Gospel: John 3:14-21
1st Reading: Numbers 21:4-9
2nd Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10
I've never been afraid of snakes. When I was a tiny little girl, my uncles used to find garden snakes and bring them to me to look at and touch. I think they might have been trying to scare me, but I thought they were fascinating. One small snake, I remember petting on my grandma's back porch, had two heads. Even in gardening class, snakes fall under the "Beneficial" title. They are not pests. They help out in the garden because they mice and eat slugs--two things you don't want around! Garden snakes might be helpful, however, poisonous snakes are another matter. If you get bit by a snake, this is a life-threatening emergency. Call 911! Don't stop and make a bronze snake and put it on a pole and look up and live. Go to the hospital, right now!
So why did God instruct Moses to make a bronze snake that people would look at? Why did God give them the training that they would later use to make the Golden Calf that they would worship instead of God?
Let's take a moment and think about snakes. They slither on the ground. They live in holes. They are very near-sighted and they see better at night. They are creepy because they have no limbs. They are creepy because they are quiet when they move, for the most part. They can sneak up on you. You don't even know they are there until you step on them. Then add the poison and it is obvious why people are afraid of them. We adopted our cat when she was a year old. I doubt she ever had an encounter with a snake. One day, Nick left his belt on a chair and she was sitting near it. He went to grab it and she freaked out. Her ears went back and her hair stood on end and she hissed. Something in her recognized the shape of a snake and something in her reacted to it. Animals and humans know, instinctually, that snakes are a threat.
But in the Old Testament Reading for today, the people were acting rather snake-like. And we all tend to do things like this. We might not like snakes, but we like to act like them. The Israelites were being led through the desert. They were supposed to go through the land of Edom. However, they got scared, so they went around. God knew better and tried to tell them which way to go. But they refused and they ended up sneaking around the people they were trying to avoid. That's how they ended up in this snake's pit. We can all be like snakes sometimes. We get sneaky. We think we know a better way. We like to keep our thoughts secret and our actions in the dark, because when they come into the light, they aren't so pretty. We are often pretty near-sited. And we do crawl along, pretty low to the ground, sometimes.
So what do you think happened when all these people started getting bit by snakes? They became very fearful. Every step they took was filled with fear. I would be willing to bet, they scattered. Everybody ran in every direction. And as they nursed their wounds and tended the sick, they started to blame each other and God. If you hadn't complained, if you had chosen a better route, if God had cared enough about us....They must have gone to a very dark place to believe that God would have done this to them.
So what is it about this solution of putting a bronze snake on a pole that is helpful? I think it may bring them together in one location. Those who had been scattered came back together. They were no longer isolated. They saw they weren't the only ones. They saw some were worse off than them that they could help. They saw beyond their problems to other people. The other part is that they looked up. They could no longer slither and sneak along the ground in the dark. They lifted up their eyes. Maybe they even found hope by looking up. Maybe instead of going into their own dark thoughts and suspicions, they saw the bigger picture. Maybe they even saw God with them in their situation.
God didn't send snakes to bite people who complained. Otherwise I would have a million more snake bites than the none I have right now. I was once bitten by a dog, but that's not the same thing. We know that snakes bite complainers and less anxious people, alike. What God did do was have compassion on all of us. For God loves us all so much, that God gave us the most amazing gift of all, God shared God's own self with us in the form of Jesus. And it wasn't God lording it over us, but becoming someone just like us, that we could look in the eye. God did this to bring us up from our normal snake-like situation, to lift us out of suffering and fear and crawling around in the dirt to see the bigger picture, that the life we live is for love and that life goes on forever.
Oh, how John 3:16 gets so misused to beat people over the head. Have you ever had this used against you to prove you weren't the right kind of Christian? We love sound bites. We love easy answers. Just give it to me in one sentence and I'll be satisfied. I'll use it to justify myself and prove I am better than other people and I'll use it to show that others are unworthy. It does say that belief is important! Is your belief the right kind of belief? Have you accepted Jesus Christ? Have you been born again?
Let me take a moment to break it down:
God loves--this is about God's compassion, mercy, and love. This is unconditional love. This is the most powerful force in the universe. To use God's name in an unloving way is to use God's name in vain, and you know you've heard that in the commandments somewhere! I'll give you a hint--don't do it!
God loves the world--humans, animals, plants, earth, heaven, stars, sun, sea, and all of creation.
That he gave his only son--a free gift, a healer, a teacher, a miracle worker, God's own presence with us.
That whoever believes in him--This is where we get stuck. How much belief is enough? What about people who never met Jesus? What if you say you believe, but you don't live a righteous life? What about newborn babies who never get the chance to believe? The word believe in German is "belieben" to belove. Whoever loves him, loves his way of unconditional love.. And more importantly, God believes in us, not some words we might say, like a magic trick because we are afraid of eternal torment. Our loving God has a beautiful, loving, peaceful plan for us, but we keep slithering around in the dark, afraid to look up and see God looking back at us, seeing us as we truly are, and helping to lift us from what we are used to, to a place of true peace and love. God looks on us with compassion, believes in us, beloves us.
Would not perish--this is about bringing us all back into right relationship, not pushing us away or causing us to be hurt
but have eternal life--this is forever.
And in case we still have the idea that this reading can be used as a weapon, the reading goes on, "For he did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him." God came in Jesus to accomplish the healing and restoration, the saving, of all the world, and God can do it! God will take us from crawling creatures who love darkness, to loving creatures who know how to look up, look to God, and find hope. Jesus came to fulfill the beautiful Isaiah prophecy about the child playing safely near the den of the adder. I know you'll recognize it because we read it at Christmas about God coming into the world in Jesus. Let yourself picture this promise of God. Visualize this world that is coming:
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the awe of the Lord.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Just as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up: Most children use the word "up" very early in their language development and even if they can't say it, they will let you know with their arms reaching. I still remember my boy demanding "up" to several of you! How powerful is that one little word. We all spend some time crawling around on the floor, whether we got there by our own fault, or we are injured or just not at the developmental stage to be able to get up any higher ourselves. Jesus came down to our level and saw things from our perspective. And God lifted him up--on the cross, as an example, on the throne, in the resurrection, in the ascension. He went where he was meant to go--up. And he brought us with him. He gave us the chance to see a little bit farther, hope more fully, connect more deeply with each other and all of creation. Now each of us look around and hear voices saying, "up!" It is our chance to reach out a hand to our brothers and sisters like Jesus did for us and help them to see the bigger picture, connect, and know they are valued and loved. And sometimes we find ourselves right back in that snake pit and we get to be lifted up again and again, by Jesus, through our neighbors, friends, and family until the day when we are all up and see clearly in the light of God.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Monday, March 9, 2015
March 8, 2015
Gospel: John 2:13-22
1st Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Psalm 19
A funny joke I heard this week: “If anyone ever asks, 'What would Jesus do,' remind them that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is within the realm of possibilities.” This brief episode of intense anger and violence seems out of character for Jesus, so we have to ask ourselves why he is so mad.
To find out the answer to that question, we can go back to the reading from Exodus this morning. We call this the Ten Commandments, but God didn't number them. There are a lot of commandments in the Old Testament. Here they are referred to as “words” God spoke.
They are words that remind the people where they came from and who they are. God starts by bringing the Isrealites to the beginning of their relationship. God is the “I am” who brought them out of slavery. That is the beginning and purpose of their relationship. God entered into their story to save them from slavery.
Then we get these words or commandments. These words are meant to ensure the freedom of this people. They have been freed by God. Now they must not do anything to infringe on the freedoms of others and they must not become enslaved again. They should not become enslaved to other gods, they should not become enslaved to their work or cause others to be, they should not take away the freedoms of others by killing or stealing or lying, or enslave themselves in the trap of wishing they had what their neighbor has. The Ten Commandments are a list of how to live in freedom and how to help others be just as free as we are.
Jesus is angry because the scene he comes upon in the temple is a system of slavery. The Temple is built to provide a place for people to know the freedom and nearness of God. Instead, here is this place of corruption and harm and enslavement. You shall have no other gods before me. Here in the temple they were changing out coins with Caesar's face on it for ones acceptable in the temple. The money changers were taking advantage of the poor. They were worshiping money and putting it before relationship with God. Originally the sacrifices were the first fruits of the field or young animals from among the flock. Now people found they had to purchase animals at the price set by the temple, after first losing some of that money in an exchange, just to feel right with God, close to God. The God who was so available during the exodus in the pillar of smoke or fire, was now distant and hard to find. There were so many barriers to contact and relationship with God. Furthermore, those in authority were making wrongful use of the name of the LORD—saying that God desired sacrifices, when it was the priests and scribes making money hand over fist in the system of sacrifice. They were stealing from the very most poor people in these transactions. They were bearing false witness by making people think this is what they needed to do to make God happy.
Jesus is angry. If any of you think anger isn't acceptable for Christians—here you have it, Jesus was angry. Anger has its place when all that God had done to free the people was being undone in God's name. Anger can be good when it motivates us to act on behalf of others who are being taken advantage of. Jesus didn't hurt anyone though. They might think he is going to hurt them, but the damage he causes is much deeper. He disrupts their activities, their system of oppression.
Jesus drives them from the Temple. He dumps all their profits on the floor and mixes them together. How will they ever sort it out? And he calls for the destruction of the precious Temple—the one that is still under construction. They haven't even enjoyed the full benefits of their renovations. Jesus wanted to destroy the Temple they had been working so hard on. Maybe this is a reflection that the Gospel writer, writing 60+ years later knew that the temple would be destroyed because he had seen it with his own eyes. Maybe this is a reflection that Jesus knows that the practices of the temple, slavery practices, practices that are against the values and commandments of God, will necessarily lead to its destruction as consequences of that way of living. Jesus knew the temple system had to go, because it was corrupt to its core. But Jesus knew that wouldn't be the end of having access to God. Instead, God's presence could be found in Jesus and after Jesus' ascension in all of us because of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The temple had to go. It was a corrupt system that brought people into slavery and further from God. Some people have experienced church this way. They've seen religion misused to manipulate and control people. They've seen people hurting each other in God's name. They see hypocrites in churches, there for show or to prove they are better than other people. It is important to remember that we don't need church to have a relationship with God. Thanks for coming today, by the way. For most of us, I would guess that we've found healing from the hurts that the church has caused us and recognize that any human institution is going to have its problems. And many of us have found that even though we can and often do volunteer on our own in the community and appreciate and worship God at other times of the week in other places, that it is helpful to have the encouragement and love that comes through a community of faith and a chance to practice the love and forgiveness that God teaches us about. God's presence doesn't come through a building or a system, but through Jesus and his presence in those around us, especially those we reject and are offended by.
It is comforting to think that even if our church walls came down, even as one who makes my living by serving and leading a church, that our faith would still go on and God's presence would still be known. In fact it can be kind of exciting to think about what church might look like, if done in a different way, in a different place. I know I could make my living fixing people's glasses, or providing pastoral care in another setting, such as a hospital. Someday, I imagine, the church will be completely different than it is now. It won't necessarily be better or worse, but worship and love of God will go on and Christian community will go on. I have to think that what is good will survive and what isn't helpful, what brings slavery or violates God's values and love will have to go.
Maybe it sounds foolish for me to be willing to give up my comforts and my career, at least hypothetically. Part of what I am trying to reconnect with in my upcoming sabbatical is that there is a person in here beyond the pastor that I have become. I am a whole person, even if I am not working in my job. I have needs and desires. I come from somewhere and I am going somewhere and most of that has very little to do with what I do for a living. I get to reconnect with who I am when I am not participating in this system, to be able to examine what is life-giving and what is bringing me and you into slavery, so that God can lead us into freedom.
Jesus drove out the system of sacrifice and then he became the sacrifice. He called for the destruction of the Temple and then he became the Temple. He took the system in place that everyone was buying into—that's just the way it is—and pointed out the foolishness in it and turned it on its head, inserted himself into the story in at the vulnerable point. If anyone was going to be placed into slavery because of the system of Temple sacrifice, it would be him. When it was the poor who felt the consequences, people felt they could blame the poor for their own condition, but when we see the consequences on God's own self, we must stop our foolishness. Now, in each unjust situation, we can no longer say, that's the way it is, or that person made bad decisions. We can only picture Jesus in that situation and ask ourselves if we want to participate in something that would damage our neighbor, our brother, the one who came to save and liberate us. We must then see that when we enslave others, we find ourselves enslaved and that is slavery is the opposite of God's intention and hope for us.
It is important to remember on this 50th anniversary of the Selma march, as we move toward the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation in 2017, as we notice unjust laws and practices of our own time, that we don't just accept them as the way things are, but we allow ourselves to get angry about them, to see the slavery that still goes on and speak out about it, so that Jesus can free people still in bondage.
When the Temple was physically destroyed and before that when it was revealed as the place of slavery it had become, Jesus offered himself as a permanent temple that would always be with us, in all places and times. Now we always know where God may be found, the Christ Spirit alive in all of Creation, to bring us all out of slavery into freedom.
1st Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Psalm 19
A funny joke I heard this week: “If anyone ever asks, 'What would Jesus do,' remind them that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is within the realm of possibilities.” This brief episode of intense anger and violence seems out of character for Jesus, so we have to ask ourselves why he is so mad.
To find out the answer to that question, we can go back to the reading from Exodus this morning. We call this the Ten Commandments, but God didn't number them. There are a lot of commandments in the Old Testament. Here they are referred to as “words” God spoke.
They are words that remind the people where they came from and who they are. God starts by bringing the Isrealites to the beginning of their relationship. God is the “I am” who brought them out of slavery. That is the beginning and purpose of their relationship. God entered into their story to save them from slavery.
Then we get these words or commandments. These words are meant to ensure the freedom of this people. They have been freed by God. Now they must not do anything to infringe on the freedoms of others and they must not become enslaved again. They should not become enslaved to other gods, they should not become enslaved to their work or cause others to be, they should not take away the freedoms of others by killing or stealing or lying, or enslave themselves in the trap of wishing they had what their neighbor has. The Ten Commandments are a list of how to live in freedom and how to help others be just as free as we are.
Jesus is angry because the scene he comes upon in the temple is a system of slavery. The Temple is built to provide a place for people to know the freedom and nearness of God. Instead, here is this place of corruption and harm and enslavement. You shall have no other gods before me. Here in the temple they were changing out coins with Caesar's face on it for ones acceptable in the temple. The money changers were taking advantage of the poor. They were worshiping money and putting it before relationship with God. Originally the sacrifices were the first fruits of the field or young animals from among the flock. Now people found they had to purchase animals at the price set by the temple, after first losing some of that money in an exchange, just to feel right with God, close to God. The God who was so available during the exodus in the pillar of smoke or fire, was now distant and hard to find. There were so many barriers to contact and relationship with God. Furthermore, those in authority were making wrongful use of the name of the LORD—saying that God desired sacrifices, when it was the priests and scribes making money hand over fist in the system of sacrifice. They were stealing from the very most poor people in these transactions. They were bearing false witness by making people think this is what they needed to do to make God happy.
Jesus is angry. If any of you think anger isn't acceptable for Christians—here you have it, Jesus was angry. Anger has its place when all that God had done to free the people was being undone in God's name. Anger can be good when it motivates us to act on behalf of others who are being taken advantage of. Jesus didn't hurt anyone though. They might think he is going to hurt them, but the damage he causes is much deeper. He disrupts their activities, their system of oppression.
Jesus drives them from the Temple. He dumps all their profits on the floor and mixes them together. How will they ever sort it out? And he calls for the destruction of the precious Temple—the one that is still under construction. They haven't even enjoyed the full benefits of their renovations. Jesus wanted to destroy the Temple they had been working so hard on. Maybe this is a reflection that the Gospel writer, writing 60+ years later knew that the temple would be destroyed because he had seen it with his own eyes. Maybe this is a reflection that Jesus knows that the practices of the temple, slavery practices, practices that are against the values and commandments of God, will necessarily lead to its destruction as consequences of that way of living. Jesus knew the temple system had to go, because it was corrupt to its core. But Jesus knew that wouldn't be the end of having access to God. Instead, God's presence could be found in Jesus and after Jesus' ascension in all of us because of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The temple had to go. It was a corrupt system that brought people into slavery and further from God. Some people have experienced church this way. They've seen religion misused to manipulate and control people. They've seen people hurting each other in God's name. They see hypocrites in churches, there for show or to prove they are better than other people. It is important to remember that we don't need church to have a relationship with God. Thanks for coming today, by the way. For most of us, I would guess that we've found healing from the hurts that the church has caused us and recognize that any human institution is going to have its problems. And many of us have found that even though we can and often do volunteer on our own in the community and appreciate and worship God at other times of the week in other places, that it is helpful to have the encouragement and love that comes through a community of faith and a chance to practice the love and forgiveness that God teaches us about. God's presence doesn't come through a building or a system, but through Jesus and his presence in those around us, especially those we reject and are offended by.
It is comforting to think that even if our church walls came down, even as one who makes my living by serving and leading a church, that our faith would still go on and God's presence would still be known. In fact it can be kind of exciting to think about what church might look like, if done in a different way, in a different place. I know I could make my living fixing people's glasses, or providing pastoral care in another setting, such as a hospital. Someday, I imagine, the church will be completely different than it is now. It won't necessarily be better or worse, but worship and love of God will go on and Christian community will go on. I have to think that what is good will survive and what isn't helpful, what brings slavery or violates God's values and love will have to go.
Maybe it sounds foolish for me to be willing to give up my comforts and my career, at least hypothetically. Part of what I am trying to reconnect with in my upcoming sabbatical is that there is a person in here beyond the pastor that I have become. I am a whole person, even if I am not working in my job. I have needs and desires. I come from somewhere and I am going somewhere and most of that has very little to do with what I do for a living. I get to reconnect with who I am when I am not participating in this system, to be able to examine what is life-giving and what is bringing me and you into slavery, so that God can lead us into freedom.
Jesus drove out the system of sacrifice and then he became the sacrifice. He called for the destruction of the Temple and then he became the Temple. He took the system in place that everyone was buying into—that's just the way it is—and pointed out the foolishness in it and turned it on its head, inserted himself into the story in at the vulnerable point. If anyone was going to be placed into slavery because of the system of Temple sacrifice, it would be him. When it was the poor who felt the consequences, people felt they could blame the poor for their own condition, but when we see the consequences on God's own self, we must stop our foolishness. Now, in each unjust situation, we can no longer say, that's the way it is, or that person made bad decisions. We can only picture Jesus in that situation and ask ourselves if we want to participate in something that would damage our neighbor, our brother, the one who came to save and liberate us. We must then see that when we enslave others, we find ourselves enslaved and that is slavery is the opposite of God's intention and hope for us.
It is important to remember on this 50th anniversary of the Selma march, as we move toward the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation in 2017, as we notice unjust laws and practices of our own time, that we don't just accept them as the way things are, but we allow ourselves to get angry about them, to see the slavery that still goes on and speak out about it, so that Jesus can free people still in bondage.
When the Temple was physically destroyed and before that when it was revealed as the place of slavery it had become, Jesus offered himself as a permanent temple that would always be with us, in all places and times. Now we always know where God may be found, the Christ Spirit alive in all of Creation, to bring us all out of slavery into freedom.
Monday, March 2, 2015
March 1, 2015
Gospel: Mark 8:31-38
1st Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
2nd Reading: Romans 4:13-25
When I was 18 or 19 I had a job interview to be a substitute teacher's aid in the preschool of my home congregation. One of the questions they asked me was who was my hero and why. I wracked my brain. The only person I could think of was our previous pastor, but I thought they would think I was telling them what they wanted to hear. I couldn't think of anyone else. I didn't get that job, although I am sure a single question didn't sink me. But I decided at that moment that I needed to get a hero in case I was ever asked that question again. And I did. I read about three books on Eleanor Roosevelt and she fit the bill. Unfortunately, I have never faced that interview question again, but the effort I put into finding a heroine wasn't wasted. I learned about someone who overcame adversity, stayed true to who she was despite tremendous pressure, and loved very deeply. She's been an inspiration to me ever since.
It is hard to have a hero, because we know too much about people. The paparazzi are taking pictures and the tabloids are waiting to use photoshop to make them look either enormous or anorexic. So and so are getting a divorce and so and so cheated and on and on. We find out about their failings, even if they did wonderful things in their lives. I remember how shocked I was when I found out about the indiscretions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and JFK. I was sad to see Governor Kitzhaber leaving office last month under a cloud of scandal because I think he has been doing a lot of good for our state. However, it ought to be obvious to politicians that when they do things that are unethical, even if they feel they are doing it for the right reasons, they are likely going to get caught.
With our culture being so hungry for the “Gotcha” story, catching a new celebrity or politician in the latest scandal, we would think the Bible would be more widely read. It is full of fallen heroes, people who lacked faith, bumbling fools, and powerful people who lose everything.
Abraham is no different. To talk about him being faithful is pretty laughable. He tells a lot of lies. He doesn't really seem to trust God, but takes matters into his own hands. He lies about his wife and says she is his sister, putting her in a lot of danger. Even though God seems pretty clear that he will have a child through Sarah, he takes Hagar for his wife and has a child by her. For Paul to imply that Abraham is a hero in the reading from Romans, almost makes it sound sarcastic. “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body....” He didn't? He didn't seem hopeful or patient, to me. He just kept trying to do this his own way instead of waiting for God. Maybe I should give Abraham more credit. The Ten Commandments hadn't been written yet. How did he know what it meant to walk before the Lord and be blameless? “Where there is no law, neither is there condemnation.” He had these conversations and a relationship with God, and he seemed to disregard or forget what God told him to do.
Even Jesus has a life full of scandal. He is a bastard son, born out of wedlock. He eats with tax collectors and sinners. He heals on the sabbath. He is arrested. He receives the death penalty and is mocked, tortured, and killed in public view. Jesus broke human laws in order to be true to himself and to be loving to people who were normally rejected.
Both Abraham and Jesus were both figures whose lives were full of scandal. But Abraham received the promise of God and Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise.
Abraham, like Peter, had his mind set on human things. They both had expectations about timing and events and their own part in the story of how God would bless them. Abraham may well have gone by the motto, “God helps those who help themselves.” We also believe that human action is necessary to help make this world better and that God will work through out hands and feet to change the world. Abraham, too, took action to make sure that he would be the Father of many nations, like God promised. However, he was putting his mind on human things. He was thinking of himself.
Peter was putting his mind on human things. He wanted Jesus to stay with them and fulfill the hopes for the Messiah in the way he expected. He was thinking of himself. He may have been thinking of Jesus, too. He must have wondered, how could Jesus change the world if he was dead?
Abraham and Peter couldn't have been more wrong. But the fact that they were wrong didn't prevent God from blessing them. The blessing just came in an unexpected way, or maybe many unexpected blessings in many unexpected ways.
Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow him. My human mind says that just isn't going to happen. I'm not going to put myself at risk of death. However, the same word for cross is also stake. I remember staying with my mom the first time I went to the Bishop's Convocation pastor's conference at the coast. She went to work before I left the house and as I walked out the front door, I heard the dog barking, anxiously. I looked in the side yard and he had tangled himself in the rope he was tied up with. He had wrapped himself completely around his pole and had his leg stuck in the rope. It looked pretty uncomfortable. He was quite happy that I came to free him.
In the same way, Jesus comes upon us and we've tangled ourselves in our human ropes and chains. We've run around in circles trying to do everything we think we need to do. We get our leg stuck in our chain. We struggle to get free and just tire ourselves out and make it worse in the process. Well here comes Jesus. Perfect timing! And he notices that we are tangled. He has compassion and mercy on us. He untangles us. Not only that, but he trusts us enough to take off the rope altogether. Now we are free. Some of us will want to stick close to the pole, to the stake. But Jesus says, pick up your stake and follow him. Follow him from the safety of the yard into the unknown. It may be the unknown of helping a neighbor, learning something that is difficult, trying something new, changing priorities, taking a risk. That is what it means to put our minds on divine things. This is what God does for us. God could have stayed safe and warm and comfortable, but God created us unpredictable creatures to be in relationship with. God gave us free will. God gave us this world to take care of and live in. All these things mean risk to both us and God. They mean there are a lot of unknowns. Then God jumped in with both feet in Jesus and went through every scary and demeaning and joyful experience that we ever face to walk before us and be in relationship with us. This is a Godly thing to do, not because it is risky, but because it is loving. Loving is necessarily risky, especially because he was loving people no one loved, or only a mother could love and people who couldn't necessarily give him something in return. God loves us without any guarantee that we will love God or God's people or even know that we are loved. Now it is our turn to respond to that love and take a risk by loving God's children. This is what it means to take up your cross and to concentrate on Divine things. But I think loving is never a losing proposition, because even if we are not loved in return and even if we spend our love on people that don't appreciate it, that love is good for us, it makes us more fully alive and it makes this world better. That's what God experiences, putting so much love into this world and loving us and everyone. Many times we turn our backs and don't notice or acknowledge that love. But it isn't wasted, because love means that we are never alone, that we can always try again, that we are free to be ourselves and we are empowered to love those around us.
Abraham receives the Covenant this morning and Jesus comes to fulfill it. The amazing thing about covenant is that it is for all us fallen people. Some of us may be a hero to grandchildren and no where else. Maybe not even that. We are have all fallen short. We have all lied. We have all set our minds on human things. We have all been selfish. None of us is blameless. But that doesn't mean the promise isn't for us. It is exactly for people like us. The covenant sticks this many thousands of years later for the heirs of Abraham and those adopted into the family through faith and by our brother Jesus, because the Covenant isn't fulfilled by us, but by God. Abraham is not the blameless one. Peter is not the faithful one. We are not the faithful ones, but God is the faithful one walking with us, giving us everyday a new chance to walk before God, to converse with God, to put our trust and faith in God, to have patience, to let God work through us, to take risks, to put others before ourselves, to pull up our stake and get out of the yard to follow Jesus through death and into newness of life.
1st Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
2nd Reading: Romans 4:13-25
When I was 18 or 19 I had a job interview to be a substitute teacher's aid in the preschool of my home congregation. One of the questions they asked me was who was my hero and why. I wracked my brain. The only person I could think of was our previous pastor, but I thought they would think I was telling them what they wanted to hear. I couldn't think of anyone else. I didn't get that job, although I am sure a single question didn't sink me. But I decided at that moment that I needed to get a hero in case I was ever asked that question again. And I did. I read about three books on Eleanor Roosevelt and she fit the bill. Unfortunately, I have never faced that interview question again, but the effort I put into finding a heroine wasn't wasted. I learned about someone who overcame adversity, stayed true to who she was despite tremendous pressure, and loved very deeply. She's been an inspiration to me ever since.
It is hard to have a hero, because we know too much about people. The paparazzi are taking pictures and the tabloids are waiting to use photoshop to make them look either enormous or anorexic. So and so are getting a divorce and so and so cheated and on and on. We find out about their failings, even if they did wonderful things in their lives. I remember how shocked I was when I found out about the indiscretions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and JFK. I was sad to see Governor Kitzhaber leaving office last month under a cloud of scandal because I think he has been doing a lot of good for our state. However, it ought to be obvious to politicians that when they do things that are unethical, even if they feel they are doing it for the right reasons, they are likely going to get caught.
With our culture being so hungry for the “Gotcha” story, catching a new celebrity or politician in the latest scandal, we would think the Bible would be more widely read. It is full of fallen heroes, people who lacked faith, bumbling fools, and powerful people who lose everything.
Abraham is no different. To talk about him being faithful is pretty laughable. He tells a lot of lies. He doesn't really seem to trust God, but takes matters into his own hands. He lies about his wife and says she is his sister, putting her in a lot of danger. Even though God seems pretty clear that he will have a child through Sarah, he takes Hagar for his wife and has a child by her. For Paul to imply that Abraham is a hero in the reading from Romans, almost makes it sound sarcastic. “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body....” He didn't? He didn't seem hopeful or patient, to me. He just kept trying to do this his own way instead of waiting for God. Maybe I should give Abraham more credit. The Ten Commandments hadn't been written yet. How did he know what it meant to walk before the Lord and be blameless? “Where there is no law, neither is there condemnation.” He had these conversations and a relationship with God, and he seemed to disregard or forget what God told him to do.
Even Jesus has a life full of scandal. He is a bastard son, born out of wedlock. He eats with tax collectors and sinners. He heals on the sabbath. He is arrested. He receives the death penalty and is mocked, tortured, and killed in public view. Jesus broke human laws in order to be true to himself and to be loving to people who were normally rejected.
Both Abraham and Jesus were both figures whose lives were full of scandal. But Abraham received the promise of God and Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise.
Abraham, like Peter, had his mind set on human things. They both had expectations about timing and events and their own part in the story of how God would bless them. Abraham may well have gone by the motto, “God helps those who help themselves.” We also believe that human action is necessary to help make this world better and that God will work through out hands and feet to change the world. Abraham, too, took action to make sure that he would be the Father of many nations, like God promised. However, he was putting his mind on human things. He was thinking of himself.
Peter was putting his mind on human things. He wanted Jesus to stay with them and fulfill the hopes for the Messiah in the way he expected. He was thinking of himself. He may have been thinking of Jesus, too. He must have wondered, how could Jesus change the world if he was dead?
Abraham and Peter couldn't have been more wrong. But the fact that they were wrong didn't prevent God from blessing them. The blessing just came in an unexpected way, or maybe many unexpected blessings in many unexpected ways.
Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow him. My human mind says that just isn't going to happen. I'm not going to put myself at risk of death. However, the same word for cross is also stake. I remember staying with my mom the first time I went to the Bishop's Convocation pastor's conference at the coast. She went to work before I left the house and as I walked out the front door, I heard the dog barking, anxiously. I looked in the side yard and he had tangled himself in the rope he was tied up with. He had wrapped himself completely around his pole and had his leg stuck in the rope. It looked pretty uncomfortable. He was quite happy that I came to free him.
In the same way, Jesus comes upon us and we've tangled ourselves in our human ropes and chains. We've run around in circles trying to do everything we think we need to do. We get our leg stuck in our chain. We struggle to get free and just tire ourselves out and make it worse in the process. Well here comes Jesus. Perfect timing! And he notices that we are tangled. He has compassion and mercy on us. He untangles us. Not only that, but he trusts us enough to take off the rope altogether. Now we are free. Some of us will want to stick close to the pole, to the stake. But Jesus says, pick up your stake and follow him. Follow him from the safety of the yard into the unknown. It may be the unknown of helping a neighbor, learning something that is difficult, trying something new, changing priorities, taking a risk. That is what it means to put our minds on divine things. This is what God does for us. God could have stayed safe and warm and comfortable, but God created us unpredictable creatures to be in relationship with. God gave us free will. God gave us this world to take care of and live in. All these things mean risk to both us and God. They mean there are a lot of unknowns. Then God jumped in with both feet in Jesus and went through every scary and demeaning and joyful experience that we ever face to walk before us and be in relationship with us. This is a Godly thing to do, not because it is risky, but because it is loving. Loving is necessarily risky, especially because he was loving people no one loved, or only a mother could love and people who couldn't necessarily give him something in return. God loves us without any guarantee that we will love God or God's people or even know that we are loved. Now it is our turn to respond to that love and take a risk by loving God's children. This is what it means to take up your cross and to concentrate on Divine things. But I think loving is never a losing proposition, because even if we are not loved in return and even if we spend our love on people that don't appreciate it, that love is good for us, it makes us more fully alive and it makes this world better. That's what God experiences, putting so much love into this world and loving us and everyone. Many times we turn our backs and don't notice or acknowledge that love. But it isn't wasted, because love means that we are never alone, that we can always try again, that we are free to be ourselves and we are empowered to love those around us.
Abraham receives the Covenant this morning and Jesus comes to fulfill it. The amazing thing about covenant is that it is for all us fallen people. Some of us may be a hero to grandchildren and no where else. Maybe not even that. We are have all fallen short. We have all lied. We have all set our minds on human things. We have all been selfish. None of us is blameless. But that doesn't mean the promise isn't for us. It is exactly for people like us. The covenant sticks this many thousands of years later for the heirs of Abraham and those adopted into the family through faith and by our brother Jesus, because the Covenant isn't fulfilled by us, but by God. Abraham is not the blameless one. Peter is not the faithful one. We are not the faithful ones, but God is the faithful one walking with us, giving us everyday a new chance to walk before God, to converse with God, to put our trust and faith in God, to have patience, to let God work through us, to take risks, to put others before ourselves, to pull up our stake and get out of the yard to follow Jesus through death and into newness of life.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
February 22, 2015
Gospel: Mark 1:9-15
1st Reading: Genesis 9:8-17
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22
With all there is to do and remember in life, we all have different ways of reminding ourselves of our commitments and appointments. In the cartoons, folks tie a string to their finger. I've only seen this once or twice in real life. Other people write it on their hand. Many people have devices, electronics to keep lists and calendars to remind themselves. My favorite way to remember to bring something is to place it in the doorway, so I have to walk right over it. Sometimes I have three bags of things in front of my door. Probably not so smart for fire safety. I have only my self to blame the times I walk right over the thing I was intending to bring without ever seeing it!
Something makes me smile about God using a rainbow as a reminder never to flood the earth again. When I see a rainbow, it is always a reminder to slow down and appreciate the beauty all around me. All of a sudden it doesn't matter if I'm running late or I forgot something I was supposed to do. A rainbow is a good excuse for running late and a good reminder of the big picture what is most important in life.
Reminders are one way to try to be organized in a wild and disorganized world. Rainbows are a way of organizing and separating the light spectrum, but they seem such a wild expression. It is easy to see why a rainbow is such an important religious symbol. It's beauty is incredible. It doesn't last. It is mysterious. Wherever you stand, it appears differently and when you try to follow it, it seems to move. There is something very spiritual about a rainbow, in that it can't be touched or captured and that it has the potential to touch us so deeply and delight us at the same time.
There are a lot of wild things going on in the readings for today. Noah lives in a time of wild abandon, sin of every kind. It seems that God responds with a wild plan. Noah is to build an ark to house some of every kind of animal on the earth. He is to gather and organize and live among these wild animals on this ark for many months. In the film Noah that came out last year, they solved the question of how all these animals kept from eating each other by placing them under some kind of hibernating sleep. Wild flood waters come to the earth. What kind of seasickness would the inhabitants of the ark have experienced? What kinds of fears? What kinds of chaos in these waters?
Who knows what feelings would have come over Noah and his family as they stepped from the ark and saw the rainbow and began to understand the covenant that God was not only making with them but with all these wild animals they had saved? Were they relieved? Angry that their home had been destroyed with all its comforts, the land was a mess and all their friends had drowned? It sounds very lonely and sad to start over. Not something they would have chosen to do on their own. Maybe they were too exhausted to react at all. We know that God regretted this kind of destruction. Now this colorful bow that was like a bow and arrow, instead of being used as a weapon, would be placed as a symbol of peace in the sky to remind everyone that God wasn't about destruction, but new life.
We look at this story as part of the evolution of human thought about who God is. Earlier, more primitive cultures saw God as potentially destructive and punishing. As we started to develop a theology of a God of love, we spoke of God more as one who saves us and helps us. But rather than say that we were the ones who changed in our understanding, we say that God changed after regretting this act of destruction.
But this isn't the end of the Noah story. And it isn't the end when Noah dies or his sons have children. In 1 Peter we have a picture of our unconstrained, wild God coming to love and save even those who died in the flood, through Jesus' death and resurrection. Have you ever wondered what was Jesus doing after he died on Good Friday but before he rose on Easter Sunday? It says in our reading that he went to bring new life to those who had gone before and specifically mentions those who perished in the flood. 1 Peter says, “He went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey.” Those who perished are even saved through the power of Jesus' resurrection. They, too, can share in the new life he offers. God doesn't come to punish and destroy, but to reach out and heal and give new life.
Last week, Jesus was linked with Moses and Elijah on the mountaintop in the transfiguration. He gets their official endorsement. Today, he is linked with Noah. For Noah the rain fell for forty days and and forty nights. For Jesus, he was driven into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. Noah was surrounded by wild beasts in the ark. Jesus is with the wild beasts in the wilderness. Certainly both Noah and Jesus wrestled with their demons in that time. Noah being tested to even build the ark and then perhaps wondering if the waters would ever subside. Wondering if it was all a cruel joke, wondering about his own identity and what he was capable of, wondering who he would be when it was all over. And Jesus, tempted by Satan, having just been told that he is God's beloved Son, wondering what that means, being tempted to use that power for his own gain and coming through with a much clearer picture of who he would be and what he was capable of when God's favoritism wasn't so obvious. Both of them had to wrestle with their demons to move forward on the path of faithfulness. And when Noah stepped from the ark, human kind was starting fresh and new, a clean slate. And when Jesus comes out of the wilderness, he called for a clean slate, a time of repentance, a statement about the nearness of God, and of faith and belief. Something new is happening with the arrival of Jesus, on the same level of everything being made fresh and clean after the flood, except this time, no one will be left behind. In fact it is even a deeper cleansing, in that it involves all creation for all time and a new start of this relationship between us and God in which God makes love known to all of us through the Beloved son, Jesus.
It is a pretty wild concept to include everyone and everything, past present and future, human and animal, a covenant for all time, not because of something we did or some standard we could never meet, but all being fulfilled through God's saving action of love in Jesus Christ.
One of our favorite books is “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendack. Max who is maybe 7 years old puts on his wolf suit and goes wild. One of the parenting books I've read tells me to think of my child as a cave man, in an earlier stage of evolution, and speak to him as if I were an ambassador from this world trying to communicate and explain this foreign land to him and trying to appreciate and understand where he is coming from. Max is being wild in this book, but instead of trying to understand him, his mother sends him to his room. Mothers do lose their patience sometimes. So Max sails off to where the wild things are. He has a wild rumpus with the wild things, but eventually he decides to go back to where someone loves him best of all. And it is clear he is still loved, especially when he gets back to his room and finds some hot dinner waiting for him.
We have our wild moments and we sometimes cross a line. Sometimes we need to be wild for a while, because it brings us experiences we might never encounter. We often learn something from our wild days. And when we are ready to come home to the one who loves us best of all, we find a meal of love and warmth waiting for us when we do repent and return.
God appreciates a little wildness. Sometimes we picture God, sitting primly on a throne. That looks pretty boring to me. Other times we picture God, wildly creative, bringing the world into being, as the Holy Spirit soaring and helping us to soar, knowing no boundaries and everywhere at once, loving with a love so wild that none will escape it. So let us join the wild rumpus that God has begun, and let down our hair as we celebrate the wild love of God on our lenten journey.
1st Reading: Genesis 9:8-17
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 3:18-22
With all there is to do and remember in life, we all have different ways of reminding ourselves of our commitments and appointments. In the cartoons, folks tie a string to their finger. I've only seen this once or twice in real life. Other people write it on their hand. Many people have devices, electronics to keep lists and calendars to remind themselves. My favorite way to remember to bring something is to place it in the doorway, so I have to walk right over it. Sometimes I have three bags of things in front of my door. Probably not so smart for fire safety. I have only my self to blame the times I walk right over the thing I was intending to bring without ever seeing it!
Something makes me smile about God using a rainbow as a reminder never to flood the earth again. When I see a rainbow, it is always a reminder to slow down and appreciate the beauty all around me. All of a sudden it doesn't matter if I'm running late or I forgot something I was supposed to do. A rainbow is a good excuse for running late and a good reminder of the big picture what is most important in life.
Reminders are one way to try to be organized in a wild and disorganized world. Rainbows are a way of organizing and separating the light spectrum, but they seem such a wild expression. It is easy to see why a rainbow is such an important religious symbol. It's beauty is incredible. It doesn't last. It is mysterious. Wherever you stand, it appears differently and when you try to follow it, it seems to move. There is something very spiritual about a rainbow, in that it can't be touched or captured and that it has the potential to touch us so deeply and delight us at the same time.
There are a lot of wild things going on in the readings for today. Noah lives in a time of wild abandon, sin of every kind. It seems that God responds with a wild plan. Noah is to build an ark to house some of every kind of animal on the earth. He is to gather and organize and live among these wild animals on this ark for many months. In the film Noah that came out last year, they solved the question of how all these animals kept from eating each other by placing them under some kind of hibernating sleep. Wild flood waters come to the earth. What kind of seasickness would the inhabitants of the ark have experienced? What kinds of fears? What kinds of chaos in these waters?
Who knows what feelings would have come over Noah and his family as they stepped from the ark and saw the rainbow and began to understand the covenant that God was not only making with them but with all these wild animals they had saved? Were they relieved? Angry that their home had been destroyed with all its comforts, the land was a mess and all their friends had drowned? It sounds very lonely and sad to start over. Not something they would have chosen to do on their own. Maybe they were too exhausted to react at all. We know that God regretted this kind of destruction. Now this colorful bow that was like a bow and arrow, instead of being used as a weapon, would be placed as a symbol of peace in the sky to remind everyone that God wasn't about destruction, but new life.
We look at this story as part of the evolution of human thought about who God is. Earlier, more primitive cultures saw God as potentially destructive and punishing. As we started to develop a theology of a God of love, we spoke of God more as one who saves us and helps us. But rather than say that we were the ones who changed in our understanding, we say that God changed after regretting this act of destruction.
But this isn't the end of the Noah story. And it isn't the end when Noah dies or his sons have children. In 1 Peter we have a picture of our unconstrained, wild God coming to love and save even those who died in the flood, through Jesus' death and resurrection. Have you ever wondered what was Jesus doing after he died on Good Friday but before he rose on Easter Sunday? It says in our reading that he went to bring new life to those who had gone before and specifically mentions those who perished in the flood. 1 Peter says, “He went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey.” Those who perished are even saved through the power of Jesus' resurrection. They, too, can share in the new life he offers. God doesn't come to punish and destroy, but to reach out and heal and give new life.
Last week, Jesus was linked with Moses and Elijah on the mountaintop in the transfiguration. He gets their official endorsement. Today, he is linked with Noah. For Noah the rain fell for forty days and and forty nights. For Jesus, he was driven into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. Noah was surrounded by wild beasts in the ark. Jesus is with the wild beasts in the wilderness. Certainly both Noah and Jesus wrestled with their demons in that time. Noah being tested to even build the ark and then perhaps wondering if the waters would ever subside. Wondering if it was all a cruel joke, wondering about his own identity and what he was capable of, wondering who he would be when it was all over. And Jesus, tempted by Satan, having just been told that he is God's beloved Son, wondering what that means, being tempted to use that power for his own gain and coming through with a much clearer picture of who he would be and what he was capable of when God's favoritism wasn't so obvious. Both of them had to wrestle with their demons to move forward on the path of faithfulness. And when Noah stepped from the ark, human kind was starting fresh and new, a clean slate. And when Jesus comes out of the wilderness, he called for a clean slate, a time of repentance, a statement about the nearness of God, and of faith and belief. Something new is happening with the arrival of Jesus, on the same level of everything being made fresh and clean after the flood, except this time, no one will be left behind. In fact it is even a deeper cleansing, in that it involves all creation for all time and a new start of this relationship between us and God in which God makes love known to all of us through the Beloved son, Jesus.
It is a pretty wild concept to include everyone and everything, past present and future, human and animal, a covenant for all time, not because of something we did or some standard we could never meet, but all being fulfilled through God's saving action of love in Jesus Christ.
One of our favorite books is “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendack. Max who is maybe 7 years old puts on his wolf suit and goes wild. One of the parenting books I've read tells me to think of my child as a cave man, in an earlier stage of evolution, and speak to him as if I were an ambassador from this world trying to communicate and explain this foreign land to him and trying to appreciate and understand where he is coming from. Max is being wild in this book, but instead of trying to understand him, his mother sends him to his room. Mothers do lose their patience sometimes. So Max sails off to where the wild things are. He has a wild rumpus with the wild things, but eventually he decides to go back to where someone loves him best of all. And it is clear he is still loved, especially when he gets back to his room and finds some hot dinner waiting for him.
We have our wild moments and we sometimes cross a line. Sometimes we need to be wild for a while, because it brings us experiences we might never encounter. We often learn something from our wild days. And when we are ready to come home to the one who loves us best of all, we find a meal of love and warmth waiting for us when we do repent and return.
God appreciates a little wildness. Sometimes we picture God, sitting primly on a throne. That looks pretty boring to me. Other times we picture God, wildly creative, bringing the world into being, as the Holy Spirit soaring and helping us to soar, knowing no boundaries and everywhere at once, loving with a love so wild that none will escape it. So let us join the wild rumpus that God has begun, and let down our hair as we celebrate the wild love of God on our lenten journey.
Ash Wednesday 2015
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
1st Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51:1-17
2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
There are three kinds of particles in soil that are categorized by size. They are sand, which is the largest, clay which is the smallest, and silt, which is in between. You can tell what kind of soil you have, if it isn't already obvious to you, with a simple test of taking a cup of soil from your garden and putting in a glass jar with a quart of water and shake it up. The sand settles quickly, within a minute or two. The silt settles within an hour, and clay can take a day or two to finally settle in the water. Then you can see the different kinds of soils by the layers in your jar.
I reflected on the size of the particles as I mixed the ash with oil today. Ashes for Ash Wednesday ought to be smearable onto someone's forehead, without too many large pieces falling into people's eyes. Ash is small particles. It makes for clay soil.
If you have a garden with clay soil, you may think it is the bane of your existence, because you want there to be spaces in your soil for roots to be able to permeate and because you need oxygen in there to make the chemical reactions happen in your soil that makes nutrients available for your plants. Clay is actually good to have in your soil, because water sticks to all the surfaces of a particle of clay. Clay holds a lot of water and your plants need that water.
Ash makes for really tiny particles in soil. Today we smear ourselves with ash and dust, consider where we come from and where we are going, and what really matters.
We smear ourselves with dust. This is a very ancient practice. I looked up the custom of using Ashes during mourning or repentance and this is what I found. The use of ashes to indicate mourning, deep repentance or humility goes back over three thousand years and involved many cultures. As early as 800 BC, Homer wrote about it in The Iliad, and records show that it was practiced by Greeks, by Hebrews and by many other cultures of the western Mediterranean. Ashes were regarded as a symbol of personal remorse and sadness.
There are many Old Testament references to the practice. Here are a few:
Job 42:6 "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job repented in sackcloth and ashes while prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem.
Dan 9:3 (c. 550 B.C.) "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes."
Jonah 3:5-6 In the fifth century B.C., after Jonah's preaching of conversion and repentance, the town of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, and the king covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the ashes.
Esther 4:1 "When Mordecai perceived all that was done [the decree of King Xerxes, 485-464 B.C., of Persia to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire], Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry."
Tertullian (c. 160-220 AD) wrote that the penitent must "live without joy in the roughness of sackcloth and the squalor of ashes."
Maybe, with the mark of the ashes, we can't pretend that everything is ok, when it clearly isn't. It is outward and visible and disturbing to have dirt on our faces. Other people see it. We are constantly reminded of it. But when we are in the process of repenting, that is what it is like on the inside. There is something that is smudged. It isn't a permanent character flaw or something that you can't forgive yourself for, but there is something to be working on that isn't right. It could be better and sometimes a whole lot better.
At Camp Odyssey, we often talk about cleaning our windshield. Driving through life we pick up dust and dirt and dead bugs, which is the racism and homophobia, and our prejudices we come into contact with in our lives. They obscure our view of the world and especially other people. Once in a while we need to stop and really see our windshield—how dirty it is. And then we need to clean our windshield. We need to decide that we aren't going to look at the world that way anymore and clean it off, see people for who they really are.
This is the way it is with all sin, not just the sin of prejudice. We are made good, but we get smudges and streaks as we go through life and we must stop at times to examine the dirt and ashes we have on us and organize a cleanup.
Dirt, dust, ash, it doesn't have a positive or negative value. Soil is necessary for life, to feed plants, for roots to grow in, to provide nutrients. It is just when it gets where it isn't supposed to that we think of it as bad. When it is on us, we want to wash ourselves. When it is in our house, we want to sweep it up, because we prefer order and predictability.
Dirt doesn't lend itself to predictability. There are so many amazing things in there. Not in this ash that I am giving you tonight. It has been burned. It has been purified by fire. This ash doesn't have all the properties that soil has, all the microbes and insects and so forth. But this ash will go back to the soil. Some will brush off of you and the carbon will join with other elements to make new compounds in the soil. Plants and insects and microbes will feed on it and turn it into other things. With soil, nothing stays the same for long. There are always new things going on in there and that is a good thing, because if that kind of thing every quit going on, life would cease to exist for us on earth.
The ashes and dust tonight are a reminder of where we come from, that God fashioned humankind from the clay, those little particles coming together to make us, acknowledging that we are made of the same stuff as this. And someday, sooner or later, our bodies will go back to dust and be transformed into other creatures and soils and new life of other sorts. We come from somewhere holy, from elements and life created by God. We are loved by God, with all the smudges, the mistakes, the imperfections. But since we have the grace and new life of God and make ourselves so miserable, wouldn't we want to thank God for loving us, and make our own lives and the lives around us a little better by making a change, by turning from our sin and embarking on the new life God is inviting us to right now? That is the journey of lent. Finally, we are going somewhere, our bodies and our failings are temporary, but our relationship with all other things in the universe goes on and is eternal. Sometimes we need to put a little smudge on our foreheads to remember what really lasts and matters, and live in a way that honors those connections.
From the broken pottery that we have become, God picks up our pieces and wets us in the waters of baptism, joining us together again, creating a beautiful mosaic, all people together, all living things united with God, giving and receiving life and giving thanks to the one who marks us with the cross at baptism and marks us again and again as members of one family united by love.
1st Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51:1-17
2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
There are three kinds of particles in soil that are categorized by size. They are sand, which is the largest, clay which is the smallest, and silt, which is in between. You can tell what kind of soil you have, if it isn't already obvious to you, with a simple test of taking a cup of soil from your garden and putting in a glass jar with a quart of water and shake it up. The sand settles quickly, within a minute or two. The silt settles within an hour, and clay can take a day or two to finally settle in the water. Then you can see the different kinds of soils by the layers in your jar.
I reflected on the size of the particles as I mixed the ash with oil today. Ashes for Ash Wednesday ought to be smearable onto someone's forehead, without too many large pieces falling into people's eyes. Ash is small particles. It makes for clay soil.
If you have a garden with clay soil, you may think it is the bane of your existence, because you want there to be spaces in your soil for roots to be able to permeate and because you need oxygen in there to make the chemical reactions happen in your soil that makes nutrients available for your plants. Clay is actually good to have in your soil, because water sticks to all the surfaces of a particle of clay. Clay holds a lot of water and your plants need that water.
Ash makes for really tiny particles in soil. Today we smear ourselves with ash and dust, consider where we come from and where we are going, and what really matters.
We smear ourselves with dust. This is a very ancient practice. I looked up the custom of using Ashes during mourning or repentance and this is what I found. The use of ashes to indicate mourning, deep repentance or humility goes back over three thousand years and involved many cultures. As early as 800 BC, Homer wrote about it in The Iliad, and records show that it was practiced by Greeks, by Hebrews and by many other cultures of the western Mediterranean. Ashes were regarded as a symbol of personal remorse and sadness.
There are many Old Testament references to the practice. Here are a few:
Job 42:6 "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job repented in sackcloth and ashes while prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem.
Dan 9:3 (c. 550 B.C.) "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes."
Jonah 3:5-6 In the fifth century B.C., after Jonah's preaching of conversion and repentance, the town of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, and the king covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the ashes.
Esther 4:1 "When Mordecai perceived all that was done [the decree of King Xerxes, 485-464 B.C., of Persia to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire], Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry."
Tertullian (c. 160-220 AD) wrote that the penitent must "live without joy in the roughness of sackcloth and the squalor of ashes."
Maybe, with the mark of the ashes, we can't pretend that everything is ok, when it clearly isn't. It is outward and visible and disturbing to have dirt on our faces. Other people see it. We are constantly reminded of it. But when we are in the process of repenting, that is what it is like on the inside. There is something that is smudged. It isn't a permanent character flaw or something that you can't forgive yourself for, but there is something to be working on that isn't right. It could be better and sometimes a whole lot better.
At Camp Odyssey, we often talk about cleaning our windshield. Driving through life we pick up dust and dirt and dead bugs, which is the racism and homophobia, and our prejudices we come into contact with in our lives. They obscure our view of the world and especially other people. Once in a while we need to stop and really see our windshield—how dirty it is. And then we need to clean our windshield. We need to decide that we aren't going to look at the world that way anymore and clean it off, see people for who they really are.
This is the way it is with all sin, not just the sin of prejudice. We are made good, but we get smudges and streaks as we go through life and we must stop at times to examine the dirt and ashes we have on us and organize a cleanup.
Dirt, dust, ash, it doesn't have a positive or negative value. Soil is necessary for life, to feed plants, for roots to grow in, to provide nutrients. It is just when it gets where it isn't supposed to that we think of it as bad. When it is on us, we want to wash ourselves. When it is in our house, we want to sweep it up, because we prefer order and predictability.
Dirt doesn't lend itself to predictability. There are so many amazing things in there. Not in this ash that I am giving you tonight. It has been burned. It has been purified by fire. This ash doesn't have all the properties that soil has, all the microbes and insects and so forth. But this ash will go back to the soil. Some will brush off of you and the carbon will join with other elements to make new compounds in the soil. Plants and insects and microbes will feed on it and turn it into other things. With soil, nothing stays the same for long. There are always new things going on in there and that is a good thing, because if that kind of thing every quit going on, life would cease to exist for us on earth.
The ashes and dust tonight are a reminder of where we come from, that God fashioned humankind from the clay, those little particles coming together to make us, acknowledging that we are made of the same stuff as this. And someday, sooner or later, our bodies will go back to dust and be transformed into other creatures and soils and new life of other sorts. We come from somewhere holy, from elements and life created by God. We are loved by God, with all the smudges, the mistakes, the imperfections. But since we have the grace and new life of God and make ourselves so miserable, wouldn't we want to thank God for loving us, and make our own lives and the lives around us a little better by making a change, by turning from our sin and embarking on the new life God is inviting us to right now? That is the journey of lent. Finally, we are going somewhere, our bodies and our failings are temporary, but our relationship with all other things in the universe goes on and is eternal. Sometimes we need to put a little smudge on our foreheads to remember what really lasts and matters, and live in a way that honors those connections.
From the broken pottery that we have become, God picks up our pieces and wets us in the waters of baptism, joining us together again, creating a beautiful mosaic, all people together, all living things united with God, giving and receiving life and giving thanks to the one who marks us with the cross at baptism and marks us again and again as members of one family united by love.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
February 15, 2015
Gospel: Mark 9:2-9
1st Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-12
Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
I remember visiting my pastor in his office when I was about 18 years old. I had been considering entering the ministry since I was 12 or 13. But it seemed like the magic was gone. I didn't feel as passionate about it as I had before. How could I recapture the spark? Did it mean that I should reconsider my path?
My pastor told me that faith was like a marriage—not something I could particularly relate to. He said when you first fall in love, you feel almost sick, can't quit thinking about the person, have all kinds of positive strong feelings about the person. And the newness wears off. But being head over heels in love wasn't better than the feelings that come with being someone long-term. Those later feelings were deeper and more realistic. While it might not be so exciting and would be boring at times, that kind of relationship could sustain a couple through many trying times.
My pastor was telling me that faith can be similar to a marriage. There are some moments of intense feelings and experience, and a lot of times of the day to day long-haul types of experience that can end up deepening our relationship with God and sustaining us in all kinds of trouble.
In life we have brief moments of glory and passion, but like Peter's experience on the mountain top, the cloud quickly overshadows us. Maybe, like Peter, we want to make it last, to stay there and live in that moment of bliss forever, but that isn't what life is for. I don't know if we see more clearly in those moments of bright clarity, or if it is such a bright flash, momentary and disorienting so that maybe it is the overshadowing cloud that is more real, when we learn more, when we grow more, when we are more likely to hear the voice of God speaking to us, when we are more likely to listen to Jesus and less distracted by the glory that we hope to gain for ourselves.
Listening is the key, whether we are talking about marriage or faith. And I tell you, listening will take us out of that glory and into the cloud. When we listen to Jesus, we listen to the poor and neglected. We're going to hear things that challenge us. This isn't someone telling us what we want to hear. This is stuff that is hard to hear, things about ourselves, about the reality of the world around us, and about our neighbor's experience, which is never quite going to match ours.
That doesn't mean the moments of glory are worthless. They can be very life-giving. They can energize us. They can give us a vision of what could be. For the Disciples on the mountain top, they were seeing Jesus as he truly is, full of light and warmth, glowing with love, glorious and beautiful. Yet the world was not ready for that. Powerful men didn't want to be outshone by some poor, homeless carpenter. They were tired of Jesus putting them in their place. They wanted to do whatever it took to put him in his place. The cloud was looming for the diciples. If they really listen to him, they will know that he will suffer and die. He's been trying to tell them. But this vision of his glory may sustain them for the journey. They see on the mountaintop, the end of the story. Knowing that, it may help them endure the coming trials they will face.
On Interfaith Advocacy Day, several of us went to Salem to talk with our legislators. Before we ever did that, we had a whole morning of education on the issues. I went to the forum on economic issues and there I got a picture of how things could be if we made our society more fair. As it stands now, it is standard practice for the lowest wage workers to experience wage theft—their tips being stolen, being expected to come in a half hour early without pay, being considered a contract employee when that clearly isn't the case. Some “Independent contrators” who were cleaning office buildings were making less than $3 an hour. This is already against the law, but there is very little enforcement. In the sessions, we got a glimpse of our state without wage theft—a more fair and glorious place to live, and one that we can all feel better about. Getting there is not going to be quick or easy, but now that we see clearly what has been going on and what needs to change, even though we enter the cloud of challenge and difficulty, we have this vision of how things ought to be that will sustain us.
In my Master Gardener Class, I am starting to get a vision of what could be if I can use scientifically proven information to make my garden better. We looked at a slide the other day at seeds that were started in regular potting mix next to those started in seedling mix. The difference was amazing. I got a picture of what could be if I changed even one thing about how I garden. That momentary glimpse at glory will sustain me as I either cough up the extra money for seedling mix or put in the manual labor to make it myself. I got that momentary flash of light, but I will soon be entering the cloud of listening, and hard work, and the challenge that lies before me. Having a picture in my mind of what could be will sustain me in the coming months and longer.
But I also think that maybe those moments of glory might not be that infrequent. Maybe Jesus was always like that, glowing and glorious, but it was only in that moment that the Disciples were able to see it. Maybe we can train our eye to look for those flashes of glory in every day life. There are people I know who have trained their eye to see those moments and appreciate them. One was Judith. Another is Betsy Belles. It might have been something in their upbringing, someone they met who taught them, but most people I know like this, have a discipline, they practice this way of looking at the world. They show us how to see the world in the same way. We are actually born to see the world in awe and wonder. But somewhere along the line some of us lose that ability—maybe it is like marriage. It isn't new or fun anymore or exciting in the same way, and we start worrying about what other people think. We can't go around everywhere “oooooohing and ahhhing” about every little rock or squirrel or fan or whatever it happens to be or people look at us funny. But isn't it great to have these little people around us, so that we can see through their eyes the wonders of this world and share in more of those moments of profound glory in a slug, in the grain of wood, in a flavor or color, or in a person we never would have noticed except these little people notice and remind us of the glory all around us that we take for granted.
If you have recently seen the glory of the Lord, if you have a vision of what can be and indeed what will be, let that vision sustain you, and take the time to listen. Listen to the pain of people and this land and let God transfigure this world through you to be the kind of world we want to live in and want for our children.
If you are in the cloud of confusion and doubt and boredom, know that God is still with you. And even though you may not be able to see them, many of your friends and neighbors are walking this path with you, trudging along from day to day, trying to hear God's voice and direction, trying to see through the fog, trying to make their way. This is a fine place to hone your listening skills, to learn to deal with disappointment, to find humility, and to build up your strength.
The really exciting thing here is, that even though Jesus tells the Disciples not to tell anyone, we know from this story that Jesus will be seen as he is. He will show up even after we put him to death, deny him, hurt him. He will show up in the poor and challenging people in our lives. He will show up teaching us how to serve. He will show up when we are confused or arrogant. Jesus is present and glorious and is our brother in glory. Although we will also go through many times of fear and pain, we also shine with the love of God and are part of his family. Now we get to go look for that glow in others, that glory, that beauty, that challenge, that hope. And we get to train our eye to see that glory—to hear it in a song, to taste it in communion, to know it in a handshake or a moment of eye contact, and to let ourselves hope for the future that Jesus had in mind when we would all know our connections with every other living thing, past, present, and future, and rather than struggle to hang on to one particular experience, that we would simply notice and give thanks, and listen for the next encounter with the holy in this moment and this moment and this moment.
1st Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-12
Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
I remember visiting my pastor in his office when I was about 18 years old. I had been considering entering the ministry since I was 12 or 13. But it seemed like the magic was gone. I didn't feel as passionate about it as I had before. How could I recapture the spark? Did it mean that I should reconsider my path?
My pastor told me that faith was like a marriage—not something I could particularly relate to. He said when you first fall in love, you feel almost sick, can't quit thinking about the person, have all kinds of positive strong feelings about the person. And the newness wears off. But being head over heels in love wasn't better than the feelings that come with being someone long-term. Those later feelings were deeper and more realistic. While it might not be so exciting and would be boring at times, that kind of relationship could sustain a couple through many trying times.
My pastor was telling me that faith can be similar to a marriage. There are some moments of intense feelings and experience, and a lot of times of the day to day long-haul types of experience that can end up deepening our relationship with God and sustaining us in all kinds of trouble.
In life we have brief moments of glory and passion, but like Peter's experience on the mountain top, the cloud quickly overshadows us. Maybe, like Peter, we want to make it last, to stay there and live in that moment of bliss forever, but that isn't what life is for. I don't know if we see more clearly in those moments of bright clarity, or if it is such a bright flash, momentary and disorienting so that maybe it is the overshadowing cloud that is more real, when we learn more, when we grow more, when we are more likely to hear the voice of God speaking to us, when we are more likely to listen to Jesus and less distracted by the glory that we hope to gain for ourselves.
Listening is the key, whether we are talking about marriage or faith. And I tell you, listening will take us out of that glory and into the cloud. When we listen to Jesus, we listen to the poor and neglected. We're going to hear things that challenge us. This isn't someone telling us what we want to hear. This is stuff that is hard to hear, things about ourselves, about the reality of the world around us, and about our neighbor's experience, which is never quite going to match ours.
That doesn't mean the moments of glory are worthless. They can be very life-giving. They can energize us. They can give us a vision of what could be. For the Disciples on the mountain top, they were seeing Jesus as he truly is, full of light and warmth, glowing with love, glorious and beautiful. Yet the world was not ready for that. Powerful men didn't want to be outshone by some poor, homeless carpenter. They were tired of Jesus putting them in their place. They wanted to do whatever it took to put him in his place. The cloud was looming for the diciples. If they really listen to him, they will know that he will suffer and die. He's been trying to tell them. But this vision of his glory may sustain them for the journey. They see on the mountaintop, the end of the story. Knowing that, it may help them endure the coming trials they will face.
On Interfaith Advocacy Day, several of us went to Salem to talk with our legislators. Before we ever did that, we had a whole morning of education on the issues. I went to the forum on economic issues and there I got a picture of how things could be if we made our society more fair. As it stands now, it is standard practice for the lowest wage workers to experience wage theft—their tips being stolen, being expected to come in a half hour early without pay, being considered a contract employee when that clearly isn't the case. Some “Independent contrators” who were cleaning office buildings were making less than $3 an hour. This is already against the law, but there is very little enforcement. In the sessions, we got a glimpse of our state without wage theft—a more fair and glorious place to live, and one that we can all feel better about. Getting there is not going to be quick or easy, but now that we see clearly what has been going on and what needs to change, even though we enter the cloud of challenge and difficulty, we have this vision of how things ought to be that will sustain us.
In my Master Gardener Class, I am starting to get a vision of what could be if I can use scientifically proven information to make my garden better. We looked at a slide the other day at seeds that were started in regular potting mix next to those started in seedling mix. The difference was amazing. I got a picture of what could be if I changed even one thing about how I garden. That momentary glimpse at glory will sustain me as I either cough up the extra money for seedling mix or put in the manual labor to make it myself. I got that momentary flash of light, but I will soon be entering the cloud of listening, and hard work, and the challenge that lies before me. Having a picture in my mind of what could be will sustain me in the coming months and longer.
But I also think that maybe those moments of glory might not be that infrequent. Maybe Jesus was always like that, glowing and glorious, but it was only in that moment that the Disciples were able to see it. Maybe we can train our eye to look for those flashes of glory in every day life. There are people I know who have trained their eye to see those moments and appreciate them. One was Judith. Another is Betsy Belles. It might have been something in their upbringing, someone they met who taught them, but most people I know like this, have a discipline, they practice this way of looking at the world. They show us how to see the world in the same way. We are actually born to see the world in awe and wonder. But somewhere along the line some of us lose that ability—maybe it is like marriage. It isn't new or fun anymore or exciting in the same way, and we start worrying about what other people think. We can't go around everywhere “oooooohing and ahhhing” about every little rock or squirrel or fan or whatever it happens to be or people look at us funny. But isn't it great to have these little people around us, so that we can see through their eyes the wonders of this world and share in more of those moments of profound glory in a slug, in the grain of wood, in a flavor or color, or in a person we never would have noticed except these little people notice and remind us of the glory all around us that we take for granted.
If you have recently seen the glory of the Lord, if you have a vision of what can be and indeed what will be, let that vision sustain you, and take the time to listen. Listen to the pain of people and this land and let God transfigure this world through you to be the kind of world we want to live in and want for our children.
If you are in the cloud of confusion and doubt and boredom, know that God is still with you. And even though you may not be able to see them, many of your friends and neighbors are walking this path with you, trudging along from day to day, trying to hear God's voice and direction, trying to see through the fog, trying to make their way. This is a fine place to hone your listening skills, to learn to deal with disappointment, to find humility, and to build up your strength.
The really exciting thing here is, that even though Jesus tells the Disciples not to tell anyone, we know from this story that Jesus will be seen as he is. He will show up even after we put him to death, deny him, hurt him. He will show up in the poor and challenging people in our lives. He will show up teaching us how to serve. He will show up when we are confused or arrogant. Jesus is present and glorious and is our brother in glory. Although we will also go through many times of fear and pain, we also shine with the love of God and are part of his family. Now we get to go look for that glow in others, that glory, that beauty, that challenge, that hope. And we get to train our eye to see that glory—to hear it in a song, to taste it in communion, to know it in a handshake or a moment of eye contact, and to let ourselves hope for the future that Jesus had in mind when we would all know our connections with every other living thing, past, present, and future, and rather than struggle to hang on to one particular experience, that we would simply notice and give thanks, and listen for the next encounter with the holy in this moment and this moment and this moment.
Monday, February 9, 2015
February 8, 2015
Gospel: Mark 1:29-39
1st Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23
“Those who wait for the LORD” consider a time in your life when you waited. What were you waiting for? What was it like to wait? How long did you have to wait? Was it worth the wait? Did you learn anything about waiting in the process? What are you waiting for now? How is God involved in your waiting?
“Those who wait for the LORD...(wait for it) shall renew their strength.” Consider a time you felt small and insignificant. What was it like? Consider a time you felt strong. What was the source of that strength? What did you do with the strength you found?
“Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Feel the initial pull as you mount up with wings of eagles, feel your feet leaving the floor. Feel yourself climbing into the sky. Feel yourself in flight, the weightlessness of your body, the movement through the air. Look at the world around you, the world below. What do you see? What do you experience? Where will you go with this new freedom? Where might it take you?
“Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary.” You find yourself running now. Feel your heart beating as you move swiftly. Feel all your cells fully alive. Where will your feet take you? Normally that would be limited by your energy, but your energy is coming from the source of all life and energy—from God. You are realizing there is no limit, no weariness coming. Instead you find you have the means to get from where you are now to your goal without becoming tired.
“Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” And so you slow to a walk. Before, you were moving too fast to take in the world around you. But now you slow down and you see the beautiful world around you. You smell the rain, the cut grass, the leaves decomposing, a whiff of smoke from someone's chimney. You hear the sounds of children on a playground, some music coming from a car nearby, a dog barking. You see other people on their journey. Some are weary and tired. Some need your help. Others are discovering a boundless energy like you, and picturing where they'd like their walk to take them. Since you find you can walk endlessly you have the freedom to choose anywhere you'd like to walk and the meaning of each step, the gift that each step can be to you or to another person. Each step is an awakening, an opening to the freedom that God offers. Each step an increase in awareness of God's healing power for you, for this earth, and for the people around you. Where will your next step take you? And the one after that? And the one after that?
1st Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23
“Those who wait for the LORD” consider a time in your life when you waited. What were you waiting for? What was it like to wait? How long did you have to wait? Was it worth the wait? Did you learn anything about waiting in the process? What are you waiting for now? How is God involved in your waiting?
“Those who wait for the LORD...(wait for it) shall renew their strength.” Consider a time you felt small and insignificant. What was it like? Consider a time you felt strong. What was the source of that strength? What did you do with the strength you found?
“Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Feel the initial pull as you mount up with wings of eagles, feel your feet leaving the floor. Feel yourself climbing into the sky. Feel yourself in flight, the weightlessness of your body, the movement through the air. Look at the world around you, the world below. What do you see? What do you experience? Where will you go with this new freedom? Where might it take you?
“Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary.” You find yourself running now. Feel your heart beating as you move swiftly. Feel all your cells fully alive. Where will your feet take you? Normally that would be limited by your energy, but your energy is coming from the source of all life and energy—from God. You are realizing there is no limit, no weariness coming. Instead you find you have the means to get from where you are now to your goal without becoming tired.
“Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” And so you slow to a walk. Before, you were moving too fast to take in the world around you. But now you slow down and you see the beautiful world around you. You smell the rain, the cut grass, the leaves decomposing, a whiff of smoke from someone's chimney. You hear the sounds of children on a playground, some music coming from a car nearby, a dog barking. You see other people on their journey. Some are weary and tired. Some need your help. Others are discovering a boundless energy like you, and picturing where they'd like their walk to take them. Since you find you can walk endlessly you have the freedom to choose anywhere you'd like to walk and the meaning of each step, the gift that each step can be to you or to another person. Each step is an awakening, an opening to the freedom that God offers. Each step an increase in awareness of God's healing power for you, for this earth, and for the people around you. Where will your next step take you? And the one after that? And the one after that?
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