The Spirit and the Great Debates, Sermon for Pentecost Sunday, May 27, 2012 on Acts 2 & John 15-16

Acts 2:1-21

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When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

John 15:26-27,16:4b-15

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[Jesus said:] “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

It’s a bit odd that Memorial Day weekend and Pentecost Sunday should come together as they have this year.  In some ways they have nothing in common.  One is a national holiday, the other a church holiday.  Memorial Day is a time to remember people who have died in service to our own country: it’s about America.  Pentecost is about the Spirit making it possible for Christianity to become an international faith, understood in every language.

And yet, as I thought about it, the two holidays do share some elements in common.  Both are occasions for happiness and sorrow.  On Memorial Day, we rejoice in our freedom even as we reflect on the sad cost paid for it in human lives.

We see the same mixture of emotions about Pentecost.  When Jesus announced the coming of the Spirit which should have been a cause for joy, the disciples

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were full of sorrow over Jesus’ upcoming departure.

And, although Memorial Day is all about our own country, nevertheless, this is quite a remarkable collection of people who came here from all over the world.  In that way, our country shares a characteristic in common with the church.  When the Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost and everyone heard the message of the gospel in their own languages, one church, one body of Christ was taking shape from all of that diversity.

Admitting we were wrong

We have a lot of debates in our country right now.  We have different perspectives on a variety of important issues.  And the same was true for the church, from the very beginning.  Both the nation and the church have had to grow and mature.  Both have had to accept the fact that there were ideas and assumptions that we used to have, that now we see were incorrect.  Both our nation and the church have had to swallow our pride and admit we had been wrong.

As our Declaration of Independence proclaims, our nation was founded on the self-evident concept that “all men are created equal.”    We all know that when they used to say the words “all men” they meant all people.  Except that, in this case, they really did mean men, and actually, they meant only white men.  Thomas Jefferson himself was a slave owner.  It took a very long time to enshrine racial equality in law.

In the same way, it took a long time for men in this country to come to believe that women were created equal and that they should have the right to vote and hold elected office.

The church also used to be guilty of patriarchal attitudes towards women, and yes, some churches were racist.  Our culture has a powerful and limiting effect on what we believe.  Thankfully we can see that though it took a long time, the “Spirit of Truth” has led us into truth that we could not bear in earlier days.

More to learn

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This is exactly what Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do.  Jesus had taught the disciples a great deal, but he knew they still had more to learn.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

The job of continuing his teaching ministry is what the Jesus said the Holy Spirit, the “Spirit of Truth” would do.

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.   14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Right from the start, the Spirit of truth had teaching work to do.  One of the teaching points that Jesus never got around to was what to do about converts who were not Jewish.  The issue was how much of the Old Testament law of Moses did they have to follow?  Did they have to keep Kosher – avoid eating pork and shrimp?  Did they have to be circumcised?   What about eating meat with blood in it?

The issue was finally settled at a meeting we call the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15).  At the conclusion the council sent an open letter to the Gentile churches, saying,

“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit” 

not to impose on Gentiles the burden of the circumcision mandate.  Clearly they understood that the Holy Spirit was teaching them new things that they had not learned from Jesus himself.

How did they know that the new teaching was really from the Holy Spirit and not an unfaithful novelty?  The answer is that it followed the same path; it went in the same direction, the same trajectory as Jesus’ teachings had followed.  This is what Jesus indicated would happen.

“13  he [the Spirit of Truth] will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.   14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you

Follow the Trajectory

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Although Jesus never taught about what exactly the requirements for Gentiles should be, nevertheless it was clear that he seemed to accept them when they came to him in faith, looking for healing.

The Roman centurions’s servant was healed, the Canaanite woman’s daughter was healed, and in neither case did Jesus follow up the healing by saying “Now go to the temple and start following the law of Moses.”  He seemed to open the door to non-Jews in a new way.  The disciples at the Jerusalem Council were merely following the same trajectory further down the path.

Slavery

We believe that the same thing happened with the institution of slavery.  Nowhere did Jesus teach that slavery was wrong, but there is an easily discernible arc, or trajectory that led the church, eventually, to that conclusion.

The way that Jesus treated all people with dignity and worth, people of different races, genders, and ages, showed a perspective that seems incompatible with owning them as property.   The Spirit of Truth finally led the church to that new conclusion.

Women

The same is true, of course, about the role of women in the church.  This issue is even more complicated because the New Testament seems to be double-minded on the question.  Some passages indicate that women, like for example Junia, were considered apostles – even outstanding apostles (Rom. 16:7).   And yet other places in the New Testament forbid them to speak or have authority (1 Tim. 2).

Eventually the church concluded that the reasons for limiting the role of women seemed to have been cultural and historical – given that women in those days were generally not given access to education.  The trajectory that Jesus set in motion was to treat women and men as equals.  The Spirit of truth finally taught the church to open its doors to the ministry of women, and we have been enriched enormously by their gifts.

Our Modern Debates

A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

The church continues to debate complex questions.  People of faith disagree with each other now, just as they did during the debates in the Jerusalem Council.  Culture always seems to complicate the questions.  Some people by nature seem to be more open to new ideas, others by nature are only comfortable keeping it the way it has always been.

Both kinds of people  have the obligation to respect each other and to hear each other out, believing the best about each other, and trying to discern where the Jesus-Trajectory is leading us.

There is, after all only One body of Christ.  The basis of our unity is only Jesus.  Our unity is not contingent upon unanimous agreement.  When we come to the Lord’s Supper, we share one bread and one cup.  One Lord Jesus is present in the sacrament, by means of One Holy Spirit.

Reflecting on Memorial Day Weekend

As we remember sacrifices made on our behalf and celebrate our very diverse country this Memorial Day weekend, let us pause to reflect on the positive ways we have moved past the limited white-males-only perspectives of our founders.  Let us rejoice that we have been led to grow into a more mature  inclusive democracy.

Let us also pray that the Spirit of Truth would continue to teach the church as we struggle with the issues of our day, as Ephesians says,

“making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3).  

My Measurements

The way I treat others is the measure of my character.

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The way I treat those who suffer is the measure of my humanity.

The way I treat those who oppose me is the measure of my maturity.

The way I treat those in authority over me is the measure of my humility.

The way I treat my budget is the measure of my spirituality.

“Protected In, not Safely Out” Lectionary Sermon on John 17:6-19 for Easter 7B, May 20, 2012

John 17:6-19

6 “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  7 Now they

Sherlock

know that everything you have given me is from you;  8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.  9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.  10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.  11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.  12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.  13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.  14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.  16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Sometimes things that are most obvious are overlooked.  We have recently seen the  new, modernized TV version of the Sherlock Holmes stories, set in contemporary London.  Sherlock, of course, uses a cell phone and a laptop computer.

In one episode, he has to try to find proof that a painting purporting to be a newly discovered Vermeer is actually a fake.  He just knows it is a fake, but how can he prove it?  He gets up close, studies details, brush strokes, texture, coloring; no good; it’s perfect.

Finally he steps back: Yes, he’s got it.  The painting is a landscape at night.  In the sky are the beautifully luminescent stars of the so called Van Buren Supernova.  But that supernova was not observed before nineteenth century, so Vermeer could not have painted it in the 1640’s.  Sometimes things that are most obvious are easily overlooked.

I think the same thing is true for us when we think about our faith.  Sometimes we overlook the obvious.  The text we read from John’s gospel helps us because it digs deeply into fundamental elements of our faith, crucial for our lives today.  Let us look at the text.

The Upper Room Setting

First the setting: in this season of Easter we have been watching the scene taking place in the upper room where Jesus and his disciples have just eaten the last supper.  Da Vinci’s

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painting of the Last Supper has all of them on the same side of a European-style table – as much of an anachronism as the supernova in the fake Vermeer, but never mind.

The disciples may or may not fully expect what is going to happen the next few hours when Jesus is arrested, but Jesus knows that the end is near.  Like Moses did at the end of his life, Jesus delivers his final message to his followers, and like Moses’ it ends with a prayer.  That prayer is what we read today.

Jesus’ God

The first most obvious but often overlooked fact is the way Jesus feels about God.  We only read part of Jesus’ prayer, but if we had read it all, we would have heard Jesus call God “Father” six times.  The level of intimacy he felt was amazing.  And yet he never lost sight of God’s God-ness, even though he was Father.  In our text Jesus calls him “holy Father”.

This is exactly the way we refer to God, as we pray the prayer Jesus taught us, the Lord’s prayer.  “Our Father in heaven, Holy is your name.”  But the problem with saying it so often is that we lose sight of how significant that way of thinking about God is.  The Holy God whose essence is awesome, holy, divinity is also Father.

Human fathers range from wonderful to horrible examples of what fatherhood means.  Whether it is better to look at, or to look away from the example of a father that your father is or was varies with each person, but we all have a mental image of “the perfect father.”  God is the perfect father: loving us unconditionally, teaching us how to live, protecting us, and holding us to high standards.

Some of us here have gone through some painful experiences recently.  If that has been true for you, then know this:  God is there for you like the perfect Father that he is.   Go to Him.  Let him embrace you as his child.  He loves you more than you can possibly know.

A Dangerous World Out There

The next most obvious but easily overlooked fact that we see in Jesus’ prayer is that he is worried for his disciples.   Well, OK, “worried” is probably not the best word, but it’s close.  Repeatedly Jesus acknowledges how dangerous the world is that he is going to be leaving his disciples in.  Listen to his concern again as he prays:

11 And now…I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me,…. 12 While I was with them, I protected

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them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, …14… the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, … 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

When do you need body armor?  When you are being shot at.  When do you need protection and guarding that Jesus prays for?  When you are in danger.  Yes, the world is a dangerous place.  Evil is real.  Evil is destructive of everything Jesus is about.  And evil is a threat to his disciples – all of us.

Evil and our Failure at Square One

How much danger are we in?  How significant is the threat of evil?  All we need to do is to again, look at what is hiding in plain sight; at something that is totally obvious and frequently overlooked.  It is the answer to this question: what is the number one, most fundamental, basic, first-grade step in living the life Jesus taught us to live?  Forgiving people.

Jesus taught us to pray, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  How successful are most Christians at forgiving?   How successful am I at forgiving people in my debt who owe me – an apology?

How about people who owe me restitution for what they have done?  What about people who owe me what can never be repaid because the damage has been done, and the past cannot be undone?  Can I forgive?  Can I accomplish the first, most basic, beginner virtue of a Christian: forgiveness?

So, we have to admit that the world of evil is real; it often thwarts us at the most primary, fundamental level.

Us and the World

What Jesus said about us is true: at a deep level we do not belong to the world.  The world’s dominant ideology is about vengeance, retaliation, and making sure that “what goes around, comes around.”  The world is about finding out who is to blame, or at least finding a scapegoat to take it out on.

The Jesus way that Jesus taught us to live begins with the prayer “forgive us… as we have been forgiven”  ends with the prayer “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.”  Christianity is cross-shaped.  This is basic to Christianity. The fact that we so often observe the opposite shows how seductive evil is.

Protected in, not safely out of the world

The last obvious but easily overlooked fact we have time to look at (there are many more!)  is the way Jesus describes our role.

11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world,… 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.”

Even though this is a dangerous world with the threat of evil at every turn, Jesus prays for us, not to be sequestered safely somewhere out of the world, but to be protected in the world.  Why?  Because we have a hugely significant role to play in this world.

What we know

We have received his words, as Jesus repeatedly reminds us as he prays.  We are the ones who know the truth.  We are the ones who know that God is not an angry, vengeful smite-happy sociopath; he is our Heavenly Father.

We are the ones who know that the Kingdom of God has broken into this world.  We are the ones who have been taught the secret of the power of forgiveness.  The world is in desperate need of people who know how to put the these true words into concrete action.

The most obvious fact is that Jesus put us here for a reason; we are here to be his representatives, his means of getting God’s will done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

We are the ones who know that an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth only gets you an eye-less, tooth-less world of endless hostility.   We are here to model a new quality of life that turns the other cheek, goes the second mile, gives the shirt off our backs when a coat has been requested.   Jesus has us here for a purpose.

The God thing

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The last most obvious fact that we must never overlook is that all of this is a God-thing.  In the text we read, Jesus is not giving a pep talk to inspire his little band of followers; he is praying.  Only God, Almighty can accomplish any of this.

Only God can break through our defenses and show us his loving Fatherly face.

Only God can protect us from the evil that undermines our commitment to be forgivers as we have been forgiven.

Only God can empower our mission of mercy to this vengeful world.

God is Father.  Evil is dangerous.  God has a purpose for us in this world.  All of this is obvious.  All of it is easily obscured by its very familiarity.  All of it is crucial.  Jesus is praying for us.  May he get what he asks for!

Mother’s Day Sermon, Easter 6B on John 15:9-17 “Why Fairy Godmother?”

John 15:9-17

[Jesus said:] “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

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“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

In the fairy tales I heard when I was young, sometimes there was a fairy godmother.  For example, there is poor oppressed, abused, and despised Cinderella; utterly hopeless until the kind fairy godmother appears and changes her life.

As far as I can remember, there are no fairy godfathers.   In fact, “godfather” has an entirely different set of connotations for us.

It seems that when we need a character to be the essence of compassion, we turn to mothers.  This is mother’s day, and today we celebrate our mothers who bore us.  Most of us were lovingly nurtured by our mothers who loved us  and sacrificed so much for us.

It is a happy coincidence that the scripture texts of the lectionary are all about love.   Jesus said,

9 “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”

God’s Mothering Character

Jesus refers to God as Father, not mother, but the characteristic of God that he is focusing on is not masculine power or strength, but the motherly characteristic of love.  As a Jewish person, Jesus knew well that the Hebrew word used for “compassion” in the Old Testament comes directly from the word “womb.”

Jesus knew the book of Isaiah very well where God is pictured as a mother in the moment of nursing her baby:

15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”

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It is almost comical that there are people who get worried about what might happen to our faith if we thought of God as both Father and Mother, as if the mother image might weaken god and remove some essentially masculine quality.  In the ancient world, of Isaiah and in the world of the Roman Empire that Jesus lived in there were plenty of goddesses around.  Some were quite powerful, and sometimes violently brutal.  You didn’t want to cross them (ask the god Kingu about what goddess Tiamat did to him!  ouch!).

Nevertheless, the primary association we have with motherhood is compassion, caring love.  This is a perfectly appropriate way to think about God.

Flowers and Dead bodies

In the greeting card aisle stocked with mother’s day cards, the most frequent image, as far as I can tell, are flowers.  It seems normal.  Flowers are beautiful, which seems to suggest the beauty of motherly love.

And yet, we have already used a word, when describing what our mothers did for us, that seems to point away from flowers towards the image of a body lying dead.  The word we used is “sacrifice.”  That is the image that Jesus reflects on when he speaks of the depth of love he means.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

The word “friend” here comes from one of the Greek words for love.  We are now stuck with this weak word “friends” in English that sounds like the subject at hand is no deeper than Facebook.  But the English word “friend” actually does come from an Old English term (frēond) for love.  But since “friend” is now so weak, I think we can hear this better if we use “beloved.”

13 “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s beloved.”

The Pelican’s Sacrifice

When I lived in Europe, I saw an image in several Hungarian Reformed churches  which is quite startling when you see it for the first time.  It is of a mother bird, a pelican, in a nest

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surrounded by her chicks.  She is feeding them self-sacrificially, blood from the wound she has made in her own breast.   This image comes from Medieval Europe, I’m told, and in churches, it is an image of Christ’s self sacrificial love.  Jesus, pictured as a self-sacrificial mother.

When we move from the image of the womb as the place to see compassion, to the image of a self-sacrificing mother, we have moved from emotions to actions.

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s beloved.”

From Amazing to Mandate

When we think about how much God loves us, that like the mother pelican, God lays down his life for us, it is truly amazing.  But it is more than merely amazing.  It is also a mandate.

We, who have been chosen by God’s initial act of love for us, have been given the mandate to be people of that same sacrificial love for one another.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

That little word “as” is huge: “as I have loved you.”  The measure of our love is Christ’s.  There is no way to weaken this to make it un-shocking.  This is our mandate; nothing less.

It is followed by another little word with huge implications; the word “if.”

14 “You are my friends if you do what I command you”

Or, as we said, we could read it better using the word beloved instead of “friends”

“You are my beloved ones if you do what I command you”

“If”  makes obeying Jesus’ command a test of the genuineness of our identity as his followers, his beloved.  So what is this command?

Jesus’ Command

Jesus famously summed up all of the commands of Torah, the Law of Moses with the dual mandate to love.

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  38 This is the greatest and first commandment.  39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”   (Matt 22)

It seems too demanding.  We look for exception clauses.  Maybe the phrase “love one another” refers exclusively to us, in our group of disciples.  Maybe the “neighbor” I am to love as I love myself is restricted to my people.

The follow-up question which was asked by someone looking for just such an exclusion to limit the love mandate is now famous.

“And who is my neighbor?”  (Luke 10:29)

To which the reply is the parable of the “Good Samaritan”.  Remember the story of the robbery victim and the people who passed by without helping?  Only one showed compassion; only one stopped to help.  Only one risked, even sacrificed for the robber’s victim on the side of the road.

The essential question is not “who is my neighbor?” but rather, as Jesus asks

“36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?””

The answer he gave was correct:

 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

From womb, where compassion appeared as a mother’s emotion, to self-sacrifice, where it becomes an action, back to mercy, which is compassion in action; even in sacrificial action on behalf of others.

Who is excluded from the love mandate?  Who is not a neighbor?  Who is not included in the “one another” we are commanded to love if we are Jesus’ beloved ones?

Our Own Kind

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It is not hard for us to love our own kind.  Even animals love and care for their own young.  Social animals will tend and care for their group.  Among chimpanzees, the adolescent primates will even sacrifice themselves defending their clan.

It is no great virtue to love those like ourselves.  It is nothing more than pure practical common sense to look out for those who are necessary for one’s own survival.

So, to love one’s family, one’s race, one’s nation is nothing more than pragmatism; our survival depends on them; of course we will love them.  It does not take a Christian to figure that out.

What Christians & Scientists Know

But what if the Christian insight is that there really is only one group, one clan, one  “us”?   What if, as scientists know, there really is only one human race?  That “all living humans belong to the same hominid subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens” and that “among humans, race has no taxonomic significance”?  What if  we actually are dependent on everyone on the planet for our mutual survival?

We would conclude: “of course we care for our own.”  “Can a mother forget her nursing child?”  We care for our own who are European, our own who are Hispanic, our own who are Asian, our own who are Arabic, our own who are African.  Of course we care for our own.

Beyond Self Interest

The Christian mandate goes beyond self interested care – even if it does expand the inner circle indefinitely.  The command of Christ is to love “as I have loved you.”  (which is about as opposite to the perspective of Ayn Rand as you can get).

How does this work?  On mother’s day, let our mothers be the starting point for our models.   What would our mothers have withheld from us that was in their power to give?

Would our mothers have left us hungry and not fed us?  Would they have left us outside the door to sleep on the street?  Would they have ignored our wounds or our illnesses?  Would our mothers have allowed us to be bullied because we were weak or abused for being different if it was in their power to intervene?  Would they not have sacrificed themselves for us?

Our mothers modeled for us, by emotion and by action, what our Lord has said:

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s beloved.”

“You are my beloved ones if you do what I command you”

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”

“The Fruit of the Vine and the Glory of God” Lectionary Sermon on John 15:1-8 for Easter 5B, May 6, 2012

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John 15:1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

I wonder what it must have been like for the first disciples of Jesus?  We don’t get much of the back-story.  Some of them were fishermen, we know that much, and left their business, their livelihoods, their families of origin, and responded to Jesus’ call to follow.

We don’t see too much of those disciples as Jesus journeys through the villages of Galilee.  We see Jesus stopping to heal people, we hear him teaching, telling parables, but the 12 remain mostly in the background.

Unflattering Glimpses

Occasionally we get to watch them react to Jesus or answer his questions.  Most glimpses of them are not at all flattering.  We see them trying to keep children from bothering Jesus.  We hear them as they complain about multitudes who have no food.  They are terrified by storms at sea and annoyed as Jesus sleeps in the boat.  They are puzzled if not scandalized as he converses with a woman at a well in Samaria.

But I do not recall getting to hear or see their reactions to opposition.  Jesus has it out with scribes and Pharisees, he gets accused of breaking purity laws and breaking the Sabbath – what are his disciples doing in those moments?

I picture them trying to avoid eye-contact; hanging back behind Jesus.  “He started it, he can finish it.”  I’m sure there are wry smiles as Jesus gets the better of his opponents, even when they have tried to trap him; I can hear a collective “Yesss!”  and see a fist and hand pump as he says things like “then neither will I tell you.”  “Yes!  That’s our man!

The Elephant in the Room

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But there must have been a nagging feeling among the disciples that left to themselves, they were in trouble.  It was Jesus who had the grand vision of the kingdom of God.  It was Jesus that had such an immediate and uncomplicated relationship with God the Father.  It was Jesus who had the powerful sense of vocation; he knew he was called and sent by God for a mission.  What would happen if he were not there?  It was probably unthinkable.

So here they are, as we meet them in John 15, in that upper room, celebrating Passover together, and it is a somber moment.  He has announced his imminent departure.  He is leaving, he tells them.

He has been their source of inspiration.  He has been their source of a new way of looking at God, not as score-keeping, angry judge but as loving Heavenly Father.

He has been their source of a new way of looking at the world, at people – at women, at children, at foreigners, at the poor, at the diseased – he has been the source of their hope that God was doing something new, bringing his kingdom on earth!  He has been their source of the bonding power of love that has made them all into a new family.

“How in the world,” they wonder, “can we live, cut off from Jesus, the source?”  It would be as impossible as expecting a pruned-off branch of a grape vine to produce a new cluster.  That would be impossible.  Cut the branch off from the source and it simply dies in the hot Palestinian sun; good for kindling a fire, and nothing else.

Remain Attached or Die

Yes, that’s exactly right.  Unless they remain attached to the source of life, they will, in effect, die.  The situation for them is very much like branches of a vine.  Remaining attached, they live and produce grapes.  Cut off, they die, barren.

With a bit of re-phrasing to bring out the meaning, Jesus says this:

4 Remain connected to me as I remain connected to you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains connected to

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it’s source, the vine, neither can you unless you remain connected to me.  5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain connected to me and I to them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Everyone in that part of the world knew in detail the process of wine making.  It starts with a grape vine that needs an enormous amount of tedious tending.  In Europe they say, if you have a vineyard, you don’t own it; it owns you.  If you want good healthy grapes you will be putting in hours of pruning.

Does the analogy hold?  Yes, Jesus says:

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.  2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”

You might think that this pruning work is a metaphor for hard times that you go through that help you to be a better person.  But that is not the point here.  Jesus tells the disciples whom he has been with for the past three years:

3 You have already been pruned [cleansed] by the word that I have spoken to you.

The Pruning Effect of his Word

“The word” Jesus has spoken is the sum total of all the teaching Jesus has done.  The disciples have cast their lot in with Jesus.  They have staked it all

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on him.  His teachings have pruned and tended them, just as methodically and thoroughly as a gardner’s vine-tending.

Now that he is physically leaving, it is only a question of staying connected to Jesus.  How?  By constantly attending to his teaching: the teaching of his words and of his life of uncomplicated connection to his Heavenly Father.  Staying connected to his vision of the Kingdom of God.  Staying connected to his embrace of all of humanity.  Staying connected to his way of being in the world that can only be summed up by the one word that can sum up God himself: love.

The Fruit of Love

This is the fruit that is the goal of the whole vineyard project: love.  Nobody goes to all the trouble of a vineyard for any reason other than grapes – the fruit.  The branches aren’t good wood for building, and not even very good firewood except for kindling.  No, the only reason for the time-consuming vine is the fruit.

The fruit that will come from staying connected to Jesus, the source, is love.  As the epistle we read says, in effect:

“God is love, and those who remain connected to and enfolded in love remain connected to and enfolded in God, and God remains connected to and enfolded in them.  (I John 4:16)

How are We Doing?

God is love.  That one word sums up his essential character.  How are we doing at remaining connected to and enfolded in God?  How are we doing at remaining connected to the vine; to Jesus, the Source?

It is tragically possible to stop being connected to the source.   It is possible not to remain; it is possible to be utterly fruitless, to loose the capacity or will to love.  Look around at the face which the church presents to the world: is it the face of love?  Sometimes it is, but sometimes it is not.

Sometimes it is the angry face of a group of people who have become inattentive to the true vine, the real Source, to Jesus and his cleansing words, who are now desperate to find a scapegoat for their anxieties and frustrations.  Scapegoats are easy to find.  They condemn the gays, the pro-choice people, the big-bad government, the illegal aliens, or whatever other target that Rupert Murdoch holds up for firing practice.

But then there are those others who have stayed connected, who have listened to Jesus’s words, who are fulfilling the goal, producing fruit, living a life of love.   They show a different face to the world; a face of joyful love.  They are the ones who know what Jesus meant when he said:

8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

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Becoming Disciples 

Did  you notice that word “become”?

“...bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

It’s a process of becoming.  We have not yet arrived, but we are on the way.  And so we keep attending to Jesus’ words.  We keep connected to the Source of Love.  We practice daily spiritual disciplines of prayer, study and reflection.  We take advantage of opportunities for continuing Christian education.

And we keep showing up in places were love leads us – like the Christian Service Center.  We keep responding to needs and the pain of people around us.  We keep looking for new ways we can be involved in missional outreach.

And though Jesus has departed physically, though we do not see him, we are continually connected to him as our Source of life, of hope, and of fruitful love.

 

“Is the Fish Safe for the Resurrected Body?” Lectionary Sermon for 3rd Easter B, April 22, 2012 on Luke 24:36b-48

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were

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seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

If the gospel stories were made up fictions, I think they would be very different.  For one thing, they would try hard to get the story straight.  Like accomplices in a crime, they would agree on one version of the story to tell.

But like witnesses of an auto accident, each sees Jesus from his own perspective, and each tells the story as he remembers it.

So, with all of the variation in details, it is fascinating to me to notice a detail they all include: the fact that it was hard to grasp that Jesus had actually risen from the dead in bodily form.  Even though Jesus had predicted it, they had not understood, or had not believe it, or maybe a bit of both.

First, Peace

So, when they saw Jesus, they were surprised, confused, and terrified.  Jesus first has to calm their fears before anything else happens.  Luke tells us:

“Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were

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seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

If this were simply a fictional account, I would think the authors would say they  felt surprise, but then great joy – hugs all around – a group hug.  There would be amazement and people would say things like “We are so happy to see you!  We missed you.”

But the gospels tell it more realistically.  In their culture, you were either a living person or else you were a ghost, a disembodied spirit – which was a scary thing, not a welcome presence.

Our Doubts

Have you ever doubted that Jesus really rose from the dead bodily?  Well I have too.  And so did the disciples who knew him best, even when he was standing right there in front of them.

I am aware that there are many people who think the resurrection was merely a spiritual truth – like Jesus’ spiritual presence here now, and in the bread and the cup in the Lord’s Supper.  But I think that is a mistake.  And I think it is actually important to us that Jesus rose bodily, and we will get to that in a moment.

But the fact is that believing that someone can rise bodily from the dead is not easy, not now and not then, because that is simply not what happens in our experience.

Proving He is not a Ghost

Jesus is well aware of the problem, and so he gently takes the time to satisfy their skeptical minds.  He knows they think he is a ghost, so he says:

“Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.”

Is that all it takes?  Look and see?  Touch?  No, because illusions and hallucinations happen.  Visions happen.  Dreams happen.  Who knows what tricks your eyes and mind can play on you, especially in an emotionally distraught condition.  So Jesus goes one step further:

“While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece

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of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”

Ghosts don’t eat fish.  In fact they don’t eat anything.

Is that enough?  Matthew tells us that even when they are back in Galilee on the mountain, on the last day Jesus was with them physically:

“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” (Matt 28:17)

Doubt – even after seeing him, touching him, and watching him eat fish.  If you have trouble believing in a bodily resurrection, you are not the first, and you are not alone.  In fact you are in quite good company.

God and the Physical World

But it is important that Jesus rose, not as a spirit, but as a physical body.  Why?  Because the Christian story is that God, the Creator of the physical world, the world with trees, stones, and physical bodies, loves the physical world that he made.  He kept pronouncing it “good” in the Genesis creation story.  In fact, “very good.”

God made us, his human creatures, in his image with a spiritual side.  We can look at the Gulf of Mexico, or at the sun setting behind the clouds, and feel overwhelmed by his “eternal power and divine nature” as Paul says nature teaches us.

And yet we are aware too, of the distance between us and God.  We humans turned from God and chose to eat the forbidden fruit – which we all do – and so our spirits long to re-connect with God.

Redemption of the Whole Person

We know we need redemption.  We need redemption not just for our spiritual selves, but for our physical selves as well.  We are not spirits who inhabit bodies – like the way Plato thought of us – as if the body were the “prison house of the soul.”  That may be Plato’s story, but that is not the Christian story.

We are “living beings,” as the creation story tells us, with the breath of God in our physical lungs.  And so, to redeem us, God came to us as a fully human being.  The eternal, divine Word became real human flesh and lived among us” – as John’s gospel announces.

When Jesus redeems us, he redeems all of us.  All of our humanity is taken up by his  humanity, so that all of it can become what he is, a true child of God.

And this is exactly what the scriptures of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses and the prophets were pointing to – but it’s much easier to see it in hindsight.  So, back to the story; Luke tells us:

“Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,”

Could it be that God would become flesh – to the point that God-in-the-flesh could suffer and feel pain, like we do?  Jesus continues:

“Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,”

He came to us, not as Athena comes to Troy in the guise of human, but not really one that could suffer pain or die.  He came to us as a physical human, suffered pain as we do, and death as we all will.  He was raised bodily, as we all will be.

Resurrection of the Body

This is part of why it is so important that Jesus was raised bodily: he is the firstfruits of the resurrection we will share.

We are physical, and therefore mortal.  We know that we will all die.  But death is not the end.  We know that we will be with the Father in heaven, but

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then, at last, we believe that God will make a new heaven and a new earth and that we will have resurrection bodies to live in on that new earth.

We will not just be spirits floating in space.  We will recognize ourselves and each other, just as the disciples recognized Jesus.  We will be re-united with those we love who have gone before us.

Think of what this means: the God who made a good physical world, and who became part of that physical world to redeem it, will one day make a new heavens and new earth for our resurrected bodies.

To put it theologically, the incarnation (that is, God becoming flesh) and the resurrection of Jesus’ physical body, both show how important this physical world is to God.

The Physical Planet God Made and Loves

This leads us to the inescapable conclusion that caring for this physical world, this planet not an option for us.  God values this physical planet that he made.  He put us in charge of it, like his personal landscaping crew, to tend it and care for it.  This planet is our responsibility to manage.  We have a mandate to use this planet well.

We have admitted that our story includes the fact that we all eat the forbidden fruit – we all do wrong.  We all sin.  When we believe that the reward is big enough, we do what we know is wrong.

Big rewards are what entice people to take risks and even to purposefully desecrate our planet.  Big rewards, like big money, tempt people to rush the drilling process to the point of making dangerous mistakes.   The rewards are bigger if you don’t spend the money on a drilling an emergency relief well from the start.

Big rewards lead people to justify just about any amount of damage to the environment in the name of profits for the company and return on investment for shareholders.

The Two Master Alternative

This is one place where it is abundantly clear to all of us that “no one can serve two masters.”  No one can serve both God and money.  One will aways loose.  When money is on the table, people will take ridiculous risks, and people will be bad.

These folks must not think that they will ever have to face the Creator of this word and give account.  They must not understand incarnation or believe in resurrection.  They will have some surprises ahead, just as the disciples did.

This is one of the ways in which we need repentance.  This is one of the areas in which we need forgiveness.  This is part of the reason the resurrected Jesus said,

“repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations”

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Celebrate Earth Day

This is Earth Day.  This day is special for us as Christians.  We know who made this world, and we know our place in it.  We know that we have been

redeemed by God who cared so much that he became one of us physical humans.

We Christians know that there is a future for this planet, so we are called to care for it, even at the risk of facing less financial gain.  But we know our priorities and we know whom we serve.  We know that we are called to keep this planet clean enough that the fish will be safe to eat in our resurrected bodies.

“Touch and Go” Lectionary Sermon for 2nd Easter B, April 15, 2012 on John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

At least for the moment it looks like we avoided a new shooting war in Asia.  North Korea’s rocket blew itself apart, so Japan didn’t have to do it for

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them.  It didn’t fly over South Korea, so they didn’t have to take action either.  At least one of my current fears has been eliminated.  But there are many others.

I worry about what Israel might to about Iran and how that might involve us.

I worry about the conflict in Syria which has the power to ignite a Sunni vs. Shiite civil war across the Middle east.

I worry about Afghanistan and its future and our people there.

I worry about our economy and I worry about my sons’ futures.

I worry about what we are doing to our planet.

I worry about the future of the institutional church.

I worry about personal things too – health, the future, all kinds of things.  I know I’m not alone in any of these fears.  Sometimes hiding in a locked room seems like a decent plan.  I do not feel superior at all to those disciples in that locked room.  Fear has reasons.

The Roomful of Fear and Doubt

This text begins with fear and doubt.  There are two scenes: the first without,  and the second one with Thomas.

This is the text that gave him the famous name “Doubting Thomas.”  It’s so unfair, because all of them doubted – the room was locked “for fear” after all.  In fact they even doubted Mary’s eyewitness testimony.

Thomas famously says:

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

I don’t feel superior to Doubting Thomas.  I have had plenty of times of doubt.  I have not seen the risen Jesus with my own eyes.

The most odd thing about this story is that it does a great job of showing the problem of fear and doubt, but the solution to it seems completely unavailable to us today.  Thomas and all the others had their doubt-and-fear problems solved because they got to see Jesus.  We don’t.  How can this story help us today?

I believe it can help us, so we will look at it together.

Easter Evening

How does it start?

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week,”

It’s still the day of Easter, Sunday, the first day of the week.  The disciples are gathered in one room.  Why?  Are they having church?  Well yes and no.

Many times John tells the story in such a way as to demand that we read it on two levels – the realistic and the symbolic.  Like when Jesus turned water into wine, using the water from the jars set aside for Jewish purification ceremonies.

So here too, the symbolic significance abounds.  It’s Sunday, and it is also Sunday the next time Jesus appears, when Thomas is back together with them, one week later.  I think John wants us to read this with eyes open to the symbolic level – he is telling us something about us as a church.

Jesus is Present (then and now)

What happens on this Easter Sunday evening?

“Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

When we gather for worship as the church, with all of our human doubt and fear, we too become aware of Jesus’ presence among us.  How?  As we look at the cross and remember what happened there – to Jesus’ hands and feet and side – we become aware of his presence among us.

Blood and Water: Eucharist and Baptism – Sacraments

When we think back on the Passion story, how, when the spear went into Jesus’ side and the blood and water flowed out, we consider that the blood of Christ is signified for us in the Eucharistic.

When we hear of water pouring from Jesus, we recall that we are named as a part of his family in the waters of baptism.  In fact we recognize how these sacraments, as Calvin said, seal the word in our hearts; they make it more real to us.  (Yes, this is another one of those places where John wants us to read both levels, the surface and the symbolic).

Peace

And it is true; when we gather in worship of the crucified and risen Christ, we sense in a new way his “peace,” his “shalom” his healing wholeness.  It is with reason that in this story Jesus says “peace to you” three times.

Fear and doubt can be replaced by his peace when we see him sacramentally present in worship.  (This is one of the reasons Calvin had for wanting his church in Geneva to celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday.  It was his sorrow that his elders rejected that plan).

It does help us, the ones who have never seen Jesus face-to-face, to read such a realistic story of how difficult belief in resurrection is. They all needed convincing.   It helps us to hear Jesus pronounce a blessing on us, as he said to Thomas:

“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

I don’t know what fears and doubts you brought with you here today.  Look at the baptismal font and remember you were baptized in his name.  Look at the communion table where we break bread and drink the cup.  Let the empty cross on the table remind you that he is risen.

The Spirit

But Jesus is physically absent from us now.  There is more to this story that we need to hear.  John tells us

“he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

I have said that John needs to be read on two levels.  This is another case in point.  We all know from the book of Acts that the Holy Spirit came on the disciples 50 days after Easter (which is the time of Passover), on the day of Pentecost.

We also know that Jesus had promised his disciples, while they were in the upper room, before his arrest, that he would send the Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate, so that they would not be left as orphans without him.

Well John did not have it in mind to write a volume two like Luke did, who wrote Acts did, so he had to somehow show that Jesus’ promise of the Spirit came true.  In this text Jesus symbolically breathes his Spirit into the disciples.

New Creation

John tells us this in language that echoes the way God breathed life into Adam in the Creation story.  Are we to understand this as a new creation moment?  Yes.  As Paul says,

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation”  (2 Cor. 5:17)

This is the second way in which we can overcome our doubts and fears: the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ has been given to us, his disciples.  The Spirit is with us, always.

The Spirit is here, now, in our worship, and the Spirit is with us as we leave, at lunch, at home, everywhere.  The Spirit is active within us, helping to calm our fears and relieving our doubts.

Sometimes we are keenly aware of the presence of the Spirit.  For me, in my early morning prayer time, when the house is quiet and it’s still dark outside, I am often aware of the presence of the Spirit.

But when things are busy, noisy, when the news is on or when I’m in traffic, often I am not aware of the Spirit’s presence.  But either way, conscious of it or not, the truth is that God is still present, everywhere and always, by his Spirit.

The Sending “As…So”

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On this Easter Sunday evening in that locked room where there was fear and doubt, one more event happened which is of utmost importance to us.

After announcing “Peace be with you.”  Jesus said these remarkable words:

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

This is utterly unexpected.  They were cowering behind a locked door out of fear.  They had misunderstood him when he predicted his death and resurrection.  They had abandoned him when he was arrested.  How could Jesus ever have imagined that they could go out and do anything useful?

It was amazing enough that he came saying “peace be with you” instead of saying something like, “You bunch of wimpy knuckleheads!  Shame on you!”  But not only did he not condemn them for their past failure, he commissioned them with job to do.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

No Volunteers

Notice Jesus did not ask for volunteers.  Jesus did not make it optional.  There is no back door here.

When we have nominations for session we always have to make sure that the person is willing to serve, if elected.  Jesus did not play by Roberts Rules.  He had died for these people, he had been vindicated by resurrection, and now he assumes he has the authority to send people; even people like us.

When we say that we have a mission here to “love God, grow in faith, and share Christ’s love” we are not kidding.  Just as Jesus was sent by God the father so we have been sent.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

His Mission is Our Mission

This means that Jesus’ mission is now our mission.  He has sent us to be his hands, his feet, his voice and his eyes of compassion.

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In a moment we will affirm our faith using the words that come from “A Brief Statement of Faith” that describe the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  In it we will affirm that,

“the Spirit calls women and men to all ministries of the Church.”

Then it goes on to list some of the ministries we are all called to.

“In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced and to work with others for justice freedom and peace.”

All of us have been called.  None of us is too old to pray for people in need, to call, to write cards, and to show Christ’s compassion.

Most of us are in a position to use our resources to help alleviate hunger, poverty, and injustice.

Many of us are able to use our voices to be advocates for the needs of the homeless, the people discriminated against, the people who are despised and neglected among us.

Some of us are healthy enough to serve at the Christian Service Center, to play bingo with shut-ins, to visit prisoners and to help build and repair homes, to tutor children.  There are an infinite variety of options for us, but all of us has been called into mission by the risen Lord.

This is the powerful truth of Easter: fear and doubt are forgotten by people who know of themselves as baptized believers, strengthened by worship and sacraments, infused with God’s Spirit, and who are actively engaged in Jesus’ mission.  There just isn’t any time for fear and doubt for these people, and by God’s grace, that is who we are!

“Hope and Emptiness” Sermon for April 8, Easter Sunday, 2012 on John 20:1-18

John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed

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from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

The text we read starts with the utter realism and seriousness that we live: it begins in the darkness.

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb”

Darkness In Us

There is a darkness in us, that much we know.  The dark thoughts we have – the darkest ones we never share; what we could do, would do, under the right conditions.  The dark wishes directed toward others; the anger; the dark fantasies of vengeance.  The deep darkness of personal despair.  Dark desires present themselves to us; dark voices coax us.  There is darkness in us; we know that much.

Us, in Darkness

And we are in darkness.  Is it the times we live in, or is it my age that makes me notice it?  I don’t know which, but I hear more dark hopelessness in these days than I ever remember hearing.  My life has been shorter than most of yours, your list is longer, but I lived through  enough that you would think were worse times.  I remember the riots of the civil rights movement.  I was in Ohio during Kent state. I had my radio on to hear Nixon resign.  Those events were all happening during the MAD days of mutually assured destruction; the Cold War.  But I never heard so much dark hopelessness as I hear these days.

There is darkness within us, and there is the darkness we are in today.  What do we make of it?  Not all darkness is created equal.

What kind of Darkness?

What kind of darkness is it?  Whether it is the darkness of the theater before the curtain rises, or the darkness inside the coffin after the lid is closed, makes all the difference.  Whether the darkness in us is the hour before a new sun rises, or the darkness after the last one sets, is the question.  Womb and tomb – they rhyme simplistically like a Dr. Seuss couplet, and both share darkness in common, but only darkness.  Otherwise, they are polar opposite places; one is the place of preparation for life, the other is the “final resting place” (we euphemistically say) of the dead.  Yet both are dark places.

There is darkness in us, that much we know.  And we are in darkness.  It is the darkness of the soil beneath the earth.  Are we there as planted seeds, or as bodies, buried?

The Hope difference

The difference is hope – or rather, the difference is whether or not there is any reason for hope.   One kind of darkness ends the night; the other ends the day.  Hope is the difference.  The

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only question is whether there is any reason for hope.

Whichever kind of darkness it is, before the difference is revealed, all darkness feels the same: empty.

The Story Starts in Darkness

Mary arrives in darkness at the tomb, and it stands open, and empty.  Empty like her expectation.  People were not stupid in those days.  Everybody knew what death was.  Everybody dealt with it as we still do.  You do what has to be done.  You make arrangements.  You inform people.  You will-yourself into the mode of acceptance, because no amount of crying “No!” is going to change anything.

“[she] saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

What other conclusion could she come to?  It’s still dark.  Not just for her.  For Peter and the other one too, it’s simply dark.  There were no lines for anyone to recite on the script for this scene in their minds; this scene was not supposed to happen; the page entitled: “Expectations for the future” was now blank.   Empty.  Dark.

3 “Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together”

Apart from sports, when do grown men run?  Only when the house is on fire.  Only when a child is wandering towards the curb, only in moments of intense stress.  This is such a moment.  Of course they both ran.  And of course they found the tomb as empty as their expectations.

From Total Darkness to a glimmer

Only not completely.  It’s not completely dark anymore.  Peter enters the tomb first.  Indeed it is not empty.  Not entirely.  Grave clothes are still there.  The wrappings nail the coffin shut on Mary’s grave-robber theory, at least in Peter’s mind.  Robbers do not wast time rolling up wrappings.  Could these be a sign?   A reason for hoping that this darkness is impending light instead of concluding doom?  It is not as dark as it had been, but still the light is dim.

10 “the disciples returned to their homes”

Mary’s Story

The next scene is set in dim light, blurred by tears.

11 “Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb”

Perhaps she was prepared to see angels (would I have been?).  Is this vision; a crack  of light in the dark sky?  A first ray of light over the horizon?  Anyway, the vision is confusing; it solves nothing.

14 “she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.”

The kind of darkness Mary has been in is still empty of hope, and so she is not prepared to see what she sees.

The End of Expectations

This scene shatters all expectations.  If you were to set out to write the story of God coming to earth, as John did, the “Word made flesh” – how would it end?  Look at how the great

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painters of the world have depicted it:  Bright lights bursting forth from the mouth of the tomb; an exultant Christ, scarred by nails, thorns, and spear, but rising triumphantly upwards, people struck to the ground with awe all around.

Perhaps they are theologically accurate, but those paintings do not touch my life.  But I can imagine myself there in garden in the early morning darkness, empty of hope, plus confused, like Mary at this point, not even sure I can see anything clearly anymore.

Knowing Names

But then  it happens.  Jesus speaks.  Not like the way God spoke to Moses on the mountain in thunder and lightning, but like a completely human person, Jesus speaks personally to Mary:

“Ma’am, [as we would say] why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

16 “Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).”

It happens so quietly.  No angel choirs break the silent sky open.  No earthquakes, no voices from the clouds.  Only a recognizably human voice, saying the one thing that changed everything for her: Jesus called her by name.

What kind of darkness has she been in?  The curtain in the dark theater has risen an inch – it is enough; light streams out; the drama will begin.

A little green pokes up from beneath the darkness of the earth: it is enough.  There will be spring – and if spring, then a harvest to come.  The first fruits of a future with hope reveal themselves.  The emptiness has been replaced by presence, and the present one is the sign that the new age has come. Hope has returned. He is alive!  He is risen!

“The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.”  Is. 9:2 

Drawing Conclusions 

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Yes there is darkness in us – that much we know for certain, and there is nothing to be gained by denying it.  And  yes there is darkness around us; hopelessness that does threaten to flatten us under its weighty emptiness, but we are not without hope.  The darkness is not entire, nor is it as empty as they say.

The God who is the source of the world, the creator has come into our world; the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; lived life with us, ate our food, drank from our containers, and knows our names.

He knows our darkness; he experienced everything we experience, even God-forsakenness on the cross, he knows even the reality of death that we will not escape; but God raised him from the dead.  Now, the meaning of the empty tomb is that our lives do have meaning; we have been named.

We are no longer in despair or utter darkness.  Though we have many unanswered questions, many days of doubt, nevertheless, we now know that the full sun-rise is coming.  We have hope.

Mary’s (Our) Commission

And in the mean time, like Mary, we have been sent out on on a mission. Jesus commissioned Mary, saying,

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“go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18  Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

We too have been sent out on a mission.  We who have hope have been sent into a hopeless, dark world with the message that darkness is not final.  God is at work in this world.

We have been sent out to spread the light and hope of God’s love and grace into every dark corner of this world.  We have been sent out to proclaim the Kingdom of God is at hand. We have been sent out to bring light to the darkness all around us, to spread hope to the poor, the hungry, the marginalized and the despised of the world.

We who have been named by the risen Lord are sent out to call by name all who need the dignity of a human voice who can speak light into their darkness.

People of hope, hear the good news.  Light has come into the world.  Hope is real.  Christ is risen!

“I am Thirsty” Good Friday 2012 meditation from John 19:28-29

John 19:28-29

8  After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”  29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put

Israel: wilderness

a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

All four gospels tell us that they offered Jesus sour wine to drink.  Only John records Jesus’ words,

“I am thirsty.”

And only John draws attention to a scripture from the OT, the book of Psalms which, in some sense, he says, is being fulfilled here.

After everything that has already happened to Jesus, to highlight his thirst is almost jarringly trivial.  Why mention it?  It could be that the offer of sour wine, the common drink of soldiers and the lower classes, reminded all the gospel writers of the Psalm that John specifically draws attention to.  The parallels are, indeed, uncanny.

I have lived in Eastern Europe where it is common for people to make their own wine.  It is also common that the wine they make is of poor quality – sour to the point of tasting like vinegar.  It makes you more thirsty.

In Psalm 69:21 the writer says,

“They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”  Who did that?  Why would they?  This psalm is about a righteous person who is being persecuted mercilessly.  He says, “Save me, O God… I am weary with crying, my throat is parched, my eyes grow dim…. Many are those who would destroy me.”

There are two main types of Psalms: Praises and Laments. This is a lament.  Psalms of lament, with only one exception, all end with a glimmer of hope. The writer, even in agony and pain, is able to imagine a future in which God has heard his cry, and  has acted to save him.  So he imagines himself offering praise to God in some future time, after he has been restored.

This Psalm says

 “I will praise the name of God with a song.  I will magnify him with thanksgiving.  This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull… for the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own that are in bonds.” (Psalm 69:30)

Why does he make the point that songs of praise are as good as, maybe better than the animal sacrifices that the law of Moses requires?  Because the only place sacrifice can be offered is at the temple, but in this moment, there is no temple.  It has been destroyed.  The psalm ends with the hope that God will rebuild the cities of Judah.  They too have been destroyed.  This is the time of exile.  The writer is in the bonds of captivity in Babylon.  His enemies are those who have conquered Jerusalem.  His defeat is their victory.  His pain is their pleasure.  They give him vinegar to drink, mocking his parched thirst.

So Jesus, from the cross, identifies with the lament of the righteous sufferer of Psalm 69 who believes that even in  his suffering, God is still present.

statue: Galilee, Israel

God can hear his cries.  God can bring a future with hope.

On the cross, Jesus suffers as a righteous person, unjustly persecuted.  In this way he fulfills the agony and the hope of the righteous sufferer of the Psalm.  In this moment, Jesus feels the pain of all who are persecuted unjustly.  Jesus knows the suffering of all whose pain is caused by others.

In this moment Jesus knows the pain of the battered wife and the despair of the girl who has been trafficked.

In his cry,

“I am thirsty.”

Jesus understands the agony of those who sit in prisons without being charged, without defense, and without hope for justice.

Jesus knows the pain of the victim of the predator and the victim of torture.

Jesus identifies with the suffering of the refugee, the collaterally damaged, and the pain of a family who buries a son, whose crime for which he died, can only be explained by the the neighborhood watcher who killed him.

“Blessed,” Jesus had said, “are those who hunger and thirst” for a world without victims.

Who thirst for a world without the tears of those who gather around crosses looking up at the innocent.

Blessed are those whose thirst is met not by the sour wine of soldiers, but by the sweet wine of the Kingdom.

Blessed are those who offer that wine of healing, restorative justice to the victims of senseless suffering, in the name of the one who said,

““I am thirsty.”

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“Fearful Faith” quotes from Moltmann’s “The Crucified God”

It’s Holy Week, and I’m reading Jurgen Moltmann’s “The Crucified God”.  Here is what struck me as so poignant for today (it’s hard to remember that he wrote this in 1974, almost 30 years ago).

Fearful Faith

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“Faith is fearful and defensive when it begins to die inwardly, struggling to maintain itself and reaching out for security and guarantees.  In so doing, it removes itself from  the hand of the one who has promised to maintain it, and its own manipulations bring it to ruin.  This pusillanimous faith usually occurs in the form of an orthodoxy which feels threatened and is therefore  more rigid than ever.  It occurs wherever, in the face of the immorality of the present age, the gospel of creative love for the abandoned is replaced by the law of what is supposed to be Christian morality, and by penal law.    He who is of little faith looks for support and protection for his faith, because it is preyed upon by fear.  Such faith tries to protect it ‘most sacred things’, God, Christ, doctrine, and morality because it clearly no longer believes that these are sufficiently powerful to maintain themselves.  When the ‘religion of fear’ finds its way into the Christian church, those who regard themselves as the most vigilant guardians of the faith do violence to faith and smother it.” p. 19

“Anyone who reads the ‘signs of the time’ with the eyes of his own existential anxiety reads them falsely.  If they can be read at all, they can be read by Christians only with the eyes of hope in the future of Christ.” p. 21