Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13
1st Reading: Amos 5:18-24
2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Are you one of those people who likes to be prepared, who is always ready well ahead of time and has everything organized? Or are you one of those people who always puts everything off until the last minute? Or maybe you fall somewhere in between. I remember being so frustrated with my fellow seminarians who would be up until 2 or 3 in the morning the night before a test studying, or finishing a paper because they put it off. That just seemed ridiculous to me. I almost always started papers well ahead of time and nowadays I always have a draft of my sermon on Thursday, or I can't enjoy my day off. I know several pastors who's sermons are bouncing around in their head all week. Then they come in early Sunday morning and put it all down on paper. I tweak mine on Sunday morning, but you're not going to see me sitting down to a blank page that day and starting then. That would make me anxious.
I could congratulate myself for being wise and put others down for being foolish, but maybe it is more that I am nervous and they are more relaxed. Or it could be that we each have our own style and process that works for us, so we are all wise. And even when I am well prepared, sometimes things happen to ruin all my preparations, and I have to think on my feet or scramble to get something together.
For the early Christians, they were expecting Jesus' return any day. They had been told that some of them would live to see it happen. Now, 40 or so years had passed and people were starting to die and others were getting anxious and others were forgetting about Jesus' teachings and going back to their old ways. They weren't acting like wise people prepared for Jesus' return. So Matthew tells this parable about the wise and foolish bridesmaids and being prepared.
Being prepared for what? Is this ultimate salvation that these bridesmaids are getting in on or missing out on? What are these early Christians preparing for? What are they gaining or losing by being prepared or not? I have a hard time thinking of the bridegroom as Jesus, locking the foolish, wedding-crashing, latecomers out. We attend more than one wedding in a lifetime. I tend to think this is more about missing celebrating with Jesus. Sometimes we are unprepared to meet Jesus and go to his party. That doesn't mean we'll be unprepared for the next time he appears among us. And it certainly doesn't mean that he's locking all us foolish ones out of heaven. Hopefully we'll learn from our mistakes and either bring more oil or share our lamps or not let ourselves be distracted from the party to go off and get oil.
What does the oil represent? Is it faith? Is it a changed life? Does it matter? What do we need to have a lot of, in order to wait? I'm not sure we know. But I will say, if this is about Jesus coming again, and not having enough of something stored up to last until he did come again, since we're still waiting 2000 years later, it is hard to imagine having enough oil or food or anything to last that long. Not knowing how long of a wait we're talking about, how can anyone be completely prepared?
Now who here is really wise or foolish? Can you call someone wise who won't share her lamp with her sister? Can you call someone wise who sends her sister away to go get more oil, knowing that the Bridegroom could be coming at any moment? Can you call someone foolish for bringing enough but not packing extra? Can you call someone foolish for allowing herself to be shamed and distracted and convinced to leave the vicinity of the party to go off on this errand?--ok, maybe we can say yes to that one. The question for us is this, if we are prepared, are we willing to help others who might have been a little more foolish and share what we have, either the oil or the light? If we feel unprepared, are we willing to wait it out without our light, knowing that the light of the world is coming to illumine our way? Or might we be willing to ask for help, for someone to share their light with us so we don't have to wait in the dark? Can we keep a focus on our Savior Jesus, however he appears to us—as a groom, as a child, as a person with ebola, as a person who is hungry or filthy or weak or undocumented? Will we stick with keeping our watch, however prepared or unprepared we are? Or will we be distracted telling our unprepared sisters and brothers to go jump in a lake, shaming them and sending them on an unnecessary errand? Will we be distracted by those who would shame us, telling us we didn't bring enough and go off to find it instead of staying to find that very thing we are there for, the presence and joy of Christ?
Jesus Christ came to us, the most unprepared of all. He came as a baby. He had no language, no clothes, no defenses, no knowledge. He grew up with no royal title, no crown or throne, no status. As an adult, he had no place to lay his head, no armed forces to command, went long periods without food, was followed by foolish disciples and women no one had a kind word about and finally surrendered all that he had, even his very safety and his body over to death, no dignity, no privacy, no pardon, finally no breath. So completely unprepared. Yet, he had what mattered most—he knew who he was in God's eyes, and he lived and understood his calling to love others and to serve those who are rejected and hated.
In God's eyes, all our preparations must seem silly. We must seem quite foolish, whether we are under-prepared or over-prepared. And notice all the bridesmaids fell asleep. We all get tired. Yet, we are all invited to the party. We are all invited to be near Jesus. We all get another chance to try again and learn to share and not be distracted. We are children of God and guests at the wedding feast, and so are those around us, prepared or not. We get to extend the invitation by our words and actions so that others know they are invited and we are especially encouraged to share our light, or Christ's light, so that we can all enjoy the party, together.
So what is it that distracts us today from seeing Jesus in our midst? Funny to go back to the Old Testament reading this morning. Some things never change. The real point is seeing “justice roll down like waters and righteousness, or goodness like an ever-flowing stream.” But we get distracted by our solemn assemblies, and our noisy songs. We think that our worship is the place Jesus mostly is, and when we worship, we always hope that it isn't the actual hymns or musical instruments, or colors of the day, or pews or the pastor preaching from the pulpit or down in front. Actually, worship should strengthen us to meet Jesus in our everyday lives. It should renew us so that we use our time and energy to share all we have and bring justice to those who never get a fair shake.
I probably spend too much time on Facebook, but I had my latest chuckle on the ELCA Clergy page when one pastor suggested switching church buildings with another congregation for a season to get us out of the worship we all get caught up in, of our own spaces and buildings. I just love thinking like this, about the chaos, but not just all the confusion, but of meeting Christ there and what we would see about ourselves and how we get distracted by things that don't matter and miss Christ standing right in our midst. I love it, in theory. I would certainly be as discombobulated as the rest of you and have difficulty producing sermons and probably drive to the wrong place half the time and never know where such and such is kept. We don't actually have to go through the exercise to start to see a picture of ourselves among these wise and foolish bridesmaids. We are completely foolish and distracted and unprepared, yet Jesus comes to us anyway, gives us his light, keeps us from burning out, feeds us, and parties with us forever more. And in turn we get to be foolish like Jesus, completely unprepared from the world's standpoint, living simply, hanging out with all kinds of rough characters and misfits, welcoming, taking risks, being open to God's leading, and loving, so that more people might know the presence of God.
Maybe the oil is love. Left to our own foolishness, if the abundance and sharing of life is based on who deserves it or who didn't offend us, it runs out. But based in God's own generosity, it never runs out, and so we keep our lamps of love lit, so that others can see what we see, Jesus present with us and celebrating with us.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
November 23, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
1st Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
2nd Reading: Epesians 1:15-23
“I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy.” This reminds me of the Magnificat, the part of the Bible where the Virgin Mary has just learned that she will carry the Son of God and she sings a song that we sing at Holden Evening Prayer, “You have filled the hungry with wondrous things and left the wealthy no part.”
When I was growing up, I would never sing this part because I was in the poorest family in my congregation, and I couldn't sing this about the wealthier people in my congregation. They were so kind to me. They gave me their hand-me-downs, gave me employment babysitting and picking blueberries. They served with me on committees. They were my Sunday School teachers and Confirmation Instructors. They were my fellow Christians and I loved them and they loved me.
Now I have stepped out of poverty. I find myself in a place of privilege. I can pay my bills without worrying where the money will come from. I have disposable income.
So who am I, in this story? I have been both the poor, and the wealthy. I have been hungry and fed. At times in our lives we have been all of these things. Some have said that these readings aren't about us. They are about who Jesus is. And on Christ the King Sunday it is a good idea to stop thinking of ourselves all the time and really celebrate Christ Jesus.
So what does this reading say about Jesus? As king, where is his throne? Where is his Kingdom and what is it like? Who is this King that we celebrate on Christ the King day and who we've even named our church after?
For a long time, God was the only ruler the Israelites knew. God led them out of Egypt and set them up in a new land, gave them laws to guide them, and gave them judges to help resolve disputes. But the people really wanted a king, like all the other nations around them. They begged for one. God told them they would regret it, that a king would never rule with the compassion and justice of God. The king would get wrapped up in getting more riches and impressing people. No matter how good the king, he would get off track and lose sight of the ideals and values of God. But the people still insisted. If you read the books of Kings in the Old Testament, you've got about 6 good kings total in a list of about 40 between the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In other words, having a king was a failure. The kingdom was divided into two. Kings kept taking the throne by coup. They didn't take care of their widows and orphans. They kept going back to worshiping Baal. If one king got the nation back in order, the next ruined all his good work. The kings were unreliable, and even those who were pretty faithful usually lost their way and made huge mistakes that hurt people and dishonored God.
Now enter, Christ the King. God is saying, “Human kings didn't work out very well. You want a ruler, a king. I will come in person and be your king.” Put aside everything you've ever thought about a king, because God is going to show us how it is done. This is a king who isn't concerned with amassing power, or conquering other lands, or being big and powerful the way we think of power. This is a king who gives power away and when necessary takes it away from those who are hoarding it, to pass it around.
To Christ the King, power is not something that you can run out of or is scarce. Jesus knows that power is something that can be shared between us and that can grow and increase as people are empowered. The other kings thought of land and money as power. Those things are finite. They are meaningless because they can be taken away. They aren't powerful at all.
Jesus thought of as power in a completely different way. To him it was powerful to share so that everyone had enough and could contribute. Sharing food and drink, sharing clothing, sharing stories, sharing our time. What Jesus thought of as powerful were relationships of care and love in which the poor and hungry and imprisoned were ministered to and valued as part of the whole, where everyone's well-being was considered and tended to. What Jesus thought of as powerful was thinking the best about another person and letting God be the judge, so that there weren't barriers or prejudices that keep us from helping people in need. When we see someone suffering, we want to tell ourselves that couldn't happen to me. We make up some story in our minds about how they deserve their fate of being lost or hurting—whether we blame a bad decision or drug abuse or whether a person got an education or not. And in the same breath, we worship ourselves and our actions and give ourselves credit for many accidents of life that give us wealth and stability.
When we are poor, we also believe in the stories we tell ourselves that someone must have done something to deserve that wealth, that opulent house, all those amazing vacations, all those nice clothes. That's the myth in our society—that anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, that if we're poor we deserve it and if we are rich we deserve it. These stories we tell ourselves keep us from reaching across to our neighbor who is different from us and getting to know them, to find out the real story and from building power between us that grows.
Jesus is turning that myth on its head. The creator of the universe deserved to have all the comforts and luxuries of life. Instead he had a pile of hay to be born in, fled for his life, had no possessions, was misunderstood by his family, didn't even have competent followers, and was executed as a young man in the prime of his life for standing up to this myth and spending time with the most rejected people of his time. Christ the King is a different kind of king, valuing the poor, redistributing resources, and subjecting the rich to judgment.
A congregation can be a beautiful place where people come together of all different socio-economic backgrounds and situations. It was in my home congregation and it is here. Where else do different kinds of people gather and make decisions together and build relationships and work and worship side by side? Christ has brought rich and poor together to destroy these myths we've been living with and replace them with real relationships, the stuff that really matters and builds power between people for good in the world.
I see before me, a lot of people who are wealthy. I also see people who struggle with finances. Some in this congregation are formerly homeless. Some are just squeaking by and some I would describe living in mansions. Some are rich in money, some rich in health, some rich in family relationships, some rich in friendship. Some are poor in health, some poor in possessions, some poor in self-esteem, some have experienced great losses in their lives, most have had their share of struggles, rich or poor. I would say to all, Jesus is with you. Jesus is the kind of King whose throne is in the midst of struggles and difficulties. And I would say, value one another and get to know one another. You are each a gift and you each have pieces of a puzzle can help other people, here and in the wider world, meet a need or find a connection. God has given us one another as a gift, so open this gift, invite one another to form deeper relationships, share your hopes and dreams and struggles and joys and frustrations. This will build power, it will build compassion, it will make this church stronger and richer in the ways that matter most and that will last.
Jesus is the kind of King who would lose it all to show us what power and glory are really about. I am reminded of the way they stripped Jesus of his clothes at his arrest in Jerusalem—how he stood naked. I am reminded of how he was charged with a crime and held as a criminal in prison. I a reminded of Jesus' words on the cross, “I thirst.” I am reminded of how Peter denied him and no one came to his aid. He was hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, a stranger, naked, and sick. He's been there. What a comfort for us when we are there to know that we are not alone. And he is there. Whenever we meet someone in any of these difficult situations, we remember Jesus and how he did not deserve it and how whatever life choices people have made, no one deserves to suffer like this. Human beings ought to be able to eat and drink, to be clothed, to be visited and cared for and to receive justice. We think of food and water and clothing and medicine as limited resources, but how many of us couldn't afford to feed one more person, or is in danger of running out of clothes with a dozen pairs of shoes and four or five coats in the closet. We aren't running out of anything! There is plenty to go around if we would let Christ be our King and remind us of the plenty we have been given. Because of Christ our King, we will never run out of the things that are most important, the things that grow by giving them away: compassion, relationship, sharing, and love.
1st Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
2nd Reading: Epesians 1:15-23
“I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy.” This reminds me of the Magnificat, the part of the Bible where the Virgin Mary has just learned that she will carry the Son of God and she sings a song that we sing at Holden Evening Prayer, “You have filled the hungry with wondrous things and left the wealthy no part.”
When I was growing up, I would never sing this part because I was in the poorest family in my congregation, and I couldn't sing this about the wealthier people in my congregation. They were so kind to me. They gave me their hand-me-downs, gave me employment babysitting and picking blueberries. They served with me on committees. They were my Sunday School teachers and Confirmation Instructors. They were my fellow Christians and I loved them and they loved me.
Now I have stepped out of poverty. I find myself in a place of privilege. I can pay my bills without worrying where the money will come from. I have disposable income.
So who am I, in this story? I have been both the poor, and the wealthy. I have been hungry and fed. At times in our lives we have been all of these things. Some have said that these readings aren't about us. They are about who Jesus is. And on Christ the King Sunday it is a good idea to stop thinking of ourselves all the time and really celebrate Christ Jesus.
So what does this reading say about Jesus? As king, where is his throne? Where is his Kingdom and what is it like? Who is this King that we celebrate on Christ the King day and who we've even named our church after?
For a long time, God was the only ruler the Israelites knew. God led them out of Egypt and set them up in a new land, gave them laws to guide them, and gave them judges to help resolve disputes. But the people really wanted a king, like all the other nations around them. They begged for one. God told them they would regret it, that a king would never rule with the compassion and justice of God. The king would get wrapped up in getting more riches and impressing people. No matter how good the king, he would get off track and lose sight of the ideals and values of God. But the people still insisted. If you read the books of Kings in the Old Testament, you've got about 6 good kings total in a list of about 40 between the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In other words, having a king was a failure. The kingdom was divided into two. Kings kept taking the throne by coup. They didn't take care of their widows and orphans. They kept going back to worshiping Baal. If one king got the nation back in order, the next ruined all his good work. The kings were unreliable, and even those who were pretty faithful usually lost their way and made huge mistakes that hurt people and dishonored God.
Now enter, Christ the King. God is saying, “Human kings didn't work out very well. You want a ruler, a king. I will come in person and be your king.” Put aside everything you've ever thought about a king, because God is going to show us how it is done. This is a king who isn't concerned with amassing power, or conquering other lands, or being big and powerful the way we think of power. This is a king who gives power away and when necessary takes it away from those who are hoarding it, to pass it around.
To Christ the King, power is not something that you can run out of or is scarce. Jesus knows that power is something that can be shared between us and that can grow and increase as people are empowered. The other kings thought of land and money as power. Those things are finite. They are meaningless because they can be taken away. They aren't powerful at all.
Jesus thought of as power in a completely different way. To him it was powerful to share so that everyone had enough and could contribute. Sharing food and drink, sharing clothing, sharing stories, sharing our time. What Jesus thought of as powerful were relationships of care and love in which the poor and hungry and imprisoned were ministered to and valued as part of the whole, where everyone's well-being was considered and tended to. What Jesus thought of as powerful was thinking the best about another person and letting God be the judge, so that there weren't barriers or prejudices that keep us from helping people in need. When we see someone suffering, we want to tell ourselves that couldn't happen to me. We make up some story in our minds about how they deserve their fate of being lost or hurting—whether we blame a bad decision or drug abuse or whether a person got an education or not. And in the same breath, we worship ourselves and our actions and give ourselves credit for many accidents of life that give us wealth and stability.
When we are poor, we also believe in the stories we tell ourselves that someone must have done something to deserve that wealth, that opulent house, all those amazing vacations, all those nice clothes. That's the myth in our society—that anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, that if we're poor we deserve it and if we are rich we deserve it. These stories we tell ourselves keep us from reaching across to our neighbor who is different from us and getting to know them, to find out the real story and from building power between us that grows.
Jesus is turning that myth on its head. The creator of the universe deserved to have all the comforts and luxuries of life. Instead he had a pile of hay to be born in, fled for his life, had no possessions, was misunderstood by his family, didn't even have competent followers, and was executed as a young man in the prime of his life for standing up to this myth and spending time with the most rejected people of his time. Christ the King is a different kind of king, valuing the poor, redistributing resources, and subjecting the rich to judgment.
A congregation can be a beautiful place where people come together of all different socio-economic backgrounds and situations. It was in my home congregation and it is here. Where else do different kinds of people gather and make decisions together and build relationships and work and worship side by side? Christ has brought rich and poor together to destroy these myths we've been living with and replace them with real relationships, the stuff that really matters and builds power between people for good in the world.
I see before me, a lot of people who are wealthy. I also see people who struggle with finances. Some in this congregation are formerly homeless. Some are just squeaking by and some I would describe living in mansions. Some are rich in money, some rich in health, some rich in family relationships, some rich in friendship. Some are poor in health, some poor in possessions, some poor in self-esteem, some have experienced great losses in their lives, most have had their share of struggles, rich or poor. I would say to all, Jesus is with you. Jesus is the kind of King whose throne is in the midst of struggles and difficulties. And I would say, value one another and get to know one another. You are each a gift and you each have pieces of a puzzle can help other people, here and in the wider world, meet a need or find a connection. God has given us one another as a gift, so open this gift, invite one another to form deeper relationships, share your hopes and dreams and struggles and joys and frustrations. This will build power, it will build compassion, it will make this church stronger and richer in the ways that matter most and that will last.
Jesus is the kind of King who would lose it all to show us what power and glory are really about. I am reminded of the way they stripped Jesus of his clothes at his arrest in Jerusalem—how he stood naked. I am reminded of how he was charged with a crime and held as a criminal in prison. I a reminded of Jesus' words on the cross, “I thirst.” I am reminded of how Peter denied him and no one came to his aid. He was hungry, thirsty, imprisoned, a stranger, naked, and sick. He's been there. What a comfort for us when we are there to know that we are not alone. And he is there. Whenever we meet someone in any of these difficult situations, we remember Jesus and how he did not deserve it and how whatever life choices people have made, no one deserves to suffer like this. Human beings ought to be able to eat and drink, to be clothed, to be visited and cared for and to receive justice. We think of food and water and clothing and medicine as limited resources, but how many of us couldn't afford to feed one more person, or is in danger of running out of clothes with a dozen pairs of shoes and four or five coats in the closet. We aren't running out of anything! There is plenty to go around if we would let Christ be our King and remind us of the plenty we have been given. Because of Christ our King, we will never run out of the things that are most important, the things that grow by giving them away: compassion, relationship, sharing, and love.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
October 19, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-22
1st Reading: Isaiah 45:1-7
2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
In these days of email, it is pretty fun to get a real letter in the snail mail, once in a while. My grandma writes actual letters and so I do my best to answer her by letter, too. Because of this, I still buy stamps. I remember being a little girl and licking the stamps for my mom that she placed on the bills. For a short while I collected stamps. I remember looking at the images on the stamps, and wondering about them. I remember looking at all the colors, all the different subject matter from plants and flowers, to hearts, to art work, to celebrating different holidays, to actors and actresses, and finally images of presidents and important people.
It used to be that you had to be dead to be depicted on a postage stamp, but that rule changed in 2011, maybe because the Postal Service is so much in debt and trying to make up its huge deficit. It was around that time that I started seeing advertised at the Post Office that you could buy a computer program to put the picture of your choice on a postage stamp. The suggestion was that you might like to have a picture of your grandchild on a postage stamp.
The idea was to sell what people wanted, the image that an individual would find appealing, and who would know better than that same individual? Well Caesar had the chance to put the image of whoever he wanted on the coins of ancient Rome, and I doubt there was much of a question that it would be Caesar, himself. He had already declared himself a god. He already pushed his kingdom and rule on all kinds of people. He already pushed his laws and taxes on them. He wanted absolute rule, absolute obedience, absolute power. He may have once had some lofty ideas about making life better for people, but he was a dictator, removed from the everyday life of people. It ended up that his rule benefitted him more than anyone, and those close to him next, and the Jewish people very little, if at all.
In other words, Caesar did show partiality. He treated people differently depending on what they could do for him. He expected everyone to treat him best of all, because of what he could do for them or out of fear because of what he could do to them. And in this context, the Pharisees ask Jesus whether people should pay taxes or not, to try to trap him. First they try to flatter him by saying that he shows no partiality. To him that is a compliment. To them that is an insult. Basically, they are saying he has no taste, no common sense about who it is good to hang out with and share with and who it isn't.
If Jesus says you should pay taxes, the Jewish people will be upset, because they are taxed to the max by the Romans and they get very little in return. If he says you shouldn't, they will tell Caesar and Jesus will be labled a traitor and arrested. Jesus directs them to the image on the coin. There is Caesar's image on it. Give to him what is his.
What is Caesar's in this case? The idea is whatever he stamps his image on belongs to him. He thinks whatever he imposes his values upon, his rule upon, his image upon, become his. The Jewish people were trying to keep their traditions and values, to worship God and make decisions for their own people. Who did they belong to now? God or Caesar? They were seeing Caesar's image stamped all over the place. They were finding it in their pockets and purses. They were seeing the impact on their lives--oppression. And those in power, like the Pharisees, were using this rule to benefit themselves. The tax collectors were collecting more than the tax to line their own pockets. The Pharisees were using the Romans to get rid of people like Jesus who empowered the poor. What is Caesar's? Taxes, oppression, partiality, favoritism, and take, take, take--selfishness.
What was God's, then? God is all give, give, give--selflessness. God made everything on this earth and made it good, to benefit everyone and to give life to all. God had made every tree and plant, every animal, every element such as the gold which formed the coin. Finally, as we know from the Creation stories, God created humankind in the image and likeness of God. Show me the coin—who's image is on it? Ceasar's. Show me the human-who's image is on him? God's image. That's why Jesus shows no partiality. Whomever he encounters, he sees the image and likeness of God.
We are agreed that we also must not treat others with partiality. But what about the image of God we carry within each of us? It means a certain responsibility to carry God's values within us. We all look so different from each other, so what is it about God's image that we hold in common? I think it is the heart of God, the values of God, the focus of God on life-giving ways. And we take that image wherever we go. It isn't just something we wear or embody at church. Yes, we may dress up a bit, shave, put on a clean outfit, to come here. We also try to put on a good attitude and a friendly smile, even if we aren't feeling that social. But God's image is stamped on us every other day of the week, as well. We carry God's image, God's values to work with us. We carry it with us to the store, to the ballot box, to the bank, when we drive our cars, when we take out the trash, when we fill out our estimate of giving card, when we volunteer our time, when we forgive, when we show no favoritism. Jesus' values led him to give his life that we might have life, to disregard his own welfare for the sake of others. We give thanks that he made new life possible for us, that he made that connection between God and humankind, between heaven and earth so clear and so available to us who have done nothing to deserve a place at God's table of grace. Yet, here we are, all valued, all invited, all chosen by God.
Today we estimate our giving for the coming year in a way that incorporates God's values. Our estimates help the congregation create a budget, so we aren't guessing. It helps you set an intentional goal, with prayer, to use this gift from God, money in a way that supports God's values. It also helps separate you from your money, which can so easily become an idol, no matter who's image it has on it.
It used to be that the offering was taken, the first fruits from the field, the best of the flock, and it was burned. Many a pastor has fantasized about taking the offering, putting it on the altar, and setting it on fire. The reaction would be priceless. Nowadays, very little of what ends up in the plate is paper money anymore. Most of it is checks, so it wouldn't be so effective. But the thought of destroying the money, in theory, is appealing. It means the giver truly has to let go and says, “This isn't mine anymore.” Like the prayer says, “We release what has been given to us.” Then no more could one's offering be held over the church's head. No one could say, “Do it my way or I will withhold my tithe.” No one could say, “We can't offend this or that important/rich person in the congregation or they will stop giving.” Destroying the money destroys the power it can have over us, the partiality we might have because of it.
However, if the money is destroyed, it can't be used to do the work that supports God's values of giving life impartially and supporting all in need. Alas, there will be no fire in the offering plate today. We work together to pass a budget that we believe supports God's values. Our budget tithes our offerings to the larger church to pay some administration costs that help us stay connected to other Lutherans and from time to time get support for calling a new pastor or gathering resources to write a sabbatical policy, for instance. Much of what goes to the larger church goes to fight disease and respond to disasters. Furthermore, our budget supports a food pantry that feeds thousands of hungry people in our neighborhood and creates partnerships between our congregations. Our budget pays the staff to carry out the work we see as important.
And our budget pays the pastor--me. This can be an awkward subject and yet, I know, I have a job, a livelihood, insurance and retirement because of your generous offerings. This is the way I see it. You pay me to work on behalf of the poor. I visit the sick and hospitalized and lonely. I make my way around the pantry, praying with clients, listening to them and loving them. I work on issues like immigrant rights and the health of this planet that God made and diversity training for youth. I encourage you to get involved, too. You also have your own areas of interest and focus for community service and your own connections to bring life to those who are struggling.
Maybe a grandchild is the perfect image to have on a postage stamp, just the person to venerate and honor, because of what that represents. For that grandchild, we want to create a world more just, more life-giving, more clean, more beautiful, more peaceful. We can see in that child both our own image and likeness, the face that carries our genetic code, and the face of God, so wonderous and beautiful and full of possibility. That little person is so powerless, and yet with that little voice holds such sway. That little person has no ill will toward anyone, and truly shows no partiality. That little person is truly innocent, knowing nothing of politics and money, but only about forming relationships and being open to new learning, moldable to God's sculpting hands. The important thing to remember is that we are also grandchildren of someone and they once saw in us what we see in them. And I have to think that God still sees that in us. So much possibility. So much good. So many of God's most important values. I have to think that our image can be found on God's postage stamps, God's love letters to us reminding us what is most important. Surely God's image is on our hearts, making us ready to love and give life and share and empower one another and be kind and work for the poor and vote and to give to God what is God's, which is really everything.
1st Reading: Isaiah 45:1-7
2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
In these days of email, it is pretty fun to get a real letter in the snail mail, once in a while. My grandma writes actual letters and so I do my best to answer her by letter, too. Because of this, I still buy stamps. I remember being a little girl and licking the stamps for my mom that she placed on the bills. For a short while I collected stamps. I remember looking at the images on the stamps, and wondering about them. I remember looking at all the colors, all the different subject matter from plants and flowers, to hearts, to art work, to celebrating different holidays, to actors and actresses, and finally images of presidents and important people.
It used to be that you had to be dead to be depicted on a postage stamp, but that rule changed in 2011, maybe because the Postal Service is so much in debt and trying to make up its huge deficit. It was around that time that I started seeing advertised at the Post Office that you could buy a computer program to put the picture of your choice on a postage stamp. The suggestion was that you might like to have a picture of your grandchild on a postage stamp.
The idea was to sell what people wanted, the image that an individual would find appealing, and who would know better than that same individual? Well Caesar had the chance to put the image of whoever he wanted on the coins of ancient Rome, and I doubt there was much of a question that it would be Caesar, himself. He had already declared himself a god. He already pushed his kingdom and rule on all kinds of people. He already pushed his laws and taxes on them. He wanted absolute rule, absolute obedience, absolute power. He may have once had some lofty ideas about making life better for people, but he was a dictator, removed from the everyday life of people. It ended up that his rule benefitted him more than anyone, and those close to him next, and the Jewish people very little, if at all.
In other words, Caesar did show partiality. He treated people differently depending on what they could do for him. He expected everyone to treat him best of all, because of what he could do for them or out of fear because of what he could do to them. And in this context, the Pharisees ask Jesus whether people should pay taxes or not, to try to trap him. First they try to flatter him by saying that he shows no partiality. To him that is a compliment. To them that is an insult. Basically, they are saying he has no taste, no common sense about who it is good to hang out with and share with and who it isn't.
If Jesus says you should pay taxes, the Jewish people will be upset, because they are taxed to the max by the Romans and they get very little in return. If he says you shouldn't, they will tell Caesar and Jesus will be labled a traitor and arrested. Jesus directs them to the image on the coin. There is Caesar's image on it. Give to him what is his.
What is Caesar's in this case? The idea is whatever he stamps his image on belongs to him. He thinks whatever he imposes his values upon, his rule upon, his image upon, become his. The Jewish people were trying to keep their traditions and values, to worship God and make decisions for their own people. Who did they belong to now? God or Caesar? They were seeing Caesar's image stamped all over the place. They were finding it in their pockets and purses. They were seeing the impact on their lives--oppression. And those in power, like the Pharisees, were using this rule to benefit themselves. The tax collectors were collecting more than the tax to line their own pockets. The Pharisees were using the Romans to get rid of people like Jesus who empowered the poor. What is Caesar's? Taxes, oppression, partiality, favoritism, and take, take, take--selfishness.
What was God's, then? God is all give, give, give--selflessness. God made everything on this earth and made it good, to benefit everyone and to give life to all. God had made every tree and plant, every animal, every element such as the gold which formed the coin. Finally, as we know from the Creation stories, God created humankind in the image and likeness of God. Show me the coin—who's image is on it? Ceasar's. Show me the human-who's image is on him? God's image. That's why Jesus shows no partiality. Whomever he encounters, he sees the image and likeness of God.
We are agreed that we also must not treat others with partiality. But what about the image of God we carry within each of us? It means a certain responsibility to carry God's values within us. We all look so different from each other, so what is it about God's image that we hold in common? I think it is the heart of God, the values of God, the focus of God on life-giving ways. And we take that image wherever we go. It isn't just something we wear or embody at church. Yes, we may dress up a bit, shave, put on a clean outfit, to come here. We also try to put on a good attitude and a friendly smile, even if we aren't feeling that social. But God's image is stamped on us every other day of the week, as well. We carry God's image, God's values to work with us. We carry it with us to the store, to the ballot box, to the bank, when we drive our cars, when we take out the trash, when we fill out our estimate of giving card, when we volunteer our time, when we forgive, when we show no favoritism. Jesus' values led him to give his life that we might have life, to disregard his own welfare for the sake of others. We give thanks that he made new life possible for us, that he made that connection between God and humankind, between heaven and earth so clear and so available to us who have done nothing to deserve a place at God's table of grace. Yet, here we are, all valued, all invited, all chosen by God.
Today we estimate our giving for the coming year in a way that incorporates God's values. Our estimates help the congregation create a budget, so we aren't guessing. It helps you set an intentional goal, with prayer, to use this gift from God, money in a way that supports God's values. It also helps separate you from your money, which can so easily become an idol, no matter who's image it has on it.
It used to be that the offering was taken, the first fruits from the field, the best of the flock, and it was burned. Many a pastor has fantasized about taking the offering, putting it on the altar, and setting it on fire. The reaction would be priceless. Nowadays, very little of what ends up in the plate is paper money anymore. Most of it is checks, so it wouldn't be so effective. But the thought of destroying the money, in theory, is appealing. It means the giver truly has to let go and says, “This isn't mine anymore.” Like the prayer says, “We release what has been given to us.” Then no more could one's offering be held over the church's head. No one could say, “Do it my way or I will withhold my tithe.” No one could say, “We can't offend this or that important/rich person in the congregation or they will stop giving.” Destroying the money destroys the power it can have over us, the partiality we might have because of it.
However, if the money is destroyed, it can't be used to do the work that supports God's values of giving life impartially and supporting all in need. Alas, there will be no fire in the offering plate today. We work together to pass a budget that we believe supports God's values. Our budget tithes our offerings to the larger church to pay some administration costs that help us stay connected to other Lutherans and from time to time get support for calling a new pastor or gathering resources to write a sabbatical policy, for instance. Much of what goes to the larger church goes to fight disease and respond to disasters. Furthermore, our budget supports a food pantry that feeds thousands of hungry people in our neighborhood and creates partnerships between our congregations. Our budget pays the staff to carry out the work we see as important.
And our budget pays the pastor--me. This can be an awkward subject and yet, I know, I have a job, a livelihood, insurance and retirement because of your generous offerings. This is the way I see it. You pay me to work on behalf of the poor. I visit the sick and hospitalized and lonely. I make my way around the pantry, praying with clients, listening to them and loving them. I work on issues like immigrant rights and the health of this planet that God made and diversity training for youth. I encourage you to get involved, too. You also have your own areas of interest and focus for community service and your own connections to bring life to those who are struggling.
Maybe a grandchild is the perfect image to have on a postage stamp, just the person to venerate and honor, because of what that represents. For that grandchild, we want to create a world more just, more life-giving, more clean, more beautiful, more peaceful. We can see in that child both our own image and likeness, the face that carries our genetic code, and the face of God, so wonderous and beautiful and full of possibility. That little person is so powerless, and yet with that little voice holds such sway. That little person has no ill will toward anyone, and truly shows no partiality. That little person is truly innocent, knowing nothing of politics and money, but only about forming relationships and being open to new learning, moldable to God's sculpting hands. The important thing to remember is that we are also grandchildren of someone and they once saw in us what we see in them. And I have to think that God still sees that in us. So much possibility. So much good. So many of God's most important values. I have to think that our image can be found on God's postage stamps, God's love letters to us reminding us what is most important. Surely God's image is on our hearts, making us ready to love and give life and share and empower one another and be kind and work for the poor and vote and to give to God what is God's, which is really everything.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
October 5, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-46
1st Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Imagine you find an abandoned cat or dog, scared, hungry, injured, and neglected. You spend all your money getting it healthy, making a good space in your house for this pet, fencing the yard, getting a microchip, acclimating the pet to the other animals in the house, providing a nice cozy bed and plenty of food. You put in time getting to know your new pet, getting it used to you and the new space.
Just imagine your disappointment when the pet not only destroys property, but bites the other animals and you, continually runs away, and attacks your children and grandchildren.
Now, your heart is heavy because you’ve put all this investment into this pet, hoping that it could recover and lead a happy, healthy life in harmony with other creatures around it. But now you have no choice but to put it down.
We know that when an animal is like this, something has happened in the past that makes them this way. Maybe they were abused or suffered so terribly they can never recover. But when God has set everything up for us to live together in harmony, to have everything we need, to be comfortable and happy, and instead we get aggressive and selfish and destroy ourselves, our environment, and other lives around us, that is a choice we’ve made. In the readings for today, we can infer that God gets mad, but I think just as much, God gets sad and we all get sad and wonder where is the hope in this world if people are not willing to be tamed and live the way God intended, a life-giving way for everyone.
I suppose first we have to stop and admit what we’ve done. Are we really so bad as a wild animal or a trampled vineyard? We try to do right, live like other people, and protect ourselves. We go to church most Sundays and even if we don’t, we believe in God. We give some of our income to charity to help other people. We volunteer. We let people go in front of us at the grocery store. We’re kind to animals.
We probably didn’t set out to be wild grapes, but that’s how it has ended up. We are so isolated and removed from each other we don’t even know how our choices affect those around us. We are so comfortable behind the closed doors of our homes, we don’t even know the neighbors right next door are suffering. We tend to think of our home, money, and yard as ours and do with it what we wish, forgetting that everything we do affects other people, and that these are gifts from God that actually belong to God, not to us. We are just borrowing them for a little while.
We forget that our land once belonged to someone else and that at one time it belonged to all God’s creatures in the area. We forget that someone after us will use it and that the things we do to it will affect future generations.
We think of our money as our own, that we earned it and should be able to use it as we like. We spend it on so many frivolous things. Some of these are even for our pets. In this country we spend $61 billion a year on our pets. We spend about 7 billion on Halloween. Yes, those things make us happy. They keep our economy going. But thinking of hungry children, of single parents who can’t find work, of elder neglect, and people who can’t afford medical care, might make us consider what God’s priorities might be over our own.
I don’t think God’s given up on us yet. We can see that our way of life is unsustainable and that it is destroying this earth, using up resources, and polluting our air and water and soil. We are starting to experience the consequences of our actions. God is still saying, there is another way, a way for life to flourish for all, for everyone to have enough, and for us all to live together peacefully, for our planet to thrive. But we have to be ready and willing to change. God is saying when all these changes happen in our world that wake us up to what we’re doing, God’s is offering us another way. We will have to let go of the life we’ve known and embrace something new, something we can’t anticipate exactly, how it will all work. But we’ll have our strong faith and the stories of death and resurrection, of facing reality and making a change, and receive strength that it can be done. We’ll have the support of our community to make the changes necessary. We won’t be alone. And we will live again. We’ll find a new way of life in which we will bear the fruit of the Kingdom—new life, loving God, loving our neighbor, loving God’s good creation, behaving in loving and balanced ways. God says, why not start making these changes now, so that the destruction that is coming won’t be so disastrous?
We do the easy things. We change our light bulbs for energy efficient ones. We recycle. We turn out the lights in rooms we aren’t using. We do the things that are culturally acceptable and popular. God says, the Kingdom of God is not culturally acceptable. This is needs to be a deeper change that is risky. It makes you look foolish to your friends and family and neighbors. People will make fun of you. They will talk behind your back. But it is the way that eventually leads to more life for everyone and it is God’s way, it is the way for us to survive and thrive on this earth. It will be worth looking like a fool.
Jesus came to show us how to really live. He was kind toward those everyone rejected. He put other people first and their welfare. He emptied himself of everything and still had something to give other people. He taught us to share when we have next to nothing. He taught us to live without things that are unnecessary. He taught us to give everything away. He taught us to have a thick skin about what other people think. He taught us to look out for the little guy and even for the plants and animals. These are the lessons of healing for our community that Jesus teaches us. And he taught us to die, to let go, to be transformed, to give ourselves into God’s hands—to trust.
Because after death comes resurrection, new life, new relationship, God’s Kingdom in our midst. I challenge you this month to start a new habit, to do something a little harder to bring in God’s Kingdom. For every dollar you spend on your pet, give another dollar to the Pongo fund to give pet food to those who can’t otherwise afford to fee their pets, or give a bag of dog or cat food to a shut-in neighbor with pets. For every dollar you spend on Halloween, give a dollar to Lutheran World Relief to fight Ebola in Africa. For every dollar spent at Starbucks, give a dollar to Backpack Buddies. For every hour spent watching TV, spend an hour volunteering for the pantry or a local shelter or reading to kids at a school.
We have been given something wonderful and amazing, this beautiful world and many riches. It is not for us to use as we see fit. It is not ours. We can use it the way we want to, but it will be our destruction. Or we can let God tame us and show us new life and we will drink of the wine this land produces and share in its riches. We have a responsibility to the one who has invested so much in us, to God. And we have a responsibility to this earth that has provided such a wonderful life for us, to care for it that many future generations will be able to enjoy what we’ve enjoyed and know the blessings of God’s good creation.
1st Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Imagine you find an abandoned cat or dog, scared, hungry, injured, and neglected. You spend all your money getting it healthy, making a good space in your house for this pet, fencing the yard, getting a microchip, acclimating the pet to the other animals in the house, providing a nice cozy bed and plenty of food. You put in time getting to know your new pet, getting it used to you and the new space.
Just imagine your disappointment when the pet not only destroys property, but bites the other animals and you, continually runs away, and attacks your children and grandchildren.
Now, your heart is heavy because you’ve put all this investment into this pet, hoping that it could recover and lead a happy, healthy life in harmony with other creatures around it. But now you have no choice but to put it down.
We know that when an animal is like this, something has happened in the past that makes them this way. Maybe they were abused or suffered so terribly they can never recover. But when God has set everything up for us to live together in harmony, to have everything we need, to be comfortable and happy, and instead we get aggressive and selfish and destroy ourselves, our environment, and other lives around us, that is a choice we’ve made. In the readings for today, we can infer that God gets mad, but I think just as much, God gets sad and we all get sad and wonder where is the hope in this world if people are not willing to be tamed and live the way God intended, a life-giving way for everyone.
I suppose first we have to stop and admit what we’ve done. Are we really so bad as a wild animal or a trampled vineyard? We try to do right, live like other people, and protect ourselves. We go to church most Sundays and even if we don’t, we believe in God. We give some of our income to charity to help other people. We volunteer. We let people go in front of us at the grocery store. We’re kind to animals.
We probably didn’t set out to be wild grapes, but that’s how it has ended up. We are so isolated and removed from each other we don’t even know how our choices affect those around us. We are so comfortable behind the closed doors of our homes, we don’t even know the neighbors right next door are suffering. We tend to think of our home, money, and yard as ours and do with it what we wish, forgetting that everything we do affects other people, and that these are gifts from God that actually belong to God, not to us. We are just borrowing them for a little while.
We forget that our land once belonged to someone else and that at one time it belonged to all God’s creatures in the area. We forget that someone after us will use it and that the things we do to it will affect future generations.
We think of our money as our own, that we earned it and should be able to use it as we like. We spend it on so many frivolous things. Some of these are even for our pets. In this country we spend $61 billion a year on our pets. We spend about 7 billion on Halloween. Yes, those things make us happy. They keep our economy going. But thinking of hungry children, of single parents who can’t find work, of elder neglect, and people who can’t afford medical care, might make us consider what God’s priorities might be over our own.
I don’t think God’s given up on us yet. We can see that our way of life is unsustainable and that it is destroying this earth, using up resources, and polluting our air and water and soil. We are starting to experience the consequences of our actions. God is still saying, there is another way, a way for life to flourish for all, for everyone to have enough, and for us all to live together peacefully, for our planet to thrive. But we have to be ready and willing to change. God is saying when all these changes happen in our world that wake us up to what we’re doing, God’s is offering us another way. We will have to let go of the life we’ve known and embrace something new, something we can’t anticipate exactly, how it will all work. But we’ll have our strong faith and the stories of death and resurrection, of facing reality and making a change, and receive strength that it can be done. We’ll have the support of our community to make the changes necessary. We won’t be alone. And we will live again. We’ll find a new way of life in which we will bear the fruit of the Kingdom—new life, loving God, loving our neighbor, loving God’s good creation, behaving in loving and balanced ways. God says, why not start making these changes now, so that the destruction that is coming won’t be so disastrous?
We do the easy things. We change our light bulbs for energy efficient ones. We recycle. We turn out the lights in rooms we aren’t using. We do the things that are culturally acceptable and popular. God says, the Kingdom of God is not culturally acceptable. This is needs to be a deeper change that is risky. It makes you look foolish to your friends and family and neighbors. People will make fun of you. They will talk behind your back. But it is the way that eventually leads to more life for everyone and it is God’s way, it is the way for us to survive and thrive on this earth. It will be worth looking like a fool.
Jesus came to show us how to really live. He was kind toward those everyone rejected. He put other people first and their welfare. He emptied himself of everything and still had something to give other people. He taught us to share when we have next to nothing. He taught us to live without things that are unnecessary. He taught us to give everything away. He taught us to have a thick skin about what other people think. He taught us to look out for the little guy and even for the plants and animals. These are the lessons of healing for our community that Jesus teaches us. And he taught us to die, to let go, to be transformed, to give ourselves into God’s hands—to trust.
Because after death comes resurrection, new life, new relationship, God’s Kingdom in our midst. I challenge you this month to start a new habit, to do something a little harder to bring in God’s Kingdom. For every dollar you spend on your pet, give another dollar to the Pongo fund to give pet food to those who can’t otherwise afford to fee their pets, or give a bag of dog or cat food to a shut-in neighbor with pets. For every dollar you spend on Halloween, give a dollar to Lutheran World Relief to fight Ebola in Africa. For every dollar spent at Starbucks, give a dollar to Backpack Buddies. For every hour spent watching TV, spend an hour volunteering for the pantry or a local shelter or reading to kids at a school.
We have been given something wonderful and amazing, this beautiful world and many riches. It is not for us to use as we see fit. It is not ours. We can use it the way we want to, but it will be our destruction. Or we can let God tame us and show us new life and we will drink of the wine this land produces and share in its riches. We have a responsibility to the one who has invested so much in us, to God. And we have a responsibility to this earth that has provided such a wonderful life for us, to care for it that many future generations will be able to enjoy what we’ve enjoyed and know the blessings of God’s good creation.
September 28, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 21:23-32
1st Reading: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
2nd Reading: Philippians 2:1-13
I enjoy watching the Louie CK show. He is a comedian for which no subject is off limits, so don’t take my taste as a recommendation. He is raising two young daughters, though, and his parenting can be so right on sometimes. We recently saw an episode in which Louie is preparing smoothies for his kids. He has an extra slice of mango left over and he offers it to his oldest daughter. The younger daughter is fit to be tied.
"She got a mango popsicle and I didn't," she whines.
"That's right," he says, and continues cooking. "Sometimes she gets things you don't and sometimes, it goes the other way. That's just how life works."
"But daddy," she pleads, "it's not fair!"
"Who said anything about fair?" he asks. "You were just fine without it until she got it. What's the problem?"
"It's just not fair," she insisted. "If she gets one, I should get one too."
"Look," he says, getting right down on her level, "the only time you need to worry about what's your neighbor's bowl is if you're checking to make sure they have enough." then he turns back to the stove and continues cooking. His younger daughter is pretty ticked and walks off in a huff.
I love this scene, because it is not only for kids but for all of us. We’ve all heard kids freak out about what is fair and what isn’t. We all have our own sense of justice about what is fair and what isn’t. But when we say, “It’s not fair!” it is never the case that we got something more than what our neighbor got, is it? It is only when they got what we don’t have that we complain about fairness, like Louie’s daughter.
It is easy to dismiss kids’ complaints and their lack of understanding, but what about our own sense of justice. Our sense of justice and fairness is challenged when someone goes free who committed a crime, when someone who has taken advantage of other people has great wealth, when people enjoy pleasures and luxury that we don’t have, and occasionally when good people experience many hardships in a row.
In the Old Testament reading today, the Israelites complain that it isn’t fair that people’s children don’t suffer for their parent’s mistakes. They don’t think it is fair that God should give people a second chance to turn and live, mend their lives, make a change. They don’t think it is fair that God should care for all the other people of the earth and all the creatures, as God does the Israelites, that their welfare is tied to each other. And they don’t think it is fair that they should have to suffer consequences for what they do—aren’t they supposed to be special?!
In the New Testament reading, we are reminded that if we lived in a fair world, Jesus would not have been treated the way he was and had to give his life so that everyone could have abundant life. Instead, he did what was entirely not fair, and emptied himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For him it wasn’t about what was fair, but it was about what was right and that was to get everyone into right relationship with God and to be an example of what it means to let go of what is fair to benefit one another and people who need it most.
I think emptiness is what we are most afraid of when we exclaim, “That’s not fair.” I remember being a little girl and comparing what my sister got with what I got. I wanted to make sure I had more ice cream, soda pop, candy than she did. It was a measure in my mind of what I meant to my parents, what I deserved, and how special I was. And I was afraid of what it would mean to take second or third position, to find myself empty of my privileges as the oldest daughter. Who would I be then, if I was first, if I didn’t get the most, if I wasn’t most important in my parents’ eyes? If I lost that status, I didn’t know who I would be. I would be empty, in my estimation.
My cousin was a year older than me and we visited them often. He didn’t treat me very nice for a few years. I got to feel what it was like to be my sister, the way I treated her. He emptied me of my privileged role and I learned to be more compassionate.
We’re all going to be empty of power at some point in our lives. We are going to experience powerlessness. Jesus tells us that isn’t the end of the world. When we are empty of power, we are available to be filled. God will give us a new direction, a new heart, new eyes, a new spirit and we will be better off than we were before.
Here are a few stories of emptiness, of loss of power. The first I’ve heard time and time again. A woman is in an unhappy marriage. She finds herself attracted women. She tries everything to build up her marriage, to no avail. Her church rejects her. She wonders where God is in all this. She’s afraid that if she comes out of the closet, she will lose her family and friends.
Here’s another story: A couple recognizes their health is declining. They can’t do all the things they used to—care for a house and a yard, drive everywhere they want to go, and so on. They move into Independent Living. They have left friends, neighborhood, yard, possessions, hobbies, and more. Who are they now? They are empty of all that, plus now their kids are making many decisions for them. They have given up power. They feel depressed and powerless.
And another: A child comes into this world, healthy and happy. Nevertheless, a trusted friend shakes the child and he suffers brain damage. His parents are lost. The life they pictured for their little baby and themselves is forever altered. They don’t know what to do or where to turn. They feel powerless, empty of power.
Where is God when we feel empty? God knows what it is like to feel empty and powerless, is with us when we are in a place of fear and depression, and God has promised to eventually fill us again.
The woman finds other people who have been through the same thing she is going through. She finds God’s acceptance and love. She begins to accept herself. An older couple is able to share their frustration and pain with others who have been through the same thing. They feel encouraged that they aren’t the only ones who have felt this way. They find new activities to fill their days and make new friends and soon they are settled in their new living situation. A parent connects with other parents who have children who have been shaken. She finds that she sees so much that her child is capable of, and sees him enjoying his life and accomplishing things that she might have taken for granted. She feels such love and sees him loving. And she uses her energies to raise awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome so that others might not have to feel the powerlessness she went through.
Death and resurrection, emptying and being filled, powerlessness and the power of love, a need for fairness and a letting go of what’s fair to face what is. The chief priests and elders ask Jesus this morning about his authority. The word in the original language for authority is “That which arises out of your being.” It is about who you are at your core. When everything is stripped away, who are you? When we are empty, that’s when we really find out who we are and what is most important and we find not an absence, but God’s love filling us and giving us strength and resurrecting us to new life in which we look into our neighbor’s empty bowl and share of our abundance until all are full of God’s love and life.
1st Reading: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
2nd Reading: Philippians 2:1-13
I enjoy watching the Louie CK show. He is a comedian for which no subject is off limits, so don’t take my taste as a recommendation. He is raising two young daughters, though, and his parenting can be so right on sometimes. We recently saw an episode in which Louie is preparing smoothies for his kids. He has an extra slice of mango left over and he offers it to his oldest daughter. The younger daughter is fit to be tied.
"She got a mango popsicle and I didn't," she whines.
"That's right," he says, and continues cooking. "Sometimes she gets things you don't and sometimes, it goes the other way. That's just how life works."
"But daddy," she pleads, "it's not fair!"
"Who said anything about fair?" he asks. "You were just fine without it until she got it. What's the problem?"
"It's just not fair," she insisted. "If she gets one, I should get one too."
"Look," he says, getting right down on her level, "the only time you need to worry about what's your neighbor's bowl is if you're checking to make sure they have enough." then he turns back to the stove and continues cooking. His younger daughter is pretty ticked and walks off in a huff.
I love this scene, because it is not only for kids but for all of us. We’ve all heard kids freak out about what is fair and what isn’t. We all have our own sense of justice about what is fair and what isn’t. But when we say, “It’s not fair!” it is never the case that we got something more than what our neighbor got, is it? It is only when they got what we don’t have that we complain about fairness, like Louie’s daughter.
It is easy to dismiss kids’ complaints and their lack of understanding, but what about our own sense of justice. Our sense of justice and fairness is challenged when someone goes free who committed a crime, when someone who has taken advantage of other people has great wealth, when people enjoy pleasures and luxury that we don’t have, and occasionally when good people experience many hardships in a row.
In the Old Testament reading today, the Israelites complain that it isn’t fair that people’s children don’t suffer for their parent’s mistakes. They don’t think it is fair that God should give people a second chance to turn and live, mend their lives, make a change. They don’t think it is fair that God should care for all the other people of the earth and all the creatures, as God does the Israelites, that their welfare is tied to each other. And they don’t think it is fair that they should have to suffer consequences for what they do—aren’t they supposed to be special?!
In the New Testament reading, we are reminded that if we lived in a fair world, Jesus would not have been treated the way he was and had to give his life so that everyone could have abundant life. Instead, he did what was entirely not fair, and emptied himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For him it wasn’t about what was fair, but it was about what was right and that was to get everyone into right relationship with God and to be an example of what it means to let go of what is fair to benefit one another and people who need it most.
I think emptiness is what we are most afraid of when we exclaim, “That’s not fair.” I remember being a little girl and comparing what my sister got with what I got. I wanted to make sure I had more ice cream, soda pop, candy than she did. It was a measure in my mind of what I meant to my parents, what I deserved, and how special I was. And I was afraid of what it would mean to take second or third position, to find myself empty of my privileges as the oldest daughter. Who would I be then, if I was first, if I didn’t get the most, if I wasn’t most important in my parents’ eyes? If I lost that status, I didn’t know who I would be. I would be empty, in my estimation.
My cousin was a year older than me and we visited them often. He didn’t treat me very nice for a few years. I got to feel what it was like to be my sister, the way I treated her. He emptied me of my privileged role and I learned to be more compassionate.
We’re all going to be empty of power at some point in our lives. We are going to experience powerlessness. Jesus tells us that isn’t the end of the world. When we are empty of power, we are available to be filled. God will give us a new direction, a new heart, new eyes, a new spirit and we will be better off than we were before.
Here are a few stories of emptiness, of loss of power. The first I’ve heard time and time again. A woman is in an unhappy marriage. She finds herself attracted women. She tries everything to build up her marriage, to no avail. Her church rejects her. She wonders where God is in all this. She’s afraid that if she comes out of the closet, she will lose her family and friends.
Here’s another story: A couple recognizes their health is declining. They can’t do all the things they used to—care for a house and a yard, drive everywhere they want to go, and so on. They move into Independent Living. They have left friends, neighborhood, yard, possessions, hobbies, and more. Who are they now? They are empty of all that, plus now their kids are making many decisions for them. They have given up power. They feel depressed and powerless.
And another: A child comes into this world, healthy and happy. Nevertheless, a trusted friend shakes the child and he suffers brain damage. His parents are lost. The life they pictured for their little baby and themselves is forever altered. They don’t know what to do or where to turn. They feel powerless, empty of power.
Where is God when we feel empty? God knows what it is like to feel empty and powerless, is with us when we are in a place of fear and depression, and God has promised to eventually fill us again.
The woman finds other people who have been through the same thing she is going through. She finds God’s acceptance and love. She begins to accept herself. An older couple is able to share their frustration and pain with others who have been through the same thing. They feel encouraged that they aren’t the only ones who have felt this way. They find new activities to fill their days and make new friends and soon they are settled in their new living situation. A parent connects with other parents who have children who have been shaken. She finds that she sees so much that her child is capable of, and sees him enjoying his life and accomplishing things that she might have taken for granted. She feels such love and sees him loving. And she uses her energies to raise awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome so that others might not have to feel the powerlessness she went through.
Death and resurrection, emptying and being filled, powerlessness and the power of love, a need for fairness and a letting go of what’s fair to face what is. The chief priests and elders ask Jesus this morning about his authority. The word in the original language for authority is “That which arises out of your being.” It is about who you are at your core. When everything is stripped away, who are you? When we are empty, that’s when we really find out who we are and what is most important and we find not an absence, but God’s love filling us and giving us strength and resurrecting us to new life in which we look into our neighbor’s empty bowl and share of our abundance until all are full of God’s love and life.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
September 14, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20
1st Reading: Genesis 50:15-21
2nd Reading: Romans 14:1-12
Ok, everyone, I have here a tally sheet of how many times Joseph’s brothers sinned against him. I will need your help. First they were jealous of him. Then they plotted against him. They threw him in a pit. They took his coat, killed an animal, put its blood on it and took it to their father to lie to him and tell him his son had been eaten by a wild animal. They kept that secret for years. Should we put a mark for every year they kept that secret, kept Joseph from his father and family? Now they come to him, and they haven’t changed their ways. They’ve got another lie to tell. They said, “Dad told us he wanted you to forgive us.”
Now we could try to make a list of every time we sinned against God. I don’t know if that would be helpful or not. I’ll let you make your own list at home if you think it would be valuable. We’re going to make a mark for everything we owe God, every way God has been generous to us. A roof over our head: should we put one mark for every year we’ve had someplace to live, or every day? How about food to eat? Do we make a mark for every day, or each meal? How about our profession? Do we put a mark for each profession we worked? For each year, for each day. How about family? Do we just count each one once, or for every time one of them did something nice? Then we’ve got friends. How do we measure how generous God has been to us. How about our health? How many marks for that? How about our congregation? How do we measure all that God has done for us?
Of course, the point is that we owe everything to God. There is no way we could ever repay a debt that large. But I’ve been thinking of it in terms of parenthood. Now that I have a child of my own, I can see what my mother did for me. Five years of constant supervision, every meal, every bedtime, every bath, washing every article of clothing, shopping, cleaning, teaching, guiding, everything. In the same way that I could never repay God, I could never repay my mother and Sterling could never repay me. Except that parents don’t do it to be repaid. We would never say that if our child was a jerk to another child that all that we do stops. No, we work harder to help our child grow into a generous person, kind to others.
I can’t think of God like I do this king, as someone who would throw someone and their whole family into prison to pay back a debt or punish and torture a servant who was unkind to someone else. Thankfully, the scripture doesn’t say this king is God. Instead, I think this is a picture of the kind of lives many people live. We live with debt hanging over our head. We sometimes step all over other people in order to get ahead. It isn’t always on our radar screen how we’ve been given everything we have, that it isn’t our due from working hard. Plenty of people work hard every day and have next to nothing. Even when we’ve “earned it” someone else has picked our food, processed our gasoline, built our house, cared for our children, and so on. What if we stopped feeling entitled and started feeling grateful?
If we started noticing all the blessings we enjoy and remembering where they came from, we would probably approach our lives very differently. That’s what this reading is about. The king hoped that his forgiveness of the servant’s debt would make a difference in the life of the servant, would sink in and affect his behavior toward others, just like a parent hopes that all the energy they pour into their child will someday result in some beautiful relationships, a capacity for forgiveness, an attitude of gratefulness, a kind and generous person, someone who thinks of others and their needs. God doesn’t require gratefulness and generosity in order to be generous to us. But God delights when God sees that behavior being mimicked in the world, because that means God’s values have been internalized. We aren’t just taking, taking, taking from God and taking it for granted that we get what we want. Instead, we are receiving more than just blessings, but an open and generous heart, a heart like our parents, like God. And when we have such an open heart and open hands, sharing what we have, we help create the world that God has in mind where everyone is valued, where resources and money are shared, and where everyone has enough and live in love and peace.
Now translate this from resources to forgiveness. We can make our lives a big contest to gather resources to ourselves and to take care of ourselves. That doesn’t fit into God’s value system and it isn’t going to do us any good, because eventually we all get sick and die. Sharing all that is what is going to mean abundant life, not just for us, but for our whole community and neighborhood. We can also make life into a game of innocent verses guilty. Since I make the rules, I always have myself in the innocent category. My behavior can always be explained or excused, but I make up stories in my mind about why the other guy screwed up and is worse than me. God says, you’re all alike in my eyes. There is no innocent. We all owe God a debt. None of us has lived a life above reproach or even near what we could have done if we had really trusted God. Jesus says we must forgive our neighbor, our brother, or fellow member of the church 77 times. The number 7 means “complete.” Put another one next to it and we’ve got completely complete. This is simply a number that says there is no number for forgiveness. There is no amount of times or tallies you can make on forgiveness. It is a process. You may think you’ve let go and it comes back to you. How do you even know if you’ve forgiven? Do you even want to forgive?
I think of Joseph. If it had been me, I probably would have said so self-righteously. I’ll forgive you all the rest if you prove you’ve changed your ways and admit you’re lying to me that dad said to forgive you. I’d want to lord it over them that I knew they were lying and that they needed me and they were afraid. That’s not what God says to do. It says to forgive. I’ve been looking at definitions of forgiveness this week, because it is such a difficult subject. The best definition I’ve heard is this: “Forgiveness means letting go of the hope that the past can be changed.” It doesn’t mean we aren’t vigilant with someone who has hurt us before. It doesn’t mean we let others hurt us, over and over. It doesn’t mean we never think about the wrong that happened to us. It is just a letting go of an obsession that wasn’t doing us any good to relive again and again. And another point, what is the alternative to forgiveness? As hard as forgiveness is, there is no viable alternative. We can seek revenge. That doesn’t help anyone. There is no satisfaction in that. We can keep going over it, again and again. That’s only hurting us. Forgiveness is the only possible way forward, the only opportunity for health for us and for others, the only way to freedom.
Thankfully, God is all for forgiveness. God sent the Son to show us that love and forgiveness is what God’s all about. And when we practice the values of our Father and forgive others we experience heaven and they experience heaven, the Kingdom of God right here, right now.
1st Reading: Genesis 50:15-21
2nd Reading: Romans 14:1-12
Ok, everyone, I have here a tally sheet of how many times Joseph’s brothers sinned against him. I will need your help. First they were jealous of him. Then they plotted against him. They threw him in a pit. They took his coat, killed an animal, put its blood on it and took it to their father to lie to him and tell him his son had been eaten by a wild animal. They kept that secret for years. Should we put a mark for every year they kept that secret, kept Joseph from his father and family? Now they come to him, and they haven’t changed their ways. They’ve got another lie to tell. They said, “Dad told us he wanted you to forgive us.”
Now we could try to make a list of every time we sinned against God. I don’t know if that would be helpful or not. I’ll let you make your own list at home if you think it would be valuable. We’re going to make a mark for everything we owe God, every way God has been generous to us. A roof over our head: should we put one mark for every year we’ve had someplace to live, or every day? How about food to eat? Do we make a mark for every day, or each meal? How about our profession? Do we put a mark for each profession we worked? For each year, for each day. How about family? Do we just count each one once, or for every time one of them did something nice? Then we’ve got friends. How do we measure how generous God has been to us. How about our health? How many marks for that? How about our congregation? How do we measure all that God has done for us?
Of course, the point is that we owe everything to God. There is no way we could ever repay a debt that large. But I’ve been thinking of it in terms of parenthood. Now that I have a child of my own, I can see what my mother did for me. Five years of constant supervision, every meal, every bedtime, every bath, washing every article of clothing, shopping, cleaning, teaching, guiding, everything. In the same way that I could never repay God, I could never repay my mother and Sterling could never repay me. Except that parents don’t do it to be repaid. We would never say that if our child was a jerk to another child that all that we do stops. No, we work harder to help our child grow into a generous person, kind to others.
I can’t think of God like I do this king, as someone who would throw someone and their whole family into prison to pay back a debt or punish and torture a servant who was unkind to someone else. Thankfully, the scripture doesn’t say this king is God. Instead, I think this is a picture of the kind of lives many people live. We live with debt hanging over our head. We sometimes step all over other people in order to get ahead. It isn’t always on our radar screen how we’ve been given everything we have, that it isn’t our due from working hard. Plenty of people work hard every day and have next to nothing. Even when we’ve “earned it” someone else has picked our food, processed our gasoline, built our house, cared for our children, and so on. What if we stopped feeling entitled and started feeling grateful?
If we started noticing all the blessings we enjoy and remembering where they came from, we would probably approach our lives very differently. That’s what this reading is about. The king hoped that his forgiveness of the servant’s debt would make a difference in the life of the servant, would sink in and affect his behavior toward others, just like a parent hopes that all the energy they pour into their child will someday result in some beautiful relationships, a capacity for forgiveness, an attitude of gratefulness, a kind and generous person, someone who thinks of others and their needs. God doesn’t require gratefulness and generosity in order to be generous to us. But God delights when God sees that behavior being mimicked in the world, because that means God’s values have been internalized. We aren’t just taking, taking, taking from God and taking it for granted that we get what we want. Instead, we are receiving more than just blessings, but an open and generous heart, a heart like our parents, like God. And when we have such an open heart and open hands, sharing what we have, we help create the world that God has in mind where everyone is valued, where resources and money are shared, and where everyone has enough and live in love and peace.
Now translate this from resources to forgiveness. We can make our lives a big contest to gather resources to ourselves and to take care of ourselves. That doesn’t fit into God’s value system and it isn’t going to do us any good, because eventually we all get sick and die. Sharing all that is what is going to mean abundant life, not just for us, but for our whole community and neighborhood. We can also make life into a game of innocent verses guilty. Since I make the rules, I always have myself in the innocent category. My behavior can always be explained or excused, but I make up stories in my mind about why the other guy screwed up and is worse than me. God says, you’re all alike in my eyes. There is no innocent. We all owe God a debt. None of us has lived a life above reproach or even near what we could have done if we had really trusted God. Jesus says we must forgive our neighbor, our brother, or fellow member of the church 77 times. The number 7 means “complete.” Put another one next to it and we’ve got completely complete. This is simply a number that says there is no number for forgiveness. There is no amount of times or tallies you can make on forgiveness. It is a process. You may think you’ve let go and it comes back to you. How do you even know if you’ve forgiven? Do you even want to forgive?
I think of Joseph. If it had been me, I probably would have said so self-righteously. I’ll forgive you all the rest if you prove you’ve changed your ways and admit you’re lying to me that dad said to forgive you. I’d want to lord it over them that I knew they were lying and that they needed me and they were afraid. That’s not what God says to do. It says to forgive. I’ve been looking at definitions of forgiveness this week, because it is such a difficult subject. The best definition I’ve heard is this: “Forgiveness means letting go of the hope that the past can be changed.” It doesn’t mean we aren’t vigilant with someone who has hurt us before. It doesn’t mean we let others hurt us, over and over. It doesn’t mean we never think about the wrong that happened to us. It is just a letting go of an obsession that wasn’t doing us any good to relive again and again. And another point, what is the alternative to forgiveness? As hard as forgiveness is, there is no viable alternative. We can seek revenge. That doesn’t help anyone. There is no satisfaction in that. We can keep going over it, again and again. That’s only hurting us. Forgiveness is the only possible way forward, the only opportunity for health for us and for others, the only way to freedom.
Thankfully, God is all for forgiveness. God sent the Son to show us that love and forgiveness is what God’s all about. And when we practice the values of our Father and forgive others we experience heaven and they experience heaven, the Kingdom of God right here, right now.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
September 7, 2014
Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20
1st Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-11
2nd Reading: Romans 13:8-14
Happy Anniversary, King of Kings. We’ve been together 10 years now. I don’t know if we should renew our vows, or buy each other flowers. I’ve never been that good at things like this. It is kinda funny, looking back over these years together—what we each were like when we came together 10 years ago and who we are now, what we’ve learned, how we’ve grown and what we’ve endured and what we’ve enjoyed about each other.
On this day, we get these readings about trust, and rebuilding trust, when needed. They tell a new pastor not to make any big changes for the first year and maybe not even for the first three years. That is so trust can be built. It takes a while for the pastor to get to know the congregational context. It takes the people a while to trust the pastor.
But these readings go way beyond pastor and congregation. They are about how people can live in community or family. We’re social creatures. We need each other. We need rules to help us negotiate that. We need ways of coming back together when we’ve broken the rules. We need each other. And it should make a difference how we handle these situations, if we are Christians. We have a special set of tools. We have a special set of teachings that, hopefully, help us figure that out and do something about it.
Paul, in the book of Romans, has been giving general ethical instructions, but now he moves into a new phase. In case your situation hasn’t been specifically laid out, so far, here’s what it all boils down to: Love.
Now you think that would be easy, but it isn’t. What does it mean to love? Does it mean I have to like someone? When do I use tough love? If I am loving, does that mean I overlook it, if they hurt me? Do I let them keep making the same mistakes, over and over again? Do I have to love absolutely everyone? How about Hitler? How about a child abuser? On the other hand, we throw the word “love” around until it is meaningless. “I love ice cream.” “I love your outfit.” Love becomes something superficial that we never put into action.
Paul reminds people that it isn’t just love, but to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” First, it isn’t about some hypothetical person that you might never meet. It is your neighbor. It is someone you run into now and then and have contact with. It might include your enemy, too, but it is a real life situation you are living in. Next, love them as yourself. It doesn’t mean to let yourself get walked all over. You have to love yourself enough that you have love to give to another. This love is about recognizing God’s handiwork in every person, including yourself. And some have suggested that perhaps trees and squirrels and rivers are our neighbors, too. That how we treat our world matters too and that what we put into the water or air is fundamentally tied to loving our neighbor. So it is even about recognizing God’s handiwork in every creature.
Then Paul goes on and we get to the urgency of it. We probably aren’t going to be convinced to start doing loving things because we are expecting the second coming in the form of angels blowing on trumpets and Jesus descending from heaven. I have heard of some people doing loving works near the end of their lives, feeling their time is short and sorting out their priorities in a new way. We might look at this urgency, though, in terms of a world in need, or a neighbor in need. Yes, maybe our neighbor might be able to wait another day for our love to be shown to them, but do we want to wait another day for this love to be born in our world, to exist between people? I would put it this way, “What are we waiting for?! There is love to go around! Let’s do this!” It’s like having a fresh tray of cookies. The sooner you get them distributed, the better!
Sometimes I think when couples get married, they look at it so cut and dry. “We’ll get married. We’ll always feel this way toward each other. We’ll have some kids. We’ll take vacations. We’ll get a house and good jobs and be happy. The end.” I don’t know if couples really know about marriage, how every day it is a full-time job, you have to work at it, very hard, and you don’t always feel like it. Sometimes you feel close to your partner and sometimes you don’t. And sometimes an argument about how you chop the garlic isn’t really about that at all.
Many other relationships are like marriages. When you join a church, it can be like a marriage. You have all your criteria for what you are looking for in a church and it seems to fit. There might be a little magic sometimes, those goosebumps. Finding the right job can be like a marriage or finding a community to belong to. But, no matter how good it starts out, misunderstandings happen, people sin against you and you sin against them. This Gospel reading shouldn’t say, “If another member of the church sins against you…” It should say, “When another member of the church sins against you…” This is part of what it means to be in a relationship. We step on each other’s toes. But we are a part of the body of Christ. We are committed to this relationship. So Jesus gives us some tips for surviving and rebuilding trust.
The first thing is so essential. Go to that person. Don’t just gloss over it. Don’t pretend you haven’t been hurt. Go and get it out in the open. And don’t wait for them to come to you. If you have a scratch on your arm and it is bleeding, you don’t just look the other way and hope it disappears. Sometimes I think we’ve been so afraid of conflict in a church, that we have caused ourselves a lot more pain and infections and scarring than necessary. Get it out there. There is probably a perfectly reasonable explanation. Chances are the other person has no idea they’ve hurt you and welcome this information. Now they have a chance to make it right. But don’t expect that. We don’t really have a right to get attached to certain outcomes. If the other person listens, you have achieved something pretty extraordinary, and that might even be enough to heal the wound or regain the peace.
And if by chance they are offended by your approach, here is a next step. Don’t think you are the first to have needed this step. That’s why it is here. Get someone to go with you. And it is ok to do that, because this isn’t just about you. When two members are fighting or hurt, it isn’t just affecting them. It affects the whole community. We are the body of Christ. The rest of the body is involved when the pinkies are fighting or injured. Sometimes other parts of the body have experience that will help fight the infection, or have access to bandages and Neosporin. Sometimes they hear something that the two having the original conflict have. This doesn’t say to go to others and gossip and get them to take your side. It says that everyone should listen and put the health of the body before petty differences. Decide what it is worth binding and hanging on to, and what is worth loosing, and letting go of.
And if they still don’t listen, treat them like a Gentile and a tax collector, that is, “Love them like yourself.” What? Forgive them 77 times. Have them over for a barbecue and eat with them. Come to the communion table with them. Be in the body of Christ with them.
We could all do better at this stuff, facing conflict, acting like adults. I’m learning just the same as you are. I have to say there is nothing better than two people who have had their differences and have reconciled, come to a place of love and acceptance of each other, people who have weathered hard times together and have that sticking power that you have to admire. I see it in long marriages. You know every moment has not been a walk in the park. I know that being part of this church is not always a walk in the park. I know that you have put up with each other and yourselves and me and I appreciate your stick-to-itiveness. It is like a mosaic of broken shards of pottery, each beautiful on its own, each formerly a part of something else. Now broken and damaged, but coming together to make a beautiful picture to spark the imagination, to inspire, to uplift, and to catch the light 1000 different ways and send back into the world color and warmth and love.
The good news for this morning is that Jesus is with us. We’ve had good times and not so good times, but Jesus is inviting us into relationship again, to be his children, to be brothers and sisters to each other, to experience extraordinary love, and to share that love.
1st Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-11
2nd Reading: Romans 13:8-14
Happy Anniversary, King of Kings. We’ve been together 10 years now. I don’t know if we should renew our vows, or buy each other flowers. I’ve never been that good at things like this. It is kinda funny, looking back over these years together—what we each were like when we came together 10 years ago and who we are now, what we’ve learned, how we’ve grown and what we’ve endured and what we’ve enjoyed about each other.
On this day, we get these readings about trust, and rebuilding trust, when needed. They tell a new pastor not to make any big changes for the first year and maybe not even for the first three years. That is so trust can be built. It takes a while for the pastor to get to know the congregational context. It takes the people a while to trust the pastor.
But these readings go way beyond pastor and congregation. They are about how people can live in community or family. We’re social creatures. We need each other. We need rules to help us negotiate that. We need ways of coming back together when we’ve broken the rules. We need each other. And it should make a difference how we handle these situations, if we are Christians. We have a special set of tools. We have a special set of teachings that, hopefully, help us figure that out and do something about it.
Paul, in the book of Romans, has been giving general ethical instructions, but now he moves into a new phase. In case your situation hasn’t been specifically laid out, so far, here’s what it all boils down to: Love.
Now you think that would be easy, but it isn’t. What does it mean to love? Does it mean I have to like someone? When do I use tough love? If I am loving, does that mean I overlook it, if they hurt me? Do I let them keep making the same mistakes, over and over again? Do I have to love absolutely everyone? How about Hitler? How about a child abuser? On the other hand, we throw the word “love” around until it is meaningless. “I love ice cream.” “I love your outfit.” Love becomes something superficial that we never put into action.
Paul reminds people that it isn’t just love, but to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” First, it isn’t about some hypothetical person that you might never meet. It is your neighbor. It is someone you run into now and then and have contact with. It might include your enemy, too, but it is a real life situation you are living in. Next, love them as yourself. It doesn’t mean to let yourself get walked all over. You have to love yourself enough that you have love to give to another. This love is about recognizing God’s handiwork in every person, including yourself. And some have suggested that perhaps trees and squirrels and rivers are our neighbors, too. That how we treat our world matters too and that what we put into the water or air is fundamentally tied to loving our neighbor. So it is even about recognizing God’s handiwork in every creature.
Then Paul goes on and we get to the urgency of it. We probably aren’t going to be convinced to start doing loving things because we are expecting the second coming in the form of angels blowing on trumpets and Jesus descending from heaven. I have heard of some people doing loving works near the end of their lives, feeling their time is short and sorting out their priorities in a new way. We might look at this urgency, though, in terms of a world in need, or a neighbor in need. Yes, maybe our neighbor might be able to wait another day for our love to be shown to them, but do we want to wait another day for this love to be born in our world, to exist between people? I would put it this way, “What are we waiting for?! There is love to go around! Let’s do this!” It’s like having a fresh tray of cookies. The sooner you get them distributed, the better!
Sometimes I think when couples get married, they look at it so cut and dry. “We’ll get married. We’ll always feel this way toward each other. We’ll have some kids. We’ll take vacations. We’ll get a house and good jobs and be happy. The end.” I don’t know if couples really know about marriage, how every day it is a full-time job, you have to work at it, very hard, and you don’t always feel like it. Sometimes you feel close to your partner and sometimes you don’t. And sometimes an argument about how you chop the garlic isn’t really about that at all.
Many other relationships are like marriages. When you join a church, it can be like a marriage. You have all your criteria for what you are looking for in a church and it seems to fit. There might be a little magic sometimes, those goosebumps. Finding the right job can be like a marriage or finding a community to belong to. But, no matter how good it starts out, misunderstandings happen, people sin against you and you sin against them. This Gospel reading shouldn’t say, “If another member of the church sins against you…” It should say, “When another member of the church sins against you…” This is part of what it means to be in a relationship. We step on each other’s toes. But we are a part of the body of Christ. We are committed to this relationship. So Jesus gives us some tips for surviving and rebuilding trust.
The first thing is so essential. Go to that person. Don’t just gloss over it. Don’t pretend you haven’t been hurt. Go and get it out in the open. And don’t wait for them to come to you. If you have a scratch on your arm and it is bleeding, you don’t just look the other way and hope it disappears. Sometimes I think we’ve been so afraid of conflict in a church, that we have caused ourselves a lot more pain and infections and scarring than necessary. Get it out there. There is probably a perfectly reasonable explanation. Chances are the other person has no idea they’ve hurt you and welcome this information. Now they have a chance to make it right. But don’t expect that. We don’t really have a right to get attached to certain outcomes. If the other person listens, you have achieved something pretty extraordinary, and that might even be enough to heal the wound or regain the peace.
And if by chance they are offended by your approach, here is a next step. Don’t think you are the first to have needed this step. That’s why it is here. Get someone to go with you. And it is ok to do that, because this isn’t just about you. When two members are fighting or hurt, it isn’t just affecting them. It affects the whole community. We are the body of Christ. The rest of the body is involved when the pinkies are fighting or injured. Sometimes other parts of the body have experience that will help fight the infection, or have access to bandages and Neosporin. Sometimes they hear something that the two having the original conflict have. This doesn’t say to go to others and gossip and get them to take your side. It says that everyone should listen and put the health of the body before petty differences. Decide what it is worth binding and hanging on to, and what is worth loosing, and letting go of.
And if they still don’t listen, treat them like a Gentile and a tax collector, that is, “Love them like yourself.” What? Forgive them 77 times. Have them over for a barbecue and eat with them. Come to the communion table with them. Be in the body of Christ with them.
We could all do better at this stuff, facing conflict, acting like adults. I’m learning just the same as you are. I have to say there is nothing better than two people who have had their differences and have reconciled, come to a place of love and acceptance of each other, people who have weathered hard times together and have that sticking power that you have to admire. I see it in long marriages. You know every moment has not been a walk in the park. I know that being part of this church is not always a walk in the park. I know that you have put up with each other and yourselves and me and I appreciate your stick-to-itiveness. It is like a mosaic of broken shards of pottery, each beautiful on its own, each formerly a part of something else. Now broken and damaged, but coming together to make a beautiful picture to spark the imagination, to inspire, to uplift, and to catch the light 1000 different ways and send back into the world color and warmth and love.
The good news for this morning is that Jesus is with us. We’ve had good times and not so good times, but Jesus is inviting us into relationship again, to be his children, to be brothers and sisters to each other, to experience extraordinary love, and to share that love.
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