Independence UMC

Could you give it all up?

2012-01-25T13:01:00.001-05:00

Scriptures for Sunday, January 22nd, 2012.

Sermon

We have probably heard the story of Jesus calling his first disciples to be fishers of people over and over again. It is a favorite of Sunday school lessons. So we probably miss how strange of a story it is. Mark’s penchant for giving few details makes the story even stranger- Jesus approaches Simon and Andrew as they are in the midst of their morning work. It was probably a particularly ordinary day. They got up well before dawn to once again troll the sea for fish to sell at the market. They had done this day after day, and would likely spend the rest of their lives in this work. But suddenly, they receive an offer from Jesus. Now, there is nothing in the text to say they had a clue who Jesus was. Perhaps they had heard him preach. Perhaps they were aware of his healing work. But frankly, we are still only in the first chapter of Mark here, so at least according to Mark, they wouldn’t have had much to go on yet. If a wandering day laborer showed up at your place of business, asked you to quit your job and start to wander with him, to join him in proclaiming that we all need to repent because of the coming kingdom of God. Is this what would make you quit everything and go?

And Jesus says- follow me, and I’ll make you fishers of people. Now- this has got to be a pretty non-sensical question to Simon and Andrew. No explanation is given- is this literal, metaphorical, meta-physical? And yet, the future disciples are said not to ask a single question. “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” No space is given for doubt, for questioning, for debate. Jesus asks, and they immediately leave their profession and follow him.

Now, perhaps we’ve all had a job in our life where we would take an offer, any offer, and immediately walk away. Or perhaps Simon and Andrew are just more adventurous then the rest of us. But I figure few of us would respond in quite the same way. But, it is just a job I suppose.

So Jesus goes to James and John and offers the same question. And he gets the same result. Both immediately drop everything and come with him. They too leave their jobs- but the text emphasizes something more- they leave their father. They drop not just their profession, but their ties to family. At least they had each other- the remainder of the disciples did not get to bring any family along. Though we don’t have any information about the martial lives of these disciples, its pretty unlikely that men of this age wouldn’t have been married with children. And yet, they leave it all and follow Jesus.

They leave their work. They leave their homes. They leave their families. They leave their loved ones. To follow a man they barely know.

So- are you ready? Can you drop every thing, immediately give up all, and follow Jesus?

yea....me neither.

I mean, what a radical call. What a monumental commitment. Can Christ be really asking us to forsake everything to follow him?

I sometimes think one of the mistakes we make is to diminish the radical call that scripture can at times place on our lives. To be frank, their aren’t a whole lot of exceptions written into this passage. No magic asterisk to imply that this offer and conditions don’t apply to me. And yet, in my heart of hearts, I don’t think I could respond quite this way. Give up my job? Well, maybe, I’ve done it before. But give up my family? Give up the people I love? To follow Jesus- I’m sorry, I just don’t think I could do it.

Perhaps there are some here who are ready to be just that radical. But I suspect that everyone of us has something sacred that they would cling to. So if we admit that this passage is so radical that few of us could ever hope to obey, what do we do with it? Do we ignore it? Just move on to a different story entirely?

Or perhaps, we can seek to find a point of entry, a way that we can begin to try. One of the core tenants of Methodism is that we are all called to work toward perfection. We are called to order our lives and our prayers, our relationships and our worship, toward becoming the people God created us to be. John Wesley, our founder, believed that it was possible for some to be instantly transformed. But for the majority of us, it required hard work and the support of a faith community who could help us to be honest with ourselves and gradually work to shed our sins and embrace the good works of God.

So I think, while maintaining the radical nature of this scripture, we enter into it seeking God’s will for a next step in our lives. If we are called to give up all that holds us back from fully following Jesus, where do we start?

Our psalmist today talks about waiting alone for God in silence, for putting one’s full faith in God. He or she identifies one particular thing that holds us back- “Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” Ahh, so the barrier that this psalmist chooses to mention is money.

Quite appropriate for addressing our culture, is it not? We place so much of our identity in our wealth, our social standing, our homes, our cars, the things that we have. But our things inevitably disappoint. And when they don’t satisfy, we tend to think, maybe we just need a few more things. So we get locked into a spiral of seeking more and more of something that just continually disappoints. We become addicted to this material culture.

In light of the recent tragedies of heroin overdose in our community, I think its important for us to recognize how almost all of us enter into this addictive cycle. Perhaps some of us are lucky enough that our addiction takes the form of food, or tv, things that don’t seem as immediately destructive as drugs or gambling or alcohol. But when we seek our identities, our value, our joy in these things, we certainly risk spiraling our of control.

And so the psalmist says to put our whole trust in God. Perhaps that becomes our entry point for responding to this radical call of Jesus. As we begin to think about what we have to leave behind to follow Jesus, we have to assess from what, or from whom, do we draw our identity. These disciples were called to give up their work. Is your work what defines you? Is your joy derived from your relative success or failure in your employment? What happens if it goes away. Perhaps you need not leave your job, but perhaps a shift in priorities and self worth is a start.

Or maybe it is your family or loved ones. Do you value yourself only in relation to what those close to you think? If you were born into a family that didn’t have much love, do you know how to love yourself? If you are in a destructive relationship, do you end up hating yourself? Even in loving relationships, are you so caught up in your loves evaluation of you that you can’t be honest about your fears or hopes so that you come to totally rely on them for your identity? What happens if it falls apart.

Martin Luther wrote that whatever one fears, loves, or trusts the most -- that is one's God. As we take a step in following Jesus’ call, we have to begin by learning to identify ourselves primarily by our Lord’s love and overwhelming acceptance. We have to know at our core, that in God’s kingdom, we are loved and valued and of worth. When we begin to trust in that, we begin to be open to the possibility of doing some radical things indeed.

"Several years ago they buried a woman named Grace Thomas at the First Baptist Church cemetery in Decatur, Georgia. You probably never heard of Grace Thomas. No reason that you should. She was the child of a streetcar conductor from Birmingham, Alabama. She fell in love with a boy from Georgia Tech in Atlanta and she moved to Atlanta and married him, full-time wife. To support the family she took a job as a secretary at the state capitol in Atlanta. She was now full-time wife and full-time secretary.

Through her job she became very interested in politics and the law, so she enrolled at night law school. Now she was a full-time wife, a full-time secretary and a full-time law student. When she finally graduated from law school, she astonished her family by saying, “I’m not going to practice law. I’ve decided to run for political office.”

They said, “Mother, what office?”

Expecting her to say school board or library board, she said, “I’m going to run for the governor of Georgia. The highest office in the state.” Now this was 1954 and Grace Thomas ran for governor of Georgia. There were nine candidates that year: eight men and Grace Thomas.

There were nine candidates but there was only one issue. It was 1954 and Brown versus the Board of Education had come forth from the Supreme Court to integrate the public schools. And eight of those candidates for governor said that they thought Georgians ought to resist this every fiber in their being. Only one candidate, Grace Thomas, said that she thought it was the coming of justice. Her campaign slogan was “Say Grace at the polls.” Not many people did. She ran dead last and her family was relieved that she had gotten this out of her system. But she hadn’t.

In 1962 she ran for the governor of Georgia again. This time the civil rights movement was in full flower and the stakes were high. She went around the state with her message of progress and prosperity and racial harmony. She received death threats on her life and her family feared for her and traveled with her to protect her.

One day, she went to give a campaign speech in the little town of Louisville, Georgia. The centerpiece in Louisville is not a Civil War monument or a county courthouse, it’s an old slave market where human beings were bought and sold. She decided to give her speech under the canopy of that slave market. She addressed a gaggle of farmers and merchants and she pointed at the slave market and said, “This, thank God, has passed and the new has come. It’s time for Georgians to join hands, all races together.”

Somebody in the crowd shouted at her, “Are you a communist?”

“No!” she said.

“Well, where did you get those ideas?”

She thought about it for a minute. And then she pointed at the steeple of the First Baptist Church and she said, “I got ‘em over there in Sunday school!” Some Sunday school teacher had called Grace Thomas and now she was saying things she never dreamed she’d be saying and she was called into places she never dreamed she’d be called." (Source- Thomas Long)

Grace Thomas was a woman born into a society that did not respect her gender. She was a poor woman in a time when wealth was valued. And yet, she didn’t draw her identity from those who hated her. She lived according to the promise of the One who loved her more than life itself. And it launched her into radical things.

Today, right here, let us embrace our identity as beloved children of God. Let us know that we are loved by the very Jesus who calls us to be his own. When we accept that love, when we identify by that kingdom, perhaps then, and only then, will we be prepared for the radical life to come.

The Wilderness of Waiting

2011-12-07T19:29:00.001-05:00

Scriptures for Sunday, December 4th

Matthew 1:18-25

2 Peter 3:8-15

Sermon

How many of you have ever driven a long distance to go on vacation? Have you experienced the phenomena by which the trip there seems to take forever but the trip home seems shorter? In studying the common occurrence, psychologists tell us that our anticipation of something changes our experience of it

We experience that with Christmas too.

Do you have a child in your life who just can’t wait till Christmas?

How do they respond to the anticipation?

Have you ever seen a child so anxious with anticipation they were about ready to burst?

Its one thing when we anticipate something good coming. At times, the anticipation of something wonderful can be even more exciting than the thing itself.

But, what if what you are anticipating is not so pleasant.

Have you ever waited with someone as they anticipate bad news? As they wait on news about cancer results? Or as they anticipate the dissolution of a marriage. Or the collapsing of the job.

Though the event itself is traumatic, the anticipation of it can be even worse.

In those moments, our temptation can be to run. Even though I am a pastor, I have to admit to struggling to endure with someone who is going through considerable pain. Especially if that pain is drawn out. It wears on them. It wears on me. At times, I just want to run, to save myself. In those moments, I can at times lash out or grow embittered toward the very person I am trying to help because they have become such an emotional drain on my life.

It is in the context of this that we can use our imagination to think through Joseph’s experience of the nativity.

We shared last week that the wedding plans were going smoothly until something unexpected and strange happened. Mary is with child and not by Joseph. Her story of a visitation by an angel is bizarre and borders the unbelievable.

So here is Joseph- engaged to a woman who the world would think ill of.

Either they would think Joseph got her pregnant out of wedlock

Even worse- that she had cheated an Joseph and was no longer a virgin.

Either way, Joseph’s reputation was trashed. This despite the fact that scripture indicated he was a righteous man. Thus, he may have been greatly respected, but that was all for naught now.

But he evidently cared more for Mary than his own reputation as he chooses “to dismiss her quietly.”

I don’t think we understand how agonizing a decision this would have been for him. His reputation is on the line.

As a righteous man, what he should have done to maintain his integrity is to dismiss her publicly. Likely, the best way to preserve his reputation was by dragging her to the village square, publicly proclaim her adultery and have her stoned.

This is what a righteous man concerned about his reputation would do.

And yet, he decides to do the difficult thing- to sacrifice his own reputation, and likely, his own family and friends, by sticking with her.

Thus, this very decision to stay with the pregnant Mary was the very one that likely delivered him into his own wilderness.

He was probably racked with doubts- I mean, does he really believe this?

He may well have been cut off from his own family- all he has to rely on is the very woman who has caused him to be shamed.

And he has to endure this for not just 9 months, but his entire life.

Anyone who knew him would mock him behind his back.

His reward- well, he is largely forgotten to history.

Think through the Christmas carols you know- do any feature Joseph prominently?

I struggled to find a hymn that featured him, and even in that hymn Mary plays a more prominent role.

So, Joseph endures the disgrace of staying with Mary, only to be mocked by family and friends and to disappear in the Christmas narrative.

Would you have the strength to do something similar? To knowingly lose your reputation to help someone else? To remain with someone who was going through such pain and tragedy?

Its often a thankless job. The person experiencing trauma is hardly in the position to be grateful. And if there is social stigma involved, you are unlikely to be lauded for your efforts.

Think of those who cared for AIDS patients in the height of the 80s.

Or for those who devote their work to loving and caring for prostitutes

Or for those who continue to fight for justice on unpopular issues- like gay rights or the death penalty.

You get thrust into the wilderness. And you can lose your reputation.

When you are in the wilderness, it can seem like it will never end. Think of the Israelites wandering through the desert. Or Elijah running from the murderous Jezebel and hiding in a cave. Or Jesus being tempted in the desert.

Our scripture from 2 Peter acknowledges the difficulty of that moment. He tries to provide words of comfort for people waiting for Christ’s return.

“But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. “

But, frankly, does that comfort anyone in a crisis? That God’s time is not like ours.

But here is the funny thing about the desert. When you are willing to enter in, to endure, your life can be transformed forever.

The Israelites eventually reach the promised land.

Elijah gets to see God and be recharged for worship.

Jesus emerges from the desert to be acknowledged by God in baptism.

And Joseph gets to be there when Christ enters into the world.

All because each was willing to wait out their time in the desert.

Can you do it? Can you endure?

As we anticipate this Christmas season, let us learn a lesson from the poor forgotten Joseph. Let us learn to endure with someone in crisis, let us open our hearts to someone who is dreading the coming of this holiday season. It is in enduring with them, willingly exposing ourselves to their pain, where we can find Christ this holiday season.

God's Little Surprise

2011-11-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

Scripture Texts for Sunday, November 27th:

Luke 1:26-38

Mark 13:24-37

Sermon

Imagine Mary

By all accounts, Mary was an ordinary Jewish girl in an ordinary Jewish community. And she was living a very ordinary life. But what is ordinary for others is always extraordinary for the individual living it- and Mary was at a pretty extraordinary phase in her life. Joseph had proposed, her father had approved, and now Mary was in the throws of wedding preparation. The day that she dreamed of as a little girl, when she would leave her father’s house and be united in marriage, was right around the corner.

She just knew her friends must be jealous of her. I mean, of course Joseph didn’t have much money, wasn’t very powerful, and didn’t have many connections. But he was a carpenter and should be prepared to provide for her family. But, Mary thought, what is truly amazing is just how wonderful of a guy he seemed to be. She had heard of friends who had been married off to men who barely paid attention to them, who seemed to care very little about the woman but instead hungered for the dowry that would come with him. But never in Mary’s 15 years did she think she’d find a man who seemed to be so kind, caring and loving. “He didn’t look through me, but actually cared that I existed!” It was more than she could ever have hoped for!

And then, just when everything seemed perfect, life took an unexpected twist- One night she has a vision of an angel, and just like that- Mary found herself pregnant! “Oh my god- my life is over! Joseph is a nice guy, but he is never going to buy this! How exactly is anyone supposed to believe that I’m both a virgin and pregnant! My engagement will be broken off, my family will shun me, and I could well be killed. What did that angel say? Oh yea- “I have found favor with God!” God- if this is how you treat those you like, can you like me just a little bit less?!?!?!”

At that moment, Mary’s whole world must have seemed like it dissolved. She had prepared herself for a particular life- one in which she be married, would have kids, would support her husband, and, if they were lucky, would live long enough to see her grandkids. She didn’t prepare herself for this. Who would have thought to prepare themselves for this?

What an unbelievable “gift” from God. How totally unexpected. Have you ever received a gift like that? Something totally out of the blue, unexpected, and maybe even confusing? I don’t think we can imagine just how confounded Mary’s expectations were.

Now, I might have subverted some of your own expectations when I read the second text. What on earth does a scripture text that is usually used to talk about the “end of time” have to do with Advent? This is a time for Christmas carols and nativity stories- why clutter things up with that passage?

You see, today is not just the start of Advent, but the start of a whole new year in the life of the church. When ever we start something new, like Mary starting to get ready for her marriage, we come in with some set expectations. While we know we can’t predict the future, we usually have some idea of how things are going to go. The author of this text in Mark had some pretty specific ideas. He envisioned the sun and the moon going dark, stars falling from the sky and the whole earth shaking. Sounds like the start of a great disaster movie. He also talks about Jesus coming back in a grand procession where he would be greeted by all of his followers who would escort him to earth. And, even better- this was going to happen soon. “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.”

And yet, to the best of our knowledge, life didn’t unfold the way the author expected. Instead of witnessing the triumphant return of Christ and the establishment of a great kingdom, the author likely saw the temple, the seat of God’s power, the dwelling place of God, torn to ruins by the Roman army. He had a very specific vision of a glorious future. Boy, did God surprise him.

Advent is traditionally seen as a time of expectation. We await the celebration of the coming of Christ. And of course, we await the time with family, the special Christmas eve candlelight service, the hunt for the perfect gift, the opening of gifts, gorging out on Christmas cookies, etc, etc, etc.

Now, I realize some of us may await this time more eagerly than others. For many, Christmas is a time of pain because of broken relationships, broken families, lost loved ones, and general malaise. Whether we await with joy or enter with dread, we likely come into the Christmas season with fairly set expectations.

But, if there is any one consistent aspect of scripture, I think its that God constantly surprises us and confounds our expectations. Most frequently, this is a good thing. God is unexpected generous; outrageously forgiving, unbelievably loving. Just when we think God might abandon us, we are surprised by the presence of the divine.

And, at times, that surprise might confound us. It certainly surprised the author of Mark. It certainly surprised Mary. As we await Christmas, what we really need to consider is how to prepare for Christ coming back in some unexpected way.

What if Christ came back only to be trampled in the riot last Friday at the Strongsville Victoria Secret?

What if Christ came back only to be pepper sprayed on the UC Davis campus last week?

What if Christ came back in the midst of the protest in Cairo square in Egypt?

Or during a Tea party rally?

Or as part of the annual pilgrimage by many millions of Muslims to Saudi Arabia?

The point being is that when Christ comes back, and as Christ comes back, he is going to constantly confound our expectations. Even the author of Mark, while describing a vivid and specific vision, admits “that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Personally, I sort of expect that God is confounding us in a different way. We constantly talk about when Christ will return only to miss the fact that Christ is constantly returning. He is returning in every new birth, in every act of sacrificial love, in every couragous step to leave a violent situation. Where ever there is an explosion of love and life, there Christ is.

Our Wednesday morning bible study I think has experienced a bit of this. We were surprised to study Islam and find Christ bursting forth in the Qu’ran. Who expected him there? And as we meet with members of the Brecksville Unity Center on Saturday, a Shiite mosque, I think we’ll be surprised to find that Christ is already there at work and will make himself known as we meet and grow to love new friends.

So, how do we deal with this confounding of expectations? What do we do if Christ shows up as some unexpected pregnancy that completely messes with all the plans we have in our life? What if we are favored with our own unexpected surprise?

Mary responds pretty remarkably. I mean, she’s afraid, and she certainly asks a number of questions. But ultimately, she responds “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.‘ I sometimes wonder just how long of a pause there was between the end of the angels speech and Mary’s acceptance. I just can’t imagine it was immediate. But somehow, someway, Mary was prepared for God’s little surprise.

Can we be ready? I think we can. But its going to require us to stretch and grow, perhaps just as much as Mary. I think the way we get ready is by doing something unexpected- we stop waiting. We anticipate the coming of Christ, but we do so not by waiting impatiently, but by doing. By embracing our loved ones, our community, and our world in prayer. We re-devote more of our time away from spending and instead invest in our church and our community by providing for those who do not have the financial means to celebrate the holiday. We get over our fears and welcome the community in with outrageous love after the Community tree lighting. And we begin to realize, as one United Methodist pastor put it, that Christmas is not our birthday, but is a celebration of the moment in which the divine is united with humanity in the form of Jesus Christ.

This advent, let’s get away from waiting. Lets just assume Christ is already coming back, is already here, and is just waiting to be found. Let’s get ready.

Fulfilling our Baptismal Vows - Service

2011-11-21T10:09:00.001-05:00

Scriptures for Sunday, November 20th.

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Matthew 25:31-40

Sermon

Today is the liturgical version of New Years Eve. We have journeyed together through scripture and through the Christian year and have reached the culminating point in the journey- Christ the King Sunday. This is a day in which we celebrate the majesty of our King Jesus, and one in which we recommit our entire lives to his authority. In fact, there is probably no more appropriate day for us to have renewed our baptismal vows and to have given our commitments for the next year. We are testifying in all ways possible that we intend to live in this world as if it is the kingdom of God.

However, I sometimes come to Christ the King Sunday with mixed feelings. I tend to think our culture does not have any problem picturing Christ as this great and powerful King to whom we need to submit. We often sing of God or Jesus with grandiose language and talk about how powerful the name of Jesus is. And though we may struggle with some of the implications, and though I may resist strongly the idea that our loving Christ would cast anyone into eternal punishment, I think our culture also has no problem picturing Jesus sitting in a throne in judgment at the end of the ages. In a way, it is the perfect Sunday to discuss our baptismal vow of service.

We tend to respect and idealize power. Though not all respect the president, most respect the office of the presidency as it has always been the most powerful position in the world. We often respect the titans of industry who have helped shape the world. When the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, passed away, we as a nation reveled in just how this amazing man reshaped society because of his visionary image. Our American dream often encompasses moving up the economic, corporate and social ladder to reach the optimum level of success.

In a vacuum, there is nothing wrong with the lauding of any of these displays of power. In Christianity, however, we temper this idea of Christ as King, Christ as all powerful, with many other contradictory images. Our great and powerful King enters the story not as a conqueror, but as a helpless babe. Our mighty shepherd is himself protected early in life by those who would cause him arm. Our Lord of life had no physical kingdom, eschewed all armies, and washed the feet of his closest servants. This is a King unlike any we have ever known. Someone whose power comes not from accumulating might, but by rejecting every opportunity to embrace power. Thus, part of me wonders if Jesus would be a little embarrassed by devoting a day each and every year where we celebrate him as a grand king.

Kingly imagery has its place. But when we think of Jesus on the thrown, I think we struggle to understand the implications of today’s scripture. How can Jesus both be on a throne, but also declare “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Is Jesus in his palace, or in a cardboard box? Is Jesus wearing an Armani suit, or a thread bare t-shirt that provides no warmth? Should we seek an audience with the King, or figure out what time visiting hours are at the prison? Frankly its kind of confusing. How can Jesus be both?

Just because it is so confusing, I want us to supplement our kingly image of God with a different image. One drawn from the very symbol of God’s love that we celebrated today- that of water. The water in baptism makes present God’s love for us in the here and now. It allows us to touch and feel God’s presence when we touch and feel God. But we know there is far more to water than just its use in baptism- water is at the core of all life as we know it. It is water that allows crops to go. Water, whether in the ocean or the lake, teams with life. When scientists search other planets for life, they begin their search by looking for water. Where there is no water, there is no life.

Do you know that we as humans are 60% water? In fact, water is perhaps the largest ingredient in all life forms. But the water does not stay trapped within us. We take it in, we sweat it out. It passes through the skin. It is absolutely necessary, and cannot be contained. I cannot prevent the water that is in me from being absorbed into the air and possibly flowing into one of you.

What if Jesus is like that water? What if it were impossible to have life if God through Jesus was not present. And what if that water that is Jesus flows in and amongst every single living thing?

What would it look like if we really believed God was in and through everything? If God were actually present in each one of us the way water is present in each one of us. How would we live differently?

Once a great order, as a result of waves of anti-monastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a hermitage. As the abbot agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to him to visit the hermitage and ask if by some possible chance the hermit could offer any advice that might save the monastery.

The hermit welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the hermit could only commiserate with him: “I know how it is,” he exclaimed. “The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in all the nearby towns. So the old abbot and the hermit commiserated together. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. “It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years,” the abbot said, “but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me save my dying order?” “No, I am sorry,” the hermit responded. “I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you.”

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, “Well what did the hermit say?” “He couldn’t help,” the abbot answered. “We just commiserated and read the scriptures together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving — it was something cryptic — was that the Messiah is one of us. I don’t know what he meant.”

In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered these words and wondered whether there was any possible significance. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery? If that’s the case, which one?

Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant the Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation.

On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light.

Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people’s sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the hermit did mean Brother Elred.

But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him. He just magically appears by your side. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.

Of course the hermit didn’t mean me. He couldn’t possibly have meant me. I’m just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn’t be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And on the off, off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to visit the monastery to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the hermit’s gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.

When the monks began to see the Messiah in one another, new life sprang forth where only death had existed. What would happen if we embraced the hermits vision? What if we really and truly believed that the Messiah is present in our lives and that we will interact with that same Messiah potentially every day of our lives.

Would your treat your neighbor differently? Would you look at the beggar on the street in the same way? Would you think the same about a person put before trial? Would we act in the same way when we serve a community meal.

My friends, this is what our baptismal vow of service calls us to. We are to submit to the kingly authority of Christ by assuming that Christ is in each and every person we meet. When we act that way, and when we love in that fashion, God’s kingdom will be truly present.

Fulfilling our Baptismal Vows- Presence

2011-11-07T19:43:00.000-05:00

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon

Have you ever been just off? Just a little late?

Maybe you were joking back and forth with a friend, were playfully insulted, and then no comeback comes to mind. Its only a minute later, when the moment has passed, that the perfect thing pops into your mind.

Or perhaps you find yourself attracted to someone across the room at a party. You sit and try to work the nerve up to approach them, figure out the right thing to say, and finally decide you are going to risk being foolish and open yourself up to a stranger. In the moment you make to walk over, they get up and leave with their friends. The moment has passed- your opportunity missed.

On the other side, have you ever been in the right place at just the right time? A friend is in crisis, and you happen to pop in just when they needed you? Or perhaps a child was about to run into the street in front of a car and you grab a hold of them just before they are about to be hit.

In all these scenarios, the difference between experiencing utter joy and utter misery, the difference between a life changing experience and just another humdrum day, is mere seconds. I know that in life, sometimes I am prepared to respond at a seconds notice when a situation occurs, but all too often I am oblivious until it is too late. The difference? I am only ready to respond when my heart and mind are fully engaged in the moment. Or, to put it in terms of the our second baptismal vows, I’m only ready when I’m actually present.

Now, of all the baptismal vows, of prayer, presence, gift and service, surely this seems like the easiest. I mean, the other three require you to do something, whereas this one just asks- are you there?

The parable Jesus tells today reveals the true complexity of being present. All 10 of the bridesmaids were waiting for the groom to arrive. Apparently, they were waiting so long that day turned into night and the groom had not yet arrived. The story tells us that 5 of the women were prepared for that delay but 5 were not. And who can blame them? Who expects the groom to be late to his own wedding? But, when suddenly, unexpectedly the groom arrives in the middle of the night, it is only those who have the presence of mind to be ready that get to enjoy the festivities of the wedding banquet. The others can only morn another opportunity lost.

We are told in the parable that this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. In a way, this can seem harsh and scary. If this is about the eternal fate of our souls, are we really all prepared for that moment to come? But I think, at times, that Matthew’s choice of language might obscure the point here. You see, Matthew uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven” a lot in scripture- 31 times in his Gospel in fact. This is a phrase, at least in the NRSV or NIV translations, that is unique to Matthew. This is because Matthew has a particular quirk in his writing style- he follows the Jewish practice of not using the Lord’s name so as not to take it in vain. Thus, instead of saying Kingdom of God, he instead called it kingdom of heaven. 2,000 years later, we miss this nuance because we tend to use the word heaven to refer to a place of reward in the afterlife.

If you consider that Matthew is referring to the here and now instead of some unknown future time, I think this parable takes on a whole new dimension. Rather than a pop quiz designed to separate out the good from the bad- rewarding one and damning the other, the text actually becomes a key revealing how we can experience the kingdom of God. What separated out the 5 wise bridesmaid from the 5 foolish ones? They were prepared for the moment?

How can we be prepared to be present for someone? First, we have to learn to look beyond ourselves. I am incredibly guilty at times of thinking the whole world revolves around me. When a friend has a crisis at a bad time, I can at times coldly bemoan the timing of the crisis and its impact on me rather than focus on the person going through the crisis. Thus, I become less present for that person, and I become a barrier, rather than a gateway, to the kingdom of God entering into that moment.

How can we move beyond ourselves? One of the ways I’ve found is right here at the communion table. I haven’t always appreciated communion in the past. It seemed ritualized and ordinary. It was only after I started seminary that I realized that this is the one regular moment when we all come together to experience God’s presence. Too often, I as the pastor end up being the central point. At communion, it is God’s presence, represented by the juice and bread, that is to take over our senses.

At times in our history, we Christians have missed the point. Rather then being present at the table, and celebrating God’s presence there, we have fought over the specific nature of that presence. Is Jesus really there, in body, or in spirit? Or is it in memory? Its not that these questions aren’t important, but when the debate distracts from the presence of Jesus in our midst, we are like foolish bridesmaids who miss the opportunity to experience the kingdom.

In a moment, I’ll be privileged to invite Rev. Bob Springer, a retired Lutheran pastor to lead us in communion. I’ve grown to know Bob and appreciate his willingness to come do this. A key aspect of Bob’s work in ministry has been working to overcome those things that divide us at the communion table and prevent us from fully experiencing God. And, as a pastor, I’m especially privileged to have the opportunity to just come to the table this morning worried about nothing more then experiencing the love of God.

Whether its communion, or church, or just life, the kingdom of heaven is waiting to burst forth into your life today. And the kingdom of heaven is waiting for you to be the one to open up the kingdom of heaven to others. If you are distracted, you may miss the opportunity to create a piece of the kingdom of God right here and now. But if you are present, you’ll experience the joy that is the kingdom of God right here in your midst.

Laity Sunday- Pam Young's Testimony

2011-11-03T19:26:00.000-04:00

When I was a young girl, I was always fascinated by a plaque on my aunt and uncle’s wall depicting several years worth of “Perfect” or “Faithful” Attendance at their church. I remember standing there, many times, looking in awe at that plaque. To be able to attend church that often—WOW!

You see, my family did not go to church. Which is strange, because the first date my dad and mom went on; he took her to church. Anyway, I was 6 or 7 and wanted desperately to go to church. My aunt and uncle would take me when I stayed the weekend with them, but that wasn’t often enough because they lived 30 miles away. I had had a taste of Sunday school and all things kid-friendly and I wanted to be there.

So, I began a campaign to get my parents to take my younger sisters and me to church. Many Sunday mornings went by and my parents had just as many excuses—especially my father.

“I’m tired from being up too late last night”

“We don’t have any clean clothes”

“You didn’t wake us up in time”

Well, I was relentless. Week after week, this went on, until finally, my dad looked me in the eye and said, “You’re not going to give up on this, are you?” “Nope!” I said. “Okay, everyone get dressed. We’re gonna go to church.”

I remember my mom, my sisters, and I danced around the living room. We were so excited. So, we started going to a little Baptist church in the area. I lived in West Virginia, and there wasn’t much church shopping to be done in those days. You went wherever was close enough to drive to.

When I was 8 years old, we had an altar call (as Baptist churches are known to do from time to time). The preacher’s name was Caddy Moss. The song was “Just As I Am”. We sang a couple of verses, the preacher started talking in that soft-spoken, heart-grabbing way, while the music continued softly in the background.

I was unable to stand still. My heart was thumping so loudly, I thought everyone could hear it. I knew that I had to go to the altar. I had seen other altar calls and knew that is what people did, but until that moment, I didn’t understand why. I felt so compelled to move forward, even though no one else had done so yet. Pastor Moss said, “And a little child shall lead them” and sure enough, others started coming to the altar as well. Pastor Moss prayed with me and I knew from that moment that Christ was part of my life and that I would never be the same.

That was the beginning of my knowledge that God was working in my life. Very soon, I was faced with challenges and obstacles to overcome. But, thank God, he had his hand on me and he never left me to fend for myself. While I would not want to face those same challenges again, I know that I am stronger, more faithful, and more aware of his presence because of them.

Laity Sunday - Judy Perry - Joyous Burdens of Love

2011-11-02T20:25:00.000-04:00

A little bit of background of my history as a Methodist goes like this. As a family unit, mom and dad took us four girls to Sunday school and church. At some point in our young lives our parents left the church when we were too young to get back to church. At age 19 it was my decision to get to church. My husband and I were married in a Methodist church and our children have been raised here at Independence United Methodist Church.

Fast-forward to now and my Joyous Burdens of Love. In our most recent “Reading with the Pastor” book titled CLAIMING ALL THINGS FOR GOD the author summarizes for us about an experience of reading a collection of articles and talks of Tomas Kelly a Quaker philosopher. It reads, “Perhaps there is no more important Word for us activists whose lives are too busy, who hear so many urgent voices, and who care about so many ongoing tragedies. God “does not burden us equally with all things,” but only with certain callings and tasks which are to be our part in the “joyous burdens of love.” And mark this: “We cannot die on every cross nor are we expected to.” Rather, we are to focus on the particular arena to which God leads us. And there we are to labor in peace and power and faith and joy, rooted in “the unhurried serenity of the Eternal” at work. Rather, we are to focus on the particular arena to which God leads us. And there we are to labor in peace and power and faith and joy, rooted in “the unhurried serenity of the Eternal” at work. Thanks be to God!”

One of my joyous burdens of love was working on me for a couple of years. God was unhurried in my heart. I wanted to make sundresses for little girls in need. When the earthquake in Haiti caused so many people to be in need of assistance, there was an urgent call for me to get started making dresses. I labor at the sewing machine in great joy.

Another joyous burden of love is our Sunday morning class. God led me to ask for a Sunday morning class over 10 years ago. Eventually I started to lead the class. This joyous burden of leading the class is that I’m not a teacher. We’ve discovered that I facilitate. We started this fall in a study about hospitality and welcome and the risks involved. The first day of class I experienced my joyous burden of love combined with hospitality and welcome and risk all at the same time when we all came in along with Pastor Jared who also walked in, sat down and didn’t leave.

One more labor in peace and power and faith and joy rooted in God is the meal we prepare and serve at Pearl Road United Methodist Church. Again God was working on me for several years only I had a barrier. This barrier or risk was my idea that I might precipitate upon seeing a child needing his or her hair combed or experiencing a person in need of a pair of shoes. I risked going to labor and saw what I had feared and didn’t cry. I came away from another joyous burden of love with a commitment to going again and again. I will go and do likewise.

To close I think about the lyrics to Lay Down your Burdens sung by Amy Grant. The chorus repeats “lay down your burden I will carry you, I will carry you my child, my child. As I lay down my burdens to God, I can get past public speaking, and uncomfortable feelings involved with being a servant and realize my work is a joyous burden of love.

Thanks be to God! Amen!

Laity Sunday - Ted Lux's testimony

2011-11-01T18:08:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, October 23rd, Independence UMC celebrated Laity Sunday. The sermon consisted of 3 testimonies given by faithful lay members of our congregation. Unfortunately, Pastor Jared was on vacation so we couldn't get these posted until now. I hope you find them as inspiring as our congregation did.

When it comes to my spiritual life I’m always going around looking for trouble.

I believe I’m going to heaven but there are always those nagging questions, like, “Am, I good enough? Do I do enough?”

And that nagging gets worse if you think about Genesis 1:26. It reads, “And God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.”

Notice that it says “Let US make humankind in our image, according to OUR likeness.” That use of the plural is an obvious reference to the existence of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

But that’s for our pastor to take up at another time.

Let’s go back to “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.” I’m not one to decide what the Bible means but here’s what I think it means. I think it means that we are made in the image of God. Remember the old phrases, he takes after his father or she takes after her mother. If you put that in the context of a comparison between us and God that’s pretty strong stuff. Now I really wonder if I measure up.

If we’re made in the image of God would anybody recognize God in me or you?

Genesis 1:26 doesn’t stop with talking about the image of God. The verse reads, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion. Now as you know the Bible says dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds and cattle and so on. But as usual I’m going to borrow a thought from my spiritual hero, Dr. Normal Vincent Peale, perhaps the greatest preacher of the 20^th century. He suggests that God also has given us dominion over ourselves, to have dominion over the circumstances of our lives. To not let any person, any disease, any problem rule our lives. That’s a tall order too. But if we are made in His image, and He has control over all things then we can have control too.

I’m certainly not going to stand here and make it sound easy. There isn’t a person in this sanctuary, regardless of age, who hasn’t had one or several problems to deal with...health, financial, circumstances that just wear us down day after day. But look around at the very people you know. And if you’re new to this church you can look at people you personally know. We have watched others deal with their problems and not given up.

There are two kinds of people...those who have dominion over their problems and those who give in or give up. There are many people sitting here right now who I am in awe of, because they have drawn on the strength of the Lord to stand up to problems. They refuse to give up.

Some people say, what choice do I have?

In truth there is a choice, to ask God for help and strength or to give up. Sure there are days like it feels that HIS help and strength aren’t coming but it’s still there.

As I said we know of examples of great burdens right here in this congregation but rather than make an example of someone you know I’ll tell you about an Air Force nurse named Kris. This is a sad story and her story is still being written. My purpose in telling you her story is not to dwell on the tragedy but rather how Kris, and in particular her mother are dealing with it. It demonstrates a choice we make when faced with our problems.

About a year and a half ago Kris was on her way home from work at an Air Force base hospital in Texas when she was involved in a horrific car accident. To this day she cannot walk or talk. She is the daughter of one of my buddies from high school and his wife, Carol. Carol, and Kris herself, have refused to give up in the effort to restore Kris to health. But here’s the important part. Carol sees every step of the way as being guided by the Lord. In spite of all that has happened she gives God credit for every little victory that takes place. No matter how tough the going gets we must always believe, we must always know, that the Lord is right by our side.

Now let’s go back to being created in God’s image and the question, if we’re made in the image of God would anybody recognize God in us. I think if we had a show of hands we’d all say we believe in angels. But who are angels? Where do they come from?

They’re us. God uses us to help his people on earth. But He can’t use us unless we let Him.

Think about this...and some of you have already heard this story about what Bert and I experienced on our vacation to Europe last month. We were traveling with two friends of ours, Stuart and Becky. We were walking on the streets of Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia in northern Africa. Tunisia is right next door to Libya.

We’re still not sure exactly what happened but Stuart experienced a freak accident which left a major wound to his leg. He was down on the ground in the street bleeding badly. Bert and I were some distance ahead. The street was teaming with people and bumper to bumper traffic and people had already gathered around him by the time we got back. Someone had already wrapped the wound with a scarf and stopped the bleeding.

One angel.

We had to get him back to the ship to be attended to by the ship’s doctor but the traffic was at a standstill. In what seemed like just a moment two men put Stuart and me in the back of their SUV and then began a ride that made me feel like a movie chase scene.

Somehow the man driving managed to get through all the traffic and get us back to the boat. And remember, they didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Arabic!

Two more angels.

The doctor on the boat said that Stuart had to have surgery on his leg in Tunisia because if he waited until the boat’s next stop in Sicily major infection could set in. And on top of all that the boat was ready to leave Tunisia. It seemed like just a few minutes later that the four of us were on the dock watching the boat leave and there we were in Africa!

Enter two more angels, Emira and Elyes.

They work for a company that cruise ships hire to take care of any problems in that particular port. Out of nowhere an ambulance shows up. Emira and Elyes tell us we’re on the way to a wonderful, clean hospital. Don’t worry, they said, this is where the rich Libyans come for plastic surgery. That night Stuart had surgery on his leg and was released the next day. But the doctor says Stuart can’t travel for at least a day. Elyes and Emira take us to a beautiful hotel, tend to all our needs, pick us up a day and half later, take us to the airport and get us on a plane to Rome.

Stuart is fine and the injury is slowly recovering.

Great story, but what’s the point?

Simply to be ready, and willing, when God needs you to be an angel. The two men on the street who put us in their car could have said, let the police take care of it, beside it’s obvious they’re Americans. Although Elyes and Emira were doing their jobs they could have said, hey, it’s 5 o’clock and that’s when we stop working. We’ll check in with you tomorrow. No, on a moment’s notice they literally turned their lives over to us.

There is no way that I’m going to stand up here and tell you to be like them or I’d be one big hypocrite.

All I can say is...let’s all of us be ready to be an angel and be made in His image.

Fulfilling our Baptismal Vows- Prayer

2011-10-31T07:30:00.000-04:00

Scriptures for Sunday, October 30th:

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

Joshua 3:7-17

Sermon

Today we begin a four week journey where we explore baptism, the vows we take, the grace it provides, as a way to examine our own commitment as individual Christians and as a church. We are at the time of year where we are called to lay out a vision for the future of our congregation. We do this in several formats- through our charge conference, through a strategic planning meeting this Thursday, and through our commitment campaign that will culminate on November 20.

The fullness of that commitment can be found in two vows that we take during the baptismal process. The first is the vow we take as a congregation, and the second is the vow we take upon confirmation or upon joining the church.

Let's start with the congregational vow in baptism-

With God’s help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ.We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness,that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others.We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.

In other words, we make a significant commitment that should never be taken lightly- we are declaring that we hold ourselves responsible for creating the environment in which Elaina (the child we baptized during the service) here will grow. We are making a solemn vow to create the kind of loving atmosphere in our church, in our community, and in our world, that will enable Elaina to grow up trusting God so much that she too may seek to follow our Lord Jesus Christ in serving others.

Today’s scripture- of Joshua leading the Hebrew people across the Jordan, is one of the most important pivot points in scripture. The new generation of God’s chosen people are finally crossing into the promised land, but they can only do so because someone else has prepared the way.

I did not realize the significance of this story for today until I heard then Senator Obama speak in 2007 at the commemoration of the Selma Voting rights march. In 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led over 600 civil rights marchers to demand equal access to the ballot. The marchers were attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas.

So, on the 42nd anniversary of this “Bloody Sunday” march, Senator Obama said

“So I just want to talk a little about Moses and Aaron and Joshua, because we are in the presence today of a lot of Moseses. We're in the presence today of giants whose shoulders we stand on, people who battled, not just on behalf of African Americans but on behalf of all of America; that battled for America’s soul, that shed blood , that endured taunts and formant and in some cases gave -- torment and in some cases gave the full measure of their devotion.Like Moses, they challenged Pharaoh, the princes, powers who said that some are atop and others are at the bottom, and that's how it's always going to be. My very existence might not have been possible had it not been for some of the folks here today.”

That generation of civil rights workers endured considerable pain and even death to help to create the more just and kingdom centered world that we live in today. While we may not yet be at the promised land, we are significantly closer today because of their work.

The people of Israel made a very similar sacrifice for future generations. They dared to challenge Pharoah, to wander through the desert, to risk starvation to find a future in which their own children would be able to grow and blossom. But, as is often the case, they create a more just world through their blood, sweat and tears and pass long before they can ever experience it.

When that generation, and when Moses, passed away, it would have been almost natural for them to shrink back in fear and return to the desert. After all, who was this young upstart in Joshua, someone who had not paid his dues, to lead these people who had suffered so much? It had only been 30 days since Moses had died- how dare Joshua be so insensitive.

And really, was the desert so bad? They had survived for 40 years after all! And isn’t hanging on and surviving enough? Shouldn’t we be happy with that?

Have you ever seen a church, a family, or a person who has adopted that desert mentality? That all time, effort and energy is devoted to simply surviving? Of course, that is completely appropriate at times! If we cannot survive, how can we ever hope to be fruitful. A survival first mentality can help to preserve a person or a church through its darkest days. It ensures that there can be some vitality in the future when things improve.

The problem can come when its time to leave the desert. “Look- I survived this way for 40 years! Now you want me to change?!?! I know this works- I won’t die this way!”

That is sort of half true. You see, the Israelites had arrived at the Jordan before. And they got scared and turned back. And though that generation survived, they would die without seeing the promised land. Who knows what would have happened if they had refused to leave the desert once again. Eventually, even in survival mode, we all must pass away.

So, the people come face to face with the Jordan. And the river is raging. Scripture says it was overflowing the banks. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, water, especially raging water , stands in for chaos. So, the people who have survived in the desert must confront this teaming chaos to move forward. And they must do so led by this pip-squeek who has proved nothing!

And yet, they manage to shake their fears, to trust their new leader, to cross over! How do they do it?

They “Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.” We have a word for hearing the words of God- we call it prayer. Now that might seem a little odd, because we usually think of prayer as us saying things to God. But in its fullest sense, prayer is supposed to open us up to hear from God. That can come in many forms. For some, it might be a vision or an auditory message from God. This is what happens to Joshua. But, for most of us, this is not the form hearing from God takes. It is more subtle, it is the way that we feel calm after we make the right decision, it is the way we get excited about new ideas, and it is when we look back and can see in retrospect that the decision we made led to new life and new creation. For me, the most frequent way I feel like I can hear from God is in reading. Sometimes its scripture and I’m trying to train myself to read in such a way that I am more open to hearing from God in scripture, but often it is the works of other Christians who are sharing their understanding of God. That’s why we do the reading with the pastor series- I hope you get something out of it, but even more, I hope it creates a discipline through which I can learn to hear God.

How do you hear God? Is it with the Monday night prayer group? With a daily scripture reading? With a walk in the woods? With singing a favorite hymn? Its important, especially now, to try and determine how you best hear from God. Because today, we have an important commitment to make. We are declaring that we will listen to God to create the best place for Elaina here to grow and prosper. Its crucial that we listen to God as we try to envision this future, because after we hear from God- there is a second important step.

We need to get into the river and get muddy. Its orderly to keep surviving. Its messy to step into the chaos and seek new life. We are afraid we might get swept away. That we might sink into the mud. That rather than being filled with new life, that we might perish. But, my brothers and sisters, if we have truly listened to God, we can be assured that when we step forward in faith, we will find dry land. When you joined this congregation, you committed to faithfully participate in its ministries through prayer, presence, gift and service. As we remember our baptismal vows and as we commit to the future of the church, let us renew our commitment for listening to God through prayer. When we do that, we will find the dry land; we will find that God’s grace allows us to be reborn. And we will find that we are ready to nurture Elaina and all of the other members of her generation to create a world and a church in which they can prosper.

Sue Kertianis- Reaction to Yom Kippur Service

2011-10-19T14:51:00.001-04:00

The Yom Kippur service was a good idea to experience something different in our worship service. As we moved along through the service you could really feel the passion in the music and sense the congregation’s anticipation as we started different sections.

I personally felt as one link in an unending circle – we were all connected in this service. Yet we were all individually asking for God’s forgiveness. During the confession part – the outward tapping on your chest – I strongly felt God’s presence … the responses were genuinely heartfelt.

Immediately following the service, I did follow Pastor Jared’s suggestion and asked someone to forgive me, not so much that I had sinned again that person, but that I was not doing enough for them and prayed that I would be a better person.

I think this service brought home the fact that we need to be quick to ask for forgiveness and more aware of God’s direction in our lives.

Cathrine Stadulis- Reaction to a Service in Honor of Yom Kippur

2011-10-18T20:55:00.000-04:00

When Pastor Jared asked if I would be willing to write a reflection on this Sunday’s service, and that said service would focus on Yom Kippur and atonement, I had to laugh to myself.

As a former Catholic, raised in a very Catholic family and having two strict Polish-Catholic grandparents (I still feel slightly guilty about eating meat on Fridays,) the concept of sinning and asking for forgiveness for one’s sins is hardly a new concept for me. I remember vividly going through my first Rite of Reconciliation in grade school – attending special meetings at the church with other kids in my class and trying to figure out, along with my friends, what exactly qualified as a sin and whether I needed to confess it or not. Did fighting with my brothers make it on the list as a sin? Should I confess to thinking mean thoughts about certain kids in my class?

So, writing about a Yom Kippur service, where the entire focus is on sinning and atoning for one’s sins, I thought, would be an easy task. And yet, three days later, I still find it hard to write out exactly how Sunday’s service affected me.

Some things are easy to write down. For example, after attending this Sunday’s service, it would seem that the Jewish and Catholic/Christian faiths don’t stray too far from each other when it comes to defining sin. Both faiths have quite a list of both major and minor transgressions. I always liked the Catholic "I have sinned in what I have done and in what I have failed to do," and I liked the Jewish "we have acted presumptuously… we have been stiff-necked… we have gone astray."

On the more difficult side of things, I still have very divided feelings about sin and atonement, and Sunday’s service was, at times, hard for me.

Growing up, my parish priest would state "arrogant are we to think that there is any sin we can commit that God will not forgive." As a young adult, I remember standing in church next to my father and rolling my eyes as he would beat his fist on his breast during the confession of sin portion of the Mass. All I could think was, "What’s the point?" For years, that portion of the Catholic Mass was merely lip service to me; a time to make a statement but not really think about or intend the words I was saying.

After all, God has assured his forgiveness of us on many occasions. Why must we list out what we have done; why must we beat our breast? God knows what we did and if we are truly sorry for it. Why must we ask?

These are still questions I struggle with now as an older adult. To stand with my new congregation in the Methodist faith and to say words and perform acts that I have always associated with "silly" Catholicism and to see that they are, in fact, part of the original Jewish faith, was very difficult. To beat my breast in public, something I always thought of as an over-the-top and melodramatic action, and to try to mean it was extremely hard to do. To speak out the list of 15 sins, both major and minor, even with all the others of the congregation, was also extremely difficult.

Why so difficult? I’m still not sure. Perhaps now, as someone who is trying to really live my faith and have true intent behind my words, it is harder to admit my sins, both to others and to myself. Perhaps, after several very emotionally hard years, I feel that I truly need to ask God for forgiveness. Perhaps because there have been times when I felt that God has never forgiven me my transgressions, as I did not truly mean my words before.

Despite all of these questions and difficulties, though, I left Sunday’s service feeling forgiven, if still filled with questions. But I am grateful, very grateful, that Pastor Jared and IUMC gave me the opportunity to experience an abbreviated Yom Kippur.

One of the reasons I chose to join IUMC is that I have left more services thinking, and feeling, like someone who has really heard the word of God. And this past Sunday, I feel like I truly received some of God’s forgiveness. And for that I am truly thankful.

Maryanne Schneider's reaction to A Service in Honor of Yom Kippur

2011-10-17T18:06:00.000-04:00

When Pastor Jared asked me to post something of my impressions of the service today I brought out pen and paper and had pen in air to jot down every exceptional thing about the service. After making a few notes I decided to put my pen away and just sit back and experience the service.

"This day for the Jews is like our Easter", said Jared.

I used to think as a child that this sacrifice of innocent animals was pagan and cruel because the true meaning of why they did it and why God expected it was not clear to me then. The slaughtering of their prized lambs and goats must have torn them to pieces. But they were obedient to God.

God sacrificed his most precious possession: His son Jesus. Another thing that came to my mind was that it was one thing to sacrifice an animal but to sacrifice a human and your own son had to be so much more horrible. I could not bear to sacrifice one of my children to wipe away anyone's sins.

The service went on to the confession of sins. There are a lot of sins out there. Some you wouldn't think of as bad sins but they shared the same level as all sins. One no better than another. All needed to be confessed to please God.

Quite meaningful was the fact that in a group confession we were not just confessing our own sins but we as a group were confessing and asking forgiveness for all those in the group. There is power in numbers and I think the Jews have that figured out.

Our repentance must be TRUE to be accepted by God and by our repentance we are calling God to come to us and meet us with his love and compassion.

In confession we are making a sacrifice. The sacrifice of our pride. We submit ourselves to humility in admitting we did wrong in the eyes of God. We show remorse for the wrongs we have done and we can feel cleansed.

The music by the choir was sung in Hebrew. Once being in a choir and having to sing in Latin I know how difficult it must be to sing unfamiliar words with meaning. The music was truly meaningful in the way it was sung: Reverently and with passion.

The confession in which we beat our fist over our heart and repeated the words in Hebrew that Jared led us with was very moving. Although on the lighter side, and I always find a lighter side during the oddest and most solemn of times, I thought to myself......You know when we try to speak the language of a country we are visiting and we mispronounce the words it comes up with a different meaning?

All I can say is that I hope I was not saying something much different than the original meaning when I mispronounced them. Something that would make me go back and say another confession.

I did confess to someone after the service for a wrong I did to them as suggested by Jared. I told my husband Al that I was sorry that sometimes I take him for granted.

Taking something for granted is never good. Taking for granted that God will forgive us if we do not sacrifice something for him has to be one of the worst sins against Him.

A service in honor of Yom Kippur

2011-10-17T14:05:00.000-04:00

Normally on Mondays, I like to post the sermon from the previous day's worship. However, this last week we did not have a sermon! Instead, we read and prayed and sung together liturgy from Park Synagogue's Yom Kippur service. I have the privilege of singing in the High Holy Day choir and thus, even as a gentile, have a bit of insight into the vast spirituality contained in the service. (For more of a primer, check out this introduction by Rabbi Jonathan Kraus.) Thus, I wanted to bring a little taste of that moving religious experience to our congregation. However, I'm not comfortable reprinting the prayers in this forum as I am sure their are copyright implications. Instead, here are a few bits of information to give you a feel.

The Yom Kippur service comes to us from the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus. As part of the Torah, this is of course revered scripture that is shared by Jews and Christians. However, we at times fail to appreciate the depth of spirituality in our Hebrew Bible (which is often referred to as the Old Testament).

The actual Yom Kippur services at Park Synagogue take place over 2 days and last for approximately 13 hours. We had about 20 minutes! So we spent the bulk of the time going over what I consider to be the spiritual high point of the service- the confession of the sins that take place during the Avodah service. I do want to include two quotes from the prayer book ( The New Mahzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Pg. 637) to give you a sense of its meaning:

The Avodah
For our ancestors in ancient days, the Temple in Jerusalem was the symbol of God’s presence. In the Temple sacrifices were offered daily on behalf of the entire nation. On the Sabbath and Festivals, special sacrifices marked the holiness of the day. Thus did the Temple bear testimony to Israel’s consecration to God.
The Temple has long since been destroyed; yet, the remembrance of it lives on in the heart of our people.
When we recall the ancient Temple, we link ourselves to our past; we sense again that we are part of one people, dedicated to the service of God and God’s Torah of righteousness and truth.
Today our worship is one of prayer and praise. But when we think of the piety of our ancestors, who from their meager supply of cattle and grain, offered their best possessions in the service of God, we feel called upon to devote not only our words but also our substance to God’s service.
Milton Steinberg (adapted)

The Ritual of Confession
On Yom Kippur, the sacrificial rites in the ancient Temple, highlighted by the ritual confession, were conducted by the High Priest. On this day, and on it alone, he entered the Holy of Holies, entry to which was denied to all others. On this day he made confession three times, humbling himself before God and seeking forgiveness for his own sins and those of his household, for the sins of the priestly order, and for the sins of the entire House of Israel.
Ario S. Hyams (adapted)

Thus, we prayed together our confessions on behalf of ourselves and the entire community. As was explained to me by one of my Jewish friends, when they make their confession on Yom Kippur, it is a confession as a community. Thus, not every single thing confessed needs to apply directly to you to confess it. You are confessing with the community, and certainly someone in the community has transgressed in that particular way. So also is the community confessing to you as it is quite likely at least one of the confessions applies to you.

The heart of the confession is the Ashamnu which we prayed and sang together. The English translation of the text is as follows (pg. 649):

We have trespassed; we have dealt treacherously;we have robbed; we have spoken slander;we have acted perversely; we have done wrong;we have acted presumptuously; we have done violence;we have practiced deceit; we have counseled evil;we have spoken falsehood; we have scoffed;we have revolted; we have blasphemed;we have rebelled; we have committed iniquity; we have transgressed; we have oppressed; we have been stiff-necked; we have acted wickedly;we have dealt corruptly; we have committed abomination;we have gone astray; we have led others astray.

After concluding our confessions, we read a text of reassurance for the forgiveness of our sins-

When repentance and change seem too hard,
We draw strength from the Divine promise;
For on the road to true repentance,
We are met by God’s love and compassion.

Following the service, I read from the tenth chapter of Hebrews where Jesus is depicted as the high priest making the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the community. I think we can both affirm that forgiveness is ultimately mediated by Jesus Christ without invalidating the rituals of confession embraced by both the Jewish and Christian faiths. We still need to take the time to ask for forgiveness- even if that forgiveness is freely offered.

Since I cannot reproduce the entire service here, I asked several members of the congregation to write up their own thoughts following what was a very different service. I hope you will appreciate their lightly edited reflections as they are posted this week. It will be great to see the diversity of the responses!

Shalom!

Pastor Jared

Reading with the Pastor - In God's Presence

2011-10-14T11:09:00.000-04:00

What is this "thing" called prayer? At sometime or another in our lives we have asked that question. Is it possible that the God of creation actually listens to and answers our prayers or are we having a monologue with ourselves? For those of us who have struggled with these and other questions concerning prayer, "In God's Presence" offers invaluable insights about this wonderful gift of communication.

Marjorie Suchocki shares with us her reflections about prayer from both a theological and personal perspective. She leads us through the various conceptions of what we think prayer "is" and shows us another view that moves beyond our well worn myths of communicating with God. We are challenged to look and examine every facet of prayer from the way we view God to offering prayers of thanksgiving and praise.

We will gather to discuss the book on Thursday, November 17th at 7:00 pm. A quick search of the library systems did not reveal any local copies, but used copies of this book can be found online for approximately $5.00.

Please contact the church office if you would like us to order the book for you.

Saturday Sabbath Cinema - Janie Jones

2011-10-13T20:04:00.000-04:00

After a summer hiatus, it’s back!

On Saturday, November 12th at around noon, we’ll head to Cinemark to catch the first showing of Janie Jones. The story is about a musician content with his rock-n-roll lifestyle whose life is turned upside down with the arrival of a 13 year-old daughter he never knew he had. Left to raise

Janie Jones, Ethan and Janie embark on a road trip of music and father-daughter bonding. Check out the trailer here as I found it to be quite moving:

Following the movie, we’ll head back to church to discuss the film. Hope to see you there!

Update: RSVP for the event here.

Where are we as a church?- Pastor's edition

2011-10-12T19:00:00.000-04:00

On Monday, October 10th, we held our annual charge conference. Below is the full text of my pastor's report for that day:

Mission Statement- The Independence United Methodist Church, along with other Methodist churches, holds our purpose to be that of making and being disciples of Jesus Christ, in service to God and to the World. At the Independence United Methodist Church we are committed to growing in the faith through worship, study and service.

This last year has continued our transition from a congregation at rest into a congregation that is excited about actively taking steps to carry out the work that God has entrusted in us. While the ultimate goal and the specifics of the work to which we are called remain hazy, we have been putting into place the necessary foundations for launching forth into even more radical life changing ministry.

We continue to grow into our understanding of what it means to be a radically hospitable church and people. The baseline here was great- many members of our congregation actively welcomed new comers . Many of the faith stories of those who have joined or those who have recently began attending include the warm welcome they received when they first arrived here. We have begun the work of sending hand written notes to first time visitors and are continuing to look at ways we can overhaul the way we welcome people. We also are actively seeking out ways to welcome and show love to our community. One simple example was opening up the church during home days so people could use the restrooms and serving water to those who sat on the church lawn to watch the parade.

Our worship service continues to evolve in a direction that is interactive and relevant. The congregation has gotten used to the fact that worship will look different from Sunday to Sunday and they now come to expect that I will ask questions and ask them to take active steps to discuss or act out liturgically the message of the day during the service. We have also hired a dynamic new choir director who is helping to continue to build upon our strong music program while expanding our styles and offerings. We also reformed a monthly worship committee so that worship planning can be done more collaboratively and we can begin to dream about ways our worship can be enhanced.

I am especially proud of the direction the congregation has taken in intentional faith development. In this past year we have launched a new weekly prayer group, a newly reformed youth group and enhanced and realigned our Sunday School classes to better match with the scripture and themes of worship. All of these have been lay lead. In addition, we started a new social issue forums group this summer that allowed nearly 20 individuals to come together to discuss and pray about our Social Principals and its connection to our faith. Furthermore, I have had several members approach me with ideas of new groups that they want to help launch. When we come together in ministry, we truly are stronger.

The highlight of our missions program this year is the agreement to partner with Pearl Rd. UMC on community meals every other month. Though this program is in its infancy, I have already seen lives transformed in our congregation by interacting with and serving some of our or economically challenged neighbors in Cleveland. We will continue to seek out hands on opportunities to engage in mission that changes lives- both our own and those we serve.

I am ecstatic about the progress the congregation has made in reigniting our sense of stewardship. In 2009, we paid 18% of our district and conference apportionments. By 2010, we had boosted this to 55%. Through the end of August this year, we had already paid 49% off our apportionments and I conservatively project we will pay at least 80% by year end. Furthermore, the finance committee has covenanted that 2012 will be the year we finally pay all of our apportionments. The fact that we have done this without significantly cutting back on our ministry and while increasing our other missional giving is a testament to the hard work of the committee, the generosity of the congregation and is a sign of the movement of the Holy Spirit here in our midst.

Let us praise God for the good work that is being done amongst us!

Goals for continuing formation for 2012:

Radical Hospitality_____Work to gather feedback from those who are relatively new to the congregation as to how they were welcomed and how we can improve. We will also reorient an existing committee or create a new group whose exclusive focus is on hospitality.

Passionate Worship____I will work to help us identify the specific gifts contained within this congregation to create a unique worship experience. I will work with the newly reformed worship committee to identify how we can vary our worship offerings to appeal to a broader range of people. We will also explore adding multimedia equipment so we can communicate the gospel in different ways.

Intentional Faith Development__I will work to determine who would be willing to lead new small groups and how to identify those who might partake in new or existing small groups. I also covenant to clarify what are the minimum characteristics needed to call something a faithful small group while still allowing flexibility in style and preference.

Risk-Taking Mission and Service___I will work to help the congregation determine how they can tell their faith stories. We also need to continue to explore the needs of both Independence and the surrounding communities (especially the west side of Cleveland). We will also work on a way to allow members to express and include their individual mission work not organized by the church as part of our faith story.

Extravagant Generosity___I will work with the stewardship chair and the finance committee to better communicate the state of our giving and of our spending. I will also work with the finance committee to live up to our commitment to fully pay apportionments in 2012.

Where are we as a church? - Lay Leader's Edition

2011-10-11T21:59:00.000-04:00

Below is the report that our Lay Leader, Ted Lux, gave at our annual charge conference. I'm so grateful for his leadership and his enthusiasm!

We pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon us and that through our spiritual energy we are able to praise and please the Lord in our faith journey as a congregation of the United Methodist Church.

I would imagine that the phrase “small but mighty” aptly describes any number of Methodist congregations including that in Independence.

Each Sunday morning and through various activities throughout the week we attempt to communicate with and hear God’s direction.

To that end in the past year a variety of programs were offered. On Monday night the members themselves with no clergy leadership meet for prayer, study and meditation. It may be just a handful of people and I’m certain it resembles what happens in most churches but upon departing the participants know that they have been in the presence of the Lord and that he has heard our prayers and smiled upon our goal of drawing closer to Him. Many times the evening includes taking the prayer request list from the previous day’s bulletin and carefully considering each individual and their need for healing and grace.

Our youth and their adult leadership continue to embrace God’s call not only in weekly meetings but in their annual mission trip beyond our church and state borders. Our young people learn first half what it means to sacrifice and to experience what it is like to be God’s emissaries.

We are very proud that during the summer our minister immersed himself in leading two weekly discussion groups on social issues that need our attention. They tackled issues that many times confound our souls and make us wonder if we are doing enough to be true to our Christian principles.

The weekly worship services more frequently take new paths to discovering God’s word through “audience participation,” drama and song. Each member of the congregation may engage himself at an individual level of comfort but most come away with new perspectives of worshipping the Lord.

We attempt to be more visible in the community. Our minister offers the prayer at the beginning of City Council meetings and our choir added to the arrival of Santa Claus last December with carols reminding everyone that Santa is only a trimming on the celebration that is Christmas.

There is much to do on this congregational faith journey as we attempt to share our faith with ourselves and with others. We pray that the Holy Spirit will energize us to a greater commitment to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

AMEN!

Whose world is it anyway?

2011-10-10T22:58:00.000-04:00

Scriptures for Sunday, October 9th

Psalm 99
Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon

Some of you probably grew up reading out of the King James version of the Bible. To the best of my knowledge, I never did. Nor, in fact, am I particularly enamored with the translation as its been found to be replete with errors and the Shakespearean language obscures more than it imparts, but there are passages of scripture for which the King James translation remains most prominent for me. Psalm 23 and the Lord’s prayer are two instances; today’s scripture is a third. In its translation, Jesus replies to the Herodians question by declaring “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.”

This is a passage that has been quoted over and over again “as a solemn statement about the relationship between civil and religious authority, between politics and religion, or, in Christian terms, between “church and state.” It has been most commonly understood to mean that there are two separate realms of human life, one religious and one political. In the first, we are to “render to God,” and in the second, we are to render to Caesar.” from the The Last Week

What this means in practice has varied considerably, but generally it has been used to tell Christians that we are to submit to the will of the state. Perhaps the most famous formulation of this is by Martin Luther, the founder of Lutheranism. In a sermon on this passage, Luther declared

And with these words he also confirms the worldly sword or government. They had hoped he would condemn it and speak against it; he does not do it, however, but praises earthly government and commands to render unto it what is due to it. It is therefore his desire that there should be magistrates, princes and masters, whom we are to obey, be they what they may and what they list; neither should we ask whether they possess and exercise government and authority justly or unjustly. We should only pay heed to that power and authority which is good, for it is ordered and instituted by God...Thus one must also bear the authority of the ruler. If he abuses it, I am not therefore to bear him a grudge, nor take revenge of and punish him with my hands. One must obey him solely for God's sake, for he stands in God's stead. Let them impose taxes as intolerable as they may: one must obey them and, suffer everything patiently, for God's sake. Whether they do right or not, that will be taken care of in due time. If therefore your possessions, aye, your life and whatsoever you have, be taken from you by those in power, then you are to say: I give it to you willingly, I acknowledge you as my masters, gladly will I be obedient to you. Whether you use the power given to you by God well or ill, that is your affair.

This notion that there are two kingdoms, one Godly and one worldly, caught on during the enlightenment and has become very firmly entrenched in our ethos. In fact, a representation of this became part of the first amendment to the US constitution and the notion of the separation of church and state is quite prominently featured in the writings of Thomas Jefferson. So, the idea of interpreting this passage as laying down the boundaries between the spiritual and the secular life has considerable weight in both our religious and worldly traditions.

I believe strongly in paying attention to tradition in the church. We owe a great debt of gratitude for the ways that Christians before us, including the great thinkers like Aquinas, Luther and Wesley, have understood the faith. Though there is never a single understanding of scripture or faith, many dominant themes can emerge that help us in our interpretation of scripture and the spiritual life. However, we are also called to read scripture with a critical eye; to never be habitual in our understanding of a passage and to utilize the best of modern scholarship to understand just what Jesus or the author of a particular part of the bible was trying to say. And so, with all deference to these great thinkers, I must admit that I think they got this passage wrong.

I am not alone in this conclusion- many modern biblical scholars have asked Christians to look at this passage with new eyes. So I will ask you to do the same- forget for a moment what you may have always heard about this passage (don’t worry, you will have plenty of historical company to argue against me if you still disagree by the end of the sermon), lets try to bring fresh eyes and ears to this scripture.

First, we have to look at the context here. For the last few weeks, we have been studying texts from Matthew that show him in a theological and political battle with various authorities. Whether it be the Pharisees, the scribes, the temple officials or the Herodians, many have tried to discredit Jesus through their intense questioning. Thus, a sort of debate has been playing out in the center of the Jewish religious world- the temple in Jerusalem. Before and after this question about taxes, Jesus is quizzed about the nature of his authority and then about the nature of resurrection. When asked ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’” in Matthew 21:23, Jesus turns the authority question back on the askers and slips out of ever giving a straight answer. When later asked about what happens in heaven if a woman has more than one husband during her life, Jesus dismisses the question as irrelevant born out of an incomplete understanding of eternal life. Two questions-two answers meant not to illuminate, but to discredit the asker.

So, in between this, we have the Herodians asking this pesky question about taxes. Let’s be clear, they put Jesus in a real tight spot.

Considering that taxes were a means of Roman oppression and the inscription on the coin represented submission to Caesar, this is a dangerous question for Jesus. For the Israelites suffering under Roman imperialism, to answer in the affirmative would imply that Roman colonization is an appropriate form of governance and that God’s people should accept whatever form of government, no matter how repressive, they find themselves under... If Jesus had answered the question negatively he would have been openly calling for revolt against the ability of Rome to tax its people.

(Resolution 5012 from 2008 UMC Book of Resolutions)

He likely would have been immediately executed.

So, in the midst of this dilemma, and given the context, why would we assume that Jesus is giving a straight answer to their question? Why would we assume that Jesus is affirming the authority of Rome? Could this not be another answer meant to discredit the questioner?

When they first ask the question, Jesus responds first by asking them to “Show me the coin used for the tax.” The Herodians proceed to give him a denarius. Believe it or not- they have now fallen into a trap. You see, there

IS a specific coin that is required to be used to pay the Roman tax. It is a Roman coin. And on that coin is the image of the Roman Emperor. Such coins have been found by archaeologists, and printed on the coin would be the title, "Tiberius, Emperor, son of God." Thus the coin violates the commandments to have no other Gods except the Lord, and the commandment to not make any images of God. Possessing such a coin was extremely problematic for faithful, observant Jews because not having it meant running afoul of the Romans, and having it was a violation of core Torah law. Jesus traps his adversaries by asking for the coin used to pay taxes. When one of them produces it - likely one the Herodians - it demonstrates their hypocrisy. How could an observant Jew - and a leader at that - have such a coin on their person?

In other words, by producing the coin, the Herodians have already been convicted- they just don’t know it yet. So Jesus essentially flips the coin back and says if its really Caesar's, give it to him.

So here is the question below the surface- what doesn’t belong to God? Is there anything on earth that belongs to Caesar? Caesar may have the military might, but does the land belong to Caesar? If Caesar is the most powerful emperor in the world, does that mean the world belongs to Caesar?

No! a faithful Jew would cry out- this is God’s world. God is the creator, the sustainer, the redeemer of this universe. How dare anyone claim that something, anything, belongs to anyone but God?

Alright, let me anticipate a question here. If everything belongs to God, and nothing to Caesar, then their should be no separation of church and state? Or, if you are really clever, you might say, wait, if money belongs to God and not to the state, that means I don’t have to pay my taxes, right? Trust me, attaching this sermon to your 1040 is not going to absolve you. I do promise to visit you in jail though.

No, I do think we can still testify to the importance of the role of civil governance. The government has a critical role to promote the common good in society. The church is not equipped to manage and run a program like Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid, but it is undeniable that these programs have helped to fulfill our Christian values of caring for the poor and the elderly. Our public schools educate a far wider number of children then we ever taught when only the church provided for a child’s education. While the church is a means of grace and should be a beacon of justice, Wayne Grudem has also argued that, “Human government is also a result of common grace. . . . One of the primary means God uses to restrain evil in the world is human government.” (Resolution 5012 from 2008 UMC Book of Resolutions)

So, what then, does that mean to us? How do we live out this tension?

First, we have to acknowledge that there is no topic that is outside the realm of our faith. That was one of the most prominent comments in our social issue forums- “I never thought how this could be related to my faith.” But, if we are going to claim that everything is God’s, this includes things like environmental issues, health care, sexuality, and education.

Secondly, we must inform ourselves on the issues and pray about how it relates to our faith. If we are going to try to exercise our vote, our money and our time in a faithful way, we need to spend time in prayer and discussion about what a particular issue means in our larger scope of faith. What does scripture call for in a circumstance? Or, if there is no direct answer or if the scriptures conflict, what are the higher purposes that God is drawing us to?

Thirdly, we must learn to articulate a topic from both a faith and a secular perspective. Let me give you an example- I disagree with the death penalty. I would lay down my objection based on the fact that God is the author of all life, and that all lives can be redeemed by God’s grace. Therefore, it is wrong to institutionalize the practice of taking a life that is not ours to take. But, if I were to argue this with a person who has a different understanding of God, then we would talk past each other. My faith claims are exactly that- an act of faith and thus not provable. So while my faith has guided me in my decision to oppose the death penalty, I also arm myself with knowledge that it does not deter crime, that it is terribly inefficient use of our time and money and that it is applied disproportionately to the poor. None of these statements require a faith perspective to affirm.

But, this is complex, how do we choose? Many of us will do all these things faithfully, and still disagree. And, we might make a decision, and it could turn out to be the wrong one. For this, I’d like to tell you a story.

The medieval philosopher Buridan had a donkey who, like its master was also a philosopher. One day, rather than offering the donkey his morning bale of hay, Buridan offered the donkey two equal bales of hay. The donkey spent the entire day trying to decide which bale of hay to eat. But the donkey could not decide which bale of hay was the better one. Day after day, the donkey could not decide- until the donkey, still undecided, starved to death.

We must take the risk of making a choice, even though it might be the wrong choice. It might be a choice that people get upset with, it might be a choice that fellow faithful people disagree on. We have to make these choices because peoples lives do indeed depend upon them. We are called to engage all our hearts, and all our minds, and all our souls, in this world- because it is Gods. Let us act like it is so.

Who you talking to, Jesus?

2011-10-03T17:30:00.000-04:00

Exodus 20:1-20

Matthew 21:33-46

Drama

Jared: Dave- how have you been? I haven’t seen you at the temple lately.

Dave: Jared, my friend, I’m well. I’ve been on a special assignment from the council that is keeping me quite busy.

Jared: Special Assignment?

Dave: See that gentleman over there? Calls himself Jesus of Nazareth and we’ve had our eyes on him for a while. When we heard that he and his followers were coming to town, word was put out to watch the group carefully. After he came in and made such a ruckus in the temple the other day, I was told to follow him where ever he goes and to report back his activities.

Jared: What makes this guy so special?

Dave: Honestly, I haven’t a clue. He mostly sticks around with the riff-raff and periodically tells stories.

Jared: Some threat.

Dave: I know, right? Anyway, this was the assignment I drew. It looks like he is about to launch into another one of his stories.

Jesus: “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.

Jared: Boy, he certainly isn’t an original, is he?

Dave: Yea, does he expect the land owner to work the land himself? Of course he hired people to work the land for him. A rich important businessman like that would have important business in Rome or other estates to tend to.

Jared: I wonder what vintage of wine they are producing?

(Click here to watch a video of the rest of the drama)

Jesus: “When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.”

Jared: Typical. I’ve been telling the council for a while about these good for nothing peasants. They are absolutely ungrateful. They were hired for a job and instead move in like barbarians and try to take everything by force. They are like locusts: if you let them, they’ll eat you out of house and home.

Dave: I mean, anybody can tend to a field. Don’t they realize they can be replaced just like that? All the owner has to do is call in the Roman army and they will be wiped clean. They simply aren’t like us. We are the best of the best- people chosen in infancy to rise up through the religious ranks because we were smarter, born to better families, and chosen by God for leadership. At least we contribute something important to society.

Jared: Where have the people’s values gone? You know, it used to be that people respected the temple officials. They wouldn’t slack off or try to cheat their employer. What these people need is to get to temple more often and learn what true faith is.

Jesus: “Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’”

Jared: What, is this guy an idiot? They kill his servants, so he sends his son? What does he think is going to happen?

Dave: Uh, duh! Can’t see a hole in that plan!

Jared: When he first started the story, he sounded like a fine upstanding businessman but now he doesn’t seem quite bright. If you are going to be that stupid about running a business, about refusing to cut your losses, perhaps he doesn’t deserve the property to begin with.

Jesus: “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.”

Jared: Boring! I mean, who couldn’t see this coming. I mean, I at least thought this guy was going to be a good story teller. But there isn’t even any suspense here. Honestly, why is the council worried here?

Jesus- “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

Jared yells- “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

(Dave begins to look at Jared a little strangely. Jared seems a little blood thirsty here)

Dave: Uh, Jared,

Jared (cuts dave off): At least, that’s what he’ll do if he has any sense about him. These villagers are just wicked, vile creatures. Everything their master told them, they ignored. They took the land, stole its possessions, turned from good to evil and sought to kill off, or at least ignore, the very person who gave everything to them. The world is better off without them.

Dave: Jared- I think you might be missing

Jared (sarcastically): Shh, he’s finally getting to the point:

Jesus: “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

Jared: That’s right. God’s wrath is about to poor down! These people are going to get it.

Dave (almost yelling) Jared, dude, give me a second here. (grabs Jared’s arm to get his attention. Continues soberly) I think he might be talking about us.

Sermon

Back in August, when I was trying to plan the scriptures for services through the end of this month, I looked at the parable of the vineyard and the wicked tenants and gagged. I don’t know about you, but there are some scriptures that I love and some that repulse me. This parable is one that has always made me cringe. So, my first temptation was to skip it in favor of something else. But as I tried to move on, my attention kept being drawn back to it. So, I swallowed a bit, choose it as my focus text and hoped that God would help me to figure out what to do with it when the time comes.

The reason that I reacted so negatively to the scripture is that it is one in a series of texts that have been interpreted throughout much of Christian history to be an anti-Jewish screed. For example, St. John of Chrysostom, a famous 4th century preacher, said the following about this passage-

“[God] had not turned away from them, but had sent His very Son; that the God both of the New and of the Old Testament was one and the same; that His death should effect great blessings; that they were to endure extreme punishment for the crucifixion, and their crime; the calling of the Gentiles, the casting out of the Jews.”

Matthew Henry, a 17th-century Presbyterian preacher who published a widely read biblical commentary- went further-

“This was fulfilled upon the Jews, in that miserable destruction which was brought upon them by the Romans, and was completed about forty years after this; and unparalleled ruin, attended with all the most dismal aggravating circumstances. It will be fulfilled upon all that tread in the steps of their wickedness; hell is everlasting destruction, and it will be the most miserable destruction to them of all others”

Such interpretations send a chill down my spine. I know that centuries of Christian thought like these have spilled over into massive persecutions of Jews at the hands of Christians- Jews were slain almost for sport by crusaders heading for the holy land; entire communities of Jews were wiped out in mass pogroms throughout European history; and of course, most prominently, 6 million Jews were executed during the Holocaust at the hands of one of the most important Christian nations in history- Germany, the birth place of Lutheranism and many other Christian movements. In all of these circumstances, the bulk of the Christian church either celebrated the killings or failed to lift a finger or a voice to prevent them.

And so, it was with some dread that I picked this text. But if we are to be honest about our faith, and if we are to affirm the Bible as our chief source of inspiration and knowledge of God, we cannot merely read that with which we are comfortable while ignoring that with which we are not.

I do not believe God to be a God who desires us to commit violence. I believe God wept with sorrow and shook with anger when Christians engaged or turned a blind eye to these vile acts. Thus, I returned to this passage to see how I could correlate it with the unbelievable God of love as revealed through Jesus Christ.

I realized that one of the core problems in interpreting this passage is that we always assume it is about someone else. We point toward others, be they Jews or some other despised minority and say they are the wicked tenants who are going to be on the receiving end of God’s righteous judgment. However, I think we miss the truth of the Gospel when we assume that Jesus is always talking about someone else. Its only when we assume that Jesus is speaking to and about us that we can truly experience its transforming grace.

This is why I asked Dave and Bert to help me to transform the scripture reading into a bit of a drama about two Pharisees who listen to Jesus and only slowly realize that he is talking about them. I think we need to see ourselves like the two Pharisees- people who assume Jesus is telling stories about others when he is really talking directly to them.

Once I accepted this premise I found something rather amazing in this text. Let’s recall the drama here- a landowner goes away and leases the property to others who are called to care for it. When the landowner checks on the people, he finds that they have rejected his ways and have taken his property, his creation, and used it not for the purpose it was intended but have selfishly seized it to fulfill their own desires and pretended like they were entitled to what they took. The landowner sends messenger after messenger and the tenants only get worse.

The Lord God created heaven and earth, created humanity in the divine image, and set us forth as stewards of the earth to care and love all of God’s creation. And yet, the very ones whom God has created, whom God has charged with bearing fruit in the world, have turned against God and have become selfish. They have consumed and taken for themselves that which God intended as God’s own.

“Who you talking to Jesus?”

“Dude, I think he might be talking about us.”

Big problem here- if we think we are the wicked tenants, and if we think God is coming to massacre the wicked tenants, i.e., us, we better be afraid. But, my friends, I do not believe God desires us to cower and fear and wait to be struck down. I think we get that false impression of the story when we miss one little detail.

Jesus asks- “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

What was the answer?

“He will put those wretches to a miserable death”

Now, think real hard about this next question- who gave that answer?

Yes! In my drama, it was Jared the Pharisee. In our text, it is the mysterious they!

Jesus never says that this is what God is doing. Jesus never claims God is coming to take revenge and to murder and pillage.

If we assume this analogy is about us, then what is the real ending of the story? When God’s son was murdered, did God send an army to wipe out those responsible?

No! God used Jesus’ death as an opportunity to forgive the sins of the very people who rejected and killed him. And then, God sent someone else- not an enforcer, but the Holy Spirit. To continue to try and transform those wicked tenants.

Now the Pharisees in my story have got one thing right- from our human perspective, God is a terrible business owner! God seems incapable of cutting losses and making a profit. The unbelievable message in this parable is that no matter how many times we reject God, God just keeps lovingly sending us someone else in the hope that we might one day return to our original purpose.

This is what is so sad about assuming this story is about someone else. You miss the opportunity to know that God is coming to you, right here today, and pleading with you to return to the work for which you were originally sent. Not because God’s about to drop down a mighty hammer of justice and smash you, but because God loves you too much to ever give up.

Don’t let that story be about someone else.

Claim it as your own.

Claim the love of God in your life.

Accept and embrace with open arms that God is seeking to change your life. Amen.

Passing the Test

2011-09-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Scripture Texts for Sunday, September 25th:

Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32

Sermon

When is the last time you were given a pop quiz?

A completely unexpected test to determine what you know, or who you are, or what your values are?

Aren’t surprise tests terrible? Actually, why stop with a surprise. I don’t know anyone who likes to be tested, surprise or not. A friend of mine told me recently about her terrible experience of spending months reading and studying and cramming her head with information so that she might be able to let loose all that knowledge on the one day in which she had to take a bar exam. I like to see the good in everything, but when it comes to tests, I think they are just plain evil.

In today’s Gospel lesson, we see Jesus and the temple authorities engaged in a series of dueling pop quizzes. It doesn’t take long to see that the chief priests and elders have a singular motivation behind their questions to Jesus- they hope to trip him up; discredit him; to make a fool of him so that he might go away. But, if there is one thing we know about our savior, its that he always manages to reverse human expectations so that we can experience the last truly coming in first. And so Jesus turns the situation around and asks his own gotcha question- a question that puts the authorities in such a bind that they have to abandon their entire plan so they might retreat and regroup. When they are on the receiving end of a searing, off putting question, they do what we humans always do- they try to squirm their way out of it! They pull the Pharisee equivalent of –“Gotta go, I think my mom’s calling!”

So, if we can draw one thing from the Gospel lesson, its that tests can be used in all kinds of nefarious ways to trip people up. But when we turn to Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, we find what on the surface might be the announcement of the single largest test we could ever take- Phillipians 2:12 reads-

“Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

Wait, is this an essay question?

I didn’t see this on the syllabus!

Did you get the company memo?

Since when are our performance reviews based on this?

Someone call the union- I thought my contract said that salvation was a gift, not something I had to work out. There must have been some kind of fine print on the contract- darn those lawyers!

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling? What on earth can Paul mean here. In theological circles, I though it was James who seemed to emphasize that we are saved by our works, not Paul! Is our salvation really a product of things we do; or of finding and being able to spit out a really good answer to some test at the pearly gates?

First, let’s affirm that salvation is indeed a gift of God. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley- explained it in this way: Long before we were ever conscious of God, God was working in our lives. That is what we recognize at baptism- that God is already at work in a little child even though that child has no way of understanding God or describing God. In fact, if we read Paul a bit further, he says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you” And so, it is God that acts first (we call this prevenient grace), and it is through that grace that we might respond.

But, isn’t that still kind of scary? Well, yes, it is. If we have some input here, if we have free will, we do have some responsibility. That can be scary. But let me mitigate some of that fear- when we talk salvation, I think we tend to immediately think we are talking about heaven and hell. Now of course, the state of our eternal souls is part of this concept of salvation. However, if we affirm that God is good and faithful, and acknowledge that our understanding of the next life is limited while God’s knowledge is vast, we can trust that the God who is faithful in this life will take care of us in the next.

But salvation is about far, far more than heaven and hell. It is about something far more important then what might happen in the future- its about what is going on in your life now! Salvation is actually a much bigger concept than I think we realize. As always, when we translate Greek into English, we can lose things. The Greek word that is often translated as salvation is “soteria.” Though we translate it as saves, it can also be translated as to heal, to preserve, or to make whole.

I think that last translation of soteria- to make whole- is the crucial one. At some deep level, I think we all recognize that we are imperfect, incomplete people. We recognize that there is something missing in our lives. For some of us, that might be love. For others, its the need for some deep scar to be healed. For even others, its a struggle with addition to alcohol, drugs, pornography, greed, or any other sin we might name. Salvation is God’s way of helping us to fill in that gap in our lives so that we might indeed overcome the many hurts that eat away at our soul. Though Jesus Christ is the one who makes each and every one of us whole, the nature of that hole in our life varies according to the individual. In fact, in his notes on this passage, John Wesley comments that working out our own salvation is about letting each individual aim at their own things. In other words, we have to concentrate and work out our own salvation because what we need God to save us from is unique to each and every one of us. The nature of someone else’s salvation will necessarily look and feel different.

Confronting those holes in our lives, though, is a terrifying process. Indeed, in that sense, let us affirm the truth that confronting those imperfections, that sin, that emptiness that we try to keep under wraps, will always be done with fear and trembling.

I don’t believe in asking you to do anything that I won’t do. So before I ask you to confront your own salvation with fear and trembling, let me share with you a bit of testimony about the frightening way that I continue to ask God to help me work on mine. I’ve stated before that prayer is at times a struggle for me. But I’m not sure that I have always said why. I tend to be someone who operates out of my head. When confronted with a situation, my tendency is to analyze and try to respond logically to the problem at hand rather than responding emotionally. Thus, when someone approaches me with a crisis, in my mind I go into problem solving mode and think about how I can best help, rather than immediately respond emotionally to the person in crisis. Others would probably tend to the emotional needs first and problem solve later. One response is probably not fundamentally superior to the other so long as eventually, both needs are met.
The problem I often struggle with is that I get stuck in my head. I continue to respond to things logically because I’m not always sure how to respond to them emotionally. Part of this is just how God created me- God creates each one of us with strengths and weaknesses- this is part of the uniqueness of who we are. But when we can’t balance our dominant side with our shadow side, it can create a hole in our lives that is difficult to fill. For me, it can translate into a failure to develop authentic, emotionally engaged relationships.

Where this connects to prayer is that at a fundamental level, prayer is about relationship with God. It is less a logical connection than an emotional one. Through work with a spiritual director and several close friends, I have come to see that my problem with relationships in general leads to a problematic relationship with God. I have trouble loving and accepting God’s love, because I struggle with accepting and giving love in many aspects of my life. Again, through the work I’ve been doing on this issue, I’ve discovered that at the heart of this issue is a fear of being hurt; of being rejected; a fear of giving love without ever receiving it. Since this is my fear, opening myself up to that process of risking love, and there for risking rejection, is something that I indeed approach with fear and trembling.
That is, in part, the shape of the hole that is often persistent in my life. That is the salvation that God is indeed helping me to work out. Though it may always be a bit of a struggle for me, the spiritual direction I have received and the healing that God continues in my life has allowed me to see signs of a continued journey toward wholeness on this issue.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, what is the hole in your life?

Where is the place that God needs to bring healing?

What wounds are in need of healing?

What addiction must be tamed?

Our Lord Jesus Christ loves us enough to guide us and to be with us as we confront the issues that tear at our souls. Our creator God knows us intimately in all our glories and flaws, and divine grace enfolds us so that we might be steady as we confront the terror that is the empty spots in our lives. Know this my friends, should we be willing to confront our brokenness, should we seek God to bring us wholeness by helping us to fill the holes in our own lives, we can be assured that God will be present, and God will pass the test. Amen.

The Brookside Center needs your help

2011-09-20T12:23:00.000-04:00

Some of you may know that I regularly volunteer at the Brookside Center. The Brookside Center is primarily a food center that serves hundreds of families each month on the westside of Cleveland and in our southwestern suburbs of Parma, Independence, and Seven Hills amongst others.

Last Friday, I went down into the basement storage area and was amazed what I found:

Virtually nothing! When I was in this basement last spring, all of the pallets were filled with food. Now they have almost nothing. And this was even after they received their usual Friday delivery from the Cleveland Food Bank!

When I asked Cathy (the staffer who orders food) about the scarcity, she indicated that food was just getting more and more expensive and that resources are tight. While they have not yet had to turn people away, I worry how much longer they can keep this up.

Thus, I'm asking for your help! The Brookside Center is one of the vital safety nets that helps to keep the most vulnerable people in our neighborhoods from starving. Though Brookside will accept all forms of non-perishable foods, they are completely out of canned fruit and also are in desperate need for one-dish meals. The Brookside Center is located at 3784 Pearl Rd. Cleveland. They receive donations Monday-Friday between 8:30-3:00 (come before 2:00 if you need help carrying them in). If these hours don't work and you can get the items to the church office (216-524-6054), we will make sure they get to the right place. You can also send checks payable to WSEM-Brookside to the above address.

The prophet Isaiah declared that God desires you to

"share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?...If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday." (Isaiah 58: 7, 10)

May we respond generously to God's call.

Pastor Jared

How much is enough?

2011-09-19T12:32:00.000-04:00

Scripture Texts for Sunday, September 18th:

Exodus 16:1-8, 14-20

Matthew 20:1-16

Sermon

I love the stories of the Israelites wandering through the desert. Though some of the stories are hard to believe at times and I don’t know if things happened exactly as they were recorded, I think that there is tremendous truth in the stories. The motif of wandering through the desert is so apt I think for our modern day spiritual lives. We feel like we are headed toward some promised thing, something we can’t envision; something that we have never seen but that we believe is beautiful beyond belief; some place we earnestly desire to be but haven’t a clue how to get there. Is it just me, or do you all find some affinity with the idea that we are wandering through some spiritual desert?

Even better, I think, is the particular wilderness they are wandering through in this story. Did anyone catch the name? Sin! Yes, they are wandering through the desert of Sin, seeking earnestly to follow God but not quite sure where to go. That’s such an amazing image. It certainly describes my life!!!! Even in the midst of the wilderness of Sin, God is still there, still seeking to guide us, still seeking to form us. In fact, I would argue that it is only through the wilderness of sin that we can become spiritual mature, strengthened to follow God into the promised land that has been proclaimed. Remember, before Jesus even began his ministry, he spent 40 days wandering in the desert being tempted by Satan. It is only after having experienced that hunger, thirst, and temptation, that Jesus is ready to begin his ministry.

Of all the desert stories, I think the story of God providing manna in the wilderness is among my favorites. When we enter into the story, the Israelites realize they have a real problem here. They have been in the desert for about a month and a half. They took many provisions with them out of Egypt, but by now their shelves have to be getting pretty bare. Even worse, they seem to be still wandering! When they left Egypt, surely they thought it wouldn’t take so long to get to the promised land. I mean, has any one seen a map of the middle East? Isn’t Israel right next to Egypt? Even on foot, I would have thought they’d be there by now. I guess Moses didn’t have a Garmen.

Anyway, they are wandering in the desert of Sin and they are low on food and water. So, they begin to complain. “Hey Moses! How is this plan working out? Your promised us freedom, you are giving us death!”

You have to picture this. God, through Moses, has just freed the people from 400 years of slavery. So, they are freed from the Egyptians, the Red Sea has been split, the world’s most powerful army defeated, they are led by a pillar of flame and a cloud of smoke, and yet they still complain that God doesn’t provide enough for them and doesn’t care! It is literally at the end of chapter 15 when they are saved. So they made it all the way to chapter 16 before complaining again.

Can you believe the nerve of these people?

Well, yea, duh. Of course we can believe them, because we are them! We live in such a prosperous society. Compared to many people in the world, compared to people throughout the history of the world, we are near the top of the charts in wealth, food, technology, travel, etc. You would think with the vast abundance and wealth that we have, that we would be tremendously grateful! And yet, do we exhibit this as a society? As a people? Are we as Americans, or we as Christians, known as the most grateful people on earth? I don’t think so. Why not? Let’s hold off on that question and get back to the story.

So, despite all that God has done, the people are grumbling and complaining. Let’s be honest here- we would be doing the same thing. And they do have a real problem- they face the acute prospect of starving to death in the wilderness. Here is where God’s unbelievable grace comes in.

The amazing, stunning thing in this story, is that despite the people’s grumbling, despite their lack of faith, despite their outright rejection of God, God provides. Their divine liberator does not respond by striking them down, by abandoning them, by doing what might have seemed most natural for a god to do. I mean, come on, if you were this very powerful being, how long would you put up with these peons?

God is literally giving them bread from heaven. Even better than that, God provides a mandatory vacation day. He enforces it by giving more than enough on the 6th day, and making the manna last an extra day, just because he cares so much about them that he wants to give them rest. Imagine that, a God who leads them out of slavery, who provides food free of charge, and who even gives them paid vacation! God’s one heck of a boss (or Moses is a really good union negotiator). Money is literally growing on trees here. And so, when God says, I’m going to give you all this stuff out of thin air, but I need to put a few conditions on it, you’d think the people would be ok with that. And yet, the story ends with Moses being upset that the people have broken the few little rules that were set.

So, what was the condition that Moses announced?

“Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.” ’ The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, ‘Let no one leave any of it over until morning.’ (Exo 16:16-19, NRSV)

So, no matter what they gathered, they always had just enough. And the one real condition seems to be that they shouldn’t try to keep their leftovers. I mean, is that so hard? And yet, scripture tells us that “they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul.”

So, first let’s start, why would God put conditions on this bread? Why produce something that spoils overnight? Is God anti-leftover? Did I miss the thou shalt not doggie bag commandment?

In verse 4, God says that he has put conditions as a test to see whether the people will follow his instructions or not. So is this just some arbitrary test to see if people will comply? I don’t think so. I think God is concerned about a couple things. God wants to make sure that they eat enough. If they can store things away, they might be tempted to refrain from eating all they needed so that they can save it for a rainy day. I think its also to prevent the problem of relative greed. If the Jones’ begin to store up their manna, they become relatively more wealthy and disrupt this fragile society. Finally, I think God wanted them to learn to trust. When they emerged from the desert, they would experience tremendous wealth. Could they learn to continue to be obedient, even when they had the means to disobey?

This is what I love most about the story- what happens when they try to sock some away, in direct defiance of what God asked? God does not strike them down for being insolent, instead the natural consequences of their own action to allowed to take place. The food that they squirreled away, either because they were cheap, or because they were greedy, or they didn’t trust God, spoiled and became wormy.

What would our reaction to this be? It would be do apply some American ingenuity, and to figure out how to preserve the manna, rather than accept that it is a fleeting thing that we only need so much of. We would figure out a way to stockpile, to hoard, so that we wouldn’t have to be reliant on God. I mean, isn’t that the absolute worst condition, to be reliant on someone else?

We operate and live sometimes like there is never enough. Despite our relative affluence as a nation, we live in constant fear that there isn’t enough to go around or that others are getting something that they don’t really deserve. If we thought we truly were overflowing with abundance, would we be so concerned about whether people deserve our help? It is scarcity speaking when we worry whether someone deserves food stamps, deserves adequate shelter, deserves meaningful employment or meaningful pay.

I don’t think God is going to strike us down because of this propensity toward scarcity. But, just like with the manna, I think there are some natural consequences coming from our desire to hold on tight to our possessions. Just as the manna rotted, bread worms and became foul, I think our souls can do the same thing when left with unchecked wealth.

In an article discussing “What not to do when inheriting wealth,” an financial advisor at ePricefinancial advised that “Inheriting wealth is not all that it’s cracked up to be.” In fact, he advised that upon receiving inherited wealth, most people experience the following- grief, guilt, anger, inadequacy, and conflict with their spouse in family. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? In talking specifically about anger, the writer comments that

“anger can arise when someone doesn’t receive as much as they thought they would or that they thought they deserved. They may feel there is an unequal or inequitable distribution among multiple heirs, including siblings. Heirs sometimes measure the benefactor’s love by the size of the inheritance. Ironically, some heirs get angry because they received more than they thought they would, thus questioning why they had to live a financially “deprived” life all these years.”

Measuring their loved one based on the size of their inheritance? What an awful prospect. And yet, I can see how it comes to that. The gift of wealth becomes a curse. It eats at the soul of the individual and gnaws away at the bonds of family.

Don’t we see this in life? We could all name our favorite celebrity or rich child whose wealthy life has been the seeds of their destruction. Andrew Lloyd Webber, for one, acknowledged this problem and said he would not leave his $1.5 billion dollar estate to his children. “I will give them a start in life but they ain’t going to end up owning [my company].'Instead of funding the high life for his children, Lloyd-Webber wants to put his millions back into the community to help struggling singers and composers.

And thus, the curse becomes a blessing. Now, there are some who can argue that this type of charity, or welfare or other public aide has the same type of problems associated with it- money given without necessarily being earned. I will grant that there are certain risks here. But note, when the Israelites were faced with starvation in the desert, our God wisely and compassionately fed them rather than insisted they learn their own way. In some ways, the people were right to tell God you got us into this, help us out.

Though I would never argue that the poor are all helpless victims that need out pity, the picture we have of the poor as simply being lazy or refusing to work is just as problematic. The reality is that so many people are poor because they are born into poverty. Is it there fault they were born in a particular neighborhood, under particular circumstances? Is it their fault they were born black when society had laws and strong social preferences for people born white? Is it their fault they developed disabilities or medical conditions that prevented them from engaging in useful labor? Is it this child’s fault that he identifies as gay and thus is turned out on the streets by his parents?

There is a famous statement that says- Morality begins at 1,500 calories a day. In other words, if someone can’t get enough food to sustain life, we can hardly expect them to make morally sound choices about how to survive. God recognizes this- and provides the basics. And God warns against the rot that happens when people take more than they need.

So, How much is enough? Let’s acknowledge there are some that do not have enough. Let us follow our God in seeking to provide sustenance to those who are starving in the desert. We must of course provide charity, but we also need to work on empowerment programs; need to provide individuals better access to schools and the means to empower themselves. We need to attack those systems that hold people back from getting enough.

But here’s the flipside to “How much is enough?”- Too much corrupts us. It poisons our soul. Too much can be the answer to providing others enough, or it can be the very thing that eats away at our soul. I don’t think its a coincidence that the church is growing in areas we might call the third world while it declines here. Let us regain the sense of just how blessed we are. Let us become grateful for the manna provided. Let us restore our trust in God so that we might see the true state of the world- not one of scarcity, but one in which God’s abundance overflows.

Living with an Open Heart

2011-09-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

Scripture Texts for Sunday, September 11th

Genesis 27, 33:1-11
Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

Once upon a time there were two twin brothers. Though the boys were twins, as they grew up, they became quite different. Hairy, the elder brother by a few minutes, was the king of the outdoors- he became an expert hunter- nothing could escape his shot. Heel, however, was a much quieter man and mostly stayed amongst the women in the tents.

Heel had always been mad that just because his brother had beat him into the world by a few seconds, Hairy would become the head of the family, inherit the bulk of the property and would run the family business. Thus, he always sought a way to turn the tables on his brother and cheat him out of his inheritance.

Many years later, Hairy and Heel’s father grew old and weak. On his death bed, Father asked Hairy to go out on one last hunt so that he could eat his favorite meal before he was to die. Hairy, being the good son, of course rushed right out to fulfill his father’s dying wish. However, Heel heard that his father was on death’s door step. Seeing an opportunity to steal his brother’s inheritance once and for all, Heel waited until his brother had left camp. Knowing his father was blind and addled, Heel proceeded to dress up like his brother Hairy and slipped into his father’s room.

Heel, doing his best impression of Hairy, whispered “Father?”

“Who is it? Is it Heel or Hairy?”

“Why, its Hairy” Heel said. I’ve brought you your final meal. Oh, and I brought the contract signing everything over to me. Come eat, and give me what is mine.

Father hesitated for a moment. This didn’t seem like Hairy. “Are you sure you are Hairy?”

“Yes, of course father. Can’t you smell how good this food is? Surely you are hungry!”

The smell of the food overwhelmed Father’s suspicions and he ate his final meal. When Heel gave him the contract turning over the family property, Father signed the deed thinking he was doing the right thing. Heel, with the legal document in hand, slipped out to celebrate his victory.

Meanwhile, Hairy returned home after a successful hunt. He prepared the game just like his father always loved. He loved his father dearly and knew this would be the last gift he could give. He was determined that this last meal would be everything his father desired. After lovingly preparing it, he went to his father’s tent.

“Dad- its your firstborn Hairy- I’ve brought you your meal.”

Father’s eyes snapped open, and he began to shake in rage. “But, if you are my son Hairy, who was it that I just blessed and gave everything I own to?”

Realization suddenly washed over Hairy. He knew his brother was treacherous, but, could he really have gone this far? Did Heel really steel from his father, and from his family, on his dad’s death bed?

“Dad- isn’t there anything you can do?”

“No, son. The contract I signed if legal. Your brother has taken everything. He is your master then. If you want to stay with the family, you will have to be his servant. It will be a hard life- your brother may treat your cruelly. But I cannot give you what I don’t have.”

Hairy collapsed in grief and anger. How could his own brother have done this to him? He would stay to mourn his dad’s death, but when the opportunity presented himself, he would strike and kill his evil, treacherous brother.

Now, raise your hand if you have heard that story before? I’ve taken it directly from scripture and have only adapted it lightly for understanding. So that we could hear it with new ears, I used the English translations of the brothers’ names, but I bet there is at least a few hear who remember their names in Hebrew. Can anyone name these brothers?

Yes, Esau (the elder brother) and Jacob (the younger). I wanted to retell this story because I think we sometimes miss the profound immoral and evil actions that take place. Because scripture follows the life of Jacob, we tend to see things from his perspective and assume he is the hero in every story. But clearly, Jacob is the villain in this story. He cheats, steals, and deceives his own father on his death bed. Esau loves his father but gets all that he is owed stolen away from him.

So, the story leaves off with Esau having lost his father, his home, his livelihood, and, in essence, his family. Put yourselves in his shoes- how do you feel? What do you want to do?

Being bitter, seeking revenge, avenging the wrongs done to you- this seems like the most natural response, right? I bet every one of us here can describe a time in our lives in which we were tremendously wronged. We may still be holding considerable anger and bitterness. And really, who can blame you- anger and bitterness often serve as a kind of protective shield- keeping you (in theory) from being hurt in the same way again. We close our hearts off so that no one can tear them apart again.

Today, September 11th 2011, we commemorate a day that was marked by extraordinarily evil acts. In addition to grief, I think anger and bitterness describe well the dominant emotions felt toward those who had committed, planed, or participated in the act.

It is in such a context that I think we should find today’s lectionary text (Matthew 18:21-35) shocking, perhaps some might even say, offensive. When Peter asks, Jesus says that we must forgive essentially an unlimited amount of time. And to make it worse, in the parable that Jesus tells, he indicates that if we don’t forgive, it is us who will be tortured. Jesus makes no mention of the one who has committed the initial wrong.

By all worldly measures, Jesus seems to be pronouncing something that is fundamentally unjust. As I was preparing for this week, I was particularly struck that the master in the story turned the person over to be tortured until the debt was paid. In my notes for this week, I wrote the question- “Should we interpret this to mean if we don’t forgive, we are going to hell?” I mean, if this is the pronouncement of a good god, I hate to see what a bad one might say.

However, further prayer and consideration led me in a different direction. The torture of the man is directly related to his failure to forgive. If we try and reconcile this with our view of a loving God, perhaps the torture associated with failing to forgive isn’t hell or something in the next life at all. Perhaps it is the very real hell in this life that hanging on to that anger and bitterness can evoke.

Have you ever come into contact with someone who is tremendously bitter about something unjust that has happened in their life? Think of Esau...can you imagine him after the dealings with his brother? Wouldn’t the natural thing be to grow suspicious of the world, to turn inward, to harden one’s heart against the cruel, cruel world?

This is certainly what Jacob assumes happens. When later in life he finds that he must cross paths with his brother, he fears for his life. He fears the confrontation between himself and the man he so throughly wrongs. Jacob sends gifts and sweet words ahead of him, but who can really expect that to be enough for the man he stole everything from?

A funny thing happens however. When Jacob meets Esau, he does not find a tortured man. He does not find a man crippled by his anger and bitterness. Instead, Esau runs up to his brother, holds him tight, and kisses him.

What an unnatural story! If we submitted this script as a movie, it would be rejected as too unbelievable- who could relate?

Somehow, despite everything, Esau has not collapsed beneath his own anger. Somehow, Esau has managed to live with an open heart.

So, it is possible that we could do so also? I am confident everyone here has been grievously wounded by someone else at one time or another. And certainly, all those over 10 have experienced the collective affront that was the 9/11 attacks. In response to those attacks, we certainly expressed outrage and anger. Ten years out, I still think we as a whole continue to carry the bitterness caused by the attacks with us. I think this has plagued us and has rocked our own faith. It is only through the angle of bitterness that I can understand how studies show that if a person in the US professes faith in Jesus Christ, they are more likely to be in favor of torture. How Christ can correlate with torture, absent our bitter anger, I do not know? Furthermore, our bitterness has lead us to see our Muslim brothers and sisters not as neighbors, but as the enemy. We have in essence considered them our modern day Samaritans: a despised religious minority in our midst whom we want to have little contact with.

Is it possible, in the face of such bitterness, and in response to such a horrific attack, for us to learn to live with open hearts?

If we are to begin, we must first Acknowledge our anger- then pray for the ability to release it. In the case of Esau, he would have been within his rights to continue to stoke his anger. But then, rather then being able to develop his own family and set out on his own life, he would have been forever trapped by the wrong committed against him. Releasing his anger and coming to forgive his brother was far more about his own ability to live then it was about Jacob’s need for forgiveness.

Admit our own sin. In the parable, the servant seems to forget he ran up his own debt. It is rare that when an offense is committed, that the blame rest entirely on one side. When I would get in a dispute with my brother or sister, my mother would have this nasty process for resolving it. Even if I was 99% right in the argument, she’d still make me admit the 1% I was wrong. Confronting our own culpability humbles us and prepares us to forgive the other.

Admit our own forgiveness. The servant chooses to ignore that he himself was forgiven. We believe in a God of whom we, or people like us, crucified. And yet, God used the crucifixion of Jesus to forgive us all. If God can forgive us the murder of the Messiah, surely we have room to be open to forgiving others.

Forgiveness is not an easy thing. Reconciliation may not always be possible, but I think we always have to remain open to and strive toward forgiving those who have wronged us. Not so much because they need it, but because we do. If we choose to remain mired in our bitterness and despair, we choose a tortured existence that may well be worse then the initial offense. Let us pray that through the example and aide of our forgiving God, we may, like Esau, learn to live with open hearts.

Claiming All Things for God: Prayer, Discernment and Ritual for Social Change

2011-09-10T09:30:00.000-04:00

As fall is arriving, it is time to start back our “Reading with the Pastor” series. Each month, I pick a book (that is new to me) to read together to learn more about our faith. We then meet after the end of the month to discuss our reactions to the book. For the month of September, I have selected the book “Claiming All Things for God: Prayer, Discernment and Ritual for Social Change.” Especially in light of the studies we have been doing this summer through our Social Issue Forums, I think this book will help us to connect a sense of spirituality with a quest for justice. We will meet on Thursday, October 20th at 7:00 pm to reflect on the book.

“As a Christian social activist, George McClain found himself yearning for a sense of integration between his active life and his spiritual life. At one point, not knowing what spiritual direction really was, he enrolled in a training program for spiritual directors. In the inner dialogue between that course and his social activism, her recognized the importance of a focused spiritual life in augmenting one's social witness.”

“McClain surveyed other social activists and found that they too responded as he once had making decisions in the arena of social witness in terms of what they should do, making personal decisions on the basis of what they discerned that God wanted them to do. This book is McClain's attempt to name this disjuncture in the lives of people of faith, to build on the growing intersection in people's lives of action for justice and the inner journey in the Spirit, and to offer rituals groups can use to begin to be religious together.”

Used copies of the book can be found online for as little as $4.00 with shipping at the following address- http://goo.gl/ hGtLS. There are at least 4 copies in the Ohio public library system. If you need assistance acquiring the books, please let the church office know.

Emerging Ministries Fund

2011-09-09T19:28:00.000-04:00

For a church to be healthy and vital, it is imperative that it continues to explore new avenues for ministry both within and beyond the walls of the church. While new ministries can at times be planned for in the standard budget cycle, the Spirit may move us to react to situations or members of the congregation may be inspired at any point of the year. Furthermore, when we launch new ministries, it is difficult to know in advance whether they will succeed or fail. Thus, if we try to budget for them, we are prone to either severely over or under-budgeting a specific item.

As such, the finance committee has created an Emerging Ministries Fund that will serve as a seed fund for launching new or revitalizing current ministries. The application process must be simple and flexible enough to encourage experimentation while also encouraging you to engage in prayer, planning and partnering (finding others who will commit to launching the new ministry with you). Because starting new ministries is difficult and prone to failure, we expect that many of these ministries may be short-lived, but that a few will catch fire and launch our church in new directions.

If you have a ministry idea, just contact Pastor Jared to set up an initial appointment. He’ll work with you to flesh out your idea and guide you through the (brief) application process. May the Holy Spirit embolden us to launch our church in new directions to bring new people into the body of Christ.

Saving the economy...and your soul!

2011-09-08T17:25:00.000-04:00

I both enjoy and consider it part of my job to constantly be reading magazines and blogs to keep up with trends and conventional wisdom in our culture. As part of this, I came across the Time.com article entitled - “How the Newly Prudent Consumer Is Killing the Economy”. The article argues that one of the largest issues facing the American economy is that “Today’s consumers are increasingly likely to pay off credit card bills in full, skip vacations, dine out less, hold off on buying big-ticket items like new cars.” As a result, our economy is suffering a crisis of demand- not enough people are consuming, so companies lay more employees off which means even more people cannot afford to buy.

Based on my rudimentary understanding of economics, I can’t argue with the math or the logic. It does seem logical that if we buy less, less is produced and thus less employment will be needed in those industries. While the author does stress that people should not buy what they can’t afford, I do object to the idea that we have a moral obligation to consume. Do we really need one more influence telling us to buy more stuff? Already, we live in a society where worth is often measured by the size of our houses, newness of our cars, whether we are wearing the most up to date clothes or have the latest form of technology (confession time- that last one almost always gets me). If we add on top of that a moral obligation to buy, I’m afraid it may overwhelm any resistance we have toward opting out of a crass, materialistic value system. Is there really no choice between a collapsing economy and buying stuff we don’t need?

The Gospels were written during a time of tremendous economic upheaval. Excavations of the Roman Empire show clear signs of poverty, misery and destitution. The skeletal remains of many inhabitants show that malnutrition and disease were rampant and that most individuals could only eke out a meager living. Archeological digs indicate that the wealthy ruling class in Jerusalem had an astonishing amount of wealth compared to the lot of the farmers in the countryside (sound familiar?). It is in this context that John the Baptist decries the rampant injustice that is occurring all around him. When the crowds ask what they should do about it, John replied "If you have two coats, give one away," he said. "Do the same with your food." (Luke 3:11)

Let’s return to the question- Is there really no choice between a collapsing economy and buying stuff we don’t need? John announces a third option- when faced with economic crisis, we are called upon not to hoard or to consume, but to give. Giving is the third option. If we are worried about people having enough to eat in this economy, don’t buy a rolex- give money to a food shelter. They will certainly spend that money and put it to good use. If you are worried about employment, don’t buy a new car- donate to a micro-lending organization like Kiva that gives those out of work the opportunity to be entrepreneurial. Give to a friend or a colleague or an organization that will use that money right away to continue to bring about God’s kingdom on this earth. When you adopt the practice of habitual giving (as opposed to habitual consuming), you’ll be amazed at the change. It will do more then help stimulate a flagging economy or to change the life of a neighbor in need. It will change you! Rather then clinging to your stuff, you’ll find the joy that comes in letting go of that which society tells you is valuable. Free of this obsession for things, we’ll have more time to experience the true happiness that comes from our newly strengthened relationships with our family, our community, and our God. As our values change, we’ll discover that the kingdom of God was there to be had the whole time. We just needed to get rid of all the stuff that was blocking our view!

Shalom,

Pastor Jared

Sharing Faith, not judgment

2011-09-07T09:48:00.001-04:00

One of our lectionary texts for this week is Romans 14:1-12:

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

One of the central messages of this text is that we are called to accept that not everyone will believe the same thing as each one of us. In fact, there is probably no other person in this congregation who believes exactly the same things about God in the same ways that you do. But, if we are called to respect other's beliefs, does that mean that we should not evangelize? Couldn't one argue that the simple sharing of one's faith is a violation of respect for the other's belief?

I think there is a middle ground between sharing your personal beliefs and forcing your opinions down someone else's throat. I believe the most effective way to share faith is within the context of a relationship. If you do not already know someone, if you haven't already formed a relationship and demonstrated that you care about them for who they are, why on earth should they listen to what you believe? If there is an individual I do not know, and do not care to invest the time and energy to get to know, how dare I claim to care about what he believes? If I awkwardly force my faith perspective into an otherwise casual conversation between strangers, I am doing it to satisfy some internal desire rather than out of true love for this other. It is only when you

I was challenged this morning, however, by a video that seemed to demonstrate another way to share faith without casting judgment. In the below video, Penn Gillette, who does not believe in God, talks about a positive experience in which he received a bible from a Christian:

Even though this individual (for ease, we'll call him George) did not have a relationship with Mr. Gillette, he was able to evoke a genuine since of caring. How did he do it?

1. He prepared for the experience. George did not approach Gillette the first night, he took the time to go home, acquire a bible, write a personal note, and return to the show a second night.

2. He waited for an appropriate moment. Notice that George wasn't pushy, he didn't insist on being seen first. He patiently waited and allowed the moment to come based on Gillette's needs, not his own.

3. He sincerely gave a gift with no strings attached. Mr. Gillette remarks several times that George looked him in the eye, seemed to care genuinely about him, and gave him the bible as a gift without asking for anything in return or demanding acceptance of a set of beliefs.

Now, given that Gillette reaffirmed his atheism, I suppose one could argue that this was a failed evangelism attempt. I disagree. Anytime we as Christians can offer faith in love and manage to withhold judgment, I think we've been faithful to Jesus' call to love our neighbor as ourself. It is only then that we might claim that our tongues are giving praise to God.

h/t: Stuff Christians Like

Law and Love

2011-09-06T09:21:00.000-04:00

Matthew 18:15-20

Romans 13:8-14

Sermon

In the wee hours of January 5th, 2011, Mark had a problem. His daughter was about to go into labor, but he was still miles from the hospital. Rushing to get to the hospital, Mark ran a red light. He explained that the entire time he was driving, his daughter "Ashley kept saying, 'Dad, you have to get me there NOW...We didn't have much time." Just 40 minutes after arriving in the hospital, Ashley gave birth to little Breanna in under 40 minutes.

A few weeks after bringing his granddaughter home, Mark received his own little gift- a photo of his car going through the red light and a a hundred dollar fine. Mark contested the red light citation given the circumstances. He typed out a brief letter explaining what happened and attached a copy of Breanna's hospital crib card -- "It's A Girl!" -- with the date and time of her arrival.

Much to his surprise, that didn't qualify as an acceptable excuse to the folks at the Photo Safety Division within the Cleveland Clerk of Courts Office. The hearing examiner determined that Mohn did not present "sufficient evidence of mitigating circumstances to overturn this ticket."

Now- I’d like to see a show of hands, how many of you think he shouldn’t have to pay that ticket?

Of those with your hand up, is there anyone who is arguing that he didn’t actually break the law in running a red light? Put your hand down if that is why you think he shouldn’t have to pay.

Ok, so, for those of you with your hand still up, can any one explain to me why? After all, we have clear evidence on camera that he has broken a law.

(The congregation responded a couple of different ways, foremost that the impending birth took priority over the stop light)

So, in other words, we believe there are some circumstances where obeying, or enforcing, the letter of the law should take a back seat to a greater purpose.

We tend to be a culture in which the upholding of law and order is a critically important value. And yet, there are times in which the majority of us feel that rigidly enforcing those laws in all circumstances would itself be a violation of justice. Though a black and white mentality toward law and order might be clearer, it would not result in a system with considerably more cruelty and injustice.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he wrestles with the connection between the concepts of love and law. Now, we often think of the law in terms of regulations and restrictions. Prohibitions controlling our behavior. This is certainly the central thrust behind the ten commandments. 9 of the 10 commandments are specifically about things that we ought not do (quick bonus points- which is the exception?)

Love is generally not thought of in such a mechanical or restrictive way. However, law and love are not necessarily in conflict either. Paul indeed argues that the law can be summed up in the concept of “Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”

So, does this mean love=law? Clearly not. We certainly wouldn’t consider the ticket given to Mark to be a “love note.” So, there must be some delineation here. Paul does not argue that upholding the law is the same as loving. Instead, he is trying to get behind the law, trying to understand the purpose for the law. Why were we given the law? What is it’s ultimate purpose?

By declaring that Love is the fulfillment of the law, Paul is pointing to the law’s higher purpose. It isn’t about the specific prohibitions, about dotting all the i’s and crossing all the ts in the Torah. The law is supposed to bring about and provide a path toward a people who love one another. And, though he doesn’t state it explicitly here, that law is supposed to be an avenue toward bringing about a love of God also.

But, how does this work? I mean, I am single, but I’m pretty sure the foundation of a loving relationship is not about rigorously adhering to a rule book. “But honey, code 352.2 subparagraph b clearly delineates that I have fulfilled my obligation to you.” No, the core of love is a mutuality contained within a relationship. For love to exist, a relationship must be formed.

Thus, fulfilling the law is not about following each and every aspect of it. Love is the fulfilling of the law- it supersedes the letter of the law, and sometimes, even the spirit. When they come into conflict, it is love- not law, that is supposed to win out.

What does this look like in concept? When in doubt, its good to look to Jesus here. On several occasions, Jesus gets into a conflict with the religious authorities. He heals someone on the sabbath- now wait, isn’t that one of the big ten? Jesus says that clearly it is more important to tend to someone’s aching wounds then it is to remain in reverent prayer on the sabbath. It is in the breaking of the restriction, even one of the big ten, when love is fulfilled.

But, wouldn’t this lead to anarchy? I mean, the idea probably appeals to us in concept. Sure, we want the entire world to be forgiving of ourselves. But Dave, back there, I’m not so sure I want to be constantly forgiving him. So, how bout, grace for me, law and order for thee! Sound good?

Often times, I think this is how we live it out. We don’t give others the benefit of the doubt while we bristle when someone reacts negatively to our good intentions. But, clearly, love does not mean breaking all the laws either. If I were to steal from you with no other purpose than to turn a profit, I am not setting the foundation for a good relationship.

When faced with seeming conflicts between law and order and love, I think we are obliged to answer the following question- Does upholding the law here lead to restored love with God? Does it lead to restored love with neighbor?

Let’s test this out- and I want to test it out in the arena that I think we struggle with the most as a culture and in our faith- let’s test this out in the arena of sex. In the Methodist church, in regards to sex we officially hold to an ethos of celibacy in singleness and fidelity in marriage. Now, there are absolute good reasons to argue in favor of reserving sex for marriage. We live in a culture of commodification where things and people are constantly used. When we engage in sex outside of a committed, loving relationship like marriage, we run the risk of using the other person for our own gratification. If after using the person, we discard them, we have certainly violated the core tenant of building a loving relationship with another person. This is of course in addition to the very real problems of unintended pregnancy and the proliferation of STDs.

But, let’s use a very real example. In our legal system, we link considerable benefits to marriage. Foremost among them is pension and health care benefits that one may obtain through their spouse, even after they have passed away. I know many widows and widowers have been placed in a scenario where they have lost their spouse but rely on that retirement check or that health plan as a source of sustainment. If they fall in love and find a new life partner, they would be forced to choose from marrying their new partner and losing that which sustains them, or violating the principle of celibacy in singleness and fidelity in marriage. Here, I believe the upholding of the letter of the law would destroy the opportunity for a loving relationship. And thus, that loving relationship should take priority.

Now, what are the implications of this? If we bless sex outside of marriage in this circumstance, are we abandoning the general principal? No, but we are acknowledging that life is messy. Law does a lot of good- but a black and white interpretation of it serves neither humanity nor our God.

So, it is not more law that we seek, but more love. In God’s divine wisdom- there is a remedy for this conflict- and it is grace. At the core of who God is, that which is revealed in Jesus Christ, we find a teacher and a savior who earnestly desires a relationship with us. Our creator loved us so much that we were given a law- a law designed to forge a loving relationship between our God and each other. A creator who loved us so much that when our violations of the law was harming our relationship, choose to forgive rather than to prosecute us under a law. A loving Savior who refused to let the law keep us from the ever more divine purpose of love. Amen.

If God is For Us...

2011-07-24T17:11:00.000-04:00

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Romans 8:26-39

Sermon

I donʼt know about you, but for me, the hymn “In the Garden” is not about Easter and the resurrection, but is more closely associated with death. Whenever I hear it, it transports me to one funeral or another where I have heard the hymn sung. Perhaps most prominent in my memory was when we sang it together at the funeral of my grandfather. Whether or not it was its intended purpose, for at least our current generations, this hymn calls to mind funerals, and grief, and death.

So too does today’s scripture from Romans. Though I have done no formal study, I think it is safe to say that this scripture appears at funerals perhaps even more often than “In the Garden.” It is of course a very appropriate text- it speaks of the Spirit helping us when we are at our weakest....when our grief is so profound that it will not allow us to speak. It speaks of a God who will never be apart from us, even, and perhaps especially, when we are in the midst of tragedy.

Can you remember a time when you heard “In the Garden” or this passage from Romans at a memorial service? Take a second and think back to that moment. What did you see, feel, touch? Were you overwhelmed with grief at the time? Perhaps some of you still are.

Though you may have held it together on the outside, what kind of emotions were swirling within? Did you find it hard to speak? To carry on a conversation with others about your loved one? Did it difficult to pray to God in those moments?

If you did, know that you are in good company. Almost all of us struggle and go into a phase of almost shock following the death of someone around us. In an initial stage of acute grief, the severe emotional trauma experienced can manifest itself in actual physical responses- Tightness in the throat, shortness of breath, fatigue, and a lack of muscle strength. Is it any wonder that words are hard to come by in that moment? Thus, it should be a particular comfort that Paul tells us that we have no need for words in those moments. When we are racked with grief, when we canʼt form a word, let alone a sentence or a prayer, the Holy Spirit “intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”

In those moments, God knows our hearts, and the Holy Spirit within us prayers on our behalf. Those prayers could be shouts of anger, screams of grief, or groans of misery, but God intimately hears our prayers. In the midst of death, we are surrounded by the love of God, and the Spirit is acting within us even, and perhaps especially, when we cannot sense it. We should praise God that we cannot be alone in those moments. The God whose love was demonstrated in Jesus Christ cannot bare to see us suffer alone. In these moments, we can rest assured that, we need not understand, we need not be able to explain why a particular death occurred.

But eventually, through time, through prayer, through talking with a pastor or loved one, through going to a grief support group or seeking professional counseling, we move from those initial stages of grief and begin to resume the normal patterns of life. And at some point, whether it be weeks or months or years afterward, we begin to regain our words. If we are honest with ourselves, perhaps the first word that we are able to form is - “Why?”

Now, its important we donʼt try to answer that question too quickly. We have to give ourselves the time to go through our wordless agony. This especially goes for those who care for someone wrestling with grief. In our legitimate desire to comfort, we sometimes will say things like “God needing one more angel in heaven,” or “that it was Godʼs will for that person to die” or that “this life doesnʼt matter.”

These generally arenʼt well-thought theological statements, but almost sweet nothings whispered to try and comfort. But we ought to be particularly cautious about speaking lightly of God and Godʼs will here. At best, it can be a cold comfort to someone experiencing loss. At worse, it can seriously disturb or even destroy their faith. We, and those in grief, are much better served when we simply hug them and express our sorrow than when we try to pontificate about our theology of God in those moments.

But the time does come, however, when we are obligated to begin wrestling with why. When we have to consider a Christian response, or theology, to death and dying. This last Wednesday, we had a social issue forum that explored the “Rights of the Aging.” One of the conclusions we drew was that so many of the issues raised required us to have frank conversations about death and dying, about the importance of quantity or quality of life, about funeral planning, and about end of life care. These prove to be sticky subjects for us in the United States. We tend to be particularly immature about death- look at the uproar that occurred in the country over the supposed death panels- merely suggesting people meet with doctors to discuss end of life care created a national uproar.

We struggle, in part, because we do not understand. After all, if God is for us, who could be against us? After all, isnʼt God the most powerful thing in the universe? If God really loves us, and if God is really powerful, why doesnʼt God stop bad things from happening?

That is the fundamental question, isnʼt it? We canʼt reconcile a powerful, good God who allows things like the shooting in Norway. Why allow such evil?

I think the primary reason we struggle with this question is that we misunderstand the power of God. In this country, when we think of power, we generally think of the ability to manipulate, to dominate, to control. It is the ability to bend the world around you to your will. We think of politicians as powerful when they are able to bend congress, or the country, to their will. We think of a country as powerful if its military or economic prowess can force other nations or leaders to make changes to the way they govern their country.

But what if thatʼs just a base, common misunderstanding of Godʼs power. I mean, is raw power really a holy and awesome thing? If I could physically force you to do more mission work, would that be a Godly thing? If I tricked you into giving more, and then used that money to feed those who are hungry, would that be a demonstration of the love of God? If we believe that power is this raw, sometimes violent expression of control, and if we believe that God is the ultimate expression of power, why would we be surprised when people draw the wrong conclusions about God. Mildly, we might ask, if God just manipulates the world in that way, why wouldnʼt God prevent evil? And, in a more pernicious misunderstanding, if God represents raw power, why wouldnʼt God, and Godʼs followers, strike out against “Godʼs enemies?”

This was the kind of power the crusaders believed in when they marched into the Middle East and slaughtered Muslims and other non-Christians. Though it is still early, it appears to be the kind of power
that the man who on Friday killed at least 92 people in Norway, Anders Breivik, believed in. Based on posts on his facebook page and anonline manifesto, he considered himself to be a modern Christian knight,

“charged with driving out Islam and immigrants and the political correctness that he said had been wrongly invited into Norway and was thriving there.”

His

“manifesto, entitled “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” equates liberalism and multiculturalism with “cultural Marxism,” which the document says is destroying European Christian civilization.”(NY Times)

This idea of armed defense of Christianity, of our God, is born out of the equation that God equals power. But this is not the God to which scripture largely testifies. Though you can scrape together a few bible verses to justify about anything, Jesus speaks of the power of God differently. It is the power that allows a tiny seed to grow into a large tree. It is like a yeast that almost magically turns flour into life-sustaining bread. This is a different kind of power. The mightiest of powers cannot make a seed turn into a plant. This isnʼt a power of raw dominance, it is a power of life and of growth.

When Paul tries to answer the question “If God is for us, who is against us?”, he does not speak of Godʼs might. No, Paul speaks of a God who would send his only son into the world to bring about reconciliation. He testifies about Jesus, who willingly sacrificed himself at the hands of the dominant, powerful Roman empire, in solidarity with and to bring about reconciliation with the weak and lowly to whom Jesus loved intimately. Godʼs power was not one of dominance, but one of self emptying and sacrifice. Godʼs power was not in flexing muscle, but in demonstrating all consuming love. Even unto death.

If we understand God in those terms, how does that help us answer that question of why? When we begin to understand that we are not pawns who God manipulates at will, we can release ourselves from the notion that God caused a car crash or allowed a shooter to pull the trigger. Thatʼs not how God works. The power of life is not in manipulation, but in bringing forth new life out of tragedy. Jesus Christ was crucified, so God brought forth new life by resurrecting him. Godʼs work cannot be seen in the killing of 92 people in Norway, Godʼs power of life will be revealed through the outpouring of love and the recommitment the people of Norway, and Christians throughout the world, make in seeking to fan the flames of tolerance and love rather than bigotry and hate.

God does not work by preventing death or tragedy. Such exercise of raw power, even for seemingly good purposes, would be a violation of free will. No, God works in the same way that Jesus did. By being present with us so that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. God will be with us through it all. And should we open ourselves up to Godʼs healing love and life sustaining power, we too will see hope, and love, and life flourish out of our grief.

New Social Issues Forum

2011-07-04T21:41:00.001-04:00

John Wesley was a firm advocate of personal and social holiness. Personal holiness meant learning how we each individually needed to grow in perfection so that we might conform to the image of Christ. Social Holiness, however, went beyond the individual. Social Holiness embraced the idea that we had to change more than ourselves- we had to work to change our societies so that it was more in line with the Kingdom of God that Jesus had proclaimed. As such, Wesley decried slavery, argued for more human prisons, and took on the rich for their mistreatment of the poor. He encouraged his followers to search their heart and consciouses and to seek to transform the world through their actions and their voices. Thus, they would apply scripture, tradition, reason and experience and consider the important issues of their day.

As spiritual decedents of John Wesley, we are called to do the same. Through a spirit filled and democratic process, the United Methodist Church has taken a position on a whole range of social issues including immigration, human trafficking, global climate stewardship and more. Starting Wednesday July 13th at 7:00 pm, we will begin the process exploring the UMC position, how it was arrived at, and learning to discern for ourselves what God’s will might be in our contemporary society. These forums are not meant as debates so that we may sway one another, but opportunities to learn to share how the Holy Spirit might be working in our own lives. The first meeting will be an introduction to one method of discerning God’s will in community while the rest will tackle a specific subject. Our initial schedule, subject to change, will be as follows:

7/13- Discerning God’s will in the Wesleyan tradition

7/20 Rights of the Aging

7/27 Persons living with HIV & AIDS

8/3 Genetic Technology

8/10 Rights of Immigrants

Join us as we seek to discern the Spirit’s will for the world.

Reflections on a year in ministry

2011-07-02T09:40:00.001-04:00

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In some ways its hard to believe I have already been here a year. I can distinctly remember moving into my office and beginning the process of feeling out the congregation. I remember panicking internally as I searched for names during the sharing of the joys and concerns and visiting many of your houses for some initial coffee chats. And yet, in other ways, I feel like I’ve known some of you for years. I am so grateful for how warmly this congregation has received me and I look forward to relying on your support and leadership in the year to come.

Though I thought I had a fair idea of what I was getting into when I accepted my appointment to Independence UMC, several things happened that I did not expect. I have been stunned at just how flexible this congregation has been-especially when it comes to worship. You quickly accepted that I do not wear a robe, you’ve seem to have gotten used to my penchant for asking questions in the middle of the service and you’ve enthusiastically embraced when I do something altogether different after the sermon like burning our sins or washing one another’s feet. This was perhaps most reflected in the enthusiastic response to an entirely revamped Holy Week. Thank you for your flexibility!

I also have been encouraged by how warm and friendly we are to visitors. I know it will embarrass her to say so, but if every congregation had an ambassador as warm and friendly as Alice Deyling, we’d all be bursting at the seams. This openness to new people has resulted in increased attendance and having 12 new members join since last July. Finally, I have found that this congregation takes pride in maintaining what we already do well. Our trustees are constantly buzzing about the church and the congregation has responded generously when needs have arisen.

Good job of maintaining what is here

As we begin another year of shared ministry together, I hope to see us grow in a few different ways. More and more members of our congregation have stepped up to take leadership roles in vital, active ministries. Because of this, we were able to launch a new prayer group, engage in hands on ministry with Nehemiah Mission, and explore working collaboratively with other Methodist churches. I hope this leadership and renewed commitment will also help us to expand the programs that reach beyond the walls of our congregation to demonstrate the love of Christ through both our words and our actions. Thirdly, I hope to work with Pam Young and others to build on the good work of the Work Mission Trip as week seek to enliven our youth and young adult ministries.

Though those are some individual areas, there is one bottom line goal that we must keep in mind. God has a plan for this congregation. Its bigger and bolder than anything we might imagine at the moment. Let us have the courage to dream big about the opportunities God is going to set forth for us. Let us willfully embrace the challenges we might face. Let us truly be the body of Christ in this world so that all might come to know God’s love and forever be transformed.

Shalom,

Pastor Jared

Division, Diversity, and Oneness in the Church: A Conflict Drama

2011-06-27T16:30:00.002-04:00

Luke 4:16-19, 28-30

1 Corinthians 12:1-14, 29-31

Taking the place of the sermon this week was a drama presented by members of the Youth Work Mission team. The drama was written by the Rev. Edward Markquart, Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church and only lightly adapted for our context. I highly recommend Rev. Markquart's website, Sermons from Seattle.

Prologue: The sermon for today is based on the epistle lesson from I Corinthians 12. To briefly remind you, there were many divisions in the church in Corinth … between more conservative Jewish Christians and more liberal Greek Christians, between the politically enslaved and the politically free, between those who emphasize speaking in tongues and those who emphasized speaking boldly about Christ, between the followers loyal to the teachings of Paul or Peter or Apollos. There were many feisty factions in this church and they wrote to the Apostle Paul for guidance, asking him, “What shall we do with all these divisions in the church?” Chapters 12-14 of the book of I Corinthians are a cohesive unit in which Paul addresses the issue of diversity and division with the church. This sermon and conflict drama grows out of chapters 12, 13 and 14. I have taken the situations and conflicts of the church in Corinth and transformed them to conflicts found in the church today in our time and place. You will soon see what I am talking about.

It was about ten years ago that Pastor Paul-son arrived in Cleveland. He stayed there a couple of years and established a congregation. Pastor Paul-son was a great teacher and brilliant theologian. His theology was erudite and profound, as he taught about grace. But to be honest, he was not much of a preacher. Nor was he eloquent. Nor was he especially good at pastoral care. He tended to bristle and be argumentative when people disagreed with him. But he was a great theologian and knew the Gospel well. And like all founding pastors, Pastor Paul-son left town.

The second pastor was a woman by the name of Pastor Apollos-son. Now, she was a charismatic preacher. She was eloquent. There was a passion to her preaching, and the church really grew under her leadership. But, to be honest, she wasn’t the theologian and teacher that the founding pastor was, and like all second pastors, she too left town.

Now, there was another pastor, a Pastor Peter-sen who also influenced the congregation. Pastor Peter-sen was a real traditionalist. He said, “You have to do it the old way, the way it back done back in the old country, the Midwest, back in the Holy City, as in the past, when truth was truth.” His motto was, “The Gospel and tradition.”

Now, for sometime this congregation in Cleveland was without a pastor, and there were several deep divisions in this church. Some people liked the way that Pastor Paul-son did it; others liked the way that Pastor Apollos-son did it; and still others like Pastor Peter-sen’s traditional style. The divisions became deeper and deeper, and so they finally called a congregational meeting, and all the Christians from this congregation in Cleveland came. They came to share their convictions and “tell it like it is!”

At this congregational meeting, one person stood up and spoke quite righteously.

(Person 1 stands and comes to microphone and speaks into the microphone.) I am a Christian. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the Bible. The Bible is a guide for my daily life. It is clear in the book of Genesis that God designed the world so that there is male and female, that marriage is to be between a man and a woman. It is clear in the Old Testament that God condemns same sex relationships and same sex marriages. Leviticus 18:2 clearly states: “You shall not lie with a male as a woman. It is an abomination.” The New Testament clearly states that God condemns same sex relationships and same sex marriages. Romans 1:26-27 says, “Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men also gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.” The overwhelming evidence of both nature and the Bible clearly embrace heterosexual relationships and both nature and the Bible clearly condemn homosexual relationships. Yes, we Christians are called to love the sinner but hate the sin.

(Person 2) But not to me. You and I think differently about these things. I too am a Christian and love the Gospel and the Bible. When the Bible was written, its authors believed many things that we no longer believe today. For them, the earth was flat, slavery was endorsed, women were inferior, and homosexuality was automatically condemned. But the world has changed from those ancient days. We now know that the earth is no longer flat, that slavery is wrong, that women are different than men but equal. And homosexuality? Well, for my brother and many like him, homosexuality is like being born left-handed. He was born with it. My brother didn’t choose his sexual orientation. His sexual orientation is as deep within him as your sexual orientation is deep within you. Jesus invites us to love all people, including loving those people whom society often condemns such as gays and lesbians. Don’t ask me not to love my brother. Don’t ask me to condemn him as a sinner.

You could feel the tension in the air and between the people. Here were good, loving Christian people who felt so deeply but differently about issues and situations. The divisions began to mount:

(Person 3 stands and speaks into the microphone like at a congregational meeting.) I am a Christian. I love the Gospel. The Spirit of Christ lives in me, and I know for sure that nuclear weapons are an abomination of God. The stockpiling of nuclear weapons is the greatest sin of our century and violates every principle of Jesus. These weapons destroy innocent civilians, unborn babies, and the land for generations to come. Christ and his followers would never sanction the use of nuclear weapons.

(Person 4 stands and speaks to the microphone.) I too am a Christian. The Spirit of Christ lives in me. I love the freedom of the Gospel. God made us human beings to long for human freedom and hate slavery. The Bible lays the foundational principles for freedom…for both religious and political freedom. For political freedom to survive in our generation, it takes a strong defense. In today’s real world, the threat of nuclear weapons helps to preserve peace and freedom. Attempts to abolish nuclear weapons increases the possibility of their use. YOU!!!, in your religious self righteousness, contribute to nuclear madness.

(Person 3 stands and speaks to the microphone.) Clever arguments but you are wrong.

And so immediately, there was division at this congregational meeting in Cleveland. The feelings ran deep and the convictions passionately held. There were other polarizations that day.

(Person 5 stands, approaches microphone.) I am a Christian. I love the Gospel. The Spirit of Christ lives in me, and I know for sure that abortion is an abomination in the sight of God. Do you realize that hundreds of thousands of fetuses are being murdered, and we the church are doing very little about it? The Bible is so clear. God in the Old Testament says, “I put you together in your mother’s womb. When your bones were being formed and carefully put together, when you were growing secretly and silently within her, I knew that you were there. I saw you even before you were born.” God is aware of our humanity before our birth. That the church is safely silent about abortion is evidence that we have given in to the power of our satanic culture.

(Person 6 stands, approaches the microphone.) I can’t justify it too easily, but I know that abortions are sometimes necessary. My daughter got pregnant. She was way too young. She had been on drugs. The fetus could have been severely retarded. My daughter couldn’t handle the pregnancy. We weren’t ready to rear the child for her. I am a Christian. I love the Gospel. The Spirit of Christ lives in me, and I advised my teenage daughter to get an abortion. I didn’t sense it was right, but necessary. I am glad that we had the legal right to do it and didn’t have to have the abortion illegally which we would have done. There is forgiveness with God. YOU!!! (pointing to person 5) need to be more understanding and forgiving of people like me and my daughter who are caught in this nasty situation. Don’t throw stones until you have had a daughter in a similar situation.

(Person 5 stands, goes to microphone) God would have given your daughter the strength and wisdom to handle what the world calls “an imperfect child.” And YOU arranged for a premie baby to be murdered in order to protect your middle-class happiness.

(Person 6) YOU don’t get it, do you?

And so there were many Christians at the congregational meeting in Cleveland who knew and loved the Gospel, but didn’t know and like each other very much. These Christians felt their own point of view was the right one, the one that God agreed with.

(Person 7 stands, goes to the microphone.) Nobody is mentioning the important issue here, the authority of the Bible. The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. I know that some of you want to get rid of the word, “inerrant.” You want to be able to twist the Bible so that the Bible will endorse your prejudices: abortion on demand, divorce on demand, pro homosexuality, pro evolution, no concern for world evangelization. You don’t take the Bible seriously and you don’t read it devotionally. Pretty soon, you will say that the resurrection of Jesus is a parable or some figure of speech. For you and your group, the Bible is ‘manipulated to endorse the latest cultural trend.

(Person 8 stands, goes to the microphone.) That’s not fair, you literalist. The Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God for us. Our lives are nourished by the Gospel. The Bible is our source of salvation, our guide for living, food for the Spirit of Christ in us. But you…you use the Bible to condemn homosexuals as modern lepers, force couples to remain married in violent marriages, and push an outmoded view of creation as science, all in the name of religion. You snap people that you don’t like with passages in the Bible, as if the Bible were a whip to whip them with. (Person 8 sits)

And so the divisions became worse and worse. There were many other divisions. Some wanted their members to excel in a spirit filled prayer life; others wanted their members to excel in speaking boldly for Christ.

(Person 9 stands, goes to the microphone.) I would like to say something. Please, I need to speak. Some people don’t realize it but this country is very unchurched. About 55% of our neighbors don’t go to church regularly. We all argue all day about nuclear wars; we can fight all night about abortions and the Bible, but the primary mission of the church, the mission above all other missions, is to go and make disciples. The first thing that Jesus said to the twelve was, “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” and the last thing Jesus said before he ascended to heaven was, “Make disciples of all people.” Let’s stop arguing about nuclear war. Let’s stop arguing about abortion, homosexuality and the Bible. The real mission of the church is evangelism of our neighborhood and the whole world. We know what the great commission is!!! Go and make disciples!!!

(Person 10 stands, goes to the microphone.) That man there wants to save the souls of billions but he doesn’t say anything about their bodies and bellies. The great commission? How about the great commandment? Love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself. We need to be concerned about justice in the world. Do you realize the average Methodist gives only 2% of household income to charity? Of that 2%, only a fraction is given to the truly poor. What do we give to the poor? 2% of a mere 2%. What a joke. That is crumbs from the rich man’s table. … Ours is a God of justice. God wants all nations, ours included, to stop spending billions of dollars for weapons and armament and redirect government economic power to care for the poor of the world. Did you read about it in the papers last week? More than 900 billion dollars for weapons? Our God wants justice for the poor. YOU may believe in the great commission. I believe in the great commandment!!!

And so, the tensions got worse in Cleveland. A problem was this- Deep down inside, everyone thought that the Spirit inside of them was the correct one. These Christians had a private disdain for those who didn’t think, believe, and feel as they did. What to do? Well, finally, at the conclusion of this tense and lengthy congregational meeting, they decided to write a letter to their founding pastor, Pastor Paul-son, this great theologian and teacher. Pastor Paul-son wrote back to the congregation at Cleveland. Believe it or not, I have a copy of his letter here with me. I would like to read a portion of it to you.

There is one Spirit, but a variety of gifts.
There is one Lord, but a variety of ways that people serve.
There is one God and Father, but a variety of ways that people work for the kingdom.

God gives different gifts to different people.
Some, a passion for peace;
Others, a passion for political freedom.
Some, a passion for life and its sacredness,
Others, a passion for forgiveness and mercy.
Some, a passion for a more closed interpretation of the Bible,
Others, a passion for a more open interpretation of the Bible.
Some, a passion for evangelism,
Others, a passion for justice.

All of these people who spoke to you this morning are working for the common good.
Each and every one of these people this morning are inspired by the one and same Spirit, the Spirit who gives to each person their unique and different perspective.

For just as the human body is a unified whole, composed of millions of different parts, so is Christ and his body.

The human body is miraculously complex,
With 60 million cells,
With 36 million heart beats every year,
With 300 billion red cells produced every day,
With 60,000 miles of blood vessels in each body.

Just as the human mind cannot begin to fathom the complexity of its own body, so it is with us, with the body of Christ. Our minds cannot comprehend the complexity of the body of Christ.

Christ is a living body, composed of billions of parts, miraculously complex, with billions of members, located in millions of different settings, with thousands of different languages, with thousands of unique cultures and billions of expressions of the true faith…throughout all the centuries of recorded time.

The human mind cannot begin to fathom the complexity of the body of Christ, anymore than the human mind can imagine the 60,000 miles of blood vessels in one’s own physical body.

If you have these gifts, if you have these passions in your heart, these workings, these ways of serving God’s kingdom; but if you don’t have love inside of you for your brothers and sisters who think and feel differently than you, you are nothing. The greatest gift that God has for you is love. Love for people who don’t think like you. Love for people who do not share your point of view on specific issues. You are to make love, your goal, your aim, your greatest purpose for life.

And so, the words from Pastor Paul-son were read to the church in Cleveland, on that special day when all the diverse members of the church were together. On that day, the church members at Cleveland realized that they were part of this mysteriously complex, living organism, the body of Christ. They all drank from the same Spirit, and were joyful and glad, that they were one, one in the Spirit of the Living Christ who unified them in love.

Amen.

Work Mission Photos

2011-06-27T11:09:00.000-04:00

The work missioners returned back from a wonderful trip to Corbin, KY. If you are interested in checking out photos from the experience, you can find them here. (You need not be a member of facebook to view the album). Here are a few to wet your appetite.

Check out our Work Mission Blog

2011-06-20T19:18:00.000-04:00

Our Work Mission trip keeps a separate blog. Check it out throughout the week to see as our youth and adults update as to their experience. You can find it here.