Joelle's Sermons

2 Epiphany , Lectionary 2, B January 15, 2011

2012-01-17T11:15:00.000-06:00


The Call of Samuel Sir Joshua Reynolds 1776

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’ and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, ‘Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, my son; lie down again.’ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfil against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house for ever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering for ever.’
Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, ‘Samuel, my son.’ He said, ‘Here I am.’ Eli said, ‘What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.’ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’
As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.
I Samuel 3:1-20

The theme of all of our texts today is the call of God. What does it mean to be called? How do we recognize the voice of God calling? Why is God calling me? What does God want me to do? What if I can’t do it? This is the line of questioning that often ends up with the conclusion that God cannot possibly be calling me and even if he is, he’s making a big mistake because I probably cannot do whatever it is he’s calling me to do. Why is it that the idea of being called by God is met by doubt, fear and skepticism, when it should be met with enthusiasm, gratitude and trust? It is a good question to ponder on the morning of your Annual Meeting.

See, I think we romanticize the stories we know of God’s call. We imagine stories of God calling heroes, brave, wise, good people who heed God’s call with deeds of bravery, accomplish great things and enjoy amazing success. Most of us are not brave, downplay our accomplishments and don’t always feel successful. No wonder we doubt God’s wisdom in trusting us with any of his work.

But our romantic notions of heroes being called by God have nothing to do with the biblical story of God’s call. God calls ordinary people. God calls inexperienced people. God calls weak, fearful and even incompetent people to do his work. And that is good news!

Look at our story from Samuel. The word of the Lord was rare in those days, the story goes. Visions were not widespread. It is a sad time for Israel. But it is also an exciting time because God is going to change all of that. It is a time of transition for Israel. People are going to hear from God again.

The word of the Lord was rare in those days. So that when God did speak to a little boy in the temple, he had no idea it was God. Now Samuel’s ignorance can be looked over, he’s just a child after all. But the priest the man whose job it is to listen for the word of the Lord and alter others to the word of the Lord, Eli doesn’t recognize the word of the Lord right away either.

The word of the Lord was rare in those days. I don’t know if that is true today. I know a lot of people claim to have the word of the Lord. There is a lot of talk about God these days. A lot of the so-called God talk doesn’t seem to ring true. People talk God but do they live God?

Maybe the word of the Lord is not so rare today but what is rare is people who truly heed and do the word of the Lord. When people don’t heed the word of the Lord and live the word of the Lord, other people don’t hear the word of the Lord. When you don’t answer the call of God, other people do not hear the Word of the Lord. When you don't heed the call of God, the Word of the Lord becomes rare.

Eli was the experienced priest but Eli is old and tire. Eli has worthless and dishonest sons. Eli’s eyes are growing dim. But lest we be too hard on Eli, it says “the map of God had not yet gone out." Eli kept the lamp of God lit in the temple. The lamp symbolized the presence of God –it is from this practice that we have the eternal light. Eli kept that lamp lit and that small act of keeping the light lit showed that Eli still had hope, still did what he could, despite the fact that the word of the Lord was rare, despite the fact that visions were not widespread, despite the fact that he was old and blind, he still kept the light lit so that people could see that light and know that God was still with his people. Eli’s time is about up, but he is still answering the call of God. And although it takes a few times to figure it out, it is Eli who realizes that God is speaking to Samuel. And it is Eli who teaches the child Samuel how to listen for God and how to respond to God. God is calling the child, Samuel to a new mission, but the young Samuel still needs the old Eli to teach him how to listen and respond to God.

Do not dismiss Eli because he is old and blind and tired. He has kept the light of God burning in a land that has become blind to God. God calls Samuel but Eli responds to his own call to teach the boy how to answer God’s call.

And the first word that Samuel is given is that Eli’s time is over. The prophecy of judgment is against Elis’s sons who are corrupt, but it is also over for Eli. The religious institutions of Israel need to be reformed and Eli does not have what it takes to do it.

Some of us in this world an time will be Samuel, young and innocent and called by God to do something new and exciting, to bring a word from God that will make the ears of all who hear it tingle.

Some of us in this world and time will be Eli. Maybe it is because I am older and entrenched in the established religious institutions that I have some sympathy for Eli. After teaching the boy Samuel how to hear God’s word, he has to hear from the boy his own judgment from God. And it is a mark of his faith that he takes in all humility and accepts the will of God. “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him” He doesn’t try to justify himself. He doesn’t try to fight and hold on to his power. We don’t hear again from him in the story.

I know we would all rather be Samuel but there is something to be learned from Eli in graciously recognizing that there is a shift of power and responsibility. Sometimes our call is to step aside and make way for someone else who has heard the call of God.

Whatever it is, we are all called by God. We are not called because we are holy or good or brave or successful. God is calling us because he wants us. God wants us to trust God, not our own goodness or courage or abilities. Whether we are Samuel or Eli, or Peter or Nathanial, God is calling us to something wonderful. It’s not wonderful because we are wonderful; it’s wonderful because it is of God. We are not called simply to say the word Jesus all the time, but to live the love and forgiveness of Jesus. And when we live the love and forgiveness of Jesus, the word of the Lord will never be rare and visions will always be widespread. That is good news. Amen.

Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year B, December 18, 2011

2011-12-18T18:22:00.000-06:00

"Joyful Mystery" James B Janknegt

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." ²⁹But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." ³⁴Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" ³⁵The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. ³⁶And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God." ³⁸Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26–38

In our First reading, David wants to build God a house. God has been dwelling in a tabernacle, a traveling tent and David doesn’t think that is good enough for God. All the gods of his neighboring countries have nice houses. David thinks HIS God should have a nice house too.

Now at first this offer of David to build a temple for god seems very generous. And how pious of David to want to build God an extravagant temple. And at first the prophet Nathan tells him to go ahead. But upon further reflection, Nathan returns to David with a different message from God. “Did I ask for a house?” God asks. “No”

Who did David really want to build the temple for? For God who did not ask for one? Or for himself so everyone could look at this great achievement? For himself so he could compete with other kings and their big temples for their gods.

God is not impressed with David’s grandiose plans. God has no desire to settle down. God will not be domesticated. God will not be tamed and made to be predictable. God is on the move. God’s dwelling place is with people. And God is not predictable.

The building is not God’s house because of the way it is built or because of its furnishings. There is nothing special about anything in this building. God is not here because it is God’s house. God is here because we are here and we are gathered here to worship. There is nothing special about his building or the furnishings in and of themselves. They are special because of the purpose they serve in how we use them to worship God. God doesn’t dwell here in this building waiting for us to come to him. God comes with us from our homes, from our families, form our workplaces, with us, into this building. Just as god said to David, “I have been with you wherever you went.” (2 Sam9)

God does not want David to build him a house. Instead God promise to establish a house with David. “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever”

No doubt David was looking for some immortality when he was thinking of building God a temple. What better way to be remembered than building a great temple to God. God promises David that his reign will be remembered and even last forever. But the promise would not be fulfilled in a way anyone could have expected.

The kings who followed David were mostly disappointments. David experienced a lot of strive and tragedy in his own family. But the line continues until we get to a carpenter named Joseph. Who chose a young woman named Mary for his wife.

And then the story takes a very unpredictable twist. The David line is traced through Joseph’s family. But Joseph will not be related biologically to the next king.

We are set up by our Old Testament lesson to think of kings and thrones.

And then an angel comes to a poor young girl living in a small, dusty, non important town called Nazareth.

“Greeting, favored one! The Lord is with you!”

That is the way one would greet a queen. Mary is greeted like a queen by an angel. That’s what it means when it says Mary pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Mary seems to be not so much perplexed by the fact there is an angel in her home, but that an angel is treating her like a queen. She doesn’t know that God is about to make her a queen. She is the one chose by god to bear the Prince of Princes.

Mary is not particularly amazed or shocked at the news that she will bear the son of God. She’s more confused by the fact that she is going to have a child at all. She may be young, but she is engaged to be married and she knows where babies come from and since this baby is apparently not coming the way most babies come she wants to know how this is going to happen. The angel explains it to her and she accepts it.

She accepts it all. She accepts that she is going to have a son that will not just be her baby but that will belong to the world. She accepts that God will use her to bring a Savior to world. She accepts that she will become pregnant. She accepts that she will be pregnant and unmarried in a Middle Eastern culture. She accepts that God will take care of her and her child and that this is all good news.

Because we are so familiar with this story and because in our culture having babies without husbands has become so accepted I don’t think we can appreciate how truly troublesome this news could have been for her. To be pregnant and engaged to a man who was not the father were grounds for being stoned to death. Girls are killed and imprisoned to this day in that part of the world for this.

But Mary believes that it will all turn out for the good. Mary trusts God. To, me that is the miracle of Mary’s faith and obedience. It is not so amazing that she believed it was possible for God cause her to conceive a child without a man. Truth faith does not just believe in miracles. True faith is trusting that God is in charge and that it will all work out for the good. And the true test of faith is believing that it will be all right when it doesn’t look that way at the time.

Mary, single and pregnant in a culture that had no tolerance for single mothers, had plenty of reason to fear and doubt. She did neither. She trusted that God would take care of her. She trusted that it would all turn out well.

And it did. Now that doesn’t mean that Mary had an easy life. She had plenty of other situations to test her faith. When she gave birth to Jesus, she must have had some thoughts along the lines of “If this baby is really so special, then what are we doing in this cow stall?” Mary had to give her son up to the world. Jesus was not just her little boy and that could not have been easy. And she had to kneel at the foot of his cross and watch her son, her little boy, her baby, die for the sake of the world. But her faith that it would all turn out well was not in vain and Mary is named as being in the upper room praying with disciples after Jesus rose from the dead.

God is with us. In the houses we build for him but also out in the world and in the places in our lives where it is most difficult to believe it will all work out. God is there, promising us it will work out for the good.

When you find yourself in that place where it looks hopeless, where you cannot imagine any solution, any escape, any light, remember Mary and what it must have looked like for her, alone and pregnant and how she was able to trust God. And how it did work out for her. For her and the world. Amen

Christ the King Sunday A, November 20, 2011

2011-11-20T12:57:00.001-06:00

³¹When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' ⁴⁴Then they also will
answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46

Christ the King Sunday is the final day of the church year when we celebrate Christ’s Lordship over the whole universe and look forward to the day when all will recognize Christ’s rule.

On this day especially we acknowledge Christ as the King of all creation. But Jesus does not meet our preconceived notions of what a king is. As we follow a three year cycle of gospel readings, each year the lessons for this day comes as a surprise to us. Last year the Gospel lesson was from Luke, where we see Jesus, humbled and beaten, on trial before Pilate, pronouncing that his kingship is not of this world. Next year, our ext from Mark will describe Jesus on the cross with a mocking sign over him declaring his crime to be King of the Jews.

Today’s Gospel from Matthew suggests that in Christ’s Kingdom, greatness is not defined by wealth and power, but in simple acts of kindness and mercy.

The end and beginning of the church brings our attention to the coming day of the Lord, which will be a day of judgment as well as a day of salvation. Today Jesus tells us what judgment will look like. And it turns out to be a surprise for everyone.

Jesus uses a familiar scene to describe the Day of Judgment. To this day it is common in the Middle East to allow sheep and goats to graze together during the day. At night however, because they have different needs for warmth, they are separated.

One of the themes we find in Matthew is about how the righteous and unrighteous live together in the world. God and bad exist together in our world and just when we get discouraged and fear there will be no accounting, no justice, Jesus promises that there will be an accounting, a separation of the righteous from the unrighteous. But it is a judgment of surprise.

It is surprisingly simple. It does not have to do with your career or occupation. It has nothing to do with how hard you worked, or how successful you where, how long you lived, what your background was, how popular you were or even what church you belonged to.

It has only to do with the small simple common needs of kindness you offered on behalf of others, done without any though for reward, done so naturally, so without thought that they were easily forgotten. The judgment is a surprise both to those who showed concern for the needy as well as those who ignored the needy.

“Lord when did we see you needy” These acts may have been forgotten by those who did them or those who refused to do them, but they are not so easily forgotten by the One who either received or was denied these acts. “As you did it for one of these least of mine, you did it for me”

Now this passage can be difficult for those of us who believe that our salvation does not depend upon what we do but on our trust in Christ. We do read in other places in Scripture that we are saved by grace through faith alone.

Some people even misremember this passage and will quote this as proof that non-Christians are going to hell. The Christians are the sheep and everyone else is going to eternal punishment.

But Jesus is not talking about non-believers in this passage. This is a lesson for believers. There are believers who gave Christ food when he was hungry, gave him shelter when he was homeless, visited him when he was sick and in prison. There are believers who showed him kindness and there are believers who did not show him kindness. Of course, neither believer knew that it was Christ to whom they were helping or ignoring. But they were all believers.

So is Jesus suggesting that we earn our salvation by our actions after all? Is the ticket to heaven to feed the hungry and clothe the naked? Nope. That is not the answer. The very question, “When, Lord did we see you…” shows that they are acts done without any thought of reward. They are done as a consequence of our relationships with God.

We do not and cannot bring about a relationship with God through our acts, no matter how good and noble they may be. God has done that through Jesus.

But there is a natural consequence to how we live in response to that relationship. Our relationship with Christ changes us. Or faith will be expressed in the way in which we live. Jesus is saying that there is something very wrong when people say “Lord, Lord” but then do not live their lives the way he teaches us to live. Those who come to church and sing hymns and say nice prayers and talk about Jesus all the time, but then ignore the needs of those in need around them are not believers at all. They are in for a surprise at the final judgment.

At the time Jesus was talking to the religious leaders of the day. Nobody was more religious than they were. They said Lord Lord all the time with reverence. They followed all the religious and moral laws. AT the same time they did their very best to avoid being contaminated by the very people Jesus had come to save, the sinner, the leper, the poor, the outcast.

When they heard “I was hungry and you gave me no food” they could not understand. They could not comprehend seeing a savior in the face of the poor. They called themselves believers but the truth was, they did not believe in a God of compassion and mercy. They expected a Messiah who would judge sinners, not someone who would eat with sinners. “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to the least of these, you did not to it to me” was a surprise judgment.

This is the surprise judgment. If you believe in and worship a God of judgment and condemnation you will ignore him when he comes to you in the face of the needy, and you will end up in hell. Because that is what hell is. Hell is the place where there is no kindness, no mercy, and no love.

If you believe and trust in a God of mercy and compassion and love, you will be loving and compassionate and merciful. As Martin Luther wrote, “A Christian does works of kindness as naturally as the sun shines, a fruit tree bears fruit and three plus four equals seven”

It all begins with God and what he has done for us but it makes a difference in our lives. We love because God first loved us. Therefore our lives are filled with acts of love for others. And at the last when we hear “Come you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcome me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me”; it will be indeed a judgment of surprise.

Amen.

Lectionary 33, November 13, 2011

2011-11-13T15:13:00.000-06:00

Deborah the prophetess urges Barak to raise an army and give battle to the army of Jabin Marc Chagall

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, after Ehud died. ²So the LORD sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. ³Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

⁴At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. ⁵She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. ⁶She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, "The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you, 'Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. ⁷I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.'"

Judges 4:1-7

Today our lessons point us toward the end of times, when Christ will return to establish his Kingdom and holds us all accountable. But although our lessons look ahead to the future return of Christ, what they are really about is “How are we to live in the meantime?

The answer from all of our lessons is that we are to live with courage and trust in God.

As a model of courage and trust in God I’d like to go to our First lesson in Judges. The time of the Judges was really a time of chaos for God’s people. They had not real leader. They would wander away from trusting in God, be conquered and oppressed by neighboring tribes and peoples, call out to God, who would raise up for them a leader or judge who would lead them to defeat their enemies, they would get complacent and the cycle would start all over again.

What is a little different about today’s’ story form Judges is that the leader God raise dup to save the people this time was a woman. Our story begins with Deborah sitting under a tree and people coming to her for “judgment” which means they recognized her as someone who was wise and just and they would come to her and ask her for advice and trust her to resolve disputes with their neighbors. Deborah is apparently also a prophet because she sends a word from God to the military leader Barak that he is to raise an army and fight the King of Canaanites who have oppressed the Israelites for the last twenty years. Deborah tells him that the Lord has promised him victory.

Now this is where our lessons ends…but the story goes on of course. Barak has the promise of God that he will win this battle but Barak says to Deborah. I will do that if you go with me. Otherwise I’m not doing it”

This is really quite an amazing story for its time. This is a few thousand years ago. So long ago that not all societies even have iron. That why it mentions that the Canaanite king had chariots of iron and was able to oppresse the Israelites. The Israelites do not have iron. You try to fight an army of 900 chariots of iron if you don’t’ have access to iron.

But Barak has something better than iron. He has god’s promise of victory. But that is not enough for Barak. He wants Deborah to lead his men into battle. He’s a great military leader and he won’t go into battle without bringing a woman with him. Perhaps he saw her as some sort of good luck charm. Barak is afraid and God’s promise is not enough to quell his fears. We are talking about 900 chariots of iron after all. Barak just can’t trust God’s promise, but he can see that Deborah clearly hears the word of God and knows he needs someone like that around. Sometimes that is the way it is. Sometimes things look so bleak you can’t quite believe the good news yourself so you cling to the proclamation of another believer. That’s why God has entrusted us to share the good news. There are people out there who just can’t quite trust God’s promises, but they will trust you when you tell them God loves them. Sometimes we just need to lean on one another’s faith.

So Deborah agrees to go along. This is not what women usually do in Bible times. But she agree agrees to lead Barak’s troops into battle because she knows God has promised them victory. So off they go to confront the Canaanite general Sisera and his iron chariots.

Now imagine was a fearful sight that looked like to Barak and his troops. And this word of encouragement from Deborah:

“Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand! The Lord is indeed going out before you” And so Barak and his armies attack. Then it says that “the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak; Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot”

So much for his fine iron chariot. It is n match for God. Sisera is reduced to running away on foot, when his army is defeated by Barak and Deborah.

Sisera ends up at the tent of Jael, the wife of a supposed friend of the Canaanites. She is no dummy. She sees Sisera fleeing g on foot and figure if she helps him it will not go well for her and her people when Barak finds out. So she sweetly invites him into his tent, feeds him drugged milk and kills him in his sleep and hands him over to Barak and Deborah. This defeat leads eventually to the end of the Canaanite King who has been cruelly oppressing the Israelites and it ends that “the land had rest for forty years”

Now why oh why am I preaching on such a violent story? Well it’s in the lectionary. It’s in the Bible, it’s about a woman, and it’s a great story. All good reasons to preach. But it also fits the theme as to how to we live in the time before Jesus comes back to do away with the evil and violence and injustice that exists today. Or how to we live when we are in-between permanent pastors? And the answer from Judges is that we trust God and we work together. Some of us at time shear the voice of God clearly and we go and do what we are called to do courageously, confident of God’s promise. Sometimes we look around at the stresses and worries and injustice of the world and it is as overwhelming to us as it was when Barak faced those 900 chariots of iron. But he at least was smart enough not face them alone and he had the encouragement of Deborah to say to him “Up! This is the day God is going to save you. Go for it! God is with you. Trust me! Trust God!” They didn’t’ do it alone. We are not called to do it alone. The servant in our Gospel lesson thought he was on his own and he feared his masters so he just went off by himself and dug a hole to play it safe. If these lessons tell us anything it is that we are not called to play it safe. Whatever we have been called to do, God has given us what we need to do it. God promises to be with us and also gives us the gift of community so that we are never alone. As Paul says in I Thessalonians “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as indeed you are doing.

You never know when you are going to be the one to encourage someone facing down their iron chariots. Amen.

All Saints Sunday, November 6, 2011

2011-11-06T17:52:00.000-06:00

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:1-11

The feast of All Saints is a celebration of Christian community...a remembrance of all the faithful who have gone before us and well as a time to lift up our life now together as a community of believers.

On this day, we hear again, the beatitudes--the teachings of Jesus on the mount of how we are to live as God’s people on earth...and what kind of a life and attitude will bring blessing.

Today I hold up one of the blessings - “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)

Traditionally we remember on this day, those we have known and loved who have died in the past year. And thinking of them again, may bring fresh mourning, but that really is not what this day is about. Even as we remember those we have had to say goodbye to, the idea is not to mourn their parting again. This is a day of celebration and thanksgiving for their lives, a day to rejoice because we know they join the saints of all times and places, and to proclaim our hope and confidence, that we too will join them someday.

No, we do not mourn the saints today. What do we mourn?

Jesus, in his sermon, was referring to those who mourn the sins of Israel. He is speaking to those who long to see the people of God live the way God intended and who grieve deeply when God’s people turn away from their God.

Saints, mourn the state of our world. How can we not grieve when we see how far the world has fallen from the goodness and beauty and justice God intended us to live in?

Saints mourn that the will of God is often frustrated and obscured in this world. Saints mourn that people turn their back on God.

Saints mourn that humans hurt one another.

It is God’s will that there be goodness and justice in the world. But human beings have the free will to either follow God’s will or to thwart God’s will. Evil is not God’s will. Evil occurs when people turn their back on God’s will. When that occurs saints grieve. Saints grieve evil in the world. And in their grief, in our grief, we are blessed.

Jesus mourned and grieved. As that strong young man arrived in Jerusalem and looked around, he mourned:

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37)

Then, instead of turning and walking away, he went on the city to do what only he could do - he took his sins upon his shoulders and went willingly to the cross. His mourning for the world led him to the cross.

All Saints Day was first celebrated to remember all the martyrs—saints who were killed for their faith. Saints whose mourning for the world led them to sacrifice their lives. Blessed are those who mourn.

God promises comfort to those who mourn. For those of us who mourn our own failure to be the people God created us to be, God comforts and heals our grief with forgiveness renewal. When we mourn the evil, greed, injustice and cruelty to this world, God comforts us with hope. There is a better way, a better life, a better world.

Christians grieve, but we do not grieve as those without hope. We have the promise of the saints, known and unknown, famous and loved one, waiting for us in a better world. A city that does not need the sun or mood to shine for God gives it light. A City where there is no night, no hunger, no grief, no tears.

But today we have God’s comfort and hope even before we reach that better world. There is a better way and a better life for us right now. We have the example of the saints before us to encourage and strengthen us in that better life.

According to Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

Blessed are those who mourn. But this is not a day for mourning. This is a day to celebrate all the saints who have mourned the empty promises of this world in favor of the promise of God.

By following Christ they turned the world upside-down. Their achieve aim was not to live a long life, but a faithful life. We celebrate them, all of them, the great ones we’ve heard about, the simple faithful witness of loved ones, parents and grandparents, as well as the untold unknown numbers, not because they were reach or powerful or famous but because they blazed the trail for us. They are alive in Christ and they continue to be interested in our welfare.

This day is a celebration of what our ancestors have meant to us, how their lives have enriched ours and how our communion with one another in Christ reaches even beyond the grave.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Amen.

Lectionary 28, October 9, 2011

2011-10-09T18:42:00.001-05:00

"The Wedding Feast" by Kazakhstan Artist Nelly Bube

Matthew 22:1-14

“The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son..” Jesus begins this familiar parable. The parable Jesus told would have reminded his hearers of another banquet in scripture:

On this mountain the LORD of host will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wines, of rich food with marrow, of well-aged vines strained clear. (Isaiah 25:6)

      This text from Isaiah is actually about God’s judgment. The understanding is that Israel- God’s people, will enjoy this feast and all the other nations will be destroyed.     In the story Jesus tells, there is a feast like the one God will hold for his people-but the people who are invited to this great feast refuse to come.
      “But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business”
      But they made light of it. Jesus is turning the story of God’s feast for his people around. Yes, God prepared you this feat and everything is here and ready. But you made light of it.
      God has rich food he wants to feed us. God has rich gifts he wants to bestow upon us. “But they made light of it” Does this have any application for us today? Has not God prepared us a feast of rich food and gifts and only invites us to come? Come and worship? Come and feast upon His Word and Sacrament. Come and be fed and strengthened and comforted and refreshed. Everything has been prepared. Come. Come and participate and be part of the Kingdom. Come and be part of the church, part of the community.
      But they made light of it and went about their business. Had the nobles been invited to so many wedding feasts that they took them for granted? Well if we miss this party, there will always be another party to go to. If I don’t come to worship this Sunday, there is always next Sunday. If I don’t support the ministry of my congregation, there is always someone else who will.
      They made light of it and went about their business.
      Not only do they refuse to come. They are hostile and violent to the very one who is inviting them to the feast. And if there was any doubt who Jesus was talking about the story goes on to tell how the King decided he was going to have a party and if the rich and powerful people he invited didn’t come, he’d go and bring in people off the streets.
      “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests”
      If this is a story about the Kingdom of God it is a shocking story. Everyone is gathered into the Kingdom. Really? Everyone? Both the good and the bad? That’s a pretty shocking idea.
      Everyone is invited and gathered into the party. You don’t have to be the right kind of person. You don’t have to do anything to get into the party. Just show up. And in fact, the one throwing the party comes and gets you and brings you to the party.
      Now when Jesus tells this parable in Luke, that is the end of it. All the poor and outcast and sinners are gathered into the banquet. That is the version we like to tell. That is the version the kids sing in “I cannot come to banquet”
      But in Matthew that is not the end of the story. Someone is not dressed properly and he is thrown out of the party, into the darkness where there is gnashing of teeth. This seems rather harsh. I mean, he was just picked up off the street, how is he supposed to be expected to have the right clothes?
      Well this is how. In those days, in that culture, wedding garments were provided to the guests by the family throwing the party. They were special robes.   The robes made everyone part of the celebration. You couldn’t tell by how people dressed who was richer or had more status. Everyone was just there to celebrate the wedding. To refuse to wear the garments was an insult to the family and was to say you thought you were better than everyone else.
      Ah. So someone has come to the party and doesn’t want to accept the gift of the wedding garment. Just like the first nobles invited, he thinks he is too good to accept the hospitality of his host.
      Don’t show up to the Kingdom thinking that it is what you bring that makes you worthy of being in the kingdom. That is the kind of attitude that will find you back on the outside. In Matthew’s day those who were baptized were given a white robe to wear. The white robe symbolized their new life in the community of faith.
      This parable is like last week’s parable. While it seems harsh, the harshness is for those who would refuse God’s grace and try to approach the Kingdom on their own terms.   That won’t cut it. Everything from God comes to us as a gift.   Everyone is invited to the party. You got invited through no act of goodness or morality or decision of your own. It is only the SHEER generosity of God that has brought us here. We do not have to bring our own robe of goodness. That’s what got that fellow into trouble. It wasn’t that his robe was not good enough; it was that he refused the robe offered to him. He thought what he could bring himself was good enough. That is what gets us in trouble. When we think what we have is good enough and we don’t need to rely on God’s grace and forgiveness. God has thrown us a party and even gives us the party clothes. Just put on the robe and join the party. Amen.

10th Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 21 August 21, 2011 Year A

2011-08-21T17:25:00.002-05:00

Pharaohs Daughter Finding Baby Moses, 1855 Konstantin Flavitsky

Exodus 1:8—2:10

The book of Genesis ends with Jacob’s family relocating to Goshen in Egypt, and this is where Joseph is buried. God’s promise to Joseph’s great-grandfather, Abraham, that he will be the father of a great nation has been fulfilled as his family grows and prospers in Egypt. But that was only part of God’s promise. Goshen, Egypt is not the land that God has promised to Abraham and his children. The book of Exodus which we begin today is the story of how God fulfilled the second part of his promise to the children of Abraham.

The story of Joseph full of highs and lows and ups and downs for Joseph and his family ends on a high note. Joseph is considered a hero in Egypt for saving the nation from starvation and he and his family are well regarded.

But as we open the book of Exodus several hundred years later, we find things have changed. Joseph has been forgotten. Egypt was very good at forgetting their history. If a Pharaoh followed a Pharaoh who was more successful or who did things he didn’t like, he would simply have all references to that Pharaoh erased. Egyptian history writings say nothing of battles they lost. So there’s no record of Joseph and his work left. All that’s left are these foreigners. People, who look different, act different, stick to themselves, and who keep having more and children. Worse than that, they are successful. They are a threat. They are an easy target for everything that is wrong in Egypt. If it wasn’t for these foreigners taking up all our resources, we would not have the problems we have. The practice of scapegoating is very old indeed. It was no doubt not the first time, and certainly not the last time that one people would scapegoat another people and decide that the answer to their problems is to get rid of those people.

Pharaoh decides the only way to save his power is genocide. Get rid of the boy babies and pretty soon there will be no more Hebrew people to worry about. First he tries to enlist their own people, the Hebrew midwives into his plan. It’s surprising how often oppressive regimes are able to keep their hold over a people by getting people to help oppress and exploit their own people. It’s an old tacit – divide and conquer. Turn a people against themselves and they won’t notice who the real enemy is. People will allow themselves to be used against their own because they believe it will ensure their own survival. But there is a price to pay.

For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? Matthew 16:25-26

The Midwives Shiprah & Puah understood this. Their vocations were to bring life, not to take it away. They will not obey this order from Pharaoh. And so we have perhaps the first recorded instance of an act civil disobedience. Shiprah and Puah? Do you recognize their names? No? And yet are they not the brave heroines of this story?

      If the Pharaoh wants to murder the infant sons of the Hebrew people, he will have to do it himself. And so he enlists all the Egyptian people to kill the boys. And the Egyptians are more than happy to comply and turn on their neighbors with whom they have lived peacefully for hundreds of years.

          In the midst of this horror one mother turns to desperate measures to save her son.   She places him in a basket and sends him down the river, hoping someone will find him and take care of him. Given the choice between keeping him and watching him die, or letting him go in the chance that he will live, she chooses life for him, even if it means she may never see him again. This is love at his most desperate and unselfish and most hopeful. Moses' mother is the second heroine of the story after the midwives.

But she doesn’t just send the baby off blindly – she sends his older sister Miriam to watch and make sure nothing bad happens to him. And that’s when the third heroine of the story enters the picture—the Pharaoh’s daughter.

She sees a crying baby and takes pity. She knows it’s a Hebrew baby. She knows what her father is doing to the Hebrew babies and she knows that some mother has done this desperate thing to save her baby. And she has compassion. And in this instance compassion trumps fear and hatred of the Other. Compassion trumps loyalty to the cruelty of her own father. And like the Hebrew midwives disobeyed the order of the Pharaoh, the Egyptian Princess disobeys her own father. She sends the baby home with his own sister to be nursed and raised by his own mother, only now under her own protection. No one will harm the child Moses. When he is grown up he is brought to the princess’ own household and adopted by her.

      The story begins in darkness and horror. When the story begins it looks like God’s promises have gone astray and God is nowhere to be found.

      Where is God in this story? Later on we will hear from God and there will be dramatic signs of God’s presence and actions in burning bushes and plagues of locust and frogs, and parting seas.

But for now, God’s presence is more subtle. God is in the courage of the Hebrew midwives who will not kill the babies they are called upon to bring into the world. God is in the unselfish love of a mother who will give up her child rather than watch him die. God is in the tenacity of an older sister who dares approach an Egyptian Princess and offer to take care of her own baby brother for her. And God is in the compassion of a privileged woman who shows pity for a child oppressed by her own people.

God is definitely present and working in the story. And there will be no quick and easy answer to the suffering of his children. The sons and daughters of Abraham & Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah and Rachael are in for a long ordeal. Through this ordeal they will emerge a people with a covenant with their God. What is about to take place will be THE defining events of who they are and how they relate to their God.

But it began with women who dared to say no to Pharaoh. No we will not kill the baby boys. No I will not let you kill my son. No I will not turn my back on this crying child. And the story pushes us to ask ourselves, where are we called to say no to Pharaoh? Where can God use our courage, our tenacity, our selfless love, and our compassion? The first heroines of this story are not people with much power – midwives, a mother, a sister and a daughter. And yet if it were not for them, there would be no Moses, no Exodus.
Amen.

5th Sunday af. Pentecost, Lectionary 16, July 17, 2011

2011-07-24T20:16:00.000-05:00

Marc Chagall: The Dream of Jacob, 1930-32

Genesis 28:10-19a

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." 17 He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven." 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

“Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go”. Perhaps some of you, back in the day when Sunday School and confirmation students were taught to memorize scripture, memorized this promise of God to Jacob. It is a good one to memorize because it is a promise to us as well. Where ever we go, God is with us.

Sometimes though, that may seem more like a threat than a promise. There is no getting away from God. Every breath you take, every step you make, I’ll be watching you. If we think of God as like Santa Clause who knows when we are sleeping and knows when we’re awake, and knows if we’ve been good or bad and we’d better be good for goodness sake, then maybe we would prefer that God was not around all the time to see everything.

You can run but you can’t hide. That is the message for Jacob in our first lesson today. And Jacob is on the run. Many years have passed since he tricked his brother Esau into giving up his inheritance for a bowl of stew. His last stunt was proved to be too much for Esau.

Life was not what Rebekah had hoped it would be when Isaac took her into his mother’s tent so many years ago. The sons she had so longed for fought constantly. She felt close to one and the one she didn’t feel close to formed a bond with her husband and so there was a wedge in the family. Esau, the son she didn’t really care much for married Hitte women and in the chapter before our lesson, it says “They made life bitter for Rebekah and Isaac”

She may have wondered where it all went wrong. Sometimes life is like that. You start out thinking everything is going to be so wonderful and then it all goes out of control and you wonder when exactly that happened.

Now Isaac has grown very old and blind and she overhears him telling Esau to go out and get him some game and then after he’s eaten it he will give him the Patriarchal blessing that goes to the older son. Rebekah believes that it is Jacob who should have the blessing so tells Jacob to go get some kids that she will cook up and make it taste like game, put on some skins with fur so that he can fool his father into thinking he is his older harrier brother and receive the blessing meant of Esau. It’s all Rebekah’s idea but Jacob goes along and plays his part well. And between the two of them they deceive Rebekah’s husband and Jacob’s father. By the time Esau comes back with the game he has hunted for his father, there is no blessing left for him other than a promise that he will have to serve his younger brother.

Esau swears to kill his brother for this. Rebekah overhears this and under the ruse of finding a wife other than the wretched Hittites that Esau has married, she urges Isaac to send away the son for whom she has risked so much.

And that is why when we pick up our lesson Jacob is spending the night outside on a rock. And up to now you don’t get any hint that Jacob particularly cares whether or not God is with him. And yet in his dream God reminds him that he is around. He has this strange dream of angels going up and down stairs to heaven, reminding him that heaven and earth are not all that separate. That God is not far away and unaware of what is happening among his children on earth.

The old Sunday School song “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder” is based on this story but really has nothing to do with the story. Jacob is not climbing the stairs. WE do not climb Jacob’s ladder. It is God who comes down to earth to us. Even to lying manipulating cheaters like Jacob.

God affirms to Jacob the promise that he gave to Abraham and to Isaac and now to Jacob. It never was necessary for Rebekah to try force God’s hand the way she did. God decided the promise was going to Jacob. The promise and blessing would have gone to Jacob even if Isaac had blessed Esau as he planned. It didn’t have anything to do with Jacob. Certainly Jacob did nothing to deserve the blessing. If there ever was any doubt about whether or not we do anything to deserve God’s blessings, we need to look at the father of twelve sons who would become the twelve tribes of Israel – Jacob the trickster and liar.

After this dream it seems that God has made an impression. And our lesson ends on this note.

      Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

           So is Jacob going to turn over a new leaf? Has this vision from God made a new man of him?

Well you know people are different. Some people like Paul, experience instant conversions and change overnight. Others are more a work in progress. And this is not, by any means, the end of the story.
Jacob still thinks he’s in control and he thinks he can make a deal with God. The chapter goes on to say

       So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you.’

       Listen to what Jacob is doing. He’s making a deal with God. Okay great, if you take care of me then I’ll take care of you. Life is still deals and schemes and cons for Jacob. Jacob has got a lot to learn.

Jacob is not done with his scheming ways. But Jacob is going to run into another schemer with his uncle Laban, and we will hear that story next week.

But I find hope and good news in this story of Jacob and God’s patience. Jacob is one of those who has to learn things the hard way. Some of us are like that. I’m kind of like that. If you tell me the paint is not dry, I’m likely to touch to wall to find out for myself. We are all, like Jacob, works in progress. And even Paul, he may have turned around for God in one flash of light, but he was still the impatient, hot tempered man he was before. He still had that thorn in his side. He still lamented like he did in our lesson a few weeks ago in Romans: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”
Or consider Jesus’ parable in our Gospel about the wheat and the tares. Now usually we think of that parable meaning people. The wheat is good people and the tares are bad people and at the end at judgment, all the bad people are going to be destroyed.

The problem is that people are more complicated. Maybe there is wheat and tares growing alongside each other in us. And if we are in too much of a hurry to rip out everything bad in us or in others, we could cause damage. Maybe it’s about God being patient with us and all the weeds and tares and not so good stuff that is part of us. Sometimes are worse faults are our greatest strengths that we haven’t learned to harness or use well. Sometimes what you think is a terrible flaw in someone else is the result of a hurt or burden and if you are too quick to attack it, you will damage the person themselves. Patience and forgiveness are what heals and allows for growth, not judgment and criticism.

Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. God is with us in all of our lives, wherever we go, whatever we do. This is not a threat, it is a promise. It is only God who really knows us and knows why we go where we go and do what we do, better than we ourselves know. We are all works in progress, like Jacob. Amen.

4th Sunday af. Pentecost, Lectionary 15, July 10, 2011

2011-07-24T19:56:00.000-05:00


"Birth of Jacob and Esau" by Benjamin West (1738-1820)

Genesis 25:19-34
19 This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." 24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. 27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom. ) 31 Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright." 32 "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?" 33 But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

Last week we heard the story of how Isaac found his wife Rebekah. And we had a somewhat storybook ending.

Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

      But as we all know, life goes on beyond the story book ending. And are lesson today picks up with the REST of the story. Again it looks as though the promise is in doubt. Isaac has found his beloved wife. But they have no children. At the beginning of our lesson we read:

      Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
      Oh well. That was easy. Isaac prays, Rebekah gets pregnant.   That’s how it works right? You want something, pray for it and it happens. Just like that.
      Well no. Read a little more carefully. How old was Isaac when he married Rebekah? He was 40 years old. Oh old was he when Rebekah gave birth? He was sixty years old.

      It was 20 years between the time Isaac took Rebekah into his mother’s tent and the time when his twin sons were born. Twenty years. Twenty years of praying. Twenty years of month after month of disappointment for Rebekah. Twenty years of wondering when was God going to fulfill his promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a nation.

      And then, when finally the prayer is answered and Rebekah becomes pregnant, it’s still not the happy story book ending we are looking for.
      Right way, even before her children are born, Rebekah can feel her two sons fighting in her womb.   She has a message from God that this is not going to be the warm happy family life she has been fantasizing about these 20 years she has wished for children:
Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.

      She wanted sons. She is going to get sons. Two of them. Two sons who will tear her family apart. Be careful what you pray for.   Even people of the promise have difficulties.

      Rebekah gives birth to twins but they are very different. Esau is a man’s man.   Red and hairy and a good hunter. He is a man after his father’s heart. Jacob is a quieter soul, sticking around the tent with his mom. He even cooks.

      For twenty years Rebekah and Isaac only had each other. Now that they have finally gotten their dearest wish, the very thing they prayed for becomes a wedge between them   “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”   And as we know wedge will become so great that Rebekah will take part in a deceit against her husband for the sake of the son she favors.

       You get the sense that Esau isn’t too bright. Jacob is obviously, as we will find out, the more clever of the two. He may be younger and not as big or strong, but he is going to use his wits to get the better of Esau.


      Sometimes we hear these stories of people not behaving well and wonder, what is such a story doing in the bible? If we look at these stories as morality lessons, we will be very confused for sure.   Because we read this story and we know that parents are not supposed to have favorites. Brothers should not trick one another and wives should not lie to their husbands.

      So what is going on? In this culture the older brother gets everything, the younger brother nothing. Jacob is younger, smaller and weaker than Esau. And yet he ends up with the blessing.   In our day we might hear this story and feel some sympathy for Esau.

      But who were these stories originally for? They were for the people of Israel, a smaller, younger weaker nation that was surrounded by stronger, bigger and more powerful nations.   These stories remind that their ancestor Jacob was the younger and weaker brother, who had to depend upon his wits to survive.   And finally when even it looks like his wits will let him down, he will have only God to depend on.

      Jacob for all his clever tricks is not going to have it easy later in life. He will be tricked by his uncle and saddled with an extra wife. His sons are going to be out of control to the point that they sell their younger brother into slavery.

      What are we to make of all this? Well life is difficult and messy. We don’t all have the best family lives. We don’t make the right choices. God works through us as we are, warts and all. God’s promises are not dependent upon us and our good behavior and right choices. God has a plan and God uses us and even our mistakes. God is patient and is always working on us. Jacob will change. But it takes time. We don’t change overnight. It’s a process. We need to be at least as patient with ourselves as God is with us. God uses imperfect people. If there’s anything we can learn from these stories is that God seems to choose the imperfect people.

        In the end it’s not about us. It’s about God.    We don’t always want to admit it, but that’s really good news. That IS the gospel, the good news of grace. It’s not about us. It’s about God.   God works in and through this crazy mixed up world of ours. God works in and through our crazy mixed up lives. It’s not up to us to be strong enough or clever enough or good enough to push through God’s plans. In fact as we see in this stories and in our own lives, it’s when we try to help God’s plans along that we mess things up the most. Like when Abraham and Sarah decided to help God out by having a son with Hagar. Or maybe Rebekah was trying to help out God ‘s prophecy about the older brother serving the younger when she hatched her plan to lie to her husband and ended up losing both her sons and probably damaged her relationship with her husband as well.

      But the good news is that even when we screw things up, we cannot stop God’s plan. God has a plan to love and save the world. That was the plan back when he called Abraham and blessed him to be a blessing. It was the plan when he watched Jesus die on the cross and raised him to life again. It was the plan throughout the centuries of the best and the worst of our history as Christ’s church and it is the plan today. The good news is that it is God’s promise and God’s plan and God will use us in spite of ourselves. Amen.

3rd Sunday af. Pentecost, Lectionary 14, July 3, 2011

2011-07-24T19:40:00.000-05:00


Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well Nicolas Poussin 1648

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

34 So he said, "I am Abraham's servant. 35 The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, 'You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38 but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'

42 "When I came to the spring today, I said, 'O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. 43 See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar," 44 and if she says to me, "Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too," let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master's son.' 45 "Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, 'Please give me a drink.' 46 "She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also. 47 "I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' "She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.' "Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, 48 and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son. 49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn."

58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" "I will go," she said. 59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies." 61 Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. 62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Our Old Testament Reading today is from Genesis the story of Isaac finding his wife Rebekah. The story takes up the whole 24th chapter so what we heard today was kind of a cut and paste job. You miss some of the important details so let's review the whole story.

Now who is Isaac? Isaac, of course, is the son born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. One of the continuing themes of the story of Abraham is the challenge of trusting God's promises, even when it looks as though everything is working against God's plan.

God promised Abraham a land and a people, that we would be the father of a nation. But for the longest time, Abraham and Sarah had no children and the promise seemed like a joke to both of them. Then, after the child of promise, Isaac, is born, God put Abraham's trust to a fearful test; will you trust me even if you were to lose Isaac?

Abraham and Isaac get through THAT challenge, but now it looks as though God's promise is at risk again. Abraham is close to death. Sarah has already died. Isaac is 40 years old and still not married. In those days b this time he should have been a grandfather. Isaac needs to father children for the promise to continue. Isaac needs a wife.

Abraham doesn’t want Isaac to marry someone from the neighbors--Canaanite girl who worshiped another god in distasteful ways. He sends his trusted servant back to the place where God first called him saying, "Go from your country and your kindred and our father's house to the land that I will show our" to bring back a wife for Isaac. And he makes the servant promise that he will not take Isaac back to that land from which God has brought him. If he can't convince the girl he finds to come back with him, that's fine, but Isaac is not to go to that old land. Isaac's future is here, where God has brought Abraham.

So Abraham's servant arrives at Abraham's old homeland and wonders how on earth he is going to find the right woman for Isaac. He goes to the town spring, which is kind of like today's mall when it comes to picking up girls and he asks for a sign from God. He asks that the girl from whom he asks water who then offers to water his camels as well be the right girl. And sure enough, before he is even done praying, Rebekah shows up and when he asks for a sip of water she gives him some water and then draws water for all TEN of his camels as well. That is a lot of water drawing! The servant knows he has the right girl, puts a bunch of jewelry on her and she invites him home for dinner.

Needless to say when her family sees her come home laden with jewelry they are eager to meet this rich stranger. HE sits down to dinner but as they serve him the food, he says "I will not eat until I have told my errant"

This is where our lesson picks up and he repeats his story of who his master Abraham sent him to find a wife, how he asked for a sign and how Rebekah showed up as that sign.

It must have all seem very strange and astounding to Rebekah's family. They send her out to get some water and she comes home with jewelry and an offer of marriage to a very rich man.

Now because some of the text is left out, it seems as though Rebekah is asked right away whether or not she is willing to go and marry the son of the stranger's master. That's not exactly what happened. Right away her father and brother agree to the marriage but first they want the stranger to stick around a while. They don't want him to take her right away. But the servant wants to leave right away. He is eager to bring her back to Isaac. He is very far from home and his master is ailing. No doubt he is worried that Abraham might die before he finds out he has found a wife for his son.

So this is when Rebekah is asked what she wants. Does she want to go with this man right now or should they send him on his way to find someone else? Now it is no small thing to leave your family and home. We may find it shocking how young girls got married in those days; young wives were not left on their own. They had their mothers to help them. Rebekah was leaving her mother and her family. But just like Abraham so many years ago was willing to leave his family and his homeland to lands unknown, Rebekah says yes to leave all that is familiar and comfortable to her to go with this stranger to live with a new family and new God in a new land.

And so the story of the romance of Isaac and Rebekah ends very simply and beautifully in this way:

Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

And of course they have the twins Esau and Jacob, Jacob fathers 12 sons who become the twelve tribes of Israel and the promises of God are fulfilled.

Now this story may seem exotic to us, with camels and rose rings. But for its time it's a pretty simple, straight forward love story. Undergirding it all is the continual presence of God fulfilling his promises all along even in everyday love stories. Abraham’s servant prayed for and received a sign, but even without the signs, God was with that servant all along, just as God was with Rebekah, nudging her to say yes to the adventure of her life. Do not grasp onto the story of the sign and think that it's all about signs. Look how God has been part of the story all along, even when there were no signs.

Sometimes we have signs. Most often we don’t' realize until we look back on the events of our lives how god was present and moving and nudging and guiding us through the most simple and mundane time sin our lives. The bible tells dramatic stories but there are also stories of God in the everyday stories of finding a wife who comforts you after the death of your mother.

Life is full of twists and turns, of forks in the road, choices and opportunities. It's not a matter of choosing the right path to get to God. God is with us in every path we take. Even the dead ends. Especially the dead ends to give us courage to turn back when we've realized we've taken the wrong road.

Don't get hung up looking for signs. Or if you do look for signs, don't look for dramatic miracles or signs that show up the way you expect them to. The sign may be in a pretty girl who offers to water your camels. The sign is in another who offers you kindness and hospitality. The sign is in a loved one who offers you comfort in a time of grief. The sign is in the trust of someone who is willing to take a chance on you.

God's promise of life, love and salvation flow us throughout life. There may seem to be obstacles, but those are our obstacles, not God's. There is no corner of our life so dark that God's love cannot shine through. There is no aspect of our life so boring or mundane that God does not bless it and use it for more blessing. There is no adversity or burden that we face that God's promise does not comfort:

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11:28

Fifth Sunday of Easter A

2011-05-22T07:53:00.000-05:00

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
John 14:1-14

       Our Gospel text today is a familiar passage for us. It is one we may usually associate with funerals. The words are certainly a comfort for those who have lost a loved one. The promise of a place in the father’s house reminds us of heaven and is a comfort at a time of death.

       But these words of Jesus today have promise and comfort for us anytime we face difficulties, questions and doubts. Jesus promises peace and comfort and a place of welcome in the Father’s house even before we find our place in heaven.
       Jesus is preparing his disciples for life without him. Jesus urges them to trust in God and assures them there is a place prepared for them. Jesus is not just talking about heaven. Remember in John when Jesus spoke with the woman at the well who wanted to know where the right place was to worship God. Jesus answered that it is not about a space, but a relationship. When Jesus talks about preparing a place, he says he is making room forever everyone in a relationship with god. Even though Jesus is leaving physically, they can be with him in relationship, because they will be with him in God. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” If Jesus is with the Father, his followers will be with him as well. They are not left alone in the world. We are not left alone in the world. We, as followers of Christ, are invited to be “at home” in Christ, in a world that often seems hostile and confusing.

       It was a false gospel that was preached this week that the only answer to our difficulties in this world is for God to come and pluck us out of this world and it’s troubles. You don’t have to wait to die or the world to come to an end to have a place in God’s house. You have that place right now.

       “And you know the way to the place where I am going” This is the assurance and promise of Jesus. You know how to get to this place that is in relationship with God. It is not a mystery.   It’s not a hidden mathematical equation. You don’t need someone to decipher it for you. “You know the way,” Jesus promises.
       But we make it hard. Thomas doesn’t understand and neither do the other disciples. It’s only Thomas who has the nerve to raise his hand and admit in class he doesn’t understand. “How can we know the way?” he asks.

       So Jesus makes it easy. How can you know the way?   “I am the way,” Jesus says. I can get you to the Father. I will take you to the father. Abide in me and you will abide in the father. That’s all there is to it. There is a place for you in relationship with God and I have prepared that place for you, says Jesus.

       When Jesus says “I am the Way and truth and the life” He is giving a promise and an assurance to lost and confused believers. It is a promise for believers who are afraid they may lose their way. It is a promise “you do not have to find the way. You do not have to find room in the Kingdom of god. You do not have to earn your way. The place is already here and I have prepared it for you. You do not need to find the way; I have already made a way for you”

       This promise of Jesus is for believers to believe and be comforted.   It is a statement to comfort and assure and comfort believers. It is not given for believers to go around bragging “I know the way and you don’t” Later on in the lesson Jesus will talk about our task of mission, our call to bring others into the way but claiming to have a way that nobody else does is NOT what this text is about. It is about comfort and assurance. There is a place for you. Christ has prepared it.

       Jesus is the way, the route, the journey. Jesus’ life, teaching, mission and presence are what the church his to practice, a way of mission and servant hood. Jesus as the way leads to the Father. The place for goal is not heaven, it is God the Father. The way to the father is Jesus. Life with Jesus in his way, is the known and assure way to our place of comfort and well-being. We can count on Jesus for that.

       But it still seems hard. The disciples are not going to be able to see and touch Jesus. This time Philip says “Lord show us the Father and we will be satisfied” Show me something concrete, give me some sign, some proof. Give us something to hang on to so that we can know with absolute assurance that this is indeed THE way.

       Jesus is about to lose his patience by now. “Have you been with me this long and you still don’t get it?” But isn’t that the way we are? Make it easy for me God. Give me a sing, something concrete. Show me the money! But God has shown us. Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me, has seen the father.” We have signs all around us. We have the Body of Christ, Christian brothers and sister to lean on and support. We have the life and teachings of Jesus to remember. We have his body and blood to eat and drink. We have seen Christ and whoever has seen Christ as seen God the Father.

       Make it easier for us, Lord. Sometimes I wonder, if deep down, that is not at the root of all our laments. Make it easier.   Certainly it would have been easier if the world ended yesterday and all our problems went away and we lived in heaven forever and ever.
       Make it easier, Lord. But faith is as easy or as hard as we want to make it. Christ is here. We either trust that or we don’t. When we don’t’ trust or believe it, then life does become a whole lot harder. We say it is hard to trust but we make it hard. Jesus says “just trust” Don’t let your hearts be so troubled. Trust in God. Trust in me. I’ve made room for you with the father. There is a place there in God for you, for me, for the person next to you, even the person you refuse to sit next to. There is a place for all of us. It’s not that hard.
       “If you ask anything in my name I will do it” Okay we are not talking about God as the great Santa Clause here. This is in context of seeing the father and knowing the way. If you want to know the way, if you want a place in god’s kingdom, if you want to be at home with God, you have it. The place is there. It’s ready for you. It’s not hard. It’s not a mystery. Just believe and trust that. If you must doubt and question EVERYTHING else, go ahead, but trust and believe this. Christ has prepared a home for you in God. Today. Now.

       “Very truly I tell you the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” That is the missionary passage. We will do the works that Christ did, which is the work of loving and forgiving. Not bragging that we have the way and no one else has. But going the way that leads us to do the work of Christ, which is healing the broken, loving the unlovable, forgiving the unforgivable, declaring the God’s victory over evil. That is the way and the truth and the life. Amen.

Fourth Sunday of Easter A 2011

2011-05-20T14:43:00.000-05:00

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-27

How many of us have a picture in our minds of the “Good Ole’ Days”? I suspect nearly all but the very youngest among us have some idea in our mind of a golden age. What is your idea of the “Golden Age” of the church? A time when things were better? Was it a time when there were more people attending worship? When there were more children in Sunday School? When most women didn’t work outside of the home and so were available to serve at funerals? For some of us it was a time when people respected the church and church leaders. Or maybe it was a time when people got along better in church. Or maybe the hymns and liturgy was better.

Well, our lesson from Acts describes a “Golden Age” in the church. We all have our own ideas of what the perfect church should be and memories of a time when the church was closer to that ideal. But let’s consider what Scripture says about the church when it was at its best:

They (the Baptized) devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

       The first believers are describes as being continually at worship. They pooled their resources. And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. These verses describe a devotion to a life of faith, awe over signs and wonders, generosity with regard to material possessions, worship, fellowship and growth.

       Luke presents us with an idealized moment in early Christian history, focusing on all that was good among those first believers.   This is an image of the true “Golden Era” of the life of the church. Alas as the story continues we learn that this moment was all too brief. Soon the apostles will be jailed for their preaching, soon Ananias and Saphria will lie about their possessions and hold back, soon Jewish and Gentile Christians will be in conflict with one another and soon Stephen will be the first Christian murdered for his faith. But before all of this, we see a moment in time when all was the way it should be in the church.

       Can we go back to that time? No, of course not. We cannot recapture that time anymore than we can go back to the garden of Eden. But certainly we can learn from this time. And if we are going to focus on a “Golden Era” of the church as our model to look back to, then let us turn our minds to what Scripture says the ideal church should look like, rather than depend upon our own faded and distorted memories and often conflicting ideas of what the church should be.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

       Now that last line – having the goodwill of all the people is a bad translation because what the Greek really says is that THEY had goodwill towards all the people. So it’s not about how everyone else had good feelings towards Christians –the Christians had a good a gracious spirit towards all people. Luke calls us to remember a time when the church had good will toward the world. There was no sense of “us and them” or “We are saved and you are not” in this passages.

       You get a sense of joy and generosity of spirit when you read about the early church. The first believers put others ahead of themselves so that they became truly Christ-like in selfless and sacrificial giving. And it was that attitude of generosity and gratitude and goodwill towards the community that appealed to others so that “day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

       From Luke we learn that the Golden Age of the church had very little to do with what we may remember about other golden ages. Many of us may remember a time when the culture was more sympathetic to the church but Act’s Golden Age takes place in a time when culture is hostile to the church. And in that hostile environment you do not read of Christians demanding their rights, or insisting that Wal-Mart say “Merry Christmas” instead of Happy Holidays. No the church had good will toward other people, regardless of how other people treated them.

       For many people a church’s golden age may recall favorite pastors or leaders but Luke says nothing about any particular leader. We may remember favorite hymns or hymnbooks but Luke says nothing of this other than “They devoted themselves” It wasn’t the hymns or the liturgies – it was the devoting of themselves to the teaching, the fellowship, the prayers, the breaking of the bread. It wasn’t important what they sang, but that they sang praises to Christ together.

       What does it mean to devote yourself to something? When you are devoted to something or someone that person or thing becomes the center of your life and everything else comes second.   Now we may remember a time when it seemed that people were more devoted to the church, but is that really true or was it just that there was nothing else to do? Did the youth come because they were more devoted then than today to Christ? Or was it because there were no other activities?

       . We may think we are busier and more constrained and stressed with demands on our time than our imagined Golden age, but in the true Golden Age of the church, there were slaves devoted to the gathering of the saints. They certainly had more constraints on their time than we do, even in this busy culture.

       The early church was devoted to learning more about their faith from the apostles and to worshipping together. That was the center of their lives. Their worship was not just one of many activities, something that could be set aside if there was something more interesting that came up. There was nothing more important to them than this new life devoted to God, growing in faith and worshipping together.

       And then they did something else together. Something quite shocking—especially for those of us who treasure private property rights.

       They sold all their belongings, pooled their money and took care of each other. You want to restore a Golden Age of the church? There’s your biblical golden age.

       Remember that this life of faith was the passion of the Christian community. It was everything to them. It was more important than their farms and businesses. It was more important to them than their hobbies or their sports.

       It was because of this devotion that they were able to let go of selfishness and be generous. Freely. This is NOT like communism or some other cults where people are forced to give up their property for the sake of the party or the cult.   Nobody had to do that. They CHOSE to do so. When Ananias and Saphira sell their land and keep some of the proceeds, Peter scolds them for the lie. “It was your land and your money to do with as you wish? Why did you lie about it?”

       Ananias and Saphira were so busy trying to look good they missed the freedom that comes from doing something because you want to, not because you have to.   And that’s another way the True Golden Age differs from some of our memories of other Golden Ages. We may remember packed churches, but was that out of devotion or obligation, because it was expected? There was a time when to be considered a good and respectable citizen, you were expected to belong to a church somewhere.

       In the true Golden Age of the church you were seen as a disrespectable person if you went to church. You were not a good citizen if upi acknowledged Christ, rather than Caesar as your Lord and Master.

       It is, of course, impossible to be the “perfect church” or go back to a “Golden Era”. And as we read Acts, we know that even the early church of the Golden Era was far from perfect and had it’s own troubles.

       But there is no reason why we cannot have devotion to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers that led to awe at the many wonders God still does today among us. There is no reason why we cannot have an attitude of love and good will towards others that leads to the Lord adding to our numbers.

       Wherever believers devoted themselves to God and god’s love and Good will, there will be a golden age. And when the difficulties come, it will be that devotion and good will that gives us strength and endurance. Whatever the era, Golden or Tarnished, Christ is with us. Amen.

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany A - February 20, 2011

2011-02-20T10:59:00.026-06:00

Tony Abeyta - Holy People

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18, Matthew 5:38-48

“You shall be holy because I, the Lord am holy”

“Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.

Throughout history, throughout great literature, even in our own experience, what is it that gets human beings into trouble? Is it not our desire to be like God? Well, today we are given the chance to be like God. In fact we are given a command to be like God. Be holy like God. Be perfect like God.

Of course that’s not really what we have in mind when we think we want to be like God. But that is because we don’t know God. That is the ultimate problem in our desire to be our own God. The problem isn’t just that we are denying our proper role as the creature and not the creature but it is also that when we aspire to be God in order to judge and be in control, we are showing that we have no idea what it even means to be God.

To be God is to be holy. To be God is to be perfect. Holy in goodness. Perfect in love. You want to be like God? Do not strive for power. Strive for love and kindness and justice.

What does it mean to be holy? In Hebrew, holy means to be separate, distinct, set aside. God is holy because God is separate, distinct from the world he created.

God’s people are holy, chosen, set apart to be distinct in God’s world. Note that holy people are not taken out of this world. To be holy does not mean that you get to escape from this world or that you isolate yourself from the world.

It is not how we withdraw from the world that makes us holy, but how we interact with the world. To be holy is to live in the word, among the world, reflecting who God is in how we act and live in the world. It is how we treat other that sets us apart. It is how we treat others with love and compassion that makes us distinct, set apart, and holy in the world.

The world says, love yourself first, take care of yourselves first. Holiness says love your neighbor as yourself. Perfections says put others before yourself. When God gave up his own son for the sake of the world, he put humanity before himself. You want to be like God? Be like that.

Leviticus says “… You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” You want to be like God? Love your neighbor. And not just your neighbor. Leviticus 33-34 goes on to say we are to love the stranger and the sojourner as ourselves as well.

And Jesus ramps it up even more.

You have heard it said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

Just as there are no boundaries to God’s love, there are to be no boundaries to our love. You want to be like God? Love like that. You want to be perfect like God? Then love those who are not perfect.

Often we speak of the Old Testament law “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth as a very vengeful and harsh law” At the time however, it was a law to reduce violence. Among other people in the area the law said that if someone broke your finger, you could break their arm. If someone killed your brother, you were justified and in going back and killing their whole family. The law allowed for two and three fold revenge. Even now we can see that law playing out in many regions of the world. The eye for an eye law actually reduced violence and limited revenge. It was really an advanced law. It was a law based on justice, an eye for an eye, not revenge.

But now Jesus calls us to even go beyond even revenge but beyond justice. Not an eye for an eye but forgiveness. Love. Do not get back at your enemy. Instead love your enemy.

You want to be like God? What did Jesus say as they were pounding the nails through his hands? Did he pray for justice on those who crucified him? No. “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” You want to be like God? Be like that. Love your enemy.

Forgive your enemy. Turn the other check. Hand over your cloak. Go an extra mile. This is not about becoming a victim. This is about being like God. God is no victim.

If you are God’s servant, God’s child, you have an identity that cannot be taken away. You are holy. You are different because you belong to God. Your loyalty is to God, not another human being. In that we are like God. We are free. We are not in the control of those who would force us to do things or submit to violence or oppression. By turning our cheek, by going the extra mile, we show who is really in control.

That freedom and control we seek when we reject God and try to take on our own power can be found only in submitting to God. Jesus gave up his power to make us children of God. Because we are children of God we can do more than any human can require of us. Our perfection has nothing to do with our personality, our abilities or our moral character. Our perfection comes from God.

The Hebrew meaning of perfect is whole, compel, total and undivided. God is whole and undivided. We are called to live lives wholly and undividedly faithful to God.

Our righteousness, our holiness is the whole way we live our lives. Our love is God’s love, consistent and without partiality. Our standard of behavior is set not by human standards but by our relationships with a perfect and holy God.

God’s perfection and holiness is what saves us. Our holiness is how we live out that salvation in the world.

You want to be like God? Love like God loves. You want to be like God? Forgive like God forgives. You want to be like God? Do for others the way Jesus gave up being like God in order to serve us.

You want to be like God? You are like God. You are God’s child. You are perfect because God has made you perfectly. You are holy because your God is holy.

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany Year A February 13, 2011

2011-02-13T16:08:00.000-06:00

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. “ This is the choice Moses brings the people from God as they are about to end their wanderings and finally enter the Promised Land. Prosperity and adversity can be better translated as good and evil.
       So here’s the choice…choose between good and evil. Choose between life and death. Seems easy and clear enough doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t choose well? Who wouldn’t choose life?
       Of course it’s not that easy though is it? Even if we truly wanted to choose good, it’s not always clear in real life. The choices are rarely good and evil, but in the best case maybe okay and not so bad….in worst case it’s evil and maybe not as evil or as much evil. And truthfully even those times when the choice is clear, we seem to be really good at choosing evil, choosing death and telling ourselves that this is not really so evil after all.
       It seems Moses was overly optimistic about the peoples’ ability to make the right choices. They consistently made the wrong choices in the wilderness.   Even what seems like the easiest choice of all – Slavery or freedom, when they were free they longed to go back to slavery. We have an amazing ability to see Good as evil and evil as good.
       It shouldn’t be that difficult. Moses and God laid it all out for the people with specific and clear laws and commandments.
16If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God* that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

       Just follow the rules and you will be okay.   And honestly most of the time, in most cases, that is the how it works. Obey the law and you won’t go to jail. Follow the doctor’s instructions and you will probably stay healthy. Don’t speed on an icy road and you will likely stay out of the ditch.
       However, let’s say we could follow the rules.   Let’s say we did do everything we were supposed to do and avoided the things we are not supposed to do.   Innocent people are falsely accused and go to jail. Healthy people who listen to their doctor get sick. And even if you are drivel carefully, some idiot in on the road beside you can lose control and put you both in the ditch.
       So yes, follow the rules but there’s more to life than following the rules.
       The commandments were given to us by God as a guide to help navigate this world, to get along with each other, to keep most of us out of the ditch most of the time.   But the commandments are not God and life is not to be found in the Law.
       When God says choose life, God is not saying choose the Law. God is saying, choose Me. Trust me. Trust only me.
       The problem with the Law, is that we when we put our ultimate trust in rules, laws, commandments, it turns us away from God and towards our own ability to keep the laws. It fools us into thinking we are in control.    We think it’s all up to us, so that if I keep all the rules and do everything I’m supposed to do, then life will go the way I think it will.
       Then when things don’t go right, when we end up in the ditch even though we’ve been doing everything we were supposed to do, we become angry with God. We think we’ve made some kind of deal with God. I do everything I’m supposed to do, I go to church, I stay out of trouble and then nothing bad is supposed to happen to me.
       But something bad always happens. That is the nature of living.    There are joys and there is sorrow.   Something bad always happens. Sometimes it is our own fault because we did something stupid, we made a mistake or we deliberately chose to break a rule because figured we could get away with it this time. Or sometimes it’s because someone else broke a rule and we were in the way. But most often something bad happened and we have no idea why. And in the midst of that God comes to us and says choose me, Trust me. And in the midst of our sorrow and confusion and despair, when we turn to God and cling to God we choose good and we choose life.
       This is what Jesus was talking about in our Gospel. The Pharisees had taken God’s commandments which were meant as a guide for life and twisted them and used them to make it harder to choose God.
       At first it seems like Jesus is making it even more difficult to live up to God’s commands. It’s not enough not to kill someone.   I think everyone here has avoided literally killing anyone. But being angry with someone, calling them names, that’s murder Jesus says. That is choosing death. That’s choosing evil.   Turning someone into a sex object in your mind, even if you haven’t technically broken the rules, that’s choosing death.   Choosing life means loving your enemy.
       Notice this is all about relationships and how we get along with one another.   Life is about relationships. It’s not just about following rules. Sometimes choosing relationships, choosing life may require breaking a rule. Jesus broke rules for the sake of relationships and people all the time.
       Jesus takes these commandments and brings them to another level.   And certainly we see that if our life depends upon being able to follow them all perfectly, we are lost. But they are still a guide for us. They are a guide for us to apply to our own lives – not someone else. What we do is we cherry pick which laws we can follow. And if that wasn’t bad enough, we turn around and judge and condemn those who break the laws we have cherry picked for ourselves, while we make an exception for ourselves when it come some other law. That is choosing evil and death. That is not trusting God, but trusting ourselves to judge what laws will save and which will not.
       In the verses just before our lesson from Deuteronomy, Moses tells the people
Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ 14No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

       What God asks of us is not complicated. Moses says it’s not hard, but it’s not easy either. What God is asking is that we trust God. Trust God knows what he’s talking about when he says you know if you follow this commandment, it will go better for you. But also trust God when you follow the commandment and you still end up in the ditch. And most of all trust in God’s forgiveness when you put yourself in the ditch.
       Trust God. Trust goodness. Trust love. Trust forgiveness. Trust Life. Amen.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany January 16, 2011

2011-01-16T15:29:00.000-06:00

Behold the Lamb of God, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

³⁶³⁷³⁸³⁹⁴⁰⁴¹The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed^*). He brought Simon^* to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter^*). The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’⁴²³⁰³¹³²³³³⁴

John 1:29-42

Our Gospel this morning again begins with John the Baptist. Only this time John is much more clearly as to whom Jesus is and what is role is as the Christ, the Messiah. “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In our Gospel last week it seemed like John was kind of confused by Jesus showing up to be baptized with all the rest of the sinners. It seemed as though John were expecting a different kind of Messiah. But now John is very clear as to what kind of Messiah Jesus is. John has had a revelation from God.

I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

      The Son of God does not come as an army general to wipe out sinners in the world. The Son of God has come as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.

      What does that mean?   I’m sure those who heard John wondered that as well.   Andrew and another disciple decide to follow this Lamb of God. Jesus asks them what are you looking for.

      What are you looking for in a Savior? The world is looking for all kinds of things in a savior. We are looking for someone to rescue us, someone to give us simple and easy answers, someone to assure us that we are on the right side. We are looking for

all kinds of things from a Savior that won’t actually save us which is why we are so tempted to chase after false saviors.   What are you looking for?

      What are you looking for Jesus asks his would be followers. They don’t answer the question. They don’t appear to know what they are looking for. But they are there, with Jesus. And perhaps that is really the beginning of discipleship.   Not being so sure of what you are looking for. Not making up your mind before hand what you need in a savior.   Not knowing what you are looking for but showing up anyway.

      Instead of answering Jesus’ questions, the disciples as a question of their own, “Teacher where are you staying?” Jesus says, “Come and see” and they spend the day with him.

      On the surface of it, it seems like a very mundane conversation. You know, at the end of John’s Gospel, he writes that he just didn’t have enough room to write down everything Jesus said and did and one might be tempted to wonder, well if that’s true, why is John wasting time with this meaningless turn of events, the disciples ask where Jesus is staying, he’s shows them and they stay with him.

      Ah, but nothing about John is simple or mundane. There is a meaning behind everything.

      Jesus, Rabbi, teacher, where are you staying? Where is Jesus? Where does Jesus abide? Where is Jesus? Where is God?

      Is that not the question all of us ask? Where is when a mentally tortured man jumps out of a taxi cab at a grocery store and shoots up a crowd of innocent people?

      Where is God in the streets of Haiti where people still struggle to survive a year after a devastating earthquake?

      Where is God as one after another young American soldiers come home missing limbs or feeling like they are missing parts of their soul after what they have seen in combat?

      Where is God in the home of a single mother who decides whether or not to buy groceries or pay for heat this month?

      Where is God for the parents who see their son going through a divorce and they don’t know how to help him or take his pain away?

      Where is God? The answer, as John the Baptist pointed out is that God is in Christ who is the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

      And where is Christ?   Christ’s answer—“Come and See.” And what the disciples see is that Jesus is staying right there among them. Why the invitation to come and see? Why not say clearly, “Well I’m right here”?

      John’s Gospel is all about light and seeing. And some people see and some people don’t see. In John’s gospel the physically blind often see and it is the seeing self-righteous who are actually blind.   There is seeing with your eyes which sometimes can only show us tragedy and darkness. But Jesus invites us to “come and see” with the eyes of faith and hope and trust.

      It’s not obvious. Sometimes it seems like God is hiding. Or Christ is sleeping in the back of the boat like when he was with the disciples in the storm. But he was there.

      Christ is here. And it’s okay if you aren’t sure what you are looking for because Christ will show you. Come and see. See with faith and hope and trust.

      So some people only see tragedy. But others see Christ abiding not only in the midst of suffering and horror, but also where there were acts of courage, and love and compassion and hope that rises out of the tragedies. Where people risked their lives to save others in the shooting in Tucson. Where people leave their comfortable homes and fly to Haiti to do what they can to alleviate the suffering, where someone reaches out in gratitude to the soldier and helps them build a new life, where someone gives to food pantries and places that help with utilities and rent for people who struggle in poverty, where a friend reaches out and doesn’t judge or lecture but simply says “I’m here for you”. That is where Christ is staying. Come and see where Christ is in the midst of pain and suffering and you will see the light that shines in the darkness and you will know that the darkness cannot overcome it.

      Come and see where Christ is in the world, where Christ is the Lamb of God who is even now, taking away the sin, not just of you and me, not just of the good guys, not just the church, but taking away the sin of the world.

      Come and see where Christ abides. And stay with him. And you will be part of that Light that shines in the dark. And from his fullness we have received grace upon grace. Amen.

The Baptism of Our Lord - Year A January 9, 2011

2011-01-10T15:29:00.001-06:00

The Baptism of Our Lord He Qi

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved,^* with whom I am well pleased.’

Matthew 3:13-17

In Matthew’s Christmas story, from the visit of the wisemen who did not find the king they were looking for in a palace, to the forced travels of Jesus and his family, we are reminded that Jesus came not to be identified with the great and powerful of the world but with the weak and vulnerable.

After Jesus family returned from Egypt we don’t hear about him again in Matthew until he is an adult and shows up on the banks of the Jordon to be baptized by John.

John the Baptist knew that he was on the threshold of a new time. He knew that God was sending someone soon who world usher in the glorious kingdom of God. From the way he preached, it appears that John was expecting God’s Messiah to judge and punish evildoers. The Romans, who had treated his people so harshly, were certainly going to get what was coming to them. But according to John God’s people, the Jews were also not exempt from judgment. God’s own people had been lax about following God’s commandments and living in faithfulness and justice. John warned his own people to examine their lives before they pointed their fingers at others. He asked “are you prepared to face God? Have you been living in a manner fit for the Kingdom of God?” John warned the people to repent, to turn their lives back toward God, to live moral, upright just lives to that they would be fit for the Kingdom. As a sign of their repentance John offered a public ritual—baptism. Through baptism, people were ritually cleansed from their sins and publicly declared their intention to live new lives, lives in accordance with God’s will

Jesus, whom John recognizes to be the Messiah who will usher in the Kingdom of God, shows up to be baptized. John, who was expecting the Messiah to be wiping out Romans and terrifying Jews into repentance, is expected to baptize Jesus the Messiah.
And at first, John doesn’t want anything to do with it. John baptizing the Messiah is not part of the scenario John has mapped out in his idea of how it should go. Later on, while sitting in prison John is going to show that he still hasn’t quite wrapped his mind around the kind of Messiah Jesus is when he asks Jesus “So are you the one or not? Should I be looking for someone else?”

Jesus presses on despite John’s reluctance. “This will fulfill all righteousness” This is all part of God’s plan. This may not be the way you planned it, but this is the way God is going to do it.

One thing we can learn from this is how John, who was very much in tune with God and God’s will, who was a good and righteous man, still ended up being surprised by God. Even John had to change some of his preconceptions of how God acts in the world. Now if someone who was as righteous and in tune with God as John the Baptist can get it wrong, it behooves us to not be overly arrogant with our own certainty about how, why and what God does and will do with and in his world.

Matthew, more than any other Gospel writer, shows how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecies. But he shows how Jesus often redefines the meaning of God’s promises and purposes in surprising ways. John was expecting Jesus to come in power and judgment. Instead he does the one thing John never expected –Jesus, the Son of God, submits to John for baptism. The one person, who does not need to repent, submits to a baptism of repentance.

But lest there be any doubt and some think “well he couldn’t really be the son of God or he would never be here getting baptized”, there is an Epiphany at Jesus’ baptism. There is a revelation for Jesus who sees the heavens opened to him ad the Spirit of God descending upon him. There is also a revelation for anyone with ears willing to listen. “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” This is my son, the one who stands among sinners. The one born in a stable, the one forced to flee an evil king. This is he; you don’t need to look anywhere else, he’s right here, among you.

This event like the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, are a foretaste of the great absurdity to come—that the Son of God will suffer and die a humiliating death on a cross in order to accomplish the salvation of humanity. These unlikely events accomplish the salvation of humanity. These unlikely events occur, we learn, because Jesus lives doing the will of God. God’s will- the salvation of all humanity is revealed in Jesus and declared in the Gospel and it is grasped not by logic but by faith. Jesus lives fulfilling prophecy in unpredictable ways.

During the Season of Epiphany we celebrate the revelation of the presence of God in our lives. Matthew invites us to be open to find God in unexpected places. John, who spent his whole ministry preparing for the Messiah, never thought he’d find the Messiah standing in line, waiting his turn to be baptized. The people, coming to be peptized never dreamed the Messiah would be standing right there among them. And not everyone recognized the voice from heaven revealing God’s son. Some probably just wrote it off as thunder.

If there is anything you can expect from God, it is to expect the unexpected. The star of Epiphany that leads to Bethlehem lights the way for us to see what God is doing in our lives, to break through our preconceived notions of the way things ought to be, to see that all things are possible.

And so our Epiphany challenge is to look for the revelation of God’s work in our lives, to see how God is calling us to reach out in love and compassion to others, to see how God is opening our eyes to see something in a new way, to cast aside an old bad habit, to see God’s presence among us God is here, in the thick of life, in the midst of ordinariness, in community in love and service among the least of these. Amen.

The Second Sunday after Christmas January 2, 2011

2011-01-02T17:47:00.001-06:00

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,^* and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. ²³⁴⁵
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.^*⁷⁸⁹
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,^* and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. ¹¹¹²¹³
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^* full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-14

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Words of peace, comfort and joy. Words spoken years ago to exiles, sojourners and aliens in a world of darkness.

Words spoken today to those who feel like exiles and sojourners in a world of darkness. Words promising light, promising a new world, a new reality that contradicts what we presently experience and take for granted.

The message to us this Christmas is the same—God offers another way to live in the midst of the old world of alienation and darkness that seems overwhelming.

“In the beginning was Word”

The Word--the power, the grace, the great gift of God who has been with God from the very beginning--Christ, the Savior, the child, born in a stable, to a poor young girl in Bethlehem, Jesus, the babe, who will be worshipped and adored by wisemen who followed a star to find him.

He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

He was in the beginning. Christmas was not an afterthought, not a whim of God. Christmas was part of the plan from the very beginning. All through history, all through the heartbreaks and disappointments and struggles of the people of the Old Testament, God had Christmas in mind for humanity.

What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.

By now, most of the Christmas lights have been dimmed. Most of the decorations are down and Christmas of 2010 will be just a memory we share in the years ahead. Some of our memories of this Christmas will be full of light and joy and warmth. Some will be dark memories, tempered by tragedy, illness, losses, struggles, or memories of sadder Christmases.

The world can be a place of darkness at times. We all face those times in our lives when all we see is the darkness--and the only light available is this promise-- “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it”

That promise is the light we can cling to and find our way through the darkness. No matter how dark it seems, no matter what the sorrow that weighs upon us, no matter what the burden, that child lying in a manger, was born to give us light and hope to endure and find our way in the darkness. Make no mistake--it can get very dark in this world at times. But the promise of Christmas is this--there is no darkness that can overcome the light of love, forgiveness, salvation, goodness and life that Christ brings. That light shines all year --long after the decorations have been boxed and put away.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

It requires trust and faith to cling to this light in the darkness. Because it is a light that cannot always be seen. It’s a light that is known in your heart and through faith. It is a light that is not dependent upon what we see. Because we do not and cannot see what God sees. It is a light that is not dependent upon what we feel because we don’t always feel light and cheery and happy. Those who depend only upon what they can feel and see cannot know Christ because Christ invites us to trust. And trust depends on that which we cannot see and touch. Faith trusts God’s forgiveness and love, even when we don’t feel particularly lovable or forgivable. Faith trusts in the light of Christ, even when all we see is darkness. Faith depends on something other than ourselves to know what is real. Those who trust only themselves and what they can see, feel and know, are not willing to risk that which they cannot control and so they reject the light and promise of Christ.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

Those who can give up their own power are given an even greater power--the power to become children of God--children of God who rest in the arms of his love and care. Think of a young child in a tunnel with her father. She sees only darkness and his frightened. But he picks her up and carries her and promises her that soon it will be light again. She can’t see any light. She’s never been in that tunnel to know that there is light ahead. But she’s trusts her father. And he promises her that there is light. And that promise of light and the warm safe protection of her father is the light that gives her hope and calms her fears.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

This is the source of that light that gives us hope and lightens the darkness of our lives--that the Word became flesh and lived among us. God did not stay in the light and glory of heaven. God left the place where there is no darkness to bring the light of heaven into the darkness of our world. And we have beheld his glory. We beheld is glory in a small babe crying in a manger. We behold his glory in the love we share when we obey his commandment that we “love one another has I have loved you” We behold his glory when we give a cup of water to a stranger, a loaf of bread to a hungry child, when we do an act of kindness for another without thought of reward. We behold his glory when we share his promise of light to another who is lost in the darkness.

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

No one has seen God, but because of Christmas, we know God. In the babe born in Bethlehem, God is among us and we have beheld his glory - the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. Because of Christmas we have seen his light, the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.
Amen

4th Sunday in Advent A December 19, 2010

2010-12-19T21:14:00.000-06:00

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Joseph with Infant Christ. 1665-1666

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah^* took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’ which means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;^* and he named him Jesus.   Matthew 1:18-25

       As we draw closer and closer to Christmas it becomes increasingly more difficult to keep Advent and not rush headlong into Christmas. It is easy to be impatient. Or if you are like me, nervous. Ah it’s so close to Christmas and I’m not ready!

       But Christmas will come, whether or not we are ready. And just what exactly does it mean to be ready? Does it mean we’ve been to the grocery store and have the turkey or ham or in my case, the Cornish game hens thawing in the refrigerator? Does it mean that all the gifts are wrapped? If my sermon is written already does that mean I’m ready for Christmas? What does it even mean to be “ready for Christmas” And can we ever really be ready for Christmas and what it means for us?

       Joseph was not ready for what Christmas meant for him. We don’t often get to hear his side of the story like today. Poor Joseph. This must have been all very confusing to him.   First he discovers that his betrothed, Mary, his going to have a child. And it’s not his child. In those days, betrothal was a very serious matter. It was much more binding than modern engagements. The deal had been signed sealed and delivered between the families and Mary and Joseph were as good as married. The only way out of it was a divorce.

       But now as Matthew says, Mary is found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Well that’s what Mary says anyway. Would YOU have believed it? It sounds a lot like the desperate tale of a young girl who is in a lot of trouble.

       As far as the law is concerned, Mary has committed adultery. That is a very serious crime, punishable by death by stoning. Joseph is a righteous man. That means, he is a man who follows the law. The law is clear in this case. But Joseph also has compassion. In those days marriages were arranged and romantic love had little do with it, but I think we can safely assume he had some feeling toward this young girl he had planned to spend the rest of his life with. Even if she were allowed to live, the public disgrace of Mary’s situation would be devastating to her. So Joseph comes up with the solution that he will quietly divorce her and let her family get her out of town and keep this whole nasty business to him.

       It’s a kind and reasonable solution.   But it’s the wrong solution. And after Joseph has spent all this time figuring out his solution, then an angel comes to him and tells him that’s not the right solution. Have you ever experienced that? You spend a lot of time figuring something out, you think you’ve got a good plan and after you have everything figured out, God comes and says “no that’s not how it’s going to be, we’re going to do something totally different” There’s a saying that says “You want to make God laugh? Tell him what you are going to do tomorrow”

       The angel tells Joseph that Mary is telling the truth. She is carrying God’s son. But even the Son of God needs an earthly father. That is how important fathers are – God saw that his OWN son needed an earthly father and chose Joseph for that essential role.   Quite a task. Quite an honor. For this child that Mary carries is between God and Mary. In many ways, Joseph is an outsider. And still he raises the boy as his own. For Joseph and Mary are part of something greater than their little family complications.

       The angel in Joseph’s dream goes on to say more about the child Mary carries. There is something even greater than the unusual circumstances under which Jesus is conceived. The angel does more than relieve Joseph’s doubts. Joseph has an important task – he is to give the name to the child Mary will bear. For Jews, a name was more than what you used to call someone to dinner –it was an expression of who that person was. The name Jesus, or “Joshua” means “God saves” The warrior Joshua in the Old Testament lived up to his name for through him God saved people from their enemies. This Jesus will be the one through whom God saves people from sin, death and the devil.   The name Jesus is a promise. God will save. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the promise God will save will become a reality.

       The child to be born will have another name – Immanuel – God with us – Another promise. How is God with us? IN Jesus. How does Jesus save us? By being God with us.

       On this last Sunday in Advent, so close to Christmas, we anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Why do we make such a fuss over a little baby? We celebrate that baby, not only for what he became, but for the birth itself was and is – a sign of God’s presence, god’s coming to be with us, God coming to us to save us.

       God is not far away in heaven. God is with us here and no. God is with us in our everyday lives, in our celebrations, in our sorrows, in our struggles, our victories and our defeats. That is the meaning of Immanuel- God with us.

       Immanuel – God with us. God is with a young unmarried pregnant girl who doesn’t totally understand how this is all going to work out, but trusts that it will work out. God is with us when we are unsure how impossible situations will work out in our lives.

       Immanuel – God with us. God is with a poor couple, forced by an oppressive government to leave their homes and have their baby in a stable. God is with oppressed, homeless people everywhere.

       Immanuel- God with us. God is with the baby who grows up to be an itinerant preacher who brings healing and forgiveness to hurting people. God brings healing and forgiveness into our brokenness.

       Immanuel – God with us. God is with a grieving mother who watches her son die on a cross. God is with us in our suffering and times of sorrow and loss.

       Immanuel- God with us. God is with a group of followers who cannot believe their Risen Lord really has come back to them. God is with us, giving us new life, forgiveness and second changes, raising us up to proclaim to other sinful broken people – Immanuel – God is with us!

       In a sense, our whole lives are an Advent as we prepare for the final fulfillment of his promise, when all creation is redeemed. But because in our Advent we have Immanuel- God with us; we do more than simply wait. We are the sign of Immanuel – God’s presence in this world. We are Immanuel as we celebrate the present of God with us and proclaim that promise to the world.

       Amen – Come Lord Jesus!

Third Sunday in Advent, Year A, December 12, 2010

2010-12-11T20:45:00.000-06:00

Saint John the Baptist in Prison (1565-70), Juan Fernandez de Navarrette,

The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

When John heard in prison what the Messiah^* was doing, he sent word by his^* disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers^* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’ ³⁴⁵⁶
7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone^* dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet?^* Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.”
Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ⁸⁹¹⁰¹¹

Matthew 11:2-11

How can we know for certain that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the one who will bring in God’s new Kingdom? Is Jesus truly the one or should we look for another?

These are the questions Jesus addresses in our Gospel lesson this morning. The questions come from John the Baptist, who in prison, sends his followers to ask Jesus point blank “Are you He who is to come or shall we look for another?”

From John’s perspective, it is a fair question. John was sent to prepare the people for the coming Kingdom of God which would be ushered in by God’s Messiah. When Jesus had come to John to be baptized, John had done so reluctantly, because he recognized that Jesus was the one for whom they had been waiting. Just last week in our Gospel lesson John had claimed that the one who was coming would clear the threshing floor and burn the chaff.

But Jesus is not burning the chaff! He is eating and drinking with the chaff of society. Jesus does not fit the profile of a heaven sent-Messiah, reigning as a king in glory. He’s an itinerant preacher, a healer and a helper, friend of tax collectors and sinners. The Messiah is not what John expected. Jesus was not what anyone expected.

Like everyone else John was expecting a powerful Messiah who would do away with evil. He was expecting a Messiah to avenge wrongs. A Messiah to humble the Gentile oppressors like the Romans and free the enslaved and innocent in prison, like John maybe. It is understandable that John might wonder, if the Kingdom of God is here and God really is in charge, then what am I doing still in prison?

John learns what all believers must learn. The fulfillment of god’s promises comes about in unexpected way. Jesus’ answer to John is not reassuring to those who are looking for certainty. Jesus does not give a definitive answer, yes I am the Messiah or no I’m not…you need to look elsewhere. Jesus gives an answer that was typical of Jewish teachers of the day --he answers with a question…look around, what do you see? What do you hear?

Well John had been seeing and hearing. He had been seeing the evil and suffering that was still in the world. Jesus says, look at the blind that now can see; look at the lame that are walking, look at the poor who have heard good news.
The words of Isaiah in our first lesson describe what God’s King will look like:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
   and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
   and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
   and streams in the desert;

Isaiah 35:5-6

Look at what you see John, says Jesus, and decide for yourself if you can find another Savior.
The miracles which transform the lives of suffering people are signs that the expected kingdom, for which Jesus has prepared the way, that the new kingdom has dawned in Jesus.

The new kingdom has begun. It is not finished, nor is it coming in the way people imagined it would. Often it is that way with our prayers. We come to God with a problem or dilemma. And usually we already have in mind the way we think God should resolve it. When God sends a different answer, perhaps a more difficult answer, one that requires some act of patience or courage on our part, we don’t always recognize that answer has having come from God. We assume God has not answered our prayer because it was not answered the way we wanted.

We want clear cut signs from God, signs that do not require any trust or risk on our part. But Jesus says, look around! The signs are there. Jesus directed John’s attention past the dungeon walls that surrounded him. We look at the evil that is still here and say “God doesn’t care, God isn’t doing anything” But Jesus invites us to see that evil is being fought, peace is being made, hungry are being fed, people blinded by self-centeredness and greed are changing their ways. What do you see and hear? When the blind see, the broken are healed, the poor hear good news, and God is here.

“Blessed are those who are not offended by me”. Blessing comes to those who are able to cast aside their preconceptions of what God will do and how God will do it. There is no blessing for those who insist that Jesus match THEIR expectations. They want to define god, rather than allow God to give them a new point of view.

Many have asked the question John asked—is Jesus really the one or should we look for someone or something else? There have been many alternatives Messiahs presented to us. Messiahs who promised more certainty than Jesus. Messiahs who promised less suffering in life than Christ. Those alternatives are still out there today.

Jesus’ answer to John is our answer today. Look around. Listen to the word. Hear the story. We all hear and see different things. Our faith determines what we make of what we hear and see. Do we see Christ’s presence among us in the least of these? Is the Christ we seek the one who calls us to go out and do his work of comforting the suffering or should we look for another savior? One more to our expectations and liking? Who is the Christ you are looking for? And where are you looking for Christ?

Christ does not give us easy answers or easy paths. Christ gives us faith to see the kingdom. Faith does not make life easier but it does give us trust and courage to see beyond the darkness to the light that shines and brings hope and comfort to all people.

We don’t need to go looking for another Christ. The only one we need is here among us. The blind do see when they hear the Gospel. The spiritually lame leap for joy when they are freed by the Gospel. And when we see Christ among us and do his work, the hungry are fed, the naked clothed and the poor hear good news.

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Amen.

The Second Sunday in Advent, Year A - December 5, 2010

2010-12-05T21:09:00.000-06:00

Edward Hicks, "The Peacable Kingdom"

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
   and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
   the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
   the spirit of counsel and might,
   the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
   or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
   and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
   and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
   and faithfulness the belt around his loins. ⁴⁵

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
   and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
   their young shall lie down together;
   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
   as the waters cover the sea.⁶⁷⁸⁹
Isaiah 11:1-10

           Advent is a time of anticipation and hope. It is a sacred time of expectation of the fulfillment of God’s redemption of all creation. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus! But on a more mundane level, we are looking forward to Christmas. All of Christmas. The special worship services, the remembrance of the baby in the manger, but also the Christmas tree, the lights, the decorations, the presents, even the shopping.   Everybody likes to cluck their tongues over the over commercialization and materialism of this season. And it is excessive and it is good to find ways to simplify personalize and calm down our Christmas preparations. But all those shopping malls and stores and commercials we like to wag our fingers at? They give people jobs so that those people can have money to bake and decorate and buy toys for their children. So let’s not let Christmas give us yet ANOTHER excuse to be judgmental.   There are negatives and positives to everything and I think Advent is as good a time as any to look at the positive.

       So Advent with it’s anticipation propels to look forward. If however, e become too preoccupied with our future, too focused on the future return of Christ, too wrapped up in heaven, we may miss what God is doing in our lives today, while we are waiting. It is God’s presence in our lives today that grounds our Advent faith.

       Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah confronts us with the danger of missing what God is doing today. Isaiah’s vision sours to breathtaking heights in showing us the future God has in store for us. But upon looking at the text more closely, we see that Isaiah is more interested in God’s present salvation than some utopian future.

       Isaiah was speaking to a people who had experienced unimaginable horror. Assyrian armies had swooped down upon them with destruction and devastation. Isaiah likens what had happened to a tree cut to its stump. The tree is gone, seemingly destroyed. Yet out of that stump, just to the side, a newly sprouted branch appears from its roots. “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. “ The life of the future grows out of the death of the past. The future doesn’t come out of nowhere. It sprouts from out of what is left of today.   The future is not something separate and disconnected from the here and now. It grows out of the present. The future Kingdom of God that we look forward to has its beginnings here, in the midst of our less than perfect lives today.

       If you cannot rise about the setbacks and failures and disappointments of this life, if you cannot see the hope and presence of God in your life today, you will miss the future as well because Hope begins here, where we are right now.

       The future Isaiah promises is one of peace. It seems like peace is something we can only imagine in some distant future. Peace seems to be something human beings are just incapable of achieving. On our on at least.   But still, Isaiah paints us an image of what this peace will look like.

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

       I love this vision of how redemption involves all creation. Even the animals are brought into this kingdom of gentleness and peace. And I believe there is a literal truth to this vision. I believe animals will be in the Kingdom of God. But I also think there is a symbolic truth to this vision. The wolf, leopard, lion and viper are metaphors for human kingdoms that bite and tear and prey on smaller and weaker nations and people who are represented as the lamb, the goat, the cow and the child. Don’t you think it would be as much of a miracle to bring an end to the powerful oppressing and exploiting the weak as it would to see a lion and a lamb lay down together? In fact we have instances in nature where a mama lion will nurse a baby lamb.   So animals can do this. We can’t seem to.

       It was Martin Luther who noted that Isaiah’s vision of peace suggested that peace is accomplished by the mighty becoming lowly, not the other way around. The lamb does not become strong enough to defend herself against the wolf; it is the wolf that lies down peaceable with the lamb. The cows do not become hunters; it is the bears and the lions who give up hunting to graze.

       We try to achieve peace the other way – by making the weak stronger. But the biblical way to peace is not arming the weak. The biblical way to peace is by the strong becoming meeker and working with the weak, not exploiting or dominating them.

       Can you imagine such a thing? Can you imagine world leaders at a peace summit suggesting such a thing? Which is easier to imagine? That or a lion and a lamb playing together?

       Isaiah speaks of Israel’s hope for a leader who would exhibit the qualities of justice and righteousness and faithfulness, who would speak out on behalf of the poor and the meek. This ruler would establish a kingdom based on God’s righteousness and then there will be true peace.

       When have e seen a ruler like that? When has there been a ruler who humbled himself and advocated for the mighty to humble themselves? When has the world even wanted a leader like that?

       When there was a leader who promised the first would be last and the last would be first? When was there one who did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but who emptied himself, taking the form of a human and who was obedient to death -even death on the cross?

       The Kingdom of righteousness and peace that began long ago as a small shoot from a devastated stump was ushered in by the one whose birth we anticipate during Advent. That Kingdom begins in the life of those who welcome that Savior into their lives today.

       Isaiah describes an ideal ruler who is filled with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord. These are all the gifts of God we pray to be bestowed upon each child at their baptism and then we pray again that they be stirred up in each young person who affirms their baptism at confirmation.

The peaceable kingdom of God begins when e practice righteousness and justice in our own lives. There is a saying that peace is what God gives and justice is what we practice. Peace is the wholeness and well being that comes from relying on God’s grace and forgiveness. Justice is how we live in this world, how we treat others, other human beings, other creatures and our earth. True peace may be a future hope but justice can begin today and it is the stump out of which our hope for peace grows. This is how we begin today to prepare for the future coming of Christ, his coming into our hearts today, his coming at Christmas and his final return when he redeems all of creation in peace and justice.

       And now may the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Christ The King Sunday November 21, 2010

2010-11-21T19:23:00.000-06:00

Stations of the Cross by Linda Roberts, 2007

And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah^* of God, his chosen one!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him,^* ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding^* him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah?^* Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into^* your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ ⁴⁰⁴¹⁴²⁴³
Luke 23:35-43

“This is the King”

Where do we find this pronouncement in our Gospel lesson? On a cloud of glory? Over an empty tomb? On a heavenly throne? No, not in any of those places where you might expect to find the title, “king” written. No, we see these words written over a man hanging on a cross. How ironic that on the Sunday we call Christ the King, our Gospel tells of Jesus being hailed as a king as he is nailed to a cross.

In that irony lies the whole mystery of the Christian faith—God’s beloved son suffering for humanity at war with their God. Christ the King, dying the death of a common criminal.

At his trial, Jesus was asked by the assembly of religious leaders if he was the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One of God. He was brought before Pilate, who asked Jesus if he were a King. He was sent to Herod, who was hoping to be entertained by some miraculous performances by Jesus. Nobody got the response they were looking for. Not even the crowds who mocked him on the cross.

An inscription was commonly put at the top of the Cross-, describing the crime of the person being executed. Jesus’ crime? Being a King.

So why doesn’t he act like a king? Come one Jesus, you’ve saved others, save yourself now. The soldiers taunted him, “show some majesty now, if you are a king? Even the thief on the cross next to him dares him to show himself to be the Messiah everyone is expecting.

But Jesus ignores all of these opportunities to show his power. When he was asked at this trial if he were the Messiah, simply said, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it.

But certainly, if Jesus had acted like the Messiah, acted like the king, they would have had to believe it the, wouldn’t they? What if he had come riding in on God’s right hand, with angels and archangels? What if he had caused a few earthquakes in Herod’s palace? What if heavenly hosts had come to his rescue on the cross that day and annihilated all his ridiculers? Certainly then there would have been no question as to his divine kingship. Then everyone would have had to believe in him. Right?

But is faith really faith when you have no choice to believe? And just what exactly would people have believed in if they saw such terrible things? Certainly they would have believed in Jesus’ power. And God’s power. But what would they know of God’s love from those things?

No, it was only the cross that they were able to see God’s love. And it is only on the cross that we are able to see God’s love for his people. It is through the cross that Jesus saves. And it is on the cross where Jesus is enthroned and crowned king.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Back to the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion. Amidst all this shouting for Jesus to prove himself comes a lone voice from the third cross. The voice says what everyone there has known all along. “This man has done nothing wrong” Pilate had said as much, as had Herod. Now comes a verdict of innocence from a condemned man.

So this criminal, this sinner who is guilty, is the first to see, in Jesus, on the cross, a power that transcends the kind of power the others are looking for. The power of self-sacrificing love. The crowds see a stumbling block and folly. But to this criminal, one of the lowest people in society, is given the faith to see in Jesus on the cross the power of God to save him. Or to be saved the way the other thief wants to be saved. Not to be released from bearing the consequences of his actions. Not to be magically rescued from the suffering that he is experiencing. No he sees in Jesus the power to be saved for a new life, to be invited into the kingdom of God.

“Today,” Jesus tells him, “you will be with me.” Today. Not some distant future salvation. Now. Jesus promises to be with this man even in his own deepest moment of pain. That is the kind of king Jesus is.

How do we know of Christ’s kingship over us? How do we know of God’s love? Do we know God’s love because of his power to cause or prevent our suffering? Or do we know God’s love because of his promise to be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death? Do you know of God’s love because he has the power to bring a dead man back to life? Or do you know of God’s love because the one he raised lives in your heart and has shown you what it is to walk in love?

Finally, from Phillipians:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phillippians 2:5-11)

The Twenty Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, November 14, 2010

2010-11-14T16:40:00.000-06:00

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.⁶

They asked him, ‘Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’ And he said, ‘Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, “I am he!”^* and, “The time is near!”^* Do not go after them. ⁸
9 ‘When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. ¹⁰¹¹
12 ‘But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words^* and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls. ¹³¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹
Luke 21:5-19

“But not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown done”
What is to become of the church? What will become of our church? Will it still be here in 50, 30, 20 years? We will recognize our church in 10 years? We it be the church we are familiar and comfortable with?

There is a lot of anxiety about the church today. It’s not just Salem. It’s not even just the Lutherans. So many changes. So many conflicts. So many scandals. What is to become of the church?

In Jesus’ time, nobody worried about the future of the Temple. The Temple was massive, unchanging. It represented the presence of God. It was eternal. It was assumed that of course, the Temple would be there forever.

The temple was admired for it’s beauty, it’s constancy, it stability. As Jesus heard the people admire it, he warned them, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Nothing lasts forever. Not temples. Not church buildings, church structures or church institutions. “Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down”

“They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” When will this happen? How can we be prepared? What can we do about it? Jesus’ answer about the impermanence of the temple gives rise to even more anxiety. How can we prepare ourselves for the loss of those things upon which we have grown so used to and dependent?

Jesus’ answer is that you can’t. You can’t prepare because you don’t know how long we have left. Some will claim to know the signs and will claim to have the answer. Some will claim to be able to tell you how to make it last longer. Some will promise if you just listen to them, you can save your church.

And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray: for many will come in my name and say ‘I am he!’ and ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.”

How can we save the church? We cannot. It is not given to us to save God’s church.
How can we prepare for the end of everything we have grown to know and love?

There is only one way to prepare. That is to have faith and to trust God. “So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict”

Soon we will be in the season of Advent where the whole theme is to prepare but now Jesus says, don’t bother trying to prepare for what is to come. When the time comes God will give you what you need. Trust in the Lord.

Trust in the Lord. Do not trust in church buildings. There is nothing in this building that can save you. Nothing. Do not trust in institutions. There is no institution that can save you. Do not trust in human structures. There is no one on Salem council who can save you. There is no pastor who can save you.

Only God can save you.

There is so much anxiety about the future of the church. Has any of our worrying saved the church? Anxiety about the church has only brought about more conflict and anxiety.

Will the church die? Yes. Someday the church will die. Someday this building will end up in a trash heap. Someday we will all die. Why should that cause us anxiety? Are we not a people who believe in Resurrection? The church is the community of believers God has called to do his work in the world. If a tornado came tonight and destroyed this building – God’s work would still go on in Roland. Our faith teaches us not to fear death. Not our own death and not the death of structures and institutions. We are called by a God who brings the dead to life.

We live in anxious times. Jesus tells us not to be anxious. “But not a hair of your head will perish” To perish is to be destroyed forever. What God has brought into being cannot be destroyed forever. We can be threatened. We can be persecuted. We can even be killed. We cannot be destroyed. And neither can the true church which God has gathered together for the sake of the world.

      Are there difficulties ahead? Yes Jesus has promised there will be difficulties ahead. Will we lose things to which we have become accustomed? For certain we will. Will it be difficult to let go of those things to which we have become attached? No doubt.


      By your endurance you will gain your souls. By your endurance you will gain your souls. Perhaps we have become too attached to things that threaten our souls. Perhaps the best thing that can happen to us is to lose everything. Perhaps the best thing that can happen to us is to die to ourselves so that we may rise anew.

      What will become of the church we know and love?
      “Not one stone will be left upon another, all will be thrown down.”
      What will become of us?
      “Not one head of your head will perish”
      How shall we endure all of this loss?
      By your endurance you will gain your souls.
      Amen.

Reformation October 31, 2010

2010-10-31T11:45:00.000-05:00

Today we celebration the Reformation. What is the Reformation? Sometimes we think of this day as a celebration of the founding of the Lutheran church. But as we know, Martin Luther certainly had no intention of starting a new church when he pounded those 95 theses on the door of the church the evening before All Saints Day. He just wanted to start a conversation. He was just asking the questions.

Often that’s how a reformation begins. Someone is not afraid to question why are we doing this? Does this make sense? Is what we are doing faithful the people who call themselves Disciples of Christ? Are we furthering the gospel? Are we proclaiming the Good News that God’s love, acceptance and forgiveness are available to all peopling no if ands or buts?

As Martin Luther discovered, sometimes starting a conversation can be dangerous. Asking questions can be risky. Because sometimes asking questions require truthful answers. And we don’t always like truthful answers because they often require some response on our part. Usually that response requires some change on our part. The answers to Luther’s questions led to a lot more response and change than he certainly bargained for.

What Luther was essentially asking is “Are we adding a but to the Gospel?” Are we saying “God loves you but” Now you know what the word but does don’t you – it negates everything you say before the but. People tend to only listen to what you say after the but. So if I say “Gee it was sure nice of you to cook dinner but it tastes horrible” are you going to remember that I was grateful for dinner? No, you are going to remember the fact that I insulted your dinner.

So if I say to you God loves you, but you must do all these things first, are you going to hear the message that God loves you? No you going to get caught up in the list of all the things you must do and be and if you decide that do cannot do or be all those things, then you will figure that God probably doesn’t love you after all.

When you say God loves you but you might as well just not even say God loves you.

When God said to Abraham, “Abraham I love you” he didn’t say but. He just said, trust me. And Abraham did. Well sometimes. Not always. He didn’t trust God enough to keep them safe from Pharaoh might want Sarah for himself so he hatched some crazy scheme to pass her off as his sister. He didn’t trust God enough to give an elderly woman a child so he went along with the whole Hagaar fiasco. And yet, God still loved him. Because of who God is, not who Abraham was.

God loved the people of Israel and rescued them from slavery, no ifs ands or buts. He gave them a law, but the law was a gift. The law was for their sake. His love was not conditional based on their obedience of the law.

By the time of Jesus, the law had become a burden and a condition of God’s love. Jesus told parables about God’s unconditional love of sinners. Jesus healed sinners and broke the law healing people. Jesus forgave sinners – even forgave them without their asking! Jesus proclamation that God loves you – period – no buts – angered the religious authorities. Proclaiming God’s unconditional love is a very dangerous activity. It drove the religious leaders to seek Jesus’ death.

But we still didn’t get it. Jewish Christians insisted God’s love was for those who were circumcised and obeyed the law. Paul insisted God’s love was for everyone in Christ. “For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.”

In about the 4^th century there was a guy named Peligius who thought he could add just a little but. “God loves you but, you have to cooperate a little bit”

The great church father Augustine said, “No, faith itself is a gift from God”

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—Ephesians 2:5. See, once we want to take credit –even a little bit, for our own salvation, we get mired down in bondage to sin. Because we know, deep down, that we are helpless to cooperate in our own salvation, even a little bit. IT was Luther’s despair over his inability to cooperate with God that led to these words from the small catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts and sanctified and kept me in true faith.

To this day, even church’s that call themselves church’s of the Reformation indulge in Peligiasm, with this idea that we cooperate in our own salvation. They will offer steps that you MUST take in order to receive Jesus, I’m sure some of you have seen the brochures outlining the steps, how you have to admit you are a sinner, repent and pray a certain prayer.

Well pastor, you may ask, what’s wrong with confessing your sin and repenting? What’s wrong is the order of things! That presentation is saying, “God loves you but first you have to admit you are a sinner. But I say, and Luther would say, and Augustine said and Paul in scripture says, “God loves you even before you admit your sin! God loves you before you repent!”

In the second chapter of Mark, Jesus said “Son, your sins are forgiven” to a paralytic who had not confessed any sins, had not professed any faith, had said nothing at all- it was his friends who lowered him down through the roof and asked for healing. “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”

I can hear the yea buts now. Yea but don’t we have to do something? I mean God’s love can’t be that unconditional, because otherwise that would just be anarchy. Nobody would do anything. Nobody would behave.

Well what happened when Jesus said to the paralytic “you sins are forgiven”? He got up and walked. What do we do when we hear the words “Your sins are forgiven? We get up and walk a new life in Christ. Not because we have to. Because we can. Because we are free to. We are free from the hold sin has on us. Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts and sanctified and kept me in true faith.

Faith is trusting that God has freed us for new life. Faith is trusting that God’s love has the power to change lives, your life, my life. It comes down to, what do you trust more to change lives – do you trust our ability to cooperate in our own salvation through obedience to rules, fear, threats and intimidation. Or do you trust God’s love to break into our lives and free us from fear. Free us from intimidation. Free us from worry about whether or not we are worthy of God’s love. Free us from worry about whether or not someone else is worthy. Free us from comparisons, competition, resentment, envy, all of that stuff – because we trust that God’s love is enough for us and there is plenty of love to go around.

God loves you period. That’s the message of the Reformation. That’s the message of the Gospel.

Amen.

Lectionary 29, 20th Sunday a. Pentececost, October 17, 2010

2010-10-18T07:39:00.000-05:00

Rembrandt Harmensz. 1659/60

Genesis 32:22-30,

Jacob was not a nice person. Having cheated his brother Esau, he escaped to hide out with his uncle Laban. After cheating him as well and wearing out his welcome there, we find him in our first lesson, on he’s way home, hoping to patch things up with is twin Easau. Instead he gets the news that Esau is coming toward him with a party of 400 men, more than you need for a welcome home party, but a good number for a war party.
This is the dilemma facing Jacob as we begin our Old Testament lesson. Jacob is about the face the music for his cheating, manipulative ways.

He spends the night alone, near the river Jabbok, trying to figure out how he can avoid a messy confrontation with his brother who appears not to have forgiven him for cheating him out of his birthright. But it turns out that Jacob has another confrontation to deal with even before he gets near his brother.

In those days, bodys of water like rivers and lakes were considered dangerous places—especially at night. It was believed that rivers and lakes and even seas were homes for all kind of frightening creatures, ghosts, demons and spirits.

It was just such a water spirit that Jacob’s assumed he was facing when he wrestled him all night long. Jacob’s was a good fighter and his opponent was not able to best him, despite a crippling touch that put Jacob’s’ joint out of place.

There were many stories of encounters with spirits and the rules were if you won the wrestling match, you get to ask for a special favor of the spirit, so Jacob asks for a blessing. This is where Jacob’s gets more than he bargains for. As the sun comes up and Jacob hears what his blessing is, he realizes that he has not been wrestling with a water spirit, as he thought, but in fact, he has been struggling all night with God.

The blessing that Jacob receives from God is a new name. In those days, the name of a person was very important, almost sacred. A person’s name reflected and bore the very essence of which that person was. To change your name was to change yourself. If God changed your name then God changed you. Hence Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah, people chosen, called and changed by God.

Now Jacob, whose name meaning “crooked one”, reflected his character, becomes Jacob, meaning “one who strives with God”. In that moment, Jacob, who has nothing to offer God but lies and dishonest schemes, is chosen by God to be a bearer of God’s promise.

It is a familiar Gospel story, God choosing, frail, dishonest, weak people to carry out God’s plans and purposes. If God can take change Jacob, the crooked one, to Israel, the Father of a people blessed to be a blessing, just what do you suppose God can do with all of us?
We see in this story that God’s blessings come to us, not because of but despite what we deserve.

But there is more for us to learn from this mysterious story.

That night, at the river ford, Jacob’s new identity revealed the identity of the one with whom he struggled. It is when God gave Jacob his new name that Jacob realized that it was God. “Tell me your name, “ Jacob begs. But he got no answer. We don’t usually get clear proof of the presence of God in our lives. We don’t always recognize God right away. We rarely realize till later that our biggest struggles in life are usually struggles with God. And we usually can always explain God’s presence in another way. If not a water spirit, then something more scientifically acceptable.

We rarely have absolute and unambiguous proof of God’s activity in our lives. We know God only by faith, often after a long night’s struggle. Often we find ourselves in the midst of struggles and difficulties, seemingly alone and we do not realize until long after the struggle, that God was right there in the midst of those struggles. In fact we may well discover that it was God with whom we were struggling all this time.

Jacob walked away from his encounter with God with a blessing, but he also walked away with a limp. Jacob limps into his new life because God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Jacob still has nothing to boast of. Jacob was given a new life, a new future, and a new identity certainly not because he was such a good person, or even a good wrestler. Jacob was blessed because he would not let God go.

It is this kind of persistent faith, even in the midst of the struggle that Jesus speaks of in our Gospel parable of the unjust judge. If even this wicked judge, who cares nothing about justice can be moved by persistence to execute justice, how much more will God who is just be moved to respond?

But the parable is not about God’s faithfulness. It’s about our faithfulness and persistence. The text leaves out the last sentence. “When the Son of Man comes, will he find such faithfulness one earth? That’s the question.

And note that this is not the singleminded kind of persistence of a spoiled child – to constantly nag God until he wears down and gives you whatever you want. This persistence is a single-minded devotion to the things of God. This is persistence in praying for the Kingdom of God, praying for the victory of God’s goodness and righteousness, even when the way of the world seems to be going another way. It is holding on to God, even if it means wrestling with God, holding on to God, even when there is no clear evidence of his presence.

There is no question that God’s plans and purposes will be achieved. The question is, will we be part of them? Will we persist in prayer for God’s victory with the same fervor we seek success in other aspects of our life? Will we continue to wrestle with God until he blesses us, even if it means walking away with a limp? When the son of Man comes, will he find such faith on earth?
Amen.

Joelle's Sermons

2 Epiphany , Lectionary 2, B January 15, 2011

Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year B, December 18, 2011

Luke 1:26–38

In our First reading, David wants to build God a house. God has been dwelling in a tabernacle, a traveling tent and David doesn’t think that is good enough for God. All the gods of his neighboring countries have nice houses. David thinks HIS God should have a nice house too.

Christ the King Sunday A, November 20, 2011

Lectionary 33, November 13, 2011

Deborah the prophetess urges Barak to raise an army and give battle to the army of Jabin Marc Chagall

All Saints Sunday, November 6, 2011

Lectionary 28, October 9, 2011

10th Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 21 August 21, 2011 Year A

5th Sunday af. Pentecost, Lectionary 16, July 17, 2011

Genesis 28:10-19a

4th Sunday af. Pentecost, Lectionary 15, July 10, 2011

Genesis 25:19-34

3rd Sunday af. Pentecost, Lectionary 14, July 3, 2011

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Fifth Sunday of Easter A

Fourth Sunday of Easter A 2011

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany A - February 20, 2011

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany Year A February 13, 2011

Second Sunday after the Epiphany January 16, 2011

The Baptism of Our Lord - Year A January 9, 2011

The Second Sunday after Christmas January 2, 2011

4th Sunday in Advent A December 19, 2010

Third Sunday in Advent, Year A, December 12, 2010

Jesus Praises John the Baptist

The Second Sunday in Advent, Year A - December 5, 2010

Christ The King Sunday November 21, 2010

The Twenty Fourth Sunday After Pentecost, November 14, 2010

Reformation October 31, 2010

Lectionary 29, 20th Sunday a. Pentececost, October 17, 2010