Deering Community Church Sermons

Who do You Say that I am?

2009-09-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for 9-13-09
Scripture Mark 8:27-38

From the time of this scripture lesson to the current day, we hear a form of this question about Jesus “Who do they say that I am?” and a great variety of answers, both among Christians as well as non-Christians. You know sometimes it is very hard to communicate effectively. Let me tell you a story: A priest and a rabbi were fishing a creek along the side of a road one afternoon, when they realized they needed to make a sign. They pooled their resources and came up with a sign saying, "The End is Near!!" and decided to show it to any car that might come along. The first driver that drove by didn't appreciate the sign and shouted at them: "Leave me alone, you religious nuts!" In a few seconds they heard a big splash. They looked at each other in shock and the priest said to the rabbi, "Maybe we should just put up a sign that says 'Bridge Out'…"

Back to the question of the day, “Who do you say that I am?” The more conservative Christian voices, from fundamentalist and some evangelical churches, have a clear answer about Jesus’ identity based on the literal reading of the Gospels. These voices agree that Christians need to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and to convince others to do the same. The voices that are more liberal or progressive are more into defining Jesus by how he lived his life and how they encounter him in prayer and life, believing that God is Still Speaking.

This morning before I get further into this sermon I want to ask you to take a pen or pencil and write down on your bulletin the first 2 or 3 words that come to your mind as I ask again, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” Many of us still have the answers that we were taught early on in Sunday School. For some of you the answer you had at age 7 or 8 no longer makes much sense but that is all you have. Don’t feel bad if it’s difficult for you to pin Jesus down; it’s difficult for us whose education and vocation are all about Jesus.

Marcus Borg, a minister, scholar, and author, talks about two paradigms for seeing Jesus. A paradigm is a comprehensive way of seeing a whole, a large framework within which we see. One paradigm is belief-centered, emphasizing the importance of having specific beliefs about Jesus, as well as God, the Bible and so forth; the other paradigm is way-centered, emphasizing that Christianity is about following Jesus on a path to transformation.1 Most UCC churches and pastors, including myself, tend to follow the second paradigm; the Gospels and the rest of the Bible are holy and sacred, yet not divine products that are inerrant, without error. I do not interpret the gospels literally but as a historical product coming from the memory and metaphors of the early Church. Borg says and I agree that the Gospels are not God’s story of Jesus but early Christianity’s story of Jesus, their memories of Jesus. In the same way the Jewish Bible, our Old Testament, is not God’s story but the Israelites’ memory of the history of that time.2

Mark is known as the earliest gospel to be written, probably somewhere between 60 to 75 or 80 CE, at least 30 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. Yet from Mark’s writing, this early Christian community was still trying to come to grips with who Jesus was. Jesus as usual could sense what was going on, so he asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And then, “who do you say that I am?” Don’t you love Peter, so impetuous, so out there?! He answers, “You are the Messiah!” Did you know that Peter was the first person to ever call Jesus Messiah? Messiah means “anointed one” and the Jews had been expecting such a one for centuries. Yet this Jesus was not anything like the popular notion of what the Messiah would be like. These disciples were trying to let go of the idea of a messiah who would establish peace through violence and conquest. It was so hard for them to hear Jesus say that instead he would be the one to suffer and be killed.

After Jesus talks about his suffering and death, Peter jumps right in again, forgetting who was teacher and who was student and took Jesus aside to straighten him out. Jesus was so disturbed by this discussion that he called Peter Satan. After this conversation with Peter, Jesus felt like he needed to call the crowds together and tell it like it was with these words, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake … will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (v.34a-36) This was a disturbing text to his followers then as well as for us now. Not only was Jesus going to suffer but if they (and we) wanted to serve him, they too (and we) would suffer, even lose our life. I wonder how many of us are ready to accept that cost of discipleship. Taking up one’s cross is not just accepting any burden, but rather being prepared to put one’s life on the line for the sake of Jesus and the gospel.

If we are going to put our life on the line for Jesus, we’d better be clear as to who he is. You know we can say who Jesus is by the way we live our lives, in our choices about how we use our resources, in our decisions about how we respond to others in our world. We say who Jesus is when we welcome children, when we reach out in support and concern to individuals, when we support mission and ministry with our pledges and our prayers. We say who Jesus is in the way we relate to one another. We say who Jesus is by how we treat both the poor and the powerful, both family and friends and neighbors near and far.

It’s also important that we use words, and especially that we are clear for ourselves as to who Jesus is. Who is this Jesus for you? Is he Lord? Savior? Friend? Brother? Teacher? Prophet? Christ? Do you see him as more of a social reformer, a radical healer, a miracle worker or a suffering Messiah? Your answer can be a word or a short sentence. Who is willing to share?
I love Jesus. For me Jesus is my teacher and my guide. He’s also my friend, someone with whom I can share my deepest thoughts and feelings. It doesn’t matter to me whether he was born of a virgin; how he died, or whether or not he ascended into heaven. For me he is alive, alive in my heart and soul! He is Christ, he and God are One and also I believe that each of us have within us the Divine Spirit and are One with God and each other. I love to share him with others. So I thank you very much for allowing me to share Jesus with you week after week as well as your being willing to share Jesus with me. Amen and Amen

1 Borg, Jesus, p.14-15.
2 Ibid., p.24

Faith Without Works is Dead

2009-09-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

A Labor Day Sermon for September 6, 2009
Scripture: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; James 2:1-10, 14-17

Last week we began looking at the book of James, famous for its doctrine of faith and works, proclaiming that faith without works is dead. This was different than Luther and Paul’s emphasis on “salvation by faith alone.” Today’s reading is unrelenting in the way it goes after the question of what it means to live as a person of God, what God requires. James chastises those who show favoritism and make distinctions between the rich and the poor. He focuses on the kind of partiality that excludes or marginalizes people based on their outward appearance. It’s interesting that the Greek word for favoritism is a word that means literally “to lift up your face.” We show favoritism to a person by literally lifting up our face, lifting our eyes, lifting our cheeks, lifting our smile, expressions that look interested in and welcoming of the other. I’ve certainly seen that happen in public places, where the person with the unattractive clothing, hairstyle, grooming is ignored by others looking at the floor or away—giving the air of don’t bother me. I’ve seen how expressions change when a smart looking, well-dressed person enters.

In Proverbs verse 2 we are told that there is a common humanity between the rich and the poor, because ‘the Lord is the maker of them all.’ In verse 8 the author warns of sowing injustice and goes on to say that those who share their bread with the poor in generosity will be blessed; the last couplet continues in the same vein of warning not to rob the poor or crush the afflicted at the gate—a place where legal matters were decided. The last verse gives the reason for all this is that the Lord is an advocate for the poor and will destroy those that destroy or despoil the poor.

Because this is Labor Day weekend, a national holiday in this country, I want to focus on workers in the USA, many of whom are poor. I will talk more about the nonworking poor, including my experience with homeless people in a later sermon. In years gone by, we would not write about the workers and the poor in the same paragraph; however, with the demise of unions plus the high rate of unemployment in this time of national crisis, many workers and former workers would be included in the poverty statistics. So on this Labor Sunday lets take a few moments to think about workers and work places and how we as people of faith can follow James command to act out our faith by good works. My main resource is UCC’s Justice and Witness ministries, who have had a whole campaign for some time entitled Jesus was a Low-Wage Worker. You will find more information on this on our bulletin board in Sherwood Hall if you are interested, and of course on the website at ucc.org.

A job should lift everyone out of poverty, not keep them there. But in the U.S. today, fully one-quarter of all jobs pay poverty-level wages. Women and people of color are more likely to hold these jobs than white males. All workers are made in God's image and deserve living wages. Some of these low wage jobs are unnecessarily dangerous, so much so that in the U.S. someone dies from an occupational illness or injury every eight minutes. Nearly 80% of low-wage workers have no paid sick days, so you can imagine what happens if they or their child becomes sick! Besides not having sick leave, these jobs have very few benefits such as health insurance, a pension or retirement plan. They often have inconvenient hours or may be part time. Most of these jobs do not lead to opportunities for advancement.

Just this past week in the NY Times, there was an article on how often Low Wage Workers are cheated, denied proper overtime pay, as well as being paid less than the minimum wage. This study that was based on a survey of workers in NY, LA, and Chicago revealed that 68% of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous week. Workers that were injured on the job were pressured by their employers not to file for worker’s compensation to pay for medical care and loss of wages. In fact only 8% filed for compensation. 26 % were paid less than minimum wage in the week before they were interviewed and 76% of those who worked overtime were not paid the proper amount of overtime. Well I could go on with more facts and statistics about the injustice towards workers but let’s look at how all this fits with our James reading.

James talks about how we are all to love our neighbor as ourself, calling it the royal law. He says if we know about someone who lacks daily food or clothing and we only say “Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill,” but do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?” If there are no works, there is no real faith. As both Proverbs and James say, God makes all people equally valuable, and we are not to play favoritism in our hospitality and love. Of course sometimes we don’t even have any idea of who is suffering and who is doing okay.

What can we do? It’s especially hard now with so much unemployment to increase wages. Workers need jobs. If all they can find are poverty level jobs they have to take it. Now even those workers who use to be well paid are willing to take low paid work, better than unemployment or no income at all. Besides continuing to advocate and legislate for higher minimum wages, we can also speak up for the right of all workers to form and join unions that have done so much for so many. To quote the UCC brochure, “God gave us the Sabbath but unions brought us the weekend, the 8 hour day, paid vacations and holidays, health insurance and pensions.”

Let me share a story with you about what one man did back in the 50’s.1 Sandor Teszler had come to the US from Hungary after escaping from a concentration camp with his family in the early part of World War II. Trained as a textile worker, he made his way to Spartenburg, SC, which has long been a center of the textile industry. In the 1950's, he noticed an intensity of racist rhetoric and the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan. He recognized the danger in all this due to his earlier experiences in Europe, and he was unwilling to ignore it for the sake of business. He decided to find the place where there were the most intense racial tensions, and he went there to build a new factory, hiring blacks and whites without regard to their race. Both communities were uneasy and suspicious about his intentions; however the money was good so the workers came.

In the end, Sandor hired 16 new employees: 8 white and 8 black. In the mill, there was one bathroom, one set of showers, one water fountain. After initial introductions and a tour of the plant were complete, one white worker boldly asked, "Is this gonna be some kind of integrated plant?" Mr. Teszler replied, "You are being paid twice as much as any other textile worker in the area. You can work with us here in the way we work, or you can go somewhere else. Any other questions?" There were none, and all 16 employees stayed. The plant grew in production and more employees came and stayed in spite of their initial unease. Because of Sandor Teszler’s courage and vision, an entire industry was integrated.

James says do not play favoritism; he says we should not make a distinction in welcoming between rich and poor, between black and white, between young and old, gay and straight, first world and third world, free and imprisoned, sick and healthy, naked and clothed, hungry and fed. In the end, these are all false dichotomies, for we are all children of God. If we profess that we are followers of Jesus and then fail to warmly welcome all people and care for those in need, James would say, ‘So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (v. 17) What are you called to do for your works? Maybe it’s to advocate and stand in solidarity with the low-wage workers who are seeking to improve both their wages and working conditions. Maybe it’s to care for the homeless and encourage and support the unemployed. If lots of us, especially those who profess faith, do this kind of work, then poverty-wage jobs can be changed into living-wage jobs and if not the next Labor Day, one day soon we really will have something to celebrate. Let us pray and work towards abundance for all, a more fair distribution of resources, and a faith that is shown through action as well as words. Amen

1 From an online sermon by Rev. Dr. Trace Hawthorn

From an online sermon by Rev. Dr. Trace Hawthorn

2009-08-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for August 30, 2009
Scripture: James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8

For the next five weeks our lectionary lists the book of James for our epistle lesson. Although I may not focus each of these weeks on James, I do plan to include this book in our worship/preaching through September. The book of James has been quite controversial in terms of being included in the canon—the writings approved by the church hierarchy to be the Bible. Martin Luther was especially opposed to James writing as Lutherans and others believe that faith-- trust in God’s steadfast love--is the only requirement for salvation. This belief is referred to as “salvation by faith alone”. Paul also emphasizes that we are put right with God through God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by works. Another reason for criticism of this epistle is that Christ is not emphasized; in fact the words appear only twice and there is no reference to Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins, no mention of baptism or what God’s grace means. With James it is very clear that one needs to do works in order to be a Christian.

The authorship of James has also caused a fair amount of disagreement; however, most scholars say he was James, the younger brother of Jesus; the same James that was the first patriarch in the church in Jerusalem, a leader of the earliest church there.

This letter of James is a letter of action. James tells the Christians to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry and to be doers of the Word! The way Petersen puts it in the Message is: “Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.” He goes on with saying, “don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!” James than tells his church members what real or true religion is: Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.” In most versions of this text the words are—Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” In those times widows and orphans were the main types of people that were poor. Due to the patriarchy and the social codes, women without a husband or children without a father would have little or no financial resources. Even today that is so true in many of the developing countries. In general this is a phrase referring to all oppressed people.

In James’ church there were many wealthy folks who wanted to profess their faith but were not interested in caring for the poor. In this short book there are five paragraphs negative about wealthy Christians, more per page than in any other book, e.g. in today’s reading: "Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.” Of course those words wouldn’t have anything to do with most of us! Or would they? As Christine Villa says in Still Speaking Devotions, "Rich” is relative. I'm fabulously rich compared to some people and pitifully under-funded next to others. So let's say someone with far fewer resources than I have is reading this scripture. What kind of person comes to their mind when they read "the rich”? Do they picture a house like mine, a car like mine, or a grocery cart filled like mine? Maybe so. What do you think of when you read the passages about the rich? I picture folks with millions of dollars in the bank, fancy houses in prestigious neighborhoods, several cars including a Lamborghini. Well could it be that some of these remarks about the rich do apply to some of us?

Looking at our gospel reading, Jesus had a similar problem with the Pharisees, who are focusing on things such as dietary laws, asking why he and his disciples ate without washing their hands, or eating things from the market without washing them. Jesus responds by saying that Isaiah was right, that “these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Jesus told the crowds that there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. Even though the Pharisees knew the scriptures, tithed their income, even dropping coins into the begging pot, they did not care for the widows and orphans, the prostitutes, the blind, the lepers, and other outcastes in the society at the time. Jesus is saying that the Pharisees get too wrapped up in things that don’t really count. They did not practice hospitality to the stranger, or take time to meet the needs of the down and out! They did not have real religion. The prophets in the Old Testaments like Micah, Amos and Isaiah said the same thing. Do not oppress the outcasts; furthermore all rituals and liturgical sacrifices are worthless without constant love, justice, kindness and walking humbly with the Lord.

I heard a story about St. Francis of Assisi1 “He was praying in an ancient church that was badly in need of repair. He heard a voice from a crucifix which was over the altar saying, “Francis, go and repair my church that you will see falling into ruin.” Francis went to get his tool chest, but he soon realized that the voice of God was referring to some thing else. The voice of God again said, “Not the bricks, Francis. The people are in need of repair.” Then Francis went out and took care of orphans and widows. The voice of God still speaks today and says, “Francis. Peter, Christine, (etc.) Go and repair my church which is falling into ruins.” And God is not talking about bricks and mortar.

What are we doing in this church to care for the “widows and orphans”? Besides the money we give to the many denominational appeals and local agencies, we have had several members travel to hurricane-affected areas to work with others to rebuild homes; we provide various material things, plus our interest and supportive presence at the Women’s jail in Goffstown, through our Deacons fund we help folks with rent who otherwise might be evicted; we pay utility bills and provide fuel and repairs on cars; we visit people in their homes that are lonely, sick, or have special needs; we provide both money and food for the Weare and Hillsboro/Deering Food Pantries; some of you assist with refugee families; others minister to the GLBT community and those who love them though PFLAG; we are in the process of gathering items to be sent to Zimbabwe where there is always so much need. All of you that do these and similar things are being doers of the Word.

One last caution, be sure not to interpret “widows and orphans” too narrowly. The place you may be called to be doers of the word could be with someone in your own household, your child, your parent, your spouse, or your rich neighbor, who is lonely and estranged from all his family. You just never know when you will have the opportunity to be doers of the word as James commands.

My son has composed a song called “Mystery and Wonder”, where he talks about the hard financial times he’s having in his life and all the pain he sees around him. He says he wants to make love to the whole wide world; however, maybe that’s not the way. Then he has these lines:

And I want to take all that on
While I’m buying groceries on credit
So
I’m singing to 5 of you,
Sometimes it’s 50
500’s a really big score
Maybe I should cool it
But I can’t help myself
I keep talking myself
out of pain
And I really can't see another way
Everywhere I go I see
people in need of mystery and wonder
Everywhere I go I see people in need of
dreamers and blunders
Everywhere I go I see people in need of magic and
grace
Everywhere I go I see people in need of love

So I say to you: Every day we see people in need of mystery and wonder, magic and grace. Everyday we see people in need of love. Real religion has many parts; faith without action or action without faith just won’t do. Every day we have that opportunity to be kind, to listen, and to bring gentleness to someone. Let us take a few moments of silence right now to see if God brings anyone to our mind who needs our ministering today. It may be someone in a pew not too far from you. Let us pray: Gracious and Holy One, let us listen right now to you. Let us ask each day for you to lead us to someone who needs some care, some love, some company. (silence) Thank you Jesus and brother James. Amen

1 Edward Markquart, Sermons from Seatle

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

2009-08-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for 8-23-09
Scripture: Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; John 6:56-69

Choices, choices, choices! In our country we have many choices and sometimes we really like being able to choose; other times it’s so darn hard. Our scripture lessons for today both show choices about whom to follow, whom to serve. Let’s first look at the reading from Joshua. The only thing most of us know about Joshua is that he “fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down.” According to one of my resources there is no evidence at all of a battle in Jericho, nor of the Hebrew conquest of Israel. According to this archeologist, the Hebrew tribes were one of many tribes in the area and their ways and religion gradually displaced those of the other tribes residing there.

By the way, I decided to look up the relationship of the words Hebrew and Israelites and found that Hebrew became the name of the Israelites. Its origin is not cultural or racial but social and political. “It seems that the word "Hebrew" became a general word for everyone the powerful viewed as social outcasts and troublemakers. It was a pejorative nickname applied to those who caused problems. Cultural identity made no difference… The new followers of Joshua and the Moses-tradition also were "Hebrews." In those days, during the upheaval that overthrew the kings and the cities and finally gave the land to farmers, the name Hebrew became associated with those who rebelled in the name of Yahweh.”1

We are told in Joshua 23 that a long time had passed since the battles and the Lord had given rest to Israel from their enemies. Joshua was old and well advanced in years. (v.1). Joshua gathered all the tribes together and they presented themselves before God just before they were about to go into the Promised Land. Moses had died and Joshua took his place as Israel’s leader. His people were looking for marching orders, instructions on what to do next. But Joshua doesn’t just do that; he recounts with them the whole history of God working in their lives. He reminds them exactly how they got to where they were right then, a history of God’s protection and love. At the end of this history lesson, Joshua tells the people to revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; however, he says, “If you do not wish to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (v.16)

Now let’s go to our gospel lesson, the 5th and final week that our lectionary has chosen the 6th chapter of John with the many comments of Jesus about being the bread of life as well as his miracles in feeding the multitudes with 5 loaves and two fish. In today’s reading Jesus talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He says whoever eats this bread will live forever. Many of his followers said that this teaching was too difficult and they turned away, leaving only the 12 apostles.

Many times in our life of faith, we find things that are too difficult, so difficult that many decide to leave either that particular church or that denomination or just stop believing in Christianity, Islam, and so forth.

Let me tell you a story about a man who joins a monastery and takes a vow of silence. He's allowed to say two words every seven years. After the first seven years, the elders bring him in and ask for his two words. "Cold floors," he says. They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him back in and ask for his two words. He clears his throat and says, "Bad food." They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him in for his two words. "I quit," he says. "That's not surprising," the elders say. "You've done nothing but complain ever since you got here."

So finally as Jesus notes how the crowds have diminished and followers have disappeared, he says to the twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?” (v.67) Peter answers for them, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (vv.67-68)

Why do people leave Jesus? Why do people leave the church? What happened to all the many former members of DCC? Even one of the great preachers of our day, Barbara Brown Taylor, left the organized church, writing a very interesting book entitled, Leaving Church (2006). Please be assured that I am not equating leaving the church, especially any particular church, with leaving Jesus. In fact the essence of Barbara Brown Taylor’s book was that she left the church in order to save her faith.

One preacher wrote, “The ‘hard sayings’ of the enigmatic Jesus are only one reason why some people quit the faith. Still others leave church because of boredom, legalistic pettiness, superficial platitudes, unanswered prayers, bitter disappointments, intellectual doubts, nagging questions, or life traumas that ‘crush the spirit’.”2 I’m sure most of you out there could add to this list. We do not have to agree with, or even understand everything the preacher preaches or the officers and committees decide upon. We can acknowledge that the church is an earthly institution that will never be perfect. After all no one ever said Christians were perfect, just forgiven—a bumper sticker I remember. Benedictine nun, Joan Chittester, says that we can not be happy about many things in church, yet remain as a "loyal member of a dysfunctional family." So yes most churches are not perfect. I doubt if you have ever found one that was even though you may have found one, possibly this one, that really suits you.

Getting back to choices, do you remember Moses (Deuteronomy 30) saying to the sojourners in the desert that he has set before them this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. If they choose to obey God’s commandments they will prosper and be blessed; other wise they shall perish. He ends with saying that he has set before them life and death, blessings and curses. “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live…”(v.19b).

Whom do you choose to serve? In every generation, we have to make our own decisions within our own particular context. Decisions like these are not easy even if we are sure we are making the right decision. So many times we just can’t figure it out ourselves, and we wonder whether that voice we hear deep inside is God or just our own will. We know that some of the beliefs and practices our forebears had do not make any sense to us today. The United Church of Christ emphasizes that God is still speaking; God has not spoken once and then stopped talking. Our understanding of God must grow and change just as we do. We get new insights from books, from speakers and preachers, through prayer as well as from observing life itself. As our individual lives and our world grows, we see things a different way. I just heard this week about how much the brain, especially the frontal lobes, have grown in the last 2 million years, allowing human beings to use imagination and other scientific/logical thinking that was not possible in early life.

Joshua was challenging his people to worship the One God and not the idols that were the gods of their forefathers. What is idolatry? The dictionary has the unhelpful definition of worshiping idols and also blind or excessive devotion to something. One of my references said that idolatry exists when there is a separation of spiritual values such as love of God and neighbor from the way we carry out our lives day by day. When we make the choice that Joshua is talking about, it’s really a choice of priorities: what is most important to us--loving the things of the world or loving God. If we choose something in the world such as money and make its acquisition the highest good, that would be idolatry. When we do that, we are making this thing our god. Money, to continue with the same example, is not bad in itself. It has many valuable uses. It becomes bad when it becomes so important to us that more important things, such as honesty, are neglected. Last week Don Johnson preached about the idolatry of putting our nation first, believing that Americans are God’s chosen people as well as making an idol of consumer capitalism. He reminded us of H. Richard Niebuhr saying that we must be willing to take a stand against the world. Don points out that any church, and I would add any Christian who blindly serves the nation state, is betraying God by “having other gods before Him.” So, if we have too great a focus and loyalty to worldly things and too little trust and faith in God, it is the same as worshipping idols. In our Joshua text, a single moment of choice is given to the Israelites. I believe that for us it is not a single choice, a single decision. If not daily, at least weekly or monthly we are presented with choices where we have to decide whether or not to serve God, to try to love others as God has loved us, or to put worldly or self-centered values above the great commandments. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Joshua’s choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

What about you?

Prayer: Gracious God, be with us in our choices. Give us courage, give us clarity, that we may serve you as you want us to. Thank you for the many ways we know you; keep us open to the Spirit in all ways now and forevermore. Amen.

1 Roy H. May, Jr., Joshua and the Promised Land.
2 Dan Clendenin, Journey with Jesus.

Two Flags

2009-08-16T13:00:00.000-07:00

by Don Johnson

Over the last 25 years that we have been hosting Fulbright professors from around the world, we have visited many churches in New England, including this one. The visitors ask many questions about American religion, but the one that arises the most is, “Why is the American flag in a church?” Today, I would like to investigate with you this issue and how as believing Christians we should respond to the question of “Two Flags.” The two flags, one representing our Christian community, the flag given by the Guild in honor of my mother, and the other one symbolizing our nation.

One way to resolve the two flags is to argue that they represent the same values and there is no contradiction between them. Today’s scriptures explains how the nation of Israel is seen as God’s chosen nation and made sacred by divine covenant that stipulated God would favor Israel if its people followed His rules. In Psalm 111, there is little question what nation God favors, “He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the lands of other nations.” But what happens if we Americans see ourselves as a new Israel, as God’s chosen people? Does this transfer of the chosen really work?

From the beginning of our history Americans have claimed to be the new Israel and heir to God’s divine favor. Governor Winthrop in 1630, , standing in Boston, preached to his people that, “we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us...if God be with us who can be against us?” America, then, would be God’s favored people also, by establishing a "New Jerusalem" in a "new Canaan. " Here a purer form of Christianity could prosper and would serve as a moral and religious beacon for the entire world. Woodrow Wilson spoke in a similar vein when he announced that “America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of the Holy Scripture.” Later in 1983, President Reagan explained "Therefore, this country is compelled by scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ to oppose Russia with all military and political means.” George W. Bush adopted Winthrop’s words when he reminded us after September 11th, "Our nation is chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world of justice."As a European writer noted, after September 11th, “This idea of God choosing the people of America is as strong today as it was three centuries ago…a statement that one never hears from European leaders.”

Another explanation of the elevation of one’s nation comes out of world history following the French Revolution. Since then, or perhaps even before, the nation-state as the major unit of political organization has dominated world politics. From the origin of nation-states with England, France and Spain, the number has now grown to 193 nation states, most earning that status with the end of European and American colonialism.

In the nation-state system everyone gives their ultimate loyalty to their state. Each state, although imposing a common civic morality within its borders, outside the borders deals with the other nation-states without any morality except one’s “national interests.” National leaders are free to kill, kidnap, torture, lie, steal and commit other acts that inside the state would be considered evil, and often punishable by law.

Most world historians now agree that in the past 200 years the nation-state has gained almost total power over its citizens. It has also replaced religion as the major shaper of our collective world views and moral structures. The nation-state alone can take our lives and give them back, make war and negotiate peace settlements. As one scholar explains, the modern nation state, “defines [our] purposes, meanings and goals...i All this power to define reality was once situated in the realms of religion. Nation states, beyond shaping our collective consciousness also control the means of violence. In the 20th century alone, the bloodiest century in history, national wars have taken about 140 million lives.

We call loyalty to one’s nation patriotism. We have all have taken several courses on United States history and remember our revolutionary hero Nathan Hale, who at age 21 spoke these words when he was about to be hanged, words that we learned in the East Deering school house, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." We may also remembers Stephen Decatur, our great naval hero who declared his loyalty in 1816, “Our country!... right or wrong.”
The eminent orthodox Christian writer, G. K. Chesterton, wrote America is "a country with the soul of a church." Albert Einstein, concerned about the excesses of nationalism wrote, "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all of the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!" George Bernard Shaw once commented, "You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race."

Rhinehold Niebuhr is certainly one of the most thoughtful American theologians to address the tension between our nation and our God. His Moral Man and Immoral society, argues that individuals may choose to act morally and take the consequences, even death, but nation-states cannot act morally, because their leaders are bound to place national survival above all other values. In his fine book, The Irony of American History, he argues that the Unites States cannot possibly be chosen by God, because it is a nation state like all others. He tried to convince Americans, in the heat of the Cold War, that we are one nation among many and we use power to gain our objectives like all other nations. Those of us who agree with Niebuhr suggest that we must recognize that we are not God’s chosen people, but are, like any nation, fully capable of sinfulness.

Seeing the American flag beside the Christian flag should remind us that we as a nation live in a fallen world, a world of power politics and fierce competition for wealth and status, far removed from God’s promised kingdom. It reminds us that in a nation-state, even our own, power usually determines results and we must understand power if we are to take the serious steps to heal the pain and injustices in our nation and the world. The Christian flag symbolizes “thy kingdom to come,” God’s future kingdom of peace, justice and mercy. Even as we honor our nation we must accept God’s final judgment on each of us, on our nation and on our world.

But that tension between the nation in which we live and God’s promised kingdom doesn’t excuse us from making the effort to turn our fallen world toward the direction of God’s promised kingdom. In his famous Serenity prayer, Niebuhr taught us that we can change some things even though we cannot change everything. We must not be discouraged when our attempts to do good make us feel like Sisyphus pushing his rock up the hill, only tantalizingly near the top it rolls back down on him. Niebuhr calls for realism in our foreign policy and in our Christian life. He reminds us that nothing of true value can be accomplished in a single lifetime and no great endeavor can be achieved alone. If we are to be part of social change, we must work together as a community. We also need to proceed in humility and realize that our lonely shouting and anger achieves nothing in dealing with any kind of real power, much less the ultimate power of the nation-state.

The other Niebuhr brother, H. Richard, visited Germany in the 1930s as the Nazis were gaining power. Returning home, after many discouraging talks with German Christian leaders, he wrote his famous book, The Church against the world, where he writes, “If Christians continue to betray their mission to the oppressed, God will raise another people in their place.” His words, written at a time when most German Christian leaders were doing little to oppose Nazism, remind us that our faith insists that we be part of a church that in our own time has the courage to stand against the world. ii Peter Gomes, the minister of the Harvard Memorial Church, echoes this thought in our own time, “If you are really willing to choose between your culture and the God who delivered you, and you choose the God who delivered you, then you can do it, but you can't have it both ways."

Our American problem is further confounded, not only by our mistaken assumption that we are God’s chosen, but in the last thirty years, by the elevation of another false god to be worshipped along side our nation - consumer capitalism. As the Harvard theologian Harvey Cox wrote in 1999, “The Market is becoming more like the Yahweh of the Old Testament—not just one superior deity contending with others but the Supreme Deity, the only true God, whose reign must now be universally accepted and who allows for no rivals.” iii

The most difficult choices for modern Christians revolve around the fact that churches function in nation states and too often confuse their loyalties and conflate nationalism and capitalism with the Christian faith. Any church that blindly serves the state or economic system in which it functions, is betraying our sovereign God and “having other gods before Him.”

Many of America’s most successful churches now merge nationalism, market economics and Christianity into a popular mix accompanied by light shows and rock music that offends no one and promises individual happiness, personal wealth and a mindless commitment to American national interest - all in the name of a loving God. If we are to honor God’s sovereignty and Jesus’ command that we side with the downtrodden, good works, charity and innocence rooted in superficial knowledge just won’t do. If we are to translate Jesus teachings into our own time, we must understand both the radicalism of our scriptures and how the politics of power functions. To do that we have to know how our social and political system as well as the global world actually works. We must study and be willing to face facts instead of responding to emotionally charged sound bites. This is the path of sacrifice of time, effort and money, and sometimes much more.

The great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, teaches us the possible price of dissent when we go against the nation-state. In 1939, Bonhoeffer who had earlier studied at Union Theological Seminary, visited his mentor Rhinehold Niebuhr in New York. Neibuhr advised Bonhoeffer not to return to Germany. But Bonhoeffer decided to return to his home country. From Germany he wrote to Neibuhr, “I have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.” In 1944, Bonhoeffer was executed for his part in the plot to assassinate Hitler. No wonder Bonhoeffer could speak with such conviction on cheap grace. In his seminal book, The Cost of Discipleship, he defines cheap" grace as “the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline; Communion without confession. Or as the prophet Zephaniah warns us, “Gather together, gather, O shameless nation, before you are driven away like the drifting chaff, before there comes upon you the fierce anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the Lord's wrath.”

So we have two flags, one standing for the nation we love; one standing for our faith. We surely hope that our nation really is as we pledge, “one nation under God” and that we also understand our most famous prayer, “Thy will be done, thy kingdom come But what if our nation chooses not to follow God’s laws and clearly behaves more like the Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians, so much scorned in the Old Testament. If and when that day should come, will we have the courage to pledge our ultimate allegiance to the Christian flag and really act on the higher calling of our Christian faith.

i . Julian Thomas, Quoted in Connie McNeely, Construction of the Nation-State, 1994,p. 7
ii . H. Richard Niebuhr, The Question of the church in the Church against the World, Chicago, 1935.
iii . Harvey Cox “The Market as God: Living in the new dispensation The Atlantic Monthly, Vol.283 No.3, March 1999)

Deep Hunger

2009-08-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for August 2, 2009
Scripture: Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; John 6:24-35

What are you hungry for today? Really hungry for? And I’m not talking about blueberry pie or rum raisin ice cream. What is it deep down inside of you that you desire?
In last week’s scripture there was a crowd of over 5000 listening to Jesus and they were hungry for something to eat on a physical level so we took a look at the Abundance available when we care for each other. The Revised Common Lectionary that I usually follow is spending 5 weeks in the 6th chapter of John, the gospel of the “I am” statements. In this week’s gospel reading Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (6:35)

In researching this sermon I came across a quote from a British journalist that I want to share: “Countries like ours are full of people who have all the material comforts they desire, together with such non-material blessings as a happy family, and yet lead lives of quiet, and at times noisy, desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motor cars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well-balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it… it aches.” 1 Do you have that kind of aching hole inside of you? Maybe not, hopefully not. I’d love to know that all of you are so filled with the Spirit, so strong in your faith that this sermon does not apply to you and I’ll continue anyhow.

What are our deepest desires? What is it that will fill us? Some people believe that it is money and fame and then look at the sadness of Michael Jackson’s life. Others will believe that recognition and power and maybe a little sex thrown in will do it and then we look at the sadness of John Edwards and Governor Mark Sanford’s confessions and know that is not the answer. The great psychologists and psychiatrists have had their opinions: Sigmund Freud felt the desire for Pleasure, especially sexual pleasure was the answer. Alfred Adler said no it isn’t sex; it’s the desire for power, to be in control that is most important. Then we have psychiatrist Victor Frankel after his experience in the Nazi concentration camps. There both desire for pleasure and the wish for control and power were taken away, so he believes that the basic human hunger or the deepest drive within us is our deep longing for meaning and purpose, to have our lives matter.

There’s no doubt that the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land had a lot of problems and today’s lesson from Exodus finds them grumbling again about what they do not have. They had only been on the road for about a month, but what a month it had been! They weren’t used to this refugee life, and started thinking that maybe being a slave wasn’t so bad. They were quick to complain and murmur when their needs weren’t being met. So Moses intervenes for them with God who promises to give them their daily bread, manna from heaven. The catch was that each morning they could gather only what they needed for the day. If they took too much it would rot. This was a test of both obedience to God and trust that God will provide.

How much is enough? The advertisers on TV and the internet constantly tell us we need more. We need things that yesterday we never even knew existed. As human beings, we always seem to be hungry for more. Physical hunger comes and goes. You’re hungry, you eat a meal and you feel better. But spiritual hunger is different. It gnaws away at you. Many try to fill this desperate hunger with work, food or even alcohol and drugs. It only causes even deeper hungry. People, places or things cannot fill a hunger and thirst that only a right relationship with God can fill.
The crowds that followed Jesus yesterday were back again, and Jesus accuses them of following him only because he filled their bellies. Knowing that they have missed the point, Jesus tries to tell them, “You guys think that manna in the desert was a big deal. The manna was just pointing toward Me. Plus Moses didn’t come up with that,” he tells them, “It came from God. And it wasn’t just about feeding hungry people. It was about getting them ready to go to a new place of freedom and promise.” For them and for us it is hard to see beyond the literal bread. Jesus tells them that God has a new and different kind of bread that would satisfy their deep hunger and that it was coming to them through himself, that he would give it to them and to us if we believed. Believing in Jesus is—living with our focus on him, striving to have him live in and through us. It is believing that he is the incarnation of God’s grace. When we believe in him, we are really convinced in our hearts that we, each of us, are loved by God, that God knows each of us and that each of us matters. Jesus is saying that he’s the only one who can truly satisfy the deepest hungers of our hearts and spirits. And once we find that satisfaction in Him, we’ll never experience that gnawing spiritual hunger and thirst again. Just as God fed the hungry Hebrews for 40 years with the manna, and just as Jesus fed the hungry crowds on the Lakeshore with bread, He still feeds us today through the Holy Spirit. God feeds us through his Word in the Bible as well as in his Still Speaking word. For those that are wandering in the deserts of uncertain health, uncertain employment, troubled relationships, or whatever, God’s Word reminds us of God’s love and faithfulness. When we believe in him, we are convinced and motivated to love others as God in Christ has loved us.

We are also fed through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. This is my body broken for you. Jesus is the real food, the most important food for life. Jesus has told you both in his words and his actions: don’t spend your time and energy and effort in buying food that spoils, empty relationships, useless junk food. Don’t stock your shelves with perishables—cars, gadgets, jewelry, clothes, or an overstuffed bank account.

The bread and cup, the body and blood of Jesus is our real food. It’s a strange food we consume, this food… called Jesus. We consume it, take it into ourselves like ordinary bread… like ordinary wine. We begin to digest it… until it becomes part of us. But... then the bread of life… does something else…. something the ordinary bread doesn't do. This real bread… this real food… the body and blood of Jesus… begins to consume us… begins to make us part of Jesus… and we too become non-perishable… we too become bread of life… living loaves for the world. Remember that your hunger of whatever sort matters to Jesus. You can spend your effort and energy… seeking to fill that hunger with all sorts of foods… but Jesus reminds you that it's the Spirit who can fill you… so eat as often as you can… so that you can go out into the world… and be bread... the body of Christ... for someone else. May our deep hunger be satisfied this day as we go to Christ’s table. Amen

1 Bernard Levin, ‘Life’s Great Riddle, and No Time to Find Its Meaning’.

ABUNDANCE

2009-07-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for July 26, 2009
Scriptures: 2 Kings 4:42-44, John 6:1-21

Let me tell you a couple of short stories to start this sermon off: Once upon a time there were two shoe salesmen who were sent by their company to a region in Africa where everyone went barefoot. One salesman dejectedly informed his superiors, "We might as well forget these people. No one here wears shoes." The other salesman elatedly informed the company, "Send as many shoes as you can as quickly as you can. Everyone here needs shoes!"

The second story may have taken place in one of our neighboring churches. A minister was making a home visit to one of the younger families in the community. A five-year-old boy answered the front door and told the minister his mother would be there shortly. To make some conversation, the minister asked the little guy what he would like to be when he grows up. The boy immediately answered, "I'd like to be possible." "What do you mean by that?" the puzzled minister asked. "Well, you see," the boy replied, "just about every day my mom tells me I'm impossible!"Here’s a question I’d like to have you think about: What seems to be impossible in your life or the life of Deering Community Church these days? Do you ever listen to the news and just let out a big sigh as you wonder about how in the world can we ever accomplish all the things that seem so impossible in our world today?" There’s health care, hunger, wars, the economy just to mention some of the big ones.

In each of our scriptures today there is a story about scarcity that is overcome by abundance. In each case there is someone who doubts it is possible; there’s someone who is generous and gives of what they have to get things started, and then a miracle happens—the few bits of food are multiplied not only to feed all those who are present but with much left over.

Let’s look in more detail at the gospel lesson in John. Jesus' disciples were faced with a big problem. They were surrounded by thousands of hungry people. Just like the shoe salesmen, the disciples mentioned had very different attitudes and points of view. Philip saw the problem and started worrying and calculating: "Two hundred denarii (six months' wages) would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." No way did this little group of disciples have such resources and probably felt it was impossible so he gave up. Another disciple, Andrew, reacted very differently. He told Jesus that a boy had five barley loaves and a couple of fish with him and brought him to Jesus as part of the solution. He knew the boy didn't have enough to feed everyone, but he figured at least it was a step in the right direction.

And of course we know what happened. After directing the disciples to tell the 5000 men plus women and children to sit down, Jesus took the loaves and fish, gave thanks to God for them, and distributed them to the crowd. The leftovers filled twelve baskets!

People with positive attitudes may not be able to solve everything but they will certainly be likely to find solutions much more often than those who are overwhelmed and give up. Lao Tzu’s quote that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step is something I like to remember when I’m about to get overwhelmed with the terrible suffering in our world. I also remind myself that I’m not alone. God’s great power showed through in Jesus. I can’t explain it in words that seem reasonable or scientific; however, there is inside of me a place that truly believes that with God all things can be possible.

One of my online Midrash colleagues1 says that we are the disciples and wonders if we respond to the needs of the world with a theology of scarcity. Do we say, “But Jesus, what we have to offer is no way enough for any meaningful solution to the suffering. We don’t have enough money; we don’t have enough time or energy. What could we or I possibly have to offer that would make a difference to those starving in body and spirit? Where are the crowds today? What are they looking for? Where are all the cars going today? To a mall or a gym? To a restaurant? What are the people looking for? What hunger are they and we trying to fill? My guess is that most of us are searching to fill a hunger much deeper than the physical—as important as that is. As I think about this I am reminded of St. Augustine saying that our hearts are restless until we rest in God.

Those of you that know me well know that my background was one of scarcity of material things—who else would come back from India with thousands of dollars left from “free Lilly money” because of a long ingrained frugality. I have to really struggle to develop a theology of abundance. Mark Nepo, one of my favorite authors, says “One of the most difficult things for us to accept is that beneath all our dreams and disappointments, we live and breathe abundance. It is hard when in pain to believe that all we ever need is before us, around us, within us.”2

How do we get to this kind of faithfulness in the Spirit and confidence in our own gifts given to us by the Creator? What can we do to embrace the Abundance that is always quietly there? Maybe the real miracle in our scripture lessons is the miracle of caring—all else follows. Elisha and Jesus cared about the people, they nourished their hopes and fed their bodies and their souls. When Elijah’s servant and Jesus’ disciples protested that the job of caring before them was too big, too impossible, both of them simply asked that they get started to involve themselves in the solution—getting the people to sit down and then starting to distribute the food. Nepo says, ‘…I have discovered that we cannot eliminate hunger, but we can feed each other. We cannot eliminate loneliness, but we can hold each other. We cannot eliminate pain, but we can live a life of compassion.”3

After the resurrection, Jesus kept asking Peter, “Do you love me?”, and after Peter assured him of his love, Jesus commanded in one form or another, “Feed my sheep.”
To me this is the basis for all the miracles, this compassion and willingness to care for the other. I often call it a ministry of presence, and remember in our church although we have ordained ministers, everyone is a minister, sometimes referred to as the priesthood of all believers. Our ministry of presence arises out of God’s love for us, in gratitude for all the abundant blessings we have. This kind of caring and action creates hope and faith in those who are beneficiaries as well as those who act. When we come from a place of radical abundance, we make hope possible, rather than making despair convincing. (repeat) Everyone can do something and no one has to do everything. I think of our oldest member, Margaret Colburn, and what a ministry she has on the telephone. Through the years we’ve been together, so many of the people, the sick and the dying that I visit will tell me about Margaret’s calls and how much they mean. Kay Bliss, now passed on, would often tell me about how useless she felt, yet she would write to me and other church members with such loving thoughts. From the beginning of my ministry here, she was always so concerned about my well-being and so willing to help in any way she could.
There are many of you here that show your caring in so many ways, both in and out of the church. The more we share our gifts with others, the more abundance will be here. If we visit those that are sick or lonely, feed those that need food and/or hope, if we do those random acts of kindness, give our money as generously as we are able, always remembering that God will be with us, increasing our power and our love, we will be part of God’s miracles in this world.. In the end, I am sure we will have much left over, more blessings than we started with, more love, more joy, more hope, more of everything that we truly need. Thanks be to God, Amen.

1 Anna Murdock
2 Book of Awakening, p. 132
3 The Exquisite Risk, Daring to Live an Authentic Life, p. 240

Let Us Go Over To the Other Side

2009-06-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sermon for June 21, 2009
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41

You know Jesus can be difficult sometimes; just when we are settling in, getting comfortable here he comes telling us to go to the other side. We’ve had a long hard day. All we want to do is sit down to read the newspaper, have a refreshing drink, maybe watch some TV or a movie. Or if you were the disciples in Jesus time, maybe you were just about to relax on the shoreline and tell some fish stories about the day’s catch. And then you see that Jesus isn’t sitting down and he has that look in his eye. Finally he speaks and says, “Why are you getting comfortable, we need to go over to the other side.”

This isn’t the first time Jesus has told them to go over to the other side. In Matthew you may remember that he told the disciples to go over to the other side of the lake and he meets them halfway, walking on the water. Why can’t Jesus just relax, get comfortable on this side, the side we are already on?

In this particular scripture Jesus and his disciples had finished a very successful day of teaching and learning. They were on the Sea of Galilee, the kind of sea that could get very rough at nighttime or anytime. Most boats went around the lake,(it was really more like a lake) close to the shore, not across the lake. On the other side was foreign territory, the land of the Gerasenes—the place where Jesus drove out the demons from Legion into the swine who then hurtled down the bank into this same sea of Galilee.

The disciples were obedient and they all got into the boat. Knowing the threats as these local fishermen would have known, would you have gotten in the boat with Jesus? Do I go over to the other side when Jesus tells me to go? Or do I roll over and settle deeper into my comfort zone.
We know our side, the side where we are comfortable, where the risks are decreased. Yet Jesus is persistent. The first time he told me to go I was a teenager, very involved in church youth group. I thought about being a minister but it was just too scary. Not many women did that back in the 60’s. I wanted to get married and have children. I convinced myself that being a social worker made more sense; it would be just as good as being a minister. Maybe I would be a missionary social worker.

Getting back to the Bible story, we know that Jesus got in the boat with his disciples and quickly fell asleep in the back of the boat. A terrible storm came and they were so afraid. They woke Jesus up with a exclamation of blame, “Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?” You know the rest of the story, Jesus calms the storm and then it’s his turn to question, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

Why won’t you go to seminary? Why won’t you go do missionary work in Africa? Why won’t you go back to school? Why won’t you read the scripture in church? Why won’t you go repair and build houses in New Orleans? What are you waiting for? What do you do with the rest of your life? Jesus says, Go! But I don’t have enough money; I don’t want to be so far away from my family. I’m too old! I’m too young! It’s so easy to think of excuses. It’s just too scary, too risky. That big storm may arise and then what would you do.

To the elders, I quote Fred Buechner, “ Keep going, Jesus says, because to keep going is to keep living and to stop going is to stop living in any way that much matters.” 1 Jesus says let us go over to the other side. Who knows how far it is to that foreign land or what awaits us when we get there if anything at all?

Where is our faith? Why do we have so much fear? Many of us fear current or potential suffering and pain, bad health, death of loved ones and of our own death. Some of us fear being alive without living. We fear loss and loneliness. In these days there are more things to fear than usual due to terrorism, economic troubles, and environmental damage. Some of us have the pain of broken relationships, alienation from family, concern about our children both young and old. Maybe we are hearing Jesus tell us to Go, and we are just too scared to go. We want to make the world a better place; we want to follow the words and actions of Jesus, but is the risk of a big storm just too much?

Faith is having trust in the company of Jesus Christ. It believes that the world can be transformed by love; that angry waves can be calmed, and no matter what comes your way, you are not alone. You may recall that our Gospels are filled with Jesus and angels saying, “Do not be afraid; peace be with you. This is not because there are no scary things in our world, yet they need not paralyze us. They need not stop us because we are not alone in the boat. Faith is about going to the other side, especially when we know that the odds are against us. It’s easy to get so comfortable that we don’t even hear Jesus telling us to Go over to the other side. However, I believe along with Fred Buechner that “Christ sleeps in the deepest selves of all of us, and whatever we do in whatever time we have left—whether that be 5, 10, 20 or 50 years, wherever we go we can call upon him and he will come awake within us, to give us courage, to give us hope, to show us, each one, our way.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick says:

Fear imprisons, faith liberates;
Fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Fear
disheartens, faith encourages;
Fear sickens, faith heals;
Fear makes
useless, faith makes serviceable;
And, most of all, fear puts hopelessness
at the heart of all, while faith rejoices in God!

My prayer is that we will help each other to increase our faith so that when we hear the call to “Go over to the other side” we will be able to get in the boat, knowing that the Holy Spirit is with us to the end of time. Amen and Amen

1 Secrets in the Dark, p. 296.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS LIKE?

2009-06-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for June 14, 2009
Scripture: Sam. 15:34-16:13, Mark 4:26-34

Another mystery of our faith—the Kingdom of God! By now some of you may recognize the phrases, “is like” or “is as if” as undoubtedly leading us to parables, one of Jesus’ favorite teaching tools. Jesus was never without a story and he fit the stories to his audience, their experience in life and their maturity. I know there are some of you out there that also have a lot of good stories, lots of ideas. Today’s sermon is going to be a congregation participation sermon. I haven’t done one of these for a while. When I do, I always learn a lot and I hope you do to.

All of the gospels have many parables but the parable about God as the seed sower is only in Mark although the mustard seed is also in Matthew and Luke. Eugene Petersen in The Message translates the passage like this: “Then Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time.”

What could this possibly mean? I’m sure most of you gardeners out there don’t just throw down seeds and forget them. Let’s look at the next parable: the mustard seed. The land I grew up on had lots of mustard plants. I really liked them. They usually were taller than the grass but never, as far as I know, did they grow into a big tree. Jesus is exaggerating to make his point. In the Middle East of Jesus’ time, the mustard plant was considered a weed. One of my references described it as a woody, fast growing and spreading, persistent nuisance. Maybe it’s a bit like our dandelions. Since I have so little grass I appreciate the dandelions, and I never have seen them grow as tall as they did this year. But what is Jesus’ point? What is the kingdom of God like?

I’m going to throw out some possibilities but I hope you will be thinking of your own answers. Could it be that the kingdom will grow without any effort from us? Maybe we don’t have to be concerned about evangelizing after all. If we look at our story from the Hebrew Bible lesson, we know that David certainly didn’t do anything to make God choose him. The youngest of the children in the family, he was out watching the sheep and Jesse, his father, didn’t even think about including him in the lineup of sons that Samuel wished to see as he hunted for the God-picked ruler of the nation. He was too young, and also slight of build and certainly not well regarded by his family. Who would choose him? Is the kingdom all about God’s grace?

Is the Kingdom a place, a plot of land somewhere? No, it has to be a vision of God and his son Jesus, a vision of what things will look like when they are as God wants them to be. What will that be like?

One more thought before I ask you to share your reflections. Some of you may remember that I grew up in Maine on Sebago Lake where my parents helped my grandmother run a tourist home. After my grandmother died, we became quite poor, as there was no will, and my mother had to divide up all the property with her two sisters. Not only did we lose our home and our many acres of woods and pastures, but also my parents lost their ability to earn a livelihood from the homestead. My favorite scripture found both in Matthew and Luke was: Be ye not anxious, consider the lilies of the fields and the birds of the air. They neither toil nor spin or sow nor reap yet they have all that they need. So do not worry as your heavenly Father will provide. Here too was that kingdom phrase, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be yours as well.” Mt. 6:33. So maybe the kingdom of God is a place where we do not have to be anxious. That first man just went to sleep and the seeds grew, he knew not how. So much of what we ponder about God and God’s world is a mystery for us.

Would some of you share what your thoughts and stories are on what is God’s kingdom?

To close I’d like to share with you a great mustard seed story, borrowed from Rev. Christina Berry: “Millard and Linda didn’t plan to stay longer than a couple of hours. They just wanted to see the place and hear the story. Truthfully, Millard just wanted to see what his pal Clarence had up his sleeve. See, Millard was a millionaire at age 29, And now, everything was coming apart. He should have been happy. But he was in poor health. Linda was saying she might leave him. The money wasn’t buying him any joy in life. So he went to see his friend Clarence. As it turned out, what Clarence had going was not up his sleeve, it was all over the place down there in rural South Georgia. It was Koinonia Farm, founded in 1942, as an interracial, intentional Christian community. There, people of all colors shared a simple life, committed to nonviolence, to justice, to following the teachings of Jesus.

From a small seed, Koinonia Farm grew, Clarence Jordan’s crazy idea of sharing in community as Christians, without regard to race or social class. It was a noxious weed, as far as its neighbors were concerned. They threatened the families of the farm. They bombed the produce stand – not once, but twice. They tried everything they could think of to make Koinonia Farms, and the people who lived there, go away. It was an affront to their way of life, and it would not go away. It stood over and against everything they held dear: private ownership, acquiring wealth, racial separation, and it would not go away.

Millard and Linda came for two hours and stayed for a month. After that visit, they put their marriage back together, gave away most of their wealth, and came up with the idea of “Habitat for Humanity.” Today, Habitat builds houses alongside people in need all around the world. From a small seed, a planned two-hour visit, a ministry of the kingdom grew. A tiny little seed, starting with a few houses in rural Georgia, flourished and grew and grew and grew, until it was everywhere, and it couldn’t be stopped.”

We don’t know how the tiniest of seeds becomes the greatest of all shrubs. In the same way, we never know how or when the still speaking GOD will use any of us or how God will use this church to bring about the Kingdom of God, whatever that may be. We’re called to observe whatever is our mustard seed and see where that crazy plant growing all over the place takes us. We don’t know where it is going to take us, but we know we aren’t going to be standing still! It just may take us to the Kingdom of God. The One who plants us, the One who calls us to grow like crazy, the One who makes all things new, has some big plans in mind for us! Amen and Amen

Mysteries of our Faith

2009-06-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for Trinity Sunday, 6-7-09
Scripture: John 3:1-17

There was an early father of our Christian faith named St.Augustine. This great theologian was so obsessed with the mystery of the Holy Trinity that he wrote 15 volumes on it. I want to tell you a story that some of you may have heard before. Augustine was at his wits' end, trying to understand this concept. One day he was walking on the sandy beach by the ocean. He was talking to himself about the Trinity: "One God, but three Persons. Three Persons--not three Gods but one God. What does it mean? How can it be explained? How can my mind take it in?" And so he was torturing his mind when he saw a young boy on the beach. He approached the boy to see what he was doing. The child had dug a small hole in the sand. With his hands the boy was carrying water from the ocean and was dumping it into the little hole. St. Augustine asked, "What are you doing, my child?" The child replied, "I want to put all of the water of the ocean into this hole." Once more St. Augustine asked, "But is it possible for all of the water of this great ocean to be contained in this little hole?" And the child asked him in return, "If the water of the ocean cannot be contained in this little hole, then how can the immensity of God be contained in your small head?" With that the child was gone.

If you were listening to the Children’s Story, you may be ahead of Augustine and have somewhat of an understanding of the Trinity. Let me say that the Trinity is not a concept that you will find in the Bible. It was in the 10th century that the church established this doctrine. The early Christians discovered that they simply could not speak of God without speaking of the three ways in which God had been revealed to them. The most familiar phrase is Father Son, and Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit although here are some others: Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer; Abba, Servant, Paraclete. An Indian, Raimundo Panikkar, keeping in mind the threefold experience at the heart of Hindu as well as Christian faith formulates it this way: Source, being, and return to being, which relates to God is above all, through all, and in all.i One that I like a lot is the Lover, the Beloved, and the Love. I do see God as a relational, dynamic, tri-personal mystery of love, a community of sorts. Those of you who have listened to my sermons for awhile know how important community is to me. So it’s not surprising that I would see in the Trinity this one God in a relationship mode with a Mother/Father, Creator, Christ our Savior and teacher, and the Holy Spirit our guide, relating to each other in holy community—a dynamic, three way love.

I like to use the metaphor of a dance, borrowed from Barbara Brown Zikmund. This dance is not rock and roll or hip-hop, where each person does his or her own moves, or ballroom dancing where two partners dance together. The dance I’m thinking of is more like the circle dance with each person of the Trinity joining hands together in a dance that has no beginning and no end, a dance where both the dance itself and each of the partners is eternal. No partner is greater than the other. Just like the metaphor of the human body for the Church, each partner has it’s own specific role as it moves in rhythm showing joy and love. This community of the Trinity is not static but ever moving, and it is moving right here today in this church and in each of our own beings.

Now what does any of this have to do with the Gospel reading of being born again? First of all, both the Trinity and being born again are great mysteries in our faith. In this passage we have Nicodemus going to pay a visit to Jesus. Nicodemus was a religious man of some note; in fact the scripture called him “the teacher”, not “a teacher”, pointing to his religious pre-eminence. Yet for all his pre-eminence, Nicodemus was missing something. There was an emptiness there, something was not quite right with him. He went by night to visit Jesus as it would not have been proper for such a man to be seen as interested in Jesus. Nicodemus expresses confusion, not unlike our own when we come upon something that does not fit with our preconceived notions of who God is. Who among us would not have questioned Jesus saying we had to be born again—at our age? The word Jesus speaks is that Nicodemus must be born "anothen"—a Greek word that can mean either "from above" or "anew." Maybe we should consider both words-- both a time of birth ("anew") and the place from which the new birth will come ("from above").ii Here we have a birth, generated by the Spirit, a transformation initiated by God and being proclaimed by Jesus. How’s that for an example of the Trinity? I wonder if some of us, whether baptized or not, could be waiting in these days after Pentecost for the coming of Spirit who will recreate us from above? Is it possible that we all may need to be born again in order to have our minds open to the newness of the Still Speaking God that never stops creating and surprising us. In these past five years have you been open to new things happening in this church—maybe a new way to consider race, refugees, women in prison, gay relationships, people from other countries and other faiths? Both individually and as a congregation, I believe the Spirit has been moving among us, giving us new birth.

Barbara Brown Zikmund says “When we worship a triune God we celebrate the love which flows in God’s eternal dance of togetherness, and which we know through Jesus Christ as Lord of the dance.”iii She further points out that in a Trinity where God is no longer seen as a solitary we can see a vision of a community where we are in mutual relationships, working together with shared responsibilities for justice and care.

As we prepare ourselves to celebrate Communion I invite all of you to come join in the dance. You and I, your families, your friends are all invited to come join the dance of unending joy. The Trinity circle breaks open and the Christ, the Spirit, and the heavenly Parent are still holding hands as they invite us to join in, to create an ever larger community as we become their partners in gathering up all of life to keep dancing the radical dance of justice and love. Please come and join in the dance. Amen.iv

i From Trinity and the Religious Experience of Mankind, used in Elizabeth A. Johnson’s She Who Is (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2001) 210.
ii New Proclamation B 2009, referenced in SAMUEL at the UCC sermon site.
iii “Trinity and Women’s Experience”, The Christian Century, April 15, 1987, pp.354-356.
iv Parts of today’s sermon were taken from previous Trinity sermons I have preached.

Up, Up and Away

2009-05-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Ascension Day Sermon for May 24, 2009
Scripture: Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:44-53

This is the 7th and last Sunday in Easter for 2009. I had a choice of preaching on the scriptures for this Sunday or focusing on the Ascension of Jesus. This is my 6th Easter season and I have never preached on Ascension. I looked at the lectionary/sermon site of the national UCC and the only thing there are the scripture references—no sermon seeds, no stories to use, no references to articles. I then turned to another favorite site—the Center for Progressive Christianity--again no references or articles. What should I do? There are plenty of sermons from fundamentalists and evangelical churches on this topic but I doubted that these would be very helpful to me and they were not. Being only a month away from my wonderful, energizing Sabbatical, I decided to take on the challenge of sharing with you some of my thoughts about the Ascension in ways that make sense for me in the hopes that these words might be helpful in your own thinking.

Ascension Day comes 40 days after Easter. Luke, the author both of the Gospel Luke and of the Acts of the Apostles sets the scene in Bethany. He reminds the reader that after Jesus’ resurrection on the 3rd day, Jesus made many appearances to his disciples in the next 40 days. He spoke to them about the kingdom, he told them to remain in Jerusalem, waiting for the promise of God. He told them that just as John had baptized with water, they would soon be baptizing with the Holy Spirit. So when he had gathered them together in Bethany, the disciples asked if this were the time when the kingdom would be restored in Israel. Jesus responds that the timing is none of their business; it’s God’s business. He goes on to tell them that when the Holy Spirit comes to them, they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Next, while the disciples watched, Jesus, their beloved Lord, was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. Wow! What a shocker! Imagine us standing along side these men, these eleven disciples that had loved Jesus so much that they had left everything to follow him! I can imagine all or us would be standing there looking up with our mouths opened with amazed looks on our faces. Where is he? What happened? Can anyone see him? As we continue to stare with strange expressions on our faces and hearts pounding, two men in white robes (angels?) stood before us saying, “Why do you just stand there looking up at an empty sky? Snap out of it before you get a crick in your neck.1 There’s work to be done so get started.” (Now there was another part of the men’s speech: “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” I’m not about to try to explain what all that means. It may be part of the reason progressive Christians seldom preach on the Ascension. As you know I am not one that takes the Bible literally even though I believe its truths are much greater than the specific words used by scribes and translators who labored and still labor to bring us as accurate a picture as possible of something that was written down at least 25 years (in the case of Luke) after it happened.2 However, I believe it’s important not to miss the deep truths in the ascension scriptures, by getting hung up on trying to use scientific 21st century logic. For me the important part of the ascension is the spiritual part. If Jesus is no longer walking beside us here on the earth, then the Good News is that Jesus is now available to dwell within us as part of the Godhead, the Trinity. Yes he is still with us and can give us the strength to be his witnesses wherever we are or wherever we are being called.

Why do we tell this story? Pastor Wes Morgan says “the purpose of telling the story is twofold. First, to share that Jesus --our Savior -- did not simply fade away like some breath on the wind after the resurrection. Rather he is still in the world only now in the new body- a body called the church, the church that shares his mission of love and care. Second, telling the story reminds us that His form -- his substance-- his identity—are instead made one with the Father's -- and yet somehow remains unique …” I think that fits quite well with my sermon title of “Up, Up and Away Yet Still Here.”

It’s hard to have someone you love and maybe even depend on to leave you—even under the best of circumstances. We all know the pain—if not first hand—of losing loved ones by death or divorce. How many of you have said goodbye to a son or daughter as they left for college? I can remember how hard my mother cried when she and Dad drove me to the University of Maine, about 150 miles from home, probably 4 or 5 hours on the little country roads back in the 50’s. I also remember my mother’s story of how she wanted to go away to school, got accepted and was so homesick for her mother that she had to come back home, never to return. Now what does all this have to do with Ascension. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give our children is to let them go, in spite of the pain. Jesus had to leave his disciples. He had taught them well; he had loved them well; he had assured them that he would be close by, that the Holy Spirit would be their Advocate, an Advocate or Counselor that could lead them, inspire them, teach them. The Christ part of Jesus, that part that is divine, would be there for them and for us always. With the physical leadership of Jesus no longer there, the disciples would have to do it on their own—be witnesses in the world. So the important thing about the Ascension, was not Jesus’ physical absence but his spiritual nearness.

When Jesus was living amongst his followers, there were certain places where he could be found. His first sermon as recorded in Luke 4 was the Isaiah passage that says Jesus was sent to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free. He wasn’t found in fancy palaces or with the leaders of his day; he was found amongst the oppressed, those whose lives cried out for justice and peace. And now there is no one but us to do the work that Jesus began. I love the way Annie Dillard writes about this in her book, Holy the Firm: We can stand looking up into heaven or we can believe the promise of Jesus. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses.” …

Ascension Day is not a call to look up. It is to trust that Christ’s promise is down and in and around us. We are not alone—you and I who dance and climb, who run and get knocked down, we who lie on the grass or sit watching the late night news. We are not alone. The Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus surprises us at every turn, saying, “Guess who?” Guess who is being given the power by the Holy Spirit to be Christ’s witnesses in Deering, Hillsboro, Weare, and to places far away. Guess who is being called to teach Sunday School, to read scripture, to organize potlucks, to help at the Food Pantry, to build homes for those still homeless from Hurricane Katrina? Guess who is being called to use their talents of quilting, sewing, crafts, canning and so forth to prepare for the Church/Guild Fair? Guess who is needed to use their financial expertise and their building and gardening expertise to make of this church a viable, safe and attractive building? Maybe someone here will go back to school to become a minister. And I haven’t even begun talking about the gifts we have in this church in leadership, music, outreach, and hospitality!

We are not a perfect church, nor are we perfect people. The thing we have going for us is that power of the Holy Spirit if we only let the Spirit fill us and lead us. If we strongly believe in this power Jesus was talking about, we cannot be held back. We don’t have to wait for more members, more money—all we have to do is let that power of the Spirit bring us hope, bring us vision, and do what God is calling us to do. Sure we may get discouraged some times but if we remember to call on the risen Jesus that is as close as our hearts, we can overcome. God’s grace and love can bring us individually and as a church to new beginnings and maybe even new destinations.

Oh how they tried to keep Jesus down: the authorities, the Pharisees, even at times his family and his disciples. They used trickery, betrayal, violence, even death itself. But no one can keep Jesus down. He rose right off that cross and literally or symbolically—however you believe--resurrected and ascended. There are so many things that try to keep us down: poverty, illness, anger, uncertainty, lack of education, lack of friends and community. But I’m here to tell you that with the power that Jesus promised, no one can keep us down, not even ourselves. God’s love lifts us up, and the teachings of Jesus point us in directions that may surprise us. Jesus is with us until the end of time. There is nothing that will separate us from that love of Christ. I thank God that Jesus is the head of our church and has made us partners with him. I pray that we can all let that Holy Spirit that descends on Pentecost take us to new heights of giving and receiving blessings as we reach out as witnesses to Jesus. Amen

1Anna Murdock from Midrash online
2 This is based on the estimate that Jesus was 33 years old when crucified and the book of Luke was written between 59 and 62 CE.

The Eunuch and the Foreigner

2009-05-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Sermon for May 10, 2009 Easter 4B
Isaiah 56:3-8, Acts 8:26-40, 1 John 4 7-17

What long scripture readings today! Some of you may be thinking we’ll be here till noon time with Communion and all. It was quite common in India for the service to go a couple of hours. Don’t worry—I’ll make the sermon short and to the point.

The book of Acts shows how the disciples follow Jesus’ instructions 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,” (MT. 28:19-20). By the time we meet Philip in Chapter 8, persecution has forced the early Christian community to leave the safe boundaries of the city of Jerusalem. The conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch, one of the first non-Hebrews baptized as a Christian, falls between the conversion of the Samaritans by Philip earlier in this chapter and then Peter’s preaching to the Gentiles in Chapter 10.

Who is this man? A foreigner from Ethiopia, a black-skinned African, a eunuch, a high official of the queen, her finance minister—the Ben Bernanke of Ethiopia. He does not fit the usual early descriptions of Africans as “ignorant”, “brutish,” “idle,” or “thievish”. He was reading the Bible, probably in Greek. He was a court official with a high rank. One of my commentators mentioned that it was not accidental for Luke to identify him as Ethiopian as his baptism was important in fulfilling Jesus’ promise that his disciples would be his witnesses not only in Jerusalem but “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7).

Not only is this man an Ethiopian but he is also a eunuch, meaning he has been castrated. There are two kinds of eunuchs described in classical texts: those castrated from birth and those castrated after reaching physical manhood. Especially for those who are eunuchs from birth, their bodies took on feminine aspects, voices like a teenager, and bodies that were gangly or awkward. This man was probably middle aged due to his high court position.

He was being driven in a chariot and reading Isaiah as he went along on his way to worship in Jerusalem. As a eunuch he was an incomplete male and would have been excluded from any Jewish congregation because he could not have male heirs, yet he had a hunger for God. I wonder if he was thinking about himself as he read those words of Isaiah: “he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was denied justice and taken away, cut off from the land of the living” to paraphrase the scripture. And just as God does so many times, God intervened and had an angel direct Philip to go to exactly the place where he would encounter the eunuch and have the opportunity to help him understand the scripture. Philip jumped from the Isaiah passage, that many believe was predicting the Messiah’s coming, and went on to “evangelize”, to tell the good news of Jesus, the Christ. I wonder how far Philip read with him that day. I wonder if he read to the 56th chapter, the verses Betty read for us today. Here it says both the foreigner and the eunuchs who keep the Sabbath and hold fast to the covenant will be brought to God’s holy mountain and be made joyful in God’s house of prayer. Let me quote the last few lines of that passage: “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcast of Israel. I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.”

Whatever Philip said, the eunuch heard the call of the Lord. Almost immediately the eunuch saw water on the desert road and asked to be baptized. Philip baptized him and then we are told the Spirit snatched Philip away and the eunuch saw him no more.

I am here to tell you this morning that God is Still Speaking. Just as God spoke to Isaiah, God speaks to us today. Both the eunuch and the foreigner were excluded in the Old Testament times. And I ask you who is being excluded today? How many African Americans are welcomed into some of our churches? How many gays and lesbians feel comfortable in many of our places of worship? What about truck drivers with pony tails and tattoos? Who else is the “other” in our communities? What about those with physical or mental disabilities? Those who have little or no money? If any of these folks came to DCC, would they be welcomed? I certainly hope so. Its progress to be an Open and Affirming Church that says we accept and even desire to welcome and affirm GLBT and others into every aspect of our life together. The true test is how we actually live out that commitment. Inclusivity is at the very heart of who God is. If you read about the disciples’ journey as they went out to witness to Jesus and the Good News, you will see that over and over again they had to be poked and prodded by the Holy Spirit to go past their comfort zones. It’s no different with us. We all have those places where our beliefs are ahead of what we are comfortable with in real time. We all have those old ways of thinking and doing that are hard to change.

In the letter of first John we are told that God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. An example that I have used before is appropriate to repeat on this Mother’s Day: Imagine the healthiest love possible of a mother for her child and multiply it many times and you have the Love that is God. God loved us so much that God sent his only son into the world to show us how to live. Now it is up to us to open our hearts and minds to love all of God’s children no matter how much of a challenge it may be. The hymn that we are about to sing is about the wideness in God’s mercy. How wide is wide? It’s wider than our hearts have ever stretched. How broad is the love of God? It is broader than our minds have ever stretched. That same Holy Spirit that sent an angel to Philip telling him to appear to the Ethiopian eunuch is present here today. That Spirit is calling to you and to me, calling us to reach out to others, to show them the Love that is God, and to invite them to walk the Way with us. May God bless us all as we keep trying to manifest God’s love to our hurting world. Amen and Amen.

Torn Apart and Filled with Love

2009-01-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sermon for 1-11-2009
Scripture: Acts 19:1-7, Mark1:4-11

“No shepherds. No angels. No Magi. No star. No stable. Not a word about Mary and Joseph. Mark's story of Jesus begins at the river: "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan." There's no list of ancestors. None of the cosmic wonder that opens John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." Mark's word is far more ordinary and direct" "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan." Jesus entered the river with others to be washed in a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”1

We are so familiar with the first chapters of Matthew and Luke, filled with the Christmas stories. John’s Gospel is less familiar but we have heard the more metaphysical beginnings of Jesus as the Word and the light shining in the darkness. Mark gets right to Jesus’ baptism, filled with the drama of the heavens being torn apart and a Spirit descending on him like a dove. And then most amazing, the Word comes from God that Jesus is his son, the Beloved! It’s unclear as to whether or not this voice is a public or private voice. We don’t know if anyone else heard God’s voice or if it was heard only by Jesus. Did anyone else see the heavens torn apart or just Jesus? By the way, in Matthew and Luke it says the heavens are opened up, not torn apart. The word for torn apart in Mark comes from the Greek scizomevnou, meaning “to divide by use of force, split, divide, separate, tear apart…” the root for our word schizophrenic. It is not used again in Mark except at the time of Jesus’ death when he speaks of the veil of the Temple, being “torn in two, from top to bottom”2

For Mark’s Jesus, the world would never be the same again—the heavens would never be able to close up as tightly as before this happened. Barbara Lundblad in a sermon on this topic suggests that at this point Jesus begins to tear apart the pictures of whom the Messiah was suppose to be:

Tearing apart the social fabric that separated rich from poor.
Breaking
through hardness of heart to bring forth compassion.
Breaking through
rituals that had grown rigid or routine.
Tearing apart the chains that bound
some in the demon's power.
Tearing apart the notions of what it means to be
God's Beloved Son. 3

When Mark’s narrative continues, we are told that the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. Those of us who know the story know that Jesus will be there for 40 days, being tempted by Satan. So there’s no doubt about this baptism leading Jesus to a new place.

Have you ever had a time in your life when your whole world changed? For some of our more evangelical church family, they may tell you it was the time when they were born again. For some of you that were baptized as adults, it might have been the time when you decided to be baptized. For most of us there are many moments, small and large that have impact on our life, that are defining moments. Maybe baptism itself, especially for those of us baptized as infants, should be thought of as not a once for all event but an invitation to constant growth.

Often it’s when we find a torn place in our lives that we can go forth in a new way, do a new thing. Maybe it is in those torn places that we can hear Jesus calling us. I always remember how the Chinese symbol for crisis is made up of two symbols: danger and opportunity. What are these torn places? A loss through death or divorce, a loss of function such as seeing, hearing, walking, or the ability to be independent are significant ones. Also, a relocation, both voluntary or involuntary, maybe my experience in India will be a torn place of change for me. It’s a radical change of some sort in your life.

In our Gospel lesson today there is another significant aspect that allows Jesus (and us) to be able to break away from the old and go on with the new and that is, knowing that we are loved. God tells Jesus that he is the Beloved, one in whom God is well pleased. Some of us are fortunate enough to have family that let us know in no uncertain way that we are loved. Others are not so fortunate. Henri Nouwen reminds us that in baptism God says, “All I want to say to you is: You are the beloved, and all I hope is that you can hear these words with all the tenderness and force that love can hold. My only desire is to make these words reverberate in every corner of your being… You are the beloved.” Whatever your situation, there is God’s love to inspire you, to comfort you, to give you confidence. I believe that one of the greatest duties of the church is to let the people know about God’s love. Can you imagine yourself as beloved? Can you imagine every woman, man, and child sitting here today as God’s beloved? What about your neighbors, those you work with, those you go to school with? If we each were to think about ourselves and each other as God’s beloved, do you think it would make a difference in our actions, how we treat each other, how we make laws and policies in our governments?

God comes to us through torn apart heavens and troubling waters. I love the Negro Spiritual, “Wade in the Water”, which is said to be a coded song telling the Negro slaves ways to escape to their freedom, covering their tracks and scent by entering the water. I wonder what it means for God to be troubling the waters in our life. Is troubled water a necessary part of our journey to be free?

Baptism is one of only two sacraments in the United Church of Christ. A sacrament means an outward and visible sign of an inward, spiritual grace given by God. When a baptism is performed, we are exhorted to remember our own baptism. Remembering helps us know who and whose we are; it reminds us that we are God’s beloved; it can help us find an equilibrium that is necessary when our heaven is torn apart or when God is “troublin’ the waters”. At this time I am going to walk up and down the aisles sprinkling you with water as a ritual for you to remember your own baptism, remember how you are God’s beloved sons and daughters. It’s also a way that I want to bless you as I leave for my Sabbatical to India. As the water is sprayed, please know that you are not only God’s beloved but that each of you is also very special to me. No matter where you are or where I am, may the water remind us of the Holy Spirit and of that special connection that we have. Amen!

1 Barbara Lundblad, “Torn apart Forever”, online sermon.
2 Mark 15:38-9)
3 Op.cit

A Light for All People

2009-01-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

Epiphany Sunday, January 4, 2009
Scripture: Isaiah 60: 1-6 and Matthew 2: 2-12

Oh, star of wonder, star of night; guide us to thy perfect light.

Epiphany—a revelation, a manifestation of Divine Presence right in the midst of ordinary life! In the church year, Epiphany is twelve days after Christmas, January 6. Epiphany celebrates the visit to Jesus of the wise men from the East, often called the three kings or the Magi. The Greek word for the Magi really has nothing to do with kings “but designates a priestly class of Persian or Babylonian experts in the occult, such as astrology and the interpretation of dreams.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 7, p. 140)

In Isaiah we have a prediction of camels from the East bringing gold and frankincense and praising the Lord. That scripture opens with a resounding call, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” The next verse describes thick darkness covering the earth and all its peoples, but then the light of the Lord shines forth, bringing all nations to the brightness of dawn. Epiphany is also used as a word referring to a sudden brightness that lights up our mind, gives us insights we never had before. It is definitely a gift. It may be something that comes to an individual or to whole community. It is like the bright light shining in the darkness. Light attracts, brings people together.

In the world of Isaiah there had been a number of prophecies, known to religious and pagans alike, about the possibility of a promised King. There was a belief that a special star would be the sign of the birth of this special person. Since the wise men were astrologers, it would be common for them to study the sky for signs of extraordinary events.

Today let’s look at the journey of the wise men to see what we can learn from it that might apply to us spreading the light in our world today. In the Gospel of Matthew we are given a time and place for this story. It was in Bethlehem of Judea in the time of King Herod, this King Herod ruled from 37-4 BCE. Now Herod was considered the King of the Jews so when he heard that another “King” had been born. He was indeed threatened. And the inquirers were not local folks but were from far away, from the East. They would be considered pagans or Gentiles as opposed to Jews, yet here they were, having come a very long distance to pay homage, to worship this King of the Jews. The fact that these wise men were from another nation and another religion, establishes in my mind how Jesus was for all people, all nations, all races, and so forth right from the very beginning. To reinforce that belief, we have the story in Luke where it is the Jewish shepherds in the fields around Bethlehem to whom the angels appear. The angels say, I am bringing you good news of great joy for ALL the people; to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (2:10-11) These shepherds are as poor as the Magi are rich. Jesus is for all, rich or poor. Through God’s grace in the birth of Jesus, the dividing wall was broken down to create one new human family, all loved by God.

By now most of you know that I believe that God wants us all to be part of a loving, inclusive community. Most of us Christians have been taught that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Light—so far so good. For me, Jesus is definitely the way, the truth, and the light; however, I do not interpret the Bible literally as do our Fundamentalist and Evangelical brothers and sisters, who believe that only those that accept Jesus as their personal Savior will be saved and have eternal life as part of God’s family. Some of you have heard me express my affinity to Progressive Christianity, which talks about Jesus being the “Gate” to the realm of God for us as Christians, yet also recognizing the faithfulness of others who may use different names for the gateway to God’s realm. I believe it’s crucial that in our enthusiasm for including all people in God’s family and in our common life that we do not impose on them the necessity of becoming like us. Saying all of this brings me back to my sermon title of Jesus being the light for all people. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, Asian or African, Middle Eastern or American, the teachings and promises of Jesus are available to all. I further believe that it’s up to us to preach the gospel of Jesus at all times to all peoples and when necessary, to use words.

Looking at another meaning, Epiphany means to behold the world or one’s life in a new way. For me learning about the teachings of Progressive Christianity was an epiphany. It helped me blend my Christian faith with my worldview of inclusiveness. I have recently been reading a lot of the Hindu beliefs and rejoice when I learn that the Hindu religion teaches both tolerance and universal acceptance, teaching that all religions are equally worthy of respect. One of the authors I was reading says he is proud that he can honor the sanctity of other faiths without feeling he is betraying his own.1

Throughout this Advent and Christmas season, I have preached a lot about the suffering in the world; we had our own share of suffering in NH with those many hours without power, without light. Star of wonder, Star of Night,….Guide us to your perfect light. I think we appreciate light more than ever now. In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” If we talk about the hope, joy, peace, and love of Christmas, and sing these joyous, blissful songs without seeing and helping with the terrible suffering and anguish in the world around us, the Christmas sentiments will indeed be only “pious platitudes” (Nettleson). We celebrate Christmas because we do live in a suffering world; and the One has come to bring us light, to give us life. Emmanuelle, God with us. My prayer for you and for me is that in this week and forward, we let Jesus’ light shine in us as we go into the world. We, too, can be the light in the world. Epiphany is about sending out those who have learned the good news to share it with all nations. Go Tell It On the Mountain that Jesus Christ is born. May we have the courage and the love to both recognize and follow where God calls, even if at times these places terrify and horrify us. May God bless us and help us. Amen

1Shashi Tharoor, The Elephant, the tiger, and the cell phone,2007.

Christmas Message (2008)

2008-12-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2008
References: Rev. Ed Bacon, Christmas Eve 2006 and Sr. Joan Chittester

The wonderful Christmas stories are being read in many churches this night. The first two chapters of Matthew and Luke are the basis of our Christmas narrative. Each of these gospels presents a very different story. In Matthew, Joseph is the main character. Mary does not speak nor does she receive any revelation. There is no story of the birth itself, no stable, no manger, no angels or shepherds, all of these are in Luke. Tonight, however, I want to talk with you not about these details but about the meaning that lies beneath the stories. Beneath the story of the baby born in Bethlehem, beneath the story of the shepherds, the magi, the angels, the virgin mother, the no-room-in-the-inn—beneath all of these wondrous stories is this deep, deep life truth which tells us that the journey from fear and anxiety to joy and peace always goes through compassion and generosity for others. For the angels this night say that this news is to be good news for all people not just for me and mine, but for our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe, in South America, in homes here in America where parents have lost their jobs recently or have been without income for a long time. The baby born in Bethlehem is not only about peace in my heart and peace in my life. The Christmas story is about peace for all people—the people in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan, (add other war zones) and in Jerusalem.

Odetta, the great folk singer that recently died, sang:

There’s fighting in the city where baby Jesus grew.
All in all the Prince of Peace we send a prayer to you.
Walking through Jerusalem I see the signs of war
Calling on the Prince of Peace to walk the streets once more.
Walking in Jerusalem just like the prince of Peace.
Praying for Jerusalem. May all the fighting cease.
O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem
Sweet little baby born in a stable
O Jerus’lem in the morning.

My friends, the message of Christmas is that you and I are given the vision of God, the one God who always in every age wants to become embodied anew—not in the daylight but in the deepest darkness of night. God wants to be born in you and me tonight—in the people who have heard the message of the angels that the one God is not just for our tribe but for everyone. We are the ones who have heard the angels say, “Fear not. Receive this love which will not only make you loving and lovely but will, if you say yes to it, work through everything you do in your life to make the whole world loving and lovely as well.” (Fr. Bacon)

There’s something very different about Christmas this year because of the economic recession. Suddenly, from one end of society to another, people are faced with an unusual vulnerability. For some, the fall down the economic ladder has been severe, for others, less dramatic. With less money available many people have had to find a new way to do Christmas, one that doesn’t depend on things. Maybe this Christmas will be one in which we learn again to focus on love rather than things. As Sister Joan Chittester says, “The parties will be smaller – and more intimate. The gifts will be more useful – and less disposable….In fact, it may actually become a “feast” again, rather than simply a shopper’s holiday.”

So let’s celebrate the feast where the central ingredient is the message that God will always seek human beings to be the bearers of the divine power, God’s power, that makes possible compassionate, inclusive, justice-seeking, peacemaking, forgiving, healing and reconciling love. The message is about a way to bring love and peace not just to me, not just to you, not just to our kind, not just to our religion, but to bring peace to all people, all nations, and the entire world. When you and I love like that, Christmas comes again not just for our families, not just for our hearts, not just for our church, not just for our religion but for the whole world.
So as we participate in this holy celebration, may your Christmas be—as Sister Joan says—“made merry by the gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, of generosity and serenity and spirit, that this year will surely bring.” May joy and peace go with you tonight and continue throughout the year to come. Merry Christmas!

Blessings and Joy

2008-12-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sermon for Advent 3B, 12-14-08
Scripture: Psalm 126, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, Luke 1:45-56

I hope all of you will be with us tonight at Vespers when we will be reading many of the Advent and Christmas scriptures. Rather than repeating those scripture, this morning I have chosen to go with an alternate Gospel lesson, the Magnificat or Mary’s Song. I love this scripture. It comes after Mary has gone to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Have you ever thought about how long it must have taken Mary to walk the 85 miles from her home in Nazareth to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s place in Judea near Jerusalem? (And then back again.) Elizabeth is overjoyed at seeing Mary and she shouts out, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” She continues to bless her as her baby jumped in her womb. “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (In Luke 1: 41-45)

No wonder Mary stayed for three months with Elizabeth. Remember she is a pregnant teenager, between ages 12 and 14 most sources say, without a husband. Can you imagine what Mary might have been concerned about in terms of a scandal with her being an unwed mother? Who would ever believe her that she had never been with a man? That God was the Father of her baby? Her humility and faithfulness made her assent when the angel asked her to carry the son of God. She responded,, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (1:38a) All good and well, but what will her parents say? How will Joseph, her fiancé, respond? Will he reject her? In the gospel of Luke, Joseph is only mentioned in the beginning, Gabriel comes “to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.” And as she arrives at Zechariah’s house, Elizabeth begins joyously blessing her. What a relief! We are told that Mary stays with Elizabeth three months and then returns home. I believe she stays because she needs her older cousins’ reassurance and affirmation. We all need someone who affirms us in difficult times. Other than Elizabeth, at this point, Mary only has the memory of an angel’s visit.
The next voice in Luke is Mary’s proclaiming what has been called one of the most revolutionary speeches in the entire Bible, also one filled with great joy. She starts off with saying that her soul magnifies the Lord and her Spirit rejoices in God because God has chosen her in spite of her heretofore lowly position in life and from then on generations now and to come will call her blessed.

She than expands this thought to say that:

You have put down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of the lowest status.
You have filled the hungry with good things,
but the rich you have sent away empty

Mary’s song is good news for the homeless on the streets of our nation’s Capitol, the hungry and oppressed in Zimbabwe; the refugees from Congo and Sudan; for the street children in Calcutta, for the AIDS orphans in Africa, to just name a few of our suffering poor. These words would be painful and shocking for those who wield power, the leaders of the Empire then and now, who live affluent lives while either perpetuating, or permitting, grave injustices to happen to vulnerable people.

The words can be so mesmerizing until we don’t really listen to how radical they are. The words turn things upside down. Instead of God being impressed with money, power, status, the poor and the vulnerable are lifted up. During this season of love personified, I have continued to preach about having compassion and doing unto others as Jesus has commanded us. I hope that our hearts have been turned upside down also and that we will not be focusing so much on material things for our friends and relatives that already have so much, but instead focus on meeting all with kindness and compassion and sharing with others who are in need. The Good News of Christmas is news that must be shared, celebrated, and then lived!

In today’s Psalm we are told how the people rejoiced as God restored their fortunes. I love the words, “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy. (126:3-6) This reversal of fortune is raised up in the Magnificat. We are also told in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, to rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. The joy that Jesus talked about in his final days was this joy that comes from deep inside. It’s joy that takes into account all the sufferings and cruelty of the world and still can say Yes to God, yes to being partners in bringing light to the dark places. It’s a reminder of triumph, that kind of triumph that Jesus talked about in John 16:33 …in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But be of good cheer; I have conquered or overcome the world.” This promise of Jesus always makes me think of our sisters and brothers in Zimbabwe, those that pray and shout for joy despite how bad things are all around them. That joy and faithfulness I believe is one of the greatest things we can learn from our Ukama partnership.

For me blessings and joy go together. When I feel joy I feel blessed and I want to bless others, even God. One of my favourite blessings is in Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name. Yes, it is good for us to give blessings to God as well as letting God bless us. Elizabeth, who had waited so long for a child, was already filled by joy at her own pregnancy when Mary appeared at her door. No wonder she was so quick to bless Mary. Elizabeth seems to have been the only person that knew Mary was pregnant with the Messiah. She seems to have been the first person to publicly confirm what the angel told Mary. Luke says after the child leaps in Elizabeth’s womb that she was filled with the Holy Spirit. All of this was quite mind boggling to Elizabeth. She says, “and why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” It’s pretty amazing when we realize that God has come to us, that God has chosen us. When I was getting ready to do volunteer work and live in community in Washington, DC, one of my friends gave me a bookmark with a quotation from John 15:16: “You did not choose me but I chose you.” I saw that quote almost daily right up to the point of deciding to go to seminary and become an ordained minister. I often would marvel about being chosen. If any of you were like me, always picked last for team sports, you know how wonderful it feels when you are chosen, It was wonderful and amazing to me that Jesus would choose me to become a minister..

It is equally amazing to feel that you have been blessed. There’s a wonderful blessing benediction that goes like this: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” One of the favorite expressions I often heard from my mother was “Bless your heart, Barbie. I’m so glad to see you.” It meant a lot to me, so much that on the first anniversary of my mother’s death, I sat at her grave and wrote a poem with that title. You may have noticed that I quite often sign my emails and letters with “Blessings” or “Bless you”. It’s not an unconscious, random sign-off. I really want to affirm you and let you know that you are special to God and to me. Just as God came to Mary, God comes to ordinary people to let them know they are special. God comes to us in those people that bless you in your life, whether or not the word blessing is used. I also believe that God comes through us when we bless each other. It is in God’s coming to us through Jesus, the Christ child, that we are blessed and filled with joy in this wonderful season of Love. Thanks be to God for coming and living amongst us. Amen.

Prepare Ye the Way: for Peace

2008-12-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sermon for Advent 2B, 2008
Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85, Mark 1:1-8

Welcome to the second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Peace. In a time when there is so much violence and conflict: wars, abuse, terrorist attacks and so forth, the world is certainly a place in need of Peace. Isaiah foretold a time when there would be such a peace—that a child would lead all natural enemies such as the wolf and the lamb, the calf and the lion to lie down together. The prophet in Isaiah 2 says that God shall judge the nations and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore (Isa 2:4) and in our reading today he is talking about comforting his people and then we hear, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,” (Isa. 40:3), the same refrain that opens the Gospel of Mark. Both Isaiah and Mark continue with “prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Mark:1:3 and Isa 40:3.) Mark goes on then to introduce John the Baptist as the person who will prepare the way for the Christ.

Have you ever seen a Christmas card with a picture of John the Baptist? His image just doesn’t sell in the sentimental world of angel choirs, Christmas cookies, loving families, shepherds in the field and wise men bearing gifts. Instead we have an odd looking fellow who has been living in solitude in the wilderness of Judea. He fed on honey and wild locust and dressed in garments of camel hair with a leather belt around his waist. He studied the Scriptures, and we are told he especially was drawn to the prophetic ministry of Elijah, after whom he modeled his own ministry. Some of the other gospels, particularly Luke, goes into much more detail on his preaching. What is consistent is John’s announcing that Jesus is coming: “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (1:7-8) As I read to you this morning, that’s about all that Mark says about John, other than he baptized Jesus in the Jordan.

Each Sunday of Advent we prepare a little more for that wonderful birth of Jesus. Even though Jesus and John were cousins, born only three months apart, possibly playing together as children, in their adulthood it is John that prepares the way for Jesus. Each of us is important in preparing the way for Jesus to be born into our hearts and into the world. Last week we focused on the importance of hope, coming out of the darkness to prepare for the Christ child. This week I want to focus on Peace.

World peace seems pretty slim, then and now; according to one resource ‘in almost 3600 years of recorded history, the world has known only 292 years of peace (less than 8%). During this period there have been 14,351 wars, large and small, in which 3.64 billion people have been killed. There have also been in excess of 8000 peace treaties that were made and broken.1 Pretty gloomy isn’t it!

In spite of this history of the lack of peace, I will remain hopeful that we will move to more sustained periods of peace in the world. However, today I want us to look more towards inner peace, a peace that strengthens us from the inside-out—the kind of peace that we can feel even though we are struggling with both inside and outside problems. Maybe some of you are in a wilderness place where you feel lost, alone, without that comfort of Isaiah 40. Maybe you are completely overwhelmed. Yet I am here to proclaim that it’s still possible to be peaceful inside. The peace that Jesus brings is not the absence of problems or trouble. The peace that Jesus brings is a new way of looking at God and knowing God is always with us.

Let’s go back to John the Baptist. John calls us to repent, kind of an old fashioned word that we don’t use much today, but it means to STOP where we are, to turn around and examine where we have just been and consider if a change is in order. Repentance is not merely feeling sorry and giving things up. It is a complete turn around in one life. It is turning from something disastrous to something wonderful. One of my resources said it’s like turning from a dead end to an open highway, or like turning from a stagnant puddle to a bubbling spring. So I urge each of you to ask the Holy Spirit if there is anything in your life that is not pleasing to God. Is there anything that dishonors God, anything that has become more important to us than God? Is there anything we need to repent of, anything that God wants us to do that we are not doing? I think that John was asking us to turn away from everything Jesus spoke against, anything that creates barriers between human beings. We need to turn away from everything that oppresses others or ourselves. We need to turn away from anything that does not reflect justice, compassion or peace. Maybe before you go to bed tonight or if you are a morning person, get up early enough tomorrow to spend some quiet time listening and talking to God.

There’s actually been research done at Duke University on what can help us have peace of mind. I want to briefly share the eight things they came up with:

The absence of suspicion and resentment. Nursing a grudge was found to be a major factor in unhappiness.
Not living in the past. An unwholesome preoccupation with old mistakes and failures leads to depression.
Not wasting time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change. Cooperate with life, instead of trying to run away from it.
Forcing yourself to stay involved with the living world. Resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive during periods of emotional stress.
Refusing to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal. Accept the fact that nobody gets through life without some sorrow and misfortune.
Cultivating the old-fashioned virtues—love, humor, compassion and loyalty.
Not expecting too much of yourself. When there is too wide a gap between self-expectation and your ability to meet the goals you have set, feelings of inadequacy are inevitable.
Finding something bigger than yourself to believe in.

Believing in something bigger than ourselves is why most of us are here on Sunday morning. The Peace that comes through the birth of baby Jesus brings us a new way of looking at God, and gives us the assurance to know that God is with us always and all ways. The next step is for us to bring light into the world by the life we lead. My prayer is that we can all become the signs of hope and peace in the darkness that surrounds so many. May our lives reflect the Love that is God. God with us, Emmanuel. And peace on earth, goodwill to all. AMEN.

Dread and Hope: Where is God Now?

2008-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sermon for Advent 1B 2008
Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19, Mark:13: 24-27, 32-37

Welcome to Advent 2008, the beginning of the New Year for the church. Traditionally the first Sunday in Advent has the theme of hope. With the scriptures we just read, we certainly need some hope. Both Isaiah and the Psalm are filled with doom and gloom. These texts were written in the midst of and out of the suffering of the people Israel, God’s favored people in the Hebrew scriptures. These people were really upset and tired of their suffering. Now, let me read a few headlines from our World news in the last few days:
*THE bodies of five Israeli hostages seized by Islamic militants were recovered on Friday from a Jewish centre in Mumbai after it was stormed by Indian commandos. Almost 200 people died in the 2 day attack.”

*A WAL-MART employee in New York state's Long Island died on Friday when a throng of shoppers surged into the store and physically broke down the doors.
*MORE than 500 people have died in a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. *The water-borne disease has killed "more than 500" and affected "more than half a million" people.
Is it any wonder that people today as well as in Isaiah’s time ask, “Where is God? Why doesn’t God do something?” Or as the prophet Isaiah says, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down so that the mountains would quake at your presence.” (64:1). “You have hidden your face from us and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.” (64:7b) Isaiah continues to beg God to turn away from his anger for this people’s sin, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.” (vv.8-9) The Psalmist also asks God, “How long will you be angry with your people’s prayers (80:4) and closes with a request, “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts, let your face shine, that we may be saved. (v.19).

Have you heard anyone recently cry out, “Where are you God?” Maybe you have cried out yourself. Or have you ever prayed, but felt like you were only talking to yourself? Have you ever stood by the bed of a loved one who was suffering and prayed to God for help, but felt like God was far away? When we are suffering, or when someone close to us is suffering, we often wonder "Where is God?"

When I reflect on this question of where is God now, no writings touch me as deeply as that of Elie Wiesel in his book, Night, about his experiences in the Auschwitz death camp. He remembers one night when the guards were to hang several prisoners, including a young boy, before thousands of prisoner spectators. “The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lips. The gallows threw its shadow over him. This time the camp executioner refused to act as executioner. Three SS replaced him. The victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. "Long live Liberty!" cried the two adults. But the child was silent. "Where is God? Where is He?" someone behind me asked. At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over. Total silence throughout the camp. On the horizon, the sun was setting. …"

“Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. But the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive... For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. Behind me I heard the same man asking: "Where is God now?" And I hear a voice within me answer him: "Where is he? Here He is - He is hanging here on this gallows. . . "

I believe if we take a serious look at Jesus, our Lord who died hanging on a cross we begin to see that the answer to "Where is God?" is precisely this: God is with those who suffer. That's where God is. God is with our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe; God is with the family of the dead Walmart worker; God is with all those victims of the attacks in Mumbai. And it is in Jesus where we learn to look for God. I truly believe that we can find God in both joy and in suffering and there is no doubt in my mind that God is definitely right there in our suffering world. Besides the places I have already mentioned I’m sure that God is also in the Congo and the Sudan, where killings, kidnappings and rapes continue to cause a mass migration to refugee camps; he’s in those people that are suffering and dying with AIDS, especially in those countries whose government will not provide appropriate treatment; in the homes in our country where the economic situation is preventing parents from being able to pay the bills to say nothing of a commercial Christmas for their children; in the nursing homes where some elderly are alone and forgotten; in the mental hospitals and rehabilitation centers where the sick and addicted AND their families are struggling; on the streets of our cities where men, women, and children have no place to call home; in Iraq and Afghanistan where our men and women are engaged in war and with the citizens of those countries are being injured and killed. In our Gospel lesson Mark was addressing people that were afraid and desperate. The politics were such that their lives were threatened along with the life of Jesus. Then and now when people are scared and in chaotic situations, it is so easy, as Maren Tirabasi says in the Still Speaking Devotional, “to grasp for what Jesus calls false messiahs and false prophets.” She goes on to say, “Some of them have names--"perfect gift" or "vodka bottle," "too-busy-to-think," "credit card," "depression," "do-it-all," "photo-card family." Like Isaiah we want God to do something spectacular to prove that God is there and in control. Or, we grasp for something to try to make us feel better.

In our Judeo-Christian heritage so often we have looked for God in the wrong places. We have tended to look for God among the powerful and mighty instead of the poor and suffering. Maybe when we all learn where to find God and commit to being there with God, then that Christmas prophecy of Isaiah will come to fulfillment: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness--on them light has shined. For unto us a child is born; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:2,6)

Let us remember on this first Sunday of the Advent season that Advent begins in darkness. This morning we lit one candle on the Advent wreath to express our hope in the growing light of Christmas. But Advent begins by recognizing the darkness in our world, with the hope and expectation that there will be a new day. We have all been celebrating God’s coming in Jesus on Christmas for many years. But will he come again this year? Will he come to those who sit in darkness who yearn to see a great light? In Mark we are told to keep alert, to keep awake—“for you do not know when the time will come …in the evening or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn. So what I say to you I say to all keep awake.” (excerpts from13:35-37).

If we believe that the baby Jesus is God incarnate, the Christ, and that he is the light of the world, a light that has come to shine in the darkness and darkness cannot overcome it, how does that make a difference to those who sit in darkness now? I suggest that the whole story of Christmas teaches us to look in unexpected places—a baby born to two poor people in a barn in tiny Bethlehem. Who would have expected the Messiah, God’s own self to be born homeless, wrapped in a rag, and laid in a manger among the animals! So whenever we are wondering where God is, perhaps what we need to do is to remind ourselves of where to look. So in these next four weeks, instead of asking each other, “Are you ready for Christmas?, we need to start asking each other: “Are you ready for Christ?” Will you come with me to find him and join our light and love to his in helping to heal this hurting world? If so this will indeed be a Christmas to celebrate! Amen and Amen!

Talents, Faith and Fear

2008-11-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

1st Thessalonians 5:1-11, Mt. 25:14 to 30
Sermon for 11-23-08

This is our third parable from chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew. Today’s reading comes in the middle of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids, a story about being ready and the Sheep and the Goats where Jesus tells us to minister to the “least of these” and we will be ministering to him. I decided to save “the Talents” for Stewardship Consecration Sunday as I assumed it would be most appropriate for emphasizing the giving of our money and our gifts of time and talents.

Our letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, the oldest of all the NT scriptures sets the stage as he describes the Christians’ belief in that time that the day of the Lord, the end of the world, or some would say the second coming of Christ—which Paul believed would happen in his lifetime--would happen unannounced and everyone needed to be ready, be awake. None of us likes to be faced with the unknown. I think Paul was saying that whatever happens, our life and our world is in God’s hands and will unfold in God’s way. In the meantime we need to live in joy and confidence and encourage each other to not worry about timetables as whatever happens we will be alive in Christ.

Parables are tricky things, ideas and stories that are open to many different interpretations. Let me start off with telling you the traditional interpretation of this parable. The talents that are described are huge sums of money, multimillions of dollars, more than most of us today and certainly in that day would ever see. The Master, who is usually seen as God has given each of his slaves a certain amount of Talents and then goes away. The first two invest the talents and greatly increase the Master’s wealth; the third slave buries the Talent given to him. When the Master returns, each slave shows what he has done with the wealth given to him. The two that increased their wealth were greatly praised; the one who only buried his wealth was chastised severely and even thrown into the “outer darkness”. The moral of the story would be that God has given us all talents and money and we are to multiply those gifts and return them back to God. You can see why I thought this would be a good Stewardship scripture, motivating all of you to give back to God, so that God could say to you, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things so I will give you even more and you will come share the joy of your master!” Sounds good, doesn’t it? Hopefully such an example would encourage you all to give generously to the Church, God’s agent here on earth. However, because it didn’t ring true for me that God would be such a harsh master, I was eager to see other interpretations.

Now some more background on an alternate interpretation of this scripture: The economy in Jesus’ day was an economy of scarcity in which it was believed that there was a limited amount of wealth so if any one accumulated more that needed, he was seen as depriving others. Many today shrug this off with, “No big deal! The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that’s just the way it is.” In Jesus day there was another economy also, an Honor economy. Honor too was seen as a limited quantity so if you accumulated too much honor, too quickly you were seen as greedy and grasping. From this point of view the master in this parable would be seen as not honorable but greedy. His great wealth would have been considered as obtained dishonorably and very possibly illegally. The first two slaves followed in his footsteps and did not confront him with his greed. Now the third slave who was called lazy actually did what rabbis advocated—if you received money from someone for safekeeping, you were to bury it in a safe place to make sure you were able to return it to its owner. Other scholars have suggested that maybe this third slave might have been challenging the motives and methods of his Master by refusing to participate in an unfair society, showing faith in the face of fear? (I wonder if any of you feel guilty about participating in our commercial society through owning stocks in corporations which support things such as guns, wars, unhealthy practices or products such as cigarette companies to just name a couple of the many harmful things that corporations make money on. It’s been a concern of mine for a long time and why I encouraged that our church endowments be invested in socially responsible companies.)

A third interpretation of this parable notes that Jesus is talking to his beloved disciples very close to the time they are to be parted by Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus has already told them enough stories about how the kingdom of heaven is big enough for all and how much God loves them, more than any of them could have deserved. This minister1 feels Jesus is now telling this story to give them courage, that they have been entrusted with something of enormous value and to make the best of it. This interpretation sees the third slave as one so fearful of what lies ahead that he’s paralyzed; he does not live his life fully because of his fears.

We are living in anxious and fearful times right now; the radio, TV, and newspapers remind us everyday of how bad off our economy is. However, we do not have to give in to that fear like the third slave. It seems his fear of the master may have been what immobilized him from sharing his gifts or producing something of value with his talent. His fear kept him from taking a risk. Those of you that have heard me preach for a while, know that I believe in a God that is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Faith in this kind of God allows us to be fearless in sharing and using our gifts. All of you sitting out there this morning have different tools, some have more financial resources; others have more time; others have more talents such as singing, painting, teaching Sunday school, decorating, reading scripture, cooking, praying, sending cards or notes, cleaning up from coffee hours and potlucks. We all have been given something to use and to give to build God’s kingdom. It’s important to me that Deering Community Church consider stewardship as containing all of these different things.
This year our goal has been for everyone to join the circle of giving. We hope that you will pledge money if you can, even a small amount; however, today as we consecrate our stewardship offerings, I want each of you to take the paper that was in your bulletin and write down what non-financial gifts you will be willing to share with us in the year ahead. Even if you have already given us a pledge card about money, please take a little time and prayerfully consider what else you are willing to do for this church. As I’ve said so many times before, no one has to do everything and everyone can do something. I know there are some of you that do so many things, they won’t all fit on the page. You can keep on doing all you want to do but please limit yourself to no more than two or three things on the paper. Be sure to sign your name as it’s a three way promise between you, Deering Community Church and God. Put these in the collection plates along with your pledge cards if you have yet to turn those in. And then we will consecrate all that this community of faith has to give in a circle of hands after the offering has been received.. May whatever fear you have be tempered with faith that God is good and that God loves you. May we live fully and courageously as we join hands in building a part of God’s kingdom right here in Deering. Thank you and God bless you for all that you do. Amen

Unto the Least Of These

2008-11-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sermon for 11-16-2008
Scripture: Mt. 25:31-44

Sometimes our Gospel lesson today is called “The sheep and the goats” although I’m much more comfortable focusing on Jesus’ teachings about compassion and how whatever you do or don’t do to the least recognized persons you do or not do to him. The last part of this scripture, I believe, is the moral core of all of the teachings of Jesus; but what about the first part—the judgment part? It’s so hard for me to accept that at the end of our life God is going to judge us and separate us into the good sheep and the bad goats. Liberal minded Christian pastors are inclined to want to assure everyone that God’s love will always give them another chance and that in the end if they see the error in their ways they will be forgiven. Margaret Seymour and I have an ongoing discussion where she thinks my picture of God is much too sweet and light and not enough judgment. Even Don Johnson has been known to wonder if my assurance of forgiveness is one where I leave out true repentance. Some pastors, including me, often talk about the grace of God, meaning that we are forgiven and loved even when we don’t deserve it. One of our great Christian theologians, Bonhoeffer wrote about cheap grace—grace that is without discipleship, without the cross, without the incarnate Jesus. I’m always pleased to hear different points of view from this congregation; I really do welcome them.

So I’m not at all certain about the part of this scripture that condemns the goats, those that did not show compassion for the least of these and therefore will be cast into eternal punishment whereas the righteous ones will have eternal life. Maybe some of you wish that you had a pastor that knew all the answers, but then you probably wouldn’t be here if that was what you really wanted. There’s so much I don’t know; I struggle along with you to try to understand what God is saying, knowing that God is still speaking.

Yes, you have heard me talk more than once about Jesus saying that when you give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and so forth that you are giving it to him. Jesus claims to be in each of us, no matter how rich and famous or poor and marginalized. In this passage he is talking, however, about the “least of these”, those that are begging on the streets of Calcutta, those that are huddled together in refugee camps in Sudan, those brothers and sisters that do not have food to eat in Zimbabwe; the day workers from Mexico gathered on the corner, hoping to get some work; the men and women suffering and dying with AIDS; those that are in prison for all kinds of different crimes. These are the folks that most of the middle and upper class don’t think about; out of sight, out of mind. This part of the scripture is very clear to me. It’s not enough just to be compassionate to those around us; we are to go out of our way to show love in action to those that we might ignore because of their race, their social class, their mental illness, their addiction to drugs or alcohol to give you a few examples. Can you think of a specific person that you have seen or know about that might fit the example of “the least of these”; someone you try not to come face to face with? Is there anyone that can’t think of someone like that?

I want to tell you a story that I have seen on the internet several different times, most recently when Margaret sent me an email. Listen to see if it reminds you at all about what you may or may not have done. I’m going to tell the story in the first person as a boy who is a freshman in high school but it could be any of us in many different types of settings..

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.’

He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!’ He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.

Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous! Today was one of those days.

I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!' He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. ' Thanks,' he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends... I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.'

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.

'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.' I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and Dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.

Not until that moment did I realize the depth of what I had done. Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse. God puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.

What a great story! The boy says to look for God in others; Jesus would say, “When you show kindness to another; when you help out someone that is feeling down and out, you are doing that to me.” We sometimes think that religion is all about believing stuff and if we have the right beliefs we will be okay in the sight of God. Some of you may remember last week’s sermon about, “Are you Ready?” Our faith has a lot to do with being ready, being aware, opening our eyes and seeing what’s happening in our world and where we need to show that love Jesus taught us by both his life and his words. Jesus the Christ is all around us, in you and in me, in the homeless, the unemployed, the sick, the hustler, the alcoholic, in the person seated next to you. My prayer is that we can all open our eyes a bit wider and see those people that need a friend, those that are lonely and hurting. Remember that we are all God’s beloved. Would you turn to someone sitting close to you now and say, “You are God’s beloved” or “God loves you and so do I”. As we enter the holiday season, do whatever you can to share your blessings with others and remember to also be kind and loving to yourself. Amen and Amen

Are You Ready?

2008-11-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sermon for 11-9-2008
Scripture: Amos 5:18-24, Mt. 25:1-13

Today’s Gospel reading is about bridesmaids, weddings, and oil for the lamps. To someone who doesn’t know about the customs in the time and location of this scripture, it may seem confusing; for example, instead of generosity, selfishness seems to be praised. Yet this parable is not about generosity at all. It’s important to remember first of all the Christian community in Matthew’s time was still waiting for Jesus’ return, although there had already been a delay, a delay that may have caused questioning and some falling away from the faith.

In that day marriage customs were very different from our customs today. The time for the wedding ceremony was not specified. Some sources suggest that it was actually considered smart to trick the guests by arriving at an unexpected hour. Instead of the bridesmaids escorting the bride, in Jesus’ time they were to wait for the bridegroom and then, with their lamps brightly shining, escort him into the wedding ceremony.

Before getting to my main point about being ready, let me share with you the common allegorical understandings of things in this story: the bridesmaids are the church—waiting for the Second Coming of Christ; the bridegroom of course is Christ; the wedding feast is the great and joyous occasion when Christ comes for his Church; the delay of the bridegroom is the delay of the Second Coming whereas the bridegroom’s arrival in the dark of the night is the Second Coming itself; the closing of the door is the final judgment.1

So I ask you, Are you ready? If you are like me, you have been asked this question many times. Are you ready to go? Are you ready for the dinner guests? Are you ready for Christmas? Are you ready? You may be thinking, ready for what? Are you ready for the Lord?

I remember one of my mother’s friends, a deeply committed evangelical Christian, being so amazed that my mother and I did not believe in the Second Coming. She was a true believer that Jesus would actually return in the flesh and be in our midst as the man Jesus. Yet I say to you today that I do believe that Jesus Christ may come to you and to me at any moment. In fact I believe that the Christ, the incarnation of God, comes to us many times in our lifetime. Today’s Gospel reading ends with Jesus warning us, “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” If we are like the bridesmaids without enough oil for their lamps, we will not see him; we will not be able to receive him. I don’t know about you, but I know for myself, I want to be sure to be ready!

It’s so easy to get this parable wrong if we are not careful. We might see this story as a tribute to two core American values: individualism and meritocracy—getting what we get because we earned it. Here’s an example of the first value: individualism. The 5 wise bridesmaids say to the other five, “I’ve got my oil, so it’s up to you to get yours.” It’s that part of our culture that says we should look out for number one, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. In a broader sense it’s saying our nation is the only country that counts; do whatever makes us richer and forget about the other countries. The other value, meritocracy, says, “Everybody gets what they deserve. Because the wise bridesmaids worked hard to prepare, they are rewarded. The foolish bridesmaids, playing when they should have been working, got what they deserved.” This is a lot like saying those on welfare should not have a decent place to live or adequate medical coverage because they don’t work and therefore are lazy; if not they would have a job and could get what they need. Or we can extend this example to poor countries, saying they deserve their suffering because they didn’t make good decisions. Now all of this may sound familiar in our world; however, no way does it have anything to do with the Kingdom of God. This heavenly kingdom is a place of abundance; grace of God is about being blessed without deserving that blessing. As one article said, “the password for entrance into the kingdom has never been ‘try harder’.

So what can we do to be ready and how will we recognize the coming of Christ?

In our Old Testament reading today Amos tells us what not to do as we wait. He brings a complaint from God against the people’s worship. God complains that the people are just going through the motions and not thinking about what their worship means. God is unhappy with these indifferent people. Amos brings God’s words to the people, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies .... Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps" (Amos 5:21, 23). In fact most of the book of Amos tells us what God hates about the people’s hypocrisy and religious practices. So what should the people do? Amos quotes one of my very favorite scriptures to remind them and us of what is important, "But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (5:24) In my mind this goes so well with Micah, a prophet that came a little after Amos. A few weeks ago we studied his words from God, that wonderful passage that goes, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Jesus says keep awake meaning for us to keep focus, not to be distracted from what Jesus has taught us. In the very last part of this chapter of Matthew, Jesus continues with words that help us know what we should be doing as we wait. Being prepared is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and those in prison. I’ll be preaching on this, probably my favorite scripture, next week. In this passage we will be judged as to whether or not we used our resources to fill the food banks, or cleaned out our clothes closets to provide others with something to wear, or worked for affordable health care for all, or made sure every prisoner had someone show up on visitor's day, and to bring it right here, did we greet the first time guest at church and say, 'here, this is a good place to sit, right next to me.' 2

So I’ve shared some scripture which I believe helps us to know what to do as we are waiting for the Christ and/or the Kingdom of God. Now I ask one last question: How will you recognize Jesus, the Christ? I believe that human beings are God’s language. God speaks to all of us through all of us.3 It may be a child without parents; someone who is hungry; someone with mental illness, someone who is your neighbor; an elderly woman in Hillsboro House, a visitor to our church; a group of people who are being persecuted; someone in need of justice. God moments come in different forms, but they do have something in common. They require our attentiveness to notice them.

Personally, instead of waiting for a Second Coming I prefer to think about how Christ has already come and is just waiting for us to recognize him again and again, in the most unlikely places and in the most unlikely people. And maybe the Kingdom of Heaven will be for us a great banquet. The big difference is that I do not believe that God ever closes the door on us no matter how late we are in recognizing God. Of course those many years when we are not aware, not ready, life may be pretty difficult for us. And then suddenly or after a long, slow journey, we realize that we do see the Messiah; we are filled with God’s presence. And we can’t stop singing! Alleluia and Amen.

1 Bruce Epperly, online sermon.
2 Thom Shumann, shared in a Midrash email.
3 Lindy’s Nuggets on Textweek.com.

Loving and Giving

2008-10-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Stewardship Sermon, October 26, 2008
Scripture: 2 Cor. 8:

Today is the beginning of our Stewardship Campaign. Did you ever look at the word stewardship? There are several small words in that big word. First there’s “stew”—that’s what a congregation can get into after a stewardship sermon; Then there’s war, which is what can take place in a trustees’ budget discussion; ‘ship’ is the third syllable. Like the Titanic, if there’s a hole in church giving, it can sink pretty fast. Finally the word ‘hip’, a reminder that total stewardship is about the whole body!

I don’t know why but somehow Stewardship sermons make me want to tell a joke or two. In these days of economic worries, I want to tell you about a little boy who wanted one hundred dollars very much. He prayed and prayed for two weeks and nothing happened so he decided to write a letter to God requesting the one hundred dollars. When the post office received the letter addressed to “God, USA”, they didn’t know what to do with it, so sent it to the President at the White House. The president was so impressed he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a five dollar bill. “That should look like a large sum of money to one so young,” he said. And indeed the boy was delighted with the five dollars and immediately sat down to write a thank-you note to God, which read: “Dear God, thank you for sending me the money. However, I notice that for some reason you had it sent through Washington, DC and as usual the government deducted ninety-five percent!”

This year the Stewardship Committee chose generosity for the theme. Our poster quotes Proverbs in saying “the world of the generous gets larger and larger.” In our pledge letters we included a quote from today’s epistle from Paul to the Corinthians that points out the generosity of Jesus in becoming poor so we could become rich. Paul links this generosity with love, he says that he is testing the genuineness of the Corinthians’ love by encouraging them to continue their earlier example of giving to the offering according to their means, and even beyond their means. He finishes our portion of the letter by quoting Moses when he was instructing the Israelites about taking just enough manna for their daily needs, “The one who had much did not have too much and the one who had little did not have too little.”

We are all aware of the financial crises in our world at the moment. It’s bound to affect some of you sitting out there this morning. When you think about your financial gifts to the church, you do have to make sure you have enough for your own needs. I believe all we have comes from God in one way or another. 1 Chronicles 29:14 reads, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the splendor, and the majesty; for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.” So according to this, God is the owner of all we have, and we are the ower.

When I was in Washington, DC I sometimes attended the Church of the Savior, whose membership commitment says: "I commit myself, regardless of the expenditures of time, energy, and money to becoming an informed, mature Christian. I believe that God is the total owner of my life and resources. I give God the throne in relation to the material aspect of my life. God is the owner. I am the ower. Because God is a lavish giver I too shall be lavish and cheerful in my regular gifts."

So in keeping with this kind of theology of receiving, the first question is not "How much do I give to God of what is mine?" Rather it is "How much of God’s do I keep for myself?" At various times in our life, we may need to receive from the estate that has been entrusted to us almost 100%. At other times in our life, we may need to receive for ourselves from the estate 90% or less. But whatever stage of our life, one thing is clear: All that we have is a trust from God. We came into this world with nothing, and we leave this world with nothing. When thinking about giving back to God remember that our God is an extravagant God. God wants to lavish on us great abundance. In Luke 19:28-30 Jesus promises those who would abandon everything and follow him that they should receive "many times over" (RSV) with respect to their earthly needs and human friendships.

I heard a quote this week about loving and giving that I really like: "One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving." (repeat) Our Gospel lesson has Jesus reiterating what the Old Testament prophets said, "’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ I believe that you who are part of this church want to know and show God’s love. Most of you come because you want to be closer to God, and there is something in this body of Christ that helps you do that. This love of God naturally leads to the second greatest commandment which includes loving and caring for ourself and others.

In the 2 Corinthians passage we see Jesus as the perfect example of one who willingly became poor so that we may become rich. He set aside what could have been much glory and material riches to join himself to broken humanity. This kind of generosity is something that comes from God’s grace and not something we can say we want and immediately get. “Generosity is a quality which will develop in our lives only as we look to the Spirit of Christ to change us from within.”1 It comes as we allow Christ to work in our hearts and souls. The generosity I am talking about is not just giving money, but it is also giving of our time and talent. We don’t all have the same resources, but we all have something to give that this church needs. If any of you are doubtful about that come and talk to me. Certainly, if we are to survive in this society, much of the financial resources we possess have to be used for our own existence. Yet, once Jesus has touched our life, many of us will want to give generously to the church. This reminds me of a minister who wrote to a wealthy businessman, and requested a donation for the church. He promptly received a blunt refusal, which ended with these words: "As far as I can see, this Christian business is just one continuous GIVE, GIVE, GIVE!" The minister wrote the following reply: "I wish to thank you for the best definition of the Christian life that I have yet heard!"

Did you know that there are over 2000 verses in the Bible about how we treat the poor and oppressed ?2 You may remember that Jesus says you cannot serve both God and mammon or wealth. You cannot serve God and do whatever you please with your money. In that same discussion Jesus says "Don't be anxious, because everything you need will be given to you." Jesus talks a great deal about the kingdom of God -- and what he means by that is a life reorganized toward caring for each other. To do that, our abundance and the poverty of others need to be brought into a new balance. This process has nothing to do with being Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, socialists or capitalists. If we have the technology to go to the moon and create all of these small and powerful electronics, we can certainly find a way to share our abundance, showing our generosity to others, just as God shows generosity to us.

I’d like to repeat a story I have shared with you before. One day a clerk in a shoe store in Nova Scotia witnessed a little barefoot boy standing by the hot air register outside the bakery shop next door trying to keep warm. He wasn't sure if he 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 the boy. About five minutes later, she brought him into the store and bought him new shoes and a pair of heavy woolen socks. He then overheard the boy ask the lady a question. "Are you God's wife?" Her reply was, "No son, I'm just one of God’s children." The boy said "Well, I knew you must be some kin to him." And quickly thanked her and ran out the door.

I believe that the grace of generosity comes from knowing that we are one of God’s children. And just as important it comes because we know that not only are we the children of God, but that all other people, are also children of God, The abundant grace of generous giving arises out of knowing that we can make a difference to someone in need, out of knowing that we can help others, as God has helped us, and that we can be for others the healing hands of God, the giving hands of God, the comforting hands of God.

Generosity arises out of love for our brothers and sisters and out of our love for God, and out of God's love for us. Without financial support, this church could not carry on, providing all of us a place to worship, to receive spiritual nourishment, the availability of a professionally trained minister for pastoral care, including funerals and weddings. Without generous giving this church would not be able to reach out to care for the spiritual and practical needs of the larger community. The miracle is that when we give graciously and openly, with love, we also receive, both individually and as a church. What goes around, comes around and the world of the generous just keeps getting larger and larger. My prayer is that at the end of this pledge season we can stand together in a circle, hand in hand, knowing that we have all given what we could, large or small. May God’s grace and love surround us. Amen.

One in the Spirit

2008-10-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ukama Sunday, October 19, 2008
Micah 7:14-20; 1 Cor. 12:12-26

I wonder how much you know about the origins of what is now the country of Zimbabwe. I knew that at one time it had been a very fertile, rich place, called the bread basket of Africa. As I did further research I learned that the name Zimbabwe came from the area called Great Zimbabwe, located in the southeastern part of the country. The ruins of this area, which had been a great Shona Empire between the 11th and 15th centuries, were encountered in the 16th century by the Portuguese explorers but never officially confirmed till the 19th century. The ruins of this former city extend more than 60 acres, include a hilltop fortress and walls of stone monoliths. Between 12 to 20000 people lived here. The huge structures at the Great Zimbabwe were a symbol of the power and wealth of those who lived there. The Shona kings became very wealthy and powerful by controlling trade between the southern Africa interior and the East African coast.

From the 1830’s to 1890’s traders and missionaries, including Cecil John Rhodes explored the region. In 1889 Rhodes was a given a British mandate to colonize what was then named Southern Rhodesia and eventually the white minority opted for self-government. From the 1930’s to 1960’s black opposition to colonial rule grew with two black Nationalist groups emerging, one of which was Mugabe’s Zanu group. Ian Smith became Prime minister in 1964 and tried to get Britain to declare the country independent which they refused to do. Finally in 1965 he unilaterally declared independence—of course under white minority rule, causing much international outrage. Yet it was not until the early 70’s that saw an intensification of black guerrilla warfare against the white rule and that extended on till 1980, when British supervised elections named Mugabe as prime minister. Mugabe was then seen as a hero among the predominantly black nations in Africa. Mugabe soon began trying to get rid of any opposition; and economic crises, strikes, and riots filled the next 20 years, getting increasingly worse in 2000 when squatters seized hundreds of white-owned farms. reclaiming what they believe were stolen from them earlier In 2000 Morgan Tsvangirai almost beat Mugabe in elections which observers say were seriously flawed and then we know the most recent election was won by Tsvangirai but Mugabe insisted on a run off election. The opposition party had been so scared by Mugabe’s people who had carried out severe beatings and kidnappings that there was no such thing as a fair election in the runoff. Most recently S.African’s Mbeki has tried to help workout power sharing but it seems that Mugabe is not willing to give up any of his power.

The history of all this is much more complex than I have time to share with you. There’s an excellent a timeline of Zimbabwe’s historical events if you wish to google it. But now let’s get on with some history of the UCCZ and our Ukama partnership. On October 19, 1893, the Mission Station at Mt. Selinda was established and the United Church of Christ Zimbabwe was born. In 1996 the NH Conference of the UCC and the Zimbabwe UCC established a partnership for the purpose of promoting a deep friendship (Ukama) between the two settings of the United Church of Christ. We have been partners ourselves with the Rimbi church since ? and have enjoyed both Rev. Foroma and Balance Chimbangwa from that church visiting with us. Originally, there was not to be any financial exchange between the two settings or the individual churches, mostly due to how money can often change relationships from equal to one up, one down. Because of the terrible economic hardships in the past five years, there has been a change where donations are very much needed and welcomed. Still the main reason for the partnership is to grow in Ukama (friendship) and be One in the Spirit. The Ukama website lists the different aspects of our covenant relationship. The number one item is “to give and receive spiritual nourishment through prayer, moral support in times of joy, sorrow, hardships, and celebrations. One way we do this is through letters and I urge you to write a letter this coming week so that we can send it with our Conference leaders that are planning a trip there next month. You may also feel called to share some financial gifts with them. There is an insert explaining the Ways you may give if you wish to do so.

One of the things I admire most about our Zimbabwe sisters and brothers is their joy in worship and their great faithfulness. The Micah passage was chosen for today by Rev. Chapola, a Zimbabwean that has been studying at Bangor Theological Seminary for several years and has recently been called to a church in Maine. He chose this passage because of its emphasis on prayer. There is no doubt about it that the UCCZ members are praying people. Micah is imploring God to do again the wonderful things God’s done for his people in the past. In verses 18 to 20 Micah reminds God and the people that God is not angry forever, God is gracious, loyal, compassionate, forgiving, and keeps promises. Just like in Zimbabwe today, the nation was on its knees, both literally in praying and figuratively because they were at a very low point. Micah asked God to shepherd his sheep and to remember God’s promises to the ancestors. The people in Zimbabwe may be asking, God, why is all this happening? Yet they trust just as Micah does that God’s compassion is with them. God is their hope. They do believe that God will provide just as he has done for the Hebrew people in the desert. In Zimbabwe we have so many people hungry, most have only one meal a day and sometimes that is just wild fruit. The hyperinflation continues and cash itself has become scarce. People line up at the bank, starting at 3 am to get their daily withdrawal. One woman calculated the price of goods by the number of days she had to spend in line at the bank: a day for a bar of soap, another day for a bag of salt, and four days for a sack of cornmeal. (NY Times article 10-2 ) The new $50,000 dollar bill, the limit that can be withdrawn doesn’t even pay the transportation to get to the job. Some business owners are trying to give transport tickets daily in order for their employees to come to work; no workers, production stops, economics worsen, more hunger and so forth.

How hard it must be to continue suffering so much and still have faith that God loves them and will never leave them! Our Ukama partnership means that their suffering is our suffering; however, we still eat three meals a day and have relative safety wherever we go. The burdens of our partners weigh heavy on our minds. We must walk with them in prayer and by continuing to encourage them with letters and sharing resources as appropriate. Ukama is a word that means “We are like family”. The Zimbabweans take great comfort in knowing our concern and caring. With them as with so many situations today, I often find myself saying “All I can do is pray.” It is so important that we lift them up to the Spirit. The Rev. Kim McKerley says that “God has blessed us richly over these 12 years of Ukama/Partnership. Through this holy relationship, we have learned, by God’s grace, how much we need each other, and how much we love one another.” As Paul’s letter reminds us in v. 26, “If one member suffers, all suffer with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”

Jesus in John17:21 prays that we may all be one. He prays that we will be one with God, one with him and one with each other. . His prayer for oneness was not about sameness. Jesus is praying that above all else, all of his followers all over the world, for years to come, would be one in their relationships with each other, and with God. As some of you know that same scripture was the spirit that led the UCC to be born 50 years ago from 4 different denominations. But we don’t all have to be one organizationally. Different strokes for different folks! The important thing is that we love and honor each other and God. If we have oneness in purpose, Jesus says that the world will know that God loves us just as God loves Jesus. So I invite you to join with me in opening our hands to pray: Loving God, we are ukama with our Zimbabwe partners. We lift up their burdens and our burdens. We all have difficulties and we all are differently gifted. As Paul reminds us we are all one in the body of Christ. Together we are a whole. Make us one in the Spirit. Let us share each others joys and sorrows as we pray to our brother Jesus and our parent God. Amen

Do Not Be Conformed To Your World

2008-08-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon for 8-24-08
Scripture: Romans 12:1-8

Let me start off this sermon with Eugene Petersen’s translation of the first few
verses of our Roman’s passage: “So here’s what I want you to do. God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering” Our NRSV says “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”. “…Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead fix your attention on God”.

In a wonderful book by Martin Luther King, Jr. called Strength to Love, there is a sermon based on Romans 12 where he talks about “Transformed nonconformity”. He acknowledges how strongly our culture pressures us to become like those around us, especially ‘respectable society’. He says instead Christians must find a way to live in the world but not of the world. He adds, “We must make history and not be shaped by history.” Another brilliant quote that further describes this first part of Romans 12: “Most people are thermometers that record or register the temperature of majority opinion, not thermostats that transform and regulate the temperature of society.” We all know examples of how the church went along with society instead of the teaching of Jesus—think about slavery in this country as well as most of the German church supporting Hitler. It’s still happening with many churches that build up wealth for the institution and do very little for the poor or do not welcome people of different sexual orientation, races, or nationalities. King said “There are some things in our world to which men of goodwill must be maladjusted. I confess that I never intend to become adjusted to the evils of segregation and the crippling effects of discrimination, to the moral degeneracy of religious bigotry and the corroding effects of narrow sectarianism, to economic conditions that deprive men of work and food, and to the insanities of militarism and the self-defeating effects of physical violence.”

What about each of you out there this morning? What do you conform to or are you a nonconformist? Sometimes nonconformity can just be a form exhibitionism and I’m not talking about just behaving weirdly or acting out for shock value. I came across a story about the French sociologist, Jacques Ellul; who worked with marginalized youth in Bordeaux in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. He stated that his goal was not to make them “adjust” to the normal patterns of society but to move them from being ‘negatively maladjusted to society to becoming positively maladjusted’, to become non-conformists of a different kind, an example might be--going from crime and drugs to advocating for the homeless and organizing workers.

If we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, we have to go beyond our comfort zone. We have to do try to figure out what it is that God wants us to be and do to contribute to the common good of our society. A lot of this depends on what gifts we have been given. With our gift(s) comes a task, a way of contributing to the larger community. The “renewing of our minds” part is reflecting and very possibly changing our attitudes, our orientations to the world around us. As we are transformed, changed behavior results, including our relationship with God, therefore helping us discern what we are to believe and to do.

My friends, I read Paul’s metaphor of the body and gifts in Romans as applying both to individuals and to the church, but largely to the church. After telling individuals “not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned”, Paul brings up how we are all one body in Christ, members one of another—mutual dependency. Paul uses the human body as a metaphor to show how the church is to function. Just like our bodies have many parts that are responsible for different things: the eyes for seeing, the nose for smelling, the legs for walking, the church has many parts but all work together for the ministry of Jesus. Both in our bodies and in our churches to be healthy there has to be an awareness of the others, a relationship between diversity and unity. I see this example applying not only to the different parts of one local church but also to churches within the larger faith community.

Lets look at some specific examples to make this scripture more understandable. In our church here in Deering, we have some people whose gift it is to provide beautiful music; others have gifts of Bible reading; some have gifts of preparing the sanctuary for worship; others have gifts in cooking or cleaning up, making lovely flower arrangements and gardens, or crafting quilts or canning jams and pickles; others have gifts in reaching out to those in need, some have gifts of public speaking and organizing things such as Forums and Chicken Barbeques, some have gifts of generosity with time and finances. I could go on and on—this is a congregation of such an abundance of gifts.

When we look at the larger church community such as the conference, the denomination, and interfaith groups, we see some faith communities that are exceptional in worship, some in missions, some in education, some in peacemaking, some in radical hospitality. The important thing to remember, no matter what our gifts are, we are more alike than we are different and we can enrich each other as individuals and as faith communities as we come together to share our gifts. All of the churches and the individuals are equally loved and honored by God. We are all made in the image of God, and the churches in New Testament times are all called to live as one body in Christ. I believe that God wants us to go even further and reach out to non-Christians, both those of other faiths and those who profess no religion. I can’t imagine anything that would please God more than seeing all his children caring for each other and for the earth. There are so many ways we can cooperate to work for the common good for all. The more we de-emphasize tribal and national loyalties, the more we can make this a world of love and peace. I ask each of you to join with me in this task so that we will indeed bring about God’s kingdom of Isaiah 55:12-13: For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Amen and amen!

GO Sermon for June 15, 2008

2008-06-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Matthew 9:35-10:8

In the Gospel of Matthew for the last few Sundays we have been hearing about the many miracles of healing that Jesus performed. Today we make a slight transition as Jesus goes out and about in all the cities and villages, teaching in the synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. He also kept on curing every disease and sickness. What he encountered were all kinds of people in great need; Matthew’s words describing these people are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” He quickly realized he was going to need some help.

Let me tell you a story. One day I was walking in the neighborhood of my old city, a rather poor area, when I came upon a lemonade stand with several children sitting behind the box that held the lemonade with a homemade sign, “Lemonade 10 cents”. I decided to stop and refresh myself. The kids were excited that they had a customer. One boy came over and asked if I wanted to buy a cup of lemonade. As I assured him that was just what I wanted, he went back and brought me a cup of lemonade that his partner had poured. I gave him a quarter and started drinking while he went back to get change. By the time he brought back my change, I was almost finished drinking. He gave me the change and then asked if I were finished drinking. “Almost”, I said. “Why?” He then said, "That's the only cup we have, and we need it to stay in business."

Now I’m sure that you would agree that it's difficult to operate a lemonade stand if you only have one cup . (Adapted from an illustration in e-Sermons.) We sometimes make that same mistake in the church. By that I mean expecting the pastor to be the only one that goes out to share the Good News. In our gospel reading, Jesus looked at all the harassed and helpless people and said, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. He then calls his 12 disciples and gives them the authority to do all that he has been doing. He calls them to GO. He doesn’t preface his instructions with professional sounding words such as, “Your mission, should you choose to accept it…” Oh, No! He just calls to them and gives it to them straight: “Go, proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Wow! What a job description! I can imagine that they must have felt some anxiety. This was to be their first solo mission without their leader. Yet if Jesus authorizes his apostles to do these things, it means he will be working through them, giving them the necessary power.

As I started to reflect on these instructions, it made me think about what is church all about today. Our faith talks about the priesthood of all believers; we have some set aside, ordained, to be leaders and teachers, yet all are being called to help out. We are all called to teach, to share the good news, and to bring healing to our broken world. In our modern day we don’t talk about cleansing lepers or casting out demons or raising the dead; however, I believe those tasks are still being asked of us with a slightly different vocabulary. We are certainly called to minister to the outcast—last Sunday’s sermon was all about Jesus being sent to those that were on the margins or were excluded” by the “proper folks”: the lepers was sort of a code word for all those seen as unclean or sinners such as the hemorrhaging woman, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the Samaritans. Moving right along, are we called to cast out demons? What about rewording this concept to speaking truth to evil—going out with the armor of God, to stand up for those who are being treated unfairly, where injustice reigns? The church is certainly called to do something about systemic evil, the powers and principalities who are institutionalized in ways that cause suffering and injustice; for example, those not having enough money to pay for doctors or healthcare and therefore, suffer with illness and die in much greater numbers than those of us who can obtain medical services. And that leads us to death. Raise up the dead? Although we know some people who are pronounced medically dead do survive, most of us no matter how hard we try, probably can’t bring people back from physical death but what about emotional and social death? How many people do you know or have you known over the years that seem so depressed, so isolated, so lifeless that we may have described them as appearing half-dead? That group of people certainly needs some attention, some care. So it seems to me, in one form or another, all of Jesus’ instructions to his disciples still hold, still apply to us.

One of the most important characteristic of the church that comes to me as I observe Jesus’ words and actions is that the church has to be about movement. The church is not following Jesus if we just stay static, “preserve-our-level-of-comfort-and-let-them-come-to-us spirituality. (From S.A.M.U.E.L.—UCC online preaching help for 6-15) Here it comes again: we must go out and share what we have, our gifts from God, with those that have not known about the “good news” nor been touched by God’s love. The helpless and harassed evoked Jesus’ compassion. He knew that he could not do it all himself, that he needed help. It’s very much the same for me as the pastor of this church. I can’t do it all by myself; I need you, God needs you to go out into the world. I know how uncomfortable most of you are with the word evangelist. This church is much more like St. Francis, who said: “Go out and preach the gospel and when necessary use words”. I had heard that expression; however, I only learned the background of this statement this past week. Let me share it with you: According to legend, one day St. Francis “informed his brethren that he planned to go into the nearby village on a preaching mission. He invited a novice to go along. On their way, they passed an injured man and Francis promptly stopped, saw to the poor fellow's needs and arranged medical care for him. They went on and soon passed a homeless man who was near starvation. Again, Francis stopped his journey and ministered to the hungry, homeless man. So it went, all through the day: people in need, Francis lovingly caring for them as best he could until the sun was low in the sky. He told his novice friend it was time for them to return, now, to the monastery for evening prayers. But the young man said, "Father, you said we were coming to town to preach to the people." Francis smiled. Then he said, "My friend, that's what we've been doing all day." E. Carver McGriff, Relationship Evangelism,Times of Refreshing, CSS Publishing Company.)

This is wonderful, faithful evangelism, ministering to people in their need, not worrying about numerical growth, just sharing God’s love in a concrete fashion. Yet there are times when we need to use words. Even St. Francis would admit to that, “when necessary use words.” I want to share how joyous I am to have Jesus as my guide and comforter when I reach out to others, especially those that seem to have something lacking in their life, those that are lonely, those that are dealing with one or more serious problems. In our Gospel reading, Jesus saw all these folks that seemed like sheep without a shepherd and knew he had to enlist his disciples to minister to them. Apostle means those sent. God is calling the people in our church to be apostles, to go out with compassion and tender care. The particular way and the particular people we are being called to vary. There’s one thing that I’m sure of and that is we are not called to just sit still, but to be on the move as Jesus and his apostles were, to be open to those that we meet along the way. I’m very aware that today’s sermon sounds a lot like last weeks sermon. Most preachers will admit that they probably have only 3 or 4 sermons, different words certainly, different illustrations, but only a few important messages. This is certainly my “Go” sermon, Go out into the world and share the good news with others. Go! Follow Jesus’ words and actions. Amen!

HOPE AGAINST HOPE June 8, 2008

2008-06-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

What an amazing number of possibilities to preach on from today’s lectionary! After much reflection I feel called to focus on the readings as being filled with people faced with great challenges, in situations where many people would be overwhelmed and probably very discouraged. In spite of this, they continued to hope against hope that things could change.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he reviews the Genesis story about Abraham: this man is called by God to leave his home, his country and go to an unknown land that God was to show him. As most of you remember, Abraham did not have any children by his wife Sarah, and yet God promised him that he would have many descendants, and this was when they were already in their old age. Yet God told Abraham to look toward heaven and count the stars—if he could—and that would be how many descendants he would have. Abraham had faith in God and kept journeying on with hope against hope.
In the Gospel of Matthew we are first introduced to a low level tax collector. Tax collectors were scorned because they worked for the Roman government and cheated their own people by taking more taxes then required in order to line their own pockets. So we find this tax collector, also named Matthew, sitting at the tax booth. He was financially better off than most but because of his job he was a social outcast. Jesus approaches him and said “Follow me”. With a sudden spark of “hope against hope” in his heart, Matthew drops everything and got up and followed Jesus.

Continuing on in our scripture, we are introduced to a leader of the synagogue whose beloved daughter has just died. This man would have been part of the group that criticized Jesus for eating and drinking with the outcasts—the tax collectors, the prostitutes and other sinners. Yet he loved his daughter soo much that he risked his reputation to ask for help from Jesus. He was hoping against hope that Jesus could help him and Jesus responded and started to follow him.

Suddenly there was an interruption. In the other gospels we are told that Jesus felt a power going out of him and asks who touched him; however in Matthew we are simply told that there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus responds by saying “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. (9:21-22) She hoped against hope that Jesus would pay attention to her, but why would he—she was an outcast, a woman seen as ‘unclean’ for all those years. Can you imagine how she must have felt when Jesus spoke to her and the bleeding immediately stopped
Jesus then continues following the synagogue leader; he is laughed at by the mourners when he tells them that the daughter is not dead but sleeping. He takes the girl by the hand and the girl gets up. Amazing things happen when we follow our hope against hope.

Let’s look at some examples from the recent primary campaigns. John McCain, several months ago was at a very low ebb in terms of supporters, especially low in the money needed to wage a successful campaign. He had to dismiss most of his primary workers and take regular airplanes as opposed to chartered jets. Now McCain had experienced hope against hope before as a prisoner of war so it was nothing new to him, to hope against hope and be determined to go on fighting for the nomination of the Republican Party. Although others thought it was hopeless, he persevered and became the presumptive nominee. On the Democratic side we have Barack Obama, who by the very fact of his African blood had two and a half strikes against him. Even many of my black friends didn’t dare support him at first as they didn’t want to waste their vote. Obama and those who believed in his candidacy from the beginning had to hope against hope that he could be the nominee. Obama, like McCain, had earlier times in his life that he had to hope against hope, even writing a book called the Audacity of Hope. Whatever happens next November, we will have a president that knows what hope against hope is all about, and I believe that will be positive for his leadership.

What about the gays and lesbians that have been discriminated against in so many ways? Here’s a group of people, like African Americans, who can relate to Abraham’s journey of leaving his home and family to go on an unknown journey. Even though they may not travel a long way physically, the alienation and hostility, the differences of life style, make them feel as removed from their families as those who have traveled a long way. Many of them give up and succumb to depression and addictions; however, many more hope against hope and continue to journey to better times, some even to reconciliation with their families.

Another example of hope against hope are the illegal immigrants that cross the border at great risk to their lives in order to have opportunity to earn a living, to be able to take care of their families. Now some of you may think, why be concerned about them, they are breaking the law. I only ask you to remember that Jesus says very clearly in our gospel that he desires mercy not sacrifice, that he has come to call not the righteous but sinners. We, also, only have to look into our own lives to see the many things we have done or left undone to know we also are in need of God’s steadfast, unconditional love.

In my own life as your pastor, I sometimes get discouraged, sometimes my faith is challenged. For over 50 years I have been praying, “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.” I wonder why the membership and attendance of this congregation remains so low. What am I suppose to be doing? I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit praying for me when my own words seem inadequate. I will continue to hope against hope that I can lead this church to be faithful to Jesus’ teachings whether we have 20 or 80 participating in worship.

What can each of us do this week to follow Jesus and bring some healing to our hurting world? Those of you that are in the work world see many people each week, people that need to be touched, to be listened to. Those who do not go to a job, go other places—the grocery store, the doctor’s office, the drug store, the gas station. We see others that are in need of a smile, in need of some attention. There may be someone, like the hemorrhaging woman, that is searching for someone to relate to, to share her pain with. A few days ago I had a phone call from my, and she was really down; I asked a few of you to pray about the situation. When I called her the next day, she was feeling so much better. Not one, but two, friends had visited her. I believe those friends were God’s angels. I believe each of you is also God’s angel, meaning you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, and you are being called to do God’s work in this lonely, stressful world. Jesus has asked us to follow him, to provide for others that gentle healing presence. There are so many people who are in need of acceptance, recognition, forgiveness and love. Will you go from this holy place this Sunday and compassionately reach out and touch the lives, the hearts, the souls of others? You can do it even if you feel that you are inadequate, even if you feel too shy, even if you feel unworthy. You can go forward with hope against hope, and Jesus will be with you. Thanks be to God! Amen and amen!

LISTENING, SHARING, DOING AND HEALING

2008-06-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

Beginning a Sacred Conversation about Race
Sermon for May 18, 2008
Gen 1:1-2; 4a; 26-27; 31a; 2 Cor. 13:11-13; Matt 28:16-20

My dear brothers and sisters, today is a special day in the United Church of Christ; it is the day that many churches in our denomination are beginning a SACRED CONVERSATION ON RACE. It is also Trinity Sunday; however, I have chosen to focus on race and will use the scriptures chosen for this Sunday to elucidate some of the thoughts I will be sharing with you. Today’s sermon will indeed be a very personal one. As many of you know my first husband, Roland Luckett, whom I married in 1964 was an African American from Jackson Mississippi. Some of you have met our biracial children, Jason and Josslyn. I will share with you some of the experiences I have had being part of a biracial family.

I see two important points in the Genesis reading that pertain to our focus: 1) God made humankind (literal translation, earthlings) in God’s image; and 2)God saw everything that he had made and pronounced it very good.

While there is nothing in the Genesis creation story mentioning race or ethnicity, the claim that all humans were created in God’s image does point to equality. However, in the history of race relations in our country, this equality has not been present. People of African descent have often been considered less than human; our early constitution specified that those people not free, in other words African slaves, who were then called Negroes, would be counted as 3/5’s of a person.

Now to go to our Gospel lesson in Matthew, we hear Jesus telling his followers to make disciples of all nations. What was Jesus’ conception of all nations? From the names cited in Matthew, there would be Palestine, Transjordan, Syrophoenicia and possibly Egypt, certainly Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans.(Norman Gottwald and Laura Lagerquist-Gottwald, “Lectionary Readings for Trinity Sunday with Resources for a Sacred Conversation on Race, May 18, 2008”) As far as we know there was not a lot of racial animosity and prejudice in the ancient worlds; however, there was animosity between various political and religious groups, much of it based on class and gender; there were slaves but instead of these people being slaves because of their race, they were usually slaves because of economic problems or because of being captured in battles. There was also a prejudice of the able bodied against the disabled and those with diseases such as leprosy. We hear again and again in the gospels how much separation and division existed, and we also hear how Jesus, again and again, would break through the stigma that separated people. The stories of the tax collectors, the Good Samaritan, the Woman at the well, the lepers are few of the more familiar ones. The early Christian church followed Jesus’ examples of inclusion, not exclusion.

Sadly, in modern times there is a history of colonialism, slavery, and militarism that has fueled more and more discrimination, perpetuating and sadly reinforcing oppression of people based on skin color, national origin, ethnicity—Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and most recently Middle Easterners. In the days of slavery in this country, the notion that African Americans were less than human made it okay to deny them freedoms: their right to maintain families, earn a livelihood, or even a right to life. So much of racism in this country is rooted in a 400 year-old system of economic exploitation that continues even today. At this point I want to make a differentiation between prejudice and racism. All racial groups have prejudice, stereotypes associated with different racial groups; however, racism, as with all isms such as capitalism, socialism, etc. is a system that has power. Our power brokers--political, economic, and religious--have for a long time been white males and are just recently in this country becoming more diverse. Blacks in this country have not had the power to do such things as racially profile whites, deny housing or jobs to whites, in the way that whites can do these things to blacks. This is what I’m talking about when I speak of racism, This racism has definitely been part of our Christian faith—for a radical example think Ku Klux Klan. It’s always amazing to me to see how much prejudice and hatred is justified by one’s religion. Jesus’ compassion for the poor and the marginalized, his command that we love even our enemies, is in my mind so contrary to what Christians have done over the centuries. We all have our blind spots, our irrationalities and if we are to have a sacred conversation about race it’s important that we listen to others, share our own stories, and then figure out a plan of action that we can take that will contribute to abolishing racism in both those places close to us and in the larger world.

When I think about the stories that have defined my attitudes about race, I have to go back to my family of origin and the place where I lived as do most people. As most of you know, I grew up in a small town in Maine, not too different from Deering. My family was middle class, early settlers in the town, owned a lot of property, ran a small seasonal hotel and were very prejudiced. Early on I heard derogatory comments about Jews, Negroes and even Roman Catholics. Anyone that was not like us, was inferior and someone with whom I should not to be in close relationship. I remember at about age 12 having a crush on a boy staying at our hotel whose name was Peter Brady. My mother quickly discouraged the crush saying that I could never marry anyone like that—he was Irish and Catholic, beneath us. To me these prejudices didn’t make any sense, especially as I got more involved with reading the Bible, where it seemed to me that God created all equally, and Jesus said to love our neighbor as our self, not specifying religion, race, class, etc.

Growing up I did not have contact with black people except when I went into Portland, the closest big city and would occasionally see a black woman running the elevator in one of the fancy department stores. As a teenager, probably 13 or 14, I went to a summer camp on Lake Winnepesaukee and met two blacks, one a minister and leader of the camp and the other, a boy of my age named Jesse Owens Perry. Jesse and I became special friends and continued writing to each other for a few years. When I was 15, I heard about Emmet Till, a northern black youth visiting in Mississippi who was killed for making a wolf whistle and saying, “bye Baby” to a female white store employee. That incident I believe was a beginning of my heightened interest and resolve to work for civil rights. Then the summer I was 19, back home from college, I had a job at a nearby institution for the mentally retarded. That same summer there were a group of young people from around the country working there from the American Friends Service program. That was when I met Roland. He was a very charismatic young man, and we quickly realized that we were attracted to each other. My parents didn’t forbid me to date him, yet were very critical, saying it wasn’t right because of the difference in our races. On our dates that summer we ran into a lot of stares and some negative comments, all of which made Roland very anxious. His history of discrimination in Mississippi caused him to know the terrible things that happened when races mixed, especially in a romantic way. Until 1967 when the Supreme Court overturned the Loving case of the marriage of a black woman and white man, most Southern states had what were called antimiscegenation laws, forbidding interracial marriages. The judge that tried the original case of the Lovings gave them a choice of a year in jail or move to another state. He said, Almighty God created the races, white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix . (Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 388 US. 1 (1967).)

Well, Roland and I continued our courtship for two years with letters and phone calls and a couple of visits. After graduating from the U. of Maine, I went to graduate school in Hawaii where Roland was stationed at Tripler Army Hospital. After two years of courtship in a multi-racial atmosphere, we were married and a year later, Jason our son was born. We moved to California when Jason was a year old and were blessed with a daughter, Josslyn. Those of you that have met my children know how lucky I am to have such loving adults in my life. Both have suffered from being black and sometimes from being white. Let me just share a few examples: The children grew up in a very white suburb of Orange County, CA, and Jason had many experiences of not being allowed to date his white friends once their parents realized he was biracial. He was stopped by police while walking in our neighborhood as they didn’t think he lived there; because he was black, he must be up to some mischief. When the children went off to college and were around more African Americans, they were sometimes discriminated for their whiteness, not sounding like or looking like the black students. Just in the last year, Jason told me the story of being followed by security when he was shopping in a drug store in a primarily white neighborhood with no evidence other than he was black. By the way it’s really hard to call a biracial person white, but no problem calling him black which goes back to the old “one drop” rule , which came out of the American South, meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person a black.

Well, there are many more stories I could tell you about my own experiences, but I want plenty of time for us all to share after the service. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he urges followers to put thing in order, agree with each other, and to live in peace. Here in this country that means taking on the racial realities of our life together, acting together to change the way our lives are structured, eliminating discrimination which comes both from structural racism and individual prejudice. We have to be aware and understand our different realities shape how we see ourselves and each other. I believe that by confronting the pain and committing ourselves to the common good of all, we can be healed and will flourish as a church and as a nation. May God guide and bless us. Amen

OUT OF MANY, ONE Pentecost 2008

2008-06-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Acts 2:1-13, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

This is a day of celebration. This year on Pentecost we are celebrating the birthday of the church and also Pluralism Sunday. Seven weeks after Easter, Pentecost is celebrated as commemorating the time that Jesus’ words were fulfilled by having the Holy Spirit descend on his followers. It is the third most important festival in Christianity, after Easter and Christmas. Pentecost was and is a Jewish Festival coming 50 days after Passover, it celebrated the completion of both harvest and Moses being given the Law on Mt. Sinai. This story goes back to the Tower of Babel experience in Genesis 11. In the beginning, so the story goes, all people were one tribe and spoke the same language. At the beginning the whole tribe was behind the building of a single tower that would be bigger than anyone had ever seen. Unfortunately the building took much longer than anyone imagined—several generations. The grandchildren of the original builders didn’t have the same devotion to building this tower—it was more a chore than a sacred duty. Now of course we have no way of knowing exactly what happened way back then. One story has it that a worker carrying a brick to the very top, a task that took many months, fell and the people mourned the brick over the worker. As a punishment for their prideful attempt to build a tower with its top in the heavens and for their lack of compassion for each other, God caused these men to be scattered into different language groups. They were fragmented and separated and could no longer speak to or understand each other. (Our English word babble comes from this story.) This story can be a lesson for us that whenever we value the material world over the person, we lose our ability to understand each other, even if we speak the same language.

After Jesus was killed, we all know how sad his followers were. When Jesus made his after resurrection appearances to them, they were comforted and inspired. Peter decided to gather Jesus followers together in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Now these Jews that followed Jesus came from many different countries and language groups. Peter, however, was not distracted by this problem as he was so on fire with the good news of Jesus the Christ and his promise to give them the Holy Spirit as an Advocate. As he spoke humbly yet forcefully from his heart, everyone understood him and each other in their own language. As the scripture says, they all marveled saying,”Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?"

Is it possible when we dare speak humbly and directly from our heart, we understand each other? Could it be that when we speak from that divine center that is part of all of us, when we speak the truth with compassion, we are able to communicate with others, even without words, that people become one again. It’s such a temptation in our modern world with its busyness and emphasis on profits and deadlines to value the brick over the person. I wonder how many here today spend much of their time fulfilling someone else’s dream and not working on their own. Each of us has the possibility each day to choose what we value: the brick or the person. An example of this compassion that comes to me is the story from the Special Olympics where those with mental retardation and development disabilities compete. In a race for the gold, one of the participants fell down and those behind him took the time to help him rather than taking the opportunity to run ahead and get the prize. Mark Nepo to whom I am indebted for much of the spin on the Tower of Babel story says it this way, “…when I am drawn to speak or listen with compassion, holding what is living above that the living make, things become one. Suddenly I belong again to the one tribe that holds each other at days end. So when we find ourselves speaking a language no one seems to understand, or, more important, when we can’t seem to understand or feel anyone else, we need to ask, ‘What brick am I carrying, and has it become too important?’”

These points carry over so well to the concept of Pluralism. The Center for Progressive Christianity, the Network of Spiritual Progressives and others have designated this year’s Pentecost Sunday as “Pluralism Sunday,” in which we are invited to celebrate the many paths to God. Jim Burklo, the director of Pluralism Sunday, talks about America having a long tradition of toleration for different religions; we tolerate having different faiths in our neighborhoods. What he hopes is that Pluralism Sunday will take a step beyond and actually embrace other religions and honor them at a deeper level. Another goal is to let the world know that there is a way to be Christian without the exclusivity and superiority that is so familiar to us in this country. If we are able to look beneath the outside differences with the compassion of the divine heart as opposed to valuing our own economic or belief system, pluralism will have a great chance of succeeding as we accept and embrace others on a deep level.

I have chosen as my sermon title, of Out of Many, One. Did you know this was the original motto of our country before “In God we trust”? When I was a child I remember the slogan about America being the melting pot, referring to the acceptance of the many different immigrant groups. A little later, maybe when I was a teenager, I heard people talking about America as a Salad Bowl rather than a melting pot, and I remember how much better I liked that term. It seemed more realistic and preserved all the beauty and variety that immigrants bring to this country, the diversity I talked about last week. Dr. Bob Cornwell has a wonderful description of this Salad Bowl: “We may be Americans, but we're also something else - African, Italian, Asian, English, Arab, Latin American. ... We're Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Orthodox Christian, Catholic, Protestant, or perhaps none of the above. A good garden salad has lots of great ingredients that retain their identity even as they're tossed into the salad - tomato, green onion, spinach, baby arugula, radicchio, romaine, radish, carrot, croutons, maybe some blue cheese, and the dressing of one's choice. Each ingredient adds flavor and texture to the salad. It's true that over time assimilation does happen, but even with intermarriage and a standardized education, we remain products of our heritage and common experiences, just like a salad.” Out of Many, One. I really like that!

In this salad bowl we can share and learn from each other. Pluralism is recognizing that my way is not the only way; or as I have preached before, Jesus is my gate to God; however there are other gates for other people that are just as valid for them as Jesus is for me. We don’t have to agree; neither do we have to accept that anything goes. It is important to share our own beliefs respectfully. There are times when we may have to speak out strongly against certain religious or cultural practices such as girls’ genital mutilations. It would be a mistake to say that everything anyone does in the name of God is okay. A pluralistic view believes we get closer to God and each other when we let compassion lead us to understand the traditions of others with whom we share our planet.

Both Pentecost and Pluralism point to a God who enables us to speak and hear in ways that bring unity rather than divisiveness. Our other Bible reading in first Corinthians also celebrates pluralism as Paul talks about how there are many gifts yet the same Spirit or One body with many members—Out of Many, One. Although this reference is pertaining to the early Christians, I see it applying to us all being part of the mystical body of Christ. In researching this sermon, I came across this quote, “Whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts they need something that they don't have and they turn to the only light they have…” It might surprise you to know that this was said by Billy Graham.

Paul says we are all made to drink of the same Spirit which for me is like the Holy Spirit coming into all the gathered there in Jerusalem, all the Diaspora of Jews with many different languages. It reminds me of a hymn by Al Carmines that we will be singing after the sermon; according to our hymn book it was the first modern text to claim diversity as a gift from God. “Many gifts, one Spirit, one love known in many ways. In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise one Giver, one Lord, one Spirit, one God known in many ways.” For me pluralism is a gift of God’s amazing creativity: diversity but more than that—God’s affirming that all of this is good, precious in God’s sight. And that we as citizens of the world as well as followers of a particular belief system are to reach out to the others in humility, affirming diversity and celebrating pluralism in the light of God’s vision of reconciliation, forgiveness and healing of the planet and all God’s children. God is calling us to celebrate our gifts and share them with the world. So I urge all of you to not just celebrate diversity on this Sunday, but to pay attention to how God is revealed in each and every life and nation and to fill our hearts with a compassion that will bring us together rather than separate us. Praise to our awesome Creator. Amen.

SO WE MAY ALL BE ONE May 4, 2008

2008-06-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Acts 1:6-14, John 17:1-11

Today I will preach the first of two sermons on my belief that we are all one, a beautiful unity in diversity. Our gospel reading from John 17 is the beginning of what is known as Jesus high priestly prayer. In the portion assigned to today’s lectionary Jesus is praying for a small group of followers, the ones that God gave to Jesus as his disciples. He prays about how all mine are yours and yours are mine and further asks that the Holy Father will protect them in his name, “so that they may be one, as we are one.” (11 b) Later in this same chapter in verses 20-23 Jesus says he also asks on behalf of others, not part of these known followers that they may all be one.
I want to share with you the image of oneness as a spoked wheel, a image that has been used at least as far back as Lao Tzu in Chapter 11 of the Tao when he writes, “We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.” The Christian desert fathers, the early Christian mystics of the third century also used this image. Let me share with you the way Mark Nepo,a Jewish Buddhist describes this wheel:
“Imagine that each of us is a spoke in an Infinite Wheel, and though each spoke is essential in keeping the Wheel whole, no two spokes are the same. Clearly, in a spoked wheel, the spokes separate as they each move out to support a different part of the rim. And clearly, they are all connected in a central hub that gives them the strength to form a wheel.
We could say that the rim of that Wheel is our sense of community, family and relationship, and the common hub where all the spokes join is the one center where all souls meet. So, as I move out into the world, I live out my uniqueness, but when I dare to look into my core, I come upon the one common Center where all lives begin. In that center we are one and the same.” (The Exquisite Risk, p. 144),
What Nepo describes is an image for how we are all linked together and at the center is the source of all being, God—by whatever name we call that Source. It is the shared sacred unity of all life, the soul, the heart. The Hindus say Atman, Buddhists call it Dharma, the Spanish have the word El Meollo—that which is deeper that connects the one to many, for Christians it’s the Holy Spirit, that same Holy Spirit that Jesus promised us as he left us in the first chapter of Acts, the same Holy Spirit that came on Pentecost with the sound of a violent wind. This center, this hub of the Wheel signifies that deep realm of being where all souls meet. This happens when we pursue the truth of who we are. As we mysteriously look deeply into each other, we find ourselves. My belief is that no matter the outward diversity that identifies us, deep inside we have common desires and fears. The Beloved Community happens when we allow ourselves to reach out humbly in love and openness. No one, no religion, no one way in my opinion, holds all the answers. To quote Mark Nepo again, “All ways inform each other. Inevitably, all parts are necessary. Without the rim, there is no wheel. Without the center, the spokes cannot support a rim. Without the spokes, the center and rim are useless to the living…Without Spirit and a common ground of being, there is not enough strength in who we are to support any kind of community. And without our beautifully unique selves, Spirit and community will never inform each other.” (p. 142)

Unity does not mean sameness. Jesus was not specific in describing how we would all be one but his prayer clearly was for oneness not sameness. I never heard Jesus pray that we would all be the same in our beliefs. It is clear in both Acts and Paul’s Epistles that the early Christian communities had many disagreements. Just because we do not agree doesn’t mean that we have to build fences and not relate to each other. I’d like to think of that ‘Promised land” as a place where we will all be safe in sharing our disagreements, our differences. If we acknowledge the Hub as the center of our diverse lives, if we honor and respect each other in spite of our differences, I believe that process and that diversity will be a source of strength and joy. If we can listen to and show agape love to others, if we can be authentically whole hearted, all embracing, I believe we can create that Beloved Community that Dr. ML King talked so much about. For him the Beloved Community was a global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. As King became more exposed to oppressed peoples of many races and in many nations, he became more and more focused on the unity of humanity. He liked to talk about a “worldhouse”, a metaphor which captured for him the ideal of a world based on love, justice, and equal opportunity where loyalties to race, class, sex, tribe, religion, political differences, ethnicity and nationality would be transcended.

This notion that we are all expressions of the same Original Being, this Divine Presence that keeps expressing itself uniquely through all beings as we search for a shared truth is at the heart of the Hindu concept Thou Art That which teaches that we need to die to our smaller selves in order to rise to a vision that we share the same human nature with all others. In truth as hard as it is to accept, we are indeed each other—as beautiful and as brutal as the other. About 20 years ago I heard a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh titled “Call Me by My True Names”. It made such an impact on me and may have even been influential in my beliefs about oneness today. In the poem, which he wrote after a long mediation, there are three characters: a pirate, a girl, and himself. It’s a long poem but I would like to share it now:

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood"
to, my people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Although this poem may be disconcerting, it certainly was to me the first time I heard it, it says to me that as I work on myself to be more loving, more compassionate, more peaceful, more respectful I influence the core of all that is. I believe in a God that loves us all, forgives us and strengthens us. In our reading from Acts, Jesus asks us to be his witnesses in the world, much like that great commissioning that comes at the end of the gospel of Matthew. After Jesus left the disciples, they returned to Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. They went to the room where they were staying and they devoted themselves to prayer along with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus. I urge you not to forget the importance of prayer as you strive to recognize truth for you. Remember that one of the ways that prayer works is that it changes the person that prays. As I pray to see the Christ in all I meet, I believe that God opens my eyes in a new way and I am able to get closer to helping bring about the Beloved Community. I pray that as we participate in Holy Communion as the body of Christ that we will open not just our eyes but our hearts to the Oneness of Creation. Let us ask for the courage to pray with Jesus that we may all be One. Amen.

IS JESUS THE ONLY GATE TO GOD? April 13, 2008

2008-04-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Psalm 23, John 10:1-10

This week I am returning to a sermon that I preached three years ago, one that was quite well received. I have made some changes; however, most of it is the same. I started with a quote from Captain Eddie Rickenbacker about an experience of being lost at sea with his men for 21 days during WWII.[1] This Navy crew was flying to the Pacific Islands on a special mission when their plane crashed. Rickenbacker later wrote and I quote, “In the beginning many of the men were atheists or agnostics, but at the end of the terrible ordeal each, in his own way, discovered God. Each man found God in the vast, empty loneliness of the ocean. Each man found salvation and strength in prayer, and a community of feeling developed which created a liveliness of human fellowship and worship, and a sense of gentle peace.”

My guess is that most people who hear these words feel good about these men being able to find God, each “in his own way”; however, many if, not most, Christians today believe that the millions of people who find God outside of Christianity are not saved. The scripture reference for these beliefs comes from our Gospel today where Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved…” And later in John 14:6, an even stronger statement: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The author of the Fourth Gospel is very fond of using metaphors, figures of speech where one word or phrase is used to illustrate a certain meaning in place of another word, usually used to help in understanding; let me give you a non- religious example: The Internet is an information superhighway or life is a journey. John is the Gospel of the “I AM” statements; I AM the bread of life, the true vine, the light of the world, as well as I am the gate. Historically, the Johannine community was a small minority of Jews who had become Christians and thus kicked out of the Temple and frequently persecuted. When people are a minority it is especially important to stick closely together and the belief that “our way is the only way” often is an identity marker as well as being a protective and self-enhancing belief. When circumstances change, as in the growth of Christianity, the language and often the original ideas remain. So for over 2000 years we have heard that Jesus is the only way to God, the only way to be saved.

When I was looking for various views to answer the sermon question, I came across quite a few websites that emphatically believed that Jesus is the only way to God. The reasoning was along these lines: “Either the Bible is right and there is no other way to salvation, or the Bible is wrong and all other religions are right. If all roads lead to God then the Bible is a false book and does not have any reliability. If anyone claims to be Christian and says that other religions are equally valid he or she is saying that Jesus is a liar. There are probably some of you here today that agree with these statements. This view is the product of a Christianity that takes the Bible literally rather than a truth set in a historical and cultural time. I can’t remember which Indian tribe has a creation story that ends with, this is all true and some of it actually happened!

Another view of those who believe that Jesus is the only way to God uses the example of the blind men feeling different parts of the elephant and each ending up describing the elephant in very different terms. This view says that each of these men was blind and each was wrong, stating that as long as we are blind we remain in the darkness, not aware of the truth of God being revealed through Jesus. I won’t discuss any more of these beliefs that come from the literal interpretation of the Bible as most of you are well versed in them.

There are Christians that do not believe in the exclusiveness of Jesus being the only way one can enter God’s kingdom. One of these groups is known as Progressive Christianity, a group that I have talked about in many different ways over the almost 5 years I’ve been with you. My last two long-term ministers before I went to seminary were both active believers in Progressive Christianity. One of them, Fred Plumer from the Irvine, CA church, is now the president of this group. They have eight basic points, the first of the original version says, we are Christians who “proclaim Jesus Christ as our Gate to the realm of God;” followed by the second point that says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the gateway to God’s realm”. (Repeat) In 2003 they made some revisions to the 8 points and these two now read like this: “we are Christians who have found our approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus. The second point says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way (or gate) to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.” I really like that. It’s the kind of belief that I believe would be very much approved of by the Jesus that I follow. I love Jesus; his way is my life. I believe that in Jesus Christ, God has opened a way into God’s eternal heart and everlasting life with others at the heavenly banquet table. It‘s not up to me to determine who else is sitting at that banquet table. But I know one thing for sure and that is the job of saying Yes or NO is already filled, taken by God, a God I believe has endless compassion and love, desiring all of us to repent and turn to God. There are so many mysteries in our faith, in our life, and I would encourage all of you to approach these mysteries with humility and gentleness. Another Progressive Christianity point is that we find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty—more value in questioning than in absolutes. So we may be surprised at who is sitting around that heavenly banquet table, if indeed we are sitting there ourselves.

In the New Interpreters Bible, the commentary I regularly use in preparing my sermons, Gail O’Day, a scholar of the Fourth Gospel, states that the statement that no one comes to the Father except through me is the joyous affirmation of a community that saw Jesus as the incarnation of God and accepted his statements that he and the Father are one. She differentiates between “Father” and “God” and says that “no one” meant those in this band of followers, not necessarily anyone in the world forever (Vol IX, p.744). She points out that this is not a cry of a powerful world religion but a religious conviction of a religious minority in the ancient Mediterranean world. She sees it as a being particular to this faith community rather than an exclusionary statement for all time and places. This scripture says “This is who we are… the people who believe in the God who has been revealed to us decisively by Jesus Christ.”

Let me affirm that Jesus is my gateway to God—God’s life, realm, being. Jesus is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm, my shepherd that leads me beside still waters. However, that does not mean that what is true for me as a Christian has to be true for all people. A contemporary author and theologian, Wm. Sloane Coffin, says as paraphrased by Marcus Borg, “God is defined by Jesus, but not confined to Jesus. Borg also quotes a Hindu professor at a Christian seminary that was preaching on the Gospel verse about the ‘only way’ as saying, “This verse is absolutely true—Jesus is the only way. And that way—of dying to an old way of being and being born into a new way of being—is known in all of the religions of the world. The way of Jesus is a universal way, known to millions who have never heard of Jesus.”[2] It seems to me that what the Hindu professor means is that the way of Jesus is not about a set of beliefs but about a way of life; not believing doctrines or words like Jesus, rather seeing the way of Jesus, his life as being the way of transformation from an old way of being and doing to a new way of being and doing. For us as Christians that new way is Jesus, the way of non-violent, unconditional love. Borg calls this Jesus as being the disclosure of what a life full of God looks like. We can say, “this is who Jesus is for us” without also saying, “This is the only way God can be known for anyone ever.” For me a theology of Christ that leads us to respect other religious traditions, not to deny their religious truth, is keeping with the belief that God is part of all of us, and we are all a part of God. My doorway may not be the doorway others can enter; however, it is my doorway and I am so thankful that for me that doorway to God is Jesus.

So as I end this sermon, I would urge any of you that are disturbed by what I’ve said today to come talk with me. In no way do I want to have a debate about our differences, yet I am always interested in what you have to say. Our opening story talked about how beautiful it would be to give others the freedom to experience their faith differently than ours. I pray that the words of Edwin Markham’s poem “Outwitted” could be true for us here at DCC.

He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win.
We drew a circle that took him in.

Amen and amen.

[1] Gary Wilburn, Gateway Into God’s Realm, online at www.tcpc.org/resources/articles/gateway.htm .
[2] Online, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/39/story_3972_1.html

TAKE, BLESS, BREAK, GIVE Sermon 4-6-08

2008-04-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35

We are an Easter people, Amen? As post-resurrection Christians we have heard, some of us for many, many years, stories about the appearances of Jesus to the faith community. Today’s scripture has one of the most well-known stories—the Walk to Emmaus. Let’s look again at the scripture you just heard: two people are leaving Jerusalem, to go to Emmaus. One is named Cleopas; many scholars think that the other person may be his wife, Mary, as there were missionary couples in those days. Why were they on their way to Emmaus? There may have been several towns called Emmaus which meant hot springs. For these two, maybe Emmaus was home, and they were eager to go home and try to sort out why all of these things had happened to Jesus, their beloved leader. Maybe they just had to go some place and hideaway and try to figure out “what next”. When we don’t know what to do, or we have lost hope some of us probably wish we could find a place, an Emmaus where we could hide away and have some quiet to try to make sense of things.

As these followers were walking along discussing all that had happened in the last few days a stranger joined them and asked what they were talking about. They did not recognize this man and went on to tell him all about the arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And then this stranger started interpreting scripture to them, explaining how all that had happened needed to happen to give glory to God. Still the couple had no idea who this man was. Yet they invited him to stay with them for the night. I wonder how many times Christ has been present to us and we knew it not. How often we do not see or hear the Christ in the daily, ordinary living of our lives! How many times have we missed a spirit-filled opportunity because of our lack of hospitality! Even though I love the scripture where Jesus says when you do it to one of the least of these you do it unto me, or NOT. I know I let lots of opportunities go by. Maybe you do too.

Back to the scripture: Once Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat with them, putting into motion the title of today’s sermon, the four-fold action of take, bless, break, and give, their eyes were open and they recognized the risen Christ. Now for those of you that are familiar with the Bible, Jesus had done this before—at the feeding of the 5000 and most recently at that Passover Supper the Thursday that Judas betrayed him. Throughout the Gospels, so much of Jesus’ ministry took place at meals. He was portrayed by his enemies as a drunkard and a glutton! Take, bless, break and give are not just part of our Holy Communion sacrament, they are the whole of the Christian life. Let’s look at each of these words separately:

Take: Jesus is there for us, ready to take what we bring to him whether it be a concern, an anxiety, or a gift. We offer what we have to him and more importantly to others in his name. We bring to him our dreams, our passions, our sorrows. We bring the work that we do, the art we create. We offer our brokenness as well as our best selves, and Jesus takes it all.

Bless: Whatever we give to the Lord, whether it be an internal or external thing, Jesus blesses it and offers it on to God. He doesn’t evaluate or criticize, he simply blesses what we offer and gives thanks. Just as Jesus blesses, we too can bless each other and give thanks for the goodness that has been given to us. In fact there’s no better way to respond to life than to bless and praise God.

Break: Jesus breaks the bread because unless it is broken it can not be shared. Just as at Jesus’ crucifixion his body was broken for us so he shares our brokenness, our pain. Very few if any of us can go through life without suffering—failure, loss, divorce, loneliness, illness, death. Brokenness is part of the journey of life. If we can befriend that brokenness, it’s possible to learn from it and to grow because of it. Sometimes it’s through the brokenness that we can be transformed. If a snake does not shed its skin it will become sick. A snake sheds its skin when it’s inside becomes bigger than its outside, a process that continue throughout its life. Part of our brokenness is a need to shed whatever is dead, whatever doesn’t work for us anymore. It could be dead ways of thinking or believing or seeing or relating. Shedding opens us up to self-transformation.

Give: Jesus gives us the bread and wine in remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection. As followers of Jesus when we eat at the Communion table, we know that the Risen Christ is in us. This holy communion that we receive from Christ we then give to those we meet on the way. “He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” In giving and receiving our eyes are open so that we are better prepared to bring about God’s kingdom, that life of abundance where peace and justice reign.

Take, bless, break, and give. To close I share a summary of these actions as preached by Rev. Lori Sowdon:

We take the gifts of life, consciously aware of the Giver, our God. We bless the gifts, offering thanks for the gifts and praise to the Maker. We are broken in life, broken yet not destroyed, broken and healed, broken and raised to new life, broken to shine with the glory of God. We give, sharing God’s gifts with others. Perhaps our greatest expression of gratitude is in giving the gift away.

Take. Bless. Break. Give. These are the actions of a life lived in thanksgiving to God. May these four movements mark our lives as disciples of Jesus. May they become daily acts, drawing us into closer communion with God and with one another.

What Now? Sermon for March 30, 2008

2008-04-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

Can you imagine if you had been a disciple how you might have felt after the Easter morning revelation by Mary Magdalene that she had seen the risen Jesus? Thinking back on that last week, that week of intimacy, chaos, confusion, denial, horror and grief, what do you think you might have been thinking and feeling? Guilt and fear would probably be high on the list. We know that the disciples were gathered behind locked doors—except for Thomas. The women that went to the tomb probably also had a lot of fear and grief; however, they obviously had something else—great love. They certainly were not expecting a party, not a beginning of a story but an ending. They really had nothing to gain, in fact they could have had much to lose if the authorities saw them and associated them with this criminal. Yet still they made this early morning journey to the tomb, faithfully, lovingly showing up.

The gospel for today tells us that on the night of the empty tomb, the night of resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we have ten disciples huddled together in fear and confusion, behind a door tightly locked. Then suddenly without a knock, without a door opening, Jesus was standing in the midst of them, saying, “Peace be with you.” The same words we say most Sunday mornings right after the children’s story. Jesus said this peace greeting not once but twice; the second time was after he showed them his hands and his side. And then he did a Pentecostal thing—he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. He also authorized them to forgive sins. Can you imagine? These men were probably thinking that Jesus would be angry at them for their abandoning and denying him. But No, he treated them with great respect and love. The same thing happened a week later when Thomas who had been missing that first night finally saw Jesus. There was no reprimand for his having doubted that Jesus was alive. Jesus willingly let him touch the holes in his hands and side. The Easter scripture up to now has been focusing a lot on seeing, seeing and believing. Now Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” This is indeed a word to us and all the generations after the resurrection. We didn’t have to be there to know that Jesus the Christ lives. It’s amazing how Jesus can enter into us with the Good News even when we are scared, even when we have many doubts. Don’t ever let doubt stop you from believing and sharing the Good News. You may not have it all figured out; it’s enough to know that Jesus has given us peace, and the Holy Spirit is to be with us always. As one of the UCC Easter devotionals pointed out, for Christians, it is always the Easter season, “because ever since the Day of Resurrection we have been in the Easter era…Easter happens when anyone who suffers finds new hope. When anyone who is mistreated or neglected or belittled finds the freedom for a fresh start, (then) Easter occurs all over again.”[1] It’s up to us to put the teachings of Jesus into practice. In the next and last chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus reminds Peter of this three times in a row when he asks, do you love me? And then tells Peter, Feed my sheep and Follow me.

What is the Easter mission of our church? Now we have a long mission statement in the bulletin and then we have a short one, like a slogan, on the front of the bulletin: Love God, love your neighbor; seek justice, peace and diversity. For me that word love is the supreme activity that we are being called to do. Many of you know my concern about evangelizing, going out and sharing the good news. One of my favorite writers, Quaker Parker Palmer has written that “the mission of the church is not to enlarge its membership, not to bring outsiders to accept its terms, but simply to love the world in every possible way—to love the world as God did and does” (In the Company of Strangers).

What will bring the bright light of Easter to overcome the darkness of Good Friday? The Good News—and the scary responsibility--is that we are the ones that will bring the light to the darkness. We do that by faithfully and lovingly showing up like the women did at the grave on that Sunday morning. And then we go forth. We go forth with questions, with doubts, with love and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to bring about the passion of Jesus, to bring about the justice and peace of the kingdom of God. Just as Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into his disciples, he has also given us that Holy Spirit and called us forth.

You know, Thomas gets a bum rap in our society; when people say doubting Thomas it really isn’t taken as a compliment. But you know he was the only one of the disciples that evening that was out and about. Sure he had questions and doubts. We might say he had to have some breathing space to try to understand what was happening and what it meant. I believe healthy faith has space for doubts, questions, unbelief. In fact for me one of the most meaningful verses in the Bible, as well as the scripture for my first sermon at age 17 is “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” from Mark 9:24b.

Sometimes we have to go on in spite of our doubts. “There is a story about a pre-civil rights African American community in Florida. The story says that during times of political elections, this community would rent a voting machine and go through the voting process. Now, they knew that their votes would not be counted, but they voted anyway. When asked by members of the white community why they did this every year, they replied, "Oh, just practicing. Just practicing." Believing in what is not yet seen means we practice or behave as if it already exists. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." This is what leaders and visionaries do. They believe in something bigger than themselves and they begin to act as if it is so.”[2] I believe that our faith varies as did the disciples: sometimes we are filled with it; other times it’s barely there. Sometimes we believe even when we have not seen; other times we have seen it with our own eyes and yet are still filled with doubt. Last week on Dateline they showed a young man who had been seriously injured in a 4-wheeler accident. Despite efforts to save him, the brain activity was gone and the family was making preparations to donate his organs, when a relative with medical expertise noticed that something was changing in him physically. And to make a long story short, he came back from the edge of death and made pretty much a full recovery. Some people questioned the medical tests and evaluations; some felt there must have been a scientific mistake. The physicians assured that the tests were correct and that scientifically there was no way for someone with that much damage to recover. Yet he did. I wonder how many people who saw that program held on to the belief that there must have been a mistake instead of rejoicing that miracles happen.

Faith and fear, fear and faith: as William Sloane Coffin, one of our great prophets in the UCC, said, "As I see it, the primary religious task these days is to try to think straight...You can't think straight with a heart full of fear, for fear seeks safety, not truth. If your heart's a stone, you can't have decent thoughts – either about personal relations or about international ones. A heart full of love, on the other hand, has a limbering effect on the mind." Another great preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick has written a poem of sorts about fear vs. faith:

Fear imprisons, faith Liberates;
Fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Fear sickens, faith heals;
Fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable;
Fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God.

This poem certainly makes faith sound pretty wonderful to me. What needs to happen with you so that your faith will overcome your fears and your doubts? For most of us it’s not enough just to read the words; we have to experience Christ’s presence. Maybe you want to touch Jesus and KNOW that Jesus is really right here with you? Then hear what Jesus says to his disciples after they have received the Holy Spirit: “you are being sent out into the world and specifically to the world’s brokenness.” Will you (name some of people present) accept the commission to be part of the body of Christ and go forth in love? You are being called AND empowered to do what Jesus did. You don’t wait until you feel prepared and faithful enough, you go and then your faith and your power will increase. In your own way through the opportunities you are presented with, go, touch, heal, love, forgive in Christ’s name. Bring about justice and peace in this hurting world. Remember the Holy Spirit is within you and Jesus himself promises to abide with you till the end of time. God bless each of you as you go forth. Amen.

[1] David M. Powers, Stillspeaking Lent Devotional: Thursday, March 27.
[2] Wyvetta Bullock, Must We See to Believe? In e-Sermons.com.

THE GOOD NEWS EASTER SERMON 2008

2008-03-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

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.

WHERE IS YOUR FIRE? Sermon for August 19, 2007

2007-08-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3, Lk: 12:49-56

How can the Jesus we know as the Christ child destined to bring peace on earth and good tidings to all be the same Jesus that in our gospel lesson today says he will bring fire and division to believers? We are more use to bumper stickers and hymns that say Jesus Loves Us. We focus on God being a nice God, a God of unconditional love. Jesus gives us many examples about this loving God. So what in the world is Jesus talking about in this Luke scripture? If you are familiar with the Bible you will remember that as early as his infancy, conflict was predicted for Jesus. When the old man Simeon blessed the infant Jesus, he told Mary that Jesus was destined to be in the midst of conflict and opposition, so much so that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul. (Lk 2:34-35)

This reminds me of a story I heard about a Baptist pastor fresh out of seminary was assigned to a small church in the hills of Kentucky. In his first sermon, he condemned gambling, especially betting on the horses. The sermon was not well received. "You see, Reverend," a parishioner explained, "this whole area is known for its fine horses. Lots of our members make their living breeding race horses."The next Sunday the pastor spoke on the evils of smoking, and again, his sermon was not well received - for many of his members also grew tobacco. The third week the pastor preached on the evils of drinking, only to discover after that a major distillery was one of the town's largest employers.Chastised for his choice of sermon topics, the frustrated pastor exclaimed, "Well, then, what can I preach about?" A kindly, older woman spoke up and said, "Pastor, preach against those godless Chinese communists. Why, there isn't a Chinese communist within 4,000 miles of here!"

There are some sermons people do not want to hear because they contradict their dearly held values or their comfortable life styles. Jesus earned a reputation for preaching these kinds of sermons - sermons that were challenging and demanding, radical and divisive. In our Gospel lesson for today we have just such a sermon.[1]

We have been reading Luke ever since Christmas and we are finally at the end of the 12th chapter. Let’s look at the context for today’s Luke passage. This reading comes in the middle of a larger section that describes the dangers of greed, warns about watchfulness, readiness, and faithfulness. Last week our Hebrew scripture also emphasized faith, which I suggested might also be thought of as trust in God. Walter Brueggemann describes faith as "the willingness to trust our lives and our future to God even when God does not appear to be as reliable as other, more immediate supports. Faith is readiness to risk life on the promises of God without holding back." [2] Our Hebrew scripture is written to a group of early Christians when faith was very risky and dangerous, telling them that they had choices, a race to run with perseverance. The author strongly suggests that they “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” (12:1b)

Back to Luke:by this point in Luke, Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem and his crucifixion. As he journeys on, Jesus becomes a source of much conflict and opposition as he begins to claim great power and authority. Jesus has been set on fire; it reminds me of Moses experiencing the burning bush. If you remember, Moses was not led on to peace and easy living, but into great conflict with Pharaoh as well as with his own people. Jesus has claimed his identity as the son of God. Such knowledge has turned him on and led him to teach his followers about the kingdom in the short time he has left. So he emphatically denies that following him will bring peace. He warns his followers of the cost of discipleship. He uses the important kinship, intergenerational ties to illustrate the division that will take place. Is this good news? Depends on what the world was like.

The earthly world that Jesus was part of was deeply marred and scarred, unjust, with life-destroying power. It was a world that evidenced much suffering: poverty, slavery, exploitation, violence, cruel and inhumane punishments, ostracism of those that were different, no rights for women. Patriarchy was the social form; especially rich, white, male Roman’s had great power over the rest of the population. Throughout the gospels Jesus refers to God’s kingdom turning the present way of being and doing upside down. This kingdom can not be brought about without confrontation in this kind of society. So when Jesus talks about fire and division, he’s saying that his followers will be constantly challenged if they follow his teachings and that they must put the kingdom ahead of their loyalty to family ties. Why? Because for Jesus, God’s kingdom is more important than even one’s family. Family obligations are subordinate to God’s kingdom.

We know from Jesus’ teachings and behavior that he had a stomach that churned for the vulnerable and became exceedingly angry at those who made a mockery of the temple by their dishonest dealings. He felt so angry that he upturned the tables and whipped out at the money changers. This was an anger of advocacy and caring, directed against those that made life worse for the neglected, the forgotten and all those not in power.

Lisa Fithian is a grassroots activist in the global peace-oriented movement for social justice. She has been arrested 30 times for intentionally creating crises—situations that force the powers that be such as the transnational corporations, the media, security forces, to cease doing business as usual and look at the inequities that they may be perpetuating and then hopefully to change those policies. Fithian explained: “When people ask me, ‘What do you do?,’ I say I create crisis, because crisis is that edge where change is possible.”[3] I wonder if this is the kind of thing Jesus is talking about when he says he comes to bring fire to the earth. “Was he not saying, as Lisa Fithian says, I have come to bring crisis because business as usual means injustice and death?”[4]

Jesus is talking about a fire that would inflame people to care and to serve and to bless others. This fire can lead people through the darkness and culminate in the coming of God’s kingdom. Is this kind of fire burning in you? What turns it on and how do you express it? How does your family feel about this fire? Or do they even know it is burning? Have you ever had trouble with anyone in your family because of your faith and how you carry it out? When you make a decision to commit yourself to Jesus, you must be prepared for opposition from those that do not agree with you, those that think you are wasting your life, going in the wrong direction. If Jesus’ fire takes hold of us, it can make us dangerous and divisive, a person that can not be bought off or intimidated. I’m thinking of the Quaker Tom Fox, one of the team of Christian Peace Makers, who was kidnapped and eventually killed by the opposition in Iraq. Here was a man who completely believed in living as Jesus lived which included being a pacifist and treating all, even one’s enemies with respect and kindness. In his blog the day before he was killed he responded to the question of why he was in Iraq:

"If I understand the message of God, his response to that question is that we are to take part in the creation of the Peaceable Realm of God. As I survey the landscape here in Iraq, dehumanization seems to be the operative means of relating to each other. We are here to root out all aspects of dehumanization that exists within us. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls."

Tom had told his family and friends that if he was captured or killed they should not take revenge on those responsible. As Bob Burnett, a Quaker writer and activist said,” We feel that it's better to honor our personal integrity, our relationship with the divine, than to play it safe.”[5]

My sisters and brothers, I pray that I could have this combination of fire and peace within to fully react in love to all with whom I come in contact. The command of love that Jesus emphasized stokes division with others and within our own hearts. It’s not easy to follow Jesus. Tom Fox paid the ultimate price by giving his life. Neither the world nor the church will benefit from a lukewarm faith, so I call on all of you to honor and give thanks for that transforming fire that is available to your from our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you hear Jesus calling to you, calling you outside the comfort walls into the life of the real world? Will you answer the call? Where is your fire?

[1] Frank Rothfuss, “Jesus’ Focus on the Family” found in e-Sermons.com.
[2] Inscribing the Text: Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann
[3] From article for the Christian Century by Theresa Berger.
[4] Ibid.
[5] www.commondreams.org

Rich Towards God, Sermon for August 5, 2007

2007-08-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Luke 12:13-21 and Colossians 3:1-11

The title of this sermon is “Rich Towards God”; I considered “What have you stored in your barn?” as well as Abundance of Soul. No matter what I name it, it really is about money, greed, and your life—the life you live today and your life eternal. It is probably the topic that I have the most difficulty with in my personal life, the area of my life where I feel I am the most sinful. As I write this sermon, I have a visceral reaction in my stomach. I even feel close to tears. Part of me is saying it is just too hard to be a disciple of Jesus-- to say nothing about being a minister that is charged with teaching and preaching to other Christians.

Let’s look at the gospel lesson: Luke describes an incident that occurred in Galilee as Jesus was teaching to a crowd of followers. He is interrupted by a young man who yells out, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me a fair share of the inheritance of our father.” The Jewish law provided at that time that the elder son would receive 2/3rds of the father’s wealth and the younger son 1/3. Jesus quickly let’s the young man know that he is not the inheritance police and then he goes on to tell the story that most Bible’s title, “The Rich Fool”

Let me give you an updated modern version of what I believe Jesus was saying: There was once a man who had a great run of good fortune and prosperity—maybe he did well in the stock market, in this case probably the commodities market. In fact he had made so much money he had to find more banks for his deposits as he didn’t want to risk having over the $100,000 that is federally insured per depositor in any one bank. Now I want to point out that this was not an evil man. He was not unlike most of us who are well off and want to enjoy life. No way do I see Jesus indicating that God doesn’t like folks who work hard and are successful. In this congregation and in my own family there are a range of households, some living month to month, others having a net worth of a half a million or so. This story tempts us to think that Jesus is down on material things and wealthy people. What I think Jesus is doing is cautioning us of the seductiveness of wealth and consumerism. If we spend a large amount of time on acquiring money and other material things and then worrying about keeping them safe or preventing them from losing value, it consumes a tremendous amount of our time that could be used in better ways to bring about the Kingdom.

I’d like to illustrate with a true story I saw on the internet about hummingbirds. There was a family that put up a hummingbird feeder with four feeding stations. Almost immediately it became very popular with the local hummingbirds. Two, three, or even four birds would feed at one time. Suddenly the usage decreased to almost nothing. “The reason for the decreased usage soon became apparent. A male bird had taken over the feeder as his property. He was now the only hummingbird who used it. He would feed and then sit in a nearby tree, rising to attack any bird that approached his feeder. Guard duty occupied his every waking hour. He was an effective guard. The only timeanother bird got to use the feeder was when the self-appointed owner was momentarily gone to chase away an intruder.”[1] You see by choosing to be the owner and guard of the feeder, the hummingbird forfeited his freedom. He was no longer free to come and go as he wished. He was tied to the work of guarding his STUFF. He was possessed by his possession.

In the same way our wealth and possessions can keep us away from serving God or enjoying our family, or relaxing. With what are our barns, our attics, our closets filled? After God has called this man a fool, the last sentence in our NRSV translation says, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’ Listen to the translation by Eugene Peterson in the Message, "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God" What ways might we be rich towards God? One commentary answers in this way, "This is the wealth we acquire when, trusting the future to God, we use what is given us unselfishly…The way to real life is to give our lives away."[2] The rich man in Jesus’ story disregards God’s role in his life. One of the real dangers/seductions about wealth is the illusion it gives us of being in control of our lives. When someone close to us has a tragedy, we are aware for a moment that life is not predictable and that the true value in our life has to be other than the material. The rich fool had the following follies according to Culpepper: 1 Preoccupation with possessions, 2 Self-sufficiency, no need for other people—he was alone; 3 Hollowness of hedonism—eat, drink, and be merry; 5 Greed—not sharing his abundance and good fortune with others.[3]

In the letter to the Colossians, there is a very similar theme. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth..” and “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). The essence of this passage is that as we are now raised with Christ, (through our baptism) “seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” This again is about the top values in our life.

Some of my great difficulty with this topic is how do you determine how much is enough and how much is too much when you come to saving. Being a good New Englander, I very much was influenced by saving up for a rainy day as well as my experience of seeing the pain of my parents’ poverty which came from their not earning much money nor making wise financial decisions. Consequently, I became a saver not a spender.

The other question is how much do you give away? How much do you share with your children, your church, your larger community that is in need? Then what happens when you and your partner have different philosophies about spending and saving and giving away? The Hebrew Bible has many verses that tell us to give 10% to God. Before or after taxes? Salary or total income? And so on-- the questions could take up many sermons. If any one has a clue to how to answer these questions, I’d love to have conversation with you.

The man Jesus told the story about evidently had no conflict about his wealth and possessions. He felt easy and secure about the future; however, God calls him a fool. God knew that all the man’s labors for his own gain could not be taken with him when he dies. God only required his soul. Jesus tells us that if we lay up treasure for ourselves and are not rich towards God, we too will be a fool. We need to be careful about hoping that our successes, our prosperity, our bank accounts will fill our souls. And really, the only thing that God requires in return for God’s gift of life and love, is that we go and do likewise, that we allow others to live by living more simply ourselves and sharing our blessings. As Gandhi said, we have enough for our need but not for our greed! How do we live more simply so that others may simply live?

So I come to the end of writing this sermon four hours later and still have so many questions. My stomach is less tight and I no longer feel tearful. There are some things I do know. God does not disapprove of wealth and prosperity; Jesus is cautioning us not to let greed and wealth be a block to following the path required of us. I don’t know all the specifics, yet I do know that to be rich towards God means putting God first, giving God attention in our prayers and other practices, loving God and loving all God’s children and always remembering what we do to the least of these we do to God.

Let us pray, Gracious, gracious God, please help us figure this whole thing out and do what you want us to do so that we can be rich towards you. Thank you for your guidance, the teachings of Jesus, your love. Amen

[1] David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, at e-Sermons.com
[2] Richard Bauckman, The Lectionary Commentary, ed. by Roger van Harn.
[3] In New Interpreter’s Bible on Luke.

The Mystery of Prayer, Sermon for July 29, 2007

2007-08-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Luke 11:1-13

Today’s Gospel in Luke includes a less familiar version of the Lord’s prayer than the one in Mathew. The Matthew version is probably the original and is more polished, having seven petitions instead of just four that are in Luke. The missing words in Luke compared to Matthew are “Our …who art in heaven…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…but deliver us from evil.” I want to share with you yet another version found in the Messenger by Eugene Petersen: “Father, /Reveal who you are. /Set the world right./Keep us alive with three square meals./ Keep us forgiven by you and forgiving others./ Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

I’ve certainly had my share of questions about prayer as I would guess all of you have had. There is a Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown is kneeling beside his bed for prayer. Suddenly he stops and says to Lucy, "I think I’ve made a new theological discovery, a real breakthrough. If you hold your hands upside down, you get the opposite of what you pray for." Prayer is not magic. Or as another preacher[1] said, “Prayer must be more than an emergency magical lamp rubbed in a crisis.”

I would guess that many folks give up on prayer because they do not understand it. Much of what passes for prayer is superstitious, irrational and self-centered. Pray-ers ask for something very important such as don’t let their infant die. The infant dies, and they figure, why bother to pray. It doesn’t do any good.

This sermon is going to focus on what I believe about prayer. First of all, I believe that prayer is a way to have intimacy with God. When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, it was not because they were unfamiliar with prayer. They were faithful Jews who had grown up praying. Our gospel reading starts with Jesus finishing praying while the disciples observed. I imagine that they observed in Jesus’ praying and in his talking to them and others, a real intimacy with God that they were not familiar with. Remember Jesus called God “Abba”, a word most closely translated into our English as “Daddy”. Jesus goes on to give an example of how God’s listening and answering prayer is like the love of a parent who would give only good things to his/her child. This is the kind of intimacy that we can trust; we can talk to God and knows that God is listening. We don’t have to leave anything out. We can express all our concerns, our fears, our angers, our grief, our doubts and know that God hears. So prayer, first of all for me, is intimacy with God, getting to know God and be known by God, a God who loves us unconditionally.

I believe that prayer is not a way to escape from the world, but is a way to help us live more fully in the world in a manner that Jesus taught us. For me prayer and action go together. Doing good deeds without praying, getting connected and nourished by the Source of all will soon lead to burn out. Action without praying can be dangerous as we may begin to think we are in charge; that it all depends on us instead of that higher power that is in and around us, or as Paul quoted in Acts says, “God is the one in whom we live and move and have our being.” On the other hand if we pray and do not engage in action to transform/heal/bring peace and justice for all, we are like a clanging cymbal, signifying nothing.

I believe that prayer is heard by God. Sometimes it’s hard to see the answer to prayer in the moment. Looking back on my life, I felt a strong guidance from God directing me to ordained ministry. During that long dark night of the soul I’ve often referred to, it did not seem like God was answering my prayers. I couldn’t find a church or a minister that seemed to fit my needs; I was lonely and my marriage was shaky. Yet I believe now that was a period of learning to trust God and gaining confidence in my ability to be a minister. Other times I have felt an answer to prayer in the present as when I was praying for my mother on the other side of the country and a vision came to me very strongly that I was to move from CA to Maine to be with her in her final years. I fought the decision as I didn’t want to go; however, the more I prayed and discussed the decision with family the more I felt God was calling me there. So, yes I believe that God listens to our prayers. Lots of times I’m upset when I feel God is not answering my prayers. But I wonder if maybe it’s just that I don’t like the answer. Maybe one of things that happens in prayer is that we become what we pray for. For example, if we pray for peace, we become more of a peace pilgrim, doing those things that will create peace near and far. Another example would be as we pray for healing and other healthy things for ourselves or others, our heart becomes more filled with compassion.

Those of you that have been listening to me preach for a while know that I very much like the ideas of Marcus Borg, who believes in a panentheistic God, not an interventionist God that is out there somewhere and comes when we call. Rather than God being a person-like being out there, he believes in God as the encompassing spirit in whom everything that is, is. This God is not out there, but right here all around us. Another way Borg describes this God is not only “right here”, but also “more than right here”.[2] He sees God as a presence beneath and within our everyday lives. In this light, Borg doesn’t believe that God intervenes as in answering prayer. How could God intervene for some and not for others? This belief really messed up my intercessory prayers for a while.

Borg, in spite of this belief, continues to daily pray intercessory and petitionary prayers. He says this kind of praying feels like a natural form of caring; he also recognizes that there is some evidence for the efficacy of prayers in healing. The biggest reason he continues his praying is for the intimacy that praying gives him with God. He says that ideally the whole of verbal prayer is about intimacy. How and if prayer works in other ways, Borg admits to just not knowing.
Joan Chittester has similar views to Borg’s concept of God. She talks about how the old definition of prayer as “the raising of our hearts and minds to God misrepresents God as some distant judge outside ourselves.” She says that “science, with its new perception that matter and spirit are of a piece, sometimes particles, sometimes energy, assures us that God is not out there on a cloud somewhere, imperious and suspecting. God is the very energy that animates us. God is the spirit that leads us and drives us on. God is the voice within us calling us to life. God is the reality trying to come to fullness within us, both individually and together. It is to that cosmic God, that personal, inner, enkindling God, that we pray.”[3]

The last part of our gospel has those well known and often quoted words, “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Vv. 9-10) Some of you may be familiar with The Secret, a film and a book written on the premise that we bring to ourselves whatever we think about or ask for. I recently read the book, and they quote this ask/search/knock passage of Jesus as being an example of what they are holding up. I have a lot of questions about this theory; however, I know in my own life if I have filled my mind with worry and anxiety, often what I worry about comes true. An example is a couple of years ago when I went to CA I rented a brand new, shiny white vehicle. I was so worried that someone would hit up against it and I would be held responsible. Not only did two bruises appear on the car, but I ended up having an accident with my being at fault. This illustration certainly illustrates their law of attraction or thinking makes it so. As I looked more carefully at this part of our scripture, I realize that Jesus does not say that we will receive whatever requested; instead he says how much more does God give good gifts to his children. I think it’s dangerous when we take this as a blank check on which we can write anything our hearts desire. Jesus does say in the next chapter of Luke, “Do not be anxious, seek first God’s kingdom and these things such as clothing and shelter shall be yours as well.” Another way of looking at this is that God also asks, seeks, and knocks. Prayer is effective not because of us but because God’s nature is like a Parent who loves his own and wants to give good gifts. Another way of looking at prayer is that when we bring our concerns for ourselves or others to God’s love in faith, that is prayer.

My last point about prayer is that I believe prayer is a mystery. Prayer often surprises us. We think we have it all figured out and then something new and different emerges. Prayer is a conversation with the living God during which we may clarify and sometimes change our hopes and plans. It’s hard to listen in prayer. Most of us are so use to talking, it’s hard to be in a prayerful silence. I believe that Jesus taught us by the Lord’s prayer that it is very important for us to ask that we help God bring about God’s kingdom. Bishop William Willimon made the observation that most churches have a time of Joys and Concerns before prayer time in worship. He says that most of the concerns are about various people going through health problems. He refers to it as “Sick Call”. He points out that none of this is in the Lord’s prayer. As followers of Jesus, he suggests we talk to God about what Jesus talks about when he prays: the coming of God’s kingdom, for daily bread, and for forgiveness. As Christians, we are in life long training about how to pray as Jesus taught us. It’s not as simple as it seems. Yet the Holy Spirit is with us just as Jesus promised. Paul also assures us that when we have trouble praying, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with “sighs too deep for words. Yes, prayer is a mystery; we do not know how it works, but I feel confidant that the “Still Speaking God” knows what we are praying for and even answers us, although in ways that are not easily understood or made sense of. Thanks be to God! My prayer is that we continue to encourage each other to be a people of prayer and faith. Amen and amen.
[1] eSermons for July 29, 2007
[2] The Heart of Christianity, p. 66
[3] “Contemplation in the Midst of Chaos”, on 30 Good Minutes online.

GO AND DO LIKEWISE Sermon for July 15, 2007

2007-08-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Deut. 30:11-14, Luke 10:25-37

Most of you here probably are familiar with the Good Samaritan story. Let me quickly do a little background for you. Our story starts out with a lawyer asking Jesus a question. Now in those days lawyers did not have the greatest reputation. They were rich and popular, but it should not have been surprising to anyone standing there that day when a lawyer swaggered up to Jesus with a question—actually, two questions, trying to catch Jesus and trip him up. Actually the lawyer’s first question was most legitimate, especially for someone who had all his material needs met and was now focusing on the spiritual. As he wondered about his life, he wanted to be assured that he would not die so he asks Jesus what did he have to do to have eternal life. Jesus answer was pretty straightforward and clear: Love God and then love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. Yet this lawyer, as lawyers tend to do, wanted more of the details, “Just so I know Jesus, who indeed is my neighbor?” And then Jesus answered with the familiar parable.
Now a little geographical background: this road from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, near Jericho, descends more than 3600 feet in a little less than 20 miles. Not only was this road very steep, it was also very treacherous. The terrain was such that there were lots of crevices and caves for bandits to hide in. This was a very dangerous road. Our victim has evidently encountered some of these robbers who have beaten him and left him half dead. Jesus tells us about three men who come upon this suffering man: the first two, a priest and a Levite passed by on the other side. Although this seems very uncaring to us, these men were not bad people. There are several excuses that the commentaries give for this behavior. You have probably heard some of them: the body on the roadside could have been a plant by robbers to lure other travelers into stopping, at which they too could have been robbed and even killed. One of the excuses most often given is that touching a corpse would have defiled the priest and the Levite and disqualified them from performing their duties in the Temple. (One of my references points out that the priest and Levite were traveling from Jerusalem where the Temple was—so much for that excuse.)

The parable continues with a Samaritan man coming and bandaging the victim, carrying him on his donkey to the inn and even paying for the innkeeper to care for him; in other words the Samaritan showed great compassion. The Samaritans, remember Quick review of Jewish history: Samaritans were outcasts and had been for over 400 years by the time Jesus was telling this story. No Jew in his right mind would associate with a Samaritan on any level if it could be avoided. Samaritans were regarded as unclean, descendants of mixed marriages that followed from the Assyrian settlement of people from various regions in the fallen northern kingdom. While Samaritans saw themselves as Jews, no racially pure Jew would ever consider a Samaritan on equal footing.

We all have our Samaritans: those people that we don’t want anything to do with, those folks that we ignore, neglect, avoid because of where they live, the color of their skin, their beliefs, their class, their ethnicity. Growing up in my family it was Jews and African Americans. For many today it is an Arab, a Muslim, an illegal immigrant, a Mexican, people with AIDS, criminals, drug users. We all have our own lists.

Do you have any idea how many people are hurting, are lonely, feel unloved and worthless? When a tragedy happens such as at Virginia Tech, we sometimes get a glimpse of the many “neighbors” to whom we are not showing compassion. Jesus answers the lawyer with directions to love God and neighbor. At the end of the story it is obvious to the lawyer that the neighbor is the one who shows mercy and compassion. Then Jesus says to him, “Go and do likewise.”

There’s an excellent article in the July issue of The Progressive Christian about the Virginia Tech incident written by Hak Joon Lee and entitled “When Community Disappears.” He points out that in every school massacre in our country the prominent thing is that the killers were not only loners, but they were suffering from excessive feelings of isolation. They were often either neglected or bullied. The author concludes that the only way to prevent such tragedies is for us to reach out, care selflessly for others—in terms of the Good Samaritan: show mercy and compassion. To quote Lee, “At the very least, when we fail to pay close attention to others we also fail to identify those who may pose a danger to themselves and to others….Some form of social caring or attention is indispensable for living with each other in safety.” He goes on to say that “From a Christian perspective, hyper-individualism and indifference are unbiblical….Reaching out is at the center of Christian theology. God’s very nature is to reach out in overflowing love, just as God’s goal in history is the creation of community.” Just as in the Good Samaritan “reaching out is to cross artificial lines and categories—the lines between God and humanity, between nationalities, between Jews and Gentiles, and between genders…”

Martin Luther King, Jr talked about going further than making the world a neighborhood but that it is necessary to make it a brotherhood (and I would add sisterhood). King says that if we do not live together as family “we will all perish together as fools.” Building community is the only effective and lasting option to stop tragedies like Virginia Tech as well as to prevent the wounds that cause the violence of the life around us. Manufacturing more guns, building more gated communities, practicing residential segregation, isolating our selves from those that are different will only lead to more tragedy. If we don’t reach out to strangers and build a beloved community for all, we are not following Jesus’ command to go and do likewise.

Barbara Johnson has written a poem that complements The Good Samaritan to a certain degree:

A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.
A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there."
An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there."
A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit."
A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit.
A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit.
A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit."
An IRS agent asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit."
A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit."
An optimist said, "Things could be worse."
A pessimist said, "Things will get worse."
Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit!

The important difference in this poem from the parable in Luke is that Jesus does not say that he is the only one to show compassion, the only one to lift the man out of the pit." He says, "You go. You do it. You are called by God to live out your love by loving your neighbor as yourself."
As people of faith, deep down we already know the answer to “Who is my neighbor?” Just as our Hebrew Scripture lesson for today says that the answer is not too hard for us. “The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” The incarnation was God’s way of coming to us, reaching out to human beings to build a community. Pentecost was another time that God reached out to us through the Holy Spirit as well as his showing us the need to reach out to others, no matter what their language or background. For us here at Deering Community Church, reaching out will require commitment and the willingness to be vulnerable. Evangelism, which is another word for reaching out, is not just about sharing church doctrines and theology, it is about embodying the love and compassion that Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel lesson. Whether individuals, churches, or nations, we are not meant to live alone. We are made to share our lives with each other. May God give us the strength, the courage, and the faith to do so. Amen!!

Simple Acts/Amazing Results Sermon July 8, 2007

2007-08-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14 and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

The story of Naaman, so nicely acted out for us, has all kinds of interesting things: power, arrogance, simplicity, anger, wisdom from unexpected sources. Did you realize that Naaman was an enemy of the Israelites? He was the commander of the Army of the King of Aram (which is ancient Syria) yet it was the King of Israel that he was sent to see about his healing. I don’t know why he was not sent directly to the prophet Elisha whose name he was given by the captured Israelite slave girl as the one that could bring about the healing of his skin disease. So he finally is referred to Elisha, and the prophet refuses to see him. Remember as Commander of the Army, Naaman felt pretty proud of himself. In spite of his skin disease, he had a sense of authority and confidence. How could the prophet Elisha refuse to see such an important man? Not only did Elisha not have a face to face meeting, he told Naaman to do a very simple thing: go wash in the muddy River Jordan seven times. What kind of a cure is that! This River was not any more than a muddy creek along much of its course, not like the grand rivers in Aram that Naaman was familiar with. Naaman expected the prophet to come pray over him and wave his hand over the spotted skin till it was healed—something with a dramatic flair. This simple solution that was proposed made Naaman angry. It was his servants, the little people, the people not given a name or title as with the slave girl, that convinced him to bathe in the river. They used a bit of reason, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was ‘Wash, and be clean’? So as we know, in the end, Naaman, who represented the "enemy," left praising the name of Israel's God.

Naaman’s healing is a countercultural vision of the pathway to healing and wholeness. Today whether it’s traditional cures or alternative cures, we seek clearly-articulated techniques that guarantee healing. In this story it is asserted that healing doesn’t have to be complicated. Instead the story shows that healing can occur anywhere, by any practice, through any mediator, and at any pace. To sum up this healing story, an unlikely person seeks healing, the powerful Naaman. Naaman finds a path to healing from an unexpected source, a Hebrew slave girl, who testifies to the power of her God. Naaman encounters an unexpected healer, Elisha, a Hebrew, who points the general to an unexpected healing modality, a dip in the nearby and rather undistinguished Jordan River.

This story tells me that healing does not have to be dramatic. God seeks healing in every circumstance and virtually any encounter can be a source of personal transformation. and healing . When you and I say “yes” to Christ’s question, “do you want to be healed?” many possibilities open up for us. In fact, I believe that usually what we need to be whole, to be transformed is right within us or in front of us.

One of my favorite authors, Mark Nepo, tells the story about his looking across the lake and seeing the most exotic place, especially as the early morning light beamed down. After watching the other side for several days, he just had to cross the lake to see it up close. When he got to the other side that mysterious, exotic otherness was gone. He started laughing at himself as he looked over to the other side, his home side, and saw the early morning light causing the water to sparkle and look as exotic as the far side had from the home view. He writes “so often we imagine that There is more full of gold than Here…We see the light everywhere but where we are, and chase after what we think we lack, only to find, humbly, it was with us all along.”[1]
This story of simplified healing leads me now to our Gospel lesson where Jesus sends out 70 disciples, two by two to help him spread the message of peace and love. He instructs them to take no purse, no bag, no sandals. This reminds me of the story my husband, Neill, tells about when he first came to this country to live and all he had was carried in two bicycle panniers—large bags that strap on to a bicycle. For those of you that helped us move in to either of our houses in Deering or Hillsboro, you know how much stuff we now have! I’m also reminded of St. Francis of Assisi, who when asked by the Pope why he insisted upon having no property at all of his own, and why he insisted that his disciples too must own nothing. Francis replied that "if we had any possessions, we should need weapons and laws to defend them." I often hear people talking about wanting to get rid of stuff and live more simply but how hard it is to do. Jesus goes on to tell his followers that they are to share their peace and convey that the Kingdom of God is near. They went about healing and exorcising demons. When they returned they had much joy that they were so successful: “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us.” Jesus replied that although they have authority over the power of the enemies and all the evil spirits, they must not rejoice because of this. In other words, they must not be blown up and superior acting, but act humbly. The thing that Jesus says that they need to rejoice about is that their names are written in heaven.

So what does this all have to do with us? I really don’t expect you to get rid of all your belongings and get on the road barefoot without your wallets and purses yet Christ's message of peace and wholeness still needs to be heard today. We don’t go around talking about evil spirits; however, there are all kinds of things that rob people of joy and peace and life itself: injustice, oppression, hatreds, greed, intolerance and prejudice. We live in a world filled with terrible violence, violence that affects us in our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, as well as in all the nations of the world. Who’s going to share the Good News if not us?
Christ calls us to go out with a message of peace, a proclamation that the kingdom of God is near. When we are faithful in obeying that call, the power of the gods of this world--the powers of greed and selfishness, of hatred and injustice, of evil in all its many forms--begin to crumble.
We must be careful not to be fool our selves that that these forces are only to be found out in the world. As I’ve said many times before, the first step towards true and lasting peace and wholeness must be a journey inward. Within each one of us are attitudes and behaviors that are not in line with Christ's call to peace. We must humbly and honestly confront those attitudes within us if we are to be effective in reaching out to others with Christ’s message of reconciliation and love.

This reminds me of a story I first heard from Gandhi’s grandson, Arun. (I’ve told it to you before.) There was a little boy from the Cherokee tribe, who came home from school one day very upset and angry because the school bully had hit him. He talked to his grandfather about how upset he was and what he could do. The grandfather responded, “Right now a fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, resentment, pride, and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too.” The child thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied: “The one I feed.” Which wolf will you feed?

Remember that Jesus told his disciples not to rejoice at being successful but to rejoice in being faithful and obedient. In good times and in bad, in times of joy and in times of challenge, we are called to seek the pathway of peace, to speak truth to power, and in so doing to invite others to catch glimpses of the coming kingdom of God. I pray that we will be faithful in sharing the message of God’s love for all people, made known in Jesus our Christ. This message is a simple one--peace, love, healing and wholeness, forgiveness, reconciliation and grace. God works through the unexpected, the little ones, the muddy river. I pray that you will be ready for God’s surprises and realize the amazing consequences of listening to the little ones, to living simply so that others may simply live. Amen!

[1] The Book Of Awakening, p.221.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come Pentecost Sunday 2007

2007-06-06T13:14:00.001-07:00

Come Holy Spirit, Come
Sermon for Pentecost Sunday: May 27, 2007
Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-21

I love Pentecost Sunday. There are so many things I’d like to share with you about this special day in our Judeo-Christian past. I’m going to begin by telling you a couple of stories. Although these stories correspond to our two scripture lessons, much of the detail and style I have taken from Mark Nepo’s book called TheExquisite Risk.[1]
This first story begins a long, long time ago, in the land of Uruk, which is somewhere in present day Iran. In our Hebrew Bible this land is referred to as a city in Sumeria and later called Babylon. In this city there was a tribe of the early human family that devoted themselves to the building of a single tower, a tower taller than any structure ever built. This tribe wanted to create a visible landmark so that anyone losing their way might look for this tower and it would guide them back to their home.
The building of this tower took much longer than anyone imagined. By the time that the third generation was working on the tower, it was so tall that it took a worker almost a year to carry the next brick to the top. The first generation of this tribe was completely devoted to this project; however by the third generation, there was much less interest. We know how that is, how many of our grandchildren are less interested in the projects and places we hold dear. For these grandchildren the work on the tower felt like a chore, like having to build someone else’s dream. One day, so some story tellers say, a worker carrying the next brick fell and the tribe mourned the loss of the brick more than the worker. The tribe became less and less compassionate and more and more greedy as they hurried on to finish the tower, caring more about the tower than the workers. So God confused their tongues. This human family was no longer able to communicate to one another and they were dispersed across the earth, with their many different languages. The Tower, which was never completed, was called the Tower of Babel, a play on the Hebrew word balel, which means confusion or mixing. The city Babylon was named from this tower. Even today, about fifty miles from Baghdad in the Tigris-Euphrates valley one can still see the ruins of the city of Babylon.
So if we wish to think about the lesson from this story, it seems to say that whenever we value the material over the person, we lose the ability to understand each other. Also if we spend our time building a dream that we do not believe in, we lose our joy and become enslaved to the task.
My second story takes place generations later and will soon be quite familiar to many of you. There came to earth, born of a human mother, a spirit, mysterious and powerful, yet very gentle and unconditionally loving. His ways were threatening to the Empire of the time and he was killed; however he had touched many lives very deeply and meaningfully in his short time on earth. His closest followers were heartbroken by their master’s death. At first they wandered among themselves, confused and grieving. Then this man, called Jesus, appeared to them again. What this appearance did to Peter and the others was impossible to explain. It’s one of the things that has always made me believe in the Resurrection: first the disciples were cowering in locked rooms and then they were boldly going about sharing the news of Jesus with others, even at a great risk to their lives.
Not long after, Peter found himself before a crowd of Jews assembled from all over the world at Pentecost. (Pentecost is described in Leviticus as the Feast of Weeks, occurring seven weeks and one day after the Passover. The date was associated with the arrival of the Israelites at Mt Sinai at the time of Exodus, when God gave Moses the Covenant). So around Peter were all of these faithful Jews from many lands. They spoke many different languages, and there were no translators. But Peter was so devoted to telling about the profound experiences that had happened to him from this Jesus, he spoke directly and humbly from his heart. The amazing thing was that everyone there could understand him in their own language. As Mark Nepo says, “The moment we speak from the truth of compassion, we speak the same language always waiting underneath our differences.” This is because we are speaking from the divine center of things, from our own understanding of God, from our authentic selves. This is the miracle and the possibility of Oneness.
So everyday we carry both the possibilities of compassionate oneness and the possibility of separation due to our greed and ego. As Nepo says, “when I am drawn to speak or listen with compassion, holding what is living above all that the living make, things become one. Suddenly I belong again to the one tribe that holds each other at days end…So when we find ourselves speaking a language no one seems to understand or more important, when we can’t seem to understand or feel anyone else, we need to ask, “What brick am I carrying, and has it become too important?” If we are able to put that obstacle down, we can then listen and open our hearts to the human family.
Now I want to share with you a third story about the World Trade Center and the modern day Tower of Babel—the Twin Towers. Under the leadership of Guy Tozzoli, the NY Port Authority wished to build the tallest building ever, an eighth wonder of the world. When the architect Yamasaki proposed a ninety story structure, Tozzoli and his team insisted on 110 stories, even though safety was in question. There were other things, motivated by greed that happened while constructing the Twin Towers; for example, to insure the most space for rent per floor, the stairwells, which usually drape the perimeters of each floor, were stacked at the core of the building, and were walled with sheetrock instead of brick—which when attacked on 9/11 burst into flame, trapping many people as the buildings collapsed. In an article in the NY Times magazine section in September of 2002, the head engineer admitted his great remorse that mistakes had been made that may have cost thousands of lives. [2] None of this takes away the responsibility of the terrorists for doing this horrible thing; however, as Nepo says, “this story reveals the greed and ego that made the Twin Towers ripe for disaster: the economic greed that prized rental space over safety, the relentless greed for greatness that insisted that these buildings be taller than any other,” and so forth.
In our Acts Scripture, before Peter addresses the diverse crowd, we are told that “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.” (2:2-4a). Some of you may remember that the Greek and Hebrew words for breath, wind and Spirit are the same: pneuma in Greek and ruah in Hebrew. If we listen for the Holy Spirit, we too can speak so that others may hear. One of the important things for us to listen for is understanding and the recognition of when we are valuing the brick over the person and when the dream we are building is not our own—when the life we are living is to please someone else, not our selves. As a church family, I pray that we will help each other to build our individual dreams as well as the dream that God has for our church. Pentecost is seen as the birthday of the church, the Holy Spirit blew into the hearts of those present that day, introducing a new way of living among all different kinds of people in different places, with different cultures, backgrounds, languages and experiences, different races, and different sexual orientations. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we can create the Beloved Community.

Let us pray: Blessed God, help us to listen to you and accept your guidance for our church, a church built on love, peace, justice for all, remembering that we have been commissioned to bring the Good News of Jesus to all nations, remembering that you are with us always even unto the end of the age. Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] From the chapter called “The Loss of One Brick”, pp 154 to 159.
[2] James Glanz and Eric Lipton, “The Height of Ambition”.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come Pentecost Sunday 2007

2007-06-06T13:11:00.001-07:00

Come, Holy Spirit, Come Pentecost Sunday 2007

2007-06-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday: May 27, 2007
Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-21

I love Pentecost Sunday. There are so many things I’d like to share with you about this special day in our Judeo-Christian past. I’m going to begin by telling you a couple of stories. Although these stories correspond to our two scripture lessons, much of the detail and style I have taken from Mark Nepo’s book called TheExquisite Risk.[1]

This first story begins a long, long time ago, in the land of Uruk, which is somewhere in present day Iran. In our Hebrew Bible this land is referred to as a city in Sumeria and later called Babylon. In this city there was a tribe of the early human family that devoted themselves to the building of a single tower, a tower taller than any structure ever built. This tribe wanted to create a visible landmark so that anyone losing their way might look for this tower and it would guide them back to their home.

The building of this tower took much longer than anyone imagined. By the time that the third generation was working on the tower, it was so tall that it took a worker almost a year to carry the next brick to the top. The first generation of this tribe was completely devoted to this project; however by the third generation, there was much less interest. We know how that is, how many of our grandchildren are less interested in the projects and places we hold dear. For these grandchildren the work on the tower felt like a chore, like having to build someone else’s dream. One day, so some story tellers say, a worker carrying the next brick fell and the tribe mourned the loss of the brick more than the worker. The tribe became less and less compassionate and more and more greedy as they hurried on to finish the tower, caring more about the tower than the workers. So God confused their tongues. This human family was no longer able to communicate to one another and they were dispersed across the earth, with their many different languages. The Tower, which was never completed, was called the Tower of Babel, a play on the Hebrew word balel, which means confusion or mixing. The city Babylon was named from this tower. Even today, about fifty miles from Baghdad in the Tigris-Euphrates valley one can still see the ruins of the city of Babylon.

So if we wish to think about the lesson from this story, it seems to say that whenever we value the material over the person, we lose the ability to understand each other. Also if we spend our time building a dream that we do not believe in, we lose our joy and become enslaved to the task.

My second story takes place generations later and will soon be quite familiar to many of you. There came to earth, born of a human mother, a spirit, mysterious and powerful, yet very gentle and unconditionally loving. His ways were threatening to the Empire of the time and he was killed; however he had touched many lives very deeply and meaningfully in his short time on earth. His closest followers were heartbroken by their master’s death. At first they wandered among themselves, confused and grieving. Then this man, called Jesus, appeared to them again. What this appearance did to Peter and the others was impossible to explain. It’s one of the things that has always made me believe in the Resurrection: first the disciples were cowering in locked rooms and then they were boldly going about sharing the news of Jesus with others, even at a great risk to their lives.

Not long after, Peter found himself before a crowd of Jews assembled from all over the world at Pentecost. (Pentecost is described in Leviticus as the Feast of Weeks, occurring seven weeks and one day after the Passover. The date was associated with the arrival of the Israelites at Mt Sinai at the time of Exodus, when God gave Moses the Covenant). So around Peter were all of these faithful Jews from many lands. They spoke many different languages, and there were no translators. But Peter was so devoted to telling about the profound experiences that had happened to him from this Jesus, he spoke directly and humbly from his heart. The amazing thing was that everyone there could understand him in their own language. As Mark Nepo says, “The moment we speak from the truth of compassion, we speak the same language always waiting underneath our differences.” This is because we are speaking from the divine center of things, from our own understanding of God, from our authentic selves. This is the miracle and the possibility of Oneness.

So everyday we carry both the possibilities of compassionate oneness and the possibility of separation due to our greed and ego. As Nepo says, “when I am drawn to speak or listen with compassion, holding what is living above all that the living make, things become one. Suddenly I belong again to the one tribe that holds each other at days end…So when we find ourselves speaking a language no one seems to understand or more important, when we can’t seem to understand or feel anyone else, we need to ask, “What brick am I carrying, and has it become too important?” If we are able to put that obstacle down, we can then listen and open our hearts to the human family.

Now I want to share with you a third story about the World Trade Center and the modern day Tower of Babel—the Twin Towers. Under the leadership of Guy Tozzoli, the NY Port Authority wished to build the tallest building ever, an eighth wonder of the world. When the architect Yamasaki proposed a ninety story structure, Tozzoli and his team insisted on 110 stories, even though safety was in question. There were other things, motivated by greed that happened while constructing the Twin Towers; for example, to insure the most space for rent per floor, the stairwells, which usually drape the perimeters of each floor, were stacked at the core of the building, and were walled with sheetrock instead of brick—which when attacked on 9/11 burst into flame, trapping many people as the buildings collapsed. In an article in the NY Times magazine section in September of 2002, the head engineer admitted his great remorse that mistakes had been made that may have cost thousands of lives. [2] None of this takes away the responsibility of the terrorists for doing this horrible thing; however, as Nepo says, “this story reveals the greed and ego that made the Twin Towers ripe for disaster: the economic greed that prized rental space over safety, the relentless greed for greatness that insisted that these buildings be taller than any other,” and so forth.

In our Acts Scripture, before Peter addresses the diverse crowd, we are told that “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.” (2:2-4a). Some of you may remember that the Greek and Hebrew words for breath, wind and Spirit are the same: pneuma in Greek and ruah in Hebrew. If we listen for the Holy Spirit, we too can speak so that others may hear. One of the important things for us to listen for is understanding and the recognition of when we are valuing the brick over the person and when the dream we are building is not our own—when the life we are living is to please someone else, not our selves. As a church family, I pray that we will help each other to build our individual dreams as well as the dream that God has for our church. Pentecost is seen as the birthday of the church, the Holy Spirit blew into the hearts of those present that day, introducing a new way of living among all different kinds of people in different places, with different cultures, backgrounds, languages and experiences, different races, and different sexual orientations. Filled with the Holy Spirit, we can create the Beloved Community.

Let us pray: Blessed God, help us to listen to you and accept your guidance for our church, a church built on love, peace, justice for all, remembering that we have been commissioned to bring the Good News of Jesus to all nations, remembering that you are with us always even unto the end of the age. Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] From the chapter called “The Loss of One Brick”, pp 154 to 159.
[2] James Glanz and Eric Lipton, “The Height of Ambition”.

Us and Them , Sermon for May 6, 2007

2007-05-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Acts 11:1-18, John 13:

In our Acts scripture today, Peter tells about his most amazing dream. When I was looking for jokes to illustrate this sermon, I came across an amazing story—the closest I could get to finding an appropriate joke. An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of religious service when she was startled by an intruder. As she caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables, she yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38!" [Turn from your sin] The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. Then the woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked him, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture at you." "Scripture?" replied the burglar, "She said she had an axe and two 38s!"

Our Acts passage is quite an amazing narrative, one that has in it a trance, the Spirit, and an angel.[1] These are spectacular things, stuff that most of us don’t experience every day. When we get right down to it, the plot in this scripture is as old as human history. It’s all about us and them, and usually the us is believed to be better than the them. Peter was meeting with his followers, let’s call it a church meeting, and trying to explain about the Jews “us” and the Gentiles “them”. In those days, the rules were very strict and very clear about whom you could sit at the table with and what kinds of things you could eat, what was pure and what was profane. If you ever want to know more about this go to Leviticus chapter 11. According to some counts there are 613 “commandments” in the Torah, the first five books of our Bible. According to the Jews, remember the early Christians were of Jewish ethnicity, Gentiles were unclean. So the first question to Peter from his colleagues was “Why did you eat with them?” Although in our lifetime we are familiar with Christians being anti-Semitic, but in Jesus’ time, the roles were reversed. The big question was about the possibility of Gentiles being able to be equal in the eyes of God. Even though Jesus pretty much ignored and disregarded these exclusions, it seems that it was still difficult for the Jews to accept such a radical change in how they had been acculturated. You may remember Jesus was often accused of keeping company with the wrong kind of people: women, tax collectors, Samaritans, prostitutes. In the Torah it calls on the faithful to “be holy as I am holy” (Lev. 19:2), yet Jesus deliberately substituted the call to “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Peter from his dream had learned that God is not a God of partiality or favoritism. In several of our scriptures the last few weeks, we have been told of the Good News being given to all people and God’s love and mercy extending to everyone. Peter now goes about trying to explain his dream and his insights from it to his friends and followers. He does this step by step. Let us too take a quick step by step look at this reading. As Peter was praying in the city of Joppa when he went into this trance and saw a vision. The trance is all about the new message to Peter that all things are clean. He heard a voice saying, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” The “spirit”comes to Peter and urges him to go with these Gentile brothers to Cornelius’ house, telling him that there is “no distinction” between us and them. There was an angel at the home ofCornelius telling all about what had to come to be. And then we are told that as Peter began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon these Gentiles just as it had on the Jewish Christians. Therefore, Peter concluded that if God gave them the same gift, who was he to disagree.—“who was I that I could hinder God?” In other words if God did not divide the people into us and them, neither should Peter or the rest of the believers. After this explanation Peter’s followers were silenced, and then praised God for this new revelation.

We as today’s followers of Jesus typically learn God’s will over time thru a series of “aha” experiences. So it’s important to be patient with ourselves and open to God’s messages. Peter’s vision initially left him baffled. It unfolds as a result of his vision, internal reflection, reports of others and by Cornelieus’ hospitable reception of him and his word. Peter turned to Scripture for confirmation and clarification only after he learned by these multiple experiences over several days that God’s acceptance and forgiveness is offered to all people without partiality. In the New Interpreter’s Bible, the commentary I consult, it says, “The process of getting on the same page with God is frequently confusing, profoundly dependent upon others and often takes a considerable time. But God will tell us the page number.” (Acts, p.171)

For the rest of this sermon I want you to think with me very personally about who you and I as the body of Christ here in Deering see as us and them. Who do we separate out—if not out of the church, out of our life? Who do we spurn as unclean, dirty, contaminated and far from God? Who is my Cornelius? Who do we look down on? I’ll start: conservative politicians, especially those that tell a lot of lies; greedy corporate executives, especially those that are dishonest. I have a hard time with folks that are prejudiced, especially toward African Americans as that group includes my children. I also feel strongly about people who believe it is okay to kill, to go to war, to be violent towards other people. I’m sure I could come up with others but now it’s your turn. Can you just shout some out? It can be personal or just something that you see happening in the church.

Our Bible and our denomination both emphasize that God shows no favoritism but loves us all even though God may disapprove of our behavior or our values. As a church and as individuals I pray that we will stop thinking about categories of us and them. Not only do these ways of thinking offend those that we are talking about, it is also not following Jesus’ words and life. We are all God’s children, gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Muslim, wealthy entrepreneur or beggar on the street. Jesus in our Gospel lesson tells his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) It’s not easy folks, yet being a Christian means accepting both the joy and cost of discipleship. As we participate together in receiving the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion in a little bit, I am going to ask you to try to imagine bringing to the table someone or some type that you have difficulty accepting. Imagine that person beside you and imagine how much God loves you both and wants you to love each other. It doesn’t happen all at once, but I want to become more loving and I hope all of you do too. Let’s see if we can eliminate the divisions and all be the Beloved Community, the body of Christ. Amen

[1] This idea is taken from Walter Brueggemann in Theolog for May 6 online.

The Meaning of Easter Sermon for 4-08-07

2007-04-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-19, 24, 25 and Luke 24:1-12

He is risen! And let the congregation say, He is risen indeed! What a joyous time in the life of the Christian church—the celebration of the empty tomb. What does it mean to see the tomb where Jesus was laid on Friday empty on Sunday?

I heard this story about a new minister in one of our neighboring towns who wanted to see how serious the members were about Easter. He approaches a young woman and asks the meaning of Easter. She replies that Easter is when a giant bunny brings candy for children and the family comes over for a big dinner. Surprised, the pastor asks someone else, a middle aged man. He says Easter is when all the children color eggs, and the adults hide the Easter eggs and let the children participate in an egg hunt. Ok, how about another member, so the pastor finds a conservative looking person praying quietly, and he hopes she truly understands and appreciates the meaning of Easter. When asked, she describes how Jesus carried the cross and then was crucified, and then his body was put in a cave with a rock at the entrance. Good so far thought the minister, then the woman went on, “Easter Sunday came and the boulder magically rolled away from the cave, Jesus was resurrected ... and stepped out of the cave and saw his shadow, and he knew there would be 6 more weeks of winter.”

Each Gospel has its own story with different details which is what one would expect about a day that was first written about at least 35 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. (Mark was the first gospel to be written, about 70 AD.) In this year’s reading in the Gospel of Luke we are told in the previous chapter that the women had followed Joseph of Arimathea who had wrapped Jesus body in a linen cloth and laid him in a tomb. The women wanted to embalm their Lord’s body with the spices and ointments that they had already prepared; however, there was insufficient time to do so before the start of the Sabbath. So it is on the day after the Sabbath (the Jewish Sabbath being on Saturday) that they went early to his tomb with the supply of spices and found the door open and the body gone. When the two angels in dazzling clothes approach the women, they are terrified. The angels ask, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you…that he would be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” So the women thought back and did remember these words that they had heard Jesus speak, probably not wanting to hear them and certainly not wanting to believe them. When they ran to tell the disciples, we are told the disciples did not believe them. In fact Luke says, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”
Before I talk you about the meaning of Easter, I want to acknowledge that some of you listening believe that Easter happened exactly the way the Gospels describe it, that you believe in the factual description of Jesus’ resurrection. Others of you are more apt to think of the Easter stories as parables. Marcus Borg in his book Jesus has this to say: Parables “can be true, truthful and truth-filled, independent of their factuality. To worry or argue about the factual truth of a parable misses its point. Its point is its meaning. Seeing the Easter stories as parables need not involve a denial of their factuality. The factual question is left open. A parabolic reading affirms: believe whatever you want about whether the story happened this way—now let’s talk about what the story means.” (280)

To me Easter means first of all that Jesus lives. What do I mean by that? I believe that the disciples continued to feel Jesus’ presence among them. Whether the post-Easter appearances of Jesus were visions or something else, the important thing to me is that they were convinced—even doubting Thomas in the end—that they recognized the Spirit that had been with them during their earthly association with Jesus. Any of you that have had a loved one die, know what I mean. Some days I can feel my mother’s presence so strongly, almost smell her fragrance and hear her voice, feel her touch. Can any of you identify? This kind of experience and MORE was what the disciples experienced. Jesus continued to be with them as they recognized his power to heal, to teach, to transform lives.

Easter means to me that Jesus is Lord. Easter is God’s “Yes” to Jesus and his passion for peace and justice, and “No” to the Roman Empire and all domination structures. If we are familiar with the Gospels we know that Jesus’ passion in the world was the Kingdom of God, not in heaven but on earth, a society that would turn the present structures and expectations upside down. It means as Borg has said that God is king and the kings of this world are not, and that Jesus is Lord, and the lords of this world are not. (289) It means that peace and love reign, that the prophesy that we heard read from Isaiah will come true, that God is going to do something really big: “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth…I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight….Before they call I will answer, while they are speaking I will hear. They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.”

What wonderful words of joy! Easter means that it is God, not the powers and principalities of this world, that will have the last word. In fact this was the dominant way that Christians saw the resurrection of Jesus for the first 1000 years. It was much later that a theologian named Anselm put forth the theory of Jesus’ death as necessary for saving us from our sins, usually called the substitutionary atonement theory—a subject I will save for another sermon on another day.

So Easter is the first of God’s new week, a sign of hope—not just for Christians but for the whole world. I believe that as discouraging as the political and ecological situation looks today, there will be light and goodness at the end of the day. Through Easter, God is calling us to assist in this new world, calling us to compassion and justice—which has to come first before peace. Yet on a good day, I believe that peace will come, that there will be healing and reconciliation amongst all people on the earth. This very day, you and I can be part of God’s triumph again in the world.

The men, the word Luke uses for angels, in dazzling clothes, tell the women to remember and so they did; however, what else did they do? They ran to share the good news with others that their friend and Lord lives. The Easter message is not complete if we just keep it to ourselves. We like the women must share it with others. And we can share it in many different ways, using words only when necessary. Let me share a story I read while preparing for this sermon. This story happened in East Germany at the time when these people lived under an oppressive regime, before the wall came down. “A young man deeply involved in the life of a church community was seized by the Communist authorities, and never returned. Sometime later, another young man, well known as a hardened leader in the Communist-organized youth movement, began attending youth meetings and worship services at the same church. The congregation's suspicions were aroused, and the pastor took the fellow aside and asked why he was coming. The young man replied by asking, "You know the fellow from your church who was seized and taken away?" "Of course," responded the pastor. "I knew him well, but we have not heard from him since.""Well," said the visitor, "I saw him when he was being harassed and tortured. Not only did he refuse to betray his friends, but through it all he never showed any bitterness toward his tormentors. Even in the hour of death, there was no anger towards those who were about to kill him. Instead, he spoke of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, and God's love." The young man concluded, "And when I saw him die, I knew I must come, in spite of what it will cost me, to learn of his Christ and the love for our enemies that strengthened him in his last hours."[1]

So my beloved sisters and brothers, there are many ways of sharing the good news, some are very costly. I hope none of you will have to share it in such painful circumstances as in this story. If you love Jesus and want to follow him there are lots of things you can do: You can ask someone to come to church with you. You can show your compassion to those who say bad things about you or treat you unkindly. You can reach out to someone from a different race or religion. You can offer hospitality to strangers, to immigrants, to your neighbor down the street that drives that loud motorcycle. You can visit the sick and the housebound and those in hospitals and nursing homes. You can advocate for the homeless, participate in causes that you believe that Jesus would be involved in if he were here. And isn’t that what Easter is all about, knowing that Jesus lives now in our hearts, that the Holy Spirit never leaves us and that God loves us more than we can ever understand? I wish you all the most joyous and meaningful Easter possible and please come back and worship with us again.

[1] Donald Shelby, Bold Expectations of the Gospel, quoted by Joel D. Kline, “Who's Holding on to Whom?” and came to me on “e-sermons”.

The Palm Sunday Subversive Sermon for 4-1-07

2007-04-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

The Palm Sunday Subversive
Sermon for April 1, 2007
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Luke 19:28-40

Have any of you ever thought about the Palm Sunday procession as a planned political demonstration? Please stay with me as I challenge you with an alternative Palm Sunday sermon.

The first decision preachers have to make on this Sunday is whether to focus on Jesus’ passion, the events of the week leading up to his crucifixion or the celebratory focus of a big parade. There’s a big difference in mood as Jesus’ passion (meaning suffering) is a very painful, somber story. Luke’s description of the procession—even though it says nothing about palms—is still oriented to celebration with his disciples and other followers, who threw their cloaks on the path that he took on top of the donkey. These cloaks were not the expensive type as these followers were a ragtag group whose garments were “tattered shawls and dusty, sweat-stained rags”[1] Jesus was no ordinary king; he was the king of fishermen, tax collectors, women, Samaritans, harlots, blind men, demoniacs, and cripples, the king of the oppressed and suffering.[2]

Have you ever thought why Jesus rode a donkey in this parade? There are many answers given—some more trivial than others such as because he was tired or wanted to be up high enough for his followers to see him—or the one I’ve heard mostly is because it was foreordained, predicted in ancient prophecy: Zechariah says, “Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”—the explanation in Matthew as he quotes Zechariah 9:9. According to Marcus Borg in his book Jesus, this was a prophetic act. He describes prophetic acts as “provocative public deeds performed for the sake of what they symbolized”…ancient “street theater”—actions performed in public to draw a crowd and to convey a message.[3] Borg goes on to say that the meaning and message of the donkey was: “a kingdom of peace, not violence.”

Jesus has been on his way to Jerusalem for the last 10 chapters of Luke—I mentioned last week in the story of Mary that Jerusalem was seen by Jesus as his city of destiny, the place where he would go and confront the Roman authorities and be killed. The time was Passover, the holy Jewish feast that brought people from all over Israel on a pilgrimage to commemorate God’s mighty work of freeing them from Egyptian bondage during the days of Moses. It was customary for the Roman state to make a show of force during Passover, sending in many soldiers in their own type of military procession. Jesus and the Gospel writers would have been well aware of this practice.

Just imagine for a moment these two processions: from the West comes Pilate, entering Jerusalem with pomp and ceremony, accompanied by uniformed soldiers showing military might, power and glory. And then imagine Jesus’ triumphal entry from the Mount of Olives with his ragtag following, a stark contrast of anti-imperial counter procession, proclaiming “the kingdom of God”. Borg sees the two processions embodying the central conflict of Jesus’ last week: the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of imperial domination; Jesus versus Pilate, the nonviolence versus violence. So what we Christians refer to as Palm Sunday “featured a choice of two kingdoms, two visions of life on earth.”[4] Jesus and his followers had an alternative vision where the last became first, where the poor were valued and the rich scorned, where peace and love were esteemed over power, violence, and might.

So what were Jesus and his early followers subverting? Jesus’ alternate vision subverted major aspects of the way most societies, both ancient and modern, have been organized to accept political and economic oppression of the masses, often holding up God to legitimize their preferences: “God wants things this way;” “Jesus says you’ll always have the poor with you”, and so forth. Jesus’ kingdom lifted up those who had been discounted by the ruling powers and the patriarchy: women, gentiles, the poor, the marginalized, the mentally ill, the lepers, and the list could go on. Our Gospels testify to this new way of being throughout, starting with the Magnificat at the time of his birth (Lk. 1:47-56). Mary sang that this baby Jesus would bring down the powerful from their thrones and lift up the lowly; that he would fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. Then at the beginning of his public ministry, remember his first sermon when he read from Isaiah about bringing good news to the poor and proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and letting the oppressed go free (Lk 4:1-19). So the fact that Jesus is our Palm Sunday subversive is really nothing new or unexpected in the Gospel.

My sisters and brothers, this Palm Sunday I am all in favor of praising God. The other gospels are filled with Hosannas a word that means save us. Most of Jesus’s followers in that Passover procession wanted a Warrior King, yet Jesus was a suffering Messiah. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “God allows himself to be edged out of the world and onto the cross. God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way, in which he can be with us and help us.”[5](Letter of July 16, 1944.)

Are you willing to join Jesus in his subversive counter-procession into all the world? Our Statement of Faith has the phrase “You call us into your church to accept the joy and cost of discipleship, to be your servants in the service of others, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil…” If we follow Jesus, there are many times that we may have to be subversive, treating all people with dignity and advocating for their human rights whether it be —the Muslims, the immigrants, the gays, lesbians, and transgendered, the poor, the homeless, the fundamentalists, the atheists, the Jehovah Witnesses, to name a few of the oppressed groups. It also means that we humble ourselves and die to self , that we love our enemies and promote peace and love wherever we find ourselves. To be subversive is to become aware of and to act in a way that we participate in liberating justice for all, remembering Jesus’ words, “As you do it to the least of these, you do it unto me.”

In closing please consider with me Dr. Martin Luther King’s words, “Even if they try to kill you, you develop the inner conviction that there are some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they are worth dying for.” Let us help each other to be subversives for Jesus. Amen and amen!

[1] Culpepper in The New Interpreters Bible, Vol IX, p. 390.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Marcus Borg, Jesus, p. 231
[4] Ibid. 232.
[5] Letter of July 16, 1944.

EXTRAVAGANT LOVE SERMON FOR 3-25-07

2007-04-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

EXTRAVAGANT LOVE

Scripture: Isaiah and John 12:1-8

Once upon a time, a long time ago when Jesus was still walking on this earth, just before his crucifixion and resurrection, there was a young woman named Mary. She lived in Bethany, a small village on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives, less than two miles from Jerusalem. She lived with her brother Lazarus, whom Jesus had just recently raised from the dead, and her older sister, Martha. The whole family was very close friends with Jesus.

Mary, like most young woman, had many dreams and thoughts about her future. She may well have dreamed about marrying a wonderful man, one who was kind and recognized her as a person in her own right. Since she was already past the age of 13, and her parents were not around, she could have some autonomy about whom she married. As many unmarried women would do, she wanted to be prepared when this time came; she wanted to have something of value to offer to the marriage. (Do you older folks remember how single women would get a cedar chest and call it a Hope Chest and place in it things that were saved up for marriage?) Whenever Mary was able, even as a child, she would carefully save any coins that came her way. As the years passed and no marriage was arranged, Mary became more and more wealthy. One day she found an alabaster flask, a flask so delicate and beautiful that she knew she had to fill it with something very, very special.

About this same time her brother Lazarus fell sick and died. She and Martha had asked Jesus to come so he could heal Lazarus; however, Jesus did not get there until after Lazarus had been dead three days and was already placed in his burial tomb. Then this wonderful man Jesus, this friend that was always doing amazing things, this man with great compassion and love, this man that was so intelligent and so holy, this man Jesus actually brought Lazarus back to life. What joy! What happiness! Mary had always loved this friend Jesus and now she loved him so much that she thought her heart would break. Their were rumors that Jesus might be off soon to Jerusalem and that many of the authorities were suspicious of him. She wondered if it were true that he might even be crucified. She knew she had to do something special for this friend. She loved him more than she could even begin to express. Suddenly she knew what was necessary; she would use her coin collection, her 300 denaris, her life’s savings to buy some nard, a very expensive and very fragrant perfume. She would put it in her beautiful alabaster flask and go to find Jesus. She was pretty sure that Jesus would be at Simon’s house next door where a big party was going on. She entered the home and went directly to Jesus and poured out all of her precious oil on his feet. And then she did a most outrageous thing, she used her hair to wipe his feet. Jewish women in those days did not even let their hair down in public to say nothing about using it to wipe a man’s feet. Such an expression of devotion would have been seen as extremely improper and somewhat erotic. Have you ever loved so much that you wouldn’t even think twice about the consequences of your actions in showing your love. I believe that Mary poured out all the love in her heart along with her perfume. Judas got angry and started talking about waste, about how the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus defends Mary and tells us she will always be remembered. As I retell this wonderful story I think about how Mary’s action filled the whole house with love. She threw aside all caution and practicality. She gives everything. You know this is how love acts; it is uncaring of expense. And I don’t mean just financial expense. It is okay to be extravagant in our gratitude.

This reminds me of a story I received by email that was told by Pastor Victor Shepherd about a missionary surgeon he met who was rather gruff and to the point. On one occasion the surgeon was speaking to a small group of university students about his work in the Gaza Strip. He was telling them that North American "fat cats" knew nothing about gratitude. Nothing! On one occasion this surgeon had stopped at a peasant hovel to see a woman on whom he had performed surgery. She and her husband were dirt poor. Their livestock supply consisted of one Angora rabbit and two chickens. For income the woman combed the hair out of the rabbit, spun the hair into yarn and sold it. For food she and her husband ate the eggs from the chickens. The woman insisted that the missionary surgeon stay for lunch. He accepted the invitation and said he would be back for lunch after he had gone down the road to see another postoperative patient. An hour and a half later he was back. He peeked into the cooking pot to see what he was going to eat. He saw one rabbit and two chickens. The woman had given up her entire livestock supply—her income, her food, everything. He concluded his story weeping unashamedly as he reminded the audience about extravagant gratitude.

Mary in my story based on John’s gospel certainly demonstrated that she was willing to give her very best to Jesus. Her actions affected Jesus deeply. Today, 2000 years later as we approach this same Passover season, what ways are we willing to extravagantly pour out ourselves to God? In what ways do we hold back? In what ways do we behave like Judas when it comes to extravagant giving? In doesn’t matter how much we have; what matters is that we give to God the best that we have to offer. Remember that Christmas poem about baby Jesus: “What can I give him, poor as I am. If I were a shepherd, I would give him a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. What shall I give him? I will give him my heart.” …

Who here this morning is willing to give the very best of themselves to Jesus? Do you love him that much? How will you show it? Will you take a week off and go rebuild a house in Mississippi or New Orleans? Will you spend a day every week helping at the Food Pantry? Will you go beyond loving your neighbor to loving your enemies and praying for those that persecute you? Will you stand up for the oppressed? Will you call your congressmen and women to advocate for the poor, for peace and for economic justice? As I’ve said many times, many of you in this congregation are extravagantly generous and I thank you. As you think about what extravagant gift you are willing to offer, I would like to close with some poetry from Seasons of your Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr:

A jar of perfume
Poured out over Jesus
And a question is born
What is the point of such extravagance?

Why this waste?
I don’t know.
I honestly don’t know.
But if this shocks you so,
Get ready, for you’ll see more
More than costly perfume poured out.

You’ll see lives poured out
Given freely, used up, spilled out, wasted
For no reason at all!

Extravagance unlimited!
Lives poured out
Handed over, lost, thrown away
For Jesus!

What is the point of such extravagance?
Why such waste?
Beautiful questions with no answers.

And how sad if no one has ever asked us:
Why this extravagance?
Aren’t you wasting your life on Jesus?

So who among you is willing to be as bold, as reckless, as extravagant as Mary? Are you willing to give away what is most precious to you? Can you say with Isaiah in our morning’s Hebrew scripture lesson, “I’m going to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you perceive it?” (Isa. 43:19a) What will you pour out for God?