Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
1st Reading: Isaiah 44:6-8
2nd Reading: Romans 8:12-25
I can just hear the Disciples asking Jesus, “If God is good, why is there so much bad in this world?” It is a question asked in many ways throughout the generations. Sometimes it is asked like this, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
For the Romans, during Jesus’ time, the explanation came down to all the different gods they worshipped. From their perspective, different gods have different ideas of what is good and sometimes one wins and other times another one does. Some of the gods want what his good and others want what is evil. But we believe in God who created everything good, who is love and all goodness. We believe God is all powerful and all knowing, so when it comes down to the bad things in this world, sometimes we wonder if God allows suffering, or causes it.
Jesus didn’t answer the question right out, but instead he did one of his favorite things and told a parable. Maybe they were sitting right out there in a field while he was telling this story and could see the wheat growing up all around them, hear the wind blowing through it, see the weeds in the midst of it. Jesus told the story of a benevolent farmer who sewed what was good, wheat.
But there are forces of evil in this world. Chock it up to free will, or greed, or idols, or people worshipping their own power and working to increase it. Jesus doesn’t explain where this enemy came from who sewed the weeds where the wheat was sewn. An enemy can be anyone or anything that is against God’s intention. God wanted good things to grow that would be nourishing and life-giving. Sometimes we don’t want what God wants, what is good for people. Sometimes we don’t think they deserve it. Sometimes we won’t accept the good things that God is offering us, because we think we know better, or we don’t think we deserve it. Maybe it doesn’t matter where this enemy comes from. When I plant my garden, weeds grow, and I don’t have anyone to blame. When I am out there pulling weeds, I might curse some enemy, but it is going to be soil or the wind or the birds. Who would intentionally come and put weeds everywhere? That is the nature of weeds. They show up where they aren’t wanted, they get in the way, they take from the plants I am intentionally growing and have lovingly planted, and sometimes I pull them up and sometimes I let them grow. That is the nature of life. God created everything good, but we sure can get in the way sometimes and mess it all up. We can sometimes be the enemy blowing dandelion seeds all over God’s good field.
There is a lot of good wheat in this world, good plants that bring nourishment. There are good people. Good things happen all the time. We enjoy good health, we bear happy healthy children, our kids grow up without knowing hunger or homelessness, we celebrate Birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, we live very comfortable lives that are full of joy. It is good to remember that much that is good in life is from God.
And there are weeds in life. The troubles come and there are things that are really messed up about this world. There are illnesses and injuries, addictions, rebelliousness, misunderstandings, wars, famines, and so forth. But God isn’t throwing those things in there to trick us or test us. Those things are contrary to God’s intention for us. However, that doesn’t mean that God can’t use those things or work through them to bring about good.
The servants are rushing to pull out the weeds, but God stops them. I think we can equate this to our feeling sometimes that we can tell who or what is a weed and what is wheat and our temptation to rush to judgment. The master advises the servants to let everything grow up together, so that some of the wheat doesn’t get ripped out with the weeds.
It reminds me of a cousin of mine, Melinda. She had a rough time as a teenager and young adult. She was out drinking every night. She was rebellious, dropped out of school. She got pregnant from a one-night-stand. Everyone was thinking she was a weed, a lost-cause. But then, practically overnight, Melinda seemed to finally get it. I don’t know if it was her newfound responsibility as a mother, or what, but she suddenly focused. She decided what she wanted to do with her life, went back to school, married her baby’s father, and became a nurse. She developed into wheat, after all. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t make mistakes or have problems. She got a divorce, after all that, and like all of us makes mistakes every day. But she is a good mother, a productive member of society, using her skills to help people.
In the wheat fields, there is a weed that grows that looks very much like wheat. But if you let it grow into maturity, the wheat begins to lean and the weeds stand up tall, making them easier to tell apart. It isn’t always easy to tell which is which. I remember working on the line at National Frozen Foods as a teenager, looking at peas going past me on the conveyor belt. Sometimes there was nightshade in the peas, a dangerous weed whose fruit looks almost exactly like peas. I remember concentrating so hard to see which is which so that nightshade didn’t end up in someone’s supper. It isn’t easy for us to tell which is which.
And aren’t we all a combination of weeds and wheat? Are we sometimes the peas, and sometimes the nightshade, or are we more like a conveyor belt of peas and nightshade mixed? God made each of us good and very good, in God’s own image. We are amazing creatures with amazing abilities. We can do so much good in this world. We are capable of great compassion, great generosity, and even sacrifice to benefit other people. And boy have we got some weeds growing within each one of us. We have our own selfish desires. We mix up God’s will and our own. We are greedy. We act in fear. We make a lot of mistakes. Even when we try to do good, have good intentions, try to be generous and loving, it doesn’t always work that way.
Thankfully, it isn’t up to us. God is the first and the last, the one with the big picture view of what’s what. We are in the field. We can’t see what’s going on. Only God knows what is lasting and what will be thrown into the fire. The Good news for this morning is that although all fall short of the glory of God (we are weeds) God adopts us into God’s family and makes wheat out of us. God sent the only son to live as the only stalk of wheat in a field of weeds and to throw good seeds out there in our midst. God sees the best in us, cross pollinated, hybrids of wheat and weeds that we are, invites us into God’s family and causes us to bear good fruit. We have nothing to fear. God made us and loves us. I take some comfort in knowing that God will sort it all out, so I don’t have to and in the thought that all that is broken and greedy and fearful and miserable in me, will someday be destroyed and that something good will remain, that is the person God made me to be, shining with God’s love. I like thinking of all of you that way, too. God made us well and sees the best in us. That goodness from God is lasting.
The reading from Romans this morning depicts the creation as pregnant. Something is growing and forming that is amazing and beautiful. Abundant life is being organized and formed. Many of you know that pregnancy and labor is not always beautiful. There are definitely some difficult things about it and there is going to be pain. But pregnancy is a temporary situation. Pain does not mean we are being punished or that something bad is happening. It is a part of life and part of the process of bringing life into the world. God is bringing forth abundant new life.
The seed of abundant life has been sewn in the field by God and is ripening. The field is pregnant with new life. There are difficulties in this labor, fears about the uncertainty of what will be born and what the process will be like. But God promises something, the glory of which will overshadow the labor pains and fears and weeds and the suffering that has come before. Because this is God, the beginning and the end, we know it is going to be good. God created us good and God is taking us toward something good. God sewed us in love and harvests us in love.
When we are expecting something terrible, we live in fear and become paralyzed. But when we are hopeful, we prepare with joy. When we are hopeful we have a vision, a picture in our mind of what we are looking forward to. A farmer pictures the field full of beautiful ripe wheat. Parents picture themselves holding a healthy beautiful baby. We might picture people of different backgrounds worshiping God together. We might picture a world where the air is clean, where everyone has enough to eat, and everyone shares power in decision-making. Then hope kicks in and we find ourselves preparing for that glorious future that we can picture. We tend those fields, we make space for a new baby, we make our church easy to connect with. We share our food, give voice to each person, and tend and care for this earth. We hope for what we do not see with our physical eyes, but with the eyes of our hearts and we act with hope when we begin to transform our world into the vision that God has given us so that God’s love can be born and new life can flourish. So let us go forth in hope of what God is doing within us and through us and through this world.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
July 13, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9
1st Reading: Isaiah 55:10-13
2nd Reading: Romans 8:1-11
Parables are so much fun because they have so many possible meanings. I think that is one reason Jesus told them. They make us think. He could have come right out and said what he meant, but isn’t it easier to swallow if we think about what parts apply to us and to find the many possible meanings on our own or in discussion?
One of the main questions which probably comes to mind when we read this parable, is about who we might be in the story. First, we probably think of ourselves as the plants, themselves. In this case, the parables tell us why some people have a strong faith and others are flakes. Yet, what good does it do us to judge each other? “Oh, she’s just a seed that fell on the path. No wonder she didn’t stick around and follow Jesus as well as I did.” We’re not in that other person’s position and it isn’t for us to judge or know whether their seed is growing into a healthy plant with a high yield or drying up.
A second possibility is that we are the seed that God is throwing out, little pods of possibility with the total information needed to grow something new and full of life. If the good news that God has given us, falls in a good place to grow, then it will sprout and grow. If it doesn’t, then it might whither up. In this case the parable explains why the good we try to do sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t or the people we try to help sometimes are helped and given new life and sometimes nothing happens at all.
A third possibility is that we are the kinds of soil. Some of us are the path. We try to make ourselves smooth and easier to get along with, pointing in a particular direction, knowing where we’re going in life. But we don’t make a good place for seeds to grow. Some of us are the rocky soil, with lots of conflicts and hard places, unresolved grief, places within ourselves that we keep bumping up against that keep growth from happening. Or we’re the thorns, a person so full of anger that nothing can grow there. And a few of us are the good soil, where God’s love can take root and grow.
Is anything really that cut and dried, though? Some pastors and scholars have proposed that we’re all the soils. Sometimes we’re thorny and grouchy, other times we might be full of rocks and our faults so obvious to us, but we don’t have the strength to remove them. Other times we’re shallow and we want to develop a new skill or we think we’re getting it, and then we get completely sidelined by some setback or distraction that sends our faith withering. And once in a while, we have a moment in which something changes in us and the seed of God’s love is clearly growing and new life is taking root.
Still, what are we supposed to do about that? What soil can change its own composition, or yield more or less fruit? Maybe the point of this last part is to be aware that we aren’t going to get it every time and not to be so hard on ourselves when we fail. That isn’t the totality of who we are.
In fact, this parable probably isn’t really about us at all. Whatever kind of soil or seed or plant we are, God is still this ridiculous farmer, casting seeds absolutely everywhere, willy-nilly, persistent, generous, joyful, overflowing. God never runs out of seeds, which I would say represent love and flourishing life. God provides absolutely everything needed for growth—, ways for plants to combine their traits, ways for them to adapt and to spread, soil, water, light, insects, animals, wind, etc. Whatever mistakes we make, the growth that doesn’t happen, the blossom end rot that ruins our precious fruit, the hard surfaces we fall on, the rocks in our soil, God just keeps throwing that seed of love out there until it grows and has a high yield.
This is partly what Paul is talking about in Romans when he talks about walking according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. Sometimes we look at things according to the flesh and it just looks hopeless. There are so many barriers, so many things wrong with us and this world, so many forces of evil and greed working in this world. It just feels like death is the only possibility. Even 75% of the garden isn’t hospitable to God’s loving seeds and those seeds die and are devoured. What percentage of ourselves are open to God’s seed of love growing what percentage of the time? Most of the time we don’t get it. But we don’t live according to the flesh anymore. God doesn’t see us according to our failures, but as filled with God’s life-giving Spirit. So that what seemed only dead and hopeless is now full of life, growing into plants and even producing more seed and casting it willy-nilly about until it, too, takes root and spreads.
God’s love can grow in surprising places. We don’t have to look any further than the patio right out front. There is a path leading to the church, and there are horsetails growing there in the cracks. God’s love is so strong that even a path can’t keep it from growing. There is a rock in Montana, a huge boulder, that has a huge tree growing right out of it. If we were to sew seeds, a boulder would be the last place we would plant a tree, yet there it grows. Even a huge stone isn’t enough to keep God’s love from growing. Living in Oregon, we have an abundance of thorns, but that doesn’t mean they don’t bear good fruit. Oregon blackberries will soon be abundant and ripe on the vines. My arms and legs will be covered in scratches and my fingers will be purple, but it will all be worth it when we have blackberry pie and homemade blackberry ice cream and blackberries in our cereal every morning. Finally, those seeds that are eaten don’t go to waste, they feed the birds, and sometimes come out the other end in better shape to take root or make fertilizer for new plants. Those plants that whither and die early, become nutrients in the soil so that later that soil can be nourishing for a plant to grow there. God’s love grows strong and sure, and wherever it is cast it makes a difference. Knowing that God is willing to try again with us, to send that love and hope it takes root. This view of God doesn’t show God angry or sad about the seed not growing, it doesn’t show God punishing seeds that don’t grow. Instead this is a view of God, joyful and hopeful, casting out that seed every which way, knowing that some will grow and that love will flourish.
God has a vision of abundant life. Sometimes all we can see are the obstacles, the thorns, the birds, the sizzling desert sun. But where we see trouble, God sees possibilities. Where we see a brier, God sees a myrtle. Where we see a thorn God sees a cypress. God sees those possibilities in us. Now we get to train our eye to see the best in ourselves, too, and to see God working in our lives, when it just seems like a fruitless mess to us. God sees possibilities where we see impossibilities. We may think that to invest our time or money in some people or situations is a waste of time. We calculate the risk and we aren’t going there. God doesn’t see things like we do, at all. God just goes on happily casting seeds and letting them fall where they may, taking root where they may, and growing where they may. God isn’t taking it personally that some don’t grow. But when something does grow, God is celebrating it and taking joy in it. What it would be like if we adopted the kind of joy that God does, trying new things without fear, dancing through life, generous with the seeds of love and just pouring them all over everyone? When they don’t take root, who cares! Move on. We didn’t lose anything in the effort. And when they do take root and grow, what opportunity for celebration!
So let us go forth in the Spirit, without fear. Let us share our love freely, let it fall where it may. If it doesn’t take root, no biggie. If it does, let us celebrate, going forth in joy and being led back in peace until all people and trees and mountains and hills clap their hands and burst forth in a song of praise and flourishing life in honor of God, fulfilling God’s vision for what this world truly can be, a life-giving place for all God’s creatures.
1st Reading: Isaiah 55:10-13
2nd Reading: Romans 8:1-11
Parables are so much fun because they have so many possible meanings. I think that is one reason Jesus told them. They make us think. He could have come right out and said what he meant, but isn’t it easier to swallow if we think about what parts apply to us and to find the many possible meanings on our own or in discussion?
One of the main questions which probably comes to mind when we read this parable, is about who we might be in the story. First, we probably think of ourselves as the plants, themselves. In this case, the parables tell us why some people have a strong faith and others are flakes. Yet, what good does it do us to judge each other? “Oh, she’s just a seed that fell on the path. No wonder she didn’t stick around and follow Jesus as well as I did.” We’re not in that other person’s position and it isn’t for us to judge or know whether their seed is growing into a healthy plant with a high yield or drying up.
A second possibility is that we are the seed that God is throwing out, little pods of possibility with the total information needed to grow something new and full of life. If the good news that God has given us, falls in a good place to grow, then it will sprout and grow. If it doesn’t, then it might whither up. In this case the parable explains why the good we try to do sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t or the people we try to help sometimes are helped and given new life and sometimes nothing happens at all.
A third possibility is that we are the kinds of soil. Some of us are the path. We try to make ourselves smooth and easier to get along with, pointing in a particular direction, knowing where we’re going in life. But we don’t make a good place for seeds to grow. Some of us are the rocky soil, with lots of conflicts and hard places, unresolved grief, places within ourselves that we keep bumping up against that keep growth from happening. Or we’re the thorns, a person so full of anger that nothing can grow there. And a few of us are the good soil, where God’s love can take root and grow.
Is anything really that cut and dried, though? Some pastors and scholars have proposed that we’re all the soils. Sometimes we’re thorny and grouchy, other times we might be full of rocks and our faults so obvious to us, but we don’t have the strength to remove them. Other times we’re shallow and we want to develop a new skill or we think we’re getting it, and then we get completely sidelined by some setback or distraction that sends our faith withering. And once in a while, we have a moment in which something changes in us and the seed of God’s love is clearly growing and new life is taking root.
Still, what are we supposed to do about that? What soil can change its own composition, or yield more or less fruit? Maybe the point of this last part is to be aware that we aren’t going to get it every time and not to be so hard on ourselves when we fail. That isn’t the totality of who we are.
In fact, this parable probably isn’t really about us at all. Whatever kind of soil or seed or plant we are, God is still this ridiculous farmer, casting seeds absolutely everywhere, willy-nilly, persistent, generous, joyful, overflowing. God never runs out of seeds, which I would say represent love and flourishing life. God provides absolutely everything needed for growth—, ways for plants to combine their traits, ways for them to adapt and to spread, soil, water, light, insects, animals, wind, etc. Whatever mistakes we make, the growth that doesn’t happen, the blossom end rot that ruins our precious fruit, the hard surfaces we fall on, the rocks in our soil, God just keeps throwing that seed of love out there until it grows and has a high yield.
This is partly what Paul is talking about in Romans when he talks about walking according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. Sometimes we look at things according to the flesh and it just looks hopeless. There are so many barriers, so many things wrong with us and this world, so many forces of evil and greed working in this world. It just feels like death is the only possibility. Even 75% of the garden isn’t hospitable to God’s loving seeds and those seeds die and are devoured. What percentage of ourselves are open to God’s seed of love growing what percentage of the time? Most of the time we don’t get it. But we don’t live according to the flesh anymore. God doesn’t see us according to our failures, but as filled with God’s life-giving Spirit. So that what seemed only dead and hopeless is now full of life, growing into plants and even producing more seed and casting it willy-nilly about until it, too, takes root and spreads.
God’s love can grow in surprising places. We don’t have to look any further than the patio right out front. There is a path leading to the church, and there are horsetails growing there in the cracks. God’s love is so strong that even a path can’t keep it from growing. There is a rock in Montana, a huge boulder, that has a huge tree growing right out of it. If we were to sew seeds, a boulder would be the last place we would plant a tree, yet there it grows. Even a huge stone isn’t enough to keep God’s love from growing. Living in Oregon, we have an abundance of thorns, but that doesn’t mean they don’t bear good fruit. Oregon blackberries will soon be abundant and ripe on the vines. My arms and legs will be covered in scratches and my fingers will be purple, but it will all be worth it when we have blackberry pie and homemade blackberry ice cream and blackberries in our cereal every morning. Finally, those seeds that are eaten don’t go to waste, they feed the birds, and sometimes come out the other end in better shape to take root or make fertilizer for new plants. Those plants that whither and die early, become nutrients in the soil so that later that soil can be nourishing for a plant to grow there. God’s love grows strong and sure, and wherever it is cast it makes a difference. Knowing that God is willing to try again with us, to send that love and hope it takes root. This view of God doesn’t show God angry or sad about the seed not growing, it doesn’t show God punishing seeds that don’t grow. Instead this is a view of God, joyful and hopeful, casting out that seed every which way, knowing that some will grow and that love will flourish.
God has a vision of abundant life. Sometimes all we can see are the obstacles, the thorns, the birds, the sizzling desert sun. But where we see trouble, God sees possibilities. Where we see a brier, God sees a myrtle. Where we see a thorn God sees a cypress. God sees those possibilities in us. Now we get to train our eye to see the best in ourselves, too, and to see God working in our lives, when it just seems like a fruitless mess to us. God sees possibilities where we see impossibilities. We may think that to invest our time or money in some people or situations is a waste of time. We calculate the risk and we aren’t going there. God doesn’t see things like we do, at all. God just goes on happily casting seeds and letting them fall where they may, taking root where they may, and growing where they may. God isn’t taking it personally that some don’t grow. But when something does grow, God is celebrating it and taking joy in it. What it would be like if we adopted the kind of joy that God does, trying new things without fear, dancing through life, generous with the seeds of love and just pouring them all over everyone? When they don’t take root, who cares! Move on. We didn’t lose anything in the effort. And when they do take root and grow, what opportunity for celebration!
So let us go forth in the Spirit, without fear. Let us share our love freely, let it fall where it may. If it doesn’t take root, no biggie. If it does, let us celebrate, going forth in joy and being led back in peace until all people and trees and mountains and hills clap their hands and burst forth in a song of praise and flourishing life in honor of God, fulfilling God’s vision for what this world truly can be, a life-giving place for all God’s creatures.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
July 6, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
1st Reading: Zechariah 9:9-12
2nd Reading: Romans 7:15-25a
This week, as we do every year, we had a 4th of July barbecue at our house. We invite our friends, make oodles of food, borrow chairs from the church, and relax with a few beers and some vegan sausages, and watch the fireworks from all over the neighborhood. The barbecue is a lot of work to put on. We have to clean up the yard and the house. This year we were smart and started a month in advance. I listed our old tires on Craigslist and they were scooped up the same day. Nick sawed up the long tree branches that I had trimmed from our Hawthorne tree. We mowed and weed-whacked the yard. I pulled some weeds I had been meaning to get to. We did the recycling, scrubbed the bathroom top to bottom, and chased away the fruit flies.
It was a lot of work, and yet the burden was light. Nick and I both chipped in. I let Sterling think he was helping me clean the bathroom. Nick got me to take care of some of his pet peeves around the yard—like the set of tires that had been stacked by the bush for over a year. I got him to take care of some of projects—I pruned the tree, why should I have to cut up all the branches, too? If it was up to me, I was getting out the circular saw for those big branches, but he used a hand saw and pure muscle to make it happen. We worked together and we didn’t even get on each other’s nerves that bad.
The yard and the house and the barbecue were burdens, but we chose them. The barbecue may even have partially been an excuse to get the other things done in a spirit of cooperation and fun. And we both enjoyed the company of our friends and the chance to offer hospitality to them.
I don’t think we can overestimate the heavy burdens that people are carrying. Many in my generation carry overwhelming debt, that’s enough to turn our hair gray. There are many people you would never know who are carrying heavy grief, live in pain or illness, or live in constant worry for a relative who is sick either physically or mentally.
Does being a Christian add to that burden or relieve it? Many would say it has added to their burden. Sometimes church adds guilt and shame, a long list of “shoulds” about dress and language and proper behavior and praying and reading the Bible and serving others and never thinking of yourself. Sometimes church becomes another place where the burdens are heaped upon us.
Paul, the writer of the book of Romans that we read from this morning, sometimes felt that burden. He wanted to do right, but he just found himself doing wrong. I’m sure any of us could relate to his statement, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” He has good intentions but doesn’t always follow through. Paul had a lot of burdens. He was imprisoned. He was ill. He suffered from some thorn in the flesh that he doesn’t ever directly name. And he was the chief persecutor of Christians. He always carried the memory of those he had tortured and killed.
But Paul didn’t live as if he was burdened with guilt and shame. He didn’t hide away and shrivel up. Instead, he put himself out there, traveled all around the land telling the Good News of Jesus, that even after all the evil he had done and the people he had hurt, God came to him and welcomed him and forgave him and gave him a job to do transforming this world. Not only did God forgive and welcome him, but God’s people did, too. The very people he had hurt, took him in, nursed him back to health and put their trust in him. They made him a leader and helped him use his gifts to get the word out of who Jesus is and what Jesus’ message and purpose is.
We could say, “That’s all well and good for Paul. God loved him because he changed his life. That’s why God took away his burdens. I could never do what Paul did.” But God loved Paul, even when he was persecuting people. God cared about Paul and valued Paul’s gifts and was planting the seeds that would eventually give Paul what he needed to share the Good News and plant Christian churches all over the place. Also notice that even after Paul’s conversion, here he is admitting the struggle between good and evil that was still going on within him. He wasn’t evil in the past and now he is cured of that and that’s why his burdens are lifted. His life was always a struggle between good and bad in the past and also after his conversion. The thing that has changed as he writes what we read this morning, is that he knows God’s love. In the past he used to “know” that he was good with God, because, in his mind, he followed the letter of the law. Now, he still knows God’s love, but on a much deeper level. He knows that sometimes he does what is right. When that happens he gives credit to God, who is the only one who can do good through us. And he admits that sometimes he does what is evil. When that happens only he is to blame. Yet, God always loves and forgives and accepts him and walks with him in that struggle, as does his community of faith.
Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens.” We all are carrying heavy burdens. We’ve all done things that are wrong, even when we knew the right thing to do. We all could have done more to help others. Because of this, we might be inclined to hide from God. But like a loving parent, God invites us to come to God with all that we carry, with our struggle to do what is right, because God wants us to give those burdens to God and to get some rest. God wants us to let go of the struggle of trying always to do right, and just know that we are loved no matter what. God wants us to yoke ourselves to God and to a loving community we can work together with. God wants to free us from guilt and shame and always having to measure up. God loves us as God’s own children. So we are free to try new things, to make mistakes, to screw up royally, never doubting God’s love. We are free to get on with the important work of transforming this world more into the vision that God has in mind. Or rather God can get on with transforming this world through us. God is transforming this world so that everyone has enough and no one has too much, so that jealousy and backbiting have no place, so that all are empowered to use their gifts to contribute to the good of everyone, so that leaders look out for the good of all people instead of just trying to increase their own power, and that we share each other’s burdens and make the burden lighter for all who struggle.
When we have our 4th of July barbecue, when we come here on Sundays, when we visit the sick and imprisoned, when we lay down our weapons, the Kingdom of God is at hand, it is coming close. We all carry burdens, but we don’t have to do so alone. When we gather together, we share those burdens, in the prayers, in the sharing of the peace, in Holy Communion. We yoke ourselves with others so we know we aren’t alone. Community is a place we can practice the forgiveness and love we know from God. It may add extra burdens, in that we all have to contribute something, and sometimes put up with people and situations we might not choose, but doesn’t that lighten our burden to let go of control and receive the gifts that God offers through all these other people laying down their burdens and reaching out with now empty hands to embrace and to give.
1st Reading: Zechariah 9:9-12
2nd Reading: Romans 7:15-25a
This week, as we do every year, we had a 4th of July barbecue at our house. We invite our friends, make oodles of food, borrow chairs from the church, and relax with a few beers and some vegan sausages, and watch the fireworks from all over the neighborhood. The barbecue is a lot of work to put on. We have to clean up the yard and the house. This year we were smart and started a month in advance. I listed our old tires on Craigslist and they were scooped up the same day. Nick sawed up the long tree branches that I had trimmed from our Hawthorne tree. We mowed and weed-whacked the yard. I pulled some weeds I had been meaning to get to. We did the recycling, scrubbed the bathroom top to bottom, and chased away the fruit flies.
It was a lot of work, and yet the burden was light. Nick and I both chipped in. I let Sterling think he was helping me clean the bathroom. Nick got me to take care of some of his pet peeves around the yard—like the set of tires that had been stacked by the bush for over a year. I got him to take care of some of projects—I pruned the tree, why should I have to cut up all the branches, too? If it was up to me, I was getting out the circular saw for those big branches, but he used a hand saw and pure muscle to make it happen. We worked together and we didn’t even get on each other’s nerves that bad.
The yard and the house and the barbecue were burdens, but we chose them. The barbecue may even have partially been an excuse to get the other things done in a spirit of cooperation and fun. And we both enjoyed the company of our friends and the chance to offer hospitality to them.
I don’t think we can overestimate the heavy burdens that people are carrying. Many in my generation carry overwhelming debt, that’s enough to turn our hair gray. There are many people you would never know who are carrying heavy grief, live in pain or illness, or live in constant worry for a relative who is sick either physically or mentally.
Does being a Christian add to that burden or relieve it? Many would say it has added to their burden. Sometimes church adds guilt and shame, a long list of “shoulds” about dress and language and proper behavior and praying and reading the Bible and serving others and never thinking of yourself. Sometimes church becomes another place where the burdens are heaped upon us.
Paul, the writer of the book of Romans that we read from this morning, sometimes felt that burden. He wanted to do right, but he just found himself doing wrong. I’m sure any of us could relate to his statement, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” He has good intentions but doesn’t always follow through. Paul had a lot of burdens. He was imprisoned. He was ill. He suffered from some thorn in the flesh that he doesn’t ever directly name. And he was the chief persecutor of Christians. He always carried the memory of those he had tortured and killed.
But Paul didn’t live as if he was burdened with guilt and shame. He didn’t hide away and shrivel up. Instead, he put himself out there, traveled all around the land telling the Good News of Jesus, that even after all the evil he had done and the people he had hurt, God came to him and welcomed him and forgave him and gave him a job to do transforming this world. Not only did God forgive and welcome him, but God’s people did, too. The very people he had hurt, took him in, nursed him back to health and put their trust in him. They made him a leader and helped him use his gifts to get the word out of who Jesus is and what Jesus’ message and purpose is.
We could say, “That’s all well and good for Paul. God loved him because he changed his life. That’s why God took away his burdens. I could never do what Paul did.” But God loved Paul, even when he was persecuting people. God cared about Paul and valued Paul’s gifts and was planting the seeds that would eventually give Paul what he needed to share the Good News and plant Christian churches all over the place. Also notice that even after Paul’s conversion, here he is admitting the struggle between good and evil that was still going on within him. He wasn’t evil in the past and now he is cured of that and that’s why his burdens are lifted. His life was always a struggle between good and bad in the past and also after his conversion. The thing that has changed as he writes what we read this morning, is that he knows God’s love. In the past he used to “know” that he was good with God, because, in his mind, he followed the letter of the law. Now, he still knows God’s love, but on a much deeper level. He knows that sometimes he does what is right. When that happens he gives credit to God, who is the only one who can do good through us. And he admits that sometimes he does what is evil. When that happens only he is to blame. Yet, God always loves and forgives and accepts him and walks with him in that struggle, as does his community of faith.
Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens.” We all are carrying heavy burdens. We’ve all done things that are wrong, even when we knew the right thing to do. We all could have done more to help others. Because of this, we might be inclined to hide from God. But like a loving parent, God invites us to come to God with all that we carry, with our struggle to do what is right, because God wants us to give those burdens to God and to get some rest. God wants us to let go of the struggle of trying always to do right, and just know that we are loved no matter what. God wants us to yoke ourselves to God and to a loving community we can work together with. God wants to free us from guilt and shame and always having to measure up. God loves us as God’s own children. So we are free to try new things, to make mistakes, to screw up royally, never doubting God’s love. We are free to get on with the important work of transforming this world more into the vision that God has in mind. Or rather God can get on with transforming this world through us. God is transforming this world so that everyone has enough and no one has too much, so that jealousy and backbiting have no place, so that all are empowered to use their gifts to contribute to the good of everyone, so that leaders look out for the good of all people instead of just trying to increase their own power, and that we share each other’s burdens and make the burden lighter for all who struggle.
When we have our 4th of July barbecue, when we come here on Sundays, when we visit the sick and imprisoned, when we lay down our weapons, the Kingdom of God is at hand, it is coming close. We all carry burdens, but we don’t have to do so alone. When we gather together, we share those burdens, in the prayers, in the sharing of the peace, in Holy Communion. We yoke ourselves with others so we know we aren’t alone. Community is a place we can practice the forgiveness and love we know from God. It may add extra burdens, in that we all have to contribute something, and sometimes put up with people and situations we might not choose, but doesn’t that lighten our burden to let go of control and receive the gifts that God offers through all these other people laying down their burdens and reaching out with now empty hands to embrace and to give.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
June 29, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 10:40-42
1st Reading: Jeremiah 28:5-9
2nd Reading: Romans 6:12-23
The themes of today’s readings are about welcome. I have had the chance to visit a variety of other churches during my vacation days over the years. I have been welcomed in many ways and really enjoyed the chance to sit and listen to the sermon, sit with my little boy, and sing hymns that are new to me, yet hold much meaning in their tunes and words.
I have felt the whole range of welcome, and I know I am privileged in that. When I go into a church, I dress appropriately, I know where to sit, I know how to find my way around a hymnal and bulletin, I know when to stand up and sit down, I speak the language, sing the hymns and communion setting really loud, and usually have a young child with me. I am welcomed and I wonder sometimes if that is because I fit in and I fit an ideal that a congregation expects and wants to fill its own needs. But am I welcomed for me? Does anyone care or want to know what would fulfill my needs and make my life easier even for just that one Sunday or that one week? Would I be welcomed if I was different, if I called out “Alleluia!” or “Amen” throughout the service, if I dressed in short shorts, or my kid had a kool aid mustache or ran around in circles during church? How would I be welcomed differently if I spoke Russian or Spanish? Would I be as welcomed if I somehow declared from the very beginning that I am just on vacation and I won’t be returning?
I don’t have the chance to visit King of Kings anonymously, and neither do any of you, to see what kind of welcome we offer and to whom. Those who stay usually say they have experienced us as welcoming and a few who haven’t, let us know in what ways they didn’t feel welcome. I wonder sometimes about who stays and who doesn’t return. I don’t usually take it personally. There are a lot of reasons that people might come or go and I’m glad we have lots of kinds of churches to fulfill the various kinds of needs that exist in this world. We are not a church for everyone, even though we would welcome just about anyone.
We see ourselves as welcoming here, yet I know there is more we can do. A few years back, one couple decided to try sitting in different pews. I hope they found themselves relating to different people, seeing things from different perspectives, and stretched and challenged in their usual way of thinking. It might be a fun thing to try during coffee hour. It becomes easy to sit with friends, but maybe each of us could challenge ourselves, even it if it was just once. Jesus welcomes us, and we get to welcome each other and especially welcome those who are new or different.
Welcome is the glue that holds a community together. We can add more glue to our existing relationships, but what about the new pieces that are trying to stick? They need some glue to get them going. They need some places to attach themselves. I remember another time when a couple invited other couples over to their home to get to know them. Bonds were formed and glue was applied that is still sticking to this day.
Think of the sharing of the peace. It is easy to greet those we know. But I love to see Kasen’s example, finding the person farthest from him in the sanctuary and going up with a hand extended. Here is a sight, this short little guy, looking up and confidently welcoming some tall, grown person. He is welcoming others as he has been welcomed. He is forming glue between him and other people. And when he goes to Karen to have a little lesson on the piano or organ after church, maybe he is mostly thinking of himself, but he is showing interest in another person and the gifts she offers and I love to see the smile on her face when she’s demonstrating her passion to him. It is a glue between the generations, between musicians, across a divide that we don’t normally get to cross in daily life. It is a true welcome, warm and beautiful.
I’ve been reading this article in the Women of the ELCA newsletter by Valora K Starr, Director of Discipleship for WELCA about hospitality. She talks about the usual way we see hospitality. It is all about the hostess and how she buys matching napkins and makes everything look pretty. The focus is on being the perfect hostess. But shouldn’t the welcome be about the other person and what they need? The guests are the most important part of the welcoming process. Without them, there is no welcoming to do. The author says, “Hospitality changes our hearts and actions so that we are available to meet the needs of others.” This kind of hospitality switches the focus from the hostess to the Holy Spirit as the one guiding the relationship and gluing us together in community.
The first step in hospitality is to make room, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for the other. We’ve made physical room in the sanctuary for guests with walkers and wheelchairs by moving the pews around a little bit. We’ve tried to make the bulletin easier to follow by putting all the words there. What if we each came to church on Sunday expecting to meet someone new, maybe even to sit with them and show them the way through the service? What if we made room at our table at coffee hour and invited a newcomer to sit there? What if we made room in our week to connect with someone we don’t know very well to get some glue going in the relationship?
The next step in hospitality is to make ready. We prepare ourselves to both serve the guest and receive the gifts the guest has to offer. We will want to engage a conversation with the guest to find out what is going on in his or her life, ways we might be able to help. But it isn’t about charity either. We have to be willing to receive the gifts the other person offers and that means being ready to share a little more deeply about ourselves.
Finally when we practice hospitality, we want to be available. We need to be ready to be fully present with the other person—engaged. That’s why I am so thankful to all of you, that on Sunday morning my boy can be flitting all around the social hall and you are his family looking out for him, scolding him if he is naughty and helping him if he needs more of something. That frees me up to focus on the needs of someone instead of constantly distracted looking for my child. Hospitality offers attention and focus.
The next frontier of welcome is in the larger community. Most people will never come through the doors of this church, but we know Christ is present in them, too. How do we extend hospitality out to a world that really needs it?
A few people from our church are volunteering with the summer lunch program at some of the area elementary schools. What an exciting way to take our ministry of feeding the hungry out into the neighborhoods! There are kids to meet and other volunteers to connect with. These relationships are the glue that connects our community in Milwaukie.
Lonnie and Karen are in Estonia connecting on a huge level in hospitality, both giving and receiving it, as they lead the Unistus choir in a choir of tens of thousands of people, and with a banner sewn by our own Susan Brooks who has provided many of our banners, here at church. They are both welcoming and being welcomed, providing a world-wide glue that can help bring the peace that the prophet Jeremiah tells of.
Christ welcomed us by becoming one of us, making himself available and present, spending time and focus with those in most need, and giving of himself in an ongoing relationship. He even opened himself to receiving from us. May we welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, in this church, in our homes, and in our neighborhoods.
1st Reading: Jeremiah 28:5-9
2nd Reading: Romans 6:12-23
The themes of today’s readings are about welcome. I have had the chance to visit a variety of other churches during my vacation days over the years. I have been welcomed in many ways and really enjoyed the chance to sit and listen to the sermon, sit with my little boy, and sing hymns that are new to me, yet hold much meaning in their tunes and words.
I have felt the whole range of welcome, and I know I am privileged in that. When I go into a church, I dress appropriately, I know where to sit, I know how to find my way around a hymnal and bulletin, I know when to stand up and sit down, I speak the language, sing the hymns and communion setting really loud, and usually have a young child with me. I am welcomed and I wonder sometimes if that is because I fit in and I fit an ideal that a congregation expects and wants to fill its own needs. But am I welcomed for me? Does anyone care or want to know what would fulfill my needs and make my life easier even for just that one Sunday or that one week? Would I be welcomed if I was different, if I called out “Alleluia!” or “Amen” throughout the service, if I dressed in short shorts, or my kid had a kool aid mustache or ran around in circles during church? How would I be welcomed differently if I spoke Russian or Spanish? Would I be as welcomed if I somehow declared from the very beginning that I am just on vacation and I won’t be returning?
I don’t have the chance to visit King of Kings anonymously, and neither do any of you, to see what kind of welcome we offer and to whom. Those who stay usually say they have experienced us as welcoming and a few who haven’t, let us know in what ways they didn’t feel welcome. I wonder sometimes about who stays and who doesn’t return. I don’t usually take it personally. There are a lot of reasons that people might come or go and I’m glad we have lots of kinds of churches to fulfill the various kinds of needs that exist in this world. We are not a church for everyone, even though we would welcome just about anyone.
We see ourselves as welcoming here, yet I know there is more we can do. A few years back, one couple decided to try sitting in different pews. I hope they found themselves relating to different people, seeing things from different perspectives, and stretched and challenged in their usual way of thinking. It might be a fun thing to try during coffee hour. It becomes easy to sit with friends, but maybe each of us could challenge ourselves, even it if it was just once. Jesus welcomes us, and we get to welcome each other and especially welcome those who are new or different.
Welcome is the glue that holds a community together. We can add more glue to our existing relationships, but what about the new pieces that are trying to stick? They need some glue to get them going. They need some places to attach themselves. I remember another time when a couple invited other couples over to their home to get to know them. Bonds were formed and glue was applied that is still sticking to this day.
Think of the sharing of the peace. It is easy to greet those we know. But I love to see Kasen’s example, finding the person farthest from him in the sanctuary and going up with a hand extended. Here is a sight, this short little guy, looking up and confidently welcoming some tall, grown person. He is welcoming others as he has been welcomed. He is forming glue between him and other people. And when he goes to Karen to have a little lesson on the piano or organ after church, maybe he is mostly thinking of himself, but he is showing interest in another person and the gifts she offers and I love to see the smile on her face when she’s demonstrating her passion to him. It is a glue between the generations, between musicians, across a divide that we don’t normally get to cross in daily life. It is a true welcome, warm and beautiful.
I’ve been reading this article in the Women of the ELCA newsletter by Valora K Starr, Director of Discipleship for WELCA about hospitality. She talks about the usual way we see hospitality. It is all about the hostess and how she buys matching napkins and makes everything look pretty. The focus is on being the perfect hostess. But shouldn’t the welcome be about the other person and what they need? The guests are the most important part of the welcoming process. Without them, there is no welcoming to do. The author says, “Hospitality changes our hearts and actions so that we are available to meet the needs of others.” This kind of hospitality switches the focus from the hostess to the Holy Spirit as the one guiding the relationship and gluing us together in community.
The first step in hospitality is to make room, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for the other. We’ve made physical room in the sanctuary for guests with walkers and wheelchairs by moving the pews around a little bit. We’ve tried to make the bulletin easier to follow by putting all the words there. What if we each came to church on Sunday expecting to meet someone new, maybe even to sit with them and show them the way through the service? What if we made room at our table at coffee hour and invited a newcomer to sit there? What if we made room in our week to connect with someone we don’t know very well to get some glue going in the relationship?
The next step in hospitality is to make ready. We prepare ourselves to both serve the guest and receive the gifts the guest has to offer. We will want to engage a conversation with the guest to find out what is going on in his or her life, ways we might be able to help. But it isn’t about charity either. We have to be willing to receive the gifts the other person offers and that means being ready to share a little more deeply about ourselves.
Finally when we practice hospitality, we want to be available. We need to be ready to be fully present with the other person—engaged. That’s why I am so thankful to all of you, that on Sunday morning my boy can be flitting all around the social hall and you are his family looking out for him, scolding him if he is naughty and helping him if he needs more of something. That frees me up to focus on the needs of someone instead of constantly distracted looking for my child. Hospitality offers attention and focus.
The next frontier of welcome is in the larger community. Most people will never come through the doors of this church, but we know Christ is present in them, too. How do we extend hospitality out to a world that really needs it?
A few people from our church are volunteering with the summer lunch program at some of the area elementary schools. What an exciting way to take our ministry of feeding the hungry out into the neighborhoods! There are kids to meet and other volunteers to connect with. These relationships are the glue that connects our community in Milwaukie.
Lonnie and Karen are in Estonia connecting on a huge level in hospitality, both giving and receiving it, as they lead the Unistus choir in a choir of tens of thousands of people, and with a banner sewn by our own Susan Brooks who has provided many of our banners, here at church. They are both welcoming and being welcomed, providing a world-wide glue that can help bring the peace that the prophet Jeremiah tells of.
Christ welcomed us by becoming one of us, making himself available and present, spending time and focus with those in most need, and giving of himself in an ongoing relationship. He even opened himself to receiving from us. May we welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, in this church, in our homes, and in our neighborhoods.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
June 22, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39
1st Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-13
2nd Reading: Romans 6:1b-11
I have to say that once I read these scriptures I honestly thought about not preaching this Sunday and doing something else entirely. This is one of those Sundays when it is hard to say, “This is the Gospel of the Lord” and “Thanks be to God.” The readings cover themes of terror and abandonment, weariness, death, sin, slavery, fear, hell, foes, loss, and unworthiness. Maybe an evangelical preacher would be looking forward to a Sunday like this, but I have a tough time. Sometimes, when I struggle with a reading, I wonder to myself if Jesus really said this stuff. But this is one of those times I am pretty certain he did. I also don’t want to gloss over all the trouble in the Bible and just make it a nice, gentle, easy book to read. We are challenged in the Bible. We are challenged by Jesus. Part of the reason we are here at church is to be challenged. If we are going to be Christians, we are saying we want to follow Jesus. This means a change of direction, so we are going to have a changed life, we are going to encounter difficulties.
The Gospel, especially, this morning, challenges our sense of entitlement. We think that kids today feel entitled—they are lazy, they want to be handed everything, they are spoiled. But before we start pointing fingers at their sense of entitlement, we have to ask ourselves about the ways we feel entitled. I know I have felt a lot of frustration that I couldn’t work hard all summer and afford my college education on my income. The generation before me could do that. I have felt entitled to the same or more compensation than the previous generation. I feel entitled to my good health. I am young. I go to the gym and try to eat right. I take my health for granted and when I get sick, I actually get angry about it, especially when my toddler brings home an illness a month for 7 months in a row. Most of us probably feel entitled to having loving family relationships. We think we’re entitled to our possessions, as many as our neighbors and friends have. We think we’re entitled to a car for each driver. We may feel, now that we have a paid custodian, that we don’t have to pick up after ourselves here at church. We may feel that since we’ve been coming to this church for a long time that we should be entitled to the kind of music and bulletin and worship and coffee treats that we’re used to. And we may think that because we are good people, that we are faithful people, that we are entitled to an easier life, with as little suffering as possible.
But Jesus tells us this morning that life is hard. That’s the bad news. But we already know the bad news. We’ve already found out that life isn’t fair. We’ve been sick. We’ve lost loved ones. We’ve endured family arguments and the silent treatment. We’ve had friends abandon us and talk behind our back. We’ve endured abuse and divorce and adultery. We’ve had children and grandchildren with mental illness, drug addiction, disability and at times experienced it ourselves. But what Jesus is talking about is even more than that.
We call ourselves Christians. We are followers of Jesus Christ. We want to be like the teacher or at least associated with him. Now Jesus is telling his Disciples that their life of devotion may not be rewarded in the short term. To follow Jesus isn’t just to act in ways that he would, but is also to endure the consequences that he did, to face the cross. It is no longer WWJD, “What would Jesus do?” but WWHTJ, “What would happen to Jesus?” That’s what we could expect would happen to us. When we are followers of Christ, we challenge the power structures in place. We challenge the usual way of things. God’s Kingdom world collides with the unjust world we live in and there is direct conflict. Jesus promises that we will be on the front lines of that.
Jesus is teaching the disciples, preparing them for ministry. They know about healing and feeding people. So far, they have followed him and learned from him. Now, is the next step in their learning. They are going to try out what they’ve learned and they are going to do this ministry. Jesus tells them a few paragraphs earlier in this chapter, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” And in case their next question regards their hourly pay or yearly salary, he says, “You received without payment, give without payment.” Then he tells them not to take anything extra with them. Finally, he tells them that not only will they not get paid, they will suffer and experience hardship because of Christ and their faithfulness. Christ’s Disciples will follow him to the cross. They are not entitled to anything special, just God’s love and a place in God’s family forever.
This is about letting go of any sense of entitlement. This is about growing up. This is about getting a thicker skin. This is about developing self-differentiation, basically the idea that you know who you are and that no matter what others say about you or what they do to you, you stand firm by your values and act on them. This is about maturing in faith.
I am reminded of the song, “I will Survive.” This is a song about someone who has made herself vulnerable, given her love to someone, and experienced betrayal. Yet, a stronger sense of self emerges. The singer can let the experience drag her down and crush her. Or she can stand up and sing this “in-your-face” song about the person she’s become out of this hardship. She says, “As long as I know how to love, I know I’ll be alive.” Instead of feeling entitled to the love of the other person or entitled not to be hurt, instead of blaming the other person, instead of feeling fear and shame because her expectations haven’t been met, she sees what a strong person she is. She is a survivor. She has new life and new meaning. She is living in the resurrection.
There is good news here in these readings. When all these bad things are happening, when our faith leads us to the cross and we find ourselves betrayed and suffering, when we’ve lost everything, Jesus says do not fear. You do not need to fear because someday this tiny movement will grow and become much louder and stronger—“what you hear whispered, proclaim from the rooftops.” What is secret now, will someday be revealed and people will know what is really important. What is a small movement now will catch on and have a big effect on this world.
You do not need to fear because we are more than bodies and cannot be ultimately destroyed. Although people were being imprisoned and killed for their faith, God would never forsake them. Although we may face many hardships and challenges, God will be with us. God gives new life whether it is here on earth or in God’s realm and even in the memory and life of the community that learned and appreciated the sacrifice of each martyr.
Finally, we do not need to fear because God cares about us. Even if we never mattered to anyone else, we matter to God. And we matter to our community of faith. God is keeping track of us. God hurts when we hurt. God is adopting us into God’s family. We belong to God. One of our greatest fears is not to matter, but Jesus assures us that we do. We are all important. We all have gifts. God put energy and intention into making us the person we are and giving us new life.
When we lose our life for Christ’s sake, that is how life is experienced and truly discovered. How many times have you seen this at work? Maybe there was a time you quit worrying about what others thought and find yourself truly free to be yourself. Maybe there was a time when you realized you had a drinking problem and you had to let go of your pride and get some help, but you got a whole new life out of it. Maybe there was a time when you had to let your kids make their own mistakes and it hurt to see them suffering, but they eventually came through stronger. Maybe there was a time you thought you could do something all yourself, and you had to ask for help, and you realized that we are all connected and we need each other.
Sometimes as a person of faith, we are walking this path, following Jesus and wonder if it makes any difference at all. If I do the right thing, if I am kind, if I am loving, if I forgive, if I care for God’s good creation, what difference does it make? Paul puts it this way in Romans, “Should we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” In other words, “Shall I just keep going the way I have been because I can’t see it is making any difference?” He answers himself and those to whom he is writing, “By no means!” “No way!” he says. So what if you can’t see the immediate good results of your actions. You are not entitled to see that. God has a trajectory for this world and God’s way of love will win in the end. Will you let God’s way of love rule in your life and your decisions no matter whether the outcome is good or bad, less or more suffering for yourself? It is up to us to say that we will, because in the long-run it will mean newness of life for us and for others. Maybe only God will ever see what a difference it made. We have to let go of the outcome. In the face of suffering, “You will survive! As long as you know how to love, you’ll know you’ll be alive.” So let yourself love and come alive to God in Christ Jesus.
1st Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-13
2nd Reading: Romans 6:1b-11
I have to say that once I read these scriptures I honestly thought about not preaching this Sunday and doing something else entirely. This is one of those Sundays when it is hard to say, “This is the Gospel of the Lord” and “Thanks be to God.” The readings cover themes of terror and abandonment, weariness, death, sin, slavery, fear, hell, foes, loss, and unworthiness. Maybe an evangelical preacher would be looking forward to a Sunday like this, but I have a tough time. Sometimes, when I struggle with a reading, I wonder to myself if Jesus really said this stuff. But this is one of those times I am pretty certain he did. I also don’t want to gloss over all the trouble in the Bible and just make it a nice, gentle, easy book to read. We are challenged in the Bible. We are challenged by Jesus. Part of the reason we are here at church is to be challenged. If we are going to be Christians, we are saying we want to follow Jesus. This means a change of direction, so we are going to have a changed life, we are going to encounter difficulties.
The Gospel, especially, this morning, challenges our sense of entitlement. We think that kids today feel entitled—they are lazy, they want to be handed everything, they are spoiled. But before we start pointing fingers at their sense of entitlement, we have to ask ourselves about the ways we feel entitled. I know I have felt a lot of frustration that I couldn’t work hard all summer and afford my college education on my income. The generation before me could do that. I have felt entitled to the same or more compensation than the previous generation. I feel entitled to my good health. I am young. I go to the gym and try to eat right. I take my health for granted and when I get sick, I actually get angry about it, especially when my toddler brings home an illness a month for 7 months in a row. Most of us probably feel entitled to having loving family relationships. We think we’re entitled to our possessions, as many as our neighbors and friends have. We think we’re entitled to a car for each driver. We may feel, now that we have a paid custodian, that we don’t have to pick up after ourselves here at church. We may feel that since we’ve been coming to this church for a long time that we should be entitled to the kind of music and bulletin and worship and coffee treats that we’re used to. And we may think that because we are good people, that we are faithful people, that we are entitled to an easier life, with as little suffering as possible.
But Jesus tells us this morning that life is hard. That’s the bad news. But we already know the bad news. We’ve already found out that life isn’t fair. We’ve been sick. We’ve lost loved ones. We’ve endured family arguments and the silent treatment. We’ve had friends abandon us and talk behind our back. We’ve endured abuse and divorce and adultery. We’ve had children and grandchildren with mental illness, drug addiction, disability and at times experienced it ourselves. But what Jesus is talking about is even more than that.
We call ourselves Christians. We are followers of Jesus Christ. We want to be like the teacher or at least associated with him. Now Jesus is telling his Disciples that their life of devotion may not be rewarded in the short term. To follow Jesus isn’t just to act in ways that he would, but is also to endure the consequences that he did, to face the cross. It is no longer WWJD, “What would Jesus do?” but WWHTJ, “What would happen to Jesus?” That’s what we could expect would happen to us. When we are followers of Christ, we challenge the power structures in place. We challenge the usual way of things. God’s Kingdom world collides with the unjust world we live in and there is direct conflict. Jesus promises that we will be on the front lines of that.
Jesus is teaching the disciples, preparing them for ministry. They know about healing and feeding people. So far, they have followed him and learned from him. Now, is the next step in their learning. They are going to try out what they’ve learned and they are going to do this ministry. Jesus tells them a few paragraphs earlier in this chapter, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” And in case their next question regards their hourly pay or yearly salary, he says, “You received without payment, give without payment.” Then he tells them not to take anything extra with them. Finally, he tells them that not only will they not get paid, they will suffer and experience hardship because of Christ and their faithfulness. Christ’s Disciples will follow him to the cross. They are not entitled to anything special, just God’s love and a place in God’s family forever.
This is about letting go of any sense of entitlement. This is about growing up. This is about getting a thicker skin. This is about developing self-differentiation, basically the idea that you know who you are and that no matter what others say about you or what they do to you, you stand firm by your values and act on them. This is about maturing in faith.
I am reminded of the song, “I will Survive.” This is a song about someone who has made herself vulnerable, given her love to someone, and experienced betrayal. Yet, a stronger sense of self emerges. The singer can let the experience drag her down and crush her. Or she can stand up and sing this “in-your-face” song about the person she’s become out of this hardship. She says, “As long as I know how to love, I know I’ll be alive.” Instead of feeling entitled to the love of the other person or entitled not to be hurt, instead of blaming the other person, instead of feeling fear and shame because her expectations haven’t been met, she sees what a strong person she is. She is a survivor. She has new life and new meaning. She is living in the resurrection.
There is good news here in these readings. When all these bad things are happening, when our faith leads us to the cross and we find ourselves betrayed and suffering, when we’ve lost everything, Jesus says do not fear. You do not need to fear because someday this tiny movement will grow and become much louder and stronger—“what you hear whispered, proclaim from the rooftops.” What is secret now, will someday be revealed and people will know what is really important. What is a small movement now will catch on and have a big effect on this world.
You do not need to fear because we are more than bodies and cannot be ultimately destroyed. Although people were being imprisoned and killed for their faith, God would never forsake them. Although we may face many hardships and challenges, God will be with us. God gives new life whether it is here on earth or in God’s realm and even in the memory and life of the community that learned and appreciated the sacrifice of each martyr.
Finally, we do not need to fear because God cares about us. Even if we never mattered to anyone else, we matter to God. And we matter to our community of faith. God is keeping track of us. God hurts when we hurt. God is adopting us into God’s family. We belong to God. One of our greatest fears is not to matter, but Jesus assures us that we do. We are all important. We all have gifts. God put energy and intention into making us the person we are and giving us new life.
When we lose our life for Christ’s sake, that is how life is experienced and truly discovered. How many times have you seen this at work? Maybe there was a time you quit worrying about what others thought and find yourself truly free to be yourself. Maybe there was a time when you realized you had a drinking problem and you had to let go of your pride and get some help, but you got a whole new life out of it. Maybe there was a time when you had to let your kids make their own mistakes and it hurt to see them suffering, but they eventually came through stronger. Maybe there was a time you thought you could do something all yourself, and you had to ask for help, and you realized that we are all connected and we need each other.
Sometimes as a person of faith, we are walking this path, following Jesus and wonder if it makes any difference at all. If I do the right thing, if I am kind, if I am loving, if I forgive, if I care for God’s good creation, what difference does it make? Paul puts it this way in Romans, “Should we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” In other words, “Shall I just keep going the way I have been because I can’t see it is making any difference?” He answers himself and those to whom he is writing, “By no means!” “No way!” he says. So what if you can’t see the immediate good results of your actions. You are not entitled to see that. God has a trajectory for this world and God’s way of love will win in the end. Will you let God’s way of love rule in your life and your decisions no matter whether the outcome is good or bad, less or more suffering for yourself? It is up to us to say that we will, because in the long-run it will mean newness of life for us and for others. Maybe only God will ever see what a difference it made. We have to let go of the outcome. In the face of suffering, “You will survive! As long as you know how to love, you’ll know you’ll be alive.” So let yourself love and come alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
June 15, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
1st Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Look around you. What a beautiful setting we have to worship God! I think those who designed this church were so wise to put in windows so we could see the marvelous works of God all around us. We’ve got a view of Mt. Hood if we want. We can see so many trees. Birds and squirrels make their home on this property. Listen to the birds singing. Just last week at coffee hour a deer walked across the churchyard. I hope you paid attention to the beauty of this place that we live as you made your way here this morning. I love the smell of the morning air and when I drive up here, I am greeted by flowers and trees and green and wildlife. I would agree this is good. God’s good creation is all around us revealing to us who God is and what God wants for us.
Over the years some pastors and theologians have put a barrier between believers and God’s good creation because they feared we would practice pagan religion and start worshipping the trees and deer and birds and sun. And I am not that fond of the idea of “Spiritual but not Religious” as if all that matters is me out in a forest or near a stream. I think that community matters a lot, to provide checks and balances, to show that it isn’t all about me, and to provide support when life is difficult. But I do believe that we can find God in Creation and know God through our experiences with Creation, including the other humans God made. Creation is one of God’s primary revelations to us, God’s way of showing us how much God loves us, God’s way of showing us what it means to have responsibility and care for one another.
Creation shows us just how big and majestic God is. When we see that mountain, with snow lit by the sun, we stand in awe of God who made this universe, who stood watch as the plates of the earth shifted and a volcano was born and grew into this mountain. When we drive along the Columbia River Gorge, we stand in awe of God who brings this water down from the mountains, all this melted snow and rain gathering to flow so wide and deep through our land, giving life to salmon and sea lions and people and mosquitoes. It is amazing and huge to behold. What a system of flowing life! What a way of distributing water to all who need it without prejudice!
Creation shows us how God pays attention to the smallest detail and forms each and every creature with love and care. At Synod Assembly this year, I was feeling all cooped up. So when we had a break, I took a walk around the hotel. As I walked along, I saw a little caterpillar going along the pavement in the parking lot. I stopped and picked up a leaf, put it in front of the caterpillar and eventually got it to crawl up on the leaf. Then I transferred the caterpillar to the relative safety and comfort of the bushes. Here we were gathered at the Assembly, listening to reports, having discussions, eating together, making decision, and yet all the while, here was this caterpillar living its life, trying to survive, to make it to safer ground. It was something small, but I could see the hand of God in it. Its legs all moved together. It was covered in orange hairs. It’s markings were as beautiful as any of the quilts or artwork displayed in the assembly. The Bible tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our heads and not only our heads, but this caterpillar’s body as well.
Each part of God’s creation is noticed by God and called “good.” Each part has intrinsic value on its own, before it ever had use for humans. The light on its own was good. The balance of night and day is good for our planet, for our growing cycles, for creatures who need times of activity as well as rest. The water and the dry land were both good. The balance between them was important for the development of life, for the diversity of creatures that God had in mind. The distribution of the water was good for the flourishing of all living things. The plants of all kinds were good. Some produced fruit, others shade, others homes for little creatures. The sun and the moon were good to give light and seasons and the pull of the tides and cycles of fertility. The balance of the two kinds of light offered some guidance and safety during the night, but the ability to rest, while giving us the full benefits of the sun to give warmth and energy, to give us vitamins, to evaporate water and melt snow. And all the kinds of creatures were called good. We’re still discovering new species. Each has a purpose and a job to do. Bees pollinate, birds carry seeds, predators keep rodent populations under control. And all these animals were given the actual first commandment, to be fruitful and multiply. And finally God created humankind.
Now some say that humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation, that all before was made for us. But each thing is called good on its own, before humans came on the scene. I would say that we are the most recent addition and as relative latecomers we should be respectful of all which came before. God blessed the birds and sea creatures, just as God did humankind. They have their own blessing from God apart from us.
Some say that we, as humans, can do what we want with plants and animals because God gave us dominion in the Bible and because we are bigger and stronger and smarter than they are. Yet, the kind of dominion God gives is not domination, but a caretaker roll of the good creation God made, to keep the balance and the good system that God put into place.
When I look at creation, I think of an artists’ masterpiece. It can tell you to a certain extent about the artist who made it—what is important to the artist, what is the message he or she wants to convey, what is his or her nature.
This account of Creation tells us that God has made this world and it belongs to God. It tells us that it is good in its own right. It tells us that God made balance and order for the good of us all. It tells us that God is concerned with the big picture as well as the smallest detail. It tells us that we have responsibility to help God keep it in balance. It reveals to us what we know from scripture and experience, that God is love and life. And if we received the gift of a fine work of art, we would want to put it in a place of respect in our home, display it and care for it and appreciate it. We wouldn’t want the artist to come looking for it one day and find it in tatters and ruined because we hadn’t managed it well. And finally, let us remember that we are but one part of God’s good creation, that our well-being is tied to the earth’s well being. We are part of the balance that God created and when we take more than our share of resources or think of ourselves first and foremost others suffer and humankind, future generations, vulnerable populations will suffer more and we may even end up destroying ourselves.
How incredible that God made all this beauty and balance! How incredible that God can be revealed in every mountain and tree, in every person, in every caterpillar or flea, in the sound of the rushing wind or the stillness of a meadow! How incredible that this amazing God came to take on our flesh and live a human life, fully in tune with God’s wondrous creation, without prejudice or preference, showing us how to let go of our selfishness to be bearers of God’s love to all God’s creation from the greatest to the smallest! How incredible that he died as we all must, but through that death he brings us to eternal life and connection and the ultimate purpose of God, to restore us all to right relationship and balance, give the fullness of life to all creatures, and to draw all Creation to God’s self.
1st Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Look around you. What a beautiful setting we have to worship God! I think those who designed this church were so wise to put in windows so we could see the marvelous works of God all around us. We’ve got a view of Mt. Hood if we want. We can see so many trees. Birds and squirrels make their home on this property. Listen to the birds singing. Just last week at coffee hour a deer walked across the churchyard. I hope you paid attention to the beauty of this place that we live as you made your way here this morning. I love the smell of the morning air and when I drive up here, I am greeted by flowers and trees and green and wildlife. I would agree this is good. God’s good creation is all around us revealing to us who God is and what God wants for us.
Over the years some pastors and theologians have put a barrier between believers and God’s good creation because they feared we would practice pagan religion and start worshipping the trees and deer and birds and sun. And I am not that fond of the idea of “Spiritual but not Religious” as if all that matters is me out in a forest or near a stream. I think that community matters a lot, to provide checks and balances, to show that it isn’t all about me, and to provide support when life is difficult. But I do believe that we can find God in Creation and know God through our experiences with Creation, including the other humans God made. Creation is one of God’s primary revelations to us, God’s way of showing us how much God loves us, God’s way of showing us what it means to have responsibility and care for one another.
Creation shows us just how big and majestic God is. When we see that mountain, with snow lit by the sun, we stand in awe of God who made this universe, who stood watch as the plates of the earth shifted and a volcano was born and grew into this mountain. When we drive along the Columbia River Gorge, we stand in awe of God who brings this water down from the mountains, all this melted snow and rain gathering to flow so wide and deep through our land, giving life to salmon and sea lions and people and mosquitoes. It is amazing and huge to behold. What a system of flowing life! What a way of distributing water to all who need it without prejudice!
Creation shows us how God pays attention to the smallest detail and forms each and every creature with love and care. At Synod Assembly this year, I was feeling all cooped up. So when we had a break, I took a walk around the hotel. As I walked along, I saw a little caterpillar going along the pavement in the parking lot. I stopped and picked up a leaf, put it in front of the caterpillar and eventually got it to crawl up on the leaf. Then I transferred the caterpillar to the relative safety and comfort of the bushes. Here we were gathered at the Assembly, listening to reports, having discussions, eating together, making decision, and yet all the while, here was this caterpillar living its life, trying to survive, to make it to safer ground. It was something small, but I could see the hand of God in it. Its legs all moved together. It was covered in orange hairs. It’s markings were as beautiful as any of the quilts or artwork displayed in the assembly. The Bible tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our heads and not only our heads, but this caterpillar’s body as well.
Each part of God’s creation is noticed by God and called “good.” Each part has intrinsic value on its own, before it ever had use for humans. The light on its own was good. The balance of night and day is good for our planet, for our growing cycles, for creatures who need times of activity as well as rest. The water and the dry land were both good. The balance between them was important for the development of life, for the diversity of creatures that God had in mind. The distribution of the water was good for the flourishing of all living things. The plants of all kinds were good. Some produced fruit, others shade, others homes for little creatures. The sun and the moon were good to give light and seasons and the pull of the tides and cycles of fertility. The balance of the two kinds of light offered some guidance and safety during the night, but the ability to rest, while giving us the full benefits of the sun to give warmth and energy, to give us vitamins, to evaporate water and melt snow. And all the kinds of creatures were called good. We’re still discovering new species. Each has a purpose and a job to do. Bees pollinate, birds carry seeds, predators keep rodent populations under control. And all these animals were given the actual first commandment, to be fruitful and multiply. And finally God created humankind.
Now some say that humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation, that all before was made for us. But each thing is called good on its own, before humans came on the scene. I would say that we are the most recent addition and as relative latecomers we should be respectful of all which came before. God blessed the birds and sea creatures, just as God did humankind. They have their own blessing from God apart from us.
Some say that we, as humans, can do what we want with plants and animals because God gave us dominion in the Bible and because we are bigger and stronger and smarter than they are. Yet, the kind of dominion God gives is not domination, but a caretaker roll of the good creation God made, to keep the balance and the good system that God put into place.
When I look at creation, I think of an artists’ masterpiece. It can tell you to a certain extent about the artist who made it—what is important to the artist, what is the message he or she wants to convey, what is his or her nature.
This account of Creation tells us that God has made this world and it belongs to God. It tells us that it is good in its own right. It tells us that God made balance and order for the good of us all. It tells us that God is concerned with the big picture as well as the smallest detail. It tells us that we have responsibility to help God keep it in balance. It reveals to us what we know from scripture and experience, that God is love and life. And if we received the gift of a fine work of art, we would want to put it in a place of respect in our home, display it and care for it and appreciate it. We wouldn’t want the artist to come looking for it one day and find it in tatters and ruined because we hadn’t managed it well. And finally, let us remember that we are but one part of God’s good creation, that our well-being is tied to the earth’s well being. We are part of the balance that God created and when we take more than our share of resources or think of ourselves first and foremost others suffer and humankind, future generations, vulnerable populations will suffer more and we may even end up destroying ourselves.
How incredible that God made all this beauty and balance! How incredible that God can be revealed in every mountain and tree, in every person, in every caterpillar or flea, in the sound of the rushing wind or the stillness of a meadow! How incredible that this amazing God came to take on our flesh and live a human life, fully in tune with God’s wondrous creation, without prejudice or preference, showing us how to let go of our selfishness to be bearers of God’s love to all God’s creation from the greatest to the smallest! How incredible that he died as we all must, but through that death he brings us to eternal life and connection and the ultimate purpose of God, to restore us all to right relationship and balance, give the fullness of life to all creatures, and to draw all Creation to God’s self.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
June 8, 2014
Gospel: John 20:19-23
1st Reading: Acts 2:1-21
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
When I was Graduating from High School, our class song was “It’s the End of the World as we Know It (And I feel fine).” It is basically a stream of consciousness list until you get to the chorus, which is just the title of the song repeated over and over. That song has been running through my head.
The theme of “Endings and Beginnings” has been with me all week. It started with the news that Auntie Mae had passed away. I remember her from the day I came to this church, sitting downstairs with the sewers, sitting in the back pew, laughing and visiting with friends here. Beginnings and endings come to mind as I am anticipating Mildred’s death as she is placed on hospice. She’s a charter member here, part of King of Kings for almost 50 years, since the very beginning. I think of where she sat. She went to the second service because she didn’t like to get up too early. The way she always expressed appreciation, always noticed and thanked people for the things they did whether big or little. I also attended my nephew’s graduation on Friday. I was there at his birth, so amazed to see a person come into this world. I played with him as a baby, looked after him the day his sister was born, listened to him tell me how to drive when he was 4 years old, watched him grow up into this young man, trumpet player, valedictorian. Beginnings and endings. It is the theme of the week.
In the Acts Reading this morning, it is the ending of 50 days. Pentecost has the word “pente” meaning 5, like pentagram has 5 points. It is the end of Jesus’ physical time on earth. He is about to ascend to heaven and leave the Disciples. It is also the end of the tower of Babel story that you might remember from Bible School, that explained how we all got speaking different languages and couldn’t understand each other anymore. It was part of the “last days” prophecy from Joel. This was a time when everything the followers of Jesus knew would change.
In 1 Corinthians, this is the end of divisions. This is the end of selfishness and individualism. This is the end of hierarchy and holding power one over the other. This is the end of pride, because only God gets the credit for giving everyone gifts that are good for the whole group.
In the Gospel, this is the beginning of the end of the paralyzing fear of the disciples. This is the end of death. This is all about ending.
With all endings, there is grief. There is letting go. There is the unknown toward which we step. There is pain, anticipation, reviewing life up to that point, assessing next steps, discerning where to go from here. There is relief. There is release.
When something ends, there is a release of energy. All the time and effort and energy that went into the old, is then freed up to be put to use in a new way.
Sometimes we make that transition smoothly from the end of one thing to the beginning of another. Sometimes it is clear where to put that energy and time. Sometimes the transition is messier. It would seem God does not have a problem with messy.
In Acts, the new energy released went first to the Disciples. It gave them the ability to communicate with people of all nationalities and languages. These people caught the energy of the Holy Spirit, too. The promise was that it would go out even further, to family members not present, to the next generation, to elderly people, to the lower classes, and even to slaves. Everyone would receive this fire, this energy, this life. Everyone would have the chance to hear about God’s deeds of power and experience them, first hand. Everyone would be saved, that is everyone would have the experience of the health and wholeness that God offers.
The transition, this beginning wasn’t just for the Disciples, it was for all people and all creation. It was energy and warmth and light and life for all people, all nations, all genders, all economic groups. It was the beginning of hope. It was the beginning of true community. It was the beginning of understanding each other and communicating with each other. And it was windy and it was loud and it was dramatic.
Not everybody liked it. Some scoffed. Some sneered. They were probably scared. Or maybe they were just jealous.
Today we celebrate the Birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came among us so that we could become the body of Christ for the world. Do you take your Birthday as an opportunity to reflect? We look back at all our endings and beginnings, those first steps of the early church, the mistakes Christians have made throughout our history, our dismay at what some of the members of the body still do that causes damage, the times we have responded well to emergencies and human need, all that we’ve learned, the times of rapid growth and other times when we’ve felt our advanced age. We ask ourselves what we need to let go of, as a congregation, as a church, as a Christian. What needs to end to free up new life and energy to begin something else? What needs to die so that something wild and unknown can be born, so that the Spirit can be released and freed to move in new ways? Do we have the faith to let go and place our future in God’s hands to guide us through our transitions to new life?
After meeting with Auntie Mae’s daughter on Wednesday, I came back to the church with 3 coats for JOIN, several Bibles to give away, and a hymnal. She is no longer walking with us on this part of the journey, but some of her things were released back into the neighborhood to help other people. The stories of her life give us energy and motivation to follow our life path of faith through good times and difficult ones. She never expected to outlive her nieces Judith, or Darelyn, or Jackie. She didn’t expect that she would have to give up cooking, or gardening, or pinochle or the other things she loved. Yet she held on to her faith, praying for people around her and ministering to them the best she could. And Mildred: She reminds me to thank people. She had a thank you note or a compliment to give every single week she was here—and there were years she never missed church. The way she cared for her sister will always remind us to help and care for people in need. What seems like an ending, is only another beginning of new life for them and a chance to look over what has been so far, let go of what we don’t need to cling to anymore, reassess the future, and take leap of faith, knowing that the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God will take us places we didn’t expect, but places of blessing, and healing and wholeness and power. My nephew will start at Pacific University this fall, a new chapter, a new beginning in a young life.
Daily, hourly, every moment, something is ending. Daily, hourly, something is beginning. May we learn individually what needs to die and to end, what we need to let go of. May we as a church let go of what has to die that Christ’s love and grace may be shared and experienced. May we stand in those transitions and let the wind of the Holy Spirit blow, as messy and fiery as it is, until God shows us how to proceed.
May new life spring up for us as it did for Christ. May we know the power of the resurrection, daily and may the power of the Holy Spirit envelop the whole world so that new life my flourish for all.
1st Reading: Acts 2:1-21
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
When I was Graduating from High School, our class song was “It’s the End of the World as we Know It (And I feel fine).” It is basically a stream of consciousness list until you get to the chorus, which is just the title of the song repeated over and over. That song has been running through my head.
The theme of “Endings and Beginnings” has been with me all week. It started with the news that Auntie Mae had passed away. I remember her from the day I came to this church, sitting downstairs with the sewers, sitting in the back pew, laughing and visiting with friends here. Beginnings and endings come to mind as I am anticipating Mildred’s death as she is placed on hospice. She’s a charter member here, part of King of Kings for almost 50 years, since the very beginning. I think of where she sat. She went to the second service because she didn’t like to get up too early. The way she always expressed appreciation, always noticed and thanked people for the things they did whether big or little. I also attended my nephew’s graduation on Friday. I was there at his birth, so amazed to see a person come into this world. I played with him as a baby, looked after him the day his sister was born, listened to him tell me how to drive when he was 4 years old, watched him grow up into this young man, trumpet player, valedictorian. Beginnings and endings. It is the theme of the week.
In the Acts Reading this morning, it is the ending of 50 days. Pentecost has the word “pente” meaning 5, like pentagram has 5 points. It is the end of Jesus’ physical time on earth. He is about to ascend to heaven and leave the Disciples. It is also the end of the tower of Babel story that you might remember from Bible School, that explained how we all got speaking different languages and couldn’t understand each other anymore. It was part of the “last days” prophecy from Joel. This was a time when everything the followers of Jesus knew would change.
In 1 Corinthians, this is the end of divisions. This is the end of selfishness and individualism. This is the end of hierarchy and holding power one over the other. This is the end of pride, because only God gets the credit for giving everyone gifts that are good for the whole group.
In the Gospel, this is the beginning of the end of the paralyzing fear of the disciples. This is the end of death. This is all about ending.
With all endings, there is grief. There is letting go. There is the unknown toward which we step. There is pain, anticipation, reviewing life up to that point, assessing next steps, discerning where to go from here. There is relief. There is release.
When something ends, there is a release of energy. All the time and effort and energy that went into the old, is then freed up to be put to use in a new way.
Sometimes we make that transition smoothly from the end of one thing to the beginning of another. Sometimes it is clear where to put that energy and time. Sometimes the transition is messier. It would seem God does not have a problem with messy.
In Acts, the new energy released went first to the Disciples. It gave them the ability to communicate with people of all nationalities and languages. These people caught the energy of the Holy Spirit, too. The promise was that it would go out even further, to family members not present, to the next generation, to elderly people, to the lower classes, and even to slaves. Everyone would receive this fire, this energy, this life. Everyone would have the chance to hear about God’s deeds of power and experience them, first hand. Everyone would be saved, that is everyone would have the experience of the health and wholeness that God offers.
The transition, this beginning wasn’t just for the Disciples, it was for all people and all creation. It was energy and warmth and light and life for all people, all nations, all genders, all economic groups. It was the beginning of hope. It was the beginning of true community. It was the beginning of understanding each other and communicating with each other. And it was windy and it was loud and it was dramatic.
Not everybody liked it. Some scoffed. Some sneered. They were probably scared. Or maybe they were just jealous.
Today we celebrate the Birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came among us so that we could become the body of Christ for the world. Do you take your Birthday as an opportunity to reflect? We look back at all our endings and beginnings, those first steps of the early church, the mistakes Christians have made throughout our history, our dismay at what some of the members of the body still do that causes damage, the times we have responded well to emergencies and human need, all that we’ve learned, the times of rapid growth and other times when we’ve felt our advanced age. We ask ourselves what we need to let go of, as a congregation, as a church, as a Christian. What needs to end to free up new life and energy to begin something else? What needs to die so that something wild and unknown can be born, so that the Spirit can be released and freed to move in new ways? Do we have the faith to let go and place our future in God’s hands to guide us through our transitions to new life?
After meeting with Auntie Mae’s daughter on Wednesday, I came back to the church with 3 coats for JOIN, several Bibles to give away, and a hymnal. She is no longer walking with us on this part of the journey, but some of her things were released back into the neighborhood to help other people. The stories of her life give us energy and motivation to follow our life path of faith through good times and difficult ones. She never expected to outlive her nieces Judith, or Darelyn, or Jackie. She didn’t expect that she would have to give up cooking, or gardening, or pinochle or the other things she loved. Yet she held on to her faith, praying for people around her and ministering to them the best she could. And Mildred: She reminds me to thank people. She had a thank you note or a compliment to give every single week she was here—and there were years she never missed church. The way she cared for her sister will always remind us to help and care for people in need. What seems like an ending, is only another beginning of new life for them and a chance to look over what has been so far, let go of what we don’t need to cling to anymore, reassess the future, and take leap of faith, knowing that the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God will take us places we didn’t expect, but places of blessing, and healing and wholeness and power. My nephew will start at Pacific University this fall, a new chapter, a new beginning in a young life.
Daily, hourly, every moment, something is ending. Daily, hourly, something is beginning. May we learn individually what needs to die and to end, what we need to let go of. May we as a church let go of what has to die that Christ’s love and grace may be shared and experienced. May we stand in those transitions and let the wind of the Holy Spirit blow, as messy and fiery as it is, until God shows us how to proceed.
May new life spring up for us as it did for Christ. May we know the power of the resurrection, daily and may the power of the Holy Spirit envelop the whole world so that new life my flourish for all.
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