"Humbly Trusting Anew," October 27, 2013

Joel 2:21-32 Luke 18:9-14 In another place, the Apostle Paul describes that The Gospel is a Stumbling Block to Many, is true, but one of the great Theologians (Paul Tillich), asserted that our danger is in stumbling over the wrong thing! Such is the case with this morning's parable. Two men went up to the Temple to pray. Before hearing anything else, we know there is going to be a contrast. Last week, we read of the Judge and the Widow, he had all power and prestige, he sat up high behind his bench, where as she stood alone before him. He neither feared nor regarded anyone, not even God. Yet with all his authority, he responded to this little woman who might blacken his eye. Here, one is righteous and one is not, one will be acceptable and one not. The Pharisee has spent his entire life, interpreting the Law, he is not a literalist like the Scribes, he is one who knows the Law so thoroughly as to be able to interpret between contradictions. The other is hated and despised. He not only works for the Roman Empire, he was known to take bribes and steal. This is the Cain and Abel story all over again, this is Pharaoh of Egypt versus Moses and the Hebrews, the Canaanites versus the Israelites, the Good Samaritan compared to The Priest and Levite who crossed over to the other side. There always seems to be two sides, Right and Wrong, In and Out. But what sets this parable apart is there is a trap in application. According to The Biblical Law, the Holiness Code in Leviticus, the Pharisee did everything right! Everything he said about himself was true. He not only fasted once a week, he did so twice! He not only made an offering on his salary, he gave a tythe of all he received, and believing in his own righteousness this would not have been 1/10th but rather 1/7th of everything he had! The Pharisee is the first to draw the line of who is in and who is out: “I thank God, I am not like other men, extortioners, adulterers, unjust, even like that Tax Collector.” According to the Law, he not only did everything required, he did Twice as much! BUT even so, the Parable does not say that he goes home forgiven. The problem is the Pharisee has no humility. He has no need for God. He knows what is right and what is wrong, what is inside and outside, and he justifies himself, like the Elder Brother in the Prodigal Son. The Pharisee never risks getting caught, and always having enough, always being safe and secure, he looks to have great accomplishments, and great possessions, but never to have to be forgiven he has no need for God. Everything about this Pharisee is in the present tense, what happened in the past, tradition does not matter except as being his accomplishment. The Tax Collector on the other hand, knows that he has sinned. The Tax Collector was always looking back over what had happened. He has cheated people. He has not followed the Law. He is so far outside the line, Jesus described “He stood far off” meaning he did not feel worthy to come forward to present his offerings. All the Tax Collector can do was throw himself at the feet of God and beg “Have mercy on me.” He did not admit he was wrong. He did not ask for forgiveness. He did not make restitution to those he had wronged. He did not even make an offering. Jesus says, that because he asked for mercy, this Tax Collector went home forgiven. So the point is “Be Humble”. Would that it were that simple. The trap of this Parable is we cannot have a faith in being Humble, because like the Pharisee we would try to take pride in outdoing one another at being humble. Instead, the point of this parable is whether Pharisee or Tax Collector, whether on the Inside or the Outside, recognize that the only thing that matters is there is a God, God who loves you and will provide for you. Everything comes from God, God is the only thing that does matter. Not profit, not possessions, not right and wrong, not power, not even the Law. Not living in the past, or even in the moment, but believing and trusting in a new future because of God's mercy. If the first lesson of this morning's Scriptures is that We be Humble, The Second is that our focus be on God and only God. Focusing upon God and nothing else, that sounds like the Reformation which is the historic reference of this day. The Reformers came to recognize that all society, especially the church, was distracted by a great number of other things and not focused upon God. So the Reformers attempted to strip away everything except God and how to live in relationship to God's mercy. Preachers wear black or gray, so the focus would not be on our clothes. Jettison all the Interpretations of the Church, the Saints, the rituals, so our focus was strictly on the Word of God and on God. Historically, this created a split within the Church with Mystery of God on one side and Understanding God and ourselves in relation to God on the other. Lest you imagine this is dusty old historic stuff that has no bearing on today, I heard it mentioned this week that Martin Luther was one of the first to use Social Media. In an era 500 years before Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, Martin Luther posted 95 different reasons why the Church needed to abandon the Sale of Indulgences, on the Doors of the Church at Wittenburg. There were no computers at the time. There were no telephones and no mails. There were no Newspapers. Martin Luther used the doors of the Church like a bulletin board. He wrote so forcefully, with such a command on what is important = God, that people coming in to worship stopped, not only to read but to copy down what he had written. Within two weeks copies of what Luther had written in German were in every Village and town at every church and household across Germany. It was simultaneously translated into Latin, and within the month was posted and read all throughout Europe. Ironically, no one recalls what Luther's sermon was on that day! That is the power of Social Media! Earlier this year, before the election of a new Pope, before the former Pope retired, one of his last acts was to redeem Martin Luther, and all those believers following from Luther, that our Baptism is the same, our need for God is the same. What he did was to Trust God, to dissolve the line of separation of who is IN & OUT! It strikes me that the Pharisee claiming “I thank God I am not like that Tax Collector” is a form of bullying. Bullying does not only happen between 12 year olds, but anytime one individual or group tries to get power by abusing and putting down another, by shaming the other, by seeing each other with prejudice as an obstacle, a thing, not valuing the other person as being a gift from God. Bullying is learned from Parent to Child. This week, meeting with a group of clergy, we came up with a fresh idea for the identity of the Presbyterian Church. What the Presbyterian Church needs to focus on is God and therefore our responsibility redeeming relationships, redeeming lost individuals as being gifts from God. A month ago, only 12 miles from here, an elderly man was beaten to death by a man who did not know him, a man who got into his head I want to kill someone, I want to beat them to death. It did not matter who the other man would be, one wanted to act out, he wanted to claim the power he had to destroy, and a harmless individual was killed. When we identify ourselves by who is in and who is out what other outcome can there be? The Prophecy of Joel, is often referred to as a Prophet of Destruction. This year the Cicada came up out of the ground, and these seven year locusts consumed everything in their way. According to Joel, Israel was plagued by four differing kind of locusts, grasshoppers, cicada. I cannot in all good faith look at circumstances in the world, AIDS, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Forest fires and claim these to be God's vengeance on sinners. That is too easy, too moralistic. However, when circumstances do happen, tragedies, I think we all need to question our lives and recognize that we are mortal, we could die today. If devastation were to come, are we prepared? Have we done all we can? What Joel promises, is that perceiving devastation in this way, we will be all the more glad at what follows. We recall the end of this passage as used by Peter on the Day of Pentecost to describe that “your young men and women shall dream dreams, your old men shall see visions.” We remember the last line, about “All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered,” being used by Paul in Romans as an argument about Salvation. But before we attempt to “Christianize” Joel, picking and choosing parts out of the whole, we need to listen to the first half as well, which is Joel's promise that in the past God destroyed with four kinds of locusts, now God will restore with four kinds of rain, early rain and late rain, sprinkles and downpours. All in order that we need to hear Joel describe in verse 25 the restoration. That in the end nothing will be lost, everything in God's sight will be restored. Even more the Hebrew verb here for “Restoration” is a verb form of shalom, “peace according to God.” We need to recognize, that what happened to Israel in 4 different kinds of locusts devouring their crops and homes, in Babylon beating Israel and carrying the Nation off in bondage as exiles in a foreign land, what happened in the Pharisee justifying himself compared to the Tax Collector, all were about bringing shame. What Joel is describing is that even old shame, buried abuses that have caused us to not trust anyone can be forgiven and healed by God. None of us is a blank slate. Our past experiences color what we see, and whom we trust. The point of overcoming former shame, is that we do not simply trust, but knowing we can be abused, knowing we have been, knowing we are sinners no better than everyone else, we trust Because God created us to Trust.

Unfair Unjust Unrighteous, October 20,2013

Jeremiah 31:27-34 Luke 18:1-8 Of all of Scripture, I cannot recall a more brief parable, nor more misunderstood passages, than these. We each survey the world around us and decry that “The World is Unjust!” “No longer is there right and wrong!” No one seems to care what people think, or what God thinks, we like the Judge each just goes after whatever they can get. In the Justice System there ought to be protections for the poor, and the widowed, not for revenge, but for pure vindication, that they HAD RIGHTS! That our Nation's entire Government would be shut down for two weeks, locking and barring the entrances to FREE Parks and Museums, denying pay to those employees who who do the work, threatening the world's economy, while our Elected leaders continue to be paid to argue over political positions. Surely God must be UNRIGHTEOUS and UNJUST to create such a world, or else God is not all powerful, not even real. Our problem is that too often we take the Bible out of context, we only have patience to listen with one ear for a cursory summary of sound-bytes, and we respond “See, even Jesus has compared God Almighty to an Unrighteous Judge!” But that is not what these passages have been about. Each of the parables told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke describe what Heaven is like, what the Love of God is like, and the great reversal that as grand as we might imagine, God is beyond explanation. Over the last few months, we have recounted that we need to: Not take the place of honor when invited, but act in humility and you may receive greater honor. Remember all were invited, but most, claimed to be too busy, having other things to do. Know God gave our places to those who never before had been invited the poor, the sinners, the lost. Count your costs, not building a tower if you cannot afford the foundation, waging wars we will lose. Consider the value to the owner of The Lost One, and the value of those who think they never were Lost. Recognize that Christ, God's Steward will do whatever it takes to redeem what is owed to God. See ourselves as The Rich man, with Lazarus at our gates, who afterward will be with Abraham. Forgive, even those closest to you, especially those, even as often as 70 times 7 times/ per day. At which point you could see the Disciples rolling their eyes, muttering “Increase Our faith!” Jesus describes that nothing is impossible for faith... A Mustard seed can grow immense, a Mountain can be moved, Lepers can be cleansed and their limbs and digits healed and regrown to full inclusion. By now, the disciples jaws had dropped, when Jesus told them that: Oh yes, and only the despised Samaritan would be thankful. And Jesus went on to describe that none of us can know when our end is coming. You may have a name for it, Cancer, War, Age, but what if you are taken by God before that ending ever comes? Or if a cure is found and you survive that death? Are you prepared? Today's passage begins “Has your life been lived in constant prayer, or have you Lost Heart?” We do not recognize the power of words any more, or even the power of our Attitudes. In Common Greek, the phrase LOSE HEART means “to give up.” You turn in a claim for reimbursement and your claim is rejected, you claim belief in what seems a basic right, do you give up? Tragically, we go through life with great ambitions, we have callings, we study for careers, we fall in love, but over time we get worn down by the constant rejections, and we give up, WE LOSE HEART. But if Give Up is the Common Greek translation of LOSE HEART, there is also the Classical Greek which has subtle nuance. LOSE HEART means to “Give In,” to condone, to be culpable in our toleration of wrongs. So have we stood up for what we believe, or given in to peer pressure, to cultural acceptance? Ultimately the Judge in the parable: relents, according to the current translations “Or she will wear me out” but the original language was more explicit, in Old English this was translated as “Or she may blacken my eye!” There is this satiric image of the Great and Powerful Judge, with all authority of the Law and Judgment at his command, seated on a Judge's Seat behind a High Bench, and this old widow that everyone has taken from, leaving her weak and powerless. Yet the Judge is afraid she might be desperate enough she will blacken his eye, possibly with her fist, or to his reputation and image and power. Luke claims Jesus said, “If the unrighteous Judge vindicates her, will not vindicate God's elect who cry out day and night?” The grammar here is complicated, requiring us to reason an IF/THEN, that if the unrighteous Judge could be motivated by the poor widow's constant demands, then God who loves you will vindicate you too. But I have to believe Jesus' point was more barbed. First, The point of Prayer, especially Constant prayer, is NOT to whine and complain, so as to change God's mind. If it were, then How many prayers does it take to right a wrong? How many prayers to change the world? NO, instead, while it is important that we name to God our needs, what happens in prayer is we bow down, we recognize there is a God and we are not God, we are not in control, so at some point we will have to accept God's Will to be done. Second, as Jesus' parables always seem to have a reversal, I think the Judge who has no concern for God or what people think, is a painfully apt description of us all. While the Old Widow, the one who continually petitions and will not relent, until vindicated, even though they should have been vindicated for Justice sake, or simply for who they are: is God. The Prophet Jeremiah, informs us of a dramatic shift in the history of the world. God's Chosen People: The Nation of Israel had fled Pharaoh in Egypt, had been saved through the Red Sea, had been saved from Pharaoh's Power and Technology, and on Mt. Sinai the people of Israel received the Covenant with God. God had committed, that God would be their God, and they would be God's people. But a lot of history has passed, for thousands of years the people have lost heart, and been unjust and unrighteous, and sinned, Empires have risen and Monarchies fallen, no after King Saul, David and Solomon, the Nation of Israel is in Exile in far away Babylon. There the people wondered if God was UnRighteous, UnJust, or if God was not All Powerful, or even if God Exists. According to human Law, God is un-Just... God has greater concern for the poor and the lost. God is not concerned with Right and Wrong, God continually redeems the sinners. Here Jeremiah has written to the people in Exile and declared God is doing a New Thing, God is Forgetting what we have done, God is forgiving. No more can we declare, I was Baptized as a Baby. I was Confirmed a Member of the PCUSA at 16. I live in a culture that celebrate Christmas and Easter. But every person will need to listen to what is in their own heart. I heard three stories recently. The first was of a Church in Latin America. On Sunday morning all the Village was in the Church, as the preacher was praying for the people. When suddenly a group of Guerrilla soldiers burst in. The Soldiers demanded to know if they believed in God? The Pastor said, “We Do!” He was dragged from the room outdoors and there was a burst of gunfire. The soldiers came back in and asked the people If they believed. After a long silence one said “Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ” He was dragged out and there were gunshots. This was followed by about dozen others. Then the room grew painfully quiet, as each considered that they would be put to death for what they claimed to believe. The Soldiers pushed all of them out into the light of day, where the pastor, and all those who had confessed stood unharmed. The Soldiers, told the Pastor and the first twelve to go inside, for their faith had saved them. When the others tried to follow, the soldiers blocked their path, asking Why? The second comes from WWII, when Naziism was spreading like a cancer over Europe. The Monarchy of Denmark was taken, but the King whose name was Christian was allowed to remain in power and the flag of Denmark allowed to fly. One day, the Nazis took down the flag of Denmark and raised their flag instead. King Christian went to the head of the Nazi party, reminding him of their articles of War, and that the flag of their Nation would continue to fly. The king proclaimed, I will give you 10 minutes to take down that flag, and raise the flag of Denmark or else one of our soldiers will do so. Ten minutes went by and nothing happened. And the Party leader asked which of your soldiers has the nerve to take down our flag to raise your own? And the King replied “I DO.” Finally, a story from a friend who this summer had a family reunion. All the cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents were there, all that is except the favorite uncle. His Alzheimer's had gotten to the point where he lived in a care facility and could not attend. His daughter brought a message from him”To my family, whose names I do not remember, all the things that happened over life I do not remember. But I remember I love you.” Such is the love of God, all the things you have done, I do not recall, but I remember You.

"Liminal Spaces" October 13, 2013

Jeremiah 29: 1-10 Luke 17:11-19 We begin this morning of this new day, the first day of this week in awe, gratitude and thanksgiving! We stand on the cusp of newness, recognizing we have crossed over and cannot go back, we recognize God is not finished with us in creation and redemption, but by the Holy Spirit Almighty God is leading us to a new identity we do not yet know or understand. That is a liminal space. “Liminality” comes from the Latin word “limens” literally identifying a threshold, a doorway, which is neither where we were nor where we will be, but the point of transition. Liminality is a spiritual position where human beings never want to go, but exactly where the Biblical God is always leading. Liminal Spaces are not the tried and true, the well-worn path where we instinctively and habitually know when we are to turn or what we are to do, or even who we are. Liminal spaces are the points of transition when we are no longer children, but not yet adults. When we have finished our education and yet not yet found a career. When we have buried our spouse and yet we still expect them to come to the table. When we have been diagnosed with a chronic disease, but we are not dead yet. When we have retired, when we have buried friends and siblings and we wonder if God has forgotten us here. When we have come to somewhere new, and we do not yet know if we will ever fit in, or even if we want to. Between us and Europe there is this enormous ocean and from our west coast to China an even larger span. Even by plane soaring across the skies it takes hours to go from here to there. Imagine our Puritan ancestors when this voyage between lands was not a matter of hours while we listened to our playlist or watched movies but months of stagnant water and stale air, being tossed from wave to wave and storm to storm. Christopher Columbus sought a faster more direct route for trade between Spain and the Orient, and on this journey between, once they had gone beyond the limits of their known world and had not fallen off, discovered a whole new world, a new continent they had never know. Even as a Nation, we have struggled time and again if we can be one people under God, indivisible, or whether we are so many different states, different cultures, different peoples, North and South, Red and Blue. Our Biblical ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were wanderers, nomads living in covenant with God, not yet with a name, not yet with a home, not yet with descendants. In Genesis, when the people decided for themselves to settle, God frustrated them, not because they attempted to build great towers, not because they tried to reach God, but God gave to them a babble of languages because we were not yet prepared to live a settled life. The people of God have always been a people striving for the “Not Yet.” For the last many generations the Church has recited stories of David and Solomon who fought against Giants, who built up the monarchy, who built palaces and temples of stone, who fought wars to defend what had been theirs, all the while the Church ignored reading of the deportation to Babylon and life there as refugees. The Babylonian Exile was not a one time event, when Israel was first beaten, the enemy took away the strongest, most educated, the best and brightest. Then they took the shopkeepers and tradespeople, those with skills and crafts of value. In exile, this refugee people, questioned who they were, what was to become of them? The pundits and prophets they most enjoyed, told them to sabotage and work to undermine the Government where they had been brought to live. This is not our land, not leaders of our choosing, so tear it down, anyone who is not for us must surely be against us. When this people in exile receive a letter from home! But the unexpected news they receive is not affirmation that they will soon be rescued or returned. The Letter they receive in exile from the Prophet Jeremiah, tells them instead to pray for the place where they live, to settle there and make homes there, marrying and taking spouses, both because they will not be brought back, they will not be rescued in their own lifetime, and because God is not limited to the mountains of Israel, Almighty God is ruler of all Nature, all nations everywhere. We are instead to believe in a new and different paradigm, that any who are not against us must surely be on our side! The God of Israel, is also God in Babylon and Mesopotamia, and to the ends of the earth! So instead of mourning, give thanks! The Gospel of Luke begins this passage with a strange identification. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, he has set his face on the cross and the redemption of the world is his destiny. As he travels he is in the region between Samaria and Galilee. Our difficulty is there was no greenbelt between these, over and over again historically the borders had been fought over. What was at stake between Israel and the Samaritans was whether we worship God on Mount Zion or Mount Nebo? Whether we are a racially and culturally exclusive people, or whether we encourage immigration and inter-marriage. To be Jewish in the Gospel of Luke was to obey the Laws of Moses, being separate from and set apart. Therefore to be separate from Samaritans. The region betwixt and between was like the De-Militarized Zone between North and South Korea, like territories disputed between Catholics and Protestants in North Ireland, like places fought over in Afghanistan, and in Iraq. Not a wilderness place of safety, but a place of armed aggression and fear. Leprosy covered a whole host of skin diseases, many so virulent that fingers and toes became infected and dropped off. Leprosy was a flesh eating virus, considered so highly contagious, that if the shadow of a person with leprosy touched you, you might acquire the disease. Like being of a hated and feared people, those with Leprosy were shunned, cast out of the cities and towns. I have had to learn by experience this week, for I had never before broken a bone, an arm or a leg. The cold, the flu, Chicken Pox, Mumps and Measles, all are maladies that we recover from in a few days. The concept that our bodies need to heal, that we have to be dependent upon others, that our condition makes us an inconvenience for others, was new. I can tell you, I FAR PREFER being on the other side, being a care giver instead of one who for 40 days and nights will wear a cast and corset. The idea that after 50 bones do not heal as well, and you may have to give up doing things for yourself, is a liminial space, I do not enjoy. Giving thanks requires that we change from being self-sufficient, to naming and claiming our need for others, our need for God. Giving thanks is the beginning of faith, because we recognize our need, not our choice, not our desire, not our purchase, but our need for others and for God. In the region between Samaria and Galilee, outside the city, Jesus saw Ten Lepers. As was the Law, while he was far off they cried out to him. But more than each ringing the bell around their necks, or crying LEPER, they called Jesus by name as with one voice, together they identified him as Master, which in the Gospels only happens four times, and only in Luke, and they asked the Savior for MERCY. Without stopping, without touching them, Jesus responds to their Unison Cry for Mercy and tells them to go as described in the Law of Moses to present themselves to their Priest. The issue of Leprosy was not only having the symptoms of disease, but being shunned and excluded from the city, from family, from home and worship, which only the Priest could redeem. Imagine a they went, each one individually notices that from the stump of a wrist a palm and fingers begin to grow! Imagine the one using a crutch to stand and hobble, suddenly has a new leg to stand upon! Imagine the one, whose face has been eaten away by infection and disease feels their nose and fresh skin as soft as a newborn's begin to grow! No longer Lepers, they are no longer united in misery, no longer a community of exiles in suffering, each one begins to run to the priest on his own. One suddenly stops and turns around. In the Bible, whenever anyone turns around, it is identification of redemption, of turning for forgiveness and new life. This one runs to Jesus, no longer far distant but right up in front of Jesus and bows down to lay prostrate his face in the dirt at Jesus' feet. This one is a Samaritan, this one knows that even if not a Leper he is still a Samaritan hated by Judaism, so he cannot go to the Priest, even if he did, the priest could not welcome him into that community of faith. So he ran to Jesus, bowing down and giving thanks, and Jesus claimed him, blessed him as having faith to give thanks. By turning round and bowing down to give thanks, this one quite literally crossed over to the other side.

October 6, 2013 "Believing Differently"

Jeremiah 32:6-15 Luke 17:1-10 During WWI factories and storefronts closed as soldiers went off to war, and the people believed "We can do without so that our armies have what they need." Then the Stock Market crashed and people believed "Our children will have a better life than we do." During WWII, soldiers were drafted, women began work in factories, each believing "The world our children and their children inherit would be a better place." Yet, over the last three decades, the Stock Exchange topped 10,000, then 12,000, then 15; homes that we bought for tens of thousands suddenly were reassessed in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; we have been experiencing the greatest exchange of wealth and accumulated assets history has ever known; yet we are not satisfied. We believing in more and we believe in instant gratification. The parable which Jeremiah lives out, which Jesus describes four different ways, is that Faith is Not a Commodity, faith is Not a thing, faith is Not being spiritual, faith is neither measurable nor instantaneous magic. When we try to control faith, when we make faith into magic incantation, or scientific formula, or reward for good behavior, faith becomes destructive power, as demonstrated in Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice, or Disney's Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, or Tolkien's power of the Ring. Believing in the Gospel does Not guarantee Prosperity. FAITH IS DIFFERENT. Jesus named to his disciples that when your brother sins against you seven times a day, or as described in another Gospel even seventy times seven times, and they repent, we must believe they are forgiven. Here we are not identifying a Get Out of Jail Free card, that all you need do is say you are sorry, but that in this exchange we and they repent of where were were and become reconciled to one another. Faith is a God-given Gift of Grace. Either you recognize you have faith within you, that you have received grace, or you do not. The disciples response to Jesus was “Increase Our Faith” the Greek phrase being “Prostheteo” the same root origin from which medicine created the idea of a Prosthetic. A Prosthetic being a replacement part, a thing which is added on to replace or improve what is missing. Jesus response is a resounding “NO” because faith is not an add on, not a thing to bought or sold, not a replacement from outside the person. Faith comes from within. We are so accustomed to buying and selling what we need and desire, we have all but given up on miracles, on dreams, on hoping against what we know and having faith in a different future. Faith IS taking what we have what we know and going deeper, digging down into our resolve to believe. What I find most odd, most dramatic in this passage, is that unique to Luke, the Disciples do not become Apostles after Jesus' death and resurrection. Instead, several chapters ago, Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, and the identity of being disciples who are sent makes a person an Apostle. An apostle has been called and commissioned and charged to go to heal the sick, to baptize and cure. The apostles had been able to preach, to pick up serpents, to pray for miracles, and these all happened! But afterward, when they returned to Jesus, Jesus commanded them here to be aware of their own sins, the problems they create for their sisters and brothers, AND to Forgive. It is the forgiving of others over and over, that shocks and terrifies the apostles. Seventeen years ago, I came to interview face to face with the Pastor Nominating Committee of this Church. When I got back on the plane, I had a Honey-Do List of all the things this Church identified as needing to be fixed. The problem was not that we did not know that the roof leaked, or the basement had standing water, not that we did not know the building was falling down – you could grasp a brick and remove it from the wall so decayed was the mortar. We were a people who tolerated secrets and avoided confronting one another. We knew so well that what happened in worship could be controversial, we taped a line in the hall outside these doors, in 8” wide blood red tape across the ceiling, down the walls and across the floor. As if to say, the place of worship, the Sanctuary of God is too hot, too dangerous to consider. But oddly what we know needs be done we routinely tolerate... I think that may be why our houses are identified by the persons who used to own them, and only become our home once we move on. And a new owner is willing to invest in replacing and improving upon what they know needs to be done. After all those things on our Honey-Do list were done, the Session asked that we consider where fruit had never grown. To dream new dreams and cast a fresh vision. We preached on having a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, a BHAG, and suddenly there was the challenge of creating a clinic half way around the world in a place you could not get to. As the cheerleader of this church, the most wonderful part is that like a hired servant or slave, we have done only what we needed to do. Just as God has offered us forgiveness, so we as believers forgive. The text from Jeremiah is a hard one, because quite literally Jeremiah has “bought the farm.” Buying the farm is an archaic phrase meaning when you die in battle, the Government sends you money to pay off bills, usually used to pay off thew mortgage on the family farm. The parable is that after decades of prophesying that Israel would be destroyed, Now the war is over, the battle done, and yet money is set aside to “buy the farm” that future generations would know we were here. What can we do to think of future goals? Not things we can accomplish today, or in our lifetime, but that our children's children's children's children will live differently, believe differently because of us?

"Jesus Autobiographic Parable" September 22, 2013

Jeremiah 8: 18 – 9:1 Luke 16: 1-17 This morning's sermon is not a sermon preached in most churches today, but a word that needs to be heard. I dare to preach this word only because I have served as your pastor and preacher for over 16 years. Most pastorates today last three to five possibly ten years if we are fortunate, as such, we rarely get down to what matters. For this morning's gospel is about Money, specifically about the satisfaction of debts we cannot repay. In the Pentateuch, the first Five Books of Torah, the People of Israel were given a gift never before experienced in all humanity. Every Nation of the world has a story of Creation. Every different people believed they were blessed by a God or Gods. Some believed God dwelt on mountaintops, others that God could be found walking in the Garden or Woods. Some sacrificed to Gods of War, some to Fertility Idols, some dared to speak the truth that they worshiped luxury, excess, wealth, power, and all that it can buy. The Hebrew people were Slaves. People without Rights, without Voice, without Property, or Identity, or Name, a mass of humanity that were denied belief in the future, in their Immortality because they could not own the land where their bodies were buried, they could not even lay claim that their children were their own. This people cried out to God from their need, and God heard them and God set them free, and for generations in the Wilderness God provided for them. The prophecy of Jeremiah is that the People abused God's gift, God's love. The people prayed to God, and God answered. This people had a particular name for God, but instead of recognizing that that name which means “To BE” reflected that God is in everything that has ever been or will ever exist; the people used the name of God like a Mastercard, for getting whenever they had wants or desires. There is a basic reality to human nature, “WE WANT” possessing a FREE WILL we are filled with DESIRES. When we are in need, hungry, thirsty, afraid, alone or lost, we cry and we pray, and we seek satisfaction. The difficulty is that when we are depressed, when we are lonely, when we are sad, we seek satisfaction. The satisfaction in each of these cases is not REDEMPTION, but the satisfaction of having our desires met. Fill us and make us fat, so full that we can want no more. But human desire is endless. The relationship of God to humanity is like being vulnerable to a child. When that child cries, we respond, we want to pick them up and soothe. We hurt even more than the child does. There is a helplessness because we cannot fill all the desires, and fix all the problems, and sometimes all we can do is to bear the pain. This passage from Jeremiah describes that at one time the people had legitimate needs, and God salved and soothed and provided for them. But times have changed and the people who could provide for themselves, who could do without and who could do for others, continue to cry to God. There is within God a desire to satisfy human need, that aches hearing human cries, but all the desires of all the world cannot be met. Truly, there is no balm in Gilead to heal all the sin-sick souls. God cares. God loves. God can accomplish miracles. God wants us to be happy to be fruitful, to enjoy all Creation. But our role and function in life is not to possess more than anyone else, to satisfy our desires. Our role and function is not to live without feeling need. Our role and function is to be Stewards of God's Creation, using our God-given gifts. Of all the Parables of Jesus, this one has frustrated scholars and preachers. Was Jesus encouraging people to be dishonest? Was the Messiah suggesting that we would be encouraged and praised for deceit? Our agony about the economy is that we have heard the Parable of the Talents, even those who did nothing are able to return what they were given in life. We are willing to trade and to make investments, because in that parable those who risk were able to return more, those who risked more returned more. But our risks have not been returned. We are having to become accustomed that all the things we used to have, we can no longer afford. This morning's Gospel reads like a story of our world. This is Bernie Madoff being judged, but instead of judgment is forgiven. There was an affluent and powerful individual, some of whose dealings were a little less than moral. Rumors begin to circulate, and one day they are called in and given two weeks notice. Recognizing they are over 50, they are unwilling to start over, unable to perform the physical work and hours of a 20 year old. So they call in every account of their master and find a way to settle. There are those who have read this, and interpreted that this Steward was Dishonest, though in Jesus' parable it is only that there were rumors about him. These have come to the conclusion that when accounts were settled he was able to give something instead of nothing. Others have been mindful of the role of Stewards and middle management, interpreting that his business allowed him to charge for his transaction fee, and this is what he economized on. So when accounts were settled, he was in fact able to return to the owner every penny actually owed. But recent experiences have also given us interpretations I have not found written elsewhere. Last Christmas Eve, the computer processor in the Organ stopped working. We were able to play around the problem, discerning that a battery had gone dead. The part was under warranty, the manufacturer sent it out, and we paid our Organ Tuner to install the part. But a few months later, the part failed again. The Organ Tuner contacted the manufacturer who supplied a new and upgraded part free of charge with a new extended warranty. But by the time everything was installed, we now had a bill for Labor in stalling the same part twice for over a thousand dollars. The Organist at the time refused that this be paid and threatened the Tuner that we would find a different Organ Tuner. For other reasons, that Organist left our employ, and the invoice was among the papers left. I contacted the Tuner, emphasizing that we appreciate their quality of work and commitment to us, and suggested that instead of $1,000 for replacing the same part twice a ore equitable settlement might be $500 and we were able to keep the commitment of the organ tuner. They took off half and we took off half and compromised to meet in the middle at what we each believed was fair to maintain the relationship. Because the relationship was what was truly most important. Two weeks ago United Airlines had a key punching error in which for 15 minutes anyone could purchase a flight anywhere for free. To their credit, the airlines honored their mistake and is honoring these purchases, which may make you honor them with your business. I am reminded of the Tylenol tampering twenty years ago. When the company learned their product had been tampered they removed all of their product from store shelves, until they could repackage and assure the public their product was safe. This set the standard for what businesses could do to maintain the public trust. Yet tragically, I do not recall another case where businesses acted this thoroughly... they have issued recalls, but not pulled everything to repackage and earn our trust. Yet another possibility is that the Steward may actually have be about our allowing accounts to slide and not doing our work. When called to account, the called in one who owed 100 Barrels and demanded 50% and called in a second demanding 80%. The message might be that too often we allow matters of justice or righteousness to slide and we need to be called to account. But I believe another possibility exists, one which I cannot find in any commentary or authoritative interpretation. WHat is in this Parable Jesus was being autobiographic? Chapter 14 and 15 had been focused on sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, all those like us who had chosen to not respond to God's Wedding Feast. And Jesus will do whatever it takes to bring us home. Throughout the Gospels, when Jesus identified "A Rich Man" or "A King" he was always referencing GOD. That our Lord and Savior, the Messiah sent from God, would be compared to a "dishonest steward" is sacrilegious, is scandalous, but that is what the Saducees had said. Jesus did and does what ever is needed, what ever it takes, to bring us back into new relationship with God. So this morning, I had a homework assignment for us all. When you get home, lay this Pledge of your Estate beside you. Then take out a yellow legal pad, or sit down at a blank page on your computer. Consider your life. Review the mistakes and the sins, the times when you wish you had not said or done what you did. When you know you should have stepped in to act, to speak up and you did not. Each of the broken relationships and wounds. Now, draw a summary line, to total what you owe God. And underneath write PAID IN FULL. Now, knowing what we owe to God, knowing our debts are paid in full and forgiven, what will you choose to write as a pledge of your estate?