"Limits to UnConditional Forgiveness" September 17, 2017

Exodus 14:19-31 Matthew 18:21-35 Forgiveness is not for the sake of the one forgiven, but is for the forgiver. There is an old joke, about an Amish Couple leaving the Church after their wedding. As the Groom attempts to climb into the Buggy the horse reared up on its hind legs, and the man took a book out of his pocket and making a mark said “That’s One.” Along the road, the horse kicked, its hoof striking the buggy, and he said “That’s two!” About three miles from their farm, the horse lost a shoe and began to limp. At which the man declared: “That’s Three!” got out of the buggy and killed the horse. Horrified, the Bride began to chastise her husband, as to how they would get home, and how he would plow the fields having killed their only horse. And the Man took out his book, made a mark, and declared: “That’s One.” Our Scripture passages this week beg the question of us, “Do we keep track, counting how many times we have been offended, forgiving, making allowances?” We have a tendency to make Christianity all about our being forgiven, rather than recognize the huge responsibility placed upon us personally by Jesus Christ… Our lives and our relationships actually do matter. We are instruments of God’s Forgiveness. What you forgive, is Forgiven, by God. Resurrected for eternity. What really matters is what we Bind on earth, is bound in Heaven. Simon Peter asks Jesus, “How many times must we forgive? As many as 7 X 7 =49?” Seven is considered a number representing Infinity, completeness, so depending upon our translation Jesus says, “I tell you no, but 70 X 70 or infinity times infinity!” This as description of compassion; unlimited forgiveness. Several years ago I came to realize, if we are counting, we are not really forgiving. But what occurs to me today, I have not found elsewhere, is that Jesus is describing What we ask of God. Not simply to forgive, or to forgive 49 times, but over and over thru life. If this is what we routinely ask of God, praying each day “Forgive us our debts” and we are emulating Jesus Christ, do we not as Christians need to forgive the same? The Lost Sheep, last week’s passages all are about Forgiveness, based on Jesus’ instruction: What you forgive is forgiven, what you bind is bound in heaven. The heart of the Christian Gospel is Unconditional, Unlimited Forgiveness. Our title here is intentionally circuitous, because if forgiveness is Un-Conditional, how can there be Limits to limitless forgiveness? The difficulty is that particularly over the last generation we have so watered down Christianity, that it is believed Christians have to forgive everything, Christians are happy-faced Emogies, who tolerate abuse and smile no matter what. In the Wednesday evening Bible Study, we began discussion, that instead of leaving Christians at a 3rd Grade understanding of Sunday School, we need to be challenged with the hardest issues so our faith is prepared for the realities of life in a hostile and changing world. It is far too simplistic to accept the Old Testament had a vengeful God, the New a Loving, Compassionate Jesus! The New Testament describes life and death as an oppressed race in the Roman Empire, the animosity between religious groups who each claimed to be more righteous before God than all the others. NO, The First Testament is a love-story of Almighty God caring for us, but being forgotten and rejected, and God forgiving and forgiving over and over for centuries. We begin with The Passover, The 10 Plagues and Crossing the Red Sea. Read from the context of the Egyptian Empire, this is a bloody awful story of war’s devastation. Witnessing the drowning of Armies, Soldiers and Horses. We did not read the 15th Chapter of Exodus, which some describe as The Victory Song of Moses, others as the Song of Miriam with Singing, Dancing and Tambourine, at Egypt’s Loss! BUT this is not a story of war between Moses and Pharaoh, or the Egyptians and the Hebrews, as a human history this is only a bloody awful story… However, Exodus is the story of God’s love for Israel. Pharaoh had declared himself to be God and that there was no other God like him. Pharaoh committed genocide, killing all the Hebrew babies who would be men. Pharaoh had used the technology of his weapons against this enslaved people. The Passover of God, the 10 Plagues, Killing of the First Born of Egypt and the Red Sea, are like the Battles in a War, like Fort Sumter, Atlanta, Gettysburg… or Dunkirk, Normandy, and Berlin, but here between Egypt’s God The King of Egypt and God Almighty (who loved Egypt’s Slaves, heard their prayers and set them free). Is that not the definition of forgiveness? To have been enslaved to the past. Locked in a reality that you cannot escape. So trapped, as to be enslaved in debt, unable to envision a different future is even possible. Yet God hears and cares... Our debt, our past history, is Cancelled! The Permanent Record you have had since Grade School is Forgiven. We start life anew Resurrected. This is not condoning what happened. Not forgetting it occurred. While it takes two to fight, and three to reconcile, it really takes only one to forgive, because as the ones caught in the past we cannot escape, until we forgive. This is not letting go, it is the most intentional of actions, recognizing there is nothing worth arguing over in the past, choosing to live for a different future. I do not think I can elaborate or improve upon Jesus’ parable. The persons and amounts of debt here are extravagant, representing a lifetime of debt from having embezzled, being forgiven by the King. Instead, I share two true stories about the atrocities of the Nazis treatment of others. The first from the book Sunflower describes, Samuel Weisenthal was a survivor of the Concentration Camps. Weisenthal was imprisoned for being born Jewish. One day, he was put in hand-cuffs and shackles, made to walk under guard to the hospital, where an SS Officer lay dying. The Soldier lay in a clean bed with starched white sheets, propped up by pillows, sunlight, his arms folded across his chest, as he reported that he could not die in peace until he had confessed something… to a Jew, any Jew. The Dying Soldier described he had been in a Russian Village, where he herded all the Jews into a building filled with cans of gasoline and locked the doors. 200 people inside this house. Then the Nazis threw grenades through the windows. When the Jews tried to escape, he shot them. These were Russian Jewish Peasants and he was an SS Officer of the Reich, but it bothered him, so he wanted forgiveness from a Jew. Weisenthal described the painful silence in the room, as he stood in rags and chains, exterminated to a living corpse, while this dying Officer was propped up, indignant. At last, Weisenthal decided to leave the room without saying a word. He described that for the rest of his life, he wondered what he should have done. Weisenthal carried “this not-forgiving” with him the rest of his life, choosing not to forgive is choosing to give power to our darkest memory. Weisenthal’s story leaves us with the question: “What would you do?” Herman Engel had been a notorious Nazi General during WWII, who was arrested and tried at Nuremberg. Instead of being executed, Engel was sentenced to a Maximum Security Prison for 30 years. When Engel served the 30 years, he was released. He and his wife resolved to live out their days incognito, in a cabin in the woods. But among those who had been killed by General Engel had been a family named Morrieaux. Their son grew up to be a Journalist, who had been outraged Engel was not put to death, nursing his anger and hurt, replaying it over and over for 30 years. When Engel was released, Morrieaux went to the Village nearest the woods and heated up a mob with the righteous vengeance of killing Engel that night. But Morrieaux decided before Engel died he wanted to look Engel in the eye and tell him what was going to happen and why. So Morrieaux went to the Cabin. Instead of the monster he expected, Morrieaux found a very tired shell of a very old man, who had been so changed by his imprisonment he was not the same. Morrieaux, himself was so affected by this change in Engel, he offered to help Engel escape before the mob came. But Engel responded he would only go with Morrieaux, if Morrieaux will forgive him. According to the play The Black Angel, Morrieaux left Engel inside the cabin. Morrieaux was willing to help Engel escape the mob Morieaux created, but Morrieaux was not willing to forgive. Forgiveness is not for the sake of the one forgiven, but for the forgiver. Each of our lives, our relationships actually do matter. We are instruments of God. What really matters is what we Bind on earth, is bound in Heaven, what we forgive, is Forgiven, Resurrected for ever. As your pastor, I know you folks are perfect, but I also truly confess that I have been forgiven a great deal over the course of my life, blessed with more than I can name. Having been forgiven so much by God, I cannot burden God with the stuff I remember others have done to me.

"Rallying Our Faith" September 10, 2017

Exodus 12:1-14 Matthew 18:15-20 This morning is about trying to do the impossible! To quote our Calvinist ancestors, “Christian Faith is Pre-Destined from God”, so sinners are going to go on hurting themselves and everyone else, until God opens the hearts of individuals, absorbing God’s Grace, and we choose to forgive. Origins of Rally Day come from early 1700s after the Mayflower and before the Revolutionary War, when Protestant Revivals were held, described as “The Great Awakening”, followed from 1800-1870 with the Second Great Awakening, that left this area of the Northeast as The Burned Over District. These Religious Revivals sought to challenge the convictions and commitments of believers to deeper faith, to experience beyond understanding. After 300 years of Cultural Expansion, Theology, Science, Church History, Progress, all that has happened in our world, the task of a preacher today to ratchet our faith to a higher plateau, to deepen our relationship from “pseudo-community” who happen to pray at the same time, in the same pew, and listen to the same sermon, into one body: the Body of Jesus Christ, often seems impossible… But far more, this September, when we join in a “Rally together”, we cannot avoid memory of the many Protest Rallies and Protesting Protest Rallies that have given strength to so much hate, The New Covenant of Jesus Christ: that we would Love one another, Forgive one another, …is trying to do the impossible. Try to imagine how impossible the task before Moses! At any given worship service, we are thankful to have 100-120. Even Christmas and Easter, combining attendance at all our gatherings, there are always people missing. The Hebrew people living in slavery under The King of Egypt, were 40,000 souls. This morning, just as in the Book of Exodus, we are at the 10th Day of the Month. We start a new Program year, a new School year, Rally Day, Let us consider the past to be passed, and this the first day of the rest of our lives! Realize you were spared the end of the world, we, all our extended families and businesses have been saved from the flooding of Hurricane Harvey, Irma, Jose that is to come, and Kim Jon Un creating a Nuclear Missile for the United States. What if these were not by fate, but by God’s protection, what do you give for having been saved? Today, this day, each family, be that: an individual, a couple, or three and four generations, are required to commit to making an Offering to God in Thanksgiving for your life, the life of your beloved, the lives of your children, grandchildren, your neighbors, and all in your household. However, everyone must provide the same Offering, because this is not about personal salvation. God has saved us all! And by an offering, we are not talking about that 25 yr old jar of Sauerkraut at the back of your pantry. This is to be the best each of us could do, an unblemished perfect 1 year old lamb, that you are to take home, take into your home as part of your family, one with you, sleeping beside your children, eating from your hand, for the next four days. THIS Thursday night, after Choir practice, we are to gather together for the sacrifice, and with the blood of the sacrificial lamb still on our hands, we are to touch the doorposts of our home. Then, everyone is to roast the lamb with the same herbs, no boiling, no refusals. Everyone is to eat it the same way, together. With shoes on, prepared to run, ready for a long journey. Worship led by Moses was not about our understanding. It did not matter if you liked the hymns or anthem. It does not matter if you do not like lamb, the cost of lamb, or if you have a favorite recipe for mint jelly from your grandmother. Faith is experiential, driven by the purpose of Rally, Reviving our Relationship to God, affirming the Faith Reality that your life matters to God, you were saved by God! Imagine the impossible task before Jesus! How do you convince people to forgive? Especially when asking them to forgive their own brothers and sisters. Of all the people in God’s Creation, Church people, like you and I are the worst sinners, because we are people who concern ourselves with The Law, with Rules. During the 1700 and 1800s Great Awakenings in Massachusetts and New York, people responded to Jonathan Edwards condemnation of Sinners and Call to Faith, because they all knew themselves to be sinners in need of forgiveness. Today, we have been taught for at least two generations: I am Okay, you are Okay. That our parents and earlier generations did without so that we could have what we have, so we have indulged ourselves and our children. Instead of trying to acclimate to be part of the community, to repent and change to be part of the One Body, to get-along, we have excluded those who disagree with us, seeking out only a group of like-minded thinkers. I love the earliest identity of this congregation as the Religious Society, who acted as the Courts concerned that everyone forgive each other. Because the presence of Sin, a lack of forgiveness, has a way of festering like a wound, and becoming contagious. In those years, life was fragile. Today, between politics and global climate change we have a thousand other things to blame our problems upon, we have even named them Harvey, Irma, Jose, Kim Jon Un. What Jesus was teaching was not another Law or Rule, but a Relationship. Our lives are dependent upon our neighbor. Communion is not simply something I consume, Communion was/is a vulnerability to share ourselves wholly with God and everyone. Sin therefore is an infection that can and does harm us. Travelling with a group of Medical Students to the Hospital we built, we saw that Tuberculosis begins by a person getting a cut from a sharp reed, branch or blade of grass, not only becoming an infection, but now becoming contagious from the blood and breath of that person. I believe the problem with this passage for most of us, is that we confuse forgiveness with vengeance and atonement. I will forgive only if and when he says he is sorry, she pays for what she did. What we want is for those who have wronged us to suffer, to pay a debt for what we want to believe was taken from us. Forgiveness is realization that the wound to our relationship hurts me, wounds me so deeply that I become mortally ill until forgive. So I forgive, not because they atoned, not because I got what I wanted, but because relationship with one another, my wholeness with the body of the community is worth more to me than what I believed was taken. Someone taught me an old Medieval saying: The Church is like Noah’s Ark, a thing of Grace. The stench inside is often over-powering, but outside the world is being washed away in sin. Several years ago I recognized a problem in our church, this congregation. There were folks who came for worship Sunday mornings and left, receiving without participating in anything. When asked about membership they sheepishly replied, but if we join the church, you will ask us to do stuff. I responded “There is a simple solution: You do not have to be a member to serve, to be on Committees, to sing in the Choir, to teach our curriculum: everyone is welcome.” Is something going to be asked of you, if you serve on a committee, Yes, that you participate, that you think about your offering and your sacrifice, and your faith. Will students ask you questions, you may not be prepared to answer, Hopefully, they will make each of us think! What you receive by becoming a member is authority to participate in decision-making, the opportunity to truly make an offering as a sacrifice of this Body of Jesus Christ.

"Where DO You Stand?" September 3, 2017

Exodus 3: 1-15 Matthew 16:21-28 Throughout the last decade Professor Niebuhr member of this community of faith, and good friend, has on this Sunday at the end of summer entreated us to pray for the Parents, Students, Faculty beginning the journey of discovery and self-sacrifice. Late this summer, I heard parents and grandparents of 2, 3 and 4 year olds, describe awareness of their child turning their head to take in and to absorb, trying to learn, to make sense and master their world. There are basic lessons of algebra, geometry, geography, economics, literature, chemistry and biology, we each must learn in order to compete professionally, and to play Jeopardy at 7:30 each evening. But what occurs to me this morning, is that while we assume universal public education, where intellectually we build upon what we know, we memorize and practice in order to repeat and perfect and understand; …that we are Called by God, Called thru Jesus Christ, stepping into what we do not know, to step out of our comfort-zones, to make new applications, to venture where no one has ever gone before, because that is where we make a difference in the world, where problems are confronted/solved. Nostalgically, it seems our ancestors mastered trades. Working as an apprentice they learned plumbing, in order to earn a living fixing any problem of water, waste or gas. Working as a Carpenter, they learned how to choose boards as straight, grains which were tight, to miter and to dove-tail joints. A Banker was a Banker, a Lawyer a Lawyer, a Salesman a Salesman. But the reality is that throughout the world, prior to WWII, every person did what they had to do to survive, life was not so specialized, or disposable. In eulogies, what many most admire about their parents and grandparents is that they could do anything, no circumstance was ever insurmountable! This summer, as a theologian and doctor of ministry on vacation, I found exceeding joy working with my spouse, not only in the carpentry of cutting and nailing oak floors for our home, but also converting a double sink to a single, connecting the dishwasher through the disposal, and finishing before family arrived. We recall from Charleston Heston’s Moses in the 10 Commandments and Sunday School, Moses led the people for 40 years from Egypt to Israel. However, the story of Exodus is not so simple. If it were, there would be no mystery, no struggle, no God, nor need for God. Moses would simply have followed his GPS. But in addition to people (we claim to be ancestors of our relationship with God) going from Egypt to Israel, The Book of Exodus is about an enslaved people, whom God heard in their suffering, learning to trust and act in faith, in relationship to God. Representative of this people of God, Moses is a Foreigner in an alien world. Preparatory to this story, remember a few weeks ago, that Jacob (Abraham’s grandson) wrestled 20 years with his parents and brother Esau, then 20 years competing with Laban, before returning to wrestle with God. Jacob survived, although his hip was put out of joint, he could not receive a name for the one he wrestled with, but Jacob was given a new identity as Israel, who wrestles with God and everyone else. Whether literally double, or figuratively for two full generations, the Chapters of Moses’ life are recorded in 40 year allotments. Last week we read of Moses, a baby of Israel in a time of infanticide-genocide, drawn out of the waters to live the next 40 years in Pharaoh’s family. One Hebrew under the care of Pharaoh while Egypt was killing all Hebrew babies, in a time of slavery. Something in Moses recognizes injustice, that when he witnesses an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses kills the Egyptian. When Moses learns others know who he is, a Hebrew in Pharaoh’s protection, who killed an Egyptian, he flees to the Wilderness. For 40 years Moses lives in the household of Jethro, a Priest of Midian, taking Jethro’s daughter as wife, and caring for Jethro’s flocks as a Shepherd. There are circumstances uncommon to us, which elsewhere happen routinely. This week in Texas’ flooding, chemicals no longer refrigerated suddenly exploded. Years ago, I had travelled through the Maquiladoras in Mexico’s border communities, when suddenly the ground beside the roadway exploded in fire from chemicals dumped on the roadside. In the wilderness, in extreme heat, it is not un-natural for bushes to spontaneously ignite. What is of importance here, is Moses pays attention, he leaves his flock to go witness why the Bush is on fire but not burned up, never consumed or exhausted? A voice Calls him by name! … Moses, Moses! Mario! Dave! Ginny! Donna! This is not an exchange with a submissive, humble shepherd, saying “Who am I?” Moses is a wily conniving murderer, who thinks he got away with it, hiding out from the world, hiding from God. The instruction to remove his shoes has many dimensions: Wearing shoes meant you were prepared to run, this comes up with eating the Passover with your sandals tied, girded, staff in hand; Jesus sending out disciples without extra sandals, to stay. Sandals are a barrier between you and the place, so you did not leave footprints, or take on the cuts or dirt of the place…but with God, there can be no barriers between. Historically shoes have been recognized as from different places, Italian Loafers, French Stilettos, California Earthshoes…the earth, all earth is holy, belonging to God. Even more, according to Genesis, humanity was formed by God from out of the dirt, this is our essence, you are not taken out of the waters of chaos, you are taken out of the dust God separated from chaos when Light, Order, Time and Space were Called. But the response of Moses, is not THANK YOU LORD, but instead “Whom do I say?” Just as with Jacob wrestling, He wants to have a name for God so that he can have God on a leash to call upon whenever he desires something. Instead, God replies I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE, when pressed: The Name God gives is not a noun, but the verb “To Be” recognizing that everything that exists or ever will be is because of God and God adds “Tell them, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has sent me to you.” Subtly, the Call of Moses, becomes his being Sent. So what Moses thought he could step aside to know, to understand and own, has instead required he take off his shoes and be known, instead of being an alien, an unknown in no-man’s land, Moses is sent as a representative of God, on behalf of the people of God, to confront Pharaoh. The curiosity of Christian faith is that caring for others, compassion, changes where you stand, changes what you represent and stand for. Peter made the greatest affirmation of faith ever stated: “You are the Son of God!” but having done so, having named Jesus as the Christ, Peter cannot control Jesus. The name Jesus, comes from Joshua, meaning “Savior sent from God” and Christ comes from Messiah, meaning “Anointed of God”, again descriptions of belonging to God, not identities to be used when we want to call our genie. Jesus identifying “Whomever would follow me needs to take up their cross” is not about personal burdens of my family members illness, or problems, the cross we have to bear, is about self-desires being sacrificed for God’s will. Many of you will recall Steve Thomas who was the Interim Pastor here before me, and we became close friends. When Steve arrived, Session members looked to him stating we need to do a Building Campaign, and he responded saying I am an Interim Pastor, we do not do building campaigns, I do not know how to do building campaigns. But this was one of the needs of the church at the time, and he learned. After serving here for ten years, Preaching and Praying, going on Mission Trips, teaching Bible Study and leading Building Campaigns, the refugees we sponsored asked “who will go for us”, and I stepped out of my comfort zone, as have many of you in creating this mission. The part that has often been misconstrued and misunderstood about Mission. By “Being Sent by God”, while there were accomplishments for that other people of God, we each grew in our faith and understanding, we stood in a different place, representing something more than ourselves, representing God to the world.

Exodus 1: 6 – 2:10 Matthew 16: 13-20 In the 21st Century we have been taught to listen for sound bytes. The Bible is different, has such an economy of words, We each need to think for yourself. Ancient listeners would have been following along in Genesis. Recalling the words of Laban, when Jacob had lived with Rachel and Leah’s family for 20 years, the host recognizes “How blessed they have been by having Israel in their company.” In that time and for generations to come, Israel was treated as GuestWorkers, a favored people. Then the readers come upon description that: Joseph and all of that generation died; but their descendants were fruitful and multiplied, growing exceedingly strong, from which the reader would think for themselves, and they would reason 400 years passed from the end of Genesis to the beginning of this Second Book of Torah. AND they would recognize foreboding “a New King arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph”. Maybe after 400 years the new Pharaoh (who is un-named because he is remembered only for what he did, not his relationship to God) no longer believed the truth of history. Maybe he chose to forget. But with SHREWD EYES he looked on people, not seeing a blessing, but seeing them with fear in his heart. There is a pun here, shifting from the adverb “shrewd” to the noun… for what is a Shrew? It is a vicious little vermin. The Bible describes this King as being a FOOL. For in contrast to the Pharaoh, the powerful King of Egypt, The Most Powerful, there are a number of powerless individuals, women, each whose names are remembered. The Pharaoh starts by issuing Executive Orders that the people of God are now his slaves. Then he instructs the Midwives to kill the Hebrew baby boys at birth. Literally he follows his Policy of Social Control SLAVERY with Population Control. Remember also, that where Egypt’s Pharaoh ordered the death of all the male Hebrew babies, with the 10th Plague all the firstborn of Egypt die. However, the Midwives named Shiphrah and Puah feared God more than they feared the King. Ironically, there were only 2 Midwives for the thousands of women, Egyptian & Israelite, in Egypt! So Shiphrah and Puah play upon the Pharaoh’s racial stereotypes, citing that these slaves are such “hardworkers”, they are not like Egyptians, the women deliver before the Midwives ever even arrive. So the Pharaoh goes to the people, telling all the Egyptians and Israelites to throw the male baby boys into the river to drown. FIRST, Who are going to be the slaves to build the Pyramids, if all the boys are killed? SECOND, the Nile River was considered the Source of ALL Life; so how could the baby boys be killed in the source of life? The story shifts, instead of focusing upon Pharaoh, to focus upon the Hebrew people, dealing with how to live with his Shrewd Laws. A Man and a Woman, just like at the beginning of Genesis testing the Law, they are of the Tribe of Levi, from whom are descended the Priests of God. And the woman of the couple gives birth to a baby. Here the RSV translates that “When she saw he was a goodly child”, actually in Hebrew, she says exactly the words God said in Genesis at the Creation of each element of Life: And the Creator said “It is Good” and it was so. Bells should be going off for us, the Bible is quoting from God’s act of Creation! “And the Woman and Man hid themselves” and she hid the child for three months. How long? a good Biblical number: three. When she could hide him no more, she follows but undercuts the Law, because she made for him an Ark, reeds mortared together with pitch and bitumen to be watertight. Again, the Bible reminds us of Genesis and God instructing Noah how to preserve his family against the chaos of the Flood. In a foreshadowing of Baptism, she symbolically buried the mortality of the son that was hers, by placing him into the waters, for him to drawn out with a new name and new identity for God’s purpose. The name that he is given is literally “Drawn out of the waters of death” in Hebrew Moshe, Mossy, we know him as Moses. But we skipped an essential part, the part of the young girls, not yet Women. As we have watched daughters over the years, it has appeared there are two basic types. Some daughters are Princesses (Cinderella/Ariel/Frozen’s Elsa), and some daughters are spies (Harriet the Spy/Nancy Drew/Wonder Woman incognito as Diana Prince.) In this story, the Princess does what princesses do, she comes to the river to take a bath, trying to have privacy from everyone following her, she just wants to soak and be perfumed, perhaps to have a baby doll that she can mother without having given birth. Miriam, the elder sister to the Baby, witnesses, watches in the reeds waiting, spying, observing. Except, neither of these girls does what was expected, they think for themselves. For the Princess it would have been easy to ignore a Hebrew Baby. Knowing her Father’s Orders, she could have tipped the basket, or pushed it downstream, but instead she drew the baby out and saw that he was Good. The Witness could have remained hidden, secret, but instead she stepped out and offered to the Princess, shall I get a wetnurse to feed and care for the baby for you? Such simple connections, that changed the course of history. Shiphrah and Puah could have killed the baby boys; the Levite Couple could have ended their son’s life; Princess could have ignored the baby or followed her father’s rules; Miriam could have stayed silent… but by a simple act each provided for this Savior to enter into the time he was needed. Andy Andrews in the book The Butterfly Effect describes that none of us know the impact of our thinking, of our simple acts. He describes Moses and Susan Carver were Unionist Land-owners in Missouri, who adopted a slave’s orphaned baby they named George Washington Carver. George Washington Carver as the adopted son of a Farmer became a Botanist, the creator of Peanuts, who often took a young boy Henry Wallace for long walks through his gardens. Henry Wallace was a one-term Vice President, who in New Mexico created a position for a scientist to cultivate seeds for dry arid climates and hired as that scientist Norman Borlaug. Borlaug developed a high-yield disease resistant corn and wheat, credited with saving over 2,000,000 people from famine. None of which would have happened without each simple connection, each person thinking for themselves, in faith. Preachers often dwell on Peter’s making the leap of faith that Jesus, the Carpenter’s Son, the Nazarene, the Rabbi, was the Son of God. But I think there is a more basic and important point here. Up until this point in the Gospel, Jesus of Nazareth has been an itinerant Rabbi and Miracle Worker. He has Called his disciples, healed the sick, fed the hungry, and taught in Parables. Much of what we remember as the Man, Jesus. Jesus here asks his disciples the same question that has been asked over and over again throughout the Gospel: “What are you searching for?” “Where is God?” “Do you believe God will send a Messiah, a Savior, and who is that?” “Who do the people say is the representative of humanity, the Son of Man?” Jesus’ disciples quote all the parts of the Bible: Elijah, Jeremiah, the Prophets, the popular answer of the day being John the Baptist. Then Jesus asked the question all of us ask about ourselves, “Who do people say I am?” I am my parents child, my wife’s husband, my children’s father, your pastor, and wear a number of volunteer hats. But for Simon Peter this somehow jarred loose the challenge, “You are the Christ, the Messiah of the Living God!” and this takes Jesus into “what it will mean to live out and die for this identity.” Rather than going along with the assumptions about our lives, to think for yourself and claim what you want your next life from here forward, your legacy to be. Reynolds Price discovered he had a cancerous growth on his spine in 1984. He went through surgery and radiation, afterward wrote the book As Whole New Life, because quite literally he could never return to whom he had been. His mate, his children, his friends all wanted him to go back to what he had done, to continue where life had left off because that was what they knew, where they were safe. Price said, “The most kind thing anyone could have said five weeks after radiation, would have been to look me in the eye and pronounce “Reynolds Price is dead. As one who today lives beyond death, who do you want to be? Live Resurrected, Live, whoever you will be!” At the end of a marriage, at the end of a career, when a dream dies, when hope is broken, literally the old self is dead. Price described “If I were honest, the years between 1933 and 1984 were comfortable and good, but despite an enjoyable 50 year head-start, my life since the catastrophe have been better.” Think for yourself: who do you want people to say you are?

"A Lifetime of Reconciliation" August 20, 2017

Genesis 45: 1-15 Matthew 15: 1-28 20 years ago, after being in ministry for a dozen years, I was mentoring a Seminary student in preaching, writing sermons, when it occurred to me that every sermon I preached and believe I would ever preach, is about “rebuilding trust”. That seems so simple, but all of us, all humanity in all places in every time throughout the history of the world, have had relationships with our parents, siblings, loved ones, co-workers, superiors, our children, neighbors, and God: broken with anger & hurt. This, is the most basic reason for our Sacraments; that in BAPTISM you would know, every single one of us hear and are made to remember: “You are loved! Almighty God claims you saying Well Done!” In COMMUNION, that Jesus gave a new LAW to love one another, offering his life for our brokenness, to reconcile us, and to God. But as simple as that realization, Reconciliation does not happen instantly. To truly reconcile, to forgive and rebuild trust, especially when shamed, insulted, violated for generations, is something that requires a lifetime to heal. When we do not talk about differences, when we do not and cannot listen to one another, when all we can do is protest and counter-protest and riot, our brokenness festers like infected wounds, like a cancer multiplying exponentially until there is nothing healthy left in us, we are defiled by what has come from our hearts out our mouths. Last time, as this summer we have been reading the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we left off with Jacob returning to reconcile with God and with his brother Esau, In the intervening of last week, another generation has gone by. Jacob’s beloved Rachel died, and their firstborn, Joseph, did not play well in the sandbox with his brothers, so his brothers roughed him up, stripped him naked, taking away Joseph’s most prideful possessions, and threw him down an abandoned well. I have always identified with Joseph, because I had elder brothers and the only time they let me play was to suspend me upside down, then drop me through the hayloft, when they built tire-swings to be test-pilot to see if the rope would break. Joseph’s brothers then sold him into slavery, telling their father there was no point searching for him because he had been killed by a beast and could not come home; while, by his slavers, Joseph was wrongly accused and sentenced to the dungeons to live out his days. Through an Act of God, Joseph is not only released from prison, but elevated to be the most powerful and influential ruler of Egypt, under Pharaoh. When a famine, similar to what has been happening in Northeast Africa today, afflicted the land, and all nations of people came as refugees to Egypt seeking aid. Given all Joseph has endured because of his brothers’ hatred, given all the power Joseph now possesses, how do we expect Joseph to respond to his brothers? Yet he forgives. As Post-Modern Deconstruction Historians we reinterpret Joseph sold his family into slavery to Egypt, Slavery that will lead to Moses and Israel’s Exodus. But Joseph provided for his family, he kept them alive, Joseph gave his brothers food and water, gave those whom he had justification to hate: land in Goshen. For Joseph it was not simply “forgive and forget”, the most-powerful man in the world, was heard weeping, and throughout his life Joseph provided for them, claiming “God used what you planned for evil, in order to provide you blessing.” Instead of your preacher cherry-picking which passages to preach which week, I have followed the Catholic Lectionary of the Vatican rotating passages over a three year cycle. The intrigue of this is that we and those who worship at St. Mary’s and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church can talk together, sharing insights, because in all honesty, none of us have all the answers. But this week, of all possible selections, we were given by the Lectionary this passage from Matthew. Most often what has caught my attention has been Jesus exchange with this woman. First, she is Canaanite, identifying that this is a passage about RACE. Quite literally, Jesus refers to her as less than human, as a mongrel beast. Second, she is a Woman, which in the Ancient World meant that by virtue of her gender she was not equal, without rights, without being counted among the population, without freedoms we take for granted. Third, she came in need, begging for help for one: NOT A SON OF ISRAEL. To discuss Racism is not a matter of being Politically Correct. Our lack of honesty about our feelings, Refusing acknowledgement of Race, has permitted atrocities to occur throughout human history. Religious Scholars have debated why the Bible demonstrates Jesus said what he did here, whether the Messiah could be wrong and corrected. I believe, the issue of RACE is so important, that this conversation is recorded, to call attention especially in the Church that horrible wrongs have been committed and need to be discussed. Of all the things that “have come out of people speaking this last seven days,” what has excited me, has been the words of the descendants of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis. Each of whom have emphatically stated their belief that their family’s Confederate Statues should no longer be displayed in Civic Parks, but should be moved to Museums, BECAUSE to many people Human Slavery was/is shaming as INHUMAN DOGS; BECAUSE in Museums there could be explanation and education about the Patriotism of these National Leaders; BUT ALSO, BECAUSE instead of riots, instead of protests, our Nation might finally sit down and talk about Race and Traditions, about Implicit Prejudices we have never admitted we owned. As much as we as a Nation take pride in being a Great Melting Pot of Diversity, in all being Created Equal, the TRADITION we are most embarrassed about, the Sin we never speak of : is Racism. Nothing will ever be done, no healing can ever take place, if we do not talk together, listen to those who differ from us, and consider the cost of forgiveness, consider our willingness for reconciliation and our desires not to do so. In his Second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln stated: “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away. Yet IF GOD WILLS this war continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred fifty years of unrequited toil be sunk, until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another’s drawn with the sword,… then as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”

"A Lonely Place Apart" August 6, 2017

Genesis 32:22-31 Matthew 14: 13-21 There is a routine to life. Sunset, sunrise, sunset, sunrise, Sunday comes once each week, which helps us maintain our balance and routine, order and schedule. Different from childhood, as an adult on vacation, I find I covet every day. But there come points in life, a birthday or anniversary, survival of trauma, loss and crisis that we find ourselves in a lonely place, apart. Not depression but self-examination. The Gospel of Matthew has a great deal more texture and emotion than Mark had. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus was Baptized, lived in the wilderness, ministered to by angels; when John the Baptist was killed, Jesus came out of the wilderness preaching “Repentance” carrying on the ministry of John. Matthew is different. According to Matthew, John was arrested and put in prison by Herod for preaching. John criticized Herod for having murdered Herod’s own brother in order to take the brother’s wife “Herodias” as his lover. Then Herod had a Great Banquet, a bacchanalia replete with excessive drinking, half-naked dancing girls, one of whom was Herodias’ own daughter, Herod’s niece: Salome, who so excited the Tetrarch that he offered her ANYTHING she desired, even half his kingdom, which as a puppet of Rome, with the reality of God, really was not his at all. At her mother’s request, Salome asked for John’s Head on a Platter. Some deaths hit us harder than others. My brother and I felt, when we reached the age our birth-mother had been when she had died, it was a very hard year. John being Jesus cousin, the mentor who had baptized Jesus; when he was executed as entertainment at a Banquet, Jesus sought to be alone… but the crowds followed. While all four Gospels tell the story of Jesus, with their own parables and teachings and miracles, even different naming of disciples, what they have in common is: Jesus’ Baptism, Feeding the 5000, Jesus’ Communion, and his death upon the Cross with Easter morning. I believe a shift happens here, for Jesus. In the 13 Chapters prior, Jesus has Called disciples and taught and sent them out to do great things. After this, Jesus will experience the Transfiguration, then go to Jerusalem, but in this moment, in this lonely place apart a miracle happens. There is a wonderful contrast in Banquets, between Herod’s Bacchanalia of excess, and Jesus’ Serving the 5000 men plus women and children. One is demonstration of satisfaction of our lusts even for death, the other is about serving others, care and compassion for others. The Miracle here is not that the Messiah used 3 loaves and 5 fish to feed 5000 people. This week, the Wednesday Bible Study glimpsed the Gospel of Thomas, with the Fabled Miracle that the boy Jesus helping his father the Carpenter, stretched a 2x4 to become as long as the other. If anything, instead of a multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, this is an example of “Division” because Jesus breaks the bread and gives it to them and they were balanced and satisfied. Over the centuries, preachers have come up with all kinds of explanations, many like Stone Soup where the listeners already had food hidden and were motivated to share. INSTEAD, the first MYSTERY of this, I Believe, is there is something glorious in the Breaking of the Bread… this is foreshadowing Communion and receiving and serving others, you are satisfied. I visited a man in the psychiatric ward several weeks ago, who was exceedingly agitated, the nurses said no medication they were giving him allowed him to quiet down and rest. But when we took bread, naming this as all the sins and brokenness of all the relationships of our lives and broke it, receiving, then took the cup as forgiveness and assurance of God’s grace; suddenly the man was calm. The Second Mystery here, is that in the Greek and Roman cultures, they believed that “The Gods” were either totally removed from human concerns and this world, or were vengeful and vindictive causing pain to people through flood, war, disease. YET here, the Son of God, our Messiah, has compassion on the crowd, he cares about their needs and does something about this. Related to this, he sends out his disciples to feed the people with this gift of grace and not only were they satisfied, they had an abundance of 12 baskets full left over. Which is the THIRD Mystery, that faith is not about knowledge, or understanding, myth or beliefs… FAITH is multiplied in acts of mission and compassion. As a church we functioned and did churchy stuff, even rebuilt the church in this community; but when we volunteered our time and resources in Mission trips serving others, when we began serving and sharing dinner at the Manor, when we developed relationships with the South Sudanese, it changed us. Mission has less to do with the good we do for others, than the fact, that doing mission changes us, changes the church and changes our faith. I love this story of Jacob. Because after 20 years of growing up in competition with his twin brother, growing up in competition for his parents’ love, where he literally was a HEEL, a USURPER trying to get ahead of those in his own intimate family by stealing their blessings; he has spent the next 20 years competing with Laban, tricking one another for who will win, how much they can get out of one another, teaching his wives to compete using everything at their disposal, their own good looks, their fertility, the fertility of their maids as concubines for Jacob, fertility drugs and myths; Jacob seems to have one last game to play. He is right back where he had had the dream of the Stairway to Heaven, and he learns that Brother Esau whom he always tricked is on his way with 400 men. Jacob divides up everything he possesses, sending half with one wife, and half with the other, even dividing these up into groups, so that if one is taken or destroyed, his legacy will live one. When after sending everyone ahead, Jacob is set apart in a lonely place. There is a subtlety, that in faith, to be “HOLY” literally means to be “Set Apart” so whether he intended this or not, Jacob is in a Holy Place, a Lonely place, Set Apart. Suddenly, in the dark of night he is jumped by a stranger, and they wrestle all through the night, competing to kill one another, competing for survival. Up until this moment, all the competitions of Jacob’s 40 years of life have been competitions to get ahead, but not competitions to live or die. So, like a great Mystery: we need to wonder, who is this attacker, the stranger, the Other? Is this God? Did Laban follow and attack him? Is the competitor: Jacob’s twin brother Esau? Could this be one of his wives, or concubines, or the eldest of his children? Everyone had MOTIVE to want to kill him. Everyone had Opportunity, with no alibis given. So who done it? Personally, having wrestled with this passage, I believe Jacob is finally wrestling with himself. Wrestling with whether he will admit to himself, he has been a HEEL, he been a USURPER stealing the blessings from those he loves, whether he will admit to himself the brokenness in his life and his need for forgiveness. And he wins, he walks away, with a limp, changed no longer ever the same. Different from Abraham and Isaac who know God and have relationship with God all their lives, for Jacob this is a catharsis of faith. God has been with Jacob, watching over him all his life, but now Jacob knows himself and God and goes out into the world.

"Choosing Between" July 30, 2017

Genesis 29: 15-28 Matthew 13: 44-52 How quick we are to judge and choose between options, as being wrong, rather than recognizing how blessed we are that we live in a time and place that we have choices. In Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom, would you value farmland because it is fertile and healthy, or only if you find a treasure in it? As a Jeweler, would you disregard a string of pearls for One of Great Value? All M&Ms in a bag for One green one? Over the last several weeks, I have listened to Grandparents describe that their grandchildren were not being raised with the same boundaries, traditions and customs that they had raised their kids, instead of recognizing we have the joy of grandchildren, and share miraculous resources as normal! The story of Jacob’s marriages and family, describe the circumstance of a family, having their customs, their faith and traditions, their identities based on birth-order, passed on from generation to generation; which then are challenged by a stranger, who demonstrates other ideas that are not wrong they are just different, and we have the choice between and maybe to include both. We probably need to insert the disclaimer here that Television and Radio shows do: “This morning’s sermon will include matters that may not be suitable for children... “Beauty, Love, Marriage, Infertility, Fertility drugs, Genetics, S-E-X.” Before you ask, there is no theme running here, that this week is about SEX and last week about Drugs and Rock & Roll, we just preach what the Bible and Holy Spirit give us! Jacob walked across the desert. Arriving at a Watering hole he does the unthinkable: Jacob asks for directions! Only to discover he is already, where he wanted to be! According to Tradition, the Shepherds of several different flocks patiently wait until all others have arrived, to share together in opening the floodgates, so to water their sheep equally. Jacob asked if they knew his Uncle Laban, and they respond that “Yes, Laban is known, He is very prosperous, and by the way here is his daughter.” Wanting to get Rachel alone, Jacob suggests that all the others leave so as to have her to himself, when they refuse because they have not yet watered their sheep, Jacob picks up the boulder it took several shepherds to move, and he waters their sheep himself! Break all customs of patiently waiting, working together, sharing water equally, Jacob has other ideas. Then, in addition to knowing she was his “wealthy relative’s” daughter, Jacob literally is knocked down by how drop-dead gorgeous Rachel is. He kisses her hand and weeps over how beautiful she is. Laban hears there is a stranger asking about him, so comes to the watering hole to meet Jacob and invite him home for dinner. Over the meal and the next few days, Jacob tells their family story to Laban, all about his parents…Laban’s sister & Isaac the brother-in-law, but also the time Jacob got the better of his brother Esau for a pot of stew, and how he tricked his father into giving him what the father intended for Esau. Much like the family stories that are told among our own kin over vacation. At which Laban affirms: “You are bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” In my own family, my grandfather began a tradition, that when a couple is married, the night before the wedding, the father-in-law presents the bride with a pearl necklace. My Grandfather did so to my mother; my father gave my wife a pearl necklace; and as the minister in the family called upon to officiate weddings, not only do I have necklaces in case either of my sons ever marry, but I have given them to each of my nieces and cousins as I blessed their marriages. It is a family tradition. Laban responded to Jacob, “So if I give you a job, what wages do you desire?” Having not read President Trump’s The Art of The Deal, Jacob blurts out that he wants Rachel, and instead of negotiating a dowry of cattle, or working several years, he commits to seven years of hard labor to possess her. Laban agrees that trusting him is better than a stranger. There is this wonderful statement of love, that to Jacob 7 years passed as a few days! We are known for having Celebrations, especially Weddings, but Jacob’s Wedding lasted 7 days & nights, of feasting and drinking. However, the morning after the wedding night, Jacob discovers Laban tricked him, to consummate the marriage with Leah instead of her sister Rachel. Laban explains it is against their tradition and customs to marry a younger daughter before the first-born. There is an irony here, for Jacob who stole Esau’s right of first-born. At which Laban offers, that Jacob not give up, but finish out the week-long Wedding celebration, at the end of which he will be married to Rachel as well, if Jacob works another 7 years. Poor Rachel not only has to share her husband with sister, she does not get her own wedding! Now there is an odd translation here, because the same word in Hebrew could mean Weak or Beautiful. So either Leah, had Weak eyes, meaning she was near-sighted, squinted, her eyes were dull, had no sparkle, OR where her little sister was gorgeous …the only thing beautiful about Leah, was her eyes. Which again is ironic in a culture where women are veiled from head to foot, so the only thing visible was her eyes. While it is not our tradition to have more than one spouse at a time, the reality is that we marry: the strengths & weaknesses in one another, for better & worse. The difficulty in this story being that the two sisters compete for Jacob’s affections. When Leah does not have Jacob’s love, she consoles herself by bearing the children Rachel cannot. In rapid succession Leah gives birth to the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. HOWEVER, because she cannot conceive, Rachel is unsatisfied with Jacob’s love; and he reacts “Am I God, to grant you children or deny you?” Using the tradition of Jacob’s Grandma Sarah, Rachel produces the sons she desires: Dan and Naphtali, by Jacob through her slave Bilhah. Not to be outdone, Leah has Jacob impregnate her slave Zilpah, for children named Gad and Asher. Incorporating another family custom, the Superstition of Old Wives’ tales, there was a Fertility drug made from wild Mandrake Root. We probably know this better from the Harry Potter series, Mandrake roots bear a resemblance to a newborn baby, HOWEVER, Mandrake can produce the side-effects of :Total Paralysis, Psychotic Hallucinations, Death, Blurred Vision, Dilation of Pupils, Dry Mouth, Difficulty Urinating, Dizziness, Headache, Vomiting, Blushing, Rapid Heart Rate, Hyperactivity, Unconsciousness, Rheumatoid pains, Melancholy, Convulsions, Madness, and did we say Death! Really puts you in the Mood, does it not! And like several medications today, should not be handled by children. One day, Leah’s eldest son Reuben finds and pulls up several roots. Desperate for children, Rachel sells her sister a night in Jacob’s bed for Leah’s son’s mandrakes. No good turn goes unpunished, and Leah is suddenly able to get pregnant again, giving birth to Issachar, Zebulun, and a daughter Dinah. And finally a year after purchasing the mandrakes, Rachel becomes pregnant with Joseph. Having acquired 2 wives, 2 concubines, 11 sons and a daughter, Jacob wants to leave, to go home. But Father Laban says, “I have been blessed for having Jacob here; so tell you what, if you work for me another 6 years, for a total of 20, I will give you all the sheep and goats of my herd, that are born speckled or spotted, or anything but wholly black or white.” But, trying to fix the deal, that night Laban steals from the herd all the sheep that are in any way spotted, striped or marked, sending these off with his sons, leaving only all black or all white sheep and goats. A few years ago there were a series of books published about what you needed to do to have a female baby, versus a male, what foods to eat, what positions… Jacob believed that if while the sheep were breeding, they looked on stripes or spots, that is what would be born. So he whittled stripes and spots on sticks. Further tradition, is that he only put the striped and spotted sticks in front of the strongest and healthiest of sheep. So by the end of the 6th year, Jacob had the majority of the herd, and Laban’s were weak and sickly, while the sheep and goats of Jacob were strong. Realizing each has been tricked by the other, Laban and Jacob break all relationship with one another, cutting off each other, by establishing a Stone Altar, as a dividing line between them, with the vow “The Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from another.”