REJOICE ALWAYS Sermon for 12-17-06

Scripture: Zephania 3:14-20, Phil. 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18

Rejoice! Sing songs! Celebrate for the Lord is in our midst! Sing praises, shout aloud! Both in Isaiah and Zephania the theme is the same: a resounding expression of the joy in these people’s hearts. And why is there so much joy? Because the Lord is in our midst says the prophet Zephania. In Zephania not only the people’s joy but God’s joy as well are described. God is singing! Have you ever thought about God singing you into being? Even Paul in his letter to the Philippians says to rejoice for the Lord is near. These scripture readings are all filled with promises of the Lord’s presence and the joy that presence can produce in our very being, in our hearts, minds, and souls.

Before I get deeper into this morning’s sermon on joy, it seems only right that I contribute to your happiness is by telling you a little story. Mrs. Brown takes her 14-year-old daughter, Sarah, to the doctor, and complains to him that her daughter keeps getting these cravings, plus she's putting on weight and is sick most mornings. The doctor gives the girl a good examination then turns to the mother and says, "Well, I don't know how to tell you this but your daughter is pregnant. About 4 months would be my guess." The mother says, "Pregnant?! She can't be, she has never even been left alone with a man! Have you Sarah?" Sarah says, "No mother! I've never even kissed a man!" The doctor walked over to the window and just stares out of it. About five minutes pass and finally the mother says, "Is there something wrong out there doctor?" The doctor replies, "No, not really, it's just that the last time anything like this happened, a star appeared in the east and three wise men came over the hill. I'll be darned if I'm going to miss it this time!"

One of the challenges I’ve given myself this morning—besides that making you laugh—is to distinguish between happiness and joy. Have you noticed that this time of year there is quite a diversity with peoples’ moods? There are those folks that Christmas makes deliriously happy, those that just love giving presents, going to parties, decorating their homes and so forth. At the other end of the spectrum are the bah humbug types, always complaining about the commercialization of Christmas, the waste of energy with all those ridiculous light displays, the tackiness of those fat balloon figures, and so forth. I have to admit to having some of both of these attitudes. Probably most of us do; however, my nature is much more on the bright side than the grumpy side. Now when we think about joy, it is not just a point on the line from grumpy to happy. Joy is a different kind of experience. Peter Sawtell, whom some of you may have seen as one of our keynote speakers at the annual meeting, says that joy is to happiness as abundant is to affluent—that joy has a moral quality which grounds us in a way of being. He goes on to say that “abundant life (which is what our faith promises us) is a life full of purpose and meaning, rich in relationships, and with sufficient material stuff to provide for our needs, whereas an affluent life has lots of the stuff, but may be utterly lacking in the meaning and relationships which make life worthwhile. Abundant life is filled with joy. An affluent life may deliver moments of happiness without ever comprehending joy.” Paul Tillich, a famous theologian with German roots, says that joy is more than pleasure and more than happiness. He says, “Joy is possible only when we are driven towards things and persons because of what and who they are and not because of what we can get from them.” Different from joy, happiness comes from a state of mind that is dependent on certain conditions, both internal and external. We could say the same for grumpiness! For Tillich the special ingredient in joy is blessedness; this blessedness makes it possible for joy to include sorrow and happiness. In a similar way, Jesus in the Beatitudes call folks blessed and goes on to say, “Rejoice and be glad, your reward is in heaven.”

Another German theologian, one of my favorites, Fred Buechner says that happiness is human made; however, human beings can never take full credit for joy. To quote him, “Joy is always all-encompassing; there is nothing of us left over to hate with or to be afraid with, to feel guilty with or to be selfish about.” Joy points us in one direction, that of sharing it with others. For Buechner, where we have known joy, we have known Christ. Maybe joy has to contain a piece of the divine.

Paul is certainly a good example of joy. The passage we heard this morning from his letters to the Philippians was actually written from jail, where he is awaiting a trial that could result in his death. Yet he uses the word joy and rejoicing 14 times in this short letter, ending with the declaration, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!” Both the Hebrew and Greek words for ‘joy” refer to a calm, inner delight of the soul—an inner peace which is not dependent upon circumstances but is something that comes from our relationship with God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. Also the word peace in the Hebrew and Greek is very similar to joy—an inner tranquility of the heart that results from a confident, trusting awareness that our lives are in the hands of God. Besides rejoicing, Paul urges that these Christians show gentleness to everyone. The Greek word for gentleness is a very rich one, hard to convey by our English word; for example, it has been translated as moderation, forbearance, magnanimity, reasonableness. It denotes the ability to be steadfast in suffering, trusting in God in spite of it all. It’s a rare word, used only five times in the NT. He later includes this word as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

How do these joyful scriptures than relate to our Gospel reading in Luke? There John the Baptist calls the crowd a brood of vipers and cautions them that neither their lineage nor their baptism will substitute for repentance and ethical reform. He warns them to bear fruits worthy of repentance. If they have two coats, share with someone who has none and whoever has food must do likewise. I see these commands to repent and bear worthy fruit very much connected to joy. For me the lack of joy is very much a part of sin, of being separated from God that I talked about last week. When we repent—turn from the wrongdoing back to God’s redeeming love—the consequence is joy and peace in our hearts and souls. Abundance and joy connect us with a deep sense of how things should be and an awareness that we are participating in what is, ultimately, good and right as Peter Sawtell writes. “Our joy calls us to bring that right-ness even more fully into the world. Joy wants us to grow. Joy wants to transform what is not right, and it has the deep roots to flourish in the face of real problems. Joy does not evaporate in the face of poverty, suffering, exploitation and destruction.” Just think of our partners in Zimbabwe and how full of joy they are in spite of their great poverty and oppression. I can remember my visits to Kay Bliss, and right up to her dying how much joy she expressed. Those of you that knew her might remember her expression, “Not worthy, LORD!” Her feeling of joy and appreciation for our visits to her never left, even in the final stages of her life.

When Paul tells us to “rejoice always”, what does he mean? Could he mean even if things are not going well, rejoice; even if you or your loved ones have a serious illness, rejoice; even if your job has been eliminated, rejoice; even if your spouse has left you, rejoice; even if your car breaks down, rejoice? It’s not easy but for myself, I want to be joyful by being in right relationship with God and others, giving thanks and appreciation to God no matter what my circumstance.

I’m not suggesting that you be a Pollyanna or in denial. Remember that you are rejoicing in the Lord—not in your bank account, not in your accomplishments, not in your health, not even in your church and your pastor. Rejoice in the Lord, in God’s power, God’s love, God’s creation, God’s ability. When we know profound joy we will have a hint of what the Kingdom will be, what our world is meant to be. The next step is to pray always and do that specific thing that you are able to do to bring about the kingdom here today. I believe that rejoicing no matter what our circumstances will help bring us the joy, peace and faith that we desire and that God desires for us, not only at Christmas but all year long. Rejoice, give thanks and sing!

JESUS’ KINGDOM Sermon for 11-26-06

Sermon for Christ the King Sunday 11-26, 2006
Scripture: 2 Sam.23:1-7, Rev 1:4b-8, John 18:33-37

As some of you may know, our church year begins with the first Sunday in Advent-which this year is in December but is usually the end of November. So today is the New Year’s Eve of the Christian year. The last Sunday in each year is set aside for Christ the King Sunday or more politically correct these days—Reign of Christ Sunday. Some feminists would call the sermon Jesus’ Kindom instead of Kingdom. Now although I don’t consider myself a full blown or radical feminist, I am very sensitive to gender based language. I know many women including my own daughter who have lots of trouble worshipping a male God. They reject calling Jesus a King because they know that not only are kings male, but they rule autocratically; they dictate rather than consult; and they issue commands rather than working towards consensus or least majority rule; they demand obedience and loyalty to themselves rather than seeking to serve others. Doesn’t sound like Jesus, does it? Yet there are good reasons to think about Jesus as King due to those last days when Pilate and he engage in the discussion about his being the “King of the Jews”.

As Americans, we are not oriented towards Kings or Queens; however, in the Hebrew Bible days, the Israelites demanded from their leader Samuel that they have a King. God warned them against it, saying that a king would not use them well and that they would be sorry; however, the peoples’ will prevailed, and Samuel appointed Saul as the first king. The next King was David, and it is his final thoughts that make up our 1st lesson today. In his lifetime he had learned that we are not called to serve out own interests—even if we are King—we are called to serve God. God wants kings to rule justly and with compassion. David knows he has not been perfect, yet he has wanted to be a ruler faithful to God and God’s ways. In Jesus, our leader, we have been shown a world where the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Jesus says very clearly that “My kingdom is not from this world.” For me this does not mean that his kingdom is in heaven, but that what he teaches is the opposite of what the world teaches. If he were a worldly king, he says his followers would be out there fighting to prevent him from being handed over to the crowds—and to his crucifixion. No, instead Jesus taught about a kingdom that lifted up the weak in the world. Rev. Anthony Clavier says, “Our king likes to go out into the streets in disguise. He turns up as a street person, a homeless, battered woman, a black teen taunted by young racists, and whispers to us that as we care for everyone, we care for him.” He hangs around with tax collectors and prostitutes; he touches lepers and heals the untouchables. His weapons are love, compassion, and truth.

Jesus tells Pilate that he came into the world to testify to the truth. More than just testifying to the truth, Jesus is the truth. Pilate can’t possibly understand when Jesus tells him he is here for one purpose: to testify to the truth. Jesus could explain it like this: If you want to call me a King, go ahead; however, I’m much more than that. I am here for one purpose, to testify to the truth, to reveal the world as God intended it to be. That is the whole purpose of my being in the world.” In the gospel of John, he says, “I am the truth!” Jesus is more than the truth of his teachings, he is the truth himself. He points us to God, the beginning and the ending of everything, the Alpha and the Omega.

Jesus was trying to explain to Pilate that his kingdom was not made up of the same values and structures as Rome’s political, economic, and religious systems. Rome’s systems were meant to dominate, to oppress, to exploit the people. Jesus’ kingdom is the power of nonviolence, non-domination, or peace and love, of mutual caring for those that are suffering. Can you imagine a world where God were King instead of Bush, Blair, Putin and so forth? What a radical reversal we would have: peacemaking instead of warmongering, true freedom instead of exploitation and subjugation; care for the “least of these” instead of privileges for the rich and powerful; generosity instead of greed; inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness, one Beloved Community instead of the many divisions; no more blind, sick, political captives, hungry, and homeless.
Father Gerard Darring talks about the Kingdom in the following way: it is a space, a time, and a condition; it is past, present and future. As a space, “it exists in every home where parents and children love each other. It exists in every region and country that cares for its weak and vulnerable. It exists in every parish that reaches out to the needy.”[1] As a time “it happens whenever someone feeds a hungry person, or shelters a homeless person, or shows care to a neglected person. It happens whenever we overturn an unjust law, or correct an injustice, or avert a war. It happens whenever people join in the struggle to overcome poverty, to erase ignorance, to pass on the faith.[2] As a condition, its symptoms are love, justice, and peace. Father Darring says, “The Kingdom of God is in the past (in the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth); it is in the present (in the work of the Church and in the efforts of many others to create a world of goodness and justice); it is in the future (reaching its completion in the age to come).”[3]

The book of Revelations is a hard one for me to understand so I was especially pleased to read the commentary by Catherine and Justo Gonzalez[4] Rather than a gloomy, end-of-times book, it was originally a word of comfort and hope. It is a letter about the fullness of the church—the number seven so often used in Revelations is the traditional symbol for wholeness or completeness. It indicates that this book is written for an universal audience, all the churches that believe in Jesus as Christ the Lord. It’s an historical writing, yet it applies to us today. Although we may not be facing persecution, there are many circumstances where each of us and the church as a whole must decide between being faithful or successful in worldly terms, between being faithful or being popular. Let me give you couple of examples. When we hear a joke that makes fun of gay folks or shows racial prejudice, do we laugh? Or do we stop and take time to witness, to say that we are uncomfortable with such comments and acknowledge that we believe that all people are worthy of respect and dignity? Are we going to vote for politicians that will put eliminating poverty as a priority or ones that will be eager to cut taxes of the rich—even if the tax cut might help us.

Jesus came to testify to the truth. What is truth? We all know the story of the six blind men who went to see an elephant. Each felt the elephant and proclaimed what it looked like. One felt the belly and said it was a wall. One felt the trunk and said it was a snake. One felt the tusk and said it was a spear. One felt the ear and said it was a fan. One felt the tail and said it was a rope. Though each was partly in the right, all were in the wrong.

If we all can be together in a way that listens, respects and honors each other, I believe we will have a much better chance of coming to truth—whatever it is. Kahil Gibran in The Prophet says, “Say not, ‘I have found the truth’, but rather, ‘I have found a truth.’”
For us as Christians, Jesus is the truth yet we have libraries filled with books trying to interpret what that truth is. If only that wonderful Hebrew word, Shalom, signifying one’s total well being, could apply to everyone everywhere, than indeed we would have the Kingdom. Until that time, I will pray that you and I together keep trying to figure it out—not just in our intellect, but in the way we lead our lives. Remember Jesus was and is and ever shall be: the way, the truth, and the life. May we truly follow him. Amen.
[1]The Perspective of Justice, online http://liturgy.slu.edu/ChristKingB112606/reflections.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Westminster Bible Companion.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT December 3, 2006

Scripture: Jer: 33:14-16; 1 Thess:3: 9-13; Luke 21:25-36

What a lot of rich scriptures for this first Sunday in Advent, which is also the closest to World AID’s Day. For us as Christians, Advent means waiting for the One who is to come, baby Jesus born to Mary who becomes our savior and our teacher, for some of us our brother and for others our Lord. In our neck of the woods the Advent season comes at the darkest time of the year. With the darkness and gloom, many of us become depressed, anxious or restless. It’s hard to wait; it’s hard to be hopeful when there is so much despair, so much violence, so much sickness and oppression all around us. It’s hard not to be fearful; in this time of terrorism and color codes, increased killings on many battlefields, warnings about climate change, economic insecurity for many. It was in a time of great darkness and everyday suffering, made worse by the belief that all suffering was believed to be a result of judgment from God, that the prophet Jeremiah spoke his words of hope. I really like what he had to say. He didn’t promise that things would get better right away, yet he says the fulfillment of God’s promises is surely coming. He goes on to say that a righteous Branch will spring up from David. This righteous Branch will bring the people justice; in fact the whole community will be called “The Lord is our righteousness.” Judah and Jerusalem will be saved and safe.

Let’s fast forward now to our Gospel prediction by Jesus, who many Bible scholars say is Jeremiah’s Branch, born from the house of David. As many of you know, the people in Jesus’ day very much believed that the end of the world was near, really near—that it would come before most of the present generation would die. The signs Jesus describes are about the existing order, both physical and political, cracking and falling apart. This scene was one that caused much feeling of hopelessness in the people as well as much fear. Yet this passage chosen for the lectionary scripture for this first Sunday in Advent is about more than darkness. Jesus assures his disciples that when they see these things happening, their redemption is drawing near. He reinforces this with a parable about a fig tree, the symbol of hope and new life for the Hebrews. Just as in this late fall and winter season, the leaves have left our trees, the fig tree can be seen as not bearing any fruit, as barren. It’s the period of darkness. Yet Jesus reminds them that as soon as the tree sprouts new leaves, the disciples can see for themselves that summer is already near. So the darkness and confusion of the end times will actually lead to the coming, some would say the second coming, of the Son of Man. I personally don’t believe that Jesus will step out of that cloud and live among us again. What I do believe is that the righteousness and love that represent the teachings of Jesus will reign again. There might be another man or woman that assumes a strong leadership of Jesus’ teachings; however, even more likely to me is that there will be a Beloved Community that will bring about the Kingdom that Jesus described throughout his ministry. Jesus warns that we must be ready, be alert, so that we will be worthy to be part of that new life. In our Epistle reading, Paul tells the followers that he prays that the Lord Jesus and God himself will make them abound in love for one another and for all. Furthermore he prays that Jesus will “so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father” when Jesus comes again.

How shall we wait for that important event that will change the darkness into bright light? Waiting is not very popular; most folks feel like waiting is wasting time. Yet in the next few weeks we will hear about Biblical characters that have to wait. Zachariah and Elizabeth have to wait for John the Baptist to be born. Mary has to wait for Jesus to be birthed. The shepherds and the wise men have to wait to find the baby Jesus. Angels appear and tell these folks not to be afraid. It’s much harder to wait when you are afraid of what may happen. So these characters in our Christmas story wait with expectation and anticipation. Their waiting is active; they have faith that what they are waiting for has begun and they are fully present to the process, nurturing the moment. Henri Nouwen talks about waiting being open-ended as opposed to being specific and concrete such as waiting and wishing for a specific job. We often wait with the desire to control the outcome and if what we want to happen doesn’t, we are very unhappy. The characters in our nativity stories wait with faith and trust that God’s promises will be fulfilled, his will be done. When this young girl Mary responded to the angel, she says in our language, “I don’t know what this is all about, but I trust that good things will happen.” She waits and hopes open-ended for the fulfillment of whatever it is that God has in mind. What a radical attitude towards waiting! It’s the kind of attitude that says, “God I am going to trust in you; I will let you define my life. I do not have to be in control. I can relinquish whatever I thought and dreamed of before to what ever you want for my life.” For Mary, these were things far beyond her imagination.

So how do we wait? Nouwen suggests we wait together in support, affirmation and celebration just the way Mary did with her cousin Elizabeth. It’s much easier if you have a loving network to share the waiting and to celebrate with you. It’s like the love that Paul talks about, a love that transforms those who experience and share it into a blameless and righteous people. I want so much for Deering Community Church to be that kind of support for this community.

Maybe the coming of Jesus is really having him born anew into our individual and community hearts. Maybe Advent is about waiting for that to happen—either for the first time or for the 80th time. It makes sense to me that just as professionals, like doctors, social workers, teachers, and ministers have to take continuing education to renew and expand our knowledge, each of us Christians need to renew and re-experience Jesus being born in our hearts again.
Advent is about waiting and watching, not in a passive but an active way. It’s about doing small acts of kindness and promoting changes that will lead to God’s kingdom here on earth: some examples are joining with the town to put on a Christmas party for all the local children; it’s putting on a vespers service with all those extra rehearsals, it’s decorating the church, baking cookies, spending time with shut-ins and those in nursing homes, reaching out in forgiveness and reconciliation with those relationships that are not quite right. It’s also making Care Kits for AIDS Caregivers that you will be hearing more about in the Mission Moment; it’s helping the homeless find housing; it’s bringing food for and working at the Food Pantry; it’s donating money to people or organizations that you want to help; it’s standing with a peace sign in a protest against war. There are so many ways we can wait for Christmas and as we wait, even now as I speak, the seed of Christ is being planted in the heart of: name several in attendance My wish is that his Advent be the most holy Advent ever. If we focus on spiritually strengthening our hearts and souls by love of God and neighbor, we will be active agents of turning the darkness to light. God Bless you all on the journey. Amen