In this week’s sermon, we were invited to be grace-filled as we examine our idolatries and the idolatries of others. From the Acts 17 scripture, it seems that we are asked to take a deeper look at what those idols might reveal about what we were seeking in the first place. Furthermore, pausing to understand that underlying yearning for something bigger than ourselves will also point to the way in which God formed us and made us in such a way that seeking is part of our being. Nevertheless, as I wrote this sermon, there was an issue that was left unarticulated. That was the matter of an all or nothing mentality.
The invitation to a graceful attitude with ourselves and others is in many ways a calling toward journey rather than destination. In the journey, many concerns we encounter can neither be completely understood nor can they be fully solved. However, we live in a culture that tells us that we must fix ourselves, solve problems, and ally ourselves fully with causes… “you’re either with us or against us.”
But much like Luke’s telling of Paul’s encounter in Acts 17 where understanding wins out over shame and guilt, our lives too are rarely made better by the shame and guilt wrought by such a limited posturing. Rather than shaming someone for not yet recycling at home, what would it be like to honor them for recycling while they are at work? Instead of guilting ourselves over participating in unsustainable eating practices, what if we respected the worthy step of eating meat only 5 days a week instead of 7? And in a world of pass/fail schools, what if we celebrated small steps and even intangibles in students and teachers lives?
It is my deepest belief, both theologically and psychologically, that we would be healthier people, a stronger culture, and a more justice filled society if we started by honoring the little steps rather than shaming ourselves and others for what we have not yet accomplished. We would likely be encouraged to take more little steps rather than giving up entirely. And most importantly, I believe that such a way of life is closer to God’s will that we be active partners in the building up of creation.
My hope is that we learn and grow from the times we stumble so that our future steps are more steady. My prayer each day is for sustaining strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other and to honor each and every step along the way.
“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” ~ unknown
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Seeking Beyond Our Grasp
Seeking Beyond Our Grasp - A sermon based upon Acts 17:22-31
Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you today and share in worship in a different way since I'm usually facing the other direction... And might I say it's quite a different view from this side instead of my rear corner view.
Briefly, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Lavender and I'm a member of St Pauls and being nurtured in the care process of ordination. I'm also a full time chaplain at Children’s Memorial, where I've been for several years now. My seminary training was at Louisville Presbyterian and I graduated 5 years ago this week. And if you can’t tell, in my spare time, I do charity events like the one where I shaved my head 3 weeks ago to raise money for cancer research.
Well, enough about me… How about this scripture? I should say that this passage fascinates me. I mean, here we have Paul walking about Athens, one of the most diverse places in history. And this is a guy who is all about strict adherence to the law so all the idols and shrines throughout the city were truly disturbing to him. But rather than start shaming people and beating them over the head for what he would have judged as sinful, he does something quite different.
Paul says, “I see how very religious you are in every way...” He goes on to honor them for their attempts to seek and understand God even though he believes they have gotten some of it wrong. Next, he connects to a particular shrine the Athenians have built “to an unknown god” and claims that this is the God and creator of all. Then he says that this God actually created us in such a way that we would be compelled to seek the One that breathed life into all creation. Finally, Paul calls for the Athenians to make sure their beliefs are of the Holy when he proclaims that there will come a day that this God of all will judge all.
So, what do we make of this? Well, I think it's safe to say that this passage has much to say to us today. We too live in a culture full of idols and a sense of groping for God. We too need help sorting through what is our idol worship and failed seeking. And we too need to be honored for our attempts rather than shamed and made to feel guilty for being limited.
So, how do we unravel this message? Well, first of all it I think the issue of Paul’s approach is particularly important. He knew that if he were to stand up and condemn the Athenians for what he judged as idolatrous, they would become defensive and shut him out. He knew that it is never through shaming and quilting that genuine change is made. Shame and guilt may coerce behavior but they are not foundations for beliefs. So Paul starts talking to them by honoring their attempts at seeking God and their deep passion around religiosity. He wants them to know that their attempts are worthy and that God has even had grace on our groping and reaching for the Holy even when we come up short.
To me, this is an amazing insight. I mean Think about our own lives… If Paul were to walk into our church, down our streets, and into our homes, what kinds of idols would he see? I dare say that he would see many that span our attempts at seeking something greater than ourselves. Our cars, job titles, the famous people we’ve placed on pedestals, the monuments to ideals that are not quite holy… they are everywhere in our lives. We might be tempted to dismiss many of those idols as ones that represent greed or selfishness. But should we dismiss how they came to be idols? Maybe we should look at what we saw in them that made us lift them up in the first place.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that even though our idols reveal much about our failings and brokenness, they also reveal much about our attempts to fill a God sized void in our lives. If it is that the accumulation of wealth or monuments to immortality are all some of us can claim, then it’s because the appetite for God is so great rather than so small. So, starting from Paul’s model for addressing idolatry in our culture, we would do well when looking at our own lives and the lives of others to start with some grace. We should honor that the emptiness in us is that of a deep yearning for God. Even when we’ve claimed false idols, it was because we wanted so badly to see something greater than us… something bigger and timeless. Guilt and shame won’t reveal God’s true presence but grace and honor sure will.
The second thing I think this passage has for us today is tied up in that yearning and search for God that all too often results in the creation of idols rather than the worship of the holy. Paul tells us “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands… From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us.”
This is a powerful message to us. The whole reason we need to be grace filled and honor even our failed attempts to search for God is because it is actually God who implanted in us that desire. This passage says we were made in such a way that our whole experience would be marked by the search for God… and that sometimes we would even catch a glimpse or two.
And the way Paul frames this whole thing by connecting them to one of their very own shrines is pretty amazing too. He refers to the shrine “to an unknown god” and tells them that God doesn’t live in things built by our hands because the God that breathed life into all creation is just beyond our grasp and yet never far away.
So if we are made to yearn for and seek God but struggle to do so because it’s somehow beyond our abilities, what does this mean for our lives? Well, it may serve as some good guidance for us in our search. A marker of an idol rather than the Holy might be to realize that our glimpses and experiences of God can never be fully captured and pinned down. If we are somehow trying to recreate an encounter of God or claim a particular path to experiencing God, then we are probably missing the fullness of God.
Also, if God is both beyond yet near, another lesson for our daily lives might be that if someone else has experienced the Holy in a different way, we might do well to seek understanding rather than judgment. With God so full of mystery, there’s likely a whole lot that we just don’t understand but someone else just might. So another marker of our seeking should be humility.
This brings me to a closing point I think this passage is telling us today. Somewhat wrapped up in the first point, Paul proclaims that there will come a day that God will judge us for our searching and what it has yielded in our lives. Now given the recent botched prediction of some sort of rapture or second coming, I think it’s safe to say that we need not concern ourselves with what this judgment will look like or when it will be but rather we should hear the call to be vigilant and continue our journey of seeking here and now.
It is not our job to judge but God’s. Our job is to seek, to journey, to join together in creation, to respect that deep calling of God, and to honor the glimpses of the Holy that we do encounter. Our job is to uphold that desire in one another that is yearning and seeking for something more. We should do this in such a way that even when we get it wrong, we can take that experience and journey with greater clarity rather than being mired in shame and guilt.
Sisters and brothers, today’s scripture passage calls us to be grace-filled with one another when we see the fruits of our yearnings for God rather than shaming of our failings. It calls us to know that God is both beyond our ability to pin down and yet oh so very close. In the midst of that presence, we are invited to be humble in our experience and honor our paths and the paths of others. And we are called to be ever vigilant to weed out idols and false beliefs that would take up the place of God in our lives.
As we leave here today, our calling is to identify those ways we fill our lives with idols, look at what led us to believe in them, and use that yearning to find what is truly Holy. Our calling is also to help others in their attempts to seek and catch glimpses of God. And you know what, I suspect that if we are truly engaged in that work and those relationships, we’ll see God more than we have in a long time. Amen.
Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you today and share in worship in a different way since I'm usually facing the other direction... And might I say it's quite a different view from this side instead of my rear corner view.
Briefly, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Lavender and I'm a member of St Pauls and being nurtured in the care process of ordination. I'm also a full time chaplain at Children’s Memorial, where I've been for several years now. My seminary training was at Louisville Presbyterian and I graduated 5 years ago this week. And if you can’t tell, in my spare time, I do charity events like the one where I shaved my head 3 weeks ago to raise money for cancer research.
Well, enough about me… How about this scripture? I should say that this passage fascinates me. I mean, here we have Paul walking about Athens, one of the most diverse places in history. And this is a guy who is all about strict adherence to the law so all the idols and shrines throughout the city were truly disturbing to him. But rather than start shaming people and beating them over the head for what he would have judged as sinful, he does something quite different.
Paul says, “I see how very religious you are in every way...” He goes on to honor them for their attempts to seek and understand God even though he believes they have gotten some of it wrong. Next, he connects to a particular shrine the Athenians have built “to an unknown god” and claims that this is the God and creator of all. Then he says that this God actually created us in such a way that we would be compelled to seek the One that breathed life into all creation. Finally, Paul calls for the Athenians to make sure their beliefs are of the Holy when he proclaims that there will come a day that this God of all will judge all.
So, what do we make of this? Well, I think it's safe to say that this passage has much to say to us today. We too live in a culture full of idols and a sense of groping for God. We too need help sorting through what is our idol worship and failed seeking. And we too need to be honored for our attempts rather than shamed and made to feel guilty for being limited.
So, how do we unravel this message? Well, first of all it I think the issue of Paul’s approach is particularly important. He knew that if he were to stand up and condemn the Athenians for what he judged as idolatrous, they would become defensive and shut him out. He knew that it is never through shaming and quilting that genuine change is made. Shame and guilt may coerce behavior but they are not foundations for beliefs. So Paul starts talking to them by honoring their attempts at seeking God and their deep passion around religiosity. He wants them to know that their attempts are worthy and that God has even had grace on our groping and reaching for the Holy even when we come up short.
To me, this is an amazing insight. I mean Think about our own lives… If Paul were to walk into our church, down our streets, and into our homes, what kinds of idols would he see? I dare say that he would see many that span our attempts at seeking something greater than ourselves. Our cars, job titles, the famous people we’ve placed on pedestals, the monuments to ideals that are not quite holy… they are everywhere in our lives. We might be tempted to dismiss many of those idols as ones that represent greed or selfishness. But should we dismiss how they came to be idols? Maybe we should look at what we saw in them that made us lift them up in the first place.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that even though our idols reveal much about our failings and brokenness, they also reveal much about our attempts to fill a God sized void in our lives. If it is that the accumulation of wealth or monuments to immortality are all some of us can claim, then it’s because the appetite for God is so great rather than so small. So, starting from Paul’s model for addressing idolatry in our culture, we would do well when looking at our own lives and the lives of others to start with some grace. We should honor that the emptiness in us is that of a deep yearning for God. Even when we’ve claimed false idols, it was because we wanted so badly to see something greater than us… something bigger and timeless. Guilt and shame won’t reveal God’s true presence but grace and honor sure will.
The second thing I think this passage has for us today is tied up in that yearning and search for God that all too often results in the creation of idols rather than the worship of the holy. Paul tells us “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands… From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us.”
This is a powerful message to us. The whole reason we need to be grace filled and honor even our failed attempts to search for God is because it is actually God who implanted in us that desire. This passage says we were made in such a way that our whole experience would be marked by the search for God… and that sometimes we would even catch a glimpse or two.
And the way Paul frames this whole thing by connecting them to one of their very own shrines is pretty amazing too. He refers to the shrine “to an unknown god” and tells them that God doesn’t live in things built by our hands because the God that breathed life into all creation is just beyond our grasp and yet never far away.
So if we are made to yearn for and seek God but struggle to do so because it’s somehow beyond our abilities, what does this mean for our lives? Well, it may serve as some good guidance for us in our search. A marker of an idol rather than the Holy might be to realize that our glimpses and experiences of God can never be fully captured and pinned down. If we are somehow trying to recreate an encounter of God or claim a particular path to experiencing God, then we are probably missing the fullness of God.
Also, if God is both beyond yet near, another lesson for our daily lives might be that if someone else has experienced the Holy in a different way, we might do well to seek understanding rather than judgment. With God so full of mystery, there’s likely a whole lot that we just don’t understand but someone else just might. So another marker of our seeking should be humility.
This brings me to a closing point I think this passage is telling us today. Somewhat wrapped up in the first point, Paul proclaims that there will come a day that God will judge us for our searching and what it has yielded in our lives. Now given the recent botched prediction of some sort of rapture or second coming, I think it’s safe to say that we need not concern ourselves with what this judgment will look like or when it will be but rather we should hear the call to be vigilant and continue our journey of seeking here and now.
It is not our job to judge but God’s. Our job is to seek, to journey, to join together in creation, to respect that deep calling of God, and to honor the glimpses of the Holy that we do encounter. Our job is to uphold that desire in one another that is yearning and seeking for something more. We should do this in such a way that even when we get it wrong, we can take that experience and journey with greater clarity rather than being mired in shame and guilt.
Sisters and brothers, today’s scripture passage calls us to be grace-filled with one another when we see the fruits of our yearnings for God rather than shaming of our failings. It calls us to know that God is both beyond our ability to pin down and yet oh so very close. In the midst of that presence, we are invited to be humble in our experience and honor our paths and the paths of others. And we are called to be ever vigilant to weed out idols and false beliefs that would take up the place of God in our lives.
As we leave here today, our calling is to identify those ways we fill our lives with idols, look at what led us to believe in them, and use that yearning to find what is truly Holy. Our calling is also to help others in their attempts to seek and catch glimpses of God. And you know what, I suspect that if we are truly engaged in that work and those relationships, we’ll see God more than we have in a long time. Amen.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Peace for What?
Peace for What? <–- audio file of sermon. A sermon based upon John 20:19-31
Good morning. First off, let me go ahead and acknowledge that you might have noticed something different about me today. Is it new glasses? No. Perhaps a new outfit? No. The answer is I shaved my head 2 days ago at a charity event raising money for and awareness of childhood cancers. Some of you know that I do this every year and it’s always a wonderful event. Actually, the child we honored at the event was in the hospital and unable to attend. But like I said, it was still a wonderful occasion and such a great cause.
And just so you know, it is okay to ask me questions about it. It is okay to stare. And if you ask, I’ll even let you rub my head. But when you look at my head, please remember all those who struggle with cancer and need our support and then say a prayer for them.
Okay, now back to the task at hand. What do we make of these disciples and of good ole doubting Thomas? This is a story that a week and a half ago, I was going to preach pretty much the same thing we usually do. I thought we were going to look at the struggle between intuition and fact and of the different ways of knowing. I thought we might focus on how Christ comes to us no matter what our needs are so we need not vilify Thomas for being slow to believe.
But then Sunday night our televisions, radios, Facebook pages, and text messages starting buzzing with news that the President would speak. Soon the word came out that Osama Bin Laden was dead. And from that point forward broke a frenzy of praise, sorrow, questions, debate, and doubt. And somewhere in all this, a few people paused to ask, “what should the Christian response be?”
What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who apparently has masterminded the deaths of thousands of innocent lives? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who struck fear in the hearts of so many? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who was also a husband, father, grandfather, brother, and someone’s child? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who had become so consumed by hate and fear that he could not see the humanity in others?
Sisters and brothers, I’m not going down a road toward telling you what you should believe politically or think about Osama Bin Laden. But I am going down a road that points to what happens when we live behind locked doors.
Let’s take another look at this passage. The passage begins, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”
See, when we think about this passage in time, Jesus had just been crucified and died. That very morning Mary and Mary had discovered the empty tomb. Jesus had appeared to some of them on the road and they were sharing the news. But the general feeling amongst all of them was fear. They were afraid for their lives and afraid for their futures. They closed themselves off and locked the door. But Christ comes through the barriers and says, “Peace be with you.”
Later in the passage, we have the same disciples only this time Thomas is also there and he has not believed that Jesus was truly resurrected. The passage reads, “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Here again we have the closed doors that are presumably locked. Even a week later, the disciples are hiding out rather than being out and about. And Jesus comes through the barriers to once again pronounce, “Peace be with you.”
So, what do we make of this? It would be easy to speed on past these verses and get to the story of Thomas’ disbelief. But I don’t think these verses are here by accident and I don’t think John went to the trouble of noting the closed doors if it weren’t an issue for us to learn from.
First of all I think we need to have grace and compassion in our hearts just as Christ did when we look at this story otherwise we get caught up in judgment. These people were scared. Jesus had been their companion and champion. They believed he was going to restore justice in the land. They hadn’t yet realized his justice would be of a more far reaching kind. So in their fear, they retreated to a home and hid out.
But Jesus came in and didn’t speak harsh words or judgment. He wanted them to be at ease and to release their fear. He greeted them with a wish and hope for peace in their lives. Christ wants them to not fear or to feel worse for their struggle. He wanted them to heal. His words were about understanding their experience and knowing that more than anything, they needed to let go of the fear and receive peace and the hope that springs from it.
This is truly an amazing model for our lives. It is an orientation toward people that begins with saying, “I want to know and understand you and your needs.” To have a starting place of grace and compassion in our hearts is a starting point of love rather than assessing, judging, categorizing, or any of the other countless ways we sum people up without first seeking to understand them and their experience.
When we are scared and either literally or metaphorically close ourselves off, what would it be like if someone who loves us came on in and spoke love and peace into our hearts, minds, and spirits? How would we react if that person looked at us with eyes of compassion that told us that our experiences and feelings are safe with them?
And looking outside of ourselves, what if we were the person who could be that voice of peace, love, and healing for the one who has walled themselves off? When we’re dealing with the person who lashes out at us, what if our starting place was that of looking into how someone got so overrun by fear rather than lashing back at them? What if our priority was to truly know and understand people and their experiences instead of quickly assessing what category they fit into?
Now coming back to where I started with the death of Bin Laden, I’m not saying that there isn’t a time to make people stand accountable for their crimes or that understanding why someone is fearful is an excuse for the way they may have hurt others. There is a time for that accountable justice. There is even a time and a place for those categories like liar, cheater, greedy, selfish, terrorist, and murderer. Those classifications can help us as a society understand who has been hurt and how to exact justice. But those categories should never be a substitute for seeking to know and understand one another. That’s just not what the Christian life is about.
The Christian life is found in our second point today. Christ’s peace and calling are to fling open the doors and live out in the world as agents of love and healing. Jesus said, “Peace be with you” not only as a way to still their anxious spirits but to clear the path to move beyond the fear and anxiety. Next, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and told them to go out and spread the Good News and extend the gift of the forgiveness of sins to all. Their job, their calling was to be out in the world. They had received the Spirit and the Spirit should not and cannot be contained behind closed doors.
So what does this mean to us? Well, more often than not, our fears come out in more subtle ways that are not directly damaging to others but cause harm we will never see. We wall ourselves off from certain “kinds” of people or places thereby cutting of relationship after relationship after relationship. We convince ourselves that our fears are actually wise judgments or well thought out beliefs so we don’t need to bother with this person or that group. We tell ourselves that “they” are sinners or liars or too uneducated to understand or too far beyond help. We convince ourselves that we need not worry about them because they don’t want our help anyway. We use words terms like “crazy liberal” and “snooty” to feel better about not looking at them as a whole person.
But maybe that’s just the problem. The message of Christ doesn’t start with figuring out what category someone fits in to or how to fix them. It starts with understanding. Instead of seeing “they” and “them” we need to see a person struggling or striving or searching and look more deeply into how that journey has shaped their life. When our starting point is that of trying to understand someone, the issue of helping will then naturally into place. And you know what else? We often find that we were helped in some way too.
Now, I’m not saying living the Christian life means to blindly walk up to a person who’s fear may have built to the point of violence. But I am saying that it means unlocking the doors of fear we’ve constructed for ourselves. It means gently challenging the fears of others by seeking to understand them and being open so that they can understand us. It means challenging our own fears by trusting in the peace of Christ to overcome all.
Does all this sound too big? Well, it starts here. The church is the proving grounds for how we’ll live in the world. We start with the people around us and let go of seeing the labels and the judgments and the walls that keep us from seeing the whole person.
With Christ’s peace, we can let go of seeing the person who snubbed us when we needed a friend or the person who complains instead of helping or the person who boasts instead of listening. And when we let go of the categories of judgment we might understand that we weren’t actually snubbed because the other person was deeply depressed at the time. And those complaints are just a mask for loneliness. And the boasting was just a mask for fear. If we can let the walls we have between us down long enough to understand one another, we’ll cultivate such a deep community we’ll have the strength to go out into the world and do this with others.
And we already do. Look at the Kairos ministry. That’s an amazing example of understanding that leads to healing. And I could stand here and name ministries and individual actions in this congrigation that over and over reflect the triumph of Christ’s peace and the healing of understanding. But today’s passage reminds us that there’s always more to be done.
The Christian response to Bid Laden’s death is not as simple as cheering or grieving. We must seek to be thoughtful and compassionate, appreciating justice yet seeking greater reconciliation. Christ’s call in the world always begins with peace that breaks down fear. That peace leads to understanding. And understanding leads to healing.
Sisters and brothers, whatever fears we are hiding behind or keep locked away, Christ breaks in past them and says, “Peace be with you.” As we leave here today, let us be bold to hear and receive that peace. Let us be brave to understand and be understood. Let us be trusting in Christ’s calling and be agents of healing and reconciliation in the world. Amen.
Good morning. First off, let me go ahead and acknowledge that you might have noticed something different about me today. Is it new glasses? No. Perhaps a new outfit? No. The answer is I shaved my head 2 days ago at a charity event raising money for and awareness of childhood cancers. Some of you know that I do this every year and it’s always a wonderful event. Actually, the child we honored at the event was in the hospital and unable to attend. But like I said, it was still a wonderful occasion and such a great cause.
And just so you know, it is okay to ask me questions about it. It is okay to stare. And if you ask, I’ll even let you rub my head. But when you look at my head, please remember all those who struggle with cancer and need our support and then say a prayer for them.
Okay, now back to the task at hand. What do we make of these disciples and of good ole doubting Thomas? This is a story that a week and a half ago, I was going to preach pretty much the same thing we usually do. I thought we were going to look at the struggle between intuition and fact and of the different ways of knowing. I thought we might focus on how Christ comes to us no matter what our needs are so we need not vilify Thomas for being slow to believe.
But then Sunday night our televisions, radios, Facebook pages, and text messages starting buzzing with news that the President would speak. Soon the word came out that Osama Bin Laden was dead. And from that point forward broke a frenzy of praise, sorrow, questions, debate, and doubt. And somewhere in all this, a few people paused to ask, “what should the Christian response be?”
What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who apparently has masterminded the deaths of thousands of innocent lives? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who struck fear in the hearts of so many? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who was also a husband, father, grandfather, brother, and someone’s child? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who had become so consumed by hate and fear that he could not see the humanity in others?
Sisters and brothers, I’m not going down a road toward telling you what you should believe politically or think about Osama Bin Laden. But I am going down a road that points to what happens when we live behind locked doors.
Let’s take another look at this passage. The passage begins, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”
See, when we think about this passage in time, Jesus had just been crucified and died. That very morning Mary and Mary had discovered the empty tomb. Jesus had appeared to some of them on the road and they were sharing the news. But the general feeling amongst all of them was fear. They were afraid for their lives and afraid for their futures. They closed themselves off and locked the door. But Christ comes through the barriers and says, “Peace be with you.”
Later in the passage, we have the same disciples only this time Thomas is also there and he has not believed that Jesus was truly resurrected. The passage reads, “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Here again we have the closed doors that are presumably locked. Even a week later, the disciples are hiding out rather than being out and about. And Jesus comes through the barriers to once again pronounce, “Peace be with you.”
So, what do we make of this? It would be easy to speed on past these verses and get to the story of Thomas’ disbelief. But I don’t think these verses are here by accident and I don’t think John went to the trouble of noting the closed doors if it weren’t an issue for us to learn from.
First of all I think we need to have grace and compassion in our hearts just as Christ did when we look at this story otherwise we get caught up in judgment. These people were scared. Jesus had been their companion and champion. They believed he was going to restore justice in the land. They hadn’t yet realized his justice would be of a more far reaching kind. So in their fear, they retreated to a home and hid out.
But Jesus came in and didn’t speak harsh words or judgment. He wanted them to be at ease and to release their fear. He greeted them with a wish and hope for peace in their lives. Christ wants them to not fear or to feel worse for their struggle. He wanted them to heal. His words were about understanding their experience and knowing that more than anything, they needed to let go of the fear and receive peace and the hope that springs from it.
This is truly an amazing model for our lives. It is an orientation toward people that begins with saying, “I want to know and understand you and your needs.” To have a starting place of grace and compassion in our hearts is a starting point of love rather than assessing, judging, categorizing, or any of the other countless ways we sum people up without first seeking to understand them and their experience.
When we are scared and either literally or metaphorically close ourselves off, what would it be like if someone who loves us came on in and spoke love and peace into our hearts, minds, and spirits? How would we react if that person looked at us with eyes of compassion that told us that our experiences and feelings are safe with them?
And looking outside of ourselves, what if we were the person who could be that voice of peace, love, and healing for the one who has walled themselves off? When we’re dealing with the person who lashes out at us, what if our starting place was that of looking into how someone got so overrun by fear rather than lashing back at them? What if our priority was to truly know and understand people and their experiences instead of quickly assessing what category they fit into?
Now coming back to where I started with the death of Bin Laden, I’m not saying that there isn’t a time to make people stand accountable for their crimes or that understanding why someone is fearful is an excuse for the way they may have hurt others. There is a time for that accountable justice. There is even a time and a place for those categories like liar, cheater, greedy, selfish, terrorist, and murderer. Those classifications can help us as a society understand who has been hurt and how to exact justice. But those categories should never be a substitute for seeking to know and understand one another. That’s just not what the Christian life is about.
The Christian life is found in our second point today. Christ’s peace and calling are to fling open the doors and live out in the world as agents of love and healing. Jesus said, “Peace be with you” not only as a way to still their anxious spirits but to clear the path to move beyond the fear and anxiety. Next, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and told them to go out and spread the Good News and extend the gift of the forgiveness of sins to all. Their job, their calling was to be out in the world. They had received the Spirit and the Spirit should not and cannot be contained behind closed doors.
So what does this mean to us? Well, more often than not, our fears come out in more subtle ways that are not directly damaging to others but cause harm we will never see. We wall ourselves off from certain “kinds” of people or places thereby cutting of relationship after relationship after relationship. We convince ourselves that our fears are actually wise judgments or well thought out beliefs so we don’t need to bother with this person or that group. We tell ourselves that “they” are sinners or liars or too uneducated to understand or too far beyond help. We convince ourselves that we need not worry about them because they don’t want our help anyway. We use words terms like “crazy liberal” and “snooty” to feel better about not looking at them as a whole person.
But maybe that’s just the problem. The message of Christ doesn’t start with figuring out what category someone fits in to or how to fix them. It starts with understanding. Instead of seeing “they” and “them” we need to see a person struggling or striving or searching and look more deeply into how that journey has shaped their life. When our starting point is that of trying to understand someone, the issue of helping will then naturally into place. And you know what else? We often find that we were helped in some way too.
Now, I’m not saying living the Christian life means to blindly walk up to a person who’s fear may have built to the point of violence. But I am saying that it means unlocking the doors of fear we’ve constructed for ourselves. It means gently challenging the fears of others by seeking to understand them and being open so that they can understand us. It means challenging our own fears by trusting in the peace of Christ to overcome all.
Does all this sound too big? Well, it starts here. The church is the proving grounds for how we’ll live in the world. We start with the people around us and let go of seeing the labels and the judgments and the walls that keep us from seeing the whole person.
With Christ’s peace, we can let go of seeing the person who snubbed us when we needed a friend or the person who complains instead of helping or the person who boasts instead of listening. And when we let go of the categories of judgment we might understand that we weren’t actually snubbed because the other person was deeply depressed at the time. And those complaints are just a mask for loneliness. And the boasting was just a mask for fear. If we can let the walls we have between us down long enough to understand one another, we’ll cultivate such a deep community we’ll have the strength to go out into the world and do this with others.
And we already do. Look at the Kairos ministry. That’s an amazing example of understanding that leads to healing. And I could stand here and name ministries and individual actions in this congrigation that over and over reflect the triumph of Christ’s peace and the healing of understanding. But today’s passage reminds us that there’s always more to be done.
The Christian response to Bid Laden’s death is not as simple as cheering or grieving. We must seek to be thoughtful and compassionate, appreciating justice yet seeking greater reconciliation. Christ’s call in the world always begins with peace that breaks down fear. That peace leads to understanding. And understanding leads to healing.
Sisters and brothers, whatever fears we are hiding behind or keep locked away, Christ breaks in past them and says, “Peace be with you.” As we leave here today, let us be bold to hear and receive that peace. Let us be brave to understand and be understood. Let us be trusting in Christ’s calling and be agents of healing and reconciliation in the world. Amen.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
What is beautiful?
Disclaimer: The following is about my experience of brokenness and pain, not my theology. This is not a reflection on faith, belief, or religion. It is only a humble attempt at sharing my experience.
What is beautiful? A friend on Twitter told me that I am “beautiful inside and out.” I don’t believe that on the inside or the outside. I do believe that I have internal scars that wounds that are so deep and painful that I’ll never be able to fully share them with anyone. The pain has led me to make choices that abuse my body by over eating and not taking care of myself physically. I look at myself on the inside and outside and see sorrow and the legacy of sorrow.
What is beautiful is the way my body, mind, and my spirit keep going in spite of the torment. My body is so strong and most people will never know what it has carried me through. It has fought off attackers, withstood being homeless, and granted me a storage space for my emotions. My spirit is equally amazing in that somehow it keeps going and loving and seeking no matter how much it hurts.
What is beautiful is not my inside or my outside but the way I’ve taken my pain and learned to see into other’s agony with it. I can then extend the hand of compassion to them in the way I wish someone had extended it to me. Beauty is also in the way I’ve built relationships and loved people even though my inner voice says “keep them away.”
This beauty isn’t me. I’m not the beautiful one. The only way I can make sense of it is to believe it has been God that has held all my parts together and breathed the will to love into my actions. I keep loving and reaching out because I hope someday that beauty might reach back into me and heal my insides and outsides too.
I don’t believe I’m beautiful but I hope someday I might be.
What is beautiful? A friend on Twitter told me that I am “beautiful inside and out.” I don’t believe that on the inside or the outside. I do believe that I have internal scars that wounds that are so deep and painful that I’ll never be able to fully share them with anyone. The pain has led me to make choices that abuse my body by over eating and not taking care of myself physically. I look at myself on the inside and outside and see sorrow and the legacy of sorrow.
What is beautiful is the way my body, mind, and my spirit keep going in spite of the torment. My body is so strong and most people will never know what it has carried me through. It has fought off attackers, withstood being homeless, and granted me a storage space for my emotions. My spirit is equally amazing in that somehow it keeps going and loving and seeking no matter how much it hurts.
What is beautiful is not my inside or my outside but the way I’ve taken my pain and learned to see into other’s agony with it. I can then extend the hand of compassion to them in the way I wish someone had extended it to me. Beauty is also in the way I’ve built relationships and loved people even though my inner voice says “keep them away.”
This beauty isn’t me. I’m not the beautiful one. The only way I can make sense of it is to believe it has been God that has held all my parts together and breathed the will to love into my actions. I keep loving and reaching out because I hope someday that beauty might reach back into me and heal my insides and outsides too.
I don’t believe I’m beautiful but I hope someday I might be.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Walking Witnesses
Walking Witnesses <-- Audio link – A sermon based upon Luke 24:13-35
Good morning. I bring you greetings from the Sisters of Bon Secours at their retreat center outside Baltimore, MD. I’ve been there this week with a group of pediatric chaplains on retreat and was much blessed by my time.
The sisters of Bon Secours, which translates to “good help” from its native French, are a vibrant community of living faith. They live into their original mission of providing good help to the poor and the sick. In the early days of their ministry, I imagine poor families didn’t know what to think when a nun showed up on their door to live with and care for them until they returned to health. I imagine it was like walking along and suddenly having Christ in their midst.
And that’s where today’s gospel lesson takes us too. As we’ve walked in the footsteps of Jesus through Holy Week and Easter, we’ve seen him make his presence known in so many ways. Whether it was riding a donkey into Jerusalem or standing up to admit his identity to those who would arrest him, this Jesus guy is not one to stay hidden for long… but also not one to be pinned down. So, let’s look again at our scripture passage.
What we have are two of Jesus’ followers walking to Emmaus. Now, this was a well-known village and we don’t know why they were going there nor do we need to. All we need to understand is that it’s a common place to them. Then, Jesus appears to them but they didn’t recognize him. They told Jesus about all that had happened in the past week including the empty tomb that day. But Jesus could tell that they were not able to see the big picture of his resurrection yet so he illuminates the ways his life was represented in ancient scripture. Then he started to walk away but his two followers invited him to spend the night.
This is where the story turns. They go to into a house and share a meal. The scripture doesn’t say it’s the Eucharist… it’s just a meal. Jesus then blesses and shares the bread. At this point, they suddenly recognize him and he vanishes. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” Finally, the two takeoff back to Jerusalem to share this with others.
So what does this scripture have for us? Well, there’s definitely more than one moral to the story in this passage but what do we need to hear today?
First of all, I think God is telling us that it is okay when we don’t recognize Christ in our midst. This scripture tells us that followers were “kept” from recognizing him. Now it could have been their own inattention or grief or it could have been Christ himself who preferred to be unrecognized. The scripture does not tell us. But regardless of the cause, Jesus was obviously not offended by this. He interacted with them in whatever form they could receive.
This seems important because how often do we really recognize those God moments when we’re in them? Sometimes we do. However, quite often we are going about our day to day lives unaware that we were even part of meeting someone else’s deep and sacred need. Frequently, we hear from someone a few days later that they are grateful for our presence and how desperately they needed the eyes of compassion and hands of caring that we offered. Or how about those times when we feel so lost and something seemingly random happens that gives us new direction and focus? We could not see God working but we sure did reap the rewards of God’s presence in our lives.
So, we need to hear that it really is okay to not recognize Christ or those God moments at the time. There’s no need to feel ashamed or like we weren’t what God wanted us to be. We still took part in the work of the Body of Christ, even if we were unaware of what the whole body was doing.
Which brings me to the second point that recognizing when we’ve encountered the living Christ is fleeting and complicated and awe inspiring all at the same time. When Christ’s followers’ eyes were opened to who he was, they instantly realized that they were in the midst of a holy moment and then he disappeared. Can you imagine what that must have been like? They were being hospitable and then they caught a glimpse of Christ and then he was gone. It’s like the way Moses only caught a glimpse of God’s backside.
But our lives are the same way. When we do get that phone call thanking us for being there, the wind of the Spirit sweeps through our heart showing us God’s presence. When we look back at those seemingly random events that gave us what we truly needed to move forward, we feel the awe of God’s presence. You see, we catch glimpses of God but can’t capture the moment. This recognition of the living Christ leaves us knowing that God was working in the world but it’s not something we can pin down.
It reminds me of the song the nuns sing in the Sound of Music. When referring to Maria, arguably a Christ figure in the movie. They sing, “How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?” and “How do you keep a wave upon the sand?” You can’t and that’s the point. That upon recognizing the living Christ among us, we can’t capture it in a moment because Christ lives in movement.
This brings us to the final point which is that upon recognizing moments of the holy we are changed and are compelled forward. When Christ’s followers realized who had been in their midst, they said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” They realized that that burning of joy, hope, and love that was welling up within them was the first proof of Christ’s presence with them. Then they immediately took off to tell others and spread this good news.
Now, let’s look deeper at this for a few moments. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road…?” This is a powerful shift in the passage and it could be easily missed. They had just seen with their own eyes the risen Christ but what they immediately went to was how he had made them feel even when they didn’t yet recognize him. To me, that says something.
Poet Maya Angelou said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I think the same can be said for Christ. Oh sure we share stories of all that he did and said. Those stories really touch people and are important for our faith formation and growth. But when we really start talking to people about their faith and share our own, what people talk about are very personal encounters they had… God moments… moments of Christ in our midst. And they talk about the emotional experience of being touched by it.
And when we talk further with one another about our faith, we inevitably get to how those moments became the force for movement in our lives. We encounter the living Christ in some way or ways. The experience speaks to our hearts by whispering love, healing, joy, and hope to us. Then we are compelled forward to act more fully and boldly in the body of Christ. We may not use those words, but the meaning is the same. Christ reaches in and touches our lives. But it’s not in the recognition that we find blessing. Rather, it is in the part that stays with us that we are blessed and can then in turn bless others.
Sisters and brothers, I’ve been saying now for two and a half weeks that we need to be looking for Christ in our midst and that is truly a valid calling. However, more important than looking for Christ in our midst, we need to be reaching out and living as if we are encountering the living Christ every moment. We never know when it will happen. I even suspect that nearly all our moments are really Christ moments if we’ll truly open up to them. And if we do approach life with that attitude, I bet we would catch even more glimpses of Christ in our midst that would impact us even more deeply. And this would in turn compel us forward in even more exciting ways because living in the movement of the Spirit through the Body of Christ is never-ending in that way.
So, as we leave here today, I think the challenge is to be open to what these moments are doing to change us and how we can be open to the movement they create. How are we taking that experience of how Christ makes us feel and moving forward with it? What is Christ calling us to? Is it that we need to get to know new people? Maybe people different from us? Is it that we need to be involved in some form of ministry? Write a note to people God places on your heart? Is it that we need to open our own hearts to be touched more deeply by others? To be open to healing? Maybe we need to reach across the aisle and forgive to rebuild a relationship? Maybe we need to reach around the globe and heal relationships there?
I don’t know where the movement that God calls us to individually and collectively will take us. But I do trust that growing, loving, and living in the Body of Christ will bless us and spread beyond us in way ways we will never be able to count. And just like Jesus’ followers that encountered him on the walk to Emmaus, we will be forever better for the experience. Amen.
Good morning. I bring you greetings from the Sisters of Bon Secours at their retreat center outside Baltimore, MD. I’ve been there this week with a group of pediatric chaplains on retreat and was much blessed by my time.
The sisters of Bon Secours, which translates to “good help” from its native French, are a vibrant community of living faith. They live into their original mission of providing good help to the poor and the sick. In the early days of their ministry, I imagine poor families didn’t know what to think when a nun showed up on their door to live with and care for them until they returned to health. I imagine it was like walking along and suddenly having Christ in their midst.
And that’s where today’s gospel lesson takes us too. As we’ve walked in the footsteps of Jesus through Holy Week and Easter, we’ve seen him make his presence known in so many ways. Whether it was riding a donkey into Jerusalem or standing up to admit his identity to those who would arrest him, this Jesus guy is not one to stay hidden for long… but also not one to be pinned down. So, let’s look again at our scripture passage.
What we have are two of Jesus’ followers walking to Emmaus. Now, this was a well-known village and we don’t know why they were going there nor do we need to. All we need to understand is that it’s a common place to them. Then, Jesus appears to them but they didn’t recognize him. They told Jesus about all that had happened in the past week including the empty tomb that day. But Jesus could tell that they were not able to see the big picture of his resurrection yet so he illuminates the ways his life was represented in ancient scripture. Then he started to walk away but his two followers invited him to spend the night.
This is where the story turns. They go to into a house and share a meal. The scripture doesn’t say it’s the Eucharist… it’s just a meal. Jesus then blesses and shares the bread. At this point, they suddenly recognize him and he vanishes. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” Finally, the two takeoff back to Jerusalem to share this with others.
So what does this scripture have for us? Well, there’s definitely more than one moral to the story in this passage but what do we need to hear today?
First of all, I think God is telling us that it is okay when we don’t recognize Christ in our midst. This scripture tells us that followers were “kept” from recognizing him. Now it could have been their own inattention or grief or it could have been Christ himself who preferred to be unrecognized. The scripture does not tell us. But regardless of the cause, Jesus was obviously not offended by this. He interacted with them in whatever form they could receive.
This seems important because how often do we really recognize those God moments when we’re in them? Sometimes we do. However, quite often we are going about our day to day lives unaware that we were even part of meeting someone else’s deep and sacred need. Frequently, we hear from someone a few days later that they are grateful for our presence and how desperately they needed the eyes of compassion and hands of caring that we offered. Or how about those times when we feel so lost and something seemingly random happens that gives us new direction and focus? We could not see God working but we sure did reap the rewards of God’s presence in our lives.
So, we need to hear that it really is okay to not recognize Christ or those God moments at the time. There’s no need to feel ashamed or like we weren’t what God wanted us to be. We still took part in the work of the Body of Christ, even if we were unaware of what the whole body was doing.
Which brings me to the second point that recognizing when we’ve encountered the living Christ is fleeting and complicated and awe inspiring all at the same time. When Christ’s followers’ eyes were opened to who he was, they instantly realized that they were in the midst of a holy moment and then he disappeared. Can you imagine what that must have been like? They were being hospitable and then they caught a glimpse of Christ and then he was gone. It’s like the way Moses only caught a glimpse of God’s backside.
But our lives are the same way. When we do get that phone call thanking us for being there, the wind of the Spirit sweeps through our heart showing us God’s presence. When we look back at those seemingly random events that gave us what we truly needed to move forward, we feel the awe of God’s presence. You see, we catch glimpses of God but can’t capture the moment. This recognition of the living Christ leaves us knowing that God was working in the world but it’s not something we can pin down.
It reminds me of the song the nuns sing in the Sound of Music. When referring to Maria, arguably a Christ figure in the movie. They sing, “How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?” and “How do you keep a wave upon the sand?” You can’t and that’s the point. That upon recognizing the living Christ among us, we can’t capture it in a moment because Christ lives in movement.
This brings us to the final point which is that upon recognizing moments of the holy we are changed and are compelled forward. When Christ’s followers realized who had been in their midst, they said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” They realized that that burning of joy, hope, and love that was welling up within them was the first proof of Christ’s presence with them. Then they immediately took off to tell others and spread this good news.
Now, let’s look deeper at this for a few moments. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road…?” This is a powerful shift in the passage and it could be easily missed. They had just seen with their own eyes the risen Christ but what they immediately went to was how he had made them feel even when they didn’t yet recognize him. To me, that says something.
Poet Maya Angelou said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I think the same can be said for Christ. Oh sure we share stories of all that he did and said. Those stories really touch people and are important for our faith formation and growth. But when we really start talking to people about their faith and share our own, what people talk about are very personal encounters they had… God moments… moments of Christ in our midst. And they talk about the emotional experience of being touched by it.
And when we talk further with one another about our faith, we inevitably get to how those moments became the force for movement in our lives. We encounter the living Christ in some way or ways. The experience speaks to our hearts by whispering love, healing, joy, and hope to us. Then we are compelled forward to act more fully and boldly in the body of Christ. We may not use those words, but the meaning is the same. Christ reaches in and touches our lives. But it’s not in the recognition that we find blessing. Rather, it is in the part that stays with us that we are blessed and can then in turn bless others.
Sisters and brothers, I’ve been saying now for two and a half weeks that we need to be looking for Christ in our midst and that is truly a valid calling. However, more important than looking for Christ in our midst, we need to be reaching out and living as if we are encountering the living Christ every moment. We never know when it will happen. I even suspect that nearly all our moments are really Christ moments if we’ll truly open up to them. And if we do approach life with that attitude, I bet we would catch even more glimpses of Christ in our midst that would impact us even more deeply. And this would in turn compel us forward in even more exciting ways because living in the movement of the Spirit through the Body of Christ is never-ending in that way.
So, as we leave here today, I think the challenge is to be open to what these moments are doing to change us and how we can be open to the movement they create. How are we taking that experience of how Christ makes us feel and moving forward with it? What is Christ calling us to? Is it that we need to get to know new people? Maybe people different from us? Is it that we need to be involved in some form of ministry? Write a note to people God places on your heart? Is it that we need to open our own hearts to be touched more deeply by others? To be open to healing? Maybe we need to reach across the aisle and forgive to rebuild a relationship? Maybe we need to reach around the globe and heal relationships there?
I don’t know where the movement that God calls us to individually and collectively will take us. But I do trust that growing, loving, and living in the Body of Christ will bless us and spread beyond us in way ways we will never be able to count. And just like Jesus’ followers that encountered him on the walk to Emmaus, we will be forever better for the experience. Amen.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Risen and Still Rising
Easter Sunday - Risen and Still Rising <–- Audio file link - A sermon based upon Matthew 28:1-10
Good morning and welcome to the resurrection! I’ve you’ve not been with us all week, you’ve missed the celebration of a remarkable life in Jesus on Palm Sunday. On Maundy Thursday we heard the call of Jesus to be servants to one another and make deeper relationships with one another even in the midst of difficulty. Good Friday, watched in horror as those in religious and political power used their authority to have him brutalized and killed. And Yesterday, we sat vigil in prayer grieving and still reeling from the horror. And this morning at sunrise, we greeted the empty tomb where we saw that Christ seeks to involve us in his resurrection and does so with grace and compassion.
But now, we are in the thick of it all. Jesus is risen. Mary and Mary have the task of telling others. And Jesus even comes to them personally to tell them that he will come to them in Galilee. In each of the Gospels, this story unfolds slightly differently but they all have certain things in common. Christ promises to reveal himself again and does.
So, what do we make of all this? I think the first thing that must be said is that we have a hard time making sense of resurrection. It’s no wonder people both inside and outside of the church fight over whether it’s a myth or real event or even a hoax. But not understanding isn’t the real problem here.
What I think what bears scrutiny is why is it we have such a hard time wrapping our minds around resurrection? If we could understand, we wouldn’t have such difficulty figuring out what it means to our faith. And I’m not talking about skeptics. I’m talking about people of earnest faith who believe that the resurrection is a gift from God to all people. And I am willing to bet that most of us in this room have a hard time with it in some way or we have at some point.
We have a hard time with it because it’s so often beyond our common experience. I mean we struggle to conquer the little habits and “lesser sins” in our lives so how can we truly connect to a story of a risen Christ who crushed sin and suffering? We try. We try a lot and we work hard to make sense of it but at the end of the day, we find ourselves struggling with the same old flaws and sorrows. So, if Jesus was raised as a triumph over death and suffering, why do we struggle so much to experience it ourselves?
And that’s where we’ll start today. This morning in the sunrise service, we looked at how Christ approaches us in resurrection. We said that even when we don’t understand or can’t recognize Christ in our midst, Christ is faithful and reaches to us, and calls us forward with grace and compassion. But it’s just still so hard to see him and internalize what he has to offer.
Maybe that’s just it. Maybe we don’t understand what he’s offering for us to receive it. Maybe we need to expand our understanding of what resurrection is if we’re going to experience it more fully and with less doubt and despair.
So what is resurrection? Well, it is a raising of a body from the dead. The bible offers many stories of such events. But it’s more than just that. In Jesus’ case, it’s the raising and being made whole after being violated and brutalized by those in power. Jesus’ death and resurrection is an event of triumph and says that those who would try to squash the truth and life cannot succeed! The truth and life found in God’s love are so abundant that they live on and on and on.
So another thing we need to hear about resurrection in Christ is that it’s ongoing. Now, ongoing can mean different things. It can mean that something changed and that change still holds or it could also mean that something started changing and the process of change is still happening. I raise this distinction because I think it has bearing on why we have such a hard time internalizing Christ’s resurrection and what that ongoing resurrection means in our own lives.
I think the tension between Christ’s resurrection and our own difficulty understanding it is because Christ’s resurrection is one where something changed and it will always be that way for him. However, because we still live in the brokenness of the world, our experience of resurrection is one where a change starts to take hold in our lives but it’s a process that doesn’t come to completion until we’re fully in God’s loving arms.
So, what am I getting at? Well, I think it means that when we look upon the raised Christ, we really should be in awe because what has happened and is still happening in him is amazing and beyond our reach to fully comprehend in this time and place. We only catch glimpses of it through the body of Christ in the world. The reason the body of Christ functions with such mystery and wonder and beauty is because it’s purity is beyond our reach even though we participate in it as we are.
But this also means that we are a people both fully redeemed and still being refined. We are in the process of resurrection and it’s an ongoing venture that takes time and work. Our savior serves as a model while we’re fast at work trying to put the pieces together.
In the reformed tradition, we say that we are always both “being and becoming.” I always liked that phrase. It says that we are God’s beloved children as we are and more than adequate yet we have far more we could become here and now if we’ll be open to the pathway of resurrection.
But what does this really mean to us? Well, I suspect that we are our own barriers to experiencing resurrection more than anything else. Because we are not experiencing the one time miraculous event of Jesus but rather a process of resurrection, we don’t see the bigger picture of what is going on in our lives. We lose patience or faith or energy or hope. And, simply put I think we have to have grace and love for ourselves here and now just like God does. And if we have grace and love for ourselves and others, we’ll hear the calling to grow further in the body of Christ and continue becoming that fully resurrected spirit in Christ.
But what does it really mean? It means that we all have those places we struggle, those flaws that haunt us. We all have wounds from experiences that have not healed and continue to make us vulnerable to reacting out of pain and fear. Those are the things we must have grace and compassion for in ourselves. God already does. But do we?
When we struggle with depression or other ailments of the mind and spirit, how gentle are we with ourselves? When the pain and fear that illness bring takes hold on us, do we stay open to the love that the body of Christ offers? When our security is threatened, do we keep our hearts open? When lose someone, do we let ourselves be vulnerable? When we fall on our face over and over and over again with the same struggle whether it’s dishonoring our body or having a self-centered spirit, do we keep looking to God or do we condemn ourselves, denying our value and worth in God’s eyes. And when the unknown is in our midst, do we stop to see if it might be Christ or do we look away in fear?
Do you want to know what Christ’s ongoing resurrection looks like? Ongoing resurrection is the person who bears the pain of an abusive past or maybe even the present and still gets up with hope that healing can happen. Resurrection is the person with cancer who says I’ll not go through this alone because the healing I find in those who love me equals or exceeds the healing I get from these treatments. Resurrection is the family that keeps growing and changing and dealing with everything that comes up because being a family is hard and takes daily renewal. Resurrection is the person who loses a loved one and honors the love they shared by carrying that love forward and sharing it with others.
Do you want to see the face of resurrection? Look around this room. Look at the faces of people around you. Look at this group of people who have lost several pastors in 10 years and been betrayed and wounded yet you still come here with faith and hope in the living Christ. Hope that healing will be yours. And faith that it’s not the pastor that makes this church, but the people. That, my friends is resurrection lived. It’s lived in a process that has ups and downs but new life woven into every part of it.
Sisters and brothers, resurrection is loving and hoping and living in the face of the brokenness. It is knowing that the risen Christ will keep working through and around us. It is being both redeemed and still being refined, being and becoming. Each and every day, we are taking part in the process of resurrection and new life
As we go from here celebrating our risen Lord, may we also seek and take part in the ways Christ is healing our lives into resurrected glory. May we claim God’s love and healing so that we can experience it. And may we live the resurrection each and every day. Amen.
Good morning and welcome to the resurrection! I’ve you’ve not been with us all week, you’ve missed the celebration of a remarkable life in Jesus on Palm Sunday. On Maundy Thursday we heard the call of Jesus to be servants to one another and make deeper relationships with one another even in the midst of difficulty. Good Friday, watched in horror as those in religious and political power used their authority to have him brutalized and killed. And Yesterday, we sat vigil in prayer grieving and still reeling from the horror. And this morning at sunrise, we greeted the empty tomb where we saw that Christ seeks to involve us in his resurrection and does so with grace and compassion.
But now, we are in the thick of it all. Jesus is risen. Mary and Mary have the task of telling others. And Jesus even comes to them personally to tell them that he will come to them in Galilee. In each of the Gospels, this story unfolds slightly differently but they all have certain things in common. Christ promises to reveal himself again and does.
So, what do we make of all this? I think the first thing that must be said is that we have a hard time making sense of resurrection. It’s no wonder people both inside and outside of the church fight over whether it’s a myth or real event or even a hoax. But not understanding isn’t the real problem here.
What I think what bears scrutiny is why is it we have such a hard time wrapping our minds around resurrection? If we could understand, we wouldn’t have such difficulty figuring out what it means to our faith. And I’m not talking about skeptics. I’m talking about people of earnest faith who believe that the resurrection is a gift from God to all people. And I am willing to bet that most of us in this room have a hard time with it in some way or we have at some point.
We have a hard time with it because it’s so often beyond our common experience. I mean we struggle to conquer the little habits and “lesser sins” in our lives so how can we truly connect to a story of a risen Christ who crushed sin and suffering? We try. We try a lot and we work hard to make sense of it but at the end of the day, we find ourselves struggling with the same old flaws and sorrows. So, if Jesus was raised as a triumph over death and suffering, why do we struggle so much to experience it ourselves?
And that’s where we’ll start today. This morning in the sunrise service, we looked at how Christ approaches us in resurrection. We said that even when we don’t understand or can’t recognize Christ in our midst, Christ is faithful and reaches to us, and calls us forward with grace and compassion. But it’s just still so hard to see him and internalize what he has to offer.
Maybe that’s just it. Maybe we don’t understand what he’s offering for us to receive it. Maybe we need to expand our understanding of what resurrection is if we’re going to experience it more fully and with less doubt and despair.
So what is resurrection? Well, it is a raising of a body from the dead. The bible offers many stories of such events. But it’s more than just that. In Jesus’ case, it’s the raising and being made whole after being violated and brutalized by those in power. Jesus’ death and resurrection is an event of triumph and says that those who would try to squash the truth and life cannot succeed! The truth and life found in God’s love are so abundant that they live on and on and on.
So another thing we need to hear about resurrection in Christ is that it’s ongoing. Now, ongoing can mean different things. It can mean that something changed and that change still holds or it could also mean that something started changing and the process of change is still happening. I raise this distinction because I think it has bearing on why we have such a hard time internalizing Christ’s resurrection and what that ongoing resurrection means in our own lives.
I think the tension between Christ’s resurrection and our own difficulty understanding it is because Christ’s resurrection is one where something changed and it will always be that way for him. However, because we still live in the brokenness of the world, our experience of resurrection is one where a change starts to take hold in our lives but it’s a process that doesn’t come to completion until we’re fully in God’s loving arms.
So, what am I getting at? Well, I think it means that when we look upon the raised Christ, we really should be in awe because what has happened and is still happening in him is amazing and beyond our reach to fully comprehend in this time and place. We only catch glimpses of it through the body of Christ in the world. The reason the body of Christ functions with such mystery and wonder and beauty is because it’s purity is beyond our reach even though we participate in it as we are.
But this also means that we are a people both fully redeemed and still being refined. We are in the process of resurrection and it’s an ongoing venture that takes time and work. Our savior serves as a model while we’re fast at work trying to put the pieces together.
In the reformed tradition, we say that we are always both “being and becoming.” I always liked that phrase. It says that we are God’s beloved children as we are and more than adequate yet we have far more we could become here and now if we’ll be open to the pathway of resurrection.
But what does this really mean to us? Well, I suspect that we are our own barriers to experiencing resurrection more than anything else. Because we are not experiencing the one time miraculous event of Jesus but rather a process of resurrection, we don’t see the bigger picture of what is going on in our lives. We lose patience or faith or energy or hope. And, simply put I think we have to have grace and love for ourselves here and now just like God does. And if we have grace and love for ourselves and others, we’ll hear the calling to grow further in the body of Christ and continue becoming that fully resurrected spirit in Christ.
But what does it really mean? It means that we all have those places we struggle, those flaws that haunt us. We all have wounds from experiences that have not healed and continue to make us vulnerable to reacting out of pain and fear. Those are the things we must have grace and compassion for in ourselves. God already does. But do we?
When we struggle with depression or other ailments of the mind and spirit, how gentle are we with ourselves? When the pain and fear that illness bring takes hold on us, do we stay open to the love that the body of Christ offers? When our security is threatened, do we keep our hearts open? When lose someone, do we let ourselves be vulnerable? When we fall on our face over and over and over again with the same struggle whether it’s dishonoring our body or having a self-centered spirit, do we keep looking to God or do we condemn ourselves, denying our value and worth in God’s eyes. And when the unknown is in our midst, do we stop to see if it might be Christ or do we look away in fear?
Do you want to know what Christ’s ongoing resurrection looks like? Ongoing resurrection is the person who bears the pain of an abusive past or maybe even the present and still gets up with hope that healing can happen. Resurrection is the person with cancer who says I’ll not go through this alone because the healing I find in those who love me equals or exceeds the healing I get from these treatments. Resurrection is the family that keeps growing and changing and dealing with everything that comes up because being a family is hard and takes daily renewal. Resurrection is the person who loses a loved one and honors the love they shared by carrying that love forward and sharing it with others.
Do you want to see the face of resurrection? Look around this room. Look at the faces of people around you. Look at this group of people who have lost several pastors in 10 years and been betrayed and wounded yet you still come here with faith and hope in the living Christ. Hope that healing will be yours. And faith that it’s not the pastor that makes this church, but the people. That, my friends is resurrection lived. It’s lived in a process that has ups and downs but new life woven into every part of it.
Sisters and brothers, resurrection is loving and hoping and living in the face of the brokenness. It is knowing that the risen Christ will keep working through and around us. It is being both redeemed and still being refined, being and becoming. Each and every day, we are taking part in the process of resurrection and new life
As we go from here celebrating our risen Lord, may we also seek and take part in the ways Christ is healing our lives into resurrected glory. May we claim God’s love and healing so that we can experience it. And may we live the resurrection each and every day. Amen.
Easter Sunrise - Why Are You Weeping?
Easter A Sunrise - Why Are You Weeping? – A sermon based upon John 20:1-18
Good morning and welcome to Easter sunrise service. We’ve made it through Holy Week where we’ve seen Jesus triumphantly entering Jerusalem, him sharing in humble service and fellowship with his disciples, Christ being betrayed and brutally put to death. But now we’re here. We have made it to see our risen Christ! And not only is our Gospel passage one of that event, this Gospel account is one of the most moving accounts of the empty tomb. Reading this story always makes me aware of just how frightened and bewildered Mary Magdalene must have been that morning.
And it’s because of her experience that we congregate so early on this day. There’s something special about gathering at dawn that helps us take in what it must have been like for Mary Magdalene when she found an empty tomb on that sacred morning. So again, welcome! And welcome to the resurrection!
Sometime back when I started praying and thinking about what themes we needed to connect with during Holy Week, I never had any doubt that resurrection was where we needed to be today. Oh, I know there are lots of directions pastors can go with the Easter story and each year seems to call for something different. But this year, it felt like God kept whispering the word resurrection to my heart and mind.
So, even though it may seem obvious, that’s where we’re going this morning. In this sunrise service, we’re going briefly reflect on what this story is telling us about how we experience Christ and the resurrection. In the later services, the sermon will focus on what is resurrection and living the ongoing resurrection. So, I hope to see you there.
Well, let’s talk about what happened that morning. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb presumably to grieve or care for the body. But when she arrives, she finds no one. Jesus is gone. She was dumfounded by what was going on so she went to get the disciples. They didn’t know either. In Mary’s grief, she stayed at the tomb weeping. This is when Jesus spoke to her but she didn’t recognize him. Then he called her by name and she did. Jesus told her the truth of his resurrection and then she went to share it with the disciples.
This seems like a fantastic story in part because we have such a hard time wrapping our minds around what happened that morning. And they had a hard time too. What this resurrection meant would not become clear to them for some time to come. So all we have are the circumstances and the reactions. But I think those tell us something about resurrection too. And if we can deal with the jarring reality Mary encountered that morning, maybe we’ll be ready to deal with what the resurrection really means for us later.
So, I think the first thing we need to recognize about encountering resurrection is that when we’re in the throes of sorrow or some other overwhelming emotion, we have a hard time recognizing Christ in our midst. Mary Magdalene was there seeking someone she was close to and thought his body had been violated and stolen. She was absolutely grief stricken when Jesus first spoke to her so it’s no wonder she didn’t recognize him. But even though Mary didn’t recognize him, he still reached out with a question of caring and concern. “Why are you weeping?”
Let’s think of our own lives. When we’re at our lowest, how often do we not recognize the compassionate hand of the Body of Christ when it reaches out to us? I venture to say, more than we probably realize. Yet, that hand keeps reaching out to us even when we don’t see it. So, I think God’s message to us is the same as Jesus’ message to Mary. God is faithful even when we can’t see it and has abundant grace for us in those times.
The next thing I think we can learn about encountering resurrection is that we have to be open to what is being revealed to us. Mary suddenly recognized Jesus when he called her by name. Before she recognized him, she was so overwhelmed that Jesus could have continued to talk to her but she would not have really heard him. But by speaking her name, something so personal, he connected with her and she could take in what Jesus had to share.
I think our lives are the same way. Like I said before, the body of Christ reaches out to us and reaches out to us but sometimes we don’t or can’t recognize it. But God is intentional to speak to us. When God’s message isn’t getting through, God seeks to find what will connect with us personally so that we recognize and are able to hear. Take for example, struggling with illness. Pain and suffering can be overwhelming and even though there are people around us trying to help, we have a hard time receiving that help or recognizing that it’s there. But sooner or later, if we don’t completely succumb to the pain, that just right phrase or that just right moment comes to us that opens our eyes and then we can see God in our midst again.
The third thing I think we should recognize about encountering resurrection is that once we get our bearings and have recognized Christ in our midst, we must act. Resurrection is an action and one that we participate in. When Jesus finished talking with Mary, she went forward to tell others. And in the coming weeks, we’ll see that this going forward turns into a movement. It’s a movement that demonstrates the body of Christ alive in the world… resurrection in our midst.
So, I’ve pointed to three things from this passage about encountering resurrection. 1) Christ is faithful to us even when we don’t recognize him in our midst. 2) Christ reaches out to us in ways that connect personally so that we can recognize him. And 3) recognizing and hearing Christ calls us and connects us to the workings of Christ. So, why did I point these out?
I did so because this morning, we’re looking at an empty tomb and don’t always know what to make of it. Sometimes we’re doubtful. Sometimes, we don’t understand. Sometimes, we can’t see. But that’s okay because Christ will be faithful and reach to us and call us forward anyway with grace and compassion.
I shared this because we each need resurrection in our own lives yet often become trapped by sorrow and pain. But that’s okay because Christ will be faithful and reach to us and call us forward anyway.
I pointed to these things because resurrection is not just a one-time event. Christ comes to us each day with compassion, just as he did Mary, and says, “Why are you weeping?” There are moments and moments and moments that Christ takes what is dead and fills it with new life. Yet we struggle to see where it came from or how we can participate in it. And that’s okay because Christ will be faithful and reaches to us and call us forward anyway.
Sisters and Brothers, He is risen! We don’t say he has risen or did rise as if it was an event of the past. We say he IS risen because it is timeless. We may not know what to make of it yet, but something amazing has happened and will keep happening if we but hear his voice in those resurrection moments.
I hope you’ll stay around for a later service where we’ll look at what this resurrection is and how we can proclaim it each and every day. Amen.
Good morning and welcome to Easter sunrise service. We’ve made it through Holy Week where we’ve seen Jesus triumphantly entering Jerusalem, him sharing in humble service and fellowship with his disciples, Christ being betrayed and brutally put to death. But now we’re here. We have made it to see our risen Christ! And not only is our Gospel passage one of that event, this Gospel account is one of the most moving accounts of the empty tomb. Reading this story always makes me aware of just how frightened and bewildered Mary Magdalene must have been that morning.
And it’s because of her experience that we congregate so early on this day. There’s something special about gathering at dawn that helps us take in what it must have been like for Mary Magdalene when she found an empty tomb on that sacred morning. So again, welcome! And welcome to the resurrection!
Sometime back when I started praying and thinking about what themes we needed to connect with during Holy Week, I never had any doubt that resurrection was where we needed to be today. Oh, I know there are lots of directions pastors can go with the Easter story and each year seems to call for something different. But this year, it felt like God kept whispering the word resurrection to my heart and mind.
So, even though it may seem obvious, that’s where we’re going this morning. In this sunrise service, we’re going briefly reflect on what this story is telling us about how we experience Christ and the resurrection. In the later services, the sermon will focus on what is resurrection and living the ongoing resurrection. So, I hope to see you there.
Well, let’s talk about what happened that morning. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb presumably to grieve or care for the body. But when she arrives, she finds no one. Jesus is gone. She was dumfounded by what was going on so she went to get the disciples. They didn’t know either. In Mary’s grief, she stayed at the tomb weeping. This is when Jesus spoke to her but she didn’t recognize him. Then he called her by name and she did. Jesus told her the truth of his resurrection and then she went to share it with the disciples.
This seems like a fantastic story in part because we have such a hard time wrapping our minds around what happened that morning. And they had a hard time too. What this resurrection meant would not become clear to them for some time to come. So all we have are the circumstances and the reactions. But I think those tell us something about resurrection too. And if we can deal with the jarring reality Mary encountered that morning, maybe we’ll be ready to deal with what the resurrection really means for us later.
So, I think the first thing we need to recognize about encountering resurrection is that when we’re in the throes of sorrow or some other overwhelming emotion, we have a hard time recognizing Christ in our midst. Mary Magdalene was there seeking someone she was close to and thought his body had been violated and stolen. She was absolutely grief stricken when Jesus first spoke to her so it’s no wonder she didn’t recognize him. But even though Mary didn’t recognize him, he still reached out with a question of caring and concern. “Why are you weeping?”
Let’s think of our own lives. When we’re at our lowest, how often do we not recognize the compassionate hand of the Body of Christ when it reaches out to us? I venture to say, more than we probably realize. Yet, that hand keeps reaching out to us even when we don’t see it. So, I think God’s message to us is the same as Jesus’ message to Mary. God is faithful even when we can’t see it and has abundant grace for us in those times.
The next thing I think we can learn about encountering resurrection is that we have to be open to what is being revealed to us. Mary suddenly recognized Jesus when he called her by name. Before she recognized him, she was so overwhelmed that Jesus could have continued to talk to her but she would not have really heard him. But by speaking her name, something so personal, he connected with her and she could take in what Jesus had to share.
I think our lives are the same way. Like I said before, the body of Christ reaches out to us and reaches out to us but sometimes we don’t or can’t recognize it. But God is intentional to speak to us. When God’s message isn’t getting through, God seeks to find what will connect with us personally so that we recognize and are able to hear. Take for example, struggling with illness. Pain and suffering can be overwhelming and even though there are people around us trying to help, we have a hard time receiving that help or recognizing that it’s there. But sooner or later, if we don’t completely succumb to the pain, that just right phrase or that just right moment comes to us that opens our eyes and then we can see God in our midst again.
The third thing I think we should recognize about encountering resurrection is that once we get our bearings and have recognized Christ in our midst, we must act. Resurrection is an action and one that we participate in. When Jesus finished talking with Mary, she went forward to tell others. And in the coming weeks, we’ll see that this going forward turns into a movement. It’s a movement that demonstrates the body of Christ alive in the world… resurrection in our midst.
So, I’ve pointed to three things from this passage about encountering resurrection. 1) Christ is faithful to us even when we don’t recognize him in our midst. 2) Christ reaches out to us in ways that connect personally so that we can recognize him. And 3) recognizing and hearing Christ calls us and connects us to the workings of Christ. So, why did I point these out?
I did so because this morning, we’re looking at an empty tomb and don’t always know what to make of it. Sometimes we’re doubtful. Sometimes, we don’t understand. Sometimes, we can’t see. But that’s okay because Christ will be faithful and reach to us and call us forward anyway with grace and compassion.
I shared this because we each need resurrection in our own lives yet often become trapped by sorrow and pain. But that’s okay because Christ will be faithful and reach to us and call us forward anyway.
I pointed to these things because resurrection is not just a one-time event. Christ comes to us each day with compassion, just as he did Mary, and says, “Why are you weeping?” There are moments and moments and moments that Christ takes what is dead and fills it with new life. Yet we struggle to see where it came from or how we can participate in it. And that’s okay because Christ will be faithful and reaches to us and call us forward anyway.
Sisters and Brothers, He is risen! We don’t say he has risen or did rise as if it was an event of the past. We say he IS risen because it is timeless. We may not know what to make of it yet, but something amazing has happened and will keep happening if we but hear his voice in those resurrection moments.
I hope you’ll stay around for a later service where we’ll look at what this resurrection is and how we can proclaim it each and every day. Amen.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
What Kind of Love is This?
Maundy Thursday - Sermon based upon John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Good evening. We are half way through Holy Week and everything is about to start changing rapidly. But we need not get ahead of ourselves. The story of Holy Week plays out bit at a time. Jesus’ life, just like ours, isn’t just a matter of the big moments. His life is about the whole story of it and the way it fits together. We can’t understand the excitement of Palm Sunday if we don’t first know why Jesus is exciting to be around. We can’t appreciate the intimacy of Maundy Thursday if we don’t take the time to examine the quality of Jesus’ relationships. The horror of Good Friday might make for a Hollywood film but it’s real importance is in knowing why the people close to Jesus are still there. And the story of Easter only reaches its full glory if we pull together the context of why Jesus was raised and what it would mean.
So for right now, here we are in one of the most intimate times Jesus shares and it’s a story worth spending time in because we get to see the quality of love Jesus shares with those close to him. What kind of love is this that Jesus shares? What kind of love is it that he wants others to cultivate and live?
Well, this passage starts with Jesus sharing a meal with his friends. This doesn’t seem odd to us because Jesus eats with people throughout his ministry. But just because it’s common, doesn’t mean that it isn’t deeply special. It is incredibly special.
Meals like Jesus shared were served family style… you know, the kind were we dip from the same bowls and have to be conscientious of how much we take because there are those at the end of the table yet to be served. They’re the kind of meals that if we’re in tune with those around us, we save that last roll for Jim because he loves them or we make sure Karen gets seconds because she had to skip lunch today to take her child to the doctor. Table fellowship is a truly intimate thing.
You know, I was blessed to be raised by my grandmother where we had meals at the table with no TV or other distractions. It was not just about sharing of food. It was about sharing of time. We talked about what was important to us and were blessed to know about one another’s lives. Most families today don’t share that time and I worry that we’re missing out on something special. But I don’t think that’s the only way to share and be in touch with each other. For example, if you want to get most teenagers to talk with you, drive somewhere 45 minutes away. That seems to be just the right amount of time to get into what needs to be said.
Anyway, the point I want to get to is that Jesus valued the people around him so he shared meals with them so that they could have truly meaningful time away from the hustle and bustle of their outward lives. What kind of love is this? It’s one that values the people around him.
The next thing we see is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and friends. Now, let’s pause for a moment here to look at the context of what’s going on since foot washing isn’t a common practice in our culture.
We’re talking about a culture where clean water was scarce so bathing was a rare occurrence because it was more healthy to save the clean water for drinking than use it up bathing. But because this was a dusty, arid land, where the feet and legs would get caked on sand and dirt which carried sand fleas, foot washing was customary when you entered someone’s house or retired for the evening meal and bedtime. If a family had servants, the servants washed the feet of the family because it was considered a humble job. If the family did not, the person with least standing such as daughters washed the feet of others as they entered.
So from a modern perspective, the job of foot washing is something we would regard as below most any role or job. Really, in our culture, I can’t think of such a servant position. But what we need to know is that for Jesus to get on his hands and knees to do such a thing is an act of true humility and servant hood. So, what kind of love is this? It’s one that values service to others over being served.
Next, we have an exchange between Peter and Jesus about why Jesus is doing this. Jesus confirms what we’ve already recognized about service. But let’s reread part of this passage:
I always find 2 things remarkable about this exchange. First, when Peter wants more than his share, Jesus responds with an understanding reply rather than a shaming comment. The second thing is that Jesus already knew someone would betray him yet stayed in relationship with Judas rather than kicking him to the curb.
In our culture we are quick to judge, condemn, and belittle others for their faults. But Jesus knew that the only way to grow through our faults and mistakes is in the safety of relationship, not the cutting off of relationship. What kind of love is this? One that embraces people for where they are rather than condemning them for what they haven’t yet become.
Next we hear the sum of the Christian life. The passage reads:
Any good teacher knows that if you want someone to learn something, you have to present it in multiple ways. Jesus teaches by example in his deeds but he goes a step further and shares explicitly what the teaching is. He wants them to truly internalize what the message is and live it out, a life of service, connection, and a living body of Christ. What kind of love is this? One that wants others to grow, thrive, and become who God created them to be.
Sisters and brothers, we encounter Jesus tonight at his most intimate. He has shared with his disciples and us what he thinks is important. He knows he’ll soon be betrayed and will die but rather than retreat, he stays with those he loves. What kind of love is this? It’s one that values the people around him. It’s one that values service to others over being served. One that embraces people for where they are rather than condemning them for what they haven’t yet become. One that wants others to grow, thrive, and become who God created them to be.
As we move from this time and soon enter the garden where Jesus will be arrested, my prayer is that we never forget what kind of love this is and our calling to live it out. As Jesus said, “If [we] know these things, [we] are blessed if [we] do them. Amen.
Good evening. We are half way through Holy Week and everything is about to start changing rapidly. But we need not get ahead of ourselves. The story of Holy Week plays out bit at a time. Jesus’ life, just like ours, isn’t just a matter of the big moments. His life is about the whole story of it and the way it fits together. We can’t understand the excitement of Palm Sunday if we don’t first know why Jesus is exciting to be around. We can’t appreciate the intimacy of Maundy Thursday if we don’t take the time to examine the quality of Jesus’ relationships. The horror of Good Friday might make for a Hollywood film but it’s real importance is in knowing why the people close to Jesus are still there. And the story of Easter only reaches its full glory if we pull together the context of why Jesus was raised and what it would mean.
So for right now, here we are in one of the most intimate times Jesus shares and it’s a story worth spending time in because we get to see the quality of love Jesus shares with those close to him. What kind of love is this that Jesus shares? What kind of love is it that he wants others to cultivate and live?
Well, this passage starts with Jesus sharing a meal with his friends. This doesn’t seem odd to us because Jesus eats with people throughout his ministry. But just because it’s common, doesn’t mean that it isn’t deeply special. It is incredibly special.
Meals like Jesus shared were served family style… you know, the kind were we dip from the same bowls and have to be conscientious of how much we take because there are those at the end of the table yet to be served. They’re the kind of meals that if we’re in tune with those around us, we save that last roll for Jim because he loves them or we make sure Karen gets seconds because she had to skip lunch today to take her child to the doctor. Table fellowship is a truly intimate thing.
You know, I was blessed to be raised by my grandmother where we had meals at the table with no TV or other distractions. It was not just about sharing of food. It was about sharing of time. We talked about what was important to us and were blessed to know about one another’s lives. Most families today don’t share that time and I worry that we’re missing out on something special. But I don’t think that’s the only way to share and be in touch with each other. For example, if you want to get most teenagers to talk with you, drive somewhere 45 minutes away. That seems to be just the right amount of time to get into what needs to be said.
Anyway, the point I want to get to is that Jesus valued the people around him so he shared meals with them so that they could have truly meaningful time away from the hustle and bustle of their outward lives. What kind of love is this? It’s one that values the people around him.
The next thing we see is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and friends. Now, let’s pause for a moment here to look at the context of what’s going on since foot washing isn’t a common practice in our culture.
We’re talking about a culture where clean water was scarce so bathing was a rare occurrence because it was more healthy to save the clean water for drinking than use it up bathing. But because this was a dusty, arid land, where the feet and legs would get caked on sand and dirt which carried sand fleas, foot washing was customary when you entered someone’s house or retired for the evening meal and bedtime. If a family had servants, the servants washed the feet of the family because it was considered a humble job. If the family did not, the person with least standing such as daughters washed the feet of others as they entered.
So from a modern perspective, the job of foot washing is something we would regard as below most any role or job. Really, in our culture, I can’t think of such a servant position. But what we need to know is that for Jesus to get on his hands and knees to do such a thing is an act of true humility and servant hood. So, what kind of love is this? It’s one that values service to others over being served.
Next, we have an exchange between Peter and Jesus about why Jesus is doing this. Jesus confirms what we’ve already recognized about service. But let’s reread part of this passage:
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him.
I always find 2 things remarkable about this exchange. First, when Peter wants more than his share, Jesus responds with an understanding reply rather than a shaming comment. The second thing is that Jesus already knew someone would betray him yet stayed in relationship with Judas rather than kicking him to the curb.
In our culture we are quick to judge, condemn, and belittle others for their faults. But Jesus knew that the only way to grow through our faults and mistakes is in the safety of relationship, not the cutting off of relationship. What kind of love is this? One that embraces people for where they are rather than condemning them for what they haven’t yet become.
Next we hear the sum of the Christian life. The passage reads:
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Any good teacher knows that if you want someone to learn something, you have to present it in multiple ways. Jesus teaches by example in his deeds but he goes a step further and shares explicitly what the teaching is. He wants them to truly internalize what the message is and live it out, a life of service, connection, and a living body of Christ. What kind of love is this? One that wants others to grow, thrive, and become who God created them to be.
Sisters and brothers, we encounter Jesus tonight at his most intimate. He has shared with his disciples and us what he thinks is important. He knows he’ll soon be betrayed and will die but rather than retreat, he stays with those he loves. What kind of love is this? It’s one that values the people around him. It’s one that values service to others over being served. One that embraces people for where they are rather than condemning them for what they haven’t yet become. One that wants others to grow, thrive, and become who God created them to be.
As we move from this time and soon enter the garden where Jesus will be arrested, my prayer is that we never forget what kind of love this is and our calling to live it out. As Jesus said, “If [we] know these things, [we] are blessed if [we] do them. Amen.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Who Is This?
Palm Sunday - Who Is This? <–- Audio file of sermon
A sermon based upon Matthew 21:1-11
Good morning and welcome! Holy week is here! We’re emerging from the desert wilderness to see the gifts of Lent come into fullness. And today’s scripture passage brings us into the thick of holy week.
Here we have Jesus about to enter Jerusalem for one of the most holy Jewish holidays, Passover. The story shows him as a calm and centered person but there’s a whole lot of frenzy going on around him. I mean picture the whole scene. Jesus has been teaching, preaching, and building up communities of faith all around Galilee, The Decapolis, Samaria, and Judea. He’s become this well-known traveling minister with a band of faithful friends and followers. They go places, share meals, fellowship, teach, heal, share… and people have responded. Wherever Jesus and his disciples go, people greet him now with recognition and adulation. There’s almost a sort of rock star status. And when a rock star comes to town, there are those who know the star and those who want to know. So, this triumphant passage ends with those who want to know “who is this?”
And I think that’s a great place to start here on Palm Sunday. Who is this? So, let’s take a few minutes to look back at this life that we celebrated coming into being at Christmas and soon will mourn on Good Friday. Who is this? Who is this that could cause such a stir and be treated like near royalty even though he seems to want to humble himself before humanity? Who is this that would make people drop everything and follow him?
Well, his name is Jesus. He was born in a very humble way. His family wasn’t homeless but they were between places without much means. And there were probably a lot of rumors going around about his family. Mary, his mother claimed the baby was God’s since she wasn’t married and Joseph, her soon husband stood at her side. Even in the most religious of families and communities, this is a story that would raise doubt.
But they went on anyway. And for those who did listen to God, Jesus’ birth was a cause for celebration. Also, I suspect that for a child raised by such parents, their model of faithfulness to God was a remarkable example for Jesus and their other children. But there were those for whom Jesus’ birth was a cause for fear. You see, even from birth, people in power, political power, feared Jesus. But others loved him.
By all accounts, Jesus was a very likable child, well-schooled in the Jewish faith and a great lover of God. Once when he went missing, his family found him studying in the temple with great learned people. We don’t know much about his youth and early adulthood but we can tell from the types of people mentioned that he was close to his brother James and his cousin John the Baptist. It seems that over and over whenever something big was happening, his loved ones were nearby and I think that says a lot about him. Having our loved ones near in our big moments always makes the occasion richer.
But this man was more than a well-liked guy in his community. As we talked about back on Ash Wednesday, we don’t know why Jesus decided to leave everything to start a ministry at age 30. In his time, that would have been well into midlife. But he did and that’s where we really start learning a lot about this man and what’s important to him… and important to God.
This is someone who ate meals and spent truly meaningful time with everyone from crooked politicians to widows without means. He reached out to the most oppressed of the oppressed. And he taught about how we should truly care about what happens to the people without someone to care for them… that we should be those people.
Jesus healed the sick and even resurrected the dead. He spoke of God’s love and of a world where God’s reign was clear. He challenged the status quo in the temple and on the streets. Jesus was pro-peace, pro-care for the oppressed, pro-justice, and pro-God. He proclaimed God as the only true ruler in the face of those who claimed Caesar as the only ruler of the world. He was an all-around rebel in many ways but people didn’t avoid him like a trouble maker. No… they flocked to him.
He reached out to people and struck at the heart of what they needed. A woman at the well who was shunned by her community was shown a way to healing and wholeness. A man overtaken by demons and mental anguish was released from his bondage and sent to share the good news. A group of children came to see this man named Jesus and he welcomed them unlike any adult had ever welcomed children before. A man seeking the kingdom of God was told how to get there if only he would let go of his earthly treasures.
Over and over again, Jesus shared a message of God’s love, love found in caring for one another, and the power of joining together as a people. He was secretive about proclaiming himself the son of God because he wanted the message of God to be clearer than the message of a man.
But he was actually more than a man. And those who watched closely knew it. He was Emmanuel, God with us. And as he continued to share and teach, God’s love shined so brightly through him that he really couldn’t hide it anymore.
That’s where we find ourselves in the Palm Sunday gospel passage. This is not a rock star of fleeting fame. This is God incarnate come to show us what we needed and to offer us a glimpse of a love so full that it transformed life after life after life.
You know, no matter how literally or symbolically we take the bible. No matter how we describe what is important about Jesus. No matter if we focus more on his death or his resurrection or his miracles or his birth… there is something remarkable and amazing about someone who can teach us something wonderful at every stage of his life.
And we’re talking about a full and abundant life here. One so full of purpose, guidance, meaning, and love that people knew it. They wanted to get close. They wanted to treat him with respect. They threw down their cloaks for him. They paved a way with palms. They heralded his presence to those ahead. And they took in everything he did and said.
You see, when we meet someone with infectious love, love so abundant that it streams from them, we just want to be a part of it. We want that glow that seems to come from inside of them for ourselves too. We try to get close and mimic or absorb some of this amazing goodness. It’s not empty adulation. We want it too.
And that’s what’s going on here. People are not just flocking because Jesus is famous. No, when I close my eyes and try to envision this scene, I see Jesus focused and calm and absolutely beaming with the love of God. I think I might have done anything to get close to him. I’d have thrown down my cloak or given up my donkey and cloak. I’d have done anything to get close to that kind of love.
Who is this? This is truly God with us, pouring out love and healing… and we’re on holy ground.
So, why did I just go through a retrospective on Jesus’ life? Well, we’re here at Holy Week. This week all that he said, all those lives transformed, all that love cultivated will fade into the background. We’ll hang onto it through most of Maundy Thursday but then we’ll get caught up in a betrayal and arrest. Then on Good Friday, we’ll be horrified by the atrocities humans can inflict on one another, even upon God. And by Easter Sunday, we’ll be in unspeakable awe at our resurrected Lord and completely caught up in all the glory.
And all that is appropriate but here we are right now gazing upon a man who if you ask me, has a life that is in some ways more miraculous than his death and resurrection. We have in Jesus the total package of a model and mentor, healer and transformer, a bearer of salvation in more ways than one. His birth and his death are always marked as miraculous but his life was nothing short of amazing.
So, when we gaze upon this man today, I find myself asking what our lives would look like if we dared break down our walls of fear. What would our lives both individually and as a church look like if we focused on releasing ourselves and others from the bondage of greed, shame, and sorrow? If we cared more about tending to the poor and the oppressed than keeping up with the Jones, what harvest would we reap? If we sought to cultivate love in our hearts and in others with the passion of Christ, what would the world look like?
Sisters and brothers, we are walking toward the horror of Good Friday and the glory of Easter but for now, we are gazing upon a remarkable life. It’s a life of calling and fullness and it’s a life that doesn’t end just because we get to Easter. Our calling is to live as the body of Christ. It’s a calling for us here and now and always.
As we seek to know what this life means for us, I leave us with the words of St. Teresa of Avila:
Christ has no body but yours,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
AMEN
A sermon based upon Matthew 21:1-11
Good morning and welcome! Holy week is here! We’re emerging from the desert wilderness to see the gifts of Lent come into fullness. And today’s scripture passage brings us into the thick of holy week.
Here we have Jesus about to enter Jerusalem for one of the most holy Jewish holidays, Passover. The story shows him as a calm and centered person but there’s a whole lot of frenzy going on around him. I mean picture the whole scene. Jesus has been teaching, preaching, and building up communities of faith all around Galilee, The Decapolis, Samaria, and Judea. He’s become this well-known traveling minister with a band of faithful friends and followers. They go places, share meals, fellowship, teach, heal, share… and people have responded. Wherever Jesus and his disciples go, people greet him now with recognition and adulation. There’s almost a sort of rock star status. And when a rock star comes to town, there are those who know the star and those who want to know. So, this triumphant passage ends with those who want to know “who is this?”
And I think that’s a great place to start here on Palm Sunday. Who is this? So, let’s take a few minutes to look back at this life that we celebrated coming into being at Christmas and soon will mourn on Good Friday. Who is this? Who is this that could cause such a stir and be treated like near royalty even though he seems to want to humble himself before humanity? Who is this that would make people drop everything and follow him?
Well, his name is Jesus. He was born in a very humble way. His family wasn’t homeless but they were between places without much means. And there were probably a lot of rumors going around about his family. Mary, his mother claimed the baby was God’s since she wasn’t married and Joseph, her soon husband stood at her side. Even in the most religious of families and communities, this is a story that would raise doubt.
But they went on anyway. And for those who did listen to God, Jesus’ birth was a cause for celebration. Also, I suspect that for a child raised by such parents, their model of faithfulness to God was a remarkable example for Jesus and their other children. But there were those for whom Jesus’ birth was a cause for fear. You see, even from birth, people in power, political power, feared Jesus. But others loved him.
By all accounts, Jesus was a very likable child, well-schooled in the Jewish faith and a great lover of God. Once when he went missing, his family found him studying in the temple with great learned people. We don’t know much about his youth and early adulthood but we can tell from the types of people mentioned that he was close to his brother James and his cousin John the Baptist. It seems that over and over whenever something big was happening, his loved ones were nearby and I think that says a lot about him. Having our loved ones near in our big moments always makes the occasion richer.
But this man was more than a well-liked guy in his community. As we talked about back on Ash Wednesday, we don’t know why Jesus decided to leave everything to start a ministry at age 30. In his time, that would have been well into midlife. But he did and that’s where we really start learning a lot about this man and what’s important to him… and important to God.
This is someone who ate meals and spent truly meaningful time with everyone from crooked politicians to widows without means. He reached out to the most oppressed of the oppressed. And he taught about how we should truly care about what happens to the people without someone to care for them… that we should be those people.
Jesus healed the sick and even resurrected the dead. He spoke of God’s love and of a world where God’s reign was clear. He challenged the status quo in the temple and on the streets. Jesus was pro-peace, pro-care for the oppressed, pro-justice, and pro-God. He proclaimed God as the only true ruler in the face of those who claimed Caesar as the only ruler of the world. He was an all-around rebel in many ways but people didn’t avoid him like a trouble maker. No… they flocked to him.
He reached out to people and struck at the heart of what they needed. A woman at the well who was shunned by her community was shown a way to healing and wholeness. A man overtaken by demons and mental anguish was released from his bondage and sent to share the good news. A group of children came to see this man named Jesus and he welcomed them unlike any adult had ever welcomed children before. A man seeking the kingdom of God was told how to get there if only he would let go of his earthly treasures.
Over and over again, Jesus shared a message of God’s love, love found in caring for one another, and the power of joining together as a people. He was secretive about proclaiming himself the son of God because he wanted the message of God to be clearer than the message of a man.
But he was actually more than a man. And those who watched closely knew it. He was Emmanuel, God with us. And as he continued to share and teach, God’s love shined so brightly through him that he really couldn’t hide it anymore.
That’s where we find ourselves in the Palm Sunday gospel passage. This is not a rock star of fleeting fame. This is God incarnate come to show us what we needed and to offer us a glimpse of a love so full that it transformed life after life after life.
You know, no matter how literally or symbolically we take the bible. No matter how we describe what is important about Jesus. No matter if we focus more on his death or his resurrection or his miracles or his birth… there is something remarkable and amazing about someone who can teach us something wonderful at every stage of his life.
And we’re talking about a full and abundant life here. One so full of purpose, guidance, meaning, and love that people knew it. They wanted to get close. They wanted to treat him with respect. They threw down their cloaks for him. They paved a way with palms. They heralded his presence to those ahead. And they took in everything he did and said.
You see, when we meet someone with infectious love, love so abundant that it streams from them, we just want to be a part of it. We want that glow that seems to come from inside of them for ourselves too. We try to get close and mimic or absorb some of this amazing goodness. It’s not empty adulation. We want it too.
And that’s what’s going on here. People are not just flocking because Jesus is famous. No, when I close my eyes and try to envision this scene, I see Jesus focused and calm and absolutely beaming with the love of God. I think I might have done anything to get close to him. I’d have thrown down my cloak or given up my donkey and cloak. I’d have done anything to get close to that kind of love.
Who is this? This is truly God with us, pouring out love and healing… and we’re on holy ground.
So, why did I just go through a retrospective on Jesus’ life? Well, we’re here at Holy Week. This week all that he said, all those lives transformed, all that love cultivated will fade into the background. We’ll hang onto it through most of Maundy Thursday but then we’ll get caught up in a betrayal and arrest. Then on Good Friday, we’ll be horrified by the atrocities humans can inflict on one another, even upon God. And by Easter Sunday, we’ll be in unspeakable awe at our resurrected Lord and completely caught up in all the glory.
And all that is appropriate but here we are right now gazing upon a man who if you ask me, has a life that is in some ways more miraculous than his death and resurrection. We have in Jesus the total package of a model and mentor, healer and transformer, a bearer of salvation in more ways than one. His birth and his death are always marked as miraculous but his life was nothing short of amazing.
So, when we gaze upon this man today, I find myself asking what our lives would look like if we dared break down our walls of fear. What would our lives both individually and as a church look like if we focused on releasing ourselves and others from the bondage of greed, shame, and sorrow? If we cared more about tending to the poor and the oppressed than keeping up with the Jones, what harvest would we reap? If we sought to cultivate love in our hearts and in others with the passion of Christ, what would the world look like?
Sisters and brothers, we are walking toward the horror of Good Friday and the glory of Easter but for now, we are gazing upon a remarkable life. It’s a life of calling and fullness and it’s a life that doesn’t end just because we get to Easter. Our calling is to live as the body of Christ. It’s a calling for us here and now and always.
As we seek to know what this life means for us, I leave us with the words of St. Teresa of Avila:
Christ has no body but yours,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
AMEN
Sunday, March 27, 2011
What is Real?
What is Real? <-- Audio file link.
A sermon based upon Romans 5:1-11.
Good morning. On this 3rd Sunday of Lent, we’ve now made it half way to Holy Week and that’s no small task. I hope you’re finding this Lent meaningful in whatever way you need but particularly in the ways God wants for you. I know I am.
And today’s scripture text is one that may offer us different kinds of support and hope depending upon where we are in our journey and what we need. There are many ways to dig into Romans chapter 5 and unearth blessing. But today, we’re going to focus in on the first part of the scripture passage and talk about the character and quality of life in Christ.
You see, last week we said that the phrase “eternal life” is not just about the hereafter. To live eternally is also about our life here and now. It is about abundant life. Yet, it’s one thing to talk about it and another thing to live it.
I say that because life is messy. It’s not always full of joy. In fact it has a good deal of tragedy. And sometimes we find it hard to feel love at all due to physical or emotional pain and suffering.
So, this is where we find Paul’s letter to the Romans today. Paul was a very realistic guy. He knew that just because we have been reconciled to God through Christ didn’t mean that babies would stop dying, poverty would go away, and all war would end. He knew that we would live in the midst of real life but that we might be able to live into it differently… with hope.
Let’s re-read part of this text. Paul tells us, “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand…”
You see, Paul wants us to hear that part of life in Christ is one of faith where we trust and don’t have to worry about whether we are okay in our relationship with God. This is not like a relationship with a fickle friend who gets mad when we didn’t say the right thing about her or his new car and doesn’t speak to us for weeks. Rather, “we have peace with God” is what the scripture says. Peace is a gift of never having to wonder if the relationship is solid because it always will be. And in Paul’s mind… and hopefully in our lived lives, this peace frees us to live more abundantly.
But if our justification or atonement is complete in Christ, why is it that we have such a hard time feeling that peace? Why do we struggle so to feel and experience the presence of God? Why are our lives often more full of turmoil than a sense of reconciliation? I suspect as did Paul that it might be because we confuse God’s love and blessing with the absence of suffering.
We are quick to talk about God’s love and bountiful blessing when things are going well for us but when life gets hard, we quickly retreat into “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And I don’t say that to shame us because even Jesus sank into such sorrow on the cross as the pain overtook him. So clearly that response is part of our human nature. But Paul is asking us to live into a more divine nature because of the love poured out on us.
When we read further in this passage, Paul says, “… we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Paul has just in some ways summed up a lifetime of wisdom but it’s wisdom that needs some unpacking. First of all, let’s look at this word “boast.” The way this word is being used when we look at the original Greek is not about bragging. Paul has already stated earlier in this book that bragging is not the way we should handle ourselves. In this case to boast means something that doesn’t quite translate into a single word. It means that we won’t be shamed in our hopeful orientation toward life. This hopeful and confident life is a lived expression bursting forth in us. This is what Paul is getting at.
So what does all this mean that we live confidently in the face of suffering? I ask because it’s important that we understand what is really being talked about here. You see, I’ve heard an abusive husband justify his abuse by saying that his wife needed to suffer so that she would grow stronger. And I’ve heard a politician justify his inaction on issues of poverty by quoting this passage and saying that the poor would be made rich by their sufferings. And in our everyday lives we often have an inner voice that says, “God won’t put more on us than we can handle.” But are these the things Paul meant?
I feel that I can confidently say no. No, suffering in abuse and oppression is not what God wants for us. And though it’s a popular saying in Christian circles, “God won’t put more on us than we can handle” isn’t actually biblical. Such notions suppose that God is doing these things to us rather than the reality that we suffer under the brokenness and falleness of humanity.
Paul is actually just being realistic. We do suffer under the brokenness and falleness of humanity. We do encounter sickness, death, depression, poverty, war, racism, and all manner of pain and oppression. It is simply a characteristic of the lived life. But Paul is telling us that God’s love is not only in the times of peace. God’s love is poured out on us at all times. And if we will recognize God’s presence, the gift is that even in times of suffering, we will grow in endurance, character, and hope.
So what does all this look like? Well, when I read this passage, I can’t help but think of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and the passage about “What is real?” If you don’t know the book, the story opens with a boy receiving lots of toys for Christmas. He received toys with wind up springs and fancy clock works. And he also received a simple velveteen bunny. That bunny made friends with the wise old rocking horse and they would talk at night in the nursery while the boy slept. So, if you will, I’d like to read to you from The Velveteen Rabbit so that maybe we catch a glimpse at what this real life is that Paul wants for us.
And I think Paul is talking about living a real life too. A real life is one that springs from abundant love but contains both peace and suffering. Does becoming real hurt? Sometimes. Is it a process? Most definitely. Can it make us the worse for wear? Quite possibly but “once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”
Sisters and brothers, God loves us abundantly. The character of that love is not in how easy a life we have. Rather, the quality of that love is made full by being present with us even when things are difficult. God is with us in the dark places just as much as in the light. Our calling is to carry the peace we have in God with us so that we trust in that love. Our calling is to live the life of love in such a way that we are made real and help others to become real too. This is not a life without struggle but it is life where we can cultivate hope.
As we continue our sojourn through Lent, may we love and receive love in ways that makes God’s abundance manifest all around. Amen.
A sermon based upon Romans 5:1-11.
Good morning. On this 3rd Sunday of Lent, we’ve now made it half way to Holy Week and that’s no small task. I hope you’re finding this Lent meaningful in whatever way you need but particularly in the ways God wants for you. I know I am.
And today’s scripture text is one that may offer us different kinds of support and hope depending upon where we are in our journey and what we need. There are many ways to dig into Romans chapter 5 and unearth blessing. But today, we’re going to focus in on the first part of the scripture passage and talk about the character and quality of life in Christ.
You see, last week we said that the phrase “eternal life” is not just about the hereafter. To live eternally is also about our life here and now. It is about abundant life. Yet, it’s one thing to talk about it and another thing to live it.
I say that because life is messy. It’s not always full of joy. In fact it has a good deal of tragedy. And sometimes we find it hard to feel love at all due to physical or emotional pain and suffering.
So, this is where we find Paul’s letter to the Romans today. Paul was a very realistic guy. He knew that just because we have been reconciled to God through Christ didn’t mean that babies would stop dying, poverty would go away, and all war would end. He knew that we would live in the midst of real life but that we might be able to live into it differently… with hope.
Let’s re-read part of this text. Paul tells us, “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand…”
You see, Paul wants us to hear that part of life in Christ is one of faith where we trust and don’t have to worry about whether we are okay in our relationship with God. This is not like a relationship with a fickle friend who gets mad when we didn’t say the right thing about her or his new car and doesn’t speak to us for weeks. Rather, “we have peace with God” is what the scripture says. Peace is a gift of never having to wonder if the relationship is solid because it always will be. And in Paul’s mind… and hopefully in our lived lives, this peace frees us to live more abundantly.
But if our justification or atonement is complete in Christ, why is it that we have such a hard time feeling that peace? Why do we struggle so to feel and experience the presence of God? Why are our lives often more full of turmoil than a sense of reconciliation? I suspect as did Paul that it might be because we confuse God’s love and blessing with the absence of suffering.
We are quick to talk about God’s love and bountiful blessing when things are going well for us but when life gets hard, we quickly retreat into “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And I don’t say that to shame us because even Jesus sank into such sorrow on the cross as the pain overtook him. So clearly that response is part of our human nature. But Paul is asking us to live into a more divine nature because of the love poured out on us.
When we read further in this passage, Paul says, “… we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Paul has just in some ways summed up a lifetime of wisdom but it’s wisdom that needs some unpacking. First of all, let’s look at this word “boast.” The way this word is being used when we look at the original Greek is not about bragging. Paul has already stated earlier in this book that bragging is not the way we should handle ourselves. In this case to boast means something that doesn’t quite translate into a single word. It means that we won’t be shamed in our hopeful orientation toward life. This hopeful and confident life is a lived expression bursting forth in us. This is what Paul is getting at.
So what does all this mean that we live confidently in the face of suffering? I ask because it’s important that we understand what is really being talked about here. You see, I’ve heard an abusive husband justify his abuse by saying that his wife needed to suffer so that she would grow stronger. And I’ve heard a politician justify his inaction on issues of poverty by quoting this passage and saying that the poor would be made rich by their sufferings. And in our everyday lives we often have an inner voice that says, “God won’t put more on us than we can handle.” But are these the things Paul meant?
I feel that I can confidently say no. No, suffering in abuse and oppression is not what God wants for us. And though it’s a popular saying in Christian circles, “God won’t put more on us than we can handle” isn’t actually biblical. Such notions suppose that God is doing these things to us rather than the reality that we suffer under the brokenness and falleness of humanity.
Paul is actually just being realistic. We do suffer under the brokenness and falleness of humanity. We do encounter sickness, death, depression, poverty, war, racism, and all manner of pain and oppression. It is simply a characteristic of the lived life. But Paul is telling us that God’s love is not only in the times of peace. God’s love is poured out on us at all times. And if we will recognize God’s presence, the gift is that even in times of suffering, we will grow in endurance, character, and hope.
So what does all this look like? Well, when I read this passage, I can’t help but think of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and the passage about “What is real?” If you don’t know the book, the story opens with a boy receiving lots of toys for Christmas. He received toys with wind up springs and fancy clock works. And he also received a simple velveteen bunny. That bunny made friends with the wise old rocking horse and they would talk at night in the nursery while the boy slept. So, if you will, I’d like to read to you from The Velveteen Rabbit so that maybe we catch a glimpse at what this real life is that Paul wants for us.
The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.
"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.The book goes on to tell the story of love between the boy and the rabbit. It was a love so full that it transcended all the bad things that happened and the bunny became real. This is a story of abundant and eternal life.
And I think Paul is talking about living a real life too. A real life is one that springs from abundant love but contains both peace and suffering. Does becoming real hurt? Sometimes. Is it a process? Most definitely. Can it make us the worse for wear? Quite possibly but “once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”
Sisters and brothers, God loves us abundantly. The character of that love is not in how easy a life we have. Rather, the quality of that love is made full by being present with us even when things are difficult. God is with us in the dark places just as much as in the light. Our calling is to carry the peace we have in God with us so that we trust in that love. Our calling is to live the life of love in such a way that we are made real and help others to become real too. This is not a life without struggle but it is life where we can cultivate hope.
As we continue our sojourn through Lent, may we love and receive love in ways that makes God’s abundance manifest all around. Amen.
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