Jesus: The Peace Between Us July 23, 2006

2 Samuel 7:1-14a, Ephesians 2:11-22

Once upon a time there was a very old castle on the English coast that had not been occupied for awhile. Vandals had been coming in and destroying the place. So the owner hired a contractor to build a rock wall around the castle. The fee was decided upon and the contractor began building the wall. It was only a short time when he began having trouble finding enough rocks for the wall. So he called the owner and complained about the rock scarcity. The owner replied sharply to the contractor, “I don’t care where you get the rocks. I just want to get that wall built.” After a few weeks, the owner came to take a look at found a beautiful high wall built. He was so impressed with the fine work. It was really a perfect wall for the castle! But then he went through the wall and was shocked to find that there was no castle! The contractor explained, “There were all these wonderful rocks in that run-down old castle, so I used them.”[1]

When we build walls we never know how high the price will be. So often walls are built because of prejudice-prejudging people and situations. We think we are protecting ourselves in some way and what may happen instead is that we prevent ourselves from letting the grace of God come to us through the people we are shutting out. Instead of protecting ourselves from some cherished values, we may instead find out that we have ended up tearing down things of value from within ourselves.

Jesus and Paul were born into a society in the Middle East where the people were separated in many ways. The largest division was between the Jews and the Gentiles; the Jews were the chosen people of God, the ones to whom God had made the many promises of freedom and land, leadership throughout the generations as with David and the promise that his descendants would rule for all time. The rest of the people, including our ancestors , were considered Gentiles. The Jews were the “in crowd” and the Gentiles were the “other”, us and them. In the temple in Jerusalem there were actual walls separating the Gentiles from the Jews, the males from the females, the priests from the lay people, and holy things from common things. There was tremendous prejudice especially between the Jews and the Gentiles. There were all kinds of laws to keep them separate. Jews were forbidden to enter Gentile homes. If a Jew married a Gentile, the Jew was more than disowned; it was like a death, even had a funeral service. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians says that these walls of hostility have been broken down through Christ Jesus. The fact that Gentiles were included in Christianity in Jesus day is referred to by some as the greatest miracle of the New Testament. Jesus is the peace between us, between the Jews and the Gentiles in those times, and today, between all sorts and conditions of people. Jesus’ ministry was and is a ministry of reconciliation where he creates one new humanity in place of two. Paul tells the Christians in Galatia that there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, the East and the West. In our Ephesians’ passage he says that Christians are no longer strangers and aliens to each other but that we are all one in Christ Jesus. It is Jesus through whom we are joined together and will grow into a holy temple in the Lord, says Paul. Jesus is the cornerstone of this dwelling place for God. In a world that constantly divides people into us and them the Christian message is that there is no them, only us, all of us right here in the same family, members of the same body with Christ as our head. Jesus has taken away the walls, the hostility of division and called us to be one in peace.
A sermon by Don Harbuck pointed out that all these walls are really just one wall and I would like to share some of his words, “The wall is everywhere. All of us know about it…. Its menacing power moves the length and breadth of human existence. What wall is it? It is the wall that separates and fragments and isolates. It is the wall that keeps people apart. It makes them suspicious and distrustful of each other. It kills fellowship and breeds prejudice and spreads gossip and sets loose the dogs of war. It takes many forms but it always remains the same wall wherever we encounter it.”[2] He goes on to describe some of the different forms: sometimes it’s a velvet covered wall separating the affluent and wealthy from people who do not have and may never have wealth. Sometimes it’s a sheepskin wall which raises hostility between the educated and the uneducated. I’m sure we could all go on with different walls. When I was growing up in New England in the 50’s the greatest wall was between whites and blacks. When I moved to So. California in the 60’s, the great prejudice was Anglos against Mexicans; after 9/11 the religious wall of hate against Muslims has grown higher and higher. We are good at building both tangible and intangible walls. You older folks remember the Iron Curtain, the symbolic boundaries that divided Europe from the end of WW II to the end of the Cold War. Then of course most everyone here remembers the Berlin Wall that separated Easter Germany from Western Germany and was finally torn down in 1989. Many walls are unnamed but still are very powerful.

Paul reminds us that the way of Jesus is not to build walls or place barriers in the way of people being close together. He says that Jesus “came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.” If we are going to follow Jesus, it seems to me that it is up to us as Christians to continue the work of breaking down walls whenever we see them and to be careful that we do not build or maintain the walls ourselves. This means examining our hearts and our lives to find any invisible but very real barriers that we can so easily erect between ourselves and others. You are use to my lists by now but listen to a couple of new possibilities of those we may put on the other side of the wall: those with piercings through many body parts, those who drive souped-up cars, those that are unattractively groomed and dressed, maybe those that are beer drinking, cigar smoking wrestling fans. I don’t know. You can fill in your own prejudices, your own groups of people that you feel uncomfortable with and don’t even try to get to know. Just think of the racial, economic, and social barriers that are in our daily lives that determine whom we see, touch and share with or not. These walls direct our footsteps; think of how we classify each other in church: summer people, old timers, newcomers; think about how we relate or not to those people in our work, the janitors, the bosses, and so forth. Do we relate to the trash collector the same as the delivery person, the same as the grocery store cashier, the same as the bank teller? How is any of this “oneness” possible? Are we just fooling ourselves?

In our Hebrew scripture we heard the story of David deciding he wanted to make a permanent house for God, who as the God of a transient people had been carried about on carts and other various means of transportation as God’s people went from place to place. David is so thankful for all the blessings that God has given him that he wants to do something really nice for God—make him not just any house but one built from the finest cedars. What a surprise when Nathan, the prophet, told David that God did not want a house; in fact God wanted to build a house for David. Building God a house was David’s agenda, not God’s agenda. Do we try to out think God? Do we make decisions for God which are really things that we want or believe, not what God wants or believes? How much time do we spend listening to God, trying to discern God’s will for us and for God’s world? No matter how high and lofty our goals may be, remember that God’s plans may be different and that we always need to keep listening—through prayer, through reading Scripture, through worshiping with others. Paul tells us that the household of God is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone. As we join together as one, the holy temple of the Lord is built; we “also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” (v.21-2) This is not a house of the finest cedars that David intended to built. This house is us all joined together in the body of Christ. This is the new people that Christ Jesus himself built as he proclaims peace to those both near and far off.

I will end this sermon with another illustration. This one comes from one of America’s great preachers, Fred Craddock. He tells about revisiting his Southern hometown every Christmas and always going to see his friend Buck. Buck owned a cafe on the main street of the town, and he always gave Craddock a cup of coffee and a piece of chess pie. One Christmas when Craddock went in to get his coffee and pie, Buck said, "Come on, let's go get a cup of coffee." "What's the matter?" asked Craddock, "isn't this a restaurant?" "I don't know; sometimes I wonder," Buck fired back.Later, sitting across from Craddock, Buck asked, "Did you see the curtain?" "Yes, Buck, I saw the curtain; I always see the curtain." The curtain was in Buck's cafe, separating the front half of the cafe from the back half. White folks came in the front of the cafe from the main street, but black folks came in from an alley behind the cafe. The curtain was there to separate, to separate white people from black people.
Buck looked up and said, "Fred, the curtain has got to come down." "Good," Craddock responded, "Pull her down!" "That's easy enough for you to say," said Buck. "You come in once a year and tell me how to run my business." "Then leave it up," Craddock countered. In personal agony, Buck said, "Fred, I take that curtain down, and I lose my customers; I leave that curtain up, and I lose my soul!"

Buck was right, of course. Some curtains have to come down. Walls have to be destroyed because if we leave them up we will lose our souls, no matter how many church customers we gain![3] Remember that you and I are God’s temple! What an amazing realization! Jesus has reconciled us into one body and we are the dwelling place of God! Amen and Amen.

[1] Joel Gregory, quoted by Mickey Anders in a sermon online.
[2] “The Wall,” unpublished sermon found online.
[3] Retold by Walter Shurden, “When the walls come tumbling down”, in Baptist History and Heritage, Spring 2005

Pastor Barbara's Sermon for July 18, 2006

“David danced before the Lord with all his might.” What’s Holding You Back?
Scripture: Psalm 24 and 2 Samuel 6:1-5 and12b-19

Today’s sermon focuses on dancing and expressing joy so I thought a good way to start out would be with a couple of jokes. Laughter is something that we can always use more of. Now let’s hope these jokes are funnier enough to make you laugh! This first one relates to our sermon by describing a boy that is uninhibited: This little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle, he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar. So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear”. Now for one more: The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mike, and as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again. After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered, "If he gets loose, will he hurt us?"
We continue today with the story of King David. From other recent readings of Samuel and my sermons, we know that David is a man of great emotion, a person of deep feeling. We have seen him overwhelmed by grief at the death of his beloved Jonathan and King Saul. This is the man that tradition says wrote most of the Psalms, these beautiful songs and poems, some of which are very familiar to many of us. In today’s reading David, fresh from great military victories over the Philistines, wanted to take the Ark of the Covenant, believed to be where God resided, to Jerusalem. He is so overjoyed and thankful to God; David wants to install the Ark in the city he has made his home and the center of the Israelites nation.

Now some days no matter how carefully you plan, things just have a way of going wrong. In the scripture that is not included in this lectionary reading, the nation, all 30,000 of them are on their way to Jerusalem with the Ark on a wagon. They go over some rough road and Uzzah, who was walking beside the ox drawn wagon, reaches out to steady the Ark, touches it and is immediately struck dead. The Holy is not to be seen or touched. So David’s parade comes to a crashing end. David is very angry with God and also afraid. He ends up storing the Ark in Obed-edom’s house for the next 3 months. David hears that the household of Obed -edom has been greatly blessed during this time so David then decides to again take the Ark to Jerusalem. This procession was filled with rituals: sacrifices and music, including dancing and shouting. And just as our celebrations almost always include food, David blessed the people and distributed a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.

It’s pretty clear as the scripture describes these events that not only David but the others on this journey were filled with joy and enthusiasm. Their dancing and worshiping was passionate and exuberant. They danced with all their might. When is the last time that any of us danced in worship? In the last year I have seen sacred dance as part of worship services on a couple of occasions. I use to go to a church in San Francisco--over probably a 20 year period—where most folks danced during much of the worship. This place was Glide Memorial Methodist church, in the Tenderloin district—an area of high crime, homelessness and addictions. The pastor was the Rev. Cecil Williams. Both the music and the diversity of people were awesome. One writer described it like this: A three-piece band with electric guitar and keyboards produce a rocking backbeat, and the stage is filled with all ages, colors, sizes, and shapes. Most people in the audience stand and clap and sway to the beat. The mix is one I don't often see. “Dark ladies dressed in prim Sunday suits with hats, street guys from the neighborhood with faces that look like slept-in clothes, babes in camisoles -- and those are just the ushers. The front steps bubble with little kids. Huge gay presence, men and women (again, all colors). Spotlights hit long banners streaming from the ceiling that say "Justice" and "Dignity" and "Liberation" and "Love" and "Peace" and "Power."” [1] It was indeed a grand celebration where David would have felt most comfortable. I loved going to Glide and would leave on a high with hope for the world to replicate that beautiful diversity praising God together, each in his or her own way—a bit like Pentecost in the time of Jesus’ disciples.

As I think about all these things: David’s story, Glide, Deering Community Church, I wonder what kind of God are we worshipping? Have the mainline churches tamed God, turned God into a nice friendly companion who comforts us and offers us a reward for our good church attendance? Or is this the awesome, the powerful, the terrifying God of David? There is a great quote in one of Annie Dillard’s books (Teaching a Stone to Talk) where she writes about the power of God, "Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews" This is not a tame God but a God with great transcendent power and glory. It is the God of Psalm 24, the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty. This is the God that keeps the universe from spinning wildly out of control. It is a God greater than any of our imaginations—as great as those imaginations can be. I believe that this God is truly an awesome God, filled with love and power.

What about when you are outside of the church? Have you acted out your thankfulness and joy with exuberance? I know I tend to be more on the serious side, and I also love to praise the Lord. There is no virtue in being somber with God. I’m sure God is rejoicing whenever we do loving things so why not rejoice, not just with our sisters and brothers but with God. In the month at least two members have asked me about the appropriateness of expressing their joy in church. What a shame that they had to ask! When Balance from our Rimbi partner church was here, he did some singing, drumming and praising, even instructing us. Do you remember? Whenever he said Praise the Lord we were to say:___ (Amen). There have been several times since then that the congregation has said Amen. I love to here it. My first couple of years here I think I was the only one that ever shouted Amen as a way of appreciating what was happening.

Why do we hold back our joy as well as other emotions in worship? David was not afraid to worship with great exuberance, great emotion. He was not just going through the motions; he was worshipping the living God. He was taking a risk, even danced in his underwear to the great chagrin of his wife Michal. Now I’m not suggesting that we dance in our underwear in church, but I do want to encourage everyone to let your joy show and not hold back. Why are we so prim and proper in church? Part of it of course is our heritage—our Puritan/Pilgrim/Anglican heritage as well as our rural NH heritage. Is it also because we are worried about what others may think or say? There will certainly be some that would think dancing in the church might not be appropriate. What about clapping hands to the rhythm of the music? What about raising our hands in prayer, in praising our God? What about telling our family and friends about how excited and joyful we are because of God’s amazing grace? We can sing songs with great feeling; we can say “Amen” if something happens that pleases us, or we hear some important truth about our faith. The lesson from David—who was use to danger, living on the edge—is that we don’t have to be careful and cautious with God.

Now I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that both God and I love you just the way you are. If you never change your reserved way of worshipping, it’s okay. At the same time I want those of you that feel like being a more extreme, exuberant worshipper to be that way. It might be fun for you who are reserved to try something more dramatic. If it brings you closer to God, great. If not, don’t do it. When God enters our lives we are blessed beyond measure. Our response to that blessing is unlimited joy. David didn’t worry about what was proper behavior or attire for a King; instead he focused on praising joy with great abandonment. Remember worship is about our relationship to God; can we let our praise flow freely from our hearts? Our worship is not designed to draw attention to us. What ever we do, we do as an expression of love for our God, an indication of our thankfulness for God’s grace, God’s forgiveness and for God’s gift of Jesus— the Divine Spirit coming and living amongst us so that we will know how God wants us to live.

My prayer for the congregation is that God may help us be as fully alive and passionate to God as David was. May you as individuals express your joy and not hold back. May we meet God in a more real way, a way that will indeed be a blessing to us all. Amen

[1] Don Shewey, online at http://www.donshewey.com/sex_articles/glide.html

Success and Failure Sermon for July 9, 2007

Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a

How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.

Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)

This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier:

"I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things...

I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise...

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God....

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things...

I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed. "

My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
























































SUCCESS and FAILURE; STRENGTH and WEAKNESS
Sermon for July 9, 2006
Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a

How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier: I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things... I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise... I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.... I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things... I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed. My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen












































SUCCESS and FAILURE; STRENGTH and WEAKNESS
Sermon for July 9, 2006
Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a

How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier: I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things... I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise... I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.... I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things... I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed. My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
























































B

God's Shalom, Sermon for July 2, 2006

God’s Shalom
Scripture: 2 Sam 1:1; 17-27, Psalm 130, 2 Cor 8:7-15

Last week the children gave us a real treat, acting out the story of the small boy, David, killing the giant Goliath with a sling and a stone. That story was from the 17th chapter of the first book of Samuel. King Saul as well as the rest of Israel was so thrilled and excited about what David did. Saul even makes David part of his own household. Saul’s son Jonathan and David become the very best of friends. As time goes by Saul begins to get jealous of David because David had so much charisma that he became well loved and admired by all the people. Saul plans to kill David and plans all sorts of things to get him. Finally, both Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle. This brings us up to today’s reading. We find David grieving both men’s death, deep sadness for the loss of his beloved Jonathan and also a respectful sadness that the ruler of the nation had been slain. In his song of grief, David mourns the tragedy of war itself; the closing verse says “How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished.”

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace with justice for humanity and all of God’s creation. It’s also used as a greeting and a farewell. To live in God’s shalom means to work for peace even in the midst of uncertainty. It means to do whatever we can in small ways as well as large ways to bring peace and well being to all. Robert Roth writes in Sojourner magazine about “The Ways of Shalom” and points to our Psalm 130 as an example of how Shalom begins, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.” It’s David’s mournful song as he laments over the “beloved and lovely” Saul and Jonathan. It is also Paul in our Epistle reading as he tries to teach the Corinthians about giving and generosity. Shalom starts out with a cry of help to our God, to our community, to each other.

A few days before the holiday to commemorate the beginning of our nation I ask you to be sensitive and mindful of the paradox of our country’s beginnings. Before I go further let me say clearly that I love the principles of our country; I love the freedoms that we have as well as being concerned when these freedoms are taken away from any of our citizens. Just as I feel good about myself and my loved ones, I sometimes feel ashamed and aggrieved at certain of our actions or inactions. I also, especially in the last few years, often feel ashamed of my country. Our forefathers supposedly founded the USA on the desire for liberty and justice “for all”. The Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal; unfortunately this was not just a simple use of male meaning everyone. At the very same time, women were not able to vote or participate in government, and slaves were counted as 3/5’s of a white man in the constitution. No wonder Frederick Douglass—a great orator--born to a slave and an unknown white man in 1818 and ran away to freedom in 1838 when asked to speak at an Independence Day celebration in 1852 said these impassioned words:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

This is the opposite of God’s shalom. Sometimes it’s easy to think that all of these oppressions of the past are over. Civil rights legislation and suffrage for women have all taken place. Segregation is banned, most every citizen over age 18 can now vote. So what’s the problem? The answers to this question could easily take a few hours, but relax I’m only going to raise up a couple of possibilities: access and attitude. Although theoretically in America anyone can go up the ladder, it’s getting increasingly difficult for the have-nots to compete with the haves. The opportunity for a college education if you are poor is much more limited than when I went to college; the attitude of the government and of the middle and upper classes are much more negative towards those people on the margins whether they are there because of race or class or mental illness or being an immigrant. I wonder if any of you have tried to pay rent and buy groceries on minimum wage to say nothing about welfare aid. Then when it comes to attitude I include prejudice. My bi-racial son called as I was writing this sermon and I shared some of it with him. He said that he had just returned home from the Laundromat where he and a Latina woman had been folding their clothes. A white woman and her little dog came in and started asking them questions, assuming they were the help. Finally she got it, that they were not the help and commented that they looked like professionals. Now is that prejudice or not? It reminded me of how my children’s father always dressed very fashionably, usually in suit and tie just to avoid being a victim of that kind of attitude as he had been many times before. Well, I promised not to go on too long so I’d better stop on this issue.

In our Epistle reading Paul was trying to inspire the Corinthians to finish taking up the collection for the poor of Jerusalem. After being part of three budget/pledge campaigns here at Deering I know how hard it can be to motivate folks to give more money. A couple of weeks a go I promised that I would get back into the joke groove again and I have one that relates to this subject.

There was a man who offered a $1000 to anyone who could squeeze the last drop out of lemon. Well, everyone would come up and try it. No one could get another drop out of the lemon. One day a thin, balding, little man came in wearing wire rim glasses. "I can squeeze your lemon." Everyone started laughing. . He grabbed a lemon, and without even cutting a hole in it --one, two, three big drops of lemon juice plunged into the glass. The silence turned to hysterical cheers. "How in the world did you do that?" "Nothing to it," he said. "I do it every day. I am the treasurer at Deering Community Church.”

Now Paul had a couple of other ways to motivate. First he compared the community to the Macedonian Christians, who were very poor but gave very generously. He then compared the love of those that give with the love of Jesus. He reminded them of God’s grace that is given to us all and allows us to do more than we ever think we can do. Paul very much emphasizes generosity and giving from what one has so that there will be an equality, a fairness amongst all Christians. This, my brothers and sisters, is definitely a part of God’s Shalom, caring for and sharing with others. This makes me think of our partner church in Zimbabwe. Balance Chimbangwa spoke plainly about how much of a crisis they are in. Our Ukama partnership has forbidden partner churches to give monetary gifts directly to our partners. The World Service group from this church have petitioned the state Ukama board to change these rules. When the rules were made ten years a go, the condition was not anywhere as bad as it is now. There were good reasons for the decisions as often times when one partner gives money there can be a feeling of superiority as in the old days of missionary activity and attitudes. Our World Service Committee want a disaster fund set up so that we can give to the churches in need. We are willing to wait awhile to see what happens, but we have told Ukama that we reserved the right to go directly to our partner church if something was not done to correct the present inequity. It makes no sense for us to have as much abundance as we have and not help those who do not have.

We do not have to go to Africa to see the inequality among people. Right here in our country on a cold winter day a clerk in a shoe store reports this story: “One day I noticed a little barefoot boy standing by the hot air register outside the bakery shop next door trying to keep warm. I wasn't sure if I should invite the boy into the store or just what to do with him, when a middle-aged lady came by and began to talk with him. About five minutes later, she brought him into the store and bought him new shoes and a pair of heavy woolen socks. I then overheard the boy ask the lady a question. ‘Are you God's wife?’ he asked. Her reply was, ‘No son, I'm just one of God’s children.’ To which he said, ‘Well, I knew you must be some kin to him.’ He quickly thanked her and ran out the door.”[1]

God’s Shalom is providing both the band aid and working to change the system that makes the band aid necessary. God’s Shalom is standing up for what you believe is right, what you’ve been taught in church or Sunday School or have reasoned out by yourself. It’s being creative with how we give and how we spend. At one point back in the really good stock market days, I decided to give 10% of each month’s profit. That didn’t last long as my profits dwindled. When I talk about giving and being generous, please don’t forget about gifts other than your money. Some examples of generosity of the Spirit: offering a kind word or a hug when a person is in need of some TLC; offering forgiveness when others would be thinking about revenge; taking someone to the ER when all really want to do is have a nap, fixing someone’s door that’s broken, cooking a meal, offering to baby sit. All of these and so many more are examples of generosity—of God’s shalom.

The big issues of war and peace I’m going to save for another day other than to remind you of the Peace Declaration. As we go forward to Holy Communion, may God bless us with an increase of awareness and an increase of commitment to care and share for others as part of God’s Shalom.


[1] Disclosing New Worlds online at http://wolabcd.wordpress.com/