"If All Had Faith" May 18, 2014

Numbers 11: 1-30 Acts 6:1-8 Having served as your pastor for 17 years and 5 months, this morning represents our 900th Sermon. One might think that after 900 sermons, this people of God would have learned & resolved everything. One might even imagine that after 900 sermons the Preacher would have gotten the message to give up. At the end of September, I will have been ordained for 30 years, which while not a Biblical 40, has been a major era of social change during which the “Church” describing Christianity, faith in God, has changed, from denominations fighting over which is the true religion, to spirituality rejecting religion. But like this morning's Scripture passages, we continually respond to this group's complaint, or planning and responding to the next transition, and we rarely discuss “theology”. We struggle to even remember the language of what theology, that is “our relationship with God is about:” Fidelity, Redemption, Reconciliation, Salvation. Sometimes the best we can say about our theological convictions is, as was said of Andy Warhol paintings, and the marketing campaign for Campbell's soup, “It's In There!” But when we do not name our theology, actively work on our relationship with God, then other convictions take the place of God in our lives. At those times, our faith begins looking like our peers, like our family, and evil becomes anything that does not taste good. Please understand, you have worked tirelessly, we have worked tirelessly, and I am truly thankful. But I guess every preacher who struggles and strives to interpret and apply the Word of God with integrity, knows and believes that they have wandered in the desert and reacted to circumstance of what people crave to hear, rather than listening for God's direction. In both the Old Testament and the New, people complained; also in both the resolution becomes greater delegation, but in both because people were unaware of what else was taking place (instead of faith) this led to new and different problems. The Book of Numbers in the Old Testament records other stories of what took place during the Wilderness Wanderings searching for the Promised Land. How often have families complained about what we have, instead of being thankful to be family? I recall when our children were little, making meat loaf, and because it was different, because the ingredients were touching one another, one of the kids complained that he would not eat. We sat through tantrums and tears, until finally after dinner, when he was hungry enough I offered to make him a hamburger, and slicing the meatloaf placed this on a bun, which he ate as the best burger ever, until he discovered it was actually the same meatloaf. The people in the wilderness complained about eating manna. One of the lessons learned from Mission partnership has been that in developed places, with wealth, come choices. In many parts of the world today, and throughout history, the question of food has not been watermelon versus ice cream, but shall we eat today or not! Day after day for 40 years, they gathered up something like coriander seed from the ground, which they ground with a Mortar and Pestal and fried to the consistency of tortillas, with nothing to fill the taco. They began reminiscing about the taste of fresh fish! Watermelon, onions and celantro, beans and rice, maybe even real meat! But they were not yet ready for substance. What Moses heard was there are 600,000 people who want meat. How many Wendy's Frostys, Big Macs or Taco Bell Breakfast Waffels would it take to satisfy 600,000 people! One of the issues of faith, is that instead of an instantaneous disposable society, we need to slow down and appreciate being. Moses recalls caring for his Father-in-Laws sheep when suddenly he heard the voice of God from a burning bush. The Call to Ministry was promised to be about setting free God's people! The Call was to fight the forces of Pharaoh! How did Moses ever become Nanny to 600,000 complaining people? Feeling overwhelmed and burned-out, Moses recalls that the bush was not consumed, God was in it and the bush never burned-out. What God heard however was the People of God prefer Going Back to Slavery than following God! Ready or not, the people carved digesting the substance of meat to appreciating that they were being fed a miracle. The wonder of God's FIDELITY, is that as often in each of our lives as we have complained and dismissed God, turned away and created something to satisfy us instead of God, God has never gone away. We may not appreciate the lessons of REDEMPTION, but God continues to have fidelity to BE IN COVENANT, no matter what. So God tells Moses, tomorrow they will have meat for 600,000 people, not just meat for one meal, but an abundance of meat greater than for a month. They will have meat until they sicken of eating meat. And not being accustomed to digesting this, the complainers will all get sick. Then we will see if the people of God want to eat meat, or trust what God gives them. But in all wisdom, for what else is going on, in addition to hearing the people's complaint against God, in addition to hearing Moses fears and frustrations, God hears what is true for Moses, that so much more could be done if he were not the only leader, and Delegates not only Authority, but also appropriate Faith to 70 in addition to Moses. God did not create 70 clones of Moses, but whereas Moses was able to Prophesy, they were able to preach. Where Moses could lead the people after God, the 70 could manage and administer and care for the needs of the people. However, the human problem, is that our lives, families, businesses, community are easier to control when there is ONE leader, one to take responsibility, one to blame. Whenever we delegate responsibility we give up control, and in order to do so, we must learn to trust more. The point of trust, is that you usually do not have to DO anything, but to name that this is a demonstration of trust, this is different, so we must trust different. Joshua, the apprentice to Moses raises concern for Control over Eldad and Medad, who were not among the 70 chosen, but were given faith, given ability and begin preaching. Moses responds to Joshua, sometimes we do not have all the answers, the leadership of faith is not about control, not about power. All those things are in there, but shifting from one to delegating to more than one is a demonstration of trust and commitment an exercise of faith in one another & God. After Jesus' Death and Resurrection, the disciples now appointed and Changed to be Apostles lead the community of faith. As we mentioned last week, the early church was an amazing community of faith, because everyone shared openly to care for the needs of others. They prayed for one another, they ministered to each other, the community knew their needs and instead of acting out of craving, they turned to God for help. BUT a new problem arose. The early church was successful, they grew by thousands, and the 12 could not Baptize and Preach and Heal and Teach, as well as waiting Tables to earn money to provide for those in need. Appointing of Deacons, was identification of different responsibilities (Job Descriptions) from Apostles. Invariably, the difficulty with having greater number of people is that they will confuse roles. Stephen filled with Holy Spirit preached. Stephen's sermon was eloquent and insightful, powerful in cutting to the heart of faith, but it was not for Stephen (a Deacon) to Preach. The Deacons were to Wait Tables and to Pray, being cornered by one who was not an Apostle, the people reacted and stoned Stephen to death. If anything, our Scriptures this day are Negative examples, which could instead have been... The people of God were set free from slavery, and wandered in the wilderness being fed and hydrated by miracles! The people craved more, to have substance, greater than the satiation of hunger for a day; and the Spirit of God that had been given Moses was distributed upon all people to act in faith, some as preachers, some as teachers... this is 1st Corinthians 12. But instead, what comes across is the people complained and challenged the leadership of Moses, challenged the authority of God,... for which they became sick. The people in the early church complained of Unfair distribution and Neglect of one group of widows and orphans, for another. Through the laying on of hands, through the appointment of Deacons the resources of the church were increased, prayer was increased. Not so much a theological issue as an issue of the church. Yet instead, we have a bloody awful circumstance that only seems to serve to introduce that one whose name was Saul of Tarsus held the coats of the mob as they took up rocks. If all the people had faith to be one body instead of complaining, what might have become of the human race? God is not done with us yet. But do not imagine the cravings of people or the problems of the church will all be resolved simply because we now have two God-guys. Now the resources and challenges of the community are simply doubled, each with our own job descriptions.

May 11, 2014, "You are Known and Loved"

Acts 5:1-10 John 10:1-10 You are known, you are loved! You are and will be remembered! So give yourself to others! That is the simple and profound message of this day, of the Bible, of Baptism, of Mothers Day. Often, we try to make life too complicated. You are known and you are loved! Before this little one is able to speak, before she has been taught anything, not because of what she has or has not done, simply by virtue of being, she is of Child of God, she is loved. Someday, she may be President of the United States, someday she may be a University Professor, some day she may be someone's wife, some day she may be somebody's Mother. In all those ways and many more experiences she will be known, she will be claimed, she will be loved, and remembered, and she will give herself to others, over and over. But today, we affirm that being known to God, she is loved. I have always been quite transparent with you, even that in my birth my mother died. About a year later, my Father married the Church Organist, giving us a new role model for mother. In between, though I was too young to remember, a woman in the congregation raised me with her children. Over the years, because she was not a blood relative, we only saw her on very rare occasions, but when I was Confirmed, she sent a plaster-of-paris hand-print spray painted gold, with my name across it. When Judy and I married, another Hand-print arrived. When I was Ordained there was another gold hand-print. I began wondering if as an infant she had been fingerprinting me in plaster of paris every day? Just how many of these hand-prints did she have? And yet, there was something very re-assuring that before she had been there before I knew anything else, and at all the markers of life, she remembered and loved. You are known and you are loved. Earlier this year, Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks Basketball team contacted a Sports Radio announcer and offered him $50,000 to legally change his name for a year to be “Dallas Mavericks.” It would have proven instant publicity for Cuban's team. Every time, the announcer introduced himself, or signed off he would be naming the team. Fans wrote emails and called into the show telling him he should do it. When the announcer did not act, the owner of the team offered to increase his offer to $100,000 and another $100,000 would be donated to his favorite charity, if he would change his name for a year. But finally the announcer said, “I cannot. If I did, I would be selling out my integrity, I would be selling out who I am. Perhaps I would be offering promotion to the local team, but to me every time I introduced myself I would be stating I will do anything for money, for a job, for acceptance.” You are known and You are loved. We seek familiarity, we seek to be known, yet not really. More than ever before we are connected, through Facebook, Skype, Vimeo, Twitter, Email, Smart-phones, Blogs, we are more immediately connected to more people than ever before, and yet there is less intimacy, less caring, less sharing of who we really are with one another. In seeking connection we continue a pattern begun in our infancy, regardless of culture, regardless of family, as infants we all mimic, Our eyes are pre-set to focus upon the face of our Mother and Father. They smile and we smile back. They raise an eyebrow and we do. We seek validation of those like us, seeking to be known, to be loved, to be remembered, and as infants we have no boundaries. But as we mature, our mimicing shifts to a desire for validation, for acceptance; and one of the last things to develop which some of us never do, is discernment among those validating. Is the acceptance of our Mother as important as that of our peers? Is having a really good and trusted friend the same as being able to be seen by 2,500 friends? In the case of Dallas Maverick, is a money worth more than a name? You are known, you are loved, you will be remembered, so give your whole self without restraint. During Lent we began this story of a man born blind whom Jesus healed. But where we tend to be distracted by the miracle, a major point of remembering the story is that suddenly he was different from how everyone knew him. The disciples questioned whether he or his parents had sinned to cause his blindness...the Pharisees judged and rejected him as not being accepted...his own parents said: He's old enough, let him take responsibility for his own life. After having healed him of what had made him different, Jesus sought out the man, offering love and acceptance. Jesus had looked into his eyes and knew him and offered for the man to know his Savior. The Gospel of John is wonderful for having these puns or riddles, we might even call them double en tend-re. The man who had been blind was given sight by the Savior, and knowing the man blind and knowing the same man able to see, made everyone else question their own blindness. Years ago we had a Beagle, and a fenced in back-yard. But regardless of the fence, that dog would try to get out, she would dig under, jump up, pull at the wires to get out to where everything else in life was. Gates in a rural society were important. When animals are penned in, they will find any way possible to get out. But outside is not secure, is not safe. There are predators and robbers seeking to destroy. In the wild, when grazing sheep over night, a shepherd would gather stones and sticks to create a perimeter, an enclosure to hold the sheep which was called a sheepfold. I recall years ago, when we first developed relationship sponsoring refugees from Sudan. One day, I drove to lakefront home of John and Mary Ayer, and I was asked about our relationship. I recall John describing, I want to bring my children and their children to this church and name to them, this was the gate through which we came to be part of America. One of the churches I grew up in had a great deal of artwork. One print was a copy of a woodcut from the 1500s, roughly when Martin Luther was a teenager. In the print, Jesus stood at the gate of the sheepfold, and the sheepfold was the church. While Jesus was at the gate, there were Church officials checking people's papers, to determine who should get in and who should be kept out. Meanwhile, there were Church leaders running away from the Church carrying away members and ideas. The print was what today we might consider a Political Cartoon about the need for the Reformation, and in recent years I have thought a great deal about that print being descriptive of today, as Church leaders fight over who belongs and who does not, while important ideas and people are being carried away and lost. The passage about Ananias and Saphira, names what was required was not that they donate everything they had. Before they sold the land, nothing whatsoever was required of them. No, the difficulty was that they conspired to withhold part, to claim that they had given their all and lied to God, lied to the community, when they were choosing to hide. Being known and being loved, requires that we act honestly with one another, that we recognize and claim each other with our love in response. When there are gates, you had to be careful to use the gate every-time. If you crawl over a gate, over time the hinge would spring lowering the gate to where animals would try to climb over. If you crawled beneath, your pushing away brush and loose dirt would invite animals to believe they could too. My favorite image is of the Shepherd who would lay their own body down as the gate, to keep animals from going in or coming out. Literally, the Shepherd's own self became the Gate. And more important than trying to narrow the gate to keep unwanted out, the shepherd used their own body to extend the width of the gate to try to bring more inside. The secret to understanding faith is a question of where we begin. Are we Human beings searching all our lives to become more spiritual? OR are we spiritual beings, known by God, loved by God, searching to be accepted by humans?

"Founded on Disappointments" May 4, 2014

Luke 24: 13-35 Acts 10: 34-48 But, we had hoped... For the last many decades we have been part of an intellectual revolution. Our human understanding has increased exponentially, and what our minds could not fathom, our computers and devices could calculate for us. We are rational beings, but we are not only intellectual, we also feel and live and act and relate to one another. The quest to know, the desire to understand and make sense of the world only works for the tangible, the length and breadth, height and depth from nothing to our greatest achievement. The difficulty is that we have equated faith in contrast to science, or philosophy, or psychology, as something to know and master. But to believe is not to commit to mind as memory, but to commit to heart what we treasure. In faith we begin at Chaos trusting God to redeem. What I am struggling to describe is there is a rational progression to our minds; but leaps of faith are not rational, not progressive, if anything Christian faith is built on disappointment, doubt and disillusionment, the traumas which prevent continuing unchanged. If Christian Faith were reasonable and logical, all we would need is the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is Karma, what goes around comes around. Good things happen to good people. Following the rules guarantees success. Except, these do not always work out. Bad things do happen to good people, just as those who do terrible things get away with bullying and successes. Life is not always as cyclical as the seasons, as rational as gravity, or laws. The Resurrection is not about Jesus being born at Bethlehem, baptized as a 30 year old, a gifted preacher, teacher and healer who entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and was promoted to being the Son of God. We cannot make the transition, to Jesus rising from the dead, without his having died, died in the most gruesome horrible way of suffering designed to instill fear and domination and hopelessness. Luke 24 is a very real human story. In response to Jesus being arrested, executed, buried 3 days before, two of those who had been followers declare: Road Trip! Let's Get out of Dodge. Let's go south for the winter. Let's clear our heads by going for a walk, or a run. We are taught Escapism. When stress gets too much, when we do not know how to cope with disappointments, we take a pill, have a drink, watch something mindless, go away for a while. When we are Depressed, we DeCompression, except when we are rested, when we come back, this “disappointed reality” is still inescapable. Luke has this wonderful aramaic phrase: “Hlpizomen” “But, we had hoped...” The disciples thought everything would be predictable. In a baseball game the pitcher pitches, the Catcher catches, the shortstop intercepts and runs down the player between 2nd and 3rd. A Surgeon excises tumors. So a Messiah is here to gather to change the world. The Messiah will confront our oppressors, call for revolution against the Empire, we have evidence with Noah, and Moses and King David. But Jesus died... But, we had hoped. Hlpizomen is not specifically about Jesus dying on the cross and being raised on Easter, but our every conversation of disappointment. We had hoped our child was going to be the first to college... We had hoped that going to college they would get a Job... We got married and we had hoped to live happily ever after... We bought a house and had hoped to live here all our days...We had hoped to retire to spend time together... We invested in the stock market to have money for retirement... All these are discussions on the road of disappointments. Struggling to make sense, to change from what we thought we understood, to accept a different reality founded on this disappointment.. We had hoped, Life was Perfect, Fair, We could Win.. Our language, our culture, quickly adapt and use phrases until they become trite, overtly familiar, one of the most recent that has been used to excess is A NEW NORMAL. When we are traumatized, when we had hoped to spend a lifetime together and that other cheats on us, or dies, that is not a new normal. When in a Marathon raising awareness and money for Cancer research, or Mental Illness, and someone blows up a bomb, that is does not create a new normal. In trauma, in hopelessness the disappointment of what we have known, become the foundation of what we will be a Fresh Beginning. The Emmaus Road is the Gospel, within the Gospel of Luke, within the Bible. After the Crucifixion, Resurrection when followers confront Jesus, saying we had it all figured out, we were in control, We had hoped... And Jesus beginning with Law and the Prophets explains how everything fits together differently, from a foundation of disappointment. It takes a seven mile journey for them to hear, and arriving at their destination he appeared to be going further but they twisted his arm to stay for dinner. For many of us, food can become another Escapism. Chocolate, Comfort Food, Red Wine, these fill us with empty calories, satiating our desire, without transforming us. I went to Seminary with Baptists and Congregationalists and AME Zion who emphasized the new understanding that came intellectually from the Word; with Catholics, Lutherans and Episcopalians all would be priests, who seized on this point in the story, that in the breaking of the bread, in that sacramental moment, they recognized him. As a Presbyterian, I believe in both/and, in receiving the Word and experiencing the Forgiveness at Table we are changed. Acts of the Apostles describes a different meal. Simon Peter was attempting to pray, but he was hungry. Have you ever tried to do something, and been distracted by your body's needs and desires? Peter's mind continually drifts off to food, except, in this prayer-state he witnesses this great white table cloth lowered from heaven, filled with Armadillo, Snails, Rattle snake, Tortoise, Mollusks, Vulture, Horse and Pig, all Non-Kosher food, all forbidden in a former time and place. So Peter rejects what is offered. Three different times, his prayers are interrupted by the same vision, the same dream of succulent Non-Kosher forbidden food and a voice from God saying “eat”. Three different times, Peter rejects what is offered from heaven... It seems like it always takes Simon Peter 3 times of denial and rejection, before he recognizes God. Suddenly, instead of the Cock crowing, there is a knock at the door where there were three strangers, with invitation to Go. Peter went with these Gentiles, though again it was out of his comfort zone, in a disillusioned world. The strangers took him to Cornelius a Roman Centurion, who although Gentile, an Officer in the Roman Legion, Cornelius bowed down and asked Simon Peter for blessing. Peter is more eloquent than “But We had hoped...” Peter replied “Where I have always been Kosher, I now perceive that God shows no partiality.” This is not a simple statement of Universalism. I'm Okay, You're Okay, Everything and everyone is Good. Instead, following upon the Vision, Peter is constructing a different reality built from the disappointment of the former no longer being sufficient. There is a powerful irony in all of this. Jesus was incarnate as a human being. Like all of us, his mother's womb enfolded him. At birth he was held and caressed. After he was Baptized, he “touched” people. He touched the ears of a deaf man, the eyes of one born blind, children, lepers and those mourned as dead he touched, a woman in the crowd reached out just to touch the hem of his garment. And being touched by him, all were made well. At the resurrection, in the Garden, in the Upper Room, Jesus invited those disillusioned to touch him, to feel where the spear pierced his side, to touch the holes made by the nails in the cross, and None are recorded as physically touching these. The point is not that our logic or knowledge has been wrong. Not that the Covenant is broken or abandoned. Not that we have to touch the physical wounds of his body's suffering. But rather, that in all our disappointments, all our disillusion-ments, we can now see how those were sufficient in an earlier time and place, but the Covenant can be fulfilled in ways we never before dared. This was not the home where we lived happily ever after, but rather one of the homes where we treasure great memories. We had hopes for what this child would be, and they have become so much more than we imagined.

"Broken Creation Being Broken Again," Easter 2014

Matthew 28:1-10 For each of us, there are moments frozen in time. Often, no one else even knows about about these. Defining moments. Times when you found yourself accused, suspended, having to defend yourself. When the doctor said “We need to run some tests...” When an envelope came from the IRS stating your Return had been flagged for an audit. The first time you went to a bank to try to qualify for a mortgage, and you were not sure you would. When you brought the baby home and realized another person was wholly dependent on you. The first time you lost someone you loved with your whole heart. Easter morning is one of our Defining Moments, an event in history when Everything, not just the World was changed but Everything in Creation was changed. How odd that most often we identify Easter as a day, an annual event, like a Birthday, Anniversary, St.Patty's, Halloween, April Fools, New Years. We mark it on our calendars, and back up forty days and forty nights before to know Ash Wednesday, and how long we must wait, how long we do without. Defining Moments, Life Changing Events, there are supposed to be those in every life, not simply that we are born and mature, progressing seamlessly through life unchanged toward death, but we are defined by the people and circumstance and moments. I have known those who lived life unchanged by defining moments. The adult who acted like a twelve year old, believing they would never get caught, that if they were caught their father could bail them out of anything. The husband who acted as if they had never taken vows, never took responsibility, had dates and relationships as if nothing mattered to anyone except him. The woman who went from her father's house to her husband's, to her second husband's, and third. Ironically, whether we have read the Scriptures or simply absorbed the idea from society, we know and have accepted the presence of Evil, the Fall of humanity. We know people sin, wound and undercut one another. Whether done by us, or to us, we know that Creation is not the Garden of Eden. Regardless of Evolution, or Divine Intervention, How we got here is not the basic question of life! We can all agree Life is not perfect, there are wars, ships that overturn, planes that are hijacked, divorces, family feuds, job losses, horrible circumstance. Somehow Creation that was called Good, was broken. But like the adult who never grew up, like the man who never took his marriage seriously, or the woman who never questioned who she was as a human being, we have all continued through history ignoring that on Easter the world changed again. Broken Creation as it had been reformed in our image, got broken. I love Matthew's telling of Easter morning. Mark is extremely brief, The Tomb IS Empty, the women ran in fear. Luke describes how the women found Peter, who found the other disciple Jesus loved and they ran to see, while Mary stood weeping. John includes all these other stories of other resurrections. Matthew is filled with details, and in the details, Excitement and a little Anxiety. The last time there were Angels in the Gospels was at the beginning. In Luke, The Angels announced to Shepherds in the field the Savior was born. At his baptism he was driven off into the wilderness by an angel. In each, after the temptation in the wilderness, he was ministered to by angels. Since then, this has been a very human story, about the human Jesus going back and forth between Judah and Galilee, between the People of God and the Gentile World. When the Powers and Principalities of the World conspired with the Religious people to kill Jesus, not a quick death, but crucifixion which was designed to make people fear, to watch for hours and days as a person suffered to death. And when they were dead, to bury the body as gone from sight and mind. The Marys, Mary Magdeline and the Other Mary, are recorded as having wept and watched and prayed. Now that the Sabbath is over, they go to relieve their anxiety. There are several different interpretations of what took place, that do not reconcile. Possibly, like a comet streaking across the sky, an angel comes to earth pushing the stone aside and in a sign of dominance and victory the angel sits down on it. The other three Gospels all state that the Tomb was already opened by the act of resurrection. Matthew is the only one to mention an earthquake. My youngest son works as an Engineer with earthquakes. Being thoroughly trained in Engineering of Earthquakes, with the experience of having been a Theologian's Offspring, and a degree in English Literature, I asked him. He responded: “This is so incredible! Most often, people see Earthquakes as frightening destruction. Like a scene out of the Exorcist, plates fly off the walls, silverware leaps out of the drawers, the foundations of buildings crack and collapse. BUT Here, the Earthquake seems to be a symbol of the power of God. The Earthquake points to burial being denied, reality being changed. What Geologists imagine is that deep beneath the earth's crust, Earthquakes are these plates larger than continents pulling apart to allow new magma to flow, creation being formed. How cool to have Easter related to Earthquakes, as old Creation destroyed and new Creation being formed.” Personally, I imagine Creation itself could no longer sit by. Creation was a witness when God called Life Good. Creation was a witness when God washed the world clean with Noah. Creation was a witness when Abram and Sarai set out with the Promise of future generations. Creation was witness to the 10 Commandments. Creation was witness to the Babylonian Exile. When the Messiah was made to suffer and die, was buried for 3 days, and God raised Jesus from death to life, I imagine Creation itself responded, all creation shook. Matthew records the Guards being traumatized, so filled with fear they are like dead men. When the Angel speaks to the Marys, those who have been filled with fear and loss. We want so desperately for Handel of Beethoven to have written the lyrics of the Angel. A voice like James Earl Jones resonating throughout Creation “I Bring you Good Tidings of Great Joy!” But instead the Angel is like the UPS Man, who simply points out the obvious. “Fear Not. As he said, He is not here. Come see.” They feel Creation shudder. The See the Messenger. They hear. They run not like in Mark where they run in fear. Not as in Luke where Mary stands weeping. They run unable to contain their excitement at loss being turned into love. I remember when I was about 6, spending summers at our grandparents farm. My brothers were older and rarely let me play with them. I recall coming into the house in tears that they had made up a rule you had to have a cap to play baseball on their team, and I had no hat. When my grandfather let me wear one of his hats, I put it on, turned around and ran smack into the door. Staggering a bit, I kept going ran off the porch right into a tree. When I came to, my Grandmother adjusted the size of the cap to fit, so I could see, and I ran off to play. That is how excited the Marys were, they ran to tell the disciples and ran smack into Jesus. Jesus again tells them, “be not afraid.” They go to tell the disciples, that Jesus will meet them in Galilee, the gateway to the Gentile world. One of the details, I find most striking about the witnesses to Easter are that here, it is not only Mary Magdeline, but also “The OTHER Mary” and in Luke it is Simon Peter and also “The OTHER Disciple”. That is who we are is it not, the OTHER Mary, the OTHER Disciple. This Easter is another Defining moment in our lives. It is like when the person who makes your heart flutter says “I love you”. When your child is placed in your arms the first time. After their crying all night long, for you to get them to sleep. For the doctor to tell you “We got it all, and it was benign.” When you are audited and they discover a bigger return than you believed! Be Not Afraid! He is Risen. Broken Creation formed in our image, has been broken again by God.

"At Table Together" Maundy Thursday 2014

Exodus 12: 1-14 John 13:1-17 & 31-35 I Corinthians 11: 23-26 Week in week out, we come to take for granted that we do what we do without recognizing that when in worship we are gathered At Table Together. Whether for Nourishment, for Worship on Sunday, for Communion, for the birth and Baptism of a new member of the family, birthdays and becoming Adults, Holidays, Marriages, Anniversaries, Memorials, we gather at table together. There is importance in routine, there is also meaning to every element and tradition. How often we have each noted that for Marriage and Parenting and Coping with life there are No Instruction Manuals! The central purpose of worship, the purpose of all celebrations and rituals is our passing on of core beliefs and relationships through tradition to new eyes, ears, mouths and generations, be they children or strangers. The point of the Passover and the point of Communion is you cannot be an observer, a stranger, ALL of us are honored guests, there is no greater or lesser place of honor, all are welcome, all are to participate fully. Palm Sunday, I was struck by all the references to The Ear and the Eye. We see this parade. We hear the marching footsteps of the horses and troops, contrasted with the children and foal of a donkey scampering beside Jesus. The Psalter referenced unwaxing our ears, and being given a Word to sustain. The following morning an unoccupied drone was lowered into the Ocean to search for a lost plane... that drone had cameras to see and to hear, even in the cold darkness over 3 miles down at the bottom of the sea. And Yet, as human creatures formed in the image of God, we are about so much more, we smell and taste and touch and feel, we think and pray and reflect and sacrifice and feel, we have a sense of past and present and we anticipate the future. Gathering at Table Together, there are smells and tastes, touches and feelings, related to every memory. Perhaps it is the times we grew up in, possibly the way my brain is wired, but my oldest memories are in b & w and the memories are silent. I remember the smell of pot roast, the scent of roast lamb, the stench of Brussels-sprouts, the smell of Turkey on Thanksgiving. Often times, especially Sundays there were candles. Recall the smell, the humidity, and the feel of a hot bath relaxing your muscles and joints. I remember every holiday waiting and waiting for relatives to arrive, relatives who always were late. It seems as though at least five years went by, when every night one of the four of us going through the spasms of puberty spilt a glass of milk, wetting the table and our laps. There was the sugary sweet taste of Wedding cake icing. There was the smell of brandy when my parents tried to make cherries-jubilee and plum pudding and neither time would they light. I recall the salty taste of tears as we prayed and sat in silence at the Table when my 13 year old brother had run away from home. The feel of a newborn in your lap, the anxiety of trying to host family in your new home. I remember the silence, after siblings boisterously told a story that was an embarrassment. It seems as though every important family occasion, every discussion took place At Table Together. The Passover and the Sacrament of Communion are sacred meals, shared at Table Together. You cannot celebrate Passover alone. You cannot have Communion by yourself. It is such a simple nuance, but vitally important that you do not simply serve lamb for Passover... You begin with a new beginning, as if this is the first day of the rest of your life. We all know things have happened before this, but this is a point of a new beginning spiritually. And you take an unblemished lamb for every household. The lamb was supposed to live with you for at least four days, breathing the air in your home, hearing the sounds and voices, sleeping under your roof, becoming a part of you and your family. When this has become personal, you prepare the sacrifice. Sacrifices are hurtful, sacrifices are bloody. So you take of the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and you write the name of God upon the doorposts and the lintel, that all who enter and exit would know you belong to God. In the sacrificial lamb, in the footwashing, there is a cleansing atonement. For as long as I can remember we have taken the Confirmation Class to worship at the Jewish Synagogue. Ironically the last several years, the Rabbi has had the same reading whenever we have attended which is on the most obscure Law of the Torah. There are 613 laws in the Torah, 10 of which we know as the 10 Commandments, but for 3 there is no explanation: not wearing Cotton & Wool together, not eating Dairy & Meat together, and the Red Heifer. The Red Heifer is obscure, not only because it requires finding a completely red heifer, without a whitespot, white hoof, blemish or scar; but also because the purpose of the Red Heifer is to be sacrificed for the atonement of someone who has been shunned from the community. You are to acquire this Red Heifer, and sacrifice it, and burn all its parts, then collect the ashes and take to the one who is shunned, you cannot do this for yourself. Then you are to anoint the other with these ashes of the purely obscure sacrifice for atonement. However, after which the one atoned for is pure and forgiven, but the one who made the sacrifice, who anointed the other, they have acquired the sin of the other. Part of Judaism is that you are never done with atonement, the sin can be passed, but never fully gotten rid of. THAT is the point of Christianity! Jesus' sacrifice is a complete atonement for our sins. Also recognize that in the Ancient Middle-east, people did not regularly wear sandals, did not wear socks, and as there were camels, cows, oxen, horses, sheep and goats everywhere, there was a lot that people had stepped in. So the most basic act of hospitality when you had a guest was footwashing. As it was so unclean, and intimate an act of cleansing, this was done by the lowest scullery slave. Those who have watched Downton Abbey know that there is a Class system, a hierarchy of jobs, even and especially among those who were servants. This was the job for the lowest of the lowest. No wonder Simon Peter freaks out at Jesus wanting to wash their feet. The point of Baptism is not bathing, the point of Communion is not satisfying hunger, the point of footwashing was not sweet smelling feet, but that the job of atonement, the most basic caring for another was done by the Son of God! One of the most amazing parts of the Last Supper, for me, has always been that Judas did not leave until after Jesus washed their feet, after all had been fed and given the cup. Jesus knew what was going to take place, he knew Simon Peter would deny him not just once but three times over, he knew all the disciples would run away, he knew Judas was in the process of betraying Jesus, but still Jesus washed the feet of all twelve, Jesus offered the bread as his body broken for all, he passed the cup naming this as the sign and seal of the new covenant in his own blood to all twelve. And after Judas left, then Jesus described the new Commandment, that we are to Love one another. Sometimes the monumental accomplishments are the easy ones. You are given a great quest, an enormous task, to change the world so you break it down into pieces, conscript others to help and get it done. But the basic, simple things, Love One Another, it seems so easy we take it for granted, but it is an entirely different outlook on life. I was listening to NPR yesterday, as they described a project in a tough inner city school where they showed a film about the Genocide that happened in Rwanda. The point of the project was to change attitudes about hate, violence, the things which lead to genocide. The students were then given a writing assignment of describing how they felt when they had been bullied, and when they had attacked someone else. They were not allowed to say “I feel sad or bad” they needed to describe. One of the youth described that “In the real world, forgiveness is seen as weakness, as if you do not have the nerve to stand up and fight for yourself.” This Commandment from Jesus to Love One Another seems even more appropriate today than ever before! Communion always seemed like the thing we do in Church. For 2000 years we have broken bread and drunk from the cup. Several years ago, reading through the history of this church, the Session named that when the church had been in conflict “We crucified our Lord all over again!” Suddenly it occurred to me, the Crucifixion is not only 2000 years ago but happens in our relationships, in our doing harm to each other that we crucify the Lord all over again. So also the breaking of bread, and serving the cup are the occasions each day when we have chosen to love another. Among the final words of Jesus, were not; “Keep the Faith” or Go out and die with me” or “After I am gone remember what I told you” but simply: “Love One Another.” So when have each of us chosen to love? To overlook having been slighted... To put aside your goals for the needs of someone else... To simply check in with someone whom you imagine might be afraid... Love One Another.

"Survival or Salvation?" April 13, 2014

Psalms 118:1-2 & 19-29; 31: 9-16 Matthew 21:1-11 Could there be anything in Christian culture more steeped in tradition & Triumph than Palm Sunday? Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Maundy Thursday, Easter, there are reasons why we celebrate each, and feelings, actions, things to do, transformations which still continue to occur, related to each. We know Jesus rode a donkey, we know people shouted Hosanna, we know they waved Palms, but other than perpetuating a 2000 year old tradition why do we celebrate Palm Sunday? This is not celebration of a Triumph! This is not the Climactic entrance, that is yet to happen on Easter. Palm Sunday is about something we rarely speak of anymore: Not Survival, not Winning, but Salvation! We each remember where we were on September 11th 2001 when Commercial planes were made to crash into the World Trade Center Towers. Prior to that day and time, we took safety and security for granted. Pearl Harbor had happened in Hawaii, but on the continental United States despite bombings of Government buildings and Ships in Harbor, we felt secure and un-threatened. Since 9/11, whether by the economy, escalating computerization, institutional - social change, fear, gang violence, bombings... all the world has doubted our survival. When Malaysian flight 370 disappeared the immediate reaction was terrorism and hijacking. Speaking with a group of clergy recently, we agreed that when we began in ministry: the Church, the world, our expectations, all were different. Searching to name what was different, we named being hopeful, having progress, but what we came back to were issues of survival. When we moved to Skaneateles, Auburn had a Rope Factory, Mottville a Chemical Factory, a Chair Factory, Camillus had a Cutlery Industry and also a Casket Company, Oneida manufactured Silver. All those and many others are now gone. Century old businesses: closed. The City of Detroit is Bankrupt. Schools and Governments, Police and Volunteer Fire departments, all are being down-sized, closed or consolidated. Regardless of denomination, Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Jewish, Muslim, all are closing Houses of Worship. Rotary, Elks, Masons, Kiwanis, Legions, Odd Fellows, all are in survival. This week, on Good Friday, Hollywood is releasing a new film called “Transcendence” the plot of which is whether humanity will allow the consciousness, the intelligence and identity, of one individual to rule and provide for the whole world, what Centuries of Government leaders, Democracies, Empires and Dictatorships could not solve... Survival is to be provided through the World Wide Web. 350 years before Palm Sunday, Alexander the Great had led his army into Jerusalem as Liberators, victors, riding his enormous black war-stallion Bucephalus. Alexander's had been a triumphal entry as the people were liberated, they waved palms and sang of being Saved. Since then, empires rose & fell. In the time of Jesus, Pontius Pilate: Roman Governor of Jerusalem, re-enacted this military Triumph, wearing full armor and weapons driving a chariot pulled by six horses through the streets of Jerusalem. Like a scene from The Hunger Games, Pilate led the Parade of force, followed by row upon row, battalion after battalion of the marching soldiers of the Roman Legion, proclaiming Rome as Savior of the World. Compared to constant warfare, Barbarian invasions, disease and unrest, the PAX ROMANA did guarantee an enforced peace, albeit at the cost of human rights, freedom, dignity, choice, humanity itself. Pilate had intentionally chosen this day, not only as reminiscent of Alexander, but because this was the start of Passover. Pilate was emphasizing to the people that he was the Current Pharaoh, and Passover was being dominated. Jerusalem at the time was not an extremely large city maybe 30,000, and Pilate and his Legions marched from the west into the City Center as the people stood silent. As Pilate entered from the West Gate with Rome in the background, Chariots and Armor and Horses and Power, Jesus entered from the East, from the Mount of Olives, from a place called Bethphage: The House of Affliction. Jesus rode upon a Nursing mother Donkey, with her little foal trotting beside. Not in a Chariot, not upon a stallion War horse, not even with a saddle but a pauper's robes as his saddle. Jesus entered, not with a red carpet and ticker-tape parade, but a carpet of beggar's cloaks and palm branches. Not marching to a Garrison military procession, but to the voice of children singing. Not surrounded by soldiers as people accept their domination, but surrounded by prostitutes and lepers, children and those who have been blind, and crippled giving thanks for salvation. Palm Sunday is not about a Triumphal Military Entry, Security, Safety, Survival, if anything Jesus' entry on a donkey is a parody, the Clown following the Elephants at the Circus, this is a dramatic presentation of humility. Instead of Power and Domination, this is a parade of Salvation. The words “Have Mercy Upon Us” in Aramaic, the common colloquial language, was “Hosanna!” The emphasis being more than SURVIVAL; SAVE US, REDEEM US, show us Life is Worth living! All throughout the Gospel, people in need turned to Jesus crying “Hosanna!” After Jesus was Baptized, he was at a Wedding where the wine ran out, his mother said “Have Mercy”and he supplied limitless wine. Lepers cried out to him: “Have Mercy on us,” their fingers, toes, ears and nose all grew back! That flesh eating MERSA virus was not only healed, lives were restored to where they could smile and sing. Those who were blind came to him saying “Son of David have mercy” and he made mud to put in their eyes and the blind were made to see! A child died and Jesus returned her to her parents. Nicodemus named Jesus as having come from God, and asked for some sign, and Jesus gave the phrase Anathon, “Born Again, Born from Above, Heaven Sent” that has been a sign and symbol, misunderstood and misconstrued for what it meant, ever since. A Samaritan Woman who came to a well was offered Living Water, and she witnessed that he knew everything she had ever done. Martha and Mary confessed Jesus to be the Son of God, and their brother Lazarus who was dead and buried, Jesus restored from death to life. Where on the road to Caesara Philippi Simon had named Jesus as being The Messiah and at Lazarus Tomb Martha had confessed You are the Resurrection and the Life, in the Gospel of Matthew, the Crowd has an identity and here on Palm Sunday, for now the third time Jesus is confessed as being the Messiah, Prophet and King. Remember back, 33 years before in the Gospel of Matthew. The Caesar in Rome, demonstrating power and domination called for a Census to tax the people. There was a King Herod fearful of a savior. And to poor shepherds out in the field, there was a heavenly host singing Glory to God, and Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Here, the poor and the crippled, the prostitutes and children became a choir singing Glory to God and Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! This morning we have read through several of the Psalms, not about Triumph, not about Victory, but like Passover about Redemption for those who were shamed but did not give up. Whipped, beaten, spat upon and yet they persevered. Faith in life is not about Survival. Belief is not a recipe for Prosperity. The ultimate Goal is not to WIN! What we are claiming here is Salvation. Almighty God opening to us the Gates of Righteousness, is not about storming the castle, not dominating God, but instead humility, simple integrity. Rather than the Battle Hymn of the Republic trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, rather than a rallying cry, this is like the Simple Song of 'Tis a Gift to be Simple, tis a Gift to Free, or Amazing Grace. We are too easily seduced into accomplishments, easy victories, we practice the Game of Winning. But if there is to be a Winner, everyone else has to lose. We each and everyone here has had moments of salvation, times when we knew life was not in vain. There have been struggles, real and crushingly difficult struggles, but I have heard you pray “Have Mercy upon us” “Lord help us” and we have at so many different times witnessed salvation. Are we looking for Winner? The Sole Survivor of a “Reality” Game Show? Or do we seek Salvation? Salvation is like a family photo. Not a posed shot, where everyone is looking in the same direction, their hair perfect, their makeup just so, every child smiling. But the family photo that is a bit dis-shevelled, with the Matriarch and Patriarch not beaming from ear to ear, but simply satisfied at all God has done in our lives. Maundy Thursday, family dinners where there are betrayals and hurts shared with a kiss, will come. Good Fridays, when it seems the sky turns black and we know crucifixion and death, do occur. But there also are times like this, when in the midst of life, we pray to God: “Have Mercy!

"Lord, There Will Be A Stink" April 6, 2014

Ezekiel 37: 1-14 John 11:1-45 This morning is not about the resurrection of the dead. Eternal life overcoming the power of death, the Resurrection, those are themes of Easter, and we are not there yet. Ezekiel led by God to the Valley of Bones, Lazarus buried behind a rock, are less about death, being brought back to life, Zombies or the Undead, than about stripping away the bindings of death, restoration of our humanity, Jesus weeping and all of us needing to mourn for our cutting one another off, sealing one another away, our burial of what disturbs us, the desiccation of God-given Creation to Life! We seem to have developed a taste for Zombies, Vampires, bodies brought back from the grave, the theme of death is all around us. But this is more than an Elephant graveyard, different from standing in the middle of Arlington Cemetery seeing grave-markers as far as the eye can see. In the Dark, after the sounds of warfare's killing stopped, there is no weeping, no sound of agony, no telltale heart-beat. Ezekiel is not on a mountaintop, but down in the lowest of places, the most desolate, in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, there where there were trenches and rifts ripped open in the earth's surface where the bodies of the unknown dead were pushed and abandoned. Painfully, for Ezekiel, this was not Flounder's Field, or a graveyard, a place with the stench of death, not a place of decay, but a wound in creation where forgotten lives were left and lost. So much time has passed, sun-baked, wind whipped, dried out of all moisture by ice and snow and sun, the bodies are no longer whole, but scattered, not one bone left beside another, no longer appearing as human, as skeleton, as bone, but only as fossilized artifacts, windswept, dried out, dust beyond rock. This is a forgotten place, without sound, without scent, where in the dark Ezekiel cannot tell the rock he trips over from a somebody's bone. Years after, there is no memory, no recollection of who these persons were, whose daughter, whose son, was this the hand of a blacksmith, or a surgeon, or a gardener, was this even a hand? Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekkah, Jacob and Essau, and the twelve sons of Israel, had survived for 400 years as slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, where this remnant had been led out by Moses across the Red Sea into a Wilderness of Dependence upon God, and after generations, 40 years in the wilderness they were led into the Promised Land, where they became a Monarchy, not just any nation but the Kingdom of David, the Empire of Solomon. The people of God forgot who they were, what they believed, they no longer sang their songs or told stories, they worshiped death. And the Barbarians, the Assyrians and the Babylonians each invaded, not just one battle, one war, but year after year they were beaten down and carried off to a different world, where they were taught to forget who they had been, what they believed, what mattered, how we live, who Abraham and Sarah even were. Then in far away Babylon, there were the invasions of the Persians, the Medes, the Greeks, the Egyptians. After all this time. After all these successive empires, does hope still exist? Can faith live? Is there a place in our lives for faith? Ezekiel, like an Old Testament Prophet, a human figure representing all humanity, is led through the dark to this depression, where all that once represented life is gone beyond decay, where God asks: Is hope possible? Can these bones live? In what could be a statement of faith in the Almighty, but could as easily be a desperate reply in absolute desolation, Ezekiel says: “You alone know God!” We are fascinated by the Science of Forensics. Through meticulous examination of wear and decay, even millennial after a body has died, we have advanced to point of determining not only how they died, but how they lived, and age and sex and diet, whether they were a parent, a herdsman or hunter, in short who they were. In a recent edition of National Geographic, an article titled the “The Lost Tribes of the Green Sahara” details the find of 200 graves near a vanished lake in what once was a fertile valley, and now is the Sahara Desert. One people, named as The Kiffians ate coarse grain, drank local water, and never traveled more than a radius of 20 miles. Another, generations later, in the same place, are identified as The Ternarians who were hunters, fishermen and herdsmen. All this, can be known from bones and skeletons in burial places. But Ezekiel stands in a place where lives were scattered, there is nothing whole left, no remains of life. And as commanded Ezekiel prophesies to the bones to come together into skeletons, for organs to grow inside, for sinew and muscle to knit upon, and the flesh of skin to cover. But still, this is a people of death, a people without breath, without spirit, in short without life or humanity. And God calls upon Ezekiel, to pray for the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Life, of Creation to come from the Four Corners of the earth, as if Four Winds, to empower the people to breathe, breathing to have life, living to believe again as a people in their own humanity and in God. John's story of Lazarus is odd. No where else is this story told. Far more, the translators and scholars are divided what this means. Why, when in other places, Mary and Martha are named was Lazarus not? Why, if Jesus loved Lazarus, did he delay? It is unclear from the text, when Jesus arrives, whether he trembles, or is in rage, or frustrated, or snorts like a horse... What is the Raising of Lazarus about? Years ago in College, I had roommate and close friend. We had known each other several years, his younger sisters each went to the same school with us. When traveling in England, we had run into his family and shared supper and the evening with them. One day, his sister named they had another brother, whom the family did not acknowledge, did not talk about. His legitimacy was in question, and he had always been in trouble. I was gullible enough to believe anything she said, and cared about what had happened to this estranged one and why, only to learn there was no brother after all. But many of us have family stories like that. A mother who was too young, conceived out of incest, whose own child was raised like a sibling. A miscarriage that never was spoken about. A child traumatized by an accident. Those who never really returned from War. The College Senior who is about to graduate with honors, prestigious firms have made offers, everyone is so proud of her, but she has this ache in her of no longer knowing who she is or where she is going or why. The doctor, the counselor, the pastor, the teacher, who have seen the world change and no longer are their lives about the Calling to lead and to minister, but about administering the survival of the institution. According to Judaism, there were anecdotes of people being resuscitated 36 even 48 hours after death, so a person's death was not considered hopeless until they had been buried 3 days. They had no means of refrigeration, or embalming,preservation, sickness and decay do have an odor, a stink of death. When a person died, they were not mummified, but rather with the washing of the body and anointing with oils for burial, the arms and legs and mouth were tied with bandages to prevent rigor-mortise constricting the muscles again. The face was wrapped in bandages to cover the person from others looking upon them, staring into their eyes. It was 100 degrees in a town outside Jerusalem, and Lazarus had been dead 4 days when Jesus arrived. Even Martha and Mary, who were as close to Jesus as Disciples, whom he loved like the family we claim, believed in Jesus as a Rabbi, a Teacher, that the resurrection was a philosophical concept, or prophecy of something to come. Jesus said to them: I AM. Jesus stood outside the tomb, seeing how people had shoved a rock in the opening of the earth, sealing away all smell and remembrance of the man buried. The paid mourners had scapegoated Lazarus, that if they could scream the loudest, if they could wail, they could give all the hate of death, all the anger at God, to this one buried. To which in frustration and remorse, and anger, Jesus shuddered and snorted. When a Stallion snorts, it is not simple breath but an all consuming ripple of life that consumes the horses being. I think that is what Jesus did in reaction to the stone, then to cry out COME OUT!