Jeremiah 32: 1-15
Luke 16: 19-31
Baptism is not the Dedication of a Child. Not simply the giving of a Name and identity. Baptism is a Witness for Future Redemption!
Marriage is not about the Wedding, not a Contract, not a union between two, not joining of families...Marriage is a Radical Reversal of Selfishness.
Compassion is not about Generosity.
Sharing not about Pity.
Offerings, Philanthropy, Mission, Giving another a leg up, helping the less fortunate, are not what we do if we have enough left over.
Empathy, Compassion, Mission, Making a Difference are a RADICAL NEIGHBORLINESS! WINESSING REDEMPTION that is yet to come!
For it is the same Gospel, spoken by the same Jesus, in the same Bible, which records The LAST SHALL BE FIRST and First Last; who tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan; and Lazarus who after being dead three days was brought forth from the tomb from death to life.
The Biblical text is not something to be read on Sunday morning and carefully put away until the next week; not something we rehearse doing on Thursday evening so we can be ready to perform Sunday. The Ten Commandments were not intended to be a plaque on the wall.
The incarnation of God in Christ is not a Christmas story wrapped in tissue and stored in the attic. The Resurrection is not a one day occurrence.
Faith is Not righteous phrases that we can use as a club to beat one another into guilt and submission.
FAITH is a radically different way of life; when there is no hope, still believing in a glorious future.
In order to appreciate Jeremiah, we need to imagine that a foreign enemy has been attacking our Nation for Decades. Our economy is in ruins. We have been at War almost as long as any can remember. Food, Water, supplies, all have been blockaded against us. And as a person of faith, a prophet of God, you have been arrested for speaking out, put into prison as being a subversive. You are under guard, in your own city while it is being attacked. Suddenly there is word of a momentary lifting of the embargo. Nothing more can get in, but you could possibly get something out. Of everything you can imagine, what would you want to get to safety, what would you send to be preserved for the future? Jeremiah spends money on the land already being occupied by the enemy, seals the land contract in an earthen vessel and smuggles it out to be buried. This is not investing in the stock market, this is not a calculated risk, not even the foolishness of buying the Brooklyn Bridge or burying money in the ground, this is about giving everything you have everything you can borrow to buy land that is already hopeless, burned over and occupied by an enemy.
As an act of witness, Jeremiah is not pre-occupied with his guards and arrest; not influenced by the war and current devastation of his nation. Jeremiah believes in the future yet to come. Jeremiah believes there will be a time, whether soon or far distant when this land will again appear to be an unoccupied wilderness, and a Century or more in the future when people come to this land and dig in the earth to create foundations they will find the text that witnesses to Jeremiah laying claim to REDEEM this land. Time is irrelevant. Circumstances are irrelevant. The only thing that matters to Jeremiah is WITNESS that there will come a time for REDEMPTION.
Yesterday morning, we gathered to celebrate the life of one who had surpassed 102 years of living! Like every celebration of worship, when the Prelude ended, there was a heavy silence and the sound of Baptismal waters being poured out. Of all the words we say, and ceremonies we perform, I believe this is the most meaningful. Because at infancy, or as an innocent new believer, we receive the gift of Baptism. Not because of anything we have done, who our parents are or what they have done for us. In Baptism, we witness that Jesus died for all humanity. As he was baptized, we are baptized, as he died so did we all. As he emerged from the waters and was called to a life of faith and action, so are we. Therefore, in memoriam, we affirm that the spirit of this believer has not died, the old self was already drown, and as Christ is with God and forever with us, so now is this individual also, forever.
Yesterday afternoon, a couple devoted their lives to one another. Everything about our lives, our culture, the world we live in, claims that we should Life LIFE to the FULLEST, go for the gusto, seize the day, claim your portion, never be left out. In marriage, we claim the needs of the other first. Their happiness, their comforts are the only thing that matter and we live our lives for them. This is why Marriage is a Radical REVERSAL of SELFISHNESS.
No one can fully explain why marriages succeed, or why so many fail. In a time in humanity when more divorce than stay together, I have to believe that choosing to get married may be an act like Jeremiah, of hoping that there will be a time when what we have done can be a witness for future generations.
The Parable which Jesus told, is said in response to the Pharisees, who prided themselves on their faith and what they possessed. There have often been perverse equations suggesting that as Moses instructed the people in the 10 Commandments and the people received the Land of Milk and Honey, that having faith assures one of blessings. I am sorry to disillusion you, but faith does not translate into a pyramid scheme for prosperity. The point of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is not about GREED, or POSSESSIONS, or WEALTH or POVERTY, but about Faith. The Rich Man, the Disciples and the Pharisees all had Abraham, Moses and the Prophets, the difficulty if what they represent to us. If we believe the First shall be last and the last first, then in the living of this life, we are challenged to question our responsibility for what we have been given.
Faith is not about making the right purchases, or shrewd investments, but about REDEMPTION. When life's choices result in circumstance, do we beat ourselves up about the circumstance, or work to redeem what has taken place.
A Prison sentence is only time away, paying restitution for what we have done, but time served does not necessarily change us for the better. REDEMPTION is about never letting go of the other, being there when they need us, no matter what.
Serving in a Warzone often does not feel like patriotism, or in any heroic. But valuing the service and commitment of those who give their lives for the values we live, is a redemption.
We live in a time of change, cultural change, technological change, change in expectations. There was a time, not so long ago, when Cancer was perceived to be a death sentence, the C word, not even spoken. But as surgery and radiation have progressed, our attitudes have changed. In recent years, there have been those, who seem to transition from the shock and horror of having a name for Death, to acceptance and following a regime of treatments, and often a period of remission in which we do not feel cured, but rather that we picked up and put away that one shoe and there is another hanging over us somewhere. And two or three or ten years later, claiming life differently. What is it to have escaped to a future you did not expect.
With the economy, the political divisions, war, hurricanes and earthquakes and oil spills, impending winter, we can be a depressed people without hope. The challenge is to live UNCONDITIONAL NEIGHBORLINESS, to live as a WITNESS to REDEMPTION, believing in a future beyond our time, where our simply having had hope makes a difference.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
"Mastering Multi-Tasking" September 19, 2010
Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1
Luke 16: 1-13
No One can truly Multi-task!
Years ago there was a comedy Western called “City-Slickers” with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance, the point of the movie being that we often try to have divided loyalties, to do just enough of one thing, then just enough of another. Billy Crystal's character reaches a mid-life crisis, because he is not sure what he believes in anymore, what he cares about. He has tried so hard to please his parents and his employers, his spouse and friends, he has lost himself.
Growing up, I recall the variety shows before “America's Got Talent” and “American Idol” with Jugglers who were able to spin multiple plates simultaneously. The Juggler had to allow each plate to spin, ignoring interfering, trusting that they would keep going, and only when absolutely necessary touching one to add speed. But where it is possible, and entertaining to juggle 10 things simultaneously, eventually all the plates begin to crash. The point of “City Slickers” is that all you need to focus on is Doing One Thing.
How easy it would be to sit, while this morning's passages are read. Enduring the time, catching only a word, without listening, without investing in what the Bible is about. There is a difference between accepting a decision and following through. Between acknowledging a disease, a disorder, a brokenness and actually living life differently. We live in a culture that has made money on Sound-bytes, snippets of information. But faith requires our listening, and applying the whole truth to our whole lives, not simply the words that are easy, or easy to repeat out of context.
Distracted by other things, we might hear the Prophet Jeremiah recite: THE LORD IS NOT IN ZION! THE HARVEST IS OVER, THE SUMMER IS ENDED, AND MY PEOPLE ARE NOT SAVED! THERE IS NO BALM IN GILEAD! When these are phrases repeated by God, the words of the People echoed by the Lord in ironic conversation with God's Prophet, of what the people have been saying. How overly simplistic to believe that God is in God's Heaven and we are here in this God-forsaken life. There is not a three tiered universe, of God being separate and removed from all life! What this passage decries is that Almighty God, the Lord who created Heaven and Earth, weeps for God's people.
I need to consult with our Medical colleagues, whether we still use BALMS. A Balm was a cure all, an ointment that soothes and protects and heals. Decades ago, when you got a bad burn, Mom would go to the ice-box and take a pat of butter to rub upon it as a balm. Like Snake-oil treatments, most balms of human creation were 90% Kerosene and caused greater infection than ever they cured. The point of Jeremiah, is that people have sought their own Man-made Balms to be purchased in human cities, rather than trusting that which can actually heal.
We have been carefully conditioned, throughout lifetimes, that what we need to satisfy, to cure, to heal, is: something to purchase. If we can buy that thing, be it a new car, a new outfit, investing in the latest gadget, acquiring a new relationship, we can bind our anxiety, believing that with these sneakers we truly can jump higher and run faster. The word of God to Jeremiah, is that God is not far distant and removed. God hears our anxiety. God knows our pain, and God weeps for God's people. Foolishly, we like Dorothy and her companions with the Wizard of Oz only need realize that the Scarecrow is brilliant though lacking a diploma; the Lion is courageous only missing the recognition of medals; the Tin Woodsman finally knows he has a heart but only when it is breaking; and the child knows how important HOME is, only when far far away. The real cure is allowing God in, who has been a part of our lives all along.
Not so long ago, I officiated at a wedding where the couple had each been married and divorced before. They tried in rewriting the wording of the wedding, to say that this union was different because this was a Spiritual Wedding, this was not only a legal marriage, but a spiritual union of two into one. The irony was that this wedding took place not in a church sanctuary, and each had uncles in attendance who were the priests who had married them before. A marriage is not more or less spiritual because of where it takes place, or who officiates, but our commitment in being married. While Hollywood claims that there is one moment, and only the most brief of moments, when love between two persons can happen; I believe that the brokenness, the anxiety, the fears and hurts and divisions are what only last a moment, and our love, our commitment to that one other, is what can carry us through, making a marriage a lifetime union.
According to Luke, after telling the Crowds, Scribes and Pharisees, who were complaining about sins and sinners and tax-collectors the Parables of the Lost Sheep, Coin, Prodigal & Elder Sons being Found Jesus told the Disciples this Parable of the Dishonest Steward.
Again, it is not an easy commitment, of accepting the Parable, and saying I know what it means! Because at the end of the Parable the Master commends the Steward for being Shrewd & Manipulative. Jesus seems to describe: Use any unscrupulous, unrighteous means possible in order to gain favors, so that when your money runs out, others will take you in.
This is not unlike the story of Drummond's Bar in Mt.Vernon, Texas. As the story goes, Mt. Vernon was a peaceful small town, until Drummond's Bar decided to build a new Bar right across the street from the Church. The Church people were outraged and began a campaign of praying against the Bar. Everything was ready for the Grand Opening when in a freak storm, lightning struck the Bar and burned it to the ground. Soon afterward there was a courtcase, and the Judge reviewing the papers filed described what an odd circumstance, that here was a Bar owner claiming to believe in the Power of Prayer and a Whole Congregation of people who dismissed the circumstance as an accident of nature.
Jesus follows up this parable with the explanation, that undercuts being unscrupulous, saying: He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. Fred Craddock has described that few among us this week will entertain a Head of State, or Christen a Ship, Invent a Cure for Cancer, Resolve the Financial issues of our Economy. Few will be able to bring warring parties to a Peace table. But among us are those who will care for a spouse or child struggling to make sense of reality. Among us are those who will tuck a child into bed.
The final difficulty of this parable is how we understand what actually happened.
One possibility is that the Dishonest Steward actually had the creditors rewrite their bills, knowing that the Rich man would not suffer public humiliation of challenging their records.
A Second is that he cut the Interest owed to Zero.
A Third, is that he took his own fees off, and allowed those who owed, simply to pay wholesale to the owner without his commission.
The first two are still dishonest, the third requires that the Steward find a different means of survival than overcharging others.
What is difficult in life, is not choosing between right and wrong, but following through on living life differently from all we have ever known. To make a decision and hold accountability, when we do not know what is truly right and wrong, only that this is a different means than we have tried, and having tried and tried what was normal and routine we have gotten worse and worse.
What we need is simply One Thing: To believe we are not alone.
Luke 16: 1-13
No One can truly Multi-task!
Years ago there was a comedy Western called “City-Slickers” with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance, the point of the movie being that we often try to have divided loyalties, to do just enough of one thing, then just enough of another. Billy Crystal's character reaches a mid-life crisis, because he is not sure what he believes in anymore, what he cares about. He has tried so hard to please his parents and his employers, his spouse and friends, he has lost himself.
Growing up, I recall the variety shows before “America's Got Talent” and “American Idol” with Jugglers who were able to spin multiple plates simultaneously. The Juggler had to allow each plate to spin, ignoring interfering, trusting that they would keep going, and only when absolutely necessary touching one to add speed. But where it is possible, and entertaining to juggle 10 things simultaneously, eventually all the plates begin to crash. The point of “City Slickers” is that all you need to focus on is Doing One Thing.
How easy it would be to sit, while this morning's passages are read. Enduring the time, catching only a word, without listening, without investing in what the Bible is about. There is a difference between accepting a decision and following through. Between acknowledging a disease, a disorder, a brokenness and actually living life differently. We live in a culture that has made money on Sound-bytes, snippets of information. But faith requires our listening, and applying the whole truth to our whole lives, not simply the words that are easy, or easy to repeat out of context.
Distracted by other things, we might hear the Prophet Jeremiah recite: THE LORD IS NOT IN ZION! THE HARVEST IS OVER, THE SUMMER IS ENDED, AND MY PEOPLE ARE NOT SAVED! THERE IS NO BALM IN GILEAD! When these are phrases repeated by God, the words of the People echoed by the Lord in ironic conversation with God's Prophet, of what the people have been saying. How overly simplistic to believe that God is in God's Heaven and we are here in this God-forsaken life. There is not a three tiered universe, of God being separate and removed from all life! What this passage decries is that Almighty God, the Lord who created Heaven and Earth, weeps for God's people.
I need to consult with our Medical colleagues, whether we still use BALMS. A Balm was a cure all, an ointment that soothes and protects and heals. Decades ago, when you got a bad burn, Mom would go to the ice-box and take a pat of butter to rub upon it as a balm. Like Snake-oil treatments, most balms of human creation were 90% Kerosene and caused greater infection than ever they cured. The point of Jeremiah, is that people have sought their own Man-made Balms to be purchased in human cities, rather than trusting that which can actually heal.
We have been carefully conditioned, throughout lifetimes, that what we need to satisfy, to cure, to heal, is: something to purchase. If we can buy that thing, be it a new car, a new outfit, investing in the latest gadget, acquiring a new relationship, we can bind our anxiety, believing that with these sneakers we truly can jump higher and run faster. The word of God to Jeremiah, is that God is not far distant and removed. God hears our anxiety. God knows our pain, and God weeps for God's people. Foolishly, we like Dorothy and her companions with the Wizard of Oz only need realize that the Scarecrow is brilliant though lacking a diploma; the Lion is courageous only missing the recognition of medals; the Tin Woodsman finally knows he has a heart but only when it is breaking; and the child knows how important HOME is, only when far far away. The real cure is allowing God in, who has been a part of our lives all along.
Not so long ago, I officiated at a wedding where the couple had each been married and divorced before. They tried in rewriting the wording of the wedding, to say that this union was different because this was a Spiritual Wedding, this was not only a legal marriage, but a spiritual union of two into one. The irony was that this wedding took place not in a church sanctuary, and each had uncles in attendance who were the priests who had married them before. A marriage is not more or less spiritual because of where it takes place, or who officiates, but our commitment in being married. While Hollywood claims that there is one moment, and only the most brief of moments, when love between two persons can happen; I believe that the brokenness, the anxiety, the fears and hurts and divisions are what only last a moment, and our love, our commitment to that one other, is what can carry us through, making a marriage a lifetime union.
According to Luke, after telling the Crowds, Scribes and Pharisees, who were complaining about sins and sinners and tax-collectors the Parables of the Lost Sheep, Coin, Prodigal & Elder Sons being Found Jesus told the Disciples this Parable of the Dishonest Steward.
Again, it is not an easy commitment, of accepting the Parable, and saying I know what it means! Because at the end of the Parable the Master commends the Steward for being Shrewd & Manipulative. Jesus seems to describe: Use any unscrupulous, unrighteous means possible in order to gain favors, so that when your money runs out, others will take you in.
This is not unlike the story of Drummond's Bar in Mt.Vernon, Texas. As the story goes, Mt. Vernon was a peaceful small town, until Drummond's Bar decided to build a new Bar right across the street from the Church. The Church people were outraged and began a campaign of praying against the Bar. Everything was ready for the Grand Opening when in a freak storm, lightning struck the Bar and burned it to the ground. Soon afterward there was a courtcase, and the Judge reviewing the papers filed described what an odd circumstance, that here was a Bar owner claiming to believe in the Power of Prayer and a Whole Congregation of people who dismissed the circumstance as an accident of nature.
Jesus follows up this parable with the explanation, that undercuts being unscrupulous, saying: He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. Fred Craddock has described that few among us this week will entertain a Head of State, or Christen a Ship, Invent a Cure for Cancer, Resolve the Financial issues of our Economy. Few will be able to bring warring parties to a Peace table. But among us are those who will care for a spouse or child struggling to make sense of reality. Among us are those who will tuck a child into bed.
The final difficulty of this parable is how we understand what actually happened.
One possibility is that the Dishonest Steward actually had the creditors rewrite their bills, knowing that the Rich man would not suffer public humiliation of challenging their records.
A Second is that he cut the Interest owed to Zero.
A Third, is that he took his own fees off, and allowed those who owed, simply to pay wholesale to the owner without his commission.
The first two are still dishonest, the third requires that the Steward find a different means of survival than overcharging others.
What is difficult in life, is not choosing between right and wrong, but following through on living life differently from all we have ever known. To make a decision and hold accountability, when we do not know what is truly right and wrong, only that this is a different means than we have tried, and having tried and tried what was normal and routine we have gotten worse and worse.
What we need is simply One Thing: To believe we are not alone.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
RENOUNCING AND REPENTING, September 5, 2010
Jeremiah 18:1-12
Luke 14: 25-35
Yesterday, in the midst of all the Labor Day Weekend Festivities, the Skinnyman Triathalon, we celebrated Two Weddings, doing everything possible to make the Bride and Groom feel as though this was their day. 20 minutes before the second wedding was to begin, my cell phone rang, and my brother bore the news that our Mom, who was 89 years, who had borne the death of her husband a year ago, had breathed her last. Do you suddenly cancel the wedding? Do you say to the Bride and Groom, I am sorry, I know this is the happiest day of your life, but as the pastor I cannot officiate, I cannot offer blessings, because I am filled with grief? No, this is what is meant by “hating your father and mother and brothers and sisters and even your own life compared to being a disciple.” Pastors are not hired. This is not a job. A Calling is intentional acceptance of responsibility, no matter what.
Of all the passages of Scripture, this is one which often is questioned. The Savior being born in a Stable and dying on a Cross, we get. The Parable of The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, we understand. But why would Jesus, who is the Divine embodiment, the incarnation of love, so emphatically state that we should HATE our Mothers and Fathers, Brothers and Sisters, even our own Life? Because that, is not what this is about. This is Hyperbole, contrasting one thing with another to emphasize just how great is to be our commitment to the cross. Over our years together, we have spoken a great deal about relationship, commitment and trust. Hyperbole is comparing one relationship, one commitment against another, and by comparison that which we know and have spent a lifetime working to build is as nothing compared to the relationship with God.
In some ways, I think we have made an artform of the many ways there are to Hate. There are what 50 Ways to leave your Lover? Increasingly, through the internet, we have created ways to be more anonymous in our attacks. All the Viruses and Worms on Computers are not naturally incurring events, each has been written and perfected by persons so filled with hate, they are trying to destroy others. These are not what Jesus meant. In Aramaic, to Hate as the opposite of Love, simply meant Apathy, to turn your back, to strive for something else, far more important, instead.
I remember a few years ago, there were two women who were very close friends in this village. Their commitment and friendship was closer than sisters. They had lived next door to one another for decades, had raised their children together, they read the same books, bought Halloween treats together and at Junior Prom and Graduation they had celebrated as part of one another's life. The daughter of the one had been planning her wedding, and the two had gone dress shopping together, they had thrown the Bridal Shower at the friend's house, everything was being planned for the afternoon of the wedding. But a few days before the wedding, the father of the friend, suddenly died. And on that Saturday morning, the two friends sat together in the family pew, holding hands and weeping tears of mourning; while that afternoon, the same two friends sat in the same pew for family, as they shared tears for their daughter walking up the aisle. Their commitment to one another was greater, even than the loss of the one, and the joy of the other.
By RENOUNCING, what we are describing is re-assessing our priorities. Naming everything that has a claim on us, and realizing where we are going the motions, what we are part of simply because it was expected, and what we are committed to be. The instantaneous nature of information in our culture has meant that we respond to “The Cause de Celeb”. Not to commitments that define us, but circumstances which touch our hearts for a moment. This last week on the Emmy Awards, George Clooney accepting the Humanitarian of the year award, described that we hear of earthquakes, fires and floods and we are moved, we respond. But who responds 6 months or 7 years later?When Jesus addressed the crowds, huge numbers were moved, hundreds began following to listen. This description in Luke is a challenge that Faith Cannot be Fickle, we cannot be a little bit committed, because people are in need. As serious as building a Watch Tower, or entering into War, is the commitment of faith.
We tend to remember The Prophet Jeremiah as a prophet of Doom, forecasting the Exile. The Calling he received before birth was to pluck up, and break down, to destroy and to overthrow, and only then to Build and to Plant. But compared to all the Apocalyptic ends, and the horrific judgements of evil we have conjured in our minds, the Potter's Shed is the Image of Judgement God gave to Jeremiah.
Before going to College, I worked for a Potter. Of all the Artforms and media, this is one of the most rhythmic and sensual. Before you can begin, the potter takes clay in their hands, to work it and knead it and by touch the clay becomes more elastic. Not simply a matter of touching, kneading clay is working it like the toughest most sticky bread dough. Folding over and over again, pushing the clay into itself where it would not have gone otherwise, working this substance from the earth until there are no differentiated parts more soft or more wet or more hard, but all one. Then, the potter sits down at the wheel. Before anything else, the potter center's themselves, taking a series of deep and cleansing breaths. You kick the wheel, your motion disturbing the inertia of the base, establishing an orbit a perpetual revolution, causing the table wheel to move and spin. You kick and kick, becoming one with the speed, then with hands moistened to allow the clay to flow, you lean against the lump of clay. The spinning revolution of the wheel coming into constant contact with your leaning against, moves the clay into center. If the clay is not thoroughly kneaded, if the clay is not centered, nothing good can come, you may as well stop, take everything off the wheel and go back to kneading again. But if the clay is prepared and centered and everything moving together. Then the slightest rubbing can open the mound, or raise walls up against gravity. But an imperfection, or a jerky movement and the pot is easily spoilt.
Yet, when the pot is spoilt, be it on the wheel, or days later after it has dried if it should crack, even after a pot has been fired in the long slow heat of the kiln, it is not thrown away. The potter takes the spoiled, and the broken, that have not been fired and puts them all in a waste can for another time, saturating the mess with a flood of water. The fired and brittle bisque pieces, the potter kneads with a rock, pulverizing into grit and powder. Days and Nights go by as the spoiled dissolves all the brokenness beneath the waters. Then one day, the potter scoops out all the liquified clay from the waste and places the muck in a plaster mold, dusting it with the grit from previous pots, sealing it beneath a skin of plastic. Days later, the potter uses their hands to take from the mound of clay and begin the work of kneading all over again.
Where in our minds we have conjured all kinds of images of Punishment and Judgement, of a day of Ending, according to the image given Jeremiah, The Judgement of God, the Punishment from God, is to be cut off as spoiled and set aside in order to be reworked, touched and kneaded by the potter, until we are able to be fashioned into something quite useful. It is intriguing that according to Scripture we Can change the mind of God, we can change God's Plan, when Jonah spoke the People of Ninevah repented and God forgave them; when Amos found God crafting Grasshoppers to destroy, and fire to scorch, the Son of Man asked for forgiveness and God in love relented. But while God is able to change, and move from punishment to forgiveness, there is no evidence of God acting in love suddenly going the opposite way.
The irony of Jesus' words about counting the cost of discipleship is that any who have have run away, as did all the disciples. The commitment God extends to us is more than we are prepared for. Yet, even those who ran away, were forgiven. Too casually do we claim “Bearing the Cross of Jesus” as Family Obligations, a Chronic Illness, and Difficult time in Marriage, or at work. These are not Bearing Jesus' Cross, but choosing intentionally to live your life to serve others, recognizing the costs and renouncing them, repenting of everything else save being there for others, for God.
Luke 14: 25-35
Yesterday, in the midst of all the Labor Day Weekend Festivities, the Skinnyman Triathalon, we celebrated Two Weddings, doing everything possible to make the Bride and Groom feel as though this was their day. 20 minutes before the second wedding was to begin, my cell phone rang, and my brother bore the news that our Mom, who was 89 years, who had borne the death of her husband a year ago, had breathed her last. Do you suddenly cancel the wedding? Do you say to the Bride and Groom, I am sorry, I know this is the happiest day of your life, but as the pastor I cannot officiate, I cannot offer blessings, because I am filled with grief? No, this is what is meant by “hating your father and mother and brothers and sisters and even your own life compared to being a disciple.” Pastors are not hired. This is not a job. A Calling is intentional acceptance of responsibility, no matter what.
Of all the passages of Scripture, this is one which often is questioned. The Savior being born in a Stable and dying on a Cross, we get. The Parable of The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, we understand. But why would Jesus, who is the Divine embodiment, the incarnation of love, so emphatically state that we should HATE our Mothers and Fathers, Brothers and Sisters, even our own Life? Because that, is not what this is about. This is Hyperbole, contrasting one thing with another to emphasize just how great is to be our commitment to the cross. Over our years together, we have spoken a great deal about relationship, commitment and trust. Hyperbole is comparing one relationship, one commitment against another, and by comparison that which we know and have spent a lifetime working to build is as nothing compared to the relationship with God.
In some ways, I think we have made an artform of the many ways there are to Hate. There are what 50 Ways to leave your Lover? Increasingly, through the internet, we have created ways to be more anonymous in our attacks. All the Viruses and Worms on Computers are not naturally incurring events, each has been written and perfected by persons so filled with hate, they are trying to destroy others. These are not what Jesus meant. In Aramaic, to Hate as the opposite of Love, simply meant Apathy, to turn your back, to strive for something else, far more important, instead.
I remember a few years ago, there were two women who were very close friends in this village. Their commitment and friendship was closer than sisters. They had lived next door to one another for decades, had raised their children together, they read the same books, bought Halloween treats together and at Junior Prom and Graduation they had celebrated as part of one another's life. The daughter of the one had been planning her wedding, and the two had gone dress shopping together, they had thrown the Bridal Shower at the friend's house, everything was being planned for the afternoon of the wedding. But a few days before the wedding, the father of the friend, suddenly died. And on that Saturday morning, the two friends sat together in the family pew, holding hands and weeping tears of mourning; while that afternoon, the same two friends sat in the same pew for family, as they shared tears for their daughter walking up the aisle. Their commitment to one another was greater, even than the loss of the one, and the joy of the other.
By RENOUNCING, what we are describing is re-assessing our priorities. Naming everything that has a claim on us, and realizing where we are going the motions, what we are part of simply because it was expected, and what we are committed to be. The instantaneous nature of information in our culture has meant that we respond to “The Cause de Celeb”. Not to commitments that define us, but circumstances which touch our hearts for a moment. This last week on the Emmy Awards, George Clooney accepting the Humanitarian of the year award, described that we hear of earthquakes, fires and floods and we are moved, we respond. But who responds 6 months or 7 years later?When Jesus addressed the crowds, huge numbers were moved, hundreds began following to listen. This description in Luke is a challenge that Faith Cannot be Fickle, we cannot be a little bit committed, because people are in need. As serious as building a Watch Tower, or entering into War, is the commitment of faith.
We tend to remember The Prophet Jeremiah as a prophet of Doom, forecasting the Exile. The Calling he received before birth was to pluck up, and break down, to destroy and to overthrow, and only then to Build and to Plant. But compared to all the Apocalyptic ends, and the horrific judgements of evil we have conjured in our minds, the Potter's Shed is the Image of Judgement God gave to Jeremiah.
Before going to College, I worked for a Potter. Of all the Artforms and media, this is one of the most rhythmic and sensual. Before you can begin, the potter takes clay in their hands, to work it and knead it and by touch the clay becomes more elastic. Not simply a matter of touching, kneading clay is working it like the toughest most sticky bread dough. Folding over and over again, pushing the clay into itself where it would not have gone otherwise, working this substance from the earth until there are no differentiated parts more soft or more wet or more hard, but all one. Then, the potter sits down at the wheel. Before anything else, the potter center's themselves, taking a series of deep and cleansing breaths. You kick the wheel, your motion disturbing the inertia of the base, establishing an orbit a perpetual revolution, causing the table wheel to move and spin. You kick and kick, becoming one with the speed, then with hands moistened to allow the clay to flow, you lean against the lump of clay. The spinning revolution of the wheel coming into constant contact with your leaning against, moves the clay into center. If the clay is not thoroughly kneaded, if the clay is not centered, nothing good can come, you may as well stop, take everything off the wheel and go back to kneading again. But if the clay is prepared and centered and everything moving together. Then the slightest rubbing can open the mound, or raise walls up against gravity. But an imperfection, or a jerky movement and the pot is easily spoilt.
Yet, when the pot is spoilt, be it on the wheel, or days later after it has dried if it should crack, even after a pot has been fired in the long slow heat of the kiln, it is not thrown away. The potter takes the spoiled, and the broken, that have not been fired and puts them all in a waste can for another time, saturating the mess with a flood of water. The fired and brittle bisque pieces, the potter kneads with a rock, pulverizing into grit and powder. Days and Nights go by as the spoiled dissolves all the brokenness beneath the waters. Then one day, the potter scoops out all the liquified clay from the waste and places the muck in a plaster mold, dusting it with the grit from previous pots, sealing it beneath a skin of plastic. Days later, the potter uses their hands to take from the mound of clay and begin the work of kneading all over again.
Where in our minds we have conjured all kinds of images of Punishment and Judgement, of a day of Ending, according to the image given Jeremiah, The Judgement of God, the Punishment from God, is to be cut off as spoiled and set aside in order to be reworked, touched and kneaded by the potter, until we are able to be fashioned into something quite useful. It is intriguing that according to Scripture we Can change the mind of God, we can change God's Plan, when Jonah spoke the People of Ninevah repented and God forgave them; when Amos found God crafting Grasshoppers to destroy, and fire to scorch, the Son of Man asked for forgiveness and God in love relented. But while God is able to change, and move from punishment to forgiveness, there is no evidence of God acting in love suddenly going the opposite way.
The irony of Jesus' words about counting the cost of discipleship is that any who have have run away, as did all the disciples. The commitment God extends to us is more than we are prepared for. Yet, even those who ran away, were forgiven. Too casually do we claim “Bearing the Cross of Jesus” as Family Obligations, a Chronic Illness, and Difficult time in Marriage, or at work. These are not Bearing Jesus' Cross, but choosing intentionally to live your life to serve others, recognizing the costs and renouncing them, repenting of everything else save being there for others, for God.
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