July 1 2018 Call of Moses Exodus 3-4

            The call of Moses story is a perfect set up to talk about our own sense of call in life, or our life’s purpose.  The thing is, when you really pay attention to the call of Moses story you realize it’s not a simple thing.

It would be great if I could simply say you need to discern what it is that you’re good at and what you’re not good at.  Also look at what you like to do and what you don’t like to do.  Look at what the needs are around you, pray about it all, and then focus on using what you’re good at to meet the needs around you. 

It sounds good and it makes sense.  It’s basically the same thing as career advice – with career advice adding that you have to be able to make a living at it.  But that’s not the way the call of Moses goes, and it’s not the way our lives often go either.

            All too often people find themselves in jobs they don’t like simply because they have to do something to survive.  Many an office worker spends all day in a cubicle.  The only way to notice time passing is to catch a glimpse of the sun if you look over your cubicle, through your boss’s door and out his or her window.  How many times do people rejoice at the arrival of the end of the work day on Friday, and then feel a sinking dread Sunday afternoon as the next work week looms large. 

            Factory workers may not even get to glimpse the sun but are working in a brutally hot and noisy manufacturing plant; or construction workers who are out in all sorts of weather.  Migrant workers toil in the hot sun day after day for very little pay just so other people can get cheap fruits and vegetables in the grocery store.

            Some jobs are sheer boredom – long distance truck drivers have to have among the most boring jobs.  They travel the same roads over and over again, getting to know the truck stops very well as they travel from terminal to terminal.  I suppose train engineers are even more bored.  They don’t even get to steer!  Locomotives have little timers and things built into their operation so the engineers don’t fall asleep.

            Let’s not leave out people in sales, marketing and managers – even owners - who live in a great deal of anxiety about product performance and quarterly results.

            It pays the bills, but is that what God calls our lives to be?  Are we to live and toil sunrise to sunset every day of our lives and then end up dead and nothing of significance to show for it?

            When I worked as a bridge inspector I inspected the Buzzards Bay Vertical Lift Railroad Bridge on Cape Cod.  Another inspector and I figured out a way to cut a week’s time off the anticipated five week inspection schedule.  Since it was a lump sum contract that meant the company pocketed a very tidy profit.  I’d ask myself, “What did I really do today with my brains and my physical labor?”  I answered myself, “I made my boss a lot of money,” because there were no bonuses for innovation.

            Let’s remind ourselves of Moses’ life so far.  His people, the Israelites migrated to Egypt in search of food.  All was well for a while but then the Egyptian leadership decided to enslave them.  They pushed farther, deciding to kill all the newborn male babies of the Israelites.  Moses’ mother hid him at birth, eventually putting him in the river in a basket.  He was picked up by an Egyptian princess and raised among Egypt’s leaders.

            One day as an adult Moses visits his fellow Israelites and sees one of them being beaten by an Egyptian.  He kills the Egyptian and then runs for it in fear of his life.  He flees to the Midianites, a nomadic people in the Sinai Peninsula.  There he sits down by a well.  When he sees seven women coming to the well to water their flocks of sheep he also sees other shepherds driving these women away.  Moses comes to the women’s defense and waters their flocks.  As payment for his act of chivalry he gets to marry one of the women, Zipporah.  He settles down with her family.  It looks like he will live out his days tending sheep as an outcast from Egypt.

            If you piece together different Bible stories and do a little math you figure out that Moses was forty years old when he fled to Midian and got married.  He then whiles away 40 more years while there, making him 80 years old when he sees the burning bush.  Indeed Exodus 7:7 says that Moses was 80 years old when he first went to Pharaoh. 

            When does God call Moses?  Imagine someone sitting back drawing a pension and social security.  His biggest thought is what the weather will be like tomorrow for his round of golf.  He’s searching the internet looking for cheap cruises to the Bahamas!

            He’s eighty years old and God still hasn’t called him for purpose in life! 

            And then God does.

            Now Moses is not a stupid man.  What God calls him to do is crazy.  Moses is a known murderer.  There’s no statute of limitations on murder so he can’t really walk back into Egypt expecting a warm welcome.  He also points out some really important things to God.  Why should the people believe him?  And certainly he can’t just walk up to Pharaoh and ask to let the Israelites go free.  That would be like deciding to walk into the White House tomorrow, thinking you can realistically ask for an appointment with the president, and then expect him to make a major policy change simply because you asked.  It’s not going to happen!  Not now, not then.

            Moses raises logical objection after logical objection to God.  Notice carefully what God does.  God does not say, “Moses, I’ll give you the powers that you need.”  No.  God says that he will be present and he will act.  Moses will never possess within himself the strength or the power to do what needs to be done.  It will always be God’s work.

            Moses is not at all happy about this whole thing.  He knows the danger and the pains that are coming.  He will not while away his remaining years on a rocking chair watching the sun set.  Despite all God’s assurances Moses says in 4:13, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

            But God becomes angry with Moses.  He says he will send Moses’ brother Aaron along too, for Aaron is already coming to meet Moses.

            As if there weren’t enough loose ends to deal with, we have the next scene when Moses packs up his family and sets out.  By all logic you think that once you’ve decided to obey God’s explicit call to you things would get better.  Or at least God would be happy with you.  But what happens when Moses sets out for Egypt and to connect with Aaron?  4:24 says, “On the way, at a place where they spent the night, the Lord met him and tried to kill him.” 

            That is about the most baffling verse in the Bible.  Were I to create a sermon on it I would have to say, ‘You need to follow God’s call, but don’t be surprised if God tries to kill you on the way.’

            This is one of those Bible verses that have biblical scholars scratching their heads and struggling to come up with theories.  Nothing fits, not even remotely close.  It is certainly an insertion of another story into the text, but there’s still the fact that it was inserted, and why?

            We’ll never get to the bottom of it, but I think it does contribute to what we should be getting as the overall theme of the call of Moses.

            Do not try to understand God.  God does not follow human logic.  God does not do a talent search to find the most qualified person before starting a new venture.  God does not promise easy sailing or a safe life.  God is not tame, nor is God predictable.  And God could completely care less about your reasonable and logical conclusions about things.  God will do what God will do; when God wills to do it; in the way God wills to do it.

            Is God an out-of-control tyrant?  No.  But we make a mistake when we domesticate God into a little deity whose purpose it is to help us through rough patches in life and make us feel good about ourselves.

            The forces of evil, greed, destruction and thirst for power are real in the world.  They aren’t entirely logical either.

            God has serious work to do, and God will do it.  Much of it is difficult and dangerous – not just simple sweet gestures that get us smiles and thank you notes.

            God does not call us to quaintness and quietness and security.  God says God will be with us in the real work that needs to be done.  And God likes to work through us.

            So, certainly discern what God is calling you to do.  Don’t be surprised if answers don’t come swiftly and easily.  It took 80 years for Moses.  And don’t insist that God’s call fit into society’s model of life.  God could care less about American ideas of success, or the good life, or having made it.

            God may call you to something glorious, or something mundane.  God may call you to something safe or something dangerous.  And if you never feel God’s call, perhaps you should be glad.  You know what to do anyway.  God doesn’t need to tell us more.  We should embody the love of Jesus who showed that self-emptying love is the most powerful way to live.

June 10, 2018 Healing of the Blind Man John 9

            The healing of the blind man story we had for our gospel reading is almost comic.  The religious leaders are stumped to explain how this blind man received his sight.  How can a man blind from birth be cured by Jesus, who was in their opinion at best an iterant preacher who didn’t observe the Sabbath and spread about dangerous ideas?  Their investigation turns up more and more evidence against them.  They don’t know what to do.  And faced with irrefutable facts they blind themselves and deny the truth of the whole thing.  If the story were a joke the punch line would be near the end when some of the Pharisees say, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”

            Um, yes, you are.  Ironically a man blind from birth can now see while those who should see clearly have blinded themselves.

            But there’s more because there’s a second punchline said by the blind man.  When interrogated by the Pharisees he says at one point, “I have told you already, and you would not listen.”  They would not listen… Perhaps they are not only blind but also deaf!

            Before we shake our heads at them too much however, we also remember that when we criticize the Pharisees we are in dangerous territory.  Usually our biblical authors present the Pharisees as being an awful lot like ourselves.  And indeed this is the case here.

            “We are not blind, are we?” they asked.  And we too like to say we have sight, but it seems to be deep in human nature to ignore or avoid that which we see but do not like.  Two weeks ago, when we had confirmation, I preached about the way we humans have always wanted to be our own god.  We want to look to ourselves for our own fulfillment and not depend upon God.  Oh, we’re all for God when we’ve gotten ourselves into a situation we can’t get out of.  Then we’re all for divine help.  But for the most part, when we can do something ourselves, we do it – which is a good thing.  We are made to be that way.  But then rather than thanking God for our abilities we claim them for ourselves.  That is the beginning of our blindness.

            Last week at synod assembly there was a report from two pastors in the synod who went to Zimbabwe last year.  Those pastors were Deron Milleville and Dan Hoffman.  Life in Zimbabwe is nowhere near as primitive as we may picture.  They have cars, superhighways, cities, hospitals and the like.  They have solar panels for dependable power in remote areas and all sorts of things.  But on the whole people are still very poor.  They have little.  Yet what they have they are very generous with, and their hospitality is incredible.

            Offerings during worship are very different there.  People often don’t put anything into the collection plate.  This isn’t because they have automatic withdrawals from their bank accounts.  It’s because they have no money to give.  Instead they may bring food or other items.  And as is often the case, if they don’t have a church building but are meeting in a tent or in the open, they bring building materials for their offering.  Pastor Hoffman showed a photo of a man bringing a bag of cement and other people with buckets of bricks.  I’d like to see how our acolytes do with eighty pound bags of cement or buckets of bricks!

            The Lutheran church in Zimbabwe grows and grows.  The people are happy.  They live full and enriched lives.  And overall I’d say if you could measure happiness they’d beat us hands down.

            How come we, educated as we are, with the riches we have, and the security we enjoy, not be happier than them?  How come with all our blessings our churches decline while theirs grow?  Remember, the Lutheran church is a predominately African black church; not white European.

            Because we are blind, and they see.

            There is plenty in the news about political spin and “fake news”.  There are Trump lovers and Trump haters.  Each thinks the other side is moronic and wrong.  And I can’t pretend to be above such thoughts myself.  And yet, when I sit back and reflect, I believe both sides are blind to a deeper truth, and this is really just a sideshow that keeps us blind.

We live this myth we call progress.  We believe in economic development and growth.  We label ourselves “first world” and people like those in Zimbabwe “third world” and we seek to spread our ideals to raise them to be like us.  They’d be fools to accept!

            Here are truths that are right in front of our eyes, but we don’t want to see them.  Our way of life is consumptive to the point of disgusting.  Our lifestyles consume far too much energy.  (Think about it, when you drive to the grocery store your car is burning more energy getting to and from the store than the energy you body’s going to get from the food you buy.)  We create garbage by the mountainful, almost literally, with some landfills reaching as tall as skyscrapers.  It’s pretty bad when you’re cultured biggest construction are garbage piles!  But it’s worse.  In 2012 Forbes reported an ugly truth.  America’s biggest export is garbage.  Indeed, some of it is recyclables being sent to other nations for reprocessing, but still that’s not what we want to be known for in the world.

            And one final problem to point out, my family doctor, Dr. Doug Alling, has pointed out to me that most of his work is not about healing people.  It is medicating people against their lifestyle choices.  People’s consumptive habits are so bad that we have to use ongoing medical treatments to keep us functioning.

            We are no longer considered citizens, we are labeled as consumers.  When was the last time you read or heard a news article about good citizenship and compare it to how much you hear about things like Gross Domestic Product, economic growth, inflation and that sort of thing?         Our minds make these things supremely important, and it is to our cost.

            At synod assembly last week I heard more reports and worries about the church’s continued decline in this country.  I heard about hopes and strategies, about reorganization and new ideas.  While I don’t want to be too cynical, I admit that I sat there thinking we’re either too afraid or too blind to admit the truth.  We are victims of original sin.  Like Adam and Eve, when we think we can make it on our own we tell God we don’t need him.  We are simply too prosperous for our own good.

            And so what do we do?  Well, I don’t bring all this up to make us feel guilty.  Maybe we should, but guilt is not a good motivator.  If you’re like me in this regard, and I’m sure you are, you hear something.  You feel guilty.  You resolve to make changes.  And then two days go by and you forget all about it, or you just ignore it and keep doing the same old thing.

            No, guilt doesn’t work.  But I do think we need to be more aware that the gospel of prosperity, growth and development that is our unofficial national creed, is a lie.  It is ongoing blindness.  And I hope we can begin to relook at everything we do and ask ourselves, does this really lead to life?

            Those things that really lead to life will be lasting, of good quality, and they will equip us to be more effective in living God’s love.  Otherwise it will be a consumptive purchase that will bring cheap joy for a while but lead to no lasting satisfaction.  I don’t mean to say that we have to stop buying things, or that we cannot enjoy luxuries and comforts.  But we do need to limit ourselves and ask if we’re really getting lasting satisfaction.

            And never fall into the trap that avoiding hardship will lead to happiness.  It won’t.  Hardship wisely managed will lead to lasting wholeness.  Our whole Bible reading from 2 Corinthians is about that.  For the Corinthians were a lot like us.  They had lots, but were far less fulfilled than their poorer neighbors.

            God has called us to do good and lasting things – good things that lead to life and wholeness, not consumption.  Lasting things that will endure, not fade with time.  And so may we have the sight we need to see the truth of things.  And the courage and endurance we need to act on them, so that we can live in true happiness and fulfillment – the way God intended.

May 27, 2018 Holy Trinity/Confirmation 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

(Preceded by the first five minutes of Cosmos series, Comet episode) There are lots of videos like the segment I just showed, and all of them can challenge our faith.  They make us feel like we must be ignorant simpletons to believe in a God at all.  They imply that an enlightened person should be beyond such silly nonsense as religion and faith and God.  These messages are the norm of our culture.  They are the religion of our society.  Never for one minute believe you live in a Christian society.  You don’t.  You live in a secular humanist society.  It’s been that way for decades.  And people love it!  There’s very good reason for why people love it, but we’ll come back to that later.

            It is true that it is impossible through scientific thought – or perhaps I should say, by using empirically verifiable data - to prove the existence of God.  Many take the inability to prove the existence of God as proof that there is no God.  Many suggest that religion is a leftover of the ignorant past, and that we would be better off if we got rid of it.  But books and  videos like the one we just watched play pretty fast and loose with their facts.

            What they are really doing is preying on your own ignorance of your own faith.  If you watch that video segment a few times and ask yourself some critical questions you discover that it falls apart pretty fast.  Indeed most scientific critiques of religion, especially Christianity, play pretty fast and loose with their facts.

            Among the most famous judges of Christianity is Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist from Oxford University.  Interestingly, when you read his works against religion you discover that while he is very thorough in his study of biology, he seems to leave his critical thinking skills behind when it comes to Christianity.  He chooses only that evidence which suits his predetermined views, and ignores that which contradicts him.  He’d never get away with that in the field of biology, but far too many Christians are too ignorant of their faith to be able to catch his bad scholarship in religion; and he sells books by the millions.

            There is something deep in human nature going on here – this desire to get rid of God – but again, we’ll come back to that.

            I want to make only one point with this sermon, especially for our confirmands.  That is that an educated, scientific, critical thinking person can use critical thought processes and conclude that Christian faith is a mature and rational belief system. (repeat)  That might seem like too simple a goal for today, but you’ll find that for most of the people in our society today, Christian faith is pure stupidity.

            Even famous faith critics like Carl Sagan can scientifically summarize the problem succinctly.  Every mature branch of scientific thought has run up against a barrier – the inability to push further.  Perhaps the easiest is the idea of the origin of the universe.  If the universe started with a big bang, or however it started, it must have an origin.  And what lies outside that origin?

            Critical thought processes bump up against the barrier all the time.  This is more than a lack of evidence.  It is a universal barrier.  Some people conclude that since we find no evidence of God that therefore there must be no God.  And I would agree with them that they have come to a rational conclusion.  However, I will insist that as they have made that conclusion they have made a faith statement.  Without knowing it they have created a faith statement - a conclusion without objectively verifiable data to support their conclusion.  And so from a critical thought process I fully respect the beliefs of an atheist.  But I also insist that that atheist recognize that they have made a faith statement and also recognize that a highly sophisticated religion like Christianity is also a rational belief system.

            Notice that video clip did not include ancient Hebrew religion – or Judaism.  It did not include Christianity or Islam.  Most likely they did not include such religions because they didn’t want to be outright offensive, but if they would have made such a statement they would have walked into their own slaughterhouse.

            I’m not an expert in the most primitive forms of religion.  But I do know that by the time ancient religions like Judaism came along, and they start to put their beliefs in writing, they were very rational and highly sophisticated.

            If you were worshipping with us last summer you’ll remember that we read through much of the book of Genesis.  We discovered that Genesis works at many levels.  It is vivid stories at a very simple level and can teach children very basic things.  But as you age you can revisit the stories and discover they weren’t written to be literal truths.  They were never intended to be.  They are images and allegories.  For example, Adam and Eve.  Adam is not a name at all, but a description.  It means earthling, or earth dweller, or even mud creature.  Eve is not a name either.  It means womb.  The whole Garden of Eden story is about exploring the root of human brokenness.  And then we discovered that not only are the stories allegories and images, but the ancient Hebrews wrote with complex structures that create comparisons and contradictions.  You may remember me saying that Genesis and other ancient Hebrew writings are the most complex writings of the ancient world – even more complex than the philosophy of the ancient Greeks; and certainly more complex than anything in current literature.  My point is that as far back as we can trace the roots of our religion in written form – about 3000 years, we encounter highly complex rational thought patterns.  Their worldview is different, and they didn’t have the precision instruments for measurement that we do today, but their deductive reasoning was no less sharp.

            And let’s actually let that 3000 year old Adam and Eve story speak to the world of today.  What was their real sin?  Eating the forbidden fruit?  Yes, that’s the literal story answer.  Disobeying God?  That’s getting closer.  Thinking they didn’t need God and they could do better on their own?  Yes, that’s the point.

            Modern day secular humanism and the sociology that is its foundation drives the idea that humans and the human intellect is supreme.  It can take care of itself.  It can and should be its own God.  But wait, that’s the whole point of the Adam and Eve story!!!  That’s a 3000 year old story, but modern day secular humanism acts like it’s a new thing.  It’s not.  In fact it’s a very old thing, and it’s a battle Christians have fought since the so-called Enlightenment of the 18^th Century.

            Look at these books.  Here’s a playful one from the 21^st Century: Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies – Youth Ministry in the 21^st Century.  Go back to the 20^th Century and you find A Reasonable Faith but Tony Campolo – arguing the same thing I am today.  Go back to the 19^th Century and you find Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.  And go back yet another century and you find Friederich Schleiermaker’s Speeches on Religion to its Cultured Despisers.

            The same issue, over and over again.

            There’s nothing new in people saying they’ve outgrown God.  But statistics bear out that atheism is a dangerous belief system indeed.  Alan Padgett from Luther Seminary notes that more people were killed by atheist movements in the 20^th Century than Christianity killed in the previous twenty centuries combined.

            And so to our confirmands and to us all I say, certainly keep a scientific head on your shoulders.  Use your critical thinking skills.  Apply them to everything, including faith.  I am saddened by how weak and pathetic much of popular Christian belief is these days, and it needs to be improved.

            But never think we’ve somehow become smart enough that we don’t need God.  That’s a fool’s thought that we can document has been tried for over 3000 years.  Instead, respect the rational conclusions of others, even when you disagree with them, and never let anyone convince you that your Christian faith is in any way lacking merit, strength, or reasonability.

May 20, 2018 Pentecost John 15:26-16:15, 20:19-29, 21:1-14

Consider some of these quotes about patience:

-A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains. (Dutch Proverb)

-Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials.  Hold on; hold fast; hold out.  Patience is genius.  (Count de Buffon)

-Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet. (French Proverb)

-Rome wasn’t built in a day. (Latin Proverb)

-He that can have patience can have what he will. (Ben Franklin)

And finally this one from George Jackson which also adds a warning, “Patience has its limits.  Take it too far and it’s cowardice.”

            If we look at our Bible readings for today and consider them from the perspective of Pentecost we realize how patient God is with us.  The first section of John we read comes from the Last Supper.  Jesus is instructing the disciples on many things.  Among them he gives the promise of the coming Holy Spirit.  It is a good message in the midst of what is basically a farewell address.  He will be leaving and he wants his disciples to know that they aren’t abandoned or forsaken.

            In the next section of John we read it’s the evening of the resurrection.  Jesus has appeared to Mary Magdalene and she has reported the resurrection to the disciples.  Some of the gospels report that the disciples did not believe her.  John doesn’t report that, but he does note that the disciples are basically hiding out with the doors locked out of fear.  Their leader was captured, arrested, and executed.  They’re all running more than a little scared, and so they hide.  For how long they will hide or what their plan is we don’t know.

            Whatever the case Jesus comes among them despite the doors being locked.  How he does it isn’t the focus for today.  For today we want to focus on what Jesus does.  The first thing he does is say “Peace be with you.”  Notice that he doesn’t criticize them for not believing Mary.  Nor does he upbraid them for their fear and failure.  Remember, they all fled when Jesus was arrested leaving Jesus to take all the blame.  No, Jesus has forgiven them of that and is not meeting with them again.  And as he promised in the Last Supper, the Holy Spirit is given to them.  The text tells us, “he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

            It would be better translated, “he breathed into them…”  Not, “he breathed on them…”  John’s gospel is calling to mind God’s act of creation in the Garden of Eden when God breathed life into humans.  This is meant to be a close and powerful encounter.  They are not fully equipped to go out, be bold, take risks, probably get into trouble for it all too, but to do it anyway.

            Notice this is a very different receiving of the Holy Spirit than we get in the book of Acts.  There we have the dramatic coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples with the sound of a rushing wind, the tongues of fire on people’s heads and the speaking in different languages.  There’s nothing so dramatic here, and historically it’s hard to know what’s really the accurate depiction.  Luke is a reasonably reliable historian.  Whatever the case, for John’s gospel, this is it.  The disciples are now empowered.  And if the story would go as you’d expect they’d be leaving the room with the locked doors and the next scene would be them out in public proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

             But where do we find them a week later?  A week later we find that they are still in the room with the doors locked.  So much for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit!  Jesus comes to be with them again.  And this time we expect Jesus to lay into them for their failings.  How can they be so cowardly?  They’re embodying the George Jackson quote, “Patience has its limits.  Take it too far and its cowardice.”

            Does Jesus upbraid them?  I mean, how many times can a group of people fail and you give them another chance?  Yet Jesus is still patient.  His first words to them are, “Peace be with you.”  This is not some cheap quote like I think we use in worship during the Passing of the Peace.  This is a real statement that there is peace and no conflict, anger, or condemnation from God.  It is saying they are in good relationship, but Jesus again pushes them to go out.

            Okay, now do the disciples get it?  We meet them again in John 21.  Did Jesus tell these guys, “Go back to your old jobs and act like nothing has happened”?  No.  He’s empowered them and sent them out into the world with something dramatic and new.  But what do the disciples do?  Peter says, “I am going fishing.”  And this is not a man who wakes up early on a Sunday morning and before getting out of bed says to his wife, “I’m not going to go to worship today.  I’m going fishing.”  No, Peter is a professional fisherman.  It is his livelihood.  For him it is a commercial enterprise and he knows how to make money at it.

            Despite his skills, and the skills of James and John, who were also there and also professional fishermen, and who knows how many of the other disciples were fishermen as well, they catch nothing.  Well, so much for a backup plan if being an evangelist fails!

            Jesus comes to them again and says, “Come and have breakfast.”  He’s cooked for them and is welcoming them yet again.  I love the way John’s gospel records, “Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord.” 

            Yep, complete embarrassment, caught red handed and smelling of fish.  At least they’ve gotten the courage to leave the locked room but they still aren’t doing what Jesus commanded.

This time however, their lives will change.  If we would have continued our reading we see Jesus having a heart to heart conversation with Peter.  There was probably other conversations too.  We know the beloved disciple comes into the picture one more time.

            Whether it was the loss of their livelihood or what, we don’t know, but this time the disciples do finally move on and do what the Holy Spirit empowers them to do.

            God is patient.  That is a good thing, because I think we all need a lot of patience.  God forgives us for a sin, and then we do it again.  God forgives us again.  And then we do it again, and God forgives us again.

            Being the clever people that we are we figure that if forgiveness is so easy then we’ll just keep on sinning.  Why change if there are no consequences after all?  And we find that God will forgive us for that attitude as well.  Yet at some point it has to stop.  We need to take ownership of ourselves, and our sins and make some changes.

            I think we should get two things from our reading of John.

First, God is indeed patient with us.  We may look back over our past and see lots of failings – times when we’ve been too greedy or too arrogant, times when we’ve acted in hate, and times when we’ve failed to proclaim the gospel or live by it.  It may feel like we are stuck in a rut of failure, and so we are tempted to quit.  Consider the dieter who has tried every diet that’s come along in decades and failed at all of them.  It’s easy to just give up and despair.  But that’s not something we can afford to do when it comes to sharing the gospel.  We can’t afford to do it because the world desperately needs the gospel and God wants us to proclaim it.  And we can’t afford to give up because God’s patience keeps empowering us to try again.  And after all, our failings make us powerful witnesses.  Who is the better one at helping an alcoholic beat the addiction?  Another alcoholic who’s been there and done that and managed to succeed, or someone who’s never struggled with an addiction ever?  Certainly, it’s the alcoholic who knows firsthand what it is to fail and fail again over and over.

            If you feel like a failed disciple and evangelist, know those failings equip you well.

            And the second thing we should remember from John’s gospel is to be patient with each other.  Just as Jesus was patient with the disciples so we need to be patient with each other.  Indeed patience does have its limits.  Eventually it can become cowardice, but it usually runs out long before then.

            God has called you, a sinful, broken, failure-prone human being to spread the gospel throughout the world.  And God has called the person next to you, who is also a sinful, broken, failure-prone human being to also spread the gospel.  That goes for all of us and for all the baptized.  It only makes sense that we show patience with each other as God shows patience with us.

            And so, empowered by the Holy Spirit let us not hide behind locked doors of fear.  For as it was with the disciples, so it is with us.  We can do nothing apart from God.  But true strength and fulfillment come when we embrace the presence of the Spirit and make it real in our lives.

May 13, 2018 Easter 7 John 6:16-24

                Do you remember in high school the jock or the cheerleader that was just super talented, super good-looking, and super popular?  Maybe you were that person, I don’t know.  I certainly wasn’t.  But they often get to be pretty cocky about themselves.  They’re good… and they know it, and they lord it over everyone else making them feel bad and stupid.

                Many a person at the bottom of the totem pole has daydreamed about the downfall of such a person – seeing them fail, seeing them mess-up, seeing them get caught in something bad and then getting to reverse the tables; where the mocking jeer can be returned.  Often such people get their comeuppance when they get to college and discover their talents and looks and popularity are just average.

                Still though, it seems to be human nature that where we can find an advantage we’re going to exploit it.  We compete all the time, even adults do.  You’re in competition with everyone else at work for a promotion.  You’re competing with every other job applicant.  In school you are competing for the best grades, the best internships, and the best connections at social events or job fairs.

                We compete for the best houses – those with more money win.  I’ve seen senior citizens compete over who’s going on the best cruises and who can afford the best travel.  Of course we compete for relationships – trying to find the best person for a spouse.

                This wasn’t funny at all and I shouldn’t laugh, but I could barely contain myself when I visited Elm Manor years ago and saw two men ramming each other with their wheelchairs and yelling over who got the right to go down the hall first.

                Our way of life is that if you have the advantage take it.

                But what if we used the advantage in a different way?  What if we lived by the rule that those who have the upper hand are held more accountable to use their powers for those in need?

                It’ll never fly, but our Lord Jesus embodied it.

                Biblical scholars point out that the walking on water miracle, or “sign” as John’s gospel calls them, should be linked to the Feeding of the 5000 which we read last week.  Matthew’s gospel, Mark’s gospel, and John’s gospel all place the miracles side by side.  Jesus feeds the crowd and dismisses them.  It is evening and Jesus withdraws by himself.  The disciples head out across the Sea of Galilee.  The sea becomes rough and Jesus meets them walking on the water.

                And the two miracles show two sides of the same coin.  In the Feeding of the 5000 Jesus’ uses his power to feed them; supply their daily human needs.  The crowd wants to take him and make him king right then and there.  In our normal routine of life this makes sense – if you have the advantage, use it.  If any of us had the ability to be a pro-sports player or movie star or top level musician, or anything to make us famous we’d be tempted to use it that way.

Yet Jesus doesn’t do that.  The crowd sees his potential for glory and wants to thrust it upon him.  He refuses because Jesus embodies that the purpose of power and glory is different.  Jesus’ glory is not about being the top dog.  Jesus’ glory is about revealing God’s grace.  He wanted the crowd who experienced the feeding miracle to see it as God’s gracious gift, not a means to political power.  Grace reveals glory.

Now notice how in walking on water the opposite happens.  Glory reveals grace.  In walking on water Jesus doesn’t act like a cocky high school jock saying, “Hey losers.  If your faith was worth anything at all you’d be able to walk on water with me.”  No, he says, “It is I,”  Or more properly translated, “I AM.  Do not be terrified.”  It is a moment of glory that reveals God’s grace.  Commentator Gail O’Day notes, “Jesus reveals himself to his disciples in order to allay their fears, to ensure their safe passage, to remind them that God has been, is, and will be their rescue.  Jesus’ glory is not revealed for power, but for grace-filled pastoral care.”  (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pg. 597)

And indeed the text tells us they immediately reached the land toward which they were going.

Gail O’Day continues, “Jesus will not allow his grace to be controlled by the crowd’s desire for glory, and so he hides himself.  But he will not hold back his glory from those in need, because this is his mission: to make God known (1:18).  How believers hold the grace and glory of Jesus in balance is critical to the life of faith.  The grace is destroyed if one tries to harness it for false power and authority, and the glory is lost if one does not recognize its presence in the quiet places of Jesus’ grace.  Both the grace and the glory are essential to God’s revelation in Jesus.” (Ibid.)

Earthly glory can lead to grace.  It shouldn’t be shunned necessarily.  And when power leads to glory that glory should be directed in a way that shows God’s grace.

Famous author J.K. Rowling said, “You have a moral responsibility when you have been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently.”  She certainly embodies that.  As the author of the Harry Potter series she’d made lots of money.  I’m not sure the total now, but a few years ago she was netting $1.6 million a day!  Yet in 2012 Forbes dropped her from their billionaires list because she gives so much away.

And she works hard using her talents for others.  She’s written numerous books whose proceeds go to charities she’s selected.  Her glory is used in service to others.

You’re heard me say my one cousin’s theology before, “Jonathan, when are you going to learn that God put stupid people on the earth for the rest of us to take advantage of?”  That is certainly power being used for the sake of glory.

Jesus shows that power, privilege, status, and anything like that come with responsibility.  When you have the advantage how are you going to use it?

Are you going to hide from it?  You’d better not.  Jesus could have left the disciples to struggle on the lake.  But he knew it was time when his glory was needed for help.

Are you going to use your advantage to get yourself glory?  You’d better not.  Jesus didn’t accept glory for feeding a crowd of thousands with a little boy’s lunch.

Advantage, superior skills, talents… they all come with responsibility.

I wish the jocks in high school wouldn’t have acted so cocky when they helped us win a game.  I wish they could have said, “I’m glad I could help our school pull out a win.”  because we didn’t win much!”  That’s neither arrogance, nor false humility.  It is meaningful acknowledgement of your gifts and a sharing of them for the betterment of all.

Whether you feel like you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, or you feel as worthless as the crumbs that get scattered from a sandwich when a little kid eats, God has given you gifts.  You owe God the glory for those gifts.  You owe it to what God has done in you to work to improve and enhance those gifts.  And you owe it to the people around you to share in them.

May the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who did not use his power for his own glory, but used it to bring others to glory and to reveal God’s gracious nature.

April 29, 2018 Easter 5 John 5:1-18

If you have a Scandinavian heritage you are probably familiar with Sven and Ole jokes.  It is hard to imagine two more bungling people, and the jokes always add absurdity to absurdity in a completely unpredictable way.  For example, Sven and Ole are nailing siding on a house.  Sven hears Ole regularly cursing and throwing away nails.  He says, “Ole, what’s the matter that you keep throwing away nails?”  Ole replies, “Half of these nails are junk.  The heads and points are on the wrong ends!”  Sven replies, “Ole you idiot!  There’s nothing wrong with them nails.  Them nails is for the other side of the house!”

Now there’s no connection between that silly Sven and Ole story and the gospel reading, except that the gospel reading also has some completely unexpected twists.  Usually someone comes to Jesus asking to be healed.  In the gospel reading Jesus comes to the man without him asking.  In fact it’s Jesus who asks him, “Do you want to be made well?”

Well of course this man wants to be made well, we think.  He’s been sick for 38 years after all!  Or does he?  That’s a good question to ask.  A healthy man would have to go out into the fields and work for a living.  He’d be out in the scorching hot sun sweating and toiling, day after day, or perhaps the cold and rain and storms and wind… year after year, wearing out his body for a subsistence living at best, or at worst as a servant or hired hand where his labor was making someone else rich.

By contrast this guy could lay in the shade of the temple complex all day every day.  He could beg from people for his food rather than working for it.  He could receive pity basically for free rather than having to work to earn respect.  It is very hard to “make it” today.  It takes a lot of hard work, good decisions, commitment, and character and integrity.  The same could be said for those days.

You may remember the Christian education course Servant or Sucker that we ran a few years ago.  It addressed the question of what is the best way to help people who beg.  It showed that the situation is complicated.  Often people have addictions or mental health problems, and no simple handout from someone driving by is likely to help.  Sometimes people do truly need help.  And sometimes they’re just scamming because it’s easier than working.  The course concludes that the best thing to do is not directly help people who beg, but instead support organizations that do.  Those organizations have the staff and training to handle the complexities of things.  You can support those organizations either with financial gifts or by volunteering your time.

As an aside, that’s the way we apply our efforts as a congregation.  We do no direct support.  The Community Outreach Committee works through other organizations.  We partner with other churches for the food cupboard and other help programs.  Family Promise is coming on board and that will be run by people trained in identifying people most likely to benefit from help.

When I did my clinical pastoral education at the University of Tennessee Medical Center I served as a chaplain for the large hospital.  The chaplains’ office had some things available to help people in need, and many people asked for help.  But it was always hard to know how to discern who should be helped and who was scamming.

I remember one night when I was on call a young single woman who was having trouble with her pregnancy came into the hospital with some problems.  The hospital quickly addressed her medical needs, but that left her the problem of how to get back home.  She was living in an apartment and apparently the baby’s father was no longer in the picture and he wouldn’t give her a ride.  She knew the chaplains had vouchers for taxi rides and she asked me to give her one.  I was concerned for more than just her getting home so I engaged her in a conversation about her whole life situation.

It turns out she came from a financially successful family that ran a car dealership.  Her family was supportive.  They hadn’t kicked her out.  She was welcome to move back home.  But they did want her to act more responsibly than she had.

I decided not to give her a taxi voucher.  I thought she was both milking the generosity of the hospital, and that she needed to reconnect to her family for the support she would need for the baby.  Helping her with a taxi voucher felt like it would do more harm than good. 

She wasn’t too happy with me, but I wasn’t afraid of using tough love.  However she was quite clever.  She knew my shift would end in several hours and a new chaplain would come on duty.  Indeed the next chaplain gave her a taxi voucher, and at our next staff meeting I was reprimanded for being hard-hearted.  Maybe I was wrong, but I still maintain that she had a supportive family system and was only turning away from her family out of pride, and that swallowing that pride was the long term healthiest thing for her.

Would that we had the insight of our all-knowing Lord.  But we don’t.  We muddle through sometimes getting it right and sometimes getting it wrong.

Notice the man’s reply to Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”  And did you also notice that there is no verse 4 in our gospel?  It’s been left out.  It’s been dropped because the most ancient and reliable copies of John we have don’t include it.  But it does help to explain the whole situation.  Verse 4 continues verse 3, “In these [porticos] lay many invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed waiting for the stirring of the water; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred up the water; whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water wade made well from whatever disease that person had.”

We would think this is medical nonsense, but it does explain why the man was there and it explains his answer.  He’s tried to get into the pool, but he apparently doesn’t have anyone to help him get there and he’s not fast enough to get there first.

Whether we agree with the idea of an angel coming and stirring a pool in the temple complex and people getting healed by it or not, this text does point out one certain truth.  Receiving a miracle - being restored to fullness of life – immediately leads to complications.  You’d think the religious leaders who saw this man would rejoice at his health!  You’d think they’d want to hear his story and track down the man who did it – Jesus.  You’d think they’d rejoice in the mercy and power of God that Jesus embodies.  But what do they focus on?  They say, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”  The sarcastic side of me thinks, “What, should he have left it behind?  Then you would have fined him for littering!” 

Notice the religious leaders completely miss the miracle that has just happened.  They are so offended by a petty offense of Sabbath observance that they can’t see anything else.  They cannot believe that God would work outside the boundaries they believe God has.  They need to read their own scriptures!  Forget what the New Testament teaches, it’s all in the Old Testament too.  God gave rules and regulations to promote health, create safety, and create good order.  Never ever does God say I want you to follow the rules for their own sake.

But accepting the grace of God would upend the world of the religious leaders.  And so, they don’t receive it.  There is a contrast between a man literally sick and crippled who is healed and restored to a joyous productive life.  I think this guy rejoiced at the idea of going out and working in the hot sun all day every day because it meant productive work for him.  He wasn’t lazy, or manipulative or scheming. 

Now look at the religious leaders.  They’re crippled by their own rules and regulations.  They can’t see God’s grace outside of their own view.  Jesus has come and he will free them too – free them for much greater productivity.  But they won’t take it.  It is they who choose to stay sick.

May your eyes be open to the ever new possibilities and things God is doing.  May you have the strength to accept healing and forgiveness even when it might complicate your life like it did the man Jesus healed.  But like him, may you know the joy of wholeness that Jesus provides to all who accept his touch.