07-18-2021 Back Where We Belong

Rev. Jay Rowland

Back Where We Belong

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

July 18, 2021

“Come to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile…”

Jesus’ disciples have just returned from being “out there”. Jesus had sent them out in pairs with instructions to bring only the clothes on their backs. Off they went to live their faith in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

And as we catch up with them today they have returned. They gather around Jesus eager to tell him all about it. Because there is much to share.

And after hearing about their experience, Jesus says to them, “let’s get away from here and rest awhile”. It would seem that the hustle-bustle world has returned along with them.

As I’ve pondered this scene, it occurred to me that just like the disciples, you and I, we have also been “out there” for a while, out there living our faith in the hustle-bustle of everyday life … and an everyday pandemic, the best we can. And now here we are “gathered around Jesus to tell him all about it” all about these past 15/18months and counting since the pandemic changed everything.

I hear and I see Jesus listening to us, looking at us as he listens and I hear him saying to us, “come away with me to a deserted place and rest awhile”.

And here we are in church, we’ve come away to a place some might say qualifies as a deserted place, yet here to tell Jesus everything. And surely he already knows how hard this pandemic has been on you. And surely Jesus knows the toll it has had on our faith.

Just as I think the disciples learned from their going-out-there and returning, faith is inseparable from every facet of our life and experience. Faith, it turns out, is a living, breathing aspect of our human existence.

Yet it surprises us that the path of our faith isn’t linear or orderly—that actually it’s anything but linear and orderly. And that can leave us languishing.

But Jesus also knows that each and every Sunday, for as long as people have been coming to worship, people come to worship weighed down and beaten down by life … carrying heavy burdens weighing heavily on the heart and spirit. And yet in spite of that, or perhaps because of it, look around: people still come to worship. We show up here wanting, needing to tell Jesus everything.

When I stop and think about that, it’s astounding.

Given everything going on in your life, everything that’s happened in your life and in the world where you live, here you are.

Again!

Here WE are. Again.

If there were only two of you sitting here or watching out there on the internet, it would still be astounding. Here in this “modern era” … here at a time of increasingly intentional division and isolation, here you are. Here we are: Gathered around Jesus to tell him everything!

That’s astounding.

Here we again, as we are most every Sunday morning … because … why?

I mean, unlike other “choices” we have to consider,

nobody commands us or coerces or orders us to be here.

Nobody assigns us to be here. This is not a “project” or an assignment …

Being here gives us no competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Being here does not produce a financial benefit—on the contrary, many of you actually give away your money when you’re here or after you’ve been here.

What in the world?! Right?

Something is going on here. Something truly and deeply important happens when we gather to worship God. It happens whether the worship experience is “good” “bad” (or neutral). It happens whether we gather in person or remotely. And when we do, every time we gather, no matter how we gather, something happens. We cannot fully explain it, other than to say it has everything to do with the Lord and more than a little something to do with you.

Each one of you.

All of us.

Together.

And without worship, we just don’t feel like ourselves.

To me, intellectually perhaps, theologically speaking, I tend to think about worship as mystical communion with God and with God’s people which is deeply nourishing to our spirits and to our human being. Worship is communion with the Lord and with the people sitting with us in this sanctuary and with the people who are here via the internet and you know what? AND with the people in heaven. We are joined by our common love for the Lord, by our desire to worship the Lord together and by our shared experience of the community God creates through this activity of worship.

It’s not an accident. It isn’t a byproduct of something else.

It’s very much an intentional gift given to us by the God of Creation, practiced and enhanced by Jesus the Savior, and infused with the love and energy of the Holy Spirit. Worship is spiritually significant because … we keep coming back. And it’s important to say all this out loud and to think about this, right now, while we’re worshiping.

Something IS happening here. No matter what’s gone in your life up to this point, something happens when we’re here.

And God did we miss it when it was suddenly taken away.

So often in life, it occurs to me, we don’t feel like we belong. We don’t always feel comfortable or seen or known in the various gatherings which happen all through life. At its core and at its best, worship is that rare place and opportunity where we belong. This is the place where God conveys a message LOUD and CLEAR and also quietly and subtly to anyone with a heart and spirit to receive the message:

YOU

BELONG

HERE.

You belong!

Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t churches and worship services out there that send a contrary message. It’s out there. But even so, we cling to the Jesus we meet in the Gospels, and the Jesus witnessed to in the New Testament, like the God who appears all through the Bible repeatedly proclaims and invites all into community

You are part of this community.

You belong to the God community.

And not only that, you are vitally important to this community.

This is the refrain sung throughout the Bible.

It all began with two people in an abundant garden. And it continues to this very day. This community spans all eras and cultures and languages, and every step of the way it insists on including YOU. No matter what else happens. You belong. From your first breath to your last.

And then, not even death can take this away from you or take you away from this.

Meanwhile, however, this life we live and this world where we live features different “shepherds” along the way, as Jeremiah referred to, shepherds who mistreat us, who threaten us, who manipulate us, and shame us and bully us in order to prove to themselves that they are far more important than any one or any thing else in life.

Those shepherds make demands on us; they don’t care a whit about us but they make demands. AND they expect total conformity even though they have done NOTHING to earn our trust—actually they do so much to betray our trust. Those shepherds do serious damage while they’re in positions of trust and authority, but somehow, so far, we have survived in spite of them, we have survived the damage and harm they inflict. Because God is watching, God cares, and God is here too.

Meanwhile, Jesus, just like the God from whom he comes, stands before us and with us and looks upon us with compassion, because just like the God from whom Jesus comes, Jesus sees and knows that we are like sheep without a shepherd. But Jesus you’ll notice expends NO energy inflating his own importance. He neither threatens nor demands, nor does he manipulate. He does not coerce or inflict himself upon ANYONE. Not even upon those who intended to do him harm—worse than harm.

Like sheep with a good shepherd, his sheep know his voice and follow him because Jesus speaks and moves with compassion; Jesus’ every movement is to heal and restore and revive. Jesus endures injustice at the hands of earthly authority and even church authority rather than subverting it by force or guile. Jesus the Good Shepherd endured false arrest, torture, beatings, betrayal and excruciating death to show us that God’s kingdom of Love prevails.

Something is happening.

And that something is this: whenever we come together around Jesus and tell him everything about life “out there” we not only remind ourselves, we actually experience that He is our home.

He is our home even when we run away or lose our way, Jesus comes looking for us, like the Good Shepherd He is. Gently, always gently. Never forcefully. Never arrogantly. Never condemning us or condescending. But always returning to us—not because He went anywhere, but because we regularly do ...

Jesus returning to us.

Ever returning.

Whatever happens to us or in us out there, there is always a place for us. A good place. A safe place. A place of deep nourishment. A place Jesus creates for us.

What happens when we gather here around Jesus is, we glimpse that place we deeply need and to which we are destined. That place which never disappears and nothing can take away from us.

Because that place is God. And that place is Jesus. Home.

And though at times we deny it and we wander away from it and we get pushed and shoved and jostled and driven away from it at times, the Lord always always always leads us back around, again and again and again, and again, back where we belong.

07-11-2021 Chosen for an Inheritance

Thomas J Parlette
“Chosen for an Inheritance”
Ephesians 1: 3-14
7/11/21

        What would you do if tomorrow you found out that you had inherited an unexpected fortune? What problems would it solve for you? What problems would it create? How would a surprise inheritance affect your life?
        There was once a wealthy bachelor from Portugal named Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral da Camara. I know, quite a name, isn’t it?  I had to practice it a few times – and I’m sure I still got something wrong in there. Luis had inherited a large amount of money which he spent on motorcycles, shooting, and drinking. The rest he wasted, as the old joke goes.
        Being a bachelor, he didn’t have anyone to leave his fortune to, so he picked the names of 70 random strangers from a Portuguese phonebook and left them each a share in his estate. After his premature death at the age of 42, many of his heirs thought they were being scammed when they received their unexpected inheritance.(1)
        Even more amazing is the story of a journalism in Moldova named Sergey Sudev. Sergey received a surprise inheritance totaling around $1 billion dollars from an uncle he hadn’t see in ten years. Yes, that’s billion with a “B!” The inheritance made him one of the wealthiest citizens in one of the poorest countries in Europe.(2)
        I once read about a company that specializes in locating missing heirs so they can claim their inheritance. Heir Hunters International employs teams of researchers to finds people who have an inheritance waiting for them. The company claims that they have “handled cases totaling well over $100 million.” That’s a huge amount of money, but it’s still a small percentage of the $47.1 billion dollars’ worth of unclaimed inheritances worldwide, according to the New York Times.(3)
        It’s hard to imagine that there could be that much wealth waiting around to be claimed by its rightful heirs. What a difference it would make in their lives if they knew that they had such riches waiting for them.
        That’s the message Paul is trying to share with us today. God has abundant gifts waiting for the children of God. Paul tells us that we are greatly blessed. He writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Note those words- “every spiritual blessing.” God doesn’t hold back any spiritual blessing from us. The power, the authority, the hope, the joy, the peace, the love of God are all available to God’s children. So why do so many Christians struggle with anxiety, envy, greed, fear and hopelessness? Perhaps we just don’t understand the truth and value of the spiritual blessings we’ve been given.
        Rev. Ian Brown tells a story of an old miser who buried all his gold in a hole in the ground. Once a week, the miser dug up the gold and stared at it. He savored it. He dreamed of what he could do with it. And then he put the gold back into the hole and covered it up again.
        One day a thief dug up his gold and stole it. When the miser came to stare at his gold, all he saw was an empty hole. He began to howl with grief and his neighbors came to see what the matter was.
        One of the neighbors asked, “Did you ever use any of the gold?”
        No, never. I only dug it up to look at it.”
        “Well then,” said the neighbor, “for all the good it did you, you may as well come every week and stare at this empty hole.”(4)
        Living in ignorance of our spiritual blessings is as useful as burying a bag of gold in the ground and never using it. We need to recognize our blessings, thank God for them, and claim these blessings as the foundation of our lives. That is the key to living without anxiety, fear, poor self0image, envy, greed and hopelessness.
        First of all, we are blessed that we have been chosen. Paul writes to the Ephesians, reminding them God has blessed them “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world”. We have been chosen for an inheritance of spiritual blessing.
        The words “in Christ” appears ten times in the book of Ephesians. Paul wants us to realize that Jesus did the work for us. We don’t have to earn it. We don’t have to be good enough to deserve it. Out of his love for us, Jesus sacrificed his own life to guarantee us all the spiritual blessings that flow from his own relationship with God. So when we read that “in Christ” we become children of God, it means that our identity and inheritance are sealed by the sacrificial, unconditional love of Jesus. As Paul put it, God “destined us for adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ.”
        So what does it mean that we are chosen in Christ? If you are chosen, that means you are valued. You are loved. It means that God has a purpose for you. You don’t choose a painting unless you plan to display it and enjoy it. You don’t choose a pet unless you plan to nurture and protect it. You don’t choose a spouse unless you plan to cherish and love that person. Now consider that God chose you and destined you for adoption as God’s own child before the creation of the world. Once we understand that truth, how can we doubt God’s love for us.
        In November 1984, a young man named Patrick was doing his laundry in the dorm laundry room at San Francisco State University. It was late at night, and Patrick was spooked by a sound coming from a cardboard box in the corner of the room. He walked over and peeked inside and was shocked to see a baby. It was a new-born baby girl, abandoned in a college dorm laundry room. The baby’s body temperature was dropping, and she was turning blue. Patrick grabbed the first student he saw, a nursing student named Esther Raiger, and asked for help. Luckily, Esther had just completed a course on infant care, so she cared for the baby until paramedics arrived.
        The hospital staff named the newborn Baby Jane Doe. When the story hit the news outlets, numerous people around the country offered to adopt her. Among those who contacted Child Services were Sam and Helene Sobol. Helene says that the moment she saw Baby Jane’s picture in the papers, she said to herself, “This is our baby.”
        The Sobols adopted the little girl and changed her name to Jillian. Jillian Sobol. They never hid the fact that she was adopted but they didn’t tell her the circumstances of her birth until she turned 16. They were concerned that Jillian might be upset at her abandonment. But when Jillian recalls the conversation, she remembers the overwhelming feelings of being “special and loved.” It didn’t matter to her how her life started out. All that mattered was that she had been chosen and adopted. That’s what defined her life.
        More than 20 years later, Jillian Sobol entered San Francisco State University where she had been abandoned – but this time as a student. She graduated in 2015 with a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management.(5)
        In God’s great realm there are no grandchildren, no stepchildren, there are illegitimate children, because each of us is a child of God “in Christ!” We are set free. We are chosen. Let that be the truth that defines you. There is great joy in a feeling of chosen-ness.
        Charles Spurgeon once said that when you are approaching heaven, you will read on the outside gates, “Whosoever will, may come.” But when you turn around, you’ll see written on the inside gates, “Chosen in Him from the foundation of the world.” We are blessed because we are chosen.
        We are also blessed when we realize that our sins are indeed forgiven. To encourage the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that has been lavished on us.” In Christ, we are forgiven and given another chance.
        Someone once wrote into the Reader’s Digest to tell of a problem their mother was having. A medical billing service had just bought an 800 number that was identical to her mother’s number. Her mother started getting dozens of calls every day from people wanting to discuss their bills. She got fed with these calls, as you might imagine, so she called the medical billing service and asked them to change their number. They responded that she should change her number, even though she’d had that same phone number for 20 years.
        So the woman said, “Fine. From now on I’m going to tell everyone who calls that their bill is paid in full and their account has been forgiven.”   
That medical billing company got a new number the very next day.(6)
        Paul himself serves as a powerful example of the joy and freedom found in forgiveness. Paul wrote, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church. But by the grace of God I am what I am.” Even though Paul once persecuted the church, through the grace of God, he was forgiven and given another chance. With his new life, Paul set forth proclaiming the message of salvation to Jews and Gentiles alike.
        True freedom and new life are possible if we live our lives in service to Jesus Christ. In him, we are set free. In him we are forgiven.
        And finally, we are blessed when we realize that we are not trapped by what has happened to us in the past. Many of us get stuck because we remember and relive old, painful memories.
        There’s an old story about a man who ran into a friend one day. He said, “Say, you look depressed. What are you thinking about?”
        “My future,” was the quick answer.
        “What makes your future look so hopeless?”
        Just as quickly the response was, “My past.”
If this Bible is true, then it is God who defines us, not ourselves, not our friends, not our families. Neither are we defined by our successes or failures, or our strengths and weaknesses. God alone defines our life. And when God looks at us, God doesn’t look at our past. God looks at our possibilities. God looks at our potential. God looks at who we could be.
For some of us, this past year has been the worst year ever. So many people lost jobs, many were laid off. Many found themselves having to cope with less income and more anxiety. Some have experienced death in their families that left them hurting and grieving.
Here’s what Christ says to us – regardless of our circumstances. New beginnings are possible. In fact, this very time is a time of new beginning. You may have spent your life living in anxiety and worry and disappointment. You may have let your family and perhaps your culture or your past define you. God wants you to know that you have nothing to fear. You have been chosen for an inheritance. You have been forgiven. You are longer trapped by what has happened to you in the past. You are of all peoples, blessed with all God’s spiritual gifts.
Let this be the day that you find your identity, your purpose, and your future in Christ.
May God be praised. Amen.

 1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p52.
2.   Ibid… p52.
3.   Ibid… p52.
4.   Ibid… p52-53.
5.   Ibid… p53.
6.   Ibid… p54.

07-04-2021 Power Made Perfect in Weakness

Thomas J Parlette
“Power Made Perfect in Weakness”
2nd Corinthians 12: 2-10
7/4/21

        Today our nation celebrates Independence Day which commemorates the day that the 13 original colonies joined together to declare their independence from Great Britain. In fact, the first time we were ever referred to as the “United States of America” was in the Declaration of Independence, which was accepted by the leadership of the 13 colonies on July 4th, 1776. July 3rd, we were a collection of colonies, subject to rule from Great Britain. July 4th, we were the United States of America. That’s why we call July 4th the birthday of our nation. So I hope you take some time today to recognize and give God thanks for the blessings we enjoy as a nation.
        Of course, no holiday would be as much fun without a blooper somewhere along the way. Like the young fellow who was asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at his school’s assembly, and he got all flustered and blurted out, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one naked individual with liberty and justice for all.” – instead of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Unfortunate in front of an assembly of grade school children. Well, one naked individual may be too much liberty for some of us, but I’m sure the young fella’s heart was in the right place, even though his tongue let him down.(1)
        I hope we can all take some time today to consider what virtues make our nation strong, and what obstacles make us weak, and what part each of us can play in building a nation that will last another 245 years.
        Of course, there are some well-meaning people who believe that pointing out any weakness in our republic is unpatriotic. They are like the business owner who would not allow his wife or any of his employees to point out any of his shortcomings. And so, he went to a formal company banquet where he was asked to say a few words. There he stood before a large group of his employees and their spouses for 30 minutes with a large piece of lettuce stuck firmly between his two front teeth. Everyone saw it, but none of them had the courage to draw it to his attention. Sometimes the person who points out our weaknesses to us is our most valuable friend.
        And that’s what todays passage from 2nd Corinthians is all about – weaknesses, personal weaknesses. We all have them. It doesn’t matter what image we present to the world. It doesn’t matter how much money we have in our bank account. It doesn’t matter what degree or title we have at work. We all have weaknesses. The problem is that we live in a prosperous, image driven society. Nobody puts their weaknesses on Facebook, or Instagram or Snapchat. We only put our best, most airbrushed image out there. The last thing we want our friends to see is our flaws.
        Some of our weaknesses are physical, some are mental, some are moral. Some of those weaknesses have to do with our work, some with our family life, some with our relationship with God. Some of us have short tempers, others of us struggle with depression or anxiety. Some of us are too proud, others of us lack a back bone – we give in too quickly. But all of us are weak in some area of our life.
        Paul was no exception, he certainly had his weaknesses. One in particular caused him much heartache. We don’t know for certain what it was. He called it his “thorn in the flesh.” Some scholars have suggested that Paul may have suffered from epileptic seizures. Maybe – if so, he was in good company. Two of the most powerful men who ever lived – Julius Caesar and Napoleon – were epileptics, as have been many other great individuals though history. In Paul’s day there was no medication to control seizures. You just had to deal with them. And that may have been Paul’s thorn.
        So Paul prayed that God would deliver him from his affliction. Three times he beseeched God about this matter, but God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Let me say that again. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In other words, God seemed to be saying to Paul, “Trust me, I will take care of you. And I can use your weakness to demonstrate my power.”
        We can all learn from Paul’s experience. Paul not only learned to accept his thorn in the flesh, he even began to boast about his weakness in order to show the power of Christ. Our weakness, whatever it may be, can become our strength if we commit it to God.
        Our weakness can become a strength, first of all, if it causes us to grow. When we can grow beyond fear, beyond self-centeredness, beyond immaturity – then we can reflect God’s glory. God’s glory may shimmer in our strengths, but it shines in our weaknesses. When others see us grow in patience, wisdom, courage and faith through our heartaches, that’s when God’s glory shines a light into the hearts and minds of others around us. That’s what causes them to say, “I see God in you, I want what you have.”
        Some of you probably remember the tennis superstar Arthur Ashe. A much-respected man, Ashe – while still at the height of his career – contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. Fellow athletes admired Ashe for his skill and class on the court. But the world came to admire him even more for his courage in facing this tragic illness which led to his untimely death.
        In an interview, Ashe once commented, “If I asked, “Why me?” about my troubles, I would have to ask “Why me?” about my blessings. Why me winning Wimbledon? Why me marrying a beautiful, gifted woman and having a wonderful child. Why me?”(2)
        Arthur Ashe understood that God uses both our joys and our sorrows to grow us into people that reflect God’s glory, character and priorities. As someone has said, our disappointments are God’s appointments. By God’s grace, painful experiences or situations can help us grow.
        Our weaknesses can also become our strengths if they make us more determined to give our best in all circumstances. Remember, your life is not just about you. If you believe in God as your Creator, then you know that God has made you for a greater purpose than your own happiness and comfort. When people look at you, at your character and your choices and your priorities and your actions, they should see the power and truth and love and wisdom of God. Other people should feel some impact from your life. They should be inspired or comforted or challenged or changed because of their contact with you. So how you choose to respond to your weakness matters.
        Bethany Noel Murray is an artist from Boston, Massachusetts. Her paintings look like fantasies of magical forests filled with light and color and strange shapes. Fans of her work describe it as like looking at a beautiful landscape through a kaleidoscope.
        The secret to Murray’s unique and beautiful paintings lies in the pain that she suffers. Bethany Noel Murray has suffered from chronic migraines for over 20 years. In addition to the intense pain of the headaches, she also experiences sensitivity to light and sound, and distortions in her vision during a migraine. Rather than give up her art and hide in bed, Murray turns her pain into beauty. As she says, “My paintings have been proof to me of what I experience during an attack, and despite the pain, I’ve made the choice to see the good, the weird and the beautiful.”(3)
        God may shimmer in our strengths, but God shines in our weakness – if we let our weakness lead us to grow and if it causes us to give our best effort in all circumstances.
        Our weakness can also become a strength if it helps us change our life’s course. Sometimes what seems a weakness is only a signal that we are pursuing the wrong path.
        One of the most revealing lines in literature appears in the opening paragraph of A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh.” Milne writes: “Here is Edward Bear coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way… if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.”
        If you keep bumping your head coming down the stairs, maybe it’s time you stop for a moment and think if there is another way it might be done. Sometimes our so-called weaknesses are simply warning signs to us that we are on the wrong path.
        Since today is the day we celebrate our Independence, I thought I might tell a story about one of the best-known figures in the battle for Independence. He was a man who needed to begin again. His name was Patrick Henry. I’ve always had a soft spot for Patrick Henry since I once made a diorama of him in 6th grade  . Ahh… Diaroma’s- remember those.
        Even though Patrick Henry has been revered for most of our history as a patriot and orator, for years of his life, Patrick Henry was a failure. He and his brother opened a store, but it failed. Next Patrick’s father-in-law set him up in farming, gave him 300 acres, a house and 6 slaves. Yes, that’s right, Patrick Henry was a slave owner. He is best known for saying “Give me liberty or give me death”, but he also owned 6 individuals. I guess the liberty of which he spoke didn’t apply to them. Some of our ancestors had this blind spot – and we are still paying for those sins today, 245 years later.
        In spite of his Father-in-law’s efforts, however, Patrick Henry also failed as a farmer. Finally, on the advice of some friends, Patrick turned to the law. He was a natural persuader and a captivating speaker. As a lawyer, Patrick was an instant success. Furthermore, his was exactly the voice that was needed to launch the colonies toward a break with England. “Give me liberty or give me death”, became the rallying cry for the American Revolution. Though he shared a glaring and regrettable weakness with many of our ancestors, Patrick Henry was not a failure. He was simply in the wrong field for much of his life.(4)
        Finally, and most important of all, our weaknesses may become strengths if they remind us of our dependence on God. Paul says, “Look at me. I once persecuted the church. Look at me, a man who has to battle this humiliating affliction – this thorn in the flesh. Yet Christ has used me to plant churches all over the known world.” Paul was a man of tremendous intellect. He was also a man of unquestionable persuasive powers. Perhaps if it had not been for his thorn in the flesh, he would have leaned on his own ability rather than the power of God working through him. And you and I would never have heard the name of Paul. His weakness became his strength. His scar became a star. His hurt became a halo. And the same thing can happen to us – if our weakness helps us to grow, if our weakness makes us more determined to succeed, if our weakness causes us to try new things, and if our weakness causes us to rely on God.
        God has the power, authority and mercy to answer our every prayer and take away our every weakness. God could make our life as smooth and comfy as a velvet blanket. So why doesn’t God do that? Because our life is meant to be a reflection of God’s love and power. And God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, let us boast of our weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on us. For when we are weak, then we are strong. For as Paul says, “God’s power is made perfect in weakness.”
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, pg47.
2.   Ibid… p48.
3.   Ibid… p49.
4.   Ibid… p49.

06-27-2021 Paul's Oxymoron

Thomas J Parlette
“Paul’s Oxymoron”
2nd Corinthians 8: 7-15
6/27/21

        I’m sure most of you have heard of an oxymoron. It’s a Greek word that means “pointedly foolish.” You make an oxymoron when you put two words together that are complete opposites. They contradict each other. Some classic oxymorons include; “clearly confused,” “act naturally,” “open secret,” “jumbo shrimp.”(1)
        What’s even better than on oxymoron phrase is an oxymoron statement. Artist Andy Warhol was famous for the statement, “I am a deeply superficial person.” Samuel Goldwyn, the famous movie producer, was also famous for his totally contradictory statements. He would say things like, “Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day,” or “Gentlemen, I want you to know that I am not always right, but I am never wrong.” And one of my favorite oxymoron statements comes from the singer Dolly Parton, who once said, “You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap.”(2)
        I wonder if Paul chuckled a little bit when he wrote these words to the Corinthians in this passage for today. He wants to tell the believers in Corinth about the incredible work God was doing in the Macedonian church. So Paul starts this chapter by saying “for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity.” Sounds a bit like an oxymoron. The Macedonian believers were undergoing a severe trial yet experiencing overflowing joy. And even though they lived in extreme poverty, their joy resulted in rich generosity toward other believers who were in need. How often do severe trials and extreme poverty go hand in hand with overflowing joy and rich generosity? Sounds a bit like Paul is creating his own oxymoron statement here.
        Let’s put it in the form of a word problem: Severe trials + extreme poverty = what? It equals overflowing joy and rich generosity. Still, kind hard to swallow. What did the Macedonian believers know that we don’t?
        Rev. Gary Waddingham, former rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Billings, Montana, tells of serving years ago in a rural community. One Christmas, the church had a lot of food left over after they had packed their annual Christmas baskets. Rev. Waddingham thought he would deliver the extra food to a poor family nearby. But as he drove to their house, he began thinking about how to preserve the dignity of the family to whom he would offer the food.
        He arrived at the family’s house, and the mother opened the door. Her children were gathered all around her. Rev. Waddingham explained the situation and asked, “Do you know anyone who could use some extra food? – fully expecting her to accept the offer herself.
        But to his surprise, the woman said, “You bet”, and she grabbed her coat and headed to the Rev’s. car. “Come on, I’ll take you there.” And off they went to deliver food to another needy family in town. She didn’t hesitate to help out. In spite of her own poverty, she had a generous spirit and found joy in giving to a family with an even greater need.(3)
        In 1847, during the Great Famine in Ireland, the Choctaw tribe here in the U.S. raised $147 (which would be equivalent to $5,000 today) and sent it to Ireland. The Choctaw tribe certainly wasn’t rich back then – but they were generous anyway. They saw others in need, and they sacrificed what they could to help.
        In 2020, in response to COVID-19 deaths in the Navajo Nation, the Choctaw and Hopi tribes set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for clean water and medical supplies for Native Americans. Donations to the fund “flooded in” from the people of Ireland. One Irish donor wrote on the GoFundMe page, “Returning your kindness 170 years and 4,000 miles later.”(4)
        So, if generosity doesn’t depend on resources, what does it depend on? And why do we keep using the excuse that once we have more money, then we will give more to the work of God?
        In our scripture passage from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, Paul praises the generosity of the church in Macedonia. He uses their giving as an example to challenge the church at Corinth. It’s a pretty slick and subtle move by Paul. He says gently to the Corinthians, “But since you excel in everything- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” You all are so good at everything – I’m sure you will excel at this too. Pretty sneaky, Paul.
        Then Paul adds, “I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it to the earnestness of other.” I’m not ordering you to do this, Paul says. But he is hoping that they will see that giving is a natural extension of Christian devotion. Giving is an expression of our love for God. In Paul’s terms, it is a test of the sincerity of our love for God. There are a few reasons why generous giving is critical to the devotional life of a Christian.
        One reason is the seductive nature of wealth. There is something a bit dangerous about money – the more you have, the harder it is to share.
        A Gallup poll sometime back confirmed what many of us have observed for years. Donations to charity decrease as income increases. The survey found that low- and moderate-income Americans, especially churchgoers, are more generous than upper-income Americans.
        It’s not true for everyone, though. Pastor Brian Kluth tells about a friend of his named Don. Don is a wealthy businessman who gives generously to those in need. When Brian asked Don about his giving, Don responded, “It helps me slay the dragon.” He went on to explain that our greatest temptation is to believe that our happiness or identity can be found in buying newer, better stuff. He pictures materialism as a dragon that he has to fight against every day. And the only way to fight the dragon is to be a “faithful and generous giver.” Every time he wrote a check to fund the work of the church, it was like wielding a sword to slay the dragon.(5)
        Country music star Ricky Skaggs and his wife believe strongly in tithing 10% of their income to the church and charities. As he says, “If I believe anything about the Bible, I have to know that God wants my money because God knows my money wants me. God doesn’t need my money, but God wants whatever I want more than God.”(6)
        God doesn’t need the money, but God wants whatever we want more than God. Giving generously helps us to slay the dragon of materialism, of pride, of greed, or self-centeredness that stands between us and finding our true happiness and identity in God.
        John Wesley, the preacher who created the framework of the Methodist church, used four criteria for measuring any purchase. Before spending any money, he would ask himself:
-        “Am I acting as a steward of the Lord’s goods?
-        Am I making this purchase in obedience to the Word of God?
-        Can I offer up this expense as a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ?
-        Do I have reason to believe that this purchase will bring me a reward at the resurrection of the just?”(7)
        Pretty tough questions. I admit, I can’t pass all those on most of my purchases. When I buy gas and some corn muffins at Kwik-Trip, I’m not sure I can offer that up as a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ. I need gas to go places, and I like to have a corn muffin with chili sometimes. But Wesley’s questions are a good reminder that the dragon of Materialism is getting larger and larger in our society’s value system. It’s not easy to live by God’s value system in a society that values image and appearance and status symbols. It should work the other way around. It should get easier to give as our wealth increases, but it usually doesn’t. There is something about money that hardens us. No wonder Jesus talked more about money than any other topic.
        So you see, giving is a spiritual question.  Another reason generous giving is critical to the devotional life of a Christian has to do with the wonderful things that money can do. Regardless of our circumstances, we have to admit that there are some things that only money can buy. Like braces for you children’s teeth and a good education. Like quality healthcare and a worry-free retirement. Like dependable transportation and a warm house on a cold night. In a society such as ours, money is a very valuable commodity.
        British pastor Charles Spurgeon was one of the most famous and influential preachers of the late 1800’s. In addition to his church ministry, Spurgeon founded an orphanage in London. He preached a special service once each year to raise money for the orphans. One year at this special service, a man approached Spurgeon and accusingly, “Why, Mr. Spurgeon, I thought you preached for souls and not for money!”
        To which Spurgeon replied, “Normally I do preach for souls and not for money. But my orphans can’t eat souls and if they did, my brother, it would take at least four the size of yours to give one of them a square meal!”(8)
        Our giving is a spiritual matter simply because there are some things in this world only money can do. It takes money to help the homeless and feed the hungry. It takes money to provide clean water and warm blankets. It takes money to provide counselors to young people in runaway shelters. It takes money to provide a place of worship to draw our eyes and hearts up to experience God.
        Giving is a spiritual matter because of the seductive nature of wealth. It is a spiritual matter because there are some things only money can do. And finally, giving is a spiritual matter be we worship a giving God. Paul says, “For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Jesus gave up everything he had and took on human form to show us the unlimited, overwhelming riches of God’s love for us. We worship a giving God and our God says to us there is only one way that we can become truly rich. That is by giving – all we have and all we are.
        Christian author Randy Alcorn writes, “Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, but he never says why. Here is my own why behind his statement. When you give, two people are blessed by ‘your’ money – you and the recipient. Keeping blesses one – giving blesses two. People never discover the second blessing until they actually do it, and I have learned the more they do it, the more addictive giving becomes.”(9)
        God is love, and out of that overflowing love, God is continually giving good gifts – blessings – to us. And God wants us to share in the joy of giving by giving generously to others. Love is the true sword that slays the dragons of materialism, greed, pride and self-centeredness. Love sets us free to be a blessing to others. We think more money will set us free, but that is rarely the answer. Love for God and trust in God’s blessings set us free to be a blessing to the world. That’s the answer to our word problem from the beginning of this meditation – Severe trials + Extreme poverty + Love for God + Overflowing joy and rich generosity. It’s sounds like an oxymoron – but it is the truth.
        Paul said to the Corinthians that they were doing great in every area except one. If they really wanted to excel – if they wanted to know what rich really is – they would need to learn to give.
        When you keep what you have, only you experience a blessing. When you give what you have, the blessing is multiplied and the joy overflows. Do want to experience the richness of life? Generous giving to the work of God is the best way to experience how rich life can be.
        May God, the giver of all good gifts, be praised.
        Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p43.
2.   Ibid… p43,
3.   Ibid…. p43.
4.   Ibid… p43-44.
5.   Ibid… p44.
6.   Ibid… p44.
7.   Ibid… p44.
8.   Ibid… p45.
9.   Ibid… p45.

06-20-2021 Asleep in the Back of the Boat

Thomas J Parlette
“Asleep in the Back of the Boat”
Mark 4: 35-41
6/20/21

        Good morning, and Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers and father figures here today or watching at home this morning. Thank you for all you do to shape our lives, and for the example you provide us in managing the ups and downs in life.
        One of my favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan, posted on twitter, “My 4 yr old gave me a handmade card for Father’s day. It was very cute. Maybe for Christmas I’ll draw him a picture of some toys.” A man named Mike Primavera tweeted, “Get your dad what he really wants this Father’s Day by turning off the lights when you leave a room.” And then there’s a tweet from username Dad and Buried, who writes, “Called my dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day and we spent the whole time discussing back pain and ibuprofen. The circle is now complete.”(1)
        Today we celebrate Fathers. And both of our biblical passages for today say something about not just fathers, but all good parents. Good parents have a natural impulse to step in and protect their children, serving as an example in tough times and guiding them to learn from the challenges and storms that are a part of life.
        First, we hear the well-known story of David and Goliath. The giant Goliath is chosen by the Philistines to fight any warrior from Israel that would care to step forward. Of course, no one does. So David volunteers. Even though he is just a boy, probably half the size of Goliath, with no experience as a warrior at all. Yet David is confident, because the Lord is with him. With the Lord’s support, he has fought off wild animals to protect his flock. David has confidence that the Lord will be with him to fight Goliath. King Saul reluctantly agrees and sends David off to fight saying, “may the Lord be with you.”
        And we all know how that turned out. The Lord was with David in the face of this enormous challenge, and David killed Goliath with a single smooth stone.
        Our Gospel story from Mark begins at the end of a typical day for Jesus and his disciples. Jesus has been teaching huge crowds of people by the Sea of Galilee. But the crowds have finally gone home, and it’s time to pack up and head to their next ministry spot in the region of the Gerasenes, in modern day Jordan. It must have been a tiring day. Jesus went to back of the boat to catch a quick nap. And suddenly a storm swept in. “A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
        These guys were professional fisherman. They had been on these waters their whole lives. They had been through these kinds of storms before. They knew how to ride one of them out. So this must have been a really furious storm to make these guys think they were going to die. “Jesus… don’t you care?”
        It’s a question that is familiar to anyone who faces an insurmountable foe – like David, or a ferocious storm that threatens death – like the disciples on the sea.
        Why doesn’t Jesus intervene immediately?
Why is he asleep in the back of the boat?
        Where is God in my distress?
        Don’t do you care?
        Reynolds Price, in his book Letter to a Man on Fire, tells of getting a letter from a young man named Jim who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Price had survived his own bout with cancer a few years earlier, and Jim was writing to him because he knew Price would understand his fear and his questions. Jim wrote, “I want to believe in a God who cares… because I mat meet him sooner than I had expected. I think I am at a point where I can accept the existence of God… but I can’t yet believe God cares about me.”(2)
        “I want to believe in a God who cares…” That’s a question we all wrestle with sometime in our lives. And if God does care about us, why does God let storms happen? Why do we have to face giant foes like Goliath?
        This story in Mark’s Gospel is an affirmation that, yes, God cares, as evidenced by Jesus’ actions. When the storms of life are raging, Jesus does care. When it seems you cannot hold on a moment longer, Jesus does care. When the waters threaten to engulf you. Jesus does care. Jesus cares because he knows what life is like. He became flesh and blood, just like us. He has already placed himself in the middle of the storms we face.
        Author Glenn Scrivener says that a few years ago he prayed to God that he would get to know God better. Within a week of that prayer, Glenn’s employers deported him from England back to Australia, his long-time girlfriend broke up with him, and his parents announced they were getting a divorce.
        In the midst of all these events, Glenn had a revelation: God was using these storms to answer Glenn’s prayer. He realized that following Jesus often leads us into challenging pathways. Jesus may very well lead us directly into a storm. But it’s not because he doesn’t love us. It’s not because he wasn’t prepared for it. It’s because we can’t understand the power and the peace of God unless we encounter it in the middle of a storm. The best way to get to know God is to be caught in a storm with God.(3)
        And that’s a lesson the disciples needed to learn, and they couldn’t learn it any other way. David had already learned it as he fought off wild animals to protect his flock. Now it’s the disciples turn. So the disciples rouse Jesus from his sleep, and he speaks to the wind and the waves, “Peace1 Be still!” And the wind ceases and there is a great calm. Then he turns to the disciples and asks, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
        Notice that Jesus does not say “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” He says, “Why are you afraid?”
        That’s because there are many things in life to be rightly afraid of. Isolation, pain, illness, meaninglessness, rejection, losing your job, money problems, failure and death – they are all fearsome things.
        But our faith assures us that none of these things have the last word. Jesus shows here that he has power over all the forces that would threaten to undo us.
        The novelist Emily Bronte lived and wrote in a rectory set in the bleak moors of Yorkshire. She lived a grim tragedy with her half-demented father and alcoholic brother. Nevertheless, she was able to write words like these: “No coward soul is mine, no trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere. I see Heaven’s glories shine, and faith shines equal, arming me from fear.”(4)
        The deep truth is that even though there are real and fearsome things in this life, they need not paralyze us; they need not have power over us; they need not own us, because we are not alone in the boat.
        A scene near the end of John Bunyan’s classic allegorical novel The Pilgrim’s Progress finds the chief character, Christian, the archetype of a person struggling to lead a life of faith, nearing the end of his symbolic journey. This journey requires him to cross a great and fearsome river. He is desperately afraid. Together with his friend Hopeful, they wade into the waters with trepidation. Bunyan has Christian cry out, “I sink in deep Waters; the Billows go over my head, all His waves go over me.” Hopeful replies with what may be among the most grace-filled words in all of literature; “Be of good cheer, my Brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good…”(5)
        Or, in Jesus’ own words – “Peace, be still. Don’t be afraid.”
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p39.
2.   Ibid… p40.
3.   Ibid… p41.
4.   Michael Lindvall, Feasting on the Word, Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, p168.
5.   Ibid… p168

06-13-2021 Confident Hope

Confident Hope

Rev. Jay Rowland

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

Sun June 13, 2021

6 (NRSV) So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 GNB for our life is a matter of faith, not of sight. 8 So, yes, we do have confidence [that] we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please [The Lord]. 10(MSG) Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, [both] good & bad.

14 (GNB) We are ruled by the love of Christ, now that we recognize that one man died for everyone, which means that [we] all share in his death. 15-17 (MSG) Jesus included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life--a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Because of this ... we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges!

NRSV = New Revised Standard Version

GNB = Good News Bible

MSG = The Message Bible

**************************

I come into this day and this moment with Hope in my heart and in my spirit. I chose to focus on this passage from 2 Corinthians today because of the clear message of hope it proclaims.

I don’t know about you, but I would be utterly lost without hope. On any given day, any given moment or circumstance I have to have some amount of HOPE in me. When it comes to hope, hey, I’m all ears. And so I pray that the hope declared by Paul in this passage will resonate deeply in your mind, in your spirit, and in your life through the Holy Spirit far beyond my interpretation of it now.

As all preachers always do, I rely on the Holy Spirit again today, trusting that God’s intent for this preaching moment prevails the words and the images I speak into the air in the coming moments or in spite of them. I love this passage from 2 Cor 5 for the way it breathes life into the idea of spiritual hope--that is, hope distinguished from general optimism, Hope that is ours through the Love of God revealed in the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

It seems to me that Paul invokes a particular kind of (spiritual) hope, which Paul actually refers to as a distinct form of CONFIDENCE--the Greek word is tharreo which appears elsewhere in the NT translated as either “bold” or “confident” .

Now I’m not a particularly confident person by nature. I’m actually insecure by nature which in my experience is the exact opposite of confidence, right? So Paul’s word choice here jumps off the page at me as I ponder this hope available to us in Jesus Christ.

Again, not just any ol’ hope, but what I see as supernatural confidence comes to us through Jesus rather than anything you or I are capable of producing for ourselves in any given moment. Other Bible translations offer the word “courage” for tharreo ... which is helpful in some ways, and unhelpful in others. Unhelpful in that, to me, courage is something I may or may not have when I need it the most. I am always inspired by the courage of others, and ultimately Jesus of course, but apart from seeing it in action in others, I wonder whether I will meet any moment with “courage” especially moments when it may be needed the most.

And for me that’s what faith comes down to, not courage necessarily, but instead having hope/confidence beyond my own capability when I need it the most. Right? I mean, hope and confidence are typically attainable when life is going well--when our kids are doing well, when our loved ones are healthy--spiritually, mentally/emotionally and physically. But when such is not the case for whatever reason, that’s when hope/confidence--moreover our hope/confidence and trust in God--can evaporate or be missing in action.

So, spoiler alert: dissonance is woven into the Good News of God’s powerful Love displayed in Jesus Christ, dissonance which can spoil our willingness or ability to grasp God’s astounding and otherworldly Love. Doubts creep in and feast upon our insecurities whenever life becomes difficult, uncertain, even cruel to us, our loved ones, friends & neighbors. And it’s all the more excruciating when/if we realize we have ZERO control over life and death, zero control over all the dangers and accidents and happenstance that happens in between birth and death, as COVID has painfully demonstrated for the past 15 months.

So what are we to do?

How do we have any confidence in the midst of all the uncertainties and hardships of life?

Even if we accept that we have only the illusion of control at any given time, what are we to DO? We can’t just sit around and wait on God all the time.

How shall we live, and move and have our being without crumpling under the weight of our anxieties, our fears and all the uncertainties of life?

That’s where verse 10 comes in. The Message Bible translation expresses it well:

Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that’s what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions.

In other words, Paul suggests we find out what seems pleasing to God in any given moment, regardless of our conditions, and let that be the operative question to lead and guide our focus, our energy, and our direction. Then sit back and watch, see if perhaps this focus might also distract us from our anxieties and fears.

But what exactly is pleasing to God, you ask?

Well, that’s really between you and God.

That' sounds like a dodge I know, but I can’t prescribe any stock answer; that wouldn’t be right. It truly is between you, God and the Holy Spirit working in you, through your personality, your interests, your passion, your LIFE in Christ. 

But Paul does offer us spiritual guidance--starting at v14 where he encourages us to live our lives ...

ruled by the love of Christ, now that we recognize that [Jesus] died for everyone, which means that [we] all share in his death. (MSG) Jesus included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life--a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Because of this ... we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at [Jesus] that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges!

Paul offers us a way to be all about pleasing the Lord, which also--I think--opens to us new doorways of hope ... hope we need for all that ails us … new life unleashing joy within us. Paul points us toward a life of confident hope: hope arising from moments which may have previously left us cowering in fear--moments when we fear our own mortality; the mortality of those we love; or the seemingly intractable problems of global warming, gun violence, police brutality, anything and everything which otherwise chip away at confident hope in The Lord.

“by saying that Christ “died for all,” Paul simply means that … “in Christ God did something radically new for the whole world” (CEP/Bratt/LenVanderZee). But clearly the “whole world” as it were, is free to make up its own mind about that. What I mean by that is “God didn’t let people kill Jesus before raising him from the dead just to offer people some kind of religious deal .… God doesn’t offer Jesus as one choice among many in the so-called religious marketplace … God’s work in Christ actually changes the world. In Christ God initiates a new creation (CEP/Bratt/Vander Zee)

We don’t have to do the initiating. God is already at work, indeed it has already begun. For the seed that is God’s transforming “work” to blossom in our lives requires only God’s grace working with our growing faith and spiritual development. And so as Paul explains, it seems that God’s plan is for people to respond to Christ’s death and resurrection by faithfully reconciling ourselves to God and each other. (CEP/Bratt)

That reconciliation, in turn, shapes the way we view the people around us. Instead of viewing people from “worldly” perspectives, we begin to see people, flawed and fearful people as we all can be, as people whom God wants to set free from the chains of fear…. From “now on,” that is, ever since the death and resurrection of Christ completed his saving work, we have the potential--make that the responsibility--to see and care for all people as being those for whom Jesus may well have died. (CEP/Bratt)

(So) To be “in Christ” means that we actually become participants in the “New Age” God created through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ. Experiencing death and resurrection with Christ as we endure painful endings and new beginnings, we discover how to live into “newness of life” (Rom.6:4) before, during and after our own actual death. Over time we become participants with God in bringing about unprecedented reconciliation and peace.* This does not require us to actually be (or worse to fake) “self-confidence” nor even to act confident as the world views confidence, but rather supernatural confidence, supernatural hope, meaning, again hope/confidence that doesn’t depend upon self-confidence or any lack thereof, but which is already given to us through the Life, Death, and the Resurrection of Jesus and in the Love that sustains all Life from cradle to grave and beyond.

**************************************************************

Source indicated by parentheses:

• CEP/Bratt/Vander Zee = Len Vander Zee quoted in commentary by Doug Bratt, Center for Excellence in Preaching, http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/ 2021

*Carl R. Holladay, in Preaching Through the Christian Year (B), A Comprehensive Commentary on the Lectionary, p.309-10 (1993)

06-06-2021 Good Things Come to Those Who Wait-Hope

Thomas J Parlette
“Good Things Come to Those Who Wait-Hope”
2nd Corinthians 4:13-5:1
6/6/21

          What is your favorite toy of all time? Evert Christmas, toy companies push out their latest and greatest toy, but most of those toys prove to be only fads. They sell well one year, then disappear the next. But some toys remain popular year after year, or even decade after decade. Journalist Allie Townsend published an article in Time Magazine on the most influential toys from the 1920’s to the 2000’s See if you remember any of these:
          The Radio Flyer wagon was the most influential toy of the 1920’s – anybody remember those? Anybody still have one?
          The Etch-A-Sketch and the Slip-N-Slide were popular in the 1960’s, and remain popular even today.
          The 1970’s brought us the Nerf Ball, the Weebles, and Paddington Bear – all staples in the household where I grew up.
          Cabbage Patch Kids were the craze of the 1980’s. The 90’s brought us the Super-Soaker water gun. And the 2000’s brought us the Bratz Dolls, the Mindflex headset, and Zhu Zhu robotic hamsters.(1)
          I’m sure it’s hard for toy designers to know which toy is going to be a one hit wonder, and which one will be played with, passed down to younger siblings, remembered with fondness, or even coveted by antiques collectors someday.
          I would bet the inventor of the Weebles never expected his little egg-shaped dolls would be as popular as they are. One reason they sold so well was their advertising song, “Weebles wobble, but they won’t fall down.” Remember that little jingle? Don’t worry, it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
          My youngest sister had lots of Weebles and all the accessories that went with them. She was about 5 or 6 at the time, and I was 11 or 12. So, being the typical older brother that I am, I did my best to test the veracity of that advertising jingle. I did my best to get my sisters Weebles to go down and stay down – but it was true, they would wobble, but they wouldn’t fall down. They always popped back up again. They had weights in the bottom that made sure they would never really fall down. At least not permanently.
          After hearing what Paul says today, you might even say that Weebles actually have a Biblical basis. Paul writes: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” To paraphrase – we may wobble, but we don’t fall down.
          We usually hear this passage at funeral services, I know I often turn to this piece of scripture. Paul’s contrast of our outer nature and inner nature and focus on things eternal that cannot be seen is valuable and I think comforting to hear at memorials. But this passage is not exclusive to funerals. Paul’s words are valuable in the course of our daily lives as well.
          Paul knew what it was like to have status and success – before he was a follower of Jesus, he had certainly had his fair share. But Paul also knew what it was like to suffer hardships, physical abuse and even prison. Life can knock you down sometimes. But like the good old weebles, if you depend on the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ, you may wobble, but you won’t fall down.
          So, first, Paul says don’t allow discouragement to defeat you when hardships and troubles come – “we do not lose heart…” Don’t give up, hang in there and give God a chance to help you through. Wait on the Lord, as Psalm 130 said.
          David Langerfeld in “The Daily Encourager” devotional suggests a mental exercise that helps us see even dire situations in a new light. He says, “Imagine that I dump 10,000 plastic eggs in your back yard. I assure you that inside one of those hollow eggs is a check for $1 million dollars with your name on it. Would you get discouraged if you opened the first 100 eggs without finding the check? How about the first 1000 eggs? Of course not! You would just keep opening those eggs, just waiting for that moment when you find the check.”
          Think about Paul’s life. He was beaten, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, starved, and rejected. And yet Paul said that his sufferings were nothing compared to the glory that would come. As he says in today’s lesson: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen in temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
          “In other words,” says Langerfeld, “Paul had opened a lot of empty eggs, but he never gave up or got discouraged. He believed that something great was in his future – God’s glory revealed in him. Perhaps it feels to you as if your life has been nothing but empty eggs. You’ve already opened 9,000 of them and you’re not sure you’ve got the will to go on. Let me encourage you today. Don’t give up.”(2) Listen to Paul – we do not lose heart.
          The second piece of advice from Paul is to focus on the tasks at hand. Wise people learn to let go of both their regrets about the past and their anxieties about the future, and to concentrate on those necessary things that must be done today.
          It’s too late to do anything about the past. And who knows what tomorrow will bring? Besides, tomorrow will be determined at least in part by what we do today. So, shut the door on the past and leave the future to God, and make today a purposeful and productive one. Do not lose heart. Focus on the tasks at hand.
          Author Patsy Clairmont tells of a conversation she had once with a young Marine. He was returning from serving a year and a half in Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait. Clairmont commented that it must have been difficult to serve overseas while missing his family back home.
          The young Marine said, “Oh no Ma’am. We were taught never to think of what might never be, but to be fully available right where we are.”(3)
          Do not lose heart and focus at the tasks at hand – be fully available in the here and now, where ever you are.
          The final point from Paul is to wait and trust in God. Here, the words of the Psalmist help to make Paul’s point. The over-arching theme of Psalm 130 is waiting…
          “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
          and in his word I hope:
          My soul waits for the Lord.”
Walter Brueggeman points out that the word translated in Psalm 130 as “wait” is often translated elsewhere as “hope” – as in the expectant waiting of a child at Christmas time. Psalm 130 is about wait-hope. It is an act of patience to be on the receiving end of gifts that we are sure to be given.(4) That is the reason Paul says, “We do not lose heart.” Both Paul and the Psalmist know that good things come to those who wait-hope.
          I remember when I was a kid, our family used to take long car trips. And of course, my sisters and I would inevitably ask that age old backseat question – “Are we there yet?”
          Now, in my family there was a distinct three- part progression to this exchange. The first answer we’d hear was “20 minutes.” Didn’t matter where we were going or how far it was. The first answer to “Are we there yet” was always “20 minutes.”
          Well after a few more rounds of “Are we there yet” – we’d get the idea that the answer wasn’t changing – so we changed the question. “How much longer? Or How much farther?”
          The second answer we’d get was always, “Every turn of the wheel brings us closer.”
          Our backseat patience would quickly deteriorate from there into some frustrated version of “When are we going to get there?” Which would prompt the third and final response from my parents – who seemed to enjoy these exchanges much more than my sisters and I – the classic, “Good things come to those who wait.”
          That’s as far as we ever took it – we knew the backseat had been defeated once again. Press any further and there would be yelling, then threats and finally no ice cream for a month. It seems Paul and the Psalmist would agree with my parents Front Seat strategy – do not lose heart, focus on the present and wait-hope for the Lord to act.
          That’s what we do when we gather at the table. We gather to receive the gifts that God would give. It is freely given, there is enough for all. Good things come to those who wait-hope.
          May God be praised. Amen.

1.     Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p30.
2.     Ibid… p31.
3.     Ibid… p32
4.     Walter Brueggemann, “The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann, Vol. 3”, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, p166.

05-30-2021 The Puzzle of the Trinity

Thomas J Parlette
“The Puzzle of the Trinity”
John 3: 1-17
5/30/21
 

        In the late 1980’s, artist Jim Sanborn was hired to create a piece of art to be displayed at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. So Sanborn thought he might have a little fun with this project and create something a little out of the ordinary. He contacted a man named Edward Scheidt, the retired chairman of the CIA’s Cryptographic Center. Scheidt is an expert in encryption and cryptology. Sanborn wanted Scheidt to help him create a message in code for his CIA art piece.

        On November 3, 1990, Jim Sanborn’s piece of art was unveiled at CIA headquarters. It’s called Kryptos – which is the Greek word for “hidden.” It’s a giant copper screen that looks like a wavy, unrolled scroll. On this giant screen, there is a word puzzle. To the untrained eye, it looks like a mass of random letters. But Sanborn and Scheidt say there are four encrypted, or hidden messages within that mass of letters. And those four messages make up a riddle.

        Jim Sanborn thought the folks at the CIA would figure out the puzzle in a matter of weeks. But he was wrong. Over the past 30 years, three of the four messages have been decoded, but the fourth remains a mystery. And even if someone were to correctly decode the fourth message, they’d still have to put the four messages together and solve the riddle. Code experts and amateurs all over the world are still working on cracking the code and revealing the message of Kryptos.(1) Quite a puzzle.

        An even more fascinating form of hidden message comes from the year 499 BC. There was a Greek ruler named Histiaeus who tried to stir up a revolt against the Persian King Darius the 1st. There is an old legend that he sent the plans for the revolt to his nephew by shaving the head of his servant and tattooing a message about the revolt on the servant’s scalp. Then he let the servant’s hair grow back over the tattoo, and sent the servant to visit his nephew, with instructions to shave the servant’s head once he arrived.(2)

        What an ingenious way to hide a message in plain sight. Turn the messenger into the message. When you think about it, that’s what God did with Jesus. God sent Jesus to be both the messenger and the message. As John put it in his famous Prologue, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

        Today is Trinity Sunday – the day we celebrate the mysterious puzzle of God in three persons, one in three, three in one. Indivisible yet everywhere. Beyond time. Without gender.

        One of the great things about Trinity Sunday are the hymns.
“Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty” – the first hymn in our last two PCUSA hymnals.
        “Come, Thou Almighty King,”
        “Sing Glory to the Name of God,” to name just a few.

        In many ways our theology shines through in these hymns, and our personal faith is formed by the music we sing. When we consider the mystery of the Trinity, it’s nice to have these songs to sing to make the mystery make a little more sense.

        Our first hymn draws inspiration from the passage in Isaiah prescribed for this Sunday. Isaiah describes God’s throne room, crowded with many-winged creatures, shaken by earthquake and filled with smoke. The creatures’ song ricochets from the walls, endlessly repeating a single mantra – “Holy, Holy, Holy!”

        Then we hear from Paul, who invites the church in Rome to imagine a different image, to offer a different song. Paul chooses language, not of royalty, but of family: “Abba.” This God who is attended by angels, whose hem brushes the corners of the universe, is our parent, and we are children who confidently sing “Abba.”

        Which brings us to Nicodemus. His song is full of questions – “How can this be?” Something about Jesus and his words intrigues Nicodemus. Jesus has just tossed both tables and tradition out the Temple door. Nicodemus is shocked – and also a bit intrigued. So he creeps toward Jesus under cover of darkness. By the flickering light of an oil lamp, Nicodemus sings – “How can this be? How can we be born again? How can we read the wind? How can we understand the signs? How are we to address you? How can any of this be?”

        After a slight pause, perhaps a smile crept across Jesus’ face as the light flickered in his eye. Then Jesus offered his own song. A song that turns the messenger into the message – “For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

        Martin Luther famously called this verse “the Gospel in miniature.” If all the Bibles in the world suddenly vanished and we could hold only to this one verse, we would know everything that we really need to know. The puzzle of God in Three Persons is answered in this one verse – the Gospel in miniature.

        I once heard one of my storytelling friends tell about this big conference she attended where speaker after speaker lined up to speak on various topics. Finally, the last speaker of the evening stepped up to the mic. He said, “I have only 10 minutes, I barely know where to start.”

        And from the back of the room, someone shouted, “Start at the 9th minute!”

        If pressed on how to understand the Trinity, or explain the nature of God’s character, God’s love and God’s desire for humanity – you really couldn’t go wrong if you jumped to the 9th minute and simply said – “For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

        Pastor Adrian Rogers makes the point that a lot of people reject the message of God’s love in the life and death of Jesus because it’s too amazing to understand and too simple to accept.

        Rogers met a lawyer one day, and they were talking about the books they read. Rogers said the primary book he reads is the Bible. The lawyer thought this was a little short-sighted of Rogers. “If you don’t read any further than that,” said the lawyer, “how do you know what to talk about when you speak to people?”

        Rogers responded that all people everywhere have only three problems – sin, sorrow and death. And he found the wisdom to address those problems in the Bible.

        The lawyer disagreed. There are so many more problems in the world. But Rogers suggested he take some time to think about it and get back to him. The lawyer took some time to ponder their conversation. And when he saw Rogers again, he said, “I think you’re right – Humanity has only three problems – sin, sorrow and death.”

        And Rogers responded, “And Jesus Christ is the only answer to all three problems. You can give me all the wisdom of this world… but there is no other answer apart from the cross.”(4)

        Sin is what separates us from God.

        Sin is what causes our sorrow and death.

        But God so loved the world that God couldn’t leave us separated and broken. God sent Jesus to restore our relationship to God.

        The famous theologian, Karl Barth, was once asked what he thought was the most important word in the New Testament. You would think the answer might be “Jesus” or faith, or love or grace – there are lots of options. But Barth answered none of those. Instead he said the most important word in the New Testament was “huper.” Huper is a Greek preposition that means “on behalf of” or “in place of.” So when Barth called huper the most important word, he meant the most important of all truths is that we are significant because Jesus took our place on the cross that we might be saved.(5)

        The mystery, the puzzle of the Trinity and the nature of God can be answered with one verse – “For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

        And for that, may God, the Great Three in One, be praised.

        Amen.

 1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p26.
2.   Ibid… p26.
3.   JoAnn A. Post, Christian Century, May 19th, 2021, p20.
4.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol, XXXVII, No. 2, p27-28.
5.   Ibid… p28.

05-23-2021 A Long Wait

Thomas J Parlette
“A Long Wait”
Acts 2: 1-21
5/23/21, Pentecost

        There are things in life that are universally annoying…
-        The pen that runs out of ink in the middle of your signature.
-        The driver who cuts you off and doesn’t even bother to wave.
-        And of course – waiting in line.
Universally annoying. But we still have to deal with it at times. There is a woman who tells of trying to get a table at a very popular and very busy restaurant. She approached the hostess and asked quite brusquely, “Will it be long?” The hostess never even looked up, she just kept writing in her hostess book. So the woman leaned in closer and asked again, a little more firmly, “Will it be long?”
Without acknowledging her, the hostess said, “About ten minutes.”
A few minutes later, the woman heard an announcement over the speaker. “Willette B. Long, your table is ready. Ms. Long, your table is ready.”(1)
This morning we find Jesus’ friends and disciples waiting, perhaps thinking, “Will it be long?” Jesus promised a gift of some sort. How long will we have to wait?
        I came across an interesting study recently that took place in Holland about awkward pauses in conversations. Have you ever been in a conversation, and then the person you’re chatting with suddenly goes silent? It’s kinda’ disconcerting, isn’t it?
        Researchers in Holland ran a study to measure how long a conversational gap has to last before it creates negative emotions in the people involved. They discovered that all it takes is four seconds of silence in a conversation to inspire feelings of anxiety, exclusion, incompatibility and awkwardness. Just four seconds of silence makes us feel insecure and uncomfortable.
        A member of the research team summarized the study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: “Conversational flow is associated with positive emotions and a heightened sense of belonging, self-esteem, social validation and consensus. Disrupting the flow by a brief silence produces feelings of rejection and negative emotions.”(2)
        Our passage doesn’t really say what the followers of Jesus were thinking as they waited, but it does note that they were joyful together as they waited and prayed. They had spent 40 days with the resurrected Jesus. They finally understood that Jesus truly was God in the flesh. And they finally believed that his plans were trustworthy, and his promises were true. They had no idea what was coming their way, but they went to Jerusalem and they gathered together in prayer and they waited, just as Christ had told them to. They waited for that gift that Jesus promised them.
        It reminds me a bit of an incident that occurred on January 1, 2002. Two young men got in line at a Seattle movie theater to see the movie, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. That’s all well and good – but the movie wasn’t being released until May 16, 2002. So those young men waited outside the theater for 4-1/2 months to see the latest installment of the Star Wars franchise.(3) That’s a very long wait!
        Jesus friends had a long wait as well … fifty days had passed after Christ’s Ascension. And then the gift that had been promised shows up. Our passage describes the moment the Holy Spirit came upon them like this: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
        On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem. All the original twelve were there, save one. Judas’ place had been taken by Matthias. Jesus brothers were there. They weren’t always fans of their brother’s ministry – but there they were. His mother was there, too, still pondering things in her heart, just as she had when Jesus was born. “The women” were there as well. We don’t know their names, but we know they were there – sometimes more courageous than the rest of the disciples whose names we recognize.
        There they were – this motley band of earnest believers – still shaken by the events of the past 50 days – saddened by the departure of their leader – but willing to trust that Jesus would fulfill his promise and grant them the power to go on.
        In a recent study in the International Journal of Financial Research, experts estimate that it costs major organizations an average of $136 million dollars to suddenly lose a CEO to illness or death if they don’t have some other leadership plan in place. If the CEO is fired due to some scandal or controversy, the costs may be even higher. The study makes it clear that every major organization needs to create a strong bench of trained leaders ready to step in and guide an organization in case of an unexpected change.(4)
        The disciples of Jesus were confronted with the task of replacing their CEO, so to speak. Jesus had been crucified, resurrected and now had ascended to be with God. Jesus had spent three years training his disciples to carry on his message and ministry after his departure. But how do you replace the Messiah, the Son of God? Well, you don’t – not really, not without some help. And that’s what Pentecost is all about. Help arrives in the form of the Holy Spirit, which supplies us with three things we need in order to move forward with Jesus plan to save the world with God’s forgiveness and mercy.
        The first is power. Jesus, in his final instructions to his disciples, told them to wait in Jerusalem “until you are clothed with power from on high.” That power would be the Holy Spirit at work in their lives.
        For example, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached and 3,000 people were added to the church. Pretty impressive, but that’s not all. In a relatively brief period of time, the tiny Christian community swept across the entire Roman Empire. Power was promised and power was delivered.
        If you’ve ever seen lightning strike a tree, it is a powerful sight. I’ve never seen it in person, but I’ve seen video. To us, it looks like a bolt of lightning comes sizzling down from the sky and hits the tree. But in reality, there is a natural amount of electric energy stored in the underground. When a “leader bolt” of electricity comes down from the clouds, it meets up with the stored electricity in the ground and creates the illusion of an explosion of power and light. The tree is just the vessel to connect the heavens and the earth.
        That’s what happened on Pentecost, and that’s what happens today when believers pray to receive God’s power to go and do ministry, to be God’s witnesses, to be the Body of Christ in their communities and in the world.
        The second thing we get from the Spirit is purpose. There is no power without a great purpose calling us to accomplish great things. God once declared to the prophet Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…” And now that Spirit is here. What vision has God given to the people but a vision of the entire world joined into one family – the family of God.
        A man named Roy Lloyd interviewed the late Mother Teresa multiple times over the years and her answer to one of his questions jumps to the forefront in this context. He asked her, “What’s the biggest problem in the world today?”
        And without hesitation, Mother Teresa answered, “The biggest problem in the world today is that we draw the circle of our family too small. We need to draw it larger every day.”(5)
        Yes, we do. We need to draw our circle large enough to encompass every man, woman and child of every race and nation on this planet.
        On this Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the vision and the power to reach every person on earth with the message and ministry of Jesus. It’s why people from every nation and language and culture and color gather in churches all over the world to worship and work in the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was drawing the circle of our family as large as possible to include the whole world.
        So, a church called by the Holy Spirit to take the Gospel of Christ to the world has power, it has purpose – and it has one more thing. It has God’s presence. Jesus had ascended to be with God. What would his disciples do now? Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life for them. What would happen to the sheep without a shepherd. But Jesus had assured them, “I will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever…” That counselor came like a mighty wind, like tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s presence in the hearts of his followers.
        Many of you know the story of Florence Nightingale. Nightingale was a social reformer and the founder of modern nursing. She led a team of women who provided medical care to British soldiers in the Crimean War in the 1850’s. The improvements she instituted in medical care and cleanliness in the medical tents saved countless lives.
        She was known for her tireless care for her patients. At night, she made the rounds of all the medical tents. The soldiers knew from the light of her lamp that she was working through the night, ensuring that she was aware of everyone’s needs. They even nicknamed her “Lady of the Lamp.”
        Nightingale once said, “If I could give you information of my life it would show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything.”(6)
        … I have never refused God anything…
        Now imagine one more time that group of believers gathered together in that upper room in Jerusalem. They were men and women of “very ordinary ability.” Just like you and me and even Florence Nightingale. They weren’t chosen because they had any particular skill or charisma or courage. God chose them to bless them with God’s power, purpose and presence through the Holy Spirit. And through them, God chose to bless the whole world with the message and ministry of Jesus.
        That is who we are even today. We are not alone. God is with us. God has not left us comfortless, or powerless or without purpose. A mighty wind has roared. God has sent flames of power and purpose and presence on us. The long wait is over. Now it is time for us to go and preach the Kingdom of God and do acts of mercy and justice and healing that show the world the love of God, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p21.
2.   Ibid… p21.
3.   Ibid… p21.
4.   Ibid… p22.
5.   Ibid… p23.
6.   Ibid… p24.

05-16-2021 Ascension Rising

Ascension Rising

Jay Rowland

Luke 24:44-53 and Acts 1:1-11

This sermon utilizes published material written by Ann Dieterle, Blair Monie, Bruce Epperly as indicated below.

Garrison Keillor once said that the Easter season is the time when Christians ask themselves two questions: “Do I really believe all this stuff? And if so, why do I live this way?” His point I suppose is that it’s easy to think about “all this stuff” during church, speak the words and pray the prayers, then after church resume life as functional atheists. (Keillor quoted in Ann Dieterle, in Modern Metanoia--Encountering the Good News with Renewed Minds)

As we come to the end of this season of Eastertide I chose to explore the Ascension of Jesus today (which happened on Thursday) rather than the Sunday lectionary texts for this 7th Sunday of Easter. My sense is that most of us don’t think much about the Ascension--other than the phrases we recite during worship from either the Apostles’ or the Nicene Creed. So I wanted to take time to explore the Ascension of Jesus today, inviting the Holy Spirit as usual to ignite our imaginations and show us what we might be missing.

But first, a bit of context and background.

In Luke's gospel, the Ascension is where the story of Jesus’ direct, earthly presence comes to an end. It’s clearly a goodbye. In Acts, also written by Luke, this same scene is less of a goodbye and more of the beginning of another story—the story of the church. In Acts, the emphasis is on what to do now. In both scenes, Jesus "opens the scriptures" just as he had done for the two followers on the road to Emmaus, giving final instructions.

Curiously, the chronology Luke presents is different in his Gospel than it is in his account in Acts. In Luke the ascension takes place on Easter afternoon, just after the encounter on the road to Emmaus. But in the first chapter of Acts, it takes place forty days after Easter. Perhaps this is Luke’s way of telling us something important about Jesus' departure: that it is both an ending and a beginning.

Perhaps the gospel of Luke presents the Ascension as labor pains preceding the birthing of a very worldly church as described in the beginning of the book of Acts. Worldly in that this is to be a church called not to simply stand still, looking up at the sky in search of answers, but to get on with the work Jesus started. Thus, the Spirit-empowered church is to be the continuing presence of the Christ in the world. [“Why Are You Looking Up?” Reflection on the lectionary, May 23, 2014, by Rev. Dr. Blair R. Monie, blog post in Edgy Exegesis, Progressive Christian, Patheos.com ]

As these moments unfold in Acts 1 the disciples quiz Jesus about the restoration of Israel. Jesus' response is purposely vague, and remains good counsel for those who seek a precise date for judgment day, "It is not for you to know the times or periods." Rather, we are to await the coming of God's Spirit and the missional power that comes from encountering the Holy, whether in the 1st or 21st centuries.

At that point, Jesus ascends … while mysterious robed beings last seen at the tomb in Luke now appear again here in Acts to declare that Jesus will ultimately return, which is significant for obvious reasons, but is not the main point. Their objective seems to be making sure that the disciples’ attention is focused on the here and now--the present time and place here on this planet, not some distant far-off sphere, as they adjust. [Bruce Epperly, Going Up? Reflections for Ascension, blog, Patheos.com, 2011]

The Ascension of Jesus is interesting also for the tension it reveals at work in the church from the very beginning. The creative tension between the church’s mystical, spiritual side on the one hand and on the other hand, its mission firmly anchored in the present reality, whether it’s the 1st or the 21st century.

This mystical, spiritual side of the church helps foster a broader perspective—humanity and creation itself--rather than individualistic images of salvation and personal well-being. In this way, Jesus’ Ascension challenges us to bring heaven to earth, that is, to live Jesus' values in our world, as the Lord's Prayer proclaims, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." When our perspective widens, we can transcend our own self-interest to embrace the well-being of the whole earth and every creature, including strangers, enemies, and even non-humans. [Epperly, op cit]

Meanwhile, lest we become preoccupied by the spiritual, mystical side, Jesus’ Ascension also has an element of particularity, in that when Jesus is being lifted into heaven in Luke, this happens while Jesus is blessing the disciples. Thus Jesus has chosen to entrust the disciples with continuing his work. The same ones who, as Ann Dieterle notes, “were capable in one breath of inspired declarations of faith and in the next breath bumbling it so badly that Jesus calls one of them Satan. Jesus chose to trust his mission to these disciples—just as he chooses us: This church that is capable of great acts of faith in one moment and then bumbling it badly in the next. Jesus trusts us with his mission.” (Dieterle, op cit)

Two thousand years later, we haven’t destroyed the church yet. And we won’t. Because God is God and we are not. We are trusted with a part of the mission but it is God who gives us God’s blessing and power from on high. It is enough for us to bless God in return through the way we live our lives. (Dieterle, op cit)

Luke’s gospel declares that Jesus was carried into heaven. This isn’t an action that Jesus does to himself. Rather, it’s something that God did--to Jesus and for Jesus. And yet Jesus is not a completely passive participant. For the text says, He withdrew from them (v51). It is this combination of action and surrender that -- essentially Jesus invites the disciples to do. They are to stay and wait to be clothed with power from on high. Power translated from the Greek word du-na-mis, from which we get our word for dynamite. ... this is the type of power we can expect to receive from the Holy Spirit. It is not something inside of us, like super willpower. It is something outside of us that works on us in such a way that it transforms us. Perhaps we might imagine the power of Jesus more like dynamite than lamb-like … (Dieterle, op cit)

Let the Ascension of Jesus teach us and remind us of that transformational power of Jesus. As Dr. Peter Kreeft writes:

“Christ changed every human being He ever met…. If anyone claims to have met (Jesus) without being changed, he (one) has not met Him at all. When you touch Him, you touch lightning…. The Greek word used to describe everyone’s reaction to (Jesus) in the gospels is ‘thauma’—wonder. This was true of His enemies, who killed Him. Of his disciples, who worshiped Him. And even of agnostics, who went away shaking their heads and muttering ‘No man ever spoke like this man’ and knowing that if (Jesus) didn’t stop being what He was and saying what He said that eventually they would have to side with either His killers or His worshippers. For ‘Jesus shock’ breaks your heart in two and forces you to choose which half of your heart you will follow….”

(Quoted in “Jacques Ellul & the Importance of Attachment,” By Rick Lawrence, blog entry on VibrantFaith.org, 5/14/2021)

The Ascension gives way to the Day of Pentecost next Sunday, vividly described in Acts 2. On that day the Spirit Jesus promised and for which the disciples await arrives, and when it does, it embraces all of creation not just particular sorts of people. The Spirit comes promising wholeness and salvation for all people, not just a select few. This revelation is global and all-inclusive, not parochial and limited, in contrast to individualistic and limited visions of God’s favor.

Jesus’ Ascension calls us to "go up"—to find higher ground—not to escape Earth's crises, but to gain a vision and mission that is larger than ourselves or even our (churches). We don't need to look to the heavens to find inspiration. The ever-present God is right here, giving us all the guidance and inspiration we need, if we but look beyond ourselves. Our mission is here—to heal, to embrace, to welcome, and to love. Right now. Today. Every day. We don't need to wait for a far off day of perfection and rapture. God is always with us, and so right here and now can be the day of transformation and fulfillment we all seek. (Epperly, op cit)

05-09-2021 God's Testament of Love

Rev. Jay Rowland

1 John 5:1-6 and John 15:9-17

God’s Testament of Love

We are all generally accustomed to dividing the Bible into the Old and New Testaments. It’s been a sort of natural way to distinguish between the part of the Bible that predates Jesus and the part of the Bible which presents Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Unfortunately, over the centuries this distinction has led some to interpret New Testament to mean Better or Best Testament, and to devalue the First Testament (aka “Old”) which Jesus himself cherished, studied, interpreted, and taught.

Jesus would never have conceived of anything called The New Testament.

Generally speaking, it seems to me that the Bible is essentially God’s Testament or Covenant (the word “testament” means covenant) in two parts. Each part or testament can be summed up using one definitive word concerning God and God’s doings: love.

Both Scripture readings today explicitly associate love with God. God is best known and understood in terms of love. And I know we all know this, and to say it and hear myself say it, it’s like, duh. Furthermore, modern culture and entertainment has so thoroughly diluted love by making it all about romantic love, and conditional love, that we easily lose the personal power, meaning and depth of the love that IS GOD.

Even so, whenever we may have felt or known what it feels to be unconditionally loved, however we may have experienced unconditional love, only then might we begin to comprehend and fathom the depth of God’s love for us.

…. when it comes to God’s love for us, there’s a verse in John’s gospel reading today which stands out, the one in which Jesus says,

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus set aside his divinity, his life, his bodily and all senses of comfort—mental comfort, spiritual comfort, religious comfort as well as bodily safety and security for you and for me. It wasn’t taken from him. It wasn’t forced from him. He wasn’t a victim. Rather, he laid down his life … willingly … to demonstrate how far he was willing to go for love of you.

Some may think or argue, “well not literally for me, because I wasn’t alive when he did all that ... so that’s nice and all, but …”

And, well, that’s what makes it even more astounding.

Perhaps we’ve read about or seen situations in which people have laid down their life for a “stranger” … such as people have done who serve in the military, first responders, especially during the 9/11 attacks, and people here or there along the way who rushed into mortal danger out of a powerful love for human life. And that right there gives us a better sense of the love that is God … and that God introduces to the world through Jesus Christ.

Jesus willingly lay down his life to show that even when worldly forces come together to do whatever they want and hurt and destroy whoever they want, so that we might realize when it there appears to be yet another situation where some would comment, well, that’s just how life goes sometimes ... Jesus willingly lays down his life to prove that God can and will intervene at that precise moment when you’re convinced otherwise.

Jesus allowed worldly forces and hatreds to hunt him down, hurt him, beat him, ridicule him, put him on trial and convict him, then publicly shame and humiliate him and ultimately destroy him. He did this to show us the power of LOVE … God the Creator of Life, Jesus the Giver of Life and the Holy Spirit the breath of life has final and ultimate authority over what happens to our life--the life God created, the breath that God breathes in us. … so that if or when any such devastation comes upon us, and all seems lost, we shall not be lost. We shall rise with Him.

No greater love.

There is no greater love than the love of Jesus for you … he lay down his life for you.

That’s the Love that has claimed you from the time you breathed your first breath …. until you breathe your last and wake up breathing new life in the Kingdom of God.

That’s the love that defines your life and your death.

This attempt of mine to describe this indescribable power and mystery of life, this Jesus, with my written and spoken words is feeble. There is a song that I hope and prayed might convey the sense of this love better than my spoken words. It’s called The Face of Love*, written and recorded years ago by the group Sanctus Real. It’s better than what you’ll hear from me and I highly recommend it when you’re in need of assurance regarding the Love that will not let you go, shining in the Face of Jesus:

I’ve seen your face on stained glass,

in colored lights

in pictures of you looking to the sky ...

You’ve been portrayed

a thousand different ways

But my heart can see you

better than my eyes

‘Cause it’s love that paints

the portrait of your life

The face of love … The face of love:

You look more like love every day

I’ve read your words

in pages of your life

And I’ve imagined

what you were like

And I may not know

the shape of your face

But I can feel your heart changing mine

Your love still proves

that you’re alive

The face of love

The face of love

You look more like love every day...

The face of love

The face of love

You look more like love every day...

And you are the face

that changed the whole world

no one too lost for you to love

no one too low for you to serve

So give us the grace

to change the world

No one too lost for me to love

No one too low for me to serve

Oh Let us see

Let us be your face

Let us be your face.

The face of love; The face of love

You look more like love every day

The face of love;

The face of love

you look more like … love

… more like

… LOVE

* The Face of Love, ℗ 2006 Sparrow Records. Producer: Christopher Stevens

Composer/Lyricist: Matt Hammitt, Chris Rohman, Mark Graalman, Dan Gartley, Christopher Stevens. Released on: 2006-01-01

05-02-2021 An Accidental Encounter, or a Divine Appointment?

Thomas J Parlette
“An Accidental Encounter, or a Divine Appointment?”
Acts 8:26-40
5/2/21

        If you can remember back to the days when you read plays in high school English class, you’ll recall that every play begins with a list of the cast of characters, usually in order of appearance. If you were reading a classic play, like Shakespeare, it may have said “Dramatis Personae.” If we were to do that for this morning’s scripture passage from Acts, we would list four characters – Angel of the Lord, Phillip, the Ethiopian Eunuch and the Holy Spirit. They all play a role in today’s story.
        It all begins with an angelic visit, a vision perhaps, that sends Phillip to a remote stretch of road south of Jerusalem that leads to Gaza.
        There he meets our next character, the Ethiopian Eunuch. We don’t have much in the way of specific details, but we do have some things to build on. He was a eunuch, of course. He is from Ethiopia. He is in the Gaza strip. He was at least a “God-fearer,” as those who were not full-fledged Jews, but still worshipped Yahweh were called. And we know he had come to worship in the Jerusalem Temple, and was on his way home. We also know he held a pretty powerful and important position – he was “a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury.”
        This important detail gives us a window into what this Ethiopian eunuch life must have been like. He was an outsider working in the royal court. We’ve all seen enough of shows like Downton Abbey and The Crown to know that life in these aristocratic settings can be filled with intrigue, treachery, gossiping and scheming.
        Walter Brueggemann notes that it is not an overreach to conclude that “this eunuch lived in a world of fear, innuendo, competition and gossip, a collage of rivals always at the edge of violence, with no reliable support beyond the cleverness of his work. The life of a Jewish eunuch in a royal court was quite dispensable. He longed for a better life – a life free of fear.”(1)
        When we meet the Ethiopian eunuch he is riding along in his chariot, a symbol of his status. He is reading aloud, as was the custom in that day, from a scroll he had probably purchased in Jerusalem. So we know he is also an educated man. The words are from Isiah 53, one of the suffering servant passages. He could read the words just fine – but he didn’t understand what it meant:
        “Like a sheep, he was led to the slaughter
        And like a lamb is silent before the shearer
        So he does not open his mouth.
        In his humiliation justice was denied him…
        His life is taken away.”
       Considering his station in life, he could understand that feeling. He knew that life was cheap. He knew about justice denied. He lived with it every day. But who was Isaiah talking about?
        As Brueggemann says, this eunuch “read and lived in hope for a world other than the world of demand and intimidation and risk in which he lived.”(2)
        And then this seemingly accidental encounter turns into a  divine appointment. Phillip steps onto the stage and hops into the chariot.
        “Do you understand what you are reading?”
        “No – not at all. Explain it to me.”
        We don’t know exactly what Phillip told him – but you’ve gotta figure he hit the high points. He told him about the miracles and the healings. He told him about God – who so loved the world. He told him that Jesus had just one rule – Love. Love God and love others. He told him that those in power were threatened by his teaching about this kind of Kingdom, one built on love instead of power. And for that – Jesus died. But ultimately God won – because Jesus was raised from the dead and sits at the right hand of God. In the end – love triumphs.
        Ah, this is the hope that the eunuch is yearning for. He thinks to himself – I want to live in that world!
        So he asks, “What is to stop me from being baptized?”- assuming that since he was a eunuch, perhaps he couldn’t be a full-fledged follower of Jesus. For in Deuteronomy it says that “no one who is sexually mutilated shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” Having just been to the Temple in Jerusalem, and having been denied admittance, he knew this full well. But in chapter 56, Isaiah promises that “eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths will be welcome in the house of God and will receive a name better than sons and daughters.” So which is it. The Eunuch needed to hear from Phillip – can I be baptized or not?
        And Phillip answers “Certainly, let’s do it.”
        And the eunuch is baptized.
        And then we meet the fourth and final character in our drama – the Spirit of the Lord steps in and snatches Phillip away, and the eunuch gets back in his chariot, filled with hope and joy upon his inclusion in the Kingdom of God. He need not live his life in fear anymore, for He is a child of God.
        Tom Long points out that part of the reason the eunuch asks the questions he does is because he is wondering if this word from Isaiah is a word from God for him personally or not. Am I included, he wonders, or is this word for someone else(3)
        Most of us approach the Bible with that same question. Is this a word for me, for us, for our day and our time – or is it just for the people “back then.”
        When we consider the passage from Isaiah that the eunuch was reading, it’s not hard to see modern connection to people who have been silenced in the presence of the powerful. Humiliation is something we see too much of. Justice denied – it still happens all too often. Life taken away – we seem to see it every week. It’s not hard to empathize with the eunuch’s sense of fear. So yes – this is a word for us, in our day and in our time.
        In his 2014 book Pay Any Price, James Risen considers the role of fear in our world. He writes:
        “A decade of fear-mongering has brought power and wealth to those who have been the most skillful at hyping the terrorist threat. Fear sells. Fear has convinced the White House and Congress to pour hundreds of billions of dollars – more money than anyone knows what to do with – into counter-terrorism and home land security programs, often with little management or oversight, and often to the detriment of the Americans they are supposed to protect. Fear is hard to question. It is central to the financial well-being of countless federal bureaucrats, contractors, sub-contractors, consultants, analysts and pundits. Fear generates funds… Meanwhile counterterrorism experts, many with lucrative government contracts or consulting deals with television news networks – in short, with an incentive to generate public fear and foreboding – had joined forces with zealous anti-immigration advocates to warn that the Canadian border was a dangerously unsecured back door.”
        And then Risen adds: “They have built a cottage industry out of fear.”(4)
        The threats may change, but fear still sells. Fear still raises funding.
        Walter Brueggemann reminds us that “We are all seduced to dwell, along with the eunuch, in that cottage of fear… Fear makes us selfish and self-preoccupied. Fear makes us do crazy destructive things. Fear turns neighbors into competitors and threats and enemies.”(5)
        Fear drives us to focus on building walls and cutting ourselves off from the world. Fear drives us to close our eyes and turn our backs on the suffering and injustice all around us.
        Well, the eunuch had had enough of that world. He wanted to live in the kind of world that Phillip described; a world filled with the kind of love that John talked about in our passage from 1st John today – the perfect love that casts out fear.
        In his baptism, the Ethiopian eunuch was freed from his life of fear and welcomed into a life of love. He is no longer an outcast – he is now a child of God.
        And so are we.
        All through the Book of Acts, we see the circle of God’s love getting bigger and bigger. The Good News of God’s love, forgiveness and mercy extends beyond Jerusalem, beyond Judaism itself, and spread throughout the world, reaching the Gentile world as well as those who have been exiled and outcast.
        This accidental encounter turns into a divine appointment to demonstrate to us the wideness of God’s mercy, then and now.
        So let us gather at the table today my friends and celebrate the perfect love that casts our fear and gives us a seat at the banquet of God’s love and mercy.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Walter Brueggemann, “Diving In and Casting Out”, The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann, Volume 3, Westminster John Know Press, 2020, p139.
2.   Ibid… p139.
3.   Thomas Long, Feasting on the Word, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, p456.
4.   Brueggemann… p141.
5.   Ibid… p141.

04-25-2021 The Cardiac Signature of a Christian

Thomas J Parlette
“The Cardiac Signature of a Christian”
1 John 3: 16-24
4/25/21

        We all know that there are certain physical characteristics that are totally unique to each individual. Your fingerprints, for example, are entirely unique – no one else has fingerprints exactly like yours. The pattern of your iris, the colored part of your eye, is also, totally your own. So is your DNA. But did you know that your heartbeat is completely unique as well? Every person on earth has a different heartbeat pattern, or “cardiac signature.” Your cardiac signature cannot be altered or disguised. So, if someone can measure your “cardiac signature,” they can identify you, even in a big crowd of people.

        In fact, according to an article in Technology Review, the Pentagon has built a laser that can identify people by their heartbeat from 600 feet away.(1) Sounds like something out of an Avengers movie – but it exists. There are positive uses for this technology, of course. Doctors could monitor your heart health from far away. This laser could also be used to track criminals or terrorists from long distances. But, again, for those of us concerned with privacy and civil liberties, the thought is a little disconcerting.

        Did you ever imagine that your physical heartbeat – your cardiac signature – could be so distinctive? Who knew?

        In today’s scripture lesson from 1st John, we hear the wise old pastor talk about what may be the cardiac signature of a Christian. The heartbeat of the Christian is to love others with the sacrificial love of Jesus. Not a warm and fuzzy feeling. Not with good intentions or encouraging words or even thoughts and prayers alone. But with loving actions. Actions that cost us something. As verse 8 says, “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” Talk is cheap, says John. Real love is costly.

        This passage, indeed the whole epistle, was written to encourage church people to be more loving toward one another, and to those in need. If we can’t do that, says John, then we’ve missed the very heart of the faith Jesus gave us.

        Al Lingren, a professor at Garrett Theological Seminary, once had a conversation with his teenage son. Lingren’s son asked, “Dad, what’s the toughest thing God ever tried to do?”

        Now they teach you a lot of things in Seminary. But they don’t exactly cover that question. Lingren wracked his brain for an answer, and then asked his son, “What do you think it was?”

        The boy said, “Since taking science in school, I thought the creation of the world might be the hardest thing God ever tried to do, and in Sunday School we got to talking about some of the miracles, and I thought the resurrection might be the toughest thing God ever tried to do. But after thinking about it some more, I decided the toughest thing God ever had to do is to get us to understand who God is, and that God loves us.”(2)

        That young man was onto something. The toughest thing God ever had to do was to get us to understand who God is, and that God loves us. How did God do that? First, through the Law and the Prophets. And then through coming to us in the flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, we understand that God loves us because Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead to save us from sin and death.

        John knew that if he didn’t make it perfectly clear what Christian love looks like, we would try to define it for ourselves. But he doesn’t give us that option. In verse 16, he writes, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

        The essence of the Christian faith is love – it is the “cardiac signature” of the Christian.

        Many years ago, Jeffrey Collins was director of a non-profit group called Love and Action. This is an organization that ministers to AIDS patients and their families.

        Collins tells of receiving a phone call at 5:00 o’clock on a Friday afternoon as he was trying to leave the office. He had just worked a 60- hour week – he was exhausted and wanted to just ignore the phone. But he picked up anyway.

        The voice on the other end was Jimmy, a client of Love and Action. He was very sick and scared. Collins confesses that his first reaction when he answered the phone wasn’t compassion – he felt a bit of anger. He just wanted to go home and relax. He wanted a couple of hours at the end of the week when no one needed him. But Collins knew that God’s calling isn’t dependent on how we feel, but on how badly someone else needs our help. So Jeffrey Collins headed over to Jimmy’s house to check on him.

        Jimmy was on the sofa, shivering and feverish and covered in vomit. The smell was horrible. Though he was careful not to show it, Jeffrey’s anger and annoyance grew. As he knelt down and scrubbed the carpet surrounding the sofa, Jeffrey prayed an angry prayer to God.

        But then a friend of Jimmy’s named Russ came in to find Jeffery kneeling beside the sofa cleaning up after Jimmy. With an astonished look on his face, Russ said, “I understand! I understand now!”

        “What Russ?,” said Jimmy in a whisper. “What do you understand?”

        “I understand who Jesus is. He’s like Jeff!”(3)

        It isn’t always easy to love. We tend to withhold love until someone passes our “approval test.” We love those who we think are deserving – which is exactly opposite of Jesus’ love. Jesus didn’t love us because we were easy to love or because we deserve it. Jesus loves us with the very love of God.

        Just as Christ laid down his life for us, so we are called to lay aside what we would like our lives to be for others. That means loving all people – even those who take advantage or misuse us, even those we might not approve of or agree with.

• Laying aside our lives, our self-interest means leaving our comfort zone from time to time for acts of extraordinary concern.

• Laying aside our self-interest means encouraging gun laws that preserve our 2nd amendment rights, while also keeping assault rifles out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.

• Laying aside our lives means contacting our elected representatives and officials and encouraging them to support changes in our policing standards and procedures.

• Laying aside our lives and self-interest means acknowledging it’s not safe to be anything other than white in our country – that racism is real, and it is systemic and it cannot be tolerated anymore.

All these things are expressions of love – and love is the essence of the Christian faith.

        That kind of self-giving, unselfish love is our primary witness to the word – it is our calling card. As the old song goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” Love is the cardiac signature of a Christian. As John puts it, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” And the answer is, it doesn’t.

        Frances Havergal was an English poet, pianist and hymn writer in the mid-1800’s. Her most famous hymn is probably, “Take My Life and Let it Be,” which begins with the words, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.” In each verse, Havergal offers some part of her life for the Lord’s service. Take my voice, take my hands, take my feet, take my love. She asks God to use every part of her life to make a difference for others.

        The fourth stanza begins, “Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.” And Frances Havergal really meant it. In her journal, she wrote about packing up a jeweled cabinet that belonged to her family, along with other ornamental pieces worth a great deal of money and sending them off to the Church Missionary Society to fund missionaries in other countries. She noted in her journal that day, “I don’t think I need to tell you I never packed a box with such great pleasure.”(4)

        She saw brothers and sisters in need, and she was determined to help. Love is our primary witness to the world.

        Love is more than just an emotion or a feeling. Love is feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the imprisoned. Encouraging effective gun laws. Changing our policing standards and procedures, and acknowledging that racism is real and it is not something we can tolerate anymore. Love is not a passive verb, but an active one. And it is the primary way we share Christ with the world. They will know we are Christians by our love.

        Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Pure love is not a natural attribute of humanity – it is of God. Our nature is to strive for survival, to strive for our own well-being. God’s nature is self-giving love. The closer we are to God, the better able we are to love others. As John says, “By this we know that God abides in us, by the spirit that God has given us.” And that spirit is love.

        There is an old Twilight Zone episode about a gambler who died. He wakes up in a room full of gaming tables. And no matter what game he plays, he wins. He wins every time. A gambler’s dream come true! This must be heaven!

        But as the gambler goes from table to table, winning and winning and winning – he comes to realize that he didn’t wind up in heaven after all, but in hell. He had everything he ever wanted, but he didn’t have anyone to share his winnings with.(5)

        Love is a gift God gives to us. And it is multiplied and magnified when we give it away, when we can love others with the same sacrificial love that God showed us.

        In an old cemetery in England, there is a weather-beaten tombstone for an ordinary man. He was not famous in any way. But he must have been a powerful force for good among those who knew him. Under his name and the dates of his birth and death is this simple epitaph, “In the worst of times, he did the best of things.”(6)

        In the worst of times, he did the best of things. That’s what Jesus did as well. In the face of persecution and injustice and torture and humiliation, Jesus faced his death with courage and grace, even forgiving the ones who had hung him on a cross. And he willingly suffered his awful fate to show us how far God would go to prove God’s love for us.

        John’s words still ring through the centuries – “This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us.” When the love of God truly abides in our heart, we are able to look into the faces of others and see God’s face.

        Love is the essence of Christian faith – it is our cardiac signature. Love is our primary witness to the world. Love is a gift from God. We love because God first loved us. Only as we abide in God can God’s love abide in us.

        And if God’s love abides in us, in the worst of times, we will be able to do the best of things.

        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol XXXVII, No 1, pg82.
2.   Ibid… pg82.
3.   Ibid… pg83.
4.   Ibid… pg84-85.
5.   Ibid… pg84.
6.   Ibid… pg84-85.

04-18-2021 Light Walkers

“Light Walkers”

1 John 1:1-2:2

3rd Sunday of Easter

What an awful week last week was. Another mass shooting, the fifth in the past 30 days, this time in Indianapolis--as yet another American citizen exercised his constitutional right to bear arms. And here in our state, as the painful images of George Floyd’s death replay during the ongoing Derek Chauvin murder trial, Daunte Wright is shot and killed during a police traffic stop. In Chicago, body-cam video surfaced of the police shooting death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo on March 29. And ...

... 2,429 new covid cases in Minnesota, and 10 more deaths.

… and if you had anything difficult happen in your own life last week, there’s that.

… and the sun refused to shine.

As I’ve pondered the events of this week, the verses from 1st John offered me some theological grounding to offset the hideous patterns of preventable death wreaking havoc in our nation. Perhaps these verses may also provide some theological motivation to engage our elected leaders and other authorities in order to bring about the long-overdue end to the ease of access to firearms and to the use of lethal force by police officers upon persons of color.

The Jesus I know from the Gospels and the New Testament compels me to speak out today. For it appears that our nation, our society, our politics and perhaps even our churches are willing to tolerate easy access to firearms and the police use of lethal force against Black and minority people. What other conclusion is there to draw? Both patterns of death have continued unabated for far too long.

Let’s consider again to the first few verses from 1st John . It describes the wonders of the Kingdom of God Jesus lived, died and was resurrected to reveal. Then, if you can, think also about the recurring pattern of mass shootings--five more in the past 30 days. And think about all the people who have been shot or injured or killed by officers sworn to protect and serve:

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with [God] and was revealed to us— we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with [God] and with ... Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that your joy and our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from [Jesus] and proclaim to you, that God is light and in (God) there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with (God) while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true;

Biblical scholar Paul W. Hoon provides fascinating insight as he unpacks the meaning of two particular words, eternal and fellowship, which are commonly spoken and heard in church:

… in Christ, the eternal has invaded history. Jesus is ... the deliberate self-revelation of the divine in the context of human life. … God was as fully present in Jesus as it is possible for God to be present in human life. (p218)

Jesus reveals to us that “Eternal” means not what is future in terms of time but what is unending and what is of the character of the life Christ lived.

‘eternal life’ ... defines the true measure of life as qualitative rather than quantitative. … (which) confronts (us) with judgment upon the kind of life we are now living. Christian faith declares not merely a resurrection after death, it insists above all on a resurrection with Christ now. … When the Christian lives in this eternal life through faith (5:13) and love (3:14), s/he becomes a source of life to others. (p.219)

Eternal life means divine and human fellowship, Hoon explains, fellowship is both the goal and the source of the proclaiming of the Christian message. Human nature is made for fellowship. … Individual religion is a contradiction in terms. Our spiritual life is inevitably mutual. … Divine-human fellowship … constitutes the true fellowship of the church and exposes by contrast cheap forms of so-called fellowship in which churches “specialize”. (p220)

[Paul W. Hoon, First, Second and Third Epistles of John, Interpreter’s Bible, Exposition section. 1957. emphases mine]

I’ve seen studies and surveys indicating that church membership is declining not because of some decline of faith in God or in Jesus Christ. On the contrary, the newer generations are just as faithful and passionate as any generation. The issue is that they see the church as either silent or permissive or in some cases openly encouraging of so many of society’s long-standing ills which cause so much preventable suffering, such as racism, homophobia, immigration, LGBTQ rights, gun control, reproductive choice, and lethal police tactics.

You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to see how Jesus in the Gospels welcomes and loves into the Kingdom of God people who are the most oppressed, the most distressed, the most abused and killed: the slave, the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the alien, the poor. In doing so, Jesus was upholding the covenant issued by God all throughout the Hebrew Bible from Genesis on.

Sin is too soft of a word to describe the continuing easy access to firearms and the use of lethal force by police against minorities. To be blunt, gun violence and lethal police force is OUR failure as citizens, as human beings, but above all as followers of Jesus Christ. When I say “we” and “our” I include myself.

Where is our OUTRAGE?

Please understand that I am not anti-police. Police reforms are necessary not only because Black Lives Matter but because Blue Lives Matter too. The epidemic of gun violence and lethal police force is just as destructive and ruinous to the lives of police officers. Our “blue” brothers and sisters are so vulnerable. And they are also suffering. A line was crossed many years ago and now the de-facto status quo is that police are authorized to oppress and murder our Black, Brown and Rainbow-colored brothers and sisters. This must end. I believe that as people of faith we can and we must come together to create pressure and agitate for change. Change which benefits all communities: black, brown, and blue.

These conditions and patterns are untenable and unsustainable.

How long do we expect people of color to tolerate this carnage of unnecessary lethal force by police officers whose duty is to protect and serve all citizens? What will it take for us as a community of faith to stand up for all involved--for black, for brown, and blue too?!

Our nation cannot survive the unlimited access to military-grade firearms. How in God's name did we ever come to tolerate this slaughter of innocents? Owning firearms is NOT a right, it’s a privilege--one which can and should have limits. But hear me out:

I’m not talking about gun owners who are responsible and law abiding.

I’m not talking about people who love to hunt.

I’m not talking about people who want to own or carry a handgun for their own security.

I’m talking about assault weapons. No human being let alone US citizen has a right to own assault weapons. But in our nation seemingly ANYONE can own numerous assault weapons--firepower invented and intended for combat, war, the battlefield. Not for domestic life.

Until we are willing to do whatever it takes to pressure our elected representatives and other civil authorities, until they FEEL our absolute RESOLVE to reform gun laws and police conduct, until we find ways to register our DISGUST and OUTRAGE over this continuing abdication of justice and sensible legislation, nothing will change and people will continue to die preventable deaths.

If we say that we have fellowship with God while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true …

We are walking in darkness.

But we are called by God through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to walk in the light. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not only about what happens after we die. It’s also passionately about Life. Right. Now.

but if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

The Biblical prophets dared to speak truth to power because they answered to a higher authority than earthly powers. Like the prophets before us, we must do whatever we can to represent the fierce love and the compassion of the Lord our God—each in our own way, and trust that no effort is insignificant; any energy we devote and every prayer we offer will help carry us all to a new day!

I wondered if I should even speak as my conscience was calling me to do today. I know I’m “preaching to the choir,” as the saying goes; we are a compassionate and caring congregation. We are engaged and involved in social justice. I’m not criticizing anyone. It’s just that as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ my silence from the preaching pulpit felt dishonest and disingenuous. I don’t have the influence of a Political Action Committee or the connections of a lobbyist, nor the skill-set of a community organizer. But I do have a platform, a responsibility and a conscience—as well as ordination vows—all of which compel me to at least speak up and speak out today. And I hope this, along with TJ’s invitation in his weekly e-mail newsletter this past week, asking for your thoughts and ideas is a hopeful way to build momentum.

It’s not so much about figuring out what do we do now? The point is that anything we do will empower us to be more than observers on the sideline while this carnage continues to devour more vulnerable people.

Anything to prevent any more weeks like last week.

I honestly don’t know what we can do as a community of faith. There’s so many viewpoints and many moving parts. But I truly believe we can start talking and listening, create some momentum, spiritual energy the Lord can and will use. I don’t have a master plan or prescription. All I know is that what’s been happening is an open assault upon the kingdom of God that Jesus lived and died and was resurrected to reveal to us.

Let’s pray and talk and think about how we as a congregation can make a difference.

Let us walk in darkness no more.

Let us resolve to be Light Walkers.

04-04-2021 Back to the Beginning

Thomas J Parlette
“Back to the Beginning”
Mark 16: 1-8
4/4/21, Easter

        A good ending is hard to come by.
        Movie makers know this.
        T.V. Producers know this.
        Novelists know it too.
        Even the high tech makers of videogames – the best of which are driven by compelling storylines and not just shooting enemy soldiers, throwing a touchdown pass playing as Aaron Rodgers, or diving too fast through crowded city streets – know that a good ending is easier said than done.
        A good ending answers all our lingering questions.
        A good ending ties up loose ends.
        A good ending brings everything full circle, and the world seems to make sense again.
        A good ending lets us sit back, take a deep breath and say, “Ahhhh – that was a good story. I can rest easy, for now, it is finished.”
        Which is precisely the problem with the Gospel of Mark. Mark doesn’t seem to have a good ending at all. We go to the tomb with the women early on the third day. The stone is rolled away. An angelic visitor is there inside the tomb saying, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified? He has been raised – he is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples, and Peter, that he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
        So the women went out – and fled. They ran away. They were terrified. And they didn’t say anything to anyone. Because they were afraid.
        And that’s how Mark ends the story. Most bibles have a shorter and loner ending included – but those were probably tacked on many years later by well-meaning scribes who just couldn’t live with the ending Mark came up with.
        The other Gospel writers seem to do a better job with their endings. I think Matthew has a very effective ending. Matthew gives us real closure. He has the risen Christ appearing to his disciples and as he is ascending into the clouds, Jesus gives them the Great Commission – “Go and make disciples of all nations…” Good ending. Hollywood would be proud.
        Luke sort of gives us an ending. He tells the wonderful story of Jesus appearing to his disciples on the road to Emmaus, but then he just keeps going with his story and writes a whole other book, the Acts of the Apostles. The one thing you can say about Luke though – he made sure to tell the whole story, he didn’t leave any loose ends.
        The Gospel of John, not surprisingly, is different from the others. It seems like John just can’t bear the thought of ending his story. He keeps adding on story after story. He tells about the disciples going back to fishing, and about the picnic on the beach and Jesus command to feed my sheep. In John, the story keeps going and going and going.
        But Mark, most scholars agree, ended his story abruptly at verse 8 – “The women said nothing to anyone for they were afraid.”
        Very bleak. Very incomplete. I’m sure his first audience probably sat there asking, “Is that it? Is that all there is?” When you read the Gospel of Mark it’s very hard to sit back and say, “Ahhh, it is finished.”
        And maybe that’s exactly what Mark wants. The editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast once gave a public exhibition of his skill as an artist. He took a canvas 6 feet long and 2 feet wide and he placed it horizontally on an easel up on a stage so his audience could see him work. He began sketching out a landscape. A lovely green meadow appeared with rolling hills, herds of sheep, fields of grain, and a farmhouse and an orchard appeared with a bright blue sky and fleecy white clouds overhead. Gorgeous.
        Finally, it appeared no finishing touch was needed, and the artist stood aside, with brush still in hand to accept the hearty applause of his audience.
        When the applause subsided, Nast stepped back up to the canvas, dipped his brush into some darker colors, and began applying them recklessly, almost violently, to his beautiful picture. Out went the cheery blue sky and the fluffy white clouds. “Did you ever see a picture like this?” he asked as he blotted out the meadows, fields, sheep and orchard. Up, down, across he went until the landscape was totally obliterated. It looked like a big, dark mess.
        Then with a twinkle in his eye, Nash stepped aside again, and laying down his brush, he said, “It is finished.” But no applause came this time. The audience was confused – they didn’t know what to make of this. Then Nast asked his stage crew to place a gilded, golden frame around his apparently ruined work of art, and turn it up so it stood in a vertical position.
        And the mystery was revealed. There before their eyes, the audience could now see a picture of a beautiful waterfall, with the water plunging over a cliff of dark rock into a pool below, surrounded by trees and bushes. And of course, the audience burst into applause.
        The people in the audience thought the picture was finished. They saw what they thought was a good ending. But the artist had something else in mind. When Nast turned his picture on its head, a completely new image emerged.
        Mark seems to do the same thing with his Gospel. He turns it on its head and gives us something completely different than what we thought. Mark doesn’t want to leave us in the garden outside an empty tomb. He doesn’t want to drop us off behind closed doors in an upper room. In fact, Mark doesn’t want to leave us in Jerusalem at all. Instead, Mark sends us back to Galilee. He sends us back to the beginning.
        Richard Jensen has pointed out that in Mark, there are two responses to Jesus and his message. People react with fear or faith. One or the other. In most instances, the ones who respond with fear are Jesus’ own disciples. Consider, for example, the stories of the disciples whenever they are in boats. The first time they get into a boat with Jesus, a storm comes up and the disciples panic and wonder how Jesus can be sleeping in the back of the boat during all this. So they wake him up and Jesus calms the storm. And Jesus asks them, “Why were you afraid.”
        Later, they’re back in a boat again, this time Jesus has stayed behind to pray by himself. Again, a storm rolls in and the disciples are afraid. But then they see what they think is a ghost coming towards them on the water, and they are even more terrified. And Jesus says, “It’s me, don’t be afraid.”
        And of course we’ve just come through the Lenten season and Good Friday when we hear Peter, the most favored disciple, deny Jesus three times because he was afraid of the Roman authorities. Time after time, those closest to Jesus, his own disciples, respond with the Jesus with fear.
        Interestingly, the ones who respond to Jesus with faith are usually the unnamed characters in Mark’s Gospel, especially the women. First, there was the woman who had the persistent flow of blood and asked Jesus for healing. Then there was the Syro-Phoenician woman who came seeking healing for her daughter and wins Jesus over saying, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And we remember the woman who anointed Jesus from alabaster jar of pure nard. We don’t know their names, but they are the ones who respond to Jesus with faith.
        So when Mark clearly names the women present at Jesus’ crucifixion, and then names them again here on Easter morning, well, the expectation is “Ahhh, finally, someone close to Jesus is going to get it right.” Our hopes for a happy, neat, satisfying ending are riding on these women responding with joy, running back and telling the other disciples that Jesus has indeed risen from the grave. Everything is going to be alright. Our Easter hope hinges on Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome.
        That’s why this seems like such a bad ending. We expect so much from these women, and yet too are afraid. They flee in terror. They don’t say anything to anyone. And so we are left alone. There are no more characters left on stage. What happens now? How will people hear this story about Jesus’ resurrection if no one says anything?
        And that’s precisely where Mark wants to leave us. Mary Ann Talbot points out that we need to ask not what this ending means, but rather what does it do. And what it does is leave us as stewards of the Good News. We may wonder, “Is there anyone else available to tell the story of Jesus’ resurrection?” – well of course there is, the audience itself, the hearers of the story, and today, my friends – that’s you.
        Donald Juel has also written about this curious ending of Mark. He says, “Mark’s Gospel forbids closure. There is no stone in front of the tomb. Jesus is out, on the loose. The doors in Mark’s Gospel are emphatically open. The curtain of the Temple has been torn open. Jesus is out of the tomb. God is no longer safely behind the curtain.”
        In Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God is out of the tomb. God is no longer in Heaven only, no longer behind the curtain. In Jesus Christ, God is no longer confined to the pages of a book, or locked in a sanctuary until we come back next week. In Mark’s story, the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ is out there, ahead of you.
        So the question Mark wants to leave us with is “How will you respond?” Will we respond with fear, like the disciples, including the women at the tomb? Or will you respond with faith? The kind of faith that will drive you to tell the story. To pick up where Mark leaves off. Go back to the beginning and live the story all over again. So don’t be alarmed. Jesus has been raised. He is not here. He is out there. Go, tell the story. He is going ahead of you. Go back to the beginning and there you will see him. Go back to the beginning and tell the story of God’s love shown to you in Jesus Christ, the one crucified, the one risen. It’s now our turn to go back to the beginning and live the story again.

        May God be praised.

        Alleluia. Alleluia. Amen.

03-28-2021 On Donkey Duty

Thomas J Parlette
“On Donkey Duty”
Mark 11: 1-11, Palm Sunday
3/28/2021

       Back in the year 2000, Juliet and I organized a trip to Italy and Germany to see the famous Oberammergau Passion Play that is done every 10 years. This was before we had children and of course, before COVID 19, so we could still travel. Now before we went to see the play, we toured around in Italy – a couple of days in Florence, our favorite, some time in Venice, Assisi, and of course Rome. We spent months reading and researching all the places we wanted to see and things we wanted to do. One of the spots on our “to do” list was the Pantheon on Rome.
       The Pantheon was originally built to honor all the various gods of Rome, although it has also functioned as a tomb for important artists like Raphael, and various Kings of Italy, as well as holding some church services. In fact, services are still held at the Pantheon on special occasions. I’m sure that has been suspended with the pandemic, but I’m sure they will return.
       II remember a couple of things in particular about our visit to this world famous monument. First of all, it was much harder to find that I thought it would be. Rome is not laid out like Washington DC. For instance, where everything is out in the open and pretty clearly labeled. The Pantheon is tucked away in a maze of ancient side streets with only intermittent, and sometimes vague signs pointing the way – or maybe I should say suggesting the way. You really have to work to find it. And when you do – you might not realize it. There’s no sign. There is no Billboard proclaiming “The Pantheon.” It’s just right there and you think, “well, that place with the pillars and the dome looks important – that’s probably it.”
       And then, when you go inside – it’s not quite what you expect. I remember it was very dark. The only light in the place comes from a small opening, called the occulus, at the top of the dome. And physically, it’s a much smaller place than I would have imagined. We walked around for maybe 15 minutes and that was about it. Luckily, there was a wonderful little gelato shop right around the corner – incidentally, in Italy, there is always a nice little gelato shop around the corner – the Italians really know how to live. So we stopped in and had a wonderful ice cream before our next stop.
       I had expected something far grander, something stunning, something magnificent, when we visited the Pantheon. Now it was very nice, but it wasn’t what I had built up in my mind. The Pantheon wasn’t quite as glorious as I had expected it to be.       When I read this story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, especially as Mark tells it – I wonder if maybe the disciples felt a little underwhelmed by the whole experience, particularly the two disciples who ended up on donkey duty.
       Today is Palm Sunday, the day we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal arrival in the city of Jerusalem. But the story as we hear it in Mark seems a bit odd perhaps, because Mark spends so much time dealing with what seems like a small matter. Mark uses the first seven verses of this story to tell us about the donkey detail, how the colt was rounded up for Jesus to ride in on. He only spends three verses on the parade itself. We tend to think of the palm branches and the hosannas as the important part of the story – but for some reason, Mark doesn’t spend that much time on the Palm Sunday parade we’ve come to know and love.
       Of course, it should be noted that this is not the only parade taking place in Jerusalem that day. Over on the other side of town, another important figure had arrived with a grand procession.
       According Borg and Crossan’s book The Last Week, the procession of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate was entering the city from the west side to provide a military presence as a security measure during the Passover Festival. The historian Josephus tells us that Pilate had a rather contentious relationship with the citizens of Jerusalem. On previous visits to the city, the Jews had staged demonstrations over the desecration of the Temple, and on one particular occasion, Pilate appropriated some Temple funds to build an aqueduct for Jerusalem. During the royal procession, Pilate had Roman soldiers, dressed as Jewish civilians and armed with hidden clubs, mingle with the shouting crowd and attack the people at a prearranged signal. There was a history attached to these royal processions. There was some bad blood during these parades. Now over on the Eastern side of the city, Jesus was also arriving, but with a different sort of parade. Many scholars believe that Jesus had carefully planned his entry into Jerusalem and intended this parade to be a sort of street theater event mocking the Roman Empire. Pilate’s procession embodied power, violence and the glory of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus’ procession embodied the kind of kingdom that God was ushering in through Jesus ministry of healing, his message of good news, and ultimately, his death on a Roman cross. Whether this Palm Sunday was meant as a parody or as a simple contrast between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of God is a matter that is still debated today. But this much is certain. Jesus is very deliberate in his preparations. He is very intentional about the details here. And those disciples on donkey duty – they actually had a very important job. Although I’m not sure they would have agreed.
       The distinguished preacher Tom Long has written a meditation on this passage, and he writes, “Though no one knows what these two disciples were thinking, I’m confident that they had imagined for themselves a grander and nobler role on this day than being on donkey duty.” Long says that, though Mark does not explicitly say which two disciples went and got the animal, he suspects that maybe they were James and John. Just a few hours before, these two were the ones who had said to Jesus, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” And now look at what they are being called upon to do. Okay guys, if that’s what you want, go rent the donkey for me!
       It’s true, being on donkey duty doesn’t seem all that glorious – but their assignment was actually very important. The donkey is a key symbol in this parade. The Jews watching this procession would have remembered the story from 1st Kings in which an elderly King David makes arrangements for his son Solomon’s coronation as the next King. David gives instructions to “have my son Solomon ride on my own mule.” They would have remembered the words of Zechariah as he described the image of a King coming into Jerusalem with shouts of joy. He is triumphant and victorious, but also humble, and rides on a donkey instead of a noble war horse. That’s why Mark spends so much time describing the acquisition of this colt or donkey. It signifies a fulfilling of scripture, the arrival of a peaceful King, just as the prophets foretold.
       But perhaps there is another reason for all the attention focused on these two disciples arranging for Jesus’ donkey.
       You remember how Mark began his Gospel. He began with John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” From the very beginning, Mark calls us to prepare the way. And on this Sunday, that becomes the definition of a faithful disciple – one who prepares the way for the Lord, and sometimes that means arranging for the donkey.
       We disciples are the ones who prepare the way for the Lord. On our own, we can’t bring about God’s Kingdom, we can’t change anyone’s life – not on our own. God will do that, through Jesus Christ. Our job is to prepare the way for that to happen. Look at what Jesus’ own disciples are called to do. They are the ones who secure the upper room. They are the ones who collect the baskets full of left over bread and fish. They are the ones told to go out and preach, heal, and cast out demons. They are the ones who are sent out to prepare the way. They are the ones on donkey duty.
       And so are we. This Sunday we can celebrate all those seemingly mundane, simple, ordinary tasks we do that help prepare the way for the Lord to work. We celebrate those faithful disciples who stop off at Hallmark and pick up a get-well card for the friend in the hospital. We celebrate those people who will deliver flowers to those unable to get out of the house like they used to. We celebrate those saints of the church who happily bake bars and cookies for people to munch on as they share their grief at funeral receptions. We celebrate those cheerful faces that gather in the kitchen and prepare bacon and potatoes for St. Patrick’s Day coddle, our pancakes and sausages for Shrove Tuesday. Through all these seemingly small, mundane gestures, we are fulfilling the will of God. We are preparing the way for Jesus. We are doing those things that must be done before Jesus can make his entry in to the world. While we are on donkey duty, we are preparers of the way!
       On this Palm Sunday, we celebrate Jesus entry in Jerusalem. We celebrate the contrast between God’s kingdom as we know it through Christ and the world’s kingdom as we see it in the Roman Empire. We celebrate the arrival of justice, peace and love come to conquer power, violence and self-interest. But we also celebrate all those seemingly mundane ordinary tasks that faithful disciples have carried out for years. In thousands of ways, large and small, those of us on donkey duty have helped prepare the way of the Lord.

       May God be praised. Amen.

03-14-2021 Alive Together

Rev. Jay Rowland

Ephesians 2:1-10

March 14, 2021, Lent 4B First Presbyterian Church, Rochester MN

Alive Together

The opening phrase of Ephesians chapter 2 jumps off the page for me:

In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. …

(In the past? Hmmm. Okay.)

I know what that’s like, don’t you? … what it’s like to be spiritually dead. I know what it’s like to be spiritually alive. I think we all do.

Let’s start with the part about being spiritually alive. For me that’s all about being connected to the Lord in some intentional way and there’s a multitude of ways and opportunities: meditation, prayer, scripture, journaling, a walk outside, a swim in a lake, skating on that same lake frozen in winter, fly-fishing in a stream, camping, exercise, daily devotional, to name only a few ...

For me, being spiritually awake and alive happens when I’m connecting to the Lord. Let me quickly add here my belief that the Lord is always connected to us; the issue for me is about my connection and attentiveness to the Lord in the Spirit. Again, I want to repeat I know the Lord is always “there” but I cannot say the same for me. I’ve also learned that this connection doesn’t automatically happen every time I set aside time for the Lord. But the Good News is that whenever I’m “there” I know it because I feel more alive and at peace, more present in my relationships, more open to life as it unfolds.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Stumbling through life disconnected from the Lord carries over into my relationships and all facets of life. There’s numerous distractions and disruptions which get in the way of spiritual connectedness with the Lord and with life but I don’t usually if ever recognize these as distractions and disruptions b/c they just don’t introduce themselves as such, right? The other tricky thing is that oftentimes there are legit matters that do require some of my time and attention, and also sometimes there are fun and enjoyable distractions which we all need from time to time.

There’s a healthy balance there somewhere but what’s so hard for me is it’s such a fine line of distinction. very nuanced. I don’t ever see spiritual disconnection coming toward me--there’s no trumpets blaring or red-lights flashing in my consciousness. I’ll just be going along, doing my thing and I’ll somehow catch myself going through the motions. Then it dawns on me how much I’ve been feeling spiritually dry or spiritually asleep, or even spiritually dead, as Ephesians puts it. And in my experience, when that happens, I can’t imagine hell being any worse.

What I treasure about this passage from Ephesians is the assurance that God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace alone that we are saved…(Eph 2:5)

The passage is also fascinating to me because it alludes to other factors in play. It shows how our ancestors in the faith saw it as a given that there are spiritual forces at work in the world. Some are good, some are not. For people back then this was a simple undeclared fact, and I agree.

It’s like gravity is for us. We don’t often think about gravity every day, but it’s a force that acts upon the planet, the solar system, the tides, and even our bodies. Similarly, there are powers and principalities and spiritual forces at work in the world which no mortal or human can single-handedly curtail or control. This spiritual sensibility drives much of the content in the Ephesians text, and much if not all of the Bible.

And yet, here in our hyper-industrialized, digital-ized, and intellectualized 21st-century world, such notions are quickly dismissed. I understand and accept why that is. But to me, this world and this life is a mystery that resists being domesticated by rational explanations alone. Our ancestors took it as a given that there are invisible forces moving and working in the world, forces for good and forces for evil, powers and principalities, and other authorities and forces-of-nature all of which are beyond our or anyone’s control.

The most important corollary about that for me personally is to recognize and accept that I am powerless over these powers and forces, spiritual and natural, at work in the world. Equally important to me is recognizing and accepting how my own sin and disobedience adds to the chaos in the world and in my own life.

I have learned the hard way that I cannot overcome my sin and disobedience by myself. Even the most gifted surgeon cannot perform surgery on themselves. So it makes rational and spiritual sense to understand this reality about how we must handle our own sin. For me, my sanity and spiritual health is contingent upon my reliance upon a power greater than me to show me and help me navigate life fraught with sin and disobedience--mine and everyone else's. And for me that power greater than me (and more trustworthy than me) is God and the community of the faithful.

Admitting powerlessness doesn’t mean being helpless or without choices. We are still free to choose how we live in a world over which we are powerless. For instance, I can choose to dismiss or ignore the power of the world’s authorities and spiritual powers. I can choose to become militant in opposition to or in support of certain powers or authorities. I can choose to run away, break off all contact, declare the world evil and just hide. And above all, the way I see it, though I am powerless, I do have just enough “power” to ruin a good thing, make a bad situation worse, and wreak all kinds of havoc.

The pandemic is perhaps the most blatant example of this nuance of powerlessness. Viruses are naturally occurring phenomena, as old as the earth itself. They’re not inherently evil in and of themselves. But as we know viruses have been wreaking havoc on humanity for centuries, wielding suffering, death, and disaster. We all see that this particular virus has unleashed epic proportions of death and suffering upon every aspect of human life. Yet in spite of all of that, I don’t see the COVID-19 pandemic as an evil scheme hatched by the devil or other evil forces. Nor do I see the COVID19 pandemic as some “punishment from God for our sin” either.

What I do see is the impact of human sin and disobedience and how it exacerbated this disaster. Scientists have been warning us about pandemics, much like it has with global warming, and the epic disastrous consequences of our failure to change our ways and to adequately prepare. And so we see how much human mishandling and mismanagement, and how much human choices and responses contributed significantly to the level of death and destruction from this pandemic. It did not have to be as bad as it was. It might have turned out far less deadly and destructive.

At the same time, however, it is plain to see evidence of God’s abundance of mercy and love. Human ingenuity and cooperation, the best aspects of humanity have delivered a vaccine. The best of humanity has delivered ongoing care, help, assistance, recovery, and healing. I see God at work in all of that. I see the spiritual power for good in every act of human kindness and care and sacrifice.

Now perhaps you can understand why I prefer to see life and the world as a mystery that defies rational explanation.

I recognize my place in the world and I choose to believe in the Lord God as the only power capable of dealing appropriately with the powers, principalities, and forces of chaos at work in this world and in our lives and communities. There’s tremendous energy and power active and moving in the world. I see the Lord God as the only force strong enough to keep the world’s powers, principalities, and forces from destroying us all, including the destructive power of nature and human-created chaos.

I believe that without God there is no me or we. And I also believe that without God we wouldn’t survive the spiritual and other forces in play all around us and within us every day.

Today’s passage from Ephesians remarkably describes this mystery of a loving God who is continually working for our salvation every single day. I’d like to close with a retelling of this passage, a mashup if you will of the Good News and The Message Bible translations with some paraphrasing on my part:

“All of us have followed other spiritual powers ... the spirit who controls the people who disobey God. Actually all of us have lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. And so like everyone else we seemed destined to suffer.

“But God's mercy is so abundant, God’s love for us is so great that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience God brings us to life through Christ.

“It is by God's grace that we are saved. In our union with Christ Jesus God raises us up.

“God does this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of God’s grace in the love God showed us in Christ Jesus.

“It is by God's grace alone that we are saved through our faith. We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. God creates each of us in Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he empowers and prepares us to do, work we had better be doing.

Amen to that.

03-07-2021 Righteous Anger

Thomas J Parlette
“Righteous Anger”
John 2: 13-22
3/7/21

Professional golfer Tommy Bolt, who won 15 PGA titles back in the 1950’s, earned the nickname “Thunder Bolt” for his temper tantrums on the golf course. He admitted later in his career that his displays of anger on the course were more about theatrics and entertaining the crowd than about actually losing his temper. He advised other golfers on the proper way to express anger on the course. He would tell his fellow golfers, “Always throw the club ahead of you so you can pick it up on your way” or “Never break your driver and putter in the same round.” When he faced criticism for his actions, Bolt claimed that he never threw a club that didn’t deserve it.”(1)

Back in the 50’s, people may have been shocked by Tommy Bolt expressing his anger publicly. These days, I think we’ve become immune to it. Anger seems to be our default reaction.

James Moore, in his book When All Else Fails, Read the Instructions, tells about an older woman years ago who was called to testify at a very dramatic trial. “One of the lawyers was famous for being tough and heartless, and he was really badgering her on the witness stand. He shouted loudly and pointed his finger, using all kinds of tricks to upset and fluster the woman. She prayed quietly to God for strength. She asked God to help her stay poised and find the right words.

“Just then the lawyer went into a tirade, asking a sarcastic, ruthless question, gesturing in a demeaning way and shouting loudly.

When he finished, she leaned forward, looked him straight in the eye, and said, “I’m not sure I got all that. Could you please scream it at me again?”

“When she said that,” says Moore, “the jury broke up in laughter, spectators in the courtroom applauded, even the judge had to chuckle, and the humiliated lawyer said, “Oh just forget it! No more questions.”(2)

It’s sad, but studies show that Americans are angrier than ever. NPR and IBM Watson Health teamed up to survey Americans on their attitudes toward anger. The results may not surprise you. 84% percent of people surveyed said “Americans are angrier today compared with a generation ago.” 42% percent of people reported feeling angrier in the past year than they had been in times past. 69% percent of people surveyed believe that anger is a negative emotion. But 31% percent said anger can have a positive effect if it moves people to take action. (3)

The tennis star John McEnroe actually used his anger to motivate himself through a tough match. Michael Jordan used to look for any perceived insult from an opponent to whip up his own anger to motivate himself during a game as well. So anger does have its uses.

There are times when it is right to get angry. In our passage from John for today, we see such a time as Jesus visits the Temple in Jerusalem and drives out the moneychangers. The leaders of the Temples had turned a place of worship into what John calls “a marketplace.”

The moneychangers were originally an answer to a problem raised by Roman currency. The coins had an image of Caesar stamped them. Therefore, they were unacceptable to the Jews for Temple ceremonies. The people were forced to change their Roman coins into coins that were acceptable. Those of you who have travelled abroad have probably traded currency at a little shop set up for that purpose. It can be a very profitable enterprise for the moneychanger. The moneychangers Jesus confronted, however, had brought their little shops right into the Temple itself.

And they weren’t the only ones doing business in the Temple. Sacrificial animals were also being sold. You could bring your own animal with you, but most people didn’t because they were travelling and it was too difficult to travel with an animal. In addition, the animal had to be “without blemish” to be sacrificed in the Temple, and there were inspectors that checked that out. And, as you might guess, it was rare to have an animal that you brought with you pass the inspection – they wanted you to buy there at the Temple.

And, as you might expect, the shopkeepers were very competitive trying to drum up business. The most sacred shrine of the Jewish people had become a tawdry, commercialized circus. This made Jesus angry, and rightly so. This was God’s house and it had been desecrated. And Jesus took it personally. Suddenly he was turning over tables, scattering coins everywhere. Then a he fashioned a whip and drove the traders out of the Temple, along with the sacrificial animals.

When the dust settled and the commotion died down, people wondered what had hit them. People asked questions, but nobody really protested. Deep down, they knew Jesus had a point. His example shows us that there are times when it’s OK to get angry. Anger reveals our deepest values and priorities. The Bible does warn us to avoid people who are quick tempered, or who get angry about petty things. But anger and love are not mutually exclusive emotions. In fact, if we are complacent or apathetic about the things that matter to God, then we should question whether we love God at all. If we can look at the suffering and injustice and evil in the world and not get at least a little bit angry, then we need to question our commitment as followers of Christ.

Anglican priest Garret Keizer wrote in his book The Enigma of Anger that “My anger has not carried me far enough towards changing what legitimately enrages me.”(4)

Writer Shannon Leigh expresses this idea well when she writes, “Anger is a boundary; it tells others what isn’t okay, and it shows you where your limits are… Anger is like your engine light flashing – a beacon signaling that something needs care and attention.”(5)

Jesus was clearly laying down some boundaries in our passage for today. Jesus loved God and God’s people so much that he was disgusted and enraged by anything that violated that relationship. And using God’s Temple to take advantage of people who genuinely wanted to worship God was despicable in Jesus’ eyes. The Temple was supposed to be the place where you left the world behind and encountered God. Instead, the world had taken over the Temple and converted it to a marketplace.

There are times when people ought to express their anger at such practices. That is something that a lot of good, sweet, nice, decent people need to realize. When Jesus told us to turn the other cheek, he did not mean for us to become doormats for everyone to walk on. Certainly he was no doormat. He drove the tax collectors out of the Temple. So, obviously, there are times when we must express our anger. Remember that even anger can be a gift from God. It can be a powerful motivating force in life. There is a time for holy and righteous anger.

Jesus’ example today also shows us that there is a time for action as well as anger. Is there some form of evil in the world that a voice within you keeps saying, “Somebody ought to do something about that?” Maybe that’s the voice of God. Maybe it’s time for you to go beyond anger to some form of action.

Singer/songwriter Ray Charles tells of having to perform concerts during the days of segregation and Jim Crow laws. Back in the 1950’s, he was being led into a concert hall in Augusta, Georgia to perform a show. There were protesters gathered in a picket line outside the hall, protesting that the concert would be segregated. Only White people were allowed on the main dance floor – the Black had to sit in the balcony.

When a protestor got to close to Ray and began chanting “No More Segregation” at him, Charles responded, “Look man, there ain’t nothing I can do about it. I’m an entertainer.” He had been raised with institutional racism all his life. He was playing a concert in the Deep South. He was just one man – how could he change the system?

But a few minutes later, Charles heard the White concert organizer insult the protester. And something in Ray Charles snapped. He knew he had to do something. He couldn’t accept the injustice anymore. So he did what he could. He ordered his band to get back on the bus and leave Georgia. The concert organizer threatened to sue him. The State of Georgia banned him from making any public performances in the state. But Ray Charles didn’t care. He was going to stand up for equality and justice no matter what it cost him.

It took 20 years, but later in 1979, in one of those great reversals of history, Ray Charles was offered a public apology by the state legislature of Georgia, and his rendition of “Georgia on My Mind was adopted as the official state song.”(6)

There is indeed a time for righteous anger and a time for righteous action as well.

So as we gather at the Lord’s Table this morning, let us nourish ourselves for the work of channeling the righteous anger we feel at the injustice and inequality we see in our own time.

May God be praised. Amen.

1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No 1, p47
2.    Ibid… p47.
3.    Ibid… p47.
4.    Ibid… p48.
5.    Ibid… p48.
6.    Ibid… p48-49.

02-28-2021 Never Too Old

Thomas J Parlette
“Never Too Old”
Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16
2/28/21

          The story is told about an elderly gentleman who was sitting in the reception room of a dentist’s office. It was his first visit to this particular dentist. While waiting for his appointment, he noticed a certificate hanging on a wall which bore the dentist’s full name. Suddenly he remembered that a slender, nice-looking young woman with that same name had been in his high school some 50 years ago. Could this be that same person?

          But when the dentist came out to meet him, he quickly discarded any such thought. This gray-haired dentist with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been his classmate.
          After she had examined his teeth, he mentioned the name of his high school, and asked if by chance she had gone there. “I sure did.”
          “When did you graduate?” he asked.
          “1965, why do you ask?”
          “You were in my class,” he exclaimed.
          The dentist squinted her eyes and looked at him closely and asked, “What subject did you teach?”(1)
          Apparently he didn’t look so young either.

          Our lesson for today from the book of Genesis begins like this: “When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make a covenant between you and me, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”

          99 years old! Certainly old – but not too old for God to do something new. This was not the first time that God had come to Abram making promises. 24 years ago, when Abram was a spry 75 year- old, God had come to him and directed him to pick up and move to a land that God would show him. “Take your whole family, Abram. Don’t worry about where you’re going, I’ll show you in due time.”

          Abram obeyed God – he left, went on the road with his whole family, because God told him to. Never too old to make a change when God is involved. That was the kind of faith Abram had. And that was the kind of faith that gave birth to the nation of Israel.

          In today’s passage, God challenges Abram’s faith with an even more outlandish promise. God tells Abram that Sarai will have a son. At 99 years old, Abram will be a father! And Sarai, is going to have a baby boy when she is 89! Never too old, I guess.

          It was hard to believe, but nevertheless – Abram believed God’s promise. And he gets a new name, as does Sarai. Now they are to be known as Abraham and Sarah. Even God takes on a new name. This is the first time in Scripture that God uses the name El Shaddai – God Almighty. Everybody gets a new name, because a new covenant, a new promise, is being formed. Abraham and Sarah would become the ancestors of a multitude of nations.  And Abraham and Sarah believed every word. As Paul says, Abraham “hoped against hope” that the message was true. And Abraham moved forward with faith.

          As we consider Abraham’s example, we see what faith really is. Faith is a dynamic, forward looking relationship with God. Faith is not a spectator sport. Faith is not sitting on your hands waiting for God to perform a miracle. Faith is a matter of movement. Faith is a matter of obedience to God’s command’s. God needs people today who will obey Jesus’ instructions to love, to serve and to give. We are not called to be passive spectator’s. We are called to get into the game of life.

          Many Christians miss that truth. For many, faith is a cautious, cloistered type of experience in which one seeks, above all, not to ripple the waters. But faith also involves risk. Faith involves moving out, like Abraham did. Faith involves setting our eyes on a lofty goal, even when it might seem unreachable – like having a baby boy when you’re in your 90’s and so is your wife.

          In other words, there is such a thing as being too careful. We miss the exhilaration of life when we refuse to venture out, to do things on faith, to stretch for that which is beyond our grasp.

          Have you ever noticed that so many of our attitudes about life are expressed in cautious, or even negative terms? For instance, when the weather anchor gives the forecast for the next day. “Tomorrow there will be a 20% chance of snow.” They never say, “Hey, there’s an 80% chance that it’ll be nice tomorrow.” Faith has a positive outlook. Faith is being willing to heed God’s command regardless of how daunting it may seem. Abraham is an example of what faith is all about. Faith is moving out. Faith involves setting your eyes on a lofty goal. People of faith are those who enlarge our horizons, champion our causes, who move humanity forward. They inspire the rest of us.

          A fellow Presbyterian pastor named Stephen Janssen tells about Sir Alexander Fleming, a Scottish physician and microbiologist, who won the Nobel Prize for medicine when he discovered penicillin. As many of you are probably aware, Fleming made this discovery quite by accident. One day he happened to notice that the fungus on a certain glass plate had died when it came into contact with some mold that was on the same plate. Fleming was a very positive, forward-looking person who followed up on his observations. Most people would just wash the mold off the plate – most of us don’t see much value in mold.

          But out of curiosity, Fleming took a bit of mold and cultured it for further study. And out of his work back in 1928 came penicillin – the most widely used antibiotic in the world. Alexander Fleming had found a way to treat formerly severe and life-threatening illnesses such as pneumonia and meningitis.

          Pastor Janssen writes, “One observer commented that what impressed him about Fleming was that he immediately acted on his observation. Most of us, when we see something unusual, we say “That’s interesting,” and we do nothing about it. We need to let God show us how to see the world’s difficulties, so that we might know what we can do about them.”(2)

          It is important for us as Christian people to see that Christian faith is not a static, passive, non-threatening style of life. Jesus was a doer. He was a person who was so outspoken that he aroused envy, bitterness and even hatred. If he had been some nice, quiet guy sitting in the corner not bothering anyone – well, he wouldn’t have accomplished very much, and certainly not salvation and eternal life for his followers.

          Somehow, though, the Christian faith is seen by many people as a style of life in which we are quiet, submissive people who never venture out, never trouble the waters, and subsequently never achieve great things. But nothing could be further from what God calls us to be. Christian faith is a dynamic, forward-looking relationship with God. People of faith are the doers in this world, they are the ones who enlarge our horizons. And one of the greatest acts of faith involves our relationships with others.

          You may be familiar with the name Philippe Petit. Petit is a French high-wire artist who gained fame when he walked on a high-wire strung between the lofty towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971. Some of you may remember that, in 1974, he pulled off the same stunt at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. As thousands watched below, Petit made seven crossings of a cable stretched 1,350 feet above the traffic and concrete of Manhattan – dancing, spinning and even lying down in the middle of his cable.

          Even today, Philippe Petit is not afraid to take risks. In fact, he says he does not see wire walking as risky. He has rehearsed his moves on the high wire so many times that he feels safe there.

          There is one thing, however that terrifies Philippe Petit. He says, “Some risks I find impossible to take – particularly personal risks with people – for example marriage, or having children.”(3)

          That seems odd. Getting married and having children are scarier to this wire-walker than crossing a tiny cable 1,350 feet in the air. In some ways, I guess he’s right. Getting married is a big leap of faith. Pledging to love someone till death do us part, that’s a little risky, a little scary. And so is having children. Kids change everything. And just when you think you’ve got everything sort of under control, they grow into another stage with new challenges. Infant – to toddler – to pre-school – to kindergarten… and then they’re driving cars and looking at colleges. It is both risky and scary. But such relationships also bring great joy.

          But there is a greater risk that this passage highlights – the leap of faith that Abraham took. A leap of faith in God.

          Sheila Cassidy in her book Audacity to Believe, tells of being arrested in Chile years ago on trumped up charges after treating a wounded revolutionary. She was arrested and held without trial in a detention camp.

          She was finally found guilty of a minor infraction but still was held in the detention camp. A friend gave her one of those pocket New Testaments. Leafing through it, she came to that passage in Romans where Paul asks, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? No. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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.”

          Sheila writes, “Incredibly, in the midst of fear and loneliness, I was filled with joy, for I knew without any vestige of doubt that God was with me, and that nothing they could do would change that.”(4)

          Faith is not accepting a handful of propositions and saying, “Oh yes, I believe. Now I am bound for heaven.” That is a pale imitation of the real thing. The real thing is when you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord and you seek to live courageously for him in this world – staking everything you are and hope to be on God’s eternal promise – like Abraham “hoping against hope” that the message of the covenant is true.

          That is real faith. That is the kind of faith that can turn a world right side up. And as Abraham and Sarah demonstrate – you are never too old to have that kind of faith.

          May God be praised. Amen.
 

1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol XXXVII, No. 1, p43.
2.    Ibid… p44.
3.    Ibid… p45.
4.    Ibid… p45-46.

02-21-2021 It's Not About the Water

Thomas J Parlette
“It’s Not About the Water”
Genesis 9: 8-17

2/21/21, 1st Lent

          I remember when Juliet and I first learned that we were expecting. We did what many first time parents do – we started reading all the books and making our preparations. One those things we did was fix up a nursery with a crib and a rocking chair and educational mobiles that spin and beep and light up.

          We chose to do a Noah’s Ark theme in our nursery. It’s a pretty popular pick. It works for a boy or a girl and who doesn’t like all those animals.

          We always think of the story about Noah and the Ark as kid friendly. But when you read the story closely, it is one of the more violent stories in Scripture. God decides the world isn’t worth saving – God decides to wipe the slate clean and start again. God decides to kill all life on the face of the earth. Pretty horrific really.

          When I was studying for my Master of Biblical Storytelling Certificate, one of the requirements was to present and record a 2-hour story concert. So I learned a variety of Old Testament stories combined with some folktales to present for the first half of the concert, and then some Gospel stories for the second half. And one of the stories I learned was Noah and the Ark. I want to tell you, this story is hard to tell because it is so violent. In fact, I remember one of the times I told this story at a neighboring church, a lady scolded me afterwards because she thought I made up all those quotes about God killing every living thing on earth. “That isn’t in the Bible, God wouldn’t do that, I don’t appreciate you playing that up so much,” she said. I had to open up one of that church’s own pew bibles and point out to her that the text notes on 5 separate occasions over the course of 3 verses that “all flesh died…” “everything with breath died…”, “God blotted out every living thing…”, “They were all blotted out from the Earth…”,  “Only Noah was left…” I admit it’s a bit excessive, but the author wanted to make that point crystal clear. But alas, she wasn’t happy with that realization and left saying, “Well, I don’t use that translation.” It’s a hard story to tell, and a hard story to hear.

          I’m told that there is a museum in Ann Arbor, Michigan that has the unofficial name “The Museum of Failed Products.” It’s shelves are lined with all the products and inventions that were taken off the market because nobody bought them. Things like Clairol’s “Touch of Yogurt” shampoo. Or Gillette’s “For Oily Hair Only”. Or Pepsi’s AM Breakfast Cola that was supposed to compete with straight up coffee as your morning drink. And I don’t know why Colgate-brand TV dinners didn’t make it.(1) I don’t know, did their meatloaf taste like toothpaste?

          Can you imagine the disappointment of the inventor who poured his or her time, energy and intellect into creating a product that failed?

          Or, can you imagine how disheartened and disappointed God must have been in looking upon Creation and seeing that it had all fallen apart?

          Former Beatle, Paul McCartney, once coined a word to describe the letdown fans experience “when a new song by an old group fails to make them feel young again.” The word is “Anticipointment.” Anticipointment, says McCartney, is the feeling of disappointment you get when you’re expecting something really great, but you get something entirely different.(2)

          Perhaps God was feeling some anticipointment about what had been created. When the Lord took stock of the earth, the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind. It grieved him to his heart. So God decided to put an end to all flesh. As Walter Brueggeman puts it, “God is deeply upset with the world gone crazy. God is sorry that the project of creation was ever started at all. In an emotional frenzy over betrayed love, God decided to drown his sorrows. All the spigots of heaven and earth were opened to full blast.”(3) And everything on earth died.

          The water flowed for forty days and forty nights. Even the highest mountains were covered with water! Everything died! All were blotted out: human beings, animals, creeping things, birds… everything – for 150 days the water covered the earth.

          But Brueggeman reminds us, “This story in not about the water.” It’s not about the death and destruction. “It is about God’s emotional attachment to the earth. It is about God the way it is about a parent of a teenager who loses it in a frenzy over teenage insanity and recalcitrance. The waters come up to match the rising affront that God felt with a failed earth, the same failed earth we observe all around us.”(4)

          This is a God who cares in excessive, frenzied ways about the earth.

          The most important part of this whole story, Noah and the Ark, is really what happens later. It’s not about the water. It’s not about the death and destruction. But we need to experience the violence of this story to appreciate its resolution.

          After the waters swelled for 150 days, the Scripture says “God remembered.” God remembered Noah. God remembered that there was some goodness in the failed creation. As Brueggeman wrote, “God remembered the faithful who had not joined the insanity. God stopped short in the frenzy of emotion the way a parent of a teenager is stopped short when one remembers that this object of rage is a well-beloved daughter or son. God comes to God’s sense, after having lost the way.”(5)  No, this story is not about water. It’s not about death and destruction. “It is about God and God’s deep love for the earth, God’s raging anger at betrayal, and God’s abrupt about-face when God remembered what God had forgotten, what God had forgotten about loving the earth and the creatures in it.”(6)

          Yes, God remembered.

          The theologian Jurgen Moltmann once wrote “The ultimate reason for our hope is not to be found in what we want, wish for and wait for. The ultimate reason for our hope is that WE are wanted and wished for and waited for. God is our last hope because WE are God’s first love.”(7)

          So yes, God remembered God’s first love.

          And with that remembrance, God made some promises. Which brings us to our text for today. God makes a covenant with Noah and all his descendants. God says, “Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. I have a set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember. I will remember my covenant.”

          In this covenant, God puts the bow, a weapon of war and destruction on the shelf forever.

          This is one of the traditional texts for the First Sunday of Lent because just a few days ago we marked ourselves with another sign, of another covenant. The covenant, or promise, of forgiveness and new life that we signify with the mark of ashes. God’s first covenant sign was the bow in the sky, and now we have another covenant sign of forgiveness and new life through Jesus death and resurrection.

          Major Barbara Sherer served as a military chaplain in Kuwait. She wrote about the time a fire swept through her camp one day, destroying the tents the troops were using as a dining hall and a chapel. Amazingly, the fire started right after breakfast in between the times for the Protestant and Catholic services. No one was in the tents at the time, so nobody got hurt. The fire also happened just a few days before Ash Wednesday. Major Sherer decided that instead of burning palm fronds and collecting the ashes for Ash Wednesday as she normally would, she would use some of the ashes from the burned military tents to anoint the foreheads of the soldiers.

          After the fire cooled down, Major Sherer got permission to visit the site to collect some ashes. A firefighter scooped up a cupful and put it in a plastic bag and gave it to her. Later, as she was pouring the ashes into a bowl for the service, she spotted something shiny in the bag. It was a small silver cross that had survived the fire. On it were inscribed the words “Jesus is Lord.” The fire had burned through five very large tents. Everything in the path of the fire had been destroyed. How had the firefighter, in scooping up a random cup of ashes, managed to pick the exact spot where this tiny cross lay hidden?

          Major Sherer writes, “The message to me is clear: God walks with us through the terrible firestorms of our lives, and we are lifted unharmed out of the ashes. We may be marked in some way, like the cross of ash on Wednesday. However, that mark is a symbol of God’s love and protection.”(8)

          The story of Noah and the Ark is not about the water. It’s not about the death and destruction. It’s about the sign of the bow. The first sign of God’s covenant of love for creation and for us.

          May God be praised. Amen.

1.           Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No.1, p39.

2.           Ibid… p40.

3.           Walter Brueggemann, “Flooded with Fidelity”, The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann Vol. 2, Westminster John Knox Press, 2015, p67.

4.           Ibid… p68.

5.           Ibid… p68.

6.           Ibid…p68.

7.           Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, Vol. 1, p41.

8.           Ibid… p41-42.