"The Blue Pill or the Red," Nov 2, 2014

Joshua 5:1-12 Matthew 23:1-12 Fifteen years ago, the movie The Matrix opened with a scene from the future with millions of bodies asleep in suspended animation, their bodies serving as the power source for the world, when suddenly one wakes up to who he and where he is. As he pulls himself free, it seems all the world is focused on capturing, holding, killing him. When suddenly he runs into a warrior, a strange hulking man with mirrored sunglasses who says “You must choose. There is no turning back. You take the Blue pill and return to whatever you want to believe to be safety and security where you are the center of the masses. You take the Red Pill, you stay here in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” More than a statement about how drug addicted we are, the focus becomes on the Self, who am I separate from all the world? Am I just one individual among the masses, so able to blend in without responsibility? Or am I responsible, do I make a difference, does my life matter? In part this is a question of what is reality, does what we believe make a difference? In part, this is an indictment of our hypocrisy. We are self-absorbed, posting on Facebook and Twitter, a permanent electronic record of our every thought and action, posting Selfies of who we are with, and where we are. US Forestry Park rangers have now had to offer a new set of instructions to tourists entering the parks, to not try to take Selfies with Bears, are we really that self-absorbed? To which, Jesus proclaims that we should obey what our leaders say, for they are elected to sit in judgment, but do as they say not as they do, because human beings are hypocrites. Insofar as there are very few among us who would claim to be Pharisees, Saducees, or Scribes, I am going to take Jesus' Words as addressed to all of us today. For most of us do love the spotlight, we want to be photographed in the Central New York Magazine as having been at the best party, we want the television camera to find us at the SU Game, regardless of what we do behind the scenes we want to be seen as successful. For us, temptation becomes a quest for power, for prestige and notoriety, to be remembered as having been. There are also those of us, who simply want to go unnoticed, to have been part of the right crowd at the right time, but not to be recognized, for whom temptation is belittling our self, losing who we are because we stand for nothing and believe we make no effect. I can hear the words of Baptism, as we carry in arms the newest part of this body...There will come times when you will scream for attention, run up and down the aisles hoping others will notice, and we will encourage that you listen and pay attention to the needs of others. There will come times, when you try to shrink in the pew and hide, but we will call you to ask your questions to confess what you believe, because through you we learn more and more about God. There is not a prescription of one size fits all, here, but what is agony to one is grace for another, and what is the norm for one may well be the hardest thing for another. I love this passage from Joshua, everything gone before is remembered in miniature as suddenly Joshua sees God's purpose differently. Joshua was there with Moses throughout the forty years, fighting for survival, the people struggling for water and for food, to not be slaughtered by the enemy. Moses died, leaving Joshua to lead. As they crossed over Jordan carrying the Ark of the Covenant, the waters parted as they had forty years before; they recognized that born in the wilderness they were again an uncircumcised people so they were circumcised and rested; the manna from heaven that they had received day after day in the wilderness stopped so they had to rely on the resources of this new land. For forty years, Joshua had followed Moses, following God, in leadership of the people, knowing that they would come to the land of the Canaanites and they would have to conquer the people them. This is an us against them. Throughout everything that will come after, the future of faith depends upon whether Israel eliminates the Canaanites, or tolerates this enemy. Early, before dawn Joshua dresses for battle, dresses like Jesus' parable generations later of a king before battle surveying whether his troops outnumber the opposition, Joshua prepares to lead his people against the enemy. Suddenly he sees a stranger, a warrior with sword unsheathed, is this an enemy who has snuck into their camp? Is this a stranger who has come to join them? And the “other” says No, Neither, but as Commander of the Army of the Lord.” What if, our battles are not us against them, but as was repeated throughout the War between the States, if we both claim God is on our side, who is on the Lord's side? How routinely, we perceive circumstance as our battles, win or lose, and how rarely we question if God may be doing something through us, using us. We glibly read of God using Noah as a remnant. We read of Joseph having been used by God to establish a future for Israel in Egypt. We read of Babylon and Assyria being used by God to tear down and exile Israel until they were ready to be returned as a remnant to the Promised Land. Yet in all these circumstance of God using people of faith, using nations still when judging ourselves we imagine we are chosen, not that we might be used by God for others. This is our Communion of All Saints' Day. As such, I am reminded of the words of Committal: “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we return from whence we have come.” While, Genesis describes that God formed us from dirt, this morning I want to question if perhaps as part of the primordial chaos, the substance of creation, the humus and dirt, we are filled with limitless possibility. And in this life, as we struggle to create our individual identities and judge others, we embody a singular limited reality, we are bound by time, by place, by responsibilities. What if, in death the point is not that we return to lifeless dirt, but to the limitless possibilities of God's grace to be present to those we have loved? I hope you enjoyed last Sunday, as much as I did, the opportunity to share with another church, to listen to another preacher. I enjoyed the Dr. Seuss story of the Zode and the need to make a choice at the fork in the Road. But the Preacher included a throw away line “If you do not like what you have heard, don't worry about it, I am getting on a plane this afternoon, to leave and you will never see me again.” The difficulty is that listeners, be it our children, or our colleagues, tend to listen to throw away lines, to see what we do, and remember more what we do, than what we say. What I have struggled with, knowing my own hypocrisies, is we will not get on a plane, but instead we have and we will continue to be in communion, to be in ministry with one another. When I was questioned for ordination, I came to a resolution that had never been taught in Seminary, but is a personal conviction based on the Scriptures, particularly the words and actions of Jesus, that this is God's World, God's House, Christ's Table, and our role our responsibility is to host one another until the real host arrives. First among the 10 Commandments is that I believe in one God, Father Almighty. I am not God, nor is any idol, or government, or power, to be worshipped, other than God alone. God is Alpha and Omega, the Creator and Judge, and the source of Grace. So my function, our role in ministry is to try to serve others, to be open and caring, no matter what. That has meant that when persons have cared for a dying spouse, and after devoting themselves to the other, soon after death the widow found another for company and love, that we stood up to critics, to those who would judge. When couples had been divorced and finally found someone to commit to who would hold them accountable, we celebrated their marriage. When a spouse was in the midst of adultery, we have confronted them, not rejecting them but sitting together instructing them to cut it out. When grandchildren have been arrested for drug possession, we sat with and cried with those who worried for their grandchildren. When this week, a young man was arraigned for Drunk Driving, killing a young mother with his car, we remember and grieve. With Health Care Workers traveling to Africa, possibly returning with Ebola, I recall becoming deathly ill in South Sudan. With troops going to so many places, I recall placing a newly baptized infant into the arms of a Special Forces soldier telling him that if you are going to carry a weapon into battle, you also need to know what it is to carry a baby in your arms. We do not have the freedom to get on a plane and leave. We do not have the ability to take a pill and go back to sleep, ignoring reality, ignoring one another. We cannot be hypocrites claiming God's grace and love, without representing that grace and love to others.