Esther 4
Mark 9: 38-50
How often we go through the motion of days, one upon another, responding to presenting circumstance as if the routine of having lived, having once been, were all that was left to us of a once nobler time? We hear shocking reports, sensationalized news written to command our attention, and we respond as if this were only so much more data. Breaking news of military attacks are received as if Weather reports. Cancers are named as if friends and family were coping with the Flu. It seems as if LIFE has lost life!
What Tom Brokaw described as “The Greatest Generation” is passing. Decades ago, their parents and grandparents described doing without, just trying to survive, in order that future generations would have a different world. This generation went off to World War, then to Conflict on the Korean Peninsula, in order that their children would be free, that evil might be destroyed once and for all. The creation of the bomb, was that evil would be ended, war would be no more, all humanity could be one. The League of Nations was a glorious ideal, that the world's leaders would stop playing political games for world domination and would instead sit down and talk together as reasonable women and men. The G8 was to be an Economic Summit of the leaders of the most powerful and prosperous nations, sharing discussion, sharing leadership for the World Economy. This year, this week, this summit was expanded to be the G20 recognizing the economic power and influence of developing nations, that old Monarchies and Colonizers must share power, must listen to those countries coming to the world stage. Yet in the midst of that Economic Summit, news broke from our leadership of evidence of a new evil, new threats, the potential of destabilization by yet another government developing secret capabilities for nuclear weapons. While all the nations of the world have agreed, that those countries without weapons of mass destruction would avoid development, and those possessing knowledge of the bomb would intentionally work to eliminate arsenals, there is a constant game of testing for power, for who can win at world domination. Our economy has become based on war and the weapons of war, the world economy based on fear and annihilation of one another. Where the Book of Esther named the planned genocide of the Jews by the Persians, as a horrible atrocity never before imagined by humanity, we have witnessed attempts at genocide in one nation upon another, civil war in every country on each of the developed continents.
Who knows? Who knows, but that, All the circumstances of life, ALL of human history, had been planned and orchestrated for this moment, that you, each one of us, could be motivated to act in faith? What if, those of us who have studied and researched our genealogies, knew we had a legacy, a vital inheritance won in the Crusades, protected by being brought to a new nation as those of our blood escaped plagues and famine, a treasure tempered by the pressures and heat of centuries, given to you. What would you do with that diamond? That treasure, that legacy, is faith. But if we have become so numb to life, so scarred and insular, and afraid, how can we risk sharing what we believe?
This week, members of the Women's Association in Bible Study asked a question. They said, “Grace seems to be a New Testament idea, is there Grace in the Old Testament?” There is, but we need to re-orient ourselves to see it. The Bible is not a reference book like a Thesaurus, for us to look up “grace”, and have examples of what we expect. Grace in the Old Testament is reflected in God's response to Adam and Eve when they sinned in the Old Testament, and were not condemned to death or to hell, but were given a new chance at life outside the garden. Esther is an example of God's grace in the Old Testament, a woman appointed for God's purposes.
The Book of Esther is a unique reference for our time. Unique, in that the Book of Esther never actually names God. A Reference for our Time, in that the story of Esther deals with risking to speak out, risking to reveal who you are and what you believe, by risking being vulnerable to the most powerful people in your world, even if that world seems far distant from faith in God.
The Story of Esther describes a time after King David, after Solomon, after the Deportation to Babylon, that Babylon was conquered in war by the Persians, and the People of Faith become a free people living within a culture that does not believe. The culture values beauty and power, values power and beauty so much that the first Queen is exiled for challenging the King's power, by her being unwilling to appear nude before the King's drunken friends. She is replaced as Queen by a Beauty Pageant. And Esther, an Orphaned child is chosen, solely for her beauty, to be Queen. Meanwhile, Haman the most powerful authority in the Country after the King, plots to have all the Jews exterminated, not knowing that Esther is a Jew. Esther is forced to play a deadly game, using her vulnerability and her faith in a world that values power and beauty. Like placing our arm around the Queen of England, there is ONE RULE everyone in the Palace knows, no one is allowed to address the King, no one is allowed to come into the presence of the King without being invited by the King. So, how does Esther, get an audience with the King to speak to him of Truth, when she has not been invited by him for over a month? Rather than assuming power, rather than using her sex and her beauty, Esther appeals to the King on the basis of her Vulnerability, that she has one wish: To share a dinner with him. The King and Haman the King's most powerful advisor come to the dinner, at which she is asked what she desires, and she becomes more vulnerable by asking they come to dinner again. Then finally, when asked what the king can do for her, Queen Esther reveals that she and her people are to be exterminated by Haman's plot. The story of Esther has truth for us, in that in a world dominated by Beauty and Power, the word of faith that cuts through is Vulnerability, not trying to play the game, not seeking after even greater power or dominating one's enemies, but stepping out of the game to be human, to be sincere.
The Gospel of Mark seems strange to us. We are offended by Jesus' words, suggesting that we should cut off a hand or foot or pluck out an eye, yet all this passage is stated to challenge and salt us. The disciples had been sent out by Jesus to baptize and heal and teach in his name. And they surprised themselves that they had authority, their commanding demons, and praying for people worked. All this worked so well, they began to argue among themselves which was more powerful, who could do the greatest things? They boast of having put down those who were not following their authority. But Jesus rebukes them, stating what is the opposite of human power; instead of assuming a War on Terror that “Those who are not For us most be agin us”, Jesus states: “those who are not Against us, Are for us!” The challenge to cut-off and pluck out, is not encouragement for Cutting and maiming one's self, but taking seriously, so seriously you are willing to cut out what is a cancer in our relationships.
We hear passage s about Jesus setting a baby in their midst, and we envision how cute and distracting the Middle aged man holding a baby. When what Jesus was suggesting was that in the midst of a Stockholder's meeting with all the politics and games of power, in the midst of High school's cliques about who are the prettiest, a baby has no power, can play no games, and yet their vulnerability, their need attracts us all.
We in the Syracuse area live a place once called SALT CITY, the Erie Canal was dredged to transport salt cured in this place to far distant locations. Today, we see salt as something to be avoided from our diets, a necessary evil for ice and cold. But in ages gone by they knew Salt used in moderation as a fertilizer, used in excess as able to destroy land for growing anything for generations. Our bodies are made up of salt water, and an imbalance causes our brains to operate in strange realities. Salt can be used in the curing of meats, in preservation. The difficulty, Jesus is naming is that if Salt has been used to absorb and is saturated, how can it be used? Our faith, our humanity, our compassion are super-saturated. Like the pitcher we use each week, we need to recognize and claim we are full of our worries, our concerns, our fears. We cannot take more in. So we pause in Sabbath, and pour out, trusting that God can take all we have. Then, emptying ourselves of our problems and fears and doubts, we are refilled and replenished for the week to come.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
WDYDWYD? September 20, 2009
James 3:13 - 4:10
Mark 9: 30-37
The other day, this message appeared on my email: WDYDWYD?
A short time later the same title appeared again, WDYDWYD?
This time with a message, I am a College Freshman and have been given an assignment to ask people “Why Do You Do What You Do?”
Are you motivated by PROFIT, or ENVY or FEAR, or by RESPONSIBILITY, and if responsibility, is that to your business, to your stock holders, to employees, to the Nation, to your parents, to your spouse, to your kids, to God? WDYDWYD?
Part of me wanted to reply “YES to all the above.” Another part wanted to ignore the solicitation.
Then these passages were appointed for this day and this week.
American society is based on ENVY. A hundred times a day, in television talk shows and commercials, billboards, radio broadcasts and on the internet we are encouraged to want what others want. Everyone needs to have a Flat-screen TV, everyone including the seven year old needs a cell phone, we must have the latest computer, the newest car, designer clothes and shoes, and Labor day is over so we have to replace all the summer items with Fall and Winter. The point is no longer to WIN by having more than anyone else, but simply to keep up and not be left out. Why Do You Do What You Do? We try to DO everything, so as to not be left out, to be accepted like everyone else.
We have run into trouble economically, not because we did not listen, but precisely because we did.
We were given dozens of credit cards, free checks, enticement rates, rebates on future taxes, $4500 for cars (clunkers) we knew were not worth $500 without questioning why or who would pay the difference, we were told to buy now and pay nothing for two years, all so we could have everything everyone else would have, until we were drowning in debt in an economy based on credit. An odd development happened when humanity changed from hunter/gatherers to being a people of the land. Hunter gatherers can always share, what is gathered for three can include a fourth. But when we buy and sell and own land, we perceive resources to be limited, there is only so much lakefront, which requires that we become lenders and debtors. Then we wonder why our credit ratings are not better. WDYDWYD? As a Clan because all are in need, as individuals because others want what we have.
We expect somebody to do something about our debt, about all our problems or else we will vote others into office in their place. Yet, in the pit of our stomachs we do know there is a probability that nothing can be done. WDYDWYD?
Even in our prayers, we confess, “Dear God, I am helpless. My child is ill. There is Cancer. They are so far away. Nothing can be done, it is hopeless and every possibility has already been explored. So now we have come to you. If you can do nothing, I guess that will be okay, but I thought, I hoped, maybe, faith was worth a chance, if not then maybe there is no God anyway.” That is not faith, that is fate.
Like the father bringing his child to Jesus' Disciples, after a lifetime of everyone else being tried, everyone else failing as his son flails, throwing himself into fire drowning in water. Jesus was up the mountain with Peter and James and John, and you can hear the father saying, “Don't bother the Rabbi, who am I to ask anything of God, but maybe you could do something.” After even trying the disciples, the father brings his son to Jesus. This is such a classic scene, as the father asks Jesus “IF he can do anything?” and you can hear the indignation convulsing Jesus as he says “IF?” The point of faith, is not to bend our circumstance to accept whatever happens. Faith cannot be proven by an IF/ THEN proposition. Faith is opening ourselves to what God is doing in this circumstance, to accepting this as a question of our conviction, of our commitment of our faith, and standing toe to toe with the Almighty, committing ourselves, believing only God can make a difference. WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO? Because you can do nothing else!
Sometimes, I think the Evangelist of Mark recorded this story with an inaccurate emphasis. Mark makes us to see Jesus accomplishing miracles no one else, not even his disciples could do. That is good and valid, HOWEVER from the dialogue, I think what may have happened that day, is that when Jesus responded to the father “IF?” the father cried out “I DO BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF” and this is what was cured, and through the healing of the father's faith, suddenly the son could be helped. Throughout this section, the father has treated the boy as his possession, as his burden, that he wants someone else to fix for him. But continually the boy is still a burden, until the father is challenged and healed. WHY DID THE BOY DO WHAT THE BOY DID. throwing himself in fire and drowning in water? It got attention, for him and for the father. The father was needed because he could take his son to someone else.
Reading this over this day, we have to wonder. God, the FATHER is all powerful, able to create worlds and peoples, to form order and life. Why was it necessary Jesus enter life? On the one hand, we have a freedom of will and we were and are able to choose whether or not to believe. But also, God had come to have this relationship with humanity as being sinners with a far distant God, and change is hard. Change requires we let go our assumptions and fully believe, commit ourselves to a different reality. SO, Jesus coming into life, was also about the healing of God.
This story also helps us better understand about the Disciples. Jesus had called them, instructed and commissioned them, and sent them out two by two to call people to faith, to cast out demons, and preach and baptize. After doing so, they return, and this father comes with his son. The disciples listen, they exhort, they preach, they work beside the father, but nothing happens. When they ask Jesus WHY his response is that this kind of demon are hard to shake, they require prayer. The disciples had not been praying? There is no indication yet he had shown them how to pray. As an act of faith, prayer is where we often begin. But the disciples recognized something even more basic. Their first task was to get to know the people, to listen to them and build and establish trust. Not a little thing. But prayer comes after establishing trust. Trusting one another, that we are not isolated, not alone and not in competition, we then trust God.
There have been far too many examples of Faith Healers, who fix the lame and blind, and miraculously change the world. Just as there have been far too many examples of a praise faith that says Praise God and I will receive everything I want. FAITH is wrestling with God, wrestling with ourselves and our circumstance. Trusting God to have a plan to use us, even us.
Recently, I heard the story of a photographer, who taught a class in photography to blind students. She gave cameras to the students and encouraged them to take photos of their world. Shortly thereafter, the School Board received a photo of a broken sidewalk and uneven pavement. The accompanying note read, “You have eyes to see, and responsibility for your students. I cannot see, and these cracks cause me to stumble. They catch my cane and trip me up from trying. There are cracks that those with eyes do not see, I am showing them to you, you have to have responsibility to help those of us who are blind. The letter was signed WDYDWYD?
Mark 9: 30-37
The other day, this message appeared on my email: WDYDWYD?
A short time later the same title appeared again, WDYDWYD?
This time with a message, I am a College Freshman and have been given an assignment to ask people “Why Do You Do What You Do?”
Are you motivated by PROFIT, or ENVY or FEAR, or by RESPONSIBILITY, and if responsibility, is that to your business, to your stock holders, to employees, to the Nation, to your parents, to your spouse, to your kids, to God? WDYDWYD?
Part of me wanted to reply “YES to all the above.” Another part wanted to ignore the solicitation.
Then these passages were appointed for this day and this week.
American society is based on ENVY. A hundred times a day, in television talk shows and commercials, billboards, radio broadcasts and on the internet we are encouraged to want what others want. Everyone needs to have a Flat-screen TV, everyone including the seven year old needs a cell phone, we must have the latest computer, the newest car, designer clothes and shoes, and Labor day is over so we have to replace all the summer items with Fall and Winter. The point is no longer to WIN by having more than anyone else, but simply to keep up and not be left out. Why Do You Do What You Do? We try to DO everything, so as to not be left out, to be accepted like everyone else.
We have run into trouble economically, not because we did not listen, but precisely because we did.
We were given dozens of credit cards, free checks, enticement rates, rebates on future taxes, $4500 for cars (clunkers) we knew were not worth $500 without questioning why or who would pay the difference, we were told to buy now and pay nothing for two years, all so we could have everything everyone else would have, until we were drowning in debt in an economy based on credit. An odd development happened when humanity changed from hunter/gatherers to being a people of the land. Hunter gatherers can always share, what is gathered for three can include a fourth. But when we buy and sell and own land, we perceive resources to be limited, there is only so much lakefront, which requires that we become lenders and debtors. Then we wonder why our credit ratings are not better. WDYDWYD? As a Clan because all are in need, as individuals because others want what we have.
We expect somebody to do something about our debt, about all our problems or else we will vote others into office in their place. Yet, in the pit of our stomachs we do know there is a probability that nothing can be done. WDYDWYD?
Even in our prayers, we confess, “Dear God, I am helpless. My child is ill. There is Cancer. They are so far away. Nothing can be done, it is hopeless and every possibility has already been explored. So now we have come to you. If you can do nothing, I guess that will be okay, but I thought, I hoped, maybe, faith was worth a chance, if not then maybe there is no God anyway.” That is not faith, that is fate.
Like the father bringing his child to Jesus' Disciples, after a lifetime of everyone else being tried, everyone else failing as his son flails, throwing himself into fire drowning in water. Jesus was up the mountain with Peter and James and John, and you can hear the father saying, “Don't bother the Rabbi, who am I to ask anything of God, but maybe you could do something.” After even trying the disciples, the father brings his son to Jesus. This is such a classic scene, as the father asks Jesus “IF he can do anything?” and you can hear the indignation convulsing Jesus as he says “IF?” The point of faith, is not to bend our circumstance to accept whatever happens. Faith cannot be proven by an IF/ THEN proposition. Faith is opening ourselves to what God is doing in this circumstance, to accepting this as a question of our conviction, of our commitment of our faith, and standing toe to toe with the Almighty, committing ourselves, believing only God can make a difference. WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO? Because you can do nothing else!
Sometimes, I think the Evangelist of Mark recorded this story with an inaccurate emphasis. Mark makes us to see Jesus accomplishing miracles no one else, not even his disciples could do. That is good and valid, HOWEVER from the dialogue, I think what may have happened that day, is that when Jesus responded to the father “IF?” the father cried out “I DO BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF” and this is what was cured, and through the healing of the father's faith, suddenly the son could be helped. Throughout this section, the father has treated the boy as his possession, as his burden, that he wants someone else to fix for him. But continually the boy is still a burden, until the father is challenged and healed. WHY DID THE BOY DO WHAT THE BOY DID. throwing himself in fire and drowning in water? It got attention, for him and for the father. The father was needed because he could take his son to someone else.
Reading this over this day, we have to wonder. God, the FATHER is all powerful, able to create worlds and peoples, to form order and life. Why was it necessary Jesus enter life? On the one hand, we have a freedom of will and we were and are able to choose whether or not to believe. But also, God had come to have this relationship with humanity as being sinners with a far distant God, and change is hard. Change requires we let go our assumptions and fully believe, commit ourselves to a different reality. SO, Jesus coming into life, was also about the healing of God.
This story also helps us better understand about the Disciples. Jesus had called them, instructed and commissioned them, and sent them out two by two to call people to faith, to cast out demons, and preach and baptize. After doing so, they return, and this father comes with his son. The disciples listen, they exhort, they preach, they work beside the father, but nothing happens. When they ask Jesus WHY his response is that this kind of demon are hard to shake, they require prayer. The disciples had not been praying? There is no indication yet he had shown them how to pray. As an act of faith, prayer is where we often begin. But the disciples recognized something even more basic. Their first task was to get to know the people, to listen to them and build and establish trust. Not a little thing. But prayer comes after establishing trust. Trusting one another, that we are not isolated, not alone and not in competition, we then trust God.
There have been far too many examples of Faith Healers, who fix the lame and blind, and miraculously change the world. Just as there have been far too many examples of a praise faith that says Praise God and I will receive everything I want. FAITH is wrestling with God, wrestling with ourselves and our circumstance. Trusting God to have a plan to use us, even us.
Recently, I heard the story of a photographer, who taught a class in photography to blind students. She gave cameras to the students and encouraged them to take photos of their world. Shortly thereafter, the School Board received a photo of a broken sidewalk and uneven pavement. The accompanying note read, “You have eyes to see, and responsibility for your students. I cannot see, and these cracks cause me to stumble. They catch my cane and trip me up from trying. There are cracks that those with eyes do not see, I am showing them to you, you have to have responsibility to help those of us who are blind. The letter was signed WDYDWYD?
Sunday, September 13, 2009
IM, September 13, 2009
WE ARE a self-fulfilled, self-actualized, prosperous people. Whereas the readings for this morning call us to see what is HOLY. CALL us, to know that God knows us better than we know ourselves. As much as we are accustomed to believe that if you make THE Right decision, the right purchase of the right product, if we find our soul-partner for life; if we could go to the right pre-school so as to go to the right elementary starting at the age when we were ready, and went on to the right preparatory school so as to go to the best colleges and Universities and have all knowledge so as to be learned; STILL we will not understand, because faith is not a single one-time linear decision, faith is a life-time pursuit of relearning what we thought we already knew, learning what is too familiar.
We are a Christian people, named for Jesus Christ. But as much as we think we know what being Christian is, as much as we believe we understand who Christ is, this is only the beginning. We have come to use “Christ” as if Jesus' last name, as if we could assume we know what it means to be The Messiah, the Son of God! Do not misunderstand, to know Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, Son of God is a powerful claim and realization, for that is what Simon Peter came to affirm, that is the point of Baptism. They were walking along the road, having been Called by Jesus, having been together to see many miracles, having heard his teachings, when Jesus asks them to consider “What is my reputation? Who do people say I AM?” King Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist back from the dead! Some knew the Old Testament Scriptures that prior to the end of the world, Elijah the Prophet who had not died but had been carried up by God in a whirlwind was to return. Still others thought he was a Good Man, a Rabbi, a Prophet. So Jesus gets personal and asks: “Yes, but who do you say that I AM?”
How many remember that moment in 9th Grade Geometry, when you had learned that 2+2 = 4, and 4 X 4= 16, you had learned square roots and basic Algebra; when one morning you were given formula for calculating the distance around the perimeter of a circle, and using that, you suddenly understood the quantity that could be held by a cylinder? There is that moment, when you believe a Lightbulb actually appeared above your head, when suddenly you know! That is Simon Peter: Jesus Called us, Jesus fed 5000 people with one child's lunch, Jesus walked on Water and calmed the sea, Jesus heals the sick and teaches us what never before was revealed, Ding, Ding “Jesus IS the Messiah!” And Jesus says YES BUT, you do not yet know what that means. Because the Messiah, the Son of God, the Christ, MUST suffer, must die for all the world to be saved, in order for Resurrection to occur there must be a Crucifixion and for that there must be betrayal, and for betrayal to be real, there must be trust and love, not only as we each have known, but to TRUST and to LOVE and to be BETRAYED for all Humanity. For the Resurrection of Easter to be a reality, the Son of God must be the representative of all the world the SON of MAN, who suffers for all Creation, who atones for the Whole Cosmos, Once and For All.
Christendom made everyone believe we knew what it is to be Christian, you go to church, you are Baptized, you sing the hymns, you go to Sunday School, you serve on a committee, you pay an offering you receive Communion, and WHAM BAM: YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN. Suddenly, for Simon Peter and for Us, it is as if that “lightbulb of realization” overheated and explodes. FAITH IN GOD is not a matter of going through the motions, of showing up for life, of doing what others always did, but challenges us to live out our Calling, to live our faith, to choose to make things happen, because you care, because you must, not for your sake, but to make a difference for others.
The Great Patriarch, MOSES, Moses who led the people to the Promised Land, Moses who brought to the people the 10 COMMANDMENTS of God, Moses who parted the Red Sea, was not always known as such. Moses had witnessed a great injustice, and got involved, for which an Egyptian was dead, and Moses was known to have taken a life. In reaction to which, Moses went away, got married and took up a new life. Not as part of Pharaoh's Court, not as a leader, not as a Savior, but blending in as a common SHEPHERD, not even as a Prominent Son, but the Son-in-law of Jethro a Levite, the Priest of Midian. We each naively believe that we define who we are. Our parents begin this by giving us a name, yet as soon as we can we change from being called Matthew to our wanting to be Matt, from being given the name Gustavus to being Gus. We choose whether we want to play sports and with whom we want to be known. We choose what schools we attend. We choose our career. We choose where we want to live and who we marry. We choose what we want to put on a resume, how we want to be called, and who we want to know us on Facebook. We choose who we give our email address to, and who has access to us for Instant Messaging. Moses was herding sheep for his Father-in-Law, when GOD CALLED his name.
Faith is not a matter of choice, but a matter of conviction. God knew Moses, before Moses knew God. God had a plan for Moses to do. In the midst of what was routine and common, God called Moses to see what was Holy. Moses tried to turn God down. FIVE TIMES God told Moses what he must do and each time, Moses tried to claim something else, some one else. “Get my brother Aaron, he is a better public speaker.” God allows that Aaron can share in this, but Moses is still CALLED BY GOD.
In desperation, Moses says, “So IF, and I am not saying I will, but IF I Go to the People and say God Called, and the people ask Whose God, the God of the Perrizites, the Amonites, the God of the Trees, the God of Lightning and Thunder, the God who makes Snow, the God of Love or the God of War?” And God responded “I AM”. Our kids know IM as Instant Messaging, staying connected with your every thought of what you are doing, when. While familiar to us, the Name God gave to Moses comes from the Verb “TO BE”. I Have Been what I Have Been; I Will Be What I Will BE; I AM What I am. As much as to say, that as Creator, everything that exists, everything we can imagine, everything that has ever been and all that will ever be, GOD is Part of.
The struggle of reason that explodes that lightbulb over our heads, is that if all that IS is because of God, then What do we do with the Holocaust? How do we understand the Cancer? Why did 9/11 happen? If God is all Knowing and al powerful... “Was God impotent to make a difference?” “Did God allow these human devastations to happen?” “Did God cause them?” Is God worse than Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein and Ossama Bin Laden and Bernie Maddoff all rolled into one? There is something to Moses argument, of saying “No Thank You” to Faith.
Personally, I believe that there are be it by fate or design, or the presence of evil in the world Horrible Tragedies that will happen. The question of faith is what we will do, who among us is called and to do what.
That day, eight years ago, there were at least four planes. Two of which were flown into the Trade Centers. One was flown into the Pentagon. One, the people on board IM-ed friends and family to give them their love, then the passengers, the shepherds going about their business took control.
I remember that day, at the local factory, As people asked if this were the end of the world? If this were the presence of Evil in the world? I recall that afternoon, sharing with strangers, that I have two sons who would be draft age, and the fears of parents, the fears of us all at the war that would come. I recall that evening, as this Sanctuary was filled beyond capacity, as we described that nothing is as it was yesterday. I recall people over the next many weeks asking: Why would people hate so much? Strangely, this year, on September 11th one couple chose to marry and another to have their rehearsal for their wedding, not that this had become just another day, they were intentional it was not, BUT that this day could be redeemed, reclaimed as not being a day of tragedy.
Of all the healing stories, this one in Mark is unique, because Jesus touches the man and asks if he can see, and he is healed but not completely, only half-way, so people look like trees walking. And Jesus touches the man a second time, and encourages him to look intently, in essence to look Deeper. We can approach life, as ordinary or we can look deeper. We can be healed from blindness, from paralysis, from cancer, from hate; but there is also a deeper healing, spiritual healing of redeeming life, resurrection knowing what was is dead and we are called to live anew.
We are a Christian people, named for Jesus Christ. But as much as we think we know what being Christian is, as much as we believe we understand who Christ is, this is only the beginning. We have come to use “Christ” as if Jesus' last name, as if we could assume we know what it means to be The Messiah, the Son of God! Do not misunderstand, to know Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, Son of God is a powerful claim and realization, for that is what Simon Peter came to affirm, that is the point of Baptism. They were walking along the road, having been Called by Jesus, having been together to see many miracles, having heard his teachings, when Jesus asks them to consider “What is my reputation? Who do people say I AM?” King Herod thought Jesus was John the Baptist back from the dead! Some knew the Old Testament Scriptures that prior to the end of the world, Elijah the Prophet who had not died but had been carried up by God in a whirlwind was to return. Still others thought he was a Good Man, a Rabbi, a Prophet. So Jesus gets personal and asks: “Yes, but who do you say that I AM?”
How many remember that moment in 9th Grade Geometry, when you had learned that 2+2 = 4, and 4 X 4= 16, you had learned square roots and basic Algebra; when one morning you were given formula for calculating the distance around the perimeter of a circle, and using that, you suddenly understood the quantity that could be held by a cylinder? There is that moment, when you believe a Lightbulb actually appeared above your head, when suddenly you know! That is Simon Peter: Jesus Called us, Jesus fed 5000 people with one child's lunch, Jesus walked on Water and calmed the sea, Jesus heals the sick and teaches us what never before was revealed, Ding, Ding “Jesus IS the Messiah!” And Jesus says YES BUT, you do not yet know what that means. Because the Messiah, the Son of God, the Christ, MUST suffer, must die for all the world to be saved, in order for Resurrection to occur there must be a Crucifixion and for that there must be betrayal, and for betrayal to be real, there must be trust and love, not only as we each have known, but to TRUST and to LOVE and to be BETRAYED for all Humanity. For the Resurrection of Easter to be a reality, the Son of God must be the representative of all the world the SON of MAN, who suffers for all Creation, who atones for the Whole Cosmos, Once and For All.
Christendom made everyone believe we knew what it is to be Christian, you go to church, you are Baptized, you sing the hymns, you go to Sunday School, you serve on a committee, you pay an offering you receive Communion, and WHAM BAM: YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN. Suddenly, for Simon Peter and for Us, it is as if that “lightbulb of realization” overheated and explodes. FAITH IN GOD is not a matter of going through the motions, of showing up for life, of doing what others always did, but challenges us to live out our Calling, to live our faith, to choose to make things happen, because you care, because you must, not for your sake, but to make a difference for others.
The Great Patriarch, MOSES, Moses who led the people to the Promised Land, Moses who brought to the people the 10 COMMANDMENTS of God, Moses who parted the Red Sea, was not always known as such. Moses had witnessed a great injustice, and got involved, for which an Egyptian was dead, and Moses was known to have taken a life. In reaction to which, Moses went away, got married and took up a new life. Not as part of Pharaoh's Court, not as a leader, not as a Savior, but blending in as a common SHEPHERD, not even as a Prominent Son, but the Son-in-law of Jethro a Levite, the Priest of Midian. We each naively believe that we define who we are. Our parents begin this by giving us a name, yet as soon as we can we change from being called Matthew to our wanting to be Matt, from being given the name Gustavus to being Gus. We choose whether we want to play sports and with whom we want to be known. We choose what schools we attend. We choose our career. We choose where we want to live and who we marry. We choose what we want to put on a resume, how we want to be called, and who we want to know us on Facebook. We choose who we give our email address to, and who has access to us for Instant Messaging. Moses was herding sheep for his Father-in-Law, when GOD CALLED his name.
Faith is not a matter of choice, but a matter of conviction. God knew Moses, before Moses knew God. God had a plan for Moses to do. In the midst of what was routine and common, God called Moses to see what was Holy. Moses tried to turn God down. FIVE TIMES God told Moses what he must do and each time, Moses tried to claim something else, some one else. “Get my brother Aaron, he is a better public speaker.” God allows that Aaron can share in this, but Moses is still CALLED BY GOD.
In desperation, Moses says, “So IF, and I am not saying I will, but IF I Go to the People and say God Called, and the people ask Whose God, the God of the Perrizites, the Amonites, the God of the Trees, the God of Lightning and Thunder, the God who makes Snow, the God of Love or the God of War?” And God responded “I AM”. Our kids know IM as Instant Messaging, staying connected with your every thought of what you are doing, when. While familiar to us, the Name God gave to Moses comes from the Verb “TO BE”. I Have Been what I Have Been; I Will Be What I Will BE; I AM What I am. As much as to say, that as Creator, everything that exists, everything we can imagine, everything that has ever been and all that will ever be, GOD is Part of.
The struggle of reason that explodes that lightbulb over our heads, is that if all that IS is because of God, then What do we do with the Holocaust? How do we understand the Cancer? Why did 9/11 happen? If God is all Knowing and al powerful... “Was God impotent to make a difference?” “Did God allow these human devastations to happen?” “Did God cause them?” Is God worse than Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein and Ossama Bin Laden and Bernie Maddoff all rolled into one? There is something to Moses argument, of saying “No Thank You” to Faith.
Personally, I believe that there are be it by fate or design, or the presence of evil in the world Horrible Tragedies that will happen. The question of faith is what we will do, who among us is called and to do what.
That day, eight years ago, there were at least four planes. Two of which were flown into the Trade Centers. One was flown into the Pentagon. One, the people on board IM-ed friends and family to give them their love, then the passengers, the shepherds going about their business took control.
I remember that day, at the local factory, As people asked if this were the end of the world? If this were the presence of Evil in the world? I recall that afternoon, sharing with strangers, that I have two sons who would be draft age, and the fears of parents, the fears of us all at the war that would come. I recall that evening, as this Sanctuary was filled beyond capacity, as we described that nothing is as it was yesterday. I recall people over the next many weeks asking: Why would people hate so much? Strangely, this year, on September 11th one couple chose to marry and another to have their rehearsal for their wedding, not that this had become just another day, they were intentional it was not, BUT that this day could be redeemed, reclaimed as not being a day of tragedy.
Of all the healing stories, this one in Mark is unique, because Jesus touches the man and asks if he can see, and he is healed but not completely, only half-way, so people look like trees walking. And Jesus touches the man a second time, and encourages him to look intently, in essence to look Deeper. We can approach life, as ordinary or we can look deeper. We can be healed from blindness, from paralysis, from cancer, from hate; but there is also a deeper healing, spiritual healing of redeeming life, resurrection knowing what was is dead and we are called to live anew.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Mercy Triumphs
Proverbs 22
James 2
Labor Day has become for us the vestige of a by-gone era. A World-wide celebration of our labors. In most countries around the world, Labor Day is the 1st of May, though in Canada and the United States remembered on the first Monday in September. Labor Day is celebration of the 8 hour work day and the human rights of workers, the concept that there should be 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation, and 8 hours of sleep every day, and a weekend consisting of Saturday and Sunday. These were efforts at Health and Wellness and balance. With more recent memory of labor strikes to attain $25 per hour as a starting salary, Day Care in the workplace, over against EPA Standards and lay-offs to demonstrate to stock-holders efforts to balance expenses, it is hard to recall that less than a hundred years ago, our grandparents worked a 14-16 hour day, for 6 and 7 days a week. What irony then, that Labor Day should become little more than the end of the State Fair and a day to commute, to go back home, to go back to college, to prepare for the beginning of the Program Year?
So much of human life has been spent on our fighting. Would that people would sit down together to recognize what is fair and what is just, NOT a matter of how much is in it for me, what can I get, but what is fair and what is justice, then question in our hearts what would be merciful? What an entirely different world it would be!
Often times, I think we had it right Centuries ago in our beginning. Before this Village was annexed off and incorporated unto ourselves, with our own schools and our own fire department, our first identity was as A Religious Society. We did not consider one another as Tax-Payers or Voters, but each as integral parts of this Religious Society. There could be no dispute of WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR, or whether we had responsibility for one another, for we were all part of this Religious Society together. When one was in need, when one had wronged another, the question was not about rights, or lawsuits, or vindication, but rather “What is needed for the other to be redeemed, to be made whole?” More even than Justice, the question was in what is Merciful, because Mercy thriumphed over Justice.
Thus far this year we have been buffeted between arguments over CHANGE, over Race, over bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as lending institutions, over the Economy and over Health Care. There seems to be a constant assumption that we can simply take out greater and greater debt, mortgaging our children's futures to pay for correcting what should have been.
The travesty, according to the Letter of James is that we have treated each as philosophical issues unto themselves, paying attention to who is on which side of each debate, rather than living our lives based on what we believe and know to be true. As CONFLICTS intensify, rather than majority opinions coalescing around what we are prepared to do about an issue, we tend to identify with one another, until regardless of the issue, regardless of what we are prepared to do, if so-and-so is for it we may as well be also. James is addressing two points simultaneously: First, that our faith in God is not simply believing in the right things, in the right way. Faith is more than Philosophy, more than your ideals, your hopes and beliefs, Faith must be lived. Our actions demonstrate our convictions, though at times we may be motivated to do the right thing for the wrong reasons; therefore faith is about both our faith and our works. But also, doing so because you believe in the outcome, rather than trying to curry favors.
This morning's sermon is different from our norm. Our routine is for the Old Testament and the Gospel to each provide a story, and we discern the underlying issue, which is the more memorable because of the story. Proverbs and the Epistles are equally valid and important passages to reflect upon, still listening for what the text names as issues, for despite the temptation, the Pulpit is for preaching the Word of God; HOWEVER the story we remember and interpret this day is not of Moses or King David, not of Mary or Mary or Phoebe, or the Woman in Purple, but our own story.
TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO and when they are old they shall not depart.
There is a reality shift that we must come to grips with.
For the last four decades, the pundits have named the decline of mainline churches; in part this is true, but stated differently The 1950s were an odd and unique time in American Culture.
A time after World Wars, when people were motivated to be THANKFUL because they were alive. There is a marked difference in the Church today. There was a time when on Sunday morning people went to worship, simply because it was Sunday, and there were those who wanted to be seen going to worship, or stated differently did not want to be seen not going to worship. Today, those worshipping often were baptized as infants, sometimes not, and as adults are coming to worship because there is something going on in our lives. That changes the way we preach and minister, it also changes the way we all relate to one another...
When you come searching for a parking space, it is recognizing that the person driving ahead of you may be in the midst of Chemo treatments; may be fighting depression and it was so hard just to get out of bed let alone to be in the company of others, they may be dealing with the chronic illness of a child or parent or spouse or all three, more than philosophical ideas about the economy they may be struggling with how to survive.
Our purpose in providing weddings to non-members, pastoral counseling, funerals and even baptisms, is for the Church to be open and welcoming, reaching out into the community, for when people need us. We recognize waving to folk on Sunday morning, or standing up for marriage in an Editorial, being inconvenienced for a month to host the Festival are tiny little seeds... but planting welcome and invitation, providing music, means that when people are in need they will come to faith and support of the community. This is far from “Membership” and rights, and far closer to Mercy.
There are hundreds of thousands of fine Charitable causes in the world, but MISSION is different from Charity. Charity is giving Alms to the poor, responding to someone in crisis to alleviate their suffering so they can make a difference. Mission is personally getting involved, giving yourself, making change in the life of others a priority in your life.
This is what Christ came to provide. Not to offer teachings for us to memorize as a philosophy. Not for us to create holidays to remember. GOD is the one true Creator and origin of all that is. God is intangible and ethereal and eternal. BUT God loved us so much as to become one with humanity. A Human life is not intangible, not ethereal, not eternal, a human life is mortal, suffers and laugh, and loves and weeps. This sacrament is realization that Christ gave his life, that life that is God with us, for us. There are broken wounded offenses in our lives, we have sinned, we have done wrong to one another and to ourselves. In the breaking of the bread, we claim that brokenness in our lives. BUT God did not leave us there, broken, the cup is hope. The cup is a covenant, an eternal promise of forgiveness and love. Covenant's were eternal promises cut into living flesh, written in blood or stone. This covenant, that God will forgive, offering us new and different life is written in Christ's own blood for us.
James 2
Labor Day has become for us the vestige of a by-gone era. A World-wide celebration of our labors. In most countries around the world, Labor Day is the 1st of May, though in Canada and the United States remembered on the first Monday in September. Labor Day is celebration of the 8 hour work day and the human rights of workers, the concept that there should be 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation, and 8 hours of sleep every day, and a weekend consisting of Saturday and Sunday. These were efforts at Health and Wellness and balance. With more recent memory of labor strikes to attain $25 per hour as a starting salary, Day Care in the workplace, over against EPA Standards and lay-offs to demonstrate to stock-holders efforts to balance expenses, it is hard to recall that less than a hundred years ago, our grandparents worked a 14-16 hour day, for 6 and 7 days a week. What irony then, that Labor Day should become little more than the end of the State Fair and a day to commute, to go back home, to go back to college, to prepare for the beginning of the Program Year?
So much of human life has been spent on our fighting. Would that people would sit down together to recognize what is fair and what is just, NOT a matter of how much is in it for me, what can I get, but what is fair and what is justice, then question in our hearts what would be merciful? What an entirely different world it would be!
Often times, I think we had it right Centuries ago in our beginning. Before this Village was annexed off and incorporated unto ourselves, with our own schools and our own fire department, our first identity was as A Religious Society. We did not consider one another as Tax-Payers or Voters, but each as integral parts of this Religious Society. There could be no dispute of WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR, or whether we had responsibility for one another, for we were all part of this Religious Society together. When one was in need, when one had wronged another, the question was not about rights, or lawsuits, or vindication, but rather “What is needed for the other to be redeemed, to be made whole?” More even than Justice, the question was in what is Merciful, because Mercy thriumphed over Justice.
Thus far this year we have been buffeted between arguments over CHANGE, over Race, over bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as lending institutions, over the Economy and over Health Care. There seems to be a constant assumption that we can simply take out greater and greater debt, mortgaging our children's futures to pay for correcting what should have been.
The travesty, according to the Letter of James is that we have treated each as philosophical issues unto themselves, paying attention to who is on which side of each debate, rather than living our lives based on what we believe and know to be true. As CONFLICTS intensify, rather than majority opinions coalescing around what we are prepared to do about an issue, we tend to identify with one another, until regardless of the issue, regardless of what we are prepared to do, if so-and-so is for it we may as well be also. James is addressing two points simultaneously: First, that our faith in God is not simply believing in the right things, in the right way. Faith is more than Philosophy, more than your ideals, your hopes and beliefs, Faith must be lived. Our actions demonstrate our convictions, though at times we may be motivated to do the right thing for the wrong reasons; therefore faith is about both our faith and our works. But also, doing so because you believe in the outcome, rather than trying to curry favors.
This morning's sermon is different from our norm. Our routine is for the Old Testament and the Gospel to each provide a story, and we discern the underlying issue, which is the more memorable because of the story. Proverbs and the Epistles are equally valid and important passages to reflect upon, still listening for what the text names as issues, for despite the temptation, the Pulpit is for preaching the Word of God; HOWEVER the story we remember and interpret this day is not of Moses or King David, not of Mary or Mary or Phoebe, or the Woman in Purple, but our own story.
TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO and when they are old they shall not depart.
There is a reality shift that we must come to grips with.
For the last four decades, the pundits have named the decline of mainline churches; in part this is true, but stated differently The 1950s were an odd and unique time in American Culture.
A time after World Wars, when people were motivated to be THANKFUL because they were alive. There is a marked difference in the Church today. There was a time when on Sunday morning people went to worship, simply because it was Sunday, and there were those who wanted to be seen going to worship, or stated differently did not want to be seen not going to worship. Today, those worshipping often were baptized as infants, sometimes not, and as adults are coming to worship because there is something going on in our lives. That changes the way we preach and minister, it also changes the way we all relate to one another...
When you come searching for a parking space, it is recognizing that the person driving ahead of you may be in the midst of Chemo treatments; may be fighting depression and it was so hard just to get out of bed let alone to be in the company of others, they may be dealing with the chronic illness of a child or parent or spouse or all three, more than philosophical ideas about the economy they may be struggling with how to survive.
Our purpose in providing weddings to non-members, pastoral counseling, funerals and even baptisms, is for the Church to be open and welcoming, reaching out into the community, for when people need us. We recognize waving to folk on Sunday morning, or standing up for marriage in an Editorial, being inconvenienced for a month to host the Festival are tiny little seeds... but planting welcome and invitation, providing music, means that when people are in need they will come to faith and support of the community. This is far from “Membership” and rights, and far closer to Mercy.
There are hundreds of thousands of fine Charitable causes in the world, but MISSION is different from Charity. Charity is giving Alms to the poor, responding to someone in crisis to alleviate their suffering so they can make a difference. Mission is personally getting involved, giving yourself, making change in the life of others a priority in your life.
This is what Christ came to provide. Not to offer teachings for us to memorize as a philosophy. Not for us to create holidays to remember. GOD is the one true Creator and origin of all that is. God is intangible and ethereal and eternal. BUT God loved us so much as to become one with humanity. A Human life is not intangible, not ethereal, not eternal, a human life is mortal, suffers and laugh, and loves and weeps. This sacrament is realization that Christ gave his life, that life that is God with us, for us. There are broken wounded offenses in our lives, we have sinned, we have done wrong to one another and to ourselves. In the breaking of the bread, we claim that brokenness in our lives. BUT God did not leave us there, broken, the cup is hope. The cup is a covenant, an eternal promise of forgiveness and love. Covenant's were eternal promises cut into living flesh, written in blood or stone. This covenant, that God will forgive, offering us new and different life is written in Christ's own blood for us.
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