II Kings 2
Galations 5: 1, 13-26
There used to be a Board Game, created in 1860 called LIFE, reissued in 1960, replacing the throwing of dice with the spinning or a wheel, with every player having a convertible cadillac, and Art Linkletter on the Box. Different from Chutes and Ladders, you never had to go backwards. Different from Checkers, the goal was not eliminating your opponent. Different from Monopoly, the goal was not amassing real estate and hotels and wealth. The Game of Life was about going through life and the choices we make. Choosing: Do you want to go to College or Not? Careers were up to the luck of the draw. Do you want to get Married? Do you want to have children and how many, but all within the fist three spins, the first 30 years? Were the game re-issued today, the vehicle might change, but more, rather than one moment in life where you decide to go to College or Not, one Career choice, one moment when you choose to Marry or Not, one moment in which to have children or not, we could opt for these choices over and over again throughout the Game of Life.
This morning is about Choices. Can we be loyal to one another and steadfast? Will God provide for us when current leaders, the way we have seemingly always gone, is passed? Can we let go, and trust, and love, and serve one another's needs? Do we need to go back and retrace experiencing the development of ideas, or can we begin here and now, right where we are today? Travelling in South Sudan, five years ago, it suddenly occurred to me that this was a culture which never had learned the concept of The Wheel, never learned Electricity, never experienced the Telegraph or Wall-mounted Land Line Telephones, who suddenly would have Cell Phones. The landscape would not be covered in telephone lines. Following a GPS Locator across the desert, there would be no need for Roads or Highways, or speed limits. If we could eliminate disease, if we could eliminate war, would we still strive to live, and for what?
Throughout the last several weeks, we have read through the Old Testament of the Prophet Elijah standing alone against the Kings and Queens of Israel and Samaria. When their were 500 Prophets of Baal, when “everybody” was going along and doing what everyone else was doing, Elijah alone stood for Faith in God. Elijah was so zealous and so alone, he went to the Cave questioning whether there was a God, or whether he had stood alone, and after earthquake, an d flood, and fire and wind, he heard the still small voice that cut through him asking “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah, overwhelmed by what he had already seen and done, given an enormous list of all the kings he must ordain, of all the Priests he must gather and teach and ordain, of all the Prophets he must gather and teach and ordain, finally to find Elisha to carry on after him, immediately goes down the mountain looking for Elisha to pass this off to. Not another miracle is described, not another confrontation or contest, Elijah is ready to die, ready for Elisha to carry on. This morning, the protege of Elijah: Elisha, and all the prophets of God in all the Cities, each know what is about to happen.
It is the last Sunday in June, rain or shine, children will Graduate as Adults and take a leap off the breakwater.
Jasper is Baptized. Jim and Ann have fulfilled their first 45 years of marriage. Elijah is carried up to heaven by the Whirlwind, and Elisha witnesses the power of God. Greater than the power of Pharaoh's Horses and Chariots these are the four horses of the Apocalypse and Chariots of Fire. Whether, our focus is Elijah being carried up, Ann and Jim recommitting their vows, Dave and Tess and their daughters together as a family committing their love and faith to this child, having your name announced to the World as a Graduate, or leaping into the lake, there is a moment out of time in which the past is passed, and we are committed to a different future. You cannot in midair leap back onto the breakwater. We cannot take back our baptism. We cannot relive the last 45 years.
Three different times, Elijah questions Elisha. You can stay here, you do not have to come along, what do you want? And where Elijah had been frightened of the power of God, had been frightened of the Spirit, Elisha asks for a Double Share! You want to be fearful, asking for a double share of the Spirit. Years ago, having completed the first dozen years of ordained ministry, foolishly believing I knew what this was all about, in the midst of a Spiritual retreat, when we had been fasting and praying for week, we had a laying on of hands, where you could ask the body to share in prayer, and I recall asking for a double share of the Spirit. A few weeks later, we were here in Skaneateles, my wife became ill, and my parents had a car accident with a drunk driver, and my faith was shaken, as I felt very alone with God. Suddenly, you cannot go back, you must choose your direction, to go the way of everyone else, or unreserved commitment.
What Paul describes to the Church at Galatia, is that that Commitment is to Freedom and Responsibility. The Apostle Paul had gone across the known world starting Churches, as communities of faith. These had been people without any faith, people who had never believed in anything, who now were Baptized into Jesus Christ. After he left, other teachers came to these new believers demanding that in order to be Christian you have to follow the Old Testament Law, you have to be Circumcised and Kosher, and adhere to the 10 Commandments. It would be so much easier, if we had specific laws to follow. Do these laws every day of your life, and you will be guaranteed faith. There are some, who approach faith as a guarantee, a get out of jail free card; follow these laws and you will be guaranteed riches, a happy and full life. I have not known it to be so. Instead, what Paul defends instead of The Law is absolute trust in the Spirit of God. Not a theoretical belief in philosophical principles, not a faith in the innate human condition over against tradition, but trust that God is alive and real among us. Miracles are not reserved for long long ago, but happen in our lives today.
There is a trap to Reason and Rationalism, that Cancers may go into remission, Warring Nations may declare a truce, but eventually everyone is going to die. We are Mortal, so when death occurs, we feel a sense of loss and failure, as if we have been cheated. But for the person who had been diagnosed with Cancer, to have had an extra year or six to see their child marry, their grandchild graduate... We need engineers and doctors and hard science practitioners to surpass the bounds of our human knowledge, so as to feed millions, to cure disease, knowing all the while that as there was a beginning, so there is an end to this life for each of us, but that that is not the end for God.
Many will review this list of corruptions and blessings, and jump to the conclusion that the Bible is against Sex, against acknowledging our human desires. That is not the case. Each of the evils named by Paul are selfish and divisive; whereas the Fruits of the Spirit are about building up the Community, sharing with one another, even serving each other. We often juxtapose Freedom and Responsibility, but what Paul affirms is that step up to responsibility is how we live into our freedoms, how we make this community work.
We have to challenge the mindset which believes that Life is a Game of Checkers, where our goal is to eliminate everyone else. We need to challenge the mindset that Life is a Game of Chess, trying to think three and five moves ahead strategically, so that you can take out the opponent's queen and make the king unable to act. We need to challenge the mindset that Life is a Game of Monopoly, where our purpose is to go around as many times as possible, that we will be guaranteed $200 just for passing, and that our purpose is to build as expensive of real estate as possible, creating Monopolies and dominating the board so others owe us for passing through our lives. We need to live The Game of Life, where the object is not having the most, or getting done first, but enjoying where the journey takes us.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
June 13, 2010 "How Then Shall We Teach?"
1 Kings 21
Luke 7: 36-8:3
Week after week, year after year, I am continually in awe, not only that the Bible written down thousands of years ago addresses circumstances of our lives, but that the lectionary selection of passages for the Catholic and Protestant Churches to work through the Bible together, should select passages so appropriate for our time. Listening to the story of King Ahab's coveting the Vineyard of Naboth, being willing to kill all that got in the way of his quest for land, his quest for what would satisfy him, conjures up circumstances around us, of the quest for oil at all costs, and of the fight for land and blockades in the Middle East.
Our Session are in the midst of a Major Mission Study. We are perhaps the most studied body of Christians, ever to have been Called to be The Church. We did a Mission Study of whether to have Co-Pastors, then another Mission Study to call the Co-Pastor, we then were studied by Alban Institute regarding conflict, then we studied the need for Building Renovations, then for the next Pastor, studied for interests in Christian Education, studied for what kind of Organ to recommend, studied for which translation of the Bible to teach, studied demographically, educationally, economically, studied for why we were able to get un-Stuck when many Churches cannot, we have even been studied genetically, because while we have a growing number who were baptized as Adults, we also have over 1/3rd of this congregation who are immediately related to ministers.
Several months ago, our Session came to the realization that our Church is in the midst of a Reformation. Not as visible as bulldozing a third of the Building; not as audible as changing Pipe Organs or adding choirs; not as tangible as Reforming Health Care (in S.Sudan); not a change that will require a Mortgage for the next 30 years; and we are not considering another Co-Pastorate; not necessarily adopting a Big Hairy Audacious Goal; but rather that there has been and continues to be a significant change to the identity of being The Church in the world, what we represent, what role the Church plays, and how we teach.
Decades ago, you memorized / recited The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Christian Faith and you were declared to have been predestined as a Presbyterian. In the Autumn you filled out a Pledge card of your giving; on Sunday mornings children went to Junior Church while adults came to Worship; we never went to worship midweek, instead Monday nights you came for Session and Committee meetings, Wednesdays for Bible Study, Thursday for Choir Rehearsal; and when the Offering Plate was passed you put in a tythe. The Change is from having set adherence to what Christians, let alone Protestants, even Presbyterians Must believe, to being in relationship as a Community of Christian Faith, who seriously pray and believe God acts.
The difficulty is that the former way had a clear curriculum, you could virtually pass a test whether you believed properly or not. How do you teach relationship as a community of faith? How do you teach that prayer is real and that God is not simply a philosophy or set of beliefs, but that the Holy Spirit of God does act in miracles especially in a world gone virtual?
This reformation has not occurred by vote or committee. Change began, as it does in the Church: with a child; and as change in the Church requires, with a group of women who were called to relationship as Grandmothers. We had a new staff member, who was a single Mom with a young child, a child who had not been baptized as an infant, had never before been in a Church. When she was very young, the child clung to her Mother. But when she matured from 5 to 6, or 7 Peggy, Martha and Ava committed themselves to worship God with the Child, teaching her how to find Hymns and how to sing, how to read the Bible, how to sit and listen, how to Pray, and that they representing the whole Church and God would be there for her week in week out. Eventually, the child now grown, chose of her own volition to be Baptized and led her Mother to be as well. Over a dozen years, the child grew and matured and was elected, ordained and installed as a Deacon, while the Grandmothers aged and passed, and the young woman began claiming other grandmothers.
The change occurred by refugees from decades of Civil War coming to a new and different country, where they claimed Mrs. Nichols, not as Ann, but with honor as “Grandmother”; where they claimed Jack, not as Mr. Howard or as an Elder, or a Dartmouth Grad, all of which he was/is, but in a faith relationship as “Grandfather”. In this and a thousand circumstances in our community, this change reinforced that you are a Pastor, not by years of education, not by ordination, but by accepting there are times when we need to be in a place not because we want or we receive anything for it, but because people need a Pastor. Where it would be wrong to preach your personal agenda or politics, because people need someone who gathers them in the name of Jesus Christ.
The change occurred by the Session determining that as The First Presbyterian Church we want to assist people with the resources of faith when people need us, to share weddings and the Sacraments, the building, to share in mission and in ministry regardless of membership sharing what people need, with sincerity and integrity.
A short-time ago, NPR interviewed a Movie Producer and Director, who described that people get into leadership, in politics, theater and movies, out of a desire for Validation, wanting to be applauded, wanting to stimulate emotion, wanting you to believe their story. He described having gone several years to a counselor, and after several months the therapist said “When are you going to stop trying to get me to like you and name what is bothering you what you have done wrong?” The Church does not seek validation, we are responsible for giving Validation! Whether a person committed murder, they thought painful images for the other person in their mind; they committed atrocious sins or were sinned against, our role in forgiveness is to Validate Humanity that still you are loved by God, still you are able to be forgiven, still we are in relationship, no matter what. Is that not what Jesus did for us once and for all time on the Cross as Savior? Teaching us that we are loved!
Culture has a formative power over us as human beings, we want to fit in, we want to succeed, we want to get along. But there are cultures which become destructive to life, destructive to human dignity. At those times, the Church which often is part of the culture providing validation and comfort to the challenged, must also be counter-cultural, offering a different formative power: not to succeed, not to win, but to challenge, to forgive, to claim, to empower.
According to the Old Testament, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had everything they could desire. Looking out over their kingdom, the King realized that adjacent to his palace and estate was a fertile little acre of property, owned by Naboth. The King wanted to possess this parcel of land to create a vegetable garden. Have you ever wanted something? Wanted it so badly that you could only see your own perspective, your own need, regardless of anyone else? The King tried to make a deal for the land; but to Naboth, this was not just land, this was not simply a vegetable garden, this is his inheritance, this acre of land was given to his family in the division of Moses! This land had been cleared by his ancestors' sweat, this land represented to him: his parents, his grandparents back seven and eight generations! Showing how corrupt the culture had become at forming people's values, when the King of all Israel and Samaria could not get what he wanted, he did not choose a different parcel, he did not offer a creative solution like share cropping Naboth's land, he went to bed and pouted. Whereupon Jezebel, who cared nothing for the culture or their faith, arranged a religious celebration, during which two unscrupulous fellows would be contracted to lie, to cause murder, a public execution by the State of the pawn who stood in the way of the King. After the deed was done, after the King's power has been abused, after religion has been manipulated, after Naboth has been killed, the King goes to inspect his new Garden, where he is confronted by the Prrophet Elijah, who reminds him of his relationship to God, reminds him of his relationship to serve the People, and his responsibilities as King. And Ahab demonstrates repentance, he takes off his fine clothes to put on Sack cloth, in humility, he prays to God for forgiveness, he fasts receiving nothing for pleasure. Whether Ahab truly repented in his heart, or whether this was just for show, does not matter to the Bible. He acted in the way necessary to be forgiven, and God forgives, at least within Ahab's own generation.
This week, a man came to see me from Tennessee, claiming to be on his way to Canada, looking for work. He was out of gas for his red Volvo. We acted in faith, we acted to help someone in need. The next evening on the news, there was description of the arrest of a man, this same man, driving a red Volvo stolen in Ohio. We try. There are no set answers or curriculum for life. There will be those who take advantage, but still when a person is in need, we respond as a Caring Christian Community.
Part of teaching, is not only the content, but also the context for what occurs. Jesus was invited into the home of a Pharisee for dinner. Mealtime is naturally intimate, this is your family, gathered together, where you feed guests from your table. According to custom, in a culture where one was barefoot or wore sandals, when you entered the house, you offered your guests not only to take off their shoes, but to wash their feet, leaving behind the soot and grime of the world outside. SO over dinner, when the Pharisee challenged Jesus that if he were really a prophet and teacher, he would have known that the woman displaying overt affection to him was one who sold her affections, who sold her intimacy, who sold her body for money. Jesus response was: culturally as Host, you should have washed my feet and personally welcomed me as an intimate trusted friend, but did not; she has bathed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her own hair, she has not been offensive, but has been personal and comforting in her human touch.
The irony of Jesus' challenging the Pharisee's hypocrisy, is that Jesus asked which one would be more thankful, one forgiven a little or forgiven a great deal? When in faith, it does not matter how large or how small the sin. Brokenness is brokenness. Whether a gigantic insult to God, or as tiny as a grain of sand, the sin rubs and wears on our relationship with God until repented and forgiven. According to Human Nature, the individual may be more thankful when forgiven more, but according to the Faith Relationship: A sin is a sin.
In many ways what we are doing in this Reformational Change, what we seek to become is more like the Christian Community of the First and Second Century, and less the institution that has at times been guilty of sin. How then shall we teach? By our relationships, by our being real with one another. I am told that during one of those earlier Mission Studies, the question came from one of the Session members, we had a Senior Pastor, we have had Co-Pastors, we have had an Interim Pastor, when we have a Real Pastor... when suddenly they realized what they had said to the Interim Pastor. From that time forward, the Installed Pastor has been referred to as “The Real Pastor.” Yet what we are naming, what we are trying to do, is for the Church to become Real.Would that our perceptions and our values, and our identification of ourselves as Christians were based on our being real with one another.
Then we would not try to dress 2 year olds up in tuxedos coaxing them to walk up an aisle at weddings as if adults. We would not have to worry about whether divorced parents could sit together for they would each attend a wedding to be present for their child. May our tears be real. May our relationships be personal. There are no easy answers, no one way of teaching, except to commit ourselves, attentive to what the Holy Spirit is Calling us to consider. The awesome power of faith, is that the Scriptures speak to us, of the coveting of Oil in the Gulf that has led to devastation; the coveting of Oil and Power and Land in the Middle East, that time after time has led to War; but also, that these same passages can speak to us personally, individually and intimately, about the coveting and hypocrisy of our lives; and the perpetual need of the Church to Reform as moved by the Holy Spirit.
Luke 7: 36-8:3
Week after week, year after year, I am continually in awe, not only that the Bible written down thousands of years ago addresses circumstances of our lives, but that the lectionary selection of passages for the Catholic and Protestant Churches to work through the Bible together, should select passages so appropriate for our time. Listening to the story of King Ahab's coveting the Vineyard of Naboth, being willing to kill all that got in the way of his quest for land, his quest for what would satisfy him, conjures up circumstances around us, of the quest for oil at all costs, and of the fight for land and blockades in the Middle East.
Our Session are in the midst of a Major Mission Study. We are perhaps the most studied body of Christians, ever to have been Called to be The Church. We did a Mission Study of whether to have Co-Pastors, then another Mission Study to call the Co-Pastor, we then were studied by Alban Institute regarding conflict, then we studied the need for Building Renovations, then for the next Pastor, studied for interests in Christian Education, studied for what kind of Organ to recommend, studied for which translation of the Bible to teach, studied demographically, educationally, economically, studied for why we were able to get un-Stuck when many Churches cannot, we have even been studied genetically, because while we have a growing number who were baptized as Adults, we also have over 1/3rd of this congregation who are immediately related to ministers.
Several months ago, our Session came to the realization that our Church is in the midst of a Reformation. Not as visible as bulldozing a third of the Building; not as audible as changing Pipe Organs or adding choirs; not as tangible as Reforming Health Care (in S.Sudan); not a change that will require a Mortgage for the next 30 years; and we are not considering another Co-Pastorate; not necessarily adopting a Big Hairy Audacious Goal; but rather that there has been and continues to be a significant change to the identity of being The Church in the world, what we represent, what role the Church plays, and how we teach.
Decades ago, you memorized / recited The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Christian Faith and you were declared to have been predestined as a Presbyterian. In the Autumn you filled out a Pledge card of your giving; on Sunday mornings children went to Junior Church while adults came to Worship; we never went to worship midweek, instead Monday nights you came for Session and Committee meetings, Wednesdays for Bible Study, Thursday for Choir Rehearsal; and when the Offering Plate was passed you put in a tythe. The Change is from having set adherence to what Christians, let alone Protestants, even Presbyterians Must believe, to being in relationship as a Community of Christian Faith, who seriously pray and believe God acts.
The difficulty is that the former way had a clear curriculum, you could virtually pass a test whether you believed properly or not. How do you teach relationship as a community of faith? How do you teach that prayer is real and that God is not simply a philosophy or set of beliefs, but that the Holy Spirit of God does act in miracles especially in a world gone virtual?
This reformation has not occurred by vote or committee. Change began, as it does in the Church: with a child; and as change in the Church requires, with a group of women who were called to relationship as Grandmothers. We had a new staff member, who was a single Mom with a young child, a child who had not been baptized as an infant, had never before been in a Church. When she was very young, the child clung to her Mother. But when she matured from 5 to 6, or 7 Peggy, Martha and Ava committed themselves to worship God with the Child, teaching her how to find Hymns and how to sing, how to read the Bible, how to sit and listen, how to Pray, and that they representing the whole Church and God would be there for her week in week out. Eventually, the child now grown, chose of her own volition to be Baptized and led her Mother to be as well. Over a dozen years, the child grew and matured and was elected, ordained and installed as a Deacon, while the Grandmothers aged and passed, and the young woman began claiming other grandmothers.
The change occurred by refugees from decades of Civil War coming to a new and different country, where they claimed Mrs. Nichols, not as Ann, but with honor as “Grandmother”; where they claimed Jack, not as Mr. Howard or as an Elder, or a Dartmouth Grad, all of which he was/is, but in a faith relationship as “Grandfather”. In this and a thousand circumstances in our community, this change reinforced that you are a Pastor, not by years of education, not by ordination, but by accepting there are times when we need to be in a place not because we want or we receive anything for it, but because people need a Pastor. Where it would be wrong to preach your personal agenda or politics, because people need someone who gathers them in the name of Jesus Christ.
The change occurred by the Session determining that as The First Presbyterian Church we want to assist people with the resources of faith when people need us, to share weddings and the Sacraments, the building, to share in mission and in ministry regardless of membership sharing what people need, with sincerity and integrity.
A short-time ago, NPR interviewed a Movie Producer and Director, who described that people get into leadership, in politics, theater and movies, out of a desire for Validation, wanting to be applauded, wanting to stimulate emotion, wanting you to believe their story. He described having gone several years to a counselor, and after several months the therapist said “When are you going to stop trying to get me to like you and name what is bothering you what you have done wrong?” The Church does not seek validation, we are responsible for giving Validation! Whether a person committed murder, they thought painful images for the other person in their mind; they committed atrocious sins or were sinned against, our role in forgiveness is to Validate Humanity that still you are loved by God, still you are able to be forgiven, still we are in relationship, no matter what. Is that not what Jesus did for us once and for all time on the Cross as Savior? Teaching us that we are loved!
Culture has a formative power over us as human beings, we want to fit in, we want to succeed, we want to get along. But there are cultures which become destructive to life, destructive to human dignity. At those times, the Church which often is part of the culture providing validation and comfort to the challenged, must also be counter-cultural, offering a different formative power: not to succeed, not to win, but to challenge, to forgive, to claim, to empower.
According to the Old Testament, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had everything they could desire. Looking out over their kingdom, the King realized that adjacent to his palace and estate was a fertile little acre of property, owned by Naboth. The King wanted to possess this parcel of land to create a vegetable garden. Have you ever wanted something? Wanted it so badly that you could only see your own perspective, your own need, regardless of anyone else? The King tried to make a deal for the land; but to Naboth, this was not just land, this was not simply a vegetable garden, this is his inheritance, this acre of land was given to his family in the division of Moses! This land had been cleared by his ancestors' sweat, this land represented to him: his parents, his grandparents back seven and eight generations! Showing how corrupt the culture had become at forming people's values, when the King of all Israel and Samaria could not get what he wanted, he did not choose a different parcel, he did not offer a creative solution like share cropping Naboth's land, he went to bed and pouted. Whereupon Jezebel, who cared nothing for the culture or their faith, arranged a religious celebration, during which two unscrupulous fellows would be contracted to lie, to cause murder, a public execution by the State of the pawn who stood in the way of the King. After the deed was done, after the King's power has been abused, after religion has been manipulated, after Naboth has been killed, the King goes to inspect his new Garden, where he is confronted by the Prrophet Elijah, who reminds him of his relationship to God, reminds him of his relationship to serve the People, and his responsibilities as King. And Ahab demonstrates repentance, he takes off his fine clothes to put on Sack cloth, in humility, he prays to God for forgiveness, he fasts receiving nothing for pleasure. Whether Ahab truly repented in his heart, or whether this was just for show, does not matter to the Bible. He acted in the way necessary to be forgiven, and God forgives, at least within Ahab's own generation.
This week, a man came to see me from Tennessee, claiming to be on his way to Canada, looking for work. He was out of gas for his red Volvo. We acted in faith, we acted to help someone in need. The next evening on the news, there was description of the arrest of a man, this same man, driving a red Volvo stolen in Ohio. We try. There are no set answers or curriculum for life. There will be those who take advantage, but still when a person is in need, we respond as a Caring Christian Community.
Part of teaching, is not only the content, but also the context for what occurs. Jesus was invited into the home of a Pharisee for dinner. Mealtime is naturally intimate, this is your family, gathered together, where you feed guests from your table. According to custom, in a culture where one was barefoot or wore sandals, when you entered the house, you offered your guests not only to take off their shoes, but to wash their feet, leaving behind the soot and grime of the world outside. SO over dinner, when the Pharisee challenged Jesus that if he were really a prophet and teacher, he would have known that the woman displaying overt affection to him was one who sold her affections, who sold her intimacy, who sold her body for money. Jesus response was: culturally as Host, you should have washed my feet and personally welcomed me as an intimate trusted friend, but did not; she has bathed my feet with her tears and wiped them with her own hair, she has not been offensive, but has been personal and comforting in her human touch.
The irony of Jesus' challenging the Pharisee's hypocrisy, is that Jesus asked which one would be more thankful, one forgiven a little or forgiven a great deal? When in faith, it does not matter how large or how small the sin. Brokenness is brokenness. Whether a gigantic insult to God, or as tiny as a grain of sand, the sin rubs and wears on our relationship with God until repented and forgiven. According to Human Nature, the individual may be more thankful when forgiven more, but according to the Faith Relationship: A sin is a sin.
In many ways what we are doing in this Reformational Change, what we seek to become is more like the Christian Community of the First and Second Century, and less the institution that has at times been guilty of sin. How then shall we teach? By our relationships, by our being real with one another. I am told that during one of those earlier Mission Studies, the question came from one of the Session members, we had a Senior Pastor, we have had Co-Pastors, we have had an Interim Pastor, when we have a Real Pastor... when suddenly they realized what they had said to the Interim Pastor. From that time forward, the Installed Pastor has been referred to as “The Real Pastor.” Yet what we are naming, what we are trying to do, is for the Church to become Real.Would that our perceptions and our values, and our identification of ourselves as Christians were based on our being real with one another.
Then we would not try to dress 2 year olds up in tuxedos coaxing them to walk up an aisle at weddings as if adults. We would not have to worry about whether divorced parents could sit together for they would each attend a wedding to be present for their child. May our tears be real. May our relationships be personal. There are no easy answers, no one way of teaching, except to commit ourselves, attentive to what the Holy Spirit is Calling us to consider. The awesome power of faith, is that the Scriptures speak to us, of the coveting of Oil in the Gulf that has led to devastation; the coveting of Oil and Power and Land in the Middle East, that time after time has led to War; but also, that these same passages can speak to us personally, individually and intimately, about the coveting and hypocrisy of our lives; and the perpetual need of the Church to Reform as moved by the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
June 6, 2010 Limping After Two
I Kings 18:17-24
Luke 7: 18-28
While this day: 6 June 1944, is remembered as D Day for the Allied Invasion of Normandy, according to the Scriptures this is a day to remember a different kind of battle, a war of Idols vs God, a contest of Faith & Trust.
Rather than armies and Nations being at war, in the Old Testament there is a contest for a Peoples' soul and faith, generally described as all 450 Priests and Prophets of Baal who served Queen Jezebel versus The Prophet Elijah; in the New Testament between expectations of What Would Jesus Do / what the Savior did defying expectations. Would that the focus of our attention, was not on Oil, Power, Jobs, Economies, Weapons of Mass Destruction, but instead on Faith. We believe in Idols of our own making, the prestige of our homes, the power of our investments, our political allegiances, all of which we whip ourselves up into a frenzy defending;instead of simply trusting God Whether we seek a Messiah to create the revolution we want, making gods who will do our will, or whether we seek a Savior who cares about others, about the lost, the poor, the wounded and afraid?
Until Seminary, somehow this story had been lost on me, having heard the follow up of Elijah in the Cave and the Still Small Voice, countless times. The Contest on Mt. Carmel is an epic event deciding between the Worship of the Fertility gods of Baal and Trust in God, with 450 Prophets and Priests of Baal on one side, and Elijah feeling very alone on the other. But this is Not a Theological Debate of Dogma, not a question of numbers, influence or power, the reality is that in All The Middle East, Egypt, Israel, Sidon, it had not rained for seven years. Crops, lakes and rivers had dried up. In CNY, we are accustomed to complaining about Winter, it began snowing before Halloween and it snowed even on Mother's Day, which we blame for people moving to Florida, along with businesses and the problems of the economy. Yet, in other places around the world, in recent weeks, there have been earthquakes, tidal waves, fires, hurricanes, oil spills, and drought. In a harsh climate like Israel, where water means life, a drought could be as severe a death for a Nation as the floods of Noah, or the Red Sea closing down on Pharaoh and his Chariots. And while the snow, earthquakes, oil spills and global warming may in many ways be attributed to our actions, the Drought upon Israel in the days of Elijah were because the people had no trust.
In desperate times, people begin to question and vacillate. If others are playing the lottery, maybe we should? If everyone else is purchasing homes beyond their means, borrowing against future credit to have what we want, why shouldn't we? Why not plagiarize? Why not try internet dating, it is not really cheating, who is to know? Elijah feels as though he is standing alone, before the King, before the whole Nation, with enormous opposition.
SO Elijah creates this contest, we will each offer a sacrifice, and which ever Offering is accepted, will cause the drought to end, the rains to come, and theirs will be the true God. In times of extreme stress, what is at issue often seems lost by what might be the results of our mistakes. Queen Jezebel adds a side wager, adding pressure, raising the conflict level: When you lose for having stood up against the Queen your own life will be sacrificed. The Priests and Prophets of Baal Worship, make their Offering, and as their worship is about calling attention to their needs and desires, they begin screaming and crying for attention, when there is no response, they begin inflicting pain upon themselves and one another to cause their gods to do what they desire. Demonstrating that nothing can prevent God from being in relationship with the people, Nothing can prevent God from accepting a true offering, Elijah has buckets and buckets of water poured over the Offering he made, 12 Stone jars full, so much water, that this parched dry earth has standing water like a moat around the offering. He prays in the name of our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with a faith like Moses, and his offering, his sacrifice to God is accepted.
The nuance of this story is the figure of Obadiah. Many of us empathize with him. Obadiah is the Chief of Staff for King Ahab, but Obadiah also believes in God. So while he works at his job faithfully, doing everything he is commanded, when opportunity presents itself, he also protects and hides and feeds 100 prophets of Israel. King Ahab sent Obadiah to feed and water the King's Horses. People may starve or die of thirst, but the military's horses had to be protected. And while going to feed and water the Horses of the King, Obadiah feeds and waters the Prophets of Israel hidden in caves. Obadiah like the Nation, like many of us, tries to have a foot in both camps, to honor God and protect the faith, while serving the King who seeks to have Elijah and all faith in God: killed. A faith like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, is not a Polytheistic faith in everything, but a Monotheistic faith in one thing over all all others, To believe in God.
For Elijah you cannot plant your foot in two places. You cannot cheat your spouse, wrong your neighbor, lie, and also sit down at table to give thanks to God for God's blessings. Tragically, it seems we as a culture, have forgotten the meaning of words, especially when said as a vow. We marry and divorce, describing this as a contract, a legal partnership broken, rather than believing the trust of the Vow that for Better or Worse, Richer or Poorer, in both Sickness and Health, as long as we shall live, we will serve one another.
God accepts the offering of Elijah. The Prophet Elijah wins the Contest. The drought is ended. But before everyone can go home, The Prophet of Israel, commands that all the prophets and priests of Baal be killed. Often times people will claim that the Old Testament is too violent; I think perhaps a part of our fear of the Old Testament is the absolute conviction, the lack of any equivocation, to be true to God or not.
Luke's story of Jesus and John's Disciples, is in a different setting. Hundreds of years after Ahab and Jezebel, after Alexander the Great invaded the land for the Greeks, after the Ptolomeys, Israel had rebelled under Judas Maccabeus, for a brief time to be a free and independent Nation, until once again the Caesars of Rome had created an Empire. The people, including John the Baptist and his disciples had been waiting for a new Messiah, one sent by God for their liberation, a Savior to set the people free. These disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus: Are you he, or shall we seek another?”
What Jesus challenges, is not the people's allegiance to the Empire or Gods of Rome. They came wanting him to be their Messiah, to do as they commanded. Jesus reframes what it means to be The Messiah, to be their Savior. Not a leader of a Revolution, attempting to overthrow one political party for another, one Empire for a different government; but instead that he had come to fulfill what Isaiah had prophesied. Which revolution do you seek, a military coup, the ousting of those who have not done what we wanted when we wanted, is that not making our government and leaders into idols like Baal, whom we can cal upon when we desire, expecting that if we cry loud enough, they will act? Or that the blind might see and the lame dance, the deaf hear and the mute sing? To trade governments, to embrace “change,” is often to keep your feet firmly planted in a place of drought, expecting a different set of Idols, a different Government or Empire might fix our lives. What Jesus calls for is a leap of faith, to believe in changed lives.
The most wonderful element of this dialogue, is that Jesus does not criticize the government or John, but asks the people to see with their own eyes, that others are cared for, and to take no offense at this. Pilate questioned if Jesus were claiming to be a King? The Pharisees and Leaders of the community were offended that he did not associate with them exclusively, but instead that he cared for the orphaned, the tax collectors and prostitutes. So often when we question “What would Jesus Do?” what we want is for Jesus to do our bidding, to be our Savior saving us from what we want, instead of wondering. We cannot cure Cancers, but we can make certain that those with Cancer do not give up hope, are not alone. We cannot prevent people from aging, but as a community of faith we have provided a home for those who cannot maintain a home any longer. We cannot feed the world, but working side by side with Catholics and Episcopalians, Methodists and members of the Pentecostal Church we can help those suffering hard times to get through this. We cannot change the whole world, but we have given quality health care to a suffering people in a war-torn, impoverished part of SubSaharan East Africa. We can support those who are building a school and clinic in Haiti. Even more, we can forgive one another. We can make a humble offering of ourselves, asking God to forgive us.
Luke 7: 18-28
While this day: 6 June 1944, is remembered as D Day for the Allied Invasion of Normandy, according to the Scriptures this is a day to remember a different kind of battle, a war of Idols vs God, a contest of Faith & Trust.
Rather than armies and Nations being at war, in the Old Testament there is a contest for a Peoples' soul and faith, generally described as all 450 Priests and Prophets of Baal who served Queen Jezebel versus The Prophet Elijah; in the New Testament between expectations of What Would Jesus Do / what the Savior did defying expectations. Would that the focus of our attention, was not on Oil, Power, Jobs, Economies, Weapons of Mass Destruction, but instead on Faith. We believe in Idols of our own making, the prestige of our homes, the power of our investments, our political allegiances, all of which we whip ourselves up into a frenzy defending;instead of simply trusting God Whether we seek a Messiah to create the revolution we want, making gods who will do our will, or whether we seek a Savior who cares about others, about the lost, the poor, the wounded and afraid?
Until Seminary, somehow this story had been lost on me, having heard the follow up of Elijah in the Cave and the Still Small Voice, countless times. The Contest on Mt. Carmel is an epic event deciding between the Worship of the Fertility gods of Baal and Trust in God, with 450 Prophets and Priests of Baal on one side, and Elijah feeling very alone on the other. But this is Not a Theological Debate of Dogma, not a question of numbers, influence or power, the reality is that in All The Middle East, Egypt, Israel, Sidon, it had not rained for seven years. Crops, lakes and rivers had dried up. In CNY, we are accustomed to complaining about Winter, it began snowing before Halloween and it snowed even on Mother's Day, which we blame for people moving to Florida, along with businesses and the problems of the economy. Yet, in other places around the world, in recent weeks, there have been earthquakes, tidal waves, fires, hurricanes, oil spills, and drought. In a harsh climate like Israel, where water means life, a drought could be as severe a death for a Nation as the floods of Noah, or the Red Sea closing down on Pharaoh and his Chariots. And while the snow, earthquakes, oil spills and global warming may in many ways be attributed to our actions, the Drought upon Israel in the days of Elijah were because the people had no trust.
In desperate times, people begin to question and vacillate. If others are playing the lottery, maybe we should? If everyone else is purchasing homes beyond their means, borrowing against future credit to have what we want, why shouldn't we? Why not plagiarize? Why not try internet dating, it is not really cheating, who is to know? Elijah feels as though he is standing alone, before the King, before the whole Nation, with enormous opposition.
SO Elijah creates this contest, we will each offer a sacrifice, and which ever Offering is accepted, will cause the drought to end, the rains to come, and theirs will be the true God. In times of extreme stress, what is at issue often seems lost by what might be the results of our mistakes. Queen Jezebel adds a side wager, adding pressure, raising the conflict level: When you lose for having stood up against the Queen your own life will be sacrificed. The Priests and Prophets of Baal Worship, make their Offering, and as their worship is about calling attention to their needs and desires, they begin screaming and crying for attention, when there is no response, they begin inflicting pain upon themselves and one another to cause their gods to do what they desire. Demonstrating that nothing can prevent God from being in relationship with the people, Nothing can prevent God from accepting a true offering, Elijah has buckets and buckets of water poured over the Offering he made, 12 Stone jars full, so much water, that this parched dry earth has standing water like a moat around the offering. He prays in the name of our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with a faith like Moses, and his offering, his sacrifice to God is accepted.
The nuance of this story is the figure of Obadiah. Many of us empathize with him. Obadiah is the Chief of Staff for King Ahab, but Obadiah also believes in God. So while he works at his job faithfully, doing everything he is commanded, when opportunity presents itself, he also protects and hides and feeds 100 prophets of Israel. King Ahab sent Obadiah to feed and water the King's Horses. People may starve or die of thirst, but the military's horses had to be protected. And while going to feed and water the Horses of the King, Obadiah feeds and waters the Prophets of Israel hidden in caves. Obadiah like the Nation, like many of us, tries to have a foot in both camps, to honor God and protect the faith, while serving the King who seeks to have Elijah and all faith in God: killed. A faith like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, is not a Polytheistic faith in everything, but a Monotheistic faith in one thing over all all others, To believe in God.
For Elijah you cannot plant your foot in two places. You cannot cheat your spouse, wrong your neighbor, lie, and also sit down at table to give thanks to God for God's blessings. Tragically, it seems we as a culture, have forgotten the meaning of words, especially when said as a vow. We marry and divorce, describing this as a contract, a legal partnership broken, rather than believing the trust of the Vow that for Better or Worse, Richer or Poorer, in both Sickness and Health, as long as we shall live, we will serve one another.
God accepts the offering of Elijah. The Prophet Elijah wins the Contest. The drought is ended. But before everyone can go home, The Prophet of Israel, commands that all the prophets and priests of Baal be killed. Often times people will claim that the Old Testament is too violent; I think perhaps a part of our fear of the Old Testament is the absolute conviction, the lack of any equivocation, to be true to God or not.
Luke's story of Jesus and John's Disciples, is in a different setting. Hundreds of years after Ahab and Jezebel, after Alexander the Great invaded the land for the Greeks, after the Ptolomeys, Israel had rebelled under Judas Maccabeus, for a brief time to be a free and independent Nation, until once again the Caesars of Rome had created an Empire. The people, including John the Baptist and his disciples had been waiting for a new Messiah, one sent by God for their liberation, a Savior to set the people free. These disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus: Are you he, or shall we seek another?”
What Jesus challenges, is not the people's allegiance to the Empire or Gods of Rome. They came wanting him to be their Messiah, to do as they commanded. Jesus reframes what it means to be The Messiah, to be their Savior. Not a leader of a Revolution, attempting to overthrow one political party for another, one Empire for a different government; but instead that he had come to fulfill what Isaiah had prophesied. Which revolution do you seek, a military coup, the ousting of those who have not done what we wanted when we wanted, is that not making our government and leaders into idols like Baal, whom we can cal upon when we desire, expecting that if we cry loud enough, they will act? Or that the blind might see and the lame dance, the deaf hear and the mute sing? To trade governments, to embrace “change,” is often to keep your feet firmly planted in a place of drought, expecting a different set of Idols, a different Government or Empire might fix our lives. What Jesus calls for is a leap of faith, to believe in changed lives.
The most wonderful element of this dialogue, is that Jesus does not criticize the government or John, but asks the people to see with their own eyes, that others are cared for, and to take no offense at this. Pilate questioned if Jesus were claiming to be a King? The Pharisees and Leaders of the community were offended that he did not associate with them exclusively, but instead that he cared for the orphaned, the tax collectors and prostitutes. So often when we question “What would Jesus Do?” what we want is for Jesus to do our bidding, to be our Savior saving us from what we want, instead of wondering. We cannot cure Cancers, but we can make certain that those with Cancer do not give up hope, are not alone. We cannot prevent people from aging, but as a community of faith we have provided a home for those who cannot maintain a home any longer. We cannot feed the world, but working side by side with Catholics and Episcopalians, Methodists and members of the Pentecostal Church we can help those suffering hard times to get through this. We cannot change the whole world, but we have given quality health care to a suffering people in a war-torn, impoverished part of SubSaharan East Africa. We can support those who are building a school and clinic in Haiti. Even more, we can forgive one another. We can make a humble offering of ourselves, asking God to forgive us.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Doxology, May 30, 2010
Proverbs 8
John 16:12-16
This morning's sermon is a reminder of what to do when life gets out of sorts.
For there will come times when we are surprised by friends and family and the community, recognizing good works that have gone unacknowledged, and we are taken off guard. There will come holidays, adding more to our already busy lives. Baptism and faith, ordination, marriage, do not provide us with safety or security or guarantees of comfort. No where in all of Scripture, does God proclaim: “Settle and be comfortable, take life for granted!” But rather: “Peace, Be still and know that there is a God.”
Bubbling crude oil being churned up from 5000 feet below the ocean's surface seems like Chaos unleashed spreading and blanketing over the face of the deep, over the oceans of the earth, suffocating plants and fish, birds and life itself. Watching helplessly as our infants and our elders cease to take nourishment, as marriages crumble, being told what has been done with our life's assets, as hopes are consumed by debt and doubt make all of us want to scream. Witnessing as sons and daughters, husbands and wives go off to war, fighting for peace when common citizens wire themselves as human bombs, make us desire to hide our people from their responsibilities, to keep our loved ones from harm, when long ago we planted noble seeds in them of fighting for what you believe in, making the world a better place, doing for others who could not do for themselves.
First, to have Wisdom: that before the world was created, before time and space, before life itself, God created Wisdom as a companion, a co-creator with God. The ancients described that while God is One, God created wisdom as separate and intricately connected to all God does, in order that God could create and wisdom interweave connections between all that God created. Before time and space, before separate Continents, Nations and Peoples, God made us one. There are limits and boundaries to all that exists, which define who we are, as unique and separate, but there are also connections and dependencies, that removing any one element, without you, all the world is out of balance.
Lest we imagine these connections are only theoretical, only an imagined overlay of current science and politics, recognize that this passage PROVERBS 8 played a critical role in the development of Christianity related to and distinct from Judaism, as well as in the separation of the Christian Church East and West.
For Judaism, interpreted “Wisdom” as being “Torah” the Law as handed down through Moses; while Christianity reinterpreted “Wisdom” here to be the “Christ”. It is too easy for us, to read back into history, interpreting what has been as the pre-existence of what we know; which does harm to the text and to history by denial of what the word and events meant to that people in that time. Torah, the Law of Relationship with God as handed down by Moses, is one revelation of Wisdom. So also, is the Christ, the incarnation of God with us, suffering for sins of humanity, acting in grace/ compassion, to overcome any limitation separating us from God, is a revelation of what this Wisdom in Proverbs 8 describes. BUT ALSO, for the believer when these words were written, “The Wisdom of God” meant something else, something playful, imaginary, mythic, for the phrase “The beginning of God's Work” is a phrase used only one other time in Scripture, in the Book of Job describing the fantasy, the playful pet of God: “Behemoth, begotten at the Beginning of God's Work.” So Wisdom, is more than understanding, greater than our most intricate theories or hyperboles. Wisdom is fanciful, incorporating myth and imagination into reason and logic. Wisdom is The Law of God's Relationship, naming what is Sin. Wisdom is Immanuel, God being One with Us.
The controversy of Arianism split the Church in the 4th Century, leading to the Council of Nicea, which we know through the Nicean Creed. Arius interpreted “The LORD created me at the Beginning” as meaning that there was a time before Christ, when God was alone, and that Wisdom, the Christ, the Law was created by God out of something other than God. The poetic language of the Nicean Creed, sought to explain “Created at the Beginning” to mean “Begotten”, of one substance with and inseparable from God, God of God, Light of light.
One of the Children asked a few weeks ago: “where did God come from, who made God?” From before time and space did exist, God was, before anything. And with God was this Wisdom, this playful companion, the Law of Right relationships, the Christ of Compassion, Grace and Love that bind us to God, and this Wisdom, this Law, this Christ are one in substance and being with who we know God to be.
In assurance for all our fears and lack of control, there is wisdom that before anything else, part of the very substance of what it is to be God is the LAW, GRACE, REDEMPTION of the Lost. Just as Wisdom, which defies our best language and thought and imagination, was before CREATION, so also Jesus words recorded in the Gospel of John, are that there is much we still do not know.
In order to be a Ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church USA, it is required that you earn a Bachelors Degree, then a Masters from an Accredited Seminary. Then to take written Ordination Exams, not unlike the Medical Boards or State Bar Exam for Lawyers. After which, and after finding a Church which wants to Call you for a specific position, you attend a Presbytery Meeting during which the Elders and Ministers are able to ask any questions they desire, to satisfy themselves, that you are prepared and qualified to minister, writing prayers, preaching sermons, caring for people in times when there are no answers. 26 years ago, I stood before a Presbytery as they asked questions for over an hour, questions about the Virgin Birth & Mission, Homosexuality, Nuclear Weapons, Ecumenism and AIDS, Pastoral care in times of Conflict, Life and Death, all of which were the hot issues of the Church at that time. The final question was whether a Person needed to name the name of Jesus in order to be forgiven? I recall interpreting that Christ had been from before the Beginning, that Jesus had entered human history once, long ago, for all time, to redeem the world from what we had done to one another and to God, and that I believe in the Holy Spirit. But that if there were some people, who had never known the name of Jesus, that I believed in the love of God and the power of the Spirit to try by whatever means possible to love them, and that it was not up to me to decide whether that people would be condemned for what they did not know, but only for us to continue to try to extend the love of God to them. At which point, I was excused form the Sanctuary, while the Presbytery debated this answer for an additional hour. When someone finally came to get me, I entered the Sanctuary to the Presbytery rising to sing the DOXOLOGY of Old 100th. Doxology is the affirmation of faith that: All Blessings Come From God, that We Are One With All Creatures, that Before and After Human Time, there is God.
We may get frustrated with life. We may agonize over problems that seem to have no end and spoil Creation, spoil marriages and families. We can get angry with God, that our daughters and sons , wives and husbands at War and driving on the Expressway, or surfing on the Internet, ARE in harms way. But no mater what, there is God. Whether we rail against, or praise, whether we share tears of fears, or sing, we do so trusting in God.
John 16:12-16
This morning's sermon is a reminder of what to do when life gets out of sorts.
For there will come times when we are surprised by friends and family and the community, recognizing good works that have gone unacknowledged, and we are taken off guard. There will come holidays, adding more to our already busy lives. Baptism and faith, ordination, marriage, do not provide us with safety or security or guarantees of comfort. No where in all of Scripture, does God proclaim: “Settle and be comfortable, take life for granted!” But rather: “Peace, Be still and know that there is a God.”
Bubbling crude oil being churned up from 5000 feet below the ocean's surface seems like Chaos unleashed spreading and blanketing over the face of the deep, over the oceans of the earth, suffocating plants and fish, birds and life itself. Watching helplessly as our infants and our elders cease to take nourishment, as marriages crumble, being told what has been done with our life's assets, as hopes are consumed by debt and doubt make all of us want to scream. Witnessing as sons and daughters, husbands and wives go off to war, fighting for peace when common citizens wire themselves as human bombs, make us desire to hide our people from their responsibilities, to keep our loved ones from harm, when long ago we planted noble seeds in them of fighting for what you believe in, making the world a better place, doing for others who could not do for themselves.
First, to have Wisdom: that before the world was created, before time and space, before life itself, God created Wisdom as a companion, a co-creator with God. The ancients described that while God is One, God created wisdom as separate and intricately connected to all God does, in order that God could create and wisdom interweave connections between all that God created. Before time and space, before separate Continents, Nations and Peoples, God made us one. There are limits and boundaries to all that exists, which define who we are, as unique and separate, but there are also connections and dependencies, that removing any one element, without you, all the world is out of balance.
Lest we imagine these connections are only theoretical, only an imagined overlay of current science and politics, recognize that this passage PROVERBS 8 played a critical role in the development of Christianity related to and distinct from Judaism, as well as in the separation of the Christian Church East and West.
For Judaism, interpreted “Wisdom” as being “Torah” the Law as handed down through Moses; while Christianity reinterpreted “Wisdom” here to be the “Christ”. It is too easy for us, to read back into history, interpreting what has been as the pre-existence of what we know; which does harm to the text and to history by denial of what the word and events meant to that people in that time. Torah, the Law of Relationship with God as handed down by Moses, is one revelation of Wisdom. So also, is the Christ, the incarnation of God with us, suffering for sins of humanity, acting in grace/ compassion, to overcome any limitation separating us from God, is a revelation of what this Wisdom in Proverbs 8 describes. BUT ALSO, for the believer when these words were written, “The Wisdom of God” meant something else, something playful, imaginary, mythic, for the phrase “The beginning of God's Work” is a phrase used only one other time in Scripture, in the Book of Job describing the fantasy, the playful pet of God: “Behemoth, begotten at the Beginning of God's Work.” So Wisdom, is more than understanding, greater than our most intricate theories or hyperboles. Wisdom is fanciful, incorporating myth and imagination into reason and logic. Wisdom is The Law of God's Relationship, naming what is Sin. Wisdom is Immanuel, God being One with Us.
The controversy of Arianism split the Church in the 4th Century, leading to the Council of Nicea, which we know through the Nicean Creed. Arius interpreted “The LORD created me at the Beginning” as meaning that there was a time before Christ, when God was alone, and that Wisdom, the Christ, the Law was created by God out of something other than God. The poetic language of the Nicean Creed, sought to explain “Created at the Beginning” to mean “Begotten”, of one substance with and inseparable from God, God of God, Light of light.
One of the Children asked a few weeks ago: “where did God come from, who made God?” From before time and space did exist, God was, before anything. And with God was this Wisdom, this playful companion, the Law of Right relationships, the Christ of Compassion, Grace and Love that bind us to God, and this Wisdom, this Law, this Christ are one in substance and being with who we know God to be.
In assurance for all our fears and lack of control, there is wisdom that before anything else, part of the very substance of what it is to be God is the LAW, GRACE, REDEMPTION of the Lost. Just as Wisdom, which defies our best language and thought and imagination, was before CREATION, so also Jesus words recorded in the Gospel of John, are that there is much we still do not know.
In order to be a Ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church USA, it is required that you earn a Bachelors Degree, then a Masters from an Accredited Seminary. Then to take written Ordination Exams, not unlike the Medical Boards or State Bar Exam for Lawyers. After which, and after finding a Church which wants to Call you for a specific position, you attend a Presbytery Meeting during which the Elders and Ministers are able to ask any questions they desire, to satisfy themselves, that you are prepared and qualified to minister, writing prayers, preaching sermons, caring for people in times when there are no answers. 26 years ago, I stood before a Presbytery as they asked questions for over an hour, questions about the Virgin Birth & Mission, Homosexuality, Nuclear Weapons, Ecumenism and AIDS, Pastoral care in times of Conflict, Life and Death, all of which were the hot issues of the Church at that time. The final question was whether a Person needed to name the name of Jesus in order to be forgiven? I recall interpreting that Christ had been from before the Beginning, that Jesus had entered human history once, long ago, for all time, to redeem the world from what we had done to one another and to God, and that I believe in the Holy Spirit. But that if there were some people, who had never known the name of Jesus, that I believed in the love of God and the power of the Spirit to try by whatever means possible to love them, and that it was not up to me to decide whether that people would be condemned for what they did not know, but only for us to continue to try to extend the love of God to them. At which point, I was excused form the Sanctuary, while the Presbytery debated this answer for an additional hour. When someone finally came to get me, I entered the Sanctuary to the Presbytery rising to sing the DOXOLOGY of Old 100th. Doxology is the affirmation of faith that: All Blessings Come From God, that We Are One With All Creatures, that Before and After Human Time, there is God.
We may get frustrated with life. We may agonize over problems that seem to have no end and spoil Creation, spoil marriages and families. We can get angry with God, that our daughters and sons , wives and husbands at War and driving on the Expressway, or surfing on the Internet, ARE in harms way. But no mater what, there is God. Whether we rail against, or praise, whether we share tears of fears, or sing, we do so trusting in God.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
May 16, 2010, The Word Revealed
Numbers 22:21-35
Luke 24:44-53
Throughout the last several decades, there has been a growing fear among Church leaders, that the world was becoming illiterate regarding the Bible. My father and grandfather before him, were schooled in a paradigm of education, where when called upon you stood beside your desk and could recite Scripture and Poetry. My grandmother had a degree from Syracuse University in the Art of Elocution. Gone are the days, when the Bible was taught in school, gone also the days of memorization for public recitation. And yet, the Word of God is not gone! Our culture is ingrained with faith, waiting for such a time as this, when SEERS will reveal what we have heard and known, without previously having had the Word's relevance revealed.
We know the Bible to have had Kings: Saul, David, Solomon, Herod. We know the Bible to have had Priests: Aaron, Eli and Samuel. We know the Bible to have had Prophets: Moses, Joshua, Nathan, Elijah & Elisha. But in addition to Kings, Prophets and Priests, there were SEERS, Visionaries, often from the world outside, who make connections and comparisons between disparate ideas, and by so doing reveal Curses and Blessings of the Word. Balaam was a Seer, a Soothsayer, a Shamaan, a Man of Wisdom, sent by the Empire to condemn people of faith.
For the last several weeks, we have been in the Season of Easter, 40 Days of reading the Resurrection narratives. As there were 40 days of Lent in preparation, so also 40 days of Easter's celebration of the Resurrection, during which we have not turned to the Old Testament. As we do, the first passage appointed for us is from the time of Moses' wandering with the Israelites before coming into the Promised Land, wandering in the Wilderness, across the plains of Moab. Like Pharaoh, when the Balaak the King of Moab saw and heard how numerous were these strangers, he sought to enslave and destroy them. The King of this Enemy Empire sent his most powerful weapon against Israel, Balaam who could offer curses to undermine and destroy, curses to cast fear into a people.
Lest we dismiss Balaam's power too quickly, afterall Balaam was not a great General, did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction, all he had was his power to see Spirits and Potentials, to offer Words of Caution and Doubt, realize the power of fear, the ability of doubt to undermine and weaken and destroy. Five years ago, when I went to Sudan the first time, the Chief of All the Dinka pronounced a Blessing and Curse. Chuiee Deng Leek named “If you do this thing, of providing Health Care, you and your community will be blessed. But many others have made promises they did not fulfill, so if you do not, you will be cursed, suffering all your days.” Next morning, I awoke with a high fever and nausea, and wondered about that curse! But, I also believe that having that mission has been a great blessing for this community. Our words do have power. Having a Mission, a Purpose, a Noble Cause to work for is a great Blessing. Cursing others, leaving them in worse than depravity by breaking promises and violating trust, is a curse that east away at our soul.
This ought to be self-evident, the New Testament is over 2000 years old, the Old Testament thousands of years before that, and the power of our words and actions do offer curses and blessings upon others. The truth of faith ought to be firmly planted in our minds, but according to the story, Balaam the SEER who only the day before had seen God, and was now sent by the King of Israel's adversaries to curse the People of God, had blinded himself to all realities other than what he had been told to do. Early in the morning, he saddled his donkey and set out to Curse God's People. Three different times, the donkey saw the Angel of God before them and turned aside, taking abuse for doing so. A question we perpetually need to ask ourselves, is when we react to others, when we abuse them, when people we trusted do not do as we want, What Else May be Going on we cannot see? There are points in this story when you want to ask who is the Donkey? The height of irony is when Balaam wishes for a sword so he could kill this stubborn mule, and he has been blind to see the sword ready to strike him dead.
Folklore has many stories of animals that talk, Fish that can grant wishes, Frogs wishing to be kissed, Lassie always listened and seemed clearly able to think though she communicated in ways other than speech, the Bible has but two, Balaam's donkey and the Serpent in the Garden. Both of which, like All Creation recognize God, like the mountains, lakes and rivers serve as witnesses, and interact with people. As an oil rig continues to spew millions of gallons of toxic chemicals unabated, the earth shudders and quakes beneath us, it's hard to believe Creation is not speaking. The economy of Greece is so deep in debt, that their Nation owes more than their entire Country produces in a year, and our own country is not far different, yet instead of listening to the warnings, instead of changing direction learning from experience to live differently, instead of redemption, people seek some greater power to take away all the problems we have created. When I was seven years of age, I remember my father preaching about Balaam's donkey, and as an illustration he described that his child's favorite television show was about about a talking horse. At Seven, I was proud to be that illustration. At Fifteen, my father recycled his old sermons, describing his son's favorite television show was Mr. Ed, and I was embarrassed it was still true, but I did not want anyone to know. When I was 33 and this had become his favorite sermon illustration, I was more than a little frustrated; but foolishly, I had never heard what the talking donkey had said. We learn in life, we are carefully schooled, that by showing up and doing what is expected we can be average. By applying ourselves, working harder, we can earn the B and can always strive to work harder, to stay up later, to do more to acquire an A. But there are circumstances that no matter how hard we work, how much we apply ourselves, no matter what it costs, we cannot succeed. At those moments in life, we stop in Sabbath to question and reframe differently, to question our faith in God.
That is the power of the Ascension. The disciples had understood they were Called to follow Jesus. They listened attentively to his parables, they assisted as he changed water into wine, and fed 5000 with a few loaves and fish. They were changed from fear to awe and wonder as he calmed the storm and walked upon the water. They did not understand when they shared in Communion with Jesus at the Last Supper, they abandoned and betrayed him only a few hours later when he was arrested. They saw him suffer and die upon the cross and thought it was ended, but instead, they accustomed to a new reality of resurrection. The Empty tomb, walking along the road to Emmaus, gathered in fear for worship in the Upper Room, DEATH could not keep him from them. While for 40 Days and Nights, Jesus appeared to them, all this was preparation for what was to come as IMMORTALITY was changed into ETERNAL LIFE. More than cheating death, this is the realization that the world has changed for ever. Instead of being the TEACHER of Disciples, Instead of SUFFERING on the Cross, Instead of simply CHEATING DEATH by Resurrection, the ASCENSION is Validation that the world was changed, all Humanity was changed by the Word having once in history having been INCARNATE among us, now being ETERNAL.
The Power of CURSES, like the Power of SECRETS, is that they gnaw away at us, growing and building by their hiddenness, lurking in shadows. The Power of BLESSINGS is that Blessings look both Backward and Forward! Al the things we should have seen, should have known throughout a lifetime, come back differently, and we understand that perhaps all this WAS necessary for us to be prepared for this moment. But also, Blessings provide a CHARGE a Mission, a Purpose of living our lives for others. Finally like the Donkey, we recognize the reality of God and we understand life is not our possession, our work, to do our best so as to attain the A, but rather that we are Charged with living life for others.
Why is it Grandparents seem to understand so much more than parents, and often are able to be more forgiving and accommodating? Because through generations, we move from being focused on our life, our getting a job, our getting married to our beloved, our raising our children, to reframing what we can do to bless this child, what we can do support and encourage not ourselves. All that we know from our lifetimes, the Scripture that has become ingrained in our culture and in our life suddenly is revealed as having been present all along, and we live life a s blessing.
The design of this Sanctuary, this place of gathering from life, for life, is that there is no explicit Cross, instead the cross is all around us in the ceiling tiles, in the pattern of the doors, even in the floor beneath the Chancel. So implicit that we would come to know we are surrounded by the cross in all of life, and rather than focusing upon an icon only in this time and place, we would go out into the world blessing others. The Font is on the floor and we pour water every week, to affirm that we are Baptized, claimed by God, Forgiven in order to forgive others. The Table is Central, because in each of our homes, we gather at the Table for sharing life's questions and journey, for discussing hopes and dreams and fears, breaking bread with those we life life for.
The WORD, the Love of God, is all around us, in all Creation, if we only open our eyes to see.
Luke 24:44-53
Throughout the last several decades, there has been a growing fear among Church leaders, that the world was becoming illiterate regarding the Bible. My father and grandfather before him, were schooled in a paradigm of education, where when called upon you stood beside your desk and could recite Scripture and Poetry. My grandmother had a degree from Syracuse University in the Art of Elocution. Gone are the days, when the Bible was taught in school, gone also the days of memorization for public recitation. And yet, the Word of God is not gone! Our culture is ingrained with faith, waiting for such a time as this, when SEERS will reveal what we have heard and known, without previously having had the Word's relevance revealed.
We know the Bible to have had Kings: Saul, David, Solomon, Herod. We know the Bible to have had Priests: Aaron, Eli and Samuel. We know the Bible to have had Prophets: Moses, Joshua, Nathan, Elijah & Elisha. But in addition to Kings, Prophets and Priests, there were SEERS, Visionaries, often from the world outside, who make connections and comparisons between disparate ideas, and by so doing reveal Curses and Blessings of the Word. Balaam was a Seer, a Soothsayer, a Shamaan, a Man of Wisdom, sent by the Empire to condemn people of faith.
For the last several weeks, we have been in the Season of Easter, 40 Days of reading the Resurrection narratives. As there were 40 days of Lent in preparation, so also 40 days of Easter's celebration of the Resurrection, during which we have not turned to the Old Testament. As we do, the first passage appointed for us is from the time of Moses' wandering with the Israelites before coming into the Promised Land, wandering in the Wilderness, across the plains of Moab. Like Pharaoh, when the Balaak the King of Moab saw and heard how numerous were these strangers, he sought to enslave and destroy them. The King of this Enemy Empire sent his most powerful weapon against Israel, Balaam who could offer curses to undermine and destroy, curses to cast fear into a people.
Lest we dismiss Balaam's power too quickly, afterall Balaam was not a great General, did not have Weapons of Mass Destruction, all he had was his power to see Spirits and Potentials, to offer Words of Caution and Doubt, realize the power of fear, the ability of doubt to undermine and weaken and destroy. Five years ago, when I went to Sudan the first time, the Chief of All the Dinka pronounced a Blessing and Curse. Chuiee Deng Leek named “If you do this thing, of providing Health Care, you and your community will be blessed. But many others have made promises they did not fulfill, so if you do not, you will be cursed, suffering all your days.” Next morning, I awoke with a high fever and nausea, and wondered about that curse! But, I also believe that having that mission has been a great blessing for this community. Our words do have power. Having a Mission, a Purpose, a Noble Cause to work for is a great Blessing. Cursing others, leaving them in worse than depravity by breaking promises and violating trust, is a curse that east away at our soul.
This ought to be self-evident, the New Testament is over 2000 years old, the Old Testament thousands of years before that, and the power of our words and actions do offer curses and blessings upon others. The truth of faith ought to be firmly planted in our minds, but according to the story, Balaam the SEER who only the day before had seen God, and was now sent by the King of Israel's adversaries to curse the People of God, had blinded himself to all realities other than what he had been told to do. Early in the morning, he saddled his donkey and set out to Curse God's People. Three different times, the donkey saw the Angel of God before them and turned aside, taking abuse for doing so. A question we perpetually need to ask ourselves, is when we react to others, when we abuse them, when people we trusted do not do as we want, What Else May be Going on we cannot see? There are points in this story when you want to ask who is the Donkey? The height of irony is when Balaam wishes for a sword so he could kill this stubborn mule, and he has been blind to see the sword ready to strike him dead.
Folklore has many stories of animals that talk, Fish that can grant wishes, Frogs wishing to be kissed, Lassie always listened and seemed clearly able to think though she communicated in ways other than speech, the Bible has but two, Balaam's donkey and the Serpent in the Garden. Both of which, like All Creation recognize God, like the mountains, lakes and rivers serve as witnesses, and interact with people. As an oil rig continues to spew millions of gallons of toxic chemicals unabated, the earth shudders and quakes beneath us, it's hard to believe Creation is not speaking. The economy of Greece is so deep in debt, that their Nation owes more than their entire Country produces in a year, and our own country is not far different, yet instead of listening to the warnings, instead of changing direction learning from experience to live differently, instead of redemption, people seek some greater power to take away all the problems we have created. When I was seven years of age, I remember my father preaching about Balaam's donkey, and as an illustration he described that his child's favorite television show was about about a talking horse. At Seven, I was proud to be that illustration. At Fifteen, my father recycled his old sermons, describing his son's favorite television show was Mr. Ed, and I was embarrassed it was still true, but I did not want anyone to know. When I was 33 and this had become his favorite sermon illustration, I was more than a little frustrated; but foolishly, I had never heard what the talking donkey had said. We learn in life, we are carefully schooled, that by showing up and doing what is expected we can be average. By applying ourselves, working harder, we can earn the B and can always strive to work harder, to stay up later, to do more to acquire an A. But there are circumstances that no matter how hard we work, how much we apply ourselves, no matter what it costs, we cannot succeed. At those moments in life, we stop in Sabbath to question and reframe differently, to question our faith in God.
That is the power of the Ascension. The disciples had understood they were Called to follow Jesus. They listened attentively to his parables, they assisted as he changed water into wine, and fed 5000 with a few loaves and fish. They were changed from fear to awe and wonder as he calmed the storm and walked upon the water. They did not understand when they shared in Communion with Jesus at the Last Supper, they abandoned and betrayed him only a few hours later when he was arrested. They saw him suffer and die upon the cross and thought it was ended, but instead, they accustomed to a new reality of resurrection. The Empty tomb, walking along the road to Emmaus, gathered in fear for worship in the Upper Room, DEATH could not keep him from them. While for 40 Days and Nights, Jesus appeared to them, all this was preparation for what was to come as IMMORTALITY was changed into ETERNAL LIFE. More than cheating death, this is the realization that the world has changed for ever. Instead of being the TEACHER of Disciples, Instead of SUFFERING on the Cross, Instead of simply CHEATING DEATH by Resurrection, the ASCENSION is Validation that the world was changed, all Humanity was changed by the Word having once in history having been INCARNATE among us, now being ETERNAL.
The Power of CURSES, like the Power of SECRETS, is that they gnaw away at us, growing and building by their hiddenness, lurking in shadows. The Power of BLESSINGS is that Blessings look both Backward and Forward! Al the things we should have seen, should have known throughout a lifetime, come back differently, and we understand that perhaps all this WAS necessary for us to be prepared for this moment. But also, Blessings provide a CHARGE a Mission, a Purpose of living our lives for others. Finally like the Donkey, we recognize the reality of God and we understand life is not our possession, our work, to do our best so as to attain the A, but rather that we are Charged with living life for others.
Why is it Grandparents seem to understand so much more than parents, and often are able to be more forgiving and accommodating? Because through generations, we move from being focused on our life, our getting a job, our getting married to our beloved, our raising our children, to reframing what we can do to bless this child, what we can do support and encourage not ourselves. All that we know from our lifetimes, the Scripture that has become ingrained in our culture and in our life suddenly is revealed as having been present all along, and we live life a s blessing.
The design of this Sanctuary, this place of gathering from life, for life, is that there is no explicit Cross, instead the cross is all around us in the ceiling tiles, in the pattern of the doors, even in the floor beneath the Chancel. So implicit that we would come to know we are surrounded by the cross in all of life, and rather than focusing upon an icon only in this time and place, we would go out into the world blessing others. The Font is on the floor and we pour water every week, to affirm that we are Baptized, claimed by God, Forgiven in order to forgive others. The Table is Central, because in each of our homes, we gather at the Table for sharing life's questions and journey, for discussing hopes and dreams and fears, breaking bread with those we life life for.
The WORD, the Love of God, is all around us, in all Creation, if we only open our eyes to see.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
UnShackling Ideas, May 9, 2010
John 5:1-9
Acts 16:9-15
Friday evening, after a Wedding rehearsal, while John and Martha were at the hospital, a group of us went to the airport to welcome home a young man named Tom, who has spent the last five months in Sudan at the Clinic. Over dinner, the waitress asked what was the occasion, and Tom introduced himself. I thought he would say: I have been in Africa for the last 5 months; I imagined he might begin: I have been expanding a clinic in S. Sudan; my expectation was that he might begin: Do you know about the Lost Boys, John Dau, or the Film God Grew Tired Of Us? But instead, I heard this young man, whose family are Catholic describe “The First Presbyterian Church in Skaneateles created a Foundation to provide Health Care in South Sudan, and I have just returned from five months of witnessing miracles daily.”
Expectations are important to us. Expectations allow us to move quickly through our day without having to fear. Easter morning, 6 weeks ago, was 85 degrees! It is the middle of May, we have mowed our lawns, birds have built their nests and hatched their young, Apple blossoms have pollinated, and suddenly on Mother's Day the Lilacs and Forsythia are covered in flocking of snow! Life is filled with miracles, surprises. While we amass our expectations and understandings of reality, as Creatures of God we need to UNSHACKLE IDEAS to question what is at the heart of all we have taken for granted.
Throughout the world, there are places and experiences which change us. Visiting the Grand Canyon, looking out over miles of rocks etched and washed away a mile deep. Niagara Falls with the power of millions of gallons of water rushing by, all the Honeymooners and Immigrants who have made wishes here. Walking the Great Wall of China, Climbing Mount Everest, soaking in Hot Springs, Drinking Water from Skaneateles. The Pools at Bethesda were believed to have healing powers. During the days of Franklin Roosevelt, the President was searching for a place to locate the National Institute of Health, and just outside Washington DC there is a City called Bethesda, which this man with polio, knowing this story, decided was the ideal place for healing. The original Bethesda had for generations been a place where the Priests had offered animal sacrifices, when the altar was washed the sacrificial blood drained down into the pools and settled, every few hours underground springs would stir the waters, making them murky, and the expectation was that if one who was ill, blind, lame, a leper. could enter the waters while they were moving, these former sacrifices, these blood offerings washed clean, would cleanse the person, making them well. The difficulty was that everyone knew this story. Families and friends would bring all those in need to the pool seeking to go in to the water when it was turbulent, and expected the waters to provide miracles. In addition, everyone rushing into the water also disturbed the sludge and silt at the bottom of the pool, requiring everyone to exit, allowing the waters to settle, waiting for the pool to move. Imagine one, who has been coming to this spot every day, looking to get into the churning water, looking to be made well. But each time the water stirs, crowds rush in carrying and leading their loved ones. Being without aid, unable to walk himself, by the time he got through the crowds, the pool would calm. He wanted so to be made well, this one came every day, trying for 38 years! Jesus watched this, and approaching the man asks “Do you want to be made well?” The man explained the process for being purified, his obstacle to getting into the water, and all the reasons stacked against him. But Jesus asked “Do you want to be well?” And the man took up his mat and walked. Everyone had been so attentive to watching the waters grow murky, entering the waters when they were stirred from the bottom, no one had questioned whether those who were ill had faith to be made well.
Over the last several years we have done a great many things, correcting drainage, cosmetically tuck-pointing the building, replacing the middle section, moving the pews, replacing the organ, but in the last year we have discovered that the foundation beneath the tower steps has over a century washed away. I recall the Session meeting when all the work on the Middle Section was complete, and suddenly we realized the Sanctuary floor timbers were sagging and needed to be braced. Rather than describing yet another building program, we discussed rebuilding the foundations of our faith. Throughout this Church's history, this tower has been used for weddings, for the bride and bride's maids to enter. With as many wedding s as we celebrate as a Church, we need to continually rebuild the foundations of our marriages, rebuild the foundations of our relationships and families.
I met with a couple who planned to be married. They had the date, she had picked out her gown, invitations had been sent. Flowers and cakes ordered. But the couple were miserable. They described all the family pressures and expectations. The couple described no longer having time for each other, because they were consumed by what had to be done. They were fighting with each other and with their families. Finally we asked, “Do you want to spend your life together like this?” And the couple said “No”, and we resolved to postpone the wedding for a year. Everything they planned was still able to be done, but the couple took this time to be in love, rather than be preparing for a wedding.
The story of Paul and Silas at Philippi is a wonderful one about EXPECTATIONS and UNSHACKLING IDEAS for they come to Philippi and rather than preaching and talking with a group of men, the Village leaders, the ones who listen are a group of women. An unspoken reality of the Church throughout the ages, is that without the bake sales and chicken suppers of the Women's Associations, most Churches would never have survived. Yet among these women was Lydia, who demonstrates the gift of hospitality. Lydia, who is a self made woman, a woman of wealth and influence, opens her home to the disciples and community of faith as any have need. This business woman shares her home, and is most willing to be inconvenienced to serve others.
As Paul and Silas are walking through the City, they encounter a Slave-girl who is Fortune-Teller. She begins calling attention to Paul and Silas, so in order to get rid of her, they heal her of the ability of Fortune Telling. For which, Silas and Paul are put into prison, shackled with leg irons. Instead of complaining about their circumstance, rather than seeking ways to get out, they begin praying and singing. During the night, there is a sudden earthquake and all the shackles are broken free, all the prison doors set open. The jailor, recognizing that all the doors have been opened believes that all the prisoners have been set free, and he draws his sword preparing to kill himself for what happened during his watch. When suddenly, the Guard hears Paul saying “Stop. We have not gone anywhere. We were never really prisoners, because you could not enslave our faith, and as we are Roman Citizens you had no authority to put us in prison.” The Jailor now realizes that as the prisoners who were in Prison in shackles, were never really imprisoned; that he as Jailor is the one imprisoned by his circumstance, and asks what he must do to be set free.
SO what are the ways we are shackled? Bound to realities that are going through the motions, rather than acting in faith?
Acts 16:9-15
Friday evening, after a Wedding rehearsal, while John and Martha were at the hospital, a group of us went to the airport to welcome home a young man named Tom, who has spent the last five months in Sudan at the Clinic. Over dinner, the waitress asked what was the occasion, and Tom introduced himself. I thought he would say: I have been in Africa for the last 5 months; I imagined he might begin: I have been expanding a clinic in S. Sudan; my expectation was that he might begin: Do you know about the Lost Boys, John Dau, or the Film God Grew Tired Of Us? But instead, I heard this young man, whose family are Catholic describe “The First Presbyterian Church in Skaneateles created a Foundation to provide Health Care in South Sudan, and I have just returned from five months of witnessing miracles daily.”
Expectations are important to us. Expectations allow us to move quickly through our day without having to fear. Easter morning, 6 weeks ago, was 85 degrees! It is the middle of May, we have mowed our lawns, birds have built their nests and hatched their young, Apple blossoms have pollinated, and suddenly on Mother's Day the Lilacs and Forsythia are covered in flocking of snow! Life is filled with miracles, surprises. While we amass our expectations and understandings of reality, as Creatures of God we need to UNSHACKLE IDEAS to question what is at the heart of all we have taken for granted.
Throughout the world, there are places and experiences which change us. Visiting the Grand Canyon, looking out over miles of rocks etched and washed away a mile deep. Niagara Falls with the power of millions of gallons of water rushing by, all the Honeymooners and Immigrants who have made wishes here. Walking the Great Wall of China, Climbing Mount Everest, soaking in Hot Springs, Drinking Water from Skaneateles. The Pools at Bethesda were believed to have healing powers. During the days of Franklin Roosevelt, the President was searching for a place to locate the National Institute of Health, and just outside Washington DC there is a City called Bethesda, which this man with polio, knowing this story, decided was the ideal place for healing. The original Bethesda had for generations been a place where the Priests had offered animal sacrifices, when the altar was washed the sacrificial blood drained down into the pools and settled, every few hours underground springs would stir the waters, making them murky, and the expectation was that if one who was ill, blind, lame, a leper. could enter the waters while they were moving, these former sacrifices, these blood offerings washed clean, would cleanse the person, making them well. The difficulty was that everyone knew this story. Families and friends would bring all those in need to the pool seeking to go in to the water when it was turbulent, and expected the waters to provide miracles. In addition, everyone rushing into the water also disturbed the sludge and silt at the bottom of the pool, requiring everyone to exit, allowing the waters to settle, waiting for the pool to move. Imagine one, who has been coming to this spot every day, looking to get into the churning water, looking to be made well. But each time the water stirs, crowds rush in carrying and leading their loved ones. Being without aid, unable to walk himself, by the time he got through the crowds, the pool would calm. He wanted so to be made well, this one came every day, trying for 38 years! Jesus watched this, and approaching the man asks “Do you want to be made well?” The man explained the process for being purified, his obstacle to getting into the water, and all the reasons stacked against him. But Jesus asked “Do you want to be well?” And the man took up his mat and walked. Everyone had been so attentive to watching the waters grow murky, entering the waters when they were stirred from the bottom, no one had questioned whether those who were ill had faith to be made well.
Over the last several years we have done a great many things, correcting drainage, cosmetically tuck-pointing the building, replacing the middle section, moving the pews, replacing the organ, but in the last year we have discovered that the foundation beneath the tower steps has over a century washed away. I recall the Session meeting when all the work on the Middle Section was complete, and suddenly we realized the Sanctuary floor timbers were sagging and needed to be braced. Rather than describing yet another building program, we discussed rebuilding the foundations of our faith. Throughout this Church's history, this tower has been used for weddings, for the bride and bride's maids to enter. With as many wedding s as we celebrate as a Church, we need to continually rebuild the foundations of our marriages, rebuild the foundations of our relationships and families.
I met with a couple who planned to be married. They had the date, she had picked out her gown, invitations had been sent. Flowers and cakes ordered. But the couple were miserable. They described all the family pressures and expectations. The couple described no longer having time for each other, because they were consumed by what had to be done. They were fighting with each other and with their families. Finally we asked, “Do you want to spend your life together like this?” And the couple said “No”, and we resolved to postpone the wedding for a year. Everything they planned was still able to be done, but the couple took this time to be in love, rather than be preparing for a wedding.
The story of Paul and Silas at Philippi is a wonderful one about EXPECTATIONS and UNSHACKLING IDEAS for they come to Philippi and rather than preaching and talking with a group of men, the Village leaders, the ones who listen are a group of women. An unspoken reality of the Church throughout the ages, is that without the bake sales and chicken suppers of the Women's Associations, most Churches would never have survived. Yet among these women was Lydia, who demonstrates the gift of hospitality. Lydia, who is a self made woman, a woman of wealth and influence, opens her home to the disciples and community of faith as any have need. This business woman shares her home, and is most willing to be inconvenienced to serve others.
As Paul and Silas are walking through the City, they encounter a Slave-girl who is Fortune-Teller. She begins calling attention to Paul and Silas, so in order to get rid of her, they heal her of the ability of Fortune Telling. For which, Silas and Paul are put into prison, shackled with leg irons. Instead of complaining about their circumstance, rather than seeking ways to get out, they begin praying and singing. During the night, there is a sudden earthquake and all the shackles are broken free, all the prison doors set open. The jailor, recognizing that all the doors have been opened believes that all the prisoners have been set free, and he draws his sword preparing to kill himself for what happened during his watch. When suddenly, the Guard hears Paul saying “Stop. We have not gone anywhere. We were never really prisoners, because you could not enslave our faith, and as we are Roman Citizens you had no authority to put us in prison.” The Jailor now realizes that as the prisoners who were in Prison in shackles, were never really imprisoned; that he as Jailor is the one imprisoned by his circumstance, and asks what he must do to be set free.
SO what are the ways we are shackled? Bound to realities that are going through the motions, rather than acting in faith?
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
May 2, 2010 Peter's Vision
John 13: 31-35
Acts 11: 1-18
How Odd, the occasions and seasons of the year, we have chosen to celebrate as Orthodox, and those we avoid?
We know of Noah from a time before recorded history, saving a remnant of the world 2 x 2 to replenish & fulfill. We recall Abram and Sarai who were unable to conceive, who wandered the earth as nomads with God, receiving Covenant Commandments to live as Circumcised and Kosher, with the names Abraham & Sarah.
We remember Moses going up the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments, and the peoples' Golden Calf .
We know the Contest of Elijah and Jezebel commanding Lightning to prove the True God. When is the last time you needed to command lightning to come from heaven? But when he had seen miracles he still looked for more and God asked “What are you doing here Elijah?” We recall all about Ancient Israel's King David & Solomon.
At harvest time, we gather for a feast, a great meal of abundance, giving thanks to God: Thanksgiving.
Family and friends return from all the world to light candles and sing of innocence and God's birth: Christmas.
Wisemen came bearing gifts, The 12th Night of Christmas, we remember as: Epiphany. We even have names, ethnicity and ages for the Wisemen: Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior, though these are not in the Bible!
We burn the branches of the palms of the year before, marking ourselves and one another with ashes for atonement and begin 40 days of fasting and prayer: Lent
Though not indigenous to this place, we ship in Palm branches to cover the floor, to wave shouting Hosanna!
We recognize the Last Supper, the Passover, where all whom he trusts abandon the Savior: Maundy Thursday.
Jesus' suffering and death as Capital punishment for the sins of the world: Good Friday 3 days later: Easter.
40 Days after when the Resurrected Christ goes to heaven to sit at the Right hand of God: Ascension Day.
The 50th Day after Easter, when the Holy Spirit Blew upon and threw the disciples, calling them out to hear people from every corner of the world and to respond to them in the birth of the Church: Pentecost.
But the Scripture passages for this day, rarely are read, even more un-commonly applied.
Perhaps less complicated than testing every bulb and wrapping our homes in electric light.
We could refer to this as the Celebration of Foods we do not like to eat! Declaring: “God has No distinction!”
Perhaps of ending Prejudice, Or of serving one another as we were loved.
We have sought to prescribe a series of holidays and seasons which reinforce identity: who we are.
As a culture, to all give thanks to God; to all have Laws and Commandments basic to human society (Honoring your parents, Thou shalt not Kill or Steal or Lie or Envy); as a Society to all acknowledge the death of the Savior and Resurrection, to recognize the birth of the Christian Church, ANNUALLY RECOGNIZING THESE makes them common, anticipated, safe. Show me, where in all of Scripture is it written: We are to be SAFE?
We are to be Visionaries! We are to Dream Dreams, to challenge preconceptions and Serve, without reservation.
Three separate times, Simon Peter saw a Vision. A Great sheet being let down from heaven by the corners.
Inside the sheet, all prepared for us, were every kind of creature.
To understand this, we need first to know that the Kosher Laws of the Circumcised were that you could eat Beef and Lamb and Mutton, creatures with a hoof, but not camel or goat or pig or monkey, which like us have toes. Few recall why Abram was instructed to do so, whether the Kosher Laws and Laws of Circumcision were for hygiene, to prevent disease, but the identity of the people of faith, the identity of the culture was that when intimate with others in sharing a table and in marriage, when living in the midst of foreign peoples, was to be separate, to be uncommon.
Peter's vision emphasized that if all we are doing is being different, being separate, it is as if claiming half of God's creation is Good and half Evil, rather than recognizing All is Created by God. Rather than focusing upon the differences and distinctions that separate us, as a Community of Faith Christianity needed to recognize that everyone has done wrong, and everyone could be redeemed.
There is a wonderful shift here. Throughout the Gospels Peter was the one who without any evidence, when everyone was filled with fears would leap to make conclusions. Jesus asked all the disciples “Who do you think that I am?” and they were reasonably confused, but Peter leapt to say “You are the Christ, the Son of the Most High!” The disciples saw Jesus walking on Water, and Peter wanting to imitate Jesus stepped out of the boat and began to drown! At the Last Supper, Jesus described that everyone would abandon relationship, and Peter professed “Not I!” Yet here, the Sheet appears and Peter does not understand. A Voice from heaven says Kill and Eat, and Peter says NO. They same voice says “What God has given as a Gift shall not be described as Profane.” The Vision happened in this way three times, before Peter accepted it, and still he did not understand. The next day, he is taken to the home of a Roman Soldier, not only a Non-Jew, Un-Circumcised, Non-Kosher, part of the Roman Legion, part of the Empire of Rome Cornelius was the antithesis of everything that represented the Community of Faith to Peter, and yet Cornelius asked to be Baptized.
We have this common understanding about Conversion, that you come to Faith Once, and provided it happens before the person is dead, the friends and relatives and community cry out “Thank God!” But like the Vision coming in several parts repeatedly until Peter accepts, then still challenging him as he makes application and afterward when challenged about what he has done in faith Peter risks challenging others with what he believes, Faith is not a linear equation, with one simple answer. Faith is circuitous and tends to come to each of us, over and over again.
John's witness to the Sacrament of the Last Supper is un-common. Because where each of the other Gospels and the Book of Acts and the Letters describe this is the Body of Christ, this is the Cup of the New Covenant, John describes simply that they shared the meal. John's emphasis is instead of the humble service Jesus offers in welcoming his guests, and explaining that as I served you, you now need to serve one another.
Acts 11: 1-18
How Odd, the occasions and seasons of the year, we have chosen to celebrate as Orthodox, and those we avoid?
We know of Noah from a time before recorded history, saving a remnant of the world 2 x 2 to replenish & fulfill. We recall Abram and Sarai who were unable to conceive, who wandered the earth as nomads with God, receiving Covenant Commandments to live as Circumcised and Kosher, with the names Abraham & Sarah.
We remember Moses going up the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments, and the peoples' Golden Calf .
We know the Contest of Elijah and Jezebel commanding Lightning to prove the True God. When is the last time you needed to command lightning to come from heaven? But when he had seen miracles he still looked for more and God asked “What are you doing here Elijah?” We recall all about Ancient Israel's King David & Solomon.
At harvest time, we gather for a feast, a great meal of abundance, giving thanks to God: Thanksgiving.
Family and friends return from all the world to light candles and sing of innocence and God's birth: Christmas.
Wisemen came bearing gifts, The 12th Night of Christmas, we remember as: Epiphany. We even have names, ethnicity and ages for the Wisemen: Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior, though these are not in the Bible!
We burn the branches of the palms of the year before, marking ourselves and one another with ashes for atonement and begin 40 days of fasting and prayer: Lent
Though not indigenous to this place, we ship in Palm branches to cover the floor, to wave shouting Hosanna!
We recognize the Last Supper, the Passover, where all whom he trusts abandon the Savior: Maundy Thursday.
Jesus' suffering and death as Capital punishment for the sins of the world: Good Friday 3 days later: Easter.
40 Days after when the Resurrected Christ goes to heaven to sit at the Right hand of God: Ascension Day.
The 50th Day after Easter, when the Holy Spirit Blew upon and threw the disciples, calling them out to hear people from every corner of the world and to respond to them in the birth of the Church: Pentecost.
But the Scripture passages for this day, rarely are read, even more un-commonly applied.
Perhaps less complicated than testing every bulb and wrapping our homes in electric light.
We could refer to this as the Celebration of Foods we do not like to eat! Declaring: “God has No distinction!”
Perhaps of ending Prejudice, Or of serving one another as we were loved.
We have sought to prescribe a series of holidays and seasons which reinforce identity: who we are.
As a culture, to all give thanks to God; to all have Laws and Commandments basic to human society (Honoring your parents, Thou shalt not Kill or Steal or Lie or Envy); as a Society to all acknowledge the death of the Savior and Resurrection, to recognize the birth of the Christian Church, ANNUALLY RECOGNIZING THESE makes them common, anticipated, safe. Show me, where in all of Scripture is it written: We are to be SAFE?
We are to be Visionaries! We are to Dream Dreams, to challenge preconceptions and Serve, without reservation.
Three separate times, Simon Peter saw a Vision. A Great sheet being let down from heaven by the corners.
Inside the sheet, all prepared for us, were every kind of creature.
To understand this, we need first to know that the Kosher Laws of the Circumcised were that you could eat Beef and Lamb and Mutton, creatures with a hoof, but not camel or goat or pig or monkey, which like us have toes. Few recall why Abram was instructed to do so, whether the Kosher Laws and Laws of Circumcision were for hygiene, to prevent disease, but the identity of the people of faith, the identity of the culture was that when intimate with others in sharing a table and in marriage, when living in the midst of foreign peoples, was to be separate, to be uncommon.
Peter's vision emphasized that if all we are doing is being different, being separate, it is as if claiming half of God's creation is Good and half Evil, rather than recognizing All is Created by God. Rather than focusing upon the differences and distinctions that separate us, as a Community of Faith Christianity needed to recognize that everyone has done wrong, and everyone could be redeemed.
There is a wonderful shift here. Throughout the Gospels Peter was the one who without any evidence, when everyone was filled with fears would leap to make conclusions. Jesus asked all the disciples “Who do you think that I am?” and they were reasonably confused, but Peter leapt to say “You are the Christ, the Son of the Most High!” The disciples saw Jesus walking on Water, and Peter wanting to imitate Jesus stepped out of the boat and began to drown! At the Last Supper, Jesus described that everyone would abandon relationship, and Peter professed “Not I!” Yet here, the Sheet appears and Peter does not understand. A Voice from heaven says Kill and Eat, and Peter says NO. They same voice says “What God has given as a Gift shall not be described as Profane.” The Vision happened in this way three times, before Peter accepted it, and still he did not understand. The next day, he is taken to the home of a Roman Soldier, not only a Non-Jew, Un-Circumcised, Non-Kosher, part of the Roman Legion, part of the Empire of Rome Cornelius was the antithesis of everything that represented the Community of Faith to Peter, and yet Cornelius asked to be Baptized.
We have this common understanding about Conversion, that you come to Faith Once, and provided it happens before the person is dead, the friends and relatives and community cry out “Thank God!” But like the Vision coming in several parts repeatedly until Peter accepts, then still challenging him as he makes application and afterward when challenged about what he has done in faith Peter risks challenging others with what he believes, Faith is not a linear equation, with one simple answer. Faith is circuitous and tends to come to each of us, over and over again.
John's witness to the Sacrament of the Last Supper is un-common. Because where each of the other Gospels and the Book of Acts and the Letters describe this is the Body of Christ, this is the Cup of the New Covenant, John describes simply that they shared the meal. John's emphasis is instead of the humble service Jesus offers in welcoming his guests, and explaining that as I served you, you now need to serve one another.
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