"Double Secret Predestination", January 19, 2014

Isaiah 49:1-7 John 1:29-42 Seven days ago, I was able to do something, preachers never do! Larry preached, and I sat in the pew to listen. We are extremely blessed as a Church. With all that this community has to offer, as healthy and vital as this congregation is, in addition to ordained and installed leaders, the Holy Spirit has gifted Lay Preachers like Larry Weiss, and Gustav Niebuhr and Mary Margaret Biss, our former Secretary Gail has gone on to become a Lay Pastor at the Church at Amboy Belle Isle. These are transitions, Calls, that have come not only to these individual, but through the nurture and faith of this Church. Listening, I heard a transition occur, that the scholars simply assumed we all accepted, without explanation. For a Century the Church has followed 2 cycles Christmas/Easter. Each having a season of preparation: Advent and Lent; a season of celebration: Christmas and Easter; and a season of reflection: the time of Epiphany and the season of Pentecost. However, about 20 years ago, a priest realized that while Christmas and Easter are actually seasons, Epiphany for 1900 years was celebrated as A Day, Shakespeare's 12th Night, and Baptism of the Lord is a Day, and Ascension a Day 40 days after Easter, and Pentecost a single day literally Pentecost = 50 Days after Passover, after the Resurrection. All the remainder, from January 7th until Ash Wednesday, and from Pentecost in early June until Thanksgiving, when we again prepare for Advent, were and again now are described as Ordinary time. Ordinary does not make these Secular or Profane days, or Tax days, but the Latin “Ordinal” identified days for the ringing of bells and prayer 7 times a day. That transition, from seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost, to only a Day for each does not make them cease to exist, but identifies anew what each represents and the importance of our lives. In 2008, Scientists reclassified our Solar System, and Pluto which was the furthest from our sun, ceased to be a planet. Not that it was destroyed, or its moons spun off in space, just simply that the Dog Planet was now too small to have the purpose of being a planet. It is this same re-purposing, Calling anew, that is described in Isaiah 49. In American culture one of our most dearly held beliefs is in Destiny. The American Dream, that every person has within their being the ability to advance beyond their station in life, to become far more. We have come to believe American Exceptionalism is easy. How many Reality Shows do we now have, where all it takes is applying, in order to be discovered, to be Famous, or Infamous? To be America's Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Who wants to be A Millionaire? All are based on the belief that within us is a superstar, a hero nobody knew. In 3 weeks, each of us will transcend to miraculously know more about sticking a landing, speed skating, curling and snowboarding than any of the Olympic judges. Our dreams are a coping mechanism, that like Walter Middy, inside each one of us is a polished arrow, a secret weapon waiting to be called. Malcom Gladwell the author of books like the Tipping Point, Blink, The Story of Success, and also David & Goliath, claims that to master anything takes one simple thing, 10,000 hours of doing nothing else. Unfortunately, few if any of us have that devotion, that is what sets some apart. But the point of Isaiah 49 is that for the Exiles of Israel wanting, praying, wishing, hoping to be claimed by God, to be that polished arrow in God's quiver, suddenly to realize that the point, the whole point of your life, the purpose of our Nation as Elect, is not for our own power, prestige or authority. The people of God are here for Salvation of the rest of the World! The common misunderstanding about us as Presbyterians is that from Calvin, we believe in Predestination, or even Double Predestination. Let me disillusion you to say "No, What we believe in is Double Secret Predestination." Predestination, at the time of Calvin was belief in the Moral Depravity of humankind. Left to our devices we are selfish and sin. Double Predestination, is that God does not leave us alone, God offers Grace to All the World that you can turn your life around and find Salvation. The Secret part of Double Secret Predestination is not that some are elect to receive and some are not, but the secret is that in caring about others we are redeemed. The Gospel of John is different from all the others. Not because he tells parables the others do not, although he does. Not because he has more miracles, though he does. John's Gospel was written long after the others. Because of this The Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus silencing Satan until Jesus can figure out what it means to be Christ; the Gospel of Matthew begins Jesus' Ministry offering the Sermon on the Mount; Luke begins with Jesus preaching a passage from Isaiah that today this prophecy is fulfilled. John begins with John The Baptist proclaiming Jesus is the Lamb, and Jesus asking the disciples, asking each of us as readers: What do you seek? What are you looking for in life? It is a question worth wrestling with for us as individuals, as professionals, in our marriages, as parents, as a community, as the Church? What will make us happy? What do you seek? Here the Gospel of John gives us two answers. The disciples responded to Jesus “Where are you staying?” When I was learning to read Greek, we psychoanalyzed this, that two of John's disciples heard John on two occasions heard him identify Jesus as The Lamb of God, so they hid behind walls and corners and barrels, watching him, and when they got caught following Jesus, he asked What do you seek? And they responded “Where are you staying?” But the point is more complicated than where is the best hotel in town. In Greek, the phrase is “mevnw” which has a sense of permanence, like David wanting to build a permanent Temple to worship God... Where can we find you when we need, where do you endure forever? Like the identity “Emmanuel” prophesied in Advent, Jesus says “Come See”. But also, the Gospel describes Andrew went and found his brother and called him. One of the ways we find faith, is in sharing faith with others. Christian faith is not private or exclusive. One of the core beliefs of Christian faith from the very beginning is Hospitality. But the Romans practiced Hospitality, they invited influential people to their homes, in hope of being invited to their homes in reciprocity. The Greeks practiced Hospitality, believing that you needed to welcome strangers, and offer them a hearty meal and place to rest before asking their name, because in this way you may entertain Angels or Gods. Christians instead practiced a Promiscuous Hospitality. Christians intentionally cared for and served those who were excluded, the poor, the prostitutes, the sinners, and here we are not spiritual-izing this to say “Those who have prostituted themselves after things” or “those who have stumbled and sinned without knowing.” And these were not invited because they needed faith more than anyone else. Salvation is for all the world if we will accept it. Jesus intentionally called and invited those who were marginalized and exiled by society, the Lepers, the Blind, the Lame, and welcomed them as being the ones we are called to serve. How often we are invited to events, to groups. At least once a day, I receive a Facebook invite to join a Group, to Like what someone said. In the mail, we receive keys to a car, we receive invitations to come to an opening. I am told the Kiwanis give out awards for who invite the most new visitors. Would that not be a great assignment for us as a Church? To live extending Promiscuous Hospitality.

"Connecting Particles and Systems" January 5, 2014

Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 How many times have we seen the Creche in front of the Library, or witnessed a Christmas Pageant? Before opening the bulletin for this morning's worship, many of us knew tomorrow is the 6th of January, this is 12th Night, the arrival of the 3 Kings, completion of the Christmas story with the star and wise-men. There are some images so ingrained into us, we imagine we know what they are all about without listening to the Scriptures, without hearing the sermon, without considering our faith. Isaiah proclaimed “Arise, Shine, For your light has come, the glory of the Lord is upon Thee! For behold Darkness shall cover the earth, Gross darkness shall cover the people, but the Lord shall arise, and God's glory shall be seen upon You!” There is a subtlety to this passage, often lost to us. As Central New Yorkers we know what is to swell in darkness! Yesterday, there was a great orange ball in the sky, several of us were so unaccustomed to seeing the sun, we imagined it had to do with SU Basketball. There is a wonderful irony to our circumstance, we have come to know that living with so many cloudy days, so little sunshine, we are naturally deficient in Vitamin D, so what does it mean when we are deficient in seeing the Son? When we have lived our lives focused upon what we can do what we accomplish, what we can control? All Addiction programs are based on the 12 Step Model, the first step of which is admission that we are powerless over our addictions, we are not in control. A frightening mood has been undermining our nation, our world. For the first time in hundreds of years many have come to realize that our children will not have the opportunities we had. We implicitly believed the world would always get better! Where Grandparents had survived the Great Depression, their children had fought for Freedom, fought against tyranny and oppression to create a world without war. The next generation in many cases were the first in their family to go to college. But economically, and in terms of pollution, politically, and socially the world we pass to our children may not be as bright and hopeful. However, there is another side to that. I am very proud of our children, but to be honest, I really do not know what they do. One is in the field of “magnetellurics”hypothesizing possibilities based on Plate Tectonics, theoretically using the heat of earth's core as an energy source. Through him, I have come to learn that light, is not only a brightness, but can be measured as a point, particles, a spot, a line, a ray, or a wave. Light can be bent and both reflected and refracted. And depending upon our unique position in relation to the light, we may see differing colors. Truthfully, I do not understand. While my grandfather was Professor of Engineering and our son has advanced degrees in Optical Engineering, I was one of those who in Geometry Class, understood that there were Givens, so to arrive at the answer made up Rules. Perhaps that is the clue! Not that we make up phony rules, not that we can control the world and give to our children gold and frankincense and myrrh. But that we have given the world our children! The world has a future because it did not stop with you and me. I recall growing up, my parents discussing a Generation Gap, and they could not understand or agree with our music, our ideas, our hairstyles. But we do not need to agree, or to adopt as our own, or to prevent, but to trust. Isaiah's point is not that "God has shined upon you," but THROUGH you to the world. Our role, our purpose in life, is not to be the star, not to be the ones who control everything that is to come. Instead, God shines through each one of us, to bring the world to know God cares. The Gospel of Matthew's archaic Story of the Wise-men is incredibly appropriate for today. Because the point is that the Savior comes to the world through Judaism. Prophesied by Angels, in the lineage of David, born in Bethlehem. However, those who are not Jewish, recognize the signs from Nature, from Science, from Wisdom, all of which point them to seek the Savior. We live in a time of Alternative Spiritualities. Prior to this, throughout history, there was very little interaction across religions. Marrying outside your faith, might mean marrying an Episcopalian, or a Methodist, or a Baptist. Couples who did not marry someone from their own congregation had to choose which religious system to raise their children. Today, if our children marry, they are as likely to find someone who is B'hai or Hindu, or Atheist. Many of us find Meditation and Tai Chi important to our overall balance. The story of the Kings, is that those who come from systems outside Judaism, all recognize the need for a Messiah sent from God, and leave everything to come. This passage emphasizes that those who come from other traditions, other parts of the world may be willing and able to risk trusting, where King Herod, who was put in place by the Roman Empire saw only a threat to his power and identity. They left home and family, and traveled across the world, seeking a Savior. King Herod, when he heard of this, tried to murder the one who threatened his power, and when he was thwarted, he killed anyone and everyone who might be a potential threat. Are we willing to trust the future to be in the hands of another generation, those from another culture whom we may never understand? OR, do we guard and protect and fear that others will not recognize our power system, will act differently? There is another, implicit issue in this story. For the Star led the Wise-men to King Herod. Had Mary and Joseph not had the baby; had the wise-men not come to Herod, he would not have killed all the male children under two years of age. Herod learned from the Wise-men that a King was being born. But Herod, even with his authority and power, did not know where. He consulted his advisors, they did not immediately know and needed to look up the answers. Finding a passage from Micah 5 that said he was to be born in Bethlehem, the Scribes reported this to King Herod, who told where to the Kings. They went and paid him homage. The point of faith IS NOT that a Savior comes to protect the world from all evil. But rather that in the midst of the evil of this world, God does provide a Savior. Because God does, there are perhaps worse things that happen, but also the possibility for all Creation to be brought to God. Finally, there is a curiosity about this story. Over time, there has been speculation who these three were and what they represent, as well as where they went afterward. Like Shakespeare's three ages of humanity, we have given them identities one very young, one in mid-life, one aged. One from East Africa, one from Babylon, one from Persia. We have even given them names of Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar. While there have been creative stories of the impact upon each for having seen the child in the Manger, no one knows what happened to them. The point being, that it was not about what they got out of their quest, out of witnessing the Savior. They gave everything they had and laid it before him. In fact, according to the Bible, we do not actually know how many wise-men there were, only that there were three gifts: Gold representing the Gift for a King, Frankincense the Gift for a High Priest, Myrrh the oil for Anointing the Dead. Perhaps there were four Wise-men, or Five, or Twenty, we do not know. What the Bible does say, is that entering, before presenting their gifts they each did something, they GAVE HIM HOMAGE. If they had dropped their gifts at the door, it would have seemed like their Admission Fee for seeing the Savior and you have to have something to see him. If they had presented their gifts upon seeing him, it could have appeared like visiting Presidents and Kings appearing before an Equal presenting gifts to demonstrate their power. Instead, before anything else, the Wise-men knelt in homage and prayed.

"A Presence" December 29, 2013

Isaiah 63: 7-9 Hebrews 2:10-18 We, people of faith, are a strange lot, trying to keep up with the world, and be faithful. While all the world made lists of gifts, buying and shopping for Christmas, we planned. Some were sorting costumes and rehearsing parts. Some setting platforms and building stables. Some going over and over the Halleluia Chorus. Some taking down stables to put up Pointsettias. Some running off bulletins and sorting candles. Some collecting hymnals and putting out new. Some making trips to the hospital. Now, in the days after Christmas, the world absorbs the depression of debt and Christmas presents being over, while we question how we are to live our lives differently with God's presence with us? The distinction is as simple as this, the world is concerned with finding the perfect tree, covering it with decorations, and gifts, the anxiety of how we will get through four days with family; while in faith, we are concerned with preserving the ornaments, collecting addresses from cards, and adjusting to the bare spots without the tree, stockings, family. Its funny, worshipers always wonder “Who picked the hymns?” Why could we not sing Christmas Carols in Advent, but now that Christmas is over, we sing “Go Tell It On the Mountain” and “Joy to the World”? When preachers wonder at the motivation of those who pick the Bible verses for the Lectionary? Because one of the purposes of a lectionary is that all the churches read the same texts, yet on this Sunday out of the year, the Catholics have different passages, than the Episcopalians, and both different from the Revised Common Lectionary of the Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists and Congregationalists. But also because they carefully pried out of context, the most up-lifting and positive words, from Isaiah 63-64 which describe God's anger and destruction of that which God loves. This part of Isaiah describes the Dark Side of God. Almighty God is a Warrior with PTSD. For thousands of years, this Warrior has been the one fighting evil, been the one fighting Pharaoh for us, been the one who knew how hard our own hearts are, so fought for values and freedoms that might not be respected by us when they got home. This All-knowing, All-powerful Warrior God, somehow justified and allowed the drowning of everyone except Noah, Permitted Pharaoh's abuses, King Herod's brutal genocide of children, and God did not prevent the Assyrians, the Babylonians, or the Holocaust of WWII. The text is specific that instead of sending an Angel or providing a Burning Bush for people to See and prevent devastation, God was present with the people in life. These parts of Isaiah and Hebrews identify the Presence of God Not as our Protector; but as our Liberator, our Savior who suffers for us, our Companion, and the Pioneer of our Salvation. There is a difference between God and Cartoon Superheros. Our Fictional Superheros always get the Girl, always arrive in the nick of time, always win so there will be a happy ending. God is Real, we know this because life is at times tragic, and God does not spare us that, God is present in our wounded-ness as well as our victories. There are a lifetime of memories of Christmases gone. Like putting away the ornaments from the tree, saving the addresses of friends and family. There was the Christmas where we sent our children their ornaments. There was the first Christmas with new puppies. There was the first Christmas we spent alone. There was the Christmas when we came to Skaneateles and found a tree all decorated for us. There was the first Christmas with each child. There was the first Christmas after we were married, trying to be present at both our parents' homes. There was the Christmas when we traveled all night to get home from College. In the Lindsey household there is also memory there was the Christmas after Grandpa died, when Grandma lived near-by. Grandma was quite advanced in age, needing a wheel chair, her voice having gone to barely a whisper, and she had to have a companion whom she referred to as a Housekeeper. Grandma knew she needed the Housekeeper to perform chores like cleaning, to drive her places, and carry things for her, but she did not trust the Companion to have labeled packages correctly and imagined at times she intentionally mixed everything up. So it was that after the gifts were bought, after packages were wrapped Grandma changed the labels around. On Christmas morning, we rushed downstairs and Father turned on the lights on the tree. Grandma's companion had Christmas day off, so Grandma had spent the night with us, and sat watching as we tore into gifts. Imagine the scene when my Father received GI Joe Action Figures? My 12 year old brother received a Silk Robe called a Smoking Jacket, though he had been chided against smoking. The 10 year received a Stop-Watch. At 6, I received slippers, and our 4 year old little brother received a subscription to Boy's Life Magazine? My father was totally bewildered, as his mother softly whispered “No, that's not right.” But we were all together, opening gifts, and truly sharing them, as each had been given to another, and Grandma was present with us one last time.

"The Incarnation" December 24, 2013 Midnight

Luke 2: 1-20 Something happens to Christmas when we grow up, and stop believing. I am not talking about whether Reindeer fly or how Santa makes all the toys. As children, we accept knowing that there are things we do not know, we do not control. As children we may ask where Babies come from, without wanting to know anything about sex. As children we want everything, because we believe everything is possible, without any limitations. “Because Mom said so” is a legitimate answer when we are 2 - 10, but from 11 onward does not work. We know too much, we want too much to control and the exchange for control is trust, believing in what we cannot prove, cannot document, cannot ever know for certainty. Not knowing, not having answers, not controlling the future, mandates that we trust, that we believe! Lent, Holy Week, Easter, we can logically reason and accept. We may question IF a Savior would save us, we may question HOW atonement occurs, but the idea of suffering, the realization that we love because God loved us, we forgive because Christ died for us, seem to be knowable realities involving us through our acceptance. Christmas is different. Christmas is a gift. There is no return gift expected from us, the gift is not one we would know how to return, it matters not if we have a tree or stocking, if we were on the nice or naughty list because we know who and where we each are. GOD, ultimate Creator and Judge of time and space, God gives us the greatest gift of all. While miraculous, changing everything of culture and empire in human history, the gift is so simple. GOD became ONE with us. Like Pygmellean, the Creator recognized that the only way to correct the masterpiece, was for the artist to enter in and become a real part of the creation. That is what the Incarnation of Christmas is, that God is one with us. Consider with me, who the Almighty is? How God is different from us? What God would have to give to enter in and be one with us? Because that is the value of the gift beneath all the gift giving. Not to repay generosity with generosity, not to spend excessively, but to stop in holy sabbath to pray and consider who is God and the depth of God's love that no matter what: God chooses to be with us. Life would have been so much simpler, if God had not made us as we are. If like a Rock/Mountain we existed. If like the lake, our role in Creation was to be deep, to be a reservoir for others, home for fish. If we were like flowers or crops or animals whose function was to live and breed and die. BUT instead, God chose to make us to be able to LOVE God back. But of course love only works, is only real, if we are free to chose whether to love or not. The birth of Christ is not about our REDEMPTION. The birth is a gift of love from God, of God's self to us. That is INCARNATION, God changed God's way of being known to us, from the LAW of that time, to God becoming One with Us beginning “In those days”. Have you ever stopped to recognize the intricacies of time? We often complain about things coming at the wrong time. The great irony of Luke's Gospel is that there was no great Census at the time of the birth of Jesus. Luke is not writing History, the Evangelist was writing Theology, the difference being that there were several Censuses as the Caesars continually raised taxes, and this is set as a drama between the Empire of Rome where people must be counted to be assessed taxes and the Kingdom of God where you are known. But, “In Those Days,” identifies an amazing moment in human history. Because of the Diaspora, the great dispersion of Judaism throughout the world, because of the invasions of the Assyrians and Babylonians, Medes and Persians and Romans, Judaism was not confined to the Fertile Crescent of David's Kingdom. The Roman Empire brought Roads and City Governance, clean water and the transfer of sewage. For which the Roman Empire had required all people in their world to name “Caesar as LORD.” For decades they killed the Jewish people for refusing to do so, until Julius Caesar relented and allowed the Jewish people as the only people in the World to say YHWH is LORD and not say Caesar is Lord. When Julius Caesar was killed, the Empire was torn apart by Civil War, between Brutus, Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, until finally 25 years later when Augustus Caesar enforced Peace through military dominance in the Pax Romana, for which Augustus was hailed as being The Prince of Peace. But as we said, while it was a new time, without Civil War, it was a fragile Peace, an Enforced Peace when Jesus was born, and from the Early Church on the Day of Pentecost until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Roman Empire did not and could not differentiate between Judaism and Christianity, so Christians began proclaiming “Jesus Christ is Lord” and Jesus is “Prince of Peace” during the only time in history in which this could have occurred and been spread throughout the world. A year ago, the Dalai Lama was asked whether he had Hope for the Future? He laughed responding “Of course I have hope! The future is not yet decided!” Is that what we all believe, or do we believe there is No Hope, as if the future has already been determined, that the fragmentation and divisions of our lives is permanent. Christmas is not about overcoming adversity, redeeming the lost, life after death Christmas is simply and purely about God acting in love, in hope and expectation, that maybe, possibly each and every human being on the face of this planet could still act to love. Today, I have had a series of phone calls and visits, from couples wanting to get married, wanting babies baptized, and looking for a church for Christmas. Sounds a lot like Mary and Joseph coming! Honestly, I think represents is a very natural request, that in the midst of our world, where we know every attack, we are informed of every Stock Market tick, we know too much of the world, too much of life. So we come to Christmas, wanting a Sepia-toned airbrushed image of a pristine Stable, aglow with radiant light coming from an unknown source. Because no matter how perfect, no matter how much we have, our lives are not sufficient unto ourself. We know there is something more we do not know, more than we expect. But we listen to Luke's narration, and the story is more earthy. The earthy part comes not only from the animals in a stable, but as any of us who have been present in Labor and Delivery can imagine, Mary as a young mother of 13 or 14 would have been petrified. Joseph would have seen himself a pawn of the world and overwhelmed. The Shepherds who were the first witnesses came not to see the Miracle of a Virgin Birth after-all the Caesars were top have been fostered by the Gods, but the scandal here was that God's Messiah would be born to a poor couple in a barn! So this Christmas, I would like to give you a gift that matters more than anything else. Thank you for sharing you! Our lives matter. Whether it is tucking in a child at night, or reading a bedtime story, making cookies, or visiting a neighbor, pioneering an idea to make others lives more comfortable, or believing that what we know is not all that there will be, your life matters.

December 15, 2013, "Great Expectations"

Isaiah 35 Luke 11:1-15 As any of those who have been in 9th Grade in our schools, or the parent or grandparent of a daughter or son could tell, Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. The authors goal was to write a story so scandalous, so offensive, that it would be a cliff hanger. The story was published in installments, such that every chapter left you wanting to read the next, waiting for what would come. The story opens with the hero Pip, an orphan being attacked by an escaped Prisoner. Throughout, we the audience have great expectations for Pip's education, his career, his love. Our lives are built on great expectations the problem is that no matter our expectations, the world around us is in revolution, transformation; technological, political, economic and social change. Recently, I went to purchase a map of the world, and the order form required that you list your email address so that the publishers of the Map could send new labels of names for countries as they went through revolution, not if they did, but when. Friday, the Dictator of North Korea executed his own uncle for treason. Yesterday there was yet another school shooting in a Colorado town outside Littleton. The population of the world, all humanity, has become traumatized, we have lived with the constant stress and fears of war, of attack of collapse. Expectations are based on our hopes and dreams and prophecies, and our fears, offenses, scandals. Is there anything in the world today, that we believe could not happen? Is there anything, any one, that we are certain of? What is there that we find scandalous, offensive? Our Gospel lesson this morning is odd for Advent. We might expect Mary's Song, the Magnificat, hearing the music, awed by the poetry, missing the point that her song is of revolution, total change of everything in God's world. Mary was not simply a young girl, she was a servant girl, of the class of a slave and this 12 year old is told she is to be the Bearer of God! We might expect Joseph having a dream, because in the Old Testament there was a Joseph with dreams. But those who select our Biblical passages have chosen a reading from after Jesus was already 30 years of age. At that time, all the world was going out to the desert to hear John the Baptist preach. They did not need a ticket. They did not travel by car. The people, from the most affluent and highly educated, to the servants and slaves, walked 20, 30, 40 miles into the desert to listen. People went, not because he was a great story-teller, not because of pyrotechnics or slide presentations, or great intellect or a new spirituality, not because he had a fabulous choir. They went to listen to John because John was an authentic prophet, man of God. John the Baptist was exactly what people expected someone who had lived in the wilderness, totally dependent upon God to look like. John the Baptist was destined to be a little weird. He was a Preacher's Kid, whose father had given up believing, gave up believing in miracles, gave up believing in God entering life to change circumstance, John's father was the priest who offered prayers to God who himself no longer believed in prayer. John was orphaned at a very young age, because his parents were very old when he was born. John was a little weird. John the Baptist grew up in the desert wilderness, playing with scorpions and snakes, talking to cactus and dreaming of water. John was not making a fashion statement by entering society dressed in camel's hair with a cloth tied round his waist like a diaper. John was not advocating a new diet, by eating locusts and wild honey. John had an authentic vision of God's Messiah coming. A Savior sent from God, with a Winnowing Fork in one hand and a Torch in the other, so as to separate the wheat from the chaff, the good from the evil, and where Noah had saved a remnant from flood, this cleansing by the coming Savior would scorch and burn all that was wrong. The problem of John the Baptist was not the sin of his father or mother. Where his father did not believe, where his parents represented an outdated society, John not only prophesied the coming of Jesus, he recognized Jesus. At the Baptism, you can almost hear John chastising Jesus out of the corner of his mouth, “What are you doing here, get out of the water! You will get all wet. This is not for you!” The problem of John the Baptist was not that he did not have expectations, not that John did not believe but rather that his expectations were different. His expectations of the world, of the Messiah, of God, ALL were his expectations. Is that not our problem as well? A few years ago, the Washington Post tested people's Expectations. The paper had a street performer play his violin on the platform of the Subway. Thousands of people walked by without noticing. Some crossed over, to stay as far away from him as possible. Some were impressed by the music he played and tossed a few coins, even a few dollar bills into the open violin case. Except, the street performer in this case was Joshua Bell, one of the world's greatest violinists, and the instrument he played was a multi-million dollar Stradivarius. The night before, a concert of exactly the same music by the same performer had cost people $100 a seat. Here our expectations caused us to not listen, not pay attention, not respond. Our Great Expectations of Christmas, are that we could get everything we ever wanted and more. We could have a celebration with family and friends, where everyone loved one another and got along. We could have a meal that was perfect and everyone was satisfied. We have each created constructs of what our world is expected to be. So when a job lay-off occurs, our expectations are threatened. When a divorce is filed,when Cancer is suggested, our expectations crumble. When a disability happens, our Expectations shift from believing life will get better, hoping for the best, to grasping at shifting sand, that the worst we have experienced might be the best we could ever again hope for. John the Baptist was in a prison cell. The irony of Jesus' questions to the crowd, were that John the Baptist was in the Prison of Herod's palace. King Herod like all the King Herod's of the Bible, wore long soft robes. Herod had minted coins that on one side had the image of a reed bending, as a symbol of the King of Israel, a son of David, being a servant of Rome. The Caesars of Rome had their expectations, King Herod had his expectations, John the Baptist had expectations of what the Messiah would be, so sends a messenger to Jesus asking if he is the fulfillment of John's expectations. Jesus does not give the messenger a YES or NO, but instead describes, the blind receive sight, the deaf hear, the lame not only walk they leap and the dead are raised. Jesus here quotes the Book of Isaiah, naming the blessings promised. Painfully, for John, what Jesus does not quote from Isaiah, is “And the Prisoners shall be set free.” The word “Blessing” and all these are blessings, is the opposite of the word scandal/offense. This passage from Isaiah is among the best known and most loved. But the word which seems obscure is that the water in the desert would provide a road. Most of us see floods and rivers as barriers, as obstacles. But throughout Scripture, the water created the opportunity for dry fertile land to appear. The water washed clean the earth, creating the opportunity for Noah to begin anew. The water of the Red Sea not only drowned the Egyptians but provided a way across safely for the people of God. Water we know in Baptism as sign and seal of a new relationship, an eternal relationship with God.

"Dead Roots" December 8, 2013

Isaiah 11: 1-10 Matthew 3: 1-12 Many weeks ago, a Session meeting began with one Elder asking the body: “Are we Biblical enough?” Immediately a hush fell over the table as the leadership of the Church shifted from business management and administration, to a measurable challenge to our faith. Another member had only just before the meeting received an email from someone dissatisfied by many things in their life, lashing out that the church did not have the evangelical faith they wanted, so responded “No, we are not Biblical enough!” When a third spoke saying that what we have and what we do, is what had attracted their family to this church. I logged all this away for future thought, when this week, someone sincerely asked “So why were Moses and Israel in Egypt in the first place?” and someone else asked “Jesus was a nice guy, he did not seem to have done anything wrong, why was it necessary for this man to be crucified to death?” Having read through significant portions of the Old and New Testaments, our Bible Study is going back to the beginning to read Genesis and share together. These are the same underlying questions Isaiah, and John the Baptist were struggling with in their communities. People are at many different places in their journeys of faith. While we do not ever want to water down the faith, if persons do not understand the building blocks, they can never attempt the meaningful questions of their lives. All the stories of faith, all the separate parables we recall, are like so many dead stumps. Roots of an old forest, grown and cut down long since, whose trees no longer bear fruit or provide shade, or wood for construction. Recall Isaiah was High Priest at the Temple in Jerusalem after the time of King David and Solomon. Recall this was before the exile to Babylon, eight Centuries, 700 years before Jesus of Nazareth or Julius Caesar. Recall that what God had promised to David was a monarchy, a lineage, that all future Kings of Israel would be descendants of David, and that in that lineage, at the beginning of the time of Isaiah, there was King Ahab married to Jezebel who tried to destroy faith in God, bringing Idols and statues of Baal into the Temple. In the 6th Chapter, Isaiah had a Vision, during the funeral of the King, in which Isaiah saw the greater power and majesty of the kingdom of God. In the Throne room of God, there are Angels and Seraphim flying overhead singing “Holy, Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty.” And Isaiah receives a Calling from God, to Preach to a people whose Ears are Fat and Deaf, whose Eyes are Heavy and Blind. As grand of visions as he may share, as eloquent of sermons he might preach, the world is not ready to listen, to hear, to see, and to act in faith. Isaiah describes that the nation of Israel is like a stump, the Monarchy of David will be cut off, dead, decaying and forgot. But Nothing is impossible with God. Although the tree has been dead for centuries, the trunk and branches cut off, still a new shaft, a fresh shoot is always possible. Even 700 years later, Jesus may come from the root of Jesse, a descendant of the tribe, a child of God. What a symbol of hope and new life, to witness something growing out of what had been dead. And yet, like the question of whether a tree falling in the forest makes sound, if a shoot sprouts from a dead root does anyone notice, does anyone care? Even 2000 years after Jesus, we can believe and choose to live life differently. What John the Baptist called for in preaching “REPENTANCE” was not the atonement of Lent. But honestly, carefully and thoroughly examining our lives. How can we get from where we are, to where we want our world to be? His listeners went down into the cold water of the Jordan and washed away everything that reminded them of what they had been, in order to embrace life anew. Isaiah responded with another vision from God, vision of Lamb and Lion laying down together. There is one school of thought that believes all these creatures, are symbolic of the gifts of the first vision. The Lamb is of Peace, the Lion or Righteousness, the Calf of Sacrifice, the Bear of Courage, ALL living together. But Calf and wolf, toddler and snake, all coexisting is also a Garden of Eden, as in the way God designed the world to be. What if, the Garden of Eden was not Paradise Lost, was not only the way God created the world which humanity corrupted, but what life is supposed to become, to regain? How do go from where we are, in this day and age, Cut off Dead Roots even with a sprout or sprig of hope, to become the GARDEN OF EDEN'S PEACE? Is that not what we all desire? We may dream of making our fortune, of changing the world, of finding that one true love, but ultimately in quiet moments, what we each desire is peace. Peace of mind, peace in our relationships, peace in our family, peace in our Nation, peace in the world. A reality without fear, where there are no school shootings. Where there are no terrorists, and no hatred. Where the nightly news is not sensational devastation, but human interest, stories of joy. I have an assignment for us this morning. Take your bulletin or a plain sheet of paper and make a list of all the things you need and want to do before Christmas. What has to be done in the next two and a half weeks? Shopping for presents? Baking cookies? Sending Cards and Family Christmas letters? Singing Carols? Going to a Party? Decorating and watering the tree? Now, in a different column, on a fresh sheet of paper describe your dream, what PEACE would be? What are your hopes and dreams? These are dreams, not practical purchases, so maybe it is lions and lambs laying together, maybe like Nelson Mandela 49 years ago under Apartheid it was belief that black and white could co-exist without dominating one another. That was a dream that he spent 27 years in Prison for. A dream that made then made him the President of South Africa. So what are we willing to do to make dreams a reality? We can water trees without roots, but ultimately they will die. We can bake cookies, but ultimately we are going to have to accept a diet. There is a story from our relationship with the people in South Sudan, that I have never yet told. Nine years ago, when I went to South Sudan to re-unite families separated by war, shortly after the plane landed, I was assigned a translator, who tried to say everything that was said in Dinka to me in English, and to translate everything I said into Dinka. There was a presentation of dreams in which I described my purpose nine years ago, was as a pastor to those of my congregation, this church, where I was trying to re-unite those separated by brokenness. I named the possibility that some wanted to create a clinic to provide health care where none existed. One of the leaders described the depth of their reality, that 8 out 10 babies died before age five years. And in affirmation, I recognized I am a parent with children. That half of the women die in Labor and delivery, and under my breath I named my mother died in my birth. Before I realized it, this too was translated and a quiet fell over the 500 or more that were gathered. DREAMS are personal. Dreams are important. What are you willing to do to make your dreams real? The Bible is not simply a collection of old Dead Stumps, but the Roots onto which we are engrafted. Are we parasites that feed off the decay of dead roots? Are we like Orchids, having a symbiotic relationship to our root? Or are we nurturing dreams that seemed an impossibility?

"Focused On A Distant Shore" December 01 2013

Isaiah 2: 1-5 Matthew 24:33-44 Karlene and Bill Miller in our membership had a grandfather, whose name was Karl Barth in the 1920's – 1950's he was among the most well-known and respected of theologians. Karl Barth described that “We need to prepare for each day with the Bible in one hand and the Newspaper in the other.” Christian Faith must be grounded in Reality! The problem we have is that not only are people no longer familiar with reading the Bible daily, there are not newspapers printed to read! Our Bible lessons reference a Time/Space shift in REALITY, the times we live in, and the times to come. What a pertinent message for today! Because what are all the Reality shows about, if not creating new realities? Whether Inventions, Game Shows or Talent Competitions, Cooking Challenges, or Survival on deserted islands, the goal is $1,000,000 and the challenges to Reality based on what you are willing to do and what $1,000,000 will do to you. What are the political parties, if not opposing ideologies of which reality to create? Why do we have Christmas pageants, if not for an instant to glimpse our child in wings and a halo as being an angel? Jesus' reference point, according to Matthew, is that this is a future reality, different from what we have known, and yet could be at any moment, so we need to prepare. We have not been reading Isaiah, and he is a different kind of Prophet. Both Chapter 1 and chapter 2 begin “The Word that Isaiah the son of Amoz Saw” Isaiah was a High Priest at the temple in Jerusalem, the son of the High Priest, he is a figure grounded in history. But he speaks differently than we do, most often we expect the verb related to what the prophet did related to a word to be HEARD or SPOKE, or Shouted or Sang, but the Word which the Prophet Isaiah SAW is odd, suggesting a different reality. Prophecy is not the reading of Tea Leaves, or the Forecasting of Horoscopes by Astrological Signs; Prophecy is encountering a different sense of reality about the world we know. In Chapter 1, Isaiah describes seeing continued wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Isaiah sees in the present time, Royalty and Governments so fixated on War, on creating International Realities, that the needs of the poor, of widows and the aged and children, go unfunded and unmet. Up until this point Isaiah could be Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, or the news of our day, whether told by CNN, FOX or BBC, but in Chapter 2 Isaiah sees a different reality to come. Where currently the currents of rivers flow down from mountains, with the exception of The Finger Lakes and Nile, rivers flow from North to South; the WORD Isaiah saw is of all waters and all peoples flowing up to the Mountain of God. English does not translate other languages with the same nuance. Where our translations describe “In the Present Time, and In the Latter Days,” Hebrew describes “the days to come are heavy laden,” the literal meaning is “Time is Pregnant!” Now believe it or not, I have never actually been pregnant. But I have known many who have been, who describe in the months before birth, a sudden awareness that something, a different being/ another reality is moving inside you. Not gas, not stomach grumbling, but a foot pressing outward, a weight lying upon your internal organs, a rhythmic touch from inside. From that moment onward, your life is never the same. Your sleep, your hungers, your worries, your reality has a different point of reference. One of my family's favorite activities in the summer has always been sailing. One of my first memories was after having heard about sailing all my life, one day at the age of three, I was told we were going sailing. I had a new pair of rubber soled shoes. A great orange life preserver was put over my head and strapped round my waist, tied at my chest, and I was lifted from the dock and deposited upon the seat. Where we were told not to move, not to stand up unless told to, that there were no seat belts, so hang on to something even if it is your brother. Initially as we left the mooring we moved with speed and direction, but after a time the vessel rocked very gently and rhythmically almost putting you to sleep. Suddenly the wind came up, the waves began crashing against the hull, and splashing over the deck, even tossing and throwing over each other. As children, we began to look a little green, when suddenly we heard the voice instruct us to sit up straight and point your face into the wind until you could fear the whisper of the wind the same in both ears. Then we were told to look straight ahead and find a spot, some point of reference on the distant shore that would be constant, even though the waves and sky and the boat were moving. With a constant point of reference on the distant shore, with the wind whispering equally in both ears, looking ahead instead of closing your eyes and going with the flow, our stomachs settled, excitement and enthusiasm for what we experienced returned. Living into the Advent of a different Reality requires finding new points of reference to focus upon. New Reality, whether changes in society, economics, technology and culture, or whether embracing marriage and the raising of children, or new careers and vocations in a different place, all are about the Advent of a New Reality. When I counsel couples about getting married, I give them a homework assignment. In part, because as human creatures we learn by establishing new routines, by doing. So if they work at the homework, they may continue this after they move into their new reality. The Homework is to go out on a date together, and not talk about the wedding. To try to have fun together. To try to romance each other and act lovingly. We cannot simply flow along through life, and expect to arrive at a different reality. To prepare for the Advent of a different reality, we must work at it. Beating Swords into Plowshares and Spears into Pruning Hooks, is not about abandoning War to become Farmers. What the Hebrews following Moses and Joshua did not understand and do when they left being Slaves of Pharaoh, when they left being Nomads in the Wilderness, when they came into and took possession of the Promised Land of Milk and Honey, was to work at reforming their tools and identities and relationships for a different reality. There were very clear demarcations. All of the Firstborn were slaughtered, the Red Sea parted for them then closed to seal the fate of those pursuing to destroy. There were rituals and festivals and feasts. There was the Passover, the leaders took twelve stones from the Jordan to place as a cairn marker, they were circumcised for life among a different people. But the people of God did not perceive that they might need to be different in a different reality. I believe we made a horrible and tragic series of mistakes in our past history. At the time of Napolean, when Andrew Jackson was President, and Lewis and Clark were setting out to explore the world, pioneers and settlers floated upon rafts to create a new life here in this new nation. The War for Independence was fought from 1775 until September 1783. In less than 20 years this area at the north end of Skaneateles lake as far distant as Elbridge, Sennett and Marcellus had been claimed as farms and Missionaries from New Hampshire came to evangelize and organize. The first mistake in retrospect, is that we claimed the identity of being the Schaneateles Religious Society. Time and again, we have returned to problems of religion, which separate and divide us, which focus on ritual and curriculum, rather than on our being a Community of Faith, a People of God. We gathered regularly to share as a community in confessing our sins and worship of God, in teaching to read, interpret and apply the Bible, and resolving the conflicts that naturally arise between people as a Court. The second great error that we made was abandoning that identity and practice, to become a church, accepting a legal system of judges and courts of law. Because the original focus of the Courts as the Community was not on who had done wrong, who was going to jail or paying a settlement. The whole purpose of the Courts was to air our conflicts so as to forgive one another. The point of that reality was not on power, or prestige, or rights, but that if we are a Spiritual Communion, if we are the body of Christ then when we do harm when we speak evil against one another, we do so against God. The people flowing to the Mountain of Israel, was for all people to be brought to God. There is a great American Painting, titled The Peaceable Kingdom, in which Lion and Lamb lay together, and in addition to all the creatures of Jungle co-existing, the Iroquois and Pilgrims are trading. Would that we could create a new work of art The Teachable Kingdom with all people learning from one another about God.