tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90966961360245760112024-03-13T23:28:08.053-06:00Faith, Grace, and HopeThoughts on what it means to be a traveler on the Way of Jesus the ChristPastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.comBlogger754125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-71317394239404803382024-03-10T08:14:00.005-06:002024-03-10T11:34:28.065-06:00Chapter, Verse, and Jesus<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">John 3:14-21</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>Let’s talk for a moment about chapter and verse. None of the books of the Bible were written with chapters and verses, neither the epistles (letters), the histories, the prophets, or the gospels. Each work was a scroll or set of papyri that flowed. Not only were there not chapters and verses, but neither biblical Hebrew nor biblical Greek have capital letters or punctuation. Better still, biblical Hebrew doesn’t have vowels.</span><span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/29/08/17/bible-1868359_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="800" height="301" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/29/08/17/bible-1868359_1280.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">No capital letters, no punctuation, and sometimes no vowels. This means that when the Holy Spirit guided the first person who wrote down the stories that were circulating orally, they knew what they meant. And the people around them did as well, but after 2-3 generations translators, readers, and copiers are making their best educated guess. Line breaks were used after the scriptures were codified to make reading easier, but a line break was still a guide and an interpretation.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Chapter separations that we would recognize came into being in the very early 1200s, with the purposes being to set the passages to be read aloud to gatherings of monks and nuns (and others). This is why the informal gathering space (as opposed to the sanctuary) in many European cathedrals is called the chapter house. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Wycliffe Bible of 1382 used these chapter divisions and so did most Bible afterward. This means that the Bibles of Martin Luther’s childhood, in the late 1400s and early 1500s, most likely had chapter divisions. (These Bibles were, of course, still written in Latin.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>In the mid-1400s, a rabbi named Nathan created verse divisions for the Hebrew Bible, or what we sometimes call the Old Testament. In the 1550s, a Swiss printer named </span><span style="background: color: #081c2a;">Robert Estienne</span> created a numbering system for the New Testament. In Estienne’s printed Bibles, both in Latin and in the local languages, the rabbi’s numbering system and his own were combined to produce scriptures with chapter and verse divisions. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">You all know that I like to give you a little history, but you would be entirely within your rights to be wondering why I’m telling you all this. Why does this matter? Why should you care? You ask such good questions. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">The reason this matters is because, if we consider Christianity to be almost two thousand years old, not only did it take a long time for the scriptures to be translated into common language, but chapters and verses happened even after that. This means that no one who we consider critical to the formation of the early church, or the spread of the gospel had any concept of John 3:16. While they were adept at quoting parts of scripture, they had a strong sense of that quote being part of a whole larger point, as opposed to one small point that stood on its own. Drawing a tiny scriptural point away from its context would not have made sense as a tool for evangelism, debate perhaps, but not as a way to draw people to the love and presence of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Thus, for most of Christian history, what we consider one of the most famous verses in scripture didn’t stand alone. <i>For God so loved the world that He gave the only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life </i>was part of a whole story. This line comes in the middle of a conversation Jesus is having with a Pharisee. Nicodemus, the Jewish leader, comes to Jesus at night, under cover of the shadows, to ask questions about what Jesus is teaching. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Jesus explains the concept of the Holy Spirit and of a spiritual rebirth. He speaks of how we see the movement of the wind and its work, even when we don’t see the wind itself. (This is a concept easily understood by people in Montana.) As Nicodemus continues to ask questions, Jesus draws Nicodemus’s attention away from his internal confusion and concern to a view beyond himself. He will never understand enough if he keeps looking inside, but must let his eyes be drawn to the One in front of him, the one who whose very life, and then resurrection and ascension, drew eyes toward God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Jesus reminds Nicodemus when people in the desert were being bitten by snakes. God instructed Moses to wrap a snake on a pole. When people were bitten, they were to look up from their wounds, their pain, and their confusion to this sign- sent from the One who had brought them into freedom and was leading them with promise. Looking up, with hope and trust, gave them healing. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">While chapters and verses are helpful for references, they come with the same dangers as the biting snakes and paralyzing doubts. (Not all doubts are paralyzing, just some.) Chapters and verses draw our attention down, to small points, taken out of context, with very little to no sense of the whole story. And the whole story matters because it is the story of God. The story of God and creation. The story of God and other spiritual beings. The story of God and people. The story of God in Jesus. The story of what God has done, is doing, and will do. The whole of the story matters. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Part of the reason that John 3:16 is popular is because, for many people, it gives an essence of the whole story. I get that. You probably understand that. John 3:16 is meaningful to us <i>because</i> we already have a sense of the whole story, but for the person seeing a John 3:16 sign at a football game or on a billboard or a bumper sticker, if they don’t know what it means already, looking it up doesn’t actually give them any information. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/12/19/20/32/paper-1100254_1280.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/12/19/20/32/paper-1100254_1280.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Almost all of you have been in church for years and yet I know most of you are hesitant to ask questions. And you’re for sure hesitant to answer questions because you don’t like to feel or appear like you don’t know the answer. How much more do you think that applies to someone who finally decides to look up John 3:16? <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">For God so loved the world- who is this God? Where is this God from? What does this God’s love look like? What world? Just the people? Everything I can see? What about space? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">He sent his Son- Where did this Son come from? Is he like a comic book hero? What are the Son’s powers? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">That whoever believes in him- What does it mean to believe? What if I have more questions? What if I can’t believe? Does God wait until I believe to do the God-things? Is God’s love dependent on me believing? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Shall not perish but have everlasting life- Does that mean “not die”? Doesn’t everyone die? What is everlasting life? Would I wander the planet getting older and older? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Those are all the questions that only come from one verse, if you are a person who has truly never encountered the verse before. And let me be clear, <i>there is not a flaw in a that verse</i>. The flaw is in the idea of a single verse as an evangelism strategy. Even worse, the flaw is in the idea of a single verse, without context or relationship, as an evangelism strategy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Jesus doesn’t leave Nicodemus in the dark with a notecard with a verse citation. He talks with him. He listens to his questions. He uses references from the natural world and recalls stories that Nicodemus knows. An understanding of the saving love of God comes not from the specific words, but from the Living Word in the person of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">This is exactly how we are called to share the love God has for the world, the love that is so great that it brought the Son into the world, not for condemnation, but so the world might be preserved, might have hope, might flourish through him. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">We don’t draw people from the ways of shadows, as described in this passage, by threats of hell. The Spirit draws them into the brightness of living in God through the light of God’s love shining within the people who are actively choosing daily trust in Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Perishing, in the context of John, isn’t about death the way we think of it. John’s most common phrase, used in 16/21 chapters, is “abide”- to remain or stay. Jesus, in John, is constantly inviting people into the brightness of God by asking them to abide with him, to stay with him, to remain with him- trusting his words, following his commandments, living according to his teaching. Perishing, then, is the opposite of abiding. It is the reality of feeling separated from the brightness of God, to feel a cloud between oneself and heavenly sunshine. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">The reality of this whole section of John is Jesus explaining to Nicodemus, and then John explaining to us, that perishing is not required. It does not have to be. If we are willing to look up, look to the One who is guiding us, who made us, who so loves the world- we will not perish. We will abide. Forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Looking for that answer within ourselves, trying to make it happen for ourselves, will never work. Single verses and words give us an illusion of control- of the word and of God. The human desire for control makes us addicted to perishing, not because we love the idea of separation, but because we do not trust what we cannot see or prove. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">But you, like Nicodemus, can see what the wind can do. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">How much more can God, the source of all good things, the one who is revealed in the Son, the one who so loves the world, … How much more can God save us from perishing, providing with a place of abiding peace, consolation, and strength that we might be a part of the Divine will for healing the world? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">You know God will do it. You know God has done it. You know God is doing it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Psalm 107 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">(This is your chance to call out a hearty “Amen”.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">And how do we know we’re in that number? How do we know that God does indeed so love? How do we trust in such mercy, such grace, and such redemption. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;">We trust it is so, beloved, because we’ve been told it. Again, and again. Chapter and verse and beyond. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 15pt 0in 7.5pt;"><span style="background: color: #081c2a; font-family: georgia;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-32489265378831184122024-01-21T08:11:00.010-07:002024-01-21T10:35:16.166-07:00A Fish Story of Repentence (Sermon) <p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The greatest miracle in the story of Jonah isn’t the big fish. It’s never been the fish. It’s not the fish for two reasons. Firstly, we’ve all heard fish stories before and we know how they go. Secondly, and more importantly, God has always done what God needed to do to get human attention. Bush on fire, but not consumed? Check. (Exodus 3) Fleece is wet, but the floor is dry? Check. (Judges 6) Donkey refuses to move until you listen to the angel visitor? Check. (Numbers 22)</span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/10/17/16/06/origin-492527_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="800" height="226" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/10/17/16/06/origin-492527_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">God will get your attention, our attention, as needed. For most of us, no big fish needs to be involved. For Jonah, however, the Lord needed to engage a massive attention-getting device, such that Jonah would realize, as we all must: <i> you can run from your Creator, but you can’t hide</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p style="margin: 6pt 0in 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="text"><span>Why didn’t Jonah listen in the first place? For reasons that made good sense to him. </span></span><span>Nineveh was a significant location for trading routes crossing the Tigris River on the great road between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. In this important location between east and west, Nineveh, as a major city and eventually the last capital of the Assyrian Empire, amassed wealth and power from many sources. The Assyrian Empire was the big man on the Mesopotamian campus, until it was overthrown. </span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The overthrow of Assyria took concerted effort by the forces of Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Persians, along with other significant local players, with the Babylonians ending up as the new regional power. Remember, also, that Assyria was the nation that carried the 10 northern tribes, or the nation of Israel, off the map. Nineveh was a large city in the middle of a not-beloved region and God calls Jonah, a Hebrew prophet to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Jonah doesn’t want to go. How could he hold his head up with his people again if he was known as the prophet to Nineveh? If he survived and returned, how could he possibly tell anyone where he’d been sent and then what God did? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And Jonah doesn’t want to go because he was aware of how God operated (and operates). Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love? For the Ninevites? <i>For Assyrians</i>? Absolutely not. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When people talk to me about the “God of the Old Testament”, hardly anyone ever mentions this story and what Jonah knew about God’s reputation. We have here a prophet, one of God’s own chosen people, who knows that God’s reputation isn’t destruction, but mercy. Not rejection, but welcome. Not endless devastation, but relentless justice and restoration. Jonah may not be able to answer why bad things happen to good people, but he is refusing to be part of <i>how good things happen to bad people</i> (in his mind). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, he goes down to the docks and buys passage to Tarshish. To give you some perspective: Nineveh was located where we see Mosul, Iraq on a map, about 500 miles east of Jerusalem. Tarshish was on the southern coast of Spain, about 2000 miles in the other direction. For Big Timber, that’s close to if God told one of us to go to Bismarck, North Dakota and we went to Juneau, Alaska instead. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Jonah flees. His disobedience endangers everyone aboard the same ship with him. Cargo is thrown overboard, and the boat is in distress. When the sailors narrow down that Jonah is the problem, they go wake him up from his nap to tell him. He says for them to throw him over the side, and they only reluctantly agree to do so. He’d still rather drown than tell God he’ll go to Nineveh. Enter the fish. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="text"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/11/23/22/11/whale-5771076_1280.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="771" height="320" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/11/23/22/11/whale-5771076_1280.png" width="308" /></a></span>Jonah spends three days giving the great fish indigestion, He seems repentant of his disobedience, so God has the fish vomit Jonah out on the beach. There, while he’s still covered in slime, the word of the Lord comes to Jonah for a second time. Any time the Bible makes it clear that God is repeating Godself, one should listen. Jonah trudges off. I say trudges because his behavior in the final chapter of this story makes it clear he still wasn’t joyful about this assignment, and he has no intention of preaching with any enthusiasm. </span></span><span class="text"><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Yet, after barely one day into a three-day journey, the Spirit has begun to move among the people of Nineveh. They’re repenting <i>en masse</i>. No one is saying “not all Assyrians”. No one is saying, “Well, I wasn’t part of the problem.” No one is starting a countermovement or trying to reframe the story about the sins of their ancestors or their neighbors, but definitely not them. Every single Assyrian realizes that there’s a societal problem and they all choose to be part of the solution, part of the hope, part of the repair. They all want better for Nineveh, for all their children, for the land, for every animal. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This goes all the way up to the king, who joins in the repentance movement and becomes its leader. He does not blame his opponents. He does not point fingers, call names, or reject responsibility. The king understands that the hope of Nineveh is for everyone and everything to turn from their current behaviors toward the expectations of Jonah’s God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Does this turning toward <i>orthopraxy</i>- a right, holy practice- include monetary honesty, liberty for captives, equity among citizens, justice for all? Does it mean slowly transforming a stratified society, attention to the reasons behind poverty, care for the mentally and physically ill? Does it mean that the capital of Assyria must recognize that with great power comes great responsibility? We don’t know the specifics of the change of heart, but we do know that every single Assyrian- every adult, every child, every cow (representing all the domestic animals)- repents. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Repentance here isn’t mere apology but is a clear turning of hearts and minds toward behavior that is pleasing to God. They all do it. To a person and to a bovine. And that’s the great miracle in this Bible story- it is possible for an entire society to change its ways. God can do it. God has done it. God will do it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="text"></span></div><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And Jonah, as the kids say, is SALTY about it. He is mad, mad, mad. God relents and chooses, as is the Divine prerogative, to show mercy to Nineveh. Jonah is angry. If God was going to be merciful anyway, why did Jonah have to risk life, limb, and reputation? Jonah goes out, east of Nineveh to pout. He sits down to see what’s going to happen. Maybe God will yet wipe Nineveh off the map, just as Assyria has done to others. <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Scripture says, then, that God provided a bush for Jonah, to give the prophet a little shade. Jonah liked that very much. The next day, God sent a worm whose day’s work was to destroy the bush. God turned up the wind and the heat and Jonah was now extremely unhappy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="chapter-1" style="margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And then comes the very best scene in the Bible outside of the gospels:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">[Jonah] begged that he might die, saying, “It’s better for me to die than to live.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><span class="text"><b><i><sup><span>9 </span></sup></i></b></span><span class="text"><i><span>But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” </span><b><sup><span id="en-NRSVUE-22579" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2;">10 </span></sup></b>Then the </i></span><span class="small-caps"><i><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Lord</span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span> said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. </span><b><sup><span id="en-NRSVUE-22580" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2;">11 </span></sup></b>And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals?”</i></span><i> </i></span><span class="text"><span><span>(Jonah 4:9-11, NRSVUE)</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Look, God is saying, you don’t have to like them, but the Ninevites are as much my people, part of my beloved creation, as you are. They may make bad choices, they may be caught in a web of their destructive ways, but I love them. I have compassion for them. I want better for them. I will not give up on them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And if I won’t, says the Lord in my holy imagination, then you don’t get to do so either. You don’t get to place laurels of righteousness on your own head if you refuse to be part of my desire for healing in creation. I’ve got bigger fish than you, Jonah, as you well know. You don’t have to like the Assyrians, but you have to love them. In this case, loving them means acting in their best interest- telling them that there is a way to avoid destruction and to live in hope and a just peace. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In this story, perhaps you have imagined yourself as Jonah. Maybe you know the people or person to whom you have been called to share the good news of Jesus Christ- a message of hope and not condemnation, of justice and not rejection, of community action and not individual isolation. Are you listening to that call or are you in a boat in the other direction? Are we as a church listening to that call? To whom have we been directed to speak a word from God, but have kept silence? Have we hoped I, as pastor would do it alone- even though there’s no “I” in Christian community? (Well, technically there are three, but you know what I meant.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Or, in our own time, we may be the Assyrians, pre-repentance. We may well be stuck in denying our role in any societal failures or breakdowns. It wasn’t me or my parents, why should I repent? We look away from leaders whose personal choices are genuinely harmful because they, currently, aren’t harming us. Societal repair, in this situation, means making things smooth for me and the people I know, especially the ones who vote like me, spend like me, work like me, and make choices like I do. That way of thinking is destructive, rotting a society from the inside out. And it has no place among Christians who claim to have said yes to Jesus’ call. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fishing in Jesus’ day was a way of life- sustaining a community with food and financial resources. It involved everyone- netmakers, boat builders, market stall owners, traders, and others. A call to “fish for people” wasn’t about collecting souls, but an invitation into an equally important type of community sustenance- the care and thriving of the soul of a community. It is the call that comes to us all, through our baptisms, which draw us into work together. Work together, I said, not an individual silo of one saved person without other cares. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The story of Jonah is a story of one prophet who represents a whole people, the people of Judah, during a time of nationalistic attitudes when most everyone wished to keep the country’s resources to themselves, including and especially their relationship with the Creator of All. That’s what was happening when Jonah was written and it’s that nationalistic, closed-in attitude that the book addresses in its own time and in ours. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We don’t get to resist the call to serve others. We don’t get to flee from the Spirit’s urging to care. We don’t get to say it wasn’t me. If we’ve come to understand who God is and what God’s about, we ignore that work at our peril. And we better not pray, “Let thy will be done on earth as in heaven” if we’re not willing to participate. Like Jonah with the sailors, our refusal to listen, trust, and obey can and will endanger others. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/09/22/17/31/cow-5593781_1280.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="654" height="320" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/09/22/17/31/cow-5593781_1280.png" width="262" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>If God loves them, we are called to do the same- to the ends of justice and mercy and healing. The Lord said to Jonah, “</span><span class="text"><i><span>And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals?”</span></i></span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Insert for Nineveh any country, any political party, any ideology, any race, any creed, any social group, any person. And remember that someone, somewhere has had to have God say these same words about you to them. The greatest miracle in Jonah isn’t the fish. And it never has been. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s that the Spirit of the merciful God can change the hearts of a whole nation, including the king and the livestock, and can use the most reluctant of followers to do it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amen. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-67849696098746186932024-01-07T07:30:00.001-07:002024-01-07T07:30:14.176-07:00Starring Spiritual Discipline<div class="separator"></div><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">The "star words" for 2024 are from a short list of 12 spiritual disciplines. You may prayerfully look through this list and discern how the Spirit is calling you. Or you may click <a href="https://www.calculator.net/random-number-generator.html?slower=1&supper=12&ctype=1&s=5483&x=Generate" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to be directed to a random number generator. Set 1 as the lower limit and 12 as the upper. Click and see what number you get, corresponding to a discipline on the list below. </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoHeader" style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif; font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoHeader" style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><span style="font-family: Satisfy;">Spiritual Disciplines 2024</span></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A guide to living the baptized life ever more fully</span><b style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">1.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Abstention</b> – restraining from indulgence<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2022/12/24/17/23/winter-7676253_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="618" height="320" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2022/12/24/17/23/winter-7676253_1280.jpg" width="247" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">If your first thought regarding abstention is about dieting, think again. This spiritual discipline invites us into refraining from indulgences that cause us to stray from the will of God. This is an invitation to work on self-restraint with words and actions. This is a call to abstain from judgment of others, quick and thoughtless comments, or mindless actions that cause you to feel regret or frustration later. The practice of abstention may find you being quiet a little more often, as well as holding back in situations where groupthink may not lead to productive or healing actions. </span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: abstention means to NOT do things we know better than to do, but sometimes to do anyway. It’s connected to self-control. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: 2 Timothy 1:7<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">2.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Celebration</b> – marking occasions with joy and hope<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Any excuse for a party! Sort of. The spiritual discipline of celebration is an outward engagement with joy and praise at God’s work in the world. A call to disciplined celebration is a call to seek where and how the Divine will is being accomplished in and around us. Has there been healing? Celebrate with thanksgiving. Is there spiritual growth? Celebrate with prayer and singing. Has there been reconciliation? Celebrate with Holy Communion! You have been invited into a year of looking deeper toward joy and hope in the fulfilling of God’s promises. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: celebrate means to be excited about things that show God’s love and work in the world- in creation, at church, with friends and family. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Philippians 4:4<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">3.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Fellowship</b> – engagement with others, especially those outside your “usual” group<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Fellowship is a discipline of engagement. Rather than merely meaning that you commit to staying for coffee hour, it means that the Spirit is inviting you into closer community with your fellow Christians and your neighbors. Committing to growth in the discipline of fellowship might mean participating in a group activity you’ve been meaning to try or arranging a get together with friends you think might enjoy one another’s company. This is not an invitation to exhaustion, but a welcome opportunity to deepen relationships with people around you through intentional activities. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: fellowship means doing things with people who aren’t always in your friend group. Not people who aren’t kind, necessarily, but people who might feel left out or need an invitation to play or sit with you at lunch. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Hebrews 10:24-25<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">4.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Meditation</b> – mental exercise for the purpose of spiritual growth <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Meditation embraces several spiritual disciplines into one practice: silence, prayer, and awareness. Developing a practice of meditation means embracing God’s call toward stillness of mind and body. Baby steps in the practice include working toward quieting the mind, paying attention to surroundings, and listening for God. Of all the disciplines in the list, expect great failure in this one unless you’re already pretty good at it. Great failure at first, however, means room for amazing growth! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: meditation means taking time to help our bodies and minds learn to pay attention to God. What is God doing and saying around you? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Isaiah 26:3<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/12/25/11/19/candle-5859094_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="214" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/12/25/11/19/candle-5859094_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><b><br />5.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></b><!--[endif]--><b>Perseverance – </b>the characteristic or action of steadfastness; unwavering commitment<b><o:p></o:p></b></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Hooray! You’ve received the opportunity to be stubborn for a year! Well, you’ve received an invitation into stubbornly pursuing the will of God. The discipline of perseverance means pursuing words and deeds that are directed at justice, healing, renewal, and mercy throughout the year. It means bringing up the issue when others want to ignore it. It means potentially setting aside your own uncertainty to pursue hope and aid for another. You have been called to stubbornly persist in seeing God’s will done on earth as in heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: perseverance means to keep trying on something you know you have to learn how to do. You might not get it the first or the second time, but remember God is with you and helping you. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Galatians 6:9<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">6.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Prayer</b> – earnest (usually intentional) communication with God<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Initially, the discipline of prayer may seem easy. Couldn’t you just say the Lord’s Prayer every day and say you did it? That’s the letter of the discipline, but not the spirit. Genuine prayer involves conversation with God, back and forth, listening and speaking. Your growth in prayer discipline may not look the same as someone else’s for there are many ways to pray. This is a good discipline to discuss with Pastor Julia. What stands in your way? What would work for you? How can you be kind to yourself as you become more disciplined in prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: prayer is talking to and listening to God. It can mean saying thank you, asking for help for yourself or someone else, or saying what amazing things God has done. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: 1 Timothy 2:1<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">7.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Sabbath</b> – a day (or time) set aside for rest and, ideally, for spiritual focus<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">The discipline of sabbath-keeping is probably the discipline in this list that is most counter-cultural. The Spirit is welcoming you into intentionally setting aside time for rest and renewal. While the most strict interpretation of sabbath-keeping would be to be at church more often, the intention of the discipline is to see what idols have cropped up in your life and how to let them go. What is taking time, attention, resources, and energy that rightfully belong to God? This includes things that keep you from rest, since rest is an aspect of godliness that our Creator desires for us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: sabbath means a time of rest and a time of worship. What could you do to help your family have quiet times and times of praising God? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Leviticus 23:3<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">8.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Service</b> – participation in helpful activity<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">This particular discipline has two sides. If you are already a person who easily says yes, the discipline of service is to refrain from committing to additional activities. Instead, listen to how the Spirit is guiding you to deeper and fuller commitment to what you <i>already</i> do. <br />If you are a person who watches while others do (yes, I mean you), the Spirit is nudging you into helpful action. This doesn’t mean filling your days with activities, but it does mean paying attention to where a simple <i>yes</i> from you could really make a difference. Drying the dishes? Keeping company? Carrying something to or back from Bozeman or Billings? You are being called to service for others in the name of the Lord. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: service means helping others. Look for ways to be a helper and watch for all the different helpers around you. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Mark 10:42-45<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/01/22/20/14/man-1156543_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="214" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/01/22/20/14/man-1156543_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><br />9.<span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><b>Simplicity</b> – being plain, natural, and easy to understand<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">The discipline of simplicity is an invitation to freedom. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be. In fact, this may be the Spirit’s nudge to make things simpler in your life. What needs to be set in order? What needs to be eliminated? This is the discipline of letting enough be as good as a feast. This is not an opportunity to do nothing, but the chance to let your life and mind become a little more quiet and at peace through attention to God’s direction and call. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: simplicity means easy and not too fancy. Working with simplicity means being happy with what you have and taking care of it to show your gratitude and care for God and others. This includes being gentle with things and people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Proverbs 16:8<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">10.<!--[endif]--><b> Study</b> – devotion of time and energy to learning<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible study is at 7 pm on Mondays and noon on Wednesdays! The discipline of study goes beyond increasing one’s Bible knowledge. The Spirit is inviting you into a deeper understanding of some aspect of your spiritual life and development. Perhaps you can spend intentional time in conversation about questions you’ve held for a long time. Maybe this is the time to slowly read the book you’ve always meant to or learn more about a saint or church father or mother who piques your interest. Study can take many shapes and our faith has a wealth of mysteries that invite investigation, but never yield mastery. Study means learning and action, together, but individually and in community. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: study means learning more about God. This might mean talking with a grownup more or spending time reading your Bible or another book about God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Psalm 119:105<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">11.<!--[endif]--><b> Submission</b> – embracing humility and yielding to the will of God<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Submission gets a bad rap because it is a) easily abused and b) not really something any of us want to do. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">First, it is <i>not</i> submission to remain in a situation that causes harm to one’s body or spirit or to allow one’s self to be pressured into actions that are clearly counter to the will of God for resurrection, restoration, and renewal. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Secondly, humility is not the same as humiliation. Humility has more in common with humbleness. It means a willingness to consider the perspective of others, to be circumspect in decision-making, and to allow that one might be wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">The discipline of submission is an invitation to reflection and stillness in a world that wants immediacy and action. Embracing submission means resisting being rushed and seeking the will of God first in all situations. <i>All situations</i>. This discipline will likely mean grinding your teeth, clenching fists, and saying, “Okay” under one’s breath. Remember to relax your muscles and drop your shoulders from your ears. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: submission means listening to and respecting people who are responsible for taking care of us. If they are doing their job of care, you are called to do your job of listening to and respecting them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Matthew 6:33<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">12.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> <b>Worship</b> – a demonstration of reverence and adoration of God</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/08/08/09/46/last-supper-2610875_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/08/08/09/46/last-supper-2610875_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Similar to sabbath (above), the discipline of worship goes beyond just more frequent church attendance. A call to more worship in one’s life is an invitation to look for and mark opportunities for prayer, praise, and confessions. An attitude of worship extends beyond the physical sanctuary into the fullness of God’s creation. Embracing the discipline of worship might include keeping a hymnal or prayerbook handy. Learning a number of new Bible verses. Being willing to make a moment awkward and holy by insisting on prayer- whether in supplication or thanksgiving. This may also be an invitation to participate in a new or different way in the worship life of the community (church). <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">For kids: worship is how we show our love to God- by singing, praying, reading the Bible, and sharing the experience with others. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Bible verse: Revelation 4:9-11<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"> </span></p><br />Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-4295535601246598512023-12-24T11:21:00.007-07:002023-12-24T21:00:41.484-07:00Always Christmas<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/11/07/00/49/nativity-of-jesus-6774677_1280.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="133" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/11/07/00/49/nativity-of-jesus-6774677_1280.png" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the C.S. Lewis classic, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the four Pevensie children are sent away from London to a house in the country. More specifically, they are sent away to keep them safe(r) from the horrors and dangers of World War II. While in the country house, they discover a magical wardrobe that transports them to a different world: Narnia. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lucy, the youngest Pevensie, is the first to enter Narnia. There she meets Mr. Tumnus, a gentle faun, who tells her some about this magical world. While Lucy marvels at the animals who speak and the reality of magical creatures, Mr. Tumnus explains to her that all is not well in Narnia. “It is winter in Narnia,” said Mr. Tumnus, “and has been for ever so long…always winter, but never Christmas.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2022/11/02/19/40/fox-7565907_1280.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="566" height="320" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2022/11/02/19/40/fox-7565907_1280.png" width="226" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />This long-lasting winter goes on and on. For the creatures of Narnia, always winter </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif; font-size: 14pt;">means a perpetual state of longing for spring and no end to the season of not-enough. Never Christmas means there is never a celebration of light and love, there is no exchange of joy, no thrill of hope. Narnia is a weary world that longs to rejoice.</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is the faintest rumor that Aslan, the lion king, is on the move, but until that whisper becomes a shout, there is only endless snow, unrelenting darkness, and a worry about having enough for as long as the season will last. The entirety of the "always winter" metaphor is meant to describe what it is like to live in fear, under a curse, without an end in sight. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The reality for most of us, right now, is that even when we are having unseasonably warm weather, we still live in a world that feels like always winter and never Christmas. The news of wars does not end. The reality of cruelty, from one group to another, is inescapable. We know all too well what it means to feel as if there is not enough- not enough money, not enough time, not enough hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a restful side of winter- the thoughts of seeds and plants preparing underground or within their barest stems, pregnant animals, and quiet stillness before the rush of spring. But like Mr. Tumnus, we’re rarely getting the chance to experience the restorative side. The chaos and frenetic nature of life today means we only get that positive wintering in small bits, rather than a whole season. </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Christmas itself easily gets caught up in the frantic worry about deprivation, rather than in the stillness and renewal. Confronted with buying for the holiday by mid-summer, the pressure to take advantage of sales, to do everything, to be cheery, and jolly, and to make perfect memories does not carry the warmth of July into the winter. Instead, this overwhelming tide of commercials and expectations carries winter deprivation into the season of more than enough. Always winter and never Christmas- never ready, never prepared enough, always going to be a letdown. </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The frustrating reality of this ongoing metaphor, for this preacher, is that we are not in Narnia. We are not waiting for Aslan to appear. Our lion king has already come! Our wait ended two thousand years ago when a young, affianced woman in Nazareth said "Let it be" to the angel Gabriel. Our longing was met when Joseph laid that tightly swaddled newborn on the clean hay in the manger. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We've been singing, "He comes to make his blessings known, far as the curse is found" for generations. It was likely the chorus that the shepherds hummed to themselves as they returned to their flocks, after seeing the truth of what the angels had told them. We talk about the reason for the season, sometimes forgetting that same Reason is truth for every season- every season of the year, every season of life. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/12/14/21/38/christmas-tree-5832123_1280.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="566" height="320" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/12/14/21/38/christmas-tree-5832123_1280.jpg" width="226" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />I am not saying that winters of grief and frustration and stress are not real. I <i>am</i> saying, however, that they do not define us. They are not the last word in a world wherein the Word of the Father has appeared in the flesh. A word of love, a word of hope, a word of mercy- Jesus was born to poor parents, in a small town, and his birth announcement went to outsiders- shepherds in the fields and foreign kings from Persia. They were the outsiders of their time, and we receive the same birth announcement in our own time. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>For a child has been born for us,<br /> a son given to us;<br />authority rests upon his shoulders,<br /> and he is named<br />Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,<br /> Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.</i> (Isaiah 9:6)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">More than just an earworm from Handel, this is the announcement for our time. Already, in and among us, is One who mediates and brings peace to all, who is greater than any idol to which we give time and treasure, who raises us with justness, mercy, and love. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">What would it be like if we who believe in this Christmas miracle lived it all year long? Not in the permanent Santa’s village way, but more in the way of this quote from Albert Camus:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.75pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="color: #181818;">In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.<br />In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.<br />In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.<br />I realized, through it all, that…<br />In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.<br />And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.</span></i><span style="color: #181818;"> (Albert Camus, <i>The Stranger)<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Invincible calm, invincible love, invincible summer. This is the gift of Christmas. As we sing in Hark! The Herald Angels, “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings.” One bright star shines within all of us- the invincible love and tenderness of the One who made us, knows us, and loves us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Light and life, light and life, light and life. In the midst of the world’s winter, light and life. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/03/13/06/55/spring-7849101_1280.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="566" height="320" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/03/13/06/55/spring-7849101_1280.png" width="226" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />We are called and equipped, when we trust in this original Christmas miracle, to carry the joy of this moment through the whole year. Not in a fake way, but just as the Bible readings and the carols do. We acknowledge the weary road of life. We acknowledge the curses of the forces that oppose God. We acknowledge that the fullness of peace and joy does not yet seem evident. We see the brokenness, but we work to bring healing and we know that pain does not have the last word. We hold the truths of what has already been done in God’s love alongside the promises of what is to come, and we wait.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And still, we sing. And still, we hope. And still, we rejoice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We do it today. And in March, and in June, and in September, we are never worried about how many days until Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Because for us, for the whole world, Christ the Savior is born. He has come. We are not waiting. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And, thus, at the very heart of our human experience with the Divine, it is always Christmas, never winter. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Always Christmas. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Always. Christmas. For everyone. Forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Amen. </span><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-51380059664112276712023-12-21T18:33:00.005-07:002023-12-21T18:33:57.615-07:00When Not Yet isn't Soon Enough (Longest Night 2023)<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/11/06/16/38/star-trails-5718301_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="320" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/11/06/16/38/star-trails-5718301_1280.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Within the Christian faith, we have many tensions. A tension, in this use of the word, is when we hold more than one thing to be true at the same time. It is not a coincidence that Christianity has the Trinity- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- as a central tenet because we must learn early that binaries will never encompass the fullness of God and how Divine Love works in the world.<span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We have the tension of both discipline (law) and grace (gospel) to hold together, guiding us toward the range of God’s expectations and mercy. We have the pull between mystery and revelation- the ways that the Eternal Light has been made manifest and tangible on earth and the things that we still hold in faith to be true, without having seen any kind of proof. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We also have a time tension- a strain between understanding that God’s ways are not our ways. Neither God’s time nor God’s timing is like ours either. The pressure of this difference highlights one of the more difficult of the Christian tensions- already and not yet. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Already and not yet covers the span of what we already know God has done- made promises to our ancestors and kept them. The Holy One reconciled the earth to her Maker through Christ. The Spirit has kept the church alive through the ages- even when the way the faith was lived changed shape and expression. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">That same reconciling and sustaining power is still at work today, which gives us a “now” in the middle of the already and the not yet. (I told you binaries don’t fully elucidate the situation.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The not yet is hard. There is no way to cushion that blow. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We do not yet know why bad things happen to good people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We do not yet perceive the full reign of the Prince of Peace. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We do not yet see all people united as one family of God and the animals together as in the image of the peaceable kingdom from Isaiah. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We have not yet beaten our swords into plow blades. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We do not yet understand suffering or what to do when it seems the shadows have overcome the light. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Not yet, not yet, not yet. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When the not yet becomes overwhelming- as we watch the news, as we grieve, as we experience a season of difficulty- we must help one another remember the now. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When I looked for good news headlines of 2023, I saw information about entering a golden age of medicine- including a potential cure for AIDS, new cancer treatments, and many countries eliminating specific deadly illnesses. Many countries began to have more collaborative conversations about changing weather patterns and how to cooperate through the experience. Deforestation in the Amazon decreased by 55% and several animals were taken off the endangered species list, as well as other animals being reintroduced to their original homes. More than 254 million acres of land have been restored to Indigenous groups around the world through successful land back and reparations movements. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I invite to you pause for a minute and think about your own “nows” of the year- what are the things that happened across the year that fed your hope, gave you joy, or increased your awareness of God’s work in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">(For me, my daughter’s all-clear MRI two years out from her brain tumor surgery is a massive NOW of God’s work through science and medical vocations.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Our songs tonight were selected to highlight and comfort us within the tensions of already, now, and not yet. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When we sing “Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory” and “Children of the Heavenly Father”, we’re singing of what God has done. We sing of the love of creation, and we sing of God’s knowledge of nesting birds, stars in heaven and our own needs. These two songs underscore our trust in what God has done. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">“Come Now, O Prince of Peace” is a song of not yet. This is a specific song on that theme for it was written by Korean hymnist Geonyong Lee as a hymn for the opening worship service on a conference for the peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula in 1988. This song speaks to our ache for what is not yet, but what we know God can do. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Finally, we will close our service with “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”. Unusual among Christmas carols, this hymn does not mention Jesus’ birth at all. The song is purely about the message of the angels. While recalling the angels of the Christmas story bringing good news to the shepherds, it speaks of what the angels are doing right now. They are still singing a song of peace- a song that can be heard by those who pause and listen for it. Rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The song of peace is happening now. It echoes what is already and it leads toward what is not yet. It is a song of love, a song of peace, a song of joy, and a song of hope. It is the song we need when the “not yet” gets too loud and the substance of the “already” is too far in the past. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">In this season, remember the nows of this year. Know that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot, will not, shall not overcome it. Pause and listen and for a few moments, on this longest of nights, give back the song, which now the angels sing. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4hkVO0HSLG4" width="320" youtube-src-id="4hkVO0HSLG4"></iframe></div><p></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HusH56d-Omw" width="320" youtube-src-id="HusH56d-Omw"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-30135487462258595592023-11-12T10:55:00.002-07:002023-11-12T10:55:25.618-07:00Give Us Oil For Our Lamps<p><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Pentecost 24, Year A</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Matthew 25:1-13</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Today’s gospel makes me think about Hanukkah. You might be wondering, “Why Hanukkah? That’s not our holiday as Christians. What does that have to do with anything?"</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">You’re right. Hanukkah isn’t our holiday. It’s specifically not our holiday, but the holiday honors the work of the same God we worship. Thus, it’s worth considering for a moment. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/10/19/17/17/oil-lamps-1753490_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/10/19/17/17/oil-lamps-1753490_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah, commemorates a miracle of God’s providence. I’m going to give you an unbelievably abbreviated story of the holiday. Alexander the Great spread, via his militaries, a Greek influence and Greek rule over most of the Mediterranean, until he died in 323 BCE. <div><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">After his death, Judea (the area of our concern) was ruled by the Ptolemies- Greek-influenced rules from Egypt until 200. At that point, a Syrian king defeated the Egyptian rule and Judea became part of the Syrian empire. (Still with me?) This went okay for about 25 years until the Syrian ruler- Antiochus IV Epiphanes got into a dispute with the leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem. Long story less long, because of internal political divisions in Jerusalem and the pressures on the distant Syrian rules, Antiochus IV went into Judea, wreaked havoc, killed many people, and desecrated the Temple. In doing so, the Temple was out of commission for worship and daily sacrifice for more than 3 years. This means the Jewish people in the area were cut off from their worship rites and consolations for that amount of time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">(If you’re tempted to dismiss that as inconsequential, I invite you to remember how you felt when we were unable to worship in the sanctuary for some amount of time in 2020.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Under Antiochus IV’s rule, Judaism was outlawed and a large statue of Zeus was erected in the Temple. This was too much for many of the Jewish people in the community and so a large-scale revolt began in 167 BCE. A man named Matthias, along with his five sons, led the revolt. It was his youngest son, Judah Maccabee (aka Judah the Hammer), who completed the effort in 164 BCE and drove the Syrian leaders out of Jerusalem and Judea. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">With that victory, the Temple needed to be cleansed and rededicated so that worship could be again. This not only required the physical clean-up but also the ceremonial aspects of recommitting the space to the service and worship of God. Part of that rededication was the required lighting of certain lamps for 8 days. Within the temple, they only found one day’s worth of pure and still consecrated olive oil- in its original jug, sealed with the wax and mark of the High Priest. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">They needed a whole week to press and clarify more olive oil, but they decided to at least light what they had as a demonstration of their intention. The miracle of Hanukkah is that the oil lasted 8 days- long enough for them to obtain and consecrate additional oil so that the people’s work in the Temple could begin again and continue. The provision of the oil for longer than expected during this time of rededication was perceived to be a blessing of God’s providence and favor. Commemoration of the miracle during the rededication became a minor festival in Judaism from that time forward, observed in homes with the lighting of candles 8 days in a row at a given time in the Jewish calendar. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">If you’re still with me, thank you. If you left off, come back… I’m about to make my connections! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We know by way of notes from rabbinical schools around the time of Jesus’ birth that Hanukkah was being observed. This means that Jesus knew the story of Hanukkah and so did his disciples. It means all his Jewish followers knew the story. It means Mark, Luke, John, and Matthew knew the story. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Which brings me to my question about today’s gospel: if we say that the gospel of Matthew was written between, say, 73-83 AD/CE, how did people go from believing God would provide enough oil in an emergency to believing it was a personal failure not to have enough? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">In slightly over 200 years, we go from believing God provided for the community and sustained their needs, to panicking that if we, personally, were not prepared- then it was all over and we were shut out. The Hanukkah story is not our story, but it is a story about our God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">How does a God of provision, mercy, and hope become the bridegroom who locks out the people who didn’t cover their own behinds by having extra oil? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">It happens through the loss of hope. By the time Matthew is writing, at least 40 years after Jesus’s ministry and resurrection, two or three generations of believers have come and gone. People who earnestly believed in Christ’s imminent return started to think the stories might have been exaggerated. Children who had heard the stories from their parents and inherited their hope, buried their parents and grandparents without seeing the fulfillment of the promises. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">As hope wanes, complacency sets in. People look to other sources for strength and survival. When hope fades, so does care for the community. After all, why should I be bothered to care about you and your needs, when I’ve got my own and your problems have nothing to do with mine? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">It is worth noting that in today’s parable, all the waiting bridesmaids fell asleep. Not just the foolish ones, they all (wise and foolish together) became exhausted with the waiting and dozed off. When they were awakened by the shout, the lamps were out, having burned out while they slept. Some of the women had brought extra supplies and relit their lamps. Some didn’t have extra supplies and they panicked, “We’re not ready!” Their friends sent them running to the oil dealers and while they went, the bridegroom came. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Here's the problem with that: maybe you can’t share oil, but you can share light. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Maybe you can’t share oil, but you can share light.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">People who remembered the miracle of Hanukkah and God’s provision, it seems to me, would have been likely to say, “Let’s walk together. It might not be quite as bright, but we have enough lamps to welcome the groom.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Instead, there was panic, hoarding of resources, loss of hope, and then the hyperbolic end to the parable where some people were left in the dark. Left in the dark by the one we allegorize to be the same one who made one day of oil last for 8 days. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I cannot rescue this parable from its terrifying conclusion, but I can give it context. This parable is coming right in a chapter of warning before the story of Christ’s passion. It’s coming right behind many warnings about being prepared for the struggle that will come to believers in the world- mainly to Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ in a territory occupied by Rome. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">It is a story about keeping faith and keeping the faith. The early hearers of this story knew they were called into discipleship community- a way of sharing hope together, lest any fall away in despair because Jesus tarried. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We are called into the same type of life- living together, sharing light, waiting in the same dark, refusing to hoard power or resources, and trusting in God’s provision. That trust is not a blind refusal to do anything for ourselves, but an active way of watching for divine provision and sharing it with others. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The Hanukkah story is not our story, but it is a story about our God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. That blood, that righteousness, that redemptive love is of the same substance and being as the provision of oil for the Temple lamps, as the keeping of promises to Abram and Sarah, as to forgiveness to David for his sins, as the annunciation to Mary of Nazareth and the inspiration for her canticle of turning. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When we say that God is the same- yesterday, today, and forever- then it means we have hope, confidence in things unseen, that God provided, provides, and will provide. This provision may occasionally be evidenced by individual blessings, but the overarching story of God is blessing and supply for the community. In this way, hope is shared. Light is shared. Mercy is shared. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">God grants all we need. God pours forth more than enough. Our cups runneth over. Surely the goodness and mercy that follows us all our days stirs up enough hope that we could share with our neighbor- in word and deed, in church and in the world- so that everyone has enough light to walk together to meet the future. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The Hanukkah story is not our story, but it is a story about our God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">A God who provides. More than enough. For everyone. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-14423180173365015972023-11-05T18:26:00.001-07:002023-11-05T21:54:34.051-07:00What I Know (And What I Don't Know) <p><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><b>All Saints Day - 2023</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/08/17/10/10/candlelight-3612508_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="800" height="183" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/08/17/10/10/candlelight-3612508_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I realize that many of you believe I either can't or won't utter the phrase, "I don't know." Many of you have heard me say, "I could be wrong", but it is far less often that I will admit to not knowing something. Part of it is the way my memory works and that I can either remember the answer to the question or I can think about related issues and potentially answer your question from a different angle.<span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">One thing I am pretty sure of, though, is that no one wants to hear their pastor start an All Saints Day sermon with the things she doesn't know. If any day calls for certainty, it's this one. In this time of remembrance, stirred loss, and shared grief and hope, we all want me to lean hard on what I do know. This might even be a day to exaggerate a little and make sure the words about grace, mercy, inclusion, and holy reunion are spacious and comforting to blanket any and all doubts. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">So, let's get out of the way what I don't know. Despite the movies, books, poems, and even personal narratives of life after death, I don't know what heaven is like. You would be correct to point out that I'm generally considered something of an expert on the book of Revelation, so surely I know something about heaven. An expert on Revelation knows about... Revelation, not heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The imagery in the book is meant to be a consolation to the Christians of the late-first century. A significant portion of the book uses images from the Roman Empire and turns them on their head. I find it difficult to believe the God of all creation is employing the same interior and exterior decorator as some mid-first century two-bit Roman emperor just to make a point for eternity. The actual descriptions of heavenly realms- the pearly gates, the sea of glass, the gemstones- are meant to awe the minds of John the Revelator's audience and remind them of their ultimate home in this place of unparalleled beauty and splendor. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I don't know what heaven is like and I don't know how we will get there. To the criminal who asks to be remembered in his kingdom, Jesus says, "Today you will be with me in paradise." How does the corporeal body of the Messiah go to the tomb and the spirit of the Savior descend to the dead and the essence of the second person of the Trinity greet someone in paradise all on the same day? I don't know. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Jesus promises paradise on the day of death to that man, but St. Paul tells the Thessalonians that those who have died in the faith are patiently waiting for Christ's return. They will not be forgotten on the last day and they will be caught up in the blink of an eye. Are the dead waiting for Christ or are they already with him? The Bible tells it both ways (and more). I don't know. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I don't know when the life of the world to come will become the life of now. Even Jesus himself tells people that only the Father knows. It is a mystery. It is, in fact, so mysterious that I'm always surprised and dismayed when people claim they know when it will be or how to make it happen. If it was even above Jesus' pay grade, I think it's definitely above ours. We wait, we pray, we hope, we trust. But the truthful answer to the question, "When", is "I don't know."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I don't know when. I don't know how. I don't know where. I kind of know what- that God will wipe away all tears and there will be no more pain or dying. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">For me, and I hope for you, the two things I do know and trust are enough. I know who and I know why. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I trust that God who made all things and who promises to make all things new, in some way, somehow, beyond our understanding, knows and holds all those who have gone before in light and peace. The scripture points to God's creative nature, God's renewing power, and God's grief over destruction. The entire book of Jonah is not meant to awe us with a narrative about a whale who gets indigestion but to help us more deeply understand the God who has no desire to see a city full of people and animals destroyed- either by their own bad behavior or someone else's. That is a preserving God, a saving God, a healing God, a seeking God- a God who would choose to pour divine love into a human form and come among us so that we might have a deeper and better understanding of that renewing, restoring, and then resurrecting nature. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I know that God has provided for our beloved dead and even those who have been forgotten by this plane of existence but remain remembered and cherished in another. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Knowing who and why get tangled together in my mind because I cannot separate the who of God from the why of the nature of God. 1 John tells us in the next chapter that God is love. Not God loves or God loved or God will love, but God <b><i>IS</i></b> love. The bedrock source of the universe, of all that is seen and unseen, known and unknown, spoken and unspoken is Love. A holy parent, defined by love, will always welcome home all of the children- whether they die of old age or in tragedy or from illness, whether they are prodigal in deed or spirit- they have a place in the mansion with many rooms.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">On this day, I could have given you a sermon on the many things I do know- on the Greek translations of meek, peacemaker, or mourning and their applications in the life of faith. I could talk about these verses in Revelation being the image of Gentiles surrounding the throne of God, the expanded vision from the earlier verses in the same chapter which affirm God’s keeping of promises to the 12 tribes of Jacob who also surround the throne. I could speak about the history of All Saints or the reason we put a time of remembering the dead in close proximity to harvest festivals and a clear change in the seasons. Those are all things I know. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">But on this day, on this day of remembering and questions and hope, those are <b>not</b> the most important things to know. The things we <u>don’t</u> know are also irrelevant. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Here is all we need to know: there is not a person remembered today in this space, or any other, who was not made, known, loved, and saved by God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">There is not a person remembered today in this space, or any other, who was not made, known, loved, and saved by God. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Each person we remembered was known first by their Creator and that Creator is love. Love does not end. Love does not relinquish responsibility. Love does not stop welcoming. Love keeps a perpetual porch light on- not in hope, but in certainty. That light will remain on until everyone comes home and is at the table. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I don’t know how, when, or exactly where. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">But I know Who and Why. And that’s all I need to know. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-61704719341434080782023-10-01T11:11:00.003-06:002023-10-01T11:26:19.004-06:00Is the Cost Worth the Cure? (Side Effects of Spiritual Health) <p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i style="background-color: #fcff01;">This is a sermon outline and not a direct manuscript, but still useful for reflection (I hope). </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Most of us have listened to or seen commercials for medications that address varieties of ailments. Most of these medications indicate that life will clearly be improved with the use of the medication, but the list of side effect that are rushed through at the end can be overwhelming. Without listing them, they often sound so unappealing that I have great sympathy for the person for whom the side effects are worth the risk in the hopes of restored well-being or at least functioning. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/10/16/21/56/electrocardiogram-2858693_1280.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="160" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/10/16/21/56/electrocardiogram-2858693_1280.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />While I am not a doctor (and I don't even play one on television), I do feel equipped to do some spiritual diagnosing. This is not to be done at home and must be done in concert with the Holy Spirit. Within our readings today, I recognize the symptoms of restlessness of heart, among other things. The question in each scenario is not whether the medicine (cure) will work, but if the side effects are worth it. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">The diagnosis of restlessness of heart comes from the following quotation:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“[<span style="color: #353535;">Y]ou have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.</span>” – St. Augustine, <i>Confessions</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Reading: Exodus 17:1-7 </b>- in which the Israelites cry out for water and Moses intercedes on their behalf to the Lord. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Symptoms: overwhelm at life circumstances (sudden freedom, witnessing of plagues, leaving known situations for unknown future= trauma, trauma response); concern for the welfare of their children and animals; exhaustion, hunger, and thirst – literal and metaphysical<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Diagnosis: dehydration and restlessness of heart <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cure: relationship with God (via trust in God’s providence) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Healthy state: a promised land and a new beginning- out of enslavement and in relationship with the Creator<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Side effects: growth in patience and self control; increased expectation of continued trust and faithful response; eating and drinking the same thing all the time (manna, water, quail); new and unexpected experiences; annoyance with the difference between God’s time and their time; terrifying encounters with the presence and power of the Lord<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is it worth it? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Psalm 78:4 </b><b>We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, and the wonderful works God has done.</b><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Gospel: Matthew 21:23-32 </b>- in which Jesus' authority is questioned and he tells a parable about the people who say yes, but do nothing and people who say no, but do what is asked. The diagnosis applies to the people in Jesus' own day and to Matthew's audience.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Symptoms: distress at the scene in the temple (disruption of an economic system); questions about God and God’s expectations; worry about “getting it right”; significant economic stratification (large space between haves and have nots); religious complacency; reduced hope and expectation in holy provision; liturgy about God’s promise keeping has become rote and unenthusiastic<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Diagnosis: oppression (Roman) and restlessness of heart <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cure: relationship with God (via trust in God’s presence and awareness) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Healthy state: renewed spiritual health; integrated faith community across social and economic strata; evangelism via deeds (doing of God’s will) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Side effects: potential persecution from neighbors and/or from occupying forces; changes in worship life- style and perhaps substance; new people in worshipping community (perhaps in your pew); increased internal drive to respond to God’s work; inability to tolerate injustice and inequity; collaboration with unexpected partners to the end of working out God’s will; awareness that saying one thing, but doing another will cause internal distress<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is it worth it? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Psalm 78:4 </b><b>We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, and the wonderful works God has done.</b><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Reading: Philippians 2:1-13 </b>- Paul has come, taught, and left. The Philippians are wondering what to do next as faithful people. Passage includes the famous "Christ hymn". </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Symptoms: longing for the past to return (Paul, come back!); hesitation in faithful action; drawing in to focus on individual needs and missing out on community faith and strength; disunity <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Diagnosis: distraction and restlessness of heart <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cure: relationship with God (via faithful action in community with other believers) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Healthy state: having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Side effects: fear and trembling; hymn earworms that last until the next worship service; community work with people you wouldn’t otherwise choose to be with; tender knees or other body parts from hours of prayer; increased sense of humility in the light of Divine power; a spirit of service that could be taken advantage of; no room for selfish ambition or conceit; a desire for Christian accord leading to openness, compromise, and forgiveness (with everyone).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is it worth it? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Psalm 78:4 </b><b>We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, and the wonderful works God has done.</b><b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/12/05/01/09/heart-1077724_1280.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="800" height="230" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/12/05/01/09/heart-1077724_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: georgia;">In our own time:<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Symptoms: social and political upheaval; many demands on our time, finances, and energy; lack of trust in institutions; reduced expectation in the bodily return of Christ (and thus reduced trust in other divine promises); too much awareness of all the bad news in the world; longer lives mean living longer with loss or grief; increased recognition of disruption in creation; pain of historical actions rising to the surface (no longer able to be ignored); idols don’t look like idols, but like everyday items that seem essential<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Diagnosis: acedia and restlessness of heart<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>One of the ancient desert fathers, the ascetic monk Evagrius Pontikus (345–399), observed an “inertia of the heart” termed 'Acedia' as a cause of spiritual dryness, with symptoms of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>spiritual/emotional fatigue, tired or even bored negligence, and thus reduced attention in prayer. Acedia refers to a lack of motivation or enthusiasm for one's religious or spiritual duties, often associated with a sense of desolation and a struggle to maintain one's faith or commitment.</span></p><o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cure: relationship with God (via understanding of God’s continuity of character throughout time- merciful, trustworthy, loving, and present). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Healthy state: willingness to rest and resist busyness; increased alertness to the presence and work of God; greater ability to participate in faith community; larger tolerance for when the pastor talks about the mystery of God instead of expecting concrete answers for everything; improved prayer life (even if untraditional); proliferation of the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Side effects: dissatisfaction with church as a mere social event; increased awareness of injustice in history and in the present; more tensions that must be held instead of resolved; spiritual heartburn; longing for deeper conversations, prayer, sermons, and bible study; marked desire for meditative silence; cognizance of one’s own lack of control over most things <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Is it worth it? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Will we recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, and the wonderful works God has done? </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-50496740785350978882023-03-19T11:04:00.003-06:002023-03-19T11:23:27.427-06:00Amazing Grace, In History and Now (Sermon, Lent 4)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Amazing_grace_in_OlneyHymns1779.jpg/640px-Amazing_grace_in_OlneyHymns1779.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="640" height="207" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Amazing_grace_in_OlneyHymns1779.jpg/640px-Amazing_grace_in_OlneyHymns1779.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>On New Year’s Day 1773, in Olney, England, the pastor of St. Peter and St. Paul Parish led a prayer meeting to mark the new year. As was expected of clergy at the time, this pastor wrote hymns and verses for his congregation to help communicate the faith, lift their spirits, and continue the tradition of the church to praise God in song. Most of the songs and chants in his day had no set tune but would fit any number of tunes with a common meter or rhythm. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>For this New Year’s Day, the parish pastor had written a set of verses he called “Faith’s Review and Expectation”. He felt that the occasion called for remembering all God had done and how God had delivered each person to the present. Reflection on the past and understanding the hand of God at work built the necessary trust in the Divine for the future. The pastor, one John Newton, began his hymn with a quotation from 1 Chronicles 17:16, Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?</p><p><br /></p><p>Newton’s use of singular pronouns and declaration of himself as a wretch in his new song was not unusual and, in fact, was part of what made him a relatable and popular parish priest. He often told stories about himself, and what he was like before his conversion to Christianity. He assured those who listened that he couldn’t begin to exaggerate the extent to which he swore, gambled, and drank. </p><p><br /></p><p>The extent of his sins, however, wasn’t limited to bad language and poor habits. His reflections on his pre-Christian life included regret for participating in the triangle trade, wherein finished goods were shipped from Europe to Africa and exchanged for enslaved people, who were then traded in the Americas for coffee and sugar. </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1788, 34 years after he had retired from the slave trade, Newton broke a long silence on the subject with the publication of a forceful pamphlet Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, in which he described the horrific conditions of the slave ships, which he knew firsthand. He apologized for "a confession, which ... comes too late ... It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders." </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Portrait_of_John_Newton_(4672661).jpg/640px-Portrait_of_John_Newton_(4672661).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Portrait_of_John_Newton_(4672661).jpg/640px-Portrait_of_John_Newton_(4672661).jpg" width="173" /></a></div><br />Newton’s conversion to Christianity took place on a merchant ship in 1748. He was caught, with others, in a terrible storm off the coast of Ireland. While manning the bilge pump to rid the ship of extra water for hours, he off-handedly spoke about the need for the Lord’s mercy if they were to survive. It was from this day forward that he began to read his Bible and study other Christian literature. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>Newton always marked that day as significant to his life of faith, but he didn’t believe that his true or complete conversion happened until later. He captained 3 separate voyages with enslaved persons as cargo in 1750, 1752, and 1753. He had a stroke in 1754 that kept him from captaining any more voyages, but he continued to invest in slaving operations for another four years. He wrote that he couldn’t consider himself a believer in the full sense of the word until a considerable time after his 1748 experience in the storm. </p><p><br /></p><p>For Newton, one couldn’t be fully a Christian without a full and recognizable practice of Christian living, discipline, and devotion. It was this attitude, not the song for which we know him, that made him a popular parish priest. In fact, after serving for 15 years in Olney, he was moved to a London parish where he served for almost 30 years. In that position, he was consulted by many social and political reformers, including those who sought to remove England from the slave trade. </p><p><br /></p><p>In England, Newton’s reputation is as an abolitionist, as well as a thoughtful advisor to important historical figures. In the United States, however, he became known more through his song, “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound”, which was very popular in the religious Great Awakenings of the early 19th century. Amazing Grace, along with other songs in common meter, struck the right note between praise and personal piety, which was the sweet spot for the spiritual revivals. </p><p><br /></p><p>In the American South, singing preachers used the shape note tradition to teach music for congregational and social singing. Amazing Grace was a popular song and was matched with the now familiar tune “New Britain” in 1847 by William Walker in the songbook Southern Harmony. No one is certain of the origin of this tune, but it is particularly interesting because it makes use of the pentatonic scale- played on the black keys of the piano. Almost all songs we think of as African American or Black spirituals used the 5-note pentatonic scale, which goes way back in human history in use across the world and across world religions. </p><p><br /></p><p>In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe included a scene in which Tom, from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, sings verses of Amazing Grace during a time of deep crisis. As the daughter of a well-known preacher, Stowe likely went to many revivals and had heard and sung the hymn many times. Familiar with its power to strengthen faith’s hope and trust, she also included Tom singing the verse, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years.” This wasn’t in Newton’s original verses, but was a verse cribbed from the hymn “Jerusalem, My Happy Home”. Revival singing of hymns often mixed and matched verses, by Stowe’s inclusion of this verse in her very popular book linked it permanently with the hymn’s other lines. </p><p><br /></p><p>I could easily go on about the history of this hymn, since we’re not even to the American Civil War yet. (The hymn was included in hymnals for soldiers on both sides), but I want to give you more than a history lesson on a Sunday morning. </p><p><br /></p><p>While Amazing Grace may have started as a simple chanted verse for a small English congregation to mark a new year, its words and tune are now inextricably linked with abolition, with civil rights, with freedom, with community effort, with grief, and still with faithful hope in God’s provision and deliverance. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/William_Wilberforce_by_Thomas_Lawrence_1828.jpg/640px-William_Wilberforce_by_Thomas_Lawrence_1828.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="640" height="176" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/William_Wilberforce_by_Thomas_Lawrence_1828.jpg/640px-William_Wilberforce_by_Thomas_Lawrence_1828.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Here's the thing I can’t stop thinking about: one of the people who consistently sought advice and guidance from John Newton was William Wilberforce. William Wilberforce entered British Parliament at the age of 21 in 1780. He was a man of great conscience and considered leaving Parliament to become a clergyman. John Newton encouraged him to serve God where he was, with the influence he had. Every year from 1789 until 1806, William Wilberforce entered a bill into Parliament to abolish the slave trade. The bill was finally passed in 1807. <div><br /><p>How many times was Wilberforce jeered at by his fellow parliamentarians? How often was his bill called “woke” or whatever word they used for “woke” at the time? How many lectures did he endure about the idea that businesses and the economy depended on the trading of human beings? How many times did people point out the verses wherein the Bible seems to "support" slavery or racial inequity? How many times did Wilberforce listen to people say “what about” while mentioning things they had no intention of changing? And now, they are just footnotes in his biographies, because he is the one worth remembering. </p><p><br /></p><p>Wilberforce fought on for what he believed in his heart was right, what he had been encouraged to do by a man who had spent some time on the wrong side of that argument and more time regretting what he had done regarding the slave trade. </p><p><br /></p><p>And here we are, in a time that is just as contentious as any other in history, celebrating the 250th anniversary of a song that speaks to the sweetness of God’s grace, the ongoing provision of Christ’s care, and the everlasting revelation of the Holy Spirit. If we are to sing this song with any integrity, we cannot simply admire its words and tune, but we must accept the power of its history and we must yield to what it may yet be compelling us to do today, for the sake of the One who has done so much for us. </p><p><br /></p><p>In one of his letters of guidance, John Newton wrote, “We often fail to see our present circumstances in the right perspective.” Let us seek, with the Spirit’s help, that right perspective that we may understand the work to which we have been called, the grace we have been given, and the love poured out for us and for all people, by the One who made and kept promises to David and who still finds the lost and causes the blind to see. </p><p><br /></p><p>Amen. </p><div><br /></div></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-4623503506188084392022-12-24T21:13:00.004-07:002022-12-24T21:13:41.341-07:00Third Verse Now, But Not Forever (Christmas Eve Sermon) <p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2022/12/11/17/43/rose-7649416_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2022/12/11/17/43/rose-7649416_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Whenever we have a service with a lot of music, the combination of hymns, special music, and choir, someone always helpfully suggests that we could cut some of the verses of the hymns. “Why don’t we just sing the first and fourth verses?”, they might ask. This is a totally reasonable suggestion to which I, personally, have a completely unreasonable reaction.<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">When this is suggested, if the Holy Spirit has an arm around my shoulder and a hand over my mouth, I might smile and say, “We could do that.” If my self-control has left the building, I will say, “But all the verses together tell a story and we can’t miss the story!” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">If there is a rare moment of calm and I am willing to share some of myself with you, I will tell you, “I want to sing all the verses because I am obsessed with third verses.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">First verses are important. They set the pace and tone of a song and tell you what is to come. Second verses keep that tune going. Final verses wrap up the message, bring the chords to resolution, and permit the satisfying heart response of “Aaaaaaa-men”, whether or not we sing it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">But that third verse, the third verse is where the gems are. The hidden theological caramel or peanut butter or even buttery mashed potatoes that bring the whole thing together and make it worth savoring. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I am fully aware that some of you may be indeed hoping that the Spirit is going to slide her hand over mouth at any minute now, but stick with me for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The third verse of <i>Amazing Grace</i>, “Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; ‘tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” This verse isn’t about what happened before, like the first verse, or even what will happen in the distant future, as in later verses. The third verse is about what grace is doing right now- getting us through dangers, toils, and snares. This amazing action means we can count on grace in the next step and the next and the next. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The third verse of <i>A Mighty Fortress</i> sings a song of God overpowering the forces of evil, in the present. The might of the tyrant is doomed to fail for one little word, “Jesus”, subdues him. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Third verse of <i>Great is Thy Faithfulness</i>: “Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The third verse often carries the deepest thoughts of the hymn writer, the present reality of what it means to trust in the God who made us, knows us fully, and is the very ground and source of all that is and was and will be, in us and around us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Lest you think this only applies to hymns, the third verse of <i>The Star-Spangled Banner</i>affirms that said banner does indeed still wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave. The third verse of <i>Home on the Range</i> tells us the singer would not exchange his home on the range for any other place. The third verse of Johnny Cash’s <i>Walk the Line</i>: “As sure as night is dark and day is light/ I keep you on my mind both day and night/<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And happiness I've known proves that it's right/ Because you're mine, I walk the line.” Johnny is summing up that walking the line for (or with) his beloved brings him happiness that couldn’t come from other behavior. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">So, what does all this third verse nonsense have to do with Christmas? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">My point, and I do have one, is that the third verse of the Christmas carols and songs is the best verse. We might know the first best, but the truth of God’s gift to the world in Christ, the miracle of God’s ongoing love with us, the joy of Christ’s real presence all around us is in the third verse. The first verses give us joy for tonight, but the third verses give us the hope and peace we need to live all the other days of the year, believing in the truth of Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Away in a Manger</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">: Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay/close by me forever and love me, I pray./ Bless all the dear children in thy tender care and fit us for heaven, to live with thee there. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Bells of Christmas</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">: Now let us go with quiet mind, the swaddled babe with shepherds find, to gaze on him, who gladdens them, the loveliest flower of Bethlehem.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">O Little Town of Bethlehem</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">: How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts, the blessings of his heaven…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Angels from the Realms of Glory</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">: Sages, leave your contemplation, brighter visions beam afar, seek the great desire of nations, you have seen his natal star…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Joy to the World</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">: He comes to make his blessings known, far as the curse is found… (It doesn’t matter if you think the curse is original sin or human desire for control or total depravity, Christ comes to make his blessings known over and above all those things.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And, of course, I cannot leave out: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I Am So Glad Each Christmas Eve</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">: He dwells again in heaven’s realm, the Son of God today; and still he loves his little ones and hears them when they pray. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The third verses of our Christmas hymns tell us what God is still doing in this world, the God who became flesh and lived among us and showed what true love and life and forgiveness and healing are. Not only what they are, but that all these things and much more are the Divine desire for us and for all creation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In God’s own four verse hymn, bringing order out of chaos at the very beginning was the prelude. The first verse was the covenants with Israel and the promises kept to all our ancestors, to Abraham and Sarah, to Hagar and Ishmael, to David and to Bathsheba, to the people in exile, and to the prophets who spoke of a future they might not live to see. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">God’s second verse is what we celebrate today: the Incarnation, the timely reality of God with skin on in the person of Jesus. The eternal Word of truth and love and power made flesh and experiencing life as we do, including death, but showing power and triumph over all evil and threats to separate us from God’s forever love. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We live in the third verse, the verse of toils and dangers and snares, but also of an ever-present grace. In this verse sometimes we hear the angels sing. Sometimes we tell it on the mountain. Sometimes we take it to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes we ask the Lord to take us by the hand and lead us home. Sometimes we remember that we have nothing to dread or fear and we lean on the everlasting arms. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We live a third verse life, but we also know and can believe, with God’s help, that a fourth verse is coming. A verse where everything is made new, a verse when peace reigns in clear and tangible ways, a verse where all the chords resolve and we can, together with all the saints and the angels, sigh out that “Aaaaaaa-men.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">But we aren’t there yet. Still, we sing our third verse, but we do it together, with the light of Christ- from the manger, from the font, from the table, from the cross, from the empty tomb, and from our hearts to all around us. We live a third verse life of God with us, no matter who or where we are, what we have done or left undone, or- even- whether or not we can carry a tune. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Because, in the end, it is not our song. It is the song of our God. It is a song of harmony and power- started “in the beginning” and will have no end. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">So, on this night, my friends in hope and in Christmas joy, let us sing out all the verses of God’s wonderous work in Jesus. Let us rejoice that unto us a Savior has been born. And let us remember, in our third verse life, that the song of God’s love is for all people, for every day, for every night, forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-7677560244381408452022-12-11T07:32:00.007-07:002022-12-11T11:34:05.507-07:00Not Today, Jackal<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><b>Advent 3, Year C </b>(Isaiah 35:10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/10/21/11/10/jackal-4565759_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/10/21/11/10/jackal-4565759_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I’ve spent the week thinking about jackals. Jackals, a member of the canine family, are found in south-eastern Europe, across parts of southern Asia, and throughout Africa. These small dogs look like a cross between a fox and a coyote. They’re fairly lightweight but are still known as fiercely protective of their territory and opportunistic eaters of anything available. The black-backed jackal of Africa has developed alongside the big cats of that continent, as well as wild dogs and hyenas, so it has fairly earned a tough reputation. </span><div><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When the Bible mentions jackals, it is not a favorable description. Jackals were particularly associated with lurking around burial caves or at the edges of battlefields. They were one of the first animals to move into abandoned regions, to make use of shelters for hiding, and to hunt for leftover scraps. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Job says, “I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.” (30:28-30) Here the long-suffering man is noting that he lives among ruins, the scraps of his former life. Jackals and ostriches are associated with desolated places, untended after destruction. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">In Jeremiah, we read these words of the Lord, “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals, and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.” (9:11) These are part of the prophet’s warnings to the people of Judah, the southern kingdom, about what will happen in response to their unfaithfulness, a foretelling of the Babylonian captivity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">While Jeremiah understands the jackals to be expected in response to poor behavior, the psalmist cries out, “Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way, yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals and covered us with deep darkness. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a strange god, would not God discover this?” (44:18-21a)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The references go on- in Ezekiel, in Lamentations, in Malachi, in other parts of Isaiah in addition to today’s verses from chapter 35. A comparison to jackals is never flattering. It is always either in lament (like Job), in condemnation (as in Lamentations), or observation of covenant breaking on the part of God’s people, which results in the desolation of beloved and holy places (Jeremiah, Isaiah, Malachi). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Why am I thinking about jackals in the heart of the Advent season? In the middle of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Let there be peace on Earth” and “Fa-la-la-la-la-la”, I cannot stop thinking about lurking scavengers, waiting to move into abandoned territory, to pick through the scraps, and yip and howl at any who come close. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">In today’s reading from Isaiah (35:1-10), the jackals are both literal and metaphorical. The literal jackals are imagined as having taken over the ruins of Jerusalem after the people were carried away into Babylon. Even though not every single person was carried away in the exile, there was enough destruction and desolation for those who were to imagine the city being picked over by scavengers, gardens growing untamed, and pairs of jackals choosing territory among the crumbled walls of the first Temple and some of their homes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The metaphorical jackals were the ones that waited to prey upon their hopes of return. These thoughts and fears crept into minds and hearts and sought to make permanent homes in places of grief and loss. Jackals of doubt about God’s providence and mercy howled in the night, disrupting sleep and seeking the hearts of the faithful against the God who had always delivered them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">These same metaphorical jackals prowl in James (5:7-10). The people of the Way of Christ have been waiting for Jesus to return. They want to continue to wait faithfully and yet, they can hear the howls in the distance of those who say their waiting is in vain. They sense the prowling pressure to yield to cultural demands- to worship the gods of Rome (it would be better for business) and to yield to gossiping and in-fighting with one another (making a desolation of the community). These jackals are fierce and cunning. They may not attack a robust community, but a weakened and dying one could be easy prey. James warns those who hear his words to be vigilant and strong in their trust in Christ’s promises. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The jackal who was Herod Antipas had imprisoned John and the prophet sent messages through his disciples to Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” John the Baptizer has been strong in faith and still is. If Jesus isn’t the one, John isn’t telling his disciples to give up trusting in God. John’s message has been one of strength and courage in the face of powers and principalities. Even in prison and knowing he is likely to die, he does not make room for scavengers seeking scraps of power. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Jesus tells John’s disciples to carry this message: Tell John all that is happening. The jackals are not moving in; things have not fallen to ruin. There is new life, there is flourishing. Healing and wholeness are being restored. This is not the night of the jackal; it is the day of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This is not the night of the jackal; it is the day of the Lord. So said Isaiah to those in exile. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This is not the night of the jackal; it is the day of the Lord. So said James to those waiting in the early church. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This is not the night of the jackal; it is the day of the Lord. So say I to you. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Yes, I know the economy is struggling. Yes, I know that we are divided politically into difficult and damaging ways. Yes, I know that wars seem endless and that leaders across the world seek to oppress, rather than to bring freedom. Yes, I know that cancer is real, that contagious illnesses are rampant, and that there are more people enslaved now across the globe than ever before in history. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I know these things, but I am not resigned to them. I will not make space for the jackals of doubt about the presence of God and the ongoing real work of Divine Love. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Yesterday, I picked up medicines for my daughter, medicines that help her live a perfectly normal life in the aftermath of a brain tumor. Yesterday, I went to an ordination- a blessing and commissioning of a new pastor in God’s own church in this present day and age. Yesterday, I did a hospital visit to someone who was receiving vital medication to save a major organ and I watched nurses and doctors take care to stop bleeding, bring healing, and restore hope. (Yes, I did all those things yesterday.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This is not the night of the jackal; it is the day of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Our Advent hope is not a false hope; it is a blessed assurance anchored in the truth that the God who kept promises to Abraham and Sarah, to David, to the people to whom Isaiah spoke, to Mary and Joseph, to our own ancestors… a blessed assurance that the same God will keep promises to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Our Advent joy is that we are not a desolation. We are not an abandoned people. We have the faithfulness and real presence of Christ, not only at the altar and the baptismal font, but in our daily lives in ways that are comprehensible in this life and in ways that we will not fully know until the next. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Our Advent peace is the truth that God is still speaking, still working, still healing, still reforming, and still working the truth of resurrection, through the Holy Spirit, in this day and this place, and across all times and spaces. Our trust in God means that we are called and equipped to live each day, leaning on this promise, and refusing to give ground to opportunistic forces that seek to undermine the only Love and Life worthy of our full allegiance. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">In a time of shadows, there is light. There is hope. There is peace. There is joy. There is love. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This is not the night of the jackal; it is the day of the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Amen.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-53602484903443681222022-06-13T11:57:00.004-06:002022-06-13T11:57:50.595-06:00This I Believe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/02/11/12/21/plant-3145668_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="800" height="353" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/02/11/12/21/plant-3145668_1280.jpg" width="365" /></a></div>On this holy day, when we are encouraged to be in awe of God- the 3-in-one and 1-in-3, I am going to engage in a double prerogative- the prerogative of the preacher to stray from the texts and the prerogative of the birthday celebrant to do what she wants. Explaining the scriptures is very important to me, and I also believe our testimonies are significant as well. <p></p><p><br /></p><p>I cannot explain the how of the Trinity to you. The only answer to how is, “I don’t know.” </p><p><br /></p><p>As for why, I can either say- God’s business is God’s business or I can tell you that God is bigger than our understanding, our comprehension, our imagination and can only be glimpsed- ever so fleetingly- through awe. </p><p><br /></p><p>Yet, I believe in God and how God chooses to show God’s self. Theology, studying God, is only useful if it actually helps us in our daily lives. I want to share aspects of my testimony, my theology, and what I believe with you today.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is my statement of faith for this Holy Trinity Sunday on the occasion of my 41st completed trip around the sun. </p><p><br /></p><p>I trust in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. The source and ground of my being. The Rock of Ages, the Healer of our Every Ill, the Everlasting Arms. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God who loves people who drink beverages brewed from roasted beans, which are gross, and loves people who drink beverages made from dried leaves, herbs, and spices, which are vastly superior. </p><p><br /></p><p>I have seen the Lord in summer camps I have worked in and supported: Camp Mundo Vista, Agape/Kure Beach Lutheran Ministries, Camp Koinonia, Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp, and Christikon. </p><p><br /></p><p>I rest in the Lord I saw this week when my child played on a playground in Denver with another little girl wearing a hijab, a head scarf, and a different little girl who only spoke Spanish as they all three laughed and laughed, spinning on the equipment. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in God who has given vocations to neurosurgeons, nurses, administrators, and the people in the cafeteria, especially the person who makes the really good zucchini bread with the cinnamon sugar crumble on top. </p><p><br /></p><p>I experience the height and depth and breadth of the love of God when I go on silent retreat, and everything is still, and I hold my breath, so the silence is even bigger. </p><p><br /></p><p>I experience the height and depth and breadth of the love of God when I am in the packed house of a Broadway show and we all wait for the first note of the overture and then the curtain rises, and the silence gets bigger as the audience waits in anticipation. </p><p><br /></p><p>God is there in the community garden when we try to get things to grow on purpose and there when we need to clean out the refrigerator and get rid of things that we grew on accident. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God who told Moses to take off his sandals, who wrestled with Jacob, who told Jonah, “Should I not care about Nineveh, that great city, with more than 300,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals”. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in a God who loves those with no doubts and who loves those who are nothing but doubt. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe God helps me to believe and forgives my unbelief. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God who heard Hannah’s prayers, who gave courage to Abigail to stand up to David, who appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden and called her by name. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God who blesses the vocations of morticians, plumbers, mechanics, fishermen, linemen, garbage collectors, road graders, bakers, and waiters and waitresses. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God who was once a refugee in Egypt and has compassion and seeks justice for the homeless, the persecuted, and the disenfranchised. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe God’s holy presence in every sick person, every imprisoned person, every underclothed person, and every hungry person. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God of sheep, yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and who hears what is said when stitches are dropped. </p><p><br /></p><p>I trust in the God of completed chords and the God present in jazz. </p><p><br /></p><p>The Lord is my shepherd, my shield, my hope, my mechanic, my resting place, and my launching pad. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God who made me fearfully and wonderfully and who also made Lexapro so that my brain chemistry can be what it was intended to be for my own sake and the sake of everyone else. </p><p><br /></p><p>I hear the voice of the Divine in the New Revised Standard Version, the Common English Bible, the King James Version, and in The Message. </p><p><br /></p><p>I feel holy joy when I sing ‘I’ve Got Friends in Low Places” and “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and “Do-do-do-do- feelin’ groovy”. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in the God of the Yellowstone, the Boulder, the Missouri, Clark’s Fork, the Jefferson, and Flathead Lake. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in a God who is as present in birth as in death and everything in between. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in God who gifted Michaelangelo the talent to paint the Sistine Chapel and that the same God who helps people find one or two pieces that fit in the community puzzle in the library or on a table in the parish hall. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe God-inspired documents like the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, and the 95 Theses and that God grieves when we make idols of these things, rather than seeking the freedom, justice, peace, and wholeness that they inspire. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe God knows how much I love books and God also knows that I will likely never read all the books I have, and God knows that I will not stop buying new ones. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe “What a Friend we have in Jesus” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and “The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ Her Lord”. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that the aspects seen in cults and cultish communities- secrecy, inequality, closed doors, hidden information, and hierarchical knowledge are not of God, not in keeping with God’s will, and are very harmful. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that, in this world, there is enough for everyone if we are all willing to ask for God’s help in releasing our desires for control. And I believe God hears and answers that earnest prayer. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that we are helped to pray. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that God revealed God’s self in the person and ministry of Jesus the Christ, the eternal Word with skin on, but also that God has and does reveal God’s self in other ways. I have been given the gift of faith to trust in and follow Jesus in whom I have confidence as the Savior of the world. </p><p><br /></p><p>I do believe the words of Paul that the love of Christ has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and it is through that love that we can withstand suffering and help others to do the same, that we can endure the pain of the world and help others to do the same, that we can share our testimony and help others to do the same, and that we can have hope and help others to do the same. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that the same God who is present to us in communion today is present in every bunker, closed house, and refugee shelter holding Ukrainians who are praying together for freedom and a future. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in little c catholicism- the universality of the Holy Spirit and her power to bring creation out of chaos and prayerful communities together in the most adverse circumstances. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe that we are lucky that God’s economy of self only has three expression- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that we are blessed that those three expressions pour forth in love in so many ways. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe each of you could write an essay like this, and should, and we would still not cover the fullness of God’s nature. </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who made us, loves us, and guides us, who draws us together here, increases our faith, and goes with us out into the world to help us witness in word and deed to all we believe is true. </p><p><br /></p><p>This I believe.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> Holy Trinity </p><p>12 June 2022</p><p>Big Timber, Montana</p><p>. </p><p><br /></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-49477111760821693252022-03-27T10:32:00.006-06:002022-03-27T10:32:55.376-06:00Pandemic Disgrace<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lent 4, Year B</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Joshua 5:9-12**</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/07/28/16/06/rock-403774_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="247" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/07/28/16/06/rock-403774_1280.jpg" width="329" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">This week I spent a few hours on the phone with two different companies, trying to use a credit I received from a flight that was cancelled in March 2020. These were frustrating hours, made more complicated by the grief they brought up in me. In early March 2020, I was supposed to go to Texas to see some friends. We were going to laugh, run a 5K, go to the spa, and visit a pickle festival. Several of the friends are Episcopalian clergy. We began to wonder if we needed to cancel the trip when word of a new coronavirus, COVID-19, began to spread. And then a co-worker of one of the priests was found to have this illness, brought back from a clergy conference in another state. The trip was cancelled. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the time, the airlines said too bad. Much later, they decided to issue credits for scheduled flights and, thus, I found myself trying to apply that credit this week to a future trip, only to get a run-around and to experience grief all over again. Grief for the trip that didn’t happen. Grief for all that has happened. Grief for the losses and the changes and the time and what cannot be undone. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When looking at the texts for this week, the easy sermon and, perhaps, the better sermon is with the Luke 15 text of the prodigal sons, but I could not stop thinking about the reading from Joshua. Here are God’s people, coming into the land they have been promised. They can now stop wandering. Their stillness, their new location, permits this generation - one removed from enslavement in Egypt - to observe the holy rituals of circumcision and celebrating the Passover. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These short verses are a reminder of how God provided for them and their parents in the wilderness. Today’s passage begins, though, with a curious phrase, <b>“</b><b><span style="background-color: white;">The </span></b><b>Lord<span style="background-color: white;"> said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.”” </span></b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Surely the “disgrace of Egypt” belongs to Egypt. The shame of having enslaved other persons, the embarrassment of having those persons escape, the humiliation to one’s own personal gods and idols- this disgrace should be ascribed to the Pharaoh and his associates. Why would the people of Israel, the enslaved people, the now free people, have disgrace ascribed to them? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We are not only marked by the history of our actions, but also shaped and scarred by how others have acted toward us. Our ancestors experienced stresses and pains that continue to affect us through family stories. Even more deeply, things like enslavement, pandemics, and wars shape our epigenetics, the history and future of our genes, stirring deep responses within us that are beyond our understanding. In our own lives, this includes our past two years and <u>all</u> those years have entailed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For us, the disgrace of COVID-19 is still with us, by which I mean the pain, the frustrations, the losses, and the changes. We must tell the truth about these things. We must acknowledge that in our congregation, things that took years to build- Sunday school programs, choir, youth group, WELCA- all of these and more have suffered and we cannot simply go back to what was. We have to grieve what has been lost and then, and only then, can we consider the richness of the place where we currently are. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The disgrace of Egypt lingered with the people of Israel in their fear, their questions about their ancestors, and their understanding of the nature of the Lord. After all, if divine intervention could bring them into freedom, why were they permitted to be enslaved at all? They can fully embrace the joy and possibility of the promised land only when the reproach and shame of the past is lifted. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The years of wandering contained stories of the people’s frustration, rebellion, and anger. The story of the golden calf, the complaining about God’s provision, even Moses striking the rock- all these stories are intertwined with the reality of having been led by God into freedom and a way of being. We have our own stories of frustration, rebellion, and anger. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of those stories have changed relationships between people in our congregation, in this town, and across the world. Just as in the story of the Israelites, our own stories feature hardened hearts on all sides. And, frankly, we do not know yet what our promised land will be. We know it is likely that this strain of coronavirus, with its variants, will likely be with us for some time to come. We may enter our promised future with yearly vaccines and advised precautions, as with most flu strains, or there may yet be more serious realities to come. We do not declare when we have arrived. God does. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This kind of burden, the disgrace of Egypt as well as the pain of COVID-19, does not fall away instantly. God’s provision for the people through their wilderness wandering removed the burden slowly. Through each bite of manna, God rebuilt trust with the people of Israel. Through each sip of clean water, the people of Israel perceived the power and mercy of the One in whom their hope was anchored. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The disgrace of Egypt defined them by pain and by the actions of others. The promise of Canaan, the promised land, redefined them as a people who had been led and fed by God. Thus, equipped by grace, they ate the produce of the land and feasted on the promise of tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At some point in the future, the generations that follow us will see how we acted to the various realities we are currently experiencing- a pandemic, social shifts, international crises, changing weather patterns. They may well judge us, even though they will not be able to imagine what we have experienced. In our own little corner, we can tell our own version of that story<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- how God provided for us through science, mail, social media, and video, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- how we were patient and faithful even when how we did church looked different, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- how we were willing to be uncomfortable for the sake and the health of others, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- how we took risks on new ways of doing things for the sake of the gospel of Christ in our midst and in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today is not yet the day when the complete pain of COVID-19 is rolled away from us. It remains, but bigger and greater is the God who remains with us, who is still making all things new, who is loving and merciful, who saves us through Christ. In this wandering, in this journey to a new way and time of being, God is with us. This is truth is our feast, in our present time and always. And it is enough. </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">**This sermon in no way deals with the complications of this text, including but not limited to - history of enslavement, the occupants of the land when the Israelites got there, or the violence of the rest of Joshua against those people. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Additionally this sermon only addresses COVID-19 and is not clearly speaking to any other situations of the past two years. </span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-5722763714262619072022-02-28T09:39:00.003-07:002022-02-28T11:09:04.412-07:00Turn It Off For Lent<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="background-color:; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">“Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations,</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="background-color:; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 5pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="background-color:; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I will be exalted in the earth!”</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /><span style="background-color:;">The <span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Lord</span> of hosts is with us;the God of Jacob is our fortress. </span></span></i><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">-Psalm 46:10-11<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/06/30/18/19/tv-4308538__480.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="205" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/06/30/18/19/tv-4308538__480.jpg" width="298" /></a><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">This year we are entering the season of Lent in a somewhat precarious global situation. While we can never be certain what is to come, the present circumstances capture our imaginations and inflame our anxieties in ways that can be overwhelming and emotionally charged. It is very important for our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being to set aside time to be still and remember God’s power and presence in this world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I do not often give specific directives relative to Lenten practice. I typically offer general encouragements and reminders to reflect on the activities or absence of activities in your life that may cause you to feel separated from God. Rarely has anyone told me that chocolate genuinely has a negative effect on their spiritual life. Lenten discipline is not merely about doing without something for 40 days. It is a chance to ask God to help and guide us into a new way of living, drawing closer to who God has made and called us to be. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">To that end, I do have a specific recommendation for this year, related to all that is happening. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Here it is:<b> turn it off. </b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Turn what off? Turn off the television in your house, turn off your smart phone, turn off the radio, turn off the podcast, turn off clicking from story to story on your computer. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I am not saying that you need to turn away from the news completely, but I am saying that the permanent feed of information into our brains is not good. It affects our ability to be still and recognize God, just as the psalmist encourages. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I suggest using the timer feature on your phone for the apps you find most distracting, especially if they encourage mindless scrolling. Could you start at 90 minutes a day and then work down to an hour and then maybe 30 minutes? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_hxLn0UjcQph-BxT-3nDIK55PU3qDQ4ELlvl4O2M5YC3cr9OHmmQYuxEMTpkhVYTfedY8Gcvo1VwoHa-TttDJJd497TTbcM7CqPF2KnjHGkeH1bCEPatgXFyCaofhVI1lpkd78wQNMLhKEDfiqM7hOoU0K9Pe6Hpdg1ZL3Ns_0wKgBGQBHhZK_TxC=s1624" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1624" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_hxLn0UjcQph-BxT-3nDIK55PU3qDQ4ELlvl4O2M5YC3cr9OHmmQYuxEMTpkhVYTfedY8Gcvo1VwoHa-TttDJJd497TTbcM7CqPF2KnjHGkeH1bCEPatgXFyCaofhVI1lpkd78wQNMLhKEDfiqM7hOoU0K9Pe6Hpdg1ZL3Ns_0wKgBGQBHhZK_TxC=s320" width="148" /></a></div>Can you set a schedule for when you will watch a news channel and then for a certain amount of time? Think about how long it might have taken your parents or grandparents to read a newspaper and then use that as a guide. <o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">If you are accustomed to keeping on a radio or the television or streaming information from your computer just to have background noise, try switching to a music-only format if you aren’t ready to fully embrace silence. Consider playing nature sounds. Let your spirit take a break from constantly receiving new information. Let it ruminate on what it already knows about God’s love, mercy, and grace. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: ; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The season of Lent offers us a chance to reset ourselves in our vocation as resurrection people, Good News people. In order to embrace this opportunity, we must heed the Spirit’s urging and work within us to become more attuned to the truth of God’s goodness all around us. I encourage you to accept this Lenten invitation to do exactly that, beginning with starting to limit some of the sounds of this world. </span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0Montana, USA46.8796822 -110.362565818.569448363821152 -145.5188158 75.189916036178843 -75.2063158tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-31626170232571898542022-02-27T08:04:00.007-07:002022-02-27T10:37:23.710-07:00The Politics of Good News<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Transfiguration Sunday: Year C: Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2; Luke 9:28-36 </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Keep the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other." <br />- Karl Barth, German theologian (1886-1968)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It has never escaped my attention that people do not like sermons that they perceive to be political. Furthermore, many people come to church, hoping for a break from the endless news cycle and its doom, gloom, and overwhelming encroachment on peace of mind and heart. Desperate for good news, when these people come to church, they implore the pastor to stay away from politics or news, just preach the gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/09/26/17/51/people-2789522_1280.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="264" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/09/26/17/51/people-2789522_1280.png" width="481" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />What is that gospel, exactly? Does this mean a desire to hear the story of Jesus welcoming the children over and over, with no assessment as to why the disciples tried to keep the children away or how children were treated in that society? Does it mean to only proclaim the stories of healing and ignore how the sick were marginalized and shut out from the benefits of the society at the time? Does it mean to embrace historical treatment or explanations about Jews or Romans, but never lift up God's covenants with the former or the pressures of empire on the latter? </span><div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am never fully sure what to think when I am told to stay away from political topics, particularly when I serve a very mixed congregation politically. I'm especially unclear on how to do it when it seems antithetical to the text in front of me. Most Biblical passages seem to me to be very political, very concerned with how people live their lives and their freedom to do so. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I know that people do not want political sermons, I do not know what to do with the words in today's texts that refer to Elijah and Moses speaking to Jesus about his "exodus". Our English versions say "his departure", but the word "exodus" is more than clear in the Greek. For Luke's community, use of the term 'exodus' would have brought up more than just the memory or the story of Moses leading the Israelites to freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The exodus story features a despotic ruler, a hardened heart, blood and the loss of children, fear and destruction. In order to move toward freedom, Moses and the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, must be willing to acknowledge that being free means the opposite of all that surrounds them and shapes their daily lives. When Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, his focus isn't specifically or merely on his death, he is focused on the truth of his mission- the freedom that comes from understanding and being in relationship with the God of freedom, the God of released captives, the God of truth-telling and redemption. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To appreciate the fullness of the Incarnation, Christ's presence in the world, we must consider what use of the term 'exodus' means here in Luke. We must recognize that Jesus, as the enfleshed person of the Trinity at this point in time, God with skinon, pursued justice throughout his life, not just in being willing to die. Exodus does not happen just when the Israelites step out of the Red Sea or, for us, once the tomb is empty, God works to bring hope, healing, and freedom before the human story is even on the page. That truth is political, and I cannot ignore it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In seeking an apolitical sermon, I must turn away from Paul's circumstances. I must try to consider him writing words in vacuum to people whose sins, whose straying, is simply a matter of their as-yet-unturned hearts. I must pretend that there is no pressure on them to yield to the expectations of the Roman empire, no financial threat to them if they fail to worship the emperor, no existential threat to their lives as the occupying force of the Roman garrison parades in the streets. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To strip Paul's writing of political implication, I must set aside that his words have been willfully misinterpreted to harm Jewish people, women, racial minorities, and others throughout history, even into the present. I must water down his intense rhetoric to platitudes. "Since it is by God's mercy we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart." That sounds nice. And it's much less challenging that the pressure to act with boldness, to remove veils from our faces, to renounce the shameful things that are in opposition to God's will- both in our own hearts and in the world. Being willing to do that means having prayerful conversations about these shameful things and each of us feeling the Spirit's conviction about things we've said and believed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lastly, if I am to pretend that there are no politics in scripture, I must simply describe Moses's dramatic and terrifying appearance on the mountain with no other commentary. I will not say anything about the reception of the 10 commandments. I will pretend that we all know what it means to turn away from murder- in word and deed, as well as what it means not to adulterate relationships- platonic or romantic. Honoring the sabbath is obviously a clear commandment in a 24-hour world and bearing false witness is only applicable in court as opposed to a reality for our everyday speech in how we speak well (or don't) about others. In case my tone was too subtle, all of that was tongue-in-cheek. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The commandments, their interpretation, their use, or disuse is all political speech- having to do with our relationship with God and with others, every minute of every day. They cannot be stripped of their intent for God's justice and God's will to be done. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here we stand, on Transfiguration Sunday, about to enter Lent. We are on a mountain peak with Jesus and, while we can see the empty cross from here, we are called and compelled by the Holy Spirit to proceed into a season of reflection, contemplation, and repentance. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The best thought I can give you in this season is a verse from a Christmas carol: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;">Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;">Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is only by acknowledging political realities, personal griefs, and painful truths that we can fully appreciate what it meant and what it means for the "hopes and fears of all the years" to have been gathered and confronted in Bethlehem on that night. Those hopes and fears do not wait for the cross or the tomb, they are present and being confronted from the moment Gabriel speaks to Mary, from the moment Joseph lays Jesus on Mary's breast, from the moment the shepherds are shocked out of their wits. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The hopes and fears of all the years are confronted when the dove descends at Christ's baptism, at the first exorcism, at the first raising of the dead, at the first healing, when the first bite of bread and fish passes the lips of the first person on that hillside among the thousands of other people. And every single one of these acts was political- concerned with the well-being of people, concerned with the well-being of God's people, the well-being of all people. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our faith, our trust in God, our daily responsive living to the grace which we have received cannot be untangled from politics, from the political realities of our day, from our prayer that God's "will be done on earth as in heaven." Each time we say those words, we are asking God to give us the will, strength, and courage to be part of the accomplishing of that will. We are acknowledging the hopes and fears of all the years and asking that God, who already knows them, continue to meet them in every street, in every home, in every field, on every mountain. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Let it be our hearts and minds which are transfigured today. Let it be our spirits which shed fear. Let it be our mouths that utter "Thy will be done" and mean it for every corner of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And let it be our lives, transformed by the grace which has met all our hopes and fears... let it be our lives, which are full of words and deeds that compel others to give glory to God and to seek the Divine will of love - in the mundane and in the political. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: inherit, serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-43896996067106950272022-01-16T10:02:00.002-07:002022-01-16T19:01:54.156-07:00At What Cost? <p><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Scripture: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A1-12&version=NRSV" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">John 2:1-12</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/10/30/13/13/cairn-6754295_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="212" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/10/30/13/13/cairn-6754295_1280.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><br />A sermon is best presented as a smooth stone, something the Holy Spirit has worked on in me and then I present to you, with the Spirit’s help. You can then turn that stone over and over, seeing how it reflects brightness and absorbs shadows.<span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">A good sermon has heft, as well as tiny flaws- keeping you focused on the perfect God and not the imperfect preacher. If the standard for a good sermon is a smooth stone, as I just said, then today- I do not have a good sermon. Today’s words, with no less help from the Holy Spirit, have a ragged edge. This sharpness has snagged at me this week and resists polishing. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">It is not lack of preparation that has retained this unpolished roughness; it is the difficulty of the question at hand. The texts of the day bring us to a question that cannot be answered in this life, not without great risk to integrity and faithfulness. This is my content warning. While there are some smooth edges ahead, this sermon is more of a cutting tool than a polished comfort object. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When Jesus’ ministry formally begins in the gospel, according to John, he is at a wedding with his disciples and his mother. In Matthew, Jesus preaches, heals, and casts out demons. In Mark, Jesus preaches, casts out demons, and heals. Same actions, different order. In Luke, Jesus preaches, escapes a death threat (Luke 4:28-30), casts out demons, and heals people. A little extra excitement there, but same story. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Why, then, does John start with this sign of water into wine?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">A small segue into vocabulary: The author of the fourth gospel does not use the term miracle, or any similar word, in this book. Instead, the writer employs the term “sign”. Water into wine, healing of a blind man, speaking to a Samaritan woman, raising Lazarus from the dead- all of these are signs of God’s presence in Jesus and in the world. They are not miracles- one-off demonstrations of power. They are <i>signs</i>- indicators of the holy in the world and divine power at work. John 1:16 notes “from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace”. The author does not use the word <i>grace</i> again but shows what it looks like through the signs Jesus works in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This sign, the sign of up to 180 gallons of good wine, is more than an indicator that God understands hospitality and reveals that understanding through Jesus. The sign of water into wine illustrates two very specific verses from John. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">John 1:18 </span><i><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">No one has ever seen God. God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made God known.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">John 10:10 </span><i><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">life<span>, and have it </span>abundant<span>ly.</span></span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The sign of water into wine is a clear revelation through Jesus of the nature of God and the divine desire for us to have abundant life. God’s will is not for any person or other aspect of creation to scrape by a meager existence with little joy and rare celebration. God’s intention, as revealed through 180 gallons of good wine, is for us to live well, in harmony together, and with our needs met, so much so that we shall not want. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">None of this is difficult so far, right? If I stop here, we have a smooth stone to hold. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">… but I’m going to go on. (You’re not surprised.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Here is the jagged edge in this story, the part that will not let go of me, the place where I continue to wrestle for a blessing in the hopes that I might limp away. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When Jesus’ mother asks him to do something about the dwindling wine supply, he tells her, <span class="text">“Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” And his mother tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">His hour has not yet come. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">His hour has not yet come. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">His hour has not yet come. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The gospel according to John is divided into two sections, the book of signs, which goes through the raising of Lazarus, and the book of glory, which goes through the post-resurrection appearances. In John, Christ’s glory is revealed in his faithfulness through death and God’s same faithfulness through the resurrection, thwarting death’s alleged power. When Jesus speaks of his hour coming, he is referring to this time of glory. Jesus knows, as does his mother, that once God’s presence is revealed in him, human resistance to God’s grace and glory will begin. Are 180 gallons of wine worth that risk? The beginning of what will stir up anger, rejection, and plots to kill him until one succeeds? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">His own mother says yes. She knows what her yes means. She knows the cost of this sign of God’s presence. She can look at her adult son, seeing the baby he was, the child, the young man… and still she says it is time. And she knows the cost. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Jesus’ death is not inevitable in terms of being required. It is inevitable because people resist grace, stonewall against repentance, and will run toward false gods like a sense of control, political power in this world, and judgment of others before they will yield to divine mercy and abundant grace. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This water into wine came at a high cost. From the moment the steward sips the wine and calls the bridegroom, the clock (sundial?) has begun toward human rejection of Christ and an attempt to kill God’s presence in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This is the jagged edge of this sermon. Do we truly ever consider what grace costs God? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I have received some excellent questions lately about how we can discern if something that happens is from God. The tension in this question comes from the fact that just because God <i>permits</i> something to occur does not mean that God <i>caused</i> the thing to occur. I will say that again: just because God <i>permits</i> something to occur does not mean that God <i>caused</i> the thing to occur. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">In John, the word we use for world is actually <i>cosmos</i>. As in, “for God so loved the <i>cosmos</i>”. God is present in the cosmos. God is active in the cosmos. God is still speaking in the cosmos. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">But at what cost to God? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When we are trying to discern what God does and how God acts, we must weigh the cost to the divine, even though we cannot fully understand it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We know that God in Jesus was willing to begin the dangerous journey to the cross with 180 gallons of good wine. Each healing, each sermon, each exorcism from there on out was a step toward human rejection and divine suffering because of brokenness. Yet, God considered it worth the cost. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God to heal some people through death, rather than through medicine or miracles? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God when people count material possessions as blessings, but reject the teachings of Jesus about caring for others? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God to pour out love for creation, but to see human beings only partially embrace their vocation of stewardship of the earth? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God to know that Jesus promised to draw all people to himself, and yet we fight over who is in and who is out? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God to witness some people being healed because of their access to medical care, while others suffer or live in fear? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God to desire, deeply, abundant life for all of us and to watch us hesitate, hedge, and hem and haw about irrelevant things? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God to have brought humanity to deeper and deeper understanding about the wonders and mysteries of all that is, only to see us reject science, medicine, and reason for our own misunderstandings? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God to bring forth grace upon grace, in creation, in our relationships, in possibility- over and over, year after year, until the end only God knows? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">This is the jagged edge of this sermon for me. It is the side of the solid rock which I cannot smooth out for myself or for you. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">What does it cost God? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I have no idea. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">I cannot imagine. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">And, in this area, I am not willing to risk being wrong. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">All I comprehend, in the end, with this rough edge in my hand, is this small balm: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">There are costs to God, beyond our knowing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">And yet God charges us nothing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Lucida Bright, serif;">And that alone is the only good sermon. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Amen. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-83859411624609446782021-12-05T10:09:00.007-07:002021-12-05T10:09:50.266-07:00In the End, We are Loved <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">When you think of John the Baptizer, what do you consider? His strange diet of bugs and honey? His wardrobe choice of camel’s hair? The fact that he did not become a priest in the Temple like his father and instead went out to the edge of the civilized world to preach?</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/01/27/15/35/heart-1164739_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="800" height="207" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/01/27/15/35/heart-1164739_1280.jpg" width="338" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"> If I asked you, what is the point of John the Baptizer; why does he exist? Maybe you would say “to point to Jesus”, which isn’t wrong, but is definitely not the whole story. John’s life is more than simply to tell people that his cousin is God’s chosen One. John’s existence has a complex purpose and reason for being, just like each of ours. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Consider what his father, Zechariah, says in the blessing that we read today as the psalmody (Luke 1:68-79): And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way, to give God’s people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (vv. 76-79)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> John’s purpose, besides bringing delight to his parents as a child of their old age, is to tell people that they have received salvation, a restoration of wholeness, through the forgiveness of their sins. The people must know that this compassion is part of God’s nature <i>in order to understand who Jesus is when He comes</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Did you get that? Zechariah understands a concept of salvation, of reunion with the creator, of wholeness and hope- before Jesus is born. Additionally, it is this message that John will proclaim in the wilderness. He is not saying that the Messiah isn’t necessary. He is pointing to the fact that God is already loving, already forgiving, already compassionate, already merciful, and the coming of the Messiah is the telos of the nature of God, not an anomaly. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Telos is a fancy church word. The writer Rachel Held Evans describes it best in her latest and last book, <i>Wholehearted Faith</i>. I will read her words to you, rather than reinvent a wheel. Evans says: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“… Scripture reminds us, the end is never quite the end as we typically understand it; it’s only a beginning. One of the biblical words for “end” is <i>telos</i>, This Greek word doesn’t have the air of finality that the English word “end” has. In other words, it’s not a dead end. To the contrary, it’s full of life, because it has a sense of completion and contentment. It carries the satisfaction of doing what you know you’re called to do and the fulfillment of being who you were always meant to be. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The telos of an apple tree is to flower and to fruit, producing blossoms and apples and seeds that will propagate the next generation of tree. The telos of a honeybee is to collect pollen and produce honey, working in concert with other honeybees throughout seasons of plenty to store sustenance for seasons of lack. The telos of a surfboard is to help a surfer catch a wave. The telos of bread and wine is to sustain and to nourish, to delight the tastebuds and gratify the body until the next meal comes…<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The telos of a human- your telos, my telos, our telos- is to love lavishly and indiscriminately, as our God has loved us. Love is what we were made to do. But even more than that, love is who we were made to be.” (Evans, <i>Wholehearted Faith</i>. p. 177f) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> This <i>telos</i>, this end which is not an end, matters. When John goes out to the wilderness to preach about the nature of God, he is doing so because the message matters. If he does not proclaim this word, which likely burns in his chest and keeps him awake at night, he knows people will fail to perceive and to understand the One whom God sends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The very same misunderstanding that John feared still happens today. Christians still tend to believe the God of the Hebrew scripture (Old Testament) is angry, vengeful, and in need of appeasement. No matter how many times we read in the psalms, in the prophets, and in the writings that God is “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”. No matter how many messengers proclaim, “Be not afraid”. No matter how many times we read about the Divine Being always keeping promises, covenants, and commitments. Still, <i>still</i>, STILL- people hold wrong ideas about God the Holy Parent and, when they do, they form wrong ideas about Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The telos of John the Baptizer was and is to remind people, even the worst people, of the merciful and covenant keeping nature of God who creates and preserves a welcome to all prodigals in all places, at all times. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> He points to a God whose telos is to make all things new, not to make all new things. The incarnation, the coming of Jesus- as God- among us, is one aspect of that telos. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Which brings us to our own selves, our own vocations, our own telos. As Evans wrote, “The telos of a human- your telos, my telos, our telos- is to love lavishly and indiscriminately, as our God has loved us. Love is what we were made to do. But even more than that, love is who we were made to be.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> How do we <i>be</i> love? How do we live out this miraculous, hopeful, and holy way of being, doing, and resting in this life and into the life of the world to come with the help of the Holy Spirit? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My inclination is to tell you that first we must reject the aspects of our lives that do not conform to God’s love and will. However, even as I think and write that, I realize that it is wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">First, we must actually believe that God is love. We must lean into the gift of faith and believe that we have been made in God’s image- all of us and every person we know. We have to believe that God sees us as worthy of love, of compassion, of restoration. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When we dare to believe that this love is true, true for us, true for all people, then we will be open to the repentance that John points to. The turning away from division, the rejection of injustice, the spurning of habits and ways that cause pain and bring death. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The chief purpose of our lives has never been to make ourselves worthy of the gifts of God. Rather, the chief purpose is to grow in the understanding of those gifts and how God equips and calls us to use them, with the help of the Holy Spirit, for Christ’s sake in the world. Comprehension of our telos comes through leaning on the everlasting arms and knowing that we did not earn our place there but have been gifted it through Christ’s faithfulness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In this season of Advent waiting and preparation, in thinking about the celebration of Christ and the promise of Christ’s return, I invite you to consider your own telos, the fullness for why you have been created. It is not merely for your parents, your children, or even your neighbors. There’s a reality for why you specifically have been made, a special way that you specifically can glorify God and imitate Christ, a specific way that you are called to live and show love among God’s faithful people and in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> We have been called to love because we have first been loved. We were created from love, and, in the end, we return to the source of love. This is not a new thing since Jesus’ birth, but the reality of who and how God- Creator, Word, and Spirit- has always been. Love made us, made all things. And it is our telos to love with our whole being- in all we do and say- every moment of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> This is not impossible. It is very possible and even probable, if we are willing to believe the truth about the nature of God. The truth that has always existed. The truth that we heard from our brother, John. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Amen. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-57709889523546340522021-11-28T11:00:00.009-07:002021-11-29T09:23:29.304-07:00 10 Things to Know about Advent <p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"></span></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vO8EqjMJHp0/YaJ_SE60yvI/AAAAAAAAHOk/NfC3vG0vVFoqLg-5FHe2ITFL7y8wTu2IwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/E3A7E99A-CBD6-4D52-9B68-788AFBBDA841.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vO8EqjMJHp0/YaJ_SE60yvI/AAAAAAAAHOk/NfC3vG0vVFoqLg-5FHe2ITFL7y8wTu2IwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/E3A7E99A-CBD6-4D52-9B68-788AFBBDA841.jpeg" width="240" /></a></b></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"> </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">10. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Advent is Latin for “come in” and the practice of observing Advent prior to Christmas goes back before the Middle Ages. For these many centuries, Advent was a penitential season, like a slightly shorter Lent. Christians were encouraged to fast, give to the poor, and devote themselves to other outward and inward signs of faith as part of the work of getting ready for the advent of Christ, for Jesus to “come in.” We as Lutherans no longer observe Advent as a season of repentance, but as one of joyful anticipation in the fulfillment of God’s promises. Each candle we light, hymn we sing, and prayer we utter is part of how we join in the Spirit’s preparation for what is to come. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">9. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">By the 1600s, northern hemisphere Christians adopted the practices of their non-Christian (usually pagan) neighbors, using rings of candles to mark the passing of the dark season associated with northern winters. We know that versions of these candle rings were being used in connection to the Advent season in the 1600s, especially in Germany. By the early 1800s, Advent wreaths that would look more familiar to us were in use in Europe as a teaching tool to help children mark time until Christmas. Such wreaths didn’t come into widespread use in the United States until the late 1800s and early 1900s. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">8. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Since official church use of the Advent wreath is much newer than use of it in the home, “official” prayers and liturgies for lighting the candles in the congregation are still being developed, written, and adjusted. The most common themes for the four Sundays of Advent are “hope”, “peace”, “joy”, and “love”. Blue candles and blue church decorations are used for Advent in most Protestant and some Catholic traditions because of the connection between blue and hope. The Roman Catholic Church still officially uses purple for Advent, but both some Protestant and Catholic traditions use a pink candle for the third Sunday in Advent to go with the theme of joy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">7. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">There are alternate themes to go with the candles. For example, the candles are sometimes lit to represent prophets, Bethlehem, shepherds, and angels. These connect to the other themes with the idea that the prophets had hope, Bethlehem (the City of David) had faith, the shepherds had joy, and the angels proclaim peace. Please note that it is difficult to use the word “traditional” around Advent themes when most of them are less than 150 years old. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">6. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">Speaking of traditional, the singular, oldest tradition we have around this church season is the hymn <i>“O Come, O Come Emmanuel</i>”. This hymn was composed for use during vespers- evening prayer- services sometime prior to the 8<sup>th</sup> century, The earliest printing we know of was in the 1200s. The verses, in Latin, spell out a reminder of Christ’s coming. They also lift some of the many biblical names and promises attached to Jesus’ birth as God coming among us. The tune is meant to sound both mournful and rejoicing, underscoring the themes of the season- both joyful anticipation and heavy longing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">5. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">We often assume heavy longing is necessary because of the idea that Advent is an eschatological season. Eschatology is a fancy church word that means study or focus on the final things. In our day, right now, people use the word <i>eschatological</i> when they are talking about the last days and what will happen at the end of all things. However, that has not always been the case in Christianity. The development and use of the word, <i>eschatological</i>, in English only goes back to about 1850. Does this mean that people weren’t worried about what comes next before 1850? No, but it means they weren’t spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pamphlets, books, movies, and television ads that promised to tell them exactly when and how things would end. They focused on their own families, their communities, and the faith that God had everything else under control. It wasn’t fatalistic way to live, but a trusting one with a deep, abiding consolation that God had kept promises before and would again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">4. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">That kind of faith brings us to the other way to use the term, <i>eschatology</i>. In Christian mysticism, <i>eschatology</i> is a metaphor for the end of ordinary reality and a reunion with the divine. This means that readings and hymns about destruction and the end of the world as we know it are meant to help us dig deep, become more attuned to the Spirit, and find within ourselves and all around us a greater awareness of the presence of Divine love. I realize for super concrete-thinking Norwegians, practical Germans, and please make it plain Montanans of all descents, that sounds a little woo-woo and maybe like something you can pretend you didn’t hear in this sermon. (*Please hold while I look you all in the eye with my patented “Pastor Julia stare”.) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is a very real aspect to faithful living that is beyond our full explanation, but not beyond our comprehension. You’ve all felt it when outdoors, in a quiet moment of thought while moving a herd or a flock, or in a meditative moment doing dishes, sewing, gathering wood, or cleaning animals for the freezer. You know what it means to have an awareness both of yourself in a moment and of that particular moment’s connection to something larger, something more, something that both is the source of everything and welcomes all things home. That is the essence of real Advent <i>eschatology</i>- those moments that pause the ordinary reality (with its unnecessary hustle and bustle) and causes us to be connected to the very ground and source of our being. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">3. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">It is that particular moment and experience that pastors, teachers, musicians, and choir directors are striving for when they hold back on the Christmas music and keep Advent in place for all four weeks. The Advent hymns are not focused on getting ready to celebrate a baby; they are focused on Christ’s return, the fulfillment of God’s promises, and the hope we all hold for the time when all things are made new. Listen again, God has not promised to make all new things, but to heal, renew, restore, and resurrect- making all things new. This truth is the focus of Advent. This truth matters and it cannot, should not, and will not be rushed, not matter what the world tries to press upon us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">2. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">If we rush, we will get the wrong idea about God. If we rush, we will miss the moments to perceive and understand the nature of the Holy to whom the psalmist prays, “Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long. Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting.” (Ps. 25:4-6). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If we rush, we will miss already with us glories of the one of whom Jeremiah proclaims, “<sup>6</sup>In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.” (Jer 33:16) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If we push past Advent and all it brings, we will misunderstand the One whom Paul says can, “make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.” (1 Thess. 3:12) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If we rush, we will forget the word of Jesus, word that tells us there are always going to be disasters in the world around us, yet our redemption, the kingdom of God, our own peace is near. (Luke 21:25-36) <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">1. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;">The number 1 thing to remember about Advent is that it exists for a reason. It has its own lessons to teach us besides waiting for Christmas. Advent has lessons about waiting with joy, about saying yes to what sounds impossible, about remaining strong in faith, about doing what’s right even when afraid, and about the ultimate truth that God is love. If we listen carefully, openly, and with mystical eschatological hope to the lessons of Advent, we will not come to the idea that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If we listen carefully to the lessons of Advent, then we will arrive at the manger with great hope, peace, and joy, looking down into the straw, and understanding all over again, “God so loved. God so loved. God so loves.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-49582592256152631012021-02-07T10:00:00.003-07:002024-01-21T10:51:06.001-07:00Expectations (Sermon)<p> Sunday, 7 February 2021- Year B</p><p><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+1%3A29-39&version=NIV" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mark 1:29-39</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/03/09/15/24/prairie-1246633_1280.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div><p>We know that we are called to the imitation of Christ. Not only is modeling Christ Jesus part of our mission statement, but Ephesians 5:1 tells us to imitate God. This imitation happens through, and only through, the help of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is gifted to us, yet many of us struggle with the modeling we are called to for the sake of the world. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/22/20/02/abstract-1850417_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/22/20/02/abstract-1850417_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In today's gospel, Jesus does something that most of us would find nearly impossible. On his first day in ministry, he calls disciples, he teaches in the synagogue, he heals a man possessed by demons, and then he heals Simon's mother-in-law. That's a pretty full day. <p></p><p>When that day ends, word has circulated quickly enough that people are crowded up to the door of Simon's house with their own sick and demon-possessed people. </p><p>Sidebar: what's the difference between sickness and demon-possession in Mark? It is likely that what people called demon-possession in Jesus' day were illnesses that seemed to have no external cause. Epilepsy, strokes, or even something like heart palpitations, alongside mental illnesses, would have seemed out of the blue and certainly caused by evil forces. Sicknesses that came from bad food, skin diseases, or the sanitation issues of the time might have seemed more self-evident, requiring basic healing as opposed to an exorcism. This is the end of the sidebar. </p><p>Back to Simon's house, after the Sabbath has ended, the crowd is gathered with their sick and their demon-possessed. Jesus heals many of them. Many, but not all? Why doesn't Jesus heal them all? </p><p>Jesus is capable of healing them all, but some people do not want to be well. I don't mean that in the sense that they would prefer to malinger and drag out their suffering and gain attention for it. I mean that some people have struggled for so long that they feel unable to imagine a life of wellness, a healed existence. It seems likely to me that there were probably those among the crowd who wandered up themselves or who were dragged by family members but had no interest in what Jesus offered. They didn't think it would work or they numbly submitted to healing prayers, but immediately dismissed the possibility of such efforts working. </p><p>I am not saying that people don't get well in that time or in our own because they don't want to, even though that can happen. I am saying that Jesus offered a powerful gift of healing for them and, for whatever reason, they were unable to receive the gift. They were not more powerful than God, nor were their illnesses or nor the demons that possessed them. They had simply stopped believing anything could change and therefore nothing did. How often have you been in that situation? Believing that what exists simply is and nothing can be done about it. These simple sentences remind us that no one's suffering, pain, or possession is God's will, but suffering continues when we refuse to believe that healing, that wholeness, that a different way of being is possible. </p><p>So, what is it that Jesus does that would seem impossible for us? It's not the healing. We are entirely equipped to be part of how God brings healing, including through exorcisms, in the world. What we would find difficult is something else.</p><p>After the full evening of healing people, Jesus appears to have slept and then awoken early to go and pray. Simon and the others hunt for Jesus. Though in English, our translations say they looked for him, the Greek implies that they hunted him down. He went to get away and they pursued him. </p><p>Why would they do this? </p><p>The night before, they get their first taste of Jesus-mania. Everyone wants to come to see Jesus and they are known as Jesus-adjacent. Perhaps they can trade their closeness to Jesus for favors, for funds, for fame. With stars in their eyes, they hunt Jesus down so he can come back and keep doing these miraculous things, acts with the potential to change the lives of these fishermen. </p><p>But Jesus didn't come for fame and fortune. He hasn't called the disciples so that they can be his managers and his entourage. </p><p>Here we see the contrast between how regular humans act and how Jesus acts. </p><p>Jesus tells the disciples that it is time to leave Capernaum and to go to other villages. He wishes to go and carry his message, and his healing powers, elsewhere. </p><p>You can easily imagine Simon and the others spluttering, "But, but, but... we have it good here. People will come to us. You don't need to travel, Master. Let's set up here. There's a crowd up at the house and Mom is feeding them. You don't want to disappoint them, Jesus." </p><p>But Jesus is not focused on human disappointment. Then, as now, disappointment with Jesus doesn't come because Jesus fails, but because our expectations for Jesus are misplaced. </p><p>Unlike most of us, Jesus can see the desires of the world, the desire to be liked or loved, the desire to be influential, the desire to be surrounded by people who admire you... Jesus can see all these things and turn away from them to do what God wills. </p><p>God's will was not to make Capernaum into a destination city. "Come see the MIRACLE WORKER! Step right this way! See demons cast out before your very eyes! Just 1 shekel! Half-price for kids." </p><p>God's will was (and is) for Jesus' power- his teachings, his healings, his provisions- to be spread throughout the region and the world. Jesus can reject what the world offers for the sake of God's desire, God's will, God's expectations. </p><p>I cannot imagine how disappointed Simon and the others must have been to go back to the house, gather up their things, and tell the crowds, "He already left." The dreams of their own glory were fading before their eyes and as the gospel goes on, we see they didn't let go of those dreams so easily. </p><p>Jesus moved on, not staying where the story would become just about him. He kept traveling to spread the gospel, the good news, of God-with-us, of the nearness of the kingdom to as many people and as many kinds of people as possible in the time he had. </p><p>This brings us to what it means to model Christ Jesus. Are our actions oriented toward getting the most likes, being the most known, having the most glory? Do we make choices based on what is popular with our family or our friends or in our community? Are we willing to set those things aside if it means being more aligned with what God wants? </p><p>This is a fine line to travel because it is easy for us to embrace an unpopular opinion and say, "Well, even Jesus couldn't please everyone." Modeling Christ Jesus, though, never calls for taking the devil's advocate stance. It calls for carefully reflecting on our choices, our words, and our actions. Is what we are doing, or leaving undone, part of God's will for the world? Does it bring healing, wholeness, or hope? Does it reveal and support the growth of the Spirit's fruits- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control? If not, perhaps it is a behavior or a habit that needs to be exorcised, cast out, for the sake of modeling our Savior? </p><p>Also, what do we expect of Jesus? Are we like Simon and the others, hoping for glory on the Savior's coattails? Or do we trust that Jesus has already exceeded anything we could expect of a Savior- an inseparable connection with God, amazing grace, the sending of the Holy Spirit? What are our ongoing expectations of our Lord in light of what He has already done? </p><p>As we go forth today, may God help each of us to live in and for Jesus, even more fully. May our faith in Jesus be increased such that we do not live for our own glory, but for His. And may we seek every opportunity to model His love in a world that needs to know such compassion, such mercy, and such peace. </p><p>Amen. </p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-78261415030710905862020-11-02T12:10:00.001-07:002020-11-02T12:10:03.616-07:00Still<div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P2Uv8GdeUhI/Uvpw_CmmadI/AAAAAAAAA-8/SfmpKKgVUbgRr0m7qhS-2HNNGd7lq7T8ACPcBGAYYCw/s2048/P1010119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P2Uv8GdeUhI/Uvpw_CmmadI/AAAAAAAAA-8/SfmpKKgVUbgRr0m7qhS-2HNNGd7lq7T8ACPcBGAYYCw/s320/P1010119.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> <span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;">“Be still, and know that I am God!</span><span style="font-family: monospace;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="text Ps-46-10" style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; position: relative;">I am exalted among the nations,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="text Ps-46-10" style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; position: relative;"> </span><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;">I am exalted in the earth.” - Psalm 46:10</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;"><br />In discussing this verse with a friend today, it occurs to me how undervalued stillness is in many Christian traditions. In my experience, stillness can be a struggle because people find it difficult to quiet their minds from racing thoughts, pressing needs, and clamoring desires. The inability to be still or have a quiet mind then becomes a source of shame or guilt, instead of its own reflection point. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;">In the Lutheran tradition, we value the tension that plays between positive and negative construction. This is most clearly evident in our interpretation of the 10 Commandments. While the written word is in the negative construction, "<i>do not do this</i>", the interpretation includes a positive construction, <i>"Instead, do this".</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;">Is there a way to put both positive and negative construction on stillness? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">Positive: Being still will help me draw closer to God. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">Negative: Being still will help me recognize the things that are not God. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">In that second construction, it is easier to realize stillness will help us reject the things that are not God. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">My to-do list- <b><i>not God. </i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">My negative self-talk- <b><i>not God</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">My stresses about things I cannot control- <b><i>not God</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">My guilt over things done and left undone- <i><b>not God</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">My frustrations with others- <b><i>not God</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">As each of these things appears in my mind, I have the chance to acknowledge them and to note that they are not God. They do not get the space or the honor that I have chosen to give to my Creator. If they want time, they have to wait. They are not God. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">In acknowledging what is <i>not God</i>, we have the opportunity to sink into stillness and be present to God's presence in and around us. If God is neither all those things, nor in them, where is God? How is God speaking to us? How does stillness lead us more deeply into God's truth? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">In the days ahead, there are likely to be many things that wish to assert their dominance in our minds and lives. Be still for a moment. Do they bring life? Do they offer wholeness? Do they contain hope and true justice? If not, they are not God. Let them go. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;">Continue in stillness that you may better recognize what is not God and embrace the One who is. </span></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-68076403311340139282020-11-01T08:27:00.002-07:002020-11-01T10:42:35.473-07:00Who Can Stand? <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>All Saints 2020</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b>Readings: Revelation 7:9-17; Matthew 5:1-12</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Revelation 6:15-17</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> <i>Then the kings of the earth, the officials and the generals, the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the Lamb’s wrath! The great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Who is able to stand? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yyZXaW61nqo/X57TkSTZexI/AAAAAAAAG0I/f7g3CRXQv2UCjZPR9l3nNG7zA51YUGHUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/0A20FEF9-3A71-4A85-969C-6AAF11D66851.heic" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yyZXaW61nqo/X57TkSTZexI/AAAAAAAAG0I/f7g3CRXQv2UCjZPR9l3nNG7zA51YUGHUwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/0A20FEF9-3A71-4A85-969C-6AAF11D66851.heic" /></a></div><br />It’s a fair question. In the vision of the Revelator, six of the seven seals have been opened. Famine, war, pestilence, and death have spread through the earth. All of the natural worlds are acting unnaturally. And then- the kings of the earth, the officials and the generals, the rich and the powerful, and everyone else- enslaved and free- hides from what is happening, and they cry out to the mountains and the rocks- who is able to stand?<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">They cry out to the mountains and the rocks, perhaps, because these entities are unmoved by all that is happening. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">They cry out, “Who can stand?” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Then, there is a pause in the action, a pause before the opening of the seventh seal, a pause where the four angels of the four corners of the earth are seen to be holding back the elements for the protection of creation. This pause holds, the Revelator is told, until the angels have marked the servants of the Lord with a seal on their foreheads. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Then comes the accounting of the tribes of Israel (Rev. 7:1-8), to whom God has kept and will keep the Divine promises. God’s promises are true and God’s covenant-keeping is an encouragement to us, even when the covenant was not made with us. All reminders of God’s faithfulness are good for our souls. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After that section, the Revelator sees a great multitude, so many people he cannot begin to count them. He cannot even estimate them. Furthermore, they represent all tribes and peoples and languages. What always strikes me is that the writer of Revelation is likely from Asia Minor. If he has spent time in Rome, particularly in a Roman prison, he can recognize where people are from. Yet, we do not get a list here of countries known at the time. It occurs to me that the writer may genuinely be seeing, in this vision of the Divine realm, people of nationalities he has never seen before. He is hearing languages he has never heard before. There are tribal outfits and markings beyond his experience or comprehension. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And, in a reversal of the scene around the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), all of the different peoples are united in their different languages to praise God. Here we have some of the most familiar liturgical language from throughout church history. It is not put in the mouths of the apostles or the church leaders from Acts. It is not Paul telling it to us or an early church historian explaining it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The writer quotes these words, these hymn fragments, in the mouths of people from all nations, tribes, and languages- noting that the scene around God’s throne, the culmination of God’s promises kept, the future of the redeemed is truly more than we can imagine. And at the very least we need to be prepared to be there with people we did not expect to see and who, maybe, didn’t expect to see us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is important to note that the elder who speaks to the Revelator does not say that this multitude is gathered around the throne <u>because</u> they came through the tribulation. That they experienced the economic, social, political, and physical oppression of the Roman empire is part of their history, but that is not what brought them to the throne. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">They are surrounding God’s throne because of the sacrifices of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ, and it is his love alone that brings them there. They came through their ordeal by trusting in his word above everything else. Every ruler who promised to save them, every cultic practice that seemed helpful, every community expectation around false idols and religious habits- this multitude resisted and worshipped, instead, their Creator. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Even as they worked, worshiped, had families, celebrated, and grieved- God was the center of their lives. Similar to those whom Jesus lists in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), these people were not suffering to be blessed, they were blessed because they suffered as they chose a life that put God first. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Let me say again, the multitude did not suffer to be blessed, they are counted as blessed because they suffered in doing what Jesus asked of them- loving God with their whole hearts and their neighbors as themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">If there are more people than the Revelator can recognize, then there are people who are not Jews and who are not from Gentile groups he knows. Some people may yet have been outside the spread of the Gospel as we know it and yet who were known to God. God decides who is in this multitude, God draws them forth, God chooses to bless them. The wideness in God’s mercy is not for us to boundary. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">We are the people who are drawn to that throne through Jesus. We are among the people who have been granted faith in the Lamb who is also the Shepherd. We are among the people who trust that because of Christ, we will someday come to a place where tears are no more. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On this day, we remember our loved ones who have already been received in that place in peace. We carry the pain of missing them, which is real and should not be judged or downplayed. We also carry the hope of reunion with them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What would it be like, I wonder, to imagine their hopes for us? Not the ones they spoke in this life, but the ones they may have now- given what they know that we as yet only take on faith. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In our present time of frustration and division, how might they advise us from that multitude around the throne? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In our present time of change and uncertainty, how would they encourage us in turning away from idols who make promises to us that are not theirs to make and which cannot be kept? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In our present time of injustice and unrighteousness, what story would they tell us about their present experience that would help us to center the love of God and neighbor in our everyday lives? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Revelation is not merely a vision of what is to come. The entire purpose of apocalyptic literature is an unveiling of how God is at work in present troubles and how to remain faithful in those same difficulties. We cannot read Revelation as something that happens eventually but as a vision of what was true and encouraging for the early church and what is true and encouraging for us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The kings of the earth, the officials and the generals, the rich and the powerful, all people- enslaved and free- look at what is happening throughout the earth and ask, “Who can stand?” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The ones who believe in Jesus, the ones who seek to comfort mourners, to bring peace and justice, the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the ones who renounce the forces that oppose God, and resist making spiritual mountains out of earthly molehills- <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">These ones, we, may still suffer, but we know that it ends with being comforted and with every tear wiped away from our eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">With God’s help, like those who have gone before, with God’s help- we may stand. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amen.</span><o:p></o:p></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-4287791882875694272020-10-22T11:25:00.005-06:002020-10-22T11:26:21.478-06:00Prayers for Ordinary, But Important Tasks<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nZmjNwvreYU/X5HAHGdl2VI/AAAAAAAAGyw/Y47Hptdl29YvAB--TxNcS5KZnTFSXwxJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_6387.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="234" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nZmjNwvreYU/X5HAHGdl2VI/AAAAAAAAGyw/Y47Hptdl29YvAB--TxNcS5KZnTFSXwxJgCLcBGAsYHQ/w176-h234/IMG_6387.HEIC" width="176" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paraments Changed from Green to Red<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Sometimes the everyday rituals mean the most. I was pondering these while doing some necessary, but mundane tasks at church. Here is a series of prayers for church and home activities that help us connect more deeply to the activities. </p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Waiting for A Hot Beverage to Be Ready</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jgy6F3mUPRQ/X5G9mnjLwRI/AAAAAAAAGyE/dYB9SJttMcAT7Bz33KsAvuwNa0L1naD9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_6390.heic" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1666" height="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jgy6F3mUPRQ/X5G9mnjLwRI/AAAAAAAAGyE/dYB9SJttMcAT7Bz33KsAvuwNa0L1naD9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w190-h233/IMG_6390.heic" width="190" /></a></div><br />Water of Life, I give you thanks for this <i>tea/coffee/hot cider/cocoa/etc</i> that I am about to consume. Its warmth and comfort remind of the consolations and peace of your everlasting arms. May I rest in those arms forever and carry the peace of this moment into the rest of my <i>day/evening/night</i>. Amen. <p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Changing the Altar Candles</b></p><p>Light of the world, you illuminate all existence with love and mercy. Even in the depths of pain and grief, You are present and do not permit us to walk alone. Strengthen our trust in your real presence and our perception of your works all around us. Amen. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Washing Dishes or Loading the Dishwasher</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5eC3fWLXoyc/X5G-VpsqHOI/AAAAAAAAGyY/oU5-kOCsODAGPCv-6C0g9B49oQhhI2kEwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_6389.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="193" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5eC3fWLXoyc/X5G-VpsqHOI/AAAAAAAAGyY/oU5-kOCsODAGPCv-6C0g9B49oQhhI2kEwCLcBGAsYHQ/w145-h193/IMG_6389.HEIC" width="145" /></a></div>Holy Provider and Healer, you have once again provided daily bread for <i>me/us</i>. Thank you that we were able to eat and keep <i>me/us</i> mindful of those who are hungry. The never-ending task of preparing food and cleaning up is a reminder of your never-ending love and mercy. Amen. <p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Changing the Paraments (Altar cloths) </b></p><p>Ruler of All Seasons, you have brought us to this <i>celebration/observance</i> of __________ (insert season, festival, or observance here). We give you thanks that you have sustained your church, through the Holy Spirit, through these many changes and that you will be with us in all that is to come. Guide our worship and praise, so that we may always be aware that you alone are due all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Changing the Toilet Paper </b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BvvzUTa5SQE/X5G_nRtaoTI/AAAAAAAAGyk/KwcfxC8IPgkW8aJs2E7T_Hv0RiiMNJCngCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_6388.heic" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1669" height="208" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BvvzUTa5SQE/X5G_nRtaoTI/AAAAAAAAGyk/KwcfxC8IPgkW8aJs2E7T_Hv0RiiMNJCngCLcBGAsYHQ/w170-h208/IMG_6388.heic" width="170" /></a></div>Look, Lord, there are many things I take for granted, but this is not one of them. Thank you for this resources and the many others I may not even consider today. Guide me, through this life, that I may make choices that support the flourishing of the earth and all people- even in my most private moments. Amen. <p></p><p><br /></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b><br /></b></p>
What are the other daily tasks that you can think of that might also benefit from small benedictions or prayers? Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-22225120198981729952020-07-26T10:24:00.000-06:002020-07-26T10:24:44.454-06:00God's Punctuation <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63); color: #3f3f3f; font-family: inherit;">We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63); color: #3f3f3f; font-family: inherit;">who are called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28 </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><font color="#3f3f3f" face="inherit"><span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63);"><br /></span></font></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><font color="#3f3f3f" face="inherit">Never place a period where God places a comma. - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracie_Allen" target="_blank">Gracie Allen </a></font></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Comma.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="262" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Comma.png" width="197" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Some of you may be familiar with the comedy duo of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who were active together in show business in the middle of the 20th century. George played the straight man to Gracie's comic timing. They were also married and had children. They were deeply in love. When Gracie was dying and George was deeply grieved, she wrote him a final love letter. One sentence that George shared from this letter was this, "George, never place a period where God places a comma." </div><div><br /></div><div>This was Gracie's way of reminding George that his life wasn't ending. There was a pause, but there would be more the sentence God was writing as the life of George Burns. </div><div><br /></div><div>That sentence, which may have been a proverb before Gracie wrote it, has taken on a life of its own. The United Church of Christ adopted the line as part of its "God is still speaking" campaign in 2004. Others have worked it into speeches to underscore their points about all kinds of struggles- political, social, economic, physical. </div><div><br /></div><div>Never place a period where God places a comma. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I think about that phrase, I think beyond the idea that we sometimes misunderstand God's word- both the written scripture and the living Word of Jesus. The phrase itself, "Never place a period where God places a comma", reminds me that we are not called to be God's editors. An editor goes through a writer's work and checks for errors, lack of continuity, and places that need elaboration. </div><div><br /></div><div>We often cast ourselves in the role of God's editor, deciding that we are sure we know for sure what was meant in the Bible, the intentions of the saints, and even why God chose to act in certain ways. We edit God's word by lifting our favorite parts and letting what we don't like to fall away. We modify God's intentions by aligning them with our preferences and understandings, instead of wrestling with how we may be called to act differently for the sake of Christ in the world. </div><div> </div><div>Today's readings remind us of the dangers of editing God, of deciding we know how God means to punctuate God's words and work in the world. God is pleased when Solomon asks for wisdom and grants it to him. Later Solomon acts unwisely. He takes many wives, some for affection and attractiveness and some because it is politically expedient to do so. This entangles him in many relationships that damage his loyalty to God. He conscripts his fellow Israelites, and others, for the building of the temple and his palace. He acts so unwisely that you and I might decide to punctuate his story differently, but God doesn't. God puts a comma in Solomon's story. Even when Solomon's choices are ruinous, he is part of the line to whom God intends to keep a covenant with Abraham. And Solomon is part of the line through whom God will keep a covenant with the world. We tell the truth about Solomon, but we learn, we gain wisdom when we accept that God will use whom God chooses. God's work through a leader does not necessarily make that leader good, but God is still speaking and we do put a period when God places a comma. </div><div><br /></div><div>Any decent editor might look at Matthew's account of the good news of Jesus and recommend some tightening up of the text. Not just punctuation changes, but maybe leaving a few of these confusing parables on the cutting room floor. In my mind, I can even see Matthew, writing with the help of the Holy Spirit, recalling Jesus' stories, and wondering how many to include. "Do we need all of these?" he wonders, looking at how much papyrus he has left and considering his cramping hand. </div><div><br /></div><div>The parables, in their strangeness and curious composition, are reminders that we are not God's editors. These brief glimpses into the shape of the kingdom of God reminded Matthew, his audience, and us that God's ways are not our ways. God is wild like yeast, causing change even in our measured circumstances. The kingdom of God stirs so much enthusiasm that one who comes to it unexpectedly is willing to sacrifice everything to keep it. Our God, the God to whom we belong, draws all people in, in the net of Divine Love, and it is God who does the sorting at a time that we do not know. These stories are fantastic and they push our imaginations. We who especially want things to be logical and reasonable can be frustrated by the parables. It is tempting to rework them, to smooth them out, make them clearer through allegory (God is this, we are this, we should do x), but that is editing. We are not called and we are not equipped to edit God. </div><div><br /></div><div>Never place a period where God places a comma. </div><div><br /></div><div>When the apostle Paul dictated his letters, which he likely did, everyone probably longed for a comma. Certainly his amanuensis, the person who wrote for him, likely did and we do, too. His long sentences can be confusing and years of translation mean we feel far from Paul's context and his way of speaking. We often edit Paul so that we can understand him, but our editing of his work means that we lose some of what he intended to say and what God has said through him to the church then and now. </div><div><br /></div><div>When Paul says, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, </div><div>who are called according to his purpose"- he does not mean that only good things will happen to faithful people. He doesn't even mean that we will understand the why and the how of difficult things that happen to us. That sentence is part of that whole section of Romans. A faithful person will likely reach a place where they don't know how to pray, possibly because they are so overwhelmed or grieved or frustrated. The Holy Spirit will help them pray, creating effective intercessions out of even their deepest sighs. </div><div><br /></div><div>A person who is struggling to pray is not in a position to understand how God is working amid difficult and confusing times. (Let me say here that if none of you can identify with that statement, I will own it for myself,) A person who is relying on the Spirit's help to pray needs to be able to trust that God is still at work, still speaking, still healing, still bringing resurrection power into a world that is obsessed with death. </div><div><br /></div><div>If we say to that person, that person who is struggling, "God won't give you more than you can handle" or "Everything happens for a reason", we are editing God. We are putting a period in the sentence, implying that feeling overwhelmed or frustrated or grieved is a sign of weak faith. God has a comma in that sentence. Even Paul's translators put commas in there, </div><div><br /></div><div><i><blockquote>The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. -Romans 8:26-27</blockquote></i></div><div><br /></div><div>The Spirit intercedes, meaning God knows faithful people will come to a place where they don't know how to go on, when they aren't even sure how to pray. We cannot edit that by implying that people who are struggling can buck up if they want to. Sometimes things are hard and the Holy Spirit is what keeps us going. When we are seeking to be in alignment with the Spirit, we must be still, listen, and wait until we can speak what we know is true and what is not our edition of God's word. </div><div><br /></div><div>Through Paul, God reminds people in that type of situation that nothing is stronger than God. Nothing can separate God's people from God's love. Not only does God have no eternal counterparts, but even entities that will die away cannot compete with God for loving us, providing for us, saving us, all through Jesus Christ. I'm tempted to edit here by throwing in some exclamation points. </div><div><br /></div><div>For I am convinced! That neither death! Nor life! Nor angels! Nor rulers! Nor things present! Nor things to come! Nor powers! Nor height! Nor depth! Nor anything else in all creation! Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! - Romans 8:38-39</div><div><br /></div><div>But that's also my editing. </div><div><br /></div><div>The main thing I want you to understand is this: God is still speaking. Even through words that have been written for centuries, those words are alive with the spirit and bring freedom to us through Christ. We are not the editors of those words. We are not the editors of God's will. We cannot and must not place periods where God places commas. </div><div><br /></div><div>During this pandemic, in the middle of our present political tensions, in the center of our community tensions over all kinds of things, speaking with certainty gives us a sense of control. That control is a false idol, encouraging us to lean on our understanding, which is most definitely sinking sand. </div><div><br /></div><div>God is still speaking to us. God is working, actively, powerfully, lovingly, in the world right now. We may not fully understand how or even what we are to do, but we can pray, with the Spirit, for understanding and peace. And we can sit with each other, in that same understanding and peace, supporting one another and reminding each other that we are not God's editors. </div><div><br /></div><div>Over the years, people have talked about how the Burns and Allen show ended with George saying, "Say goodnight, Gracie" and her reply, "Goodnight, Gracie." Recordings of the show demonstrate they didn't actually say that, but that sign off has taken on a life of its own. Keep that in mind now, so you can help me end this sermon. </div><div><br /></div><div>We are not God's editors. God is still speaking. Do not place a period where God places a comma. </div><div><br /></div><div>Say amen, congregation. </div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63); color: #3f3f3f; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px;"><font face="inherit" size="3">Readings </font></h3><div style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63); color: #3f3f3f; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><font face="inherit"><a class="scripture" data-bibleversion="NRSV" data-citation="1 Kings 3:5-12" data-highlightterms="null" data-readingcode="" data-readingid="53" href="https://members.sundaysandseasons.com/Home/TextsAndResources#" style="color: #007fb5; font-weight: bold; outline: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 3px; text-decoration: none;">1 Kings 3:5-12</a> <br /></font><font face="inherit"><a class="scripture" data-bibleversion="NRSV" data-citation="Psalm 119:129-136" data-highlightterms="null" data-readingcode="" data-readingid="953" href="https://members.sundaysandseasons.com/Home/TextsAndResources#" style="color: #007fb5; font-weight: bold; outline: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Psalm 119:129-136</a> <br /></font><font face="inherit"><a class="scripture" data-bibleversion="NRSV" data-citation="Romans 8:26-39" data-highlightterms="null" data-readingcode="" data-readingid="418" href="https://members.sundaysandseasons.com/Home/TextsAndResources#" style="color: #007fb5; font-weight: bold; outline: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Romans 8:26-39</a> <br /></font><font face="inherit"><a class="scripture" data-bibleversion="NRSV" data-citation="Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52" data-highlightterms="null" data-readingcode="" data-readingid="687" href="https://members.sundaysandseasons.com/Home/TextsAndResources#" style="color: #007fb5; font-weight: bold; outline: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52</a> </font></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63); color: #3f3f3f; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><font face="inherit"><br /></font></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63); color: #3f3f3f; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><font face="inherit"><br /></font></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 63); color: #3f3f3f; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N57sxP3Tc-0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><font face="inherit"><br /></font><div class="citation-description" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><font color="#3f3f3f"><br /></font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><font color="#3f3f3f"><br /></font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-4109577188968934952020-07-19T07:58:00.004-06:002020-07-19T09:59:46.143-06:00Undivided Heart<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubtKFgV9qrc/XxRRZCKf0FI/AAAAAAAADVc/7BoLTdsEd5sJVo4QcsKosXFcIMSMRHQ8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/1C3EAB40-89B7-45F9-B834-BE91D7A78257.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubtKFgV9qrc/XxRRZCKf0FI/AAAAAAAADVc/7BoLTdsEd5sJVo4QcsKosXFcIMSMRHQ8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/1C3EAB40-89B7-45F9-B834-BE91D7A78257.jpeg" /></a></i></div><i>Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;<br /> give me an undivided heart to revere your name</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">. - Psalm 86:11</span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">What does it mean to have an undivided heart? Specifically, the psalmist requests an undivided heart for the purposes of revering, holding in awe and respect, God's name. A heart that is focused on keeping God's name holy is truly an undivided heart. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">In the <i>Large Catechism</i>, Martin Luther writes, "Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God... Idolatry does not consist merely of erecting an image and praying to it, but it is primarily a matter of the heart, which fixes its gaze upon other things and seeks help and consolation from creatures, saints, or devils. It neither cares for God nor expects good things from him sufficiently to trust that he wants to help, nor does it believe that whatever good it encounters comes from God." (<i>Book of Concord,</i> 386f) </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">Our hearts are divided if we believe that God takes care of the next life, but not this one. Our hearts are divided if we say we are God's people, but we speak ill of others or feign ignorance about the oppression and pain of the world. Our hearts are divided when we worship God with our words, but our daily actions are focused on success, status, and stuff. Our hearts are divided when we take all the credit for what we have and what we do and do not offer praise and gratitude to the One who created everything and is at ceaseless work in the world. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">When we ask God, through this psalm and our prayers, for an undivided heart, we must accept the changes that will bring. As our heart finds a permanent anchor in God's presence and power, there will be a shift in our priorities. We will find ourselves aligned with God's will and God's way. When we try to go our own way, we will experience the pain of division once more. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">How can we know what is God's will? We look to Jesus. In today's parable, the gospel writer expects those hearing the parable to align themselves with the disciples and, therefore, also with the workers in the master's household. That means us. We do not concern ourselves with determining who is going to hell and who isn't. We know a weed when we see it, but our work is to tend to the wheat. Our task, the task of hearts aligned with God, is to take care of the soil, the wheat itself, and the surrounding field so that God's hope, God's love, God's mercy, God's justice matures and increases its yield. The harvest and the destruction of the weeds are God's own work of God's own creation, while we are hired hands for that work in the same creation. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">I don't like to speak for this long in metaphors. I understand the desire to have a parable simplified and the desire to have the pastor clarify, once and for all, weeds do this, wheat does this. Be wheat. End of sermon. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">That's not how parables work. Additionally, if I do that, then you know that my heart is divided. It means I care more about you and your comfort than I do about God's expectations of me and the holy discomfort the Word stirs for all of us. When preachers make things too easy and too comfortable too often, we are making an idol of you liking us and our preaching. When I'm unfolding pieces, but leaving you to complete some of the puzzle, we are both respecting that God's word is a little bit mysterious, a little bit disquieting, and something from which we wrestle a blessing, like Jacob. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">In that light, back to the undivided heart. But, pastor, I can hear someone saying: what about my family, what about my job, what about my friends, what about things I have to do for the community? </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">Friends, God has given you all those things. God’s love has been poured out for all, from the beginning of creation, through the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ, through to the Spirit’s presence today. If you find a division between how your care for your family or how you act in community roles and what you believe God wants of you, then you are truly experiencing a divided heart. The forces that oppose God often try to mask things like co-dependency, suffering, and complications as love by saying that life is hard, but God is with us. Life can be difficult and God <i>is</i> with us, but suffering and pain are not inevitable. Our attempts to control others, to relieve them of the burdens of their bad choices, to make people like us, to demand respect- all energies that go to this kind of thing and related situations are part of having a divided heart. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">When we ask God for an undivided heart, a unified hope, a clarified awareness and trust in God's power, the other realities of our life will fall in line. That doesn't mean ranching will suddenly become easier or our family member with addiction will suddenly be well. What our undivided heart will do is help us to live peaceably in the midst of life's complications. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">Once upon a time, I was in Fairbanks, Alaska for a pastor's conference. It was early November, but I'd ridden up with a friend. One of my friends flew to Fairbanks and rented a car, but it did not have winter tires. She missed the turn to the retreat center and found herself down a hill that she didn't have the tread or engine power to get back up to the main road. She called our group for help and three of us went out in a car to get her. Since she was down the hill, we couldn't see her headlights and she wasn't exactly sure where she was. As we drove back and forth, one of the other pastors got agitated. "What if we can't find her?" she said. "Will she have to be out here all night?" </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">"We will find her," assured the other person in our search party. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">We got out on the side of the road and called for her, while our lost friend was on the phone. She told us she could hear our voices, but couldn't see any street signs where she was. We told her to stay put and that we would walk down to her. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">Again, the other woman in the search party was distressed, "What if we can't get her car out of there?" </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">I hadn't said too much at this point, because I had fairly recently joined a 12-step group. My new work through the group had made me very aware of my own anxiety and my desire to try to solve problems quickly, in effort to get people to like me and to be considered proficient and useful. So, in our search for our friend, I had called her, but mostly stayed quiet because I was paying attention to details and to my own reactions. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">When the leader of our rescue party said again, "What if we can't find her?" I finally looked at her and said, "We can do anything for 12 hours that would appall us if we had to keep it up for a lifetime." </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">The other woman gave me the most horrified look and said, "A lifetime? What are you talking about?" </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">She had to think I was high as a kite and who could blame her? My words weren't soothing. To her, they didn't seem to take the problem seriously at all. For me, they were very serious. We would figure out a solution, eventually, but our anxiety wouldn't control the situation, it was only controlling us. I did have the good sense not to say that or to say the dreaded and unhelpful "calm down". </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">We rescued our friend. As we did so, I walked around the community we were in and then figured out how to drive the car out and back to the retreat center. I was the last one to attempt to drive the car out because each of the others attempted to get it up the hill. While they tried, I checked out our surroundings and discerned what I thought might be a back way, which turned out to be correct. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">I always hesitate to use an example like this because I know you often remember the story and not the point I am hoping you will take away. The point I want to make here isn't that you should stay calm in a crisis or that God will always provide a way or even that 12-step programs are useful. Those are good points for another day. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">My point is this: that is a time in my life that I can point to having an undivided heart. I knew, intellectually and spiritually, that God's desire for me was for health, well-being, and wholeness. I knew that some of the pain in my life was of my own doing and some was from others because I had let them take up space that wasn't theirs to take. This unity in my heart, my hope for healing, my experience of God's nearness helped me to know that a stressful experience wasn't going to last forever. By focusing on the only forever I knew, God and God's love, I didn't give the stress of the situation any more power than it needed to try to solve the problem. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">Not all situations are this easy. Not all people are going to be working with us on a team. Not everyone will respond kindly when we explain that we are trying to consider God's will for ourselves, our family, our jobs, our role as citizens, and our faithful actions. An undivided heart, though, will guide us in perceiving God's nearness. It will prevent us from making idols of our heritage, our denomination, our political affiliation, what we see on social media, what we read in the paper, what our friend groups expect of us, and so on. An undivided heart, a heart that desires to be aligned with God's will and way, finds peace in unusual places and hope in unusual times because God's love surrounds and carries it. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">Let us ask God for undivided hearts, hearts that are prepared as good soil to be nourished by God's word and that are strengthened to be workers for Christ’s sake in the world. Let us ask God for undivided hearts that will work with one another and with unexpected allies to end oppression, to bring justice, and to be part of establishing God's true peace. Let us ask God for undivided hearts that worship and trust in God alone, more than our own understanding or habits. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">And if we are not ready yet for undivided hearts, then let us ask God for the courage to desire them. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif;">Amen. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"> </span></p>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9096696136024576011.post-64477930401137159632020-07-07T11:28:00.001-06:002020-07-07T11:28:45.894-06:00I Am Not Resigned<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; text-indent: -20px;">I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; text-indent: -20px;">- <i>Dirge Without Music,</i> Edna St. Vincent Millay* </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l1l4FNcLHnI/XwSt6OQRS3I/AAAAAAAADUM/0POY32bC3jI23GSdEH_ca5kn_9KbV06_ACK4BGAsYHg/s4032/C33B6DEF-2187-4A92-A1F1-9EDBD0478257.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l1l4FNcLHnI/XwSt6OQRS3I/AAAAAAAADUM/0POY32bC3jI23GSdEH_ca5kn_9KbV06_ACK4BGAsYHg/s320/C33B6DEF-2187-4A92-A1F1-9EDBD0478257.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>It is difficult to communicate what it means to have a <i>teachable spirit</i>. How do I encourage people to live in a way that shows curiosity and a willingness to learn about others and their experiences? It is possible to learn to be different in the world while being gentle with yourself and without shaming the you of the past or expecting perfection of the you of the future. Trying to accomplish this is so hard as to feel impossible. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The political and social systems of the United States have only been united in one thing for generations. Keeping class dissension alive by exacerbating differences between people of different races and cultural backgrounds means that those who are at the highest reaches of wealth will rarely have their windows rattled (metaphorically). In particular, if people can be convinced that upper reaches of wealth is the goal and your neighbor who is different doesn't want you to reach that goal- very little will have to change because the puck will have been taken out of play and the game is just the fight. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The pandemic of COVID-19 has revealed what has always been true. A healthy economy depends on the workers who are paid the least and those who keep healthcare available and healthcare facilities open. If a country is not prepared to recognize this reality and shift priorities to support this truth, things will continue to be chaotic and confusing. Science learns and adapts and a society that wishes to be known for accepting reason and accountability will also value learning and adaptation. So far, that is only true for some communities and countries in the world. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The name of God and the will of God is being tossed around lightly without much care for what has previously been stated as divine priority. God values community that prioritizes health, sharing, and inclusion of all in the community (1 Corinthians). God values witness to the stranger over preaching to the choir (Jonah). God's house is meant to be a house of prayer (Isaiah, Matthew). God dislikes people who say that things are okay or peaceful when they really are not (Jeremiah). People of the church have a tendency to speak to their own wills, but claim their words come from God. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I am very tired. I know the present situation will likely continue for sometime. We have to learn how to do things differently. We have to want to learn how to do things differently. People aren't great at that. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; text-indent: -20px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; text-indent: -20px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; text-indent: -20px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -20px;"><font face="adobe-garamond-pro">*A. The poem itself is about not simply accepting that people will be forgotten after death as inevitable. </font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -20px;"><font face="adobe-garamond-pro"><br /></font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -20px;"><font face="adobe-garamond-pro">*B. I was inspired for this post by the Rev. Liz Crumlish's post <a href="https://liz-vicarofdibley.blogspot.com/2020/07/harnessing-rage.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR3wwjMBlwh8u2hGZBh2G2Ep-37loL_BnPcSZe7ntLLigx4Nw4foYT3X_5M" target="_blank">here</a>. </font></span></div>Pastor Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01483149432826000955noreply@blogger.com0