January 29, 2017 "Ortho-praxy's Bienaventuranza"

Micah 6: 1-8 Matthew 5: 1-12 When people describe Christianity, our examples usually include Jesus’ Communion, the Cross and Resurrection His Teachings: Parables and his quoting of the Old Testament; Miracles of: sight to the blind, the lame dancing, those with leprosy being cured. None describe Jesus Preaching, he preached hard sayings. People as diverse as the Rock Musician Sting, President Jimmy Carter, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. identified The 10 Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, the Beatitudes as being the highest expressions of religious insight and moral inspiration. While many of us claim a love of The Beatitudes; it is rare that anyone ever claims a love for Jesus’ Preaching. He came out of obscurity after John the Baptist’s Arrest preaching “Repentance.” Jesus went to his own hometown, to the Synagogue on the Sabbath, and reading Isaiah’s prophecy, of the Redemption of Israel, Jesus defiantly declared “This Day Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He preached “You must hate your father and mother, even your own life, take up the cross and follow me.” Out of a love of poetry, because these are among the first of Jesus’ words remembered and because we know the words to be sacred, we identify a love of the Beatitudes. But what BLESSING is it to be Poor? Who among us wants the Blessing of being bankrupt in Spirit? How can it possibly be a Blessing to Mourn? The cultural masses in the time Jesus was in Galilee and Jerusalem, like the cultural masses of our own time today, inherently believed in A PROSPERITY GOSPEL. Andrew Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peele, Oral Roberts, Joel Osteen, Paula White each preach that “As you were created in the image of God, God wants you to be rich. Poverty represents God’s curse for Sin, the Promised Land is a Reward for being Faithful.” They make it so simple, all you need do, is Confess your desire to be like God and you will be! Anyone can be President. Routinely, I have heard people critical of the Presbyterian Church for believing in Predestination, for having taken this political stand or being involved in that cause. Personally, I love Presbyterian Polity! We do not have a unique liturgy, we follow a Reformed one. Why I am intentionally a Presbyterian Christian is the accountability, that it is not simply what I believe or what I want, even and especially as Pastor, but as Pastors we are privileged to lead you in ministry, to serve with you. In many churches the Pastor is elevated as having unquestioned authority, that has not been our relationship! Pastors and Elders, the Congregation and the Presbytery, hold one another accountable. The Book of Job is a critique of PROSPERITY GOSPEL, as Job’s friends criticize that because God’s blessings have been taken away and replaced with suffering, mourning and poverty, Job must have sinned and needs to repent. If not he individually, then to atone for all humanity’s sins, or else as his Wife suggests “To curse God and Die.” To which, the ever faithful Job responds “If we look to receive joy and blessings in life, should we not also expect and anticipate hardships, suffering and death?” The gospel records that when John preached, all the world responded, he challenged Roman Soldiers and Pharisees, why they were coming to be Baptized when they knew they were sinners? When Jesus preached on the mountainside, his listeners were fishermen and rural townspeople, the poor and disenfranchised. Saying: BLESSED ARE THE POOR! BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN! Those are hard sayings! A risky way to begin a sermon. Not long ago, I was helping a family plan a Memorial and their caution was “Mom did not want Amazing Grace to be sung, because she did not want anyone calling her a wretch.” Years ago, I recall a Funeral in which the preacher described that the person who died is in a better place, and right now is where he always wanted to be. And his wife responded “NOT True, he had a scheduled Golf Date, and right now he wanted to be tee-ing off.” What do we do with Blessed are the Meek? Our reading from Micah names that going through the motions, of giving out of obligation, or consumerism attempting to purchase redemption, will not suffice. Your Offering is a gift of the very best of yourself, a Sacrifice to God either in Thanksgiving for what you have received or Atonement for your sins. If only a Debt, then how much is forgiveness of your sins worth? Is the cost for Adultery $5? A Bushel of wheat? Sacrifice of a Lamb? A Heifer Cow? Sacrifice of an Expensive Oil, or a Gallon, or a river, 10,000 rivers of oil? There has throughout human history, been a struggle for Orthodoxy, over when good and right ideas need reformation, or when reformation and change represents heresy and perversion of the truth? Micah becomes the voice of God saying “What does the Lord require of you? but to do Justice, love Kindness, and to walk Humbly with your God?” One of the subversive acts against the State, which Dietrich Bonhoeffer committed was in creating a Seminary for the education and training of Christian Ministers at Finkenwalde, Germany, dedicated to the premise that Faith without Works is dead. Orthodoxy for the sake of Orthodox Thought is pointless. Just as Works without Faith provides no commitment, nothing of yourself. Finkenwalde represented what Bonhoeffer referred to as “Ortho-praxy” that Orthodox Beliefs of Faith must rightly be put into practice in life. It is not enough to be baptized, to attend worship, to sit by and listen. When there is abuse, when there is wrong in our families in our community, in our world, we must take a stand for the Kingdom of God. There are times, as were occurring in Nazi Germany, when believers must act. Bonhoeffer and his students attempted to assassinate Adolph Hitler, but they were caught, imprisoned, put to death. 70 ago, this weekend, Russian forces invaded Auschwitz, stopping the mass extermination of people for being Jewish, for Not being Aryan, for challenging what they knew to be wrong. One of the unanswered on-going questions after the end of WWII was why. When towns and villages saw trains of boxcar loads of people going in one direction toward Auschwitz and none, no one ever returning, that the masses never spoke up to question why? According to New Testament scholars (Craig Keener) there are over 36 different ways of interpreting The Beatitudes, some as simplistic as “Happy are those who” which makes it seem, we are being told to put on a happy face and suffer bravely. Warren Carter claims that “Beatitudes” were to be words of Comfort and Challenge that God cares about our circumstance. The first four in Greek all begin with the letter P, so “Blessed are the Poor, the Plaintive, the Powerless and those who Pine away” because God will reverse these in the kingdom to come. The interpretation which makes the most sense to me comes from translation into Spanish, that the word “Beatitude” is translated as “Bienaventuranza” literally that it will be “Good Adventure to you”. Implicitly, we all know adventure requires risk, the courage to defy the odds, the refusal to play it safe and sit by believing without action. So listen to how the Beatitudes sound if we paraphrased “Blessed” as “bienaventuranza:” Good adventure to those whose hearts are genuinely one with the poor, you shall defy the odds by being under God’s protective rule. Good adventure to you who are without power, your risk is the world shall be yours. Good adventure to you who are hungry, who thirst for justice, your cup will be filled. Good adventure to you who search for truth with single heart, you shall see God. Good adventure to you who work for peace, you shall be called children of God. Prophets have always been an endangered species, but faith requires risk and adventure.

"Repent, See the Light" January 22, 2017

Isaiah 9:1-4 Matthew 4: 12-23 The last several weeks, in this Season of Epiphany, this time of witnessing life differently because God is With Us, we have read how John came from the wilderness, with the imperative: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” and all the people came to be baptized, because everyone knew their need for repentance. Last week, we read that the day after Jesus’ Baptism, John identified Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the World” and two of John’s disciples: Andrew and James, followed after Jesus asking “Where are you staying?” and Jesus invited them “Come and See.” This morning, we read that after John was arrested, Jesus came from the wilderness, from Zebulun /Naphtali, preaching “Repent, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” when he called the fishermen: James, John and Andrew and Simon, to be fishers of men. Why do we have two different stories about the calling of the same disciples? Why the emphasis on Repentance, what do we mean by “Repent?” is the Church really big on guilt, and Confession? Repentance and Guilt are not the same. To Repent requires we stop, which itself is a time of Sabbath. Sabbath does not mean Saturday, but a time of not continuing, of focus upon God, reflecting, rather than what we are doing, where we were going. Stopping to reflect, to consider other alternatives, and turn our lives around to God. Many of us live according to patterns similar to our parents, we may rebel against them, we may embrace technologies they never knew, but our sense of “Normal,” our right and wrong, our traditions, all came from what we knew. Repentance is actively considering, the way we have been living, the un-ending arguments we have had with our children, our parents, Steelers–fans. Structures we have followed have not worked, so are there other alternatives? Not that you have to feel guilt about those, but if they are no longer working for you, why not consider something else. In the Old Testament, Moses led the Hebrew people through the Wilderness to the Promised Land. As they settled, the Hebrew Tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali settled along the coast, interacting with people sailing from distant places. Because of storms at sea, flooding, because they were so far from Jerusalem, the rest of the Nation of Israel described Zebulun and Naphtali as people who dwell in darkness, who do not live in the light. It was a backhanded way, as people in Manhattan or Washington DC, might describe Upstate New York, because we do not have subways or skyscrapers. To live in darkness, is to live without the conveniences, to live with hardship. Metaphorically, any of us who have lived with darkness, with abuse, shame, unending anxiety in our lives. Seven Centuries later, the Prophet Isaiah described that a new vision has come, the Word of God has been Given to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali, the Light of God has been shown upon them, Zebulun and Naphtali are in the spotlight, in the headlines for all to pay attention to, not only because the Light of God is there, but that the Word of God in this time and place has overcome what was their darkness. John the Baptist united Repentance and Baptism, that part of Repentance would include a ritual cleansing, washing away our sins. When John was arrested, Jesus also preached “repentance” but instead of linking this to ritual baptism, Jesus recognized that people changing their perspective, naming their needs, asking others for help/asking God for help, was Repentance and a Call to Discipleship. The only occasion where Jesus demands, you must give up a practice in order to live life differently, is with the rich young ruler who must give away everything to the poor; in that act, and in the love of God, the forgiveness of Christ, the invitation to follow, we Repent and are called to See the Light. Early Christianity included personal confession in their worship of God, much like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting today. When Emperor Constantine converted the Roman Empire to Christianity, this public Confession was changed to private confession to a priest. By the 13th Century it was required that believers make a confession at least twice per year, prior to receiving the Sacrament of Communion. In this congregation in the 1800s, Disciplinary trials for public dancing, swearing, drinking all were cause for excommunication, requiring repentance in order to be welcomed into the fellowship anew. In most churches today, confession has been replaced with counseling. With this shift has come a different understanding of Sin, as if there are particular acts and thoughts which are more sinful than others. In the early church, and in the Presbyterian Church, anything which causes us to feel alienation for God, anything which we hide from God, from one another and hide from ourselves is Sin. In an age of relativism, tolerance and acceptance, there is belief that everything and everyone is okay, instead of understanding that we each have differing perspectives, differing life experiences, and everything which to us is Sin causes us alienation from God, challenging us to repentance. In this way, Repentance is not a solitary act to be confessed before admittance, or re-admission to the kingdom of God, but life in this kingdom is a perpetual series of repentances. In this age, where few of us have any experience with Shepherding Sheep and Goats, Drawing Water from a Well, Planting a field of Seed, Wandering as a Nomad, living with Prostitutes or Leprosy, I am delighted that the image Jesus used for Discipleship is “Fishing for People.” I am especially delighted that within this Village, we have a Presbyterian Church across the street from an Anglican Church over a seawall from the Water of fishing. One of the greatest expositions of Fishing ever written, was authored by an Englishman named Izaac Walton, in a book titled The Compleat Angler. Walton was known for writing Biographies on John Donne, and each of the Anglican Theologians. But The Compleat Angler a book on fishing, describes Angles, and that in Anglicanism, there is a need to see the light through all the different angles, through our own experience of Life and our experience of Sin and repentance, which according to Walton comes through the Angle of Grace. The Presbyterian Church, comes from the Church of Scotland, in the lineage of Martin Luther not King Henry, and the Presbyterian Church instead recognizes the reality of Presbyopia! When our eyes become old, the lenses become fixed and often we can see neither distance, nor up close, and we need bifocals. Bifocals which allow us to reconcile both the big picture and the intimate. Our Call to Illumination and Litany of Confession this day, both dealt with the power of words and our need to listen to others’ perspectives. We live in troubled times, in which each faction, and we are factioned, have denigrated and insulted one another. We need as a Nation, as a people of God, to repent, all of us. To stop acting from the perspective we have been, and consider life differently. Part of the joy of fishing for me, is that you cannot always use the same kind of bait, throughout the day, in all seasons. Instead, sometimes in some places, minnows work best, at other times a dry fly, at other times a worm, sometimes the biggest fly, and other times, the tiniest. But to realize that we do not live in a world of our making, instead this is the Kingdom of Heaven. Wow! If anything does that not make you stop, and question what we are doing?

"Expectations" January 15, 2017

Isaiah 49: 1-7 John 1:29-51 I have been in the pastoral ministry 33 years, as long as Mario has been alive! What that means, is being able to remember Dr. King’s deep bass voice. To recall when this pastor and Preacher’s Kid took on more than his own parish. But after having been taught in CE, in Church, College, Seminary, and Doctoral Study, and following Lesson plans; we tried something new about six or seven years ago. Rather than assuming: that as the teacher I had all the answers, that there were right answers, or that what Jerome wrote in the 2nd Century, or Rheinhold Niebuhr in the 1950s, or Martin Luther King Jr had said, would comfort us; instead, we asked one another to read a passage from the Bible, then sat quietly and listened, listened to one another, coming to see what they thought and heard. First, because each of us, whether two year olds, or 22 or 62 or 102, each of us hear and see something different in the Bible, and in life. Second, because Shakespeare may have been more eloquent, and Billy Graham may have had more followers, but what you see and hear and think about God, is far more important to you today, than what anyone else said. However, a third reason has occurred to me, that our practicing: using our eyes and ears and souls to read the Bible, to follow Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, could actually prepare us to think spiritually, theologically, to look for faith, for glimpses of the Holy Spirit, in our own lives. Over the holidays, I was asked to pray at a great many occasions, for the Veterans, the Ecumenical Thanksgiving, the Rotarians’ Christmas, the SunRise Rotary Breakfast, the Eagle Scouts Awards. And I joked that among the clergy I was so often chosen because my prayers are the shortest among my colleagues; but I have also come to realize that instead of following a Prayerbook, we name, see and reflect what is actually going on for this people, in this time and place with God. What you are Searching for, matters. You matter. So this week, I have an assignment for you, it’s really nothing new, but something many of us have never tried being intentional about. Each night, when you get ready for bed, before you go to sleep, and you are already reflecting upon the day, try to imagine: where did I see God this day? When did I see Jesus’ compassion? How were the circumstances of this day encounters of faith? Because, in all candor and humility, the greatest experiences of faith, do not come between 9:30 and 10:30am Sunday mornings from the pulpit. Sometimes, they come from the choir, at times from the light through the Stained Glass, at times from the baby beside you, or in the Peace of Christ from a stranger. One of the reasons I love John The Baptist, is that as great of a Preacher as he was, as many followers, and as Pastoral, he was confident in who he was Not. “It is not about me. I am not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet, not even worthy to kneel to untie the thong of his sandals.” Everything he says and does points to this Other, who is to come. That is a vital element of Christian Faith, it is counter-cultural, faith is not about us and our satisfaction, but paying attention to Others’ needs. The fourth Gospel is strangely different, and not what any of us expect. Mark’s Gospel begins by telling Demons and Evil Spirits to be Silent. Matthew’s Gospel identifies Jesus within the long genealogy of Abraham and David; then has Jesus preach a sermon to 5000 from a mountainside. Luke starts out by quoting Isaiah, how “This, this is the acceptable year of the Lord, where Prisoners will be released and Miracles will take place.” The Gospel of John goes back to the beginnings of Creation, to name that Christ was there has always been with us, and we never noticed, we even rejected his presence in our lives. Then John the Baptist sets up expectations by introducing Jesus as “The Lamb of God Who takes Away the Sins of the World.” What is especially odd about Jesus being the Lamb, is that Male Lambs were never used as Sin Offerings. A Heifer was, Two Doves, but not a Lamb. Female Sheep a year old were used as Whole Burnt Offerings as a gift of Thanksgiving for rich blessings. There are only a few places where a Male Lamb is a Sacrifice. When Abraham takes his son Isaac up the Mountain to Sacrifice, demonstrating his faith and trust in the covenant with God, a Ram is caught in the thicket. So as a Ram, Jesus is named the Son of God demonstrating God’s faith and trust in the covenant with us. And when the Hebrews were in Egypt, the Passover required a male lamb that has been kept as part of your family. John’s identification is not marking Jesus as The Atonement for the sins of the world, but as God’s gift of grace, that what we have been about, simply surviving, persevering is not enough, and God is giving us opportunity to hope for something far greater. When traumatized, we go into survival-mode, faith changes our expectations to believe there is more to life! The passage from Isaiah and from John are Transformative, as if the speakers are claiming disillusionment and dissatisfaction with life, with the effectiveness of their calling: I have labored in vain, I have spent my life for nothing and vanity.” This sounds a great deal like Ecclesiastes preaching: “Vanity of Vanities, everything is vanity!” But here Isaiah is promised by God, we are promised, that what we have lived is too little a thing and God has a greater purpose for us, our task is to reconcile the world, to follow God and bring together the lost. Fiction writers speak of the importance of specificity, concrete detail. It is the distinction between “He was driving down the road” and “He was on 321 as it turns onto Route 5, speeding up as Hwy 690 enters the City.” The details give the author credibility and authenticity. So in John’s Gospel, it names that when two of John’s Disciples followed Jesus catching up with him, Jesus asked not “What do you want?” but “What are you Searching for?” In English they are quoted as replying “Where are you staying?” but the Greek would be more like “Where can you be found? What is important and enduring about you?” “Who are you?” To which Jesus says “Come and See”. 4pm on Friday, means that they were entering into the weekly time of Sabbath, and Jesus was inviting them to worship God with him, to give thanks over a meal and spend the night. Because during Sabbath, you were limited how far you could go. With urgency the text says, FIRST Andrew went and found his brother. We have known far too many marriages that have simply endured. We have known too many friends who have decided to live out their days. You are called for a great deal more. You are called to expect God being in your life, not because of who you are, not because you are precious, you are, but because God is using you/us to Call Others.

"Examination of Intentions" January 8, 2017

I Kings 3: 5-14 Isaiah 42: 1-15 Matthew 3: 13-17 This week an email came from my wife’s sister, who is at a Presbyterian Church in Washington DC, stating that she is part of a prayer group, writing prayers for the Inauguration, and she wanted another set of eyes. What they had written was: "Gracious God, As we approach the inauguration of our new President, we bring to You our hopes and fears- recognizing both uncertainty and joy. We are blessed to live in a country that allows for a peaceful transition of powers. Help us to be kind and gentle as we talk and listen to one another and work together to generate a new public discourse for the future of our one Nation under God. Open our hearts, that we may recognize new possibilities for peace and prosperity. Please be with incoming President Trump and all our leaders, give them wisdom, compassion and grace.* Amen" Her concern was that Wisdom, Compassion, Grace ought to lead somewhere, so should the phrase best be Wisdom and Compassion that lead to Grace? And what is the distinction between Wisdom and Compassion leading to Grace versus Wisdom and Grace that lead to Compassion? Given the Prayer of Solomon before his taking the responsibility of office, I wondered the difference between these and asking that Grace and Compassion lead to Wisdom; or whether Grace, Compassion and Wisdom leading to HUMILITY, and whether we pray for our leaders to have Humility? What are your hopes for this new year, this new administration? I am well aware that many of us deal with chronic issues of pain, of care giving, of depression and fear, that provided the government leave us alone, we are willing to leave them alone. But times of transition, retirement, the birth of a child, the death of a spouse, ordination and installation, marriage all are times of examining our intentions. When meeting with a couple, one asked whether we were required to say “Do you wish to be married?” I explained that this was a traditional part of the wedding, where they and their families had been asked their intentions for this relationship, and their seriousness about the commitment, which at one time had been a dowry. The couple responded, “Yes, but, if we have gotten to this point, wearing the dress, walking up the aisle, standing in front of all our family and friends, with a reception waiting, it would be silly for us to have gotten this far if the answer to ‘Do you intend to marry?’ was No.” By that point, the answers to questions are a foregone conclusion, just as are their vows; the swearing-in of the President, and the vows of Ordination. And yet, something happens in each of us, when we make vows to one another before God, when we accept new responsibilities and a new identity for who we are. We tend to recite the history often, for a people who ought to know and own it, but Ancient Israel claimed as their identity before God that they had been slaves, who cried out to God and God heard them, cared and set them free. For generations God led the Nation through wilderness, where they were dependent for everything on God. God gave Israel a land flowing with resources, they described as milk and honey, which we in this Nation describe as Purple Mountains Majesty, Fruited Plains, a Silicon Valley, Golden fields of Harvest, from Sea to Shining Sea. Israel became a super-power, the greatest most powerful monarchy on the face of the Earth; but they forgot about God, they competed with other nations, trying to be better than anyone else at being like them. Israel was fractured, destroyed and carried off in bondage: some to Babylon, some left behind to scrape out an existence in the ruins of bombed out cities, some dispersed we know not where. In each context, the people of faith wondered, How could God let this happen? Has God abandoned us? Is God still God? The questions behind Isaiah 40-42 are if God is really concerned about Justice and Righteousness, Compassion and Grace? Israel was so devastated as to question if God was capable of making things right? Isaiah 42 introduces an entirely new concept, a new way of thinking about God. Israel had been the first and only nation to profess that there is only One true God. Monotheism had been a bold claim, that the God who created the stars and canyon depths, oceans and mountains; Also was the same God who created you and me; more than created has been present with us in all the struggles of our lives. God is also the Judge over Time and Space, Right and Wrong. Isaiah 42 describes God coming as our Messiah. To be God’s Annointed, to be the Messiah was not only to be God’s Elect, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but also to feel the depths of the world’s pain, to bear the insults and scars. He will open the doors of the prisons, bringing light to those hidden away in sin and darkness; to give sight to the blind, strength to the broken, forgiveness to sinners, and faith to the Gentiles. What Isaiah was describing was nothing less than complete overhaul of Israel’s existing world and moral agenda. Part of the separation between Judaism and Christianity has been whether “Israel” the Jewish people communally are God’s Servant to the world, a light to the nations; or whether there would be and is One person, one Savior for the world, Jesus Christ. Will Willimon is now a retired Methodist Bishop, a popular theologian, who claims that for many of us, the problem is that our expectations of God are too big, God does not measure up to how we think God should be and act. It must have been incredibly frustrating for John the Baptist. No doubt, all the rest of the day, it rattled his brain and took the wind out of his stomach, that the first public appearance of the Savior had not been what he wanted everyone to see. We have all had those days of total disillusion, when you go about the tasks with a vacant, blank look in your eyes. Why would God have allowed himself to be so anonymous, so mortal, so like everyone else that he could blend into the crowd? Jesus baptism sets up our hearing Matthew 4, which we have to wait for until March. Matthew 4, is where the Devil Tempts God. Who would have ever conceived of such a thing? In all the Scriptures God is never Tempted by the Devil. Yet as the incarnation, as fully God and fully mortal, Jesus was Human enough to be tempted to doubt and fear, but Jesus was also God enough to not succumb, to never give up the Communal vows and relationship begun in Baptism, “You are my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Certainly, John the Baptist was anxiously waiting for Jesus to build on the foundation he had established, to step up and preach with fire and brimstone, calling all the world to trust him and trust God. But Jesus did not. Jesus hung back. Jesus was silent. Jesus was vulnerable. Jesus was Humble. Almighty God we pray that you would grant us Wisdom. Following Your commandments and ordinances that we would receive Grace and Compassion that lead to Vulnerable Humility as your servants.

"Pioneer of Salvation" January 01, 2017

Isaiah 63: 7-9 Hebrews 2:10-18 There was an old preacher, who began every sermon, every worship service, with the words: This is the Day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” There is something incredibly important about this day, after most the relatives have gone home, but school has not started; Christmas is over , and yet the Wisemen are not here yet. The beauty of embracing a New Year, is realization that our old year was stuck, was not big enough to allow for the possibilities of what is to come. What God may do, which we pray is more grand and wonderful than we have ever known. In recent days, friends and relatives have described how happy they are to finally bury 2016 and move on to a different reality, as if all that was wrong would stay in the past; and being in charge of our lives we could begin anew, different, without suffering. A dear friend had a stroke, and now feels as if his former life is over, without the possibility of good and bad times to come. Another had an inoperable cancer, yet the person continued to believe something could be done. Throughout the last 400 years, ever since Rene Descartes postulated that his own existence was real because they were his perceptions… “I think, therefore, I AM,” humanity has been on an escalating trajectory toward the totalitarian autonomous Self. The world does not matter, other people’s needs do not matter, so long as I am satiated. If not satisfied, we can always cover with a series of four letter words: I’m Okay, Good, Fine, Nice. In the last decade, we have escalated this to where we cannot even have a face to face conversation, instead we converse through our hand-held social devices. Instead of taking photographs of great events, people, places, we take “selfie” pictures of ourselves at these places, with these people, as Center of events. The autonomous self is in opposition to everything in the Bible. Both Testaments emphasize our relationship with God and with the world around us, not alone. Abram and Sarah did not set off on their own, they went with God. Moses did not cross the Red Sea by himself God used Moses to set free the Nations that would become Israel. Jesus did not fly-in on Santa’s sleigh to combat the Grinch. Even in the wilderness and in the Garden at Gethsemane, Jesus was with God. Which is why the final words of Jesus on the Cross are so painful, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” That at death, when in our deepest pain and sense of loss, we imagine ourselves totally alone, abandoned when we are not really; for that is the moment, when billions and billions of people throughout more than 2000 years have most identified with Jesus, and when we are most certain he was more than human, the Messiah, the Anointed one, God and Jesus were one. In all my life and faith, one question has bothered me. Not why was I born, or why must I die. Not why this opportunity did not come, or that one did. Not about sickness or life after. But fifteen years ago, when we first began relationship with refugees from South Sudan, over dinner that night, they asked 3 questions: You have given us a new life, things we never knew imagined, or believed we would enjoy, but as you are our church where are our Bibles? And the truth was, as American Christians in the 21st Century, we had forgotten that others did not have Bibles, or that we could share the Word of God. Second, why out of the hundreds of thousands of refugees at the Camp, the millions killed in war, Why were we saved? Which is a question none of us can answer. But third, Our World had been in Civil War for over 25 years, we have been without food or water or peace, for as long as any can remember, WHY did you not care? Why did you not help? In truth, we had been pre-occupied with ourselves, our world, Drug Wars and Sexual Scandals, Inflation and Recession, and we had not thought to care, or to look outside ourselves, especially to Africa. We have been living for the wrong goals. Instead of reading to our children of happily ever after, rather than being satisfied, or hunger satiated, or conquering pain and loss; what if we believed in SALVATION. The world has not spoken of salvation for a hundred years. In part because Salvation inherently requires Others. We cannot save ourselves. We can survive, but to be saved we need to be rescued, and to rescue others. Salvation cannot be private, salvation is not about winning, having more than others, getting a better deal. What would SALVATION look like? I think back to Psalm 23 “Thou preparest a Table before me, in the presence of my enemies, my cup runneth over, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” A time and place where there are no enemies. Where everyone, not only me and the people I care about, but everyone has an equal place at the Table. Where everyone is fed, not simply fattened, to be satiated, but with a super abundance of whatever is needed. According to the Letter to the Hebrews SALVATION is not a private place, but a communal state of being, “OUR SALVATION.” Jesus is the Pioneer of Our Salvation, blazing the trail, making the way for us to travel the course no one had ever gone before, ultimately for us to join the Savior with God at the End. God’s faithful persist in praising God, through all that comes. Emphasizing God’s grace and love does not raise us above the suffering of the world, but allows us to endure and persevere. In the case of Isaiah, MEMORY is the key. By recalling the gracious deeds of the LORD, the prophet helps others in two vital ways: First, by rescuing others from their autonomous individual loneliness of experience. “I will recount all the Lord has done for US. Throughout this prophecy, the believer speaks in the plural, that we are not alone. We cannot delude ourselves to an “ONLY-CHILD fantasy that others do not understand or care. Because God’s love is for “the People” “The Whole House of Israel” “The Children of God.” Even when we each pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray not to MY GOD, but to OUR FATHER. Second, by rescuing us from the PRESENT, the prophet’s description of historic events help others to know the world has not always been like it now is. There were other times, when God heard people’s distress and God entered in, God cared. While never denying the pain of the present, we are able to imagine that in a bigger reality, when there were pains in the past -- God saved, that in the future, God may provide a new salvation. Rather than the prison of the present, we open our faith to the possibilities of a fuller future, a New Year. What if, instead of trying to make and keep New Year Resolutions for things, things only focused on ourselves, things beyond our control… if we resolved to start each day with saying and then trying to live out this prayer: “I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of God, because of all that the Lord has done for us.” Then name the many joys we have had in life.