bethquick.com

Sermon: Life Together: Membership or Discipleship? (using Transfiguration Year B text)

2012-02-06T19:01:00.002-05:00

Sermon 2/5/12

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Life Together: Membership or Discipleship?

Every year, we spend some time reflecting on where we havebeen together over the previous twelve months, and then we turn our eyes to thepath ahead of us, the choices laid out before us, and we wonder where God willlead us and how we will follow. Two weeks ago, as part of our worship and ourannual meeting, we talked about what we have done and experienced in this pastyear, and we answered some challenging questions about where we go from here. Itold you that we would spend the next few weeks thinking about our goals for theyear ahead. For the past few years, we have had a set of goals that haven’tchanged all that much in nature: we have been focusing on growing our youthprogram, stewardship education, enriching worship experiences, increasing ourcommitment to mission, especially hands-on mission, and being welcoming andhospitable as a faith community. And as I mentioned last week, I think we havea lot to celebrate in all these areas. We are blessed by our young people. Thereare an abundance of mission opportunities so that surely everyone can find away to serve that is meaningful to them. We know our financial struggles,certainly, but we also know exceptional generosity in this congregation. I havefound you to be willing to try new things in worship and try new experiences,especially during Advent and Lent as a way to deepen our connection with God.We have newer faces that are already invaluable parts of our church family. We havemuch to celebrate.

But I also know we feel challenged, and frustrated, andwe know that we struggle. We find ourselves up against some walls, facingbarriers to being the kind of church we would like to be. So, I think if we are meeting the goals thatwe set for ourselves, but we are still not being the congregation we want tobe, it means we need to start thinking differently about our goals. We haveoutgrown them maybe, or perhaps need to look at even more foundational piecesof who we are. This year, my goals for us are not so concrete. They are goals thatcome with questions before we can give any answers. But I believe that we areon the cusp, at the tipping point, where we will either move beyond where weare to where God is calling us to be, or not. I hope that these goals will helpstretch our minds and spirits in ways that push us in God's direction.

This year, I want us to wrestle with three challenges. First:How can we move ourselves out of the center of the picture? Jesus was about turningthings upside down, and he said that the last would be first, and the first islast. We are called to serve, not to be served. How do we focus not on beingmembers but on being disciples? How do we push ourselves to put our needssecond, and the needs of others first? Second: How well do we know the needs ofthe people of East Syracuse and the surrounding areas? How can we meet theactual needs of our community, instead of doing what best serves us? How can webecome better listeners in the community? Third: What is holding us back frombeing the community of faith we want to be? How are our relationships with oneanother doing? How can we be united in our purpose, a team, working together toserve?

Today, we look at our first goal – we want to be disciplesof Jesus, not club members. How can we move ourselves from the center of thepicture, and put those we serve in the center instead? Sometimes, I think thefact that you can become a member of the church confuses us about what the churchis all about. We can be members of thechurch because we are members of the Body of Christ – literally the limbs – thehands and feet of Jesus – in the world. But somehow, over centuries, our ideaof membership in the body of Christ has meant that we are less like the servinghands and feet of Jesus and more like the gatekeepers of the church. We are outof sync with the work of Jesus! Jesus called us, in the Great Commission, tomake disciples, not members. We exist not for ourselves, but for others, and theneeds we seek to meet are not our own, but the needs of those who have yet to hearthe good news of God's boundless love.

Pastor Michael W. Foss is author of a book that my Bishopwhen I served in New Jersey had all pastors read, and Fossʹ vision of discipleshiprather than membership has stuck with me. He says, “Let’s think of the membershipmodel of the church as similar to the membership model of a modern health club.One becomes a member of a health club by paying dues (in a church, the monthlyor weekly offering.) Having paid their dues, the members expect the services ofthe club to be at their disposal. Exercise equipment, weight room, aerobicclasses, an indoor track, swimming pool – there for them, with a trained staffto see that they benefit by them . . . Many people . . . have come to think ofchurch membership in [similar] ways.” (Power Surge, 15) Foss continues, “In thatmodel, ministry focuses on the membershipof a particular congregation . . . If the membersʹ perceived need areadequately met, if they are happy with the services provided . . .and ifconflict is avoided or minimized, then the membership can be counted on to do theirpart.” (16) “Membership is about getting; discipleship is about giving. Membershipis about dues; discipleship is about stewardship. Membership is about belongingto a select group with its privileges and prerogatives; discipleship is aboutchanging and shaping lives by the grace of God.” (21)

In an amazingly short amount of time, in just two and a halfweeks, Lent will begin, and we will follow Jesus again on the road to thecross. And I am struck that Jesus welcomed and embraced people not by invitingothers in, but by pouring himself out. I think that’s what he meant bydenying ourselves and taking up the cross if we want to follow. Not waiting forothers to come to the safe place we have already found, but stepping out into therisky world where others are already, needing us, needing God. Disciples don’tstay in one place. They are on the move, following Jesus, and moving out of theway so that others, too long pushed to the margins of society, can finally beat the center of the love God offers. The church is this incredible body thatexists not for itself, but for those who are not here first. Discipleship, not membership.

Today and the next couple weeks we will look at scripturefrom Paul's letters to the Corinthians. The people of the church of Corinthstruggled, as a developing faith community, to live out the gospel, and to findways to be faithful to the message they had and the God they served. Today, we hearPaul reminding the Corinthians of their purpose: “For we do not proclaimourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves forJesus' sake.” If what we do together is about us, and meeting our own needs,and making sure we are happy, then we have forgotten who we are proclaiming here,and we are without purpose. But when we get out of the way, when we serve, whenwe proclaim Jesus, we are disciples. And what's more, I think we will find afaith that is so much richer than we knew before. Are we members, or disciples?Are we at the center? Or on the edges, on the fringes, following the path ofJesus? Amen.

Oops - Better late than never - Lectionary Notes for 5th Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

2012-02-06T18:53:00.000-05:00

Readings for 5th Sunday after the Epiphany, 2/5/12:
Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39

Isaiah 40:21-31:

"have you not known? have you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?" - Isaiah seems to be saying, "Don't you get it yet?" How many times do we need to hear about God's love and grace before we finally believe it?
"like grasshoppers" When I was in junior high, I used to have a "map" of the universe with a little arrow pointing to earth, which said, "you are here." It reminded me of how very very small we are in the scheme of things. I found it quite overwhelming - took it down eventually. But we can remember - we are so small - and yet - God knows us by name.
"calling them all by name" - I'm always nervous, as a pastor, that I will forget names of people I'm supposed to remember. Names are important, and express a sense of relationship. Godknows your name - all of our names.
"[God] does not grow faint or weary" - In such a busy exhausting world, such knowledge is very comforting.
"[God's] understanding is unsearchable" - I suddenly have images of trying to "google" God's mind. :)

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c:

"how good it is to sing praises to our God" - Do you find worship a joyful experience? Or are you going through the motions? How can you find the goodness of worship?
"he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" - These images are of a God who cares for those who are weak - those who feel useless, without strength.
"the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him" - I've mentioned many time my dilemma about "fearing God" language in the scriptures. Do you fear God? We're instructed over and over again in the scriptures not to be afraid. What does it mean, then, to fear God? I interpret it to mean we're to have an awe of God that is an awe we give only to God. Should/do we fear God anymore, or have we gotten too cozy? It's great to feel close to God, but have we lost our reverence in the process, the believe that God is actually above and beyond us in many respects? Where is a good line between fear/love/respect?

1 Corinthians 9:16-23:

"obligation" - "woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel" - Paul feels he can do nothing but proclaim the gospel. Do you feel that way?
"the gospel free of charge" - nice!
"to the _______ I became ______" - Paul tries to meet people where they are at, to become one of them, so he can share the good news with them. It is a good strategy - the same God uses with us, right? God becomes one of us, to share love with us.
"I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some." - What a burden! Paul is dedicated, but it sounds exhausting. He wants "to save" as many as he can. But can we be all things to all people? How can we draw lines?

Mark 1:29-39:

"and she began to serve them." Poor women - healed only to immediately return to work of serving the men! But I think this is meant to illustrate her complete healing - she is physically able to get right back to work.
"and the whole city was gathered around the door." Claustrophobic, anyone? Even for Jesus, the pressure of so many must have been huge.
"because [the demons] knew him." How is it that the most evil know Jesus? Perhaps because we all know who are biggest enemies are?
"out to a deserted place" - take note of the many times Jesus seeks rest and renewal with God. Do we give ourselves as much of a break?
"[they] hunted for him." - from the Greek katadio^ko^, meaning literally "follow hard upon, pursue closely" - that word - hunted - really struck me.
"everyone is searching for you." Indeed.
"that is what I came out to do." - proclaim the good news that the time is fulfilled and God's kingdom has and is arriving.

Lectionary Notes for 6th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

2012-02-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

Readings for 6th Sunday after the Epiphany, 2/12/12:2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Mark 1:40-45

2 Kings 5:1-14

Naaman wants the benefits of a connection with God - he wants God's healing, and wants it from Elisha now. But he doesn't want to do what is required to get what he wants. Are we like that? Do we connect what we want from our relationship with God with what we give to our relationship with God? Of course, God blesses us in spite of ourselves, as God heals Naaman, but what could we do to make it easier?

Also, Naaman wants to see magic done, not healing, in his life. He wants a quick fix - to be better. He doesn't want to go through the healing/wholeness process - it's timely, it takes effort. I feel that we are the same with our own health sometimes - we want to be thin and perfect - just don't ask us to change our lifestyles to see the results! We want to be cancer free. But don't make us quit smoking! On a deeper note, we want to end hunger - we'll give a can at Thanksgiving time. Don't ask us to change consumer patterns to have sustainable living!

Process vs. Product - which is more important? Naaman says product. God says process!

"Wash and be clean." Why is grace, repentance, forgiveness, so hard for us? Why do we make it so difficult for ourselves? Why is it hard to admit our wrongs and try again?

Psalm 30:

This psalm appears three times in the lectionary cycle - not sure why it makes it in the lectionary so much, since it's not, in my mind, particularly moving/deep, in comparison with some others... Hm.

Eesh - not a favorite psalm. All these images of God are terrible - pleading with God to care and act, trying to convince God to act by appealing to God's desire to have more people to worship God (v. 9). Not a very flattering picture of God. But I guess it's more about where the psalmist comes from than about who God really is...

"Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning." The youth of my CCYM love the praise song "Trading My Sorrows", which takes this verse as a line of the song. These words comfort and give hope - but how do we speak to those who feel like this morning of joy never really comes?

"You hid your face." - Ugh - to think of God turning God's face from us. Devastating - like an eclipse?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

Compare this passage with Paul's similar "prize" sentiments in Philippians 3:12-16 and 2 Timothy 4:6-8. Paul seems to like and be personally motivated by thoughts of life as race, a prize at the end - the crown of righteousness.

In this particular passage, Paul's race metaphors talk specifically about the discipline required to race with the goal of winning. But instead of physical discipline, Paul speaks a spiritual discipline with an aggressive (if not somewhat self-loathing) edge.

What goal have you achieved through careful discipline? I have enjoyed running - my maximum comfortable distance was 4 miles at a time. But working up to the distance of 4 miles was certainly much harder and more painful then running the 4 miles when I got to that point in my training.

Mark 1:40-45:

I love this passage. A leper approaches Jesus and boldly says, "if you choose . . ." And Jesus responds, "I do choose." Jesus chooses to act in our lives.

"moved with pity" This phrase is from one of my favorite Greek words, splanchnistheis, which literally has a sense of one's insides or womb or innards turning over. Physically moved with pity.

"show yourself to the priest" - this would be the way to 'officially' be termed clean again by the community.

"but he went out and began to proclaim it freely." And no wonder! But when was the last time you couldn't be kept from telling people what God was doing in your life?

"and people came to him from every quarter." - a theme so far in Mark - the constant and overwhelming need/demand of the people for Jesus and his message.

Lectionary Notes for 4th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

2012-01-23T00:07:00.000-05:00

Readings for 4th Sunday after the Epiphany, 1/29/12:
Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Mark 1:21-28

Deuteronomy 18:15-20:

Moses declares to the people that God will raise up a prophet after his death - ostensibly he speaks of his successor, Joshua. He does this because the people feel that God speaking to them more directly, as at Horeb when God spoke out of the fire, is too frightening, too much to handle. Can you imagine thinking that God speaking directly too you is too much to handle? It might be intimidating, but most of us seem to wish God would speak to us more directly. (Maybe we'd change our minds after experiencing it!)

So this new prophet, like Moses, will act as a go-between between the people and God. Has anyone ever served in this role for you? A pastor/priest can fill in this role, but if you are a clergy person, do you ever wish someone would stand between you and God? What experiences have you had?

There is a condition, though, to the arrangement: The people must actually heed the words of the prophet. They can't make this arrangement and then decide they don't like the prophet - as they often threatened to do with Moses. When is it right to question authority, leadership? When is it not right?

Psalm 111:

The psalmist is praising God for faithfulness, for being a provider and covenant-keeper, for following through and being with the people. This psalm is all about praising and thanking God for all God has done.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Do you fear God? We're instructed over and over again in the scriptures not to be afraid. What does it mean, then, to fear God or to be God-fearing? I interpret it to mean we're to have an awe of God that is an awe we give only to God. Should/do we fear God anymore, or have we gotten too cozy? It's great to feel close to God, but have we lost our reverence in the process, the believe that God is actually above and beyond us in many respects? Where is a good line between fear/love/respect?

1 Corinthians 8:1-13:

This is a great passage from Paul, regarding a common obstacle in the communities of the early church: the debate over whether or not Christians should eat meat that had been sacrificed in pagan temples to pagan gods.

Paul says, "Look - knowledge is all good and well. But what you need with God is love. If you love God, God knows you, and that's what's most important." He says, eloquently, "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Knowledge, like everything, is a gift from God. We can oppress others by withholding knowledge from them (women and people of color, for instance, have been denied education) but we can also give knowledge too much power when we treat it as the most important thing.

Paul argues that "smarty-pants" Christians might know that eating sacrificed pagan meat is no big deal. He doesn't disagree with the reasoning - if the gods the meat was meant for aren't real, who cares about eating the meat? But Paul says there is a much higher concern: Christians who don't "get it" can be led astray by those who do - so what's the point of weakening the faith of another just to indulge in some meat?

Paul concludes - why insist on doing something that will only cause another's faith to wobble, if that thing is not necessary. Personally, I think of drinking in this way. I don't think consuming alcohol is morally wrong. But it is a stumbling block for many. So, I choose to abstain, for the good of the whole.

Mark 1:21-28:

"as one having authority, not like the scribes" - Chris Haslam writes in his comments that the scribes would be knowledgeable, quoting scripture, but not have their own authority. Jesus, on the other hand, draws on scriptures, sure, but speaks for himself - his authority is from within.

Haslam also says that healers/magicians of the day would have done rituals/magic to cleanse the man of the demon. Since Jesus can do this with only spoken words, the people see that indeed he does have a different kind of authority.

Because of this deed, Jesus' "fame" begins to spread. Do you think this is what Jesus most wanted people to know about him? His casting out demons? Or would he have rather been famous for his teaching and message of love and grace for the least? I think Jesus was savvy - he got people talking and drew them so he could teach and touch them.

Report of the Pastor, Mark 1:14-20

2012-01-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

Report of the Pastor

Mark 1:14-20

1/22/12

FiveHundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes. Five Hundred Twenty-FiveThousand Moments so dear. Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six HundredMinutes. How Do You Measure - Measure A Year? In Daylights - In Sunsets, InMidnights - In Cups of Coffee, In Inches - In Miles, In Laughter - In Strife,In - Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes. How Do You Measurea Year In The Life? How About Love? How About Love? How About Love? Measure InLove. Seasons of Love.

Youmight recognize these lyrics from the song Seasons of Love from the musical Rent. The words ask us how we can assessthe value of a year in our life. Is it just seconds and minutes, or more than that?Is it expressions of love? I have been wondering the same thing about our year hereat First United. How do we measure it? Like the song suggests, I hope what allof our actions add up to are expressions of love for God and one another. Youmay remember my January newsletter article for the Contact, where I talkedabout the concept of a Year in Review. At the end of 2011, you could find a lotof Best of 2011 lists – the top 10 movies or books or albums. A review ofimportant people and events. And I wondered what that would look like for our church.How would we characterize the life of our church in 2011? What was our yeartogether like? And where do we see ourselves going in 2012?

One ofthe many blessings we have here is that Cee Cee Andrew and some occasional helpersprovide us with beautiful photographs of church events. You can find these onour church facebook page, or on the digital picture frame after services, or inthe scrapbook Connie McEvers put together, or on the monitor before worshipbegins. I spent some time this month looking through the pictures to remind meof all the places we've been this year.

Hereis just a snippet: Our youth completed a challenge course, something they willdo again soon, and played laser tag with youth from Fayetteville and Manlius.From our church alone we are seeing 15-20 youth at some of these events, withyouth inviting other youth. They also threw Valentine, Halloween, and Christmasparties for our children. We celebrated Camp Sunday, and sent our young peopleto camps, retreats, and events. We were serious about mission and connecting topeople we serve. We followed up on a commitment to the people of Haiti – we hada special breakfast, donated money, collected items, and became participants inDress Our People – sewing clothing for the children of Haiti. We are seeing ourphysical church space transformed bit by bit, under the leadership ofself-proclaimed non-leader Cee Cee Andrew. We've seen our nursery go from dullto bursting with color, classrooms redecorated, walls painted, bathroom cleanedand refreshed, curtains hung, kitchen drawers cleaned and repaired, officesupplies and coffee hour supplies and kitchen supplies restocked through giftsand hours of service. We welcomed new members and celebrated baptisms, just aswe entrusted some of our family into God's care. We added new bricks to ourbeautiful Memorial Garden. We put on a Mother's Day breakfast. We CROP walked.We put on a fantastic carnival for the second year in a row, when I reallythought we couldn’t outdo our first attempt, and found our yard filled with somany happy smiling faces of children. We celebrated Laity Sunday. Our childrenread the scriptures throughout Advent. We gave out more food baskets than usualbecause we had received so much. We collected more shoeboxes than usual forOperation Christmas child. We actually ended the year, through a number ofsurprising happenings, with a small surplus. We filled up our giving tree withitems to help us in our ministry. We had an exceptionally successful cookiewalk. We touched people who really needed it while Christmas Caroling. We hadmission moments from community agencies with whom we partner, and during Lentwe heard from folks here who service in mission beyond the local church. We haveabout twenty people stepping into new roles this year, serving in new ways, innew areas. We had too many volunteers show up at once for the Rescue Mission,so they barely knew what to do with us. That is a year in our life, and it isjust, as I said, a small piece of our life together.

Thisyear we had four goals for our life together: increasing our emphasis in hands-onmission and justice experience, working to invite people to First United and betterwelcome visitors, understanding how our stewardship relates to our relationshipwith God, and experiencing enriching worship. All of these are meant to help usconsider and explore ways to deepen the role andrelevancy of the church and faith in their lives. Now, there are someways we can numerically measure some of these items. I can tell you how manyvisitors we had and how many new members we have, and how many folks increasedtheir pledges, and how many people participated in mission for how many hours,and how many people attended worship services or studies or our Lenten orAdvent groups. But what I have found most compelling are the stories behindsome of the numbers. For example, this year when we were serving at the RescueMission, the head cook complimented Nikole Metz as a really hard worker. And thehead cook is not known to hand out compliments very easily. But Nikole, and herbrothers, and the rest of the volunteers put their all into serving with asmile. That is just one story, but to me, they are the heart of the second andminutes and hours of our year together.

Thisweek at Parish Council, we had a lot of issues to deal with, a lot ofconversation that we will continue at our annual meeting after worship. I was talkingabout making sure that we know how to answer the question: Why do we want tocontinue to be here as a church? Why does it matter to us that we, FirstUnited, are here? And Paul Spero, in response, mentioned Jesus calling thedisciples to fish for people. What Paul probably didn’t realize is that that passageis today's gospel lesson – when things like that happen, I consider that God atwork.

Today,our gospel lesson is full of a sense of immediacy and urgency. Our lesson opensstill in the first chapter of Mark. John the Baptist has just been arrested – asidefrom his unwelcome words to the religious leaders about repentance and thembeing a brood of vipers, John had also managed to upset King Herod by callinghim out publicly on his immoral actions. So John wound up in prison. The timewas ripe for Jesus to step in and continue and expand the work John had begun.He arrives in Galilee and beings to proclaim the good news. As he is passing bythe Sea of Galilee, he sees Simon and Andrew, fishermen, casting their nets.Jesus greets them with provocative words: “Follow me, and I will make you fishfor people.” And, we read, “immediately” they left their nets and followedJesus. Farther down the shore, Jesus sees James and John, the sons of Zebedee.And “immediately” he calls them, and they leave their father and the otherworkers, and follow him.

Sowhat’s all the rush about? What’s the significance of the repeated “immediately”in these texts? I think our answer has two parts. An immediate message and animmediate response. Remember, our passage begins with Jesus talking about thegood news. And what is the good news? We read that Jesus began teaching andpreaching right after John’s arrest, and here was his message, which Mark callsthe good news of God: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;repent, and believe in the good news.” Jesus’ message of good news is that Godis immediately present in our lives.Instead of coming at a later time, instead of something we have to wait for,the time is already fulfilled – God is here, God is present – God’s reign,God’s will, is right here and right now. An immediate message.

Likewise,because of Jesus’ immediate message, there is a need for an immediate response.“Repent, and believe the news,” Jesus insists. Repent – change the direction ofyour life. And when? Now. Right now. And so when Jesus calls the disciples, hedoesn’t tell them to think it over. He doesn’t ask them to meet him later. Hedoesn’t ask for applications which he’ll review. He doesn’t negotiate termswith them, or revise his message to something they’re more willing to support.He says, “follow me.” And they do – immediately. An immediate message and animmediate response.

A fewweeks ago, I shared with you an excerpt from Richard Rohr's book, Falling Upward. He wrote, ʺMerely tosurvive and preserve our life is a low-level instinct that we share with[animals], but it is not heroism in any classic sense. We were meant to thriveand not just survive. We are glad when someone survives, and that surely tooksome courage and effort. But what are you going to do with your now resurrectedlife? That is the heroic question.ʺ It is so tempting to focus on our survival.Our world is changing, and people place being part of a faith community in adifferent place than they once did. And in the midst of uncertainty about ourrole, it is tempting to bunker down and do everything we can to hold on to ourlittle piece. But the good news of Jesus Christ isn’t about a life where we arejust surviving. Jesus said he came to bring us abundant life. And God offers us that life right now. We may have tomake changes, significant ones, to do the ministry that Jesus calls us to. Wemay have to think anew about what it means to do ministry, to serve, to be inmission, to worship, to be a church. But some things don’t change: God calls usand offers us life, and is waiting for us to respond.

Over thenext several weeks, I will share more with you about where and how I think God iscalling us. And I want to hear from you – what would it mean for this communitynot to survive, but to thrive? What does that look like? What does that looklike in your life? Or for us, here? Immediately Jesus called them, andimmediately they left their nets and followed him. What will we do? Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

2012-01-16T13:20:00.002-05:00

Readings for 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany, 1/22/12:Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Psalm 62:5-12, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20

Jonah 3:1-5, 10:

This is the only week Jonah appears in the lectionary, so consider reading other sections, or expanding your focus, so that people get the full story.

The interesting thing about this story, not included in today's text, is that Jonah wasn't happy that God was sparing the people. In fact, Jonah knew that God was likely to be merciful and spare the people, and this is what most upsets Jonah. Are you ever upset at the liberal way God shares grace with others? Why do you think this is? Sometimes I think we act as if God's grace will run out for us if God gives too much to others!

How would you feel as a resident of Nineveh? Are you open to others telling you that you are not following God? Generally, we don't like people telling us what to do, or telling us what we're doing wrong. But the residents of Ninevah get their acts together, and repent. And God shows mercy. (I think God can show us mercy, obviously, even when we are undeserving. But wouldn't it be nice to do our part for once?)

Psalm 62:5-12:

"For God alone my soul waits in silence" - silence is such a rare thing these days. As I type, there is the whirr of my laptop, and my TV in the background. This is typical. Silence is rare. Will you find silent time for God?

"My hope is from [God.]" What's your hope? Where is it from?

The psalmist urges us to put our trust in God - rank in the world is "but a breath" or "a delusion" - only God has real power.

1 Corinthians 7:29-31:

Paul clearly is anticipating a swift return of Jesus Christ to earth. But even though things didn't happen the way Paul was expecting, I think his words are still meaningful.

We're to live, in a sense, in the moment. I don't think this means to be irresponsible, or to not make plans, or to not take care of others, of obligations. But to live with an understanding that we have a different main purpose - to live as God calls us - and so to not let what is not important tie us down.

Mark 1:14-20:

What's the good news? Sometimes, I think we believe the good news is that "Jesus Christ died for our sins." But according to Mark, Jesus himself was a proclaimer of the good news, and it was this: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe . . . "

"Follow me and I will make you fish for people." Are you fishing for people? What do you think Jesus meant by this? Evangelism? How? What kind?

Important: Don't forget that before you fish for other people, you should first be following Jesus. Any other way we try it is following only our own agenda.

Immediately! This is one of my favorite words in scriptures. We like things to happen in our lives in a convenient and fast way when it is for our own benefit - but how often do we respond to God immediately?

Sermon for Second Sunday after Epiphany, All Things New: Samuel, 1 Samuel 3:1-10

2012-01-16T13:13:00.004-05:00

Sermon 1/15/12

1 Samuel 3:1-10, Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

All Things New: Samuel

Youmight remember me mentioning during Advent that Mary's song in the gospel ofLuke, the Magnificat, is extremely similar to Hannah's song in the OldTestament, when she gives thanks to God for the life of her child, after yearswhere she was not able to give birth. Hannah is so thankful, and had prayed sofervently for a child that she promised God she would dedicate that child toGod's service – and so she did. She gave Samuel to service in the temple, and thatis just where we find him today – in the temple, serving under the guidance ofthe priest Eli. Our passage opens with the narrator noting that “The word of theLord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” This kind of commentis not unusual in the Old Testament. When we read about leaders and judges andkings, we often hear a quick description of whether they followed God or did whatwas evil in God's sight. So, here we read that when Samuel was a boy, peopleseemed to be far from God, not attending to God's words or experiencing visionsof what God had planned.

Eliis laying down at night, and Samuel was resting in the presence of the ark, whichcarried the law of God. God calls Samuel:“Samuel, Samuel.” He think the voice is Eli, so he runs to him and says, “HereI am!” Eli says he did not call the boy, so he goes back to bed. This exchangerepeats two more times, and Eli realizes God is calling the child. Eli directsSamuel to answer God next time Samuel is called. So God calls again, and Samuelresponds, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” So begins Samuel’s lifeas a prophet to Israel andan eventual mentor to the first Kings of Israel, Saul and David.

Buttheweird twist to this story is in what God first says toSamuel. What God first tells Samuel is thatSamuel hasto tell Eli about theend of hishousehold.You see, Eli's two sons, also serving in the temple, were corruptand abusing their positions. Eli had already been told byGod thathisown family line would not continue. And yet, Eli still has thisrole to play, acting as an interpreter of sorts to Samuel, helping himunderstand who is calling, and how to respond to God. WhenSamuel finally tells Eli what God revealed to Samuel, Elisays: It is the Lord; let [God] do what seems good to God.Even though Eli faces pain and suffering, he keeps Samuel on theright path. Eli and Samuel's stories are bound together, andEli plays a critical role in Samuel becoming who God is calling himto be.

As you haveheard me mention a few times now, this Friday is our ecumenical dinner, anopportunity to be together with our brothers and sisters in Christ in thecommunity. The timing of the meal is not accidental – we celebrate now becausefrom the 18th to the 25^th, we celebrate the Week of Prayer for ChristianUnity, actually in its 100^th Anniversary this year. The emphasis onChristian Unity is meant to remind us that our common life in Christ, ouridentification as members of the body of Christ, is much more important than thethings that separate or differentiate us. And this isn’t meant to be somefluffy notion – it isn’t just about holding hands and being together and ignoringdifferences for a week of the year. No, it is about recognizing that we have acommon purpose, meaning, and calling – we are in it together, and we are meantto help each other work life out together.

It isalso no accident that the Week of Prayer falls so close to Martin Luther KingDay. Dr. King wrote frequently about his disappointment with white churches duringthe Civil Rights Movement. White church leaders kept urging him to take things slowlyand not push for so much radical change, even if they thought it was right. Kingcouldn’t understand how those who were united with him in Christ could fail toact for the cause of truth and justice. In 1965, King gave the commencementaddress at Oberlin College, a speech called, "Remaining Awake Through aGreat Revolution." King spoke abouthis travels in India where he went to learn about nonviolent resistance tooppression. Reflecting on the extreme hunger and poverty he witnessed there hewrote, “As I noticed these conditions, something within me cried out, "Canwe in America stand idly by and not be concerned?" And an answer came,"Oh no! because the destiny of the United States is tied up with thedestiny of India and every other nation." I started thinking about thefact that we spend millions of dollars a day in our country to store surplusfood, and I said to myself, "I know where we can store food free of charge- in the wrinkled stomachs of the millions of God's children in Asia andAfrica, in South America, and in our own nation who go to bed hungry atnight."

All I'msaying is simply this: that all [humankind] is tied together; all life isinterrelated, and we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects allindirectly. For some strange reason I cannever be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you cannever be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be - this is theinterrelated structure of reality. John Donne caught it years ago and placed itin graphic terms: No [one] is an Island, entire of itself; every [one] is apiece of the continent, a part of the main... And then [Donne] goes on towardthe end to say: any [one]'s death diminishes me, because I am involved in [humankind];and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.And by believing this, by living out this fact, we will be able to remain awakethrough a great revolution.

“Forsome strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you oughtto be.” To me, that is what Christian unity is about, indeed, what our humanjourney together is about – I can’t be what I should be unless I am involved inyour being what you ought to be. That means if you are suffering, it doesn’t justmatter to me, it impacts me. If you are sick, it impacts me. If you are doing whatis wrong, it impacts me. If you are full of joy, it impacts me. Within this congregation,we can only fulfill our purpose in God as far as we are also part of making sureeach person here is finding their purpose. We can only be what we are meant tobe if we are involved in wholeness and justice for all people because injustice for some means our life is not as full as God means it to be.

“Forsome strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you oughtto be.” Last week, I shared with you from one of my texts for the DMin class Icompleted this last week, where the author said that we are too often trying todefine ourselves externally – I shop,therefore I am – remember? Another of our texts, a collection of writings bySouth African Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu, speaks about the African conceptof ubuntu, essentially – “I ambecause we are.” Or “a person is a person through other people.” I am because we are. Tutusays this is “how my humanity is caught up and bound up inextricably with yours(21-22).” For Jesus, this meant love of neighbor was always tied to love ofself and to love of God. You have heard me say this before: myleast favorite phrase is “that’s between me and God.” No! Whatis between us and God is our neighbor. We cannot truly grow closer to God unlesswe grow closer to one another. Because I can never be what I oughtto be until you are what you ought to be. As long as we are convinced that wecan be complete and be holy and connected with God while leaving others behindfor any reason, we will never be what we can be, who we ought to be, who we arecalled to be.

As you thinkof people of faith who inspire you, who have shaped the world, I think you willfind people whose lives were formed by the helping hands of others, and who, inturn, focused their life work on serving others. We love God by loving one another.I am because we are. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you oughtto be. So, as we celebrate the work of Dr. King, and as we celebrate our Christianunity, let us commit to following God together.Speak to us God, for your servants are listening. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

2012-01-09T22:56:00.000-05:00

Readings for 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, 1/15/12:
1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20), Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51

1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20):

This is a great story of call, and along with today's texts from Psalms and John, makes a great day for preaching about knowing who we are and what we're meant to be doing. Combine that with the fact that this is Human Relations Day, celebrating, among other things, Martin Luther King Jr., in the UMC, and you've got the makings for a great day to inspire people to respond to God's call.
Samuel is confused about who is calling him. He keeps thinking Eli is calling him. But his confusion doesn't keep Samuel from being willing, again and again, to respond to the call. How have you been called? Have you shared your call story with your congregation?
Eli plays such an important role in this text, helping Samuel understand what is happening to him. It is an essential role in ministry to have people who are willing to support, endorse, and guide people who are trying to discern a call from God.
"the Lord . . . let none of his words fall to the ground." What a neat phrase - God keeping your words from being useless. All pastors should pray for such a gift!

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18:

Not only did God knit us together in our mother's womb, but this whole passage reads like we are in God's womb - hemmed in by God behind and before. Our life is in God's womb - that is a very peaceful and comforting thought.
It is both comforting to know that we can't go where God is not, but it is also a challenge, in a way. We're reminded that God, in a sense, chases us. We are "hem[med] in" behind and before. God is strategically cornering us. An aggressive God, who insists, perhaps, on having a relationship with us.
How weighty to us are God's thoughts! Indeed!
"I am fearfully and wonderfully made." This psalm affirms God and God's power, but also affirms our human worth and goodness - a rare scriptural combination. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. How well do you know that? How many in this society know that and are taught to know that?

1 Corinthians 6:12-20:

This is a great passage. Paul argues that though something may be technically ok, lawful for one to do, it is still not necessarily beneficial. We worry a lot about rules and whether what we are doing is right or wrong, but sometimes we're worried only about "what we can get away with" instead of what is God's best hope for us.
"your body is a temple" Here, in a rare moment, is some of Paul's best non-dualistic thinking. Our body is meant for God, and we're meant to glorify God in our body. How do you go about doing that? I love watching dancers, because they are such a beautiful example of body as temple. But as a society, we're really bad, dangerously bad at glorifying God with our body.

John 1:43-51:

This is the second time in this chapter that Jesus tells someone to "Come and See" - he has just told this to Andrew, when John the Baptist 'introduced' him to Jesus, and Andrew asked Jesus where he was staying. Now, he tells this to Nathanael, when Nathanael asks Jesus a scriptural, "can anything good come out of Nazareth?" It is almost like Jesus gives him a dare, a challenge. "Want to know the answer? I dare you to come and see for yourself."
"Do you believe because of [this]?" I get the feeling Jesus doesn't want Nathanael to believe in him because of 'magic tricks' but because of something deeper. Jesus promises Nathanael that that something deeper will come. Why do you believe in Jesus?
"Follow me." Jesus doesn't give many details for them to base a decision on, does he? What is the most daring thing you've ever done? Who have you trusted based on such little information?

Sermon for Baptism of the Lord, All Things New: Baptism, Mark 1:4-11

2012-01-09T22:52:00.002-05:00

Sermon 1/8/12

Mark 1:4:-11

All Things New: Baptism

Lastmonth my friend Heather was expressing her frustration with the process oftrying to get her sixteen year old daughter a learning permit to drive.Somewhere along the way, they had misplaced her Social Security card, whichthey needed to get her permit. Well, in order to get a new Social Securitycard, you need your birth certificate, which proves your citizenship, but youalso need proof of identity – like a driver's license – which obviously shedidn’t have. Of course, it turns out that you can also use a photo student IDcard or a photo credit card or something like that, but proving your identityisn’t so easy.

Nottoo long ago I also read an article about people who had accidentally been declareddead in paperwork even though they were quite alive. Somehow names andinformation got mixed up, and these folks had ended up with bank accountsfrozen, unable to get loans or credit, had stopped receiving things like socialsecurity checks, and had real financial difficulties as a result of the mix-up.And, as crazy as it sounds, some people have had an extremely difficult timeproving their identity, proving that they were really alive and who theyclaimed to be, once this mistake had been made.

Howwould you prove your identity? This week ahead I have another week of Doctor ofMinistry classes – this time I am studying spirituality and change. In one ofthe texts for the class, the author John Reader, talks about how we keep tryingto form our identity in different ways in contemporary culture. Sometimes wetry self as commodity – we are sort of a product that can be branded and moldedin a certain way. Sometimes we try self as consumer – “I shop therefore I am.”We try to take what we have, what we possess, and make it into who we are.Sometimes we try self as project, he says, constantly trying to put together agood enough self by making sure we have the right trainings andqualifications and skills to be what we want and what is expected of us. Identityformation is an important process. We all go through a time or times in ourlife when we need to ask ourselves critically: Who am I? What do I believe?What is my life all about? But whenever we start building our identities fromall these external sources, we are probably heading in a bad direction, neverknowing our true selves.

Sowho are you, really? What is your identity? Today, in our gospel lesson fromMark, we find Jesus at his baptism. Hopefully this text sounds a bit familiar –we just read most of it during Advent, the first section about John theBaptist. Mark is very brief in all things in his gospel, and so the actualbaptism gets only three verses. John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, is in thewilderness, preaching baptizing people, a symbol of repentance and forgivenessof sins. He speaks about one who is coming who is more powerful than he, whowill baptize with the Holy Spirit. And then, indeed, Jesus arrives, and isbaptized by John. The other gospels have a bit of dialogue between Jesus andJohn where John wonders why Jesus needs to be baptized by John, but that is ofno importance to Mark. He only says that Jesus comes to be baptized, and thatwhen he was, as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens were torn apartand the Spirit seemed to descend on him like a dove, and a voice spoke, saying,“You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Other gospels havethese words from God directed to the crowd – This is my Son, the Beloved, withhim I am well pleased. But in Mark, this message is right from God to Jesus – You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

Thisevent marks the beginning of Jesus' ministry – from here he goes into thewilderness himself for a period, where he is tested and tried, and then hebegins showing up in synagogues, preaching, teaching, and healing. But itbegins, in a way, with this baptism. Why doesJesus need to be baptized? I think hearing God's voice so clearly at thestart of what would be an intense three years of his life, to say the least,gave strength and encouragement to Jesus. He knew, from the start, who he wasand what he was about.

Ithink sometimes we need to be reminded of who we are. John Reader was right: ifwe look in the wrong places, we can find a million voices that will gladly tellus who we are and who we should be. But these voices don’t know us. God, whocreated us, knows us. Our identity is being shaped from the day we are born andbefore and onward. We might, the day we are born, have had our feet dipped inink to make prints that would identify us. We have names that we were giventhat set us apart. But even our names aren’t who we are. When we celebrate a baptism in the church, we arecelebrating the fact that we all know someone's identity. We are celebratingthat the person is a child of God, made in God's image, and part of the body ofChrist. That is our identity, ourtrue self. It is something we all share in, but something that is made manifestin each one of us in a completely unique way.

Sometimespeople get worried about baptisms when they have newborns. A lot of traditionsand practices built up over time are hard to erase, and I still find it hard,sometimes, to get people to believe that nothing bad happens to you if youaren’t baptized on a certain timetable. Baptism is a sacrament – and outwardsign of an inward grace. And the inward grace is from God – God's unconditionallove for us. Baptism, then, is a sign, a reminderto us of God's love. It is the thing we do to celebrate what is true no matter what. God made us. We are madein God's image. God loves us. Baptism is the reminder, the party, thecelebration of that amazing fact.

Isn'tit nice to be reminded of who we are? Figuring out our identities in this worldof competing voices can be exhausting. We can get off track. Lost. Mixed-up.Isn't it good to remember? Who are you? What is the true self buried under allthose expectations placed upon you? What is your true self, when you strip awayall those layers you’ve built up to fit in, to get ahead, to be good enough?Who are you?

AsI said last week, this month is all about all things new. And so, we have anopportunity to renew our baptismalvows, to remember the celebration that marked our true identity, so that we,too, might have strength for the journey that lies ahead. Do you need areminder of who you are? Are you a disciple? Are you a follower of Jesus? Come,let God remind you. In whose image are you created? Who calls you by name?Come, let God remind you. You are loved without condition, part of God's ownfamily. Come, beloved, let God remind you. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Baptism of the Lord, Year B

2012-01-04T12:57:00.002-05:00

Readings for Baptism of the Lord Sunday, 1/8/12:
Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-11

Genesis 1:1-5:

"In the beginning," so starts the word of God. What a great beginning. I believe that science and faith can go hand in hand. I believe that evolution doesn't have to contradict our believe in God as creator. This said, I can't ask for a better description of creation than the poetic opening of Genesis.

Also compare Genesis 1 with John1 - John clearly tries to align himself with this style of writing, showing Christ's presence even at creation.

"wind from God swept over the face of the waters" - how would you draw this - visually represent it?

Note that here on the first day, and throughout creation, God declares things as "good." Creation is good.

Psalm 29:

"The Voice of the Lord" - I guess I've never noticed this psalm before, which speaks primarily of God's voice.

It is also visualizing God creating or in relation to a strong and powerful thunderstorm, which may be based on a psalm to the Caananite god, Baal (see Chris Haslam's comments on this) God over the waters, God's glory thundering, breaking the cedars, flashes forth flames of fire, "the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness." What can we do with these images? Can we use our imagination to read the scriptures? Certainly this psalmist used imagination to create this imagery, to make God's voice come alive.

What imagery would you use to describe/envision God's voice in your life? I like the process theology metaphor of God's lure, God slowly luring me with God's voice until slowly, step by step, I followed.

Acts 19:1-7:

This passage represents a fulfilling of John the Baptist's words in our text from Mark today. John the Baptist says that he baptizes with water, but the coming baptism will be of the Holy Spirit. Paul happens upon folks who have been baptized by John, and he urges them to take this "Holy Spirit" baptism.

Paul and Mark both indicate that John's baptism is a baptism of repentance/confession/forgiveness. So how would you characterize the baptism of the Holy Spirit? As a baptism of grace? Do you think today that different denominations characterize the meaning of baptism differently like this? Some viewing it as a baptism of repentance, others as a baptism of grace? What do you think?

"spoke in tongues and prophesied" - what did they say? I always want more details, more information, more specifics.

Mark 1:4-11:

John sees himself as facilitating Jesus' ministry - preparing people for it. His role is so important, isn't it? Do you know of people who play this kind of supporting role in ministry today?

Make sure you compare Mark's recording of this scene (remember Mark is the earliest gospel written) with the accounts in the other gospels. In Mark, God speaks directly to Jesus: You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased. Other accounts have God saying This is my Son. I prefer Mark's recording - God speaking directly to God's child.

We might all wish for the heavens to part and for a dove to descend and for God to declare in front of all that we are pleasing and beloved in God's sight, but it doesn't usually work quite that way for us. How does it work for us? How can we know God loves us? What are the markers and milestones in our lives and ministries? How can we play John to someone, preparing them, providing a space for them to begin their calling?

Sermon for Epiphany Sunday: All Things New - Square One

2012-01-04T12:53:00.001-05:00

Sermon 1/1/12

Matthew 2:1-12, Isaiah 60:1-6

All Things New: Square One

We have manydirections we could possibly go in today. We are still in the season ofChristmas – today can be called the First Sunday after Christmas Day on theliturgical calendar, the church-year calendar. There are a set of lectionaryreadings that we don’t often get to hear, where Jesus is presented in thetemple, according to Jewish tradition, and Mary and Joseph and the child Jesusmeet Anna and Simeon. If you don’t know the story, I encourage you to read therest of Luke 2, the part that happens after the nativity story. That could havebeen our focus today. But today we will hear the scriptures for Epiphany.Epiphany technically takes place on January 6^th, after the twelvedays of Christmas. It is the day when we celebrate the Magi coming to see Jesusand bringing him gifts, significant because it represents that Jesus is lightto the whole world, not just a chosen few. But since we usually don’t havespecial Epiphany Day services on the 6^th, we usually celebrateEpiphany on the Sunday closest to the 6^th without going past the 6^th. That would betoday. But of course, even though it is not a church holy day, we can’t denythat at the forefront of most of our minds is the fact that today is New Year'sDay. January 1^st, 2012. It is hard to believe, isn’t it? Anotheryear is here. Today begins a new year. And we have so many feelings, worries,and hopes wrapped up in the potential of a new year that it would be hard forus to ignore.

So,appropriately, this month we will be focusing on the theme All Things New, based onthe verse in Revelation where God proclaims, as a new heaven and earth areunfurled in John's vision: Behold, I make all things new. We are at the startof a new calendar year, of course. It is 2012! We have a new baby in our midst– the Christ Child – today is just the 8^th day of the 12 day ofChristmas, after all. We are about to start a new year in our church-cycle –our annual meeting is just a few weeks away. Next Sunday, we celebrate Baptismof the Lord, and with it, a chance to renew our own baptismal vows and renewour covenant with God. And when we have our annual meeting, I will give myreport during worship, and set out the goals I have and would like you to sharefor the coming year. New starts seem all around us, just as God promises.

InChrist we are new creations. That’s what God promises. The trouble is this,though: Do we want all things to be new? In November, at our District Day, Ihad the opportunity to preach to my clergy colleagues as part of an AdventPreaching Day. Here is a little of what I said to them:

When it comes to changing directions, we arepretty good, clergy, at offering up alternate routes, or at least commentarythat we are going the wrong way to get where we want to be going. As a church,as local churches, as an Annual Conference, as a denomination and beyond, weare pretty desperate to find a new vision, a new hope. You have probablyparticipated in any number of conversations in any number of settingsbrainstorming how we will do a new thing. And, I suspect, you’ve probably feltcynical, or jaded, or at least politely skeptical that anything will change asa result of these conversations. And then, true enough, things seem to stay thesame, don’t they? Why is that exactly? If everybody agrees that things need tochange, and we all plan ways to do a new thing together, and things still staythe same, what's happening? I can only conclude that we all must be benefittingfrom things staying exactly as they are. Do you want to see change in thechurch? In the world? Tell me how you have changed. How have you repented, andchanged the direction of your mind, your life? … How do we benefit from thingsstaying just as they are?

Do we want allthings new? We are a people of contradictions. Yes and no. Yes, we want betterlives. No, we are not ready to let go of what we have in order to get there.Nothing is worse than the unknown, is it? And God is always seeming to offer usthis new life, but asking us to go into uncharted territory to get there. Wewant change, sure, but unless we know whatGod is changing us into, we aren’t really ready to commit.

So, about thesepoor Magi – about Epiphany – can they have some mention here? Where do they comeinto all things new? We really knowvery very little about these wise men. They appear only in this passage fromMatthew. He describes them as men from the East, which may have meant they wereastrologers from Persia, interpreters of stars and dreams. The idea that theywere kings comes from a verse of a Psalm that talks about kings bringing giftsto the Messiah. The number three was just layered onto tradition over time,perhaps because three gifts are named, along with traditional names for each ofthree wise men. But again, these ideas are not mentioned in the Bible. What wedo know from the Bible is that these wise men came to the palace of King Herodlooking for a newborn king, since they had seen a star that was significant tothem. Why did they come to the palace? Well, where else would you look for aking? But when Herod gave them information about where to find the child Jesus,they changed course, and visited the home of Mary and Joseph. When they foundJesus, Matthew says they were overwhelmed with joy. They paid him homage, andgave him the gifts they had prepared, and satisfied with their journey, theyreturned home.

I am struck thatthe Magi started a long journey with an expectation of what they would see – aking in a palace. They brought costly gifts. And nothing went like theyplanned. Jesus wasn’t at the palace. And when they did find him, he was in anormal home, in a small town, the child of a carpenter and his wife, totallynormal by every visible clue. They could have decided they had gotten it allwrong and taken their gifts and gone back home. But Matthew says they wereoverwhelmed with joy. Nothing went as planned, but they simply changed theircourse as a new plan was laid out for them. They went where they were led. Theywere thrilled with where they were led. They didn’t judge Mary and Joseph andJesus by their outer wrappings. They recognized the Holy in the child they saw.Could we be so ready to have our plans upset? Ready to follow wherever God wasleading us? Could we be so joyful even when what God brings us isn’t in anywaywhat we are expecting? Can we lay all our gifts at the feet of Jesus, who is tobe found always in the low places, and not in palaces of gold?

I have another setof Doctor of Ministry classes coming up next week. One of the texts for classis called Falling Upward by RichardRohr. In his first chapter he writes, ʺMerely to survive and preserve our lifeis a low-level instinct that we share with [animals], but it is not heroism inany classic sense. We were meant to thrive and not just survive. We are gladwhen someone survives, and that surely took some courage and effort. But whatare you going to do with your now resurrected life? That is the heroicquestion.ʺ (21)

This idea – do wesurvive or thrive – is one I plan to return to later this month. But for today,I want us to focus on Rohr’s question – what do we do with our resurrectedlives? God offers us new life, again and again – Jesus is born to us, God-with-us,as we are reminded each year, and each year we celebrate the gift of life thatconquers death forever. New life is ours. We say we accept it. What will you dowith your resurrected life?

An epiphany is alight bulb moment. The A-ha moment. I pray that this Epiphany, this New Year'sDay, is the your light bulb moment, when even though there is no palace, no goldcrown, no throne, you see can still see the gift that is Jesus, and be overwhelmedby joy. I pray that together we can commit to following wherever Christ leads us,right into the unknown new life God offers. Happy New Year! Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Epiphany Sunday, Year ABC

2011-12-28T19:57:00.003-05:00

Readings for Epiphany Sunday, 1/1/12:
Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

Isaiah 60:1-6:

On Epiphany Sunday, we use many light/dark images which correspond to good/bad, and sometimes, unfortunately, white/black. Make sure to double check your language for overtones that may be perceived as racist or convey a message that you don't intend!

"Lift up your eyes and look around." Sometimes things that we need/want/pray for/hope for are right in front of us, we just fail to see them because we are not looking. During seminary, I had the chance to travel to Ghana, West Africa, and walk across high-suspended canopy bridges in Kakum National Park. I had to remind myself to stop, breathe, and look around at the rainforest that I was crossing high above!

This passage is addressed to Israel, as the people have been permitted by the Persian King Darius to return to the Holy City Jerusalem. This is a homecoming story, an image of a big party thrown for Israel's return to itself.

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14:

Judgment and Justice - To me the word justice is so powerful because of its double meanings. We want to bring criminals to justice, to make sure they get what they deserve in terms of punishment, but we want to bring the oppressed justice, to make sure they get what they deserve: equality, shelter, food, health, etc. I'm reminded of the Newsboys song with the lyrics, "When you get what you don't deserve, it's a real good thing . . . when you don't get what you deserve, it's a real good thing."

This psalm is written as a sort of call for blessings on a king, perhaps at the beginning of his reign/coronation/special ceremony. In my NRSV translation, some of the phrases sound quite demanding of God. "Give the king your justice, O God." Are we willing to demand of God so boldly when we have wants/needs? When is or isn't this appropriate?

Ephesians 3:1-12:

"This is the reason": Paul has been writing in the previous chapter about how both the circumcised and the uncircumcised are now one in Christ, who has broken down the dividing wall. This is the purpose of Paul's ministry, to bring the Good News to the Gentiles.

"Although I am the very least of all the saints." When I was younger, before I came to better terms with my good friend Paul, these statements of self-debasing always irritated me to no end! :)

"Mystery", from the Greek musterion, a secret thing or secret rite. Not so much in a 'whodunnit' sense, but in an awe and intrigue sense.

Matthew 2:1-12:

Matthew emphasizes the importance of this event because the visit of the Magi (the Latin term) symbolizes recognition from non-Jewish figures of prominence who recognize the kingship of baby Jesus.

Note that there is no mention of 3 Kings. A lot of common thought about the wise men is something of Bible mythology, such as their number, their names (traditionally Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior), and their royal status. Of course, the wise men would not have arrived at the birth of the Christ child, as depicted in nativity scenes, but well after the birth, hence Herod's decision to kill male babies of two and under, to make sure the job was done.

What makes this story of the wise men the day of Epiphany? Writes Dennis Bratcher in this article, "The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "King" and so were the first to "show" or "reveal" Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ."

Lectionary Notes for First Sunday after Christmas Day

2011-12-28T19:54:00.003-05:00

Readings for Christmas Sunday, 1/1/12:
Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Psalm 148, Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:22-40

Isaiah 61:10-62:3:

"my whole being shall exult in my God." How do you exalt God with your whole being? We think of ourselves so much as in our heads, so much about our souls, relegating our bodies to just be flesh-things that contain us on earth. But Isaiah sees a whole-body worshipping of God. Do you put your whole self into worship?

I don't usually feel inspired by bride-to-be imagery in the Bible, but I get what it means to convey. Have you ever been part of a wedding and the preparations of the wedding party? All decked out, in the best finery, with so much desire to please the other spouse-to-be. That's how we, God's people, are meant to feel about being ready to meet God.

Psalm 148:

I like Psalms that are simple and clear in their focus: Praise God, everything and everyone. It is a reminder to me, to us, in our worship preparations, to remember what is our focus: Praise God, everything and everyone. Sometimes we try so hard for something fantastic that we lose focus on why we put together such wonderful music, beautiful liturgies, and carefully crafted sermons. Praise God!

Psalms like this that include things like: sun, moon, starts, mountains, fire, hair, hills, trees, cattle, birds, young, old, men, women, rules, snow, and wind, all in one litany remind us of our relationship with ALL creation. A little stewardship of the earth, please? If the psalm says all creation praises God, we do a good job of putting a stop to the praise when we destroy the creation...

This image sort of reminds me of The Lion King when all the animals come to see the new baby Simba be ‘baptized’ – all creation is joining in. What a picture!

Creation is commanded by the psalmist to give praise because of its existence. Do we require more of God to give God praise? Do we only feel like praising when things are going our way or when we’ve received some desired request? Or do we praise because we are, because we have being?

V. 11-12 say that Kings and the regular people, rulers, young men and women, old men and women, all should praise together. Is that a good picture of worship today? How do we worship together from different walks of life? Who is missing from this full picture in our own congregations?

Galatians 4:4-7:

Adoption language. I have trouble with this language of Paul's. I don't know what to think. Are we only God's adopted children because of Jesus Christ, or are we God's children already because we are created in God's image? I can see good theological arguments either way. If we're God's adopted children, then that means like parents adopt children today, God choosesto be our parent. I like that image. But I don't like an implication that we're only God's children because of Christ. Aren't all people God's children?

What does it mean to be a child of God? Think about the place of children in the Bible - in Jesus' teaching. How are you entering God's kingdom in a childlike way?

Luke 2:22-40:

Simeon in particular has been waiting for sometime to see the Messiah, even though he had no idea when this would happen. What have you been waiting your whole life to see? What's worth such wait?

I feel sorry for poor Mary, hearing Simeon's confusing and upsetting words about her son. Do you think she thought he was a crazy man, or do you think she already had a feeling about what he said?

When you look at a child, can you envision in them all that they might be? God looks at us that way, I think, even when we are no longer young in years, always seeing all that we might be.

Lectionary Notes for Christmas Day

2011-12-28T19:50:00.000-05:00

Readings for Christmas Sunday, 12/25/11:
Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 98, Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12), John 1:1-14

Isaiah 52:7-10:

"beautiful feet" - I've known this verse, though not where to find it in the Bible, since I was in a summer-camp production of "Sandi Patti and the Friendship Company" in junior high, where "Beautiful Feet" was one of the songs. I looked all over for lyrics online, but couldn't find them. Beautiful feet - what a great image! Are your feet beautiful? What message do your feet carry from place to place? Do you bring peace with your feet? Salvation?

Isaiah speaks of the joy of Israel returning back home after exile to Babylon. When have you experienced your most joyful homecoming? When have you been away from home and not wanted to be away from home? Homesick? Without a home?

According to Chris Haslam, the reference to "God's arm" is a reference to God's power. Sort of envisioning a God-flexing-muscles picture.

Psalm 98:

Oof - watch out - there's "God's arm" again, twice on one Sunday!

"Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy." Great imagery. How would you create this image?

This is a psalm of joy and thankfulness for God's action in someone's life, in the life of a whole people. How do you celebrate as an individual? As a community? Do we celebrate as nations? A world? How do we express our joy in God? Through worship? Action?

Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12):

Hebrews talks of Jesus as the reflection of God's glory. I think we are also reflections of God's glory, if we let ourselves be, let God makes us into these reflections. This is what it means to be created in God's image, isn't it?

"exact imprint of God's very being" - This makes fingerprints come to mind, or plaster casts of babies' feet.

The argument here seems to be: Jesus is better than angels. Was this a question in the early church? Chris Haslam says it was (sort of), actually.

I think this passage from Hebrews may be the only non-gospel place that refers to Jesus' birth in the scriptures. But Hebrews' description sounds more like Revelation and less like Luke 2!

John 1:1-14:

This is John's take on a birth narrative. No shepherds, no angels, no Mary and Joseph, no manger. This is how John describes Jesus' coming into the world. The language is rich in metaphor, and though it lacks the characters of the traditional nativity, the point is still communicated without a doubt: 'And the word became flesh and lived among us'.

This is one of my favorite passages in the Greek New Testament, not only because of the easy, repetitive vocabulary :) but also because it is poetic and lyrical through the simple, repetitive structure. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Passages like this from John provide the strongest basest for our Trinitarian Christian Creeds. Jesus was "in the beginning with God."

I think we are all, like John the Baptist, meant to testify, or witness, to the light. How do you do it? Witnessing means telling what you know about something, like at a trial. What do you know about the light that is Christ?

Aunt Clara

2011-12-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

My great Aunt Clara died yesterday, after a year long battle with lung cancer. The cancer was already pretty advanced when she was diagnosed, and she has been on a slow but steady decline all year. In the last few weeks, she became more confused, way too thin, and increasingly physically uncomfortable. After a week in the hospital, she died early Friday morning.

My aunt was the youngest of my grandmother's siblings - nine years younger than grandma, actually, who is herself a tough cookie, so we were all surprised, I think, to lose Aunt Clara at 77.

What can I say about Aunt Clara? She had some real ups and downs in her life, and whether she was living in a tiny apartment, or what I considered as a child as practically a mansion, she was always generous. You could not leave her home without her trying to give you something - cookies, clothes she actually loved, food, trinkets, whatever. Anything and definitely something.

One year for my birthday, maybe, Aunt Clara asked what I wanted. I told her I wanted a pony, jewels, and lots of money. She brought me a tiny box with a tiny horse figurine, some shiny pennies, and a fake jewel. She had such humor, and loved to joke and laugh.

I have heard my cousins talking about how quickly Aunt Clara would welcome someone new into our family fold. She would make you feel comfortable and relaxed into our crazy family on first meeting. Over the years, we have introduced Aunt Clara to many important people in our life, and whether they were shy, or tattooed, or of a different color, or of a different sexual orientation, or whatever, it never seemed to matter to her. She could put people at ease.

One of my favorite and more recent memories is when Aunt Clara came to be a mystery guest at my church. We were doing a study with our Evangelism Committee on how to be more welcoming, so we set up some people to masquerade as visitors to the church, including Aunt Clara. She had so much fun, but was a horrible actress! She had a cover story that was way too elaborate, about her granddaughter and visiting her and wanting to find a church for when she visited. During joys and concerns she raised her hand and said how wonderful everyone was and how welcomed she felt - very untypical visitor behavior! But she loved every minute - she even made my mom drop her off a block away from church so she could walk in and look authentic. Then afterwards, she worried and worried that people would be mad at her for lying! But of course, everyone loved her, and enjoyed her theatrics.

I am a bit in denial that she has died, which I suppose is not unusual. She has just been such a part of all of us, my whole life. I don't know if most people know their great aunts so well, but I feel blessed by the closeness of my family. I miss her.

Lectionary Notes for Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B

2011-12-14T11:38:00.002-05:00

Readings for Fourth Sunday of Advent, 12/18/11:
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:47-55, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16:

David feels bad that he's living in a nice house while God travels via tent in the ark. So he offers to build God a cedar house. And God says, "who says I need a house? I've been doing just fine without one!"

I think David's impulse is ours - wouldn't it be nicer if we could put God somewhere where we would always know where God was? But we get into trouble when our wanting to know where God is turns into wanting just to control God - period.

What would it mean if you would just led God travel through your life, and not try to restrict God to only a part of your life?

Luke 1:47-55:

context: This is Mary's song of praise, the magificat, a response to her visit to her cousin Elizabeth, who is also with child. This is a song, and can be set to music in worship, or read responsively like a Psalm.

Mary speaks as one who sees God's greatness already complete in the not-yet-complete actions of the birth of her baby, we see by the fact that she speaks about what God has done in the past tense. What trust, and what vision!

Mary's images of God are all about God who changes the usual order of things - a God who lifts up the lowly and removes the rich and powerful from their usual places. Obviously, as a young woman going through a strange ordeal, these concepts of God would be extremely meaningful to her, giving her hope.

Romans 16:25-27:

"the mystery that was kept secret for long ages" - I've never thought of Jesus as a secret that was kept until his coming in human form. Is that what Paul means?

Maybe we keep Jesus a secret or mystery today, by not clearly sharing who he is and who he calls us to be. What do you think?

"my gospel" Paul says. He boldly claims the gospel as his own. Is the gospel yours too?

Luke 1:26-38:

Gabriel twice names Mary as favored in this passage. Do you think she felt favored? Being favored by God in the Bible usually gets people into trouble!

I can't imagine reacting as coolly as Mary does. Could you take it all in like she does? Say, "Sure, ok." I just wouldn't believe it to begin with. And yet...Mary's nobody special before this happens to her. She's from a certain family line, but so are lots of people. She's just a faithful follower of God.

"nothing is impossible with God." Do you believe this? We have only 2 options really: we believe that really, things aren't always possible for God. That God's power is limited, because somehow, we are beyond God's power. Or, we believe that anything is possible for God, so God could make anything work through us. Those are really the only two possibilities. Which do you choose?

Sermon for Fourth Sunday of Advent: Sing We Now of Christmas: Mary’s Song

2011-12-14T11:33:00.003-05:00

Sermon 12/11

Luke 1:26-55

Sing We Now of Christmas: Mary’s Song

Todayour scripture brings us three vignettes, woven together. First, Mary is visitedby God's messenger Gabriel, who tells her that she is favored, and that shewill give birth to a son, a child conceived by the Holy Spirit, who is the Sonof the Most High. He tells her nothing is impossible with God. Mary has acouple of questions, naturally, but ends by saying, ʺI am God's servant – letit be with me as you have said.ʺ Next, we see Mary travel to visit her cousinElizabeth, an older woman who is also pregnant. Elizabeth is pregnant withJohn, who we know as John the Baptist. Mary visits her, and when Elizabeth seesher, John in her womb seems to leap for joy, and Elizabeth calls Mary and thechild she carries blessed. And, she concludes, blessed is she who believes thatthere will be a fulfillment of God's promises. Finally, we find Mary’s song,what we call the Magnificat, a joyful response at what God has chosen to do,through her, for all people.

Youknow, of course, that I love music, but I must admit that the books of theBible that are considered song – like the Psalms – are really not my favorite.The poetry, Psalms and Proverbs and Song of Songs, and the poems and hymns sprinkledthroughout the scriptures – most books of the Bible contain some hymns orpoetry – Paul’s letters, the law, the prophets, the gospels. So I love music,and it’s not that I don’t like poetry. I do, I really like poetry. I even wentthrough some angsty times in junior high where I tried to write poetry! Badpoetry, that you could probably use to blackmail me with rather than me letsomeone read it, but poetry nonetheless.

It’sjust that, frankly, I don’t usually find the poetry of the scriptures particularlymoving. I know that many people love the Psalms in particular, and I do have acouple of favorites, but if I were in charge, I might have cut the collectiondown to about 25 instead of a hefty 150 entries. My tendency when readingpoetry in the Bible is to skim – quickly glance over the words. But I’m notsure poetry is meant to be read this way. Poetry is meant to be savored, wordby carefully chosen word.

But onesong in the Bible I love – Mary’s song – this Magnificat – the first song inthe New Testament – the first justice song of the gospel. I love Mary’s song. Maryresponds to her visit with Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s words about Mary beingblessed among women with a song – a song that today we call “The Magnificat”because Mary begins by saying that her soul magnifies the Lord. She sings aboutrejoicing in God because God has chosen her, even though she is lowly. Shebelieves she will be called blessed by all generations because of what God isdoing for her. Mary goes on to describe God as merciful and strong. She talksabout God scattering those who are proud and powerful and rich in earthlythings, and instead favoring those who are without all these earthly things.And she finishes her song by saying that God is helping her because God remembersthe promise made to her people, the promise that lasts forever.

“My soulmagnifies the Lord.” That is how Mary begins her song. The word in this contextmeans to make great, to exalt, but we most often use the word ‘magnify’ whenwe’re talking about making something bigger. We use a magnifying glass to helpus better see something that’s otherwise too small. Something magnified issomething that has been enlarged, made bigger, easier to see. In Mary’s case,she is saying that her soul magnifies God. In other words, Mary, her soul, herspirit, is making God larger, more visible. I think these are pretty daringthings for Mary to sing about. She can clearly see herself, even though she isa woman in a male-centered society, even though she is very young, even thoughshe is unwed, even though she is pregnant and in a risky situation, she canclearly see herself as a powerful person – made powerful by God’s action in herlife and her willingness to respond – and a person who has the power then tomagnify God for others, to make God more visible by serving as a vessel forGod, a disciple for God.

Marytrusts that God would choose someone like her because she sees that God isalways using unlikely people. Throughout Mary’s song, she makes reference toGod being a God who cherishes the weak, the lowly, the hungry, the otherwiseoverlooked. In fact, her song is similar to another song in the scriptures: thesong that Hannah sings to thank God after she finally gives birth to Samuel inthe Old Testament. Hannah was barren, and prayed for a child. When she finally hadSamuel, she delivered him to the temple to serve God, and she sang a song of thankswhere she talked about God lifting up the lowly and overlooked. Mary, likeHannah, understands that God who is her Savior is a God who turns the tables, wholooks out for the weak first, giving power to those who are powerless, andhumbling those who would exalt themselves. Mary believes that God has looked ather and seen faithfulness, looked at her, and seen a servant, looked at her,and given favor and blessing. Mary believes, trusts, that in her, God isfulfilling a promise long-spoken, a promise that God would redeem God’s people.Because Mary believes this, she doesn’t shrink or cower from the great,mysterious, practically unbelievable news that Gabriel brings to her. Instead,she rejoices in the news. She lives the news – sings it. Mary’s soul willmagnify God – her actions, her carrying of the Christ child will make it easierfor the whole world to see God, because through Mary, the whole world will haveaccess to a God who is this close to us, close enough to touch, close enough tocarry in our hearts. Mary magnifies God for us, and so we can see thislarger-than-life God, contained in a tiny baby.

We, too,are meant to magnify God with our souls. By our lives, by our witness, by ourresponse to our experience of God, we are called to make God more visible tothe world. That means that like Mary, we must understand the power that we haveas human beings. A bit of prose from author Marianne Williamson: She writes,“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that weare powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that mostfrightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talentedand fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Yourplaying small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened aboutshrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born tomake manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us;it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously giveother people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear,our presence automatically liberates others.” We’re created in God’s image,born to “make manifest the glory of God that is within us.”

That’s apowerful task we have in our hands. The question isn’t whether or not we havepower, but what we’ll do with it. When God calls us, we should boldly respond,because God knows us, and knows how very much we are capable of, and we haveresponsibility and power given to us. Others, by our actions, can learnsomething about who God is, what kind of God we serve. What will people learnabout God from you? You have the ability to magnify God – to make God largerfor others, easier for others to know and see and draw near to. How big can youmake God? How much can you let your life work to make God visible to others?

Finally,it means that we must learn something about what can happen to the world if wereally take Mary’s song to heart. As I was reading about the Magnificat, I discoveredthat during the 1980s, the dictators of Guatemala actually outlawed the publicreading of the Magnificat because of its “revolutionary tones” – indeed, Marytalks about a change in the world order that would certainly upset the waythings work. The words of a pregnant young woman, spoken two-thousand yearsago, banned, because of the power, revolutionary power in them. What might happenif we speak the truths that we know with boldness? When we work together withGod, when we let God use us, and when we trust that in us, God can fulfillpromises, even in us – when we let others see God more clearly because of us,we can actually change the world.

How bigcan we make God? My soul magnifies the Lord! Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Third Sunday of Advent, Year B

2011-12-04T20:23:00.001-05:00

Readings for Third Sunday of Advent, 12/11/11:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, Psalm 126, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24, John 1:6-8, 19-28

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11:

"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me" - make sure to read this alongside Luke 4, where Jesus reads these words in the synagogue. Jesus does not read exactly what we read here. I like Jesus' spin better ;)

"bind up the brokenhearted" - I love this phrase. This whole passage is how I would prefer to describe evangelism, instead of describing it as trying to get people to "accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior." I think this passage gets at the heart of why we want to share Jesus - he's good news for those who've heard none.

"I the Lord love justice." Do you love justice? What does it mean to love justice for those who are oppressed?

Psalm 126:

"we were like those who dream." I like this verse - sounds like it should be from some Shakespeare play, some poetry. The psalmist talks about how surreal/unreal/dreamlike it felt to be restored, to be made whole again by God, to be returned to Zion. What, in your dreams, could God make of your life?

What great things has God done for you? For others?

"May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy." A good benediction!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24:

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances." A tall order, isn't it? Always? Without ceasing? In all circumstances? Can you do this? Always remember how blessed you are? Paul encourages us to always maintain our connection with God that reminds us who we are.

"the one who calls you is faithful" - Jesus is faithful, even when we are not. Sometimes I think we expect God to let us down because we let God down. We're setting our standard the wrong way. We should take our standard from God, who is always faithful to us.

John 1:6-8, 19-28:

Compare John's poetic introduction of John the Baptist to that found in the Synoptic gospels. John's writing is almost poetry, like he's setting a stage of characters, all of them getting ready for the appearance of Jesus.

John's gospel is the only one where John the Baptist self-identifies as speaking from Isaiah. John portrays a very self-aware John the Baptist, who knows who he is. What do you think? How do you think John the Baptist saw himself?

John describes Jesus as the light, and John the Baptist, not the light, testifying to the light. In Matthew, we read of Jesus saying that we are the light of the world. Do you think Matthew and John disagree, or show us different perspectives? Are you the light of the world? Do you testify to the light? Do you, like John the Baptist, know your role in this story?

Sermon for Second Sunday of Advent: Sing We Now of Christmas: O Come, O Come Emmanuel

2011-12-04T20:22:00.001-05:00

Sermon 12/4/11

Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8

Sing We Now of Christmas: O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O Come,O Come Emmanuel is one of the oldest hymns you’ll find in our hymnal. Themelody itself is a bit younger – written in the 15th century – but the wordsare much older – dating back at least to the 9th century, written in Latin.These verses are all based on prophecies from Isaiah, and you might recognizethe verses as corresponding to some of the passages from Isaiah we usually readduring advent. Actually, the original form of the lyrics is not the hymnitself, but is found in your hymnal on the right side of page 211, where yousee what are known as the “O Antiphons.” Antiphons are a spoken response thatwould alternate between verses of a chant or hymn. And these antiphons, inLatin, make up a kind of word game – a backwards acrostic. See, each antiphonis a title for the Messiah – Emmanuel, Wisdom, Adonai, Root of Jesse, Key ofDavid, Dayspring, King of the Gentiles. And if you take the first letter ofeach of these words (in Latin), and put them in reverse order (are you stillfollowing me?), you come up with another Latin phrase, Ero Cras, which means,Tomorrow, I will come. It’s meant to be Christ’s response – we say theantiphons, calling for Christ to come, and Christ responds, yes, I will come.We long for the Messiah, and the Messiah responds. (1)

That’sthe theme of both of our scripture lessons today. We long for Christ, or, evenif we can’t name it is such, we are certainly longing for something. Hoping forsomething. Waiting. And we hear in the scriptures that something, someone iscoming. The people are lost in a wilderness, and in the wilderness, a way isprepared, a path is cleared, and the Christ comes. That’s what Isaiah and Johnthe gospel writer and John the Baptist are all talking about. We long for theMessiah to come. And he comes.

It’sthis idea of wilderness that particularly captures my attention in these texts.Our scriptures are filled with stories of Gods’ people finding themselves inthe wilderness. We spent a little time talking about this at our Wednesday nightAdvent gathering at my home last week. Today we might think of a wilderness as beingout in the woods, in nature, kind of a peaceful, beautiful retreat. That is inpart because of our local geography, and in part because of our society. Welive in bustling places and work indoors and spend most of our lives indoors,and then retreat to nature to draw close to God. But in the scriptures, theword wilderness means desert – a solitary place, a lonely and desolate place,possibly a dangerous place. It is not a place that many choose to spend theirtime, except maybe those like John the Baptist, and since he was dressed incamel hair and eating locusts and wild honey, he isn’t really a good example oftypical behavior.

We findthis wilderness featured in the OldTestament, particularly in Exodus, as God’s people are led from a land ofslavery to a land of hope and promise. In the forty years that it takes them toget from Egypt to the promised land, they spend their days traveling throughthe wilderness, the desert. These forty years bring them through some hardtimes with God and with one another and with Moses, their leader. Thewilderness is a place of struggle for them, the in-between place they musttraverse to get to their real destination. In the gospels, we read about Jesusspending time in the wilderness before he begins his preaching and teaching. Itis there, in the desolate wilderness, that he is tempted by satan to rejectGod’s plan for his life and instead choose an easier path. The wilderness is arisky place to be in the scriptures. It’s a place where one is both alone, andexposed and vulnerable, this desert place.

So no, wedon’t live in a desert climate here in Central New York, but I think that inthe midst of the season of Advent, it is not too hard for us to see ourselvesin the middle of a wilderness, wandering in a desolate place. Christmas begins injust three weeks, and though we are in the midst of a season of preparation,journeying towards a season of joy, a celebration of Christ’s birth, sometimes,on the way, things can get overwhelming. We may – in the midst of all thehustle and bustle, in the midst of trying to buy presents, preparing our homes,finalizing travel plans, and planning and attending activities at home, school,work, and church – we might feel a bit like we’ve lost our way, and that we arejust wandering in the wilderness, waiting for someone to show us the way outand beyond this exhausting season. The holidays may be meant to be a season ofjoy. But actually, people often experience them as a season of distress, aseason of loneliness, a season of marked financial strain, a season ofdepression. Sometimes the holidays highlight people's pains instead of highlightingtheir anticipation. You know what personal wilderness you are facing, and youknow it doesn’t pause just because Christmas songs on the radio are telling youto be jolly!

It isjust when the wilderness threatens to swallow us up that prophets are called tospeak, to give a message of hope. Today, we read two passages, each with wordsfrom a prophet meant for people struggling through a wilderness, to remind themof the hope of the Messiah, the same promise we hear in our hymn: Tomorrow, Iwill come. Through the words of Isaiah and the preaching of John the Baptist,we find messages meant for those who find themselves in the wilderness,wondering what to do. The prophet Isaiah speaks to the people during a time inIsrael’s history when the people had been taken from their homeland and exiledto Babylon, as the first verse of today’s hymn mentions – captive Israel. Itwas for them a time of deep pain as a people, when they were separated fromtheir homes, when they were jumbled together and living in a foreign land underunfriendly rule. They longed for the day that they could return home and endthis time of limbo, this time of waiting, this time of wilderness. Where wasGod? How would God get them out of this situation and to their destination –back home, back to the holy land and the holy city. And so God speaks to theprophet Isaiah and tells him, “Cry out!” “What shall I cry?” Isaiah wants toknow what he could possibly say to the people. The response comes, “Comfort, Ocomfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem . . . In the wilderness preparethe way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God . . .the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together .. . Here is your God, God will gather the lambs in God’s arms.”

In ourgospel lesson, Mark starts things in a hurry and maintains his pace through a shortbut packed gospel account. Unlike Matthew and Luke, who talk about Jesus’birth, describing the Christmas story, Mark gets right down to business. Whoneeds a nativity story when you can get straight to the point? Mark writes, The beginning of the good news of JesusChrist, the Son of God as his first verse, and in it he says who Jesus– he is the Christ, the Son ofGod. And his gospel certainly attests to whyJesus came. Of the birth of Jesus, Mark simply has no comment. John thebaptizer appears in the wilderness, in the way of Isaiah, proclaiming baptism,repentance, and forgiveness, and announcing that someone was coming, thekingdom had arrived. Like during Isaiah’s time, again the people of Israel findthemselves in a wilderness time. Israel was then under Roman occupation, andthe Roman government was ruling over the people. Though the Jewish people werein their own homeland, still, they weren’t at home, because their lives weremonitored and controlled by these occupying forces. A wilderness time. Sopeople were coming to John, repenting of their sins and being baptized inanticipation of the one John said was coming, the one who would bring with himGod’s kingdom.

So what dothese words from prophets say to those who needed (and need) to hear thosevoices? Let’s think again of the Israelites when they were wandering, led byMoses, in the wilderness. I think one of the reasons why the Israelites hadsuch a hard time when they were in the wilderness is that they were alwaystrying to get out of it, so that they could get on with their lives, reachtheir destination. Forty years is a long time to live in transition with no sethome. And it certainly doesn’t seem that the Israelites tried to make the bestof it. Forty years is a long time to live intransition, but it is a good amount of time to live. You can do a lot of living in forty years. But the Israelitesseem only to have done a lot of wishing they were somewhere else, wishing theywere already at their destination, in the Promised Land.

I thinkthe prophets’ message is to tell us that we don’t have to wait to find God atour destination points. If you are in the wilderness, good news: so is God. Godis in the journey. God is in the wandering. God is with you in the desert. Thewords of our hymn equal the promise: I’m coming to you. John the Baptist says,“he is coming, I’m just preparing his way.” Isaiah cries, “Here, here is yourGod!” That, indeed, is the comfort that God seeks to bring to us, in the midstof a season that can fill us with so much anxiety. We don’t have to wait until Christmasto experience the God-with-us that will come in the Christ child. We don’t haveto wait until we exchange presents. We don’t have to wait until the candlelightcommunion. We are waiting, waiting for the baby, but while we wait, God is alreadyhere. So let us prepare, right here, in the wilderness, for God to come,already, again, and soon. O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Amen.

(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Antiphons

Lectionary Notes for Second Sunday of Advent, Year B

2011-11-28T16:38:00.001-05:00

Readings for Second Sunday of Advent, 12/4/11:

Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2,8-13, 2 Peter 3:8-15a, Mark 1:1-8

Isaiah 40:1-11:

"Comfort, O comfort my people" - ah, what gorgeous words. This God is a God who longs to comfort us, even when we wander and stray.
This text and our text from Mark both mention the wilderness, or desert. What happens in the Bible in the wilderness? Think Israelites. Think Jesus' temptation. Lots of deep spiritual transformation happens in the wilderness.
Where's your wilderness? What's been a desert place in your life?
"Here is your God!" That's the good news that Isaiah cries in this text: God is here, is present and real in your lives.

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

"[God] will speak peace to his people." What does speaking peace sound like? How would you speak peace to someone?
"for those who fear [God]" - do you fear God? We're instructed over and over again in the scriptures not to be afraid. What does it mean, then, to fear God or to be God-fearing? I interpret it to mean we're to have an awe of God that is an awe we give only to God.
Some good imagery in v. 10: Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other." Great images. Love and faithfulness bound together. More intriguingly, to me, righteousness and peace bound together. If only!

2 Peter 3:8-15a:

The author here is writing in response to concerns, it seems, about the slowly-coming day of Christ's return. They are ready and waiting for Christ to come again. So where is he already? The author talks about how God's time and our time is different. This is always a good reminder!
"regard the patience of our Lord as salvation." The author argues that the longer it takes for Christ to return, the more chance people have of finding salvation - God, he argues, doesn't want anyone to perish, but wants all to come to repentance. I kind of like his way of looking at things!

Mark 1:1-8:

The opening of Mark's gospel wastes no time with those birth-of-Jesus stories we like to hear so much about this time of year. Mark gets to the point: "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Sometimes I prefer Mark's method! He seems to be saying, "Let's get right to the good stuff."
Here's another wilderness passage - notice the similar language in this text and in Isaiah. John is for Jesus' time a modern-day Isaiah, announcing the same message: "God is here! Right here among you!"
John sees himself as facilitating Jesus' ministry - preparing people for it. His role is so important, isn't it? Do you know of people who play this kind of supporting role in ministry today?

Sermon for First Sunday of Advent, Year B: Sing We Now of Christmas: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

2011-11-28T16:32:00.001-05:00

Sermon 11/27/11

Mark 13:24-37

Sing We Now of Christmas: Come, Thou Long-ExpectedJesus

Come, Thou longexpected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free; From our fears and sins releaseus, Let us find our rest in Thee. Israel’s Strength and Consolation, Hope ofall the earth Thou art; Dear Desire of every nation, Joy of every longingheart. Born Thy people to deliver, Born a child and yet a King, Born to reignin us forever, Now Thy gracious kingdom bring. By Thine own eternal Spirit Rulein all our hearts alone; By Thine all sufficient merit, Raise us to Thyglorious throne.

This famous Advent hymn was writtenin 1744 by, Charles Wesley, a prolific writer of hymns, many of which are stillin our hymnals today, and younger brother of John Wesley, founder of the Methodistmovement. Charles knew that most people might not learn and memorizecomplicated theological doctrines, but they would indeed learn the words tosongs, just as we do today. So he laced his hymns with the theology, the ideasabout God, that he wanted to make sure people knew. What does this hymn say?

Well,you might notice, for one thing, that it doesn’t talk very much about a babyJesus. Yes, it talks about why Jesus is born, and that he is born a baby, achild. But mostly, this hymn focuses on why we need Jesus to be born, why welong-expect this Jesus. Jesus is born to set his people free, to deliver usfrom fears and sins, so that we can find our rest in Jesus. Jesus is born to beour strength, our consolation, the hope of the whole earth, the desire of everynation, and the joy of every heart. Jesus is born to deliver his people, achild yes, but a King, born to reign, born to usher in the Kingdom of God, bornto rule in our hearts, born to raise us up to God’s kingdom. For CharlesWesley, for this Advent hymn of longing, that’s the important message aboutwhat we need to know about Christ’s birth, why we should want Christmas to comeso much. Why are you in such a hurryfor Christmas to come? Are you?

Have you seen those Hallmark commercials for the Christmascountdown ornament? In them, a little girl follows her parents around the housetelling them exactly how much time there is until Christmas, information sheknows because of her ornaments with a digital display that lets her keep track.Right now there are 27 days and 16/18 hours or so until Christmas, just FYI.You may remember feeling just like this child – so eager for Christmasto come. Maybe the children in your life are like this today. Counting down thedays. Is it so bad to hurry Christmas along? Is it so bad to be anxious andeager and excited for Christmas to arrive? Why not wish for Christmas to come, for the Christ-child to arrive? Childrenusually get the point that we adults are too serious to see, and maybe we allneed to be a little more excited and anxious for Christmas to come.

Then again, during our stewardshipemphasis we talked a lot about time – about wanting more time and wasting time.What time we have and what we do with it. The older we get, themore sense we have that rushing time ahead can be a dangerous thing. It alreadygoes by way too quickly. I have told you that TheChronicles of Narnia are some of my favorite books. In the last volume, The Last Battle, some of the charactersare talking about why Susan, one of the children from the first novel, has notreturned to Narnia. Lady Polly explains, ʺI wish [Susan] would grow up. She wasted all her schooltime wanting to be the age she is now, and she’ll waste all the rest of herlife trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest timeof one’s life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can.ʺ Fora book first published in the 1950s, C.S. Lewis’s words remainremarkably timely. How many of us dothis exact thing? We spend all this energy rushing to a certain age in life,and then the rest of life trying to figure out how not to get older, wonderingat how quickly time is passing us by.

So which is it? Should we rush to Christmas?Advent may be a time of preparation, but if all our songs are about how we wantJesus to come soon, aren’t we really just rushing ahead? Is that good or bad?Or should we rest in the waiting of Advent? Be content to let the days unfold,not wanting Christmas to arrive until we have savored each day?

I thinkchildren are excited and anxious for Christmas to come, but I also know that youngchildren have a very skewed concept of time. Take my nephew Sam. Anything past happenedʺa couple weeks agoʺ for awhile. Things that happened ʺwhen he was littleʺcould be things that were when he was an infant, two years old, or earlier thisyear. He does talk about growing up – he defines this as the time when his feetwill touch the floor when he sits on a chair. And last year, he was perplexedover what had happened to his friend Alex – the same age as Sam – since he hadn’tseen him a while. Sam mused: I think Alex must be a teenager now! Sam is indeedexcited for Christmas to come, as he is excited for most joyful things to takeplace in his happy life. But Sam isn’t rushingtime by. Instead, I would say he is ready.He is ready for the excitement he knows is on the way. A day, a week, a month –they can all seem long or short to Sam depending on his mood. But he isn’t in ahurry. He is just happy, and ready for Christmas when it comes.

Our taskin Advent isn’t to rush the days by to Christmas, and it isn’t to drag our feet in an effort to slow down time. Ourtask is just to be ready. In Matthew, Jesus is talking about when he will come againto earth, and how the disciples should prepare. His advice? No one knows thetime, the hour – not even Jesus or the angels – of when Jesus may walk the earthagain. In that case, it isn’t anything we can count down to, or hurry to, ordread, or wait for, or whatever really. What we can do is what Jesus advises: Keepalert. Keep awake. Be ready. We are called as people of faith to be ready for Godhowever God shows up on earth, wherever and whenever.

Jesus, long-expected,is coming – born a child, and yet a king– in all his fullness, Jesus is coming. That is a promise we can count on. Andso with faith in the promise, we can be filled with hope, longing, expectation,excitement. And we can be ready for his arrival. Amen.

Sermon for Reign of Christ, Year A: Fed with Justice

2011-11-20T21:52:00.001-05:00

Sermon 11/20/11

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

This time of year always brings us an interestingconjunction of church events: today we celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday – it isn’treally a liturgical holiday – Thanksgiving isn’t on the church calendarexactly. But it certainly makes sense that we focus on Thanksgiving in worship– being thankful for all we have is hardly something we do enough of! It isalso the last Sunday of the liturgical year today. As the church calendar goes,next Sunday is our New Year's Day. Today is then sort of a liturgical NewYear's Eve as far as Sundays go. And on the church calendar, today is Christ theKing or Reign of Christ Sunday. It is a day when we consider how Jesus is King,how Jesus is ruler of our lives. How is Jesus king? It’s kind of an interestingquestion for us to ask about Jesus, who shunned titles like king at every turnin the accounts of ministry. And yet we call him the King of Kings. There is atension there. Not a king, and yet the most high king. On this Sunday, weexplore that tension.

For 21^st century Americans, we have to figureout just what to do with kings anyway. Our own history shapes our views ofcourse. In our history, people carried out a revolution to end living under therule of a king that could make decisions for them without their input. We havenever had a king. We want a say in who leads – not rules us – and how theylead. And if they don’t do it in a way we appreciate, we want the chance toelect someone new. This spring we observed with varying degrees ofanticipation, indifference, distaste, or excitement as Prince William marriedKate Middleton. Even in Europe, the royal family has limited power. They don’t rule, not in the absolute ways of dayslong past. And we aren’t quite sure what to make of it all, are we? What do wemean by saying that Jesus is king?

We don’t often focus on readings from Ezekiel. You mightbe most familiar with the passage about the valley of the dry bones. But I findour text today particularly compelling for Reign of Christ Sunday. Ezekiel iswriting in the time of the Babylonians exile. Babylon had invaded and occupiedIsrael and the people of Israel were scattered – what Ezekiel calls scattered sheep.Ezekiel spends the proceeding chapters of his prophecy criticizing thehistory of bad royal leadership Israel has had. When humans have tried to beking, we have done a pretty bad job at it. We are bad at being shepherds,Ezekiel says, and we aren’t even very good at being sheep. He writes,ʺYou pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted all the weakanimals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide.ʺ Without a good shepherdto follow, we aren’t even good sheep! In imagery that Jesus will draw oncenturies later when he speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd, Ezekiel speaksof how God shepherds us.

Hereis what God as shepherd-king does for us, says Ezekiel: I willseek the lost. I will bring back the strayed. I will bind up the injured. Iwill strengthen the weak. I will feed them with justice. This is how God is king. And if God is king by shepherdingus better than any human leaders, God can draw out of us our best sheep-behavior.We are the flock when we hear God's voice and follow Jesus our shepherd-king. Whatwould it look like if we partnered in God's work?

God seeks us when we arelost. How can we help those who feel lost, in the manyways we can feel lost in this world? I can’t tell you how significantbeing a listening ear can be for people. In my years of ministry, some of thekindest words of thanks I have received are from people whoI visit for one reason or another. I find myself always wishing I hadmore time to give, more time to stay, because it clearly means too muchto people. People who are lonely, or depressed, or struggling in someway – they need to know that someone is with them in the midst oftheir pain. We rely on knowing that God is always seeking after us, always callingto us, always longing to draw us closer in relationship. So in turn, how can wedraw closer to one another in faith, hope, and love?

God brings back the strayed. You might think being lostand straying away from God are the same thing. To me it is a bit of a nuanceddifference. Being lost is something that usually happens by accident. We feellost and alone without knowing how we got there exactly. Straying from God –well, that is a little more purposeful. Have you ever witnessed or experiencedthis: a child is walking quickly and deliberately away from a parent who is yellingmore and more loudly, ʺCome back here!ʺ Or a child is not supposed to walk toofar ahead, ride a bike too far ahead of parents, but keeps pushing the limits, goingjust a little farther? That is straying,and I believe we do that with God. We don’t start out intending to disobey God ortest God. But somehow one small questionable action on our part leads to onemore and one more, and pretty soon we are living in a way that we aren’t proudof. God brings back the strayed. There is no distance – no distance that you can stray from God that is too far for God toclose the gap. We are not very open in our society to others pointing out whenwe seem to be straying from God. And we try to mind our own business when wesee others doing something that we know will be harmful to their spirits. We thinkit is between us and God, them and God. While we are called to not judge one another, we are alsosupposed to help each other keep from stumbling, and be open to someone else helpingus stay close to God.

God will bind up the injured. I believe God can heal us.I think we have all witnessed God's healing – physically, emotionally,spiritually. Some of us may have witnessed miraculous healing. Or we may havewitnessed the slow and steady healing that God works over time. But Jesus was ahealer – he was known far and wide for his healing, and it was the reason whypeople flocked to him at first, only to then find their souls were healing alongwith their ailments. We are in need of healing, aren’t we? We pray for healing forourselves and our loved ones. In fact, prayer is one way we partner with God inhealing. How often is prayer our last resort, instead of a tool of healing thatwe use with intention and purpose? I pray for healing for you and me, for our congregation,for our nation, for our world. We so need it. God binds up our wounded hearts,and makes us whole

God strengthensthe weak and feeds them with justice. God is not into survival of the fittest. Godis into the thriving lives of each precious child in creation. This week wefocus on giving thanks, but we also might spend a lot of time focusing on whatfood we will have on Thursday (and Friday and Saturday), right? I have beenpart of very few Thanksgiving meals where we didn’t indulge and indulge somemore. God says we will be fed with justice.What an image! In the scriptures, justice and poverty, concern for those whoare weak or low in society often go hand in hand, as the prophets envision God'sworld as a place where all have enough and no one suffers at the expense of others.We can certainly be partners with God in feeding justice as we reach out inmission. Last night I had the true privilege of handing out food baskets tofolks in need in our community. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy seeing theexpressions of shock on people’s faces when they realize how much we will beable to give them. And it is just one way, one part of what we can do. It is toour human shame that we throw away about 50 million tons of food each year when900 million people are hungry. We know something is wrong and needs to becorrected, brought to right. That is what God means by justice – bringing thingsto rights. How will you partner with God to feed justice until all are filled?

ThisJesus, God on earth, come to us, we celebrate as a king. But he is a king likeno other – a king who seeks the lost, who protects, who returns strays to the rightpath, who heals, who strengthens the weak, who feeds us with justice. This is aleader worth following. Let us give thanks, today and always. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Advent 1B

2011-11-20T21:47:00.001-05:00

Readings for First Sunday of Advent, 11/27/11:

Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7,17-19, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, Mark 13:24-37

Isaiah 64:1-9:

"O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence" - Do you ever get so frustrated with the way of the world that you want to call on God to break into the scene and rile things up? I don't blame Isaiah's call. Its just that God hardly ever comes in the ways we're expecting!
Isaiah realizes this too, God's unexpected ways: "when you did awesome deeds that we did not expect" he says in v. 3 - what do you expect from God? Do you expect the unexpected?
"consider, we are all your people." Isaiah is pleading a case here. He realizes people haven't done much for God that would make someone want to stick around and continue being neglected. But remember, Isaiah reminds God, we're yours! I think God does remember.

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19:

"let your face shine, that we may be saved." I like this - God's shining face can save us. twice emphasized. Think about Moses' face shining after he'd visited with God on the mountain - the brilliance and glory of being in God's presence.
"how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?" Is God ever angry with our prayers? Probably, when they are so self-centered and calling on God to bring harm to those we deem enemies. But if we interpret God not doing what we ask for as God's anger, I think we've got it wrong...
"you have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure." Again, what beautiful imagery - very poetic. I'm not sure I agree with the theology expressed - but good writing! :)

1 Corinthians 1:3-9:

V. 9 - "called into the fellowship" - Paul means the fellowship of saints, according to verse 2 of this chapter. You are called to be a saint - believe it! That's you and me, called to be saints. Of course, Paul was talking about the Corinthians, but we can take it for ourselves too. We probably all have a short list of folks we think of as "saints" or at least "saintly". What makes you think of them that way? How can you be more like them?
"you have been enriched in him" - I like this phrasing. Enriched by knowing Jesus.
These are the opening words to the Corinthians - you can see how much Paul is trying to build them up, affirm their faith, get them to stay committed. I think we all need someone who can and will do that for us. And we can do that for someone else too - build them up.

Mark 13:24-37:

Advent always begins with surprising "end times" texts that probably catch parishioners off-guard, who are ready to sing Christmas carols. How do we refocus them and us? This text is about time, and expectations and waiting. So is Advent. What we do while we wait is important. Whether or not we live like something exciting is going to happen in our world by God is important.
For me, descriptions of Christ's second coming are not very important in the details. But what Jesus reminds us of is that he does come again. I think he comes more than once, always coming in unexpected ways. I know the passages refers to "the big one", the big final return, but I like to think we can think about Jesus returning frequently to our lives. And we're so often unprepared.
"you do not know when the master of the house will come" Another passage talking about end times, if that's only as far as you are wanting to look. Better to think of it this way: so often in my life I am putting things off - procrastinating - not so much about day to day things, like sermon-writing :), etc., but about big things: I will start giving more ... when I'm out of debt. I will take risks for God .... after I get my DMin. I will speak out about what I really believe .... after I'm ordained elder. But the day or hour is unknown, and will arrive unexpectedly. I should stop acting like I have something to wait for before I get to work the way God wants me to. The time is NOW.

Lectionary Notes for Reign of Christ Sunday, Year A

2011-11-13T21:33:00.001-05:00

Readings for Reign of Christ Sunday, 11/20/11:
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Psalm 100, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24:

This is a great passage, and goes so well with the gospel lesson for today. What vivid images of God as our shepherd!
God's preference is clear: "I will see the lost . . . I will strengthen the weak," and "the fat and the strong I will destroy." Which kind of sheep are you? Compare this to Jesus' teachings about who he came to serve.
"I will feed them with justice." What does it mean to be fed with justice? How do you feed your life with justice? Does working for God's justice in the world fill you up?

Psalm 100:

"It is God that made us, and we are [God's]; we are [God's] people, and the sheep of [God's] pasture." Again, imagery of being sheep in God's fold. We belong to God. We humans have a great need to belong. The best we can belong to is God.
"Worship the Lord with gladness." How do you worship? Do you find joy in your worship? Meaning? How do you keep from "going through the motions" of worship?
"Give thanks." This is a season of Thanks-giving. How do you give thanks? Giving thanks involves more than words - "giving" is an action word. How do you take action to give thanks?

Ephesians 1:15-23:

I especially like the first part of this passage, verses 15-19. These verses sound like great words of blessing to speak on someone, a person of faith. To pray that God grants wisdom and revelation, enlightenment, riches of Christ's inheritance, knowledge of the immeasurable greatness of God's power. . .
Aside from that, this passage seems very typical of a lot of the epistle writing. Here is set up the metaphor: Christ as the head of the church and of the body, the church as the body of Christ, and thus under Christ, who is over all things, filling all things.

Matthew 25:31-46:

What passage in the gospels best describes the standards by which we gain eternal life? This passage tells us that it is our actions, not our words, that determines our eternal being. Do your words and actions match? What do your actions say about what you really believe?
Where have you seen Christ in unusual ways? Where have you seen Christ where you have not expected? Do you think others see Christ in you?
For a cute but on-target illustration, check out "Lunch with God."
We often think of poverty and hunger and need far away from us. Where do poverty and hunger and need exist right in your own community? Why is it easier to see need far-away than at home?

Lectionary Notes for Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-11-07T15:05:00.000-05:00

Readings for 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, 11/13/11:
Judges 4:1-7, Psalm 123, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 25:14-30

Judges 4:1-7:

"Deborah, a prophetess" I think those words in themselves are pretty powerful. In a set of scriptures that certainly doesn't focus on women, it's great to find and lift out stories of strong women leaders in the Bible, the Old Testament even!
Not only is Deborah a prophetess, but she's also a type of military leader here. She may not physically fight in the battles, but she is making decisions about the armies and where they will go.
The Israelites cry out because they are oppressed, and God moves to respond, in perhaps unexpected and unusual ways. God responds to our cries for help. We have to look and see who God might use and how God might use them/us to respond to oppression.

Psalm 123:

We look to God like those under another's authority look to their authority (master, mistress.) How do these images translate today? So often, we feel resentful of those in authority over us, don't we? Especially if those in authority are abusive in their power. Who is a positive authority in your life? What kind of authority do they exercise? What kind of authority does God exercise over you?
"we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn . . ." Sounds like a very frustrated psalmist, eh? When do you reach your boiling point? How do you call to God when you've "had enough?"

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11:

"When they say, 'there is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them." Hm. We as a society are working awfully hard, at great expenses, for peace and security, aren't we? Our peace comes from Christ, and our security in our faith. Everything else? Maybe just cheap imitations.
children of light/children of darkness - just a 'caution' - be careful when using language of light=good and dark=bad. These images are valuable theologically, but can be harmful if they are communicated in ways that can have racial implications.
"encourage one another and build up each other" - do we do this? How often do you encourage others in their faith journeys? How do we, in tangible ways, build each other up?

Matthew 25:14-30:

What are the talents that you are afraid to use? Most of us have some talents we don't mind using, but others that we hide away. What are yours?
"to all those who have, more will be given, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." At first, this statement seems like a terrible statement about rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. But that's not at all what Jesus means. Jesus says that God will entrust to us a lot to look over if we use what we've already got. If we pretend God's given us nothing, then God won't entrust to us other things that we'll just ignore. Sort of a "use it or lose it" philosophy.

Lectionary Notes for Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-11-01T12:42:00.000-05:00

Readings for 21st Sunday after Pentecost, 11/6/11:
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25, Psalm 78:1-7, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 25:1-13

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

This passage is sort of an inauguration scene for leadership in the community.
V. 15: "choose this day whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua puts it in their hands - serving is a choice. Who will you serve? We can serve lots of people/things/gods these days. What choice have you made? How can others see you choice by your actions?
Joshua spends the rest of the passage trying to convince the people not to follow God because of how costly it will be and how demanding it will be. In a great reverse-psychology sort of way, this only gets the people begging, pleading to serve God. Wouldn't that be a great tool of evangelism? Telling people not to be Christians because it is too hard? Jesus, of course, sometimes uses these strategies in the gospels too.

Psalm 78:1-7:

"I will open my mouth in a parable" - I hadn't realized that the word 'parable' appeared in the Old Testament. But it reminds us that in Jesus' day, the people would have related to Jesus' style, more, perhaps, than we are able to relate today.
"We will not hide them from our children; we will tell to the coming generation" - I like these verses that convey a sense of the necessity to tell the story of a people, to make sure the history is known through time and generations. We have a tendency to forget whole chunks of our history, don't we, until we are repeating it!

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:

I'm not a big fan of this passage. Paul's aim here is to give hope by describing what will happen to the faithful ultimately.
To me, this image, though, is too specific and detailed, and I'd rather just be ok with being unsure about what our ultimate end will bring us, other than into God's arms.
What is your vision of the end - of your life, of the world? What is your vision of afterlife?

Matthew 25:1-13:

Jesus reminds us that we have to make our own decisions about discipleship. It seems to me that the foolish maids were almost in a sense waiting to see how things would play out for the wise maids before they themselves would want to go to the party.
Preparation. Jesus wants us to always live like this is it - our last day to live out in discipleship. Our society prizes living like we are immortal, doesn't it? How do you live? How would you have to change your normal patterns if today was your last day to be a disciple?

Non-Lectionary Sermon - Stewardship Focus: Consecration: The Steward and the Ship

2011-11-01T12:35:00.002-05:00

Sermon 10/30/11

Genesis 9:8-15

The Steward and the Ship:Consecration

Today we wrap up our journey with Noah. We watched Noah buildthe ark, just as God commanded, then survive the flood, then leave the ark and givethanks to God. Today is God's response, you might say. Noah's response is to givethanks, and God's response is to make a covenant with Noah – a promise – and toshare a beautiful symbol of that promise. God sets in the sky a rainbow – the verysymbol that our baptismal liturgy referred to today. And God promises to Noahand his offspring never again to destroy creation. Of course, we know theconditions that make for a rainbow: they appear in the sky when the Sun shineson to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. That’s the science of it.But the heart of it is that rainbows often appear after storms, perfect timingfor a reminder of God's promise to us. The promise, and the symbol to remind usof the promise.

The scriptures are full of God's promises to us, and symbolsof God's faithfulness to the promises God makes. Abram and Sarai and Jacob allreceive new names a symbols of God's promises to be with them and to bless theirfamilies. Circumcision becomes a symbol of that promise for Abraham. Jacob seesa ladder to heaven as a sign of God's promise to him. Moses and the Israelitesreceive the Passover meal as a symbol of God being with them and promising themand leading them to freedom. At Jesus' baptism, God shares a dove, the symbolof God's Holy Spirit, as a sign of his love for Jesus, a promise to be with himin his earthly ministry. Soon we will talk of a star in the sky, a symbol that guidespeople to find baby Jesus, the promised Messiah. And when Jesus shares the LastSupper with his disciples, he tells them of a New Covenant – a new promise – ofGod's forgiveness for all – and seals the promise with the reshaped symbols ofbread and cup. The promise, and the symbol to remind us of the promise.

We do the same in our relationship with God. We makepromises, and we make signs of our promises. Covenants are two-party agreements.God promises to be with us, and we promise to follow God and only God.Sometimes we mess up on our end, but God is always faithful and forgiving. Butwe still try – because promises, covenants, are made in relationships, between parties that care about each other. Whenpeople are married, they make promises, and then use symbols – usually rings,to remember the promise. When we confirmed our young people last year, theymade promises to God and this congregation, and we used symbols – stoles – withtheir personal choice of symbols on them – as reminders of their covenants. Andtoday, we celebrated Carter's baptism, we acknowledged God's promises to us –unconditional love already at work in Carter long before this day, by promisingthat his parents, his family, and his extended family, this body of Christ,would be faithful to nurturing him as a child of God. A promise we seal with holy,blessed water. And because we are part of the whole Body of Christ, even thoughCarter lives far away from us, and even when his own family will be far apartfrom each other, we know the promise stands because we make it as the Body of Christ.His grandparents and great-grandparents are a part of us, and a part of Carter,and so we are a part of each other, and all part of Christ's body, bound by ourpromises to God and one another. The promise, and the symbol to remind us of thepromise.

Over thesummer I shared with you about being a chaplain at Music Camp at Sky Lake, oneof our church camps, and talking about Holy Communion as a place where wecelebrate God's ability to make the ordinary holy. Remember? We talked about the parables of Jesus, and how healways used ordinary things to describe the kingdom of God – seeds and plantsand bread and yeast and fish and water – the stuff of everyday life – to illustratethat God was in everything and everything can be holy because God is in ourmidst.

Today wecelebrate our Consecration Sunday, and that word, consecration, means something like this – making an ordinary thing aholy thing. It literally means to associate something with the sacred – con/with,sacre/sacred. When we offer something up to be consecrated, we are asking God tomake it sacred and holy. When we celebrate communion, the last prayer I prayover the elements is called the prayer of consecration; I say, ʺGod, make thesegifts be the Body of Christ.ʺ In other words, God, please make this bread, thisjuice, into holy stuff.

Today, weare offering up our financial commitments to God, and we are asking God to makethem holy commitments, not just forms we filled out. We are asking that God makethem a symbol of our hopes and dreams, not just numbers in a budget. By consecratingthese financial commitments, we are asking and expecting that God give them a weightand significance that goes beyond other bills we pay, even other charities we mightsupport. More than business as usual – consecration is committing a serious actwith God.

Maybe I havemade Consecration Sunday sound pretty serious all around! And it is! Not because I want to scare us allinto giving more or less than we planned to give. As Anne mentioned last week,these commitments don’t represent binding contracts with the church that areburdens that can’t change if your life changes. But Consecration is seriousbecause without Consecration, we can expect everything to unfold just as anyincome and expense report would. Money in, money out. Budgets and balances. Butwhen we ask God to make the ordinary into the holy, we ask God to make itextraordinary. And then our financial commitments aren’t about dollars andcents anymore. They are about sharing God's love with as many people aspossible, in as many ways as possible. They are tools that enable us to feed hungrypeople and clothe them. They are ways we support our children as they grow infaith and as they teach us about faith.They are symbols of the promise we make – to God, to one another, and to ourcommunity, about how we want to be together, serve one another, work together. Thepromise, and these little commitment cards that are the tangible reminders, thesymbols of our promise.

Today weconsecrate our financial commitments. Today we make promises. Today we ask God tomake our commitments sacred and holy. Today we trust in the promises of God.Today we can trust that God makes our ordinary offering into our extraordinaryfuture. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

2011-10-24T21:38:00.001-05:00

Readings for 20th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/30/11:
Joshua 3:7-17, Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13, Matthew 23:1-12

Joshua 3:7-17:

A new chapter for the people, and a new leader - God declares that God will be with Joshua as God was with Moses.
How well do we handle leadership transitions in the church? So often we focus on the particular person instead of on the ways God is working through people in leadership.
Another expression of God's presence being made known through strange things happening with water. How many times does water play a significant role in scripture stories? When/how has water played a role in your faith life? What does it mean for our faith when some in our world are without clean, drinkable water?

Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37:

Theme of the psalm: God's love is steadfast.
Steadfast, according to dictionary.com is "Firmly fixed or established; fast fixed; firm. 2. Not fickle or wavering; constant; firm; resolute; unswerving; steady. God's love for us is constant and unwavering. Take comfort!
Vs 36 - "And there he lets the hungry live." What a great vision of justice where the poor and least are given their own place and home and cared for.

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13:

I ever have trouble with the way Paul describes the work he has done. Good work, for sure, but it would be so nice to hear about it from someone other than Paul!
Paul urges them to hear his testimony as God's word, rather than human word. How confident are you that you speak God's word rather than your own? How can you be careful to let God speak through you, rather than try to conform God's words to your own thoughts?
Who, in your life, has urged and encouraged you as Paul has tried to do with the Thessalonians?

Matthew 23:1-12:

Phylacteries are the boxes that men would tie on to their heads and arms per Old Testament law. The boxes would contain words of scripture, such as, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . ."
Do you think Jesus really means that we are never to call other humans teach, rabbi, father, or instructors? If he doesn't mean something literal, what is his point?
What titles do you go by? What titles do you give to others? When have you felt it important to use titles?
"They do not practice what they teach." This is a dangerous game for anyone in a position of authority. Do you practice what you teach? Does the church?
What burdens do we as the church place on others? Do we burden others with moral standards that make it seem impossible to them to be "good enough" for God and the church?

Non-Lectionary Sermon - Stewardship Focus: Inspiration: The Steward and the Ship

2011-10-24T21:38:00.000-05:00

Sermon 10/16/11

Genesis 6-7, selected verses

Inspiration: The Steward and the Ship

Today we switch gears from our focus on God-values, tofocusing on stewardship, and how God calls us to car for all that we have beengiven. Or, I guess we could say, we begin to focus in depth on stewardship asone more God-values. This Sunday is Inspiration Sunday – next week is GratitudeSunday, and finally, on the 30^th, we will celebrate ConsecrationSunday, as we offer our pledges to God for the year ahead. And this year ourtheme for our stewardship focus is The Steward and the Ship, (get it?Steward/Ship) which will focus on the story of Noah's ark. But we will comeback to Noah in a few moments.

As Isaid, today is Inspiration Sunday. Do you know what inspiration means? If youbreak down the word, it literally means to breathe in. Of course that root,spir- - is what gives us the word Spirit. Inspiration, then, is what breatheslife into us. And as people of faith, it is the Holy Spirit, literally God'sHoly Breathe, that is meant to breathe life into us. But hopefully many thingswork together to inspire us. When Iwas in junior high, I used to keep a list, actually, of people I foundparticularly inspiring. I called it my hero list. It wasn’t very easy to get on– it was reserved for people who really touched my life – who did something ina way, lived life in a way that really made me want to emulate their goodqualities. No celebrities – all people I had met personally. They included astudent who was two years older who had a confident ʺI know just who I amʺ wayabout her, my 8^th grade science teacher and my 9^th gradeEnglish teacher, a speaker from one of those life-lesson school assemblies, anda couple others. Who inspires you?Who breathes life into you, makes you want to do or be something more?

Sometimes I feel inspired by what I see unfolding here atFirst United. I feel particularly inspired when I see people taking initiative,or acting out of their comfort zones, or making a little go a long way,remembering our abundance instead of feeling limited. Let me give you a fewexamples. I won't name names, although I am sure you can figure out who I meanin some of these cases. This year, while planning our carnival, someone had theinspired idea to make a phone call that enabled us to have our carnival fliersgo home with children in the ESM school district. The result was that we had a ton of children at our event. Anothercarnival inspiration: one of our young people, new to the church, asked if shecould run a jewelry and craft table at the carnival. I will be honest – Iwasn’t sure how popular it would be. But I am no fool – I don’t turn downpeople with ideas who want to do things. It was a huge hit – the table wasfrequently swarmed all through the day. Many of you visit our shut-in members,but I am particularly inspired when, for example, I hear that one person andher family have gone above and beyond to help out someone during a difficulthealth crisis. I was told, ʺshe and her family are angels, they are just angels.ʺI am inspired when you go beyond in your care of one another. I've beeninspired by someone who has a vision for our physical space, this beautifulbuilding, and who keeps coming up with creative ideas to make it warmer andmore welcoming, including a completely transformed nursery. I am inspired by aman who is not a big fan of public speaking but got up here to tell you abouthis personal Giving Beyond challenge and how he hoped to inspire you, in turn,to give. I am inspired by a young person who stayed home from his family'sweekend away because he wanted to do some volunteer work at the Rescue Missioninstead. I am inspired by one of you who invited speakers to come talk to usabout Haiti, that led to a successful and rewarding Dress Our People ministry.I am inspired by the man who almost every visitor to our worship services namesas the person who greeted and welcomed them when they stepped in the door. Thereare some people working hard, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, to breathelife into us, into this place. Who inspires you? Who do you inspire?

Inspiration,breathing in the Holy Spirit, having new life in us, and breathing new lifeinto what is dear to us here – let me not give the impression that these aresome magical, unrepeatable acts that we can’t all do. I believe we can all beinspirational. And we do it like this: we pray for help – that is what Jesustalked about the Holy Spirit being – our Advocate, our helper, who fills us upwith God's Holy Breath. And then we act as good stewards of our resources. Wetake the tools God has given us, and the power of the Holy Spirit, and we act.And I firmly believe that when we do that – use the tools God gives us and relyon God's Spirit-directed guidance – we will be inspiring and inspired.

So what are the tools we have? We could talk about it inany number of ways, but we are allstewards of at least these things: our time, our talents, and our treasure.Today we read about Noah and his ark. Noah might not be who pops to mind whenyou think about stewardship. But actually, Noah, for a tumultuous period, ismade by God steward of everything! Wehave talked before about what stewards were in biblical times. Stewards were managers of the property ofwealthy men. The steward was usually a slave or a former slave, but they had agreat deal of power, too. They were responsible for all the affairs of themaster’s household. They oversaw all the finances, and had authority over allthe other household slaves, and sometimes even over the children of the master.The Greek name for them is oikonomos, and that’s where we get our English wordeconomy.

Noah becomes the steward of all creation, and he uses histime, his talent, and his treasure to carry out what God calls him to do. Thinkabout it. Imagine how long it would take to build an ark. Even today, with ourtechnology and skilled workers, it takes a long time to build a large seavessel. Noah must give an enormous amount of time to the task. And no doubt heis giving enormous financial resources to build the ship. Although we readabout God describing just how the ark should be, we don’t read that God giftedNoah with any special fund to make it happen. And of course, Noah must have hadthe talent – the ability to construct an ark. Time, talent, treasure, as asteward of what is God's – namely, all creation.

Noah's tools are our tools – time, talents, treasure. Andmaybe God isn’t calling us to build an ark. But we are called to be stewards ofeverything that God has put into our hands. If all that we have is from God,then we have to be stewards of all that we have, and take good care of what isGod.

So how do we do it? How are we stewards of time, talent,and treasure? I have more homework assignments for you. Three. But you can pickand choose – do one, two, or all three. But humor me, and try one this week,ok?

You are a steward of your time. Time is such a preciouscommodity isn’t it? One of the biggest struggles churches face is helpingpeople commit to the time that mission and ministry takes. We are so very busy,and we have so many demands on our time. What time do we give to God? How muchof your day do you spend with God? How do you spend your time? Are you evenaware of where your time is going? I think many of us would be surprised, if wemapped it all out. So that is your first assignment – I want you to keep arecord this week of how you spend your time, in ½ hour or hour increments. Youcan make up your own chart, or you can use one I have for you. But I want youto write down everything you do this week. Don’t change your normal behavior. Dowhat you normally do. And then take a look – where is your time going? Are youspending it how you thought? Does it match up with your priorities?

You are a steward of your talents. And yes, you havetalents – gifts from God. Things that you can uniquely contribute. We talkedabout it a bit before summer and we will be coming back to all those littleslips of paper I had you turn in with what you like and what you are good at. Theapostle Paul talks a lot about spiritual gifts. If you read his words carefully,you will discover that Paul was most interested in gifts that could be used forbuilding up the community of faith. What are your talents, and how can you usethem to build up the Body of Christ? What Paul thinks is inspiring is when weuse our gifts – whatever they are – and we find ways to serve others, serveGod's kingdom with them. So assignment number too: I have here for youspiritual gift inventories. A way of figuring out how you are gifted, and howyou can share those gifts. Take the inventory, and see what you find out aboutyourself. Are you using your gifts?

You are a steward of your treasure. What do you spend?Why? On what? What do you save? What do you give? I want you to do the samething for your treasure assignment as for your time assignment – keep track ofevery cent for one week. What did you make? What did you spend? What did youspend it on? Did you spend it how you intended? Does your spending match yourpriorities? I make myself a budget for every pay period. It is always filledwith great intentions. But somehow, what I spend and what I meant to spendnever quite match up by the end of two weeks. So I can tell you this is anassignment I will be doing. Start asking questions. Are you using your treasurehow you want to be? In my own stewardship journey, I can tell you that I had achallenge giving what I meant to give to God – until I finally just had itdirectly withheld from my paycheck. When I left it up to me, somehow I neverhad enough. But when I put my tithe first, somehow I still managed to make endsmeet. I just needed to give up a little bit of the control. Are you using yourtreasure how you want to be?

Time, talent, treasure. These are tools. Tools that can helpus inspire and be inspired. How are you using these tools? How will youinspire, be inspired? In these comingweeks, I hope you will be spending some time in prayer, thinking hard, doingsome homework, seeking inspiration – the Holy Spirit bringing us to life. Wehave everything we need. Noah built and ark. What we build together for God inthis place? Amen.

Non-lectionary Sermon - Stewardship Focus: Gratitude: The Steward and the Ship

2011-10-24T21:33:00.000-05:00

Sermon 10/23/11

Genesis 8:6-22

Gratitude: The Steward and the Ship

This Sunday is Gratitude Sunday in our Stewardship focus. Andwe will continue with Noah and his story to look at exactly what gratitudemeans. So today we pick up with Noah where we left off lastweek. He and his family had built and boarded the ark and taken with them setsof seven of some animals, pairs of others. The floods came, and it rained forforty days and nights. Maybe that in itself doesn’t seem so bad until werealize from the passage that Jerry read today that they actually had to stayon the ark for ten month while the flood waters abated from the earth. Noahkeeps sending out a dove to check for dry ground until it finally returns withan olive branch, a symbol of peace. And finally, he and his family and theseanimals can leave the ark.

The first thing Noah does when hegets off the ark is build an altar and make sacrifices – gifts of animals – toGod. Noah makes an offering. And the scent, we read, is pleasing to God, and Godpromises never to destroy creation again. I think this is a pretty profoundaction on Noah's part. Maybe we think nothing of it – Noah just survived withhis family a natural disaster of epic proportions – of course he is thankful!But he also just lost everything he knew about his life and world. His home,his city, any family outside of those listed in the scripture – his immediatefamily. His neighbors. Whatever livelihood he had before ark-builder. A way oflife that made sense to him. If you had lostall of that, could you still have gratitude be your first response, even if you walked away with the gift of life?

Cultivating a life of gratitude isdeveloping the practice of looking at what we have and seeing the abundance andgiving thanks. It isn’t always easy, for sure. But what do we see when we lookat what we have? Our situations? What we experience? A couple of weeks ago wetalked about joy – deep joy – as being more than something that just made youhappy or entertained – but that deep God-given contentment that rests in yoursoul – joy. I think gratitude is similar. I have a pet peeve that is a peeveagainst myself. I have picked up what I consider the annoying habit ofresponding Yup when someone says thank you. Thank you. Yup. It doesn’t quitework, does it? But I think it might reflect that culturally we don’t let ourthankfulness go very deep. Is giving thanks just something that we go throughthe motions of? Is it too inconvenient to give thanks, and are we not reallyeven thankful? I love the beauty of many languages, but I have to say Englishhas it all over French or Spanish where the standard reply to Thank You is – Itwas nothing. In English, we are supposed tosay You’re welcome. Short for you are well come here. In other words – it is agood thing, a pleasing thing, that you are here. Such a genuine response, isn’tit? Thank you. You are welcome. Gratitude – a thankful heart.

Are you a grateful person? Andagain, like with joy, gratitude doesn’t mean closing your eyes to the seriousand real painful situations you experience. But when you look at the whole ofyour life – are you thankful? Deeply? What do you see when you look at yourlife? Is the glass half full or half empty? Or can you see that God has filledit to overflowing? And how do youshow your gratitude?

Here is what I think is the crux ofit: We have gratitude only if we see what we have as a gift. If I go out andbuy myself a pizza – I am not going to be grateful to you for it no matter how nice and thoughtful you are – because youdidn’t get me the pizza – I did! But if you buy me a slice – not even a wholepie – just a slice – well, then I am grateful to you – because you gave me thegift. I am grateful for the gifts I receive. The question, when we come tofaith and stewardship, then, is this: What do we see as a gift from God? Ofcourse, we talk about everythingbeing a gift from God. God gives us life, is our creator, sustainer, redeemer,giver of all good things. Everything is from God. But I wonder how much we reallybelieve that? Or live into what we believe?

Everything is a gift. Last week, I gave youthree homework assignments – a spiritual gifts survey, a time study, and studyof how you spend your money. And I asked you not to change your habits to getthe answers you wanted, but to honestly assess where you were. How did it go?Any surprises? Any eyes opened? Or just what you expected? Were you happy withwhat you saw? Talents, and time, and treasure.

I think we are most easily gratefulfor the talents – the spiritual gifts – we've been given. But in this case, wehave to be convinced that we have them. Over the years, in all mycongregations, I am always amazed at how unwilling people are to believe or seethat they are gifted. Friends, admitting you are gifted isn’t saying that youare all that. It isn’t bragging. Saying you are gifted is quite simply sayingthat someone – in this case God – has given you a gift. And denying it – well,that is basically saying that God hasn’t given you anything! Not discoveringand using your gifts is like refusingto open a present from God. Kind of rude, isn’t it?! And it when it comes toshowing gratitude for your talents, the best way to say thank you is simple – use them. Use your gifts. If you aren’tsure how to use them, we can talk. I am sureI can find some ways to put your gifts to use. But you are gifted.

Whatabout time? What did you learn about using your time this week? Are youthankful for your time? I suspect that a record of how we use our time wouldreflect that we aren’t always appreciative of it. We often say that we wish wehad more of it. We don’t have enough of it. But sometimes I wonder if Goddoesn’t think our requests for more time are like asking for second helpings offood when we haven’t yet finished what is already on our plate. Are we asking formore time without even really using what we have? Oh, of course, it ticks by.It moves on with or without us. But what are we doing with it? Growing up, oneof the worst things to say to my mom, but especiallyto my grandmother was: I'm bored. My grandmother was a depression-era babyand she just had no use for boredom. Saying you were bored was the ultimateform of ingratitude. And it would surely get you assigned a task or chore youwould really rather not do. Rest is good – God rested, and asks us to rest, to haveholy rest even! But wasting time is awhole different issue. We want more time? Are we really using what we have in away that warrants such a bold request? Time is a gift. And unlike our talents,we always use it up completely. But howdo we show we are grateful for it? Sometimes the way we use time is like takingour best linens and using them to wipe the floor. Using our best stationary asscrap paper. Wasting something precious. You have time. Show me time well spent, and you show gratitude for God'sgift.

Our money is a gift. Here I think westruggle a bit more to agree. Because we get a little confused. Didn’t we work hardfor our money? Didn’t we earn it? Andif we earned it, isn’t it ours to spend as we please? Isn't it our right to doso? Sure, we put in work. We arelaborers in God's vineyard. But friends, the vineyard always still belongs to God,and we may be the best stewards in the world, but we are always still stewards.If we earn money, I guarantee that wehad to use several gifts from God in order to make what we have. If you findyourself thinking a bit too much about how hard you’ve worked, try to trace thesource of what you have. For example: Did you get a good scholarship to college?How did that happen? Did you do well in school? You needed some intelligencefor that. Where did that intelligence come from? Is it not from God? How do youearn your living? What gifts do you use that convince someone else to give youa paycheck? For example – I have learned to be extremely grateful for the gift ofmusic I have. Carrying a tune, for the most part, isn’t something you canlearn. Most people can either carry a tune, or they can’t. And while you canrefine your voice with training, without something to refine to start out with,you can’t do much. Singing is a gift God gave me, and it has been more usefulto me in my ministry than I ever anticipated. It helps me in my life work – andso what a build up to support myself from my ministry – it all belongs to God,and is shared by God with me. I try to use it well, but I know who it all belongsto.

Are you grateful? We can only be gratefulif we can look at all we see and see it all as gift. Our talents, our time, ourtreasure, our lives, our world, the love we share – all gift. And to show our thanks, we do what we are always trying todo – be more like Jesus. Follow his example. Do what God does. Give, give, give.To God. To your loved ones. To God's house. To strangers. To enemies andfriends alike. Give, and give thanks. Thanks be to God for all our gifts. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-15T11:42:00.001-05:00

Readings for 19th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/23/11:
Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 22:34-46

Deuteronomy 34:1-12:

This is where I feel most sorry for Moses, who, though making many mistakes, has more or less followed God on such an adventure, and yet only gets to see the whole promised land from a mountain top, never actually entering it himself. Could you trust God on such a journey, if you knew that you yourself would not reach the desired end, that you would have to entrust that completion to others?
I think this is a good lesson for the church - we have to let go of 'ownership' of our journeys - God 'owns' our journey. If we can let go of possession of where we are leading the church, we can get even closer to the promised land than if we demanded we be able to go the whole way ourselves!
"Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated." What a great little obituary! We can pray that our spiritual sight remains unimpaired and our vigor fresh all the days of our life.

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17:

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place." We dwell, live, in God. We are home in God, live within God. A comforting image.
"from everlasting to everlasting you are God." God is God is God always.
"A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past . . . they are like a dream." Human mortality - we don't like to confront it. But this Psalm reminds us to remember our place, to put things in perspective.
"turn back, you mortals." "Turn, O Lord." A conversation going on here, between God and us.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8:

Typical Paul, always drawing attention to his own suffering, in a martyr-sort of way! It is bearable since he was such good points to go along with it, I guess.
"not to please mortals, but to please God." As pastors, we are sometimes caught up in trying to please people instead of God, aren't we? We can't always - perhaps can rarely - do both. If we need to do only one, we're called to do what pleases God.
"to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves." This is my favorite verse in the passage. Sharing the gospel is a good gift. But it is even better, and more authentic, if we are willing to give ourselves - our passions, who we are - along with it.

Matthew 22:34-46:

"love the Lord you God . . . love your neighbor" Sometimes this verse seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? But it is the simplest most straight-forward things that we are worst at living out.
"and with all your mind." This phrase actually does not appear in the Old Testament, but I like the addition. We are rational thinkers, and I like to think that our whole mind is meant to love God as well.
In the second section, Jesus asks a 'trick question' of sorts, in, apparently, an effort to get the Pharisees to quit badgering him with their own lame trick question. Do you think Jesus was invested in the answer to or theology of the question he asks? I doubt it, but he tries to show the Pharisees perhaps that they are missing the point, asking the wrong questions.
So, if you had to ask Jesus questions, what would you want to know?

Lectionary Notes for 18th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-15T11:32:00.001-05:00

Readings for 18th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/16/11:
Exodus 33:12-23, Psalm 99, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-22

Exodus 33:12-23:

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." This is the promise that God makes to Moses. Moses makes God repeat it, because he knows that God's presence means good things for the Israelites. But I wonder if Moses expects a different kind of protection and presence than God has planned? I think Moses sees God's presence as a safety net, instead of a foundation. Do we ever see and treat God's presence that way?

"you cannot see my face." Wanting to meet "face to face" usually is something we want so that we can be on equal footing with whoever we meet with. God reminds us that we are not exactly on equal footing with God! But still, that we see God, that Moses can be so close with and to God shows that God has a unique relationship with humanity. We can talk to God! Compared with other characteristics of deities that would have been worshipped in Moses' day, our God, this God of Israel, is a different kind of God . . .

Psalm 99:

"lover of justice, you have established equity" - this is definitely my favorite phrase in this Psalm. God loves justice. And we don't need to wonder what is meant by justice in this case. This is not God-lover-of-justice who loves to punish and condemn. The justice that God loves is the justice that brings equity. That's equal-ness. Fairness for everyone. God tells us what justice means. Let's not try to define it on our own when God already does it for us.

"you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrong-doings." An interesting verse. God who is both forgiving and avenging. According to dictionary.com, avenge means "to inflict a punishment or penalty in return for" Can God forgive us and punish us? I'm not sure. I always hesitate to think of or speak of God in terms of punishing us, because I think our theologically can get really out of hand when we go there - we like to point out how God is punishing others who are not like us, or we worry that everything that happens to us that we don't like is due to God's punishment. But does God punish? What do you think?

"Worship at [God's] holy mountain. For the Lord our God is holy". For the Israelites, the mountain was a holy place to meet God. For us, our sanctuaries are sometimes holy - what other places are those you consider holy places?

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10:

Words of greeting open this letter from Paul. I've always liked verse 2: "we always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly" - It is nice to know that someone is constantly praying for you, isn't it? Do we remember to pray for one another in our ministry? To lift each other up before God?

"and you became imitators of us and of the Lord." If someone was to imitate you, could they also say they were imitating Christ? What would it look like for someone to imitate you?

"in every place you faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it." And this, could someone say this of your faith?

Matthew 22:15-22:

Context: like last week's reading, don't forget the time - this reading takes place during what we call 'holy week' after Jesus has come 'triumphantly' into Jerusalem. The Pharisees and others are trying trick after trick to entrap Jesus.
The Pharisees and Herodians patronize Jesus in their question, but they've at least noticed correctly: Jesus shows no deference and no partiality to people. Clearly, though, this drives them crazy. They want his deference!
This reads as a sort of "church and state" question. What do we make of Jesus' response? That religion and state are separate? That our religious life shouldn't influence the political and vise versa? I don't think that's what Jesus means.
Instead, he says, "to God the things that are God's." What is God's? Do we not believe that it all belongs to God? What is ours, or the emperor's?

Sermon for Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost - God Values: Joy

2011-10-15T11:24:00.000-05:00

Sermon 10/9/11

Philippians 4:1-9

God Values: Joy

This week we conclude our series on God Values – we tooka pause last week for World Communion, so I hope you can remember what wetalked about – forgiveness, fairness, or maybe unfairness, and authority.When I planned this series, I had a number of different ideas about today's theme.At one point, I planned to focus on the gospel lesson and the feast images in thescriptures. Then, I decided I wanted us to give some attention to Philippians –we have been hearing, but not focusing on these passages. This passage has beenone of my favorites since childhood, especially this verse: Finally, beloved,whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence andif there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I guess, as a young person it caught my attention becauseof the word excellent. I grew up whenthe movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was popular – and excellent was used frequently in a slangstyle to denote something pretty awesome. It isn’t a very common word in theBible – sometimes a person is described as being excellent. When Paul talks in1 Corinthians 13 about love, he calls it the more excellent way. And in this verse – well, Paul is telling us we aresupposed to think about excellentthings. That appealed greatly to my young mind. And today I meant to talk aboutthe God-value of excellence. But all week, I kept coming back to a differentverse in this passage:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. Sucha simple verse. I knew it as camp song, a round we sang. But I never gave it muchserious thought. Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say Rejoice.Excellent occurs a few times in the scripture – but joy and rejoice – thesewords occur several hundred times throughout the Old and New Testaments. In theNew Testament, think of some significant ways. When the angels announce Jesus'birth, Gabriel says, I bring you good news of great joy. Jesus says to the disciples after teaching them: I have saidthese things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may becomplete. His parables and teachings about the kingdom of God frequentlymention joy. Certainly theresurrection story is marked with the word joy. Joy, joy, and more joy.

Are you a joyful person? Is therejoy in your life? Is there joy in the life of this church? Is it joy that marksyour relationship with God? Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! For my mom, deep joy comeswhen all her children are together. She loves it when all four of us are athome, especially, but mostly when we are together and enjoying each other'scompany. Sometimes we will all be at home together for some reason or another,and my mother may be falling asleep on the couch late at night. But she isunwilling to actually go to bed. She will be half asleep, but with a smile onher face – she just likes to be around us when we are together and happy. Itbrings her joy.

Children are experts at joy, aren’t they? They don’t needmuch to be joyful, in that relaxed, worry-free way that only children seemcapable of. Last night we took my nephew Sam to Cackleberry Castle in Camden,the pumpkin farm we always visited when I was little. These days it is a bitsmaller than it was when I was little, but it didn’t matter to Sam. He ranaround looking at the display of spooky decorations and beautiful pumpkins andwas having the best time, with a sparkle in his eye, and that practicallyout-of-breath voice he uses when he just can’t tell you fast enough about thegreat time he is having. Joy.

Or maybewe need a more contemporary image than Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure: Thisweek I just finished rereading the Harry Potter series, books I enjoy enough toturn back to when I am between other new reads. I've been think a lot aboutdementors and patronuses. In case you aren’t familiar, dementors are these dark,hooded creatures that suck souls out of people, a fate worse than death. "Dementorsare among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest,filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, andhappiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every goodfeeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementorwill feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself...soullessand evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of yourlife."

To fightoff a dementor, wizards have to produce a white, glowing figure called apatronus, which takes an animal form and chases away a dementor. ProfessorLupin describes it like this: "A Patronus is a kind of positive force, andfor the wizard who can conjure one, it works something like a shield, with theDementor feeding on it, rather than him. In order for it to work, you need tothink of a memory. Not just any memory, a very happy memory, a very powerfulmemory… Allow it to fill you up... lose yourself in it... then speak theincantation "Expecto Patronum." Harry himself says: "Make it apowerful memory, the happiest you can remember. Allow it to fill you up… Justremember, your Patronus can only protect you as long as you stay focused… Thinkof the happiest thing you can." At first, he tries thinking of winning aQuittich match – that a wizard sporting event. But that isn’t the deep joy thatthe spell requires. Our experiences that are so powerful that they can driveaway the things that chip away at our very souls – that is joy.

When I talk about joy, I don’t mean some sappy feelingthat masks what we are really experiencing. Even this week, I know we have lostsome of our own church family; we have some who have lost someone dear to them.We have some who are critically ill and struggling. But joy doesn’t meanplastering a smile on your face when your heart is full of grief. In fact, Iwould suggest that we are capable of grief because we are capable of the joyour relationships bring us. Are you joyful? What in your life brings you joy?

You know that my sense of humor is pretty sarcastic. Ilove a good snappy retort. My whole family functions with this kind of humor. Iran into a bit of trouble my freshman year of college, because two of mysuitemates were from China. Humor is very cultural and it doesn’t translatevery well. Sarcasm, I found, especially doesn’t translate well, and myroommates often thought I was just being mean. We actually had to sit down andtalk about where I was coming from and what they were hearing from me. I triedto curb my sarcasm with my roommates, and they also learned more about my senseof humor, and eventually, things worked out pretty well. But we were on someshaky ground for a while. Really though, I must confess I like my sarcasticsense of humor. And it seems to be my gut reaction, with my sarcastic responsesometimes out of my mouth before I can stop myself.

Theproblem with my sarcastic outlook, though, is that sometimes it can serve as awall between me and something I might more fully experience if I didn’t have mygut reaction of sarcasm. I’ve occasionally found myself unable to enjoy anexperience that others might find moving, because I just can’t take it seriously– a performance, or a movie, or a story. Pastors sometimes have this troublewhen we participate in worship instead of leading it. We spend so much timeanalyzing the worship services and how the pastor preached and what we would have done differently, that wekind of miss the worship itself, rejoicing in God, which is the whole point,isn’t it? I have a clergy colleague who, without fail, puts aside everythingelse and seems to be fully present whenever he is in worship – I admit Isometimes envy the joy and peace that seems to fill him when he opens his heartto God. What keeps you, prevents you, holds you back, lets you to hesitate fromfilling up with joy?

Whatbrings you joy? How is it that you rejoice in God? What brings you joy in thisplace, this congregation, right now, today, in this moment, among these people?I think I know a lot about what our struggles are – what people want to change,what frustrates us, challenges us. But I am less sure what brings us joy, deepjoy, the joy that Jesus seeks to bring us to make us whole, complete. Next weekwe shift gears and we begin to focus on stewardship and giving to God. I inviteyou to start as I invited the children to start. I want you to make a list –make it as long as you can. I want you to carry a slip of paper with you thisweek, or keep a note on your cell phone, or a document on your laptop. And Iwant you to list the moments that you find joy this week. What brings you joy?If you find this assignment to be a challenge, if you find it hard to create alist of joyful moments, maybe you will need to ask some tough questions – whydoes so much of what we do fail to bring us joy? What are we filling up ourlives with?

And thenas we begin thinking about giving next week, I will ask you to first offer upyour moments of joy to God, who is the source of all good gifts. You don’t wantthe children to show you up, do you? Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will sayrejoice. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-10-02T21:30:00.000-05:00

Readings for 17th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/09/11:
Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23, Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14

Exodus 32:1-14:

At first, the story of the golden calf strikes me as ridiculous - who would want to worship or take any such comfort in a cow made out of gold? What can a golden cow do for you?

But then I think of the idols we have today: money - certainly a gold cow might symbolize that?! Possessions, even people. We put many things before God. Anything we put before God is an idol. Anything.

Does God need to be persuaded? Without Moses 'imploring' God, would God fail to be merciful? I don't think so.

"And the Lord changed his mind." Everything I think theologically screams out at this notion of God just having a sort-of temper tantrum/mood swing until Moses "sweet talks" God. What do you think?

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23:

"Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times." I like the wording - do righteousness, as opposed to are righteous. Righteousness, grammatically or not, is an action - a doing word, not a being word.

This psalm relates to the Exodus reading, and calls for repentance from sin. The psalmist actually recalls much of the story of God, Moses, and the Israelites, so make sure to read the whole Psalm.

Again, a sense here that God changed God's mind, being persuaded by Moses.

Philippians 4:1-9:

Euodia and Syntyche - often overlooked examples of women in the Bible who are clearly in leadership roles. Paul comments that these women "have struggled beside [him] in the work of the gospel." This seems pretty clear on their position, co-workers with men in gospel work. Celebrate!
V. 5 – “Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” The Greek might translate also as “reasonableness”, “fairness”, “goodness”. Gentleness is not necessarily a trait we value, is it? Particularly not in both genders. It’s ok for a woman, but we don’t often praise men for gentleness. How can we let our gentleness be known? What does that have to do with our faith? The command from Paul flows into the second phrase, ‘The Lord is near.’ How do they relate?
V. 7 – “And the peace of God which passes . . . “ – The ‘passes understanding’ is from the Greek ‘huperechô’, which means, “to be above” or “to hold over”, “to prevail.” God’s peace is above everything. That’s comforting.
Think on excellent things. I like that advice! Oh yeah, and do all the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in Paul. Sometimes, Paul's modesty kills me.

Matthew 22:1-14:

Usually the parables are challenging, but in a way I find compelling. I must admit, this parable is challenging in a more troubling way to me - we must dig deep for understanding! Check out Chris Haslam's always helpful notes for some more comments.
Notice the similarities and striking differences between this parable and the parable in Luke 14.
In Matthew, it is specifically a king inviting guests to a wedding. They won't come, and what's more, they kill the kings slaves - they are aggressive in their rejection of the king's invitation.
So, the king takes whoever he can get as guests - but, a guest who is not properly dressed is bound and ejected into the darkness, where there is weeping and teeth-gnashing. What a consequence!!
"Many are called, few are chosen." Is this a good summary? Does God call many of us, only to reject many of us? Is this the gospel writer's take on the parable, instead of Jesus'?
How do you respond to invitations you receive? Do you always RSVP? Do you show up unprepared? What can we learn about how we are to respond to God's invitations?

Lectionary Notes for 16th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-26T10:46:00.000-05:00

Readings for 16th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/2/11:
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20, Psalm 19, Philippians 3:4b-14, Matthew 21:33-46

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20:

People have spent a lot of energy defending these commandments. Are they worth defending? While I don't feel they need to be posted in our courtrooms, for example, I think they are still pretty important for us.
The ones I am most drawn to are the first commandments. God is God and our only God. We might not worship other deities, but sometimes we're in danger of worshipping our possessions, our work, our culture, or our country. We may not make golden calf idols, but we idolize plenty of things, don't we?
"Remember the Sabbath." This is so hard for me. We're recently started a twice-weekly prayer chapel at our church - 30 minutes to be still and be with God. I find even that hard. My mind is always racing over my to-do list. How do you keep Sabbath?
Coveting - that's another commandment that I think is so important. We always want what we don't have, no matter how much we do have. How do we live a life of gratitude?

Psalm 19:

"The heavens are telling the glory of God." These famous words from the Psalm are often set to music...
This imagery of the sun "like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy", this personification of the sun draws to my mind Greek/Roman mythology, and no doubt made contemporaries of the psalmist think of similar images of sun-gods in other religions. The difference? Here the sun is put into place by God, not a god in itself.
God is more than gold, sweeter than honey. A simple message - but reminds us of things we put too often before God in our lives.
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations..." This verse is often used by pastors before they begin preaching. I like it, but if there's a way to use a Bible verse too much to the point of over doing, this one makes it on my personal list!

Philippians 3:4b-14:

One of my least favorite things about Paul is that I feel he is always boasting about himself while pretending to be humble. But here, he actually is making good, thoughtful points about his identity and his identity in Christ. A faithful Jew all his life, Paul says his faith identity would give him reason to boast except that now, in Christ, these things are "regard[ed] as loss]." Why? These things simply aren't important in Christ: in Christ there is no Greek or Jew.
"Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." The them here is of a clean slate. It isn't easy to forget the past. Indeed, it is not always wise either. But what Paul urges here is to forget the identity that was without Christ, so that we can focus on 'the prize' of living fully in Christ in the present/future.
"I press on." We can't underestimate the importance of simply pressing on, I think, even when we struggle. We just press on, try again, reach toward the goal.

Matthew 21:33-46:

Jesus tells stories about his identity. The landowner/tenants story is interesting - it almost reads like "God should have expected Jesus to be killed" - which isn't helpful.
Looking for more help, I check Chris Haslam's comments. Now it makes more sense. Jesus is saying: God will find tenants who will produce. Do we want to be tenants? What will we produce for the landowner? If we produce nothing, why would that landowner want us to stay as tenants?
The Pharisees get that Jesus is talking about them, but remain immobilized. Do you ever feel that way? The scriptures you know are calling you to accountability, and yet you still do not act. Jesus is calling us to action!

Sermon for Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, God Values: Authority, Year A, Matthew 21:23-32

2011-09-26T10:36:00.000-05:00

Sermon 9/25/11

Matthew 21:23-32

God Values: Authority

Theprocess of becoming an ordained pastor is pretty long and involved. From startto finish, it took me nine years before the bishop laid hands on me and said,ʺtake thou authority.ʺ But before a candidate is allowed to get too far alongin the process of becoming a pastor, she must undergo a battery ofpsychological tests, including a review of the results of these tests with theconference psychologist. The tests involve hundreds of questions as specific aswhether you preferred President Washington or President Lincoln, and as vagueas whether you hear “voices” – always a tricky question for those answering acall from God! I’ll admit I was suspicious of the testing process – wonderingwhat some of these questions could possibly tell anyone about me, and frankly,not wanting someone to feel like they knew me so well because of some multiple choice test I filled out ratherthan because they actually took the time to get to know me. When I met with theconference psychologist to review my results, my skepticism shone through – thetest revealed among other things that I was a defensive test-taker, guarded inmy answers! Another thing it revealed was that I also have a tendency toquestion authority figures. Apparently, I have authority issues. My reaction tothe news, was, as revealed, to be a bit defensive and skeptical. Oh please. Idon’t have issues with authority figures. What does this psychologist know?

But, my mother might tell you a different story. Not about issues between thetwo of us, but about my relationship with my sixth grade teacher, for example.Apparently, though I barely have a recollection of it myself, apparently I hadgotten into the habit in sixth grade of publicly correcting my teacher when hewas wrong. Surprisingly, he didn’t like this, and I got a note home about it.Now, I liked my sixth grade teacher a lot. I still remember him as one of myfavorites. But I figured he was into sharing authority since he purposely leftthe answer book out for us to check our own homework responses. He gave an inch,I took a mile. I figured he wouldn’t mind a little help when I saw him giving awrong response. Turns out, I was the one who was wrong in thatsituation! OK. Maybe I have a small issue with authorityfigures.

But, I think we all have some authorityissues, or at least, questions about authority. Should someone have authoritysolely because of the position he holds? Does someone earn our respect anddeference just because she is in charge of something? Over the years, I havehad a deep admiration for some of my professors and teachers and mentors – butnot because of their titles. Instead, I’ve admired and respected them becauseof an authority earned by intelligence, scholarship,compassion, dedication. Still, though, I certainly have learned since sixthgrade that some authority figures simply have to be followed, obeyed, simplybecause of the position they hold, and that’s that. It won’t do me any good toargue with a police officer because I don’t respect her authority, right? Thereality is that in our society, some people have authority simply because ofthe position they hold, and because we, as a community – a social community ora faith community – we have decided together to give them such authority forthe good of the whole. So, I have authority in this church onsome matters, not because of who I am personally, but because of the role Ifill – I am the pastor. Hopefully, over time, I have authority here because Iearn it – you have known me for a couple of years now, and theoretically, bynow you trust from experience and relationship that you can entrust me with theauthority of being your pastor. But when I first arrived, and you didn’t knowme at all, you still were asked as a congregation to trust in my authority, weren’tyou – just based on the fact that I was sent here through a denominationalsystem in whose authority you put some trust? So many authority issues!

Authorityis a key element in today's gospel lesson. Our scene takes place very near theend of the gospel of Matthew. In fact, it occurs during the last days of Jesus'life – he is already in Jerusalem, after being welcomed into Jerusalem withtriumph and palms waving. The time is short. In this text, Jesus has enteredinto the temple, and is teaching. And the chief priests and elders come up to himand say, ʺhey, who gave you authorityto do these things?ʺ In other words, what gives you the right to come in hereand teach as if you knew what you were talking about? Maybe you have beenasked, or even asked someone that before in the heat of a conflict. What givesyou the right to do that? Who put youin charge? Or: you aren’t the boss of me!

Jesus isn’t willing to just play their game and answer theirquestions. Or, maybe you could say he just plays the game better than they do,because he turns it around on them, and says he will absolutely answer theirquestion – if they can answer his first, which is also about authority: Thebaptism of John, cousin of Jesus – did that come from heaven, or was it of humanorigin? The leaders debate; if they say from heaven, from God, Jesus will say,ʺthen why didn’t you believe him?ʺ But if we say of human origin, the peoplewill be mad at us, because they think of John as a prophet. And they definitelydidn’t want to risk the anger of the crowds. So they are trapped, and have toanswer: We don’t know. Jesus has managed to make these people who are supposed to be religious authoritieslook pretty silly – they have to admit before all these people in the temple thatthey don’t know the answer – they can’t say whether John was legit or not. Andso, Jesus concludes, I won’t tell you about the source of my authority either.

Then Jesus tells them a little mini-parable. Two sons areasked by their father to go and work in his vineyard. One son says no, but thenlater changes his mind and goes to work anyway. The other says yes, but thennever goes to work. Which did the will of the father, Jesus asks? Of course, hisaudience must admit, the one who actually made it to the vineyard, regardlessof what he said he would do, was the one who did his parent's will. Jesusconcludes saying that prostitutes and tax collectors will get to the kingdom ofGod before the priests and elders, because they believed, but the religious leaderswon’t change their behavior or beliefs even when it becomes clear that they arein the wrong. In fact, when Jesus says that they won’t change their minds, theword he uses is what the bible usually translates as repent. The religious leaders just won’t repent, even when theyrealize they are wrong.

The chief priests, the elders, and the other religious leadersJesus comes into conflict with in the scriptures, like the Pharisees andscribes – Jesus isn’t saying that their authority shouldn’t be respected, inprinciple. In fact, in places in the gospels, he urges people to listen to whatthey teach, just not to follow what they do. No, I think Jesus respects therole they are meant to play – studying God's words, carrying out the rituals ofthe faith handed down for generations. But, eventually, their lives have tobear out the authority with which they’ve been entrusted.

I remember my mother once telling me about a friend of herswhose daughter had gotten in trouble on the bus at school, along with another youngperson. The woman’s daughter was a church-going child from a fairly well-to-dofamily, and the other child in trouble was just the opposite. When relaying thestory, my mom’s friend said, ʺWell, at least I know that my daughter knew better, so that gives me comfort.ʺ My mom said to her,ʺBut doesn’t that make it worse? If the other kid didn’t know better, he can hardly be blamed for his behavior. Butyour child knew what was right, andstill chose to misbehave.ʺ Naturally, my mom's wisdom did not endear her to herfriend. But she had a good point, no? I think this is how Jesus feels about thereligious leaders – they are supposed to know better! They have been given authority.And yet, they are like the son who says yes to hard work, but doesn’t actually carryout on the good behavior.

Whenever we read about the religious leaders in the gospels,we have to put ourselves in their rolesto hear Jesus' message for us, because they, like it or not, are who we aremost like, rather than the prostitutes and tax collectors! We are the church-goers,who have learned the stories, heard the gospel, have taken membership vows tosay we believe certain things, and so on. So we have to answer Jesus' tough questions.

Whenhave we made commitments to God, only to fail on the follow through? How manytimes have you made promises to God that for one reason or another, you havenot kept? And how often do you find yourself responding to God when you hadalready told God “no?” Probably, if we are honest, we have more examples of saying yes to God and not acting than saying no and acting out a yes. Why is that? The chief priests knewthe right answers in their hearts, but were unwilling to act because of image,because of stubbornness, because they wanted to keep their power. But in theend, Jesus made their supposed authority look pretty silly.

Whatabout us? Why do we not follow through on what we say we will do, both in ourhuman relationships and in our relationship with God? Is it really a case ofgood intentions gone awry, as I think we want to believe, or is something moreat work here, some deeper issue emerging that we need to confront? TheologianSøren Kierkegaard wrote, “When you say “Yes” or promise something, you can veryeasily deceive yourself and others also, as if you had already done what youpromised. It is easy to think that by making a promise you have at least donepart of what you promised to do, as if the promise itself were something ofvalue. Not at all! In fact, when you do not do what you promise, it is a longway back to the truth. Beware! The “Yes” of promise keeping is sleep-inducing.An honest “No” possesses much more promise. It can stimulate; repentance maynot be far away. He who says “No,” becomes almost afraid of himself. But[those] who [say] “Yes, I will,” [are] all too pleased with [themselves]. Theworld is quite inclined – even eager – to make promises, for a promise appearsvery fine at the moment – it inspires! Yet for this veryreason the eternal is suspicious of promises.”(1)

For Jesus, things, as usual, come back to a question of words and actions. Onepastor reminds us that “Jesus doesn't divide people up into believers andatheists. Jesus divides people into those who act and those who don't act.” (2)The religious folk in the temple had a lot to say about whatwas right. They were careful to study the scriptures, and they spent a lot oftime in the temple, and they tried to figure out, in great detail, how to applyto scriptures for daily living. Yet, they were so sure they had things right,that they became unwilling to examine their lives to see if they were livingwhat they were teaching, practicing what they were preaching. And they wereunwilling to repent, and get back to work. Their words said yes, and theirlives said no, as somehow they managed to overlook real ways to love God,active ways to love neighbor.

Jesussays that it isn’t the religious folk who are first in the kingdom of heaven.It is those who are most open to turning their lives around who are first inline, those who take action when Jesus says, “follow me.” Jesus doesn’t say ʺbelievein meʺ - he says, ʺfollow me.ʺ As people of faith, do we have authority? Whatwill our actions, our living say about us?

A parenthad two children. The parent went to the first and said, “Child, go out andwork for me today.” The child answered, “I will not,” but later, had a changeof mind and went out and worked. The parent said to the second child and saidthe same, and the child answered, “Of course, I’ll go and work,” but then didnot go after all. Which of these two did the will of the parent? They said, thefirst.

Amen.

(1) Søren Kierkegaard,“Under the Spell of Good Intentions,”

http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/UnderTheSpell.htm

(2) http://www.ake.quik.co.nz/termon/djc155.html

Sermon for Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A - God Values: That’s Not Fair!

2011-09-19T10:10:00.002-05:00

Sermon 9/18/11

Matthew 20:1-16

God Values: That’s Not Fair!

A couple weeks ago, I told you all that I had a lot more to say to you about God and fairness. Well, today is that lucky day!Let me tell you a little story from my childhood. I am blessed to have a familythat is well-educated. My mother, working as a nurse, always had a job, if nottwo, and by the time I was say, in junior high and high school, my family had afairly stable middle class financial situation. But it took us a long time to getthere. My early years were spent in the small country village of Westernville,and my father was out of work off and on from the time I was two until I was infifth grade or so. That is another story to tell, but the point is, we were apoor family. We used food stamps, we received help from my grandparents, and wereceived one of the food baskets we helped put together at church. Westernvillewas too small for its own elementary school – we were bused to Rome for school,and as geography would have it, relatively poor Westernville kids went to schoolwith kids from some of the wealthier parts of Rome.

Somehow, it doesn’t take many years of life to learn thedifferent between rich and poor and to assign value judgments – and poor isdefinitely not cool. The most popular girl in school, Kelly, child of a formerprofessional baseball player and one of the teachers at school, who lived in a housethat had more floors than I could count – well, she made my life prettymiserable sometimes. I remember most vividly that for my sixth grade birthday,my brother Jim took me to the mall and let me spend $100 of his hard earnedmoney. It was a huge gift to me. In addition to Mariah Carey and Wilson Phillipssingle cassette tapes, among other things, my major purchase was a new outfit –a Skidz brand t-shirt and shorts. Anyone remember those? They were all the rage,and I knew, for once, I would be at school with the right clothes. When I arrivedat school the next day, Kelly immediately made fun of me – because even though Ihad the right brand, I had purchased them from JCPenney, and not Tops NBottoms, the cool store. I just couldn’t seem to win.

The worst thing was though, that I was a kid who attendedchurch every week, and I read my bible, and knew it pretty well, and I knewabout this parable, and I knew pretty much what it meant. I knew this parablemeant that Kelly, as mean as she was, as bad as she made me and other peoplefeel – I knew Kelly was just as loved by God as I was, and that Kelly couldlive her life as she was and still get God's grace and all the benefits of our generousGod if she wanted them. I actually thought about that a lot. And I knew that thatwas just. not. fair.

Thisparable, sometimes known as the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, is taughtby Jesus following another familiar scene. A rich young man had approachedJesus and asked about getting into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus told him tosell all his stuff and give it to the poor, and the man went away disappointed.Jesus then said to the disciples that it was harder for a rich man to enter thekingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. But, Jesussaid, with God, anything is possible. Then Peter says, in reply, the scripturestell us, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will wehave?’ Peter wants to know what exactly the disciples are in for. Jesus tells themthey will receive eternal life, but that the first are last and the last arefirst. And then he tells this parable.

Alandowner goes out in the morning to hire laborers for the vineyard. He offersthem “whatever is right” for a day of labor. He goes out again at noon and at 3and at 5, and hires more and more laborers. At the end of the day, thelandowner pays them all a day’s wage. All of them. That means that the workerswho have worked 10 hours, 8 hours, 5 hours, and 2 hours all get the samepaycheck at the end of the day. Naturally, this upsets some of the workers. Theworkers who worked all day were suddenly less happy with the wage they hadreceived, because those who worked only one hour also received the same salary.But the landowner won’t hear it: “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you notagree me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose togive to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what Ichoose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”Jesus concludes, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Thisparable goes against everything we stand for and value in a society like ours.Here, you get what you work for, or at least we value such an ideal. We likethings to be fair. We care about equality and equity. We know it isn’t rightfor people to get the same pay for such drastically different amounts of work.Who would agree to such a thing? Who wouldn’t be resentful of others who had itso easy, who hardly had to do anything to get such a reward. “I choose to giveto this last the same as I give to you.” Do we feel the same sense of outrageif we remember that this parable is about the kingdom of heaven and about God’sgrace?

I thinkwe have two responses to this parable that we don’t want to admit to ourselves.The first is this: I think we would say that we know what grace is. Goodnessknows I talk about it enough, and talk about what it is, and our hymns areabout grace, and our liturgies and our prayers and our sacraments – all about grace.And what do we know about grace? I hope that you have learned that grace is God'sgift to us, it is free, without price, God's unconditional – that is without conditions! – love, which ispoured out on everyone. That is grace.I hope that sounds familiar! But, the thing is, I don’t know if we believe in grace. Oh, I think we believein it in an abstract way. We believe in it as a concept, a theory. But inpractice? I am not convinced we really believe in grace – not fully, anyway.

I think,in our hearts, in our behavior, we are really trying, still, to earn grace, to make sure we are doing whatis good enough to be loved by God. Maybe we don’t feel that we are good enough tobe loved. So we try hard to be good enough. And somehow, we feel like, if atleast we are better than the next person,if we are better than someone, than somehow weare a bit closer to God. We end up trying to get close to God by pushing othersfarther away, instead of by actually drawing close ourselves. We know from ourown experience that love is inexplicable – who can explain why we love who welove? And yet, we can’t accept that God loves us. All of us.

So here is our second response to the parable. If we arefinally convinced, at last, that God is gonna give the made elementary schoolrotten for everyone Kellys of the world as much love and grace as the awesomelywell-behaved, life-long, faithful, didn’t even have delinquent college yearsBeths of the world, which, as we have established, is so unfair, then I think we start to have this creeping-into-our-mindsquestion. Why do we bother trying so hard to be good and to live a good life? Whydo we struggle so much to follow God's plans for us, God's commands for us, whenother people seem to do what they want, and end up with the same reward as we do? If we get God's grace eitherway, why not live a little? Party a little? Go a little crazy? Why this strugglefor following God, if God will ultimately find us and lavish us with grace anyway?

Again, ourresponse reveals what we really believe: that we see grace as a reward for goodbehavior and not an outright gift. Grace is not a prize that we get, butsometimes it seems that the only reason we are following God is because of thereward (or fine, gift, we might getout of it at the end.) When Jesus talks about abundant life, living water,bread of life, all that he offers, he is talking about what we can claim, thelife we can live not in some distant future, but right now if we will walkwith God who loves us. But don’t we sometimes treat these offers like chores wemust complete to get to the end of the game and win the prize?

Weare getting mixed up. The life God offers is meant to fill us up, fulfill us beyond our imagining. Whenpush comes to shove, even though being a disciple is sometimes hard andchallenging and seemingly impossible, I wouldn’t trade it in for a minute. Iwould never want to struggle with that emptiness, with that search for meaning,without knowing the love of God. I would never want to feel so groundless. The lifeGod offers us is truly good and abundant. Laboring longer in God's vineyard is nota punishment, but in itself a blessing, being part of God's kingdom now, right here,today, on this earth, in this time.

No, God is not at all interested in being fair. God is interestedin justice. God is interested in mercy and compassion. God is interested in ourabundant lives. God is interested in loving each and every single precious personin creation. But God definitely does not play fair. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-19T10:08:00.002-05:00

Readings for 15th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/25/11:
Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16, Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32

Exodus 17:1-7:

"wilderness of Sin" - great image.
Human nature is so perfectly exhibited by the Israelites, isn't it? We tend to find things to gripe about no matter what is going on in our lives. "They are almost ready to stone me," Moses admits. Perhaps pastors sometimes feel that way when trying to lead congregations out of the wilderness and into the vision which God has laid before the people. How can we get over our griping, count our blessings, and forge ahead?
The name, Massah and Meribah, is summed up as indicating the question of the people, "Is the Lord among us or not?" Hopefully, that should be a rhetorical question: the answer is yes. And if God is among the people, then the people should respond, live, with faith.

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16:

"I will open my mouth in a parable" - I hadn't realized that the word 'parable' appeared in the Old Testament. But it reminds us that in Jesus' day, the people would have related to Jesus' style, more, perhaps, than we are able to relate today.
"We will not hide them from our children; we will tell to the coming generation" - I like these verses that convey a sense of the necessity to tell the story of a people, to make sure the history is known through time and generations. We have a tendency to forget whole chunks of our history, don't we, until we are repeating it!
Verses 12-16 refer to the Israelites being led through the Red Sea, into the wilderness, and receiving water to drink from the rock, which ties in with our Old Testament reading.

Philippians 2:1-13:

"if then there is any (fill in the blank) in Christ . . . be of the same mind, having the same love." Paul says that whatever in Christ there is, we should be like-minded. A good strategy!
"did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited" I find this such a unique statement. Imagine if Christ had used his equality to exploit? What would that look like? Perhaps this is what the devil was tempting Christ to do in the wilderness - to exploit his equality.
"emptied himself" Emptying ourselves.
"every knee should bend . . . every tongue should confess." Hm. This is one of those passages often used by people who are seeking to convert non-Christians and those of other faith traditions as proof or encouragement about the task at hand. Frankly, it makes me a bit uncomfortable. If the idea is that people will ultimately be moved to worship Jesus even against their will, I'm not sure I'd want to see that display...
"work out your own salvation" - this ends up being a very Wesleyan sentiment - obviously, Paul does not mean that we save ourselves, but he means to remind us that we are active participants in the justifying and sanctifying grace that should mark our lives as people of faith.

Matthew 21:23-32:

"by what authority" - the priests and elders want to know why Jesus thinks he "has the right" to teach as he's teaching. Who is he? Who's 'backing' him?
I love this, this trick Jesus sets them up for. Jesus himself knows the answer to his own question, doesn't he? But he traps them in a way that makes it impossible to answer. I think Jesus was having a good time here.
Jesus says - it is more important what you do than what your lips claim you believe. Did you hear that?
"change your minds" from the Greek metemele^the^te, which means "to repent" - this is not the typical word used for repentance/"change of minds" in the New Testament. It is usuallymetanoeo^, but the gist of the meaning is the same. But typically, NRSV translates the meaning as "repent" as opposed to this more literal rendering (preferred to me) of "change your minds."

Sermon for Pentecost 13A, “God Values: Forgiveness”

2011-09-11T23:26:00.002-05:00

Sermon 9/11/11

Matthew 18:21-35

God Values: Forgiveness

Where were you whenit happened? That is a question you might have been asked this week. Where wereyou on 9-11-01 when you head the news? I was in seminary. I had just started myinternship at our United Methodist interfaith agency, located in the Upper WestSide of Manhattan – I worked on Mondays and Fridays, and had put in just twodays before September 11^th. I was feeling pretty brave about goingto work in the big city, riding the trains and the subway, being part of thecommuter crowd. Thankfully, I was not in Manhattan on 9-11. I had been the daybefore.

On the morning of the 11^th, I, not surprisingly to those of you whoknow me well, was still asleep when the first plane hit the towers. Soon after,I was up and at the bookstore, when I heard a radio report saying somethingabout a plane and a building, but I didn’t pay it much attention. I then wentto the library, where I overheard a woman telling a work-study student that itwas ok if he didn’t feel like working that day. And I couldn’t log onto cnn.comon the computers. But I still didn’t know what was happening. It wasn’t until Imade my way to Seminary Hall, and began talking with other students, that Irealized exactly what was happening. And so eventually the fear set in, thesadness, the anxiety. In the coming weeks, I found it hard to get over my fearof going back to the city for work, hard to relax on public transportation,hard to operate through fire drills at my office building there. And I found ithard to watch how we reacted as a nation, and as a world community to theseevents, how quickly the climate of the world changed. Today you’ll still hearthe phrase, “in a post 9-11 world . . . ʺ

Into themidst of this day, ten years later, our lectionary, our schedule of scriptures,brings us a passage about forgiveness, and it is hard for me not to marvel at themystery of how God is at work even in which Bible text we are meant to read when.It is certainly no mistake. Our passage from Matthew today comes in the middleof a series of teachings from Jesus. The disciples have asked Jesus somequestions, and he has responded, teaching about not being stumbling blocks forone another, talking about it being better to enter God's kingdom without afoot or hand rather than to stumble and stray because of it. He speaks aboutconflict in the community, recommending a course of action if someone hassinned against you. And then, perhaps in response to this teaching, Peter asksJesus: ʺLord, if another member of the faith community sins against me, howoften should I forgive? As many as seven times?ʺ Now, the way Peter asks hisquestion gives you an idea that he thinks he is being pretty broad in his suggestedresponse. As many as seven times? Peterasks and lets Jesus know he thinks seven times is a lot. See, Peter is learning, even though he stumbles. He is learningfrom Jesus and has learned that Jesus is pretty extravagant sometimes – not whenit comes to having things and possessions and money. But extravagant about hisrelationships with others. Jesus is pretty extravagant with his compassion,justice, and mercy. Always going farther than anyone else was prepared to go. Peter,I suspect, thinks he will impress Jesus, by saying he suspects you might needto forgive someone up to seven times if they sin against you! Seven times!

Jesus replies,“Nice try, Peter. Try seventy seven times. Seventy seven.” In other words, stopcounting how many times you have forgiven, and then you are on the right track.And then Jesus tells a parable, about the kingdom of heaven, saying, “It’s likethis. A king wanted to settle his debts. He called forward a slave who owed him10,000 talents. The slave could not pay, so the king prepared to sell theslave, his family, and his possessions to make the payment. But the slavebegged for mercy and patience, promising to pay. The king had mercy and cancelled the entire debt and releasedthe slave, beyond what the slave asked for. But later, the same slaveencounters a peer who owes him a small sum of money, a hundred denarii. Heviolently demands payment, and when his peer can’t pay, and begs for mercy, theslave denies him mercy, and has him thrown in prison. When the king finds outabout it, he calls the slave before him. ‘How could you not show mercy to yourfellow slave, as I showed you mercy?’ Finally, the king hands the slave overand requires payment for the debt.” Jesus concludes, saying that this is how itwill be with us if we do not forgive one another.

When we say the Lord's prayer here at First United, wesay, ʺforgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.ʺ We say it that way inparticular to honor our Presbyterian heritage, as we honor our Methodist history in other ways, like throughour hymnal choice. I grew up saying trespass and trespasses in the Lord's Prayer,and it took me a while to get the hang of saying debts and debtors, especiallywhen I am still often at conference events that require me to switch back totrespasses! But I have to tell you, having to remember where I am and which words I am supposed to say eachtime I pray the prayer has helped me to think about it more deeply when I pray,instead of running quickly through familiar words. I have to really think aboutwhat I am saying every time. And what am I saying? Forgive us our debts, as we forgiveour debtors.

There has certainly been enough talk about debt, lately, hasn’tthere? We know a little more about national debt and debt ceilings and all thatthan most of us probably ever knew before. Or at least we've worried about it morethan usual. But the debt we are probably most familiar with is our own. Who areyou in debt to? And is anyone in debt to you? We probably know that pretty welltoo. But think particularly about to whom you are in debt – who do you owe? Most of us, unless we areextraordinarily lucky, are in debt to someone financially. Student loans – I ampretty sure I will have those until I am too old to remember what I evenstudied in college. Car payments, or mortgage payments. Credit cards. Taxes. Utilitybills. Rent. To whom are you in debt, and for what? And then, imagine, imagine thatyour creditor, whoever you owe simplycancels your debt. Not that yousuddenly have so much money you can pay off everything you owe. No, but imaginethat your debt is just gone, cancelled. What does that feel like? Can you feelthe weight that is lifted? The anxiety, the stress, the worry that would bejust gone. No more burden.

How oftenshould I forgive? Cancel someone's debts? Forgiveness is a tricky thing, isn’t it?We’re willing to go only so far before we start wanting to know about limits –how much, how often, who must we forgive and in what circumstances? Today’sworld demands answers to these questions. Can we forgive even when forgivenessentails life and death situations? Do you believe such extreme forgiveness ispossible? What shapes will forgiveness take when we think of the tragedy ofSeptember 11^th? And all these questions about human forgiveness leadus to God’s forgiveness. Can God forgive us? Does God forgive all sinsfrom all sinners? What are the conditions of forgiveness? Are there conditions? Are thereconditions to God canceling the debt of our sinfulness? Our believing in thepossibility of forgiveness works both ways. If we believe that humanforgiveness is possible, then forgiveness from God is certain. And in order forus to believe that we are truly forgiven and reconciled people, truly forgivenby God and given the chance, again, for right relationship with God, then wemust also believe in the possibility of human forgiveness, reconciliation inhuman relationships.

How should we forgive? Let me say briefly but clearly whatI don’t think Jesus is saying hereabout forgiveness. His call for our compassion and bottomless forgiveness isnot a call for people to remain trapped in abusive relationships, or a call forvictims of violence to remain victimsof violence. God wants wholeness forall of us. Forgiveness comes in the simple and complicated form of canceling thedebt of wrong-doing done against us, letting go of what is owed to us by another.

But let me tell you what else I really don’t think Jesusis talking about. Jesus isn’t really addressing his teaching to those who needto ask for forgiveness. This passage isn’t about, primarily, those who aresinners (although that is really all of us, mind you), those who stand in needof forgiveness (again, all of us, really.) Jesus has lots to say about oursinners and how we sin, but this isn’t it. Thispassage is about those of us who feel someone owes us something, those of us whofeel someone is in our debt, those of us who feel someone needs to seek out ourforgiveness. Peter wants to know how much forgiveness he has to pay out. That is what prompts Jesusʹ teaching.Ultimately, we can only be responsible for our own actions. You can only decidewhether or not you will forgive. You can’t control whether or not someone feelssorry for wronging you, whether they have done enough to make up for hurtingyou, or even how they will behave in the future, if they really mean their apology,if they will hurt you again or not. Jesus doesn’t really make comment on any ofthese questions. Because you can only choose how you will behave when someoneis in your debt. How often do we forgive? Seven times? Seventy-seven times. Jesus is calling us to forgive like he does,like God does – extravagantly, recklessly, without counting up the cost and howmuch we were owed and how much debt we cancelled.

In these next few weeks, we are looking at what I havebeen thinking of as God-values. God has a way of taking our values and turningthem inside out and showing us how much we have missed the mark, how much richerour lives would be if we could begin to see and act with God's eyes and heart. Ithink we look at someone owing us a debt, and we think of that as power – whenwe are owed something, it gives us a sense of power over, even if we have that power because we have been wronged. ButJesus finds power, strength, life in lettinggo of one kind of power to take up another. Jesus, instead of trying to showoff his strength, always makes himself more vulnerable. Even on the cross, dying,at his most vulnerable, Jesus exposes his heart to the world even more, speakingof forgiveness even as he is put to death. There is a different, deeper kind ofstrength and power in laying our hearts bear, emptying our souls of the resentmentwe feel toward those who have harmed us. Forgiveness is a God-value, a gift fromGod to us, and a gift that continues to bless us when we share it with others.

We’regiven a reminder, even as we pray familiar words: God, forgive us our debts, aswe forgive our debtors. God asks for us to share with others the sameforgiveness with which God blesses us. Is it easy work? No. Like Peter, we wantto know – have we done enough yet? But God promises us that practicingforgiveness is life-giving, where withholding forgiveness only hurts us. Thereis much in this world to forgive. There is much for which we seek forgiveness. So we struggle, we try harder, both inforgiving those who have sinned against us, and in asking forgiveness where wehave caused harm. But wherever we find ourselves in our struggles, we can trustthat we find ourselves free of debt, completely covered by God’s boundlessforgiveness. Let us go, and live likewise. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-11T23:24:00.001-05:00

Readings for 14th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/18/11:
Exodus 16:2-15, Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45, Philippians 1:21-30, Matthew 20:1-16

Exodus 16:2-15:

"rain bread from heaven for you" I'm mindful of the famine in Africa. If we can't take care of each other by feeding our neighbors, perhaps God could rain down some more manna. Sadly, we seem to need that help.
the people must learn to depend on God day by day, trusting for each moment in God's guidance. They aren't great at it, but they learn that God can be trusted, their faith put in God. Could you live in such a day-to-day way? We like to have our plans all laid out.

Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45:

Here we go - this Psalm showing up for the 4th time this summer. Of course, parts of this Psalm have been following along with our Exodus story. But still...
Verses 1-5 are right on target for me: Remember to praise God all the time, because God has done some pretty amazing things for you. It is amazing how easily we forget God's role in all that we claim as our own goodness.
I do like verses 39-45: the people ask, God responds. God tries to meet every need.
45b makes a nice end, while skipping many verses: "praise God!"

Philippians 1:21-30:

the dilemma - living in the world or retreating to a spiritual place where we are 'safe' - this isn't exactly Paul's dilemma - he's talking more literal life and death. but we can related to his dilemma maybe, by thinking of the "in the world" or "of the world" tug of war.
"live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" - yes. The hard thing about sharing the gospel is when the sharers aren't living the things they're sharing! We try, we are imperfect. But we need to try!

Matthew 20:1-16:

this is one of the hardest parables for us, I think. It goes against everything about our values - American work ethic and all. You work hard, you get rewarded proportionally. The idea that someone else could do less than us and get the same pay is totally frustrating, isn't it?
Fair. This isn't fair, is it? Fairness is something we prize, but not mentioned as something Jesus exactly values!
This is the side of grace we don't like to hear about, I think. We struggle with whether or not we can accept grace for ourselves, but when it comes to who else gets God's grace, and how they get it, it becomes a lot trickier, and we wish there were more rules about it...

Lectionary Notes for 13th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-09-05T10:22:00.001-05:00

Readings for 13th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/11/11:
Exodus 14:19-31, Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21, Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:21-35

Exodus 14:19-31:

OK, I'll admit, I feel for all the Egyptians here who were just doing there job. At the camp I've attended growing up and as an adult, one of the favorite songs is "Pharaoh, Pharaoh," which includes the line "and all of Pharaoh's army did the dead-man float." I just can't get into the spirit of it...
Also, I'm afraid this passage also now brings to mind images of Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty, parting his bowl of tomato soup.
Well, I guess what that says is that this "parting of the Red Sea" is perhaps the 'classic' example we think of when we're talking about God's power. God's ability to protect God's people in God's plan at all costs? Hm. Still can't warm up to it!

Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21:

This passage takes the typical place of the Psalm in the lectionary, as here we get the brother-sister act of Moses and Miriam giving thanks for successfully escaping the Egyptians.
"at the blast of your nostrils" - ew. I don't mind some anthropomorphic descriptions of God, but God's nostril blast?
I understand Moses' and Miriam's relief at their safety. But I can't cheer with them at these delighted images of God killing their enemies.
"the prophet Miriam" - take note of strong if under-written women in the Bible. A woman. A prophet.

Romans 14:1-12:

"Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions." Great advice for churchy types, no? Sometimes I think we like arguing with each other in the church and in politics more than we care about what we are arguing about.
Before you get excited and think this is a passage about vegetarianism being for the weak (vegetarians rock), put it in context. Paul is talking about the then-current practice of Romans who would eat meat that had been sacrificed in worship of the gods. Some Christians took part in eating the meat afterwards, but others thought it was wrong to eat meat used in other religious rites.
Paul says somewhat "to each their own" but that whatever our own way is, our purpose, and our reasoning, ought still to be in giving praise to God. And Paul reminds us that we've got enough to worry about thinking about our own decisions without worrying about our neighbors' choices.
"Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's." Comforting words - no matter what happens, we belong to God. Check out hymn 356 in The United Methodist Hymnal to match this text.

Matthew 18:21-35:

This text is so important on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
How often must we forgive? How much do we hope God forgives us? Jesus urges us to see the questions in similar ways. Forgiveness is a great gift, and those who receive it hopefully show more gratitude than the slave in Jesus' parable.
Forgiveness is personal. When have you been forgiven? Have you received forgiveness without asking for it? When have you forgiven? When have you given it without being asked? When have you withheld forgiveness and why? How does it feel to give forgiveness? Receive it? Withhold it?
Do you think, as Jesus suggests, that God will not forgive us if we do not forgive others?
Like Peter, do you ever wonder "what's the least I can get away with doing?" He seems to want to know - how much do I have to love? Is this enough? Jesus' answer is predictable and always the same: "More."

Lectionary Notes for Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-08-28T21:45:00.001-05:00

Readings for 12th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/4/11:
Exodus 12:1-14, Psalm 149, Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20

Exodus 12:1-14:

God describes to Moses and Aaron the Passover, which is the festival that centers Jesus' meal with his disciples - this reading also appropriately shows up for Maundy Thursday.
"this is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly." Ready to go. Ready to move. Prepared. Imagine if this was always the way we were, in terms of readiness to respond to God's call.
The Passover is a hard one to stomach (no pun intended). It is hard to imagine a plague of killing firstborns all through the land, isn't it? But it is a festival, a 'remembrance' that becomes so crucial in the identity of Judaism, and even in the events that shape Christ's last days. Death, blood, lamb, sacrifice. The ways the symbolism of the Old Testament and New Testament events overlap and tie in here is important.

Psalm 149:

Verses 1-3 talk about the juncture of praise and music. I’ve been blessed with musical abilities, and they certainly are tools I value very much in leading worship. But if music isn’t your thing, other gifts also can be used to worship – how do you use your gifts to worship our Maker?
“For the Lord takes pleasure in his people.” I like this sentiment a lot – do you believe it? God takes pleasure in you individually and in all of us as a people.
“Let them sing for joy on their couches.” That’s a funny image! Praise from couch potatoes…
V. 6 – Let the praises of God be in your mouth at the same time you are getting ready to kill some of those people that God takes pleasure in – nice sentiment, eh?

Romans 13:8-14:

“Owe no one anything.” Sigh. I wish someone would negotiate a deal for me with my student loan lender…
But we do owe one another love. I like that way of phrasing it – love is what is due from us to our neighbors. Have we paid up?
“The commandments . . . are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Plain enough, right?
Love fulfills the law. In this, Paul shows that the law is not abolished but fulfilled in Jesus’ teachings, just as Jesus said.
"you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep." There is such urgency in this statement and in this passage. I dislike our obsession, in Paul's time and today, with the end times. But i do like a sense of urgency. What are we waiting for to get going with doing God's work? We know what time it is: time for peace. time for justice. time for grace. Now is the moment to wake and work.
"make no provisions for the flesh, to gratify its desires." No provision? Poor Paul - so black and white sometimes in his thinking - body or spirit instead of body and spirit.
"salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers." - this is a good verse to plug John Wesley's idea of sanctifying grace - grace that grows in us as we become disciples. A time of conversion (justification) when we first come to 'be believers,' however we might define that, is not the end and all of our relationship with God.

Matthew 18:15-20:

What a passage with great potential for preaching in a congregation, eh? This passage talks about how to settle disputes in the community of faith. Do we ever put it into practice? Check out the policies in our Book of Discipline. Do our church trials follow the format Jesus suggests?
"whatever you bind" - note that these words are the same Jesus says to Peter after Peter proclaims him as Messiah in Matthew 16. Here, the authority is expanded to the whole group of disciples.
"if two of you agree," and "two or three" - Jesus is talking about the power of working together for the same godly purposes.

Lectionary Notes for 11th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-08-21T22:13:00.000-05:00

Readings for 11th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/28/11:
Exodus 3:1-15, Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16:21-28

Exodus 3:1-15:

"Here I am." These are three of the bravest words in the Bible, don't you think? And yet, so simple, such easy, uncomplicated words. Will we utter them? Dare to say such simple words to God?
"the place on which you are standing is holy ground" - What places in life have you come upon holy ground? What makes it holy? How do you act when you are on Holy Ground?
"Who am I that I should go out to Pharaoh?" Moses asks God. So much for his initial brave response ;) - who do you think is better equipped to judge your abilities - you or God? Do you question what God has called you to do? What would it take to convince you?
"I AM WHO I AM." Maybe the best name for God - the one God claims for God's self. We like to describe God, paint God into corners, but God into boxes with our theological language - but God says I AM WHO I AM.

Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c:

This Psalm is appearing for the third time this summer - showing up in some variation three and five weeks ago. It has corresponded to some extent with the Old Testament lesson, though this week, it is less directly related.
Verses 1-5 are right on target for me: Remember to praise God all the time, because God has done some pretty amazing things for you. It is amazing how easily we forget God's role in all that we claim as our own goodness.
"whose hearts he then turned to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants." I don't warm to the idea that God makes us hate, or hardens our heart, a theme in the Moses story we'll follow in the Old Testament. Why would God do that?
45b makes a nice end, while skipping many verses: "praise God!"

Romans 12:9-21:

This is a great passage of little bits of advice that work together separately or together
"Outdo one another in showing honor" - Wouldn't it be great if humans' competitive natures worked for good this way?
"do not claim to be wiser than you are" - great advice for pastors, theologians, and church-people in general.
"so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all" - words for today. And it does depend on us.
The heart of this passage - the most words are spent on advising us to love our enemies, even at cost to ourselves.

Matthew 16:21-28:

Just before this, Peter had named Jesus as the Messiah. Now Jesus names Peter as Satan. What's happened here?
I think Peter has said the right words (earlier), but he doesn't yet understand what that means for Jesus, or doesn't want to believe it.
Choices. Jesus tells us we have to make some hard choices, big choices, life and death kind of choices. The way he phrases his questions, the answers should be obvious. But our actions suggest otherwise, don't they?
"who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man . . . " Lots of people have theories about this verse. I don't have a good theory. I think - it's not the point of the passage, and if we focus on that verse, it means we're not paying attention to all the meaty stuff before it.

Sermon for 10th Sunday after Pentecost, “Sunday School Stories: Moses, Part I“

2011-08-21T22:04:00.000-05:00

Sermon 8/21/11

Exodus 1:8-2:10

Sunday School Stories: Moses, Part I

Onetime when I was visiting our friend and member Walt Jenkins, who isalways reading something, he had a book on his coffee table that really caughtmy interest. I can’t remember the title, but I remember the concept. In each chapter,a different author looked at events in United States history and imagined whatwould have happened if one small variable had been different. For example, whatif Paul Revere had not been able to complete his famous ride in time to warncolonials of the approaching British troops? What if he had been captured orinjured or his horse broke a leg? Perhaps we can conjecture that a quickreplacement would have been made. But it is only conjecture. We have no idea howone event might have impacted everything else. Or what if Lee Harvey Oswald hadmissed and failed to assassinate JFK? What if JFK had completed his presidency?Certainly the course of US history would be different – but how?

You’ve probably heardof this, even if not by this name: the Butterfly Effect. The butterfly effect getsits name from the basic example: the presence or absence of a butterfly flappingits wings in a certain time and place can impact the presence or absence ofweather systems as large as hurricanes across the world. The actual concept is slightlymore complicated. Reading about it will take you into a world of math formulasand graphs. But we can grasp the basic idea, I think, and think about our ownlives. Sometimes the examples are much more trivial than presidentialassassinations. Think about your own life. You probably consider this when younarrowly avoid an auto accident and realize that if you had traveled one mileper hour faster or slower, your life might be totally different. Think about thechoices you’ve made, and the consequences your choices have, intended andunintended. What if you chose to take a different class in college and younever met your spouse? What if you never lost touch with that friend from gradeschool? Or what if you had taken a different summer job whenyou were in high school? What if you'd put on a different outfit this morning? Whatif you hadn’t lost your keys and left the house five minutes earlier? What ifyou weren’t here today, but out at breakfast? We cannot even know what impactour decisions might be having. We cannot even imagine.

Reading today'sOld Testament lesson, where we turn our focus from Moses to Joseph, I am overwhelmedwith questions of this type. What if? What if? So, let’s look at what we have. ʺNowa new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.ʺ That’s how our passage fromExodus begins today, and it explains how Joseph's actions with his brothers, wherehe lets them essentially work for food in Egypt, turns into Israelite slaveryunder Egyptians just a few generations later. What if, indeed? How could Josephand his brothers imagine that their sibling rivalry would be the groundwork fora whole nation being slaves to another, which would lead to the Exodus, which remainstoday the most significant story shaping Jewish identity. Perhaps it will giveyou pause next time you are arguing with a loved one – who knows how youractions will shape the world!

Times havechanged and Joseph and family are no longer special guests in Egypt. They’reslaves. More than that, the new king, the new Pharaoh, feels threatened by thenumber of Israelites. They have multiplied over time and now are more numerousthan the Egyptians. So the Israelites become slaves forced into worseningconditions. Pharaoh also directs the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, tokill any male children born to Israelite women. (Lynn, apparently only twomidwives were needed to assist with an entire nation of newborns.) But Shiphrahand Puah have their own plan. They deliver babies as usual, and tell Pharaoh thatIsraelite women are just exceptionally vigorous in labor and deliver and they can’tget there fast enough. Pharaoh is not so easily thwarted though, and he ordersevery baby boy born simply thrown into the Nile.

We readabout a Levite woman, one of the tribes of Israel, who has a baby boy and sees howbeautiful he is, and she decides to hide him. When that becomes too risky, sheprepares a basket for him and puts him in among the reeds on the banks of theriver. The baby’s sister, Miriam, watches to see what happens. Indeed, we don’tknow what his mother Jochebed was hoping would happen – but she has to hope forsomething. Who comes to the river, but the Pharaoh's daughter! When she sees thebaby, she has pity on him, even knowing it is probably one of the Hebrewbabies, even knowing her actions are about to violate her own father’s law. The baby’s sister, Miriam, offers to run andfind a nurse, and of course, she brings back his own mother. The Pharaoh's daughterhires her to be the nurse, but he is raised as the child of the Pharaoh's daughter.And she names him Moses.

What a strangeturn of events! Of course, we know that it is Moses, this baby, who becomes theman who leads the Israelites out of Egypt to freedom, who will eventually go headto head with Pharaoh. So if Pharaoh had never ordered babies killed, in orderto oppress and control the Israelites, Moses would never have been raised by hisdaughter and in a position to lead people to freedom. All through this story, thesewomen take action – maybe small actions – but they add up to the unfolding ofone of the most important stories in the Old Testament. Shiphrah and Puahpretend Israelite women give birth really quickly. Jochebed sees what happensif she trusts God and floats her baby in the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter doesn’t lether royal status keep her from pity and compassion. Even Miriam knows just whatto do when an opportunity presents itself. They probably are all a littleafraid. And probably none of them could imagine the grand consequences of theiractions. But without every piece, who knows what would have transpired?

God callsus and waits for us to respond. Every day, all the time, in a millionsituations. God creates us, and sets us loose in the world, and gives us hearts,souls, minds, lives that we can make of what we will. Sometimes we feel sosmall in this world, but in reality, we have incredible power because of the giftof freewill God gives to us. And so when we act, when we react, when we speak,when we decide, when we refuse to act – each choice we make has an impact – whetherwe see it immediately or never truly understand how the years ahead are shapedby a small decision today. That means we should carefully consider what we areabout. Our lives aren’t trivial, but full of meaning that God draws out fromus. When we speak and act in anger, out of hate, it matters. When we act withcompassion, it matters. When we are kind, it matters. When we hurt one another,it matters. When we don’t act, and don’t care, it matters. When we make onesmall contribution for peace and justice, it matters. When we act with love, itmatters. It all counts.

Everyday we make a million choices. You’ve already made a million to bring you to thisvery place this morning. And maybe we can’t know whether taking one route oranother home today will change history. But we can think long and hard about howthe small choices we make can lead to big things, and how the small steps wetake, can bring us ever closer to God. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for 10th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-08-16T21:26:00.002-05:00

Readings for 15th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/21/11:
Exodus 1:8-2:10, Psalm 124, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20

Exodus 1:8-2:10:

"Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph . . ." This is a great opening to explain how people once joined to Egypt under Joseph's protection because slaves of those same people - history was forgotten. We forget history, even today, even with all of our technology and archiving and ways to preserve - we forget what has happened, and act in ignorance.
Could you be like the midwives? I admire their bravery. Perhaps we think it would be easy to refuse to kill these newborns, but commanded by the King? They were disobeying orders from the highest level - that takes courage.

Psalm 124:

"If it had not been the Lord who was on our side" - whose side is God on? Is God always on our side? Is God always on the winning side? We want God to be on our side, but we'd do better to seek to be on God's side of things...
this psalm is in thanks to God for escape from enemies. I've never had to literally flee from enemies, but I can relate, figuratively, to what the psalmist is feeling. From what dangerous persons/situations have you escaped by God's grace?

Romans 12:1-8:

"Do not be conformed to this world" - so many ways to take that, aren't there? We're called to be somehow different than others who have not known and embraced the grace that God offers all of us. What difference has God's grace made in your life? If your life is no different than anyone else's, what does that say?
Many gifts, one body of Christ. What is your gift? Are you using your gifts? How are you helping others find and use their gifts? Do you let others know how valuable their gifts are?
Not only are we members of the body of Christ, but we are "members one of another" - I've never noticed that phrase before. In Christ's body, I'm a member of you, and you are a member of me. Do we live like we believe that?

Matthew 16:13-20:

"Who do you say that I am?" When all is said and done, Jesus cares more about how each of us answers that question individually than he does about how others answer that question from our viewpoint. Who is he to you? What is your answer?
In a way, answering this question is the sign of mature faith. We can't let others answer for us, let others' answers stand as our own answers. We have to decide, we have to say it and claim it and live who Jesus is. It's powerful, answering for ourselves.
Jesus shows us the power of knowing in the power he gives to Peter. Why not tell others he was the Messiah? Perhaps it is because we all have to come to that answer on our own - we can't be told - we have to find our own answers.

Sermon for Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, ʺJoseph, Part IIʺ

2011-08-16T21:24:00.000-05:00

Sermon 8/14/11

Genesis 45:1-15

Sunday School Stories: Joseph, Part II

Todaywe hear the end of Joseph's saga, at least as the Bible records, but wemiss a lot of the middle section. So let me fill you in, or remind you, of whathappened, after we left Joseph, sold into slavery to Ishmaelites by hisbrothers last week. Joseph's brothers let Jacob, his father, believe Joseph hasbeen killed by a wild animal. Meanwhile, Joseph is sold as a slave to Potiphar,the captain of the Pharaoh's – the king of Egypt's guard. Things go well forJoseph, though, in spite of circumstances. The scriptures read: ʺThe Lord waswith Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of hisEgyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lordcaused all that he did to prosper in his hands.ʺ Joseph, though a slave, makesa place for himself in Potipharʹs house, and because God is with Joseph, Potipharis also blessed.

But Potipharʹs wife, one of the many unnamed women of theBible, pursues Joseph, and wants to have sex with him. Joseph refuses, and whenhe does, she sets it up to look like Joseph was trying to attack her. Potipharis enraged, and throws Joseph into prison. While in prison, the Pharaoh'scupbearer and baker are also thrown into prison. There, they both have strangedreams, and Joseph, familiar with dreams, is able to interpret them. The bakerwill be put to death, but the cupbearer will be restored to his position with thePharaoh. It happens just as Joseph predicts. But instead of helping Joseph getfree of jail, the cupbearer forgets his story. That is, until the Pharaohbegins having strange dreams himself. Suddenly, the cupbearer remembers thestrange man that interpreted his dreams long ago. Pharaoh sends for Joseph, andJoseph listens to and explains his dreams, saying it isn’t he but God who isinterpreting. Essentially, Pharaoh's dreams are foretelling seven years ofplenty followed by seven years of famine. But with this knowledge, Joseph leadsEgypt through careful planning, becoming Pharaoh's right hand man, and Egypt isin good shape when the famine comes.

However, Jacob and his sons have not fared so well, and theyeventually make their way to Egypt, with the brothers unknowingly seekingfavors from Joseph, who they sold into slavery and claimed was dead. Josephrecognizes them, but they don’t recognize him. It’s as good as a soap opera,really. It involves Joseph framing one of the brothers for theft, Reuben againbeing the only sensible one, and Joseph weeping repeatedly and loudly, buteventually we hit our passage for today, where Joseph reveals himself: I amJoseph. I am your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Don’t be upset because ofwhat you did, because God sent me here in order to save you. After this, and after the brothers affirm that Joseph reallyreally forgives them and isn’t just waiting until their father dies to getrevenge on them all, Joseph concludes in the final chapter of Genesis with whatI think is the key verse in his story. He says, ʺEven though you intended to doharm to me, God intended it for good.ʺ

Last week, we talked about how God uses people that are,well – questionable characters sometimes. We thought about those whom God callsand we wonder what God is up to, and I hope we also wondered about the grace ofGod that calls even us, as much as we can be pains in the butt like young Joseph.But this week, I think our story pushes us to ask even harder questions. Theconclusion of Joseph's story brings us a decidedly grown-up and matured Joseph,a Joseph who is able, without hesitation, to forgive his family for what he hasendured, and to look over his life and see God at work in every place. Josephkeeps saying things like: ʺFor God sent me before you to preserve life. Godsent me before you to preserve you for a remnant on earth. It was not you who sentme here, but God. God has made me afather to Pharaoh,ʺ and finally, what I think is the sum of how Joseph feels,ʺEven though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good.ʺ

Joseph's story is a story of incredible forgiveness.Joseph grows up and he isn’t now who he used to be. He has been changed. Histime as a slave, his time in prison, his time in a foreign land – all of this hasmade Joseph into a real leader, grounded, serious, looking beyond his ownwelfare. Sometimes when we have been wronged by someone, or had a bad orpainful experience with someone, we're unable to let them ever be anything otherthan the person that once hurt us. Often, we don’t leave space forreconciliation and healing in our relationships. Joseph doesn’t end up as thebratty kid he started out as. What if we could only ever see him that way?

Youmight know that I've been keeping a journal since fifth grade. Every once in awhile, I like to look back and read what I've said through the years. It givesme hope, knowing that we change and mature. Not just from childhood to adulthood,but I also like looking over my years of ministry and seeing changes from myfirst year to this, my ninth year in ministry! Some patterns are the same, some things I still struggle with – but thankGod, change is possible. We don’t always have to be stuck in the brokenpatterns of our lives. So where we have wronged, and where we have beenwronged, we have to believe that with God's help, we don’t stand still in themidst of our sins. We move on and beyond to where God calls us. The riftbetween Joseph and his brothers – who would think that it could ever beconquered? Who would think that they would ever meet again and not want to killeach other, but instead meet with tears of joy? But this forgiveness comes onlywhen we believe that God can work as much in the lives of those that have hurtus as God can in our own lives.

And for Joseph, forgiveness happens because of his beliefthat God has been involved in, and in fact was shaping everything that happenedto him. And here is where we hit the hard questions. This idea is called God's Providence– the idea that God is shaping and guiding our destiny. Joseph sees that God hada plan for him all along – if his brothers hadn’t sold him into slavery, maybethey would have all starved together during the famine, right? Skeptics amongus might wonder though – couldn’t God have just figured out a different way?Did Joseph have to be a slave in order to grow up and save his family?

For me, this is where understanding God as a parent ismost helpful. And here I mean not the parent like Jacob who clearly has a mostfavorite child. But God the parent who has endless love for all of us. Parents,can you prevent every bad thing from happening to your child? You might wish itwith all your heart and soul, but you know it isn’t possible. And you certainlycan’t prevent your children from making some dumb choices, can you? In fact, you know it would be best if youdidn’t prevent them, sometimes, right? Although I often tease people that theirlife would be better if I could just make decisions for them, I know that isn’ttrue. Because what is life, really, if we don’t have choices? If we don’t haveany decisions to make? We don’t want to stay babies forever, and we don’t wantto stay spiritual babies either. And God doesn’t want that for us either,anymore than you would want your children never to grow into their whole,independent, wonderful, unique selves, even as they drive you crazy along theway.

But what you do want, what you can do, is be there allalong the way, ready to help in every crisis, looking for ways to make the bestout of your child’s mistakes and sins, looking for ways to turn awfulsituations into situations of hope and maybe even joy. And hopefully your childrenwill know they can depend on you, and trust you, and listen to you once in a while!God's intents for us are always good. And God never leaves us or forsakes us. But neither does God seek to makeus into babies, never able to make our own (sometimes bad) choices. Whatever wemake of our lives, though, God is always willing to take the pieces and show uswhat they can become, when we work together, when we are willing to follow therisky path God lays out for us.

Bad things happening to us isn’t God abandoning us, butGod freeing us to live in the world and choose what we will be and who we willbecome, instead of God deciding it all for us. And God's Providence, God guiding us isn’t God controlling us.Providence is knowing that God always intends good for us, and that God canalways take our brokenness, and call us to wholeness. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Lectionary Notes for Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

2011-08-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

Readings for 9th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/14/11:
Genesis 45:1-15, Psalm 133, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32, Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

Genesis 45:1-15:

This is a great story of forgiveness. Is it a story of redemption too? After all, though Joseph is quite moved to see his brothers, the only word we get about how they feel is "dismayed." OK, he did trick them over Benjamin and stealing, but they sold him into slavery and said he was dead! Overall, Joseph's forgiveness seems quite impressive, and it is never asked for by his brothers.
Anyway, I think that forgiving those we love the most, or we had expected the most form, is the hardest kind of forgiveness to give. But the most needed. What enables you to be ready to forgive, even when those you must forgive aren't ready to repent?

Psalm 133:

Short and sweet?! Check out Chris Haslam's notes on this Psalm. The image of Aaron's beard dripping with oil signifies total consecration to God.
Haslam also notes the connection between this Psalm and our Genesis text in that verse 1 here declares, "how very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity."

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32:

"for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." That is a powerful verse. irrevocable=irreversible, can't be taken back, or taken away. That means that God does not un-gift us or un-call us. We are gifted, and we are called. We can wish we were not connected to God in this way. We can reject our gifts, ignore our call, but we can't get rid of them.
"so that [God] may be merciful to all." Paul's logic here is ... interesting. He suggests that God 'imprisons' us in disobedience so that God can show us mercy. I'm not sure I agree with Paul on his take of God's motivations. But I like his inclusive vision of God's mercy - it is for all.
Paul is interested in showing God's continued special relationship with Israel (the irrevocable relationship) at the same time as he wants to convince his Gentile audience that they can have a special relationship with God too.

Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28:

What comes out of our mouths and not what goes in that defiles. We forget this one, even today. We may not follow kosher food laws today, but we are worried in different ways. Sometimes Christians want to shelter themselves from the 'evils' of the world, and especially from others judged unclean, instead of examining themselves for right hearts.
The second part of this text is one we have a harder time dealing with. "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs," and "he did not answer her at all." - These are hard sentences to construct in a way flattering to Jesus. I don't have good answers. I don't want to explain away Jesus' words by trying to translate the Greek differently. Was Jesus just joking with the woman? I don't see it. What I see is a woman who is as persistent as the widow Jesus tells a parable about elsewhere in the gospels, and she receives her reward. And what I see is a Jesus who is focused on the mission he sees: to the Jews - who lets his own vision be expanded. The woman shows him a way to spread more grace.
Even with his resistance, we can be comforted that Jesus heard her out, despite his apparent skepticism: the disciples wanted to send her away, but Jesus heard her, and really listened, until he recognized great faith in one whom he did not expect to find it.