Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Christmas is a Revolutionary Act of God



How many people here have experienced the sensation of déjà vu?  It seems to be a rather universal experience in which one feels as though one has already experienced the present, as if in a dream.  It’s a strange familiarity with a present scene, lasting no more than a minute or two.  Not like time traveling, but a faint memory triggered by some present scenario.  It could be a place, a person, a conversation…Its weird.  Science does not fully understand it.  It has something to do with the brain and memory, feelings associated with similarity.  But what if déjà vu signifies something more,  a reminder or a warning? 

Today’s story, Matthew’s Christmas story, is a bit like déjà vu.  The reader is meant to hear and see in this scene some familiar themes, characters, and events.  Paying attention to those connections is necessary in hearing the meaning of Christmas according to Matthew.  So, do you want to hear the meaning of Christmas one week early? 

Let’s start with the obvious one.  Matthew gives it to us.  “The Virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” A citation of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 7.  We heard it earlier.  Isaiah, however, was suggesting something more than a “miraculous conception”.  He was talking about the birth of the next King.  He was telling the current King, Ahaz that His replacement was about to be born.  He would be overthrown and his power was coming to an end.  Isaiah may have had an actual person in mind, someone born in the royal family itself perhaps.  So the first familiar scene is the connection to King Ahaz and Isaiah:  A change in the Monarchy, a new King is on the way.  This is bad news for the sitting ruler.  It suggests the toppling of an ineffective government, one that has been full of corruption, idolatry, and bad decisions. He paid the Assyrian empire to conquer smaller neighbors that threatened Israel. Seeing Israel as weak under Ahaz opened the door for Assyria to conquer Israel and divide the kingdom. But God is going to establish another ruler, a new King.  He will rule with equity and justice.  Bad rulers will have their power taken from them.  A good king is born.   

We have to back up, though.  Because the first memory we must confront is of Joseph and his dream.  We must remember the story from Genesis.  Jacob also called Israel had 12 sons.  His favorite was Joseph.  Israel gave him a coat.  Joseph had dreams in which he saw his own superiority over his brothers.  Angry and jealous, they beat him and sold him as a slave to traders, who took Joseph to Egypt.  In prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Joseph interprets the dreams of two inmates, both workers for Pharaoh.  When the dreams came true, the released prisoner returned to work for Pharaoh.  When Pharaoh had 7 nights of bad dreams, his cupbearer remembered Joseph.  Joseph was brought to Pharaoh and he interpreted the dreams to be a warning of a coming famine.  Pharaoh appointed Joseph secretaries of Agriculture and treasury, making him second in command of all Egypt.  Joseph was a wise steward and saved Egypt from famine.  IN fact, when the famine spread north to Israel/Judah, Joseph’s brothers came begging Egypt for food.  Joseph, generous, forgiving, and obedient to God never waivers in his faithfulness.  In the end, Joseph saves his family and reconciles with his brothers and father.  They all move to Egypt and prosper there.  The end. 

Except its not the end:  On account of the dreams, Joseph is sent to Egypt, imprisoned, rescued, and empowered.  As a result the Israelites emigrate to Egypt, where in subsequent generations, they are feared—because people fear growing populations of immigrants.  As a result the government establishes a work camp program, stripping them of human dignity and rights and limiting births.  Infant Hebrew (Israeli) boys up to age two must be killed.   

An infant boy, Moses is rescued by four brave Hebrew women and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.  Raised as royalty, he identifies with the slaves, kills an Egyptian slavedriver, and flees.  He settles in the land of Midian to a life of shepherding in a good family.  But, God confronts Moses in a burning bush, reminds him that his people suffer in slavery, and commands him to obey. Moses is empowered by God to return to Egypt and confront Pharaoh.  He does.  God helps, A lot.  Frogs, locusts, flies, thunderstorms with hail, diseased cattle, it was a bad time in Egypt.  When the firstborn sons of Egypt are found dead one morning, including Pharaoh’s own son, he relents and lets God’s people go.   They go.  Following Moses.  The army gives chase.  God parts the red sea and they walk through the waters to safety, as the army of Pharaoh drowns.  Moses sister Miriam, or Mary, sings a triumphant song of freedom on the banks of the sea.  Moses leads Israel out of slavery in Egypt as the great liberator, on a spiritual journey that will last a generation.  Joseph’s dreams and his brother’s jealousy lead them to slavery in Egypt.  400 years later, God intervenes and rescues them by rescuing Moses and preparing him to lead the people in the wilderness. 

There is a pattern in the Hebrew scripture:  Corporate sin and unfaithfulness, consequence and suffering, grace and liberation, and finally a call to new obedience.  This pattern rings true within the personal family story and within the larger political story of Israel and its neighbors, throughout the Old Testament this pattern is repeated.  And so, we return to Matthew:

We see that this birth is not a miracle, but a sign that God is about to repeat the second half of the cycle.  For the people were suffering under oppressive rule from a mighty foreign power (Rome, which reminds us of Egypt) and under a bad Jewish rule by Herod the great (which reminds us of guys like Ahaz).  The people were suffering.  God hears and responds to suffering. Always with mercy.  Often with a great liberating act of restoration.  As God saved Israel from itself, with Joseph and Moses, God will come again.  A child, a son will be given.  He will save his people from their sins.  He will be called Emmanuel, God with us.  Christmas is the story of God’s liberating grace act, enfleshed in the birth of a King, chosen before birth to liberate, lead, and call the people to a new obedience. 

And so, we are invited to see the birth of Jesus as the beginning of the end of tyranny, suffering, violence, hatred, political corruption, ineffective rule, and slavery to systems of injustice and mass production that costs people their dignity and humanity.  So long as "work" is the solution to poverty, we will not see peace.  Work is not the solution.  Grace enacted through love is the solution to every form of suffering.  Billionaires and generals are not the solution.  A poor, middle eastern peasant child is God's intervention into human suffering.  This may be hard to see and believe, given the state of the world today.  This is the scandal of Christmas. A baby, born 2,000 years ago, is our saving grace.  Not Trump. Not the Pentegon. Jesus.   

So, remember that God interrupts the pattern of sin and punishment/consequence with grace and a call to obedience.  See that Christmas is that interruption.  Notice that we are called to follow this King Jesus as God’s appointed savior.  Realize that we are called to a new obedience to Him and in Him we will live in peace.  So are you feeling like things in the world are off the rails? Violence, political scheming, and economic inequality are rampant.  Billionaires and generals are abusing power. But, their time is limited.  Trust that God acts against threats, powers of injustice, and evil.  God will not let the children suffer forever.  God comes for us.  God has done it before.  God will do it again.  Like déjà vu, or a repeating dream.  What we destroy, God rebuilds. The ones we enslave, God sets free.  The ones in power are cast down from their thrones and the rich are sent away empty.  This is the subversive story of Christmas.  It is the revolutionary act of God.  An end to tyranny and oppression.  The beginning of the way of salvation. Do not be afraid.  God is with us.  Amen.     

Thursday, December 08, 2016

prophets and dreams


Based on Isaiah 11 and Matthew 3. 
For those who have decked the halls with boughs of holly and Christmas treed and twinkle lighted and wreathed and santa’ed their homes---you brood of vipers!!! Who told you to flee from the wrath to come?  A voice cries out “Prepare the way of the Lord!” and you hang LED lights on your garage?  You still prepare the wrong things for the one who is coming.  He does not come in a sleigh with toys.  Gift wrap, ornaments,  Bing Crosby, and egg nog do not have anything to do with the coming of the King.  But mark our words, he is coming and you cannot prepare for him or prevent him from showing up when you’re not looking.  When you’re dead asleep or out to lunch or in your car on the way to the dentist.  You have become so disenchanted by the long delay in his return that you fail to pay attention.  You’ve long lost hope or expectation.  You have accommodated your hearts to violence and war and mayhem and chaos and inequality and prejudice.  You are not aware.  He has already come.  He has landed. He has arrived.  He has invaded our space.  He has broken and entered in.  He is near.  Maybe here.   So I have come to announce him to you!  I have come to awaken you to his presence, to prepare you for his powerful entry.  There is inner work, soul work, spirit work, heart and mind work that has to be done.  Changed hearts will announce his reign.  For he will not tolerate apathy or lukewarm faith or cold hearts. So I must come to you as the prophet this week.  And perhaps for several more if you can bear it.   

The prophet spoke his or her “thus saith the Lord” with a rare confidence, not in himself or his audience or his voice, but in the message and from whom it came.   The prophet was, first, a hearer of God, a listener to God, a receiver of God, before he or she was a speaker for God.  And so the prophet speaks from a place of humility and awe.  The prophet sees the world as it is and the world as it could and shall be under God’s promised reign of peace.  The prophet tells the truth about our blindness and deafness to the treachery and villainy and destructive violence we perpetrate, condone, or ignore.  The prophet calls injustice what it is, thus offending all who walk in its ways.  The prophet anticipates, hopes, and points the way forward.  The prophet stands with the people in the wilderness, in the water, in the space between what is and what will be.  The prophet calls a people to turn away from their ways and follow another way.  To turn their backs on the way of destruction and embrace the way of creation.  To be part of the healing, part of the welcome, part of the uplifting of the poor and the meek, the despised and the displaced.  The prophet invites us, beckons us out of our comfortable, safe, sheltered, domestic lives of banks and grocery stores and Turkey Hills and minivans and rec centers and fast food chains and malls and vacations.   The prophet calls us, commands us, invites and challenges us into a new reality, a new vision, a new dream of another world. A world completely like and unlike the one we are in now.  The false prophet condemns others and sets himself above them.  The false prophet claims to know answers to unsolvable mysteries.  The false prophet speaks with too much clarity and impossible foreknowledge---often in a way that benefits himself.  The false prophet tells people, especially people with power and privilege what they want to hear.  Where the true prophet gives warning, the false prophet condemns.  The false prophet sells false hopes and secret wishes to vulnerable suckers dying for someone to promise them a better day will come to them.   The false prophets were the kings of fake news. But the true prophets spoke an honesty too horrible and too good to be true.  Yes, both the horrible and the good.  That is why they were despised.  They told the painful and wonderful truth about us.   

John had a dream. He dreamed that Isaiah’s prophecy was about to be fulfilled.  The peaceable kingdom, where predator and prey live in harmony with one another; where warriors lay down their weapons and take up hoes and spades; where a vulnerable child is immune to poisonous snakes and no harm or danger befalls God’s beautiful creation.  He dreamed this dream in the wilderness of the Jordan valley, a harsh desert land.  He knew predator and prey, both animals and humans.  For he knew the politics of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great---unrighteous puppets of the gentile Roman overlords.  He knew the wealthy and powerful and how they abused their privilege to oppress and ruin the lives of Abrahams’ children.  He waited with Isaiah and all the prophets of old for a new David, a new King, a new anointed ruler to bring justice and peace to the people.  With eager anticipation, he announced what he saw and hoped it would end and begin. 

So do we.  We must inaugurate a new season of hope, in which we truly wait and anticipate and imagine another world---a better place, a heavenly dwelling in our midst.  We must imagine a time when all animals will be domestic.  Lions as housecats.  Wolves as puppy dogs.  We must imagine a day when a generation will only know war through ancient history books and museums full of guns and swords and cannons and grenades.  We must imagine a time when people will live free from violence, free from hunger, free from disease, free from thirst, free from drug addiction and sexual predators and armed robbers and political schemers, and relentless dictators.  We must imagine harmony.  Companionship.  Generosity.  Gentle stewardship of the earth and all its creatures.  We must imagine a farm, a garden, a fruitful land, a blessed harvest, in which men and women, Jew and Muslim, Christian and agnostic, African American worker and white CEO serve one another, working side by side.  And a child will lead them.  We need to be brave enough now to live into our hopes for a new world. So I took 6 children with me to a lunch with Muslim Americans.  The prophets are preparing the way of the LORD---a way of justice and peace for all the children of every race, tribe, culture, language, and faith.  May it be so, soon.  Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set your people free from our sins and fears-- release us, let us find our rest in thee. Amen.

Holy Encounters

Jacob's wrestling match; Joseph's dreams; Moses and the burning Bush; Elijah on the mountain; Early stories of biblical heroes include these holy encounters with the divine other, with the LORD.  They are usually transformative, life-altering experiences.  Jacob gets injured, get a new name, gets humble, and gets reunited with his brother.  Joseph becomes a victim of attempted fratricide, gets incarcerated, and gets promoted from model prisoner to economic advisor of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.  Moses is chosen to lead God's people Israel out of Egyptian slavery, to freedom, through the wilderness, and to the promised land.  Elijah initiates the age of the prophets, God's messengers  to the powerful and proud, who call the nation to sorrow for sin/injustice, and remind the nation of God's covenant promise to be with them.
The premise of the New Testament gospels is that God encounters humans in the person of Jesus, the traveling Rabbi from Nazareth, Israel.  An encounter with Jesus is an encounter with God, because Jesus teaches with authority.  Jesus heals, shows mercy, declares the unclean clean, brings dignity and hope to the poor.  Jesus confronts satan, evil, and even death itself.  In his own body, Jesus experiences human suffering, sorrow, and grief.  He experiences pain and death itself.  But death encounters a more powerful force at work in Jesus, the power of God---the source and sustainer of life.
After Jesus, his followers collectively embody his presence through their words and actions.  They seek to imitate his ways, speak his words, continue his works.  As they do, those who encounter the church are transformed.  Baptism is part of this transformation, as people are physically united with Jesus in the water.  The old self is drowned, the new self emerges.  A new person is born. 
Christians encounter God at the table, where Jesus promised to become bread and wine.  So that we might take his life into our bodies, absorbing his powers to heal and forgive.  Like medicine, we are transformed, made well,  by the encounter with Jesus there.
Jesus also taught that God is present to us in the last, the least, the lost, the left out, and the losers.  Lepers, prisoners, the mentally ill, the blind and deaf, the poor, the meek, the peacemaker, the merciful---these embody the Spirit of Jesus, and therefore reveal God's nature to us.  A Samaritan who shows mercy to a wounded Jew becomes a person of peace who embodies Jesus.  Today, this might be represented by an Israeli soldier who puts down his weapon to assist a Palestinian Arab soldier who lie wounded on the streets of Jerusalem. Or a white police officer who attends a Black Lives Matter rally to walk in solidarity with the black community he serves and protects. 
Holy encounters occur daily.  Last week, I was invited to a luncheon for Muslims and Lutheran Christians.  We discovered a common hope for peace and a common desire to learn from each other.  We respect each others' faith practices and hope to find ways we can serve our neighbors.  I met several Muslim Men who want us to see them as friends, brothers, and people of compassion and peace. 
How do we know when we have experienced a holy encounter, a moment with God?  If we know the biblical stories, especially the story of Jesus, we can compare them.  I believe the bible is not a collection of stories about things that happened.  It is not merely historical.  Some of it is ahistorical, perhaps even mythological.  But the bible is also Word of God, alive, current, happening now.  The bible tells stories about our own life experiences.  We may not all have a burning bush, but we may be wrestling with our past selves.  We may be afraid and in need of assurance.  We may encounter the stranger, the other, even the perceived enemy, and find ourselves looking at the face of God.  This is biblical.  And it is an alternative to a prejudicial, exclusionary, protectionist worldview espoused by too many people.  It seems that the bible offers the world an alternative way of seeing ourselves and others.  It proposes brotherhood, harmony, neighbor, kinship, compassion, and welcome. 
This week, notice people and have a holy encounter.  See God approach you in the disguise of someone in need, someone generous, someone remarkably different from you.  See God in the face of the stranger, the newborn, or someone suffering. 
Realize that you may be a way in which someone else has a holy encounter too.  You may embody the goodness of God.  And if you do, the world gets brighter, safer, and more alive.    

coming soon




"Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Gospel of Matthew, 24:42-44.
Advent has arrived.  Advent means arrival or coming.  So when we talk of Advent we are talking about an arrival.  This is a strange idea for most. The arrival of what or whom?  Advent is, for us, a season of the church’s year in preparation for Christmas.  For most people it does not exist on their calendars.  It has been replaced by decorating and shopping, Christmas music and food.  Chocolate.  That’s my holiday season.  Its characterized by the amount of chocolate I consume.  How awful is that?    The circle comes back around each year and we follow a pattern of tradition.  How many of you were innovative with thanksgiving this year?  Did something totally different than ever before, broke with tradition?  Like a program that keeps running, we simply do what we’ve done.  Lulled into the coma that is the holiday season.  We expect the same things.  That same person that was hard to shop for last year, still a pain in the rear.  Those lights you failed to put away properly last year, you’ll get them out again and fuss with them for four hours to hang them on the house.  There is monotony in these things.  And yet ,we are driven to do them.  Black Friday shopping.  We avoided it.  But millions of others are lured into that trainwreck of consumer frenzy.  Confess, some of you did it.   

For we too have largely joined the fray.  What is the difference between the secular observance of the holidays and the Christian observance?  After Thanksgiving, Christmas is pounding at our doors. Prepare for the birth of Jesus. This is what faithful Christians are doing, right?  We may even feel like our neighbors who are not practicing Christians have gotten on board the train, right?  They have that blow up lighted nativity in the yard already.  Complete with baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.  It often feels like your trying to catch the Christmas train.  Get on board or you’ll miss it.  Get ready, hang on, its coming.  Only 28 days.   

We rush ahead in preparation for the wrong thing.  How does one prepare for an event that already happened?  This is why the first Sunday in Advent looks ahead, addresses future reality, offers up a vision for what has not yet come.  We are still waiting for something or someone.  And this is of dire importance.  For if all that God can do has already been done, then we are where we will be.  This is it, all we can expect, all we can hope for, the current state of things is just as they must and shall be.  And for some of us who know Christ and his mission, this is unacceptable nonsense.  Surely God is not finished yet with creation, with me, with you, with the great work of setting things right, with the restoration of justice and the doling out of divine mercy.  Surely, murder, mayhem, war and poverty, disease and hunger---surely this is not the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven.  
Think of a thing that you would like to set right but can’t.  Something that saddens you, frightens you, angers you.  For me, this is global hunger.  People, children, should not be hungry.  No one should suffer and die from hunger.  But they do.   It may be sex trafficking or refugees or homelessness or addiction or bank fraud.  What is the thing that haunts you, keeps you up at night?  If you had the magic wand, what would you fix, heal, change?  You and I have heard all of the promises of politicians for our entire lives.  No one, no elected leader has ended hunger, poverty, war, disease.  In fact, most have exacerbated these things.  Perpetual war.  That’s what we are in.  We are weary of their unkept promises.  No wonder there is such distaste for government.  And maybe even for church.  Does God keep promises?  Are there promises God has not kept?  For those of us who wait for the kingdom of God, there are.  Isaiah foretells them.  Matthew and Paul persuade the Christian community to keep awake, to be vigilant, to watch for God to act, to fulfill promise, to bring about that that for which we must hope.  They promise a day of crisis, like a thief in the night, a sudden disruption.  And yet, here we are.  Still waiting.  Might as well participate in the culture’s perpetual motion machine, do what they all do.  Decorate, Shop, eat.  Comfort, comfort my people.  Decorate, shop, eat.  Perhaps, we have lost our distinctive witness, our holy character, our faith in the Lord’s promises.  Perhaps this is why fewer people participate with us in Advent.  We do what they do and have to get up on Sunday mornings?  We have been lulled to sleep by cheap goods, shiny things, and rich foods.  We have been put in the coma of low expectations and acceptance of this world and all its sufferings.  We have been knocked unconscious by accepting reality as it is.  Idealism, hope---lost.  We fail to see that in every crisis, every disruption, every subtle change, Christ comes for us to awaken us to His saving work.   

Advent calls to us with this mystery.  His coming again.  Jesus’ work is incomplete, unfinished.  He has destroyed the power of sin, but has not erased its consequences---injustice, suffering, death.  We live in between what was and what will be.  We are those called to embody God’s promised future by faith.  We are those called to reveal a hope that is so unreal, so charming, so imaginative that we might be called dreamers, prophets, saints of God.  We are light in darkness. We are peace in the midst of violence.  We are sanctuary in times of chaos and despair.  We are love and joy.  Advent means arrival.  What if, instead of us waiting for Jesus to come back, advent is about the world waiting for the church to show up and be the church?  What if the second coming is about the body of Christ arriving on the scene here and now?  What if we wait for Christ to live through us for the sake of the world?  We are called to daring, bold service. Our worship is peace-making, light-shining, sanctuary for the anxious mind, food and drink for the hungry soul.  So dear friends, Advent means arrival.  So, show up.  Be present in worship and in service.  Be present to those who are struggling this season. Be present through inexplicable generosity.   Be present and alert to the inbreaking of God’s kingdom around us and through us.  Be present with hope on your lips to tell others of God’s promised reign.  Be present as Christ is present.  They are waiting for Christ to arrive in us.   Amen. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

advent 1. #GivingTuesday

"He began to tell the people this parable: ‘A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, “What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, “This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.” So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.’ When they heard this, they said, ‘Heaven forbid!’ But he looked at them and said, ‘What then does this text mean:
“The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone”?*
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’ When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people."

Today is GivingTuesday.  It is meant to inspire generosity in the aftermath of Black Friday and Cyber Monday--consumer shopping days to fulfill the Christmas wish lists.  My wife and I have done very little shopping since Thanksgiving and even less spending.  I think it's good to remind people to give.  Studies have shown that giving makes people happier than receiving.  Generosity is a way that we deny the self and think of others.  It comes out of and builds compassion and empathy.  Inviting children to give is great formation and teaches the power of greed and the need to let go in order to live a fuller and richer life.  Too often giving is an annual event or an end-of-the-year holiday expression, rather than a way of life, a habit or a routine.  The bible suggests that God is constantly giving and apart from daily divine generosity we cannot live.    
This parable of Jesus reminds us that God entrusts God's things to people.  God is like an absentee vineyard owner, who entrusts the vineyard to people.  When harvest time comes, the owner expects fruit.  But the tenants are greedy and willing to resort to violence in order to retain what does not belong to them.  Possessed by our possessions, we are unable to give freely and liberally to others.  We are afraid.  We believe in the myth of scarcity, despite our wastefulness and misuse of the abundance around us.
I struggle with time management.  I waste time sometimes.  I do not budget time wisely, spending too much on somethings and not enough on others.  I think time is a gift from God that I take for granted.  How much time do I really have?  The time I do have, I should use well.       

Some Christians believe that government is a function of God's provision, a way in which God orders human community.  Responsible government, according to the bible, looks after the innocent, the weak, the vulnerable, the poor, and the displaced.  Irresponsible government is greedy and self-serving. We have seen and heard governing authorities abuse their leadership and abuse the people they are supposed to protect and govern.  Like Jesus, we are called to speak against abusive powers and "bad tenants" who have been given authority, only to abuse it for selfish gain.  Jesus suggests that their power will be taken away from them.  Moral advocacy that holds leaders accountable to those they are required to serve is a work of public witness or faith in action.

We know that there is a cost to public witness, to accountable stewardship and faithful living.  Jesus paid it on the cross.  We will bear crosses, too.  But, the promise is true.  Those who pour themselves out, who give themselves away, put others before themselves, who love their neighbors and their enemies, will be rewarded.  The reward may be the act itself, since generosity brings joy to the heart.  The reward is also eternal life, a home with God, and everlasting peace.  So, on GivingTuesday, be generous with what God has given you; yourself, your time, your possessions.  Signs of God's gracious love.  God the giver gave all that you have to you, so that you might join God in that work. Don't squander it, hoard it, or keep a little for yourself.  Don't believe in scarcity.  Believe in abundance.  Believe in the reward of a generous life.  And look to Jesus as the best example of how to give.  Wholly.  Selflessly.  Lovingly.     


  



Wednesday, November 23, 2016

What is Advent?

"Though Advent (literally arrival) has been observed for centuries as a time to contemplate Christ's birth, most people today acknowledge it only with a blank look. For the vast majority of us, December flies by in a flurry of activities, and what is called the holiday season turns out to be the most stressful time of the year." 

If this is your experience, then we need to talk.  We create stress.  We let the holidays overwhelm us and we forget why we're celebrating in the first place.  Look, I get that you may not be that religious or pious.  These festivals and seasons are not that important anyway.  We don't have time for these things, that are clearly for religious insiders, right? . You've gotten on fine without knowing about Advent or Lent or the Christian year.  Did you know the Christian year is marked differently than the secular calendar? Did you know millions of people observe the Christian year as the rhythm that keeps them connected to the life of Jesus and the ongoing creative work of God?  A lot of evangelical Christians have rejected the traditional Christian calendar.  They do not observe the seasons.  Roman Catholics and some Protestants, however, continue to keep an annual cycle of holy days by which they mark the passing of the weeks.  Both Jews and Muslims also keep a religious calendar of seasonal observances and holy days.  You've simply never participated as religiously or faithfully before. 
But, here's the thing.  In your rejection of some Christian traditions or your ignorance of them (and I mean that in a gentle way, like you just don't know what you're missing), you are not getting the whole meal.  Its like skipping the hors d'oeuvres and the salad and going right for the meat and the dessert. Many Americans will celebrate Christmas without knowing why.  What it means, whose birth we celebrate, why we celebrate Jesus' birth, or how to celebrate it apart from the consumer model.  There is another way! 

Advent starts on Sunday, November 27th this year.  Advent is the church's way of marking time, of slowing things down, of preparing for the things that matter.  Advent has been observed for centuries and consists in the four Sundays that precede December 25th.  It is basically the month before Christmas.  It has been mostly supplanted by a consumer calendar marking the number of shopping days until the 25th. 
Christmas, as you know, is one of the two major festivals of the Christian year.  It is a twelve day celebration of the Birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  The stories of his birth appear in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. 
Easter is, of course, the other major festival.  One could say that it was the resurrection of Jesus that made his birth so important.  No Easter, no Christmas.  But I think we can make a case for the significance of Christmas, primarily by living Advent. 
Advent is all about anticipation and hope, watchful waiting, and expectation.  It is about the longing of the human heart, the human community, for justice--the setting right and straight the things that are wrong and broken in this world.  Biblically, Advent is Messianic promise and fulfillment.  Jews longed for a just ruler, an divinely anointed King who would set them free from oppression.  The Messiah began to be seen as a divine man who would transform the earth, humanity, and all the creatures.  From winter to eternal spring.  From despair and desperation to hope and comfort.  From exile to homecoming.  From war to peace.  From death to life.  The expectation was that a Messiah would save the people from sin and death.    The Jews, long awaiting a savior, kept watch by prayer and Torah observance.  They practiced the law of God found in the books of Moses and the prophets.  They hoped, in times of slavery and exile, for a ruler who would vanquish enemies and restore their dignity as the chosen people of God.  A Messiah, which means anointed one or King.  Christ is the Greek form of Messiah. It is a title not a surname.  Jesus Christ means Jesus Messiah, or King Jesus.

Advent gives us a month to contemplate the meaning of Jesus.  Here are some ways we can observe Advent:

1.  Get a calendar.  Advent calendars are full of daily reminders and simple practices that make us mindful of the presence of God. 
2.  Get an Advent wreath or a set of four candles to light at evening meals.  One candle is lit on each Sunday in Advent. The Jews get 8 candles on the Menorrah for Hannukah.  Christians get four candles for Advent. 
3.Get a devotion book.  Daily readings that teach us, that enrich the spiritual part of life, and give us pause to reflect can really enhance the meaning of the holiday season.  Maybe God has something to say to you to help you grow in your relationships, or in how you use your time.   Start the day in 5 minutes of intentional silence before a single candle as a point of focus.  See what that days to your state of mind, level of stress, and will to live.   
4.  Find a local charity to support or volunteer with a local community outreach.  Nothing refocuses us in the life of Jesus like tending to the needs of others.   
5.  Go to worship in a liturgical church that observes ancient Christian tradition.  It may be that engaging in ritual activity (prayer, song, listening, eating and drinking, light candles) that has been shaped by centuries of spiritual practitioners, who were devoted to a spiritual path as followers of Jesus Christ, can nurture your inner soul in ways that shopping at Target can't.
6.  Invite someone to eat dinner with your family that has not been in your home before.  Hospitality is a hallmark characteristic of Christian observance and something we suck at in the United States.  We tend to live in isolation rather than in community.  Nothing makes community faster than food. 
7.  Go to a free community concert.  Churches and community centers often host musicians during the month of December.  Many churches will host community singing of Handel's "Messiah".  Enjoying beautiful music and the arts reminds us of the best of what humanity can offer.
8.  Decorate in stages.  Rather than put up the entire Christmas display on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, delay gratification Clark.  Build a festive atmosphere in your home, adding a little more each week.  Delay decorating a Christmas tree for as long as you can.  After all, Christmas itself is the 12 days from December 25 to January 6.  Too often, we've put away Christmas too early because we started observing and celebrating too soon. Do Advent first!  Wait for Christmas!  The meaning is in the waiting!

Let's start here and see what happens.  Try on one or two new habits.  What is it like to intentionally and mindfully focus on the coming of Christ? 


          
 

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

the one about leadership



Repeat after me, please:  There is a ruler. There is a leader. There is an authority.  There is a guide.  There is a shepherd.  There is a mighty protector.  There is a powerful Presider.  There is a King.  There is a Savior of the World.  And I know….it is not me. 

Two weeks ago, the Friday after the election, I wanted to clear my head, think prayerfully about Sunday morning, and get away from the constant drum beat of American politics.  I also needed to meet with a colleague to talk about a group exercise I would be leading, and led yesterday, with a group of church leaders on behalf of our synod staff.  Jennifer and some colleagues were meeting at Camp Kirchenwald for a morning prayer walk.  I asked if we could meet there and if I could join the walk.  That morning as I was preparing to go, Jen called and said that her 10 year old daughters were off school and wanted to know if my kids were, too.  They wanted to come to camp, but wanted something to do there.  I told her my kids were not off, but my puppy was available and would love to come and play with them at camp.  So I brought Katie along.  The plan was that I would lead the small group around camp on a silent prayer walk, because I knew the camp trails.  The girls would walk Katie on her leash to another part of camp to play.  We all started off in the same direction.  Suddenly, the girls unleashed Katie and disappeared.  Katie followed us, well, ran ahead of us and around as we walked.  I did not have her leash.  I figured she would stay with us.  Then we turned left to head toward the lake.  Katie didn’t.  I walked on about 50 yards and noticed her absence.  I told the group to continue down the trail, while I backtracked to retrieve my retriever.  I found her with a feather in her mouth just off the trail behind a large fallen tree.  I called to her sternly to come.  I approached her and she took off.  She ran back down the trail we came up.  I called her again, "Katie, come".  She took off.  I followed chase.  I was getting angry.  I had left the group and was running after her.  I called her again, "Katie, come".  She ran faster.  I ran after her.  Down the hill, across the log bridge, up the hill.  When I emerged, breathing hard, she was no where to be seen.  A little panic set in.  O God, I lost my puppy.  My wife and kids are gonna kill me.  I ran around calling after her.  Nothing.  I was thinking about how we disturbed the prayer walk.  I was thinking about the girls' promise to walk her and watch her.  What were the others thinking?  Were they annoyed that I brought her?  Were they concerned about us?  I projected my feelings on them.  I ran back to the lodge where we started.  There she was.  Huddled behind a chair.  When I yell, I scare her.  She usually runs into her crate at home.  This time, she ran back to the lodge.  I scooped her up, angry and relieved.  I wanted to kill her and hug her.  It was a cool fall morning, so I put her in my car with the windows down.  As I headed back down to find the others, I ran into the girls with the leash.  I told them they could get her out of the car and walk her on the leash.  They didn't.  As I headed the opposite way down the lake I felt anger, frustration, and anxiety.  What happened to the group?  Had they found their way without me?  When I came to the lake there they were. Sitting quietly, enjoying the warm sun reflected on the water, in the brightly colored leaves.  They were safe, at peace, resting.  I was a mess.  I sat by a tree and tried to let the earth and the sun take the toxic anger and anxiety out of my body.  Slowly, I began to recover and enter a place of quiet peace.  We got up and walked back to the lodge.  On the way, God spoke to me.  By the time we got back to the lodge I was practically in tears.  And I needed to share what God said.  The group convener asked us to share how we felt during the walk,  the intention was to spiritually center us in the beauty of creation.  I spoke. My experience on the walk resembled my current leadership.  I reflected:  Am I leading a community of people on a spiritual journey together or am I chasing after stray animals?  This is how pastoral leadership feels much of the time.  And it is lonely to be in front or to be the one who chases the strays.  Why does no one else feel compelled to help?  The girls left her off the leash.  They were complicit.  The group felt no need to stop what they were doing to help me retrieve the dog.  I was alone.  I felt the tension in myself, the occasional feeling of overwhelming responsibility, the insanity of going after those running in the wrong direction,  the constant nagging sense of failure.  I felt strongly that both those willingly going on the journey and the stray animal needed me. And for some reason, I loved that stray animal and would never think to abandon her, lest she get lost.  I thought of the parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd who abandons the 99 to find her and bring her home.  But I also thought of Jesus leading disciples.  He could somehow balance between investment of time with his disciples and going after the lost, the hurting, the broken, and the rejected.  I had not achieved this balance in my life.  And I was hurting because of it.  I thought that my faith community was struggling because of my leadership, too. 
And now this election said to me, we are in a national leadership crisis.  Half of the country is eager to follow.  Half of the country disavows the elected President. If it had gone the other way, the roles would be reversed and “Not my President” would still be chanted.  Congress, courts, state houses, Presidents.  Dems, republicans. We have a moral crisis in leadership and an erosion in trust, authority, and security. It did not begin in 2016 and it will not end on inauguration day.   There is a lot of fear and anger right now directed toward public leaders.         

But God also said to me, notice how the group ended up exactly where you wanted to lead them despite your absence.  Notice how content and placid they were by the lake?  Notice the stray dog ended up safe even before you could catch her and bring her to safety?  That was me.  My grace. My love.  My leadership.  My power.  My authority.  So you can rest.  Be at peace.  Trust me. Remember that you are a follower, too.  And you need to receive from me the Holy Spirit, again and again.  Or you will be led astray.  And lead others, too.  The blind often lead the blind.  But I have given you the eyes to see me.  The eyes of faith.  Do not take your eyes off of me.  I will lead you, give you rest, shelter you, heal you, forgive you when you fail, and welcome you to myself. You are mine. 

Here’s what I see on this reign of Christ Sunday.  When Israel’s rulers were corrupt and they faced a national leadership crisis, when their religious leaders were corrupted by power over people for selfish gain, God promised a shepherd that God himself would appoint and send.  This shepherd came in the form of a son.  He led people on a spiritual journey in the wilderness, offering grace and mercy and healing for all.  He went after the strays and the lost and the losers and invited them in to his life.  He was crowned as King and crucified on the same day.  Because authentic leadership rooted in love is dangerous and risky and unseen.  No President or congressional leader or pastor does what He did.  No one does.  On the cross, he is finally revealed as the one true shepherd King and savior of the world.  And the one who sees him for who he is, was hanging next to him.  A criminal.  Condemned by the world.  Sentenced to the ultimate punishment.  Death.  One we all face eventually, by the way.  And in that moment, King Jesus makes a promise to him, to me, to you, to all of us.  Today you will be with me in paradise.  The king has come.  His just and peaceful rule has already begun.  His resurrection confirms it and enthrones him forever.  Jesus is my Lord, my King, my master, my shepherd, my savior. And he is yours.  Forever and ever.  Amen. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

an uncertain future


"These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon...It said: 4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,* for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.
For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,4I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." Jeremiah 29.

Unsettling and unsettled.  These words describe how I have been feeling for awhile now.  Not just since the presidential election, which really intensified these feeling and thoughts.  I have been feeling like this for some time because life in American culture is unsettling today. 
My wife is a full-time teaching in a public school position that is stressful and exhausting emotionally, mentally, and physically for her.  My boys are growing up.  My oldest son is in middle school now.  Changes are happening with him that we anticipated, but feel ill equipped sometimes to address.  We want out kids to be well-adjusted, feel safe and secure, have good friendships, learn new and challenging things, and have activities they enjoy.  We want to them to feel successful in school and we want them to be compassionate and caring toward others.  We are well-intentioned parents, but sometimes feel like we don't devote enough time to the project of forming healthy adults.  We feel like we are still maturing, changing, learning, and struggling too.  And there are a lot of moving parts in daily life---Caring for ourselves, maintaining a calendar of activities, nurturing relationships outside our home and family, doing meaningful work, and maintaining a house are time- consuming and leave little room to pause.  We also don't want to project our anxieties and frustrations on our kids.  We want to breathe in peace and breathe out love.  We want to be consistent in our actions and show devotion to things and people we care about.  And sometimes we just want to check out.  We want our home to be a sanctuary and it sometimes feels like a production factory.  I see work every where I go.  Time set apart for reflection, rest, and relationship-building is hard to find.  I suspect we aren't alone in all of this.
Alongside these things, we are attempting to live in community with others who are called to be church, the people of God following the way of Jesus.  And not in a traditional congregation.  I am a mission developer helping a 128 year old congregation give birth to a new expression of Christian community.  And we are at a point in our development where both communities feel a little unsettled, uncertain, and tentative about their futures. Some people are moving on. Some people are experiencing life changes and challenges. Some people come and go.  Some people are finding their way, tentatively, into the community that gathers around an open table of welcome. It all feels very loose, unstable, and unsettling.  What if nobody comes to dinner church?  It sometimes feels like it could all just end.  And then it sometimes feels like its just getting started.  Its hard to know if we're on a right heading sometimes.   
Then I read this text from the prophet Jeremiah.  It is a reminder to me that when I feel unsettled, uncertain, and anxious I can trust that God is near.  I can trust that we will have what we need when we need it. I can trust that God has a future planned that I cannot see.  I can trust that God is at work to bring about that future. I can trust that I am where I am because I was sent, planted, exiled, and moved here by God for God's mission.  Though I sometimes feel like uprooting my family and moving on, I hear these words and trust that this is home.  For now.  And for now, that will be enough. 
  
 

Sunday, November 13, 2016

the one after the election


Based on Isaiah 65:17-25 and Luke 21:5-19. 
In these weeks of November, we hear stories about the destructive ends of things as they have been and the promise of new beginnings.  A dying and rising, a decay and renewal motif embedded in the scriptures we read in the public assembly.  I think we would do well to pay attention to them as they pertain to our life together in America today. 
Tuesday was election day and it was not the end of the world.  Nor was it the beginning of a new day of peace, prosperity, and justice for all.  No President will embody the hopes and needs of all the people.  The vision of Isaiah does not rest on the shoulders of Donald Trump.  Talk of unification, the wolf lying with the lamb, is hardly to be anticipated after the inauguration.  Far from it.  This campaign season was not benign.  It revealed an ugly underside to our political life, a dark cynicism, that we have not seen.  Clearly many people are not happy, are indeed angry with our leaders and the direction we are going.  No hopeful vision, but rather collective grievances elected our next president. I get that some people just thought he would do a better job. But we all have to admit that the campaigns were polemical, mean-spirited, negative, and sought to bring out the worst in us.   Both sides demonized the other and their supporters.  There needs to be a way for healing, reconciliation, and peacemaking.

This has been a confusing week in our country.  For some of us, the outcome of the election was a joyful surprise.  For others, a frightening and devastating sadness.  I have heard from neighbors who are afraid of what will happen to them or their loved ones. I have heard from others who think those people are overreacting.   This election season has revealed deep division in our country, in our communities, even in our own families.  No matter who won the Presidency, about half of the country would have been angry, concerned for the future, and dejected.  It betrays a dark reality in which we find ourselves as Americans.  These divisions were not only about big versus small government, or taxes, or the economy, or international relations. Something else played a role in polarizing the electorate. We all have thoughts and feelings about this election.  But what do we believe?  This is what matters.  What do we believe? Where is God present?  What is God doing?  Separation of church and state is not separation of God and politics. Separation does not mean that church has nothing to say about or to the governing authorities.  We bring our faith everywhere, even into the voting booth.  So what do we believe?  I can only point us to the Word to seek the heart and mind of God. 

First, I want to say that the demonization of minorities, women, Muslims, people of color, immigrants, and refugees is not ok.  The law of God commands Israel to welcome and serve the widow, orphan, and resident alien in their midst.  And the way of Christ calls us to welcome the stranger, care for the most vulnerable among us (Women and children), serve ethnic and religious minority groups, indeed love the neighbor and the enemy alike. 
Second, public speech and the use of language matters.  As a public speaker, who is called on to say a word every week, I think it is important to be careful about what I say and how I say it.  And the intention is far more than to avoid offending people.  In fact, I expect people have been offended by what I have said.  I myself have been offended by what I have said.  I am called to listen to the judgment voice of God, too.  God’s law offends us.  Jesus’ call to discipleship offends us.  Love is offensive in the face of hatred and fear.  Mercy is offensive in the face of abusive power.  But we must publicly denounce hateful speech and abusive language.  It is not ok for anyone to speak the way Mr. Trump spoke.  I don't want my sons to think it is ok to speak about anyone the way he spoke about women, minorities, Muslims, or immigrants.  We have to be accountable for what we say.  Words have power and meaning.  They inspire behavior.   
This is why Jesus foretold that his followers will be dragged before the authorities on account of their relationship with him. Not because they were blowing things up, but because they were healing the sick, feeding the poor, speaking the truth to power, and pledging allegiance to a crucified Jewish Rabbi.  In effect, they declared in their words and actions that Jesus was their King, not Caesar.  As a Christian, our primary allegiance is to Christ.  Not to a political party or any elected official.   Not to any nationality or human system of governance.  We are called to pray for, respect, and help our elected leaders so that they rule justly, wisely, and mercifully.  We are called to stand, speak out, and act against policies, laws, and ideologies that exclude, punish, and reject minorities and vulnerable peoples.  We advocate for protection and care for the earth.  We advocate for adequate and affordable health care for all people.  We advocate for excellent public education for all children. 
Jesus reminds his disciples that they must not put their trust in wealth, in institutions of power and privilege, or in any political leader.  These things will pass away, fall down, fall apart, self- destruct. Wars and earthquakes destroy the things we build. Instead, they are to trust God alone.  They will indeed go before Kings.  And they will suffer for the gospel, for what is right and good and true.  And by their endurance they will gain their souls. Faithful endurance characterizes the church’s work in the world.  We are not called to private hopes in evacuation from the world.  We are called to endure the world for the sake of the gospel and in the name of Jesus. Isaiah reminds us that a time will come when the healing of the nations and the peace of God will reach all people.  This vision, however, came to Isaiah after 70 years of Jewish exile from their homeland.  In which they were displaced refugees, foreigners in Babylon.  They must endure hardship before rescue. Because there is no real privilege. All will be thrown down.  Exile precedes homecoming.  Suffering precedes salvation.  These days signal that tumultuous change is afoot in public life.  But this is not the end of the world. It is a call to public witness.  This is not a time of silence nor of random acts of kindness to counter act bullies, hate, and fear.  This is a time of public witness when the church is called to be the church.  To declare the intention of Christ---healing, economic rights of the poor, release of prisoners, love for enemies, an end to malice, bitterness, and violent means of problem-solving.  This is the time when we say evangelical Christians are those who stand with undocumented immigrants and Native Americans fighting for their land.  Evangelical Christians stand with African Americans suffering under the weight of invisible, structural racism baked into American culture in ways we often fail to see and understand.   Evangelical Christians proclaim good news for the poor, not for the rich.  We follow Jesus to halls of power and we hold them accountable for the ways they use power to threaten and hold down the weak among us. We cry out in prayer for justice, freedom, and peace for all people.  And we work tirelessly toward the day that is promised when all God’s children will come home, enter the promised land, and be saved. Our hope is in Christ the savior.  May he come soon and find us faithful.  Amen. 

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

on religious hypocrisy and authenitic community

Gospel of Luke 11
"While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.
 ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’"

Jesus was no lover of vain, empty religious practices.  Jesus was intolerant of hypocrisy, especially among religious people. They do what is expected of them publicly, but privately they are greedy and wicked.  They follow their religious rules in order to appear holy or better than others.  They go to church, but they have no compassion in their hearts.  They neglect justice and the love of God.  Jesus called them out for their hypocritical judgment, because they accused Jesus of abandoning right religious practices and habits.  Instead, Jesus practiced excessive mercy and radical forgiveness and selfless love.  He did this without the endorsement of the religious leadership.  He taught without their authority and consent.  He was more concerned about broken people than about broken rules.  He noticed that the religious system actually prevented people from encountering the God he knew as Father.  It actually replaced an authentic relationship with a living, speaking, acting God with a religious transaction---do these things and you will be blessed.  Fail to do them and you will be cursed.  The myth we still buy into today goes something like this:  If your life is hard, perhaps it is because you are not religious or faithful enough. If your life is good, it is because you are obeying God's will.  Suffering people may be faithful, but they are most likely in God's disfavor.  Doing what is right is necessary to have a good life. Blessed people prosper.  Cursed people suffer.   Jesus debunked this myth. A crucified man is supposed to be a cursed man, according to the Hebrew Scripture.  But he says the cross is the way of salvation. He says the poor are blessed. He says the sick and sinful belong to God. He says the vulnerable are our neighbors to whom we are called as servants.  We can see why religious hypocrisy causes so many people to reject Christianity and even God. 

Religious practices, including Sunday morning worship, can prevent us from living a God centered life.  Jesus implies that those who claim to have a relationship with God and have hatred for their neighbor do not really know God.  You can't claim to have an UP/DOWN relationship if you have no terrible OUT relationships.   We think that if we show up, are members of a church, pay our dues, and do the rituals then that satisfies God and insures us a place in God's care.  We can do our duty to God and never serve anyone else.  We can, in fact love God with our lips and hate our neighbors, especially those who are not like us.   

But, Jesus proposes an alternative to religious hypocrisy. For Jesus, the table was the place of radical inclusion, welcome, and encounter--where God is present in food and drink and human companionship.   He proposes an authentic life of love, mercy, and justice.  This takes place within the human heart first and extends outward through our actions and words.  Jesus shows us what it looks like to have an authentic relationship with God demonstrated in the ways we show love to other people. Jesus shows us authentic relational balance. It is costly.  It requires a lot of grace.  And he envisioned and established a community to practice it.  What if church was more like that and less like 1st century Pharisaic religion---a religion that drew very clear exclusionary lines between those who were in the club and those who were not?     

How have you experienced religious hypocrisy?  What about this alternative message appeals to you?    Who do you know that has been turned off by religious hypocrisy, exclusion, and bigotry?  How might you invite them to the table of grace?       



       

On the Difference between Right and Justified


Preached on October 23, 2016
gospel: Luke 18:9-14
[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Who are those who trust in themselves that they are righteous and regard others with contempt?  Not me. I’m not like those hypocrites, those self-righteous do-gooders who think they’re better than everyone else.  I’m a Lutheran.  We’re humble church folk. This is who we are and what we believe. Listen to these four statements: 

  • Know the difference between right and wrong and choose what is right. Do the right things. 
  • The bible teaches us the right way to live.  Follow the bible’s teachings and you will please God.  If you’re on the wrong track, turn around and get yourself right with the Lord. 
  • A right relationship with God and others is the key to a happy life.
  • God wants you to know that you are good, that you can do good things, and that doing good things for others is the calling of all Christians.   

Do these statements describe us?  I think we can all agree that these statements sound, well, right.  To a certain extent, this is what we believe isn’t it?  Christianity teaches us how to live the way God wants us to live, teaches how to behave, what righteousness looks like.  From the ten commandments to the Sermon on the Mount, from the prophets words of admonition to Paul’s Christian household codes, the bible is a manual for holy living.  Now, we Lutherans are taught that we are all sinners, incapable of following the law.  So Jesus was sent to die for our sins, freely taking my place on the cross, so that I can receive forgiveness and eternal life.  We call this amazing grace.  And it frees us from slavery to sin so that we can be the good people God intends for us to be.  As a result, we are encouraged to try harder.  We are free from the threat of punishment to work harder at doing God’s will, doing what is right.  Because of Jesus, we are able to confidently move toward righteous obedience.  We call this sanctification, becoming holier as we reject sin and follow Christ.  Our actions, worship and service to our neighbors move us closer and closer to sainthood.  The more we do, the closer we get.  The less you do, the further you get from God.  Non-practitioners of the faith are maybe more lost than unbelievers.  They don’t know any better.  Right>  but saved people should act like they are grateful.  Again, this sounds right in our ears.  This is the correct formula for a Christian life.   I suspect that most people who come to church do so to hear a positive message, an uplifting message and an encouraging message.  Mainly that God cares about you, that you are loved and capable of real goodness.  We love stories of people doing good things for others.  I suspect this is what we want Christianity and church to be about.  Feel good, do good, be good.  It is what we do or don’t do that counts for or against us.  Our behavior is a sign of our character.  Morality is the hallmark of the Christian life.  Salvation is the reward of a life lived well.  Either good people are saved or saved people are good.  This is what we have come to believe.          

So, Jesus tells a story.  Two men go up to the temple to pray.  One thanks God that he is a good man who does the right things.  He is upright, religious, faithful.  He brings no guilt or shame or remorse.  But he is grateful.  He contrasts himself with immoral people like the other man praying nearby.   The other begs God for mercy because he is not a good man.  He is a tax collector, a traitor working with the enemy occupiers.  He has guilt, shame, and remorse.  He is not right with God or others.  He is not a good person.  He has made bad choices.  Both men pray to the same God.  But only one man goes home justified.  Only one man goes home changed.  Only one man goes home lighter, freer, happier.  Only one man goes home with a new relationship with God, a clean heart and a clear conscience. 

To be righteous is to trust in our own ability, our own goodness, our own moral character.  To be righteous is to live in contrast to those around you who are not, who are wicked, bad, immoral, sick, depraved, etc…this is how we so easily ignore criminals, the poor, the addict.  Righteousness can become arrogant disassociation, detachment from those other people.  Righteousness divides people into good people and bad people.  And it is a false reading of the bible. 

To be justified is to experience myself as a sinner, to fall on my knees, to cry out for mercy, to hope for unearned acceptance, and to receive a great gift.  To be justified is to surrender one’s self to God, who might very well punish or reject you, and instead chooses to embrace you and welcome you home and restore you to your created self, child of God.  To be justified is to be clothed with Christ in baptism, fed by Christ at the table, crucified with Christ, and raised with Christ.  To be justified is to be seen by God in the likeness of Jesus.  We set nothing right.  When we try, we are more likely to sin.  Our work is to beat the chest and cry out for mercy and hope for God to listen and take action for you and for your neighbor.  Our work is to have faith enough to believe that God has the power and the glory forever.  Amen.