Sermon - It begins with grace (Pentecost 8B)

July 19, 2015                            Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 & Ephesians 2:11-22

I’m a big fan of the NBC Nightly News. And since it comes on here when I am already in bed, I start my day by watching the previous night’s news with my morning coffee or tea. Lately, I’ve been thinking about skipping it (the news, not my coffee) altogether, because of the 6-8 stories reported, most of them bring bad news. Stories of violence often lead off – shootings, violence again women and children, terrorism warnings – it’s hard to watch long enough to get to the “feel good” story that comes at the end. Again and again, I find myself asking, “When did compassion become the exception, rather than the rule?”

This week’s lessons, especially the Epistle and the Gospel, speak to this question. The gospel lesson, two travel tales, are bookends to two of Jesus’ most well-known miracles, the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water to the boat full of frightened disciples.

The each travelogue begins in the same way. Jesus realizes that his reputation is spreading throughout the region, and people are coming from far and wide, not just to see him in person, or to hear him speak, but because they want something from him. They want healing. They want wholeness. They want to be touched by Jesus.

And at certain points, Jesus realizes that they need to just get away – to rest, recover and do a little self-care. It’s a great lesson for all of us, but one that it increasingly difficult to achieve in our “do more with less” work and world. And I bet there will be many sermons preached this morning on how important it is to take care of yourself. And it is. So here me when I say, “Friends, take care of yourselves and your families so that you can better serve the Kingdom of God.”

But I’m not content to stop there. Because in the stories we have before us, Jesus and his disciples never really got the opportunity to totally shut down. In the first story, the disciples have just returned from their mission trip in Jesus’ name. They were sent out to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God, and to heal sickness and cast out demons. In addition, they have just received the news of the death of John, Jesus’ cousin and the one who initiated Jesus’ ministry with baptism in the Jordan River. This was devastating news and between the two events, it is no wonder that they would want to take some time out and regroup.

But when they got to the deserted place on the other side of the lake, it wasn’t really deserted after all. The crowd had figured out where they were going and beat them there. And in his compassion, Jesus spoke to them, teaching them about the God’s kingdom. As the time grew late, the disciples encouraged Jesus to send the people home to find themselves something to eat. Instead, Jesus took a young boy’s offering, five loaves of bread and two fish, and fed the multitude, with over 12 baskets of scraps left over.

Afterward, they tried again to get away, this time to Bethsaida, for a little R&R – rest and recovery. Jesus sent the boat ahead while he went to the mountain to pray. When he was done, he saw that the disciples straining against a strong storm that had pop up on the lake. So he walked out to them, which apparently frightened them beyond belief. Imagine their further surprise when the storm called immediately upon his getting in the boat. What a confusing turn of events.

In the end, they landed in a different place than for which they set out - Gennesaret, rather than Bethsaida - where again the people pressed in to see and touch Jesus. Everywhere they went, people came bringing their sick friends and relations, all in hopes that Jesus could do for them when he had done for others – bring wholeness in compassion and love.

Paul also addresses this need for compassion and love – not in the realm of physical healing, but in the mending of relationships between Jewish and Gentile Christians. He reminds the church in Ephesus, which had a lot of Gentile Christians, that their relationships are not defined by their differences, but by the One who unites them, in love. From Eugene Peterson’s The Message:

The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody. (Ephesians 2:14-15 The Message)

That’s the world I want to live in. A world where the differences between us do not define how our relationships will be lived out. Race, gender, sexuality, nationality, religious orientation, politics... these are the arbitrary boundaries that help us find people with whom we are comfortable... people who are more like us than they are not… people who don't frighten us or make us feel good about ourselves.  And we struggle daily, not just to open our hands and hearts to others who are different from us, but to see that they even need to be opened in the first place.  

The reading from Ephesians speaks of reconciliation with and access to God bought at a great price.  We are all strangers and aliens to God, at the same time that we are citizens and members of the household of God. Jesus’ wanderings among people of great need, often dragging his clueless disciples along, should teach us that we are called to live a life of availability, often going against the flow of public opinion and knowing that Christ calls us to live lives worthy of the sacrifice made on our behalf.

I’ve read a lot of really good commentaries and sermons in preparation for this week’s sermon, and usually I pepper my sermon with quotes from the biblical scholars and preachers I follow most closely. But this week I’m going to tell three short stories of compassion, forgiveness and becoming one that make me think that it’s truly possible for us to become the people that Christ called us to be.

Nine years ago, the world stood still as word came of a shooting at an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, PA. A distraught father and husband entered that one-room school and shot 10 school-aged girls. Five died. Five were severely wounded. That could have been the end of good relationships between the Amish and their English neighbors. But it wasn’t. Lead by their intense Christian training, the Amish modeled what it meant to be part of the family of God.

Within hours of the shooting, they visited the family of the shooter, offering their condolences on the death of their husband, father, & son. They attended the gunman’s funeral, provided food for the family, and offered sincere words of forgiveness. They received the gifts that were offered from the community and the world – gifts of millions of dollars – not because they believed they needed or deserved them, but because they did not want to take away someone else’s need to be generous and make a difference. And they made sure that the gunman’s family had access to these funds, because they believed it wasn’t fair that they benefit any more that the other family because everyone was equally a victim of violence.[i]

And the world asked, “How do they do it?”

A month ago when I was in South Carolina, a breaking news report came across the TV screen. There had been a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston – Mother Emmanuel AME Church – and nine people were reported dead, including the pastor who was also a state senator. I admit that as I went to bed that night I wondered if we would wake to more reports of violence between blacks and whites as we had seen in Ferguson, Chicago, New York and Baltimore. But instead I woke to see a peaceful arrest of the presumed shooter, his return to Charleston that day, and a press conference by family members stating that they had already forgiven the shooter of his deadly deed. I could quote many of them here, but their ultimate message was this – if you intended to start a race war here, you have come to the wrong place and the wrong people. We will only answer with love.

And the world asked, “How do they do it?”

Within weeks the Nickel Mines shooting, the Amish and English communities worked together to tear down the old schoolhouse and built a new one closeby. Four days after the shooting at Mother Emmanuel, a line of people packed the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, stretching more than two miles from the town of Mount Pleasant to the city of Charleston. Observers on the bridge, and thousands more at the base, joined hands to create a "unity chain," then held a moment of silence that lasted five minutes in honor of the fallen.[ii]

We need to pay attention to this question “How do they do it?” The Amish responded to that question with this answer, “Refusing to forgive is not an option – it’s just a normal part of our living.”[iii] For them, forgiveness lives at the foundation of what it means to be a Christian. It is the bedrock on which community grows.

In South Carolina, the shooting sparked a larger conversation about race and community. It accomplished something that religious and community leaders had been working toward for decades. Yes, there has been some backlash from the events of the last month – at least 3 SC black churches and 5 others in surrounding states have been burned to the ground, but it looks like love will prevail, even outside the Christian community.

Muslim friends through a crowdsourced fundraising site have raised $92,000 in just 10 days to help rebuild black churches as a part of their Ramadan observance, stating

We want for others what we want for ourselves: the right to worship without intimidation, the right to safety, and the right to property. We must always keep in mind that the Muslim community and the black community are not different communities. We are profoundly integrated in many ways, in our overlapping identities and in our relationship to this great and complicated country. We are connected to Black churches through our extended families, our friends and teachers, and our intertwined histories and convergent present. Too often cowards inflict us with a crippling fear, but with encouragement and support from likely and unlikely places fear cannot stop us.[iv]

I think that’s exactly what Paul was talking about. And still we ask, “But how can I step outside my comfort zone and do something like that?”

Two weeks ago, our teen-aged nieces came to spend 12 days with us. We toured together and cooked together and swam together and just enjoyed being together. And just when I thought that they would get tired of hanging out with their boring old aunt and uncle, there was a knock on the door. Our neighbor’s 14-year old daughter came to ask them to walk to the park with her and a friend. And we let them, worrying all the time if we had done the right thing. And as teenagers will, they exchanged What’s App and Facebook information, and messaged each other throughout the week. On Friday night they went together to the town pool party, and said fond goodbyes as the girls prepared to leave last week.

And when I thanked Selina for including them in her activities, she responded by saying, “I just thought about what I would like someone to do for me, and I did it.”

And if that’s not the gospel in a nutshell, I don’t know what it is. So here’s my charge to you: Let’s act as if we believe Paul’s words - “for we are no longer strangers and aliens, but are members together of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19 NRSV). 

And love will come. It all begins with grace. Amen.

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[i] Kraybill, Nolt & Weaver-Zercher: Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy – pages 46-7.

[ii] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/21/charelston-shooting-bridg_n_7633190.html

[iii] Amish Grace – page 49.

[iv]https://www.launchgood.com/project/respond_with_love_rebuild_black_churches_support_victims_of_arson_across_the_south#

Sermon - One for all (Pentecost 3B)

Pentecost 3B                                                                                                                      June 14, 2015

Mark 4:26-34, 2 Corinthians 5:6-17                              Panzer Liturgical and Patch Protestant Services

I do love Spring. I can’t wait for the garden center to put out the containers of flowers and vegetables, to look at packages of seeds, to think of the harvest ahead. We have a big garden plot in our back yard. Last summer we planted some lettuce, and enjoyed it before the frost came . This year we waited with great anticipation for it to be warm enough to plant – May 15th. We purchased some flowers for window boxes and pots in the front, four tomato plants, and seed packets for leaf lettuce, carrots, beets and radishes.

Talk about immediate gratification. It took less than 28 days from planting to harvest to gather a large bowl of radishes – 2 different kinds. And on Saturday, we planted again, so that we could have more in another 28 days.  Our tomato plants have blooms, some small tomatoes are setting, and so far, no black rust fungus. Our lettuce is getting close to ready and the beets and carrots have broken through and look like they are going to make a good showing later this summer.

How does this happen? A seed gets planted in the ground and sooner or later, a crop is ready to be harvested. Oh, we do a little – make sure there is good soil, take away the weeds, give them water and sometimes shelter them from an unexpected cold. But the process of growing is really out of our hands, unless we kill our crop from benign neglect. What a miracle to watch fruits and vegetable and grains come into their full potential all around us. All we have to do is sow and get ready for the harvest.

When you heard the lesson for today, I’ll bet you said, OK, today’s lesson is the one about the mustard seed, I know this one. In fact, the mustard seed is the star of parables in all three synoptic gospels, but is used differently in each.  In Matthew & Luke it’s a simple message – the mustard seed is small, but grows into a big tree. It’s a metaphor for faith – faith, even if it’s small, is big enough to uproot the largest tree.

But in Mark, Jesus prefaces the mustard seed parable with another about sowing seed. It addresses the joint nature of the harvest. The sower plants the seeds, maybe carefully, maybe just throwing them to the wind to fall down where they may. But the biggest process is not in the sower’s control. Botanists can describe in great detail what’s going on under the ground, but it seems like a huge miracle when you plant a seed that’s the size of a grain of sand, and a month later you have something crunchy to eat on a salad. Yes, the sower or farmer can make conditions optimal for growth, but the power for the seed to sprout and make fruit is the hands of God and his creation alone.

We are quick to put all kinds of conditions on what it means to be a person of faith. Did you say the right prayer? Where you baptized by the right person in the right church by the right means? Are you attending the right church? How do you interpret scripture? Do you follow the right rules?

But Jesus seems to contradict this premise. In the first parable we hear that “the kingdom is like scattering seed.”  The sower/farmer doesn’t know exactly how it happens, but the seed grows and the harvest comes. And that makes many of us uncomfortable, right? We want to ask Jesus, are you sure that the kingdom comes in spite of us? Apparently, both Matthew and Luke are uncomfortable with this world as well; they omit this first parable and all talk of secrets. What remains clear in Mark’s view of the kingdom is that it is a marvelous thing and not really under our control. Small beginnings cam make for large outcomes, even when our intentions get in the way.[i] 

Our work in God’s fields matter, but when we are tempted to claim credit for the conversion of souls to Christ or the growth of the Kingdom of God, we must remember that God works whether we are awake or asleep. No matter how committed we are to the process, our efforts are small like mustard seed in relationship to the infinite nature of God’s kingdom, and they are able to be whisked away in the slightest breeze. But God chooses to bless them and grow them, sometimes beyond our wildest imaginations.[ii]

And that’s the easy part of the lesson. But there is a more difficult message imbedded in this second parable… difficult if you like your Kingdom of God neat and orderly and the way it’s always been. If you ask any farmer in the Middle East about the mustard tree or shrub, they will tell you that once it gets in your garden you may never get rid of it. So maybe one of the first questions a person in Jesus’ audience would ask is, “Why would you intentionally plant mustard seeds in your garden?” Not only is it a rather knarly weed, but when it grows large enough for birds to come and roost in its branches, those birds are going to do a lot of damage to the other crops you have planted.

Last year we had to place a net over our small lettuce crop, because the birds kept swooping down and carrying away our harvest. This year we have applied a different tactic, and so far it’s working just fine. All that said, roosting birds in a garden will eat your crop, wake you up early and leave little presents behind … it’s hard to imagine a world where you invite them to come make a home with you.

But that’s exactly what Jesus did. He invited everyone to come and follow him. The passage that we read today from 2 Corinthians is pretty complicated and convoluted, but it ends with a declarative statement. Paul writes:

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died… So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Corinthians 5:14,17 (NRSV)

Paul said a lot of things that we as the church declare as definitive – absolute must-follows for faith. Well, I think we need to add this one to the list. Here Paul echoes the message of the parable. Jesus came and died for everyone… for you, for me, for the person next door, for the guy who stole your parking place at Wal-Mart, for the people sitting on death row in Texas, for those who haven’t even heard of him yet, for those who don’t believe.  And when people do commit themselves to Jesus, they are a part of our family, whether we want them to be or not.

But do we really believe this? Do we believe that every person who has walked on this earth has value simply because “Christ died for all”? Do we believe that because Jesus was willing to die for everyone, that gives their lives intrinsic value? Even at my most optimistic, I would have to say, No, we don’t. 

Author and pastor Dawn Chesser puts it this way:

In fact, most of us live quite the opposite of this. We want to say, ‘IF you do this, you do that, you live this way, you say these words, you vote this way, you vote that way, THEN you will have value.’ But Paul says that each person’s value has already been established through Christ’s death… We don’t need to know whether or not a person has confessed Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior before we decide to treat him or her with dignity and respect… We don’t need to know anything about the person, because we already know all we need to know: he or she is valuable because Christ died FOR him or her, just as for us.[iii]

It’s easy to get caught up in a “them vs us” mentality. In our worlds of education, position , income and status, we forget that “the original followers of Jesus were, in the eyes of the culture, all pretty much losers – lowly fishermen, despised tax collectors, prostitutes and criminals, lowlifes loathed by the religious establishment. [But ]maybe that’s the way the followers of Jesus have always looked to the rest of the world – those people desperate enough, lowly enough, to find hope in Jesus’ message.”[iv]

But this where we find hope: When we are struggling, experience significant loss, or just can’t seem to find our footing… when we wonder what the future holds and if this Jesus life is really for us, Jesus reminds us that the Kingdom of God comes of its own…and it comes for us. There is room for everyone in this kingdom. Jesus’ parables tell us that all things are possible because our God is great. We are those rascally birds who come to the giant weed-shrub for shelter, making noise and leaving a trail behind us. We think the work of faith is difficult, but really all we have to do is recognize our own need, and the needs of others to be a part of a community where everything is possible through the love and power of God.

I served a church in Oklahoma in a small, rural community it the middle of a high plains desert. It was hot and flat with lots of wide open spaces, which is pretty good if you want to teach new pilots how to fly big planes. The people there were either farmers and ranchers, worked at the Air Force base or at the local meat processing plant, or supported those industries with stores and restaurants, schools and churches. 

In this town, there is a right and a wrong side of the tracks. And it would be easy to keep those distinctions, especially in church. But when kids at the local elementary school told their parents that some classmates didn’t eat from school lunch on Friday to breakfast on Monday, a backpack ministry was born, sending home non-perishable foods to tide students over for the weekend. When teenagers from the youth group encountered folks asking for money for food when they were having a camp fundraiser, a monthly free meal was started, and soon spread to other churches so that every Saturday there was somewhere to get a hot meal at lunchtime, no strings attached.

When the local Christmas toy drive was short on the number of gifts needed for the children registered, $10,000 was raised in two days, with individuals and businesses pitching in to help. Last year, Project Noel provided gifts for 700 children and youth in that community.  This year, their vacation bible school invited children from every neighborhood to participate and dozens of adults and youth helped them get excited about Jesus.  Each week, a bus or van goes to each neighborhood and picks up whoever wants to come to church – children and adults alike. It’s no wonder that people refer to this church as “the one that helps people.”

Perhaps the next hardest part of our Christian journey is not how we come to faith ourselves, or even how willing we are to spread the good news around us, but how we respond to those who believe and are willing to come to Christ. The Christian church, especially in the United States and Europe, seems preoccupied with the numbers related to church membership and blind to the way that faith is being lived out in the world. Maybe it’s not enough to focus on the macro - like asking about how many people are coming to worship on Sunday morning.

Instead, we need to understand God's measure of growth: love. And in the process, we are compelled to ask ourselves these questions: Are we totally committed to loving God and neighbor? Do we make our every encounter an opportunity to witness his love? Are we guided by his word? Do we live in an ongoing dialog of prayer... speaking and listening to the divine presence in our lives?[v]

Today’s readings inspire us to see God in unexpected people and places. We are called to look beyond the obvious to discover God everywhere, in everyone. And while the life unfolding around us often feels precarious and unimportant – and our role infinitesimal – a great harvest and great possibilities are on the horizon for those who see from a God’s eye view, through the eyes of faith. Great things do come from small beginnings.[vi]

Amen.

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[i] James Boyce, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2469

[ii]John Fairless, http://lectionarylab.com/2015/06/08/the-third-sunday-after-pentecost-for-year-b-june-14-2015/

[iii] Dawn Chesser, http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar/third-sunday-after-pentecost5

[iv] David Lose, http://www.davidlose.net/2015/06/pentecost-3-b-preach-the-truth-slant/

[v] David Sellery, http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=dbffd2070718c7bb6a1b9b7e0&id=8967e371a3&e=9d753c1a09

[vi] Bruce Epperly, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/livingaholyadventure/2015/06/the-adventurous-lectionary-the-third-sunday-after-pentecost-june-14-2015/

Spain vacation - random thoughts - June 2015

We just got home from our big vacation of the year... the Andalusia region of Spain was quite amazing and I'm sure we only scratched the surface. Here's the rundown in a nutshell:

Days in Spain: 12
Kilometers in car: 1418 (850 miles)
Deb's Fitbit Steps: 152440
Which is equal to 62.2 miles
And flights of stairs 214 - most of them in Granada

We basically spent time in 5 regions - the beach from Rota to Los Canos de Meca, the African city of Tangier, Morocco, the rock known as Gibraltar, the historic city of Grenada, and the bustling metropolis of Seville.  Along the way, we took almost 1800 pictures and documented the beautiful countryside, architecture, art and food of the region.

As we went along, there were these mottoes which kept going through my brain. They highlight some of the struggles and surprises we encountered along the way.

In Rota: We're open unless we're not - time is relative
In Granada: What comes down must go up - very, very hilly
In Seville: There's a reason why we close in the middle of the day - Hot, hot, hot!
Seville Cathedral: More is more - gives new meaning to the phrase, "over the top"
Me: You can never have enough sunscreen or sangria or a soft enough bed.
5 College students from Texas Tech: We want pancakes so bad, we're willing to walk a mile in this heat to get them.
Tim (Shawn's dad): Is it time for ice cream yet?
Shawn: Wow, these old towns have narrow streets!


We had the great fortune to be in Spain for the Feast of Corpus Christi, 10 days after Pentecost. We were able to see the crowds gathered for worship and for the processional that morning in Granada. We visited beautiful churches that were not only filled with tourists, but also with worship - services for weddings and baptisms and the Eucharist. We decided that faith may be on the decline in some places but not in Spain - church is an integral part of people's lives and in the life of the society.


We walked on the beach, enjoyed the sunshine, and ate outside - a lot.  We had seafood almost every day, and ate a lot of really good ham. We never got good at eating really late, going to restaurants when they opened at 8pm and often the first customers there. We went out in the morning, rested in the afternoon and went out again after 6pm when the sun started going down and the temperatures started dropping.

Surprises along the way:
* A really great hamburger in Seville at "The Good Burger" - like "Five Guys" good.
* You get used to taking the heads off of your own shrimp... really.
* In Spanish tapas bars, tables are for eating and the bar is for drinking, and if you sit at a table you won't get your free tapas, but your feet won't hurt so badly.
* Cathedrals come in all shapes and sizes - baroque, Romanesque, gothic... some filled with light and some dark and mysterious.
* If you're looking for great classical Spanish art, don't go to the museums, go to the churches - that's where the great paintings and sculptures live.
* Eventually, you're going to want a pizza.
* The majority of my pictures are of architecture, tiles, ceilings, windows, doors, floors and food - the sights were mesmerizing.
* Our guide in Morocco said a very wise thing when he was talking about how people of different religions have found peace together there... he said, "I am Muslim and I don't understand everything about your religion and you are Christian and you don't understand everything about my religion, but that shouldn't keep us from being friends." I couldn't help but agree.

Peace, Deb

Sermon - Go Be The Church! - Pentecost Year B

Acts 2:1-21                              Romans 8:22-27                            John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

It’s been 50 days since Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection… 50 days filled with doubt and wonder and the bare beginnings of our mother church. But even when Jesus was among them again, teaching them and breaking bread with them, the disciples were still trying to figure it all out. They were still missing a piece of the puzzle. They were still trying to understand what it would be that would hold them all together, and give them their new, true identity.

Do you remember the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 9? That story begins with a united people, with a common language and purpose, but ends with many languages and confusion, and the scattering of people who were no longer “a people”. But the day of Pentecost is the natural solution to those many generations of people looking out for themselves. At Pentecost, the story begins with many languages and ends with many languages, but in the middle of the story, something amazing happens. Tongues of fire rested on each of the disciples, and God gave them the ability to speak and understand in languages that were not their own. And if that were not enough, the crowd of strangers that gathered understood the message of God in their own languages, to the amazement of all. The message of the day was simple: the power of God will make you one if you will call upon the name of the Lord.^[i]

It’s a powerful and amazing story – and frightening at the same time. What would we do if something like that happened here? I imagine that we would follow proper military protocol, usher everyone out in an orderly manner, reassemble at a safe distance away from the building, and wait for the fire trucks to arrive. But the disciples didn’t seem so much afraid as they were amazed. And Peter was ready to speak a word of truth to the crowd that gathered.

This gathering of disciples happened only ten days after the ascension of Jesus. I am sure they were still basking in the glow of his presence and planning what their next steps would be. The coming of the Holy Spirit, as promised by Jesus, was not just a spirit of counsel or peace.  It came as fire and wind, two of the most powerful forces on earth. The events of this day provided an important example, where Jesus said to the church, “Don’t do this without me.”

I think that Pentecost gives us some important reminders of what it means to be the church. First, we are called to be one. We are called to gather in his name and proclaim the message that Peter proclaimed – that “…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Over the last 2000 years of Christianity, we have seized every opportunity to break apart over differences in the way we think about and practice ministry in Jesus’ name. In our confirmation class at Patch, we spent a whole lesson looking at the history of the church and seeing how the same controversies keep repeating themselves, over and over. We forget that the Holy Spirit’s first gift was to make us one… by helping us speak and listen in a common language – the language of love.^[ii]

In today’s church climate, it seems that people are looking for an excuse to break apart. Many church traditions are struggling with how to apply scripture to their own lives and in the world. The Great Schism happened in 1054 and describes the split between the church in Rome and the church in Constantinople, giving us Orthodoxy and Catholicism. And ever since, more people have splintered off – often for good reasons, but our oneness is less and less evident as the years go by.

But what would happen if we didn’t think so much about what makes us different, and instead about what makes us the same? What if we regularly crossed denominational and racial boundaries and showed the world a glimpse of that first Pentecost Sunday? Would that help our churches grow? Would that turn people toward Christ, rather than away? When non-Christians are asked to use one or two words to describe Christians, they often come up with “hypocrite” or “two-faced” or “closed-minded.” But today’s celebrations remind us that Jesus and this day of Pentecost are our salvation from who they think we are.

Jesus rescues us from the law… being a Christian isn’t about following a prescribed set of rules, but is about living a life of love in response to what Jesus did for us. But we forget that, over and over again. We fall back into familiar patterns. We forget that we are free, and creep back to the shelter of old ways. And we tell people if they want to join us, they have to follow our rules, our interpretations of Jesus’ teachings. But that’s not what Jesus wanted for us.^[iii]  Today reminds us that the Spirit makes us one.

Second, we are called to tell the story. Sometimes, the only part of Jesus’ story others will hear is the story you live. I think a lot about whether my words about Jesus and my actions tell the same story. Sure, it’s important to know the story, how to talk about who Jesus is and why he came and who he is calling us to be. But if Jesus only occupies an hour or a day of our week, then we have really missed the point of Jesus coming at all. And if the way we talk about Jesus and the way we live for Jesus are not rooted in love for God and for one another, then we are really missing the point.

When we are confronted with stress and discord in our relationships with others, our base instinct is to flee to a safe corner and remind ourselves our why we are right and they are wrong. The more difficult task for healthy and growing relationships is to stay and work through differences, sometimes coming to a satisfactory compromise, but at least understanding a little more about another person or group’s perspective. Nothing about that process is easy, nor is it painless. But it is the way that the early church stayed united for as long as they did. And it is how the church grew so quickly in the beginning, because people out there were saying, “I want you have. Introduce me to Jesus.”

Third, we are called to trust the Spirit. In Jesus’ last discourse, he told the disciples, “But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won't draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.” (The Message) Other translations use Companion or Advocate or Paraclete, but in every case, this is the description of one who stands beside us, no matter what. The Spirit will show the world, as was witnessed at Pentecost, that Jesus has not abandoned us.^[iv]

Now, trusting the Spirit does not mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us, or that prayer or tithing or acts of faith will magically solve all of our problems. Many of the early followers of Jesus suffered tremendous hardships, some even to death. And ever since, when dedicated Christians have chosen to follow Jesus, their lives have not always gone according to plan. But they did it because they knew something special – as Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “… the Spirit helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:22).

Let’s face, there’s a lot about the world that doesn’t make sense. The enmity between religions, especially between Christians and Muslims, the destruction of holy sights of many religions, the persecution of people of faith and people of different races, the effects of climate change, the political climate in many countries… we have a lot of the be concerned and even afraid of these days. 

But our fears are not that much different than the fears of those first Christians. And they spiritually overcame the obstacles before them. Let’s be clear: they were not considered powerful by the standards of the world. But the influence of the church spread like wildfire through the Mediterranean world. Paul’s missionary journeys and the Christians he left behind in each place grew a Church that could not be contained by the governments of the day.

Eventually, the Church became one of the most powerful institutions in the world. And looking to the near and distant past, we can see that as a player in the power game, the message of unity and love can get distorted. Some days I wonder if our allegiance to our denominations or theological persuasions gets in the way of living out the gospel in the most authentic ways. Turn on the television, read the paper, look at Facebook or other social media and you will probably see more messages of shaming than messages of love. Is that really what the gospel is about?

In his book, Crazy Love, Francis Chan begins with this quote from 17^th century French priest Francois Fenelon, “To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid “big” sins – is this passionate, wholehearted love for God?”^[v]  And yet that’s the way many of us live.  But what would it be like if we really got to know God in all of his infinitely amazing ways?   What if we took Jesus seriously and committed to loving others wholeheartedly?  What if the Bible and its story weaving through time became our story?  What if we acted like we ARE the holy catholic church that we profess in the Apostle’s Creed? What would life look like then? 

The church at Pentecost knew something that we can also know. They experienced the love of Christ and through their interactions with him they were convinced that Jesus was God in the flesh. And that love could not be stopped once it gained a foothold.  It melted barriers of fear, guilt and self-centered-ness, and poured through them like a raging stream. It changed the kind of love they felt for each other and for strangers. And a new definition of love was born – agape love – that transcended all definitions of love that they had ever known. This love embraced sinners and outcasts, Samaritans and enemies. It gave, not in order to receive, but because giving was its nature.^[vi]

Every minister has a favorite illustration, and I’m closing with my favorite one today. Tony Campolo, American Baptist minister and professor at Eastern College in PA was in Hawaii preparing for a speaking engagement, and on the first night there he couldn’t sleep, so he went to an all-night diner.  About 3am a group of eight women came in, laughing and talking loudly.  Overhearing their friendly conversation, he learned that the women were professional escorts, finished with their night’s work and relaxing before going home.  He also learned that one of the women would be celebrating her 39^th birthday the next day. 

After the group left, Campolo got an idea.  He talked the diner owner and his wife into helping throw a birthday party for her the next night.  24 hours later the diner was decorated with streamers and balloons.  Customers who heard about what was happening stayed around to help with the surprise.  As the ladies entered the building, everyone inside shouted, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!”  Agnes was in shock.  People laughed together and hugged her, and after being reminded to cut the cake, she begged them to let her keep the cake as a reminder of the wonderful day.  “I’ve never had a birthday cake before – please let me take it home to show my kids.”

As surprised as they all were, they couldn’t think of a good reason to refuse her request, and so she left with the cake intact, as if it was the best gift ever.

Tony broke the awkward silence in the room by saying, “Why don’t we pray?” and without hesitation prayed for Agnes in her life, asking God to bless her on her birthday, bring peace into her life, and save her from all that troubled her. After the “Amen,” the owner said, “You didn’t tell me you were a preacher.  What kind of church do you preach at?”  Tony thought for a minute and said, “Well, I preach at the kind of church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at three o’clock in the morning.”  To which the owner replied, “No, you don’t.  There is no church like that.  But if there was, I would join a church like that. Yes, I would definitely join a church like that.”^[vii]

Through Jesus Christ, God calls us to be one. When we eat and drink at the table, when we turn to God, when we believe and seek him in prayer, in church, and in the world around us, he comes. He awakens in us gifts for service to one another and the world. And he has begun a new work in us, and through us, so that his kingdom may be as alive in us as it is in heaven.

So let’s go be the church. Amen.

Peace, Deb

May 24, 2015   Panzer Liturgical Service, USAG Stuttgart

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[i] Ewart, David, http://www.holytextures.com/2011/04/acts-2-1-21-year-a-b-c-pentecost-sunday-sermon.html

[ii] Taylor, Porter, C., http://www.patheos.com/blogs/theliturgicaltheologian/2015/05/18/they-were-all-in-one-place-sermon-notes-pentecost-sunday-year-b/

[iii] Ewart, David, http://www.holytextures.com/2009/04/john-15-26-27-and-16-4b-15-year-b-pentecost-sunday-sermon-background-preparation.html

[iv] Pulpit Fiction podcast, Pentecost B, Robb McCoy and Eric Fistler, May 25, 2015

[v] Chan, Francis, Crazy Love, p 21.

[vi] Smith, Houston, The Christian Century, (October 4, 2005, p. 10f)

[vii] Campolo, Tony, The Kingdom of God is a Party, Word Publishing, 1990, pages 3-9.

Travel musings - Iceland - May 2015

I'm not allowed to post online while we're away from home.  And I get it, OPSEC is what they all it in the military... operational security.  But I have such get insights as time away unfolds and usually forget them by the time I very home.  So I decided to not them down on real time and then post them when I get home.

This may be a terrible idea or brilliant... I guess you'll have to decide.

* I'm a perfectly capable adult, but when I'm traveling alone I spend most of my time worrying about losing my ticket or my passport or whether I turned off the data on my phone.
* Don't you hate it when the plane lands 20 minutes before your in-flight movie ends?  Anybody have a copy of Interstellar I can borrow?

* If you rent a car in Iceland, it must have 4WD and it may or may not have shocks.

* If someone asks if you have your rain suit, the answer would be "Yes." Then go buy one.

* There are not many good hair days in Iceland, especially near the coast.

* It is possible to get a sunburn at the Blue Lagoon, even when your shoulders are covered by that wonderful, milky water.

* I hope you like fish... and lamb... and yogurt.

* Family farms make for wonderful hotel experiences.

Pictures to follow - even the bad-hair ones...

Peace, Deb

Sermon - Confirmation Sunday 2015 - Easter 6 - Year B

Acts 10:34–48                                        1 John 5:1–8                                   John 15:9–17

We live in The Between Times – the times between Jesus initial ministry and his coming again in glory. We use the lessons that he taught to prepare to be ready for his return. In the early Church, Christians believed that they would live to see that day, so the early New Testament writings are filled with encouragement and warnings to hold on just a little bit longer… Jesus was coming back soon! But Jesus didn’t come back soon. Almost 2000 years have passed since his death and resurrection… 2000 years of individuals and organized groups of Christians trying to figure out how to keep his teachings alive, relevant and faithfully lived.

And in those 2000 years, a lot has changed. Christian Theology – the study of God, Jesus and the living of faith – has evolved, and in that time, we have gone from being a universal Church with a single focus caring for one another to multiple denominations, too numerous to even count. In the military chapel community, we specialize in downplaying our denominational affiliations, if we even have them.  Especially overseas, we realize that our unity comes not in emphasizing our differences, but it looking for and celebrating our common ground.

But we do represent many different traditions. And today we celebrate an important milestone in the lives of these eight students as they prepare to make a public profession of faith and affirm the faith into which they were baptized as infants or children. This is a day for them to affirm the promises made in their baptisms… to claim the name “Christian” themselves. It may not be the first time they have professed their faith publically, but I hope that it will not be the last.

For many, church is just a place, not a way of life. But a life of faith is more than just a Sunday’s work. A life of faith is a life of discipleship, of daily making the choice to follow Christ, and to serve him and serve the world in all we do.

We asked a lot of the questions in our time together this spring, but in reality, we have only scratched the surface – just begun the conversation. It is my hope that these students have a greater appreciation for the journey that they are taking, understand some of the tools at their disposal, and know living this life will bring them more joy than they could ever imagine.

Sophia, Anna, Streeter, Claire, Kurt, Tevis, Morgan and Megan –

Each of you has gone through a lot of changes in your life. You have grown from little babies to teenagers with ideas and opinions all your own.  Your appetites have grown and you have explored new foods and new experiences as you gain confidence in your ability to make choices. And in your faith journeys, you have started thinking about complicated matter of choosing Christ.  Here are some of the lessons that I hope you take away with you as you remember your important day.

YOU ARE CHOSEN

In school, it’s natural to pick sides. We tend to hang out with people who are like us, who share our interests, people we like spending time with. Maybe it’s in sharing interests, or out of proximity, or because we have shared experiences, like living overseas. But it’s easy for the groups that we hang out with to become exclusive, and for us to cut off others in order to keep feeling like the friendships we have are special, maybe even exclusive. Eventually, we can think about friendship in terms of how it makes us feel, not how it influences the way we behave.

Jesus taught us something different about friendship. Jesus chose people to be with him from all different walks of life. He didn’t expect them to biblical scholars or teachers. He invited everyone who heard him teach to just follow him. He asked them to watch the way he honored God and treated others and to do the same. In today’s lesson from John 15, we hear Jesus telling his disciples and others gathered the days before his death that friendship with him is one of the most important gifts ever given. This friendship is defined by more than just feeling good about being a part of the Jesus crowd. Friendship with Jesus means acting and living a certain way.

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus’ commandment is a tall order, because it goes against our nature to sacrifice ourselves for others. Many of us have had some pretty good role models in that area as a part of the military community, but it’s also true that we don’t know what that will look like for us until we are confronted with the possibility, which is usually at times when we least expect it. Following Jesus is a fulltime, lifetime commitment. And it’s hard work, but you are not in this alone.

Remember this: Jesus chose you. He chooses you today. He will choose you tomorrow. And he asks that we respond to his calling … that we say yes to living a life of faith and trading mere happiness for joy… for completeness… for being a friend to him and friends to one another.

YOU ARE CALLED TO LOVE

In the reading from 1 John, the writer reminds us that this whole life of faith is about love. It’s about loving God. It’s about loving one another. It’s about obedience in a way that is not a burden, but life giving and life changing. It’s easy to think about what kind of life Jesus has called us to live and to think that we are giving up something in the process.  But in reality, whatever we give up makes more room for God, more room for loving him, more room for serving him.

Last week, Chaplain Werho talked about how we have to abide in God’s love. Now abide is not a word we use a lot these days, so I went home and looked up the definition. The one I found most helpful was “to remain, continue or stay.” It’s easy to walk away from the faith. People turn their backs on church and Jesus because of disappointment and anger and sadness. Some days it’s hard to stay. The world threatens to pull us in many directions, but when we hold fast to Christ, we have the possibility of living lives more amazing than we ever imagined.

Is this easy? No, it is not. In fact, it’s not something we can do by our own power alone. I t is with the power of the Holy Spirit that we can put into practice the most important lessons that Jesus taught his disciples and us. And in those moments, the world is transformed into the one that God created for us.

THIS IS NOT GRADUATION… IT”S JUST A BEGINNING

The word Graduation implies that something is finished or completed. Graduation symbolizes the closing of one door and the opening of another. But I hope that the completion of our confirmation preparation class is not an ending, but a beginning of something very special.  You are being called to a life of discipleship.

Our time together has been another step in training you to resemble more closely, in your lifestyle, beliefs and values, the disciples of Jesus. This was not just a time to learn more about Christ, but to know him personally and follow him well.  I hope that in our time together you have realized that being a Christian is much more than a "head trip"; it is a way of life together. Confirmation continues and strengthens a faith that started growing in you long before you remember.[i]

Living a life of faith is more than just being good. It is more than staying on the straight and narrow. Preparing for confirmation reminds us that our lives are lived out in gratitude for all that God has already done for us. The writer of 1 John tells us that obeying the commandments is not a burden, not done to make God love us. It is the grace of God that helps us refocus on loving the one who created us, and is summarized in two commandments: Love God and Love Others.[ii]

Will Willimon once shared a story about a Duke sophomore who we’ll call Mark.  He was a young man from a mainline Protestant background, who felt called to work in inner-city ministry after hearing Dr. Tony Campolo, a famous evangelical preacher, speak.  Through a rigorous interview process, Mark was asked to join a summer mission team in Philadelphia, and later described his first day experience to Will.

In mid June, Mark met about a hundred other youth in a Baptist church in Philadelphia.  They sang for about an hour before Dr. Campolo arrived, and when he did, the youth were all worked up and ready to go.  Dr. Campolo preached to them for about an hour, and people were shouting and clapping and standing in the pews.  Then Tony said, “OK gang, are you ready to go out and tell them about Jesus?”  “Yeah,” the kids replied, “let’s go.” 

So he loaded them up on buses, singing and clapping.  But as they began to enter the poor neighborhoods of Philadelphia, the kids gradually stopped singing, and the bus got very quiet.  Then they pulled up to one of the worst housing projects in the country.  Tony stood up, opened the door, and said, “OK gang, get out there and tell them about Jesus… I’ll pick you up at five.”

The young people made their way reluctantly off the bus.  And they stood in little groups and prayed as it made its way into the distance.  Mark walked down the sidewalk, faced a run-down tenement building, said a prayer under his breath and walked inside.  There was a terrible odor.  Windows were out.  There were no lights in the hall.  Babies were crying behind thin, scrawled walls.  He walked up one flight of stairs and knocked on the first door he came to.

“Who is it?” a voice called out.  The door cracked open, and he could see a woman holding a naked baby.  He told her he wanted to tell her about Jesus.  With that she slammed the door, cursing him all the way down the stairs and out into the street.

“What made me think I could do this,” he thought.  “What kind of Christian am I?”  He sat down on the curb and cried for a few minutes.  When he looked up, he noticed a store on the corner, and remembered the naked baby in the lady’s arms.  So he went in and bought a package of diapers and a pack of cigarettes, and went back and knocked on the lady’s door again.

“Who is it?” the same voice called again.  When she opened the door, Mark slid the diapers and cigarettes inside.  She looked at them and invited him in.  He put a diaper on the baby, his first, and smoked a cigarette, his first and last, and sat there listening to the lady and playing with the baby all afternoon.  About four o’clock, the woman looked at him and said, “Let me ask you something.  What’s a nice college boy like you doing in a place like this?”  So he told her all he knew about Jesus.  It took about five minutes.  And she replied, “Pray for me and my baby that we can make it out of this place alive.”  And he prayed.” 

That evening, when they all got back on the bus, Tony asked, “Well, gang, did any of you get to tell them about Jesus?”  And Mark said, “I not only got to tell them about Jesus, I met Jesus.  I went out to save somebody, and ended up getting saved myself.  Today, I became a disciple.”[iii]

The love to which God’s calls us is a love that is seen, lived out every day in the lives moms and dads and kids and friends who don’t live their faith in secret, but for everyone to see.  Christian love is a love that is inclusive. It includes all people; even people that we assume might be excluded because of previous assumptions and ideas about who is in and who is outside the Kingdom of God.  The reading from Acts makes it perfectly clear – the Holy Spirit will come to all who will receive it and we are to love one another as sisters and brothers in faith.  Godly love is a love that is active. It bears fruit in our lives – think love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.[iv]  

Today, you will stand before God and this congregation and make a public profession of faith. This isn’t an act that should be taken lightly or seen just as a rite of passage based on your age. This is a choice. This is a choice to say yes and to commit to serving Christ through the Church.

As a Christian congregation, we look forward to recognizing you as brothers and sisters in Christ – and it is a privilege to be able to call you friends in Christ. At the same time, we also reconfirm our faith and recommit ourselves to serving Christ and the church, here and in the world. It is both a life-long processes and a daily choice to put Christ first in every aspect of our lives to be able to live out the commandments and to first and foremost love.

Love as Christ has loved us. Be active in your faith. Take seriously the statements of faith you have made today. And as friends and chosen ones of Christ – go in love and go sharing love, so that others may know the joy of having Christ in their lives.[v]

Amen.

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[i] Willimon, William, “Taking Confirmation Our of the Classroom,” Christian Century, March 16, 1988, p. 27. http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=940

[ii] Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, p191.

[iii] [iii] Will Willimon, Pulpit Resource, Volume 24, No. 1, pp. 12-13.

[iv] Steve Scott, “A Lasting Legacy of Love,” Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School website, http://holycrosslutheran.net/sermons/a-lasting-legacy-of-love-john-15-9-17/

[v] http://pierrefirstumc.x10.mx/Se150419.pdf

Melissa Bane Sevier, “Friended,” Contemplative Viewfinder, May 5, 2015, https://melissabanesevier.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/friended/