THE GOOD NEWS EASTER SERMON 2008

Scripture: Acts 10:34-43, John 20:1-18

What an exciting day to be a preacher! It’s also somewhat intimidating to be the person whose responsibility it is to lead you in worship on the most holy day of our church year, a day when usually attendance is better than other Sundays. Yes we are very pleased to have each and every one of you here this morning to share this worship with us. One of the reasons preachers want so much to preach their very best on this day is the hope that one of you will hear something that gives you the inspiration and/or insight that will bring you closer to God, that will make a difference in your life. So the pressure’s on!

Yes, today is Easter and I want to shout, “Jesus Lives” and talk about what that means for us. Many of you believe that the stories about resurrection of Jesus are historically and literally true; others of us understand them more as metaphors, yet pointing to a very real truth. During Lent some of us have been studying “The Last Week” by Borg and Crossan, a look at the Gospel of Mark’s account of Jesus activities from Palm Sunday to Easter. If any of you want to explore the truth of metaphors and parables in the Bible, this book is a wonderful resource. Many people like to focus on the empty tomb and what happened to the crucified body and how to explain that to non-believers. But just as Barbara Brown Taylor has said, “The resurrection is the one and only event in Jesus’ life that was entirely between him and God. There were no witnesses whatsoever. No one on earth can say what happened inside that tomb because no one was there. They all arrived after the fact.” For our purposes this morning, it doesn’t matter whether you have a literal belief or a metaphorical understanding of the resurrection, the question for us is what do these stories mean.

The land where Jesus was born and where he did his ministry was a colony of the Roman Empire, a classic example of what is called a domination system, a place of political oppression, economic exploitation, and even religious legitimation—the emperor was called God’s son. This society was established and maintained by violence, Pontius Pilate and the Roman Imperial soldiers. Last Sunday our congregation had two parades into Jerusalem: from the East came Jesus on the donkey, followed by the disciples and the crowds, largely the peasants and outcasts, the rural poor. From the West came Pilate and the soldiers, showing off the power, glory and violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus’ procession showed an alternative vision, a messenger of peace and justice for all. Jesus had a tremendous passion for the kingdom of God. In fact his very first sermon, which took place after his baptism by John and the 40 days of temptation in the desert with Satan, spoke about this kingdom, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mk.1:15) For Jesus the kingdom of God was a life of abundance for all, a society that was the way God intended everyone to live—individually, socially, politically, and religiously—a domination free society.[1]

In the three short years of Jesus’ ministry, he kept showing us over and over again that God is calling us to a life of love, compassion, forgiveness and confrontation of the injustice in the world around us. This passion of Jesus for the kingdom of God led him to stand up for the poor, the outcasts, the women, the children, all those on the bottom rung of society’s hierarchy. As we can imagine this stance made him many enemies, especially the religious and political leaders, those in power in Jerusalem. For Jesus “kingdom of God” was both political and religious. In the society of that first century, kingdom was a common word used in referring to the kingdoms of Herod and his sons, the kingdom of Rome. Jesus used the kingdom word to suggest that there could be a very different kingdom than the one the people of Jerusalem had known. So as Jesus’ passion for God’s kingdom revealed itself more and more, his opposition, his enemies increased. We need look no further than Good Friday to see how powerful the forces are against the Kingdom of God.

Jesus’ last week proceeded from the joyous shouts of praise on Palm Sunday, to his betrayal by Judas, his arrest, his appearance before the authorities, his denial by Peter and others, the crowds (many of the same people who were praising him on Sunday) shouting, “Crucify him”, his being hung on the cross—the official instrument of death for those who showed rebellion against the domination system—his dying and being buried in the tomb. On the day after the Sabbath, early on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene (in other gospels accompanied by other women, but in John’s gospel she is alone) goes to the tomb and finds the stone removed from the entrance and immediately runs to tell Peter and the other disciple, who come and witness the empty tomb and returned to their homes. As Mary remains there weeping, she looks into the tomb and sees the angels and then she turns and sees a man she mistakes for the gardener. This man asks why she is weeping and then calls her by name, and Mary recognizes him as Jesus, the first of many appearances that were reported by Jesus’ followers. Mary goes and tells the others, “I have seen the Lord.”

What does it mean when we proclaim along with Mary Magdalene that, “Jesus lives”? I believe the meaning is that his spirit, his presence as his disciples knew in him before his crucifixion, continues to be known. Through all the many different appearance stories, this presence of Jesus was real and Jesus’ presence continues to be real today although in a radically new way. He is no longer a figure of flesh and blood, confined to time and space. We read in the Bible how he could enter locked rooms and accompany his disciples without being recognized. We are also told that he will abide with his followers, “to the end of the age”. Jesus is not to be found among the dead, in the tombs, but among the living, amongst you and me. Some of us both then and now feel his presence so strongly at times that it might be described as a vision. I can remember the time when I was coming out of a long dark night of the soul, I did without a doubt feel his arms around me, comforting me as the tears flowed down my face. Not all believers have this experience and I think of Jesus’ statement in the Gospel of John, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Jesus’ resurrection as well as his ascension is not something subject to empirical evidence, scientific proof. For most Christians the tangible evidence of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives today is not the empty tomb but the presence of the Spirit in our lives. We do not have Jesus’ physical hands and feet in front of us. We can’t put our fingers in the nail marks. Although he may not appear physically to us to prepare breakfast, we can see his presence in soup kitchens, in the hands and feet of those like Peter Cram, Sam and Corbin Griest who just returned from building yet another house for Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans. We can see him in the patient and affirming presence of Christine and Lee Marcroft as they regularly make themselves available to the GLBT community in places like PFlag meetings and screenings of that wonderful movie, The Bible Tells Us So. We see Christ in the dedication and gifts of Jane Waters and the choir as they faithfully practice to bring us the beauty of music to our worship. We see him in the children and the Sunday school teachers as they gather to learn more about the kingdom of God. Have you noticed Jesus’ presence in Margaret Seymour as she leads us in Bible study; and what about in the members of that Lenten book study that gave us new insights and understandings about the passion of Jesus? I see that Jesus lives each time one of you reaches out to extend hospitality to a new person worshiping with us. Jesus is right there with Jim Carpenter and the other Deacons as they not only organize and prepare what’s needed for worship, but also minister to me. When the trustees and others gather on a Saturday morning to make repairs, paint and beautify the sanctuary, Jesus is there! I see Jesus in the faces of those in Candlelight vigils and marches and rallies for peace. Wherever a child, woman or man is reaching out in compassion and concern to one another, Jesus lives. When we gather together to pray or pray alone, Jesus is with us. Sometimes it’s hard to feel him and that’s where our faith comes in. For me one of the most important places and times I feel that Jesus lives is when we break bread together in our Holy Communion, but he is equally present when you take the new mother or the sick elder a meal to eat. I could go on for another few hours and mention all of you in this church and the wonderful way you show me the presence of Jesus. Jesus promised to leave with us an Advocate, the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us after is physical departure. And that Holy Spirit is alive and well in Deering Community Church.

The Good News of Easter is that Jesus lives and the Spirit, love, and passion that he showed to us is available to all. For those of you here today that are not regular members of our congregation, I invite you to let that spirit of Christ in you lead you to be part of this or some other community where you can witness to this love. Jesus taught that the love of God as shown to us by him is available to anyone. At this church most of us believe that just as Jesus is our gate to God, there are other gates to God that are equally creditable, as true for others as our ways are true for us. At the same time we invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable.[2]

So for me the Good News of Easter is that Jesus lives, and Jesus is Lord and the powers of the world are not. Amen!! The miracle of Easter is not in the tomb but in our encounter with the living Lord. Because of that encounter, I believe that it’s up to me to follow the Way, the path of Jesus, to care about what he was passionate about, thus working to bring about a world of justice in which everyone has enough for their daily living, where peace and justice reigns. I invite all of you to join me on this path. Let us say together, Christ is risen! Jesus lives! Amen and Amen.



[1] David Wheatcroft, “Easter is the Celebration of the Justice and Compassion of God.” www.tcpc.org
[2] See Progressive Christianity’s website for more information: www.tcpc.org

Unbind Him and Let Him Go March 9, 2008

Sermon for A5, March 9, 2008
Scripture: Ezekiel 37: 1-14, John 11:1-7, 17-27, 38-45

I don’t know if it’s all the snow still around us or the fact that Easter is particularly early this year, but it sure doesn’t seem possible that it is the 5th Sunday in Lent. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. In our scripture today, the author of John reminds us that Jesus and the disciples are getting very close to Jerusalem, only two miles away. For the writers of all the gospels, going to Jerusalem is a code word for Jesus’ crucifixion. In the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, called that because they are very similar to each other, the big event that hastens Jesus’ trouble with the authorities is the cleansing of the Temple; however, in John the temple scene is very near the beginning right after the first miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. For John the big event hastening Jesus’ crucifixion is the raising Lazarus from the dead. In the scripture immediately following, the chief priests and the Pharisees are told what Jesus did and "from that day on they planned to put him to death." They also planned to get rid of the evidence as well by putting Lazarus to death "since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus" (12:9-11). There are so many things going on in this chapter and as you probably noticed I only read some of the verses. I encourage you to read the whole chapter as part of your Lenten study.

Let me connect our Lazarus story to our first scripture reading in Ezekiel. In this passage we have the famous story made into song about the dry bones taking form and coming to life again. It was a common idiom of that day for the people to express their helplessness and hopelessness by saying, "Our bones are dried up." So Ezekiel shows them a vision of exactly that: dry bones. Rolf Jacobsen in an online explanation of this passage says that the reference to "bones" here is a way to refer to one's deepest self, or, in the case of "our bones," a way for the community to refer to its most essential self. “What we learn from this is that Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones is a poetic and prophetic response to the situation of God's people—to their sense of hopelessness, to their situation of being cut off from their land, their temple, and—they think!—from their God.” (Jacobsen) An important point here is that whether it is the dry bones of Ezekiel or the dead body of Lazarus, ruah, the Greek word that can be translated both as breath and Spirit, is necessary for life. In both cases it is the Spirit—whether it comes from the Hebrew God or from Jesus—that makes life possible. With God's spirit, there is life—and what Jesus called fullness of life.

Death and resurrection are the themes that permeate both of these lessons. They both present the biblical case for trust in God. The image is that of forgiveness and redemption certified by resurrection and new life. Jesus asks Mary if she believes that he is the resurrection and the life. Do you here this morning believe? In other words, do you trust this power of the Spirit? This power to bring us new life? We can’t do it on our own. The power of the Spirit is not something that we can prove as we would a science hypothesis. It is deeply mysterious, this creative and transforming Spirit, this power that’s available to you and to me. We heard how Jesus didn’t hurry off to Bethany to heal his friend. He knew that he had the power of life and death as part of his divine persona. He was confident that he could use this power to bring Lazarus back to life. However you believe what factually happened with Jesus and Lazarus, there is no question that the event is transforming and life-altering.

Just as Jesus calls Lazarus to “Come out!”, I believe that he is calling us. Jesus wants to unbind Lazarus and set him free. What binds us? What are those strips of cloth that hold us back, preventing us from truly living? Are we being bound by hopelessness like Ezekiel’s people? Do the tragedies of nature and the results of others’ violence lead us to such great discouragement that we feel immobilized? Are we bound by fears, addictions, anxiety? Maybe some of us are bound by hatreds, resentments? Is there someone that you need to forgive? Do you need to put away the “shoulds”, “oughts” and the “ have to’s” and really be who you are, or do what you are really being called to do by the Spirit? Are there things pulling you down or pulling you apart? I wonder how many of you are bound by anger at God or others for what’s happened or not happened in your life. Are you filled with despair because of your lack of faith? Is there a closet that you want to come out of? Do you need new life?

God is still speaking to us today, calling us out of our tombs of despair, denial, and death, calling us to new life right now, right here. We are challenged to believe that it is never too late to hope, to be transformed. Our dry bones can get up and dance! Remember the Psalmist we read in our call to worship: "I wait for the Lord. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. O, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is steadfast love and with him is great power to redeem."

If we let Jesus unbind us and let us go, there’s no stopping us! We can be transformed individually and as a church community. What we are on our own cannot compare with what we will be if we let the Spirit transform our life. We can change the world in the direction that Ann Weems wrote about in “Reaching for the Rainbows”:
I keep reaching for the rainbows. Thinking one morning The hungry will be fed, The dying held, The maimed walking, The angry stoked, The violence stroked, The oppressed freed, The oppressors changed, and every tear wiped away.

My sisters and brothers, we have to do more than just reaching for rainbows; if we let Jesus into our hearts, and our minds, and our souls, I believe we will know what we are being called to be and do. As I’ve said many times, none of us can or should even try to do everything; yet, we can all do something. As always I’m available to pray and talk with you individually to help you discern how Jesus is calling you.

Let us pray: Dearest God, Holy Spirit, unbind us and let us go, let us hear the call of Jesus and help us follow in his path. Come, Holy Spirit, come. Fill our hearts with hope and use us to bring about your kingdom. Amen

A FAITH JOURNEY 2-17-08

Scripture: Gen:12:1-4a and John 3:1-17

One of the most meaningful times in my life as the pastor in your church is the meetings with prospective new members when we all tell our faith journeys, about what has led us to God, to Jesus, to Deering Community Church. In our Hebrew Bible lesson today we have the example of Abram being told that he had to leave his home and his country to go to a land that God would show to him. Already in our Call to Worship we heard the Psalmist assuring us of God’s protection: “My help comes from the Lord..,” He will not let your foot be moved…The Lord will keep you from all evil;… from this time on and forevermore.” (Ps. 121) I’m sure Abram trusted and believed in a God such as is described in this Psalm. In the Abram story, God calls and Abram responds in trust. Abram journeyed from what he knew to what he did not know; from the comfortable to the strange and the unpredictable.

Has something like this ever happened to you? Have you ever been called to go somewhere or to do something that was unfamiliar to you, maybe somewhat mysterious? Maybe the call left the final destination vague or unknown. Remember Jesus’ call to his disciples, “Come and follow me.” There was no way that they could have known in the beginning what they were getting themselves into. There was something special about Jesus that made people follow him with no questions asked. In my early 50’s I felt a call to go to Washington, DC to work with the homeless. I had a couple of places in mind but when I got there, I was drawn to visit another place—a place that I knew very little about, the place I decided to associate with. Most of you have heard me talk about SOME, how meaningful the work there was plus my meeting Neill and falling in love--a very special bonus. When I took an early retirement, gave away most of my things, stored my personal mementos and took off across the country in my old Camry, packed to the roof, I went with trust in God that I was to take this journey; it was indeed for me a faith journey. I did not know how it would turn out. The first night there my car windows were broken, and I wondered how this journey would work out; I was glad that morning that I had faith that God was with me on the journey. Yes, I had journeyed from the familiar and comfortable to the unfamiliar. I journeyed from living alone in a 3 bedroom condo to living with 6 others, my room being the smallest of the bunch, a small monk’s room where lying on my bed pushed up against one wall, I could almost touch the other wall. I journeyed from a white suburb of familiarity to a street where there were very few white faces and all kinds of drug deals and other crimes were taking place. Yet I have to say that I was emotionally comfortable and more spiritually alive than I had ever been.

For many Christians, their faith journey starts with being “born again”. This is a term that often irritates mainline Christians. It may remind them of things they have seen on television with the Evangelists. Or it may remind them of the time someone came up to them and asked “Are you saved?” Often times the one that asks the question seems to feel superior, exclusive, like if we don’t answer yes we are in danger of being damned to Hell.

In our Gospel reading Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a Jewish leader, comes to Jesus in the dark of night. Why did he come? He seems curious; it’s hard to know if he rally believes that Jesus comes from God or if he is just flattering him: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” So before he has a chance to ask Jesus a question, Jesus starts talking to him about being born again. The Greek used can be translated both “born from above” or “born again” or “born anew”. Now Nicodemus is a bit of a literalist and therefore starts asking about how one can enter again into his mother’s womb after having grown old. Jesus responds with different words: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.” This makes more sense to us who are familiar with baptism by water and the Holy Spirit. Jesus continues his symbolism by saying “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it.” As some of you may know the Greek for Spirit is the same as for breath and wind. As Marcus Borg says in The Heart of Christianity, “The breath of God, the Spirit of God is the source of rebirth. To be born again is to enter new life through and in the Spirit, a life centered in the Spirit of God.”[1]

So what Jesus is telling Nicodemus and us is that we all need a spiritual rebirth, a personal transformation. Borg points out that being born again as well as the notion of dying and rising with Jesus all relates to the same root image for the process of personal transformation. “It means dying to an old way of being and being born into a new way of being, dying to an old identity and being born into a new identity—a way of being and an identity centered in the sacred, in Spirit, in Christ, in God.[2] Although we are created in the image of God, most of us just in the process of growing up become more formed by the world outside than from the Spirit inside. We often live our lives in the world of estrangement and self-preoccupation; therefore we need to be born again as a way of recovering our true self, a beginning to living our life from the inside out, centered in the Spirit. This process of rebirth can be sudden and dramatic and many of our evangelical brothers and sisters can tell us the place and time as can Saul on the road to Damascus.

I often tell the story of my being born again by mistake, yet as the years go by I feel more and more certain that the Spirit was calling to me in a special way on that day. I was about 10 years old and had gone to a revival meeting with some friends of my family. Near the end of the service, the preacher said—or what I heard him say—was that all of you who love Jesus stand and keep your eyes closed. Our church had nothing like an altar call and like the obedient 10 year-old that I was, I stood and kept my eyes closed. Soon an usher came and led me to a back room, prayed over me and gave me a small gospel of John, stressing that I only had to believe that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)

Well I went home and read that whole Gospel of John and then went on to read the whole Bible by the time I was 11 or 12. What got started that day was a transformation that has continued to this day in my loving Jesus and sharing that love with others.

As Marcus Borg says for most of us mainline Christians being born again is not a single intense experience, but a gradual and incremental process that continues throughout our lifetime. This process is not automatic and many of us may thwart it or obstruct it, maybe returning sooner or later. As we get older, I believe more and more of us are more interested in deepening our centering in the Spirit. All of us are called on a daily basis to remember whose we are and why we are here. Following the way of Jesus involves a new heart, one centered in God. As a church I believe one of our purposes of our life together is to be a midwife and help others in the process of being born again. This new life is a reconnection with God. It is marked with freedom, joy, peace and love as Paul so often reports. And any of us that read 1st Corinthians 13 know that the greatest of these is love. Jesus also uses the word compassion, sometimes translated mercy. We are called to love each other as Jesus has loved us. Remember Jesus’ last appearance to Simon Peter? He asked him three times if he loved him and when Peter says yes Jesus tells him over and over to care and love his followers.

Where are you on your faith journey? When Abram heard the call of God to move to a new land, he did so, trusting in God to care for him, to protect him. What would it take to get you to move to a new land? Moving from an old place to a new place in your spiritual lives may be what God is calling you to do. Are you willing to follow the call? What will it take to get you to make that move? As we move deeper into Lent, it is time to intentionally journey on, journey deeper, maybe even begin a new journey, and who knows where it will lead? One thing I am sure of is that we won’t journey alone. God will be there, of course, and my prayer is that all of us here at Deering Community church will be there for each other, our old friends and our new friends as well as those new people that God will send to us. Bon Voyage and Amen.


[1] p.106.

[2] Ibid., 107.

RELIGION AND SCIENCE, 2-10-08

Sermon for Evolution Sunday, 2-10-08
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-13; 24-31; Genesis 2:4b-9; John 1:1-5

Adam was moping around in the Garden of Eden. He was terribly lonesome. God says, “What’s wrong, Adam?” Adam responds, “I’m lonely. There’s no one to talk to.”
So God says, “I will give you a companion, Adam. I will give you a woman. She will cook for you. She will wash your clothes. She will always agree with every decision you make. She will bear your children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will not nag. She will always admit she’s wrong in every argument. She will never have a headache. And she will always freely give love and compassion.”

Adam queries, “God, what will a woman like that cost?” God replies, “It’ll cost you an arm and a leg.” Adam says, “What can I get for a rib?” And the rest is history.

I think its fitting to start off this Evolution Sunday sermon with a little lightness as it can be a very heavy event with people in this congregation not seeing eye to eye with me or with each other. As always, this church and I, as your pastor, encourage each of you to seek the truth and be respectful of those who disagree with you.

Last year for the first time I joined with many other congregations to take a look at this somewhat controversial subject. Michael Zimmerman in 2004 started this project by writing a Clergy Letter in support of teaching evolution. At this point over 11000 clergy have signed this letter which starts by saying, “Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook. Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible – the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark – convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation…” Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts.” It ends by asking that “science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.” This year there are over 786 congregations in each state and nine different countries that are focusing on this topic this weekend.

As most of you know that although I take the Bible very seriously I do not take it literally. One of the big differences between liberal and progressive Christians and the evangelical Christians is the way they read the Bible. Where as evangelicals for the most part believe the Bible is to be read literally, accepting every word as the divinely inspired word of God, for me and most of the ministers in the mainline churches, we regard the Bible as God’s Holy Word found in a combination of history, myth, parable, metaphor, and inspiration. It’s not the place I look for scientific explanations but where I look for help in understanding faith and covenant and learning how to live by following Jesus, both his example and his teachings. On Jan. 29, the Rev. John H. Thomas, the head of our denomination released a groundbreaking theological statement, "A New Voice Arising: A Pastoral Letter on Faith Engaging Science and Technology,". He wants to make clear the UCC's belief that science and religion are not mutually exclusive, as well as to extend an unequivocal welcome to persons who devote their lives to scientific inquiry. When I read the Bible I feel filled with gratitude, humility, reverence and love. So much of the Bible is such beautiful literature, and even the parts of the Bible I don’t accept literally I often am inspired by and see as containing great truths. It’s like that Native American creation story where the story teller at the end says, “I know all of this is true and some of it may have actually happened like this.”

Some of you may have noticed in reading Genesis that there are two creation stories. In the Genesis 1 story, human beings are created last and then God rested. In Genesis 2 account, people are created very near the beginning: “In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up…then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” (Gen 2:4b-7) By the way the Genesis 1 verses have the male and female being created at the same time by God; in Genesis 2, the woman is made from the man’s rib.

I have no problem agreeing with modern science that the universe came about from the “Big Bang” about 14 billion years ago. Ever since then it has been expanding. “From that singular event, space, time and various forms of matter and energy have emerged. Billions of galaxies each made up of billions of stars and countless numbers of planets have come into existence.”[1]
“Biological evolution means living things change over time. A great variety of organisms has come into existence over the last four billion years from one or a few original life forms. All living things descend from pre-existing life forms, and are related and interconnected. Evolution happens because of natural selection; some features of organisms lead to higher survival rates in their environments than others. Charles Darwin first brought together these ideas, and ever since scientists have refined and added to them.”[2] By the way Darwin’s 200th birthday will be celebrated on February 12, 2009. On that same date his important book On the Origin of the Species will celebrate 150 years of publication.

Now do these scientific views eliminate God? No, not in my way of thinking! I think of God as the force behind the Big Bang, the source of life itself. Anglican priest and biologist Arthur Peacocke says, “God acts as creator in, with and under the processes of chance and natural selection.”
In my preparation for this sermon, I read a book by Francis S. Collins, entitled The Language of God. Collins, one of the world’s leading scientists, was the head of the Human Genome Project, the scientists that mapped the DNA of our species, the hereditary code of life. In this book, Collins traces his journey from atheism to becoming a believer in his mid 20’s. With the help of the writings of C.S. Lewis and the Moral Law—the awareness of right and wrong—he concluded that this God was not just someone who started the universe in motion but that it was a theist God, a supreme being that desires relationship with human beings and has created in humanity that “special glimpse of himself.” He concludes that “if God exists then He must be outside the natural world and therefore the tools of science are not the right ones to learn about Him. The ultimate decision would be based on faith, not proof.”

Collins describes Theistic Evolution which he says is the dominant position of serious biologists who are also serious believers: Christians as well as Jews, Hindus, Muslims
Based on six premises
1) Universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 billion years ago.
2) Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life.
3) While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time.
4) Once evolution got under way, no special supernatural intervention was required.
5) Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes.
6) But humans are also unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of Right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.
If these premises are accepted an intellectually satisfying, and logically consistent synthesis emerges: God, who is not limited in space or time, created the universe and established natural laws that govern it, even choosing the elegant mechanism of evolution to create microbes, plants, and animals of all sorts. Plus, most amazing, this same mechanism was chosen to give rise to human beings, special creatures, made in God’s image with intelligence, morality, free will, and a desire to be in fellowship with God.[3]

Collins suggests renaming Theistic Evolution as Bios through Logos or biologos. Bios is the Greek word for life and logos is the Greek word for “word” To many believers the Word is synonymous with God and for Christians--Christ as used in the opening chapter of John. I quote from v. 1,2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” BioLogos therefore, expresses the belief that God is the source of all life as well as that life expresses the will of God. This term “allows science and faith to fortify each other like two unshakable pillars, holding up a building called Truth.” (p.210)

As Collins says the God of the Bible is also the God of the genome, worshipped in both the cathedral and the laboratory. God’s creation is majestic, awesome, intricate, and beautiful—and it cannot be at war with itself. Only we imperfect humans can start such battles and only we can end them. (211) “Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced. God is most certainly not threatened by science; God made it all possible.” (233)

So my sisters and brothers, I’m not much of an expert on evolution or science in general. I probably could not stand up very well in a debate with Creationists or scientists; however, I have deep belief that there is not a conflict between religion and science. I believe that God wants us to open our minds to truths in both worlds. Let us go forth, unafraid to seek new insights. I pray that God will help us to be wise in God’s ways with enough inner faith to study and learn truths from the world of science, sustained by the beautiful ancient stories in the Bible, affirming God’s love for all that God has made and the very goodness of life itself. Amen and amen.







[1] Gerald Stinson, 2006 online sermon.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Collins, p.200-201

LET'S GO FISHING January 27, 2008

LET’S GO FISHING
Sermon for 3rd Sunday in Epiphany January 27, 2008
Scripture: Psalm 27:1, 4-9, Mt.4:18-23

The title of my sermon this morning somehow makes me want to tell some stories about children; maybe it’s because fishing was one of my favorite things to do when I was a child. We lived on Sebago Lake in Maine, and I fished mostly off our boat dock, catching horn pout, perch, sunfish and once in awhile, an eel. The other thing I loved to do from around age 10 was to read the Bible. This reminds me of another ten year old who under the tutelage of her grandmother was becoming quite knowledgeable about the Bible. Then one day, she floored her grandmother by asking, “Which Virgin was the mother of Jesus? The virgin Mary or the King James Virgin?” Another child was looking at the old family Bible with fascination. Then something fell out of the Bible. He picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. “Mama, look what I found,” the little boy called out. “What have you got there dear?” asked the mother. With astonishment in the young boy’s voice, he answered, “It’s Adam’s suit.” And then a final one for you grandmothers: The child asks, “Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?” She mentally polished her halo and asked, “No, how are we alike? “You’re both old,” he replied.

We are still in the season of Epiphany, the season of light. The Hebrew Bible lesson which I used today as our Call to Worship talks about the light overcoming the darkness. Those who have been in anguish will no longer be in gloom. Instead great joy will be theirs. In our popular language we often refer to those who don’t know what’s going on as being in the dark, having no clue. I would imagine that some of our Christian churches would say that those people that have not found Christ and been born again are in the dark. Certainly in Matthew’s gospel the four disciples that he describes being called by Jesus would fit the example of those in darkness that suddenly saw the great light, the light of course being Jesus. Just as Jesus is the “light” that shines, I believe we are to be lights shining in the world, bringing a message of joy and love to those outside our churches.

When Jesus saw Simon and Andrew, he did not say, “Hello, my name is Jesus; how’s it going?” All he said according to Matthew was, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. The same thing with the brothers James and John who were in the boat with Zebedee their father. We are told he called them and again they immediately left the boat and their father and followed him. In the John’s Gospel last week we had similar commands from Jesus, “Come and see”, and “Follow me.” How amazing was Jesus’ presence that these men would follow him with no questions asked. Can you imagine doing such a thing?

If Jesus calls these first disciples to come with him and become fishers of men and women, what does that mean for us? What do disciples do besides fishing? Our scripture points out two things: 1)They follow a leader and 2) in the last verse of our Gospel reading, they make more disciples by teaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and by healing every disease and sickness. Or as Leonard Sweet says, “Disciples live and love in such a way that others want to join them in the journey of reproducing Jesus in the world.[1]

Now I imagine some of you are thinking, “Here she goes again, wanting us to evangelize, which means sharing the Good News.” We just compiled statistics for our Annual Meeting Report. About a year ago we went through the membership list and removed those folks that no longer were active in this church. We got the numbers down to 75; during 2007 two new members joined and four active members died; thus we now have only 72. You can see where this is going if something doesn’t happen.

To quote Leonard Sweet’s sermon again, “Not to be able to reproduce is the worst crisis any species can have----whether that species be a panda bear, a passenger pigeon, aparticular church, or a whole denomination (many of whom have gone in mylifetime from mainline to oldline to sideline to offline to flatline). Which makes the reproduction crisis of the church today of such enormous importance.”

If we want to go fishing for disciples, we have to do some serious thinking about where to go, what kind of bait to use, how to cast our line in the right spot, as well as learning to have patience, noticing the weather, watching the wind and so forth. Fishing has to be done in context. We can’t fish on one lake and expect that we’ll catch fish from another lake. We can’t wish that the weather was different or that we had a different kind of bait. In other words we need to use what we have (our gifts and experiences) to fish with in the time and place where we are at.

It’s fine if we want to use a word other than evangelism; we can call it outreach, sharing our faith, or just witnessing. It certainly doesn’t have to be knocking on some stranger’s door and asking them if they know Jesus or even just asking them to come to church.

For most of us this witnessing will be in the everyday rhythm of our life. Maybe we are talking with someone at work, or sharing with a golf or tennis partner about something that touched you at a worship service or other church event. Or maybe you read something in your morning devotions that helped you think about the world in a different way and you share this insight in casual conversation. A seed has been planted for further conversation. Most of us have many opportunities to talk about our faith but usually keep quiet. One of my resources suggests that, “Perhaps our greatest problem in becoming Christ’s fishermen is that we are not enough in earnest to grasp the opportunities that come to us; or we are so possessed of the idea that we must say something dramatic andfar-reaching that we fail to say the small, immediate and potentially significant thing. To put it in the language of our lesson for the day, most of us really don’t act as if we even have a call to "fish." We’re out in the waters of human need every day, but we don’t seem to know it.”[2]

So there are many ways of going fishing. We don’t have to be aggressive about sharing our faith, just be more sensitive to the needs around us and also to the gentle prodding of the Holy Spirit. These sensitivities go well together and can open us up to both God and the people around us. I have mentioned before how important it is to pray for how we may go about bringing more people into our church family as well as praying for particular people that we might invite to church. In the latest newsletter I challenged you to think about what new thing you would like to see happen at this special church, wondering if the place to start is our Pew Enhancement Project. Our growth and evangelism goals from our last two Visioning Retreats have been difficult to get off the ground. For a while I was considering having this work done out of the WSO committee, but on second thought that committee already has so much to do. At the annual meeting after church I will be passing out a slip of paper for each of you to indicate a couple of things: 1) Would you be willing to get together for an initial meeting to talk about and maybe plan a strategy for growth? I will also send this opportunity out to the parish list by email. If you attend this meeting you still have a chance to opt out of ongoing work in this area. You may see or hear something in the meeting that gets you excited; or you may decide this committee isn’t for you.

The second thing on the slip of paper is to indicate a desire to attend a book study for four weeks during Lent. On the surface this activity doesn’t seem to have much to do with growth; however, depending on the book we choose, it may strengthen your faith and your desire to go fishing.

My prayer and deep desire is that many of you will want to join me in following Jesus and becoming fishers of people. Amen and Hallelujah.


[1] “The Lonesome George Church”, from E-Sermons, online.
[2] J. Ellsworth Kalas, Reading the Signs, From Empty Nets to Full Lives, CSS Publishing Company.

MLK Jr. and Discipleship January 20, 2008

Scripture: Isaiah 49:1-7, John 1: 35-42

“Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
Many of you are familiar with these words of Martin Luther King, Jr., a modern day prophet. As with all prophets there are mountaintop experiences and many, many times of feeling discouraged when it seems no one is listening or people are being critical of what is being preached. In the opening quote, King’s last speech delivered in Memphis on April 3, 1968, this leader of the Civil Rights Movement hinted that he was aware of being a prophet and realized that his words would outlive him as is fitting for words inspired by a Divine Spirit. What was clear in his life and in this final talk was King’s willingness and commitment to doing God’s will whatever the cost.

Our prophet in Isaiah 49 was also aware of his call to be a prophet and committed to getting God’s message to the people, again no matter what the cost. Let me read from the scripture, “And he said to me, 'You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.' But I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.” I wonder if there were times when MLK wondered if his work was worth the sacrifice. (You know in the beginning Martin was a reluctant leader of the civil rights movement. It was early in December 1955 right after Rosa Parks had just been arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus. The local NAACP had called a bus boycott and asked King to lead it. I wonder how he must have felt to be asked to assume such an important role in the life of his people and the world. After all he had just come from the academic life, receiving a Ph.D from Boston University—where he had been greatly influenced by Thoreau’s Civil Disobeience and Ghandi’s non-violence; however at that time he may well have been drawn to doing more preaching and teaching as opposed to social activism.)
The Isaiah prophet, in spite of how vulnerable he felt and how much of failure he had been so far, was asked by God to do even greater works. God says that the task he had given him was too light and he was to go on and do much greater things: “be a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (v.6) King also was asked to do something more difficult and much bigger than he had originally planned.

We all have to begin somewhere in doing the work of God, in becoming a disciple. In spite of his fears and trepidations, Martin said yes to lead the bus boycott and went on to become President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the major group leading the nonviolent struggle for justice for African Americans in the South. But this was only a beginning. It would take me many sermons to summarize all of the marches, the arrests, the speeches, the boycotts that were led by this great leader. In 1964 he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. What a lot of cheers then, not too dissimilar from how Jesus was hailed with those palms and hosanna’s as he entered Jerusalem on his way to his crucifixion. After King received the Peace Prize, his vision and action became even bolder. He now expanded his concerns to all victims of poverty and violence. That’s when the going really got rough. It was 1965 that he first spoke publicly about the Vietnam war saying that it was accomplishing nothing and that the end should be negotiated, not fought. His first anti-war march was in 1967 in Chicago. At this time he reinforced the connection between war abroad and injustice at home, saying: ‘‘the bombs in Vietnam explode at home—they destroy the dream and possibility for a decent America’’. A little later he addressed a crowd of 3,000 people at Riverside Church in New York City, in a speech entitled ‘‘Beyond Vietnam’’ Pointing out that the war effort was ‘‘taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem’’ (King, ‘‘Beyond Vietnam,’’ 143).

All of this upset both the white power establishment as well as the black civil rights movement. The NAACP, for example, issued a statement against merging the civil rights and peace movements. The lack of support in King’s last days from his former partners led him to great despair. He spent his last birthday, 40 years ago last Tuesday, in staff meetings, trying to convince them why they had to bring disenfranchised, low-income people to Washington, D.C. and shut it down. He said, “We live in a sick, neurotic nation, but this campaign is based upon hope. Hope is the final refusal to give up." According to peace activist, Fa John Dear, King held hope and despair in tension, like every great saint and martyr. In his speech when he received the Nobel peace prize he said, "I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear destruction, I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality."

The African Americans that surrounded me and my husband in the mid-60’s felt strongly that King’s branching outside fighting just for blacks, but turning to address the Vietnam war and the poverty of all people, caused the power structure to see him as much more dangerous and probably led to his being assassinated. He was shot on April 4, 1968 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where he had gone to help secure rights for the Sanitation Workers. The Poor Peoples’ Campaign culminating in another March on Washington was being planned at the time of King’s death and eventually did go on without him.

In the final speech quoted at the beginning of this sermon it was evident that King didn’t expect to live much longer. He had embraced the call from Jesus, that same call we read in our Gospel lesson today to “Come and see” and “Follow me”. From Andrew and Peter to Martin and you and me, Jesus is calling. He is calling us to be both disciples and prophets, a compassionate and loving presence in the world, to challenge injustice and violence, and even to love our enemies. Charles Wong in Prism magazine makes a good point when he says that King’s speaking truth to power is what the Gospel tells all Christians to do. “Without diminishing King’s greatness, I want to suggest that we largely prefer to revere him as a champion of civil rights rather than mere gospel servant. Might we put him on a pedestal as a way to lessen our own responsibility to speak truth to power in our own day?” Yes my brothers and sisters, we are all being called to speak truth to power, to fight for what our faith tells us is right.

King’s last words to his friend, musician Ben Branch, who was to perform at the event King was scheduled to attend that night were: "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty"[1] That was King’s favorite hymn, and it was sung that night as well as at his funeral. As we close our reflection on this great man and what Jesus is calling all of us to do and be, let us sing together, Precious Lord. This hymn was Tommy Dorsey’s greatest composition, written after the death of his wife and new born child. As you sing it, let its words and music fill your heart and soul, knowing that God is always there to strengthen us and comfort us and to lead us on. Amen Precious Lord, Amen.





































[1] Taylor Branch, At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68.

BELOVED SERVANT January 6, 2008

Adapted from my Sermon for January 9, 2005
Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-9 and Matt. 3: 13-17

How quickly time passes in our Scriptures! A couple of weeks ago at Christmas, Jesus is born. Last week he was already around age 2 when the Magi visited. Now this week, the celebration of Jesus’ baptism, he is already an old man by the life span standards of the first century Mediterranean world. Luke tells us Jesus was around 30 years old when John baptized him in the Jordan.

In our Isaiah reading we heard the first of four poetic passages referred to as “The Servant Songs”. The word servant was used for the first time by Isaiah in the previous chapter, 41. Composed by an unknown prophet during Israel’s exile in Babylon around 586 to 539 BCE, the early Christian Church regarded these prophecies to be about the coming Jesus, the Messiah. This prophet talks about how much he delights in this chosen one, saying, “he will bring forth justice to the nations.”(1b). How will he do this? Gently and nonviolently. He will not do it by preaching loudly/crying out in the streets; and he will not do it violently, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench” (3a). My Harper Collins Study Bible interprets this as “the servant neither strikes the earth nor kills the wicked with his royal command; his voice is not even heard. He brings forth justice in a different way.”[1] The Servant was expected to be a light to the nations (v.6), to open blind eyes (v. 7) and to bring prisoners out of the darkness (v.7). All of these requirements seem to fit the Jesus I know, the Jesus that often said the first shall be last and whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. These are definitely comments about servanthood.
So whether or not the prophet Isaiah was describing Jesus, he certainly was describing someone who had the type of qualities that Jesus had, not the qualities that most people of that day expected in a Messiah, a royal and distant king, leading armies to violently bring about God’s kingdom.

Now let us fast forward to Jesus’ baptism. All four gospels have the same scene with a few minor differences. John was feeling very unworthy to baptize the man he believed was the Messiah, even though we know from the nativity stories that Jesus and John are cousins. There was probably a lot of confusion around Jesus’ identity. He was born in a manger and grew up in a poor neighborhood, yet he was suppose to be the King of the Jews? Some folks who knew the story of Joseph being engaged to Mary but not married to her whispered that Jesus was an illegitimate child. What was the truth?

Well at the time the baptism of Jesus took place, God cleared up any confusion about the identity of Jesus by proclaiming: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt. 3:17) Not only did God proclaim this loud and clear, there were also other signs: the heavens opened and the visible symbol of the Holy Spirit, the dove, came down and rested on Jesus. Wow! This is pretty clear stuff. No more confusion! Some say that this event is Jesus’ ordination for ministry. Other resources also say it is in the baptismal waters that Jesus drops the last vestige of his perception of God as one who authorizes force, violence, power to dominate. The old passes away and the new is born.[2] It is only after the baptism that Jesus starts his ministry. Before that time he does not preach or teach, has no disciples and performs no miracles.
Now I want to tell you some wonderful news; when each of you is baptized, the same thing happens. You too are called beloved by God. Many of you may not hear this voice as it is very deep, intimate, and quiet, but as you are baptized, I believe that God is welcoming you into a new life with Jesus and acknowledging how much God loves you, always has, and always will. If you were baptized as an infant or young child, you probably have no memory of it. We read that God knit us together in our mother’s womb; also that God has written your name on the palm of God’s hand. God holds you in a special embrace. You belong to God and God belongs to you. This deep down voice—and I do hope parents and godparents remind their children of their special relationship with God—says that you are loved by God unconditionally and with an everlasting love. Don’t be afraid; trust that you are the beloved. You truly are God’s daughter and God’s son; you are favored by God, and God is well pleased. We have God calling Jesus beloved and well favored, and this is, as I already said, before he does any mission work, any miracles, any great teaching. The same is true with you my friends. God loves you more than you can imagine. If you have had any children, remember how much you loved that child and know that God loves you even more.

In our baptism, the covenant, the holy contract is always two-ways. We promise to follow in the way of Jesus, to resist oppression and evil, and to show love and justice as best as we are able. I especially like the words used in the Episcopal Church, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” If we take these baptismal vows seriously, they will lead us to be a servant. Servant in biblical times did not mean just doing a ministry or service for another; it doesn’t mean a person who is a slave and inferior to another; one author says it means a person “who has laid down one’s identity, independence, and self-determination, not because of feeling inferior to another, but out of respect, honor, love for another.”[3]

For me this love and service need to be done in community. We have small communities like our church and then there is the larger community of Christians everywhere. The gospel of Jesus is intended to create a coming together of people that were once separated, alienated, or alone and make us like family. The community of faith ideally helps us to resist the pressures of our culture and to genuinely do a new thing with love and service. It is in community that we can understand and practice the message of Jesus. There’s nothing like love to heal, to inspire, and to strengthen. It is a way to become free and to become whole.

Our relationship with God and Jesus can and ought to be a personal, intimate one; however we must never forget that we belong to a church where we are sent out and commanded, as we read in Matthew 28:19-20, to: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.” As God has loved Jesus and us with an unconditional, everlasting love, we too are commanded to love, teach and serve each other. So let it be. And never forget that you are God’s beloved, God’s favored one, the one with whom God is well pleased. Praise be to God. Amen and amen!
[1] Footnote on p. 1071
[2] Jeff Krantz, Preaching Peace online.
[3] Graham Pulkingham, “The Spirit, Justice, and Community” online preaching resources from Sojourners.