"Liminalities" February 18, 2018

Genesis 9: 8-17 Mark 1: 9-15 From Christmas December 25th until Today, there have been 40 Days of Teaching, not counting weekends, vacations, holidays. In these same 40 Days, there have been Multiple “Gun-Fire Incidents at Schools” across the United States. It is sensational to say “18 School Shootings”, because while 7 did result in mass deaths, 2 were suicides, some were fights between individuals or gangs, and in 5 the trigger was pulled and no one was injured. Regardless how we characterize these, when Columbine and Sandy Hook happened, we were scandalized, traumatized by the death of teachers and children, in hallowed halls of learning. With Mass Shootings every year since, we have embraced Chaos. We have faces and names for Evil. In the Ancient World, it was accepted that the world was flat, and the edges of the world between the reality we accept/ and the chaos beyond, was “Liminal space”. This is where we get the concept of Limits being What we choose to Accept, and Sub-Liminal being Uncontrolled, inVoluntary. “Liminalities” are any time or space in-between what is and what could be. Lent is a Liminal time = the 40 Nights & Days, not including Sundays, of our preparation of our souls for Easter’s Resurrection. That could be a literal 40 days, or any extended period of about two moon cycles. In Celtic places, they describe there being “thin-places” where Heaven & Earth meet, where we might have visions of God; Thin-places are liminalities. As much as we try to be settled, to seek resolution, we live in constant transition in-between. Faith is not religion or ritual. Those are the traditions and practices intended to help us through Liminal transition FAITH is being in intentional relationship to God. According to Judaism that relationship is defined by Torah= Law, According to Islam by Koran, according to Christianity by our relationships with both God, one another, and ourselves. God’s Covenant Relationship with Noah is one of the foundational stories of faith in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. My fear is that we have so domesticated this story of God, that we have made this into a cute bedtime story for our littlest babies about Rainbows, Unicorns, “Going into the Arky Arky by twosies twosies”. In the Beginning, the whole world was Chaos, A Waste and Void in time and Space. There are moments in our lives, which give us a taste of how horrible Chaos can be. And God created boundaries for Chaos, Light to balance Dark, a Firmament in the Heavens, Shores for the Seas. But the Wild Beasts in us, instead of living together in harmony, instead of serving others & God, unleashed greater & greater devastation. And God was wounded and angered by what the Beasts in People were doing, and God unleashed Chaos on the world. An Ark, is not simply a big boat. An ARK describes a place for a vulnerable, sacred remnant, protection from chaos. Baby Moses’ parents had to do what Pharaoh’s Law required, placing their son into the Nile, but as an act of faith, they placed the baby inside a basket, an Ark, to float. The People of Israel wandered through the Wilderness, and the 10 Commandments of stone were too pure, too holy for the people to look upon even broken. So the Ark of the Covenant was created for the Priests to carry them. Yet what is routinely ignored, the Point of this Covenant with Noah and this Ark, is that God learned through this experience. What an Amazing Claim! Even All Knowing, All Powerful, God can learn and choose to live differently. God learned, that while God could kill and destroy, acting in anger was not right or helpful to Creation. Forgiveness is not Giving In, not a matter of Compromise, FORGIVENESS is an act of GRACE that we cannot live continuing with the wound between us, so we choose in faith to act different. God made a sacred vow, cut a covenant into the fabric of time and space, that God never again would destroy the face of the earth with flood. Twenty years ago, in this community, we experienced Domestic Violence. This is the reason when we enter Hospitals we have to pass Security and receive a Nametag, because a trusted Man, destroyed his wife, our illusion of domestic peace, in anger. Genesis’ point of decision, in that Liminal moment, as a new Creative Act, God Chose: never again to allow the Unbounded Destructive Power of Chaos to be set free. I love this set of brief clauses in the 1st Chapter of Mark, which name that there are Wild Beasts, Monsters living in the Dark, in the liminal Space of Wilderness. “After the Baptism by John the Spirit drove Jesus into the Wilderness.” “He was in the wilderness 40 days tempted by Satan.” “He was with Wild Beasts and angels ministered to him.” I imagine that what the Evangelist is trying to get across to us, is that none of us, not even Jesus, receive faith or life with everything all figured out. We have to live life. Just as there is more to being in relationship than Minister pronounces you Married; More to a Career than earning a paycheck for 20 years; there is More than being Baptized or Confirmed or Ordained: to having Trust in Communion. Instead, liminal transitions take time, to grow up from being tempted by every form of temptation, to living your life for others. Confronting the Wild Beast in us, is described later by Jesus in Mark as “Binding the Strong Man in Us.” We each begin with a Wild Beast, a Chaos in our own wants and demands. Living together, being ministered to by angels, we learn to be in Communion. As Jesus continued to minister to the Lepers and the Geresene Demoniac and others, he reached out to the Wild Beast in each, ministering out of love, he gave himself. The Students at Parkland on Ash Wednesday, began declaring through Social Media that the Chaos of the last 40 Days, the Mass Shootings must end. End by our choosing to speak out, each of us choosing to confront the Wild Beast in ourselves and one another, making a Solemn Vow, a Covenant to each other and to God to prevent Chaos taking over.

"A Vision of Glory" February 11, 2018

2nd Kings 2: 9-12 Mark 9: 2-9 What do we do with The Transfiguration? Have you ever seen Glory? What does it mean to Witness Glory? Is Glory the same as Holy? Different from routine, there are holy life events like contests, Graduation, getting Married, a career change, the birth of a child or grandchild, surviving Cancer. There are also faith journeys, when we risk leaving our comfort zone to do something Spiritual, be it singing in the Choir, Teaching Sunday School, being trusted as an Elder or Deacon, going to Tanzania to teach. These are life changing and holy faith events, but “Witnessing A Vision of Glory” I take it to be even different from that. I asked other who suggested simply exchanging the word Light for the word Glory. Recall God created LIGHT, and Christ represents LIGHT entering a darkened world. The problem we have to get over, is that with Light or Glory, we want to understand, we want to know, and as we experienced last Summer with the Eclipse, you cannot see the Light, you can only Experience it, Accept and Share that light with others. In recent weeks, we have discovered a new Light, in partnering with the Eastern Farm Workers. The point of that Light is not financial support, its not about coats or tamales, but folk who are invisible to the world, knowing that this Church supports them, they are not alone but our light illumines their light. But then Friday night at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Korea, we witnessed a single light passed to others, become the Ying and Yang of the North and South sides of the Mountain, become two Doves, then the Doves fill each other to become not simply the outline of doves, but the fullness of Peace. It is holy to experience one Candle enter on Christmas Eve, but “Glorious” when everyone shares their light together in “Silent Night.” So we go back to the Gospel… The Disciples had been on the Road with Jesus. Having left their careers, family, friends, listening to Jesus’ parables, witnessing miracles, their lives had been touched by this faith journey. When suddenly Jesus asked them, just who they thought he was? A Teacher? A Prophet? Like one of the great prophets of Old? The other day, I was invited into a conversation as someone described their thinking of whether Mario and I, were their Pastors, or their Friends? There is overlap but difference. There are times in which the distancing of being Ordained maybe helpful; But I recall a morning early in ministry, when I rushed to a Parishioners home that his wife had collapsed in the back yard. I sat with the two of them, and as the EMTs arrived pronouncing his wife as Dead, they asked who I was, and Maynard said “He is my trusted friend!” I cannot think of a better way to explain the Community of faith. Simon Peter makes this monumental leap of Faith, that no one had previously made: “You are the Messiah”, literally “The One anointed by God!” And Jesus says Yes! You get the Gold Star! But immediately challenges what Peter and the Disciples think it means for Jesus to be Messiah. by describing the suffering that comes with this identity from God for the world. 6 days later comes this morning’s circumstance. Not everyone is there, only Jesus and the 3: Simon Peter, James and John. When they WITNESS A VISION OF GLORY. Maybe it was like a Dream Sequence in a movie, a moment out of time. Witnessing a Vision of Glory appears to be a Moment that not only changes individual lives, but alters Time and Space… When Neil Armstrong, Astronaut; became Man on the Moon; there is a BOTH / AND that the individual represents more than the person we knew: in the Gospel three Glorious Visions occur: 1) Baptism by John when the Heavens Opened, God spoke and a dove descended; 2) HERE at the Transfiguration; 3) at the Crucifixion, when after Jesus cries out to God, “My God, My God, Have You Forsaken Me?” the sun turns black and a Roman Centurion declares “Surely, this was The Son of God”. On Mount Tabor, they witnessed the man Jesus, whom they knew and trusted as Friend, become Gloria. The Bible says “Glowing” “Radiant” “His Robes Whiter than Fuller’s Soap” (this is not the Super Bowl Tide Commercial!) Peter, James and John witnessed Moses who was Man & Law-Giver; Elijah who was Man & God’s Defender against the King and Queen and Idols of Baal. And Jesus as both Man & Savior! Why Moses and Elijah? The Bible describes that when we die, it is not about Burial, decay, heaven and Hell, No instead, when God had used Moses and Elijah in this life, and they were done, God Took them to God’s self, they went to be part of God. So Jesus speaking with Elijah and Moses, is witness of 3 Revelations of God. That is what I believe WITNESSING GLORY is all about, in one moment realizing that those who are most Personal to us, are also Meaningful to us; Divine, larger than life, present in a reality outside of time. Tragically, in our reality we tend to identify those larger than life, then tear them down as being only human. It is difficult to keep the two in tension… The humanity and suffering of Jesus, with the Glory of the Divine. Which did you learn first, Jesus the person who was born at Christmas, taught parables, healed people, died on the Cross? Or Jesus, the Son of God, Lord and Savior, Redeemer and King, who rose on Easter and sits at the right hand of God. My guess is that for many of us, we get comfortable with Sweet Baby Jesus hidden in our mangers, and never consider Jesus as Savior, Redeemer, Lord, Son of God.

Isaiah 40:21-31 Mark 1: 29-45 A week ago, Pastor Bolivar preached about a man at Synagogue, demon-possessed, and Jesus healed him, which made everyone afraid. As Preacher, Pastor Mario asked 4 questions around: “What are you most afraid of?” This morning we read: "that same Sabbath, Jesus left that behind, healed Peter’s Mother-in-law who was ill everyone came searching for healing." So 3 questions: Do you believe Jesus Christ CAN forgive? What do you want to “leave behind” & “what do you want to be Healed To Do?” We struggle whether we are to believe in exorcisms, miracles & healings. The conjure images of of Zombies, Vampires and the movie The Exorcist. During the Enlightenment of the 1600-1700s, they tried to explain away the Miracle stories. The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes became like Stone Soup, the miracle became everyone being shamed by the young boy, into sharing their meals with one another. Thomas Jefferson so discounted miracles and exorcisms, he tried to explain away Jesus walking on water, as his walking along the shore when fog came in, so it only looked like walking on water. But there is importance in believing in the power of the miraculous. Actually “EXORCISM” as used here, is less about snake charming and commanding demons come out, than about Believing God has the ability, Calling God, EXHORTING GOD, to make a difference, to change the future of another person. In the Bible, disease/demons may, but do not have to, take the form of creatures. In commercials we have an obnoxious green guy Mr. Mucus that is cast out by Mucinex, and a persistent pink thing urging us to the restroom, only controlled by Myrbetric: or a Shadow-self representing how irritable bowels control us! Perfection, Jealousy, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Lust can all be the demons/illnesses that control our lives, attempting to take the place of God ruling our life. Implicit in the Exorcisms by Jesus, is that the Ancient world had a Caste System, a Hierarchy of Greater over Lesser beings, with God at the top; beneath which were “other gods”; beneath which were angels, spirits and demons; beneath which was humanity; beneath which were animals for food, sacrifice and burden; beneath which were the unclean. By Jesus not calling upon another god to cast out demons and diseases for him, Jesus claimed authority for himself OVER demons, as sharing in the Authority of God, this was what outraged the authorities. One of our Greatest Demons is getting sick. Part of what troubles us is our lack of control. We seek assurances, we seek substances to mask our problems. In the last month schools/public buildings have been closed in 32/50 States because of sickness. Some churches have announced there will be no shaking hands in Peace, no Communion, and definitely no Christian kiss or embracing. Thank God we live where the temperatures kill off germs! Another Part of our fear is germs are contagious; yet Jesus took her by the hand, he touched a person who was so unclean she was diseased, she was a woman, and it was on the Sabbath. This is probably the most maligned of passages in all the Bible! How dare Jesus heal this poor older woman, then make her get out of a sick bed, to serve Peter’s buddies! In Middle-Eastern culture, when a person is ill, illness takes out at least two persons and challenges survival of the family, the one who is ill and the one who cares for them. All our roles, responsibilities, traditional expectations all support the culture. Most sacred to the culture, to every person, was being a Gracious Host. Being sick, she could not BE Host in her own home. So when Jesus heals her, immediately, she is restored to The Place of Honor, to her role in the household The word for “Hosting & serving” here is where we get the title of Deacon. I love the image described here, that Peter’s Mother-in-law was healed so that she is “redeemed to the honor of Serving as Host”, and believe there is a barbed caution of true responsibility here because not only does she serve Jesus and Peter, but throughout that evening and the whole next day the whole City and Region come to her home, with every sick, diseased and demon-possessed relative, for Jesus to heal. Imagine our Sanctuary suddenly became an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, the Good Doctor and The Resident all in one, where hundreds of people are brought in by ambulance suffering traumas, each with unknown disease and illness, searching for healing. How gracious would we be in this house? There is an element of that being who we are, a place of healing… We come with our wounds and dis-ease, seeking comfort and care for our suffering; far too often we get misguided by finances and administration; when the Church is to be concerned with real Healing. This is not a story of Faith versus Science. Jesus not only cured physical symptoms, his intent was to provide Healing of broken lives, relationships. The greatest tragedy for me as a pastor, has been knowing we touched lives, we were here for people when they needed us most, but then they got over it & disappeared. Healing cannot just be from symptoms, Healing has to be for a purpose. So what do you think happened to the man at Synagogue after being healed? What happened to Peter’s Mother, did she open a Hospital, did she become a follower of Jesus? What happened to each of the people of Capernaum who sought Jesus to be healed? What happened to this Leper? This is not simply a story of Jesus’ victory, because the people were pre-occupied with fixing their problems. We have a tendency to try to do the same, Everyone is searching, to make our symptoms go away, to mask problems. Medicine relies on diagnosing and alleviating symptoms. Healing is not about the symptoms, not about the present or past. Healings are future focused, you are healed in order to let go and live life. Healing is related to Forgiveness, and both come from “Leaving behind.” Instead of nursing our wounds and angers; instead of the Fishermen struggling with responsibility for their Father Zebedee’s business; they left it behind. 2000 years ago, Jesus saved the world, we do not have to; our responsibility is to welcome and walk along beside one another, working to change lives, to redeem persons lost and broken. If we do just that, if we try to redeem their humanity, we can help one another to mount up with wings like eagles, to run and not grow weary, to walk and not grow faint.