03-02-2022 Return to Me (Ash Wednesday)

Thomas J Parlette
Return to Me
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
3/2/22, Ash Wednesday
 

       Bob Laurent, in his book, A World of Differents, tells of sitting in the living room reading when he heard a terrible scream just outside his front door. Like most parents, he could recognize his own child’s crying, so flew out the door to the scene of the accident.
       There was his three-year-old son, Christopher, upside down, in tears, the victim of a crash while riding his Big Wheel. In one fell swoop, Laurent scooped up his son and brought him inside. He held his son in his arms and said, “C’mon, son, let’s dry those old tears up.”
       “But Dad, it hurts!”
       Then Bob says he have his son a stern, serious look and said, “I know, but son, big boys don’t cry.”
       And as soon as those words passed his lips, Bob says an image of Jesus popped into his head. There’s Jesus, a man in his 30’s, standing outside the tomb of his good friend Lazarus, crying because the loss hurt so much. Then he saw Jesus looking over the city of Jerusalem, weeping for what the city had become.
       Laurent writes, “This man who never met a situation He couldn’t handle, could shed tears from the depths of a broken heart. So, yes, big boys do cry.”(1)
       That’s what the Bible teaches – it’s ok to cry. Paul once wrote, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” In fact, there are references to weeping throughout the Bible. And it’s not just the women at the tomb. In our passage from Joel for tonight we read, “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…”
       It’s all right to weep or cry, in fact the scripture calls us to do so. In fact, there are three times when it is particularly appropriate to shed some tears.
       First of all, it’s alright to cry over the state of our nation. In Luke, we read, “As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace- but now it is hidden from your eyes.’”
       It would certainly be appropriate to weep over our nation as well. We look around and see racial inequality, gun violence, hatred, poverty, lack of housing, health care and food, It’s enough to make you cry – from sorrow and frustration. I think a few tears would be appropriate over our society these days. It’s alright to cry over our nation.
       And, it’s alright to cry over someone you love. In John, we read, “When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
       “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?”
       Come and see, Lord.
       And Jesus wept.
       Jesus wept over someone he loved. If there is someone you really care about, sooner or later you will shed some tears. Especially when we lose someone to death.
       C.S. Lewis, the great Christian writer and thinker, was staggered by the death of his wife Joy. He felt as if he were drunk or had suffered a physical blow to the head – as if there were a blanket between him and the rest of the world. He was in such pain that he reports that he could not even pray. Every time he tried, it was as if a door were shut in his face, and he could hear it being bolted from the other side.(2)
       Some of you have been there, you know what that’s like. Your grief has been so overwhelming and tears flowed down your face giving some sweet, if temporary, relief. It’s alright to cry when you lose someone you love. Nothing is healthier or more natural.
       Of course, you don’t have to lose someone to death to shed tears over them. Some of you have shed tears over your children or family members, next door neighbors, or fellow church members. It’s all right to shed tears over the state of our society, and it’s alright to weep over someone you love.
       And it’s alright to cry over our own sins. That is the weeping that this text for Ash Wednesday is about: “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…”
       It’s alright to shed tears over your sins. Tonight begins the season of Lent. Among the familiar scenes in this season is that of Simon Peter sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl comes to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” But he denies it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
       Peter goes out to the gateway, where another servant girl sees him and says, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Again Peter denies it – “I don’t know the man.”
       After a little while, those standing there go up to Peter and say, “Surely you are one of them, you speak with a Galilean accent.”
       And Peter begins calling down curses, swearing to them, “I don’t know this man!”
       And then a rooster crows. And Peter remembered that Jesus had said, before cock crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. I think it’s the saddest moment in the Gospel story. Yes, it’s alright to shed tears over your sins.
       In our modern world, we don’t know tears like that. These days, you issue an apology through your PR firm, go on Oprah for an interview, or maybe get a book deal. Nobody cries over their sins anymore.
       The late comedian Jonathan Winters once told about negotiations involving his autobiography. Several publishers he approached about the book wanted to be sure that he included details of any scandalous relationships he had had. Winters had already decided not to tell all – he decided to keep his sins to himself and not cry about them in public. Five different publishers asked him, “What about your affairs?”
       And Winters just said, “They are in order.”(3)
       Our secular world knows nothing of weeping over your sins. Some of you might remember that a recent version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter had a different ending than the original story. Evidently Hollywood felt that modern audiences could not relate to a man slowly destroying himself with guilt as did the adulterous minister in Hawthorne’s original story. So they gave the movie a happier ending. After all, who could weep over breaking one of God’s commandments in our modern world. I guess not.
       But there are times we need to weep over our sins. There are times when we need to confront the worst within us and rend our hearts, if not our garments. That is what Ash Wednesday is all about.
       Pastor John Keith tells about taking his father to Israel. When they got to Jerusalem and viewed the Wailing Wall, there was a great crowd of people praying. The guide told them that the Jews would start praying at one end of the Wall and make their way to where the Holy of Holies used to be. And the guide told them an unusual phenomenon would occur. When the people would begin to pray at the Wailing Wall, their confessions of sin wouldn’t bother them too much. But the closer they got to the Holy of Holies, the more aware of their sins the became… and they would begin to weep.
       The closer we are to God, the more conscious we are of our sins.
       It’s okay to shed some tears. Sometimes it’s over the state of our country or our world. Sometimes it’s over the loss of a loved one. And sometimes, if we are close to God, we shed some tears over own sins and shortcomings.   
       “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…”
       Let us approach the table and begin the season of Lent.

 1.  Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, Vol. 1, p43.
2.  Ibid… p44.
3.  Ibid… p45.
4.  Ibid… p45.
5.  Ibid… p45.

02-27-2022 An Awakening Experience

Thomas J Parlette
An Awakening Experience
Luke 9:28-36
2/27/22

        Where are you most likely to get important news and information that you rely on each day? From a newspaper? If so, you’re a dying breed – but I understand. Maybe it’s from an app on your phone. From Social media? From a 24-hour cable news channel? What about from a man or a woman standing in the middle of your neighborhood and shouting out the latest headlines? Probably not.
        If you’d lived about 1,00 years ago in England, you would have gotten the latest news and headlines from a town crier. The job of town crier began officially in the year 1066. William of Normandy and his army invaded England in that year, and consequently, men were hired by the government to travel from town to town to publicly remind the citizens of King Harold the Second’s authority. They did this by reading public proclamations from the king.
        Since few people knew how to read in those days, and there was no simple way to spread news among towns, as time went on, town criers became the source for official news throughout England.
        The town criers’ proclamations almost always followed the same pattern. The crier would choose a central place in town where he would be highly visible, such as the town square or a local inn. Next he would capture the everyone’s attention by calling out “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,” which means, “Listen, Listen, Listen!” Then he read the proclamation from the king. Afterwards, he would nail the proclamation to the doorpost of a nearby inn.
        Of course, the job of town crier today has gone by the wayside. We do things differently today, although there is a website for what is known as the “Loyal Company of Town Criers”. Its purpose is to keep alive the tradition of the crier. For example, this website informs us that the use of the term “Post Office”, or posting a notice, or the naming of newspapers such as The Herald and The Post, all derive their existence to the town crier. Their position became so important that harming a town crier was turned into a treasonable offence, and even in the 21st century, these ancient laws are supposed to guard them against heckling or harm.(1)
        You won’t see many job ads for town criers anymore, but the Loyal Company of Town Criers in London still holds an annual competition where they judge both men and woman criers on how loud and clear they are, how accurate their announcement is, and how well they can engage the audience with their presentation. According to competition rules, all announcements must begin with “Oyez, Oyez, Oyez” and end with the words “God Save the Queen!”
        According to Carole Williams, who has served as the official town crier for the small town of Bishop’s Stortford in England, “Town criers love the aura of an audience. They love the excitement, anything to get the adrenaline going. But you also have to get your message across in a flowing, rhythmic way. If your audience is asleep before you’ve got to the end of the first sentence, then you’ve lost”(2)
        One way to think about this story of Transfiguration is that sometimes God has to wake us up, get our attention, before we can experience God’s power. I think that’s probably true for most of us. We need something important to break the cycle of busy-ness in our lives. We need something transcendent to break the grip of self-centeredness. That’s why Jesus spent regular time on his own in prayer. That’s why he took Peter, James and John with him that day he went to a nearby mountain to pray.
        The disciples needed to be awakened to Jesus’ true identity. They needed to see just a glimpse of his majesty so that when questions or doubts nagged at them, when following his lead became difficult for them, they would remember this moment of awakening and they would find hope and courage for the road ahead.
        It is reminiscent of something that happened to Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the best-known Russian novelists in history. Dostoevsky was arrested in 1849 for reading banned books. He was sentenced to die by firing squad. But his death sentence was a cruel trick. He was actually led out into the square to face the firing squad. Then he was blindfolded. The soldiers raised their rifles and fired. But the soldiers fired blanks instead of bullets. It took a few seconds for Dostoevsky to realize that he was still alive. His blind fold was removed. Instead of death, he was sentenced to four years of hard labor in a prison camp.
        This experience, which was meant to intimidate and traumatize Dostoevsky, had an awakening effect instead. He became more grateful, more attentive, more alive and joyful than before. He claims that this near-death experience awakened his sensitivities to the world around him in a way that transformed his writing.
        Prayer also does that. Prayer awakens our sensitivities to the world around us. Prayer transforms us. Prayer prepares us to experience God, and be awakened.
        Today we hear how Jesus took Peter, James and John with him up to a mountain to pray. This was Jesus’ regular practice – go away, often up in the mountains, to pray and spend time with God. As he was praying, Peter, James and John got sleepy. Jesus was preparing himself for the difficult road ahead, while his friends were slipping into nap mode. That happens sometimes – we get tired, or we simply don’t want to listen.
        Here was once a woman who told about an incident that happened in her granddaughter’s kindergarten class. A boy in the class was having a hard time paying attention – he just wasn’t listening to anything the teacher was saying.
        The teacher got fed up and said, “Since you don’t want to listen, you go sit at that table by yourself.”
        There was a slight pause, and this woman’s granddaughter raised her hand and said, “I don’t want to listen either. Can I go sit with him?”(3)
        Sometimes we don’t want to listen either. Listening to God though, is not like listening to a friend or a colleague or even a teacher. Listening to God is an act of submission, of obedience. When we listen to God, we are laying aside our own agenda and priorities and needs and opening ourselves up to the course that God has charted for us.
        The word translated “obey” in the Old Testament means to hear. In the New Testament, several words describe obedience. One word means to hear or to listen in a state of submission. Another word simply translates obey as trust. Our obedient response to God’s Word is a response of trust and faith. To really hear God’s word is to obey God’s word.
        It’s easy to get stressed out or turned off by the subject of praying. I think that might be because many of us have grown up with the belief that there is a right way and a wrong way to pray. We’ve been taught techniques and rules for praying. But praying is really just starting a conversation with God, and listening for an answer. Start a conversation, and see where it goes.
        When we do this it often leads to an awakening experience. Maybe not as dramatic as this vision on the mountain, but an awakening experience nonetheless.
        Consider the experience of Albert Schweitzer. He was a pastor, author, university professor and internationally known concert organist from Germany. One evening he read an article about the suffering of people living the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. The author of the article wrote, “As I sit here in Africa, it is my prayer that the eyes of someone on whom the eye of God has already fallen will read and be awakened to the call and say, “Here am I.””
        After finishing the article, Albert Schweitzer prayed, “My search has ended; I am coming.”
        He applied to medical school and earned his license. In 1913, he sailed to French Equatorial Africa where he opened up his first hospital in a converted chicken coop. Over the next four decades, Schweitzer and his wife treated thousands of patients with illnesses such as malaria and leprosy. He was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1953 for his medical mission in Africa. At his death, he was buried on the grounds of his hospital.(4)
        So as we approach the beginning of a new Lenten season, let us pray, and simply listen for God’s response, And God will provide an awakening experience- a glorious vision of the Kingdom that is coming.
        May God be praised. Amen.

 1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p39.
2.   Ibid… p40.
3.   Ibid… p40.
4.   Ibid… p41-42.

02-20-2022 By D Grace of God

Thomas J Parlette
“By D Grace of God”
Luke 6: 27-38
2/20/22

             I have a pop quiz for you this morning. How much money would you say Ameri8cans lost to internet scams and online crime in 2020? Would you believe 4.2 billion dollars! I know, hard to believe. And that’s in just 1 year. Internet scams are an increasing problem all over the world.(1)
            If I were to ask for a quick show of hands, how many of you have gotten an email or a message on social media that you suspected was a scam? Probably all of us – it’s a pretty common occurrence.
             I read an excellent story on the blog Now I Know! by Dan Lewis about a potential internet scammer. A few years ago, a man from Utah named Ben Taylor got a Facebook message from a man named Joel Willie. Joel Willie was from Liberia, and was trying to run a type of scam called an “advance-fee scam” – you’ve probably seen examples of this. He was trying to convince Ben Taylor, this stranger from Utah, that he was in line to collect a large sum of money, but first he had to pay some small fees up-front to claim the money. If Ben Taylor would help him pay the up-front costs, Joel Willie promised he would split the large sum of money with him.
            Ben recognized this as a scam right away, but he decided to play along just for fun. Ben has his own You Tube channel, and he thought it would be instructive to record his interactions with Joel so he could show his viewers how to spot scams.
And this is where the story gets good. Ben decided to turn the scam around. He claimed that he ran a photography business and would pay Joel to take some photos of African sunsets. To his surprise, Joel came through with some pretty decent photos. So Ben did a strange thing – the bought Joel Willie, the scammer from Liberia, a new camera. He sent him the camera and asked for more photos. And the pictures Joel sent were definitely better quality this time around. Joel also sent an enthusiastic message saying that he was committing himself to their new photography partnership.
            Now Ben had a situation on his hands. He had told Joel he would pay him for good photos. And Joel trusted him. So if Ben didn’t come through, he would be guilty of running a scam as well. What should he do? Ben decided to print Joel’s photos in a small booklet and advertise it for sale on his YouTube channel. He titled the booklet after a phrase Joel used in his emails: By D Grace of God. He only charged $8.00 per booklet. Within a short time, he had sold $1,000.00 worth of booklets.
            And this is where the story gets even better. Ben sent all the money to Joel on one condition – that he donate half of it to a local Liberian charity. Joel gladly did exactly that.
            And now for the best part of the story. In 2018, Ben Taylor traveled to Liberia to meet his new business partner, Joel Willie. The two men took more photos and published a second book detailing the strange and wonderful story of their business partnership. Their two books have raised $90,000. Some of the money has gone to Joel Willie for all his hard work. But most of it has gone to do good works in Liberia. It has been used to buy food for the hungry, to purchase Christmas care packages for children, and to save a local school.(2)
            I love a story with a happy ending – especially one with a happy ending for everyone involved. So I think the title of their first book is so appropriate – By D Grace of God – because this story could’ve ending so differently. The story of a scammer, became a story of generosity, hope and even new beginnings – by D grace of God.
            This morning we hear some familiar words from Jesus. They are part of what Matthew presents as the Sermon on the Mount. But in Luke, Jesus teaches the crowd on a level place, so scholars call this series of teachings the Sermon on the Plain. Which fits nicely, because Jesus’ words here are plain and simple. straight-forward advice: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Plain words – but certainly no easy task.
            Pastor David Lose has a great perspective on this teaching. He writes, “Jesus isn’t offering a set of simple rules by which to get by or get ahead in this world but is inviting us into a whole other world. A world that is not about measuring and counting and weighing and competing and judging and paying back and hating and all the rest. But instead, is about love. Love for those who have loved you. Love for those who haven’t. Love even for those who have hated you.”(3)
            I think we can understand all of Jesus’ teachings better when we view them as an invitation into a whole other world. Because our world is all about measuring, counting competing, judging, paying back and all the rest. And we see the results of that way of life. Jesus wants to set us free from that way of thinking, that way of life.
            I know many people who resist any religion because they think it will put too many restrictions on their life. But sometimes restrictions are a gift. Maybe you’ve had the experience of walking through a mega superstore and being unable to choose a brand of soap because they are too many options. Once I went to Fleet Farm to get some oil for our snow blower, and I left baffled because I didn’t know what kind I needed – too many choices. Having too many options can actually short circuit your capacity for making wise decisions. Instead, Jesus makes things simple for us. Jesus whittles down our options. Hate, judgment, retaliation, revenge – those are no longer on the table. Jesus leaves us with only one option – love.
            So, what would this kind of love look like in real life? What we see here is that Jesus calls us to a courageous love. In May 2021, a sixth grade girl walked into her middle school in Rigby, Idaho, pulled a handgun out of her backpack and began shooting into the school hallway. A nightmare come true.
            Math teacher Krista Gneiting rushed her class to safety, then went out into the hallway to help a wounded student. That’s when she saw the shooter. In an interview with ABC News, Gneiting said, “It was a little girl, and my brain couldn’t quite grasp that. I just knew when I saw that gun, I had to get that gun.”
            So she approached the girl and began talking to her. She slowly removed the gun from the girl’s hands. And then she wrapped her arms around the shooter and hugged her until the police came. As Gneiting said, “I just kept hugging her, loving her and letting her know that we were going to get through this together.”(4)
            Krista Gneiting’s courageous love changed the ending to that story. Instead of more students getting shot and possibly dying, she turned a moment of violence into an opportunity for radical and courageous love. For followers of Jesus, hate, judgment, retaliation, revenge – all those options are off the table. Instead, Jesus calls us to respond to our enemies with a courageous love.
            Another thing we see in this passage is that Jesus calls us to a generous love. Phil Robertson, the star of the reality show Duck Dynasty, says that he once had a problem with people stealing fish from the nets he had placed along the river. At first, he patrolled the river in an attempt to stop them. But then he read the passage from Romans 12 that says to give your enemy food and drink, and to overcome evil with good – a passage clearly inspired by Jesus’ teachings here. So Robertson decided he would no longer protect his nets.
            Instead, the next time he caught someone trying to steal fish, he pulled up the net and poured the fish into the man’s boat. Then he told the man to invite his family over for a fish fry. And he told him he would gladly give him more fish whenever he needed it. After a few more times of giving away fish to would-be thieves, Robertson discovered something – he was losing fewer and fewer fish. The more he offered to give away free fish, the less anyone wanted to steal from him.(5)
            Love is the engine that drives generosity. Generosity is risky. There is no guarantee that your giving will result in any benefit to you. But Jesus didn’t give to get anything in return. He gave because his love for us compelled him to.
            Of course, the opposite is true as well. Fear is the engine that drives stinginess, selfishness and greed. Chuck Collins is the great-grandson of Oscar Mayer, the German immigrant who founded a meat company worth millions of dollars.
            Chuck Collins was set to inherit a fortune when he became an adult, but instead, he did something shocking. He gave it all away. All of it. Collins was inspired to give away his fortune by the tenants of a mobile home park. Yes, a mobile home park.
            The owner of the land on which the park sat was going to sell it. So all the tenants would have to move. The only way they could keep their community was to raise 35,000 to buy the land themselves. Collins considered just giving them the money for the land. But before he could do that, the tenants banded together and raised the money themselves. Those who couldn’t afford to pay anything didn’t have to worry. Their neighbors who could afford it covered the cost for them. All the tenants got to remain.
            The tenants’ generosity changed the course of Chuck Collins life. As he said, “It made me think, ‘I want some of what they have. What they have is a community that stands up for each other and that’s all in for each other. That’s the kind of world I want to live in.’”(6)
            That’s the kind of world I want to live in. That’s what the Kingdom of God looks like. Hate divides; generosity unifies. Hate creates division; generosity creates community. Hate oppresses; generosity overcomes. Jesus calls us to a courageous love. Jesus calls us to a generous love.
            Jesus also calls us to an unconditional love. His plain words to us are – “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you. Even sinners do that.” Love unconditionally, and be merciful, just as God is merciful.”
            George Wallace served as Governor of Alabama from 1962-1987. In that time, he was known for his support of racist “Jim Crow” laws and his opposition to integration and equality for Black citizens. In 1972, George Wallace was shot and paralyzed in a failed assassination attempt. He was taken by surprise when he received a visit in the hospital from Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman. Wallace was a staunch opponent of Chisholm’s. He asked her what “her people” would say about her visiting him in the hospital.
            Chisholm replied, “I know what they’re going to say. But I wouldn’t want what happened to you to happen to anyone.” Her words brought George Wallace to tears.
            A couple years later, Shirley Chisholm was fighting for minimum wage for domestic workers, and George Wallace approached his colleagues and advocated for her legislation. With his support, the legislation passed.(7)
            We all like stories with happy endings. But look through the history of humanity and you see a story filled with hatred, violence, suffering and injustice. It didn’t start that way. And it doesn’t have to end that way. In Jesus, God invites us into a whole new world – the Kingdom of God. We contribute to that Kingdom by following Jesus example and living with a courageous, generous, and unconditional love. In this way, we can change the ending to the story – by D grace of God.
May God be praised. Amen.  

 
1.      Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p35.
2.      Ibid… p35.
3.      Ibid… p36.
4.      Ibid… p36.
5.      Ibid… p36-37
6.      Ibid… p37.
7.      Ibid… p37-38.

02-06-2022 How to Revive a Tired Spirit

Thomas J Parlette
“How to Revive a Tired Spirit”
Luke 5:1-11
2/6/22

          A study came out last year that was disturbing, but not necessarily surprising. The World Health Organization did a study of people around the world who worked 55 or more hours per week compared to those worked 35-40 hours per week. The study covered health and workplace data from the 1970’s to 2018 and included workers in 154 countries. They concluded that, “People who working 55 or more hours each week face an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared to people following the widely accepted standard of working 35-40 hours a week.” They also estimated that more than 745,000 people worldwide died in 2016 from the physical stress of working excess hours. Those are some scary numbers.
          Of course, this study was completed before the recession caused by the CVOVID 19 pandemic. A lot of companies cut their workforce, and the remaining employees worked longer hours to compensate. Also, many people began working from home, which made it harder to leave work at work. The result – working unpaid overtime.(1)
          We all know that the U.S. is the nation of “rise and grind.” Hard work is in our American DNA. But so is being tired. We complain about how busy and tired we are. We compare our busy schedules and shrug our shoulders. “Oh well, that’s just how life is. What can we do about it?”
          A seasoned doctor was training his latest group of interns on diagnostic techniques. He wrapped up the training by saying, “Never ask your patients if they feel tired.” Why, someone asked. “Because,” said the doctor, “everybody feels tired.” He may be right about that. Everybody feels tired.
          Now, I’m not against hard work. It’s good to use your skills and energies for the good of the world around you – that’s what God calls us to do. But most of us also understand that sometimes our work can be unfulfilling. When we give our best efforts to something and we don’t see any results, it’s easy to lose heart. That tired feeling isn’t just bone deep – it can be Spirit-deep.
          Author Max Lucado tells the story of a man named Joseph Crater, a New York Supreme Court Justice who disappeared in August 1930. Crater was just 45 years old at the time. He had gone to dinner with some friends one night. After he left the restaurant, he hopped in a taxi and rode away, never to be seen again.
          No evidence ever turned up to explain Justice Crater’s disappearance. But on the night he disappeared, he left a check for a large amount of money for his wife. Attached to the check was a brief note. It read simply, “I am very weary. Love, Joe.”(2)
          Sometimes the tiredness we feel runs Spirit-deep, and it steals away our joy, our peace, our hope. That’s not what God intended for our lives. Our God is a creative God, and God made us for peace, hope and joy. So that Spirit-deep tiredness poisons the life that God intended for us to have.
          That’s why we can relate to Simon Peter and the other disciples in our passage for today. Crowds of people have come to the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret to hear Jesus preach. On the edge of the lake are the fishing boats that have come in after a long night’s work.
          Unfortunately, Simon Peter and his colleagues had an unsuccessful night. Jesus climbed into Simon’s boat and asked him to push out a little ways from shore, so people could see and hear him a bit better. After Jesus finished teaching, he told Simon Peter to sail into deeper water and let his nets down again.
          Now put yourself in Peter’s sandals for a moment. He’s just finished working all night, he’s caught nothing. He’s tired, hungry and ready to go home and rest. He was tired and ready to quit. And now Jesus is telling him how to do his job. Simon growls back, Master, we’ve worked hard all night and we’ve caught nothing.” This is another spot where I think there was a long pause, as Jesus and Peter have a bit of a stare down. Finally, Peter relents – “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
          And right there, at that moment in the story, Jesus shows us how to revive a tired spirit – by doing meaningful work. A great way to stay energized and effective in your work and in your life is to seek to do something that you truly believe in.
          Back in 2013, officials from the California Department of Social Services shut down an eldercare facility in San Francisco named Valley Springs Manor. They shut it down because the facility had failed several inspections. The Department of Social Services planned to relocate the 20 residents who were still living there to other, safer facilities.
          Sadly, the owners of Valley Springs Manor didn’t wait for the Social Services workers to complete their relocation efforts. They ceased operations immediately and announced that they weren’t paying their employees any more. So most of the employees walked out, leaving behind 16 elderly, vulnerable residents and just two employees to care for them.
          The two employees who refused to leave were the cook Maurice Rowland and the janitor Miguel Alvarez. These two men just couldn’t imagine abandoning the residents. So without any help or pay, Rowland and Alvarez worked around the clock for two straight days taking care of 16 people. They fed them, dispensed their medications and kept them safe. Each man would go home for one hour every 24 hours to take a  shower, then would come back to the Manor.
          Two days after Valley Spring’s owners and other employees left, workers from the Department of Social Services showed up to relocate the last residents. They were amazed to discover that the cook and the janitor had been working for 48 hours straight.
          When asked why they stayed around, Miguel Alvarez said, “If we left, they wouldn’t have anybody. Maurice Rowland said, “ I just couldn’t see myself going home. Even though they weren’t family, they kinda’ felt like family for this short period of time.”(3)
          Those men found meaning in stressful, exhaustive work by thinking of the residents as family. Doing meaningful work is one of the best ways to revive a tired spirit.
          Another way is to catch God’s vision for your life. You’ve heard it said that God has a plan for your life. In no way is your life meaningless. You are here for a reason. To invigorate your life, pray that God will show you that reason. That’s catching God’s vision for your life.
          I like how author Mike Slaughter puts it. He once noted that people have a tendency to view life through either a microscopic lens or a telescopic lens. If you view life through a microscopic lens, then you’re focusing on your current circumstances, current challenges, your current problems and stresses. You are focused on the details of the now. And that can get pretty overwhelming.
          But people who view life with a telescopic lens see a bigger picture for their lives. They are not stressed out or trapped by their current circumstances. They look forward to what God is creating in the future. Whereas microscopic people focus on the problems of the now, telescopic people focus on the possibilities coming in the future.(4)
          When Jesus told Simon to sail out to the deep water and cast his nets again, Simon said, “We’ve worked hard all night and we’ve caught nothing.” That’s a microscopic response. But then he relents and says, “But because you say so, I will let down my nets.” That’s the moment that Simon opens up to Jesus’ leading – he takes a telescopic look at the situation. And Simon and his colleagues catch so many fish that they have to load them into 2 boats.
          Simon is so ashamed of his doubts that he gets down on his knees and says, “Go away from me, Lord – I am a sinful man.” But Jesus didn’t do this to shame Simon. He did it to share with Simon a new vision for his life. “Don’t be afraid – from now on you will fish for people.”
          Jesus is talking to us as well as Simon Peter. Don’t be afraid, he says to us, from now on, you will fish for people. Whatever work you do, whatever hobbies you have, wherever you find yourself over the course of your day, God wants to work through you to bring people grace and peace. That’s the new vision God has for all of our lives.
          That reminds me of an interesting story I read recently about our country’s space program. It seems that when engineers at NASA sent the Perseverance rover on an historic mission to Mars in 2020, they hid a coded message in the rover’s parachute. The parachute had an unusual red and white pattern… Alan Chen announced that this strange pattern hid a secret message. Then he challenged folks to find and decode the message on rover’s parachute. The message was, “Dare mighty things!”(5)
          Dare mighty things. I love that. That’s what Jesus was saying to Simon Peter. You’re looking at your life through a microscopic lenses. You only see if you’ve caught enough fish to feed your family and turn a profit. But I want you to look through a telescopic lens and catch my vision for your life. And that’s exactly what those weary fishermen did. They changed lives and they changed the world. Catching God’s vision for your life can revive a tired spirit.
          This passage also shows us that committing yourself to a wide angle view of life can also revive a tired spirit. How does the story end today? After Jesus offered Simon and his friends a new vision for their lives, we read, They pulled their boats up on the shore, left everything and followed him.” Notice what they didn’t do – they didn’t go home first and catch up on sleep. They didn’t even go out and sell their tremendous catch – at least the Bible doesn’t tell us they did. They just left everything to follow Jesus. They took a wide angle view of life.
          I just mentioned that idea from Mike Slaughter about microscopic lenses and telescopic lenses as it refers to focusing on the now and looking towards the future. But I think you can do the same thing with a standard view versus a wide angle view. Think of a camera – even the camera you have on you right now – the one in your phone. Most of the time we take a picture with the standard view. But most of us have wide angle options that take in much more. Some even have panoramic mode where you can take a 360 degree picture. This allows you to see what lies all around you, all the possibilities that exist, all that lies beyond your standard view of life. That’s taking the wide angle view.
          In the 1920’s, Lillian Dickson and her husband, Jim, moved to Taiwan to serve as missionaries. Once the Dickson’s children were grown, Lillian took a wide angle view of her life and wanted to begin a mission of her own. With Jim’s blessing, she set off to reach people in the most remote region of Taiwan. She worked with medical missionaries at first, then she founded a school. She spent more than 30 years working among the poorest and most remote groups of people in the country. She walked thousands of miles through thick forests and rushing rivers to bring medicine, food, education and love to people in desperate need.
          After founding schools, orphanages, clinics and churches, Lillian went on to found Mustard Seed International, a mission organization that is still in operation today. Someone once asked Lillian Dickson how she could continue working so enthusiastically when she was surrounded by an ocean of suffering that could never be emptied. And Lillian replied, “I just scoop out my bucketful.”(6)
          What a great answer. When you commit to a wide angle view of life, all Jesus asks is that you scoop out your bucketful – and others will be joining you. Jesus will work through you, and all the others just out of your picture, to accomplish God’s purposes.
          So when you become tired, discouraged or filled with doubt about whether or not your efforts are making any difference, trust this – Jesus’ disciples faced harassment, rejection, imprisonment, beatings and even death because of their work. But they also convinced thousands of people that Jesus is Lord and Savior, the very Son of God. They planted churches all over the Roman Empire, Africa and Arabia. Today, over 1 billion people from every race and nation call themselves Christians. And you and I are here today because of the work of Peter, Paul and all the other apostles who committed their lives to further the message of Jesus.
          So, find something meaningful to be involved with, don’t get caught up in the microscopic view of life and open yourself up to a wide angle view of how God is using you to bring about the Kingdom. Just scoop your own bucketful – God will take care of the results.
          May God be praised. Amen.

1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p 27.
2.    Ibid… p 27.
3.    Ibid… p 28.
4.    Ibid… p 28.
5.    Ibid… p 29.
6.    Ibid… p 29-30.

02-13-2022 Trust Matters

Trust Matters

Jay Rowland

Jeremiah 17:5-10 (New Living Translation)

There’s a scene in my favorite comic strip, Charles Schulz’ Peanuts:

Charlie Brown is outside to practice kicking the football. As it happens his nemesis Lucy is also outside with a football. But she’s not playing with anyone. She’s sitting still as a stone, holding the ball in place for any kicker to kick it.

But there’s no other kids around to kick it. Only Charlie Brown.

And Charlie Brown wants nothing more than to have a chance to kick a football with all his might.

Lucy knows this somehow. And she is eager to lure Charlie to take a run at it, then pull the ball away at the last second, then see Charlie Brown launched into the air instead of the ball, carried by his momentum, until gravity drops Charlie Brown to the ground with a loud thud, followed by his plaintive, “argh”.

It becomes a recurring scene. Every year as summer turns to fall, Charlie Brown is outside amid the falling leaves ready to practice kicking the football again. And of course Lucy is outside too. Just sitting there, holding a football to the ground, not paying attention, just holding the ball ready for anyone to run up and kick it into the sky.

And even though past experience proves that Lucy cannot be trusted, we know Charlie Brown will trust her again. He just can’t help it.

“C’mon Charlie Brown. I won’t pull the ball away this time,” Lucy says. “Trust me.”

“Good grief,” Charlie Brown mutters to himself. And with that he takes another run at the ball Lucy is holding.

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked …”

(Jeremiah 17:9 NLV)

When I was a child, I wished so hard that Lucy would leave the ball in place JUST ONCE so that Charlie Brown could finally kick it. I never realized back then that this familiar scene from my favorite comic strip reflects a human dilemma that is played out in some manner in the world every day.

By that I mean the dilemma of trust.

The history of the world and the history of God’s people, it seems, is a long history of vacillating trust in God. As if God would be like Lucy with Charlie Brown, waiting to mess with us.

Generation after generation, day after day, it seems, God’s people play out this human dilemma: whether to trust our lives and our common good to God’s well-established record of care and faithfulness or whether to trust more in ourselves alone to make our own way in this often unfair, uncaring world.

Far too often we impulsively choose to trust only ourselves without pausing to consider the trustworthy Love of God and God’s faithfulness both of which have a very good track record.

Far too often, especially the past few years, the result of our over-reliance on self-reliance is unnecessary harm disrupting individual lives, families, relationships, neighborhoods, communities, and now even the planet. Too often lately the result of self-reliance is a blurring of the common good in favor of individual freedom and individual rights. That’s the world we’re navigating through today.

* * *

The prophet Jeremiah was called by God to be God’s spokesperson to the leaders of Judah, God’s chosen people. The situation that was playing out then was that the leaders of Judah sort of declared their independence from God--as odd as that sounds. I’m sure it started out innocently enough. But somehow the leaders, much like our leaders today, were determined to establish security, strength and peace whatever buzz terms were most appealing at the time. They were working hard to show “the world” that God’s people wouldn’t let themselves be pushed around, but were standing tall and making their own way in the world.

The collection of verses in chapter 17 features a mixture of poetic verse and poetic imagery sharing God’s care and God’s wisdom to God’s people through Jeremiah. Wisdom the leaders of Judah ignored.

Judah’s leaders felt compelled to match wits with their superpower neighbors (Babylon & Persia) in spite of their neighbors’ superpower-economies, superpower-production capacity and superpower-militaries. Unfazed by their overwhelming vulnerability, Judah’s leaders put their confidence not in God’s care but in their own clever schemes and alliances designed to protect their tiny nation by playing off their mighty neighbors against each other. Meanwhile Judah’s religious elite endorsed and even practiced the idol worship and the cultic acts—in the very Temple itself—practiced by their superpower neighbors hoping to earn some political equity on the world stage.

How smart! How savvy! Never mind that idol worship and those cultic acts were in clear violation of God’s most sacred trust and covenant made with the people of Judah.

As it turned out, Judah’s leaders dramatically overplayed their limited hand, provoking one of their superpower neighbors, ultimately leading to the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and everything they cherished. They clearly succeeded in securing their independence from God. No consolation as they were taken captive to Babylon. How’s THAT for independence, eh? So much for their clever schemes and religious posturings designed to leverage their own security, prosperity and peace

But it didn’t have to be that way. I think we have a tendency to invoke the Angry God of the Old Testament—that God was so ticked off at God’s people that the invasion and destruction was God-ordained—an inescapable fate. No! This was NOT a foregone conclusion, otherwise God would not have called Jeremiah in the first place.  Sure God was ticked off, but even so, God faithfully warned the people through Jeremiah of the many dangers they were unleashing.

But Judah’s leaders chose to ignore God’s repeated warnings--ignoring Jeremiah, dismissing him as a crazy religious zealot.

And so they were taken captive to a foreign land—UNTHINKABLE—where they remained for the next fifty years.  And so there was now going to be division among God’s people—a natural result of the distance between the relative few—the intellectual, political, religious elite who were deported—and the vast majority of Judeans left to literally pick up the broken pieces. Learning how to worship without a Temple and how to live as God’s faithful people under the military occupation of a foreign (super)power.  

Fifty years of separation from home, community and neighborhood to ponder (not that anyone did) how their actions and their choices, their greed and self-righteousness and arrogance worked out. Fifty years to ponder deep wounds and divisions inflicted upon their community and nation.

The poetry here in chapter 17, the image-rich poetic wisdom from God underscores what scholar Ronald Clements calls “the inner human dimension of choice and individual responsiveness that lies within every human historical situation. … the essential dimension of individual responsibility and decision-making in the flow of events.” (Clements, Jeremiah: Interpretation Commentary, p.108-9)

It seems to me that we are now living through a similar experience today. We are in many ways experiencing the consequences (on a large scale) of inner human dimension of choice and individual responsibility and decision-making.

Walter Brueggemann writes, “a destiny of either life or death is determined by the object of one’s trust. …  the metaphor of the withered shrub or watered tree … emerges in a culture that characteristically is desperate for water (which) makes clear that trust is a life-and-death matter. No tree or shrub can survive without water. There are no viable substitutes. Likewise, for Judah (there is) no viable substitute for genuine trust in Yahweh” (Brueggemann, Exile and Homecoming; A Commentary on Jeremiah, p159-60.  Emphasis mine.)

Here is what makes the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, particularly the prophets, such a tremendous resource for us, a treasure of wisdom from God.  For therein we discover numerous experiences of our ancestors’ epic failures and the wisdom that comes from such failure.  When we ask that our imaginations to be filled and guided by the Holy Spirit of God, we have access to a wealth of human-divine interaction; experiences and lessons upon which to draw, and from which to learn; experiences which can help shape our future AND deepen our trust in God’s ways and God’s faithfulness. For there we see numerous experiences of God’s faithfulness on display through the hardest events and periods God’s people have had to endure.

I know sometimes we’re convinced that all the chaotic events of the recent years as they continue today are unprecedented, or new or unique to this generation.  And in some ways this is true of course.  But in many ways it is also clear that so much of the struggle beneath the surface “issues” is about a very basic human dilemma (trust in God vs trust in Self) playing itself out among us.

 * * *

As I was thinking about all of this, I found myself remembering a game you may have heard of or played. It’s sometimes played as part of an ice-breaking activity for small groups or as a team-building exercise.  Or in a church youth group.  It’s called Trust-Fall. For those who’ve never heard of it, you are paired up with a partner. This partner stands a couple of feet directly behind you, behind your back so you cannot see them. You are supposed to let yourself fall backward, keeping your body straight like a plank.  (And you’re not supposed to ask, “ready?” before you fall back, but I’m sure that rule is ignored as a matter of routine.)

The person standing directly behind you is supposed to catch you so that you do not hit the floor. Then you trade places.  This game lets you experience the emotional (and even the physical) dimensions of trust, the raw vulnerability it takes to let yourself fall backward, and risk falling hard to the floor, trusting the person behind you that you cannot see is ready and will catch you to keep you from falling to the hard floor.

It’s hard to say which role is more nerve-wracking: falling backward--trusting that the person behind you will catch you, or the role of having to catch another human being when they fall.  In both roles, in my experience, the mind fills with chatter--questions and doubts. I’m sure folks who have been invited to participate in this “game” have said, “Nope. NO WAY. Not doing this.”  And I get it.  Totally understandable.

Given the vast changes and shifts happening in our lives and in our world, obviously we’re all doing our best to make our best decisions and choices, and to allow our institutions the necessary leeway required to function.  And we can and do quibble with our leaders’ motives and integrity, the key for our sanity and for our hope is to invest as much if not more time cultivating trust in GOD.  Not as some escape from life’s harsh realities and conflicts, but in order to build up our spirit and build the spiritual, mental and emotional resilience required to live in these uncertain times.

Scenes like this from Jeremiah and from the history of Judah are indispensable to building trust in God it seems to me.  Here we can meet and collectively remember God’s faithfulness to God’s people shown in the midst of dire historical events and periods.  Not to dismiss the unique and dire events and period confronting us today, but in order to avoid being overwhelmed; in order that we might learn how to function, or better yet, how to live with hope, with excitement, and with confidence.  Not confidence that humanity will magically or suddenly change and behave and get our act together, but to remember that God has a way of bringing a unfaithful and untrustworthy humanity along God’s way.  Not through divine coercion but through the ways of Love and Trust and Community, and through our personal gifts and experiences, and through the diversity of the Body of Christ that is the church and the communities of faith in every neighborhood, every city, every state and every nation on earth.

But on those particularly bad days, when it seems like all hope is naïve or lost amid human cruelty and ignorance, it may come down to a moment when we just have to learn to fall back, to let go, to just let ourselves fall.  Not to “test God” but to let go of all the stress, all the anxiety, all the agony … just let it all GO, live to see another day, and trust that God is there and will be there to catch us when we fall.

I keep thinking about Brueggeman’s comment “ … a destiny of either life or death is determined by the object of our trust.” Sometimes we have no choice but to trust in flawed, human leaders. But even then, especially then, remember to trust God.  You do have that choice.

For people like us who live by faith in God, trust in God truly is a life-and-death matter.   That’s what it means to BE people of faith. Thanks be to God. Glory to God.

01-30-2022 Some Homework

Thomas J Parlette
“Some Homework”
Jeremiah 1: 4-10
1/30/22
 

        We all know what it’s like to wake up from a frightening dream and think, “Wait a minute, was that real?” And once we get a little more alert, we realize that it was just a dream, and we hopefully fall back asleep.
        Psychologists say there is one type of dream that is nearly universal – the dream of being unprepared for an exam. It’s awful isn’t it? School children all over the world report having this dream, or I should say nightmare, for that is what it truly is. In this dream, you realize on the day of the exam that you never showed up for class – you missed the entire semester. Or the exam questions are written in a foreign language you don’t recognize, or you completely forgot to study the night before.
        Dr. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, studied these exam dreams and concluded that they are never about the exams we have failed. Rather, he discovered that these dreams usually involve exams in which we did well. So he believed that exam dreams were actually our brain’s way of reassuring us that we’ve faced this challenge before, did well, and we could do it again.
        I hope he’s right – especially as we continue to face this COVID epidemic. It feels like we’re waking up and wondering – is this really happening, is this really happening again. But I like the thought that those panic dreams might be our brains way of reassuring us that we been through this before and we can do it again. That feeling of being unprepared helps us to relate to the situation of Jeremiah the prophet in our passage for today.
        Jeremiah was a young priest in a small settlement near Jerusalem when God spoke to him one day and called him to be a prophet to the nations. Nothing scary about that, right? Don’t kid yourself.
        I’ve often heard others say, “If God would just speak to me and tell me what to do, life would be so much easier.” I’ve thought that to myself as well. We all think that if God spoke to us in a clear, unmistakable way, we would feel immediate relief and would obey instantly. But look at all the people God spoke to in the Bible. Very few responded with, “Sounds great! I’m on it. Thanks for the clear directions, God.” No, almost everyone responded with fear, questions or excuses. So let’s not kid ourselves that we would be so faithful and courageous if God spoke to us. When God calls us to do something, it’s not unusual to respond with a little bit of fear, some questions and whole lot of excuses.
        Jeremiah responds like we all probably would, with an excuse – I don’t know how to speak, I’m too young. Which might sound like a reasonable response – “No thank you Lord. I’m going to take a pass on this one. I’m not ready. I’m not the best choice for this. This just isn’t my thing.”
        Reminds me of a comment a manager wrote in an employee evaluation: “He’s never been very successful. When an opportunity knocks, he complains about the noise.”(1)
        Jeremiah wasn’t exactly complaining. He just wasn’t listening. All Jeremiah heard was the responsibility. He didn’t hear the reassurance. God never gives a responsibility without first giving reassurance. God never calls someone without first comforting them. God never appoints someone without first anointing them, to use religious and theological language.
        Look at God’s words in the beginning of this passage: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…”
        These words are not just for Jeremiah – they are for us as well. God made us – God made you – for a purpose. In fact, God tells Jeremiah “… before you were born, I set you apart.” The word used here literally means “set apart for a sacred purpose” or “consecrated.” You weren’t just made for a purpose. You were made for a sacred purpose. For God’s purposes.
        Dr. Robert Schuler – famous for coining the phrase “possibility thinking”– was once asked in an interview how he developed such a positive, optimistic outlook on life. He said he developed this attitude through his morning prayer time. Every morning he would pray, “Dear Lord, lead me to the person You want to speak to through my life today. Amen.”
        When I first heard about that prayer during a youth group meeting during my high school years in Bloomington, Illinois, I thought– how could such a simple prayer change his whole outlook on life? Dr. Schuller says that that prayer caused him to see the people around him as opportunities for God’s blessings. Because of that prayer, every interaction became an opportunity for God to speak through him. Don’t misunderstand - he never assumed he had all the answers. No – that just meant that the burden wasn’t on him. God had all the answers and fill someone else’s need. Schuller saw himself as the delivery method, not the source of wisdom, comfort or love.
        Wouldn’t it be great if we all could approach life like that, if we could view every moment as a limitless opportunity for God to work through us? Every moment, every conversation – no matter where you are or what you’re doing.
        Another thing we can take away from this passage today is that, in order to accomplish God’s purposes, we must live without fear.
        I like the story Pastor Peter Blackburn tells about a family camping trip to a national park in Australia a few years ago. The Blackburns and their friends spread out and explored the different hiking trails around their campsite.
        Soon, Blackburn heard two of his sons calling for help. He looked up to see his sons and a friend had climbed a high rock ledge along one of the hiking trails and now they weren’t sure how to get down. Fortunately, the boys discovered a safe route on their own and soon rejoined the family at the campsite.
        Once they returned, Blackburn had to remind them of one of the rules of rock climbing: never jump unless you can see where you’re going to land. And before you climb to a higher peak, make sure you see a way back down.(2)
        That is great advice for rock climbers, but it’s not great advice for followers of Jesus Christ. God says – “If I say so, Jump, and I will catch you.” God says, “Climb out on the higher peak and trust that I will show you the way.” Listen again to God’s word’s to Jeremiah: “Do not say, I am too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.”
        How many opportunities are lost to fear – especially the fear of rejection. I don’t think anyone ever died of rejection. How many blessings wither and die in the face of our excuses, made out of fear. Fear shrinks our vision. Fear stunts our potential. Fear robs our potential impact. How? By making us doubt God’s call. Listen again to God’s words: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.” Repeat that to yourself a few times every day, “I will not be afraid for God is with me and will rescue me.” Then see what opportunities God brings your way.
        Let me tell you about somebody who conquered her fear and is doing a lot of good in her community. After suffering through an abusive relationship, an addiction to alcohol, and a cancer diagnosis, Debrah Constance found success and stability as vice president of a major realty company in Los Angeles, California. In her role as vice president, she was also in charge of her company’s philanthropic giving. As a result, she developed an interest in helping kids in disadvantaged, crime-plagued neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles.
        Through her volunteer work, Debrah sensed that she had a larger mission than running a successful real estate company. When she shared this growing conviction with a friend, he asked her, “What do you really want to do when you grow up?”
        And without thinking, Debrah said, “All I really want to do is open a safe house for the kids at Jefferson High School.”
        And her friend said, “Then just do it.”
        And then the panic set in! Debrah began listing all the reasons she couldn’t open a safe house for young people. She, herself, had dropped out of high school. It would cost too much money. She didn’t have the education or the work experience.
        And her friend looked her in the eye and said, “You can do it. And you must do it.”
        That conversation led to the founding of a community center named A Place Called Home that serves hundreds of young people every day in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The workers at A Place Called Home offer counseling, academic tutoring, mentorships, vocational training, after-school programs in the arts and various sports. They also provide college scholarships, job placement, and a safe hangout for kids.(3)
        Debrah Constance got over her fears and doubts, and look all she was able to accomplish.
        The last take away from this passage is that in order to accomplish God’s purposes, we must trust God’s plan. Doing great things for God begins with the simple trust that the One who has called us will not leave us all alone as we seek to follow the call.
        Recently I came across some wise words written by a finance blogger named Bob Lotich comparing God to an NFL quarterback. He wrote – “God loves throwing lead passes.”
        God loves throwing lead passes. Lotich explains that a lead pass in football is when the quarterback throws a long pass not to where the receiver is, but to where the receiver is going.
        Bob writes, “When you follow God’s principles, the results are almost always delayed. As in, when God asks us to do something, we rarely see the results immediately. We have to keep doing what God tells us to do – running – and trust that God will get us the results – the ball – somewhere down field… If I were playing catch with an NFL quarterback, and he said “Just start running and the ball will be there when you get there,” I would trust him. He’s a pro – he knows what he’s doing. How much more can we trust God when God says, “Just start running, I’ll take care of the rest.” Whatever you are trusting God for today,” says Bob Lotich, “just keep running, and trust that God has it all worked out.”(4)
        That’s exactly what Jeremiah learned to do. God didn’t choose Jeremiah because of his outstanding skill and charisma. Look at the last verse from today’s passage: The Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. Today I appoint you over the nations to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
        God’s plan is not about you. It’s not about me. It’s about God working through us. As the Lord said to Jeremiah, “I have put my words in your mouth.”
        God made us all for a sacred purpose. Every moment you are alive is a sacred opportunity to good works that God prepared in advance for you to do. The only obstacle between you and God’s sacred purpose is your willingness.
        So today, I have some homework for you to do. Keep repeating that phrase – “I will not be afraid for God is with me and will rescue me” – three times, every day. And then, just keep running, and trust that God’s got it all worked out.
        May God be praised. Amen.
 

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p23.
2.   Ibid… p24.
3.   Ibid… p25.
4.   Ibid… p25-26.

01-23-2022 First Sermon

Thomas J Parlette
“First Sermon”
Luke 4: 14-21
1/23/22

        It’s tough to preach your first sermon at a new church. Most pastors experience at least a few jitters as they head to a new church. You wonder all sorts of things. Will the sound system work? What kind of Pulpit or podium will there be? Will the congregation stay awake? It can be nerve-wracking. Not exactly on par with the stresses faced by police officers or brain surgeons or even a middle school teacher, but nerve-wracking in it’s own way.
        I like the story a pastor named John Jewell tells about his first time as a supply pastor at Good Hope Church in a small town in Missouri. A local minister gave Jewell directions to the church – this was in the days before GPS – and sent him off with the words, “They’ll be expecting you.” That made Pastor Jewell feel pretty good. He hoped the congregation would be open and welcoming to him.
        But when Pastor Jewell got to the church, no one welcomed him. No one even seemed to notice he had arrived. A few minutes before the service was supposed to start, Jewell tapped the shoulder of a man sitting up front and introduced himself- “Hi, my name is John Jewell and I am preaching this morning.”
        The man responded, “Nice to meet you John, but I’m the new pastor here and I thought I was preaching!”
        Talk about an unwelcome surprise. But the pastor cleared up the confusion quickly when he explained that there was another church with the same name just a few miles down the road in the next town. So Pastor Jewell sped to the other Good Hope Church as fast as he could, but he arrived to see the congregation walking out the doors. They had grown tired of waiting for the guest preacher who showed up late.(1)
        I don’t think Jesus ever showed up late to the synagogue on a Sabbath day. If he did, the scriptures don’t mention it. This was Jesus first sermon, given in his hometown synagogue. Unlike almost every other preacher ever – he didn’t seem nervous at all. If they had gotten an advance copy of Jesus’ first sermon – the established religious leaders may have been a little nervous though. Because Jesus wasn’t just going to interpret God’s word. He was going to fulfill it.
        The passage Jesus read was a prophecy from Isaiah, who had lived about 700 years earlier. But instead of interpreting this passage for his listeners in the synagogue, Jesus simply ended his reading of the scripture by saying – “Today this scripture if fulfilled in your hearing.” Boom! Quite a “mic drop” moment as we say these days. Jesus, a local boy, a carpenter from a family of modest means, had just announced that he was the Messiah sent from God. Wow – how’s that for something to talk about over brunch?
        The nation of Israel had waited around 1,000 years for God to send the Messiah, the Anointed One. They believed the Messiah would be a descendant of King David, observant of Jewish law, a righteous judge, and a great military leader. But they didn’t expect one of their own would claim that title for himself. So what was Jesus talking about? If he was the long-promised Messiah, the hope of the nation, then what was God revealing the Divine nature and plan for the world?
        Well first, we learn that Christ came to bring good news to the poor. That’s a vital truth to understand about the Messiah. That tells us so much about God’s heart, God’s character and God’s priorities. And when you have good news – who do you want to tell. You want to share it with the people most affected by the news – and in this case, it is the poor.
        Think about our society for a moment. How would you like to be poor in America? How would you like to have limited access to health care? How would you like to own a car that you couldn’t keep in good working order – that sometimes breaks down at the most inconvenient times? And let’s face it – is there ever a convenient time? How would you like to watch your child’s teeth rot out because you couldn’t afford a trip to the dentist? I could go on, but you get the idea. In the most affluent society in the world, there are still people for whom everyday life is a nightmare. Those are the people about whom God is most concerned.
        Jesus identified with the least and lowest. It is no accident that Christ’s first bed was a manger where cattle fed. It is no accident that Jesus spent his adult life without a home of his own, without any possessions beyond what he could carry as he traveled from town to town sharing the message of God’s love with everyone he met. And listen to how author Michael Frost summed up Jesus life: “Regardless of how much many affluent pastors might love their state-of-the-art air-conditioned church sanctuaries with their coffee bars, bookshops, and valet parking lots, we cannot forget that Jesus died on the cross naked and empty-handed.”(2)
        God cares about the poor. God’s love is limitless. God’s compassion knows no bounds. And God expects the same outlook from Jesus’ disciples.
        Jim Wallis is the founder of the Sojouners Community and the magazine of the same name. The Sojourners Community advocates for peace and social justice based on the teachings of Jesus. Their ministries focus on meeting the needs of the poor.
        When Wallis was in seminary, he and some classmates were deeply impressed by all the verses in the Bible emphasizing God’s concern for the poor. So they took a Bible and a pair of scissors, and cut out every verse that related to justice for the poor, not exploiting the poor, sharing your resources with the poor and God’s love for the poor.
        As author Richard Stearns wrote about their project, “They wanted to see what a compassionless Bible looked like. By the time they finished, nearly two thousand verses lay on the floor, and a book of tattered pages remained.”(3)
        They wanted to see what the Bible would like if you eliminated compassion and concern for the poor. And when they took those verses out, there was very little left. When you read the Bible, especially the words of Jesus, God in the flesh, God’s compassion and concern for the poor leap off the page. Indeed, it holds the whole Bible together. And so Jesus’ first sermon began with the words: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.”
        We also learn that God’s love covers everyone who is hurting… of every station in life. Jesus’ next words in this passage are, “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
        Jesus meant these words literally. In his life on this earth, he set people free, he healed them, he stood up for those who were oppressed. He welcomed the rejects and looked out for the forgotten. He was a voice for the voiceless. Jesus never wavered in his mission to bring hope, healing and freedom to those who were most in need, including those whom he called the “poor in spirit.” That’s an interesting phrase. It says to me that we can be rich in things and still be poor in spirit. You can be wonderfully gifted and still be poor in spirit.
        Christ came to bring a message of hope and salvation to a world desperate for the love of God. And no matter how good our life looks on the outside, many of us suffer from a poverty of spirit. Many of us are imprisoned by shame, anger, envy, fear, guilt and sorrow. No amount of money or titles or friends or accomplishments can fill that sense of emptiness or fear or hopelessness.
        But in his first sermon, Jesus says, “I have been sent to proclaim freedom from all that plagues you.”
        We also learn from today’s passage that God brings us hope no matter what our circumstances. And hope is freedom for those in bondage and wealth to those in poverty. Because this passage shows us we have a God who loves us and cares about our challenges, our heartbreaks, our suffering enough to endure them himself. When we understand that kind of love, we can live more joyfully and freely because we know a God who loves us that much will comfort and strengthen and provide for us in all circumstances.
        Eddie Ogan is a woman of amazing faith in God, which she learned from her mother, who had to raise Eddie and her six siblings. One of Eddie’s favorite stories from her childhood involves the Easter of 1946. One month before Easter Sunday, the pastor announced that the church would be collecting a special offering for a needy family in the community.
        After church, the Ogan family discussed how they could give sacrificially to the collection for the needy family. They decided to buy a large bag of potatoes and live off that for one whole month. This would allow them to save up $20. They also decided to use as little electricity as possible for that month to save money on the electric bill. The children volunteered to get yard work and baby-sitting jobs to raise extra money. They even bought yarn to weave potholders to sell in the neighborhood.
        Eddie says that this month before Easter was one of the most joyful her family had ever experienced. They were so excited to see their offering money grow a little bit each day. They couldn’t wait for Easter Sunday when they could put their money in the offering plate. The idea that they could help someone in need, that they could pass along some of the blessings God had given them, gave them so much joy that the extra sacrifices and work become fun.
        That Easter Sunday morning, a heavy rain poured down on the town. Eddie and her siblings put cardboard in their shoes to cover the holes and worn places, and they all walked to church. They had raised $70 dollars for the special offering, and they couldn’t contain their smiles when they placed those bills in the offering plate. After church, they sang all the way home, and celebrated with an Easter lunch of boiled eggs and potatoes.
        To their shock, the pastor came knocking on their door that afternoon. He spoke briefly with Eddie’s mother, then left. When Mrs. Ogan came back into the kitchen, all the joy had drained from her face. In her hand she held an envelope that contained that morning’s special offering for a needy family. They envelope held $87. Eddie and her siblings were in shock. Suddenly they realized that they were the poor family in church. They’d never thought of themselves as poor. In fact, they felt sorry for families who didn’t have the blessings they had. They had love and faith, good friends and a safe home.
        A sadness settled over the house that week. No one touched the special offering money. The children even protested when their mother woke them up for church the next Sunday. They didn’t want to go, but Mrs. Ogan insisted.
        That morning there was a missionary visiting the church. He spoke about his work in Africa and the needs of the churches there. He asked the congregation to contribute to putting a solid roof on an African church. All it would cost was $100.
        Mrs. Ogan looked over at her children. They looked back at her, and slowly the whole family started smiling. Without a word, Mrs. Ogan pulled out the special offering envelope from her purse and dropped it in the offering plate. The joy had returned to the Ogan family. You can just imagine the joy for the missionary when he thanked the church for raising enough money to buy a new roof for a church in Africa. As he held the offering plate in his hands, the missionary said, “Pastor, you must have some rich people in this church.”
        And Eddie writes, “Suddenly it struck us… We were the rich family at church! The missionary just said so. From that day on I’ve never been poor again. I’ve always remembered how rich I am because I have Jesus!”(4)
        The deepest question of the human heart is, “Is there a God?” And the next question is, “If so, what is God like?” In his very first sermon, Jesus answers that question. God is right here with you. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. God cares about you so much that God comes to you in the flesh. God cares about those who are hurting and in need. That was the message of Jesus’ first sermon.
        And it’s a message we are called to share even today.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p19.
2.   Ibid… p20.
3.   Ibid… p20.
4.   Ibid… p20-21.

01-09-2022 As He Was Praying

Thomas J Parlette
“As He Was Praying”
Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22
1/9/22

        According to Luke, John the Baptist was baptizing people on the banks of the Jordan River. Then Luke makes one of the most startling pronouncements in the New Testament. He writes, “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.”
        Every year on the First Sunday after Epiphany, liturgical churches celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. For us, it’s a major event. The Son of God submits to being baptized at the hands of a somewhat eccentric preacher called John the Baptist.
        Mark describes John as wearing clothes of camel’s hair, living on locusts and wild honey and making his home in the wilderness. John admits that he is not worthy to carry Christ’s sandals. In fact, he seeks to deter Jesus from being baptized at his unworthy hands. I should be baptized by you, he says.
        It’s a remarkable scene. He who was without sin, submits himself to religious rite that most of us associate with the symbolic act of washing sin away. The sacrament of baptism is so important to our identity as Christians that is required in one form or another by all Christian denominations that I know of.
        And notice what happens next, after Jesus baptism. Luke writes,  “And as he was praying, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
        You’ve heard or read those words many times, I’m sure. It’s a very familiar scene. But have you noticed those words coming immediately after Jesus’ baptism… “as he was praying…? It’s easy to breeze past that phrase and go right to the part about heaven opening and the dove descending and the voice itself. It’s easy to cruise right past that about praying.
        It’s not surprising really that Jesus was praying. Prayer played a major role in his ministry, we see him do it a lot. Here he was, the very manifestation of God on Earth, and yet he felt the need to be in continuous communication with God.
        That’s probably not the case for most of us. We have a very limited acquaintance with God – Sunday mornings, maybe Wednesdays, at least a short word or two most days of the week. If we’re doing that, we’re feeling good about our connection to God.
        Herb Miller, in his book, Evangelism’s Open Secrets, tells about a student work director at a large University who was giving a guest speaker a tour of his campus ministry building. As they walked down a hallway, the guest saw a sign marked “Prayer Room”, and he was curious.
        As they walked past the sign, it became obvious that the director had no intention of showing him that particular room. But the guest’s curiosity was piqued, so he reached for the door knob to take a quick peek.
        As he opened the door, his nostrils were assaulted by a musty smell. He reports that “the room was stuffed with boxes, boots, clothes hangers and other junk. On the little altar stood a pair of worn cowboy boots, an old box overflowing with hats and gloves, and a roll of toilet paper.” Remember, this was the prayer room for the university’s campus ministry. A bit embarrassed, the director quickly explained, “We used this for a storage room over the summer. Just haven’t gotten it cleaned out yet.”
        Herb Miller writes, “At first it seemed like a sacrilegious thing to the visitor – stacking a prayer room full of junk. But then he realized that the room was a parable of his own life. He was so busy traveling around the country speaking and doing good things, he had lost the habit of praying. The time he had formerly spent talking with God each day was now crowded full of other things.”(1)
        I suspect that happens to most of us. We are so busy that we have crowded out the one necessary practice for a truly fulfilling life. But Jesus never let that happen. Immediately after he was baptized, Jesus was praying – and what happened next? Luke tells us, “The heaven opened.”
        Some of you might remember the name Sister Elizabeth Kenny. She was a self-trained nurse in the Australian bush country in the first half of the twentieth century. Sister Kenny developed a new and successful approach to treating people suffering from polio. Her method, which was bitterly contested at the time within the medical community, differed from the conventional medical practice of the time. The conventional practice, referred to as “splinting,” called for placing affected limbs in plaster casts, a practice that was not only quite uncomfortable, but ineffective as well.
        Instead of putting patients with polio in plaster casts, Sister Kenny applied hot compresses to the affected parts of her patient’s bodies followed by passive movement of those areas to reduce what she called “Spasm.”
        Sister Kenny stumbled upon this treatment out of necessity. She had been called to the bedside of a seven year old girl who lived in the Australian bush. She had extreme pain, a high fever, and the muscles of her leg and foot were contracted. Sister Kenny did not recognize the symptoms, so she sent a rider on horseback to a telegraph station twenty miles away to get some expert advice over the telegraph. Finally the reply came back, “The symptoms you describe indicate infantile paralysis. There is no known cure. Do the best you can.”
        So with no other option, she devised her unique program of hot compresses and passive movement – which she also applied to polio victims. Later, when she received recognition for innovations, Sister Kenny was asked, “How did you come up with this treatment? What did you do first?”
        And Sister Kenny answered, “Well, the first thing I did was kneel down and say a prayer.”(2)
        When we pray, the heavens open, and in Sister Kenny’s case, she was led to a treatment that relieved the suffering of thousands of polio patients.
        After Jesus prayed and the heavens opened, we read that the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”
        In the north of England, they have been digging coal for over a century. The miners who dig for coal go miles away from the central shaft, so there is always the danger of the men getting lost. On one particular day, two miners did lose their way out of the mine. Their lights finally went out, and they were in danger of losing their lives. After wandering around in the darkness for a long time, they sat down, and one of them said: “Let’s sit perfectly still and see if we can feel the way the air is moving because it always moves toward the shaft.”
        There they sat for a long time, when suddenly one of them felt a slight touch of air on his cheek. He sprang to his feet and said, “I felt it!” They set off in the direction the wind was moving and reached the central shaft and made their way back to the light of day above ground. (3)
        As you probably remember, the Hebrew word for Spirt – ruach- is also the word for wind or breath. In a very real way, we also need to feel the movement of the air. We need to experience the movement of the wind of God’s Spirit in our life.
        That’s what happens when we pray – the heavens open, and the wind of God’s spirit blows… and we become new people. That’s the promise of baptism. We can have new life in Christ Jesus.
        William P Barker tells about a machinist with the Ford Motor company in Detroit who had, over a period of years, “borrowed” a bunch of parts and tools from the company which he had not gotten around to returning. While this practice was not condoned, it was more or less accepted by the management at Ford, and nothing was really done about it. The machinist, however, experienced a Christian conversion at a conference he attended. He was baptized and became a devout believer. Even more importantly, he took his baptism quite seriously.
        The day after he got back from his conference, he arrived at work loaded down with tools and all the parts he had “borrowed” and not returned over the years. He explained the situation to his foreman and added that he never really meant to steal them and hoped he’d be forgiven – since he had finally brought everything back.
        His foreman was so impressed that he cabled Henry Ford himself – who was visiting a European plant- and explained the entire event in detail. Immediately Ford cabled back: “Dam up the Detroit River and baptize the entire city!”(4)
        When Jesus prayed on the day he was baptized, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended, and a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Baptism at its best results in us becoming a new person. In baptism, we also discover that we, too, are children of God.
        The late Rev. Dr. John Claypool, once told a moving story that came out of World War I. At the end of that terrible conflict the government of France was faced with an unusual problem. In their army hospitals were over 100 soldiers who had developed total amnesia caused by battle trauma. These men could not remember anything about themselves – their names, their families, their hometowns – nothing. They had no idea who they were. They were totally separated from their origins.
        So, the government announced to the whole nation that all families who had relatives missing in action should come to a specific hospital on an appointed day. A large platform was set-up, and with the families gathered around, the soldiers were led out one by one in the hopes that somebody would recognize them, and they could be reunited with their loved ones. And many of them were.(5)
        When Jesus prayed on the day of his baptism, the heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended, and a voice came from heaven: You are my son, whom I love. With you I am well pleased.”
        When we pray, we open ourselves to the Spirit of God as it blows through our lives and we become new as we realize that we are children of God.
        And for that, may God be praised. Amen.
 

1.               Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p 11.
2.               Ibid… p 12.
3.               Ibid… p 12.
4.               Ibid… p 13.
5.               Ibid… p 13.

01-16-2022 For the Common Good

Jay Rowland

“For the Common Good”

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable.

Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. … [The Message Bible]

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. (NRSV)

I love the premise of this passage as it’s rendered in The Message Bible:

“What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives.”

To me that’s what life is all about: the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives.

That right there is pure gold to me. Good News!

Regardless of what is going on in your life or the world, no matter what is bothering us or wreaking havoc or inflicting suffering or sorrow, God’s Spirit is working in our lives.

That is something that’s worth stopping to think about. In the midst of the ongoing and pressing problems of the world, it’s worth spending these few minutes together this morning to ponder the presence of God’s Spirit.

I know that life can beat us down and leave us hard-hearted and doubtful.

I know that for some, talk about “spirit” can be opaque, elusive, hard to grasp let alone trust.

That’s okay. Bring your disappontment. Bring your objections. Bring your skepticism. Bring your best critical thinking. It’s good to be wise and discerning when it comes to matters of faith. Just as long as you keep your heart open to possibilities. As Paul says about the workings of God’s Spirit, “this is complex and often misunderstood”.

We don’t want to be sold a bill of goods, right? We don’t want to be naive or foolish, easily manipulated.

To me, Paul or for that matter the Lord doesn’t have any problem with such concerns. Better to have a mature relationship with the Lord than a grown-up fairy-tale. And Paul certainly knows how easily we human beings can be deceived especially by ourselves. He recalls how some members of the congregation in Corinth (and we ourselves by extension, no?) lived before they met Jesus. He recalls how they were “... led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did”.

This is different, Paul says. God wants us to use our intelligence, he says. God wants us to seek to understand, he says. Because that means we’re probably paying attention.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel would agree, “He who is swift to faith is swift to forget. Faith does not come into being out of nothing, inadvertently, unprepared, as an unearned surprise. Faith is preceded by awe, by acts of amazement at things that we apprehend but cannot comprehend.”

Like Paul, I want us to sense the full weight and importance of what Paul is declaring. It is there in verse 7, almost the middle--the heart--of this passage:

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

This is the beating heart of these eleven verses.

Paul doesn’t say, “to some is given the manifestation of the Spirit,” he says “to each is given …”.

Paul isn’t wondering whether or not God’s Spirit is at work in and through God’s people, Paul is declaring it definitely IS. Not once in a while, or sometimes, but in various ways. And there are no restrictions on it, meaning, God’s Spirit at work in us and through us isn’t restricted by age or gender or race or class or job status or sexual orientation or gender orientation … there’s no qualifications or pre-requisites.

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit

That means you.

And me.

And everyone here.

Do you know this about yourself?

To you has been given a manifestation of God’s spirit.

Too many say to that, “well, not me. I’m too old or too young or too this or too that.”

Such was the case among the Christians in Corinth. Some felt that they had a manifestation of the Spirit which gave them authority and status over any and all other members. Hogwash, says Paul. Everyone is given a manifestation of God’s Spirit.

For a different angle on this hope, The Message Bible translation puts it this way,

“Each of us is given something to do that shows who God is. Everyone gets in on it. Everyone benefits.”

Something to do

This different angle reveals that the spiritual interaction between God and us is not something that happens in isolation. It may start in quiet moments of reflection or meditation or prayer, but it moves toward the common good.

The gift(s) of God’s Spirit alive in you or me is not some ethereal, obscure feeling or sensibility, it isn’t something we keep to ourselves, it shows up in our action and activity. That’s the best indicator that the spiritual gift comes from God: it shows up in our actions and activity, and best of all, it shows up as both our personal fulfillment and the fulfillment of the common good.

It’s how Martin Luther King Jr’s “dream” and vision and hope for our society becomes reality. Our own spiritual formation, in turn, fuels the spiritual formation of community, nation and world. The poetry of the prophet Isaiah we heard moments ago describes what this looks like in the aggregate—spiritual formation takes root in the person, then the community, then nation, and ultimately the world:

righteousness blazes down like the sun

… salvation flames up like a torch.

Foreign countries will see your righteousness,

and world leaders your glory.

You’ll get a brand-new name

straight from the mouth of God.

You’ll be a stunning crown in the palm of God’s hand,

a jeweled gold cup held high in the hand of your God.

No more will anyone call you Rejected,

and your country will no more be called Ruined.

You’ll be called Hephzibah (My Delight),

and your land Beulah (Married),

Because God delights in you.

(Isaiah 62:2-5 The Message Bible)

Each of us is given something to do that shows who God is.

Something to do that shows who God is.

Few if any of us recognize the spiritual gift/gifts God has planted in us.

And so it’s important to create time and space in our lives to discover the particular manifestation/s … expressions … of God’s Spirit God has given to you.

It’s not so much about identifying the specific spiritual gift so much as it is about our time spent engaging with God in a process of discovery so that it becomes a lifetime endeavor. The quest to discover how God’s spirit is expressed in us has the power to move us and keep us moving in a direction God uses to shape us and lead us to fulfillment … not only our own personal fulfillment, but also the fulfillment of the common good.

The spiritual power of this is not only what it shows others about God, but also what it shows us about ourselves.

God shows us who God is through the spiritual gifts working in people we meet every single day.

And God shows others who God is through the expressions of God’s spirit that God has set within each one of us.

It’s so easy to overlook. We’re so busy. So preoccupied. So weighed down by this pandemic, by all of the social and political strife and division, by all the trouble in the world.

But through it all, God never leaves Godself without a witness.

Sometimes that witness is someone we would never have imagined or chosen.

Sometimes that witness is you.

And that’s the beauty of God’s Spirit working in our lives, the wonder of faith community: when I cannot “see” or trust or believe that God’s alive and at work, you do something that shows me, reminds me who God is. Likewise, sometimes you may not be able to see or trust or believe that God is alive and at work in you and in the world. And when that happens there’s something I’m doing to show you, to remind you who God is.

When all else seems lost. Remember: To each is given a manifestation of the Spirit of God …

… for the common good.

“… there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. … All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who gives to each one of us individually just as the Spirit chooses.”

12-05-2021 Laying the Groundwork

Thomas J Parlette
“Laying the Groundwork”
Luke 3: 1-6
12/5/21, 2nd Advent
 

        Even if we dread deadlines, many of us would admit that we work better when we have a deadline staring us in the face. But few of us have to face the kind of deadline the White House Staff does when they welcome a new President to D.C.
        Kate Anderson Brower has written a New York Times best-selling book titled The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House which shares a behind-the-scenes look at all the work that goes into a Presidential transition. There are only about 90-100 residential staff members at the White House, and it is their job to prepare the White House whenever a new President moves in. However, they can’t start their preparations until the sitting President moves out. That means they only get about 6 hours on Inauguration Day to clean, decorate and prepare the official residence of the President of the United States.
        I can’t even get our house totally clean in six hours, so I can’t imagine trying to clean a place like the White House in that time. And that’s not all the residential staff does. They also move in and unpack the boxes of personal items for the new President and the First Family. They stock the White House kitchen with the new family’s favorite foods and fill the bathrooms with their soaps and shampoos. By the time the new President and First family arrive, every room should be perfectly cleaned, decorated, and stocked with their belongings. All the boxes should be gone. And all this is hidden from the view of the public and news cameras surrounding the White House on the big day.(1)
        And if you think the White House residential staff has a hard job preparing for a new President, imagine how hard the U.S. Secret Service works to protect the President. Interviews with Secret Service agents describe the incredible amount of work that goes into laying the groundwork for a presidential trip.
        It requires thousands of people to coordinate all the details of such a trip. At least three months before a U.S. President travels anywhere, Secret Service agents travel there first. They meet with local agencies, plan motorcade routes from the airport, and contact the nearest trauma hospital.
        Agents also remove all phones and TV’s from the hotel rooms in which the President and his staff will be staying. They sweep the rooms for listening or recording devices, even taking apart picture frames to check them.
        In the days immediately before the visit, agents close off the city streets surrounding the Presidents route and hotel. They even shut down highways for the Presidential motorcade. On the day of the President’s visit, they bring in bomb-sniffing dogs to check out all the stops along the way.
        Finally, it requires 6 airplanes to transport the President and all his staff and equipment for a presidential visit. In addition to all the security agents and staff, the planes carry communication equipment, helicopters and the Presidential motorcade’s limousines.(2)
        If you’re the President, it’s very impossible to slip into town unnoticed.
        Which makes the Advent season, the season when we celebrate the coming of the messiah, so amazing. Because if it weren’t for John the Baptist, Jesus might have slipped into town unnoticed. Jesus didn’t have an advance team or security detail to prepare the way for his arrival. He didn’t have a public relations firm send out a press release. Instead, he had John the Baptist, a traveling preacher, who was chosen by God to announce the Good News.
        Dressed in wild animal skins, eating locusts and wild honey, John the Baptist would stand out in any crowd. Yet this was the guy that God chose to announce the coming of his Son, the Messiah. “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
        During this season of Advent, we are preparing our hearts to celebrate Christ’s coming. We are, in essence, laying the groundwork for Christ’s arrival. We are buying our presents, putting up our lights, and baking up a storm. The preparation and anticipation are a big part of the joy of Christmas. But all the stuff we do to prepare for Christmas, is it really enough? In light of John’s message, it could actually be a whole lot simpler and less-stressful. John points out today that there are some other things that need to be a part of our preparation.
        First of all, there’s that word we love each holy season – repentance. Luke tells us that repentance was at the core of John’s message.
        A few years back, a man named Frank Warren handed out 3,000 self-addressed, stamped, postcards to random people on the street. Warren asked the recipients to write their deepest secrets on these postcards. He warned them not to identify themselves, don’t sign the cards, he wanted everyone to remain anonymous. He only asked that they send the cards back to him. Words spread of Frank Warren’s project, and people from all over the country began sending him anonymous cards with their confessions, secrets, regrets and longings. Many of the postcards are featured on the website PostSecret.com and in Warren’s book, The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book.
        Turned out, lot of people really needed and opportunity to repent and unburden themselves of their shortcoming and mistakes.
        Among the many anonymous cards Warren received was one that featured a pair of praying hands with the handwritten note, “I don’t know how to go back to God, and I want to more than anything else,”(3)
        I want to go back to God, more than anything. That sense of longing is what leads to repentance. In a literal sense, repentance is changing your mind, turning it back in the right direction. In his baptism of repentance, John was offering people the opportunity to send an anonymous post card, to turn back towards God and align their mind with the mind of the Divine.
        The second step in preparing for the coming of Christ is a commitment to right living. “Now,” you might think, “isn’t that kind of redundant.” Maybe and maybe not. Repentance does involve a commitment to right living, as opposed to the wrong way of living, but most people don’t think of repentance that way. Most of the time, we think of repentance as synonymous with being sorry for a mistake and promising not to let it happen again. And that’s part of it. But repentance is a bit more than being sorry. Repentance is a complete change of direction – a reshuffling of priorities.
        It’s difficult to think of 2020 and 2021 as being thought of as anything but the time we dealt with an unprecedented pandemic – but in addition, 2020 will be remembered as a time when our nation once again confronted systems of inequality and racism in many different forms. One sign of this reckoning was the number of cities and institutions that decided to remove Confederate statues and symbols from their buildings and public spaces. And during this same period, tattoo artists across the country reported a surge in the number of clients asking them to transform and remove racist tattoos.
        Billy White, owner of Red Rose Tattoo in Zanesville, Ohio, offers his services for free to clients who want to alter or cover up racist tattoos. Some of his clients weren’t aware of the implications of their tattoos when they first got them. Other clients are former members of white supremacist groups. Before White will agree to cover up or remove a racist tattoo, he spends a lot of time with the client. He wants to make sure the client has had a sincere change of heart and mind. Once he is sure that this is what the client truly wants, he does what he can to cover up or remove their tattoo for free. And Billy White is not the only person helping people to repent in this way and live differently.
        Atlanta Redemption Ink – that’s spelled with a “k” – is a non-profit organization that provides free tattoo removal for victims of sex trafficking. In 2020, they reported that a significant number of people contacted them asking for help in covering up or removing racist tattoos. Corey Fleisher is founder of the nonprofit Erasing Hate, which organizes volunteers to remove or cover up racist or hateful graffiti in public spaces. In 2020, he has also served as a middleman, helping connect tattoo artists with those who want to rid themselves of such tattoos. Fleischer says of the people who reach out to him, “I don’t care what the back story is, I care about tomorrow. You want to erase it, then I’m going to be here for you… And we’re just going to move forward and I’m going to help give you a new way in life.”(4) That is repentance and changing your life. Sounds like a modern day John the Baptist to me.
        A commitment to right living is a commitment to move forward into a new way of life. Maybe not a comfortable life, but a new way of life.
        Finally, we prepare for the coming of Christ by receiving God’s grace. We are not disciples of John the Baptist – as much as we might admire him and as much as we try to heed his words. We are disciples of Jesus. We do repent of our sins. We do try to live the right kind of life, what the Bible calls a righteous life. But we acknowledge we don’t have the power within ourselves to succeed at this on our own. So we throw ourselves on the mercy of God.
        I know that might not sound too “christmasy” – but it’s the truth. Guilty people need mercy. Broken people need mercy. Unworthy people need mercy. But we have a God who loves us and is willing to meet us right where we are. That’s why God sent Jesus to walk in our shoes. Immanuel – God with us. We depend on God’s grace to supply us, unworthy as we are, with a righteousness that only God can give.
        On July 26th, 1987, while Rev. Walt Everett was preparing to leave for a mission trip with Habitat for Humanity, he got the call that his son, Scott, had been shot and killed by a neighbor, a drug addict named Mike Carlucci. Understandably, Rev. Everett struggled with a horrible anger toward his son’s killer. After meeting other parents in a grief support group, however, he realized that his anger was poisoning his life. He prayed that God would help him to forgive his son’s killer.
        One year after his son’s murder, Walt Everett sat down and wrote a letter to Mike Carlucci, who was now serving a five- year prison sentence. In the letter, he offered Carlucci his forgiveness. Mike Carlucci wrote back, and the two men began a regular correspondence. A few months later, Mike asked if Walt would visit him in prison. And by the grace of God, these two men created a friendship on the foundation of heartbreak, forgiveness and faith.
        When Mike Carlucci’s father died while he was in prison, Rev. Everett preached his funeral sermon. When Carlucci came up for parole, Everett spoke on his behalf. When he was released from prison, Carlucci and Everett began traveling to churches and schools and prisons to share their story of forgiveness and faith.(5)
        When the two men were on the Today Show, the host asked Walt Everett if he could ever look at Mike Carlucci and not think about his son’s murder. Everett replied, “I can never forget what happened to Scott… But when I look at Mike, I don’t see the person who harmed Scott. I see somebody who’s been changed by God, and I celebrate that.”(6)
        That’s what John the Baptist was sent to announce. That’s what he is offering today – a chance to be changed by God. Laying the groundwork for Jesus to be born into this world is more than twinkling lights, Christmas trees and cocoa with cookies. It’s about repentance, committing to right living and receiving God’s grace.
        So I invite you to gather around the table today and prepare your hearts for the coming Messiah.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol XXXVII, No. 3, p61.
2.   Ibid… p61.
3.   Ibid… p62.
4.   Ibid… p62.
5.   Ibid… p62-63
6.   Ibid… p63.

11-28-2021 The Days Are Surely Coming

Thomas J Parlette
“The Days Are Surely Coming”
Jeremiah 33: 14 -16
11/28/21, First Advent

        One of Juliet’s childhood friends is an accomplished Broadway actress and singer. In fact, she just got cast in the Broadway revival of Music Man coming up this season.
        Whenever we see her around the holidays, she has wonderful stories to tell about the theater world. One of our favorites is about the time she was performing in a touring company doing children’s theater all over the country. She had been cast as Cinderella, and in one particular scene, her Prince Charming was singing about his love for her. The lyrics spoke of the burning love inside of him, but in the middle of the song, the words just flew out of his head and he got stuck on the phrase “I’m burning… burning… burning. I’m burning… burning… burning,” until the music director finally shouted out the lyrics and got him going again.
        Actors live in fear of that happening, “going up” on their lines, as they say. You try to have something in your back pocket, some way to get out of a situation like that, but it doesn’t always work out – and as poor Prince Charming learned, you get burned.
        Actress Jennifer Laura Thompson recalls how her cast mates in a production of Wizard of Oz tried to improvise when the set machinery broke down. Thompson was playing the role of Glinda, the Good Witch, who was supposed to descend to the stage in a large bubble. But as Thompson began her descent, the bubble stopped working. She was stuck 40 feet in the air as her cast mates down below ad-libbed, “She’s coming… it’s Glinda… she’s coming… she’s almost here… do you see her… Glinda’s coming,” until finally the crew was able to lower her down manually, albeit a bit quicker than expected, but still, just short of a crash landing.(1)
        If you can put yourself in the shoes of those actors, improvising and acting excited as they nervously waited for the crew to fix the problem, then you can probably muster up some sympathy for the prophet Jeremiah as he tried to point the nation of Israel to the coming of their Messiah. Israel was hurting. They needed a savior. That savior was coming. But they couldn’t wait. They needed hope now. In the last days of ministry, Jeremiah gave them that hope.
        In his book The Rest of God, Pastor Mark Buchannan tells of counseling a young woman who was struggling on two fronts; she had never healed from a childhood of abuse and neglect, and those painful experiences fueled her present bad choices that were messing up her life. Nothing he said could heal her past or undo her present situation. And it was in this moment of despair that Pastor Buchannan realized that God still had plans and promises for this woman’s future. Her hope lay in trusting her future to the God who promised to be our Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.
        Pastor Buchannan writes, “Since that day, this is mostly what I do when I counsel – I help people anticipate… What I do best is describe, as much as human words allow, the hope to which they have been called, the glory we are to receive. I describe how Jesus has the power to bring everything under his control.”(2)
        I help people to anticipate. That was the message of Jeremiah to his people and to us as well.
        “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I shall cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land…”
        It’s kind of sad that Jeremiah is most remembered as the “weeping prophet.” He always seemed to be on the unpopular side. His inability to hold his tongue really cost him dearly. He was banished for a time from the priesthood. He was physically beaten and publicly humiliated on more than one occasion for expressing his unpopular convictions. But he just couldn’t keep quiet. The voice inside him, the voice of God, just wouldn’t allow him to remain silent.
        When we first meet Jeremiah, he is a preacher of righteousness – he is a real firebrand, telling the people how they were greedy and disobedience and God had forsaken them. Ho wonder he got beat up a lot.
        But by the time we encounter Jeremiah in this last chapter of his book, he has turned to words of comfort. Some would say that he had mellowed. Perhaps so – but the situation had changed as well. Before, his people needed to be confronted, now they needed to be comforted. Before, they needed words of judgment, now they needed words of grace. Before, they deserved condemnation, now they needed hope. So instead of offering a word of punishment, Jeremiah offers a word of promise.
        “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth from David – and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land… And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
        Sixteen times in his book Jeremiah uses the phrase “the days are coming.” He is announcing the coming of Jesus. He didn’t realize at the time just how God would fulfill the messianic promise, but it was an announcement of Christ’s coming just the same. And like all of God’s promises, it would be fulfilled. It took 600 years – but that’s like an afternoon in God’s time. The important words are these – the days are surely coming.
        And that is what this first Sunday in Advent is all about. The days are coming when there will be justice. That is the first promise Jeremiah reminds us of. There will be justice.
        There is an old Arabian story about a wealthy prince who claims the land of a poor widow so that he can expand his palace gardens. The poor widow brings her complaint before a local judge, a man known for his character and integrity. But the judge is also smart enough to know that the wealthy prince could ruin him. So rather than summon the prince to his court, the judge loaded a large sack on his back and went to the palace. The judge asked the prince if he could fill his sack with dirt from the palace garden. The curious prince agreed. After the judge had filled the sack to the brim with dirt, he asked the prince to lift it. The prince said, “That sack is too heavy even for both of us to lift.”
        And the judge replied, “This sack which you think too heavy to bear, contains only a small portion of the land that you took from the rightful owner. How then, at the day of judgement, will you be able to support the weight of the piece of land.”(3)
        We have an innate need for justice, don’t we? We want to see the bad punished and the good rewarded. There is something built into the very fabric of our being that yearns for justice. Until the Messiah comes, what is our role in creating justice? All we can do is pursue righteousness – doing the right thing.
        Tom Long writes, “Righteousness is not a sweet virtue that everybody in the world desires. Those who take advantage of others for their own gain do not want the world to be fair and just. Those who benefit from the weakness of others do not want the world to be compassionate. Much money and power are invested in maintaining injustice. If every wage were fair, if every person were honored as a child of God, if every human being were safe from exploitation, many would lose their grip on status, self-gratification, and affluence.”(4)
        We might squirm when we hear those words – but prophetic words are meant to be uncomfortable, they are meant to challenge us. They are meant to wake us up. Life is not fair. Nevertheless, the days are surely coming, says Jeremiah, when the playing fields of this world will be leveled. The days are coming when that which is unfair will be set right. For when the Bible speaks of justice, it is not merely talking about individual justice. God’s call is for a just society. God’s call is for basic fairness for all people. God’s call is for a new kind of society – a society where all people will live with dignity and freedom. That is what justice is all about.
        Jesus said the days are coming when the last will be first and the first shall be last. During Advent we need to take those words seriously and ask ourselves whether we are contributing to a just society or whether we are one of those who are contributing to the status quo. The days are surely coming when there will be justice.
        The days are also coming when there will be righteousness. Justice refers to the state of our society. Righteousness refers to the state of our individual souls.
        A Yiddish term for “righteousness” is zaddik. It refers to a saintly person, someone whose character and actions are aligned with the will of God. Dr. James Qualben tells a story to illustrate the meaning of this word.
        A few years ago, his car’s fuel-injection system was malfunctioning, so Dr. Qualben took his car to a mechanic. The mechanic happened to be an orthodox Jewish man. He listened carefully to the engine, then took apart the fuel injection system, carefully cleaned each individual piece, and put the whole thing back together again.
        The car worked perfectly. The mechanic closed the hood and announced with a satisfied smile – “Zaddik!” The fuel injection system and the engine were working precisely as the engineers had created them to work. They were in perfect harmony with their creators intent.(5)
        Justice and righteousness – we can’t choose one over the other. We have to have both. Righteousness on a  personal level and justice in our society - they go hand in hand.
        The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when justice and righteousness will prevail. It’s not enough on this First Sunday of Advent to focus on the peripheral elements of the season – the lights, the decorations, the trees, the cocoa and the cookies. We need to think about the very heart of the Advent message – the coming of the Messiah, who brings justice and righteousness. The redemption of our society as well as the redemption of individual souls.
        Ruby Bridges was just six years old when, in 1960, she was chosen as the first Black child to integrate the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Photos show the incredible courage of the little girl who was escorted to school each morning by federal marshals to protect her from the angry white parents who shouted curses, insults and threats at her each day.
        Dr. Robert Coles, a child psychiatrist from Harvard, interviewed Ruby Bridges in an effort to determine how young children learn to cope with such frightening and dehumanizing abuse day after day. In the interview, Ruby told Dr. Coles that she prayed for the people who threatened her, insulted her and spat at her. Her mother and her minister had told her that God was watching over her each day, and it was her duty to pray for and forgive the people who opposed her.
        When Dr. Coles asked Ruby if she thought this advice was correct, she said, “I’m sure God knows what is happening… He may not do anything right now, but there will come a day, like they say in church, there will come a day. You can count on it. That’s what they say in church.”(6)
        There will come a day. You can count on it. That was Jeremiah’s message more than 2000 years ago. And it is the church’s message still today. Jeremiah the prophet was a lonely man, but he had a burning in his bones. Jeremiah had a passion for righteousness and justice. He announced the coming of the One who would bring righteousness and justice into the world. Surely the days are coming. You can count on it.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.               Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 3, p57.
2.               Ibid… p57.
3.               Ibid… p58.
4.               Ibid… p59.
5.               Ibid… p59.
6.               Ibid… p59-60. 

11-21-2021 The King and I

The King and I

John 18:33-37

Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday

Jay Rowland

This scene from the Gospel of John may feel a bit out of place today. As the calendar races toward Thanksgiving and Advent, we are confronted by the Passion of Christ: Jesus is standing before Pilate--a scene we’re accustomed to meeting during Lent and Holy Week, on the springtime side of winter rather than here on the threshold of another Advent winter.

Given that today is Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday. And given that next Sunday we begin searching anew and waiting anew for the One whose birth triggers hope and singing and celebration, it’s important to realize that Jesus entered this world, our world, to reveal God’s world; to open our eyes and our hearts to God’s presence here in our midst.

Jesus is the best and ultimate expression of God’s Great Love

God’s Great Love is how Jesus was born. It is why Jesus was born.

God’s Great love is the crown Jesus wears among us.

The crown of thorns.

So there is perhaps no scene more poignant than this scene from John’s gospel as we end another church year and look to prepare for Advent. Look and see with your mind’s eye: Jesus over there, under arrest, wounded and bruised and man-handled. A prisoner in the custody of Pilate

Pontius Pilate, that is, the man in charge of Judea for the Roman Empire. Pilate is the Emperor’s authority--comparable to a king--over this tiny speck on the map of the vast Roman Empire. Pilate answers only to the Emperor when it comes to the people and the goings-on in Judea. He has the authority to end your life or to spare your life. It fazes him not at all. He does it all the time.

“King Pilate” looks at “king Jesus” and sees no threat to his authority nor to that of the Emperor. To Pilate this is just another irritating conflict among those monotheist Hebrews who frequently object to Roman policy interfering with their religious practices. The official policy of Rome is to let conquered people do their religious thing as long as it doesn’t stir up any religious passion which might destabilize the occupation of Judea. Pilate wants this religious argument settled quietly and among themselves. That is, until the designated religious authorities insist that Jesus is guilty of treason for promoting himself as a king above the Emperor and the Empire.

That word treason elevates this situation to something more than a simple complaint among religious big shots. A charge of treason is something Pilate cannot ignore and must examine more closely. After meeting with the religious authorities outdoors for they refused to enter into his headquarters lest they defile themselves, Pilate steps back inside to face Jesus.

So begins Pilate’s brief interrogation of Jesus.

“Just what kind of King are you?” Pilate asks Jesus.

Pilate’s question lays bare the ages-old system of human-centered, earth-bound authority over and against any so-called authority of God over the everyday lives of people.

Pilate’s question prompts a question from Jesus in return, words which I understand him to say, do you ask what kind of king I am because you want to know me or are you merely curious?

Ultimately, Jesus describes his mission rather simply: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

In the very next verse, Pilate asks, “what is truth”?

Who would have ever thought that Pilate’s question would resound with such perilous consequences in recent years?!

Pilate stands tall but not alone in his verdict condemning the kingdom of God. It is a common, daily verdict pronounced and practiced nearly every day in this world. We frequently ignore or reject the kingdom of God because we are mesmerized by the legion of mirage kingdoms daily occupying our minds, our time and our interest. The chaos and the craziness of human-centered kingdoms is a result of our depleted understanding of truth, which we have painfully realized is vital to the human activity of exerting authority over other human beings.

Meanwhile, Jesus calls us away from all of that chaos, and away from everything distracting us from the harm and death being wreaked upon creation and human life.

But we hesitate to follow and heed this call. I guess that’s because when it comes right down to it, Jesus seems like a king for fools compared to the forceful talk and actions displayed by kings and presidents and leaders of nations. We are easily overwhelmed when earthly kings and leaders of nations resort to force, coercion and manipulation. And we are dismayed when our leaders utilize nearly all of their resources and privileges toward remaining in power rather than toward improving the lives of the people they govern.

Which is entirely different from and foreign to the kingdom of God.

Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, so neither is his “power”. “His is not power over people, it’s power with and for people.” I see more and more references to the term kin-dom, emphasizing our human kinship under God rather than the term Kingdom with its emphasis upon authority and conformity. “When we do the work of the kin-dom in this world, we witness Jesus’ power through people”, rather than power enacted upon or over people. 1

To answer Pilate’s question what kind of king is Jesus? My answer--inspired by scripture, Handel’s Messiah and my own experiences with Jesus--is this:

Jesus is a king of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

He is a king of pain. Human pain.

Jesus is a king who regularly travels the valleys of shadows and death, continually crossing back and forth while leading us, his beloved to higher ground along the way to bask in the glory of creation and savor the beauty of life, the fruits of the Spirit and the goodness of people.

Jesus is a king who is the Source of incredible power, a power we are in some ways accustomed to and yet always yearning for--a sort of constant, ever-present power we rely upon but often overlook, like sunshine. Jesus our king radiates Life and thrives on Love and the love of God’s people.

King Jesus is the only viable alternative to all of the mirage kingdoms clamoring for our allegiance.

King Jesus comes to save and shield our life with his own body, with his own pain and with his very own blood, infusing the very blood flowing through every vein of our bodies.

King Jesus is the unlikely, unseen king who stands with us in every experience of injustice and betrayal, in the rooms and hallways of diagnosis and treatment, in the lonely valleys of darkness and confusion where death prowls and taunts the innocent. Jesus is the only king who will stand there in that place of threat with us. Come what may.

I recently read a description of the Kingdom of God and Christ the King written by a contemporary theologian named Frank Thomas published in Christian Century . I found it so practical and meaningful I decided to use it as our Affirmation of Faith today. If it touches your heart as it did mine, you can speak the words yourself in a few moments. But first, just listen and follow along in your bulletin as I speak Thomas’ words aloud:

The kingdom of God is God’s reign—not over a country or a group of people but over the whole of human history.

The realm of God affirms what is good, true, and just in every age, and it corrects what is misguided, unjust, and wrong.

It is not about a geographical country nor a particular race or ethnicity.

God’s realm does not settle on boundaries that we make … Nor is God’s realm a national or political entity.

It is a community in God’s care that lives in radical love, joy peace, truth, and righteousness.

The kingdom of God is rooted in the paradoxical name and nature of God.

The realm of God is preached and therefore inaugurated: it is here, but it is also on the way.

God’s reign is plain, but it is also mysterious.

God’s realm is open to everybody, but it is also hidden.

Though it somehow is never fully realized, it is so profound and so real that we cannot escape its claim.

The church is God’s realm in its most visible but fallible form, it participates in the inauguration of the reign of God.

This kingdom of God is the most beautiful and alluring facet of life, yet it is also the most demanding and radical thing one could ever know or do. 2

Rejoice and be glad, for we are citizens you & I of the Kingdom of God

A Kingdom created by God’s Great Love;

A world revealed by Jesus through his birth, life, death, resurrection, and promised return.

It is the reason we were born and live this life!

God’s kingdom is with us every day,

… it is there in the valleys of shadow and confusion.

… it comes alongside us to guide us and catch us and help us and save us each day.

… it is ever and always among us, moving with us along the highways and hallways of life and death in this world.

The kingdom of God is the Passion of Christ.

And the passion of Christ is the Advent of Christ.

Look for it.

Pray for it.

Imagine it.

Wait for it.

For it is coming to meet you and I in the place of our greatest need.

Thanks Be To God!

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

Notes:

1 pastor Chris Mereschuk offers a timely example of the kin-dom/Kingdom dichotomy in his wonderful devotional, https://www.ucc.org/daily-devotional/thy-kin-dom-come/

2 Frank A. Thomas, in Reflections on the Lectionary for November 21 Reign of Christ Sunday, Christian Century, November 3, 2021

11-14-2021 A Peek at the Ending

Thomas J Parlette
“A Peek at the Ending”
Mark 13: 1-8
11/14/21

        Most of you are familiar with the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical “Joseph and the Amazing, Technicolor Dreamcoat.” It has had multiple successful runs on Broadway and has become a staple of community and school theater groups all over the country.
        Joseph tells the story of the biblical character Joseph and his brothers – how he is sold into slavery in Egypt and yet finds favor with the Pharaoh because of his ability to interpret dreams.
        There is a song in the musical, a big cast number, that comes when Joseph is seemingly at his rock bottom. He is in a prison cell after being abandoned by his jealous brothers and then sold into slavery. It’s a rousing number called “Go, Go, Go Joseph.” The lyrics go like this:
        “Go, Go, Go Joseph,
         Hang on now Joseph, you’ll make it someday.
         Don’t give up Joseph, fight till you drop,
         We’ve read the book and you come out on top.”
       I love that little wink and a nod to the audience that assures us that even though Joseph is in a bad way, things will work out in the end. Sometimes it helps to have a peek at the ending.
        Our passage from Mark for today is part of the apocalyptic literature of the Bible. In very vivid terms it describes the last days of humanity. Each time predictions are made using this passage as guidance, there are people who sell their homes, cash in their life insurance, and turn toward the heavens for signs that the end is near. Of course, this is nothing new.
        Historians believe that the first apocalyptic cult in the United States was established in 1694, just 74 years after the pilgrims immigrated here. A mystic from Transylvania named Johannes Kelpius was the leader, and he and his followers settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in what is now Fairmount Park. There were 40 so-called “monks” in Kelpius’ cult because they believed that the number 40 had a spiritual meaning. They believed that the End was coming soon. So they lived in a small settlement in the wilderness where they studied astronomy, and made art and music.
        Kelpius predicted that the End would come on the last day of 1694. That day came and went. Nothing happened. A new day dawned on January 1st.
        However, his followers didn’t abandon him, as you might expect. Instead, they continued to live in the woods and study the stars. After Kelpius’ death, his followers disbanded and went on with their lives. As a side note, Kelpius was the subject of the first known oil painting done in the United States. It was painted by one of Kelpius’ followers, Christopher Witt.(1) If you’re ever in Philadelphia, you can visit Fairmount Park and see a cave purported used by Kelpius.
        And of course, there are still groups around that believe the end times are near.
        But there is nothing in the Bible that gives us a specific date or timeline. There are many passages like this one that give us an idea of what things might be like. There are certainly passages that talk about the need to prepare for the end of time. But no clear date or timeline exists. However, there are a few things that Jesus says to us about the end of time and his return.
        The first thing to say about any of these apocalyptic texts is – we cannot know the future. Only God has that information. Jesus’ disciples fully expected his return in their lifetimes, they expected to see all this happen. But it didn’t. A new day dawned every time. Only God knows the future.
        There was once a woman named Leta Davis who tells of sitting in church one day with her family listening to her pastor preach on the end of time. She didn’t know that her three-year- old son, Christopher, was paying attention to the sermon until the pastor asked the congregation a rhetorical question – “What preparation do we need for the final days?”
        And Christopher whispered, perhaps a little too loudly, “Preparation H.” Apparently Christopher watches a lot of TV.(2)
        Anytime society faces a major change or crisis – such as a pandemic, rising unemployment, natural disasters –  people search for some sense of control. We either seek someone to blame or someone to guide us. Just look at the myths, lies and conspiracy theories that circulate on social media. We gain a sense of control when we find someone to blame for our problems.
        A mother once asked her son what he would like for his birthday.
        “I’d like a little brother,” he said.
        Mom was a little taken aback. “Oh my, that’s a big wish. Why do you want a little brother?
        “Well, said the boy, “there’s only so much I can blame on the dog.”(3)
        When we fear the future, we look for someone or something to blame.
        Another way of dealing with an uncertain future is by looking for someone or something to guide us, to provide us with a sense of direction, a sense of comfort or certainty. We turn to anyone who offers us answers – politicians, religious leaders, internet influencers, celebrities, and even psychics.
        There is a woman in New York city, a psychic named Hae Jun Jeon, who makes a good living as an advisor to major financial and technology firms in New York. She uses tarot cards to guide her clients in their decisions about investing and money matters. There are many who swear by her abilities.(4) I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I want my financial adviser turning to tarot cards.
        There was once a New York City detective who was interviewed about the psychics practicing in the city. She said, “You know, I’ve gone into hundreds of fortune-teller’s parlors, and been told thousands of things about myself and what’s going happen in the future. But not once has any psychic said to me, ‘You are a police officer getting ready to arrest me.’ ”(5) Some things not even psychics can foresee.
        Jesus does not promise us any answers about the future, at least not when it comes to specific dates and times. In fact, he says to watch out for those people who claim to know the future, because they are deceiving us. We can’t know the future, only God knows.
        So since we can’t know the future, our task is to make the most of the present, the here and now.
        Writer Myrko Thum notes that, “The present moment is the only thing where there is no time. It is the point between past and future. It is always there and it is the only point we can access in time. Everything that happens, happens in the present moment. Everything that ever happened can only happen in the present moment. It is impossible for any to exist outside of the present.”(6)
        Wayne Dyer advises us: “Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.”(7)
        Eckart Tolle traces how we manage the present moment to almost ill that affects us. He writes:
“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear- are caused by too much future and not enough present. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough present.”(8)
        We can’t know the future, much less control it – but we can control how we use the present moment.
        God does not give us all the answers about the future, but God does give us incredible opportunities to live and be followers in this present moment.
        Another important thing we can say when we read these apocalyptic texts is that God does know the future. We don’t, but God does. That is our chief source of comfort and strength.
        Professor and author Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1986. He is best known for his book Night, a memoir of his family’s suffering in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Elie was just fifteen years old when his family was deported from Romania to Auschwitz. His mother, father and younger sister were murdered in the camps.
        You would think that suffering a tragedy this great would make him deeply pessimistic about the future. Instead, Elie Wiesel encouraged people to live with courage and hope, to choose their attitude toward the future. In one of his works, he writes, “One must wager on the future. To save the life of a single child, no effort is superfluous. To make a tired old man smile is to perform an essential task. To defeat injustice and misfortune, if only for an instant, for a single victim, is to invent a new reason to hope.”(9)
        Realizing that God knows the future gives us a new reason to hope. If we know God’s character, then we trust God’s purposes. In spite of uncertainty, in spite of suffering, in spite of circumstance, we can trust the future to God and give our best to the present moment. Rather than wallowing in speculation our fear, we can focus on doing good works and sharing God’s love right now in our present circumstances. And in this way, we can discover new reasons to hope.
        The biblical testimony is that there is a basic pattern to all of life. You and I can’t discern it any more than a fish can analyze the water in which it swims. If we could step out of space and time with God, we could see the pattern, and we could see that all things do work to the good for those who love God, but right now, we can’t make that out. All we know is that God knows and therefore things are all right.
        In 1941, while confined as a prisoner of war in Germany, a young Frenchman and devout Christian named Olivier Messiaen composed an instrumental piece called, “The Quartet for the End of Time.” It’s inspired by a passage from Revelation 10- especially the phrase, “there shall be time no longer,” which Messiaen took quite literally as he followed a very complicated time signature throughout the piece. As Messiaen liked to say, “A steady beat has no life in it.” And he meant it.
        Even though he was in prison, the guards were supportive of Messiaen’s music, providing him with pencils, erasers, music paper and even instruments – although his piano was missing some keys, which Messiaen simply worked around it.
        “The Quartet for the End of Time” is notoriously difficult to play, but it is a beautiful piece of music, written to remind his fellow prisoners that no matter how horrible their circumstance, at the end of time God would triumph over the forces of evil and redeem humanity’s brokenness and suffering. 
        In most musical scores, there are notations to play a certain section slowly or quickly. Messiaen cared more that his musicians play with great emotion. Instead of using notations to drive the pace of the music, his notations read, “Play tenderly, play with ecstasy, play with love.”(10)
        Even if we don’t know the future, we don’t have to live in fear. Like the beautiful quartet written in a prisoner-of-war camp, we can live tenderly, live with ecstasy, live with love. We only have to trust that God knows the future, and our time is safe in God’s hands.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 3, p46.
2.   Ibid… p47
3.   Ibid… p47.
4.   Ibid… p47.
5.   Ibid… p47.
6.   www.myrkothum.com, retrieved 11/2/21.
7.   www.themindfool.com, retrieved 11/2/21
8.   Ibid…
9.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 3, p48.
10.  Ibid… p48-49.

11-07-2021 The Widow Returns

Thomas J Parlette
“The Widow Returns”
Mark 12: 38-44
11/7/21

        Jon Krakauer is a mountaineer and the author of the best-selling book Into Thin Air. The book is about his 1996 expedition to Mount Everest in which numerous climbers died in a blizzard. Krakauer was not prepared for the deadly storm. He didn’t know it was coming. He stood on top of Mount Everest and just saw some cloud formations and thought nothing was wrong.
        Later, he met another climber who had returned quickly to base camp when he saw those same cloud formations. He had hustled back down the mountain. Why? This man was a pilot. In his years flying over dangerous storms, he had come to recognize thunderhead cloud formations. He had studied them from high overhead. These were a sure sign of dangerous weather. So when he was down below a thunderhead, he recognized it instantly and turned around and headed for safety.(1) Sometimes it pays off to be a keen observer.
        Jesus was just such a keen observer. He was a master at people watching. In today’s passage, Jesus is in the Temple. As he taught the crowds that came to the Temple for worship and instruction in the faith, he observed two groups of people. First, there were the scribes. Jesus wasn’t too impressed by them. Listen again to Mark as he describes the scene:

“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widow’s houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

        Harsh words for the scribes. These were the most religious people in the community and Jesus judges them quite severely. It is clear that these holy men weren’t as holy as they wanted people to think they were. Of course that is not as unusual as it may seem – there are a lot of people that are pulling the wool over people’s eyes, just keeping up appearances for the neighbors.
        Recently I came across an interesting story about a man in the sports world – a moderately talented soccer player, who attempted to pull the wool over people’s eyes for years.
        In his newsletter Now I Know!, Dan Lewis tells the story of Carlos Kaiser. Carlos was born in 1963 in Brazil, a country that is known for its superb soccer teams. Carlos was a naturally athletic young man, and at age 16 he joined a professional soccer club. Sadly, he was cut from the team not long afterwards. In spite of his athletic abilities, Carlos’ soccer skills simply weren’t at a professional level.
        But that wasn’t the end of Carlos’ professional soccer career. If this were a Hollywood movie, we would get the classic training montage, like in one of the Rocky movies. Carlos would begin a punishing workout of soccer drills every day, change his diet and his mindset and become the most formidable soccer player in all of Brazil – all set to a driving rock song like “Eye of the Tiger.” The movie would fade out with Carlos being hoisted on his teammates shoulders after he kicks the winning goal in the World Cup. That’s how Hollywood might do it. But that not how Carlos Kaiser did it.
        Carlos decided to con his way onto as many professional soccer teams as he could. Whenever coaches were looking for a few extra players, Carlos would apply. After all, he looked like an athlete. His friends all claimed he was a great athlete. They just never said he was a great soccer player.
        So Carlos would get a short term contract with a professional team. Then he would claim that he needed at least a month to get in peak physical condition before he could go out on the field. During that time, he would collect a paycheck without actually playing much soccer. When he finally did get called out to play on the field, Carlos would suffer an alleged “injury” very quickly in the game – a pulled muscle was hard to disapprove back in the 70’s and early 80’s. So he would need another month to six weeks to recover from his injury before he could play.
        But while he was on the bench – and still receiving a paycheck – Carlos would bribe local reporters to write stories about his amazing athleticism and soccer skills. Fans demanded to see him play. Teams would compete to offer him better contracts. All told, Carlos Kaiser had paid contracts with ten different clubs without ever having to play a full soccer match.
        Carlos’ con almost got exposed in the late 80’s when he played for the Bangu soccer team. The owner, Castor de Andrade, demanded that his coach put Carlos into a game. Carlos had to think quick. He ran over to the opposing team’s stands and started a fight with a fan who was heckling his team. The referees threw Carlos out of the game. But to escape the wrath of the owner of the team, Carlos claimed the heckler had insulted his boss’s honor. The owner was so pleased about how Carlos had defended him, he gave him a 6 month extension on his contract.(2)
        Some people have a talent for pulling the wool over people’s eyes. And some people, like Jesus, have a talent for recognizing such people. Jesus could examine people’s hearts. He could see what they were really like on the inside. And that’s what Jesus saw when he looked at the religious leaders of his time.
        The scribes, the teachers of the law, were the most respected members of their communities. They had spent years studying and memorizing religious law. They were the ultimate religious authorities in their society. They expected praise and honor for their spiritual leadership. They expected to be applauded for their faith. But Jesus was not all that impressed by their posturing. Jesus didn’t care about the outward appearance. He knew that sometimes things are not as they appear.
        Every year, the American Institute of Architects has an awards program that recognizes some of the best buildings in the country. In 1976, they chose the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, to receive one of the highest awards. In 1979, The American Institute of Architects held their annual conference in Kansas City, and they offered tours of Kemper Arena to their attendees. Everyone was, of course, impressed with the massive structure.
        The day after the architect’s tour, a major storm swept through Kansas City and destroyed the roof of the Kemper Arena. A later investigation showed that the roof bolts weren’t strong enough to support the massive roof. So as soon as the guest architects left town, the roof quite literally fell in on the Kemper Arena, which was rebuilt and now goes by the name Hy-Vee Arena.(3)
        Jesus aggravated the religious leaders of his day because he wasn’t impressed by their outward appearance; he knew that structurally they were weak. Jesus was repulsed by people who made a show of their religion.
        All the praise and prestige that they so enjoyed, went straight to their heads. Even worse, some of them abused their position of spiritual leadership to manipulate their followers into giving more money that they could afford. You know, every time I read this passage about the faithful widow, one phrase always jumps off the page – “devouring widow’s houses.” Pretty graphic imagery.
        Rodney Cooper, writing in the Holman New Testament Commentary, explains it like this: “In speaking of the scribes “devouring widow’s houses”, Jesus was condemning the greedy, predatory way in which scribes or other members of the religious establishment would not hesitate to mercilessly drive people into poverty while enriching themselves through their demands for offerings and payments in the name of religion, even if those payments would include the seizure of a widow’s estate, leaving her with no means of support or a place to live.”
        “Despite this deliberate cruelty, the scribes would then put on a visible appearance of being very religious by saying lengthy prayers in public, and otherwise displaying their supposed piety in places where other people would see them do so and praise them for it, while also enjoying all the tangible benefits that came with their status as members of the religious hierarchy, such as seats of honor at religious feasts, or in synagogue during worship. Jesus said that their punishment in eternity would be greater because of their hypocrisy.(4) It doesn’t look good for the scribes.
        And that brings us to the second thing Jesus saw as he people watched at the Temple that day. He saw a poor widow. As Mark says: “Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. He called his disciples and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
        Widows in Jesus’ day were uniquely vulnerable. There was social security back then, the only social safety net they had was the synagogue and their extended family. If others did not help them, they would be hungry and homeless. And yet in spite of her low status and her poverty, she gave what she had to the Temple. She didn’t draw attention to her sacrifice. She didn’t do it to impress anyone. If it hadn’t been for Jesus pointing it out, no one would have known. But this widow trusted God’s character and she obeyed God’s commands. Because loving God is its own reward. And the greater we love God, the more willing we are to sacrifice to follow.
        You’ve all heard the name Corrie Ten Boom. Many of you have probably read her books. Corrie and her family had constructed a secret room in their house to hide Jewish citizens from Nazi deportation to concentration camps. It is estimated that the Ten Boom family was able to smuggle roughly 800 people out of the Netherlands. Sadly, one of their neighbors turned them in, and the Ten Boom family was sent to concentration camps.
        Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were sent to the brutal Ravensbruck concentration camp. They were tortured, beaten and nearly starved to death. But they never gave up on their faith in God.
        In December 1944, Betsie died at Ravensbruck. Corrie was released 12 days later. A few days after Corrie’s release all the women of her age group at Ravensbruck were sent to the gas chambers.
        After Corrie’s release, she returned to the Netherlands and opened a rehabilitation center for victims of the concentration camps. She wrote books about her family’s experiences in the war and travelled all over the world sharing her faith. One of her more famous quotes is “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”(5)
        Every year around this time, the widow returns to remind us of the truth of Corrie Ten Boom’s words – Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. That was the widow’s secret. That is the essence of faith. Faith is not an outward show of piety but an inner trust that God will provide. The widow in the Temple had that kind of trust, The scribes – not so much.
        The religious leaders put on a show for the people who were under their care. The poor widow only had an audience of one – and that is God. The widow returns today to say once more – “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 3, p 42.
2.   Ibid… p 42-43.
3.   Ibid… p 43.
4.   Ibid… p 43-44.
5.   Ibid… p 44.

10-24-2021 Old and Full of Days

Thomas J Parlette
“Old and Full of Days”
Job 42: 1-6, 10-17
10/24/21

        In 1958, Archibald MacLeish wrote a play in verse called “J.B.” It would go on to a long and successful run on Broadway and was a staple on college stages through the 1960’s and 70’s. In 1959, “J.B.” won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony award for Best Play.
        MacLeish was moved to write the play as a response to the horrors he saw during two world wars – including the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So turning to the Book of Job seemed like the thing to do.
        In the forward to the acting edition of his play, MacLeish explained that turning to the Bible for a framework seemed sensible “when you are dealing with questions too large for which, nevertheless, will not leave you alone.”
        “J.B.” tells the story of a 20th century American banker and millionaire whom God commands be stripped of his family and his wealth but who refuses to turn his back on God, saying in the face on each crushing loss, “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.” MacLeish wondered how modern people could retain hope and keep living with all the suffering in the world and offered this, his play, as an answer. At the end, JB learns that there is no justice in the world, that happiness and suffering are not deserved, and that people can still choose to love each other and live.(1)
        All those lessons are creeping into view as we wrap up the story of Job.
        In last week’s passage, we heard God finally respond to Job’s questions and complaints out of the whirlwind. Turns out, God has some questions as well. “Where were you?” That is the refrain that was repeated over and over again. “Where were you? You just don’t understand who you are dealing with Job. I have knowledge, wisdom and power that are simply beyond your capacity to understand.”
        That was last week. This week, we visit Job in the aftermath of the Divine Whirlwind. There is Job, his hair blown back – he’s cowering, face down with his hands over his head hiding from the whirlwind of God. When he’s sure it’s safe, when he’s sure he’s not going to be struck down in divine fury – Job peeks through his fingers and whispers in essence: “When I asked you to meet me in court, O Yahweh, I simply didn’t know what I was talking about. But things are clearer to me now. I no longer wish to challenge you; I only want to learn from your wisdom. I will be quiet while you answer my questions.”
        And then, as the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translates it, Job says, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
        That seems a bit harsh, doesn’t it – despise myself, or. as the King James Version renders it, “I abhor myself.” Seems too harsh, especially in our modern times when self-esteem is such a big deal. We would never want to hear someone say they despise or abhor themselves. And, truth be told, there are difficulties with the translation here. The NRSV holds to the long tradition of translating the Hebrew as “despise myself”, instead of the King James “abhor myself.” But there are other possibilities that are just as valid and just as faithful to the language. For instance, the editors of the New English Bible have chosen to say, “therefore I yield” instead of “therefore I despise myself.” In light of the previous verses that seem to reflect more of a sense of humility rather than self-loathing – maybe “I yield” is a better translation of Job’s mental state here in the aftermath of the Divine Whirlwind.
        And then there’s the idea of repentance, which is never as easy concept to come to grips with. Repentance usually means to be sorry for sin, to turn around, take a new path, change your ways. So when we hear the word “repent” and we immediately think of changing our evil, sinful ways. But what if no sin has been committed? What if there is no evil way to change? We know that Job is righteous and good and faithful – why is he repenting?
        And again, perhaps a fuller translation would be helpful. The Hebrew word here actually has a wide range of possible meanings, such as “to have pity”, “to have compassion”, or even “to comfort oneself”, are just a few possibilities. So one possible translation of the text could be… “Job admitted his mistake in attempting to challenge Yahweh.” That perhaps gives us a better sense of what Job’s repentance is all about here.
        As Irma Zaleski has written in her book “The Way of Repentance”: When we repent, we give up our illusions, our compulsions, our self-centeredness as soon as we notice them; we cry for mercy and we always go on. We don’t expect any quick answers or ask for any revelations. We look only to Christ our Lord and follow him step by step…”(2)
        I think that describes Job here after the whirlwind pretty well. He repents in that he gives up his illusions of God’s justice – and instead, Job cries for mercy. He stops expecting those quick, sure and certain answers that we’d like to have and learns to live with uncertainty, listening instead for the answers God wants to give. As we all know, living with uncertainties is never easy.
        I like the story about noted mathematician and philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine, who used to type all his work on an old Remington typewriter that he had customized. He had removed the number 1, the exclamation point and the question mark – and replaced them with specialized mathematical symbols. Someone once asked him how he managed to write without using question marks and he answered, “Well, you see, I deal in certainties, not questions.”(3)
        Certainties are something we’d all like to deal in. But Job is not a story about certainty – it’s a story about trust. It’s a story about trusting that God will continue to love us through any circumstance – as God continued to love Job right through his time of torment.
        In Job, God gives us some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that we don’t get what we deserve. And the good news is the same – we don’t get what we deserve. God is at work in each and every situation to help us find meaning and purpose. In love and mercy, God sticks by us through the tragedies that are a part of this life.
        From his face down position, Job whispers, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. As Carl Jung once said, “Job caught a glimpse of the shadow of God.”(4) As a result of his whirlwind encounter, Job experiences God in a completely new way – as the mysterious, all-powerful, unknowable, Creator of the Universe, but also as a merciful God who would stoop to lift us up and stand by us in the most troubling times.
        Perhaps the apostle Paul had Job in mind when he wrote his spontaneous burst of praise in Romans:
        “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! For who had known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” This is one of the texts that gave birth to the theological idea of doxology, to God be the glory.
        In a well-known sermon called “Doxology”, Fred Craddock preached on those words from Romans. He writes: In the fall of the year, even after the days grow short and the air crisp, I still go out on the patio alone at the close of the day. I sit there remembering, trying to understand the painful distance between the day as I planned it and the day as it had been. The growing darkness seeped into my mind and heart and I was as the night. Looking back on it, I know now that it was that evening on which the Idea came to me.” It was an idea he called, for lack of a better name – Doxology.
        Doxology began to follow Craddock throughout his days. Doxology joined the family at the dinner table, as the question was asked, “What was the worst thing that happened today?”
        “The school bell rang at 8:30.”
        Well, what was the best thing that happened?
        “It rang again at 3:30.”
        The family agreed, Doxology belonged at the family dinner table. They even took Doxology along to the beach on vacation. No doubt about it – Doxology was good company.
        Doxology even joined Craddock on routine errands around town. Together they laughed with children, talked to the banker and enjoyed the bustle of life. But when it was time to stop at the hospital to visit Betty, who was dying from cancer – well, Craddock felt it was inappropriate to take something as joyous as Doxology along. Doxology insisted – but Craddock locked him in the car and went on his own. After an awkward visit and a quick prayer, Craddock slunk back to the car.
Doxology asked, “Should I have been there?”
“Yes,” said Craddock. “I’m sorry – I didn’t understand.”
        Doxology is the simple idea that God deserves all the glory and praise. As Paul said, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To God be glory forever.” There is never any situation in life where our Doxology – our words of appreciation and wonder at the awesome being of our Creator – is inappropriate. As Craddock says near the end of his sermon, “If we ever lose our Doxology we might as well be dead.”(5)
        I think Job re-discovered his own Doxology at the end of his days. He lived through his sufferings and the advice to curse God and die. He lived through his searching and questioning God’s presence. He lived through his anger and bitter complaints. He even survived the whirlwind of God’s response. He lived through it all to discover that God had stood by him the whole time – offering not justice, but something even better. Infinite mercy. Or as J.B.’s wife Sarah says in MacLeish’s play: “You wanted justice and there was none – only love.”
        There are a lot of satisfying endings in the Bible. Some of my favorites are the story of Moses. God shows Moses the Promised land right before his death. He dies at the Lord’s command and only God knows where he is buried. And the scripture tells us, “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew, face to face.” Great ending.
        Or there’s Elijah, when the chariots and horses of fire descend and a whirlwind lifts him up to heaven. And of course, there is Jesus, ascending through the clouds from Bethany on the Mount of Olives. All satisfying endings.
        But I have to say, the ending of Job is probably my favorite. As the text says, the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. His fortunes restored, his life rebuilt, Job sits on his front porch, sometime in the autumn of his life, rocking back and forth in his favorite rocking chair, watching the seasons change. Watching his beautiful, successful daughters, now with kids of their own, his grandchildren, running around the front yard. And after Job lived 140 years, he died, old and full of days. He wanted justice, but instead found only love and infinite mercy.
        A satisfying ending to the story of Job.
        May we all be so blessed.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   The Gale Group, A Study Guide for Archibald MacLeish’s “J.B.”, The Gale Group, 2002, p. 1-2.
2.   Homileticsonline, retrieved 9/20/21.
3.   Ibid.
4.   Ibid.
5.   Fred Craddock, As One Without Authority, Abingdon Press, 1971, p. 163-168.

10-31-2021 All Things New

All Things New

Jay P. Rowland

10.31.2021

Revelation 21:1-6a

See I am making all things new  Rev.21:5

Change is a basic ingredient of life.

Change is inevitable.

So why run from it? Why not lean into it? 

Change--or perhaps the anticipation of change--provokes our most impulsive anxiety and fear. We tend to cling to the familiar past (or present) while backing away from the unknown future.

Sometimes change can be so profound and disorienting we are left grieving in its wake.  Death is certainly one example of that. But whether it’s death we’re grieving, or the loss of certainty, or the loss of what we thought we knew or understood, whatever the profound change may be that’s left us disoriented, grieving is essential. It’s essential to the process of re-orienting to life on life’s terms while grieving the loss of ours.  

And when it comes to grieving, it’s essential to include the Lord. And don’t hold anything back. Share your anger, your rage, your sense of disorientation; let it all flow.  But don’t stop there.  We are not wired to grieve in isolation—all by ourselves.  It doesn’t work.  We all need some framework of personal support—grief support group, counseling, all of the above.  When it comes to life’s most profound and significant changes grieving is not only beneficial, it’s appropriate. And necessary.  But opposing change? Good luck with that.  Resistance to change is futile. 

But it’s understandably common.

Change sometimes brings unmitigated suffering and harm.  We’ve been experiencing that together on a global and national scale in recent months and years.

But some change is desperately needed, longed-for, and long-awaited. And prayed for.

Either way, we usually cannot stop or prevent the most profound changes we encounter. Yet we often expend a great deal of energy fearing or opposing what we cannot stop, when we could instead put quality time and energy into praying and meditating our way toward a deeper mindfulness and trust in the Lord.  When we take the time to do so, we discover this creates mental/emotional/spiritual “space” to counterbalance our reactive fight/flight response.  God enables us to resist our primitive brain’s fight/flight/freeze constriction and resistance through meditation; meditative prayer which allows us to be open to the new … open to the good that always comes along with any change no matter how awful that change may appear.

I think we know deep down in our spirit-heart that change has just as much potential to enhance life as it does to diminish it. In my own life I experienced unwelcome change in the form of corporate downsizing and the sudden loss of a job and the instability and fear that comes with it.  Not once or twice, but three times.  And yet, if those changes hadn’t happened, I might not have ended up being a minister.  It wasn’t on my career radar back when I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life.  Those changes led to a new direction and vitality of life for me that I did not self-orchestrate nor imagine.

Of course it all depends on what the change actually is.  But change in and of itself is neither inherently good nor bad.  It just is.  It’s too easy to react to change impulsively with great fear and anxiety.  I totally understand that.  I’ve been there many times.  But whenever my head was spinning from the reactive fear and anxiety, my breathing shortened, and it so easily compounded and built upon itself.  And that process saps most or all of the valuable spiritual energy and resources which move us into reorienting to life anew.

We are living in a time of vast social and cultural and political shifts.  This is disorienting.  We don’t like it.  We feel powerless.  Even our most well-established religious practices and expectations will not be spared the changes these societal shifts are creating. So much is changing happening in so many areas of life people are reacting and clinging as a result.  I see people becoming rigid and inflexible over the littlest, insignificant things.  This is what happens when we get caught up in blind fear of change.  Plenty of fight/flight/freeze on display out there. 

Meanwhile, this is nothing new. It just is for us. History reveals that every 500 years the dominant form and structure of church has changed.  The first major shift was when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century.  This created the Monastic movement.  Then 500 years later the eastern and western churches split.  Islam started to grow and “threaten” Christianity.  Then in the 1500s the Reformation happened.  And here we are 500 years later. 

Rather than fear these momentous but natural shifts we cannot stop, rather than claim the sky is falling and the “church is dead” it’s far more life-affirming (and interesting) to engage and look to God to help us discern how God’s calling the church to new ways as God has faithfully done all along.  The church is NOT DEAD.  But it is changing.

The church is changing because society and the world is changing. The church offers nothing to us or to the world if it resists change while everything else adapts and re-orients to a changing world. Worship has always helped God’s people navigate the perils of change. 

In his Introduction to The Book of Revelation (The Message Bible), Eugene Peterson noted that the early church learned in the midst of suffering from persecution that “if worship is neglected or perverted, our communities fall into chaos or under tyranny.”   Forms of church and worship change every 500 years.  But because worship and community are two sides of the same coin of the realm of God, the church continues wherever its worship remains robust and accessible.

Revelation was written by John of Patmos. Patmos distinguishes the John of Revelation from the other important New Testament figures also named John. The John of Revelation was a pastor. At the time, his congregations were living under intense persecution. First-century Christians were being arrested, tortured and executed for worshipping God in Jesus Christ rather than the Roman Emperor.

Revelation is a vision John received which he attributed to Jesus. It’s a vision noted for its mysterious symbolism and otherworldly imagery. Even so, this vision brought encouragement and hope to God’s people in the midst of their living nightmare. John refused to let the coercive, corrupt powers of empire corrupt and obliterate the most sacred expression of his people’s faith in God. 

Because John knew that without worship neither John nor his congregations would hold up under the strain lurking over them every time they gathered to praise the True Source of Love and Life they needed more than anything else. But John was living in exile on the island of Patmos cut off from his other churches spread across the Roman Empire.  What could he do in the face of the overwhelming power of the Emperor and the state?  

What could John do? Not much.

The real question is what did Jesus do?

John received a vision while he was worshiping.  John wrote down what he saw and heard and he sent it to the seven churches he pastored. John’s words were read aloud whenever these seven churches gathered to worship. Any one of these churches and worship services could at any time be attended by spies for the Emperor. 

John was determined to keep worship alive for his congregations despite the constant risk of arrest and death. Today, two-thousand years later we find his terminology and imagery and symbolism difficult to understand. But we must realize there were hostile eyes and ears looking at and listening to his words.

Eugene Peterson notes, “Besides being a pastor, John is a poet, fond of metaphor and symbol, image and allusion, passionate in his desire to bring us into the presence of Jesus believing and adoring. … The rush of color and sound, image and energy, (can leave) us reeling.  But if we persist through the initial confusion and read on, we begin to pick up the rhythms, realize the connections” to the profound and recurring themes and promises of the entire Bible. 

The most important thing about the Book of Revelation is John of Patmos’ passionate desire to reveal the saving power of the presence of Jesus to his suffering people.  And the natural human response was and is to believe and adore Him.

There are so many problems and crises and situations which divert our awareness toward just about anything and everything other than the presence of Jesus.

Why not invite John’s passion to compel us to pray about our own passion for Christ in the midst of our own strange and disorienting times. Revelation has nothing to offer if we are all doing fine and feeling content with how the world is and where our life in this world is leading.  But if you’re not “fine”--if you’re reeling from grief or anxiety or any particular situation in your life or the world right now, then Revelation 21 invites you into John’s personal vision of hope and trust that springs from the power of the Love of Jesus Christ to make all things new. 

All things!

New.

That’s not good news to those who don’t want anything to change or become new.

We overlook the presence of Jesus every day.  But that’s our loss. Life has a way of squeezing from us our awareness of the presence of Jesus and squelching our trust in Him. Such was the case for John’s congregations in the first century. Such is the case today given everything we’ve experienced lately. This doesn’t mean we lack sufficient faith or that we’re not strong or courageous enough.  It means we’re made of flesh and blood and spirit.  It means we bleed, we hurt and we suffer. It means we are mortal.

If you identify with any of that, then the vision shared in Revelation 21 is worth your attention.  This vision of hope and assurance is presented through unusual and unbound and otherworldly images of the presence of the living Christ.  Maybe our concept of the living Christ has become stale, predictable, insufficient for life on life’s terms.

Hear the voice from the throne today saying loud and clear for all to hear,

See, the home of God is among mortals.

The home of God is not in any building or buildings. 

God does not dwell in any singular place or time or among any single nation or people.

The home of God is among mortals.  That’s wherever people are. 

Where is God? God dwells with you, me and us. 

And God dwells with those people too--they and them. 

God’s dwells among God’s people throughout God’s creation.  Therefore God’s creation will prevail.  Oh, we all see creation is getting abused, scarred and damaged.  Just like Jesus was.  Brutally treated.  But God raised Jesus. And so God’s creation, including you and me, will live on.  But it will be different.  The risen Jesus wasn’t recognized by those who knew him best.

All things new. 

We don’t know exactly what new will look like.  But the former things are passing away:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God …”

Because God dwells with us God will see us through.  And so one day we will know the truth of the vision:

 God will wipe away every tear …

… death will be no more …

…. mourning and crying and pain will be no more. …

… for the first things will have passed away ... 

… And the Lord will swallow up death forever …

It will be said on that day, Lo this is our God for whom we have waited these many years so that he might save us.  This is the Lord for whom we have waited.

Then, and soon, we will behold:

See, I am making all things new.

In the midst of all the change and fear and anxiety, here is something worth remembering and holding onto today; here is something to cherish, here is something worth thinking about and reflecting upon and bringing into prayer every morning when we awaken and every evening when we lie down … 

“See, I am making all things new.”

 All things

new

10-17.2021 Out of the Whirlwind

Thomas J Parlette
“Out of the Whirlwind”
Job 38: 1-7, 34-41
10/17/21

        Often on Saturday afternoons when I’m not invested in any of the college football games, I will flip around and see what movies are on. There are some movies that I will always stop and watch. Apollo 13 is one of those movies. Any of the Marvel Avenger movies will catch my eye as well. On a recent Saturday afternoon, the Ohio State game had ended and was flipping around looking for one of my favorite movies. And I happened on Forrest Gump.
        Forrest Gump isn’t on my all -time Top Ten movies list, but I like it – so I stopped and watched it for awhile. I’m sure you remember the movie. Tom Hanks stars as a mentally challenged man who has a knack for stumbling his way into historic moments. The movie gave us such classic lines as “run, Forrest, run”, and “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”
        Among his many adventures, Forrest ends up serving in Vietnam, where he meets once his close friends, Lt. Dan, portrayed by Gary Sinise. After having his legs blown off in Vietnam, Lt. Dan felt life as he knew it was over. Back home, he fell into an awful funk of despair that led to alcoholism and drugs. But somehow, he meets up again with his friend Forrest.
        Lt. Dam comes to work for Forrest on his shrimp boat. One day, a hurricane comes up. Lt. Dan climbs up the netting to the top of the mast, and there swaying and swinging in the wind, he vents his anger at God. The words stream out in a furious torrent. He challenges God to appear, to show up like a man. He ridicules the God who has taken away his legs, his livelihood, his pride, his very manhood. “You call this a storm?!” he shouts into the wind.
        And just then, there is a tremendous “BOOM”, a blaze of lightning and a crash of thunder. It’s as if God has responded in the winds of the hurricane, saying “I’m here” in the thunder and the lightning.(1)
        Lt. Dan has a lot in common with our friend Job. I can picture Job, hanging from a mast, yelling at God about all the suffering he has endured, just like Lt. Dan.
        When we left Job last week, he was complaining bitterly that God was nowhere to be found. No matter where he turned – left, right, forward, backward – God remained hidden. All Job wanted was a fair hearing before God, he wanted a day in court to air his complaints and get a few answers.
        But no – God was not around, and apparently, at least in Job’s opinion, not even listening.
        Well, today Job’s prayers are answered – or at least his request to have a hearing before is honored. God shows up. And as they say, “be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.”
        This morning, God shows up – not with thunder and lightning, but in something resembling a hurricane. God shows up in a whirlwind. And God speaks to Job from out of the whirlwind- “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.”
        Then God hits Job with some questions of his own. Actually, it seems like the same question over and over again. “Where were you?” asks God. Where were you when I created the world? God pulls rank on Job. God puts Job in his place and reminds Job that he is not God.
        Now, in all honestly, this does not seem like the best pastoral response. This is not what they teach you in seminary. My pastoral care professors at Princeton would have fallen out of their chairs if any of us asked such condescending and insulting questions like – “Where were you?... What right do you have to question me?... What business is this of yours…”
        No, what they teach you in Seminary is to quietly listen with compassion and be a non-anxious presence. This kind of response would have been seriously frowned upon.
        On the surface, God’s response to Job seems rather heavy-handed and harsh. But be sure to look closely at the text. Notice that God never condemns Job for asking questions. God is actually reprimanding Job’s friends when talks about those who darken counsel by words without knowledge. God never demands an apology from Job for his complaining – God never tells Job that he better take it all back. God’s response to Job is not – “I’m in control, how dare you judge how I run the universe!” That’s not really what God is saying here.
        God’s response is to ask Job if he understands the deep wisdom upon which the foundations of the earth were laid. God turns the tables on Job and reframes the question. God is telling Job that he needs to look for wisdom, not simply raw power, in his search for God. In other words, this is not meant to be a put down, but simply a reminder. “You are out of your league Job. I know things you can’t comprehend. I am God, and you are not.” God possesses knowledge, wisdom and power that is simply beyond our capacity to understand.
        Through Job, we are reminded that we live and move and have our being in a world we did not create, with a God we cannot comprehend. Especially in a world now far advanced in scientific knowledge and technical capabilities, where many of the questions that God poses to Job can be answered scientifically, this is a timely reminder of our mortality and our limitations. However clever and searching our scientific knowledge of the natural world may be, there are limits to what we can know. Of course the greatest questions of all – Why is there something instead of nothing? Why do we exist? What is the purpose of my life? – are no more answerable today than they were in the ancient world. Job chapter 38 is an invitation to stop in our egocentric tracks, put down our mirrors, and contemplate the wonder of our existence and the awesome being and mystery of God. A God who cannot be fully known and is not accountable to humanity.
        Nancy Guthrie writes, “Sometimes what causes us the most pain and confusion is hot what God says to us, but the fact that in the midst of difficulty, God seems to say nothing at all.” Just silence. The silence of God is something that has been explored by many novelists, playwrights and theologians over the years – and by most people who have gone through tough times. We may not eloquently articulate our questions, but they still boil deep within us. The answers we receive can feel inadequate to provide comfort or explain in any genuine way what bewilders and troubles us. We long to know why devastating things happen to us. Like Job, we long for understanding so we can bear the pain.
        As we see today, God does answer – but with more questions, “Where were you,” and a long dramatic monologue describing birds, animals, mountains and storms – all the wonders of creation. Where were you, Job, when I made all this?
        Guthrie writes, “God doesn’t explain. Instead God reveals the Divine Presence and in the midst of this awesome presence, Job’s question are not answered, they simply disappear.”
        Magnificence and Mystery – those are the two “answers” the Book of Job reveals to us. We can find much wisdom, guidance and truth in God’s word, that’s true. But we also find a lot of mystery as well. Our minds cannot even frame the right questions.
        We’ll never solve all the mysteries, but we know all that happens is weighted down with significance. As Guthrie writes, “Job had no idea he was a player in a cosmic confrontation.” He had no idea his faithfulness in extreme suffering mattered so much. But it did.”(2)
        It does for us as well, as we worship God and pray that God will keep us faithful in these trying pandemic days. Each follower of God is a key player in this magnificent mystery.
        This scene of God speaking from a whirlwind is certainly an encounter of unequal power. God is God – and Job is not. God possesses knowledge, wisdom and power that we cannot understand. Ultimately, God speaks out of the whirlwind and doesn’t provide any answers – just a sense of magnificence and mystery.
        I will not claim that that is an easy thing to hear. It certainly isn’t. There is no way to wrap up Job’s whirlwind encounter with three points and a poem. It’s impossible to send you home today with a comforting sound-byte. This passage demands that we struggle with it, think deeply about it and spend time wrestling with our incomplete knowledge of an unknowable God.
        What Job discovered in his whirlwind encounter is what we have been promised in Jesus Christ – that God hears our cries and feels our hurts. God cares, and shares our pain. God is present with us in our sorrow and in our suffering and gives us the courage to go on.
        The word of hope I can offer today us that when we’ve exhausted our human resources, our wisdom and our knowledge – isn’t it comforting to know that God can step in like a whirlwind with Divine, unknowable power, both magnificent and mysterious, and stand with us in our suffering?
        That may not be what we want to hear from this divine hurricane. But that’s what we have. And it will be enough to sustain us – as it did for Job.
        God is God, and we are not. Let us find our rest in the wisdom and the power of a magnificent, mysterious God who is wiser, kinder and more powerful than we can ever know.
        And for that – may God be praised. Amen.

1.   Homileticsonline, retrieved 9?20/21.
2.   Harold Myra, The One Year Book of Encouragement, Tyndale House Publishers, 2010, p. 287.

10-10-2021 Job's Complaint

Thomas J Parlette
“Job’s Complaint”
Job 23: 1-9, 16-17
10/10/21

        A few years ago, the English comedian and actor Stephen Fry, who is a self-declared atheist, was interviewed by Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne. At one point, Byrne said to Fry, “What if it’s all true, and you walk up to the pearly gates, and are confronted by God. What will Stephen Fry say?”
        And Fry responded, “Bone cancer in children; what’s that about? How dare you? How dare you create a world where there is such misery that’s not our fault? He then added a second question he’d an answer to: “Why should I respect a God who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain?”
        Well, that segment of the interview was soon posted on YouTube, where, within days, it was viewed over 5 million times. Not surprisingly, the responses to the clip ranged from admiration to outrage, with the head of Ireland’s Presbyterian Church branding Fry as “spiritually blind.” Fry later apologized for any offense he might have caused and said he wasn’t referring to any specific religion. He explained that he was merely saying things that many better thinkers than he had said over the centuries.(1)
        Many of us have likely had similar thought and questions. Just imagine if you could be transported to heaven for an hour to talk face to face to God – with the assurance that God would answer one question for you. What question would you ask? Would you ask for the winning lottery number? Or perhaps when the Vikings might win the Super Bowl? Or would you ask something a little meatier? Like…

        Why am I suffering from this cancer?
       Why are some people capable of child abuse?
        Why can’t we have wisdom when we’re young and could really benefit from it?
        Why must we have earthquakes, hurricanes and wildfires?
        Why the endless violence in the Middle East?
        Why the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide or the Khmer Rouge slaughter of millions?
        Why?

        There really is no limit to the questions we’d like to ask God, and not just out of idle curiosity. Many of us experience some pain or grief to the human condition. We’re invested in the questions we’d like to ask, and, we think God’s answers might help us deal with what we cannot avoid.
        Questions – specifically complaints – that’s what’s on Job’s mind this morning. He has never sinned in his life, and yet God has seemingly punished him like this. It makes no sense to Job. “Why?”, he asks.
        Our passage for today comes from chapter 23, which is part of a longer section that runs through chapter 24. Job’s friends have arrived and try to comfort him in his misery. But in all honesty, they fail miserably. For 20-some chapters Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar take a tag team approach to make sense of Job’s suffering. They pretty much repeat each other’s arguments – “Job, you must have sinned somewhere along the line, you must repent, for God punishes the wicked and your guilt deserves punishment.” Nice friends. They don’t offer much in the way of comfort; they just point their fingers accusingly at Job.
        But Job stands his ground. He maintains his innocence. But he also laments that there’s no place where he can put his case before God to receive a verdict of “Not Guilty.” He says, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him… I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me.”
        In other words, Job wants his hour with God at the pearly gates. He wants God to answer a question for him. And Job seems confident that if he could only get such an audience, he’d be acquitted.
        When we read the whole book of Job, of course, we find that, while God does eventually respond to Job, God never really answers Job’s questions – but more on that next week.
        Isn’t that how it is for us with the many questions we’d to ask God? God is simply not going to answer them – no matter how good the questions are. Stephen Fry is unlikely to have his questions answered, and we’re unlikely to have ours answered either.
        You might remember a TV show called Joan of Arcadia, that was on CBS from 2003-2005. Unfortunately, it is not available to stream on any platform I can find, although you can find clips on YouTube. It was one of the few shows that actually took God seriously. The show revolved around a teenage named Joan who hears message from God. Initially Joan thinks she can’t be hearing from God, but eventually she learns to trust the voice and follow God’s instructions – but not without some questions, which, of course, God does not answer.
        I do want to make a distinction here. God does answer prayers – but not questions. When we pray, we ask God to help us, to meet a need. Questioning God is something a little different. God will answer prayers, but will not answer questions.
        Back to Joan of Arcadia – While the series was still running, Barbara Hall, the show’s executive producer explained, “In trying to write God, I obviously don’t know what God is thinking. On the show, God says he won’t answer any direct questions because he chooses not to explain what is going on, because God is a mystery. The show is really a lot about posing theological and philosophical questions and not about answering them.”(2)
        And that’s how it often is for us as well. We can pose all kinds of questions, but if we’re waiting for God to answer them, we may have to wait a lifetime. That silence – that absence – can be maddening. The poet W.H. Auden once said that, “Our dominant experience of God today is of God’s absence, of God’s distance.”(3) That is true for many people these days, as it was for Job so many years ago. All Job knows is that in spite of being upright and faithful to God, terrible troubles still came upon him. He has no idea why, and when he complains, when he tries to get God to answer his questions, he gets nothing. Silence. Job is left to assume that God does not care to answer – or worse, perhaps God is not even listening.
        Yes, we find within ourselves much empathy with Job on this point. In his essay, God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis describes how we tend to deal with God these days:
        “In ancient times, people approached God as an accused person approaches a judge. But in modern times, the roles have reversed. We put ourselves on the judge’s bench, and God is in the dock, or in court as a defendant, as it were. If God should offer a reasonable defense for being a God who permits war and poverty and disease – well, we’re ready to listen. The trial might even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that we put ourselves on the bench and expect God to answer us.”(4) That’s what Stephen Fry wanted to do - put God in the dock, on trial, to get some answers to that question “Why.”
        But let’s not forget that we know more than Job. We know that God is still there throughout this whole story. God is allowing these horrible things to happen as a test. Job doesn’t know that. He didn’t get to see that opening scene in God’s heavenly throne room when God and Satan made that wager about his faithfulness. That means that what may seem to Job as God’s indifference is really God’s restraint to allow the test of Job’s faith to continue. It’s not that Job needs a date in small claims court to trumpet his complaint against God, but that God needs someone like Job to stand the test and still trust in God.
        And that is what Job ultimately does. Though he is filled with a sense that he is suffering unjustly and that God will not give him a fair hearing to plead his case, he does not lose his faith, and eventually he receives a response from God.
        In the end, Job’s story is a faith story, it is about trust. We might generally describe faith as a movement toward God that goes beyond evidence or reason. Faith takes us to a place where language bends and the best we can do is jump for metaphor and analogy. Job is in such a place, trying to find words for his bitterness. He is going through a long dark tunnel in which his prayers seem trapped, and he is unable to get an answer from God. Yet, in the longer view of his life, in what he had seen and heard and felt before the troubles came upon him and what he would see and hear and feel later – he had found and would find again, that faith is not forever unsupported – only that in some of the deepest valleys, faith is all we have to keep us going.
        The poet Rainer Maria Rilke once said: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”(5)
        Living the questions themselves, living the questions and the complaints now – that’s what Job is doing.
        The Quakers have something that they call “queries”, a series of questions used for individual and collective reflection, spiritual growth and prayer. Historically at least, one purpose of queries was to check how members of the fellowship were upholding the already agreed upon testimonies.
        Quaker Martin Grundy tells of one experience: “The most recent query we discussed came at the end of a rather tedious, long-winded, not particularly well-grounded, meeting for business. The query we were considering was simply, “How do we recognize what we are called to be obedient to?” As people spoke to it, the silence deepened and lengthened between speakers. Finally, the speaking ceased altogether, and we were wrapped together in quietness and love. The clerk ended the meeting, but we were loath to leave. We were in the presence of God, and found it good.”(6)
        In the end, perhaps that’s what we should expect from our questions and complaints for God – not answers, but a dialogue with life and the experience of God’s presence in our daily life. Perhaps we should expect not answers but faith. Faith to keep trying. Faith to keep believing that God is still there listening, sitting with us in the silence. That’s where we all find ourselves sometimes – needing faith to live the questions and the complaints, while God works things out.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Homileticsonline, retrieved Sept 20th, 2021.
2.   Ibid.
3.   Ibid.
4.   Ibid.
5.   Ibid.
6.   Ibid.

10-03-2021 Once Upon a Time in the Land of Uz

Thomas J Parlette
“Once Upon a Time in the Land of Uz”
Job 1:1, 2:1-10
10/3/21, World Communion

        Have you ever gotten the cold shoulder from someone? You walk into a gathering or a meeting, or even your own home and a friend, a co-worker, perhaps a spouse or maybe your child won’t look you in the eye. They seem kind of distant, uninterested, or even downright mad. They seem to go out of their way to avoid you, or even make a point to stand up and leave the room when you sit down. If so – you’ve been given the cold shoulder.
        It’s an interesting expression, “cold shoulder.” There was a time when giving someone the cold shoulder meant more than simply snubbing them in public. During the Middle Ages, if your guests had overstayed their welcome, you served them a big shoulder of old beef rather than a nice hot roast. With any luck, they would get the message and leave.
        The English language has a lot of curious idioms like that. How about “bringing home the bacon”? It now means coming home with a paycheck, but it used to be understood more literally. In the 12th century, a church in Britain started to award cured bacon strips to newly married couples if they could pass a particular test- they had to swear, after one year of marriage, they had never once regretted the decision. If they passed, they could bring home the bacon. Not sure if that promoted happy marriages or encouraged lying – I wonder.
        Or how about the phrase “stewing in your own juices”? Today it means to suffer the consequences of your own actions – “you reap what you sow”, “you made your bed, now you have to lie in it” sort of thing. But in the 13th century, that phrase was a euphemism for being burned at the stake, a horrible fate in which you would quite literally simmer in your own bodily fluids – gross, I know.(1)
        All of this brings us to the idiom that arises from our text for today – the well- known phrase “the patience of Job.”
        The idea comes from the Old Testament story of Job, the tale of a poor soul from the land of Uz, described in today’s passage as a “man blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” Despite his moral and spiritual virtue – or perhaps because of it – Job is subjected to a seemingly random and rather mean supernatural test in which he loses his property, his children and his health, and is challenged to retain his integrity and remain faithful to God. It seems that perhaps God is giving Job the cold shoulder – ignoring him in his suffering and callously letting these disasters come upon him.
        Virginia Woolf once wrote to a friend, “I read the Book of Job last night – I don’t think God comes well out of it.”(2) She has a point. God does seem cruel here at the beginning of Job – all these tragedies over a simple wager between God and Satan.
        The idea about Job’s patience actually comes to us from the letter of James in which the author says in the King James version, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Oddly enough, the word patience doesn’t appear anywhere in the Book of Job itself. Modern translations like the NRSV and the NASB got away from that idea of patience and went with “endurance” instead, as did The Message paraphrase that went with “staying power.” Even the NIV chose to render James words as “perseverance.” All good choices. But the phrase, “the patience of Job” still lingers.
        Conventional wisdom argues that the patience of Job enabled him to endure suffering as he still kept his faith in God. Job took the long view in life, looking well beyond his considerable, heartbreaking losses – and because he was able to do this, eventually he experienced the compassion and mercy of God.
        All good to say at the end of the story. But what about at the beginning and middle of the story. Enduring and keeping his faith – being patient – is that really true about the story of Job. Does his virtue lie in the fact that he is patient and that he is able to endure so much?
        Not exactly. There are many adjectives that can be used to describe Job, but patient might not be the best choice. Blameless? - Ok. Upright? - yes, the text says so. Faithful? At the conclusion, yes. Long-suffering and steadfast? - true. Honest? - certainly. All those words work on some level.
        But does Job bear his affliction calmly, as a patient person would? No – instead he cries out, “I loathe my life; and I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.”
        Far from showing “cheerful endurance”, Job screams out, “My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.”
        The he moans, “God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!”
        Quite a list. But you have to hand it to Job – he is an honest man. But a patient man? Not so much.
        There are many life-changing lessons in the story of Job, but patience is not really one of them. It is more fruitful to focus on several other messages that are delivered with far greater clarity, messages about the nature of suffering and the importance of faithfulness to God. These are not clichés like the patience of Job, but are, instead, insights that leave us with something truly nourishing to chew on. A focus on suffering and faithfulness enables us to read Job and then- bring home the bacon, I suppose.
        First, Job teaches us about the nature of suffering. The book of Job makes it clear that not all human suffering is deserved – it is not necessarily a punishment for a life of debauchery and greed. Job is a righteous man, described by God as being “a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”
        And yet he loses everything. He loses his property to raiding Sabeans and Chaldeans. He loses his sons and daughters in a natural disaster. And then he loses his health as he comes down with painful sores all over his body. Job is an absolute mess, leaving onlookers to wonder, “What did he do to deserve this?”
        The answer, of course, is – nothing. This intense suffering descends on Job through no fault of his own. Jesus himself knew this. Remembered how he once observed that God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. We should never be too quick to conclude that anyone deserves the suffering they experience – anyone, including ourselves.
        Gerald Sittser was a history professor with a wonderful family. But one day, his wife, his 4-year-old daughter and his mother were all killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Sittser’s life had been going very well, but then, in a horrible moment, he lost three of the most important people in his life.
        His suffering was compounded eight months later, when the driver of the other car was acquitted of vehicular manslaughter. The attorney was able to cast enough suspicion on the testimony of several witnesses that he was able to get his client off the hook.
        Sittser was enraged. But then he began to be bothered by his assumption that he had a right to complete fairness in life. He wrote in his book A Grace Disguised: “Granted, I did not deserve to lose three members of my family. But then again, I am not sure I deserved to have them in the first place.” His wife was a woman who loved him through some very hard times. His mother lived well and served people all her life. His daughter sparkled with enthusiasm and helped to fill his home with noise and excitement. “Perhaps I did not deserve their deaths,” says Sittser. “But I did not deserve their presence in my life either.(3) Instead, he was lucky and blessed to have them at all.
        We should never be too quick to conclude that people deserve the suffering they experience… but at the same time, we should never jump to the conclusion that people deserve their blessings, either. Job makes much the same point when he asks the question, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?”
        The second clear message of Job is that faithfulness to God is of critical importance, in bad times as well as in good times. Gerald Sittser did not turn his back on God after his family was killed by a drunk driver, nor did Job abandon the Lord in his time of overwhelming loss. It is essential that we not give God the cold shoulder when we encounter a period of undeserved suffering.
        Can we scream and yell at God? Sure. “I will not restrain my mouth,” shouts Job, a little later in the story. “I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” There is nothing wrong with offering up a passionate and honest complaint, as long as we direct our complaining to God. Job grabs hold of the Lord like a dog with a bone, and he won’t let go until responds – but more on that later. What saves Job is that he remains faithful to God always demanding that God hear him and take him seriously and respond to his concerns.
        As we approach the table on this world communion Sunday, let us remind ourselves of the good news of the gospel – God is good, all the time. God never abandons us. As John Greenleaf Whittier once wrote:
“Yet in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings:
I know that God is good…
I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.”(4)
        Whittier was convinced that greater than the reality of evil and suffering in this world, is the reality of the goodness and mercy of an ever-present God that underlies our lives.
        In the end, I think Job would agree.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Homileticsonline, retrieved 9/20/21.
2.   Barbara Brown Taylor, When God is Silent, Rowan and Littlefield Publishing Group, 1998, pg. 68.
3.   Homileticsonline, retrieved 9/21/21.
4.   Ibid.

09-26-2021 The Patron Saint of Whistleblowers

Thomas J. Parlette
“The Patron Saint of Whistleblowers”
Esther 7: 1-6, 9-10; 9: 20-22
9/26/21

        This morning we hear the story of the Patron Saint of Whistleblowers. Today we hear from the Book of Esther. It’s good to think about Esther and her story today – because this is the only time any passage from Esther comes up in our three-year cycle of lectionary texts.
        Our cut and paste passage for today acts sort of like a summary of the story as Queen Esther blows the whistle on the wicked Haman.
        Esther is actually a Jewish novel written for Jews living in Exile in Persia. It isn’t meant to be an historical record or a book of prophecy. It’s meant as a satirical novel poking fun at the Persian culture, where the Jewish people lived as outsiders. The King referred to, King Ahasuerus, never actually existed and there is no historical record of Queen Vashti either. King Ahasuerus is likely loosely based on King Xerxes, an actual King in Persia.
        Queen Vashti gets the story rolling when she disobeys the King’s order to join him at a lavish banquet. The King is unhappy about this and decides to hold basically a beauty pageant to find himself a new Queen. Esther wins this pageant and becomes the new Queen. Her older cousin Mordecai, who has basically raised her, sees the benefit to having a Jew in such a position of power and influence, and tells her to keep her Jewish heritage a secret – which she does.
        Sometime after Esther is made Queen, her cousin Mordecai overhears a plot to kill the King. He sends a warning to Esther, who, in the name of Mordecai, warned her husband. The plotters were executed and the King was saved.
        Now highly placed in the King’s court was a devious man named Haman, a sycophant with substantial wealth and power. Haman hated Mordecai, largely because Mordecai refused to bow before him, but really it was because Mordecai could see right through his pompousness. In a calculated response, Haman persuaded the King to issue a death edict against “certain people” living in the empire. Haman did not tell the King the targets were the Jews, and the King didn’t bother to ask.
        When Mordecai learned of this edict, he asked Esther to intervene with the King, producing the best known verse in the Book of Esther, “for such a time as this.” What followed was an intricate and carefully planned approach to the monarch, which was nonetheless quite risky for Esther. She was in effect functioning as a whistle blower and having to do so in the face of the King’s own edict.
        She was successful, however, and in the end, Haman was hanged on the very gallows on which he had planned to execute Mordecai. And though the original edict could not be withdrawn, the King issued a second edict that permitted the Jews to defend themselves – which they do.
        As a result, the Jews in Persia were saved. This whole story and the good outcome that came out of it are celebrated to this day in Judaism in an annual festival called Purim.
        Esther is unique in our Scripture because there is no mention of God. God moves behind the scenes and in people’s dreams, but is never expressly named, acknowledged or called upon. There are plenty of feasts and banquets and royal proclamations and edicts in Esther – but very little religious ceremony. The closest we get is when Esther asks other Jews to join her in a three-day fast before she goes to the King. Otherwise, God doesn’t seem to have a direct role in the Book of Esther. We may even wonder – why is Esther in the Bible then. It’s good story – sure, but plenty of good stories didn’t make it into the Bible. We don’t consider them scripture. Why Esther? What can we take from this story to inform our spiritual lives?
        I’m glad you asked …
        First, Esther shows us that goodness is courageous, but not in a superhuman type of way. Once Mordecai informed Esther of Haman’s plot against the Jews, the immediate problem was how to get an audience with the King. The Persian Empire operated on protocols, and by those protocols, the Queen was not supposed to ever approach the King unless he summoned her – and he had not done that for the last month or so. The King held Esther’s life in his hands. If she violated the protocols, and the King was so inclined, he could have her executed. By the way, Esther pointed all this out to Mordecai, but he urged her to proceed anyway; there was just too much at stake for Esther not to make the attempt. And so she finally agreed, saying, “I will go to the King, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” I will do the right thing to save my people, what will be, will be.
        That is how a whistleblower thinks. It is not a chest-thumping, “Only I can save the day” exclamation, but a quiet, perhaps even fear-filled resolve to do the right thing despite the potential cost.
        Second, Esther shows us that goodness is rooted in God, even though God is never directly named. God is still there, moving behind the curtain, just off stage. We see it when characters dream and have trouble sleeping, and especially when Esther resolves to act, and asks her fellow Jews to join her in a  three-day fast – a spiritual discipline, a means of seeking God’s help and blessing.
        Third, Esther shows us that goodness is “wise as serpents and innocent as doves,” to use Jesus’ phrase from Matthew. Goodness, far from being a weak, doormat attribute is a characteristic of the Divine. Thus it is both innocent and wise. After Esther took the huge risk of approaching the King on her own, he welcomed her. But then, instead of blurting out her request, she invited both her husband and Haman to a banquet. At that occasion, the King promised her anything she wanted, but all she asked was that the two men come back to a second banquet. Only at that one, when the time was right, did she make her request – that she and her people be spared. Even then, however, she was very careful how she worded the request, so that the King could act without accepting any blame himself for the situation. Esther never lost sight of her goal, and she wisely crafted a careful plan to get there.
        Esther also shows us that goodness is oriented toward others. Esther herself was in no immediate danger. If her goal had merely been to save herself, all she had to do was keep her mouth shut, as nobody in the court knew she was Jewish. Mordecai had told her that once the purge began, even she would not be safe, but when she chose to act, it wasn’t her own hide she was thinking of saving. Mordecai had painted the larger picture: “Who knows?” He had said, “Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Mordecai was suggesting that God had strategically enabled Esther to become queen for the good of others, and that was her main goal.
        And finally, the story of Esther shows us that goodness does not seek martyrdom – it does not needlessly provoke the ungodly to violence. It does not throw life away when there is no other possibility. Wisely, when Esther told the King her request, she first mentioned the sparing of her own life, and then added the sparing of her people. She named herself first, not out of self-interest, but because she astutely knew that saving her would be more important to the King, and the rest of her people could ride to safety on the tails of her royal gown.
        Even Jesus himself didn’t set out to be martyred. He knew it was going to happen, but that wasn’t his intent. His intent was to be about God’s business. But goodness also does not conclude that keeping one’s own life safe above all else is the highest value.
        Goodness is a powerful force, but it often operates through those who seem to have little power, through ordinary people who seemingly are not in positions of great influence, people who see something they know will harm others, and they act or blow the whistle for the good of all. It can be a way of loving our neighbor.
        Writer Doug Bender shares a moving tribute he discovered while visiting Medellin, Colombia. In the middle of town, there was a park that contained numerous statues celebrating Medellin’s greatest leaders in art, politics, business, the military, and other fields. But the first statue in the park is of a relatively unknown judge. On the base of the statue is a plaque that says: “In a city full of corruption, this man did what was right.”
        As you probably know, Medellin is known for harboring dangerous drug cartels. The wealth and the violence of the international drug trade have also fostered corruption among the police and public officials. But this particular judge was so respected for his incorruptible character that the city of Medellin commissioned a statue to honor him. “In a city full of corruption, this man did what was right.”(1) That’s what Esther did in her time. That’s what all true whistleblowers try to do.
        We may never be in the position in which Esther, the Patron Saint of Whistleblowers, found herself. But God calls us to holiness, and doing good, doing what is best for everyone, in whatever circumstances we face, is a crucial part of both good and holy.
        Living in this time of division, where it’s difficult to agree on much, dealing with a pandemic which has probably changed us for good in ways we can’t even see yet – perhaps we have more in common with Esther and the Jewish people living in exile than we might have thought.
        If so, the Patron Saint of Whistleblowers can serve to remind us that perhaps faithful people doing what is right were made for such a time as this. May God be praised. Amen.

1.   Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 3, pg 5.