October 7, 2018, "Certainty Not Security"

Job 1:1-2:10 Mark 10: 2-16 Seeing that we had Job for this morning, gave me pause. Knowing relationship between a Pastor and congregation, for Better and Worse, is like a Marriage, reading what has been referred to as “Jesus’ condemnation of divorce,” gave me no comfort. However, I made a decision before last Sunday, not to follow the advice of friends to wait until the Sunday prior to leaving, then rush as quickly as possible head-long through departure, for someone else to clean up; but that there is vital importance to taking time with one another, to name how we feel, what we believe, and to seek resolution. Our world is filled with unresolved wounds. People going from relationship to relationship, carrying with us baggage, hurts and abuses, that we do not realize we inflict on others. In the first place, I do not believe Jesus was condemning divorce! A loving forgiving Savior does not condemn. What I read in the Bible, what I believe is that Pharisees, the Lawyers of their culture, tried to Test Jesus. They sought to trap Jesus in a Legal question, about Divorce, either that he would shame the people involved, or Jesus himself would be shamed for not following Moses’ tradition. Trying to explain this passage in the 5th century, St. Augustine described that in Latin there are two kinds of LOVE: “UTI” and “FRUI”. Uti is where we derive the word “Utilitarian” meaning for a purpose. UTI Love is our love of “money”, most of us do not love money for its smell or color, weight or feel, we love money for what we can do with it. With money I can buy stuff, pay for a roof over my head, a car for transportation. To tell the truth, I am uncertain “Love” is strong enough to describe “FRUI”. I love Ice Cream, not because of what I can do with ice cream. Not because it gives me high cholesterol or fat, but simply because I love ice cream. God created us to be “FRUITful”, because God loved us and God’s desire was we would love God. However, we confuse the two, we try to approach God and all our relationships with an underlying test of “What do I get out of it?” We make God into a Cosmic Rabbit’s Foot, a Good Luck Charm, or Genie, that we say a prayer, hoping to have Success and Happiness, parking spaces and health. We have our weddings inside the church, and our children baptized, so they will be blessed, as if a Spiritual insurance or vaccine against evil. Then, all we have is a cardboard cutout, a flat 2 dimensional drawing, not a faith with depth or integrity, we practice SAFE SECURITY rather than believing with CERTAINTY and CONVICTION. When problems arise, we question “Why do bad things happen to Good People? Why don’t Sinners Suffer more?” I sincerely believe God’s intent is that all the world live in balance and harmony. What I have been most troubled by in all the Supreme Court testimony and the Me-Too Movement, is disclosure that at least 1/3 - ½ all the women in the World and ¼ - 1/3 of men have suffered Sexual abuse. We were created to love, not to get our way, not to satisfy our desires on the weaker. What a simple reality, if we approached LIFE, and the Kingdom of God, as we receive a child. Knowing children go through periods of screaming, the fun of responding to questions “NO!” then learning instead to answer every statement with “WHY”, I do not believe what Jesus said was to approach the Kingdom of God like a Child. But instead, like receiving a child. Fearing how to hold and care for life. Witnessing a child’s fingernails, and lips, eyelashes, and having our hearts soften that is the FRUI kind of Love we are to have toward everything in God’s creation, one another, God. Prosperity Gospel thinking was popular long before Joel Olsteen, or Norman Vincent Peale. The wish-fulfillment of being Rewarded for Doing right, being good, doing the right thing in the right place does work for potty-training. But as a rule for life, equating sin & suffering, religion & rewards, does not work out and never has. The Book of Job, wrestles with all of these ideas. Job’s friends assume a flat Security Gospel, that there is suffering in the world because of Sin. So either Job sinned and needs to confess; or there is a cosmic imbalance like a high pressure weather system passing over, where there is so much sin in the world, Job needs to beg forgiveness. But the Bible puts forth a different reality. God created the Universe and everything within Creation to be Good, Blessed, and Job is a prime example. God loves Job and showers blessings upon him. Job has 7 sons and 3 daughters thousands of sheep, cattle, camels, goats and servants. And Job loves God Throughout literature, we have created a malevolent creature of Evil, with horns and a tail, a pitchfork and soul patch beard, that we call Satan, Mephistopholes, Baalzebub, The Devil. That is not The Satan described in Job. Instead, “The Satan,” is more like a Title. The Satan literally means “The Adversary,” like the Angel in the path of Balaam, or Guarding the way into the Garden of Eden, this is a Creature of God, whose purpose is to test us, to reveal the Certainty of our Conviction. In this Once Upon A Time story of Job, God points out to The Satan that in all the world no one is as faithful and right with God as is Job. And the Adversary challenges: “Is Job faithful only because God has showered blessings upon him, or not? If you took away the blessings, will Job complain about God, even curse God? God authorizes the test, but with the restriction to spare Job’s life. And in one afternoon, Job suffers the loss of his property and servants; all of his cattle, sheep, camels and goats; as well as the death of all 10 of his children. But Job is faithful. And the Satan responds to God, yes but Skin for Skin, afflict his health and body, and see what happens. Job is left sitting atop a dung heap, a pile of ash, covered in loathsome sores, so itchy he scratches and cuts at them with a piece of pottery. From this point on, The Satan is not part of the story. Job is a test of God and of Job. I once owned a piece of property that had both Poison Oak and Poison Ivy, and I literally became covered in weeping blisters from head to toe, Yes, there too. I have known families who have done autopsies to try to know Why, the Security that we tried everything; what we want is not Why, but Certainty: Comfort sorrows, soothe our pain. We have become very adept at fixing situations. Clearly an all powerful God could have created a world of perfection, with robots who do not feel. But instead God created us human, we suffer, but we can experience Love. What Jesus promised was not to take away all the problems in the world, but that all the problems in the world, the power of Armies, Kings and Emperors, the greatest depths or highest mountains, even death itself, could never keep us from the love of God.

"Who Are You?" September 30, 2018

Esther 7 Mark 9: 38-50 Who are you? No, who are you really? How do you want people to remember you? Do you define yourself by your age? By your accomplishments? By your family? By significant experiences in your life? At one point, I came to recognize that from the time we get working papers, until we die, we describe ourselves in 1-3 page Resumes, as Pastors a 14 page PIF. Then because our family have to pay per letter, they reduce who we are to an obituary; lifted up verbally in a 30 to 60 minute memorial. After which, our entire existence, who we are, is reduced to “The Dash” between our date of birth/death on headstones, a begat in Genealogies. When our youngest son was on the Wrestling Team, I remember Coach Dick Campbell and Coach Tim Green describing that who you are is part of “This Team,” within the church we call that “The Body of Christ.” They described that in wrestling you can get points for showing up, for taking someone else down, for breaking a hold, for a pin, but the most points are awarded for a Reversal, when you surprise everyone, because you had been held down in a hold and you reversed everything. Being true to who we are when life reverses is what our readings are about. The Book of Esther is unique, it is the only book in the Canon of Scripture that never explicitly names God, the Torah, the Temple, or the Law. It is in the Bible because the Book of Esther is the basis for the season of Purim, 10 Banquets in August, which tell the story of reversal from genocide to Salvation. Historically, after Chaldea conquered Judah, Babylon was itself conquered by Persia, and King Xerses believing the Enemy of my Enemy must be my friend, released the Jews paying them a severance to return to rebuild their lives in Israel. However some remained behind in Persia. Accordingly the Book of Esther is written as a Melodrama, King Xerses here also known by the name Ahasuerus, was seen as such a fool for letting go the Jews, and so prideful of all he possessed, that one day gave a Banquet for everyone to see how much he had. Therefore whenever the names of King Xerses or Ahasuerus are pronounced the congregation is to respond with: “Duh!” At this banquet, he tried to have all the Emperors and Kings witness how powerful he was by displaying the beauty of his wife Queen Vashti, having her appear Nude. She naturally refused, No One could stand up to the King, so Xerses had her killed. Wanting to have the most beautiful wife in the Persian Empire, King Xerses had the World’s First Beauty Pageant. Esther was a Jewish orphan, whose Uncle was named Mordecai. Mordecai is the hero of the story, so when we hear his name we cheer! Mordecai, adopts Esther as his own daughter, and enters her in the beauty pageant, without revealing she is Jewish, and of course she wins. So when Esther is named, we WolfWhistle. One day, Mordecai overhears the guards plotting to kill King Xerses, and Mordecai tells Esther, who tells King Xerses saving the king from assassination, which of course is then forgotten by King Ahasuerus. The Villain of this story is the Grand Vizer: Haman, who like every villain is Boo-ed. The Grand Vizer Haman is angered because whenever he appears in public everyone is supposed to bow down to him, but Mordecai refuses to bow down. In anxiety, the Grand Vizer Haman not only has a Gallows built 150 feet tall immediately next to his house so he can watch when Mordecai is executed, he also creates a policy that all Jews be executed the same day as a genocide, of course having this unwittingly signed by King Xerses. Being a farce, King Xerses has a law that anyone trying to see him without permission will be killed, so Esther sends a dinner invitation to Xerses and Haman, so that she can ask a favor. Like a shaggy-dog story, at that dinner, the favor she asks is that they will come to dinner again the next night, so she can ask another favor. At that dinner, you have this morning’s reading of Chapter 7. Esther who was an Orphan, reverses to become the Queen, the Jewish people who were to be exterminated in genocide find salvation. Haman who was Prime Minister and plotted against everyone, is executed on his own gallows outside his own home. Mordecai goes from being on death row, to becoming Prime Minister. And the King, who was naïve to everything taking place around him, still is King Ahasuerus: “Duh!” The Gospel reading and the rest of our sermon are filled with just as many reversals, but nothing humorous. The Gospel writer is making the point that from the time of the early Church, there have been different denominations, expectations and groups dis-agreeing. The Disciple John comes to Jesus proud that he told the Catholics, Mormons and Pentecostals that they were not following Jesus in Presbyterian Decency and Good Order. To which Jesus says, “NO!” Painfully, we live in such a polarized society that people believe whomever is not for us is against us; when one of the sayings of Jesus is “whomever is not against us, is for us.” There always seem to be those trying to control and anxiously keep others out. What I hear Jesus instructing is that rather than cutting off and judging others, ethical questions are for each of us, to examine our own hearts and souls. As your pastor I have tried to live my life with integrity, humility and transparency. Therefore the following letter is being sent out to all your homes. One on one, in meetings, in worship, in the community, I have always tried to be the same person, to answer any questions people asked, with truth. I believe it is easier that way, because I do not have to remember what I said. I have loved you, trusted you, and I have been loved and trusted by you, for that I am truly thankful. There is nothing wrong, no one committed any offense, there are no longer secrets. We have shared the joy of being pastor with you for 22 years. In that time, we have witnessed miracles, we have made a difference in this community, in the world, in each others’ lives. I have never tried to impose my will or direction on anyone, or to tell the church what I Want, instead I have sought to walk with you and lead you where you have wanted to go, as gracefully, faithfully and as effectively as possible. Since January our Session and I have talked about the church’s needs for the future and for transition. At times, this has felt like my being a terminal patient, as people tiptoed around me to be certain I had not died yet, while others have been unaware anything was going on! I do not know if I will be called to another Church or if I will need a Severance package from you for us to survive. Announcing this, not knowing, is truly a leap of faith. I am thankful for having been able to serve you faithfully and effectively throughout all our years and will do so as long as I am your pastor. Most of us will find this news of transition upsetting, as we do not like to have our routines disturbed, our plans, expectations upset. All of which also makes the wounds of separation painful. This is as difficult for me to leave being your pastor, as it is for you to accept. Some have reacted during this time, with crisis and anxiety, but we described all of this being expected years ago. I am confident this church is in the hands of The Session, Deacons, and those who lead us in the worship of God: Bruce, Brian and Sue, as well as Lori, Peggy and Eddie, who will continue to support you just as they did in partnership and laughter with me. We profess being Christians. The core belief of Christianity being that we own death as necessary to life, even more, that death is essential for resurrection to be appreciated. Over the next several weeks there will be opportunities for us to share stories and to try to develop closure. October 21st immediately after worship, we will have a Special Congregational Meeting to act upon how to formally end our pastoral relationship. At 5pm on Sunday, October 21st we will have a special worship service followed by a dinner for our congregation, our community and Presbytery, to celebrate and give thanks for our journey together in this pastorate. Years ago, Gail Banks had a cartoon of a Deliveryman delivering a large crate asking where she wanted the new Pastor Installed! This worship service will be our “un-installing,” a memorial service to give thanks to God for what we have shared, to laugh, to cry, to be real with one another. After October 21st Judy and I plan to sell our home and move, we will maintain contact as friends (you are very dear to us) but I need to leave, for the church to be able to continue to thrive. Also, I am still young enough to hope to have the fun of doing this yet one more time! 25 years ago, members of another church I served, began writing in a book that I hope you will make the effort to sign, with remembrances and stories of the faith we have shared. I have already cut all my ties as your pastor with the John Dau Foundation, the Fire Department, and Presbytery responsibilities. On October 22nd , I will no longer be part of this church, talking with you about the needs, joys or problems of this church, officiating at Baptisms, Weddings or Funerals. But I hope and pray you will redouble your commitments, because the church will need to build on the foundation established. With love, I Am Craig Lindsey

"Fear and Vulnerability" September 23, 2018

Psalm 31: 10-31 Mark 9: 30-37 A close friend described to me the other day, that all other people ever see of us is this little bit. We live in fear, hiding what is really going on behind 4 letter words like: FINE, OKAY, GOOD. We encounter so many people every day, if we actually knew what each were thinking, the fears of one another, if we did not have filters on what we see and what we hear, we would be overwhelmed. So we witness and know only this little bit about our families, colleagues, neighbors, friends. In a world where there are cameras on computers, in elevators, in traffic lights, we try in vain to control what others know about us. Christianity is unique from other religions, which focus on Atonement, Morality, Reincarnation; Christianity’s goal in this life and in life ever-lasting is Absolute Communion, not simply the elements of Bread and Wine, but letting down our guard, openly sharing our thoughts and desires, trusting we will be accepted and loved. We seek forgiveness, we confess our sins, in order that we not inflict our imperfections and dirt on one another. But to be one with God, in harmony with life and everyone in it, what greater goal could there be? A year ago, our Wednesday evening Bible Study group read the book of Proverbs. The difficulty is that this is not a narrative like the Torah and Gospels, not the Visions of a Prophet, not a Letter from an old friend. Proverbs are just that, very brief wisdom sayings, that offer meaning to life. We imagined the thousands of years of life farming, where you would take one proverb as you went out into the world for the day, and repeat it over and over, working on that thought like a prayer all day long. There is also a tradition that the Book of Proverbs are the teachings of a royal couple, a King and Queen to their child coming of age, imparting wisdom about God and Life; Here, about what he should look for in a partner. A difficulty of language, is that in Hebrew the word for WOMAN is the word WIFE because every Wife happens to be a WOMAN, but not every woman is a wife. Orthodox Judaism requires that you are Jewish only if your mother was Jewish. Religion is not something in your DNA, but imparted in small doses in the foods we eat, the songs we sing, the prayers we learn, the stories we were taught before anything else. I had a friend who was an old Rabbi, who described that every Sabbath beginning at sundown Friday, the woman of the house lit the candles and served a sacred meal, during which the family pray to recall that God is God, not us. God is the maker of the Universe, and Ultimate ruler of our lives. And in recognition of the woman of the house, the father at the table, recites Proverb 31, ending by speaking directly to his wife in thanksgiving for her, and to do so every week. While this little Gem is among the best known of all proverbs, what intrigues me in this, is that the Woman is far more than a Stepford Wife on Steroids. Proverbs 31 does not mention her looks. Is she comely, voluptuous, what my father used to call Zoftik, does she have the Piercing eyes of Rachel or the Soft eyes of Leah, blonde, brunet, redhead, young or seasoned? Instead, the reader describes her character, this is a woman who can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan! However, an unexpected quality of her is what in Hebrew is named “CHAYIL”, some translate this as VALIANT, some as FAITHFULLY HONEST, some as COURAGEOUS, when the literal Hebrew meaning is: POSSESSING The STRENGTH OF A WARRIOR. But what sets her apart from all others and makes her who she is, is that she knows and fears only one thing: the Lord. According to Mark’s Gospel, the disciples had shared in all of life with Jesus for years, they had listened to his sermons, and had him explain and interpret them. The 12 had witnessed his healings and miracles. They had stood up with him in confronting the Pharisees and Elders. Simon Peter had even confessed that Jesus is the Messiah sent from God, the anointed one to save the world. But still they knew only that little bit, and could not understand, even feared who he was, the meaning of being the Christ. Years ago, there was a joke in this Church, that we did not want a Co-Pastor, or Interim Pastor, or Associate Pastor, but a REAL PASTOR. How could he explain, not only am I willing to devote my life to you, but I give my life for you? We do not like talking about Death, Endings. We often times respond with Fear, trying to take control, to lead, to be strong. I was talking with a group of Medical students at Doug’s last evening, who asked for strength to take on the responsibilities before them. But what they needed was vulnerability. Spouses concerned about the future of their marriages, and bearing with their partner in medical illnesses, who ask for strength, but need vulnerability. It takes a different kind of strength to be vulnerable. Many of us are like beginning swimmers, who out fear, exert wasted energy and thrash about trying vainly to stay afloat. The more confident swimmer, rests effortlessly on the water, allowing their nose to break the surface, only to breathe when needed, but otherwise trusts that the water will keep us afloat. Strength in our world is confused with Power often confused with coercion. Can I exert enough Physical, Economic. Social or Political pressure on the other, or on a situation, in order to make them follow my will? Jesus knew what the disciples had been arguing about before asking the question. James and John were brothers, the sons of Zebedee, and like siblings always contesting for who is strongest, who is greatest. Jesus turned their power paradigm on its head. The model of greatness in the kingdom of Heaven, is a powerless child. When I first went to South Sudan, I recall John’s Father stating “We do not need you to come here and do things for us as Americans.” He took a 1 year old child and holding out his finger assisted the child to rise and stand. He said, “All we need is someone to give us a steadying hand of reassurance as we learn to walk.” When we are in crisis, filled with fear, seeking power, control, strength, we cannot listen to hear each other. When we make the effort to really listen, not trying to answer, not trying to control, but to listen… then, we find something each of us can identify with – all of us have a frightened child within. Children, even before they have words, have an ability to communicate with a common language, because they have no roles to play, no prestige or wealth or power to lose. The real irony of this passage is Jesus knows he is going to the Cross to die, and James and John ask to be at his right and left sides, which instead of power, became the position of the two Criminals who also were crucified.

"AfterWords" September 16, 2018

Jeremiah 4: 18-28 Mark 8: 27-38 Sunday, September 9th, 2001 we as a congregation read this passage from Jeremiah for the first time as part of the Lectionary. I knew the passage well because for Ordination, I had to translate this from Hebrew, write a 15 page research paper and Sermon on this text, all within 4 hours. Tuesday Sept 11th, the sky was a brilliant blue, when suddenly Our Reality changed. Other than the Revolutionary War, our Mainland had never been attacked by a foreign power. Since that time we have become almost accustomed to Terrorist Attacks. We have learned to take off our shoes and belts at the airport, to take cell phones and lap tops out of suitcases, that we cannot carry nail clippers, or pen knives, liquids, or aerosols, and those with artificial knees and hips may be subject to a body search pat down. On Sept 11th the Clergy of our Village had been gathered together to meet. Skip Adams had just left to become Bishop, Natalie Scholl and Deron Melville had recently arrived at the Methodist and Lutheran Churches. When we were told what happened, we prayed, then promised to worship together that evening here, then Natalie and Deron went to the Schools and I went to the Welch Allyn Factory, Father McGrath joined me there as we did grief counseling and prayed, listening to stories of family who live in NYC, or work at the Pentagon. At 2pm I was called to come lead prayer services with the telephone operators and also the engineers, and I recall recognizing that my own sons would be eligible if the Draft were activated for War. That evening, I had written prayers and all of the Clergy shared in leadership. But when I preached on this passage, it was different. At Ground Zero, the sky was black, ash was falling in snowdrifts, space seemed to ripple as temperatures shifted from extreme heat of airplane fuel fires, to extreme cold; but most difficult, no bodies were found, there was no sound, no birds, no traffic. Seventeen years later, we have learned to be suspicious. We have learned fear. We have become accustomed to Orange Alerts and Mass Killings, barriers and cameras. But have we found any redemption, any new faith, or understanding? We have returned to routines, added new ones, all rooted in fear, not based on faith. That December I wrote a piece: “This Christmas is Different.” ➢ In Christmases past, we often thought about all we did not have; this Christmas we recognized all we do possess. ➢ Christmas past we hung wreaths on doors, then placed wreaths @ cemetery. ➢ In the past we counted our 401Ks, Christmas 2001 we counted our blessings. ➢ Christmases past we paid lip service to Holidays; then began to honor them. ➢ Christmases past we gave kids toy guns, then had to teach: Guns are not toys. ➢ Christmases past we wondered how to afford all the presents, Christmas 2001 we imagined all money cant buy: Security, safety, peace. ➢ Prior Christmases, Relatives got on our nerves, then we got on our knees. ➢ Christmases past we complained about Office-stress, then offices were gone ➢ Some Christmases we wondered what it was to be affluent, then to be alive. ➢ Heroes played sports, now we know Heroes who run into burning buildings. ➢ In Christmases past we contemplated the changes we wanted to make, Christmas 2001 we began considering all the accommodations we had made. Here we are, as Survivors, each of us have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. What are we going to do with life, that we have nothing to lose by living? Frederick Buechner, was a classmate of our Veterinarian Bill Nichols who wrote the book Listening to Your Life asking questions about where we are going, and who we are: • When you look in the mirror, What do you most like and what do you not? • If you had only a brief message, 25 words or less, to leave, what would it be? • Of all the things you have done, which would you like to undo? • Which makes you the happiest to remember? • Is there anyone or any cause, you would be willing to risk your life for? • If today were the last day of your life, what would you choose to do? The things done in fear, are the ones, I would undo, the times I backed down. But the ones I am happiest about, revolve around family and faith. What I have been willing to sacrifice for, to make, amends or to accept loss for, have also been for the Family of Faith, the Church, You. Jesus went about life with his congregation, when he asked: “Who do they say I Am?” Some called him a Rabbi, some a Priest, some a Faith-Healer, some a Charlatan, some said he was Elijah Returning for a new Era, some a new Moses, some a Prophet, some said the reincarnation of John the Baptist. Andrew’s Brother Peter loved Word-Games. In Hebrew, the Name of God, the name given at the Burning Bush to Moses, “Yahweh” means “I Am,” so if Jesus asks “Who I Am” the right answer had to be God; but saying that out loud would be blasphemy because only GOD could be God, so Jesus was “sent from God” the anointed “Messiah!” in Latin “The Christ!” Jesus says “Exactly! But what does it mean to sent from God?” The Messiah is not a King, not a Warrior, not a Scholar. To come from God means to be a gift of love, of redemption and transformation for the world. Frederick Buechner, whom I quoted writing about Life & faith also wrote about love. o To love an equal, a friend, a brother, a spouse, is a very Human thing. o To love those less fortunate, to love those who suffer, is Compassion. o To love those who succeed when we fail is rare. The world is bewildered and awed by Saints, uncertain whether to envy. o To love those who undermine, who inflict pain, who have hurt you, to love an enemy is God’s love, which conquers the world. Phillip Yancey writes in his book The Jesus I Never Knew that as a journalist he had opportunity to interview famous people: Sports Greats, Politicians, Authors, Movie Stars, Royalty, and he found a People dominated by self-doubt and worse. So he set out to interview “Saints” Medical personnel working with outcasts, Relief Workers, those who run Homeless shelters. He said he was prepared to Honor and admire them, as inspiring examples; but he was not prepared to envy them, but he did. He found that these who were underpaid, and often unpaid, owning little or nothing, had found joy. Wasting their time on the uneducated, and on those who would never pay them back, provided riches unknown anywhere else in the world. In the process of losing their lives, they found the meaning of life. And so will we.

"Hard Sayings" August 26, 2018

I Kings 8: 1-6, 22-30, 44-43 John 6: 56-69 This week Pope Francis had the courage to admit to the Abuse of Children by priests, and their church having sheltered those priests. A monumental challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church, yet still not quite the profession by Jesus’ “If any should mislead one of these little ones it would be better if a millstone were hung round their neck.” Before any rush to judgment, recall that we had our own experience with abuse, yet at that time, and 30 years later when he was prosecuted and removed from the ministry, our Session Minutes never acknowledge anything ever happened. It is as if it was not there. What is the purpose of the Church, Justice, Truth, Faith? Are Sanctuaries like this, Sacred, a Refuge from the pressures of the World, or a museum of art, music, architecture, a community resource, a financial albatross, Sanctuary from the Law? Is a Sanctuary of the Woods, a Mountaintop, the Lake, just as holy and sacred to us? My own sons have begun describing their father as a Community Leader and Organizer, Caring for People, rather than as a Pastor or Minister, because their friends have no experience of the Church, at least none positive. 95% of the weddings I have officiated this year have not been in a Sanctuary, but in the Gazebo, at a State Park, at a Winery, at their Home, at a Casino. Recalling the Temptations of Jesus in his 40 Days in the wilderness, 5,000 people were given bread from him to eat; as far as the eye could see were people healed of incurable diseases simply by his touch or even his words; crowds tried to throw him down a high cliff and he walked away; the parables of Jesus are better known than Aesop’s or Plato’s. When the world then came looking for him to continue doing more, to be their miracle whenever we wanted; instead he described the need to embrace and own and correct the sins and addictions of our lives. Most everyone turned aside, naming these are “Hard Sayings”, and they are! Christian faith in God is not a thing you can be taught or master or understand, or own, not the answer to prayers or magic words. While the Grace of God and Love of God appear so simple, Grace and Love and Sacrifice, Communion, Humility, are neither cheap nor easy. To which Simon Peter responded: Where else can we go, You alone have the words of eternal life? Do we still believe in Eternal Life, in Heaven & Hell, or reincarnation, or Nirvana, do we know what “Salvation” or “Justice before God” are? Let alone do we really want these, or do most of us just want our problems and pains to go away and continue with life, never to die? While many have struggled at other passages, about the only way to the Father is through Jesus, or the need to be Born Again from above, I believe this is the critical statement that sets Christianity apart from all the rest. Christ alone has the words of Eternal Life. Judaism possesses The Law, Islam Koran, there are ways to Wisdom, HOWEVER Resurrection/Forgiveness/The Covenant of Grace Love from God for Eternal Life is only available through Christ by sacrificial relationships, like Jesus demonstrated. Do we desire “Justice or only Judgment? I serve as a Justice on our Church’s Appellate Court. A congregation in Iowa had a member who was a pain in the neck, a bully and everyone knew it. Finally one night, she had pushed so far that the Choir Director left rehearsal, walked out, questioning if life was worth this or whether to die; but after several minutes he returned to finish the rehearsal. The next morning, the pastor questioned if the problem was the Choir Director or this member. After interviewing everyone involved, it was recommended that perhaps voluntarily the member could take a break for a while to let things cool down. She accepted, but changed her mind when this voluntary absence turned out to be 18 months. She brought this to Session, and was over-ruled. She appealed to the Presbytery, and was over-ruled. She appealed to the Synod and was over-ruled, all with no explanation. More than twice the 18 months requested had passed, the Choir Director was gone, but still she appealed to our court. Initially, it appeared quite simple, she was a bully, controlling, demanding, and hard headed. Had the church colluded against her, No. had the church gone on a witch-hunt against her, No. But suddenly someone questioned whether the courts making a decision, without explanation "why", was not fair or just. While we ruled against her being granted what she wanted, the court also sought her redemption as not clearly understanding why she was wrong. Do the courts simply need to find who is guilty, whom to blame, or do we need to consider what comes next after and how to again be the church? Current circumstance is relevant to what we consider Justice, but a community’s earliest identities establish the DNA of the church and what are among our core issues. In our earliest, before we were a Church, before there was a Village or community, before we had a Pastor or Building or regular Sunday morning worship, we were Called to be A Religious Society, a City of God which was not about Baptism or Confession as Christians but the way we relate to one another. Our ancestors heard complaints between people. Their purpose was not to judge or blame or correct, but in how to forgive and find a new relationship of communion, trust. Over and over again, I find circumstance of our knee-jerk reactions, without ever considering how will we get along afterward? How can we continue to be, after trust is broken? Admission of our own wrongs, our brokenness there are Hard Sayings. Our reading from I Kings includes Solomon’s prayer dedicating the Temple at Jerusalem. I recall reciting this the Sunday in 1998 when we completed our first two building campaigns and rededicated this Sanctuary. The difficulty is Solomon’s father David had been told not to build a House for God, instead God would build a lasting commitment out of their family, the word for Lasting commitment is HESED. But Solomon built the Temple, one of the greatest Temples ever constructed, which stood over 800 years. Yet even today, after being destroyed for almost 2000 years, it is remembered as “Solomon’s Temple”, not as the House of God. A Sanctuary, is like a transmitter, a microphone to God; and a meeting place for us to gather to prepare ourselves to reach out to God, and for us to heal what we have done to one another apart from the world. This prayer begins with that “lasting covenant” (HESED), promised by God to Abram, to Moses, to David and by Solomon to God, which is more than treaty or contract. Hesed refers to Relationship, Commitment, Grace, Hospitality and Trust. We have a way of compartmentalizing, that God is in God’s House, Work is at an Office, Family at Home, Learning at School. But barriers are coming down. Many of us work from home, we take on-line classes. So also, we come to recognize that God is loose in the world calling into question our reality of Justice, and our commitment of faith. This morning, this first day of this new week, I beg of you, in the midst of plans, in the midst of arguments and pains, to stop to consider What comes next, after? And also, the Hard things, like where we might be wrong.

"Being the Elect" August 12, 2018

2 Samuel 18: 5-9 John 6: 35, 41-51 What does it mean to be Elect, to be a Chosen People? There are responsibilities that come with being in leadership. For some, this means seeing yourself as being Special, privileged, able to do what you want, that rules for other people/ordinary people, do not apply to you. This is what Frederick Nietzsche described as “Men and Supermen”, not the kind from Krypton with an S on their chest, but that some understand others to be animals and themselves, by race, by power, by education, to be Better, to be elect, to chosen. Judaism, Christianity had a different revelation from this, of Election, being Chosen. In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevya says “I know there is no shame being chosen to be poor, but it’s no great honor either”! Throughout human history, God has demonstrated to the world: Being in Relationship with God, through individuals, a tiny remnant of all humanity, who are an example for all the world. God’s identification of a King, a Son of a King, A Messiah, was never an identity of power or privilege. God’s election in Jesus, Job, Daniel, the Judges, Isaac, Simon Peter, James, John and Paul, was A Life as an Offering, one who bears the responsibility of a relationship of faith with such humility they die not for believing they are right, but for offering everything including their lives to God. When in the Gospel of John, Jesus describes himself as being sent from Heaven, the crowds hear him claiming scandalous authority as being Superhuman, being Chosen by God, when they knew his father the Carpenter and his mother. One of the cultural lessons we learned from Africa, is that there is The Tall Poppy Syndrome. In a field there are always individual plants that grow up higher and faster than all the rest, which causes the others to choke that one for standing out. One of the early fears about Christianity, was that we practiced Cannibalism by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. All of the Christian denominations have described what happens in Communion is a Mystery, “The Visible Sign of Invisible Things”, yet each has also tried to explain that Mystery. The Roman Catholic Church described “Transubstantiation” that the Ordained Priest changed the substance of the bread into Jesus’ Flesh, and the Wine becomes Blood. Martin Luther in the 1500s described that, as Magic; reciting an incantation in Latin, to change a Rabbit into Flowers, or Bread into Flesh. Luther instead described “Consubstantiation”, that “The Real Presence” of Christ was invited to come down out of heaven to be present in relationship with the Church. The Swiss theologian Ulrich Zwingli, who wrote the specifics of the Reformed Church, emphasized the importance of “Remembrance” that believers remember what Jesus did for us once and will do for us again. John Calvin at age 27 wrote the theology adopted by the Presbyterian Church, that Communion is more than Remembrance or Magic, and that we cannot command Christ do anything. He emphasized that what Jesus meant by saying that we need to eat his flesh and taste his blood, is that every believer in Communion needs to name and own: the sins of their own broken relationships and lives, for we are human. Only in naming these addictions, human wounds, sins, can we then have a foretaste of the new Covenant, where we are in full communion and sharing with God and with one another without sin. This morning’s passage from Samuel is among the most scandalous soap operas in all Literature. I am forever shocked by Sunday School teachers who complain about the stories of Wars and killing of thousands in the Book of Judges, because this story of a family, the love of a father, I believe is far more troubling than any in other in the Bible, Shakespeare, or Stephen King. Two weeks ago, we read of the Love of God for David, God choosing election that no matter the sin David committed God would chastise and forgive rather than destroy. Last week, we heard of David’s sin, coveting the wife of Uriah, committing adultery, lying, and murder, and that the sins of the King would be born by his loved ones. The baby conceived by Uriah’s wife and David, died. Afterward, they conceive again, and this one is Solomon. But David had other children, as well. David’s son Amnon lusted after his sister Tamar. In order to take advantage, Amnon pretended to be too ill to feed himself. David sent Tamar to Amnon with food, and Amnon scamming that he did not want to be seen so weak, demanded that everyone leave the room while Tamar fed him. Alone with her, Amnon raped his sister. Afterward, Tamar’s brother Absalom avenged her, by having Amnon come out to the field, and like Cain killing Abel generations before, Absalom killed Amnon. One chosen-son killing another, inciting a Civil War between those following Absalom, and those loyal to David. But David provided an odd request of his Generals. Do not kill the boy Absalom, for he is a Son of the King. This morning’s Scripture, is that Absalom riding a donkey, gets his head caught in a tree, where the Son of the King is suspended high up between heaven and earth by crossed wood. The New Testament uses this as foreshadowing for what happened to Jesus, lynched on a tree, lifted up for all to see, not in heaven/not on earth, as he died. Although David had instructed them not to do so, his Generals pierced his sides with spears until he was dead. This week one of the Bishops of Pennsylvania testified before the Attorney General the names of over 300 Priests who had committed sexual abuses. In our own community, I was never trained for this in Seminary, but we have had a number of marriages destroyed by pornography on the internet. The issue in each of these is that ones you trusted have betrayed that trust. We cannot simply remove the offender (the Tall Poppy) and imagine everything is better, we are broken, we are wounded, there is sin, that we need to own and discuss until it is dry as dust. The issue of election, of being chosen, as described by our Scriptures and the sung Prelude this morning is not that “Love” is good or evil, but what Love bids us do. Love for their King and Nation, bid the Generals to kill Absalom. Love for his own Son, bid David sacrifice the Nation. Love for his sister Tamar, bid Absalom to kill Amnon, as Cain killed Abel. Love for her brother and Father, bid Tamar make herself vulnerable and alone. Lust, masquerading as love, bid Amnon rape his sister Tamar. Love, bid God, offer God’s own son to save the world. Love bid Jesus sacrifice life, for the sins of the world. What would we not do for love? While those seeking power and control, as the world does, read Nietzsche and wonder whether their desires are more important, than everyone else’s, whether they know better than others do, and that the rules established do not apply to them; believers have always loved the Lord and loved people so much as to sacrifice all that they have, to offer their lives rather than cause greater conflict and suffering.

"Grace Beyond our Conceiving" July 29, 2018

2nd Samuel 9: 1-3 John 6: 1-21 Several years ago there was a book about Simple Acts of Kindness. A week ago, we had the burial of a good friend up in Alexandria Bay. Although the family had been intentional that they wanted me to ride with them, at the appointed hour I was standing out in the Church Parking Lot, all alone. Realizing I kind of needed to be there for the burial to take place, I hopped into my Mini Cooper and drove the 2 ½ hours to Alex Bay. But when I typed into the GPS “Cemetery”, the technology claimed there was none. I phoned the Funeral Director, who laughed when he realized they forgot to pick me up; then directed that the Cemetery was actually on one of the Thousand Islands in Canada, and not only did I need $3 for the Bridge but they would not accept EZPass! I stopped into a Motor Court and described who I was and my problem to the 15 year old Desk Clerk, asking if she could give me a Cash Advance on my VISA Card. Instead, she opened her own purse gaving me 6 -$1 bills. A simple act of kindness. When I returned home, I sent her $12 in repayment. This morning’s Scriptures are about more than a Simple Act of Kindness, Beyond our Conceiving, this is “Amazing Grace”, which is so much greater than our imagination, so great as to transform our lives and relationships! You will recall that the First King of Israel was a Warrior named Saul, and Saul had a son named Jonathan. The Shepherd boy David who had killed the Philistine Goliath came to live in the palace as best friends with Jonathan. But Saul turned away from God, thinking only of his own power. Saul then tried to kill David who escaped, and the Nation entered into conflict as those who followed Saul fought against those who followed David. In the end, Saul and Jonathan were killed at a place called Jezreel, and David became King. The last many weeks we have read of King David taking Jerusalem as his Capital, building a Palace there, wanting to build a House for God, bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. This morning, David the King demonstrates an act of Faith, a measure of Grace far beyond our concept of Kindness. As the King of Jerusalem, this act of grace demonstrates the grace of God for us. Realize that American heritage of succession is unique, for throughout history, when Kings arise, they not only kill their predecessor, they shame and destroy all those related to their opponent who might in a future day become a threat. BEHOLD, David was Living as King and asks if anyone remembers if Saul’s son Jonathan had children? Ziba the Servant describes that Jonathan did have a son named Mephibosheth and where he was hiding. Years before, when the child was five years of age, word came that Saul and Jonathan were trapped and killed. In a rush to escape, the child’s Nurse bundled up the child, and tripped and fell, the nurse’s own body crushing the legs of the child. So now the child was a triple threat, he was the surviving descendant of a competitor; he was abandoned in hiding; and his legs were crushed. Imagine living 15 years in hiding, always in fear for your life, always in shame, staying out of the light… One day, you hear the trumpet blasts of an advancing guard of soldiers. On the horizon you see pennants, horses of the King, as they advance closer and closer. You have to get away, you have to hide, or be put to death. Suddenly there is a pounding on the door. You are dragged out from under your bed; dragged where you do not want to be found, brought to the King’s Palace. Brought inside, to the Court of the King, and made to prostrate yourself before the throne of the very One who took the place of your Father. The only words you can manage are to ask what the King desires with a Dead Dog? He has had everything taken away, living for years in shame and hiding. When suddenly, King David decrees that from this day onward, the property of your grandfather shall be returned to you, you shall have a place at the King’s own table, in fact, the King will not sit down to eat until you are at the Table. What an act of grace, that for the remainder of his life, at every meal there would be the call of your name MEPHIBOSHETH, and the scraping of your feet, as everyone waited to welcome you at the Table of bounty! He spreads a Table before me, my cup run over. A meal of Grace, beyond everyone’s imagination to conceive… On the Northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, rises a mountain, the face of which forms a natural concave shell. Somehow, I always imagined Jesus standing at the top of the Mountain preaching down to the people; but instead, I have now come to believe that the 5000 had gathered on this hillside, and Jesus was on the shore. So the story about such a great crowd coming to listen that he had to get into a boat and push off from shore to preach, may well also be about this same event! And while the Disciples cannot imagine the costs of how to feed all these people, reminiscent of Moses and the tribes in the Wilderness (according to the text) Jesus fed 5000 men, plus their wives and children. He has them sit in small groups, to share together, all together being the Body of Christ. From 2 fish and 5 loaves, not only does he feed 5000, but afterward there are 12 Baskets full of leftovers! The issue is not about how, or the cost, those are rational concerns. No, the issue in meal like communion is what the Grace represents. There is limitless bounty for everyone to share! The disciples got into a boat, as Jesus continues to heal and dismiss the crowds. The Disciples had been right there, they were Jesus’ inner circle, but they still could not conceive: what was going on. Growing up, my family had boats, and the name of every boat began with a “W”, There was a ski-boat called Whitecap, a Flying Scot called the Windsong, a Lazer called the Whisper, a kayak called The Worry, and an ugly old rowboat called the Wart. When I got a day-sailer, my family named it the Whimper, because I liked to risk the opposite gunnel under water as you leaned out. Imagine, you are on a large lake, the Sea of Galilee, at dusk when a gale force wind comes up. What is the last thing you could imagine happening, something so impossible as to be beyond conceiving? Jesus came walking to them on the water! Rather than worrying about how or where, pay attention to the subtleties of the text. Just before they saw Jesus walking on Water, they had been rowing for 3 or 4 miles when what happened? A Wind came up on the face of the water! Just as at Genesis, and the future day of Pentecost, the Wind always indicates a Miracle, the presence of the Holy Spirit! And on what day did this miraculous meal, and the walking on water take place? On the Day of Passover, celebration of God’s presence in Grace over the people of faith!