruments of Love on earth not Fear – when we strive to be upright in our hearts and know that we are loved!!! King David – so aptly named because it means Beloved - was not perfect, we all know this - but he knew he was loved, and he kept his heart open for God, and mercy and kindness. And we too are not perfect – but we do not have to be. We can live our lives in grace, doing what Jesus asks us to do, because we have the joy and the power of knowing the love we have to offer. For once we know whose we are, and have filled our souls buckets, we become like Christ and can then do what he asked of those who call themselves by his name.
Online there was an article by a theologian from Yale named Zack Hunt, and he wrote:
What does it actually mean to be a Christian? Is Christianity simply a belief system to be defended at all costs? A set of magic words to be prayed at an altar in order to avoid hell? Is all that matters our agreement to the right list of doctrines while condemning everyone who disagrees? Or is there more to being a Christian than that?
Have we perhaps misunderstood what Paul meant by “works”? Have we conflated his criticism of pharisaical legalism and religious ritual with a call to radical discipleship? In our righteous zeal to throw open the doors of salvation to all, have we perhaps forgotten that grace is costly? Not that we have to pay a price to receive it, but rather it is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ, which means living like Christ — and living like Christ is anything but cheap and easy.
All of this begs the question: in crying out “Sole fide [salvation by faith alone]!” for the past 500 hundreds years, have we somehow forgotten the equally important call to “Go and do likewise?”
Is a particular way of life essential to Christianity — and perhaps even to salvation itself — as Jesus seems to imply in Matthew 25? Or are the things we say we believe all that really matter both in the here and now and at the end of all things?
How we answer this question, how we understand the nature of Christianity and the demands Christ’s life does or does not place on our own, will determine not just the Church’s relationship to American politics, but the future of the Christianity itself for generations to come.
Today it is so important to spread the word that Jesus loves unconditionally and we are called to go and do likewise. Not one day can be wasted in judging and anger. Today we must see those around us and love them, for God loved us. In spite of the other’s religious, or political beliefs, in spite of the other’s psychological profile, in spite of any differences we may have with the other – we are loved unconditionally, and we need to find a way to let them know they are too. Because the contrary beliefs have been around so long, and are so entrenched, it will be a mighty work to overcome the poor teachings of some who use Jesus’ name to make others feel unworthy. We need to save his reputation by loving as he loved, and have no fear, because we know we can do it! Nothing, “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” AMEN!
Let us pray:
We come to you, Yahweh, God of ancient times, God in our present moments, and the future of our humanity. We come to you in humility, in the hope that you will see into our hearts and know that they are pure. We may fear some of our dark corners, but in essence, we so desire to know you and be with you – and to act in your spirit of mercy and hope, and love.
We know love, dear God, we have felt it. And even though there may be some pain in those memories, our hope is that the more we acknowledge your unconditional love in our lives, the more empowered we will be to go and do as your son told us. We can do, because through him we are.
We acknowledge those time where we have tried to legalize ourselves out of doing and argued over faith questions so as to be seen in favor. We confess that we would not feel the need to defend ourselves, if we knew we were being upright and filled with the knowledge of your affection.
Help that we will be the yeast in the bread for all that we can share and grow in justice and truth. Help that we will be able to compassionately share your grace in all that we do.
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2017.07.23 Faith Is Patience
Sermon: Romans 8:12-25
12So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. 18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
My mother’s mother, Grandma Gertrude Bedell ~ I think that was her legal name, “Grandma Bedell” ;-) ~ well, she was raised by a very British mother, so Grandma Bedell would send me little postcards every now and then reminding me of specific things like manners and morals and honorable ways to live. I remember to this day one of those cards, because it was maybe one of the hardest for me to live up to: “Patience is a virtue, Virtue is a grace, Put the two together, and make a pretty face.”
Patience ~ waiting in patience ~ what dilemmas there are in contemplating this word. It reminds me of the problematic serenity prayer, by American Theologian, the Rev. Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr
June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971. I say problematic, because there are some tricky parts to it. We know it from the AA meetings version: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.”
The full prayer is:
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.
For me, the tricky parts are feeling OK that we have enough wisdom to know when to act in Christ’s name and when to practice patience.
And what Grace I am thankful for, is that God knows my heart, and knows that my intensions are pure, he knows my struggle to act or not to act, and loves me for the struggle, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, God can act outside of me as well as through me. What is key is the conversations with ourselves and the living God! Are we thinking and listening and getting ready to act, if needed?
The Wisdom of creation is so immeasurable- there is just no way we can ever know enough in order to be 100% sure that we know the difference between when we need courage or serenity. We could live in constant confusion and self-doubt ~ ~ or we really could practice serenity. Because sometimes, it is during those patient moments, those serene, mind cleansing, moments, when we aren’t thinking about what is the next thing we have to do or be – sometimes, it is in those quiet moments when we are given the action we need to find the courage to do something about. It isn’t a chronological thing, first one than the other – sometimes the serenity comes first then the wisdom and then the courage . . . sometimes other ways around.
Patience is a vital part of so many world religions, psychology and philosophies! Because reacting from our ego based emotions creates chaos ~ serious, serious chaos. Without a common respect for the needs of others, without a societal baseline for what is ethical and moral and compassionate, we have chaos. We have people lying and cheating and attempting to manipulate reality to fit their own ego desires. This is why we have laws, this is why we have discovered that people agreeing and living under faith share words like, love and peace, and grace, and justice. Faith really is all about patience. Through faith we can listen to each other, desire to serve each other, hope for and to work together for heaven on earth as we idealize it, from our heritage of paradise. Patience is necessary for faith, it teaches us what to do in the name of God.
“19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.” I love this bit from the scripture. It is like the world is just waiting ~ and maybe not so patiently eagerly! Waiting for us! All of us here! To act what we claim!!! Waiting for us to feel the power and take the power and do the things that prove our inheritance.
In a Wikipedia article on Patience it points out that in the book “Human, All Too Human, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argued that "being able to wait is so hard that the greatest poets did not disdain to make the inability to wait the theme of their poetry." He notes that "Passion will not wait", and gives the example of cases of duels, in which the "advising friends have to determine whether the parties involved might be able to wait a while longer. If they cannot, then a duel is reasonable [because]...to wait would be to continue suffering the horrible torture of offended honor...".”
I think we all know this well enough. There is a great rush in a passionate response! And sometimes it is necessary. Jesus did not show patience in the temple when he whipped the money changers in the temple and called them thieves! They were just doing their jobs! They were legal jobs, doing a service for the people!!! But Jesus had a different view of what a temple should be, what faith should be, and this made him passionate.
And this is what the children of God should also be doing, passionately seeing the people and the needs around us and speaking up and acting in God’s name for who he truly is. Serenity is important in order to hear and know that what we speak and do is not from our own egos, but truly a blessing. But we are not to forget passion.
This is the glory of community, working together to harness our passions and then triumphantly going out into the world to show the world who God is! NOT WHO WE ALONE ARE! Although there is much to be proud of in being the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) ~ it isn’t this denomination, or this congregation – but God we are called to represent! And working our thoughts and plans together is what makes it focused on being God’s inheritance.
Perhaps, this is where patience is most important - and that is in community – in committees – in living with each other. Patience in listening from each other and not jumping to some reaction based on your own experiences, but listening and sharing, not demanding, but sharing our experiences and being willing to work with each other even if the idea the committee is working on is not your favorite. It is the HOPE that needs to be protected and nurtured over all things!
Aaaannnnnndddd . . . . Speaking of committees . . . . yes, I have just slipped into the preparation for the Congregational planning session after worship. Because I really think the planning is something everyone can and should be a part of! YOUR voice and experiences are vital to this community. Dreaming together, even sharing together what was once done that you may have missed, and working together is what makes us the family of God.
Just so you will know what to expect when you come downstairs, you will see on the tables a piece of paper for every month from August 2017 through July 2018. On each month will be things that were done last year, or in previous years, and they are color coded for which committee was responsible for them. At a certain point, you will be asked to look them over, and see if there is anything we have overlooked. And if you have an idea to add to one of the months, feel free to add them! You may not, however, cross anything off. This is a brainstorming act that has no right or wrong answers! And there is an additional sheet, called “Other Possibilities” for ideas that do not fit in a particular month!
If, in looking around the year, you see a committee you want to be a part of - there are lists of committees, with who the chairs are, and who is on that committee so far, and you are welcome to put your names n that list! If there is only one task that you are interested in, you are welcome to put your name on the committee that does that task and write, “Just for____”. Also, we are hoping to start up a DWF and DMF, so if you might want to be a part of those, there are signup sheets for those!
We will go downstairs, President Swim will pray, and then you will hear from me and Susan Thomas of our experiences in Indianapolis, and then we can begin the brainstorming process. At the end, the results will be collated and when the committees next meet, then they can take all this glorious, vibrant, exciting information and decide if, how, when, the ideas will be used, and the results from those meetings will be the 2017-2018 planning.
So, in closing I want to make one more important point about our scripture for today, and it is derived from these sentences: “15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
Paul was speaking to the people in Rome. These were Jews, non-Jews, slaves, free, from various social strata, in the city where the Emperor called himself the son of God, and therefore his bloodline was also godly, and no one else dared to call themselves that. Paul telling these people that they could claim the same right to be children of GOD – call him Abba! Father! - This was radical! Revolutionary! It was to empower those who knew and loved Jesus to act in his name. And in this there is great hope for the suffering and the pain and the injustice of this earth to be overcome! Because when the power is hierarchical – from the top down, it stays in the corrupt ego based, chaos zone!!! When communities of compassionate followers of Christ go out into the street and say, “God is grace! Let me prove it to you in action and deed!” THAT is when true hope is lasting.
Rev. David M. Greenhaw, UCC President of Eden Theological Seminary and Professor of Preaching and Worship wrote:
Patience is not the same things as acquiescence. Patience in this sense is not satisfied with the present, but lives toward a future promised by God . . . Hope fuels an imagination for the way things ought to be. Hope – hope for things that are not yet but are promised to us – empowers the one who hopes to confront the evils of this age, knowing their way is not the final way. The one who hopes is inspired to work in the present for things to get better in the present. In fact, the word “inspired” literally means “to have the spirit.”
May we have the spirit – and be inspired to hope – for this church – for this community – for this world – for the love of God, as his children and heirs!
Let us pray,
Dear Abba! We are so grateful to call you our own. For all of the weaknesses and imperfections with earthly fathers, we see you as being our inspiration on earth. We pray that our actions will be powerfully done in your name. That we will try to second guess our egos, and patiently work together for the hope of the world.
We can be tired, we can be grumpy, we can be living out our disappointments with life as our main personality traits, but in you, and in the love we find in this community, we find hope. And it is that hope that gives us the energy and desire we need.
May we seek solutions to problems, not problems for every solution. May we seek to hear and appreciate the ideas of our neighbors and not insist on our own ways. Help us to never discourage the hope and joy in another being, but to sacrifice our fatigue and irritability for the hope of the world.
May we practice patience with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with the world, so that we can then, through the power of God, speak and act most efficiently, together. Anger can have its uses, but only when it is controlled and channeled through wise actions. So let us practice patience in faith, that we do not create chaos, but channel the desire for a return to paradise, where we walk in peace with the universe and see God in all we meet.
Sermon: Romans 8:12-25
12So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. 18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
My mother’s mother, Grandma Gertrude Bedell ~ I think that was her legal name, “Grandma Bedell” ;-) ~ well, she was raised by a very British mother, so Grandma Bedell would send me little postcards every now and then reminding me of specific things like manners and morals and honorable ways to live. I remember to this day one of those cards, because it was maybe one of the hardest for me to live up to: “Patience is a virtue, Virtue is a grace, Put the two together, and make a pretty face.”
Patience ~ waiting in patience ~ what dilemmas there are in contemplating this word. It reminds me of the problematic serenity prayer, by American Theologian, the Rev. Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr
June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971. I say problematic, because there are some tricky parts to it. We know it from the AA meetings version: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.”
The full prayer is:
God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.
For me, the tricky parts are feeling OK that we have enough wisdom to know when to act in Christ’s name and when to practice patience.
And what Grace I am thankful for, is that God knows my heart, and knows that my intensions are pure, he knows my struggle to act or not to act, and loves me for the struggle, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, God can act outside of me as well as through me. What is key is the conversations with ourselves and the living God! Are we thinking and listening and getting ready to act, if needed?
The Wisdom of creation is so immeasurable- there is just no way we can ever know enough in order to be 100% sure that we know the difference between when we need courage or serenity. We could live in constant confusion and self-doubt ~ ~ or we really could practice serenity. Because sometimes, it is during those patient moments, those serene, mind cleansing, moments, when we aren’t thinking about what is the next thing we have to do or be – sometimes, it is in those quiet moments when we are given the action we need to find the courage to do something about. It isn’t a chronological thing, first one than the other – sometimes the serenity comes first then the wisdom and then the courage . . . sometimes other ways around.
Patience is a vital part of so many world religions, psychology and philosophies! Because reacting from our ego based emotions creates chaos ~ serious, serious chaos. Without a common respect for the needs of others, without a societal baseline for what is ethical and moral and compassionate, we have chaos. We have people lying and cheating and attempting to manipulate reality to fit their own ego desires. This is why we have laws, this is why we have discovered that people agreeing and living under faith share words like, love and peace, and grace, and justice. Faith really is all about patience. Through faith we can listen to each other, desire to serve each other, hope for and to work together for heaven on earth as we idealize it, from our heritage of paradise. Patience is necessary for faith, it teaches us what to do in the name of God.
“19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.” I love this bit from the scripture. It is like the world is just waiting ~ and maybe not so patiently eagerly! Waiting for us! All of us here! To act what we claim!!! Waiting for us to feel the power and take the power and do the things that prove our inheritance.
In a Wikipedia article on Patience it points out that in the book “Human, All Too Human, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche argued that "being able to wait is so hard that the greatest poets did not disdain to make the inability to wait the theme of their poetry." He notes that "Passion will not wait", and gives the example of cases of duels, in which the "advising friends have to determine whether the parties involved might be able to wait a while longer. If they cannot, then a duel is reasonable [because]...to wait would be to continue suffering the horrible torture of offended honor...".”
I think we all know this well enough. There is a great rush in a passionate response! And sometimes it is necessary. Jesus did not show patience in the temple when he whipped the money changers in the temple and called them thieves! They were just doing their jobs! They were legal jobs, doing a service for the people!!! But Jesus had a different view of what a temple should be, what faith should be, and this made him passionate.
And this is what the children of God should also be doing, passionately seeing the people and the needs around us and speaking up and acting in God’s name for who he truly is. Serenity is important in order to hear and know that what we speak and do is not from our own egos, but truly a blessing. But we are not to forget passion.
This is the glory of community, working together to harness our passions and then triumphantly going out into the world to show the world who God is! NOT WHO WE ALONE ARE! Although there is much to be proud of in being the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) ~ it isn’t this denomination, or this congregation – but God we are called to represent! And working our thoughts and plans together is what makes it focused on being God’s inheritance.
Perhaps, this is where patience is most important - and that is in community – in committees – in living with each other. Patience in listening from each other and not jumping to some reaction based on your own experiences, but listening and sharing, not demanding, but sharing our experiences and being willing to work with each other even if the idea the committee is working on is not your favorite. It is the HOPE that needs to be protected and nurtured over all things!
Aaaannnnnndddd . . . . Speaking of committees . . . . yes, I have just slipped into the preparation for the Congregational planning session after worship. Because I really think the planning is something everyone can and should be a part of! YOUR voice and experiences are vital to this community. Dreaming together, even sharing together what was once done that you may have missed, and working together is what makes us the family of God.
Just so you will know what to expect when you come downstairs, you will see on the tables a piece of paper for every month from August 2017 through July 2018. On each month will be things that were done last year, or in previous years, and they are color coded for which committee was responsible for them. At a certain point, you will be asked to look them over, and see if there is anything we have overlooked. And if you have an idea to add to one of the months, feel free to add them! You may not, however, cross anything off. This is a brainstorming act that has no right or wrong answers! And there is an additional sheet, called “Other Possibilities” for ideas that do not fit in a particular month!
If, in looking around the year, you see a committee you want to be a part of - there are lists of committees, with who the chairs are, and who is on that committee so far, and you are welcome to put your names n that list! If there is only one task that you are interested in, you are welcome to put your name on the committee that does that task and write, “Just for____”. Also, we are hoping to start up a DWF and DMF, so if you might want to be a part of those, there are signup sheets for those!
We will go downstairs, President Swim will pray, and then you will hear from me and Susan Thomas of our experiences in Indianapolis, and then we can begin the brainstorming process. At the end, the results will be collated and when the committees next meet, then they can take all this glorious, vibrant, exciting information and decide if, how, when, the ideas will be used, and the results from those meetings will be the 2017-2018 planning.
So, in closing I want to make one more important point about our scripture for today, and it is derived from these sentences: “15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”
Paul was speaking to the people in Rome. These were Jews, non-Jews, slaves, free, from various social strata, in the city where the Emperor called himself the son of God, and therefore his bloodline was also godly, and no one else dared to call themselves that. Paul telling these people that they could claim the same right to be children of GOD – call him Abba! Father! - This was radical! Revolutionary! It was to empower those who knew and loved Jesus to act in his name. And in this there is great hope for the suffering and the pain and the injustice of this earth to be overcome! Because when the power is hierarchical – from the top down, it stays in the corrupt ego based, chaos zone!!! When communities of compassionate followers of Christ go out into the street and say, “God is grace! Let me prove it to you in action and deed!” THAT is when true hope is lasting.
Rev. David M. Greenhaw, UCC President of Eden Theological Seminary and Professor of Preaching and Worship wrote:
Patience is not the same things as acquiescence. Patience in this sense is not satisfied with the present, but lives toward a future promised by God . . . Hope fuels an imagination for the way things ought to be. Hope – hope for things that are not yet but are promised to us – empowers the one who hopes to confront the evils of this age, knowing their way is not the final way. The one who hopes is inspired to work in the present for things to get better in the present. In fact, the word “inspired” literally means “to have the spirit.”
May we have the spirit – and be inspired to hope – for this church – for this community – for this world – for the love of God, as his children and heirs!
Let us pray,
Dear Abba! We are so grateful to call you our own. For all of the weaknesses and imperfections with earthly fathers, we see you as being our inspiration on earth. We pray that our actions will be powerfully done in your name. That we will try to second guess our egos, and patiently work together for the hope of the world.
We can be tired, we can be grumpy, we can be living out our disappointments with life as our main personality traits, but in you, and in the love we find in this community, we find hope. And it is that hope that gives us the energy and desire we need.
May we seek solutions to problems, not problems for every solution. May we seek to hear and appreciate the ideas of our neighbors and not insist on our own ways. Help us to never discourage the hope and joy in another being, but to sacrifice our fatigue and irritability for the hope of the world.
May we practice patience with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with the world, so that we can then, through the power of God, speak and act most efficiently, together. Anger can have its uses, but only when it is controlled and channeled through wise actions. So let us practice patience in faith, that we do not create chaos, but channel the desire for a return to paradise, where we walk in peace with the universe and see God in all we meet.
2017.07.16 To Set Something In Motion
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9Let anyone with ears listen!” 18“Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
I believe that one of the many reasons why the “Jesus Movement” developed into a world religion is because Jesus had a way of sharing these stories, these parables, which meant so much and travelled into the souls of the hearers on so very many different levels. Such is the Power of analogies! We can spend centuries relating to this one simple story, and it resonates with us differently with each telling. Just as Jesus has a way of being here with us, exactly as we need him for every moment of our lives!
This story, for me, is a story about stories . . . and how we care for them. Let us say that the seeds – which comes to be revealed as being “the word” – let us say that the word is God, and God is grace. How do we react to sowing grace in the world around us? How do we sow, and how do we receive what is sown? Because I have witnessed, so often, that many people, who need the love, mercy, grace of God, can put up barriers so quick ~ as though they feel a drive to deny they are deserving in some way. Or maybe they feel that anything free cannot be of value.
I am guessing there are numerous reasons why we cut ourselves out of receiving the word from God that we are tremendously valuable; I am simply making the observation that this happens. Because observing such things, has a way of awakening us to the truth, and gives us the POSSIBLITY to change. You can’t change anything until you can be aware of it. So let me just put this out there – Many (MOST?) of us are in denial of how precious we are, which sets in motion a system of valuing others on the human scale of worth, which is deadly for the growth of understanding the love of God.
We have been taught that Grace and worth are only for those who are perfect, and project happiness and sanity and are valuable for the community. So if we are a bit confused, or messy, or have a different sort of intelligence than what the academic system weighs us by, we will get the message from the world that our seed is not that good. Then we are engrained in a system of judging each other, not so much a system of loving each other. This creates groups – those who gather together to reinforce that our particular type of difference is better than another type of difference, and our world becomes polarized.
How we observe the word that God loves, is how we share the word. And if we observe with limitations, then we share with limitations. And it becomes harder and harder to set God’s love into this world for everyone.
The theme of the 2017 General Assembly in Indianapolis was “ONE”. And I must say it did a very good job of setting forth the consistent vision of unity, which has been the polar star of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since its inception. It was a beautiful experience, because for those hours we were taken away from the outside world, and got to practice loving each other, breaking social barriers which we may have been brought up in. LGBTQ, Immigration, Race, Classism, Ageism, these and more were all issues focused on during our time there and we could all be made aware of the problems and sensitized to these people and their need for support. It was a little bit of heaven for a while. It was good to be church. There was love actively sown.
Then we would go back to our hotel rooms and turn on the news – and the shock of reality seemed unbearable. You can understand a bit more how the Israelites felt. “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” And in a way, for spiritual people, the whole world is a strange land. Which is why this image that Jesus gave us, of sowing seeds, is so important.
Because we can only give forth the hope of compassion, by enacting compassion, praying that the little we can do today, will grow greatly. Another parable Jesus told was of the small mustard seed, which grew into a great big bush. Or when we look at our grown children and remember when they were so tiny they fit into our bellies! We have so much hope for every small act of love and grace, and we cannot give up that hope. We set something in motion every time we become aware of God, of grace, of love, of compassion – or the need of any of these things.
Being aware and sensitized to bigotry sets into motion the desire to teach and defend, and show kindness those whose souls are being abused. Just as planting and caring for a seed is to set into motion the desire for that to grow into its destined plant, what we set into motion from ourselves into the world, puts into actions the desire for justice and grace to grow.
So, seeing our actions as seeds of God being sown through us, we are being asked by Jesus conscientiously live our lives looking for those moments when we can act in his way, being sensitive to the separation that we humans have made for ourselves, and attempt to bring us closer together, to make us one in love. We do so by speaking out against inequality! Do only the wealthy deserve the best health care? Do only white Anglo-Saxon Protestants deserve humane and just treatment by the judicial system? Do only men deserve to be in positions of power? I would venture to say everyone here can agree that the answers would be no to these obvious questions. Yet, this has only come about because somewhere back in history, when the answer wasn’t so obvious, more and more people received the seeds of truth and they grew into an obvious truth today.
I have grasped onto the idea of seeds being strewn in contrast to seeds being planted. It just feels different . . . carefully digging a little hole, planning the seed, covering it up gently . . . than dancing through life strewing. We rarely have such a controlled life that we can carefully plant seeds of justice and compassion, but there are definitely times and places where we can do so. But most of our human interactions call for us to be prepared to just throw out the love and truth as best we can, as we live our lives amongst other humans. Sometimes we need to be ready to act without pausing, and this comes with practice.
Perhaps awaiting until the most appropriate and careful time to share God’s love, is the best way to do it, but we can’t make people receive it, just as God cannot make us love him. There is a joy in giving our souls freely and receiving awareness which God would not want us to miss out on, therefore God does not demand it. Love and grace go so well together, not so much love and force.
Let us pray, God, who is called by so many names: Wisdom, Grace, Compassion, Justice, Love, Truth, Beauty, Righteousness . . . May we seek to live into all those names ourselves, for as we seek - we find, and we pray that as we find and become those names, we set things in motion in this world, which can shock us in all the ways it is not you. May we sow your heavenly power in to this world .
Help us to not numb ourselves to the lack of you, and to be strengthened in our ability to create oneness. For in unity there is the greatest power, and unity in you is a power that is not destructive, but uplifting and glorious and indestructible.
Dear God, who is called by so many names, through all aspects of you we wish to live ~ so that your word of Good News and JOY may spread, for in this we hope. Sometimes what we witness seems so discouraging, may we hold tight to those memories of communion, and believe in this truth, that it may overpower all the darkness, for moments of light and joy and love are more true than any sadness and despair this earth can give.
Thank you for the services of all those here who have participated in your worship, and we pray your blessings upon our new General Minister and President, Rev. Dr. Teresa Hord Owens, may we all live into our calling for unity – may we all seek to be ONE with each other and with you.
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9Let anyone with ears listen!” 18“Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
I believe that one of the many reasons why the “Jesus Movement” developed into a world religion is because Jesus had a way of sharing these stories, these parables, which meant so much and travelled into the souls of the hearers on so very many different levels. Such is the Power of analogies! We can spend centuries relating to this one simple story, and it resonates with us differently with each telling. Just as Jesus has a way of being here with us, exactly as we need him for every moment of our lives!
This story, for me, is a story about stories . . . and how we care for them. Let us say that the seeds – which comes to be revealed as being “the word” – let us say that the word is God, and God is grace. How do we react to sowing grace in the world around us? How do we sow, and how do we receive what is sown? Because I have witnessed, so often, that many people, who need the love, mercy, grace of God, can put up barriers so quick ~ as though they feel a drive to deny they are deserving in some way. Or maybe they feel that anything free cannot be of value.
I am guessing there are numerous reasons why we cut ourselves out of receiving the word from God that we are tremendously valuable; I am simply making the observation that this happens. Because observing such things, has a way of awakening us to the truth, and gives us the POSSIBLITY to change. You can’t change anything until you can be aware of it. So let me just put this out there – Many (MOST?) of us are in denial of how precious we are, which sets in motion a system of valuing others on the human scale of worth, which is deadly for the growth of understanding the love of God.
We have been taught that Grace and worth are only for those who are perfect, and project happiness and sanity and are valuable for the community. So if we are a bit confused, or messy, or have a different sort of intelligence than what the academic system weighs us by, we will get the message from the world that our seed is not that good. Then we are engrained in a system of judging each other, not so much a system of loving each other. This creates groups – those who gather together to reinforce that our particular type of difference is better than another type of difference, and our world becomes polarized.
How we observe the word that God loves, is how we share the word. And if we observe with limitations, then we share with limitations. And it becomes harder and harder to set God’s love into this world for everyone.
The theme of the 2017 General Assembly in Indianapolis was “ONE”. And I must say it did a very good job of setting forth the consistent vision of unity, which has been the polar star of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since its inception. It was a beautiful experience, because for those hours we were taken away from the outside world, and got to practice loving each other, breaking social barriers which we may have been brought up in. LGBTQ, Immigration, Race, Classism, Ageism, these and more were all issues focused on during our time there and we could all be made aware of the problems and sensitized to these people and their need for support. It was a little bit of heaven for a while. It was good to be church. There was love actively sown.
Then we would go back to our hotel rooms and turn on the news – and the shock of reality seemed unbearable. You can understand a bit more how the Israelites felt. “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” And in a way, for spiritual people, the whole world is a strange land. Which is why this image that Jesus gave us, of sowing seeds, is so important.
Because we can only give forth the hope of compassion, by enacting compassion, praying that the little we can do today, will grow greatly. Another parable Jesus told was of the small mustard seed, which grew into a great big bush. Or when we look at our grown children and remember when they were so tiny they fit into our bellies! We have so much hope for every small act of love and grace, and we cannot give up that hope. We set something in motion every time we become aware of God, of grace, of love, of compassion – or the need of any of these things.
Being aware and sensitized to bigotry sets into motion the desire to teach and defend, and show kindness those whose souls are being abused. Just as planting and caring for a seed is to set into motion the desire for that to grow into its destined plant, what we set into motion from ourselves into the world, puts into actions the desire for justice and grace to grow.
So, seeing our actions as seeds of God being sown through us, we are being asked by Jesus conscientiously live our lives looking for those moments when we can act in his way, being sensitive to the separation that we humans have made for ourselves, and attempt to bring us closer together, to make us one in love. We do so by speaking out against inequality! Do only the wealthy deserve the best health care? Do only white Anglo-Saxon Protestants deserve humane and just treatment by the judicial system? Do only men deserve to be in positions of power? I would venture to say everyone here can agree that the answers would be no to these obvious questions. Yet, this has only come about because somewhere back in history, when the answer wasn’t so obvious, more and more people received the seeds of truth and they grew into an obvious truth today.
I have grasped onto the idea of seeds being strewn in contrast to seeds being planted. It just feels different . . . carefully digging a little hole, planning the seed, covering it up gently . . . than dancing through life strewing. We rarely have such a controlled life that we can carefully plant seeds of justice and compassion, but there are definitely times and places where we can do so. But most of our human interactions call for us to be prepared to just throw out the love and truth as best we can, as we live our lives amongst other humans. Sometimes we need to be ready to act without pausing, and this comes with practice.
Perhaps awaiting until the most appropriate and careful time to share God’s love, is the best way to do it, but we can’t make people receive it, just as God cannot make us love him. There is a joy in giving our souls freely and receiving awareness which God would not want us to miss out on, therefore God does not demand it. Love and grace go so well together, not so much love and force.
Let us pray, God, who is called by so many names: Wisdom, Grace, Compassion, Justice, Love, Truth, Beauty, Righteousness . . . May we seek to live into all those names ourselves, for as we seek - we find, and we pray that as we find and become those names, we set things in motion in this world, which can shock us in all the ways it is not you. May we sow your heavenly power in to this world .
Help us to not numb ourselves to the lack of you, and to be strengthened in our ability to create oneness. For in unity there is the greatest power, and unity in you is a power that is not destructive, but uplifting and glorious and indestructible.
Dear God, who is called by so many names, through all aspects of you we wish to live ~ so that your word of Good News and JOY may spread, for in this we hope. Sometimes what we witness seems so discouraging, may we hold tight to those memories of communion, and believe in this truth, that it may overpower all the darkness, for moments of light and joy and love are more true than any sadness and despair this earth can give.
Thank you for the services of all those here who have participated in your worship, and we pray your blessings upon our new General Minister and President, Rev. Dr. Teresa Hord Owens, may we all live into our calling for unity – may we all seek to be ONE with each other and with you.
2017-07-09 Through The Eyes Of A Child Paul Semisch
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’
At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
The Spirit of God speaks to the church....
I absolutely love spending time with my two 5-year nephews, Paul & Timmy. To spend time with them is to enter another world: a world of creativity, spontaneity and imagination—a world where playtime is serious business: they approach play with the earnestness and intensity which most adults reserve for work! It never fails to amaze me how Paul & Timmy can create an entire world of play with whatever they happen to have in front of them: a cardboard box, a plastic shovel or a pile of dirt! Whether we are playing Superman in the backyard or hide-n-seek around the house, Paul & Timmy are fully focused on the present moment, enjoying their play with a seemingly endless amount of energy and enthusiasm.
I find that, during my time with them, it is quite easy to forget about the other stresses and anxieties which normally occupy my mind. Somehow, they are able to pull me out of my own little world and bring me into the present moment with them. They are not concerned about yesterday or worried about tomorrow---their full energy and focus is in the present. They are not at all concerned about how much money I make, how many degrees I have, how my retirement account is fairing or what the value of my home is. They are curious, open and completely trusting that the adults in their lives love them and will take care of them. They have a natural wonder about the world around them---wanting to see more and experience more.
I found myself thinking a lot about Timmy and Paul as I was preparing today’s sermon. On the surface, today’s gospel reading from Matthew doesn’t sound particularly challenging or countercultural. In fact, parts of it sound quite comforting: “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest….for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” Sounds wonderful!
But, if we listen deeply, we hear some pretty strong words from Jesus. Jesus throws something of a curveball to his listeners when he announces that the riches and treasures of the Kingdom of God have been “hidden from the wise and the intelligent and revealed to infants”. That’s right: the deepest treasures and mysteries of the Kingdom of God are revealed—not to the most learned, educated or theologically sophisticated, not to those who have the most degrees or credentials---but to the most vulnerable and dependent among us, to infants and children. Think about that for a moment: WHY would God do that? Why would God entrust the deepest of truths to mere infants? As He has done at other times in the Gospels, Jesus makes it abundantly clear to us that God does not think, judge and value the way we do. Once again, Jesus turns our way of thinking upside down.
And, this is not the only place in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus holds children up as an example of what WE are called to become:
I know that this message may be hard to hear. As adults, we don’t often think of children as models for how we should think, behave and conduct ourselves. After all, how many of us grew up as children hearing some variation of the words: “Grow up!” or “Act your age!” or “Stop acting like a baby!”?
I remember, as a child, wanting to act like a grownup and wanting to be treated and respected a grownup. I would mimic my parent’s behavior and mannerisms in an attempt to feel grown up! And, yet, ironically, as an adult now, I find myself wanting to recapture some of the openness and curiosity of my youth. I find that----and I am sure that most, if not all, of you will agree with me here---as we get older and more firmly entrenched in our belief systems and values, we sometimes find it harder to be genuinely open to new viewpoints and perspectives, to be open to the new and unexpected, to have our opinions challenged and our worldview questioned. We may find it easier to dismiss perspectives and even people who do not agree with our own beliefs and, dare I say, prejudices. I find myself wanting to return to some of those qualities which Jesus must have been thinking about when he talked about children as heirs to the Kingdom of God.
So, what are these qualities that Jesus is inviting us to think about and emulate in our lives? I invite you to think for a moment about some of the best, most beautiful qualities you find in little children:
Now, let’s be clear: Jesus is not calling us to be “childish”, to regress to behaviors and ways of thinking based on helplessness and naivete. Jesus is calling us to be “childlike”, to live with a purity and simplicity of spirit and heart that can so often be found in the little ones among us, to live in a way that shows our total confidence in God’s care and love.
***************************************************************************
You have heard me say before something that I learned in seminary: a good sermon should speak to the MIND, the HEART and the HANDS. It should give us something to THINK about, something to PRAY about and something to ACT on. Jesus’ simple, yet powerful words give us plenty to think about today. Each of us is called to live in a way that exemplifies a childlike spirit: a spirit of trust, hope, acceptance, wonder, attentiveness to the present moment and openness. It sounds almost countercultural, doesn’t it?
So, how do we cultivate these beautiful qualities in our lives as disciples of Jesus? I would challenge each of us to find some way today, this week to get in touch with that childlike spirit, to open ourselves to God’s presence and Spirit in the here and now: watch a sunrise or sunset with joy and gratitude, play with a child and really enter into their world, slowly savor a delicious meal or dessert, deeply listen to your favorite piece of music, take a leisurely walk with your dog. Each of these is a simple way to encounter God in the here and now, to experience joy and gratitude in the simplest of ways. Find a way in which you can reconnect with that simplicity of spirit, that joy which is able to find God in the here and now, that trust which reminds us that we are never, ever separated from the love of God. Then find a way to make this practice, however small, a part of your daily life.
**************************************************************************** Make no mistake about it: today’s gospel presents us with a challenge: Jesus is calling us to learn a different way of seeing, a different way of thinking and valuing. And, that’s hard to do. We live in a world where it seems that the most intelligent, the most accomplished, the most aggressive are the ones who get ahead, the ones who “have it all”. Can we, as adults, really allow ourselves to embody the qualities and spirit of a child? Can we really allow ourselves to see and experience life through the eyes of a child again?
We ignore Jesus’ words today at our own peril. As much as ever, our world needs the witness of disciples who are willing to embody the gifts of a child, who are willing to live in a way that shows the world that God’s love is within us and all around us. It is by no means an easy task, but we have complete hope and trust that we do not undertake this journey by ourselves. As sons and daughters of a loving God, let us confidently place ourselves in God’s compassionate, never-failing care. And let us look to the “little ones” among us to teach us how to open ourselves more fully to the wonders of our God.
Thanks be to God!
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’
At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
The Spirit of God speaks to the church....
I absolutely love spending time with my two 5-year nephews, Paul & Timmy. To spend time with them is to enter another world: a world of creativity, spontaneity and imagination—a world where playtime is serious business: they approach play with the earnestness and intensity which most adults reserve for work! It never fails to amaze me how Paul & Timmy can create an entire world of play with whatever they happen to have in front of them: a cardboard box, a plastic shovel or a pile of dirt! Whether we are playing Superman in the backyard or hide-n-seek around the house, Paul & Timmy are fully focused on the present moment, enjoying their play with a seemingly endless amount of energy and enthusiasm.
I find that, during my time with them, it is quite easy to forget about the other stresses and anxieties which normally occupy my mind. Somehow, they are able to pull me out of my own little world and bring me into the present moment with them. They are not concerned about yesterday or worried about tomorrow---their full energy and focus is in the present. They are not at all concerned about how much money I make, how many degrees I have, how my retirement account is fairing or what the value of my home is. They are curious, open and completely trusting that the adults in their lives love them and will take care of them. They have a natural wonder about the world around them---wanting to see more and experience more.
I found myself thinking a lot about Timmy and Paul as I was preparing today’s sermon. On the surface, today’s gospel reading from Matthew doesn’t sound particularly challenging or countercultural. In fact, parts of it sound quite comforting: “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest….for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” Sounds wonderful!
But, if we listen deeply, we hear some pretty strong words from Jesus. Jesus throws something of a curveball to his listeners when he announces that the riches and treasures of the Kingdom of God have been “hidden from the wise and the intelligent and revealed to infants”. That’s right: the deepest treasures and mysteries of the Kingdom of God are revealed—not to the most learned, educated or theologically sophisticated, not to those who have the most degrees or credentials---but to the most vulnerable and dependent among us, to infants and children. Think about that for a moment: WHY would God do that? Why would God entrust the deepest of truths to mere infants? As He has done at other times in the Gospels, Jesus makes it abundantly clear to us that God does not think, judge and value the way we do. Once again, Jesus turns our way of thinking upside down.
And, this is not the only place in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus holds children up as an example of what WE are called to become:
- In Matthew 18:24, Jesus talks about who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
- In Matthew 19:14, Jesus blesses the little children, saying: “Let the children come to me…for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
I know that this message may be hard to hear. As adults, we don’t often think of children as models for how we should think, behave and conduct ourselves. After all, how many of us grew up as children hearing some variation of the words: “Grow up!” or “Act your age!” or “Stop acting like a baby!”?
I remember, as a child, wanting to act like a grownup and wanting to be treated and respected a grownup. I would mimic my parent’s behavior and mannerisms in an attempt to feel grown up! And, yet, ironically, as an adult now, I find myself wanting to recapture some of the openness and curiosity of my youth. I find that----and I am sure that most, if not all, of you will agree with me here---as we get older and more firmly entrenched in our belief systems and values, we sometimes find it harder to be genuinely open to new viewpoints and perspectives, to be open to the new and unexpected, to have our opinions challenged and our worldview questioned. We may find it easier to dismiss perspectives and even people who do not agree with our own beliefs and, dare I say, prejudices. I find myself wanting to return to some of those qualities which Jesus must have been thinking about when he talked about children as heirs to the Kingdom of God.
So, what are these qualities that Jesus is inviting us to think about and emulate in our lives? I invite you to think for a moment about some of the best, most beautiful qualities you find in little children:
- A sense of wonder, curiosity, openness about things both big and small
- A willingness to be vulnerable and dependent upon others: little children have no illusions about self-sufficiency but trust that they are cared for. Have you ever seen a child crawl into their parent’s arms or lap and fall sound asleep?
- An ability to accept people as they are, without regard to race, socioeconomic status, education level or any of the other categories and labels we use to define and divide ourselves
- An ability to be present to the moment without getting tangled up in worries about the past or future
- And, finally, an ability to be open to life as it presents itself without the filters, biases and prejudices which fill our thought patterns as we get older.
Now, let’s be clear: Jesus is not calling us to be “childish”, to regress to behaviors and ways of thinking based on helplessness and naivete. Jesus is calling us to be “childlike”, to live with a purity and simplicity of spirit and heart that can so often be found in the little ones among us, to live in a way that shows our total confidence in God’s care and love.
***************************************************************************
You have heard me say before something that I learned in seminary: a good sermon should speak to the MIND, the HEART and the HANDS. It should give us something to THINK about, something to PRAY about and something to ACT on. Jesus’ simple, yet powerful words give us plenty to think about today. Each of us is called to live in a way that exemplifies a childlike spirit: a spirit of trust, hope, acceptance, wonder, attentiveness to the present moment and openness. It sounds almost countercultural, doesn’t it?
So, how do we cultivate these beautiful qualities in our lives as disciples of Jesus? I would challenge each of us to find some way today, this week to get in touch with that childlike spirit, to open ourselves to God’s presence and Spirit in the here and now: watch a sunrise or sunset with joy and gratitude, play with a child and really enter into their world, slowly savor a delicious meal or dessert, deeply listen to your favorite piece of music, take a leisurely walk with your dog. Each of these is a simple way to encounter God in the here and now, to experience joy and gratitude in the simplest of ways. Find a way in which you can reconnect with that simplicity of spirit, that joy which is able to find God in the here and now, that trust which reminds us that we are never, ever separated from the love of God. Then find a way to make this practice, however small, a part of your daily life.
**************************************************************************** Make no mistake about it: today’s gospel presents us with a challenge: Jesus is calling us to learn a different way of seeing, a different way of thinking and valuing. And, that’s hard to do. We live in a world where it seems that the most intelligent, the most accomplished, the most aggressive are the ones who get ahead, the ones who “have it all”. Can we, as adults, really allow ourselves to embody the qualities and spirit of a child? Can we really allow ourselves to see and experience life through the eyes of a child again?
We ignore Jesus’ words today at our own peril. As much as ever, our world needs the witness of disciples who are willing to embody the gifts of a child, who are willing to live in a way that shows the world that God’s love is within us and all around us. It is by no means an easy task, but we have complete hope and trust that we do not undertake this journey by ourselves. As sons and daughters of a loving God, let us confidently place ourselves in God’s compassionate, never-failing care. And let us look to the “little ones” among us to teach us how to open ourselves more fully to the wonders of our God.
Thanks be to God!
2017-07-02 Receiving Life
Matthew 10:40-42
40“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
The Spirit of God speaks to the church . . .
In my preparations for this sermon, as I am want to do, I referred to that small red pocket sized book which I use for meditation and once actually carry around in my purse all the time! Of course, I am referring to my dictionary. In the beginning was the word and it was good, and so words are wonders to behold! I looked up the word “welcome” and discovered a bounty of other words to look up!
Definitions of welcome or welcomed; welcoming being the transitive verb: 1: to greet hospitably and with courtesy or cordiality 2: to accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence of. I loved this second definition. Because the first definition seems like something someone is trained to do as a social practice – not so much an internal, spiritual practice; but the second definition has that wonderful word, “Accept” in it! To accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence – I welcome change – I accept change! I welcome – I accept the presence of something feel more like an internal way of living which, I believe is closer to what Christ is referring to – living in such a way as to even desire changes in who and what we welcome!
Definitions of accept include things like: to receive something ~ accept a gift; to be given approval ~ accepted into a group; for those who do woodworking – “to be able to take something” [a surface that will accept a stain]; to endure without protest or reaction ~ “to accept poor living conditions”; to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable ~ “an idea that is widely accepted”; to recognize as true or to believe ~ “he refused to accept the explanation” . . . and there are more definitions of the word accept! Each time we hear accept, we have another nuance on the word WELCOME.
In a strange way, it seems that in many cases, what we accept is what we welcome, and in light of some of those definitions Christians need to maybe think again about what is happening around us. Because sometimes, what we accept is the opposite of being welcoming to each other. Do we accept that some people deserve one standard of living that other’s do not. Do we accept that it is OK for people to be discriminated against for their race or religion? I think we could all say these forms of acceptance are not Christian. To accept a human as a child of God would not allow us to discriminate on the basis of income, education, ethnicity or religion. I believe that on this Independence day weekend, we could say discrimination is un-American – in principle, if not in practice.
The first definition of accept is to receive something. To welcome can mean to receive – to be open, to accept someone or something with pleasure. And we are told by Jesus that to welcome others is to welcome Him, our Christ. The pleasure of receiving Christ and the pleasure of receiving each other . . . it is receiving life to its fullest, most abundant possibilities!
I think many of us have seen the commercial from Gayle King when she talks about being asked by the cerebral palsy foundation on how to start up a chat with someone with disabilities, and she said, “How ‘bout this: ‘Hey! What’s up?! How ya doin’? Best of all, ‘Hi’. Breaking news! Just say, hi.’" This commercial seems so simple, and yet, for many, their first time really encountering someone very different from themselves can be frightening. There is a sense of such extreme “otherness” about them that it is hard to accept them. Or, maybe it is hard to accept us, and our lack of comfort, but there isn’t an overwhelming sense of welcoming and receiving.
We have a man, whom we claim as our salvation – a man who is our living example and hope – and he was touching lepers, hanging out with prostitutes, weird short, tree climbing tax collector and others – he was showing us the example of welcoming all kinds of people who are very different than we. His life is telling us that in going beyond our comfort zone, we are receiving love as well as giving. There is a universe of stuff out there that can give us a life we could never imagine, and we are called to welcome it!
And yet, as lovely as “Just say Hi” sounds, for some, taking their situation too lightly can be painful. Emilie M. Townes wrote that “superficial hospitality is an insufficient response [to oppressive conditions]. . . Pride, ego, self-doubt, and their kin keep us from connecting with each other except in self-interested ways. Compassionate welcome means approaching each other through God. This is how we recognize that genuine human relationships emerge from putting the grace-filled hospitality of God’s love at the center of our lives and at the center of all our relationships.”
We are called to think first of our lives through the lens of God. Welcome others as he would welcome us, receive and give acceptance and grace filled love. In giving welcome to others, we are receiving a life more full than we could ever know. Life is a constant revealing of God, if we seek our lives through God. This brings us to the final verse: “42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
The concept of a reward ~ it is not without its hiccoughs! We have been trained from early on not to think of doing anything in Christ’s name for some reward – because grace is enough of a reward. But here is Jesus talking about a reward. And if you recall from our Epistle reading: “21So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We humans need some clear sense of why we do good things. Few of us are at the place where we want to do things just to please God as our primary reason. We need some time to get there, we need some deliberate effort to work beyond our egos and our engrained fears and habits. And our faith is telling us clearly that living a life focused on hospitality and kindness as Jesus lived and taught, brings us life! Not only after we die – but glimpses of eternity in a moment of bliss – when we see the one we trust and love, when we remember a love that was so tender, when we experience the pure gratitude and joy from someone else for something we have done. Making people smile, giving people hope, being with someone when they are lonely, these do give us a boost far greater than what we may try to do only for our own pleasure. There is no greater joy than giving up our own personal joy, and doing for someone else. In that sacrifice is there a world of hope opening up.
This scripture is very clear, to call ourselves Christians we must live his welcoming benevolence and strive to understand all those who may make us uncomfortable. This scripture is the last bit of Matthew’s “Missionary Discourse”. It is where Jesus is calling and instructing his Disciples for their mission. He sends them out and warns them of the dangers and the pain of rejection. He knows about rejection. But he encourages them to keep on, as he has kept on ~ focus on him, his power, his love, his resilience. For there is a power that is greater than our own, and we have access to it when we trust in the power of our creator. We are far more than we think we are now. And we forever will be. Because God is in us, for us ~ he gave us life, and we are called to receive it fully, by receiving others, as well as our own beings in him.
Let us pray,
God of all that is and was and ever shall be. You are glorious, and we find ourselves at times, being satisfied with OK. We fill our lives with distractions and desires to gratify our egos, when being in your presence, at peace with ourselves and others – can give us pain when we see our separations – and yet, we find it offers rewards beyond our imaginings of connections and acceptance, when we strive to be ne with you.
When we focus on all those things in the present moment for which we can be truly grateful, help us not to switch over into the mindset reminding ourselves of those things which cause us displeasure. Help us to rest as long as possible with you. That we may be immersed in the reward of your welcome.
May we lift our hearts into your calling to be your disciples, and go forth receiving and giving life in abundance. May our words to each other be of transcendence and unity for all. Fill our lives with desire to give hospitality to everyone we meet, in the memory and response to Christ’s teachings. Give us words of benevolence, goodwill, and never-ending growth in your blessings.
Matthew 10:40-42
40“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
The Spirit of God speaks to the church . . .
In my preparations for this sermon, as I am want to do, I referred to that small red pocket sized book which I use for meditation and once actually carry around in my purse all the time! Of course, I am referring to my dictionary. In the beginning was the word and it was good, and so words are wonders to behold! I looked up the word “welcome” and discovered a bounty of other words to look up!
Definitions of welcome or welcomed; welcoming being the transitive verb: 1: to greet hospitably and with courtesy or cordiality 2: to accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence of. I loved this second definition. Because the first definition seems like something someone is trained to do as a social practice – not so much an internal, spiritual practice; but the second definition has that wonderful word, “Accept” in it! To accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence – I welcome change – I accept change! I welcome – I accept the presence of something feel more like an internal way of living which, I believe is closer to what Christ is referring to – living in such a way as to even desire changes in who and what we welcome!
Definitions of accept include things like: to receive something ~ accept a gift; to be given approval ~ accepted into a group; for those who do woodworking – “to be able to take something” [a surface that will accept a stain]; to endure without protest or reaction ~ “to accept poor living conditions”; to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable ~ “an idea that is widely accepted”; to recognize as true or to believe ~ “he refused to accept the explanation” . . . and there are more definitions of the word accept! Each time we hear accept, we have another nuance on the word WELCOME.
In a strange way, it seems that in many cases, what we accept is what we welcome, and in light of some of those definitions Christians need to maybe think again about what is happening around us. Because sometimes, what we accept is the opposite of being welcoming to each other. Do we accept that some people deserve one standard of living that other’s do not. Do we accept that it is OK for people to be discriminated against for their race or religion? I think we could all say these forms of acceptance are not Christian. To accept a human as a child of God would not allow us to discriminate on the basis of income, education, ethnicity or religion. I believe that on this Independence day weekend, we could say discrimination is un-American – in principle, if not in practice.
The first definition of accept is to receive something. To welcome can mean to receive – to be open, to accept someone or something with pleasure. And we are told by Jesus that to welcome others is to welcome Him, our Christ. The pleasure of receiving Christ and the pleasure of receiving each other . . . it is receiving life to its fullest, most abundant possibilities!
I think many of us have seen the commercial from Gayle King when she talks about being asked by the cerebral palsy foundation on how to start up a chat with someone with disabilities, and she said, “How ‘bout this: ‘Hey! What’s up?! How ya doin’? Best of all, ‘Hi’. Breaking news! Just say, hi.’" This commercial seems so simple, and yet, for many, their first time really encountering someone very different from themselves can be frightening. There is a sense of such extreme “otherness” about them that it is hard to accept them. Or, maybe it is hard to accept us, and our lack of comfort, but there isn’t an overwhelming sense of welcoming and receiving.
We have a man, whom we claim as our salvation – a man who is our living example and hope – and he was touching lepers, hanging out with prostitutes, weird short, tree climbing tax collector and others – he was showing us the example of welcoming all kinds of people who are very different than we. His life is telling us that in going beyond our comfort zone, we are receiving love as well as giving. There is a universe of stuff out there that can give us a life we could never imagine, and we are called to welcome it!
And yet, as lovely as “Just say Hi” sounds, for some, taking their situation too lightly can be painful. Emilie M. Townes wrote that “superficial hospitality is an insufficient response [to oppressive conditions]. . . Pride, ego, self-doubt, and their kin keep us from connecting with each other except in self-interested ways. Compassionate welcome means approaching each other through God. This is how we recognize that genuine human relationships emerge from putting the grace-filled hospitality of God’s love at the center of our lives and at the center of all our relationships.”
We are called to think first of our lives through the lens of God. Welcome others as he would welcome us, receive and give acceptance and grace filled love. In giving welcome to others, we are receiving a life more full than we could ever know. Life is a constant revealing of God, if we seek our lives through God. This brings us to the final verse: “42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
The concept of a reward ~ it is not without its hiccoughs! We have been trained from early on not to think of doing anything in Christ’s name for some reward – because grace is enough of a reward. But here is Jesus talking about a reward. And if you recall from our Epistle reading: “21So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We humans need some clear sense of why we do good things. Few of us are at the place where we want to do things just to please God as our primary reason. We need some time to get there, we need some deliberate effort to work beyond our egos and our engrained fears and habits. And our faith is telling us clearly that living a life focused on hospitality and kindness as Jesus lived and taught, brings us life! Not only after we die – but glimpses of eternity in a moment of bliss – when we see the one we trust and love, when we remember a love that was so tender, when we experience the pure gratitude and joy from someone else for something we have done. Making people smile, giving people hope, being with someone when they are lonely, these do give us a boost far greater than what we may try to do only for our own pleasure. There is no greater joy than giving up our own personal joy, and doing for someone else. In that sacrifice is there a world of hope opening up.
This scripture is very clear, to call ourselves Christians we must live his welcoming benevolence and strive to understand all those who may make us uncomfortable. This scripture is the last bit of Matthew’s “Missionary Discourse”. It is where Jesus is calling and instructing his Disciples for their mission. He sends them out and warns them of the dangers and the pain of rejection. He knows about rejection. But he encourages them to keep on, as he has kept on ~ focus on him, his power, his love, his resilience. For there is a power that is greater than our own, and we have access to it when we trust in the power of our creator. We are far more than we think we are now. And we forever will be. Because God is in us, for us ~ he gave us life, and we are called to receive it fully, by receiving others, as well as our own beings in him.
Let us pray,
God of all that is and was and ever shall be. You are glorious, and we find ourselves at times, being satisfied with OK. We fill our lives with distractions and desires to gratify our egos, when being in your presence, at peace with ourselves and others – can give us pain when we see our separations – and yet, we find it offers rewards beyond our imaginings of connections and acceptance, when we strive to be ne with you.
When we focus on all those things in the present moment for which we can be truly grateful, help us not to switch over into the mindset reminding ourselves of those things which cause us displeasure. Help us to rest as long as possible with you. That we may be immersed in the reward of your welcome.
May we lift our hearts into your calling to be your disciples, and go forth receiving and giving life in abundance. May our words to each other be of transcendence and unity for all. Fill our lives with desire to give hospitality to everyone we meet, in the memory and response to Christ’s teachings. Give us words of benevolence, goodwill, and never-ending growth in your blessings.
2017.06.25 Who IS It All About?
Matthew 10:24-39: 24“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! 26“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. 34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. The Spirit of God speaks to the church…
Originally, I had thought to call this sermon, “It IS About You,” but then I thought it sounded a bit argumentative in light of your bumper stickers, and it could also lead people into the wrong direction, because, in the end, it is NOT about you, but it is also, yes, some about you. Faith – or even the human condition, period, is about a healthy balance of prioritizing our personal needs and those of the others around us – calling for perspective.
This scripture can be tremendously confusing, in light of who we know ourselves to be, and who God knows us to be, and what our priorities need be. It is saying that we are so special – that God knows how many hairs we have on our head and we are of more value than much of God’s creations. This mentality can lead to trouble, when we think of it in terms of hierarchy and commercial value, as though being on the top of the food chain frees us to deal with the rest of the chain however our desires take us. But then the scripture puts us right in our place when it reminds us that God is always supreme – even more important than our most dearly loved humans in our lives.
Our family ties cannot be the full understanding of who we are and what our purpose is on this earth. As much as this scripture can be confusing, it can also be psychologically freeing, creating hope for the future by not tying us only to our past. Because God knows there is so much progress needed in this world, and looking back can slow down our progress.
The born again process and this scripture are faith-filled ways of calling us all into the mission of serving the needs of those around us. By seeking to be part of God’s ministry as much as we can, we are to focus on who WE are. To really see ourselves as honestly as we can, and to seek to become our true selves as children of God and sisters and brothers of Jesus, we must find ways to separate ourselves from other identities.
Some of the troubles with attaching our identities too much with our family, are how generalizations are so hard to overcome. How hard it was for the Israelites to get used to being free after so many years as slaves. How hard in this country, for people to overcome their stereotyped roles. If we identify too much with the worldly titles, we can truly struggle to know our sacred, God-called selves. And before we can be our sacred God-called selves, we have to spend some time getting to know ourselves.
So – for this – it IS about us. It is about seeing ourselves as we truly are, in comparison to Jesus, who was the perfect example of God. I was having a conversation yesterday with someone, and we were talking about self awareness while driving. I confessed my reaction to a bad driver, and then remembered when I had done something similar. O, the pain of seeing our own hypocrisy! It is a humbling grace filled, experience. And yet, once we see ourselves, and learn to feel that grace, we can offer it to others and know that we are becoming instruments of God’s mercy.
The object of letting life lessons be about YOU is only valid in that it teaches us how to be instruments of God. And then our motivations can be about it NOT being about us!
A problem I see often is that people think so poorly of themselves, always sacrificing their joy, and their self image, trying to be worthy of the grace. This is so painful, because the grace is there, always, God wants us to know how much we are prized and loved – because then we can give of ourselves in joy! And God loves a cheerful giver! The grace is there waiting to be enjoyed ~ and for those sacrificing the feeling of grace out of some false sense of piousness, they are doing a disservice to the message of the good news, and they are ignoring God’s call to them that they are so loved.
So – you see what I mean by balance? If we cling to our family name like a title making us of more worth, or we see ourselves as being of less value because we don’t come from money – we aren’t being honest with who each and every one of us are – equal children of God called to know ourselves well enough to be able to offer grace to everyone. To know ourselves fully is to go into the great adventure of knowing how imperfect we are, how capable we call can be of causing another pain, and then, when we can take responsibility for our own actions – we will know the hope of God and know what we can offer to others.
Because if there is anything this world needs so desperately at any era of our human history, it is the feeling of HOPE.
Steve and I went to Cane Ridge yesterday. And we were discussing what was going on at the time of the second great awakening here in the US. There were all these immigrants going out for land grabs, roughing it in the new world – the land of savages and dangers and heat, and pain and suffering. And they came to this place and discovered their separation from God – they saw their sins. This caused great pain and agony, and recalled their sense of aloneness – and here, in this crowd of people going through similar things – they discovered they belonged to a different family – a family of those appreciative of grace – in love with God and grateful for the community.
Sometimes I think we forget, if we ever really knew – that the word Gospel mean GOOD NEWS. And these people were feeling it. Far from the land they knew, lost and on their own, no social net to catch them, they faced their fears – and their desperate drive for some sense of security ~ and they found truth and community at Cane Ridge. And it set them into a new life!
I do not believe that the times are that different now than they were then, except that now, we are settled more into our traditions and distracted more from our inner selves, by the entertainment industry.
Today we have a great deal of poverty, not only in the world, but in this country! And, according to some sociologists, we have a class system that is more entrenched then what they experience in Great Britain today. We are constantly having to deal with the insecurity of which political party is in power and what that will mean for our personal desires and needs. Will they come and take our guns away? Will we have health insurance? Will our jobs still be here? Will the money last through retirement? Our country has learned over the years, that there is nothing that we can trust to last for very long. Our sense of being a part of some hope seems to last only as long as our political party is in power.
Maybe it is time for another revivalist period – a revival for the 21st century! Where we forget any sense of entitlement we have, we lay down our fears and anger; we put aside our judgments of ourselves and each other, and preach the love of Christ! Help each other to not doubt their value, in spite of their income. And this means, don’t give preferential treatment to people with money, and don’t belittle and condescend to those who have not had the advantages many of us have had. That also means, searching for a kind way to help each other see when we are letting our sense of privilege show. Pope John Paul III once said, “Nobody is so poor that he has nothing to give, and nobody is rich that he has nothing to receive.”
Being a part of a Christian Community means purposefully striving to commit to living and active faith life. It means helping each other to see when our hypocrisy is showing, and loving and laughing with each other as we feel the grace. It means allowing ourselves to feel the pain of those who are lost and planning together as a community to serve as Christ did.
We need a new revivalist period, based on unlimited grace! Where people of various gender identities can discover their primary identity as a beloved brother and sister of ours and of Christ. Where we unabashedly call out discrimination, in ourselves ~ and we place our lives on the line for those being discriminated against. THIS is what the compassionate people of the 21st Century see in the body of Christ. And when they come to church and do not see that, they leave in droves. We worry about why the churches are dying, when people do not see Christ in actions of those who discriminate in the name of Jesus. And yet, at the same time, we worry that if we make our churches too open and affirming, we might chase away people who might bring in a regular donation.
In the end effect, it is about ~ not us ~ not them ~ but it is about Christ. Who would Christ exclude from his body? He came for all. He saw the harvest was plenty and the laborers few, and his compassion called on him to empower us to serve those harassed and helpless. Those who are struggling to trust, and feel safe. Those who have felt condemned, and continue to carry that condemnation as part of their heritage.
We are all being called into the heart of Christ. We are all being called to love and feel the love that God is. And if we come to a stopping place for our sense of love, that is a door not to walk away from, but to break down, because on the other side of that door is the revival of hope that the world is waiting for!
Matthew 10:24-39: 24“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! 26“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. 34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. The Spirit of God speaks to the church…
Originally, I had thought to call this sermon, “It IS About You,” but then I thought it sounded a bit argumentative in light of your bumper stickers, and it could also lead people into the wrong direction, because, in the end, it is NOT about you, but it is also, yes, some about you. Faith – or even the human condition, period, is about a healthy balance of prioritizing our personal needs and those of the others around us – calling for perspective.
This scripture can be tremendously confusing, in light of who we know ourselves to be, and who God knows us to be, and what our priorities need be. It is saying that we are so special – that God knows how many hairs we have on our head and we are of more value than much of God’s creations. This mentality can lead to trouble, when we think of it in terms of hierarchy and commercial value, as though being on the top of the food chain frees us to deal with the rest of the chain however our desires take us. But then the scripture puts us right in our place when it reminds us that God is always supreme – even more important than our most dearly loved humans in our lives.
Our family ties cannot be the full understanding of who we are and what our purpose is on this earth. As much as this scripture can be confusing, it can also be psychologically freeing, creating hope for the future by not tying us only to our past. Because God knows there is so much progress needed in this world, and looking back can slow down our progress.
The born again process and this scripture are faith-filled ways of calling us all into the mission of serving the needs of those around us. By seeking to be part of God’s ministry as much as we can, we are to focus on who WE are. To really see ourselves as honestly as we can, and to seek to become our true selves as children of God and sisters and brothers of Jesus, we must find ways to separate ourselves from other identities.
Some of the troubles with attaching our identities too much with our family, are how generalizations are so hard to overcome. How hard it was for the Israelites to get used to being free after so many years as slaves. How hard in this country, for people to overcome their stereotyped roles. If we identify too much with the worldly titles, we can truly struggle to know our sacred, God-called selves. And before we can be our sacred God-called selves, we have to spend some time getting to know ourselves.
So – for this – it IS about us. It is about seeing ourselves as we truly are, in comparison to Jesus, who was the perfect example of God. I was having a conversation yesterday with someone, and we were talking about self awareness while driving. I confessed my reaction to a bad driver, and then remembered when I had done something similar. O, the pain of seeing our own hypocrisy! It is a humbling grace filled, experience. And yet, once we see ourselves, and learn to feel that grace, we can offer it to others and know that we are becoming instruments of God’s mercy.
The object of letting life lessons be about YOU is only valid in that it teaches us how to be instruments of God. And then our motivations can be about it NOT being about us!
A problem I see often is that people think so poorly of themselves, always sacrificing their joy, and their self image, trying to be worthy of the grace. This is so painful, because the grace is there, always, God wants us to know how much we are prized and loved – because then we can give of ourselves in joy! And God loves a cheerful giver! The grace is there waiting to be enjoyed ~ and for those sacrificing the feeling of grace out of some false sense of piousness, they are doing a disservice to the message of the good news, and they are ignoring God’s call to them that they are so loved.
So – you see what I mean by balance? If we cling to our family name like a title making us of more worth, or we see ourselves as being of less value because we don’t come from money – we aren’t being honest with who each and every one of us are – equal children of God called to know ourselves well enough to be able to offer grace to everyone. To know ourselves fully is to go into the great adventure of knowing how imperfect we are, how capable we call can be of causing another pain, and then, when we can take responsibility for our own actions – we will know the hope of God and know what we can offer to others.
Because if there is anything this world needs so desperately at any era of our human history, it is the feeling of HOPE.
Steve and I went to Cane Ridge yesterday. And we were discussing what was going on at the time of the second great awakening here in the US. There were all these immigrants going out for land grabs, roughing it in the new world – the land of savages and dangers and heat, and pain and suffering. And they came to this place and discovered their separation from God – they saw their sins. This caused great pain and agony, and recalled their sense of aloneness – and here, in this crowd of people going through similar things – they discovered they belonged to a different family – a family of those appreciative of grace – in love with God and grateful for the community.
Sometimes I think we forget, if we ever really knew – that the word Gospel mean GOOD NEWS. And these people were feeling it. Far from the land they knew, lost and on their own, no social net to catch them, they faced their fears – and their desperate drive for some sense of security ~ and they found truth and community at Cane Ridge. And it set them into a new life!
I do not believe that the times are that different now than they were then, except that now, we are settled more into our traditions and distracted more from our inner selves, by the entertainment industry.
Today we have a great deal of poverty, not only in the world, but in this country! And, according to some sociologists, we have a class system that is more entrenched then what they experience in Great Britain today. We are constantly having to deal with the insecurity of which political party is in power and what that will mean for our personal desires and needs. Will they come and take our guns away? Will we have health insurance? Will our jobs still be here? Will the money last through retirement? Our country has learned over the years, that there is nothing that we can trust to last for very long. Our sense of being a part of some hope seems to last only as long as our political party is in power.
Maybe it is time for another revivalist period – a revival for the 21st century! Where we forget any sense of entitlement we have, we lay down our fears and anger; we put aside our judgments of ourselves and each other, and preach the love of Christ! Help each other to not doubt their value, in spite of their income. And this means, don’t give preferential treatment to people with money, and don’t belittle and condescend to those who have not had the advantages many of us have had. That also means, searching for a kind way to help each other see when we are letting our sense of privilege show. Pope John Paul III once said, “Nobody is so poor that he has nothing to give, and nobody is rich that he has nothing to receive.”
Being a part of a Christian Community means purposefully striving to commit to living and active faith life. It means helping each other to see when our hypocrisy is showing, and loving and laughing with each other as we feel the grace. It means allowing ourselves to feel the pain of those who are lost and planning together as a community to serve as Christ did.
We need a new revivalist period, based on unlimited grace! Where people of various gender identities can discover their primary identity as a beloved brother and sister of ours and of Christ. Where we unabashedly call out discrimination, in ourselves ~ and we place our lives on the line for those being discriminated against. THIS is what the compassionate people of the 21st Century see in the body of Christ. And when they come to church and do not see that, they leave in droves. We worry about why the churches are dying, when people do not see Christ in actions of those who discriminate in the name of Jesus. And yet, at the same time, we worry that if we make our churches too open and affirming, we might chase away people who might bring in a regular donation.
In the end effect, it is about ~ not us ~ not them ~ but it is about Christ. Who would Christ exclude from his body? He came for all. He saw the harvest was plenty and the laborers few, and his compassion called on him to empower us to serve those harassed and helpless. Those who are struggling to trust, and feel safe. Those who have felt condemned, and continue to carry that condemnation as part of their heritage.
We are all being called into the heart of Christ. We are all being called to love and feel the love that God is. And if we come to a stopping place for our sense of love, that is a door not to walk away from, but to break down, because on the other side of that door is the revival of hope that the world is waiting for!
2017.06.18 Expecting the Unexpected
Matthew 9:35-10:8
35Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 10:1Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. 5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
Any Monty Python fans out here? Well, for you I say:
“NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.”
Today my sermon is called expecting the unexpected. And I’ll bet you never expected to have a Monty Python quote in the Sunday sermon!
I chose the title because I was reading the scriptures for today and I was trying to imagine what it was like to be Abraham and Sarah. Sitting around in the desert heat, suddenly people are there, and Abraham rushes out to welcome them, rushes in to tell Sarah to hurry and make food . . . I just go the general idea that it all came as a surprise, and yet, they seemed to be ready, willing, and able to serve theses total strangers! They were not expecting to be told they would conceive a child, but they were excited about hosting the people! And got a good laugh out of it . . . but the question lingered, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
Then, the Gospel reading from Matthew, where compassion fills Jesus’ heart and he knows he cannot respond to all the need out there by himself. So he tells his Disciples to take off preaching and healing, and taking nothing for it. Now, my memory of Jesus calling these guys just fed right into the whole unexpected theme. Walking along telling the guys to come along and they just did – dropped their stuff and became Disciples. And now he was telling them to go off, with no real plans or provisions, trusting in God and him, and they were to expect to be able to “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…” It is hard for me to imagine that any of those guys were thinking they were ready, willing, and able to do all that stuff!
So I got the idea that, in so much of our inherited faith stories, it seems like God surprises us out of our complacency and we sorta need to be ready at any time to Expect the Unexpected in life! Even if we don’t know what the unexpected will be! The best we could do, is, perhaps, not be so surprised when something unexpected happens.
It is almost as if God has been calling his people throughout human existence on this planet, to be living their lives in such a way as to be comfortable, while prepared for something amazing. They were slaves, and he calls them to freedom. They were free and he sent them Manna. Good things and bad things have happened and the only consistent thing with God – is that things will change. I’ve lived in a few states and there is one saying I’ve discovered in each during the season transitions: “You don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes, it’ll change.”
We get all upset over stuff in the present moment, and seem to forget that bad things get better, good things change too, mostly though, God is with us and wants us to remember, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
So, how flexible are we? How willing are we to change our routines, to go out of our way for some total stranger, to believe that our greatest hopes could somehow manifest themselves in some way, to pick up and serve other people in need? Because, I think some of the greatest pain we sensitive, loving humans can experience, is when we have allowed our fear, our routines, our apathy, our stubbornness, our egos, any of these things stop us from doing something kind for someone else when we could. The scriptures tell us to believe all things! To go and serve and be ready to perform miracles! And expect that stuff is going to happen.
Anyone here ever experience a time when you knew that you could have helped someone, and yet, you didn’t? You remember it! You may even to this day be trying hard to accept the rationales that you made up at the time. Because there is an ache when we think of these moments, thank God for these aches, because they serve to remind us that the next time something like that happens, we want to be ready.
Often we live our lives planning out exactly what we are going to do when. We control our environment as much as possible, and we may even control what information we get – only that which serves our preconceived notions. And we avoid those people who make us uncomfortable.
Let’s look at Jesus from our Gospel again. He’s looking at the masses of people and his heart aches! So many sad and miserable people, feeling hopeless, perhaps depressed, mourning, angry, scared, broken, in pain . . . “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” He’s talking about us! He’s talking about all the people we see who are so busy chasing their own personal desires that they don’t see the condition of others around them. He’s talking about all those people who have been beaten down by life, that they feel hopeless. Generations of low education, bad theology, and poverty have made them sad and believing they aren’t of value and shouldn’t expect anything more than their poverty. He’s talking about those fighting for justice in the face of systemic racism, the power of greed in this world, the self serving people in power. He’s talking about all those people who feel anger and rage at the senselessness and directionlessness of this world.
Our planet is facing destruction, and too many people in politics are still denying it. People on this planet are starving – and don’t think that it happens only in developing countries, parts of our country are equivalent to what have been named, “Developing Countries.” People are harassed and helpless here in this country because they work over 40 hours a week and still live in poverty, because they are not getting paid a living wage, among other reasons. Harassed and helpless because this society makes money of the incarcerated. Harassed and Helpless because some people have lots of things, and continue to buy lots of things, and look for the next thing to give them joy, and will never be satisfied. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
And this helplessness and sense of being harassed finds itself all over. As long as we are judgmental and rude, as long as we do not try to listen and love to everyone, as long as we are sitting comfortably in our own social stratus – we are not helping Jesus fulfill his deepest heart’s desire. He had so much compassion for all, and he knew he couldn’t do it alone. And there were these people who were hanging out with him. They knew him, they loved him, they felt a direction and a calling with him, so that when he told them to go forth – they went, and MUCH TO THEIR SURPRISE they were able to do all the things he told them to do.
I believe we are also able to do what Jesus asks us to do. Miracles come in different forms. Sometimes, just smiling and listening and empathizing and being with someone can be a miracle to them. Sometimes, encouraging someone during chemo, or rehabilitation can be a miracle and contribute to their healing. Sometimes, acknowledging, looking, greeting, bonding, sharing, laughing with someone who is not used to getting attention can be a miracle. Sometimes, reconciling with someone who has been removed from your heart because of a hurt, either caused by them or you ~ that can be a new birth ~ a bringing back from the dead. We can still do healing and miracles, we can advocate for justice and righteousness, we can heal wounds by listening and being patient and kind to one another – we can help Jesus heal his pain when he saw the helplessness and the harassment and his heart was filled with compassion.
But we have to be ready ~ and expect the unexpected. We have to have eyes to see the needs, and be willing to change our plans; and make something other than what we normally do the priority. Because the unexpected happens all the time, we just have an amazing ability as a human race to overlook it.
Matthew 9:35-10:8
35Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 10:1Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. 5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
Any Monty Python fans out here? Well, for you I say:
“NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.”
Today my sermon is called expecting the unexpected. And I’ll bet you never expected to have a Monty Python quote in the Sunday sermon!
I chose the title because I was reading the scriptures for today and I was trying to imagine what it was like to be Abraham and Sarah. Sitting around in the desert heat, suddenly people are there, and Abraham rushes out to welcome them, rushes in to tell Sarah to hurry and make food . . . I just go the general idea that it all came as a surprise, and yet, they seemed to be ready, willing, and able to serve theses total strangers! They were not expecting to be told they would conceive a child, but they were excited about hosting the people! And got a good laugh out of it . . . but the question lingered, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
Then, the Gospel reading from Matthew, where compassion fills Jesus’ heart and he knows he cannot respond to all the need out there by himself. So he tells his Disciples to take off preaching and healing, and taking nothing for it. Now, my memory of Jesus calling these guys just fed right into the whole unexpected theme. Walking along telling the guys to come along and they just did – dropped their stuff and became Disciples. And now he was telling them to go off, with no real plans or provisions, trusting in God and him, and they were to expect to be able to “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…” It is hard for me to imagine that any of those guys were thinking they were ready, willing, and able to do all that stuff!
So I got the idea that, in so much of our inherited faith stories, it seems like God surprises us out of our complacency and we sorta need to be ready at any time to Expect the Unexpected in life! Even if we don’t know what the unexpected will be! The best we could do, is, perhaps, not be so surprised when something unexpected happens.
It is almost as if God has been calling his people throughout human existence on this planet, to be living their lives in such a way as to be comfortable, while prepared for something amazing. They were slaves, and he calls them to freedom. They were free and he sent them Manna. Good things and bad things have happened and the only consistent thing with God – is that things will change. I’ve lived in a few states and there is one saying I’ve discovered in each during the season transitions: “You don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes, it’ll change.”
We get all upset over stuff in the present moment, and seem to forget that bad things get better, good things change too, mostly though, God is with us and wants us to remember, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”
So, how flexible are we? How willing are we to change our routines, to go out of our way for some total stranger, to believe that our greatest hopes could somehow manifest themselves in some way, to pick up and serve other people in need? Because, I think some of the greatest pain we sensitive, loving humans can experience, is when we have allowed our fear, our routines, our apathy, our stubbornness, our egos, any of these things stop us from doing something kind for someone else when we could. The scriptures tell us to believe all things! To go and serve and be ready to perform miracles! And expect that stuff is going to happen.
Anyone here ever experience a time when you knew that you could have helped someone, and yet, you didn’t? You remember it! You may even to this day be trying hard to accept the rationales that you made up at the time. Because there is an ache when we think of these moments, thank God for these aches, because they serve to remind us that the next time something like that happens, we want to be ready.
Often we live our lives planning out exactly what we are going to do when. We control our environment as much as possible, and we may even control what information we get – only that which serves our preconceived notions. And we avoid those people who make us uncomfortable.
Let’s look at Jesus from our Gospel again. He’s looking at the masses of people and his heart aches! So many sad and miserable people, feeling hopeless, perhaps depressed, mourning, angry, scared, broken, in pain . . . “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” He’s talking about us! He’s talking about all the people we see who are so busy chasing their own personal desires that they don’t see the condition of others around them. He’s talking about all those people who have been beaten down by life, that they feel hopeless. Generations of low education, bad theology, and poverty have made them sad and believing they aren’t of value and shouldn’t expect anything more than their poverty. He’s talking about those fighting for justice in the face of systemic racism, the power of greed in this world, the self serving people in power. He’s talking about all those people who feel anger and rage at the senselessness and directionlessness of this world.
Our planet is facing destruction, and too many people in politics are still denying it. People on this planet are starving – and don’t think that it happens only in developing countries, parts of our country are equivalent to what have been named, “Developing Countries.” People are harassed and helpless here in this country because they work over 40 hours a week and still live in poverty, because they are not getting paid a living wage, among other reasons. Harassed and helpless because this society makes money of the incarcerated. Harassed and Helpless because some people have lots of things, and continue to buy lots of things, and look for the next thing to give them joy, and will never be satisfied. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
And this helplessness and sense of being harassed finds itself all over. As long as we are judgmental and rude, as long as we do not try to listen and love to everyone, as long as we are sitting comfortably in our own social stratus – we are not helping Jesus fulfill his deepest heart’s desire. He had so much compassion for all, and he knew he couldn’t do it alone. And there were these people who were hanging out with him. They knew him, they loved him, they felt a direction and a calling with him, so that when he told them to go forth – they went, and MUCH TO THEIR SURPRISE they were able to do all the things he told them to do.
I believe we are also able to do what Jesus asks us to do. Miracles come in different forms. Sometimes, just smiling and listening and empathizing and being with someone can be a miracle to them. Sometimes, encouraging someone during chemo, or rehabilitation can be a miracle and contribute to their healing. Sometimes, acknowledging, looking, greeting, bonding, sharing, laughing with someone who is not used to getting attention can be a miracle. Sometimes, reconciling with someone who has been removed from your heart because of a hurt, either caused by them or you ~ that can be a new birth ~ a bringing back from the dead. We can still do healing and miracles, we can advocate for justice and righteousness, we can heal wounds by listening and being patient and kind to one another – we can help Jesus heal his pain when he saw the helplessness and the harassment and his heart was filled with compassion.
But we have to be ready ~ and expect the unexpected. We have to have eyes to see the needs, and be willing to change our plans; and make something other than what we normally do the priority. Because the unexpected happens all the time, we just have an amazing ability as a human race to overlook it.
2017.06.11 Wholly Holy
Matthew 28:16-20: 16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Holy Trinity is very dear to me, perhaps my favorite Sunday of the whole year ~ because it is the culmination of all we know of that great mystery of God. Since this church year began we have watched, in spirit, the fullness of our comprehension of God developing and this day is the peak.
We had the God of the Hebrews calling from their midst a young woman to bring forth a man who was the Son of God. And that young man was faithful, and a teacher; he was willing to live and die for God and for Humanity - and when he left, after his great lessons had been taught, the fullness of his life and the purpose of all humanity was shown through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That purpose being the unity of all humanity as children of the living God under the language of love. This day focuses on the doctrine of the triune God, a practice begun in the Western church in the 10th century.
So, in short, we experience today the wholeness of God. And as such, we find a path to our own wholeness. And that is what this doctrine of a triune God is all about – Wholly (as in fully) experiencing the Holy (as in divine) and being empowered.
The Trinity is something that is seen by many as being a bit hard to comprehend, and some even use the Trinity as a reason to disavow Christianity altogether.
But let us keep in mind that everything humans come up with to teach about every faith, is merely an attempt to teach something about the incomprehensible. God is now, and forever will be, more than we could ever know. What we have available to us in traditions, writings, teachings, prayer, and study, are invitations to a process which is faith. Faith is the tool to stay searching, to stay humble and growing. Because until that day when all the world is actually living in peace, our humanity is still growing. And the greatest challenge to faith is ignorance and the desire to remain intellectually uninterested.
In our Trinitarian tradition we have; the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit ~ God, Jesus and the Advocate. And yet, we still claim ourselves as Monotheists - believers in the one true God. This triune aspect of that one God are different ways that we have to experience parts, of that incomprehensible God. We all have some understanding, some experiences of God, but I don’t think any of us would claim that we have access to knowing fully all of God, nevertheless, we are pointed in the direction of “our Father who art in Heaven.”
We have the tradition of Yahweh, and then we also have the occurrence of Jesus, who, out of his relationship to God, was able to live on this earth and teach about how God would have us behave on earth. It was so different - so inspiring - that his followers continued to teach and trust in his life and his teachings. And Jesus knew that his followers would benefit from a continuation of the mystical bond they had with the Holy, and therefore we have what is referred to in some scriptures as “the Spirit of Truth” or “the Advocate”. With this spirit, nothing could stop us from the process of living and learning from God how to be more fully children of the Holy.
Rev. John van de Laar, wrote, that in his book Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, William Isaacs identifies three “languages” that human beings use to communicate. The first he calls the language of feeling or the language of the heart. Those who speak this language tend to see the world as a network of relationships and are concerned for taking care of people and how they feel. “Feelers” are attuned to the tone of communication as much as the content. The second language is that of action or of the body. Those who communicate this way are biased toward doing, implementation and taking responsibility. They tend to see emotions and analysis as diversions, and seek to get to work as quickly and effectively as possible. “Doers” are attuned to strategy and results. Finally, there are those who speak with the language of meaning or the language of the mind. Those who communicate with this language tend to focus on values, theories, analysis and the implications of situations and communications. “Thinkers” tend to look for patterns and meaning, focusing deeply on content and its implications. Of course every human being is a combination of body, mind and heart. We all communicate in the languages of feeling, action and meaning, although we each tend to prefer one or, maybe, two. And it is this threefold way of being human that makes the doctrine of the Trinity so satisfying and helpful.
So the Trinity involves the curiosity to know who God is, the wisdom of learning of Christ, and the openness of trusting in the Holy Spirit. We become more whole as we experience the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the body, mind and heart – the creator, the teacher and the empowered compassionate soul.
Suzanne Guthrie wrote about Trinity in this way:
Once trained in the Trinity, it's not a great leap to consider the God of multiple dimensions, multi-universes, string theory, and hyperspace. Opening to new perceptions of God's self-revelation is as natural as contemplating innovations in theoretical physics. As I learn and grow I can open to God's Reality more fully if ever increasingly more humbly. Awe deepens. And yet. When you pray, it seems Love surfaces from the deep place where the soul touches the universe. Is that right? Does the soul touch the universe? If that love comes not from something outside but something deep within only, then I am simply made for love. Whether God exists or not, Love lies at the heart and meaning of human life; dynamic, relational, intimate, challenging, open Love.
And this is where we arrive, always, when talking about Faith. Love. If our thoughts of God are rooted in anything other than love, than it is not a Faith in God, but we have gone astray somewhere, stopped striving for truth, and had planted ourselves in ignorance. If we find ourselves judging others, hating others, even fearing others - we are not living in faith ~ for we have been told, “Perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18a.
Christ, in giving us the Holy Spirit, made us venture into the most frightening places imaginable - our own memories and pains and faults. IN looking within for the pureness of God, we often find parts of ourselves that we would rather not face. Those things we said or did that we would rather not remember, because we can’t go back and change them and our shame is debilitating. Or we go inside to find the Holy Spirit and we find we are being called to go somewhere and do something, that we really don’t want to do. Give me an external spiritual discipline any day! It feels much easier than facing my own fears.
And yet, that is how we become fully whole. Because there is the divine in each of us, and with the Holy Spirit we can face all that is in our depths. With the sacred mystical experience of Christ in us, we are one with the God - three in one. And we are not only WHOLE, but we are Holy.
This is the Christian journey ~ within ourselves ~ to create our most sacred identity so that we can help others break through whatever is keeping them from knowing the joy of being fully alive in the mystical love of God. THIS is how we can most fully – most wholly fulfill the missionary calling to “9Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
And this openness, this sacrifice, this ability to face our own demons with Christ and emerge ready to serve others in joy and in love - this is what turned this little group of misfits following this unkosher Jew ~ into a thriving world religion. And this triune God could be the salvation of the world.
So, as one can see, for the challenge of living without fear alone we all can delve right back into the search for God through wisdom. The challenges to us humans to be loving is humbling, and can require a lifetime of experiences. “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13) I think we can all feel a bit humbled when we hear what love is, and how challenged we all are in getting there and remaining there.
But that is what our human development - as individuals and as cohabitants on this planet - is all about. How do we get there? Do we just give up and continue to live our lives ignorant of the need for love - the need for peace - the need for the grace of God on this creation? Or do we put on our big faith pants and keep trying?
The best news of all is that we do not have to do this alone. Not only do we have access to the triune God - but we have each other. We just need to set our goals together, share with each other, listen to each other - seek wisdom together - and we will be on the right path. We may not see the repercussions of our truth - but they will be there! Truth is not easy - it is not always even evident, but our faith will not be disappointed!
Matthew 28:16-20: 16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Holy Trinity is very dear to me, perhaps my favorite Sunday of the whole year ~ because it is the culmination of all we know of that great mystery of God. Since this church year began we have watched, in spirit, the fullness of our comprehension of God developing and this day is the peak.
We had the God of the Hebrews calling from their midst a young woman to bring forth a man who was the Son of God. And that young man was faithful, and a teacher; he was willing to live and die for God and for Humanity - and when he left, after his great lessons had been taught, the fullness of his life and the purpose of all humanity was shown through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That purpose being the unity of all humanity as children of the living God under the language of love. This day focuses on the doctrine of the triune God, a practice begun in the Western church in the 10th century.
So, in short, we experience today the wholeness of God. And as such, we find a path to our own wholeness. And that is what this doctrine of a triune God is all about – Wholly (as in fully) experiencing the Holy (as in divine) and being empowered.
The Trinity is something that is seen by many as being a bit hard to comprehend, and some even use the Trinity as a reason to disavow Christianity altogether.
But let us keep in mind that everything humans come up with to teach about every faith, is merely an attempt to teach something about the incomprehensible. God is now, and forever will be, more than we could ever know. What we have available to us in traditions, writings, teachings, prayer, and study, are invitations to a process which is faith. Faith is the tool to stay searching, to stay humble and growing. Because until that day when all the world is actually living in peace, our humanity is still growing. And the greatest challenge to faith is ignorance and the desire to remain intellectually uninterested.
In our Trinitarian tradition we have; the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit ~ God, Jesus and the Advocate. And yet, we still claim ourselves as Monotheists - believers in the one true God. This triune aspect of that one God are different ways that we have to experience parts, of that incomprehensible God. We all have some understanding, some experiences of God, but I don’t think any of us would claim that we have access to knowing fully all of God, nevertheless, we are pointed in the direction of “our Father who art in Heaven.”
We have the tradition of Yahweh, and then we also have the occurrence of Jesus, who, out of his relationship to God, was able to live on this earth and teach about how God would have us behave on earth. It was so different - so inspiring - that his followers continued to teach and trust in his life and his teachings. And Jesus knew that his followers would benefit from a continuation of the mystical bond they had with the Holy, and therefore we have what is referred to in some scriptures as “the Spirit of Truth” or “the Advocate”. With this spirit, nothing could stop us from the process of living and learning from God how to be more fully children of the Holy.
Rev. John van de Laar, wrote, that in his book Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, William Isaacs identifies three “languages” that human beings use to communicate. The first he calls the language of feeling or the language of the heart. Those who speak this language tend to see the world as a network of relationships and are concerned for taking care of people and how they feel. “Feelers” are attuned to the tone of communication as much as the content. The second language is that of action or of the body. Those who communicate this way are biased toward doing, implementation and taking responsibility. They tend to see emotions and analysis as diversions, and seek to get to work as quickly and effectively as possible. “Doers” are attuned to strategy and results. Finally, there are those who speak with the language of meaning or the language of the mind. Those who communicate with this language tend to focus on values, theories, analysis and the implications of situations and communications. “Thinkers” tend to look for patterns and meaning, focusing deeply on content and its implications. Of course every human being is a combination of body, mind and heart. We all communicate in the languages of feeling, action and meaning, although we each tend to prefer one or, maybe, two. And it is this threefold way of being human that makes the doctrine of the Trinity so satisfying and helpful.
So the Trinity involves the curiosity to know who God is, the wisdom of learning of Christ, and the openness of trusting in the Holy Spirit. We become more whole as we experience the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the body, mind and heart – the creator, the teacher and the empowered compassionate soul.
Suzanne Guthrie wrote about Trinity in this way:
Once trained in the Trinity, it's not a great leap to consider the God of multiple dimensions, multi-universes, string theory, and hyperspace. Opening to new perceptions of God's self-revelation is as natural as contemplating innovations in theoretical physics. As I learn and grow I can open to God's Reality more fully if ever increasingly more humbly. Awe deepens. And yet. When you pray, it seems Love surfaces from the deep place where the soul touches the universe. Is that right? Does the soul touch the universe? If that love comes not from something outside but something deep within only, then I am simply made for love. Whether God exists or not, Love lies at the heart and meaning of human life; dynamic, relational, intimate, challenging, open Love.
And this is where we arrive, always, when talking about Faith. Love. If our thoughts of God are rooted in anything other than love, than it is not a Faith in God, but we have gone astray somewhere, stopped striving for truth, and had planted ourselves in ignorance. If we find ourselves judging others, hating others, even fearing others - we are not living in faith ~ for we have been told, “Perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18a.
Christ, in giving us the Holy Spirit, made us venture into the most frightening places imaginable - our own memories and pains and faults. IN looking within for the pureness of God, we often find parts of ourselves that we would rather not face. Those things we said or did that we would rather not remember, because we can’t go back and change them and our shame is debilitating. Or we go inside to find the Holy Spirit and we find we are being called to go somewhere and do something, that we really don’t want to do. Give me an external spiritual discipline any day! It feels much easier than facing my own fears.
And yet, that is how we become fully whole. Because there is the divine in each of us, and with the Holy Spirit we can face all that is in our depths. With the sacred mystical experience of Christ in us, we are one with the God - three in one. And we are not only WHOLE, but we are Holy.
This is the Christian journey ~ within ourselves ~ to create our most sacred identity so that we can help others break through whatever is keeping them from knowing the joy of being fully alive in the mystical love of God. THIS is how we can most fully – most wholly fulfill the missionary calling to “9Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
And this openness, this sacrifice, this ability to face our own demons with Christ and emerge ready to serve others in joy and in love - this is what turned this little group of misfits following this unkosher Jew ~ into a thriving world religion. And this triune God could be the salvation of the world.
So, as one can see, for the challenge of living without fear alone we all can delve right back into the search for God through wisdom. The challenges to us humans to be loving is humbling, and can require a lifetime of experiences. “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13) I think we can all feel a bit humbled when we hear what love is, and how challenged we all are in getting there and remaining there.
But that is what our human development - as individuals and as cohabitants on this planet - is all about. How do we get there? Do we just give up and continue to live our lives ignorant of the need for love - the need for peace - the need for the grace of God on this creation? Or do we put on our big faith pants and keep trying?
The best news of all is that we do not have to do this alone. Not only do we have access to the triune God - but we have each other. We just need to set our goals together, share with each other, listen to each other - seek wisdom together - and we will be on the right path. We may not see the repercussions of our truth - but they will be there! Truth is not easy - it is not always even evident, but our faith will not be disappointed!
2017.06.04 The Grace Of The Spirit
So, today is often referred to as the birthday of the church, because of what happened after the reading from Catherine, where “there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and . . . [d]ivided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” What happened next was Peter asked the others what they should do as a result of this, and they all agreed they should repent and be baptized ~ and Peter started preaching and the Holy Spirit started moving people and wonders and signs were being done ~ and they started to live together, share their belongings, their work (basically created a commune) and spent time with each other praising God and . . .”And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
This enthusiasm for God and the desire to know and create a community based on a mutually shared experience is something, I think, many miss in the church today. We in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) tradition have our entire existence to credit this mutually shared experienced. We are a part of the restoration movement of the early 19th century when there was an apparent craving for the community and the experience of faith, and good preachers could really move people emotionally and build churches from their preaching. People would travel for miles to listen to men preach for hours! It was a highlight of their lives when the tents would come up and there would be a revival!
Today, however, 2 centuries later in the early 21st century, we do not have this experience so much anymore. And many people feel like we should. I have often heard people think back nostalgically to a time they never actually lived in, and bemoan the people and the society we have today. And I would like to say in response, that that tendency to look back is dangerous not only for the church, but for each of us individually as well. For us to be the Evangelists for Jesus that our souls crave us to be, we need to be here, now, in the present moment with the souls around us ~ not judging them but loving them ~ looking to see what is really going on NOW – so that we can best be the body of Christ now.
We all know that church membership in general, all over the world, has been going down, and not only that, there is a growing “taboo breaking” of speaking against the church. Agnostics and atheists are gaining societal acceptance - and what used to be considered the easy path of righteousness, seems harder and harder. We can’t just live in the relative comfort of being a part of a culture where most people go to church and those who did not were just quietly hiding.
And I think it is fair to say many of us carry some fear in regards to this. We want to make sure our church survives. We want to feel firmer in our understanding of faith in the face of some pretty hefty counter arguments. It used to be we had our denominational differences pretty clear in our minds, as to why denomination A is different from denomination B, and therefore better. Now we have to be prepared to defend Christendom altogether! And our faith has done some pretty nasty stuff to defend, and still does!
Interestingly enough, this is exactly why I chose to preach on the Old Testament writing for today; because it seems to be showing us our ancient problems, and therefore giving us some guidelines how to live the rest of our lives and how to guide this church into the Alpha and Omega the beginning, the end the eternity that Christ is!
Num 11:24-30. 24So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. 25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. 26Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” 29But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” 30And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. The Spirit of God Speaks to the Church . . .
Moses is aware that for God to be God, all the people needed to feel their own sense of urgency and calling, not to just sit and listen and follow and to depend on someone else to know God. This is a story of how jealousy and greed separate people of faith and therefore they create hindrances to the Spirit of God.
Part of the story of Adam is that he was placed to be responsible for God’s creations. He named them, and lived with them. This is symbolic of the individual responsibility that each human has in knowing God, and acting on behalf of God. Each human is called to love and respect and teach about this most pure and true way of living. And yet, we see that what humans do is, out of fear, try to create insiders and outsiders. Joshua responds to the hysteria of some young man tattle telling on Eldad and Medad by telling Moses he had to stop them! Gosh it sounds so real today!
“God! Tell those people over there in that church that they have to stop (whatever) … tell the Atheists they are wrong … tell the Muslims that they are wrong … GOD! In truth, I’m scared that I am not on the right side of the argument, so help me, because deep inside, I do want everyone to be on the same side of the line and living in peace and in agreement. And on my best spiritual days, it just feels so right the way I live my faith!”
One of my favorite bits about the Pentecost reading in the second chapter of Acts, is how everyone gathered together afterwards and wanted so desperately to live in community, mostly so that they could talk about what they had experienced with God! There seems to be such an energy and excitement about it. In MY imagination, they were talking, and when others talked, they were listening and nodding their heads, and just thrilled at the intimacy of sharing and not arguing with each other that the other’s experience was somehow WRONG, because it was different. It was like yes! THAT TOO! Wow!!!
I think this is what people in the early 19th century experienced too, a bit. People gathered to share an experience – like a circus, but more spiritual. Yet, there was then, as there is now, also a great need for differentiation. Those Methodists were focusing on what made them different from the Baptists, and the Presbyterians and Episcopals and look out for those CATHOLICS! The papists!!!!
Yet Moses would say, and Jesus would say, and people who love God, humanity, earth and peace would all agree ~ that what we really need is an overabundance of grace and compassion from each human on this earth, of any or no beliefs! AND YOU KNOW WHAT!??? In case we haven’t noticed this – it is really hard to do. For some odd reason, we keep trying to separate ourselves from others as human beings. THAT is what was wonderful about the day of Pentecost – it made everyone listen and understand and talk to each other!! And the freeing up of the language barriers seem to facilitate a great joy in being with each other.
So there is this old joke you most likely have heard about a man standing on the edge, about to jump.
I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.
"Well, there's so much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Are you religious?"
He said: "Yes."
I said: "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist."
"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."
I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.
THIS IS EXACTLY why so many kind, intelligent people leave or never even try to be part of the body of Christ – or as we call it today - the church. Because they do not feel from Christians the joy of being in the world today, knowing all we know about science and the need to live in peace. They feel that we are arguing over little separations when God calls us all to work together for the sake this entire planet and all that dwells on it!
God gave us the Holy Spirit so that we can look at each other and not see our differences but to desire to talk with each other about meaningful things, to find our commonalities not our differences, to be willing to stand together in order to protect any of God’s creations which is being threatened. The Holy Spirit is about grace, it is about a borderless desire to be one with each other around meaningful things! THIS is what gives our lives joy! This is what will bring people to travel miles and the desire to be with each other for hours.
YES! We do need a new revival period! But not one based on the memories of an imperfect past. We need a revival of the present times, focusing on the Holy Spirit who says, YOU – you of the LGBTQ community, you are not just tolerated, you are celebrated! The love you feel in the face of tremendous hatred is amazing - the same love we wish to know! YOU! You women who are serving God – you are equally of value as any male! You – men – your feelings are as valid and important and must never be ignored or denied! YOU – Addict – you are NOT a failure – you are precious, you are valued, you are so important, how can we help you never to forget that? YOU – you who are poor, you are so much of value despite your income, because you know love and the value of things that do not even cost anything. Most importantly, WE – all of us together – we need to break open all that separates us and talk about our souls, share our understanding of love that has no boundaries!!!! THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH NEEDS TO BE REBORN INTO!! Let this birthday be a rebirth into the joy and desire and love of God – let us rejoice and know that we are called to be with each other! ALWAYS AND IN ALL WAYS!! AMEN!
So, today is often referred to as the birthday of the church, because of what happened after the reading from Catherine, where “there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and . . . [d]ivided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” What happened next was Peter asked the others what they should do as a result of this, and they all agreed they should repent and be baptized ~ and Peter started preaching and the Holy Spirit started moving people and wonders and signs were being done ~ and they started to live together, share their belongings, their work (basically created a commune) and spent time with each other praising God and . . .”And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
This enthusiasm for God and the desire to know and create a community based on a mutually shared experience is something, I think, many miss in the church today. We in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) tradition have our entire existence to credit this mutually shared experienced. We are a part of the restoration movement of the early 19th century when there was an apparent craving for the community and the experience of faith, and good preachers could really move people emotionally and build churches from their preaching. People would travel for miles to listen to men preach for hours! It was a highlight of their lives when the tents would come up and there would be a revival!
Today, however, 2 centuries later in the early 21st century, we do not have this experience so much anymore. And many people feel like we should. I have often heard people think back nostalgically to a time they never actually lived in, and bemoan the people and the society we have today. And I would like to say in response, that that tendency to look back is dangerous not only for the church, but for each of us individually as well. For us to be the Evangelists for Jesus that our souls crave us to be, we need to be here, now, in the present moment with the souls around us ~ not judging them but loving them ~ looking to see what is really going on NOW – so that we can best be the body of Christ now.
We all know that church membership in general, all over the world, has been going down, and not only that, there is a growing “taboo breaking” of speaking against the church. Agnostics and atheists are gaining societal acceptance - and what used to be considered the easy path of righteousness, seems harder and harder. We can’t just live in the relative comfort of being a part of a culture where most people go to church and those who did not were just quietly hiding.
And I think it is fair to say many of us carry some fear in regards to this. We want to make sure our church survives. We want to feel firmer in our understanding of faith in the face of some pretty hefty counter arguments. It used to be we had our denominational differences pretty clear in our minds, as to why denomination A is different from denomination B, and therefore better. Now we have to be prepared to defend Christendom altogether! And our faith has done some pretty nasty stuff to defend, and still does!
Interestingly enough, this is exactly why I chose to preach on the Old Testament writing for today; because it seems to be showing us our ancient problems, and therefore giving us some guidelines how to live the rest of our lives and how to guide this church into the Alpha and Omega the beginning, the end the eternity that Christ is!
Num 11:24-30. 24So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. 25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. 26Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” 29But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” 30And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. The Spirit of God Speaks to the Church . . .
Moses is aware that for God to be God, all the people needed to feel their own sense of urgency and calling, not to just sit and listen and follow and to depend on someone else to know God. This is a story of how jealousy and greed separate people of faith and therefore they create hindrances to the Spirit of God.
Part of the story of Adam is that he was placed to be responsible for God’s creations. He named them, and lived with them. This is symbolic of the individual responsibility that each human has in knowing God, and acting on behalf of God. Each human is called to love and respect and teach about this most pure and true way of living. And yet, we see that what humans do is, out of fear, try to create insiders and outsiders. Joshua responds to the hysteria of some young man tattle telling on Eldad and Medad by telling Moses he had to stop them! Gosh it sounds so real today!
“God! Tell those people over there in that church that they have to stop (whatever) … tell the Atheists they are wrong … tell the Muslims that they are wrong … GOD! In truth, I’m scared that I am not on the right side of the argument, so help me, because deep inside, I do want everyone to be on the same side of the line and living in peace and in agreement. And on my best spiritual days, it just feels so right the way I live my faith!”
One of my favorite bits about the Pentecost reading in the second chapter of Acts, is how everyone gathered together afterwards and wanted so desperately to live in community, mostly so that they could talk about what they had experienced with God! There seems to be such an energy and excitement about it. In MY imagination, they were talking, and when others talked, they were listening and nodding their heads, and just thrilled at the intimacy of sharing and not arguing with each other that the other’s experience was somehow WRONG, because it was different. It was like yes! THAT TOO! Wow!!!
I think this is what people in the early 19th century experienced too, a bit. People gathered to share an experience – like a circus, but more spiritual. Yet, there was then, as there is now, also a great need for differentiation. Those Methodists were focusing on what made them different from the Baptists, and the Presbyterians and Episcopals and look out for those CATHOLICS! The papists!!!!
Yet Moses would say, and Jesus would say, and people who love God, humanity, earth and peace would all agree ~ that what we really need is an overabundance of grace and compassion from each human on this earth, of any or no beliefs! AND YOU KNOW WHAT!??? In case we haven’t noticed this – it is really hard to do. For some odd reason, we keep trying to separate ourselves from others as human beings. THAT is what was wonderful about the day of Pentecost – it made everyone listen and understand and talk to each other!! And the freeing up of the language barriers seem to facilitate a great joy in being with each other.
So there is this old joke you most likely have heard about a man standing on the edge, about to jump.
I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."
"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.
"Well, there's so much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Are you religious?"
He said: "Yes."
I said: "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist."
"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."
I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.
THIS IS EXACTLY why so many kind, intelligent people leave or never even try to be part of the body of Christ – or as we call it today - the church. Because they do not feel from Christians the joy of being in the world today, knowing all we know about science and the need to live in peace. They feel that we are arguing over little separations when God calls us all to work together for the sake this entire planet and all that dwells on it!
God gave us the Holy Spirit so that we can look at each other and not see our differences but to desire to talk with each other about meaningful things, to find our commonalities not our differences, to be willing to stand together in order to protect any of God’s creations which is being threatened. The Holy Spirit is about grace, it is about a borderless desire to be one with each other around meaningful things! THIS is what gives our lives joy! This is what will bring people to travel miles and the desire to be with each other for hours.
YES! We do need a new revival period! But not one based on the memories of an imperfect past. We need a revival of the present times, focusing on the Holy Spirit who says, YOU – you of the LGBTQ community, you are not just tolerated, you are celebrated! The love you feel in the face of tremendous hatred is amazing - the same love we wish to know! YOU! You women who are serving God – you are equally of value as any male! You – men – your feelings are as valid and important and must never be ignored or denied! YOU – Addict – you are NOT a failure – you are precious, you are valued, you are so important, how can we help you never to forget that? YOU – you who are poor, you are so much of value despite your income, because you know love and the value of things that do not even cost anything. Most importantly, WE – all of us together – we need to break open all that separates us and talk about our souls, share our understanding of love that has no boundaries!!!! THIS IS WHAT THE CHURCH NEEDS TO BE REBORN INTO!! Let this birthday be a rebirth into the joy and desire and love of God – let us rejoice and know that we are called to be with each other! ALWAYS AND IN ALL WAYS!! AMEN!
2017.05.28 ASCENDING
Sermon ~ Ephesians 1:15-23
5I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
The family had always been cared for by the mother. She woke them up in the morning, breakfast was waiting and lunch bags for the children were filled. She sent them off to the school bus and to work with a kiss. They came home to another kiss, a snack, she has picked up their rooms and cleaned the house, and they smell the beginnings of dinner being prepared. She asks them about their day, helps the children with their homework, feeds them, makes sure they get their baths, their drawers are full of clean clothes for the next day and they go to sleep with an embrace, a prayer and another kiss.
Then one day the unthinkable happened, the mother discovered she would have to go to away and was to stay away for an extended time. She had 40 days to prepare and teach her family all that they needed to know. She did her best at teaching them before she left, but sometimes things just take a little time. After she left they were late to school and work for a while; they wore wrinkled and sometimes dirty clothes. Their diets left much to be desired, their health started to deteriorate and they were overtired and stressed. But then they started to figure out how to live their lives in a different way, fitting in all that they needed to have done, that she normally did, what she taught them – and they did it by themselves.
They are now searching for new ways to fill in the void that she had left, and are becoming confident in their abilities to overcome what had seemed at first to be monumental. They are learning a great deal about laundry, cooking, cleaning, cooperation, the necessity for a good night’s sleep, making wise choices for themselves, and how to love and care for each other.
And I leave this family there. The mother has not returned yet to the home, and the family is figuring out how to do it for themselves . . .
I leave them there because that is where we are left in our scripture for today: The Ascension of Christ!
The family witnessed practically every day of their lives how the Mother made their lives easier, yet they never really took on the responsibility to do it themselves until they were forced to, because she was there to do it for them. The Disciples witnessed and even had a chance to practice some of what Jesus had been living and doing around them, and yet, they were not going to be able to inherit the full power of his gifts until they were no longer focusing on Jesus – but were able to begin to use the God that is within each of them – and is within each of us.
It is through Jesus having touched the earthly lives of those who believed in him, that they receive a connection to the divine. If Jesus had not ascended into heaven and just remained on this earth and his body decayed – there would not be the clear understanding that the path to the holy is through faith in his teachings, to his holiness not to his humanness ~ that his is a connection that transcends all human understandings.
His teachings are such that while we live we can grow into them and there is no final class of his teachings where everyone gets a diploma and parties, unless we consider that is what happens at the time death - that we lose our bodies as well and are free to join him in heaven. His is a path to eternal oneness with God and therefore that mystical path does not end on this earth, as his essence did not.
Now, it is a bit problematic if we think of our awareness of the heavens and earth as we understand it in the 21st century, in contrast to 1st century AD. I remember wondering when I was younger if maybe Jesus was on the Enterprise and Scotty just beamed him up!
But regardless of the physical understandings, we have inherited from those who came before us - and we continue to live out for those who will follow us – a physical reality; that those of faith in Christ are called to be Christ on this earth in his stead – because he is no longer here. He “Ascended into heaven to sit on the right hand of God the Father almighty,” as they say in the Creeds.
And yet, because we are part of him and he in us, we get our inspiration, our faith and guidance from where he is now. We share, in part, his divinity.
St. Augustine considered the Feast of the Ascension the crown of all Christian festivals. He wrote:
“Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies. Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear . . . While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head.”
So the Ascension is seen as something more than the metaphysical leaving of this earth. It is a vital spiritual connection between God, Christ and those who follow Christ. It is not only our calling to be Christ on this earth in his stead, but also to receive the holiness that comes from this shared experience. We have inherited Holiness – because that is where our Lord is – he is living in holiness, and we are a part of him.
Famous mystic writer and monk, Thomas Merton, was ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest on Ascension Thursday May 26, 1949 and he performed his first Mass the next day. He had this to say about the Ascension:
[it] is the feast of silence and interior solitude when we go up to live in heaven with Jesus: for he takes us there, after he has lived a little while on earth among us. This is the grace of Ascension Day: to be taken up into the heaven of our own souls, the point of immediate contact with God. To rest on this quiet peak, in the darkness that surrounds God. To live there through all trials and all business with the “tranquil God who makes all things tranquil.”
How lovely. Don’t we all wish for this ~ the grace of tranquility with God. This is also an important image to keep in mind, as this is also Memorial Day weekend ~ a day to remember those soldiers who have died in battle. For most of those who died, did so while experiencing the most horrendous acts a human can experience on this earth, war.
We are grateful for what these men and women endured for us struggling US civilians, who are trying to figure out how to live on this planet in justice. To think that those fallen soldiers joined God’s grace direct from the horror of war, is consoling. There are plenty of women and men who died later as a result of their war experience ~ some from their wounds, some years later, stateside, from suicide and drug addictions. These people have all suffered, and their families have suffered, in the hopes that their sacrifices would make a change for good in the world.
These hopes are a way of ascending from the realities of injustice in this world, and putting training and actions into the individual lives, that wondrous things may be accomplished through them. And this weekend we try to better understand their sacrifices, to treasure them, and to share our gratitude – as well as our desire that we, as a country, do not put lives in harms ways for anything less than the most noble of reasons.
So let us ascend to our most noble ideals; as individuals, as a community, as a nation, and as a global community. May the ascension we all seek through Christ, be for kindness and truth, justice, compassion, and all that we hold as righteous.
Sermon ~ Ephesians 1:15-23
5I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
The family had always been cared for by the mother. She woke them up in the morning, breakfast was waiting and lunch bags for the children were filled. She sent them off to the school bus and to work with a kiss. They came home to another kiss, a snack, she has picked up their rooms and cleaned the house, and they smell the beginnings of dinner being prepared. She asks them about their day, helps the children with their homework, feeds them, makes sure they get their baths, their drawers are full of clean clothes for the next day and they go to sleep with an embrace, a prayer and another kiss.
Then one day the unthinkable happened, the mother discovered she would have to go to away and was to stay away for an extended time. She had 40 days to prepare and teach her family all that they needed to know. She did her best at teaching them before she left, but sometimes things just take a little time. After she left they were late to school and work for a while; they wore wrinkled and sometimes dirty clothes. Their diets left much to be desired, their health started to deteriorate and they were overtired and stressed. But then they started to figure out how to live their lives in a different way, fitting in all that they needed to have done, that she normally did, what she taught them – and they did it by themselves.
They are now searching for new ways to fill in the void that she had left, and are becoming confident in their abilities to overcome what had seemed at first to be monumental. They are learning a great deal about laundry, cooking, cleaning, cooperation, the necessity for a good night’s sleep, making wise choices for themselves, and how to love and care for each other.
And I leave this family there. The mother has not returned yet to the home, and the family is figuring out how to do it for themselves . . .
I leave them there because that is where we are left in our scripture for today: The Ascension of Christ!
The family witnessed practically every day of their lives how the Mother made their lives easier, yet they never really took on the responsibility to do it themselves until they were forced to, because she was there to do it for them. The Disciples witnessed and even had a chance to practice some of what Jesus had been living and doing around them, and yet, they were not going to be able to inherit the full power of his gifts until they were no longer focusing on Jesus – but were able to begin to use the God that is within each of them – and is within each of us.
It is through Jesus having touched the earthly lives of those who believed in him, that they receive a connection to the divine. If Jesus had not ascended into heaven and just remained on this earth and his body decayed – there would not be the clear understanding that the path to the holy is through faith in his teachings, to his holiness not to his humanness ~ that his is a connection that transcends all human understandings.
His teachings are such that while we live we can grow into them and there is no final class of his teachings where everyone gets a diploma and parties, unless we consider that is what happens at the time death - that we lose our bodies as well and are free to join him in heaven. His is a path to eternal oneness with God and therefore that mystical path does not end on this earth, as his essence did not.
Now, it is a bit problematic if we think of our awareness of the heavens and earth as we understand it in the 21st century, in contrast to 1st century AD. I remember wondering when I was younger if maybe Jesus was on the Enterprise and Scotty just beamed him up!
But regardless of the physical understandings, we have inherited from those who came before us - and we continue to live out for those who will follow us – a physical reality; that those of faith in Christ are called to be Christ on this earth in his stead – because he is no longer here. He “Ascended into heaven to sit on the right hand of God the Father almighty,” as they say in the Creeds.
And yet, because we are part of him and he in us, we get our inspiration, our faith and guidance from where he is now. We share, in part, his divinity.
St. Augustine considered the Feast of the Ascension the crown of all Christian festivals. He wrote:
“Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies. Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear . . . While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head.”
So the Ascension is seen as something more than the metaphysical leaving of this earth. It is a vital spiritual connection between God, Christ and those who follow Christ. It is not only our calling to be Christ on this earth in his stead, but also to receive the holiness that comes from this shared experience. We have inherited Holiness – because that is where our Lord is – he is living in holiness, and we are a part of him.
Famous mystic writer and monk, Thomas Merton, was ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest on Ascension Thursday May 26, 1949 and he performed his first Mass the next day. He had this to say about the Ascension:
[it] is the feast of silence and interior solitude when we go up to live in heaven with Jesus: for he takes us there, after he has lived a little while on earth among us. This is the grace of Ascension Day: to be taken up into the heaven of our own souls, the point of immediate contact with God. To rest on this quiet peak, in the darkness that surrounds God. To live there through all trials and all business with the “tranquil God who makes all things tranquil.”
How lovely. Don’t we all wish for this ~ the grace of tranquility with God. This is also an important image to keep in mind, as this is also Memorial Day weekend ~ a day to remember those soldiers who have died in battle. For most of those who died, did so while experiencing the most horrendous acts a human can experience on this earth, war.
We are grateful for what these men and women endured for us struggling US civilians, who are trying to figure out how to live on this planet in justice. To think that those fallen soldiers joined God’s grace direct from the horror of war, is consoling. There are plenty of women and men who died later as a result of their war experience ~ some from their wounds, some years later, stateside, from suicide and drug addictions. These people have all suffered, and their families have suffered, in the hopes that their sacrifices would make a change for good in the world.
These hopes are a way of ascending from the realities of injustice in this world, and putting training and actions into the individual lives, that wondrous things may be accomplished through them. And this weekend we try to better understand their sacrifices, to treasure them, and to share our gratitude – as well as our desire that we, as a country, do not put lives in harms ways for anything less than the most noble of reasons.
So let us ascend to our most noble ideals; as individuals, as a community, as a nation, and as a global community. May the ascension we all seek through Christ, be for kindness and truth, justice, compassion, and all that we hold as righteous.
2017.05.21 Non-Violence in Jesus’ Name
Just a reminder, we are still in Eastertide! It seems like a while ago that we actually celebrated Easter Sunday. A lot has happened since then. We had the Youth worship service, the Holy Humor service, the Choir sang the Rutter service, and last week was the Mother’s Day service. Today is the first Sunday in the Easter season which is just the normal routine. The students have left us, and the town is quieter. And we are here today, together, to share our love of the holy; to seek the presence of God, in the hopes that our lives will be transformed. I believe that we are all part of God, and in seeking faith, we are seeking integrity for our lives.
Integrity is defined as: 1.) the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness; and 2.) the state of being whole and undivided. Integrity with what we claim as our faith is vital to living a life lacking in chaos and confusion. Knowing what we believe, and living in line with those beliefs, is what a sense of mental health and hope for life is totally dependent upon.
This is one reason why people over millennia have found that living in a community was so beneficial. In community we learn from what the other discovers and shares, we are given the possibility to see our own inconsistencies, and we grow into our best selves over time, because we are living a life of integrity best when in community.
And what we have as our heritage of faith from the Judeo-Christian community is an amazing amount of perfect lessons on how to be the best humans we can be! Let’s start with the 10 commandments:
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall make no idols.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
These are great ways to live in peace in the world. And Jesus, in some ways, simplified these 10 in his Sermon on the Mount. There, he repeated some of the commandments and added one. Matthew 19:16-19, when the rich young man asked, “what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus responded with, “’If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
One thing I love most about this scripture is when Jesus says, “IF YOU WISH TO ENTER INTO LIFE”… pointing out that real life is one of integrity with the faith. If we are not living lives of integrity, we are not really living our lives, we are living false lives. And the happiest, purest life is one seeking the wonder of God.
But another point about the commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the life and teachings of Christ – the desire for integrity – is that living in this path is living a life of non-violence. What happens when you covet? What happens when you steal, or lie, what happens when you are rude and unkind to your neighbor – what happens when you break a commandment? Usually you are either reacting to, or causing, some form of anger or rage. You are in the midst of some form of violence, either causing it or reacting to it. And Christ taught us to not live for our own sense of ego entitlement, but to live for peace, for compassion, justice, grace . . . if someone asks you for your coat, give them your shirt also . . .
The Epistle, which I chose to preach on today speaks so clearly to the concept of living for peace in Christ Jesus:
1 Peter 3:13-22
13Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
The Spirit of God Speaks to the Church . . .
I often cry when I read, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;” because I have had to struggle for decades to continue to believe in the hope for peace, to learn and live in the belief that doing everything we can for peace through means that do not depend on force is a viable way to live. And to hope that with time, and integrity, perhaps the world can evolve into a place of non-violent conflict resolutions. Words which basically mean, finding ways to communicate and love one another, not demanding our will be done. Being aware of our own motivations quickly enough to stop ourselves before trying to force our will over God’s grace. “17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.”
I worry about the lives and hearts of so many people today. Often there is such an urgent readiness for anger and despair in so many ~ so many people who are angry at some sense of not being treated fairly, or insecurity about the future. Christ tells us not to worry, and that is hard to do, but, psychologically, he is so right – worry is an unhealthy practice and does no good. It can create a sense of anxiety leading to anger or despair, leading to drastic reactions, often a form of violence. And we, as a body of Christ, are called to help people find a way out of fear and worry and despair. This is a great calling for us – because there is so much out there. One of my favorite Theologians, Walter Bruggemann, wrote: "The crisis in the U.S. church has almost nothing to do with being liberal or conservative; it has everything to do with giving up on the faith and discipline of our Christian baptism and settling for a common, generic U.S. identity that is part patriotism, part consumerism, part violence, and part affluence."
How often have we had to struggle with the opposing thoughts which ring in our minds – the fear we have inherited from our lives in the consumer based world: will we have enough money to retire on, to repair the car, to fix the furnace, to run this church – as opposed to living in trust for growth in Christ Jesus, discovering what the mission is we need to meet in his name – discovering our lack of integrity with ourselves, sharing and growing and loving and living in grace with each other! What a struggle we do live in.
The Epistle from Paul is reminding us the patience of God, the sacrifice of Christ, and the wholeness that is promised us as we continue to live in faith.
And one of the healthiest ways to create a world of peace is to learn about the concept of non-violence, and apply it to our every day. According to Wikipedia:
Advocates of nonviolent action believe cooperation and consent are the roots of civil or political power: all regimes, including bureaucratic institutions, financial institutions, and the armed segments of society (such as the military and police); depend on compliance from citizens. On a national level, the strategy of nonviolent action seeks to undermine the power of rulers by encouraging people to withdraw their consent and cooperation. The forms of nonviolence draw inspiration from both religious or ethical beliefs and political analysis. Religious or ethically based nonviolence is sometimes referred to as principled, philosophical, or ethical nonviolence, while nonviolence based on political analysis is often referred to as tactical, strategic, or pragmatic nonviolent action. Commonly, both of these dimensions may be present within the thinking of particular movements or individuals.
That is a description of how to create change in a society when faced with obvious injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. was an advocate of it. He learned a lot of it from watching Mahatma Gandhi. In 1964, in The Quest for Peace and Justice he wrote "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it." And this man of God spoke the truth.
But on a daily level – a personal level – what you and I can do today and every day, is also important ~ being non-violent in our thoughts and deeds. This does not mean rolling over and being apathetic – the opposite is true. Because we do care so much for our fellow people on this earth, we need to find ways to love each other and seek each other and listen to each other and laugh and cry with each other. And we need to do that especially with those we disagree with politically and/or religiously.
We go outside and can almost cut a knife through the tension in the world between people. We look at each other knowing or wondering what their beliefs are and should we be ready to defending our beliefs. We call each other names in our frustrations. We assume the other is just stupid or ignorant. When Christ is telling us never give up hope on each other – never give up hope on creating a world where all God’s people are Hallowed, and God’s Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. This is why integrity is so important!
Have you ever really contemplated the word “trespasses” in the Lord’s Prayer? When I was a teen my Dad gave me a pocket dictionary, and I would use that as a tool to understand the bible more. I would look up one word and write the definition on some paper. Then I would define a few word in that definition, and some words in the definition of those words, until I had the feeling I had scraped everything I could from the comprehension of that word. Well, I remember doing that to the word trespasses, and by the end I thought it was the most awesome word in the universe. “Forgive us our trespasses” led me to be aware that we could be causing some form of violence on someone without even knowing it. Trespasses came to mean, when I interrupted someone, talked over them, cut someone off in traffic – insisted on my way being done, I was in need of asking for forgiveness, from the other and from God! For my own sake! For the sake of peace on earth!
Christ’s teaching were revolutionary, because to have integrity in being his follower, I need to be aware of all those times I may be violating someone else’s life, and be willing to learn and grow from it. And this is what we need so much today. We need a revolution for the love of Christ and for the love of each other. We must find a way to listen and care for the other, especially the other that we totally disagree with. Because, whatever we are fighting about is not as important as the love and the sacrifice of Christ ~ as much as I love talking politics and religion – we know nothing if we cannot love each other. We know nothing if we cannot hold each other and share compassion for each other.
My favorite scholar is Joseph Campbell and in his book, Pathways to Bliss, he wrote: "Revolution doesn't have to do with smashing something; it has to do with bringing something forth. If you spend all your time thinking about that which you are attacking, then you are negatively bound to it. You have to find the zeal in yourself and bring that out." Let us find the zeal of the love of Christ and bring that out! And let us seek wholeness within ourselves, and in our communities! Let us remember these word from the scripture: “who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.” Amen
Just a reminder, we are still in Eastertide! It seems like a while ago that we actually celebrated Easter Sunday. A lot has happened since then. We had the Youth worship service, the Holy Humor service, the Choir sang the Rutter service, and last week was the Mother’s Day service. Today is the first Sunday in the Easter season which is just the normal routine. The students have left us, and the town is quieter. And we are here today, together, to share our love of the holy; to seek the presence of God, in the hopes that our lives will be transformed. I believe that we are all part of God, and in seeking faith, we are seeking integrity for our lives.
Integrity is defined as: 1.) the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness; and 2.) the state of being whole and undivided. Integrity with what we claim as our faith is vital to living a life lacking in chaos and confusion. Knowing what we believe, and living in line with those beliefs, is what a sense of mental health and hope for life is totally dependent upon.
This is one reason why people over millennia have found that living in a community was so beneficial. In community we learn from what the other discovers and shares, we are given the possibility to see our own inconsistencies, and we grow into our best selves over time, because we are living a life of integrity best when in community.
And what we have as our heritage of faith from the Judeo-Christian community is an amazing amount of perfect lessons on how to be the best humans we can be! Let’s start with the 10 commandments:
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall make no idols.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
These are great ways to live in peace in the world. And Jesus, in some ways, simplified these 10 in his Sermon on the Mount. There, he repeated some of the commandments and added one. Matthew 19:16-19, when the rich young man asked, “what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus responded with, “’If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
One thing I love most about this scripture is when Jesus says, “IF YOU WISH TO ENTER INTO LIFE”… pointing out that real life is one of integrity with the faith. If we are not living lives of integrity, we are not really living our lives, we are living false lives. And the happiest, purest life is one seeking the wonder of God.
But another point about the commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the life and teachings of Christ – the desire for integrity – is that living in this path is living a life of non-violence. What happens when you covet? What happens when you steal, or lie, what happens when you are rude and unkind to your neighbor – what happens when you break a commandment? Usually you are either reacting to, or causing, some form of anger or rage. You are in the midst of some form of violence, either causing it or reacting to it. And Christ taught us to not live for our own sense of ego entitlement, but to live for peace, for compassion, justice, grace . . . if someone asks you for your coat, give them your shirt also . . .
The Epistle, which I chose to preach on today speaks so clearly to the concept of living for peace in Christ Jesus:
1 Peter 3:13-22
13Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
The Spirit of God Speaks to the Church . . .
I often cry when I read, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;” because I have had to struggle for decades to continue to believe in the hope for peace, to learn and live in the belief that doing everything we can for peace through means that do not depend on force is a viable way to live. And to hope that with time, and integrity, perhaps the world can evolve into a place of non-violent conflict resolutions. Words which basically mean, finding ways to communicate and love one another, not demanding our will be done. Being aware of our own motivations quickly enough to stop ourselves before trying to force our will over God’s grace. “17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.”
I worry about the lives and hearts of so many people today. Often there is such an urgent readiness for anger and despair in so many ~ so many people who are angry at some sense of not being treated fairly, or insecurity about the future. Christ tells us not to worry, and that is hard to do, but, psychologically, he is so right – worry is an unhealthy practice and does no good. It can create a sense of anxiety leading to anger or despair, leading to drastic reactions, often a form of violence. And we, as a body of Christ, are called to help people find a way out of fear and worry and despair. This is a great calling for us – because there is so much out there. One of my favorite Theologians, Walter Bruggemann, wrote: "The crisis in the U.S. church has almost nothing to do with being liberal or conservative; it has everything to do with giving up on the faith and discipline of our Christian baptism and settling for a common, generic U.S. identity that is part patriotism, part consumerism, part violence, and part affluence."
How often have we had to struggle with the opposing thoughts which ring in our minds – the fear we have inherited from our lives in the consumer based world: will we have enough money to retire on, to repair the car, to fix the furnace, to run this church – as opposed to living in trust for growth in Christ Jesus, discovering what the mission is we need to meet in his name – discovering our lack of integrity with ourselves, sharing and growing and loving and living in grace with each other! What a struggle we do live in.
The Epistle from Paul is reminding us the patience of God, the sacrifice of Christ, and the wholeness that is promised us as we continue to live in faith.
And one of the healthiest ways to create a world of peace is to learn about the concept of non-violence, and apply it to our every day. According to Wikipedia:
Advocates of nonviolent action believe cooperation and consent are the roots of civil or political power: all regimes, including bureaucratic institutions, financial institutions, and the armed segments of society (such as the military and police); depend on compliance from citizens. On a national level, the strategy of nonviolent action seeks to undermine the power of rulers by encouraging people to withdraw their consent and cooperation. The forms of nonviolence draw inspiration from both religious or ethical beliefs and political analysis. Religious or ethically based nonviolence is sometimes referred to as principled, philosophical, or ethical nonviolence, while nonviolence based on political analysis is often referred to as tactical, strategic, or pragmatic nonviolent action. Commonly, both of these dimensions may be present within the thinking of particular movements or individuals.
That is a description of how to create change in a society when faced with obvious injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. was an advocate of it. He learned a lot of it from watching Mahatma Gandhi. In 1964, in The Quest for Peace and Justice he wrote "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it." And this man of God spoke the truth.
But on a daily level – a personal level – what you and I can do today and every day, is also important ~ being non-violent in our thoughts and deeds. This does not mean rolling over and being apathetic – the opposite is true. Because we do care so much for our fellow people on this earth, we need to find ways to love each other and seek each other and listen to each other and laugh and cry with each other. And we need to do that especially with those we disagree with politically and/or religiously.
We go outside and can almost cut a knife through the tension in the world between people. We look at each other knowing or wondering what their beliefs are and should we be ready to defending our beliefs. We call each other names in our frustrations. We assume the other is just stupid or ignorant. When Christ is telling us never give up hope on each other – never give up hope on creating a world where all God’s people are Hallowed, and God’s Kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. This is why integrity is so important!
Have you ever really contemplated the word “trespasses” in the Lord’s Prayer? When I was a teen my Dad gave me a pocket dictionary, and I would use that as a tool to understand the bible more. I would look up one word and write the definition on some paper. Then I would define a few word in that definition, and some words in the definition of those words, until I had the feeling I had scraped everything I could from the comprehension of that word. Well, I remember doing that to the word trespasses, and by the end I thought it was the most awesome word in the universe. “Forgive us our trespasses” led me to be aware that we could be causing some form of violence on someone without even knowing it. Trespasses came to mean, when I interrupted someone, talked over them, cut someone off in traffic – insisted on my way being done, I was in need of asking for forgiveness, from the other and from God! For my own sake! For the sake of peace on earth!
Christ’s teaching were revolutionary, because to have integrity in being his follower, I need to be aware of all those times I may be violating someone else’s life, and be willing to learn and grow from it. And this is what we need so much today. We need a revolution for the love of Christ and for the love of each other. We must find a way to listen and care for the other, especially the other that we totally disagree with. Because, whatever we are fighting about is not as important as the love and the sacrifice of Christ ~ as much as I love talking politics and religion – we know nothing if we cannot love each other. We know nothing if we cannot hold each other and share compassion for each other.
My favorite scholar is Joseph Campbell and in his book, Pathways to Bliss, he wrote: "Revolution doesn't have to do with smashing something; it has to do with bringing something forth. If you spend all your time thinking about that which you are attacking, then you are negatively bound to it. You have to find the zeal in yourself and bring that out." Let us find the zeal of the love of Christ and bring that out! And let us seek wholeness within ourselves, and in our communities! Let us remember these word from the scripture: “who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.” Amen
2017. 05.14 Knowing Jesus
Today is Mothers’ Day. DID YOU KNOW that this day was initially not intended to be a day where we focus only on our own mothers and have cake presents and fine meals? It was a day brought forth by three women as the result of the Civil War.
The first woman was Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis. She started organizing the mothers in 1858 in various towns in West Virginia to help improve sanitation. She had given birth to somewhere between 11 and 13 children only 4 of whom lived to adulthood. Her children, like so many others at the time, were victims, “of diseases such as the measles, typhoid fever, and diphtheria . . . These losses inspired Jarvis to take action to help her community combat childhood diseases and unsanitary conditions; it was called ‘Mother’s Friendship Day’. By 1868 she was working toward reconciling Union and Confederate mothers by organizing and teaching women basic nursing skills and sanitation.” (Wikipedia)
The second woman was Julia Ward Howe. She wrote the poem that we sing called, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Mrs. Howe was influenced by the work that Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis was doing, and Mrs. Howe has been given much credit for promoting the idea of proclaiming a mothers’ Day. She proposed an annual Mothers' Day for Peace in 1872 in Boston.
The third woman was Anna Jarvis, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis’ daughter. After the death of her mother in 1905, Anna became motivated to create a day, inspired by her mother’s work, in order to "honor mothers, living and dead." By May 10, 1908, she had accomplished her goal and that was the first Mother’s Day.
These women saw the power that mothers could have in bringing about changes for good, in their environment and in the world. Stephanie Coontz wrote, “The 19th century forerunners of our modern holiday were called mothers' days, not Mother's Day. The plural is significant: They celebrated the extension of women's moral concerns beyond the home. They commemorated mothers' civic roles and services to the nation, not their private roles and personal services to the family. The women who organized the first mothers' days believed motherhood was a political force that should be mobilized on behalf of the entire community, not merely an expression of a fundamental instinct that led them to lavish all their time and attention on their children.”
Now, Mother’s Day is a very problematic day in the church. Not everyone has such a positive feeling about their mothers. Some feel embarrassed and pain because their relationship with their children is not as they would wish it to be. Some women would have wished to be mothers but it did not happen, yet for some, and for some they know it will never be. For some LGBTQI people this day is particularly painful, reminding them of their parent’s rejection.
And this isn’t even mentioning the fact that Mother’s Day is a secular Holiday – not a church Holiday and there is a debate around whether or not we should even mention Mother’s Day in the church, let alone preach on it. Now, I’ve been preaching for a while and I haven’t even mentioned the scriptures once! Where’s the biblical exegesis and profound teachings about Jesus n this matter?
It is coming . . . I promise. For all three of these women were well informed, educated, Christian women. All three had friends and relatives who were pastors and felt inspired by their faith ~ and a bloody societal threatening war to call women together to bring peace.
In 1870 Julia Ward Howe wrote another, not so famous prose as a reaction to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. It is called “Mothers’ Day Proclamation”:
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
These are words that I hope inspire all people in contemporary society. That a desire for lasting peace is no longer just a fancy of idle women whose hearts were too weak to face the carnage, anger, pain and loss they witnessed around them. These are words for the feminine part of all humanity – male or female.
In Germany I was the business manager of the German church’s program of the World Council of Church’s “Decade to Overcome Violence”. And I do believe whole heartedly in it, because there are those in this world who have witnessed that change can occur through non-violent means. It takes longer than using violent force, but it is a healthier and long lasting change. Peace is possible.
We need to have more and more of humanity who believe in the possibilities of peace through changing the essence of the human being, starting with ourselves. We have a Lord, who focused his life on teaching love, not destruction. He whipped those money changers in the temple – he showed us that there are things that are to be treasured and protected – that we can use our anger as a force for change – but he never used all the power that he had in him, through God, to cause damage. He even restored the soldier’s ear that Paul had cut off at Gethsemane.
Jesus was willing to show the evil for what it was – to suffer the pain of an immoral and unjust death – which was an act of non-violence – he took an action when we did not resist – he wasn’t passive – he was actively involved in every step pointing out the injustices – just as the Indians who were fighting for self rule from the Brits in India did, as they peacefully walked up, one after the other, to the gate to look in the face of the soldiers as the soldiers beat them down.
Jesus’ message did not die with him. He came back so that his followers would know that what he taught – what he lived - was real. Jesus’ message, his life, and the proof of his resurrection is all about the power of love - the power of non-violence – the power of the goal of peace – the power that the disciples taught in those days – that Lydia, the mother of Western European Christianity recognized – the power that Julia Ward Howe, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, and Anna Jarvis all knew about - the power that the WCC and the Decade to Overcome Violence knew all about.
We can look at violence against Children and their mothers and know that it is wrong. And the originators of this day knew that violence against other people’s children is also wrong as well. This day means so much more than the ability to have children or not. It is a day for all of us to allow our hearts to rule our actions and to trust that God is love and there is power in that.
I believe that Mother's day is a very important spiritual day of understanding humanity. We cannot ignore the concept of motherhood because the imperfections we created put an uncomfortable strain on Motherhood. It may be a Secular day but it has a connection with the Sacred. Motherhood is a deeper concept than female parenting. It is a desire - a longing - for that reunion with the perfection of God. I believe it has little to do with gender and parenting.
"Childhood amnesia" is what psychologists call the apparent inability for humans to recall much before their 3rd birthday. So there is for adults a mystery about our beginnings, and yet we do know that babies have developed senses in the womb and are capable of using all their senses before they have even been born.
The mystery around motherhood is the primal desire to be at one with God. The ideal Mothers are ones we go to for safety, for nourishment, for knowledge, for guidance . . . and yet, children become aware pretty quickly that Mom is not always right. And the drive for children to grow and become independent is a necessary stimulant for development! So God becomes the common factor that binds mother with child - an inexhaustible resource for all of humanity to seek the womb and yet grow as instruments of God at the same time.
Jesus taught, he suffered, he died, he returned to empower his brothers and sisters - his fellow children of God - and then ~ he took his body away. He let go of the hands and rejoiced that the children were walking on their own!
The most vital of Jesus' lessons was that access to God is for all. There is no race exception, and no laws that must be obeyed. The Holy Spirit - the connection with the Holy is available for all people. It is no longer a relationship between the Jews who have followed all the laws correctly, it is a grace, a connection so intimate that the closest equivalency must be motherhood - the womb - the connection and protection that is primary.
Grace is the purpose of the story of Christ. And for all those imperfect women who think they may not have been good enough mothers, or had good enough mothers, perhaps it is time to empower the idea of God as mother. After all, women are creators, and God created the universe . . . we all live on Mother Earth. We share one planet and we have more in common genetically with each other than differences! We all depend on water - humans and this wonderful planet earth. So let us focus on the grace and hope - and let us trust the Spirit of God to unite us all.
So, I will now share the Gospel reading for today. In light of the Mother's Day concepts of advocacy, unity, dependency, longing, let us listen to our Brother Jesus' words: John 14:1-14
1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Living a life dedicated to being as Jesus lived and taught is creating our bodies and souls as powerful houses of God. Jesus communicates with God on behalf of his people. Advocacy is a big part of parenting, of love, of communion. He empowers us all for the future generations who would learn from these witnesses.
His calling is to share the news that God is love not judgment . . . that there is abounding Grace, so that we can live with all the human weaknesses with hope that our lives will experience a love more perfect than what our earthly parents could give us, or the emptiness inside of having no child or losing one.
Jesus prays aloud to God: teaching all who hear, that his sole purpose of life is to make unending grace and love accessible to the Earth, and all of God's creations. Deep inside us all is the unity of love and oneness in that desire. Let us spend this day being in the womb of God and sharing God love with all we meet, so each and every one of us could have a Happy Mother's Day.
Today is Mothers’ Day. DID YOU KNOW that this day was initially not intended to be a day where we focus only on our own mothers and have cake presents and fine meals? It was a day brought forth by three women as the result of the Civil War.
The first woman was Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis. She started organizing the mothers in 1858 in various towns in West Virginia to help improve sanitation. She had given birth to somewhere between 11 and 13 children only 4 of whom lived to adulthood. Her children, like so many others at the time, were victims, “of diseases such as the measles, typhoid fever, and diphtheria . . . These losses inspired Jarvis to take action to help her community combat childhood diseases and unsanitary conditions; it was called ‘Mother’s Friendship Day’. By 1868 she was working toward reconciling Union and Confederate mothers by organizing and teaching women basic nursing skills and sanitation.” (Wikipedia)
The second woman was Julia Ward Howe. She wrote the poem that we sing called, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Mrs. Howe was influenced by the work that Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis was doing, and Mrs. Howe has been given much credit for promoting the idea of proclaiming a mothers’ Day. She proposed an annual Mothers' Day for Peace in 1872 in Boston.
The third woman was Anna Jarvis, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis’ daughter. After the death of her mother in 1905, Anna became motivated to create a day, inspired by her mother’s work, in order to "honor mothers, living and dead." By May 10, 1908, she had accomplished her goal and that was the first Mother’s Day.
These women saw the power that mothers could have in bringing about changes for good, in their environment and in the world. Stephanie Coontz wrote, “The 19th century forerunners of our modern holiday were called mothers' days, not Mother's Day. The plural is significant: They celebrated the extension of women's moral concerns beyond the home. They commemorated mothers' civic roles and services to the nation, not their private roles and personal services to the family. The women who organized the first mothers' days believed motherhood was a political force that should be mobilized on behalf of the entire community, not merely an expression of a fundamental instinct that led them to lavish all their time and attention on their children.”
Now, Mother’s Day is a very problematic day in the church. Not everyone has such a positive feeling about their mothers. Some feel embarrassed and pain because their relationship with their children is not as they would wish it to be. Some women would have wished to be mothers but it did not happen, yet for some, and for some they know it will never be. For some LGBTQI people this day is particularly painful, reminding them of their parent’s rejection.
And this isn’t even mentioning the fact that Mother’s Day is a secular Holiday – not a church Holiday and there is a debate around whether or not we should even mention Mother’s Day in the church, let alone preach on it. Now, I’ve been preaching for a while and I haven’t even mentioned the scriptures once! Where’s the biblical exegesis and profound teachings about Jesus n this matter?
It is coming . . . I promise. For all three of these women were well informed, educated, Christian women. All three had friends and relatives who were pastors and felt inspired by their faith ~ and a bloody societal threatening war to call women together to bring peace.
In 1870 Julia Ward Howe wrote another, not so famous prose as a reaction to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. It is called “Mothers’ Day Proclamation”:
Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
These are words that I hope inspire all people in contemporary society. That a desire for lasting peace is no longer just a fancy of idle women whose hearts were too weak to face the carnage, anger, pain and loss they witnessed around them. These are words for the feminine part of all humanity – male or female.
In Germany I was the business manager of the German church’s program of the World Council of Church’s “Decade to Overcome Violence”. And I do believe whole heartedly in it, because there are those in this world who have witnessed that change can occur through non-violent means. It takes longer than using violent force, but it is a healthier and long lasting change. Peace is possible.
We need to have more and more of humanity who believe in the possibilities of peace through changing the essence of the human being, starting with ourselves. We have a Lord, who focused his life on teaching love, not destruction. He whipped those money changers in the temple – he showed us that there are things that are to be treasured and protected – that we can use our anger as a force for change – but he never used all the power that he had in him, through God, to cause damage. He even restored the soldier’s ear that Paul had cut off at Gethsemane.
Jesus was willing to show the evil for what it was – to suffer the pain of an immoral and unjust death – which was an act of non-violence – he took an action when we did not resist – he wasn’t passive – he was actively involved in every step pointing out the injustices – just as the Indians who were fighting for self rule from the Brits in India did, as they peacefully walked up, one after the other, to the gate to look in the face of the soldiers as the soldiers beat them down.
Jesus’ message did not die with him. He came back so that his followers would know that what he taught – what he lived - was real. Jesus’ message, his life, and the proof of his resurrection is all about the power of love - the power of non-violence – the power of the goal of peace – the power that the disciples taught in those days – that Lydia, the mother of Western European Christianity recognized – the power that Julia Ward Howe, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, and Anna Jarvis all knew about - the power that the WCC and the Decade to Overcome Violence knew all about.
We can look at violence against Children and their mothers and know that it is wrong. And the originators of this day knew that violence against other people’s children is also wrong as well. This day means so much more than the ability to have children or not. It is a day for all of us to allow our hearts to rule our actions and to trust that God is love and there is power in that.
I believe that Mother's day is a very important spiritual day of understanding humanity. We cannot ignore the concept of motherhood because the imperfections we created put an uncomfortable strain on Motherhood. It may be a Secular day but it has a connection with the Sacred. Motherhood is a deeper concept than female parenting. It is a desire - a longing - for that reunion with the perfection of God. I believe it has little to do with gender and parenting.
"Childhood amnesia" is what psychologists call the apparent inability for humans to recall much before their 3rd birthday. So there is for adults a mystery about our beginnings, and yet we do know that babies have developed senses in the womb and are capable of using all their senses before they have even been born.
The mystery around motherhood is the primal desire to be at one with God. The ideal Mothers are ones we go to for safety, for nourishment, for knowledge, for guidance . . . and yet, children become aware pretty quickly that Mom is not always right. And the drive for children to grow and become independent is a necessary stimulant for development! So God becomes the common factor that binds mother with child - an inexhaustible resource for all of humanity to seek the womb and yet grow as instruments of God at the same time.
Jesus taught, he suffered, he died, he returned to empower his brothers and sisters - his fellow children of God - and then ~ he took his body away. He let go of the hands and rejoiced that the children were walking on their own!
The most vital of Jesus' lessons was that access to God is for all. There is no race exception, and no laws that must be obeyed. The Holy Spirit - the connection with the Holy is available for all people. It is no longer a relationship between the Jews who have followed all the laws correctly, it is a grace, a connection so intimate that the closest equivalency must be motherhood - the womb - the connection and protection that is primary.
Grace is the purpose of the story of Christ. And for all those imperfect women who think they may not have been good enough mothers, or had good enough mothers, perhaps it is time to empower the idea of God as mother. After all, women are creators, and God created the universe . . . we all live on Mother Earth. We share one planet and we have more in common genetically with each other than differences! We all depend on water - humans and this wonderful planet earth. So let us focus on the grace and hope - and let us trust the Spirit of God to unite us all.
So, I will now share the Gospel reading for today. In light of the Mother's Day concepts of advocacy, unity, dependency, longing, let us listen to our Brother Jesus' words: John 14:1-14
1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Living a life dedicated to being as Jesus lived and taught is creating our bodies and souls as powerful houses of God. Jesus communicates with God on behalf of his people. Advocacy is a big part of parenting, of love, of communion. He empowers us all for the future generations who would learn from these witnesses.
His calling is to share the news that God is love not judgment . . . that there is abounding Grace, so that we can live with all the human weaknesses with hope that our lives will experience a love more perfect than what our earthly parents could give us, or the emptiness inside of having no child or losing one.
Jesus prays aloud to God: teaching all who hear, that his sole purpose of life is to make unending grace and love accessible to the Earth, and all of God's creations. Deep inside us all is the unity of love and oneness in that desire. Let us spend this day being in the womb of God and sharing God love with all we meet, so each and every one of us could have a Happy Mother's Day.
17.04.30 Why Laugh?
Luke 6:17-21: He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
I can’t start a sermon on humor without a joke, so here goes: a Priest and a Pastor are talking about communion. The Priest says, “when we have communion, wine becomes the blood of Christ!” The Pastor responds with, “That’s nothing, when we have communion the wine becomes grape juice!”
A priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven. St. Peter was at the Pearly gates waiting for them.
‘Come with me’, said St. Peter to the taxi driver.
The taxi driver did as he was told and followed St. Peter to a mansion. It had anything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic size pool.
‘Wow, thank you’, said the taxi driver.
Next, St. Peter led the pastor to a rugged old shack with a bunk bed and a little old television set.
‘Wait, I think you are a little mixed up’, said the pastor. ‘Shouldn’t I be the one who gets the mansion? After all I was a pastor, prayed every day, and preached God’s word.’
‘Yes, that’s true. But during your sermons people slept. When the taxi driver drove, everyone prayed.’
A peacher was completing a temperance sermon: with great expression he said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I’d take it and throw it into the river.” With even greater emphasis he said, “And if I had all the wine in the world, I’d take it and throw it into the river.”
And then finally, he said, “And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I’d take it and throw it into the river.”
He sat down. The song leader then stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, “For our closing song, let us sing Hymn # 365: “Shall We Gather at the River.”
And finally, there’s the one about the man who walked into the doctor’s office and said, “I’ve got the shingles.” So the nurse asked him if he had an appointment and had he ever been here before, both questions the man answered with, “no”. So she gave him a bunch of forms to fill out and said she would fit him in as soon as she could. An hour and a half goes by and she finally leads him to a back room where she tells him to take off his outer clothes and put on the inspection gown; which he did. He waited another hour and the doctor finally came in and was looking at his sheet, saying, “I hear you have shingles, where are they?” To which the man responded, “Outside in my truck.”
My apologies to my family and those who have heard me tell these jokes before. I do tell some of my favorites often. That is one of the advantages of not moving parishes – new folks for old material. But the last time I told the joke about shingles was a week ago. I was at my former President’s funeral and saw some people I knew. One woman was sharing that her husband, the Doctor, had shingles in the eye . . . so, me being me, HAD to tell her that joke. Now, you would think that for all the obvious reasons, it was totally inappropriate for me to tell that joke, to those people at that time. But they laughed, and the woman said she had missed me.
Because she knew, that laughter is sacred. Laughter is God’s creative force and joy breaking through in new ways, bringing us close together when we need it the most. Laughter is exactly the right response to the stress of life, because physiologically, all kinds of really great stuff happens when you laugh, and when we are stressed we need it more than other times. According to Ida Abdalkhani, a laughter yoga expert, “when we laugh, our bodies release a flood of chemicals and positive neurotransmitters that stimulate our brains, our immune system, and our nervous systems. In fact, when we laugh, our blood flow increases by about 50%. That's how we get the rosy cheeks. And laughing can actually burn calories. If you were to laugh for about 15 minutes a day, every day of the year, you can lose up to five pounds.”
There are all kinds of amazing scientific facts out there about the advantage of laughter – for both the body and the soul, and yet, we don’t really laugh that much in church. Religion is very serious – even contentious – and there is a lot of theology that is based on fear and vindictiveness. When we think about how we would treat those people whom we love, we would never dream of treating them how so many people would preach that God should treat us. And I hope to begin the discussion today on why do we do that? Why do we paint God as someone who is cruel, and unkind and judgmental; especially when we wouldn’t dream of treating our loves that way!?!
We might feel a human inclination to treat our enemies that way. But when we do so, we need to ask ourselves if this means that when we espouse a cruel, vindictive, judgmental God that, basically, we want God to treat those who live and think differently than us as God’s enemy. When we pronounce judgment on someone else – anyone else – for any reason – are we not denying Christ’s commandment to love our enemies? Worse yet, we are creating God in OUR image and desiring our God to be a cruel and vindictive power. And this is just not who Jesus showed us and taught us that God is, or how we should be.
The question I came to ask in this sermon is WHY LAUGH? And a quick answer is – when we do it right, laughter is grace and love and unity and creativity and love.
When we laugh, we laugh longest and best when we are in connection with another soul. According to another TED talk by Joseph Fa'afiu Humor:
"Helps defuse conflict, and promotes group bonding Emotionally Healthy Laughter makes you feel good. And the good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss. More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh–or even simply a smile–can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun. ▪Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing.▪▪Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.▪▪Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Socially Healthy Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment. Laughing with others is more powerful than laughing alone."
When I hear these perspectives, it just seems so much like what Jesus was living and talking about . . . he was often getting into trouble for appearing to party. Matthew 9:14-15: Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
Jesus was giving all his time and effort on this earth to teach love and joy and grace - and there was mourning, and he cried with them - but he then offered life again! Even after he suffered – he was offering life! We have the Holy Spirit which connects us to the life and joy of God, that we may never feel alone . . . Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly – and in an abundant life there is hope and in hope there is joy – and laughter is the perfect response to joy and hope!
One interesting fact that I ran across while studying laughter – and that is ~ children respond more often to contagious laughter than adults. Children laugh more often than adults. We learn as we get older to tell the difference between genuine and fake laughter, and we don’t fall for laughing as often as children do.
In light of all the health benefits to laughter, this really is sad news. And for me, this puts a whole new light on the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:2-4 (NIV) “He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. saying we should be like children if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. ‘”
Quick review: Point 1 ~ There is proof that Proverbs 17:22 is right when it says, "A cheerful heart is a good medicine." There are health and creativity benefits from laughter – humor develops creative thinking for problem solving, and all kinds of physiological benefits. It lowers stress level, gives us energy, lowers blood pressure, strengthens immune system, can even lessen pain.
Point 2 ~ It is easier for children to laugh . . . and Jesus said, a little child will lead them, so we all need to laugh often, and learn from the children. And make children laugh!
Point 3 ~ Christ said numerous times not to worry, and it is hard to worry while laughing! Especially since we laugh best in community!
So, my final joke, in closing: Jesus, Moses, and an old man go golfing.
The first one to tee off is Moses. He smashes the ball and it is heading right for the water hazard before the green. Moses raises his club, the water parts, and the ball makes it to the green.
Jesus gets up to swing, cranks it out, and it is headed for the water hazard. Jesus closes his eyes and prays. The ball skips across the water and lands on the green two feet from the hole.
The old man’s turn comes and he drives the ball. The ball looks like it is going to drop directly into the water. A fish jumps from the water hazard swallowing the ball, as an eagle drops from the sky, grabbing the fish. As the eagle flies over the green, a bolt of lightning strikes the eagle, making it drop the fish. As the fish hits the green, it spits out the ball and the ball falls into the hole, making a hole in one. Jesus looks at Moses and says, “I really think I’m leaving Dad at home next time!”
2017.04.16 The Embodiment of Christ
Colossians 3:1-4: So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Congratulations everyone! We have successfully made it through 46 days of the Lenten season! And the last week was the home stretch where we put all we could into understanding and empathizing with Christ as he endured the events which occurred after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem!
Last we met here in this pulpit, we were talking about what a grand day it must have been for Jesus, as he rode into the Holy Land, with those he loved and who loved him, cheering him on. They were so looking forward to experiencing, perhaps, the highest Holy day, Passover, IN the HOLY LAND! And there was an air of excitement – and perhaps some anticipation of some miraculous revelation of the Jewish Messiah coming to return and save them from their oppression!
They came into the upper room, unknowing how the evening would evolve, let alone what happened the next day. Jesus was portrayed as having some idea. He seemed to know what Judas was up to. And that evening the sheep were scattered and afraid, confused . . . their preconceived ideas were totally shaken!
Then Mary came and told them that she had been to the tomb and the stone had been moved, and slowly but surely, the resurrection was seen, and accepted. This once human friend, had died, and his body had been returned in a mystical way, and this once human body, was suddenly, in truth, the embodiment of God. There was no more wondering from those who knew him and loved him, exactly who he was – he was the Christ, he was the Messiah, he just wasn’t the Messiah as they imagined he should be.
Isn’t this the way it is in our Faith? Our understanding of who God is, and what it means to be followers of Faith in the One living God, changes, as it should. God is not something we can ever fully understand, and that is also good. We take steps in faith each day, hoping that we will discover more tomorrow, and on into the future. As we learn more about God, we discover more about ourselves and the rest of the creation that God has given us.
So our text today from Colossians touches on this. We are being asked to also be the embodiment of Jesus, as Jesus was the embodiment of God. And with this expectation, we are given grace, and hope. Paul seems to know that this is a terrifying thought! Because we know we make mistakes. We know that we can trespass against our neighbor in the blink of an eye! How can we ever feel worthy enough to be a part of this faith and calling to embody the Love of God?
These few words that have been chosen for the Epistle reading this Easter are just amazing. Let’s unfold them from the last verse to the first. For in the last verse is a mystery. It makes it seem that those who are Christians, are somehow, sorta, secretively hidden in the power and the glory of Jesus – who was resurrected, and then, while still alive, ascended into heaven. Jesus breaks the barrier between life and death and we are somehow nestled in all of that with him! “When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”
How can we be nestled into the mystery of life and death and God? “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” This verse seems to be telling us that when we spend time talking and thinking and using as much of our brain power to understanding this mystery, that is how the thoughts and being of the eternal, mysterious, living and dead Messiah, then we sorta merge our lives into him as well. Our true lives are hidden - kept out of sight - concealed - prevented from being known or noticed.
So we do our lives, trying to know and understand God as best we can, and unbeknownst, even to us, we are a part of Christ. So what do we humans do when we don’t know something about ourselves? Well, we can continue on living in relative ignorance, we can continue to seek, but, I would venture to say, mostly, we worry. We worry if we are going to be good enough to get into heaven. We worry that we may not be reunited with the love that we are missing on earth from those who have passed on before us. We worry that those we leave behind when we die will feel the pain, and maybe not join us on the other side. – We are great worriers!
Easter is about hope – transformation – joy – and a promise of eternal life! And it isn’t just about Jesus – it is about each and every one of us as well. “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” The scripture today is telling us that there is a transformation in every soul who listens and learns and strives to see the world as Christ did. When we take his life seriously, we are raised above the life of mundane survival of the fittest. When we take his life seriously, we are transformed into people with a power and a mission – to help other to know there is a joy that can come from being raised with Jesus!
It seems, sometimes that when Jesus tells us not to worry, that it is an impossibility. We seem to think that worry is somehow productive, because there are moments when solutions do come from worry, or we just can’t seem to stop ourselves. But with Jesus, it truly is a possibility, because he faced everything humans could face, and came out the other side of death to tell us that we can live in him, and him in us, and in doing so, we have all kinds of resources. We have the mystical opportunities to learn from live, to keep growing in life, to find grace, to offer grace, to teach mercy, to stand for justice . . . we do not have to worry and live alone, because we are already a part of Christ! And we are risen with him. We are hidden in him, and we may or may not know it. But it is a promise. We are loved and a part of Christ, whether we know it or not.
So – going back to the children’s moment for a minute - according to “Scientific American” this is what happens in a cocoon:
First, the caterpillar digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues. If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out. But the contents of the pupa are not entirely an amorphous mess. Certain highly organized groups of cells known as imaginal discs survive the digestive process. Before hatching, when a caterpillar is still developing inside its egg, it grows an imaginal disc for each of the adult body parts it will need as a mature butterfly or moth—discs for its eyes, for its wings, its legs and so on . . . Some caterpillars walk around with tiny rudimentary wings tucked inside their bodies, though you would never know it by looking at them. Once a caterpillar has disintegrated all of its tissues except for the imaginal discs, those discs use the protein-rich soup all around them to fuel the rapid cell division required to [form all the other features of an adult butterfly or moth].
So, before a caterpillar can become a butterfly, it has to allow itself to suffer a tremendous amount of loss. Loss physically and loss of itself. It will never be able to walk around on all those legs and eat leaves like it used to. But the hints of who it would one day become were always within it, even in the egg. And before it could develop those wings to fly and the proboscis could sip the sweet nectar from the flowers, this crawling leaf eating creature had to dissolve.
This is what we are promised, through Christ, when we suffer on this earth, that even as human beings we can become good and loving and compassionate human beings anew. And through that compassion and unconditional love and non judgment of all others, we will experience the wings of joy and the nectar of sweet love! Both human and godly! This is what Jesus came to this earth to share with us, this is what Easter is all about! God is love! Jesus is our Savior from hopelessness! Life is about Joy! We are witnesses and we are the Embodiment to all the possibility for goodness that this earth knows! May this year bring us all the sweet, sweet nectar of hope and the wings of Bliss! AMEN
2017.04.09 The State of The Christian Mind
Philippians 2:5-11:
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
9Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What a day Palm Sunday is! It is a day which was referred to as being triumphant! Like motorcades for heroes – like the walk down Pennsylvania Avenue after the inauguration – like a graduation ceremony with the celebrations! Something grand has been accomplished and we want everyone to know about it! We want to share our joy.
Or, as is the case with some grand military parades, it is the grand public show of power which is to instill fear and awe. Those, too are triumphant. In ancient Rome there was a ceremony called the vir triumphalis, where a truly exceptional General was celebrated in truly grand ways, linking him to the monarchy and even the Gods! From Wikipedia:
In Republican Rome, truly exceptional military achievement merited the highest possible honours, which connected the vir triumphalis ("man of triumph", later known as a triumphator) to Rome's mythical and semi-mythical past. In effect, the general was close to being "king for a day", and possibly close to divinity. He wore the regalia traditionally associated both with the ancient Roman monarchy and with the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus: the purple and gold "toga picta", laurel crown, red boots and, again possibly, the red-painted face of Rome's supreme deity. He was drawn in procession through the city in a four-horse chariot, under the gaze of his peers and an applauding crowd, to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter. The spoils and captives of his victory led the way; his armies followed behind. Once at the Capitoline temple, he sacrificed two white oxen to Jupiter and laid tokens of his victory at Jupiter's feet, dedicating his victory to the Roman Senate, people, and gods . . . Religious dimensions aside, the focus of the triumph was the general himself. The ceremony promoted him – however temporarily – above every mortal Roman.
So this kind of triumphal entry was considered normal. And when we compare the triumphal entry of a man that we see as the Son of God, the contrast is pretty amazing.
Jesus was riding a donkey and he wasn’t wearing anything particularly regal, but robes and branches were laid on the donkey and on the ground. And it was the people who loved him, who were served, and healed and saved by him that were a part of the procession, not his spoils and captives. I wonder if some people who were used to the vir triumphalis looked at this and thought it was silly ~ like seeing children playing house. How naïve it must have seemed.
This mental dissonance is what Paul was calling attention to in his writings to the Philippians; because the state of the mind of the Christian is just so different from the state of the mind of the Romans.
Paul began today’s scripture with: “5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” According to Kenneth Clarke, Sr., “Paul places emphasis on the state of mind as central to faithfulness, not just in the Philippian correspondence, but elsewhere in his corpus. Thirty-nine times in four of the seven letters indisputably authored by Paul…Paul refers to the mind in singular, plural or adjective forms.”
Which brings us to the discussions which faithful people have had since the beginning of time ~ what is the mind of God? And how can we be more like God, or as God would have us be? What is the state of the Christian mind? And how does that contrast with what our families and cultures have taught us?
We have such a divine contrast to look at in Jesus’ triumphal entry into the Holy land ~ the symbolic home of so many world religions – Jerusalem. He enters not as a warrior of a God, but as a simple man, who loves, and works and struggles, and cries, and cares ~ like any other person. He is loved into the town by people who may not know that he is God – but they know they adore him. And it is because he shows a different sort of living and thinking process than what has been shown as powerful up to this point.
“[T]hough he was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” How ironic that Paul would be describing Jesus as taking the form of a slave while we are discussing Jesus’ coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. How many of you have ever participated in a Jewish Seder meal? This meal is a highly ritualized dramatization of the exodus, when the Israelites were slaves and Moses freed them captivity. It is almost as if there is a sense of reconciliation with the enslavement of God’s chosen people ~ with Jesus taking on the form of a slave, while being God, and entering into the holy land as a triumphant hero.
The Christian mind is different from what we mere mortals automatically seem to go to. How many times has Christ just befuddled those around him in the scriptures (and us today), with saying strange, almost impossible things, like, “Love your enemies, forgive 70x7 times, ‘If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back.’”
THIS IS REALLY HARD AND SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE STUFF!
And this IS, undoubtedly, unequivocally, the mind of Christ – the mind we are asked to try to have!
Another thing that is a bit strange about Palm Sunday is that we celebrate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry – and yet, we know, that the way the week progresses, one could almost be ashamed to have jumped the gun, celebrated too early. They didn’t know at the time that their expectations and hopes would be dashed so violently, but we do. It may seem silly to us to celebrate when we know what’s coming. I wonder what Jesus was thinking.
This is a day to celebrate, but do so very knowingly. To know that this Palm Sunday is truly more justly a triumphal entry than the vir triumphalis, but we can mark it as - how long and how far we have come as humanity, and still the world is not as God would have us be. How far are we from the mind of Christ Jesus, as individuals, as a nation, as a world.
WE know that Jesus is truly the son of God. We know that to have the mind of Christ is to offer the world salvation – to offer the world hope that we can have what Gods want – peace on earth good will to all – to have justice, compassion and love on earth as it is in heaven! These things we do know on this day. And with the contrasting parades, we can still see how much we have to go.
But let us not lose hope and faith that this can be done. God works miracles while we work our faith. And we have no way of knowing what grand results can come about as a result of the little changes we make towards living the mind of Christ. Sometimes I wonder, if the way many of us live today, would seem like heaven for most of the populous from 2,000 years ago.
There is heaven and there is hell on this earth, and those of us who have the ability to love like Jesus, can help create a little more heaven for those in hell. It may not be happening on the timeframe that we would like, or even the time frame that God would like, but I do believe that we are making progress as a human race, and the progress we make in following Christ’s teachings will help the world, one thought at a time.
And if we start to feel weary and worry that the evil may overcome the good, this is why we have the Passion Week – to remind us that death does not have the last word, ever! There is always hope. And if anyone wonders if there is hope, that is why we are a community – come to us, with your worries and let us love you back into hope. We are the body of Christ and we can get there together! As Christ did, loving us all out of slavery and into the Promised Land. AMEN
2017.04.02 Flesh and Spirit/Death and Life
Romans 8:6-11: To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
One of my favorite spiritual practices is to look at all the scriptures in the lectionary for the Sunday and to see if I can find a uniting theme. It would always bug me when a scripture would be read in worship and it was just there – as though there was no greater connection to the rest of the service. And I must admit, it is hard to not want to preach a very long sermon on all 4 scriptures! Therefore, an extension of my practice is to every 3 years, try to force myself to preach on a lesson I have not preached on yet.
6 years ago I preached on Ezekiel – the dry bones scripture. 3 years ago, I preached on the Gospel, which we did not hear today – but it is the raising of Lazarus. So, today I have focused on the Epistle – Romans. However, there is a definite theme to all three of these; and it is Life and Death. I think it is pretty safe to say that those humans who are open about their desire to understand the spiritual side of human existence do so because there is something inside that craves the knowledge and experience of life which is more than survival and death. The question of the meaning of life has been contemplated throughout recorded human history.
These scriptures today speak of the fine line between life and death. In our Old Testament we had the incident where God set Ezekiel amongst a valley of dried up bones - the evidence of a body so long dead there wasn’t even any moisture left in the bones let alone flesh on the body. At least Lazarus still had some flesh on him! This is Ezekiel’s vision about the Jews return to Israel after they had been marched out to Babylon against their will. Kelton Cobb wrote, “The dry bones represent the dusty sense of hopelessness that the exiles would ever find their way home . . . At the core of biblical narrative is the story of displacement – of having wandered a long way from home, and longing to return. This is the underlying plot of being cast out of Eden, of being foreigners in Egypt, of the journey to the Promised Land, of the longing of exiles in Babylon to return to the land of their fathers.”
I suspect that there have been times in everyone’s life that we have felt like we were in exile in our own bodies and our own homes. Suddenly we wake up and realize that who we thought we were was shaken up and we must rediscover who and whose we are. Anyone who has suffered a debilitating illness, a death of a loved one, a divorce, a loss or change of job . . . these are life and death moments, and our faith wants us to know that we are not alone, and there is hope, even in the midst of what we perceive as hopeless, dry bone death, there is always hope for life.
Jesus was the manifestation of the presence of God – our Gospel tells of how he brought Lazarus back to life – his body was barely cold, and his bones far from being dry – but the message is the same – God brings hope back to life – and life back to life.
The African American slaves sang the famous song, “DESE BONES GWINE RISE AGAIN” which I always thought made reference to Ezekiel’s vision – but in further study it is about the exile from the Garden of Eden. Again, a peoples who have been separated – living in exile – from the country where they had once belonged, calling to God in faith that as the bones rise again they will one day find rest in a homeland where they are no longer outsiders – being somewhere where they know they belong.
The dry bones come back to life and find their way back home, Jesus bring Lazarus back to life, and in our Epistle we heard, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” The difference between life and death - even though the body may still be alive - is the spirit that humans have in them. We have seen, and we may have been, and some of may still even be, like the dried bones - or the walking dead - hopeless and miserable - seeking constantly something to give us meaning but having no real joy in life - not experiencing the amazing fullness of life in the awareness of a living God in whom we can trust and be in this world in awe with.
We are facing the final 2 weeks of Lent, and we see Passion week coming up and Easter following. As we do so we contemplate the true meaning of life. Our Gospel story of the raising of Lazarus is more about the faith of those witnesses around Jesus. He tells everyone towards the beginning of this story that this tale is to be about God’s glory. He has a discussion with Martha about the last days and the life after death - and she, unlike Ezekiel with God, takes a chance at answering Jesus’ question. And her interaction with him on this makes Jesus’ teaching all the more realistic to the listeners. He’s approachable, he’s trusted and close. He weeps with the women and is obviously touched by their feelings.
“40Jesus said to her, “’Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’” Last week we heard the story of Jesus being asked about sin - with the background thought being that sin causes infirmities. And Jesus said that the man was not blind because of sin but as a possibility to show God’s glory. This week we are being told that our understanding of life and death is also an illusion and the spirit of God in the human life cannot be overcome. The key to living is trusting in God - a God that is only good. God is forgiveness - hope - redemption.
4But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 7O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities
So when we are confused, when we are sad, when we feel like our hope is all dried up - when we are embittered and angry - we can believe and trust in the living God who conquers even death.
Rev. Dr. Amy Plantinga Pauw, the Henry P. Mobley Jr. Professor of Doctrinal Theology at Louisville seminary wrote:
The Christian life is a material life. “setting our mind on the Spirit (v. 6) is not about an attempt to put our bodies to the side somehow and concentrate on the inner life of faith. Paul’s contrast between Spirit and flesh in this passage is not to be understood as a contrast between soul and body or between spirituality and sensuality. Life “in the Spirit” refers, among other things, to a way of conducting bodily life: it is manifested in how we use our physical energies and our material resources, how we care for our neighbors and for our planet. When the “Spirit of God dwells in [us]” (v.9), our corporal lives, in all their concreteness and messiness, become expressions and instruments of God’s grace and peace.
This is what living fully in Christ is all about – being fully human and using our humanity to serve as God’s instruments of grace and love. This moral life of the spirit is a communal life – a life that fulfills itself n community. Ezekiel was all about the Israelites together coming in to fullness, Lazarus was returned to his sisters, and the community, and Paul was writing to the community in Rome. The life fully of spirit and life is one of community and living not for our individual morality, but for our communal experience of grace and life.
And Dr. Pauw is so right when she refers to the messiness of life being able to be lived fully in the spirit. We need each other all the more when we are feeling like our bodies are weak and we are going through the valley of death, and we rise to the call from the pain of each other, because we know this pain ourselves, and we know there is life and fullness awaiting when we go together through the valley of bones.
Our Lenten promise to ourselves and to each other is to open up our flesh to participate with each other in the spiritual life of our eternal, unlimited God. So let the congregation say, AMEN!
2017.03.26 Lenten Light
John 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38: As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
Some have referred to this chapter 9 of the Gospel of John as his most brilliant composition. A blind man receives vision and is harassed by his own religious leaders. They seem to want to try everything possible to deny Jesus’ role in it. The formerly blind man slowly comes to awareness that Jesus is more than a man, he is holy, and this formerly blind man wants to be a disciple. He sees more than with his eyes – he understands fully, and in contrast, those leaders in the community who have had vision, well, their lives become blind to who Jesus is, and therefore they are lost in the darkness. They refuse to recognize the holy and the good, and only focus on the fact that a Sabbath law may have been broken. Laws at the sake of compassion - we have this social ill even today.
Jesus shows that he and his father are one – there are no dark places in his soul where God is not – and because of this, Jesus has the ability to see what those who are suffering and desirous of wholeness need, and to deliver it. And he doesn’t do it for any other reason than to show others that God is there – God is light – God exposes the truth – even if that truth is ~ that we all have dark places.
God’s vision appears to be better than that of us mere humans. Not only can God see the evils that may befall us, but God sees in our hearts as well. According to Theologian Donald P. Olson,” Heart was not the center of emotions for the ancients, although it was included. Heart was the center of one’s being: emotion, intelligence, discernment, wisdom, commitment, and character were all elements of heart – perhaps what we call soul. . . . (and) The beauty of one’s heart, the loveliness of one’s soul surpasses its physical container . . .”
Exposing light into the darkness is to be aware of the shadows we would prefer to avoid – the darkness of the dangerous places on earth such as the valley of shadow of death, but also including the shadows of our own souls which we don’t really want to see and accept as being part of us.
God wants to be there for all of our journeys – but the ones to the depth of our souls is the most important journey of our lives. We need the presence of God – the promise of Grace – always with us as we travel into our shame and put light there. For when we expose our darkest parts of ourselves, the light of God’s love erases the pain and frees us to be whole.
Living as a faithful person is just this - a process of trusting that what you sense of love and righteousness which is deep inside of you is truly God - and then opening up our lives so that God’s light shines through us and even our innermost frightening places are filled with God’s light.
But our Gospel shows that changing - being - “People of the Light” - can be difficult! Look what happened to this man! He is just sitting there, minding his own business, and becomes an object lesson on “Sin” for Jesus and his followers, and he didn’t even ask for help. A Disciple asks him who sinned so that this man would be blind, because the theology up to that point had been - something happens to you - it is someone’s fault. So to illustrate the new best theology - Jesus takes away the idea that physical imperfections are the result of sin - and teaches that all of life is for the glory of God.
But this just seems to confuse the people around this man. They knew him as the blind beggar - Jesus took away his lower status in society and the society did not know how to handle it. They had no idea how to treat this man or even who he was because they no longer had a label to put on him and where to place him on society’s ladder. Jesus was showing that everyone is equal in value - that grace and love for God is equalizing and uniting - and the society around him went a bit crazy. People who knew him weren’t sure they knew him anymore. They saw him - he saw them - but never looked at him beyond his blindness before.
Then the lesson on sin continues . . . the Pharisees discover Jesus “worked” on the Sabbath and so labeled him a sinner. First of all - love and grace did not seem to be work to Jesus - it was nature and love and the Sabbath is designed to bring the focus of the day on loving each other. One does not work on the Sabbath so that everyone can focus on their relationships - with God and with each other! Some could see that, so they weren’t sure if Jesus really was sinning or not . . . and if he was - how could he even have the ability to do this fine act if he was not of God?
In parts of this text not read today, the poor man’s parents were dragged into the drama and bullied into not confidently saying what they knew out of fear. They weren’t even allowed to rejoice that their son was no longer blind! This is another form of blindness - fear of speaking truth to power. Not speaking the truth pushes it into the darkness and humanity becomes blind.
But the blind man could finally see and understand! And he was NOT going to go back into the darkness! Finally he found his voice and said, “’Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Those who were confused and trying to maintain the theology that they had grown accustomed to, then got rid of him quick! There is nothing like logic in the face of self serving ignorance to send people into a tailspin. They stubbornly refused to allow any light in their preconceived ideas of God and humanity and life. In their theology God judged humanity and those who were not perfect were sinners, and as long as their ignorance remained hidden in the darkness of their subconscious, they were not sinners.
So, the blind man could not only see - but he was enlightened - and wanted to stay there. Jesus was teaching the theology that all beings are loved and graced by God regardless of their challenges – and that all humans are equally deserving of mercy and compassion. There is no hierarchy in humanity - and the monetary value of someone certainly is not a determining factor in who deserves God’s love. Those who cannot comprehend this are truly blind - are living in darkness - and that ignorance - that blocking of the ability to love unconditionally is what Jesus calls a SIN!
This is the Lenten challenge: we practice during this time, looking safely into our darkness, and expose them to the grace of God and this blessed community. So that the rest of the year it becomes our calling to see the truth, crave the light, trust each other, and worship our savior! AMEN
2017.03.19 Our Radical Savior
John 4:5-42: So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
This scripture was one of many written about, by my former New Testament professor, Rev. Dr. Ronald W. Graham, in the Lexington Theological Quarterly in January 1983. The article was called, simply, “WOMEN IN THE MINISTRY OF JESUS AND IN THE EARLY CHURCH.”
Now, I was, about the time that he was writing this, discussing almost desperately with God, about what I was going to be when I grew up. I had a psychology degree, but couldn’t choose which branch of psychology I wanted to focus on. I was spiritual, but did not even contemplate going into the ministry, for a variety of reasons, but I seemed to land on the idea that women were to keep quiet in the church as the primary reason to stop me from thinking any further on that matter.
So when I went into the seminary building, and informed them of this news, they were kind and patient enough to hand me this pamphlet. And I read it. And it convinced me rather quickly that women could be called into the ministry. There is just something about the calm, practical, common sense of approaching faith intelligently and graciously, considering the intention of those who love God and know what love is. This has a way of changing minds rather quickly, and painlessly. At least that is how this pamphlet worked for me. It just seemed as though, if someone who taught this stuff thought it was OK, who was I to disagree?
Over the years, in my studies, this encounter that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman blossomed into having an enormous amount of significance. For here was a liberating, radical story, which when seen through today’s culture, it may not seem like much. This scripture represents the overcoming of resentments, prejudices, sexism, and classism . . . all in one story! And Lent is the perfect time to look at all of these issues, in order to prepare ourselves for the glorious freedom of the resurrection!
Samaria is between Galilee and Judea, and those classified as Samaritans, (according to the Jewish annotated New Testament), “are descendants of two distinct groups: the remnant of the 10 tribes associated with the Northern Kingdom of Israel who were not deported when [it fell], and [from] foreign colonists.” So – basically they were historically from the same roots – but cultural and historical changes affected their relationship with each other, creating what, to some, seemed like impossible barriers. The relationship they had with each other seemed to be teeming with resentments and mistrust.
Another aspect of this is the gender relationship. This woman is portrayed as being rather promiscuous – and Jesus is, for his time, being a bit brazen himself! The only times in the bible where a similar man at a well scene is portrayed, is when Abraham’s servant met Rebekah. Wells were historically places where primarily women met. Mythologically, water represents depths, spirituality, and the drawing of water is the sharing of spiritual depths. And according to some historians, good Jews did not speak to women in public – even their own wives!
So here is Jesus, talking to a woman, and that woman is someone from another denomination of the faith, perhaps even considered a different faith by some; a faith where there is strife, and to make matters worse, she is a woman who lives with a man out of wedlock, and has had many “husbands”. NOT ONLY is he talking with her, he is sharing the most profoundly intimate thing that could be shared between 2 humans – salvation – or grace – union with the sacred – whatever you want to call it – Jesus is brazen enough to share it with this woman. Even his own disciples thought it off putting! This shows you how radical Jesus was.
But what really blows my mind, is that this is one of the few, if not the only moment, when Jesus flat out tells someone that he is the Messiah. He is not shown to share that with anyone else. He quizzes the disciples and they make wild guesses, but he does not come right out and share this with anyone but her. And she becomes the apostle for her people.
Jesus, in his humanity, went to great lengths during his time on earth to break barriers which we humans create. Often our first reaction is, like the good, called, followers of Jesus, one of being upset. We get used to knowing what we know, and not wanting our point of view to be changed so easily. “Those ‘OTHERS’ belong in some nice hard to break through category, while I and my like minded friends sit here comfortably.” And we hate it when we are categories and separated, but we feel safer if we keep the status quo.
One of the most difficult things to be aware of, let alone overcome, are our resentments. We often do not trust others because of some perceived slight we have had, or we don’t feel comfortable that someone else is so different from us. This can lead to resentments. And often, our resentments are what cause our greatest separations and pain from God and from each other. How often do we catch ourselves still being angry at a family member or an old friend for a slight which happened long ago?
Lent is about digging down into the depths of our own psyches and facing that which separates us from one another. Because what separates us from one another, is also what separates us from God. Being able to see and face our own resentments opens us up to the relief of clarity, the freedom to love and receive love.
Sometimes when we can see what pain is holding us back from loving another, we can give it up and practice grace, separating egos from the God particle which is in each of us. It is in those moments when we free our souls from that which separates us, that God can fill our hearts, even if the other is not responding.
Jesus was a radical lover. For him, the sharing of the love of God was more vital and urgent than food! More vital and urgent than social mores! More vital and urgent than his own reputation! He was living purely to teach and break through any human barriers to the pure and extravagant love of God! And we are all encouraged to the best we can, as he did.
So, let’s be radical lovers and proud of it! Showing love to all we possibly can, with the hope that tomorrow we can do more; looking for the resentments which keep limiting us, and striving to become more aware of our oneness with God and with each other. AMEN
2017.03.05 Beginnings
Psalm 32: 1Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. 8I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 10Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
My sermon title is Beginnings, because this is towards the beginning of Lent, and because I am beginning my ministry with you. But when you think about it, the truth about Beginnings is, as are most things involved with the mystery of God, a bit ambiguous. Because yes, I am new to you, as you are to me, but the ministry of this church began long ago and I am but a temporary blip in its history.
My ministry began over 3 decades ago, so doing ministry is not new to me, and yet being here is totally new to me. Together we make something like new, with scattered bits of what once was already. It is somewhat like a soup that starts off being one thing, yet with each new ingredient added to it, it becomes something all together different. Or, like one of my favorite sayings from a small book which I got in college, it is attributed to Chang Chao: “A cloud becomes multicolored when it reflects the sun, and a mountain current becomes a fall when it passes over a cliff. Things become different from what they associate with. That is why friendship is so valued.”
I am changed because of you, and for the grace of God. Together we will observe over the coming years what kind of soup God is creating in Morehead with our loving combination here. It is very exciting that we are beginning this time together during that very special period of the church year which calls for us to slow down, and be introspective just a little bit more than normal ~ a time to really take seriously the call to observe sin and guilt and turmoil, and to practice putting ourselves in God’s care ~ trusting in power which is always there, and yet often ignored.
Isn’t it true that sometimes, in our zeal to be go and do likewise, as Christ taught, that we can get overwhelmed ~ thinking that everything depends on us acting right now? This is such an admirable trait! Wanting to be the hands and hearts of God! The willingness to suffer and sacrifice for love is far better than living only for our own personal pleasure and looking away when we see a need. And it is important to be this, do this!
However, Lent is also a time to allow God to care for us. A time to weaken ourselves, and witness what God can do through us, for us, and for us to learn to trust God’s power. Because it is often in our weakness that we gain the greatest insights, ~ when we are reminded that we are human BEings, not only human DOings.
It is in our weakness and self reflection that we discover the contrariness that often nestles in our souls.
I learned the term “Cognitive dissonance” in a Psychology class in college and that was one of my earliest soul shattering moments. The online definition is: “the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.”
It was explained to me more simply:
Dealing with these contrary beliefs is a matter first of awareness and secondly, of decision making. One needs to be able to acknowledge and observe the dissonance, and then decide one way or the other. I decided that I was going to trust that which my senses proved to trust – like my flavor buds liking the food – that new awareness which caused the dissonance. I was going to trust that my preconceived notion was wrong, if my experience was contrary. If I discovered a truth that was contrary to what I had learned up to then, I was willing to sacrifice that original thought for the new inputs.
What amazed me, then, was how often I would observe other people faced with cognitive dissonance, and how easy it seemed for them to totally ignore the new, opposing information. How hard it was for them to accept anything that challenged their preconceived notions. Like the thought they had was more important than the truth that was purely evident.
To me, this is what Lent is all about – prayerfully focusing on all those moments of dissonance in our lives. Like – I love my Jesus, I wanna do what he taught, I believe with all my heart that he speaks today through the Holy Spirit and is telling us to love one another! Love, everyone! But boy that one person really gets on my nerves . . . I hate it when they do . . . She is just so . . . THEY just aren’t . . . Everyone should just . . .
And in my fasting I realize the dissonance between loving as Christ loved, and my knee jerk reactions. It is always time to take a breath, forgive ourselves, love ourselves, love those we just “shoulded” all over, but somehow Lent gives us an opportunity to practice doing this. Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” Are not our greatest yokes those of our preconceived notions?
This is why I think the Psalm for this day is perfect for Lent. Because it talks about changes of perceptions: transgressions ~ forgiven. This isn’t to say there were none – they were there! And they were forgiven – and the person is happy, because they knew it! They were aware of it! They had a transgression, they were freed from it, it made them happy. Simple as that! The spirit has no deceit – the spirit was willing to love and be a child of God – that doesn’t mean there wasn’t something that blipped up in life and the soul was made aware of it! It is in the ignoring that we get problems! “While I kept silence, my body wasted away . . . then I acknowledge my sin . . . and you forgave the guilt . . . and therefore . . . you surround me with glad cries of deliverance[!] . . . steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.”
So, in closing, allow me to make a few requests and a few vows. I request, that if you ever feel any hurt as a result of something I say or do, please, in the name of Jesus, talk to me about it. Do not keep it hidden. Because this I do know about myself, ever since I was child, I have wanted to be loved by everyone. And trust me - I know it is impossible. My Mama kept telling me that, trying to spare me some pain. And now I am an adult, I know this is impossible, yet through all the years of dealing with this I just cannot deny that my greatest desire is to be loved by everyone. And yet, I am old enough, and have enough life experience, that I am practiced in the art of letting go the pain of loss, and to continue on in the grace of God. As the optimist creed says, “Promise yourself: To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.”
Also, please invite me to your homes, or wherever, because this is another thing I have learned about myself – I really feel uncomfortable calling you up for a visit, especially if I haven’t really met you yet. I know this is the “normal” behavior for a pastor, but I really do not like it. I want to get to know everyone up close and personal, but cold calling people is something I’ve had the hardest time overcoming. I’m just not there yet. So, please email me, or Facebook friend request me and send me a Private message, call me on the phone . . . please reach out to me.
In the meantime, I vow to do my very best to love and serve you, to take all my knowledge and prayerful life to help ease your burdens, to make you laugh, to give you hope, to help you feel the love that God offers this world. I and my family are so grateful to you for calling us here. And to God, whose plans for us all are far greater than anything any human could imagine.
Now, may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and our souls in Christ Jesus. AMEN
Luke 6:17-21: He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
I can’t start a sermon on humor without a joke, so here goes: a Priest and a Pastor are talking about communion. The Priest says, “when we have communion, wine becomes the blood of Christ!” The Pastor responds with, “That’s nothing, when we have communion the wine becomes grape juice!”
A priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven. St. Peter was at the Pearly gates waiting for them.
‘Come with me’, said St. Peter to the taxi driver.
The taxi driver did as he was told and followed St. Peter to a mansion. It had anything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic size pool.
‘Wow, thank you’, said the taxi driver.
Next, St. Peter led the pastor to a rugged old shack with a bunk bed and a little old television set.
‘Wait, I think you are a little mixed up’, said the pastor. ‘Shouldn’t I be the one who gets the mansion? After all I was a pastor, prayed every day, and preached God’s word.’
‘Yes, that’s true. But during your sermons people slept. When the taxi driver drove, everyone prayed.’
A peacher was completing a temperance sermon: with great expression he said, “If I had all the beer in the world, I’d take it and throw it into the river.” With even greater emphasis he said, “And if I had all the wine in the world, I’d take it and throw it into the river.”
And then finally, he said, “And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I’d take it and throw it into the river.”
He sat down. The song leader then stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, “For our closing song, let us sing Hymn # 365: “Shall We Gather at the River.”
And finally, there’s the one about the man who walked into the doctor’s office and said, “I’ve got the shingles.” So the nurse asked him if he had an appointment and had he ever been here before, both questions the man answered with, “no”. So she gave him a bunch of forms to fill out and said she would fit him in as soon as she could. An hour and a half goes by and she finally leads him to a back room where she tells him to take off his outer clothes and put on the inspection gown; which he did. He waited another hour and the doctor finally came in and was looking at his sheet, saying, “I hear you have shingles, where are they?” To which the man responded, “Outside in my truck.”
My apologies to my family and those who have heard me tell these jokes before. I do tell some of my favorites often. That is one of the advantages of not moving parishes – new folks for old material. But the last time I told the joke about shingles was a week ago. I was at my former President’s funeral and saw some people I knew. One woman was sharing that her husband, the Doctor, had shingles in the eye . . . so, me being me, HAD to tell her that joke. Now, you would think that for all the obvious reasons, it was totally inappropriate for me to tell that joke, to those people at that time. But they laughed, and the woman said she had missed me.
Because she knew, that laughter is sacred. Laughter is God’s creative force and joy breaking through in new ways, bringing us close together when we need it the most. Laughter is exactly the right response to the stress of life, because physiologically, all kinds of really great stuff happens when you laugh, and when we are stressed we need it more than other times. According to Ida Abdalkhani, a laughter yoga expert, “when we laugh, our bodies release a flood of chemicals and positive neurotransmitters that stimulate our brains, our immune system, and our nervous systems. In fact, when we laugh, our blood flow increases by about 50%. That's how we get the rosy cheeks. And laughing can actually burn calories. If you were to laugh for about 15 minutes a day, every day of the year, you can lose up to five pounds.”
There are all kinds of amazing scientific facts out there about the advantage of laughter – for both the body and the soul, and yet, we don’t really laugh that much in church. Religion is very serious – even contentious – and there is a lot of theology that is based on fear and vindictiveness. When we think about how we would treat those people whom we love, we would never dream of treating them how so many people would preach that God should treat us. And I hope to begin the discussion today on why do we do that? Why do we paint God as someone who is cruel, and unkind and judgmental; especially when we wouldn’t dream of treating our loves that way!?!
We might feel a human inclination to treat our enemies that way. But when we do so, we need to ask ourselves if this means that when we espouse a cruel, vindictive, judgmental God that, basically, we want God to treat those who live and think differently than us as God’s enemy. When we pronounce judgment on someone else – anyone else – for any reason – are we not denying Christ’s commandment to love our enemies? Worse yet, we are creating God in OUR image and desiring our God to be a cruel and vindictive power. And this is just not who Jesus showed us and taught us that God is, or how we should be.
The question I came to ask in this sermon is WHY LAUGH? And a quick answer is – when we do it right, laughter is grace and love and unity and creativity and love.
When we laugh, we laugh longest and best when we are in connection with another soul. According to another TED talk by Joseph Fa'afiu Humor:
"Helps defuse conflict, and promotes group bonding Emotionally Healthy Laughter makes you feel good. And the good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss. More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh–or even simply a smile–can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious—just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun. ▪Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing.▪▪Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.▪▪Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light. A humorous perspective creates psychological distance, which can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Socially Healthy Humor and playful communication strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection. When we laugh with one another, a positive bond is created. This bond acts as a strong buffer against stress, disagreements, and disappointment. Laughing with others is more powerful than laughing alone."
When I hear these perspectives, it just seems so much like what Jesus was living and talking about . . . he was often getting into trouble for appearing to party. Matthew 9:14-15: Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
Jesus was giving all his time and effort on this earth to teach love and joy and grace - and there was mourning, and he cried with them - but he then offered life again! Even after he suffered – he was offering life! We have the Holy Spirit which connects us to the life and joy of God, that we may never feel alone . . . Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly – and in an abundant life there is hope and in hope there is joy – and laughter is the perfect response to joy and hope!
One interesting fact that I ran across while studying laughter – and that is ~ children respond more often to contagious laughter than adults. Children laugh more often than adults. We learn as we get older to tell the difference between genuine and fake laughter, and we don’t fall for laughing as often as children do.
In light of all the health benefits to laughter, this really is sad news. And for me, this puts a whole new light on the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:2-4 (NIV) “He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. saying we should be like children if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. ‘”
Quick review: Point 1 ~ There is proof that Proverbs 17:22 is right when it says, "A cheerful heart is a good medicine." There are health and creativity benefits from laughter – humor develops creative thinking for problem solving, and all kinds of physiological benefits. It lowers stress level, gives us energy, lowers blood pressure, strengthens immune system, can even lessen pain.
Point 2 ~ It is easier for children to laugh . . . and Jesus said, a little child will lead them, so we all need to laugh often, and learn from the children. And make children laugh!
Point 3 ~ Christ said numerous times not to worry, and it is hard to worry while laughing! Especially since we laugh best in community!
So, my final joke, in closing: Jesus, Moses, and an old man go golfing.
The first one to tee off is Moses. He smashes the ball and it is heading right for the water hazard before the green. Moses raises his club, the water parts, and the ball makes it to the green.
Jesus gets up to swing, cranks it out, and it is headed for the water hazard. Jesus closes his eyes and prays. The ball skips across the water and lands on the green two feet from the hole.
The old man’s turn comes and he drives the ball. The ball looks like it is going to drop directly into the water. A fish jumps from the water hazard swallowing the ball, as an eagle drops from the sky, grabbing the fish. As the eagle flies over the green, a bolt of lightning strikes the eagle, making it drop the fish. As the fish hits the green, it spits out the ball and the ball falls into the hole, making a hole in one. Jesus looks at Moses and says, “I really think I’m leaving Dad at home next time!”
2017.04.16 The Embodiment of Christ
Colossians 3:1-4: So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Congratulations everyone! We have successfully made it through 46 days of the Lenten season! And the last week was the home stretch where we put all we could into understanding and empathizing with Christ as he endured the events which occurred after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem!
Last we met here in this pulpit, we were talking about what a grand day it must have been for Jesus, as he rode into the Holy Land, with those he loved and who loved him, cheering him on. They were so looking forward to experiencing, perhaps, the highest Holy day, Passover, IN the HOLY LAND! And there was an air of excitement – and perhaps some anticipation of some miraculous revelation of the Jewish Messiah coming to return and save them from their oppression!
They came into the upper room, unknowing how the evening would evolve, let alone what happened the next day. Jesus was portrayed as having some idea. He seemed to know what Judas was up to. And that evening the sheep were scattered and afraid, confused . . . their preconceived ideas were totally shaken!
Then Mary came and told them that she had been to the tomb and the stone had been moved, and slowly but surely, the resurrection was seen, and accepted. This once human friend, had died, and his body had been returned in a mystical way, and this once human body, was suddenly, in truth, the embodiment of God. There was no more wondering from those who knew him and loved him, exactly who he was – he was the Christ, he was the Messiah, he just wasn’t the Messiah as they imagined he should be.
Isn’t this the way it is in our Faith? Our understanding of who God is, and what it means to be followers of Faith in the One living God, changes, as it should. God is not something we can ever fully understand, and that is also good. We take steps in faith each day, hoping that we will discover more tomorrow, and on into the future. As we learn more about God, we discover more about ourselves and the rest of the creation that God has given us.
So our text today from Colossians touches on this. We are being asked to also be the embodiment of Jesus, as Jesus was the embodiment of God. And with this expectation, we are given grace, and hope. Paul seems to know that this is a terrifying thought! Because we know we make mistakes. We know that we can trespass against our neighbor in the blink of an eye! How can we ever feel worthy enough to be a part of this faith and calling to embody the Love of God?
These few words that have been chosen for the Epistle reading this Easter are just amazing. Let’s unfold them from the last verse to the first. For in the last verse is a mystery. It makes it seem that those who are Christians, are somehow, sorta, secretively hidden in the power and the glory of Jesus – who was resurrected, and then, while still alive, ascended into heaven. Jesus breaks the barrier between life and death and we are somehow nestled in all of that with him! “When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.”
How can we be nestled into the mystery of life and death and God? “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” This verse seems to be telling us that when we spend time talking and thinking and using as much of our brain power to understanding this mystery, that is how the thoughts and being of the eternal, mysterious, living and dead Messiah, then we sorta merge our lives into him as well. Our true lives are hidden - kept out of sight - concealed - prevented from being known or noticed.
So we do our lives, trying to know and understand God as best we can, and unbeknownst, even to us, we are a part of Christ. So what do we humans do when we don’t know something about ourselves? Well, we can continue on living in relative ignorance, we can continue to seek, but, I would venture to say, mostly, we worry. We worry if we are going to be good enough to get into heaven. We worry that we may not be reunited with the love that we are missing on earth from those who have passed on before us. We worry that those we leave behind when we die will feel the pain, and maybe not join us on the other side. – We are great worriers!
Easter is about hope – transformation – joy – and a promise of eternal life! And it isn’t just about Jesus – it is about each and every one of us as well. “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” The scripture today is telling us that there is a transformation in every soul who listens and learns and strives to see the world as Christ did. When we take his life seriously, we are raised above the life of mundane survival of the fittest. When we take his life seriously, we are transformed into people with a power and a mission – to help other to know there is a joy that can come from being raised with Jesus!
It seems, sometimes that when Jesus tells us not to worry, that it is an impossibility. We seem to think that worry is somehow productive, because there are moments when solutions do come from worry, or we just can’t seem to stop ourselves. But with Jesus, it truly is a possibility, because he faced everything humans could face, and came out the other side of death to tell us that we can live in him, and him in us, and in doing so, we have all kinds of resources. We have the mystical opportunities to learn from live, to keep growing in life, to find grace, to offer grace, to teach mercy, to stand for justice . . . we do not have to worry and live alone, because we are already a part of Christ! And we are risen with him. We are hidden in him, and we may or may not know it. But it is a promise. We are loved and a part of Christ, whether we know it or not.
So – going back to the children’s moment for a minute - according to “Scientific American” this is what happens in a cocoon:
First, the caterpillar digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues. If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out. But the contents of the pupa are not entirely an amorphous mess. Certain highly organized groups of cells known as imaginal discs survive the digestive process. Before hatching, when a caterpillar is still developing inside its egg, it grows an imaginal disc for each of the adult body parts it will need as a mature butterfly or moth—discs for its eyes, for its wings, its legs and so on . . . Some caterpillars walk around with tiny rudimentary wings tucked inside their bodies, though you would never know it by looking at them. Once a caterpillar has disintegrated all of its tissues except for the imaginal discs, those discs use the protein-rich soup all around them to fuel the rapid cell division required to [form all the other features of an adult butterfly or moth].
So, before a caterpillar can become a butterfly, it has to allow itself to suffer a tremendous amount of loss. Loss physically and loss of itself. It will never be able to walk around on all those legs and eat leaves like it used to. But the hints of who it would one day become were always within it, even in the egg. And before it could develop those wings to fly and the proboscis could sip the sweet nectar from the flowers, this crawling leaf eating creature had to dissolve.
This is what we are promised, through Christ, when we suffer on this earth, that even as human beings we can become good and loving and compassionate human beings anew. And through that compassion and unconditional love and non judgment of all others, we will experience the wings of joy and the nectar of sweet love! Both human and godly! This is what Jesus came to this earth to share with us, this is what Easter is all about! God is love! Jesus is our Savior from hopelessness! Life is about Joy! We are witnesses and we are the Embodiment to all the possibility for goodness that this earth knows! May this year bring us all the sweet, sweet nectar of hope and the wings of Bliss! AMEN
2017.04.09 The State of The Christian Mind
Philippians 2:5-11:
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
9Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
What a day Palm Sunday is! It is a day which was referred to as being triumphant! Like motorcades for heroes – like the walk down Pennsylvania Avenue after the inauguration – like a graduation ceremony with the celebrations! Something grand has been accomplished and we want everyone to know about it! We want to share our joy.
Or, as is the case with some grand military parades, it is the grand public show of power which is to instill fear and awe. Those, too are triumphant. In ancient Rome there was a ceremony called the vir triumphalis, where a truly exceptional General was celebrated in truly grand ways, linking him to the monarchy and even the Gods! From Wikipedia:
In Republican Rome, truly exceptional military achievement merited the highest possible honours, which connected the vir triumphalis ("man of triumph", later known as a triumphator) to Rome's mythical and semi-mythical past. In effect, the general was close to being "king for a day", and possibly close to divinity. He wore the regalia traditionally associated both with the ancient Roman monarchy and with the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus: the purple and gold "toga picta", laurel crown, red boots and, again possibly, the red-painted face of Rome's supreme deity. He was drawn in procession through the city in a four-horse chariot, under the gaze of his peers and an applauding crowd, to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter. The spoils and captives of his victory led the way; his armies followed behind. Once at the Capitoline temple, he sacrificed two white oxen to Jupiter and laid tokens of his victory at Jupiter's feet, dedicating his victory to the Roman Senate, people, and gods . . . Religious dimensions aside, the focus of the triumph was the general himself. The ceremony promoted him – however temporarily – above every mortal Roman.
So this kind of triumphal entry was considered normal. And when we compare the triumphal entry of a man that we see as the Son of God, the contrast is pretty amazing.
Jesus was riding a donkey and he wasn’t wearing anything particularly regal, but robes and branches were laid on the donkey and on the ground. And it was the people who loved him, who were served, and healed and saved by him that were a part of the procession, not his spoils and captives. I wonder if some people who were used to the vir triumphalis looked at this and thought it was silly ~ like seeing children playing house. How naïve it must have seemed.
This mental dissonance is what Paul was calling attention to in his writings to the Philippians; because the state of the mind of the Christian is just so different from the state of the mind of the Romans.
Paul began today’s scripture with: “5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” According to Kenneth Clarke, Sr., “Paul places emphasis on the state of mind as central to faithfulness, not just in the Philippian correspondence, but elsewhere in his corpus. Thirty-nine times in four of the seven letters indisputably authored by Paul…Paul refers to the mind in singular, plural or adjective forms.”
Which brings us to the discussions which faithful people have had since the beginning of time ~ what is the mind of God? And how can we be more like God, or as God would have us be? What is the state of the Christian mind? And how does that contrast with what our families and cultures have taught us?
We have such a divine contrast to look at in Jesus’ triumphal entry into the Holy land ~ the symbolic home of so many world religions – Jerusalem. He enters not as a warrior of a God, but as a simple man, who loves, and works and struggles, and cries, and cares ~ like any other person. He is loved into the town by people who may not know that he is God – but they know they adore him. And it is because he shows a different sort of living and thinking process than what has been shown as powerful up to this point.
“[T]hough he was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” How ironic that Paul would be describing Jesus as taking the form of a slave while we are discussing Jesus’ coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. How many of you have ever participated in a Jewish Seder meal? This meal is a highly ritualized dramatization of the exodus, when the Israelites were slaves and Moses freed them captivity. It is almost as if there is a sense of reconciliation with the enslavement of God’s chosen people ~ with Jesus taking on the form of a slave, while being God, and entering into the holy land as a triumphant hero.
The Christian mind is different from what we mere mortals automatically seem to go to. How many times has Christ just befuddled those around him in the scriptures (and us today), with saying strange, almost impossible things, like, “Love your enemies, forgive 70x7 times, ‘If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back.’”
THIS IS REALLY HARD AND SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE STUFF!
And this IS, undoubtedly, unequivocally, the mind of Christ – the mind we are asked to try to have!
Another thing that is a bit strange about Palm Sunday is that we celebrate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry – and yet, we know, that the way the week progresses, one could almost be ashamed to have jumped the gun, celebrated too early. They didn’t know at the time that their expectations and hopes would be dashed so violently, but we do. It may seem silly to us to celebrate when we know what’s coming. I wonder what Jesus was thinking.
This is a day to celebrate, but do so very knowingly. To know that this Palm Sunday is truly more justly a triumphal entry than the vir triumphalis, but we can mark it as - how long and how far we have come as humanity, and still the world is not as God would have us be. How far are we from the mind of Christ Jesus, as individuals, as a nation, as a world.
WE know that Jesus is truly the son of God. We know that to have the mind of Christ is to offer the world salvation – to offer the world hope that we can have what Gods want – peace on earth good will to all – to have justice, compassion and love on earth as it is in heaven! These things we do know on this day. And with the contrasting parades, we can still see how much we have to go.
But let us not lose hope and faith that this can be done. God works miracles while we work our faith. And we have no way of knowing what grand results can come about as a result of the little changes we make towards living the mind of Christ. Sometimes I wonder, if the way many of us live today, would seem like heaven for most of the populous from 2,000 years ago.
There is heaven and there is hell on this earth, and those of us who have the ability to love like Jesus, can help create a little more heaven for those in hell. It may not be happening on the timeframe that we would like, or even the time frame that God would like, but I do believe that we are making progress as a human race, and the progress we make in following Christ’s teachings will help the world, one thought at a time.
And if we start to feel weary and worry that the evil may overcome the good, this is why we have the Passion Week – to remind us that death does not have the last word, ever! There is always hope. And if anyone wonders if there is hope, that is why we are a community – come to us, with your worries and let us love you back into hope. We are the body of Christ and we can get there together! As Christ did, loving us all out of slavery and into the Promised Land. AMEN
2017.04.02 Flesh and Spirit/Death and Life
Romans 8:6-11: To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
One of my favorite spiritual practices is to look at all the scriptures in the lectionary for the Sunday and to see if I can find a uniting theme. It would always bug me when a scripture would be read in worship and it was just there – as though there was no greater connection to the rest of the service. And I must admit, it is hard to not want to preach a very long sermon on all 4 scriptures! Therefore, an extension of my practice is to every 3 years, try to force myself to preach on a lesson I have not preached on yet.
6 years ago I preached on Ezekiel – the dry bones scripture. 3 years ago, I preached on the Gospel, which we did not hear today – but it is the raising of Lazarus. So, today I have focused on the Epistle – Romans. However, there is a definite theme to all three of these; and it is Life and Death. I think it is pretty safe to say that those humans who are open about their desire to understand the spiritual side of human existence do so because there is something inside that craves the knowledge and experience of life which is more than survival and death. The question of the meaning of life has been contemplated throughout recorded human history.
These scriptures today speak of the fine line between life and death. In our Old Testament we had the incident where God set Ezekiel amongst a valley of dried up bones - the evidence of a body so long dead there wasn’t even any moisture left in the bones let alone flesh on the body. At least Lazarus still had some flesh on him! This is Ezekiel’s vision about the Jews return to Israel after they had been marched out to Babylon against their will. Kelton Cobb wrote, “The dry bones represent the dusty sense of hopelessness that the exiles would ever find their way home . . . At the core of biblical narrative is the story of displacement – of having wandered a long way from home, and longing to return. This is the underlying plot of being cast out of Eden, of being foreigners in Egypt, of the journey to the Promised Land, of the longing of exiles in Babylon to return to the land of their fathers.”
I suspect that there have been times in everyone’s life that we have felt like we were in exile in our own bodies and our own homes. Suddenly we wake up and realize that who we thought we were was shaken up and we must rediscover who and whose we are. Anyone who has suffered a debilitating illness, a death of a loved one, a divorce, a loss or change of job . . . these are life and death moments, and our faith wants us to know that we are not alone, and there is hope, even in the midst of what we perceive as hopeless, dry bone death, there is always hope for life.
Jesus was the manifestation of the presence of God – our Gospel tells of how he brought Lazarus back to life – his body was barely cold, and his bones far from being dry – but the message is the same – God brings hope back to life – and life back to life.
The African American slaves sang the famous song, “DESE BONES GWINE RISE AGAIN” which I always thought made reference to Ezekiel’s vision – but in further study it is about the exile from the Garden of Eden. Again, a peoples who have been separated – living in exile – from the country where they had once belonged, calling to God in faith that as the bones rise again they will one day find rest in a homeland where they are no longer outsiders – being somewhere where they know they belong.
The dry bones come back to life and find their way back home, Jesus bring Lazarus back to life, and in our Epistle we heard, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” The difference between life and death - even though the body may still be alive - is the spirit that humans have in them. We have seen, and we may have been, and some of may still even be, like the dried bones - or the walking dead - hopeless and miserable - seeking constantly something to give us meaning but having no real joy in life - not experiencing the amazing fullness of life in the awareness of a living God in whom we can trust and be in this world in awe with.
We are facing the final 2 weeks of Lent, and we see Passion week coming up and Easter following. As we do so we contemplate the true meaning of life. Our Gospel story of the raising of Lazarus is more about the faith of those witnesses around Jesus. He tells everyone towards the beginning of this story that this tale is to be about God’s glory. He has a discussion with Martha about the last days and the life after death - and she, unlike Ezekiel with God, takes a chance at answering Jesus’ question. And her interaction with him on this makes Jesus’ teaching all the more realistic to the listeners. He’s approachable, he’s trusted and close. He weeps with the women and is obviously touched by their feelings.
“40Jesus said to her, “’Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’” Last week we heard the story of Jesus being asked about sin - with the background thought being that sin causes infirmities. And Jesus said that the man was not blind because of sin but as a possibility to show God’s glory. This week we are being told that our understanding of life and death is also an illusion and the spirit of God in the human life cannot be overcome. The key to living is trusting in God - a God that is only good. God is forgiveness - hope - redemption.
4But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 7O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities
So when we are confused, when we are sad, when we feel like our hope is all dried up - when we are embittered and angry - we can believe and trust in the living God who conquers even death.
Rev. Dr. Amy Plantinga Pauw, the Henry P. Mobley Jr. Professor of Doctrinal Theology at Louisville seminary wrote:
The Christian life is a material life. “setting our mind on the Spirit (v. 6) is not about an attempt to put our bodies to the side somehow and concentrate on the inner life of faith. Paul’s contrast between Spirit and flesh in this passage is not to be understood as a contrast between soul and body or between spirituality and sensuality. Life “in the Spirit” refers, among other things, to a way of conducting bodily life: it is manifested in how we use our physical energies and our material resources, how we care for our neighbors and for our planet. When the “Spirit of God dwells in [us]” (v.9), our corporal lives, in all their concreteness and messiness, become expressions and instruments of God’s grace and peace.
This is what living fully in Christ is all about – being fully human and using our humanity to serve as God’s instruments of grace and love. This moral life of the spirit is a communal life – a life that fulfills itself n community. Ezekiel was all about the Israelites together coming in to fullness, Lazarus was returned to his sisters, and the community, and Paul was writing to the community in Rome. The life fully of spirit and life is one of community and living not for our individual morality, but for our communal experience of grace and life.
And Dr. Pauw is so right when she refers to the messiness of life being able to be lived fully in the spirit. We need each other all the more when we are feeling like our bodies are weak and we are going through the valley of death, and we rise to the call from the pain of each other, because we know this pain ourselves, and we know there is life and fullness awaiting when we go together through the valley of bones.
Our Lenten promise to ourselves and to each other is to open up our flesh to participate with each other in the spiritual life of our eternal, unlimited God. So let the congregation say, AMEN!
2017.03.26 Lenten Light
John 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38: As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out. Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
Some have referred to this chapter 9 of the Gospel of John as his most brilliant composition. A blind man receives vision and is harassed by his own religious leaders. They seem to want to try everything possible to deny Jesus’ role in it. The formerly blind man slowly comes to awareness that Jesus is more than a man, he is holy, and this formerly blind man wants to be a disciple. He sees more than with his eyes – he understands fully, and in contrast, those leaders in the community who have had vision, well, their lives become blind to who Jesus is, and therefore they are lost in the darkness. They refuse to recognize the holy and the good, and only focus on the fact that a Sabbath law may have been broken. Laws at the sake of compassion - we have this social ill even today.
Jesus shows that he and his father are one – there are no dark places in his soul where God is not – and because of this, Jesus has the ability to see what those who are suffering and desirous of wholeness need, and to deliver it. And he doesn’t do it for any other reason than to show others that God is there – God is light – God exposes the truth – even if that truth is ~ that we all have dark places.
God’s vision appears to be better than that of us mere humans. Not only can God see the evils that may befall us, but God sees in our hearts as well. According to Theologian Donald P. Olson,” Heart was not the center of emotions for the ancients, although it was included. Heart was the center of one’s being: emotion, intelligence, discernment, wisdom, commitment, and character were all elements of heart – perhaps what we call soul. . . . (and) The beauty of one’s heart, the loveliness of one’s soul surpasses its physical container . . .”
Exposing light into the darkness is to be aware of the shadows we would prefer to avoid – the darkness of the dangerous places on earth such as the valley of shadow of death, but also including the shadows of our own souls which we don’t really want to see and accept as being part of us.
God wants to be there for all of our journeys – but the ones to the depth of our souls is the most important journey of our lives. We need the presence of God – the promise of Grace – always with us as we travel into our shame and put light there. For when we expose our darkest parts of ourselves, the light of God’s love erases the pain and frees us to be whole.
Living as a faithful person is just this - a process of trusting that what you sense of love and righteousness which is deep inside of you is truly God - and then opening up our lives so that God’s light shines through us and even our innermost frightening places are filled with God’s light.
But our Gospel shows that changing - being - “People of the Light” - can be difficult! Look what happened to this man! He is just sitting there, minding his own business, and becomes an object lesson on “Sin” for Jesus and his followers, and he didn’t even ask for help. A Disciple asks him who sinned so that this man would be blind, because the theology up to that point had been - something happens to you - it is someone’s fault. So to illustrate the new best theology - Jesus takes away the idea that physical imperfections are the result of sin - and teaches that all of life is for the glory of God.
But this just seems to confuse the people around this man. They knew him as the blind beggar - Jesus took away his lower status in society and the society did not know how to handle it. They had no idea how to treat this man or even who he was because they no longer had a label to put on him and where to place him on society’s ladder. Jesus was showing that everyone is equal in value - that grace and love for God is equalizing and uniting - and the society around him went a bit crazy. People who knew him weren’t sure they knew him anymore. They saw him - he saw them - but never looked at him beyond his blindness before.
Then the lesson on sin continues . . . the Pharisees discover Jesus “worked” on the Sabbath and so labeled him a sinner. First of all - love and grace did not seem to be work to Jesus - it was nature and love and the Sabbath is designed to bring the focus of the day on loving each other. One does not work on the Sabbath so that everyone can focus on their relationships - with God and with each other! Some could see that, so they weren’t sure if Jesus really was sinning or not . . . and if he was - how could he even have the ability to do this fine act if he was not of God?
In parts of this text not read today, the poor man’s parents were dragged into the drama and bullied into not confidently saying what they knew out of fear. They weren’t even allowed to rejoice that their son was no longer blind! This is another form of blindness - fear of speaking truth to power. Not speaking the truth pushes it into the darkness and humanity becomes blind.
But the blind man could finally see and understand! And he was NOT going to go back into the darkness! Finally he found his voice and said, “’Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Those who were confused and trying to maintain the theology that they had grown accustomed to, then got rid of him quick! There is nothing like logic in the face of self serving ignorance to send people into a tailspin. They stubbornly refused to allow any light in their preconceived ideas of God and humanity and life. In their theology God judged humanity and those who were not perfect were sinners, and as long as their ignorance remained hidden in the darkness of their subconscious, they were not sinners.
So, the blind man could not only see - but he was enlightened - and wanted to stay there. Jesus was teaching the theology that all beings are loved and graced by God regardless of their challenges – and that all humans are equally deserving of mercy and compassion. There is no hierarchy in humanity - and the monetary value of someone certainly is not a determining factor in who deserves God’s love. Those who cannot comprehend this are truly blind - are living in darkness - and that ignorance - that blocking of the ability to love unconditionally is what Jesus calls a SIN!
This is the Lenten challenge: we practice during this time, looking safely into our darkness, and expose them to the grace of God and this blessed community. So that the rest of the year it becomes our calling to see the truth, crave the light, trust each other, and worship our savior! AMEN
2017.03.19 Our Radical Savior
John 4:5-42: So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”
This scripture was one of many written about, by my former New Testament professor, Rev. Dr. Ronald W. Graham, in the Lexington Theological Quarterly in January 1983. The article was called, simply, “WOMEN IN THE MINISTRY OF JESUS AND IN THE EARLY CHURCH.”
Now, I was, about the time that he was writing this, discussing almost desperately with God, about what I was going to be when I grew up. I had a psychology degree, but couldn’t choose which branch of psychology I wanted to focus on. I was spiritual, but did not even contemplate going into the ministry, for a variety of reasons, but I seemed to land on the idea that women were to keep quiet in the church as the primary reason to stop me from thinking any further on that matter.
So when I went into the seminary building, and informed them of this news, they were kind and patient enough to hand me this pamphlet. And I read it. And it convinced me rather quickly that women could be called into the ministry. There is just something about the calm, practical, common sense of approaching faith intelligently and graciously, considering the intention of those who love God and know what love is. This has a way of changing minds rather quickly, and painlessly. At least that is how this pamphlet worked for me. It just seemed as though, if someone who taught this stuff thought it was OK, who was I to disagree?
Over the years, in my studies, this encounter that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman blossomed into having an enormous amount of significance. For here was a liberating, radical story, which when seen through today’s culture, it may not seem like much. This scripture represents the overcoming of resentments, prejudices, sexism, and classism . . . all in one story! And Lent is the perfect time to look at all of these issues, in order to prepare ourselves for the glorious freedom of the resurrection!
Samaria is between Galilee and Judea, and those classified as Samaritans, (according to the Jewish annotated New Testament), “are descendants of two distinct groups: the remnant of the 10 tribes associated with the Northern Kingdom of Israel who were not deported when [it fell], and [from] foreign colonists.” So – basically they were historically from the same roots – but cultural and historical changes affected their relationship with each other, creating what, to some, seemed like impossible barriers. The relationship they had with each other seemed to be teeming with resentments and mistrust.
Another aspect of this is the gender relationship. This woman is portrayed as being rather promiscuous – and Jesus is, for his time, being a bit brazen himself! The only times in the bible where a similar man at a well scene is portrayed, is when Abraham’s servant met Rebekah. Wells were historically places where primarily women met. Mythologically, water represents depths, spirituality, and the drawing of water is the sharing of spiritual depths. And according to some historians, good Jews did not speak to women in public – even their own wives!
So here is Jesus, talking to a woman, and that woman is someone from another denomination of the faith, perhaps even considered a different faith by some; a faith where there is strife, and to make matters worse, she is a woman who lives with a man out of wedlock, and has had many “husbands”. NOT ONLY is he talking with her, he is sharing the most profoundly intimate thing that could be shared between 2 humans – salvation – or grace – union with the sacred – whatever you want to call it – Jesus is brazen enough to share it with this woman. Even his own disciples thought it off putting! This shows you how radical Jesus was.
But what really blows my mind, is that this is one of the few, if not the only moment, when Jesus flat out tells someone that he is the Messiah. He is not shown to share that with anyone else. He quizzes the disciples and they make wild guesses, but he does not come right out and share this with anyone but her. And she becomes the apostle for her people.
Jesus, in his humanity, went to great lengths during his time on earth to break barriers which we humans create. Often our first reaction is, like the good, called, followers of Jesus, one of being upset. We get used to knowing what we know, and not wanting our point of view to be changed so easily. “Those ‘OTHERS’ belong in some nice hard to break through category, while I and my like minded friends sit here comfortably.” And we hate it when we are categories and separated, but we feel safer if we keep the status quo.
One of the most difficult things to be aware of, let alone overcome, are our resentments. We often do not trust others because of some perceived slight we have had, or we don’t feel comfortable that someone else is so different from us. This can lead to resentments. And often, our resentments are what cause our greatest separations and pain from God and from each other. How often do we catch ourselves still being angry at a family member or an old friend for a slight which happened long ago?
Lent is about digging down into the depths of our own psyches and facing that which separates us from one another. Because what separates us from one another, is also what separates us from God. Being able to see and face our own resentments opens us up to the relief of clarity, the freedom to love and receive love.
Sometimes when we can see what pain is holding us back from loving another, we can give it up and practice grace, separating egos from the God particle which is in each of us. It is in those moments when we free our souls from that which separates us, that God can fill our hearts, even if the other is not responding.
Jesus was a radical lover. For him, the sharing of the love of God was more vital and urgent than food! More vital and urgent than social mores! More vital and urgent than his own reputation! He was living purely to teach and break through any human barriers to the pure and extravagant love of God! And we are all encouraged to the best we can, as he did.
So, let’s be radical lovers and proud of it! Showing love to all we possibly can, with the hope that tomorrow we can do more; looking for the resentments which keep limiting us, and striving to become more aware of our oneness with God and with each other. AMEN
2017.03.05 Beginnings
Psalm 32: 1Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. 6Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. 8I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 10Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
My sermon title is Beginnings, because this is towards the beginning of Lent, and because I am beginning my ministry with you. But when you think about it, the truth about Beginnings is, as are most things involved with the mystery of God, a bit ambiguous. Because yes, I am new to you, as you are to me, but the ministry of this church began long ago and I am but a temporary blip in its history.
My ministry began over 3 decades ago, so doing ministry is not new to me, and yet being here is totally new to me. Together we make something like new, with scattered bits of what once was already. It is somewhat like a soup that starts off being one thing, yet with each new ingredient added to it, it becomes something all together different. Or, like one of my favorite sayings from a small book which I got in college, it is attributed to Chang Chao: “A cloud becomes multicolored when it reflects the sun, and a mountain current becomes a fall when it passes over a cliff. Things become different from what they associate with. That is why friendship is so valued.”
I am changed because of you, and for the grace of God. Together we will observe over the coming years what kind of soup God is creating in Morehead with our loving combination here. It is very exciting that we are beginning this time together during that very special period of the church year which calls for us to slow down, and be introspective just a little bit more than normal ~ a time to really take seriously the call to observe sin and guilt and turmoil, and to practice putting ourselves in God’s care ~ trusting in power which is always there, and yet often ignored.
Isn’t it true that sometimes, in our zeal to be go and do likewise, as Christ taught, that we can get overwhelmed ~ thinking that everything depends on us acting right now? This is such an admirable trait! Wanting to be the hands and hearts of God! The willingness to suffer and sacrifice for love is far better than living only for our own personal pleasure and looking away when we see a need. And it is important to be this, do this!
However, Lent is also a time to allow God to care for us. A time to weaken ourselves, and witness what God can do through us, for us, and for us to learn to trust God’s power. Because it is often in our weakness that we gain the greatest insights, ~ when we are reminded that we are human BEings, not only human DOings.
It is in our weakness and self reflection that we discover the contrariness that often nestles in our souls.
I learned the term “Cognitive dissonance” in a Psychology class in college and that was one of my earliest soul shattering moments. The online definition is: “the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.”
It was explained to me more simply:
- You claim you don’t like mushrooms
- You eat something with mushrooms and you love it.
- You then have to decide if you still don’t like mushrooms, or you don’t really like what you just ate.
Dealing with these contrary beliefs is a matter first of awareness and secondly, of decision making. One needs to be able to acknowledge and observe the dissonance, and then decide one way or the other. I decided that I was going to trust that which my senses proved to trust – like my flavor buds liking the food – that new awareness which caused the dissonance. I was going to trust that my preconceived notion was wrong, if my experience was contrary. If I discovered a truth that was contrary to what I had learned up to then, I was willing to sacrifice that original thought for the new inputs.
What amazed me, then, was how often I would observe other people faced with cognitive dissonance, and how easy it seemed for them to totally ignore the new, opposing information. How hard it was for them to accept anything that challenged their preconceived notions. Like the thought they had was more important than the truth that was purely evident.
To me, this is what Lent is all about – prayerfully focusing on all those moments of dissonance in our lives. Like – I love my Jesus, I wanna do what he taught, I believe with all my heart that he speaks today through the Holy Spirit and is telling us to love one another! Love, everyone! But boy that one person really gets on my nerves . . . I hate it when they do . . . She is just so . . . THEY just aren’t . . . Everyone should just . . .
And in my fasting I realize the dissonance between loving as Christ loved, and my knee jerk reactions. It is always time to take a breath, forgive ourselves, love ourselves, love those we just “shoulded” all over, but somehow Lent gives us an opportunity to practice doing this. Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” Are not our greatest yokes those of our preconceived notions?
This is why I think the Psalm for this day is perfect for Lent. Because it talks about changes of perceptions: transgressions ~ forgiven. This isn’t to say there were none – they were there! And they were forgiven – and the person is happy, because they knew it! They were aware of it! They had a transgression, they were freed from it, it made them happy. Simple as that! The spirit has no deceit – the spirit was willing to love and be a child of God – that doesn’t mean there wasn’t something that blipped up in life and the soul was made aware of it! It is in the ignoring that we get problems! “While I kept silence, my body wasted away . . . then I acknowledge my sin . . . and you forgave the guilt . . . and therefore . . . you surround me with glad cries of deliverance[!] . . . steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.”
So, in closing, allow me to make a few requests and a few vows. I request, that if you ever feel any hurt as a result of something I say or do, please, in the name of Jesus, talk to me about it. Do not keep it hidden. Because this I do know about myself, ever since I was child, I have wanted to be loved by everyone. And trust me - I know it is impossible. My Mama kept telling me that, trying to spare me some pain. And now I am an adult, I know this is impossible, yet through all the years of dealing with this I just cannot deny that my greatest desire is to be loved by everyone. And yet, I am old enough, and have enough life experience, that I am practiced in the art of letting go the pain of loss, and to continue on in the grace of God. As the optimist creed says, “Promise yourself: To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.”
Also, please invite me to your homes, or wherever, because this is another thing I have learned about myself – I really feel uncomfortable calling you up for a visit, especially if I haven’t really met you yet. I know this is the “normal” behavior for a pastor, but I really do not like it. I want to get to know everyone up close and personal, but cold calling people is something I’ve had the hardest time overcoming. I’m just not there yet. So, please email me, or Facebook friend request me and send me a Private message, call me on the phone . . . please reach out to me.
In the meantime, I vow to do my very best to love and serve you, to take all my knowledge and prayerful life to help ease your burdens, to make you laugh, to give you hope, to help you feel the love that God offers this world. I and my family are so grateful to you for calling us here. And to God, whose plans for us all are far greater than anything any human could imagine.
Now, may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and our souls in Christ Jesus. AMEN
