1 Sing merrily to God our strength, • shout for joy to the God of Jacob. 2 Take up the song and sound the timbrel, • the tuneful lyre with the harp. 3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, • as at the full moon, upon our solemn feast day. 4 For this is a statute for Israel, • a law of the God of Jacob, 5 The charge he laid on the people of Joseph, • when they came out of the land of Egypt. 6 I heard a voice I did not know, that said: • ‘I eased their shoulder from the burden; their hands were set free from bearing the load. 7 ‘You called upon me in trouble and I delivered you; • I answered you from the secret place of thunder and proved you at the waters of Meribah. 8 ‘Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: • O Israel, if you would but listen to me! 9 ‘There shall be no strange god among you; • you shall not worship a foreign god. 10 ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; • open your mouth wide and I shall fill it.’ 11 But my people would not hear my voice • and Israel would not obey me. 12 So I sent them away in the stubbornness of their hearts, • and let them walk after their own counsels. 13 O that my people would listen to me, • that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 Then I should soon put down their enemies • and turn my hand against their adversaries. 15 Those who hate the Lord would be humbled before him, • and their punishment would last for ever. 16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat • and with honey from the rock would I satisfy them.
Good Hymns and Psalms
Good hymns and psalms tell us something of our past with God, something of the present, and something of our future. How about this classic opening line from the Isaac Watts hymn: “O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.”
In those opening four phrases, you have the past, the future, the present, and all three put together – “and our eternal home” – with the concept of our eternal life with God.
Psalm 81 is no different.
We have references to Yahweh being there for Israel in the past, specifically with the deliverance from their time of slavery in Egypt (verses 6 and 10) and Israel’s stubborn refusal to walk in God’s ways (verses 11 and 12)
There are references to life with God in the present, particularly around worship (verses 1-3) and reminders of past commandments that still are applicable for life in the present (e.g., “there shall be no strange god among you; you shall not worship a foreign god” – verse 9).
There are also references to the future, as God acknowledges that there is always an opportunity for Israel to repent, return to God, and walk in God’s ways (verses 13-14, and 16).
Someone said to me a few weeks ago that she has learned most of her Christian theology from the hymns that she sang as a child. That is not unusual; in fact, it’s often the case, because many of us grew up singing hymns more than we grew up reading the Bible. And singing is a much better way of retaining something than just reading, because it involves the use of your entire brain and pretty much your entire body. It seems to me that the writers of hymns have an obligation to know the Bible well and to be open to the leading of the Spirit, as our theology comes mainly from the sacred stories in the Old and New Testaments, and the Church’s historical interpretation of those stories… an interpretation that doesn’t go very well without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
So… what is one of the messages of Psalm 81? It is this: God was faithful and powerfully present to God’s people in the past, God calls out for us to worship and follow Him – and Him alone – in the present, and God promises – especially when we stay connected to Him – to give us all that we need, both now and in the future. It is a psalm that reminds us of the eternal faithfulness of God. God was present to our ancestors, God is present to us, and God will be present to our great-grandchildren and to their great-grandchildren and to all generations…. forever and ever. Amen.
And if we let it wash over us, Psalm 81 reminds us that we are in communion with all these people of God – past, present, and future – as we are in communion with God, for God transcends all time and all generations, and is the Rock on which we all stand… in the eternal now.
So… when we say or chant the psalms – the ancient hymns of our Jewish ancestors, still sung today! – when we sing a 6th-century or an 18th-century or a 21st-century hymn together, let us reflect on what we are singing about God, about Jesus, and about ourselves, and let us rejoice in how God brings all the generations together, and that very often God does this through music!
“Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful.” (Psalm 149:1)

Missio Dei – The Work of God

INTRODUCTION – Acts 10

If you want to know something about how the Holy Spirit moved among the first Christians, read the Acts of the the Apostles, which might be more appropriately named the Acts of the Apostles Under the Influence of the Holy Spirit. And one of the coolest stories in Acts is the story of Peter and Cornelius and the Holy Spirit in Acts, chapter 10. We’re told that Cornelius was a Roman centurion and a God-fearing man who prayed constantly and was generous in giving alms to the poor. As he was praying one day, he received a vision telling him to send for a man named Simon Peter, who was staying in Joppa, a nearby town. As Cornelius’ servants were on their way to Joppa, Peter was in prayer on the roof – and also hungry! – and we’re told that while some food was being prepared for him, he also had a vision, of something like a sheet being lowered down from heaven with animals and reptiles and birds in it, and a voice commanding Peter to get up, kill, and eat. Peter said “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” To which he hears the voice reply, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” The vision of the sheet and the animals and the voice happened three times, and suddenly the sheet vanished into heaven.

As Peter was trying to figure out what all this meant, the “unclean” Gentile servants of Cornelius arrived and were standing outside the gate of the place where Peter was staying. Peter heard the Spirit say to him, “Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” Peter welcomed the visitors, and by the next morning he and some Christians from Joppa were on their way to Cornelius’ house. When they got there, Cornelius told Peter about his vision, which had by now been four days before, in which God told him to send for a man named Peter. By this time, Cornelius had gathered his relatives and close friends, expecting Peter to show up, and when he did, Cornelius announced, “… all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.” At which point, Peter told them all about Jesus. And by this time his vision made sense to him, for he began by saying, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34-35)

And then we get to the part of the story that we heard read today. “While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.” And Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
And he ordered them to be baptized right then and there – and they were. And the Cornelius gang invited Peter and his friends to stay for several days – and they did.

In other words, those unclean people, the Gentiles – suddenly were seen in a very different way by Peter. They were now people open to receiving the Good News about Jesus, just like Peter. “Those people” had become “these people”, who had received the Holy Spirit just as Peter and the rest of them had.

This is one of many great stories in the book of Acts about how God works. God was working in Cornelius’ life, God was working in Peter’s life, and – through the Spirit of God, and the openness of the two men – a man who had been raised a Jew and was now a follower of Jesus was brought together with a Roman soldier. And the Roman soldier, and many of his family and friends, ended up being baptized as Christians, too.

There was no stopping this from happening. Who was going to withhold the water for baptizing these people? Who was going to dare to say, “We shouldn’t baptize these folks, for they aren’t Jews!” The answer was… no one!

GOD AT WORK TODAY

And today, I say to you, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these two sisters – Sarah and Claire McLaughlan – who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” No! Because God is ready and the girls are ready and their parents and godparents are ready and the water is here, so that is what’s going to happen, and there ain’t no stopping it!

For you see, God is still at work in the world; the Holy Spirit is still very much alive and active today – it’s not just a book of Acts thing that happened almost 2,000 years ago. No.

This is the Missio Dei – the work of God. And there’s no stopping it. The only question, really, is this: Are you and I open to being drawn into the work of God, just as Peter and Cornelius and all the rest of them were?

Perhaps some of you may be wondering, “What is the work of God?” Well, what do you think? Isn’t it wherever you and I see evidence of the kingdom of God in our world? And what does that look like?

It looks like:
• anywhere that you see love happening
• any person in whom you see transformation happening, so that that person is becoming more and more like Jesus
• anywhere that justice is being done or peace is being made
• any instance where those who can’t speak for themselves – the tiniest children, the mentally ill, the oppressed , the earth and all its plants and creatures – are being loved and looked after

I WONDER…

I wonder where you see God at work in the world today? I wonder how you have joined in? How you have cooperated with God’s desire to establish his kingdom here on earth?

Have you been part of the missio Dei as a parent or grandparent? As a teacher or mentor?

Have you been part of the missio Dei as someone who has reached out to those on the margins of society?

Have you been part of the missio Dei as someone who takes care of the earth?

Have you been part of the missio Dei by participating in worship?

Have you been part of the missio Dei by bringing something beautiful to the world – music or art or applied science or technology that makes the world a better place? Have you brought a piece of writing, a class, a workshop, an inspiring talk, some counsel – something that makes our world more beautiful and meaningful?

CONCLUSION

God is at work in the world, and God is always going to be at work in the world until the world is as God intends for it to be. Our main job is to join in the missio Dei – to join in the work of God.

That’s our calling, really – to join in wherever we see God at work in our world. It can happen in so many different ways, and all of us here today join in with God in so many different ways. You know when you are joining in with God’s work. For it is there that you find love, joy, peace, understanding, reconciliation, transformation, beauty, justice, respect, truth.

When you see and feel and experience these things, you are experiencing the kingdom of God. Thank you. Thank you for joining in with God’s work. You are a gift and a blessing!

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
9When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
11You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. 12And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord. 13You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. 14You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. 15You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. 16You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord. 17You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. 18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Holiness, Love, and Doing Justice

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” (verse 2, above) Holiness. How do you react to that word? Does it repel you in some ways? Does it make you think of those who act “holier than thou?” One of Frederick Buechner’s quotes that I like is this one: “One of the blunders religious people are particularly fond of making is the attempt to be more spiritual than God.” (Listening to Your Life, in writing about the Incarnation) Ha! I love that! So true!

So what does it mean to be holy? One thing it means is to strive to imitate God, for God is holy. And how does God act? Well, if you read the rest of this passage from Leviticus, you get the message, which is that God is loving. God is loving of ALL people, and is especially caring of those who can easily be overlooked. And God cares about justice. One is reminded of the famous passage from the prophet Micah: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Don’t reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest… out of love for others. Don’t strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes… out of love for others. Don’t steal or lie… out of love for others (and yourself). Don’t swear falsely, using God’s name… out of love for God. Pay the laborer his or her wages at the end of the day… out of love for the one who is working for you. Treat the blind and the deaf with respect… out of love for them.
Don’t be partial when you are making judgments… out of love for anyone who comes before you. Don’t slander anyone… because to speak ill of another is not loving.

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (verse 18)

What does it mean to be holy? What does holiness look like? It does not mean trying to be more spiritual than God. To be holy, as God defines it, is mostly about being loving – loving God, loving your neighbor, loving your enemies, loving yourself.

It is as straightforward – and as challenging – as that.

Abiding in the Vine, and Being Pruned

INTRODUCTION – Sculpting the Vine and the Branches

You just heard the gospel passage read from John 15 where Jesus says, among other things, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

I would like us to take Jesus’ image and sculpt it, right here in the church. Who would like to be Jesus? Great! Please come forward by the baptismal font. Now everyone else come get connected to the vine; come be a branch. I’m thinking that a number of us can hold hands together and be a longer branch, and there can be many branches, including branches coming off of branches. Perhaps your branch can reach out until you connect up with anyone who might have some difficulty moving around the church today. Is everyone connected to the vine? Great.

Now I’d like to ask you if this represents where you feel like you are in your relationship with Christ right now.

ABIDING

Do you feel like you are abiding in the vine and bearing fruit? If so, please stay put.

The word “abide” is used frequently by Jesus in the above verses. There are different meanings to the word, but the one that fits best here is “to remain”, as in “to stay connected.” Jesus makes this clear when he says he is the vine and we are the branches, and reminds his disciples that a branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine. Antonyms for abide would be “to depart, to bail out, to leave.” There is also a definite notion of dependence here – mutual dependence, really (“Abide in me as I abide in you…”) – and this dependence leads to fruitfulness and joy (verses 5 and 11). “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

For those of you who feel like you are abiding in Jesus right now, what do you notice? What does that look like? Have you noticed anything you have been doing that helps you abide and bear fruit… some insight that you would like to share with the rest of us?

CUT OFF FROM THE VINE

Or… do you feel like right now you are cut off from God or Jesus? If so, that’s fine. How could you represent that? Is there somewhere else in the nave where you want to go?

If you are in this situation right now, what do you notice? What does it feel like? Is it okay with you? Not okay? Would you be so transparent as to share with us something that is going on in your life right now, or what might have led you to being where you are? Did you notice if you stopped abiding because there has been setback or conflict or loss in your life, something that hasn’t gone the way that you thought it should? Do you feel as if God isn’t answering your prayers? Or has your spiritual life just gotten dull or boring? I’m curious to know if you’ve noticed that in these kinds of situations, you tend to take a saw and cut yourself off from the very vine that gives your life purpose, fruitfulness, and joy?

BEING PRUNED

Or… another thing Jesus says to his disciples is that branches abiding in Jesus, which bear fruit, are pruned by God the Father – to bear even more fruit (verse 2). Do you feel like you are being pruned right now? If so, how might you convey to the rest of us that you are being pruned? How would you demonstrate or sculpt that?

I personally see this pruning as some behavior God might want us to change, or some behavior or pattern that God might want us to leave behind, so that we can bear even more fruit in our lives. For example, are you having to learn something about sacrifice right now… or something about not being the center of the universe… something about how to really listen … something about how to quiet your ever-worrying, ever-running mind… something about how God wants you to serve others… something about a particular thing you might need to stop doing so that you can have even deeper relationships with others? Are you learning how to speak up for yourself in new ways? It could be anything! Whatever it is, perhaps you are being pruned by God – so that you can bear even more fruit.

If you feel like this is going on in your life right now… that you are being pruned by God… would you tell us something about how you have experienced that? How has the pruning been difficult? How has it led to your bearing more fruit?

ANOTHER SITUATION?

I’m also wondering if one of you here today doesn’t feel like you fit neatly into one of these three categories – you’re not quite abiding in the vine and bearing fruit, you’re not quite feeling cut off from the vine, you don’t quite feel like you are being pruned. Maybe you feel like you are going from one condition to the other…

Can you tell us something about that… what you notice… what’s been going on recently that might have led you to this place?

CONCLUSION

As I see it, we are where we are. God knows where we are. Sometimes we need to take the opportunity to reflect on where we are and how we might have gotten there, and what we can learn in the process. I hope that is what we’ve just done together!

I am intrigued by this passage, and particularly these words of Jesus:

“Abide in me as I abide in you.” (There is a mutually dependent kind of relationship that Jesus is inviting us into.)

“… apart from me you can do nothing.” (So if I am not abiding in Jesus, anything I do is evidently not fruitful.)

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” (I want to bear much fruit and glorify God; I wonder… am I doing that? And I resonate with the truth that I am still becoming a disciple of Jesus!)

Thanks for being part of the sermon today! May you abide in Jesus as He abides in you. Amen.

17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Surround Me With Disciples and Apostles, O Lord

If you were to ask me to make a list of my favorite scriptures, I could go on for a while. How about all of Genesis, Exodus (especially chapters 1-15), 1 Kings 17 and 19, Psalms 8, 23, 46, 91, 100, 103, 121, 139:1-18, and 146, Isaiah (especially chapters 40-66), Ezekiel 37:1-14, Jonah, all of the Passion narratives in the four Gospels, Matthew 20:1-16; Mark 1:9-20; Luke 4:14-30, Luke 15:11-32, Luke 24:13-35, John 20:1-18; John 21:15-22, Acts, Romans (especially chapters 7 and 8), 1 Corinthians (especially chapters 12-14), Galatians, Ephesians (chapter 4). I’ve left some out, but that’s a pretty good start!

But if you told me I had to travel lightly for the rest of my life, and I could only take three chapters of the Bible with me, I would take Matthew, chapters 5-7 – Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount? Why? Because in this sermon is found Jesus’ challenge to me and to all of us about how to live our lives. The lifestyle he calls us to is extremely counter-cultural, and my sense is that it has been seen that way by every single generation… from the first ones who heard it by the Sea of Galilee and all the way through to any person who reads these chapters today.

I am humbled and challenged and haunted my these words of Jesus. From the opening Beatitudes (“Blessed are the poor in spirit… blessed are the meek…. blessed are the peacemakers… blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…) to the words we hear today – “… unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”… from his words about anger and lust to his words “Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes” or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one”… from his words about turning the other cheek to his words about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us… from his words about giving alms and praying and fasting to his words that we now call “the Lord’s Prayer”, which include words about only asking God for enough bread (sustenance) that is sufficient for that day, and words about forgiving others as we are forgiven by God… from his words about not storing up treasures on earth but instead treasures in heaven to his words that we cannot serve both God and wealth… from his instruction to not worry about our lives but instead to look at the birds of the air and to consider the lilies of the field… from his insistence that we not judge, where he points out my frequent tendency to want to take the speck out of my neighbor’s eye when I have a log in my own (oh yes. and the place where he refers to me as a hypocrite!) to his words about not throwing pearls before swine… from his words about asking, searching, and knocking to his words that we call “The Golden Rule”… from his words about entering through the narrow gate (“… for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it…”) to his observation that not everyone who says to Him ‘Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom…

… from all these words and images of Jesus, especially when I look at my life and what I often see going on in the world, I am deeply challenged!

And yet, I know that I need to keep striving – with God’s help (for without God’s help, it is indeed impossible) – to be Jesus’ disciple, and live in this way that he teaches, for I know that this is the path of real life.

So… what am I interested in when it comes to church? I am interested in surrounding myself with others who are striving to live in this way – in the way that Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount.

I am not interested in preserving the institution of the church for the sake of preserving an existing institution.

I am not interested in focusing all of our attention on gays in committed, faithful, monogamous relationships, when some people own three or four homes and many people of the world don’t even own one.

I am not very interested in whether we sing one or two hymns or songs of praise that you don’t like. I am very interested in how we are all increasing in our ability to love.

I am not interested in people who criticize a new group at church when they have never been a part of it. If you tried the group and decided it wasn’t for you, and offer constructive criticism – good for you. But if you’ve never participated in the group at all, find something else – something positive that has to do with building up the kingdom of God – on which to focus your energy and attention.

I am not interested in our nation’s infatuation with war and guns and violence. Jesus never said, “Blessed are the war-makers and weapons’ owners…”, but that is how we often act as a nation, and most of us claim to be Christians.

I am not interested in coming to church out of habit, and little else. I am interested in being among folks who show up with great energy on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening or Saturday morning, on the the lookout for how the Holy Spirit is going to move among us, interested in how God might be asking me/us to be transformed… and stepping, with courage, onto the path that leads to transformation.

If I am going to become a disciple or an apostle who lives in the way that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount, then I am going to need a lot of help from the Holy Spirit, AND a lot of help from my brothers and sisters who are also striving to live in that way. Yes, yes – I need my Lord, and I need all of you to be with me on this path, “… for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.” (Matthew 7:13)

I do not want to be one of the “many” who swallow the teachings of the culture – hook, line, and sinker – and settle for the wide and easy path… that leads to destruction, i.e., my destruction.

I need support if I am going to try to live out Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount. How about you?

16On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. 19As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. 20When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to the Lord to look; otherwise many of them will perish. 22Even the priests who approach the Lord must consecrate themselves or the Lord will break out against them.” 23Moses said to the Lord, “The people are not permitted to come up to Mount Sinai; for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy.’“ 24The Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you; but do not let either the priests or the people break through to come up to the Lord; otherwise he will break out against them.” 25So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Called to Die

Mt. Sinai was a very scary place. To put it more accurately, the Lord – Yahweh – was very scary and not to be messed with, and Yahweh was hanging out (at this particular time) on Mt. Sinai. Yahweh warned Moses that the people should be consecrated, cleanse themselves, and then stay just outside the base of Mt. Sinai, but not go up onto the mountain. “… whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.” (earlier in Exodus 19) After three days of preparation, there was thunder and lightning, and “… all the people who were in the camp trembled.” (verse 16, above) Only Moses was allowed to go up on the mountain, as the leader and representative of the people. And he went up on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights before receiving the 10 Commandments, not to mention all the other instructions. You’ll recall that when Moses came down off the mountain after he had been speaking with the Lord, his face shone so brightly that the people asked him to cover it with a veil. (Exodus 34:29-35) Another verse comes to mind: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)

Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe what’s more true is that it is a terrifying prospect to try to go life alone – without God (which is actually the context of the Hebrews verse).

It strikes me that one of the differences between the Old and New Testaments (Covenants) is that in the new covenant, Jesus calls us to die. He doesn’t say, like in the olden days, “Stay away from this mountain, for God is too holy and powerful and awesome for you to get close to.” No. He calls us to die to those old ways, where fear gets hold of us in such a way that we don’t think we can come into God’s presence without a mediator – like a Moses, or a prophet, or a king (or a priest, for that matter). No, if anything, Jesus keeps saying over and over again, “Come” and “Follow me.” But let’s be clear about one thing: he does invite us to come and die.

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35; see also Matthew 16:24-25 and Luke 9:23-24) It’s sort of like Jesus is saying, “Yes, by all means… come up on the mountain for a direct encounter with me. Just realize that you will be dying. You will be dying to some old ways – in one way or another – so that you can experience new and abundant life in me.”

I believe that if we are to be Christians who truly follow Christ, there will always be some dying to go through. For the way of the cross… the way of suffering and dying… is the path to real transformation.

For my daughter, Hannah, in a few months that dying will look like leaving behind the only city and state she has ever known, not to mention leaving family and friends, and beginning life in a new place that is 1,400 miles from here (with a totally different climate). But if she is going to find new life, she has to enter into this dying.

For Julia and me, this dying in the next few months looks like giving up the only kind of parenting we have ever known – with children at home with us – and opening up to whatever God would lead us to next… in the arena of parenting, yes… but also in our relationship as a couple, and in whatever personal and professional endeavors are coming next for each of us.

You may be called to die to your pattern of being quiet, because the Lord needs you to learn to speak up. You may be called to die to your fears having too big a hold on your life, so that God can introduce you to a bigger world. You might be called to die to the notion that people aren’t supposed to ever show any emotion other than happiness, so that you can become a more complete human being. You may be called to die to being timid, because God wants you to learn how to stand up for yourself. You may be called to die to your pattern of talking too much, so that the Lord can teach you something about the transformation that can occur when one gets comfortable with silence and solitude. You may be called to die to hanging on to your life as you have known it for some years, so that the Lord can teach you about the new life that comes when we break patterns and try new things.

I don’t know what you are being call to die to. One of the many amazing things about God is that God knows each of us as we are, knows what is unique about each of us, and knows what each of us needs to die to… so that we can really open up our lives and live more fully.

The question for today is really this: As a follower of Christ, are you open to dying, so that your life can be saved, renewed, expanded, and transformed? Or… are you going to fight the dying process – every step of the way – so afraid are you to move out of your comfort zone? If it’s the latter, then, according to Jesus, you will lose the very life you have. To put that another way, you will die before your time… you’ll be dead, even though your heart is beating and your lungs are still inhaling and exhaling.

Jesus bids us to climb up that scary mountain and meet him on the summit. Jesus calls us to die, so that we can really live. In what way is He calling you to die… today?

God’s Peace, Using Our Senses, Being a Witness

INTRODUCTION – Three things from the Gospel

I am hearing three things in today’s Gospel lesson, so here goes – the challenge has been laid down to see if they are related to each other in some way!

JESUS OFFERS US HIS PEACE

First, Jesus comes to offer us his peace. Especially when we are discouraged, scared, shocked, lonely… He comes. But it might not be the kind of peace you are expecting. He says elsewhere in John’s gospel: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) He’s not offering a conflict-free life. He’s not offering the kind of unsettled peace that comes when we just try to avoid or put off something that we know can’t really be put off. No. He’s offering his peace, which means he’s offering himself, his presence – in us. He’s saying, “take me into yourselves”, in much the same way that he says, “Take, eat; this is my Body. Drink in the new covenant in my blood.” We’re not being invited to ground ourselves in our own stillness, even. He’s saying, “Receive the deep peace that is my presence to you, my presence in you.” This is the same peace of God “which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) that Paul writes about. It can only be received, and it’s the kind of peace – when we take it in – where people might ask, “How can you possibly be so calm right now?” And if we are truly calm, truly peaceful, the answer would be something like this: “I don’t know. Something has come over me that I can’t explain. It’s a gift. It must be a gift, for I can’t explain it!”

Jesus seeks us out, in the most gentle and intimate of ways, especially when we need him most, and offers us that peace – his peace.

USING ALL FIVE OF OUR SENSES

The second thing I hear in today’s Gospel is that the resurrected Jesus shows up in a body like ours. When the disciples can’t believe what they are seeing, he says, “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” He shows them his hands and feet, presumably to show them the wounds… the scars from where they drove in the nails when he was crucified. And then he really brings the point of having a body home when he says, kind of like a teen-aged boy would, “Hey, have you anything here to eat?” And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, “and he took it and ate it in their presence.” In other words, they watched him chew it up and swallow it down like so many times before.

What is the significance of all of this? Well, first and foremost it demonstrated that he was really alive again. But there’s another important thing to take note of here. You and I tend to either get obsessed with our bodies or be mad at our bodies or even abuse our bodies, and a lot of times we forget to give thanks for our bodies. Our bodies – yours and mine – are nothing short of miraculous, and yet we tend to take them for granted. And our bodies are one of the key pathways to the spiritual life, for – as Paul put it elsewhere – our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Incarnation – God taking on human flesh – is no small thing. The Incarnation alone – the fact that God would come to dwell in a body like ours – should tell us how important our bodies are. Not only that, our bodies give us six different ways to connect with God.
• With our hearing – the root of the word “obey” is to hear, to listen. With our bodies we hear God’s voice.
• With our sight, we see evidence of God in our world.
• With our sense of taste, we take in God. What does the Psalmist say? “Taste and see that the Lord is good!” We Episcopalians, a eucharistic people, know something about this.
• With our sense of touch, we know when God is present, for we feel to our core when love is present.
• And what about our sense of smell? Well, can’t you imagine how this communion bread smells when it first comes out of Jill’s or Jane’s or Jeri’s oven? That’s love and the presence of God, too.
• And finally – your God-given feelings that are part of our body’s package from the time we are born – anger, sadness, fear, happiness, sexual feelings – these can all be used to help us connect to other people, and to God, too.

You’ll notice that this encounter of the disciples with the risen Jesus is really not some academic lecture; it’s not primarily students sitting at the feet of the rabbi and taking notes. It’s a full body connection. “Touch me and see.” He’s showing his body to them; he’s eating in front of them; And even when he does begin to teach them, the connection is on a body to body level. “He opened their minds to understand the scriptures…” This is not some dry lecture in the Chem 140 lecture hall next to the UMC at CU. There is excitement; there are plenty of “aha” moments, and they are excited, because the one who is teaching them is brilliant at teaching, and because he was dead, and now he’s alive again!

SHARING OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE RISEN LORD

The final thing I see in this Gospel is the invitation to not keep our experience of God and of the risen Christ to ourselves. No. “You are witnesses,” he says. And although you and I have not seen Jesus in the flesh, nevertheless we have experienced him as the risen Lord – alive, present, and a guiding force in our lives. Frederick Buechner put it this way: “… in the last analysis what convinced the people that he had risen from the dead was not the absence of his corpse but his living presence. And so it has been ever since.” (Listening to Your Life, “His Living Presence”, p. 102)

If you’ve known his living presence, then you don’t get to keep it to yourself, because this is the most important news you can share with anyone. It would be like having a baby and not telling a soul, and you and I both know that that doesn’t happen.

Jesus says, “You are my witnesses, that repentance – a life that is once again oriented toward God – and forgiveness of sins are available to everyone, not to mention guidance, the strength and power of the Holy Spirit available and working in you, transformation, and new life.”

CONCLUSION

The bottom line? Jesus offers you and me the same things he offered those disciples.
• His peace
• An opportunity to connect with him through our bodies
• As his witnesses, many opportunities to share with others how we experience him as living, present, and powerful in our own lives

I think these three things are all aspects of how we connect with Jesus, as we love, serve, and share with others. What do you think?

”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
On Abiding in Jesus, and Being Pruned

The word “abide” is used frequently by Jesus in the above verses. There are different meanings to the word, but the one that fits best here is “to remain”, as in “to stay connected.” Jesus makes this clear when he says he is the vine and we are the branches, and reminds his disciples that a branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine. Antonyms for abide would be “to depart, to bail out, to leave.” There is also a definite notion of dependence here – mutual dependence, really (“Abide in me as I abide in you…”) – and this dependence leads to fruitfulness and joy (verses 5 and 11). “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

We are dependent on Jesus for life, strength, ongoing sustenance, guidance, wisdom, etc. He is depending on us, too, for we are his body – his heart, his arms, his legs, his mouth, etc. – in the world now. He is depending on us to bear fruit, to build his kingdom through our acts of love, sacrifice, service, and proclamation. It is a mutually dependent relationship where we depend on (trust) each other, but none of it works unless we abide in him.

To me this begs the question: Do we stop abiding in Jesus when things don’t go our way, i.e., the way that we think our lives should go? When we get into conflicts with another person, when our finances go awry, when we experience a loss, when we are treated unfairly by someone, when God seems not to be answering our prayers, when our lives just seem to get stale or boring, do we leave… depart… bail out on Jesus? In these times, do we take a saw and cut ourselves off from the very vine that gives our lives purpose, fruitfulness, and joy?

Another thing Jesus says here is that branches abiding in Jesus, which bear fruit, are pruned by God the Father – to bear even more fruit (verse 2). Do you feel like you are going through something difficult right now? Are you having to learn something about sacrifice… something about not being the center of the universe… something about how to really listen for God’s guidance… something about how to quiet your ever-worrying, ever-running mind… something about commitment and recommitment… something about how much practice (and practice and practice) it takes to have really good relationships… something about how you don’t know nearly as much about love or God or being faithful as you thought you did? If so, perhaps you are being pruned by God – so that you can bear even more fruit.

No matter what you are going through this day (or this year), Jesus says to you, “Abide in me. Abide in my love. Abide in my words to you.” If we do not abide in Jesus, our lives bear no fruit. If we do not abide in Jesus, we don’t discover joy and fullness of life. If we do not abide in Jesus – we can do nothing. That’s what our Lord says. They are very strong, pointed words. My experience tells me that they are true.

From Self-Deception to Transformation

INTRODUCTION – Behind locked doors

The disciples were in a friends’ house, behind locked doors. It sort of makes you wonder, doesn’t it, about the power that fear has to really get ahold of us?

Hadn’t they seen Jesus’ power to heal, to cast out demons, to calm the storms when they were out on the Sea of Galilee? Did they think that all of that was ancient history? Did they think that locking the doors would really accomplish anything if the Roman – or Jewish – authorities wanted to arrest them? Did they think they were now just on their own… that the rest of life was just up to them, that they were now left to their own devices?

SITUATION – In the darkness about our situation

Our capacity for self-deception can be huge at times.

Sometimes we have a very inflated view of ourselves, like we are greater than everyone else – our superior persona, you might say. Try that on for a minute. “I’m a much better preacher than __________!”

On the other hand, sometimes we have a very puny view of ourselves – our inferior persona, you might say. Try that one for a minute. As when the woman – age 30? – blew right past me when I was running on Friday morning. “Boy, am I slow!”

And this self-deception extends to our relationships with God, too. “Well, I guess I’m (we’re) on my (our) own! God is nowhere to be found!”

Take Thomas, for example. We call him “doubting Thomas” because he didn’t believe the other ten disciples when they told him that they’d seen the Lord. But think about that for a moment. He had spent three years of his life with these guys, and now he doesn’t believe what they are telling him? What’s that about? Why would they lie to him about something as big as this? They’re not deceiving him. This is about Thomas’ ability to deceive himself. “No… there’s NO WAY that Jesus could have shown up.”

This is part of our shadow, part of the way that we stumble around in the darkness – the lack of awareness that we have about ourselves, or the absolute misguided, incorrect views that we have of ourselves.

COMPLICATION – Why do we do this?

Why do we act this way at times? Why do we over-inflate or under-inflate ourselves? Why do tell ourselves that something good cannot possibly happen?

Perhaps we simply don’t believe that things can be better than they are. Perhaps – and maybe this is closer to the truth – we don’t really believe in ourselves. Huddling together behind locked doors suggests that the disciples didn’t believe in themselves AND didn’t – at least in those particular hours – believe in the power of God to transform the situation… and transform them.

GOOD NEWS – The Light comes among us

But Jesus shows up anyway. Not once, not twice, but a number of times over the next 40 days, before his ascension into heaven. In this one instance, he is suddenly standing before them even though the doors were locked. How did he pull that off? In the time that they are trying to figure that out, he is already saying, “Peace be with you”, breathing on them and telling them to receive the Holy Spirit, which is the breath and power of God.

The Light – the Light that is Christ – comes and shatters the darkness, for the light is more powerful than the darkness. Jesus’ light is more powerful than our individual darkness, and more powerful than all the darkness in the world, for that matter.

This Light sees our potential. Jesus doesn’t just see our times of big, freaking-out fear. He doesn’t just see the fact that we have tremendous powers for self-deception. He sees that we are capable of love, capable of generosity, capable of forgiveness, capable of amazing creativity, capable of bringing life and healing to others. All of these are possible when we remember to partner with God.

And so he says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” When we seek out the guidance of the Holy Spirit… when we are willing to partner with the Holy Spirit… then it’s exactly like coming out from behind those locked doors, for we remember that it’s not all up to us. That’s the big self-deception. It’s not all up to us. Another way to say that, of course: God is with us!

NEW BEHAVIOR – Unity, compassion, generosity, love

Did you hear the reading from Acts? Not long after the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to all the followers of Christ, the disciples weren’t huddling behind locked doors anymore. There attitudes toward possessions had changed. They were testifying to the resurrection of Jesus with great power. There was not a needy person among them. Why? Because they sold land and houses – they did anything they needed to do – to make sure that everyone was adequately provided for. In other words, there was no greed or selfishness among them. Decisions were made based on love and what was needed for the common good.
So what happened to them? The Light came among them and drove away the darkness, the self-deception. What happened? Well, here’s how Luke put in Acts 4:33: “… great grace was upon them all.” They were open to that grace, they were overpowered by that grace, and love took over.

When love takes over, the comparison games go away. I can celebrate what an amazingly strong runner that 30-something woman was. I can acknowledge my abilities for preaching – AND how the Holy Spirit helps in the entire process – without denigrating anyone’s abilities to preach. When love takes over, I don’t see my money as MY money, but instead see that what I have been privileged to make or what I have been fortunate enough to own has been entrusted to me for the good of others, too.

When love takes over… when you and I are open to the Light and open to God’s grace, then we can be transformed. We, just like those first disciples, can be changed from people who hide and allow fear to hold us back into people who bring good news, healing, love, and new life to the world.

CONCLUSION

May it be so this Easter season. May we allow the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit to get ahold of us in such a way that we reorient our lives to God, and God’s ways, and become the most generous, loving, creative, and life-giving people that we can be.

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Embracing Life’s Challenges, with God’s Help

The angel said to the women on that first Easter morn, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised… and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.”

You and I get scared for all kinds of reasons, in all kinds of circumstances. Often our fear comes up when we are facing a new situation. Mary Magdalene, Mary, and the eleven remaining disciples were facing a future life without Jesus being physically there with them, AND they were being called to be his witnesses.

I think of some times when I have been scared:
• when moving almost 2,000 miles across the country to start college at CU
• when caught in lightning storms while hiking above treeline – very scary!
• when I first moved overseas
• when our children were born – a mixture of excited and scared
• when applying for jobs that I really wanted to get – again… excited and scared
• when in the midst of a big conflict with someone, or with a group of people
• sometimes when preaching (truth be told, I’m always at least a little scared right before I preach)

There have been times when I have been scared that I might fail, and other times I have been scared that I might succeed. For if we succeed, our life can be become BIGGER and we’re not always sure what that bigger life looks and feels like… it’s unfamiliar. And the unfamiliar can often be scary!

The point is: we will get scared, and that’s not going to change just because an angel or God or your spouse or your best friend says, “Don’t be afraid!” The deeper point is that fear is not supposed to be a destination. And, as Fritz Perls once said, “fear is excitement without the breath.”

So… when you are afraid, 1) remember to breathe, and 2) remember that the risen Jesus goes before you in everything that you do… to every new or old place where you go.

The risen Jesus goes before you when you enter into a new phase of your life, when you are in the midst of a conflict, when you are in a scary place on an exposed ridge, when you are speaking in front of a large group of people, when you come to the end of your life and are facing into you death. And the message of Easter is that even death has been conquered, that because Jesus was raised was from the dead, we too shall be raised. Yes, Jesus even goes before us when we cross over from this life to the next one.

You’re gonna get scared sometimes. Just remember not to stop there. Remember to breathe. And remember that the risen Jesus is going right ahead of you, preparing your way. Doesn’t that change everything? I believe it does.

A New Way of Living

INTRODUCTION – Sports and violence

If you know me at all, you know that I am sports fan. But there is an entire aspect of sports that I’m not very comfortable with, although it fits in really well with our culture. I am speaking of all the fighting and war analogies that are associated with sports.

“We’re going to war.” “This game will be won and lost in the trenches.” “We have to defend our turf.” “It’s going to be a battle.” “We’re going to slug it out and the last one standing will win.” Coaches often look for little quotes from the other team, some perceived slight, so that they can post it up on the bulletin board and get their own teams riled up. “Did you hear what they said about us? Are you going to stand for that? I tell you, not in our house!” Have you read about the most recent scandal in the NFL, where players were putting a bounty on opposing players, getting paid if they injured another player or knocked someone out of the game?

Many before me have pointed out that our huge arenas are set up in much the same way as the ancient Roman coliseum, where gladiators would fight to the death. Have any of you seen the recent movie, The Hunger Games? There are certainly key moments where love and sacrifice are portrayed, but on so many other levels the movie is deeply disturbing. 12-18 year olds fighting to the death, while millions of the well-heeled stand by and cheer? And yet, is it that different from our world today?

In many ways, the world of sports holds up one big mirror to us as a nation and says, “This is who you are!” I, for one, don’t always like what I see. There is a huge amount of greed being reflected back to us, not to mention a glorification of violence.

GOOD FRIDAY – The most politically incorrect day of the year

And today is Good Friday. Our country tends to love celebrating Easter. What’s not to love? Victory over death! But we’re not so enamored of Good Friday. Why? Might it be because it is the most counter-cultural, politically incorrect day of the church year?

One of Jesus’ closest friends, one of the twelve disciples, betrays him with a kiss, and Jesus doesn’t even seek revenge on him. The Son of God, who could have called on a whole legion of angels to protect him, does nothing when he is arrested. He submits to all the abuse, all the torture, all the mocking, and finally the crucifixion without getting physical, without resorting to violence – without fighting back, without even cussing anyone out! This was the original meaning of the word “passion”: the condition of being acted upon by outside influences. And man, did Jesus allow them to act upon him!
This, my friends, is as un-American as you can get! Of course, Jesus wasn’t an American. But he was on a mission… a mission to show us a whole new way of living.

THE CULTURE vs. THE KINGDOM

Our culture teaches us strength by domination. Jesus teaches us that strength can be found in weakness.

Our culture teaches us to respond to violence with more violence, trying to convince us that violence can be redemptive. Jesus teaches us to respond to violence with non-violence, that violence can never be redemptive, and that the way to redemption is through suffering and sacrifice.

Our culture teaches us that if you want to be great and get ahead, lord it over other people. Jesus teaches us that greatness comes through serving others.

Our culture teaches us to compete and to win at all costs. Jesus teaches us to love – anyone and everyone – no matter what it might cost you (and that may be your life).

Our culture teaches us to pursue, pursue, and keep pursuing (until you die!) earthly riches. Jesus talks about storing up treasures in heaven, and we hardly pause long enough to wonder what kind of treasures those might be.

Our culture teaches us to avoid pain and to not think about death, at all costs. Jesus teaches us that pain and death – the way of the cross – are the pathway to new life.

Our culture teaches us to “take what’s yours” and encourages us to think that everything we have comes from our own efforts. Jesus teaches us to learn how to receive, and reminds us that everything we have comes from God.

Our culture teaches us to be stingy – you’re going to need that for yourself! Jesus teaches us to give ourselves away for the good of others… and ourselves.

Our culture teaches us that my way, my path, my ideas are the most important things around. Jesus teaches us to pray… to stop and listen for what God might want us to do.

Our culture teaches us that we can fudge on the truth. Jesus says to Pilate, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”

Our culture teaches us to make it happen! Jesus teaches us to ask, to seek, and to knock, and promises that if we do these things, we will be given to, we will find, and doors will be opened for us.

The culture teaches us – yes, lo these many centuries later, still it’s true – the old eye-for-an-eye system, and babbles on and on about what is fair. Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek and to celebrate when the prodigal son or prodigal daughter comes home, however unfair it might seem. Jesus teaches us that grace is what God and life are all about, that grace is patently unfair, and that’s a really good thing, for without it we would all – every single one of us – be in trouble.

The culture teaches us that military might and nuclear weapons are the most powerful things in the world, while Jesus teaches us that sacrificial love is the most powerful force – bar none.

Just a little while ago, while reenacting the Passion of our Lord, we shouted out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”, which is so appropriate, because that sentiment fits so well with our world view. And ironically, a conflicted, self-deceiving, and impotent Pilate – a man who thinks he knows what true power is all about, but hasn’t a clue – parades Jesus out in front of all of the people who wanted blood and says, “Here is the man!” (Or, in the old language… “Behold, the man!”)

BEHOLD, THE MAN!

Behold, the man – indeed! Behold the man who came to testify to the truth – the truth that there is an entirely different way to live, a way of life that is about reliance on God, a way of lift that is about love, a way of life where all of our hope and desire for security is grounded in God, and in God alone.

On the deepest level, we know this is the true way – the way of the cross, the way of Jesus.

Every good and faithful parent who has ever sacrificed sleep and sacrificed the what-might-have been vacations knows this is the true way.

Every person who has forgiven someone and thus kept a relationship intact – making reconciliation and new life possible – knows that this is the true way.

Every person who has put his or her life on hold – even for a few years, even for a month, even for a week, even for a day – to be there for another person in need, or for a whole group of people in need, knows that this is the true way.

But sometimes we forget, because the voices in the culture are so darn deafening.

CONCLUSION

This day – Good Friday – is the most counter-cultural and politically incorrect day of the year. On this day we are reminded of the truth: that Jesus went to the cross for you and me, to save us from ourselves. And the way he entered into his death – willingly -and the example he gives us to follow, is why we call this day “good”. He shows us another way to live – a much better way… a really, really good way – and the only way that leads to real, abundant life. Thanks be to God!

Would I be overstating it to say that the future of our world depends on more and more of us adopting this way – the costly, loving way of Jesus?

Behold, the man – the man who shows us a very different way.

Betting Your Life on the Loving Power of God

INTRODUCTION – Mega-Millions

A week or so ago people were driving down to Colorado from Wyoming to buy tickets in the Mega-Millions lottery. What was it – over $600,000,000? Something like that. I’ll admit it. I bought a few tickets. (I had to ask the people at the gas station how to play.) Yeah, I know the odds of winning were like 1 in 200 million. Hey, I was filling up my gas tank anyway, and these days that’s a good time to think about winning a huge jackpot! And what’s the harm in betting a few bucks? Don’t we want some of the winners to be people who are deeply committed to charitable giving? And aren’t we supposed to take some chances in life?

SITUATION – An empty tomb

And speaking of betting…

Did you know that the gospel of Mark was the first gospel written? Did you know that the gospel of Mark has more than one ending? The earliest, most reliable manuscripts end at chapter 16, verse 8, after the women encounter the empty tomb, see the young man dressed in white – who tells them to tell the disciples that Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee – and then the women run from the tomb in terror and amazement. “And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” This is how the original gospel of Mark ends, without any accounts of the women or the disciples or anyone else seeing the risen Jesus.

About 15 years after Mark’s gospel, around 85 C.E., Matthew and Luke’s gospel were written and have accounts of the risen Jesus appearing to either the women, or to the disciples, or to both. John’s gospel is written last of all and has Jesus appearing to Mary and then to the disciples without Thomas, then to the disciples with Thomas present, then to all of the disciples in Galilee.

Then, years later, toward the end of the second century, a longer ending was added to Mark’s gospel, with Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and then the disciples.

Why do I tell you all this? Well, would it make a difference to you and your faith if the story ends with an empty tomb, and there were no accounts of the risen Jesus appearing to the women or to the disciples? What if the shorter version of Mark, with the women leaving the empty tomb after the encounter with the young man dressed in white, running from the tomb in terror and amazement, was the end of the story, prior to the disciples going out and telling the world about Jesus?

Would you still bet that the resurrection of Jesus happened?

Try this on: Would you bet not just a few bucks, but your whole life on the fact that the resurrection of Jesus happened, and that the risen Jesus not only went ahead of those eleven remaining disciples to Galilee, but that he goes ahead of you and me, no matter where we go in life, and no matter what happens to us – no matter how great something is that we go through, and no matter how painful or challenging?

COMPLICATION

This is what faith is: it’s betting your life on the fact that God loves you – no matter what; it’s betting your life on the fact that God is for you – no matter what; it’s betting your life on the fact that God is with you – no matter what… even when it might not feel that way to you; it’s betting your life on the fact that God – in Christ – has experienced everything you will ever experience, and then some… and goes before you in everything that you will ever go through; it’s betting your life that, when you open yourself up to an ongoing relationship with God, God will keep transforming you, and the result will be that you live the best, most abundant life that you can possible live.

If you’re Mary Magdalene or Mary the mother of James or Salome, would you head back to Galilee, based on an empty tomb and the words of the mysterious young man dressed in white who says, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But to, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

Do you head to Galilee?

Doesn’t your response have a lot to do with how you experienced Jesus of Nazareth in all your encounters leading up to that moment? Doesn’t your response have a lot to do with how caring he was, how faithful he was to you, how well he listened to you, how much he always had your best interests at heart? Doesn’t your response have a lot to do with how you saw him respond when he was betrayed, arrested, tortured, and killed?

MY EXPERIENCE

In the summer of 1979 – the summer that I turned 22, the summer right before I started law school in Boulder – I said a short prayer. It went something like this: “Jesus, I want to know you. I want to be your friend. I am ready for you to be my Lord. Please come into my life.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but what I was really doing that day was betting my life on Jesus… on his resurrection… on his loving, powerful presence to be with me, to go before me, and to guide me in my life.

Since I prayed that prayer, I have never seen a vision of the risen Jesus. I have never heard him speak audible words to me. But I have known him to be loving and faithfully present.
He was lovingly present in all of my struggles in law school. He was lovingly present during all my time in the Peace Corps. He was lovingly present as I discerned a call to the priesthood. He was lovingly present on the day that I met Julia. He was lovingly present on the amazing day that we got married, and as we went through my time of seminary in Virginia. He was lovingly present on those two amazing days when Zach and Hannah were born, and through all the days of parenting since then. He was lovingly present as my sisters and I went through the deaths of our parents. He has been lovingly present as I have learned, year by year, what it means to be a priest.

I’m here to say today that the surest bet you can ever make in your life is to bet on the fact that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead by God. I believe this means that all other bets are off. The world telling you that this life is all there is – that bet is off. The world telling you that you will find security in money or in defense weapons or in nuclear weapons – that bet is off. The world telling you that you will find happiness if you just accumulate more stuff – that bet is off. The world telling you that you will find happiness by pursuing fame – that bet is off. The world telling you that you will find happiness without having God in your life – I believe that is much worse a bet than buying a ticket for the Mega-Millions lottery!

Because Christ has been raised from the death, we too shall raised. That’s what I believe. Because death has been defeated forever, we are free to live life this to the fullest, and when we die, rejoice in the fact that God will give us back our lives again, and that we will be reunited with our loved ones who have gone before us in the faith, not to mention all the people of faith from past generations, including Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah and Rachel, including Moses and Aaron and Miriam, David and Solomon, Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Amos and all the rest of the prophets, including Mary and Joseph, including Peter and James and John and Paul and all the rest of the apostles, including Mary Magdalene and Mary and Salome, including Francis and Clare and Augustine and Ambrose and Teresa and the whole communion of saints.

CONCLUSION – A SURE BET
This is a much better bet than a ticket you will ever purchase in any lottery. In fact, I’d go so far to say that when you bet on God being with you and for you… when you bet on God loving you – no matter what – it’s a sure bet. As Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians, “For in [Christ] every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.”” (1 Corinthians 1:20)

In case you are wondering, I didn’t win the Mega-Millions lottery. But in 1979, when I bet my life that Christ was for me… when I bet my life that he indeed is a risen Lord who has the power to transform and the power to save – that bet I won! And I’m just one person. How many mega-millions of people have bet their life on Christ, have bet their lives that he indeed goes before them in everything they do? How many people over the centuries have said, “I’ll take that bet!”

How about you?

Three Strategies While in the Darkness

INTRODUCTION – Shock… hurried… grief… darkness

It had all happened so fast. Judas betrayed Jesus. He was arrested. There was a joke of a trial – really more of a mob convincing PIlate, who didn’t really know anything about Jesus, to crucify him. Jesus hanging on the cross during the day, while the sabbath loomed. The rush to get him down from the cross and into the tomb before the sabbath began on Friday evening. The women didn’t even have time to properly anoint his body before he was buried.

What emotions they must have been feeling! Shock. Deep sadness and grief. Anger. Fear. It all added up to a time of real darkness. And of course, they didn’t know how long the darkness would last.

It strikes me that we can learn three valuable strategies from Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, when it comes to times when you and I might be in very bleak, dark places, too.

HANG WITH THE THE PEOPLE YOU TRUST

First, in times of darkness, don’t isolate yourself. Hang out with people whom you trust… people who understand your values, your world view, and what you are going through… people of faith… people who will listen and therefore offer the love and support you need during your “dark night of the soul.”

Mary Magdalene and Mary did this. They obviously were consoling each other and talking to each other about what they should do, or they wouldn’t have come up with a plan to go to the tomb together, after the sabbath had ended, as dawn was breaking on that Sunday morning.

The eleven remaining disciples adopted this strategy, too. They may have been scared out of their wits, hiding behind locked doors in someone else’s home. Remember, they weren’t from Judea. They were from Galilee. But they weren’t eleven men hanging out in eleven different places. They were together. And that was huge. Because they could grieve together, express their doubts and feelings to each other, try to sort through all that had just happened in the last 48 hours, and support each other.

KEEP DOING THE THINGS YOU ARE GOOD AT AND LOVE TO DO

Second, in times of darkness, keep doing the things you are good at and the things you love to do. All of them – the eleven and the women – observed the sabbath right after Jesus was placed into the tomb. My guess is that observing sabbath was very comforting to them. It was familiar, and it was standing in line with the tradition of their ancestors who had done this very thing, generations ago and centuries ago. And how many times had they observed sabbath with Jesus? And they were there in Jerusalem to observe the Passover, the most holy time of the year for Jews. This was not a “have to” for them. It was a “want to”, I’m thinking. They loved hearing the story of how death passed over them in Egypt. They loved eating the roasted lamb and the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs. They loved thinking about the Exodus, and how Yahweh had saved their people at the Red Sea.

And the women getting ready to go to the tomb to anoint Jesus‘ body? On the one hand, how excruciating that would be to see their dead friend again. But on the other hand, this was something they were good at doing. They knew what spices to get. They knew it was their way of offering love and service to the family who had suffered great loss. They knew it was their way of being with their old friend again, and serving him in a similar way to all the times that he had served them.

When we are in darkness… when we are lost and grieving… sometimes it is exactly what we need – to do something that we are so familiar with that we don’t even really have to think about it. Things like worshipping God. Things like little acts of service that we have been doing for years, and love doing. Cooking a meal… baking cookies… cleaning… setting the altar… singing… washing dishes.

CRY OUT TO GOD

And third, in times of darkness and despair, cry out to God, and don’t sugar-coat anything! What do you suppose the disciples and the women prayed in that time between Friday afternoon and early Sunday morning. What did they say when they cried out?

How could you let this happen, God?

We don’t even live here!! What are we supposed to do now? Do you still expect us to finish observing Passover? Really?

Why, Lord? Why? We loved him so much! I feel so angry! How long, O Lord? How long until we see our Master and friend again?

And, of course, when they discovered early that Sunday morning that Jesus’ body wasn’t there… Mary Magdalene said it so simply and clearly, according to John’s version of what happened.
“They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Perhaps she added, “This is too much!! Now someone has stolen his body, too?”

When you are in deep darkness, don’t hold back. Don’t mince words. Cry out to God and let it rip. Tell him what’s on your mind… what’s on your heart… where it hurts… how much it stinks. And then let your request be made known to God – whatever it is.

Being in the darkness it no time to put on a happy face and act as if everything is okay. Because it isn’t okay! And God knows that. God knows how much you hurt. God knows how much it stinks. And Jesus promised to be with us to the end of the age, and that means He promises to be with us no matter what we are going through.

BEING LIKE JESUS

It strikes me that the women and the disciples had learned some things from Jesus over the previous three years, because these were the sorts of things Jesus did in the midst of dark times.

When people attacked him and tried to trick him and accuse him of committing blasphemy, for example, he kept hanging out with his disciples. He talked to them and they listened. They didn’t alway get what he was teaching them, but they listened, and over time they got more and more of what he was saying.

In times of darkness, he kept doing the things that he was good at doing, the things he loved to do. He kept teaching. He kept healing people. He kept getting up before dawn and going up a mountain to pray to his heavenly Father. He told parables. He studied the ancient scriptures. He kept telling stories of what the kingdom of God was like.

And when he really was despairing, when he really felt abandoned, he told his Father that. He prayed and sweated blood in Gethsemane, even praying that the cup of death might pass him by. And when he was hanging on the cross, he cried out, quoting one the Psalms that he had memorized long ago: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) For indeed, in that moment, he felt utterly abandoned by God, as he bore the weight of the sins of the whole world on that cross.

CONCLUSION

You and I should take note from the women, from the disciples, and from Jesus himself. When we enter into dark times, we should hang out with the people whom we most trust, who can offer us love and support. We should keep doing the things that we are good at and those things which we love to do. We should cry out to God, being totally honest with whatever we are feeling.

When we do these things, it makes it possible for us to survive the darkness. In fact, when we practice these three things, what we are doing is practicing faithfulness while we are in the darkness.

And before too long, as we do these things. we discover that the One who is ever-faithful shows up, and gradually leads us back to the light, and to the place of new life. For the risen Jesus not only was going ahead of the disciples to Galilee. No, it goes way beyond that.

He goes before you and me in everything that we do in life. Whatever we experience – from the most joyful, top-of-the-world things to the most challenging, painful and awful things to the most scary, unfamiliar things – Jesus goes before us. Because he has already experienced everything that you and I will ever experience – and then some! – He is happy to come alongside of us and lead us forward in safety… until we have learned whatever it is that he wants us to learn.

Are you in a dark place right now? Do not be afraid. For the risen Lord is with you – now and forevermore.

21After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; 24Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” 28Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
48 Hours to Go

What if you knew that you only had 48 more hours to live on this earth? How would you choose to live them?

Jesus had about 48 hours left to go. He knew that Judas was going to betray him. He knew that he was going to be arrested and crucified. He knew that Simon Peter – and all of his disciples – would abandon him in his hour of greatest need. How would you spend those hours, if you were Jesus? Wouldn’t you be inclined to get the heck out of Judea and high-tail it back to Galilee?

Jesus kept teaching his disciples, right up until the end – with words, and by his actions. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (verse 34, above) It wasn’t a new commandment to love your neighbor. What was new was the “just as I have loved you” part. There was now a new standard for what love looked like, and it looked like total self-offering. And he was about to show them what that looked like.

In the next 48 hours he would eat the Passover meal with his disciples, and then institute the sacrament of the “Lord’s Supper”, saying, “This is my body… this is my blood… Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the next 48 hours he would wash the disciples’ feet, setting an example of loving service.

In the next 48 hours he would allow Judas to come up to him and betray him with a kiss.

In the next 48 hours he would pray until he sweated blood, first praying that “the cup” of death by crucifixion could pass by him… and finally praying that not his will, but God’s, would be done.

In the next 48 hours he would resist the temptation to fight back at those who arrested him by calling on a legion of angels to help him. Instead, he would willingly go along with the actions of the “powers that be”, both religious authorities and Roman authorities – engaging in a very limited dialogue with them, but not resisting – while trusting in the greater plans and power of God the Father.

In the next 48 hours he would endure the extreme pain and even more extreme humiliation of torture and death on the cross, while forgiving his enemies and bringing his mother together with John, one of his disciples.

These are just some of the things that Jesus did in the last 48 hours of his life.

If you knew you had only 48 more hours to live, with whom would you choose to be? What wisdom might you choose to impart? What last activities would you choose to be involved in? What would be your last meal? What prayers might spill from your lips? What silent prayers might come from your heart? Whom would you kiss? Whom would you love to have hugging you or holding your hand? What last words might you write, or what might you post on Facebook?

What’s true is that none of us knows when we will die. This could be my last 48 hours. It could be my last 24 hours. How will you and I choose to live this day? This – THIS DAY… TODAY, APRIL 4, 2012 – is the new day that the Lord has made for us. Let us really live today! Let us rejoice and be glad in this day, for each new day is a gift from God!

17As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Making Space for God
The Lenten discipline of fasting is not just about giving up your favorite food or drink – sweets, soda, wine, etc. – to see if you can exercise self-discipline. That’s part of the story, but not all of it. The point of fasting is also to use that time that you would have spent eating or drinking to connect with God. The idea is that by subtracting something from my life, I make some space for God to come in. During that time that I would normally have been eating or drinking, I pray or read the Bible or read a book by a Christian author or go for a walk… and listen for God’s still, small voice to me.
The man who ran up, knelt before Jesus, and asked him about eternal life was very wealthy. That was not a sin. The problem was that his pursuit of wealth so consumed him that he was disconnected from God, disconnected from the poor, and – ultimately – disconnected from his true self, too. As some have said, he was “possessed by his possessions.” You and I can become possessed by our possessions, possessed by our busy schedules, possessed by what we eat and drink, possessed by obsessive exercise… we can take any good thing and go crazy with it, and thus become possessed by it. The prescription for this particular man, according to Jesus: “… sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (verse 21, above) In other words, the man needed to learn about radical trust in God, instead of putting all his trust in what he owned.
It is hard – not impossible, according to Jesus, but hard – for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. This should make all of us pause since – compared to most people in the world – we are indeed wealthy. Why is it so hard for us to enter the kingdom of God? Because, just like the man who approached Jesus, we often act as if our wealth is the key to life… that only our wealth will save us. And that, of course, is a lie. That is making wealth an idol, making wealth a god. Only God can save us – period, end of story. But we tend to forget that. Save money for your children to go to college? You bet. Save money for retirement? Right again. But act as if all of your future well-being is tied to what you have in your bank account? That’s where we careen off the road and go crashing into the wall. For if we think that way, then we have forgotten that everything we have comes from God, and that only God holds our future – and in fact, our eternal life with him – in His hands.
This coming Sunday, April 1, is Palm Sunday and the beginning of that most special of weeks that we Christians call Holy Week. It is also – interestingly enough – April Fools’ Day. You and I can be fools and act like next week is just like any other week on the calendar in 2012. Or, you can be fools for Christ’s sake, as Paul referred to himself once upon a time (1 Cor. 4:10), and make space for God next week by coming to one or two of the services we offer during Holy Week. (Go to www.SaintAmbroseChurch.net to see the Holy Week schedule.)
Fast – let go – of something, to make more space for God next week. Be a fool for Christ and give up (or tape) the NCAA men’s national championship basketball game to come to Holden Evensong on Monday night. Be a fool for Christ and give up your philosophy that “I’m too tired to go anywhere on Thursday nights” and bring your entire family or a friend to the footwashing service on Maundy Thursday. Be a fool for Christ and fast from lunch on Good Friday – joining your faith journey to those from across the centuries who have fasted on Good Friday – and attend the 12 pm Good Friday service or the 1 pm Stations of the Cross service. Be a fool for Christ and attend the Great Vigil of Easter at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, April 7, or set your alarm for 4:45 or 5 a.m. and come to the Easter sunrise service at 5:45 a.m. on April 8. (And if you don’t choose to get up that early on Easter Sunday, by all means join us in celebrating our Lord’s resurrection at either the 8:00 or 10:30 service.)
What extra space are you willing to carve out so that you might have a very special appointment with our Lord during Holy Week? Who knows? You might even have a very special appointment with him every single day for a week! And how might that change your life?
May your Holy Week be foolish and blessed and life-saving, for Jesus’ sake (and for your own).

Seeing, Knowing, Loving

INTRODUCTION – “We wish to see Jesus”

We hear in today’s gospel lesson: “Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

I am reminded of when we talk about seeing someone who is rather famous, as when Zach texted me a few months ago and told that he was bussing John Elway’s table. I think the text began, “John Elway is here!” (We won’t make a big deal of Zach texting me while he was working…) Who is the most famous person you have seen close up? Or, if you could see anyone, who would you like to see?

Jesus had recently called Lazarus forth from the tomb in Bethany, after he had been dead for four days. Even more recently, he had mounted a donkey and ridden from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, while people met him with palm branches, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!” (John 12:12-15)

So it wouldn’t have been surprising that some folks, including some Greeks, would want to see him.

SEEING – Level 1 Involvement

Wanting to see someone famous might be considered “level 1” in terms of involvement. I can see a famous actor or athlete or politician from across the street or on the other side of the restaurant, and say to a friend, “Look, there he is! There she is!” Assuming I never have a conversation with that person, that’s level one involvement.

The same can be said about God. I can long to see God… I can long to see Jesus… perhaps I pray to see a sign that God hears my prayer, some sign that will indicate an answer to prayer, and if I see that sign, I might say, “Look! Did you see that! That’s God! That was God being present!” Sometimes you and I get such signs, and it’s downright wonderful… it’s reassuring. We see God as being present in some way. But it’s really level one involvement with God, designed to draw us in more deeply, you might say.

KNOWING – Level 2 involvement

And that leads me to what we might call “level 2 involvement” – knowing.

When someone asks you, “What famous person would you like to spend the evening with?”, that’s a different level than saying “Psst! Hey, dad! John Elway is here!” A friend of Julia’s and mine saying, “I think that Tim Tebow is so cute and I want to kiss him on the lips!” – that’s moving toward level 2 involvement, it seems to me. Presumably you’d have to get to know Tim Tebow a bit, and he’d have to get to know you a bit, for that to happen. (And now you might have a better chance if you relocate to New Jersey or New York City.)

When Philip and Andrew told Jesus that some Greeks wanted to see him, his response was maybe not what they thought it would be. He didn’t say, “Sure, send ‘em on over!” No. Knowing he was going to be arrested and that he was going to die soon, he replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; bit if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:23-25)

What’s he saying? He’s saying several things, it seems to me. He’s saying, “Do you want to get involved with someone who is about to die?” He’s saying, “How much do you love this world and the life you have right now? Because if you love it a whole lot, you may not want to see me as much as you think you do!” He’s saying, “How are you with dying – dying to self, dying to thinking the rulers of this world have all the wisdom, and actually… physically… dying?”

One gets the sense that Philip and Andrew reported what Jesus said to these Greeks. One gets the sense that those Greeks, after hearing Jesus’ answer, probably had to figure out if they still wanted to see him, and that discernment had a lot to do with how involved they wanted to be.

Did they really want to get to know Jesus? Or did they just want to have their picture taken with him?

I remember the night I met Julia. I had climbed four peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park earlier that day, gone home to clean up, then drove over Trail Ridge Road and on to Steamboat, and along the way I got into a rain and lightning storm that was so bad that I had to pull the car over for a while. When I finally got to Steamboat, it was after 10 pm, and I was exhausted. I met Julia that night, along with some other people I didn’t know. I saw her, and then I went to bed. And the next morning, while the group of us did a much shorter hike in Steamboat, Julia and I started talking. And I began to get to know her, and she began to get to know me.

Do you want to know Jesus? That’s level 2 involvement. That involves reading the Bible so that you get to know more about what he did and what he said. But it’s more than that. It involves praying and listening. It involves opening up your life to him, and paying attention to what you hear in response – through scripture, in the quiet, through those signs I was talking about earlier, and through the words that Jesus speaks to you through other people.
In other words, if you want to get to know Jesus, you have to start following him around. You have to become a disciple. And the longer you hang in there, the longer you follow him around, the longer you listen and the more you share your joys, hopes, feelings, and dreams… the more you get to know him. How loving he is, how honest he is, and how much he wants to guide you into a whole new way of living.

Knowing someone – that’s level 2 involvement. And when God sees that we really do what to get to know him… when God sees that we really do want to deepen our level of involvement with Him, then he begins to write His law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33-34), and we gradually become more and more His, and one day we pause for a moment and realize that – mostly by God’s grace – we have come to know him. Not completely, but more than we may have thought was possible.

LOVING AND SERVING

And then there is level three involvement, and that looks like loving and serving someone. This serving stuff is a pretty huge theme for Jesus.

“… but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant… For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43, 45)

“So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.” (John 13:14-16)

“Whoever serves me must follow, and where I am, there will my servant be also.” (John 12:26)

Following Jesus leads to serving Him and serving others, for that is what our Lord did. And serving is pretty hard to separate from love. If you and I don’t learn how to love, then it’s pretty difficult to keep on serving.

When your getting to know someone – a friend, someone you are dating, a perspective partner, a child – shifts and you suddenly realize you are serving that person, and putting his or her interest at least on a par with your own, and sometimes even higher than your own interest, then you have graduated to level 3 involvement.

And God helps us with this transition by giving us a new heart and a new spirit: one that is a lot less preoccupied with loving the things of this world… one that is a lot less preoccupied with what I want to accomplish. When we are open to receiving this new heart and this new spirit, God starts to work on us in such a way that we become more concerned with the other, more concerned with the common good, more concerned with what might be best for everyone – the whole world, even – and not just me and the little circle of folks that I have been hanging out with.

And then we begin to live into the prayer that was our Collect for today: “… Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found…”

Losing our old lives in the way that Jesus talked about, so that you and I learn how to love – all that leads to discovering true joy.

CONCLUSION

These, then, are ever-deepening levels of involvement, whether we are talking about our relationship with another person, our relationship with God in Christ, or even the relationship I have with myself.

There is seeing. There is knowing. There is loving and serving.

And if you or I are heard to say, “I want to see him or her.” Or, “I want to see Jesus.” Or, “I want to see the things about myself to which I have been blind.” If we say those things, and then remain open, then watch out and hold on! For when God sees that openness in you and me, He has everything He needs to work with.

And the desire to see will surely lead to the desire to know. And the desire to know – if we remain open – leads to the desire to love and the desire to serve. And one day – years from now – we will pause for a moment and realize that we are indeed disciples of Jesus.

And you can’t put anything on your resume that is greater than that!

11The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. 12And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.
14Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” 16They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” 17And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20“And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Getting It: The Kingdom of God Is Different!

The disciples had seen Jesus feed 5,000 men (plus women and children) with five loaves of bread and two fish (Mark 6:30-44) and 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish (Mark 8:1-10). And when Jesus started warning them about the “yeast of the Pharisees” – a warning that was about the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and demanding, argumentative, critical nature (“Give us a sign from heaven, Jesus!” – as if he hadn’t already given them plenty of signs…) – the disciples responded, “It is because we have no bread.” (verse 16) And Jesus was exasperated. Remember, they had just witnessed the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000. “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Don’t you remember what happened with the crowds of people? How many leftovers were there after each feeding?” (They remembered.) “Do you not yet understand?”

Jesus, in effect, is saying, “Things are different in the kingdom of God. When are you going to get that?” You see one loaf of bread or five loaves or bread or seven loaves of bread and you see scarcity. God sees one loaf of bread (or five or seven) and God sees what happens when people are inspired to share rather than hoarding what they have for themselves. God sees the potential of people who are inspired and faithful; God sees possibilities that the world doesn’t see when they leave God out of the picture.

The kingdom of God is different. But to participate in the kingdom of God… to be a part of the kingdom of God, you have to open up your eyes, unstop your ears, and believe in the power and the promises of God. Five loaves and two fish? No problem. Blind from birth? No problem. Lazarus dead in the tomb for four days? No problem. Jesus crucified and placed in a tomb with a large stone rolled in front of the opening? No problem.

Which world do you want to live in? The regular world where people talk about scarcity and possessions making you happy and where folks urge you to vote for a candidate by playing to your fears and your greediest self, and where God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ – if you are really paying attention – are not in the picture? Or do you want to live in the kingdom of God, where you are urged to give generously, forgive others (including enemies), love your neighbor as yourself, and risk everything on God being with you and for you and crazy about you, and where the model is Jesus giving himself away, and then being given his life back again – forever alive and at work in the world.

Many of us want to settle for what this world has to offer: never-ending competition, always spending more, having more, and seeing how busy you can be. That world is rather devoid of miracles, and it doesn’t satisfy.

And then there’s the kingdom of God: a place of joy, abundance, miracles, and risking it all on God, Jesus’ love, and the promises of God.

Whenever you and I settle for the crumbs that this world has to offer – the world that drives faith and God and giving generously right out of the picture – Jesus says once again, “Do you not yet understand?”

Coming to the Light

INTRODUCTION – The warmth of the sun

Florida, they say, is “the Sunshine State” . But I grew up in the Southeast, and Florida has nothing on Colorado when it comes to sunshine. Don’t you just love it on a cool, crisp day, when you can feel the warm sun on your face? Our dog, Sophie, likes to follow the sun around the house over the course of the day – in the east-facing living room in the morning, on the back deck in the afternoon, and at other times finding that narrow ray of light that is coming through a window, and laying her head precisely in that spot.

SITUATION – Avoiding the Light

We, as humans, are sometimes not like my dog. We do not always want to come into the light. There are times when we shy away from speaking the truth, which is a form of light; there are times when we don’t want the light to shine on us and reveal things about us that we would rather not see.

In our reading from John’s gospel today, we hear, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.”

Evil is a very strong word. And it’s not really clear in this passage who is speaking – Jesus, or the gospel writer – John. I say it’s not really clear because when Jesus talked about evil, he usually talked about the Evil One – Satan – the force behind all evil. You’ll recall when Jesus confronted Peter, when Peter tried to talk him out of the path of suffering and death on a cross. “Get behind me, Satan!” That’s what Jesus said to Peter as he rebuked him. In this passage from John, on the other hand, evil is talked about in a much more general sense, so it may be John speaking, not Jesus.

Personally, I don’t want to be in a hurry to call anyone evil. Adolf Hitler was evil. That seems pretty clear to me. I notice that my children and their friends often throw around the word “evil” in a jocular way when they they hear of someone describing a concocted plan to get back at someone or pull a prank on someone. Or they use it to describe an amazing trick someone does on a snowboard. “That’s just evil!”, one of them will say. But true evil? I want to be real careful before I label anyone that. Jesus did say, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” (Matthew 7:1)

But I know this much is true. You don’t need to be evil to be someone who doesn’t want to come into the light.

Light reveals what’s really there. Light exposes us for who we are – good and sometimes not-so-good. Light shatters the darkness, and sometimes you and I would rather keep certain parts of ourselves in the shadows, or even in the pitch-black darkness.

JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

But here’s the thing. Jesus described himself one day as the light of the world.
‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ (John 8:12) And this one who is the light of the world comes to shine a light on us, in the very best sense of light. What comes to mind are the times when I’ve been lost or nearly lost, either literally or spiritually. When I was in my Peace Corps training in Jamaica, some of my fellow PC volunteers and I decided to climb the highest mountain in Jamaica, Blue Mountain Peak, just over 7,500 feet high, at night – so we could be on the summit by sunrise. I think we had something like four flashlights for seven of us. And it started to rain. And one by one, the flashlights started to go dim, and then burn out. And before we got to the summit and dawn’s early light, we had only one or two flashlights working.

The light of Jesus provides light to those who are lost; it provides light to those who are nearly lost, and who are about to turn down a very dark trail. But more than that, as Jesus said, the light of Jesus is the light of life. Just as the sun, our planet’s energy source, causes plants to grow and thus provides food for all 7+ billion of us, Jesus is the spiritual energy source that helps us become acquainted with real life.

And real life starts to happen for you and me when we reveal, rather than conceal.

REVEALING vs. CONCEALING

Have you noticed that?

When you and I don’t reveal some of the deepest, truest things about ourselves to God… when you and I don’t reveal some of the deepest, truest things about ourselves to others… when you and I don’t reveal some of the deepest, truest things about ourselves to ourselves – then we are concealing. Another word for that is withholding. And when you and I withhold, it creates distance.

If I withhold something from God, that withholding creates distance between me and God. You might say, “Doesn’t God, being God, know everything about me anyway?” I’m guessing that’s true, but God – being God – wants a relationship with us, because God is relational in God’s very essence. (That’s a big part of what we mean when we describe God as Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Within God there is community.)

This is one of the reasons why you and I need to come to God in prayer… why to need to come before God and be silent: so that God can shine the light – Jesus – upon us, and we can be open before God… and reconnected to the Source of all that is, and – yes – become more alive.

For you see, concealing creates distance in a relationship, but revealing leads to a greater connection, and more aliveness.

The same is true in my relationships with other people. When do couples start feeling distant from each other? That’s right. It’s when they start concealing the most important things from each other: what their big dreams are, when they are scared, when they feel closest to God, when they are angry at someone or some injustice in the world, when they are over-the-top happy, when they are sad or feeling deep grief, when they are feeling sexual, when they are feeling lonely or small.

And believe me, I get that it can be scary to reveal what’s really going on inside of you. But if you and I are not going to reveal those things to our partner, or to our closest friend, how are we going to learn how to reveal with each other here at church? Remember: concealing creates distance; revealing – however scary it might be – creates connection and aliveness. For when you and I reveal to each other, we get to know each other better. And one of the big things all of us need as human beings is to be really known – by someone… or maybe by a number of someones.

What would I like you to know about me right now? Just this: Yesterday morning while trying to learn how to run again at 8.000 feet of altitude at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, I happened across a little sign that said “labyrinth”, with an arrow pointing to the left. What’s this? The Y now has a labyrinth? You bet I turned left! And just a little ways down the road, there it was. A classic Chartres-style labyrinth, beautifully laid out with those round river rocks, and yes, I stopped my run, paused, and entered. And a while later, when I arrived at the center of the labyrinth, I looked around me – Long’s Peak to the south, the Mummy Range to the north, the Y’s swimming pool, where my long-time friend Don Hickman used to work as a lifeguard, a few yards away, and the Sweet Memorial building, where my mom and and dad worked for several summers, and where Don and I worked when we were hikemasters, not very far away. And I thought of my folks, and all the mentors and friends I had at the Y, and how foundational this place has been in my life, and how beautiful it is, even though there seem to be twice as many building on the grounds now as compared to when I last worked there in 1981. And I thought about how blessed I am to be able to come back each year with the St. Ambrose vestry, and… now the Y even has a labyrinth! And I stood there in the center of the labyrinth, on a March day that was sunny, with no wind, and warm enough for me to walk the labyrinth in just a long-sleeve shirt and running tights, and the light on the snow-splashed mountains was just gorgeous – and I thrust my hands up into the air and tried to take it all in for a few moments, which I couldn’t really do. But I tried my best to just soak it in. And then I weaved my way out of the labyrinth, said a quiet thank-you prayer when I exited, and resumed my run.

Revealing does one more thing: it sets you free. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) Jesus, the light of the world, sets us free when we face into the truth about ourselves and express it. When you and I learn something important about ourselves… when we reveal something like this – “I was a people-pleaser for many, many years and one day I woke up and realized this was quite costly, for it was costing me my soul, and lately I have not been pleasing people so much. You might say I am a recovering people-pleaser.” – then we start to be able to breathe again, and discover a new-found freedom, a freedom that is founded and grounded in Christ, a freedom that comes from breaking loose from patterns and habits that have held us in bondage.

CONCLUSION

These are the fruits or revealing: deeper connections with God, others, and ourselves; new aliveness and energy, and being set free from things that have had had a hold on us. Jesus bids us to come to the light – His light – and these are the reasons that we come, even though we might be scared, or sometimes terrified. Jesus says “Come, come to the light.” And there is something about his voice, something about his presence, something about his love… that makes it possible for us to come, and let his warm, light wash all over us, and change our lives.

34As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; 36send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 37But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” 38And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.

How Are You Un-Becoming?

I received some feedback recently that I am changing in ways that are “unbecoming to a priest.” Like any of us who receive feedback, I have a choice. I can get defensive or dismissive and think “this is all about the other person”, or I can take some time to listen to the feedback and see what parts of it might be true – so that I can learn more about myself, and also see if there are some things about myself that I want to change. As I reflected on this person’s feedback, there was one particular piece of criticism that rang true, and I thought to myself, “That’s true. I really do need to work on that.”

The feedback also led me to think about the word “unbecoming”. It was meant as a criticism, as in, “You are not acting in an appropriate way.” But as I thought more about the word, I realized that I am changing in some ways that are “un-becoming.” And I realized that for transformation to occur, we often need to “un-become”.

For example, if I never ask for what I want, and then get upset because people don’t know what I want, then I need to learn how to give up the pattern of staying quiet and swallowing my words. I need to “un-become” being the “just-swallow-it person” so that I can become something new.

If I am rather dead and depressed because I have stuffed all of my anger, don’t even acknowledge or know that I am angry, and therefore don’t express my anger, I will need to learn to recognize and express my anger if this pattern is going to change, or I will be a big illness (or heart attack) waiting to happen. I need to “un-become” the pattern of stuffing my feelings; I need to “un-become” the pattern of not even knowing when I am angry. And I as learn to express my anger in appropriate ways, I will discover a new level of aliveness that I didn’t even know was possible.

In the story above, which leads to the feeding of the 5,000, the disciples had to “un-become” the pattern of not getting involved – “send them away so that may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat” (verse 36) – if they were going to learn how to participate in a miracle with Jesus. Not only that, they had to “un-become” people who could only see scarcity if they wanted to become people who could see the amazing abundance of God.

Saul had to stop being a persecutor of Christians if he was going to become Paul, a loving follower of Christ and an apostle to the Gentiles. He had to “un-become” an attacker of Christians in order to become what God wanted him to be – a Christian!

The Israelites had to give up being complaining ingrates if they wanted to reach the promised land of Canaan and come to know the Yahweh who was amazingly generous and “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6) They had to “un-become” the pattern of complaining if they wanted to receive all that God wanted to give them.

Those people we are are told about in the Bible who had been sick for many years and approached Jesus for healing had to “un-become” the perspective that they would always be sick… the perspective that their situation was hopeless, or they would never have approached Jesus in the first place.

Much of transformation, it seems to me, involves us “unbecoming” in some way – giving up some old pattern or way of behaving that is damaging our relationship with God, damaging our relationships with others, or keeping us from knowing and loving ourselves. It might just be that if you are un-becoming, you are on the right track.

How are you un-becoming right now? And is it possible that your un-becoming is a good thing?

Keeping Sabbath

INTRODUCTION – The biggest sin in our society?

It may very well be the biggest affliction in American culture. It has nothing to do with sex or sexuality. It does have something to do with greed, though greed is not the very essence of it. It’s a mindset that goes largely unquestioned. And here is one way of naming that mindset: the one who stays the busiest wins.

And from a place far, far away – on Mt. Sinai – in a time long, long ago – around 1,280 B.C.E. or so, comes a voice that often gets drowned out by all the ads and tweets and TV shows and radio shows and YouTube videos, but fortunately for us, this voice never gets completely drowned out, because it is a persistent, ever-faithful, unconditionally loving voice. It is the still, small voice that is heard when you or I finally tune out all the other noise, get still ourselves, and listen. It is God’s voice. And God says this:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3) The voice continues… “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter… For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

I have a confession to make. I have trouble keeping sabbath, too. You know what? God doesn’t say, “Work seven days a week.” God doesn’t say, “Work six days and spend the seventh day catching up with all your household chores.” God doesn’t say, “Work five days and spend two days catching up with all your household chores.” No. God says, “Six days you shall labor and do ALL of your work.” To me, that means get all of the work done in six days. One formula that would work for that would be to work five days and get all of your chores done on the sixth day. But one way or another, we’re asked to get all of our labor done in six days. Why? Because God rested on the seventh day after he made the entire creation. Why? Because God wants us to have a day of rest. And why does God want us to have a day of rest? Because he wants us to have “a sabbath to the Lord your God” – a rest day, dedicated to God. And that, of course, ties back in to the first commandment, to have no other gods before God.

But let’s be honest with ourselves. Most of us do a terrible job of keeping sabbath. As The Rev. Canon Charles LaFond said at the stewardship conference that I went to a week ago yesterday, we are “over-caffeinated, over-worked, over-tired, over-noised.” We are “under-rested, under-silenced, and under-prayed.”
When I talk to people – my clergy colleagues, other parents, my friends and acquaintances, when I talk to college students, high school students, even middle school students, even many folks who are retired… when I talk to you all, the members of St. Ambrose, I hear two recurring phrases. The one which I’ve heard for years now is: “I’m busy, really busy.” There is another phrase that I am hearing more and more lately. “I don’t how it happened, but I’m double-booked again!”

Did I mention that I have trouble keeping the sabbath, too? There is the old joke about pastors working one day a week. That is a joke. I heard myself telling someone the other day, “I’m triple booked for that time right after church on Sunday.” I regularly work 5-1/2 or 6 and sometimes 6-1/2 days a week, and let’s just speak the truth about this: when I am working 6 days a week, and using my 7th day to work on stuff around the house, that is not a good thing for me, and that is not a good thing for you. Because you need a pastor and spiritual leader who is committed to keeping sabbath, to having a sabbath to the Lord my God. For otherwise, I won’t be much of a pastor; I won’t be much of a spiritual leader.

This working all the time is not a badge of honor, my friends. That is the mindset of the culture – that if we are really busy, we must be really productive, and if we are really productive, then everything must be great. We’ll make more money so that we can buy more stuff – perhaps, if we’re really productive, a second or third home! And all of that will boost the economy, or something like that, and how great will that be! But you know what? It’s a big, fat lie, and I believe if Satan is behind anything, Satan is behind this. Why do I say that? Because all this busy-ness keeps us from God, keeps us from listening to God, keeps us from being refreshed and renewed and loved by God, and if Satan wants anything, Satan wants that. And if you’re still not convinced that this mindset of “the most productive one wins” is a big, fat lie, just open up your eyes and look around, or take a long, hard look in the mirror. Many if not most of us walk around looking exhausted and drained, and if we’re really honest with ourselves we will admit that the “stuff” we have doesn’t bring us real joy, real happiness, because there is rarely anything like joy radiating from our bodies.

THE GIFT OF SABBATH

God is calling us back – in love. Not with guilt, but with love. And if we are going to get out of this modern-day land of bondage… if we are gong to get our lives back in balance, if we are going to start keeping sabbath again, we will not – repeat, not – get there by beating ourselves up, by going all judgmental on ourselves. No one ever changes a habit by beating themselves up. People change a bad habit my becoming aware of it, and then loving themselves enough to change… loving themselves enough to surrender, and let God start working on them.

And this surrendering begins with us recognizing that God is trying to give us a gift – a gift of a day set aside each week for rest, renewal, exercise, and – dare I say it? – some time in the day to just do nothing. Maybe we could even take a nap.

Pretty much everything and everyone in the culture is telling us to produce, to work hard, to not waste a minute, to multi-task, to be online all the time, too. Only the still, small voice of God is saying, “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. … the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.”

Who else is telling you, “You shall not do any work today”? Does this advice sound absolutely foolish? How are you supposed to get ahead? Forget that. How are you supposed to keep up? And I guess that begs the questions: Keep up with what? Keep up with whom?

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, talks about the foolishness of God and being fools for Christ. He writes, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world” as he discusses the “foolishness” of the Messiah being crucified. And he adds, “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom…”

The wisdom of the world is to work harder, get more, and after you do that, work harder to get even more. The wisdom of the world is to be busy, busy, busy! Then you won’t have to think about the fact that your relationships are not what they could be. You won’t have to think about the fact that you don’t really have a relationship with God. You won’t have time to think about the fact that you’re in a job that you hate, and that you’re exhausted, to boot.

Isn’t keeping the sabbath another example of the foolishness of God? God, in all his foolishness, says, “Stop! Unplug! Read a book of the Bible, or a book on spirituality, or a really good novel. Listen to some music. Go for a long walk with a good friend or someone you love. Light a candle, sit quietly for 10 minutes or 30 minutes and listen for my voice, my words to you. Or do that with a friend of member of your family, and then talk about what you are hearing. And then take a nap. Or make love.”

There are folks who talk about the concept of the “mini-sabbath”, too. That’s the idea of working some quiet time into every day. Here are two recent examples from my life. Some of you know I recently bought my mid-life crisis car, a 1989 Honda Civic. Guess what? The radio doesn’t work. No NPR while I drive. No sporting events to listen to when I drive home at night. No music to listen to when I drive to Longmont for clergy meetings. It’s called silence. And you know what? It’s a blessing. The other thing: I’m teaching a class on Ephesians right now, which means I have to study Ephesians so that I am prepared to lead the class. But you know what? It’s not a “have to”, it’s a “get to.” It’s a gift. This past Wednesday afternoon I spent two hours pouring over one chapter, looking up Greek words, reading a commentary, taking notes, figuring out what it meant to me, writing down questions. That’s a mini-sabbath, and that’s a gift from God!

Even if it is 10 or 15 minutes at the start or middle or end of your day, I recommend you take a mini-sabbath, too. Write down 3-5 things you are grateful for. Write a few sentences about one positive experience you have had in the past 24 hours. Be quiet. Breathe. Listen. Pay attention to the birds flitting around. On a nice day, sit outside and feel the warm sun on your face. That’s a mini-sabbath.

And consider a Rule of Life – a regular practice – for how you can tap into the foolishness of God. Charles LaFond recommends the three “S’s” – simplicity, silence, and keeping a sabbath day.

RECEIVING THE GIFT

You and I want to be productive, we want to give to others, we want to make a difference in the world, and that is all well and good – for five days a week. You and I need another day to get chores done – to clean, to go the grocery story, to pay our bills, to do the laundry, to run other errands, to work on our taxes – all that good stuff. But that is not sabbath keeping. God says, “I’m giving you this seventh day as a gift. Because I rested on the seventh day, you get to rest, too.”

How about it? Want to change your life? Do you want to be transformed? Do you want to do more than just step out of the rat race once in a great, great while? How about a regular spiritual practice, where you and I gladly become a fool for Christ, a fool for God? For Paul is right. The foolishness of God IS wiser than human wisdom. Human wisdom has volume going for it. But the foolishness of God has the power to transform lives going for it.

Let’s develop some kind of sabbath-keeping practice – one day a week, as God commanded over 3,000 years ago. Let’s rediscover rest and the power of silence and the transformation that occurs when we spend regular time with God.

What do you say? Want to be a fool with me? I wonder how our foolishness, when joined to God’s foolishness, might change the world.

22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he [Jesus] called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”

Strengthening the Bonds

“And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”

Abraham Lincoln referred to these words from Jesus when accepting the Republican Party’s nomination in the race to become the U.S. Senator from Illinois in 1858 (one of quite a few elections that he lost). “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.” (Abraham Lincoln, from a speech on June 16, 1858 in Springfield, Illinois)

These words of Jesus are true for a household as they are for a country; they are true for a church as they are for an athletic team; they are true for a married couple as they are for the world in which we live.

The easiest path available to us is always the path of reactivity and animosity – the path of being more invested in “being right” than in doing everything possible to preserve the relationship. It is not unusual for one of us to perceive ourselves as being right AND to find ourselves feeling very much alone. Think of a fight you have had with your spouse or a very close friend. When you stubbornly hold on to being right, are those moments when you feel a close connection to the other person? Not likely! There may be a temporary satisfaction in laying claim to being right, but at what cost?

If we want our marriages to not only “stand”, but thrive… if we want our schools and businesses and universities and churches to not only “stand”, but thrive… if we want our country to not only “stand”, but thrive… if we want all the nations and peoples and religions of the earth to not only “stand”, but thrive… then we must learn how to strengthen the bonds between us. We must do the harder work that is involved in creating loving, lasting relationships.

We must learn how to listen… to our friends and our enemies.

We must learn how to speak the truth – in love.

We must learn how to collaborate, and see others as our allies.

We must not assume that the other person has “evil intentions”.

We must let go of our preoccupation with being right, for only God makes us righteous, and focusing on being right leads to a breakdown in relationship.

We must develop the capacity for self-examination, rather than rushing to find fault in our neighbors. As Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount, “… first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)

We must take time to discern what actions are good for “building up the body” (Ephesians 4:12) – whether that body is the body of Christ, the body of our household, the body of our particular church, the body that is our country, or the body that is our planet.

In short, we must learn how to be more like Jesus. We must learn something about self-offering… how to offer our very selves “for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7), so that all of us may flourish.

Do we want a house (or a body) that thrives, or a house that is divided and crumbles into oblivion? Our actions, our spiritual practices – how we treat one another – will determine the outcome. Let us pray for God’s grace and wisdom, so that we may be people who build, and not people who divide.

32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ 38He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
40 A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ 41Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ 42Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
An Extra Day
I guess there are at least three ways to look at February 29. You can see it as the day we need to add in every four years to make the science work right, the science of what we have discovered about how long it takes for our earth to make a trip around the sun. Or, you can see it as being given the gift of an extra day. Or, you can see it as both! (That would be the Anglican approach: both/and.)
The passage above gives us a glimpse of one 24-hour period in the life of Jesus, and when I read it I feel humbled. Humbled as in: Look what Jesus did in 24 hours! And what do I accomplish in that same amount of time? “… he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons… in the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed… and he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons… Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean! Immediately the leprosy left him…”
Wow! That’s quite a 24-hour period! You might say that Jesus really made the most of that day.
Of course, the spiritual life is not just about what we accomplish. It is about whom we love and how we love. Henri Nouwen writes this: “The unfathomable mystery of God is that God is a lover who wants to be loved… God not only says: “You are my Beloved.” God also asks: “Do you love me?” and offers us countless chances to say “Yes.” That is the spiritual life: the chance to say “Yes” to our inner truth.” (“Renewed for Life” – Daily Lenten Reflections Based on the Writings of Henri J.M. Nouwen, pp. 6-7)
At every point of our spiritual journey and at countless times each day, you and I have a choice as to what we will do – how we will spend that moment, who we will talk to, what we will say. We have a choice as to whether we will devote that portion of our day to God or to our spouse or to our children or to a friend or to an aging parent or to our work or to learning something new… whether we will devote that portion of our day to seeing and touching the “untouchable” people among us or to watching our favorite TV show or to getting some exercise or to sleeping or to reading a book or to trying to reconcile with someone. Any one of these things can be a perfectly good choice in the moment. The point is that we have choices – all the time – and that all life is gift, and every single day is a gift.
You might say that each and every day, when we wake up, we are being given an extra day. “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24)
How will you spend your “extra day” today?

Lent As Kairos Time

INTRODUCTION – “The time is fulfilled…”

The stage is almost set for Jesus to begin his ministry. But first, a few extremely important things need to happen.

It’s important that he be baptized. Though John protests, in one gospel account, that he should be baptized by Jesus, Jesus believes – and probably his heavenly Father believes – that at the very beginning, he should be right there with the people, going through what they are going through, as opposed to some rabbi who never leaves Jerusalem. So Jesus goes out to the Jordan River, too, and is baptized by John. Only something different does happen. For “just as we was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

It was important – before Jesus healed one person, before he preached one sermon, before he performed any other miracle – that he be reminded of God the Father’s deep love for him.

Probably Jesus needed some time to reflect on what had just happened to him, don’t you think? Probably he would have taken a weekend, or at least a day, to go off on a mountain by himself and pray… and listen… and reflect on what happened when he came up out of the Jordan River. But according to Mark, he wasn’t given much of a a choice. “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”

Lions and Satan and angels – oh, my!! And not for a weekend. For forty days. And according to another gospel, he ate nothing during those forty days. Alone and fasting with God – oh, my!

It was important – before Jesus began his ministry – for him to get his head right… no, to get his entire body right and fully aligned with who he was, and what God was asking him to do. Was he going to be the kind of Messiah who would gather an army around him and drive the Romans out of Jerusalem and completely out of Israel? Or was he going to be another kind of Messiah, who demonstrated power in other ways? He needed to figure that out, and God needed him to be really clear and sure about what kind of Messiah he would be. For when you fully step into who you are called to be, there are supporters, but there is also – inevitably – resistance. And to meet and overcome that resistance, Jesus needed to know deeply – in his body and mind and soul – who he was, and what he was called to do and be.

And so… after the amazing baptism, which many people saw, and after the even more amazing forty days in the wilderness, which only Satan and the wild animals and the angels and God witnessed, and after John was arrested, Jesus returned to Galilee and began proclaiming “the good news of God” – the good news of God, it would turn out, that was mostly about him. And this is the first thing that Jesus said, according to Mark: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

You and I often focus on the last two parts of this message.
• Repent – as in turn around… as in return to God
• Believe in the good news – what people eventually came to understand as believe in Jesus, believe in Jesus as Messiah, as Savior, as Lord, as Son of God

Those two things are very important. But so is the first part of what Jesus says.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.”

KAIROS TIME

One of the beautiful things about learning another language is that sometimes we learn there is another way of saying or describing something that is not available to us in our own language. In English we have one word for “time”. Not so in Greek. There is chronos, meaning the chronological passing of time – minutes, hours, days, years, etc. And then there is kairos, meaning something totally different. Kairos doesn’t have anything to do with the passing of time. It has everything to do with God showing up and transcending time. Kairos is God-infused time, and kairos moments are God-is-in-the-midst-of-us moments.

And when Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near”, the word for time there is – yes, absolutely – kairos.

Jesus’ emergence on the scene in Galilee to begin his public ministry, indeed – as it would turn out – Jesus’ entire life, death, and resurrection, was one big kairos event. He appeared at a certain time in history, where one could mark the calendar and the place – yes. But this was the epitome of kairos time, because how we Christians see it now is that God took on human flesh to be among us and love us and remind us that life can only be fully lived… that we can only be fully alive… if we remain connected to God.

Jesus is not walking the earth now. But that is not the same thing as saying that God is not around – not at all. For not only is God always speaking to us, in one way another; God is ready to break into our lives – at any moment – and change us forever.

What this means is that you can be in prison, serving a life sentence, perhaps marking the chronos days that seem interminable, and God can break into your life and change everything. That time of God breaking in is kairos time.
What this means is that you can be struggling with a cancer diagnosis, or you can be deeply grieving the loss of a loved one, and marking the chronos time in some way, and God can break into your life and change everything. That time of God breaking in is kairos time.

LENT

For many, many centuries now – from early on in Christian history – the Church has been marking a period of 40 days (not counting the Sundays) leading up to Easter. This we know, of course, as Lent, which comes from a word meaning “lengthen”, for Lent happens at a time when the days are getting longer. Lent is a little over 1/10 of a year. Really observing Lent, therefore, is like tithing the year that God gives you – tithing that time to God.

Here’s the thing: You can mark Lent off like a child x-ing out the days on a calendar until summer vacation begins. You can say in your head, “Man, we’re having the wafers again until April 7,” and mark the days off – one by one – until we go back to having the “real bread” again at communion. That would be a chronos approach to Lent.

Or… you can take a kairos approach to Lent, and, as you make a new commitment to reading the scriptures each morning… or as you make a new commitment to being reconciled with someone… or as you make a new commitment to observing 10 minutes of quiet each day… or as you make a new commitment to entering into some deep discernment about how much money you will give to Episcopal Relief and Development at the end of Lent, after reading up on their programs and praying about which one you want to support – as you do any one of these things, you can be on the lookout for how God WILL break into your life and change you.

How will God break into your life this Lent and give you a new understanding of who you are, just as Jesus was driven out into the wilderness by the Spirit, immediately after his baptism, and spent 40 days gaining a new understanding of who he was?

Frederick Buechner puts it this way: “After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spend forty days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves.” (Listening to Your Life, “Lent”, p. 57)

NEW BEHAVIOR

Lent is not supposed to be just another period of time on the calendar – February 22 until April 7 for this particular year, 2012. No. Lent is supposed to be life-changing time, and all the life-changing times that I know of have God right smack in the middle of them. Lent is supposed to be kairos time, and kairos time is – by definition – mostly about what God does.

But God rarely does anything in our lives without you or me being receptive and open to God acting in us or upon us or through us. And you and I cannot recognize that a moment is or was a kairos moment unless we were on the lookout for God in the first place.

So… when you came to church this morning – the first Sunday of Lent – did you come thinking to yourself, “Another Lent! Wow! I’m excited! I wonder what important life-changing work the Lord is going to do in me this year? And I wonder how God is going to show up to me and to all of us today!”

Or… did your coming through those doors feel more like this: “I’m here because I had to read today” or “I wonder how long the service will last?” or “I’ve heard this gospel a dozen times” or “Oh, it’s Lent! I hate Lent! I hope Lent will be pass by quickly so that we can celebrate Easter.”

CONCLUSION

Lent – like all good things that come from God – is intended to be a gift for us. It’s intended to be a time when we grow in our faith. It’s intended to be a time – a tithe of the year – that we intentionally set aside to reflect on our lives, to reflect on my relationship with God, my relationships with others, and my relationship with myself. It’s intended to be kairos time – that sort of time when God breaks through and changes everything.

Jesus knew that kairos time at his baptism. Jesus knew that kairos time during those forty days in the wilderness. My prayer for you and me this Lent – for these 40 days, of which four have already passed – is that it will be a kairos time for you and me, and that God will be breaking into our lives… left and right and all over the place… and by the end of this particular Lent, we will more fully know who we are and whose we are, and that there will be plenty to celebrate, come Easter time!

Listening to God

INTRODUCTION – The Transfiguration of Jesus… Again?

If you’ve been here or in some other Episcopal Church for the last three years, and you’ve been paying attention, perhaps you’ve noticed that on the last Sunday after the Epiphany – also known as the last Sunday before Lent begins – our Gospel lesson is always the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. What differs over the three years is which Gospel is read. (Next year it will be the “transfiguration of Jesus according to Luke,” so maybe you could remember that and win a bet with your friend if that should come up in your conversations about the gospels.) Perhaps the transfiguration appearing every year on this Sunday just means that I get to keep preaching on the transfiguration of Jesus until I get it right! (By the way, if you get a chance, you might want to ask my wife, Julia, about a dream she had once related to the transfiguration.)

Epiphany is about something or someone being made manifest, and the message seems pretty clear to me: a voice from the heavens proclaiming, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!”, forms a certain kind of bookend with the voice from heaven proclaiming at Jesus’ baptism, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” These are both big and dramatic manifestations of who Jesus is. We might say the Voice at Jesus’ baptism was more for his benefit, as he is addressed directly, while the Voice at Jesus’ transfiguration is more for the benefit of Peter and James and John. “Hey, guys – do you get it? This my Beloved Son… the Son of God. So listen – and keep listening to him!” This was “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), and yet the biggest manifestations of who Jesus was were still to come…

SITUATION – Listening to God (and not listening… and not trusting what we hear)

What I take away from the transfiguration story this year is the commandment that comes with the manifestation: Listen to him!

I listened to a brief video by a man named Neil Donald Walsh recently, and I found myself agreeing whole-heartedly with every thing he said about asking God questions and receiving answers. Walsh says there are three key steps:

1. To acknowledge that God exists, is real, and is talking to all of us all the time (i.e., The issue isn’t whether God is speaking. This issue is… who is listening?
2. To open up our consciousness and start paying attention to what God is saying – e.g., through books, through friends, and through hearing God’s voice in times of quiet – and then trusting in what you are hearing from God (summary: be aware and trust what you hear)
3. To act “fearlessly and immediately” on what you just heard

And with respect to the third step, Walsh said something worth quoting (I believe I have a pretty accurate quote of what he said)” “Your mind will talk you out of what your soul desperately wants you to know.” Isn’t that true? Our mind often wants to jump in and analyze what we’ve just heard and convince us that it was not a “real” experience.

Here are a few thoughts I would add to these remarks from Walsh: Jesus is risen and alive and well. God is the God of the living, not the dead. The Holy Spirit has been given to all who have been baptized and proclaim faith in Jesus. And God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – cares about you and your welfare, for you are God’s beloved child. And one of the key roles of the Holy Spirit, according to the Bible, is as Advocate and Guide, to lead you into all truth. Jesus said to his disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth… You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you… When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth… He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 14:16-17; John 16:13-14)

This is Jesus’ summary of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – at work… together, to lead you and me into the truth.

And I remind you: There are many ways to hear God’s voice – through the Bible, when out in nature, in books, through other people, in dreams, in music, when skydiving (as one of you shared with a few of us recently!), in the quiet when we come to him in prayer, and in many, many other ways. If one way of listening to God doesn’t work for you, don’t judge yourself or decide that God doesn’t speak to people today! Try another approach! God, being God, keeps speaking and can get through to us in a myriad of ways. The key is for us to believe that God exists, that God is speaking, to listen, and to trust in what we hear.

The two biggest obstacles to us hearing from God? I would say: 1) we distract ourselves in all sorts of ways and don’t take the time to listen, and 2) when we do hear something from God, we often let our minds take over and we discount or totally dismiss what we have just heard.

LISTENING FOR GOD TODAY

So today we are going to try one of the many ways to listen to God. We’re going to bring God a question. The question can be anything you want to ask God… from inside of you… from your soul.

Write it down now. Listen for a few moments. And then write down what you hear from God.

(Time for sharing any insights or any reflections on the exercise)

What can you do to act fearlessly and immediately on what you just heard? What first step can you take, before you mind tries to talk you out of it?

CONCLUSION – Listening to God during Lent

We are about to embark on another holy season of Lent. There is something special and significant about beginning Lent on Ash Wednesday. I really hope you will come to hear the reminders of what Lent is about; come for the imposition of ashes, and the potent reminder that – on one level – we are all dust; come and join your friends in receiving the grace of God as we participate in Holy Communion together.

And as we continue to observe Lent for forty days, as we journey with Jesus in the wilderness, I invite you to listen for God’s voice right there in the wilderness. For God is speaking to all of us all the time, and there is no reason to believe that just because we enter into the “wilderness time”, God will not speak. God will speak, and the issue is simply whether you and I will be listening. Are you game? Will you bring your questions to God whenever and wherever you have them, about whatever things are bubbling up from within your soul? Will you ask God those questions this Lent, as part of your Lenten practice, and listen for God’s voice… God’s a answers, freely given to you?

For in the same way that Jesus was transformed before Peter and James and John on that mountain, God is eager to bring about our transformation, too – again, and again, and again.

“Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’”

7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Laying Down Our Lives

In this passage, Jesus says he is “the gate for the sheep” and “the good shepherd”, and that he came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Jesus also makes it clear that the abundance he wants us to have is connected to his laying down his life for the sheep, an image that he repeats four times in a few verses (verses 11, 15, 17, and 18). When someone repeated something three times in Biblical times, that was like a bold-faced, underlined message with exclamation points. One was supposed to pay attention! Four times? Add all capitals, too. Jesus is making a really big point here. THE GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP!!! (And he is doing it of his own volition – verse 18.)

It strikes me that we – as followers of Christ – are supposed to lay down our lives, too. The idea, I think, is to lay down one model of life – a life that is ego-driven, rules- and scarcity- and consumer-oriented and indeed, rather joyless – for one that is God-graced, service-oriented, and love-based… a life in which God introduces us to a new life that is abundant with joy and deep, satisfying connections.

We won’t begin to lay down the old life, though, until it hits us like a ton of bricks that that life leaves us dead… leaves us with nothing. Another name for this kind of life: Life without God. The competition, the striving to accumulate, the seeking after power and/or recognition, the never-ending quest to fill that empty hole inside of us, that hole which can’t be filled by food or alcohol or drugs or the coolest car or fame or any of those types of things – this is life without God.

Obviously, Jesus laid down his physical life for the world, that we might have life in abundance. But he also laid down the life that would have seen him become a “power-over” Messiah who used his power to thrash the Romans and live in a posh palace on Mt. Zion. Instead, he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Instead, he chose the path of non-violence. Instead, he chose to love his enemies. Instead, he laid down his life – going to the cross – “of [his] own accord.” (verse 18) This is not “power over”. This is, instead, the power of selfless love.

I am humbled by my Lord’s path of humility. I am humbled because sometimes I still want the fame, sometimes I still want to rage at my enemies, sometimes I still think I would be happier if I won the lottery, sometimes I still think happiness and joy are dependent on my circumstances. But on my good days, when I remember to let my Lord speak to me and touch me and love me, I realize that that way of thinking is a big lie, and leads to death. On my good days, I realize that happiness is “an inside job”, that only by the Holy Spirit do I have the power to even consider loving my enemies, that Jesus came to bring me (and us) life in abundance, and therefore I can’t discover that abundant life apart from Him.

Yes, on my good days, I realize that laying down my old life and finding that new life – the abundant life that Jesus talked about – are connected, and that I’m not going to get there without staying connected to God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit, who is the God of real life. All that other stuff we go after, that sometimes we refer to as “reality”? Well, again… on my good days, I understand that it’s like one small rock on a massive 14,000-foot peak. For you beach lovers, it’s like one grain of sand on a beautiful beach. It’s nothing at all – NOTHING – compared to the abundant life that God imagines for us… nothing at all compared to the amazing life that our laying-down-his-life Lord would love for us to have.

And that’s the gospel: He loved – man, did he love!… man, does he still love!… so that we can have this new, abundant, joyful life… grounded in Him.

Reactivity v. Opportunity

INTRODUCTION – Not this way!

Have you ever reacted to something that has happened in your life and said, “This is not the way it is supposed to happen!”? Our son, Zach, now attending his third different college in three years, has said more than a few times, “I am not having the kind of college experience that I thought I would!” Perhaps God will remind you of your own similar feelings after we review the story of Naaman.

SITUATION – Namaan’s Leprosy

Namaan was a commander of the army for the king of Aram (modern-day Syria). We are told he was “a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram.” (2 Kings 5:1) But Naaman suffered from leprosy. And it just so happened that a young Israelite girl who had been captured in one of the Aramean raids now worked for Naaman’s wife. And this girl knew of the power of the prophet Elisha and said to her mistress, in effect, “There is a prophet in Samaria who would cure your husband of his leprosy.” On the basis of those words, Naaman went to the king of Aram, and the king agreed to send Naaman on his way, while giving him a letter for the king of Israel, along with a chariot full of silver, gold, and fine garments. The letter said, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” You see, the king of Aram was making an assumption that Elisha served in the royal court.

When the king of Israel received the letter, he did what any grounded, strong, faithful king would do – he freaked out and started tearing his clothes! Often this was a sign of mourning; sometimes it was just a sign of freaking out! We also call this getting reactive… living out of your reptilian “fight or flight” brain. When you and I are in reactive brain, we often don’t think very clearly, and we often jump to conclusions. “Am I God, to give life or death, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” (2 Kings 5:7) You wonder which people in the king’s court heard him say this. You wonder if any of his advisors said, “My lord, perhaps the king of Aram is just asking for your help. Perhaps he’s not trying to pick a fight at all.”

Somehow the word got to Elisha that the king of Israel had started tearing up his fancy clothes, and Elisha sent the king a message. “Why are you doing that? [Aren’t kings supposed to be smart?] Send this guy over to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” (paraphrase of 2 Kings 5:8) And here is where the story get’s really interesting. If it didn’t hit so close to home with how you and I act sometimes, we might say it gets downright funny.
For when Naaman pulls up in front of Elisha’s driveway with his horses and chariots and 750 pounds of silver and 150 pounds of gold and all those fancy clothes, Elisha didn’t even come out to meet him. Elisha sent out a messenger to Naaman, and the man said, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” (2 Kings 5:10)

COMPLICATION – Naaman’s reactivity

This was the moment… the moment that did not fit at all with the picture that Naaman had formed in his mind. First of all, Elisha didn’t hang out in the king’s palace. And second, Elisha didn’t come out to meet him, didn’t perform some ritual over Naaman that would instantly make his leprosy go away. “This is not the way it’s supposed to happen!” Naaman became angry and went away, saying [yelling], “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!” (2 Kings 5:11) In other words, “This isn’t the way a prophet – a man of God… a man who speaks for God – is supposed to act!”

Naaman continued his rant. “The Jordan River? That crappy little thing? Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers on either side of Damascus, both way better than any stinkin’ river in Israel? Are you kidding me? [Boulder Creek? Really?]” As if we don’t get it already, the writer adds, “He turned and went away in a rage.”

This is big-time reactive brain in action! This is I-came-all-this-way-and-a-supposed-prophet-tells-me-to-wash-in-the-Jordan-seven-times….I-just-might-have-to-kill-someone-now reactive brain.

And here is where we give thanks to the Lord for the people in our lives who know us and love us and sometimes have the guts to say just the right thing at the right time… not only to keep us from doing the really stupid thing, but to help us see that perhaps we’re in reactive brain, and we might want to stop, take a breath, and reconsider things from a different perspective. For Naaman in this particular moment, those people were his servants – people who presumably served him for a long time and knew him well. “Father [a term of respect and honor], if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it [to be rid of this awful leprosy]? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (2 Kings 5:13)

The writer skips a line or two here. It should read, “Naaman stopped, considered what his servants had said, and thought to himself, ‘They have a point. Perhaps I am being reactive. Why am I so angry all of a sudden?’” What we read is this: “So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.” (2 Kings 5:14) What we didn’t hear in the lesson read today was that Naaman then returned to Elisha’s house, with all his company, and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel…” (2 Kings 5:15)

Naaman, you see, after he spent all that time on the villain-victim-hero drama triangle… after he stopped, got off of the triangle and out of his reactive brain… after he took the suggestion of Elisha and washed in the Jordan River, Naaman had a conversion experience. But that would never have happened if he hadn’t listened to his servants and shifted. He would have ranted and raved all the way back to Syria, and never washed in the Jordan River, and might have had leprosy for the rest of his life. His one little entry point of openness – trusting enough in his servants to listen to them for a few moments – led to his healing, AND… led to his conversion.

NEW BEHAVIOR

What is your “leprosy”, your big challenge right now? Perhaps you’ve been laid off from your job. Perhaps someone in your family is sick, or you are sick. Perhaps you are in the middle of a conflict with someone. Perhaps you don’t understand why you keep repeating an old pattern in your life that is not healthy – you are a people-pleaser, or you consistently put yourself down, or you keep recycling the same conflict with someone in your family, or you always put others’ needs first and never take care of yourself.

Perhaps, like Naaman, you see your “leprosy” being cured in a certain way. It will happen like this: I will talk to the person in a normal tone of voice, and he or she will listen, and see my point, and – poof! – all will be well. But what if it doesn’t go that way? What if what you hear from God is, “Here’s what I want you to do….” and it is absolutely nothing like how you had pictured the situation being resolved. Then what?

Or what if you are facing into what seems to be chronic pain and you go see all the doctors you normally see, and nothing changes, and someone – not a doctor, maybe not even a member of your family, suggests something else, something outside your “box” of how you see healing coming to you. Then what?

Well… then, like Naaman who lived 800 years or so before Jesus, like everyone else on the planet today, you have two choices. You can go into reactive brain and jump on the villain-victim-hero triangle and look to blame someone or explain why you can’t do a darn thing about your situation or start trying to fix someone else… you can rant and rave about how “this isn’t the way it was supposed to be!”…. OR you can stop, listen, ask questions and seek to understand, wonder what other situation in your past this current situation reminds you of. You can breathe, move, pray, notice what you are feeling, express your feeling to another human being in an authentic, honest way… express your feeling to God in an authentic, honest way. You can seek out the people who know you and love you best, and maybe even ask for help, make a simple request.

“I am scared about this upcoming doctor’s appointment. Would you go with me?”

“I know you have dealt with aging parents. Do you have any advice for me?”

“You have had cancer. What was your experience like?”

“Mom, we’re about to have another child. It’s going to be a big adjustment. Could you come and stay with us for a few weeks?” (Or, “Mom, it’s going to be a big adjustment. Could you not come and stay with us for a few weeks?”)

In other words, we can go into reactive brain, which creates drama and little else but a brief spurt of adrenaline, or we can move into creative brain – the part of our brain that is God-inspired, connected to all the rest of our body and made in the image of God – and just put the real issue out there, like the leper did who came up to Jesus. Begging and kneeling before him, he said, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40) And Jesus, moved with pity [and probably by the man’s vulnerability and honesty, too], said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” And he was – immediately the leprosy left him.

No drama – just celebration. The man made his own choice, too. Rather than listening to Jesus’ instruction that he say nothing to anyone about his healing, he told everyone he came across. He chose to share the good news of what had happened to him, and suddenly everyone and his brother was coming to see Jesus.

CONCLUSION

You and I have choices all the time – just as Naaman and the leper cured by Jesus and Jesus did. God presents us with choices – a number of times each day.

What will we choose? Reactivity? Sometimes, being human, we will. But after a while we’ll start to understand that getting highly reactive doesn’t really shift anything; being reactive doesn’t make our “leprosy” go away. Will we instead choose to see the challenge facing us as an opportunity – an opportunity from God for growth, for transformation, or for a deeper connection with another human being (and with God)? If so, we’re apt to discover that a creative, cooperating-with-God response leads to our healing, and – yes – even to us becoming a new creation!

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

A Church as a Family, the Church as a Team

Over the years I have heard different people say this (or some variation of this): “Church is like family.” And, of course – it is! Just as in our families of origin, churches can and often do have the joke-telling member, the quiet-work-behind-the-scenes-and-get-it-done member, the quirky “Aunt Susie” person, the brother or sister who knows all the answers and likes to be right, the person who struggles with self-doubt (probably all of us at one time or another), and the strong leader (perhaps a first-born in his or her family of origin). Sometimes in our churches, as in some families, we encounter “the bully”, the person who has a drinking problem, the people who are such people-pleasers that they struggle with self-definition and self-differentiation, so dedicated are they to figuring out what everyone else wants or how everyone else might react.

So yes, churches are like families, and this is what makes them such interesting, complex, and challenging places! Sometimes we might also hear, when a church goes through challenging times, “I didn’t think this would happen in a church!” – as if churches, simply because people profess faith in Christ, would be immune from conflict, gossip, people getting angry or being passive-aggressive, etc. But churches are made up of people – wonderful, blessed and sometimes sinful people. And – do I need to say it? – members of the clergy are people, too! So… stuff happens in churches, and one of the key questions, then, is this: Are all of us in the church open to being transformed by the renewing of our hearts, bodies, souls, and minds – a transformation which God wants to bring about in all of us? As part of that transformation, are we open to learning how to love God, how to love others, how to love our enemies, and how to love ourselves (as we are sometimes our own worst enemy)? As part of that transformation, are we open to allowing God to shine a light on us – the light that is Christ – so that we see the parts of ourselves that we would rather not see? And… as part of the community’s transformation, are we open to being molded by God so that we can work – as a team – for the building up of God’s kingdom?

Paul, both in the passage above from Romans 12 and in 1 Corinthians 12, uses the metaphor of the Church as the body of Christ, with each of us being a different “member” of the body. It’s a great metaphor, one that I’m sure you all are familiar with. I also think Paul could have used the metaphor of a team.

If any of you follow the Denver Nuggets basketball team, you know that last year the Nuggets traded away their star player, Carmelo Anthony (and local favorite Chauncey Billups – boo hoo!), to the New York Knicks. Was this move going to be an unmitigated disaster? Who were these new guys that Denver got in return? Had anyone ever heard of them? The short answer was that they weren’t established stars like Melo and Chauncey. And yet, 25 games into this season, the Nuggets are have 15 wins and 10 losses, while the Knicks are 10 and 15. Why the difference? I would say it is because the Nuggets play like a team, and the Knicks have more of a “star mentality”, expecting one or two stars to carry them to victory. But basketball is not tennis or golf. It is a team sport, and the best team wins, and good teams are made up of players who play together, and who understand what their individual roles are (you rebound or are a great passer or specialize in defense or bring high energy and hustle off the bench or are a good 3-point shooter, etc.) . The Nuggets have some emerging stars, but not one star with a capital “S”, and when they win, which is more often than not, they play together – really well, in fact – as a team.

God calls us, as a church, to be a team that works together in proclaiming the kingdom – sharing the good news of Christ (the Head of the Church), and pursuing our mission: “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 855) No one of us has “all the gifts.” None of us is a superstar. Some of us teach, some sing in the choir, a number of us cook food and bring it to those going through a family transition or crisis, some have the gift of organization and management, some of us are great with children, some are good with money and budgets, some are great encouragers, some preach, some offer wisdom, some are great at seeing the big picture, some are great at taking a vision and making it happen, some of us know how to fix things and keep the campus maintained, many of us spend a lot of time doing the little but important things – setting up tables and chairs and taking them down again, setting the table and washing the dishes! Some of us know how to make the space look beautiful, many of us are great at welcoming others, some know how to give amazing hugs, some really know how to talk about their faith, some keep us laughing, some help our spirits soar, some of us know how to give generously.

“We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us” – see verse 6, above. God blesses each one of us, in other words, with gifts… and together – as a team – we do God’s work, proclaim the message of God’s love, and join our Lord in this ministry of reconciliation.

Thanks for being part of the St. Ambrose family – as crazy as it is sometimes! And thanks for the gift you offer, for the part you play in the body of Christ. Thanks for being an essential part of the team. May each of us continue to be open to being transformed, “so that [we] may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect” (verse 2, above). Thanks for being “a living sacrifice” (verse 1) in God’s body – the Church.

A Rhythm for Transformation

INTRODUCTION – Rhythms in music

To me, rhythm is one of the really cool words in the English language. It makes me think of that little saying many of us learned in kindergarten or first grade. “The vowels are a, e, i, o, u… and sometimes y.” Y is the only vowel in the word rhythm, and trust me, that’s cool! When I think of rhythm, I think of another really cool thing, and that is music. There is jazz rhythm, the rhythm of rock and roll, a very distinct reggae rhythm, a calypso rhythm, hip-hop rhythm, Latin rhythm, African rhythm, white-folks-ain’t-got-no rhythm… we could go on and on.

SITUATION – Jesus’ rhythm

The spiritual life, when it is going well, has a certain rhythm to it, too.

We see it exemplified by none other than our Lord in today’s gospel reading. We are told that Jesus, after worshiping at the synagogue with his disciples, went to the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. After healing Simon’s mother-in-law and “lifting her up”, Jesus entered into another time of ministry – a time of serving others. In this particular case, it was a ministry of healing, as “the whole city” – perhaps a slight exaggeration – had gathered at the door of Simon and Andrew’s house. Then we are told, “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35) And while he was having this time alone with God, Jesus heard from his heavenly Father. He heard that it was time to go proclaim “the message” – that the kingdom of God had come near – to some other villages. So when Simon and some others found him and said “Everyone is searching for you” – probably another slight exaggeration – Jesus already knew what he was going to do next, because he had heard from God. And so he went “throughout Galilee”, proclaiming the message in the various synagogues and casting out demons.

So what is the rhythm that we see on display here? What are its components?

They are:

• Community prayer and worship (for Jesus, regular time in the synagogue; periodic times going to the Temple in Jerusalem for major feasts)
• Time with family and friends (for Jesus, as this point in his life, this was time with the twelve disciples)
• Serving other people, i.e., ministry (for Jesus this was dominated by preaching, teaching, and healing)
• Time alone with God for prayer, listening, and contemplation (for Jesus, this often involved getting up very early in the morning to be with God)

Probably it’s good to not think of these four things in a linear way, but as more of a cycle, or perhaps a spiral. Probably it’s good, too, to not get so rigid about these four elements that we think that they have to always happen in the same order. You know, first I pray alone, then I hang out with my family and friends, then…. No. What’s important, I think, is that all the components are there. These four components make up the rhythm of the spiritual life, you might say. And when one of the components is missing, it’s like having a drummer in your band who can’t keep the beat! Suddenly it’s very hard to dance, because something is just off!

COMPLICATION – When one component is missing

So… if you are involved in ministry and are learning with your family and friends and worshiping regularly, but have no time to be alone with God, your spiritual rhythm will be off, because you won’t be tuning in to hear what God wants to say to you. You probably will miss what God would have you do next, because God often – not always, but often – speaks in a “still, small voice.” Not only that, you’ll probably burn out or experience your “well running dry”, because only those who wait for the Lord get renewed or even healed and “mount up with wings like eagles,”, only those who wait for the Lord run and don’t grow weary, only those who wait for the Lord can keep walking without fainting (Isaiah 40:31).

And if you have a regular quiet time with God and worship regularly and even nurture your relationships with your family and friends, but never figure out whom you are called to serve, never go beyond your comfort zone and meet new people and try something that you’ve never tried before, your spiritual rhythm will be off because you are not doing that thing – that lovely thing – that you are uniquely qualified to do, which God wants you to do and which makes your heart sing. Your spiritual life will be “off” because you haven’t found your purpose, you haven’t discovered the meaning that comes to you when you are engaged in a ministry where you know you are making a difference… you know you are helping build the kingdom of God.

And if you are engaged in ministry and having regular quiet time and nurturing your relationships with your family and friends but never gather for communal worship and prayer, your spiritual rhythm will be off because something important happens when we worship God together and hear the scriptures together. Something important happens when we sing together and receive communion. That “something” is that God imparts his grace to us. God fills and renews us in ways that we need to be filled and renewed for the journey. Not only that, quite often someone in the community encourages us or challenges us in a way that we need to be encouraged or challenged. It’s as if that person is God’s prophet or God’s messenger, and if we stop worshiping in the community we fail to hear that message.

And if you have a ministry you love and are having regular quiet time and coming regularly to community worship, but you don’t stay in touch with family and friends, before long you will probably feel very much alone, and you’ll probably stop coming to church, too. For what I have observed over the years is that if people don’t make at least one or two friends at church, there comes a point when worship just doesn’t do it for them anymore. On the other hand, when you and I have one or two friends who we can talk to anything about (whether inside church or outside of church), one or two friends who love us for who we are, and who we can love for who they are, we can make it through anything that life has to throw at us.

RELATIONSHIPS AT THE CENTER OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

Notice, then, that relationships are at the very center of the spiritual life. Perhaps that is so obvious that it doesn’t need to be said, but sometimes I think we forget the obvious. So one way for us to ask each other about our spiritual life is to ask, “How are you relationships?”

How is your relationship with God? Are you having regular quiet time with God – time to pray, time to listen, time to simply be quiet in God’s presence, time to study the scriptures, time to be alone with God in nature?

How are your relationships with family members and friends going? Are you spending regular time with the people who you say are the most important people in your life? If you are married, are you still having dates with your spouse? If you have a best friend, do you spend time with that person regularly? If you are a parent, do you have the kind of relationship you want to have with your child (children)? Are you able to be fully transparent with these family members and friends? Is there anything you don’t share, anything you withhold? If so, are you willing to looking at that, and wonder why?

How is worship for you? Notice that community worship is about worshiping God AND being connected to the people of God? How is the worshiping God part? How are your relationships with the people here? Is there anything you are withholding from God? Anything you are withholding from someone in this community – something that is stirring inside of you and dying to come out of you, but which you aren’t expressing? In particular, how are you showing up for worship? Are you really showing up, expecting to fully participate in worship, expecting to fully engage with the people you encounter here? Or are you showing up in some other way – as a critic… as a bystander… as someone who expects someone else to do something in a certain way so that you can have a good worship experience? Or, are you showing up with a willingness to co-create a great worship service, which is what it takes – all of us fully showing up?

And what does your serving, your ministry look like? Does you serving bless others, and does God bless you through it, too? Because if it doesn’t… if your service or ministry is something you think you should be doing, but you hate doing it, then you should find another way to serve.

CONCLUSION

Jesus models the rhythm of the spiritual life for us. We don’t need to always practice these disciplines in the same order, but practicing all of them does bring a certain meaning to our life. More than that, we experience transformation when we have quiet time regularly with God, when we worship regularly with others, when we nurture our most important relationships with family and friends, and when we find an avenue for faithful service – through which we can be used by God to bless others. These elements form the “backbeat” of a rewarding spiritual life. And at any moment of any day, we can look at these components of our spiritual life, and with God’s help, take an honest inventory of each of the four areas.

And if something is amiss… if the rhythm of our life is off… God will reveal that to us. And then it is up to us to decide if we are ready to recommit. For that is all it takes to address any one of these aspects of our spiritual life when it is out of whack – a willingness to recommit.

52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

A Mystical Faith

God is the ultimate mystery.

None of us can fully know God. Our words about God are approximations, hunches, maybe even “best guesses”, because we are limited and our words are finite, and God is limitless and infinite. I believe it was Frederick Buechner who made the analogy that – for all we know – ants may try to describe human beings and call it “humanology”, in the same way that we speak and write of God and call it theology.

Here is a small sample of the deep mysteries of our faith:
• The Incarnation – God taking on human flesh
• Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and his promise that we who believe in Him and abide in him will be raised to new (and eternal) life, too
• The Trinity – One God in three “persons”
• Baptism – Being “buried” in Christ and being raised to new life in Him
• The Sacrament of Holy Communion
• Jesus saying that his disciples would do greater things than he did
• The myriad of ways in which God can reveal God’s self to us
• “Heaven” and “hell”

Just because something is a mystery – seemingly beyond human knowledge or understanding – doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. I suppose to be people of faith we all have to be mystics of one degree or another. Perhaps for some of us faith comes more easily… it’s as if we are given the “gift” of faith. But to believe in God, in the miracles of God… to believe in Jesus and some of the things he says, probably we all must suspend our disbelief in one way or another, at some time or another.

The sacrament of Holy Communion – the Holy Eucharist – is one of those mysteries. I have heard a few people say over the years, “Children should not receive communion until they understand what communion is about.” But the truth is I am still learning what communion is about, and the more I think about it and listen quietly and let God speak to me about it, the more I realize how layered and complex this sacrament is. Should I not then be partaking of the bread and the wine – what we are taught is the Body and Blood of Christ – because I do not have a complete understanding yet? And will I ever have a complete understanding of this sacrament, this side of the grave? No, no. I will and I must continue to receive the Blessed Sacrament, because, well…
• It is spiritual food
• To paraphrase Jesus (verse 53, above), if I do not eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, I have no life in me. I.e., in a deep, mysterious way, there is life in Jesus’ body; there is “life in the blood.”
• This is a way that I abide in Jesus, and he abides in me (see verse 56, above).
• There is an “inward and spiritual grace” (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 857) received when you and I participate in any sacrament, given by Christ as “sure and certain means by which we receive that grace”. In other words, receiving communion is one of the ways we surely receive God’s grace.
• There are the other benefits: “the forgiveness our our sins, the strengthening of our union with Christ and one another, and the foretaste of the heavenly banquet which is our nourishment in eternal life” (The BCP, p. 860)

And these are just a few of the words Christians have come to say about the mystery of Holy Communion (or the Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper) over the centuries.

What I know is that I experience Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. What I know is that, often when I receive communion, I feel the strengthening of my union with Christ, and I feel the strengthening of my union with others – and sometimes it is even with the person that I was challenged by, a few days (or a few minutes) before. What I know is that when I receive communion, God often gives me a glimpse of my connection to all believers in all times and places – those currently living around the world, those who have lived in other centuries, and those who will come after us. And that is an amazing mystery to get a glimpse of! What I know is that my life is better when I regularly receive communion, and I’m pretty darn sure it has something to do with that blessed mystery we call grace.

So, no, we will not deny Holy Communion to any baptized child because we think that they may not understand what is going on. We will not deny spiritual food to children… we will not stand in the way of them receiving the grace of God… we will not deny children a sacrament that strengthens their union with God and their fellow man – in the same way that we will not deny them milk and other food because they might not understand all the concepts of nutrition.

Why not? Because…. we understand that ours is a mystical faith, and that faith is centered in the heart, and indeed – in our entire body – and not just in our minds. And, I say: Life is a lot more fun when we live it as mystics. I’d even say that it is as mystics that we take in life, experience abundant life, and get to experience something of what life is really about – until that day when we sit down at that heavenly banquet with our Lord. And then, presumably, we’ll either have more insight into the great mysteries of our faith, or we won’t care a whit about our level of insight. Probably we’ll just be over-the-top excited to be in our Lord’s presence… forever.

Galatians 1:13-18

13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days; 19but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother.
Matthew 10:16-22

16 ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Trusting in the Grace-filled Spirit of God

Today on the Church calendar we celebrate the conversion of Paul. Think for a moment about how different our lives would be if the risen Jesus had not intervened in the life of the man who was then known as Saul, as he was traveling to Damascus to find and arrest some of the earliest Christians, and bring them back to Jerusalem. (See Acts 9) That never happened, because God intervened. And because God intervened, and Saul – blinded at first – obeyed the voice of Jesus, our world is very different today.

For one thing, the gospel (good news) of salvation in Jesus Christ was brought to the Gentiles through Paul. For another, we wouldn’t have a lot of the books that made it into the New Testament if it weren’t for Paul’s conversion, and the letters he wrote to the various churches that he founded. For another, we wouldn’t have such a clear exposition of one of the very fundamental tenets of Christianity – that we are saved by God’s grace, and that grace is pure gift. “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 3:22b-24)
Paul, who by his own admission was “violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it” (see Galatians 1:13 above), knew about sin. But even more than that, he knew about grace – amazing… undeserved… originating from out-of-this-world… pure-gift… all-about-what-God-does-and-not-what-we-do…saving… life-changing… life-renewing… sweeter-than-honey… thank you, Lord!… grace.

Paul experienced that grace on the road to Damascus. But he also experienced it in all the ways that God was with him – through the Holy Spirit – in the various travels, trials, and tribulations of his life after his conversion. The gospel passage from Matthew quoted above – words from Jesus to his twelve disciples – ended up being prophetic for Paul, too. For he was handed over to councils, and flogged, and dragged before governors and kings because of Jesus. And when he was “handed over” to these usually unfriendly and often hostile audiences, Paul did not worry about what he was to say, for he had learned to trust in the Spirit of God that was with him and in him and working through him. “… do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death… and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:19-22)

Paul endured to the end – through numerous imprisonments (and some wonderful God-inspired escapes!) and beatings – until he was killed by the Romans.

You and I have the very same Holy Spirit that was given to the disciples… and given to Paul – in us. And sometimes we meet people who are indifferent or even hostile to the gospel of Christ. More and more in this day and age, we encounter people who do not believe in God. We encounter others who think that God is irrelevant, still others who think that those who believe in God are unenlightened.

But you and I have learned that God is the source of both light and life, and that it is by his grace that we are “saved”… made whole… given a whole new lease on life… forever. And so we are called to speak of that new life we have been given by God, in the same way that Peter and John and Mary Magdalene an Paul and all the others did, not worrying about how we are to speak or what we are to say, but trusting that the Spirit of God will speak through us, love through us, listen through us, and heal through us.

For our power is found in God… in Christ… in the Holy Spirit. All our power, all our very best loving and living, is found when we are connected to God. So let’s do everything we can – by God’s grace – to stay connected.

God Is Calling You

INTRODUCTION – “I WANT YOU”

In 1916 a man named James Montgomery Flagg created what would become one of the most famous posters in modern history. It was a picture of Uncle Sam pointing straight ahead and the words read, “I Want You for U.S. Army.” Four million copies of the poster were printed between 1917 and 1918, as the U.S. entered World War I, and the poster was so popular that it was adapted for use in World War II, also. (“I Want You for the U.S. Navy” was one variation.) Not only that, you can now go on Amazon and buy a copy of it today.

Many men and women in our country have seen that poster, heard the call, and served our country in courageous and sacrificial ways.

SITUATION – God is calling you as God has called those before us

But there is still a more urgent and more prominent call upon your life and mine. It is Yahweh calling, Jesus calling, the Holy Spirit calling, and the poster looks like this. (Hold up a Bible) The poster contains the words you hear from God when you are praying and you hear that still, small voice, definitely nudging you to do something. The poster looks like the intersection of your deepest passions and something that God needs done in the world – something that benefits other people, or the planet as a whole.

Jonah heard that call. And at first he didn’t want to go to the Assyrian city of Nineveh and “cry out against it”, so he ran away from God, boarded a ship, and a great storm came up. Perhaps you remember the rest of the story. When Jonah was on dry land again, God called Jonah a second time, again telling him to go to Nineveh. And this time he went.

Simon and Andrew and James and John, all fishermen, were approached by Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry. Jesus hadn’t done anything amazing yet, but when Jesus said “Follow me and I will make you fish for people,” they went. In fact, James and John left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men as they were mending the nets.

In the same way, God is calling you and me, too.

God is calling us to notice the poor – both those nearby and those far away – and respond in love.

God is calling us to share the good news that – with the coming of Christ – the kingdom of God is at hand.

God is calling us to maturity in our faith, where we are no longer “tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14), so that we can become people who speak the truth in love and grow up into Christ – i.e., become Christ to others in the world.

In sum, we are being called to become dedicated followers of Jesus. We are being called to become willing apostles – those who are sent out by God to continue proclaiming Jesus’ message of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. But even more than that, we are to do the things that Jesus did: bring healing, teach, love and forgive our enemies, help others experience the living God, help others discover that they cannot heal and become full human beings without the presence of God in their lives.

COMPLICATION – The calling often comes with challenges

In case you didn’t catch it in the readings, this calling from God often comes with challenges. Jonah was called to preach to the Assyrians, a people who had treated Israel brutally in the past. He doesn’t exactly want to see God give them a chance to repent and be forgiven, and when they do repent, Jonah is not a happy camper.

And James and John leaving their father Zebedee in the boat is not an exceptional story. When Jesus calls you and me, we are called to develop our own relationship with God, and sometimes that puts us at odds even with the members of our own family, or our close friends. Just think of some of the interactions Jesus had with his mother… some of the interactions that he had with his disciples, especially when they didn’t want him to go to Jerusalem, didn’t want him to choose the path of a suffering Messiah.

Yes, the call of God for your life may not always be what you would have chosen for yourself. The call of God for your life will mean leaving your parents behind in some way. The call of God for your life may mean leaving your “comfortable culture” behind – this American culture, the family patterns that were comfortable for you growing up, or even the culture that you came to know and love in the Church.

Paul said to the Corinthians – because he believed the Second Coming of Christ was imminent – that they shouldn’t get too attached to the present circumstances of their lives. “For the present form of this world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:31) But with the rate of speed at which the world is changing today, isn’t this now always true?

God calls you and me when the present form of this world is passing away.

GOOD NEWS – God is at hand, and God is what we need most

But there is great news for us – to go along with the often-challenging call of God. And today it is found in Psalm 62.

For you see, in the midst of a world that is passing away, in the midst of God calling us to do some things that we are not even sure we can do, God is with us. God is with us to love us and guide us and encourage us and even to give us honor and safety and a stronghold… when it seems like all of the ground around us is shaking.

Did you hear the words of the Psalmist?

“For God alone my soul in silence waits; truly, my hope is in him.” (Psalm 62:6, The Book of Common Prayer)

He alone is our rock… our salvation… our stronghold… our safety… our honor… our refuge… our guide… our power – and the One who loves us steadfastly, in a way that no one else on this earth can love us.

Are you feeling the least bit scared – or a lot scared! – about the call of God upon your life? “Put your trust in him always, O people, pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.” (Psalm 62:9, The Book of Common Prayer)

NEW BEHAVIOR

How is Jesus calling you today? If you are not sure, read your Bible. Pray. Listen to the faithful voices of those around you, for the call might come through them. And pay attention to what is going on in the world, especially to those who don’t seem to have much of a voice.

For Jesus is calling you. Jesus is calling you because He sees something special in you, and has faith in you… in the very same way that he saw something special in Simon, Andrew, James, and John… in the very same way that he had faith in them. They were ordinary people – just like you and me – who were capable of doing extraordinary things when they remembered that God was with them, and that the Holy Spirit was their source of power.

Yes, God is calling you. He is not pointing a finger or wearing a white top hat with a blue stripe and a white star. But you know what? Though millions of copies of that Uncle Sam poster have been printed, the Bible is the number one selling book of all time. There is a reason. People know, deep down, that they need God in their life – for so many reasons. And despite the challenges that may come with the job, people want to respond to the call of God. I do. Don’t you?

Jesus says to us again today: Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.

Let’s follow him, no matter what the cost may be.

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Commitment to Following Christ, Not Perfection

“Nobody’s perfect.” So we are often heard to say when we mess something up. And it’s true. According to the Bible only one person was perfect, and it was the unique God-man – the one who was fully God and fully human – Jesus. Jesus led the disciples into Caesarea Philippi, a city much like our modern-day Las Vegas, a place of over-indulgence, sin, decadence, materialism, and – you might say – very little depth. It was there – and probably no accident at all that this place was selected – that Jesus chose to ask his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”

“Here, in this over-the-top mecca to materialism and hedonism, who do you say that I am?” And Peter – in a moment of clarity that Jesus said was not about Peter’s own wisdom but was instead a revelation from God the Father (see verse 17) – became the first one to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. And playing off the name Jesus had given him – Peter, which means rock – Jesus said, “… on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

Today, in the Christian year, we remember this confession of St. Peter – the day Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God… a day when Jesus said he would build his church on “the rock” that was Peter’s faith.

You and I both know that Peter wasn’t perfect. In fact, immediately after this God-given confession, when Jesus told the disciples he would be killed and “on the third day be raised”, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. This was not a God-inspired moment! You’ll recall Jesus’ response: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mine not on divine things but on human things.” (See Matthew 16:21-23) From the foundation of Jesus’ Church to stumbling block… from receiver of divine wisdom to a man seeing things from only a human point of view – in a span of what, twenty minutes? A few hours? No, Peter was certainly not perfect. He went on to deny his Lord not once but three times in his hour of greatest suffering and agony.

BUT…. and it’s a REALLY HUGE BUT… Peter got back on his feet, was forgiven by Jesus in one of the most moving passages of all of Scripture – three times Jesus asked him, “Simon, do you love me?” (Cf. John 21:15-19) – and made the shift from disciple (student) to apostle (“sent one”) of Jesus. Peter remained a faithful follower of Jesus – through ridicule, torture, imprisonment, and finally his own crucifixion. (According to tradition, he asked to be crucified upside-down because he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way that his Lord was.)

Peter wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t even successful, as the world defines success. But he was faithful as a committed/recommitted follower of Jesus – the Messiah, the Son of God. He was a faithful apostle, sent out to preach the good news of the kingdom of God, which had arrived with the coming of Jesus. He was faithful in preaching that new, abundant life was available to anyone who would commit his/her life to Christ.

We are not called to perfection, nor is perfection even possible for us. We are not even called to be successful. Success may come to us; it may not. We are called to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. And, as we mature in faith, we discover that he also sends us out, just as he sent out Peter and Paul and Barnabas and all the rest of them. As we mature in faith, we learn that he calls us to be apostles.

It is on the rock of Peter’s faith, my faith, and your faith that Jesus builds his Church. And the gates of Hades will not prevail against it – period.

Genesis 4:6-8
6The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
8Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
John 1:35-42
35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”
37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
Choices in Relationships
In any relationship, we always have choices that are presented to us. I’m not talking about the choice of which person we are in relationship with; I’m talking about the frequent choices we make when we are in the midst of any relationship. For example, Cain got very angry that the Lord “had regard” for his brother Abel’s offering and had “no regard” for his own offering. (The Bible gives no reason for why the Lord preferred one offering over the other.) In that moment, Cain had a choice. It was fine for him to be angry. As it says elsewhere in the Bible, we are counseled to “be angry but do not sin.” Cain had a choice about what to do with his anger, and how he would express it. Becoming more aware of his anger, and why he was so angry was an amazing opportunity for growth and transformation – i.e., for a more abundant life – if he would have been open to that possibility. But he could also make a much more reactive choice that would lead to much more dire consequences, and the Lord saw this possibility, too, and gave him a warning. “… sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:7) He could have mastered that “lurking sin” by getting curious about his anger, by wondering about it, and by expressing it – to God and to Abel – in an authentic way. Instead, he said to his brother, in effect “let’s go take a walk” – and then he killed him.
Andrew and Simon, according to John’s Gospel, were disciples of John the Baptist before they were disciples of Jesus. They were standing with John one day as Jesus walked by, and John said, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36) They had a choice in that moment. They could have had an inner debate about whether they were being disloyal to John if they took off after Jesus, and maybe missed the moment. But no, they took off after him. Jesus noticed them following him, turned and said, “What are you looking for?” Another moment of decision. They could have decided to chicken out in that moment and say, “Oh… we were just going over this way to visit a friend.” Instead they said the first thing they could think of: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” In other words, “We are interested in you.” Jesus said simply, “Come and see” – and so began their journey with the Messiah, the Son of God. I’m guessing they were a little scared – or maybe very scared – when Jesus turned and addressed them. But they didn’t let their fear stop them from accepting his invitation to come and see where Jesus was staying.
There are dozens, maybe even hundreds of “choice moments” presented to us each day in our relationships with God, with others, and with ourselves. Will I take some time to be with God right now? With respect to this person who is with me right now, will I share something about my sadness or my happiness or my anger or my dreams or something beautiful that I saw or something that I appreciate about him or her? In other words, will I risk revealing something about myself, or something about how I see him/her? And with respect to myself, will I be open to wondering about why my shoulder (or knee or back or __________) keeps hurting? Will I take time to check in with myself when I notice that I feel afraid…. or lost… or unsettled… or furious – and get curious about what is going on for me?
Choices abound when it comes to our relationships. Sometimes it’s true that sin is “lurking at the door.” But what is also true is that great opportunities for learning, growth, and transformation are lurking at the door, too – opportunities, that – should we take advantage of them – can lead to us being more alive… opportunities that can lead to us living a much more abundant life. Shoot, we might even come to know the Messiah! And the Messiah might see such growth and transformation in us that he decides to give us a new name.

Overwhelmed with God

INTRODUCTION – Life can be overwhelming; baptism = overwhelm

Life can be overwhelming. It can be overwhelming in a good way, as when we get married, or see a child being born… when we accomplish something significant after a period of extended dedication, or when we witness something so beautiful in nature or see someone do something so loving that we are overcome with emotion.

Life can also be overwhelming in a frustrating or sad way, too, as when a loved one dies, or we first hear of the diagnosis that we don’t want any part of, or we go through something that involves severe physical pain, or a relationship ends or shifts and there is intense emotional pain.

Today, the first Sunday in Epiphany, we always hear the story of Jesus’ baptism. The root meaning of the word ‘baptism’ is ‘to be overwhelmed” – in this case, overwhelmed in the sense of going under the water… the water coming over you and surrounding you and taking away your breath, and – for some moments, at least – giving you a sense of unpredictability and fear and even – oh, my God! – what would it be like to never breathe again… what would it be like to drown right here in this water… what would it be like to die? If you have ever surfed or body-surfed and gotten hit in just the wrong way by a wave and tumbled over and over and you weren’t sure for a while which way was up, or if or when you were going to pop back up to the surface – and breathe sweet air again! – if you’ve ever experienced that, then you know something about what baptism is really about. It’s overwhelming.

And, in fact, it’s meant to symbolize both a dying and a coming up out of the water to a whole new life. The dying is to a prior way of life that was without God, and I would say that life without God is d-e-a-t-h. When the early Christians were baptized and they came out of the water and went up on the river bank, usually on the opposite side of the river from where they had entered, and were given new white garments to put on – garments that symbolized victory… victory over death and new life with Christ… there was a very real sense that you had died to that old life of wandering around without God, and you had been given not just a whole new lease on life, but a whole new life!

What I also know to be true about baptisms is that the witnesses are often overwhelmed, too. The parents, the grandparents – and maybe just folks like you and I who are not related to the person being baptized – become overwhelmed and overcome with emotion, because we know that something big is happening, something truly wonderful is happening, and that God and the Holy Spirit are indeed descending not only on the person being baptized, but on us, too. It’s the same feeling of overwhelm that often happens at a wedding or at a graduation or at an ordination or at a 50th anniversary celebration or at a funeral. We are reminded that God is indeed with us – the Holy Spirit is powerfully present – and we are overwhelmed… overwhelmed by God, really. You might it call it being overwhelmed with God.

So what I want us to remember today is that our Christian life – our eternal life-long journey with God – began with being overwhelmed. That’s important.

SITUATION – Life’s overwhelming moments

That’s important because as we go through life, we continue to experience significant life events where we are overwhelmed. We are either overwhelmed with how amazing and awesome and unspeakably beautiful life can be, or we are overwhelmed with how brutal and painful life can be.

As I alluded to earlier, one day we are seeing a child being born and we are rendered mute. All we can do is cry our eyes out and hug our spouse, and then latch on to that new-born babe like we are never going to let go. And then – 18 years later or so – that same person is heading off to college to find their calling, their path, and their great love – and you are crying your eyes out for a very different reason. But what’s true is that you are overwhelmed.

Or you’ve just heard that your parent or your child or your spouse or your best friend – someone very close to you, or you yourself – have cancer. And maybe you’ll make some adjustments and accept it or take on the challenge in a few days or weeks or months, but in that first hearing you are mostly just shocked and overwhelmed, and even though – on a head level – you know that people get diagnosed with cancer every day, you just keep muttering, “I can’t believe it! This doesn’t seem real!”

COMPLICATION – What are our options?

What are our options, in such moments of overwhelm? I suppose it is somewhat easier in the moments of overwhelm that are about pure joy. We want it to share the good news with someone, and that usually occurs afterwards. But in the moment itself – as the child is being born, as the child is being baptized or getting married, as you are bowled over by that sunrise or by the story of love and sacrifice that someone is telling you, you simply feel it. You let the feelings come and flow up and out and over, and so you cry or shake or scream or laugh, or maybe you do all of those things in a few seconds’ time. And after you’ve lived on this earth long enough, you don’t even apologize anymore, because you know it’s not something to apologize for. It’s just life and how amazing and beautiful life can be, and you know – deep down – that’s there’s absolutely nothing to apologize for. You think to yourself, “I am having an emotion, a God-given emotion, because I am a human being and I have a heart and a spirit and a body, and life gets to me sometimes.” And that’s a good thing – a really good thing!

And what about the times when you and I are overwhelmed with the hard stuff of life… with the bad news? Well… then we really see the different choices that we make as human beings, don’t we? Sometimes we want to go somewhere and hole up and hide, and that’s what we do. Sometimes we are mainly feeling anger – anger about having so little control – and we express that anger in some way. Sometimes the main thing we are feeling is fear – fear of not knowing what to do, and fear of what the future might hold. And sometimes, the moment we begin to feel afraid we stuff that feeling down, and just try to “buck up” and move on. We try to ignore the big feelings… the feelings of overwhelm… and we just decide we are going to try harder to make our lives work, and it’s as if we’re hoisting a backpack that is twice as heavy as the one we were carrying before the terrible news arrived, and – by God – I’m sure not going to ask anyone else for help, because – you know how it is: I can make it in this world by myself! These are all options, but perhaps, if we stop and take stock, we can admit to ourselves that some of them are healthier than others.

GOOD NEWS

Here’s a suggestion when the stuff of life is overwhelming you, when you are just like the Psalmist in Psalm 69, who writes: “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.” (Psalm 69:1-2)

Here’s a suggestion: Remember the beginning of your Christian life. Remember your baptism. Remember the waters coming not only up to your neck, but being poured over your head, and overwhelming you. And here’s the most important part of remembering your baptism: Remember that God was with you in that moment of overwhelm… AND called you his beloved child! The same Lord God promises to be with you always – anytime, anywhere, in any situation, no matter what. And that – by definition – means that He is with you in all times of overwhelm.

You might even say that – in these moments of overwhelm – God has us right where he wants us. Because in these moments, we may very well be so overwhelmed that we fall to our knees and cry out to the Lord, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck… and the flood sweeps over me!” In these moments we remember that in fact we need help – BIG HELP! We need more than our own strength and power. We need God’s strength; we need God’s power. We need God to be with us – in the very midst of our sense of overwhelm – to carry us over to the other side. We need God to be with us and remind us that He has already won the victory, and that – for us, too – the victory has already been won. And that what we need to do, more than anything else during these times, is to be reliant on Him, trusting that He will be our boat in the storm.

CONCLUSION
Feeling overwhelmed today? Or were you feeling overwhelming recently? You know what? That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially when we remember that our whole life with God began with being overwhelmed… especially when we allow ourselves to cry out to God, and to grab the lifeline that He gladly offers us.

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

A Bible Verse for 2012

David Cartwright, a member of St. Ambrose parish, told me a few weeks back that at his prior church in England, the pastor used to pick a scripture verse for the year – a verse that the entire congregation would learn and choose to “live into” for that year. I liked that idea! I am proposing that John 10:10b be that verse for us in 2012. And I am also going to suggest that we add a theme, based on this verse: “Abundant Living, Abundant Giving.”

This verse has been a prominent one in my life for years now. But especially in the last few years, as I have prayed and reflected on and preached about the theme of the abundance of God, this verse has become even more prominent for me. The more I reflect on this verse, the more I realize how many of us – and especially how many of us who are Christians – act as if Jesus came to give us a life of scarcity!

Jesus came – became incarnate… took on human flesh – so that we could know a life of abundance. That life of abundance, of course, begins and ends with coming to know the God who made us, the God who is infinite, the God who is all-powerful and all-loving, the God who gave himself – totally – for all of us.

But many of us who profess the Christian faith act as if there is no abundance in the world. We act as if God created a very small, insufficient pie – i.e, there’s not enough of it to go around. And, in turn, we act as if we are small and insufficient, and that we have very little to give the world, whether we are talking about giving money, or giving time, or giving appreciation, or giving of our unique gifts and genius, or giving the benefit of the doubt to someone, or giving love where others might seek revenge (i.e., forgiveness).

So… I’d like to spend the rest of this meditation sharing some of what came to me the other day, as I was out for a run and reflecting on John 10:10b, and “Abundant Living, Abundant Giving” mean to me.

Abundance to me brings up images of:
• Wholeness (becoming all we can be… being well in body, mind, spirit, and in our relationships)
• Shalom (the Hebrew word means much more than our word “peace”… it means fullness, wholeness, the well-being on all levels that comes when we have a full life with God at the center)
• Recycling (when we recycle, don’t we help keep God’s earth abundant for future generations?)
• Smiling (when we smile at another person, we bring something more, something abundant to his/her day)
• Being a “person of increase”, someone who adds to life on earth or builds up the kingdom in some way (we can do this by serving, smiling, showing interest in others, showing up with energy, encouraging others, having fun, being available, being appreciative, being grateful)
• Planting seeds and “forward tithing” (leading with generosity… giving something first as opposed to waiting to see what I have as income and then giving a percentage)
• A commitment to ongoing growth and transformation
• Dreaming bigger dreams (cf. “BHAG’s” – big, hairy, audacious goals – goals that we will need God’s help to achieve)
• Thinking in “orders of magnitude” (powers of 10) – Think about the miracle feedings of the 5000 and the 4000 talked about in the Gospels (God can and does multiply our smallest gifts into big miracles!)
• Being on the lookout for grace, blessings, examples of God’s love and abundant generosity
• Being generous people (who wants to be known as cheap?)
• Being on the lookout for harmony and abundance (as opposed to hanging on to the old and depressing paradigm of struggle and scarcity)
• Aliveness!
• Open to new paradigms and new perspectives, such as seeing ourselves as gifted, powerful, wealthy, creative, grateful, and beloved children of God
• Thinking of flow and cycles and mutuality (e.g., money comes in and money goes out; we give and receive; we appreciate and are appreciated; we love and are loved; we are blessed and we bless others; we feel and support others in feeling)
• Abundance in appreciation
• Openness to learning, to feedback (knowing that this can lead to a fuller, more abundant life)
• Generous in speaking the truth… in love; generous in being transparent
• Looking for the good in others… assuming that others had the best intentions in mind (i.e., not assuming the worst)

These are just a few of the things that came to me during and immediately after my run.

Again, here is my request: that we memorize, reflect upon, and live into this verse – as a community – in 2012. And that we make “Abundant Living, Abundant Giving” our “theme song” this year.

May you know the abundant blessings of Christ in 2012. May God bless you with more love, more light, more insight, more joy, more peace (more shalom), more growth, more transformation, more strength, more courage, more faith, more healing and reconciliation, more transparency, more gratitude, more appreciation… more aliveness!

Holy Names, Holy People

INTRODUCTION – The Naming of Jesus

Today we celebrate the holy name of Jesus. We read in Luke: “After eight days had passed [from Jesus’ birth], it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21) Jesus – meaning “salvation”, or “the Lord is salvation” – the name given by the angel Gabriel, during his visit to Mary, before the child was conceived. The reading from Philippians, one of the options for today, fast-forwards us through Jesus’ life, his obedience “to the point of death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8), and his exaltation at the right hand of God. The one who humbled himself has been exalted by God and we are reminded that God “gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus ever knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” (Philippians 2:9-11)

WHAT MAKES A NAME HOLY?

So… what makes a name holy? I suppose in the case of Jesus it’s not too hard to put it all together. Conceived by the Holy Spirit… come to be our Savior, Messiah, and Lord… to be called Son of the Most High, Son of God (Luke 1:32, 35) … “you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) It’s the whole package – the circumstances of his birth, what he came to do, what he did, how he did it, the fruit of his work… eternal life offered to all who believe in Him. He originated in God and lived a holy, perfect life. So yes – his name is holy. Not only that, God gave him the name that is above every name. Jesus’ name is holy, and the holiness of the name is inextricably intertwined with his origin in God, and in what He did. His name – Jesus – is holy, because he is holy.

But if we continue to think about the word “holy”, and what it means – “belonging to or coming from God; consecrated; sacred” (Webster’s New World Dictionary) – we are reminded that things are holy when they belong to God, come from God, are consecrated to God or are blessed by God.

You have a name. Do you know what it means? Do you like your name? Does it fit who you are? You meet people now and then who have changed their names, but most of us were given our names by our parents. You meet people in the Bible whose names were changed by God. Abram became Abraham; Sarai became Sarah; Jacob wrestled with God, or with a man sent by God, and had his name changed to Israel. Saul became Paul; Simon became Peter. Names are important. Sometimes, when we have gone through a transformation, the transformation is so huge that a new name is warranted.
And sometimes the new name is just a sign of maturity. “Mikey” finally becomes Michael; Susie finally becomes Susan. Or perhaps, when we reach adulthood, we decide we prefer the shortened version of our name.

But back to “holy”… “belonging to or coming from God; consecrated; sacred.” What strikes me once again, as we begin another year, is that all of life is holy, because all of life comes from God. When I think about the miraculous nature of human conception, human gestation, and a child being born… there is something so holy about the process. It is so God-driven, so sacred. Where there was no life before, suddenly – in a relatively short amount of time – there is life! That’s a God-driven thing!

Whatever you think of your name… whether you love or hate it, whether you tolerate it or don’t even give much thought to it anymore because you are so used to it, when you think about the times your name has been said with tender love and the times when it has been called out in the midst of deep anger… no matter what you think of your name, there are a few things that are true about you, that you need to remember as you begin another year.

1. You originated in God.
2. You were designed to belong to God.
3. You are holy.
4. And God chooses to bless you.

And just as God put his name on the Israelites – “You shall be my people, and I shall be your God” – we are his people, too. We are his children. Through Jesus we have been adopted as his children. God has no grandchildren. Each of us is his beloved child, and God has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (see Galatians 4:4-7) We belong to God. We have come from God and – in the end – we will be returning to God. So we are holy, because we belong to God, and the one we belong to is the Holy of Holies.

LIVING INTO WHO WE ARE

Perhaps that can be our mission in 2012, to live fully into our names, into the people that God knows us to be: beloved children of God…blessed ones… followers of Christ… holy. And living fully into our names can reveal to us the other part of that mission: not just to see ourselves as beloved, blessed, followers of Christ, and holy, but to see our neighbors that way, too.

Yes… you are a beloved child of God, and so am I.

You are deeply blessed by God, and so am I.

You are a follower of Christ, and so am I.

You are holy, and so am I.

You have been made, as Psalm 8 says, but a little lower than the angels, and you have been adorned with glory and honor… and so have I.

The same One who made the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets and the galaxies, made you… and me, too.

CONCLUSION

In 2012, let’s claim our blessedness and our holiness, and do everything we can to live into it. And let’s see the blessedness and holiness in each other. And let’s give all the glory to God, and to his Son Jesus Christ – whose name is above every name – and to the Holy Spirit, who enables us to call God “Abba! Daddy!”

And may you, beloved child of God, know – throughout 2012 and through all of your days – that you are blessed in the same way that the people of Israel knew that they were blessed.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-25)

These are words to treasure in your heart in 2012… words to meditate upon and treasure:

• The Lord (Yahweh)
• Jesus
• Spirit
• Bless
• Keep
• Shine
• Gracious
• Peace
• Follower
• Holy
• Beloved
• You
• Me
• Abba

“O Lord our Governor, how exalted is your Name in all the world!” (Psalm 8:10)

13Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
16When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
Remembering the Innocent

On this, the fourth day of the twelve days of Christmas, the Church calendar commemorates the innocent children – two years and younger – who were killed in and around Bethlehem, in King Herod’s evil attempt to kill the newly-born Messiah, Jesus. With Joseph being warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt (verse 13, above), the holy family was out of harm’s way when Herod’s men did his brutal bidding. Tragically, for many other families in and around Jerusalem, there was no such warning, and innocent children were slaughtered. As a parent, I can imagine the overpowering sense of loss, unspeakable grief, horror, and outrage that these parents must have felt. It must have felt unbearable in some ways to even try to go on living. And what about the impact on the grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and close friends?

A few days after we celebrate with joy the birth of our Savior – a celebration that is often marked with family gatherings and reunions of families – we are reminded of this terrible murder of innocent children. It is called Holy Innocents’ Day. My ongoing celebration of the season… my days off in the week between Christmas and New Year’s… are given a sudden jolt. Some might call it a jolt “back to reality”, I suppose.

This is one of the things that the risen Jesus does. The One who was born to be Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace sends us reminders – like Holy Innocents’ Day – that the kingdom of God has not yet been fulfilled, even though the Christ has come. The world is still not at peace. Many are killed in war; many are murdered; many are abused; hateful words are still uttered by the ignorant… the bigoted… the sinful.

The message from God seems to be this: Don’t avert your gaze. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Don’t be apathetic. I call you to see these terrible injustices that still exist in the world – today. I call you to be empathic human beings.
I ask you to pray; I ask you to speak out in some way; I ask you to remember, in the same way that I ask you to remember those who are in prison, those who are sick, those who are scared, those who are lonely, those who are hungry and cold, and those who have died.

This is why we can’t just be intellectual beings… as wonderful as our brains are. God gives us feelings because they literally move us – they move us to act in some way… in some faithful way. Sometimes we say “the play [that song... that speech] really moved me” when our emotions are really stirred. But other times, something so moves us that we make a commitment to doing something. We respond by praying, by writing a check, by writing a letter to a member of Congress, by talking about it some more with our friends, by going to visit someone. Sometimes we might even get a whole movement started – meaning we stir up many other people to move, to do something.

With a Savior and Lord who was so good at seeing the overlooked people… the outcasts… the untouchable ones… the little children… perhaps it is no accident at all that on the third day after remembering our Messiah’s birth we are asked to remember the Holy Innocents.

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

Fulfillment

Mary had just been visited by the angel Gabriel, embraced God’s plan for her to give birth to the Son of God, and heard from the angel that her relative, Elizabeth, had become pregnant “in her old age.” (See Luke 1:26-38) So Mary goes off to see Elizabeth, who is now six months pregnant. And when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, “the child leapt in her womb.” (verse 41) Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims, “… why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord [just conceived] comes to me? … And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (verses 43 and 45)

One has to pay attention to the use of “Lord” here. The Lord God Almighty – God the Father – visited both Zechariah (Elizabeth’s husband) and Mary through angels, and told them that they were to be part of God’s plans. Mary was to conceive and give birth to “the Lord” – Jesus, the Son of God. God’s plans are to be fulfilled through the faith and obedience of Elizabeth and Zechariah, and through the faith and obedience of Mary and Joseph.

Fulfillment is an interesting word… a rich word… a promising word. It is word that comes up rather frequently in our society. And even when we don’t speak the actual word, we say things that are related to it.

“My child, you can be anything you want to be if you just put your mind to it.”
“Go after your dreams.”
“Pursue your passion.”
“Be all that you can be.”
“Become who you were meant to be.”

These are all fulfillment statements. But here’s the thing: true fulfillment doesn’t happen without God being in the middle of things.

If you’ve got a deep-down desire to serve the world in some way, and it won’t let go of you until you pursue it, it is God who put that desire there in the first place.

If you have a deep desire for a more abundant, meaningful life, it is God who put that desire in your heart.
If you are running around this world rather anxiously, trying to fill a certain hole in your heart (or in your soul), that hole will not be filled by any false gods. It can only be filled – fully – by God.

Wanting to be fulfilled in life makes all the sense in the world. Who wants to live a mediocre, hum-drum life? But thinking we are going to be fulfilled without God, well… good luck with that.

“And blessed is she who believed [Mary, in this case] that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” The same is true for us. Blessed are we who believe that there will be a fulfillment of what is spoken to us by the Lord.

Jesus, many years after Mary gave birth to him (in fulfillment of God’s plans), said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b) The One who said this would go on to be crucified and resurrected. We say that these events were a fulfillment of God’s plan, too – ushering in new life, and a new way of living, for all.

Do you seek fulfillment in your life? Then seek out God.

Holy Waiting, Part 4 – Waiting, in Faith and Love… for Love

INTRODUCTION – God happens

I believe it was John Lennon who said “Life is what happens when you are making other plans.” Today’s gospel lesson about Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel would suggest that Mr. Lennon was mostly right, but that he missed it by one word. Today’s gospel might be summarized: God is what happens when you are making other plans. Or, if you want to make it fit on a bumper sticker… God happens.

Let’s review the story, shall we? And let’s not go so quickly, thinking we already know every detail, that we miss some of the key points.

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN GABRIEL AND MARY

Here’s how Luke introduces the story: “In the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy... who would give birth to John.... who would become known as John the Baptist] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1: 26 ______)

Let’s stop right there. God had a plan. And God sent a messenger – an angel named Gabriel – to visit a young woman in a little nowhere’s-ville town. The woman was a virgin and happened to be engaged. Why this woman? What are we told? She had “found favor with God.” (verse ______) What had she done to find favor with God? We can gather a little bit from the rest of the story. She didn’t totally freak out when the angel showed up. She didn’t say, “That’s the most insane plan – my giving birth to the Son of God – that I’ve ever heard of! Go back and tell God that he needs to come up with a better plan than that!” No. She had a very practical, matter-of-fact question, the type of question that probably any other woman in her situation would have had. “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The point is that God saw some key traits in Mary:
• Someone who already believed in God, and in the goodness and love of God
• Someone who was waiting for God to show up… even expecting God to show up in some way, and to act in a way that was true to God’s character… i.e., in love
• Someone who was open to God intervening in her life, and changing her life, her plans – and her! – forever

What else do we notice in this interaction? Luke says that Mary was perplexed by Gabriel’s greeting, but she also must have looked scared.
For Gabriel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary…” All of us get scared. Being scared is one of the five main God-given feelings. Yes, God happens, and so does fear. And sometimes the two go hand-in-hand. When God shows up, sometimes it can be a very scary thing.

But our fear isn’t meant to be a destination. As Fritz Perls once said, “Fear is excitement without the breath.” Mary kept breathing and kept listening to what Gabriel was saying to her, and some very exciting things were being said! She was young, but already a person of faith. And faith – well – that’s the opposite of fear. Faith that God is with you… faith that God is for you… faith that God wants what is best for you. That kind of faith will elicit “yeses” and movement. So Mary kept listening… listening for the deeper message.

I think what she heard was all the love in the message.
• “Greetings, favored one!”
• “The Lord is with you.”
• “You have found favor with God.”
• “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus…. and he will be called Son of the Most High… He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
• God wants to do all of this through you, Mary.

She heard all the love at the very core of Gabriel’s message. She knew she was having an encounter with Love, and she had been waiting – in faith and love – for this encounter with Love. Now it was happening. For – you see – God happens. God is what happens when you and I are making other plans. God is what happens when you are making other plans – like getting married to your fiancee, Joseph, and expecting a rather normal Jewish life. God is what happens when you are making other plans, but open enough to change those plans when God shows up.

THE “HOW” MOMENT

And yes – Mary had her ‘how’ moment. “How can this be, since I am virgin?” A totally logical question. Often, before you and I say ‘yes’… before you and I make a big commitment, we want to know the ‘how’.
• How can we get married?
• How can I move to another state when I don’t have a job lined up yet?
• How can we be parents? I’m not ready!
• How is this dream of mine ever going to happen?
• How could I tithe?
• How could the Broncos win any games with that man playing quarterback?

And what kind of answer does Mary get? Is it satisfying? It depends, I suppose, on who you are. Here, I’ll summarize it for you: “It’s a God-thing, Mary! The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you… For nothing will be impossible with God” – and some people would hear all of that and say, “What a bunch of pie-in-the-sky religious gobbledegook! What I hear is blah-blah-blah-blah.”

But Mary – a young woman, but already a woman of faith… Mary, a women who had been waiting in faith and love, for Love… Mary, who was open to a loving God intervening in her life… Mary, who was open to being forever changed by God, paused and then uttered one of the most powerful lines of faith ever proclaimed by anyone… anywhere… in any generation. “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

In other words, “I put myself in your hands, Lord, trusting in You, trusting in your Love, trusting in your plans. I am your servant. I am at your service.”

I read a similar quote recently from Thomas Merton. “… more and more I realize God wants me to put myself in His hands, and let Him take me through the things that are to come, and I must learn to trust Him without fear, or questions, or hesitation, or withdrawal.” (A Year with Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations from His Journals, p. 362)

Isn’t that what Mary did? And then… then the angel Gabriel departed from her.

But God didn’t depart from her. God was right there, ready to accompany her on the next step, and the one after that, and the one after that. All the way to Jesus’ birth, and the arrival of the magi, and the flight into Egypt, and the time Jesus, as a boy, accidentally got left behind in Jerusalem. And the death of Joseph, and Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan, and his brilliant teaching, and that wedding in Cana and bringing Lazarus back to life and healing the blind man and the lepers and feeding the crowds and the arrest and that joke of a trial and – oh, my God – the crucifixion! And the mighty, out-of-this-world resurrection and seeing him again and eating with him again! And the ascension into heaven. For, you see, nothing is impossible with God.

CONCLUSION

We wait – in faith and love – for Love, for the God who is Love, for the God who often has way better plans for us than we have for ourselves. And when we wait, believing in this God of love… when we wait, loving and appreciating and being grateful for how God has already shown up in our lives… when we wait with an openness to God intervening in our lives, with an openness to having the way we see the world turned on its head… with an openness to having our very lives turned upside down – maybe with some fear and some growth pains, but always for the better… when we wait openly like this, and expectantly, waiting for the God of Love to show up… then that is what happens.

God shows up. God happens.

Just ask Mary. God is what happens when you are making other plans.

Holy Waiting, Part 3 – Waiting for the Power of God to…

INTRODUCTION – A mini-Pentecost during Advent

I’ve thought for some time now that one of the intriguing things about today is that it’s as if God is giving us a mini-Pentecost, right in the middle of Advent! You’ll recall that on Pentecost we celebrate the “birthday of the church” – the day, soon after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, when they had been waiting, as Jesus commanded, to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49), that day when the Holy Spirit came down and rested on the disciples so powerfully that they could suddenly speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability, so that the foreigners in Jerusalem could hear the good news about Jesus and God’s saving deeds in their own languages (Acts 2). That’s a God thing, that’s a power thing, that’s a Holy Spirit thing – and that’s Pentecost!

Today in our opening prayer, the Collect for this Sunday, we hear: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us…” (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 212)

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us…”

It’s as if God knows, and the author of this prayer (whoever it was) knows that as we wait in Advent for the coming of the Lord… as we acknowledge that waiting can be difficult… as we acknowledge that sometimes we might not even be sure exactly what it is we are waiting for… as we sometimes wait in unproductive ways, waiting for the wrong things…. it’s as if God knows that what we are waiting for, deep-down, more than anything else, is God’s power – the strength and the mightiness of God to do the things that most need to be done, that only God can do. Or, perhaps to say that more accurately, the really important things that you and I can do, but that we can only do with God’s help… that is, with God’s strength and power.

Sometimes people outside of the faith ask us very good, basic questions, such as: What do we need God and God’s power for? And this is just one of the reasons that I love scripture so much. Today, through the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, God reminds us what we are hungry for. God reminds us why we so desperately need Him, and why we so desperately need the power that comes with the Spirit of God.

Listen, as I take you back through our lessons for the day.

LESSONS FROM THE LESSONS – What we need God and God’s power for

We need the power of God’s spirit to deliver us from our sins, which “sorely hinder” us. And sin does more than that, of course. Our sin leads to death – our death. And we need God’s power – God’s forgiving power, in this case – to deliver us from death, and to lead us into new – totally brand-spanking new – life… abundant life.

We need the power of God’s Spirit that brings good news to the broken-hearted. Is there anything you are brokenhearted about today? Make no mistake. It is God’s power – perhaps working through other people or through a sunset or a scripture passage – but it is God’s power that will heal your broken heart.

We need the power of God’s Spirit that proclaims liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners – not just those imprisoned in actual jails, but also those who are imprisoned in any way. By addiction, by our thoughts, by our narrowness of thinking, by our stubborn hearts. In the very midst of that imprisonment, it is God who shows up in all of His power and proclaims, “There is another way! You can be free! Even those of you in actual jail cells can be free!”

We are waiting for the power of God that proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor. Man alive, aren’t we all waiting for that?!? In a world full of bad news, in a world where many people talk to you more about what you do wrong than what you do that’s truly wonderful, aren’t you waiting to hear God proclaim, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Your are my beloved daughter (beloved son), and with you I am totally over-the-top pleased!”? And what would it be like to hear that message for an entire year – the year of the Lord’s favor? Aren’t you waiting for that?

We are waiting for the One who has the power to comfort those who mourn. God may do that through your dog, through your family, through a really good grief group, through a book, in the stillness – but it is God who is the source of that comfort, however it may come to you.

We are waiting for the power of God that can give us a mantle – a cloak – of praise, instead of a faint spirit. God has that kind of power, my friends, to turn our fears and our barely-alive energy into an energetic stream of praise, because God has the power to transform us.

We are waiting for God’s blessing, not just individually, but upon us as the people of God. And guess what? God has the power to bless us! Oh, boy does He!

We are waiting – this has to said among all the things that we are waiting for – for salvation. To be healed… to be made whole… to be reconciled with God, with others, and with ourselves. And only God has the power to save us.

Shall I continue? I’m just getting started with words of hope from today’s lessons!

We are waiting for the power of God so that we can know laughter and joy, so that we can even have the capacity to “rejoice always”. Do I need to remind you that joy is one of those things listed by Paul as the fruit of the Spirit? And that the Spirit is the power, the comfort, and the presence of God?

And maybe, just maybe, we’re waiting for God to scatter the proud in their conceit, and to lift up the lowly, and to fill the hungry with good things (cf. Luke 1:51-53). Maybe we’d like to learn how to pray without ceasing, and how to give thanks in all circumstances. I can assure you, if you’d like to make those your goals, you are going to have to tap in to the power of God!

We are waiting for the power of God’s Spirit that helps us testify to the Light, the power that helps us point to Christ so that others can encounter the One who is the way, the truth and the life.

We are waiting for the power of God’s Spirit so that – like John the Baptist – we can speak the truth about who we are and who we are not… and speak the truth about Whose we are, too.

We are waiting for the power of God’s Spirit so we can be led into the deepest of all truths, that there is only One who is perfectly loving… there is only One who loves ALL of us unconditionally… there is only One who is absolutely and perfectly worthy – the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

We are waiting for the power of God that – how do I summarize all of this? – helps us with all the challenges of life, helps us to discover new life, helps us live the loving, serving, and abundant life to which He calls us.

CONCLUSION

Yes, yes, you betcha! I am waiting for the power of God, for the strength of the Holy Spirit. For without it, I can do nothing of ultimate value, nothing of consequence. But with it… with the power of God – well, what did Paul write to the Philippians? “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) The “him” he refers to there is Christ. Through the power of Christ, I can do all… – ALL – things!

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, world without end. Amen.”

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. 3I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. 4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.

Conquering Love

This passage begs the question: Who in the heck were the Nicolaitans? And that is not a question I care to dig into today! Your second question might be: Is Peter really going to write a meditation on a passage from Revelation? And the answer is – gulp… yes.

John was on the island of Patmos, off the coast of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey, perhaps banished there as a result of Roman persecution. According to John, he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10) when he caught an amazing vision of God, and a loud voice told him to “write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia [not Pennsylvania!], and Laodicea.” (Rev. 1:11) In the passage above, John delivers God’s message to the church in Ephesus.

What strikes me in this message is that God begins by telling the Christians in Ephesus what they are doing well. God begins with appreciation, you might say. “I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers… I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary.” (verses 2 and 3, above) God then jumps in with what needs attention, what needs improvement. “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.” (verses 4 and 5) Without knowing what the particular works are, it is clear that they are connected to love. (“… you have abandoned the love you had at first.”)

What I read into this is that the Christians in Ephesus are not as “on fire” for the Lord as they were when they first committed themselves to Christ, and perhaps they also were not as “on fire” for loving each other. They were living in scary, stressful times – a time when Christians were being persecuted for their faith. They were being faithful in the midst of that persecution, as verses 2 and 3 indicate. But they had lost some of their love – some of their passion – for the Lord. Perhaps there was some bickering that was going on within the community. Perhaps they were finding it difficult to love their enemies, too.

But what is clear is that their love is what God is pointing to. They had abandoned the love they had at first.

Why is this so important? Because love is at the very heart of the Gospel: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And it’s important because love conquers all.

We are tempted to think that military might or economic strength will help us conquer every challenge and every enemy – and even help us cheat death. But they don’t.

We are tempted at times to think that revenge or hate will help us overcome our enemies. But they don’t, and they never will.

We are tempted to think that “being nice” will win us friends and create a smooth path for us in the world, but “being nice” can be a persona that we put on, and loving God or someone else, interestingly enough, is often not the same thing as being nice. Being nice does not conquer all.

Only love conquers all, for only love conquers hate. Only love brings us to a place of real forgiveness. Only love allows us to pray for our enemies. Only love can lead us to wanting the best for our neighbor. Only love can conquer fear (see 1 John 4:18) and prejudice. Only love can lead us to assuming the best about someone, rather than assuming the worst. Only love spurs us on to acts that are truly caring and sacrificial. Only love could lead Jesus to say from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

And only love conquers death. That, in a nutshell, is the message of the resurrection. And when we say, “Love conquers all”, we are also saying “Only love with a capital ‘L’ conquers all.” Love wins in the end, because God is Love, and God’s love is a conquering, winning-everyone-over-in-the-end kind of love.

When you and I are able to love – whether that love is for God or for our neighbor or for an enemy or for ourselves – we are connected to the Divine in its most essential. So it is that the biggest challenge that any of us face, on any day of our lives, is to love.

The World War II veteran who survived the brutal Pearl Harbor attacks 70 years ago today – can he love? A Jew who survived the Holocaust? Can she or he love? A person who goes through a gut-wrenching divorce – can he or she still love? When we get hurt in any relationship that we are in – can we still love?

This is our highest calling: to love. “We love because He first loved us.” So we are reminded in 1 John 4:19. And in the book of Revelation, we are reminded to return to the love we had at first, to repent – turn around and go back toward God – and to do the acts we did at first, which were to love God with every ounce of our being, to love others, and to love ourselves.

God emphasizes this – that his people in every generation are to love – because love conquers all, and because everything else in our lives is just window dressing. God loves you. God has always love you. God will always love you. Pass it on.

Waiting for the Lord, Part 2 – Waiting, Commitment, and Listening

INTRODUCTION – Review of Last Week, and Israel During Jesus’ Time

Last week I began a sermon series on “Holy Waiting” and I said the One we are waiting for is the Lord, and that the kind of waiting that God calls us to is an active waiting, an on-tiptoe waiting, an eager kind of waiting, for we anticipate that the Lord will show up. This is a waiting that occurs after we have committed our way to the Lord. This is an “I’m in, Lord… I believe in You, Lord… I believe you are going to tear through the heavens and come down and change things for the better” type of waiting.

Before Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, and even before John the Baptist stepped on the stage, there were plenty of people in Israel who were on the lookout for the Messiah. Faithful Jews were living under the foreign rule of the “not so holy” Roman Empire, paying taxes to the emperor and expected to pay homage to him, too; that was the situation. Only there was more to it than that, of course. An occupying army, and wondering every single day if you might say something, or not say something that you were expected to say, that would get you into hot water. Wondering each day if you would continue to have your freedom to worship, too.

You don’t think, if you’d been a faithful Jew up to this point, you’d be praying harder than ever, attending synagogue faithfully every Saturday, and saying to your friends, “Now! Right now would be a great time for the long-promised Messiah to show up, preferably with the power to rally a Jewish army around him, and drive these powerful but God-mocking Romans right out of Israel”? You might have said it quietly, and been mighty careful about who you said it to, but you would have been saying it. For there’s nothing like everything you hold dear being threatened with extinction to make you long – more than ever – for God to break through and make things right.

ENTER JOHN THE BAPTIST – To whom do I listen?

In the midst of this longing for the Messiah, you suddenly hear a lot of folks talking about a man. Folks are even talking about him before and after worship at synagogue. “Did you hear about this guy named John out by the Jordan River? He wear camel’s hair for clothing and eats locusts and wild honey, and tells everyone they need to repent and be baptized so that their sins will be forgiven. But who is he? And why doesn’t our rabbi seem to know who he is? Did you hear about the rabbi in Bethany? He went out to find out more about John, listened to him preach, was baptized by him, and came back and told his people all about what happened, and now he’s encouraging the members of his synagogue to go see John and to be baptized by him! What do you think? Should we go see him?”

They would have been pulled in two directions, at least. One pull: to just keep doing what they had been doing – going to their local synagogue if they lived out in the country, going to the temple if they lived in Jerusalem – taking part in the worship, saying the prayers, reciting the Shema, observing the Sabbath and all the various Jewish laws. Keep following the tradition, in other words.

The second pull: Leave your home and head for the Jordan River, to see what this John character – who kind of acted like a throw-back prophet from 600 or 700 years ago – had to say.

Here you are, with two forces pulling on you: the tradition that has grounded you and been passed on to you by so many generations of faithful Jews before you, and that man with the strange clothes and the strange diet, all by himself, and yet drawing crowds of city folk and country folk out to hear his direct, tell-it-like-it-is preaching.

(At this point in the sermon, have the John the Baptist “plant” cry out, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” And have the tradition “plants” start singing the “Tradition! Tradition!” refrain from The Fiddler on the Roof)

What choice do you make? Do you stick with the tradition and keep doing what you’ve been doing? Or do you go out to see what John has to say? Or is it a both/and, and do you do both?

LISTENING

After you and I have committed to following Jesus, and we are seeking some guidance for the next steps we are going to take, it’s mostly about listening. And, of course, with all listening, there is discernment. Who do you listen to? What do you read? Which voices that are out there and which writers that are out there are themselves listening to God? Where do you focus your efforts? How do you spend your precious time listening?

The Bible suggests that both kinds of listening are important. It’s important to read and study and seek guidance from the Holy Scriptures. And the Bible is also clear that we sometimes ignore the holy prophets – the people sent my God to speak for God – at our peril. And then, just to make it more interesting, the Bible talks about false prophets, too!

So how do you know when it’s the voice of God calling to you? One way you can tell: When you are a little too full of yourself, and think you know everything, and are ignoring the plight of others, God tends to send someone who will challenge your complacency… your arrogance… your obsession with your own self. And, on the other hand, if you are the one who is down on your luck, if you are the one who has been overrun by another person or another country, God tends to send a word of hope.

“Comfort, O comfort my people,’ says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all hers sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)

That is what the Jews heard when they were in exile, after being conquered by the Babylonia empire in the sixth century before Christ.

Which sort of word do you most need to hear today, if you are really honest with yourself and with God? A word of challenge… or a word of comfort and hope? Listen for it!

Listen for it by reading the scriptures.

Listen for it by paying attention when you are here on Sundays.

Listen for it by putting a request before God in prayer, and then listening for an answer.

Listen for it by asking questions of your friends, and listening to their answers.

Listen for it by paying attention to the unexpected person who shows up in your life, who might just be a modern-day John the Baptist, preparing the way for you to meet the Lord.

Listen by noticing anything unusual that happens in your life, something that doesn’t quite fit your normal routine. You know, along the lines of God appearing in the midst of a burning bush, or God telling you that you will conceive and bear a son…

CONCLUSION

When you’re waiting for the Lord, after you’ve chosen to follow him, you’ve got to be listening… paying attention… on the lookout. Because He’s always just a breath away. But sometimes you and I miss Him!

18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

The Best Offer Ever

At this time of advertising and sales and shopping, I would submit to you that the best offers that you and I will ever receive in our lifetimes will most likely have nothing to do with purchasing something.

The story that Matthew and Mark tell of Peter, Andrew, James, and John immediately leaving their nets/boats and following Jesus has always intrigued me. (The author of the Forward Day by Day meditation on the same passage for today correctly points out that in John’s gospel, there was more of a process involved, that Andrew was first a disciple of John the Baptist and heard John point to Jesus, and then Andrew went to check Jesus out. See John 1:35-42) But whatever the exact details were, it is not debated that these four men became Jesus’ disciples.

Somehow these four disciples comprehended what an amazing offer was being put before them, and the moment that Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people,” they were all over it.

What are some of the best offers you have ever received?

Earlier this year, Sam Pottinger and Gail Palmer offered to let our family stay in their second home in Sayulita, Mexico for a week. In June, we did just that, and each of our children brought a friend along. What a delightful week!

This past summer, the Colorado Trail offered me an opportunity to explore parts of the state that I hadn’t seen before and learn more about myself, and my capabilities. So I took that first step, after Terry Koelling dropped me at the trailhead. And 252 miles later…

In 2001, the Vestry and search committee of St. Ambrose offered me the opportunity to become rector of their church. I accepted, and I have learned so much over the past ten years – about God, myself, relationships, faithfulness, love, and being authentic.

In 1982, the U.S. government offered to pay me to teach high school on the island of Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean for 2+ years. I took the government up on that offer… with glee. And before I was finished, I heard a call to the priesthood.

In 1988, I was given the opportunity to study the Bible, theology, Christian ethics, church history, preaching, and parish administration and pastoral care for three years at Virginia Theological Seminary, and to learn something about being a priest while serving as an intern at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. I accepted both of those offers.

In 1987, God presented me with the offer to spend the rest of my life with a woman named Julia Smith. Now that was an offer I just couldn’t refuse! And what a journey we have shared together these past 24+ years!

But the greatest offer I ever received was the one our Lord started whispering in my ear when I was very young, and which I finally said ‘yes’ to in the summer of 1979, just before I turned 22, when I was working as a ‘hikemaster’ at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. That offer? “Follow me, Peter. Get to know me. Make me Lord of your life, and I will transform your life. And remember, I will be with you, and guide you – always.”

That was the best offer I ever received. I said yes to that offer, and this path with Jesus has had some ups and downs, and sometimes I have made some wrong turns, and have had to listen for Jesus’ voice calling out, saying, “Peter! Over here! This way!” – so that I could get back on the path again. I know this: The Lord has always been faithful. He has never forsaken me or misled me or given up on me. The Lord has always loved me – no matter what I have done.

On some level, I do understand how those first four disciples of Jesus made such a big decision so quickly and so decisively. I have never seen Jesus, but something in my experience of him tells me that if I had been a contemporary of Andrew, Peter, James, and John, I would have been drawn to him in the same way they were, for there is something so compelling in him, something so magnetic, so powerful… so intriguing.

What about you?

What are some of the best offers you have ever received in your life? And how have you responded to those offers?

INTRODUCTION – Themes in Tonight’s Readings

What themes did you hear in the readings tonight? I heard these:

• God gives to us in an abundant, over-the-top way – all the time!
• We are to bless God and give thanks for all God gives us.
• We’re called to share with others out of our abundance.
• We have a tendency to forget about the Source – the One “from whom all blessings flow.”

WAYS WE “MISS THE MARK”

You’ll recall that the original meaning of the word “sin” meant “to miss the mark”, as when an archer’s arrow misses its target. How do we miss the mark when it comes to these themes? Today’s lessons give us some hints about that, too.

• When we have an abundance, sometimes we think to ourselves or even say to others, “I did this! My power, my strength, my wisdom, my hard work has gotten me all of this wealth!” We forget that we had a lot of help along the way, and that all that help and all those blessings originated in God.
• Sometimes when times are tough we forget about God, too. Think of the Jews complaining in the wilderness. “Did you bring us out of Egypt so that you could starve us, Lord, or to kill us with thirst? We had it so much better in Egypt!” Sometimes you and I miss the mark by complaining. We have challenges and setbacks in our lives and we act as if God has not blessed us; we act as if there is nothing good about our lives.
• Sometimes we miss the mark by not sharing out of our abundance. We think to ourselves, “I earned this money and now I get to keep it for myself and spend it on myself.” We forget to share with those who are in need. We forget that we are called to be generous, as God is generous. And sometimes, truth be told, we are downright stingy. Or we give conditionally, with strings attached.
• And sometimes we simply take God and the blessings of God for granted. Sometimes we are among the 90% who forget to say thank you to God, when God answers a prayer or blesses us in some way. Sometimes we are among the 90% who forget to express appreciation and gratitude to the people who bless us.

TONIGHT

Tonight is a night of remembrance. It is a night to be reminded of all the ways that God blesses us. It is night to remember that all of life is pure gift, and that giving thanks and sharing with others are acts of faith.
Jesus says to the Samaritan leper who turned around, prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet, and thanked him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” To share with others is always an act of faith. At it’s core, it’s a statement that God will continue to provide for me, God will continue to provide for us – that we won’t give of our abundance and suddenly face scarcity.

Yes, giving thanks and sharing with others are acts of faith. But they can be more than just particular acts of faith. They can be a way of life. And, of course, something becomes a way of life when we make it a daily practice.

A DAILY PRACTICE OF GRATITUDE

For a while now, I have been starting my mornings by reading a Bible passage and some daily devotionals, giving thanks to God for ten things – people, places, or other blessings in my life – that I am thankful for, then spending a few minutes in silence seeking direction for my day, and asking God to bless the people in my life who most annoy me.

Here’s what I notice about the “ten things I’m grateful for” part of the morning. Sometimes it’s a snap. I can rattle off ten things to God in a little over ten seconds, and keep going if I feel like it. Sometimes it’s not so easy. On those mornings when it’s not so easy, it usually has something to do with my mood or the circumstances of my life. Something didn’t go the way I wanted it to the day before, or I feel tired because I didn’t get enough sleep, or I’m feeling angry or scared or discouraged about something. On these mornings, I might make it up to five things that I’m grateful for, and my mind begins to wander. I notice some impatience within me; I’m ready to get on with my day and be done with the quiet time.

Truth be told, sometimes it’s easier to complain or to tell God that I’ve been wronged in some way than it is to say a prayer of gratitude. It’s at those times when I’m stuck on number 5 or 6 in my prayers of gratitude that I make an extra effort to keep my butt in the chair until I get to number 10. Why? Because I know my life goes better when I start each day being grateful. I know my life goes better when I start each day remembering all the ways that I am blessed. And what’s true is I want to be a grateful person, and I won’t become a grateful person by being grateful once in a while, when I happen to remember to be grateful, or just when things are going my way. And here’s the truth: I can always find more than ten things to be grateful for, no matter what is going on in my life. And I do mean no matter what is going on.

Our nation has set aside a day of the year when we’re all encouraged to stop and count our blessings, and be thankful. And sometimes, amid all the turkey and stuffing and potatoes and rolls and pie… amid all the football games… we hardly take a moment to give thanks.

Holy Waiting, Part 1 – Waiting for the Lord

INTRODUCTION – A culture that has trouble waiting

We are a culture that has trouble waiting, and it might be getting worse. In the world of the internet… in the world of email and texting, in a world where people now update their Facebook page several times a day, we expect everything to happen instantly. You’ve probably noticed that “holiday creep” is getting worse and worse, too. The first Christmas merchandise offered for sale in the Costco near my home was on display at the end of August. I saw some ads that said “Black Friday begins at 10 pm on Thursday.” Do you hear that? Friday now starts at 10 pm on Thursday; so make a note of that, please. That ad demonstrates pretty clearly how much trouble we have with waiting. Do stores really need to open on Thanksgiving? For some people, Thanksgiving seems to have become a day to get over with as quickly as possible so that we can get on with some serious Christmas shopping.

I wonder: Does the phrase “Good things come to those who wait” have any traction at all in our society today?

ADVENT AND WAITING

One of the preeminent themes of Advent is waiting. On one level I experienced this as a child, and probably you did, too. For me, the waiting was about a countdown to Christmas morning, and opening presents. What would be under that Christmas tree? There were some family rituals that helped with the waiting – Advent calendars, and baking cookies while listening to Christmas music, and putting up the lights and the Christmas tree. Such anticipation! The waiting had excitement wrapped all around it and in it, so much so that it was hard to be in school some days during December, and when school finally let out for the holidays, those days off prior to Christmas seemed to go on forever.

I knew Christmas was about the birth of Jesus, but I totally missed another prominent theme of Advent: waiting for the second coming of Christ, waiting for our Lord’s return “in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead.” (from the Collect for the first Sunday of Advent)

So I begin this four-week series on holy waiting by reminding you that it’s not just any kind of waiting that we are talking about. This isn’t waiting in the checkout line. This isn’t waiting for your spouse to change in a way that you really want him or her to change. This isn’t even waiting to see what your gifts will be this Christmas.

It’s waiting for a personal encounter with the Lord, one way or another.

It’s about waiting each week and listening the the lessons anew and re-living the Christmas story like a child, and having your relationship with Jesus be renewed and transformed in the waiting.

It’s about waiting on tiptoe, being alert and awake, living your daily life as faithfully as you can, and all the while thinking that Jesus might return tomorrow, and mess up everyone’s Christmas plans – and being absolutely okay with that.

Or it’s just waiting for the Lord to show up in the way that you most need him to show up. For the Israelites who were in exile, what they wanted – more than anything – was for God to “tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at [His] presence… to make [His] name known to [His] adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at [His] presence!” (Isaiah 64:1-2)

Perhaps you are waiting for the Lord to come and execute justice, too. Perhaps you are waiting for him to bring healing. Perhaps you have had a rough year, and you are waiting for the Lord to show up and bless you in any way at all, just so you know that He is present, and that He cares personally for you. Perhaps you are waiting for a word from the Lord – the exact word you know not, but you know you are waiting for some guidance, for some wisdom from above. Perhaps you are waiting for a situation or a relationship in your life to be transformed, or for you yourself to be transformed. Perhaps you are waiting for the love of your life – a lifelong partner – to show up, and you have a sneaking suspicion that God could play a big role in answering that prayer.

AN ACTIVE WAITING

The Bible makes it clear that waiting for the Lord is not some passive activity, where we just sit back and wait to be overwhelmed by the Lord’s presence. No, holy waiting is a very active thing. We first make ourselves available to God in some way. We might express to God our desires; we might walk over to see why the bush is burning but is not consumed; we might choose to wrestle with God; we might hear the angels words of invitation and not fully understand, but say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” In one way or another, we make ourselves available to the Lord. Second, there is listening involved – listening to our lives in a way that we are paying attention to what we read, paying attention to what is read in church, paying attention to what our friends say and what total strangers say. And – related to the listening – there is a being on tiptoe, a being on the lookout, an expectancy, an anticipation that the Lord is indeed coming, in the same way that a pregnant woman anticipates that her baby is indeed coming. Another way to say all this is that there is an openness associated with this kind of waiting, an eagerness to this kind of waiting.

Why? Because nothing is more amazing, nothing is potentially more life-transforming, nothing provides a bigger high than a personal encounter with the living God.

But there is one thing that must be said: The very word “waiting” implies that we don’t know exactly when God will show up. In the same way that we know the gestation period for a human baby to be born in around 280 days, we don’t know exactly which day that brand-new person is going to make his or her appearance in the world. Similarly, we can’t force God to meet our schedule. It strikes me that Jesus’ words about his second coming might apply to all encounters we have with him. “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33)

CONCLUSION

Yes, we have entered into a holy season of waiting. It’s holy because the One for whom we are waiting is holy. And this is a different kind of waiting from the sort we normally encounter in the world. It’s not a waiting that’s mostly about frustration, but rather a waiting that is pregnant with hope. It’s not an anxious waiting, but a faith-filled waiting, because the One we are waiting for is loving and faithful. There is something in this waiting that is very similar to a child’s waiting for Christmas, though. This waiting for the Lord is laden with excitement, for we anticipate in our waiting how the Lord – when he shows up – can transform any situation.

I’ll end today with some wonderful verses from Isaiah:

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

18And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
24When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?” 25He said, “Yes, he does.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?” 26When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the children are free. 27However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.”
Riding Piggy-back with Jesus
The passages from Matthew quoted above are portions of the Episcopal Church’s daily readings for yesterday and today. Yesterday we heard the story of the disciples not being able to cast out a demon from the son of a man who had approached them for help. Jesus was frustrated with the disciples, and they were frustrated with themselves. Why couldn’t they cast the demon out? Jesus says, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from her to there.’ and it will move…”
As the Vestry shared in Holy Eucharist last night, we reflected on this passage together. Several of us felt challenged – perhaps even indicted – by Jesus’ words. Words to the effect of “Maybe I don’t have much faith at all, since I don’t move mountains” were spoken. But within a few moments others were saying things like: “We can be overwhelmed by the big mountain we’re facing right now, but when we look back, we see all the mountains that we have moved.” Someone else said, “Maybe the things we think of as mountains aren’t mountains at all. Maybe we just see them that way.”
It’s interesting to me that in the very next interaction with the disciples, according to Matthew, some tax collectors come up to Peter and ask him if his teacher pays the temple tax. By the end of the little exchange, Jesus is saying to Peter, “… go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and for me.”
Ha! What would you have felt, thought, and done if you were Peter? Would you have thought to yourself, “The first fish I catch will have a coin in it? What are the odds of that happening? And how does Jesus know? And if the first fish doesn’t have a coin in it, how long do I keep fishing?” Would you have had any of these thoughts? I can tell you that I might have!
Matthew doesn’t tell us if Peter left for the Sea of Galilee that moment and started fishing. But it seems to me there is a connection between the two stories. “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed…”
Sometimes we get tripped up in faith matters because we forget who we are having faith in. Do I think that it is all up to me to move the mountain? (Sometimes, truth be told, that’s exactly how I think.) But faith is about faith in God… in Jesus… in the Holy Spirit. As we say in the Nicene Creed, “We believe in one God, the Father… we believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ… we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life…” We are having faith in God – in who God is, in God’s love and faithfulness to us and to all creation.
Our faithfulness, it seems to me, is like riding piggy-back on Jesus’ faithfulness. Having faith the size of a mustard seed is not believing that I can move this mountain all by myself. It is having enough faith IN GOD to know that – if this mountain in my life needs to be moved – God can and will move it!
I believe Jesus was frustrated with the disciples because – after all the time they had spent with him – they still didn’t get it. They didn’t get that their ability to cast out demons was not based in their own powers, but was based in their faith in God… that their faith in God would result in the demons being cast out.
To put that another way, do I believe in Jesus so much that if he says to me, “Peter, go. Walk across the country, teaching and preaching in my name. The mission will be funded…” I start walking?
To clarify: the Creed doesn’t say anything about us believing that God exists. Anyone can believe that God exists. In the Creed, we say that we believe in God the Father, in the Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit. There is a huge difference between believing in God and believing that God exists. And the word “believe”, by the way, comes from the same root as the word “heart.” Our faith is not primarily about what we think; it is not primarily an exercise of the mind. It’s mostly a heart thing.
When I get overwhelmed, when it feels like a mountain needs to be moved in my life, the most important move I make is related to where I place my faith. In those moments, do I choose to put my faith in God? Do I trust in God’s faithfulness? “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his faithfulness endures from age to age.” (Psalm 100:4) When I put my faith in God – when I bet everything on God’s enduring faithfulness to me and to all creation, then I can believe in myself, too, because God reminds me that He believes in me. And the same goes for you, too.
What’s true is this: when I have the faith the size of a mustard seed, and believe in God, then my whole perspective on life changes, and suddenly I rediscover that I live in hope for the future of the world, for the future of all creation – because of who God is.

My Dream for St. Ambrose

INTRODUCTION – The Parable of the Talents

The three slaves in Jesus’ Parable of the Talents were all entrusted with outrageous amounts of money, for a talent was worth over 15 years’ wages of a laborer. So one of them was given more than 75 years of wages, the second was given over 30 years wages, and the third was given over 15 years wages. If the story is to represent God and us – and I think it is – then Jesus is saying that God trusts us immensely, that God has great faith in our abilities. The three slaves were each given the talents “according to his ability”, as Jesus puts it. Clearly the master saw huge abilities in each of them. They were stewards serving the interest of their master, and they were expected to do something with this money – not only protect it, but produce something with it.

I wonder if some benefactor handed you or me such a large amount of money what our response would be. Would we see it as an amazing opportunity? Would we put our most creative energies into dreaming and scheming, or would we freak out and be afraid like the third slave in the parable, create a story that the master was harsh (a story not created by the other two slaves), and do ourselves in by letting our fear get the best of us?

What would I do if I were given a huge amount of money is not that different a question from what would I love to see happen at St. Ambrose. We have been given this community, which means that we have been given each other, with all our diverse and undeniable gifts and talents. And I deeply believe that it is our Lord’s desire to keep blessing us and teaching us. Not only that, just as in Jesus’s Parable of the Talents, our Lord has great faith in us to be about the work of the kingdom – to do good, to offer healing to others, to serve others in ways that make the world a better place, and to use what we’ve been given – our creativity, our particular genius, our money, our love, and – yes – our dreams to take something amazing – you, me, us, and the Holy Spirit – and turn it into something even more abundant and more amazing.

So having said all that, here is my dream for St. Ambrose. Here’s what I would love to see happen here.

A COME-AS-YOU-ARE PARTY

I would love to see St. Ambrose be a come-as-you-are party. On one level, what I mean by that is that all our welcome: young, old, black, white, brown, straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, baptized, unbaptized, recovering Catholics, recovering Baptists, recovering what-evers, high church, low church, saints and sinners of all stripes.

On anther level, though, what I mean is that you would not check your emotions at the door when you walk in the doors. We would not only know what the five basic God-given feelings are but we would not be afraid to feel them or even talk about them or share them. In other words, you wouldn’t have to stay home if you felt sad or angry or scared. You wouldn’t have to worry about making others feel uncomfortable if you were really happy, or if you were having a sexual feeling. You could come as you are, and not feel like you had to cover any of those feelings up. In other words, you could be fully who you are – be authentic – and nobody would freak out or say you’re “breaking down” or “going off” or “in a funk” or “sky high” or “too out there sexually.” We’d all know that you were simply having a feeling, and that in ten minutes you might actually have a different one.

OPEN TO GROWTH, LEARNING AND TRANSFORMATION

At the St. Ambrose of my dreams, every person would realize that you can come as you are AND that once you get here, you may discover that God is calling you to “become” some more. There would be a strong bias toward learning, growth, and transformation. We’d want that for ourselves and for each other, and we’d constantly be asking each other, “What is God up to in your life and how are you changing, how are you different than you were last year or five years ago?”

WORSHIP

In the St. Ambrose of my dreams, we will all show up to worship in a way that everyone is fully participating, expecting each time we worship for the Holy Spirit to be among us and surprise us in joyful, vibrant, and powerful ways. I dream of a church where the main postures or attitudes of our worship are gratitude, praise, joy, and generosity. I dream of 80 ASA at the early service and a 150 ASA at the second service.

A.R.T.

In the St. Ambrose of my dreams, we would continue to put a strong emphasis on prayer, worship, and on serving and welcoming others. And, we would place a strong emphasis on practicing the A.R.T. skills in whatever group or meeting we are a part of.
A – giving and receiving APPRECIATION
R – taking full RESPONSIBILITY for what we want to create in our lives, in our relationships, and at St. Ambrose
T – TRANSPARENCY – being way more invested in speaking the truth in love and being authentic, than in being nice (For you see, when we all go around trying to be nice to each other, without being authentic, the energy, and – for that matter – the creativity of the Holy Spirit, goes right out of the building)

IMPACT – RELATIONSHIPS AND LEADERSHIP

I dream of a church that is known across the Diocese – and maybe beyond that – for teaching relationship skills. I see the number of participants in the Transformation Learning Community (TLC) doubling, and drawing in more people from outside of St. Ambrose. I also see us as being known as a training center for leadership development, and this, too, would extend beyond the membership of St. Ambrose. I see headlines and articles in the Boulder Camera about what St. Ambrose is doing to foster both healthy relationships and strong leaders.

SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR DREAMS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED

I dream of a church where any member who shares a dream or a BHAG (a big, hairy, audacious goal) has support from the community to bring it to fruition, a community where we help each other discern and pursue the God-inspired dreams and passions of our lives.

FLOWING, ABUNDANT MONEY

The St. Ambrose of my dreams is a place where money is available, flowing and abundant, a church where money is never the reason given for why we can’t do something. Instead, whether or not we do something is totally based on prayer, listening for God’s guidance, sharing the deepest desires of our hearts, and moving forward with faithful action, trusting that the money that is needed will show up. The St. Ambrose of my dreams will be a church that moves beyond budgets and will be a-buzz with what God is doing in us and through us, and at least 50% of the money given by members will be going outside the church to support other life-giving ministries and programs.

GROUPS – CONNECTION, TRANSFORMATION, PURPOSE

The St. Ambrose of my dreams will have 30 or more young people in the youth group. There will be 50 or more in Sunday School. The St. Ambrose of my dreams will be a place where all kinds of groups meet together on days other than Sunday. That will be true for families with children. There will be a young adults’ group, a men’s group, a women’s group, a hiking group, and any other groups that meet the needs of our members. These groups will satisfy each person’s need for connection, transformation, and purpose, and folks in these groups will find meaning and purpose through service.

HEALTH

The St. Ambrose of my dreams will be a place where we regularly take risks of faith, stepping into commitments in which we don’t know how our big commitments are going to be realized. We will support each other in this risk-taking, and trust that God will show up – often in unexpected ways – to give us exactly what we need, when we need it, for we will know that God is not only with us, but also for us.

In the St. Ambrose of my dreams, there will be no gossip. Members will speak directly to the person that they need to speak to. Folks won’t have time to sit back and complain or be judgmental about what other people are doing, because they will be too focused on being creative, fully-participating members of the community. We won’t be consumers of church. We will be creative partners, working together to be about the work of the Kingdom, with God’s help.

MOVING FORWARD – You dreams for St. Ambrose

This is my dream for St. Ambrose. There may be some things you resonate with in my dream, and other things where you say, “Uh… not so much.” What’s next is for you to think about what you would love to see at St. Ambrose, and to offer it. Over the next ten weeks or so, leading up to the Annual Meeting at the end of January, I would ask you to add your dreams to this banner. You can take as many of these strips of paper that say “__________’s Dream for St. Ambrose – as many as you need – and place them on the banner. There will be two banners – more if we need them – out on tables here in the nave (perhaps in the narthex, too). I am looking forward to the chance to see what all of your dreams are, and how these dreams might come together in the form of a vision that can guide us in the coming years. I am very interested, too, in how each of us will discern what our commitments will be, to make these dreams a reality. But the first step is not landing on your commitment. The first step is to let your imagination go crazy, and dream about what you’d love to see at St. Ambrose.

POSSIBLE REACTIONS

Another way to put it: if anything were possible… if we had unlimited time, resources, and energy, what would you love to see at St. Ambrose?

I’m aware that there can be different reactions when someone asks us what we want. So I am going to list some of them now, just to lay them out.

1. It’s too hard to figure out what I want so I will defer to what others want.

2. This isn’t practical. There’s no way that what I want can happen!

3. What I want matters and I’m excited to contribute.

4. I don’t say what I want and then I sit back and complain.

5. What I want doesn’t matter. What’s important is what God wants.

6. I don’t want to say what I want because then it’s up to me to make it happen.

There are some common reactions; there are many other possible ways to react. What’s important is to notice how you respond to the question, “What do you want for St. Ambrose?” You and I can learn a lot just by paying attention to our reactions.

CONCLUSION

There is a process ahead of us. I envision one or two forums in December and one or two in January prior to the Annual Meeting. In the meantime, start tuning in to what you’d love to see happen at St. Ambrose. And be on the lookout for emails from me in the next few weeks, and please add your dreams for St. Ambrose to one of the banners!

Thanks so much!

Psalm 82:1-5

1God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?
3Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Matthew 15:29-31
29After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. 30Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, 31so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Grateful… Angry… Sad… and Praying Again

Here is my beginning-of-the-day routine (after I fix breakfast for Hannah, which I only get to do for another seven months or so): I read a couple of morning devotionals (currently Forward Day by Day and A Year with Thomas Merton), I offer to God ten people or situations or things that I am grateful for, I spend 5-8 minutes in quiet, seeking direction from God for my day, and I send love to the people who have been annoying me. I send love to them by bringing them to mind and asking God to bless them. It’s a helpful morning discipline, and I commend it to you.

Usually, right before or right after this routine, I am eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. When reading the paper, I usually start with the sports, then work my way to the front section. Sometimes I skim all of the paper; sometimes I skip entire sections. Today a particular news item was on page 1A of The Denver Post and on the front page of the sports section. That usually means something good happened (like the Broncos actually winning a game) or something awful happened. Today it’s the latter.

In recent days, Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, has been accused – after a grand jury investigation – of sodomizing a 10-year-old boy in a locker room incident in 2002, and been charged with molesting eight young boys between 1994 and 2009. Highly esteemed and long-time Penn State head coach Joe Paterno was notified of the 2002 incident by an eyewitness (the day after it happened), and Paterno notified the Penn State athletic director, but the police were never called. Some of the key Penn State administrators are resigning now as all of this comes to light. I am angry. And I am sad – sad for the victims and their families.
Some time in the past – in the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s, perhaps – a college football game was a contest between two nearby schools, a test of strength and skill, but basically just a game. Those days disappeared long ago with the huge TV contracts and the rise of ESPN’s non-stop coverage of sports and the lure of players making it to the NFL. Unless you go to a tiny Division II or Division III school where playing sports is not about the money, football is ALL about the money now. Greed has taken over the sport, as it has taken over most of American sport. And, of course, there are ways greed has taken over American society. And it makes me angry…. and sad, too. In the name of “the god of football”, or “the god of sports”, we are easily tempted to look the other way, or perhaps say something trite like “a few bad apples ruin it for everyone.” But I think there is more going on here than a few bad apples. We have lost our way. And we need to repent. We need to be speaking out – for the sake of the weak and the voiceless… for the sake of helpless 10-year-old boys who are raped in locker rooms.

Mark Kiszla, sports columnist for The Denver Post, writes: “Most of us would like to think that confronted with the sight of a young boy being raped in a locker room, we would call the cops or tackle the perpetrator. Instead, Penn State looked the other way for nearly a decade.” (Page 5C, November 9, 2011)

We need to be crying out for God’s help, and for God’s mercy. We need to be paying attention to the words of the prophet Joel, who wrote, “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God…” (Joel 2:12-13)

Take another glance at today’s readings. “Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.” (Psalm 82:4-5) Who are the “they” in verse 5? They are – all the “false gods” we put on a pedestal in our world. These gods walk around in darkness. When we edify these gods – greed, unbridled power, violence, to name a few – all the foundations of the earth are shaken. In stark contrast, Jesus – God-in-the-flesh – comes to the earth and suddenly the mute speak, the maimed are whole, the lame walk, and the blind see. “And they praised the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:31) And for once… for a while, at least… people were praising the one true God – the one who truly cared about the plight of the weak, the lost, and the lame.

The world is a “now and not yet” place. The kingdom of God has come with the coming of Jesus. Because of that, it is easy to wake up and think of ten (or 100) things to be grateful for, because so much is right with the world – thanks be to God. But the kingdom of God is not fully realized yet. That is the “not yet” part. People starve for lack of food and die of dysentery for lack of clean water. Young boys and girls are raped and the people with the power to do something cover it up. Our nation goes into trillions of dollars of debt, largely fighting wars that don’t accomplish anything, and no one questions the military-industrial complex anymore. It doesn’t seem to matter whether one is a Democrat or a Republican. We all bow down to the false god of war, while most of us claim allegiance to the Prince of Peace.

No, the kingdom of God is not fully here yet. There is some more praying to do, and especially some more repenting to do. And so this is the truth of my life this morning. I say prayers of gratitude. I read the paper. I feel angry. I feel sad. I do a little writing, and pray some more. Please join me in speaking out against the madness of following all the false gods that we follow. Please join me in praying. Please join me in repenting, and returning to the Lord. “Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him…” (Joel 2:14)

54He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” 57And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.” 58And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

Do People Change?

There seem to be two basic schools of thought with regard to whether people change over time. One school of thought is represented by the “a leopard can’t change its spots” saying. Folks in this camp think that people basically don’t change. They are more or less the same at age 70 as they were at 40 as they were at age 10. They may have changed in size and looks over a lifetime, but their personality is basically the same, and you know what to expect when you are around them. The other school of thought is, of course, that people can and often do change. Perhaps our own view on this issue gives us a certain filter that affects our seeing. If we don’t believe that people change, maybe we want them to stay a certain way – a way that fits how we see them. If, on the other hand, we believe people change, maybe we are on the lookout for how they are changing.

I am of the latter school. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the whole Christian life is a call to transformation, to change, to grow – to become, in effect, a whole new person… compared to where we were when we first committed our lives to following Christ. A whole new person as in way more alive, wiser, more loving (even of enemies!), more present, and more authentic than the person I was and you were when we first believed.

After teaching about the kingdom and healing people in other parts of Galilee, Jesus came back to his hometown of Nazareth and began to teach in the synagogue. And all the people who had grown up with him were astounded, and said, in effect, “What’s going on here? We grew up with him, and we know his entire family – his mom and his dad and his brothers and sisters. This isn’t the Jesus we remember! Now he’s teaching in our synagogue? How on earth did this happen?”

He didn’t fit inside the box of how they had always seen him. In truth, maybe they hadn’t really seen him before. And Matthew writes this short but powerful line: “And they took offense at him.” (verse 57, above)

I heard it said one or two years ago that whenever you and I take offense, our ego is involved. That has stuck with me, because I believe it’s true. In this case, their egos may have been saying, “I was in Hebrew school with this guy when we were 10, and trust me, he wasn’t that impressive!” Their egos might have been thinking, “My dad is a physician and his was a carpenter! Who does he think he is now, teaching in the synagogue! What arrogance!”

Jesus had changed. He had studied with the rabbis, he had studied the scriptures, he had studied people, and – most of all – he had spent a lot of time with his Father. And he was different. He had really grown into who God was calling him to be – the Messiah – and, as we are told in other places in the Gospels, he did not teach as the other rabbis did. He taught with a different type of authority – an authority that came directly from God. And what is telling is that not everyone celebrated who he had become. Some of them took offense. (And we know where that ultimately led.)

Over the last couple of years, when I have been speaking or writing about something I feel strongly about, I have heard a few people respond, “This doesn’t sound like you!” But the thing is… it is me. There is what you might call “the old me” that is still a big part of who I am, and it is usually reflected back to me in this way: gentle, caring, kind. But that is not all of who I am. There is another part of me that is strong, clear, assertive. Undoubtedly, people who knew me when I was 15 wouldn’t have seen this part of me. It’s also possible that people who had known me 15 years ago wouldn’t have seen this part of me. But my God’s grace, by God’s prodding, through the teaching of the people who have mentored me, and by my own conscious decisions to act in new ways – especially where I saw that my “old ways” were not serving me well – I have changed. I am not the same person I was 10 or 20 or 30 years ago.

Are you? My guess would be… probably not. Some of you I know for sure are not the same people you were 10 years ago, because I have seen you becoming new people in the time that I have been at St. Ambrose. And I can tell you, it is a wonderful thing to behold – this transformation that God has brought about in you!

Perhaps someone in your life is saying, “Where did this woman/man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? I know you! Where did you get all this?” Maybe some people around you are even taking offense. That’s okay. Love them anyway. And rejoice and give thanks for the good work that our God is continuing to do in you, and through you. Give thanks that you have changed, and give thanks for all the fruit that has come from those changes.

What Commitment Looks and Feels Like

INTRODUCTION – Commitment stories in the Bible

The story from Joshua that we heard a few moments ago, the renewal of the covenant between Yahweh and His people – that Yahweh would be their God, and they would serve Him and Him alone – is one of the many commitment stories in the Bible. It started with the call of Abraham around 1750 B.C. “Go to the land that I will show you,” and Abraham went. The story of a people’s commitment to this one God continued through Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, including hundreds of years in Egypt – first to escape a famine, then during a time of prosperity, and finally experiencing a period of oppressive slavery. And then, despite initial protests of not being qualified, the commitment continued as Moses agreed to lead the people out of Egypt, with a whole lot of help from Yahweh. More recently, Moses has died, Joshua has become his successor, and following the commandments of God and the priests who carry the ark of the covenant, the people step into the Jordan River. And when they do, the waters flowing from above were stopped – reminiscent of the time 40 years earlier when the waters of the Red Sea were parted. And once again, the people of God are able to cross over into a new place on dry ground. Even more recently, the people have conquered Jericho and moved into the Promised Land – over 500 years after that initial call of Abraham. And now they are gathered at Shechem, in the heart of the hill country of a land that would eventually be known as Israel, and another moment of commitment is before them. And Joshua presides at a covenant ceremony in which ancestral gods are renounced and allegiance to Yahweh alone is proclaimed.

“Now if you are unwilling to serve this Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” And all the people reply, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight… Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” (Joshua 24:15-18)

These commitment stories continue. Think of Mary and Joseph, and for that matter, the disciples. “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And they did. “You give them something to eat.” And they did. “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick… cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” And they did. “… and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And they were.

God is calling us to choose, too. God is calling us to make big commitments, too. But what does commitment look like? Maybe even more important, what does commitment feel like, and what happens once we make a commitment?

WHAT COMMITMENT IS

The moving toward the accomplishment of any goal or dream that you or I have begins with commitment. I suppose it really begins with an idea, but the idea remains only an idea if there is no action. Commitment involves gathering my energy and moving in a given direction.

What are your current commitments? Well, a sure-fire way to tell what you’re committed to is to look at the results of what you are creating. If you say, “I’m committed to going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week,” and you don’t make it to the gym at all, that’s what you’re committed to. If you say, “I have a real problem and I need to stop drinking,” and you still drink, then you are committed to drinking. When we do the things we say we don’t want to do, you might call those your unconscious commitments, but they are still commitments.

I’ve been learning a lot about commitment in recent months, and there are three main points I’d like you to remember and come back to, as you look at your own commitments.

1. People often don’t set goals, much less pursue them, because they don’t see how they are going to accomplish them. But here’s the thing: The “how” comes after you commit.
2. I can commit and feel scared at the same time.
3. What’s important when you notice you have pulled back from your original commitment, what’s easily as important as the original commitment… is recommitment.

Imagine for a moment that you are standing at the edge of a swimming pool, and you don’t know how to swim, and you are watching all sorts of people swimming. You might have all sorts of thoughts. “That looks fun!” “I wonder what it’s like to swim.” “Wow, that person really moves through the water beautifully.” But you won’t ever learn how to swim until you do what? That’s right. Get in the water.

The how comes after you commit. And once you get in the water, things start to happen. You might notice that there is someone nearby who can teach you how to swim. Or you flail around on your own without making much progress, and you get out of the pool, go home, think about it, call your local YMCA and find out when they offer swimming lessons. After you commit, you find that there are resources out there to help you in your commitment.

These lessons – the “how” comes after you commit, you can commit and be scared, the key once you have pulled back is to recommit – apply to all dreams and goals that you may have.

EXERCISE – What commitment feels like

I’d like you to stand up and come to the “edge of the pool” right now. Obviously you noticed when you arrived today that the pews were pulled back to the perimeter of the nave, and there is a big open space in the middle of the church that is not normally there. This is our swimming pool.

I want you to think of something that you’d absolutely love to create in your life. Perhaps it’s a relationship with someone – a friendship or even a marriage. Perhaps it’s a new job – a really wonderful, challenging, interesting and well-paying new job. Perhaps it’s a dream vacation. Perhaps you want to learn a new hobby. Perhaps you want to create a lifestyle for yourself that will result in you having a healthy body.

Think of that one thing you would love to create in your life. Now step into the pool, focusing on a place in the room that represents your goal, and start moving. Now notice what happens to you inside. What feelings are coming up inside of you?

Commitment is a dynamic process. The people of Israel did not settle in the Promised Land until 500 years after the call of Abraham! I don’t say that to discourage you. I say that to remind you that it’s a dynamic process, and reaching our goals takes a lot of recommitting!

So what happens after we commit? Two things frequently and predictably happen. I’ve already mentioned one of them. We get scared. And second, we meet up with obstacles. You can count on this fact. From almost the moment you make a commitment, your commitment will be tested.

Here’s what I wrote in my journal after my fourth day backpacking along the Colorado Trail earlier this summer.

“THIS WAS A HARD DAY! This was a hard day, O Lord! The trail was mostly uphill. My feet were sore all day and my toes kept cramping. Allen and I had to go round three groups of somewhat anxious cattle… My pack definitely weighs too much! I am working too hard to have fun! So… I need to recommit and carry less weight, and maybe I can go home Sunday morning, regroup, and have someone bring me back to Kenosha Pass. I can’t do the next 65-mile section and have fun with my feet hurting this much and my pack so heavy. And there are too many mosquitoes at an otherwise very nice campsite… I missed Julia today!”

I did all those things. With Allen’s help, I figured out how to get rid of 10 pounds of weight. I had a night at William and Kris’ cabin, Paul Austin cooked Allen and me a great dinner, I got to take a shower, I went home for a day and regrouped, Julia brought me back to Kenosha Pass, I remembered to put my insoles in my boots, and I hiked the rest of the way to Independence Pass, the original plan for where I would take my first break.

What we need to learn shows up along the way. For me, it showed up in the form of Allen in the July leg of my trek. In the August leg, I had a day or two when I had this sharp pain in a tendon coming up from my ankle. My ibuprofen wasn’t touching it. It just so happened that Nancy Hillmer had joined me for that section of the trail, and offered me some Aleve. I had never taken an Aleve in my life. Poof! – the pain went away. I had wondered if I was going to have to leave the trail when Nancy got off, but I made it the rest of the way. What I needed to learn – the “how” – showed up in the form of Allen and Nancy and some other people who shared the trail with me.

A number of months ago, someone shared this quote with me, and I’ve had it on my phone ever since. It was written by a mountaineer and writer, and by someone who had survived time in a concentration camp in World War II.

“Until one is committed, there is a hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”

- W. H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition (1951)

GOD’S DREAM FOR US

You see, God wants an abundant life for us. (Cf. John 10:10) God wants us to dream, to dream “big”, to have what some people in corporate America call BHAG’s – “big, hairy, audacious goals.” When we commit, Providence moves, too. God shows up. God moves to support us in ways that we could have never imagined – even in our wildest dreams – because God wants us to do well. God wants us to experience life, and life in abundance.

There is never a direct line to our big goals. A plane that is navigating to a destination is technically “off course” over 90% of the time. It is constantly making adjustments, but it gets where it is going because the pilot is committed to that particular destination. And so he or she keeps recommitting, when the plane gets off course, and brings the plane back to where it needs to be. I am told that Walt Disney went bankrupt five times before he hit it big. And how many attempts did Thomas Edison make before he invented the light bulb?

CONCLUSION

Next week I’ll be sharing what I’d like to see happen here. It is my dream for St. Ambrose. I’m inviting you into a process to dream – to dream really big – with me. I’m inviting you to join me over the next few months, between now and the Annual Meeting at the end of January… to dream big dreams together, and to commit – each one of us – to doing our part to make those dreams become a reality.

We begin all of that next Sunday, on Consecration Sunday. We allow God to consecrate us, bless us, and use us for His purposes, and we commit ourselves – both to God and to this community – as we come together in worship at 9:30, and offer our selves, all of who we are… our dreams for this community, our particular gifts and genius, our money, our time, our worship, our prayers, our love – all of who we are – for the good of God’s kingdom, and for the good of this particular community.

Will you join me by stepping into the swimming pool, into your particular commitments, realizing that the “how” will show up after you commit? Will you remember that you can commit and still be scared? And when you encounter obstacles and get tested… when you get scared and your fear stops you in your tracks or even draws you back from your commitment, will you recommit?

You will? Thank you! And so will I.

10 Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ 11He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 13The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” 14With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.”
16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

Are We Paying Attention?

We could summarize this teaching of Jesus in this way: “Many people are not paying attention!” Or perhaps: “Many people are paying attention to the wrong things!”

If you have a teen or even a pre-teen in your house, you may have had to say to them, as Julia and I have said to our children more than once, “Put your phone away, please. I want to talk with you.” Or… “You cannot bring your phone to the dinner table.” (Remembering, of course, to give thanks during the saying of grace that everyone is actually at the dinner table at same the time!)

We are easily distracted. People are talking on the phone when driving (I’ve been known to do that), responding on line and to texts and maybe to a ringing phone all at the same time, maybe even flipping back and forth in your conversations if your phone has call waiting. In other words, there are a lot more ways to be distracted today than there were during Jesus’ time. Sometimes I want to hurl all cell phones, computers, and TVs into the nearest body of water! But then I remember all the cool things that can happen with these devices. I can stay in touch with my children when they are somewhere else, and even Skype with them when they are living in another state or country. How cool is that! Through email or Facebook, I can stay in touch with friends who are scattered around the world, and stay connected with you when all of us are in the midst of our busy weeks.

So it comes down to priorities, and where we choose to put our attention, and discernment. In other words, do we know when it is absolutely time to put aside the cell phone or close our laptops or turn off the TV, and have a 1:1 conversation with our spouse or our child or our friend or our co-worker or our aging parent – and really listen?

People in Jesus’ time had eyes to see, but many of them did not see the Messiah standing right in front of them. They had ears to hear, but many of them did not listen to what he had to teach them. They had hearts that could have led them to a place of deep understanding, but many of them had hearts that had “grown dull” (verse 15, above), and so they did not understand his parables, or the fact that the kingdom of God was at hand in the person of Jesus. On the other hand, some of them saw the Messiah. Some of them really listened to what he had to say. And some of them understood in such a way that they said to themselves, “I must follow this guy and hear more, and see more.” And, as a result, their lives were transformed.

Jesus says something very interesting in this particular encounter with his disciples. “For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” (verse 12) What’s he saying? He’s saying: When you begin to see evidence of God and the kingdom of God, God gives you even more experiences of God and the kingdom. On the other hand, when you and I are distracted and are focused on the wrong things, it’s like the Spirit of God in us is taken away. When we’re “tuned in” and on the lookout for God, we begin to see God everywhere, and we become more grateful, and that gratitude begets more instances of seeing and experiencing God. When we’re “tuned out”, cynical, distracted, complaining that God is not around, we see all sorts of other things, but usually we don’t see God.

The spiritual life is about paying attention. To pay attention, we must create some space and – yes – even some silence, so that we can listen, see, and understand. If we create this space with silence, then we will be blessed – just as Jesus’ disciples were blessed. Our eyes will be blessed because they see – we’ll see God, see our loved ones, and see ourselves. Our ears will be blessed because they hear – we’ll hear God’s voice, hear our loved ones, and hear ourselves. Our hearts will be blessed, because they understand – we’ll comprehend more about God and our loved ones and ourselves.

Today, how is your seeing? How is your hearing? How is your understanding? Let us pray for the grace, the patience, and the focus to see, to hear, and to understand.

51Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ 55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
The Christian Hope as a Motivator

Most people know that 1 Corinthians 13 – “the love chapter” – is one of the great (and most beautiful) chapters of the Bible. Most of us know that these inspiring words of Paul’s are often read at weddings. But we should not close the Bible after reading this chapter! There are three more chapters in 1 Corinthians, and another great chapter in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 15. For 58 verses, Paul writes about the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the resurrection body. This is really good stuff – stuff that is at the core of our Christian faith and our Christian hope. And… Paul’s words are so inspiring here that portions of this chapter are often read at funerals. I implore you to take some time to read and reflect on this chapter. Here’s a sample (in addition to what you see quoted above): “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

All will be made alive in Christ. That is the Christian hope, or at least a huge part of it. In The Book of Common Prayer, we read this: “The Christian hope is to live with confidence [literally, “with faith”] in newness and fullness of life, and to await the coming of Christ in glory, and the completion of God’s purpose for the world.” We go on to read: “… God will raise us from death in the fullness of our being, that we may live with Christ in the communion of the saints… Our assurance as Christians is that nothing, not even death, shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (cf. Romans 8:38-39) (The Catechism, pp. 861-862)

Or, to put it in another way, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1 Cor. 15:54, where Paul is quoting Isaiah 25:8)
By now, hopefully you are asking the most important question anyone can ask when reading the Bible: So what?

So what? Well, if death has been swallowed up in victory – if we shall be raised because Christ has been raised – then death no longer has dominion over us. We are free! In fact, those who have faith in Christ are given new life now. For believers, eternal life with God begins not when we die, but from the moment we first believe!

This, then, becomes a great source of motivation for our lives, it seems to me. Isn’t this what Paul means when he writes – after writing “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” – “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord…” (verse 58, above)

Because we have eternal life now, because we are given back our lives again after we die, we are free to serve God… with joy and gratitude, with love and energy, and – in the long run – without fear. Because if death has been conquered, if death has lost its sting, what is there, really, to fear? We can be steadfast (steadily faithful), immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord.

Thank you for being steadfast. Thank you for being immovable. Thank you for excelling in the work of the Lord. Remember: Death has been swallowed up in victory! Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Honesty and Saying What We Are Feeling

INTRODUCTION – The Pharisees’ approach to Jesus

Many people – I, myself, being one of them – have preached on the text, “Give to the emperor [Caesar] the things that are the emperor’s [Caesar’s], and to God the things that are God’s.” I’m not going to do that today. What I am going to do is to look at the interaction between Jesus and the Herodians and the disciples of the Pharisees that led up to Jesus saying those words.

What does Matthew tell us? He begins, “The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.” Here’s the plan they came up with: We will ask him whether it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not. Either way he’ll get himself in trouble! If he says “yes it is”, all the leading rabbis and other respected leaders will be offended and say, “Look! He’s telling us to obey an oppressive, foreign power!” And then they would drum up more animosity towards him. On the other hand, if he says, “no, it’s not legal”, then we can spread the word that he is advocating rebellion against the Roman government.

Notice what they do after they hatch the plan. The leading Pharisees didn’t go to Jesus. They sent their disciples and the supporters of Herod to him. And those fellows start by putting on a sweet voice. “Teacher [rabbi], we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth…”

Then they show their hand a little bit. “… and show deference to no one…” – i.e., you don’t yield to the opinions of other religious leaders – “… for you do not regard people with partiality.” You’d think they might see that as a positive trait, but given their earlier reactions to Jesus hanging out with the “wrong” crowd, probably not. And then they ask the question that they hope will lead Jesus to seal his own fate. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

Matthew then writes: “But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?’”

A DIFFERENT POSSIBILITY

Let’s stop the scene right there for a moment – Cut! Cut! – and allow for a do-over.

What do you suppose the Pharisees and the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians were really feeling? What was really going on for them? (Wait for answers) Were they scared? Mad? Sad? Maybe a combination of all three?

How might they have presented that in a more authentic, honest way? Instead of what they did, what could they have said to Jesus once they approached him? Perhaps it would have sounded like this:

“Rabbi, we know that you are sincere… but we are scared out of our minds by what you are saying and doing! It feels like the bedrock of our faith is being attacked and we are scared because you seem to be saying that none of the old rules apply, and yet, we see you healing people right and left! We’re scared out of our minds, Jesus! Since you came on the scene, we are not sure what to believe about God, or how to practice our faith!”

And here’s my other question: Given what you know about Jesus from the Gospels, and from your own experience of him, how do you think he would have responded if they would have come to him in this way? Would he still have called them “hypocrites”? I don’t think there’s even a remote chance he would called them that, because they wouldn’t have been hypocrites. They would have been honest with themselves and honest with him. They would have been “in alignment”, their words matching what was going on for them on the inside. Another way of saying that: They would have been in integrity, which is the exact opposite of being a hypocrite.

What do you think Jesus would have said if they would have come to him and said, “What you are doing and saying is scaring us out of our minds and we don’t know what to do!”

Do you think there would have been a compassionate response coming from Jesus? Do you think the conversation would have gone in a whole different way? Yeah, so do I.

OUR BEHAVIOR

Sometimes when you and I have feelings come up, we do pretty much the same thing that the Pharisees and the Herodians did. The problem, you see, is not the feelings that come up for us. Those are just God-given feelings. The problem, sometimes at least, is what we do with those feelings.

When you are faced with a situation where there is a change in how things are done…
• the music in church is not what you are used to
• the priest or Vestry come up with the idea that we will allow homeless people to sleep in the church
• you are not at all happy with the direction in which the Episcopal Church is going…

What is the core feeling you have when you are faced with something that is a change from what you have been used to? I’m not talking about your opinions. I’m talking about the core feeling you have inside when there is a change.

(Wait for answers)

All you who go, “Yea! Yippee there’s a change!” – raise your hand.

Those of you who didn’t raise your hand, what is your feeling?

The problem wasn’t that the Pharisees were scared. The problem was what they did with that feeling. And what they did was turn their fear into criticism. They turned their fear into a plan for entrapping Jesus. They turned it into an attack.

Rather than being with their fear and discomfort… rather that expressing that fear… they looked to obliterate the person who stirred them up in the first place. We can do that with each other. We can do that with our family members. We can do that at work. We can do it with our fellow church members.

It’s the old “I am scared! You are bad!” model. Sometimes we would much rather focus on how you are bad than on how I am scared.

Ultimately, it was this model that led to Jesus being crucified. And it is this model that sometimes leads to separation, alienation, and estrangement in our own relationships.

NEW BEHAVIOR

The one whom they sought to entrap was the one who had the most to teach them about how to love and be authentic in the midst of our relationships, even when those relationships enter into a conflicted place. When he didn’t answer their question in the way that he thought he would, when he didn’t fall into their trap, they were amazed. According to Matthew, “they left him and went away.”

It was a moment of great opportunity, for everything you and I go through in life is an opportunity for learning.

Did some of them come back the next day and say, “Rabbi, I’m confused and still scared! Can we talk for a little while?” Perhaps a few of them did. But clearly a number of the scribes and Pharisees stayed reactive, and continued to look for opportunities to “get” Jesus, until they got him.

Sometimes we get so invested in “being right” that we don’t stop pursuing being vindicated until there is no longer any relationship left. There is another option, of course – the option that Jesus came to reveal, and that is the path of authenticity and transformation and love.

It looks like expressing what is true, in a loving way. It looks like – first and foremost – being committed to your own growth and transformation, and losing interest in blaming and criticizing others. It looks like wanting what is best for the other, as well as wanting what is best for yourself.

The Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees could have pursued that path, in the same way that you and I can. Because Someone has come who is the way, the truth, and the life. Someone has come to guide us and to lead us into all truth. Someone has come to save us from ourselves. Someone has come who loves us just as we are, and also leads us into all that God imagines we can be.

CONCLUSION

Transformation always begins with taking one step, and in certain situations – especially situations where change is occurring – the first step is just naming what is going on inside of us. “Lord, I’m scared. Lord, I’m sad. Lord, I’m angry. Lord, I’m so happy I think I’m going to bust!” Jesus meets us right there – wherever we are, with whatever feeling we are having in the moment – and says, “Let’s go for a walk together.” And if we give our consent to going on that walk with Him, there is no telling what will unfold in our lives.

I know this, though: In the long run, it’s going to be good!

I

18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; 19nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

26“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Say What?

I returned Monday night from an 8-day Credo conference in the mountains of western North Carolina. Credo conferences are put on by the Pension Fund of the Episcopal Church, and give clergy an opportunity to stop, reflect, and make new goals in five different areas of life – spiritual, vocational, financial, relational, and our mental/physical health. It was a perfect time to be in North Carolina. The leaves began to change as we arrived, and by the end of the conference, we were seeing a great spectrum of fall colors – reds, yellows, oranges, orangish-yellows, and browns amidst the greens. It was also wonderful to connect with 25 other priests from around the country, including my seminary classmate Sam, whom I had not see since we graduated 20 years ago.

As the conference progressed, I noticed an old familiar pattern re-emerging for me: you might call it my persona of being “the quiet one.” This persona goes all the way back to my childhood. I am the youngest of four children, growing up with three talkative older sisters, and I was always rather shy in school. In fact, while I was in seminary – by then in my 30’s – I had some days when I absolutely struggled with courses where part of the grade was based on class participation. I used to watch the minutes in a class go by, and then watch the weeks in a semester go by, and the pressure tended to build up inside of me. Will I say something today? If you have ever wrestled with this issue, you probably know that this internal “pressure cooker” does not make it easier to speak up. How can I relax into just “being me” when I am putting all this pressure on myself to say something? And not just something, but something meaningful or profound? You might say to me, “Peter, you sure chose an interesting vocation, given this struggle.” Yup. Anyway, as I met some of my colleagues (and rekindled an old friendship, in the case of Sam), I was aware – once again – of being referred to as one of the quiet ones at the conference.

We have two lessons in the daily lectionary today that have something to do with speaking up. Paul was writing to the Corinthians, who thought that the gift of speaking in tongues was the “bee’s-knees” gift – a gift that made them super-Christians. The problem, Paul says rather bluntly, is that half the people in the community – and especially visitors – don’t have a clue what you’re talking about when you speak in a tongue. So, he says, I would rather speak five clear words in order to instruct others, than 10,000 words in a tongue.
And Jesus, even more on target for my “quiet one” persona, says, in effect, “Don’t be afraid to speak up and share the good news! Be more afraid of what God can do to you than of what other people can do to you!” He continues, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.” (verse 27 above) In other words, “Go for it! Share the good news! Messiah has come! The kingdom of God has come near!”

As was made very evident to me again this past week, I still have times when I am the quiet one, still have times when I get self-conscious about being quiet, still have times when I struggle with what to say. (Given my struggles in this area, it’s probably no accident that I like to write so much.) But I do have things to say, and for twenty years now – with a lot of strength and help from my Lord – I’ve been proclaiming them. In case you haven’t been listening, or need to hear them again, here are a few of those proclamations:

You are the beloved of God. God is absolutely crazy about you, and that was true before you were born, and before you did anything!

You are a very important part of the body of Christ. Without you, the body is missing something. Without you offering your God-given gifts, the body of Christ is missing something. So… offer your gifts for the good of the body… and for the good of the world.

It’s pretty much all grace – that’s the gospel. All the things we like to refer to as “mine” or “ours” aren’t really mine or ours. All that we we have – family, friends, health, citizenship, money, possessions, rights – originates in God, and the only response that makes any sense really, if you think about it for more than five minutes, is a response of gratitude and wonder. Gratitude, as in: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord. You are absolutely awesome!” Wonder, as in: How can I take all this that God has given me and give it back in a way that makes the world a better place, in a way that helps establish the kingdom of God?

Jesus came to transform you and me, and the main transformation he is inviting us into is to become better lovers – better lovers of God, better lovers of our friends and neighbors, better lovers or our enemies, and yes, better lovers of of ourselves. This is a lifetime transformation project, but it’s the right project, a totally worthwhile project, because as we learn how to love, we become more fully alive and more whole human beings.

These are the things I have to proclaim. (It’s more than five words, I realize.) What about you? What do you have to say? What can you not keep quiet about? How will you proclaim those things – “from the housetops” – today?

Forgetting Whose We Are

INTRODUCTION – My “new” car

I bought a “new” car this past week. It’s my mid-life crisis sports car: a five-on-the-floor Honda Civic that will do 0-60 in about five minutes! Did I mention it’s a 1989, which means it was a brand new car when I was in seminary and Julia and I had been married for two years, which also means that it is older than Zach and Hannah. It’s also the second cheapest car I’ve ever bought, the cheapest being a 1975 Buick Regal – also red – that I bought from my parents’ former next-door-neighbors when those neighbors were in their 90’s and finally gave up driving. That car was a monster gas-guzzler and absolutely terrible in the snow, but it only cost me $1, in addition to buying Frank and Julia Shoemaker a fish sandwich and a shake at McDonald’s – the lunch they requested at the time.

I have a feeling this car is going to help me to stay humble. :<)

I’m clearly going in the wrong direction. My previous car was a 2000 Honda CRV, which I’m letting Zach drive for the time being, mainly because it has air bags. But I’m 54, for heaven’s sake. By now I should at least be driving a newer-model Prius or Acura or maybe even a Lexus, don’t you think? But hey, my new sports car is already paid for, gets over 30 miles per gallon, and it only has to last me until Zach is out of college, but being that it’s a Honda – who knows? I may have it longer than that.

(But you know I deserve a Prius or an Acura or a Lexus of maybe a lower-end BMW, right? Let’s just be clear about that. I have a law degree, after all.)

SITUATION – A historical parable

The parable we just heard read is like some of the other parables in the Bible. On some levels, it just doesn’t work, because it doesn’t make any sense. For example #1, why would the landowner keep sending more slaves to be stoned and killed after the tenants stoned and killed the first group? And after the second group of slaves was stoned and killed, why, oh why, would he think to himself, “Okay, I’ll send my son this time. They will respect my son.” And then they killed him, too. For example #2, why would the tenants think they would get the son’s inheritance after they killed him? Even if you’ve never been in law school you know that this isn’t how it works! The killers of an heir don’t get to cash in on what the heir would have gotten. None of this makes sense on a logical level.

But Jesus is the one telling this story, so maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was trying to make a point. And he was. He was telling a story about what had happened over the past few centuries, what was happening now, and what was about to happen – to him.

For you see, the landowner is God in this story, and the vineyard would have been a well-known symbol to his listeners, for many times in the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament), a vineyard had been the metaphor of choice for the Hebrew people – the nation of Israel. And in this particular story, the tenants are the Jewish leaders, both past and present. And the slaves who come to collect the fruit of the vineyard are probably Israelite prophets, past and present. The leaders of Israel – both past and present – have been ignoring the warnings of the prophets, and doing even more than that… threatening them, stoning them, and even killing them. And so now God, finally, is sending his Son, because the prophets have been ignored, and God believes that his Son will finally break through to the people of Israel. But many in Israel, especially the religious leaders, have been offended by the Son, and now the Son is telling the story of what will soon happen to him. They will seize him, throw him out of the vineyard (march him outside the walls of Jerusalem), and kill him. Jesus goes on to predict that the tenants will be put to a miserable death – probably foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. – and God will lease the vineyard to other tenants, probably a reference to early believing Christians, especially early non-Jewish Christians.

COMPLICATION – What does this have to do with us?

What does this parable that Jesus told have to do with us? Well, The leaders of Israel and sometimes pretty much the whole nation of Israel forgot who they were. They didn’t treat the poor among them with respect. They didn’t heed the warnings of the prophets that they hadn’t been faithful to God, and had gone after false gods. Sometimes they acted as if they would be “God’s favorites”, no matter what they did. Perhaps we can sum their actions up in two ways:

1) They got carried away with what belonged to them, instead of remembering to whom they belonged.
2) Even even when they remembered that they were God’s own people, they began to think that only they belonged to God. They forgot that God was calling them to be a light to the nations, to remind everyone of the original state of affairs – that all people in the world belonged to God.

Aren’t these the two biggest sins that we fall into as a nation, too?

Sometimes we get so obsessed with upward mobility and ownership and thinking that we should have even more than we do, that we miss the bigger picture – that we belong to God, that all things originate in God and that – ultimately – we are not the owners of anything.

You and I like to speak of “my” children, “my” house, “my” church, “my” religion, “my” spirituality, “my” car, “my” money – even “my” rights, “my” time, and “my” life – but all these people, all these possessions, all these affiliations, all these rights and privileges… originate in God. And when we forget this, things get out of whack. We, in effect, make other things god, or make ourselves god, but the truth is there is only one God, and it ain’t us!

This is the sin of pride.

And the second sin is like it: We remember we are God’s, but then, before long, we start to think that we have a monopoly on the truth. Only my religion… or maybe only my denomination… or maybe only my local church has the pathway to salvation… or… if you take this line of thinking to its logical conclusion… only I (or a very small group of us) will be saved.

This is the sin of exclusivity, or you might call it the sin of “playing the judge”, which – according to Jesus – is not our role, at all – period.

GOOD NEWS – Is there any?

Is there any good news here? Well, of course there is – there always is, for God always in inviting us return to Him. (This habit of God’s is, in fact, part of the good news!) There is always an opportunity to “come to our senses” and remember the deepest truths of all – that we are not our own, that we belong to God, and that God loves us and believes in us so much that He gives us responsibilities, namely:

• to look after the earth and all of God’s creation
• to rejoice in being God’s people
• to love God with all of our being
• to love others (including friends and enemies)
• to love ourselves

Everything else that we once held so dear – pursuing upward mobility, comparing ourselves to others so I can feel better (or worse), the adrenaline rush that goes with “being right”, seeing others as “the enemy”, being convinced that we know what is going to happen to everyone else – this stuff all falls by the wayside once we know Christ and know – without any doubt – that we are the beloved of God.

Paul, who had better credentials – on paper and probably in behavior, too – than any of us, said that he considered all those credentials, all these “gains”, all this upward mobility of his former years as “loss” because of the “surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” In other words, he had experienced a transformation so deep that all that former stuff he now regarded as rubbish or garbage, or, literally – shit. (Philippians 3:8)

CONCLUSION

Some people might look at my car and wonder, “What kind of piece of crap is that guy driving?” But you know what? I’m kind of enjoying my new red sports car. It gets me from point A to point B, I hear it is dynamite in snow, it gets better mileage than my old car, and – hey – I don’t have a car payment!

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God cares about me. I’m not too sure God cares about what kind of car I drive. What he does care about is that I remember that everything – heaven and earth, “my” family, “my” job, “my” friends, “my” car, “my” church, any money I have in “my” wallet or “my” bank account, “my” dog, “my” rights, “my” time, “my” life – all of it – originates in Him.

When you and I remember that, every other thing in our lives has a way of falling into its proper place.

7“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
Asking for Good Things

God is not a fairy godmother. By that I mean, we aren’t called into a relationship with God through Christ just so that we can say “gimme this, gimme that, gimme some more!” Ultimately, Christ is calling us to transformation, and most of that transformation has to do with learning how to love God, learning how to love our neighbors, learning how to love our enemies, learning how to love our own family members, and – yes – learning how to love ourselves. To learn all this, we need to commit our way to Christ, and keep recommitting, for it a life-long learning. And the really good news, of course, is that there is grace. To put that in another way, God is generous, and wants to help us along in the transformation process. God, in fact, is super-generous! If you forget this, just pull out a sheet of paper tonight before you go to bed, and take 5 minutes to write down all the things that you are grateful for. My predictions: 1) You will generate a rather lengthy list. 2) You will see that God has a lot to do with everything that is on that list.

The words of Jesus above, from the Sermon on the Mount, emphasize this essential trait of God’s character. God is generous. This isn’t a once-in-a-while thing that God does. This is part of God’s essence. GOD IS GENEROUS. We could add: God is good. The two traits go hand-in-hand. “If you then, who are evil [i.e., sinful people who “miss the mark”, who aren’t perfect like God], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11, emphasis mine) It’s a comparison and a statement: (i.e., there’s no question about it!) You give good gifts to your children. God, being God, is way, way, way more generous than you are. Jesus is basically saying, “It’s a fact! God is way more generous than you are! So ask him for what you want!”

There isn’t even much of a qualifier here about what we can ask God for, although Jesus does say “how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” God can’t wait to give us good things.

So… what “good things” do you want to ask God for?

Do you want to ask for wisdom, like King Solomon did?

Do you want to ask for a job that you totally enjoy, that allows you to use all your gifts while you are of service to the world?

Do you want to ask God to help you change your relationship to money, so that life – and perhaps giving, too – is not such a struggle?

Do you want to learn how to work through conflict in more life-transforming ways, and not be such an “avoider” when it comes to conflict?

Do want to be able to identify and express your emotions, so that you can be a more complete human being?

Do you want to find a partner and enter into a life-long relationship where the two of you love each other, support each other, and help each other become all that God wants you to be?

Do you want a better car, because yours is dying, unreliable, and you’ve been as frugal as you can be for a long time, but now it’s truly time for a better car?

Do you want to learn how to live out the “Golden Rule”? (verse 12, above)

Do you want to travel and see the world more?

So… ASK GOD FOR IT ALREADY!

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

It’s quite a promise, isn’t it? What Jesus is saying is that God is generous, and God wants to give good things to you and me. God can’t wait to give good things to you and me! So ask, already!

38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Shifting the Accepted Paradigm Takes Time

“Don’t just stand there! Fight back!”
“If you are sued, counter-sue!”
“Don’t let anyone force you to do anything.”
“Don’t give to a beggar. It only fosters more dependency and makes them lazy.”
“Kill (and demonize) the enemy!”
“Pray for your family and friends.”
“Love your family and friends and fellow citizens. Charity begins at home.”
“Nobody’s perfect!”

These are common expressions that all of us have heard many times – either explicitly or implicitly. If you don’t think that the teachings of Jesus contrast with the messages of the culture, think again. Or re-read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5-7).

As opposed to the advice above, Jesus says:

“Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…”
“… if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well…”
“… if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”
“Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

These are very different commands from the ones we hear every day in our culture. That’s because Jesus has a very different paradigm in mind: Love as your heavenly Father loves. Love – no matter what it costs you.

Most big paradigm shifts take a long while to take hold. REALLY BIG paradigm shifts take a very long time to take hold, I suppose. “Love as your heavenly Father loves” is one of those really big paradigm shifts. When you and I look around… when you and I look at ourselves… we must admit that Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is a long way from being implemented – almost 2,000 years after he said these words.

That doesn’t mean that his words are irrelevant. (For Christians, Jesus’ words can never be irrelevant!) And it doesn’t mean that we should give up in our efforts to live up to them. For they are literally life-giving words, while many of the other messages we hear in our culture our life-destroying.

Perhaps the really good news in all of this is that God is really patient with us! Again, that’s an aspect of the way our heavenly Father loves us – with a whole lot of patience, and that great Biblical word… steadfastness. When we don’t love in the way that Jesus commands us to love in the Sermon on the Mount, we must be patient with ourselves, love ourselves… and try again. For this is what it means to be steadfast. And this is what it means to be faithful.

And perhaps one day – in the same way that a huge ship can be slowly turned around – the paradigm will finally shift, and we will learn how to love each other as God loves us. In the meantime, let us keep praying for God’s grace to help us, and let us keep trying to love as God loves… the next time we are hit or verbally assaulted, the next time we create an enemy, the next time we encounter a beggar, the next time someone absolutely insists we do something that we don’t want to do.

Key Moments of Faithfulness (Or Not)

INTRODUCTION – Israel at the Red Sea

Imagine for a moment you are a member of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, living in slavery in Egypt, about 3,300 year ago. Moses has been interceding on behalf of all of you, and Pharaoh has been stubbornly refusing to let you leave the country, despite Yahweh bringing nine awful plagues on the land of Egypt. You have just observed the first-ever Passover, and Pharaoh has finally relented and agreed to let you go – after the tenth and final plague, the killing of the firstborn (both humans and livestock), your people being spared by following the instructions of Yahweh and placing some of the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of your homes, so that the Lord could pass over you.

You are suddenly being led by the glory of God, which is a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. You are camped by the Red Sea, and you are not sure why, because it strikes you that you wouldn’t have anywhere to go if Pharaoh decided to pursue you with his armies. And then word begins to spread through the crowds that Pharaoh and his army are indeed coming. He has changed his mind, and doesn’t want to let the people of Israel go anymore. Hundreds of chariots, the chariot drivers, and his army – you see them all approaching. In great fear you cry out to the Lord and you say to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” (Exodus 14:11) And you hear Moss reply, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” (Ex. 14:13)

And then the pillar of cloud moved behind your people – between you and the Egyptians – so that they did not come near you all night. And during the night, Moses stretched out his staff, and stretched out his hand over the sea, as the Lord had commanded. And a strong east wind blew all night and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. And Moses says to you and all of your people, “We’re going across. Let’s go.”

What do you do? Well… what are you options?

You could turn back toward the Egyptians and beg for mercy.
You could freeze right where you are and keep complaining to God and to Moses.
You could kill yourself, perhaps.
You could try to hide somewhere and hope the Egyptians don’t find you.
Or you can step onto the sand that a few hours had been a sea.

This is a key moment for Israel. But it is also a decisive moment for you in your journey with God. What do you do?

SITUATION – We all have key moments of decision

Though you and I have never been faced with this particular decision, we have had similar moments in our lives.

We or someone close to us gets seriously ill. We lose a job. We wake up one morning, as we all did 10 years ago today, and get the horrible news that evil men have hijacked planes and attacked our country, killing many people who are just like us – husbands, wives, dads, moms, granddads and grandmas, close friends. We go through a heart-wrenching divorce, or a loved one dies and we enter into the wilderness of grieving and loss. We are unfairly attacked, or we have a huge fallout with a friend.

These are key moments in our lives, key moments of decision, really – moments when, depending on what we decide to do, our lives can go in very different directions. It is at times like these that you and I can and do ask some really big questions.

Where is God? Or perhaps… Is God real?
Why is this happening to me/us? Or perhaps… God, why did you allow this to happen?
Is God really here with me/us right now?
Is God for me? Does God care about me?
And maybe… God, do you really care about what I do, about how I treat others, about whether I forgive this person or not? (Do you really expect me to forgive another member of the church as many as 77 times?)

COMPLICATION

When bad things happen to us, one way we can look at it is to believe that God’s judgment is coming down on us. And sometimes we do look at it that way. “… it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (Ex. 14:12) Why are you punishing us, Lord?

But there is another way to look at these times, and that is as key moments – not of God’s judgment – but of our own. What judgments will we make during these times of adversity? Namely, will we still act as if God is with us, that God is for us, and that God cares about us – especially in this time of adversity?

We will take the next step forward, however uncertain the footing might seem, and even when it seems a whole army of foes is surrounding us?

I think about tumultuous times that I had in law school, times when I was really lonely when I lived overseas, going through the death of each of my parents, challenging times with a sister who has struggled with mental illness… and how angry and shocked and helpless I felt on this morning 10 years ago, when my children – in 5th and 2nd grades at the time – had just gone off to start another day of school.

Will we have faith at such moments? Will we keep trusting in the God who has been there for us so many times before? Or will we act as if God is not there for us this time, and want to take the advice of Job’s wife, and curse God and die? (Job 2:9) Or will we say with Job, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?”

PAUL’S PERSPECTIVE

Paul, who knew all sorts of trials and hardships after he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, wrote this: “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:7-9)

And that my friends, is a perspective that can and will bring you through anything. If you know that God is so present to the world and to you personally that you are not your own… if you know that your entire identity is bound up in who God is, that the deepest, truest thing about you is that you are the beloved of God, then – no matter what happens to you… you can step out in faith. Even if what you are stepping into is death, you can step into that, too, if you know that you do not die alone… you to not die to yourself.

NEW BEHAVIOR

That’s what the Israelites learned, and that’s what Paul learned. That indeed God was always faithful, always there, always for them, always loving, and that they were the Lord’s. You I can learn that same truth if we pay attention and notice that God keeps showing up and loving us, in the midst of the joys and sorrows of our lives. Not despite our joys and sorrows, but in the midst of them.

You and I can look back, then, especially at these decisive moments – the moments of challenge – and say, “I made a judgment call right there. I chose God in that moment, and God certainly didn’t let me down. God was there. God was faithful.” And like the Israelites… like Paul, we too can say, “That was a transformational moment in my life. That was one of the times when I grew in faith, because I bet it all that God was for me – even when others might have questioned whether God was for me – and God indeed led me through… in the same way that the Jews were led through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land.”

And our memories of God proving to be faithful, time after time, make it easier to trust in Him the next time a huge challenge comes our way. We might even be heard to say, “Okay, Lord, I’m putting all my trust in You. You haven’t let me down before. This feels like more than I can bear, and the only way I can make it through is with your help – again.” We take that next step in faith, whatever it is, and God leads us from there.

CONCLUSION
In the end, we don’t live to ourselves. We live – and die – to the Lord. But I can’t make that call for you. That is a judgment call that you have to make for yourself.

3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

Humility and Love

The word humble comes from a Latin root humilis, meaning low or small, and is akin to another root, humus, meaning soil or earth. A humble person does not have an overly lofty or inflated view of himself, but is “down to earth”. Jesus made the ultimate “down to earth” move. Though he was “in the form of God” and indeed knew “equality with God”, as we read in verse 6 above, he emptied himself and was born into the world. This is the mystery of the Incarnation that we Christians proclaim: God took on our humanity. Jesus consented to this downward move out of love for all of humanity.

There is a huge contrast here with the more normal human striving to go to the higher place, with our desire for upward mobility. Get a better job, a better car, a better house, go to the finest university – this is so much a part of our cultural thinking that it is often not questioned. Sometimes you hear about people “down-sizing” (usually after the children leave home). Sometimes you hear folks say, “I am committed to living a life of simplicity.” How often do you hear a wealthy person say “I have plenty to live on and I am so blessed that I can give most of my wealth away to others who are in need”?

What Jesus models for us in downward mobility. That does not mean that he didn’t use the gifts that he had at his disposal, which were many! (Being humble doesn’t mean denying the gifts that you have, or hiding your light under a bushel basket.) Again, it means being down to earth, and Jesus was as down to earth as anyone who ever lived, because he had the ability to hang out with anyone, and make all those around him know that they were the beloved of God.

Jesus’ humility was inextricably woven together with love. He came down to earth – out of love. He hung out with sinners and tax collectors – out of love. He healed folks – out of love. He taught them about the kingdom of God – out of love. He refused to raise an army or carry any weapons or retaliate when he was mocked and abused – out of love. He went up on the mountain to pray, early in the morning while it was still dark – out of love. He sent his disciples out into the world – out of love. And it wasn’t until he was finished with this life – a very down-to-earth life – that he ascended into heaven, to once again sit at the right hand of God the Father. He never exalted himself. He let his heavenly Father do the exalting, and thus he lived out the words he preached. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)

He is our example… of everything that God wants us to be. But he is especially our example of a certain down-to-earth-ness that is totally infused with love.

Lord, help us, by your grace, to be as down to earth as you were. And help us, by your grace, to be as loving as you are. Amen.

Conflict: Taking That First Step

INTRODUCTION – “Where two or three are gathered in my name…”

I have heard many people quote the last part of today’s Gospel lesson over the years, even people who don’t normally quote scripture. I have even quoted it myself. It is quoted because it is comforting. Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20) When we, the faithful, gather – even as a twosome or a threesome – Jesus is there among us. I believe that.

But here’s the thing: Scripture verses always have a context, and sometimes you and I forget the context of the passage, often to our detriment. No faithful Jew would forget the context of the passage in Exodus 12 about eating the passover meal. The context was their oppression in Egypt, and the eve of God leading them out of Egypt, to be free.

So what is the context of this “where two or three are gathered” passage? It’s a passage about conflict. It’s a passage about when another member of the church has sinned against you or me, and what we ought to do when that happens. And if you need a reminder of the original meaning of the word “sin”, it meant to “miss the mark”, as when an archer misses a target with an arrow. When you and I fall short of the target in our relationships, when we fall short of the standard that God calls us to – which is love – then we have “missed the mark”. We have sinned.

And in this passage from Matthew, Jesus tells us what to do when another member of the church sins against us. First, he says go and “point out the fault” when the two of you are alone. If you are not listened to, he says, go back to your brother or sister with one or two others, as witnesses. And if the person doesn’t listen then, tell it to the church, and if the offender still doesn’t listen, let that one be to you “as a Gentile and a tax collector” – an outsider, in other words.

The fact that Jesus gave his disciples these instructions illustrates what we all know, that conflict happens… and sin – missing the mark – happens. The issue is not whether or not you and I are going to get into conflict, or whether or not you and I are going to offend each other. The issue is what do we do when this happens… how do we work through our conflicts… what do we do when someone sins against us?

We talked in our lectio group last week about how the latter steps Jesus mentions seem quite harsh, like pronouncing some sort of final judgment on a fellow church member. But here’s what struck me this time about the steps that Jesus mentions. I sometimes skip step one!

SITUATION – Conflict happens, and we avoid…

What do I mean? Well… a conflict happens, someone has “sinned” against me, or maybe no one has sinned against me but I sense that something isn’t right in the relationship, that something has shifted and there is tension between us and I think to myself, “I need to go talk to _________”, and I over-think what could happen, and I get scared inside, and I override the impulse – an impulse that is usually from God – to get together with the other person – and I put it off the meeting, I put off the conversation.

Can you relate? Does this ever happen to you?

It is called conflict-avoidant behavior. Most people that I know do not like conflict. Most of us have experience with avoiding conflict. Some of us have a strong preference for avoiding conflict, in fact.

But here’s another thing: When we avoid having the conversation with the offender, or with the person who we realize we have some tension with, something else tends to happen. We talk to someone else about what has happened. There’s a “leak in the system”, you might say. Rather than adopting Jesus’ first step and having a 1:1 with the actual person, there is a tendency to talk about him or her with someone else. And often the other person is doing the same thing.

And then we have gossip going on – we’re talking about each other without talking to each other, and things have not been settled between us. In fact, things are now “on the loose”, as Erin Russek said in our discussion last week. I’m not exactly sure if this is what Jesus meant when he said, “… whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”, but this is the impact of our actions.

When we get together with the other person, and listen to each other, things often get worked out. That’s the truth. We don’t need to go to “step 3” or “step 4” of Jesus’ instructions, and probably 95% of the time we don’t even need to go to “step 2”, where we bring in another person or two, because when we have the 1:1 conversation in the beginning, and Jesus is among us, and we remember that, and pray for God’s wisdom and love to be with us, whatever the “sin” was, it tends to be forgiven, and whatever the conflict was, it tends to be resolved – simply because we did the work of getting together and listening to each other, in a mutually loving way.

The issue gets resolved and it is bound. Again, as Erin said, it doesn’t go anywhere else, because both parties feel resolved about the issue, it’s done, and they can move on, so there is no need to keep the conflict going. It’s bound.

BUT WHEN YOU AND I SKIP STEP 1, the conflict, the nervous energy, the wondering about what might happen, the mulling over in our minds the little details of what happened – over and over again… ALL OF THAT is on the loose, and before long, other people are being told what happened, and then it is REALLY on the loose and develops a life of its own, because then the two original people don’t have any control over what the other people who heard about the conflict will do with it. And then it becomes like that old game “telephone”, where the story gets changed as it is passed along, and usually not for the better!

When the difficult things that are going on between you and me are not talked about, when there is not the expression to match our experience, but instead, there is withholding going on, what that creates is distance between you and me. When you and I withhold, you start looking different to me, and I start looking different to you, and all that withholding creates distance between us. What breaks that cycle is you and me talking to each other, listening to each other – in a spirit of mutual respect and love, which can happen when we remember that God is with us.

All that I am talking about today happens in marriage or any close relationship. Julia or I will initiate a conversation with each other. The opening words will often be, “There’s something I need to talk to you about….” or, “I realize I’ve been withholding something…”, and we express it. Almost from the moment that one of us does that, we begin to move to a better place. It may not feel that way right away, but as we keep listening to each other, there is something inside of me that says, “We’re talking about this… and that’s really good that we’re talking about it.” And my anxiety begins to go down, and hers, too. And then there is the checking in part, where sometimes – if we’re not sure – one of us, toward the end of the conversation, will say, “Does it feel like we’re done?” Or, said in another way, “Does this feel resolved to you?” For what is true is the issue isn’t resolved until it feels resolved for both of us. And that means sometimes the conversation is re-opened a little while later, for if one of us needs more clarification, or needs to ask a question or share something else, then it’s not bound yet, because clearly we’re still chewing on something.

But when it gets fully resolved, there is a peace, there is a sense of reconciliation and often deeper understanding on both sides – not just deeper understanding about the presenting issue, which is probably the least significant thing in the end. But deeper understanding (and often, deeper love) for the other person, and deeper understanding about my myself (and often, deeper love for myself). There – right there! – is the payoff for having gone to talk directly to the other person: deeper connection, deeper understanding, deeper love for the other, and maybe for myself, too.

And the very good news is that when the two of us gather together in Jesus’ name – to work through the conflict, as he taught us to do – then He is there among us, and not just as a silent observer, but actually as One who helps guide us to the place of understanding and reconciliation and deeper love.

The bad news is that you and I often let our fear become a destination, rather than a feeling that we work through, and when we do that, we skip step one of Jesus’ instructions, and nothing good can happen, and – a lot of bad things can happen to make everything worse.

CONCLUSION

One of the key ways that you and I – and all of us – stay connected to each other, and deepen our relationships with each other, is by expressing in this direct way to each other. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying that you and I won’t be scared to enter into these conversations. But it does get easier, as with all things in life, when we practice. And when we can remember that God is with us, in the midst of our conflicts, to guide us and love us, and teach us how to adopt a spirit of love as we listen and learn, then amazing things can happen.

7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.

3Then the chief priests accused him of many things. 4Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

“Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone…” (From the Confession, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 360)

A Reminder About Our Words

Words are crucial to my vocation as a priest. I am called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ (who is the Word of God), to declare God’s forgiveness to those who are penitent, to pronounce God’s blessing, to preach of God’s grace and love, to remind the people of God that they are the beloved of God. All this suggests that I must pay careful attention to the words that I say.

But isn’t that really true for all of us?

James had seen – as all of us have – the damage that words can do. No one can tame the tongue, he writes. It is a “restless evil, full of deadly poison.” With it we bless the Lord AND curse those who are made in the likeness of God. “This ought not to be so,” he says.

Jesus, just before he is condemned to death, is asked by Pilate to answer the charges against him. In the moment when he could make a major defense of himself, Jesus says nothing, and Pilate cannot believe it.

Words are powerful. You and I know this, and our children know this. How many times have your children come home from school and been upset – sometimes very upset – by something that someone said? How many times have we seen how our own words can deeply hurt others? And how many times have you and I chosen to be silent, and later realized that it was a “sin of omission” that we didn’t speak our truth in the moment – in that moment, for example, when another person was speaking ill of another human being, or speaking ill of an entire race of people, and we said nothing?

Our words have the power to destroy and the power to give life. With our words we can put down or we can build up. And there is also, of course, the issue of the way I say or write something – my tone, for example. Both the speaker and the listener can tell if the words are being spoken “in love” or not. I can say the exact same words to someone, and depending on the tone I use, they are heard in two very different ways.

You know this already. It’s as if God is giving us a reminder in today’s scriptures. Our words matter. How we say things, when we say things, if we say something, if we don’t say something – all these things matter.

May we pay attention to what we are saying, and what we are not saying. May our words – and our silence – bring life to others, in Jesus’ name.

Riding the Spiritual Roller Coaster

INTRODUCTION – The example of Peter

Have you ever felt huge upswings and downturns in your spiritual life in a relatively short span of time? You know… where you’ve had a spiritual breakthrough with significant insights, where you feel very close to God, and then something shifts and you feel lost and don’t know what you know, and God feels very far away?

Well… if you’ve experienced this, you’ve still got nothing on the apostle Peter, and you’ll know what I’m talking about if you listened to the Gospel last week and then heard the Gospel today. These two lessons aren’t just randomly picked, either. In both Matthew’s Gospel and Mark Gospel, the one event follows right on the heels of the other, with no intervening action. Have another listen:

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They told him all the things they’d been hearing. But then Jesus went on. “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it…” (Matthew 16:13, 15-18)

Pardon the pun, but Peter probably felt like a rock star in that moment. “I nailed it! I said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” and Jesus didn’t deny it, and now he has just blessed me and told me that on this rock – on the rock of my faith – he will build his church. WOW!!”

On to the very next scene, where Jesus tells them what will happen to the Messiah…

“From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter [yes, the very same Peter] took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you!” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (Matthew 16:21-23) Jesus said some more things to his disciples after that, but I’m guessing Peter didn’t hear one word of what followed.

How much time passed between these two vignettes? Ten minutes? A few hours? Twelve hours? A day? We don’t know exactly. What we do know is that Peter went from the penthouse to the outhouse in a very short amount of time.
From star pupil to having to sit in the corner… from the one who was commended for being tuned into God’s wisdom (“… flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven”) to the one who was rebuked for his focus being way too short-sighted (“,,, you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things…”).

SITUATION – The Spiritual LIfe Has Ups and Downs

How do you react to Peter’s roller coaster ride? Do you think to yourself, “Oh, my God! If I were him I would have wanted to crawl into a hole and die?”

Here’s the thing: This is normal stuff for the spiritual life! Do you think you are going to be so plugged into God that you will be wowing the world with your spiritual insights every single day, for the rest of your life? Not so likely. Much more likely: these ups and downs that Peter experienced.

I have spent this year rereading a book that is a compilation of journals kept by Thomas Merton during the 1940‘s, 1950’s, and 1960’s. Most people who know something about Christian spirituality will tell you that Thomas Merton was one of the spiritual giants of the 20th century. And what do you find when you read excepts from Thomas Merton’s journals? You find that he had plenty of ups and downs in his vocation as a Trappist monk. He had the capacity to write about birds and caterpillars and rain and sunrises and sunsets and see the handiwork of God in all of them. He also had a brilliant mind and read books by many of the greatest spiritual minds of previous centuries, sometimes reading the works of these folks in their original language (!), and gaining deep theological insights from them. And other days he writes freely and honestly that he likes the idea of non-violence, but bemoans the fact that he does not practice it fully in his life. In fact, he notes, “My thoughts and words retaliate.” (A Year with Thomas Merton, p. 244)

At another point, he writes about how inadequate his words are when he talks to others about Christ – this from a man who was known around the world for his writings about God. “It does no good to use big words to talk about Christ. Since I seem to be incapable of talking about Him in the language of a child, I have reached the point where I can scarcely talk about him at all. All my words fill me with shame.” (A Year with Thomas Merton, p. 243)

COMPLICATION – Getting into trouble…

Where we get into trouble is when we find ourselves in a spiritual low spot and we start beating ourselves up. You and I, quite often, are harder on ourselves than God is on us, and if you think about that for a moment, there’s probably something sinfully arrogant about that. “Oh, believe me God, I know myself better than you do, and you shouldn’t waste your time on me. I’m not worth it!” That can be our attitude at times.

But notice that Peter didn’t let that reproach he experienced from Jesus on that one particular day hold him back. Six days later, in fact, Jesus took Peter and James and John up on the mountain and was transfigured before them, and Peter got a little carried away with all that was happening and started offering to build three tents – one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. I’m sure you remember the story. And suddenly a great cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” And Peter knew enough to shut up at that point, and heard the voice just like James and John did, and stopped worrying about building tents, and before long Jesus told them it was time to head back down the mountain, and they did so.

And then, of course, later on, in Jesus’ biggest hour of need, Peter denied that he knew Jesus – three times in fact – and you’d think if anything would make someone say, “I WILL now crawl in a hole and die and never admit to anyone, ever again, that I spent three years of my life life following this guy around”, that this event would have been that event, but no, it wasn’t. Peter hung in there, was forgiven by Jesus after Jesus’ resurrection (in one of the most moving scenes in the Bible), and Peter went on from there.

And so, of course, did Thomas Merton, after he had days of confusion and feeling lost and wondering if he really knew much about God. Merton went on, too.

GOOD NEWS – God is love

The good news, of course, is that, even when God gets frustrated with us, he never gives up on us. He never turns his back on us and says, “I’m done. I’m out of here and I’m never coming back.” We human beings sometimes make that statement and walk out on someone, and in some cases, don’t talk to that person for years and years. That is called estrangement, it is deeply sad, and Jesus came, in large part, to knock those kinds of walls down.

Our God does not shut the door like that, for our God is Love, and Love never shuts the door and throws away the key. In fact, Love never shuts the door. There is always an opening, always an invitation to keep listening, keep learning, keep exploring, keep asking questions, even if they might seem to us like the “wrong” ones.

The good news is that there are always more opportunities – given to each of us – to know God, to learn more of God, to grow, to mature, to be transformed. The growth and learning opportunities just keep coming, you might say, for everything that happens to us is another opportunity for growth, another opportunity for learning, another opportunity for transformation.

NEW BEHAVIOR

My wife, Julia, was giving a talk the other night and she told me the next morning that something just came to her, something that she hadn’t planned to say, and she heard herself saying, “I encourage you to link your learning with love, because that’s the only way you’ll learn. Linking it with criticism will keep you stuck. You won’t learn. You won’t develop. You’ll stay stuck.” And that’s right.

Especially during those times when we feel like we’ve missed the mark, blown it in some way, maybe even rebuked God in some way (as Peter did)… especially at those moments we need to link love to our learning. Love, after all, is right there with us in those moments. So rather than bringing out the heavy artillery and beating ourselves up, how about we link ourselves – in those moments – to Love.

“Lord, I don’t know why I said or did that, but I’m curious about everything that just happened, and I know that you call me to love You, and that you call me to love myself, too. So I’m taking in your love right now, and loving myself for being in this very situation, because I know you want me to learn something from this – something that will help me in my ongoing journey with You, something that will help me one day in the future, when I’m on the roller coaster with you again. So here I am. I know you’re here, too. I know you haven’t turned your back on me, but are right here with me. What do you want me to see? What do you want me to feel? What do you want me to learn? Help me to be present to all that I am experiencing right now, and not freeze, not fight it, not run, not complain, not beat myself up, but just be in the midst of it – with you.”

CONCLUSION

The spiritual life is an ongoing journey with God. It’s also a roller coaster at times. We are way up, feeling very connected to God, and then we can be very low, wondering where God is, and if we know anything about God that is true. That’s all normal!

God is Love. Can you link Love to your learning? Can you welcome Love in, especially when you feel lost or when you feel very small or inadequate? There’s no question in my mind that it beats the alternative of beating yourself up. Peter kept going. So did Merton. So can you and I. And with Love with us, we will grow, and we will be transformed.

Christians Shouldn’t Be Predictable

INTRODUCTION – “Making a living in Durango…”

I was walking along the Colorado Trail earlier this week with my hiking companion – a guy from Arvada named Mike who I met earlier on the trail – when we met up with three hikers coming the other way. We stopped to chat, as most hikers on this particular trail do, for it turns out you don’t really see many other hikers on the Colorado Trail. We discovered that one of the hikers in the other group was the Managing Director of the Colorado Trail Foundation, the non-profit group that has been responsible for getting the trail completed (in 1987) and now maintained, all by volunteers. When Mike shared that he hoped to start a new life in Durango after he comes to the western end of the trail – just outside Durango – the Managing Director offered these remarks: “You don’t need to make a living in Durango, do you? Because making a living in Durango is a bitch!” He went on to talk about how there are too many people wanting to live there for the number of jobs – a little economics lesson looming large in the southwestern corner of our state.

I don’t know if all this is true or not. It could be. What I do know is that after Mike and I said our goodbyes to these three men and continued on our way, I saw all the excitement and determination that had previously been in Mike disappear, like air coming out of a balloon, and I heard it in his voice, too, when he said, “What do you think of what he said, Pete – about making a living in Durango?”

Earlier in the morning Mike and I had been talking about when you or I make a big commitment, that commitment will get tested, usually soon after you or I make the initial commitment. So I said, “It sounds like your commitment it already getting tested!”

SITUATION – The Dominant Mindset

But now that I’ve read the lessons for today, I notice there is something else gong on here, too, and it has to do with the mindset of the Managing Director of the Colorado Trail Foundation. I would say it is the dominant mindset of the culture, and it is a very old mindset – one that goes back at least to the time when Moses was born, but undoubtedly further back than that.

Here’s the mindset in a nutshell: There isn’t enough to go around. When you get right down to it, it’s you against me. Life is about competition. And because there is scarcity, things very often boil over into violence and oppression and destruction. There are winners and losers. The language we use sounds like this: “we and they”, “us and them”, the good guys and the bad guys, our friends and our enemies.

A new king arose over Egypt, one who didn’t know how Joseph had saved people from all over the region from famine, due to his ability to interpret the previous Pharaoh’s dreams. The new king looked around and he saw a lot of Hebrew people living in Egypt, and he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” (Exodus 1:9-10)

So what was his solution? Set taskmasters over them and oppress them with forced labor. But somehow the Hebrew population kept growing, so they made their work even more bitter. And then the new Pharaoh announced that all newborn male Hebrew children should be killed.

This is the dominant mindset in action almost 3,300 years ago – a focus on scarcity and competition which can quickly lead to “friends vs. enemies” thinking, not to mention oppression and violence. Later on in Israel’s history, you see it reflected in the Psalm for today: “If the Lord had not been on our side when enemies rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive in their fierce anger towards us… Blessed be the Lord! He has not given us over to be a prey for their teeth.” (Psalm 124:2-3, 6)

This brings up an old question that can come up when people of different faiths engage in conflict. Which side is God on?

COMPLICATION

The problem with the dominant mindset, whether you are talking about 3,300 years ago or today, is that – by definition – one person, one side, or one entire faith group always comes out on the losing end of things.

Some people will have good jobs in Durango. Others will be unemployed or working two or three jobs in order to barely scrape by.

Cut government spending, but please don’t do it in my district.

My faith is the one true faith. By definition the rest of you are infidels, and believe me, we are watching your every move – maybe even plotting actively to destroy you as we speak.

The dominant mindset has fear as its foundation, and that is why it was not at all surprising, when we resumed our hiking after encountering the other three hikers, that Mike was feeling fearful. Because fear can be quite contagious at times.

GOOD NEWS

But there is another mindset portrayed in scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, and it is a mindset founded not in mans’ fearfulness, but in God’s faithfulness. In fact, when God shows up in different ways on the scene, and an individual or a nation reacts in fear, the message is pretty much universally the same. “Fear not, for I am with you.” Or, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Or, “Why do you worry about such things? Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first God’s kingdom…. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength…” And consequently you will learn the ways of collaboration and abundance and sacrificial love and creativity. In other words, you will learn the mindset of God, which – truth be told – is NOT the dominant mindset.

It is the most powerful, life-transforming mindset you can discover, but it is not the dominant mindset; that is, it is not the most prevalent mindset.

NEW BEHAVIOR

As followers of Christ, we are called to transformation. Paul, after his conversion on the road to Damascus, understood that it was a conversion from the dominant mindset of competition and scarcity and violence – remember his “us against them” mentality in persecuting the new followers of Jesus? – to a transformed mindset that is based in how God sees the world. This is why he writes to the Romans:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) Implied? It is not the will of God that some win and some lose, that some eat plenty while others starve, that the adherents of one faith “win” while those of another get wiped off the face of the earth. Those are the consequences of the sins of man – not God’s will.

And what does he write of next? Grace! A concept that is not part of the dominant mindset at all! Undeserved favor… undeserved blessing – from God to you and you and you and me and every single one of us who would receive it. And what does he write of after that? He writes a very non-competitive sentence: “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” (Romans 12:4-5)

For someone who lives in the dominant mindset, that is such a radical statement as to be blasphemous! What? We’re all in this together? Different gifts are given to us for the common good, for the good of the body? (1 Corinthians 12:7)

Listen with me for a moment. “… individually we are members one of another.” Do you hear how radical that statement really is? We belong to each other! We’re all God’s beloved children. It isn’t “us against them” or “me against you”. No.
God loves all of us, and wants every single one of us to be transformed from the dominant mindset to his mindset, so that we can be people of collaboration, who celebrate the abundance of God, who learn to love sacrificially, and utilize all of our strength – in God – to be creative people who build up others, and build the kingdom.

CONCLUSION

I don’t have a crystal ball about what Mike’s future will be, if he finishes the Colorado Trail in Durango and decides to relocate there. What I do know is that if he continues to live by the dominant mindset, he is sunk before he starts. What I do know is that he – like every single one of us – is being invited to not be conformed to this world, but instead be transformed by the renewing of his mind – and soul and body – so that he may discern what is the will of God. What I know is that grace abounds – thanks be to God! – and that if Mike commits his path to Christ, it will lead to collaboration and a more abundant life. It will lead to love and creativity, too, because this is the mindset of God.

The dominant mindset is everywhere you turn. It’s quite predictable. So predictable, in fact, that you can run into it out on an isolated trail in Colorado. Christians shouldn’t be so predictable, because we – like other people of faith – are striving to follow a God who surprises us with grace and sacrificial love and forgiveness and hope and abundance.

What is your mindset today? It is the same mindset as was represented by the new Pharaoh who came into power in Egypt, almost 3.300 years ago? Or is it the mindset of Christ? The choice is yours, for God always gives us choice. But where our choices lead us… well… Jesus tried to paint that picture for us, as clearly as he could. All I can say is that God keeps calling us – every single one of us. He never stops calling us to see the world in a whole new way, and to be in the world in a whole new way. And I thank God for that!

The span of our life is seventy years, perhaps in strength even eighty;
yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow, for they pass quickly and we are gone.

Who regards the power of your wrath?
Who rightly fears your indignation?

So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
(From The Psalter, The Book of Common Prayer, p. 718)

Reflections on Another Birthday

I turned 54 on Wednesday. Part of me says, “How did this happen?” I hear myself saying things to others like this:
• “Over 30 years ago, when I was leading hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park for the YMCA of the Rockies…”
• “Next year will be 30 years since I graduated from law school.”
• “It’s been over 25 years since I was in the Peace Corps.”
• “We’ve lived in our current house for 14 years.”
• “I’ve been ordained for 20 years.”
• “Hannah is a senior this year… Zach will soon be 21.”
• “Julia and I have been married for 24 years…”
• “I started at CU in the fall of 1975…”

It’s not so much my age that surprises me, as how many years have passed since some of these things have happened! There are more occasions when I will say to a friend, “Remember when….”, which means, I think, that I’m starting to sound like an old man!

Having said all that, birthdays give us a time – should we choose to use it – to reflect on our lives AND to look ahead. A question or two we tend to ask in our family: What would you like to see happen in the coming year? What are some goals that you have? But I also tend to think back on the previous year. What kind of year was it? What were the challenges? What were the blessings? What did I learn? A few things come to mind…

• I learned a lot this past year about getting more clear about what I want, asking for what I want (something that I would never have even considered doing 10-15 years ago), and… seeing what can happen when I ask.
• Over the past year, God helped me to see some ways in which I give away my power.
• I discovered, in the last year or so, a long-standing pattern of undervaluing myself.
• I learned more about being a leader.
• I continued to learn that – even when I am going through very challenging times – God is faithful and is with me.
• I realized on the Colorado Trail that I am really a Coloradan. (That may sound strange to say after all these years living here, but something about all those days backpacking made it really sink in for me!)

I also had (another) old memory surface recently. When I was in high school and a member of St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, at a certain point in the Sunday service anyone who was observing a birthday used to walk up to the front of the church and meet one of the acolytes. The acolyte is there holding a model of a somewhat-typical-looking church with a slot in the roof – a “church bank”, if you will. The person observing his or her birthday would drop some money into the slot. (Back then it was usually coins. Today I would hope it might be dollars, at least in the case of adults.)

All these many years later, here are a few thoughts about this ritual:
• Doesn’t it get your attention to think about making an offering on your birthday, and doesn’t it sort of balance out – at least a little bit – all the focus on “what special attention, cards, or presents might I receive on my birthday?”
• Isn’t the money placed into the slot – no matter the amount – an appropriate symbol of thankfulness for another year of life, and God’s sustenance being at the very center of our lives?
• Isn’t this action also a good way to begin the next year of our lives – as a symbol of giving our lives over to God… again, as we begin another year?

There are probably some other meanings you can draw out of this act, which – I would suggest to you – is a sacramental one. There’s an outward and spiritual sign of an inward and spiritual grace – ongoing life, in this case! – “given by God as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.” (BCP, p. 857)

I am thankful that my life on this earth has not been as much of an ongoing struggle as it evidently was for the person who wrote Psalm 90. (“For the sum of them [our years] is but labor and sorrow…”) I am also thankful for another year together with each of you, for there is deep grace in this life that we share together.

“So teach us to number our days…” Most of us remember how old we are. (I suppose when you or I get way up there it can be hard to remember!) You can be sure that someone is keeping score. God, as always, invites us to do a little reflecting on what is happening – in us, to us, and through us – as we grow older.

Grace and peace,

Peter+

28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ 29Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 31The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’

Priorities

I arrived back yesterday evening after another blessed ten days hiking and backpacking along the Colorado Trail (this time from 9 miles north of Leadville to 9 miles west of Poncha Springs). Thanks again for your prayers for safety and good health, logistical support with the rides (Dan and Kristy, Charlie), and all the other ways you encouraged me. My feet are a little sore today, but the bigger difficulty this time was getting enough sleep. I don’t sleep too well on the ground anymore, I’ve discovered. But all is well, and we had some amazing experiences.

I say “we” because Mark Atwater and Dan Weprin joined me for the first two days, and Nancy Hillmer joined me for 2-1/2 days in the middle of my time away. Thanks, you guys – I really appreciated your company. And… I had an unexpected companion starting on the second day (and continuing for the remaining 9 days), a man named Mike who I met briefly on the trail last month. Mike, a Coloradan his whole life and about my age, has lived in Arvada for the past year or so – just over a mile from my house! Mike is in transition, unemployed for over a year, his children grown, trying to figure out what the next phase of his life might look like.

If you hike and camp with someone for nine days, covering almost 100 miles, you can probably imagine all the opportunities we had for conversation! It is clear to me that this “meeting up” was no accident. Mike had questions about some of the biggest parts of life: God, faith, commitment… can I do a 180-degree turn and change my life? I was available to listen and to talk, and one of the insights that I had after a few days was that I am a priest, pastor, and preacher wherever I am – even on the Colorado trail. It’s also true that I benefited from the time with Mike. Especially when Mark and Dan and Nancy had to return home, I still had a companion to share the trail with, and that made the trip more enjoyable.

One of the things Mike said to me towards the end of our time together was “I need to make God first in my life, Pete. I need to recommit my life to God. In fact, maybe I need to commit my life to God for the first time, because I’m not sure I ever made that commitment.” We talked some more after he made these comments, and then I read this passage this morning!

It’s easy to get “caught up” in a world that goes so fast, what with cars going 70 mph and planes flying at 550 mph and the internet going at ________ mph. How do we set priorities in our lives, when so many demands and voices are calling out to us – family, job, “giving back” opportunities, time for self, and all the rest?

The scribe – an expert in the Hebrew scriptures – asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?” And Jesus answered, quoting the “Shema” from Deuteronomy, “‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” Jesus did not stop there, but quickly added, “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.”

It reminds me of a song we used to sing many years ago when I was in a member of the St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church youth group in Virginia Beach. “Love, love, love, love – the Gospel in one word is Love…”

Mike is my neighbor, not just because it turns out that he lives in Arvada, but because he is a fellow human being, and because God made our paths intersect.

The calling of my life – and yours – according to Jesus, can be put like this: Love God with everything you’ve got. Love your neighbor (and don’t define neighbor narrowly – cf. Luke 10:25-37). Love yourself.

Do you need to reassess your priorities, in this often confusing and fast-paced world? It seems to me that Jesus has already told us what those priorities are. May God give us the strength, the willingness – and mostly the grace – to live those priorities out.

Walking on Water

INTRODUCTION – Can I take that first step?

(Getting ready to set off on a backpacking trip) Let’s see here… should I wear this hat or the other one? My feet hurt so much last time. I wonder if these are the best shoes to wear, or if I should go back to my boots… Okay, I’m ready! (Start to leave… then pause) Trekking poles? Or go without? Hmmm… I wonder if I remembered my rain jacket and rain pants. (Take pack off and look for rain gear)

Do I really need these rain pants? (Start to go again, then pause) Pete, do you really think you’re going to fish this time? This really isn’t a fishing trip, and I could drop some more weight by leaving behind my pole and my reel and those lures… but on the other hand, fresh trout for dinner one night would sure be a nice break from freeze-dried food! Do I have enough food? Too much? Enough reading material? Too much?

This is what it can be like sometimes when we leave for a trip. I remember that I was allowed to take 80 pounds overseas with me when I moved overseas for 2+ years in the Peace Corps. Two years! Eighty pounds! You spend some time really pouring over what you should take, and what needs to be left behind. I remember I got it all into one backpack and one suitcase. Hmmm… should I take my tent? Sleeping bag?

We can agonize and worry about what to bring – what is most necessary, and what extra things would be most helpful to have with us in a crisis. Not only that, when we commit to something big, our commitment gets tested – usually right after we commit. The pack is too heavy. After two days on the trail, we realize how much our feet hurt. We get caught in a major storm in a very small tent – or a rather small boat – and suddenly feel very alone. Our commitment is being tested.

And this brings me to Peter’s decision to get out of the boat.

PETER AND JESUS ON THE WATER

Jesus has just fed the 5,000 – “besides women and children” – with five loaves and two fish, and then said “see ya soon” to the disciples as they got on a boat to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. There it is: after hanging with 15,000 or more people for a while, Jesus wanted some alone time. But by the time Jesus was finished refueling his “spirit tank” by being alone with God, the disciples were already way out on the lake. How to join them? Walk all the way around the Sea of Galilee? That was a long journey. “Nah,” Jesus thought, “I’ll just walk out and join them.” And so he did.
Matthew writes it so matter-of-factly, “And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.” (Matthew 14:25) The disciples weren’t so measured in their response. “But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!”

You see, most of us are not used to seeing people walk on water, and no, we’re not talking about skiing or snowshoeing across Mills Lake when it is frozen solid in February. This water was very much in a liquid state.

“But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Dudes! Calm down! It’s me, Jesus! Don’t be such wimps, or I’m going to take away your man cards!”

And here is where the story gets really good, because remember, one of the twelve is that guy named Simon, who Jesus renamed Peter. “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” (Matthew 14:28) Peter had an idea, you see. You and I might call it a somewhat impulsive idea, but by this time Peter had seen Jesus do all sorts of amazing things, and perhaps he thought it was time for him to try something way out of the box – or in this case, way out of the boat. Anyway, Jesus said, “Go for it, buddy! Come on over to me.”

I love the next 16 words that Matthew writes. “So Peter got out of the boat, starting walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.” Peter was doing it! Somehow that water was more like ground than water, and he was walking right up to Jesus, even though just a few minutes earlier they were fighting to maneuver their boat across the lake, which was being “battered by the waves”.

And then Peter’s commitment was tested. For you see, when you really commit to something big, your commitment is tested, and usually soon after you begin.

Probably Peter started thinking, “Hey! I’m doing it! This must be Jesus out here on the water, because I’m doing it! I’m walking on the water. Yup, I’m walking on the water… I’m walking on the water… What the hell am I doing? I’m walking on water? What am I doing?” And he took his eyes off the goal, which in this case was Jesus, and he noticed the wind. Yeah, he noticed the wind, like – OH MY GOD! LOOK AT THE WIND! WHAT AM I DOING? Matthew writes that after noticing the strong wind, “he became frightened.” Frightened, like: I’m never gonna make it! I’m gonna drown right here between Jesus and the boat, on a lake that I’ve been fishing on for more than half my life! And he began to sink – like a stone.

And he cried out, “Lord, save me!” And just as when Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” and Jesus said, “Come”, Jesus did what Peter asked him to do in this moment, too. He reached out his hand, we are told, and caught him. In lifeguard language, it was a “save”. (Jesus saw his mom a while later and said, “Mom, I had a save today. It was Peter out on the lake.” Mary: “What happened? Did he fall out of the boat or something?” Jesus: “Well… not exactly.”)

Jesus caught Peter. And – oh, yeah – he said a few words to him, too. “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Implied: “You were doing such a dog-gone good job there for a while! Why did you doubt?”

And when they got into the boat – Jesus AND Peter – the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” And though Matthew doesn’t write this, the one who was really worshipping him – at a deeper level than all of the others – was Peter.

WHAT’S YOUR “WALKING ON WATER” THING RIGHT NOW?

I don’t think this is meant to be just a story about Jesus and Peter walking on the water. If it were just that, we could ignore it, I suppose, because most of us would say, “Well I’ve been on this earth long enough to know that I can’t walk on water! So that story is irrelevant to my life.” End of story. But I don’t think it’s about literally walking on water.

It’s about taking the chance to do something big in your life, something that you hear God challenging you to do. What do you hear God inviting you to do that seems way too big for you, and yet, you are intrigued? You wonder, on a deeper level, “Could I do that?” And even deeper down, you maybe entertain the notion, “I think maybe I could, just possibly, do that!”

In other words, what is your walking-on-water challenge?

Is it becoming an entrepreneur? Is it writing a book? Changing careers? Traveling to another country? Living in another country?l Singing in public? Auditioning for something?

There’s something you’re hearing, and like Peter, you’re thinking, “Lord, if it is you there… inviting, even challenging me to do this, command me to get up and take that first step.” And if it is a God-thing, the type of challenge where you need God’s help because it’s an issue of faith, a matter of taking a leap really, and not just a step, then our Lord is going to say to you, “I’ve been ready for you to do this for some time. Go ahead. Take that step.”

What is that thing – that walking-on-water challenge – for you? And how long have you been thinking about taking that first step? Or did you take the first step already, and then you got scared and thought to yourself, “This is too hard!” Or, “The timing isn’t right. I’m not at the right stage of my life to do this right now.” Or, probably at the heart of the matter, “I’m terrified!” Did you start out and then begin to sink, because you were afraid?

Jesus knows that, too. He knows that you’re scared, even terrified. And yes, when you commit to something big, your commitment gets tested, almost from the get-go.

There’s only one way to move forward, when your initial commitment gets tested, and that is to recommit. You take your eyes off the strong wind, you take a few deep breaths, you acknowledge that this is the right thing to do for God has been urging you to do if for such a long time, and you re-focus on the goal, remembering that God is with you to offer guidance, love, support, strength, encouragement – in short, every single thing that you need to do your particular walking-on-water dance.

CONCLUSION

I’m going back out on the Colorado Trail tomorrow. When I take the first of those 250,000 steps, all the little decisions will have been made about what to bring and what to leave behind. This is a pretty big deal for me. I could have gone on 10- or 11-day backpacking trips when I was a teenager or in my 20’s, but no, I had to wait until I was in my 50’s. And some stuff will happen next week. My feet will get sore again, or water will be scarce, or there will be another crazy lightning storm. And my commitment will be tested. And undoubtedly, I will have to recommit. Probably more than once, in fact.

It’s no different from what happens all the time in my marriage, or in this job, or with a close friend, or in this church community. Stuff happens… all sorts of unpredictable stuff happens, and it’s like a strong wind or a lightning storm, and it feels like being in a boat that is battered by the waves. And in those moments, Jesus says to us, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid. Keep going. Keep following me. I am still with you, as I have always been with you. Are you going to keep going, or not?”

You and I can walk on water, too. Sometimes we forget that fact, and God has to remind us to get out of the boat. And when we get out of the boat, we need to keep our eyes on him, remember what the goal was that got us out of the boat in the first place, and keep on walking. And who knows what you and I might accomplish? But we know this much: With God all things are possible.

And remember this, too. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13) Period.

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the “gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Conversion and Being Born From Above

One of the ongoing challenges of the spiritual life is to not succumb to the belief that what the world offers is the best thing that’s out there. After his forty-day fast in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted by Satan. The Tempter tempted Jesus to be useful (turn these stones into bread), sensational (throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple), and powerful (I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world if you worship me). Henri Nouwen (Here and Now, pp. 99-100)writes that these are typical of the things the world offers us: be relevant, be popular, be powerful (power in the worst sense of the word, meaning power over others, or power/wealth without gratitude, humility, and generosity).

When Jesus challenges us to “lose your life” (verse 35 above), this is what he is talking about. He ‘s challenging us to not settle for the things of this world, when God offers us so much more: real abundance (in terms of deep relationships), joy, awareness, and fullness of life with God.

When I was backpacking on the Colorado Trail last month, I had periods – not days, I’ll grant you, but at least hours – when my focus was solely on the blessings of my life, how good God is, and how grateful I am to be alive, with a wonderful family and friends, healthy, with a good job, and how amazing it is to be loved and known by the God of the universe. How wonderful it was to just think about all this for a while – AND NOTHING ELSE – and be grateful!

Nouwen says that so often we live our lives “from below”. In this mode, we are trying to figure out who is worse and better than us. Living from below… living into the “bad news” offered by the world… is mostly about competing with everyone else. (It’s mostly about scarcity, too – we’re competing because there’s not enough to go around, or so the thinking goes.) Jesus challenges us to be born “from above”, to see as God sees – to recognize the abundance that exists in God, and to be converted. This conversion involves seeing others as our brothers and sisters, and recognizing (and sharing) the really Good News that all of us are the beloved of God (and that we don’t have to compete for God’s love – now that’s good news!). This conversion involves learning how to love, and it is a conversion of moving from judging others to realizing that the person I most need to work on is myself. Being converted, being “born from above”, is also about restoring God to His rightful place in our lives, which is – of course – first place. That is why Thomas Merton could write in one of his journals, “The great and only thing is to adore and praise God. To seek Him is to adore Him and to say that He alone is God and there is no other.” (A Year with Thomas Merton, p. 226) Satan – the Tempter – would never say (or write) such a thing! And most of the people of this world will not say or write such a thing, because they are living “from below”.

God is calling us higher. God is calling us to conversion. God is calling us to “lose our life”, for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of the Gospel. What is that Gospel? The Good News that God is with us and for us, and that we are God’s beloved children. Jesus says “lose your life” in order to find the real… full… true… eternal… life, which is life with God, now and forever.

So… do you want the life this world has to offer, or do you want to live with God as your companion and guide, now and forevermore? That is the question. One is “life from below”. The other is “life from above”. Jesus put it this way: What will it profit you to gain the whole world and forfeit your life? And again he says, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (John 3:3)

Let’s not settle for the fool’s gold that the world offers. Let’s commit ourselves to being born from above.

“And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.”

Praying and Listening While on the Trail

Jesus, right after he was baptized and before he began his ministry, spent 40 days in the wilderness. After he began his ministry, he kept getting away – mainly to whatever mountain was nearby – to pray.

I got away recently to backpack and pray. It was an “in-between” amount of time – not 40 days, and not one night. I had 11 days on the trail, broken up by one day back home (mainly to lighten my backpack!) after the fifth day. During these eleven days, I had many opportunities to talk to God and to listen to God. (Both talking and listening to God are important aspects of praying, of course.) There were times when I would go for many hours without seeing another person. It was common for me to begin my hikes in the morning by going through a litany of thanksgiving. I would thank God for my family and friends, for everyone who was praying for me, for my job and the people of St. Ambrose, for Julia’s job and Zach’s job and Hannah’s job, for my health, for my equipment and the things I was carrying, for my parents and the love of the outdoors that they passed on to me and my sisters (while on this trip, I hiked on my parents’ anniversary – July 16 – and on my mom’s birthday – July 22), for streams and rivers where I could re-supply with water, for it hardly raining at all during the day, for my tent keeping me dry during some terribly fierce night-time thunderstorms, for the neat people I was meeting on the trail, for the beauty of God’s creation, for the privilege of living in Colorado… You get the idea.

One day I was having such a lovely time with this litany of thanksgiving that I got lost in the praying, I guess, and I was praying out loud. As I was praying away, I heard a fairly quiet, “Excuse me.” No, it wasn’t God. It was a mountain biker who had come up behind me on the trail, and in my praying, I had not heard him approaching. I smiled, and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you coming”, and moved off the trail so he could get by. He smiled too, and as he rode on, I wondered if he was thinking, “Who was that guy talking to?” But I didn’t really care what he thought, because I was enjoying my time with God!

As I listened, I also learned a lot of things. To begin with, I learned a lot in a relatively short amount of time about this activity people call “thru-hiking”. It is quite different from doing a long day hike or climbing a 14er. When you move your camp each day and are carrying more gear than you do for a day hike, one learns pretty quickly that the weight of your pack makes a big difference, and within two days I was questioning whether I really needed everything that was in my backpack. The answer of course was, “No, I didn’t!”

Anyway, as I kept listening and paying attention, I learned (or in some cases, re-learned) some important lessons. I’d like to share some of those with you now.

• I often carry too much weight, not only hiking but also in life. My desire is to “travel more lightly”. Please help me learn how to do that, Lord. Help me to not carry excessive burdens. Help me learn how to be compassionate while – at the same time – not taking on others’ burdens. I remember you said, “Learn from me… for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)
• Sometimes one thing that is really “out of whack” can deeply color the entire experience. On this particular trip, there were times when my feet were in excruciating pain. The balls of my feet were sore and the pain would radiate to my toes, which cramped up in a way that was incredibly painful. When this happened, it made it hard to take in the beauty of all that was around me, I can assure you! My feet were definitely trying to get my attention, and they succeeded. Sometimes there is a big thing staring us in the face that you and I really need to deal with, and we try to ignore it, and that doesn’t work. In fact, the longer we ignore it, the more this thing/issue/person will scream for our attention. It’s probably best that we give it the attention that it deserves – sooner rather than later!
• The most difficult part of a journey often comes right before the breakthrough (or the reward) at the end.
• Seek, accept, and offer help. I think it is magnified when one is backpacking and not seeing many people each day, but we are mutually dependent on each other. When I was thirsty, people shared their water with me or told me where the next place to get water was. Many people prayed for me. Others dropped me off at trailheads or picked me up. Two of you offered your home for me to stay in one night. All of these were great blessings! Many of these things happened because I asked for help. I also offered help to others… and companionship… and encouragement. We really are all in this together.
• It’s important to ask the question, I think: How can I make this even more fun?!?
• It’s good to have intermediate goals – some goals that are between the beginning point and the far-away goal.
• I’m sort of a “beast” (as teens today use that word). I am quite strong, actually. I covered 140 miles in 11 days, with more than 25,000 feet of total elevation gain, and part of that time my feet were killing me. (I also learned that in some ways I am not that different from a horse – I can be a pack animal, too.)
• It’s fine to pray about the weather, especially when it is impacting you in such a direct way! (Plus, it’s way better than just complaining about it!)
• It’s cool and an amazing blessing to have a tundra ridge for a day – okay, for a number of hours – with only God and me sharing it!
• Backpacking like this makes me really appreciate all the things at home so much – my bed, water from a faucet, a shower, the variety of food we eat, a toilet, a house – all of it!
• Freeze-dried food gets old after 5 or 6 days. (Related point: Stopping to eat “real food” when civilization presents itself is a really good idea.)
• Nights get long without electricity!
• I was reminded of the FACT of the abundance of God. (It’s not a nice idea – it’s true.) When I thought about a particular creek that I was camped next to one night (one of a number of creeks I camped next to), and how the water in that creek is fed by mostly snowmelt and some rain now and then, and how that creek keeps going and going, night after night and day after day, and eventually joins a bigger river, and that river works its way to the ocean… but the creek I am camped next to keeps going and makes its unique contribution to the world’s water cycle… Anyway, God led me to wondering: As individuals, how do we make our own contribution – as this creek does – in the abundance of God? And… that abundance is there all the time – witness the feeding of the 5,000 men (besides women and children) in the story above. Are we willing to see and participate in the abundance of God, or do we prefer to share the “bad news” and the not-true message of scarcity?

I also received a clear message of what kind of church we can be… what kind of church I’d really be excited about us becoming… and I plan to share that with all of you soon, after the summer has ended. Suffice it to say for now that there are six traits that I believe God is calling us to, as individuals and as a congregation.

I’ll leave you with a few of the prayers I said while on my trip.

• “Please have this storm hold off (until after my camp is set up) or pass by altogether!”
• “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want for anything…”
• Towards the end of the day: “It’s time for a ‘C and C”, Lord!” (Nice campsite with a creek nearby)
• “I’m glad my tent works and keeps me dry!”
• “I am recommitting to the original goal, Lord, even though my feet hurt.”
• “Thank you that I can live in Colorado.”
• “Please don’t let animals get into my food bag!” (hanging from a tree each night)
• “Lord, keep this lightning away from me!”
• “Be bold; be strong; for the Lord thy God is with you… do not be afraid…. do not be dismayed… for the Lord thy God is with you.” (a Christian song that is based on an Old Testament scripture)
• Many, many prayers of thanksgiving… including, “Thank you for all the people who are praying for me!”

I felt truly supported in prayer by all of you while on the trail. Thank you so much!

Grace and peace,

Peter+

Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. 2They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.” 3Then Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.” 4Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” 5But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.” 6When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. 7And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. 8When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. 9He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 11Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. 12That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

What Do We Look for in Others? In Jesus?

Wasn’t Holy Week just a little over two months ago? Yes, and yet our reading for today puts us right back in the last hours of Jesus’ life. Maybe that is because there is way too much for us to consider, in just one week out of the year. Perhaps we need to keep having our attention drawn back to Jesus, and what was done to him, and how the various people around him responded.

What I notice this time is Herod’s response after Pilate sends Jesus over to him (verse 8). “When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign.” In other words, Herod wanted Jesus to entertain him. Jesus, probably in chains as he was led from Pilate to Herod, was not exactly in an entertaining mood. So when Herod questioned him at some length, Jesus gave no answer. (Jesus was a genius at seeing where people were coming from, and knowing what was in their hearts – even more than they knew what was there.) So Herod, with his soldiers, treated Jesus with contempt, and mocked him, and sent him back to Pilate. It was like a big game to Herod. “You won’t do what I want you to do? Then back to Pilate with you!” And he and Pilate became friends from that day, according to Luke. And what was their common bond? The power to intimidate? The power to order soldiers around? And yet… these powerful men both missed who was really standing before them, and what he really had to offer them.

This passage got me to thinking about what I look for others, and what I look for in Jesus. Do I want others mostly to meet my needs? Do I expect them to entertain me in some way? Do I expect Jesus to be my own personal miracle worker, to perform some sign for me? Do I expect Jesus to be some kind of wizard, who waves his magic wand and makes my life perfect? Or do I approach my Lord more with a sense of wonder and awe, wondering what I might learn from Him today?
It strikes me that neither Pilate nor Herod learned one single thing from Jesus. For them, he was a nobody from Smallsville (Nazareth), who was stirring up a little trouble, but basically wasting their time – sort of like a bothersome mosquito. Jesus’ life meant nothing to them. He couldn’t offer them anything. He certainly couldn’t offer them any wisdom, and he couldn’t offer them anything of ultimate value. Or could he? They never really took the time to find out the answers to these questions. That’s the point. (Perhaps they never even considered these questions.)

You and I can get so caught up in our own little worlds that we never really see the person who is standing right in front of us. And we can be so sure that we know who Jesus is – and what he is (or isn’t) capable of – that we don’t really seek to know him. So we let what others say about him carry the day. Like Herod, we might say, “Hey! I’ve heard about you!” But do we really want to come into his presence, and listen, and let him speak to us, and come to know him? Do we trust that Jesus can radically transform our lives, even without “performing a sign”?

Lord, may we not miss you when you show up. And help us to remember that you often show up in the form of another human being! And please, Lord… give us enough awareness and insight so that we don’t ever mock you, or treat you with contempt. For You are what we seek.

What Is Your Sacrificing-Isaac Challenge?

INTRODUCTION

There’s a very weird juxtaposition today: Summer… parish picnic… for me – just back from vacation…and the reading of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac. Wow! Only if you come to church during the summertime would you hear a story about God asking someone to sacrifice his son, a son that Abraham and Sarah had waited a lifetime to have.

THEMES – Obedience and Challenge

Two themes today
• Obedience – from the Latin ob-audire, meaning “to listen with great attentiveness” (Here and Now, Henri J.M. Nouwen, p. 20)
• Being challenged by God – As we listen for God’s guidance, God’s voice, God’s direction, what is true is that sometimes our faith is really challenged… we’re really tested by God

The culture sends us lots of messages that life should be easy (that nothing challenging should happen in the summertime, or right after you get married, or maybe ever!).

After two different trips recently to the Dominican Republic and Mexico, where you can’t drink the water out of the tap, where roads are not always paved, where I have to figure out how to negotiate the most basic things in life in another language, we might be led to say, “Isn’t life supposed to be easier than this?” That’s what we tend to think as Americans – that life should be smooth sailing.

But it wasn’t that way for Abraham (or Sarah, for that matter). God wanted to see if Abraham really trusted him

As far as I can tell, God isn’t asking any parent on the planet to sacrifice one of his or her children today, and that’s a really good thing.

But…I do believe God still challenges us in matters of faith. This is one of the ways we really grow in faith, by responding to a challenge of faith

So… what is your sacrificing-Isaac challenge?

ONE OF MY BIG CHALLENGES FROM GOD

I was thinking about this question last night, while Julia and I were talking about what I was planning to preach on… and I told Julia where I was thinking of going with the sermon, and Julia asked me (in true Julia fashion), “So what is your challenge right now… how is God challenging you?”

I thought about that for awhile, and what I came up with was this: To be “radically honest”, so that I am not hooked into others’ reactions or possible reactions. If you’ve been able to be radically honest for as long as you can remember, then that is not your challenge. Your challenge is something else.

So… what is your sacrificing-Isaac challenge right now? And if it hard for you to figure that out, I think that there is a way to get at it, and that is by asking yourself, What am I really afraid of?

Are you afraid of your emotions? Are you someone who tends to live mostly in your head, being extremely logical and rational? If so, your challenge may have something to do with getting in touch with your emotions.

Are you not figuring out what you are really supposed to do for a living, because you are afraid that you can’t do what you really want to do? Then maybe your sacrificing-Isaac challenge is to figure out what you really want to do.

Your sacrificing-Isaac challenge could be almost anything, because we are all different and we are all challenged by different things. Maybe you are terrified about traveling to a foreign country, and that is your sacrificing-Isaac challenge. Maybe you are afraid to travel anywhere or make any big decision without getting input from a spouse or a parent or a close friend, and your sacrificing-Isaac challenge is about learning to be on your own, and learning to trust yourself and your own inner guide.

CONCLUSION

Yes, it’s summer and it’s time for vacations and swimming pools and beaches and hiking and going to outside concerts and drinking beer and margaritas (thank God!), but it also can still be a time for obedience, a time to listen with great attentiveness to what God is saying to you. And in that listening that you do, what if God issues you a challenge? What if God says, “I want you to make some progress in that area of your life where you are most afraid, so that you can trust me more than ever before, AND so that you can be more fully alive.”

Like Abraham did with Isaac, do you trust that God can provide for you – exactly what you need… when you need it – no matter what?

Sometimes, in matters of faith, there is no going back. God calls us to be “all in”, as Abraham was. What new challenge is coming to you from God, where he is saying, “I’m asking you to be ‘all in’ on this one!”

If you don’t know, maybe you can start asking yourself, “What really scares me?” And then sit there long enough until you come up with something that seems real, something that feels like an issue or a challenge that God would really want you to take on right now.

And then do some praying, and see if you can be as bold as Abraham was.

Today is a significant day for me. Twenty years ago today I was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church (six months to the day prior to being ordained a priest). Twenty years of ordained ministry – that’s a lot, no matter how you look at it. But I’d like to hold on to that thought for a minute, and first say a few words about our recent mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

The words above were read in Spanish this past Sunday, as we worshiped with our friends from Iglesia San Marcos in Haina in the Dominican Republic. The Church around the world was celebrating the Day of Pentecost, when – soon after Jesus’ ascension into heaven – his disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they “began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability”, so that the people from all different places were able to hear about “God’s deeds of power” (verse 11) in their own languages. Last Sunday, we were hearing this and other Bible lessons being read in a language that was not our own language, and yet it seemed appropriate. For it was a reminder that the good news of God and Jesus has spread around the globe, and that people of all different races and ethnicities have received the Holy Spirit (just like us), and strive to be faithful disciples of our Lord (just like us).

I am thankful for our mission team of twenty folks – 7 in high school or about to begin high school, two in college, one working on his Ph.D. at CU, and ten adults. Thank you for your hard work, for being such a cohesive group, for your positive attitudes even though you were sometimes lacking sleep or not feeling well (or feeling overheated!), for the way you reached out to our brothers and sisters in the D.R. It was a privilege and a joy to be on this trip with you. We did some good work, but mostly we made loving connections with people in another part of the world, and realized that we are all one in Christ, and that our varieties of gifts are all given by the same Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12). Thanks, team members, for sharing your gifts; and thanks to all of you who supported our mission team in so many different ways – with your prayers, with financial support, by keeping up with family and work at home so that we could make this journey. Thank you so much!

Back to twenty years of ordained ministry… earlier this month, at Patricia Sexton’s ordination as a deacon, I reminded Bishop Winterrowd that I was among the first six people that he ordained as a new bishop. He said, “Wow! Has it been 20 years? That’s hard to believe.” Then later he said to me, “You realize you’re only half-way there, right?” Hmmm… I’m not so sure I will be doing this for another 20 years. (Some days I’m not so sure I will be doing it for another 20 months.)

What has happened over these twenty years? One way to mark it is with a few statistics – 1,000 sermons given, almost 250 weekly meditations written over the past five years, some weddings, quite a few funerals, even more baptisms, many visits to many different hospitals and surgery centers… years of continuing education, clergy wellness group meetings, and therapy… almost 250 vestry meetings, 20 Annual Meetings, 20 Diocesan Conventions, many clergy gatherings, two national conventions (one as a deputy from Colorado, one as a volunteer)… countless 1:1 conversations with parishioners, dozens and dozens of classes taken and taught, and the deep privilege of presiding at the Eucharist for something like 1,200-1,500 occasions. (How many prayers have we said together during that time, and how many hymns have we sung?)

What has been deeply true over all these years is that God has been faithful. God keeps showing up, through the power of the Spirit. The Spirit is still given to the Church today, and the people of God continue to take risks as we strive to follow Christ… as we strive to love one another, to forgive our friends and enemies, to pray, to serve, to offer our gifts, to be a community where truth is spoken and love and support are offered.

For someone who took a rather long, circuitous route to finding his vocation, it seems hard to believe that I have now been in this vocation for twenty years. It has not been an easy road, but it has been the right calling for me, one that has helped me to continue growing in Christ. There have been many, many deeply beautiful, God-blessed moments – too many to count, too many to recall here. To say thank you is not sufficient, but thank you for all the ways that you all have loved me, supported me, challenged me and formed me as a priest. God has used it all for good, I believe.

I think I will close this meditation by sharing something I wrote several years ago. It is basically a journal reflection, but one that I think is worth sharing. I call it “I Have Tried.”

I have tried…
• To love my Lord
• To love my family and friends
• To pray for my enemies, and even to love them
• To forgive others and not be unduly hard on myself
• To climb lots of mountains, enjoy the trail (both ways), my companions, the summit, and always come home in one piece
• To find balance in my life
• To love my parishioners, remember the poor, and have some fun
• To be generous
• To be honest and real
• To take note of beauty, in whatever form it might appear
• To be a priest who blessed others in the name of Christ
• To preach so that people would connect with God and be inspired to pursue Him further
• To preach about love and grace way more often that I preached about sin and judgment
• To learn and grow
• To be open and not prejudge things or people
• To stay connected with my friends
• To be grateful
• To be faithful, no matter what circumstances I was going through
• To overcome my fears and not worry so much about what people think
• To pay attention and see evidence of the holy and the Divine in everyday life

I have tried to do these things. I have not always been successful, although sometimes I have been. But I have known for many years that being faithful is way more important to God than being successful. Sometimes both things happen simultaneously – we are faithful and successful – and that can be a double blessing, I suppose.

Today I am a deeply grateful man, and a man who continues to listen for God’s guidance, a man who continues to be in discernment about what is next for me. My sense is that God is calling me to a bigger life with new learning and new risks ahead. I wonder what I will be doing and learning one year from now and twenty years from now, and I look forward to this continuing “ride” with God. Thanks for being such a significant part of my journey!

Getting Edgy with Paul

INTRODUCTION – Being Comfortable vs. Getting Edgy

There is a part of being a human being that is about being rooted, being grounded – having a solid foundation. When describing this aspect of our humanity, we are apt to use phrases like “being home”, “feeling comfortable”, and “honoring tradition”. And I get all that. I am reminded of when I was a child and my mom would want a break from cooking and express a desire to go out to dinner, and my dad would reply, “I don’t want to spend the money and I’d rather be at home.”

My mom’s desire in those moments was an expression of another part of our humanity – the desire, the need we have even, to break up the routine, to get out of our established patterns and comfort zone, and do something different… to be stimulated in a new way, to get “edgy”. My eating dinner example might seem very antiquated, but we were a family that ate dinner out very rarely, so for all of us (except for maybe my dad?) there was a certain excitement about eating out. This is new, this is different, this breaks up the routine … this is good!

The same tug-of-war exists in our spiritual lives. What feels “tried and true”? Where do I feel at home? Is it the way we worship, the way I pray? Do I enjoy returning to the same comforting Bible passages, while I forego the parts of the Bible that seem incomprehensible or which portray a character trait of God that I’m not so sure I want to embrace? Is there a certain way that I am comfortable expressing or sharing my faith, and another way of expressing faith and that I don’t want to have anything to do with – period, end of sentence? This way of thinking about faith represents our “comfort zone”. “I like the prayers in the Prayer Book. I like singing out of the hymnal (and preferably these 12 hymns)! Or… I like singing contemporary Christian music, and I can’t abide anything else!”

But if we are honest with ourselves, we notice that there is another way that God does “tug” at us. The whole concept of faith, after all, is about going on a journey with God in which there are no maps, listening for God’s call upon our lives and being open to new possibilities – new relationships, new challenges, new ministry, new growth – saying “yes” to being called out of our comfort zone, saying “yes” to being edgy.

PAUL AND EDGINESS

Think about Saul/Paul for a moment. Secure in his faith, so much so that he could rattle off his religious resume without even stopping to think: “… circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church [i.e., Christians]; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6)

He had it all figured out, especially matters of faith. He was “at home” and “comfortable” in his faith, approved of the Jews who stoned Stephen to death, and then became a persecutor of the church himself, “ravaging the church by entering house after house” and “dragging off both men and women”, and having them committed to prison (Acts 8:3).

And then Jesus had to go and intervene when Paul was on the way to Damascus to persecute other disciples of the Lord. And that was just the beginning. Jesus had big plans for Saul, who was to become Paul. He sent him out to new places, and though he always started out in the early years by going to the synagogues and preaching to the local Jewish folks, there came a point when it became clear to Paul that he was supposed to be the “apostle to the Gentiles”.

You and I go to faraway places now – on business, on vacation, to visit relatives, or perhaps on some kind of mission trip or humanitarian mission. We are the beneficiaries of modern travel. We can drive or catch a plane, and then rent a car or hail a taxi or catch a train once we arrive at our destination. We have passports that serve as a sort of letter of introduction, and though we can get around so much easier than Paul and Timothy and Barnabas did, like them we can feel at times like we are not in our comfort zone at all, especially when we leave the U.S. There’s a different culture, often a different language to be spoken, different routines – it’s just different. We feel on the edge, because in a very real sense – if we don’t insulate ourselves too much with other Americans, we are living on the edge more… just as Paul was.

And what did Paul do? Well, he got his bearings, as we usually do. He walked around, he found the local synagogue, he noticed things. And on his second big “missionary journey”, as Biblical scholars like to call them now, he arrived in Greece – for the very first time. And he eventually made his way to Athens, and he ambled up to the high point of the city, to the Acropolis, and he saw the Parthenon, built in the fifth century before Christ as a temple to the Greek goddess, Athena – the goddess of wisdom, skills, and warfare. And somewhere in that area, as he was walking along, he came along an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.”

And Paul proceeded to tell the Athenians about the God that he knew. That is called getting edgy – telling the local people, as a foreigner, what you know about God.

CALLED OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE

It seems in my life that whenever I get to feeling a little bit too comfortable, God calls me into something new. Having a perfectly good time teaching high school math while in the Peace Corps, it became clear to me that “This is good, but not quite it.” What’s next, Lord? I listened and prayed and read and talked to people about how I was feeling nudged, and a few years later I was going to seminary.
But in addition to my vocation, there have been the major life transitions – from being single to being married, from being childless to becoming a parent, raising infants and then toddlers and then school-aged children and then teenagers and then – poof! – before you know it they are headed out the door, and it’s kind of like “I was just getting this parenting thing down and now parenting is coming to an end!”

The truth now is that Julia and I are in transition as we move toward being “empty-nesters”. The truth is that both Julia and I individually are sitting with the questions, “What’s next?” and “What am I being called to create in my life now?” And yes – the foundations are there: my spiritual life with Christ, worship, family and friends… but everything else seems very much up in the air. Will I stay at St. Ambrose until I retire… or not? Will I continue to be a parish priest until I retire… or not? A lot of it feels related to the age I am and what is happening in my family right now, and another part of it is that I just want to be more fully alive and embrace whatever is next that God might have for me. And as is usually the case with such transitional times, more discernment is called for, more listening is called for, but it does not feel at all like a just-do-what-you’ve-been-doing for the last-twenty-years-and-everything-will-be-fine kind of time.

No. It feels like God is calling me to shake things up, to take some risks, to be edgy, to be open to new possibilities. Some of it is being to open to being transformed from within. Some of it, I sense, is allowing God to transform my relationships. And some of it might be a call to try some new activities and travel to some new places.

THE GOOD NEWS AND YOU

What about you? I can’t speak for you. Although some of you are my age, many of you are not. Many of you are in different life stages – from single to single parent to having young children to being grandparents and being retired.

But still there is this tension, this tug-of-war between being comfortable and needing a change, from enjoying the way things are to sensing that you’ve lost your “mojo” and sensing that you need to shake things up and move out of your comfort zone.

The good news is that God is with us in both places. I fully believe that God, through the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, stirs us from within when we are getting too complacent and too comfortable. And when we’ve been so “out there” that we lose a sense of who we are and whose we are, God walks alongside of us then, too, and says, “Come back home and rest for a while. Come back to what you know is solid and grounding.”

If you are too complacent in your life right now, my question is this: in what ways is God calling you to get more edgy? And if you have been so out of your comfort zone that it feels like your world is spinning out of control, my question for you is this: How is God calling you back home, to rest in his love? Whichever one is true, may you listen and pay attention, and may you know the risen Lord to be right there with you, giving you what you most need – as only He can.

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11“Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”

Praying for Our Missionaries

My meditation today is more a request for you to be in prayer and meditation than it is a reflection from me on Holy Scripture. The passage above is one of the ones that our missionary team will be reflecting on while we are in the Dominican Republic from June 6-13 (next week). We will be returning to the same church/school where we worked two years ago – Iglesia/Colegio San Marcos in Haina, about a 45-minute bus ride west of Santo Domingo. This year the K-12 school is adding a cafeteria. My understanding is that the foundation has been poured and that walls and roof are going up, and that we are going to be assisting with wiring, plumbing, and drywall, as well as painting some other parts of the campus. We have some “returning missionaries” and we have some new people going. Some of our folks have never been on a mission trip. Some of them have never been out of the country. As you might imagine, there is some level of anxiety for almost everyone – totally normal. People are scrambling to get all the necessary things wrapped up at home and at work before we leave – totally normal. People are wondering what kinds of things are going to happen while they are in the D.R. – totally normal. People are wondering what they are going to find at home and/or at work once they return – totally normal. Amidst all these concerns, there is a sense of call, a sense of mission, a sense of purpose, a sense of adventure – otherwise folks wouldn’t have signed up and raised money and gotten immunizations and done all the other things that they have done over the past 9-10 months.

My request is that you pray for our missionary team while we are out of the country – for safe travel, for good health for everyone, for our own transformation and learning, that we would be loving and open servants who are willing to both give of ourselves and receive from others and from God. We are not going out “two by two”, as Jesus sent the disciples, but as a group of twenty. But you can be assured that there will lots of 1:1 conversations and lots of two on two conversations (with some of us struggling to get by with our Spanish, but having fun anyway). We will be working alongside adults and children from the church and school, and worshiping with them on Sunday, June 12. We hope to build on some of the relationships that we forged two years ago. Please pray for the people of the Dominican Republic and specifically for the people of Haina and Iglesia San Marcos. What follows is a list of our missionaries. We will be commissioning them at church this Sunday, June 5. I will try to send along an update from the Dominican Republic, and let you know how things are going. We appreciate your prayers so much. God bless you!

Mission Trip Team Members
Kris Bertness
Julie Boyd
Don Burt (St. Aidan’s, Boulder – Deacon)
David Cupery (Canterbury Colorado, St. Aidan’s, CU grad student)
William Eliason
Lisa Franceware (Canterbury Colorado, St. Aidan’s, CU student)
Kirk Jenkins
Jill Jenkins
Reece Jenkins (youth)
Erin Jenkins (youth)
Holly McElhaney (youth)
Rose McElhaney
Yolanda Macias (youth)
Thia Walser
Erin Dorsey (youth)
Carl Matson (check spelling)
Peter Munson
Hannah Munson (youth)
Ben Price (youth)
Torie Weprin (St. Ambrose, college student)

(Kris, Julie, Don, Carl, Peter, Hannah, Ben, and Torie were part of our 19-person team in 2009, which means we have twelve newcomers in our group this year.)

Hitting the Jackpot with God

INTRODUCTION – If I won the lottery…

Every once in a while – usually (these days) when contemplating college expenses or when dreaming about a trip to a far-away place – someone in our family will say, “If I (we) won the lottery, I (we) could __________ (go the college I want to go to and not come out with any loans, travel to Tuscany, get the kitchen redone, have a second home in the mountains). Then someone will usually say, “Yeah, but you’d have to buy a ticket!”

Today’s lessons are about winning the lottery in another way – not a financial lottery, but nonetheless hitting the jackpot. Today’s lessons are about recognizing and receiving the abundance of God.

THE LESSONS

In the lesson from Acts, we hear about what can happen when a community embraces a full spiritual life, a life together that is filled with the Spirit of God. The early Christian community was a place where folks were studying God’s Word together, worshiping and praying together, celebrating communion together, and sharing what they had with those who were in need. All this led to “glad and generous hearts” and praising God, and what outside observers saw in that community was so attractive that – day by day – “the Lord added to their number.” In so many different ways, this was the abundance of God on display.

Perhaps one of the reasons the 23rd Psalm is one of the all-time favorites for so many people is because of all the images of sufficiency and abundance that pop up in those six verses. With the Lord as my shepherd, I shall not be in want. There will be green pastures and plenty of water; I will receive all the guidance I need and when my soul is downcast, He will revive it. When death comes near, I will have the Lord present with me, and the Lord’s comfort. And even in the presence of enemies, the Lord will provide me everything I need – not just a table filled with good food and delicious wines, but also the spiritual sustenance that I so desperately need.

And the Good Shepherd knows each of us by name, brings us salvation – fullness of life, abundant life. In fact he comes to give us that – life in abundance. The one who wants to take that full, abundant life away, he calls “a thief and a bandit”. For that one wants to do the opposite of what the Good Shepherd does. He comes “to steal and kill and destroy.”

COMPLICATION – Seeing scarcity

There is a God of abundance at the very heart of the universe, and yet there are so many times when you and seem to zero in on scarcity.

“I/we can’t do that. I/we don’t have the time (the money, the energy).”

Wow! Here’s what I wish would happen. (Fill in what you most want to see happen in your life or in the world here: _____________.) But there’s no way that’s going to come about. Uh-uh, no way!”

And you know what? Sometimes we get so caught up in this scarcity thinking that when we get a glimpse of a wonderful dream, a dream that’s given to us by this abundant, wide-open-to-new-possibilities God, we barely have time to get excited before we start thinking, “That could never happen.” And perhaps we never even share with another person what the dream was, so convinced are we that life is about scarcity. We don’t even take one step on the path of faith, because we don’t trust in God’s power, or we get scared, or both – because, you see, fear and lack of faith are very much related.

Another thing happens when we believe life is mostly about scarcity. We stop seeing the amazing abundance that God has already put into our lives.

At the Clergy Conference/Retreat in Estes Park this past Tuesday through Thursday, I had a chance to slow down and listen to God and do some writing in my journal. And two things came to me. They’re paradoxical, and yet both still are true. One is that I feel like my life isn’t what it could be, that I’m not as happy as I want to be, that God has something new in store for me. And I am very open to figuring out what that something is. But the other thing that is equally true is that I am a man who has been deeply blessed. God reminded me on Wednesday of how rich and abundant my life is

- Parents who loved me when I was growing up
- A body that is healthy and still able to go for runs and climb 14ers at age 53
- A wife and son and daughter and dog who love me Clean water (water bottle)
- Good food
- Clothing
- A car
- A house
- The opportunity to connect with God whether alone or with all of you
- A church community where we learn to be in one in Christ
- Wonderful music
- Education
- Books
- Living in Colorado
- Living in the U.S.
- A really good job where people collaborate in ministry
- Love and friendship
- Leisure time
- And too many more to mention

This is what Jesus came to bring us: life, and life in abundance. And this is what I have – an abundant life, a life filled with the things that really matter, many of which are not things at all. A table has been spread before me. Even on the days when my life isn’t going so well, a table is still spread before me, and my cup is running over. I am not in want. No. There is enough. There is more than enough, in fact. There is abundance! I have hit the jackpot. Even if I never win the lottery, it’s no big deal, because I have won the lottery already, only this lottery is spelled a-b-u-n-d-a-n-t l-i-f-e w-i-t-h G-o-d.

This is one of the many things that participating in Holy Communion means to me, and one of the reasons why I need to keep coming back each week. There’s enough bread and food for everyone. The wine is good, the bread is even better; the union with God and with each of you is better still. It all adds up to abundance. And I need that weekly reminder.

CONCLUSION

Yes, you and I often see scarcity and limitations. You and I are limited – there’s no question about that. But God isn’t. God has no limitations, and God is all about blessing the world. God is all about bringing the abundant life to his people. When we see only scarcity and impossibility, what have we done? It’s simple, really. We’ve forgotten about God. We’ve forgotten that God exists. We’ve forgotten about the blessings of God. We’ve forgotten that God is not only with us, but also for us. We’ve forgotten the truth of what Jesus said… that all things are possible with God. Not a few things… not some things… all things.

I’ll say it again. It’s still Easter. The fact that God raised Jesus from the dead means that we, too, shall be raised from the dead. But it’s even better than that. All bets are off, because all things are now possible, for our God is a God without limitations and a God who wants to bless us with the abundant life. That is quite a combination!

How have you already won the lottery? How have you already hit the jackpot with God? How will you celebrate that today? And how will you share your lottery winnings in a way that others experience the abundance of God?

Burning Hearts and an Accompanying God

After Jesus took, blessed, and broke the bread, and gave it to Cleopas and his friend, and they recognized him, and Jesus vanished from their sight, they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

What makes your heart burn? To put it in another way, what makes your heart sing? What gets you excited? What are the kinds of things you love doing so much that you get lost in them when you are doing them? Do you know? (Wait for answers)

Here’s another question or two: Are you doing the things that make your heart burn? Are you doing them regularly? Or are you spending most of your time doing things that don’t make your heart burn?

SITUATION – The stuff of life

Life happens. You and I need to make a living. We’ve got to make the rent or pay the mortgage, put gas in the car, buy food, and pay all the other bills that are associated with living. If you’re a spouse, you know that keeping your relationship lively and interesting takes a regular investment of time – time in which you listen generously, share of yourself, and initiate the kinds of connection that keep things new and fresh. If you are a parent, you know what an all-consuming proposition that can be. If you’re not a spouse or a parent at the present time, there are still the challenges of keeping up with work and errands, and keeping up with your friends – keeping your head above water.

And you and I both know that in the midst of all this day-to-day balancing of work, family and friends, chores, church and whatever else you are trying to fit into your life, crises can occur – crises like a death of a parent or a spouse or a close friend, or someone getting sick, or someone losing a job, or someone choosing to leave a job because that job has just become unbearable.

Cleopas and his friend were in the midst of such a crisis. Their mentor, their teacher, the one who had changed their lives so much by teaching them about how to connect with God and how to love others, the one who had really noticed them and heard them and made them feel more alive than they’d ever felt – this mentor and friend had died. And as we heard in the Gospel lesson, they decided to go for a walk. “Let’s go to Emmaus!” It was seven miles from Jerusalem, a 2-3 hour walk, depending on your pace and the length of your legs.

But so what? They were hurting. And it would be good to have a chance to get away and talk. Did I mention that they were really hurting? They hearts weren’t burning; they were breaking. Fortunately they knew the road to Emmaus, and didn’t even need to think about where they were going. They could just focus on their conversation.

It’s during times like these, though – when a crisis hits – that we can lose our way internally. When are lives are not going well, when we’re so consumed with the crisis that is right before us that we don’t even have a moment to think about what makes our heart burn, we can lose our way, and feel very lost and very alone and very sad.

GOOD NEWS – God shows up and goes with us

It was right then – as they were walking to Emmaus – that a stranger suddenly caught up with them and began to walk along with them. And he said, “What are you discussing with each other as you walk along?” Luke writes, “They stood still, looking sad.” You bet they were sad. Jesus had been crucified, and earlier that morning, Mary Magdalene and the other women had come back from the tomb where Jesus had been buried, and said that Jesus’ body wasn’t there. And there had been a report that the women had seen angels who said that Jesus was alive. But where was Jesus? This was too much!

They thought about all this, while they were standing there, looking sad. And the stranger just let them be there with their silence and their sadness. And then Cleopas spoke up, wondering who this guy was. “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have taken place there in these days?” The stranger replied, “What things?” And so they told him. Let’s not miss this detail. They were transparent; they opened up to a stranger. They didn’t have to do this. They could have said, “You know what? It’s too difficult to talk about. It’s kind of a private matter, and we’d rather not share it.” But they didn’t do that. They were transparent. “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word.. and how our chief priests handed him over… and crucified him… Yes, and… it is now the third day since these thinks took place…” And they went on to talk about the women at the tomb, the angels, the rumors – all of it.

Then the stranger replied, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” And then the stranger proceeded to give them the most amazing interpretation of the Pentateuch and all the prophetic books – “Moses and all the prophets” – that they had ever heard!

Don’t miss this point, either. After they were transparent and poured out all their emotions to the stranger, they ended up having one of the most amazing conversations that they have ever had – one in which their hearts began to burn.

Who was this guy? They weren’t sure, but man, was he fun to be with!

GOOD NEWS

It is often when we lose our way, and we feel overwhelmed and don’t know what to do… it is often when we throw up our hands and do the old familiar thing – go for a walk, go fishing, go get a cup of coffee with a friend, show up at our jobs or at church even though we didn’t feel like going – it is often at these times that Jesus shows up and walks along with us, in the same way that he showed up and walked with Cleopas and his buddy when they were walking to Emmaus.

What’s required is that we leave some kind of opening. It might look like being open to a stranger. It might look like listening – really listening – to our friends. It might look like being transparent and spilling our guts out to someone. But the moment we open up in some way, what we discover is that God is there. It’s not a stranger talking to us or a friend talking to us or our spouse talking to us. It’s God speaking to us through that person. And when God shows up, our hearts start to burn again. And God says to us, in one way or another, “Linda, have you been doing the things that make your heart sing? Tim, have you been writing? Kathy, have you been writing and acting? Holly, have you been singing? Steve, have you been engineering something? Anne, have you been bringing people of different faiths together, and getting folks to sit down and talk to each other? Millie, have you been on your horse lately?”

Here’s the thing: The deepest desires of our hearts – the ones that are good for us and good for the world – are put there by God. It’s not a matter of God being a killjoy who doesn’t want us to do anything that’s fun! It’s not one of those things you here folks say sometimes like, “I hope God doesn’t call me to be a missionary in Africa, because I don’t want to go there!” No. There is something – maybe even more than one thing – that you love doing, and that God needs you to do. And when you are doing that thing, you will lose track of time, and your heart will be burning, and all creation will be singing along with you, because it is what God wants you to be doing, too.

CONCLUSION

Jesus took, blessed, broke, and gave them the bread – the four actions of the eucharist, by the way – and then they recognized him, and then he disappeared from their sight. And they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” And that same hour – probably in way less than an hour, actually – they were headed back to Jerusalem, so excited that it felt like they were running back. The seven miles now felt like one mile, and before they knew it they were busting through the doors where the 11 disciples and their other other friends were gathered, and sharing with everyone what had happened to them on the road. And they were no longer sad or confused or lost. They were ecstatic and felt more alive than they had ever felt.

Jesus showing up and walking with you will lead to that kind of transformation.

Things are going to happen in your life. You’re going to get off track at times. But keep reminding yourself of those people, those acts of service, those hobbies and those disciplines that make your heart burn within you. Those are your God-placed desires. The moment you realize you have gotten off track, recommit to one of those activities or set up a time – as soon as you can – to be with another person who makes your heart burn.

The risen Lord is calling you and me to full aliveness, so pay attention to those things that make your heart burn, and keep doing them. Because the world needs to see and be regularly reminded of what it looks like when someone is in her element, when someone is fully alive. For when you are fully alive, the other people in the world get a glimpse of God. And you know what? That’s what most of us on the planet are looking for, whether we realize it or not.

We’re looking for a glimpse of God.

Psalm 12:7-8 (The Book of Common Prayer)
7O Lord, watch over us and save us from this generation forever. 8The wicked prowl on every side, and that which is worthless is highly prized by everyone.
1 John 2:15-17
15Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.
Returning to Our First Love
Two of the readings for today come with a similar type of warning: Beware falling so much in love with the things of this world that we forget to love God. But the warning is more than just “Remember to love God.” It’s more like this: Remember to keep God as your first love, the love above all other loves; love God first and foremost, and everything else will take care of itself.
But you and I often forget our first love – the One who is meant to be First Above All. My sense is that if I were from Haiti or Sierra Leone or Sudan I would not have to pay as much attention to these warnings, for the challenges of daily life would drive to my knees from the moment that I woke up in the morning. But I am not from these places. I am an American, and the glittery things of our culture – all the various forms of entertainment, the newest models of cars, the latest shoes (“Fivefingers” shoes with Vibram soles at REI for $100), the latest songs from Glee that go straight to ITunes, even the seemingly unlimited number of products at the grocery store (Did you know that the King Soopers near my home is in the middle of an 18-month expansion project, and when it is completed it will be one of the largest King Soopers in Colorado? But I am already overwhelmed with all the choices of salad dressing – prior to the expansion!) – these things vie for my attention. These things cry out to me in a voice that seems to be many, many decibels louder than the voice of God. And I haven’t even mentioned all that is accessible through the internet or on TV. And what is the true value of all these things? Might it be the case that “that which is worthless is highly prized by everyone”, that we are loving the things that are passing away?
My old friend Henri Nouwen writes this: “It always strikes me that rich people have much money, while poor people have much time. And when there is much time life can be celebrated. There is no reason to romanticize poverty, but when I see the fears and anxieties of many who have all the goods the world has to offer, I can understand Jesus’ words: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Money and success are not the problem; the problem is the absence of free, open time when God can be encountered in the present and life can be lifted up in its simple beauty and goodness.” (Here and Now, p. 31)
The things of this world – at least the things of our American world – take up lots of space and time, and constantly threaten to crowd God right out of our lives. This is one of the many reasons why we need a discipline of daily solitude and quiet, where we can read Holy Scripture and listen for God’s voice. When we enter into this discipline, we stumble across words like the ones from Psalm 12 and 1 John 2, and God might even get our attention with words like these:
“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him…?” (Joel 2:12-14a)
The Lord our God is calling out to you and me today. Will we return to Him with all our heart? Will we remember to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind? Will we make Him our first love – this One who has loved us from before we were born? And if we do return to him, who knows whether he will not turn and leave a blessing behind him? I suspect that He will. And I suspect that it will be a blessing that will transform our lives in the way that we most desperately need them to be transformed.

For Whom Are You Looking?

INTRODUCTION – Doing the next faithful thing

You get the sense that Mary Magdalene and the other women were chomping at the bit. Jesus had died on a Friday, and there was barely enough time to wrap his body and place it in the tomb before the sabbath started on Friday evening. And as she and the disciples and other friends observed the sabbath – as the ate, as they said the sabbath prayers, as they read the scriptures that reminded them of their history with God, as they rested – Mary and the other women were thinking, “We’ve got to get to the tomb and anoint Jesus’ body properly! First thing tomorrow morning, before the sun rises, we will go to the tomb.”

Probably you know that when you have lost someone very close to you, and you are still very much in shock, and the grief is very intense, it can be a big help to have something to do. And anointing Jesus’ body properly was a good and faithful thing to do. After all, what did Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus know about this type of work? They were men!

And so early on that Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the massive stone had been rolled away. This wasn’t right. She was planning to look for a few men to help her roll it away, but the stone was already moved. She instinctively knew that Jesus’ body wasn’t there. Someone had taken it. So she made a u-turn and ran to tell Simon Peter and John. John – being younger and having been in training for the Jerusalem 10K race – got there first. While he hesitated at the entrance of the tomb and peered inside, seeing the linen wrappings but no Jesus, Peter arrived and just bolted inside. Peter noticed that the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head had been neatly wrapped up, and set apart from the other linen wrappings. Then John went in. He did not assume that Jesus’ body had been stolen. He believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Then Peter and John went back home and locked the doors, evidently afraid that the authorities would come for them next.

But not Mary Magdalene. She stayed right there, weeping outside the tomb. Then she bent over to look into tomb, and she saw two angels in white. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Wasn’t it obvious? “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Then she turned around and saw another man, who asked her the very same question. “Woman, why are you weeping?” Were these angels and this man clueless? This was too much! First Jesus had been crucified, a terribly humiliating and painful way to die. And now his body was missing. “For whom are you looking?” It was difficult to even get the words out. “I am looking for the man who was placed in this tomb on Friday, Jesus of Nazareth! Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
And then she heard a voice that she knew so very, very well say to her, “Mary!” He didn’t look the same. Something about him was different. But it was definitely him. “Rabbouni!”

Can you take in this story? Can you imagine what it was like to be Mary Magdalene in that moment? From looking for something to do to keep the grief at bay… to panic… to confusion… to a new level of sadness that was unbearable… and now to utter joy – all in such a short period of time! And as she moved to hug him, Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me… But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ And eager to do the next faithful thing, eager to spread the good news, Mary returned to where the disciples were staying and announced to them, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what had happened, and what he had said to her.

FOR WHOM ARE YOU LOOKING?

It’s a really good question, this one that the risen Jesus asks of Mary. For whom are you looking?

Are you looking for a God who you suspect is dead, or for One who is very much alive?

Are you looking for someone to help you out only when you are desperate, or for Someone who will be there during those times, and in all the other circumstances of your life?

Are you looking for someone who will accept you as you are and never challenge you to grow, or are you looking for Someone who has loved you from before you were born and who will also keep calling you into deeper transformation?

Are you looking for someone who will give you a road map and explain how everything will unfold in your life, or for Someone who will guide you one step at a time, and who will keep encouraging you to trust in him?

Are you looking for someone to tell you that this life is all there is, so make the most of it, or are you looking for Someone who says, “I came that [you] may have life, and have it abundantly” and also “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

GOOD NEWS

Mary Magdalene found the One for whom she was looking. And truth be told, she probably found more than she was looking for. In her wildest dreams, she wanted to see Jesus alive again. What she didn’t bargain for was that after she died, she would be raised, too, never to die again.

Jesus said to her, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Why is that important? It’s important because if we share the same heavenly Father… if we share the same God… then the God who raised Jesus from the dead is going to do the very same thing for you. The thing that so many of us are afraid of – death – has been conquered, through the sacrificial love of Christ Jesus. And if death has been conquered, then you and I are truly free. We no longer have to be stuck in patterns and habits that take us nowhere. We no longer have to settle for an “okay” life. Because the God of all creation – the God of heaven and earth, the God of Jesus, the unlimited God – has invited us to an unlimited and everlasting life with Him.

God is calling us to ongoing faith, ongoing transformation. Jesus says to Mary, “Do not hold on to me…” There may have been a physical aspect to that statement, but it wasn’t only that. Mary could not hold on to her love of Jesus in the way that she had loved him up to that point – in the “old” way. For one thing, he was going to be ascending into heaven soon. For another, well – the rules of life had now dramatically changed, if God was going to start raising people from the dead! And Jesus needed Mary to spread the good news, not just to the disciples on that first Easter morning, but to everyone that she encountered, from here on out.

So she couldn’t cling to her love for Jesus in the old way anymore. She would have to learn how to love Him – and how to love others – in a new way. This woman who had been deeply troubled, from whom he had cast out seven demons when they first met… this woman who, along with some other women, had supported Jesus financially in his ministry… this woman who was the first to see the resurrected Jesus… was going to have to keep being open to the transforming love of God, and was going to have to keep learning, and keep being faithful – one step at a time.

CONCLUSION

Have you found the One for whom you were looking? Do you know that – in Him – death has been conquered, and that He keeps inviting you into new life? This God is always with you – sometimes on the mountaintop, and just as often when you are in a place of grief and desolation. He will never abandon you or forsake you. He is risen! Alleluia, alleluia! And because He is risen, you will be given new life, too – not only at the end of your life, but right now.

All that is required is that you be open to receiving the transformation that God wants to bring about in you. As in Mary Magdalene’s case, this transformation does not always come about in a pain-free way. It happens on a very human level, with all the attending human emotions. But as Mary Magdalene did, you and I can take the next faithful step, and the one after that, and the one after that. For the Lord our God, the Mighty One, is with us! No tomb could hold him. He is with us, now and forevermore! And about all we can say to that is… Alleluia!

From Tomb Time to Out of the Tomb

INTRODUCTION – Tomb Time

Where did Jesus’ body need to go after he was crucified? The answer, of course, is that he needed to be placed in a tomb. You don’t leave dead bodies out in the open air to decay. It’s not a dignified way to treat a human body, to leave it out there where it is exposed to dogs or wild animals, not to mention the curious looks of those who are passing by.

There are times in our lives, even when we are very much alive, when you and I need some “tomb time”, too.

After we’ve lost a family member or a close friend, we need some tomb time.

When we’ve had an extremely busy week, or really just a typical six days of working and living, we need some tomb time. (God called this the sabbath day.)

When we are going through a really big transition – when we are getting married or having a child, when we have lost a job or have just started a new job, when our first child has started school or our last child has left home, when we have gone through a divorce, or a relationship with a very close friend has ended, we may very well need some tomb time.

When we sense that God is calling us to the next “big thing” in our lives, we need some tomb time so that we can think, feel, listen, pray, write, and listen and pray and feel some more.

When something that we have invested a lot of our energy and creativity and passion in has gone extremely well, and we have gotten lots of accolades, or maybe no accolades at all, it is often a good idea to pull back in for a while, to reflect on what has just happened by giving ourselves some tomb time.

One cannot always be going out. There is a certain rhythm to life, just as there is a certain rhythm to each day, and a certain rhythm to each year. There is a part of life that is about going out, and a part of life that is about coming back in. This coming back in, and what you do (or don’t do) when you come back in, is what I am calling “tomb time”. It is a necessary part of growth and life, just as going out and meeting the world is a necessary part of life.

This is one of the reasons that I like Psalm 121 so much. There is that wonderful opening phrase, “I lift up my eyes to the hills…” and there is that wonderful concluding phrase – “The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore.”

Tomb time is not an end in itself, however. As I have said, it is part of the rhythm of life, and as such, the tomb time allows us to go back out into the world, often as new, transformed people. You might think of the image of a caterpillar that spins its cocoon for shelter and protection during the pupa stage of its ongoing life. That cocoon is necessary for a time. But the caterpillar is not supposed to stay in there forever. If it does, its life comes to an end. No. It is supposed to emerge as something new. And when things go as they are supposed to, it does. And that is why the butterfly is an ancient symbol of the Christian life. Because it represents transformation and new life – the kind of transformation and new life that God calls forth in us.

JESUS EMERGING FROM THE TOMB

Jesus had to be placed in the tomb after he died. But the tomb could not hold him. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” (Matthew 28:5-7)

This is how things work when people are transformed by divine love. We look to find them in a certain place… we look to find them as we saw them before… but they are no longer in that place, and they are no longer as they were before – because transformation has happened. If Mary Magdalene was looking for a dead Jesus in the tomb, she wasn’t going to find him – because he wasn’t there anymore. He had moved on. He had been raised from the dead. He had entered into a new phase of his life with God – never to die again, and never to be that “old Jesus” again.

Are you the same person you were 10 or 20 years ago? I hope not. Are you the same person you were last year? I hope not. We are the beloved of God. And it’s also true that God keeps inviting us to grow, to change, to be transformed.

I have been to one of my high school reunions. It was the 25th, back in 2000. There were some good moments, although I don’t feel like I have to go to another one. But I can tell you what one of the most disappointing moments was. There were two guys there who were stars on the football team. They were considered “big men on campus” in some ways, but they were also mean-spirited guys, always putting down other people. My friend, Paul, and I had only been at the reunion for about 30 minutes when they started putting Paul down. Fred and Ronnie hadn’t changed a bit. They were still acting like 17-year-olds – immature 17-year-olds, at that. It didn’t seem that they had emerged from the cocoon, that there was any new life or any transformation there. And it was sad.

NEW LIFE

How have you been raised from the dead by God during the past year? That is the question for this night.

In the past year, I have learned that, with God’s help, I could be guided through a difficult and painful conflict, one in which I wasn’t always sure what to do, and come out on the other side of it, knowing that I could face into some uncomfortable conversations and still be okay.

In the past year, I have learned that I can tell others what I want. I never used to be able to do that very well. In fact, I used to think it was selfish to say what you wanted. God has helped me see that it’s good to be clear and to ask for what you want, and that many of the deepest desires of our hearts originate in him.

In the past year, I have learned that just because Julia and I have a child who is in college, that doesn’t mean that he won’t need our support as he faces into a health crisis and big decisions related to that crisis.

In the past year, I’ve learned that people who have been in this church for many, many years – and some who have just started coming – are open to being transformed, and are willing to enter into the “uncomfortable zone” as part of their continuing journey with God.

Participating in and witnessing these things has given me new life. I am not the same person that I was a year ago. I have emerged from the tomb a different person.

JESUS GOES AHEAD OF US IN EVERYTHING

Here’s some good news for you tonight: Jesus goes before us in everything. “… tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’”

Jesus goes ahead of us in death. Jesus goes ahead of us in being raised. Because he has been raised from the dead, and because we have the same God, we, too, shall be raised. Jesus goes ahead of us in learning how to love others. Jesus goes ahead of us in experiencing suffering. Jesus goes ahead of us in knowing what it feels like to lose a loved one. Jesus goes ahead of us in being generous, in being forgiving, in being honest, in being grateful, in being sacrificial, in being humble, in practicing “downward mobility”, in being joyful.

No matter what it is that you are going through, no matter what it is that God is calling you to learn and experience for the first time, Jesus has been there before you. But here’s the other thing: he doesn’t go so far ahead of you that you can no longer see him or hear him. He’s just ahead, quite close to you actually – only a prayer away, never out of earshot.
CONCLUSION

There are times in our lives – regular times – when we are supposed to be in the tomb. During those times, God is working on us in some way – giving us rest, time to breathe, time to dream and think and feel and be creative, time to reassess, time to reflect, time to learn, time to decide what new commitments we want to make in our lives.

And then it is time to emerge from the tomb, often as new and different people, people who are more like Jesus – more loving, more honest, more authentic, more vulnerable, more generous, more forgiving, more joyful.

We go into the tomb, and then we come out of the tomb. And if folks look for us in the tomb, if folks look for us where we were before – well, if things are going according to God’s plans for us, they won’t find us there.

I know you are looking for ______________ (Mary, Kris, David, Doug, Kristy, Leanne, Terry, Brian, etc.). She is not here. He is not here. She has been raised from the dead. He has been raised from the dead. They are somewhere down the road with Jesus, and you may not recognize them when you first see them. They are nothing like who they were in high school. They’re a lot more loving, for one thing. They aren’t even like who they were last year. They’re much better listeners now. God is doing great things in them, and it is wonderful in our sight!

The tomb (or cocoon) is a place where we go now and then, because we need to. But it is not a final destination, for God keeps sending us out into the world, for the good of the world.

Moving the “C”: From Reactivity to Making Room for Love

INTRODUCTION – Two things going on today…

There are at least two things going on in today’s lessons, when we remember the crucifixion of our Lord. One is the obedience of Jesus, and the process of him coming to that obedience, which is epitomized so well in the agony he goes through in the Garden of Gethsemane. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want… My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done… See, the hour is at hand…” (Matthew 26:39, 42, 45) And then the Passion of the Christ, with the ancient meaning of the word “passion” – allowing another to act upon you – from which we get our word passive. As we heard when Peter cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave, Jesus could have appealed to his Father and – he knew he would have twelve legions of angels there to protect him. But that is not the course he chose to follow. How then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which said it must happen in this way? (Matthew 26:51-54)

Jesus’s obedience, Jesus’ Passion – is certainly at the very heart of this day that we call Good Friday.

And then there is the other part of the Passion play, which is pretty much about what everyone else is doing. And if the folks around Jesus aren’t betraying or deserting Jesus, what are they doing? That’s right. They’re attacking him – either with their words or with their spit or with a crown of thorns or with whips or with a hammer and spikes or – oh, yeah – with a kiss.

This is the part of the Good Friday Passion Gospel that always grabs me in a way that I don’t really want to be grabbed. The truth is that there are many times when I make the same kind of reactive judgments toward others that the high priests and the elders, that Pilate and the soldiers and those in the crowd – and even his disciples – made toward Jesus that night, and the following day. Notice that they didn’t calm down the next morning. They were still as reactive as they had been the night before.

Unless we are evading an oncoming vehicle or trying to get away from a rabid dog or a wild animal or an abusive person… unless we are running for our lives to escape a landslide… this reactive brain of ours doesn’t serve us very well. Some of the worst decisions we ever make, some of the meanest things we ever say to other people occur when we get reactive. And make no mistake: there was a whole lot of reactivity going on during the night before and on the morning of the day that our Lord was crucified.

THE “WAKE-UP” CALL OF GOOD FRIDAY

There is, I believe, a wake-up call for us on this day. Do we see, do we acknowledge that we get this reactive at times? That’s the first question. But there’s more to it that that. Our Lord, the same One who was crucified on that lonely hill so many years ago, is inviting us to make a shift. Our Lord invites us to notice when we get reactive, and to shift the focus of our attention. I am going to call that “moving the C”.

There is a little handout in your bulletin today. It looks something like this:

REACTIVE
C
C
C Moving the “C”, Moving the “See”
C
CREATIVE

You’ll notice that the words “reactive” and “creative” have the very same eight letters in them. And yet they are very different words. When we are in reactive mode, God invites us to “move the C”, and that involves moving the “see” – shifting the way that we see things.

The “see” of reactive mode sounds like this: “See that Jesus fellow over there? (It helps to point at the person when you say it.) He is a trouble-maker! He has been healing people on the sabbath and plucking grain on the sabbath and he claims that when the temple is destroyed, it will be rebuilt in three days. The temple! In three days! Can you believe he said that? (Though some say he might have been referring to the temple of his body…) Anyway, do you see that Jesus fellow over there? He calls God his Father. Blasphemy! He must be stopped! We need to shut him up, and shut him up for good! He is possessed, I tell you! He called the learned leaders among us – the Pharisees – hypocrites! He needs to be killed!”

The “see” of reactivity can also sound like this:

Do you see what the federal government is doing?
Did you see what those oil companies did?
Did you see what those insurance companies did?
Did you see what those environmentalists did?
Did you see what those Republicans did?
Did you see what those Democrats did?
Did you see what those gay people did?
Did you see what those straight people did?
Did you see what those Muslims did?
Did you see what those black people did?
Did you see what those white people did?
Did you see what those homeless people did?
Did you see what those rich people did?
Or – closer to home – did you see what my spouse (child, co-worker, fellow church member) did?

Add some extra words if you like – bastard, a–hole, idiot, retarded, clueless, etc. – as in, “Did you see what those bastard insurance companies have done now?”

When we act in this way, we are often no different than the crowd who shouted to Pilate, “Crucify him!” We point to another person, or another group, and we point and say just as they did back then, “Him! Her! You! Them! They are the ones! Lets’ get ‘em!” When we act in this way, we are the transgressors.

And when we act in this way – truth be told – we need to move the “C”. God invites us to shift, so that we can let Him shine his light on us, and “see” what is really going on inside of our own selves. That is “moving the C”. We allow God to shine the light on us, and we wonder – with God’s loving help – what is going on for me right now? What is this man or this issue or this group touching in me that is making me so reactive? We begin to wonder if this person or this issue or this group reminds us of some earlier time in our life, perhaps when we didn’t feel safe, perhaps when we felt like we needed to run, perhaps when we felt hurt or like we had be been forced into a corner.

For this is the truth: when I have a reaction that is way out of proportion to something that has just happened, that is about me – not about you or anyone else. When I react in such a way, it’s a sign, a signal. It’s as if God is trying to get through to me – whether with a whisper, a megaphone, or a thunder-clap – and the message is the same. “Pete, what is going on for you right now?”

SHIFTING TO THE CREATIVE

At those moments, God is inviting me to shift from being reactive to being creative. And the creative side of life has to do with wonder, and it most certainly has to do with love. To shift to my creative brain, I must, by definition, invite the Creator – the One who made the heavens and the earth and all created things, the One who makes all things new, the One who gives new life – I must invite God into the mix. “Lord, help me see what I need to see right now.”

Something else happens when I make this shift. God reminds me that we are all in the same boat. We are have fallen short of the glory of God. We all stand in need of His forgiveness. And we are all God’s children. Jesus died for all of us – black, brown, white, gay, straight, men, women, young, old, Republican, Democrat, Green, Socialist – Jesus died for all of us.

And that is what we remember on this day. That is why we celebrate on this day, and call it “Good”, even though, from all outward appearances, it seemed anything but good. That is why we are so grateful, and why we participate in the Passion Gospel on this day – because Jesus died for every last one of us.

THE IRONY OF THIS DAY

The irony of this day is that the one who wasn’t the transgressor was numbered with the transgressors. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth… he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people… upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:6-7a, 8b, 5b)

The Lord of Life calls us into new life, and coming fully into this life involves our being transformed. God is the agent of that transformation. We must be open to what God wants to do in us. And one of the things God wants us to do is to move the “C”, so that our tendency to blame and criticize and judge and attack other people – “See what he did?!?” – becomes less and less of a tendency, due to the love of Christ that keeps being poured into our hearts.

Christ invites us into a place of wonder, creativity, and love. God invites me to shift from “what’s wrong with the other person” to wondering about myself, and how God might want me to change. Here’s a hint from Hebrews on how God wants us to change: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Now there’s an expression to ponder on this Good Friday. You and I don’t tend to use the word “provoke” in this way. How might we “provoke one another to love and good deeds?” That is a much different approach to life than simply provoking one another – casting stones and calling each other names and rushing to judgment.

CONCLUSION

As we move into the Easter season, may you and I be committed to moving the “C” – to shifting from reactive mode to creative mode, to shifting from seeing someone else as the problem, to looking – with our humble and compassionate Lord as our guide and helper – at ourselves. Who knows? We just might start seeing ourselves as God sees as – as beloved, creative children, capable of bringing light and love and all kinds of good things… to the world.

Sometimes when I look at some of the things that are going on in the world, I wonder if maybe I am so out of it as to be irrelevant. Do you ever feel that way?

Today on the campus of my alma mater, the University of Colorado, students (and some non-students) will be gathering on the quadrangle near Norlin Library to get high. I am so out of it that I don’t know what they call this relatively new tradition on campus, one that I am told goes back maybe 10 or 12 years. When I asked my son, Zach, this morning what it was called, as I drove him to the RTD bus stop so that he could go to his classes at CU, he said, “I don’t know. Just ‘4/20’, I think.” (Maybe Zach’s a little out of it, too, and with respect to this tradition, if he is, then I’m glad.) Someone decided April 20 would be the day that people could gather and get high together on the middle of campus. I guess this celebration is one of the things that makes CU one of the top party schools in the nation. (Is this the way we rebel now? It seems a far cry from Civil Rights or anti-war or anti-nuclear protests, but I digress…)

I know I’m different, but I remember studying hard when I was at CU. Of course, I didn’t have as much fun as most young people do when they are in college. (I am trying to make up for that now while I’m in my 50’s!) But here’s the interesting juxtaposition, as I see it: Just 7 or 8 miles from where I used to go to college and law school, where some of the students are observing “4/20”, the folks in my congregation and I are observing Holy Week.

Life can be weird, huh?

There can be a great temptation in life to be relevant. For 20-year-old college kids, being relevant looks like getting “crazy drunk” and getting high. And what does relevance look like for a 53-year-old American male? Probably it has something to do with being “upwardly mobile”, having a high-paying job and a good family and a nice home, and if you really want to be relevant, I suppose it has something to do with being able to get the ear of the “movers and shakers” of society.
Meanwhile, those of us who are Christians point to Jesus and say, “He’s the standard. Pattern your life after him.” Being a Christian doesn’t have anything to do with being relevant – at least as our society defines that word. It has everything to do with being faithful, and our example of what it means to be faithful is Jesus. “… let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1a-2, emphasis mine)

Jesus had the bigger picture in mind when he went to the cross. He could see the joy that was set before him – the joy that would come to him as a gift from his Father. Jesus took the “downwardly mobile” path, and in that sense, he was not very relevant – then or now.

Henri Nouwen writes this: “To be a Christian who is willing to travel with Christ on his downward road requires being willing to detach oneself constantly from any need to be relevant, and to trust ever more deeply the Word of God. Thus, we do not resist the temptation to be relevant by doing irrelevant things but by clinging to the Word of God who is the source of all relevancy.” (A Book of Hours, p. 102)

Some might say that being relevant in our society today has something to do with having fun. I am totally interested in having more and more fun in my life. What I notice is that when I am having the most fun – when I feel full and warm and joyful inside, when I feel like “all is right with the world”, when I feel deeply connected to another person, when I feel deeply connected to nature, when I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all my blessings, when I see other people in the world as my allies and not as strangers or enemies – in all of these times, God is right smack in the middle of them. Probably no one who is culturally relevant in America today says, “If you really want to have fun, pursue a relationship with God.” I am aware of that. Oh, well!

There must be many people in the world who think that observing Holy Week is irrelevant. Oh, well! It’s how I choose to observe “4/20” this year, and 4/21, 4/22, 4/23, and – yes – 4/24. I agree with Nouwen. I believe the Word of God is the source of all relevancy.

The Spirit of God Gives Life

INTRODUCTION – The hard places

If you have ever felt depressed, so much so that you have lost hope… if you have ever felt cut off from your homeland or cut off from your family or from your own self, so that in some way you have felt like you were in exile… if you have ever felt like you have done something so wrong that you are desperately in need of forgiveness… if you ever felt deep grief – and even more – felt like perhaps God or someone else could have intervened in such a way that might have kept your loved one from dying, or intervened in some way so that a relationship or a job wouldn’t have come to and end… if you are feeling any one of these things today, as you sit here… then this is a really good day for you to be in church.

Why? Because people who have been in your shoes are speaking today.

“… these bones are the whole house of Israel [living in exile]. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’” (Ezekiel 37:11)

“Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord… If you Lord, were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:1a-2)

“When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” “[Later on] When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:20-21, 32)

SITUATION – Speaking the truth from the hard places

What I love about all of these stories is that there is no sugar-coating.

The people of Israel had been conquered by the Babylonians. They were in exile. Ezekiel, the prophet, who had warned them of what was to come before the destruction of Jerusalem occurred, was now in exile with them, now that it had happened. He knew how awful it was. Not only that, since he was right there with them, he heard everything his fellow Jews were saying.

“I feel dead. What is the point of going on? We’re in a foreign land, and our temple and our beloved city has been destroyed. I have no hope left.”

The Psalmist was depressed. We don’t know the whole story. Judging from the context, it seems as if he (or she) had done some things that he wished he never would have done. He was in need of forgiveness and redemption. And how does he begin? “Out of the depths…” “Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice…” In other words, “I am really down, Lord. I am so low. Can you possibly hear me when I cry out to you, when it feels like I am in a bottomless pit, a pit so deep that you could never possibly hear me, much less see me?”

And then there are Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, and friends of Jesus. “We sent you that earlier message that Lazarus was sick. Why didn’t you get here sooner? WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, JESUS?!? Now that he’s dead you show up. Why now? Why not earlier?”

Take note, my friends. The nation of Israel in exile… the down on himself Psalmist… the deeply hurting Mary and Martha… all say what they are feeling. If they don’t name the exact feeling, you still know what they are feeling. They don’t try to put on a happy face, acting as if everything is okay when it most certainly is not.

They cry out, and the One whom they cry out to is God (or the Son of God). And the message can basically be translated thus: This stinks! Help me (us), Lord!

COMPLICATION – What if you have to wait?

Which begs the question, what if you cry out to the Lord and don’t hear anything right away? What if the Lord is “late arriving”, as Jesus was for Martha and Mary?

Well, I remember that Jesus told the disciples “about their need to pray always and not to lose heart”, that parable about the persistent widow who doesn’t stop coming to the judge until he hears and responds to her request. (Luke 18:1-8) Jesus equated this kind of persistence in prayer to being faithful.

If you cry out to God with the desperate circumstances of your life, and you don’t get an answer, you keep crying out. The exiles didn’t go back to Jerusalem right away. But encouraged by Isaiah and Ezekiel and some of the other prophets, they didn’t forget about their homeland, and they didn’t stop letting God know of what they thought about living in exile. For that matter, their ancestors didn’t stop crying out when they were in slavery in Egypt, either.

And when Jesus showed up, four days after Lazarus had died, Martha and Mary let him hear about it, as we already heard. “Lord, if you had been here… Lord, if you had been here… He’s dead, Jesus. He’s been in the tomb for four days.”

No. You don’t hold anything back from God when you are in a terrible, desperate place, and you don’t hold anything back when you don’t get a response right away.

GOOD NEWS – God’s response

We call out to God. We name what is going on for us, how awful we feel, how terrible it is. And here’s the thing: God does respond. God hears our cries, and God responds.

God heard the cries of the exiled Jews, who thought there was no more reason to hope. “I am going to bring you up from your graves [for indeed, they felt dead] , O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel… I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act.” And the Lord did exactly that. He brought the exiled Jews back to their homeland, and they were able to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and rebuild the temple.

God heard the cry of the Psalmist, and the Psalmist knew that he had been heard – not only heard, but forgiven. Something shifted inside of him; you can hear it in the Psalm, for he is no longer speaking “out of the depths”. He is speaking and writing like a man who knows he has been forgiven. He speaks as one who now can pass on to others what he has learned about the goodness of God. “For there is forgiveness with you… O, Israel, wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy; with him there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.”

And what about Jesus’ response to Martha and Mary? When he hears them both say, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died…”, but mostly – when Mary came to him and started weeping – it was too much. We are told by John that Jesus was “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” The first Greek work here means “groaned”. He groaned in his spirit. The Spirit of God groaned to witness the depth of Mary and Martha’s grief and loss. And as they were taking him to the womb, Jesus wept. And as he got to the tomb, he was deeply disturbed again; he groaned in his Spirit again.

And how else did he respond? He said, “Take away the stone.” And the ever-practical Martha replied, “Lord, already there is a stench, because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, quite calmly, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” What would you do? They took away the stone. And Jesus prayed to his Father, a short prayer of thanksgiving. “Father, I thank you for having heard me.” Remember, this is a God who hears the cries of his people; and this is a God who heard the prayers of Jesus, too.

“Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out – walking – all bound up in the strips of cloth that they had buried him in, alive once again, and Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

GOD IS LIFE

And many of them realized that what Jesus had said to Martha a few minutes earlier was true. “I am the resurrection, and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
God is the God of life, but it’s even more than that. God is life. Jesus is life. The Spirit is life.

It is God who spoke life into all creation; the Spirit that moved over the face of the waters, right before God spoke. It was God who formed man (Adam) from the dust of the ground (adamah), “and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) It was God who breathed life into you when you were born, and God who gave you new life – spiritual life – when you were baptized. It is God who has given you new life many times since then.

When you had lost all hope that there was any kind of a bright future for you…

When you were depressed and so much “in the depths” that you could barely cry out to God…

When you had lost your spouse of 40+ or 50+ years… or experienced the death of your parents… or lost a sibling, or a close friend, or someone who had mentored you in your life… and you were in that place where all you felt for a while was a huge void…

It was God who heard you, God who came alongside of you – many times disguised in the form of various people who loved you and mainly just showed up to be with you – it was God who came and rolled the stone away, so that you could breathe again, and experience new life. It was God who led you back home, and put you on old familiar ground, and you knew that it was God, because you know that no one else has the power to give you back your life again.

CONCLUSION

The raising of Lazarus from the dead was a type of dress rehearsal for what was to come. Lazarus eventually died again. But by the time that happened, all of his family and close friends knew that death would not have the final word in Lazarus’ life – that Lazarus was going to live forever with God.

They knew this because when Jesus died, and all of them were scattered and confused and scared – but mostly – deeply groaning in their spirits, God rolled away that massive stone on the third day. And suddenly the one they had called ‘rabbi’ and ‘Lord” was walking with them and talking to them and eating with them and telling them where to cast their nets. Yes, he was very much alive – because God is life – and rather than dying again… and that being the end of the story… they saw him ascend into heaven, to be with his heavenly Father forevermore.

There are times when life can be almost unbearably painful. But in the end, it is not unbearable, because God – as always – shows up, and feels our pain. He feels it so much that he groans in his Spirit. And then he does something to give us our life back. He brings transformation; he renews our life; sometimes it is as if he brings us back from the dead in this lifetime, because indeed, it’s as if we were dead.
Yes, God shows up, and everything changes, and there is new life.

If you feel like you’ve lost all hope today, like you are cut off completely from God and your true home… if you feel depressed and aren’t sure how you can even begin to climb out of that pit that you are in… if you are still deeply grieving the loss of a loved one, or the ending of a relationship…. cry out to God, and if you need to, keep crying out, and keep waiting. Wait for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning. He will not be long delayed. For the Lord knows you; He knows your name, and He knows your needs. And mostly, He knows how desperately you need Him – and that without Him you cannot breathe, for without Him there is no life.

Cry out. Wait. Cry out some more. For he is surely coming to give you new life, to bring abundance to your life once again, to raise you from the dead – in a way that you will know, without a shadow of a doubt, that He is the Lord.

‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’

The Power of Commitment, the Power of Choice

As I read this passage today, what struck me was the power of commitment, and the power of choice. The difference between a good shepherd and a “hired hand” is the level of commitment. The good shepherd is totally committed to the welfare of the sheep. He (or she) is fully “in”, and will even fight off wolves to protect the sheep. The hired hand is not fully in, and sees the job only as a job. It is not a calling, and his level of commitment is just not as deep as that of a shepherd who knows he is called to be a shepherd. So when danger comes, he puts his own life and safety ahead of the life and safety of the sheep.

Last year, someone shared with Julia and me a wonderful quote about commitment. I have it saved on my phone. Here it is:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. Alls sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”
- W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition (1951)

In July of 2006, I got the idea to send out weekly email meditations. I felt fully committed, because the idea seemed to bring together two of my great loves – scripture and writing – and offered a chance for me to offer something that members of St. Ambrose, as well as other friends and acquaintances, might look forward to reading during the middle of the week. However, the truth is this: I would write these meditations even if no one read them, because this discipline has become a wonderful part of my spiritual practice, a wonderful part of my journey with God.
It seems hard to believe that I have been writing them for almost five years now, and I have rarely missed a week.

My writing a weekly meditation may not be up there with planning an expedition up Everest, and it is certainly not anywhere near the commitment of going to the cross – the commitment that our Lord made. But that is not the point. The point is that we all have choices in our lives. The point is that we can all listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and decide what we have a “full yes” to doing; we all have the opportunity to “definitely commit”, as W.H. Murray puts it.

Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross. He could have very easily stayed in Galilee, and been a “traditional” rabbi, and not made waves. But he chose to go to Jerusalem one more time, even after he knew the people there were looking for a way to kill him, because he was fully committed to God’s plan. “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:17-18a, emphasis mine)

In other words, they would never have crucified Jesus if he had not been fully committed to it happening, if he wasn’t “fully in”, with regard to his assent to his Father’s plan.

Recently I made a commitment to start putting myself “out there” more with people, especially people outside of St. Ambrose. I’ve also been more open to sharing my faith with people since I started teaching the Lenten class at St. Ambrose on evangelism. You would be surprised how many people have struck up conversations with me in the past few weeks, since I made that commitment! You might also be surprised to know how many of these folks have brought up spiritual things, and how many easy – and I mean easy – opportunities God has given me to say something about my faith, since I made this commitment.

Commitment is powerful. W.H. Murray is correct. “A whole stream of events issues from the decision” to commit, “which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”

To what or to whom are you fully committed? What has happened after you “definitely committed”? How has God moved, too, once you committed?

I invite you to tell a family member or a member of St. Ambrose or some other person how you have experienced the movement and support of God, once you made a commitment. The person you choose to share your commitment story with will be blessed by what you have to say.

Opening Up to God’s Intentions

INTRODUCTION – Things out of place

Some things are amiss this morning. There are some things that are definitely out of place. What do you notice?

There is a trophy on the stand by the lectern where the icon usually sits. The icon is on the altar. One of the altar candles is where the vase of flowers usually sits. The parament hanging from the lectern is the wrong color for the season of Lent. I am wearing the wrong stole. “Alleluia” is printed on the front of the bulletin (a Lenten faux pas), and we added regional and national sporting events to the weekly church calendar. (Go, Rockies!) And some people are sitting on the wrong side of the church (horrors!), compared to where they regularly sit.

NARROW FOCUS, CRITICAL MIND

It takes a certain kind of focus to notice these things. You have to narrow your focus to see what is amiss. Paul Austin could probably give you a great lecture on what part of your brain is at work here, but basically it is your critical mind at work. We need this part of our brain. It helps us solve math problems and many other types of problems. When we’re in a crisis, we need this kind of critical thinking to help us assess the situation and zero in on what needs to be done first, so that we can do it! Your brain can’t be in la-la land when you are trying to work calculus problems or solve simultaneous equations or figure out what first needs to be done after you’ve just been in an earthquake. This is the only thing that’s important right now: Where are we going to spend the night? Where can we find safe shelter?

It’s also the part of the brain we use when we zero in on another person’s faults. Yes, we can narrow our focus in that way, too. We can be critical in that way, too – in a way that makes other people feel attacked.

There are several examples in today’s story from John about the healing of the man born blind. And one from the Old Testament lesson, too.

When Jesse paraded his sons in front of the prophet, Samuel, to see which one would be anointed to succeed Saul as the king of Israel, and Samuel saw the eldest, Eliab, and noticed how tall and handsome he was, Samuel thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” (1 Samuel 16:6)

Eldest… check. Tall… check. Handsome… check. Who cares about the other sons? All the criteria have been met! This is the one!
“Hey, uh… Rabbi Jesus… who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) Someone sinned. Wasn’t he punished for some sins that his parents committed? That’s just the way it is, right Jesus? He wouldn’t have been born this way otherwise. So… who is to blame, Jesus?

“This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” (John 9:16) I don’t know who this Jesus fellow thinks he is. He could claim to be the Son of God for all I care, but if heals someone on the sabbath he does not observe the sabbath law. And God gave us that law. It’s one of the “Big 10”, for Moses’ sake! So he’s not from God. Case closed. That’s just the way it is.

“You were born entirely in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” (John 9:34) A man born blind. Well he’s obviously a sinner. And now you – who’ve been blind all your life until an hour ago – have the gall to teach something to us? Do you not know who we are? We are Pharisees – learned men – experts in the Hebrew scriptures! And would you presume to tell us something about the source of this man Jesus’ power? You are nothing compared to us! That’s just the way it is.

It’s Lent. We cannot say “Alleluia”. Uh-uh, no way. No “Praise the Lords” should be coming out of anyone’s mouth until Easter. That’s just the way it is. And hey, everyone knows the color for Lent is purple… just like it is for Advent. Oh, yeah – why are we using blue for Advent now? And everyone knows you get confirmed when you’re 13? What’s that? The bishop wants them to be at least 16 now? (Maybe 15 if they’re really with it.) When did that change?

Did you hear about the Methodist pastor in North Carolina who got fired from his job recently for posting a Facebook message that was supportive of a new book by Rob Bell called Love Wins? Bell’s book has stirred up controversy, especially among evangelical Christians, because Bell is an evangelical who has questioned the traditional view of hell. We know what hell is. There’s fire and devils and it’s “down there” and once you are there and you can never escape. That’s just the way it is!

When we move into critical mind… when we adopt this narrow focus… sometimes we say “that’s just the way it is” like a mantra. This can’t be changed! That’s just the way it is!

ARE WE DEAD IN THE WATER?

You know what the most fascinating part of this story in John 9 of Jesus healing the man born blind is to me? A whole bunch of people evidently missed an opportunity to celebrate the man’s healing, because they were so focused on “the way it is”! The Pharisees certainly didn’t celebrate his healing. The man himself had to delay his own celebration, because he had to answer so many questions about who did it and how did he do it and didn’t he know this guy wasn’t supposed to do this on the sabbath and are you really sure you’re the guy we always used to see begging?
And the man’s parents, fearing for their own future in the Jewish faith community if they said too much, had to delay any thoughts of celebrating their son’s healing because they, too, were too busy answering all the questions posed by the Pharisees.

“Is this your son, who you say was born blind?” Come on, now – was he really born blind? Yes? Well then – how is he now seeing? (And did you hear that this healing happened today, on the sabbath?)

The Pharisees were working the man, his parents, and the crowd pretty hard – for people who didn’t believe in working on the sabbath.

And they absolutely, totally missed it – the opportunity to rejoice with the man and his parents… the opportunity to celebrate with the entire community, this amazing miracle that had just happened in their village, right in front of their eyes. They could have started making plans to kill the fatted calf. They could have found the best robe to put on him, and found a beautiful ring to put on his finger, and brought new sandals for his feet, for this son of the village was dead and was now alive again, he had been lost and now was found!

But no! They missed the opportunity to celebrate. They missed the opportunity, as leaders of that community, to declare a major feast day and say, “We are setting aside a day for the entire community to eat and drink and give glory to God!”

Because, you see, this is the way it is. You can’t heal anyone on the sabbath, because that involves work, as we define work, and that breaks God’s laws. It’s… just… plain… wrong. End of story.

What was it that Jesus said on another occasion? (Yes, that time when Jesus and his disciples plucked the heads of grain to eat… on the sabbath) “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” For man, as in, the sabbath was intended to be a good thing for mankind. Oh yes, and that time he entered the synagogue and healed the man with the withered hand – on the sabbath – and right before he did it, when they were all watching him to see what he would do, “so that they might find an accusation against him” – there it is, the narrow-focus, critical brain in action! – Jesus said, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?”

In other words, the narrow focus brain often causes us to miss the big picture, like the sabbath being made for man… that the creation of the sabbath by God for man never meant that good, life-giving things couldn’t be done for others on the sabbath. And yet somehow, they had defined “work” in such a way – in such a narrow way – that it now meant you were breaking one of the Ten Commandments if you were compassionate to someone else, and, in the process, became an instrument of God’s healing touch.

GOD’S INTENTIONS – For good, for life, for healing

These liturgical practices and spiritual practices that we adopt are designed to lead us to God, and they are designed to give us life, and life in abundance. And as long as we find the life in them, and find God in them, everything is as it should be. You might say “our liturgical and spiritual practices were made for human beings, and human beings were not made for spiritual practices.”

But whenever we get in a rut with them… whenever we are just going through the motions and there is no life in us… then it will be that the Holy Spirit will show up. You can pretty much count it. Or God will come to us in the form of one of our fellow human beings, in a somewhat similar way that he did when Jesus showed up on earth. And God – through the Spirit… or through another person – will shake us up, and say, “Open yourself up to me and to my intentions for you! You’ve gotten off track, and your spiritual life – your whole life! – has become deader than dead. But I am alive. I am very much alive (says the Lord). Come to me like you did in the former days. Come to me, the living water, and drink deeply. Come to me, the resurrection and the life, and be born again!”

It’s not about appearances. It’s not about doing something just because that’s the way it’s always been done. (For one thing, it hasn’t always been done that way.) It’s not about going through the motions and saying you did your spiritual exercises.

It is about the pursuit of God. It is about being transformed, and learning how to give and receive love. It is about doing good, saving life, and building up lives. And most certainly, it is about getting together to celebrate the finest things in life, which always have God – God’s grace, God’s love, God’s power, and Gods’ goodness – right in the center of them.

CONCLUSION

It’s not always the eldest who is picked by God. “Are all your sons here?” Almost like an afterthought, Jesse remembers. “Oh yeah, the youngest one is out in the fields, keeping the sheep.” Guess what? It turned out he was handsome, too! But he was the youngest, not the oldest. But God wanted David to be the next king.

It’s almost as if you can hear God saying, “That’s just the way it is, guys. So deal with it. Rise and anoint him, Samuel, for this is the one.” And Samuel did, in the presence of his brothers, and “the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.” (1 Samuel 16:13)

Yes. The Holy Spirit has a way of showing up, just when we thought we knew what all the rules were. And then there is new life… just in the nick of time.

Jeremiah 9:1-3, 6

O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! 2 O that I had in the desert a traveller’s lodging-place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors. 3 They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Lord. 6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the Lord.
Romans 5:1-2, 6-11
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Bad News and Good News
Sometimes the readings from the Daily Office lectionary (or the Sunday lectionary, for that matter) seem like they couldn’t be from the same Bible, they are so different. I think when we read them back them back to back, or hear them read, that can be a real gift to us.
The reading from Jeremiah is “bad news”. The people of Israel were being unfaithful to to the Lord, and it was apparent in the way they were treating each other – engaging in lying and oppression, and proceeding “from evil to evil” (verse 3). Jeremiah foresees the coming destruction – the Babylonian army would be invading soon – and is so distraught that he says he can’t physically shed all the tears that he feels welling up inside (verse 1).
Paul, after writing to the Romans that “… there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22b-23), goes on to write about the amazing gift of God’s grace. “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” (5:1-2, emphasis mine) This, then, is the good news. Christ died for us “while we still were sinners” (verse 8). “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.” (verse 10)
More good news – we have been reconciled to God by the sacrificial love of Christ, and are saved by his (resurrected) life.
Both things are true. We have fallen short of who God calls us to be be – as was the case with the Jews of Jeremiah’s time, as was the case with the Jews and Gentiles of Jesus’ time and Paul’s time. AND, the way back to God has to do with our faith in Christ, but even more to do with the grace of God – this “free gift” of God’s love that can only be received, and not earned.
Both of these truths are evident in my own life. I regularly fall short of who God calls me to be. I judge others. My sins of omission and apathy result in me gnoring the desperate plight of others in the world. I sometimes let my petty fears keep me from doing the things that I hear God calling me to do – i.e., sometimes I allow my fears of other people to keep me from doing the will of God. AND, I also know that I am forgiven and reconciled to God, my Father – Abba – through the sacrificial love of Jesus. It is pure gift, and when I receive this gift and respond in gratitude, then I am empowered by the Holy Spirit – also given to you and me by God! – to do the things that God calls me to do (namely, to love God with all that I am, to love my neighbors and my enemies, and to love myself).
And so, you see, when I read these two passages of scripture, one right after the other – scriptures that seem so different – I hear the Spirit of God reminding me, perhaps in a whisper, but nevertheless reminding me, that BOTH of these are truths: 1) that I have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and that 2) through Christ, I have been reconciled to God and have “obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” The bad news is true, and the good news is true. (It’s just that I can’t really receive the good news until I acknowledge the truth of the bad news.)
So it’s a gift – another gift from God – that I am given these two passages of scripture to consider, back to back. It’s not like I can choose the one I like best and throw out the other one. They are both revelations from God. They are both true. They both apply to me. Like most things in life, it’s not an either/or world. It’s a both/and world. And – amazing grace! – it’s all right there in scripture. And there is no room for boasting, other than boasting in what God has done.
“But more than that, we even boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11)

New Orientation, New Birth, New Life

INTRODUCTION – Ready for a change?

You’re 75 years old. You’re wife is 65. You’ve never been able to have children together. You grew up in Ur, in what is now Iraq, migrated to Haran in what is now southeast Turkey, and did all right there. You grew up believing in many gods. And probably you thought you were going to live out the rest of your days in Haran. Until that day, when you were 75, and you heard the Lord – Yahweh – say, “Go from you country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing… in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

What do you do?

You are a leader of the Jews, a respected teacher, well-versed in the Jewish law, and a Pharisee – one who believes in the resurrection of the dead. And you have been hearing about this man from Nazareth named Jesus, a rabbi who has some disciples from Galilee, a man who evidently did something pretty amazing at a wedding in Cana, a man who was so bold as to drive out the money changers from the Court of the Gentiles, the outer area of the temple. You go to him at night to find out more about him, and the first thing he tells you is that “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (or “born anew”). (John 3:3) When you ask him how anyone can be born after having grown old, Jesus says to you, “… no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.”

What would you do?

You’ve been a faithful Jew all your life, “of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of [this new thing called] the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6) You have letters from the high priest in Jerusalem to visit the synagogues in Damascus, and if you find any followers of this man named Jesus there, you have permission to seize them and bind them and bring them to Jerusalem. Except that as you approached Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around you and you heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The men who were with you heard the voice, too, but saw no one, and although your eyes were open, you could see nothing for three days. (Acts 9:1-9)

What do you do?

MOMENTS INITIATED BY GOD

We all have moments like these moments experienced by Abraham, Saul (Paul), and Nicodemus. One of the challenges, of course, is to recognize the moment when God is trying to break through to you. Abram somehow heard that voice, that command to “go”. With Paul, well – hearing the voice, seeing a flash of light, and being blinded for three days is not so subtle. Perhaps we all wish – at certain times – that God would be so direct with us. And something was already astir in Nicodemus, for him to go seek out Jesus by cover of darkness. And he paid attention to that stirring.

Jesus says that to see the kingdom of God, we must be born from above. He says that to enter into the kingdom, we must be born of water and the Spirit. Here’s the thing: you can’t control being born. Being born is never a solo venture, either. And just to drive that point home, Jesus says the things of the Spirit are as mysterious as the wind. And isn’t it interesting that the same word in Hebrew means either “wind” or “spirit”, and the same word in Greek means either “wind” or “spirit”? The wind [Spirit?] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

In other words, the Spirit of God can come at an unexpected time –like when you are 75 years old and rather content… or when you have studied the Jewish law all your life and you are a respected leader and think you know something, and then someone comes along and makes you realize that you really don’t know a whole lot… or when you are persecuting people of a new faith who claim to have encountered the Son of God, and you are absolutely convinced that they are wrong, and – boom! – suddenly your friends are taking you by the hand because you can’t see anything.

BEING OPEN

Here’s the other thing, in addition to realizing that we can’t control the Spirit of God: there’s a question related to our level of openness to God. Are we going to be open to being born from above… are we going to be open to being born anew – not once, mind you, but again and again and again?

That’s the problem with the question, “Have you been born again?”, as I see it. It doesn’t ask enough. It implies we’re only born again spiritually once. Better questions would be:

• How have you been born anew (or born “from above”) most recently?
• What transformation has God brought about in your life recently, and what steps did you take to be open to that transformation occurring?

Abram took on a whole new perspective – that there could be one God, and one God only – and that this God really did want to bring him into a new land and make of him a great nation. Once he was open to believing that, his whole life changed, even though he was 75. In fact, his life was just getting started!
Nicodemus, who thought he knew so much, didn’t just walk away after that first bewildering encounter with Jesus. He kept paying attention to what Jesus was doing and saying. He kept noticing the wind. He kept paying attention to the signs of the Spirit. In fact, he began to put himself in the public eye in ways that were much more risky than that first occasion, when he snuck around in the darkness to come and talk to Jesus. When his peers, his fellow Pharisees, began agitating for Jesus’ arrest, Nicodemus spoke up and said, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” (John 7:51) Nicodemus also came with Joseph of Arimathea, after Jesus had died, and took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in spices and prepared it for burial, and laid it in the garden tomb. (John 19:38-42)

And Paul, so convinced that he was right in persecuting people who proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, in a relatively short amount of time began doing the same thing – proclaiming the resurrected Jesus as the Son of God – as a result of his own encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.

TRANSFORMATION AND NEW BEHAVIOR

Each time any of us takes a step of faith into this new world where God is leading us, this new world where God is in charge – no matter how big or how small that step is… each time we move beyond any fears we have and go anyway… each time we say, in our confusion (with Saul), “Who are you, Lord?”, and then are open to having all of our previous notions of God revised and turned upside-down, as we enter into a completely new life with God… each and very time we do something like this, we are being born from above… we are being born anew.

So… do you want to see the kingdom of God? Do you want to enter the kingdom of God? Do you want to stop trying to be in charge of everything yourself, and instead turn your life over to the One who offers to be Giver and Helper and Life-saver and Bless-er?

If so, pay attention to the movement of the Spirit. Be on the lookout for signs of God; be listening for God’s voice and direction. He probably won’t give you a blueprint for the rest of your life. What He will give you is enough guidance for a next significant step in your life – what to do about your employment, for example, or an idea for a new ministry to enter into, or a nudge around a person that you’re supposed to set up an appointment with, or ask out, or take a class from, or the first step that you’re supposed to take in making a commitment to following through on a big dream that you’ve had for a while, that has actually been given to you by God, or an idea of how you can support a family member of friend who is going through a difficult time right now.

CONCLUSION

If you want to see the kingdom of God, you must be born from above. And if you want to be born from above, you must be open to God’s guidance, and open to cooperating with God’s transforming work. Who knows? You may be the next Abraham or Mary or Mary Magdalene or Nicodemus or Paul that people are writing about someday.

2Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. 10So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” 13Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. 14Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.

Victims, Villains… and Healing

There is a way in which the man who had been ill for 38 years was playing the victim. Whenever you and I feel “at the effect of” someone or something, we are in the victim role.

“I couldn’t go because I didn’t have the money.”

“I cannot lead the people out of Egypt because I have never been eloquent; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” (See Exodus 4:10)

“I didn’t make the varsity because my parents weren’t good athletes; I have their genes.”

“I didn’t go to the play because I’m single and I didn’t want to go alone.”

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”

These are all victim statements. The man who had been ill for 38 years felt at the effect of his illness, at the effect of others because he had no family or friends to put him into the pool when the healing waters got stirred up, at the effect of the people who were faster and got to the water first, and maybe even at the effect of the pool, which – as he saw it – only had enough healing power to heal one person per “stirring”.

When we’re not in the victim role, we can also find the villain role attractive.

“It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”

“Therefore the Jews starting persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.”

There was nothing to be celebrated (as they saw it), though this man had been ill for 38 years, because Jesus had healed him on the sabbath – and that was wrong, plain and simple, end of story. And someone needed to be punished – namely, Jesus!

There is also the hero role, when we take more than 100% responsibility for things, and end up trying to “save” people who are being less than 100% responsible for their own lives.

Notice that Jesus asks the man a simple question. “Do you want to be made well?” Jesus asks him to articulate what he wants. The man doesn’t give a simple “yes” answer. He hems and haws and whines and gets his victim act going. Jesus cuts through all that by then issuing a command. “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”

Here is the moment of truth. The healing would not have happened against the man’s will. He had to consent to being healed. He could have thought to himself, “It’s the sabbath. I’m not supposed to carry my mat today. I better not.” He could have thought, “This is never going to work. I haven’t walked since… I can’t even remember when.”

But something clicked inside, and he realized that – more than anything – he wanted to be well. YES! He did want to be well. No more excuses. Let’s just be honest about what is true for me. I WANT TO BE WELL. And then – with a huge assist from Jesus – he was. But without his consent, without his ‘YES’, it wasn’t going to happen.

Jesus then said something interesting when he ran into the man again – in the temple. “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” (verse 14) He had been ill for 38 years. What could be worse than that?!?

Perhaps what Jesus meant when he said, “Don’t sin any more”, in this case, was this: Don’t keep living your life as a victim. If you do, you’ll just revert back to being sick again, and after being well for a short time – well, that probably would feel even worse to you.

To be a victim and to be a villain – even to be a hero in the way that I’ve described – is to “miss the mark”. These roles are different personas that put us in the middle of a big drama, and what they all have in common is that when we are in any of these roles, we are not taking responsibility for our lives. To put it in Biblical language, when we play the victim… when we play the villain… when we play the hero… we are not being faithful.

The man left the temple and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That was being faithful – nothing more, nothing less. They had their immediate reactions, which mostly had to do with jumping into the villain role. But he was well. He was whole. He was healed. And he didn’t have to lie by the pool of Beth-zatha, complaining – ever again.

Smiling
Music – old friends
Pete Seeger and Carole King

Picturesque
Frosted, outlined trees
Shrouded in fog and clouds

Breakthrough!
Arriving in Allenspark
Bright sun and blue sky

Familiar
Wild Basin area
To hike or to snowshoe?

Hiking
Passing one couple
Tracking in fresh, virgin snow

Quiet!
No distracting wind
The sun on my face

Alone
Feeling fully alive
So nourishing to my soul

Post-holing
Lost the trail
Breathing hard, getting myself out

Grounded
Back on trail
Nothing else on my mind

Beauty
And deep blessing
Gratitude and joy and openness

Awareness
Time to return
A jump in my step

Gray
Shrouded trees again
Contemplating different kinds of beauty

Stopping
The Stone Cup
Chai – warm, sweet, aromatic, comforting

Boulder
Picking up Zach
Reconnecting with my Julia, too

Home
Sharing the images
Renewing, re-creating, rejuvenating, writing, appreciating

8 March 2011
Peter Munson

Where Is Your Attention? Lent Is About Falling in Love

INTRODUCTION – What Lent is not…

According to Jesus, the spiritual life is not about you and I doing things so that the attention of others will be drawn to me and to you. “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them…” (Matthew 6:1) Neither is Lent about that.

So what is Lent – and the spiritual life, generally – about?

It’s about falling in love!

It’s about falling in love with God.
• Joel 2 – Return to the Lord with fasting, with weeping, with mourning
• Psalm 103 – Bless the Lord, O my soul… keep his covenant and do his commandments
• 2 Corinthians 5 – Be reconciled to God
• Matthew 6 – Pray… to your Father who is in secret; and fast… without disfiguring your face

It’s about falling in love with another person.
• 2 Corinthians – Serve others by showing kindness, genuine love, and by offering truthful speech
• Matthew 6 – Give alms without even thinking about what you are doing
• Matthew 6 – Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven – that means invest in your relationships with others

It’s about falling in love with yourself, in the best possible way.
• Psalm 103 – What do I need to confess? (to God or to someone else?)
• Matt. 6 – Self-examination of my motives… what is my intention?
• Matt. 6 – Am I out for treasures on earth or treasures in heaven?
• It’s about treating yourself with care and respect, and not being so hard on yourself – not about self-deprivation just for the sake of self-deprivation

What do I most need to learn right now, in this season of Lent – about loving God, about loving others, about loving myself? What disciplines will I add (or return to) that will help me hear God’s voice… that will help me fall in love again?

What are some Lenten disciplines or habits that you have found helpful in the past?

• Daily quiet, prayer (centering prayer)
• Reading of scripture
• Fasting – from what? (Food, criticism)
• Giving (of money, self, time)
• Walking, exercise
• Confession
• Being proactive re: reconciliation (e.g., asking for forgiveness, calling someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time)
• What might you take on? (Appreciating/expressing gratitude, service)

How can you enter into this discipline – whatever it is – with a spirit of joy and passion… in a way that you fall in love with God, with another person, with yourself – all over again?

13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God.

The Peace Corps

Yesterday the Peace Corps celebrated its 50th anniversary. Here are a few facts: Over 200,000 volunteers have served in those 50 years, in 139 host countries. (The last time I saw the figures, the University of Colorado was among the top five universities in the country for graduates who had served in the Peace Corps.) Currently there are 8,655 volunteers and trainees serving in 77 countries. 60% of current volunteers are female and 19% of volunteers are from minority groups. The average age of volunteers is 28, and 7% of volunteers are over 50 years of age. 37% of current volunteers work in education, 22% in health and HIV/AIDS education, 14% in business development, 13% work on environmental issues, 5% in youth development, and 4% in agriculture. 37% of current volunteers work in Africa, 24% are in Latin America, 21% work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 7% are in Asia, 5% are in the Caribbean (where I served), 4% are in North Africa and the Middle East; and 3% are in the Pacific Islands. (These statistics are taken from www.peacecorps.gov)

Unfortunately, the Peace Corps has recently been in the news for its lack of support of female volunteers who have been raped and assaulted while serving in other countries. There have been charges of covering up the facts, and – as an agency – it has been alleged that the Peace Corps has not responded in a timely, compassionate, and straight-forward manner. For this, the Peace Corps must be held accountable. Having said that – though the agency’s reputation has been recently tarnished – those who have served in the Peace Corps have served our country well, and have done much good in the world. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) have also done much to educate other Americans about other nations and cultures, especially those places that don’t tend to be on the top of the lists of tourist destinations. I am proud to have served in the Peace Corps, and my sense is that PCVs and RPCVs do not generally get the attention or appreciation that they deserve. So… my hat is off to the 8,655 who are currently serving, and to the more than 200,000 who have already served. (Others who have served in our congregation are Ellen Horn-Lamb, John Lamb, and Sarah Lamb – two generations, all in Paraguay!) I know that others of you have served in other types of foreign mission… people like Herve and Kim Dufraux in Mexico, Mary and David Cartwright and Julie Overland in different parts of Africa – my hat is off to you, too. Many others of you have recently served on mission trips to the Dominican Republic and Mexico or have served as exchange teachers in other countries (Toni Brennand and Tim Hillmer). Anne Roth travels around the world to build strong ties between members of different faiths through the United Religions Initiative. Thanks to all of you for your faithful service!

It occurs to me that, as followers of Christ, all of us are enlisted in “the peace corps”. As followers of the Prince of Peace, we are called to bring the peace of Christ to the world. In the passage above, the writer of Ephesians acknowledges that – in Christ – Gentiles and Jews have now been brought together. The Gentiles, “who once were far off” (verse 13) have been “brought near by the blood of Christ.” Christ has “made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us”, reconciling both groups [Gentile and Jew) to God and putting to death that hostility through the cross (verses 14 and 16). In John’s gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (John 14:27) In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) And Paul says to the Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit includes peace (Galatians 5:22).

Through our baptism into Christ, Christ abides in us (John 15:4) and our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). With the peace of Christ in us and the Spirit of peace in us, we are called to bring the peace of Christ to the world, to be ministers of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-19) in the world – people who help bring down the dividing wall of hostility that exists between us and any other group in the world. When we come together spiritually, we are built into a “dwelling place for God” (verse 22 above)!

Peace Corps volunteers help to bring down those dividing walls of hostility. That is what we, in the peace corps of Christ, are called to do, too. May you bring the peace of Christ – the shalom of Christ – to someone this day. Thank you for being an ambassador of peace and reconciliation!

1O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 2O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. 3O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; 4who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; 5who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; 6who spread out the earth on the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever; 7who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever; 8the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever; 9the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever; 10who struck Egypt through their firstborn, for his steadfast love endures forever; 11and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever; 12with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever; 13who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever; 14and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever; 15but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever; 16who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever; 23It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; 24and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever; 25who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever. 26O give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.
An Attitude of Gratitude
I have just started a book on evangelism, a word which literally means “sharing the gospel” or “sharing good news”. It’s not just sharing any good news, of course. It’s sharing the good news of God, the good news of Jesus Christ, the good news of the Holy Spirit. The author of the book, David Gortner, writes this: “We do not understand that evangelism is most fundamentally a spiritual practice of individuals connecting with their gratitude to God… Evangelism is your natural expression of gratitude for God’s goodness.” (Transforming Evangelism, p. 24 and p. 1)
The author of Psalm 136 was an enthusiastic evangelist. The psalm begins with “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good…” And that verse, and every single verse until the end of the psalm, ends with “for his steadfast love endures forever.”

When we connect with this good and gracious God, whose steadfast love – for us and for all creation – endures forever, we discover joy. And there is really only one possible response: gratitude. It’s not that God commands us to be grateful. This is not like your parents saying to you, when you were very young and someone gave you something, “Now what do you say?” No. When we have experienced the love and grace of God – when the Lord touches our life in a deep way – gratitude just flows naturally out of us. We can’t hold it back. We must say “thank you” to God – we can’t help ourselves. And when we experience God in this deep way, we must tell someone else, too.
This is natural evangelism, and if we keep practicing it, it becomes a spiritual practice, just like the spiritual practices of worship or prayer or reading the Bible.

How have you experienced the steadfast love of God that endures for ever?

What amazing people has God brought into your life? What mind-boggling things does your physical body do for you – every day? What sacred places have your been privileged to visit during your lifetime? What church communities have you been blessed to be a part of? What oceans have you beheld? What mountains have you stood atop of? How have friends, your spouse, your children, your parents, or your pets brought joy, love, and laughter into your life? How have you experienced God’s forgiveness? How has your life been changed because another person has forgiven you? How has the Holy Spirit guided you; what have you learned from God? How have you been blessed by studying and meditating on Holy Scripture? How has God shown up to you during your times of prayer and solitude? During your times of aloneness and grief? What spiritual gifts has God bestowed upon you? How have you been blessed in your work? What people have your been privileged to be with at their death? How have you experienced God’s healing? Who has blessed you by really listening to you and really seeing you? Who has loved you, and who has God put in your life so that you can love them?

And what has been your reaction to these blessings, brought into your life by the Lord of “steadfast love”? Has it not been – in essence – an attitude of gratitude?

With whom can you share this good news of God – today? We can certainly begin by sharing our stories of gratitude for God’s goodness with each other.

I am looking forward to hearing more and more of your stories of gratitude. And I will remember to share my stories with you.

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Holiness and Perfection – Imitating God

INTRODUCTION – I can’t possibly…

When you hear “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2), what is your reaction? What’s your reaction to Jesus’ words, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44)? Or how about his words that follow soon after those? “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

Is there a sort of “Who – me?” reaction? Holy? Me? Love and pray for my enemies? Really? Me? Be perfect? Come on now! Nobody can be perfect! We even teach that only Jesus was perfect. Are these just verses in the Bible that we should read very quickly and pretend like they don’t apply to us? When they were being read a few minutes ago, what did you notice in your body? Did you give a big sigh, and then start drifting away?

HOLINESS AND PERFECTION – A context to these passages

Like any verses in the Bible, there is a context. What is the context to each of these passages?

In Leviticus, the Lord God is speaking to Moses, and Moses hears that the call to holiness arises from the command to imitate God – who is holy. But holiness here isn’t so much about holding certain objects in deepest reverence, or acting like you are better than others because you have God in your life. No. It has to do with how one treats others. It’s about how we love really, and how that love is concretely expressed in deeds. If we are to imitate God, then we must try to love as God loves.

And so the people of Israel were not to reap to the very edges of their land. They weren’t supposed to bring in every last bit of produce for themselves. They were to leave some for the poor, which included the women and the orphans, and the alien. These gleaners would show up in the fields right after they had been harvested, and they were not to be stopped. Why? Because the Lord was concerned about these folks, too. Therefore, as the people of God, they should be, too. In the same way, they weren’t to strip their vineyards bare, or pick up the grapes that had fallen to the ground. And they were to pay their laborers at the end of the day, and not defraud or steal from their neighbors. They were to treat the deaf and the blind with care and respect. They were not to defer to the poor or to the great, and not slander anyone, and not hate any of their kin, or take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of their people.
The end of verse 18 sums it all up: “… you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” The examples given make it clear that their neighbors include the poor, the deaf, the blind, and even the resident alien.

Holiness here is all about loving as God loves, and God’s love, you might say, is an “all-inclusive” kind of love. As the people of God, they were to emulate God and extend their love to one and all.

And the context of Jesus talking about “being perfect” also has to do with love. What Jesus does in this section of the Sermon on the Mount is quote this same passage from Leviticus –“love your neighbor” – and take it further. “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” Why? Again, the answer has everything to do with emulating God – “… so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the righteous.” (Matthew 5:45) God does not discriminate, when it comes to love.

The Bible makes it clear that God is not happy when his people are disobedient and sinful. And yet, the Bible also makes it clear that when we are disobedient, God never stops loving us. Douglas Hare writes, “Praying for enemies involves a serious attempt to see them from God’s point of view. We cannot earnestly pray for enemies without acknowledging our common humanity; they too have been created in the image of God, and no behavior, no matter how nefarious, can erase that image. Honest prayer thus compels us to make the distinction every parent must make continually between the child and his or her behavior: “I love you, but I don’t like what you are doing.” (Matthew, Douglas R. A. Hare, p. 59)

For Jesus, the context of being perfect again has to do with being all-inclusive in our acts of love: not resisting an evildoer, but turning the other cheek when struck; walking the extra mile when someone compels you to carry his load for a mile; giving to everyone who begs from you and to anyone who wants to borrow from you; and yes, loving your enemies, who might be personal or national.

COMPLICATION – That’s not normal

You and I might be heard to protest: “But we can’t do that! That’s not normal! It’s not normal to turn the other cheek when struck. It’s not normal to give to everyone who begs from you. It’s not normal to not try to get every last bit of produce from the land, to not try to make every single dollar that you can when you have a limited career as a professional athlete. It’s not normal to love and pray for your enemies!”

Exactly. That’s exactly right. God’s love is not normal. We might even say that God loves foolishly. Jesus forgave those who killed him why he hung from the cross. This is not normal. And yet, this is our example of holiness; this is our example of perfection. And though we will never be fully holy, and never be perfect, we are called to imitate and approximate the One who is, in the way that we love. Because we are his people.
It’s not the normal kind of reaction. It’s not “normal love”, for that matter. Jesus knows this. He knows what “normal” kind of love looks like. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers or sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:46-47) He’s saying, “That’s ‘normal love’ – the way that the tax collectors and the Gentiles love. Love those who love you. Love those who do something for you. Go beyond normal. Love as your heavenly Father loves.”

Jesus is saying (and teaching) something very different, very abnormal. Love as God loves. Love as I love you. Love indiscriminately. Love sacrificially. Love in an all-inclusive way. To put it another way (which Jesus did), your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5:20) Love in a way that the world sees as totally abnormal… as total foolishness.

It’s the kind of foolish love that leads the Messiah, the Son of God, to be crucified. But as Paul put it so well, “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom…” (1 Corinthians 1:25)

CONCLUSION

There was that advertising campaign that came out a number of years ago involving Michael Jordan, and the punch line was “Be like Mike.” I think it had to do with drinking Gatorade. You might not be able to hoop like Michael Jordan, but you can be like him: you can drink Gatorade.

Being holy, being perfect… is not about trying to do everything in your life perfectly. We will fall short of that standard. It’s also not about trying to put on some image or persona of some goody-two-shoes. It’s about striving to be like God – or be like Jesus – in the way that God and Jesus love. It’s in the very nature of God to love unconditionally… indiscriminately… in an all-inclusive manner.

The expression “God is holy” has less to do with God being up in some unapproachable cloud on top of the mountain, and a lot more to do with the way God loves all created things. This love of God is totally abnormal.

Be holy. Be perfect. Strive to love others – everyone – as God loves the world. Strive to love others as God loves you. Strive to lovers others in a totally abnormal, ridiculous, foolish kind of way. We can begin by responding to the needs of the poor and the resident alien. And – oh yeah – don’t forget to love your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you. Why? Because that is what Jesus did. This is what God does.

Drink whatever drink that you want to drink. But be like Jesus. You are followers of Jesus. So be like Jesus.

Godly Urges – Choosing Life

INTRODUCTION – The “Off-Limits” Approach to the Spiritual Life

It seems to me that there are at least two approaches you can take when it comes to trying to live a life that is faithful and committed to God. You can take the “suppress the wrong urges” approach. This tends to be a rules-based approach to the spiritual life, and it’s an approach that’s big on spelling out what is right and what is wrong – but mostly what is wrong. Over the centuries, some Christian leaders have pounded the Bible or the pulpit or the table and declared what things are off limits for Christians, and in some cases they have pointed to the Bible for supporting their rationale, and in other cases there is no real Biblical support, but the thing seems to them to be just generally bad, so hey – let’s ban it. And so you get statements like Christians shouldn’t drink, Christians shouldn’t dance, Christians shouldn’t play cards.

When I was in Dominica in the mid-80’s, the Pentecostal church was on the rise, and the students I taught who went to that church were obviously being taught by their pastor that you shouldn’t dance or participate in “jump up” – the street parade that happened on Mardi Gras, when some people dressed in costumes but most people simply became part of the crowd going down the middle of the street, dancing to the music of the Carnival bands. At least some of my high school students, the ones who went to this particular church and who knew that I was a Christian, were appalled when I told them that my roommate Alan and I were planning to participate in the jump-up one year. “Sir! You can’t do that if you’re a Christian! Christians don’t participate in jump-up.” No matter how much Alan and I reminded them that this was a big part of their culture, and that the Bible didn’t say you couldn’t have a good time, for them it was clear cut. The music and the atmosphere were too secular. You couldn’t be a real Christian and participate – end of story.

Christians shouldn’t listen to secular music. They shouldn’t go to R-rated movies. They shouldn’t go to nightclubs.

There is some of this “off-limits” approach to the spiritual life in our lessons from Deuteronomy and Matthew today. “But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” (Deuteronomy 30:17-18)

One recalls that eight of the Ten Commandments are prohibitions. You shall have no other gods before me, or make for yourself an idol…You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. You shall not commit murder.
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet.

We need some boundaries if we are going to learn how to love God and love our neighbor. And Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, as he often did, looked more deeply into the law and reminded his disciples and us that we should not feel too smug about ourselves if we have not killed anyone, and not committed adultery. “But I say to you that… if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire… But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:22, 28)

Part of the spiritual life is knowing what actions God says are out of bounds. But again, what God says is out of bounds and what a church leader might say is out of bounds are not always the same thing.

GODLY URGES – A second approach

Another approach you can take to living the spiritual life is to build a relationship with God – through Christ, through the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit – and then pay close attention, on a regular basis, to what you hear God is urging you to do. This approach to the spiritual life is definitely more complicated. It’s not all spelled out in black and what, for one thing, and you have to keep up with certain spiritual disciplines to keep developing your relationship with God, for another, and then – well, even if you’re doing those things, there’s the challenge of separating God’s voice out from all of the other voices that are trying to get your attention, and realizing – being human – that we can sometimes believe we are hearing and responding to Gods’ voice when in fact we might be flat-our wrong.

Having said all that, this seems to be the approach to the spiritual life that was most often adopted by Jesus. It also represents a much more positive approach to the spiritual life. Think for a moment how it can often backfire if a parent puts a tremendous amount of energy into telling a teenager what she or he is absolutely forbidden from doing something. Yes, there can be something about the not-yet-fully developed teen-aged brain, but – come on – on a human level that applies to maybe all of us, not just teenagers, if someone is going to yell and strut and get really worked up about why we shouldn’t do something, it’s predictable that we are going to start thinking to ourselves, “Man, that must be a really fun thing to do, if this person is so dead-set against it!”

Yes, the other approach to the spiritual life says, in effect, “You are smart and the beloved child of God. Stay connected to Christ, keep deepening your relationship with him, trust what you are hearing, and step out in faith to act on that guidance.”

Instead of an approach that focuses so much on trying to get us to suppress what can admittedly be our destructive and dehumanizing urges, this is a an approach that says “Pay close attention to the God-given urges that are coming to you.”
It is also what Jesus is talking about when he says, “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister first has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matt. 5:23-24)

You can’t remember that your brother or sister has something against you unless you are listening for those godly urges. And the urges from God will never lead you or me to use our power in destructive or dehumanizing ways. It might be a fairly common human reaction to say, or to want to say, “You idiot!” to your brother or sister when you are really mad at them, but that’s not a godly urge. And it may be a fairly common human thing to do to look upon another person with lust, but that doesn’t make it a godly urge.

PAYING ATTENTION TO THE GODLY URGES
One of the great challenges of the spiritual life, it seems to me, is to be looking or listening for these urges that come to us from God. God, being God, has all sorts of ways that He can get through to us. He can speak to us through other people, through the Bible, during our times of prayer, in a quiet moment of contemplative solitude. We might just have an “aha!” moment when we’re reading a book or listening to music or doing the laundry or when we’re out taking a walk. But what the godly urges will have in common is that they will be grounded in who God is – so these urges will have to do with loving someone else, or making a sacrifice, or building someone up, or reconciling with someone, or being present to someone who is in need, or offering someone a kind word, or a word of forgiveness.

This is what the author of Deuteronomy means when he says that the way is always open to us to choose life. Choosing life, according to Deuteronomy 30:20, has to do with loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, and when we are loving, obeying, and holding fast to him, we are led by him – inevitably – to acts of love and reconciliation.

A CONCLUDING QUESTION
You’ve figured out by now that in the Episcopal Church, we tend to promote the “godly urges” approach to the spiritual life over the “suppress the wrong urges” approach. We don’t tell you that you can’t drink. As a matter of fact, someone almost always brings wine to our Vestry meetings (just one of the many reasons to serve on the Vestry!). And we don’t say, “Christians can’t go to nightclubs, and Christians can’t dance.” In fact, our members stand up on Sunday morning and invite you to come hear them play in a nightclub, and they love it when you get out there and dance!

So here’s the question, as I see it: Who is God urging you to talk to today, or to go visit in the hospital, or to appreciate, or to call, or to mentor, or to listen to in a really focused and generous way? To whom is God urging you to share something of yourself and something of your faith journey? There’s undoubtedly some urge like that coming to you – today – from God, and if you listen, and act on those urges, you will be choosing life, and according to the Lord, you will be blessed and live an abundant life. And that is way more fun than keeping track of all the things that you are not supposed to do.

And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
QUESTIONS

Was Jesus just having a bad day?

What’s the craziest thing you ever did when you were really hungry?

When he “cursed” the fig tree, did his disciples think, “Oh-oh, he’s really angry today”, and want to give him lots of space? Or were they comfortable with his anger?

When he turned over the tables of the money changers in the outermost part of the temple – in the Court of the Gentiles – why did people react in different ways? Why were some “spellbound by his teaching”, and why did others want to kill him?

Can I learn from Jesus that when I am angry, I don’t have to be on the villain-victim-hero triangle? That is, I don’t have to be passive-aggressive with my anger, I don’t have to be a villain with my anger, I don’t have to think that I am saving anyone with my anger. I can just be angry – I can simply feel and express this God-given emotion.

What was the difference between our Lord’s anger and the anger of the chief priests and the scribes, who were looking for a way to kill him?

How do I let the distractions of this world keep me from praying? How do I allow them to keep me from “coming to the temple”? How do I avoid having a real encounter with the living God? Am I afraid of such an encounter?

It was not the season for figs, according to Mark. So did this fig tree deserve its fate? To put it another way, what’s up with that?

Don’t I have some of the same power within me that was within Jesus, since we are both filled with the Holy Spirit? How do I give away this power? Why do I forget that I have it? How can I more frequently tap into this same power source that fueled Jesus?

Why didn’t Jesus ever stay the night in Jerusalem, after he worshipped – or caused a scene – there? Was it simply that his friends Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived in Bethany, and he really enjoyed hanging out with them?

How can I be as zealous as Jesus was? What one thing can I do in my life that will make it easier for all nations to pray to God in a way that is unhindered?

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

INTRODUCTION – Mom and Dad and…

My father had Parkinson’s disease for a good 13 or 14 years before he died in 1996. He took medication, and thanks to some gritty and often frustratingly-painful care offered by my mom, they got out for a daily walk near their home in Estes Park until the last couple years of his life. But to see your father steadily deteriorate like that – in his motor skills, in his speech, in becoming more and more isolated, and finally, having difficulty even in swallowing, it’s a very difficult thing to go through, emotionally. There was a very real sense in which all of us started grieving, long before my father died.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Not too many years after my father died, my mom started showing signs of dementia. As her dementia progressed, there was a time when she set out to drive the two miles into Estes Park, where she’d lived for more than 20 years, and ended up in a totally different town. And after she moved to Loveland, to an assisted living facility, I would go to visit her and to take her out to lunch. She always recognized me, but within the first five minutes of sitting down to lunch, she had asked me the same question five or six times. Each time I would answer it, but part of me felt like I was dying inside. By the time I got back home to Arvada, I was usually crying. This wasn’t my mom. This was some shell of my mom, but not my mom.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

On August 3 of this past year, I climbed Longs Peak with Chris Walther, Nancy Hillmer, a friend of Chris’ named Stacia, and my son, Zach. It started out as a very iffy day, weather-wise, but we reached the summit at 10:15 am. It was my 12th time on top, Zach’s first. We noticed some weather rolling in and got back to the Boulderfield and the main trail before the lightning started and the hail started pounding us. But we were still above treeline, so we tore down the trail, trying to get to a safer place in the trees. In the commotion, Zach got so far ahead that I lost sight of him. When I got to the trees, I assumed he’d be waiting for me, but he wasn’t there. Zach has enough experience hiking that I assumed he would do something smart, but I was perplexed. Where was he? I practically jogged the 3+ miles down to the trailhead, yelling Zach’s name over and over – but there was no response to my yelling, and no Zach. After sloshing through a wet, muddy, hail-filled trail, my feet were soaked and I was pretty soaked. Over those three miles, the worst possible scenarios started to enter my mind, the worst one being that Zach had been hit by lightning somewhere and I would never find him. Was he seriously hurt? Dead? My emotions were all over the place.
I just kept praying to God, many times out loud, as I hustled down the trail, “Let him be okay, Lord! Let him be okay. Watch over him and keep him safe! Please, please, please!” I won’t lie, though. There was part of me that was already imagining how awful life would be without my son of 19 years, my only son, my precious, sensitive, funny, smart, joy-to-watch-on-a-hockey-rink son. And what in the world would I say to Julia, to whom I’ve always said, “We’ll be safe. I’ll keep an eye on Zach. We won’t do anything foolish.”

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

There is another kind of mourning that I have experienced over the last few months at St. Ambrose, related to Heather’s leaving. Some of you have said that it seemed like things were going well, and then they went “south” pretty quickly, and that’s accurate. There was a conflict that, early on, I thought would be resolved, and it didn’t get resolved, and when you work so closely with someone and it ends that suddenly – well, to me at least, it has felt like a divorce. There has been lots of sadness, lots of disappointment and some second-guessing, some anger – yes – and also a sense of loss.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

For that matter, when I think about other people who have left this community in recent years – some simply because they have moved away, some because they have died, some because they have been angry about something happening in the Episcopal Church, some because the circumstances of their lives got too overwhelming and they didn’t know how they could stay, some because they have been angry at me or with someone else in this community, some because… well, I have no idea why, really – for all these people who made significant contributions to this community by their presence, by their service, by the various gifts they shared, by the love they offered to us in this community and to others outside of this community… there is within me a deep sense of loss. It might go away at times, but them a memory gets triggered, and God brings them back to my mind, and that feeling of sadness and loss is there again.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

JESUS CALLS US BLESSED WHEN WE MOURN

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that all sorts of situations that you and I go through are blessed states, and what some of these things seem to have in common is that 95 people out of 100 that you’d ask on the street would never think of these states as blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit? Blesses are the meek? Blessed are the pure in heart? Blessed are the peacemakers? Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account? Really?

But today I am focusing on this one beatitude: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Here’s what I believe Jesus is saying:

There are no blessed states without God being present. You want to be truly happy and truly blessed? Do you want to feel expansive and fulfilled from the top of your head to the tips of your toenails? You simply can’t get there without God being present. God always has something to do with you and I feeling blessed.

When my father called me one day, when I was at my previous church, and we were trying to decide if we even had a future as a church, and – though it was hard for him to articulate words, and though it was even more difficult for me to understand my father over the telephone – and I heard my father say to me, “Pete, I know what you’ve been going through at St. Martha’s, and I want you to know that I think you’re doing a really good job” – in the midst of all the mourning that I was already doing for my father, I found comfort and hope and even new life. God provided that, and I was blessed.

On one of the last days that she was alive, when my mom thanked us all for coming, almost as if she was surprised that we were there, and then, when all of us children were in the room when she took her last breath, and there was finally a peace that came over her, and a peace that came over all of us, and no more words needed to be said, I found comfort in the midst of my mourning. And I was blessed. And it was because God was there. There was absolutely no doubt that God was there.

And after Zach figured out that the trail crew that he had met up with on the way down, and with whom he took shelter for a while, were camped at a place off of the main trail, he thought to himself – for he told me this later – “My dad is going to be worried about me; I have to get back on the main trail”… and after I made my report to the park rangers at the ranger station, and they told me to wait a bit to see if Zach showed up, and after I had just started back up the trail after replenishing my water supply, and after I had hiked maybe 30 yards up the trail, shouting Zach’s name, and he answered, and I looked up around the switchback, and there he was, coming around the bend with Nancy, and I ran to him and he ran to me and we hugged for quite a while, and I sobbed and sobbed… and I thanked my Lord, who had answered my prayer, and I listened to my son tell me what had happened, and I was comforted… and I was blessed… for God was with us.

The mourning about Heather leaving is more recent and is still going on, and there has been another level of mourning related to the distance I still feel with some of you, for we have different views on what happened, and whether or not it could have been prevented from happening, and some things have shifted in the way that we see each other. And it is difficult. And there is a sadness that comes over me at times, and I want to say – with Rodney King – “Can’t we all just get along?” But we continue to talk and worship together and take communion together, and I know without question that our Lord is in the midst of all those things, and is in the midst of us, and I know that the amount that I have been learning about church and about leadership and about myself recently has just been off the charts, and I know that it is the Lord that is leading me into those truths, and – in that part, at least – I have already been deeply blessed. And, with our Lord present, I look forward to the comfort and the blessings that are yet to come.
JESUS’ SUFFERING

Paul has some important reminders for all of us in his first letter to the Corinthians. We aren’t promised a life without suffering or a life without mourning. No. We preach “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor. 1:23-24)

We preach a Messiah who was crucified, a Messiah who knew all about the suffering that one can experience in this world, a man who mourned the death of Lazarus, and yet, “by his bruises we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

What Paul doesn’t say but implies in this passage, what he didn’t say perhaps because everyone already knew that Jesus’ crucifixion didn’t mean a darn thing without it, is that we also preach Christ resurrected. We proclaim both – a Messiah crucified and a Messiah resurrected. And though a crucified Messiah may seem like utter foolishness to some, as Paul says, “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom…” (1 Cor. 1:25)

It is this crucified and risen Messiah who comes alongside of us in our times of mourning, in our times of loss, in our times of crisis. It is this crucified Messiah who reminds us that our mourning comes because we have experienced deep connection and deep love with another person. Do you want to know love? Will you expose your soul to love? If yes, then you will know some suffering, and you will become acquainted with mourning. And yet, when the crucified and resurrected Christ shows up, even those who mourn are comforted. Even those who mourn are blessed – blessed mainly by his very presence, a presence that brings comfort, peace, love, transformation, new life – all the things that originate in Him, and not in us.

So, have you known comfort in the midst of your mourning? If so, it means that you have been blessed by the crucified Christ showing up in your life. It’s all about what a suffering and yet comforting God does for us, because of his great love for us.

Therefore, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:31)

Many Biblical scholars believe that the “barren one” mentioned in verse 1 is Jerusalem, a city that was basically desolate and uninhabited after Israel was overthrown and the people sent into exile. In this passage, the restoration of Jerusalem is envisioned – a time when the people will return to Jerusalem in great numbers. The wall around the city would be rebuilt, the temple would be built again, and there would be new hope and new life, for the Holy One of Israel, their Redeemer, would not let his hesed – his steadfast love – depart from them… ever again (verse 10).

Sometimes you and I feel like God is very far away. Perhaps we are going through a time of deep turmoil and upheaval, similar in some ways to what the people of Israel were experiencing. Perhaps we feel as if we have done something in our lives that makes it impossible for us to return to God. Perhaps fear is holding us back, and we are afraid to “enlarge the site of our [our] tent”, afraid to “let the curtains of [our] habitations be stretched out”, afraid to “lengthen [our] cords and strengthen [our] stakes” (see verse 2). Henri Nouwen writes this:

“One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive God’s forgiveness. There is something in us as humans that keeps us clinging to ours sins and prevents us from letting God erase our past and offer us a completely new beginning. Sometimes it even seems as though I want to prove to God that my darkness is too great to overcome. While God wants to restore me to the full dignity of sonship, I keep insisting that I will settle for being a hired servant. [See the parable Jesus told of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32, especially verses 18-21.] Do I truly want to be so totally forgiven that a completely new way of living becomes possible? … Do I want to break away from my deep-rooted rebellion against God and surrender myself so absolutely to God’s love that a new person can emerge?” (The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri J.M. Nouwen, p. 53)

Are we afraid of God’s “steadfast love”? Are we afraid of how our lives might be radically changed if we embrace God’s love? Are we “playing God”, convinced that we can’t be forgiven, though God is persistently trying to deliver us a very different message? That is, do we think that we know more than God?

Our Lord is calling us to a whole new way of life, a whole new way of seeing, a whole new way of being. And what He calls us into involves some risk-taking. The people in exile would have remained exiles if they hadn’t made the decision to go back to Israel. The wall around the city, and the temple itself, would have never been rebuilt if a lot of people hadn’t risked that it would be possible to start and complete the rebuilding. The twelve who decided to follow Jesus would never have had their lives totally changed, and would never have become close friends of Jesus, if they hadn’t risked a lot to follow him when he called them.

What will you risk today? Will you risk that God is for you? Will you trust in the promise of God – that “my steadfast love shall not depart from you” (verse 10) – and act accordingly? Will you allow God to forgive you and erase your past – at least the part of your past that keeps holding you back – and accept God’s offer of “a completely new beginning”? Will you risk talking to someone that you wouldn’t normally talk to, or inviting someone to lunch or coffee that part of you is afraid to ask out? Will you risk expanding your life, expanding your perspective, expanding the way you look at church? Will you risk offering your best, most creative self to the world, and not apologize for who you are?

What will you risk today, and how will you be open to expanding into the new life that God has planned for you?

“Therefore be imitators of God… and live in love, as Christ loved us and give himself up for us…” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

This is our calling – to be imitators of God, and to live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. The “love standard” is clear. We are to love as Jesus loves us. So said Jesus to his disciples, before he gave us his life. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Then he added, just to drive the point home: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13)

We try to make Christianity about many things. We try to turn it into a doctrine, and say that we have to believe certain things. Sometimes we make it all very legalistic. Christians can do this, but they can’t do that. (People tell us we shouldn’t dance or drink; people try to tell us how a Christian would vote, etc.) We put burdens on people, making it all way too complicated.

Live in love, and remember that Jesus is the standard for how we are to love. That’s it, in a nutshell. Jesus came to save us – yes. But we are saved – you could also say we are transformed and made whole – when we learn how to love God, when we learn how to love others, when we learn how to love ourselves.

The writer of the letter to the Ephesians gives us some other examples of what love looks like.

“… let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are all members of one another.”

“Be angry but do not sin…”

“… have something to share with the needy.”

“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.”

“… and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”

Speaking the truth in love… learning how to share your anger in a way that doesn’t destroy relationships… responding with compassion to those who are in need… speaking in a way that builds up the Body… sharing words that give grace to others… being kind… forgiving one another… this is part of what it means to love as Christ loves us.

Henri Nouwen reminds us that Jesus’ love didn’t always look kind and “nice”, that his loving others didn’t mean that people never heard a challenging word. He writes, “I have made an inner decision to keep looking at Jesus as the one who calls us to the heart of God, a heart that knows only love. It is from that perspective that I reflect on everything Jesus says, including his harsh statements. Jesus created divisions, but I have chosen to believe that these divisions were the result not of intolerance or fanaticism but of his radical call to love, forgive, and be reconciled.” (A Book of Hours, p. 71, quoting from Nouwen’s book Sabbatical Journey)

In other words, people separated themselves from Jesus because they did not want to love as he loved, did not want to forgive as he forgave, did not want to be reconciled to God, to their neighbor, or to themselves. I wonder: whenever I feel lost or far away from God (or even disconnected from myself), is it because I am rejecting Jesus’ call to love, to forgive, to be reconciled?

If we have decided to be followers of Christ, this is our calling – to love, to forgive, and to be reconciled – in the same way that Jesus loves, forgives, and reconciles. It is not an easy calling. In fact, I believe it is a life-long journey, to learn to love in this way. It requires much openness to learning and growth on our part, and a lot of re-committing ourselves to Christ. It’s not an easy path. But it is our calling.

Lord, have mercy. Help us to live in love. Help us to love You… help us to love others… help us to love ourselves – in the very same way that you love us. Amen.

Looking and Telling

INTRODUCTION – What are you looking for?

For two days in a row the disciples of John the Baptist see him point toward Jesus and say, “Look! There he is! There’s the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world.” On the second day, two of them are there when John says it, and they decide to leave John and follow Jesus. You get the sense that John was wondering when they would finally get the message. You get the sense that he is not surprised when they take off after Jesus. But the two men barely get started in their pursuit of Jesus when he turns around and sees them coming after him, and he asks them a question. “What are you looking for?”

As with many questions, there are implications, and one of the implications this time seems to be, “Depending on what you are looking for, I may not be the one you want to follow.”

Are you looking for an easy life with no conflicts or challenges?

Are you looking for someone to help you figure out how to get more stuff, more wealth?

Are you looking to get your way all the time, no matter what it might cost other people?

All you looking for people that you can put down or criticize, so that you can give yourself a false sense of superiority?

Are you looking to stay exactly as you are, and not grow… not learn anything new about yourself… not be changed?

Or… are you looking for the One sent to be a light to the nations, the One who has come to reconcile people to God?

What are you looking for?

COMPLICATION – We often don’t know what we’re looking for

Truth be told, sometimes you and I aren’t really sure what we’re looking for. Sometimes the only thing we really know is that something feels “off”. Something is missing. Something feels off in all of our relationships. We buy something or achieve a goal that we thought was going to make us happy, and we find that the happy moments are very short-lived, and we still have that gnawing feeling that something is missing.
Or, our lives are cruising along and everything feels great, and then – pow! – something happens and we experience some kind of loss or shake-up that rocks our world, and we’re back to wondering, “Why couldn’t those good times be sustained?”

My theory is that most people in the world are looking for God. But a lot of times we just don’t know that it’s God we’re looking for. And if we don’t realize that it’s God that we’re looking for, we’ll miss all the signs of God – all the evidence of God that is around us all the time. If we think wealth is the ultimate goal or happiness is the ultimate goal, we’re going to do our fair share of missing God, because we’re spending our time, energy, and focus looking for something else.

So… what are you looking for? I’m guessing since you’re here today, that deep down, what you’re really looking for – is God… the Messiah… the light of the world… and – dare I say it? – a Savior.

LOOKING FOR GOD

I’m looking to grow as a person and as a leader. I’m looking to grow in my relationships with others. But underneath it all, what I am most looking for – day in and day out, hour by hour – is God. Because I’ve learned enough over the years to know that only God is ultimate, only God can satisfy my deepest desires, only God – and a relationship with God – can bring deep meaning to my life. Only God can save me from myself. So I’m on the lookout for God. Another thing I’ve learned over the years is that God generally wants us to tell others of our experiences of God. For you see, when we do that, sometimes it helps people get their lives back on track. Sometimes it helps them figure out what they have really been looking for.

And so when one of the two men who had been following John the Baptist took off after Jesus that day – Andrew was his name – after Andrew had spent most of that first day with Jesus, he thought to himself, “This is the man I’ve been looking for. This is the Messiah we’ve all been looking for.” And he went and found his brother, Simon, and when he came up to him, he said five words. “We have found the Messiah.”

“I’ve had an encounter with God, Simon. Let me tell you about it.”

I’ve had some recent encounters with God, and I want to tell you about a few of them.

SOME RECENT ENCOUNTERS

I saw God in the person of 10-year-old Carson Lantz, who after a baptism service in late November, said to me, “I want to be baptized in this church!” And a month later, on the day after Christmas, he was. And he said, “I wonder if I’m the first person to serve as an acolyte and be baptized at the same service?” I told him I didn’t know. But I sure saw God in Carson’s eyes, and in his enthusiasm, and in his readiness to be baptized.

I saw God on Sunday afternoon, January 2, after Beth McConnell had requested that we have a eucharist for her husband, Jim, who has spent Christmas and New Year’s in Lutheran Hospital (and is still there). Beth invited family and friends to the service, and a dozen of you came to sing and pray and offer your love and presence, even though you had almost no notice and you had already worshiped once that morning. A non-operating elevator made it impossible for us to wheel Jim into the chapel, and so we had the service right in the main lobby of the hospital, with Kristy Weprin playing the piano and Bill Roth playing guitar and Holly and Cheryl part of the mini-choir, and a round table becoming the altar. We even sang another hymn out of a hymn book that Beth and Jim’s friends had brought with them. There we were – people who had never met each other – worshiping God together, laying hands on Jim and praying for him, as people came in and out of Lutheran Hospital. And I can assure you, God was there. And later that day, we found out that Jim had a little more use of one of his lungs. Was it the steroids he had been taking? What is the prayer? I can’t tell you for sure. But I can tell you that God was there, because it was palpable. You could feel God’s presence with us. Jim felt it. Beth felt it. We all felt the presence of God there with us.

I have been seeing God a lot lately in a group that began about nine months ago at St. Ambrose that we call the Transformation Learning Community – TLC, for short. People in that group are learning more about how to be honest and vulnerable with each other. We are learning how to have better relationships, how to live more empowered lives, and how to live into our commitments. And you know what? People are growing and changing and being transformed, right in front of my eyes. People are suddenly seeing other members of St. Ambrose that they have known for years, in new and deeper ways. And God is in the midst of all of it. God is bringing the transformation about, and it is a marvelous thing to see.

I see God at work in those of you who serve at the Boulder Homeless Shelter, those of you teaching our children in Sunday School, those of you singing in the choirs, and those of you serving in the Altar Guild and Sextons’ Guild, doing the behind-the-scenes tasks that are such a big part of what makes everything come together in this community. I see God in your eagerness to learn in the Bible study class, in your concern for Jim McConnell and for my own son, Zach, and in all the ways you reach out with compassion – whether it be through listening, through preparing and delivering a meal, through praying, or by sending a note of encouragement.

I am looking for God, and what I notice is that when I look, I find him – in the same way that Andrew and Peter did. The truth, of course, is that God is looking for us, too. God is always on the lookout for us and looking out for us. God starts looking for us before we even know that we are looking for God, in the very same way that we love because God first loves us.

CONCLUSION

Are you looking for God, the One who is the light to the nations, the One who comes to take away the sin of the world, the One who comes to give us meaning and purpose, the One who comes to bring us new life and transformation?

How and where have you seen God lately? And are you telling others? Are you spreading the Good News of God when you find him, when you see him, when you hear from him, when you feel him, when you smell him and taste him?

When we look for all these other things in life that don’t satisfy, we end up disappointed, unfulfilled, empty. We discover the bad news – that those things can’t bring us what we ultimately want. But when you find God and experience God and take in what God offers you, and your life is changed, and you experience joy and fulfillment, in the very midst of the challenges and changes and conflicts of life, then you have come smack up against the Good News – the Good News that God created us, God resides in us, God transforms us… God even saves us.

This is the news that has to be told. This is the news that must be shared. This is the news that people – in the end – desperately want to hear. So don’t be afraid to share it. For God – the one you have been looking for – is with you, even as you share it!

Formation and Transformation

INTRODUCTION – From 2 to 12 to 30?

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we heard the story of Jesus’ birth. Last week we were reminded that Joseph and Mary and the baby had to flee to Egypt, to escape Herod’s wrath, and didn’t return to Israel until Herod died. How old was Jesus by then? Two? We’re not sure. The next story we hear about Jesus’ life in Matthew’s Gospel is the one we hear today, when the adult Jesus – perhaps 30 years of age – is baptized by John in the Jordan river.

If it weren’t for Luke, who tells us that his parents presented Jesus in the temple to be circumcised when he was eight days old – and that the 12-year-old Jesus was accidentally left behind by his parents after they went to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, finding him three days later in the temple, listening to the rabbis and asking them questions – we would have no other references to Jesus’ childhood. Mark, the earliest gospel, starts with Jesus as an adult, being baptized by John, and John, the latest gospel, begins with John the Baptist telling his own disciples about baptizing Jesus, and pointing out Jesus to his followers.

What gives? Why do the four gospel writers tell us almost nothing about Jesus’ childhood? The Gospels are not biographies of Jesus’ life, for one thing. And each Gospel writer chooses to emphasize what he thought were the most significant things for the reader to know about Jesus’ life.

So it’s left for us to fill in some of the gaps. What do we know, and what is likely?

JESUS’ CHILDHOOD

As we’ve already heard, Jesus began his life as a refugee in Egypt. He grew up in Nazareth, in the region of the Galilee, in the northern part of Israel. Jesus grew up with brothers and sisters. (Matthew 13:55-56) Most scholars believe that Joseph died sometime before Jesus began his ministry, because there is no mention of Joseph being around after that story about Jesus when he was 12 and in the temple. We know that he was brought up in the Jewish faith by two parents who demonstrated great faith, from before the time that Jesus was born.

Luke tells us that the teachers of the Jewish law were amazed at his wisdom and his understanding of the Hebrew scriptures by the time that he was 12. We know (again according to Luke) that he was obedient to his parents, despite this little incident where he didn’t head back to Galilee with them when the festival of the Passover had ended. According to Luke, “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor o God was upon him”. (Luke 2:40; cf. Luke 2:52)

What else do we know?

We know that he was a carpenter’s son (Matthew 13:55), and that he probably learned that trade from Joseph. We know that, given that training, people later wondered where the adult Jesus had gotten his wisdom and from where his deeds of power had come. (Matthew 13:54)

We know that he went to whatever school existed at that time, that he played, that he undoubtedly got into fights with his siblings and friends. He probably went fishing in the Sea of Galilee. We know that he spent some time taking in the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, that he spent some time contemplating how yeast works, and how fruit grows, and that people tend to be good at pointing the finger at someone else. Somewhere along the way he learned a whole lot about human nature, and that sometimes it’s not the best thing to do to give someone a straight answer to a question that they have asked. He learned that no one was without sin, and that sometimes people built houses on lousy foundations, and then they paid for it later.

FORMATION

In other words, we know that Jesus’ childhood was extremely important to his formation as a person. His heavenly Father didn’t just “zap” him with everything that he needed to know as he came up out of the water that day in the Jordan River. The influence and teaching of his parents was critical, as was that of his teachers and the local scribes and rabbis. He needed to have a full childhood so that he could learn something about God, something about his fellow human beings, something about the ways of the world. And he paid attention. As the story from Luke makes clear, he asked questions. He was probably a little nerdy. Surely some of his peers made fun of him. But somehow, by age 12, he had learned that he “must be in [his] Father’s house.” (Luke 2:49)

And by the time he heard the call to begin his earthly ministry, he knew that he should be baptized by John, too. He knew that in that moment, he was putting childhood and even young adulthood behind him – he was dying to all of that – so that he could fully embrace all that his heavenly Father had in store for him.

As he was baptized, he was anointed “with the Holy Spirit and with power”. That’s what Luke tells us in Acts, chapter 10, verse 38. And we should not miss the latter half of that verse. Clothed in that power, “he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” In other words, the power wasn’t a power of just throwing his weight around to show everyone how amazing he was. No. The power of the Holy Spirit was the power of love, service, and healing. It was the transformative power of God, working in and through him, to set others free.

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS

I hope you are making the connections between Jesus’ life and your life by now. You didn’t just get transported from age 2 to age 30, either. You didn’t even get “zapped” from age 2 to age 12. No. God has been at work, forming you from the time you were first conceived in your mother’s womb. And just as Jesus did, you had people in your life who were critical to your formation – or, if you are still a child or a youth, people who right now are playing a critical role in your formation. They are your parents, your teachers, your mentors in the faith, your coaches, and yes – some of your peers. The books you read, the music you listen to, and all the things you pay attention to – whether those are the forces and creatures of nature, or what you learn about human nature, and what you are learning about God – all those things have formed or are forming you.

And they become a deep part of who you are, and they don’t wash away when you become an adult. As the writer of Proverbs put it, “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” (Proverbs 22:6)

There is another connection between you and Jesus, since you have committed your life to following him. You were given the Holy Spirit at your baptism, too. Like Jesus, at your baptism you died to an old way of life, and were raised to a new life – life with God at the center of your existence, life with Jesus as your Lord, Savior, and Guide. And God said the same words to you at your baptism – the same words that Jesus heard. “This is my daughter, the beloved… this is my son, the beloved… with whom I am well pleased.” And in the very same way that Jesus was baptized with the Holy Spirit and with power, so were you and I. And that power was given to us for the very same reason, so that we may go about doing good and healing all who are oppressed or lost or hurting.

It is not our power. It is not a power that says, “Look at me! Aren’t I great?” It is not a power that is about putting ourselves over others, or making ourselves out to be better than others, or a power that insists on its own way. It’s God’s power, and it is the power to become children of God. Listen to what John wrote: “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave 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.” (John 1:12-13) You were born again – at your baptism – as a child of God.

And what do children of God do with this power? They love others as Jesus loves them. They serve others as Jesus served. They heal others, as instruments of God’s healing love, in the very same way that Jesus healed. They become agents of transformation, just as Jesus transformed the lives of all who would receive him.

CONCLUSION

Our formation – yours and mine – all that we went through as children and adolescents, and all the ways we are still being formed now, as adults – is meant to lead to transformation… our transformation, and the transformation of others. And the most crucial thing to be transformed, ultimately, is our hearts.
God changes them from hearts of stone and hearts of fear into hearts of flesh and hearts of love. And to the extent that you and I do not demonstrate love toward our fellow man, it simply means that God isn’t finished with us yet. It simply means that there is still transformation that needs to occur – in you and in me.

And God reaches out to us – his beloved daughters and his beloved sons – and says to us, once again, “Follow me. Follow me some more and I will teach you more about how to love. Follow me and I will continue to transform your heart. Follow me, and I will make you an instrument of my love and healing in the world.”

May we stay open to that call. May we want to continue to receive the kind of power that our God wants to give us – the power to become children of God. And may we be thankful for all the ways that God has formed us; may we be thankful for all the people and experiences that God has used to form us; may we be thankful for all the ways that God continues to use us – for his higher purposes of love and transformation.

It all started at our baptism. But God isn’t finished with us yet.