"You Look Just Like God" January 10, 2016

Psalm 29 Isaiah 43 Luke 3:15-22 One of the greatest joys of being a pastor, is that people bring you their questions of faith. I have my own fears and doubts. Lord only knows that Religions and Denominations and Individual Churches struggle to make sense of the world and what we are to believe about the economy, immigration, ecology, the beginning and end of life. When we as Churches began working together to provide a food pantry to our community, we recognized additional need for Social Workers, and a lending closet of crutches and walkers, and advocates. In this Church, through the John Dau Foundation, we wrestle with having ministered to refugees from South Sudan, can we provide them health care, and if health care then what about nutrition to keep from starving to death. And this child, whose mother and father died when she was two months of age, what are we in Skaneateles going to do about her? Do we abandon her to die as the rest of life has done, do we try to put resources together to care for her? But also, people in our community, in our church bring the questions weighing upon their hearts. And truth be told, this is what pastors are trained to respond to. As pastors, we become building managers, and fund-raising specialists, leaders, computer tech specialists, all out of necessity. We have a bit of the showman in us to be able to stand up week after week sharing what you believe. But the Theological training we receive is in order to minister to the life and death questions people face. So it is that someone came to me on Christmas Sunday, asking: My dog has two eyes and a nose and mouth, just as I have. She has a heart and stomach and lungs, and organs and blood, just as I do. She stares into my eyes and I know she is thinking; when she sleeps I know she dreams. So why does she live only 7-14 years, when I live 80 – 100? Not quite the life and death of a child from malnutrition; or floods and mudslides devastating parts of our Nation while we bask in warm weather in January; or the undermining of our economy by China's Stock Market being manipulated to stumble 30 minutes a day. I believe this person's question stated the question precisely. If we have so much in common with our dogs, why do they not have the life expectancy we have; but also the underlying question of: We know people not as loyal, loving, obedient and trust-worthy as our dogs, why are our dogs not loved as much as these by God, is Death a Punishment, if so do I want to love God? And if God does not love my dog, does God love me? Rather than beginning from a point of conflict and misunderstanding, let us back up, to the First Testament, in the Psalms and Prophets. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the Creator is described as possessing a world view, a love for every element of creation. Almighty God loves the mountains and the stars, but also the flowers and creatures hopping about the surface of a bog of pond-scum. All life, each of God's creatures is precious and loved by God. Even Syria and Lebanon, and you and I and our dogs and cats, all are loved by God. Not simply acknowledged, known, tolerated, every inter-connected, inter-dependent element of Created Life is Loved by God. God's love is greater than our understanding, because where we can appreciate God's love for us is like God's love for dogs, we may not love snails or skunks, mosquitos or that person we think of as pond-scum. But God does! One of the hurdles for our understanding is that: all the things we have named, all we can imagine, are Created by God, with a beginning, a birth, and also having a death an end time. For dogs that is 7 to 10, maybe if we are blessed as many as 14 years. For Nations, for Mountains, it may seem eons; for insects and primordial pond-scum an entire life-cycle may be One Day; yet for each there is a beginning and an end. As human beings we often feel like pawns in a game we cannot win, cannot control. We were created fro a time that is now over, and we are waiting for a future time yet to be. The four Gospels tell differing stories of the life and order of events for Jesus, whether he and the world knew he was the Christ, and when in his life this awareness came. Some describe his resurrection, some repeated appearances for 40 days afterward, some his ascension to Heaven, but all four describe the ending of his life, after 1-3 years, as a death upon the Cross. John seems to begin at Creation recalling Genesis, Matthew in the Genealogy of Joseph, Luke with the birth of John and the birth of Jesus. But all four, including Mark, which we believe to have been written the earliest, describe the first event as Jesus was Baptized. We have muddled the meaning and importance of Baptism, routinely baptizing at infancy, physically dividing this mystery this sacrament as Christening with a name, versus Confirmation years later. I was at a neighboring church recently, who have created a new tradition, that the first time the baby is brought out in public, the family are called forth for a Blessing, separate from the Baptism of the Believer. We have made Baptism a Photo-op, a Family Gathering, where instead of a Turkey, or a Ham, or a Tree we have a Baby. Painfully, we read the story of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles, where Simon Peter and John were sent by the Disciples at Jerusalem to Samaria, because like so many of us, the believers at Samaria had only been baptized in the Name of Jesus, and these two were sent in order that those believers might also receive the Holy Spirit! The Book of Common Worship seeking what will connect with people, has repeated the chant “Remember Your Baptism!” I am told, I was about 6 weeks old, that I hiccuped throughout the sacrament, picking at my father's clerical collar. Our eldest chose the moment of his Baptism for a blow-out that brought tears to my father's eyes; our youngest had projectile vomiting, and like a scene from The Exorcist, he vomited all over my robes. NO, many of us, most of us, cannot / should not remember our Baptism. BUT we do remember that We Were Baptized. The distinction is vital, because Baptism is not the hiccuping, or the photo-opportunity, or who attended, Baptism is a voice of claiming and calling: You are more than a dog, you are more lovely than a flower, you are better than pond-scum, all of which are loved; But You are Claimed as part of the Body of Christ; and being Claimed, you are given a Calling to love God and God's creatures. The Great 1950s Theologian Paul Tillich described that “SALVATION is simply the Acceptance that You Have Already Been Accepted.” We have each witnessed, perhaps even been, that child in Choir, or a Christmas Pageant, who looks out at our parents and recognizing them, and we wave. In the Play “A Cotton-Patch Gospel” the figure of God is sitting up on top of a 30 foot step ladder, as Jesus comes to be Baptized. After the Water, Jesus looks up with Hope and little Anxiety at what Life has in store. And a voice booms from atop the Step-ladder” That's My Boy! I am so proud of you!” There is something we need to name and acknowledge that throughout the Holiday, and in these nights of winter afterward, Depression is quite common. Many of us were all alone. Many of us live with chronic pain, with fears and costs and pain for surgeries that may or may not work. Many of us have been living with Cancers. The Great Reformer Martin Luther is said to have been plagued with depression and feelings of unworthiness, so above his desk he wrote the inscription: “Remember, You have ben baptized !” Often, he would touch that place on his forehead, saying “Martin, you are loved.” A friend and mentor, who was a Preaching professor, described having had dinner at a restaurant in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, when a man in his 90s came up to him, and said “Sir, when I was a boy, I had no mother and no father who claimed me, whoever they were they were not married. I grew up with the shame of the community on my shoulders. At school, I ate lunch alone. Walking down the street, or going to classes, I could see people staring and wondering who my Daddy might be. One day I went to Church, and as I left, I felt the hand of the Minister on the back of my neck. I heard the whispers of people, “Whose child in that?” “Who are the parents of that boy?” “Does he belong here, in our community, in our church?” The minister looked at my face a long time, staring intently at my eyes, when he said “I see the resemblance, it's written all over his face, You are a child of God!” Then he smacked me on the bottom and said “NOW, Go claim your inheritance!” That 90 year old grew up to be Ben Hooper, who was elected and served several terms as Governor of the State of Tennessee. The other hurdle to our understanding, is that being claimed, being loved as a child of God, we are not able to decide who else is loved. The hardest thing about being Ordained is intentionally being a servant, Choosing to Partner with others rather than Leading. Because God is God, and Christ is in our midst. And those who are Baptized, are not simply baptized in the name of the Lord, they need to be waiting to receive the Baptism of the Fire of the Holy Spirit.

"The Dawn of Wisdom" January 3, 2016

Sirach 24: 1-12 Solomon 10:15-21 Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 The Evangelist of Matthew was not the first to imagine 3 rich wise guys from the East coming to Jerusalem. There is an old story that if the story had instead been 3 women, they would have stopped several times to ask directions to Bethlehem, 9 miles from Jerusalem; because of this, the 3 women would have arrived on time; and instead of Frankincense and Myrrh, they would have brought sensible gifts like a Casserole and Quilted baby blankets. While it may have been that 3 Wisemen from the East did arrive 12 days after Jesus' birth, Matthew seems to have borrowed his storyline, characters and plot from Isaiah 60, a poem recited by Jews in 580 BC, regarding returning to Jerusalem from exile in Iraq and Syria, who returned to discover their city bombed-out. Who, after traveling for thousands of miles would want to live in a city where the towers had been torn down, the economy is in ruins, and no one knows how to move forward or what is safe? In this context, the poet invites their depressed discouraged colleagues to have hope, to look up, to expect everything to change: Rise, Shine, for your light has come!” Israel will once again become a center of trade and prosperity: “Nations will come to your light, Kings to the brightness of your dawn.” Caravans loaded with spices and trade goods will come from Asia bringing prosperity. God has promised a future for Jerusalem, and God's promise is certain. Yet, what I would like to suggest this morning that the Wisdom of the Wisemen, the Epiphany that is the 12th Night of Christmas, is especially important for us today, in the first days of this new year, with knowledge of the birth of the Savior close at hand. First, that whomever and however many of these Strangers were, they represent us, non-Jews who have come to faith through knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Books: The Wisdom of Sirach and Solomon, are ancient writings from the era between hearing the last echos of Malachi, and the first words of Matthew. In the 500 years between the First Testament and the New Testament, the Babylonians had fallen to the Medes, the Medes to Alexander the Great who had conquered the whole known world; following Alexander had come Greek Wisdom, Culture and Philosophy, but ultimately the Greek Empire had fallen to a new Egyptian Empire, then to the Roman Empire of the Caesars. Sirach and Solomon, were always part of the Greek Orthodox Bible, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Bibles, but until recently were not included in the Jewish Bible or Protestant Bibles. With knowledge of faith now being disseminated by publishing houses instead of religions, wisdom material is available to us all ecumenically, which may cast a whole new light on our faith and understanding through a new revelation of wisdom. Stephen Hawking is arguably the smartest scientist alive today. Hawking has been working on what he describes as: The Theory of Everything! Behind Einstein's Theory of Relativity is Gravity, describing Mass and Energy and Time. Quantum Mechanics is the theory of Physics and Engineering that behind everything that exists are waves, particles and sub-particles. Hawking's Theory of Everything is attempting to link the two, to explain the connection between these two disconnected theories of how everything exists. Theologians have traditionally spoken of Revelation, that is: God unveiling parts of who God is to we mortals, as being transmitted in one of two ways. Either through General Revelation to all of Creation, accessible through our senses and reason, known through Scientific Laws; or through Special Particular Revelation, in the ways recorded in the story, history and Laws of Religion. General Revelation might be the fall and decomposition of leaves as preparation and nurture for a coming year of growth and possibilities. That every tree, flower, fish, bird, and mammal has within it the seeds of future generations; and that even if you swallow water mellon seeds they cannot grow inside a person; or a baby spring from a turnip patch. General Revelation might come from holding a baby to your breast, witnessing the perfection and completeness of something so new; just as God might also be known in the peace that comes when we are present with loved ones when they die. General Revelation might be described by some as Science, observation of the interconnections, inter-dependencies of all Creation. The difference of whether we describe this as General Revelation or Science is whether behind everything is God or Not. Special Revelation came from God speaking to Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the Prophets. Special Revelation is known through following the Laws given through Moses. This Special Particular Revelation, according to Isaiah revealed that God would call people from the ends of the earth to God's Holy Mountain, that through the particular - all the world would come to know what God reveals. The Wisdom of Sirach and Solomon are books using Greek Philosophy and Reason to encourage the listener to discern and understand the Particular Revelation of wisdom that is Judaism. The distinction being, that instead of being narrated through the story of Religion from those who were present with Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Moses; instead of being narrated with personal identification “When you come into the Promised land, you are to make an offering of First Fruits declaring 'MY ANCESTOR WAS A WANDERING ARAMEAN WHO WENT DOWN TO EGYPT AND SOJOURNED THERE';” instead, that the Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach describe Particular Special Revelations of God as being General Revelations to All through Reason! Where the First Book of Moses (that is Genesis) described Creation when mist covered the earth, and the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the Deep; and in the Psalms of David, “Where can I go, if I traverse the highest heavens Thou art there, if I make my home in Sheol Thou findest me there.” Instead, Sirach entreats the Greek listener to witness the revelation of Creation, and to determine for themselves that the person embodying Wisdom, the Most High, is God! The 10th Chapter of Solomon in particular, poetically describes “A Holy people and blameless race guided by a flame at night, brought over the Red Sea,” without even once mentioning Israel by name. According to Thomas Aquinas, General Revelation is corrected, complimented and made complete by Special Revelation. The Self- Revelation of God may be misunderstood by sinful humanity, so the essential truths of faith are repeated in the history of Israel. John Calvin described the relationship between General Revelation and Particular Revelation as being like the relationship between a Book of Wisdom, and Reading Glasses. Although God has published God's Word for All the World to see, only those with the corrective lenses will ever be able to understand what they see. What I propose this morning, is that those identified as The Wisemen from the East, were the first to discern by logic and reason the reality of the Particular Revelation of God to Israel from only knowing General Revelation. The point is that there are not two realities, two truths, two theories, two worlds of Science and Religion, which are unable to co-exist. But rather, witness of the visitation of the Wisemen from the East, is that everything about Life, everything about Nature, points us to the truths revealed in the First Testament of Israel. And that following that logic, the Wisemen were the first to find the Savior, even before his Baptism, before Calling his Disciples, before his death and Resurrection. Even more, that while “From the East” gives the story a Mysterious flavor, and resulted in some speculating three different ages of these visitors, and that one would be from the China, one from Africa, one from Europe; the Latin word “ORIENS” has the same meaning for us as ORIENTATION. This was not identification of their address or place of origin, but rather their ideology, their focus on life and reality, literally and metaphorically is what Star they follow, is in the text also described as “ANATOLE” meaning “The Rising.” The mindset of these visitors is “Light” the Dawn of the next era of human history; what is new and innovating and exciting; but also as will be demonstrated in the Particular Revelation of Jesus, Rising refers to The Resurrection from the Dead, so their orientation is Salvation. This visitation is of the first believers, who instead of using the revelation of God to justify the Monarchy, or the Priority of David's lineage.or Jerusalem, have used the revelation of God to seek Salvation, to seek the future with God. We become bogged down in whether there were three or four, and what were the meanings of the three gifts; when I believe the point of the Wisemen visiting from the East, is the Dawn of Wisdom, the Dawn of a new faith in Salvation that comes from God and IS AVAILABLE as General Revelation to ALL!