"What Have You to Do With Us?" February 01, 2015

Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Mark 1:21-28 Who are the ones you let into your life? The ones you seek for guidance and inspiration, wisdom? Who are those authority figures, that you check in with before making major life decisions? This week I had a phone call from someone whose family I baptized 25 years ago, she and her husband at that time had since divorced she had moved cross country and at 57 had fallen in love and wanted to marry. She was phoning to say that she always thought if she were to marry again, she wanted me to officiate. It is that kind of relationship, that role in your life, that authority, I am addressing. When my parents died, it shook me. I had known death. I was prepared for loss. I was even prepared that they had been the hub for the spokes of our family, keeping us connected. What I was unprepared for, is that throughout our lives they had consistently been the ones who spoke with authority. In earliest memories they provided safety and reassuring. There was always a meal on the table. There was always someone there for us. Part of the “My Dad is tougher than your Dad” or “as long as footballs are inflated My team can win the Superbowl,” is that appeal to authority, that we are protected, we are secure, we have the source of answers, so no matter what we cannot fail. The more sweaters Mom knit, the more Spelling Bees they prepared us for, the more Scouting events they attended, the more Science Fairs they helped us with, the more authority they had in our lives, and the more secure we felt. When suddenly that was gone and we were threatened. When commercial airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center Towers, our Authority suffered. When we planned our futures on the value of our homes, on stocks and portfolios, and these lost value. When our bodies suddenly develop a tumor, or our marriage is threatened. Whenever we have placed our trust in a reality, and that reality is challenged, the issue is more than the circumstance it becomes a question of who we are, and who we are in relationship to the world. “Who are you to us” is the question of life. Moses stood up to Pharaoh, saying “Let my people go!” Moses led the slaves of Pharaoh out of Egypt into a wilderness, and over and over again, against Jebusites, Perizites, Hittites, hunger and thirst, Moses was the voice of authority. Suddenly the question is raised: What happens when Moses dies? Who are the people who follow Moses, without Moses? Will God still be with us without Moses? And the assurance that was offered was that God would raise up others, like Moses, to speak God's Word and provide leadership. By the time of Caesar, Judaism had developed with differing authorities, so whenever questions arose, Scribes would quote Rabbi Hillel says, but then again Rabbi Moshel says, the difficulty like a discussion between SeaHawks and Patriots Fans, being that neither side is willing to accept the other's authority. Imagine, you were at the Synagogue at Capernaum that Sabbath, when instead of the usual preacher, or Pastor Bolivar, or Rabbi Weiss, or Rabbi Niebuhr, instead an unknown Carpenter's Son from Nazareth was announced. The first thing that is amazing is that among all the Red Letter Bibles, we do not know what Jesus said that day. The only thing we do know is, he does not appeal to authority borrowed from others, but spoke with the authority of one who personally knows God. Just when Jesus has the congregation listening intently, convinced this Jesus does speak with authority, suddenly a man in the back row lets out a blood curdling scream “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? We know you are the Son of the Most High!” To have ready and to tell an appropriate Parable is tough. To preach accented with miracles, takes divine authority. But Exorcisms, remind us all of Linda Blair, and take the question of authority from a rational and philosophical exercise into a personal matter of life and death and psychoses. Taking this story seriously, the man with an unclean demon, sound like a person in the midst of addiction. For decades the standard for the War on Drugs was to shun those in addiction, to recognize that addiction causes the rest of us to be manipulated as “Enablers.” The Liberal voices of our culture have said addiction is a disease. The Conservative voices have said this is a moral failing, a weakness in the addict's character. Regardless, this is an issue of the role of the community, the people who make a difference. I recall a commercial for Drug Free America in the 1970s, that showed a Rat in an isolation cage, given a choice of two drinking bottles. The one was pure water, the other was water laced with heroin. The rat returned time after time to the heroin, until it died. Simple direct message. However, recently a researcher Bruce Alexander ran the same test differently. He questioned not whether heroin is addictive, it is highly addictive, but whether the isolation made a difference. Alexander created a community cage for rats, with tunnels and wheels and balls to play with, good food and multiple rats. Each of the rats tries the heroin laced water and rejected it, because they did not need or want it. He then tried rats that had been in the isolation cage for two months, when they were thoroughly addicted and put these into the communal setting. While they had twitches and difficulty sleeping while going through with drawl, they each avoided the heroin they were addicted to and went through withdrawl. Loving an addict is hard, especially when supporting their change. Whether smoking, or drinking, or porn, or drugs, addiction takes over lives, pushes out everything and everyone else until like the man at Capernaum he could not separate himself from the addiction and spoke as a We, What have you to do with US, united to his own evil. To forgive, to hold firm in the midst of another's attempts at manipulation, is a version of hell. But if the choice is between cutting off someone you love as if dead, and holding them accountable to your relationship I have to believe in the power of your authority. The power to say “You matter to me, you are part of who I am, that is 'What you have to do with us' and this addiction, this sin, this disease, is so painful to me I do not know how to continue.” The fact of the matter is that as human beings we need to bond. Isolation is punishment. If we cannot bond with other people, we bond with cutting ourselves, or the rush of a drug, or the whirr of a roulette wheel, we need to bond. Therefore the question instead of abstinence and sobriety, is a need for bonding. Years ago, I was called by members of the church to officiate at a wedding for their daughter. We went through all the preparations and celebration but a few years later they divorced. Years afterward, I had a phone call from the groom, saying that he had continually gotten into trouble and now needed to report to the Justice Center in Syracuse, and he claimed he had no one else who could I go with him. The next many weeks and months I visited him in prison, sat behind him in court. Realize that going in to talk at the Justice Center involves waiting, and being searched and talking through a plate glass wall. One day he was not allowed to leave his cell, I like remember like entering the Pentagon one steel door closing and locking before the next would open, as you were guided by a voice through hallways and stairwells. Until I came to the block of cells, where I spoke through a hole in a steel door. Afterward, I received a letter describing how much that visit had meant to him. Months later he was released, reconnected with his mother and his son and I thought had moved on. But then he was arrested again, this time for selling drugs, I thought I was enabling and he needed “tough love” so cut off all communication, as day after day he phoned and wrote letters, and I had no further contact, he was after all the former husband of the daughter of former members. Then, one day, I heard from another pastor that he had taken on this same man, who seemed so much in need. I realized not only had my tough love been undermined, but I had been replaced. I wish I had a better ending for you. Sometimes all we can do is try.

January 25 2015 "Ordinary, Epiphany or Repentance"

Jonah 3: 1-5 Mark 1: 14-20 Last week following worship, someone asked Why these Sundays are identified as Ordinary Time? The European Reformation stripped away all identification from what the church had become, trying to Re-form as close to the Early Church of the Apostles as possible. Therefore every worship service was celebration of the Resurrection, and there were no Liturgical seasons. However, in those days no one had iPhones or wristwatches, wall clocks in home or business, to tell the time. Churches tolled the Bells in the Towers to call believers to prayer, these several times each day were called Ordinals. Thus, every day was Holy, every day a celebration of the Resurrection and every day was Ordinary. In America, following WWII, we began a Liturgical Renewal, in conversation with the Catholic Church, we identified two cycles following six seasons of Liturgy throughout the year: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost. Yet in recent years, scholars have identified that in the early Church, Epiphany and Pentecost were never seasons, but single day Festival Celebrations, so we have The Day of Epiphany following the 12th Night of Christmas, and The Day of Pentecost 50 Days after Easter, and the days following each are Ordinary Days. Recently, I moderated another church's Session, and at the end of the meeting the Clerk offered the prayer: “Lord, we have been around for 214 years, let us be around another.” This morning we celebrate having been the church in this place and time for 214 years, but the focus of the church is and has been upon what is our mission, where are the challenges. Not only in the Church, but in every person's life there are Epiphanies, moments out of time, where we realize God's presence in our lives, challenging, blessing, conferring new identities and relationships. You have known a person, when suddenly you realize you do not want to live your life without them. You plan for the wedding, inviting witnesses, when suddenly you kiss and are pronounced as married. I recall imagining it would be okay if now we were to have a baby, and suddenly we were pregnant, but while the months went by and we adapted to all the changes, we were not Mother and Father until that moment of birth, when suddenly nothing was ever the same. I recall smiling for four days straight. In his coming of age novel “Uh-Oh” Robert Fulghum describes a young man in the 1950s who found a job at a Dude Ranch in Northern California. During the day, he shoveled stalls and groomed horses, at night he was employed to watch the Front desk, for which he was paid $1 per hour, and all the food he could eat. However, at the end of his third week, he realized that every day Lunch and Dinner were Hot Dogs and Sauerkraut, and the cost of these meals was deducted from his pay. He was outraged, coming back from dinner he complained for 90 minutes straight. Finally the Night Watchman stopped him, saying “The problem is not the Owner, or the Ranch, or the Cook, the problem is you do not know a problem from an inconvenience. When your house burns down that is a problem. When you have a disease without a cure, that is a problem. Everything else in life is an inconvenience, life is full of inconveniences. The Night Watchman had been a survivor of three years at Auschwitz, where he prayed for just one meal like this, or Hot dogs and Sauerkraut, and now they had it twice a day. For me, while there were relationships and roles in the Church which always felt right, the Call to Ministry has come over and over again, every wedding, baptism, communion, confirmation and memorial have felt holy, as if a moment out of time. The Wedding where the Flowergirl was so inconsolable I took her in my arms for the remainder of the wedding. The Wedding where the relieved Bride saw my hand raised for the Blessing, and High-Fived. The Baptism, where we gave the baby to a Soldier going off to war. My Anniversary here, where after my carrying every infant, on that morning we gave every child to others in the Church, and not a single child cried. The weekend where we had planned a Wedding and a Baptism and both were cancelled because they were not going ahead As a Presbyterian there have been Meetings, where in the midst of debate and prayer, understandings changed, commitments and convictions became tangible. I remember one day, shortly after our first child was born, that it was my day off and my spouse was out, when a call came asking if I would come right over. There, in the home of this couple, they confessed that over night in postpartum depression their only daughter had taken her infant to her husband's golf course and drown the child. Having my own child in our arms as they discussed this, transformed the moment from simply loss and shame at what had happened in their family, to realizing the grandchild they would never again hold, and the daughter's pain at taking the life of her own child in this way. The point this morning is that often we take every day as being Ordinary, and witness these moments out of time as being holy, as being Epiphanies, and we return to living ordinary lives, rather than stopping to change direction, or even to laugh at ourselves. Routinely, when we come to worship, we put on our Sunday best, and we sit quietly in the pew, as Prayers and Scriptures are read over us, Anthems and Hymns are sung by others and we try to slip out as quietly as we entered. Every article on the Internet, every filmclip on U-Tube, every book in the library is different. Some are Cat Videos, some are not fit for public consumption, some are classics, some are jokes. The Book of Jonah is one of the World's Greatest Jokes. The book of Jonah begins “Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amattai.” In Hebrew, every name has meaning, and Amattai means “My Truth, My Security, Consistency.” The name Jonah is Noah written upside down. The point of the Joke, that would have been immediately apparent to anyone knowing the meaning of names, was that instead of the Prophet Jonah being equated with God, he is linked to His own Version of the Truth, his Consistency, which is what will be called into question. And when the water comes, instead of the man of God being spared and everyone drowning, he alone gets wet. The Word of the Lord comes to Jonah, Son of his own Truth, saying Get up and go up to Ninevah, which is the Capital City of the enemy Assyria, modern day Mosul in Iraq, located to the East. Jonah is offended that not only is this Israel's Enemy, this is an Unclean people. In order to understand the Joke, we have to pay attention to direction. Because instead of Going UP to the great city of Ninevah to the East, Jonah goes down from to the Shore at Joppa buying a ticket to go West to Tarshish. Going down to the Docks, he goes on-board and goes down into the hold of the Ship, where he lays down and goes deep into sleep. Jonah is a story of Escapism, a story of Depression, where he is constantly going deeper down, instead of going up, always trying to go in the opposite direction instead of going east to confront his enemy. When a great storm comes up, it is caused because God hurled a great wind over the waters. In Genesis, God's Creation out of Chaos began with the Spirit of God/The Wind brooding over the face of the waters of chaos. While self-serving, Jonah is Consistent and Truthful, so when asked the reason for the storm, he admits this is his problem. The Sailors throw him down into the sea, where he is swallowed by a ship and carried to the lowest place in all Creation. But there is the belly of the fish, Jonah has an Epiphany, where he prays to God asking to be saved. And yet, the problem of the whole story is: Was this only an Epiphany in the depths of his Ordinary Life of Consistency based on His Truth, or will Jonah take this as Opportunity to Repent, to Turn Around to God. Jonah goes ashore, and while among an unclean people, he is dripping of fish-puke, his hair bleached white from the stomach acids of the fish. He is in a foreign land where they only spoke Farsi, he preaches in Hebrew, and the whole of his sermon is 5 Words: “40 Days And Ninevah Destroyed.” This is not exactly the Word of the Lord, Not Repent in 40 Days or else, but 40 Days & Ninevah Destroyed. After which, Jonah sits down and begins counting down, 40 days, 39 days, 38. However, the power of God, everyone in this foreign place repents, even the animals are depicted putting on sackcloth clothes, from the King to the lowest peasant repents. And God forgives. The power of Repentance and Forgiveness, in Mark's Gospel is about three things. First, knowing John the Baptist was arrested for having Preached Repentance, Jesus comes preaching Repentance. Life is not about the consequences, whether we succeed or fail, or are proven right, only about whether our lives effected other people so they could see God. Second, throughout Mark's Gospel, everything happens “Immediately.” People do not stop to evaluate, Simon and Andrew do not call a meeting. James and John do not even talk with their father, but immediately leave what they had been doing, how they had been living, to Follow Jesus. Finally, that God does not Call us to Repent to do something unrelated to our lives, going from being a plumber to doing brain surgery. But Fishermen to become Fishers of Men and Women. To have earned a degree in the tensile strength of concrete 60 years ago, and volunteering to go to S. Sudan. From having managed projects for the Oil Companies, to managing creation of health care in Africa. From having been a teacher, to teaching Sunday School. From having taught Nutrition and Home Economics, to teaching people in our own community about using food instead of feeding our garbage disposals.

"Principles and Prayers at Parties" January 18 2015

I Samuel 3:1-20 John 1:43-51 Following a heated political argument at dinner, in the opening episode of Downton Abbey, the Grandmother pronounced a loaded chastisement of those arguing, in what will become a classic line: “Principles like Prayer, are Noble of course, but awkward at a Dinner Party!” Twenty odd years ago Bill Clinton, after election and before being sworn in as President described that “Faith is like Butterfly Collections, meaningful to the individual, only taken out for examination in private.” I think these descriptions echo the context of our time and both our readings today. Distinct from the time of Genesis or Exodus, the Book of Samuel identifies “The Word of God was rare in those days” the vision of Eli the Priest of God had grown dim, his sons routinely stole from the offerings for themselves. Different from Easter or Pentecost, in the days following Jesus' Baptism, Jesus is a stranger introduced to Nathaniel, who identifies Nathaniel as “I saw you sitting beneath a fig tree reading Torah.” Referring to an educated person of leisure, who has time and resources to sit in the comforting shade of a familiar tree interpreting what is sacred without anyone's guidance or challenge. The point of Context, being that our circumstance stands in sharp contrast, as if standing out in relief against the flat background. In the First Testament, following the Exodus from Egypt and the 40 years in the wilderness, Moses promised that God would be faithful providing another to carry on the role of leadership as they entered the Promised Land. So began the period of Judges with Moses followed by Joshua and that fabled period of Samson, Gideon and Deborah. The central character now to be born, is the Last Judge like Moses, one who as Priest would ordain Kings for Israel, ordaining both King Saul and King David, who also in turn becomes the First Prophet, followed by Nathan, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and John the Baptist, speaking truth to power. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The Book of Samuel begins as each of the stories of The Judges began, identifying an individual's life circumstance as a setting for faith. Moses was born to a Levite Couple in Egypt, Ruth began when a famine drove a couple into exile in Moab. Setting up this story, Elkanah like Joseph with Rachel and Leah in Genesis, had two wives, Hannah whom he loved and also Peninnah. Why Elkanah had two wives is not explained, but there were wars every spring, so there was a shortage of men, and polygamy allowed for the perpetuation of the species. Peninnah is described as being so fertile, if she so much as looked at her husband, she got pregnant. As contrast to Hannah, Peninnah flaunted her sexuality, taunting Hannah and ridiculing her about how easily she got pregnant, where Hannah could not conceive. Hannah becomes so desperate to experience having a baby, she fasts and prays, begging God, that if she could she would give this child to God not as a sacrifice but as a priest so devout that they would never cut their hair. Several times, parishioners have described poor little Samuel abandoned at the Temple by his mother, but throughout history, it was common practice to give a child and their inheritance as well, where pastors choosing a seminary education and career is a recent development. Along that lines, Mario asked that we remind you in an effort to pay for our mission trip, if you would like to leave your children at the church next Friday, they will be cared for! Our first Testament passage actually includes two stories. The first is that Hannah so wanted a child that she prayed, begging God. How do you pray? One of the most common questions from any believer is “I don't know how to pray, teach me to pray?” Most of us, like the Butterfly collection analogy, try to be inconspicuous when praying. We have taken Jesus' instruction in Matthew that you pray so as to not to be seen by others: meaning prayer is private and stoic, invisible as if statues bowing in silence. Hannah wants so much to have a child she is begging God, she is rocking back and forth, raising her fists and ranting at God, but knowing God hears she prays moving her lips not making a sound. Eli the priest witnesses what she is doing, interprets this woman must be drunk! Hannah responds it is not that I have poured out liquor until I am drunk, I am pouring out my heart and soul for God to drink in. When is the last time you cared so much about anything as to pray to God like Hannah? Once her prayer is answered, Hannah faithfully gives the child to God, and now in the second story God Calls, in a voice no one else hears, to Samuel. When Samuel hears this he looks for answers everywhere except with God. Over and over during the night, he hears someone calling his name, gets up and wakes Eli asking what do you want, until Eli instructs Samuel to call upon God. How often we look for how we can control a problem, can I lose weight, can I exercise, can my family fix this, can my doctors correct this, what can our Government or elected officials do? And last of all, as if risking response to a voice in the night saying, “Speak Lord, for Here I am.” Hearing the voice of God, Samuel then has to decide whether to speak power to those in authority or not. To be a whistleblower, to challenge the status quo makes for good television plots but is threatening and has its repercussions. The beautiful irony of the words of Scripture are that in spite of Eli's eyes having grown dim, he sees what God is saying to Samuel and what God is calling to be done. Blind, he still has insight and vision. Listening to the Good News of the Gospel, you have to wonder. John the Baptist witnesses to Jesus. John's disciples Andrew and Phillip follow Jesus to discern who he is and what he wants, to which Jesus says “Come and See.” Andrew seeks out his brother Simon, whom Jesus calls Peter, because Andrew, Simon and Phillip all are from the same town Bethsaida, and all have been looking for the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets. But knowing who his friend was, Phillip seeks out Nathaniel, and does not take offense or get defensive when skeptically Nathaniel responds “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” In the world today, with so many Clergy abuses, with embezzlements, with church closures, if a leader of the church were to speak to any issue, one response might be “Can anything good come out of the Church?” With so many having left the Northeast for warmer climates, with the disrepair of the infrastructure of our cities; If asked “Can anything good come from Skaneateles?” would people respond: 200 inches of snow, Welch Allyn Equipment, TC Timber Trains, Finger Lakes Wines and Necco Wafers, or would we describe our faith in God? There is an old adage about Marriage described as The Seven Year Itch. How often after seven years of marriage, couples look for affection in others. The problem I believe is that after several years we begin to take one another for granted believing nothing new nothing unexpected can come from the other. Jesus' response to Nathaniel is marvelous. Nathaniel believes Jesus to have the Vision of God to have seen he was beneath a Fig Tree reading the Scriptures, when the phrase means one who is self-confident that he needs no one else, especially in understanding the Scriptures. And what Jesus promises is you will share in the vision of Jacob, Father to all the tribes of Israel, you will see the point of connection between Heaven and Earth, between God and Humanity, in faith you will indeed see connections and struggle with what is most important. We have worked to be known and recognized as a Community Center and resource. We are the center of Music in this Community. When people discuss Mission, Locally and Internationally, this church is the focus. But what would it be, if we were Jacob's ladder? If this were not simply an Accessible Building, Presbyterian, Fine Music and Missions, but a holy place where Heaven and Earth meet, where in the moments of silence we listen for God, where we pray not in silent reverence but so convulsing in faith people wonder if we were drunk? All of which leaves us with Downton Abbey, and whether having Principles and Prayer while Noble are awkward for us? Whether our Principles and prayers are for us things relegated to the closet, compromised and hidden as secrets, or whether our Principles and Prayers are what truly do matter in life? What would life be, if our Principles and the Prayers we offer to God became the Context against which the circumstance of our lives stood out?

"Rituals for Beginning Again" January 4, 2015

Isaiah 60 Luke 2:21-34 Rituals are important to us. Rituals help to ground us, providing context and meaning, surrounding us with a witnesses who have been here before. There are rituals of Christmas and of New Year's, of Engagements and Weddings and Funerals. One that I think very important is continuing to do what that person did, baking their favorite cookies, making their favorite recipes, every Christmas Eve I can hear my father's voice in the reading of the Story. All of us, as we have been part of families giving birth to children have felt the rhythm of rituals. Rituals of Expectation. Rituals of Sharing Good News. Rituals of Naming. Rituals of Consolation and Redemption. There is the ritual of the woman telling her partner. As much as bridegrooms plan for how they will get engaged, I think women plan for how to share this news. Then there is the shared secret, that expectant glow of waiting with something only the two of you know. Then the excited ritual of telling grandparents, aunts and uncles. The nesting. The ultra-sounds and checkups. The waiting and preparing. The birth. The announcements. The Baptism, when we claim this child as part of the body of Christ. The gown passed on from generation to generation. Confirmation and for leaders Ordination. In all the years I have read this story from Luke, I made the mistake of lumping all the stories of Jesus' infancy together, which for Matthew and Luke and for Judaism were uniquely distinct rituals. Mary gave birth to her firstborn. Eight days later he was circumcised, at which point he was given a name. 31 days after the birth, because he was a firstborn son, Joseph would have sacrificed a first born calf or lamb. 40 days after giving birth, Mary and Joseph would go to the Temple at Jerusalem to make an offering of two turtledoves and two pigeons, at which time Simeon and Anna each became prophets. The Wisemen come from far corners of the earth, Herod in fear of a newborn king has the infants in Bethlehem killed, and in fear of Herod the family flee to Egypt, so that like Moses he would come up from Egypt. I fear that in our culture today, we have lost the importance of rituals. We each look for new experiences, to be the first to create something different than the world has ever known. As such we have great expectation throughout Advent for the coming of Christmas. We light each of the candles. We decorate the tree. Packages begin to appear. Relatives come. We sing Silent Night, and afterward in a post-partum depression, we look round at the wadded wrapping paper, the needles from the tree upon the floor, our debts and waistlines, and we question “Is this all there is?” and we hurriedly pack everything away as we get ready for the next. Doing so, there is no time for reflection, for meaning, for consolation and redemption. The wonder and the power of Isaiah comes in that for 59 chapters the prophet has described their dark ages, the darkness on the face of the earth. How one nation has destroyed another. How people have forgotten what they stood for, lived for and died for, as leaders and rulers quested after power, rose and were destroyed. The Nation of Israel had been beaten by the Babylonians, carried off in bondage as slaves, their Religious Temple and Capital City of Jerusalem laid waste. After decades of oppression and exile, the refugees were allowed to come Home, returned to the Promised Land, the city of David described to them by their parents and grandparents, ...but arriving, found it in rubble. At which point, Isaiah here prophesies that the Lord will console them, there will be redemption for the nation of Israel. The faith story is no longer about capturing another Tribe's Land of Milk and Honey, of establishing a King and Monarchy, but instead through the prophets what God is doing and will do, the glory and light that will shine upon them and through them to all the world. Redemption has no meaning to a people who have never lived in darkness. Consolation becomes a trophy for having participated and not won. If you watched the Rosebowl game, I was proud of the Quarterback and the Coach, in stark contrast to their team who after 29 straight victories, over two years of winning left the field as if in disgrace. The QB and the Coach remained to congratulate the victors. Instead of this being a time of expectation that after which we ask is all there is, there are rituals established to provide meaning and redemption and consolation. Matthew and Luke, the only books of the Bible which describe the birth of the Savior, name for us that after Christmas, after the Shepherds and the Angels on the 8th Day, the beginning of a new week the baby was circumcised following the Law of Abraham. In Judaism, a baby is simply referred to as “The Child” until they are circumcised and presented at the Temple, where they are given their name. At the end of the first month, in a Patriarchal society, the father recognizing this will be the head of the family makes a sacrifice. Following the Ritual of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, instead offering a Ram, the father was to reflect upon their faith in God and their role now no longer as an individual or a couple but as a parent. And after 40 days, that Biblical number of completion, redemption from the flood, redemption in the wilderness, after 40, Mary having given birth to her first born was to go to the Temple to make a sacrifice after which she could go out in public. In a Patriarchal society if the baby were a girl, it would be after 80 days! I have never been completely certain what that represents. And at the Temple there is Simeon and Anna, two individuals who are only named here. David Steere was a famous Presbyterian preacher and a mentor for me in Michigan growing up. David conjectured that actually Simeon went to Temple every day, and every child that was brought forward, he took in his arms like the Baboon taking up Simba in the Lion King. David always made Simeon seem so foolish that day after day, he came to the Temple, hoping and praying for the redemption of Israel, that every child would be could be the Messiah. Yet, having carried around this Sanctuary every child for the last 18 years, I have come to understand that this is not only about baptizing, or claiming, but that every child provides us a glimpse of God among us, one who is simply content to be alive. There is a pointed twist that I think we need to emphasize here. Not to the parents that “this child will pierce your heart also” but to those being ordained and installed, that being in leadership in the church is not simply about balancing budgets and making decisions, or even about responsibilities of faith. But that we live in a time of change, a time where the church is struggling with what is darkness and what is light, and making decisions as moral decisions, rituals of faith that cut our own hearts remembering the words of Jeremiah that there will come a time when the name of the Lord shall be written in each believer's heart. Which leads us to the tradition of the Kings, which in the church we have made into an afterthought, visitors for 12th Night. In trying to create rituals we have ascribed to these names Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar, representing Europe, Asia and Africa, Youth, Mid-Life and Age. Actually, we have no idea how many there were, only that there were three gifts recorded, the same gifts as recorded here in Isaiah 60. But rather than creating rituals for what this could be, we need only hear the story and understand the motivation of people. People searching for faith from the far corners of the world come to Jerusalem looking for a Savior the King of Kings. Herod was a puppet king of Rome, so jealous for power he had all his own family killed. Herod hears of this new King and filled with fear he calls his Cabinet together. His advisors could have considered things politically or economically, instead they looked to the First Testament Prophets. Here they could have picked up Isaiah 60, which would have named kings coming to Jerusalem on Camels with Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. And identified that eventually the Messiah would have to come to Jerusalem as the seat of power. Instead, they chose the prophet Micah who had named Bethlehem as the birthplace of David to be the birthplace of the Savior. So the Wisemen went 9 miles south to this little Village, instead of Jerusalem. With rituals, it is always important what tradition you choose to follow which memories to preserve, rather than making it up as you go. Part of the wonder and beauty of Rituals is realizing we are not alone, others have gone before us and we are experiencing Rituals of Beginning Again.

"God is Real" December 21,2014

2nd Samuel 7: 1-11 & 16 Luke 1:26-38 This morning I have a question for you? Do you believe God is an active person in your life today? More than Do you believe in God, or do you believe in Santa Claus, that God is alive? The last several days I have heard one interview after another of personalities confessing under their breath I used to go to Church, almost like I used to believe in the Easter Bunny. I fear most of us are like the Bette Midler song of a few years ago “God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us from a distance.” God is in the high hills where our help comes from. Like King David we believe in the footsteps poem, that we never see God, or know God, but are assured whenever we have needed, when overwhelmed God was there. In that kind of belief, God is an energy of Moral Good, of Right, that there was a time long long ago at the dawn of the universe when God was real, and there shall come a time when we will be judged, but this is the 21st century, this is reality, the height of technology and information, when provided we have batteries enough and reception bars we are the Masters and Kings of our World. King David was a success story, the shepherd boy who became King of a Super Power! David the seventh son of a seventh son, exiled from the court of King Saul, who led a guerrilla army to become ruler of the Ancient world, with all the power of a Pharaoh. Although he was Prophet to the King, when asked for God's blessing Nathan tells David what David wanted to hear. Until in the dark night of the soul, Nathan encounters the reality of God. And instead of telling Nathan to say to David “Well done Good and faithful servant, you have proven yourself over a little, now I will set you over kingdoms...” God says “Just whom do you think you are?” You thought because King Hiram of Tyre built a cedar house for you,You thought as a demonstration of your power and wealth, you could bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, and you thought you could build a lovely cedar box to keep it to visit when you wanted? God is not a thing to be kept in a box! God is not housed in a place! When Abraham and Isaac and Jacob wandered the face of the earth, when Moses and Joshua led the people through the wilderness, did God ever ask, how come you never built me a temple? NO! Who do you think took you from being 7th son of a 7th son, from being a shepherd boy to being king of Israel? I God, will shepherd you. You thought you could build a house for God, I will make a house out of you. This passage in 2nd Samuel is not only declaration that David had been too much involved in killing to build the house of God. This passage is not only setting up that Jesus would be descended from the house and lineage of David. This is the climax of the Nation of Israel from Moses through Judges to Saul to David with renewal of the promise as given to Abraham. This is Nathan's and David's encounter with God, that God is real and active, not a passive bystander in life watching us, waiting to use fate and circumstance for good. Recently, a family asked for a different kind of funeral. Instead of gathering in the church for a worship service. Instead of a public viewing or wake. Instead of the singing of hymns and reading of sacred texts. We gathered in their living room in this season in front of the hearth of their fireplace, and we each reflected on who this person was to us... The one who affirmed “My daughter works so hard!” She could upbraid you and reprimand you like no one else, but if anyone else tried she would defend you. “Grandma was my best buddy and confidant.” It was not the celebration of death we are accustomed to, but was a celebration of who the person was to each who were gathered together as a body. In like manner a wedding, where there was no dress, no aisle, no sand or unity candle, no public profession but sincere confession of love and devotion. In so many different occasions, we have come to realize what seemed impossible is real. It is perplexing. We cannot imagine why this would matter, why it is important to say the words, to confess God as real, or why God would want to enter into our lives when so often we wish we could escape. But God does! That is Luke's telling. In Mark, the only reference to Mary, is that along with Jesus' brothers, Mary comes to take Jesus home when they interpret he is crazy. In Matthew, she is only one of the visitors at the tomb. In John, Mary is not even mentioned. But Luke takes time to demonstrate for us, instead of being a Saint, instead of being Mother of God, instead of being Holy and Pure, Mary is the first Believer. Time and human culture have seized upon the miracle of Mary being a Virgin, Luke's point was in contrast to her cousin Elizabeth who was far beyond the age of conception but who like Hannah of the Old testament of Israel prayed to be given a child and was the mother of John the Baptist, so Mary was too young. The scandal and miracle of Mary being the mother of Jesus, is first that she was a commoner, like any of us. When the angel Gabriel appeared to her, and described her as “favored” the point is not that she is recognized for having been good, but like any of us this is announcement of God's grace. You have been chosen. You are blessed by God. However, whereas in some parts of our nation today being a teen-ager and getting pregnant is status, Mary's world makes the Taliban Honor Killings seem pedestrian. Accepting this gift from God put her life at risk, put her engagement and marriage at risk. She was accepting family disgrace, probable stoning and at the least shunning not only of her family but her world. Luke's Gospel reads too quickly. When Gabriel announced that Mary was favored by God, she responds by being perplexed. We ought to stop there, because that is where each of us stop adjusting our reality. You want to marry me? My parent, my partner, my child has died? I have cancer? There is a disorientation that is perplexing. God is real? Then there is confusion? Why me? Why now? Does God not have better things to do, more important than me? Has God thought this through? Being incarnate, becoming human? Being human means feeling, suffering, dying, being afraid, being vulnerable, God wants that? Afterward, Mary responds with Commitment... “Here am I” and the Angel departs. That, I believe is the hardest part of all for Mary, the point at which we too often idealize Mary . Once you make the commitment. Once you accept your Calling, saying “Here Am I Send Me” there is a point of loneliness of realization, God what have we gotten into as the Impossible becomes real. Too often, we see ourselves as being King David, ruler of all we command, with everyone telling us what we want to hear, believing we are self- made, and in control. Too often we believe we are pure and holy and righteous, as if we were the Mother of God. This morning's passages demonstrate that we, all of us are human. But God is real, and God enters into our lives to challenge us with accepting blessings that will turn our lives upside down and inside out, not because we are so good, but because God chooses to use us. Nothing is impossible for God. God has formed every element of creation from a baby's eye lashes to a spider's web to volcanoes, tsunamis and polar vortex. God stood toe to toe with King David, and confronted Mary with the reality of God being born, and God is with each of us at all those perplexing times, Calling us by saying “YOU ARE FAVORED!” To which the awaited reply is “Here am I.” “You are favored...”

"Peace of God" December 7, 2014

Isaiah 40:1-11 Mark: 1:1-8 In all the Nativity Creche Sets, all the Christmas Pageants over all the years, we have had Joseph, Mary and the Baby, Shepherds, Sheep, Angels, Wisemen, Camels, a Donkey, Cows, an Inn Keeper, some years even Martians, Giraffes and Pigs. The one figure in the Gospel not in our Pageants or Creches is John the Baptist. What would it be, if going to see the Lights, one house after another were illuminated with icycles and wildly changing colors, Dancing Snowmen, Jolly Fat Santas, The Grinch, Rudolphs and Reindeer, then as you stopped in front of the Church there was a man, with long unkempt hair, wearing a camel skin and leather belt, his beard and tunic matted with smeared honey, pieces of locusts in his teeth, and a voice that bellows over all the Ho Ho Hos, Jingle Bells and Carols, to proclaim “Repent, For the Kingdom of God is coming!” John the Baptist is not what we think of as Christmas, or Advent. We expect Love & Joy, Light, Hope, Peace and Good Will. But this is December 7th, A Day that will Live in Infamy, when over 2,400 Americans were killed and 1178 wounded, an act of hostility designed to destroy us, instead forcing our Nation into War. The last several weeks, we have heard reports of ISIS beheading Journalists, and of race riots against the police in Florida, Ferguson, Missouri and New York City. Isaiah and Mark were correct this is not a time to preach Peace on Earth, Good Will among men! But Repent! for this season this time in human history is about the Peace of God coming into the world! Before we make out our Wish Lists of all we want and desire, there is a forgotten step, of sitting on Santa's Knee questioning if we have been Good or Bad. If we are planning our dress for a Christmas Party Christmas Eve or if we are planning to come to worship? If we have been distracted by Piano Recitals and Meetings, Parties and Cookies, or if we have considered lowering our Pride, and Rising from our depressions? We tend to hear Isaiah as having been the High Priest at Jerusalem prophesying the judgment and history of punishment of Israel and all the Nations of the Ancient World. For the first 39 Chapters, that would be accurate. There is a credible understanding, that after the 39 Chapters of historic judgment, we were then to read the Book of Lamentations, as the people mourned their loss. But Chapter 40 announces something new and different. No longer in the Past Tense, the Chapter begins with God speaking to the Heavenly Host announcing Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. The shift from past to future declares that human history was on a trajectory toward death; the Nations have been judged, have faced Exile and Punishment and Almighty God declares, the time is over. When a criminal has served their time, we envision their release, with stern warning and expectation of recidivism. Instead, God proclaims, compassion and concern. There is a recurrent image in these passages. According to Isaiah, the Captives set Free are to be brought home to the Promised Land through the Wilderness where this disembodied voice speaks. What Isaiah describes is a Renewal of The Exodus. In order to come to Promised Land, Israel needed to wander through the Wilderness. John the Baptist came from the Wilderness, embodying the Wild. Jesus immediately after being Baptized was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. The Wilderness is not a place of Comforting the Afflicted, or Speaking Tenderly. Wilderness is a lonely place, a reflective retreat, a place where we are not concerned with how many presents under the tree, or whether this tree is better than all the rest, but only with survival, with absolute dependence upon God. But in this Exodus, there is no complaining about how much better it was to be slaves, no longing for the flesh pots of Egypt, no weeping for Jerusalem, instead all the obstacles have been removed, all the high places, all the rough, all the depressions. The difficulty is that on December 7th, after 353 planes bombed Hawaii, after 4 of our 8 Battleships were sunk and 3 others damaged, 188 planes destroyed and 159 planes damaged, 3 Cruisers, 3 Destroyers destroyed, 2,400 killed and more than 1100 others wounded, you do not simply say PEACE and have everyone accept it. When a young Black Man reaches through the window of a police car to take the officer's gun, when commanded to stop he does not, but instead charges the officer. When for months tensions escalate, stores and neighborhoods are destroyed, and the Police Force is embarrassed Peace, Comfort seem irrelevant words. When a young Black Man was shot by a White Police Officer, who then collected the evidence, while the young's dead body lay in the street for hours; is followed by another man in another city being choked and held down by Police, protesting he cannot breathe as he dies, Speak Tenderly of Peace and Consolation, seem hollow. Instead, Isaiah describes there are two different Orders in the World. The Human Order compared to the Divine Order of God. All Flesh is grass, the grass withers, the flower fades. Like waves of the Ocean, the Prophet describes the collision of these two orders. Human History, growing in progress and dying. Like some great Greek Tragedy, we have accomplishments building upon accomplishments, only to realize we are mortal and our greatest Empires and Societies fall to decay. There is an order to Human Development and History, but at the horizon of history is this other order declaring that human struggles are not in vain, there is human greatness in history, there can even be righteousness, there are nations which have created freedom and a level of equality, all of which are subject to arrogant Laws of Self-Destruction. But just as we have glimpsed the Divine, knowing reality greater than our own, so also God acts, unexpectedly, in paradox, the Weak display a strength, the poor know riches beyond wealth. Like the Book of Job, when rationally pushed for explanation of Why, why there is suffering, why there is death, why there is not Peace, God points to the greatness of Creation which cannot be measured according to human righteousness. In the tension of our struggles: 1) Humanity recognize our World is not God's World, we cannot make Peace. 2) Humanity ultimately is dissatisfied with everything we have done, all flesh withers. 3) But Humanity is gifted a glimpse of something greater & the infinite within our finite is touched. 4) While we can never force Peace, or Perfect Humanity, the truth is that The Divine Order and the Human Order are each within the other. God becomes One With us. What is beautiful about John the Baptist, is that he did not suddenly proclaim himself to be the Messiah sent from God. Instead, this man embodying Wilderness, embodying that disembodied voice called, and all the World responded. As uncouth and unkempt and wild as John the Baptist was, he displayed a vulnerability of saying “It's Not Me!” After me comes one for whom I am not worthy to even untie the sandal. And Jesus, did not come onto the scene in Mark declaring himself to be the first, but recognized the life accomplishments of John, the Law and Prophets before him. The Gospel of Mark begins in this unique manner. Realize that Matthew with the Genealogy of Jesus, and Luke with historic identification in the time of King Herod, Augustus Caesar, Zechariah was Priest, John's eloquent poetry about the spirit of Christ being present at Creation, were not written Mark was first published. The Gospel of Mark begins “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, The son of God.” The wonderful part of that is that Mark's telling does not have a Resurrection Appearance. This Good News stops with the burial and witnesses who came to the tomb but ran away in fear. So the whole of the Gospel of Mark is only the Beginning. The Evangelist declares this is not just a story, not one that will end “Happily Ever After” but instead this is Gospel, Good News of the son of God who is our Savior. Comfort, Comfort, My People, Says Your God, Speak Tenderly to Jerusalem... In response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, demonstrating the power of the Bomb. Would that in response to the deaths of Black Men in Florida, in Missouri, in New York, all of us would stop to reflect and repent on the ways we react to the color of a person's skin, answering violence with violence until double the punishment has been paid. What will it cost for all flesh to see it together? The Grass Withers, the Flower Fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

Watch, Weep, Witness, November 30, 2014

Isaiah 24 Mark 13:1-37 Last Week was Christ the King Sunday, the Ultimate Climax of the Christian Year, when we declare Jesus born in a manger in a stable who suffered and died on the Cross and rose again, to be the Christ, Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, Very God of Very God! “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” On Thursday we watched the parade and gathered at the Table, not Christ's Table, but our Family Feast, because at Midnight began the biggest shopping celebration of the year. Even before we turn the calendar from November to December, we have already entered into the Advent of Christmas. But Advent is more than counting down the number of days until Christmas Eve, more than the singing of Carols and eating of Cookies, we have entered The Season of Shadows. “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” Like so many Christmases of recent years, this is not like our childhood, cutting out snowflakes/making snow-angels. We hear of bombings and war, a gunman shooting indiscriminately; thousands of people killed by Ebola; instead of our leaders offering hope, they trade threats; in order to end the year with lower costs companies experience lay-offs. So we pull on our layers, pull down our caps, cover our ears with earbuds and earmuffs, to go out into the world of shadows and fear. The isolating part, which makes us the more afraid, is everyone seems by themselves. We push passed one another, we cut each other off, we try to get there first, so we can also be first to leave. In the shadows, we never see those crossing in the cross-walk. In the shadows with their caps pulled over their eyes, we cannot see the other's face, their fears, their tears. Rushing faster, trying to make a quota, the truck-driver does not see the black ice and their semi jack-knifes. These fears, these shadows, the darkness that pervades our thoughts, these have become part of our human condition. Nostalgically we fool ourselves that long ago there were White Christmases, and Wonderful Lives in Bedford Falls, but even those stories began with tragedy and fear. “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” In the Bible Study, we were reading Isaiah, when it occurred to me, I have never heard a sermon on Isaiah 24. More than a passage of devastation and destruction, this is affirmation of faith, that from the Old Testament time through the birth of Jesus right through today, there has been tragedy, there have been tears wept, but the words of the prophet are that we have never ever been alone. Everything that has effected us, has effected the world around us, and touched God. One of the most powerful stories I have ever heard about a congregation, was this church, that following years of conflict, tore up the last five years of their Minutes and Actions inscribing the next page, “We recognize that in our hurting each other, we have done harm to God and God's Creation! We have crucified our Lord, by hating one another. Acting in hate we have killed our faith. SO we repent and begin again anew.” “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” It occurs to me that there are many different ways of watching and waiting. There is the watching and waiting from bed, for the night to be over to begin the day. There is watching and waiting for the College acceptance packet or rejection letter. There is watching and waiting for the airline to land, and be cleared for our safe travel. There is watching and waiting for your parents to get home, when punishment will take place. There is the watching and waiting on a street corner, when you hear footsteps, when you feel afraid. There is watching and waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive. There is watching and waiting in the Hospital, during surgery, when the baby is coming, or on hospice. All the while we repeat “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” We have created for ourselves the expectation that like Homeland Security, if we are on watch, we can keep fear from coming, we can lock the door and raise the threat level. But the more security we put in place, the more insecure we feel. What if our watching is not for shadows, for clouds, for destruction, but is for God to enter into the world? There is an ancient mantra that has been repeated since the days of the early church “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” It seems odd to begin Advent with Mark's Apocalypse. Jesus and the disciples were in the Temple at Jerusalem, and as they left, one commented “How beautiful the workmanship!” to which Jesus named that all of this would one day be destroyed. More than being pessimistic, the disciples ask “When?” Somehow we think we can wait more easily when we know how long. The difficulty is that in the early church, there were two different ideas. One was that “Just as Creation was a long long time ago, so the end will be a long long time from now, as there was a beginning there must be an end, and we who have faith must keep the faith alive.” The other is that “Christ could come at any minute, when we least expect, so live as if this moment may be when Christ enters in.” Mark 13 would read much more smoothly, if we read verses 1-2, 8, 14-22, 24-30 and again verses 3-7, 9-13, 21-23, 32-37. But we have received the text as it is, so know and believe that Christ has come. Christ is coming. Christ will come again. Jesus' description to the disciples was not to scare them into believing. But just the opposite, that when clouds form, know that The Christ will come riding on a cloud! Just as there are earthquakes, know that all creation suffers birth-pangs. This may be of a time to come. But the sky turning dark, the sun being eclipsed, earthquakes and a tearing of the curtain, are exactly what happened at the Crucifixion, so when Christ had come and died on the Cross, the whole creation and God suffered. There are times of fear in all our lives. Gunmen are real. Accidents on the highway do happen. Wars and Earthquakes all of this make our shadows and long winters seem pretty bleak. But know for certain that Christ has already Come! Week after week we recite his teachings, his actions, his parables, watching and waiting to see similar events in our lives. There will be times for weeping, for sadness and fear and loss. But Christ is coming! Our loss and our fears help us to recognize the need for a savior, the need for hope. Our role and purpose is to name the needs of the world and to direct care and concern to making a difference. Possibly Christ is Coming through you! Christ would not be seen or recognized by another, they might miss recognizing the hope the love the joy, if not for you. Advent takes time, more than four weeks of waiting and watching, because God is becoming Tangible. The Invisible, Immortal is becoming One with us. How many of our stories, how much of our desire is for humans to become like God? But the miracle, according to Holy Scripture is that God actually became human, mortal, one with us in Jesus Christ. Another way to envision Advent is that in the Beginning, and over and over throughout the text, we returned from our cultivated fears, our wars and domination, our Empires and Creations, to Wilderness. Adam and Eve, The Tower of Babel, Abram, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob all wandered in the wilderness. Moses, and eventually the Exiles, even John the Baptist, all were asked to become one with Creation. This Advent is not for us to acquire all the stuff to give to others, but for us to work through all the layers of fear and doubt, the layers we have bundled ourselves in, to get down to who we really are and what matters in a primal sense for each of us. December 25th is going to come, whether we are prepared or not. I believe in the ultimate and absolute power of God to accomplish whatever God desires whether we choose to recognize God or not. But how much more full life will be, how much more Christmas will mean if we prepare ourselves to the reality to recognize “Christ has come. Christ is Coming. Christ will come again!” We end this week, with a story from our church. That decades ago there was a fight between two siblings, each shaming the other. For years they did not speak. Through their partners, eventually they began to hear about one another receiving that ubiquitous Christmas letter now become an Email. Finally, the one decided too many years had passed, who was at fault what was said really did not matter, only that they needed to forgive and be forgiven. But that very day a card came in the mail. Opening it, the card named that their sibling had died, and their greatest regret had been that they had never tried to get back to being family, to forgiving and being forgiven. The apocalypse may be the end of the world, it may only be the end of the world as we know it, as Jesus is quoted “No one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, only God. – WATCH”