God's Love is Unfair: March 31, 2019

Year C, Lent 4                                                        

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32                                                                 

            As some of you know, I have three older brothers; the oldest being 13 years older.  When he was in his late 20’s, he wrote a book that featured three brothers and a father who was in the Navy.  It bore some remarkable similarities to his life.  However, when I read it I was a little perturbed that there was no sister.  He just left me out completely.  I mentioned something to my brother about this and he replied, “This is a book about redemption, you don’t need redemption.” He was alluding to the fact that he and my other brothers were kind of wild children and teenagers.  I was not.  Also he was writing about himself as a high school student, which was when I was about 4 years old.  I was not satisfied with that answer.  It seemed to me, that I was being punished for being good.  What he did not realize was that I would get back at him by featuring him in sermons years later. 

            This Gospel reading is often referred to as The Prodigal Son.  The word prodigal is nowhere in the text. It has been assigned to the text because it describes a wasteful or reckless extravagance. Yet the way the father describes the younger son is lost, which is a far better description.  Additionally, it is not merely the story of one lost son.  It is the story of two sons who are lost.  One is lost in a distant country.  The other is lost in his own home, with his own family. 

            It might not seem so horrible to us that the younger son asked for his inheritance while his father was still alive.  However in this time period, that would have been considered the ultimate insult because it is basically saying to the father, “You are dead to me.”  In asking for his inheritance early, he cut himself off from his entire family.  To make things worse, he wasted that money on self-indulgent living.  He is not a likable character, not the kind of underdog you want to root for. He only returns when he runs out of money and is on the brink of starvation.  He’s kind of a jerk. 

            The other son isn’t particularly likeable either.  He is jealous and resentful.  While his brother is a jerk, you would assume that the elder brother would be at least a little happy to have his brother back safe and sound.  While the elder brother is not likeable, I think he is a little more relatable for most of us.  I imagine that most of us have had some experience where we have witnessed someone else being celebrated or rewarded when it was clear to us that they in no way deserved to be celebrated or rewarded.  It’s not fair.  I think there are few things that are more disconcerting to your average human than when we witness something that is unfair.  Despite the fact that most adults know life is not fair, we still feel the need to make it be fair.  And even if we know that life is not fair, we at least want God, the almighty, all knowing God, to be fair.  And why would an all knowing, almighty God, reward a son who wished his father dead, took his money and then came back when he needed him? 
            Why? Because there is nothing fair about God’s unconditional, unrelenting love.  When that unfair love is directed to us, it doesn’t seem to bother us that it is unfair.  Let’s consider this elder son.  It’s true that he was the good son.  He stayed with his family and did his work, but he also had servants.  It is clear from the text that his father was wealthy and generous.  He was able to provide for his sons in ways that other people could not.  His father was also clearly compassionate, forgiving and loving.  He was a good father.  He was the kind of father who ran out too meet his disrespectful and ungrateful son and pronounce forgiveness before forgiveness was even asked.  Do we really think the elder son ever lamented the unfairness of having a life like he had, having a family like he had when so many had nothing compared to him?  I doubt it.  Because he felt that was what he deserved. He was entitled to that kind of life. 

            He was lost, not because he had chosen to escape to another land, but because he chose resentment over gratitude, because he chose to lament the unfairness of a father who loved his brother too much instead of thanking God for a father who loved him with an unrelenting and all powerful love.  When we think of this parable, we can probably all see in our minds eye the father who runs out to meet his foolish and selfish son who treated him like he was dead.  It is a dramatic and compelling scene. But how many of us picture the father who then seeks out his bitter and unforgiving son and begs him to come inside; who reminds his petulant child that while he might not have rewarded him with a fatted calf, it didn’t matter because everything he owned, was already his. The father didn’t have to reward him with the fatted calf, because the elder son owned the fatted calf. God has already given us everything we need.

            When I was working on this sermon, I thought a lot about my own privilege and the truth is that most of are born into privilege, just by being born as an American. Most of us have guaranteed access to free education and clean water.  We take these things for granted even though there are many in our world (and some in our nation) who do not have these privileges.  But in the end, that is not what this story is about.  It is a story about something else we often take for granted--God’s grace. No matter where we are born or who we are born to, we all are born as children of God, beloved by God. 

Every day and every hour, we make a choice. We can either be grateful for this amazing gift, this amazing grace, or we can be resentful for the ways that life has cheated us, or what we do not have.  That was the sin of the elder son.  He could not be content or thankful for what he had because of his bitterness about what his own brother was receiving. 

It is hard to let go of resentment.  But there is a way.  Embrace gratitude.  You cannot be grateful and resentful at the same time. Thus when you find yourself growing bitter over some perceived unfairness, remember the gift that you have, the gift that God has given you.  Everyone gets lost at some point in their life.  Each one of us has a story of redemption. Part of what the season of Lent is about is admitting that we are all lost and then making the choice to be found. God is looking for you. God is that father who is staring into the distance, waiting for us each one of us to return to him. Embrace gratitude.  Choose gratitude. Because God has already chosen and embraced each one of us.

Footnote: If you are interested in this subject, I encourage you to read "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri Nouwen. It is inspired and helped me a great deal on this sermon. 

Look at the Stars: March 17, 2019

Year C, Lent 2                                                                         

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18                                                                     

            I started the ordination process when I was 26.  I had just finished my 3^rd year in seminary, so things were a little backwards for me.  Typically you enter the ordination process before going to seminary. Therefore, when they told me ordination was probably 2 years out (and that was only because the Bishop was supporting an expedited process), that seemed like forever.  It wasn’t-- but at age 26, it felt like forever.   People kept telling me to be patient and that, “God’s time is not your time.”  That was really annoying…because what can you possibly say to that when the vocation you are pursuing is one  that expects that not only will you trust God, but also talk to other people about the importance of trusting God?  I was told by a mentor that I needed to be careful that I never gave the impression (to anyone in authority) that I was in a hurry and certainly that I should not complain to anyone about how long it was taking. That turned out to be very good advice.      

            Thankfully God doesn’t have the same rules about complaining.  Because if God did, Abraham would never have become the father of a nation and one of the fathers of our faith. Then again, he had more to complain about than I did.  God had picked Abraham out of obscurity to be a leader.  He had promised Abraham, that if he obeyed him, he would be given land and children.   The piece about children was extra important to Abraham because by the time God called him, his wife Sarah was already considered barren, which means they were a bit on the older side.  Despite their inability to conceive, God had promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. Yet by the time we get to our reading for today, decades have passed since that initial promise---Abraham had done everything that God had asked of him--- and he and his wife were still childless. 

            Thus, when God came to him and declared, “Do not be afraid…I am your shield; your reward shall be very great”---Abraham’s response was a little exasperated.  Now, obviously, I wasn’t there, but I imagine Abraham reacting a bit like this:.

         He essentially said, “You haven’t even come through on the first promise you gave me.  I want a child!” God’s response is interesting.  God didn’t say, “Look, your time isn’t the same as my time.  You need to be patient.” He said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.  So shall your descendants be.” He didn’t defend his promise or the lack of progress on that promise.  He expanded the promise.  He said to Abraham, this is bigger than you can possibly imagine.  Forget the whole dust of the earth analogy I used before, now I want you to imagine the stars of the sky.  That is how vast your progeny will be. 

And you know what, that was all it took for Abraham.  He believed.  He still had some complaining to do---but he believed.  Minutes later when God again promised him acquisition of land, Abraham asked him to give him some proof.  It’s not that Abraham didn’t believe God’s promise. He did.  But he needed something tangible.

            That’s when things get a little weird in our reading.  God asked Abraham for some animals that could be sacrificed.  He asked Abraham to cut the animals in two and then Abraham fell asleep.  When it was night, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the two halves of each animal.  After the smoking pot and flaming torch passed between the sacrificed animals, the Lord made his covenant with Abraham.  Really, he affirmed the covenant that he had already made.

            Let me break down the imagery of the smoking fire pot and flaming torch.  First of all the Hebrew word translated to covenant means, “to cut.” Thus, cutting the animals in half symbolized creating/cutting the covenant.  In this scene, the smoking pot and flaming torch symbolized the Lord and by passing through the cut animals, the Lord was showing Abraham that he was the one making the promise.   By passing through these dead animals, God was deepening the promise by making it about life and death.  One commentator (Rolf Jacobson) described this by giving God these words: “I pledge my very life as surety of this promise.  If I fail to keep this promise, let me be slain just as the goat, the sheep and the ram were slain.”[1]  It’s hard to get more tangible than that.

            Here’s the thing about God.  God always keeps his promises.  Sometimes it takes a little longer than we would hope.  It would be many more years before Sarah would conceive her first born.  And it would be even more years before God would make that ultimate sacrifice that he predicted that night with Abraham—sacrificing himself. 

We are in the season of Lent.  Every Sunday, Jesus comes a little closer to his death. While God did keep his promise with Abraham, God’s people did not hold up our end of the deal. We still could not commit to a relationship with God.   But God never breaks promises and God never gives up on his children.  His love is so deep and so wide, that God will do anything to redeem that love, even if it means dying on the cross.  So despite the fact that God did not break his promise, God decided that the only way we could see his love was by sacrificing himself. 

            It’s ok to complain to God.  Because if you are complaining, that means you are still talking.  If you are still talking, that means that you still have hope.  And as long you maintain that sliver of hope, God will find a way to break through and show you how deep and wide his love for you is.  When God told Abraham to look at the sky and try to count the stars, he wasn’t just reminding him of the number of ancestors he would have.  He was encouraging him to look outside of himself.  So often, we can get caught up in our own worries (or the worries of those closest to us) that we forget to open our eyes wide enough to see the evidence of God’s love that is all around us. 

During Lent we emphasize the importance of inner reflection and examination.  That is important.  But sometimes when we are doing that internal reflection, we are just talking to ourselves instead of talking to God, or more importantly, listening to God.  God’s love is deep and wide. It lives within us and beyond us.  If for some reason, you can’t feel God within you, look outside.  Maybe, do something trite like watching the sun set over the water or gaze at the stars on a clear night or listen to a particularly powerful piece of music or maybe just take a deep breath and remember how lucky you are to be breathing when for so many, breathing is agony.  Then when you have that experience, send me an e-mail or give me a call because I need reminders of God’s majesty and love as much as each of you.  Hopefully, that is what we are for one another in the church, evidence of God’s love, a love that will never give up.

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[1] Rolf Jacobson from Working Preacher: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4001

Blaze of Glory: March 3, 2019

Year C, Transfiguration                                                       

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2                                                            

                       

            What would you do if you knew that you could not fail?  It’s an interesting question to ponder. There are some people who live like that.  They try anything.  They have no fear.  Sometimes that translates into recklessness, sometimes not.  Then there are those people who are scared, but they do it anyways because something or someone is supporting them, providing confidence and hope.  Jesus lived this way (as though he could not fail) and so did Paul and the other disciples.  Paul and the disciples were not reckless, although I am sure that some people around them thought they were.  They had confidence not because of displaced sense of self-importance but because they believed that God was in their corner.   

            The section that we heard from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is a bit tricky.  If it seemed a little confusing to you, you are in good company.  Paul was referencing the story of Moses.  When Moses encountered God in the Old Testament, God’s glory was so bright, that Moses’ face would glow. Then he would have to veil his face because God’s glory would actually scare people.  He had to protect people from God’s glory. 

            Paul was explaining to the Corinthians that everything changed when Jesus came, because God’s glory came to us in human form.  Even though Jesus died and his body left this earth, his glory remains, in the people of God.  We no longer have to fear God’s glory because humans are able to take on that glory.

            We do not talk a lot about God’s glory because it seems inaccessible—just out there.  However, the point that Paul was trying to make was that it is accessible. Jesus made it accessible.  If we turn to God, not only can we glimpse God’s glory, we can become a part of it.  We can be participants in God’s glory.  Paul wrote, “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”    

            If you look at the front of our bulletin, you will see that our mission statement is “to live in the Spirit of Christ.”  To some that might seem abstract and there is certainly room for interpretation.  If we read the mission statement in light of Paul’s words, then living in the Spirit of Christ means that we are being transformed into God’s glorious image from one degree of glory to another. It means that we can live without fear of failure because we have God’s Spirit.  Living without fear of failure doesn’t mean that we don’t ever fail.  In fact, it means that we will probably fail more often. It also means that we will have more opportunities to be the people who God calls us to be, to truly embody the glory of God. 

            Now I have to admit, that I am not really good at casting off fear and living boldly.  I am cautious.  (I have had some variation of the same hair style since I was in 5^th grade.) But I am not the only cautious one in our church.  Christians have become complacent over the last several hundred years.  We got comfortable in the 20^th century.  We became accustomed to being the majority.  We got used to sitting in places of power.  And once you have that comfortable position, well it’s harder to take risks.  We have more to lose. 

            The early church was full of risk.  We might say, well it was easier because they had less to lose.  While they did not have the reputation of the established church to worry about, they certainly had a lot to lose.  Paul was an important person in the Jewish faith.  He had authority.  He was also a Roman citizen, which meant he was well respected and a little more comfortable than the average Jew.  He gave that all up, so that he could walk hundreds of miles and talk to people about Jesus---so he could be beaten and imprisoned—so he could be mocked and criticized—so he could be the greatest evangelist who ever lived. 

            The first line of our reading for today is, “Since, then, we have such hope, we act with great boldness.”  When Paul said that we act with boldness, he was referencing not his own self confidence and valor, but the boldness that comes with freedom.  The origin of his freedom was the Spirit of the Lord.  It was the Spirit of the Lord that gave him the freedom to live as though he had no fear, to live boldly and to never lose heart. That Spirit of the Lord resides with all of us—gives us all the freedom to live boldly.      

            So forget that question I started with: What would you do if you knew you could not fail?  The better question is: What would do if you knew that failure was a part of our Christian journey and that failure was a part of bold action?  We don’t risk failing so that we can achieve glory, we take risks because we already share in God’s glory.  Every time we act with boldness in our life as Christians---we do so with the Spirit of God within us. By acting boldly, we come closer to the people who God calls us to be. 

            Being bold and taking risks is not easy.  I know that.  Yet I am convinced that our church needs boldness.  We need to take risks if we want to continue transforming from one degree of glory to the other.  If we are able to partake in these risks together, then we can be there for one another when we do fail and rejoice with one another when we succeed.

            There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that the church is dying.  I do not believe that.  However, if we continue on our current trajectory, the denominational churches won’t last the next 100 years. That makes me sad, because I think there are a lot of churches (St. John’s being one of them) that are worth saving.  If there ever was a time to be bold in our churches, it is now.  If there ever was a time to take risks, it is now. I believe that if we are bold in our faith and embody the glory of God, we will survive and thrive.  But if I am wrong…and the church doesn’t survive, wouldn’t you rather go out in a blaze of glory?  We have  been “fighten sin since 1610” but maybe it’s time to stop fighting against something and start fighting for something, fighting for transformation and God’s glory.  Will you fight with me?

#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. 

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[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.