Ramblings

"You gotta be Dead" - 4/29/2012

Sermon presented on 4/29 based on Acts 4: 5-12. 

A Sunday school teacher ended the class with this question “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?”  “NO!” the children all answered.   The teacher then asked, “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven?”  Once more they all answered, “NO!”

“Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my husband or wife, would that get me into heaven?” the teacher asked them again.  Again, all the children said “NO!”

“Well,” the teacher continued, thinking they were a good bit more theologically sophisticated than she had given them credit for then asked, “Then how can I get into heaven?”

A five-year-old boy shouted out, “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!”

Other than being “DEAD” …. “what would get us into heaven”  Or as Peter puts it in his brief exchange with his adversaries today recorded in Acts: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”  These wonderful words have been both helpful and troubling to many of us that are Christian.  For whether uttered in sarcasm or sincerity, Peter’s claim is one that most Christians have at least thought about, especially when confronted by today's text in Acts or by Jesus in John: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

What do we make of those words?  Do we avoid them, or accept them wholeheartedly.  Do we dismiss them or struggle to reconcile them to the truth of a loving God?

Before we get into today’s words we need to remind ourselves that Peter is not preaching in a vacuum.  It is at a specific event actually right in the middle of one.  You see on the previous day, Peter and John had healed a crippled beggar as they entered the temple for afternoon prayer.  After the people saw the lame man walking around, “they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”  Seeking to learn more about this marvelous deed, the people who had previously seen the man by the temple gate approached Peter and John, the alleged perpetrators of this act of mercy.

With the lame man still clinging to them and the crowd closing in, Peter asked, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”  The narrator then summarizes Peter's answer to his rhetorical question.  The cripple wasn't healed by the Apostles' power, but “by faith in [Jesus'] name” and by the power of God who raised Jesus from the dead.

However at this point, the religious officials had heard enough.  We hear that they were “annoyed,” especially the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection.  Consequently, they arrest Peter and John, and separate Peter and John from the crowd and their supporters and hold them until the next day when the investigation could continue.  That is the point in the lesson where we enter today.

The scene is, in a sense a legal one, as both accusers and accused face off on the following day after the healing.  The narrator even names three categories of accusers: “rulers, elders, and scribes.”  Then with the image of a court in mind the prosecution team begins its interrogation.  Drawing upon Peter's speech from the previous day, the complainants ask, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

It probably seems odd to initiate a public examination in such a direct way.  Nevertheless, rather than skirt and avoid the issue, Peter answers them straightforwardly, and in doing so furnishes sufficient evidence should they really want to condemn both him and John.

Without evasion, and according to the narrator, “being filled with the Holy Spirit,” Peter repeats in a sanctioned, but hostile, legal setting what he had said on the previous day.  He and John had healed a man--- done a good deed; in contrast, the religious leaders were complicit in Jesus' death.  For further support, Peter appeals to Scripture: “This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.” (Psalm 118:22)

Then Peter's testimony concludes with a crescendo.  Not only was the crippled beggar healed “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” Peter further asserts that “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”

There we have it, but before we continue I should add that there is some disagreement on how the biblical Greek is translated.  Because the word what is translated as “saved” can also mean “rescue,” “heal,” “be made whole,” etc.,.

All the same, for centuries, faithful Christians have struggled with Peter's claim that salvation comes only through Jesus.  They have asked, “What about those who've never heard the gospel?  What about those who are faithful participants in other religions?  What about those who had died long before Jesus lived?”  And in attempts to answer those questions, over the centuries various Christians have come up with no less than six different positions, all of which are speculative.  I put them in the bulletin insert with various biblical passages used by these different positions.

The first position is Restrictivism: There is no hope of salvation apart from hearing the gospel and having faith in Christ before death.  The second position taken is radical pluralism: Christ is one of many ways to God.  The third position is called Universalism: Salvation is through Christ, but ultimately all will be saved.  Then there is a fourth position taken by some called Universal evangelization before death: God ensures that everyone who seeks God will in fact hear the gospel before they die.  Another position is called Eschatological evangelization: All who did not respond in this life will receive an opportunity to respond after death.  And the last is called Inclusivism: People who have never heard the gospel may obtain salvation if they respond to the light they do have.  Furthermore, some Christians have mixed some of these positions, or changed over time, but those are basic six.

How, then, do we sort this out?  First for me is what we can see from the event it began with a healing.  Second, Peter saw this opportunity to proclaim that the grand turnaround of the resurrection not only life out of death but that the rejected stone has become the cornerstone.  In other words, “the name of Jesus” is neither a magical incantation nor a slogan for intolerance regarding other religious paths.  Rather Peter is proclaiming the cornerstone the way in the name of Jesus; a way of humility and self-giving, it is the way of being bold before coercive power.  It is the way of laying down one’s life for others, of taking up the cross, of being a follower of Jesus.  That means it is either awful irony or utter blasphemy to take this verse – extolling the healing power of the name of Jesus – and using it as a bludgeoning weapon of Christian dominion or to answer all the questions of faith.

The third point is what Christ himself said to Peter which is that the great commandment is to love God and neighbor.  Because of the cross and empty tomb, God is now seen as revealed in Jesus and the neighbor as Peter learns later is all the people around us.

To love neighbor means learning to accept those who are different from us, whose political affiliations, religious systems and personal lives differ from ours.  It means having lots of conversations and interactions, not just social meals.  It means choosing to go outside our little cliques and meeting those whom we secretly fear.

For that reason, in summary here are some things we can say with confidence.  Do I believe there is some good in the other world religions? Yes.  Do I believe Christ came for all? Yes.  Do I believe Christianity is a valid path to God? Absolutely. 

In other words, sharing about Jesus Christ with those who live in dryness apart from him brings healing.  It is not a method of trying to get others to repeat a line “in the name of Jesus” that will get them to heaven.  We are about healing.  We are about following Jesus Christ.  It is up to us to live faithfully by the great light we have received in Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.

Easter Team - 4-22-2012

Sermon from Sunday, April 22, 2012 based on Luke 24.

I wonder if we should hold an Open Minds competition--- a team against a team.  What is an “Open Minds” competition?  It is an annual event for schools that are part of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).  Phil Weilerstein, the executive director of the alliance put it this way, “During his State of the Union Address, President Obama called on us as a nation to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.  Our goal (at the NCIIA) is to teach students to do just that, and in the process, to create solutions that can both achieve commercial success and improve lives globally, positively impacting the economy and boosting creativity within the U.S.”[1]

Every year 10 to 15 teams are selected from different schools of higher learning to present their new ideas and innovations.  For example this year’s presentations included a team from the Rochester Institute of Technology which is presenting a form fitting vest “that incorporate load bearing straps that allow workers to lift heavy objects more easily and with significantly less risk of injury.”[2]

           Back to the question at hand, why do I think we should have an open mind competition --- because Easter is that annual event that calls us to “open our minds” so that we can see Christ.  Or as Scottish whiskey king Thomas Dewar put it: “Minds are like a parachute --- they only function properly when open.”  And I would suggest we are not only talking about open minds but open hearts as well.  How do we know that we as disciples are in the process of opening minds?  Look at today’s gospel from the beginning.

Mentioned earlier in this lesson is that Clopas and an unidentified friend --- both disciples --- were walking along the road to a community called Emmaus outside of Jerusalem on Easter afternoon.  As they are walking a stranger joins them.

Clopas and his partner however were not in a good mood during the walk and they share the reason why with this stranger.  Their hearts were broken, their minds, their senses, their very souls entombed in grief as surely as Jesus was entombed in the hillside outside Jerusalem, condemned to death, crucified and buried.  Oh sure, these two told the stranger, some women had gone to the tomb that very morning and run home shouting that Jesus’ body was nowhere to be found and claiming a vision of something like an angel who sang the good news that Jesus was alive, that he had risen from the dead.  Well, the tomb, in fact, was empty, but none of the men had seen Jesus.

Clopas and his partner knew the facts and because they knew the facts, they saw what they knew that they would see, that not only meant not seeing how the resurrection was possible but ironically not being able to tell who the stranger walking with them on the road.

Luke tells us that Jesus saw how closed their minds’ were.  Luke also tells us that Jesus saw their inability to believe.  And so, the stranger on the road, the one these two disciples could not recognize, the incarnation of the possibility of God, set about opening their minds, their hearts, and their lives.

Jesus begins by going back to the stories of faith.  Beginning with the writings of Moses --- the stranger began to teach them, to interpret for them the stories of what God had been doing in God’s beloved creation since before the beginning of time --- and the stories of what God was continuing to do in God’s beloved creation through Jesus the Messiah, God’s Son.  The stranger began to open God’s Word for them --- and God’s Word began to open their minds.

In this process of walking and talking, Easter happened for these two as they listened to the stories of God’s mighty acts, the stories of mercy and grace and love.  It got their minds and hearts racing to the point that they did not want it to stop.  Clopas and his partner begged the stranger to stay with them, to at least share with them their evening meal.  And so the stranger did.  As they sat together around a table, the stranger whom they did not recognize took the bread and giving thanks to God broke it and gave it to them.

Luke tells us that at this point, their eyes were opened and they knew him.  In the power of the resurrection, God opened their eyes, their minds, their hearts, and their hands.  In and through the Word and the Sacrament --- the Book and the Meal --- they recognized Jesus, they saw the presence of the Risen Lord in their midst and Easter happened to them.

Now we turn to out gospel for these two promptly return to Jerusalem to the others still locked behind closed doors.  Then again Jesus reappears and repeats in motion and language what happened on the road with Clopas and the other disciples.  Now, all the disciples were Easter people, a team of creative people of possibility, people of the resurrection, open to the presence and power of God in all things.

The same is true of us.  Resurrection is what God is about in the world, opening God’s creation, opening you and me, opening us as creative teams of Easter people.  From through the waters of our baptism until after we cross the River Jordan with Jesus at our death, God is about the business of resurrection – opening the tomb, opening our minds, opening our eyes, our hearts, our hands, our lives.

We are an Easter team, people given open eyes and clear vision.  We can never ignore the pain and suffering of God’s creation.  We can never pretend that mourning and crying and pain are no more.  We are called to see injustice and name it for what it is.  But even as we see the suffering of the world, we are called to recognize God’s presence in it, to point always to the gentle Savior who comforts the afflicted and blesses the dying.  We are peacemakers and justice-doers in the name of the One who is the King of Righteousness, the Prince of Peace.

We are an Easter team gifted with minds and hearts created to be open, just like those young people from schools across the United States who gather once a year to showcase their ideas; we are conduits of God’s grace in the world.

It is true that a lot of people, and a lot of people who claim to be Christian, seem to operate mostly in the “closed mode.”  But the God of Easter is about opening --- not closing.  And the God who could open the tomb and raise his Son, the God who could open the very gates of death, is even now breaking down the walls that divide us, opening the prison cells of what we think we know, opening us and through us the world to the amazing possibility of God’s grace, the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.

That means that as part of the Easter team we are to inspire each other with creative new ideas in how we can solve the problems of this world.  How can we open the minds of those closed to God’s grace?

It is not easy, this Easter people team business --- and in fact, a lot of the time being opened by God and to God, is downright uncomfortable and involves a whole lot of bumping up against people and ideas and ways of being in the world that we would rather avoid.  Who wants to talk about something as private as sex in church, straight and gay, nevertheless we had to and have too.

It is not easy.  Turn back with me to that annual Open Mind competition.  Back in 2010-2011 the Open Mind team from Georgia Tech chose to tackle the constant problem of sanitation and hygiene.  The problem is difficult particularly in areas of the world where the resources --- like water --- are few, but the team from Georgia Tech focused on that one issue, the solution of building effective latrines.

Latrines in of themselves do not solve the problem because dry latrines, those without running water, do not teat the waste, they do not kill ascaris cysts for example.  So the team developed a dry latrine system that provides sustainable, affordable, and safe treatment of human waste using the sun’s energy.  But in order to do that they used the success and failure of those before them.  The team made several trips to different parts of the world to experiment with different prototypes.  The team had listening and learning sessions in the communities that installed their prototypes.

So I wonder do we as disciples perhaps give up to easy.  Because, being part of the Easter team means taking our baptismal promises seriously.  It means being persistent, willing to hang in there with each other and the people of God, even when others bail out.  It means allowing God to work God’s resurrection power on us, walking with Christ on the road.  It takes being present in worship for the Word, being present in worship when the bread is broken, the wine poured.  It takes study and service and a level of commitment.

Perhaps we at times give up to easily.  We open the Bible to a dusty page it makes no sense and close the book.  We welcome a stranger and they are gone the next week.  We come to worship and sing a song or hymn that is new to us, so we stop singing.  A pastor gives a sermon, and it does not relate to my life, so we give up.

 Easter is happening even now.  Even now, God is working, opening our eyes, our minds, our hearts, our hands, our lives.

Here’s the plan: every time, every second of our lives, in the name of Christ, as part of the Easter team expect to see Christ.  So wherever we are, whatever we are doing, in word and indeed, expect that Christ is present.  Let us see what we expect to see.  Let us expect to see Jesus.   Let us expect that our minds will be open.  Amen.

---

[1] http://nciia.org/about

[2][2] Ibid.

Titanic Faith - 4/15/2012

Sermon based on John 20: 19-31 preached on April 15, 2012.  That which is printed below is similar but not exactly to which was preached.

On April 15, 1912 --- 100 years ago today --- the “unsinkable” Titanic sank.  All this month in newspapers and magazines and on TV shows and documentaries we have heard how the famous ship went down in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg, taking 1,517 people to their deaths and shocking the world.  What has to wonder, why the fascination?

Well, the scale of the disaster, over 1500 dead, certainly has something to do with it.  Then there is the star-crossed romantic images of the fateful voyage as well as people traveling in a mix of classes.  This is probably most interestingly retold in the wildly popular 1997 movie version of the disaster --- the Romeo and Juliet on the North Atlantic.

But perhaps the most compelling reason we are so fascinated with this even has to do with the fact that the sinking ship continues to be a morality play with fear, courage and what happens when humans buy into their own hype.  If the Titanic teaches us anything, it's that we are all, indeed, seriously sinkable.  The Titanic reminds us to be fearful.

The people boarding the Titanic on April 8, 1912, in Southampton, England  more than likely were not thinking about those various emotions, rather they were excited and hopeful in the journey, believing and trusting in the Titanic’s unsinkable reputation.  Although the White Star Line, the company that owned the Titanic, had never itself claimed that its new flagship was unsinkable, it was the common belief.  That faith was possibly based on the media hype of that day from such sources as the journal the Shipbuilder, which noted that, “The Captain may, by simply moving an electric switch, instantly close the doors throughout and make the vessel practically unsinkable.”

While the White Star Line may not have been the source of the “unsinkable” tagline, the company surely did not discourage its use.  In fact it was increasingly common as the world turned from the 19th to the 20th century to trust in the emerging inventions like electricity and the internal combustion engine and the prospect of powered manned flight, that humanity could conquer any challenge of nature with technology.

Indeed, the Titanic story is full of pride based on the idea that such a large, imposing, modern ship could not possibly suffer a disaster at sea.  While they may have never said it out loud, the Titanic's designers, agents, leadership and even its passengers had clearly bought the hype.

Yet after the ship sank and investigations continued it is obvious that mistakes were made.  Just Google “Titanic blunders” and you will see a full list of both factual and legendary mistakes that sent the ship to its watery grave.  The upshot of all these things put together is that the Titanic was really sunk by the unhealthy human tendency to ignore our fears, to ignore bad news and buy into our own hype.

Therefore it is interesting that the lectionary offers us this text from John on a day when human doubt and fear are remembered on a large scale.  We read how the disciples are fearful that although having heard of Jesus’ resurrection, the community would be after them as well.  We saw some of that same fear displayed in Peter earlier when he denies being a follower of Jesus in the courtyard of the High Priest.  We also read in today’s reading that Thomas however has more courage than the other disciples not afraid to be outdoors whereas the other disciples stayed locked in the room.  Nevertheless, prior to Jesus appearing in the room again, Thomas who was not there the first time expressed a strong dose of skepticism and doubt.

So what can we learn from our gospel?  Well perhaps we need to take a moment and review the human emotion of fear.  In its simplest form fear is an internal warning cry.  As we are created by God and toned by evolution, we have the ability to sense danger.  Fear helps us stay alive.  Fear prepares our body to run, hide or fight.  However, like many human emotions, fear can fall into two broad categories --- healthy and unhealthy fears.  Healthy fear can be a good thing.  For example, I want people to retain a healthy fear of driving so that they will not drive too fast, avoid drinking alcohol and then get behind the wheel.

But, unhealthy fear can also be a bad thing; it can paralyze us and keep us from doing things that we should do.  For example, in Japan, there are men and women who have locked themselves in their rooms avoiding as much contact with people outside of their families.  Refusing to work or go to school.  Unhealthy fear can also lead us to make decisions or support notions that are irrational like an unsinkable ship.

Moreover sometime unhealthy fear becomes habitual; that’s when our fears become worries.  Worry is really nothing more than distorted fears.  Worry begins in our mind, but brings the same emotional and physical toll as real fears. Fear is temporary, a response to an external stimuli.  Worry is long term fear; it has moved into our hearts and unpacked its bags.

So what can we learn about ourselves as disciples and about faith in today’s gospel in these displays of fear and doubt.  In my reading there are at least four important lessons which translate directly into our lives that will help us grow.

The first lesson for me is the permission to be ourselves.  The disciples gathered in fear.  We then read that Jesus appears.  However his first words are not “You dummies!”  The first words are “Peace be with you.”  It is ok to be afraid, but unhealthy worry is something that we need to begin to pack up and remove.  Worry begins to dissipate when we recognize that our hearts are at peace.  Furthermore just as we see that we have permission to be ourselves, Jesus also allows us to deal with grief and the experience of loss at our own pace.

The second lesson that I see is that unhealthy fear leads us to close our doors to others including Christ.  People who can be our friends or even people who can teach us something are a threat.  But in Christ, we begin to work through our unhealthy fear; we begin to open doors.  For example, we are not sure how it happened, but it is likely that after the presence of Jesus and the dissipation of their worry, one or another of the disciples said, “Hey, we’ve got to tell Thomas.”  The disciples made sure that Thomas heard or the disciples reached out to Thomas in some way.  We also see that Thomas was open to their contact and we hear nothing about the disciples being upset with Thomas for not staying with them.

This leads me to the see a third way that this gospel is a lesson for us; unhealthy fear is confronted in the expression and then acceptance of honest feelings.  How many times has someone counseled us with something like, “You shouldn’t feel that way… or think that way or be that way?”  When Thomas was told by the other disciples the really good news about Jesus’ resurrection and appearance, Thomas said in effect, “I am afraid too hope or it hurts too much to hope.”  Thomas’s response may be the first time recorded someone ever saying, “Seeing is believing” but it certainly was not the first time anyone has ever thought that in response to fear.

Thomas is able to express --- Jesus Christ and the disciples are able to accept, honest emotional fear and authentic expressions of doubt.  So, it is absolutely crucial for our growth in faith over against unhealthy fear to have freedom to express and hear honest feelings and honest doubt.

This leads to a fourth lesson about unhealthy fear; Jesus Christ gives us strength to get where we need to be.  As I said before, when Jesus appears to the disciples Jesus does not scold.  Jesus knows fear and understands that unhealthy fear leads to worry.  Jesus in today’s gospel after the resurrection begins to give the disciples what they need to grow from worry into healthy disciples, but it could never have happened if Jesus had not met the disciples and Thomas where they were.  This gave all the disciples strength to risk hope once again.

The Easter resurrection, Christ’s presence with us in the Holy Spirit and in tangible ways like Baptism and the Holy Communion give us strength and peace to face our unhealthy fears and to take action.  Facing our unhealthy fears and worries causes us to grow and feel confident in our faith as children of God.

On April 8, 2012, the same parent company that operated the Titanic, launched from Southampton, England the M.S. Balmoral on a 100th anniversary cruise that followed the Titanic's route.  At 2:20 am today the ship stopped at the very spot the Titanic went down and the passengers and staff held a memorial service for those who were lost.  Along the way to today’s event those passengers were treated to the identical menus, music and entertainment enjoyed by the original passengers, as well as lectures and presentations by Titanic historians.

Healthy fear gives us an opportunity to revisit our own epic crashes, to memorialize what we have lost as a result of our sin, but then to continue steaming toward a new future made possible by Jesus, whose own death and resurrection ensures that we will land safely on the other side.  What doors are locked in our lives?  What are we excluding?  What unhealthy fears and worries dominate our hearts?  What false pride blinds us?  Let us not have a Titanic faith but a faith based in the resurrected Jesus Christ.  Amen.

"Empty" or "Full Living" - 4/8/2012

Easter Sermon for 2012 - Christ is Risen.  Christ is Risen Indeed Alleluia!

Do you agree or disagree that there are two types of people in this world; full people and empty people?  Think about it before you answer.  If we were asked, “Which would you rather be: full or empty?” many of us would probably say, “Full.”  “Full” is supposed to be good.

Full Easter eggs?  Good.  Full church on Sunday?  Good.  Children full of respect and manners?  Good.  A home full of comfortable, plush furniture?  Good.  A recognized marriage full of laughter and love?  Good and good.  A full stomach?  Good.  A full bank account?  Good.  Full of health?  Good .  A full pantry?  Good.  A full gas tank?  Good especially if we don’t have to pay for it.

A person who is “full” is one who is able to look at her or his life and say, “Dang! Every need is met, every fear is silenced, and every obstacle is overcome.”  Many of us would say, “That's what I want. That's what I'm aiming for!”

But let us be honest on this Easter Sunday 2012.  If we believe that we are complete, that our lives are as they should be, that our children’s lives are as they should be, that the world is as it should be then this day, this message, this reality of the resurrected Jesus Christ just isn't for us --- because Easter is all about “empty.”

Easter is not for full people.  It is not for the “have-it-all-together-life-is-good” people.  No, Easter is for those who understand what empty means.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is for those who have figured out that in this life, “full” is a fleeting feeling.  For example if you do not believe me just look at what we spend most of our money on, the vast majority of our income is spent on items that need constant replenishing.  We spend almost all of our treasure on food that will be eaten, gas that will be burned, clothes that will wear out and entertainment that lasts a moment.  In other words no matter how many pounds of ham we put away or deviled eggs we down later today, come Monday morning we will be hungry again.

Instead, some of us have felt the emptiness of losing someone close.  Some of us know what it is like to have our health fading or our family fighting.  Some of us know what it is like to have a prayer that's unanswered or a fear or addiction that's haunting.  Some of us know what it is like to have a depression that's lingering or a faith life that is stagnant.  Some of us know what it is like to have a marriage that's struggling or kids who seem crazy.  Some of us know what it is like have a future that is uncertain for ourselves or our children.  Some of us know what it is like to be bullied or keeping a secret about ourselves not knowing with whom we can share.

Yes, there are those who know that fullness is fleeting and what it feels like to be empty.  But that is the point; Easter is not for full people.  Easter is for empty people.

How do I know?  Listen again to these words from Mark's account of the Easter story.  “And [the angel] said to them, 'Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here.  See the place where they laid him.  But go; tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you.'  And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

Did you catch the words like “alarmed,”  “fled,”  “trembling,” “amazed” and “afraid?”  In other words, Easter has its origin not only in an empty tomb but also in the emptiness of heart that overwhelms the men and women who have seen their Savior die, and the anxiety of mind that comes from expecting to see his body and instead hearing of a risen one.

The temptation is to look at such emptiness and see it as a bad thing.  The temptation is to look at our own emptiness in the same light.

The joy of Easter, the good news of the empty tomb is that our emptiness is a great thing.  Viewing this world through the lens of the empty tomb of this seemingly full world is an essential thing.

Just look at 1 Corinthians 15.  In this lesson the apostle Paul helps us understand the blessing of the empty tomb, the blessing of emptiness upon our fleetingly full lives. “... if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.   If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

Paul's point is this: If Jesus is dead and buried, then all we have is another great teacher who promised the world but died before he or she could deliver – like so much else.  If the bones of Jesus are still stuck in some tomb, then it means there are still no clear path to the Creator, no certainty about our life after death, and no trustworthy teaching about why we exist in this world.  We might as well go back to feeding our mouths, our heads, our hearts and our souls with all the stuff that is for sale to fill those empty places.

But Paul argues, Christ is not dead, Christ is risen.

Therefore, since the tomb is empty, it means that everything Jesus ever preached or promised is true --- which is good news because Jesus has some amazing things to offer those of us who know the emptiness of life.  The empty tomb means that Jesus' death on the cross was, in fact, a work of forgiveness.  It means that all of the mistakes we have made or the mistakes of others that leave us wondering whether or not God loves us have been put aside.  But that's not all.

According to Paul, Christ's resurrection is a glimpse of our own future.  These are the promises that Christ places in the hands of those who are willing to admit they are empty and that only Christ and his promises can truly fill them.

So what do you think are we empty or full?  It's an essential question because if we truly believe that our life is full, then we have no room for the great things Jesus can give.  But if we are able to admit that we are broken, needy, and at times empty, then the fulfilled promises of Easter are ready and waiting to fill us up.

The resurrection means that every person who's buried a loved one, or every woman who's lost a baby, will one day have his or her grief overshadowed by God's glory at Christ's return.  It means one day our tsunami-filled planet will be replaced with a calm new creation.  It means hope and faith; a future for all.

Sure, full pantries, full gas tanks and full bank accounts are good.  But when it comes to Easter, empty is great.  Being empty is everything. Through the resurrection, not in spite of it, God fills the empty places in our lives.  God does it for the first followers of Jesus, for the men and women, for Paul, for the Christians of Corinth … and God does it for us.  We do not have to earn or deserve this gift of new life.  What we have to do is believe and be willing to follow Jesus, to go meet him.

Mary and her companions felt a disorienting mixture of amazement, fear and emptiness on Easter morning, but they responded to the young man who gave the command: “He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Yes, we have to pass through some empty tombs on the way to resurrection life.  The good news of Easter is that Christ is risen!  He has been raised from the dead, and is waiting, beyond the empty.  So you tell me are you empty or full?  Amen.

Fading Away - 3/25/2012

For my readers, I apologize for the delay.  The Gospel for this day was John 12: 20-36.

As some of you know, my oldest daughter attends MacArthur High School here in San Antonio.  The school is named after the famous American general who had a storied career through World War I and World War II and finally as commander of the United Nations forces in the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur.  For that reason there is a hall way in the administrative area of the school filled with various donated items, mementos, photos and descriptions from General MacArthur’s long life that provide an educational timeline and historical context to his life.

Well, one day I was early to pick up my daughter for a dentist appointment and happened to have some time before school was out and thought I would take a short tour of the hallway.

In my tour, I happened to notice that there seemed to be one important missing piece from General MacArthur’s life.  If it is there I didn’t see it.  On April 11, 1951 President Harry Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur.  The main reason was that General MacArthur was making comments and taking unilateral action in the Korean War that contradicted the desire and goals of President Truman and his administration.  For example, one major controversy was whether or not General MacArthur could broaden the war by using atomic weapons in China.  China had entered the war on behalf of North Korea.  As you can imagine, the firing of a famous general was a surprise to many people but as the senate inquiry into the firing concluded: “the removal of General MacArthur was within the constitutional powers of the President but the circumstances were a shock to national pride.”

The controversy could be why there is nothing on the hall wall highlighting that event, but I was also intrigued that for that reason another item was absent --- a line from General MacArthur’s most famous speech.  Eight days after returning to the United States after being fired, General MacArthur was invited to speak before a joint session of Congress.  At the end of the speech, General MacArthur quotes from a old military song and concludes with these words: “The world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that ‘old soldiers never die; they just fade away.’  And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.”

Well, why do I share all this.  In the gospel of John, Jesus concludes his public ministry with a statement about the upcoming last days of his life.  Far from fleeing his upcoming fate on the cross, Jesus proclaims that “it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.”  It is toward crucifixion that his whole life and ministry have been heading.  “Now is the judgment of this world,” Jesus intones --- I can imagine a grave and rumbling voice that then adds “now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

There is nothing politically astute in these final words from Jesus as he makes the transition to the cross, nothing that General MacArthur or President Harry Truman would grab hold of as a key to success in an earthly campaign because Jesus is informing us that everything will be turned upside down when Jesus goes to the cross and spills his blood; Jesus completely crisscrosses expectations when he introduces a new cross-based reality.  For example, later we learn that: A bloody death does not destroy Jesus --- rather, it glorifies him.  Crucifixion --- the death penalty for criminals does not condemn Jesus but instead judges the world.  And Jesus, when lifted high on the cross, does not repulse people.  Instead, Jesus draws people to himself.

Jesus Christ in this final speech in his public ministry has in mind a movement that completely confounds expectations. “Very truly, I tell you,” in a change in tone Jesus whispers, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Jesus is not interested in his own survival as an isolated individual, or for a hallway of photos as a single “grain of wheat”; instead, Jesus sees his death as the key to new life for the entire world.  He knows that there will be no good fruit unless he first takes a seed-like plunge into the earth and dies.

It has got to happen, and Jesus knows it.   Jesus has got to take a fall before anyone can rise to new life.  A seed becomes successful when it dies and bears much fruit.

One doesn't have to be a farmer to understand this.  Think about it this way.  We are always, and every day, planting seeds.  Parents, teachers, business people, students, advertisers, ministers, funeral directors, writers --- you name the people --- all are planters of seeds.

We plant seeds.  Yet, obviously there is no way of knowing whether the seed will produce fruit or not, but one thing is certain: no seed --- no fruit.  Because, planted seeds are also buried seeds.  The seed is no good unless it goes into the ground and fades away.

But there is a further twist to this.  Jesus, as we implied when we began, sees himself as the planted and buried seed that will eventually bear much fruit.   This twist is that Jesus is modeling what we can call the ministry of fading away for us.  That goes so much against our culture, the culture of Douglas MacArthur, for example.  In the end, MacArthur saw himself fading away but not like Jesus was suggesting.  MacArthur did not care about what he had planted rather he was self absorbed in what he had done.  Everything revolved around his accomplishments not in what he had planted.  In a culture of shakers and movers, fading away may seem to be some a form of wimping out.  But there is more to it than at first we might realize.

The ministry of fading away is a form of courtesy.  We have all been in groups where one person tends to do all the talking; it's as though that person has no ears and only a mouth.  As we like to put it, it's hard to get a word in edgeways.  If the person's talkativeness goes on long enough, others begin to simmer, and still others will drop out of the group.  The ministry of fading has to do with good manners and allowing others their mike time.  How do we do that as Christians and as a church?

The ministry of fading also means that our ebbing can occasion another's flowing.  If one part of the ocean does not recede, another part cannot flow.  For example have any of you every taken flying lessons?  After what the instructor takes to be a sufficient number of training hours, she gets out of the passenger's seat and signals her student that she can commence with her first solo flight --- fading instructor, flowering student.  How do we do that as Christians and as a church?

The ministry of fading away is a form of intentional depletion in the service of others.  We need to save, but we can reach a point where our saving means others are losing.  For example, if four people are carrying a heavy couch and one decides to hold back and not exert himself as he could, that means the other three are being asked to carry a heavier burden.  When one teacher coasts, it means that other teachers have to work harder.  When a church committee of five in effect has two working members that means three have asked two to do the work of five.

But the issue here is not just fairness, but also meaning.  Jesus puts it like this: “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”  Jesus is saying, it's in the spending of our lives that we find them, not just so that there is fairness but more importantly, no investment, no return.  No risk, no gain.  How do we do that as Christians and as a church?

How are we about the ministry of fading away?  How are we planting seeds and dying … so that others may flower?  Because ultimately all that matters --- is that we fade away and God comes into view.  Amen.

Let us pray. Dear God, we so want to make sense of what happened to you.  Yet, today, Jesus, your Son, reminds us that you don't need our justification or rationalization or explanation because your death was all part of what it meant to live, to live like us, with us, and for us. Today we pray that we might let go of what we need the cross to be, so that we can be open to what the cross already is for us, that we might see, finally, that you lived because you faded away.  Help us plant the seeds for what is to come because in fading away we will live.  Amen

The Wallet – 12/11/2011

Psalm 126

For the last two weeks of Advent, we have been following a theme: the first three psalms before Christmas … 80, 85 and 126 … because these three psalms all contain the verb "to restore." Therefore, I thought we would take the opportunity to explore what "to restore" may mean as we prepare for Christmas.

    Advent celebrates the "Word-becomes-flesh" God that is coming and will soon be with us....to restore the light. Advent announces that God was not willing to have a distant, arms length relationship with us who are God's beloved creatures formed in God's image. Rather, advent is all about God's willingness --- even insistence --- to come forward and to become vulnerable, accessible, reachable and attainable... to restore a relationship with his people.

    Let us pray....

    Have you ever lost or had stolen your wallet or purse? It is hard to imagine something more traumatic. Our wallets contain the proof of our identity, tell others we are licensed to drive a car and get on a plane, carry our cash and credit cards -- in other words, just about everything we need to move about in the world. A man by the name of Bill Fulton lost his wallet, but he did not seem to be as panicked as the rest of us. Maybe that is because he lost it in 1946, and 63 years later he had pretty much forgotten about it.

    Bill's not sure exactly when or under what circumstances he accidentally dropped his smooth leather wallet behind the wooden bleachers at Baker Middle School in Baker City, Oregon. It was probably during a game in the gym. How it happened is not as important however because the wallet sat for 63 years until a worker found it in 2009. While tearing out old pre-World War II era bleachers during a renovation project at the school, a worker found the wallet right where Bill had dropped it; along with stuff other students had dropped back there during the school's history: some old homework, lost library books, and a program from the 1964 talent show.

    The next day, the school secretary located Bill on the internet and found out that he still lived in the community. So, later that day she brought the newly found wallet to Fulton's home in Baker City. "He was pretty much amazed," said the secretary. "He just kept saying, 'Thank you. Thank you so much.'" In response, Bill is quoted as saying, "After that long, my gosh, it stayed in good shape. It's hard to believe."

    As you can imagine, Bill was overjoyed to have it back, but not necessarily because of what was still in it. His Social Security Card was still tucked in its usual place. He didn't have any cash to begin with, so none was missing. His bicycle license was in there, bearing the address of the house he lived in at the time. Bill remembers that he needed the license because of his job at that time delivering medicine for a Drugstore. While all those things were important at the time, the real value of the wallet for Bill was the memories it brought back of a period in his 78 years of life.

    After high school, Bill served in the Korean War and was stationed in Berlin, and then returned to Baker City where he worked for a local lumber company for 30 years, retiring in 1994. Now Bill spends his days hiking in the mountains with his dog Smokey. To use his own words, Bill has "covered a lot of country" since 1946. So the return of the wallet provoked feelings of nostalgia. "Where did all the time go?" Bill is quoted as saying. "It's hard to believe that the times have gone so fast." With the return of the wallet, if only for a moment, the feel of the leather reminds Bill of a segment of his life.

    That brings us to our lesson because finding something we have lost --- especially something as valuable as a wallet that reminds us who we are --- is cause for both relief and joy. On this third Sunday of Advent, as we light the candle of joy, we celebrate the fact that God exposes our lost and hidden identity and, to borrow the words of the psalmist restores our "fortunes" (Psalm 126:1).

    Now let me be clear, unfortunately for some people, a cursory reading of the phrase in Psalm 126… to restore our fortunes… seems to suggest a return of wealth. But that is not the case for a variety of reasons. For example, if you are poor and have been, what relevance does restoration of "fortune" mean? Rather this Psalm is one of the psalms of "ascent," or a musical piece that pilgrims would sing on their pilgrimage up to Jerusalem -- to Zion and the temple. Jerusalem is a city in the hill country and for many pilgrims, to get to Jerusalem meant a walk uphill.

So instead of a restoration of wealth, what does the phrase "restore our fortunes" mean? First it is difficult to translate verbatim from Hebrew, says OT scholar James Mays, but this combination usually is used to mean the radical change between the conditions that existed before and the conditions that result from God's restoration, forgiveness and divine favor. It means the restoration of the situation between God and God's people that existed before.

    For example, if you were to turn to Amos 9:14 in your Bibles you would see this phrase describe the rebuilding of ruined cities and the restoration of prosperity as symbolized in the planting of vineyards. In Jeremiah 29:14, the "fortune" is the return from exile as God gathers his people from "all the places where I have driven you." The people who were once lost, scattered and forgotten would now be found, brought together and remembered forever for what God had done for them.

    What does this phrase mean for us in this season of Advent? I would suggest that like the reaction of Bill at the return of his wallet, humans have a tendency to remember "the good old days" with fondness, and something like recovering a wallet or finding a photo from a bygone era makes us nostalgic. Maybe it is part of our healthy defense mechanisms to dwell on good things, but the psalmist on the other hand seems to imply that the passage of time and the painful remembrance of sin can turn the good old days into a memory. In other words, "the good old days" are never really a time of honest reflection but one of selective memory.

    The psalmist, however, doesn't dwell on selective memory, the "good old days" but invites God to restore the people's memories by giving them a vision of the future.

    "Restore our fortunes, O Lord," the psalmist prays in the present tense. It is a prayer in the present because the psalmist equates God's forgiveness and reconciling love to the way water flows in the desert -- a vision of refreshment and sustenance in the middle of the harsh and brutal reality of sin (v. 4). Such a vision turns tears and weeping into shouts of joy and the seed of hope can grow into a harvest that will sustain the people forever (vv. 5-6).

    The psalmist thus teaches us that joy isn't just a good feeling that arises spontaneously or by selectively remembering and forgetting the past. Instead, we feel joy most intently after reconciliation … after a period of distress. It is one thing to be happy to be carrying around a wallet that we take for granted, it is quite another to find that wallet after a long period of searching for it frantically or after resigning ourselves to its being lost forever.

    It is true for our lives in Jesus Christ. Its one thing to live in God's grace when everything's going well, but it's quite another to experience the reality of that same grace after a period when we ourselves have been lost, or feeling lost, or when someone we love is lost, searching or distant from God. So, "a restoration" is not just something we nod and smile about but, like the psalmist says repeatedly, it is something we have to shout about! (vv. 2, 5, 6).

    As many of us know, the culture around us celebrates the "joy" of Christmas, but it's really more a general sense of warm and fuzzy feelings connected to holiday memories with family and friends. For example, while shopping yesterday a woman that I passed in the aisle was humming and smiling to the Christmas music. Although certainly nice, the real joy of Christmas comes after we have been willing to allow God to deal with the brokenness in our lives. We cannot really express the joy of being found, in other words, unless we are first able to name the fact that we've been lost, our identity compromised, and our fortunes squandered on things that have no ultimate value.

    Bill Fulton could only keep repeating "Thank you, thank you" when that long lost wallet showed up at his door in the hands of a caring school secretary. Let us prepare for the opportunity that will be coming for us to say "Thank you" to God. At Christmas God restores our ability to discover our true identities, to redeem our selective memories, restore our fortunes and to shout with joy! Amen.

The Marble Table – 12/4/2011

Psalm 85

Last week, the first Sunday of Advent, I shared with you that the first three psalms before Christmas (80, 85 and 126) all contain the verb "to restore." Therefore, I thought I would take the opportunity to explore what "to restore" may mean as we prepare for Christmas. As you know, there is a human dilemma in that we spend a lot of time groping on our hands and knees in the dark, hoping to find a light that will reveal the meaning of life, or a lantern that will light our path.

Advent celebrates the "Word-becomes-flesh" God that is coming and will soon be with us, to restore the light. Advent announces that God was not willing to have a distant, arms-length relationship with us who are God's beloved creatures formed in God's image. Advent is all about God's willingness --- even insistence --- to come forward and to become vulnerable, accessible, reachable, and attainable… to restore a relationship with his people.

Let us Pray….

In our home is a wooden antique end table about the height of our sofa, with a marble top. This antique table has a story that comes with it.

You see after graduating from seminary and before being ordained and serving my first congregation, I had about a year where I helped two churches. The first church I assisted was part time for about three months. It was a large church that had a pastor but was waiting for their other associate pastor to arrive. I was willing to help for those three months and needed the money. Well one day the pastor asked if I would go to a nursing home and make the rounds and visit several of the residents who where members for him because he had funeral.

During my visits, one of the women was in a room to herself that was full of antique furniture and porcelain dolls. In our conversation we talked about her life, had communion and of course she discussed the history of some of the furniture and dolls that were all around. She lingered in her story telling on one piece of furniture, this marble topped end table. She shared that she had this end table made from several other broken pieces of furniture. The marble top was a small piece cut from a bar and the legs where from another piece of furniture that had broken. I commented on how wonderful a piece of furniture it had come to be. She then surprised me and said, "When I die it will be yours!" I laughed and I continued on with our conversation. I simply took the statement to be the early onset of dementia or she had me confused with someone else, or said that to all her visitors.

That was my one and only visit with her, as shortly after my three months came to an end and I quickly forgot about it until about five or so years later when a woman called my office where I was pastor. This woman was the executor of the estate for this woman that I had met that one time in that nursing home years before. This executor of the will told me that I was the inheritor of this antique table. I at first refused insisting that there must be some mistake, I was not a relative and only had met her one time, nevertheless, the executor insisted that this elderly woman meant for me to have the table and could I please come and get it. Well, I discussed it with my wife and together we drove to this woman's home and sure enough as I had remembered, there was the table. After visiting with this woman who had been a friend of the woman who had died, the struggle she had in finding my location, my wife and I drove off with this piece of furniture, the story that I shared with you and with the final instructions of the executor that it was my task "to restore" the table.

However, other than that strengthening the legs because of the heavy marble top, I cannot nor could the executor understand what the woman had meant "to restore" the table because as I shared with you, it is unique, constructed out of several others pieces. It cannot be restored or can it?

Psalm 85 begins with a line that was spoken by the people of Israel, back in their homeland after a time of exile as servants and slaves in a country called Babylon: "Lord" the people say "you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob."(v.1) The people are thankful that their long captivity is over, and that God has forgiven their iniquity and "pardoned all their sin" (v. 2).

But still, something else is being discussed. It is emptiness the people feel is very similar to the void that remains deep within that we may feel after we finish High School or earn a degree, start a job, start a family, find a partner, or move into a bigger house, or retire, or it is the feeling we may have when we drive a new car off the lot. We know how fortunate we are. We appreciate God's favor toward us. But we wonder why everything we thought we wanted still is not enough. We wonder why good fortune in this life gives us everything but a sense of peace.

It is to that feeling that Psalm 85 speaks; a recognition that true peace will escape us until our restless hearts begin to rest in God. Serenity cannot be granted by a diploma, a promotion, a partnership, a child, a McMansion, a retirement or a luxury sedan or new pickup. True peace comes through grace to us as a gift from God, and it includes forgiveness of sin and the restoration of our relationship with the Lord.

Psalm 85 tells us that God is generous with peace and salvation, but God requires a response. God requires for us "to restore" a relationship in return. Yet, how like the marble end table are we supposed to restore it since we do not know how it looked like in the beginning?

The only way we will benefit from this gift of grace to restore God's peace is to receive it by turning to God and offering the respect, faith and love that God deserves. Each of us is "to restore" this gift by accepting God's peace instead of choosing to "return to sender" unopened.

Our marble end table has become of our family, moved from home to home, and with it comes the story. In the same way, soon and very soon, a treasure will be given to us that needs "restoration" today; that treasure is the gift of Christ at Christmas --- a gift we can receive with curiosity, laughter, gratitude and delight.

Yet, as I said, this restoration includes a response from us. We begin to respond to this restoration by piecing together our own gifts, the broken pieces of ourselves and our relationships. At a time when Christmas packages are filled with everything but restored relationships, what could it mean to put together a gift of the restoration of peace? Perhaps it may mean to extend steadfast love to a teenager who is rebelling with every ounce of his or her energy. Perhaps it may mean to practice faithfulness in our marriages or partnerships and make an effort to express appreciation to our loved ones. Perhaps it may mean to show righteousness in our school or workplace, by being honest and fair in all of our activities. Perhaps it may mean to work for peace in our relationships, looking for ways to reduce tensions and increase harmony, instead of picking fights and spreading gossip. In other words, restore us, O God; piece us back together. Give us the gift of your peace, so that we can share peace with others. Amen.

 

Guided Imagery – 10/16/2011

Matthew 22: 15-22

I would like to begin today by doing the following exercise. Are you comfortable --- as comfortable as you can be in hard wooden pews? If so, I want you to now close your eyes --- dangerous I know for me to ask you to do that but it is important for the exercise. Are they closed?

Now listen to my voice. "Pick a favorite place. It could be a garden, a waterfall, a room, or anything else. A place where you feel good and safe. Now, go to that favorite place. Walk around slowly and notice the colors and textures around you. What do you see? ... What do you feel? ... What do you hear? ... What do you smell? Take your time while you walk around. Spend some time exploring each of your senses. And notice how good and relaxed you feel."

Remember these sensations; they are the sensations of your very special place. A place where you can relax. Say to yourself: 'I am relaxed, my body feels warm and heavy, I am safe here.' Enjoy the feeling of deep relaxation.

When you are ready, gently open your eyes and come back to the present moment….

That of course --- as many of you know --- is an example of what is called "guided imagery." Guided imagery is a program that we can do together with an instructor or therapist or by listening to a CD. Guided imagery uses directed thoughts and suggestions that guide our imagination toward a relaxed, focused state. Guided imagery is based on the concept that our body and mind are connected. For examples, we know that pictures have an amazing ability to quickly change what we are thinking. This is because we all think in pictures. Therefore, based on that connection guided imagery tries to use all of our senses so that our bodies seem to respond as though what we are imagining is real.

Guided imagery has many uses. We can use it to promote relaxation, which can lower blood pressure and reduce other problems related to stress. We can also use it to help reach goals --- such as losing weight or quitting smoking --- manage pain, and promote healing. Using guided imagery can even help us to prepare for an athletic event or for public speaking.

I am wondering if Jesus was not the first practitioner of guided imagery to help answer questions and direct his disciples. In today's Gospel when the Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap him with their question, Jesus might well have chuckled to himself as he gently asked them to show him a coin. "Whose head is this? Whose title? Whose face, whose image do you see there?" "Why, it's the emperor's." "Of course it is." "Therefore give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's and to God the things that are God's."

First of, Jesus didn't lose face over what was supposed to be a tricky question. Those who were asking thought they had him. You see, at the time of Jesus there was an annual census tax. But this question truly was not a question about taxes; they were questioning Jesus' support of the Roman government. If Jesus answered no, he could be labeled a political insurgent, even a terrorist. To answer yes, Jesus would be renouncing his Jewish heritage and be jeopardizing his mission by paying homage to Caesar, whose divinity was inscribed on each coin.

It was difficult for any loyal Jew to pay this tax. The Jews were living in a land occupied by foreign rulers. The tax had to be paid with the Roman coin. And to carry this coin, was to hold a graven image of a false god in direct opposition to the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods." For a Jew this challenged their identity; their faith and heritage, their religion. What were they to do?

I could imagine this scene with Jesus gently and slowly asking everyone to close their eyes and go through a process of guided imagery. "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are his, and give to God the things that are God's." Can you picture that place?

Jesus is helping the disciples but helping them and us imagine a place…a place way back in the beginning were God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and so God created humankind in his image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them." Gen 1:26-27

We are made in the image of God. Jesus knew that. Jesus understood it at a very intimate level since Jesus was in the beginning with God. "And all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." John 1:2-3 Now why would Jesus have us go through this process of guided imagery?

The imagery Jesus guides us through --- of a coin made in the image of Caesar' over against our being created in the image of God --- is helpful for all of us. By doing so, Jesus is reminding us that we bear the image of God on our very being. When we look at each other, we see God. We are made in the image of God. That assists us by helping us to distinguish to whom our allegiance and loyalty belong.

Perhaps at this point we should discuss the question; How do we give to God what is God's? In days like these, our first instinct may be to clutch our fingers ever more tightly around the cash and coins we do have.

    Martin Luther explained the First Commandment --- you shall have no other gods --- in this way. "We are to fear, love and trust God above all things." Martin Luther does not say we should run from, hoard and be suspicious of God in all things. In fact the very opposite is true. If God is our creator, creator of heaven and earth, there is nothing that exists that does not already belong to God.

Furthermore, in Martin Luther's explanation of the First Article of the Apostles' Creed, Luther writes, 'I believe that God has created me together with all that exists. God preserves my body and soul. In addition, God daily and abundantly provides shoes and clothing, food and drink, house and farm, spouse and children, fields, livestock, and all property – along with all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life. All this is done out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at all! For all of this I owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey him."

When Jesus says, "Give to the emperor what is his and give to God what is God's, it can be translated as "Give back." "Give back" to God all that God has already given you. How do we know what to give back to God? That which has God's image on it. Everything. Us! Our time, our talents, our possessions. They all bear God's fingerprints and God's face.

What does that mean practically speaking? Well last week some churches lit a candle or in other ways observed what is called "Mental Illness Awareness Sunday" As many of you know, mental illness strikes many people around the world without regard to age, sex, race or economic status. People suffer immeasurably in silence and humiliation, in treatment and recovery, in all communities, every day. I would guess that each of us might know one person who has struggled with mental illness, or we ourselves wrestle with this emotional pain.

But my point in bringing it up is that when one lives with mental illness of any sort, it is easy to forget that we reflect God. People's self image of who they are in their own eyes and other's eyes gets distorted. We forget that all God's children are made in God's likeness, each with a gift to give.

I want to finish by sharing this final guided image. There was once a woman who carried two large buckets, each hanging on the ends of a pole. She carried these across her shoulder to carry water for the day. One of the buckets was broken, with a split in its side, the other was intact, and always carried a full bucket of water. Each day she would arrive home from the stream with one and a half buckets of water, because one leaked and the other did not.

The leaky bucket however, was embarrassed of its ability and perceived failure to bring home a full amount of water. And it confessed this to the woman. She replied, "Didn't you notice the flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other bucket's side? I've known about your broken side and planted seeds so you could water them for me on the way home. Because of you, I've been able to decorate my table with beauty each day."

We all are broken. Yet because we are made in our creator's image, we have gifts to give. So when we remember that we and all we see is made in God's image, stamped with God's insignia, we can fear, love and trust God with everything: our lives, family, health, wealth and future. Everything we are and all that we have belongs to God.

As we look around Good Shepherd, with our eyes open, we see God all over the place! A congregation of broken bucket people, a building that enables us to meet and grow, worship where we are led back to the one who claims us and puts His stamp on us. It all belongs to God. Jesus once said, "There where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

That day, Jesus was perhaps using guided imagery as a reminder to the one's asking the questions that when we remember that we created in the image of God, and as we fear, love and trust God above anything else, it allows us to give it all back. We need only be careful and grateful stewards of this image. Amen.

Just another Wedding – 10/9/2011

Matthew 22: 1-14    Sermon preached on October 9, 2011 with a reminder that the printed version is not exactly the same as preached in worship.

    Now don't get me wrong, it is not that I don't like weddings. Nevertheless I am not a fan of many wedding ceremonies, although I love and still remember my own wedding day. Nevertheless with all due respect to gay men and women who still don't have the right to marry, I believe wedding ceremonies for many have moved into the "twilight zone;" an area of deep ambiguity between two states --- one married --- the other single.

    Maybe it could be that weddings are not just private, family affairs that take up Saturday afternoons or part of Sunday morning worship. It could be because in my travels and life outside of the United States, I have met countless couples whose families chose their children's partners. I have gained a deeper appreciation and respect for arranged marriages where people begin their journey together at the ceremony.

    My feelings could be from the many couples who have asked me to preside at their wedding ceremony. Typically, I have five or six meetings before the event. During our talks I have come to realize that preparing for the wedding ceremony is not necessarily a clue for what makes a healthy relationship. Some couples are bickering up to the wedding; couples that I am deeply suspicious will remain married, yet are married years later. And on the other hand, some couples who I work with before their wedding seem to have all the marks of a healthy couple with good patterns of communication who I find out later never made it to the first anniversary.

    Or my dismal feelings about wedding ceremonies could be because of the onslaught of cable, and the 21^st century version of a perfect wedding day. Just take one trip around your 100 or so basic cable channels and you're guaranteed to stumble upon any of a number of wedding-related reality shows.

    You've got Say Yes to the Dress which features brides-to-be trying on expensive gowns and Cake Boss on The Learning Channel that lets you admire the antics of an eccentric family as they crank out extravagant wedding cakes. You can peek in on the nuptials of the super-wealthy on WE's Platinum Weddings and then flip over to CMT for something slightly less formal with My Big Redneck Wedding. Oh, and there's even something for the kids. Engaged and Underage on MTV follows teens who take the plunge before they can legally vote.

    Possibly it is for those reasons and the expense of weddings that I have become rather cynical about the whole wedding industry. Nevertheless I know wonderful weddings exist, not only for my own wedding experience but in the stories of others. I remember one couple who shared their wedding day. They got married during the depression in the 1930's. She wore her best dress that she wore to work and church and he bought a new tie to wear with his one suit. They met together at the church, no rehearsal or bachelor or bachelorette parties in Las Vegas. No rules like not seeing the bride before the event. The number of guests filled two pews. And after the ceremony the new couple joined their guests for a wedding cake baked by the mother of the bride served at the home of the groom. No dance or band. It was the beginning of partnership that was only separated by death 60+ years later.

    I notice however that I am in a minority. For example, we read today that it seems that Jesus was apparently fond of weddings ceremonies. Not only did he help cater one in Cana by providing some last minute wine, but Jesus employed wedding imagery throughout his teaching and preaching career to illustrate important truths about life in God's kingdom. In fact, in today's gospel, Jesus gives us a wedding-themed parable in which the people involved have an even more extreme attitude toward weddings … perhaps we could even say they are … wedding allergic.

    Jesus tells us that a wealthy king has invited those special to him to a lavish feast to celebrate the marriage of his son. Only, rather than jump at the chance to attend a royal wedding, everyone on the guest list RSVP'd with a big, fat "no." The king reiterated its extravagance: "Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast." In other words, "The party is going to be nuts! You don't want to miss it." But what is everyone's attitude? Nothing. The king sends more servants only to have them flatly ignored or mocked and killed.

    Enraged at such apathy and violence, the disrespected king revokes their invites with an attack on their city and sends out a call for the rest of the world to attend his son's awesome celebration instead. With the wedding hall now full, the groom and father finally receive the respect they deserve.

    One interpretation of the parable is based on the fact that "a wedding feast" was a popular way of describing the coming consummation of God's kingdom; that day in the future when the long-awaited Messiah – often described as the "bridegroom" -- would receive the honor rightfully due and enjoy an extravagant feast of blessing and joy.

    Yet, rather than be filled with honor and excitement for that day, rather than "save the date" and mark their calendars, the first guests in the parable, simply couldn't care less. This interpretation suggests that the bridegroom had appeared in the person of Jesus and rather than embrace him in anticipation of the party, would eventually throw him on a cross. As a result, the feast, the kingdom, the new age of heaven on Earth, and the blessing from the bridegroom would be opened to everyone. That's where we come in.

    We, beginning with the first disciples in this one interpretation are the "other ones," the "found ones," Jesus talks about to whom the invitation to the wedding now belongs. The invitation to this wedding has come to you and me in the form of the gospel preached to us by other invitees and applied to us in baptism. Our sins are forgiven. Our status is secure. Our RSVP for the resurrection is in the mail. We will be a guest of the groom at the great feast, on the last day.

    And God's goal for us, as special guests, is to learn from those who were invited to the wedding but rejected the offer. In other words, we are to learn from those jaded wedding cynics like me. God would love for some excitement and interest some seem to have for crazy cakes and pricey dresses today to be focused on what is in store for us. We are to make the most of this special invitation.

    So, what are we supposed to make of this one interpretation that I highlighted? When it comes down to it, there are two aspects of making the most of God's kingdom invitation that I like. First -- and this may sound painfully simple -- we are to enjoy the fact that we've been chosen. The promises of God are true and the gifts are to be enjoyed now -- like forgiveness of every sin and the power of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are just a glimpse, a snippet of what we will enjoy when the real party arrives. We are to be the happiest people on the planet.

    However, there may be some people like me who wonder, if they receive an invitation to a wedding, what the couple is looking for in presents. But the wedding invitation we have received is just the opposite. The host is not looking for gifts. Rather it is like the wedding of Vanisha Mittal and Amit Bhatia is said to have cost some $60 million. The invitations arrived in silver boxes containing round-trip airfare and accommodations at a five-star Paris hotel. When invited to something so lavish, whatever we can give is irrelevant. All that matters is to be honored and joyful that we get to take part. The same should be true as we consider this invitation from God. We should feel excited to be involved.

    Also we are to make the most out of our invite to the wedding of all weddings by letting God be the bouncer at the door. We tend to spend too much time worrying about who's in and who's out. Like me, we could be wrong what couple will make it and what couple will not or be overly concerned about who makes the guest list. We have bickered over who worships the right way, who dresses appropriately, whose theology is tightest and whose life is cleanest. The end result is that such discussions end up either robbing us of the simple joy of being invited --- weighing us down with largely unimportant concerns --- or stopping us in our tracks from asking anyone else to join us.

    Who's invited and who's not is a God thing. You'll recall at the end of the parable the king enters the party and boots one attendee for not having the proper attire. Some commentators believe it to be an allusion to the righteousness afforded by faith and gifted by God that allows us to enter and enjoy God's kingdom. But the larger point for me is that only the king himself did the bouncing. The king determined who was in and out even after everyone else let the guest into the party. Our task instead is to enjoy and invite. Others have put it like this: Found people find people. Invited people invite people. God sorts out the rest.

    Perhaps there are some of you like me who are jaded by the wedding industry in the United States. Or perhaps you love weddings. Either way in this parable, we are reminded that we have been invited. We have submitted RSVP's to the wedding hosted by God. Let us tell others of their special invitation and let God throw the party, after all, it's going to be incredible. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

New Tenants – 10/2/2011

Matthew 21:33-46

We could say many of the gospel readings are fascinating and even uplifting, but to be honest, today's gospel does not provoke many good feelings. Today's parable I believe, puts us in the awkward state of being; are we or are we not new tenants in the vineyard of the Lord? For example, Suzanne Somers, the actress was once quoted as saying: "Fame is an uncomfortable state of being, but if I can use it and put out messages that are important, then I embrace fame." Can we embrace being new tenants?

It is not an easy state to be in. We just don't like not knowing for sure. For example consider this passage's history. This has been a passage that has been used throughout the ages --- unfortunately and sadly --- to justify anti-Semitism, --- anti-Jewish pogroms and other violent behavior over centuries. On the surface we can see how easy it would be to reach those conclusions.

Jesus tells a story about a landowner whose tenants keep beating up the slaves he sends to collect the grapes that will be made into wine. Finally, he decides to send his son, thinking "surely they'll leave my son alone." But the tenants kill the son, hoping somehow to get the son's inheritance. In the context of when Jesus tells the story, and that it follows shortly after with the death of Jesus on the cross, it would seem obvious that the Pharisees and other Jewish religious leadership to whom Jesus is telling the story to are supposed to be the old tenants, and Jesus himself is the son of the landowner --- God.

Thankfully many Christians no longer see the text with that narrow and crude view; nevertheless what perhaps are some other more thoughtful ways that Jesus could be opening our minds and hearts with the parable. If it is not just replacing old with new … what does it mean? Are we or are we not the new tenants?

Let's look at this story through a different set of lenses for a moment, because in doing so, we may deepen our own faith life as Jesus pulls us forward. Another way to look at today's gospel is ask again the questions that have troubled not only Christians but others who believe in one God. For example, this parable brings to mind the age-old question of: Why does God allow suffering? Why doesn't God do something to save people in difficult or desperate situations?

We can ask those questions because of the obvious violence. Today's Gospel is another parable set in the vineyard. This one however is a tragedy. The landowner sends his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce from the vineyard that he had built and improved upon. The slaves in response are beaten, stoned, and killed. The landowner sends more slaves and the same thing happens. Finally, the landowner sends his own son, and he is killed as well. At this point we could wonder what the landowner will do next.

However, the landowner is patient and long-suffering, both qualities we admire, --- qualities that we admire in God. Why doesn't the landowner in the parable do something to stop the killing rather than letting the tenants off with a warning? In fact if this was not a parable from Jesus (often an excuse many of us use to not probe too deeply) we may even blame the landowner's long suffering patience and his self-control as stupidity in the face of the death of the slaves and the son. Why not call out the police or even his neighbors and if God is the landowner, why not some massive lighting strike to destroy these tenants.

I don't know about you, but the patience of the landowner makes me impatient. How can a landowner allow a group of tenants to run wild in their violence for so long? Those are questions we also have of God; why didn't and why doesn't God do something?

The answer would seem obvious, just as obvious then as now and comes near the end. We even it see it expressed in the parable. "'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,' they replied, 'and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.'" New tenants! According to Isaiah, the words from which Jesus draws in today's parable, the vineyard is a symbol for the people of Israel, God's chosen people. Today, we could imagine that the vineyard represents the world and we are God's chosen people who are the new tenants. So, we have been given the responsibility to care for this world and be a blessing to all people. Grapes for wine, which vineyards produce, are the biblical symbol for justice and righteousness. However, too often we not only forget to whom the world belongs, we also have not done a good job of caring for the world. We have often tried to keep the vineyard for ourselves and destroyed anyone who gets in our way.

If that is the case, is this lesson really challenging us to see ourselves as new tenants --- the true people of God --- who must seriously consider their responsibility to care for this world, so that the world would be a much better place and God's patience would not be so tried? If so, we would not be poised on the brink of ecological disasters. Starvation would not still be a global problem. The sidewalks of our communities would not be filled with homophobia, violence, poverty drug and alcohol abuse as well as homelessness. Children would not die for lack of food or medicine. People would not be killing each other in unthinkable numbers. And people in corporate offices would not be greedily amassing riches beyond belief. Is this parable calling for a revolution? Throw out the people in charge, the tenants with power, and let us who know better --- the chosen true tenants --- be in charge.

That may lead us to another portion of God's word to us today. The parable is a word of judgment like the other vineyard stories in the Bible. Just as surely as Jesus was judging the religious leaders of his day with the parable of the landowner and tenants, he is judging us, as we may be the tenants! And then, I am afraid the verdict is not good either.

Perhaps the whole point of the parable is that we want to be in charge. We want to be the good tenants … like the religious leaders who assumed that Jesus must be talking about them because they thought they must be the good tenants. As I mentioned this parable has been used to justify violence against Jews all based on the belief that we are the good tenants and the Jews were bad tenants. We would not kill the prophets or kill the son. We would be different!

Yet, the cycle starts all over again. The tenants, rebellious and illogical, new or been at for a while, we all make the same mistake. We think the vineyard belongs to us, whether we think we are in charge or not.

So how does this story end? Are we supposed to be the new tenants, all wonderful and nice, or are we supposed to continue to thank God for God's patience because we are the tenants? Or are we supposed sit around patiently desiring for God to quit being so patient?

There is more. Jesus reminds his listeners of a verse from the psalms: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes." The rejected stone becomes the cornerstone on which everything else depends. Those gathered around Jesus who said that the rebellious tenants deserved to die are advocates for exclusion and violence. The best way to handle murderous rebels is, in their view, to make them taste their own medicine. This attitude is popular as well as both ancient and current and leads absolutely nowhere. It simply continues the cycle of new tenants rejecting old tenants who didn't do their job until the new tenants are no longer doing their job.

Rather, in this verse from the Psalms, Jesus suggests a different way, a way with no easy answers. Jesus tells us that it is precisely the rejected stone that is necessary, and must be the foundation for all the rest. The death and victory of Jesus is the prime example of this. Jesus is rejected, betrayed, and abused by those around him. Jesus becomes the cornerstone for a creation rebuilt from the ground up, not simply by bringing new tenants. The issue is no longer the old "vineyard," but rather a totally new structure of which Jesus himself is the "cornerstone." That structure is God's reign or empire, which Jesus has been proclaiming from the beginning of his ministry.

]Jesus leads us forward toward that future unknown but built on Christ, in which we will be both blessed … and judged, and about which we know only that it is to be anchored in Jesus Christ. Like I said this parable does not give me any good feelings… it is seems to have little good news and a lot of warning. But, perhaps that is what we need, aware of how much we have left to do and how much we depend on Christ--- because if you think about it --- we are in the uncomfortable state of being … both a sinner and saint. In other words we are old tenants and new. Amen.

Tiger Mom – 9/25/2011

Matthew 21: 23-32

    As many of you well know, it is certainly clear that Jesus reserved different remarks for different audiences. Jesus taught based on who was asking questions and who was listening. For example, last week we heard: "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Peter was in the main audience. So, I wonder who else was in the crowd who heard Jesus today other than the elders and religious leaders. I wonder if Jesus is not also speaking to parents particularly like the parents of the controversial book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

    Did you hear about that book that came out this past winter? The author, Amy Chua describes her efforts to give her children what she describes as a traditional, strict upbringing arguing that "academic achievement reflects successful parenting." Chua believes that if children did not excel at school then there was "a problem" and parents "were not doing their job." Chua advocates that in the long run it is better to parent strictly rather than by any method where the "child's self-esteem is paramount."

    In one extreme example, Chua described how she got her unwilling younger daughter to learn a very difficult piano piece. In Chua's words, "I hauled Lulu's dollhouse to the car and told her I'd donate it to the Salvation Army piece by piece if she didn't have a piano piece called the "The Little White Donkey" perfect by the next day. When Lulu said, 'I thought you were going to the Salvation Army, why are you still here?' I threatened her with no lunch, no dinner, no Christmas presents, and no birthday parties for two, three, four years. When she still kept playing it wrong, I told her she was purposely working herself into frenzy because she was secretly afraid she couldn't do it. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic." Chua then relates that they "work[ed] right through dinner" without letting her daughter "get up, not for water, not even for bathroom breaks." The anecdote concludes by describing how her daughter was "beaming" after she finally mastered the piece and "wanted to play [it] over and over."

    Wow! Perhaps from that example we can see why that book created such controversy. But, here's the thing: many parents -- whether they're Chinese, Hispanic, American, Korean or Italian -- dream dreams for their child. Many parents want the very best for their children even if parents sometimes feel personally unable to deliver those dreams.

Not only do many parents want the very best for their children, I believe many parents imagine their children as successful, well-rounded, involved, both interested and interesting. And obedient – many parents yearn for healthy obedience. When parents give instructions, we want our children to respond --- not after the program ends, not after texting their friend, but right now. Parents try to map out a course of healthy obedience that will lead to success.

    But success and obedience at what price? Just how far are parents willing to go to get the response they expect from their offspring? According to Chua, no price is too high. Nothing less will be tolerated. This tiger mom will prevail because she is convinced that parents alone know what is best for their children.

    Perhaps tiger parents are wandering in that crowd today for Jesus tells about a parent who had two very different sons. That is interesting from a single man with no children. Yet, I wonder if Jesus doesn't get it right.

Jesus tells a story which reveals the traits of the parent who has hopes and dreams for the children, and yet a parent that at the same time also displays compassion and understanding. Jesus describes a father whose expectations are clear. "Go work in the field," he says with authority. The response; the first son refuses outright, yet after reflection, thinks better of his rebellion and goes out to the vineyard. Despite his initial resistance, he obeys his father.

    The second son is more devious. He puts on a good face and immediately agrees with his father's request; however, his actions do not measure up to his words. He ignores his father's wishes and never appears in the vineyard. Jesus asks the critical question in the parable, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" Parents like the tiger mom might have issued a punishment to both sons -- the first would be reprimanded for threatening to disobey and the other for actually ignoring the father.

    Jesus, however, speaks of a parent with a forgiving heart and is able to see a bigger picture. It's not the first son's words that are important to Jesus, but his actions. If you think about it, surprisingly, Jesus allows room for complaining and verbal resistance. The first son, despite his original reluctance and outward show of rebellion, follows the will of the parent and does the work to which he is called. The second son, however, only talks a good game. He promises much and produces nothing of value.

    Jesus points out the difference in their actions to his listeners. The first son, like the tax collectors and the prostitutes --- Jesus informs his listeners --- is headed toward the kingdom of God. Despite the mistakes of the past, this son has now chosen the right route. The scheming, double-talking religious leaders, like the second son, are not kingdom bound. One cannot simply talk the talk of faith and obedience. One must walk the walk, even when it means backtracking from a poorly chosen path, and starting again.

    However, as many of us know children are not always satisfied with explanations. We may be the same. Thus, today's parable may lead us to wonder, why do we say "No" in the first place? What fuels our refusal? We might say no because we're stubborn, afraid, doubtful, or we want to do something else. Given the choice -- labor in the field --- for example volunteer at the food bank, visit a sick neighbor, work on that fundraiser, forgive someone who did us wrong, reconcile with someone estranged from us --- or spend another hour in front of TV, or go party --- what would one choose?

    Maybe the "No" grows out of a sense of being overworked. Could it be that the first son refuses his father because he believes he has already done enough for the father; perhaps the first son considers his contribution to the family to be extensive. Clearly the father thinks otherwise and is not prepared to offer his son an early retirement package. The parent sees what the son is capable of and demands more. May be the elder son has a "Who me?" moment -- haven't I already done enough for this family --- yet eventually responds obediently.

    Or instead of wondering why we may say "no" we may wondering to ourselves, perhaps parents like God is too demanding? For example, can God demand too much of God's people? It might seem like it sometimes. So, the temptation might be to say to God's demands – "no, let someone else do it. I've already given." Or, "that's too much to ask of me." Or, "I think you mean someone else."

    Today's gospel however offers hope for us who has ever pushed the snooze alarm one too many times or simply had enough and said "Thanks but no thanks." There is good news for any of us who doubt our ability to make a difference and decides not to even try. The first son clears the path for naysayers and hesitant, unsure wannabe disciples.

    Unlike the "Tiger Mom," Jesus describes a parent who does not expect perfection. Rather, Jesus invites his followers to learn from their mistakes, put their failings behind them, and then choose to do the right thing. This is good news for some of us who can remember our moments of disobedience, or our times of ignoring the rules, or periods of poor choices.

    Today is a message of welcome and an invitation to try again. Our past blunders will not be counted against us when they are followed by both a change of heart and a change of course. We will not be judged on our initial, often impulsive mistakes. Instead we will be judged on the choices that lead us ever closer to God. Jesus is willing to look past the rebellion and doubt in his followers and invites them to put their earlier poor choices behind them so that they can follow.

    Finally, the parent in today's gospel issues a clear directive but also has confidence in the children's ability to follow it. The parent allows the sons to make their own decisions on their adherence to his command. Like the parent expressed in our gospel, Jesus is looking for followers who are not in mindless, lockstep precision but who, after reflection, are ready to grow and follow.

The kingdom of God is unlocked and the porch light has been left on to guide children home. God calls out to all people, "Come home." God is not like a tiger mom but fully and completely a loving and forgiving parent. All that is necessary is to ask ourselves "What do we need to put behind us so that we can go forward?"

Justice – 9/18/2011

Matthew 20: 1-16

In December 2010, a joint Harvard University/Google study found that the English language contained over 1,022,000 words and was expanding at a rate of about 8,500 words per year. That may be true, but I know for a fact that the English language does not have enough words to describe the concept of justice.

For example, think about this: the indigenous people of the arctic have 28 different words for "snow." The Inuit language has words to describe snow in almost infinite variety. The words for snow describe its characteristics, its structure, its viscosity, the ability to mold or form it, its reaction to a person's weight to describe just a few.

So, why do the Inuit-Yupik people have so many different words to describe snow? The main reason is that snow is incredibly important in their lives. Survival depends upon their ability to understand the nuances of their environment.

The Inuit-Yupik people are not the only ones. Skiers it seems to me have at least ten words to describe snow. There is powder, deep powder, champagne powder, packed powder, packed, hard pack, wind pack, crust, breakable crust, corn, slush, crud and mashed potatoes. Why do skiers have so many words for snow? It is important, for example in determining technique, equipment, and whether they even want to go out that day.

All of us non-skiers may thinking, "Who cares?" And those of us who live in southern Texas may care less the various names for snow. Rain freezes and turns white. It just doesn't matter. We only need one word for snow.

What's the point of all this talk about snow? Simple, it seems to suggest an important point; the more important a concept it is the more words we will have to describe it. That's why I think there should be more words to describe justice. And why do I know that our English vocabulary is lacking, look at our gospel.

In the parable told in this week's gospel text, Jesus provides an ironic glimpse, an allegory of the difference between God's designs and human desires. Jesus' parable opens a tiny portal of light into the Divine as Jesus incarnates the genuine kingdom of God --- the kingdom of heaven --- by engaging us in his story.

The landowner's generosity is bestowed on these last-hired laborers for a reason known only to him. He does not explain or apologize for the accounting system that lavishes the same wage on everyone hired, regardless of the amount of time logged on the job. The only response the landowner has to the disgruntled first-hired workers is "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?"

In the Kingdom of God, isn't God allowed to do what God chooses with what belongs to God? It's true -- sometimes. Sometimes we are in charge, it's our responsibility, and the buck stops squarely in front of us. And although we may grump and grouse about those times, most of us kind of like knowing that we are in control of what is going on and what is coming up next. In fact, we like it so much that we tend to try to take over the reins of control when we are clearly no longer qualified to be running the show. We are constantly tempted to "play God."

So at first glance, our gospel is reminding us that God will not be trivialized down to human-sized aspirations. God will not be domesticated to our fads and fancies. God has purposes and ways that are far beyond us and our reckonings. But that seems obvious, even though we don't always act it. But there is something else in our gospel, besides spirituality 101.

Jesus in this parable is expanding our language for justice. First, justice includes a word we do not often associate with justice --- the word "covet." The parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the 9th and 10th of the Ten Commandments. While "do not covet" may not seem the most obvious word choices to describe justice, coveting lies at the heart of this parable in a couple of ways.

We covet what God chooses to give to others. And in a relationship covetousness is a problem. The point here isn't necessarily that other folks receive blessings from God that we don't -- that they get more or better or lovelier gifts from God. The problem is that they get the same as us; and they don't deserve it, do they? They are less worthy, or later arrivals, or just plain worse sinners. They don't deserve the same as we get, do they? Not nothing maybe, but certainly not the same. We have a tendency, as the parable aptly illustrates, to covet and to be resentful of what others receive from God.

Second, the additional word to describe justice are actually two words "first" and "last." Notice the flow of the parable as the workers are compensated for their labors: When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, "Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first. When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. When the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'"

The last are literally first in that they are paid first. And the first, who have worked the longest, must also wait the longest to get theirs. But notice as well that the first who are now last do not receive nothing or less, they receive the same, as the laborers themselves say, "you have made them equal to us...." So perhaps it should be said that the last shall be first, and the first shall receive justice.

This parable expands our narrow understanding --- our narrow vocabulary of justice --- reminding us that although we are all equal recipients of God's gifts, we are often covetous, jealous and twisted as to first and last when God's gifts of forgiveness and life are given to others in equal measure.

Why do we need to expand our vocabulary of justice? Just like the Inuit people we live in an environment --- a world that has definitions of justice --- but definitions that are far from the Kingdom of God. If you don't believe me think about what we have come to associate with justice. Justice is whatever is of-my-cause or of-my-understanding. Justice is of-my-nation or of-my-experience. Justice is of-my-body or sex or of-my-species. Justice is to be of-my-generation or of-my-race. Justice is of-my-gender or of-my-class.

Today's gospel is a profound reminder that even in the face of all these other things we associate justice, there is one word in God's reign that outstrips all the others. It is a vocabulary word that lives on in full sight of all the ugliness and evil that lurks among the beauty of creation. The greatest word of all, the ultimate mystery of God's sovereign rule, is the amazing "grace" of God. The main reason the Inuit have a variety of words for snow is that it is incredibly important in their lives. Survival depends upon their ability to understand the nuances of their environment. It is the same for us. Survival depends upon our ability to understand and live out "grace" --- God's justice --- in our lives. Amen.

September 11, 2011

Sermon preached on September 11, 2011 based on Matthew 18: 21- 35.

What do you remember about September 11, 2001? For many of us, it was an unforgettable, gut-wrenching, world-changing day. Many of us recall exactly where we were when the four coordinated suicide attacks began to unfold. On this 10th anniversary of 9-11, as people of faith, we have an opportunity to contemplate, reflect, persevere and endure. I believe all of us --- ten years on --- can testify to our faith being forged --- not destroyed --- on the anvil of human adversity. And what can we testify too? Perhaps --- forgiveness.

It was literally out of the clear blue sky that 19 AL-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes. Two of the planes were intentionally crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both towers collapsed within two hours. Hijackers crashed a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. When passengers attempted to take control of the fourth plane, it crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, preventing it from reaching its intended target in Washington DC. Each of us has our memories of that day as that morning began to unfold. Where we were. How we felt. Who we lost. What we found.

Therefore, today's assigned lesson, the lesson for churches that follow the three year Bible readings, is stunning, particularly in the context of this anniversary. Taken from the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, it is one of the sternest passages of the gospels; and it teaches forgiveness as the fundamental basis for faithful Christian practice for settling moral debts. In today's lesson, we hear the famous response of Jesus to Peter's question, "'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy seven times.'"

Seventy seven times. As many of you know Jesus uses an ancient figure of speech that means an "un-countable numbers of times." Moreover, this word choice points us to another biblical figure who also used the term, but used it in ways opposite of Jesus. In Genesis 4, we read about Lemech, a descendent of the murderer, Cain. Lemech, is a tribesman who lived by blood revenge. It is Lemech who boasts that he is sanctioned to avenge wrongdoing with unlimited violence. In the "Song of Swords" Lemech sings, "If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lemech seventy seven times." Lemech's understanding and practice of settling disputes is that of unlimited vengeance toward ones who have wronged a life.

In polar contrast, if we were to tease out the full meaning of Jesus' response to Peter's question, it would go something like this. When it comes to conflict and to moral offenses, forgiveness is to Christians as vengeance was to Lemech. As unlimited and unrestrained as Lemech was in wielding violence as a way to right wrong, so will the Christian wield forgiveness in unlimited, unrestrained, and even indiscriminate fashion. For this is God's way of curbing the lethal tendency in us all.

Lemech vowed to avenge unlimited times. Jesus commanded his followers to forgive unlimited times. This is to be our practice, our way of being in the world. We are to spread it wherever we go. The power of God is in love and forgiveness, not in vengeance and bloodshed.

Yet, here we are --- on September 11^th --- the day when many of us came face to face with the spirit of Lemech, the horror of a morality of vengeance. It also was the day that we began to learn once again the difficulty of forgiveness. So perhaps we need to ask on this the tenth anniversary, "Can we forgive?"

Indeed, are we even asked to forgive not only the 19 hijackers but the person and organization behind the terror? And can we forgive the Afghani Taliban that harbored and supported Al-Qaeda? Well first, Peter and Jesus are not having a political science discussion. The question instead is a personal one. We do not know why Peter was asking this question. Was there an episode in Peter's life, a persistent memory that could no longer be contained? Was it the words of Jesus before these? Nevertheless, Jesus is unequivocal: We must forgive and forgive -- until it hurts. Forgiveness releases the power of the offender and the offense against us. It frees us to be about our business.

It certainly is not saying that everything's okay. Forgiveness is not absolution or pardon. Forgiveness is necessary because of what it does for us; if it has a constructive effect upon the offender, fine. But that's not the purpose of forgiveness. Forgiveness does not let the offender off the hook; indeed, forgiveness is not about the offender. For example, the late Pope John Paul II forgave his would-be assassin. But he did not immediately lobby for his release from prison. We may forgive the thief who steals from us, but we are not obligated to loan him money.

So, can we forgive? Are we ready to forgive? I suspect that the answer is as varied as all of us. Does that mean that forgiveness is relative, changing and changeable? No, rather forgiveness is personal.

Let me explain. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was at a cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As I was saying the words, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," as I poured dirt on the casket, the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

But let me share with you something about that funeral other than it coincided with this horrific event. The funeral was for an elderly woman. Around the casket besides myself and the funeral home and cemetery personal was the family: a granddaughter and several great grand children with their significant others. There were also a few nieces and nephews and elderly cousins. Yet, there was one person who was not there --- the daughter of the woman who died. You see, years ago this daughter came home pregnant and left the child with her parents after a few years --- never to be seen again. This elderly woman and her husband raised their granddaughter and although they never kept the circumstances of her birth a secret and insisted that they be called grandma and grandpa, this granddaughter always saw them as her mother and father.

Before the funeral I had come to learn some of the circumstances and details of this event. Although not seen, there had been some contact between the daughter, grandparents and granddaughter; especially at moments of change --- weddings, birth of children and the death of the grandfather --- yet there was never complete reconciliation among the grandparents and prodigal daughter and her child.

Nevertheless I can tell you from my vantage point, that forgiveness was discussed, started and in some ways given but that forgiveness was uniquely different for each person. Each person needed to see what forgiveness meant for them self. Although the words of Jesus is for what we strive --- unlimited, unrestrained and indiscriminate forgiveness --- it is also true that forgiveness unfolds uniquely and perhaps quite differently among all of us. In other words, forgiveness has a different meaning for those who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center than for us, who may have only stood by shocked as we watched it unfold on TV. Nevertheless we are each to struggle through the process of forgiveness. Why?

In a sermon at Harvard University's Memorial Church on September 23, 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks, the late Peter Gomes told the story of Ernest Gordon, who was captured on the River Kwai during World War II. Gomes related that "while in the Japanese prison camp, Gordon and his fellow British captives were initially very religious, reading their Bibles, praying, singing hymns, witnessing, and testifying to their faith. They were hoping and expecting that God would reward them and fortify them for their faith by freeing them or at least mitigating their captivity."

Gomes then shared how Gordon and other struggled because "God didn't deliver and the men became both disillusioned and angry. They gave up on the outward display of their faith; but after a while, as the men began tending to the needs of their fellows --- caring for them, protecting the weaker ones and in some cases dying for one another --- they began to discern something of a spirit of God in their midst. They discovered that religion was not what you believed but what you did for others when it seemed that you could do nothing at all. Compassion gave them their inner strength, and their inner strength gave them compassion."

Forgiveness is a form of compassion and it is not something to believe, but to live out, because in living out forgiveness, we find inner strength and in our inner strength we can forgive. God forgives sin and wrongdoing and our forgiveness is participation in God's larger act of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

Yes, there will be a time when we all come to be "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." There will be a time when we come to what we do not understand, what we cannot change. It is then when we discover that religion is not what we believe but what we do for others when it seems that we can do nothing at all. Amen.

Church – 9/4/2011

Matthew 18: 15-20

As Christians we do not live in a bubble. So just for a moment let us review some of the critical comments that you and I may have heard about us who represent and are the church. Let us start with the one I believe is most common. "All the church wants is my money. The church may start out gently and nicely but don't worry, they are going to slip into your life and then dip into your back pocket."

Or, some say the church is dull. It is "dullsville" especially liturgical churches like ours; the same prayers and the same liturgies. Come to church, turn off the intellectual engine, sleep right through it, and come back six months later and it would not be any different.

Or others may add, "The people are kind of boring. It is not only the worship service, but church people are kind of boring as well. And besides, the church is a bunch of hypocrites. They are Sunday only Christians. Do you know what that so-called Christian did to me on Monday?"

Then we have this comment; "I can be a good Christian without going to church. I believe in Christianity, not 'church-ianity.' I don't need the church to be religious; all I need is God to be religious."

Others may say, "The church and its teachings are intellectually absurd. Twenty first century people do not believe that stuff. Not only is the church out of tune, but irrelevant in a modern age."

Others declare, "I have been burned by the church. When I needed help, the church wasn't there. Not only are they no help but Pastors are the biggest hypocrites. Or we may hear, "Churches are simply hotbeds for communists; out to subvert time honored family values more interested in politics than life." Or churches are the "bastions of right wing hypocrisy, divided by race, economics and suppressed Victorian sexuality."

It is with these and many other warm and comforting images of the church that we approach the gospel lesson for today. This is only one of two times that the word, "church," is used in the gospels. There is Mathew 16 which we examined two weeks ago when Jesus said, "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and you will have the keys to the kingdom."

We also find out about the church in our gospel reading from Matthew 18. However, today's words come to us not as good news, but as just more guilt mixed in with the critical half-truths and untruths of those of us who are the "Church."

With all this in mind, I thought I would take the time to review some basic concepts about the church --- the Greek word ekklesia. There are at least three basic concepts to "Church" that I want to review.

The first theme is that Christ is the head of the church. Now, that concept is not clearly emphasized in the gospel from Matthew, but it is emphasized in Paul's letters. Nevertheless, we need to remind ourselves of that basic concept that Christ is the head of the church. Everything around the church is to be focused on Jesus Christ.

But it is easy as Americans, to add to that and equate Christ with success or failure. For in the criticisms of the Church there is a common assumption that if it is of Christ it must be successful if not successful it can't be of Christ. Successful churches grow bigger and better, with pretty sanctuaries and pretty music and pretty programs and pretty people and pretty preaching and pretty talented leadership. Failing churches are just the opposite: ugly facilities, no programs, poor leadership and inadequate preaching.

However, you may have noticed that Jesus does not give any criteria of success or failure. The only failure --- of you can call it that --- is the inability to reconcile among Christians and even then we are to keep trying --- always striving for forgiveness. In fact, instead of following Christ we as the church can become more interested in measuring ourselves as "successful" or "unsuccessful" rather than being a Christ centered church.

What does it mean to be a Christ centered church? Perhaps we are to remember the words of John the Baptist, "He must increase and I must decrease." Jesus Christ is to increase and we are to decrease. Thus Church is about followers of Jesus Christ who love and suffer with people around the neighborhood and globe. At the heart of all churches is to have Jesus Christ who is the head and to lift up Jesus Christ, so that people are bonded to the beauty, the forgiveness, and the eternal love of Jesus Christ, not to us.

A second important theme to remember is that church is a fellowship of "sinners" --- people like you and me. In the gospel passage for today we realize that the heart of the church is to help each other to deal with our sinfulness. That sinfulness is not whether someone is breaking a rule or not, that is not necessarily sinfulness. Sinfulness in today's gospel is the New Testament Greek word, harmontón. Harmonton is to "miss the mark." Harmontón means misguided beliefs and misdirected behavior. It means missing the boat and appointment. It means missing the ball or the shot. It means misunderstanding and miscommunication.

Church is a fellowship under Christ --- those who "miss the mark." That means that as followers become a kind of family and as church family, we are to help each other with our "misses," our imperfections, our unhealthy patterns, and the way we miss the mark against each other and ourselves. We help each other to grow up and become mature people so we "miss" less and less frequently.

Jesus is suggesting that we are very unfortunate people if we have no one to talk with us honestly about our weaknesses in order to help us mature and grow into wholeness. That is one of the purposes of the church. We are to be like a family who loves each other with loving honesty about our strengths and our weaknesses.

But let us go back to the criticisms of the Church. Because of the way our culture measures success, churches are where religious people are expected to be holier or better or less sinful than other people. Success is where everything is to be clear with no gray --- but that is not a church family.

Martin Luther said a similar thing when he wrote: "O Lord, deliver me from Christian churches with nothing but Christian saints in them. I want to remain in and be part of a church which is a little flock of faint-hearted people, weak people, who know and feel their sin, their poverty, their misery, and they believe in the forgiveness of God." That is what Luther wanted. Nothing about colorful programs. Nothing about great music. Nothing about great preaching. What Martin Luther wanted in a community where faint hearted and weak people who know and feel their need for forgiveness. Why? Luther wanted to be part of a real family, a Christian family, a family that cared for each other.

A third theme is that church is to be a praying family. In the passage for today we heard "Where two or three are gathered in my name, ask anything of the Father and I will give it to you." As many of you, to "ask anything" would seem to indicate the theme of prayer --- having said that --- sometimes if we take the Bible literally, we get ourselves into trouble by the conclusions that we reach. For example, if two or three people gather and pray for the healing of cancer of one particular husband that does not necessarily mean the husband will be healed, simply because two or three Christians are praying for him. That goes back to the original point that we tend into fall into other definitions of success or failure. Pray for healing --- success if healed, failure if not healed. And if we hold to that view, that means that since Christ does not fail that means that the Christian who prayed --- failed.

What today's words do mean is that there is something more meaningful when a small group of Christian people get together and pray. It is one thing for me to pray alone. It is still another thing to pray with a hundred people at worship. It is still another thing to get together with other Christians in a small group and pray for each other.

"When two or three are gathered" sometimes is in a personal face to face conversation. Sometimes it is a conversation over the telephone. At the conclusion of the conversation, we pray for what we have been talking about. There is power when two friends pray together, and this happens in church families whether it is successful or not.

Perhaps that review of three basic concepts of Church was helpful. As Christians, we believe that Christ as the head is reconciling the whole world and each of us to God and to one another. When two Christians take their conflict as an opportunity to practice reconciliation, the Church can stand as a visible sign for the world of what Christ is doing in the world and in, with and through us. Furthermore prayer among two or three is an outward and visible sign of a grace, a critical mass, that we believe is happening in a broader and more mysterious way in the world.

There are lots of communities out there: cyber communities, and social-media communities. There are work-related and school-centered communities. Many of the other communities we are a part fall into as affinity groups -- our kids' playgroups, or a running club, or the folks we eat with in the dining room of our college or elder-care facility. All of these communities are different, and each shares distinct characteristics. But that is not Church.

The criticisms of us as the Church will not stop especially if we get caught up in the game of success or failure. Rather, remember this: God through Jesus Christ is knitting together this imperfect yet Christ-bearing community we call the Church. Let us be at the task of reconciliation and prayer. Amen.

Deals – 8/28/2011

Matthew 16: 21-28

Want to get rich fast? Want to play a wicked guitar without practicing? Want to marry the most beautiful woman, or most handsome man, in the world? Want to write a series of best-selling novels? Want some super powers? Want excellent health?

You might be able to do all of those things and more on your own, but you also might need to ... make a deal with the devil. If you don't know how to do that, check out the internet eHow article on the subject. Here are the quick steps for dealing with the devil: Make an appointment. Hire a lawyer. Aim high. Be specific. Read the fine print. Enjoy the ride while it lasts but be sure to keep oneself in good health. Finally, pray fervently that we can beat the devil at his own game.

Sounds attractive, right? The reason this scenario seems appealing is that in our search for quick fixes, we look for the easy way to an easy life in our unfair world, especially if the personal cost seems so relatively low. One way of getting whatever we desire comes with an attractive payment plan --- nothing up front but everything paid in full at death. The price? Only our immortal and eternal soul, which, if you are really looking for the quick fix solution to fame and fortune, we probably are not using anyway!

This scenario of bargaining with evil can be found throughout history. There are legends in many cultures of people who made a deal with evil. Faust, the protagonist of the classic German legend made famous by the playwright Goethe, exchanged his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. There is even a term for that based on that play --- "Faustian bargain" --- a sophisticated way to question the rise of a person to fame and fortune who did not seem to pay his or her dues in diligence and hard work.

Musicians are especially associated with the Faustian bargain. Niccolo Paganini, the late 18^th century violinist who many still believe was the greatest who ever lived, played the violin with such force and velocity that one Vienna concertgoer swore that he saw the devil helping Paganini play. That by the way may be the basis for the famous country western song, "The Devil Went down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. Then of course we have legendary, early-20th century, Mississippi-delta guitarist, Robert Johnson who likewise is associated with making a deal with the devil down at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for a wicked good ability to play the blues.

It's not just musicians who have traditionally either made deals or were tempted too, however. Most famous of all is the older story of the one to whom evil offered multiple deals … which were all turned down. If anyone had reason to take a deal, it was Jesus, who knew he was facing a horrifyingly painful death if he kept doing and saying the things he had been doing and saying around Judea. If a deal with evil is about skipping the hard parts, Jesus understood that his life was nothing but hard parts, none of which he was willing to skip.

If you remember from last week, Matthew opens this section in chapter 16 with Jesus and the disciples coming into "the district of Caesarea Philippi." You may also remember from my sermon last week that this is significant because Caesarea Philippi, at the foot of Mount Hermon was also known as the location of a large cave were several pagan shrines particularly the one to the Greek god Pan, the half-man, half-goat god of fright --- think of the word "panic." As I mentioned, the cave was also known for its massive springs of water which fed the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, but which also led some pagan worshippers to believe that it was the entrance to Hades - the underworld, or the realm of the dead.

Interestingly enough, Jesus uses this place to first question his disciples about the perceptions of him that were out there. "Who do people say that I am?" and "who do you say that I am?" Simon, of course, gets it right. "You are the Messiah," he answers, "the Son of the living God." In the shadow of these pagan shrines, Simon declares that Jesus is the direct agent of the one true and living God, the only one worthy of worship. Jesus, of course, blesses Simon's declaration and renames him "Peter," the rock.

Today our lesson continues from last week. We are not yet to move on, like we want to when we think we got it because Jesus also lays out where he and the disciples will be moving from here: toward Jerusalem --- toward death --- the death of Jesus. As we know later, Jesus will not only be bumping up against the gates of death and the realm of evil, he'll be walking through them.

Peter of course had rightly named him as the Messiah, but Jesus' understanding of messiah was not one of triumphant accolades, throngs of followers and political power. Instead, Jesus defined "Messiah" as one who would save his people through his own suffering and death.

The easy way would have been to play on his popularity and avoid the pain, and the temptation to do so had been with Jesus all along. If you remember as well, evil had met Jesus before, particularly out there in the wilderness before all this began, and offered Jesus the chance to have it all, without any cost to himself. All Jesus would have to do is give up his mission and buy into evil's agenda. As Bono sang it in U2's song "Vertigo," "All of this, all of this can be yours. Just give me what I want, and no one gets hurt."

But remember this continued conversation is occurring when we are still in Caesarea Philippi with pagan shrines all aaround. So what happens next? Peter, fresh off embracing his new fighting name --- Rock --- cannot believe what he is hearing. Suffering? Killed? These are not words associated with a Messiah. Peter points out that Jesus has an opportunity here. Messiah as a king to make everything better does not begin with the one to be king dying. None of that works if you are dead. Peter suggests instead, "Jesus, there must be an easier way and we will help you find it."

Like a man standing at the crossroads, Peter's ready to make a deal. Like Faust standing at the fireplace, pondering his unfulfilled dreams, "There must be a better way?"

Jesus, however, recognizes Old Scratch in Peter's rebuke. "Get behind me, Satan!" he snaps at Peter. "You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." Jesus has a definite road to take and Jesus will not make a deal with evil to take the easier way out. Rather it is the way of the cross. "If any want to become my followers," he says to the assembled disciples, "let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

So by having this conversation in this location Jesus is pointing out the crossroads. One is the road to Jerusalem and the other in a sense is the road back to the darkness and superstition of the cave. Focus on saving your own life and making it easier and we go down the path no light. Focus on giving away our life by going down this path with Jesus, and we will find real life and not the kind that's artificially and temporarily inflated by the attractiveness of a devilish deal.

Jesus is reminding us of the price of our choices. "What will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?" The "them" is us.

I don't have to tell you that every day we are presented with a choice about whose kingdom we are going to follow. "Stand at the crossroads, and look," wrote the prophet Jeremiah, "and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls" (Jeremiah 6:16). In our Old Testament, Moses was at crossroads, stay and talk to a burning bush or just walk away.

The choices though are sometimes more subtle. Not everything is as obvious as spam from Nigeria. It is far easier to cut once then measure twice. It's far easier to leave a church then stay. It's far easier to blame a Pastor then challenge our own set beliefs. It's far easier to blame Washington DC, Democrats or Republicans, the rich, the poor, the migrant, the LGBT community, the list goes on. Following Jesus is not easy, but it is the only path that leads to light. Where are people making deals with evil in our families or in our community?

Furthermore, how are we challenging the "gates of hell" so to speak? What are some of the ways in which we can provide an alternative to the devilish deals being offered out there every day? Jesus did not panic when offered a deal. Neither should we.

To "take up the cross" then is not an invitation, for disciples then or now, to start going around looking for crosses to bear. The logic of the kingdom does not have to do with plotting the way to success; we are not to go looking for crosses. Instead, we are to obediently, humbly, give of self for the neighbor and not look for the easy way out, like Martin Luther saw so clearly when he writes in his Freedom of the Christian that anyone who has a partner or a family already has built-in crosses enough.

The choice is always before us, for one way is the cave and the other is to Jerusalem. But there is only one where we shall find our light. Amen.

Keys – 8/21/2011

Matthew 16: 13-20

One reality of serving an urban church like Good Shepherd is hauling around keys and lots of them. It is not unique to this congregation. Although some may lament the day when everyone including the church never locked their doors, in truth that supposed golden era never really existed because locks and keys were invented as soon as humanity began to store things rather than living from hand to mouth.

The numbers of keys we have are not unique. All of these keys are to protect the property from vandalism and from becoming a public bathroom. Besides the keys to doors, we have keys for the dispensers in the bathroom and for various closets and storage areas. In other words, if I carried a copy of all the keys we need, in short, my pants pockets would break.

But I've got a bigger problem on my hands when it comes to keys. Because not only do I have keys from the church, and my home and car as well but in our I.D.-electronic-cryptic-cyber-coded age, keys are not only physical things that plague our pockets and puncture our purses. Many keys are mental, hauled about in the mainframe of our minds. "Hey, what's the pass code to log onto the computer or access the ATM or retrieve the messages?" For example, this past week I had to change a password to a web site three times because I couldn't remember the first password, and had then had to change it again because I couldn't' remember the new password.

Perhaps of all these keys that I struggle with, could be why today's words from the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus talks to us about the keys of the kingdom caught my attention. Before we get to keys, first, let's do a brief study. Let us begin with verse 13, where we read that Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi. The district of Caesarea Philippi lies about twenty-five miles north of the Sea or Lake of Galilee. I had the opportunity to visit this location in 2005 and learned that although we do not know precisely why this event happened outside of Judea, it is a very interesting place for Jesus to ask these two questions.

Centuries ago people in this area where Jesus and his disciples found themselves built a village because of the large spring that flowed from a cave that feeds into the river Jordan. Because of the importance of water, this area had many conquerors like the armies of Alexander the Great, whose settlers built a shrine to the god Pan adding to the various shrines already built there for the local deities for the peoples over the ages. Later after the Romans occupied this area, King Herod the Great had another shrine, a massive temple built to honor Cesar Augustus. This is the reason the city and surroundings had been renamed after Caesar Augustus and his son Philippi.

All of this history reminds us that when Jesus came to this community and asked his disciples who do people say I am, as the disciples looked around before they answered, it was a city filled various active shrines, many choices built over the centuries to various overlapping gods all brightly advertizing who they were.

This leads us to the response of the disciples; many people thought that Jesus was none other than John the Baptist. Now that seems odd. At this point in the life of Jesus, we know that Herod had recently beheaded John the Baptist. Thus the response of the disciples suggests people thought John had come back to life which seems odd to us since Jesus was possibly close in age to John. That compares to the other suggestion that Jesus was the return of Elijah. For centuries, many Jews believed that Elijah was to appear before coming of the Messianic age.

After the responses, Jesus then asks the disciple a personal question. One Biblical scholar translates this sentence, "And you, who do you, say that I am?" We don't know what all the responses were but it is not inconsistent to hear Peter speak up. Consistently, Peter in the Gospels is the first to speak, the one to take the initiative, the one who doubts and sinks in a storm, the one who sticks his foot in his mouth on the mount of Transfiguration.

"You are the Messiah, Son of the living God." Peter, of course, got the answer right. These words are one of the climaxes of the gospels, one of the high points, one of the mountaintops. Peter, for a moment, finally gets it right and understands the truth about Jesus. That Jesus was/is more than a prophet, more than a great moral leader, more than a loving example for us to follow.

Jesus is pleased and concludes that it was not Peter's human reason that came to that conclusion; instead it was revealed to him. It is not human reason that leads to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is the living Son of God who is with us at this very moment and in all moments of our lives, but it is God's revelation due to the work of the Holy Spirit that leads us to believe in Christ as our living Lord.

At this point, Jesus does a play on words. The word, "Peter," means "rock." "You are Rocky. You are the Rock." Peter receives a new name from Jesus. Receiving a new name indicates that Peter has been given a new identity. This play on words has led Christians throughout the centuries to ask: What is the foundation or rock on which the church is built? Jesus? Peter? The confession of Peter? Protestants, of which Lutherans are near the first, have taken the traditional Protestant interpretation. That is, "on this rock" refers to Peter's testimony, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." That confession is the rock on which the church is to be built. The emphasis is not on Peter and the person of Peter but on Christ, the Son of the Living God.

What are the keys of the kingdom? The answer to that question has also caused endless debate and interpretation.

But before we look at the keys, let us take a moment and focus on the word, "kingdom," and not the word, "keys." We remember the kingdom of God/heaven was/is Jesus' primary teaching. We have listened to parables of the kingdom and teachings of the kingdom. We have also heard about the miracles of the kingdom. The kingdom is wherever and whenever the love of Christ rules in a person's life.

Within the kingdom then what are these keys? The word, "keys," is a plural word reminding us there is more than one key. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." This saying was an Aramaic colloquial phrase, one of the languages of Jesus. To "loose on earth" meant to declare a person to be released, loosed or absolved. "To bind on earth" meant to declare that a person to be bound to the consequences of his or her sins. It seems that the phrase, "to loose and to bind" was a common Jewish phrase in Jesus' day. To "loose and to bind" was to allow and forbid, to declare something allowed and to declare something forbidden.

That being said, in our daily lives, we all use contemporary colloquialisms, and we grasp the meaning of those colloquialisms such as "go jump in the lake" or "drop dead" or "get lost" or "go fly a kite." We also know that we are not to take these words literally or we would all get wet as we jumped in a lake or we would all die on the spot as we dropped dead or we would go get lost or we would go buy kites and fly them. We intuitively know that these phrases are slang expressions, contemporary colloquialisms that are not to be taken literally. So perhaps, it the same with this phrase; it was an Aramaic colloquialism to grant forgiveness or withhold forgiveness.

So what do you think about all this? I can't tell you how the disciples felt that day when Jesus asked these two questions in the city where shrines to various gods were built right next to each other, each with their own separate keys; the keys for the shrine to Pan; the keys to the temple to Caesar; the keys to the local shrine for the local deity. So, I wonder if part of our problem today is that you and I are key holders to the church of the risen Christ. And, as keepers of the keys, we have keys to this church which means, we do not have the keys to the Crestholme Presbyterian or to Highland Hills Baptist or Saint Margaret Mary or Holy Name Roman Catholic churches. I don't have keys to any of those places and to honest I am very thankful that I do not.

So many keys too so many churches each with stuff to protect, slows the church to the pace of a turtle, making us careful not only to distinguish ourselves, but protect what we have, lest we open the door to someone who doesn't look like everyone else around here, lest we open, for example, and actually celebrate the gifts for ministry of those who are gay and lesbian and invite them to "forgive our hard hearts and to come back home." Or we open the doors to someone else we may not like or agree with.

But that's the problem in this world that you and I live in. We don't have to worry about keys of the kingdom we worry about many, many more and forget that these keys Jesus promised are not to be a cause for concern but as a reason for celebration and liberation. The keys Jesus promises are more mystical than mundane, cut to holy precision to open up the grace-filled, doors-wide-open reality of God; huge keys not to be held in our pockets, purses or in our minds, but to open the most intimidating doors and razor-sharp keys to break loose windows that have not been open for years.

The keys Jesus promises are meant to unlock the world's longing for celebration and liberation. All around Jesus that day where choices of various keys to the shrine of Pan, the god of having fun, there were keys to the temple of power and money found in the temple to Caesar Augustus. But, Jesus was asking the disciples not how many keys do I have or how well am I protecting what I have but what kind of keys do I have? Who is Jesus the holder of the keys? What is your confession? Amen.

Faithful Change – 8/14/2011

Matthew 15: 21-28

Who was the first missionary? Now before you answer, I should tell you that I am asking a trick question. This should not be so surprising when we consider that the first real missionary, and the one who had to start from absolute scratch, was none other than --- Yahweh. When God spoke to Abram and Sarai --- later Abraham and Sarah --- it was not just to convey that they would receive an inheritance of land and children. But more importantly God had to introduce a whole new concept to humanity --- monotheism.

God's task was not to teach those ancient people knowledge of yet another deity --- a task that would have been a great challenge in itself --- but to introduce a whole new concept to humanity ---- monotheism. The whole idea of only one God was considered ridiculous --- indeed atheistic --- by ancient peoples who perceived their world as one filled with evil and benevolent spirits. Furthermore, once it was taught, God had to constantly remind the people that there was only one God and God was the name. As difficulties arose, as people moved and encountered other people and cultures, Abraham and Sarah and those who followed would constantly struggle against what are termed "false idols" and other gods. Remember these words; "you shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3)

As you read the Old Testament you can see how this concept of one God was slowly nurtured in the people's hearts. That's why the words, history and stories of people's faith found in the Old Testament seems so foreign to us in the 21^st century because God accepted the early Israelites at the level of understanding they were able to muster, starting within a people's framework of understanding. For example, do you remember the famous story of Jonah? What we seem to forget as we struggle with the image of man being swallowed by a whale is that Jonah tried avoid following God's command. Jonah tried by running away from God's territory because Jonah thought he could escape by going into the territory of some other god. Jonah assumed that the God he followed was only for his land, so when you traveled to another land there would be a different deity. We sometimes forget that that the early Israelites had a less than ideal understanding of God, but the important issue is that God was willing to accept them as being valid starting points in their understanding of his true nature.

What does this tell us? God as missionary nurtured these early followers in their faithfulness, gradually opening their minds and hearts to larger and more complete portraits of truth. God is willing to accept people at the point where they are, with the understanding that they have, and to transform those concepts.

Why is this important to remember, because in today's gospel I believe at times we may become to myopic --- narrow in our vision --- of what is happening.

Consider the story carefully. Jesus is recorded to be confronted by a Canaanite woman who is chasing after him asking for his help. And at that moment when she is in the greatest need, we find out that Jesus does not respond out of love and compassion but responds in a very seemingly cold-hearted way. What is going on here?

First of all, we have to recognize the fact that this was not just any woman --- this was a Canaanite woman. In the time of Jesus, a Canaanite would not have been considered within the circle of monotheism. She would have been thought of as a person who would be suspected of worshiping other and thus false gods.

The second aspect of this event is that she is a woman. In ancient Israel as is true among many in the world today, the place of women in leadership within religious life was not recognized. Women were not to speak of such things. In the time of Jesus, most particularly, women were still considered the property of their families, or their husbands.

The other part of this event is that this woman is pushy. When a man speaks out, that man is often considered decisive or leader-like. When a woman speaks out, she can be accused of being nagging, pushy, annoying or uppity.

So what about this uppity Canaanite woman who may believe in many gods? She presses Jesus so much that his very disciples say, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." Now, notice the response that our Lord gives. It may seem bizarre for we think, surely, Jesus will be compassionate to her.

In his encounter with the faithful, forceful Canaanite woman, Jesus is able to take the information and insights she provides and apply them to the existing premises and perceptions. Because Jesus is fully human and fully divine, Jesus can change, grow and adapt to the people, environments and challenges he encounters to continue the missionary purpose of God. To accuse Jesus' mission of having a set, static form is tantamount to accusing Jesus of preaching a dead faith.

Jesus is continuing the long standing practice of God as missionary that makes possible the change of status of Gentiles in mission. Jesus does not compromise the special nature of his relationship with Israel. Jesus changes his mind, but he "keeps the change."

Jesus constantly responded to the power of God's presence throughout the course of his ministry. For Jesus, God's purpose remained a consistent, guiding force, but one that was revealed more fully and coherently as his life and ministry progressed. "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" not only as a child but throughout his life but to the cross and through the resurrection for the express purpose of teaching about God. This event in the life of Jesus was another in those many episodes where God uses where people are at, including Jesus, too grow.

The task continues with us. Are we willing to "change our mind but keep the change?" We are about an important task, to continue the missionary work begun by God. First, to teach that there is only one God. There are many who follow other gods, money, alcohol, drugs, the self, power, the list goes on. Second, are we willing to meet people, each other and those around us --- where they are at? Are we willing to change and open our doors ever wider to the new "Gentiles," the outcasts, the outlaws, the outsiders? For example, how many women are there denied opportunities to serve in the fullness of ministry simply by gender? How many women are there in the world around us that because they are women of color or women from marginalized communities are driven out and kept aside and told that they have no place?

His disciples underestimated, Jesus underestimated, and perhaps you and I have underestimated those around us. For this woman in our gospel was not just a Canaanite someone who supposedly believe in false gods, she was not only a woman trying to have her voice heard; she was something else. She was a mother. She was not coming to Jesus Christ asking for something for herself but for the child she loved. Out of faith, that depth of love would not be denied.

In our confession of faith, we believe that there is only one God. It is a God that loves us and cares for us deeply. A God that will not be denied, but a God that is willing to work with any person where ever they are at including Jesus, his own son, for the express purpose so that God's love will never be denied and that it will known by all. Amen.

Elijah – 8-7-2011

1 Kings 19: 9-18

What are we doing here? Why did we come to church this Sunday? Think about it for a moment. Of course we are allowed to say, "because the Bible commands it"--- if we have to--- but let us please try to dig a bit deeper than that. If we think the Bible commands it, why does it command it?

Perhaps, we come to worship for the fellowship, but that reason also demands further exploration, what kind of fellowship are we seeking and do we get it. And of course there are could be other reasons as well. We like the interaction, dialog, and learning we find with the others who are present. Or perhaps we like being challenged to rise above where we are and to continue to give our all to Christ. Or we enjoy the sense of being filled by God to help empower and strengthen others. Or we like the rhythm of music, God's word, and liturgy and want to be fed. And there are many other good and wonderful reasons --- and a combination --- why many of us come to worship. Nevertheless those responses do not necessarily answer the question, what are we doing here?

I wonder about that question ---"What are we doing here"---because I think there may be some of us who come to worship because we may feel like Elijah. Perhaps we have been diligent for the Lord, working tirelessly in our congregation and homes, our place of employment or study, expending great amounts of time and creative energy, and it looks like our hard work is really about to pay off in a big way. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, something happens and everything goes wrong, leaving us feeling dead in waters of despair. If that's the case, take heart because we are not alone. Life can be tough, decidedly not fair, and fraught with difficulty, but there's some hope, good news, for God's people in this week's Old Testament lesson that will help us understand our motivations.

Let's start by setting Elijah's current predicament in context. God's prophet has run afoul of Ahab, the King of Israel; because he confronted King Ahab and relayed God's instruction to Israel that unless the people repented the country was to have a devastating drought. Well you can imagine the response. Never mind that it was the king's rotten decisions, poor choice of a spouse, and blatant idol worship that kindled God's anger. The messenger, Elijah is blamed for the drought. So now three years later at God's instruction, Elijah returns to confront Ahab and the prophets of the idol Baal --- complete with prophetic pyrotechnics, a slaughter of the 400 false prophets, and some really fast running. One would think Elijah would be sitting pretty, but the queen of the land Jezebel, responds with a death threat that sends Elijah running lickety-split for his very life.

Talk about a depressing outcome! In Elijah's case there is no rest for the weary or the worthy. So Elijah reaches out to his one remaining relationship --- God. Elijah recognizes that God has been with the prophet through it all, providing him food and water during the drought to sustain him even when he abandons all hope. We also hear how God's angel keeps him going until he is able to seek refuge in a cave at Horeb, the mountain of God. So, it is here, exhausted and lacking hope, that we have our reading and find that Elijah is asleep until God wakes him up with a question: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Now that would seem to be an odd question. Doesn't God already know? That may have been your first response when I asked you the very same question at the beginning. But this is not the first time in scripture we get these kinds of questions for example, God asks Adam, where he is and who told him he was naked and had he been eating the forbidden fruit in Genesis 2, even though we know God knows what is in the human heart (Genesis 6:5; 1 Kings 8:39; Psalm 44:21, etc.) Nevertheless Elijah catches God up on the recent events from his perspective without sharing all the details. Elijah does not say that he is hiding from Jezebel or that he has come to seek God's help and protection.

In turn God instructs Elijah to go stand at the mouth of the cave. God responds to Elijah's self-assessment with self-revelation. First God displayed historic and traditional signs of God's presence, a windstorm, an earthquake and fire. But God was not present among the usual suspects. Instead there was --- translating from Hebrew --- a sound of a fine silence. And that is where Elijah encountered God.

Isn't this amazing! But this is what makes this so interesting, because God asks Elijah again what he is doing there. Is God expecting a different answer? Do you remember how the Bible describes the face of Moses after he encountered God up on another mountain? We are told that the face of Moses shone so brightly that people asked Moses to wear a mask or veil because his face was so bright. But Elijah --- Elijah is unmoved, untouched --- doesn't even say thank you. Elijah indeed again recounts his hard luck tale of how serving faithfully as God's prophet has landed him in a mess of misery.

Elijah's experience with God has not changed him. Elijah is a person unmoved by God's presence. That is one reason out of many that I do not accept the notion of some Christians who are unhappy that they are not moved by worship or reading the Bible or prayer as if somehow God is absent. Elijah was not moved by his experience! So what does that tell us? Maybe we are too self absorbed to be open!

What are you doing here? Elijah saw, heard and experienced God in fantastic ways. Furthermore, the power of God flowed through him to work miracles that were unequalled by anyone before him. Yet Elijah was essentially unchanged by this incredible encounter with God. It kind of reminds me of those few people who still believe the world is flat even after seeing those wonderful pictures of this blue earth from space.

So what did God do? Instead of responding with a pat on Elijah's back or an "at-a-boy," or things will get better Elijah just you wait and see, God fired him, or at least announced his retirement. God's words to Elijah are that God does not need Elijah; God has untold thousands-upon-thousands of faithful servants on whom God can depend.

We do not know how Elijah reacted to being laid off --- the command to anoint another prophet to take his place in verse 16. It may have been quite troubling because the monarchs whom God was firing/retiring/replacing, Ben-Hadad of Aram and Ahab of Israel were to be killed. Nonetheless, Elijah accepts his assignment from God, knowing that his time as God's prophet is drawing to an end, but not knowing what that end will be. Life goes on Elijah; there is work to be done, and God is in control.

Now I don't know about you but I think this whole episode and Elijah's experience interesting for us because we need to ask ourselves that very same question God asked Elijah, what are you doing here?

Today's Old Testament lesson reminds us that even prophets mess up, become discouraged, and fail to comprehend the ways of the Creator of the Universe. Elijah, for all the amazing acts he was empowered to do, all that he has experienced, all that God had done to care for him, even to point of allowing Elijah to experience God's presence, was only one small part in the all-encompassing divine story that continues today. It is not about you. It is not about me. It is about God.

God's kingdom comes and God's divine action continues with us and sometimes in spite of us. It is wonderful news that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are God's agents of mercy and love in this world, but we are not God. In other words one of the most important answers to the question of what I am doing here is the reminder that God does not rely on me; I rely on God, with the knowledge that God will not abandon me. It is wonderful to know that God is be worshipped, we are never alone, and no matter how we feel, God shows us love and grace.

So sure you and I may come to worship for many different reasons, and those reasons are valuable and important, but here's the message of hope for our day: no matter how discouraged we are, no matter how insignificant and ill-prepared we feel in our discipleship walk, and no matter how insurmountable the odds may seem, we are not alone.

God is here. The question that needs answering is where are you, and what ARE you doing here? What's going on in your life? Because when we begin to answer that question, honestly and truthfully, perhaps we will be open to God's presence all around us, even when all we hear is silence. Amen.

Repeat – 7/31/2010

The following is not a repeat but very similar to a sermon I preached in 2008 based on Matthew 14:13-21. Thank you.

As some of you know, over the 4^th of July weekend my sisters and I had a celebration for my father who celebrated his 81^st birthday and 50^th year of ordination. We celebrated the events in various ways. One way was to have a gathering with family from around the United States here in San Antonio.

Now there are many joys about meeting those that one has not seen for awhile. One of the joys is catching up on what has happened in their lives and sharing about our experiences during the absence. But I have to admit that one facet of getting together again that I both enjoy and dislike is telling and hearing those old stories.

When we get together with certain people, the conversation will get around to a story that may begin with, "Do you remember that time when...." and people will start to groan or chuckle.

The gospel for today is a much loved event about Jesus and his disciples that was and is told over and over again. We can say that because there are some events and lessons which are told only one time in the gospels.... such as the story of the Good Samaritan, told only once; the story of the Prodigal Son, told only once; the story of the Sheep and the Goats, told only once.

But today's miracle, called the feeding of the five thousand, about the five loaves and two fish, is not told merely once, not twice, not three times, but four times in its variations. It is the only miracle outside of the resurrection which is told in its fullness in all four Gospels.

Now, why is this story told over and over again?

First let's review, according to the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist had just been beheaded. John was a moral force, a spiritual force, a prophet in the land of Israel, one that some suggested had not been experienced for four hundred years. He was the person that many looked to for moral and religious inspiration and had his own disciples … and he was just beheaded by King Herod. Many were stunned by this tragedy, including Jesus, who had been baptized by John.

Not surprisingly, Jesus wanted to get away by himself to grieve, to pray, and to remember. He wanted to get away to a lonely place and the fastest way to do that entailed getting into a boat to sail across Lake Galilee to a remote point, to be alone and grieve.

Well that did not happen because the crowds followed along the shoreline, keeping a determined eye on his boat. An unanswered question is if the crowd could follow Jesus along the shore, Jesus must have been able to see the people. So why didn't he somehow avoid the crowd? Either way, when Jesus' boat landed, we are told that many of the crowd had already arrived, with more to follow, up to 5,000.

What was Jesus' reaction to the thousands who had shown up? Jesus' first response, after getting off the boat, was to look on the massive crowd with compassion. He taught them and he healed them. Well as you can imagine, to work through a crowd of thousands meant that the day quickly passed. It got to the point, evening, when the disciples encouraged Jesus to end the time and disperse the crowd.

Instead, Jesus responds by replying "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." At which the disciples reply: "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish." With that Jesus gathers that donated food, directs the crowd to sit down, gave thanks for the food and broke the loaves which are then given out to the people. The miracle is that everyone has something to eat ending in leftovers.

Again, that miracle with minor variations (outside of the resurrection miracle) is the only miracle that is found in all four gospels. Why? This miracle seems hardly to match the importance of the resurrection. What is it about this event that meant this repetition? Let me give you several suggestions that I have found thought provoking.

First, is the interesting statement and question asked of the disciples "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." In another gospel the giver of this food is identified as a young child. That detail simply leads to an important reminder --- the strength of simple gifts.

"You give them something to eat." The disciples immediately begin to think practically as they do the math and realize that they don't have the resources to do the job. Their own food supply donated by a young child, is pretty meager, just five loaves and two fish, even for the traveling group with Jesus, which basically amounted to "nothing" in the face of such a huge crowd.

The disciples had crunched the numbers, added up the logistical formula, and it just doesn't work. But there is more to the statement from Jesus than that. In the training manual for Ritz Carlton Hotel employees, there's a maxim that says, "If you see a problem, you own it." To say, "It's not my problem" or "It's not my job" is not acceptable. If you see it, you own it — you take responsibility for solving it.

Take responsibility even when the odds are impossible! Jesus seeks to teach them a different kind of math based not on addition, but on multiplication. However, to have the multiplication happen not only takes the power of simple gifts and responsibility, but it takes surrender to God.

How did Christ feed all those people with so little food, with merely five loaves and two fish? One possibility is that the loaves continually multiplied, endlessly, so that the loaves themselves experience transformation and become an endless supply of bread. But another possibility is that what was transformed was not the bread and fish but the hearts of thousands; that when these thousands saw the example of Jesus trusting God, giving thanks and dispersing five loaves of bread and two fish, these people were inspired to look inside their coats and share the food that they brought with them, food that had been hidden inside their clothing, just for themselves. Either way, the mechanics of the miracle are not as crucial as use what is given, responsibility and surrender to the work of God in our lives.

A second reason why this miracle is recorded in all four gospels could be because the memory of this miracle helped the disciples understand a later meal, the Last Supper. The liturgical references seem clear. Jesus took the bread...looked up to heaven ... gave thanks ... broke the bread ... gave it to his disciples ... who gave it to everyone ... and they all ate and were satisfied. These actions seem parallel to Holy Communion.

But there's even more than the obvious wording. The verb used in Matthew verse 19, translated as "gave them" suggests not once but many times. In other words, Jesus "kept giving" broken bread and fish to his disciples. So that small amount of bread and fish multiplies into a feast that feeds the whole crowd, and there is even some left over — no scarcity, only abundance! A meal that keeps giving!

A pastor was used to breaking and giving out little pieces of bread until one Sunday when a little girl about 3 years old came to the front of the sanctuary with her mom to receive Communion. The pastor knelt down beside her and said, "This bread means that Jesus loves you very much" and gave her a little piece of the loaf which she promptly wolfed down. But, instead of moving down the line, she held out her hands again and looked at the pastor with hopeful eyes and said, "More?" We need to be able to ditch the diet of scarcity and enjoy the bigger hunk of grace God offers us in Jesus Christ.

Besides the reminder of the power of simple gifts, the need to take responsibility and the challenge to surrender to God comes the acknowledgement that with God there's always more — more grace, more love, more room, more of everything and it keeps coming and is always given. God takes the smallest that we can offer and multiplies it into more than we can fathom.

The miracle today seemingly was an old favorite of the first disciples and early church, and told over and over again. Possibly this miracle resonated with the first disciples reminding them of experience where they witnessed first had the compassionate, loving Son of God and the essence of God's abundant grace and generous gifts to us.

And there can be one final reason why this miracle is in all four gospels. That miracle is not just for the past. Jesus says to us, "You give them something to eat." Let us give thanks for simple gifts that as measured by logic and reason are not up to the task at hand. Let us take responsibility for the challenges before us but let us also remember that in the bread and wine, God promises to do the feeding. Amen.

eBay Power – 7/24/2011

Matthew 13: 31-33; 44-52

 

What do you think … would Jesus love eBay or Craigslist? As you may know, eBay and Craigslist are kind of like online garage sales where you can advertize, bid upon --- in the case of eBay --- and buy virtually anything you can think of. Treasures can be found!

Now, to be clear, Jesus is not an avid collector of Star Wars memorabilia or a seller of knock-off Gucci purses or interested in used furniture. Rather in today's gospel our first impression from at least 2 of the parables could be that Jesus loves a good deal, like the deal found by Morace Park. Mr. Park is a British antiques dealer who, after paying $5 for an old film container on eBay, found inside a never-released seven-minute movie featuring Charlie Chaplin valued at $60,000. Or perhaps Jesus is talking about the deal found by Philip Gura, an American literature professor, who after paying $481 for a photograph of poet Emily Dickinson came to find out that it is just the second photo of Dickinson known to exist, which by the way, makes Gura's discovery priceless.

It seems that way does it not; Jesus is all about the joy that comes from discovering something valuable --- possibly priceless---while perusing piles of seemingly ordinary items.

But yet, I wonder if that is what Jesus means in today's gospel? In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus tells us of a man who stumbles across a pile of treasure buried in a field. This man is so taken with his discovery, so overwhelmed at its value, that he sells off every other item in his possession to purchase the land and make the treasure his own. You might call it overkill. You may even wonder why this man cannot share it with the original landowner. But Jesus says, "This is a great deal."

We also hear about a merchant who makes his living buying and selling pearls and spends his days scouring the markets for the best of the best. Upon finally finding it, the man mortgages his home and sells his cars on Craigslist all to purchase a single, sparkling pearl. We might think it a waste, and an unsound financial investment but not at all in the eyes of Jesus. For him, such sacrifice for such treasure is well worth the investment.

So, is that what this lesson is about? Life is all about shopping around until we find what we are looking for? In the parables Jesus tells us that the very reign and rule of God, the loving and life-changing activity of God in heaven, has broken into our world and is available now. It is here to be discovered and embraced. Yet, like a Honus Wagner baseball card sitting in a shoebox at some grandmother's garage sale, the kingdom of heaven is found in unassuming places and encountered in unlikely ways. Furthermore, Jesus is suggesting, whatever it costs you to "get" it is well worth it.

Nevertheless a clear danger is to think that somehow Jesus is suggesting that we are to be constant religious shoppers trying to discern the presence of the tiny bit of Kingdom, and when we think we see it, sell everything in order to "have" it. Do you see where that is dangerous? It seems that we think Jesus is saying that we all need to set out on another quest to have something else.

But that is not quite right because what, though, is the quality of the Kingdom? When found, as we see in the parable, no one has to tell the pearl merchant or the finder of the treasure to sell everything to buy the field, or the pearl. Rather they cannot help themselves. In fact, the Kingdom is something that, when found, it owns us, not the other way around. That's why no one who "puts hand to the plow and then turns back is fit for the Kingdom of God." If we can turn back, if we can walk away from the field, if we can walk away from the pearl, if we keep going back looking for more, then what we have found is not the Kingdom.

Rather the question may be in what unlikely places do we find God's power and presence? Some think the key to discovering God is in getting mystical and otherworldly. They might espouse some process of escaping the trappings of flesh and world and ascending to some higher plane where God abides. Yet, that doesn't seem to jibe with Jesus' teaching of the kingdom being uncovered in the ordinary, now does it?

And of course there are others who might argue that the key to connecting with the kingdom is being good enough to gain admittance. You know, help enough old ladies across the street, donate enough money to charity, make a lot of people smile, make very few people cry and when your days are done boom --- you are in the kingdom. But that seems at odds with Jesus' own description of the kingdom as treasure being stumbled upon in a field as if it's something freely given.

No, encountering God, experiencing God's power and being caught up in God's love, being caught up in the Kingdom of God is not stumbled upon while shopping on eBay or Craigslist. It must be things we can encounter in the ordinary, and access easily.

So what is the most ordinary place that we can access easily? What about here? Is this the place where we encounter the kingdom? Think about it for a moment. Jesus' ultimate point in the parable is that he himself was the means by which the kingdom had come to Earth. It was in Jesus that the love of God, the power of God and a reconciled, right relationship with God could all be received. Christ and his work on the cross are the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price. And this is the place where that very same Jesus is to be encountered today.

Do we believe that when we gather here, in this unassuming place, that the greatest treasure in the history of God's universe is here for the taking? Do we believe that when God's Word is read here, preached and sung here, that Jesus is speaking here? Do we believe that when we hear, "We are forgiven," "We are forever a member of God's family" or "Take and eat this bread that is body, take and drink this wine that is blood" that the power and promises of Jesus Christ are taking hold in us and doing something miraculous in us?

To be honest with you I have traveled the world and seen many beautiful churches, more gorgeous than this one --- maybe you have, too. We have seen sights in nature, beaches, mountains, fields and valleys that are more beautiful and spiritual uplifting than we can find on the other side of Highways 410 and 1604. And again to be honest with you this place --- like any other --- is filled to the brim with imperfect people and the message of forgiveness and hope to all people we are trying to share to an unbelieving world sounds like absolute insanity. The apostle Paul said as much himself. "...the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18).

So I admit finding the Kingdom of God in the ordinary like the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd may seem crazy. But let me ask you something else, what if the work of the kingdom of God is not only found here but is also found in us? We are baptized, believing followers of Jesus Christ, then the Scriptures tell us that we are now a living, breathing "field," filled with the priceless treasures of Jesus.

Yes, we with all of our past mistakes and present problems. We are filled with the truth of Christ that can change someone else's eternity. We are filled with the Holy Spirit who has given us the same compassion as Christ and a desire, like Christ, to bless others. Yes, we are now part of a royal priesthood whose very presence has the power to "...proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9).

Yes, we as a community and each of us individually as believers are the unlikely, ordinary and easily accessible places where the greatest treasure in the world can be found and encountered. We --- you--- are the online auction where a hurting world can bid on trash and receive untold treasure in the form of forgiveness, unlimited and life-unending. But realize that with that comes an incredible responsibility for yes, it comes at a cost. Taking ownership of all that God has in store for us through Jesus Christ will come at the cost of confessing our brokenness and our need for a savior. It means saying goodbye to a life of wandering, a life of shopping around, and living a life of worshiping Jesus. It will mean that our days of searching are done and finding peace in the fact that we have arrived in God's family.

May this be a place where the treasure of Christ is easily encountered. May the treasure of Christ be accessible for the world, in us the field of Christ. May you and I, wanderer and seeker, find this treasure, be possessed by it, use what we have learned and remind the world, that it is not to be found in expected places; and no matter what the price tag seems to be, it is free and it is definitely, undeniably worth the cost. Amen.

Weedy – 7-17-2011

Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43

The St. Louis Cardinals didn't win the World Series last year --- or the year before. If you remember, the Cardinals were not even in the World Series. Over a year ago however Tony La Russa the manager for the team was mad. He was not yelling at the home-plate or first-base umpire, he was yelling in court. He had filed a lawsuit against the social network and micro-blogging web site "Twitter." You see, La Russa was suing Twitter for allowing someone to "twitterjack" his name; to "twitterjack" is to create a Twitter account in someone else name. Well it seems that someone had "twitterjacked" Tony La Russa and said some really nasty things about some of the Cardinals players. News Article

Or to put this in the language of Jesus from today's gospel, we are going to have to put up with the weeds among the wheat, the false among the true, the fake among the genuine. And sometimes just like the weeds among the wheat, the problem is not that we cannot spot the fakes, the twitterjackers, and the phonies. Sure sometimes, we can, it's just that it's a real problem.

Jesus' remarkable parable similar to last week the Parable of the Sowers at first its meaning seems obvious. Jesus says the "wheat" are the children of God; the "weeds" are like fake children of God. And there are ones pretending to be wheat, as though by growing up in the middle of a field they will be mistaken for wheat, just like someone using Tony La Russa's name will be mistaken for him. Nevertheless, there will come a time, a time of harvest, when all accounts will be settled.

Well is that it? I don't know about you, but the whole thing about wheat and weeds caught my eye. I know that sometimes wheat and weeds pretty much all look the same. The word used for a weed in Biblical Greek is zizania, which in modern botanical terms refers to the genus of wild rice grasses. More than likely the word refers to darnel or cockle, a noxious weed that closely resembles wheat and is plentiful in Israel. The difference between darnel and real wheat is evident only when the plants mature and the ears appear. The ears of the real wheat are heavy and will droop, while the ears of the darnel stand up straight.

But still this weed in wheat thing is hard for me! Let's be honest, who among us has not questioned why God allows evil to grow and thrive? Who among us has not wanted to take matters into our own hands and root out the evil in our midst? At least Tony La Russa could go to court; we can't even do that. It should seem obvious that we should be able to get rid of some of the weeds. Ever look across a field of wheat? Usually, you can see the weeds quite clearly. Furthermore, weeds are not all the same for some are completely different. Some are like vines. They cluster and grow along the top of the ground. Some weeds have pretty flowers. Some weeds grow tall and are clumped into bushes.

Cannot we do something about weeds other than wait for a future harvest time? A very natural way of preventing weeds is to have such a strong and thick wheat crop, it will outgrow any weeds. Sure there will be some weeds but it is all right to have some weeds because that strengthens the wheat as well. Can't we be the strong Christian community --- the field --- that is a beacon to world, a light to all nations?J Well as some you know that belief can become as corrupt inside as the supposed weeds around them.

Or we can learn a couple of techniques from modern farming something perhaps Jesus did not know about. A first line of defense in dealing with weeds is to cultivate the fields before the wheat is planted. The ground is left fallow during the summer months. This way, although the weeds grow when there is moisture, as soon as the ground is dry and before the weeds are big, the farmer can go out into the field and cultivate the ground, while at the same time enriching the ground with fresh oxygen and natural fertilizer. Can't we do the same, somehow work on our soil? Well, that doesn't always work because in working so hard on the soil, we can overwork to the point of making it worse than it was before.

But there are other modern ways to remove or control weeds. These methods involve the use of herbicides. So what if spraying can be very harmful to natural predators such as ladybugs, moths, bees and birds. Also chemicals can seep into the ground and harm the natural organisms there, such as the bacteria that make fertilizer, break down the weed stubble and make mulch, thus leaving the ground much more fertile and organic. Can't we have a Christian form of Roundup? Well that might not work because we may kill the good with the weeds.

Or Jesus is suggesting that we are supposed to get rid of those easy weeds and let God tackle the big stuff, became some weeds are worse than others. Wheat farmers will tell you that bindweed or morning glory is at the top of the most-wanted list of bad weeds. It has a very deep root system that multiplies and grows like a tubular plant. It is a vine weed, so it grows close to the ground and cannot be seen in a tall wheat field. Right behind bindweed is the Canadian Thistle. It too is almost impossible to kill. And there are so many types of weeds that can infiltrate a healthy field of wheat, such as kochia, pigweed, wild lettuce, tumbleweeds, and even sunflowers. So, can' we take care of the easy stuff and let God take care of the really difficult weeds?

Furthermore, some weeds are easy to spot: the killers who maim and destroy the innocent, the greedy who grab and dash with the savings and retirement plans of those who work hard and the wicked that prey upon children by gaining their trust and then mis-using it. And there are those weeds that may look "religious," but their actions range from misguided to despicable like the pastor in Florida who wanted to burn Islamic holy books, or the congregation who shows up at military funerals to denounce those that are gay and lesbian, or those religious leaders who use their position of power abusing men, women and children. Can't we weed out the easy and let God handle the tuff stuff?

And there is the fact that the weeds affect the quality of the crop. If weeds are allowed to grow and multiply, they will suck out all of the precious water needed to grow a wheat crop. When the wheat is deprived of water and nutrients, it produces a smaller head, and the kernels will not only be small but lack nutrients. Wheat is sold by the bushel and quality of the seed. Can't we develop a measure based on how well some people live out the Christian faith; can't we measure by how much someone gives?

We could keep going on but the picture become pretty obvious. We are far worse at telling what are wheat and weeds. Just review our own local history. For example, as many of you know less than a hundred years ago, on the streets of San Antonio, if you were white on a side walk and you came upon someone of Hispanic descent, they would have to get off the sidewalk with the other weeds until you passed. It kind of reminds me of dandelions. I remember living in a suburb of Wisconsin where some neighbors would work so hard to make sure there was not a single dandelion in their yard. At that same time there are people who grow dandelions as a crop for salads, oil and wine. Did you notice that Jesus does not, however, say whom the slaves represent? So truth be told, we are not very good about telling what is wheat and weed and would rather put anybody that does fit our picture into weeds.

And there is something else.

In today's gospel Jesus says that at the end of the age the angels will "collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and will throw them into the furnace of fire" (13:41). Jesus use a word in Biblical Greek skandala to remind us that God will collect all "causes of sin." Have you heard that word before? Later in Matthew 16:23, Jesus tells Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block (skandalon – a cause of sin) to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." Does that mean that Peter is a weed? Yet, in spite of these strong words and Peter's repeated failings, Jesus does not give up on Peter; rather, he entrusts the future of his mission to him and the rest of his bumbling disciples.

So we should not press the logic of the parable too literally in our zeal to choose between wheat and weeds. In the world we know, weeds do not become wheat. Instead that is another reason we should not be too eager to choose who part of the wheat is --- because we all may be a little "weedy!"

Is there anything that will help us other than having a great deal of patience as evil grows with us? Is there anything else from this parable that we can learn other than to realize we cannot be certain who is "in" and who is "out"?

It was for all those reasons and more why Jesus does not offer his followers a grand plan for getting rid of the weeds that plague the field of wheat. There are no rules of engagement about marching into a field of wheat to root out the weeds. In fact, Jesus says that we should go about our business. We're not called to be the farmer. Rooting up weeds is not part of our job description. It is the angels -- not any human beings -- who are authorized to pluck out the weeds from the wheat. We'd like to rain down hellfire and brimstone, but Jesus counsels us otherwise.

And there is one more important note that we can glean from today's parable. One fact to point out is that Jesus describes this field, which is the "world" (v. 38), as a field of wheat, not as a field of weeds. When Jesus sees the world, he looks out across not a field of weeds in which there is wheat growing, but a field of wheat in which there are weeds growing. I think that is an important point because it runs counter too much of what we hear; Jesus sees a field of wheat in which there are some weeds growing not the other way around.

This is encouraging news. It is so easy to be discouraged and to believe that evil is all around us, about to overwhelm us. Or to give up hope for we are the weeds! But in fact, Jesus reminds us that there are more of the faithful, more of those who have not bowed the knee to idols, more of those whose core values are of love and grace, than we sometimes realize. Yes, the "children of evil" exist and they do damage to the crop, but they exist in a field that is predominantly a field of wheat, not weeds.

So, when it is all said in done, let us grow were we have been planted. Let us grow tall and strong. Let us be stalks not as islands in a field by ourselves, but let us grow with others in a community. And finally, let us not worry about the weeds nearby, or even if we are weeds ourselves, not only because we are not good at always telling what is a weed and what is wheat, but also we may not realize God's field of wheat might be bigger than we think. Amen.

Rebranding – 7/10/2011

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

So, which do you prefer the name "Dried plums" or "Prunes?" Do you prefer the name "Microwave" or "Radar Oven?" How about the name "Backrub" or its other name "Google?" Or how about the frozen meals called "Diet Deluxe" or the other name for them "Healthy Choice."

Of course those are all examples of what is termed "rebranding." For whatever reason a particular name is not doing well, so companies will take a package of a particular product, perhaps change its color and size and sometimes even the name. Rebranding sometimes works like Microwave from Radar Oven but sometimes rebranding does not work, remember "New Coke."

Perhaps then, it may be helpful to consider "rebranding" the stories and episodes from the Bible. For example, today, we have what is usually known as the Parable of the Sower. As you may remember, Jesus shares 37 parables, simple stories that convey a message. Yet although these 37 parables are simple, the messages they covey are deep. Today's parable is further unique in that it is one of two where Jesus also provides an interpretation. Nevertheless although Jesus provides an interpretation, it, too, could be considered a parable because it only deepens the message of the parable.

So, today let us try to rebrand this parable and see if any new insights arise.

First, we could dub today's parable the parable of the careless sower. This extravagant farmer does not plant his seeds in a nice clean line or in a specific field, rather the sower is indiscriminate. This lavish sowing leads to three failures: the seed on the path is devoured (v. 4); the seed sown on rocky ground is scorched by the sun (vv. 5-6); and the seed sown among thorns is choked (v. 7). Furthermore, some of the seeds fall on good soil and bring forth a range at harvest, some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty (v. 8). So, from that rebranding we could venture to ask is Jesus the sower and the seeds his teachings? Is Jesus a careless, extravagant sower and why would Jesus let his teachings fall on the path, on rocky and thorny ground? That would mean that for us his followers we are to model our own sowing after this sower, sharing Jesus' teaching extravagantly and indiscriminately, not judging which people and places are worthy of them and which are not. In other words we are not to be concerned about soil at all. Again and again in the midst of a thorny and rocky and good world, God sows the life-giving Word. We hear the story again and again as it works in us, and despite ourselves it even bears fruit.

Another way to sort this parable is to call it the Parable of the Miraculous Harvest. In this view, we recognize that the sower is mentioned only briefly. The sower does not return to rejoice in the harvest or even to harvest it. Rather, the miracle that counts is not so much the size of the harvest but the fact that it happens at all. However big or small the harvest itself is a miracle. Just like God's grace the harvest is a complete, unexpected surprise to remind us of the Kingdom of God. In other words we are not to be concerned about the harvest, or the environment, because like grace, it is as wonderful and unique as each one of us his followers. For example, in baseball, home plate is both the beginning and destination of our journey. We go from base to base, with perils in each base path---pickoffs, rundowns, force-outs, double plays, strike-outs. We are finally safe only when we get back to our roots--home plate. We rejoice in where we are.

A third way to brand this parable is to call it the Parable of the Helpless, Ill fated Seeds. Think about it with me. The seeds the sower so haphazardly throws around have no choice whether they flourish or not. Rather it is all in the quality of where they land. The environment determines the seeds' ability to grow and survive and to bear fruit. If a bird eats you, you are done for. If the ground you are on is rocky, you wither. If the ground you are on is thorny, you are choked. If conditions are not ideal, you cannot yield a harvest. In other words, you cannot do anything by yourself, no matter where you and I are in life, we are completely dependent on God. We need to recognize that it is the dense complexity of God's grace that provides us with the solid ground we stand on and the enzymes and nourishment that enable us to grow.

Yet, another way to brand this parable to is to view it as the Parable of the Good Soil. I think this is the second most popular name after the Parable of the Sower. The success of the seeds depends on the quality of the soil where they land. That means that everybody has the ability and potential because we may be on good soil. In this view, seeds--- ourselves --- can grow without our instigation, and often, even without our knowledge. In other words, we are to be completely open to the work of God wherever we are in life. There is nothing we can do except trust in the grace of God that comes in, with and through Jesus Christ. We do not control our destiny, or where we are in life. We are to be "do"-ers of the word, only God brings forth a harvest.

A fifth way we can name this parable is to call it the Parable of the "Secret"
Savior. In chapter 12, Jesus has been under assault by his opponents. Two such incidents are when the Pharisees object when the disciples pluck grain to eat on a Sabbath and when Jesus heals the withered hand of a man (chapter 12: 1-14). However, in Chapter 13, the divinity of Jesus is affirmed. Jesus not only teaches about the Kingdom of Heaven in simple but deeply meaningful parables, but embodies the mystery "hidden from the foundation of the world" (13: 35) but is now revealed in Jesus. In other words, this parable is reminding us, that it all points to Jesus, our savior.

Finally, we could call this the Purposely Confusing Parable. In this parable, Jesus turns from addressing the large crowd while sitting in boat by the shore of the lake to speaking to a more intimate group of his disciples. Jesus gives an intentionally confusing parable and provides an interpretation in order to tell them the strategy of speaking in parables (10-17). Jesus is sharing this parable as a statement that Jesus will now use parables intentionally so that he can reach some and not others. Jesus is saying that some will see and hear, but will not, at a deeper level, understand and take his words to heart. In other words, Jesus is reminding his disciples of the exceeding value of the kingdom and the necessity of total commitment to it.

Well what do you think? The Parable of the Careless Sower, the Miraculous Harvest, the Helpless, Ill-fated Seeds, the Parable of the Good Soil, the Parable of the Secret Savior or purposely Confusing Parable; which brand name(s) do you prefer? Whichever one or ones you pick, following Jesus Christ is not a simple process but a complex discipleship struggling to learn and grow. We all have different realities, different soils, with which to contend. We are all seeds, uniquely shaped and created by God yet humanity. And we each will have fruit that can be measured in many different ways. Nevertheless, for the Christian, life's 'realities' we find we are living --- our realities do not excuse us from choice or responsibility. Thus, as hearers and doers it is the reality of Jesus whose power was hidden on cross, glimpsed in the resurrection that is now growing all around us. Amen.

Generations – 7/3/2011

Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

Franklin Roosevelt, the 32^nd President of the United States from 1933-1945, said "This generation has a rendezvous with destiny." Really? What generation are we talking about?

For some it may be an easy answer, because it's always been a national pastime of older generations --- ragging on the younger generation and complaining about their lack of this, that or something or other. For example listen to this quote: "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." That quote is from the Athenian classical Greek Philosopher Socrates recorded by his student Plato from over 2400 years ago.

So complaints of others aside, which generation has a rendezvous with destiny? Is it not the generation between the Boomers and Generation X, those born in 1961, my generation --- the generation of President Barack Obama --- is it not our time? Or is another generation entirely?

Well as some of you know, the quote that I shared from Franklin Roosevelt is the opening to the 1998 book by former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw, who comes flat-out and tells us who gets the nod as "The Greatest Generation." In the book by the same title, Brokaw argues that it is the young GI Generation that stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II, that went to work in American factories, that farmed fence post to fence post, that had a garden in every yard, that saved scrap metal, lived with rationing, bought bonds to support the war effort -- that this is the greatest generation.

These are the ones, women and men, the living and the dead, who willingly gave their lives, who gave their limbs, to the enduring nightmare of real war --- World War II --- the war that saved the world from fascism, the war that protected the home of the brave, the land of the free so we might grow up in safety, democracy and prosperity.

But you know what, with all due respect on this 4^th of July weekend, I believe that we need to be reminded that the GI generation is not the greatest generation.

Although Brokaw argues that the young generation of 20 to 30 year old of World War II not only won the War but also changed things. For example, Brokaw points out that women 's opportunities got started when Rosie the Riveter went to work 30 years before they thought of calling it "Women's Liberation." Women serving in military units in Iraq and Afghanistan are a direct and traceable result of women serving in the WAVES and WACS and the front-line nurses of WW II. Brokaw quotes a woman by the name of Margaret Ray Ringenberg saying, "My father said, 'I didn't get to serve and I don't have any boys, so I guess you'll have to do it'"(page 163). Margaret took her father's words to heart and went out to fly all sorts of aircraft. Ringenberg, Brokaw suggests, was typical of ordinary patriotic women of her day. The country was in trouble, there was a need, there was a job to do, and so the men and women stood up and did it. And when these boys and girls came home from the war, they were not necessarily eager to stay put -- having seen the world.

Nevertheless they are not the greatest generation.

Did you know or have you every realized that most congregations have a range of five generations. So which was, is or will be the greatest? Which generation stands out in distinction?

Actually, Brokaw's book aside, it's not that it's so difficult to answer, because it is a bad question. Not only is it a bad question it is the wrong question, because from a Christian point of view, the greatest generation is not people born between a given set of years, but the people re-born in any age, at any age. The question is not of generational greatness, but re-generational importance.

"To what shall I compare this generation?" asks Jesus in today's gospel. The problem with "this generation," Jesus says, is that they listen neither to John the Baptist nor to Jesus. On one hand, John's austere lifestyle led people to accuse him of having a demon; while on the other hand, Jesus' habit of eating and drinking with sinners earned him a bad reputation. So this generation, Jesus says, finds reason to take offense at both John and Jesus and thus to evade the call of both. They are like children in the marketplace who cannot decide whether they want to play wedding games or funeral games and end up playing neither. So Jesus, in utter frustration bemoans the stubbornness of their hearts "Woe" he says. It is not a word many of us in this generation would use; still, "woe" to that generation that tries to trivialize or make God irrelevant.

Nevertheless, there were some in that generation and every one that has followed, some that listened and heard. That means that it is not the GI Generation against Generation X; it is not Boomers against Builders or Millennial against all.

It is every person from every generation who submits to the constant regeneration of their lives by God's Holy Spirit. Who pick themselves up and try again. "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." Jesus responds to those of every generation who look around themselves and see that all is not right, that the world is ripe to hear the message of love, forgiveness and grace. For example, those who stand up and say the burdens of the poor are being ignored while the wealthy discuss tax breaks. That's the greatest generation. That's the generations of the past and the future and those here.

What is the yoke Jesus offers to each generation? As I said the average congregation has five generations. That means that we are the inter-generational church of God; marked not by the year of our birth or death, but by the anniversary of our Baptism, fed at this table, living out our faith in this corner of the world. Together we serve, strive, grieve, and die. To take his yoke upon oneself is to be yoked to the one in whom God's kingdom of justice, mercy, and compassion is breaking into this world, and to find the rest for which the soul longs.

So, to call one generation the greatest or the opposite that a particular generation is least of these, immediately diminishes all generations who preceded it and all generations who follow it. It distracts us from the Christian truth that, before the Presence of God, we are but one equal people, a single generation, a human generation yoked in Jesus Christ to be God's people yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen.

Literal – 6/26/2011

Matthew 10: 40-42

I have a question for you, is today's gospel another rule? Is it kind of like a commandment or instruction from Jesus; "Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me." Or is it an observation? Or is it something else entirely? The reason I ask is that at times I find that many of us approach the words of Jesus regardless of what it says, as simply another layer of rules to live a good life. So before we get into today's gospel lets think through, what if you and I took the rules of the Bible literally? Now before you and I answer no, let's think about it.

A.J. Jacobs, a writer, decided to give it a try. Jacobs committed himself to a year-long experiment in living the Bible literally. The result is a humble and humorous book on his experience titled The Year of Living Biblically.

Before he began Jacobs, a self proclaimed agnostic, read through the Bible and compiled a list of "every rule, every guideline, every suggestion, and every nugget of advice" he found in both the Old and New Testaments. When he finished, he had a list that ran 72 pages with more than 700 rules, guidelines and observations. Jacobs saw that some of the rules would be good for him — things like telling the truth, not coveting, not stealing, and loving neighbors, for example. But, like those of us who wade through Leviticus, he saw plenty of rules that did not seem to make people righteous at all; stuff like not eating fruit from a tree planted less than five years ago or paying the wages of a worker every day. He also noted that there are those biblical rules that are just plain illegal today, like killing magicians.

Well given the wide range of rules, Jacobs did what many do, establish some criteria for which ones he could actually follow. With the advice of Christian and Jewish scholars, he figured out that there were certain rules that were unquestionably figurative or symbolic. And, Jacobs decided that anything that involved voluntary donation of body parts should probably not be part of his quest.

Armed with this revised list and with the continued help of human and written guides from both Judaism and Christianity, Jacobs began his year as a new persona for the year named "Jacob" and began following the Bible as literally as possible. He grew out his beard and hair to the point that he looked like Moses or the Unabomber, depending on your point of view. He dressed all in white (Ecclesiastes 9:8), making sure not to wear any clothing of mixed fibers (Leviticus 19:19). He walked around with money rubber-banded around his hand (Deuteronomy 14:25). He carried around one of those combination cane/seat things called a "Handy Stick" so that he could avoid sitting where a menstruating woman might have sat (Leviticus 15:19). He even "stoned" an adulterer in the park, but since the Bible does not specify say how big the stones are supposed to be he just tossed pebbles at an admitted (and annoyed) adulterer on a park bench.

The rules that Jacobs followed and the reactions of people around him made for interesting comments in his book. One of the more interesting observations that Jacobs makes is what is obvious to many of us, that while many religious literalists scoff at the idea of a "cafeteria" style of religion --- picking and choosing what rules to follow and what to leave out --- the truth is that there is really no such thing as a true biblical literalist. Even fundamentalists have to browse the scriptural salad bar and cannot heap every biblical rule onto their plate.

In other words, it is possible to commit idolatry on the Bible itself, worshiping the words instead of understanding and embracing the Spirit in which it was written.

Let's return then to today's gospel. Today's words are at the end of a chapter of Jesus' instructions to his disciples. His words were designed to prepare the disciples for the missionary journeys they would undertake both during their time with Jesus and we know later, especially after his ascension. The disciples were not to be people merely bound by rules and simply dressing the part of the righteous in order to share the faith --- that was Jesus' critique of the Pharisees, after all. Instead, the disciples were to act as Jesus' own representatives by reflecting his character, mission and message to the world.

That means for example that today's words from Jesus are not criteria but guidance. Like ambassadors in a foreign country, the disciples were to be the embodiment of Jesus and, by association, of God, to those they would meet and live among; that association however, can cause a lot of grief as we see earlier in this chapter in the form of persecution for example, (10:16-20), alienation from family (10:21, 35-37), and even martyrdom (10:28).

People steeped in rules, regulations and worldviews have a hard time seeing an alternative, which was precisely what Jesus was offering --- a view of God's kingdom that would upset the status quo, turning over human power structures and ushering in God's rule of justice, love and peace. As Christians' we have been given a model of thought and behavior that transcends written rules. We have been given Jesus. If we're looking to be literal at anything, we should be most literal in modeling our lives after his. That is why the church to which you and I belong understands that we follow the "living" word of God.

In the midst of their mission of representing Christ, the disciples were to concentrate their best efforts on modeling him in their relationships, starting with each other. Perhaps that is what the verses that follow may mean. The role of "prophets," the "righteous" and "little ones" perhaps means that first two were specific role definitions, while "little ones" refers to what we might call the "laity" today. Nevertheless, representatives of Jesus were to welcome one another and care for one another with the love of Christ. For example, giving a "cup of cold water" is a simple act, but following it literally may miss the main point that it's those simple acts of kindness, compassion and obedience that best represent Jesus in our everyday lives. Our faith is not about how well we follow a code of rules but rather that we should make an effort to be faithful to walk in the light that we have.

A.J. Jacobs learned from his year-long experiment that even as a non Christian there was a lot he could learn from taking on the character and lifestyle of a Biblically based person. Jacobs wrote, "The experience changed me in big ways and small ways. There's a lot about gratefulness in the Bible, and I would say I'm more thankful. I focus on the hundred little things that go right in a day, instead of the three or four things that go wrong ... I also really liked what one of my spiritual advisers said, which was that you can view life as a series of rights and entitlements, or a series of responsibilities. I like seeing my life as a series of responsibilities. It's sort of, 'ask not what God can do for you, and ask what you can do for God.'"

It is a very easy to make what we read or hear in the Bible, into some literal explanation or description, but that is not what Jesus is challenging us to do. Jesus' words in this week's Gospel text demonstrate that what God really wants from us is hospitality. We are all called to welcome God - into our lives, into our community of faith, into the world. The implication behind Jesus' words is that we welcome God into our midst every time we extend ourselves in hospitality and grace to another. It is more of a challenge but more rewarding for us to model our lives around Jesus and that is not a rule to follow but a way to be. Amen.

Sayings – 6/19-2011

2 Corinthians 13: 11-13

As a recent settler of Texas I find various things about this state and its people interesting. One aspect of Texas that I find fascinating is it language, particularly the sayings of the largely white/Anglo farming and ranching communities. Rather than saying for example, it's a hot day, someone could say: it's "hotter than a fur coat in Marfa" or "it's hotter than a stolen tamale." Or if it's dusty, someone may say that it's "so dusty the rabbits are digging holes six feet in the air."

These sayings or phrases are not just limited to the weather, they also can describe feelings, for example, for someone who is nervous, one can say they are as "jumpy as spit on a hot skillet" or "He'd worry the warts off a frog." Also, at times the roots of these sayings or phrases are obvious to their farm or ranch communities; if someone is happy, one can say, that they are as "happy as a hog in slops." But occasionally, these sayings are not only unique but are difficult to translate to northerners like me. For example, to explain someone who seems to be lucky one can say, "He's riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels."

Sayings, phrases and what they mean is important to think about it as Christians in community. Perhaps that is why today's second lesson from 2 Corinthians is important to review, particularly for us at Good Shepherd going through transition.

Having visited the house church or churches in Corinth at least twice and hoping to return for another sojourn, Paul is seeking to pave the way for his possible future return with this letter. Our lesson today is situated at the end of the message where Paul is naturally trying to say, "Good-bye!"

But how does one say, "farewell," particularly when the past circumstances are so varied? The history of the relationship between the Corinthians and Paul had been convoluted - one of great spiritual closeness but also sharply painful separation. These disagreements were not only between Paul and the church but in the church itself. The church in Corinth was also known by its decisive schisms. You might say, as some white Texas farmer might, those Christians in Corinth made "hornets look cuddly."

We see those feelings in the whole of 2^nd Corinthians. As some of you may be aware, there is some disagreement among biblical scholars about the structure and nature of the book of Second Corinthians. Some contend that Second Corinthians is actually a set of two separate letters of completely different natures addressed to Corinth upon different occasions. The reason for this thinking is because Chapters 1-10 comprise what is generally known as the "thankful" letter, full of joy and gratitude for the young congregation and for their mutual relationship. But with chapters 10-13, Paul's language changes severely. This is known as the "stern" letter written by Paul possibly from Ephesus when his relationship with the Corinthian church was strained, and it may reflect his response to some who were very critical of him.

Yet the question remains regardless - if 2 Corinthians is two letters merged into one or one letter - how does one say "Good-bye" when the air is filled with joy and gratitude at the same time when there is contention and controversy between the two parties both of whom are aware of the possibility that they may never again meet?

Surprisingly, Paul says that it does not matter! In the Christian faith and fellowship, one says, "farewell," in the same way. It does not matter if we are saying, "Good-bye," to someone with whom we share gratitude or to someone with whom we share hostility. It does not matter if we are hugging or fussing! We say, "Good-bye," in the same fashion because what we have in common is far greater than anything we can ever have in difference.

Furthermore, as Paul bids the Corinthians farewell, he leaves them with a to-do list of last-minute reminders, almost like a parent walking out the door and calling back to children over his shoulder, "Now remember to feed the dog and don't hit your sister." I think us parents might do well to quote Paul when organizing our family relations: "Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace." Or, in the words of The Message, the informal translation of the Bible written by Pastor Eugene Peterson, "Think in harmony and be agreeable."

Paul emphasizes what's important: Let's all pull together. Let's be mindful of one another. Let's consider how to wrestle with the conflicts that will inevitably occur - arguments, misunderstandings, and jealousies - whenever two or three gather, in the name of Jesus or for any other purpose.

In other words, living as Christians together in ministry is much like driving on busy, crowded highways. Paul presents some rules for these roads. At times, it will be necessary to yield, slow down or use extreme caution. Just like careful drivers, we are urged to keep our eyes on the road, not allow ourselves to become distracted by multiple influences and to pay attention to people who are also on the journey. Paul's instructions could be compared to a useful driving manual.

Farewell, brothers and sisters. Remember that we are all traveling in the same direction, although at differing speeds. At times, a fellow traveler may need to exit, people leave. They may leave our conversation, the church or life itself. Paul suggests that we trust each other enough to allow that freedom. In those times we are to keep our eyes on the road and wish people well in their travels.

If we continue to use the image further, Paul suggests that we do not be so focused on our destination that we forget to enjoy the scenery along the way. As we continue in our journeys, let us make an effort to agree on the general direction we are traveling. We can work through our differences. At times, we may bump into one another, but because we are all traveling together, we can handle the collisions easily. Acknowledge and be aware of the differences that exist, but celebrate the larger agreements we share.

Paul concludes his letter knowing that if the Corinthians follow his advice, not only will they be better off, but he will receive fewer letters of complaint, and Paul will have to deal with less strife during a future visit. It is now up to these young arguing, Christians to take Paul's instructions to heart as they embark on this new challenge of forming community in the name of Jesus.

No one can argue with the vision Paul paints for his young churches; every community or for that matter every organization desires to be positive and to live in peace with one another. The challenge is more in the process. One wonders if the readers of Paul's letter looked on the backside of the parchment to search for some further instructions or additional insights. The early Corinthians might have wondered, "Is that it?" Are no more details to be given? The questions abound: Now that we have the goal of agreeing with one another and living in peace, just how do we get there? How do we obtain that ideal balance of working, serving and believing while living in harmony with one another? What does the "grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit" look like?

I wonder why those Texas white/Anglo farmers and ranchers developed these unique ways of describing the world and people around them. Why say that something is "catty whompus" instead of it doesn't fit together nicely? I have not found any reasonable explanations, but I have to wonder if these phrases and sayings developed as way for the community to live and work together in harmony.

Let us take Paul's goodbye words to heart because they are more than nice sayings or phrases but words of guidance to be and live in community. Amen.

Interpreter – 6/12/2011

Acts 2: 1-21

It is just a word! Really? When I began preparing for today, Pentecost Sunday, I read a prayer, it goes like this: "Good Jesus, fountain of love: Fill me with thy love, Absorb me into thy love, Compass me with thy love, That I may see all things in the light of thy love, Receive all things as tokens of thy love, Speak of all things in words breathing of thy love, Win through thy love others to thy love, Be kindled day by day with a new glow of thy love" …. Stop right there… I could sort of follow it up to that point…through all that "thy" stuff but, did you catch it…kindled day by day.

(Hold up Kindle) What does a product sold by Amazon have to do with Pentecost? Then it occurred to me, I am seeing but one more example of what makes the English language unique in many respects, and also maddening. One reason that English has become the global language is because English adapts and grows over time. Yet, that very fact is one of many that make English so difficult for many language learners. The prayer from which I read was written by a famous British preacher in the mid 1800's, over 160 years ago. That's why it has all that "Thy" language. But it also explains why the word "Kindle" had only one meaning …. To build or set on fire.

Now, kindle has taken on a totally additional meaning. For example, if you were to walk into Barnes and Noble bookstore and shout the word "Kindle!" they would respond not with water but with "Nook."

But, all of this got me thinking, because when you consider all of the language groups and the communication hurdles that were present in Jerusalem on that day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago, it is remarkable that enough about Jesus got through to the crowd that 3,000 people accepted Christ.

The reading from Acts sounds like it could be the roll call at a plenary session of the United Nations: "Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs …" Yet, the wonder of it all rumbled through the crowd: "Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?"

It is of course, the first public miracle of that Pentecost day --- instant translation --- that gets our attention. However, translation alone was not sufficient, for in the retelling of the event it goes on tells us, "Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?'"

That means that the miracle of translating the words from the Galilean tongue into the languages spoken by the hearers enabled the crowd to comprehend the words of the disciples, but not to discern what those words meant. Instead something else had to happen. A translator can go from a word in one language to a word in another, but an interpreter is the one who takes those words and expresses their intended meaning.

In that first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was the translator but not the interpreter. Peter was the interpreter who answered the crowd's question about the meaning of the translation they heard. Peter addressed the people and told them about Jesus and about salvation. The communication miracle of Pentecost happened because the Holy Spirit translated and Peter interpreted.

Sometimes I think we Christians get confused about that. We may wonder "Why isn't that person getting it?" But that is like asking, "We built a church, why is it not packed?" I am not suggesting that the task of translation is not significant. The work of putting the faith into plain language for people to understand is important. There are people whose life work it is to explain what the Christian story is. Some develop translations of the Bible in other languages like the Wycliffe Bible Translators, others write books like What Christians Believe by C.S. Lewis, others use art and others blogs and web sites all trying to explain what we believe, and how to read the Bible like How to Read the Bible by James Kugel, and so forth.

But there is something just as important --- interpreters. That's because there are always people who say, "Look, I understand what Christianity teaches, but so what? Why should I buy into it?" Interpreters are people who are convinced about the value of following Jesus Christ and can therefore answer the question: "What does this mean?"

This does not demand that we are especially eloquent or have a convincing speech ready. It does not mean we have a degree in Christian apologetics or narrative evangelism. But it does mean that we are willing to speak and act faithfully from our own experience of Christ. One of the most powerful methods of interpretation is simply stating and living out our own experience and telling why our contact with Jesus Christ has made a difference. For example because of Jesus Christ we can say: "I can no longer be comfortable with my prejudices and homophobia." "I have real peace that stays with me, even when everything is going wrong." "I am less judgmental and more able to forgive." "I never knew a time when I was not a Christian, but I'm convinced it enlarges my spirit." "I know a joy and contentment in my life I never knew before." "My natural inclination is to think only of myself. But because of Christ, I can no longer ignore the needs of others." "The guilt I lived with has been taken away."

None of this "interpreting" guarantees anything, but statements about what commitment to Christ means to us personally and the choices we make has a greater impact than the nicest, fanciest Bible, the best-written Sunday school lesson or the most articulate sermon that explains the faith. That's because nobody can deny our personal experience and because we are sharing with words that have meaning to us.

Today we are confirming the faith of two people. They are young, and we all hope that they will have many years of life yet to live. How will the world be in fifty years when they are approaching 65 years old? Where will they be? What joys and sorrows will they have experienced? I have no clue, but one thing of which I am certain, Jarod and Lacey will have the same task that you and I have, interpreting our faith in Christ. What words and actions will they take and use to interpret the faith?

Perhaps the one word they will need to interpret is one we need to interpret in our time. When we read that more soldiers and civilians have died in Afghanistan, or that a child was killed in Florida, or that a woman was executed in a Texas prison --- two words are invoked. These words are retaliation and revenge. These are words that embody a spirit of violence. These words and that spirit may satisfy our thirst for retaliation, and might justify our continued use of a mechanism that has been utterly revealed and destroyed in the death of Jesus.

Jesus' death also invokes a word. Because Jesus' death is a reflection of God's character, Jesus' death is an invocation of God's Spirit. So what is revealed about God in this dead, resurrected, ascended Jesus? It is the word of forgiveness. What are others? Let me suggest love and hope.

Let us be inspired to interpret fully and completely what we have received because if you remember … they are only words. Amen.

“In and Out” Prayers – 6/5/2011

John 17: 1-11

Jesus is praying. Now obviously that is not a shock. It is recorded in scripture that Jesus prayed every morning and every night following the customs of the Jewish faith. Jesus also prayed often during the day and Jesus also went on retreats for the purpose of solitude, refreshment and prayer. All that seems obvious but I think we may forget that although Jesus prayed many, many times, in different ways and for different reasons, only a few were actually copied for us. One is found in our gospel today.

So not only is it interesting because it is one of the surviving prayers of Jesus but it is also tells us about prayer itself. We could spend time deliberating if it fits into one of the types of prayers for example, praise and worship, thanksgiving, and/or confession. We could discuss its style. Is it formal, conversational or devotional?

But that is not the only reason today's prayer is interesting compared to the other prayers of Jesus; rather it is a prayer where Jesus is "praying his way in." What do I mean by that? It seems to me that besides the types and styles of prayer there are also those prayers based on those who want to "pray their way in," and there are those prayers based on those who want to "pray for a way out."

Before we focus on Jesus and his praying his way in, perhaps we need to discuss what are prayers for a way out? Another name for prayers for a way out is "panic button" prayers. When we are rushing to get to an appointment for which we are already late for and we do not notice the traffic cop's car until we have whizzed halfway past it, we may instantly pray to God to help us get out of our predicament. Lord help the traffic cop recognize that I am a good person, just in a hurry! When you walk into math class and suddenly realize the chapter test is today, not tomorrow. It is time to "pray for a way out" of a failing grade. When we get a letter with a return address from the Internal Revenue Service it is time to "pray for a way out" of any tax problems. Or when our company announces it will begin downsizing, "right-sizing," or "upsizing" or whatever else they call it. It is time to "pray for a way out" of the unemployment line. When our spouse or loved one confronts us with the possibility of separation or divorce, it is time to "pray for a way out" of anger, grief and shock.

It seems that life hits a skid when situations arise that may cause pain or fear, anger or hardship. We are suddenly brought up short. I have found that even those who might not consider themselves very prayerful or even very religious, when faced with these kinds of clutch circumstances, hurl up "panic-button prayers." We pray to God for help in getting us out of the mess we have landed in.

Now, do not get me wrong. Panic button prayers; prayers "for a way out" are not wrong. God hears them as much as prayers for us to have a quiet night sleep. Even Jesus himself got to a point in his life where he authored and offered one of the classic panic button prayers when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he looked down the road toward cross. Jesus fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him; "Father, get me out of here!"

Nevertheless, if we think about it, praying one's-way-out prayers, panic button prayers, are not very creative or new. Jesus at his moment in the Garden was to the point. When we are trying to pray our way out, there simply is not time to be eloquent. Although if we are completely honest, sometimes we may try to dress up our panic-button prayers by gilding them with promises; We promise we will never speed, slack, cheat, lie or steal ever again if God will just get us out of this one. As if God hasn't heard that before.

But that is what is so interesting about today's prayer by Jesus. Instead of asking God to "save me from this problem," or "deliver me from this mess/stress/distress," Jesus teaches us to ask God to "glorify God's name in this action."

We know that the crucifixion completed Jesus' work of glorifying God on earth, for by laying down his life he gives himself completely so that the world may know of Jesus' love for God and God's love for the world. And by his resurrection and ascension, Jesus returns to the heavenly glory that God prepared for him in love. Today, Jesus is now praying that his followers will one day join him in the Father's presence to share in this glory and love.

Jesus is praying for himself and hoping that we will as well, praying his way into glory --- a relationship with God. To our eye of faith, however, the glory of the exalted Lord is already present in the crucified body of Jesus. If glory defines what the crucifixion is, the crucifixion defines what glory is.

Instead of a fervent prayer for an escape hatch, Jesus is modeling a prayer for us to "pray for a way in" to God's activity in this world and in our lives. For example, if we are confronted with the need to make a midlife career change we can pray for a way into a new possibility. If we are finding that the demands on our time are causing our blood pressure to rise, our head to pound and our nerves to snap – let us pray into trust in God's love and pray for a way in to a slower pace. If we are worried about the strain on our budget and hating the pinched feeling we always have at the end of the month --- let us pray for a way into trust in God and an examination of what is an authentic style of life for Christians and what is just "lifestyle." When we are grieving over the loss of a partner and spouse --- we are to pray for a way into trust in God for a renewed love for family and friends.

Much of life is beyond our control. We cannot run the show. But we can choose how we respond. Instead of always pushing our panic button prayers, praying for God to get us out of whatever we are in, why do we not also trust God and pray for a way into a yielded life?

When God's voice rang down out of heaven and promised that Jesus was being glorified at his baptism, some heard angel voices, others heard thunder. When our life takes unexpected turns, crashes into a barren spot, or overwhelms us with responsibility, do we hear the din of thunder roaring in our ears? Or do we hear the voice of an angel offering us a chance to glorify God?

It's our choice. Either we can try to pray for a way out of a thunderstorm. Or we can pray for a way in to a deeper and more fulfilling relationship with God, to the glory of God. Amen.

Usability – 5/29/2011

John 14: 15-21

It has finally, happened an invention that will solve all our problems … Are you ready for it...a magic wand that replaces all of our remote controls. According to the web site "Think Geek" for $90.00 "the wand can learn from any remotes in your house and once you master its 13 movements, you can mastermind a symphony of electronic enjoyment from the comfort of your couch. Flick the wand from side to side to flip the channels, twist the wand to turn up the volume and a beam of light will shoot out the unicorn tail hair and magic will happen!"

Well, I don't know about you although the concept of ditching all our remote controls for a wand is kind of appealing in a geeky kind way, I do not think that is a good solution. I quite did not know why until I read about the rule of usability.

As many of us have experienced, less than a few decades back, when TVs and other electronic gadgets started arriving with remote controls, the buttons were few and controlled only a small number of functions. They were not too complicated to use. But with each new generation of consumer electronic devices the number of buttons has crept upward. And the increasing number of buttons has made such things as setting the time of day to adjusting the color too complicated for many people.

According to Jakob Nielsen, a user-interface expert, whether it is a remote control with buttons or a wand that you can flick, they all violate a primary rule of usability --- unless that gadget should first present users with a limited number of features, those likely to be the most useful, and then allow users to get to more advanced features if they want to access them. Nielsen suggests that many of today's electronic devices error because they either put every last feature and function on the hand-held controller or just the opposite, the device is so limited that makes them unusable over time --- instead devices should grow with us.

I have been wondering about this rule of usability as we approach Pentecost, because consider that concept in our gospel reading. We may not realize it but this primary and very important rule of usability plays a role in what Jesus says to his disciples at the Last Supper.

This is the sixth Sunday of Easter, two Sundays before Pentecost. Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, empowering Jesus' disciples for ministry. But here we are, a couple weeks ahead of time, where we are given a glimpse of what's coming --- a sort of preview of Pentecost. And what do we hear?

Well, today's gospel is a small piece of a lengthy message that Jesus is sharing with his disciples during his last evening with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. Although Jesus knows that his time with them is about to come to an abrupt end, Jesus does not try to stuff a lot of final instructions into the conversation. To the casual observer, this might seem odd, for these followers are the ones on whom Jesus is going to rely to carry on with the spreading of the gospel, but they are not nearly ready. In fact, Jesus quite calmly tells them as much: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."

So Jesus is near his final days but he is between a rock and cross. Jesus is not saying that the disciples are resisting learning, or somehow Jesus is afraid that all is lost, but rather that the disciples have not yet had the experiences that will enable them even to perceive what knowledge they will need. Jesus know that there are encounters ahead for them where there are things they will need to know, but that from their present viewpoint, they cannot even imagine what those things are.

Think of it this way. Have you ever encountered a situation where you wished you could ask for example, the advice of a loved one who has died? Or if, while that loved one was alive, you could have anticipated that you were going to need his or her counsel for the particular conundrum you now face? But back then, you had no way of knowing what the future would hold, and so it never occurred to you to ask. That, in essence, is what Jesus is saying to his followers: "There are some things I need to tell you, but you are not yet in a position to comprehend them."

Jesus tells them something that does change everything, and it explains why Jesus is so calm in front of his disciples what we know to be coming on Pentecost. After he departs, Jesus says, the Advocate --- the word also gets translated "Comforter" or sometimes "Counselor" or "Teacher" or the transliterated Biblical Greek "paraclete" (παράκλητος) is used --- this Advocate will come to guide the disciples and convey to them what the Spirit hears from Jesus. "And I will ask the father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth."

But before we get to ahead of ourselves, to return for a moment, to that primary rule of usability, Jesus is introducing what he will be leaving his disciples with what they can handle at the moment and need for the present, but Jesus is also telling them that when they need more from him, the Advocate is the "mechanism" who will provide it.

The Advocate --- the Holy Spirit --- is not a gadget; rather in other words, there would be no one simple little button in Jesus' teaching of his disciples. Nor on the other had would there be no last-minute flurry of overwhelming instructions that the disciples could not possibly absorb. No. The law of usability would be observed. Jesus would leave them with what they had been able to grasp so far, and as they needed more and were able to receive it, the Holy Spirit would supply it.

Now let me very clear, some have suggested that today's gospel --- introducing the Advocate --- is somehow suggesting that there is another person coming who will interpret and help the disciples. Some Muslims have suggested this is the prophet Mohammed pbuh. Bahia's have suggested this is Bahaullah. With respect for both those faiths, that is not the case. The Holy Spirit will not bring someone else's teachings, but those of Jesus.

As Jesus explained it, "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own ... He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you".

To us who follow Jesus today, there's great value in hearing these words about the future role of the Holy Spirit, for they remind us of two critical things: First, today's words remind us that at Pentecost, God will provide a way for Jesus to continue to speak to us and not just with things already taught and recorded in Scripture. But the Advocate will help us so that we can navigate a world that is quite different from the world the original disciples knew.

The Bible is the basis for our moral, ethical and spiritual decision-making. Paul for example, no doubt was thinking of the Old Testament when he wrote to Timothy, "... from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus," but we can surely apply those words to the New Testament as well. The Scriptures do contain what we need to know for salvation. But God did not stop speaking when the Bible was complete, and Jesus did not stop speaking when he ascended into heaven.

Thus we should look to the Bible as God's Living Word for our lives for our surface understanding of the Bible is not necessarily his last word on everything. Rather, the Holy Spirit takes the things that Jesus wants us to know today, and communicates those to us through many channels. Sometimes it is through new insight on the Scriptures we thought we already knew, but the Spirit also speaks through the power of inspiration, community, reason, insight, tradition, revelation and personal experience, especially as we seek to listen prayerfully.

The second valuable thing that Jesus' words about the role of the Advocate tell us is that not one of us understands all at once, all that Jesus Christ has for us. I love this quote by Mark Twain the American humorist who put it this way: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years."

When we are baptized, we all can lay claim to the power of God's love and grace. Our responsibility is to listen to the power of the triune God faithfully so we can think more clearly, feel more deeply, speak more truthfully, love more extravagantly, serve more creatively, give more lavishly and live more fully. Because Jesus was preparing us for the fact that anytime that we stand up for another, anytime we act like Jesus, anytime that happens we will bear the love of Christ to another.

As Jesus well knew, it is simply impossible to anticipate all that we will need as we mature and encounter the twists and turns of life. In these last words Jesus introduces that the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, operating by the primary rule of usability, declares to us what is Christ's, as we need it, as our experience of people, places, actions, touch, sight, sound, victories, failures, sleeplessness, devotion, love, faith and reverence makes us capable of hearing it. Let us listen as we act. Amen.

Full Life – 5/15/2011

John 10: 1-10

Have you ever had a miserable job --- one of those employment situations that drains all your energy and possibly your life? A poll from a year ago revealed that 55 percent of American employees hate their jobs. Work is not the only form of dissatisfaction. Relationships or ones health simmer as issues for many people. Unhappiness can span cultures and geography and ages.

Some simply throw up their hands, find blame, or look for a conspiracy as countless people do. Nevertheless this whole notion of discontent is important for us to consider as Christians. This is not only because of our task to follow Christ and live a new life forgiven and freed but because of what constitutes the opposite of discontent, "a full life." "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." While we can all seem to describe dissatisfaction, what is a "full life?"

We have many examples of skewed understandings of full life. You may recall hearing in the news back in August 2007 of New York billionaire Leona Helmsley's death. More likely you may remember the story that followed of her leaving $12 million to her Maltese dog to make sure that it was cared for … that amount was later decreased to $2 million. This is the same woman who, was convicted in 1988 of federal tax evasion for, among other things, fraudulently charging as business expenses her $1 million marble dance floor above a swimming pool and $45,000 silver clock. I remember thinking at the time that "living the good life" and "living a good life" are not the same thing --- a rich woman making sure that a dog lived out the good life rather than many people around her living a good life.

On the other hand, according to Christ, we were all made to enjoy a fulfilling and life-giving relationship with God and with others. We were all created to live with purpose and to measure our lives not in terms of the dollars we earn or the amount of stuff we own or produce but by the amount of love we give and receive. Jesus came "that they may have life, and have it to the full." So, if there are markers for a miserable life, Jesus offers a completely different set of signs to indicate a life that is ultimately fulfilled and fulfilling. So what are they?

Before we explore signs of a full life we need to remember that when John 10 opens, Jesus is still engaged in a rather heated conversation with the Pharisees --- a conversation sparked by Jesus' healing of the man born blind on a Sabbath in John 9. The Pharisees were acting like the ultimate bad boss, engaging in religious ruthlessness rather than in compassion and amazement at the man's healing. One thing to remember from John 9 and the healing of the blind man is that he is never named — he is anonymous, and the Pharisees seem to care less about the man himself than about the legality of him being healed on the Sabbath. In response, Jesus draws on a different vocational metaphor to counter the misery-making legalism of the Pharisees --- the image of the Good Shepherd.

This is an interesting image, because it would have been hard to imagine a more mundane first-century job than shepherding sheep. Besides the boredom of moving sheep back and forth from water to pasture to sheepfold, shepherds faced long periods of time away from home and family. Living most of the time in the open, they were often pounded by harsh weather. Besides that, they and their flocks were in constant danger from animal predators like lions, bears and wolves and human predators like sheep-stealing thieves. Furthermore, a shepherd's job was the least important in society and they were thus among the poorest of the poor. For example, you may remember when Samuel was told by God to go to the family of Jesse to anoint the next King of Israel. Jesse had many children, all of whom Samuel examined to see if they would be king. None made the grade for God until Samuel asked Jesse and was told there was one more… but he was out with the sheep!

Back up a bit to verses 1-10, though, and you see that Jesus is setting up a contrast between the good shepherd who cares for the flock and the "thieves and bandits" who come only to "steal and kill and destroy." The Pharisees may have seen themselves as the benevolent bosses of the people, but Jesus makes it clear that their oppressive religious posturing is bringing the people nothing but misery. The Pharisees are clueless managers who just don't get it. Jesus, on the other hand, understands the needs of his flock and is invested in bringing "full life" to those in his care. But that takes us back to the question of what are the signs of a full life. I think we find three signs in our gospel.

The first sign of the full life is being known. No anonymity here. We do not blend into the cubicle or street. We are not nameless office workers or faces on the street. The full life has everything to do with the relationship of the shepherd to the sheep. For Jesus, the first and foremost sign of an abundant life has to do with knowing and being known by the other. "He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out," says Jesus of the shepherd, "and his sheep follow him because they know his voice."

If a basic human need is to be valued by someone in authority, Jesus is all over this. We do not serve a dispassionate, disconnected God who sits in a divine corner office with big windows dispensing orders. In Jesus Christ, God knows us by name, values us, and cares for us. In a world that seems to always operate out of a sense of scarcity, where the operative principle is always wanting, doing or being more, Jesus offers an abundance of love, grace and hope.

The second sign of a full life found in our gospel is that love is not just a sentimental thought. God does not send cheap cards with a machine produced signature. Rather, Jesus would "lay down [his] life" and be the "gate" through whom all his sheep, his people, would "come in" and "be saved." Some Christians want Jesus as the gate to somehow become a "yes" to some and a "no" to others. But that is a total betrayal of today's words. The love and care of the Good Shepherd has a purpose. Every person is of value. We are not just saved from the dangers of life apart from God; we are also saved for the mission of sharing the abundant life in Christ with others. Jesus came to bring an abundant life and says to us, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

Our relevance in the world isn't based on our job title, on what we produce or how much we make. Rather a full life embraces a larger vision of life and our place in the world. No matter the life situation we find ourselves in, we find relevance when we see our connectedness to the purposes of God for the whole world.

The third sign of a full life is that we are not about measurement. Measuring the full life in Christ involves a different kind of math than the rest of the world uses. All the things that typically mark success in the world --- job, house, salary, car, the latest technological gadgets --- or whatever else you think it is, don't add up to a hill of beans in the eyes of Jesus. Rather the abundant life is always outwardly focused, always concerned about how much one gives rather than gets. If there is a measuring stick for the followers of Jesus, then it has to be Jesus himself. We measure ourselves by asking, "How well d0 we represent Jesus? How do I reflect his presence in my life?

Ultimately, it is not so important how you and I see or define the Good Shepherd. Rather what is ultimately important is how the Good Shepherd sees and defines us. Namely, we are all people who belong to God and are loved so much that Jesus would lay down his life for us, and for the whole world. In turn, knowing who we are and whose we are gives us freedom and energy to be like the members of the early church, to praise God, joyfully breaking bread together and sharing our resources with glad and generous hearts.

"The glory of God is the person fully alive," said a famous early Christian Irenaeus. Jesus has come that we might have life, and have it to the full and it is in doing just that --- living fully --- that God is glorified by each moment of our existence. In the words of a prominent British Christian, John Henry Newman: "Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning." God loves us and we are loved for who we are. That is the only measure that matters. Let's us live out the full life. Amen.

Bones - 4/10/2011

On Sunday, April 10, 2011, I was honored to speak at The Lutheran Mission of Seguin, Texas.  As mentioned in other places, this sermon is the basis for what I shared not a word for word transcription.  Thank you.

Ezekiel 37: 1-14

One of my favorite TV’s shows is … Bones.[1]  I know that there are a lot of crime shows but there is something about Bones that is different than other crime dramas.  Perhaps I enjoy Bones because of its balance of intelligent emphasis on forensic anthropology, archaeology and of course the sexual tension between, Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan, and FBI special agent Seeley Booth.

Possibly the reason the TV drama has been successful is that Dr. Brennan is a logical empiricist, meaning she thinks there is a rational answer to everything.  From my opinion this is what adds charm to the show.  She is a rounded character —– forensically brilliant, not particularly faith-friendly yet a bit socially awkward.  For example, if someone makes any kind of pop-culture reference, she without hesitation or inhibition, interrupts the conversational flow with her signature line and straight face, “I don’t know what that means.”

Nevertheless, although Dr. Brennan might not have a clue about slang, metaphors or movie quotes ---- Bones gets bones.  Missing metacarpals point out a crime of marital passion.  Half a rib cage is evidence of a tiger attack.  A burned skeleton logically reveals the motives of eco-terrorists.  We’re talking a crazy, weird understanding of bones.

But I have to wonder if some bones might stump even the great Dr. Brennan.  Imagine this potential opening scene.  An expansive valley knee-deep with bones; all that one can see in all directions are scads of human skeletons mixed with one another, all of them bleached and brittle.  I can just imagine, Dr. Brennan standing amid the bones — confused.  There’s no obvious rational explanation.  How’d they get here?  What caused these deaths? 

Then, suddenly, the bones begin to tremble around her.  Rattling and jostling, they begin to merge.  They take on natural, human connections to one another.  Bone piles become skeletons to which the Doctor utters, “I don’t know what that means.”

Well, Dr. Brennan, most of us agree with you entirely.  That scene is weird. Irrational.  No natural explanation.  And it’s the vision God gives Ezekiel in today’s Old Testament lesson.

God takes Ezekiel on a visionary journey to a valley filled with dry bones. After surveying the whole scene, God makes clear to Ezekiel that there is absolutely no life.  Ezekiel does not need an explanation at this but perhaps we do.

This is a picture of Israel in exile.[2]  From the moment the Israelites first stood on the edge of the Jordan River, they had been warned of the results of living unfaithfully in the Promised Land.  But they forgot God.  They chose cheap replicas.  They ignored God’s demand to extend justice to all.  Their worship became hollow lip service.

Now God’s anger was apparent.  The empire of the moment, Babylon, had scorched the earth, sacked Jerusalem and kidnapped the best and brightest from among them.  The land was lifeless.  Dry.  A nation given life at Mount Sinai now lay dead in a valley.  Before today’s lesson, Ezekiel of course had heard the comments and whispers as to reason why this had happened, a Glen Beck chalkboard full of discussion around morality, minorities, government, natural disasters and wars.

Of course those are not the only comments, because there were others that Ezekiel was familiar with: “I feel spiritually dried up.  I haven’t heard anything from God in years.  My prayers feel as though they never leave the room.  I’d believe in God if he’d show up for me … just this once.”  We, too, may understand such comments.

These hopeless feelings and comments arise from situations where we feel no God and no end in sight.  Possibly we may be looking all around us and like Dr. Brennan have one logical thought: “I don’t know what that means.”

Nevertheless a healthy view of God and the faithful life has room for such outcries, because real change comes through brutal honesty and vulnerability before God.  The Psalms and Lamentations in the Bible for example, have similar cries and countless great saints before us have endured dark nights of the soul.

So, how do we return to hope?  Hope comes through embracing our spiritual despair.    God “asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘Sovereign LORD, you alone know.’” [3]  Ezekiel was shown total death before he was shown new life.  And this is where I not only disagree with the character of Dr. Brennan and the reason I do not find hope on TV or in movies or anywhere else because in that in this place of death, Ezekiel knows that only God can bring life.  Knowing how someone died does not bring hope.

God commands Ezekiel to speak to the dead.[4]  Ezekiel is to offer Israel the promise of new life.  Only God can bring hope and restoration.[5]  At which point, suddenly the dead begin rattling back together.  Signs of life appear — tendons and flesh.  Corpses begin to look alive again.[6]

Yet, although hope has now sprung in the bones, true hope must be authenticated by true life.  In today’s lesson, reforming needed a refilling.  Just like moving furniture around after a divorce can be considered a new start, more needs to be done.  Restoration was to be accompanied by the people’s change of heart.[7]

How?  Ezekiel had to still “Prophesy to the breath.”[8]  Like Dr. Brennan we could wonder: “I don’t know what that means.”  Well, beautiful wordplay is at work here in our lesson.  The Hebrew word “Ruach” (roo-ach) is a multilayered word that we see throughout the Old Testament.  It can mean breath, wind, the spirit of a person or the spirit of God.  The Hebrew word for prophesy carries the idea of causing to bubble up like a spring, thus when Ezekiel is told to “prophesy to the breath,” it was understood to mean “pouring forth words abundantly like gushing water to the spirit of God.”  

Clearly, God wanted Ezekiel to pour himself out before God.  To find new life in the bone yards of our world, we must do the same: pour forth words to the spirit of God and beg God to act.  God alone gives hope with new life.  God alone sends his breath and work into the dryness of our landscapes.  That means to “prophesy to that wind” is to pray for renewal.

No matter where we are and no matter our circumstances, God wants to bring life into death!  Ezekiel speaks to God’s people, asking them to see the deadness in and around them … as well as hope in God’s new life.

Before I conclude let me add one final point, one that would be healthy to lay bare.  Although I am not a member of this community, many of us have followed prayerfully your journey from despair to new life; nonetheless, simply moving from the valley does not mean the journey is complete.  How can we take the momentum that has started a move from dry, brittle bones to sinews and muscle, into richer and deeper life?  Ezekiel pleads with God’s Spirit to bring life anew.  Let us do the same with people everywhere, pleading for God’s Spirit to bring life anew.  Because guess what?  There is life to be found in the bones.  Amen.

---

[1] Thanks to www.homiletics.com; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_(TV_series).

[2] Ezekiel 37: 11-12

[3]  v. 3

[4]  v. 4

[5]  vv. 5-6

[6]  vv.7-8

[7]  Ezekiel 36:26

[8]  Ezekiel 37: 9

Secrecy & Transparency - 4/3/2011

My famith and I had a wonderful time at Our Savior's (Synod Authorized Worshipping Community) this past sunday, April 3, 2011.  It was the second time that I had been invited to preach by their pastor, Rev. A. Steve Rode.  Our Savior's was formed in response by Christians who wanted to remain part of the ELCA after the majority of their church decided to leave.  Please keep this inspiring community and their pastor in your prayers.  Presently they are meeting at the Dominion Common Room at 8 Dominion Drive, San Antonio, Texas.

John 9: 1-41

Shall we be honest --- transparent --- not keep any secrets?  When I first read our gospel in preparation to be with you today, I had a flood of mixed emotions.  I had that mix of joy and sadness which can be found in the words of the lyrics of the popular hymn by John Newton that speak to this lesson:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I'm found;
Was blind, but now I see.[1]

The fact is that after hearing the gospel what promptly came to mind are the recent --- and continuing --- experiences of our church --- the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  As you certainly remember in 2009, the ELCA church wide assembly passed two resolutions in particular that have had far reaching repercussions, specifically resolution 2 that the “ELCA will commit to allowing congregations that choose to do so to recognize same-gender unions” and resolution 3 that accepts “those in committed same-gender unions to serve as rostered leaders in the ELCA.”[2]

My mix of emotions is not simply because of the joy in the intent and decision of our assembly and the sadness because of those who disagreed chose to the leave our church.  Rather, it was for a different reason---mixed emotions in living out the Christian faith.

Perhaps I was open to that connection found in our gospel because about the same time that I began to prepare for today, I happened to have a conversation with a woman who shared a story with me.  She recounted that the 2009 decisions of the church wide assembly and the subsequent discussion and impact on her particular congregation, she and her husband had a conversation with their son.  It was then that he chose to tell them that he was gay and in a committed relationship.  He had kept secret his homosexuality and his 5-year partnership because he knew his parents were committed and active Lutherans.

In other words, on the one hand his parents’ faith opened a conversation.  Yet at the same time, it had prevented him from being honest on this important aspect of who he was and his significant relationship.  Although his sexuality was not a complete shock to his parents, the fact that he had to be secret about his important relationship as well as his feeling that a door had been shut in his face because of their faith was extremely painful.

Our gospel not only points out those times when the religious leaders are blind, but more importantly points to the struggle between secrecy and transparency, night and the light of the world, Jesus --- the struggle of living out the Christian faith; a life which calls us to transparency in all that we are and how sin sometimes drives us into blind secrecy.

We see this tension between secrecy and transparency playing out through this whole episode in today’s gospel.  It is suggested that the man is blind because of some undisclosed sin that the parents or he himself had done.  Jesus responds not with a diagnostic discussion on where sin originates, or what that sin may be, but instead Jesus proposes that the man will be an example of God’s work that will become transparent.  To that end, Jesus mixes a concoction of mud and his own saliva to hide the eyes that will be healed.  Jesus then commands the man to go to one of the most public place in Jerusalem to bathe his eyes uncovering them being able to see…for all to see.

This miracle stokes confusion among the people around this healed man with some suggesting that he is an imposter, whereas the healed man states he is really that same man who they knew as one way, and tells these same people exactly what had happened.  Except now, Jesus is not around, somehow disappearing until later in the episode.

The incident does not end there because the healing happened on the Sabbath thus bringing the religious leaders into the story.  It would be interesting to speculate if the episode would have been different if it had happened on any other day of the week?  Instead, now behind closed doors, the man and his parents are ultimately brought before the religious leaders who are divided on whether the healing trumps a Sabbath or a Sabbath trumps a healing; a discussion which either hides or makes transparent God’s love in and through Jesus.

The episode then concludes with Jesus searching for and finding the man, Jesus being revealed for who he is, and the religious leaders “with” Jesus expressing surprise and incredulity that they might be the ones who are blind.  "Surely, we are not blind, are we?"

Jesus reply is cryptic, both transparent and secret.  Being blind is not a sin.  Saying "we see" is.

Now, we could at this point, end here and suggest how wonderful it is to be transparent rather than secretive …but there is something more.  There is a danger because when we are most spiritually confident is when we are in greatest spiritual danger to ourselves and others, that it is precisely when we feel strong in faith, precisely when we are feeling the most committed, precisely when we are the most "religious," that sin may lie closest at hand.

This is why piety --- daily living out of devotion to God --- can be the deepest form of idolatry.   Perhaps we can see that being played out since 2009 in our church.  Deep piety may in fact be why some have chosen as the reason to leave our church.  And some who have left in a sense out of piety claim they are the true standard carriers for faith in a secular age, whereas we who remain in the ELCA are seen by some as no longer living out our faith.

This lesson is a good reminder that everything about us, even --- and especially --- our piety, our devotion to God, living out our faith, can be twisted and distorted, making secret what should be transparent in the love of God found in Jesus Christ.  This is why Martin Luther said that we always need to remind ourselves that we are always really "weak in faith, cold in love, faint in hope."[3]  Yet in God’s grace in Jesus Christ we can be confident in faith, hot in love and strong in hope.

So how do we come to terms with this tension between secrecy and transparency and truly be truthful with ourselves and with others and thus live out our faith more honestly?  On one hand we are called to live out our faith.  But by the same token living out our faith can become an obstacle for some!  How do we live with this irony?  We cannot have a split personality either.  In Luke 8:17, Jesus says that there is no point in trying to look good in public while doing evil in private.  “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.”

If we want to avoid living life in fear of this web of secrecy and transparency, there could be one simple standard – live life as if you are in a fishbowl in the middle of Times Square in New York City.  When the spotlight hits, people will see good things and criticism of us will be because those who see us cannot handle the brightness of our goodness.  But more fortunately for us, as Martin Luther reminded us, Jesus died and rose for the weak in faith, the cold in love, and the faint in hope.  Happily, this lesson is a reminder that it is not our "religiousness" that matters, but rather Jesus, the "light of the world," who came that all might see.

Similarly, we need to be very careful that in our claim to see---those who claim to possess the truth --- and it pains me to say this --- we can in fact be spiritually blind, a condition which mistakes ignorance for certainty and error for truth.  When we admit we are blind and do not see the way is opened for the healing of that blindness.  In 1 Peter we hear these words, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”  But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.  For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”[4]

Let us be like the man in this gospel, let us be transparent before all so that we too can look up and recognize Jesus as a prophet, but also as the Son of man, Jesus fully revealed to us, the divine figure of the Risen Christ to be worshiped.  And let us at the same time be humble and aware of all that may obstruct our vision and the vision of others, so that we and others can live lives not of secrecy but transparency.  Amen.

---

[1]http://www.constitution.org/col/amazing_grace.htm

[2]http://blogs.elca.org/assembly/

[3]http://www.lectionarycentral.com/lent1/LutherEpistle.html

[4]1 Peter 3:14-17 (NIV).

 

Sustainable Mission - 2-27-2011

It was a joy and privilege to visit and preach at Desert Hills Lutheran Church in Green Valley, Arizona on February 27, 2011 .  Desert Hills was one of my sponsoring congregations during my tenure as a missionary in Japan.  Below is a  written copy of my sermon.  The congregation also made an audio copy of the sermon which can be found on their Sermon web site.  As always the written and spoken sermon are not the same.  If you are ever in the area, I encourage you to visit.

Matthew 6: 24-34; 1 Corinthians 4: 1-5

The story goes that there was a monastery in Europe where one of the young brothers in training lived with mortal fear of being called upon to preach at the chapel service.  This brother in training thought he would cut this off at the pass.  He went to his prior, the chief monk, and he said to him, “Look, I will do any job that you ask me to do.  I will go out into the fields and I will scrub floors, just please do not ask me to preach at the chapel service!"

Well, the prior said to himself, this is exactly how this guy needs to grow. So he said, “Tomorrow you are going to preach at the chapel service.”  So, the novice went back to his cell filled with dread.  He got up the next morning, prepared for chapel, and then it came time for his message.  He looked into the eyes of his peers, and began asking, “Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?”  And they all shook their heads in the negative.  And he continued, “Well, neither do I, let’s stand for the benediction.”

Immediately after chapel service the prior came to him and said, “Look, this is for your own good.  You are going to preach tomorrow.”  So the next day came.  The scene was the same.  And the young brother stood and began as he had the day before. “Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?”  This time, remembering yesterday, they all nodded yes.  Then he said, “Since you already know, there is no point in my saying it, let's stand for the benediction.”  By now the prior was angry and once again he says, “I want you to preach or you will go to solitary for confession and prayer.”

On the third day the same thing happened.  The novice stood before his peers and began, “Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?”  At this point, remembering the last two days, the audience was really confused.  So some hesitantly nodded “yes” and others shook their head “no.”  To which the young brother said, “Okay, let those who know … tell those who don't.  Let's stand for the benediction.”[1]

I share that story as a way of introduction because I believe we may be able to see a bit of ourselves in the story.  One similarity is that preaching is never easy.  Another is that, like the brothers listening to the novice, some of you here today could be shaking your heads no; I do not have a clue as to what an ELCA missionary in the 21^st century does or why missionaries still exist.  Or others of you may be shaking your heads “no” because you may be opposed to the notion of spending thousands of dollars to send someone to accompany another church and their ministry in another country.

Others among you may be shaking your heads “yes,” I already know what a former missionary is going to say.  You may not know my exact words, but you may assume that I will continue using the time honored traditional verses of Matthew 28: 19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Or you may take for granted that I will simply retell the classic story of mission, proclaiming the gospel message outside of our culture, and that it persists unchanged.

With that in mind as I prepared for this day, I happened to read our lectionary and realized that today’s gospel and portion of the letter to the people in Corinth may be the best Word for all of us.  Today’s gospel and portion of Paul’s letter remind us that we are to live in such a way that we can face tomorrow confident that God will sustain us as much in the future as God does today.  On this Global Mission Sunday, I understand this to mean, that mission is to be sustainable.

At first glance, Jesus’ words do not seem to be about sustainability.  Rather, they seem to be an admonition against worrying, an instruction about trust and getting one’s priorities straight, and seeking first the kingdom of God.  But when Jesus says life is more than food and body, more than clothing, more than retirement in a casita in Green Valley, we realize that Jesus is talking about something larger than how we function in the moment.  Jesus is talking about seeing beyond the present and its anxieties.

Of course, we hear that word --- sustainable --- more often these days, as consciousness of our impact on the natural world has increased.  Yet, by itself, the word sustainable means “the capacity to endure.”  As applied to how we live in the world, it refers to interacting in a way that yields long-term continuation.  But when applied to our Christian life, it has a much deeper meaning.

We are to live faithfully as disciples sharing the gospel in this nation and around the world, in such a way that we can face tomorrow confident that God will sustain us as much then as God does now.

It’s good for us to hear that.  Perhaps you can understand why as I share this story with you.  I remember talking to a one of the pastors I worked with in Japan about a convert to the Christian faith.  You see in Japan, many people’s journey to the Christian faith, begins in adulthood rather than with baptism and Sunday school in childhood and then the rite of confirmation as a teenager.  Furthermore, before becoming a Christian in Japan, many of those same adults may study the Bible and attend worship for years before making a commitment.  In this case we were discussing the fact that after a year or two, this Christian had stopped coming to worship regularly.  The pastor indicated that after years of study, making the difficult decision to become a Christian, and the high of Baptism, this person was struggling with now flatter emotional plain.

How about you?  Do you see why it is good to hear of the need for ongoing trust in God’s sustaining love?  Although we may continue to show up in worship, it may be more out of routine than anticipation.  And if pushed about it, we might even confess that the faith we perhaps experienced as fire we now experience as dust.  That’s not an uncommon state of being for Christians who have been on the way for a while.

Conceivably as disciples our ministries may have become dried as well.  Mission is the same way, although there are countless stories from many parts of the world particularly with our brothers and sisters in African churches where the faith is growing exponentially, there are places that are having more difficulty.  The Japanese Evangelical Lutheran church for example, is struggling.  There are many reasons for that.  Not only is Japan one of the fastest ageing societies in the world with one of the lowest birth rates, but mission and ministry are difficult in a wealthy, largely indifferent culture for example.

So, although I could give you more stories as I did in my quarterly reports that would lift up some of the joys, the problem with that approach alone, are that it may only result in a flare up, not a sustainable burn in your support of global mission.  As you notice Jesus himself simply points to what is around him to highlight trust in God.  Can we do the same when we are anxious?  But the point is the same; sustain trust today so we can trust in tomorrow.

It is not always easy.  Although we Lutherans have accompanied the Japanese Lutheran Church for over 150 years, we are now struggling with our Japanese Lutheran brothers and sisters in how we can continue to accompany each other.  The reasons for that are many, including the fact that congregations in the ELCA increasingly view giving for mission and ministry as something to be limited to their communities.  I am very thankful for your support over the years that I was in Japan, and I am sure I can speak for the Global Mission staff of the ELCA who would express their gratitude as well; however, sustainable mission does not exist in isolation.  We know that from our lives.  If our social life is askew, our financial life in ruins, our emotional life in turmoil or our physical life weakened, we should not be surprised if sustainable mission as disciples of Jesus is in a downturn as well.  If those other aspects of our lives are out of kilter, we do not usually assume we can be healed, made whole or find renewal without working at it.  As Paul described it, “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.  It is the Lord who judges me.”[2]

In those times sustainable mission needs constant upkeep, like this yearly event, like active interest in the work of your church, the ELCA, and the missionaries your support because healthy sustainable mission is not necessarily filled with drama and excitement.  This is because sustainable mission growth is lived out daily, more like the tending of a garden than the fireworks of the 4^th of July.

Yes, it is a fine balance between shaking our heads no in discouragement and nodding our heads as if we know it all.  As you may know, congregations have found a variety of ways for example, doing “mission trips.”  Besides providing a boost of assistance to others in need for a week or two to ministries and congregations and denominations in this nation and around the world, mission trips can be like what some long-distance runners call a “runner’s high,” an exhilarating feeling that occurs when strenuous activity takes the individual over a threshold that activates a release of endorphins.  The runner’s high makes the athlete feel as if he or she could run on for miles without tiring, though in reality, that may not be possible.

The same is with mission.  Some congregations have mission highs and some do not.  There is nothing wrong with either, but the challenge for Desert Hills, or for any Christian, is not today, but the day after and the day after that, especially in times of anxiety.

I challenge you to see how you can continue to sustain mission so that we can respond to mission and ministry not only in your community of Green Valley but so that we can work with our Christian brothers and sisters around the world.  The term the ELCA Global Mission uses is the word “accompany.”  Not unilateral action but in partnership with those who know ministry best in their particular culture.  The image used by some is from music when a musician accompanies a soloist.

In that regard, I would invite you to consider the possibility in how Desert Hills could be fed.  This church has been so good in giving perhaps you may be willing to receive?  What about hosting a mission trip of Christians from Senegal or Japan to come and work with you in sustainable mission?  Author Eugene C. Kennedy put it this way: “The renewal of ourselves, the restoration of our trust, is mediated by our relationship with others.  Faith doesn’t fall from the skies; it comes to life in our human experience.  It is in sharing with others that we sense the meaning of the church as a people, the supporting community of those strengthened by the Spirit.”[3]

In closing, we all must struggle in faithful discipleship because if we invest ourselves primarily in things that do not matter, we will miss God’s will for us.  There is a difference between planning for tomorrow and worrying about tomorrow.  Let us join together in planning sustainable mission not only for Green Valley but together with other congregations in the ELCA, the church in Japan and the church in Senegal and all the churches in mission for tomorrow.

Just as Jesus told his disciples he would not leave them orphaned at the Last Supper, but that the Holy Spirit would “abide” with them and would remind them of what Jesus had said to them.[4] When we’re honest in the church about the state of our faith, the church has the opportunity to be the people of God together, and the Holy Spirit has room enough to refill our almost empty faith buckets — and to sustain us for more miles on the journey.  So I come to you today honest and truthful, thankful for sustainable mission, in which the trust and faith in Green Valley and the trust and faith in Nagoya, Japan are pieced together into the mosaic of faith that can nourish us to continue on the way.  Thank you.  Amen.

---

[1] http://www.centralpc.org/sermons/2003/s030525.htm

[2] 1 Corinthians 4: 4

[3] Kennedy, Eugene C. The Pain of Being Human. Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1974.

[4] John 14: 17,18,26

Bloodless Bullfighting - 2/20/2011

Sermon based on Matthew 5: 38-48 shared on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011 at Gethsemane Lutheran.  Thank you!  Reminder: what is written is not exactly the sermon delivered.

If you do not kill the bull….is it bullfighting?[1]  Our image of bullfighting is perhaps based on a movie or from TV or from travels to Spain or Mexico; an image in which men face bulls with spears, darts, swords and a red cape.

As many of you know, this adrenaline-juiced dance with danger has been going on for centuries in the Latin world’s bullrings.  The history of bullfighting goes back to the ancient Romans and their fights in the Coliseum.[2]  It survived on the Iberian Peninsula and over time has evolved into the spectacle we see now in which in the final stage a matador enters the ring and uses his cape to dance with the bull before he kills it with a sword...unless, of course, the event is a bloodless bullfight.

Bloodless bullfighting is a recent example of an attempt to make bullfighting more appealing.  For example in La Gloria, Texas, in western Starr County, at the Plaza Santa Maria, bloodless bullfights are held.[3]  Last week on February 13^th, the 12^th in the season, in place of stabbing the bull with a sword, the matador killed the bull symbolically, by pulling a rose attached by Velcro off the back of a bull.  Now from what I understand, the natural fight-or-flight reaction is still present, as is the very real danger of a pair of horns atop a 1,000-pound bull.  Yet, although the bullfight is dangerous, typically there’s no “death in the afternoon,” as Ernest Hemingway described it.[4]  Well … I do not know if bloodless bullfighting has a future, but bullfighting without blood is a radical departure from the violent spectacle of the past.

In much the same way, Jesus reinvented what had become in a sense the blood event of his day when he looked at the tradition of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” and issued a new set of guidelines in the gospel.  To the natural reactions of revenge, fight or flight, Jesus adds a response: Love.

Jesus is teaching that love can be every bit as effective as revenge, as a flight to safety or as a fight that draws blood, but it requires real bravery and commitment.  It is not the love of warm and fuzzy feelings.  This love is grounded in a deep determination to respond to danger by acting in a Christ-like way.  We are challenged to be as courageous as matadors, standing without spear or sword in front of a snorting bull.

So what does Jesus say about responding to danger with love?  According to New Testament scholar Eugene Boring, Jesus calls “for his disciples to reject absolutely the principle of retaliatory violence.”[5]  To not become what we resist.

Perhaps, we need to be clear that today’s gospel has generally been understood by some people as teaching non-resistance.  If someone hits you on one cheek, turn the other and let them batter you there too.  But this has been bad advice for many, including battered women.

Jesus could not have meant those kinds of things.  Jesus resisted evil with every fiber of his being. There is not a single instance in which Jesus does not resist evil when he encounters it. The problem begins right there with the word resist.  The Greek term is antistenai.  Anti is familiar to us in English to mean "against.”  Stenai means to stand. So what we translate as resist is more like, "stand against."  Resist is not a mistranslation so much as an under translation.

Furthermore, we also need to remember that Jesus’ response to “stand firm” makes no sense unless you see it in the context of the kingdom of God.  In this heavenly kingdom, enemies are embraced and turned into friends, not rejected and put to death.  Because after the words “eye for an eye” and to “turn to them the other cheek also,” Jesus then adds “And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.”  So not only are we to stand firm but we are to show the world that we are to find our security in God, not in material possessions.[6]  Jesus includes this example, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”  It is a way for us to reveal our generosity as participants in the kingdom of God by offering more than our enemies are demanding of us.[7]  Jesus also adds: “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”  This makes a point that we are to help others as the Lord has helped us.[8]  All these are signs of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is preaching that love stands firm, finds its security in God alone, shares rather than holding on, and is a sign of our trust in God.  Love seeks the welfare of the other person, even if that person is an evildoer.  Responses of nonviolence, generosity and helpfulness not only differentiate followers from the culture and climate around us but lead others closer to God’s kingdom.

Of course, such a Christ like response is difficult.  It takes courage and deep determination.  All the same Jesus continues, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”[9]

Jesus is recognizing the difficulty and still he challenges us to love our enemies not because they are wonderful people who deserve to be loved but because they are children of God --- we are to love them because God loves them.  After all, says Jesus, God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”[10]

Why is this important to identify our attackers as children of God?  Modern medicine has shown that emotions like bitterness and anger and hatred can cause problems such as headaches, backaches, allergic disorders, ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart attacks, to name just a few.  When we do not love our enemies, we actually inflict great physical and spiritual harm on ourselves.

Moreover, Jesus raises the stakes a little higher, like the promoter of a bloodless bullfight releasing an even bigger bull into the ring.  “Be perfect therefore,” Jesus adds, “as your heavenly Father is perfect.”[11]  This means to be complete in love, not reserving it for just neighbors, friends and family.  It means to serve God wholeheartedly, focusing on the standards of God’s kingdom.

This challenge is enormous because the desire for revenge is strong.  We naturally want to seek our kind of justice.  But Jesus says no — try love. Try courageous, determined, committed love.

Now let’s be clear, I would not even begin to suggest that my life is an adequate expression or fulfillment of this gospel; I am growing into it and I have a lot of growing yet to do.  Nor do I have some personal heroic example from my missionary time in Japan or as pastor from my prior parishes.  I wish I could say, “Do as I do.”  Paul is bold enough to say that on a couple of occasions in his letters --- I cannot.  But I understand, and I hope that you understand, that this is what the gospel of Jesus is about.  This is not a pie-in-the sky ideal unrelated to the real world.  Jesus really does expect his disciples to live this because Jesus himself is the quintessential embodiment of his teaching.  We see this love most clearly on the cross.

The Jerusalem spectacle for Jesus and the disciples wasn’t a bloodless bullfight but, in fact, a gory mess.  Not aspiring to be a victorious matador, Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.”[12]  Rather than dancing away, Jesus took the full brunt of death.

But that, of course, isn’t the end of the bloody bullfight.  God raised Jesus from the dead.  Thus, when we are faced with danger, we try to imitate the behavior of our crucified and risen Lord as participants in the Kingdom of God.  When tempted to retaliate, we remember that Jesus refused to retaliate.  When filled with hatred for our enemies, or in an honest desire for revenge, we recall that Jesus loved his enemies, all the way to the cross.

Gandhi once said, “Everyone in the world knows that Jesus and His teaching are non-violent, except Christians.”  How sad!  In the bullfights of our lives, we have four choices: We can seek revenge, flee … fight … or love.   Let us grow in following Jesus because we are part of the kingdom of God.  And remember this, for Christians the answer is clear, we do not need a dead bull to be bullfighters.  Amen.

---

[1] www. Homiletics.com & http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/debriefing/2009/may/29/bloodless-bullfighting-tradition-evolved-or-just-p/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting

[3] http://www.bullfightingnews.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=181

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_in_the_Afternoon

[5] Boring, M. Eugene. “The gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, 193-96.

[6] Matthew 5: 40

[7] Matthew 5: 41

[8] Matthew 5: 42

[9] Matthew 5: 43-45

[10] Ibid.

[11] Matthew 5: 48

[12] Philippians 2: 6-8

Stay at Home Dad - 2/13/2011

Thank you to Living Word Lutheran Church in Buda, Texas and their pastor, Rev. Lori Ruge-Jones for the invitation to preach on February 13th.  Their hospitality was infectious!  This is more or less the sermon that I preached.

Matthew 5: 21-37

I have a confession to make.  I am an SAHD.[1]  This is not a form of ADHD.  Rather that acronym stands for --- Stay-At-Home Dad.  Although it is not by choice, that is what I find I am.

As many of us know, gone are the days when a child’s birth or adoption automatically resulted in one parent, usually mothers quitting their jobs or drastically reducing their hours while the other parent, usually fathers, stoically headed back to the work routine.  Although stay-at-home dads are still the minority in the United States, studies are showing that parents increasingly view SAHD as an option.

The reasons are many and as varied as the rich and diverse family structures that exist in this nation; yet it seems there seems to be one reason behind this movement and it is not unemployment.  It is one that has touched my life and allows me to stay at home to manage the household and be a resource for our two children.  The reason is my spouse has a job that pays better than one that I could dig up on craigslist and it includes …. benefits!

Nevertheless whatever the reason may be, men are learning to embrace the idea and are diving into the world of PTA, play dates and car pools with the enthusiasm of an explorer venturing into uncharted territory.  If you were to examine that culture you would find that SAHDs have responded with all the tools available to 21st-century fingertips: A new crop of blogs, Web sites and dad-and-child play groups has emerged, guiding fathers as they juggle the challenges of hands-on home management and child care.  

In person and online, we fathers are sharing the joys and frustrations of being responsible for children and home.  Not surprisingly, we are discovering what others have found or have known for years, a stay at home spouse does not entail eating chocolate bonbons and watching bad Netflix movies.  Rather we are learning as commentator on life at home, the late Erma Bombeck, wrote: "Housework can kill you if done right."[2]

Well before we get too far afield perhaps at this point I should explain the connection between my confession that I am an SAHD and our lessons.  As many of you know, we are using a series of readings from the gospel of Matthew that are all part of the Sermon on the Mount, which we will hear until the end of February.  Today we come to that passage that strikes fear into many lives that have to share how their Christian life intersects with scripture; fulfillment of the law, murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, eye for an eye, and love for enemies.  Furthermore, in my view, this lesson is complicated by two nearly opposite historical interpretations of this passage.  Each interpretation claims that Jesus is being radical in his approach to the law.

In the first interpretation, Jesus is being radical by urging us to take the law far more seriously than we'd ever imagined.  According to this understanding Jesus is initiating a new law that both exceeds and supersedes the law of his forebears.  This view points to the regular “You've heard it said..., but I say...” contrasts.  This takes today’s ethical demands of the Christian faith seriously, however it tragically renders the Christian life to almost entirely a matter of morality.  As Professor David Lose at Luther Seminary puts it, “Did Jesus really have to die so that we could have the Ten Commandments on steroids?”[3]

The second line of interpretation goes in the opposite direction: Jesus is radically taking the law to extremes precisely to show us that we are utterly helpless and unable to follow the law.  This reading puts a decidedly theological twist not just on this passage, but indeed on the whole of the law, as suddenly the law's chief value, is not to guide the Christian life but instead to drive us to Christ for mercy.  While this reading underscores our dependence on God for forgiveness, it nevertheless empties the law of any significant moral content.  Worse, it makes it sound like Jesus didn't really mean what he says as if the law is a joke.

Well what do we do?

We need to begin by struggling through how we understand the law that Jesus speaks of.  If we recognize it simply as legal terms, it can end up being a moral and all-too-often self-justifying check list: No murder today; check! No adultery; check!  No lust; check!  And by the way, let us put the law up on the courthouse lawn.

Jesus, however, understands the law as far more than that.  Jesus instead returns to the full implication of the law in that God wants more from us.  Actually, God wants more for us.  Jesus is reminding us that God wants us to regard each other as God regards us and thereby to treat each other accordingly.  Jesus is getting radical about the law precisely by calling us to look beyond the law to see its goal and end: not just our life and health, but that of our neighbor and even our world.

Jesus calls us to begin not only to imagine life anew but life that is lived as if we are in God's kingdom.  A kingdom where laws are obeyed – yes, but more than that, keeping close to our hearts our welfare, the welfare of our neighbors, and the welfare of this world.  This is done while trusting in the same God that loves us, trusting that our neighbor and world are doing the same for us.

Is this easy?  In Paul’s letter to the people in the port city of Corinth in Greece, we read how Paul finds himself in a nurturing role, responsible for the care and feeding of newly formed churches --- “baby” Christians.  Much to his dismay, however, their growth does not always proceed according to a neat, orderly plan.  Paul’s frustration can be heard when he makes reference to their need for baby food --- spiritual milk instead of solid food.

Paul scribbles on paper his frustration about this struggle of living out this kingdom that Jesus talks about.  Paul is disappointed that the Corinthians are not moving forward with their spiritual growth.  And like any good parent, Paul has noticed the warning signs of bad and risky behavior.  He’s concerned about the company they’re keeping.  Their choice in role models in living out this kingdom does not meet Paul’s approval.  These young Christians are allowing themselves to be influenced by the newest fads and the flashiest speakers.  Instead of relying on the constancy of God, they bend to the latest ideas they hear.  They’re in awe of Apollos and overwhelmed by Paul but completely missing it is “God who gives the growth” (v. 7).

The teachings of Jesus come from the heart in that they are a cry by Jesus to grow up in our understanding of the law, to a better way of living in relationship with each other.  In his book called The Message, Pastor Eugene Peterson translated Matthew 5:19-20 this way:  “Trivialize even the smallest item in God's Law and you will only have trivialized yourself.  But take it seriously, show the way for others and you will find honor in the kingdom.  Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom.”

You see relationships are not to be taken lightly.  The command to love God and to love others as self is unstated but is also central to reading today’s lesson.

So where does that leave us?  As you know there is much that divides our worship communities, the church, and our world.  Our nightly newscasts are filled with story after story of individuals who are dehumanized and rendered victims of a society in which relationships have broken down.  It is easy to look at the problems and name them as the fault of others but the bigger challenge comes when we dare to find ourselves in the midst of this world and ask how am I contributing to the problem?  Paul reminds the people in Corinth, based on today’s words from Jesus that God calls us to become “mature” in Christ, and that includes how we live out the law in relationship to our neighbor.  Yet at the same time that we are to become “mature” in Christ, we will never outgrow our need for God’s love and support.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I am now a SAHD.  Over the last few months I have grown to appreciate more of its challenges.  Yes, I struggle with what that means for me.  Just recently, as I was picking up my daughter at her school bus stop the bus driver who has seen me nearly every day, commented as my daughter was walking down the stops.  “Man, I wish I had your job.”  At which time, my daughter said, “He doesn’t have a job.”

Perhaps he sees a middle aged, white male who should be working!  And in a way, the bus driver is right.  But if that is all that he and I see than there would be reason to be depressed just as these words of Jesus might seem to make us feel. 

Nevertheless I have this opportunity to grow in the most important relationships that I have with my wife, and two children. 

God calls us to have a mature depth of love with a quality of life that comes not by trivializing the law but to take seriously what is most important our relationships with self, the neighbor and world.  God desires for us to live a well-tended life as Jesus articulates; a life dedicated to seeking God as a plant seeks and needs the light of the sun - living out a life dedicated in all our relationships with self, our neighbor and world.  God is the one who watches over the whole process.  If we go it alone, we’ll dry up.  Let us pray…

---

[1] Idea for illustration came from www.homiletics.com

[2] http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/11882.Erma_Bombeck

[3] http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=452

Next Door Neighbor - 1/2/2011

John 1: (1-9) 10-18  Preached at House of Prayer Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas.

 Here we are!  Happy New Year!  But, to be honest, not much has changed.  The sun rose this morning and we are here.  Another year is gone, a new one has begun.  So in one way --- we who are here to greet 2011 --- can wholeheartedly agree with the speaker of Ecclesiastes: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.[1]

Well… that is true in that that speaker of Ecclesiastes had it right as far as the daily turning of the earth upon its axis and the rising and setting of the sun.  The speaker had it right in that all that has changed is that the measurement of time places us in a new year.  Nothing much has changed, NFL football will be played this afternoon, the stores will be open and for those employed or in school, yes, there is work on Monday.

And yet, in another way the writer of Ecclesiastes and all of us who are caught up in day in and day out existence are very wrong because our gospel says to us today that there is a “new thing under the sun.”  “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”[2]  Our gospel reading speaks of an amazing and unique event --- an experience and event so powerful that it has the potential to bring new life, hope and joy to all who embrace it.

The Word, which is God, becomes flesh and comes to take up his dwelling in the midst of people like you and me.  In the most profound way, we can say, “God has moved into our neighborhood!”  Perhaps you have never thought of it that way but listen closely. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”[3]

My family in 2010 went through a move.  We moved out of a parsonage. It was an apartment on the second floor above a church in Nagoya, Japan.  We moved from there into a home on the north east side of San Antonio.  In many ways it was an interesting experience because we moved from a building that did not belong to us but was our home for 4 years into a condo that we own, but we had never lived in.

And although we have settled for the most part into our home, some people are not so fortunate when they move.  I read another one of those familiar articles in a newspaper a while back --- you know --- the one about how people in a neighborhood get all worked up because someone or something is coming to the neighborhood they do not like.  For example, the shock for us in our new neighborhood is the large number of Men’s clubs, strip clubs and Adult video stores.

Now --- think with me about something for a few moments --- you would suppose, would you not, that the Lord Jesus on the other hand would be well received if he were to move into a neighborhood.  Surely there would be no concern or anxiety about who was next door if it was Christ who was moving in --- would there?  Nevertheless, think about this for a moment.  “How would you feel if you knew that Jesus Christ was going to move into the house next to yours?”

Perhaps we may think, “It would be nice for the children,” or “It would be nice for my parents because they are elderly and ill.”  Or perhaps we may think “I hope that would help our stress level.”  But on the other hand, resale might be a problem in this tight market, if potential buyers learned that Jesus Christ lived next door.

Obviously I am being a little tongue in cheek, but the reality is exactly that as Jesus was not well received.  Listen once again to our gospel, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”[4]

So, although we live in a very changed world from the one Jesus came to, I truly wonder if the reception would be different.  Would “his own people” --- which is we ourselves --- accept him today?

Do you remember that when Jesus first entered public ministry and spoke in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth, the end result was that the people of his hometown – his parent’s friends and neighbors tried to take him out of town and throw him off a cliff.[5]  They rejected him because they did not like who this man who had grown up in the village had turned out to be.  They rejected him because of what he said to them his lifelong neighbors.

So, would we be any different?  If Jesus came to our town, would he be welcomed or would he be rejected because we no longer recognize him or because of what he would say?  Would we want him living in the house next door?

Perhaps a brief true story from another pastor would help:  “Some years ago a young man came to my church with his fiancé.  The couple had come because the young woman had grown up in the church and they wanted to get married.  The “bride-to-be” had not been back to church for some time and her mother, who was a regular attendee, said there was no way she was going to call the pastor on behalf of the couple.  Now as they stood at the door after worship, the young woman asked, “Pastor, could we meet with you some time?  This is my fiancé and we would like to get married.”

The pastor continued that they did meet.  And this fiancé turned out to be a young man from an un-churched family.  He had been to a church "once or twice" with a friend and told the pastor, “I believe in God and all that… and when we get married, I want to have a family.  Both of us would want our children to go to Sunday school, but I’m just not ready for church yet.”  “And why is that?” the pastor asked.  “Well, I’m not a very religious person and to be honest, I’m just not ready to give up all the things in life I enjoy!” said the fiancé.”[6]

The idea that the fiancé shared is one that many of us have in that if Jesus Christ were to move into our neighborhood, he would come with a stern attitude and a heavy handed judgmental spirit.  Combined with the authority and power of God, we fear that his presence would have a chilling effect on life as we know it.

That is just one of any number of notions about who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus is all about in our non-Christian culture.  But you and I are not to be so uninformed, because to receive Jesus Christ does not mean that he moves into the house next door.  Nor is Jesus a Word we sit down and read in our lazy boy when we have nothing better to do or simply to bring comfort.  Rather, Jesus Christ came, comes and will come to dwell in no place other than our hearts, minds and souls.  He is a Word we are to watch and hear and imitate and follow.

There is an important phrase in our gospel that points us to the heart of what it means that the Word became flesh and came to dwell in our midst.  “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God --- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”[7]

There is something new under the sun because Jesus Christ came to dwell not as a neighbor, but into our lives.  And in doing so, we become “family” in a whole new sense.  We discover, for one thing, that when Christ is present there is great joy, not gloom and darkness.  When Jesus Christ is present there is celebration, not condemnation and blame.  To receive from the “fullness” of Jesus Christ is to receive the heart of what life was meant to be --- it is life filled with promise, potential and hope.  

In the famous play from the 1930’s called Green Pastures that for the first time featured only African-American actors and actresses, playwright Marc Connelly has a moving and memorable scene.  The Lord is anxiously looking out from heaven, trying to decide what to do with the sinful situation on earth.  Gabriel enters with his horn tucked under his arm.  Sensing the Lord's dilemma, he brushes his lips across the trumpet and asks, “Lord, has the time come for me to blow the trumpet?”  “No, no,” said the Lord, “don't touch the trumpet, not yet.”

God continues to worry with the problem.  Gabriel asks the Lord again what he plans to do.  Will he send someone to tend to the situation?  Who will it be?  Gabriel makes some suggestions.  “How about another David or Moses?  You could send one of the prophets: Isaiah or Jeremiah.  There are lots of great prophets up here.  What do you think, Lord?”  Without looking back at Gabriel, God said, “I am not going to send anyone.  This time I am going myself!!”[8]

No… the world did not end yesterday and may not end today, and no new, thorough revolution happened when the New Year began, there is nothing new under the sun.  Yet, the most radical thing that ever happened to our world took place when God became what we are, so that we could receive and dwell with God.  So there is something new because now we can understand better what God is, and we can believe with all our hearts that God understands what we are.  So, Happy New Year --- for a light has come into the world into our very own neighborhoods … into our very own lives.  Amen.

---

[1] Ecclesiastes 1: 9

[2] John 1: 9

[3] John 1: 14

[4] John 1: 10-11

[5] Luke 2: 14-28

[6] http://www.lectionarysermons.com/jan02-00.html

[7] John 1: 12-13

[8] The Green Pastures, Marc Connelly, edited by Thomas Crips, Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, p.90-101

Falling into Water - 12/5/2010

Matthew 3: 1-12  On Sunday, December 5, 2010 I was invited to preach at Love of Christ Lutheran Church in Weslaco, Texas.  Typically I write a sermon to fit the day and a scripture lesson based on the lectionary.  However, on this Sunday, I felt compelled to bring an older sermon that I had preached at various congregations over the course of this past summer on the theme of "Confidence."   In other words, I had two sermons available.  After discussing with the pastor, I preached my sermon on "Confidence" rather then the sermon that follows.  So, although never preached, I share it with you.

On December 10^th, the next film in the popular movie series “Chronicles of Narnia” series will be released.  This third movie is called The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The story begins with two children, Lucy and Edmund, spending a dull holiday with their cousin Eustace, a sour and unfriendly little boy.  To pass the time, Lucy and Edmund share the story of magical kingdom of Narnia.  Lucy and Edmund have been to Narnia before, but Eustace has not, and he mocks them for their belief in this magical land.[1]

Suddenly, as they are arguing the existence of Narnia, we see a painting of a ship on Lucy’s wall come to life, and the three children are drawn into Narnia.  Together they fall into the ocean and are rescued by the sailing ship called the Dawn Treader.  You might say that the film begins with a splash!  Once safely on board, Lucy and Edmund are greeted by old friends including Caspian, who’s now a king.  Caspian is in command of the Dawn Treader on a quest to find the Seven Lost Lords of Narnia, as he had earlier promised the lion Aslan.

The rest of the movie continues to follow the basic outline of the book of the same name on which the story is based, showing how Caspian and the three children --- especially the nasty cousin Eustace --- are transformed as they travel from island to island on the Dawn Treader.

Well, if you are fan of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” either the movie series or the books on which they were based, you know that this and other powerful things happen in this magical land of Narnia.  You may also know that the author C.S. Lewis created the fantasy world for a purpose --- to teach lessons about the Christian faith.  For example, Aslan, his divine lion, is one of the best fictional representations of Jesus Christ.  (Although Aslan is gentle and loving, Lewis says again and again that he is “not a tame lion.”)

So what do this movie and book have to do with this second Sunday of Advent?  A basic Christian truth is that life is a spiritual adventure, and it ends and begins when we fall into the baptismal waters and then climb out transformed.  When the three children fall into the waters of Narnia and go on to encounter Aslan --- the Christ --- it is a spiritual adventure, similar in a sense to the opening in Matthew’s gospel.

If you look closely at our gospel, the third chapter begins with John the Baptist appearing in the wilderness of Judea as if falling from the sky, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”[2]  Now remember, in the Gospel of Matthew we have not heard anything about John the Baptist, his birth or any of the other details, until his abrupt emergence here.  Also, we have heard nothing about this “kingdom” until uttered by John.  This kingdom might sound like a fantasy to some, as out-of-this-world as the land of Narnia.  But John the Baptist says this kingdom is not only real but very close, but it will be ushered in by the promised messiah.  In preparation for people to enter it John begins by baptizing them in the river Jordan.[3]

In addition, not only do we have sudden appearance of John and the first introduction about a “kingdom,” but Matthew also paints John as an outlandish figure --- as from a “B” movie --- wearing a cloak of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, as he munches on locusts and wild honey.[4]  Nor is this John one who speaks softly and carries a big stick but instead shouts that although he may be powerful “one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.”[5]

Well, according to Matthew who responds to John’s sudden appearance, a kingdom, the coming messiah and this call for baptism?  We hear that it is just not locals but also that the entire region along the Jordan --- the people of Jerusalem and all Judea--- come.[6]  When there what do the people hear…. but John the Baptist proclaiming that they must turn around and head in a new direction in preparation for this kingdom.  When John calls them to repent, he uses the verb metanoeo, which means to change your mind or purpose.

However just like the character of Eustace created by C.S. Lewis, mixed into the crowd are some Pharisees and Sadducees, sour individuals coming to see and question what John is doing and saying.  John the Baptist responds to their particular presence not with words of welcome but with “You brood of vipers!”  “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”[7]  John says that although they are related to their ancestor Abraham that is going to do absolutely nothing for them when this kingdom arrives in all its glory.

It is at this point that perhaps just like a film with an unexpected intermission we may wonder what happens next.  Do the people of the Jordan come out of the water … transformed?  How do the Pharisees and Sadducees respond to being outed?  What happens next?

The first 12 verses of Matthew are only the beginning.  Unfortunately, many of us today do not take this opening salvo in Matthew, this turning point seriously.  Sure, we may feel deeply unsettled about our lives, but we are reluctant to repent, change our mind, redefine our purpose, and shift our course.  The status quo is oddly comforting to us, and we don’t want to rock the boat.

Let me take a moment and return to the Chronicles of Narnia.  What happens to Lucy and Edmund and Eustace?  When the three children in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader pass through the waters of Narnia, they begin a transition that changes their lives.  Much the same happens in the Gospel of Matthew as we hear more about Aslan --- Jesus Christ.  But here is the kicker, how does change happen according to John the Baptist?  How does it happen in the Chronicles of Narnia?  Transformation does not happen in the boat.  It begins with falling into water.

Which begs the question for you and me, if we are going to count ourselves among the crowd that plunged into the Jordan --- as opposed to the Pharisees and Sadducees --- then we need to pass through the water and begin to bear good fruit; we need to live as if we are seriously on a spiritual adventure.  Furthermore, not only are we to bear good fruit, but the stakes are high John tells us, because of what is coming, that winnowing fork is now in Christ’s hand, “and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”[8]

So, as we wait and prepare for the advent of the Lord how are we doing on our spiritual journey after being transformed by the baptism waters?  There are two basic questions that we need to keep in mind.

First, are we striving to be faithful to the gospel and to our God?  All our activities coming out of the baptismal water should be part of a concerted effort to grow closer to the God who comes to us in Jesus Christ.  In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the characters certainly fall into temptation; Eustace, for example, becomes greedy for treasure, fills his pockets with gold and turns into a dragon while he’s sleeping.  But as a dragon, he discovers how bad he’s been, and he repents — even using his dragon power for good.  Aslan turns Eustace back into a boy, and his character continues to improve.  In our world, as in the fantasy world of Narnia, the transformation of our hearts occurs when we move closer to the God who comes to us in the one who is good … but not tame.

The second question we have to ask ourselves is: Do we serve the mission of Jesus, or do we distort this mission to serve ourselves?  The Pharisees and Sadducees put the cart before the horse, distorting God’s mission so it would serve the religious institution and themselves.  Later for example we hear Jesus saying, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”[9]  He condemns the Sadducees and Pharisees for following the purity laws of the religious institution but failing to cleanse themselves of greed and self-indulgence.  The mission of Jesus is to transform hearts and do God’s work in the world.  This is the horse that should pull the church and us.

Life is a spiritual adventure, and it begins when we fall into water and then climb out renewed.  And this is Matthew's final point in our scripture --- completion comes from the One who comes after John.  John baptizes with water, but the One who comes to be born in our hearts is more powerful.  He baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  The Holy Spirit brings authentic life and the purification of the refiner's fire.

Baptism as John practiced was more than a ritual.  His baptizing in the River Jordan recalled the ancient tradition of Israel becoming a new people by passing through its waters.

One of the joys of my missionary experience in Japan was the adult baptisms that I was part of.  Although the baptisms of children are causes for celebration, it is in adults that I saw this coming together of water and transformation.  I remember one person in particular, a young Japanese woman who also taught at the church preschool and Kindergarten.  After her baptism service I had a few moments to talk with her and she said in effect, “変更はただ始まった。”(henko wa tada hajima’ta) ?  “Change has only begun.” 

Can we say the same?  Nothing less will please John the Baptist, Jesus and the other lions of our faith.  Moving forward in faith, let’s serve the mission of Jesus and bear good fruit for the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

---

[1] www.narnia.com; www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_the_Dawn_Treader

 

[2] Matthew 3: 1-2

[3] Matthew 3: 6

[4] Matthew 3: 4

[5] Matthew 3: 11

[6] Matthew 3: 5

[7] Matthew 3: 7-8

[8] Matthew 3: 12

[9] Matthew 23:25

Opposites - 11/28/2010

Isaiah 2: 1-5 Sermon Preached at House of Prayer Lutheran Church in San Antonio on November 28, 2010

If you have not completed your Christmas shopping, how about adding an LCD digital display belt buckle for your favorite cowboy?  The Egocast LCD belt buckle can show video as well as pictures from your recent weekend visit to Luckenbach, Texas.[1]  If an LCD belt buckle does not interest you --- how about giving a self-propelled suitcase with a small electric motor that will kick-in to help propel your road warrior spouse to their next body scan?

Well, to be honest in my opinion neither one of those products will become the next big fad.  Nevertheless, just as sure as there will be a Christmas this year, we will hear of some new must have item and possibly some new vocabulary in the English language.  Some items are popular for a year or two --- remember Cabbage Patch dolls? or soap on a rope? --- and some Christmas fads will build on their initial popularity and may even enter into our most basic vocabulary.  For example, until 1984, to most Americans the word “transformer” possibly meant a large black or gray box hung high on a telephone pole.  Now, say “transformer” and for a segment of the population it may mean Optimus Prime, a truck that kids can twist apart and realign to become a menacing-looking robot.  Because of the success of the toy “Transformer,” the word has been given a whole new meaning.

New vocabulary meanings do not just come from popular Christmas presents.  Just think only three decades ago, the combination of the words “personal” and “computer” would have been absurd to many who worked on massive computers housed in the basements of universities.

But history teaches us that the future belongs to people who can see connections when others see only contrasts.  The same holds for us Christians, for we are all about making connections when others see only contrasts.

At the first Advent when Jesus was born, the angels urged the shepherds to come and see the King who was born in Bethlehem.  Now during this liturgical Church season leading up to Christmas we are reminded in our Bible lessons that that we wait for the Second Advent, when Jesus returns.

Our first reading from Isaiah chapter 2 urges us to come and see that our God is the true God and that in God we will find new life.  We read today’s section of Isaiah on the First Sunday in Advent not only because it urges us to come and wait on God’s mountain, but to make connections when others see mere contrasts.

Today we hear only the first five verses from Isaiah chapter 2.  We need to remember that Isaiah up to this point has given an image of a mountain where God will establish the house of the Lord, and we will be able to teach and walk in the paths of the Lord.  Thus, packed into these five verses are images that tell us what will happen at the mountain of the Lord.

So what can we glean from these verses about what this means?  According to Isaiah, to be at the Mountain of the Lord means having connections that others might see as being incongruent.[2]  

Writing amid the threat of war and exile, the prophet Isaiah reveals God’s ultimate vision of peace and hope not only for the people of Judah and Jerusalem but for all nations.  Perhaps just as we have become accustomed to thinking of computers as personal or transformers as toys we may miss the connections Isaiah paints and how they come together.

The first connection is judgment and grace.  In Isaiah chapter 1 the prophet speaks God’s condemnation of the people of Judah and Jerusalem, revealing that God’s judgment is upon them because of their idolatry and because of their failure to: “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”[3]  In the same passage, God offers an ultimatum at their failure: “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”[4]

And yet, in the midst of judgment, in the 2^nd chapter, Isaiah offers a vision of what the life of people who are redeemed by God’s grace will look like.  In other words, judgment and grace are not opposites but are unavoidably tied to one another.  God’s judgment is designed to be corrective, and God’s grace is designed to be redemptive and restorative.  Isaiah was telling the people in the midst of war and exile that although they may be feeling judgment, God would not destroy life forever.  Instead, God would bring the people to a place of understanding and repentance, enabling them to see God’s ultimate salvation --- not only for themselves but for all the nations.[5]

In our time of waiting perhaps we need to be reminded that our failures are not final and we have God’s forgiveness for our waywardness.  Judgment and grace act together to keep us focused on God’s future.  In this time of waiting do we see the connection between judgment and grace?

A second connection is between insiders and outsiders.  Isaiah’s vision of the house of the Lord is one where all people from all nations of the earth are streaming toward the mountain or house of God, the place where the temple stood.[6]

The temple mentioned in our lesson represented God’s dwelling place among the people and, in Isaiah’s vision, would be the focal point of worship for all the peoples of the earth, not just for the Jews.  God’s future described by Isaiah is not just for a few people under one particular flag, but is one where barriers are broken that separate people from one another and offers an opportunity for all people to learn God’s ways and “walk in his paths.”[7]  This will come in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, in a world that has becoming increasingly polarized, Isaiah’s vision tells us that, in the end, because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has invited all people into his dwelling place.  Certainly not all may choose to come but that does not make them outsiders for all are invited.  This includes those who do seek God’s instruction and want to be in God’s presence, as well as to those who do not.  All are welcome, for God will be the one who judges between the nations and “shall arbitrate for many peoples.”[8]  The reason that God will be the only judge is that only God can offer justice and peace.

Isaiah invites us to imagine a world where boundaries have been erased and all become one in God’s presence.  As we wait during this Advent, do we see the invitation to all so there is no outsider and insider?

The third connection is swords and plowshares, spears and pruning hooks.  We may not realize that beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks was apparently part of Israel’s daily reality.  For those of us who have not grown up with a blacksmith around the corner, we do not realize that it was a simple operation for a blacksmith to turn the thick, short sword of the day into the leading edge of a plow or to bend the tip of a spear into a hook for pruning fruit trees.  In an ancient world where the vast majority of people did not have a multitude of possessions it was a necessity to have dual-purpose gadgets, and people adapted tools as they had need.

Isaiah’s vision of God’s mountain is where the people no longer had to worry and puts to rest the constant back and forth, one season war, and one season peace.  Isaiah invites the people then and now to dream of a time when “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.[9]

Isaiah is reminding us that we are part of vision --- not like those inventors who offer dual-purpose gadgets; little trucks into robot warriors and back again --- rather we are to cultivate and prepare for God’s vision of a world where peace and prosperity for everyone pushes aside forever the desire or need for war.

Imagine, for example, adapting tanks to become tractors and guns to become gardening implements to the point where we would never think of them ever being something else.  As we wait are we blown from one shore to another with the winds of war or are we focused on peace?

When I was a missionary in Japan one of my tasks was to teach English as well as share about the Christian faith to children in Kindergarten.  I found that one way was to use opposites because the concept of opposites is a pretty basic idea, one that everyone understands.  Big and little are opposites.  The list can go on all day; deep/shallow, in/out, long/short. 

We know that when our children in the Christmas pageant sing “Peace on earth and good will toward all” that is not exactly the real world in which we live.  But the point of Advent is to accept contrasting concepts as connected.  Isaiah places together opposites of judgment and grace, insider and outsider, weapons of war and tools.  He does so not just for poetic reasons but because they are fundamental truths of God’s vision and God’s promises.

So our failure to see and to begin to embrace this vision of God’s future is primarily a failure of imagination.  Thankfully, some pioneers imagined a computer that was personal.

Will we be Christ’s pioneers?  Although I haven’t lived in San Antonio or Texas for very long, I know for a fact that our failure of imagination is not limited to you and me; just look at the contrasts taught around us, Republican and Democrat, illegal and legal, rich and poor, Northside and Southside, employed and unemployed.  The list goes on.

Instead let us begin to focus on God’s vision predicted by Isaiah, contrasted opposites to tell us of God’s vision.  Let us not be caught up in opposites but in transformation, not from belts into TV’s or suitcases that move, but into what God intends for us as His own people.  During this time as we wait let us hold tightly to God’s mountain that will come because history teaches us that the future belongs to people who see connections instead of contrasts.  Amen.

---

[1] Paul, Ian. “19 weird but real gadgets and gizmos.” PC World Web Site, March 3, 2010. pcworld.com/article/190478/19_weird_but_real_gadgets_and_gizmos.html.

[2] A deep thanks to www.Homiletics.com for the thoughts and ideas that follow.

[3] Isaiah 1: 17 NIV

[4] Isaiah 1: 19-20 NIV

[5] Isaiah 2:2

[6] Isaiah 2: 1-2

[7] Isaiah 2: 3

[8] Isaiah 2: 4

[9] Isaiah 2:4

Worldview - 11-14-2010

Luke 21: 5-19  Sermon Preached on Novmeber 14th, 2010

           Now that the US elections are over, and our elected representatives will be sitting down getting to work, I am wondering if one way to help them besides prayer, is to have them all read Moral Politics by George Lakoff.  In the book, Professor of Linguistics George Lakoff of the University of California, Berkeley, points out that different world views make it difficult to communicate.

           As an example, Lakoff gives some illustrations between liberals and conservatives over various issues.  Conservatives are largely against abortion, saying that they want to save the lives of unborn fetuses.  “The United States has an extremely high infant-mortality rate, largely due to the lack of adequate prenatal care for low-income mothers.  Yet conservatives are not in favor of government programs providing such prenatal care and have voted to eliminate existing programs that have succeeded in lowering the infant mortality rate.”

           Lakoff points out that liberal's find this illogical.  “It appears to liberals that ‘pro-life’ conservatives do want to prevent the death of those fetuses … but do not want to prevent the deaths of fetuses whose mothers do want them (through providing adequate prenatal care programs).”  This seems contradictory; however, conservatives see no contradiction.  Lakoff then points out liberal contradictions.  “Liberals support welfare and education proposals to aid children, yet they sanction the murder of children by supporting the practice of abortion.  Isn't this contradictory?”[1]

           Lakoff is of course right, we all have world views and those world views dictate not only how we communicate but also blind us to our own contradictions.

           After reading the gospel we could summarize that Jesus is talking about buildings, specifically the grand temple to God in Jerusalem.  Similarly, 21 centuries later we could summarize that Jesus is telling us that we too spend millions of dollars keeping our own buildings when we know ultimately in God’s kingdom all our grand buildings will ultimately be rubble.  Is that not contradictory?  Is that what Jesus is communicating?

           The gospel lesson this morning comes near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  He has arrived in Jerusalem for his final time and will shortly be crucified on the cross.  And, as a result, his focus has shifted to preparing the disciples for ministry after he would have died, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.

The setting is the Temple in Jerusalem.  According to Luke, Jesus was standing in one of the courtyards watching the people come and go.  Jesus overheard some of his disciples marveling at the beauty of the Temple.  Jesus turns to them and said: “‘As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.’”[2]

           It sounded absurd at the time, so you can imagine the shock not only among the disciples, who had commented on its beauty, but also to all those around Jesus.  To get an idea of the size and scope of the Temple, just go to Jerusalem today and stand at the Western Wall.  It’s massive.  It rises about seventy-five feet above you.  Some of the stones weigh up to one hundred tons each.  What you don’t realize is that, while you’re able to count twenty-four rows of stones, there are another nineteen beneath the ground.  But that’s not the half of it!  This is just one of four retaining walls that encircled the base on which the Temple was built.  The Temple itself towered another sixteen stories on top of the mount above.

           It was not only a large building, but ornate.  Ancient historians such as Josephus said that the outer structure of the Temple was covered with gold plates, so that when the sun came up, “it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays.”[3]

           Undaunted however, Jesus continues. “A time of judgment is just around the corner,” he says.  “It will seem to be a time when the earth itself starts freaking out with earthquakes and famines.  There will be struggles between nations, the fall of great powers and even persecution for those following me.  It’s coming.  And you have to be ready.  If you’re my disciple, you need to survey the situation.  You need to assess what’s happening and stay aware.”

History and scripture tell us that what Jesus was pointing to and predicting was more than one event.  In A.D. 70, that very temple to which he referred was, in fact, destroyed.  Along with Jerusalem’s fall came intense persecution of Christians, exactly as Jesus said.

But his words stretched beyond A.D. 70 and into a future that lies ahead, even beyond today; Jesus’ words of warning point to a time of constant struggle and judgment to come upon all the earth that will serve as the warning sound and for Jesus’ triumphant return.[4]  And until it all comes to pass, Jesus calls his followers to readiness, watchfulness and faith-filled spiritual awareness.  Why --- because in the meantime we, as his followers, have a job to do.

So today’s lesson is about a worldview; a worldview that does not have contradictions.  We are to have spiritual awareness, meaning that when our spiritual awareness is high, we can succeed despite extremely difficult circumstances.  When our spiritual awareness is low, we can fail despite extremely simple circumstances.  Spiritual awareness means we can make choices and communicate as Christians in ways that are not contradictory.

What does it mean to live with spiritual awareness?  To begin it is important for us to confess that many us of as followers of Jesus wrongly live as though we have the option of opting out of his call to readiness as described in the gospel.  We enjoy a world where our greatest inconvenience can be when the DVR forgets to capture the latest episode of GLEE.  We’ve lost sight of the fact that the wars and injustice happening outside our houses demand as much attention as preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Moreover, others of us may have simply become inoculated against an awareness of the practical impact of the gospel.  Perhaps we grew up in Sunday school or have done enough Bible study, that we know the good news of how this whole story turns out in the end.  We have studied Revelation and read that “we win.”  Some may take this to mean we have a free pass to write off what’s happening in the world as ultimately “unimportant” for those of us who already have a ticket to the “after-party.”

However, Jesus tells his disciples — and us — that being engaged in the raging world around us will result in an “opportunity to testify.”[5]  In other words, spiritual awareness is not based on present feelings.  Jesus tells us that as this broken world increasingly shows itself for what it is, in the form of all kinds of strife, struggle and persecution, as disciples standing in the midst of it we will be afforded the chance to share --- to testify --- without contradiction why this world is so broken (sin) and just who has made and will make it all better (Jesus).

Jesus’ goal in communicating this worldview to his disciples, in getting us ready for the end, is not only to help us avoid inconsistency but to produce a peace in us.  This peace gives us understanding that despite chaos, God’s plan is moving on.  In fact, Jesus wants us to see events as signs of God’s activity in bringing things to a joyful conclusion because our good God is bringing about his promised good end.

In June of this past year, Apple introduced the iPhone 4 to much fanfare.  Among the innumerable number of details revealed about the latest version of Apple’s gadget was that the phone itself — according to Apple — was getting smarter.  A gyroscope, updated accelerometer, compass, proximity sensor and ambient light meter were all built into the new smart phone.  Apple wants the phone to be “intelligent about the world around it.”  That sounds a lot like spiritual awareness.

When we sit down to make the choices we must make as a congregation, as Christians, may God strengthen our worldview, our spiritual awareness so that we can testify with clarity and without contradictions.  Amen.

---

[1] Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, Lakoff, George, University of Chicago Press, 2002. Illustration from http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/467716.html

[2] Luke 21: 6 NIV

[3] War 5: 222-223

[4] Revelation 21

[5] Luke 21:13

Worth - 11/7/2010

Luke 6: 20-31 Preached November 7, 2010

              How much are you worth?  I am not asking because of a desire to know your net financial value.  And I am not asking because I want to sell you a financial product nor am I asking because I really want to know a number --- your financial situation or even credit score.  Rather, if there is anything we have learned in these difficult financial times is that according to economists there is a correlation between net worth and --- feelings.[1]  It seems that when our net worth --- our financial assets like house, investments, etc., --- are going up in value --- we feel better; so we spend or borrow whereas if our net worth is declining or stagnant, ---- as reflected in the value of our homes, for example, --- people may spend and or borrow less.  

           Over the last 20 years or so as many of you know, the value of homes increased, which led many people to borrow and spend on that increased value of their home.  But now that home values as well as other conditions have declined in many parts of the US, many people have become hesitant to borrow or spend.  That correlation obviously is of interest in these trying economic times, yet for Christians that relationship between “net worth” and our “feelings’ is something very intriguing.

           How much are you worth ----- as a Christian?  That question comes to us because of today’s gospel from Luke for us this All Saints Sunday.

           Jesus goes to the mountains for prayer, reflection, refreshment, rejuvenation.  It is while enjoying one of these mountaintop moments that Jesus singled out 12 from among his many disciples.  These 12 became the apostles.  But, immediately after this, Jesus leads his newly appointed apostles back down the mountain to "a level place," a place where the apostles, disciples and a crowd of eager people stand shoulder to shoulder.  The level place accords them all equal footing, just as they are all equally in need of Jesus' message which he then begins to share.

           The Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel may be more familiar, and are more directed for all people, but what Luke gives us on the Sermon on the Plain is more nuanced because the audience is more select --- his Jesus’ words appear more provocative.

           Unlike Matthew's version of these sayings, which in my opinion are more rightly "Beatitudes" because only blessings are listed, Luke creates a careful symmetry in the words of Jesus.  Four "blessings" are pronounced, followed by four parallel "woes": poor-rich; hungry-full; weeping-laughing; rejected-accepted.  Some have pointed out that Luke's balanced structure is reminiscent of another place in the Bible, the blessing-curse announced to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 11:26-28.  “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.”[2]

           Although intended for these first disciples and followers these words are also for us.  However, these beatitudes are not marching orders, conditions to be met, or obligations to be fulfilled.  Instead these words are the consequences of the new kind of life made possible because Jesus is who Jesus says He is.  How do we know that?  Well for one important reason --- because in retrospect we can see that these beatitudes describe Jesus' life.  Jesus brought blessings to the cursed at the same time as Jesus cursed those infatuated with their blessings.  Jesus also defied a world imprisoned by a law of retribution --- trapped in the gridlock of “get back and get even” and by a faith that proscribed careful rules and regulations in order to be as holy as possible.  Freed by God, Jesus is able to subvert and sabotage this old world of grudges and pay-backs, ritual and regulations.  He did this by, among other things, loving his enemies, blessing those who cursed him and giving himself away to those who needed help.  He did all this while expecting nothing in return all the way to and through the Cross and Resurrection.

           Here then at the very beginning of his words to his newly minted followers Jesus says, we “get to” live this same kind of life.  Jesus begins with a warning about the way in which the world thinks... and a word about how God thinks.  Jesus is trying to help us see how God sees the world so that... as followers we also will be able to see the world differently.

           Jesus declares that as followers we are blessed in spite of appearances to the contrary.  Therefore, we too can dare to subvert and sabotage the old order.  We can live lives freely giving ourselves not only to those in need but even to those who hate us.  We can live selflessly offering ourselves to all declaring to the world that there is a blessing loose in this world.  Through us God is at work making a new creation.  Even we, as cursed and inept as we often appear to be, can audaciously begin to do what so many have given up on: changing the world.  Blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep now, who are hated by all.  Something better awaits you when the great day comes, but woe to you who are rich, who are full, who laugh, who are well spoken about by everybody.  When the great day comes, you will find yourself desolate.
           Let me get back to that question I asked at the beginning, how much are you worth?  What do you think Jesus is saying in Luke when we are confronted with that question?  Jesus is teaching these first disciples and all of us who follow that we confuse our needs and our feelings with our relationship with God.  As we are able to meet our needs to provide for our families --- wealth --- to be well fed and happy, we may neglect our need for God.  What is in our immediate grasp becomes our salvation.  In other words, we easily confuse our net worth as being all that is important.  The poor, the hungry, the sorrowing for example, will never confuse these things as being their salvation.  That is then a blessing.

           Why do you think this lesson is a good one for us on All Saints Sunday?

           Jesus brought God's way of ruling the world down to earth and invited his disciples into this holy venture.  This is not an ideological agenda or a political platform, but more richly a vision of God's reign which Jesus embodied.  Jesus knew that people then as now, are caught in a web of net worth and feelings.

           The southern author, Michael Malone, wrote a mystery thriller published early in 2000 called First Lady.  The book featured some stars - rock stars, political stars, social stars; and it featured a minor character who was an Episcopal priest.  At one point in the book, the priest reflects on what makes a saint: “What makes a saint?  If stars are the light, then I'd say saints are people the light shines through.  Not just the famous saints, because the famous ones are stars, too.  But the everyday saints around us in the world.  Light shines through them and illuminates what they see.  The light just goes right through them to what they love so that we can see its beauty.  They don't get in the way because they're looking too.”  Saints are the people the light shines through.[3]

           In the waters of Baptism, God declared once and for all that we are blessed Sons and Daughters despite what we may do.  We may wonder or people may choose to ask, “Who do you think you are?”  We can gently answer with the blessed conviction, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you and defame you on account of the Son of Man.”  We rest in the peace that the world cannot give.  We are saints, illuminated and illuminating as the blessed people of God.  Even though the world and our lives along with it may be measured in terms of financial assets, we are saints

              How much are you worth?  I ask because I believe there are others who are being asked that same question but have no ready answer.  We have seen how young gay men and women are killing themselves, after being bullied into feelings of unworthiness.  We have seen how the gifts and blessings of this nation become a tool for the angry suggesting that we need to somehow match their anger and if we are not angry but reasonable or thoughtful, we are unworthy American Citizens.

           We can live lives freely giving ourselves not only to those in need but even to those who hate us. We can live offering ourselves to all declaring to the world that there is a blessing loose in this world.  Through God we are Saints, and we are worthy through his forgiveness and love.  Amen.

---

[1] For example, see this study from the Canadian government. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/13-605-x/2003001/chrono/2004net/index-eng.htm

[2] Deuteronomy 11: 26-28 NIV

[3] Michael Malone, First Lady, Sourcebook Landmark. Pg. 426 quoted from http://day1.org/2379-saint_carlton_is_lowest.

Just a little wet - 10/24/2010

Luke 18: 9-14

           What can you do in Jasper that you can not do in Tyler?  What can you absolutely not do in Borden but can do --- but just a little --- in its neighbor Scurry?[1]  All of these are counties in Texas, but some are “dry,” others are “wet,” while some others are termed “moist.”

           What am I talking about?  As you probably know, a dry county is one where local residents have voted to forbid the sale of alcoholic beverages in some form whereas a wet county allows the sale of alcohol.  But even that varies, "Move from Fort Worth to Arlington” wrote the newspaper Fort Worth Star Telegram, “and you’ll be surprised that you can buy beer but not wine at the grocery store.  Move to Grand Prairie and you can’t even find beer there, but you can buy alcoholic drinks at restaurants in both towns.  Then move to Burleson, which has alcohol sales in the Tarrant County portion of the city but not in the Johnson County side of town.”[2]

           This spectrum of wet, dry and moist counties is not unique to Texas because there are hundreds of counties across the United States that, following the repeal of national Prohibition in 1933, followed what was called the “local option” meaning that local governments could enact laws to support prohibition. 

              Why do I bring that up?  Because I think many of us view today’s parable as a discussion on wet, moist or dry Christians.  In our gospel, Jesus shares a parable that revolves around two men.  Both men go up to the temple in Jerusalem to pray, one a Pharisee and one a tax collector.[3] The natural assumption made by anyone hearing this story at the time of Jesus is that the Pharisee is the devout person.  The tax collector, on the other hand, is the sinner.

           Sure enough, in the parable, the Pharisee steps away from the crowd and moves toward the center of the temple to highlight his purity before God, and launches into a list of all his religious accomplishments: “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”[4]  We get the sense from his parable, that this Pharisee tries to do everything right, according to the standards of the day, obeying all the religious rules.  In terms of keeping God’s commandments, he is way above average.

           Then Jesus tells us about another man.  A tax collector does just the opposite, steps away from the center, moves to the margins, bows his head and beats his breast.  “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”[5]  He is so ashamed that he cannot even raise his hands and look up to heaven, which is the standard position for first-century prayer.  The tax collector doesn’t make any boasts or excuses --- he simply asks for God’s mercy.

           There is no reason to assume that this tax collector is a particularly spectacular sinner.  It is much more likely that he is confessing a set of secret, hidden faults --- possibly a collection of oversights, errors and miscalculations that only he would know.

           Well, at this point we could jump centuries and all be saying to ourselves, oh boy, time to have fun; time to slam the religious, the pious, the well-intended, the legalistic, the conservative, the liberals and make fun of them as hypocrites. 

           But if we did that we would miss the point, for while it is tempting to criticize those further to the “right or left” from where we are, we would only be engaged in scapegoating.  The Pharisee knew right from wrong.  He tried to choose the right and condemned those who chose the wrong.  He was trying to be on the side of God and sought God’s ways.

           Well does that place us in the camp of the Tax Collector?  The prayer of the tax collector is well known --- he seeks forgiveness --- something we all seek.  The tax collector is not expressing some poor old ‘woe is me’ syndrome; he simply and honestly acknowledges how he acts.  He sins therefore he is a sinner in need of mercy and healing.

           So what happened?  Don’t we end up acting like the Pharisee by hoping we are like the Tax Collector?  Isn’t the clear lesson that we should be like the tax collector and not the Pharisee?  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”[6]

           But there is a danger in this parable.   The danger is that as soon as we hold the Pharisee and the tax collector up for examination as models of faith, as soon as we come to a conclusion about which of these truly has the faith to emulate, we begin to ---- pass judgment.  You see what I mean?  Jesus told a parable with a double bind.  If we take the parable seriously, the worst possible outcome for us is to say, “Thank God. Thank God: we’re not like the Pharisee.”  But if we do that, then we are at the same time … exactly like the person we do not want to be.

          It is kind of like the dry and wet counties.  On one hand we know alcohol is a problem, so ban the stuff.  Thank God my children can’t get out and buy the stuff and we are keeping the homeless drunks out of the county.  But, on the other hand, we want a bottle of wine for Thanksgiving, so we get in the car and drive to the next county to buy a bottle.  Then what happens?  While we are in the liquor store we see some of our neighbors, so we secretly hide behind the liquor aisle so they don’t see us.  So which are we, dry, moist, or wet?

           Jesus is not interested in our comparing ourselves with the Pharisee or the tax collector or anyone else.  Rather, Jesus is interested in everyone being humbly open before God and so being open to discovering what is of true and ultimate worth.  But the process to do this comes about if we understand God’s judgment in a healthy way.

           I think we stumble over God’s judgment.  The judgment of God can be a gift because it can be a window into how our life can be and how our life has not been all that it could have been.  Under God’s judgment we are drawn to salvation and to trust in the merciful God who has been revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is a trust that God is not violent, retributive or retaliatory.  It is faith that God who has created us treats us with a justice that is higher than any human justice we may conceive.  In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul reminds us:

           “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.  Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.  So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?  Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?”[7]

           It is kind of like, after we pass a terrible accident on the highway, we might say, “Thank God: it wasn’t me.”  On hearing of some misfortune, injury, death, we might be tempted to say:  “Thank God, it wasn’t my family.”  But if we think about it that is the same thing as saying, “Thank God, it was them, thank God it was their family.”  This parable is a warning, telling us that our focus should not be on our own excellence or our own level of humility, but must first begin on God’s unfathomable, immeasurable generosity.

           The truth is, we are both Pharisee and tax collector, or as Martin Luther put it, both saint and sinner together.  We owe God our best efforts and our undivided loyalty, as well as our dependence upon him for grace and forgiveness all those times we fall short.

              Let me finish with a story.  Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who came to the gates of heaven to be greeted by St. Peter.  Peter asks the man if he can give a brief history of his life with an emphasis on the good deeds because “You will need 1,000 points to be admitted,” Peter tells the man.  “This will be a cinch,” the man thinks to himself, “I’ve been involved in church from the days of my youth.”  Then he begins to list his activities for Peter.  He was active in his church youth group, served in every possible position he could as a youngster.  Was on the church council and every committee the church had to offer.  His list was extensive.

           “Very impressive,” Peter smiles at the man.  An angel standing with them also smiled and nodded as he tallied the points and then whispered in Peter’s ear.  Peter tells the man, “This is quite striking; we seldom see people like.  You will be pleased to know that you have 327 points!  Is there anything else you can think of?”

           Well the guy breaks into a cold sweat and begins to reach deep for every single act of kindness he could think of.  He listed them as the angel scratched furiously on his angelic clipboard.  Peter looks at the clipboard and says, “This is quite exceptional! You now have a total of 402 points. Can you think of anything else?”

           The distressed guy strives to think about his life, like the time he helped a little old lady across the street.  He finally arrives at a grand total of 431 points and cries out, “I’m sunk! There’s no hope for me!  What more could I have done?  O Lord, all I can do is beg for your mercy!”  “THAT,” exclaims St. Peter, “is a thousand points!”

           May we trust in being “wet” in baptism --- forgiven, and loved.  May we be wet all the time and humbly respond in forgiveness and love to all those around us.  Amen

---

[1] http://www.texasalmanac.com/government/WetDry.pdf

[2] http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1140551076.html

[3] Luke 18: 10 NIV

[4] Luke 18: 11-12 NIV

[5] Luke 18: 13 NIV

[6] Luke 18: 14 NIV

[7] Romans 2: 1-4

Still Kicking - 10-17-2010

Luke 18: 1-8

           She was an elderly woman.  Moderately well-preserved, although a bit dried out.  Not likely to attract much attention; about 50-60 years old. That’s not old - unless you are living 3,000 years ago in ancient Egypt.

           In 2007 a 50 to 60 year-old woman was found in a burial chamber in the Egyptian necropolis at Thebes-West.[1]  According to the reports, for someone who had been buried for three millennia, she looked remarkably well-preserved.  But that is not what interested the archaeologists.  What did attract attention was … an odd-looking big toe on her right foot.  You see, the toe was artificial.  This artificial toe consisted of three pieces of carved wood fitted onto her foot with leather straps, making it the world's oldest known … prosthesis.

           Evidence shows that the device must have worked well.  Scuff marks on the toe's underside indicate that the artificial toe had assisted the woman for some time while she was alive.  Without it, she would have had a very difficult time walking like an Egyptian. J
           In our gospel, we hear a parable of a woman, a widow was known for … for being persistent with an unjust judge.  “And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’”[2]

           Jesus tells us that finally this judge could not stand it any more for he finally relents and gives her “justice.”  “For some time he refused.  But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!’”[3]  What does this parable mean?

           At first glance Jesus is telling us that if we are persistent God will grant justice.  “And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?  Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.’”  Jesus is saying that if a corrupt and uncaring judge responds to persistent pleas, then certainly a holy and loving Lord will do the same.  Additionally, Jesus adds whereas the earthly judge delays, God will act quickly.

           Although persistence is important for the disciples and us to learn there is more to this parable.  A nagging widow is a … problem.  Nagging to God is not something I want to be seen doing or modeling.  For example, I feel sorry for the judge; the last person I want to feel sorry for!  Furthermore, it suggests that justice might come as a result of inappropriate pressure or manipulation or even threat.  “Unless you do what I want God or I will make your life a misery.”  Is this what Jesus was trying to communicate about the importance and power of prayer.

           And yet the word “persistence” like the word ‘determination' is very important in both our spiritual and ethical lives, but not because it is nagging.  Why?  Because losing heart is not a good enough reason for giving up.  “Being persistent” means, in this context, not nagging God so that we get what we want, or even about getting what we need.  Instead the parable suggests that being persistent in prayer develops good attitudes and positive results in each of us including the following three things: Humility, Health and Hope.

           The simple act of having to ask someone for something introduces humility into our lives.  Each time we ask, we are admitting --- as the widow did --- that we are not completely self-sufficient; that we need or want something that this other person can give or can refuse to give; that we are poor in some way and need the contribution of someone else to be enriched; that we are vulnerable.  In asking persistently we are reminded, in the words of the poet John Donne that “no man is an island, entire of itself.”[4]

           And why is being humble something good for us --- something we need?  Because constantly going to God to ask God for help, for justice, for mercy keeps us in a right relationship with God and with each other.

           Second there may not be many things that we can all agree upon but one is that all healthy relationships – at work, within a family, among a community, with friends – must have open lines of communication.  Our relationship with God is no different.

           For our “relationship” with God to be healthy, persistent communication must be there.  In the parable the widow constantly communicated with the judge.  God communicates with us through all sorts of avenues – nature, music, art, the Bible, church, our friends – and while we also have a wide variety of responses, our primary method of active response is through prayer.  Pursuing God to share what is on our minds and hearts with our loving creator maintains this essential part of a healthy relationship with God.

           And third, persistent prayer inspires hope; as long as the widow persisted with the Judge there was a … chance.  Hope is hidden beneath our requests.  It is the reason for the asking.  Even when we make requests that seem impossible to fulfill, even when our demands are shallow or deep, shouted in anger or whispered in sorrow or through tears in loss, the reason for our persistent asking is hope – sometimes hope as small as a speak of mustard seed, but hope nonetheless, that change will come, that relief will be granted, that justice will be served.

           When we stop asking, we have given up.  We may wallow in self-pity or become self-reliant and try to effect change on our own since we clearly do not hope that God has this under control.  So, we need to be persistent in our prayers to keep faith and hope alive and to remind ourselves again and again that God is God and because of Him, we have hope.

           That's why prayer is not a Christian prosthesis, a kind of a crutch for us to lean on as we try to keep our faith from falling over.  Rather, prayer might be the big toe of faith, but there's nothing artificial about it, and Jesus is not saying, we need to use it to be kicking God in the shins trying to get God’s attention.  Rather prayer keeps us stable, by keeping us humble, healthy, and hopeful.  Prayer is what keeps our faith upright, keeps us in the game walking in faith and positions us to receive from God what God wants us to have.
           Sure, we have many questions and issues and problems about prayer. Many of our prayers seem unanswered.  We pray for health, but there is still a spot on the X-ray.  We pray for peace, but the troops are not home and the war rages.  We pray for our children, but they still get into deep trouble.

           Did you notice that in this parable the woman not only perseveres, but she perseveres in hardship?  Certainly she receives “justice,” but from all that we can tell she remains a widow near the bottom in Israeli society.  The parable is not simply a moral tale on the importance of prayer, it is about the kind of faith that is humble, healthy and hopeful that is demonstrated when things around us get ugly.

           There is no question that the person who walks with God, the big toe of prayer functioning as it should, is in a stronger position to endure the calamities of life than one who has abandoned prayer.  Nevertheless, the faith walk of the Christian is strenuous and demanding.  We need strong legs, and healthy feet for the journey.  Without a muscular faith that is humble, healthy and hopeful, we will be reduced to someone who thinks she is okay as long as she has a bed pan and a prayer card handy.

           Barbara Brown Taylor is a wonderful preacher.  She tells a story about her seven-year old granddaughter named Madeline who just happens to be “blond, skinny, and tall for her age.”[5]  Madeline had a birthday party one summer.  There were four people gathered around the table to celebrate. There was Madeline, Madeline’s recently-divorced mother, Madeline’s grandmother Barbara and Barbara’s husband, Madeline’s grandfather.  Well, as the candles burned down on the cake, Madeline listened as everyone sang the birthday song.  She then leaned over to blow out the candles, but as she did that she did not stop to make a wish.

           Taylor wrote that her mother asked her, “Stop, aren’t you going to make a wish?”  Her grandfather said, “You have to make a wish.”  Madeline looked as if someone had just run over her cat.  “I don’t know why I keep doing this,” Madeline said.  “Doing what?” her grandmother asked.  “This wishing thing,” she said.  “Last year I wished my best friend wouldn’t move away but she did.  This year I want to wish that my mommy and daddy will get back together…”  “That’s not going to happen,” her mother chimed in.

           “I know it’s not going to happen,” Madeline said, “so why do I keep doing this?’”  Taylor then wrote: “One day, when Madeline asks me outright whether prayer really works, I am going to say, ‘Oh, sweetie, of course it does. It keeps our hearts chasing after God’s heart.  It’s how we bother God, and it’s how God bothers us back.  There’s nothing that works any better than that.”

           Let us be like the widow, humble, healthy and hopeful in persistent prayer so that when Christ returns he will find faith.

---

[1] http://www.hotspotsz.com/Worlds_First_Prosthetic__Egyptian_Mummys_Fake_Toe_(Article-6225).html

[2] Luke 18:3 NIV

[3] Luke 18:4-5 NIV

[4] John Donne, XVII. MEDITATION.

[5] Taylor, Barbara Brown. Home by Another Way. Minneapolis: Cowley Publications, 1999. 198-99.

Nine - 10-10-2010

Luke 17: 11-19

“Uh-oh” in the words of Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs a grandparent regarding her grandchildren; "While I do my best to connect with them, there’s something to be said for having them one-on-one.  I can't take them out for the day alone; no overnights, no babysitting, and no vacations.  There’s so much I can’t do with and for the kids."[1]

What is the issue?  Why can’t this grandmother spend time with her grandchildren?  Well, it is not that there was a family falling out or a conflict nor is it that Mrs. Dinerstein-Kurs is a poor grandparent; rather the issue is that her daughter has become an Orthodox Jew whereas her mother is not only non-practicing but not even religious.  Although Mrs. Dinerstein-Kurs can see her grandchildren and spend time with them, because she is not an Orthodox Jew she cannot spend time during holidays or for lengthy periods of time with them.

Our image is that more often than not, we are more concerned about our children moving away from religion altogether rather than the other way around.  For example, a couple contacted the church where I was pastor in Wisconsin to inquire about whether or not we could host their wedding.  When I sat down with the couple to talk about why they wanted to have the wedding at the church, they told me that actually they both belonged to another church, and they would rather have the wedding there, but her parents did not like the fact that bride had become an active Christian and that she had met her future husband at that church.  So when this couple decided to get married, her parents had refused to attend a wedding at their church.  However, her parents as a compromise had attended a wedding for a friend at the church where I was pastor.  Somehow it seems our church was not as offensive!

Increasingly in our western world --- Europe and North America --- there are families where the majority of adults are secular — having either abandoned Christian beliefs and the religious practices of their parents or never have adopted them in the first place — but whose offspring have embraced those very beliefs and practices.

Now, I do not have a tidy solution to family strain when we are more religious than our parents or grandparents, children, uncles or cousins because I suspect there will always be some tension between family members when one person is more religious than others.

Instead, I am mentioning the issue because consider today’s account of Jesus healing men who had leprosy.  Jesus healed all 10, the gospel story tells us, that it never occurred to nine of them to thank Jesus.  The 10th leper, however, whom Jesus noted was the only foreigner in the group did and the reason was that he “saw” what the other nine missed.  “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.”[2]

The ability to see is an important part of this event.  Luke reports that Jesus was moved to heal all 10 after he saw them, which suggests something more than physical sight.  In the mystery of Jesus’ vision it enabled him not only to be aware of the leper’s presence, but also to grasp their situation and to empathize with their suffering to the point that Jesus acted to help them. “When he saw them, he said, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’”[3]

That means that when Luke next uses the word “saw,” he is talking about the single man who “saw” in a new way.  This single man, observing that his illness had disappeared, turned back and praised God in a loud voice and then prostrated himself before Jesus in deep thankfulness.  That return is wonderful, yet … you have to wonder as Jesus did why did not the other nine also notice that their diseased skin was healed?  “Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?”[4]  Somehow these other nine failed to see that praise belonged to God and that thanks belonged to Jesus because of it.

So on one hand we can see this lesson this way.  God created, God is healing, and God sent his Son so that all may return to God, ------ are we then like that Samaritian.  If that is the case does that mean that the empty chairs around us this morning represent those nine.  I can easily seem myself asking, "Look around me, where are the other nine?"

Yes, this lone man, this foreigner who came back, can represent those who suddenly see.  And if we are honest that may be the very reason we are here, because we are those who have suddenly found the pearl of great price in Jesus; you and I can be the “foreigners,” the ones who have not previously been part of the flock in any meaningful way.  But now as converts, we are the ones suddenly who can see, returning, humbly prostrating ourselves before Jesus.  And I hope that is the case today!

Obviously we could stop here and discuss that question: is the ability to praise and give thanks to God in direct proportion to our ability to “see” God and God’s grace?  But that is a dangerous path because it can make it seem that we who can somehow “see” are somehow better than those who somehow can not or do not see.  Are we the "elect" somehow chosen to "see?"

Yet, there is another way for us to experience this event for ourselves, because sometimes I feel that I do not fall completely into one of those categories or the other, the one who saw or the nine who did not.  Some times I am overwhelmed and thankful just like the one leper who saw and turned back to Jesus … but then there are other times where I may find myself consumed by my concerns perhaps about fairness or a sense of entitlement or without really thinking about it I become just like the nine who went about their day without really “seeing.”  Sometimes I may not recognize the grace for what it is.  It’s kind of like the story of the man who came up to a pastor after worship and asked, “How come every Sunday you say, ‘Let us repeat the Lord’s Prayer’?”  The pastor, surprised by the question, replied, “Well, the Lord’s Prayer is a traditional part of the service.  Jesus gave it to us as a model of prayer.”  “No,” said the man, “you do not understand my question.  What I’m asking is how come you say, ‘Let us repeat the Lord’s Prayer’?  Shouldn’t we pray it?”[5] 
          

Think for a moment about the other nine men Jesus healed that day. They were not bad people.  And actually, in heading off to show themselves to the priests to be declared clean, they were doing exactly what Jesus told them to do.  The problem was Luke suggests the nine were “following” without seeing.  The nine only look bad in this story because of the behavior of the 10th man, the one who from his position as an outsider was able to see that before he went to the priests, he needed to praise God for his healing and thank Jesus, who made it possible.  So where does this leave us?

There is a famous story about a renowned pianist and composer (that has been made into a TV commercial that you may have seen).  At this particular concert a woman and her young son came to hear this famous pianist play.  The young boy had only begun his piano lessons, and the mother, wishing to encourage his studies, took him to the concert.  The two were seated just prior to the concert, but the mother who spotted a friend went to speak to her, telling the boy to wait in his seat.  But, then, what child likes to sit still?  And so seizing the moment of opportunity to explore a bit, the boy made his way down the aisle, through an open curtain in a doorway and disappeared.

The lights dimmed and the mother returned to her seat, discovering as she did that her son was not in his seat.  She began frantically to look all around, not paying attention to the curtains opening on stage.  But at the laughter of the audience, she looked, and there, seated at the magnificent Steinway on the stage, was her son, haltingly playing the first song he had learned to play: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

The mother was horrified, and started to get up; but at that same moment the great pianist himself entered from the other side of the stage, putting his finger to his mouth to still the audience.  He moved to the piano and whispered in the boy's ear.  The boy kept playing, and then the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in a part to the composition.  Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added another piece.  Together the old master and this young novice transformed an awkward moment and a simple song into a moment of grace, and as they finished playing, the audience broke forth in thunderous applause.[6]

The truth is sometimes in following we do not see and sometimes gratitude is not always first on our lips.  We are sometimes grateful, haltingly, simply, perhaps not really thinking about it and sometimes we are undone by our own pettiness and insecurities.  And, sometimes we may at times feel sadder than anything.

By grace, we hear whispers of remarkable encouragement, whispers to us so we can see.  And the reason we see is not to separate us as religious people from family and others around.  Rather in grace God extends and complements our own best efforts ... transforming us in ways we had never dreamed possible.  All we need to do is trust in that our life's simple melody is never played alone, but is always accompanied by God in, with and through Jesus Christ.  What is then left for us to do but turn to the applause, not for us, but for the composer; we turn to God to give our thanksgiving and praise.  Amen.

---

[1] http://www.grandparents.com/gp/content/expert-advice/family-matters/article/when-grandchildren-are-more-religious.html

[2] Luke 17: 15

[3] Luke 17: 14

[4] Luke 17: 17

[5] Illustration from www.homiletics.com

[6] Illustration from sermon by the Rev. Dr. Robert Dunham found at http://day1.org/1063-improvisational_gratitude

Forgiveness - 1/3/2010

    I had a wonderful time at the Boerne Synod Authorized Worshipping Community (BSAWC) on Sunday, October 3, 2010.  I was invited to preach by their pastor, Rev. Steve Rode.  BSAWC began this past summer after St. John's Lutheran Church in Boerne, Texas voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  BSAWC was formed in response by Christians who wanted to remain part of the ELCA.  Please keep this inspiring community and their pastor in your prayers.  Presently they are meeting at the Dominion Common Room that has been provided from them for free.

  Below is the sermon that I preached based on Luke 17: (1-4) 5-10:

            As you may know, this past summer my family and I returned from four years in Nagoya Japan where I was an ELCA missionary.  As you can imagine on our flight back to the United States we were loaded with all the stuff we needed until our sea shipment arrived weeks later.  Among the four of us we had seven pieces of checked in luggage plus an assortment of carry on bags, plus ….. a cat in a pet carrier.

           On top of that, in this post 9/11 world, you may be aware that when you arrive into the United States from an international destination and are making a connection, travelers need to reclaim their luggage, go through customs as well as security and then recheck their luggage before boarding their connecting flight.  So there we were in the Detroit airport having just walking through immigration after our long flight from Japan, bleary eyed, waiting wearily at the baggage carousel.  As my oldest daughter and I stationed ourselves around the carousel watching the luggage track spit out piece after piece of luggage, my youngest daughter and wife took care of the cart and cat and would place the luggage on the cart as we brought it to them.

           As I looked longingly for our luggage I had a fleeting thought to just walk away and buy whatever we needed later while at the same time wondering why is it that we wait anxiously assuming that the luggage is going to suddenly materialize before our eyes if we stare hard enough?  I found myself muttering, “Next time we are taking less!”    

           In today’s gospel, we hear the disciples express to Jesus a desire “Increase our faith!”  I think those disciples may have been feeling what I felt, weary, bleary eyed, impatient pilgrims waiting for Jesus to toss up the right piece of baggage so the disciples could continue on their particular journey.  However, that is not how Jesus responds.

           As I said at the beginning, the lectionary omits verses 1-4.  I find this omission rather strange, for today’s verses are virtually incomprehensible without them.  Rather, the request of the disciples is explicitly about the relation of faith to --- forgiveness.  “And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, repent, you must forgive.” [1]  Faith in God is expressed precisely in forgiveness of the one who sins against us.  Yet, the disciples find this combination of faith and forgiveness to be difficult, if not impossible and respond with “Increase our faith!”

           Well, before we explore the relationship between faith and forgiveness more thoroughly let’s return to the beginning of the lesson where Jesus says that “occasions for stumbling are bound to come.”[2]  What are these “occasions for stumbling” to which Jesus refers?  A clue is given in the words of Jesus; these “occasions” are those that scandalize (Greek- σκάνδαλα skandala).  The scandals to which Jesus refers are not what we may see on celebrity evening news; rather those “occasions” are stumbling blocks in our relationships.

           Just remember that the reason sin is so destructive is that it breaks our relationship with God, and broken relationships aren’t fixed by simply filling out the paperwork and paying the fine.  When we fail to maintain a right relationship with God, we need nothing less than a completely new beginning — we need God’s forgiveness.  But how shall we then relate to those who have scandalized us?

           Jesus says that although we are not God, as slaves of God we are called to be like God, to forgive and forgive and forgive without count, without reckoning.  In other words, we cannot forgive as Jesus asks us to unless we 1) are aware of the forgiveness we constantly receive and 2) are equally aware of the way that we constantly need it.  When we approach God as slaves in need of favor, knowing our own sin, and trust in that forgiveness, then it is straightforward that we are to pass along to others the forgiveness that we have received.

           Nevertheless before we get caught up trying to figure out how to properly implement forgiveness we need to get clear about just what forgiveness means.  In their book The Faces of Forgiveness, LeRon Shults and Steven Sandage identify at least three different ways that we can define forgiveness.[3]  One definition is “forensic” or “legal” forgiveness — the kind that your insurance company wants to give you, or the kind that involves having a debt erased.  Forensic forgiveness is a “transaction … in which one party agrees not to exact what the law requires.”  (For example the foreclosure process)

           A second definition of forgiveness connects it with a therapeutic benefit.  Forgiveness in this sense is a process by which the offended party is motivated to become “less vengeful and avoidant and more benevolent” toward the offender.  Forgiveness in this context does not condone the offense or forget about it.  Rather therapeutic forgiveness is about releasing claim over the offender and moving forward in another direction.  (For example the expression: “Love the sinner; hate the sin.”)  This kind of forgiveness, like the legal definition, is also limited.  It doesn’t necessarily bring about reconciliation and restoration of a broken relationship.  That requires a whole different level of forgiveness — the kind that God can fully offer.

           This third level of forgiveness is what Shults and Sandage define as “redemptive” forgiveness.  It may combine aspects of legal and therapeutic forgiveness but more importantly includes taking steps toward reconciliation.  Redemptive forgiveness doesn’t minimize the hurt, or erase what has happened so that we can “move on,” rather redemptive forgiveness takes steps toward restoring the relationship to a state of wholeness.

           The purpose of God’s forgiveness is not simple absolution, getting a debt forgotten or repaid or therapy so God can somehow move on until the next time we sin.  Redemptive forgiveness is about clearing the way for a renewed relationship to take place — a relationship where the “joy of salvation” wins out over scandal.

           Little wonder that the disciples cried out “Increase our faith!” when they realized what Jesus was asking.  The great news is that the disciples --- and perhaps all of us realize --- that we cannot accomplish that which Jesus asks apart from the gift of grace.  Jesus confirms that increasing our faith --- trust in God’s grace --- is possible, by reminding us how little trust it takes to do what we consider unimaginable.  Further, as believers we are to remain perpetually aware of our constant status as “slaves” in need of God’s grace and to trust in the availability of that grace.

           Forgiveness is not just something we "owe" each other – a debt forgiven.  Forgiveness is not just something we can truly "offer" each other – as therapy.  Rather, we have the capacity for redemptive forgiveness only because God has first forgiven us; brought wholeness to us.  Without God's forgiveness in our lives, we have nothing to offer anyone else.  God knows that as imperfect human beings, it is hard for us to let go of our carefully guarded, well-worn bags of resentments and old hurts, to carry less baggage.  God also knows that by the same token, that as weary and burdened as we may be, we want simple answers thrown to us that will somehow solve our problems.

           Each of us has names and faces of individuals that we simply cannot imagine being able to forgive.  How can we forgive a relative who molested us?  How can we forgive an ex-spouse who maligns us?  How can we forgive a thief who has stolen precious memories from us?  How can we forgive a murderer who has taken a loved one from us?  How can we forgive a people that has enslaved and oppressed us?  How can we forgive a corporation that uses our talents and then discards us?  How can we forgive a parent who abandons us?  How can we forgive a child who destroys us?  How can we forgive stupidity, hatred, bigotry, cruelty, greed, gluttony, war, waste, poverty, pollution and holocaust?

           How do we respond?  It is always a time to humbly place God in the driver’s seat and to work on the disciplines that help us grow in our relationship with God.  It is always a time for confession, for repentance, for asking God to redeem us.  It is always the time to trust fully in God’s complete redemptive forgiveness; as Paul wrote: “I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.”[4]  God’s gift of redemptive forgiveness as a gift of grace is not a one-shot deal but an offer of lifelong salvation.  We can only depend on God to take our baggage and to send it to a destination where it will never find us again.  We do not have to wait.  We do not have carry it.  And as we grow in our relationship with God let us begin to share the redemptive forgiveness that we have received in Jesus Christ for our faith can move mountains.  Amen.

---

[1]Luke 17: 4 (NRSV)

[2]Luke 17: 1 (NRSV)

[3]Shults, F. LeRon and Steven J. Sandage. Faces of Forgiveness: Searching for Wholeness and Salvation. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2003, 20-25.

[4]1 Corinthians 14: 15 (NIV)

Confidence

This is a written copy of a sermon that I have shared over the past few months at various missionary sponsor congregations.  I thought that I would share with you the general line of which I spoke.  If you happened to have heard this sermon at one of the churches please be aware that I did not and do not follow word for word, the sermons that I write.

 

John 9; James 1: 6-7; Matthew 7: 24ff

  Are you confident?  Are you a confident person?  Confidence is the state of being sure or positive about something.[1]  So I ask you, are you sure or positive, about yourself, your loved ones and communities, your workplace, your church, your nation, the world?  And more specifically are you confident when you are facing change?

Over the summer of 2008, I had the opportunity to travel to missionary sponsor congregations to discuss our partnership with the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church and in particular my work as a missionary pastor in Nagoya, Japan.  During those events I gave a general introduction with PowerPoint and spoke about some of the challenges in sharing the gospel in Japan.  But as I reflect on that summer of 2008, confident though I was in sharing about the Lutheran presence in Japan something was working in the background --- change. 

   For in that fall of 2008 global stock markets slid precipitously.  This combined with the drying up of credit lead to a catastrophe with bankruptcy and problems for some well known companies like Lehman Brothers, AIG, General Motors and Chrysler.  Perhaps to our surprise, by the end of 2008 we came to find out that we had been in an economic recession since 2007; a recession which only deepened and became global in 2008.  For example, by the end of the third quarter of 2008, one in ten mortgage holders in the US were in foreclosure and/or delinquent in payments compared to the same time the year before.[2]  In November of that year, 533,000 US jobs were cut, the largest loss in US jobs up to that time in one month since 1974.  The economic effects of these events in 2008 are still being felt today.

   Change and how it may affect our confidence is not just limited to changes in the economy.  In June of 2008 we were treated to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chinawith superb individual performances not only by Usain Bolt in track and Michael Phelps in the pool, but by many others.  The successful Summer Olympics in Beijing, China only called attention to another underlying change --- the reentry of China on the global stage as a major power.  And of course in 2008 during the spring, summer and fall, the US was in the midst of a heated presidential election – concluding in November, 2008 when a Democratic senator from Illinois, Barack Obama was elected president.

So now I come back to us, visiting with you at the conclusion of my term as an ELCA missionary pastor, wondering perhaps as you may wonder, what does confidence during change --- rapid change --- mean as Christians?  Perhaps we may feel like Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain who said: “There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”[3]

Surprisingly, we may forget that we as Christians are all about change!  We also may forget that confidence during change is part of our Christian character.  We may forget that Jesus Christ was, is and will be all about nothing less than … change.  Scripture reminds us that God changes God’s direction (with Abraham before Sodom and Gomorrah) but that is not of what I speak, rather we are to have confidence in all that God has and is doing in, with and through Jesus Christ; a change to the world that rests on many things but includes that basic fact that because of Jesus’ death of the cross, we are not separated from God.  Not only do we have a growing relationship based on the fact that we are God’s creatures but that Jesus died for our sin to redeem that relationship.  Jesus rose from the dead and with that resurrection, Jesus opened to all of us the promise of eternal life.[4]  All of this means that you and I are being changed by faith in God’s grace.  As we change and live in a changing world, we can live our lives confident in God’s grace.

  God however did not leave us helpless to pull ourselves up with our own determination.  Rather our confidence rests on God’s Holy Spirit which nurtures our faith.  We can have confidence as we trust in God’s wisdom that will help us humbly grow.  Our confidence arises from knowing that we are part of the church, the fellowship of worshiping Christians, where we have and find support.  And we have confidence that comes from scripture, the “written word of God.”[5]

I would like to take some time now to consider several verses in scripture regarding confidence amid change.  In scripture, we see three kinds of confidence in the middle of change described: excessive, insufficient and proper.

   Scripture is full of examples of those who had excessive confidence.  The one that comes to my mind is in the gospel of John where we see how the religious leaders are filled with a confidence that blinded them to who Jesus was.  The religious leaders are exceedingly confident because they took this to heart: “Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.”[6]  The religious leaders are so confident in what they have learned and now teach about God leading them to believe that something must not be right with Jesus.  In John 9 we hear how they conduct an inquiry into the healing by Jesus on a Sabbath of a man born blind.  After bringing the healed man to the inquiry they interrogated him: “So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him?  It was your eyes he opened.’”[7]  Nevertheless because of their excessive confidence they would not accept the testimony of the healed man; they would not accept the change.  Ultimately their confidence blinded them to who Jesus was, convincing themselves to begin the process to have Jesus killed.

   Besides excessive confidence, scripture also reminds us of the opposite, confidence that is insufficient.  In James, the writer challenges his readers early on, reminding those whose confidence is lacking; “But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.”[8]

   We also see that scripture teaches us that we are to have a “proper confidence” a term coined by Church of Scotland missionary and Bishop in the Church of South India, Lesslie Newbigin.[9]  Proper confidence describes a faith that leads to trust, a trust that leads to love and obedience and a love and obedience that leads to action.  Scripture teaches us that proper confidence is what Jesus meant for his disciples --- neither excessive nor insufficient but “proper” based on faith, trust and love.

In the gospel of John, Jesus reminds us of this.  After washing the feet of his disciples on the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus said: “Very truly, I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.  If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”[10]

   To strike a balance, so we have neither excessive nor insufficient but proper confidence is not easy.  Just consider the image of mission and missionaries --- Christians filled with excessive confidence, ignoring the culture and people with whom they share the good news of Jesus Christ.  The ELCA however follows a model of working with our Christian partners in other nations responding to their requests as we are able based on our gifts, participating in mission together.  The ELCA follows a model of proper confidence, not only in being obedient to Christ’s call to share the good news but also based on mutual respect in partnership with other Christians around the world.

   Nonetheless, as I said, having “proper” confidence is not easy when change seems to be taking us into more difficult and stormy seas.  Let me share with you some examples and stories of proper confidence that I have experienced as your former ELCA missionary.

When I began in 2006 as a pastor missionary sent by the ELCA to assist the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC) it was to fill a specific need that could not be filled by the JELC.  In the city of Nagoya, Japan, a local church had a ministry of hospitality, an English speaking, inter-denominational congregation that met weekly in one of their churches.  When the English speaking ministry, Meito Christ International Churchor MCIC, began over 15 years ago, it was dependent on the ongoing presence of Lutheran missionaries from the US serving in Nagoya.  However as you and I well know, change is constant which meant that no longer could this ministry of hospitality be dependent on Lutheran missionaries from the US.  What should the JELC and MCIC do?  Should the ministry end and no longer provide English speaking worship to the English speakers living and working in the community.  Or should it continue?  What is proper confidence?

This Spring MCIC chose to seek and successfully found its own English speaking pastoral leader in partnership with the local Japanese congregation.  Insufficient confidence would have ended the ministry.  Excessive confidence perhaps would have trusted in the continuation of past or an unwillingness to accept change or be changed.  But proper confidence in faith, trust and love means that this important ministry has not only evolved but strengthened.

When I began serving as a missionary, the local Japanese congregation with whom I was called to work, asked if I would assist with their church kindergarten sharing the Christian faith in English as well as working with the pastor in his classes with the PTA.  At first I was highly suspect about the request.  Not only did I not have any confidence that what I was doing was making any difference but I thought to myself, “I am not a kindergarten teacher.”  “What are the 3,4, and 5 year olds going to learn from me --- in English about the good news of Jesus Christ?”  In retrospect not only was I hesitant but even perhaps resentful.

Proper confidence meant for me to humble myself, trust that the local congregation and that pastors knew best how to use my time and talents.  It was not until later when I was teaching an adult Kindergarten PTA bible class with the Japanese pastor that I began to realize the wisdom of the local church when I heard one of the mothers tell me that she was learning about the Christian faith from her 5 year old child.

Let us return to my original question… are you confident?  Are you sure and positive even with rapid change?  God is faithful to creation and is at work to heal it and save it from human sin.  Furthermore, God promises that any sacrifice we make to be co-laborers with God in God’s saving and healing work will be amply rewarded.  Yes, the world is changing.  Yes, we are changing.  Let us not be afraid, let us not be hesitant, let us not be resentful or have excessive or insufficient confidence but be properly certain in God’s love and grace for that love and grace is life-giving and life-changing.  Thank you for your past support of the ELCA Missionary program.  Amen.

---

[1]http://www.thefreedictionary.com/confident

[2]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28283870/ns/us_news-year_in_review_2008/

[3]http://thinkexist.com/quotations/change/

[4] 1 Corinthians 15: 3-6

[5]http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/The-Bible.

[6] John 7: 52

[7] John 9: 17

[8] James 1: 6-7

[9]Leslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt and Certainty in Christian Discipleship, Eerdmans, 1995

[10] John 12: 16-17

Our Exorcism - 6/20/2010

Luke 8: 26-39  

When Christopher Columbus first stepped out onto the clean beaches of what is known today as the Bahama Islands, the story goes, that after claiming all that he saw for the European crown that paid for his boats, Columbus greeted the native people with words that would shape the force and direction of expansion into all the Americas for the next 400 years.

   Extending his clenched hand to the crowd gathered about, he asked --- “You got any of this?”  Columbus then opened his fingers to reveal a small variety of gold coins and trinkets.  With all the beauty and wonder of a new world standing right in front of him, Columbus was possessed by a single thought: “Gold.”

   There is an old saying.  It was probably originated by some older, bigger child snatching away a toy from a younger sibling.  The saying goes like this: “Possession is 9/10 of the law,” meaning that if you control it, it’s yours.  If that is true, then it is possibly equally true that the scramble to gain and hold “possession” takes up 9/10 of our lives.

   We are possessed by our quests; we are possessed by all that dominates our thinking --- what ever they may be from money to family.  Some possessions obviously are healthy (food, home), but possessions can be an addiction: Internet, TV to drugs, to food to the latest clothing.  Like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings, our desire for the “ring” can even refine us and bend us to our possessions will.

  The Gerasene man healed by Jesus in today's gospel was possessed by not one, not two, but a "legion" of demons, possessions which completely took over his own mind and personality.

   Over the years as I have studied this lesson, I have come to believe that we spend way to much time focusing on the metaphysical aspect: a Demon/Devil/Satan --- concerned about another principle beside God, a divine sort of yang to balance God’s yin.  Are we to think of the Medieval Lucifer or the Hollywood Exorcist or something entirely different?

   My view is clear; there is no God besides God; there is no corresponding power.  Yet I concur with psychiatrist M. Scott Peck in his book, “People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil” who concludes after years of clinical practice, “I now know Satan is real.  I have met it.”[1]

   Nevertheless our preoccupation with the presence of evil may miss the point for us Christian believers, because in the process of contemplating evil we put aside the fact of “possession.”  However, “possession” is precisely the result when we are obsessed by a “legion” of what consumes us.  Our minds and entire personalities can be twisted as we recklessly and many times ravenously save and seek.  It is “possession” that is to be our focus, our struggle.

   Let us take a moment to review the event.  At least three of the writers of the Gospel tell us about today’s events, the harrowing experience that Jesus once had with a very possessed person.  At the beginning of our lesson, we see Jesus trying to get away from the press of the crowd in Galilee, so he decides to cross over the Sea of Galilee to the eastern shore to a much less populated area called Gerasenses (Gadarenes).  No sooner had he landed there, then Jesus is assaulted by a man who was “demon possessed.”[2]

   In the course of this event, we learn a variety of things, like it seems that his family and friends had tried to restrain him with chains, but he was so “possessed” that he had broken them apart.  Well, ultimately, Jesus exorcizes this throng of evil into unfortunate swine who then either kill themselves or are driven to death by this legion.  This healed man is told not to follow Jesus but to return to his community to share the good news.  Yet, the surrounding countryside is filled with fear because it seems it was easier to live with a demon possessed man living in the cemetery than it is to have Jesus walking around healing people.

   So what can we learn from this event to help us in our faith?  We can learn about the process of exorcism of a legion of “possessions.”  The process of exorcism comes in four components.  There is the naming, the engagement, the expelling and the description of the one freed.

   The most important is the first, for possessions and powers to be exorcised, they must be named.  Getting possessions and powers to be named is not always an easy task.  All of us know about the reality of denial.  If you don’t … it is because …. you are denial.  It is like the story where a gentleman is browsing through the shop of a blacksmith.  This gentleman is unaware that the blacksmith has recently placed a freshly worked piece on a table.  It's not red-hot but still warm enough to burn. The gentleman without knowing lifts the piece to examine it and immediately drops it as the heat burns his skin.  The blacksmith asks, “I’m sorry!  Did it burn your?”  “No,” replied the gentleman, “the piece is not to my taste.”

   Did you notice, that Jesus asks the demons to name themselves?  He doesn’t ask for a Doctor’s diagnosis, rather evil named itself.  What happens when we invite people to name themselves their problems rather than for us to tell them what the problem is?  What happens when we find ways to allow others to name their reality rather than us doing it for them?

   Was Jesus surprised to hear the response, “Legion?”  Or had he accurately perceived what was before him?  So when we allow others to name their reality, all that bothers them, all that possess them, it saves us from the limits of our own prejudices and perceptions.

   After being named what happens next?  The healing begins!  We see that because the possession begins to bargain, asking for favors.  Don’t we see that in ourselves and others when power and possession is named?  “I’ll start next week….!”  “It’s not really that bad…”  “I can stop anytime …”  It seems that the demons think they have caught Jesus when he agrees to let them go into the swine and consequently into the sea.  They think by fleeing in this way they are free, and yet in Luke's Gospel, this story follows the calming of the sea.  It is no coincidence.  The demons think they have outwitted Jesus --- escaped to battle another day perhaps.

   But this leads to the third aspect of exorcism --- the legion is cast out.  As they plunge into the sea, it is clear that the legion has forgotten that Jesus is the one of whom the disciples proclaimed, “Who is this that even the sea obeys him?”

   In engaging in exorcism the result is not easy, clean or without pain and suffering and… in today’s lesson there are even innocent victims… the swine and their owners.  For example, there is a parable about a farmer who had a few animals he kept in a barn that had gotten old, drafty, and leaky.  Concerned for his animals' wellbeing, the farmer decided to build a new barn.  He built a fine new barn, tore down the old one, and was comforted to know his animals were now safe and dry.  One day a storm came through the area.  The farmer decided to look in on his animals, and he was shocked to discover that the barn door had been left unlatched, and all of the animals had left the new barn and were huddled beneath the storm within the foundations of the old, familiar barn.  It is easier to hold on to what we know than to face the new.  It is easier to hold on to old comfortable patterns and habits than to live in the new.

   That’s why I completely understand how the people in the surrounding countryside responded to Jesus.  For the people of Gerasenes, the change was too much.  It is far more comfortable to have a naked man running around in a graveyard than to have the new.

   The process of exorcism is not easy.  We see it in ourselves and in others, as we cling to old patterns of living even when it is clear that those old patterns are not life-giving --- are even evil.

   What about us?  To escape, being possessed or held captive by powers, to safely navigate our way through the entombing situations, entanglements and enticements of this Age, we must keep our own simple, back-to-basics lifeboat always close at hand.  Exorcisms are a life long process.  But what is that lifeboat?

  Our lifeboat is constructed out of the rough, splintered, blood-stained wood of the cross.  Only by keeping afloat in our faith in Jesus Christ's redemptive love and sacrifice can we escape “possession” and navigate the uncharted waters of the twenty-first century.
   Are we more comfortable in the philosophical discussion of evil than facing the evil in us and the world around us?  Or are we in the fog of denial?  Or, are we waiting for someone else to name what ails us because it is easier to say “That’s not it?”  Or are we far more comfortable with the status quo rather than change?  Or do we have hold of that old rugged cross and open to allow the process of exorcism that comes in clinging to the cross?  The fourth component of exorcism is the description of the one freed.  In our gospel, we hear how the healed man was told to return to his community and share the good news.  May we share the good news of the exorcisms in our lives.  Amen.

---

[1] M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil. Simon and Schuster, p.183

[2] Luke 8:27

I'm not worthy - 6/14/2010

   “Wayne’s World” may be the English view of South Africa during the World Cup --- aka Forward Wayne Rooney --- but in the United States “Wayne’s World” was originally a recurring comedy sketch in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s from a television series called Saturday Night Live.  This comedy sketch eventually spawned two films, and several catchphrases which have since entered the American pop-culture lexicon, “excellent”, “party on”, etc.

   The scenes from “Wayne’s World” were centered on a local cable access television program in Aurora, Illinois, hosted by Wayne and his best friend Garth.  Wayne you see was an adult “slacker” who lived with his parents and would broadcast his show from the basement his parents house every Friday evening.  Wayne and Garth would begin by introducing themselves and then proceed to discuss their love of hard rock bands and “babes”, or they would engage in juvenile antics, such as the “Extreme Close-Up” --- where a camera would zoom in on Wayne and Garth as they screamed --- or Wayne and Garth would try to trick their unsuspecting guests into saying vulgar words or Wayne or Garth would engage in “dream” sequences.

   Well, one of their catch phrases was uttered when they would meet one of their heroes, usually one of the guests of Saturday Night Live, like rock singer Alice Cooper and the rock band Aerosmith, “We’re not worthy!” or later as found in their movies, “I’m not worthy.”[1]

   “I’m not worthy!”  “We’re not worthy!”  I wonder do we know what it is like to feel “unworthy?”  I suspect that for most of us, feelings of unworthiness are not uncommon.  Perhaps those feelings may revolve around our physical appearance, or something all together different like a string of mistakes.  Feelings of self worth may drive a person to try harder for example.  But feelings of low self-worth can be a symptom of depression or lead to de-habilitating life choices.

   It is feelings of self worth that is so interesting in today’s gospel.  Upon Jesus' arrival in Capernaum, Luke tells us that there was “a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly,” that “was sick and about to die.”  And then we hear that “the centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.”[2]

   Now a centurion was a Roman officer in the military forces that occupied Palestine and would normally but not always, command 100 soldiers.  However, as there was no direct Roman military presence in Galilee before AD 44, the centurion headquartered in Capernaum in our story would have been attached to the army of King Herod Antipas who ruled the province on Roman behalf.  Nevertheless, this particular centurion of non-Jewish descent must have assumed that his request would gain a better hearing if he sent Jewish elders --- after all, Jesus was Jewish.

   Also, everything we are told points to this centurion being a unique individual.  For example, we can hazard to guess that the average first century citizen, let alone a Roman officer, would not normally be concerned about the welfare of a slave.  Slaves could be replaced.  But Luke tells us that this particular slave was “highly valued” by the centurion.  Matthew's Gospel indicates that the slave was paralyzed and in terrible suffering.  But, why and for what reason this slave was valued we are not told, nonetheless, this centurion did everything he could to save his slave's life.

   What is also intriguing is that this centurion had good relations with the local Jewish elders or leaders who were quite willing to speak on his behalf.  It could have been because the centurion we are told “loves our nation.”  This could have meant that that centurion was sympathetic to the Jewish faith or it could have meant that he respected Jewish customs or it could have meant a combination of that.  But we also learn that the other reason the centurion’s request was supported by the elders was that the centurion had either paid for and/or built a synagogue.  Thus, Jesus was requested to help this man because “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”

   Now, right away, you may have sensed something; did the centurion “deserve” the healing of his slave because he had good relations with Jews and built a synagogue?  Is that what is being suggested to Jesus?  We deserve what we get? 

   But, what began that way did not end that way, because while Jesus, the disciples, the crowd and the Jewish elders were on their way, a message came from this same centurion.  “So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: ‘Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.  That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.  But say the word, and my servant will be healed.’”[3]

   I’m not worthy!  But this episode is not like Wayne and Garth meeting up with Aerosmith!

   How did the centurion approach Jesus? He approached Jesus as someone unworthy.  At first he began as deserving using go betweens in between Jesus and himself but then the centurion approached Jesus with genuine humility and unworthiness.

   I don’t know about you, but I find that very interesting.  No doubt the centurion knew that pious Jews did not enter a Gentile home.  But, that boundary does not seem to be the main issue because we know that Jesus in more than one case steps outside those boundaries; rather the centurion is depicted with humility.  Furthermore, this centurion never even actually appears personally before Jesus to plead his cause.  

   It does not end there, because the centurion via his friends adds these words:  “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes.  I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it.’”[4]  The centurion recognizes Jesus as having great authority.  How?  Had the centurion seen or heard something?  Perhaps he did but what we see clearly is that centurion’s words and actions stemmed from the centurion’s sense of self worth.

   Luke does not record the word Jesus speaks to heal the slave, yet some word must have been used because the friends of the centurion turned around and headed back to find the slave healed.  It is as if the healing is secondary.

   What does this event teach us?  Jesus provides us a hint by remarking on the remarkable faith based on the actions and words of this centurion.  “When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’”[5] 

   For me this opens some interesting questions.  For example, is there is value in being unworthy.  That is not typically a message I hear from the society.  Also, the centurions faith partly stems from having a very clear sense of who Jesus is and his authority.

   Thus, the centurion’s faith is derived from humility grounded in a profound respect for Jesus' position.  In comparison to Jesus, the centurion sees himself as unworthy and since he sees himself as undeserving, he is all the more … aware … aware of what?  Aware of the pure grace with which Jesus operates.

   Compare that to the disciples for example.  For most of Jesus' disciples, their faith grew gradually as they see Jesus exerting power of an ever widening circle – non-pious Jews, women, children, the blind, foreigners, lepers, the dead.  Nevertheless although their faith grew, we hear for example, how after Jesus had calmed the waters during a storm, the disciples are stunned.  “Where is your faith?” Jesus asked his disciples.  Then after the storm is calmed, in fear and amazement the disciples ask one another, ‘Who is this?  He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’”[6]  The disciples have walked with him for a year or so and still haven't figured out the extent of Jesus' authority and power, but the centurion has a profound understanding of himself, vis-a-via Jesus without even meeting Jesus in person.

   This event with the centurion leaves us with an important thought to consider; our sense of self worth may be hindering our growth in our own faith.  Let me explain.  On one hand we may recognize, “I’m not God.”  But on the other hand, we may not fully recognize or trust in God’s authority because of our own sense of self worth.  Thus, we may be like the disciples still wondering “Who is this?” whereas the centurion who in humility never meets Jesus yet has faith and trust.

   “I’m not worthy.”  Can we truly say the same?  And if so, what does that mean as followers of Jesus Christ?  Let us pray: 

---

[1] For a transcript of such a sketch please see: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/89mwaynesworld.phtml

[2] Luke 7:2-3

[3] Luke 7:6-7

[4] Luke 7: 8

[5] Luke 7: 9

[6] Luke 8:25

Compassion - 6/6/2010

Luke 7:11-17

   It was a small funeral not like in today’s gospel.  There were only five people; myself, an elderly relative and an equally elderly friend of the deceased, the funeral director and a worker from the cemetery.  Typically after the committal service, the casket is lowered into the open grave on a machine with belts, kind of like a cradle.  With the assistance of this machine, the cemetery worker can place the casket into the grave by him self.  Then after everyone has left a hoe or some other type of earth moving machine buries the coffin.  Usually the family leaves after the service but before the casket is lowered.

   Well, this time, the relative wanted to remain, so we all stood together watching as the casket began its descent.  All of sudden there was a loud crack and for some reason a belt broke, or got off track, the machine to lower the casket swung up and down went the casket where we heard a sickening crunch.

   The relative and the friend of the deceased cried out in horror.  The funeral director immediately rushed up and told us to stand back as he and the cemetery worker tried to stabilize the machine, and looked over the side of the grave.

   They turned and said we better all go; they were going to fix things and get the casket into the grave.  However, the two mourners did not want to leave but the funeral director persisted and finally the two mourners turned to me and asked if I would stay to make sure that everything was put right and the casket properly repaired or replaced and the casket placed in it’s grave.

   I promised I would and after they left, I watched as the funeral director and cemetery worker fixed the machine, raised the casket, and reviewed the damage.  The lining of the casket had not broken, but the outside had received some damage.  The funeral director called the family so I could share what I had witnessed.

   I told her that her relative’s body had not fallen out and was not affected, the lining did not have any visible damage and that the casket had cosmetic damage on the outside.  I then handed the phone over to the funeral director whereby it was agreed that the casket would be used but the family would receive a sizable discount off the funeral.  After the funeral director and family came to terms, the casket was lowered into the grave and I waited until after the casket was covered with earth.

   In today’s incident, Jesus encounters death for the first time in Luke’s Gospel.  During one of his journeys, Jesus comes across a funeral procession --- a funeral procession we come to find out, for a widow’s only son.  I doubt it was Jesus’ first funeral but in Luke it was the first in his three year or so ministry in which he played a part.

   There are a few things we can focus on about this event.  We can talk about the parallels that exist between Jesus and the prophet Elijah, remembering that Elijah too brought back to life the son of a widow in Zarephath.[1]  (Connections)  We can talk about the history, ministering to and supporting those on the margins.  Widows in first-century Judea were women on the margin of society.  Without a social security system in place, widows relied on children and their extended families, begging and their religious community for support.  Again and again, we hear of poor widows in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, such as the poor widow who gave her “two small copper coins” into the temple treasury.[2]

   However, what struck me this time in reading this event is that when you reduce this story down to its bare essentials it comes down to two people; Jesus, coming into town, and a weeping, heartbroken widow leading the procession that bears her dead son to his final resting place.  It is essentially just two people, not even a prayer uttered, or an exclamation about faith.  But in this funeral event something happens that changes everything.  It was not a sudden accident, nor did this widow somehow say or do something, nor did Jesus preach or offer a teaching, rather compassion touches the heart of God's Son.  “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don't cry.’”[3]

   Interestingly enough, the Greek word translated as “his heart went out to her” is σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai) which means to have or be moved in compassion.  It comes from the word σπλάγχνον (splagchnon) which means bowels or intestines.  At the time of Jesus, people believed that the seat of emotions particularly kindness and compassion were not an emotion based on what was in the “heart” but in the bowels.

   So why was Jesus so moved?  Perhaps Jesus saw his own mother in that widow.  Or perhaps Jesus had a prior memory of an aunt or neighbor who had experienced what now faced her.  Or perhaps Jesus could see in a flash what life would be like for this widowed woman with no child and thus with no extended family.  Possibly he intervened in a situation that would otherwise be disastrous.  We simply do not know.

   Jesus' impulse nevertheless, is what many of us may feel, to provide words of comfort.  But, Jesus does not offer to pray or offer words of condolences; instead he says what we are taught not to say: “Don't cry.”  For us, those words may mean well, but they do not remove the cause of the hurt, the reason for the weeping.  Thus, for us to say “Don’t cry” is a lame command and simply reminds the person mourning the reason for their pain and highlights our own inadequacy.

   However in the case of Jesus, he meant what he said because there will no longer be any reason to weep.  For after sharing those words, Jesus reaches up to touch the brier and the wrapped young man and says:  “Young man, I say to you, get up!”

   Now, this could potentially have been the most embarrassing moment of Jesus’ ministry, had the body of the young man not responded.  After all, this was pretty early in his ministry career.  Of course, the young man did get up, did say a few words that are left out of the narrative and Jesus returned the young man to his mother.

   What was the response, of the onlookers, these two groups who met outside the entrance to Nain?  I am sure it was as startling as hearing a casket fall to the ground.  After the shock, we are told “They were all filled with awe and praised God.  ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people.’”[4]

   What does the retelling of this story intended to remind us?  There is of course the miraculous power of God’s love shown in and through Jesus.  It also reveals God’s heart, God’s compassion, God’s love and care for very common and ordinary people.  It also reminds us that out of compassion, Jesus removed the reason for the weeping.

  And there may be something even more basic for as Christians.  We have faith in God’s grace in that Jesus did not simply repair a funeral gone wrong and give a nice discount.  Jesus is not simply our Lord because he can provide a booklet on getting over grief or teaching us on what not to say when someone dies.

   As human beings, so much of our life revolves around cause and effect, a belt breaks a casket falls.  Sally studied hard for the test; Sally earned an A.  But in this event, Jesus acts out of his own love --- not based on a request by the mother, crowd or disciples.  Jesus is not related to anyone, nor does anyone come asking Jesus for assistance because the young man or the widow was their relative or friend.  Rather it is an event, compassion on strangers in a town Jesus was passing through.  It is this that is basic to us.  God’s compassion is extended to each one of us too --- merely strangers on the pilgrim way.  God cares deeply for you and me.  God feels our pain.

   We will all die; cause and effect.  Nothing we do can change that.  Nevertheless Jesus encounters us, gives us life with undeserved grace, because God has compassion through Jesus Christ and it is for that reason alone, that we have new life.  Amen.

---

[1] 1 Kings 17

[2] Luke 21

[3] Luke 7: 13

[4] Luke 7: 16

Compleat - 5/30/2010

 Romans 5: 1-5      

 My name is Charles.  But if I had been born on September 29^th, that date I was scheduled to be born, our family story is that my name may have been Michael.  Why?  September 29^th is the feast day of the archangel Michael.  In the book of Daniel, Michael is one of the “chief princes” that come to the aid of Daniel.[1]  In the book of Revelation, Michael is the leader of the angelic army who will conquer Satan.[2]

   Well, nature and family ultimately led to a change.  I was not born on my due date but later, and I was the first male grandchild and thus it was decided that I would be named Charles after my maternal and paternal grandfathers.

   “Feast Day” in general refers to the death date, not the birth date, of a designated famous Christian, a saint.  Obviously in the case of the Biblical Archangel Michael, September 29^th was chosen as his feast day for other reasons, because he does not have a death date.  Nonetheless, death dates, rather than birthdays, were celebrated as “feast days” because it was assumed that these saints birthday into eternity was on this date.  Whatever your feelings regarding the appropriateness of remembering “feast days” or even following a Christian calendar, saints open for us an important topic --- rebirth, to make holy or the terms used in some Protestant Christian circles, regeneration and/or sanctification.

   Saints are called saints because through their lives and often through their deaths, Christian history has recognized that somehow these people may have imitated Christ or embodied Christ like character or virtues --- they were “sanctified” the root of the world saint.

   In today’s second lesson, Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome boldly asserts that we are justified --- the process whereby humanity alienated from God by sin, is reconciled to God --- we are justified by faith through grace.  Paul is denying that we can in any manner earn or work our way out of sin toward reconciliation with God.  Yet, then just as boldly, Paul declares that there is a definitive set of virtues that a follower should purposefully cultivate and visibly demonstrate because we are reconciled with God.

   If you have not already figured it out that creates some tension.  As Duke University professor Stanley Hauerwas has noted, “justification suggests that our lives are given to us as a gift, whereas the virtues seem to imply that the moral life should be construed as an achievement.”[3]

   Another way to look at it is that Paul was urging the Christians in Rome to consider transforming themselves into “compleat” Christians.  Compleat is an old variant on the word "complete" --- and while they are pronounced the same --- thank God --- the nuances of meaning between the two are significant.  Whereas complete-ness applies mainly to things and ideas, compleat-ness applies pointedly to persons.  Specifically, it refers to a “highly developed or wide-ranging skill or proficiency.”[4]  A synonym of compleat would be “quintessential.”

   Being a compleat or quintessential Christian for Paul entailed being able to accept the gift of justification, and then respond to that gift --- that grace --- with such a life that the Christian is moved to hope, suffer, endure and build a character which reflects that grace.  In other words, one completes the circle of faith by becoming a compleat Christian, justified by grace and with Christ-like virtues.

   So how is it going?  How are we doing?  As I thought about Paul’s words for myself, I thought perhaps all of us may need a review on how we measure up to Paul's understanding of a truly virtuous, compleat Christian?
   Let us begin with hope; do we have hope?  Hope is probably the most essential of all four virtues for Christians.  Christian hopefulness is rooted in a belief that there is purposeful movement in history towards a future filled with meaning.  I remember reading an illustration of this a Pastor’s journal.  A young pastor was telling older pastor, “I’m disillusioned with the organized church.”  The retort: “Who told you to be illusioned?”[5]

   Practically speaking one could say: do not set your hope on things or people who are likely to fail.  The point being that if we find ourselves good and depressed about some thing perhaps we should ask ourselves this question: Did I place my hope in a person?  Did I place hope in a certain situation that I had envisioned?

   Paul is reminding us that because of grace, God is our hope.  Thus, the virtue of hopefulness rests on being mindful of the first commandment, having no other gods before the Lord.

   Next up is do we suffer for Christ's sake?  Once again this is based on the Christian view that out of suffering we find meaning.  However, this is possibly the most quoted and least understood virtue.  We are not talking about suffering through another boring meeting, or a gym work-out, or a particular family situation nor does it necessarily include physical or emotional deprivation.

   Christian suffering is not about learning to take on additional burdens or problems so much as it is about learning to give up the right to indulge in certain human weaknesses.  When we agree to participate in Christ's suffering --- not our view of suffering --- that means we forfeit the urge to “get even,” take revenge, harbor malicious thoughts or speak vicious words.  Shouldering our own cross means returning intentional wounding with love and forgiveness, even as Christ did.

   Do we have endurance?  Endurance might also be called the virtue of fortitude.  Or even more simply, guts.  Again endurance like suffering is far from a passive, roll-over, “hang in there,” attitude towards adversity, rather Christian endurance is courage.  For example, at the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D., of the 318 delegates attending, fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith.[6]  In other words, Christian endurance entails courage and perseverance of the highest degree.

   Christian endurance develops from the Old Testament concept of hesed --- God's steadfast love --- Christian endurance means standing by our faith, relying on God’s grace and demonstrating our faithfulness even when the odds are overwhelming.

   Do we have a recognizably Christian character?  You know as well as I that there are plenty of “unique characters” in this world of ours.  In the United States character is often defined as those individuals so concerned with being recognized by some quirky habits, attitude, or odd views.  That is not Christian character - but caricature.

   Paul puts character at the end of his list because it is what results when the Christian is integrating these other virtues into a consistently faithful Spirit-filled whole.  Only when we are such a fully integrated individual, compleat, do we share in the character of Christ.

   For example, in English you may have noticed that a smooth, conscience-free con-artist or criminal is called a “slick character”?  The reason is because that “slick” person has no guiding virtues etched onto their lives.  The famous French sculptor Rodin created a pair of statues that he placed side by side in an exhibit.  The first statue was made of smooth marble, with soft, sleek lines.  It portrayed a human figure cradled in a gently cupped hand, complacent and relaxed.

   The second piece was rough, active and powerful; the fingers of the hand are raising a conscious human figure, carrying it upward.   Rodin called the first work, the smooth marble “The Hand of the Devil”; the second piece with rough marble, “The Hand of God.”  Rodin’s imagery is a reminder that Satan tempts us to complacency and spiritual laziness, while God’s care challenges and uplifts us in the midst of suffering and endurance producing character.[7]

   All this of course leads us back to the beginning because as I noted at the start there is a tension between grace and virtues, because if becoming a quintessential Christian seems impossible to achieve you are right!  That is why Paul circles back around to hope at the conclusion of his list of virtues.  With trust in the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit, and the assurance of our justification by faith, Christians are filled with the hope that our lives will come to reflect God's glory.

  Paul's message to the Roman church claims that it is through suffering, endurance, character and hope that God's love in us becomes compleat.  It is God's love “poured into our hearts” that is both the starting gate and the finishing line of a virtuous life.[8]

   My name is Charles.  Yet what ever our names may be or whatever Kanji --- Japanese characters --- are used to make up our names, it is only in God that we can become compleat.  In begins and ends in grace, but in the journey, we hope, suffer, endure and shine.  God bless us in that journey.  Amen.

---

[1] Daniel 10:13

[2] Revelation 12: 7-9

[3] "On Developing Hopeful Virtues," Christian Scholar's Review 18 [1988]: 109

[4] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/compleat

[5] On do not remember where I read that illustration.

[6] http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/suffering.htm

[7] www.homiletics.com

[8] Romans 5:5

Nostalgia - 5/23/2010

   I love this quote by Lou Reed the American rock musician, songwriter and photographer: “I don’t like nostalgia … unless it’s mine.”

   Nostalgia is an interesting emotion is it not?  For example, I remember reading a book: The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap.[1]  The author’s thesis was that 1950’s in the US was not as “golden” or as idyllic as many assumed.  For example, many deep problems existed in communities and families including black men and women as second class citizens and attending schools in shacks.  Teenage pregnancy was at it’s highest that it’s ever been.

   Nostalgia is not just an American experience alone because as many of you know we live in a nation that perhaps has taken selective nostalgia to an elevated art form.  Nor is reminiscence fever limited to countries with national myths to support like the United States, Britain or Japan, just consider the Bible.  The Old Testament begins with the recounting of a heavenly time in humanity's story, a paradise on earth, a pre-Darwinian Golden Age, the Garden of Eden.  That occasion however, occupies but a tiny portion --- three chapters --- in the Old Testament canon, as contrasted with the multi-volume account of the wanderings in the wilderness, the struggles to claim the Promised Land, and the dreary era of the Babylonian exile.

   Obviously, we in the Christian church are not free for longing for the past.  For today’s event --- Pentecost --- seems to be a golden age of its own, a time when the gospel was proclaimed and mighty works of power were evident, when believers were all of one heart and soul in apostolic concord, and they shared all that they had with one another.  Although this golden age does not last long in Acts; nevertheless it stands as the epitome of Christian believers gathered together in harmony.

  Yet, I wonder, “I do not like nostalgia unless it’s mine.”  Perhaps we are too accustomed to thinking of Pentecost as that singular event, the Holy Spirit of flame and wind.[2]  Perhaps we are too caught up in thinking of Pentecost as that special Christian feast, that special birthday of the Church, that moment and time that we are recreate, and what ever follows can never measure up.

   This is where the problem lies … nostalgia.  It has been said that the greatest obstacle to future success is past success.  From our failures and mistakes we can learn, but what about from our successes?  What can we learn from our successes, like Pentecost? 

   We forget that Pentecost existed as a Jewish festival many centuries before the Church inherited it, a Jewish story of success.  Indeed, Pentecost is the second of the three great Jewish feasts, celebrated fifty days after the Passover.  Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, is also appropriately known as the Harvest Festival.  Now for those of us accustomed to harvest time being only in the fall, we forget that for many cultures, barley and wheat for example, were planted in the autumn and harvested in the spring.

  But more importantly than harvest success, Pentecost commemorated the giving of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, at Mount Sinai, the seed of the Mosaic Law.  On Pentecost the basis of successful Jewish community was remembered and memorialized.

   Unlike Passover however, Pentecost was not a quiet family commemoration with a commemorative meal, but a time when all the people would come together for a brief time to renew their connection to God and to one another, to recall the ties of both liberty and law that bound them as one.  And, in an often overlooked aspect of the feast, this community was charged with leaving behind some of the gleanings of their harvest for the poor to be able to collect for their own sustenance.

   It is for that reason, for that success, that the Jewish disciples of Jesus were gathered together as community to remember law and liberty … as well as the death, resurrection and recent ascension of Jesus.  It is in this mix that the Holy Spirit came.  “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”[3]

   These images from Acts 2 are compelling and provocative, images of success that bring to mind the wind of God that “swept over the face of the waters” in creation, the breath of God that gave life to the first human being.  With rushing wind and tongues of fire, the apostles experienced the presence of God and were propelled forward in reformed community.  In power and in intimacy, they were filled and sent forth to share in many tongues, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ, to heal aching souls, to bear witness to divine, incomparable love.  People responded; thousands of people responded.  And that Pentecost day ended quite differently than it had begun.

   In that success together with new believers this community devoted themselves “to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.”[4]  The apostles displayed “many wonders and miraculous signs” and their followers had “everything in common,” selling their possessions and sharing with one another, and new members were added daily to their number.[5]  The Spirit had come.  The fearful had found power.  A reformed community was born.  It was and is a very good beginning, a veritable golden age.

   But like I said our past successes can fool us into thinking that what worked then must be what will work always.  Over the ages countless Christians have tried to recreate that singular Pentecost, as if it was a recipe or making it the standard for what constitutes authentic spirit filled Christian community.  Like Peter on the mount of transfiguration, we try to build tents around Pentecost and attempt to stay there; and when we are forced to come down from the mountain, we spend years trying to rebuild what we left behind or conveniently forget all that was less than perfect.

   Golden ages --- all that reinforces nostalgia --- always appear to be the epitome of our past successes, but too often get in the way of God's new work before us.

   Yes, Pentecost was a “success,” some we can learn from and build from.  It was a “success” in so far as it gave us Christians of later generations an example and standards.

   Yet, it was not a golden age or moment that can or should be recreated.  Even the author of Acts tells us that this event created a problematic situation.  Tensions began to surface.  A few newcomers like Barnabas, where able to bridge between the old and new.  Others were not: “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”[6] 

   Certainly success began with Pentecost, but the Holy Spirit did not stop there, nor should we, because the good news of Jesus Christ is not sometime back “then.”  No, the golden age is NOW, and every “NOW” yet to come.  Indeed, it is in the journey itself, as we encounter the living Christ again and again in new and unexpected ways, in new and unexpected people we meet along the way. 

   I would like to end with the quote from an animated movie called Kungfu Panda.  The main character in a moment of extreme disappointment when his dreams have been shattered is talking with a seasoned and wise character.  The main character says, “Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles.”  To which the wise teacher says, “Quit, don't quit?  Noodles, don't noodles?  You are too concerned about what was and what will be.  There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift.  That is why it is called the ‘present.’”[7]

   We are to live for that gift, that present, not to recreate a Pentecost, but to be in reformed community, to share in all languages the good news of Jesus Christ in the present.  Amen.

---

[1] Coontz, Stephanie, The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap, Basic Books, 2000

[2] I am thankful for a sermon by The Rev. Canon C.K. Robertson, http://day1.org/1946-golden_age

[3] Acts 2: 1-4

[4] Acts 2: 42

[5] Acts 2: 43-47

[6] Acts 6: 1

[7] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/quotes

Unity - 5/16/2010

John 17:20-26

How was your behavior this week?

   I am not asking for details, rather I ask because if you at all were nice to someone whether in your family and/or in the community, the chances are the reason for that positive behavior is because you worship.

   I am not lifting up our worship or my preaching, or our fellowship, rather according to research there is a correlation between good behavior and religiosity.  A study on that research, conducted by Harvard professor Robert Putnam and Notre Dame Scholar David Campbell, will be published this year in a book: American Grace: How Religion Is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives.

   Although their study has not been published some of the information on the research was shared at a conference in 2009.  And although the study surveys and interprets religion in the United States, and does not specifically focus on Christians alone, I believe that there is some information that may help us as we consider the words of Jesus in today’s gospel.

   According to study of the research done by Campbell and Putnam, religious people are three to four times more likely to be involved in their community than are nonreligious people.  That means in the United States for example, they are more apt to work on community projects, belong to voluntary associations, vote in local elections, attend public meetings and donate both time and money to public causes, including secular ones.  The research also shows that in general religious people are --- using their word --- “nicer.”  Religious people are more likely to do good deeds, help both neighbors and strangers, give money to people in need and let others cut in front of them in line.

   But here is the reason why and what makes their study interesting: Putnam and Campbell say that the reason religious people are nicer and are better citizens is not because of a religious teaching that all hold in common; some universal truth.  Nor are religious people “nicer” because they are trying to secure a place in heaven or because they are afraid of divine judgment; rather, the research suggests it is because of the relationships one has in their places of worship.

   The authors theorize that if someone from your “moral community” --- as opposed to say, someone from your work place --- asks you to volunteer for a cause; you are more likely to agree if they belong to your “moral community.”  They go on to suggest that “It’s not faith that accounts for this,” says Putnam.  “It’s faith communities.”[1]

   On a surface level, this suggests for us Christians that there is something to be gained from going to worship that cannot be had by staying home and listening to Christian music or listening to a preacher on television, or spending time on an Internet site or relying on private devotions alone.  Our gathering in worship includes a time to honor God, and learn and grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ as disciples but it is also where we draw forth good things from one another for the benefit of others.

   But I would suggest there is something more.  With that study and research in mind let us look more closely at today’s words from Jesus.

   Let me make a couple of points regarding its context.  Today words are a final snippet of Jesus’ grand closing prayer beginning with verse 1 of Chapter 17.   This closing prayer itself comes as a part of Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples beginning in Chapter 13.

  This final, grand prayer begins with Jesus praying first for his return to glory --- vs. 1-5, then for his disciples --- vs. 6-19.  Our verses today contain the third and final focus of Jesus’ prayer: those who will come to faith in future generations.  The prayer is a symphony of three movements, with a gradual shift in focus from God to world.[2]

   Jesus begins praying by addressing God in an intimate and personal way, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”[3]  By the end of the prayer, however, he is speaking not only to God but future generations of believers.  “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”[4]

   Now that we know some of the context of this prayer, we should ask ourselves, why would Jesus ask for this in his final public prayer?  Why pray for oneness --- unity?

   The unity for which Jesus prays for is not based on who we are, or what we need, but on who God is.  That means that Jesus does not pray for unity or oneness among his followers because the followers of Jesus are already one, and need to stay that way forever and ever --- Amen.  Unity is not an heirloom.  For example one family treasured a very old vase.  They even kept it on the mantle where everybody could see it.  When the mother came in from shopping late one afternoon, her teenage daughter said:  “Mother, you know that vase that has been handed down from generation to generation?”  “Yes, dear,” her mother replied.  Her daughter said: “Well, this generation just dropped it.”

   Unity flows from the fundamental character of God: God is one with Jesus Christ, and God loves God’s people in the same way that God loves Jesus his son.  The unity, for which Jesus prays for, is not therefore dependent upon our ability to overcome our divisions, and move up in unity, or hold on to some type of ideal heirloom, rather it is based on God’s constant love for us in spite of our divisions.  Meaning that in Jesus’ prayer, God loves his followers like he loves his son.  We the followers, Jesus prays, are to love each other in and out of that unity and that God design our faith communities to be vessels of love that put God’ unity on display for the entire world to see.

   What lesson should we take from this snippet of overheard prayer?  Besides reminding ourselves of our unity and oneness with other Christians because of God’s love we should not assume that we know what faith community is all about, based simply on stated faith and/or what is said and done in worship.  Unity, oneness does not revolve around a similar confession of faith.  Rather the gospel of John shares with us that the ultimate concern of our savior Jesus Christ is that God loves us and is seeking a relationship with us.  Jesus is praying that we seek not a self-centered trust of our own knowledge and skills but a true understanding of the God’s love for us, so that we may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through believing we may have life --- a moral, obedient, loving and eternal life, in his name.  Jesus prays that our relationship with God will be like his, unified, and that we will believe and thus love.

  Here is the bottom line for us today:  People are looking for guidance in many places.  Where shall we go?  What decision do we make?  Are we doing the right and wise thing?

   As I said earlier the final snippet of the prayer is geared to the future, that this road we travel is now the Jesus' road leading us towards the future.  In fact, God's preferred future will depend upon the decisions we make.  So in choosing the journey of faith, we practice a living as loved children of God, redeemed men and women, building relationships of love, kindness, and joy.

   This unity or oneness with the Father and the Son is a relationship that is a firm desire to be in tune with God in prayer, worship, and the study of Scripture.  Simultaneously, as we nurture a relationship with the Father and the Son, we build a faith community that helps us to remain and strengthen in obedience and love.  The single twig, the proverb says, breaks more easily than the bundle.  Or said another way, how can we love and serve a God we have not seen and yet hate our brother or sister we see daily?  How can we love and serve a God we have not seen and not gather with other believers to learn and grow in our relationship with God?

  Let me return finally to the research and study by Putnam and Campbell.  Our Christian fellowships are moral communities, and in that regard, we are bound together.  That means, that the longer we spend in the environment of Christian community, the clearer it becomes to us that God loves us all with the same persistent love.  It is out of that love and with the guidance and strength of God’s Holy Spirit, we come to see others through the eyes of Jesus Christ, to fulfill his prayer “that the love that you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”  This is Jesus’ prayer for us, and it never ceases.  Jesus prays for us even today.”[5]  Amen.

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[1] www.homiletics.com

[2] http://reflectious.com/2010/05/10/first-look-john-1720-26/

[3] John 17: 5

[4] John 17: 26

[5] http://reflectious.com/2010/05/10/first-look-john-1720-26/