#blessed: Feb. 17 2019

Jeremiah 17:5-10                                                                   

Year C, Epiphany 6                                                                             

            Our Gospel reading for today is part of the Sermon on the Plain, which is similar to a more familiar passage in the Gospel of Matthew called the Sermon on the Mount.  In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus is speaking to a large group of people about what it is to be blessed.  He has come down the mountain to be with the crowd and share a message of both blessing and woe. Typically the readings for every Sunday are picked in such a way that there will be connections between them. Sometimes these connections are rather muddy.  Sometimes, like today, they are quite clear.  The Old Testament reading, the Psalm, and the Gospel all talk about what it is to be blessed.  Unfortunately the concept of blessing has become quite misunderstood in popular culture.  You see it all over the place on social media (facebook, twitter, Instagram).  People talk about their most recent accomplishment and end with #blessed.  What they should really be writing is #lucky because blessing has nothing to do with personal accomplishments, fame or fortune.

            The way the Bible describes blessed is far different than the way most people use the word.  Jeremiah wrote, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…”  The Psalm tells us that the people who are blessed are those whose delight is in the law of the Lord.  The Gospel reading takes it a few steps further from our common understanding, “Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, those who are hated…”  Let’s start with Jeremiah…

            Jeremiah is best known as the weeping prophet in that he was often predicting destruction.  He faced persecution and at one point, was actually dropped in a big well and left to die. He knew what it was to suffer, to face hardship.  The imagery Jeremiah used in the text for the day is of foliage.  He wrote that those who trusted in mortals (themselves or others) as opposed to God were cursed.  They were like shrubs in the desert.  Those who were blessed were those who trusted in God.  They were like a tree in the desert. At first glance, you might think, well both of these are in deserts and probably struggle in the same ways.  But if you look at the text more closely, you will see that the shrub is in a parched place in an uninhabited salt land.  The tree is planted by water.  Its roots can reach toward that source of water.

            Plants often depend on rain and dew to keep them alive.  We all know that we have to water plants to keep them alive.  I have tried the not watering route and that really doesn’t work.  Even desert plants require some kind of water. However, the desert tree planted by water is not as dependent on the weather.  Even if the water is not right next to it, its roots can still reach toward that water for sustenance.  Sometimes you might see a grouping of trees or plants in the desert with no visible water.  That usually means there is a hidden stream that these plants are drinking from. 

            Jeremiah pointed out that these desert trees still encountered scorching heat and drought, but they had this alternate source of water keeping them alive.  It was their deep roots reaching out to the water that nourished them and kept them safe.  So it is with people.  We all face adverse situations in life.  Bad things happen to all of us.  Some of those bad things are avoidable, but much is not.  Jeremiah never said that blessed people didn’t face hardships.  Of course they do. The difference, is that those who are blessed, those who trust in the Lord do not let those bad things determine whether or not they are blessed.  The blessing is not exterior---it is deep within the soul. 

            Often times, when things are going well for me, I get this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that things might turn bad at any minute.  I get so anxious about the bad thing that might happen, that I have a hard time enjoying the good things that are happening. I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Then I get so anxious, I get almost greedy with my good fortune and I cling to it for fear of losing it.  Yet what I have learned is that as long as I depend on good things happening to feel blessed, well I am always going to be in that state of anxious grasping for good things.  I know I am not alone in this.

            Yet, what if…what if we could find contentment not in what is happening to us or around us, but in the source of all peace and joy…God.  That doesn’t mean you will never be sad or discouraged, but it does mean that deep within you will reside this inner peace.  We have all known that person who seems to carry that serenity and joy.  We think…how did they get like that?  What is their secret? It’s not a secret.  These people have found their source of life. They have tapped into that inner stream so that the drought will not parch them. Those are the people who know what it is to be blessed. 

            Blessing is not about prestige, money, success or even health. To be blessed is to be in relationship with God.  We are all blessed. God wants to have that relationship with all of us.  In case I have not convinced you about what blessing really means, let’s consider out Gospel reading. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those hated…Why would Jesus say those people are blessed if blessing is supposed to be a gift of fortune or happiness?  Yet Jesus called them blessed because despite their hardships, they were still loved by God.  In God’s eyes, they were equal to all the people around them who acted as though they were superior. 

In those days (and today as well) people often associated prosperity and health with one’s goodness or sinfulness.  If you were good, good things happened.  The more God loved you, the better you were treated.  So not only were you suffering because you were hungry or treated unfairly, you were suffering because you thought it meant that God didn’t love you.

Most likely, the crowd Jesus was talking to were full of people who were suffering. These weren’t the important people of the community. These were the desperate people.  He was assuring them that they were blessed because God loved them.  And no human wielding any worldly power could take that away from them.  It might have been the first time they had ever heard that. It’s not that hard to imagine.  I think we all have those moments when we feel as though we could not possibly deserve God’s love.  Imagine being in that moment and being told by God in the flesh, that God does love you and that no matter what happens here on earth, one day you will rejoice. 

I learned an interesting thing about trees while preparing this sermon.  Most of us learned in school that trees pull in water from their roots and then some of that water is released from the leaves the next day.  In the 1990’s, scientists discovered that not only did trees release the water through the leaves, but through their shallow roots, which then watered the ground around them, providing nourishment to the plants around the tree.[1] 

The next time something gets you down---I want you to imagine for a moment a stream dwelling within your soul, a stream that never goes dry.  In that stream, God’s love flows. It courses through you.  Then act like that tree and release some of that light and love to the people around you.  The best way to understand what it is to be blessed, is to be a blessing for others, to be that stream that carries God’s love to the people who need it that most. 

---

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/26/science/plants-share-precious-water-with-neighbors.html

Love is a verb: February 3, 2019

Year C, Epiphany 3                                      

1 Corinthians 13:1-13    

                                                      

            As some of you know, I had a last minute drive to St. Louis right after Christmas.  I was officiating my niece’s wedding and planned to fly out early Saturday morning as that was the day of the rehearsal.  We missed the flight due to a couple of factors. So we started our drive at 6am, already slightly sleep deprived with a very disappointed 2 year old who was really looking forward to a plane ride.  We were in no way prepared for a drive that long and I knew I would be missing the rehearsal. One of my big fears as a pastor is that I will be late for a wedding or funeral.  Another fear is missing my flight. This was those two major fears wrapped into one tidy ball.

            Needless to say, I was not in a good mood and I really wanted to yell at my husband. I wanted to make sarcastic comments.  I wanted to be snide. But here was the problem. I had written the wedding sermon the day before. It was all about how important it is to be kind to your spouse. Presumably, I was going to have to preach this sermon the next day in front of God and my husband, and I was going to have to do it without feeling like a big hypocrite. So I didn’t yell. I didn’t make snide comments under my breath.  I was nice. It was really really hard. It took a tremendous amount of effort on my part.

            One of the readings for the wedding was this reading from First Corinthians that we heard today.  “Love is patient. Love is kind…it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable and resentful.”  We all know this one. You have probably heard it at 90% of the church weddings you have attended because it’s beautiful and poetic.  It’s about love, which is what we are celebrating when we attend a wedding. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter and he was by no means a romantic.  He was never married and even discouraged people from getting married. However, he understood the importance of Christian love in the context of our relationships with one another and our relationship with God (which is primarily what he was talking about).   

            I am going to get a little detailed on grammar, but I want you to stick with me.  When we hear the word kind or patient, we would classify those words as adjectives. They describe something. Therefore, we might read this passage and think that Paul is talking about the attributes of love.  He is describing love. However, Paul did not speak English, nor was the Bible originally written in English. This was Greek. In Greek, those are verbs---action verbs.  Usually when we think of action verbs, we think of words like run, walk, talk, laugh.  We don’t think of being patient and kind as an action verb.  You see Paul was not describing some romantic form of love that would easily fit on a greeting card. This was not descriptive.  It was prescriptive.  He was telling us how to love. So often when we talk about love, we portray it as a feeling, a feeling that can come and go.  But Paul was quite clear. Love was more than a feeling.  It was about action and effort.

            In 1995, Gary Chapman wrote a book called: The Five Love Languages.  The premise of the book is that we each have a primary language we use to express our love, which is not-so-coincidentally the same way we prefer to receive love.  The five love languages are: receiving gifts, words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time and physical touch.  In the Old Testament God showed his love in a number of ways. He gave humanity the greatest gift by actually breathing life into us.  The prophets provided words of affirmation and judgment on behalf of God.  God also served his people by providing food and water in the desert, parting the sea, and even winning military battles. 

            In the New Testament, God’s love language shifted a little.  He began by giving another huge gift…the gift of his only son. Then his son shared his time with people.  He provided words of affirmation through parables and conversations.  However, if I was to pick Jesus’ primary love language, it would be acts of service---whether it was washing the feet of his disciples, providing food to hungry people, healing the sick or turning water into wine. His greatest act of service was his death, his willingness to die for his people. That was how he ultimately showed his love.

            Paul understood all this. He talked a great deal about Jesus’ ultimate act of love.  In our reading from Corinthians, Paul was talking about how God’s love is manifest in our words and actions.  He wasn’t saying we need to do anything drastic like sacrifice ourselves.  He was not trying to recruit martyrs. In fact, he is giving us very tangible and accessible action verbs.  In the 13 verse we heard today, Paul provided 15 action verbs….15 ways that we can express our love for God and one another.  Being patient, kind, truthful, and never giving up are just a few of those actions.

            These are not easy things.  I am not sure that I would have been as kind as I was during that car trip had I not had a sermon looming in front of me about kindness.  The people of Corinth were facing far more difficult challenges than a long car ride.  These new Christian communities were unique in that they included a tremendous amount of diversity.  Previously, communities had formed around blood relatives, ethnic groups, socioeconomic status or religious upbringing.  The people in the Christian community of Corinth were coming from all kinds of different perspectives and they were having a hard time loving one another.  Even when they worshipped God, they still found ways to compete.  They were competing over who was more spiritual, more gifted.  We still do that. We are often comparing ourselves to other denominations and churches.  How often have you heard… “well at least we are not like those Christians.”  Even in our Christian communities today, we still have a hard time acting with and in love.

            In six days, Night’s Welcome will begin.  It is the week when we host the homeless in our parish hall.  We feed them. We provide lodging.  We treat them like our guests and show them the respect they deserve as our brothers and sisters.  It is a perfect example of how Jesus taught us to love.  It’s not easy.  We are forced to see things that we normally try to avoid.  I want to encourage you to take part in Night’s Welcome or in another one of our outreach ministries.  Or if you can’t do that right now, perhaps just reach out to someone who might be hard for you to love.  We all have those people in our lives.  We might be those people.

My hope is that the next time we hear this reading, we won’t envision a bride and a groom, but instead we will see a person who we loved even though they didn’t really deserve our love, perhaps someone we only saw once.  Or maybe we will remember a time when someone showed us kindness when we ourselves could not show that kindness.  Let us stop describing God’s love. We can let the poets do that.  Instead, let us show God’s love.   Let our faith be a verb—an action verb.   

Sweat, Wine and Miracles: January 20, 2019

Year C, Epiphany 2                                                                 

John 2:1-11                                                                              

              Every Sunday we open with a different collect, which is our fancy word for a prayer.  The collects typically refer to the readings of the day. The prayer usually makes some sort of request of God.  Today’s collect asked: “Almighty God… Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth…” I liked that imagery of being illumined and shining with the radiance of Christ’s glory.  When I initially read it, I had this image of us all kind of glowing, you know, in a classy Episcopal way. But I didn’t dwell on the image for too long.

After all, we have these amazing readings for today, 2 of them are rather famous in the Christian Church.  The reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians refers to the Holy Spirit and the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to each of us. It seems like the perfect reading for a day when we are all worshipping together, electing new vestry members and discussing the ways that all our members contribute to the ministry of the church. 

Then there is the reading from the Gospel of John. This is one of those miracles that everybody knows (Christians of every denomination, even the ones that don’t drink wine, Jews, Atheists, Buddhists, etc)---they all know the story.  They might not know the whole story, but they have the basics.  It’s kind of odd that this miracle is so well known given that it’s not as impressive as say….raising the dead or healing the blind and deaf. I mean water into wine is pretty cool, but it seems more like a parlor trick than a divine miracle.

The other unique thing about this miracle is that not many people witnessed it. The people at the wedding, even those hosting it didn’t even know that a miracle occurred. The only people who actually witnessed the miracle were Mary, a few disciples and the servants who assisted.  

Normally when we think of a miracle, we equate it with magic.  If you were to envision Jesus changing water into wine, you might imagine him waving his hand over some water and bam, it’s wine.  However, if you read this story carefully, you will see that he actually asked for some help from the servants.  He asked them to fill 6 stone jars full of water to the brim. Now, stone water jars (even without the water) were pretty heavy.  Each one held 20-30 gallons.  Once filled, they would have weighed about 200 pounds. And it wasn’t like the servants could just drag the garden hose out and fill them up.  They would have had to either take these huge jugs to the well or carry smaller jars back and forth until they were full.   We are talking about between 120 and 180 gallons of water they were carrying around. 

Additionally, this wasn’t your average modern wedding reception that lasted 4-5 hours. Jewish weddings at this time were 4-5 days.  This would have been day 3 or 4.  These servants were probably tired and here some guy (who they probably didn’t even know) asks them to do all this work...for what?  They don’t even know because he doesn’t tell them.  Can’t you just hear them grumbling…growing more and more irritated with every trip back to the well.

Yet then something truly amazing happens.  The water that they just drawn from the well has suddenly become wine…not some 2 buck chuck Trader Joes wine, but really excellent wine.  If I was one of those servants, observing the wine steward taste this fine wine, my first reaction would of course be surprise and awe.  But then, if I was sweaty and tired (as I imagine these servants were) I might wonder why this man who was capable of turning water in wine made me haul water back and forth in 200 pound stone jars.  If he could turn water into wine, couldn’t he have filled those jugs himself, with just a flick of the wrist?

If you read all of the miracle stories in both the Old Testament and the New Testament you will find that they often required effort on the part of a human. In the story of Noah and the Ark, Noah had to build an ark before it even started to rain.  In the feeding of the 5,000 a boy brought forward five loaves and two fish knowing that could not possibly be enough to feed a crowd.  In the healing miracles, people had to take the initiative to request the healing. We often assume that miracles are just something that God does.  We might have to pray for it, but then God does the rest of the work.  Yet often times, we have to put in some effort, maybe even a considerable amount of effort.

That’s why I think we need to be really careful about praying that opening collect we prayed today. What does it actually mean to be illumined with word and sacraments and then shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory? Because usually when there is something illumined or shining, that means there is heat and fire.  Behind God’s beauty and glory, there is sweat and hard work. 

At our Sunday morning service, you see the shiny part of church, illumined by soft candle light and careful lighting. But there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes, and I am not just talking about what it takes to put the service together, but what it takes to be the church and to be the people who God calls us to be. If you look at the front of our bulletin, you will see our mission: To live in the Spirit of Christ.  Within that mission statement are 3 words: inspire, aspire, perspire.  Everyone always giggles a little at that last word, but that might just be the most important part.   

During the season of Advent, we prayed for God to be present with us. We prayed, “Come Lord Jesus.” Then during the season of Christmas, we celebrated God being born to a woman and living here with us. We are now in the season of Epiphany.  Epiphany is a time when God reveals Godself to us.  God is here.  God is with us.  Now is when our work begins.

 You might think you have this church thing figured all out. You have been an usher for 50 years.  Your dad was an usher.  Your son is an usher.  You are good at being an usher.  And Lord knows, we need ushers.  It’s chaos without you.  But I want to challenge each of you (not just the ushers who I am picking on) try something out of your comfort zone.  Even Jesus went beyond his comfort zone.  It appears from our Gospel reading that he wasn’t super excited that his first miracle was going to be wine making, but that was what his mother asked and that was how his glory was revealed…in water, sweat and wine. 

We have no idea how God is working in us. We don’t know what gifts the Holy Spirit has bestowed on us.  All we know is that if we are going to pray for a miracle, we better be ready to be part of the miracle.  We prayed for God to come and live with us. Now God wants to know if we are ready to live with him.

What Made Them Wise: January 6, 2019

Epiphany, Year C                                                                 

Matthew 2:1-12                                                    

            If the wise men were women rather than men, what would have been different? 

1.      They would have asked for directions. 

2.      They would have arrived on time. 

3.      They would have brought more useful gifts. 

 I have heard several versions of this joke.  In almost all of these versions, the women ask for directions.  However, there is a flaw in this joke.  The wise men did ask for directions.  They asked King Herod.  Whenever I see the Christmas story portrayed in a film, the star often looks more like a spotlight than a star.  Sometimes there is a light shining directly on the baby Jesus.  If that were the case, the wise men would not have been 6 miles off track in Jerusalem (as opposed to Bethlehem) and forced to ask King Herod where this King of the Jews was to be born.  To those of us who know the story, this seems like a foolish move.  Everyone knew King Herod was insecure about his kingship and prone to irrational violence.  However, these men were from out of town…way out of town.  They were not even Jewish.  They knew they needed directions.

            The Greek word that is translated to wise men is magi.  It has many translations, but one of the most accurate is an astrologist.  Today, astrologers are not seen as extremely significant, but in this day, they were the wise and insightful people.  They were the philosophers, scientists and poets.  They were also very spiritual and many adhered to another religion called Zoroastrianism, which was an ancient religion from the area which is now Iran.  The unique thing about this religion was its belief in one God.  At this time, it was only the Hebrew people who ascribed to this belief.  If the magi were Zoroastrian, then they knew exactly what they were looking for.  They were looking for the one true God. 

            Yet despite all their knowledge, they still didn’t know some basic things, like who not to ask for directions.  They also did not know the Hebrew Scriptures.  It was logical for them to go to Jerusalem.  Even if they had some vague knowledge of Judaism or the Hebrew Scriptures, they would have understood the significance of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the  logical place to go.  Yet…let’s face it—logic hadn’t gotten them this far. They were following a star.

            But apparently the star was not the spotlight that Hollywood likes to use.  If it was a spotlight, all kinds of people would have turned up.  However, this king, this savior chose a subtle entrance into the world.  Everyone wasn’t supposed to show up.  God chose who showed up. Most of the people he chose were people we were never expect…. magi from the East being in that category.

            While King Herod was indeed evil, he had a lot of smart and spiritual people at his disposal.  He knew the experts to turn to when the magi showed up and asked about the King of the Jews.  These men were not experts in the stars, they were the experts of the scriptures.  They knew the scripture we heard read here only a few weeks ago from Micah.  “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.”  This new king would come from Bethlehem.

            Thankfully Bethlehem was a small place, and it would be a lot easier for the magi to find a newborn there, than in Jerusalem---so off they went.  The magi followed the directions of these experts of the Hebrew Scriptures and continued to follow the star and they found the child with his mother and knelt at his side and worshiped him.  They gave him the gifts that were fit for a king, perhaps not as useful as women would have brought, but significant in their symbolism.  Then instead of going back to King Herod, they followed a dream they had and returned another way. 

            In the Christmas pageants, the magi always show up right after the birth, but it was probably many days or weeks after.  This wasn’t an easy trip.  I imagine there was frustration at times.  They probably argued a little about which way they were supposed to go.  If I were them and I had finally made it to Jerusalem, I would have been a little annoyed to be told, no you’ve got another 6 miles to walk.  Yet they never gave up.

They were also open to all kind of signs and directions.  They did more than follow a star.  They also sought advice and counsel from experts.  They asked directions.  Then when the adrenalin rush was past and they were ready to go home, they listened to a dream…a dream, and followed another way home, probably a longer route.  Because they listened to that dream and took the long way home, they avoided King Herod who would have surely killed Jesus had he discovered his location.  They saved Jesus. 

            Sometimes I think we expect our faith journey to be easy, not one that is full of twists and turns.  Or we might expect one major challenge, but after that we deserve a journey unencumbered by obstacles.  We think that we get baptized, confirmed and then we are good.  In fact, we can stop studying, stop attending church.  We basically put our faith on cruise control.  But let me tell you, I just drove through West Virginia and cruise control doesn’t work when you are driving up and down mountains and through curvy roads.  You have to constantly readjust.

            The magi followed a star and a crazy king’s directions.  That is how they found Jesus.  And then once they found Jesus, things didn’t get easier.  They had to follow a dream and take an entirely different road back. They were probably thinking, well at least we know how to get home from here. Nope, God said, thanks for the presents, now I am going to throw one more challenge at you. 

            Despite those challenges, I have no doubt they made their way back.  More importantly, they made their way back with more wisdom then they started with.  When they began that journey, they were astrologers.  When they ended that journey, they were wise men.  They had seen the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  Their lives didn’t get easier. They probably got harder.  But the important thing is that they had direction in their lives.  They knew who and what they were living for.   

            I wish I could tell you that once you have found Jesus, things get easier.  Some things will get easier, but there will also be a lot of challenges.  What I can tell you is that once you found Jesus, there will be direction in your life. It might not always be clear. You might have to seek out that direction in a number of different ways, but it is there.  We at the church are here to help you discover your path if you find yourself floundering a little.  If you think you are the only person who gets a little lost at times, I assure you that you are not. I’ve been lost, sometimes more lost than I care to admit.   The reason why I never stay lost for long is because I know I have a community who will help me find my way back.   So do you.  

Joy not Happiness: December 25, 2018

 Psalm 98, John 1:1-14   

                                        

            I do not know about the rest of you, but it seems that every year Christmas gets a little crazier.  I look forward to it every year and then the season seems to attack me mid December.  I can no longer stand the sound of Christmas carols.  The bright lights annoy me.  I turn into a scrooge and find myself counting down the days until the 25^th, when the madness is over, and I can finally take it all in, peacefully.   I realize that this is a precarious position for a priest to take. I mean, this should be the time when we love our job the most. Everyone comes to church, everyone is excited.  Yet somewhere along the line, it all became too exhausting.  Somewhere along the line, I forgot about joy.

              It’s not that you can every completely forget about joy. It’s on all the Christmas cards.  It’s in all the music.  But what is it really?  The word joy appears in the Bible about 250 times in some form or another.  Often, like in the Psalm for today, it is an expression of praise.  “Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands; lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.”  Psalm 98, like many of the Psalms, is a mix of praise and exhortation.  The Psalmist is not only praising God, he is encouraging others to do so as well. 

            One cannot help but wonder what was going on in the Psalmist life that would cause such excitement and spirit.  Some have concluded that this Psalm was the result of a military victory.  Verse 3 reads, “The Lord has made known his victory; his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.”  I prefer to think that no event was the cause for this outpouring of joy, it was more of an awareness. 

            We know from our reading of the Psalms as a whole that the author(s) experienced many hardships.  The Psalms of lament are just as plentiful as the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving.  Many of the Psalms have elements of both lament and praise.  Even the most heart wrenching, and depressing Psalms end with praise.  It is easy to get in the habit of thanking God only when things are going well. Yet the Psalmist knew that God deserved praise at all times. 

            While some form of the word joy appears in the bible hundreds of times, forms of the word happiness only occur 25 times.  In the English language, these words are often used interchangeably.  But this is not so in the Bible. Happiness depends on circumstances.  If something good happens, then we are happy.  When we consider moments in our life when we were happy, they are almost always dependent on an event, like a wedding, or the birth of a child.  Joy has more to do with the spirit of God in you.  It does not depend on the situation.  It has to do with your knowledge and awareness of God’s action in your life.  By that rationale, you could experience sorrow, and still be joyful. 

            If you look up “how to be happy” on Amazon, you will get thousands of results.  There is a whole section called, “Happiness-self help.”  Most are how to books like, “How to make yourself happy”, “How we choose to be happy”, and “What happy people know.”  The majority indicate that your efforts will allow you to be happy.  That’s what happiness is about.  It’s about our own efforts providing positive outcomes.  If you look up “how to be joyful” on the same site, you will come up with much fewer.  Only about 10 are actually relevant and most are religious.  Why are their so few books on making yourself joyful? Because there is no systematic approach to being joyful.  It’s all about reliance on God. 

            So why even desire it? If it is not something we can achieve with our own hard work, what’s the point?  In C.S. Lewis’ autobiography, Surprised by Joy, he describes joy as, “an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction…I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world.”   Well that sounds pretty tempting.  How do we acquire this elusive joy?  The most frustrating thing about joy is also the most beautiful thing about it. You can’t earn it. You can’t force it.  Whereas happiness is something we pursue, like we pursue any accomplishment, joy is something that is given.  It was given to us when God gave us the power to be the children of God. 

That line from John has challenged me during my sermon preparation.  “He gave them power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”  This is a completely different understanding of power than we are accustomed to.   But when we put it in the context of joy, it starts to come together.  We have been given the power to become children of God.  And when we are able to fully appreciate that power, then we will know pure joy.  That does not mean that we will know constant happiness.  That does not mean things will fall into place and our life will turn out just as we always wanted.  It means that we have finally accepted our role as God’s children.  Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection was what gave us that power.  And once we have that, we have no choice but to shout with the joy, and join with the rivers and the sea in exultation. 

            I suppose I have always put too much emphasis on the idea of being happy during Advent and Christmas.  Then, when I was not happy I thought I must be missing something.  Yet now I realize that it’s about joy, not happiness. If happiness comes along with it, all the better.  But for now, I will rest in my awareness of God’s presence and that will bring me joy.  So I wish you not a merry Christmas, but a joyful one. 

Expect the Unexpected: Dec. 23, 2018

Year C Advent 4                                                                      

Micah 5:1-5  

                                                                                     

            Advent is all about waiting, preparation and expectation.  That is what we have been telling you for three weeks now.  It’s true in that we are preparing for the birth of Christ. Our refrain when we light our Advent candles is “Come Lord Jesus.”  Yet here is the irony-- the readings we hear in the season of Advent, perhaps even the majority of the Bible stories we know and love-- tells us that God loves to surprise us.  Essentially we are telling you to “expect the unexpected,” which might be the worst advice anyone has ever given or received.  It’s right up there with “don’t worry.”

            A few weeks ago we learned that Elizabeth, a woman previously considered barren, would give birth in her old age.  Her son would be a locust eating, camel hair wearing, prophet. Instead of acquiring a religious degree and living in one of the places of power (like Jerusalem), he preached from the wilderness and told people to repent.  He was an unexpected prophet.  But then again, who better to prepare the way for a Messiah who would shock the world with his refusal to conform and his insistence on associating with the marginalized and oppressed?

            As we know, John was not the only prophet who was a little different.  Our Old Testament is chock-full of prophets, typically the people you would least expect to be prophets.  Micah was a prophet who lived about 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. The first verse of our reading for today speaks of a siege.  The city of Jerusalem was under siege.  They were trapped by their own walls.  Defeat was inevitable.  The city and the king would fall.  Imagine what that would be like, just waiting for death or imprisonment, knowing there is nothing you can do to escape. Yet after that verse which declared the siege and the imminent destruction of all they knew and loved, Micah switched gears.  “Bethlehem, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth one who is to rule Israel.” 

            Bethlehem had a certain notoriety at that point in time.  That was where King David had come from.  King David had been an unlikely king.  He was a shepherd and the youngest of his family.  It was an odd choice for God.  However, as one would expect of one chosen by God, he was a mighty king.  It was expected that the Messiah would come from the line of David.  However the line of David and the hometown of David are two different things. This reference to a Messiah coming from the same backwater town of David was strange.  It was especially strange that Micah would bring it up at this very point, when they were under siege and their present king was about to die.

            Yet isn’t that often the way--when we feel as though we are truly under siege--relief and hope can come in the most unexpected places….or in the most bizarre dreams.  Micah prophesied something almost unimaginable.  This leader, born in the small town of Bethlehem, would rule not with money and armies, but with a shepherd’s crook. Instead of depriving people of things to enforce his rule, he would feed the people.  He would do all these things in the strength of the Lord.  He would bring peace to his people who are now under siege. 

            While that sounds very nice, we know now that none of the people Micah was talking to would experience that peace on earth.  The city was taken over. Many of the people were enslaved.  But that picture that Micah painted never quite faded.  It lived on in people’s hopes and dreams. It gave those who remained something to live for.  It gave those who died, a foretaste of their imminent future in life everlasting. 

            Our Bible is full of prophesies and dreams.  So many of these visions from our prophets contain God’s dream for us.  They are full of hope and promise.  We ignore them at our own peril.  Unfortunately our divine imagination has been limited by the acceptance of our present reality.  Many consider the stories of the Bible as fairytales or myths.  But these stories contain radical truth.  They may be hard to believe, but some of the most extraordinary things in life are things we never could have imagined.  The more comfortable we become with our present reality and the more reluctant we are to imagine God’s dream for us, the less likely we are to experience the dream. 

            Our Gospel reading contains what we refer to as the Magnificat.  It is essentially written in the form of a song.  But it is more than praise or worship.  It is prophesy.  It is God’s dream for our world—a dream that Mary interpreted for all of us.  “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the sent the rich away empty.” She was able to articulate that dream because that dream lived within her in the form of an unborn child.  A child who would turn the entire world upside down.  What people thought was reality wasn’t real at all.  Jesus brought the world truth. 

            700 years before Mary shared her prophesy, Micah prophesized about a shepherd who would feed his people and bring peace to a violent nation.  Jesus was a carpenter, not a shepherd, but he fed the people.  He fed thousands with a couple fish and a loaf of bread. He inspired thousands more with his words and actions.  That was only in his lifetime.  Billions, trillions have been fed by his legacy of love since his death and resurrection. 

Yet….despite all that….we know that he did not bring peace. Look at Israel.  It is a land that has never known peace.  And our nation isn’t much better.  Violence plagues us.  Some look around and conclude that Jesus’ words and actions had no effect…no better than a dream. That could not be farther from the truth.  A dream only remains a dream if we refuse to allow it to manifest.  

                        We still carry the dream.  But we have to do more than carry it. We have to do more than talk about it in our churches.  We must live like that dream of peace and salvation is real for us...like we are trying to bring it forth, not just in the next life, but this life. In John’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in me...”  No matter how troubled our hearts become, we cannot give up the dream.  Christmas is almost upon us.  Let us take that day and the 12 days after to bask in the glow of that dream, a dream that became real in the form of a baby boy.  That dream lives today in our hearts and actions.  Carry the dream. Share the dream.  One day it will be the only reality we know.

Walking in Shadow: December 9, 2018

Year C, Advent 2                                                                 

Luke 1:68-79                                                                           

            My husband and I did not have any advance notice when we learned that a baby would be placed with us.  We received the call the day of our son’s birth and were told we had to pick him up the next day.  It was a 12 hour drive.  Fortunately we had a lot to discuss in that 12 hour drive.  One of the topics was what we would name him. We had not talked about names.  It was just too hard to discuss tangible things like names and registries when we had no idea when we would have a child.  During those 12 hours we narrowed it down to a few names.  However, as soon as we saw him, we knew none of those names would work. He didn’t look like an Isaac or a Jacob.  We had Joshua for 3 days before we settled on a name.  By then we were already sleep deprived and completely overwhelmed with the suddenness of it all. Once we settled on the name Joshua and announced it to our family, I looked at my husband, who is also an Episcopal priest, and asked, “What’s the biblical meaning for Joshua.” He said, “God saves.  It’s the anglicized version of Jesus.”  I replied, “We just named our child Jesus?  Because having two priests as parents isn’t bad enough, now we put the entire salvation of the world on him?” While this concerned me a little, I was too tired to come up with another name and we had already told the whole family.  Jesus it was.

            Naming a baby is a big deal. It always has been. Our psalm today isn’t actually from the Book of Psalms. But it is still considered in the psalm genre. It is Zechariah’s response to the birth and naming of his son.  Zechariah and Elizabeth had wanted children for a very long time. However, Elizabeth was considered barren as she was past the age when woman normally had children. In today’s digital age, we have all kinds of creative birth announcements--but I challenge any of you to find a more unique birth announcement than the one Zechariah received. 

He was in the temple offering incense to God.  Most Jewish priests only had this opportunity once in their lifetime.  It was an extraordinary honor. According to Jewish belief at the time, he was about as physically close to God as any human could be.  He was there at the altar in a cloud of incense when an angel appeared to him and said, “Do not be frightened, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.  Your wife Elizabeth shall bear a son whom you shall name John.”

            Now since we are in church and this is the Bible, we don’t think too much of this kind of birth announcement. But consider it for a moment.  Imagine if you experienced that today, or heard about it today. Would you believe it?  Probably not, even if it was on the internet, we would assume it was some kind of hoax.  Angels don’t deliver messages to regular people.  Therefore, we really can’t blame Zechariah for reacting with disbelief.  He asked the angel how could this be as both he and his wife were old.  Well apparently this did not please the angel and Zechariah was struck mute. (My husband has a theory that striking Zechariah mute was actually an act of mercy because who knows what would have happened to him if he went and told his dear wife that she was too old to have a baby.)

Whether his muteness was a punishment or a gift, I cannot help but think about how hard that must have been….to be mute for 9 months, after such an extraordinary thing happened.  He probably didn’t try to communicate the event since he didn’t believe the angel’s words initially. However once Elizabeth told him the astounding news that she was indeed pregnant…imagine how he must have felt. Did he try to write the story all down, or did he still doubt and wonder? 

            I like to think that he held it inside himself and turned it over in his mind and heart while he marveled as his supposedly barren wife’s belly grew.  He must have communicated with her eventually as she knew that her son’s name was to be John.  In our reading for today, a group of family and friends was gathered 8 days after the birth for the circumcision. This was also where they traditionally named the male child. Elizabeth shared that his name would be John, but the friends and family wanted confirmation from the father.  Since he could not speak, he wrote the name out.  “His name is John.” It was then and only then when Zechariah was able to speak again.  You would think the first words out of his mouth would have been something like, “The craziest thing happened to me…”  But no, the text tells us that the first thing he did was praise God and share the prophesy that we heard today as our psalm. 

The prophesy started with praise of God and ended with words about who his son would be.  “You my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, To give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.” That seems like a lot of pressure on a kid.  I might have named my child after Jesus, but at least I didn’t declare him a prophet.  However, then Zechariah switched gears a little. He said “In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high will break upon us, To shine in those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and guide our feet in the way of peace.”

Zechariah’s son did not end up having a very easy life.  His job was to prepare people for Jesus. He did that by talking about sin and judgment, but also offering opportunity for forgiveness.  In the end, he was killed because he insisted on speaking truth to people in power.  He did all of that because he truly believed that Jesus was that dawn that would break through the darkness.  Sometimes when we read these stories in church, we find ourselves relegating them to the past.  John was the prophet who paved the way for Jesus.  But then he died.  Even Jesus, who died and was resurrected, seems to stay relegated to the past.  We cannot leave these stories in the pages of our Bible.  We still need a dawn to break upon us.  While we have experienced the light of Christ, we still find ourselves dwelling in darkness and the shadow of death.  We have accepted darkness and death as our cultural norm.  In Advent we are reminded that while we may feel as though we are surrounded by darkness, we are merely walking in shadow.  If there is shadow, then that means there has to be light somewhere. The light is always there if we look long enough and never give up hope. 

The angel told Zechariah to name his son John.  John means, “gift of God.”  We might not all be named John, but we are all gifts of God and children of God. We are all here on this earth to remind people that Jesus isn’t dead.  We are here to remind people that even the longest night will come to an end.  Morning always comes.  My husband and I waited for a baby for 7 years and there were times when I felt suffocated by the hopelessness of it all.  Morning doesn’t always come as dramatically as a newborn, but it always comes.  Sometimes it comes with rain and clouds, but behind it all, we know the sun is there.