Scraps of Faith

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 15 – Year A

August 17, 2014

Matthew 15:10-28
Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Over the last month and a bit, our house has been quite chaotic. Sure, some of it has been outside of our control. But, some of it was our choice. We have a new animal in our house. Thalie, a now nearly 4 month old boxer mix. She's a delight to have around most of the time; but, she has definitely not made our lives any easier. We've forgotten how much work it is to have a puppy, especially a hyperactive, crazy, shoe and food obsessed one. I've given up trying to count the number of shoes she's either destroyed, tried to destroy or been stopped just at the moment when she was stealing the shoe. I've lost several pair, so has Missy. Our girls have had a few destroyed as well. Puppies can be expensive!

And it's not just shoes she wants to eat. It's pretty much everything. I have never before seen a dog that is so single-mindedly focused on food. When she thinks there is food or anything that is remotely edible coming in her direction she's unstoppable. Try to drag her away from a food dish. On the moments when she has dashed out our door, or through the open gate of our fence, we have been able to bring her back simply by shaking her food bowl.

Growing up, our family didn't have a dog as a pet until I was in high school, and by then I was in boarding school, so I didn't see that dog often. It wasn't until Missy and I got married that I finally had a dog. It's been a new experience for me. I've learned a great deal over the last 10 years that Luther has been a part of our family. Much of my prior experience with dogs came from visiting friends who had dogs.

When I was in New Guinea, dogs were all around. You couldn't really avoid seeing them just about everywhere; but they weren't pets the way we think of pets. Dogs were pretty much scavengers that hung around humans so they could get the stuff the humans let them have, the stuff that fell on the floor, the waste that we as humans are so good at creating. I vividly remember dogs following groups of people around, waiting for them to drop something. I remember seeing dogs gathering just outside the circle of people eating their communal meals. I remember the brave dog here and there that would would make a wild dash into the circle to grab a hunk of meat that wasn't being watched closely enough. Dogs being chased away with sticks and stones, shouts and raised hands. That's the image I have in my mind as I come to this text where Jesus is talking about dogs and scraps and faith. Not the image of the family pet, but the roaming scavenger, more of a nuisance than anything else.

This is one of those texts that can make us squirm; not so much because of the message that the text brings, but the way in which it seems to portray Jesus. What are we supposed to do with that? How are we to treat the words and behavior of Jesus? So often when we look at this passage we have sought ways to interpret it so that Jesus doesn't really say what he says. He was testing the woman. He was testing the disciples. Why? Why not just accept the fact that in this moment, in this text, Jesus was a bit of a jerk and actually meant what he said?

One of the claims, one of the beliefs of traditional Christianity is that Jesus as the Son of God and son of Mary, was fully God and fully human. We tend to emphasize the part that says he was fully God, though. The fully human part is sort of scary, and we don't know what to do about it. The part that makes sure the party keeps going with new wine, the part that cries when his friend dies, the part that gets angry and throws tables around, cracks whips at people. That part makes us uneasy. In this moment, in this text, I think we see Jesus get caught with his god-pants down, and his human side on full display.

As a human, Jesus was well aware of who this Canaanite woman was. The Canaanites were the people who had lived in the Promised Land before the Israelites had crossed the river. They had lived among the Jewish people ever since, part of the population, but not really. A lot like the Native Americans here in the United States, they were here first, then we came and claimed the land as ours. We know they are there, but for many of us, we can live most of our lives choosing to ignore them. The Jewish folk knew what the scriptures said, they knew they were the chosen people, they knew God had promised them this land. So, they lived accordingly. The promise was theirs, no one elses – that meant this Canaanite woman was essentially worthless. To top it off, she was a woman, that made her worthlessness even more worthless in the eyes of the 1^st Century.

Jesus responded as any good Jewish man in the 1st Century would have responded: first, he ignored her. Then, when he could no longer ignore her, he reminded her of her place in society. And she responds by reminding Jesus of who he is. Back and forth they go, and Jesus comes to see that this woman, this Canaanite woman, this worthless person had worth, and was worth paying attention to, was worth blessing, was worth bestowing grace upon. Jewish culture and practice would have taught and said to avoid the Canaanite woman, to not waste your time with them (they are “dogs” after all). Yet, it is in the place where tradition said not to go that faith is found.

As human beings we tend to like things we know and recognize. If we are at a potluck, we tend to pick out the items we've had in the past, the things we can recognize. We tend to stay away from the things that look strange and different. Now, put a list of ingredients next to the pot, and as long as the ingredients aren't foreign, we will probably give it a try. But, what if you were at a potluck where nothing was labeled, and everything looked different? How many of us would go home hungry, unwilling to take a spoonful of that green stuff? Sticking our tongues out at the stuff covered in that sticky, thick white cream?

We tend to steer away from things that seem foreign, unclean, strange, different. We tend to react negatively to those that are not from our area. We hear an accent and we know that they are different. We look to the color of their skin, the types of clothes they are wearing and almost immediately know they are not from around here. There have been numerous times when I was in Europe that without my having once opened my mouth to say a thing, someone would ask me where I was from in the United States. They just knew I was different.

Differentness isn't bad. Each and every one of us is different from everyone one else. Different is good. But, differentness can cause us to act badly. This last week we watched the drama that unfolded in Ferguson, MO following the tragic shooting of a young man by the police. It brought to light the tremendous differences that still exist in many parts of our country. And those differences caused the crowds and police, the public and the news pundits to react in often different ways. A seemingly peaceful protest was responded to by 70 heavily armed officers in full riot gear; rubber bullets and tear gas responded to chants and signs. The crowds were predominantly African-American, the police- all white. Differences took sides, and stared each other down. Who was at fault? When we encounter differences, what do we usually do? We chose sides, and often the sides we end up choosing look a lot like us. Jesus did too, at first. It seemed like the right thing to do. It was the popular thing to do. It was the thing the disciples and those around him wanted him to do. Yet, when Jesus listened to the woman, when he stopped allowing the differences to be chasms, he found a deep and profound faith that recognized and declared him as Lord, Son of God, and Master. She wasn't a Jew, yet she received blessing. She was worthless, yet she was found to be of worth. She was supposed to have no faith, yet her faith was found to be great.

Most of us as Christians come from non-Jewish, Gentile stock. According to Scripture, the blessings we receive from God are the scraps that fall off the table. So, this text is good news for us. God is more concerned about our faith, than our family tree. But, this text is so much more than good news for us Gentiles, it's a lesson, a warning to all of us in the church about how we understand hospitality and faithfulness. How often have we been caught with our 'Christian pants' down? How often have we said or heard – or, sadly, implied – that someone like 'that' would not be comfortable worshiping here? “What church has not paid far more attention to 'washing hands' than to cleansing hearts? What Christian has not claimed religious tradition as an excuse to act in a way far from the heart of Christ?”¹

What would it mean for us as the church, for us as individual people of faith, to allow the words of the Canaanite woman to challenge us to go into the places where we assume there will be no faith, to reach out to the people that the world has cast aside as worthless? What would it mean for us to let go of traditions, about the things we've always done, and instead listen to the voices and cries of those that tradition and culture have labeled as “unclean” or “unwanted”? What would it mean if instead of seeing the “worthless dogs” scurrying around at the edges of our lives as scavengers who take from our pot, we were to see them as future members of our family, as fellow children of God seeking to be blessed?

This text is not easy. I'm not even totally sure that Jesus wasn't giving his disciples or the woman a test. But, Matthew includes this story in his Gospel for a reason. And no matter the basis for Jesus' sharp and harsh words, Matthew cites them to remind the church, to remind each and every one of us, that we should always rejoice that “God's love and promise for Israel is fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Those of Gentile stock, adopted into this covenant tradition, need never forget this, and never tire in giving thanks that, in Jesus, God's covenant promises stretches out”² further than we can see and wider than we think: as far and wide as Jesus' arms reached out on the cross to embrace the whole of creation. How's your reach, how far have you stretched out your arms lately? Amen.

1p. 358, Feasting on the Word, Year A Volume 3 edited by Bartlett and Brown Taylor, WJK Press 2011

2p. 360, Feasting on the Word, Year A Volume 3 edited by Bartlett and Brown Taylor, WJK Press 2011

Holding On

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 13 - Year A

August 3, 2014

Genesis 32:22-31

The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

A Note: A week ago my daughter suffered a tragic accident and had several of her fingers severely damaged.  We have yet to know if she will be able to retain a reattached finger tip.When I was in Seminary, my preaching professor told us that we needed to be always aware of who our sermons were for. We needed to preach the sermons our congregations needed to hear; not the sermons we wanted to hear, or the sermons we wanted to preach. Today, I'm breaking that rule. Today, this one's for me.

For the last few summers one of the television shows that has returned every year is American Ninja Warrior. The show is basically a competition where the contestants compete against one another to finish an obstacle course that contains often ridiculous tests of strength, endurance, balance, and agility. The one thing that I have noticed is a shared trait among a great majority of the tests is the necessity to hold on. Sometimes it's holding on to a swinging rope. Sometimes it's holding on to hanging bars. Sometimes it's hanging on to the top corner of a wall. The slightest slip, the weakening of the grip, and you fall and are eliminated from the competition. It's sort of like the chin-up contests we had in elementary school where whoever hung on the longest wins.

I was pretty good at those hanging contests; of course, I was a skinny kid, nothing but skin and bones, so there wasn't that much to hold up. When I think back on my childhood, there were a fair amount of times when I had to hang on. Climbing the neighbor's tree, I had to hang on more times than I can remember as my feet slipped on a branch. When I was racing BMX in high school, I gripped the handles of the bike as a launched into the air; now in those situations, I wasn't always successful at holding on, and I've got some scars here and there as proof of my inability to do so.

Of course, holding on, grasping for a secure hold, isn't just a physical thing, it's also a part of other parts of our lives. In school, how often did we struggle to grasp a new idea, a new concept? I remember struggling to memorize lines for a play, I remember grasping for answers on tests. Struggling and grasping for things seems to be a part of our lives. Sometimes, it seems as if life itself can be a struggle.

Here in the United States, most of us don't have to struggle for our daily lives, but in other parts of the world that isn't the case. In the last week we have been hearing and reading the reports out of Israel and Palestine, how the people there are struggling to live as bombs and rockets explode around them. West Africa is currently being hit by the worst outbreak of Ebola in years, hundreds of people have died after contracting the disease. Around the world there are literally millions of people who struggle to survive each and every day. Struggling to find food and clean water. Struggling to find ways to provide for themselves and their families. Struggling each and every day in ways we might not even be able to imagine in the face of situations and events beyond their control.

When things happen that we do not understand, when things happen that are beyond our control, when things happen that are both tragic or joyous, we can often struggle. Why? Why did this wonderful thing happen to me when others are so much more needy? Why did this terrible thing happen to me? Why did dad die? Why cancer? Why injury? Why her? We struggle, we seek answers, we shout out our struggles to God in prayer, in promises, in pleas. Sometimes we may even struggle with God, wrestle with God.

I think all of us have wrestled with God at some point in our lives. Maybe we've wrestled about things that have happened; things that have not happened. Perhaps we've wrestled about a decision we are making; what is God asking us, provoking us, prompting us to do? I've wrestled with God about what is right, what is wrong. I've wrestled with God over understanding verses and passages in the Bible. I've wrestled with God about things I've done and not done. I've wrestled.

One of the things about our passage from Genesis that I like is that it's not really clear who started the wrestling match. Maybe it was God, maybe it was Jacob. Maybe our struggles with God started with God coming at us, challenging us on something. Maybe our struggles started with us coming at God, challenging God, challenging what has happened, what we think the Bible says, what we understand God's will to be. The thing is, it doesn't really matter where the struggle originated, what matters is that the struggle happens.

When we encounter a problem, a struggle, an obstacle of any kind, there are two options that we have: take it on, or not. When God and us engage in a struggle of any kind, we can either enter into the fray, get into the struggle, wrestle; or we can go in the other direction: run away, avoid, deny. If you look at the story we have, we find Jacob and God wrestling all night, there is no apparent victor. Neither one gives up, neither one overcomes the other; yet, in our text God declares, “you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Some texts say 'won'. No winner that we can see, yet Jacob is seen as a victor of sorts. Why?

Because he didn't give up. He didn't walk away. Jacob wrestles with God in the dark of the night. We too wrestle with God in the dark times of our lives. We grasp and struggle, sometimes not even sure what it is we are holding on to. Yet, we struggle on and that is the key. And just as with Jacob who strove through the night into the bright light of a new day, we too when we struggle, when we hold on to God through our darkest moment will after the long dark night enter into a new and bright shining day.

Wrestling, struggling, holding on is the key. The thing about wrestling, the thing about struggling is that it's something you cannot do alone. Do your best, try to wrestle all by yourself. You can't. You either wrestle with yourself, or an opponent. You cannot wrestle alone. And in this life we are never alone. God is there. Sometimes walking beside us, sometimes carrying us, sometimes wrestling with us. God is always there holding on to us, from the day we take our first breath, from our 'borning cry' as the song says, until we breathe our very last. God is present, God is with us.

We are never alone. In the midst of our darkest moments. In those times when we struggle to understand, when we struggle to find peace, when we are unsure what or even if we believe, God is there. God is there holding on to us, asking us to hold on as well. Hold on for all we've got. Hold on and struggle. Hold on when we don't know if we've got the strength. Hold on when we don't know how long the night will be. Hold on when we feel we can go no longer, when we feel our hip, our legs go out beneath us. Hold on to God, because God is holding on to you. Hold on to God and you will come through the dark night and enter into a new day, a new beginning, and we will be able to claim with joy the name God has given to all of us: beloved child of God. Amen.

Of Weeds and Wheat

Sixth Sunday of Pentecost – Proper 11 – Year A

July 20, 2014

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!"

Over the last few years, Melissa and I have been trying to downsize our stuff, or should I say our junk. Over the years, we have both accumulated a fair amount of stuff. When we were single, and when it was just the two of us it wasn't too bad. Now that there are four of us, and the kids seem to never stop growing and getting more stuff of their own, we are rapidly approaching the point where something needs to give. So, we have been giving. A load here and there to Goodwill or St. Vincent's, a dumpster load (or two) to the landfill, selling things here and there.

There's something that feels wonderful about cleaning things out, getting rid of things you don't need to keep around. All of us likely have shirts in our closets we haven't worn in the last few years, shoes that haven't seen the light of day in a long time, pants that we haven't been able to fit into since the last millennium. I know I have books on my shelf that I haven't glanced at in ages, and they just sit there year in and year out. We have a couple of end tables just sitting in our basement – one of these days we'll actually get around to selling them. I have stacks of sheet music from my days in college that I should probably sort through and then get rid of the stuff I'll never ever play.

I know when I clean a room, and am able to fill up a garbage bag with trash – papers, magazines, it feels amazing; like you actually accomplished something. You look at a room that's been picked up, and you feel good. There's nothing like a clean, picked up house that makes you just feel calm and at ease. There's something to be said for how a messy and cluttered home makes your whole demeanor and spirit a little messy and cluttered. An organized and cleaned up house can make even the worst chaotic day feel a little bit more controlled.

Cleaning up and disposing of things isn't just about houses and rooms though. It's also about other parts of our lives. Many of us have habits that we cling to that we would be better off disposing of. Sometimes it's doing things we know aren't good for us, sometimes it's not doing things we know are good for us. Do we really need that meal super-sized? How many smokes have you had today? When was the last time you went for a walk? What about having a nice salad for dinner tonight?

One of the things I have come to learn in life is that it's important who you surround yourself with. If you surround yourself with positive people, with people who are gracious and kind, people who challenge you to be better, you will likely be happier. But, when you surround yourself with people who are negative, with people who are overly negative, with people who don't inspire you, you aren't really going to get anywhere and the life you are living may not be all that fulfilling. Sometimes, it's necessary to do the painful thing and slowly move away from friends and associates that rub you the wrong way, that make you see life more negatively, that hold you back rather than challenging you to move forward. Sometimes, it seems like you have to clear out your friend list to make space for more positive things in your life.

All of us know the damage that can occur in an organization or group when there is a problem person present. You know who I mean, the person that is always complaining, the person who can find fault with everything and everyone, the person who you avoid sitting next to at meetings. This is the person about whom you honestly have to wonder what they are doing as part of the group most of the time. If they really hate it as much as they seem to, why don't they just leave? Maybe we've been in that situation, and done what was necessary to get them to change their behavior, or maybe we've even forced them out, fired them or made them quit.

Last week, our text was about the sowing of the gospel seed everywhere without regard to if we think the seed will grow or not. This week, our text seems to be about what can happen when you do that. You've been out sowing seeds everywhere, and growth is beginning to happen. New faces are showing up, lives are being impacted, everything seems to be going awesome. Then, something happens. In the midst of the wonderful grain that is sprouting, a weed appears. A growth appears that is deemed far from desirable, taking of the nutrients of the soil and water, stealing light. What to do?

This is the situation that Jesus is addressing. Well, it's probably more likely that this is the situation that Matthew is addressing. Most scholars and theologians think the writer of Matthew has put words into Jesus' mouth to speak to a growing situation in the early church. One of the realities of the early church was that it was full of disagreements (so, it's a lot like the church today!) People went back and forth arguing about how much of a role Judaism was to have, whether or not Jesus was God incarnate, was Jesus coming back tomorrow or was he already here. There were arguments about how people were supposed to live their lives – balancing the whole in the world but not of the world thing. And when there were disagreements, people often took sides. And in taking sides, they declared one side as being correct and the other side as being false. There was one perspective that was good wheat, and the other side a noxious weed, one planted by Jesus and the other obviously planted by the enemy. What to do? Obviously, you get rid the weeds! Except, that isn't what Jesus says.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could easily divide the world into good and evil, saints and sinners, wheat and weeds. But it's not that simple, the world isn't that simple, and neither are each of us. We are all a mix of saint and sinner, as Paul says striving to do what we know we should do, yet so often failing and doing what we know we shouldn't. Saved from sin, yet not saved from sinning. That's the reality that we all know and live. We know the difficulty that would come if we were asked to divide up the good and bad, wheat and weeds around us.

The reality is that it is difficult, if not impossible to truly judge another persons actions and motifs. We cannot know what is within their hearts. This parable is a word of caution to all of us that we should not be too quick to divide up the world into categories; into “us” and “them”. We should be aware of our tendency to gather together and label as “weeds” the “them” around us, assuming they are destined for being burned up and destroyed. Just as in the parable, we can far too easily label and gather up good wheat in our desire to clean up, to remove the weeds. And once you have removed, it can be very difficult to replant.

This is the reality that is found in many churches and worshiping communities. There are multitudes of people who have been chased from churches by well-meaning folk who have determined they are weeds that need to be removed. They speak of being burned by the church, not God, but the church. They speak of the hypocrisy and treatment they received by the “good Christian” folk, who probably felt they were doing God's will. Yet, in their actions they have turned a fellow child of God away, casting them out into the refuse pile, treating them as worthless and without purpose.

So what are we supposed to do? What are we to do when we encounter someone who we disagree with, someone who we are tempted to label as a “them” to our “us” in the church? First, seek not to judge, seek not to divide. And then come together with them in conversation. In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew we find some words of advice, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17)

So, the thing we have to reflect on is how Jesus treated the gentile and the tax collector. Did he exclude them, did he run them out of town? Of course not, one of his disciples was a tax collector – Matthew wasn't it? One of the things that is missed in most English translations is the way in which Jesus speaks of the weeds and wheat growing together. Just about every single translation tells us to allow, to let, to permit the weeds and wheat to grow together, but the Greek word is aphete, a word that is usually translated as forgive. Forgive them to grow together.

A few centuries ago, in the late 1700's there was a plant feared for it's poison, for it's ability to kill those who ate it. The juicy red fruit was avoided at all cost, and in fact it was rumored that an attempt was made to kill George Washington by secretly including it in his food. Today that fruit has become a treasured part of our diet, something that almost everyone who has a garden has in their garden. What is this killer fruit? The tomato! What gave the tomato such a horrible reputation? Well, it was observed that when wealthy people ate it, they soon became sick and died. Why? Well, the acidity of the tomato was high enough to pull the lead out of the pewter plates that many people ate off. The wealthy were poisoned, they died of lead poisoning, and the tomato was blamed.

It took years for the reputation to disappear, for the worth and value of the tomato to be seen. The tomato didn't change, it was our perception of it, our treatment of it, the way we thought about it that changed. I think all of us can agree that a beautiful part of our diet would have been lost if our ancestors had simply cast it off as a worthless weed, if they had not found a way to forgive the reputation the tomato had.

The Bible tells us that God sends both sun and rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. If God shows such generosity of spirit, can we do any less? Can we find it within ourselves to let God be the gardener who is in control, and not try to make the decisions of the gardener our selves? There are without doubt times when cleaning house, removing the unnecessary, the garbage in our lives is beneficial. But, is doing that within the church the right thing to do, even if it might be beneficial to us, to the church? Is it God's desire that we pull out the weeds amongst us? Or is God's desire that we forgive, find ways to love them in? I'm pretty sure I know what the answer is. May God give us the ears to listen, and the depth of love necessary to respond. Amen.

Sowing Seeds

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10 – Year A

July 13, 2014

Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!

"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

One of the things we are doing in our family, that doesn't make our lives easier, but we hope is teaching our girls a lesson is recycling as much as we can. We collect all our plastic, our cardboard, our tin, and our glass together in a central location in our house. Now, in Cedar Falls, they don't have curbside pickup of recycling, so we have to load up all our stuff in the car and drive it to one of the local recycling drop-off points. Teaching our girls that it's important to take care of our world isn't just a political or cultural thing, at the core of why we do it is a theological understanding.

In the beginning, when Adam and Eve were still wandering around in the garden of Eden, they were given the responsibility of caring for the garden, for all creation. God didn't take away that calling when the garden was taken away. We are still called to care for all the things that God has created for us to live with and in. Without a doubt there are things we use from the world, we use the water, the wood, the oil and natural gas. But, we are called not just to use it, we are called to be stewards of it. Being a steward means we are to also care for it, and ensure that we are using all the things God has given to us in the best way possible; for ourselves and for the generations that will follow us here.

The concept that we are supposed to care for the things we have, that a great majority of the things we have will not last forever is important. It's a lesson that impacts many different parts of our lives. We tell our kids not to waste things. Not to waste the food on their plate; like at a buffet, you only take what you know you are going to eat. Even so, “In the United States, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten!”¹ I'm not sure how many people that could feed, but if you do the math that means that if we assume there are 8 billion people in the world that the United States could have provided an additional almost 7 pounds of food to every person on the planet, just from the food we waste.

We are careful about the things we do. For pretty much all of us, we know that there is a limit to the amount of money we can spend. We have to have budgets, and follow them. We have to be careful. As much as we might love our sweets, our pies and cakes, our candies, we know that there is a limit to how much we can eat. There is a price to be paid if we aren't careful with our diet – either in exercise, or in additional holes in our belts. We give our kids a treat, and tell them they need to be careful, because that's all they get; once it's gone they aren't getting any more for a long time.

Stewardship of our resources, conservation, caring for the things we have or receive is important. Understanding the necessity to plan for what we have is necessary. When you are going to cook something, you want to make sure you have enough of the ingredients. When you are going to build something, you want to make sure you have all the supplies; enough to finish the project. We know how much we need, how much we will likely have leftover. We've done all the work ahead of time. We've done all the preparation. If you are going to have a garden, you plan. You have to think about how big it's going to be, what you are going to grow. You have to purchase the right seeds and plants, you have to prepare the ground – make sure it will let things grow. Only after you have done all the prep work will you actually get to planting the seeds and plants; to have not prepared for it is to essentially waste the seeds and plants you have invested in. If you are going to do something, you want to do all you can to make sure it succeeds.

In recent years, one of the things that has become common in the church is the necessity to do a whole lot of groundwork and planning before embarking on a new venture. If you are starting a new mission outreach, a new church, a membership drive, it's not uncommon to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars and hours doing research and planning. What is the demographic you want to reach? Where does that demographic live? What is the best way to reach them? How many other people have tried and failed? How has that demographic group grown or shrunk in previous years, and what is it expected to do in the coming years? What form of marketing will be most effective, have the desired result? Only after all those questions, and many more have been answered do you move forward with the plan. If you are going to invest all the time, money and energy into something, you want to make sure you are going to get the result you are looking for.

Which brings us to our text. I think most of the time when we think about this parable, we focus on the different types of ground. We look at the various ways in which the seed of the gospel is received or rejected. We then try to recognize those same groups of people around us. We may even think about how we can go out and do different things to change the ground, to impact those who would normally reject; do some preparation so that the gospel can more easily take root. There is a great deal to think about there. But, today, I want us to think about the sower and the seed that is being sown.

This is a parable, and in the parables of Jesus different characters and parts are normally understood to represent something much greater than itself. Sometimes, we are challenged to interpret the hidden meanings within the parable; and sometimes, as in this case, we are given a key to understanding it. The seed being sown is the gospel, the good news, the message of love and salvation and the growth that occurs is the response to the sharing of the gospel – it doesn't take root, it grows quickly then dies, it grows weakly, or it produces abundant growth. Now, the identity of the one sowing the gospel isn't identified – it could be God, it could be Jesus, it could be the disciples. I like to think that it represents each and every one of us in whom the seed has taken root and grown. This parable is about evangelism.

Evangelism in some circles has gotten a bad name. Let's face it, how excited are we when Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, or other well-meaning folks show up on our doorsteps? How do we respond to the people handing out tracts at the entrances to festivals or malls? Even though I love God, I love my faith, I get a little annoyed; and when I have the chance I tend to try and avoid an encounter. But, I often don't just avoid those who are trying to evangelize me, I also avoid sharing my faith with others, and often I'm not even aware of doing it. It goes back to those demographic studies and plans. We carefully do demographic and community studies, we seek out specific types of people, we craft our outreach to be attractive to a specific targeted audience. We do the same thing on a personal level, being (perhaps overly) cautious about who we talk to about our faith, who we reach out to, who we invite to our services. When we carefully choose who we evangelize, we are also carefully excluding others. We are choosing where and when we are going to be spreading the seed of the gospel.

How does that match up with the actions of the sower in our parable? How much prep work did they do? How much time did they spend doing demographic studies, thinking about who would be most likely to respond favorably to the message? Obviously, there is a huge difference. The sower sows, the gospel is spread with apparent disregard for the situations of those who are receiving it. There were no demographic studies made, there seemed to be no thoughts about the type of people they wanted to attract, there were no thoughts about how future members would be able to contribute to the financial or communal life of the group. There were no thoughts about if they would fit, if they would get along with others. The gospel was spread about freely and liberally, there was no conservation of the seed. So, why is there a difference?

I think it comes down to the way we think about our faith. That is to say, we think of faith as being ours, as a possession that we have, something we need to take care of and cultivate. Faith becomes a treasure that we have received. It becomes something we have placed a value on, something that we think we can hold onto, something tangible; and if it is tangible, it must have limits of some kind. Could it run out, do we need to conserve it, be good stewards of it? Do we need to be careful about who we share it with, in case we run out? Obviously not!

How contrary our actions often are to the reality we all know. The seed we have is precious, but it will not run out. We do not need to carefully measure out where we will sow it, we don't need to be worried about running out, having to get more, about wasting the seed. Waste is worrying about the results first and foremost, not trusting in the quality of the product that is being shared. If this parable is about the seed and sower, it declares that God does not predetermine who is worthy of receiving the good news, who is good soil. All soil is worthy, and so the seed is sown. What an image, God sees us all as good soil, (places of potential growth) regardless of how rocky or choked with weeds we may be.

God sees us as good soil, even though we may be choked with weeds, even though we all have places that are far more filled with rocks and stones than good earth. It is because God sees us this way that Jesus came to walk amongst us, and deliver us in the first place. It is because of this love God has for us that the seed is sown so widely. We all know that the love of God is limitless, that it will not run out. So too, the seed of hope that is shared with others. It is not our responsibility to determine who is worth sharing our faith with. It is not our job to determine who has or hasn't heard the gospel message. It is not our responsibility to determine the chances of someone's responding positively to the gospel message.

Our responsibility is two: to grow, and to sow. We are called to grow in faith, to grow the seed that has been planted within us. To nurture it with prayer, and scripture, to care for it by providing it with others to grow with, to give it moments when it is challenged to grow and respond. And, we are called to sow. We are called to share the gospel message with the world. This need not be terrifying. One of my favorite quotes is, “Share the good news with others at all times, and when necessary use words.” Sharing our faith is best done when we are in loving service to others, when we are modeling the love that we have experienced in acts of love for others.

That is our calling, that is our charge, that is our privilege and our joy. May we come to discover that joy more fully, may we know the unending love of God more deeply, and may we sow the seed with reckless abandon as a sign of that unending love. Amen.

1http://endhunger.org/food_waste.htm

Yokes and Burdens

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 9 – Year A

July 6, 2014

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

[Jesus said:] "But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
     'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
         we wailed, and you did not mourn.'
"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is indicated by her deeds."

At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Over the last few weeks I have been able, because of my knee still being in recovery mode, to indulge in one of my little joys and spend a fair amount of time watching the World Cup. I know that soccer is not the American past-time, and there are many people who just don't get it, but for me there are few sports that rival it for pure athleticism and drama. Both of the girls are getting to an age where they will sometimes sit still for a few minutes with me and watch a bit of a game. Inevitably, that brings about questions. Why this? Why that? What happens when...? Why did he just.....? It's been challenging at times for me to remember all the rules of soccer to explain the game play in way that a child's mind can understand.

You would think that soccer is a pretty simple game: unless you are the goalie, you can't touch the ball, you can't kick the other player before you kick the ball, and you score when the ball goes into the net. If only it were truly that simple. When I was in high school I helped out with our high school girls team, and let me tell you trying to remember all the rules when you are running up and down the field as a referee trying to blow the whistle at the right times, trying to figure out if that really was a foul when she went flying through the air, was that a handball? It was tough. I really wasn't a very good referee; I loved to play the game, but having to focus on all the rules just wasn't my cup of tea.

I love games. Whether it's a simple game of 'HORSE' with a basketball, a game of Monopoly, a card game, or even more complicated board games. I love games. I have a closet full of games. One thing I don't like though is when I have to spend hour upon hour learning all the rules of how to play a game. Give me a game with 3 or 4 pages of instructions, I'm okay. I once played a game whose instruction book was over 20 pages. We spent more time in the game referring to the instructions than playing the game. My friends and I played it a few times, but it wasn't long before we were so annoyed with how complicated it was that we moved on to more easily understood options.

Rules can be crazy sometimes. So often it seems as if people take something really simple, and through a bunch of rules they make it really, really complicated. Sometimes, you seriously have to wonder if all the rules and guidelines actually are counter-productive to the process. Now it seems as if everything in life has rules to it. In order to drive a car, you need to know all the rules of the road for the written and driving tests. Don't pass, and no license. But, how many of us would be able to pass it now, after we've been driving for years? Would you be willing to take a test on the spur of the moment with your license at stake?

And then there are all the different electronic devices and pieces of technology that surround us more and more every day. Thirty years ago the joke was if you wanted to set the time on your VCR, you asked your kids to do it. Nowadays, our kids grow up with cellphones and I-pads in their hands, the internet and computers are their natural playground. And the rest of us wonder how to just heat up our coffee in the microwave without blowing something up! I think it's safe to say that all the technology and electronics, all the rules about how to do things, rather than making life easier have ended up making it more difficult at times. It's become a burden to us.

This is the Fourth of July weekend it's natural for us to look back historically and see how the colonists rebelled against the British Empire because of the rules that were being enforced upon them. Now, to the British, I'm sure all those expectations and requirements made perfect sense. But, to the good people of Boston, it was enough to make them throw all their tea into the harbor; it was enough to prompt a fledgling nation to fight for freedom. Life here is, according to our founding documents, about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (And, the millions upon millions of pages of laws and legal interpretations do nothing to make things more complicated!)

In recent years there has been a growing cry within the United States to lesson the number of laws and regulations that govern our lives here. The laws that have given us our very freedom, have come to be seen by people as being burdensome and heavy-handed. Whether we feel that way or not, I think we can all agree that it would be nice to be able to fill out our tax forms without having to worry about being audited because we overlooked some obscure statute.

Jesus says, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I'm not sure, but how often do you think of your faith as being easy, the burden being light? Sure, without question there are times when it's easy. The whole: thou shalt not kill is pretty easy. But, umm, honoring your parents, not coveting the new lawnmower your neighbor just bought. Those are a little tougher. And then there are all the other things that our culture seems to have decided go along with our faith – but, not everyone agrees.

For some, drinking alcohol is a sin. For some, a tithe is required at church. For some, divorce isn't an issue. For some, contraception goes against their faith and morals. For some, the clothes you wear are determined by your church. I don't think we've moved very far beyond the many rules and expectations that fill Leviticus and Deuteronomy. All of us have created our own rules for our lives and our faith. And, then we often look around and see who is living up to our standards. We're like the children on the playground Jesus talks about who expect everyone to dance when they play happy music, and wail in grief when they played funeral music. If they don't dance when we want, or don't wail when we think is appropriate, we get mad and often judge them accordingly.

“On one side we see people who are more conservative than we are and we think that they are being too strict. And we may wonder whether they have some kind of mental illness. On the other side we see people who are more progressive and we think they are being too lax. And we may condemn them for having loose morals.” “On the surface of things, it can seem that we’re incredibly ambiguous about spiritual matters, first condemning those who are too conservative, then condemning those who are too liberal. But in reality, we’re like children who can’t make up their minds what they want, because what they really want is just to dictate your actions. When we make religion a matter of following rigid rules, we essentially make ourselves the measure of all things spiritual. That’s an incredible burden to bear. It’s bad enough when we define religion by rigid rules; but when we make ourselves the measure of godliness, that’s a heavy burden indeed.”¹

Jesus calls out to us, asks us, to take his yoke, and that the yoke is not a burden, that it is light. Now, a yoke is an instrument placed upon the neck and shoulders of an animal to allow the animal to be used and guided. It can't be too light, or the animal won't recognize it's there. It can't be too heavy either, or the animal will be burdened by the weight of the yoke and unable to work. A light yet strong yoke is desired. Now, a yoke isn't just used for guiding an animal, it also makes it possible for the animal to do its task. Without a proper yoke, the oxen could not pull the cart, could not plow the field. A yoke not only serves as a controlling guide, but it's also a tool to allow a task to be completed.

Jesus, in our text, points out that the very people he was talking to had created their own standards of what was right and wrong, John the Baptist didn't fit their image, and neither did Jesus. One was too rigid, one was too loose. The people were all about their own expectations, they had become ruled by the rules that guided their faith. Rather than faith being a source of life for them, life was being defined by the rules they followed.

Jesus, though, doesn't want this for his disciples. He doesn't want us to be obsessed and controlled with worrying about what is right or wrong, about deciphering laws and expectations regarding the way we live – what we can drink, whether we can smoke, how we understand the role of marriage and family. That would be a heavy burden to bare, constantly having to check with the latest interpretation of what is and what is not allowed. Jesus declares his burden is light, his yoke is light.

His yoke is love. Love is to be our guiding force, love is to be the thing that enables us to do what we are called to do. We are called to love others as we ourselves would like to be loved. We are called to serve others in their need, as we ourselves would desire to be served if we were in need. It's not a long list of rules. It's not about a liberal or a conservative understanding of the Bible or theology. It's about love. It's about allowing the one who took the weight of the cross upon his back in love to empower us to take love out into the world in his name. It's not about worrying whether we measure up to another person's standards, or if they measure up to ours. It's about letting go of that burden, and allowing the burden that Jesus carried to the cross free us to love. It's about worrying less about how we actually love, and allowing ourselves to just love. In that is freedom, in that is release, in that is life. Amen.

1http://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2011/07/lay-down-your-burden-mt.html

What are we afraid of?

Second Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 7 – Year A

June 22, 2014

Matthew 10:24-39
[Jesus said:]
"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
"For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one's foes will be members of one's own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

What are you afraid of? There are lots of things that people are afraid of. Some people are terrified of spiders or snakes. Some people are scared to death of heights. Some people are afraid of deep, open water. Others are afraid of being attacked by sharks (even in the Mississippi River). Some people are overly scared of being robbed in their homes. Some people are incapable of speaking in front of a crowd of people. All of us are afraid of different things; sometimes really afraid, and sometimes just a little bit uneasy. Now, don't tell my kids (who think I'm pretty brave), but there are things that make me really uncomfortable, there are things that freak me out more than a little bit, and there are things that I'm downright afraid of. Me, I'm afraid of heights. I really, really don't like roller coasters. One of my biggest fears is being paralyzed, the thought of not being able to use my arms or legs scares me to no end.

Those are the fears we are willing to share with others. Then there are the fears we keep to ourselves. The fear of people finding out our deepest secrets, the things we fight hardest to keep from being seen. We don't want people to see how uncomfortable we are in crowded rooms. We don't want people to know how depressed we are. We don't want people to know our confidence is actually a cover for our feelings of inadequacy. We don't want people to know about how our kids are doing in school. We don't want people to know the things we did when we were in college. We don't want people to know how rocky our marriage really is. We don't want people to know how unhappy we are. And, we are terrified of people knowing the truth.

Fear is a powerful and controlling emotion. All of us from birth on are essentially taught to fear. Worry about our survival, worry about how the actions of others will impact our ability to survive and live the way we want. Fear is used by politicians to manipulate us. Fear is often used by parents to control their children, and by children to control their parents.

Pretty much every fear we have is in some way related to dying. Often it has to do with truly dying; like being shot, or falling off a cliff, or drowning. But, often it has to do with somehow losing the life we are so attached to. Losing the friendships we have cultivated, the job we have had for years, the status in our community, the love and respect of our families. We're scared to death that if they were to find out what we have so carefully hidden away, our lives as we have come to know them would come to an end. Fear can be a powerful thing.

Our text from Matthew talks about fear. It talks about the fear that was being experienced in the early church by the first Christians. No one knows for sure if these words were truly spoken by Jesus, or if they were put in Jesus' mouth by Matthew so that the early church would hear a word of comfort in the midst of the persecution they were experiencing. Whether Jesus spoke the words or not, doesn't matter as much as the message that is delivered: why are you afraid of what others say, of even death itself, your lives have been bought and paid for, salvation is yours. As children of God heaven is your destiny, do not be afraid, stand strong and be of good faith.

How often are you in fear because of your faith? For us in this country, fear that comes from what you believe, from what church you go to isn't common. That is, unless you happen to be a member of a minority faith within a community that is far from welcoming. Think about the Islamic communities that have had their mosques burned down around this country. Think about the hate that was directed at churches in the south that opened their doors to non-whites only 50 years ago. Think about the messages of hate that were received by our own denomination because of our willingness to allow congregations to follow their conscience in matters of sexuality and gender.

Taking a stand for what you believe can indeed be scary. Are you fearful of because of your faith? How often when your asked about the weekend you had do you mention you were in church on Sunday? How often when you are out on Saturday night, do you excuse yourself early letting people know you have to be up for church in the morning? How often when you are asked do you proudly declare the church you attend? How often do you duck your head and try to hide when the conversation of religion comes up? I know I sometimes find myself trying to avoid having to say or admit that I go to church every Sunday, that I am a pastor. What am I afraid of? What are you afraid of?

I know that I'm afraid of being lumped into some generic category that the public has created for Christians and pastors. A category that declares that we all must believe the same things, act in the same way, think the same things about the Bible, about the church, about our sisters and brothers in faith and in other faiths; and if we don't hold to those same beliefs and standards we are not really pastors. I'm scared that if the truth were known I would have to stick my neck out and defend myself, defend my faith, get into a theological fight over doctrine or polity; maybe it's safer for people to simply assume I'm just some guy sitting in a coffee shop working on “The Great American Novel”.

It's not that I'm ashamed of my faith, or my church. To the contrary, I love the church I'm a member of, I appreciate the stances that have been taken by the United Church of Christ. I can easily defend why I hold the positions I do on divisive issues. What I'm afraid of is being judged, being excluded, losing a status (real or perceived) because I don't fit into someone else's nice little box they have created. I'm not afraid they will literally stone me, or drive me out of town; I'm in fear of what could happen to my position of importance in their mind. It's not something I'm proud of, and something I am working to change.

Jesus declares that he didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. That faith in him brings division. Is it division that must separate us though? Is it possible that when Jesus speaks of how he has come to set parents and children against one another, how families will be divided, that he does not want it to be understood as division meaning hate? There are lots of things that my wife and I are divided on: I like beer, she doesn't. She loves to go to concerts, I don't. I like to sleep with the ceiling fan off, she wants it on. We are divided, we both know the differences we have. We respect each other for those differences, and we would never say that either one of us was more right than the other.

Pretty much everyone in the world likes music. We like to hum along with songs, sing along with the radio, we all have our favorite hymns. We all like music, in that we are united. But, we all have our favorite types of music, our favorite groups, our favorite songs, our favorite radio stations. If there was only one station to listen to on the radio, there would be a lot of people who would be upset. Our faith is like music. Regardless of the specific shape it takes, our belief in God is common, just like our love of music. It's in the specifics that things begin to be different. It's in the rhythms, the melodies, the harmonies, the words, the instruments played that we are differentiated, we are divided. To not be true to our love of a specific type of music would likely make most of us more than a little depressed. God desires us to sing the song of faith that is deepest in our hearts.

Jesus wants us all to take a stand for what we believe, for the faith that we have. And in so doing we will be divided, we will declare our differences of opinion between ourselves and others. But, we will also be being true to ourselves and the personal revelation and understanding of God that we each have. Jesus desires that our faith be something that is an active, powerful, influencing part of our lives. Jesus wants us to declare our faith as the reason we do the the things we do, hold the positions we do. Not, so we can declare ourselves as different, or better than others. No, but that we may be more fully who we are, allow God to be more active in our lives. In that there will be division, but the divisions need not divide. As sisters and brothers in Christ, we are not all alike, but we are still united as family. We do not, and we need not all agree on everything, but we agree on what is most important: that in Jesus, God acted in a unique and powerful way that has transformed our lives both here in this world and in the world to come.

Jesus does not bring peace because he calls into question all the allegiances we have and are controlled by: the families we were raised in, the churches we came to faith in, the communities we have come to call home. Do we trust in those powers or in Jesus? Which controls us? Are we controlled by what others have told us is right or wrong? What others have told us a good Christian believes, how they act? Are we controlled by the interpretations of scripture by others (including the pastor), or do we trust in Jesus? Do we trust in the Bible, or do we trust in Jesus? Where is our trust? What are we so afraid of? What are you so afraid of? Listen for the song of faith God has placed in your heart, and sing it out. Amen.

Light in the Darkness

Trinity Sunday

June 15, 2014

Genesis 1:1-2: 4a (translation from The Tanakh)

When God began to create heaven and earth— the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water.” God made the expanse, and it separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so. God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of waters He called Seas. And God saw that this was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that this was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times—the days and the years; and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that this was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fertile and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

God said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so. God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good. And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”

God said, “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food. And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food.” And it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and found it very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done. Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created.

Have you ever been in a room that was completely and totally dark? I’m not talking about a room where the lights are off, the shades drawn, the door closed. Not, I mean completely dark. I’m talking about being in a room where there isn’t even a sliver of light anywhere, where there isn’t that muted darkness that we most often speak about as dark. If you’ve ever been in a room that dark, in a place that dark, how did you feel? Did you feel safe, did you feel comfortable? For most people, complete and total darkness is not something that brings with it comfort. In fact, for most people, being in a place of complete and total darkness is terrifying. Darkness is cold, impersonal uncomfortable.

I would wager that most of us probably sleep with a little bit of light somewhere. Maybe it’s a night light – whether in our room or just outside in the hallway. Maybe it’s a sliver of light that peaks itself around the curtains from a light outside. Maybe it’s the glow of a clock. Maybe it’s the glow of a television that scatters the darkness. Both of our girls like to sleep with a light on. We tried early on having them sleep in darkness, but it didn’t work. In the beginning it mainly didn’t work for us. When they were much younger and cried at 2 o’clock in the morning and we tried to make our way to their side in darkness, we tended to bring our toes into contact with doors, or dressers, or the legs of beds; and that contact was not gentle. The darkness of the room sometimes caused us to use some rather dark language in response to our stubbed toes and banged knees. It was just easier (and far less painful for us) to have a light of some kind in the girls room. Now, they sleep with night lights on. If we forget to turn on the light, we are definitely reminded to do something about it. Light, the presence of light in a dark room is comforting, light is good.

That’s the way the beginning of the creation story ends, ‘God saw that the light was good.’ Light is good; and it makes sense then that the opposite would be true: darkness is bad. Light good, dark bad. It reminds me of the old western movies, of the Lone Ranger, or Roy Rogers; the good guys wore white hats, while the bad guys wore black ones. It was an easy way to see in a glance who was good, who was bad. That works great until a bad guy decides to put on a white hat, or Batman puts on an all-black costume, then our nice little order that we create dissolves into chaos.

Most theologians speak about the creation story as one of ordering chaos. Darkness and water were both seen by ancient people as being chaotic. In the first few verses of Genesis we find both water and darkness combined; an image more chaotic to an ancient person than darkness covering the face of the deep, darkness covering the immensity of waters, would be hard to come up with. God creates, breaks into the chaos, breaks into the darkness; light pierces the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it, a sense of order enters into the chaos.

I think it’s safe for me to say that most of us find order to be far more comfortable than chaos. That when we are surrounded by chaos, by things that just aren’t working right we are far from being at ease. However, when we are in a situation that seems ordered, where we know what is going to happen, or what should happen, suddenly we feel better, we feel much more at ease, comfortable, comforted by the relative lack of chaos.

According to Genesis, God came into a universe that was chaotic, without form and feature, and brought structure and reason. God came into the chaos that had been, and created an order that God himself declared ‘good.’ Life can often seem like whatever it was before God acted, a little chaotic, a little dark; it might be hard to see the order around us; and that’s when we look to the continuing breaking in of God into this universe, this world, our lives.

When we think about God, when we think about the ways that God breaks into our lives, that is one of the times when it’s easy to see God fully. Today is trinity Sunday. Last week we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, today we remind ourselves of the fullness of God: traditionally referred to as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God breaks into our lives in each person of the Godhead, and in each one we see more of who God is, and understand ourselves and our relationship to God just a little bit more.

Paul reminds us and the church in Corinth of this when he writes: “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” The grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Grace, that free gift of God that is given to us without us having first done anything to be deserving of it. Grace, the gift from God that keeps on giving. Jesus came to save us simply because we needed to be saved, not because we had done something right, not because we had prayed hard enough or followed the right commandments, or recognized him as Lord. No, he came and did all that he did for us before we had done anything, before we knew who he was, before we had come to love him. Grace, salvation, was opened up to us while we still didn’t have a clue we needed to be saved.

The grace of Jesus was offered to us through the incredible love of God. We all know what John 3 says,” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (vs. 16,17). God’s love was so intense for us that it would not even allow him to keep his own beloved Son from suffering. God’s love reaches out and embraces us, brings us in from where we have been and claims us as his own. God’s love for his creation has never ceased or diminished since he named it good.

We have been claimed, and in our claiming we have been named God’s children, and have become sisters and brothers. Through the love of God we are claimed, and through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit we are united. That’s really what that word communion means that Paul uses: united. Through the Spirit we come together in communion, we come together in fellowship we come together with one another and with God. The Holy Spirit is that glue that connects us. It opens up our hearts, minds, and eyes to see God more fully, and to see those around us. The Holy Spirit helps us to break down the barriers that keep us apart, those walls and boundaries we are so fond of creating as humans; those things we like because we can then define who is on our side of the boundary and who isn’t. The Holy Spirit helps us to see beyond those walls, it helps us to see that the barriers are of our creating, and as such against God’s will. It helps us to reach out, when our human parts tell us to keep to ourselves, to worry about our own needs and not those nameless who we name ‘the least of these.’

The love of God, the Grace of Jesus and the communion of the Holy Spirit; the fullness of God expressed; to bring order to the chaos, light to the darkness, freedom to the captive, comfort to the distressed, forgiveness to the sinner. The idea of the trinity, the fact that we worship a God that is three-in-one, can be difficult to understand, in fact I know many good, believing, church-going people who have problems with it; but our understanding of the nature of God doesn’t change the way that God acts. It doesn’t change the way God loves us, it doesn’t change the incredible gift of grace that God gave us in Jesus, it doesn’t change the way that God unites and brings us together. It doesn’t change the comfort we receive from all that God has done, does, and will do for us. From time to time it may seems as if the darkness is closing in on us, we may feel alone, we may feel unloved; yet God is there, the love of God embraces us and we are reminded of our having been claimed by God as his own, as his own sons and daughters. And that truth can scatter and shatter any darkness. Amen.