"Why Judgment", November 26, 2017

Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24 Matthew 25: 31-46 Reading this passage from Matthew, someone in a Bible Study once declared: “I love this passage because it scares all the would-be-goats with the punishment to come.” Which surprised me because I had never before thought about the punishment. In fact in all four of the Gospels, this is the only place where the Greek word for “judgment” is used. The only other reference in ALL the New Testament is in the First Letter of John 4:18 which says that “Love casts out fear, because fear has to do with judgment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love because God first loved us.” The reward of God’s love always seemed enough motivation. All around the world this is Christ the King Sunday, established as such in the 1800s, when Princes and Presidents and Dictators were emphasizing their authority and power on the world stage. I think there is a wonderful story about Bishop Hugh Latimer, who was a very outspoken Bishop of London. One morning, seeing King Henry VIII seated in the Sanctuary, Bishop Latimer paused to pray before preaching. Rather than muttering in silence, in a stage whisper the Bishop prayed: “Latimer, be careful what you say this day, King Henry is here.” Following which, he prayed “and all should be careful, for so also The King of Kings is here.” Within the Church, Investigation for Church Discipline ONLY begins because someone is so violated that they bring Allegations which they make into formal Charges against their leader for an abuse of trust that can be proven. The Investigations are done with public knowledge that there is an investigation, but confidentiality about who and why, in the event the matter were not true. Decades ago, in another Presbytery, we had Seven Investigations taking place simultaneously. We reached a time, where every person looked round the Table asking Jesus, with the Disciples, “Is it I Lord, Is it I?” The linkage between Justice and Caring have been lost in our contemporary world. Due to all the litigation, “Justice” has become what the courts say Justice is, and doing harm or doing wrong only seems to matter when you get caught, and then, only if those accusing are willing to stand up to scrutiny and abuse. In the Church we seem to have cornered the market on “Caring”, we have Mission trips and Food Drives, Clothing Collections, Blanket Offerings, Thanksgiving Offerings, Christmas Offerings, One Great Hour Sharing … But Ezekiel holds Justice and Caring in tension together, both explicitly and implicitly. That seems an odd connection. Our regular linkage is Justice and Injustice, or Justice and Righteousness, Caring and Generosity, Caring and Soothing. But Ezekiel proclaims that God has union between Justice and Caring. Justice and Caring are united because the metaphor of the Shepherd is a political image. To be a king is to be surrounded with the Power of a God. To be a King is to shepherd the Nation. To be a King is to be concerned with the needs of the world. Hammurabi’s Law Code begins by explaining that those in Power are to use that power to promote the Welfare of the People, to cause Justice to prevail throughout the land, to destroy the wicked and evil in order that the strong not oppress the weak. Justice (the Power of Caring) is like a thumb on the scale, equalizing wealth, authority, dominance, strength, prestige, influence, race, education not out of a softness, or concern for the weak, but because Creation requires this balance. Ezekiel describes “Should not Shepherds Feed the Sheep? You eat the fat, clothe yourselves with the wool, slaughter the fatlings.” This exploitation not only depletes the economy of the herd, it scatters and makes vulnerable the flock among other nations. We have become so accustomed to Christ being one of us, Our Savior who suffered for us and died for us, we miss the point of Ezekiel, declaring that God has not only left the building, God left Heaven, Creator of the Entire Cosmos walked out to enter into Creation, searching for the lost, Jesus’ Parable of leaving the 99 to search for the 1 is simply Jesus quoting Ezekiel describing the Love of God. Justice is more than a Works-Righteousness of the Church having great Caring. After all the others, Matthew does not name this passage as a Parable, he does not introduce it as a Parable, or offer a moral. Instead, this seems to be the final answer to the question of the disciples exiting the Temple with Jesus, or as others followed him up the Mountain, to which Jesus declared “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, before him will be gathered all the nations, and the Son of Man will separate them. And the King will say, Come O Blessed of my father.” Throughout the Scriptures, the Greatest Blessing is to be welcomed into the love and body of God. The greatest Punishment was not inflicted by someone else, but is what we do to ourselves by isolating and separating ourselves in darkness. The problem here is selfishness. Not a selfishness as the world has known, no a far more subtle and seductive selfishness. I want to give gifts to my friends to make them happy. I do everything in my power to hide my sins from my family, not because I have sinned, but because I do want them to think less of me. I want to cheer a winning team. The ENDS justify the MEANS. I want to have a party for my friends and it does not register that this is all a façade, covering up, that to do so requires we violate others, we steal and lie, and protect ourselves. We commit to community-service projects because these make us look good, and our friends admire our doing for the less fortunate. We only see in a mirror dimly, where the world is a reflection of our desires, rather than witnessing what is. That is not true Caring, and there is no Justice. My agony with the Gospel this day, is knowing there is no joy is judgment. What the Son of Man yearns for is to have everyone be at the right-hand. When judgment comes, when some are separated to the left as Goats, there is heartache from the Judge, that these were unable to see beyond themselves. There is a sense of failure for the Judge, the Son of Man, that these chose to care for themselves, and the world of their creation, the Goats were threatened by sharing, being open to the glory of God.

"Reluctant Servants" November 19, 2017

Numbers 22: 7-12, 21-35 Matthew 25: 14-30 This morning I entreat you to recall a time when you did wrong. More than a simple mistake, in particular when you wronged someone else. Possibly you gave instruction to another to do wrong, perhaps you chose to not act when you knew and believed it would have helped, or you committed an act by which you caused harm to others. Years ago, I was driving with my Father-in-law, as we approached a Green traffic light, the truck ahead of us was turning left so we passed on the right. But the driver of the Truck, having recognized the driver of a car perpendicular had directed her to cross the intersection against the traffic light. After her car flipped over, the driver was dead, our car totaled and the Truck drove away. On a particular Sunday, someone saw the lights on and came in. Dressed in a white uniform, forlorn and distraught I did not know them, then recognized an Elder on Session who was also an ER nurse who had just gotten off from working all night. I learned that a family had come into the Emergency Room with a very sick young child. The doctor had prescribed Codeine, but going to the pharmacy the nurse had done wrong. Instead of C-O-D-E-I-N-E she had picked up a dose of C-O-C-A-I-N-E. When the child began convulsions she recognized she had done wrong, and the doctor administered NARCAN. Once she told me her story, we prayed and I assured her she was not alone that whatever happened God, her church and pastor would be with her. She left, and about 10 minutes later, the 30 year old son of our Clerk of Session came in with his wife, describing the horrible night they had taking their child to the ER and receiving COCAINE instead of CODEINE. Neither had known or recognized the other as belonging to the same Church, until the Sunday the couple came up the aisle to receive The Sacrament of Communion from the Nurse. There are stories to which we develop a certain kinship, for me it has been Balaam. When I was 8 yrs old, my father began a sermon on Balaam stating that his son’s favorite television show was about a talking horse. I was proud to have a shout-out in his sermon! When I was 23 and he re-used that same story, I was far less pleased. When I was 40 with children of my own, and heard him again naming that my favorite television show was Mr. Ed, I prayed he find a different illustration. Balaam was a Wizard with Great Power and abilities, who knew what was right and wrong, what was moral and ethical; but for what seemed valid reasons at the time, Balaam ignored what he knew to be right, and intentionally went to do wrong. When the Hebrews came through the wilderness into the Promised Land, the Canaanites were filled with fear. The Hebrews were a population so large and so different that the Egyptians had feared them, so also the Elders of Moab and Midian, King Balak sent his sons as messengers to The Wizard Balaam, paying him to Curse Israel. Balaam first went to God, and God told him not to do this thing, as these were a chosen people of God. But the sons of Balak came back with greater reward and incentive. So Balaam set out on his donkey. But the donkey turned and would not go where Balaam prodded. Then, the donkey pinned Balaam’s leg against a rock wall. Finally the Donkey lay down unwilling to rise. Balaam cursed and struck the donkey! When suddenly the donkey spoke, describing the Angel of God with a sword in their path, who would have struck them both dead had the donkey not laid down. Learning that the donkey had greater wisdom than he, Balaam repented, and instead of continuing the wrong by cursing the Hebrews, offered them a Blessing. Reading the Parables, they sometimes seem like “Bible stories” rather than real-life. You know what I mean, like Aesop’s Fables, or Greek Mythology. While there is often a moral, it just does not make sense that half of the Bridesmaids in a wedding party would ever be locked out of a wedding! It makes no sense that laborers would have been laying around all day without laboring, when suddenly at the 11th hour, not only were they hired, but paid a full day’s wage. Like Samson losing his strength because Delila cut his hair, or Jonah being swallowed by a fish, or 80 year olds conceiving, or a virgin giving birth, these seem like miracle-stories that could not really happen, which is why they are miracles. EXCEPT… In April 2005, I went to South Sudan to re-unite families with their lost sons. Reflecting on this now a dozen years later, through donations and grants we were responsible for giving $350,000/year for the first 10 years, and $3,000,000 these last two, so almost $10 Million to give sight to the blind; to Feed 3 million starving people; to assist another 3 million Women and children with life where who would have died. I personally gave $3,000 to a Deacon of the Church to buy Plows and Oxen for food. And I gave $1,000 to a family, set free a man from Prison. And a woman whom I gave $5 buried it in the ground until I came again and she could return it. This Parable really did happen in our lives. What does not make sense is description of the Man as a Harsh Taskmaster, who reaped where he did not sow, and gathered where he had not worked. Because typically in parables a King represents God or Jesus. So this must be about someone other, like us, or at least perceptions about those who give expecting return. I was the man who came from and went to a Foreign Country, returning two years later, and if ever we are able to return to doing Eye Surgeries, or some other task where I could be useful, it would be awesome to visit again. The added surprise for me, was that there was never a question why one received so much more than another. They each received what they needed and desired for their lives. What we think we know from archaeology is that a day’s wage for a laborer was a Denarius, 1 Talent was worth the equivalent of 5 Years Full-Time Employment. 3 or 5 Talents meant an astronomical sum, more than we can imagine, yet they were responsible and this was doubled for each. And when the man returned, doubling of these enormous sums was but an example of what they were given. But the one who had treated the Man wrong, wronged themselves by being cut off.

"Witnesses Against Ourselves" November 12, 2017

Joshua 24: 1-25 Matthew 25:1-13 With Only so few opportunities for worship in a given year, last week we began describing Joshua’s continuing Moses’ leadership; and this morning we pick up 30 years later, decades filled with fighting battles against the Canaanites, internal struggles of a new Nation as Joshua aged. This passage began: “God had given rest from all their enemies”, meaning this was a time of peace and prosperity. These words provide transition from the completion of the Torah and Joshua (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua) of the Hebrew Scriptures of the Law of Moses // to the start of the histories of The Judges, when the Old Testament’s Great heroes would be called upon: Gideon and Samson, Deborah, Jotham, Ebimelech, Jephthah, Boaz, Ruth, Eli and Samuel who would anoint the King. A time in history, when each person did what they thought right in their own mind; 350 years when people routinely pledged to be faithful then turned away from God. In this time of Peace and Thanksgiving before Joshua should pass, Joshua acts as a mouthpiece for God, recounting all that God has done for the people of faith. Joshua bore a unique role as much Witness as prophet. Joshua was present beside Moses at the 1st Passover, and again at the Red Sea, when God provided Manna in the wilderness, when God brought victory so long as Moses lifted up his arms to the Lord. Joshua was at Mount Sinai when God gave Moses the 10 Commandments. And after Moses’ burial, Joshua led the people through Circumcision, and across the Jordan; Joshua was among the Spies sent into Jericho, and throughout the many battles taking possession of the land, until each tribe had their own territory. Joshua had witnessed all the many Commitments of the people to serve God; AND Joshua had witnessed each time the people followed their fears instead of God. When the Nation crossed the Jordan, God instructed that the wars to come were Holy Wars between God Almighty versus the Canaanite Idols and a sinful people, therefore the Hebrews were instruments of God, and were to take nothing for themselves. They would have the land flowing with Milk and Honey, which was promised them and it would be for their salvation, they did not need Canaanite trophies. We do not often speak of the conquest at the City of Ai, because one of the Soldiers found a cup from the Canaanites and put it in his bag, for which the people of Israel were sent back into the wilderness another 40 days and nights to purify themselves, being reminded of their dependence upon God before coming to Jericho. In this time of rest and peace and prosperity, when all the tribes were settled in the land, Joshua invites the people to “Reconsider Covenant.” This is different from all the other Covenants; as the Covenant with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, with Isaac and Jacob, as well as the Covenant with Moses at the Burning Bush and on Sinai with the 10 Commandments, had all been Covenants offered by God to singular individuals representing humanity, Israel. HOWEVER, here the Covenant in a time of Thanksgiving, asks all the people to consider if they can and will be a People of God? Having recounted all that God has done, in thanksgiving, the people chant “We Do.” But Joshua challenges them, knowing their fickle nature, their lack of commitment and follow through. To be a people of God is not only to be born into it, to be circumcised, and to worship God, but to care for the poor, the orphaned and widowed, those in need, to treat everyone equitably and fairly, not in fear of strangers, but with trust and humbly repenting when others feel wronged. At times, I think we go about pledging our stewardship and nominating Elders and Deacons in the wrong way. You know what I mean, we often promise: “It’s not a big deal. Only one meeting a month. Making a pledge we will send you a statement, but it is not a bill.” Instead, Joshua challenges “Revere and Fear the Lord! Serve God with sincerity and faithfulness. Put away all other gods. You cannot serve the Lord, for God is Holy and jealous, unwilling to forgive transgressed sins.” You are not chosen because of your family, or your character, the great things you personally accomplished. Instead, you are chosen to set aside your desires, and to compromise your will to that of the Lord. As Joshua prepares to die, he challenges the people that he will no longer be there, so they need to plan to be Witnesses Against Themselves. Jesus’ parable this morning strikes me as odd. Is this really how we want to identify ourselves? “You know those Presbyterians always HOARDING and Stockpiling. PLANNERS anticipating they will never have enough.” Jesus has just warned about Authorities taking advantage for their own egos & gain. In this same chapter he is going to tell the Parable of the Last Judgment, immediately after which is the Last Supper, then Jesus goes to pray and P, James, John fall asleep. All meaning that this parable of the Bridegroom Coming is the Day of Judgment, but while 5 are described as Wise and 5 Foolish, all 10 fell asleep waiting, so the Judgment can not be as simple as forfalling asleepwaiting for the Lord. The Boy Scout motto of “Always Be Prepared” by carrying a flask of OIL but not sharing suggests Selfishness and Hoarding as Virtues, which fly in the face of the other parables about a Mustard seed of faith being enough, and 5 fish and 2 loaves being enough. So I do not think it is about possessing quantities of stored oil. Instead, when I was in Israel, I purchased this Lamp which is over 1700 years old. An OIL LAMP only stays lit with oil in the reservoir, otherwise the wick lights and goes out. You cannot be a Light set on a hill, if there is no LOVE left in you. I believe Jesus is naming that at times, we all risk spiritual dryness. Where do you find faith, when you have been giving and giving, without allowing yourself to be fed? If the only conversations you have had with the person you love, have been about bills and doctors’ appointments, there is nothing filling your tank. If the arrow on the gas tank points to E, you are running out of gas. If the 2 year old does not get a nap, they are going to have a melt-down. It is possible to work 80 hour workweeks indefinitely, but your relationships, your intelligence and your imagination are all going to suffer. The unwillingness of the Wise Bridesmaids to share is the lesson learned by every student, you can borrow somebody else’s notes, they can write a paper for you, but “Graduating” you did not get anything out of it. You cannot go up to someone who seems to have a great marriage to borrow a cup. Replenishing your tank requires work, daily work, just as choosing to Re-Covenant, we are witnesses against ourselves, and we know when we have been feeding our ego, rather than feeding the poor; worrying about appearances rather than clothing the naked. Dark times come in every life, but do we sit in the darkness nursing our sores, or shall we minister to others, getting outside ourselves?

"Sanctify Yourselves for Humble Service" November 5, 2017

Joshua 1-17 Matthew 23:1-12 Be STRONG, Be of GOOD COURAGE, HUMBLE in SERVICE, SANCTIFY YOURSELVES all of this refers to instruction to “Experience Life with Authentically.” Tourists for hundreds of miles around, come to the Finger Lakes for Leaf Peeping, to see lakes and witness the Glory of The Finger Prints of God, which we go passed. Different from what I have seen in the Northeast, along the roadside in Midwestern States there were immense Stone Cairns, some with the names of every county in the State, others with identification of every City in the County. As children, our parents would pull the car off the road at these rest-stops and we would finger all the names inscribed into the stones, never understanding why these stone cairns had been established. Year ago hiking the Adirondacks, the trails were marked with similar stone markers, that you depended upon to find your way. When you started out in the morning, due to the fog, you often could not see up ahead, you could see from this marker to the next, and that experience was enough. You did not have to worry about the future or the past, you had to live in the moment, confident you knew who you were and where you were. What Joshua here instructs the tribes to do, is to gather boulders together, to build a stone Cairn, to mark the spot where they “crossed over Jordan” for salvation. Last Sunday, we read of Moses looking over the Promised Land and Moses’ burial. In the first two Chapters of Joshua, over and over Joshua is told to be strong of courage, here he instructs the leaders to tell the people “Sanctify Yourselves”. Literally, everything that had ever been promised to Abraham, to Isaac & Jacob, as well as throughout the 40 years with Moses escaping Egypt, was being fulfilled. What an awesome responsibility, one that was not given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Moses, but is given to you, so be Strong, Be of Courage! Sanctify Yourselves in Glory! This is a holy thing, do Not miss it. THE PREDICAMENT OF THE PROSPEROUS, is that faith is wholly reasonable when you are believing in and working at a promise, but different, once you possess everything you need and desire. Faith for Joshua is less about fulfillment “someday”, than about being thankful to have survived, thankful to have God’s blessings. As we approach Veteran’s Day, it is not as other Countries have done displaying our Military Weaponry, but a time of GIVING THANKS for having been brought through! The point of this passage is that entering this land was a moment in world history, to be remembered for all time. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER, was a place none of their generation had been before, so crossing over was no ordinary act. Imagine one of life’s many changes, Senior Year in High School, Graduation from College, Getting Married, having a Child, Retirement, Receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award… we make plans, send invitations, purchase everything we need. BUT do we stop to sanctify ourselves, realizing we are crossing over and will never be the same, that we are going into an alien reality different than we have ever known, AND Not as Conquerors, not Prideful, but Sanctified for Holy Service? Last week, discussing Martin Luther, we described that the Church used to require before you could receive Communion, you had to go to Confession and be absolved of your sins. While we do not need to go into a Confessional Booth, in the Sacrament of Communion we are opening our souls, we are opening ourselves totally and completely to one another, so what ever you thought was hidden, what you were harboring, is now shared with God, and also a burden shared by all of us. For Israel, this Crossing Over calls up memory of crossing the Red Sea, as their ancestors left slavery crossing the De-Militarized zone of the dry Sea-bed into the wilderness. In that first crossing, they were pursued by Pharaoh and his armies. When they reached the other side, their prayer and celebration was that their enemy had been destroyed. But with the Jordan River, crossing over is leaving the wilderness where we were nomads, Entering INTO God’s Promise, into the Sacred. How they did so is unknown, perhaps a miracle of God similar to the Red Sea, perhaps the engineering miracle of a dam, or other means of diverting the river. Symbolically for Israel: Water being Chaos at Creation, if Israel could control the Jordan, Damming up or diverting Water, to bring life to the desert, they could control their destiny. Geographically: What we know is that it was Flood Season, so the waters were broader and deeper than normal, the water colder and faster, coming down from Mt. Hermon’s snowcaps 9000 feet ABOVE sea-level, dropping to the Dead Sea at 1400 ft BELOW sea-level, so one of the fastest rivers of its size dropping OVER 10,000 feet! When you are flying, the Pilot announces when you have reached OVER 10,000 ft, because over 10,000 feet is different, You are physically between HEAVEN & EARTH you have perspective, everything is witnessed and seen in big picture from outside; but when you are living sanctified humbly experiencing, when you are crossing over the river where stone cairns were set up by Joshua and the ancestor of each tribe, life is very much in the here and now. So this passage begins “This is the Day!” The Gospel according to Matthew attempts to do at least two things simultaneously, First to share the Good News of the Life, Death and Resurrection of the Messiah! This is not history of a Rabbi, or President, this is Sacred of God’s love of God’s Son. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has authority because everything he says comes from Old Testament Scripture, he fulfills everything a Messiah was supposed to do and to be… But this story was written down, in this way, at this time, for a purpose. 36 years after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, three years after his Baptism at Jordan, so about the year 70AD the Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman Empire through the Roman Legion. That act, that Crossing Over, ended Worship as it had been practiced since the time of Abraham, ritually since Moses. There no longer were Sacrifices. There no longer were Priests. There no longer was a Temple to go to for Worship. There was a level of Spiritual Chaos, as everyone struggled with what is FAKE and what is REAL, searched for what is “Authoritative,” who speaks with Authority. For decades, scholars dismissed Matthew as clumsy and jumbled. Jesus challenges Chief Priests, the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Saducees… Is everybody the enemy? Instead, I think what Matthew was trying to do was to compare Jesus to each of the other authorities: Jesus compared to the Chief Priests. Jesus compared to the Phariees, Jesus compared to the Saducees, Jesus compared to the Sanhedrin, to King Herod, to Pontius Pilate and Caesar? and he is More Authentic, Undercutting as more to be Trusted than any other. Although they may have POWER over life and death, death could not prevent his love, which is for everlasting life. Power does strange things to us. 3 psychologists Keltner, Gruenfeld and Anderson shared the results of what has become a famous study. In this experiment, they worked with clusters of three people, all of the same sex, having a conversation. They designated one of the three, as being the Judge, who could assign points as they saw fit to the other two. They then had a discussion of political issues and business policies, what is fake and real, with the Judge assigning points to each. After 30 minutes, the researchers brought in a plate of 5 cookies. Now the problem is somebody is not going to get two. Everytime, the judge awarded themself at least two cookies, and often, ate with their mouth open! Power in one arena, leads to demonstrations of power in other arenas. One of the best stories of humility I have ever heard, took place in Chicago in 1953, as a Train pulled into the Railroad station. All the Dignitaries, Officials, Reporters and Crowds were there to see the person who had been named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Suddenly a tall slender man, with bushy white hair and mustache stepped off the platform. He said “excuse me”, and discretely made his way through the crowd to walk up beside an elderly Black woman struggling with two immense cases. He offered to help her, and carried her bags to the bus she was going to ride. Then Albert Schweitzer turned back to the crowd and apologized for having kept them all waiting. Someone described that they had never seen a Sermon Lived Out. Years ago in another congregation, a man who had left the area decades before returned for his wife’s burial. He then contacted the Church because he wanted to make a Gift of Upholstered Cushions for the Pews, which were solid Oak. Not simply new cushions, these oak benches had never been padded. For 9 months the Session debated whether to receive the gift or not, ultimately deciding to do so, saying: “We have been uncertain if we should be this comfortable in the worship of God, but we are certain that the Preacher ought never to get comfortable.” So they did not upholster the Preacher’s bench.