Isaiah 58
Mathew 6
Increasingly as Presbyterian Christians we are adopting religious traditions that are unfamiliar. Growing up in the church, we celebrated Lent by gathering on Wednesdays for Potluck suppers, with a sing along or the showing of a movie; as a Preacher's kid, I can recite all seventeen verses of She'll be comin round the mountain when she comes; however since the Reformation we had not celebrated Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, or Pascal Saturday with worship, as these were considered Catholic. It seemed enough that we worshipped on Sunday mornings and had communion four times a year. No one ever questioned that on Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem and people shouted Hosanna; and the following Sunday on Easter he rose from the dead. Tonight we blow a Kosher Shofar, we burn palms, we impose ashes and share communion.
And suitably, the Old Testament passage from Isaiah describes if you are doing religious traditions just for the sake of it being religious, what is the point! Faith must have integrity! So when a couple marry, we have them take one another's hand and look at it, recognizing the trust our partner places in us by placing their lives in our hands... when a child or new believer is baptized, the point is not only a symbolic washing away of sin but also a physical claiming and naming of our commitment as the community of faith... And when we die, it is not a time for weeping and mourning, so much as lifting up their memory, sifting through a lifetime for what matters and what does not. I recall a Memorial several years ago, where one pall bearer said to another on the way down the aisle “He didn't even mention that fact that the deceased spent time in prison for killing his partner”, because that is not what we want to lift up before God for all eternity.
The Book of Leviticus, is one of the first five books of the Old Testament, identified as the Torah, or Books of Law. According to Leviticus, for six days of every week people do what people need to do for themselves... work at a job, cook a meal, pick up their toys, go to a Lacrosse match, or SU game. But the seventh day is intended for us to re-prioritize our lives to God. So also after every six weeks and every six months and after every six years, and after seven sets of seven years. The point as described in both Isaiah and Matthew is not to make people suffer. The point is not to make Sunday a Sabbath, because historically the Sabbath was Friday at Sundown to Saturday at Sundown, and we have celebrated worship on Sunday mornings instead as the beginning of something new with God. The point is that we intentionally make time in our lives, for re-prioritizing. The Book of Leviticus and the Prophet Isaiah each describe that we begin this season with the blowing of a kosher horn, a shofar. It is a mournful sound, to call us to a time of REFLECTIVE ATONEMENT.
Recently a great deal has been said by our leadership of how we have entered into wars without a plan for ending; that we have bought and mortgaged more and more without a plan for ever paying off; we lived as if the day would never come but finally NOW IS THE TIME. The point of a Lenten Season is not a time for Suffering, 40 Days for doing without Chocolate, 40 nights of dieting. That is what Jesus warned against, as being self-serving. The point of Lent is for us to enter into a period of reflection, to confess what it is that matters to us, to confess our faith in God, to confess and correct what is wrong in life, to be assured of the Love of God, and to be prepared for the coming of the Day of the Lord.
Some believe the day of the Lord is a Day of Glory when everything and everyone comes together in joy. Some believe the Day of the Lord will be a Day of Suffering. Perhaps it is both, depending on who we are. The question of knowing the Day of the Lord is Coming, and has been for over 2000 years is whether we do anything to prepare.
At Christmas someone gave me a book, Our Iceberg is Melting, describing a colony of penguins who have lived on an immense iceberg for thousands of years. Yet one penguin notices, that the iceberg is melting and refreezing, which if you have watched the iceberg on our lake, you realize causes cracks and instability, until one day everything sinks. As the story goes, the one who recognizes the problems seeks out the woman who gets things done, she forms a committee to investigate and create awareness. Among their committee they make certain is Buddy whom everyone trusts; The Professor who understands problems, the Executive who is the official power, and NONO who is always the first to say NONO. What you realize reading the book is that whatever we are part of, be it a church or village, or business, or colony of penguins, especially when the concern is long range and threatening, like the Coming of the Day of the Lord, there are always going to be the Buddys and the Professors, the Woman who Gets it done and the Executive who is Official Power, and of course the one who says NONO. We probably have them here.
I would confess to you, a people in whom I place great trust. I am a fixer. When I see a problem, my immediate response is to try to make corrections, to fix and to repair. But, there are times, when the point is not to fix too quickly. When the toilet is flooding or the lightbulb burned out, of course we need to step in and respond, when someone is in the hospital or in need; but there are times when if we step in too quickly we do not allow the circumstance time and space to confess, to grow, to heal.
This night, we burned the palms of a year ago at Palm Sunday, and we mark one another's forehead with the sign of the cross in ashes. We do so, not because it is a religious thing to do, and before you go to bed you wash it off! But rather to name and claim that it terms of our priority as the center of our world, and our being an integral element of God's Creation, we are ASH like the dust and dirt of the earth, we are Water like the waters of Chaos and our Baptism, and we are Spirit, filled with the Breath of God. We celebrate Communion, not with fancy sounding words, but simply claiming that this is Christ's body and blood. As we have wounded one another, as we have broken trust to do what we desire, we have done so to God. Yet God does not leave us there. Whenever we are ready to receive, truly ready, he has already offered a new covenant for us sealed in Christ's own life.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Go NOT Into the Dark February 22, 2009
II Kings 2: 1-16
Mark 9:2-9
This past week, a good friend lent to me her copy of a book by Daniel Friedman called Hot, Flat and Crowded. While the book is about the energy shortage, our political reliance on nations whose purpose is to tear down our nation, the advantages of a Green Revolution; Friedman's critical point, is that the World, America, We are at a transformative moment of decision making. GO NOT INTO THE DARK. Far greater than what we shall have for dinner, whether your favorite color is orange or blue, what you want to be when you grow up, the choice is between acting out of fear or resolute faith. What has made this Nation great is the interplay and tension between INNOVATION and INSPIRATION, between acting out of WEALTH development and MORAL Development. Whenever we have attempted the one without the other, we have been lesser; yet as we have attempted both we have been greater than the sum of all parts, we have exported dreams and hopes for freedom, for liberty, for self-determination, and with these we have received those with hopes and dreams of a bright glorious future.
Friedman's claim is that something pivotal happened on September 11th 2001. For the first time, at least in a generation, we were under attack; not on the shores of Normandy, not on an island in the South Pacific, in VietNam or Kuwait or Afghanistan, or Cuba but here at home. The decision one must face whenever a new and different reality is presented, good or bad, is whether you will respond in fear or faith. GO NOT INTO THE DARK. Prior to that time, American Embassies were always located in the most historic communities, at the cosmopolitan centers; following 9/11 we built new embassies apart, isolated and behind walls. There were valid reasons why, and the walls, barriers, and isolation have saved lives from further terrorist attacks, but doing so we have become isolated, defensive, alone.
There have been times throughout human history when we have entered into DARK AGES. Times when out of fear, in response to plague, or war, or power, humanity avoided LIGHT. How could any one person stand against the Caesars/the Roman Legion? How could any single person, village or colony hope to stand against the British Empire? How could any broker or financier have stood against the Market forces that reinforced acceptance of bonuses and graft? But no one need fight to eliminate all darkness, to be the Elliot Ness who takes on the corruptions of the world. All there need be is oportunity for light in the darkness. To choose that we will not act out of fear and desperation as individuals, but instead to share.
According to the Gospel of Mark, after Jesus had been baptized, had called his disciples, and begun preaching, teaching, healing, that all might be whole and one with God, Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do you think I AM?” After several failed attempts and faltering, Simon Peter responds, “You are the Messiah, the Son of God!” To Jesus and the disciples, this was a threatening realization, because if the Son of God, then also the Son of Man, who will be revealed through suffering for all the world. One of those moments, we have each had feeling like there is a spot light on you, recognizing we must be honest with ourselves, we cannot ever go back to where we have been; the can of worms can never contain all, once it has been opened. So instead, Jesus takes Peter and James and John up the mountain for a spiritual retreat, a place apart, nearer to heaven. It is now 6 days later, time for a fresh Sabbath.
Up on the mountain, instead of a place of acting in fear or acting in faith, all of the verbs are passive, Jesus did not act. Jesus did not Teach, or Heal, or Baptize or Preach, but instead that God worked through Jesus, God used him to fulfill God's purposes. There are times when we recognize the importance of our role is not so much to be heroes who change the world, to invent the cure for cancer, to be miracle workers; but that parenting a child, giving land to a trust for generations to come, alleviating suffering, being a role model, accompanying others in their praise these are vital roles in God's creation, these magnify God's light in the world.
Peter did not know quite what to say, and rather than keeping quiet, Peter calls out “Hey, it's great that we are here to see this, we could build booths so we could come back here and enjoy this another time, when ever we want, or other people could come. We could create restaurants, Johnny Angels, places for people to stay on the mountain, I understand we still need 14 places for college students next Friday night.” And again Jesus does not speak or act here, God does, saying “PEACE, BE STILL” as Jesus is revealed as being the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, and the Prophets of Old Testament Righteousness.
The Prophets of the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha are a marvelous affirmation that the community of faith is never without leadership. But even more Elisha asks the impossible of Elijah. Recall that Elijah had had this Climactic Contest with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and all the Priests of the Idol Worship of Baal on one side as he stood alone with God on the other. And the 500 Priests of the Idol Baal, were afraid to lose before their Queen, to try to call out greater emotion, they whipped and beat themselves, but nothing happened. Then Elijah offered a simple prayer to God, that God's truth be seen. And lightning bolts came out of heaven to consume his offering. Being proven victorious, Elijah had killed all the 500 Priests of Baal, knocking down their altars and idols. Then seeing what he had done, Elijah was afraid. Afraid of his own power, afraid of retribution, afraid even of God. Elijah had run away to the mountains, to go to the place where Moses had spoken with God. But God did not reveal God's self in Light, or in Darkness, in Fire, or Flood, or Earthquake, or Wind, instead in a small voice from deep within, Elijah heard God questioning: “What are you doing here Elijah?” God instructs Elijah of all the things he must yet do. He must appoint new Kings and new Priests, and build new places for worship and palaces, then after all that is done find Elisha to pass on responsibility. SO first, Elijah finds Elisha.
There is a colloquialism, that a student can only be as learned as their teacher, but if anything, I believe our students have been building upon the foundation of knowledge handed down and have gone light years ahead.
Elisha makes a hard request, that he receive a double share of spirit. In the first place, it was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which had so frightened Elijah, and to ask for twice as much? Yet, the wisdom of Elisha was in naming that what he would have was his own spirit and also the presence of Elijah in his life. For us to realize that we are not alone, but we build upon the witness of all who have gone before us. For Elijah, this was frightening as well, because the gift of the Spirit is not simply something you order up, the Spirit comes with hardship and struggle. No one would ever wish struggle and hardship on another, but the reality is that the Holy Spirit is borne out of testing. SO to request twice as much, is to request testing one's life.
Also this week, Someone "Facebooked" me with their "Bucket-list" of all the things they wanted to do before they died. Ride an Elephant. Ride a Hot air balloon, Travel to Africa. Each of which I realized I had done. Then lower was "Sit with someone as they died". I have been there many times. There is a holy moment when a person passes. Years ago, we had a member with advanced Cancer, who in the final days of her life, I had referred to Hospice Care. Then she called asking for friends to come and sit with her, that she not die alone. Miraculously, for five days and nights she was never alone. Families brought their babies. People she had not seen for years, all came. NOT to morbidly say she looks so real after she died, but to find closure and friendship and faith and love by lifting this one up before she died. I think in that week she taught the church more about life and death than any one had ever taught her.
Our Assurance of Pardon this morning came from Vaclav Havel. Do you recall who Vaclav Havel was? He was the last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic. This was his guidance to our President on September 11th. That rather than acting in retaliation, out of vengeance, or to become more isolated, that we each would begin by questioning ourselves, how we have attacked and separated. And only beginning there, can we recognize we are not alone. Surely life might be easier if we were all alone. If there were no one to hold us accountable, no one to question our choices, our values and ethics. But doing so, we would stand on the shore alone, crying I, I, I rather than ever knowing what it is to offer a question, or a book, or a friendship that makes a difference in another person's life.
Mark 9:2-9
This past week, a good friend lent to me her copy of a book by Daniel Friedman called Hot, Flat and Crowded. While the book is about the energy shortage, our political reliance on nations whose purpose is to tear down our nation, the advantages of a Green Revolution; Friedman's critical point, is that the World, America, We are at a transformative moment of decision making. GO NOT INTO THE DARK. Far greater than what we shall have for dinner, whether your favorite color is orange or blue, what you want to be when you grow up, the choice is between acting out of fear or resolute faith. What has made this Nation great is the interplay and tension between INNOVATION and INSPIRATION, between acting out of WEALTH development and MORAL Development. Whenever we have attempted the one without the other, we have been lesser; yet as we have attempted both we have been greater than the sum of all parts, we have exported dreams and hopes for freedom, for liberty, for self-determination, and with these we have received those with hopes and dreams of a bright glorious future.
Friedman's claim is that something pivotal happened on September 11th 2001. For the first time, at least in a generation, we were under attack; not on the shores of Normandy, not on an island in the South Pacific, in VietNam or Kuwait or Afghanistan, or Cuba but here at home. The decision one must face whenever a new and different reality is presented, good or bad, is whether you will respond in fear or faith. GO NOT INTO THE DARK. Prior to that time, American Embassies were always located in the most historic communities, at the cosmopolitan centers; following 9/11 we built new embassies apart, isolated and behind walls. There were valid reasons why, and the walls, barriers, and isolation have saved lives from further terrorist attacks, but doing so we have become isolated, defensive, alone.
There have been times throughout human history when we have entered into DARK AGES. Times when out of fear, in response to plague, or war, or power, humanity avoided LIGHT. How could any one person stand against the Caesars/the Roman Legion? How could any single person, village or colony hope to stand against the British Empire? How could any broker or financier have stood against the Market forces that reinforced acceptance of bonuses and graft? But no one need fight to eliminate all darkness, to be the Elliot Ness who takes on the corruptions of the world. All there need be is oportunity for light in the darkness. To choose that we will not act out of fear and desperation as individuals, but instead to share.
According to the Gospel of Mark, after Jesus had been baptized, had called his disciples, and begun preaching, teaching, healing, that all might be whole and one with God, Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do you think I AM?” After several failed attempts and faltering, Simon Peter responds, “You are the Messiah, the Son of God!” To Jesus and the disciples, this was a threatening realization, because if the Son of God, then also the Son of Man, who will be revealed through suffering for all the world. One of those moments, we have each had feeling like there is a spot light on you, recognizing we must be honest with ourselves, we cannot ever go back to where we have been; the can of worms can never contain all, once it has been opened. So instead, Jesus takes Peter and James and John up the mountain for a spiritual retreat, a place apart, nearer to heaven. It is now 6 days later, time for a fresh Sabbath.
Up on the mountain, instead of a place of acting in fear or acting in faith, all of the verbs are passive, Jesus did not act. Jesus did not Teach, or Heal, or Baptize or Preach, but instead that God worked through Jesus, God used him to fulfill God's purposes. There are times when we recognize the importance of our role is not so much to be heroes who change the world, to invent the cure for cancer, to be miracle workers; but that parenting a child, giving land to a trust for generations to come, alleviating suffering, being a role model, accompanying others in their praise these are vital roles in God's creation, these magnify God's light in the world.
Peter did not know quite what to say, and rather than keeping quiet, Peter calls out “Hey, it's great that we are here to see this, we could build booths so we could come back here and enjoy this another time, when ever we want, or other people could come. We could create restaurants, Johnny Angels, places for people to stay on the mountain, I understand we still need 14 places for college students next Friday night.” And again Jesus does not speak or act here, God does, saying “PEACE, BE STILL” as Jesus is revealed as being the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, and the Prophets of Old Testament Righteousness.
The Prophets of the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha are a marvelous affirmation that the community of faith is never without leadership. But even more Elisha asks the impossible of Elijah. Recall that Elijah had had this Climactic Contest with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and all the Priests of the Idol Worship of Baal on one side as he stood alone with God on the other. And the 500 Priests of the Idol Baal, were afraid to lose before their Queen, to try to call out greater emotion, they whipped and beat themselves, but nothing happened. Then Elijah offered a simple prayer to God, that God's truth be seen. And lightning bolts came out of heaven to consume his offering. Being proven victorious, Elijah had killed all the 500 Priests of Baal, knocking down their altars and idols. Then seeing what he had done, Elijah was afraid. Afraid of his own power, afraid of retribution, afraid even of God. Elijah had run away to the mountains, to go to the place where Moses had spoken with God. But God did not reveal God's self in Light, or in Darkness, in Fire, or Flood, or Earthquake, or Wind, instead in a small voice from deep within, Elijah heard God questioning: “What are you doing here Elijah?” God instructs Elijah of all the things he must yet do. He must appoint new Kings and new Priests, and build new places for worship and palaces, then after all that is done find Elisha to pass on responsibility. SO first, Elijah finds Elisha.
There is a colloquialism, that a student can only be as learned as their teacher, but if anything, I believe our students have been building upon the foundation of knowledge handed down and have gone light years ahead.
Elisha makes a hard request, that he receive a double share of spirit. In the first place, it was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which had so frightened Elijah, and to ask for twice as much? Yet, the wisdom of Elisha was in naming that what he would have was his own spirit and also the presence of Elijah in his life. For us to realize that we are not alone, but we build upon the witness of all who have gone before us. For Elijah, this was frightening as well, because the gift of the Spirit is not simply something you order up, the Spirit comes with hardship and struggle. No one would ever wish struggle and hardship on another, but the reality is that the Holy Spirit is borne out of testing. SO to request twice as much, is to request testing one's life.
Also this week, Someone "Facebooked" me with their "Bucket-list" of all the things they wanted to do before they died. Ride an Elephant. Ride a Hot air balloon, Travel to Africa. Each of which I realized I had done. Then lower was "Sit with someone as they died". I have been there many times. There is a holy moment when a person passes. Years ago, we had a member with advanced Cancer, who in the final days of her life, I had referred to Hospice Care. Then she called asking for friends to come and sit with her, that she not die alone. Miraculously, for five days and nights she was never alone. Families brought their babies. People she had not seen for years, all came. NOT to morbidly say she looks so real after she died, but to find closure and friendship and faith and love by lifting this one up before she died. I think in that week she taught the church more about life and death than any one had ever taught her.
Our Assurance of Pardon this morning came from Vaclav Havel. Do you recall who Vaclav Havel was? He was the last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic. This was his guidance to our President on September 11th. That rather than acting in retaliation, out of vengeance, or to become more isolated, that we each would begin by questioning ourselves, how we have attacked and separated. And only beginning there, can we recognize we are not alone. Surely life might be easier if we were all alone. If there were no one to hold us accountable, no one to question our choices, our values and ethics. But doing so, we would stand on the shore alone, crying I, I, I rather than ever knowing what it is to offer a question, or a book, or a friendship that makes a difference in another person's life.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Being Touched by the UnTouchable, February 15,2009
II Kings 5: 1-5
Mark 1: 40-45
There is a problem with our reading these texts this morning.
They each come from times and places where there were assumptions of class, that are hard for us to comprehend, not only Middle Class and Upper Middle Class and Upper Upper Middle Class, but also Prisoners of War, Servants and Serfs and Slaves, and those deemed to be Unclean, and Lepers, UnTouchables. In the early 1980s, I recall serving as a Chaplain at a public hospital in Harlem. There was a new disease, that was described as an Acquired Immune Deficiency that seemed to attack without reason. Imagine as a Deacon or Minister, trying to sit with someone who was dying, whose employer and family and friends had all shunned them, and by protocol you were to wear gown and booties, mask and gloves, just to be able to enter the room, and you were instructed never ever to touch them. More even than disease, this was about ritual impurity and economic classes, the perverse human concept that we could look passed a person's humanity, ignoring their very human existence, avoiding touch or being touched. Not only of those of differing social standing, but of family as well. The irony being that as far as we may believe we have come, our prejudices and fears have become the more insidious, and we are a people afraid to look one another in the eye, afraid of human touch.
One of the things I love about the Bible, is that as much as this is Holy Scripture, the Very Word of God, those words also place right before our eyes issues that are hard for us, realities we would rather not see, matters that touch us and are real. We know that we are to forgive, but there are times when forgiveness is hard. We know we are to trust, but having been wounded, disappointed, betrayed, trust is very difficult. We know we are to believe, to give all that we are without reserve, and our beliefs are to overcome our fears, but having invested in the Market and in our Homes, our Doubts become a cancer that consume us from within.
There was a difference in the version I read of Mark, from the translation you have in the pew Bibles. In the Greek of the New Testament, there is a word that can equally be translated as ANGER, or INDIGNATION, PITY, or COMPASSION. That word is about STRONG EMOTION, feelings which literally cause us to get in the face of another person, and to be moved to take on the face of the other.
Having been Called from the Wilderness, Jesus called his disciples, and began teaching and healing, yet no matter how many he touched, thousands more came searching for him. Before day break, he rose early to go off by himself even for a moment to pray. No sooner had he gotten down on his knees, cleared his mind of all distractions, focused his heart on God, than a man came to him with Leprosy. Appropriately, the evangelist names that more human than any of us, Jesus reaction would have been Anger and Indignation, which then changes to pity and compassion. Compassion and pity are not the same. Pity is to feel sorrow, to look down upon another and offer something to assuage our guilt. Compassion is to feel a sense of COMMUNION, to suffer for the other, to become as one with them, taking on their illness, their problems, their sin as your own.
There is this marvelous exchange between the two. The man stating his faith: IF YOU WILL, YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN. and Jesus reply, I WILL, BE CLEAN. We create a problem for ourselves when we put faith and practice together.
We imagine that if a person cannot be made well, either God is NOT all Powerful, or the person did not believe enough, and we begin to imagine, IF ONLY WE COULD HELP OUR UNBELIEF. To do so is to blame God and the victim, for having been human. A different starting point would be to accept that as Mortals, as Human beings we are destined to Die, life is a hopeless circumstance. And yet, at strange and wonderful times, miracles do occur. If we could say the right incantation faith would be Magic. Miracles do not happen simply because we want to avoid dying, though at times REAL FAITH does begin at the point of Absolute Desperation. As Jesus prayed in the Garden before his arrest, “Lord, All things are in Your hands, if possible let this cup pass from me, but not as I will, Thy will be done.”
Leprosy is Called Unclean for good reason. The flesh of fingers, toes, ears and nose literally becomes dead and decays, such that these extremities break off, a living corpse of rotting flesh. So it is, that the Law of Moses described that anyone cured of the disease of Leprosy needed to show themselves to the priest, to be bathed and anointed, to pray for spiritual purification, all in order to be accepted by the community as forgiven and clean. Instead, this man for whom Jesus had compassion, the untouchable whom Jesus touched, goes and tells everyone he was cured by Jesus.
On a morning when we are gathering together to talk with Gustav Niebuhr about his book Beyond Tolerance, there are few passages as appropriate as the story of Naaman.
Naaman was the Commander of the Aram-ean Army of the Syrians, after the era after King Solomon and before Alexander the Great. A Foreign Army that had been at war and invaded Israel. You have description of this fatal flaw, that this Powerful Warrior, Commander of a Foreign Army, is himself afflicted with Leprosy. In his household is a servant girl, who was captured from the Israelites. Out of Compassion for the husband of the woman she serves, the unnamed girl recommends he go to the Prophet Elisha, the Man of God in Israel. Naaman goes to his King, who out of Pity for Naaman sends him with gold and silver and robes. Naaman takes these to the King of Israel, who instead of seeing a man in need, sees a Warrior, a Commander who has raided his Nation, and now with letters from his Foreign King, demands that the King of Israel cure his Leprosy, which the King knows not how to do. The King of Israel is Indignant at the request of the Leper, but sends him on to see Elisha, the Man of God. When Naaman comes to the house of Elisha, and asks to be cured of Leprosy, the Man of God does not come out of his house, making Naaman Angry. Adding to this, the word Elisha sends by way of his servant Gehazi, is that Naaman should go to bathe in the the river Jordan. What Elisha had instructed, was that Naaman do as commanded by the Law of Moses. Instead Naaman was Indignant, because were not the waters of Syria as clean and pure as the Jordan? But, he is convinced to go, and his skin is washed clean. Having been forgiven, and restored, Naaman now comes to Elisha to Confess Faith In GOD. As much as we want to teach faith, and spare people their struggle, the truth is that often we need to be healed by God before we are able to confess believing. Naaman attempts to pay Elisha for his cure, which the Man of God rejects as having paid for Naaman's Leprosy, Elisha describes that instead this cure was done out of Compassion by God. Naaman now has a personal struggle, because while he has been healed of Leprosy, still he serves a Foreign King. At times our illness is healed, but not our circumstance. Then comes the poetic twist, for as Naaman prepares to leave, Gehazi Elisha's servant decides that if Naaman is willing to pay and Elisha does not want the payment, Gehazi could be paid. And for receiving Naaman's payment for his Leprosy, Gehazi receives Leprosy.
We have progressed so far, from intolerance to tolerance, but the question in going beyond is whether we can look one another in the eye and see each other as a child of God? Can we let go our desire to be paid for whatever we can? Can we change our hearts from Anger and Indignation and Pity, to real Compassion? If not, we are cursed and dead.
Mark 1: 40-45
There is a problem with our reading these texts this morning.
They each come from times and places where there were assumptions of class, that are hard for us to comprehend, not only Middle Class and Upper Middle Class and Upper Upper Middle Class, but also Prisoners of War, Servants and Serfs and Slaves, and those deemed to be Unclean, and Lepers, UnTouchables. In the early 1980s, I recall serving as a Chaplain at a public hospital in Harlem. There was a new disease, that was described as an Acquired Immune Deficiency that seemed to attack without reason. Imagine as a Deacon or Minister, trying to sit with someone who was dying, whose employer and family and friends had all shunned them, and by protocol you were to wear gown and booties, mask and gloves, just to be able to enter the room, and you were instructed never ever to touch them. More even than disease, this was about ritual impurity and economic classes, the perverse human concept that we could look passed a person's humanity, ignoring their very human existence, avoiding touch or being touched. Not only of those of differing social standing, but of family as well. The irony being that as far as we may believe we have come, our prejudices and fears have become the more insidious, and we are a people afraid to look one another in the eye, afraid of human touch.
One of the things I love about the Bible, is that as much as this is Holy Scripture, the Very Word of God, those words also place right before our eyes issues that are hard for us, realities we would rather not see, matters that touch us and are real. We know that we are to forgive, but there are times when forgiveness is hard. We know we are to trust, but having been wounded, disappointed, betrayed, trust is very difficult. We know we are to believe, to give all that we are without reserve, and our beliefs are to overcome our fears, but having invested in the Market and in our Homes, our Doubts become a cancer that consume us from within.
There was a difference in the version I read of Mark, from the translation you have in the pew Bibles. In the Greek of the New Testament, there is a word that can equally be translated as ANGER, or INDIGNATION, PITY, or COMPASSION. That word is about STRONG EMOTION, feelings which literally cause us to get in the face of another person, and to be moved to take on the face of the other.
Having been Called from the Wilderness, Jesus called his disciples, and began teaching and healing, yet no matter how many he touched, thousands more came searching for him. Before day break, he rose early to go off by himself even for a moment to pray. No sooner had he gotten down on his knees, cleared his mind of all distractions, focused his heart on God, than a man came to him with Leprosy. Appropriately, the evangelist names that more human than any of us, Jesus reaction would have been Anger and Indignation, which then changes to pity and compassion. Compassion and pity are not the same. Pity is to feel sorrow, to look down upon another and offer something to assuage our guilt. Compassion is to feel a sense of COMMUNION, to suffer for the other, to become as one with them, taking on their illness, their problems, their sin as your own.
There is this marvelous exchange between the two. The man stating his faith: IF YOU WILL, YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN. and Jesus reply, I WILL, BE CLEAN. We create a problem for ourselves when we put faith and practice together.
We imagine that if a person cannot be made well, either God is NOT all Powerful, or the person did not believe enough, and we begin to imagine, IF ONLY WE COULD HELP OUR UNBELIEF. To do so is to blame God and the victim, for having been human. A different starting point would be to accept that as Mortals, as Human beings we are destined to Die, life is a hopeless circumstance. And yet, at strange and wonderful times, miracles do occur. If we could say the right incantation faith would be Magic. Miracles do not happen simply because we want to avoid dying, though at times REAL FAITH does begin at the point of Absolute Desperation. As Jesus prayed in the Garden before his arrest, “Lord, All things are in Your hands, if possible let this cup pass from me, but not as I will, Thy will be done.”
Leprosy is Called Unclean for good reason. The flesh of fingers, toes, ears and nose literally becomes dead and decays, such that these extremities break off, a living corpse of rotting flesh. So it is, that the Law of Moses described that anyone cured of the disease of Leprosy needed to show themselves to the priest, to be bathed and anointed, to pray for spiritual purification, all in order to be accepted by the community as forgiven and clean. Instead, this man for whom Jesus had compassion, the untouchable whom Jesus touched, goes and tells everyone he was cured by Jesus.
On a morning when we are gathering together to talk with Gustav Niebuhr about his book Beyond Tolerance, there are few passages as appropriate as the story of Naaman.
Naaman was the Commander of the Aram-ean Army of the Syrians, after the era after King Solomon and before Alexander the Great. A Foreign Army that had been at war and invaded Israel. You have description of this fatal flaw, that this Powerful Warrior, Commander of a Foreign Army, is himself afflicted with Leprosy. In his household is a servant girl, who was captured from the Israelites. Out of Compassion for the husband of the woman she serves, the unnamed girl recommends he go to the Prophet Elisha, the Man of God in Israel. Naaman goes to his King, who out of Pity for Naaman sends him with gold and silver and robes. Naaman takes these to the King of Israel, who instead of seeing a man in need, sees a Warrior, a Commander who has raided his Nation, and now with letters from his Foreign King, demands that the King of Israel cure his Leprosy, which the King knows not how to do. The King of Israel is Indignant at the request of the Leper, but sends him on to see Elisha, the Man of God. When Naaman comes to the house of Elisha, and asks to be cured of Leprosy, the Man of God does not come out of his house, making Naaman Angry. Adding to this, the word Elisha sends by way of his servant Gehazi, is that Naaman should go to bathe in the the river Jordan. What Elisha had instructed, was that Naaman do as commanded by the Law of Moses. Instead Naaman was Indignant, because were not the waters of Syria as clean and pure as the Jordan? But, he is convinced to go, and his skin is washed clean. Having been forgiven, and restored, Naaman now comes to Elisha to Confess Faith In GOD. As much as we want to teach faith, and spare people their struggle, the truth is that often we need to be healed by God before we are able to confess believing. Naaman attempts to pay Elisha for his cure, which the Man of God rejects as having paid for Naaman's Leprosy, Elisha describes that instead this cure was done out of Compassion by God. Naaman now has a personal struggle, because while he has been healed of Leprosy, still he serves a Foreign King. At times our illness is healed, but not our circumstance. Then comes the poetic twist, for as Naaman prepares to leave, Gehazi Elisha's servant decides that if Naaman is willing to pay and Elisha does not want the payment, Gehazi could be paid. And for receiving Naaman's payment for his Leprosy, Gehazi receives Leprosy.
We have progressed so far, from intolerance to tolerance, but the question in going beyond is whether we can look one another in the eye and see each other as a child of God? Can we let go our desire to be paid for whatever we can? Can we change our hearts from Anger and Indignation and Pity, to real Compassion? If not, we are cursed and dead.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Leaders Who Serve or Servant Leaders, February 8, 2009
Isaiah 40:21-31
I Corinthians 9:15-23
In his inaugural address, our new President declared “America is ready to lead again!” Future generations of pundits may relegate this as a political line like “We have nothing to fear, but fear”, “Our Competitors launched a dog into space and within the decade we will put a Man on the Moon”, or “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down your wall!” But part of our AMERICAN ETHOS, is that we are A NATION OF LEADERS, we are a MORAL NATION, A MODEL FOR THE WORLD in Diversity, Tolerance and Success.
We have convinced every girl/boy trying out for Little League, that they could be pitcher. Every Pee Wee Football Player that they could be Quarterback, every child who can skate that they could earn the C on their Hockey Jersey that makes them Captain. In sports or business, in education, we challenge one another, not simply to pass, to succeed, but to lead.
The difficulty of leadership is as described by Max Dupree, CEO of the Herman Miller Furniture companies, “Leadership begins with defining Your Reality, and ends at the realization that you are actually a Servant, wanting to give thanks for the work of others.” To be a Leader, one defines themselves and their reality as a separate construct, a world apart, where we are in charge and everyone and everything is subject to our leading. We seek clear objective answers to questions, to know what is right and wrong, to be certain. The height of achievement is that we can GOOGLE the answer to any question. But, having Mastered Business Administration, having mastered Public Administration, having become a Master of the Universe, we ultimately come to realize that our construct of our Reality is part of someone else's, and we are dependent and subject to others for life itself. The great realization is that leaders will come to appreciate they have only achieved by the support and hard work of everyone working together. The assumed challenge of our time has been trying to teach and motivate leaders to serve, to give back.
This is the point of awareness of Isaiah 40. Isaiah was the Prophet sent to preach the Word of God, knowing all the while that God had hardened the people's hearts, stopped their ears and blinded their vision. He preached and preached and preached, doing whatever he could to gain the people's attention, but they were each too busy. The people needed to master their reality. They needed to control, to possess, to win. They needed to be fashionable. They needed to fight, to acquire, accomplish and achieve. They needed to love and to lust. They needed homes and cars and the latest electronic blackberry with fingerprint recognition. We really are not far different than our ancestors worshipping Babylonian Idols, Greek and Roman Statues as Gods of Fertility, Love, Power, War, and Wealth. When all that they have invested in, all that they have acquired, is found to be stuff. Like eating a dozen doughnuts or chocolate bars, it fills but cannot nourish or satisfy.
That is the point isn't it? Like so many generations of humanity before us, we have had the Word of God, and said who cares, what does it matter. The Bible is boring, dry and filled with wars. What does any of what happened thousands of years ago in Israel and Rome have to do with us? A week ago, the Pope in Rome absolved and received back a part of the church that had split off at Vatican II. This was a faction who blamed and persecuted Judaism for Crucifying Jesus, who believed worship and the Bible should not be translated into the common language but should only be in Latin, and disavowed as heretics all of us who are of other protesting reformed Christian denominations. While on so many fronts, we are achieving greater trust and accord, where eventually we can accept one another's Baptism and break bread together in full Communion, simultaneously the church struggles with accepting everything which would mean we believe in nothing.
Having endured years of economic hardship, wars and political collapse, Isaiah again preaches: “Comfort, comfort my people says your God. Have you not known, have your not seen? Where have you been to not understand that God is God.” At which point Isaiah is able to challenge the people, NOT to go back, NOT to return to what they once had and believed, not to try to do better and have more, but rather to be transformed, to change and mature and take responsibility for others.
The great struggle is not in how to encourage Leaders to Serve, but rather Can we create a new nation with a Servant Heart, who are able to Lead. Beginning with a Serving Heart, we begin with Compassion, with Empathy, with a Desire to Include and build up. The questions we ask, are not OBJECTIVE with a direct clear cut answer, but CROSS-EYED, as if seeing through the experience of the Cross, listening for how you are feeling, what you believe, what are your concerns. Most of our lives are not about WHO, WHAT WERE, WHEN, HOW, WHY, or HOW MUCH, so much as our need to be seen, to be heard for who we are, to be accepted, so as to be able to reveal the TRUTH. Listening to one another's souls, we do not try to FIX, to SAVE, to CORRECT, to RESCUE, to ANSWER, that is just Trivia. Our Souls crave TRUTH not TRIVIA, we hunger for our Center to be nurtured/ rather than our bellies to be satiated, we thirst for MEANING, for ACCEPTANCE, for FRIENDSHIP/ rather than to be anesthetized.
Paul described Having RIGHTS and being FREE. So often we are concerned and outraged by others infringing on our rights. They are too close on our Property Line, they have taken away our view; rather than recognizing we have rights and choose to be free to not enforce, to not demand, but instead to serve.
In every community there are a plethora of different churches, and we live in a time where people Church shop. We do. There are PILLAR CHURCHES which are the cornerstone of the community. There are PROPHETIC CHURCHES trying to be on the cutting edge. There are PILGRIM CHURCHES where those who have recently immigrated from another place, whose lives are transient attempt to find a home. There are Churches in SURVIVAL, attempting to maintain their program and staff and reputation until new members will come to save them. At different times, we have been all of these. What has happened here throughout the last generation, is that we have become a SERVANT PEOPLE. There are always those who will come to Coffee Hour and be concerned that they were not sought out, but in this fellowship there has been genuine concern for Anna-Margaret's heart, for a young couple having had surgery, for those with Cancer, for our older youth experimenting with excesses in alcohol, in drugs and sex. We are not being prudish, there is genuine concern and attention to see, to listen, to witness and care. This weekend as the Middle schoolers performed “Guys and Dolls” there were many present who were not parents or grandparents, but who simply cheered on Phoebe and Phoebe and Alison and Emma, Mary, Michael and David and John.
We are ready to lead, with a servant's heart as a serving people who listen.
I Corinthians 9:15-23
In his inaugural address, our new President declared “America is ready to lead again!” Future generations of pundits may relegate this as a political line like “We have nothing to fear, but fear”, “Our Competitors launched a dog into space and within the decade we will put a Man on the Moon”, or “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down your wall!” But part of our AMERICAN ETHOS, is that we are A NATION OF LEADERS, we are a MORAL NATION, A MODEL FOR THE WORLD in Diversity, Tolerance and Success.
We have convinced every girl/boy trying out for Little League, that they could be pitcher. Every Pee Wee Football Player that they could be Quarterback, every child who can skate that they could earn the C on their Hockey Jersey that makes them Captain. In sports or business, in education, we challenge one another, not simply to pass, to succeed, but to lead.
The difficulty of leadership is as described by Max Dupree, CEO of the Herman Miller Furniture companies, “Leadership begins with defining Your Reality, and ends at the realization that you are actually a Servant, wanting to give thanks for the work of others.” To be a Leader, one defines themselves and their reality as a separate construct, a world apart, where we are in charge and everyone and everything is subject to our leading. We seek clear objective answers to questions, to know what is right and wrong, to be certain. The height of achievement is that we can GOOGLE the answer to any question. But, having Mastered Business Administration, having mastered Public Administration, having become a Master of the Universe, we ultimately come to realize that our construct of our Reality is part of someone else's, and we are dependent and subject to others for life itself. The great realization is that leaders will come to appreciate they have only achieved by the support and hard work of everyone working together. The assumed challenge of our time has been trying to teach and motivate leaders to serve, to give back.
This is the point of awareness of Isaiah 40. Isaiah was the Prophet sent to preach the Word of God, knowing all the while that God had hardened the people's hearts, stopped their ears and blinded their vision. He preached and preached and preached, doing whatever he could to gain the people's attention, but they were each too busy. The people needed to master their reality. They needed to control, to possess, to win. They needed to be fashionable. They needed to fight, to acquire, accomplish and achieve. They needed to love and to lust. They needed homes and cars and the latest electronic blackberry with fingerprint recognition. We really are not far different than our ancestors worshipping Babylonian Idols, Greek and Roman Statues as Gods of Fertility, Love, Power, War, and Wealth. When all that they have invested in, all that they have acquired, is found to be stuff. Like eating a dozen doughnuts or chocolate bars, it fills but cannot nourish or satisfy.
That is the point isn't it? Like so many generations of humanity before us, we have had the Word of God, and said who cares, what does it matter. The Bible is boring, dry and filled with wars. What does any of what happened thousands of years ago in Israel and Rome have to do with us? A week ago, the Pope in Rome absolved and received back a part of the church that had split off at Vatican II. This was a faction who blamed and persecuted Judaism for Crucifying Jesus, who believed worship and the Bible should not be translated into the common language but should only be in Latin, and disavowed as heretics all of us who are of other protesting reformed Christian denominations. While on so many fronts, we are achieving greater trust and accord, where eventually we can accept one another's Baptism and break bread together in full Communion, simultaneously the church struggles with accepting everything which would mean we believe in nothing.
Having endured years of economic hardship, wars and political collapse, Isaiah again preaches: “Comfort, comfort my people says your God. Have you not known, have your not seen? Where have you been to not understand that God is God.” At which point Isaiah is able to challenge the people, NOT to go back, NOT to return to what they once had and believed, not to try to do better and have more, but rather to be transformed, to change and mature and take responsibility for others.
The great struggle is not in how to encourage Leaders to Serve, but rather Can we create a new nation with a Servant Heart, who are able to Lead. Beginning with a Serving Heart, we begin with Compassion, with Empathy, with a Desire to Include and build up. The questions we ask, are not OBJECTIVE with a direct clear cut answer, but CROSS-EYED, as if seeing through the experience of the Cross, listening for how you are feeling, what you believe, what are your concerns. Most of our lives are not about WHO, WHAT WERE, WHEN, HOW, WHY, or HOW MUCH, so much as our need to be seen, to be heard for who we are, to be accepted, so as to be able to reveal the TRUTH. Listening to one another's souls, we do not try to FIX, to SAVE, to CORRECT, to RESCUE, to ANSWER, that is just Trivia. Our Souls crave TRUTH not TRIVIA, we hunger for our Center to be nurtured/ rather than our bellies to be satiated, we thirst for MEANING, for ACCEPTANCE, for FRIENDSHIP/ rather than to be anesthetized.
Paul described Having RIGHTS and being FREE. So often we are concerned and outraged by others infringing on our rights. They are too close on our Property Line, they have taken away our view; rather than recognizing we have rights and choose to be free to not enforce, to not demand, but instead to serve.
In every community there are a plethora of different churches, and we live in a time where people Church shop. We do. There are PILLAR CHURCHES which are the cornerstone of the community. There are PROPHETIC CHURCHES trying to be on the cutting edge. There are PILGRIM CHURCHES where those who have recently immigrated from another place, whose lives are transient attempt to find a home. There are Churches in SURVIVAL, attempting to maintain their program and staff and reputation until new members will come to save them. At different times, we have been all of these. What has happened here throughout the last generation, is that we have become a SERVANT PEOPLE. There are always those who will come to Coffee Hour and be concerned that they were not sought out, but in this fellowship there has been genuine concern for Anna-Margaret's heart, for a young couple having had surgery, for those with Cancer, for our older youth experimenting with excesses in alcohol, in drugs and sex. We are not being prudish, there is genuine concern and attention to see, to listen, to witness and care. This weekend as the Middle schoolers performed “Guys and Dolls” there were many present who were not parents or grandparents, but who simply cheered on Phoebe and Phoebe and Alison and Emma, Mary, Michael and David and John.
We are ready to lead, with a servant's heart as a serving people who listen.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
February 01, 2009 Ordination: The Superbowl PreGame
Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
Mark 1: 21-39
Let's face it, regardless of whether we identify this as the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, Ordination Sunday, the Sacrament of Holy Communion or the Day before Ground Hog Day, this is SUPERBOWL SUNDAY. Yet as much emphasis as has been placed on the outcome, for a majority of us, we watch for the Commercials and the Half-time, the GAME is of far less importance than the PRE-GAME as we get everything in place, being certain we have enough Blue Chips and Guacamole, Black/Gold and Red/White to set everything in motion for the kick-off. So let us Claim that the Presbyterians began the PREGAME at 10am, because that is what Ordination is. Before TRAINING, Before the first MEETING, Before COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS or signing up to SERVE, AFTER Election we Ordain with this series of I Dos and I WILLs and a Laying On of Hands. This is the PREGAME for our Ministry as the Church in this time and Place.
When Moses had led the People for Four Decades, Moses established a balance of leadership, King and Judges and Priests, to Govern, for Justice and for Faith; BUT also PROPHETS LIKE MOSES FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE. It is an odd phrase, the point of which, is exactly what has taken place from last Sunday to this. That our Prophets and Leaders are chosen from among us, MINISTERS, ELDERS, DEACONS, and are Ordained to this responsibility. Yesterday, in the meeting of the Presbytery, a woman was introduced, Kathy Dain. Kathy had been a member here for several years, then moved to Florida and returned to become a member of Park Central Presbyterian Church in order to go to Seminary to become a minister of Word & Sacrament. In order to be a Minister, Elder or Deacon, you must first be a member of the local Church, chosen from among the people.
Last evening, I took the Confirmation Class to the Catholic Church to see the similarities and differences in our worship and faith, and these passages were paired with the verse in Corinthians that emphasizes CELIBACY. The Catholic emphasis being that those who are married women and men are too concerned with material things, the feeding of their children, working at a career, while the single are able to devote themselves to prayer and fasting. Whereas the Prophets of the Reformation, instead of celibacy named personal confession of faith, following the Scriptures and Confessions, Service as part of a larger Body and the Laying on of Hands. That rather than our retired leaders sitting quietly as new leaders profess new and different directions then stepping aboard a helicopter to fly away to Texas, we, those who have served would be responsible for passing along wisdom, and guidance and prayer and support to those who would now lead.
Whether Catholic or Protestant, the point being that our ORDAINED are to serve as Prophets among us, teaching, healing, praying and seeing visions of God the rest of us are unwilling/unable to look upon. The Challenge to those being ordained this day, and to the whole priesthood of believers, is what is your prophecy? What vision of the future would you lift up for us to fulfill in faith?
There are a few leftovers from last week's meeting of the congregation which bear answering, so in some sense this is like a STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS.
First is in terms of mission, that the clinic in Sudan has outgrown us. When this first began, we as a church were able to provide for all the administrative costs and decisions, when first I travelled to Sudan in 2005 there was one couple at the Village of Duk Payuel. Last year in January, when John Dau and I each returned to serve there were 1700 people in this place, and when Dr. Connor and Dr. Coville went to serve as Doctors the United Nations seeing what we as a church had provided, relocated 3,000 refugees to this sight, making the population 5,000. This week I was informed that now there are 54,000 people in Duk. A Foundation has been created as this is now far more than what we as a church can do. We prophesied and preached, and that word changed the world.
Someone recently asked, “SO WHAT?” It's not like we are going to replicate creating clinics across the face of Africa, or that anyone else could pick up the pattern of what we have witnessed and do things the same again, there were far too many miracles we could never have planned to replicate. But rather, many of us, locally and around the world have developed AUTHORITY FOR SERVING. We provided the Early Childhood Center, before there was any other Day Care in the Village. We provided for the housing, shelter and food of Seniors. We gave time and talents and resources to work ecumenically at the Food Pantry, and we built a clinic in Africa. And the AUTHORITY we learned, that we take from these experiences to others, are to NEVER GIVE UP. Resources may be HiJacked or Lost, wells may run dry, but we trust God and never give up until the covenant is fulfilled.
It is intriguing to hear this passage from Mark. Because Jesus is described as Teaching with AUTHORITY and all were amazed, but what he taught is not recorded here. There is one with an Evil Spirit who was Convulsed and reacted saying WHAT HAVE YOU TO DO WITH US HOLY ONE OF GOD... Which tends to happen whenever we are challenged with new ideas, we react saying WHY? or NO. The AUTHORITY of Jesus is to persevere.
The healing of Simon's Mother takes a brief explanation, otherwise it appears the Messiah came and healed her only so she could get up to cook and entertain him. Instead, the contrast here is between she who is the first person in Mark to be healed and the disciples. The disciples were running about trying to make sure Jesus has a favorable response, that there were people to listen and be healed, instead she who is first to be healed is the first to serve. OUR CALLING as Disciples is TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER. There is also an ancient interpretation of this text, that Simon's Mother-in-law was not sick with the flu, or Kidney stones, or on her death bed, but that there are times when we are so frustrated and distracted that we are as if with a fever, and it is this fever of distraction that Jesus heals. Would that we could be healed of distractions and frustration!
Following last week's meeting someone emailed with a serious question. I didn't want to put you on the spot during the meeting, but over the last dozen years there have been many TANGIBLE CHANGES, having served this tenure you have developed an authority, what do you perceive are the NON-TANGIBLE CHANGES we have witnessed and what are the NON-TANGIBLE NEEDS of the Church for the future?
Ten years ago, on one of the first weekends in February, I read to the church a three page single spaced list of all the tangible accomplishments we had already witnessed together, but naming that because of past abuses of power, authority and intimacy we needed to work on trust. That morning and for the next three weeks I had a line outside my door of people offering to take out whomever it was that was not trusting others.
We have come a long ways, we now have learned new ways to trust one another.
We also have created policies to safeguard those trusts.
Many have changed from sitting quietly/respectfully, allowing the preacher to pray, to instead claiming a title of prayer-warriors fighting cancers, and circumstance. Several have come to embrace YOGA and REIKI HEALING, and EXERCISE all as being part of our Church.
One of the needs of the Church is that we find a different way to live with who we are.
The awesome joy of this time, is that where churches across the world are closing, cutting budgets and staff, we are boldly reaching out and expanding what we do. Too easily, we take for granted the faith and spirit that are here, that you have worked so hard to build.
The challenge for our ordained leaders is to make of responsibilities acts of faith. So what we do is not teaching a lesson, but inspiring faith. Not singing a difficult piece, so much as praising God. Not spending money, but doing mission. Not being a church unto ourselves, but finding ways to subject ourselves to the needs of others so as to serve the larger body of Christ. But with that we each have responsibility to treat each other more kindly. Imagine what happens to your vision, your faith as an ordained leader, when you come to worship to pray and are asked about CoffeeHour? or ice dripping from the roof?
The on-going challenge for us as a church, is to live in a time of transition. Where many are trying to do new and different ministry, while also maintaining what has been. We are in a time where the Session have available hard copy of reports and have them emailed and we have a Session member who is able to participate VIRTUALLY from the Airbase.
All of which is to say that at this moment in time, the Church is good and healthy because of your commitments and leadership. What will keep us strong is living into the application of Scriptures and Confession in the future. We must use all our Energy, and Intelligence, but even more our Imaginations and our Love.
Mark 1: 21-39
Let's face it, regardless of whether we identify this as the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, Ordination Sunday, the Sacrament of Holy Communion or the Day before Ground Hog Day, this is SUPERBOWL SUNDAY. Yet as much emphasis as has been placed on the outcome, for a majority of us, we watch for the Commercials and the Half-time, the GAME is of far less importance than the PRE-GAME as we get everything in place, being certain we have enough Blue Chips and Guacamole, Black/Gold and Red/White to set everything in motion for the kick-off. So let us Claim that the Presbyterians began the PREGAME at 10am, because that is what Ordination is. Before TRAINING, Before the first MEETING, Before COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS or signing up to SERVE, AFTER Election we Ordain with this series of I Dos and I WILLs and a Laying On of Hands. This is the PREGAME for our Ministry as the Church in this time and Place.
When Moses had led the People for Four Decades, Moses established a balance of leadership, King and Judges and Priests, to Govern, for Justice and for Faith; BUT also PROPHETS LIKE MOSES FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE. It is an odd phrase, the point of which, is exactly what has taken place from last Sunday to this. That our Prophets and Leaders are chosen from among us, MINISTERS, ELDERS, DEACONS, and are Ordained to this responsibility. Yesterday, in the meeting of the Presbytery, a woman was introduced, Kathy Dain. Kathy had been a member here for several years, then moved to Florida and returned to become a member of Park Central Presbyterian Church in order to go to Seminary to become a minister of Word & Sacrament. In order to be a Minister, Elder or Deacon, you must first be a member of the local Church, chosen from among the people.
Last evening, I took the Confirmation Class to the Catholic Church to see the similarities and differences in our worship and faith, and these passages were paired with the verse in Corinthians that emphasizes CELIBACY. The Catholic emphasis being that those who are married women and men are too concerned with material things, the feeding of their children, working at a career, while the single are able to devote themselves to prayer and fasting. Whereas the Prophets of the Reformation, instead of celibacy named personal confession of faith, following the Scriptures and Confessions, Service as part of a larger Body and the Laying on of Hands. That rather than our retired leaders sitting quietly as new leaders profess new and different directions then stepping aboard a helicopter to fly away to Texas, we, those who have served would be responsible for passing along wisdom, and guidance and prayer and support to those who would now lead.
Whether Catholic or Protestant, the point being that our ORDAINED are to serve as Prophets among us, teaching, healing, praying and seeing visions of God the rest of us are unwilling/unable to look upon. The Challenge to those being ordained this day, and to the whole priesthood of believers, is what is your prophecy? What vision of the future would you lift up for us to fulfill in faith?
There are a few leftovers from last week's meeting of the congregation which bear answering, so in some sense this is like a STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS.
First is in terms of mission, that the clinic in Sudan has outgrown us. When this first began, we as a church were able to provide for all the administrative costs and decisions, when first I travelled to Sudan in 2005 there was one couple at the Village of Duk Payuel. Last year in January, when John Dau and I each returned to serve there were 1700 people in this place, and when Dr. Connor and Dr. Coville went to serve as Doctors the United Nations seeing what we as a church had provided, relocated 3,000 refugees to this sight, making the population 5,000. This week I was informed that now there are 54,000 people in Duk. A Foundation has been created as this is now far more than what we as a church can do. We prophesied and preached, and that word changed the world.
Someone recently asked, “SO WHAT?” It's not like we are going to replicate creating clinics across the face of Africa, or that anyone else could pick up the pattern of what we have witnessed and do things the same again, there were far too many miracles we could never have planned to replicate. But rather, many of us, locally and around the world have developed AUTHORITY FOR SERVING. We provided the Early Childhood Center, before there was any other Day Care in the Village. We provided for the housing, shelter and food of Seniors. We gave time and talents and resources to work ecumenically at the Food Pantry, and we built a clinic in Africa. And the AUTHORITY we learned, that we take from these experiences to others, are to NEVER GIVE UP. Resources may be HiJacked or Lost, wells may run dry, but we trust God and never give up until the covenant is fulfilled.
It is intriguing to hear this passage from Mark. Because Jesus is described as Teaching with AUTHORITY and all were amazed, but what he taught is not recorded here. There is one with an Evil Spirit who was Convulsed and reacted saying WHAT HAVE YOU TO DO WITH US HOLY ONE OF GOD... Which tends to happen whenever we are challenged with new ideas, we react saying WHY? or NO. The AUTHORITY of Jesus is to persevere.
The healing of Simon's Mother takes a brief explanation, otherwise it appears the Messiah came and healed her only so she could get up to cook and entertain him. Instead, the contrast here is between she who is the first person in Mark to be healed and the disciples. The disciples were running about trying to make sure Jesus has a favorable response, that there were people to listen and be healed, instead she who is first to be healed is the first to serve. OUR CALLING as Disciples is TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER. There is also an ancient interpretation of this text, that Simon's Mother-in-law was not sick with the flu, or Kidney stones, or on her death bed, but that there are times when we are so frustrated and distracted that we are as if with a fever, and it is this fever of distraction that Jesus heals. Would that we could be healed of distractions and frustration!
Following last week's meeting someone emailed with a serious question. I didn't want to put you on the spot during the meeting, but over the last dozen years there have been many TANGIBLE CHANGES, having served this tenure you have developed an authority, what do you perceive are the NON-TANGIBLE CHANGES we have witnessed and what are the NON-TANGIBLE NEEDS of the Church for the future?
Ten years ago, on one of the first weekends in February, I read to the church a three page single spaced list of all the tangible accomplishments we had already witnessed together, but naming that because of past abuses of power, authority and intimacy we needed to work on trust. That morning and for the next three weeks I had a line outside my door of people offering to take out whomever it was that was not trusting others.
We have come a long ways, we now have learned new ways to trust one another.
We also have created policies to safeguard those trusts.
Many have changed from sitting quietly/respectfully, allowing the preacher to pray, to instead claiming a title of prayer-warriors fighting cancers, and circumstance. Several have come to embrace YOGA and REIKI HEALING, and EXERCISE all as being part of our Church.
One of the needs of the Church is that we find a different way to live with who we are.
The awesome joy of this time, is that where churches across the world are closing, cutting budgets and staff, we are boldly reaching out and expanding what we do. Too easily, we take for granted the faith and spirit that are here, that you have worked so hard to build.
The challenge for our ordained leaders is to make of responsibilities acts of faith. So what we do is not teaching a lesson, but inspiring faith. Not singing a difficult piece, so much as praising God. Not spending money, but doing mission. Not being a church unto ourselves, but finding ways to subject ourselves to the needs of others so as to serve the larger body of Christ. But with that we each have responsibility to treat each other more kindly. Imagine what happens to your vision, your faith as an ordained leader, when you come to worship to pray and are asked about CoffeeHour? or ice dripping from the roof?
The on-going challenge for us as a church, is to live in a time of transition. Where many are trying to do new and different ministry, while also maintaining what has been. We are in a time where the Session have available hard copy of reports and have them emailed and we have a Session member who is able to participate VIRTUALLY from the Airbase.
All of which is to say that at this moment in time, the Church is good and healthy because of your commitments and leadership. What will keep us strong is living into the application of Scriptures and Confession in the future. We must use all our Energy, and Intelligence, but even more our Imaginations and our Love.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)