August 26, 2012, "Puppies and Kittens"

Joshua 24: 1-2, 14-18 John 6:56-69 It has been said that some people are Cat People and some are Dog People, and of course some are allergic. And Yes, Dick and Kim, some in our midst are Turtle People as well. While there is acceptance that over time people grow to look like their pets, part of what I hear in the Book of Joshua this morning is that more than looks, how we live and what we believe, how we are hard-wired, how we act and react is also as Dog & Cat people. For, Puppies constantly embrace all of life. They may have just eaten, their bellies full, but if you place a fresh bowl of food before them they will devour what you give. If their master leaves the room and returns, it is as if they have not seen you in a month, beginning at their tails they begin to wag until their whole body is caught up in convulsions of excitement. Dogs cannot simply bark, they let loose in an effervescent stream of conversation. Cats are different. Cats are more aloof. Cats are finicky. Cats must choose if they want to deign to acknowledge your presence, in this reality, if they want to be hungry, and with a single sound can cry for you, or with a humming confirm to you that their lives are complete and satisfied. Joshua is a hungry puppy! As Moses' successor, Joshua has followed his master, since they lived as slaves. Joshua has followed God across the Red Sea, through the wilderness, over the Jordan into this land and through many battles. Now as they prepare to recognize and affirm who they are, Joshua pledges undying loyalty to God, not only for himself, but for all his family. Joshua invites all those who listen to commit themselves to God as well. The People, however are Cool Cats, unconvinced why they need to make any decision. This land seems good, but in Egypt the Pharaohs established cities for everlasting permanence. What traditions shall we follow, shall we have any traditions? We have constantly been at war, terrorists hate us, they have made us live in fear. How do we not hate them? What would it take for us to never fear again? Shall we accept what they believe? Or should we invade them and kill them before they have a chance to kill us? I am not certain my fat fingers can work that tiny key pad, and my thumbs cannot double and triple click to spell accurately, but those smart phones are so sleek and can do so many different things. Or should I wait for the next generation before upgrading? Nostalgia also creates idols for us. Do you recall watching Leave It To Beaver, where Father always knew best, could answer any question and provide for everyone's needs; the children always washed and brushed their hair before having dinner together in the dining room on ironed white table cloths; and no matter how long the day, the Moms always looked perfect, with not a hair out of place, with starched linen dresses and immaculate kitchens? We idolize what was never reality. In truth, the choosing is not what is difficult, the difficulty is in choosing what we will be committed to for the rest of our lives. Every season there are new shows. Every year, there are new cars, new phones, new fashions, what we thought was innovative and exciting, quickly becomes what we had done. Yesterday we celebrated a wedding. This congregation is an exception to the norms of churches. Where most congregations celebrate Memorials for those who died 40 and 50 times a year, and can hardly recall the last church wedding or baptism, we are blessed with annually having less than 10 of our members die, and yet we celebrate 25 and 30 Weddings and 12-20 Baptisms. Since the 1960s a new tradition has arisen of lighting a Unity Candle. Ironically, although the program called for the lighting, and the mothers had practiced their coming up onto the Chancel to light their candles, the couple had practiced their lighting into one eternal flame...when the decorations arrived there was no candle, and we as the Church let the couple borrow ours. As important of a tradition as this has become to people, I wonder how many know where their Unity Candle is, and relight the candle throughout their marriage? Choosing to light the candle the first time is not difficult. Relighting when the wick has burned down, when the candle has gotten old losing its elasticity and shine, and the tapers are just stubs, that is far more difficult. The ancient world had different Gods for every mountain, every woods, every experience of life. So you sacrificed to the God of Love, or to the God of War, and in times of drought to the fertility Gods, in times with impending hurricanes they prayed for security and safety against the storm: Isaac. What Joshua called the people to choose, was to not be finicky and fickle, but with passion and fidelity to adhere to the first Commandment, to believe in one God throughout all life and no other. This choice changes everything about what we believe. Instead of focusing on security, or passion, or the growth of the crops, we name and claim belief in a God who is present and caring in all of life. The same God who heard us in our suffering, stands over us when we consider attacking others. The same God who grieved with us at the death of a child, is with us when we commit another in Baptism, having heard the waters poured out at the beginning and end of life. The same God who watched over us when our parents committed their faith in our Baptism, hears our Confirmation of what we believe, and is the same God who comforts and strengthens us when we bury the remains of our parents. Culture shifted with the Greeks and Romans. Instead of a choice between acceptance of the idols of the surrounding culture, or clinging to beliefs from Egypt and Mesopotamia, versus a relationship with God in all life; the Greeks and Romans each believed in a duality to life. There is the Philosophical world, the mystical, Spiritual Reality, and there is this life. For the Romans and Greeks, the point was either in living so morally in this life as to attain the life to come, or to divest one's self of this world and live philosophically, spiritually in a different reality. The point of John's Gospel is that Reality has Shifted, Almighty God has entered into this reality and is INCARNATE in Jesus of Nazareth. As Jesus worked miracles, as he preached and taught that his flesh was to be our bread, his blood was to be our drink, what he pushed people to claim was our choosing to receive, our choosing to accept him into our lives. As difficult as this commitment is for most of us, he asked for something far more difficult, that we accept that the one who is our Lord and our Savior died, was killed and as a corpse buried in stone, but nothing could separate us from the love of God. Instead of there being two realities, a Philosophical world and a Metaphysical; a Spiritual plane and a Human one; that life is permeable and not only must we choose to commit to a God who will be with us through all of life's stages, but this God actually will be with us demonstrating vulnerability, humility and ever deepening commitment. Ironically, the Gospel of John never once uses the noun: To have Faith. But more often even than all the Letters of Paul taken together, over 80 times, John uses the VERB “to Believe”. Belief is active, belief motivates our actions. Our Believing changes in every circumstance so believing is not a thing. Years ago, our church had a sign which was set in the days of horse and buggy, low to the ground and facing the street. Not only had that signed eroded, but times had changed, and car/bicycle traffic at 30 to 50 mph on Genesee Street never noticed there even was a sign. So we followed the rules and installed a sign with all the appropriate permissions. But no one, not in the government or in the local church leadership considered how bright a sign with florescent lights inside might be. There was no misleading, it simply was not something any of us considered when we committed to change. With the flick of a switch, we became the Kmart Church with the Blue-light special. We tried to adapt, we tried taping the bulbs with electrical tape to diminish their illumination, but eventually we found ways to use the sign foundation and brickwork, but replacing the signboard with something more elegant. A decade later, that sign of redwood has rotted, and we have committed to replacing it with a sign identical to what was but made of new materials for a new time.