"Sanctify Yourselves for Humble Service" November 5, 2017

Joshua 1-17 Matthew 23:1-12 Be STRONG, Be of GOOD COURAGE, HUMBLE in SERVICE, SANCTIFY YOURSELVES all of this refers to instruction to “Experience Life with Authentically.” Tourists for hundreds of miles around, come to the Finger Lakes for Leaf Peeping, to see lakes and witness the Glory of The Finger Prints of God, which we go passed. Different from what I have seen in the Northeast, along the roadside in Midwestern States there were immense Stone Cairns, some with the names of every county in the State, others with identification of every City in the County. As children, our parents would pull the car off the road at these rest-stops and we would finger all the names inscribed into the stones, never understanding why these stone cairns had been established. Year ago hiking the Adirondacks, the trails were marked with similar stone markers, that you depended upon to find your way. When you started out in the morning, due to the fog, you often could not see up ahead, you could see from this marker to the next, and that experience was enough. You did not have to worry about the future or the past, you had to live in the moment, confident you knew who you were and where you were. What Joshua here instructs the tribes to do, is to gather boulders together, to build a stone Cairn, to mark the spot where they “crossed over Jordan” for salvation. Last Sunday, we read of Moses looking over the Promised Land and Moses’ burial. In the first two Chapters of Joshua, over and over Joshua is told to be strong of courage, here he instructs the leaders to tell the people “Sanctify Yourselves”. Literally, everything that had ever been promised to Abraham, to Isaac & Jacob, as well as throughout the 40 years with Moses escaping Egypt, was being fulfilled. What an awesome responsibility, one that was not given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or Moses, but is given to you, so be Strong, Be of Courage! Sanctify Yourselves in Glory! This is a holy thing, do Not miss it. THE PREDICAMENT OF THE PROSPEROUS, is that faith is wholly reasonable when you are believing in and working at a promise, but different, once you possess everything you need and desire. Faith for Joshua is less about fulfillment “someday”, than about being thankful to have survived, thankful to have God’s blessings. As we approach Veteran’s Day, it is not as other Countries have done displaying our Military Weaponry, but a time of GIVING THANKS for having been brought through! The point of this passage is that entering this land was a moment in world history, to be remembered for all time. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER, was a place none of their generation had been before, so crossing over was no ordinary act. Imagine one of life’s many changes, Senior Year in High School, Graduation from College, Getting Married, having a Child, Retirement, Receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award… we make plans, send invitations, purchase everything we need. BUT do we stop to sanctify ourselves, realizing we are crossing over and will never be the same, that we are going into an alien reality different than we have ever known, AND Not as Conquerors, not Prideful, but Sanctified for Holy Service? Last week, discussing Martin Luther, we described that the Church used to require before you could receive Communion, you had to go to Confession and be absolved of your sins. While we do not need to go into a Confessional Booth, in the Sacrament of Communion we are opening our souls, we are opening ourselves totally and completely to one another, so what ever you thought was hidden, what you were harboring, is now shared with God, and also a burden shared by all of us. For Israel, this Crossing Over calls up memory of crossing the Red Sea, as their ancestors left slavery crossing the De-Militarized zone of the dry Sea-bed into the wilderness. In that first crossing, they were pursued by Pharaoh and his armies. When they reached the other side, their prayer and celebration was that their enemy had been destroyed. But with the Jordan River, crossing over is leaving the wilderness where we were nomads, Entering INTO God’s Promise, into the Sacred. How they did so is unknown, perhaps a miracle of God similar to the Red Sea, perhaps the engineering miracle of a dam, or other means of diverting the river. Symbolically for Israel: Water being Chaos at Creation, if Israel could control the Jordan, Damming up or diverting Water, to bring life to the desert, they could control their destiny. Geographically: What we know is that it was Flood Season, so the waters were broader and deeper than normal, the water colder and faster, coming down from Mt. Hermon’s snowcaps 9000 feet ABOVE sea-level, dropping to the Dead Sea at 1400 ft BELOW sea-level, so one of the fastest rivers of its size dropping OVER 10,000 feet! When you are flying, the Pilot announces when you have reached OVER 10,000 ft, because over 10,000 feet is different, You are physically between HEAVEN & EARTH you have perspective, everything is witnessed and seen in big picture from outside; but when you are living sanctified humbly experiencing, when you are crossing over the river where stone cairns were set up by Joshua and the ancestor of each tribe, life is very much in the here and now. So this passage begins “This is the Day!” The Gospel according to Matthew attempts to do at least two things simultaneously, First to share the Good News of the Life, Death and Resurrection of the Messiah! This is not history of a Rabbi, or President, this is Sacred of God’s love of God’s Son. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has authority because everything he says comes from Old Testament Scripture, he fulfills everything a Messiah was supposed to do and to be… But this story was written down, in this way, at this time, for a purpose. 36 years after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, three years after his Baptism at Jordan, so about the year 70AD the Temple at Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman Empire through the Roman Legion. That act, that Crossing Over, ended Worship as it had been practiced since the time of Abraham, ritually since Moses. There no longer were Sacrifices. There no longer were Priests. There no longer was a Temple to go to for Worship. There was a level of Spiritual Chaos, as everyone struggled with what is FAKE and what is REAL, searched for what is “Authoritative,” who speaks with Authority. For decades, scholars dismissed Matthew as clumsy and jumbled. Jesus challenges Chief Priests, the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Saducees… Is everybody the enemy? Instead, I think what Matthew was trying to do was to compare Jesus to each of the other authorities: Jesus compared to the Chief Priests. Jesus compared to the Phariees, Jesus compared to the Saducees, Jesus compared to the Sanhedrin, to King Herod, to Pontius Pilate and Caesar? and he is More Authentic, Undercutting as more to be Trusted than any other. Although they may have POWER over life and death, death could not prevent his love, which is for everlasting life. Power does strange things to us. 3 psychologists Keltner, Gruenfeld and Anderson shared the results of what has become a famous study. In this experiment, they worked with clusters of three people, all of the same sex, having a conversation. They designated one of the three, as being the Judge, who could assign points as they saw fit to the other two. They then had a discussion of political issues and business policies, what is fake and real, with the Judge assigning points to each. After 30 minutes, the researchers brought in a plate of 5 cookies. Now the problem is somebody is not going to get two. Everytime, the judge awarded themself at least two cookies, and often, ate with their mouth open! Power in one arena, leads to demonstrations of power in other arenas. One of the best stories of humility I have ever heard, took place in Chicago in 1953, as a Train pulled into the Railroad station. All the Dignitaries, Officials, Reporters and Crowds were there to see the person who had been named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Suddenly a tall slender man, with bushy white hair and mustache stepped off the platform. He said “excuse me”, and discretely made his way through the crowd to walk up beside an elderly Black woman struggling with two immense cases. He offered to help her, and carried her bags to the bus she was going to ride. Then Albert Schweitzer turned back to the crowd and apologized for having kept them all waiting. Someone described that they had never seen a Sermon Lived Out. Years ago in another congregation, a man who had left the area decades before returned for his wife’s burial. He then contacted the Church because he wanted to make a Gift of Upholstered Cushions for the Pews, which were solid Oak. Not simply new cushions, these oak benches had never been padded. For 9 months the Session debated whether to receive the gift or not, ultimately deciding to do so, saying: “We have been uncertain if we should be this comfortable in the worship of God, but we are certain that the Preacher ought never to get comfortable.” So they did not upholster the Preacher’s bench.

"500 Years of Reformation" October 29, 2017

Deuteronomy 34 Matthew 16:1-20 Romans 1:8 Velcro-ing six computer printed pages to the doors of the Skaneateles Presbyterian Church, does not have the same sound or impact as Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 Theses to the Doors of the Cathedral at Wittenberg as invitations to Debate! The Sunday prior to All Saints’ Day 1517, at All Saints’ Cathedral in Wittenberg, Germany, Rev. Martin Luther was committing a bold act of defiance, challenging the Orthodoxy of the Holy Roman Empire, challenging the authority of Church Law, challenging the Infallibility of the Pope, challenging a very lucrative money-making scheme, challenges for which others had recently been burned at the stake! 500 years later, that we remember what he did, that the Catholic Church has undergone radical reformation, that Evangelical Lutheran, Missouri Lutheran, Wisconsin Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregational Churches all exist spread throughout the whole world, is like Moses looking out over the plains of Moab, witnessing the fulfillment of all that God had promised, and yet in his human existence Martin Luther, like Moses, did not have opportunity to enter into it. The actions and ideas of Martin Luther inspired: Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, William Penn, Thomas Jefferson, Women’s Suffrage, Civil Rights, use and expansion of the Printing Press, our having Bibles in every Pew and for every Believer, our being able as Christians to worship God in our native Languages; HOWEVER, none of this was what Rev. Martin Luther set out to do. A moment ago, we read Matthew’s account of Simon Peter’s Confession, that” the Son of Man in Jesus, who is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” We read accounts of this in each of the Gospels, emphasizing the leap of faith Affirming Jesus as being the Christ which sets Jesus on the road to the Crucifixion… but the early Church grabbed hold of two different elements of this story. The Disciple Simon, Andrew’s brother, was renamed Peter, Petrified, meaning The Rock foundation of the Church, identifying Peter as the First Pope. And Jesus gave to Peter “The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” We hear the next part of Matthew as explanation of what those Keys might be: “That what you bind on earth is bound in Heaven, whatever you loose is loosed in heaven” meaning that the Keys to Heaven are about Forgiveness. As human beings we have awesome power and responsibility, that we choose to Not forgive, we prevent others from being forgiven, and we possess the power to Free ourselves and one another in forgiveness. Instead, as the Holy Roman Empire developed, the Church developed a Caste system that Human Beings fall short of the glory of God. People are not perfect, are Sinners. In the Old Testament, Judaism had practiced that forgiveness required atonement, paying the debt for the sin committed, which was done by making an offering. The passing of time = grain offering, the birth of a first-born two doves, Passover a Lamb. However 36 years after Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection, the Temple of Solomon, the Temple at Jerusalem, was the most holy place where Offerings could be made, built on the site where Abraham offered his own Son to God as an Offering, that Temple was destroyed. So how do you repent, how can you be forgiven? The Church created 4 Laws: First, the Church is the only authority that can forgive, possessing The Keys; Second, that Church Teaching was the Rule of Life, Holy, like the Bible and Worship were in Latin, as Illiterate Sinners you could not understand God’s Wisdom; Third, that Repentance happened by Confession of your sins to your Priest, recalling the Caste System that Priests by being Ordained were over people yet less that God; Fourth, as a means of Atonement, believers could reduce the time and severity of a loved ones’ experience in Purgatory, by ownership of sacred relics/indulgences. Go on a pilgrimage to the Jordan River and get Holy Water, go to the Sea and pick up a shell used by Andrew in Baptism, purchase a Cross made from Olivewood of Bethlehem, a Hair from John the Baptist’s Head, the Robe of Jesus, find the Holy Grail. All of which became the issues Luther Protested, for Reform of the Church. Two historic events undermined the authority of the Church: At the Wed Bible Study, I described the Church fighting for authority on 3 Fronts, that is because for 70 years instead of the Center of the Church being at Jerusalem or at Rome, the home of the Pope was at Avignon, France. Pope Gregory XI finally succeeded in moving the Vatican to Rome, then died. Many of the Bishops were afraid that a French Pope would be elected. However, the Cardinals elected an Italian Pope, named Urban VI whom the Bishops then feared and others questioned his sanity. In retaliation, the French kidnapped the new Pope! Assuming the Pope to be dead, the Cardinals elected a new Pope, named Clement VII, at which time the French sent the first Pope back alive! Then to make matters even more complicated, a Third Pope was elected! The Great Western Schism made people question who actually spoke with authority. Finally the Council of Constance, was one of the largest attended and most brief Councils of the Church. At the Council of Constance all three Popes were repudiated, and a new Pope Martin V was elected as the one true Pope. The Council of Constance was brief because, The Black Plague was sweeping across Europe, killing 25 Million people in 4 years and continuing throughout that Century. So the Cardinals gathered, and almost immediately left for their homes. The Church was powerless, sin/death/purgatory seemed to dominate peoples’ fears. Martin Luther was not attempting to challenge that authority, or to inspire growth of denominations. As a pastor Luther sought an authority greater than the Pope, greater than Church Teaching, so politicized and divisive during the Dark Ages. Reading the Letter to the Romans, he came upon the phrase from today’s Assurance of Pardon: “In the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith.” Luther recognized that each of us are on a lifelong journey of repentance. Luther preached that we do not need Church Law to interpret the Bible, we need to be able to read Scripture ourselves and let Scripture and only Scripture speak to us. We do not need a Priest as your intermediary with God, Christ already is that. The Choir sang “Let All Mortal Flesh” this morning, which is about the vital importance of the Incarnation of Christ, as opposed to the Crucifixion. This is not about Suffering, but about God being ONE WITH Humanity. What I love is that Martin Luther was not a Theologian off in a Monastery, he was a Pastor of a local Church with real people. His 95 Theses were not an attack on the Pope as derogatory, he demonstrated respect, but did not violate the Commandment by making the Pope into a God, or the Church into an Idol. Because of this, just prior to Pope Benedict’s Announcement of his Retirement as Pope, he declared that for the Catholic Church the Lutheran Reformation is over, all the Theses of Luther calling for reform have been addressed and have reformed the Church. For which, the Baptism of those of us in churches of the Lutheran Tradition, are acceptable in the Catholic Church.

"Re-Assurance" October 22, 2017

Exodus 33: 12-23 Matthew 11: 1-19 Recently I had a wedding, where the couple wrote their own vows, and the Groom began by saying to his Bride: “Thank you for coming. I really don’t know what I would have done if you had not come here today.” I am very thankful YOU are here. There are times I wish that preachers were prophets knowing the needs and circumstance of the congregation so well as to choose passages for their context. But for a hundred years, preachers developed a barrel of their favorite sermons and recycled like old curriculum. Instead following the Lectionary, at times we receive blessings even when we need challenge, and at times we receive condemnation when we desire comfort. Although I am routinely in awe of how well the three year rotation of passages does apply to world events and our particular circumstance. Two weeks ago, we had Jesus’ Parable of the Vineyard, where the Gardener kills all those laborers who rejected the Messengers and the Son. Last week, we read the Worship of the Golden Calf, in response to which Moses instructed the Levites to each kill their brothers, neighbors and neighbors kin. Like Shakespeare’s Tragedy, I searched your faces, seeing those who looked beaten, without the joy and affirmation customary in our worship and sermon conversations together. Then the Lectionary directed we read Matthew’s Parable of the Wedding Feast, where those who do not attend are put to death, and one who does come is thrown into the dark! First today, I am glad you came back… Also, I have a confession to make... This Gospel passage is not the one appointed for today... Instead as I read Moses’ asking for assurance to see the Glory of God, and I was reminded of Jesus asking the people “What did you go out to see?” “What do you seek?” As a preacher, I wish I could get away with perpetually telling you “No Bad News”, but that would not be honest, and faith needs to be both real and honest, as a sign of what is to come. There has become a regular plot device in Action Movies. Building to a climax, the Bad Guys always hide in a warehouse, and do not know that the Good Guys are right outside, meanwhile, if it is a Western: behind the barn, if it is Modern day: behind a stack of wood pallets, the Hero says “Wait for a sign.” The others, and the audience are left waiting and wondering “What sign?” When suddenly there is an explosion as the Hero drives a truck through the front wall. I have been searching a long time, and thankfully there has yet to be an explosion of a truck driving through the Chancel wall. More often, our lives are actually like Moses’ experience. In childhood, when all the children of Egypt were killed, Moses was saved. When Moses acted in anger, somebody died & Moses started over as a Shepherd. Witnessing The Burning Bush, Moses’ take away was God’s commissioning, not that he had witnessed a miracle. Moses was the instrument of God 10 times, in plagues of God’s power over Pharaoh. Raising his arms Moses parted the Red Sea saving Israel and destroying their enemy. The people thirsted, the people hungered, the people were attacked, and over and over again God provided miracles as proof of God’s power, majesty and love. The entire Nation were afraid to go near God, but Moses spent for 40 Nights alone with God, receiving the 10 Commandments, secret wisdom of the fashioning of the Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle, and all the elements of Ordained worship. God was angered at being shamed by people, and Moses CHANGED the mind of God! Through all of this, Moses never said “Wow!” Instead, after everything, Moses says “I need proof.” Not proof of the existence of God, but ASSURANCE God can be trusted, a sign: God will continue ahead of us. While there are a plethora of different religions, if asked “Do you believe in God?” more today will answer Yes than ever before. We do not want or need proof of the existence of God… we believe… But we long for signs that God can be trusted. With all the miracles in our lives, we look for a sign that God will go ahead of us. There is a wonderful simplicity and irony in that sign. We are not able to see God face to face, or as humans to know where God is going, or what God intends. But we are able/blessed to witness miracles, to be part of a great company celebrating miracles in ordinary life, …and yet still we seek proof of trust. Routinely, we are comfortable with living life, but when crises arise, when we are filled with anxiety, that is when we seek ASSURANCE from God. John the Baptist had been a powerful Prophet, truly a Man of God. Like Elijah and Moses, he had called people to believe, and the world had responded! John the Baptist called people to Repent Be Baptized: ALL JUDEA came to the Jordan. John stood up to Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, stood up to the religious authorities, soldiers and guards, calling them a Brood of Vipers, an Incestuous Nest of Blood Suckers, and his faith was not shaken. John the Baptist saw Heaven ripped open at John’s Baptism of Jesus, saw a Dove descend upon Jesus, and heard the voice: My Beloved Son: I AM Well pleased! John the Baptist had the faith, and the chutzpah to call out King Herod, the same Herod who would condemn Jesus to Pilate… John the Baptist attacked King Herod, as having lusted after his own sister-in-law, murdering his own brother, taking his dead brother’s wife as his mistress, then lusting after her daughter/his niece. None of what the Late-Night Comedians have said about Harvey Weinstein is as risky as what John did. For which John was arrested. Being put into a dungeon, was not a minimum security prison. Dungeons were carved out of solid rock, without windows, without light or fresh air, prisoners chained to the walls, beaten, starved, and afterward being dropped 20 feet through a hole into a pit. Knowing how fragile his life has become, knowing the end of life will come soon, John sends a message to Jesus: “Are you he who is to come, Messiah sent by God, or should we seek another?” As RE-ASSURANCE, Jesus sends reply: The Lame Walk, Blind See, The Deaf Hear, Captives are Set Free, the Dead Rise. Jesus does not describe worlds ending, or Nations going to War, He does not invoke Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Fires, or Violence. Instead Jesus describes very intimate, personal ASSURANCES of people. I never set out to be a pastor who was in one location so long, but one of the things I have learned by doing so, is that all of us seek little things as RE-ASSURANCES. When those who have gone in mission service to South Sudan return, we make a point of being at the airport to welcome them home. This summer, when Choir members went to Scotland, we drove up to the airport, as a simple and personal welcome, that You are expected, others are here to greet you. In my first year with you, I introduced you to StuBear, who spent a week with each family or individual, going everywhere as a reminder of our “stewardship”. StuBear has been to Northern NY, to South Sudan, to General Assembly, to Puerto Rico and Scotland. At every celebration of worship, after we have confessed our sins and confessed our faith, and had anxious moments of silent prayer, we have an Assurance of Pardon. Long before you were born, long before you were a gleam in your grandfather’s eye, Jesus Christ came as the incarnation of God’s love, and died and was resurrected, as ASSURANCE of our forgiveness by God. That RE-ASSURANCE is as simple as this: “Brothers and Sisters, In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.”

"OUR SHAMING GOD" October 15, 2017

Exodus 32: 1-14 Matthew 22:1-14 We begin this morning challenging our most basic assumption leading to ANXIETY. That is that our World is finite. Humanity has been in existence for millions of years, Progressing through Manifest Destiny, so we assume EVERYTHING is THE BEST that can be,… COMPLETE… having survived… having surpassed the Enlightenment… having gotten beyond the 20th Century, it seems as though all that is left is Destruction and Judgment. September 11th ‘s attack over 15 years ago; the collapse of the Stock Market a dozen years ago, the collapse of the Housing Bubble a decade ago, Antiques Roadshow demonstrating all of our stuff is worthless, all seem to validate our anxiety over the future. The Prophet Isaiah seems to speak to this Circumstance: All flesh is grass, the Grass withers the flower fades. When in fact that is a passage about the GRACE of God, Comfort, Comfort My People says your God! Faith undercuts the limitations of Shame and anxiety with limitless Grace of God. This morning’s are the most intricately written stories in the Bible. I invite us to unpack each, considering: Maybe there were stories behind these stories, that do not mean what we have come to possess. Because these same passages have become ugly awful stories used to justify anti-Semitism, persecution and Fear of God. Assuming this is about THE GOLDEN CALF, we know Exodus 32 to be about judgment of Israel, not only for SIN, but getting caught, worshipping idols. Following the passages we read, With righteous Anger Moses commands retribution by the Sons of Levi: Neighbor kill neighbor, brother kill brother, fight to the last Man. Part of our shock at this passage is that the last thing we read of 10 Commandments, we interpreted was NOT about Law & Sin and Judgment, but about God extending through Moses through Israel: Our being in Relationship with God! The 10 Commandments we said are description of a trusting relationship with God! So, what if we recast this passage, instead of The SIN OF THE GOLDEN CALF; naming this OUR ANXIETY SHAMING GOD. The escaped slaves had been left by Moses at the base of Mt. Sinai, as the mountain was engulfed in cloud, with Lightning, thunder, trumpet blasts, earthquakes,… left in the wilderness for 40 days... When else have you heard about 40 days in wilderness? This like Jesus’, is a story of TEMPTATION. Even before receiving the Commandments, Israel violates the 1st Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods, then demand that Aaron violate the second by making for them AN IDOL to worship. There is no record here that they coveted other’s belongings, or lied or murdered. In Anxiety, they assumed the worst, and SHAMED GOD. In response to their actions, just as in Genesis, God promises to start anew: God will make of Moses a new Noah, another Abraham, to eliminate those who Shamed God and have a Genesis a New Beginning with a Righteous Son of Man. But the point of this story is two things, present in the text, we overlook. 1. Moses was able to change the mind of God! On the first day of Seminary, in a Preaching class with James Forbes, he had us read this passage, and remember, that the role of every believer is not only to pray for others, BUT ALSO to be able to plead your case and challenge God to reveal a new and different revelation. The meaning behind our Stained glass Window, is that YES, there is Predestination, God Does Have a Plan…but we each have a Free Will, Challenging God to act revealing a new different part of God’s plan. 2. AND Even when God has been SHAMED… Even when God has been rejected… Even when we chose to bow down to our own golden idols… God FORGIVES! Forgiveness is not a New Testament idea. God’s Forgiveness is as basic to our understanding of God, as the Ten Commandments on the Tablets of Stone. But remember that the first Tablets of Stone, just like the Golden Calf, were fragile, easily broken, where as the GRACE OF GOD’S FORGIVENESS is Flexible & Adaptable. Matthew combined at least three of Jesus’ Parables into “This Wedding Feast”, which while about Judgment Day, too appropriately also describes fighting at Weddings, within family, over who is Accepted, Welcome, and Shaming one another. Having performed as many as 30 wedding as year for 33 years, I have been repeatedly shocked here in this little Village, how often the Families have hired Off-Duty Police Officers to be present, because we feared, family at the Wedding could not be civil. The first, oldest Parable is similar to last week in the immediately preceding verses: God is the Landowner seeking fruits from sharecroppers. A Day of Judgment. Here, God is the Father of the Bridegroom sending out invitations to the Wedding Feast. But when people reject God’s messengers, and kill them, just as we would expect in Sodom and Gomorrah: God destroys them. Horribly, this parable has over time been used as justification for killing our enemies, Crusades, persecution of Judaism, when All of us, ALL Humanity have at times Rejected God, Shamed God. This is old Calvinist’ Pre-Destination. Evil and Sin are real, and it is hard for us to Forgive, harder for us to forgive ourselves than it is for God, as proven by the Second Parable. The Second Parable, is that after Judgment, God then seeks out those who were exiled and excluded. God acts with Grace, Compassion and Forgiveness for the Marginalized, so the First are last, and the Last are first. But, as few of us today know many Pharisees, Lepers, Prostitutes, Tax Collectors, perhaps we should apply this to the DEPRESSED, those who have Felt REJECTED, Broken. See John Calvin described that while Humanity will turn away from God, God continues to offer Grace for us. The Third Parable, is unique to Matthew, and for us today, probably the hardest. When those who were marginalized, do come to the Feast, God sees one who has not put on a Wedding Garment, and casts this one out of the Feast. I say, “the hardest for us today”, because I have repeatedly found myself and heard others beat themselves up about MULTITASKING, trying to attend a Funeral knowing I have to be leading an activity in two hours, and the Funeral runs long. You cannot serve both. You cannot be in two places at the same time Instead of the “Wedding Feast” or “The Wedding Garment” which seem to have little reference for people today, I suggest we refer to this as: “The PARABLE OF HAVING EVERYTHING, RESPONSIBLE FOR NOTHING.” Even when, especially when, Grace and Forgiveness have been extended by God, those who receive, Cannot continue to SHAME GOD, because we make Grace Worthless, shaming God all the more. This is Calvin’s DOUBLE PRE-DESTINATION.

"RESPECTING GOD" October 8, 2017

Exodus 20:1-20 Matthew 21:33-46 Monday morning, we awoke to reports of mass shootings at a festival in Las Vegas, and hour after hour, day after day, the circumstances of every person involved have been narrated to us. This was to have been an End of Summer Festival, a Concert of good feelings, which instead became a shooting gallery, literally of fish in a barrel. Over 500 wounded, 58 murdered for having been listening to music at a concert. Quietly, I have heard people say: “Why doesn’t God do something?” “Where is God?” Thursday, many of us joined together at a Memorial at the Catholic Church, where the readings were Psalm 23’s “Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want” and Ist Corinthians 13 “Faith, Hope and Love abide, but the greatest of these is Love…” Those are the passages I long to preach this morning, those are the comforting words we want to hear, instead, Lectionary requires reading The 10 Commandments and Parable of the Wicked Tenants, which ARE NOT COMFORTING these are Commandments to Respect God, living as Tenants in God’s Garden. The Gospel has been narrating this story of a Festival, told with increasing intensity. Growing up, my Grandparents had an old fashioned “Victrola” that as you cranked the handle, winding up the spring, the Victrola played faster and faster and faster, louder and louder, building to a crescendo. Like the Siren at the Fire Station… With CD players and Computers, I do not have anything to compare to that sound like the building intensity of the Gospel… The Festival Season was building in Jerusalem, thousands of thousands of strangers compacting inside the concentric stonewalls of the City, the City of David, Jerusalem, in Israel, at Passover, in the time of King Herod, under the occupation of Pontius Pilate of the Roman Empire of Caesar Augustus. There had been Anonymous Letters to the Editor in the Paper about Traffic, Congestion, and Parking. The Chamber of Commerce and property owners were anxious about rioting, trying to keep a lid on things, to quiet people, avoiding chaos. Jesus had become a Celebrity Superstar, surrounded by his Disciples, followed by crowds of fans, as he healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, cured the lame. The more he told people to “Tell no one” the more interested crowds grew. The more the elite and powerful were outraged, telling Jesus to stop his followers, the louder and more intense the crowds became. It was Passover, in Jerusalem, the Festival of God overthrowing the oppressors, and this was the time of Pilate and the Roman Legion, after John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod to satisfy his lust. Only the day before Jesus had had a Triumphal Arrival, a parade accompanied by children singing, peasants waving palm branches, everyone shouting “Have Mercy!” Last night, Jesus and his posse had slept outside the City on the Mount of Olives. The morning of the Passover Festival Jesus found a Fig Tree, but the tree was barren, and Jesus cursed the tree for going against its nature, providing No Fruit. Jesus went through the gates, into the City of Jerusalem, up the hillside toward the Temple Mount, and there atop the plateau, inside the walls of the temple Courtyard, outside the Temple were the Moneychangers, hawking their trinkets and stuff. Jesus cried out that this was Pure Commercialism, No Sacrifice to God for atonement of sins! There was a crash of tables, people running, Rams, Goats, Sheep and Lambs bolting, a flutter of escaping pigeons and doves. Different from his Parables, this one was really an analogy. A Parable leaves open correlations and meanings; an Analogy has direct application for these characters. Isaiah 5: 1-7 is an extremely well-known ancient love song, describing God as The Landowner who created a Garden. Sounds not unlike Genesis… This garden had a winepress and watchtower, surrounded by protective concentric walls, not unlike Jerusalem. For generations the Vines in the Landowner’s Garden produced the most abundant, most lush and beautiful grapes, dates, figs and wine. The goats the sweetest cheese. But here Jesus’ Analogy shifts… Isaiah prophesied that the Garden is corrupted becoming overgrown with weeds, the vines trodden by armies… With the Chamber of Commerce and the elected officials and property owners standing in front of Jesus with their arms crossed, Jesus makes the story about the Tenants, the Sharecroppers who refuse to respect the rights and relationship they have to the Landowner. At Harvest Festival they have no food to pay to the Landowner, and they beat and abuse those sent by the Landowner, finally the Landowner sends his own Son, and they decide to kill the Son rather than acknowledging what they owe the Owner. We said this took place at Passover Festival, going back the original Passover… The Hebrew people were slaves of the King of Egypt, suffering the genocide of their children. After 10 Plagues, God rescued the people from Pharaoh, holding back the chaos of the Red Sea for them to Pass Over, while the Angel of Death Passed-over Egypt. The people were anxious about food and water and enemies, because although Set Free from Pharaoh, for hundreds of years they had been slaves. Over time, heavily influenced by the Apostle Paul’s description that once there was LAW, there was knowledge of Sin, we have come to envision the 10 Commandments as a LAW CODE, and just like Speed Limits and Tax Codes, we look for how to get around Law Codes as not really applying to us. When Judy and I first married, we went to Grad School, for me Seminary. As newlyweds, we would come home and my father’s first question was invariably: “What are they teaching about the 10 Commandments?” What was never said at Seminary, and took me years to discern, is that the 10 Commandments had nothing to do with LAWS… Instead, the 10 Commandments is what it means to Respect God, how to live in covenant relationship with God rather than under the slavery of a King, a Pharaoh or Rome’s Caesars. Respecting God, living in relationship, is actually pretty straight forward: Love the Lord your God, having no other Gods. Worship no Idols. Do not take the name of the Lord God in vain. Honor the Rhythms of life, taking time for Sabbath every day, every week, throughout life. Honor your Father and Mother. Do not Lie. Do not Steal. Do not Murder. Do not commit Adultery. Do not Covet. Perhaps instead of seeking to be consoled and comforted this week, instead of our going to Festivals to celebrate all the stuff we possess, we need to recognize the blessing of our relationships, to re-order our lives respecting God.

"Asking the Right Question" October 1st, 2017

Exodus 17:1-7 Matthew 21: 23-32 How many of us this morning, worry about the future? How many of us are filled with anxiety about what kind of world will be left to our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren? With the threats of Nuclear powered North Korea and Iran… With the reality of ocean temperatures increasing, spawning hurricanes, we are up to what Marie, so there have been 13 so far this year… With the melting of the polar ice caps… With proposed revisions to the Tax Laws… With nothing having been resolved about Health Care… If I was not worried before I began this morning, I am now. When the Hebrew people crossed over the Red Sea from Egypt into the Wilderness, the Wilderness was not a Land of Milk and Honey! The people of God were filled with Anxiety. We recall these Exodus stories as Miracles: How God provided Manna: Bread from Heaven, and Water from Rock, but more than miraculous circumstances, we need to listen for the underlying Real Question... The people complained: In Egypt we sat beside boiling pots of meat, Moses, have you brought us here to die? The people argued and complained with Moses over their thirst, as if he could make Lakes and Rivers to SATISFY, which Moses took as an affront to his leadership. BUT Exodus is telling a different (far older) story than Numbers and Deuteronomy. In those the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy, there is a second occurrence where Moses strikes Rock this time without being told to by God, and there are snakes sent to bite the people on the ankles. Here, in Exodus, the story is simply that the people sought satisfaction and did not trust God. The people of God complained (Masah) and found fault (Meribah), so God used Moses as a divine-ing rod to bring water from rock, and immediately afterward the Hebrew Nation was again filled with fear, now of the Amalekites. There is this wonderful vignette of how when Moses raised his arms in the position of Jesus on the Cross, a Pastor Blessing the people, AND God was victorious, but when Moses grew tired, and his arms drooped, the Hebrews lost to the Amalekites. Hur and Moses’ brother Aaron found a stone for Moses to sit upon, and they held his arms up for him. The question of Exodus, is not: Did Israel have it better in Egypt than the wilderness, or Did God provide Food and Water in the Wilderness? But instead the question the people asked was: WHETHER GOD IS WITH US OR NOT? In Egypt, Greece and Rome, there were Statues in every Community, the Currency also had the profile of the Pharaoh, King, Caesar, because having the image of the Ruler in that place demonstrated the Authority of that Ruler over those people. This why the toppling of the Statue of Sadam Hussein was such a powerful image. HOWEVER the people of God were given Commandment Never to make an Image of God, because we each already bear God’s living image on each of our faces. With food, with water, with the Canaanite tribe of King Amalek, the people doubted. This is the very human question John Dau asked in the film about the S Sudanese: Did God grow tired of us? Has God forgotten us? I would candidly admit my own failings to you, that last Sunday when I shared that a beloved good friend a 93 year old leader of our church had had a stroke, and though he could move his fingers and toes, he was not coherent, and I FEARED that the end might be near. But whether it is the fact that Jack Howard has never been stopped by any obstacle, or demonstration that God is with us… Jack bounced back. Three years ago, we had a parishioner, whose father-in-law called me during vacation to say that their son-in-law whom I had married, had been diagnosed with three months to live… and recently the inoperable tumors have shrunk by 45%. For the last decade, a life-long member of this church has been tethered through their home by an Oxygen tank, who recently received a transplant of lungs and now is living a new life. Are these images of the Miraculous? Amen! Are we guaranteed survival from every disease… No. We are Mortal after all. But what greater proof do we need that God is with us? God has never tired of us? We are not alone? Probably you have been as frustrated as I, this week, because Puerto Rico does not just represent some Island in the Caribbean, or a Mission Trip some from our church took last summer. These are friends. Pastor Edwin’s wife and I have worked together on a Committee for the last several years. There are countless reports of the lack of Bread and Clean Water, of Medicine, Electricity, Gasoline, because ships could not unload at port. But we have been naming these people of God, lifting them up before God, and no one on earth seems to know that we pray, that we care. The difference between the people of God doubting, complaining and arguing, versus the reality of God’s Love, is what Matthew is all about. According to the Text, on Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem HUMBLE on an ASS with a Colt = The Symbol of The Righteousness of God, as people cried out Not from Liturgy, Not reading the Bible, but from real human Need: HAVE MERCY ON US SON OF DAVID! Jesus healed the Blind and Lame. Jesus drove out those making profit off of others’ sacrifices. And the Chief Priests and Elders challenged Jesus, BY WHAT AUTHORITY are you doing this? Jesus responded By What Authority did John the Baptist BAPTIZE? See there is a Guilty Secret, those of us who are Religious Leaders bear, John the Baptist and Jesus were not recognized by the Church, by the Religious authorities in their own time. The Presbyterian Church is part of The REFORMED PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN CHURCH, as such, we broke away from Orthodoxy, Protesting against Religion, demanding REFORM not because we did not like the way it was, but because we need to listen for GOD BEING WITH US. All too often, Religion has been used for power and politics, and pacifying people. The REAL QUESTION OF THE AUTHORITY OF GOD, is the very human question of whether we have Tired of God, whether we are so human, so caught up in protecting our 401Ks and Jobs and Reputation as being rational, that we have forgotten God? Or whether we can turn over all our anxiety and human frustration, to God. Especially when trusting God with our grandchildren’s future in the shadow of Nuclear Weapons, and Hurricanes, and Strokes and Tumors? The point of Jesus’ parable of the Two Sons, is not whether you were Baptized, not whether you said all the right things, but regardless of what we have said whether we have lived in relationship with God, trusting God who is the only one that can make a difference. Whenever, the Bible says a Man had two sons, we need to run through the list, because these are not independent isolated stories. Cain and Able, Jacob and Esau, Pharaoh and Moses, The Prodigal and the Elder Son, while there is struggle, while they often did wrong initially, God never gave up!

September 24, 2017 "The Importance of Murmuring"

Exodus 16:2-15 Matthew 20: 1-16 My father had a favorite joke about the ministry. “Do not let people into the, they will ruin all your plans.” Which I found far funnier, when I learned every profession tells the same story, Lesson plans at School are changed because of students; Medicine is changed because of patients… HOWEVER I would tell you that I believe the Murmuring of people is the most important part! Is it important to us that God is the Almighty Prime Creator of Heaven and Earth? Is it important that God hears people in their suffering and enters in for salvation? Is it important God cares so much about us, that Almighty God abandons all power and humbly enters into Creation, with God becoming One with us? Is it important God suffered and died at our hands for our salvation? Is it important that Death and what we have done in the past could not stop God from loving us? BUT all that is meaningless historic fact without our wrestling with what these facts mean for us. Our Murmuring together allows us to consider other realities outside what we have known. Murmuring is not gossip. Murmuring is not retelling the same stories over and over again, nursing our wounds and our anger as if righteous. Murmuring is not counting how many times we have been wronged, refusal to let go the past to live the present. Murmuring is our trying to come to a new understanding, together, when our constructs of reality, our Laws of the way things are no longer work. Murmuring is our retelling stories in order to understand meanings we never understood before. I recall in this Village when a husband beat his wife to death, and people questioned “I always believed in the Death Penalty, but this was a boy from our school system, he played hockey with my kids, I was at their wedding, I don’t know what to think.” I recall when Sept11 happened and people murmured about whether we could trust the sky was not falling, that the world was not ending, that planes were safe to fly in and we had to go through metal detectors and scanners. It is in the murmuring that we try to make sense out the facts of life. AND I am convinced that part of our human problem with forgiveness is when it comes to forgiving ourselves we do not listen to anyone else. We convince ourselves that we are hopeless, we convince ourselves of the reality of darkness and our lack of forgiveness of ourselves and we fail to listen to any voices of love, of hope, of grace. A friend describes these passages as being about our having to choose between Justice and Love. The people complained, according to the Law they should have been punished, but God acted out of relationship out of love. The Laborers who were hired first deserved to be paid more, yet God chose to pay the others for having worked. I do not believe that goes far enough, I think these are passages about EQUALITY and GRACE. That throughout civilization we have created Reality based on Laws of EQUALITY, on our Control of Fairness of RIGHT & WRONG, but miraculously God operates on LIMITLESS GRACE that is not deserved. We have a naïve way of collapsing history. Between the time of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph at the conclusion of Genesis and the birth of Moses in Exodus 700 years transpired! Try to imagine all the cultural changes, all the societal adaptations that have occurred from the time of the Revolutionary War and today, now Triple that! The people who Moses led across the Red Sea into the Wilderness, had been slaves as long as history could remember. The people had been treated as wild beasts, caged, chained, beaten, killed, bought and sold as property without identity, relationship, without feelings, as things. But slaves were given water and food. When you take away that reality, when you set an animal free, how is it going to survive? Throughout the last generation, America has been about Nation Building, but it is not enough to Cease Fighting and Stop Wars in order to create a new Nation. I recall learning Hebrew in Seminary, having to look up and translate each word. Coming to this passage, we read: And the people murmured against God and Moses, saying Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us? And God rained upon them… and our minds jumped to Sodom and Gomorrah with raining Fire and Brimstone, jumping to Massah and Maribah where the people complained and God sent snakes, but here we were surprised that God rained “Bread from Heaven.” Imagine the conversation of people, and how the murmuring changed, when God provided for them, every day, every week, for the next two generations in the wilderness. Years ago I wrote a Vacation Church School Curriculum about Moses and the Wilderness, and on a week such as this, when the temperatures exceeded 80 degrees, we scattered silver foiled Hershey Kisses over a field for the children to gather. Just as with the Manna, it sparkled in the sunlight. If you gathered too much, in the heat it would melt and be a great mess. If you ate too much it would make you sick. But there was enough for everyone. The children murmured about the joy of fields of limitless chocolate; but having to limit yourself, and sharing with others. Probably no Parable upsets people’s sense of right and wrong as this Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. Recognize Jesus does not say this is the way things should be in Rome or Jerusalem or Galilee. This is what the Kingdom of God is, a Bizarro World, a different reality, calling attention to what is different from the reality of our control! This story could have been told with the Workers who worked all day being paid first, and everyone would go away happy. BUT the point is that the people MURMUR, the point is this is different from our sense of control of what is right and Just. Notice, the Landowner does not hire workers because the Landowner Needs, but negotiates with those who came first for what is Daily Bread, a minimum wage for the day and sends them to labor. I love the fact that in the Parable, what the Landowner and laborers agree is a Day’s Wage is a DENARIUS, because we have no exact monetary value for a DENARIUS, only hat it was worth a Day Laborer’s Wages. When the Laborer finds others, it is not that the Landowner needed more, but that Workers needed Work, so agrees to pay “WHAT IS FAIR”. To the last, “Go and work.” There is no pretense that Jesus is teaching Economic Theory or Fair Hiring Practices, or Management, the Rabbi is teaching what the Kingdom of God is. To God, everyone is needed and wanted. Everyone is of Value. Everyone has something to contribute. This Reality is not based on Payment for Services. This Reality is not based on our Control. The Kingdom of God is solely based on our being loved by God and loving God. There is no one who is beyond God’s love or forgiveness. In this reality, there is no one who is unloveable or unforgiveable…the difference is whether we can give up control, to forgive God, to forgive others, to forgive ourse