New life and 9-11

25^th Sunday after Pentecost, November 14, 2010 (Luke 21:5-19

 

I wonder if any of you ever visited the World Trade Center in New York Center before 9-11? I am told that those buildings were magnificent – post-modern architectural marvels. And then tragically, they were no more – in an instant and in those succeeding hours after those instants.

 

I wonder if any of you have ever been to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem? It is a remnant of the Third Temple. Even today, over 2000 years after its construction, it's form is impressive. I suspect that the people present on the day that Jesus was speaking about the demise of the Temple, thought that he may have been losing it. Nevertheless within thirty years, that Great Temple was no more.   

 

Lastly, I wonder how many of you visited or were caught up by the divisions of the Berlin Wall? At its height (pun intended) who would have ever guessed that oh so suddenly it would come down. Following the Berlin's Wall collapse people could once again travel freely within Germany, even within the far flung posts of Russia and the Baltic States/

 

Things can change – sometimes in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. Even things that we think will never change – or that we can't imagine living without. In the 1950's in North America church buildings were being constructed at a rapid pace much like the strip malls and shopping malls of the 70's, 80's and 90's. But today many of those church buildings are nearly empty or have been made over to coffee houses. They are seemingly broken down remnants of a past age.

 

Many institutions once taken for granted as the status quo now have questionable futures: newspapers, post offices, gas guzzling automobiles, publishing houses. Additional items for such a list is much longer than the mind could contemplate in the limited time allotted for today's sermon.

 

Brilliant scientists now tell us that there is an imaginable end for the earth, the sun, and even the universe itself.  I am not sure about you but for me, a child who grew up in the late 50's and 60's, this is mind boggling. In my formative years there was a mixture of optimism and pessimism but overall a general belief that if we just worked hard everything would be alright.

 

Followers of Jesus are ever tempted to buy into the cultural belief system, whatever it is. Jesus lives in the midst of his culture and yet is able to see through it's false assumptions and convictions. In today's Gospel he tells any who will hear, that wars and rumours of wars, earthquakes, pestilences and "signs in the heavens" will continue to happen. And so they have before and after his death, for nearly 2000 years since he made such a statement. Some people claim that these things are increasing in frequency. It is very difficult to know the accuracy of such a statement, because what is happening is that our awareness (at least in terms of news) of what is happening around us and in the world, has expanded exponentially from what it was 70 years ago or 50 years ago or even 10 years ago. Today people take pictures of what is happening on their iphones. These pictures can enter the public domain in a heartbeat. Regardless of our awareness of "news" the calamitous and horrendous acts of war continue on unabated. Given all this, what are we to do, to be?

 

As would be followers of Jesus, Jesus calls us to be very clear about whom and what we are trusting. It is tempting, apparently even easy to put our ultimate trust in those things and even in those people whom we deem to be rock solid. But the market can and does crumble. Government policies change at an election or at the whim of a leader. Our own personal health, physically, emotionally and spiritually can be very fragile.

 

Jesus speaks truth. He tells his early followers that following him is anything but easy. Other family members may not agree, may not want their loyalty to be tied to him and all that following him means. They may not want to have an open house, an open heart, an open wallet. And so, many of his followers will be betrayed or shunned.

 

The temptation then for those followers of Jesus – the temptation now for us is to take the path of least resistance, to not ruffle the waters, to not say anything or do anything that will cause conflict. But when we take this path of least resistance, we can and do so easily lose our way. If Jesus is not Lord, the Son of God who overcomes the powers of evil and death for all people and all creation, is there anyone or anything that can?

 

Oh people, Jesus loves us so. How can we lose sight of Him and His love? And yet, so often we do. Then the "Temple" is destroyed as we lose our shirts, our health, our hope in someone else or something else. We may be driven to despair.

 

But even then God is still God. Jesus is the Son of God who wills to reach out to us. And God's reign, God's kingdom where the lion will lie down with the lamb is still coming, not because we can see it or comprehend it or accomplish it, but because God promises it will be so. Could any of us see the fall of the Berlin Wall even two days before it fell?

 

So, be ready – not filled with terror or by plotting how we will somehow be "in" while others will be "out". That is so selfish, so contrary to the love of God in Jesus Christ. Instead, by God's grace, may we be ready by trusting in Jesus, by listening for and talking with him daily. The Spirit of God can and will give us direction. We are not alone. Remember, God loves this world.

 

As St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

May we so trust and live from that love and mercy of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. 

Poor Me?

All Saints Sunday, November 7, 2010, Luke 6:20-31

 

There are times when Jesus' words are really difficult FOR US. "Blessed are you who are poor", he says. And we think – are you kidding? Who would want to be poor? Who would want to live on $600 or 700 per month in the Lower Mainland? The truth of the matter for us is that we do everything we can to avoid being poor. We sure don't want to be poor. So, we work our butts off. We try to make intelligent decisions. At times we take our financial advisors' advice and PAY OURSELVES FIRST. Nor do we ever want to be emotionally poor. We crave an abundance of assets when it comes to friends, loved ones, acquaintances, colleagues. We want to have interpersonal skills and marketable One can never tell when a rainy day is going to come, especially on the West Coast.

 

Nevertheless Jesus says (in Luke's Gospel) to people whose economy included a relatively small but distinct upper class, the elite, and many, many people in the lower classes, with perhaps only a very few in what we would refer to as a middle class, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours IS the kingdom of God."

 

Was Jesus out of touch with reality then? Is he out of touch with reality now? Is Jesus, in other words, TOTALLY IRRELEVANT - a nice man, with some occasional words of wisdom, who then sacrifices his life in vain? Or, is Jesus the one upon whom God's Spirit lives, who through his life and death, his words and actions brings good news to the world, especially the poor? Is Jesus then as we are wont to say in our creeds, God's only Son our Lord, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one Being with the Father?

 

Which is it?

 

If Jesus enfleshes those confessions of our creeds, we best be alert to what he says. We best attempt to understand what he means when he says. "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours IS the kingdom of God."

 

Poor – the very word sticks in our throat. Have you ever been poor, without assets that you could call upon? Have you ever been emotionally distraught – when whatever assets you may have had around you, financial, or loving people, in those moments, that time, just didn't cut it? Such is the reality of being poor. What happens in our lives then? 

 

I tell you two stories, both profoundly true. Years ago I traveled inland in Turkey. The majority of people were Muslims, of the Islamic faith. On this sojourn, I was accompanied by two friends who had previously lived in Turkey. Turkey is a beautiful country. But during my time of travel once was far inland the transportation system was anything but what one could call dependable. Nevertheless, the Turkish people, the vast majority of whom possessed perhaps less than 1/15^th or 1/20^th of what we had, amazed me. Sometimes at night my friends and I would become stranded. I would start to worry. Where are we going to stay? What will we eat? How will we get to where we are going? They then smiled at me knowingly and said, "Relax Tim, we are in Turkey". Somehow, in the next relatively short period of time we would meet people who would invite us into their homes, as plain as they were, to be hosted by them. By North American standards these people were poor. But in so many ways they were free and rich: free from fear, open to the beauty and wonder that hospitality towards "strangers" can bring. 

 

The second story: I also remember a young man. He was bright, good looking, intelligent. He came from a loving family. He had parents who loved him, who would do anything for him. He had siblings that encouraged him, that would help him in any way they could. He also had a girl friend. She was incredible: pretty, bright, full of life and all kinds of promise. But one day she met somebody else. As she further pursued that relationship she eventually decided to ended her relationship with him, that bright young man who had so much going for him. Emotionally he spiraled downwards, quickly. He wanted to quit school – even though he was at the top of his graduate class. He openly wondered about and wrestled with God. There was this hole that consumed his very being. Nothing or no one seemed to be able to fill it. Although the days were often sunny outdoors, he felt very dark, as if he was trapped in an abyss. Then it really didn't matter to him that he had parents, siblings or even friends who loved him. Then it didn't really matter that many others said he had a "lot going for him". He felt dead, hopeless. His energy, his will to live was barely a memory.

 

Late one night he found himself on the walkway of a bridge, spanning a river, the spillway of which churned the waters far below him. He stopped in the middle of that span. . He could hear internal voices. Many of them screamed, "JUMP!" They claimed that if he jumped his insufferable pain would end. He thought about it. I mean HE REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT! The struggle with these various voices was intense. But there was another voice, a quieter but still steady voice. Occasionally throughout his pain, his wondering, he heard that voice too. "DON'T DO IT!"

 

This latter solitary voice, once heeded, once followed for even a critical moment led him off that bridge towards others who could and would help him. There was a cagey, rough around the edges professor who refused to let him quit school, who offered that young man his own home to come and stay for as long he would need to. There were his parents, who at first didn't ask too many questions but just let him be at home with them whenever he needed to be. There were his siblings who called and took him out whenever he was up to it. They worked to include him, in even new ways in their lives but really tried not to push too hard. There was also his church family, who kept praying, singing and working at serving others. Before and after all of that there was and he says, is God. Gradually he began to count on God, to look for God's direction and assurance in the things of his daily life. The pain he was suffering had led him to a recognition of his poverty, emotionally and spiritually. But that poverty had opened him to God in ways that before he had not even imagined possible. And new life is resulting.

 

Not that life is easy now for him or anyone else. But there is a profound sense for him of God's presence. Jesus is not merely a historical person. Jesus is One who has suffered and does suffer with and for others. The Spirit of God moves sometimes in ways that even now the young man can discern and occasionally feel. But whether he feels that Spirit of God this day or not, he is convinced that the Spirit is here with Him and working in the world.

 

Today is All Saints Sunday. There aren't cards or gifts for it. I suspect that All Saints Day and Sunday often gets lost between the candy, costumes and parties of Halloween and the somber memories of Remembrance Day. I suspect too that All Saints Day, of all the festival days of the church, is the one most often misunderstood. Saints are not only those who have died in living out their faith, sometimes at the hands of others. Nor are the Saints only those who have gone before us in the faith who have since died. Saints are any and all claimed by God, marked by and living from the dynamis, the power of Christ's cross, experiencing and sharing the love of God in Christ in their every day lives even whether they realize it or not.

 

You see, (grace is so radical) we are called to be saints: not perfect, arrogant nor proud. Not holier than anybody else. Rather, we are being called to follow Jesus in the living of our everyday lives. We are being called to trust God, to depend on God's faithfulness to us and the world, realizing our own poverty in being able to love and care for others, the world and God on our own. But our poverty is never the end of the story. By God's grace we can also glimpse the incredible riches, those wonderful gifts God bestows on us in Jesus for the blessing of others and this world.

 

Such living is a glimpse of the very reign, what theologians for a long time referred to as the kingdom of God. God's influence and ongoing work is a mystery, beyond our meager comprehension. And yet as part of that incredible "enterprise" God continues to call ordinary people, including you and me, to embody the very love of Jesus, the living hope he can and does brings to people and creation here and now.

 

So, we will do well to listen to Jesus. Sometimes He causes us discomfort because on our own we so easily get lost and become subject or caught by death, despair, even self- destruction. Each of us, every person we will ever meet has been gifted by God. Together, through God's leading, we can employ such riches entrusted to us for the blessing of others, particularly any in need.

 

To live in such a way we need daily conversion, to let go of ourselves, our fears, our desperate clinging to so-called guarantees and returns. Thinking only of ourselves, or those like us, whether as Church, nations or individuals, leads not to life but to incredible woe. It is only in dying in some significant ways to our thoughts, sometimes even our pet convictions that God in Christ leads us beyond our so-called life and to new life.

 

Jesus says, "Blessed are you who are poor for yours IS the kingdom of God." Do we hear Him?                Amen.