Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39
1st Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-13
2nd Reading: Romans 6:1b-11
I have to say that once I read these scriptures I honestly thought about not preaching this Sunday and doing something else entirely. This is one of those Sundays when it is hard to say, “This is the Gospel of the Lord” and “Thanks be to God.” The readings cover themes of terror and abandonment, weariness, death, sin, slavery, fear, hell, foes, loss, and unworthiness. Maybe an evangelical preacher would be looking forward to a Sunday like this, but I have a tough time. Sometimes, when I struggle with a reading, I wonder to myself if Jesus really said this stuff. But this is one of those times I am pretty certain he did. I also don’t want to gloss over all the trouble in the Bible and just make it a nice, gentle, easy book to read. We are challenged in the Bible. We are challenged by Jesus. Part of the reason we are here at church is to be challenged. If we are going to be Christians, we are saying we want to follow Jesus. This means a change of direction, so we are going to have a changed life, we are going to encounter difficulties.
The Gospel, especially, this morning, challenges our sense of entitlement. We think that kids today feel entitled—they are lazy, they want to be handed everything, they are spoiled. But before we start pointing fingers at their sense of entitlement, we have to ask ourselves about the ways we feel entitled. I know I have felt a lot of frustration that I couldn’t work hard all summer and afford my college education on my income. The generation before me could do that. I have felt entitled to the same or more compensation than the previous generation. I feel entitled to my good health. I am young. I go to the gym and try to eat right. I take my health for granted and when I get sick, I actually get angry about it, especially when my toddler brings home an illness a month for 7 months in a row. Most of us probably feel entitled to having loving family relationships. We think we’re entitled to our possessions, as many as our neighbors and friends have. We think we’re entitled to a car for each driver. We may feel, now that we have a paid custodian, that we don’t have to pick up after ourselves here at church. We may feel that since we’ve been coming to this church for a long time that we should be entitled to the kind of music and bulletin and worship and coffee treats that we’re used to. And we may think that because we are good people, that we are faithful people, that we are entitled to an easier life, with as little suffering as possible.
But Jesus tells us this morning that life is hard. That’s the bad news. But we already know the bad news. We’ve already found out that life isn’t fair. We’ve been sick. We’ve lost loved ones. We’ve endured family arguments and the silent treatment. We’ve had friends abandon us and talk behind our back. We’ve endured abuse and divorce and adultery. We’ve had children and grandchildren with mental illness, drug addiction, disability and at times experienced it ourselves. But what Jesus is talking about is even more than that.
We call ourselves Christians. We are followers of Jesus Christ. We want to be like the teacher or at least associated with him. Now Jesus is telling his Disciples that their life of devotion may not be rewarded in the short term. To follow Jesus isn’t just to act in ways that he would, but is also to endure the consequences that he did, to face the cross. It is no longer WWJD, “What would Jesus do?” but WWHTJ, “What would happen to Jesus?” That’s what we could expect would happen to us. When we are followers of Christ, we challenge the power structures in place. We challenge the usual way of things. God’s Kingdom world collides with the unjust world we live in and there is direct conflict. Jesus promises that we will be on the front lines of that.
Jesus is teaching the disciples, preparing them for ministry. They know about healing and feeding people. So far, they have followed him and learned from him. Now, is the next step in their learning. They are going to try out what they’ve learned and they are going to do this ministry. Jesus tells them a few paragraphs earlier in this chapter, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” And in case their next question regards their hourly pay or yearly salary, he says, “You received without payment, give without payment.” Then he tells them not to take anything extra with them. Finally, he tells them that not only will they not get paid, they will suffer and experience hardship because of Christ and their faithfulness. Christ’s Disciples will follow him to the cross. They are not entitled to anything special, just God’s love and a place in God’s family forever.
This is about letting go of any sense of entitlement. This is about growing up. This is about getting a thicker skin. This is about developing self-differentiation, basically the idea that you know who you are and that no matter what others say about you or what they do to you, you stand firm by your values and act on them. This is about maturing in faith.
I am reminded of the song, “I will Survive.” This is a song about someone who has made herself vulnerable, given her love to someone, and experienced betrayal. Yet, a stronger sense of self emerges. The singer can let the experience drag her down and crush her. Or she can stand up and sing this “in-your-face” song about the person she’s become out of this hardship. She says, “As long as I know how to love, I know I’ll be alive.” Instead of feeling entitled to the love of the other person or entitled not to be hurt, instead of blaming the other person, instead of feeling fear and shame because her expectations haven’t been met, she sees what a strong person she is. She is a survivor. She has new life and new meaning. She is living in the resurrection.
There is good news here in these readings. When all these bad things are happening, when our faith leads us to the cross and we find ourselves betrayed and suffering, when we’ve lost everything, Jesus says do not fear. You do not need to fear because someday this tiny movement will grow and become much louder and stronger—“what you hear whispered, proclaim from the rooftops.” What is secret now, will someday be revealed and people will know what is really important. What is a small movement now will catch on and have a big effect on this world.
You do not need to fear because we are more than bodies and cannot be ultimately destroyed. Although people were being imprisoned and killed for their faith, God would never forsake them. Although we may face many hardships and challenges, God will be with us. God gives new life whether it is here on earth or in God’s realm and even in the memory and life of the community that learned and appreciated the sacrifice of each martyr.
Finally, we do not need to fear because God cares about us. Even if we never mattered to anyone else, we matter to God. And we matter to our community of faith. God is keeping track of us. God hurts when we hurt. God is adopting us into God’s family. We belong to God. One of our greatest fears is not to matter, but Jesus assures us that we do. We are all important. We all have gifts. God put energy and intention into making us the person we are and giving us new life.
When we lose our life for Christ’s sake, that is how life is experienced and truly discovered. How many times have you seen this at work? Maybe there was a time you quit worrying about what others thought and find yourself truly free to be yourself. Maybe there was a time when you realized you had a drinking problem and you had to let go of your pride and get some help, but you got a whole new life out of it. Maybe there was a time when you had to let your kids make their own mistakes and it hurt to see them suffering, but they eventually came through stronger. Maybe there was a time you thought you could do something all yourself, and you had to ask for help, and you realized that we are all connected and we need each other.
Sometimes as a person of faith, we are walking this path, following Jesus and wonder if it makes any difference at all. If I do the right thing, if I am kind, if I am loving, if I forgive, if I care for God’s good creation, what difference does it make? Paul puts it this way in Romans, “Should we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” In other words, “Shall I just keep going the way I have been because I can’t see it is making any difference?” He answers himself and those to whom he is writing, “By no means!” “No way!” he says. So what if you can’t see the immediate good results of your actions. You are not entitled to see that. God has a trajectory for this world and God’s way of love will win in the end. Will you let God’s way of love rule in your life and your decisions no matter whether the outcome is good or bad, less or more suffering for yourself? It is up to us to say that we will, because in the long-run it will mean newness of life for us and for others. Maybe only God will ever see what a difference it made. We have to let go of the outcome. In the face of suffering, “You will survive! As long as you know how to love, you’ll know you’ll be alive.” So let yourself love and come alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
June 15, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
1st Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Look around you. What a beautiful setting we have to worship God! I think those who designed this church were so wise to put in windows so we could see the marvelous works of God all around us. We’ve got a view of Mt. Hood if we want. We can see so many trees. Birds and squirrels make their home on this property. Listen to the birds singing. Just last week at coffee hour a deer walked across the churchyard. I hope you paid attention to the beauty of this place that we live as you made your way here this morning. I love the smell of the morning air and when I drive up here, I am greeted by flowers and trees and green and wildlife. I would agree this is good. God’s good creation is all around us revealing to us who God is and what God wants for us.
Over the years some pastors and theologians have put a barrier between believers and God’s good creation because they feared we would practice pagan religion and start worshipping the trees and deer and birds and sun. And I am not that fond of the idea of “Spiritual but not Religious” as if all that matters is me out in a forest or near a stream. I think that community matters a lot, to provide checks and balances, to show that it isn’t all about me, and to provide support when life is difficult. But I do believe that we can find God in Creation and know God through our experiences with Creation, including the other humans God made. Creation is one of God’s primary revelations to us, God’s way of showing us how much God loves us, God’s way of showing us what it means to have responsibility and care for one another.
Creation shows us just how big and majestic God is. When we see that mountain, with snow lit by the sun, we stand in awe of God who made this universe, who stood watch as the plates of the earth shifted and a volcano was born and grew into this mountain. When we drive along the Columbia River Gorge, we stand in awe of God who brings this water down from the mountains, all this melted snow and rain gathering to flow so wide and deep through our land, giving life to salmon and sea lions and people and mosquitoes. It is amazing and huge to behold. What a system of flowing life! What a way of distributing water to all who need it without prejudice!
Creation shows us how God pays attention to the smallest detail and forms each and every creature with love and care. At Synod Assembly this year, I was feeling all cooped up. So when we had a break, I took a walk around the hotel. As I walked along, I saw a little caterpillar going along the pavement in the parking lot. I stopped and picked up a leaf, put it in front of the caterpillar and eventually got it to crawl up on the leaf. Then I transferred the caterpillar to the relative safety and comfort of the bushes. Here we were gathered at the Assembly, listening to reports, having discussions, eating together, making decision, and yet all the while, here was this caterpillar living its life, trying to survive, to make it to safer ground. It was something small, but I could see the hand of God in it. Its legs all moved together. It was covered in orange hairs. It’s markings were as beautiful as any of the quilts or artwork displayed in the assembly. The Bible tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our heads and not only our heads, but this caterpillar’s body as well.
Each part of God’s creation is noticed by God and called “good.” Each part has intrinsic value on its own, before it ever had use for humans. The light on its own was good. The balance of night and day is good for our planet, for our growing cycles, for creatures who need times of activity as well as rest. The water and the dry land were both good. The balance between them was important for the development of life, for the diversity of creatures that God had in mind. The distribution of the water was good for the flourishing of all living things. The plants of all kinds were good. Some produced fruit, others shade, others homes for little creatures. The sun and the moon were good to give light and seasons and the pull of the tides and cycles of fertility. The balance of the two kinds of light offered some guidance and safety during the night, but the ability to rest, while giving us the full benefits of the sun to give warmth and energy, to give us vitamins, to evaporate water and melt snow. And all the kinds of creatures were called good. We’re still discovering new species. Each has a purpose and a job to do. Bees pollinate, birds carry seeds, predators keep rodent populations under control. And all these animals were given the actual first commandment, to be fruitful and multiply. And finally God created humankind.
Now some say that humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation, that all before was made for us. But each thing is called good on its own, before humans came on the scene. I would say that we are the most recent addition and as relative latecomers we should be respectful of all which came before. God blessed the birds and sea creatures, just as God did humankind. They have their own blessing from God apart from us.
Some say that we, as humans, can do what we want with plants and animals because God gave us dominion in the Bible and because we are bigger and stronger and smarter than they are. Yet, the kind of dominion God gives is not domination, but a caretaker roll of the good creation God made, to keep the balance and the good system that God put into place.
When I look at creation, I think of an artists’ masterpiece. It can tell you to a certain extent about the artist who made it—what is important to the artist, what is the message he or she wants to convey, what is his or her nature.
This account of Creation tells us that God has made this world and it belongs to God. It tells us that it is good in its own right. It tells us that God made balance and order for the good of us all. It tells us that God is concerned with the big picture as well as the smallest detail. It tells us that we have responsibility to help God keep it in balance. It reveals to us what we know from scripture and experience, that God is love and life. And if we received the gift of a fine work of art, we would want to put it in a place of respect in our home, display it and care for it and appreciate it. We wouldn’t want the artist to come looking for it one day and find it in tatters and ruined because we hadn’t managed it well. And finally, let us remember that we are but one part of God’s good creation, that our well-being is tied to the earth’s well being. We are part of the balance that God created and when we take more than our share of resources or think of ourselves first and foremost others suffer and humankind, future generations, vulnerable populations will suffer more and we may even end up destroying ourselves.
How incredible that God made all this beauty and balance! How incredible that God can be revealed in every mountain and tree, in every person, in every caterpillar or flea, in the sound of the rushing wind or the stillness of a meadow! How incredible that this amazing God came to take on our flesh and live a human life, fully in tune with God’s wondrous creation, without prejudice or preference, showing us how to let go of our selfishness to be bearers of God’s love to all God’s creation from the greatest to the smallest! How incredible that he died as we all must, but through that death he brings us to eternal life and connection and the ultimate purpose of God, to restore us all to right relationship and balance, give the fullness of life to all creatures, and to draw all Creation to God’s self.
1st Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Look around you. What a beautiful setting we have to worship God! I think those who designed this church were so wise to put in windows so we could see the marvelous works of God all around us. We’ve got a view of Mt. Hood if we want. We can see so many trees. Birds and squirrels make their home on this property. Listen to the birds singing. Just last week at coffee hour a deer walked across the churchyard. I hope you paid attention to the beauty of this place that we live as you made your way here this morning. I love the smell of the morning air and when I drive up here, I am greeted by flowers and trees and green and wildlife. I would agree this is good. God’s good creation is all around us revealing to us who God is and what God wants for us.
Over the years some pastors and theologians have put a barrier between believers and God’s good creation because they feared we would practice pagan religion and start worshipping the trees and deer and birds and sun. And I am not that fond of the idea of “Spiritual but not Religious” as if all that matters is me out in a forest or near a stream. I think that community matters a lot, to provide checks and balances, to show that it isn’t all about me, and to provide support when life is difficult. But I do believe that we can find God in Creation and know God through our experiences with Creation, including the other humans God made. Creation is one of God’s primary revelations to us, God’s way of showing us how much God loves us, God’s way of showing us what it means to have responsibility and care for one another.
Creation shows us just how big and majestic God is. When we see that mountain, with snow lit by the sun, we stand in awe of God who made this universe, who stood watch as the plates of the earth shifted and a volcano was born and grew into this mountain. When we drive along the Columbia River Gorge, we stand in awe of God who brings this water down from the mountains, all this melted snow and rain gathering to flow so wide and deep through our land, giving life to salmon and sea lions and people and mosquitoes. It is amazing and huge to behold. What a system of flowing life! What a way of distributing water to all who need it without prejudice!
Creation shows us how God pays attention to the smallest detail and forms each and every creature with love and care. At Synod Assembly this year, I was feeling all cooped up. So when we had a break, I took a walk around the hotel. As I walked along, I saw a little caterpillar going along the pavement in the parking lot. I stopped and picked up a leaf, put it in front of the caterpillar and eventually got it to crawl up on the leaf. Then I transferred the caterpillar to the relative safety and comfort of the bushes. Here we were gathered at the Assembly, listening to reports, having discussions, eating together, making decision, and yet all the while, here was this caterpillar living its life, trying to survive, to make it to safer ground. It was something small, but I could see the hand of God in it. Its legs all moved together. It was covered in orange hairs. It’s markings were as beautiful as any of the quilts or artwork displayed in the assembly. The Bible tells us that God knows the number of hairs on our heads and not only our heads, but this caterpillar’s body as well.
Each part of God’s creation is noticed by God and called “good.” Each part has intrinsic value on its own, before it ever had use for humans. The light on its own was good. The balance of night and day is good for our planet, for our growing cycles, for creatures who need times of activity as well as rest. The water and the dry land were both good. The balance between them was important for the development of life, for the diversity of creatures that God had in mind. The distribution of the water was good for the flourishing of all living things. The plants of all kinds were good. Some produced fruit, others shade, others homes for little creatures. The sun and the moon were good to give light and seasons and the pull of the tides and cycles of fertility. The balance of the two kinds of light offered some guidance and safety during the night, but the ability to rest, while giving us the full benefits of the sun to give warmth and energy, to give us vitamins, to evaporate water and melt snow. And all the kinds of creatures were called good. We’re still discovering new species. Each has a purpose and a job to do. Bees pollinate, birds carry seeds, predators keep rodent populations under control. And all these animals were given the actual first commandment, to be fruitful and multiply. And finally God created humankind.
Now some say that humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation, that all before was made for us. But each thing is called good on its own, before humans came on the scene. I would say that we are the most recent addition and as relative latecomers we should be respectful of all which came before. God blessed the birds and sea creatures, just as God did humankind. They have their own blessing from God apart from us.
Some say that we, as humans, can do what we want with plants and animals because God gave us dominion in the Bible and because we are bigger and stronger and smarter than they are. Yet, the kind of dominion God gives is not domination, but a caretaker roll of the good creation God made, to keep the balance and the good system that God put into place.
When I look at creation, I think of an artists’ masterpiece. It can tell you to a certain extent about the artist who made it—what is important to the artist, what is the message he or she wants to convey, what is his or her nature.
This account of Creation tells us that God has made this world and it belongs to God. It tells us that it is good in its own right. It tells us that God made balance and order for the good of us all. It tells us that God is concerned with the big picture as well as the smallest detail. It tells us that we have responsibility to help God keep it in balance. It reveals to us what we know from scripture and experience, that God is love and life. And if we received the gift of a fine work of art, we would want to put it in a place of respect in our home, display it and care for it and appreciate it. We wouldn’t want the artist to come looking for it one day and find it in tatters and ruined because we hadn’t managed it well. And finally, let us remember that we are but one part of God’s good creation, that our well-being is tied to the earth’s well being. We are part of the balance that God created and when we take more than our share of resources or think of ourselves first and foremost others suffer and humankind, future generations, vulnerable populations will suffer more and we may even end up destroying ourselves.
How incredible that God made all this beauty and balance! How incredible that God can be revealed in every mountain and tree, in every person, in every caterpillar or flea, in the sound of the rushing wind or the stillness of a meadow! How incredible that this amazing God came to take on our flesh and live a human life, fully in tune with God’s wondrous creation, without prejudice or preference, showing us how to let go of our selfishness to be bearers of God’s love to all God’s creation from the greatest to the smallest! How incredible that he died as we all must, but through that death he brings us to eternal life and connection and the ultimate purpose of God, to restore us all to right relationship and balance, give the fullness of life to all creatures, and to draw all Creation to God’s self.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
June 8, 2014
Gospel: John 20:19-23
1st Reading: Acts 2:1-21
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
When I was Graduating from High School, our class song was “It’s the End of the World as we Know It (And I feel fine).” It is basically a stream of consciousness list until you get to the chorus, which is just the title of the song repeated over and over. That song has been running through my head.
The theme of “Endings and Beginnings” has been with me all week. It started with the news that Auntie Mae had passed away. I remember her from the day I came to this church, sitting downstairs with the sewers, sitting in the back pew, laughing and visiting with friends here. Beginnings and endings come to mind as I am anticipating Mildred’s death as she is placed on hospice. She’s a charter member here, part of King of Kings for almost 50 years, since the very beginning. I think of where she sat. She went to the second service because she didn’t like to get up too early. The way she always expressed appreciation, always noticed and thanked people for the things they did whether big or little. I also attended my nephew’s graduation on Friday. I was there at his birth, so amazed to see a person come into this world. I played with him as a baby, looked after him the day his sister was born, listened to him tell me how to drive when he was 4 years old, watched him grow up into this young man, trumpet player, valedictorian. Beginnings and endings. It is the theme of the week.
In the Acts Reading this morning, it is the ending of 50 days. Pentecost has the word “pente” meaning 5, like pentagram has 5 points. It is the end of Jesus’ physical time on earth. He is about to ascend to heaven and leave the Disciples. It is also the end of the tower of Babel story that you might remember from Bible School, that explained how we all got speaking different languages and couldn’t understand each other anymore. It was part of the “last days” prophecy from Joel. This was a time when everything the followers of Jesus knew would change.
In 1 Corinthians, this is the end of divisions. This is the end of selfishness and individualism. This is the end of hierarchy and holding power one over the other. This is the end of pride, because only God gets the credit for giving everyone gifts that are good for the whole group.
In the Gospel, this is the beginning of the end of the paralyzing fear of the disciples. This is the end of death. This is all about ending.
With all endings, there is grief. There is letting go. There is the unknown toward which we step. There is pain, anticipation, reviewing life up to that point, assessing next steps, discerning where to go from here. There is relief. There is release.
When something ends, there is a release of energy. All the time and effort and energy that went into the old, is then freed up to be put to use in a new way.
Sometimes we make that transition smoothly from the end of one thing to the beginning of another. Sometimes it is clear where to put that energy and time. Sometimes the transition is messier. It would seem God does not have a problem with messy.
In Acts, the new energy released went first to the Disciples. It gave them the ability to communicate with people of all nationalities and languages. These people caught the energy of the Holy Spirit, too. The promise was that it would go out even further, to family members not present, to the next generation, to elderly people, to the lower classes, and even to slaves. Everyone would receive this fire, this energy, this life. Everyone would have the chance to hear about God’s deeds of power and experience them, first hand. Everyone would be saved, that is everyone would have the experience of the health and wholeness that God offers.
The transition, this beginning wasn’t just for the Disciples, it was for all people and all creation. It was energy and warmth and light and life for all people, all nations, all genders, all economic groups. It was the beginning of hope. It was the beginning of true community. It was the beginning of understanding each other and communicating with each other. And it was windy and it was loud and it was dramatic.
Not everybody liked it. Some scoffed. Some sneered. They were probably scared. Or maybe they were just jealous.
Today we celebrate the Birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came among us so that we could become the body of Christ for the world. Do you take your Birthday as an opportunity to reflect? We look back at all our endings and beginnings, those first steps of the early church, the mistakes Christians have made throughout our history, our dismay at what some of the members of the body still do that causes damage, the times we have responded well to emergencies and human need, all that we’ve learned, the times of rapid growth and other times when we’ve felt our advanced age. We ask ourselves what we need to let go of, as a congregation, as a church, as a Christian. What needs to end to free up new life and energy to begin something else? What needs to die so that something wild and unknown can be born, so that the Spirit can be released and freed to move in new ways? Do we have the faith to let go and place our future in God’s hands to guide us through our transitions to new life?
After meeting with Auntie Mae’s daughter on Wednesday, I came back to the church with 3 coats for JOIN, several Bibles to give away, and a hymnal. She is no longer walking with us on this part of the journey, but some of her things were released back into the neighborhood to help other people. The stories of her life give us energy and motivation to follow our life path of faith through good times and difficult ones. She never expected to outlive her nieces Judith, or Darelyn, or Jackie. She didn’t expect that she would have to give up cooking, or gardening, or pinochle or the other things she loved. Yet she held on to her faith, praying for people around her and ministering to them the best she could. And Mildred: She reminds me to thank people. She had a thank you note or a compliment to give every single week she was here—and there were years she never missed church. The way she cared for her sister will always remind us to help and care for people in need. What seems like an ending, is only another beginning of new life for them and a chance to look over what has been so far, let go of what we don’t need to cling to anymore, reassess the future, and take leap of faith, knowing that the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God will take us places we didn’t expect, but places of blessing, and healing and wholeness and power. My nephew will start at Pacific University this fall, a new chapter, a new beginning in a young life.
Daily, hourly, every moment, something is ending. Daily, hourly, something is beginning. May we learn individually what needs to die and to end, what we need to let go of. May we as a church let go of what has to die that Christ’s love and grace may be shared and experienced. May we stand in those transitions and let the wind of the Holy Spirit blow, as messy and fiery as it is, until God shows us how to proceed.
May new life spring up for us as it did for Christ. May we know the power of the resurrection, daily and may the power of the Holy Spirit envelop the whole world so that new life my flourish for all.
1st Reading: Acts 2:1-21
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
When I was Graduating from High School, our class song was “It’s the End of the World as we Know It (And I feel fine).” It is basically a stream of consciousness list until you get to the chorus, which is just the title of the song repeated over and over. That song has been running through my head.
The theme of “Endings and Beginnings” has been with me all week. It started with the news that Auntie Mae had passed away. I remember her from the day I came to this church, sitting downstairs with the sewers, sitting in the back pew, laughing and visiting with friends here. Beginnings and endings come to mind as I am anticipating Mildred’s death as she is placed on hospice. She’s a charter member here, part of King of Kings for almost 50 years, since the very beginning. I think of where she sat. She went to the second service because she didn’t like to get up too early. The way she always expressed appreciation, always noticed and thanked people for the things they did whether big or little. I also attended my nephew’s graduation on Friday. I was there at his birth, so amazed to see a person come into this world. I played with him as a baby, looked after him the day his sister was born, listened to him tell me how to drive when he was 4 years old, watched him grow up into this young man, trumpet player, valedictorian. Beginnings and endings. It is the theme of the week.
In the Acts Reading this morning, it is the ending of 50 days. Pentecost has the word “pente” meaning 5, like pentagram has 5 points. It is the end of Jesus’ physical time on earth. He is about to ascend to heaven and leave the Disciples. It is also the end of the tower of Babel story that you might remember from Bible School, that explained how we all got speaking different languages and couldn’t understand each other anymore. It was part of the “last days” prophecy from Joel. This was a time when everything the followers of Jesus knew would change.
In 1 Corinthians, this is the end of divisions. This is the end of selfishness and individualism. This is the end of hierarchy and holding power one over the other. This is the end of pride, because only God gets the credit for giving everyone gifts that are good for the whole group.
In the Gospel, this is the beginning of the end of the paralyzing fear of the disciples. This is the end of death. This is all about ending.
With all endings, there is grief. There is letting go. There is the unknown toward which we step. There is pain, anticipation, reviewing life up to that point, assessing next steps, discerning where to go from here. There is relief. There is release.
When something ends, there is a release of energy. All the time and effort and energy that went into the old, is then freed up to be put to use in a new way.
Sometimes we make that transition smoothly from the end of one thing to the beginning of another. Sometimes it is clear where to put that energy and time. Sometimes the transition is messier. It would seem God does not have a problem with messy.
In Acts, the new energy released went first to the Disciples. It gave them the ability to communicate with people of all nationalities and languages. These people caught the energy of the Holy Spirit, too. The promise was that it would go out even further, to family members not present, to the next generation, to elderly people, to the lower classes, and even to slaves. Everyone would receive this fire, this energy, this life. Everyone would have the chance to hear about God’s deeds of power and experience them, first hand. Everyone would be saved, that is everyone would have the experience of the health and wholeness that God offers.
The transition, this beginning wasn’t just for the Disciples, it was for all people and all creation. It was energy and warmth and light and life for all people, all nations, all genders, all economic groups. It was the beginning of hope. It was the beginning of true community. It was the beginning of understanding each other and communicating with each other. And it was windy and it was loud and it was dramatic.
Not everybody liked it. Some scoffed. Some sneered. They were probably scared. Or maybe they were just jealous.
Today we celebrate the Birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came among us so that we could become the body of Christ for the world. Do you take your Birthday as an opportunity to reflect? We look back at all our endings and beginnings, those first steps of the early church, the mistakes Christians have made throughout our history, our dismay at what some of the members of the body still do that causes damage, the times we have responded well to emergencies and human need, all that we’ve learned, the times of rapid growth and other times when we’ve felt our advanced age. We ask ourselves what we need to let go of, as a congregation, as a church, as a Christian. What needs to end to free up new life and energy to begin something else? What needs to die so that something wild and unknown can be born, so that the Spirit can be released and freed to move in new ways? Do we have the faith to let go and place our future in God’s hands to guide us through our transitions to new life?
After meeting with Auntie Mae’s daughter on Wednesday, I came back to the church with 3 coats for JOIN, several Bibles to give away, and a hymnal. She is no longer walking with us on this part of the journey, but some of her things were released back into the neighborhood to help other people. The stories of her life give us energy and motivation to follow our life path of faith through good times and difficult ones. She never expected to outlive her nieces Judith, or Darelyn, or Jackie. She didn’t expect that she would have to give up cooking, or gardening, or pinochle or the other things she loved. Yet she held on to her faith, praying for people around her and ministering to them the best she could. And Mildred: She reminds me to thank people. She had a thank you note or a compliment to give every single week she was here—and there were years she never missed church. The way she cared for her sister will always remind us to help and care for people in need. What seems like an ending, is only another beginning of new life for them and a chance to look over what has been so far, let go of what we don’t need to cling to anymore, reassess the future, and take leap of faith, knowing that the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God will take us places we didn’t expect, but places of blessing, and healing and wholeness and power. My nephew will start at Pacific University this fall, a new chapter, a new beginning in a young life.
Daily, hourly, every moment, something is ending. Daily, hourly, something is beginning. May we learn individually what needs to die and to end, what we need to let go of. May we as a church let go of what has to die that Christ’s love and grace may be shared and experienced. May we stand in those transitions and let the wind of the Holy Spirit blow, as messy and fiery as it is, until God shows us how to proceed.
May new life spring up for us as it did for Christ. May we know the power of the resurrection, daily and may the power of the Holy Spirit envelop the whole world so that new life my flourish for all.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
June 1, 2014
Gospel: John 17:1-11
1st Reading: Acts 1:6-14
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
Here’s a joke about stress and anxiety to start us off this morning: Man goes to doctor. Says he's anxious. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world. Doctor says the treatment is simple. The great clown Terrifini is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up. Man bursts into tears: "But doctor . . . I am Terrifini.”
“Cast all your anxiety on God, for God cares for you.” This text from 1 Peter doesn’t say we don’t have anything to worry about. It simply says to place them in God’s hands and quit worrying so much. It also says it might not be that easy to let go of our worries, that it is a discipline.
Let’s start with the worries. People seem to have always worried. I guess it is the curse of having a memory. Even dogs and cats worry, sometimes. In the book of Acts, the Disciples are worried about Jesus leaving them and ascending up to heaven. They are worried about being alone. They are worried about the political situation of their occupied country. They are worried about being powerless. In 1 Peter the people are going through a fiery ordeal. They feel alone. They are threatened and enslaved. They are far away from friends and loved ones. In the Gospel of John, the Disciples are worried about all that they will face once Jesus has physically left their side.
Worry can serve a positive function in our lives. It can help us to take a good long look at our problems and take positive steps toward overcoming them and avoiding negative outcomes. On the other hand, worry can take over our lives and make us sick. All over the Bible, we are reminded not to be afraid. Worry and anxiety can keep us from living life fully, from experiencing the restoration, support, strength, and establishment of God.
We worry about a lot of different things, but underneath, our worries are probably not so different from the worries of the Disciples. We might be worried about our own health. We get worried about changes in our culture or world. We worry about the happiness of our children and grandchildren. We worry about what other people think about us. Underneath all this, we are really worried about being powerless and alone. We are worried about losing control. We are worried about whether our lives are meaningful.
When anxiety becomes the threat or the excuse, God reminds us of who God is. Yes, God is powerful and mighty. God has been and always will be. God is there to challenge and guide us. But we are assured, whatever else we fear, we don’t have to be anxious about God. We don’t have to hide from God. We don’t have to be anxious about whether we are acceptable to God. We can be in awe of God and impressed with God, but God says, the angels say, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news.”
Think of who God is. God created balance and order in this world for our own good and the good of all living things. God brings us back into relationship every time we wander off. God creates covenants with us to give us a transformed life, to make better people out of us, to give life to our communities. In Christ Jesus, we see even more clearly that God heals, feeds, mends, embraces, teaches, builds up, encourages, restores. God is so determined to give us this new life, that God gave the only Son, gave up everything, became completely vulnerable in our threatening world and showed us that there really is nothing to be afraid of. “The Lord is my strength, whom shall I fear?” Whether we live or we die, we are the Lord’s.
The command not to fear or be anxious is not law, it is Gospel. It is not a rule, it is an invitation. If we are afraid of God’s wrath then we will only worry more. But instead God frees us from having to be anxious. It is an invitation to let go, to place our troubles in God’s hands, and to move forward free from anxiety and fear.
So how do we discipline ourselves to cast all our anxiety on God and let it go? How do we return our focus to be able to see the power and love of God everywhere we look and everywhere we go?
The first step might be to confront those fears. Write them all down where you can get a good look at them. Which of them do you have any control over? You might as well cross off the ones you don’t. How might you take reasonable steps to work through the fears and anxieties you can do something about? A community can be a good place to bring your fears. Discussing them with another person can help you get perspective on them and possible solutions that you haven’t thought of. Some things that tend to decrease worry that you might think are unrelated are taking good care of yourself, eating right, getting enough sleep, exercising, and getting plenty of positive human interaction, including touch.
It is so easy to dwell on the negative. Think of all the chemicals our bodies make and distribute. The ones that are sent out for worry and anxiety day after day can make us sick. But we can turn our minds to focus on the positive and our body chemistry changes. I am easily prone to anxiety. It is easy for me to picture all the things that are wrong with my world, my family, the earth, my church, and on and on. It begins to paint a picture in my mind of suffering and cruelty. All I feel when I see this picture is despair and hopelessness. I go over and over in my mind all the things that are wrong, dig those trenches deeper and deeper. The pathways of the mind get ruts in them. We get used to certain thought patterns and we get stuck in these loops.
The Disciples also got stuck in their sense of loss and despair. When Jesus departed, they stood there looking up for a very long time. Maybe they would have stayed there forever if a couple of angels hadn’t come by and asked them what they were looking for. These angels reminded the disciples that this was a temporary situation, that Jesus would be back, in fact Jesus was all around them especially in the community that had come to surround them and give them hope, who are named at the end of that reading.
When we are anxious, once we’ve faced our fears, Jesus invites us to look in another direction. Take some time to count your blessings. That helps construct a consciousness in our minds of all that is good in the world, our families, the earth, the church, and on and on. It is about acting to bring that neighborhood, world, or yourself more in keeping with the good world you can envision. That beautiful amazing place is the way that God sees the world and God is working through us and other people to help form the world more the way God sees it, where there is enough food to go around, where people share all things in common, where life is respected, where health and balance is restored, where folks are restored, supported, strengthened, and established.
I think that is what we wanted with our Reconciling in Christ statement. There are forces of fear in this world that would fear and discriminate against people we dearly love, who we know have value in God’s eyes, and who have added a richness to our lives. We could let those fears overwhelm us. But there are people who had a vision. It wasn’t just something they made up, but they took to heart the Biblical teaching that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that we might have eternal life. They could see this vision of a place where absolutely everyone was welcome to participate in community and worship God and serve God in safety and acceptance. And while the rest of the world might not be there and yes, it may be a work in progress which we have not fully reached, we are working toward God’s vision in this church which we know to be God’s church, which is a safe place for all who experience discrimination based on any differences between people. Let us leave fear and anxiety behind and live God’s vision in this church.
Look around at the different people here with different experiences and opinions and lives. All have worried. All have loved. All are seeking God. God brings us together to be strengthened, to be welcomed, to let go of our fears and anxieties, to live fully in the love of Christ, sharing that with our neighbors.
1st Reading: Acts 1:6-14
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
Here’s a joke about stress and anxiety to start us off this morning: Man goes to doctor. Says he's anxious. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world. Doctor says the treatment is simple. The great clown Terrifini is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up. Man bursts into tears: "But doctor . . . I am Terrifini.”
“Cast all your anxiety on God, for God cares for you.” This text from 1 Peter doesn’t say we don’t have anything to worry about. It simply says to place them in God’s hands and quit worrying so much. It also says it might not be that easy to let go of our worries, that it is a discipline.
Let’s start with the worries. People seem to have always worried. I guess it is the curse of having a memory. Even dogs and cats worry, sometimes. In the book of Acts, the Disciples are worried about Jesus leaving them and ascending up to heaven. They are worried about being alone. They are worried about the political situation of their occupied country. They are worried about being powerless. In 1 Peter the people are going through a fiery ordeal. They feel alone. They are threatened and enslaved. They are far away from friends and loved ones. In the Gospel of John, the Disciples are worried about all that they will face once Jesus has physically left their side.
Worry can serve a positive function in our lives. It can help us to take a good long look at our problems and take positive steps toward overcoming them and avoiding negative outcomes. On the other hand, worry can take over our lives and make us sick. All over the Bible, we are reminded not to be afraid. Worry and anxiety can keep us from living life fully, from experiencing the restoration, support, strength, and establishment of God.
We worry about a lot of different things, but underneath, our worries are probably not so different from the worries of the Disciples. We might be worried about our own health. We get worried about changes in our culture or world. We worry about the happiness of our children and grandchildren. We worry about what other people think about us. Underneath all this, we are really worried about being powerless and alone. We are worried about losing control. We are worried about whether our lives are meaningful.
When anxiety becomes the threat or the excuse, God reminds us of who God is. Yes, God is powerful and mighty. God has been and always will be. God is there to challenge and guide us. But we are assured, whatever else we fear, we don’t have to be anxious about God. We don’t have to hide from God. We don’t have to be anxious about whether we are acceptable to God. We can be in awe of God and impressed with God, but God says, the angels say, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news.”
Think of who God is. God created balance and order in this world for our own good and the good of all living things. God brings us back into relationship every time we wander off. God creates covenants with us to give us a transformed life, to make better people out of us, to give life to our communities. In Christ Jesus, we see even more clearly that God heals, feeds, mends, embraces, teaches, builds up, encourages, restores. God is so determined to give us this new life, that God gave the only Son, gave up everything, became completely vulnerable in our threatening world and showed us that there really is nothing to be afraid of. “The Lord is my strength, whom shall I fear?” Whether we live or we die, we are the Lord’s.
The command not to fear or be anxious is not law, it is Gospel. It is not a rule, it is an invitation. If we are afraid of God’s wrath then we will only worry more. But instead God frees us from having to be anxious. It is an invitation to let go, to place our troubles in God’s hands, and to move forward free from anxiety and fear.
So how do we discipline ourselves to cast all our anxiety on God and let it go? How do we return our focus to be able to see the power and love of God everywhere we look and everywhere we go?
The first step might be to confront those fears. Write them all down where you can get a good look at them. Which of them do you have any control over? You might as well cross off the ones you don’t. How might you take reasonable steps to work through the fears and anxieties you can do something about? A community can be a good place to bring your fears. Discussing them with another person can help you get perspective on them and possible solutions that you haven’t thought of. Some things that tend to decrease worry that you might think are unrelated are taking good care of yourself, eating right, getting enough sleep, exercising, and getting plenty of positive human interaction, including touch.
It is so easy to dwell on the negative. Think of all the chemicals our bodies make and distribute. The ones that are sent out for worry and anxiety day after day can make us sick. But we can turn our minds to focus on the positive and our body chemistry changes. I am easily prone to anxiety. It is easy for me to picture all the things that are wrong with my world, my family, the earth, my church, and on and on. It begins to paint a picture in my mind of suffering and cruelty. All I feel when I see this picture is despair and hopelessness. I go over and over in my mind all the things that are wrong, dig those trenches deeper and deeper. The pathways of the mind get ruts in them. We get used to certain thought patterns and we get stuck in these loops.
The Disciples also got stuck in their sense of loss and despair. When Jesus departed, they stood there looking up for a very long time. Maybe they would have stayed there forever if a couple of angels hadn’t come by and asked them what they were looking for. These angels reminded the disciples that this was a temporary situation, that Jesus would be back, in fact Jesus was all around them especially in the community that had come to surround them and give them hope, who are named at the end of that reading.
When we are anxious, once we’ve faced our fears, Jesus invites us to look in another direction. Take some time to count your blessings. That helps construct a consciousness in our minds of all that is good in the world, our families, the earth, the church, and on and on. It is about acting to bring that neighborhood, world, or yourself more in keeping with the good world you can envision. That beautiful amazing place is the way that God sees the world and God is working through us and other people to help form the world more the way God sees it, where there is enough food to go around, where people share all things in common, where life is respected, where health and balance is restored, where folks are restored, supported, strengthened, and established.
I think that is what we wanted with our Reconciling in Christ statement. There are forces of fear in this world that would fear and discriminate against people we dearly love, who we know have value in God’s eyes, and who have added a richness to our lives. We could let those fears overwhelm us. But there are people who had a vision. It wasn’t just something they made up, but they took to heart the Biblical teaching that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that we might have eternal life. They could see this vision of a place where absolutely everyone was welcome to participate in community and worship God and serve God in safety and acceptance. And while the rest of the world might not be there and yes, it may be a work in progress which we have not fully reached, we are working toward God’s vision in this church which we know to be God’s church, which is a safe place for all who experience discrimination based on any differences between people. Let us leave fear and anxiety behind and live God’s vision in this church.
Look around at the different people here with different experiences and opinions and lives. All have worried. All have loved. All are seeking God. God brings us together to be strengthened, to be welcomed, to let go of our fears and anxieties, to live fully in the love of Christ, sharing that with our neighbors.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
May 25, 2014
Gospel: John 14:15-21
1st Reading: Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 3:13-22
As many of you know, my little guy loves fans. He is obsessed with fans. I like to shop at second hand stores and we aren’t there very long before he usually spots a used fan on a shelf somewhere and asks for it. Sometimes, if it isn’t too dirty or too big to fit with him there in the cart, I get it down for him and let him play with it because it gives me more time to browse. Sometimes this just makes him very upset. He says, “Turn it on, Mommy!” and sometimes cries and carries on. I try to explain to him that it needs to be plugged in to work and sometimes he takes the plug and tries to connect it to the shopping cart or even to insert it somewhere near the blades.
We, too, need to be plugged in to our power source in order to come to life. Just like a fan can’t plug itself in, there isn’t really much we can do about it. God created us. Jesus came to show us life abundant. We are already plugged in to our power source. We just might not know it or feel it sometimes.
In Jesus’ time, Jewish folks believed that God’s power came down to Jerusalem and plugged in there. That was the hub. Then the priests plugged into that power source and they could decide who else could plug in to them to be connected to God. The priests were the gatekeepers. It was a similar situation in the Roman Catholic Church and still may be to a certain extent and there is perhaps still some of that residue left in Lutheranism and other forms of Christianity. For instance, we say in Lutheranism that only pastors can bless the bread and wine for communion, which is a sacrament, the body and blood of Christ. Communion gives a special access to God available only through pastors. I just call it job security, not gate-keeping or restricting access, especially since we say all are welcome to commune.
When Jesus came, it was like an electrical jolt of energy. The Disciples, Jesus’ closest followers, got used to having their power source right at hand. But Jesus was now telling them that he was going away and they were anticipating a power outage. This was an absolute disaster for them. Jesus was showing them how to stay connected, once he wasn’t there with them all the time teaching them and directly leading them in person every day. Although Jesus would die and later ascend into heaven, he would still be their power source and keep them connected to God. This way they would be able to do healings and feed people and share the good news and live abundantly and help others to do the same. In 1 Peter we get a picture of what happens to Jesus after he dies. Jesus’ job is to bring us to God, keep us connected. He held that power cord within himself as he died, linked it up with the unrighteous as well, put them on the power grid, and ascended to heaven, putting a permanent installment of power lines between us and God. That way we would stay connected forever.
So, without any initiative from us, we are connected with God. God gave us life and keeps us going, in this life and forever. And as living creatures made in God’s image, we are curious, and we begin to grope, to ask why, to look for meaning in life, to ask why we suffer, to explore how we can relate to each other and this world, to seek connection. As we seek answers to the deepest questions of life, and begin groping around in the dark, we may begin to get an inkling about this power source, this connection between us and God. And we a link, not just to our power source, but to all others who are also part of this grid. We find ourselves linked up to other people who are also asking similar questions, seeking, searching, hoping, praying for something more, looking for connection with something greater. And we even find ourselves connected to those who aren’t looking for more. We find ourselves connected to people who are just like us and those who are very different from us. We find ourselves connected to God, our power source, our source of life and love, and we find connection with each other.
When Paul went to Athens, at first he could find no connection with the people he met there. All he saw at first were these strange people who worshiped all these other gods. Everywhere he looked he saw shrines to every conceivable god, people misunderstanding their power source. But he knew in Christ he was connected so he looked harder for that connection to these strange people. He found this shrine to an unknown god. He knew these people were searching just like he had. They had all these gods, yet something was still missing. Their gods were more like people, just with a lot more power. They were like the X-Men. They had personality flaws and weaknesses and fought with each other all the time. These Athenian people were holding out hope that they would find the missing link, that they would find a connection that made a little more sense, that gave them a set of values that would be satisfying, that would explain life a little more clearly, that would show them their connections with each other and empower them to fully live. And Paul affirms their search and their openness. He found the common ground between him and these people. He related to the people he met there. He was able to share his experience of God, who God is, what God does. Paul explained that unknown god tothem, giving them all a connection to God through Jesus Christ.
The Christian slaves in first Peter knew their connection with their Creator. Even though they were far from home, had no rights, and were looked down upon and constantly discriminated against, they remembered their connection with God, their source of power and life. They never forgot that. Through this letter, they are being encouraged and built up to keep that connection open with those who oppress them. They are encouraged to keep up their hope, not in broken and damaging human institutions like slavery, but in God who frees us and loves us to live fully, to live connected. Hope was a rare thing in those times in that place where this letter was written. If their oppressors saw hope in them, with the least reason to hope, their oppressors might be inclined to ask them to give an account of the hope that is within them. Where does it come from? How do you keep going? These Christians are ready to give an answer, to tell that their hope comes from God and explain what it does for them and how it keeps them going and how they stay connected.
We live in a world that is so connected. The moment someone gets sick, a natural disaster strikes, or Justin Bieber gets arrested, we can know it. When Nigerian girls get kidnapped across the world, we know it. Yet sometimes we are so overwhelmed by all the information coming in that we can’t sort it out anymore, or we get so connected electronically, that we forget the live people right in front of us.
God dreams of a world where we tend to our connections. I can picture God’s dream where we know where we come from, that God made us in love to love and care for each other and this world that God made. I can picture God’s dream in which we tend to the connections between us, where we look for what we have in common, where we are curious about one another and ask questions and form relationships that bind us close, where we make ourselves vulnerable to each other and show who we really are, what hurts us, what gives us joy, opening fully that connection between us. I can picture God’s dream in which we truly feel one another’s joy and one another’s pain and it leads us to act to make this world more life-giving for everyone and everything that God has made good.
Today we are talking together about same-gender marriage and blessing in this church building. We’ve talked and acted over the years to be loving and inclusive of all people, to open our connections with those we’ve hurt over the years, to honor God’s values of love. We’ve studied the Bible and realized that we all pick and choose from the chapters and verses there. We know the Bible is inspired by God, but written by human hands, reworked and corrected, added to and subtracted from and then translated in thousands of different languages and translations. We know it was written in a certain time and place for a particular culture. And we know that Jesus talked about how we spend our money, that we should give it all away and that divorce is wrong, but never breathed a word about homosexuality, that was written down anywhere. And we know that we are one body, although with different perspectives and experiences, we belong to Christ. That connection between us and God and us and each other can never be severed. We belong to each other and we belong to Christ. We are connected to each other, despite our differences. And that is a good thing. We need each other to make the connection complete, because God’s love is for all—the righteous and the unrighteous, slaves and oppressors, democrats and republicans, men and women, and so forth. Let us remember our connections to God and each other as we move forward in our discussion, and see this as an opportunity to grow our faith, to give an account of the hope that is within us, and to grow into a stronger community of love.
1st Reading: Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 3:13-22
As many of you know, my little guy loves fans. He is obsessed with fans. I like to shop at second hand stores and we aren’t there very long before he usually spots a used fan on a shelf somewhere and asks for it. Sometimes, if it isn’t too dirty or too big to fit with him there in the cart, I get it down for him and let him play with it because it gives me more time to browse. Sometimes this just makes him very upset. He says, “Turn it on, Mommy!” and sometimes cries and carries on. I try to explain to him that it needs to be plugged in to work and sometimes he takes the plug and tries to connect it to the shopping cart or even to insert it somewhere near the blades.
We, too, need to be plugged in to our power source in order to come to life. Just like a fan can’t plug itself in, there isn’t really much we can do about it. God created us. Jesus came to show us life abundant. We are already plugged in to our power source. We just might not know it or feel it sometimes.
In Jesus’ time, Jewish folks believed that God’s power came down to Jerusalem and plugged in there. That was the hub. Then the priests plugged into that power source and they could decide who else could plug in to them to be connected to God. The priests were the gatekeepers. It was a similar situation in the Roman Catholic Church and still may be to a certain extent and there is perhaps still some of that residue left in Lutheranism and other forms of Christianity. For instance, we say in Lutheranism that only pastors can bless the bread and wine for communion, which is a sacrament, the body and blood of Christ. Communion gives a special access to God available only through pastors. I just call it job security, not gate-keeping or restricting access, especially since we say all are welcome to commune.
When Jesus came, it was like an electrical jolt of energy. The Disciples, Jesus’ closest followers, got used to having their power source right at hand. But Jesus was now telling them that he was going away and they were anticipating a power outage. This was an absolute disaster for them. Jesus was showing them how to stay connected, once he wasn’t there with them all the time teaching them and directly leading them in person every day. Although Jesus would die and later ascend into heaven, he would still be their power source and keep them connected to God. This way they would be able to do healings and feed people and share the good news and live abundantly and help others to do the same. In 1 Peter we get a picture of what happens to Jesus after he dies. Jesus’ job is to bring us to God, keep us connected. He held that power cord within himself as he died, linked it up with the unrighteous as well, put them on the power grid, and ascended to heaven, putting a permanent installment of power lines between us and God. That way we would stay connected forever.
So, without any initiative from us, we are connected with God. God gave us life and keeps us going, in this life and forever. And as living creatures made in God’s image, we are curious, and we begin to grope, to ask why, to look for meaning in life, to ask why we suffer, to explore how we can relate to each other and this world, to seek connection. As we seek answers to the deepest questions of life, and begin groping around in the dark, we may begin to get an inkling about this power source, this connection between us and God. And we a link, not just to our power source, but to all others who are also part of this grid. We find ourselves linked up to other people who are also asking similar questions, seeking, searching, hoping, praying for something more, looking for connection with something greater. And we even find ourselves connected to those who aren’t looking for more. We find ourselves connected to people who are just like us and those who are very different from us. We find ourselves connected to God, our power source, our source of life and love, and we find connection with each other.
When Paul went to Athens, at first he could find no connection with the people he met there. All he saw at first were these strange people who worshiped all these other gods. Everywhere he looked he saw shrines to every conceivable god, people misunderstanding their power source. But he knew in Christ he was connected so he looked harder for that connection to these strange people. He found this shrine to an unknown god. He knew these people were searching just like he had. They had all these gods, yet something was still missing. Their gods were more like people, just with a lot more power. They were like the X-Men. They had personality flaws and weaknesses and fought with each other all the time. These Athenian people were holding out hope that they would find the missing link, that they would find a connection that made a little more sense, that gave them a set of values that would be satisfying, that would explain life a little more clearly, that would show them their connections with each other and empower them to fully live. And Paul affirms their search and their openness. He found the common ground between him and these people. He related to the people he met there. He was able to share his experience of God, who God is, what God does. Paul explained that unknown god tothem, giving them all a connection to God through Jesus Christ.
The Christian slaves in first Peter knew their connection with their Creator. Even though they were far from home, had no rights, and were looked down upon and constantly discriminated against, they remembered their connection with God, their source of power and life. They never forgot that. Through this letter, they are being encouraged and built up to keep that connection open with those who oppress them. They are encouraged to keep up their hope, not in broken and damaging human institutions like slavery, but in God who frees us and loves us to live fully, to live connected. Hope was a rare thing in those times in that place where this letter was written. If their oppressors saw hope in them, with the least reason to hope, their oppressors might be inclined to ask them to give an account of the hope that is within them. Where does it come from? How do you keep going? These Christians are ready to give an answer, to tell that their hope comes from God and explain what it does for them and how it keeps them going and how they stay connected.
We live in a world that is so connected. The moment someone gets sick, a natural disaster strikes, or Justin Bieber gets arrested, we can know it. When Nigerian girls get kidnapped across the world, we know it. Yet sometimes we are so overwhelmed by all the information coming in that we can’t sort it out anymore, or we get so connected electronically, that we forget the live people right in front of us.
God dreams of a world where we tend to our connections. I can picture God’s dream where we know where we come from, that God made us in love to love and care for each other and this world that God made. I can picture God’s dream in which we tend to the connections between us, where we look for what we have in common, where we are curious about one another and ask questions and form relationships that bind us close, where we make ourselves vulnerable to each other and show who we really are, what hurts us, what gives us joy, opening fully that connection between us. I can picture God’s dream in which we truly feel one another’s joy and one another’s pain and it leads us to act to make this world more life-giving for everyone and everything that God has made good.
Today we are talking together about same-gender marriage and blessing in this church building. We’ve talked and acted over the years to be loving and inclusive of all people, to open our connections with those we’ve hurt over the years, to honor God’s values of love. We’ve studied the Bible and realized that we all pick and choose from the chapters and verses there. We know the Bible is inspired by God, but written by human hands, reworked and corrected, added to and subtracted from and then translated in thousands of different languages and translations. We know it was written in a certain time and place for a particular culture. And we know that Jesus talked about how we spend our money, that we should give it all away and that divorce is wrong, but never breathed a word about homosexuality, that was written down anywhere. And we know that we are one body, although with different perspectives and experiences, we belong to Christ. That connection between us and God and us and each other can never be severed. We belong to each other and we belong to Christ. We are connected to each other, despite our differences. And that is a good thing. We need each other to make the connection complete, because God’s love is for all—the righteous and the unrighteous, slaves and oppressors, democrats and republicans, men and women, and so forth. Let us remember our connections to God and each other as we move forward in our discussion, and see this as an opportunity to grow our faith, to give an account of the hope that is within us, and to grow into a stronger community of love.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
May 4, 2014
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35
Reading: Acts 2:14a, 36-41
I invite you this morning to stop and take notice of the beating of your heart. Find your pulse – either on your wrist or on your neck, wherever you can feel it strongly. This is fire. Pure energy. Just as the energy from the sun animates all life and ignites chemical reactions that enable the flourishing of life, this fire is also within us, igniting millions of chemical reactions that enable us to exist as the beings that we are. Consider where this pulse came from and how it came to be you. Feel your blood pulsing, keeping your cells alive, bringing oxygen and nutrients, and taking away carbon dioxide and other waste products. How amazing the heart is! Consider how it beats throughout our lives, the four chambers working together, the network of veins and capillaries stretching for tens of thousands of miles, if laid end to end about 2 ½ times around the earth. Continue to note the beating of your heart.
I remember the first time I heard Sterling’s heartbeat through the monitor at the midwife’s office—the fast beating whoosh, and each time after that. I remember seeing his heart on the ultrasound—I could see all the chambers. And now to hold him close and feel his heart beating, fast when he’s upset or has been running or jumping, slowing as he sleeps. What an amazing miracle that this organ is that beats inside each one of us.
The heart is involved in so much more than just pumping blood. According to Rollin McCraty Institute of HeartMath Director of Research, "The heart is a sensory organ and acts as a sophisticated information encoding and processing center that enables it to learn, remember, and make independent functional decisions.”. He discovered that the heart’s electromagnetic field, as measured by an electrocardiogram (ECG), in one individual could be detected and measured in another person when the pair either were seated within three feet of each other whether they were touching or not. The heart of one person sends out signals that affect other people nearby.
The heart is busy doing all these things that we are just beginning to understand, yet how often do we take a moment to be aware of what our heart does for us, how it affects us and others?
The heart is mentioned several times in the readings for this morning. In Acts, Peter is addressing a huge crowd of Jewish people of every language and nationality there in Jerusalem. Upon hearing all that Peter shares about Jesus, how he is the Messiah, many in the crowd were cut to the heart. They were touched. They had a physical reaction to this news. They knew about Jesus. They were the ones who had cried out for him to be crucified not two months before. This feeling of being cut to the heart may have been a mixture of shame a guilt, with some hope mixed in and some joy. Here were Jesus’ friends addressing them who had cried out for him to be crucified. The disciples didn’t come to shame them. They came to share the good news of God’s love, forgiveness, and new life for all. The hearts of those in the crowd were probably hurt because of what they had done to Jesus. In the heat of the moment and the pressure of the crowd, they’d acted rashly and cruelly. But now, they’d had some time to reflect on their actions. They may have seen him suffering there on the cross. Many of them likely had regretted their actions that day. Now Jesus’ friends were offering them acceptance and welcome. They were forgiven. They were invited to be part of something life-giving and new. They were invited to be part of the promise for all, for their children, for those who are far away. They heard loud and clear, each in their own language, it doesn’t matter where you come from, what language you speak, or how you’ve been cruel in the past, you are welcome to join with Jesus in life and love. They were invited into community which would strengthen them and give them new vision and awareness.
While we’re not quite having 3,000 baptisms today, it’s not a competition, and this is one of the largest groups of people we’ve welcomed here in a long time. Today God says to these new members that we are all in one community, God’s family. How wonderful that folks here at King of Kings took notice that someone they knew was searching and thought to invite them, that our website was able to convey the kind of welcome that Christ extends to us all, that through open minds and open hearts we’ve embraced these new people in our midst, that these folks have come to accept us for who we are with all our shortcomings and failings, and that together we make a new community. We gather together and affect one another’s hearts. Together we look with the eyes of our hearts, we share our stories of faith, we share our struggles, and together we try to see Jesus and his love and we try to be Jesus’ heart reaching out in love and generosity to those in need.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus calls the disciples slow of heart. He calls them foolish. He calls them slow of heart to believe what the prophets have been saying in the Bible all along about what the Messiah would be like and that he would be raised and that he would bring new life to all people and draw all creation to himself.
Jesus calls them slow of heart because they missed the point of his teachings. They walked with Jesus for three whole years. Still they didn’t see what was right in front of their faces, Jesus. The Disciples heard the scriptures. They went to the tomb. The same is true of us. We miss Jesus right in front of us. Jesus tells us to look for him in the poor and imprisoned and hungry and abandoned.
Jesus comes near to us and walks with us on the road. Our eyes don’t see him. We see what we’re used to seeing. We blame people for their condition, we judge. We don’t look and listen for Jesus. We stand around looking sad, feeling sorry for ourselves. We cry out for God to get people back in shape, to make this world better, and we miss Jesus standing right in front of us.
What if we stopped and listened to the beating of our hearts? What if we stopped and made ourselves aware that the person standing right in front of us also has a beating heart? What if we stopped and acknowledged the miracle right in front of us? And what if we listen to them, their story about what makes them who they are and what they are passionate about? And what if we shared some of our heart with them about what makes us who we are? What if we simply accompanied each other, shared our presence with one another, our energy field? Might we be more likely to see Jesus there? Could that change our whole world view until our hearts are burning to know other people more deeply and to know ourselves more deeply, and to know God more deeply? Might our hearts then burn with the Holy Spirit that binds us together into community?
Out of that conversation between the disciples and the risen Jesus, comes an invitation. The disciples urged Jesus to come to dinner. Whenever we invite Jesus, he accepts. And as he breaks that bread at the table with them and blesses it, he is blessing them with his presence, and the day ends. The old passes away and something new begins to occur. Even though it is dark, and it would have made more sense if they had recognized him in the light of day, their eyes are opened and everything changes. Their whole history is reinterpreted, considering Christ’s presence from the beginning of the universe, through time, in every tree and river, to the moment of their birth when their heart began to pump oxygen, breath, spirit, that their very own lungs had drawn into their body, in every dark valley, in every loss, in every life lesson, in every moment of love and forgiveness. God with them at all times and all places.
Jesus reveals himself to the Disciples and reveals himself to us. It was in the breaking of the bread that he is revealed. It is in those times when we are broken, not quite whole, that we are ragged and jagged, awkward, when we are so aware of our own need, our own failures, that our eyes can be open to see Jesus offering new life. Just as our hearts pump blood throughout our bodies and sustain our life, Jesus’ love pumps through our lives, whether we are aware of it or not, God’s presence with us.
God came to be a human being with a beating heart, like all of us. And he allowed his own heart to be broken, with all the injustice he saw, all the people he met that were left out, all the children going hungry, all the cruelty that we inflict on ourselves and each other and this beautiful world. And he allowed his heart to be broken, literally, as he died there on the cross. His beating heart stopped. And he handed his heart to us, in this meal that we share almost every week, the body and blood of Jesus, the heart of Jesus, pumping life and love to all of us, his body in this world.
Now, together with Christians of every time and place we are asked to be Jesus’ heart beating for the world. We are invited to have a heart for the poor, the old, for teenagers, for little ones, for the tired, for the sick, for the oppressed and hungry. We get to be Christ’s heart in the world, full of compassion and love, aware of all the beating hearts around us and responsive to their needs.
We find ourselves confused and disappointed in life, feeling abandoned, guilty, and weary. Like the disciples, we are walking away from the cross, from all the difficulties we’ve faced. We find Jesus walking with us. We find people of God, people of faith walking by our side. We find God’s grace and forgiveness walking with us, listening to us, being with us in our sorrow. And in a meal, a relationship is recognized that has always been there, that opens our eyes to the Kingdom God is creating in this world.
This is a tiny peek at the Kingdom of God. Where else do you have such an interesting group of new members? Where else do you find this combination of gifts, passions, and life experiences? Where do you find this particular combination of beating hearts? Don’t let yourself keep walking without seeing. We break bread together at this table each week—extend that invitation to each other, get to know each other, have a compassionate heart, and find yourself seeing Christ and experiencing God’s presence wherever you go.
Reading: Acts 2:14a, 36-41
I invite you this morning to stop and take notice of the beating of your heart. Find your pulse – either on your wrist or on your neck, wherever you can feel it strongly. This is fire. Pure energy. Just as the energy from the sun animates all life and ignites chemical reactions that enable the flourishing of life, this fire is also within us, igniting millions of chemical reactions that enable us to exist as the beings that we are. Consider where this pulse came from and how it came to be you. Feel your blood pulsing, keeping your cells alive, bringing oxygen and nutrients, and taking away carbon dioxide and other waste products. How amazing the heart is! Consider how it beats throughout our lives, the four chambers working together, the network of veins and capillaries stretching for tens of thousands of miles, if laid end to end about 2 ½ times around the earth. Continue to note the beating of your heart.
I remember the first time I heard Sterling’s heartbeat through the monitor at the midwife’s office—the fast beating whoosh, and each time after that. I remember seeing his heart on the ultrasound—I could see all the chambers. And now to hold him close and feel his heart beating, fast when he’s upset or has been running or jumping, slowing as he sleeps. What an amazing miracle that this organ is that beats inside each one of us.
The heart is involved in so much more than just pumping blood. According to Rollin McCraty Institute of HeartMath Director of Research, "The heart is a sensory organ and acts as a sophisticated information encoding and processing center that enables it to learn, remember, and make independent functional decisions.”. He discovered that the heart’s electromagnetic field, as measured by an electrocardiogram (ECG), in one individual could be detected and measured in another person when the pair either were seated within three feet of each other whether they were touching or not. The heart of one person sends out signals that affect other people nearby.
The heart is busy doing all these things that we are just beginning to understand, yet how often do we take a moment to be aware of what our heart does for us, how it affects us and others?
The heart is mentioned several times in the readings for this morning. In Acts, Peter is addressing a huge crowd of Jewish people of every language and nationality there in Jerusalem. Upon hearing all that Peter shares about Jesus, how he is the Messiah, many in the crowd were cut to the heart. They were touched. They had a physical reaction to this news. They knew about Jesus. They were the ones who had cried out for him to be crucified not two months before. This feeling of being cut to the heart may have been a mixture of shame a guilt, with some hope mixed in and some joy. Here were Jesus’ friends addressing them who had cried out for him to be crucified. The disciples didn’t come to shame them. They came to share the good news of God’s love, forgiveness, and new life for all. The hearts of those in the crowd were probably hurt because of what they had done to Jesus. In the heat of the moment and the pressure of the crowd, they’d acted rashly and cruelly. But now, they’d had some time to reflect on their actions. They may have seen him suffering there on the cross. Many of them likely had regretted their actions that day. Now Jesus’ friends were offering them acceptance and welcome. They were forgiven. They were invited to be part of something life-giving and new. They were invited to be part of the promise for all, for their children, for those who are far away. They heard loud and clear, each in their own language, it doesn’t matter where you come from, what language you speak, or how you’ve been cruel in the past, you are welcome to join with Jesus in life and love. They were invited into community which would strengthen them and give them new vision and awareness.
While we’re not quite having 3,000 baptisms today, it’s not a competition, and this is one of the largest groups of people we’ve welcomed here in a long time. Today God says to these new members that we are all in one community, God’s family. How wonderful that folks here at King of Kings took notice that someone they knew was searching and thought to invite them, that our website was able to convey the kind of welcome that Christ extends to us all, that through open minds and open hearts we’ve embraced these new people in our midst, that these folks have come to accept us for who we are with all our shortcomings and failings, and that together we make a new community. We gather together and affect one another’s hearts. Together we look with the eyes of our hearts, we share our stories of faith, we share our struggles, and together we try to see Jesus and his love and we try to be Jesus’ heart reaching out in love and generosity to those in need.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus calls the disciples slow of heart. He calls them foolish. He calls them slow of heart to believe what the prophets have been saying in the Bible all along about what the Messiah would be like and that he would be raised and that he would bring new life to all people and draw all creation to himself.
Jesus calls them slow of heart because they missed the point of his teachings. They walked with Jesus for three whole years. Still they didn’t see what was right in front of their faces, Jesus. The Disciples heard the scriptures. They went to the tomb. The same is true of us. We miss Jesus right in front of us. Jesus tells us to look for him in the poor and imprisoned and hungry and abandoned.
Jesus comes near to us and walks with us on the road. Our eyes don’t see him. We see what we’re used to seeing. We blame people for their condition, we judge. We don’t look and listen for Jesus. We stand around looking sad, feeling sorry for ourselves. We cry out for God to get people back in shape, to make this world better, and we miss Jesus standing right in front of us.
What if we stopped and listened to the beating of our hearts? What if we stopped and made ourselves aware that the person standing right in front of us also has a beating heart? What if we stopped and acknowledged the miracle right in front of us? And what if we listen to them, their story about what makes them who they are and what they are passionate about? And what if we shared some of our heart with them about what makes us who we are? What if we simply accompanied each other, shared our presence with one another, our energy field? Might we be more likely to see Jesus there? Could that change our whole world view until our hearts are burning to know other people more deeply and to know ourselves more deeply, and to know God more deeply? Might our hearts then burn with the Holy Spirit that binds us together into community?
Out of that conversation between the disciples and the risen Jesus, comes an invitation. The disciples urged Jesus to come to dinner. Whenever we invite Jesus, he accepts. And as he breaks that bread at the table with them and blesses it, he is blessing them with his presence, and the day ends. The old passes away and something new begins to occur. Even though it is dark, and it would have made more sense if they had recognized him in the light of day, their eyes are opened and everything changes. Their whole history is reinterpreted, considering Christ’s presence from the beginning of the universe, through time, in every tree and river, to the moment of their birth when their heart began to pump oxygen, breath, spirit, that their very own lungs had drawn into their body, in every dark valley, in every loss, in every life lesson, in every moment of love and forgiveness. God with them at all times and all places.
Jesus reveals himself to the Disciples and reveals himself to us. It was in the breaking of the bread that he is revealed. It is in those times when we are broken, not quite whole, that we are ragged and jagged, awkward, when we are so aware of our own need, our own failures, that our eyes can be open to see Jesus offering new life. Just as our hearts pump blood throughout our bodies and sustain our life, Jesus’ love pumps through our lives, whether we are aware of it or not, God’s presence with us.
God came to be a human being with a beating heart, like all of us. And he allowed his own heart to be broken, with all the injustice he saw, all the people he met that were left out, all the children going hungry, all the cruelty that we inflict on ourselves and each other and this beautiful world. And he allowed his heart to be broken, literally, as he died there on the cross. His beating heart stopped. And he handed his heart to us, in this meal that we share almost every week, the body and blood of Jesus, the heart of Jesus, pumping life and love to all of us, his body in this world.
Now, together with Christians of every time and place we are asked to be Jesus’ heart beating for the world. We are invited to have a heart for the poor, the old, for teenagers, for little ones, for the tired, for the sick, for the oppressed and hungry. We get to be Christ’s heart in the world, full of compassion and love, aware of all the beating hearts around us and responsive to their needs.
We find ourselves confused and disappointed in life, feeling abandoned, guilty, and weary. Like the disciples, we are walking away from the cross, from all the difficulties we’ve faced. We find Jesus walking with us. We find people of God, people of faith walking by our side. We find God’s grace and forgiveness walking with us, listening to us, being with us in our sorrow. And in a meal, a relationship is recognized that has always been there, that opens our eyes to the Kingdom God is creating in this world.
This is a tiny peek at the Kingdom of God. Where else do you have such an interesting group of new members? Where else do you find this combination of gifts, passions, and life experiences? Where do you find this particular combination of beating hearts? Don’t let yourself keep walking without seeing. We break bread together at this table each week—extend that invitation to each other, get to know each other, have a compassionate heart, and find yourself seeing Christ and experiencing God’s presence wherever you go.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
April 27, 2014
Gospel: John 20:19-31
1st Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-32
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Remember your first bicycle? What color was it? Was it a hand-me-down, or did you get one shiny and new? Who taught you to ride it? How long did it take you to learn? Where did you go on your first bicycle? What adventures did you have?
When Jesus first met the Disciples, they were riding tricycles. There is nothing wrong with tricycles. They are steady and safe, but they don’t go very fast. They are pretty good at helping a person develop muscles, but they are pretty inefficient. Tricycles are preparation before riding a bicycle. They teach the basics about pedaling and stopping and starting. The disciples had been fishermen, and there was a tax collector and a doctor among them. Jesus seemed to see these as tricycle professions, that helped prepare them for their lives of discipleship, following him and doing his ministry.
So Jesus comes along and invites them to be fishers of people and to follow him. Jesus invited them off their tricycles and instead set about leading them on bicycles with training wheels. During this time, the disciples ride alongside Jesus. He pedaled and they pedaled. He used his brakes, they used their brakes. He signaled a right or left turn and they did the same. They were practicing ministry on their bikes with training wheels. Occasionally, Jesus would send them around the block under the buddy system, but asked them to check in after each time around to make sure they were in one piece before they went around again.
Over Holy Week, the Disciples took their training wheels off. They didn’t expect it to be so difficult. They felt ready, reassuring Jesus that they wouldn’t deny him, that they would stay focused on his teaching. Instead, they found themselves covered with scrapes and bumps and bruises. They fall again and again. Judas betrays Jesus and he runs straight into the street without looking. He doesn’t survive the week. The other disciples have their own mishaps. Peter betrays him. They all feel like failures as their friend Jesus lets go of the bicycle seat and they can’t seem to make this work. They can’t seem to get anywhere without his help.
Now we come to the disciples this morning. They have parked their bikes with no intention of ever riding them again. They are so frustrated and afraid that they are ready to go back to their tricycles. They are ready to go back to their everyday lives and forget everything that Jesus taught them, everything they ever experienced with training wheels on or even the brief moments of exhilaration they felt before they went tumbling to the ground. And since Jesus has been killed, their teacher won’t know that they gave up. They will never have to face him and see his disappointment.
Now enter Jesus. If you think they were afraid before, think how they feel now. Jesus comes to them, locked up in that room in fear. They are expecting to get a well-deserved scolding, to be read the riot act. All they get from Jesus is grace. “Peace be with you.” Jesus isn’t going to escalate their fear or point out all their failures and failings. Instead Jesus gives them peace.
Then he breathes on them. You can’t just tell someone to be at peace. It is something you can show and you can share. You can’t give peace unless you are at peace. If you are anxious, peace won’t be communicated. A slow, even breath is one way of communicating peace. Go ahead, try it.
When Sterling was a little baby and he’d cry when he was teething or something, I’d feel frustrated sometimes. But I knew that the best way to give him peace was to be at peace, myself. I’d take a deep breath and relax my tense muscles and I’d just feel him relax in my arms. Sometimes he would even take a deep breath to match mine.
Jesus does that for the disciples. He gives them a gift of his breath, his peace, his forgiveness. He gives them his calm breath to calm their fears and invite them to breathe so their bodies and minds would be ready to get back on the bicycle and try one more time or however many more times it would take until they were experts.
Once Jesus imparted his calm breath to them, he does give them one piece of advice. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” If you are going to ride this bicycle, to share the good news swiftly and effectively, you can’t always be looking backward, blaming, beating yourself up, dwelling in the past. Retaining sins, yours or others, will only hold you back. Forgiveness is the only way forward. He was telling them they would need to learn forgiveness to be disciples and they were going to need to accept his forgiveness.
They had let him down. They had increased his suffering when he needed them most. They had denied his friendship. They had pretended they didn’t even know him. He had died a most horrible, lonely death and they had survived because they had denied him. They had the worst kind of survivor’s guilt. Now here is Jesus standing before them, the one they had abandoned. He offers them peace. He offers them forgiveness. He offers them another chance to do his ministry, to share his love, to be his disciples. He refuses to look back or retain sins. It is all forgiveness for Jesus and he recommends that course to his disciples.
But one disciple wasn’t there that day. Thomas had been away and when he came back the Disciples told him that Jesus was raised and had visited them. Thomas took one look at this cowering group of Disciples and he's not buying it. They are still all locked up in fear. Their bicycles are still parked in the garage. If Jesus had come and breathed peace on them, if Jesus had forgiven them and told them to let go of their grudges and regrets, if Jesus had told them he was sending them out, what were they still doing here? Because of their paralysis, Thomas can't possibly believe. Their actions don't match the story they've told.
Thankfully we know that they eventually did venture from that locked room and found the courage to get back on their bicycles and share their story far and wide even at great risk to themselves, until it reached our ears today.
The Sundays of Easter we proclaim, Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! We say it loud and proud with our voices. Do we show it in our actions or are we still locked up in our fears?
Jesus empowers us in all different ways. In the Gospel, Thomas is away when Jesus comes to the Disciples. Jesus ensures that he is empowered by community--that he is reunited with the witnesses and thereby strengthened to share the Gospel. In the same way, we have this testimony of the witnesses that they touched and saw with their own eyes. We have the generations who have gone before as part of our community that give us strength to live the Gospel, to reach out in love, to forgive, to move forward. And we have the generations who are yet to come, that give us courage to live the truth of the Gospel.
We have Jesus' instructions in the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount reminding us that blessing is more than just what is on the surface, his example of giving his life for the sake of others, his parables making us think deeply about our own participation in God's Kingdom ways now today.
We have Jesus' challenge to stretch ourselves, to look deep within ourselves and face our brokenness from other people and from this beautiful earth that God created. God wants to show us how to be a better team player. God invites us to have a changed life because of him, not just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. God wants us to have a life that, although quite possibly more difficult than the one we have now, will also be more fulfilling, more life-giving, more balanced. Finally, Jesus offers peace when we are afraid, encouragement to get right back up on that bicycle and get moving forward to do God's work of love.
By this new life, we find ourselves blessed and we become a blessing to others, so that others can meet Jesus in their own way, have their own experience of forgiveness and healing and new life and salvation.
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
You are risen! You are sent by Christ to have new life and share new life! Live in God's love!
1st Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-32
2nd Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Remember your first bicycle? What color was it? Was it a hand-me-down, or did you get one shiny and new? Who taught you to ride it? How long did it take you to learn? Where did you go on your first bicycle? What adventures did you have?
When Jesus first met the Disciples, they were riding tricycles. There is nothing wrong with tricycles. They are steady and safe, but they don’t go very fast. They are pretty good at helping a person develop muscles, but they are pretty inefficient. Tricycles are preparation before riding a bicycle. They teach the basics about pedaling and stopping and starting. The disciples had been fishermen, and there was a tax collector and a doctor among them. Jesus seemed to see these as tricycle professions, that helped prepare them for their lives of discipleship, following him and doing his ministry.
So Jesus comes along and invites them to be fishers of people and to follow him. Jesus invited them off their tricycles and instead set about leading them on bicycles with training wheels. During this time, the disciples ride alongside Jesus. He pedaled and they pedaled. He used his brakes, they used their brakes. He signaled a right or left turn and they did the same. They were practicing ministry on their bikes with training wheels. Occasionally, Jesus would send them around the block under the buddy system, but asked them to check in after each time around to make sure they were in one piece before they went around again.
Over Holy Week, the Disciples took their training wheels off. They didn’t expect it to be so difficult. They felt ready, reassuring Jesus that they wouldn’t deny him, that they would stay focused on his teaching. Instead, they found themselves covered with scrapes and bumps and bruises. They fall again and again. Judas betrays Jesus and he runs straight into the street without looking. He doesn’t survive the week. The other disciples have their own mishaps. Peter betrays him. They all feel like failures as their friend Jesus lets go of the bicycle seat and they can’t seem to make this work. They can’t seem to get anywhere without his help.
Now we come to the disciples this morning. They have parked their bikes with no intention of ever riding them again. They are so frustrated and afraid that they are ready to go back to their tricycles. They are ready to go back to their everyday lives and forget everything that Jesus taught them, everything they ever experienced with training wheels on or even the brief moments of exhilaration they felt before they went tumbling to the ground. And since Jesus has been killed, their teacher won’t know that they gave up. They will never have to face him and see his disappointment.
Now enter Jesus. If you think they were afraid before, think how they feel now. Jesus comes to them, locked up in that room in fear. They are expecting to get a well-deserved scolding, to be read the riot act. All they get from Jesus is grace. “Peace be with you.” Jesus isn’t going to escalate their fear or point out all their failures and failings. Instead Jesus gives them peace.
Then he breathes on them. You can’t just tell someone to be at peace. It is something you can show and you can share. You can’t give peace unless you are at peace. If you are anxious, peace won’t be communicated. A slow, even breath is one way of communicating peace. Go ahead, try it.
When Sterling was a little baby and he’d cry when he was teething or something, I’d feel frustrated sometimes. But I knew that the best way to give him peace was to be at peace, myself. I’d take a deep breath and relax my tense muscles and I’d just feel him relax in my arms. Sometimes he would even take a deep breath to match mine.
Jesus does that for the disciples. He gives them a gift of his breath, his peace, his forgiveness. He gives them his calm breath to calm their fears and invite them to breathe so their bodies and minds would be ready to get back on the bicycle and try one more time or however many more times it would take until they were experts.
Once Jesus imparted his calm breath to them, he does give them one piece of advice. “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” If you are going to ride this bicycle, to share the good news swiftly and effectively, you can’t always be looking backward, blaming, beating yourself up, dwelling in the past. Retaining sins, yours or others, will only hold you back. Forgiveness is the only way forward. He was telling them they would need to learn forgiveness to be disciples and they were going to need to accept his forgiveness.
They had let him down. They had increased his suffering when he needed them most. They had denied his friendship. They had pretended they didn’t even know him. He had died a most horrible, lonely death and they had survived because they had denied him. They had the worst kind of survivor’s guilt. Now here is Jesus standing before them, the one they had abandoned. He offers them peace. He offers them forgiveness. He offers them another chance to do his ministry, to share his love, to be his disciples. He refuses to look back or retain sins. It is all forgiveness for Jesus and he recommends that course to his disciples.
But one disciple wasn’t there that day. Thomas had been away and when he came back the Disciples told him that Jesus was raised and had visited them. Thomas took one look at this cowering group of Disciples and he's not buying it. They are still all locked up in fear. Their bicycles are still parked in the garage. If Jesus had come and breathed peace on them, if Jesus had forgiven them and told them to let go of their grudges and regrets, if Jesus had told them he was sending them out, what were they still doing here? Because of their paralysis, Thomas can't possibly believe. Their actions don't match the story they've told.
Thankfully we know that they eventually did venture from that locked room and found the courage to get back on their bicycles and share their story far and wide even at great risk to themselves, until it reached our ears today.
The Sundays of Easter we proclaim, Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! We say it loud and proud with our voices. Do we show it in our actions or are we still locked up in our fears?
Jesus empowers us in all different ways. In the Gospel, Thomas is away when Jesus comes to the Disciples. Jesus ensures that he is empowered by community--that he is reunited with the witnesses and thereby strengthened to share the Gospel. In the same way, we have this testimony of the witnesses that they touched and saw with their own eyes. We have the generations who have gone before as part of our community that give us strength to live the Gospel, to reach out in love, to forgive, to move forward. And we have the generations who are yet to come, that give us courage to live the truth of the Gospel.
We have Jesus' instructions in the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount reminding us that blessing is more than just what is on the surface, his example of giving his life for the sake of others, his parables making us think deeply about our own participation in God's Kingdom ways now today.
We have Jesus' challenge to stretch ourselves, to look deep within ourselves and face our brokenness from other people and from this beautiful earth that God created. God wants to show us how to be a better team player. God invites us to have a changed life because of him, not just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. God wants us to have a life that, although quite possibly more difficult than the one we have now, will also be more fulfilling, more life-giving, more balanced. Finally, Jesus offers peace when we are afraid, encouragement to get right back up on that bicycle and get moving forward to do God's work of love.
By this new life, we find ourselves blessed and we become a blessing to others, so that others can meet Jesus in their own way, have their own experience of forgiveness and healing and new life and salvation.
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
You are risen! You are sent by Christ to have new life and share new life! Live in God's love!
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