"Hellfire or Rejoicing" January 21, 2018

Ezekiel 2: 6 - 3:11 Mark 1: 14-20 As North Americans in the 21st Century, when we do read the Scriptures, we weigh in our minds whether this is just good literature, historic fact, myth, truth, wisdom, moral teaching. A telling part of the identity of this House of God, of this Congregation, is that when built in the 1800s every pew had cast iron feet at the base not for kneelers, but for steam bent oak footrests, so every listener/believer could sit back, put their feet up and think for themselves about what was read and preached, considering before deciding how to act. On the one occasion every 3 years when our ecumenical Lectionary calls us to read Ezekiel, it has consistently been the Dead Dry Bones passage at the conclusion, asking after everything, when faith and life are dry as dust, is there still the possibility for faith of life? To which the MAN OF GOD/the SON OF MAN declares GOD, ONLY THOU ALONE KNOWS! Which we have castrated through singing the 1950s Mitch Miller Song Rejoicing “The Hip bone’s connected to the Thigh bone, the thigh Bone’s connected to the Knee Bone, the Knee bone’s connected to the Shin bone, so Hear the Word of the Lord!” We tap our feet along with this morning’s Anthem as a Spiritual, like Old Hound Dogs, muttering “Somebody’s Knock’n at the Door,” ignoring the immediacy of the Call, for each of us to question, am I the “O Sinner, unwill’n ta answer?” Historically, the Bible has often been used by Hellfire and Brimstone preachers, to scare folks into acceptance the Preacher’s political concerns or morality issues. This week I listened as a member of another church repeatedly phoned to complain how her Preacher and her Session’s decisions did not match her morality. Instead of either façade extreme of REJOICING without knowing Why, or Browbeating others, we need to listen and to hear the Word of the Word. This week, I also spoke with a friend, of the experience we each shared, when your spouse is ill, unable to get better, and you cry out to the Lord, “WHY? WHAT AM I TO LEARN FROM THIS?” When afterward, the person you fell in love with, is returned… At the outset, we need to confess… as your Pastor Preacher, I confess, that if right, now asked to abandon everything to “Come, Follow” my thoughts jumps to “But what about my wife? My work Responsibilities? People who depend upon me? What about our Mortgage? What about Retirement and plans… The Call to follow, names an ideal, a heart-image of Jesus Calling and our responding IMMEDIATELY. I am intrigued, how often our heads and our hearts respond differently. In faith, we feel and know from relationship how to respond, but intellectually, socially, professionally, economically, politically we have commitments, alternate answers. But in addition to holding up an IDEAL, these passages and our Anthem, speak of our need as believers to do more than consider ideas, to listen and go on with life… instead, to confront nights when we question, “I am uncertain how much more I can take.” “How much longer can we go on in a relationship this way?” “When will we confront our drinking, our affairs, pornography?” “When will we take responsibility for our sins?” When in Seminary, as 25 year olds, we were instructed that only those over 40 years of age had been allowed to read The Book of Ezekiel, not that it was dangerous, but that life-experience changes us, and after 40 years of life we perceive circumstance and visions with different eyes than in our 20s. The Major Prophet Ezekiel is not a series of sermons, or prophecies as we think of telling the future, these are visions that happened to Ezekiel as personal embodiment for the suffering to come to the Nation, and to Israel for the World. Ezekiel comes from the darkest period in all Israel’s history, which is saying something. Under Kings David and Solomon, the City of Jerusalem had been fortified with the Building of Walls, concentric walls 60 feet high, twice the height of out Sanctuary, all the way round the borders of the city. But the Assyrians had conquered Israel, carrying off and dispersing the people of God. Over the next 200 years, the Southern half of the Nation, Judah, was repeatedly attacked, the Walls they built reduced to landscape retaining walls. The Babylonians put then Zedekiah on the throne, as a puppet king, who then tried to align with the Egyptians against the Babylonians, so Babylon carried off all the educated as Prisoners of War, every able bodied person exiled to Babylon. The Book of Ezekiel begins on the Banks of the River in Babylon, having witnessed the power of their enemy as an invading Monster. Babylon is envisioned as a Beast, a Monster with the Bronzed Body of a Warrior, Four Immense pair of Wings, and 4 heads, the front of which being the face of a Human, the face of an Ox on the left , and the face of a Lion on the right of each, with the face of an Eagle on the back. The Babylonian Beast pulled a throne on wheels, with wheels within wheels. How long does it take? How many failures must we endure? After 200 years of being attacked and beaten down, being exiled from your homes and everything you have ever known, loved or cared about. When you have a vision of such a monster, and you Hear from God: a challenge, speaking the Truth. Will you listen and respond? Will you fall down and pray; or stand up and respond? We know our sins. We know our human failings, we need no one to rub salt in them. But we turn away afraid of our sorrows, afraid of lament. We know that our sorrows will taste of the salt of tears. We know Lament is a Bitter Pill. AND YET, as Ezekiel eats the Scroll, these words of lamentation and sorrow are to him Sweet as Honey. In places, the Holy Word of God’s Scripture seems extremely graphic. We have had folk wanting to form committees, because the Bible translation said that Abraham went into his wife and she conceived! That Rachel suckled her child. Or that Jeremiah was told to wear nothing but a linen diaper for 18 months, and when it was covered in filth to bury it, then dig it up and wear again. Here in Ezekiel, as in Communion, there is instruction to Take and EAT, the point being that consumption, literally involves our taking a thing into ourselves. A dozen years ago, my first night of being alone in South Sudan, we heard gunshots. The next morning, at Worship there was report that a man found his wife in the bed of another, and killing them and himself, their blood had become part of the sand and earth of this place. When it was my turn to preach, I knelt down, taking a handful of the dirt, placing a pinch upon my tongue and swallowing. In like manner, as your Pastor, this Church, and community, and people of God, You have become part of my soul and identity. But the fear of God for Ezekiel, is whether you can listen to one who is so familiar, or if you need in order to pay attention to have the voice come in a dialect and language more difficult to grasp? When Jesus walked passed the shore, calling to Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John, the image is not as simple as “He Called and Fishermen became Disciples.” They each left family, home, traditions and family systems, careers and identity, to experience something different, trusting the unknown, trusting God. As Creatures, we follow the patterns we know, we cook the recipes we do because this is what our family’s ate; we have affairs because our fathers’ did, we live where we do, driving the kind of car we do, having expectations for our children, all as we inherited. To leave all that, and try to do something different, is a monumental risk, none of us commit to because of HELLFIRE or REJOICING. “COME, FOLLOW ME” is to risk failure, to risk everything, because we cannot stay as we were, weeping on the shore, we must take and consume faith into our being. That is the meaning of the Baptism and Membership and Ordination of this day!

"What Is Your Dream?" January 14, 2018

I Samuel 3:1-20 John 1: 43-51 I like the story of the Boy Samuel misunderstanding and coming to Eli half-asleep. When my brothers and I were very young, one by one everyone passed the Flu. About 3am the eldest went to our parents saying he had just gotten sick in the night. Our parents clearly recall saying “Leave a Light on In the Hall.” So that if he needed to get up again, the way to the bathroom would be lit. Instead of “Leave a Light on in the Hall,” the eight year old boy heard, “Leave, Go Lay Down in the Hall.” So he did, until about an hour later, when the next brother awakened and feeling ill he ran toward the bathroom, tripping over the elder’s body in the Hall. It took Eli and Samuel, four attempts to understand that it was God speaking to Samuel and how to listen. What is your dream? When someone tells me “I have a Dream,” I find myself wanting to know more, wanting to see that impossible dream fulfilled. A dream implies that this is a Vision of what today is impossible, but differently could be. A dozen years ago, the Refugees whom we had taken into our lives and our Church surnamed as “Lost Boys” shared a Dream of being reunited with their families. When they said they could not go, their dream called to my unconscious saying “In caring and commitment You could.” When one shared, the nearest Doctor of any kind to our families is 70 miles away and there are no roads, I have a dream of our providing them health care… When my companion/a pastor described, “I know you have a dream, and others have shared with you their dreams, my dream is that the Church could own oxen and plows that people could share in cultivating the soil for crops, rather than sticking their finger in the dirt to plant a single seed.” I had to respond. When I got off the plane in South Sudan, and the local Outreach Worker described every time a woman gets pregnant, she has a 50/50 chance of dying, I muttered under my breath, “My Mom died in my labor and delivery” and suddenly you could have heard a mosquito flying in that open-air gathering of 300 people. Had we been able to know the total cost, that instead of a Clinic costing $30,000 we would be at this for 10 years, now providing Food as well as Health Care to 500,000 people, Logic & Reasoning the Impossibility might have put on brakes. But DREAMS envision a new different reality. There are several “Loaded Phrases” in these two periscope, “The Word of God was Rare and Precious in those days” and “The Eyes of Eli had grown dim.” Rare and Precious is ordinarily used in the Bible for a fine Jewel, valued because of its scarcity. This is the only place in all of Scripture used in reference to God’s Word. The reality is that the Hebrew people lived in relative calm and great transition. There were no Burning Bushes, no Red Seas to cross, no Slavery or Wilderness to exit, but the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant and 10 Commandments, and there was change from the time of Judges to Kings, from Nomads to a Monarchy. Much like today, there was a burning desire to fix the world, to change where we were going; Hopeful expectations and vision and dreams were rare. There are several: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, in the First Testament who are described as living far older “and their eyes had not dimmed,” yet like Isaac the father of Esau and Jacob who would become known as Israel, Vision Grew Dim, this phrase has to mean more than: Cataracts /Bi-Focals. While I have not found this from any scholar, at any of these references, I think the reference to “Dim of Sight,” refers to having Clear A DREAM of The Present into a New Future. Right now, we know something radical is happening in our culture, and past abuses are no longer tolerated, as several have chanted: “Time’s Up,” but we cannot yet see beyond the present to what the future will be. As the aged Priest Eli is like Isaac without Vision, the story of Nathaniel links to Jacob. Jacob the younger twin of Isaac remember was a deceitful schemer, who wrestling in a dream, receives the new name Israel, “one who wrestles with God.” Here wrestling in words with Jesus, The Messiah calls Nathaniel an ISRAELITE in WHOM THERE IS NO DECEIT. Even more, that Jacob you recall had a Dream of a Ladder connecting HEAVEN & EARTH for Angels to travel back and forth upon. Here Jesus names to Nathaniel “You will see Heaven opened and Angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Meaning the resurrection is a new connection between God in an Open Heaven and Earth. But I have gotten ahead of myself, according to John, the day after Jesus’ Baptism, John the Baptist points him out to John‘s Disciples saying “Behold, The Lamb of God” so two spy on Jesus following him to see Who he is. But Jesus catches them following and asks “What do you Seek?” in essence “WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?” oddly they respond “Where are you staying”, which I guess means that our homes and people says a great deal about us… But Jesus responds with invitation: “Come and See”. That is the invitation to faith. There is not requirement of a Confirmation Class, or Memorization, no Pledge or Vow, but invitation to “Come be part of this, tell others.” Nazareth was a totally forgettable place. Not being in Medical Equipment, when we came to Skaneateles we know nothing of what comes from here, and over time have delighted in learning not only of Funduscopy, the Otoscope, the Opthalmascope, but also NECCO Wafer Candies, TC Timber Wooden Trains, Granola, Mottville Chairs all came from here. Until the 3rd Century, there is no reference, in any writing, nor in all the Old Testament, to there ever having been a Nazareth. It appears Nazareth was very near (2 miles)the City of Sepphoris, in Greek Zippori, where the Sanhedrin and Jewish Scholars had gathered for the writing of the Talmud, there was a Jewish Synagogue here, a City set atop a Hill, where Jesus may have gone to school. But Nazareth, was not known for anything. When Nathaniel responds “Could anything good come out of Nazareth?” Jesus does not get defensive, but simply says Come See which disarms Nathaniel, much like our telling others “I saw a great Film” in hope they will Come along and join in. Robert Scharlemann’s book “The REASON of FOLLOWING” provides an intriguing argument, that traditionally we have thought of 3 forms of Greek Philosophy: Pure reason: KNOWLEDGE; Practical Reason: ETHICS; and Artistic Reason: AESTHETICS. But here, Jesus uses a 4th kind of REASON: The Reason of Following: DEPENDENCE. The Disciples never asked Jesus “What is True” (Pilate does but not Jesus’ Disciples) that would be using the REASONING of KNOWLEDGE; or “What is The Good” which would be ETHICS; or “What is Beautiful?” instead, like God Calling Abram, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the Prophets, Jesus speaks to their INNER HUNGER of each person for COMMUNION, together and to God, to Belong, for Absolute Dependence not to be cut off, alone or isolated. There is no questioning before beginning; there are doubts, questioning along the way as we encounter circumstances, as DREAMS are made real, and as Hardships are part of experience being reformed by what we believe. “Come and See”!

"Now the Work Begins" January 7, 2018

Isaiah 60 Matthew 2: 1-12 The Great Wonder of the Bible, the Glory of Epiphany, the Beauty of Faith, Love, Life is that we can experience each as written; and yet also, over and over through life we can use Scripture to interpret Scripture, experience to give greater depth of meaning to life, beyond simply observing what is expected. In December we elected Officers, we gathered to sing Silent Night Christmas Eve, we received the Sacrament of The Lord’s Supper, and have now Answered the Questions and Installed Leaders. EVERYTHING IS READY, NOW THE WORK BEGINS… It could and would, were we only a Charitable Non-Profit, 501c3, doing the Busyness of Business, Administering Ministry. But in the same way that the Officiant instructs “You may now kiss the Bride” grants you legal right to consummate and to inherit; whereas, over a lifetime, we grow in love and commitment. The Ordained placing their hand in Water thrice and touching the forehead confers Baptism; but faith and compassion, belief, confirmation, love… mature night after night, year upon year. The Wisemen followed Isaiah’s text, and as Astronomers followed the nightly course of the stars, which took them to King Herod at the Palace and Temple in Jerusalem. Following the Instructions, All of the Wisemen missed the Birth of the Savior! The Incarnation of the Son of God, by 9 or 10 Miles! It could have easily been 9-10,000. Catholic Theologian Ray Brown was one of my favorite New Testament professors at Union Seminary, and Father Brown used to say that the Evangelist of Matthew gave the Early Church the outline pencil drawings of the Infancy, for the Church to color-in. Over Centuries, the Orthodox Church attempted to stay within the lines, filling in… that as there were gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, that there were 3 and only 3 Magi who brought gifts to Bethlehem. Filling in one advanced in age, assigning to him cultural and racial identity as East Asian, giving him the name Caspar. A Second was Middle aged, from Africa, whose name was Balthasar. The 3rd was a youth, representative of the young Empires of Europe, named Melchior. When consulted, King Herod’s Scholars responded to Herod and the Wisemen that there was a missing piece to their Treasure Map! Just as none of us can believe in isolation, none can celebrate the Sacrament of Communion Alone, they needed Scripture to interpret Scripture. The passage from Isaiah brought them to Jerusalem, to the People. Faith and Land of Ancient Israel, but they also needed Micah 5: 2-4. The distinction being, that Isaiah brought them to Jerusalem, brought believers to the Kingdom of David, to the Temple and Royal bloodline of Messiahs; but Micah’s “But You, O Bethlehem Ephratha, Bethlehem of Judea, from you shall come forth for Me, one who is to rule in Israel, whose Origin is of old”. This is a voice different from Jerusalem’s urban civilization, A voice of hope, for a future not impressed with high minarets, and palace towers, or Roman Arenas. The prophet Micah envisioned a leader without political ambition, concerned with the plight of righteousness for the land and justice for the poor. Matthew was not the first to dream of wisemen coming from the East to Jerusalem. Matthew’s storyline and characters for the Infancy narrative, come directly from Isaiah 60, a poem recited by Jews in the City of David, 500–700 years prior to Jesus. Assyria, Modern-day Afghanistan, had bombed Jerusalem, breaching her concentric stone walls, followed by centuries of looting by the Egyptians, then the Babylonians, contemporary Iran and Iraq, until her towers, Palace and Temple, were rubble. All the people lived in despair. Who wants to live in a devastated war-zone, where there is no economy, where all the educated, the leaders and craftsmen have been taken away in a brain-drain? A people who have watched their governmental leaders fight over power and wealth, as the world passed by. To this depressed and angry people, a Poet of Faith spoke a Vision of Hope, expecting there would yet come a time where everything would change... “Rise, Shine, for your light has come! Nations shall come to your light, and Kings to the brightness of your dawn! Lift up your eyes to a higher vision, your sons shall come from afar, your daughters carried on the arm. A multitude of camels shall come, camels of Asia, Europe and Africa, bringing Gold, Frankincense and perfume.” But more than offering a new and different hope, Isaiah 60 describes what would happen in a future where there are two populations, coming to live together. Those who stayed, were left behind, poor, aged, survivors, who have always lived here; and those coming from distant lands with power, affluence, with different culture and different education, different ideals. Do those in power, with ability, give up their dreams and beliefs in order to fit into this place? OR Do those who have fought to survive, who have become the Old Guard give up ethics and moral beliefs that they fought for, died defending, because others have come to power? How can two live as one? Instead of one dominating, oppressing the other, instead of a fight for which is fake and which is real, according to Isaiah 60, both would seek Glory’s Light illumination. Glory here, does not come from a Star in the heavens, but an aura from God, glory shows all around us. We come to recognize we have been living in Dark Ages, in a world composed of many times 50 shades of grey. We did not know, none recognized how depressed we were, how much we had been made to compromise, to endure, until our hearts are thrilled and we believe in hope. Any of us can go through the motions of responsibilities, even of elected leadership, but for the Work of Ministry and Faith and Love to Begin, we need to recognize our need to kneel down, to listen, to pray and consider… before speaking, because what we thought was right might, be off by nine miles.