Ramblings

"Canopy" - 4/29/2018

    Those who work the land as ranchers, farmers and gardeners have a knowledge base that many of us from more urban backgrounds do not. Sometimes it can be funny like the time my dairy farmer uncle asked a group of visiting school children from the city, “Do you know how we make chocolate milk? We pull the cows tails” to which the children nodded in solemn agreement. Later during the tour, he would show them that all milk comes in various shades of white depending on levels of buttermilk and that chocolate milk comes when chocolate syrup is added. That does not happen at the farm and that pulling is cows tail is not a good idea.
    So, when I was living and working as a volunteer for the United Farm Workers in California, I paid attention to the farm workers who worked day in and day out in the fields and vineyards of central valley.
    One of the things I learned was of the many issues that must be addressed in making good wine one that is frequently overlooked is canopy management.
    The topic is relevant to any discussion that one has about the Gospel of John particularly John 15. As one of my seminary professors suggested about the Gospel “before you read, go work on a farm or ranch.” This was simply the professors point that when we jump into Biblical interpretation of the Gospel of John without agricultural background it may leave readers of passages such as today without some important clues. “He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit” could be read as some type of Texas chainsaw massacre ministry with “hellfire and brimstone.” Or we may read through the lens of privilege and power suggesting that Jesus is engaging in a ministry of possession, “either you have it or you don’t.” Instead, what Jesus is discussing is canopy management for disciples.
    More on that in just a minute, but first some background. These verses are tightly packed with layers of meaning and we do not have time to go through all of it so let me point out several important pieces for our consideration this morning. Our gospel begins with the divine name, ego eimi, which is the Greek form of God's name in Hebrew, YHWH. This is the name if you remember that was given to Moses out of the burning bush, a word with an intriguing and elusive meaning, “I am who I am.”
    So why this “I am” here? This “I am” is repeated frequently in the Gospel of John because the author wants it to be known that God is present in the world and his name is Jesus. Moreover, God --- this “I am” --- is present in ways that are understandable and approachable --- the gate, the door, the good shepherd, the light, and, here, the “true vine.”
    Another motif of course is “the vine.” Now if you have heard about vines before in Bible study and worship that is no accident, as vines and vineyards are important images used over centuries. For instance, the vineyard, can be traced at least to the 8th century BC, as in Isaiah 5:2: “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the vineyard of Israel.”
    We also know from archaeology that the vine was a popular image in the time of Jesus. The Temple in Jerusalem was decorated with the vine theme and during the Roman-Jewish War, AD 66-70, roughly twenty to thirty years after Jesus’ death, the vine image was used on the coins minted by the Jewish rebels. Therefore, when Jesus uses the image of vine, he clearly is playing with a well-known motif.
    Today with that in mind, Jesus focuses on one aspect of the vine and vineyards --- production. Producing fruit is the whole purpose of the community of faith Jesus seems to be suggesting. To produce fruit means for the author of John to follow the way of Jesus. Whoever does not produce fruit, God will “take away.” Now for Christians who like using the imagery of “once saved” this portion of the Gospel of John obviously causes some discomfort.
    But let’s get back to the canopy management this gospel addresses. Let us address the issue of runaway growth. That seems counter intuitive until I did some reading and listened to those who work vineyards. Vines left to themselves will sprawl out all over the place and produce huge canopies of shoots, leaves and branches, and unless that canopy is controlled, the vine won’t yield much fruit or top shelf grapes. For all the greenery, all those leaves suggest that what we’ve got here is a very healthy vine is in fact, it’s all show and no tell.
    Jesus is afraid that the disciples might face this same problem. This community of faith might become all show and no tell. Jesus was not interested in showy disciples any more than Jesus is interested in churches bursting at the seams today. Rather, what Jesus is interested in is fruit --- and not just fruit --- excellent fruit.
    For example, pick up a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and after we sniff the bouquet, swirl it around the glass, examine the claret and perform other tests in our best Frasier and Niles Crane impression, take a sip. Daniel Sogg, of Wine Spectator, says that if you catch a flavor “reminiscent of onion skin and jalapeño peppers,” you’ve just encountered the problem of canopy management. A vine with a huge canopy may be looking good, but it isn’t doing any good to the fruit.
    This reminds me of the BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances. In the tv show there was a matronly woman, by the name of Hyacinth. Her main concern in life is to maintain the illusion that she is well-bred and in touch with the upper crust of British society.
    That’s why when her neighbor drives Hyacinth to her sister’s house in one early episode, she instructs her neighbor to park the car in front of a well-appointed home on one street, and after asserting it is her sister’s home, dashes to the door, then ducks around to the side, climbs a six-foot brick wall in her dress, heels, flowered hat and all, falls to the ground, brushes herself off and marches to her sister’s actual abode --- a rundown apartment building the next street over. Hyacinth according to Jesus is concerned about her “canopy,” the outward show.
    But again, this lesson is not a personal, “we will know you are Christian” image instead, a grapevine is really a community --- many individual branches interconnected and intertwined, but all designed for the sole purpose of bearing fruit together.
    While the individual branches are important, it’s the collective quality of the whole that determines whether the fruit will be labeled as excellent, mediocre or simply sold by the box. God, Jesus is suggesting, like any good winemaker, understands the need to control the canopy.
    So, what does this mean for you and me? Well, the goal of canopy control among the vineyards of California is threefold:
    We are to work on canopy management that makes picking and disease control relatively easy. One problem with a huge covering of branches and large leaves, is that it makes is difficult to see the fruit, hinders good air circulation and creates a problem for the future, getting access to pick the fruit.
    So, one way to read this is that sometimes all that external paraphernalia, rules, accoutrements of the church get in the way --- not of growing the fruit --- but quality and access. Over the centuries churches have sometimes called this legalism. Our conventions, systems and traditions sometimes keep the world from seeing the fruit, and therefore unable to pick the fruit that it cannot see.
    Now just remember Jesus is talking about a community here, not simply individuals. What this reminds us is that we grow in, with and under faithful communities, community is both critical but also one that we need to carefully prune. As we know, the world is full of people searching for the truth, for a sense of meaning for their lives. We have the love of God, by grace through Jesus Christ. The fruit is hanging lush from branches. But that message may be hidden by the very things we think should be the signs of growth, the showy and meaningless appearances of nonessential issues. Jesus called it, in another place using another metaphor, “hiding our light under a bushel basket.” The world doesn’t need shoots, leaves and branches; it needs fruit.
    Another important component of canopy management is how we regulate the size and quality of the fruit. Sogg in commenting on the taste of the wine is telling us that “a huge crop buried under a dense thicket of vegetation translates into lousy wine.” There may be fruit, but God is concerned about the quality of the wine - God wants a superior product.
    What does that mean for us? Perhaps it cuts to core of something I have struggled with loosely called “church growth.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t call the vine to growth, he calls it to fruit. Our mantra ought to be “church fruit.” When God takes the pruning shears to our life, or to our church, it’s not an issue of whether we are growing, but of what we are growing. Of course, there will be some fruit, but the larger issue is the quality of the fruit we are bearing; a sour grape is fruit, but it’s still sour.
    But that leads to another aim in faithful community canopy control, striking a balance between growing leaves and growing fruit. Without shoots, leaves and branches, we can’t have fruit, particularly year after year. We are not people who cannot have a roof over our heads, and particularly here in South Texas some AC. It is within that faith life that the fruit grows. God wants us to get and have a life. God tells us not only to get a faith life, but to get “an abundant life.” But it must be a life under some care, a life that on one hand has some green growth, but also suited to render the fruit of the Spirit.
    Now not to let ourselves completely off the hook, all this is accomplished by “abiding.” We can’t go it alone. Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” God is the one who watches over the whole process. We are to abide in Jesus. If we go it alone, we’ll dry up, become so much dead wood. Sogg concludes that with proper canopy control, a winemaker can produce a wine that is a “friend to food.”
    What Jesus is saying to his disciples is that with proper canopy control, they can produce fruit that is a “friend to the Table” to the altar.
What does that mean. Well, unfortunately for all of us we don’t have all the chapters of John in front of us. Careful readers would notice that chapter 15, our chapter today is a redactional mystery. Jesus, at the end of chapter 14, we are told just “concluded” his farewell discourse, with: “Rise, let us be on our way” (v. 31). However, instead of rising and proceeding on their way, today’s reading begins by recording another of Jesus’ “I Am” monologues that are peculiar to the Fourth Gospel. It is not until chapter 18 that Jesus and his disciples get up and go across the Kidron Valley to the garden.
    So, why say “Rise up…” and not? Is this some type of Colombo moment with Jesus turning around just when ready to leave when “Oh, by the way…” to the guilty party? For me the location of this sudden interjection before rising reminds us of the location of these words, the upper room. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is saying these words around the table of bread and wine before Christ’s betrayal and subsequent trial and crucifixion. In other words, this is a kind of Jack and the Beanstalk loci where the vine represents the connection between creation and God.
    Canopy management or “pruning” is not a massacre or for punishment, but so that the community of Jesus can be even more fruitful. Indeed, Jesus says that the pruning has already been accomplished and that those who remain have “already been cleansed” (v. 3).
    Or to put it into our experience, when we gather around this table we not only get a taste of the fruit, we are “cleansed” --- so that we may go out there and produce even more fruit. As community at the table, tasked with judicious canopy management, we leave the table to share the message of Jesus Christ.
    As people in faithful community it is important to be realistic in our assessment of our broken world, with its hatred and suffering. Yet, there's nothing to be gained, for example, by saying to a mother grieving the loss of her child, “Chin up, things will get better tomorrow.”
On the other hand, we Christians are too quick to condemn and thus rightly are pigeonholed as people who deny the fundamental goodness of all God's creation. We need a healthy balance. As vines forever attached to God by grace, let us be judicious in trimming what needs to be trimmed in our lives and community, yet let us not hide in fear in whom and what we abide trusting in the fruit of the vine. Amen.

Sermon based on Act 4: 5-12. 

Other than the occasional game of solitaire, I do not play games on my smartphone. I don’t play Candy Crush or Madden NFL. Nor do I play a game that hit our nation like a hurricane in 2016: Pokémon Go. Pokémon which is the Japanese rewording of the English words “pocket monsters” is a franchise for a company called Nintendo.

Based on this franchise, a game for our phones was developed. The game has a simple challenge, utilizing a smartphone’s GPS, players locate, capture, battle, and train creatures called Pokémon.

If you were playing, these characters would appear on your phone screen as if they were at the same real-world location as the player. Whether, along streets, or parks, whether in or around houses and public buildings, the game was tied to the world around us. For example, one man in Massachusetts was surprised by the number of people who were congregating on his sidewalk and pulled up to his address at odd hours. His home, once a gable-roofed church, was now a Pokémon destination. “Living in an old church means many things,” he wrote on Twitter. “Today it means ... Pokémon Go.”
His home was real, but the characters around it were not. There were Pokémon virtual creatures who seemed to be living in and around, from parks in San Francisco to the White House in Washington. Characters would and can pop up everywhere.

What interests us today is that Pokémon Go is an example of what is called augmented reality --- the real world --- but better. Well, maybe not better, but at least different --- in a thought provoking and interesting way, the ability to see that world with an additional layer.

Augmented reality is becoming more common. For example, go to your phone camera screen to a program called, Snapchat. Tap on a face. We can put a dog's nose and ears on the faces of our friends. Put crowns on their heads. Make their eyes bug out. We see the possibilities not only on phone games, but on some premium, luxury cars that have windshields that have projected information telling where we are and where we are heading while we are driving.

It is predicted that teachers in the future will be able to use augmented reality to give students a virtual tour of the human circulatory system. To save lives, experienced surgeons will be able to use augmented reality to view operations remotely, while simultaneously instructing those who are doing the surgery. The real world, with a layer of real possibilities.

Today, we see in our portion of a longer story from the book of Acts, a glimpse that such augmentation of reality is really nothing new for Christians. In the early church, the real world was made better by the transformation of reality through the cross and resurrection.

First let me give you some background. Earlier we are told that one day in the city of Jerusalem shortly after Pentecost, the apostles Peter and John encounter a severely disabled beggar. Peter says to him, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”

The beggar's reality is that he has been lame since birth. Every day he sprawls on the ground and asks people for money as they enter the temple. But now Peter augments his reality by offering him healing in the name of Jesus. Acts tells us that “jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

From being lame to leaping. Now obviously, the phrase “augmented reality” does not do justice to the transformation this lame man experienced; he was, to use the language of Paul --- “a new creation.”

Unfortunately, this healing upsets the status quo. Not everyone wants you to mess with their reality especially if it provides one power and privilege. For example, people would rather believe that black men sitting in a Starbucks are up to “no good” than the reality of people waiting for a friend.
In response, we are told that the captain of the temple, the priests and the Sadducees come to Peter and John, “much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.” They are “much annoyed” --- like a homeowner who faces a crowd of Pokémon Go players in their front yard.

Jerusalem's religious leaders arrest Peter and John and put them in custody. The next day, the portion of the event which we have today, the high priest and other members of the high-priestly family have these two prisoners stand in front of them, and they ask, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” “What is the secret to this transformation?” they want to know.

Peter responds with words that are not entirely his own. Acts tells us that he is helped, guided --- we might say augmented --- by none other than “the Holy Spirit.” “Rulers of the people and elders,” Peter says, “let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.”

Today when we are challenged in our nation by those who would suggest that we live with alternative facts, that somehow truth is simply based on the loudest megaphone, as Christians what exactly to we believe is augmented reality or in the language of Paul, “new creation?” Fundamentally, the new creation, our augmented reality, is the power of God, seen in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in, with and around us.
Jerusalem's leaders were threatened by this augmented reality that is appearing all around them. They are also shocked that their authority is being questioned by these two “uneducated and ordinary men.”

In short, this new creation is coming from the power of the name of Jesus Christ, the One whom God raised from the dead, and who still works to save us from sickness, sin and death.

Not easy for us to understand or see because we live in the real world. No fantasy. No illusion. No wishful thinking. No reinterpretation. No alternative facts. That is why I wonder if this technological tool of augmented reality might not help us 21st Christians move from the world as it is to the world as it should be; the radical augmentation that makes us virtually new creations in Christ!
No let us be clear this is real. We can cook meals, build houses, write books, deliver medical care, teach children and compose music. Some people can even perform different functions at the same time.

However, in God’s augmented reality, the power of the Holy Spirit is the extraordinary overlay. In the power of the Holy Spirit, our human efforts become part of God's work in the world; “God’s work, Our hands” Those basic things we do in reality now become meals to feed our hungry neighbors, houses for the homeless, books to uplift and inspire, medical care throughout the world, children taught in underserved communities, music, art and poetry that glorifies God and lifts the human spirit.

What made the words of Peter powerful was that he was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” In our narcissism of course, our picture of being “filled” is like a refreshing glass of coke, with effervescent bubbles and sweat down our foreheads. Either I see it or feel it, or I don’t. Rather, the presence of the Holy Spirit is augmented reality --- God’s overlay in the world.

Let me give you an example. According to Christian tradition, the seven deadly sins are lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. Most of us have committed at least a few perhaps before we even got to worship this morning. For instance, once I saw on the back panel of a T-shirt, a list of those seven deadly sins with a checkbox next to each of them. At the bottom, was the word “Done!”

In God’s augmented reality, we have an overlay of forgiveness. That is what is stated when we might say, “On the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world on himself, and died so that we might receive forgiveness and new life.” Something we may have heard ad nauseum but what is being said is that the cross augments the reality of sin with the even more powerful reality of forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

Or think of this example. “Nothing is certain,” famously said Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s, “but death and taxes.” With April 15/16 now behind us, we are keenly aware of the reality of taxes. But what about death? The death rate is the same that it has always been: one per person.

But in God's super-augmented reality, we have a connection, an overlay of eternal life. In, with and through the grave the cross of Christ overcomes the reality of death with life. This is an augmented eternal life that is connected to what we know in this world as death. As one of the early Church leaders, Saint Augustine said in one of his prayers, “We shall rest, and we shall see. We shall see, and we shall know. We shall know, and we shall love. We shall love, and we shall praise. Behold our end which is no end.”

Resting, seeing, knowing, loving and praising are all part of the real world. We experience them and understand them. In the augmented reality of everlasting life, it is all amplified by the saving power of God and connecting us to God and to each other for all eternity. It is God’s augmentation by the Holy Spirit.

Of course, such augmented reality is spiritual, not technological. Peter and John perceived it in the resurrection of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. The same is true for us, as we engage in our human efforts in faith, we are assured that grace is augmenting what we experience with love, community, forgiveness and eternal life in the Holy Spirit.

But can that truly change reality; lift the lame to walk?

Throughout March of 1965 there were three marches along the 54 miles between Selma, Alabama to the state capital of Montgomery. The non-violent marches were to highlight the disenfranchisement of African-American citizens. During the first walk on March 7th, reality struck, Alabama State troopers and county posse men attacked the unarmed marchers with clubs and tear gas after the marchers passed over the county line. In, with and through the Holy Spirit that reality was augmented, through non-violent protest in the face of violence, leading to the landmark federal achievement of the Voting Rights Act.

Peter and John stood in front of the halls of power and pointed out that God has augmented their reality, lifted a lame man to praise. Likewise, we are provided grace to testify that our faith transforms reality so that what see and do is augmented by God’s Holy Spirit, God’s layer of love, community, forgiveness and eternal life across all that we see and experience.

I am not proposing that each one of us carry our phones around, look through the Christian app to remind us of God’s presence and action. Rather, like the non-violent marchers in Alabama there are ways when we act in faith to visit the sick, to act for the migrant, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, we are assured that God’s augmented Holy Spirit is with us. Surgeons and teachers will have the tools in the future with augmentation to strengthen the healing and teaching arts. As Christians, let us remember that because of God’s grace we already have God’s augmented reality to guide us, lead us, support us; or as the author of Hebrews reminds us: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The reality of God’s work in our hands. Amen.

First Impressions - 4/15/2018

This was the message I shared at Good News Lutheran on April 15th.  The Supply Pastor of the congregation and his finance chose to marry during worship.  I was asked to preach, preside and officiate.  This is the message I shared based on the Gospel they chose for the event, John 2: 1-11.

One of the many ways in which our mind attempts to make life easier is by trusting our first impressions. Our first impressions can help us as we peer down dark alleyways or when we meet someone for the first time and have a gut reaction. (1st Impression Rick/Anita?) Our first impressions can assist us when we come to rushing river. First impressions enabled our ancestor’s millenniums ago to live off the land, as well as spurred our observations and creative imaginations sparking the first fire and tools.
However, like any good gift there is a downside to our lives built on first impressions. Our initial perspective on people, problems and situations are apt to be narrow and superficial. Once we have settled on a perspective to pursue, we can close off but this one line of thought. Furthermore, we see no more than we’ve been conditioned to see. Because we live in stereotypical, racist, and homophobic cultures our first impressions can block our clear vision and crowd out our imagination. What makes it more aggravating is that this happens without any alarms sounding, so we may never realize it is occurring. We don’t have little people appear on our shoulders and on top of our heads telling us we have gone far down the path of “first impressions” and missed the turn off. It takes learning, sometimes painful, sometimes confusing but ultimately rewarding.
First impressions can lead us into many discoveries as we go deeper and deeper into a problem or observation, but in can leave us microscopic and narrow. What if the crippled person who invented the motorized cart for example had defined their problem as: “How to occupy my time while lying in bed?” rather than “How to get out of bed and move around?”
I bring this up because of the gospel. As we are oft to do we go with first impressions, we are liable of putting it off as just another miracle story that just happens to be during a wedding. This gospel event however is more than a good miracle, instructive not only for Pastor Rick and Anita in their marriage. In fact, in this apparently simple, straightforward story --- the alchemy of turning water into wine --- we have something that can educate all of us.
Let’s begin with it oddities. What’s odd? Let us count the ways! Jesus, his mother and the disciples are invited to a wedding, but we do not know how they were related to the bride and groom, indeed the bride and groom do not appear in the story at all. Then, the wine runs out and Jesus’s mother asks her son to do something about this faux pas. But did you notice that Mary is not named in this story, and in fact nowhere in Gospel of John is she is ever called other than “the mother.”
And then of course there is the flip in Jesus. On one hand, Jesus replies that it is not the time or the place --- then for whatever reason changes his mind and consents to his mother’s request. And of course, for all of you who are students of the Bible, we also realize the odd nature of this miracle at the beginning of the Gospel of John. For it is with this miracle that Jesus’ ministry begins! It does not begin with a landmark speech or a public healing or a baptism in the River Jordan, but in helping a family deal with a social embarrassment. And as I mentioned how there are disciples! In the other gospels the disciples come after the ministry begins.
These few obvious odd observations alone have lead people to think that this story’s inclusion must have a special meaning in this meaning-laden Gospel. A good reminder that we need to be careful with our first impressions --- this is more than just another miracle. But that still doesn’t answer what can we uncover for us.
What to do? One way we can break out of our first impression loop is to view the story from the perspectives of the different characters:
Let’s start with the unnamed Mother of Jesus who we know is Mary. Although unnamed, it is interesting to note that Mary is the catalyst for the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. It is not God or John the Baptist, but his mother. What can we glean about the arc of the Gospel of John if we begin with this kind of relationship? Well for one, Jesus’s ministry is in response to basic human needs and Jesus’ relationship to his mother in the Gospel of John is special.
Another character is the Master of the Banquet. This person is normally the master of ceremonies and in charge. He is also the maître d, but he has no idea what is going on. He thinks the wedding party has deliberately saved the best wine till last, keeping even him out of the know. What does that teach us? As many of you recognize, this is a familiar Gospel theme --- those in power and authority, those who should know better, are the last to see the big picture. Or put another way, the higher you are in office, the more one is blind. I will let you fill in what that might mean of our current President.
Instead like other events in the Bible, it is the Servants who are the first to recognize that something remarkable is happening. “The Master did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.” This is a classic reversal of the normal order of knowledge and power which we see throughout Jesus’s ministry in John. And it happens repeatedly.
In just those three characters, Mary, the maître d and the servants we can see that the events at Cana fit within some well-established Gospel themes beyond our first impressions. But what does this Gospel tell us about Jesus himself?
Well I don’t know about you but notice Jesus’ reluctance to begin his ministry; it is both human and touching in its modesty. Jesus is presented as someone to whom the mission comes as an obligation --- even a burden --- rather than following ambition. This fits right in with an event that we just experienced shortly before Easter, Maundy Thursday when Jesus unique to the gospel of John took a slave’s role and washed people’s feet and when in Garden of Gethsemane prayed his very lengthy prayer with includes the theme that Jesus is doing this to fulfill God’s desires because Jesus and God are one.
Which leads us to another observation after our first impressions about this gospel, this wedding --- where Jesus provides the wine. Jesus’ actions are a precursor of the passion; here Jesus miraculously provides wine where later he will provide his own blood.
Which supports another aspect of the Gospel of John which excludes most of the miracles which are found in Matthew, Mark and Luke --- but one. The author includes the feeding of the thousands --- where Jesus provides the other element of the passion --- the bread.
What else do we learn about Jesus in this first event? How about the mystery of the missing bridal party? Today we have a bride and groom who we all know, in Rick and Anita, but in this gospel, there is no bride and groom; it’s their party but they are not mentioned. Rather, in their absence, Jesus becomes the bridegroom by fulfilling what was the responsibility of the bridal party and the people then become bride.
Those are just a few nuggets that go beyond our first impressions, that is just another wonderful miracle at the beginning of his ministry. Instead if we are willing to break free from our first impressions we see that Jesus Christ is embarking on a new and intimate relationship with his people --- in John just like in much of the Old Testament a relationship with God that is like a marriage.
But as nice and wonderful as that all sounds, knowing you folk as I do here at Good News, you are probably wondering what does it mean for me? Because if anything I know you all to be practical folk.
This event reminds us that God will provide all that we need --- better than we might imagine possible, beyond our first impressions.
Second, things are not always as we expect. Jesus challenges us to listen not to the rich and powerful but to the members of society who are in the lower rungs, even lower than ourselves. For they may know more than we think, more than us even.
A third reminder is that sometimes others’ need will dictate our ministry, like it did Jesus who pivoted to provide wine, and that ministry may, therefore, be far different than we have imagined, have done in the past or expected we should be doing in our narrow, microscopic focus.
And this lesson can remind us that all of us have a relationship with Jesus, a lasting and supporting one, with Jesus as the groom and we as his people.
I suppose there are some of you who are perhaps wondering if I had forgotten that all this was supposed to be for Pastor Rick and Anita and that this was somehow meant for just them. Well you need to let go of your first impressions, because what applies to them applies to us.
For you may have noticed that Jesus gives only two instructions in this event --- first, to fill the empty water-pots with water, and second to draw some out. Each time, it is stated explicitly that the servants did what Jesus told them to do. They had obviously heard Mary's words --- “Whatever he says to you, you do” --- and did exactly what she said. Something we may have missed because our first impressions are that we are not the servants and therefore do not have to listen to the instructions.
What can those instructions mean for us? For Pastor Rick and Anita, for us marriage is just the beginning, just as a baptism is just the beginning. Marriage is not an arrangement designed to make unhappy people happy, just like a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is not to make unhappy people happy. Because how one feels comes and goes. As Pastor Rick and Anita know, as we all know, life is change and change is life in marriage.
Just take for example the command to fill the jar with water. We fill the jars of life with tears, worries, surprises and sorrow. The question is not will the water jar run empty of water, the challenge is when our jars are filled with the waters of life, do we trust the bridegroom to transform it into the wine of a deeper relationship. Our first impression is that water does not turn into wine. Just like a good marriage does not survive by first impressions, as Rick and Anita know, and guess what neither does faith.

Let us pray: Almighty God, we thank you for the message of your servant John. For the wisdom and insight, it brings. We thank you for the intercession of Mary who brought Jesus to us. We thank you for the ministry of your son Jesus who fills our lives to the brim with his love and compassion. We thank you for this community and this congregation, for the opportunity to come together and celebrate by breaking bread in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the relationship of love that brings Rick and Anita together. May we begin this day a deeper and closer relationship with you through his name and help us to break free of our first impressions of you and our neighbors. We ask these things in the name of your son, our savior, Jesus Christ. Amen

I don't typically post funeral and marriage messages but several people indicated a desire for this one.  Link to Obituary

Funeral Message for Neal Anthony Hudson.

We are reminded once again that sometimes death comes suddenly and unexpectedly. In living life, with every joy of living near at hand, the one we love, is suddenly and unexpectedly taken away from us. The tragic events that can happen in life remind us of those words uttered long ago by a young man by the name of David later to be killed King: Death is indeed, but a step away.
We come together grateful for the life of a son, grandson, fiancé, brother, nephew, cousin, friend, co-worker and more importantly a child of God. Let us be clear, Neal was a young man whose life was cut short, snatched from our very presence. Why couldn’t Neal with our technology, health care and sanitation have lived beyond our expectations, not 35 but 95, and yet … here we are… instead of the gathering for a wedding on the 27th of this month we are at a funeral on the 13th.
Let us pray …
Many years ago, when I was but in my early teens we took a family trip to several western states that included a stop at Yellowstone National Park. During our stop at Yellowstone we took a tour led by a park Ranger. One stop on the tour was at a forest of dead trees on the slope of a hill. The ranger began by explaining, that Yellowstone sits atop a super volcano - a caldera or “hot spot” with molten rock just two miles below. As a result, Yellowstone is constantly changing. It averages some 2,000 earthquakes every year, most of which are measurable but imperceptible.
The ranger added that for that reason --- the earth's constant movement --- the pools and geysers there in the basin and throughout the park were constantly changing.
Then pointing at the trees, the ranger said, “These trees started out as little seeds that blew into this area and said to themselves, 'What an awesome spot! We've got a view by the lake, it's warm, with a bit of a breeze. Let's plant here.' So, they did and thrived and grew to about 10 feet tall. All was well until a small earthquake caused a once-dormant hot pool in a part of the park to reignite and begin pumping out 200-degree water on the slope above this tree stand. Over time, the hot water streaming down the slope scalded the trees, leaving this monument to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Then the ranger added: “It just goes to show that where ever we are, where ever we put down our roots things can change. Change is the only constant.”
If even the earth beneath us is in a constant state of motion, we shouldn't be surprised that our lives, too, are always shifting. Let us be honest, change truly is the only constant. So, how shall we understand change as children of God? To help us understand, I would suggest we review a basic tenet of faith.
In faith, we trust that God has created all of creation, all of us and all that is around us out of love. It is such a love so deep and wide that we cannot fully understand but a love that carries it with it …. certain risks for us. Because God loves us, God allows certain freedoms to operate. Many of those freedoms we love and hold to be dear, often expressed at least in our nation as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Instead of God creating puppets, God refused to make us behave or believe in any certain, given way rather we can live, think and breath across a spectrum of creation and simultaneously for example at one moment both have doubts about God as well as accept God’s love and care. God desires this because God wants us to love God in return freely.
All of creation works within that framework, as do we. This allows both for deep joy in that we can create, evolve and imagine, but is also open to deep shock and sadness. For instance, it was love that drew Neal’s’ parents together. Out of that love, a child entered a new family. A unique child, solely and wholly his own. Certainly, considering Neal was born into the Hudson/Wilks family there came certain behaviors, relationships and stories. But just imagine, if Neal had been born and raised in Russia instead, what would his life have been like? That is the wonder of God’s creation and universe.
But the consequence of that same allowance for creation, evolution and imagination is that creation can make and go in all sorts of challenging directions and include deep sorrow. We can have tornadoes jump one home and hit another. We can have hurricanes turn on dime and drench Houston and miss San Antonio. Likewise, Neal was unique by the choices he made, and shall we dare say …. the choices he procrastinated making, but in this creation all it took was for one small cancer cell to go off in a wild direction and place us all here at the signs and remains of Neal’s life. Or as King David so wisely said to his good friend Jonathan, as I repeated earlier no matter where we are in life, we are one step from death.
Even so, out of faith, we trust and have hope that God created all of creation out of love. But it is not a love that stands at the fencepost waving for us to return as we go live our lives, rather it a love that involves relationships.
That is part of our created freedom too. The relationships we have. Neal had a relationship with all of you that are present here especially you Christina. Isn’t that amazing when one looks around and sees all of you here, the vast relationships that we are part of. God has given us to share in the joy of God’s creation.
In faith however, there is one more relationship God has created for us and that relationship is one Neal had and you have as well, a relationship that comes as a gift, by grace. The Bible lesson that I chose from John may seem like an odd scripture lesson to use at a funeral, but if you stop and think about it, this Scripture, too, tells us about God’s faithful creation found in God’s chosen Jesus Christ.
In a miracle event found in all four gospels, when it came time to do what is fundamental to creation --- nourishment --- we are told that one of the disciples was questioned by Jesus on how was it possible for this small group to provide for so many? For us creation is limited, but in the love of God, creation is beyond our imagination. To prove his point, Jesus took a few loaves and fish, a donation from a young person, and turned them into enough to feed thousands with leftovers.
Jesus loved and cared for these people, and Jesus was unwilling for this group of thousands to leave unfed and unloved. Equally, this same God through Jesus is unwilling to let this group live unfed and unloved. Jesus took the skepticism of his own followers and proved again that when human comfort, insight, ingenuity and provision fail, when we believe more in the fact that a few loaves and fish cannot feed thousands, God’s love comes to touch us and to hold us. Neal’s body failed. Our technology failed. But that does not mean that God’s love failed. Rather, this is the same Jesus who will later die for us and within three days, rise to provide for us a vision out of our limited view of creation, our limited view of God, to remind us we have God’s love even through death. The death, we see at a cemetery or a hospital room or what might have been, the death we see in a stand of promising trees in the stages of growth.
Certainly, we have our grief. We have our hopes unfulfilled. We have our doubts and fears. But even in this most sad hour, we can take the assurance that God will create and provide, and we will be fed.

Let us Pray: Gracious and Loving God, we thank you for the memories we have of Neal. We thank you that you provide for us in all the things we must face. We thank you for the promise found in the empty tomb and most of all for your love which see most perfectly in Jesus Christ. As Jesus took the loaves and fed the hungry, so may you feed us with the message of your comfort and your love. And as Jesus walked with his disciples in their lives and then beyond, so may we walk with us both now and always. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Easter Joy - 4/8/2018

Sermon for Sunday, April 8, 2017.  Is there much to laugh or smile about today? We have the unending and dysfunctional American political drama in the White House. We have events all around the world like Central American migrants stuck in limbo trying to reach safety from gangs and violence. Closer to home we may be mourning the death at 35 of a young man we had been praying for, Neal Hudson. And of course our congregation continues the unending struggle of maintaining our older, large campus with scarce dollars. If that alone does not take the smiles off our faces we have our own individual challenges from work, to health, to family to finances.

So, I would not blame anyone, if this morning, if Aristotle, the Greek philosopher was right, and we are all constantly drawn toward a state of happiness, that no one would, on a natural level, be moved to enter this house of sour people. No smile here. No laughing here. There would be no moths coming to this light of sadness.

Yet, we at this one mission outpost we call Good Shepherd are not alone. It seems like we North American Christians whether in our places of worship or in our homes, are wallowing in sadness. It seems like none of us is far from uttering the fateful lyrics of Buck Owens and Roy Clark from the TV show “Hee Haw:” “Gloom, despair, and agony on me; Deep, dark depression, excessive misery; If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all; Gloom, despair, and agony on me.”

This is understandable I suppose. If we view our Christian life as battling the “powers and principalities of this world” a crusade that is not exactly a light-hearted affair. Or if not in battle, we may live with the theological vision that our true happiness cannot be found in this world. Either view opens at least for me, a whole metaphysical discussion on God’s involvement in the world.
Well, be that as it may, whatever the reason, whether a Christian life is a crusade or a creation of a wrathful God, a good proportion of us who identify as Christians in the United States are a dour people and the world is noticing.

Now wait a minute pastor, is not the mirthless nature that has become synonymous with many public expressions of Christianity often a ridiculous stereotype, just think of the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live? Well intended or otherwise, there is a noticeable layer of doom and gloom sprinkled quite liberally on even the most faithful of Christians. For instance, a priest had a chance encounter with Groucho Marx, the noted comedian from last century. The priest extended his hand and said, “I want to thank you for all the joy you've put into this world.” Groucho reportedly shook his hand and shot back: “And I want to thank you for all the joy you've taken out of this world.”

I bring this all because every day forward is to be an upswing from Holy Week, when on Good Friday arguably the lowest point of that week we met the sadness of the cross. That mood changed on Easter, however. You see, today, the first Sunday after Easter was once celebrated as Holy Humor Sunday. In Latin, today was called risus which translates into the English word “laughter” and Paschalis which is “Easter.” Side by side, the words say “Easter laugh.” In the ancient church, practices of happy celebration go back as far as A.D. 385, connecting them to Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Joyful traditions during the Easter season sprang up that celebrated a God who had the last laugh over death.
That solemnity born out of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the solemn approach to the tomb early Easter Sunday was transformed into rejoicing with the news that “Christ is risen!” on Easter morning.

It was understood by the early Christians that the celebration did not cease on Easter, but instead flowed over into the days that followed. Early Christian leaders who celebrated a form of “Easter Laugh” often told jokes and uplifting, lighthearted stories in the days following Easter. Surprise! Jesus is not dead! Jesus Christ is risen! The tomb is empty!

Over the centuries in various places, traditions sprang up including pranks and jokes, to help people lighten up. Long before the Internet / Facebook ice bucket challenge, and before coaches were baptized with a bucket of Gatorade following the championship game, there are even stories of people dumping buckets of water on people --- especially the clergy --- on the first week after Easter. Link
But perhaps this is what caused Pope Clement X to end these practices. Maybe the pope who suffered with gout was doused with water too often or listened to one too many bad jokes coming from the pulpit. Perhaps he'd had like many of us too many depressing days. Or it could have been in reaction of our Protestant forefathers who were not known for jocularity. For whatever reason, by the mid 1600’s Pope Clement X put an end to all this tomfoolery and banned Risus Paschalis.

I wonder though, if we North American Christians need a return to that celebratory traditions. Because we so quickly forget, in the post-resurrection season of Eastertide, we can laugh. Remembering to have a good laugh is not a matter of being unfaithful, rather the last thing we as Christians should want to be seen is as humorless.
Just look at today’s gospel with that perspective in mind. On Easter evening those mirthless disciples are sitting in their root cellar with the trap door closed in fear, in hiding. Then suddenly, someone else is in the room! Do you suppose it's possible that Jesus said “Boo” as he jumped out of the shadows, scaring the living daylights out of his timorous followers? No wonder Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” Peace is exactly what they need, peeled to the ceiling as they were.

Jesus we are then told brought some life into these scarred disciples. Do you suppose the Holy Spirit came with frowns and worry lines? Yet even with the Holy Spirit we see the difficulty in breaking free from fear. We see that played out because Thomas was right to doubt this whole appearance thing not only for the illogical resurrection but consider the mood of those first disciples. Even though they had seen the risen Jesus, and had the Holy Spirit, they could not quite break out of their “gloom, despair and agony on me.” Not only had Thomas missed the first appearance, but the disciples were not providing much of a glimmer. No wonder Thomas struggles with the whole notion because he certainly was not helped by the disciples. Thankfully, Jesus returned this time and several other times challenging not only Thomas, but all the disciples because these words were not to Thomas alone, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Often, we put ourselves in the shoes of these disciples at those Biblical events with serious, sad faces. But another way to view this gospel is that we the church are very much like those first disciples, who are still struggling, more fearful than faithful. And then when a Thomas comes into our midst, someone with reasonable doubts, like a visitor at our worship, instead of a questioning Thomas receiving the reassurance and joy of the faithful, the message of the church is one of fear.

So, I wonder what might our Thomas culture be seeing in all us? In our consumer culture, people are seeking a theology and a church that fits them instead of being “fitted” or transformed by the gospel. For example, charity is often what the world understands and expects of us. Meals are prepared to feed the hungry in the community; shelter given to the homeless or those in dire straits. That fits nicely, do good things without being transformed.

Although charity is a visible reminder of our faith, I wonder if a more basic sign for our day and age is as simple as a laughter. We heard in our first lesson from Acts regarding how that first Christian community interacted. Many of us may focus on the issue of property, that of course is because we live in a first world, wealthy nation. How can that be? How can one share --- property? But, what others have taught us from Christian communities around this world who are not coming from the perspective of wealth, is that an important aspect of this community was that they were of “one heart and soul.” A community that is of one heart and soul not only in tears but in laughter is a community that understands the triumph of the resurrection and enormous power of God. It is a community that understands that the smartest of humans and the most stunning accomplishments of humanity are but foolish child's play for God.

When we consider the great things, God has done for us and the reason we celebrate Easter, laughter and shouts of joy can bubble out of our mouths. God has done great things. God has left us an empty tomb as a punch line to the greatest prank ever played: Jesus rising from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is no joke, so we can imagine God's pleasure, even laughter, when everyone thought death would overcome divine power and love.

We read elsewhere in the Bible that we are to make a joyful noise. What is more joyful than a good knee-slapping, hearty belly laugh? Studies show that a good laugh is good for our health. Yet researchers aren't sure if it's actually the act of laughing that makes people feel better, or if it is having a good sense of humor in life.

Teresa of Avila was correct. That Spanish Carmelite nun from the 1500’s with all her profundity in reaching the depths of the spiritual life, was also renowned for her one liners --- the most famous of which was, “From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, Oh Lord, deliver us.”
Thomas Aquinas, the Dominican friar and immensely influential Christian philosopher from the 12th century, not exactly a lightweight on the life of faith, once remarked that a person who is unable to say or laugh at anything funny was morally unsound. Much, much later, the British author GK Chesterton wrote that the test of a good religion depends on whether one could joke about it.

We should not downplay or honestly face the ups and downs of our lives. We cry with Nathan’s family just like Jesus lamented in the face of the reality of death. Yet let us not forget that Easter points out to us that sadness is not at the heart of divine revelation and, thus, is not at the heart of our ultimate reality. Nor is sadness a sign of Christin community. Laughter is Easter joy. Easter reminds us that Christ is raised and that sin, death and the devil have been vanquished! We celebrate. We laugh, sing and dance.

Meister Eckhart, the German 13th century mystic was right, the reality of God that came in the cross and resurrection is brimming with laughter, a laughter that echoes faintly in every age and behind every moment of sorrow; waiting for the day when it will finally booms forth from between the cracks of sorrow, breaking the awkward silence of the cosmos that groans inward for its redemption. So, let us laugh, or if not laugh at least people let us crack a smile, Christ is Risen! Alleluia!