Standing Up Bent?

 

13^th Sunday after Pentecost, August 22, 2010

Luke 13:10-17 with Hebrews 12:18-29 in the b.g.

 

Grace, mercy and peace, be with you all.

 

(I begin by walking around quite severely bent over) Are you ever bent over, crippled by a spirit of some kind?

 

My mother is, bent over. Her present "stature" is the result of undergoing 3 spinal fusions. These became necessary because she spent some 20 years lifting people she simply shouldn't have been lifting in hospitals and nursing homes.

 

So, I ask again, are you ever bent over – crippled by a spirit of some kind?

 

I have a friend Conrad, who for a number of years was bent over. I first learned observed this years ago. Con was studying for his grade 12 finals. His performance in school that year had been more than passable. But Math 12 was a problem for him. Now he had hired a tutor to help him. The tutor demanded that Con show his work as he tried to plough through the various problems. Time and again, the tutor saw that Con did everything quite well. That is everything except the things he should have learned from Grades two through four – things like adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing. When the tutor pointed this out  and asked Con why at the age of 18 he still had problems with these basic mathematical functions, Con had to think for a while. He realized it probably came down to a teacher he had in his small town school many years ago – from Grades 3 – 4. That teacher didn't like Con. Often then when Con made an inaccurate response to a problem the teacher referred to him as being big and giving a "dumb" answer. At the age of 8 or 9 Con had taken those comments into his being believing that he was big and dumb. Some 8 years later Con was still making mistakes when it came to the rudimentary tasks of grade 3 and 4. To be sure, Con was also bent over.

 

So, I ask, are you ever bent over – crippled by a spirit of some kind?

 

Sheila was tall. The mother of 3 kids all under 7, she had a lot on her plate. Sheila also was married to a man who repetitively told her that she wasn't pretty, that she was a lousy mom, that on so many levels she just didn't measure up. On more than few occasions when he had been excessively drinking this man would threaten Sheila with his raised hand. And on at least one occasion he pointed a hand gun at her. She wasn't sure if it was loaded or not, until once he pulled the trigger and then laughed when the gun didn't fire. Sheila cried a lot. She worried constantly about her kids. Sometimes she took more than the prescribed amount of valium. Sheila was definitely bent over for years.

 

Institutions can also be bent over. They may be operating from fear. Then they just try to survive. But operating with such fear they are truly paralyzed, unable to do what they initially were created for. Indeed the people within such institutions may be so afraid that they are convinced that if they do what they are called to do, or respond to the change that is all around them, their funding may be removed, or their sources of funding cut.

 

Sometimes I feel that this is true of much of the Church in North America. Are we willing to proclaim in word and deed the love of Jesus Christ  for all people and all creation? To be sure this isn't easy. There is always a price to pay on many levels.  Or, will we take the easier road, of settling for so much less and allow ourselves to be an organization of "volunteers" where people who have a similar mind set at least about some things gather for friendship and support, but not necessarily to praise and worship God, and certainly not to follow Jesus whatever the cost? This easier, so tempting way, is akin to being bent over, to only being able to see what is immediately around us, which is so much less than the whole. As we are marked by fear, we may not even notice that God is drawing near to us, that God is actually with us!

 

This is not to deny that there is incredible ongoing change. I am in my 50's. I can remember when Sunday was a day off for everyone in my hometown except 2 workers at a local drug store, some nurses and doctors at the local hospital and 1 restaurant in a town of 20,000 people. I can remember when church buildings were relatively full every Sunday even in the summer.  Then neighbors knew enough about each other to invite themselves over for coffee. They even mowed each other's lawns and shoveled each other's sidewalks when the other was away. My goodness they were even willing to care for each other's kids. I can even remember when most people wanted to get married,  when having 1 car and a small home was seen as more than enough. I also can remember when I didn't know very much about other Christians or certainly people of other religions: Jews and Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists. And I can remember when poverty was somewhat hidden because of pride, when what went on the rest of the world didn't' seem to matter to us in North America. Obviously not all of the status quo then was good. But things CERTAINLY ARE CHANGING.

 

And these rapid changes lead us to a point where we aren't sure who to trust. In fact, can we trust anyone else? If ever there were foundations to society, to the world, they are all being shaken at once! It's like we are all on a suspension bridge over a deep chasm. That bridge is swaying mightily under the weight of creation, being moved by the winds of change. Perhaps, just perhaps, on that bridge we are all BENT OVER!

 

Did you notice that Jesus comes to the synagogue on the Sabbath? That was his usual practice, no matter what was happening in his life. He comes to rest, to worship. On this particular Sabbath he is teaching, from the first five books of Moses or the prophets. A bent over woman also comes to that synagogue on that Sabbath. She has been bent over FOR 18 YEARS: not 18 days or 18 months but 18 years! Jesus actually sees her. He calls her over. Then He tells her, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment". He proceeds to break many of the taboos of his religion. He reaches out and actually touches her. For the first time in 18 years SHE STANDS UP STRAIGHT. Immediately she praises God!

 

Do you need someone to listen to you, to see you, to actually hear your life? Are you in need of someone to give you not a damaging word with little hope, but a personal word of encouragement, acceptance, filled with new possibilities? What would it be like for someone to actually touch you with compassion and sensitivity? We need to know and experience that there can be new beginnings, new life for us!

 

Many don't believe any of this. The dominant current mantra not always spoken but certainly implied is this: "You are born. You live. Then you die! So hurry up, get all you can - NOW! It will soon be over or there won't be anything left for you"

 

But all who buy into or give up to such thinking, don't know God, don't experience Jesus, or haven't yet been opened to the ongoing breath of God's Spirit.

 

God through Jesus and the Spirit, through people that God is directing, even through agencies and organizations that may or may not "know" God wills to make the entire creation new, filled with life and healing. This includes you and me and everyone we know. 

 

Even now God through Jesus calls us, and our organizations bent over as they may be to come near. We can be freed from the power of our ailments. Are we coming? Will we come? Do we trust that Jesus can lead us to new life? We might be chaired, but not yet floored. Some may think of us or even name us as dumb, too big or too small. But that is not God's word for us. God is still working!

 

Today is the Sabbath. We may have come to this place forgetting that God. Or we may be reading this so consumed with our own reality that our sight is limited to the ground beneath our feet. But God does not give up on us! Jesus is present: in with and under the bread and wine, in the words spoken, the hymns sung, the community gathered in His name. He loves us so. He works to bring us new life reaching out to touch us so that we and others too, may be freed and enabled to praise God.

 

Now is the time to move forward regardless of the resistance within or around us. Hans Kung is correct when he says that the reign of God is "God's creation healed".

 

For certain  the powers of evil around and within us continue to resist God's healing work. It is no wonder that we are often bent over. But Jesus comes to lead us beyond and through our bentness to new life. May we be open to hearing His word to us and so rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter – but beautiful struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the children of God, bent over as we often are. Even now Jesus reaches out to us, pleading with us to come closer to him, children of Abraham. Will you? Amen

 

           

           

Passers of Fire or Pacifiers?

 

Pentecost 12c, August 15, 2010

Main thought – Jesus came to bring fire on earth (judgment, purification (what really matters), light) – and he struggled until that was done. This causes crises in our lives – choices, decisions, change.

 

I remember a man in a former congregation. He came to the church on a weekday morning when I was the only one at the church. He arrived with a smile on his face. We began by engaging in small talk. But then he moved beyond that. He asked, "Are you OK Pastor Tim?" "What do you mean?" I responded, somewhat guardedly. He went on, "Well, I know that sometimes you struggle with depression. Lately your sermons have been depressing. I mean, I like to feel good when I come to church. That's one of the main reasons I come. But lately I feel like some of the things you have been saying have been aimed directly at me – and they haven't made me feel good."

 

What is the purpose of the sermon? Is it always to make us feel good? Or is the purpose of the sermon the opposite of that – to always convict us? How about this broader question: "If God is attempting to communicate with us, even in a sermon, what would God be attempting to communicate?"

 

Such are some of the questions that arise out of the gospel lesson today. Are you actively listening for that Gospel? It's not Jesus meek and mild here! It's not apple pie and so-called family values. Christ in this part of Luke's Gospel is journeying to Jerusalem. It is from that reality He speaks: "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under it is completed. Do you think that I have come to bring peace to earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!" 

 

"I came to bring fire to earth". Now fire can mean a number of things for Luke and the Bible. Fire can act as a purifying agent. Precious metals were often distilled by placing them in a purifying fire. In intense heat they were separated from the dross. But the purifying fire must necessarily be intensely ho t, if the precious metal is to be extracted. In terms of human experience I have observed more than one person who upon nearly dying begins to rethink the way they have been living their lives. Some of these people have been enabled to change the way they live.

 

At other times fire is understood as a means of judgment – of separation. Does Jesus come to bring judgement and or discernment? Does Jesus cause us to evaluate our lives – what we are doing and how we are doing it? This is another important question.

 

Fire also necessarily brings light. I remember the massive fires outside of Kelowna some summers ago. The entire night sky was illuminated. One could see for miles. Does Jesus' arrival, his suffering, death and resurrection illumine our lives, or even the cosmic life of the world?

 

Some time ago I watched a dramatization of the Nuremburg trials. It is difficult to watch when one attempts to realize the incredible loss of life. But an even deeper realization came over me. It was not only the ascribed defendants who were being tried. Instead, all of humanity was being tried for the violence committed against humanity – for the degradation and trivialization of human life. Can anyone measure the ongoing, the eternal consequences of the Holocaust? Nor is it only in the 2^nd World War where atrocities have been committed against humanity. What of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Vietnam and Rwanda, Darfur and Iraq? What of our own Canadian "reserves" in the 50's, 60's and 70's? Indeed horror continues in our own homes at times – as domestic violence terrifies and sometimes claims the hopes and lives of too many people. The atrocities of excluding and denying many the gift of life continue while hundreds of thousands die of AIDS in Africa. An increasing percentage of those are children. We often turn our heads away, afraid of such troubling images, convincing ourselves that there is little we can do.

 

But the court is in. The light shines in the darkness. We must see. In so many ways we are guilty. The church would rather debate (for us) much less troubling issues. None of this is meant to make us feel good. If it does we are already dead. (pause)

 

Yet, we can offer thanks to God that Christ does bring this fire to the earth! He suffers on the cross and dies. He struggles as he moves on through all of the conflicting powers to that point. Do we dare to hear Him cry out as humanity seeks to kill him,  "My god, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

           

You see Christ isn't coming to a creation where everything is good. Christ doesn't come to systems and structures that are continually looking out for the well being of all people here and now and forever.

 

Christ does come to suffer and die at the hands of the very creation that He seeks wellbeing for. If creation including humanity is to experience wholeness and wellbeing, there will need to be major changes, ongoing transformation, individually and collectively. Such change and transformation will encounter incredible opposition.

 

So Jesus says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with and what stress I am under until it is completed." What is this baptism? I suspect that it's much more than his going down to the Jordan River and being baptized under the hands of John the Baptist. That had already occurred. Christ's baptism also involves the coming of the Spirit upon Him and a distinct pronouncement upon Him by God Himself/Herself.

 

But all of that is only the beginning of Christ fulfilling His mission. Jesus' mission is ominous. He comes to free the captives, bring recovery of sight to the blind, declare the year of the Lord's favor – when all debts are forgiven, when everyone has enough to eat and NO ONE is left out. 

 

Can you imagine what that would be like? Do you think everyone would welcome it? I think of Dom Helder Camara's words " When I give bread to the poor they call me a saint. But when I ask why the poor have no bread, they called me a communist." 

 

Whatever our circumstance, Christ's suffering, death and resurrection flood over us. Just as Christ himself is plunged into the multi woven human fabric at his birth and throughout his life, suffering and death, we who are joined to Him in our baptism are also grafted into Him, to the depths of His being, including His mission.  In following Jesus we must begin to see ourselves differently. I am not only a Le Drew, a Caucasian male, a father, a husband, a Lutheran Christian. I am also a child of God, a follower of Jesus – one who is called by God with all that I am and have, to love my neighbors as myself, to care for even my enemies.

 

This call throws our daily lives into crises. It can't be business as usual. God calls to us wherever we are. When it comes to money, time or talents we begin to realize that all, all is a gift from God. As we meet others and hear of others, what is Christ calling us to do with our blessings? It's usually something!

 

None of our thoughts or actions are to be outside of this realm of God's direction and reign. Are you ever ashamed of your thoughts, your anger, your attitudes toward others? God brings such things that I would deny or discount and calls them into question, bringing them to light through the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

 

So it is. Christ's coming to earth, living, teaching, suffering and dying does bring division. Looking to Him, seeking to follow Him, we realize that we are fragmented, often broken, in need of ongoing forgiveness and conversion. Instead of power we need love. Instead of fear we need courage. Instead of anger and the drive to be right we need humility. Living as a Christian involves our all. Living as a Christian involves daily dying to ourselves and sometimes to others only to be raised by God to new life, here and now.

 

But miracle of miracles this can happen again and again. Jesus was constrained. Yet He does move on to Jerusalem. He suffers and dies, but not in vain.

 

Jesus suffers and dies for all humanity, for the entire creation, that we may be reconciled with God and reconciling with each other. To be sure there are ongoing divisions and chasms: within families, between families; within congregations, between congregations; within countries, between countries. In and through Jesus Christ we are not called so much to be nice, but rather to be moved by the love that He has for us and for all creation. We are to seek His guidance in how we live, how we tell the truth and what we sacrifice for the other. We are to live trusting that through Christ God is working to ultimately bring about reconciliation and new life through any and all struggles. This is part of the light and fire that Jesus brings. This is to be an integral part of life for all who would follow Jesus. Pass the fire! Amen.  

           

From Fear to Grace

 

Pentecost 11c, August 8, 2010  Luke 12:32-40 with Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16 in b.g.

 

O precious ones of God, grace to you and peace from God the Creator, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three in One. Amen.

 

I am wondering. Are you ever afraid?

 

Do you catch yourself wondering what will happen to you or someone else you love if such and such a situation arises or if something you had anticipated happening, that you were even fairly sure of happening, doesn't happen. 

 

I invite you to take a moment and honestly ask yourself, what are you afraid of – personally.  What are you afraid of for those you love? What are you afraid of beyond yourselves – for others, for creation? Take about 30 seconds and think.

 

Then we collectively share some of our fears with one other person…

 

Take the time to hear them.

 

Lately I have been afraid for my 86 year old father – as my mother, his wife has been ill. And he has been in the house by himself refusing to wear a bracelet that would alert others for help if he were to fall and be unable to help himself. I have had some concerns about his immediate future should my mother die – and he begin to navigate the rest of this life's journey without her.

 

At other times I am afraid for my children – will they find partners/spouses who will love and respect them/ who will journey with them/ who will share some of their hopes and dreams, their trust in God? Will they even know that this is important facet in making their choice of a partner?

 

I have fears for some others too – when there is little or no justice for a parent or a small child in legal custody battles:  what will the long term consequences be for all concerned and for this world? When children are abandoned literally to a system that is overtaxed or when children are abandoned even though they continue to live with one or more of their parents – but the parents are not emotionally or even physically very often present, what will then happen to those children?

 

And yes I have to admit that I am sometimes afraid or even despairing for the future of the institutional church. There are consequences that I can't even begin to imagine for the future of seminaries with few or no students – for congregations and communities without churches or pastors, for society as a whole with fewer and fewer people sharing, perhaps attempting to publicly live out the Christian story.

 

To all of our fears comes Luke's gospel. Jesus is speaking to his earliest followers: "Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom."

 

Granted his words are not addressed at least initially to us. Those earliest disciples were following Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. In their initial historical setting, they may have had many things to be afraid of. They had made choices to follow Jesus – choices which would have had costs in terms of their friends, their families, their businesses. Following Jesus would have been anything but easily acceptable, popular, or even prosperity inducing. Yet by this time in following Jesus, I suspect that they were beginning to realize that anything could and often did happen. So, experiencing fear or at least having a sense of a rising anxiety would in many ways not only have been a logical reality, but almost inescapable. Nevertheless Jesus speaks to them telling them to let go of their fear.

 

I have often wondered about this. Isn't telling someone who is afraid not to fear, similar to commanding someone who can't sleep to go to sleep now? In other words, isn't this an exercise in futility?

 

But Jesus has a reason behind his command to "not be afraid". Jesus says that it is his Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. Now the word "kingdom" is a metaphor. It doesn't refer to a geographical location or even something we might be wont to call heaven. Rather, the kingdom of God on Jesus' lips means that God wants to give those followers a part of being in God's rule, God's reign, under God's influence.

 

For the people who lived concurrently with Jesus being part of a kingdom meant that chaos was dispelled. Then they were protected from invasion, from the ruthlessness of so many others. To be outside of such a kingdom then meant that one's future would be severely limited, open to the whims of any and all invaders.

 

When Jesus employs the phrase "kingdom of God" in Luke he means very specific things. Some of these specifics are delineated in Luke chapter 4 where Jesus speaking in his home synagogue declares that the Spirit of God is upon him and has anointed him to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, yes, even, to let the oppressed go free. The depth of each of these realities would begin to be unveiled as those early disciples continued to follow Jesus.

 

But what might this mean for us? Might Jesus be calling us to let go of our fears as we seek to "follow" Him? To be sure, we cannot do this on our own. Try as we might and have, we cannot procure "security" by getting more stuff, or by somehow anticipating every situation that might arise and allowing for that. In a much different way, the risen Jesus calls us through His Spirit to trust Him now to be open to His guidance, His direction for our lives. This is intended to be a gift for us and for the world. 

 

Whenever we think or feel that we are all alone, (welcome to being human) we are truly impoverished. God/ Jesus/ the Holy Spirit is with us willing to guide us, enabling us to follow Christ wherever we go. We are not alone!

 

Our truth is that we are so easily enslaved. When we think or feel that we have to do this or that, that we just HAVE TO SECURE OURSELVES, we are in formidable chains. Last week's parable (Luke 12:15) brings us up short aiming to put the brakes on any and all such thinking and acting. Even if magically we were to have everything that we could ever dream of, we would be FOOLS to not depend on God. In any moment our lives on this earth can end. As we begin to realize that all we that have and are, continue to be gracious gifts from God the Father and Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we begin to see in completely new ways. We no longer need to cling to or hoard things. We can be freed to give to others of our time, talents and possessions. They too, are beloved children of God. We can be freed to act on behalf of all of creation, knowing that we are inextricably joined together by God. In such living our hearts are freed from fear, to love and forgive. 

 

This morning we can hear Jesus' words addressed even to us, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." May we heed his words and so experience his unlimited grace. And being filled with grace may we also be graceful. For Christ's sake, Amen.

 

 

In God We Trust?

 

10^th Sunday after Pentecost, August 1, 2010 (Luke 12:13-21)

There once was a very wealthy man. For years he had been attempting to secure a promise from his wife. The promise that he so ardently wanted was this: if he were to die first that she would put 1 million dollars in his casket. And no, he wasn't to be cremated. Well lo and behold, he contracted a serious illness and died long before his wife. Her closest friends and family were curious as to whether or not she would keep her promise. After the funeral and grave-side service, the wife and a few of her closest family members and friends lingered at the graveside. They watched as she reached into her purse, withdrew her cheque-book and wrote a check to her deceased husband for $1,000,000. She then placed the cheque in the casket just before it was lowered into the grave. In many ways that story has always brought a smile to my face.

 

But then comes Jesus' story: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly". As we listen to this story, as it wills to work its way into our hearts and minds, we can try to escape its hold upon us by picking at the details. Why would the rich man tear down his barns and build bigger ones? Couldn't he just build some new ones in addition to the old ones? But make no mistake. At the heart of Jesus' parable is a word for us. 

 

The very foundation of the parable is a question. What does our life consist of? Is the essence of our life, even the measure of our life, the stuff we acquire – a house, cars, a particular stock or bond portfolio, our business, or even what we financially leave to others. If so, Bill Gate's, the founder of Micro soft, is living a life that is more important, of more value than almost anyone else's.

 

But many of us might say, especially while we are in church that our lives aren't really about stuff. That's not what ultimately matters. But the truth is that most of us are or have spent incredible amounts of energy, time and more than a little bit of anxiety trying to procure enough stuff. Do we have enough? How much is enough? What if such and such happens? If only I had some more!  How 'bout that Lotto Max – 50 million last week? Just imagine!

 

Now don't get me wrong.  I am not saying that we shouldn't work. I am not saying hat we shouldn't do some serious planning around the future, both for ourselves and tentatively for others. I have a will. I have life insurance. I am blessed to have a pension plan. But it is important that we do all such planning with a certain amount of humility and a large dose of reality. Who is at the center of our plans?  Are we thinking only for ourselves and those few we love the most? What would God have us do? And, whom are we ultimately trusting in all of this? Do we really think that we can procure our own "security"? 

 

As we are continually blessed many of us grow older. Who knows the day may come when we need to go to a senior's residence, to inhabit a much smaller living place. And all of our "stuff", some of which we have cherished so much, worked so hard for, whose will it be? If we have children or friends, they may or may not even want that stuff. Or they may squander it. So, why are we living?  

 

The Bible shows us that God calls us into relationship. The primary relationship that God wills for us is with God! Yes, you heard me correctly. Our primary relationship, the one before any of the others is to be WITH GOD! 

 

It is God who chooses to love us into being.  By God's grace we are each gifted with life! How much would we have to pay to buy such a gift – a mind, a heart, our imagination, our musical, athletic, and creative unique abilities? Would even Bill Gates have enough capital to purchase one such gift from God? I think not! The gift of life is absolutely beyond price. Ask anyone who sits, stands or kneels beside the bed of one they love who is being born or dying.

 

Eventually the relationships that we are most aware of, the relationship with our parent, our sister or brother, a special friend, or even a pet or different elements of the creation begin to assume special places in our lives. Such relationships are very important! But all of these flow from the heart of God.  

 

So, are we to seek to dominate or manipulate, such people, other creatures, the creation for some perceived benefit to ourselves? As we do, what will the result be of making such choices?    

 

We need to trust that Jesus loves us. And so it is that sometimes He warns us.  One of his warnings comes clearly today: "Beware of all kinds of greed!" Instead of looking for meaning or affirmation in "stuff" Jesus encourages those early disciples and us to, "be rich towards God!" This is his command. We are to nurture our relationship with God. Be open to the wow factors of life. Pray and mean our own prayers. As we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread", realize that it is God who is and has provided us with what we need. As we employ the gifts God has entrusted us with to work give up worrying. Be generous with all that we have and are. God will use us and that for good.

 

You see, God is the liberator. Not only of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt but of ourselves. By God's grace we can be freed from looking at what others have and wishing, "gee it would be great to have that." We can have our eyes opened to see the many blessings we have, to live with and celebrate and yes, and gladly give them away, with and for others.

 

I mu0st confess that I struggle with this parable. Part of my struggle is living in this place and time. So many of us in North America have SO MUCH. We are among the richest 1 % of people in the world. Yet as I travel around Steveston, I sometimes am deluded into thinking that I am "poor" because I see that some "others" who have more stuff than I do. I sometimes catch myself thinking and  feeling that my life would somehow be better if I just had  "more". 

 

Is that true? Does life get any better than God loving me, loving us, accepting us, promising to walk with us and this world through everything, to never let us go or abandon us? Could it get any better than God forgiving me and giving me a new beginning with God, with others and with creation each day?

 

Our truth is that we are so blessed by God!   

 

How can we stay focused on God? How can we experience and share the gifts that God in Christ wants us to have including a peace that passes understanding?

 

Scripture has directions for us - but these directions need to be practiced individually and collectively. We can find a place and make a time to pray each day. In our prayer and reading we can ask God to help us to see our many blessings. We can ask God to help us to live thankfully each day. By the grace of God we can look around asking God to show us what God would have us do or not do that day. and be that day? 

 

Our battle against greed is real. Greed doesn't give up easily on us or on anyone. Our society is often controlled by greed. We are told over and over again that the very meaning of life has to do with getting more and more and more, that we can never have enough! This message is a lie. This message and its resulting life style contradicts the very grace and love of God. If we capitulate to greed it will consume us and others, spilling over (literally) into creation. That's why Jesus warns us.

 

But Jesus doesn't just leave us with only a warning. Jesus also comes to us through His Spirit demonstrating that we are not alone. The very Creator God who gifts everyone with life is with us. In Jesus we are encountered by the very love of God as pure gift for us and for the world.

 

We can trust God! We must not put our ultimate trust, our purpose in things or possessions or anything less than God.

 

Whom are we trusting? May God through Jesus Christ help us to trust God – the one who is God, the One who loves us so much that He gives His all for us – who does not give up on us – even though we have too often given up, forgotten or neglected God.  By God's grace we can count on God and live from God. May it be so! Amen.

Daily Bread Among Enemies & Friends

Pentecost 7 cc, July 11, 2010 – Luke 10:25-37  

I want you in your mind's eye to identify two of your needs. Be careful now – these are to be needs, something/someone you cannot, could not live without. I also want you to list one thing, one person that is your enemy. (take time to do that)

            

I want to tell you a story…. You are living your life. It's going reasonably well. But then, suddenly, something happens. You lose your job. Or, you become critically ill. You develop cancer or multiple sclerosis or some form of hepatitis. At one point some time ago, you received tainted blood. As your illness progresses or your job search bears no fruit – those things that you were convinced you needed, some of which you actually did need – you lose. You lose your own home. You lose your hair, your ability to walk, your energy to do things. And the people who used to include you, people whom you thought were your friends, who would never abandon you, one by one they begin to disappear. And so it goes – on and on and on – until you are literally a solitary figure, alone. By this time you may be frequenting the food bank. If you have a computer or have access to some playing cards, the game of your choice is solitaire. You have never felt so alone in your entire life. You are miserable.

 

But then one afternoon, someone whom you didn't know before, sees you. Not only do they see you, but they notice you. This person is the last person you would have ever expected to help you. I mean others that you thought were your friends, whom you had hoped would understand and care, don't or won't. But this person – one whom you thought before this was so different from you or so unlike you, or whom you just didn't like – they are the one that cares about you. That man, that woman, that guy that gal is the one who faithfully comes weekly, each month, day after day to be with you, to be for you. It is that person who is your friend. 

 

To begin with they listen to you. They are honest with you. They don't always tell you want you want to hear, but they do dare to tell you what you need to hear as they listen to you.  That man, that woman, that guy, that girl, reaches out not just to give you things but to share themselves. As they do so you begin to get to know each other. Together the two of you begin to trust each other. They introduce you to others. These others are also people who care about you. These others have suffered through and with some of the things that you are wrestling with.

 

 And somehow, that one's presence serves as a vehicle of healing for your living. For a long, long while you couldn't see or feel any sunlight. But now the sun is peeking through. Once despair, hopelessness was a dominant experience. But now rays of hope break through crushing realities. You think to yourself, maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

It's a story – but it is also, it can be profoundly true.

 

We do have needs. Our needs include food and clothing and shelter to be sure. But we also have needs beyond what we know. We have needs to be loved unconditionally and forgiven. Sometimes we aren't even aware of our need to be forgiven. When we are doing "well" (at least in our eyes) we may think and at some level even feel that everything is OK. The problems in the world have to do with others – those others that we somehow identify as fundamentally different than us. We are not aware of the hatred, the pride, the prejudice, the fear that thrives in our hearts. We do not see our own lack of desire to make time to focus on God – to dialogue with God, to receive from God daily a love and compassion that transforms our hearts and minds.

 

But thanks be to God, we are not left in this state. Things happen to shake the foundations of our world. And as our foundations are shaken we begin to see in a new light our own needs. Amazingly when we ourselves are needy is when we are most open to others and to God who sends help.

 

Jesus comes to a needy world that often doesn't realize her need of Him. Jesus comes to us – bringing unconditional love and forgiveness. He seeks to show us that there are no "thems" in this world, only brothers and sisters, who in so many ways are just like us. They too are in need of love, forgiveness. They too want and need to have purpose.

 

So, think carefully about your needs, our needs. Reflect honestly upon our "enemies". Dare to ask God to show us the truth – about ourselves, about others, and most importantly about the grace and love of God in Christ.

 

Jesus is the good Samaritan who recognizes our need. The risen Christ through the Holy Spirit can help us to see our needs in order that we might be healed our selves and be able to assist others who also are in need.

 

May this be our living even as we pray "Give us this day our daily bread".  Amen

From Mud to New Life

 

What's your name? It seems like a strange question for me to ask you. I mean you know your name. And I know most of your names. You may even know what your name means or how and why you received your name. So my question seems silly. But I am not sure that it is silly. You see, my name is Tim, which is actually a shortened form for Timothy. Timothy means one who honors God.

 

But as I think about this I think that sometimes my name should have been Naaman. How about you? Naaman thought he knew who he was. Naaman was also convinced that he knew who god or the gods were. Naaman knew firsthand the definitive boundaries in life. They never changed. There was Aram and Israel. There is Russia, China, Canada and the US. There were the gods of Aram and the god of Israel. There are many religions. Naaman also knew that bigger was better. The one with the most soldiers and most advanced weapons won the war. That's the way life was. That's the way life is, isn't it?  Naaman was the commanding general of an amazing army. Consequently, Naaman's king honored him. The King would do almost anything for Naaman. If Naaman were alive today he would have tanks and missiles, many men and women under his command. Naaman would have been extremely wealthy today. Such was his life. Naaman knew about power. He exercised it.

 

But then Naaman becomes ill. And everything begins to change. Now he discovers that not everyone is at his beck and call. Not everyone functions as he always had thought they did. Now Naaman himself becomes desperate - desperate to be well. Now through the agency of seemingly common ordinary people, people that a few days before Naaman thought of little or no consequence, he is led beyond his cause and effect world. Now his life is beginning to change. He is being moved his beyond skepticism and manipulation, beyond you do for me and I'll do for you. Naaman is being shoved to TRUST. 

 

Because of his vulnerability and new found need to and ability to trust Naaman begins to discover that God is not some sort of magic to be purchased or manipulated. Instead Naaman begins to experience that God cares about him even as God works in mysterious ways. Naaman retains his name. But he is no longer the same person. As he goes down into the muddy waters of the river Jordan – he comes up clean and different/new.

 

So let me ask you a second question. Whom/what are you following? I suspect that sometimes we think or feel that we are simply following our own hearts, our own minds, our own desires. But listen to your own initial response, the first response that pops into your mind or heart when you are asked:  what or whom are you following or pursuing?

 

As you listen also dare to look around. Note how you spend your time. See the priorities that your spending habits point to. It is in such expenditures that we learn about whom or what we are serving. Granted, we declare certain things. We assume that because of our declaration or assertion that these things then are true.  At times we have wonderful signs or banners up in our homes in our church. All are welcome – welcome friends. But are these declarations being lived out?  Are we actually willing to welcome everyone:  people whom we see as somehow being different than us: physically with handicaps or with emotional or mental scars? Are we welcoming people who dress differently than we do? Are people wearing  yarmulkes turbans or head scarves, people who understand or experience God somewhat differently than we do welcome in our homes, our church building? Would we are we welcoming and inviting people who don't have homes or who don't want to have homes to be in our midst? Finally will we, are we welcoming people who understand family and or marriage different than we do?

 

When our gut feelings are to distance ourselves from these people or to try to in some ways "protect" ourselves from such people, does that say anything about whom we are serving or following?

 

In writing to the Galatian Christians Paul is engaged in a struggle about this very thing in a particular way: what does it mean to follow Jesus?  Some in that community are saying that to follow Jesus one must engage and observe certain rules. The rules that they had received from God are of the utmost importance in following Jesus. Although inwardly we may sneer at such thinking we need to proceed with caution. What do we see, understand as basic to following Jesus? Cleanliness is next to godliness? A certain understanding of how God works and that God in Jesus will work only in that way – not with certain other religious groups until they see the light or change their ways?

 

Paul says it so clearly in today's second lesson: it's not circumcision or uncircumcision that matters most – it's a new creation – an ongoing transformation of one's mind and heart that really constitutes following Jesus. And such transformation, Paul argues, is a miracle – a GIFT  FROM GOD. Such ongoing transformation is never something that we can earn or desire or just do on our own. Certainly, sometimes we can respond to this gift – but that's a joyful response!  And a response is not something that initiates with us.

 

Can we let go of the hardening of our boundaries - our human propensity to decide in our mind's eye who's in or who's out? Can we move such thinking, such "being" to actually following Jesus, this One who gives His all so that we and the world might be new, now and forever. Will we in following Jesus work at sharing life and love instead of spreading hatred and enmity, jealousy and pride, self righteousness and blame resulting in the sacrifice of so many and so much? May God birth us to such a new creation!

 

This hope ushers us into one last question. Do we, do you, do I, have a mission? What's our purpose for living?" This is an important question to regularly ask one's self. It's important because in living we do give ourselves to something or someone. Although our motives initially are often worthwhile, we can so easily become sidetracked. We can become busy, so frenetically active in "making a living" that there is little or no time left to actually live – to breathe and relax, to think and question ourselves, to love and forgive, to run and play, to invest ourselves with those whom we most cherish, to listen for, to commune with God.

 

Yes, sometimes we can become so engrossed in trying to do what's right, that we forget why it is that we wanted to do what was right in the first place.

But, if we don't have a purpose for life, why are we actually living? Now there's a question that's both daunting and exciting!

 

According to Luke, Jesus' mission was clear. Jesus spelled this out early in his ministry as he travels home to the synagogue where he grew up. Once there, He takes the scroll, turns to this place and reads, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Although Jesus is quoting the prophet Isaiah he doesn't hesitate to tell those in the synagogue that day and any who will hear that "today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing".

 

And then in the Gospel for today Jesus sends out 70 of his followers 2 X 2 to go ahead of him. Did you notice what Jesus calls them to do, what he identifies as their mission?  They are to bring his peace to the houses they visit. If people are open to His peace, the sent out ones are to stay with them – to eat with them, to grow in relationship. If the people they are sent to do not welcome them then they are to move on. Whatever the case, God is near. People can be open to God! The ones Jesus sends out are to be agents of healing – to help the sick, to let them know in their very presence that God can bring newness and wholeness into their lives. This is part of God's reign, God's rule, what Luke identifies through Jesus as the kingdom of God.

 

How about us? What is our mission, our purpose for living? Jesus draws near to us. He comes in Word and Sacrament. He comes sometimes right through boundaries that we may have considered impregnable. Sometimes he speaks to us through our enemies, through our own shortcomings and sin, through our own illnesses, even through those who oppose us, even through that which may threaten to destroy us. The risen Jesus comes in simple things: sometimes things like muddy water, or the voices of those we once thought to be insignificant or of no consequence. He comes in bread and wine telling us not only that He is here, but that He has also given His all so that we can have new beginnings, new hearts and minds and relationships with each other and with God. And as that occurs bit by bit, piece by piece or sometimes even in sudden flashes of lightning we too are granted new life. 

 

To be sure there are forces within and without that resist Him. We know the devil within: the need to be "right", the desire to save face, the pretense that all is well while anger, pride, jealousy and hopelessness may be welling up within, threatening to devour us, and hurt others. But look up. Look around. Listen! See! Even now the kingdom of God draws near. Jesus loves us. He asks, He invites us to trust Him. Our resistance, all of the boundaries in our lives are but lines, marks on a map that can be changed by God.

 

So, I invite you to pray with me the first line of a prayer that so many of us can mumble in our sleep without even thinking. Pray this knowing that thanks be to God, God will not be limited even by our expectations or lack thereof. So pray with me trusting God -  Come Lord Jesus and be our guest. Help us to follow you! Amen and Amen.