08-21-2022 Three Questions

Thomas J Parlette
“Three Questions”
Luke 13: 10-17
8/21/22

          Have you ever wanted to trade lives with someone for just a day or two – just to see what it’s like to be them. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Freaky Friday series of movies. The first one came out in 1976, and since then, three more versions of that movie have been made. Freaky Friday is actually part of genre of movies called body-swap movies. Some of the more well-known ones are 13 going on 30, with Jennifer Garner, Like Father Like Son, Vice Versa, All of Me, with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin sharing a body, and perhaps the best one of all, Big, starring Tom Hanks. In some of those movies, they don’t actually swap bodies, sometimes they swap ages, experiencing life as themselves but older. In each of the movies, the characters get a new perspective on life from their swap. They come away with a deeper sense of empathy and respect for the struggles of other people or people of a different age.

          I wonder what we would learn if we could swap bodies, or just sit down for 30 minutes or so with the woman in this Bible story today. The story begins, “Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for 18 years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.” Crippled by a spirit for 18 years. Unable to stand up straight for all that time. I wonder what questions we might ask her. A good place to start might be, “What do you miss about your old life? What can others do to help you? What do you wish people understood about your condition?”

          The story continues, “When Jesus saw her, he called her over…” Think about that for a moment. What if I called you up to the front of the church this morning – no warning, no explanation, just come on up here for a minute - what would you do? Would you smile and say, “Sure, on my way.” Or would you maybe cringe a little, slump down in your seat and avoid eye contact? Or just shake your head and wave off the request.

          Most people aren’t comfortable getting called to the front of any kind of gathering. And Jesus calls a woman who is so bent over that she can’t stand up straight at all. Put yourself in her shoes. What must she be thinking? “Who is this guy? What does he want with me?” I wonder how she felt as she made her way through the crowd of worshipers to stand beside him. I think one good question to ask her would be “What did you expect when you came to Jesus?

          In fact, that’s a good question for all of us to consider. What did you expect when you came to Jesus? What did you expect when you came to church today or turned on our livestream? Maybe you expected a guilt trip. Maybe you expected a little wisdom, a little inspiration, a little comfort to brighten your day. A little music and a funny story or two. Or maybe your only expectation was to have a donut. Or maybe, like the crippled woman in the story, you’ve been waiting and hoping for so long that you are afraid to expect anything. Maybe you’ve gone numb. The Greek word Jesus uses to describe this woman’s condition means “weakness.” I can understand someone who has spent 18 years struggling under a spirit of weakness would be too numb to expect anything anymore. Why get your hopes up, you know.

          I once read about a man named John Patterson who grew up hearing about a God of anger and judgment in his childhood church. Not surprisingly, Patterson grew up into an angry adult who didn’t want anything to do with God. But his life changed when he attended a church that taught him about God’s love and mercy. He never expected to meet the God he met in the life of Jesus. He said, “To say I was surprised by God’s love would not be sufficient. I was completely overwhelmed. I asked God over and over to forgive me and told God whatever life I had left, no matter how much or how little, I wanted it to count.”

          One year after John Patterson’s life-changing experience with God’s love, he was scheduled for a heart transplant. He was only 49 years old. On the night before his surgery, John’s surgeon came to him and told him about a 17-year-old boy who was dying. Would he be willing to give up his donor heart and let this boy have it instead. John had no idea when he might get another heart – if ever. But with his new found confidence in God’s love – he agreed to let the boy have the heart meant for him. The boy’s surgery was a success – and a week later, another heart became available for John.(1) He sure did make his life count.

          It’s hard to find a story in the Gospels where people got what they expected from Jesus. In fact, almost every person who walks away from an encounter with Jesus is surprised, overjoyed, challenged or changed in some way. But when you read through the Gospels, you will see one undeniable thread: Jesus is always looking to transform people’s lives with God’s truth, God’s healing and God’s love. Sometimes people fell to his feet in gratitude. Sometimes people plotted to kill him. But no one was neutral. An encounter with Jesus will always challenge you or change you.

          That brings up a second question for the crippled woman. How did the world look different after Jesus set her free from this spirit of weakness? Only those set free from a burden truly know how to praise God. It is only through our suffering that we understand the power of joy. Luke only needs one sentence to show us what this moment meant to the crippled woman. “When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”

          Dr. Sanduk Ruit, a surgeon in Nepal, has performed cataract surgery on more than 100,000 Nepalese citizens. He has literally restored sight to blind eyes. Dr. Ruit grew up in a small village in Nepal. His parents were illiterate. The closest school was 11 miles away. Dr. Ruit’s village had no electricity or medical facilities. In spite of all the challenges his family faced, Dr. Ruit’s parents were determined to get their son an education.

          Coming from the background he did, Dr. Ruit’s accomplishments are considerable. But his greatest accomplishment is pioneering a cataract microsurgery technique that does not require the advanced machinery necessary for cataract removal in the U.S. or Europe.

          Ali Gripper, a journalist, interviewed Dr. Ruit and was given permission to observe the responses of patients when their bandages were removed right after they underwent surgery to restore their sight. Gripper writes, “They squint, and then slowly look at their own clothes and hands. Then, as their line of vision expands out at faces, neighbors, then further afield to buildings, mountains, the sky. They break into ecstatic smiles or cry with pent-up relief. Some get up to dance.”

          “In a moment, the patient starts looking ten years younger. They come into the eye camp led by someone, hunched, withdrawn, and they leave walking upright, beaming and proud.” (2)

          I think that’s the way the crippled woman left the synagogue that day – walking upright, beaming and proud and praising God all the way home.

          It’s sad that we don’t know more of her story. We get to see her when Jesus sets her free, but we don’t know what happened next for her. If it’s true that the most important moment in a person’s life is when they come to Jesus, the second most important moment is when they decide what to do with their transformed life.

          In fact, that’s the third question we might ask this once crippled woman: What will you do now. What’s next? Now that Jesus has changed your life, what will you do with the rest of your life?

          Another good question for us all to consider. How do you put praise into action when you walk out of these church doors or turn off your TV or computer. How do you share the transforming power of Jesus with other people who want be set free from their burdens?

          In January 2007, a young couple in Knoxville, Tennessee – Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom – were brutally tortured and murdered. Channon’s father, Gary Christian, had been a devoted Christian all his life. But as he left the police station after learning the details of his daughter’s death, he screamed at the sky.

          “I’m done with You,” he screamed at God. “I don’t want You in my life. I don’t need You in my life, and I don’t trust You with anything.”

          Gary was consumed with rage and fantasies of revenge against his daughter’s killers. For the next 10 years he stayed away from church and any thoughts about God. He started a motorcycle club called the Shepherd’s RC. This club held a special ride each year to raise funds for college scholarships in Channon’s memory. The Newsome’s and the Christians advocated for a new law in Tennessee, the Channon Christian Act, which was passed in 2014, that put limits on how criminal defendants and attorneys can negatively portray the victim of a crime.

          On Easter 2017, some members of the Shepherds RC motorcycle club invited Gary Christian to their church. The message that morning was on Jesus’ encounter with Peter after Jesus’ resurrection. You remember that Peter had denied Jesus three times and abandoned him and yet the first time Jesus meets Peter after the resurrection, he forgives him and restores him to his place as a disciple.

          A few weeks later, on the Sunday of their annual ride for Channon, the Shepherds RC members convinced Gary to attend church with them again. After church, they headed to the cemetery to visit Channon’s grave. The only thing Gary could think about on their ride that morning was the recent sermons he’d heard. He says that when they finally got to Channon’s grave, he asked God, “Just like You did with Peter, restore me. Take me back, Lord.” And that’s just what God did. Ten years after Gary Christian screamed at God in the police station parking lot, he was finally set free from his burden of anger and hatred.

          Today, Gary Christian speaks to churches and other groups about his spiritual journey and the restoration he found in Jesus. He has spoken to more than 30,000 people, and never charges a fee. He says, “I told God that I would tell my story in every corner of the world if he restored me. And if just one person rededicates their life to God – then it’s worth it.”(3)

          We don’t know much about this crippled woman in the synagogue. She disappears from the scriptures after this encounter with Jesus. In fact, she disappears from her own story very quickly. The leader of the synagogue quickly changed the focus to whether or not Jesus should be healing on the Sabbath in the first place. It’s a shame that no one at the synagogue that day appears to offer anything but indignation at this woman’s healing.

          It would have been nice to hear her perspective on what this all means and what she’s going to do now. But we do know one thing for sure. If we come to Jesus with a burden that is weighing us down – physically or spiritually – Jesus will see that need and will bring healing. And just like the crippled woman, we will be able to stand up straight, praise God, and be on our way, beaming and proud, to share our story of the transforming power of God through Jesus Christ.

          And for that, may God be praised.

 1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p 76.
2.    Ibid… p 77.
3.    Ibid… p 77-78.

08-14-2022 Did I Hear That Right?

Thomas J Parlette
“Did I Hear That Right?”
Luke 12: 49-56
8/14/22

          How do you measure popularity? These days, lots of people measure popularity by social media followers. But that’s not always an authentic measure. There are companies out there that will sell large blocks of followers to those who wish to boost their twitter followers and appear more popular than they really are.

          And this isn’t really a new thing. Back in 300 BC, there was a performer named Philemon – not the one from the New Testament, a different one – who hired audience members to laugh loudly at his jokes. The paid laughers were so effective that Philemon routinely beat out his competitors in local comedy competitions.

          Shakespeare did the same thing in the 1600’s, paying audience members to respond with laughter, cheers and clapping to his plays.

          In the 1800’s, theater managers in Paris paid select audience members to clap, laugh or weep at appropriate points in the show. And in the 1950’s, the first “laugh track” was created. It was a recorded loop of pre-taped audience laughter that was played at appropriate spots in the show to convince audiences that shows were funnier than they actually were.(1)

          There’s even a company in Los Angeles that provides fake crowds of adoring fans and paparazzi for a price. The company is called Crowds on Demand. And if you really want to spend some money, they can provide a luxury car and bottles of champagne, and drive you to the swankiest shopping districts in L.A. - the full celebrity experience. Their website claims that they hire “top notch professional talent with significant acting experience for our crowds.”(2)

          In the beginning of Luke 12, we hear that Jesus’ popularity had become so great that he and his disciples were being followed by a crowd of thousands of people. And I’m sure he didn’t pay any of them. The crowd was so boisterous that Jesus and the disciples were in danger of getting trampled.

          I imagine that the disciples must have been feeling pretty good about their decision to follow Jesus, seeing as how his ministry was becoming so influential. Only Jesus understood that they were following him, not to a throne or a new political movement, but to his death on the cross. From popularity to shame and suffering and persecution. In a short time, that crowd of thousands would be lining the streets of Jerusalem and loudly demanding his death at the hands of the Roman government.

          So Luke 12 is basically one long teaching on how to disengage from the world’s attractions, from its values, from its popularity contests. Jesus is trying to warn his disciples that they can’t count on the crowd’s approval for long. He knows he will be leaving them soon, and they will suffer greatly as they try to carry on his mission without him. They will pay a price for following him, so they’d better be prepared for it. But he can also see how the holy spirit, his Spirit living in them, will lead them to change the world.

          Many leaders and churches gauge the success of their ministry on its popularity – they measure their success and health on the numbers. But Jesus did things differently. Jesus gauged the success of his ministry on his obedience to God. And he warned us that obedience to God will make us unpopular with the world. In Luke 12, he’s teaching his disciples, “Don’t let your current circumstances blind you, or your current comforts bind you to this world. Saying “Yes” to me means saying “No” to this world and its comforts and priorities and value systems.”

          These leads us into some pretty shocking words from Jesus:

          “I came to bring fire to the earth…

          “Do you think I’ve come to bring peace – no, rather division…

          “Households will be divided – father against son, son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother…”

          Not what we’re used to hearing from Jesus. Jesus is the love of God in the flesh. One of his names is the Prince of Peace. So these words seem very out of character for him.

          Have you ever been watching the news or a show on TV, and someone says something that stops you in your tracks, you just have to rewind and listen to that again because you think – “Did I hear that right?” That’s what happens with this passage. You have to pause and think – “Did I hear that right? Are those words really coming out of Jesus’ mouth?

          Biblical scholar Audrey West points out that this passage is best understood as DESCRIPTIVE rather than PRESCRIPTIVE.(3) That is, it is not Jesus’ purpose to set children against their parents or parents against their children. He is pointing out that a kind of rupture, regrettable as it may be, is possible when you live your life like Jesus. Jesus doesn’t intend or want to bring division, but he is realistic in pointing out that it may happen.

          Van Varner, the former editor of Guideposts magazine, tells of driving through the Rocky Mountains with his godson David. They passed a sign reading “Continental Divide.” A continental divide is a boundary that separates a continent’s river systems.

          David pointed to the sign and said, “This is the great watershed. From here the waters flow either toward the Atlantic or the Pacific.” As Varner considered David’s comment, he realized that the decision to follow Jesus is that kind of decision. It is a watershed moment. Once you commit to following Jesus’ example, you leave your old life behind and take up a new life that is not under your own control.(4)

          There is a great quote from British philosopher Gordon Graham. He writes, “Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight; indecision is a dull one that hacks and tears and leaves ragged edges behind it.”(5)

          Decisions are not the same as opinions or feelings. Decisions require action. Decisions have a result. Decisions effect change. Molding your life to the character, priorities and actions of Jesus isn’t an opinion or a feeling – it is a decision.

          “Decision is a sharp knife that cuts clean and straight…” That’s what Jesus is talking about here. And once you make the decision to live like Jesus, sharing his priorities and concerns, there might be some people, some values, some comforts that will be cut loose. There are three ways that living like Jesus creates division, and we need to keep those clearly in sight as disciples and apostles.

          First, living like Jesus divides us from the person we used to be. Paul said it best in his second letter to the Corinthians – “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” You are a new creation.

          And Paul should know. When he became a disciple of Jesus, he became an entirely different person. In the letter to the Philippians, Paul talks about influential and connected he used to be. But when he started following Jesus, he lost his status, his privilege, his power and connections. But he had no regrets. In fact, he described all those perks of his old life as “garbage compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” Decision is a sharp knife, and living like Jesus divides us from the person we used to be.

          Living like Jesus also divides us from the people around us. Jesus’ own brothers didn’t believe in his identity and ministry until after his resurrection from the grave. Jesus understands how painful such separation is. It’s a natural consequence of living out the radical priorities of Christ, priorities such as loving your enemies, speaking the truth, pursuing peace, and not conforming to the value systems of the world. You are going to make others uncomfortable around you. Your character and lifestyle might make others question their own values and priorities – and lots of people don’t really want to do that.

          For instance, there was a man named Franklin McCallie who was raised in a prominent, wealthy family in Chattanooga, TN. One of Chattanooga’s most prestigious private schools is named after his family.

          Franklin was born around 1940. His family were staunch supporters of segregation. Franklin’s only contact with Black people were with his nanny and the Black men who served as his family’s household staff. Even though they were devoted Christians, the McCallie family had for generations assumed that separation of the races was right and good in the eyes of God, and that Black people were not meant to be equal with whites.

          In 1961, when the Civil Rights movement was gaining influence on college campuses across the country, a college friend of Franklin’s invited him to a small gathering of white and Black students from separate Tennessee colleges.

          When Franklin heard the stories of discrimination against these young men and their families, he began to question his family’s acceptance of segregation, inequality and racism. When he returned home and tried to tell his family about his new insights, his uncle called him an embarrassment to the family name.

          Later, when Franklin moved back to Chattanooga to take a teaching position with The McCallie School, he insisted that the school be integrated. His father refused. So Franklin took a job at the all-Black Howard School. He took his passion for integration and equal rights to the churches, to the politicians and to the streets. Occasionally, Franklin’s father would call to criticize him for his activism – didn’t he realize he was ruining his reputation? But Franklin didn’t care.

          One day, Franklin learned that the local Kiwanis Club had accepted its first Black member. He visited the head of the Club, a family friend, to thank him and to ask how he had convinced all those white men to finally accept a Black man as a brother.

          “Franklin, didn’t you know. It wasn’t me. It was your father who convinced us.”

          Franklin rushed over to The McCallie School to find his father. They embraced. And Franklin’s father said the words he never thought he’d hear – “I’ve been wrong about Black people my whole life.” I’m sure a thought crossed Franklin’s mind – “Wait, did I hear that right?”

          Not long after, Franklin McCallie’s father opened up The McCallie School to boys of all races, and all the other private schools in Chattanooga followed their example.(6)

          Jesus knows that these types of transformations don’t always happen. Decision is a sharp knife. Living like Jesus can divide us from the people around us.

          And finally, living like Jesus divides us from the value systems of this world. Jesus was very upfront about this. He lived to teach people about the kingdom of God and its values. He never tried to gain influence with the power players of his day, as tempting as it would have been. He even tried to turn people away from following him – some of you aren’t ready for this. Jesus would not conform to the culture, even for the sake of popularity or success. Even for the sake of saving his own life. And if we are new creations in Christ, we follow his example.

          Pastor Corey Fields tells a story about a successful pastor he admired who suddenly began questioning his own values in light of Jesus teachings. Rev. Brian Zahnd was pastoring a growing and dynamic church. He was becoming something of a Christian celebrity among other pastors.

          But as his church grew, Zahnd became concerned that its spiritual life didn’t reflect the spirit of Jesus. So through Bible study and prayer, Rev Zahnd began to align his life and the ministry of the church more closely with the teachings of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He preached a sermon series on Jesus’ blessings for the poor in spirit, for those who mourn, for those who are persecuted. He taught his leaders to organize the mission and ministry of the church around the Sermon on the Mount.

          And this new direction made some people very uncomfortable. They were being challenged to live sacrificially, to grow spiritually and some people weren’t ready for that. They just wanted to come to church, a bright, clean modern facility – hear an inspiring message, some uplifting music, maybe some small group time around the espresso bar with a donut or a croissant. That’s all they wanted. They certainly didn’t want to change their lifestyles and priorities to do the work of Jesus in their community. So people starting leaving the church.(7)

          It’s not easy to walk away from the life we know, the people we know, the values that have defined us. It’s not easy to live like Jesus. That’s why Jesus used such strong language here that causes us to ask – “Did I hear that right?” No matter how popular and successful he looked at the moment, Jesus knew that he was walking towards the cross.

          But Jesus valued obedience to God over popularity. “I have come to bring not peace, but division.”  Yes, you heard that right. Decision is a sharp knife, and sometimes it cuts things out of our lives. But as Paul reminded us – what we gain from living like Jesus is of far greater value.

          May God be praised. Amen.

 1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No.3, p 71.
2.    Ibid… p 71.
3.    Audrey West, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 3. Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p 360.
4.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 3, p 72.
5.    Ibid… p 72.
6.    Ibid… p 72.
7.    Ibid… p 73

08-07-2022 Faith and Despair

Jay Rowland

“Faith and Despair”

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 (ERV) Easy-Read-Version

August 7, 2022 +Pentecost 9C

Faith and Despair

On my drive home from church last Sunday, my car radio tuned to public radio, I happened upon a conversation between two young men. As I waited at the red light I figured I’d give them until the light turned green to find out what they were talking about or change the station for something better.

When the light turned green I still hadn’t figured it out, but something in their voices caught me. So I kept listening. At the next stoplight it became clear to me that both men were talking about despair–not the concept but their own actual, current suffering. It was a strangely upbeat discussion given their state of distress. As I wondered about that one of them mentioned almost casually that when he wakes up, it hits him so hard that some days he cannot summon the energy to get out of bed.

That statement was jolting. I knew this was a serious conversation, but I didn’t sense it was that serious. They had just shared about the comfort they’ve found in literature, writing poetry, other activities. But some days unable to get out of bed? I wondered, what’s this all about? Long Covid? Mass shootings? Ukraine? Racism?

Then I thought “no it can’t be anything like that; unable to get out of bed: that’s clinical depression or grief, my mind declared. Then one of them suddenly named it—the source of their despair:

“the climate change crisis”

Wait … what?

I nearly changed the station—not because I don’t take climate change seriously, but because I just didn’t have it in the same category as clinical depression and grief. To me mental illness and grief can catapult people into despair. But climate change? I just never thought about it in those terms. But this was their point—both men felt totally isolated by not only the source of their despair but by the common reactions like mine. Their closest friends, family members, peers, social circles—none understood or accepted that the (still-developing) crisis of climate change was worthy of such debilitating despair.

So they were all alone, they felt, except for the comfort they somehow found in each other

This has been on my heart all week. The Spirit was whispering about this to me all week. The radio conversation I stumbled upon reminded me that there are people who are so despondent, so weighed down by despair that they are barely coping … perhaps including some of you hearing my voice this morning. I think we all know this on some level, but if we let that really sink into our soul, it ought to provoke some action or response.

And so I want to take this opportunity right now to acknowledge this epidemic of debilitating despair we’ve all been hearing about in the background and bring it into the foreground. Jesus compels my heart to do so, to create some space for this reality and for any and every person who can hear my voice (or read these words) right now who suffers and endures despair, depression, anxiety. …

Please know I “see” you suffering. Please allow yourself to hear/absorb this: You are not alone. Yes of course you feel alone. Yes—depression, anxiety and despair create isolation. Yes. AND yet: there are people who care about you and who want to come alongside you and be helpful somehow.

The Lord knows I’ve been there. Many times. So if you are hurting and suffering today please know that your suffering and your struggle is not invisible, I see you …

… your isolation and your struggle is important--to me and to God and to the people gathered here this morning—and in other places like this all across our city, state, and nation… across all space and time too.

I pray to our Loving God that you may come to feel the care and the love of community -- this community and others like this one all across our city, state, and nation … across all space and time too.

And so if you find today that you are weighed down by depression, by anxiety, if your life and peace is being disrupted by despair, please don’t keep this a secret. Please share this with someone you trust.

Please don’t try to tough it out …

… please don’t minimize it.

And please don’t let anyone (including yourself) talk you out of reaching out.

Make a call.

Stand up. Walk across the room. Change your immediate space somehow. Do something different.

Reach out for help. It’s closer than you think or feel. There are people out there like me who care about you.

And there is a God who IS LOVE, who deeply cares for you and longs to help you through this (temporary but) serious situation.

I won’t throw pithy religious slogans or concepts at you. Religious buzz-words and baggage have no place in this space. But I believe with every fiber of my being that God loves you so much that God wants to help you get through this using whatever will be most helpful to you.

I've learned from my own experiences that in times of uncertainty it’s important to find some source of hope to keep myself centered, otherwise the anxiety builds and that leads to alienation and isolation and everything builds then tumbles and spirals downward … until the simplest activity, like eating or getting out of bed or taking a walk outside becomes seemingly impossible as the mysterious weight weighs heavier and heavier until everything comes to a screeching halt–and life just falls and breaks apart.

Whether or not this registers right now, I feel it’s important to share that in my experience and struggle I have learned over time that multiple resources are necessary to begin to recover life. And in addition to resources such as therapy and medication and support groups and so on, I have been enormously helped in the long term by finding a centering “power” through the Spirit of God through the wisdom and practices of faith. Not religious-speak or buzz-word religion or any of the guilt and shame-thumping which often passes as “faith” and “religion”, but rather, delving into the deep and ancient mystery of God … a faith relationship with God which has endured for millennia and has seen multitudes of people through, generations of people through personal despair … communal despair … national nightmares … world wars … pandemics … unbearable reality.

“All these great people continued living with faith until they died. They did not get the things God promised his people. But they were happy just to see those promises coming far in the future. They accepted the fact that they were like visitors and strangers here on earth. When people accept something like that, they show they are waiting for a country that will be their own. If they were thinking about the country they had left, they could have gone back. But they were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. And [God] has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13-16 ERV)

This wisdom and faith to which I refer started with a man named Abraham. His story of faith in God is inspiring, embarrassing, appalling, at times hard to explain. In other words, compellingly human. His journey is recorded in the Bible, in Genesis (chapter 11-25). For now, what’s most important to understand about Abraham is what the New Testament says in bearing witnesses to his faith in the promise of God,

God called Abraham to travel to a[nother] place that [God] promised to give him. Abraham did not know where that other place was. But he obeyed God and started traveling because he had faith. Abraham lived in the country that God promised to give him. He lived there like a visitor who did not belong. He did this because he had faith. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who also received the same promise from God. Abraham was waiting for the city[a] that has real foundations. He was waiting for the city that is planned and built by God.

What this passage reminds me is how faith in God does not mean we’ll ever feel comfortable wherever we may find ourselves. It is hard at times, but there’s a purpose. And when it’s all said and done, there is an eternal city built by God where the worst of humanity’s inhumanity is burned away during entry/re-entry into this Eternal City. It’s a place where God’s love animates every molecule of air and every life. It’s a city whose essence is God: the God who created and gave birth to the beauty of earth and sea and sky and star and moon and mountain and prairie and human love; a place where all that God intends for humanity comes to fruition as nature always displays to us each spring. In this Eternal City of God, your every tear and every wound of body, mind, spirit is healed. That’s the promise. That’s our future. Just as nature reveals every spring.

It is a place we will instantly recognize and freely enter—home—because we endured times and seasons of pain and struggle and despair.

It’s the place Jesus pointed to with every word and every act on his way to the cross.

It’s the place of love for which Jesus endured the cross.

No matter who you are, where you’ve been, what you’re going through today, God cares about you.

God cares about you so much that God took on a human body in the person of the man named Jesus of Nazareth.

And in this way Jesus lived and died to reveal God, and God raised Jesus from the dead so that God could then take up residence in your body and my body too--so that you might know that every breath you breathe is God breathing in you.

Every breath we breathe today is God breathing in us. So that we would understand and know that when we breathe our final earthly breath, our very next breath will be our first resurrection breath in the Eternal City.

In the meantime, let’s not lose sight of today: here is a community of people who trust in this Faith and Promise of God. Each of us here today. Plenty more people “out there” .. multitudes who trust in God and trust in the promise of God.

And that is a resurrection experience we don’t have to wait for or die to experience.

There are so many caring people who surround you right now, who support you and uphold you that you haven’t even met yet.

So please don’t give in to despair. Yes despair happens to us. And yes, it is real. Yes, it sucks.

But please don’t give in to despair … hang on … reach out. Please. There is hope yet untapped for you.

If you can’t even summon the energy for hope or trust this promise and faith … then let us hold that hope and faith for you until you can feel your feet beneath you again.

Let us hold out trust and faith for you until you can take hold of it yourself.

In the meantime, let us pray for you. Let us know you.

Meanwhile, know this: that this community of faith (and most all communities of faith) strive to create a community and a world where you know that you matter, no matter what. Because you do matter.

You matter to God.

You matter to Jesus.

You matter to me.

And you matter to every person hearing my voice (or reading my words) today.

Because faith isn’t merely something to read about in a book. It is something that we LIVE. It is a relationship we have.

And—praise God for this—it is something shared not something private or hidden—or even prescribed for others.

The Faith I’m talking about helps us understand that God created the whole world out of (God’s) LOVE for you.

The faith I’m talking about promises that the purpose of life in this world is to discover God’s love for you.

The faith I’m talking about promises that the destination of this life is God’s love for you.

That’s why we return to this place of worship again and again—even when the “doors” are “closed” because of a pandemic WE STILL GATHERED. Because we all need this. Because God gave this to us, and it is dear and sacred… we return to worship again and again because we believe in the Love of God that creates life, sustains life and resurrects life--every life that lives and dies.

And so I pray this may be in your heart today as we return to the table of the Lord–this table of Promise.

Here at this table we receive into our body and bloodstream and our into our spirits this sacred love that is God’s Love for you—in the sacrament called “the Lord’s Supper”.

We receive it again and again … for each breath we take to the last breath … we receive God’s Love embodied in Jesus Christ. Christ Bread of Life and the Christ Blood of Life passes our lips and enters into our bodies to remind us where He Lives; and so again and again, every time we “do” this, the receive again and again the most sacred One, the God of Love, who IS our Faith and our Destination.

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

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

(ERV) Easy-to-Read Version

Faith is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see. God was pleased with the people who lived a long time ago because they had faith like this.

Faith helps us understand that God created the whole world by [God’s own] command. This means that the things we see were made by something that cannot be seen.

…

God called Abraham to travel to another place that [God] promised to give him. Abraham did not know where that other place was. But he obeyed God and started traveling because he had faith. Abraham lived in the country that God promised to give him. He lived there like a visitor who did not belong. He did this because he had faith. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who also received the same promise from God. Abraham was waiting for the city[a] that has real foundations. He was waiting for the city that is planned and built by God.

Sarah was not able to have children, and Abraham was too old. But he had faith in God, trusting [God] to do what [God] promised. And so God made them able to have children. Abraham was so old he was almost dead. But from that one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. So many people came from him that they are like grains of sand on the seashore.

All these great people continued living with faith until they died. They did not get the things God promised his people. But they were happy just to see those promises coming far in the future. They accepted the fact that they were like visitors and strangers here on earth. When people accept something like that, they show they are waiting for a country that will be their own. If they were thinking about the country they had left, they could have gone back. But they were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. And [God] has prepared a city for them.

07-31-2022 When God 'Roars'

Jay Rowland

When God Roars

Hosea 11:1-11

7/31/2022

This sermon utilizes published material, some of it verbatim, from Walter Brueggemann: “Who am I? Rant vs. Relationship” (Hosea 11:1-11), ON Scripture, July 25, 2016.

When God ‘Roars’

In every intimate human relationship, problems and conflicts are inevitable along the way. So naturally this has been the case for God and God’s people–aka “Israel”.  A quick scan of the Table of Contents of the Bible reveals a list of many books named for each of the prophets in the so-called “Old” Testament (Hebrew scriptures). Seeing how many there are, it isn’t necessary to read them all to figure out that after God rescued the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land, it doesn’t proceed to “and they all lived happily ever after” from there.

Call me Captain Obvious, but I think it’s still worth pointing out that the prophets have a difficult job. They are never called to service when the relationship between God and God’s people is clicking and pleasant. Rather, God faithfully calls prophets when things couldn’t be much worse. 

What’s more, when this relationship is most dire or contentious some of the prophets turn to poetry.  Poetry helps the prophets deliver difficult truths to God’s people and begin the process of restoration. Poetry allows the use of metaphor and vivid imagery and imagination to probe the depths of the relationship problem(s) between God and God’s people.  All of which is to say that the passage we have before us today from Hosea chapter 11 is indeed a poem.

Since most of us, including myself, are not Hosea scholars, a quick summary of the situation is appropriate. God calls the prophet Hosea to minister to an Israel which is teetering on the brink of self-destruction. It’s gotten so serious that God is actually troubled, aggrieved about the situation—which is unique among all the prophets. The poetic imagery in Hosea, particularly in the earlier chapters, is perhaps the most disturbing of all the prophets. It has ignited a fierce scholarly debate over the treatment and portrayal of women in the Old Testament which is an important, but veers away from my intended focus upon Hosea chapter 11—but I wanted to note this for any who are interested in reading Hosea.  

Brueggemann notes that “the poetry (in chapter 11) is cast in the imagery of "father-son," with God cast as father and Israel cast as son. It could just as well have been cast as "mother-daughter," but that would not happen in that ancient patriarchal society. The imagery of "father-son" was the operative image in Israelite imagination ever since God declared in Exodus 4, "Israel is my first born son" (4:22).”

The poem summarizes the relationship which begins in Egypt with the emancipation of the Hebrews from slavery. It then jumps to their settlement into the Promised Land. Once there it doesn’t take long for Israel to start asserting its independence from God, as in, “Thanks God! We’ll take it from here.” Whether this assertion is was conscious or not, it is human nature. But it’s also the beginning of Israel’s relationship problems with God. Hosea uses the image of God as the doting parent to reveal the sense of betrayal God feels as Israel entertains other “loyalties” (idolatries).

Even so, God the parent is patient and kind, teaching the “little child” to walk; carrying the little child … attending to every fall, every scar, every scab, every wound, and every fear.  God the parent cares for the little child Israel with embraces of love, holds the child close, stoops low to attend and feed and heal the child, guarding and protecting the child through its most vulnerable years. 

Then suddenly the tone of the poem shifts when the vulnerable little child grows into its defiant adolescence  … rejecting and refusing all parental advice.  In real life terms, Israel the nation enters into military alliances with its powerful neighbors Assyria and Egypt.  This is a tiny nation compared to the surrounding ones, and with limited resources and This decision to play these superpowers off against each other clearly violated the covenant between YHWH and Israel, which provokes Hosea’s attention.

Rather than trust that God who delivered the people out of slavery in Egypt, and look to this God to defend and help them, the decision to make alliances and trust in worldly ways puts Israel in harms way but leads to the nation being, in Brueggemann’s words “devoured by militarism”.  Putting its trust in military strength or agreements, rather than in God. The poem cries out with God’s roar of woundedness.  Israel’s rejection of their life-giving relationship with God wounds God so much that when the foolish adolescent child calls for help God does not answer. Brueggeman imagines God’s roar of protest erupting in God’s own mind … God struggles with how to respond.  Brueggeman calls it a rant, the kind teenagers regularly evoke from even the most caring parents” as the poem continues. The parent is completely exhausted with the adolescent youngster and is willing to let the consequences of adolescent defiance carry the day.  Brueggemann again, “Israel is abandoned to its self-destruction, the kind in which any teenager can find themselves when a parent shows them tough love.”

In a fascinating turn, the poem takes us into the inner workings of God’s own mind! Brueggemann again: “...here the poet gives us access to divine self-critical reflection in which God recalibrates … (like a parent) in the middle of a rant, … wonders, "What am I doing?" 

As The divine parent comes to recognize that the one against whom he rants is his well beloved first-born son.  As a result, the father asks himself four probing questions that are in exact parallel:  "How can I...?"  Give up, hand you over, treat you like Sodom (Admah), like Gomorrah (Zeboiim)!  It is as though God recognizes the unacceptable conduct of treating his well-beloved son in such a harsh, rejecting way.  These are serious probes on God's part, as the father sees that his actions toward his son are not really what he wants to do and are quite inappropriate.

The divine parent responds promptly to this probing self-wonderment:  "I am a (parent) with warm and tender compassion.  That is who I am."  The parent suddenly wakes up from this ranting and railing against the defiant adolescent, and God fully regrets the angry reaction sounding much like God does in the Genesis story of Noah and the flood:

I will not act that way again; I will not destroy again.

And the reason is a fresh self-recognition of identity: "I am God."

I am the Holy One of whom more is expected and from whom more is promised.  I, as Holy One, can turn ordinary rage into viable relationship.  More than that, I am the Holy One in Israel.  … I made a covenant with this people, defiant or not. So I will not go against my better self.  And so the child Israel, by the will of the divine parent, will be restored to home & well being. Because unlike we earthly parents God will no longer react to our defiance but according to God’s covenant promise and love declared in Hosea 11:1.

This extraordinary poem dares to take us inside the conflicted interior life of God in order to see that God is not aloof or unfeeling, not some cosmic computer running on autopilot, rather, God as our parent suffers when we go rogue.  God actually feels torn between emotive rage and self-disciplined patience.  Brueggemann:  This is not the God of popular piety who is "best friend" in a therapeutic culture.  Rather, this is a God of deep and complex emotive honesty which runs contrary to most religious “God talk” and which must therefore be rendered in poetry, because poetry is well-suited to process the powerful emotions, feelings and inner turmoil of the human being and our God!

            You may rightly wonder, so what?

Brueggemann responds by noting that at least concerning the prophet Hosea’s presentation, “the future of God and the future of God's people (and the future of the world) all depend upon both God’s and our own willingness to ask ourselves "What am I doing? What will I do differently to be my true self?"  Without such self-critical reflection, Brueggemann adds, “the future can only be a continuation of the present.  To have a future that is in any way discontinuous from the present depends upon "coming to one's self" in a self-critical way.  God models and performs that self-critical act in this rhetorical move from oracle to soliloquy.  We might indeed be imitators of this God who moves from a naked rant or lamentation to genuine and deeper relationship with God’s beloved.

And so as uncertainty and fear swirl all around us and even within our own souls, let us dare to listen for that imperceptible roar of God, reminding us that God is with us in the midst of these seemingly unprecedented struggles of our time. God remains with us, committed to us in spite of our foolish and self-destructive ways. But let us not fool ourselves into believing that God is somehow willing or able to ignore or overlook all our self-destructive habits, but rather than waiting for us to change, God is instead willing to walk with us into the heart of self-destruction to show that God’s love for us and God’s love for Creation will not die …  In the meantime, listen closely when God roars into your heart. 

07-17-2022 The Better Way

Thomas J Parlette
“The Better Way”
Luke 10: 38-42
7/17/22
 

          If you’ve ever hosted an event at your house – a Super Bowl party, a holiday meal, a graduation party, a book club meeting – you know there are a hundred little details that need to be taken care of before the guests arrive. And one or two details could make all the difference between a great event and a party hosting nightmare. So it takes a certain spiritual gift and an inner fortitude to be a good host. Not everyone is cut out for the job.
          A woman once wrote to a humor website to share the story of visiting her son at his first ever apartment. When she and her husband walked in, her son asked if they would like a cold drink. The mother was so proud of her son for being a gracious host. She said, “Yes, what do you have?”
          Her son opened the refrigerator door, stared inside for a couple of seconds and then said, “I have pickle juice or water.” (1) Nice. I assume they had water.
          A journalist with Bon Appetit magazine once asked readers to submit examples of their worst dinner part experiences. One woman wrote in that some candles on her patio table once fell over and set the whole table on fire. Another person wrote in about the time that he had 50 people coming over for brunch when the city utility department cut off his water. Another woman shared about the time she tried out a new chicken recipe that was so bad, she threw the whole thing away and ordered pizza instead.(2) It’s not easy to host a group of any size, that’s for sure.
          Whenever I read this passage from Luke, I wonder how Martha had the energy and skill to host a large group of people on such short notice. Apparently she had almost no advance warning that Jesus, with at least his twelve disciples and probably some more followers that go unnamed in the story, stop by, seemingly out of the blue. But Martha opens her home to them and rushes around making preparations. As she is breathlessly seeing to all the details that you need to think about, she noticed that Mary – her sister – wasn’t doing anything to help. She was just sitting at Jesus feet listening to him teach and tell stories.
          But Martha was distracted by her many tasks. The Greek word used here for “distracted” literally means “to drag all around.” I think we all know what that feels like. You get home from work, and you are still dragging around the events of the day. We drag around others demands on our time and energy. We drag around other’s expectations and standards for us. The burden can get heavy. But you are dragging around other people’s priorities. It’s stressful – we can understand why Martha was stressed out and distracted.
          Author Anne Lamott has a great definition of “Fear” that fits this story for today. She says that “Fear” – F. E. A. R. – stands for “Future Event Already Ruined.” Isn’t that what kinda happens when we get worried and distracted and weighed down by other’s expectations and demands? That’s exactly what Martha was experiencing in our story today – future event already ruined. Here was Jesus himself, sitting in her home, and the visit was being ruined by her fear and stress.
          So, our first takeaway from this passage is to realize that in this life, our time is limited, but our demands are endless. Most of us live in a permanent state of distraction and anxiety because we have a limited amount of time and energy to deal with an unlimited number of options. And this was not God’s design for human beings. That is why God established the Sabbath right at the beginning of Creation.
          Sabbath – rest is essential for health and peace and restoration. Rest is essential for joy. At some point, if we want to live the life God made and intended for us, we have to lay down our burdens and distractions and take up the rest that God offers.
          Author Bronnie Ware once wrote a book called, The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying, based on her years of work in palliative care, and the book’s message is vitally important for those of us who are dragged down by the demands on our lives. She wrote that in all her years of working with persons who were dying, she discovered the five most common regrets were:

1.    I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2.    I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

3.    I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4.    I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5.    I wish I had let myself be happier. (3)

In this life, our time is limited, but our demands are endless. How do we keep from getting distracted and dragged down by the constant demands on our time? And what would it look like to live the life God intends for us?
Which brings us to a second insight from this story. Jesus shows us here how to live with no regrets. In verse 38, it says “Now as they went on their way…” Jesus and his disciples were on their way – on their way where? They are on their way to Jerusalem at this point to celebrate Passover. Only Jesus knows that he is on his way to arrest, torture and crucifixion.
If anyone had the right to be distracted and anxious about many things, it was Jesus in this story. And yet, he wasn’t. He was at peace. His life had a singular focus – sharing the truth and love of God through teaching, preaching and healing. His priorities were clear. His focus was unwavering. His mind was at peace. And Jesus wants that same peace for all of us.
For more than a decade, British journalist Oliver Burkeman wrote an advice column for The Guardian newspaper. In his final column, he shared some of the lessons he’d learned over the years on the secret to living a happy life.
Here is part of what he wrote – “There will always be too much to do – and this realization is liberating. Today, more than ever, there’s just no reason to assume any fit between the demands on your time – all the things you would like to do, or feel you ought to do – and the amount of time available… The only viable solution is to make a shift: from a life spent trying not to neglect anything, to one spent proactively and consciously choosing what to neglect, in favor or what matters most. (4)
I think Jesus would agree. We need to proactively and consciously choose what to neglect in favor of what matters most. We simply can’t do it all. We simply can’t have it all. In fact, no matter how hard we try, the “all” we work towards can’t be achieved by our own efforts. The “all” we so desperately need for peace and fulfillment and happiness can only be found in knowing God. Jesus knew that, and he focused his time and energy accordingly. Mary seems to understand that as well, so she chose to neglect her hosting duties in favor of the better way – enjoying her time with Jesus.
In a Scandinavian country there is a statue of Jesus. A tourist standing in front of it appeared dismayed. A local resident asked what was wrong.
“I can’t see his face.”
And the resident said, “If you want to see Jesus’ face, you must kneel at his feet.”(5)
If we want to see the face of Jesus, we must kneel at his feet. We can’t get to know him if we’re rushing around chasing our own agenda. It’s time to put aside everything that doesn’t really matter and put time into what matters most. That’s what Jesus is getting at when he says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or really, just one. You see Mary – she has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.”
Historian James Truslow Adams tells a time-honored story he heard from a friend who had spent a few years living with indigenous people in the upper Amazon. A group of Amazonian men had been traveling through the forest for two days, making great progress in their journey. But on the third day, they stopped and rested. There seemed to be no reason for their stop. No one was injured. They weren’t suffering from exhaustion or anything. The American asked the group leader why they had stopped.
The leader replied, “They are waiting. They cannot move farther until their souls have caught up with their bodies.” (6)
When Martha brought her stress and complaints to Jesus, he heard her deepest need. You could say that Jesus wanted Martha’s soul to catch up to her body. So he encouraged her to follow Mary’s example and put the work aside for a bit – rest, spend time with me instead. Jesus was saying to her – and by extension us, “Put aside your temporary burdens and choose the better way – my eternal way. It’s the only thing that can never be taken from you.”
In 1938, a Jesuit priest named Pedro Arrupe moved to Japan to serve as a missionary there. After the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, Arrupe led one of the first rescue groups into the area. He and his colleagues risked their own lives to find survivors and get them medical care. He was also influential in getting the Jesuit order to focus their ministries on those living in poverty. (7)
          Friar Arrupe wrote a wonderful poem about what it means to live with one purpose and one focus. He could have written it with Jesus, Martha and Mary in mind. He wrote:
          “Nothing is more practical than
          finding God, than
          falling in love
          in a quite absolute, final way.

          What you are in love with,
          what seizes your imagination,
          will affect everything.         

          It will decide
          what will get you out of bed in the morning,
          what you do with your evenings,
          how you spend your weekends,
          what you read,
          whom you know,
          what breaks your heart,
          and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.   

          Fall in love,
          stay in love,
          and it will decide everything. (8)
 

          Stress comes from the sense that someone always needs something from you. Peace comes from the realization that you need something from God. The one thing we need, the only thing that can never be taken away from us, is our love for Jesus Christ. And this love will change everything about our lives. It will decide what gets us out of bed in the morning. It will decide what breaks our hearts. And it will decide what amazes us with joy and gratitude. And that love comes from spending time at Jesus’ feet.
So, lay aside your agenda and your distractions and spend time praying and meditating and worshiping Jesus every day. Choose the better way – fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
          May God be praised. Amen.
 

1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p55.
2.    Ibid… p55.
3.    Ibid… p55-56.
4.    Ibid… p56.
5.    Ibid… p56.
6.    Ibid… p57.
7.    Ibid… p57.
8.    Ibid… p57.

07-10-2022 In Sync with the Heart of God

Thomas J Parlette
“In Sync with the Heart of God”
Luke 10: 25-37
7/10/22

          First off, let me say that I have no intention of preaching about the boy band, Nsync, this morning, in case all you children of the 90’s might be waiting for a shout out to Justin Timberlake or Lance Bass. You can just say “Bye, Bye, Bye” to that notion.

          But I do have a bit of a riddle for you today: What is something essential for human life that is highly contagious, and yet most of us take it for granted? The answer – Kindness. You might think, “Alright, kindness is nice and all – but is it essential for human life, and is it really contagious?” Well I think maybe “yes” – on both counts.

          Consider that a student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a society. What separates an uncivilized collection of people from a true civilization? Mead could have mentioned the first sign of tools, like grinding stones or clay pots for holding food and water. She could have mentioned art, like cave paintings or carved statues. Instead, Mead said the first sign of civilization in her opinion was when an ancient skeleton was found with a healed thigh bone. Why is that a sign of civilization?

          It was Mead’s estimation that in a competitive, primitive culture where people had to hunt and escape predators in order to survive each day, the fact that someone set aside their own work in order to care for another’s injury was a sign of civilization.

          As Mead said, “A broken femur that is healed is evidence that someone had taken time to stay with the one who fell, had bound up the wound, had carried the person to safety and had tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts.” (1)

          I like that. “Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts.” In other words – Kindness. That’s a great thought to hold onto as we revisit one of Jesus’ most famous stories – the story of the Good Samaritan.

          Last year, the BBC teamed up with researchers from the University of Sussex in the UK to study the topic of kindness. They published an online questionnaire called The Kindness Test, and asked people all over the world to share their attitudes and experiences on the topic of kindness.

          Research on kindness shows that when we experience or witness acts of kindness, we are much more likely to offer kindness to others – that’s why we could say that kindness is contagious. When we perform an act of kindness, the reward system in our brain lights up, which gives us pleasure, which causes us to look for more opportunities to be kind. A neuroscientist working on The Kindness Project said, “Kindness can cost us, yet we experience a sense of reward in parts of our brain when we are kind to others, just as we do when we eat tasty food or have a pleasant surprise. These parts of the brain become active and motivate us to do them again and again.(2)

          “Kindness can cost us” – that’s a good point to consider, too, as we look at this morning’s story from Luke 10.

          The story begins, “Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher’, he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

          “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” answered Jesus.

          Have you ever noticed how many times in the Bible Jesus answers a question with a question? Martin Copenhaver has written a book titled Jesus Is the Question – kind of a different take on the bumper stickers and billboards you often see that say “Jesus is the Answer.” In his book, Copenhaver shares a fascinating insight: “In the gospels,” he writes, “Jesus asks more questions than he answers. To be precise, Jesus asks 307 questions. He is asked 183 questions, of which he only answers 3.”(3)

          Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, had all the answers in life, yet he asked far more questions than he answered. “Why? Maybe because an answer provides certainty, but a question promotes growth. Which was more important to Jesus? Questions that promote growth, I think. Sometimes we get frustrated or disillusioned when we read the Bible or pray or come to church and we’re not finding answers to our questions. We feel like we’re spiritual failures or that we’ve been let down somehow. We might wonder, what am doing wrong here? But notice how often Jesus, who could have easily given us all the answers, asked questions instead. Wrestling with your questions does not make you a spiritual failure and it doesn’t mean that God or the church has let you down. It may be God’s greatest tool for forming us into the people, into the church that God wants us to be.

          So, let’s get back to our friend, the lawyer. He asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked a follow up – “What is written in the Law? What do you read there?”

          The lawyer answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

          Good answer. “You have given the right answer, said Jesus. Do this, and you will live.” Don’t just know the answer, do the answer.

          So, the first question this story raises is, “Would you rather be right, or would you rather be right with God? Would you rather have all the answers, or would you rather have a relationship with God – even if that relationship doesn’t answer all your questions?”

          The story continues, “But wanting to justify himself,” the lawyer asked, “And who is my neighbor.”

          Neuroscientists from the Paris Brain Institute conducted a fascinating study in which they hooked up volunteers to an electrocardiogram machine and measured their heartbeats as they listened to a story being read aloud. And they found that as volunteers listened to the story, their heartbeats synchronized with one another. Even when the volunteers were physically in separate places, their heartbeats eventually synced up with the heartbeats of the others who were listening to the same story.(4)

          In this famous story, Jesus is trying to synchronize our heartbeats with the heart of God. The more you love God, the more your life will be in sync with God’s heart. What does it look like to love God with everything you’ve got, and to love your neighbor as yourself? “Well, let me tell you a story,” says Jesus.

          A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away leaving him half-dead.

          Dan Dailey, writing in the New York Daily News, tells about overhearing a woman in New York discussing her neighborhood. New Yorkers often divide Manhattan based on the location of Houston Street. If you live south of Houston Street, you live in SoHo; if you live north of Houston Street, you live in NoHo. But this woman lived in a troublesome neighborhood somewhere in between that she referred to as Uh-Oh.(5)

          Jesus’ listeners would have understood that the road between Jerusalem and Jericho was an “Uh-Oh” kind of neighborhood. That road stretched for 18 miles through desert terrain – hot, dry, rocky and rough. In Jesus’ day, it was common for thieves to hide among the rocks along that road and attack travelers passing through. So they would not have been surprised about the man’s fate – they may have even blamed him a bit for getting caught in this “Uh-Oh” kind of neighborhood.

          Jesus continued, “A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So, too, a Levite, when he came to the place, passed him by on the other side.”

          Lawrence Richards, in his Devotional Commentary, makes an interesting point that the priest and the Levite were both going away from Jerusalem. This implies that they had just left from serving their religious duties in the Temple. If they were going up to Jerusalem, they could claim that their duties to God were more important than their duty to the injured man. But they had no excuse. In essence, they represented the first half of Jesus’ teaching: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, all your strength and all your mind.” But they failed to do the second part. Their hearts were out of sync with the heart of God. If they had loved God more, they would have loved the injured man the way God does.(6)

          Jesus continues: “But a Samaritan, while traveling came near him, and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.” The particular word used here for “moved with pity” refers to a deep sense of compassion, a compassion that you feel deep in your gut. Biblical scholar A.T. Roberson notes that this word is only used 12 times in the New Testament, and 8 of those times refer to Jesus’ sense of compassion for others, and one of those is right here.(7)

          And considering how Jews in Jesus’ day had such contempt for Samaritans, this sense of compassion on the part of the Samaritan would have seemed extraordinary. They would have been amazed that “The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, poured on oil and wine. He put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took out 2 denaraii and gave them to the Innkeeper, saying ‘take care of him, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any further expense.’”

          Jesus let the story hang in the air for a moment – and then asked the lawyer, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man fell into the hands of robbers?”

          The lawyer has no choice – the answer is obvious. “The one who had mercy on him.”

          And Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

          Fred Craddock tells of meeting Rear Admiral Thornton Miller many years ago when he was the chapel speaker at Johnson Bible College. After the chapel service, Rear Admiral Miller spent some time chatting with the students and answering questions. They all wanted to ask him about his experiences serving in World War II, especially on D-Day in Normandy. Rear Admiral Miller described the firefight that day in vivid terms. As a military chaplain, he had gone up and down the beach, dodging bombs and gunfire while praying with injured soldiers, doing anything he could to help.

          A student asked him why he had risked his own life on the beach that day, and Miller simply replied, “I’m a minister.”

          So the student tried to re-phrase his question. “But didn’t you ask if they were Catholic or Protestant or Jewish? Did you just… if you’re a minister…”

          And Miller interrupted him – “If you’re a minister, the only question you ask is, ‘Can I help you?’”(8)

          The priest, the Levite and the lawyer all failed to ask the most important question: “Can I help you?” And this failure reveals that they are out of sync with God.

          Because Jesus makes it clear, in this story and in his own life, that the heart of God is a heart of mercy. Jesus doesn’t commend anyone for their religious credentials or their knowledge of polity and the law. Jesus commends the one who puts love for a stranger into action. He commends the one who risks himself on behalf of an enemy.

          In 1992, a man named John Jordan saw a news report on the war going on in Bosnia. Firefighters in Bosnia had almost no protective equipment, yet they were called upon the fight continuous fires caused by bombings in their city. Jordan, an ex-Marine and firefighter from Rhode Island, felt such compassion for those firemen halfway around the world that he gathered up donations of equipment and protective gear and moved to Sarajevo to start a firefighters training program there. He also recruited experienced firefighters from the U.S. to go to Sarajevo and help him in the training program.

          It takes a tremendous amount of work and energy to set up a program like that. Why would John Jordan put himself in that situation? Jordan said, “I was at home watching the news about how these guys in T-shirts and jeans and not much else were fighting fires in the middle of sniper and mortar attacks. It’s like coming on a car accident. You either stop and help or you drive by. I stopped.”(9)

          So, who was a neighbor to the injured man in this story? The one who had mercy on him.

          And Jesus slowly nods, a little smile sneaking across his face as he says, “Go and do likewise.”

          When we stand before God one day in the hereafter, will God care about whether our theology was correct or does God care more about our merciful acts. Look at the life of Jesus and decide which is more in sync with God’s heart. Then go and do likewise.

          May God be praised. Amen.

1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol XXXVIII, No. 2, p50.
2.    Ibid… p50.
3.    Ibid… p50.
4.    Ibid… p51.
5.    Ibid… p51.
6.    Ibid… p52.
7.    Ibid… p52.
8.    Ibid… p52.
9.    Ibid… 53. 

07-03-2022 A Prayer for Volunteers

Thomas J Parlette
“A Prayer for Volunteers”
Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20
7/3/22
 

          I would be willing to wager that most of you at one time or another have volunteered for a cause you believed in. Maybe you helped collect canned goods for a community kitchen, or tutored a student, or sold Girl Scout cookies, or ran a 5K race for a good cause.

          We all have different causes we believe in and motivations for volunteering. But I have to admit sometimes I hear about people willing to volunteer for some pretty strange things.

          For instance, a few years ago, NASA advertised for volunteers for a study on how space flight affects healthy bodies. They recruited fit, healthy volunteers who matched the general physical profile of their astronauts, and asked these volunteers to spend 15 weeks in hospital bed, so they could measure how this bed-rest position affects human fitness and functioning. 15 weeks! In a hospital bed! Most of us would be climbing the walls after a couple days, let alone almost 4 months. That sounds pretty miserable – but they got volunteers for it.

          Or, there’s the Swedish university who recruited healthy young volunteers to eat four cupcakes every day for six weeks for a study on the effects of fat on the human body. The volunteers weren’t supposed to change anything else about their health and fitness routines or their daily habits. Just eat four cupcakes a day for six weeks. That doesn’t sound so bad – but that’s a lot of cupcakes. I think I would put on 20 pounds or so. No thanks.

          But that doesn’t compare to what the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in Hampden Township asked of their volunteers. They recruited a small group of volunteers to purposely drink too much so their officers could get training in the using the Standardized Field Sobriety Test. They had no trouble getting volunteers. (1)

          One of the strangest volunteer opportunities I’ve ever heard about happened several years ago when an author named Shelley Jackson asked for volunteers to help her publish her latest short story. The story, titled Skin, was 2095 words long. And according to The Associated Press, Jackson wanted to publish it by tattooing the story, one word at a time, on the skin of volunteers. Jackson began by tattooing the first word of the story on her own wrist. Surprisingly, in a very short period of time, she had more than enough volunteers from all over the world who offered their bodies for her project. (2) Interesting – but not something I would volunteer for.

          When I stop and think about how a small group of basically volunteers spread the message of Jesus from Jerusalem to the whole world, while facing persecution, poverty, beatings and imprisonment, not to mention cultural and language differences, I am amazed that it all came together. How is all that possible? And how did it all start? That is what our passage today from Luke deals with.

          Our passage begins, “After this the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them out two by two ahead of him to every town and place he was about to go. He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few: ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’ “

          Simply put, Jesus is telling them to pray to God for volunteers, for new Christians, to help with the harvest. Jesus is thinking about the future here. Eventually he would be leaving his disciples. It’s time to pass the torch. It’s time for his disciples to carry the message and continue the mission.

          So he appointed 72 of them and sent them ahead like his advance team to round up volunteers. Reminds me of an old story about an Army sergeant who came into the barracks one morning and asked if anyone in the squad knew shorthand. The guys in his squad thought that sounded great. Finally, an assignment involving no physical labor – just sitting around and writing shorthand – so all of them raised their hands.

          “Good,” said the Sergeant, “They’re short-handed in the mess hall! Get moving.”(3)

          In this passage Jesus is saying, “We’re short-handed for this mission. You don’t get it yet, but I’m sending you out to the ends of the earth. So you’re going to need to pray to the Lord for more workers to help you.”

          This is the moment when Jesus’ disciples officially become his apostles. In verse 1, where Jesus sends them out two by two, the verb used there for sent is “apostellw” Jesus literally “apostled” them into the world.

          A disciple is simply a student or a devoted follower of a teacher.

          An apostle, on the other hand is “sent out” or a “person sent.”

          There is a big difference. You need wisdom and humility to be a disciple, but you don’t need power. You can be a disciple your whole life. But you’re not an apostle until you go out and share the message and ministry of Jesus with others. That’s when you need power, the power to see and love others with the same passionate, sacrificial love God has for them. That’s when you need the power, the courage to announce the kingdom of God to a sometimes hostile culture. That’s when you need the strength to heal the sick and cast out demons. That’s when you need the power to stand up for truth and light in a world that often embraces darkness and lies.

          So if you are ready to move from disciple to apostle, there are three primary steps to the process that we can find in today’s lesson.

          The first calling of the apostle is to pray. In our lesson for today we read, “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his field…” There are five different Greek words used for prayer in the New Testament. Each one has a slightly different meaning and portrays a different approach in our relationship to God.

          The word used here for “Ask the Lord…” is the Greek word deomai. It is used in the New Testament to refer to the act of begging or pleading.
·     In Luke 5, a man covered in leprosy falls on his face in front of Jesus and begs, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
·     In Luke 8, a demon possessed man begs Jesus not to torment him. After Jesus heals him, he begs Jesus to be allowed to follow him.
·     In Luke 9, a father begs Jesus to heal his sick son.
·     In each of these passages the word used is “deomai.”
·     If you have ever prayed from a place of desperation or brokenness, then you understand the concept of “deomai.” That’s the attitude that Jesus is asking for here as the apostles pray for help in sending laborers into the harvest. Pray for them as desperately as a parent prays for their sick child, says Jesus. Because that kind of love and prayer will then motivate you to go.

          In 1905, E. Stanley Jones was a student at Asbury College, a Christian school in the tiny town of Wilmore, Kentucky. He was planning to become a lawyer. Jones and three friends were praying together one evening when they experienced the Holy Spirit moving amongst them. Within days, a spiritual revival broke out on the college’s campus, and it spread to the town of Wilmore. It was during this time of revival that Jones experienced God calling him to the mission field.

          In 1907, he moved to India to minister to the untouchables – the lowest-caste citizens there in that society. He respected the culture and traditions of the Indian people and did not try to impose Western culture or practices on them. Soon his ministry also began attracting well-educated and influential Indian citizens who appreciated his ability to share his faith with intellectual rigor and respect. He brought together people from different faiths to discuss their religious experiences. He was so influential at bringing people together in a spirit of understanding and mutual respect that he was invited to participate in political negotiations not only in India, but in Africa and Asia. Before his death in India in 1973, he had preached to thousands of people, served as a voice of conscience to world leaders, and written 28 books, with the royalties devoted to various church ministries.

          Once, while reflecting on the small prayer meeting that motivated him to become a world-changing missionary, Jones said, “Be careful how you pray. You may be the answer.”(4)

          Good point. If we pray in the spirit of deomai, begging the Lord to work in and through us, then God will answer us. And we just might be the answer to that prayer.

          Another calling of the apostle is to go – offer peace and cure the sick. In verse 5 of this passage we read, “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house…’ “ Peace is critical to Christ’s ministry.

          There is a great story of a medieval knight who returned to his castle one evening looking like a bloody mess. His armor was dented. His face was scarred. His horse was limping. The lord of the castle asked, “What happened to you, Sir Knight?”

          “Well, sire, I have been laboring in your service, robbing and burning and pillaging your enemies to the west.”

          “What?!? – but I don’t have any enemies to the west!”

          “Oh,” said the knight. “Well, you do now!”(5)

          Jesus was very specific in telling his disciples to go in his spirit, a spirit of peace, not pillaging.

          In verse 9, we also read “cure the sick, and tell them ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’”

          Healing and proclaiming the kingdom of God were also at the heart of Christ’s ministry. In his three years of ministry recorded in the Gospels, this is what Jesus’ daily schedule looked like. He went out, he offered peace to all who would receive him, and he healed the sick. Read through the New testament and compare how many times Jesus preached in the synagogues versus how many times Jesus taught, preached and healed people in the marketplaces, in the fields and in their homes. The great majority of his time out there was not in a church or a synagogue. Inside these doors, inside this sanctuary, we grow as disciples. Outside of these doors, we go as apostles, to proclaim God’s kingdom in all that we do and all that we say, demonstrating God’s kingdom by the lives we lead. So, our first calling as apostles is to pray. Our nest calling is to go – offer peace and heal the sick.

          Our final, and perhaps most important calling as apostles is to announce the coming of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, simply put, is the world as it will be when God rules over all the world. It will be the kingdom of justice and the fullness of peace. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” this is what he was referring to. The birth of Jesus served as a starter’s pistol that announced creation’s race toward the fully realized kingdom of God, when Jesus returns as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Until that day, we are called to announce the Kingdom of God with our words and even with our lives. As apostles, part of our deomai prayer should be to ask God to show us how we can contribute to the causes of peace, justice, mercy and righteousness in our community and in our world.

          You may remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as he contemplated his death just two months before his assassination. He said, “Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize… I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that Martin Luther King Jr tried to love somebody… say that I was a drum major for justice… for peace… for righteousness. I just want to leave a committed life behind.”(6)

          Jesus told his apostles, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” You are here today in this sanctuary, in person or virtually, because someone prayed this prayer and someone responded to this prayer. You are here today because 72 believers prayed and went and offered peace and healing and announced the coming of the kingdom of God. But the work isn’t done yet. Jesus calls us to be apostles. I hope that when you walk out of these church doors or walk away from the screen you are using, you will take your part in the greatest mission and message in the history of the world – to announce the coming of the kingdom of God until the day Jesus’ return makes it so.

          May God be praised. Amen.

1.    Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p46.
2.    Ibid… p46.
3.    Ibid… p47.
4.    Ibid… p48.
5.    Ibid… p48.
6.    Ibid… p49.

06-26-2022 Freedom and Spirit

Jay Rowland

“Freedom and Spirit”

Luke 9:51-62 & Galatians 5:1, 13-25

June 26, 2022 Pentecost 3C

 Freedom and Spirit

I’m fairly sure we can all agree that freedom is a good thing.  Right?

 It feels odd to say “I’m fairly sure” because I’ve always thought that’s a “no-brainer”, but recent years have me feeling less certain. We Americans have always had a fierce independent streak, so whenever we talk about, think about or in any way consider freedom, we’re more likely referring to our independence more often than not.

 As people of faith we live in ongoing tension between our preference for personal independence on the one hand, and the sovereignty of God—God’s will, if you like—on the other. Both of the scriptures before us today feature this inherent tension.

 In the passage from Luke's gospel, conflict erupts when the Samaritan village does not welcome the messengers Jesus sent ahead to make arrangements. Those darned Samaritans. This offends not Jesus but the disciples of Jesus, namely James & John. So they ask Jesus if Jesus wants them "to command fire to come down from heaven and consume” those darned Samaritans.

Now isn’t that something?! I have to confess I’ve glossed over this part in the past. But for some reason this time, their words stopped me in my tracks today—so ugly and disturbing and so contrary to everything Jesus is saying and doing. And I suppose I’ve always glossed over it because it’s so easy to say, “oh those dumb disciples-they just don’t get it.” And just move on  Yet, there it is and it is unflinchingly human–their rush to judgment. That’s And so, when Jesus rebukes them and rejects their smug proposal he reveals God’s shocking willingness to let people make their own choices.

It need not be shocking to them or to us. After all, it’s right there in the story of Adam and Eve in the Creation Account in Genesis chapter 1. 

God loves us that much to give us that choice-that freedom. Jesus shows consistently during his life and even in his death that God will not force or coerce anyone into relationship. We are free to ignore, free to reject God, free to even “play God”. We are free to declare our independence from God without any divine retribution. Now that does not mean that God doesn’t care, God is not neutral about this, of course God wants us to choose God, but God is generous, more than we may realize. 

 Sooner or later in life, we wrestle with that tension between our free will, our independence and our dependence upon God. Most people at various times in our lives give themselves the permission and the freedom to ignore God or keep God in the background until we need God.

That doesn’t mean our faith is weak or flawed. It doesn’t make someone bad or evil. It simply means we’re human.  

As I’ve struggled with this tension, I’ve told God I don’t want so much freedom. I’ve asked God nicely and not-so-nicely MANY MANY TIMES to just take over! But God refuses. God will not put my relationship with God on auto-pilot.  God isn’t interested in turning me or any of us into a marionette puppet--programmed.

I’ve discovered over the years that eventually the consequences of living life my way, on my terms—all the scrapping and fighting and clawing it takes to do that … all the energy … is exhausting.  Eventually I run back into God’s loving, accepting presence and jump into the arms of Jesus.  Every. Single. Time.

I wish that wasn’t true, but that’s the recurring pattern or movement of my life: backing away from God; running back to God. 

But to me that’s what the spiritual life is all about.  It’s the process by which we learn and grow in the spirit. Our relationship with God grows best through our questionable choices, through our mistakes. God gives us the “freedom” to live in self-induced exile from God’s spacious love and kingdom because I guess that’s what it takes for us to realize, to learn and to choose God’s way over our own. Meanwhile, while we’re figuring that out for ourselves God, ever-loving, is ever faithful, ever vigilant, ever ready to welcome us back every time. Every time we exhaust ourselves and sprint back to God, God never hesitates, God never punishes, God doesn’t hold that against us … which is more than I can say about myself.  I definitely have always held that against myself. But God doesn’t!

That’s where the passage from Galatians comes in. In this passage Paul discusses the problem of Self which it seems to me is our basic human-spiritual dilemma. The very freedom we seem to expect and demand: the freedom to do what we want-when we want; the freedom to have as much as we want; the freedom to follow our impulses and instincts—all this so-called “freedom” is also what often ends up enslaving us and imprisoning us. 

Let’s call that the Cliff Notes summary of Paul’s theology.  Paul says “what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh …”  In other words, the biggest obstacle to living in communion with God on a daily basis is that constant impulse to gratify self.  That’s what Paul calls “living in the flesh”. And although he didn’t really need to do so, Paul provides us with an exhaustive list of examples of living-in-the-flesh-behaviors, a Top Ten list of “no-no’s” if there ever was one (okay, there’s more than ten).  And then, att the end of this list Paul barks:

“I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” 

I want to stop right there b/c I worry that whenever people read words like this in the Bible people “hear” that whenever we do such (bad) things, God will getcha.  Somewhere along the line we are all taught or learn that God will punish us whenever we do things like what Paul lists. But that’s not what Paul actually says here. Paul says those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By that I take Paul to mean that the consequence of our own flesh-driven choices puts us on a path apart from the kingdom of God.  In other words, God doesn’t need to punish us or banish us from God’s kingdom because these behaviors and choices do that already. The consequence of those behaviors is alienation, suffering and isolation. Chasing the desires of the flesh is truly an earthly, earth-bound impulse rather than a spacious, grace-filled impulse. Our flesh-driven motivations move away from rather than toward the spacious kingdom of God, a place that has room for all of us.  For our real self, not the polished version…

The spiritual dilemma is that the self cannot overcome self.  Only God can do that.  I’m endlessly fascinated, again, that God doesn’t inflict Gods-self upon us.  God loves us unconditionally and God will indeed come to our aid and even save us from ourselves but, at least in my experience, not without our permission or invitation. 

Now that’s good news and bad news.  The good news is that God is faithful and God is able to save us from ourselves and by extension I hope that means the planet and all the other crises percolating all around us right now. 

The not-so-good news is—again this is my experience—God doesn’t seem (to me) willing to hijack our lives.  Perhaps God does that with some people. I just haven’t met anyone that’s happened to (yet). It seems to be very important to God that we ask God for help. There’s something important that happens inside of us when we ask God for help. And so asking for God’s help is a spiritual discipline.  It takes work to recognize our limited capacity to save ourselves from ourselves. It takes work to identify our self-gratifying impulses.  And we’re not always up to the task. It’s hard! So God will not inflict this upon us.

So how do we know if or when we’ve started moving in that direction? Paul identifies nine fruits of the spirit that start showing up more frequently in ourselves and “out there on the road” as we make our way home toward God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There’s “no law against any of these” Paul reminds us. 

Or stated more positively, these fruits of spirit-living are a natural outcome of living more deeply in communion with the Lord.  When these fruits of the spirit are seen in us, this becomes contagious --blessing is contagious! … and so the kingdom of God advances …  It’s a beautiful thing.

I’m not saying anything any of us didn’t already know.  And I don’t mean to suggest that this easy.  I say all of this because it helps ME to remember: this is a fairly SIMPLE process—it’s not easy or automatic but it is simple … basic.  If it was easy we wouldn’t have communities of faith to nurture and practice the spiritual principles which produce true freedom. 

The closing words from the Gospel of Luke today are a stark reminder of how easy it is to put just about anything in front of our relationship with God.  Jesus finds among his followers people who hesitate to experience the freedom he offers—Yes I’ll follow you Jesus, but first I must take care of ______…  I see myself in those dialogues with followers of Jesus Luke recounts—in their hesitation, in their postponement of the divine offer from Jesus.  The problem staring back at us is that these people are referring to legitimate reasons for delay.  This is, again, the spiritual predicament of every era.  We worry that to truly follow God, in the way that makes it worthwhile, means we must abdicate some other important responsibility.  This will forever be our spiritual predicament—the tension we live in as people of faith.  

The GOOD NEWS again is that God is generous, patient, loving! As it turns out, God is all the fruits of the Spirit that Paul lists.  And God’s invitation is open-ended … eternal … there’s no time limit, no statute of limitations, no conditions or fine print trickery.  God forever offers us an alternative to the way we are living. An alternative way to life that in turn enhances our life and our health and our fulfillment which also impacts those around us in a positive way!  All of this is possible even in the midst of all the dissonance and chaos and the frenzied pace of life—in the midst of illness and death, and all of the crises distracting us, the Lord is steadfast in His offer to us: an alternative to the infinite number of “choices” we put before our choice to choose the Lord.  God remains forever diligent, forever willing and forever able to assist us in the difficult work of overcoming self … for that is the way home.

It is indeed elusive … but we do know when we are experiencing God’s grace. Thank God we have moments, however fleeting, moments when we feel that sense of home, that presence of God well up in us, and we experience that sense of home ...  I guess that’s what it all leads up to. In God’s wisdom God has planted in our core a restlessness … a spiritual restlessness … an ill-at-ease-ness, that lasts until and unless we choose to find rest in the One who is our true home, our true alternative, the truest way, and the truest FREEDOM. 

Amen.

06-12-2022 Can We Trust God?

Thomas J Parlette
“Can We Trust God?”
Romans 5: 1-5, Trinity Sunday
06/12/22
 
       Does it seem to you that it’s getting more and more difficult to trust anybody? It seems to get more and more discouraging to simply answer the telephone, for fear of being bombarded with scam telephone calls. It’s just as discouraging to open emails or look at news stories online out of fear for falling for fake news. In fact, according to Worldstart Computer Tips and Techniques Newsletter, yet another email scam has been making the rounds on the Internet, and it’s kinda scary.
       This scam is going by the name of the “Hitman Scam.” What happens is you receive an email from an unknown scammer who claims that they’ve been hired to put a “hit” on you – either murdered or hack into your computer systems and steal your identity and ruin your life. Then they tell you that they can stop this from happening if you pay them a certain amount of money. They go into a long spiel about how they were hired and why you are being targeted, so it sounds legit. And then they ask for anything between $50,000 -$150,000, It all sounds legit and very scary. But don’t fall for it – it’s all a scam. There is no plot, there is no hitman.
       This scam might sound far-fetched, but according to the Worldstart newsletter, it has been verified by the highly credible fact-checking website Snopes – as well as other media sources. It seems to have originated back in 2006 and is now starting to re-surface.(1)
       Every year, agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau publish statistics on the number of people in the US who lose money to scams, and the costs are staggering. Sadly, according to a report by ADT Security Services, in 2018, US citizens lost 26 million dollars to a wide variety of scams.(2)
       The financial losses from all these scams are staggering. But the loss of trust is vastly more important. It is hard to recover from a violation of trust. Losing trust in someone may be the most difficult loss of all.
       It hurts when we put our trust and hope in the wrong people. Trust is a fragile thing. When we trust in something or someone and they deceive us, we are left angry, disappointed and perhaps ashamed. Violations of trust leave us cynical, disillusioned and less likely to trust anyone in the future.
       It can be especially painful when we question whether or not we can trust God. Many people, even regular church goers, believe in God, but they don’t really trust God. And because they do not trust God, they miss out on the peace, joy and hope that is their inheritance as Christians. Many people can’t exactly pinpoint why they are lacking the peace, hope and joy they crave – they only know that something is missing from their relationship with God.
       For instance, there is a city in Bolivia that has been known for centuries for its rich silver, tin and zinc mines. Mining is a dangerous, unpredictable trade, and many miners lose their lives every year in the mines of Potosi, Bolivia. The result of this danger is that a primitive superstition has taken hold among the miners of Potosi. Even though the people of Potosi are largely Catholic, when they descend into the mines, they offer sacrifices to an entity they call Uncle Tio. They believe that Uncle Tio holds the power of life and death underground, so they pray to him and offer rolled up coca leaves or alcohol to gain his favor.
       Saturnino Ortega, a mine boss in Potosi says, “Outside, we believe in God, who is our savior” But down in the mines, it’s a different story. He says, “We ask Uncle Tio for favors, sometimes on our knees. Our belief is split into two worlds.”(3)
       Many people live like that, with their belief split into two worlds. We trust God in certain areas of our lives, but in other areas, like business or work or investing – perhaps our trust lies elsewhere. So what causes us to lose trust in God?
       Whether we admit it or not, many of us have a faith that is largely conditional. As long as things are going well in our lives, trust is easy. But let life turn against us, and for many of us, our faith proves to be sadly fickle.
       Dr Ronald Brown, a former professor at the University of Minnesota, contends that we need to recognize two categories of trust, whether we are dealing with people or with God. He breaks these categories down into “Iffers” and “Untillers.”
       “Iffers” refers to the thought that “I will trust you IF you live up to my expectations.” For example – “I will trust you if you are consistent, if you are honest, if you can control your emotions, if you don’t exaggerate. I will trust you IF, you earn my trust.”
       “Untillers” refers to the idea that I will trust you UNTIL you violate some of my expectations. For example – “I will trust you until you lie to me, until you talk about ne behind my back, until you violate one of the criteria from my “ifs’ list Everybody has their own list of “ifs” or “untils” when it comes to establishing or breaking trust, but they may not be aware of their criteria until they see it in black and white.(4)
       So what are your “if” and “until” criteria for trusting God? Maybe it’s something like – “God, I’ll trust you if You speak to me in a clear, booming voice from heaven.” Or, “I’ll trust You until my bank account drops below a certain level.” Or, “I’ll trust you until something bad happens to a member of my family.”
       I suspect that the presence of suffering is the number one obstacle that hinders our trust in God. That’s only natural. No one really understands why good people suffer.
       A man named Rob Davies from Horsham, Australia, wrote in an article a few years ago about how an unexpected tragedy caused him to turn away from God. Rob said that before he became a Christian, his life revolved around accumulating things and abusing alcohol. He had spent a lot of time in and out of substance abuse rehab centers. But at a Salvation Army service one night, Rob and his wife made the decision to trust their lives to Jesus, and Rob’s lifestyle and attitude began to change. All was well and good.
       However, not long after, Rob’s wife died suddenly. He was left a single dad with two young daughters. He didn’t understand how a loving and powerful God could let this happen, and he struggled with his questions.
The years went by – Rob rarely went to church. He returned to drinking, got remarried, but eventually he got divorced because of his drinking. After that, Rob admits, “He gave up on life.” He blamed God for everything that had happened – how could God let this happen?
       Unfortunately, Rob’s story is all too common. Many people find themselves struggling with the same questions. In our verses from Romans today, Paul draws on his own life to offer his perspective on suffering.
       You will no doubt remember that Paul was no stranger to suffering. He was thrown into prison, ostracized and beaten on account of preaching about Jesus. But in this passage, Paul writes “… we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
       This is why Paul could trust the goodness and the power of God even in his suffering. God’s blessings aren’t just reserved for eternal life. By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, Jesus walks with us through our every struggle, heartbreak and challenge. We are no longer alone. We have the strength and love of Jesus empowering us to persevere. And when we persevere, we grow in the likeness of Jesus. And as we grow more like Jesus, we grow in hope. And we can put our full trust in the hope of Jesus. Jesus will never scam us. Jesus will never deceive us. Jesus will never violate our trust.
       Let’s return to that story about Rob Davies. One morning, he hit rock bottom. And he started to pray. “Things were good when I was with you Jesus. Take me back. I give you my life, I choose you, Lord.” And Jesus answered his prayer and gave Rob the strength to stop drinking for good, and today he has healed from his hurt and anger and finally found some peace in his suffering.
       He writes, “Today my life is the opposite of what it used to be… God has given me peace, joy, happiness and an overwhelming desire to live, give and share how the love of Jesus changes lives – especially mine.”(5)
       Paul builds his argument in these verses to show us that it is through our suffering that we truly understand the love and hope of God. Suffering, if it doesn’t turn us away from God, leads to perseverance, then character and finally results in hope. And what is that hope? It is that a God who loves us so abundantly will, as Romans 8:28 reminds us, “work all things for the good of those who love God, who have been called according to God’s purposes.”
       Pastor David Platt tells about a woman who lost a child to a congenital heart defect. She described how painful it was to sit in the waiting room while her second child, who was born with the same defect, underwent heart surgery. And yet, during that experience, she discovered something. She came to recognize that even suffering can be a blessing for those who trust in Christ. She wrote that she wouldn’t trade the suffering her family has experienced for anything, because if what it has taught them about God.
       She writes, “This is the essence of eternal life, knowing God as God is. How often we are guilty of seeing God as we’d like God to be.” She says the only way she survived that painful time was because she wasn’t suffering alone. As she wrote, it was Christ living in her by the power of the Holy Spirit, making God’s power perfect in her weakness, that allowed her to persevere and find hope.(6)
       It is only in our suffering that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. We can never understand the nature of God, we can never understand the power of God, and we can never truly trust the promises of God until we have endured suffering and persevered. And according to the vision and promise found in these verses, one day the glory of God that we once hoped for will become the reality in which we live eternally.
       And for that - May God be Praised. Amen.

1.              Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p 34.
2.              Ibid… p 35.
3.              Ibid… p 35.
4.              Ibid… p 35-36.
5.              Ibid… p 36.

06-05-2022 Passion, Promise and Prophesy

Thomas J Parlette
“Passion, Promise and Prophesy”
Acts 2: 1-21, Pentecost
6/5/22

        Let me ask you a question this morning – how many of you are bilingual? Anybody trilingual, speak languages? If so, were you raised speaking something other than English, or did you learn that second language as an adult?
       There is a Federal agency called the Foreign Service Institute that trains diplomats to operate in other countries. The folks at FSI also provide advanced language training in over 65 languages.
       Sometime back, they ranked all the major languages according to how difficult they were to learn. They discovered that among the easier languages for English-speaking people to learn are Swedish, Spanish and French. You might be able to guess the harder ones to learn – Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.(1) Of course, some of us who speak only English have a  difficult time getting it right.
       It reminds me of a story I once heard, told by Rev. J. Barrie Shepherd. Shepherd is a pretty well- known Presbyterian pastor who has served church all over the country. Rev. Shepherd is originally from Scotland. He came to the US to study at Yale Divinity school- a close second to Princeton Seminary, of course. After he had been in this country for a couple of weeks, he needed to catch a cab to the local Department of Motor Vehicles.
       The cab driver heard his thick Scottish accent and asked how long he had been in the country.
       Shepherd said two weeks.
       The cabbie said – Well you sure did learn the language fast!(2) I guess that cab driver didn’t realize that they do speak English in Scotland.
       If you are looking for a new challenge, though, and have some time on your hands, you might want to consider learning another language – especially if you have any travel plans coming up. You never know when it might come in handy.
       For instance, during the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo, there was a wonderful scene which a Japanese surfer lost an event to a Brazilian surfer. The Japanese surfer handled his defeat with grace, however.
       In an interview after the competition, a reporter asked the Brazilian surfer a question in Japanese. The Japanese surfer spoke Japanese, English and some Portuguese, and he realized that his rival spoke only Portuguese – so he graciously stepped in and translated for him. Fortunately, the interview went off seamlessly much to the relief of all. A true example of the Olympic spirit.(3)
       That’s a great example to keep in mind as we approach this well-worn scripture passage for today as we celebrate Pentecost. That is, of course, the day when the Holy Spirit was given to ordinary men and women and they found they had the ability to share the message of Jesus in multiple languages. In this way, they were able to fulfill the promise and commission Jesus gave them to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
       Our story begins like this – “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” “They” refers to about 120 people, followers of Jesus, both men and women, who were waiting for the baptism that Jesus had promised them just before he ascended into heaven. For now, let’s focus on the last part of that verse – “they were all together in one place.”
       The actual Greek word used here is a compound word, two separate words, actually, mashed together to create a new word. The word – “hom-oth-oo-mad-on” is used only twelve times in the Bible, and ten of those twelve occur in the Book of Acts. The two words separately mean “to rush along” and “in unison.” To rush along in unison. It’s a good word to apply to a  close-knit sports team, or even a professional orchestra. In the Book of Acts, it refers to a group of people who have one mind, or one passion.(4)
       If we want to understand the story and miracle of Pentecost, then we must understand how it began. The blessing of Pentecost began with a shared passion. The idea of a group of people rushing along in unison, operating with one mind or one passion is a powerful thing. And that passion was to talk about Jesus and what he meant in a time and place where telling that story could get them into serious trouble, possibly imprisoned or even killed.
       When I think of the power of a shared passion, I think of the life of Frank Laubach, a missionary to the Philippines from 1915 to the late 1950’s.
       There were few people who could read or write in the remote Philippine communities where Frank Laubach served, so he developed a simple literacy method that employed charts linking pictures with words and syllables. His instructional method was so effective that it was easily adapted into a worldwide system for teaching literacy, in any language.
       But then Frank Laubach’s funding was reduced, and he couldn’t hire and train enough teachers to meet the needs of his community. When he told a local community leader about the problem, the man replied that he should encourage every new learner to teach someone else. They adopted the slogan “Each One, Teach One,” and they encouraged new learners to pass on their skills to others in their community. It didn’t take much encouragement because the new learners were so overjoyed and empowered by their newly acquired ability to read and write in their own language. And they were passionate about sharing the gift of literacy with friends and neighbors.
       Since it was developed in the 1930’s, Frank Laubach’s “Each One, Teach One” system has been used to teach 60 million people around the world to read in their own language. You might be interested to know that Frank Laubach is the only missionary in the US to have a postage stamp issued in his honor.
       Frank Laubach once wrote of his passion for this mission of literacy – “Every person we ever meet is God’s opportunity.”(5) I like that. Every person we ever meet is God’s opportunity.
       So let’s return to our passage. As the believers were joined together with one mind, one passion, waiting for Jesus’ promise to be fulfilled, the Holy Spirit came from heaven with a sound like a violent wind and something like tongues of flame resting on everyone’s head, And suddenly, each one of the 120 believers could speak in other languages. And verse 11 tells us they were “declaring the wonders of God.”
       So, the first blessing of Pentecost was a shared passion. That shared passion resulted in the second blessing of Pentecost - an outbreak of praise.
       In World War II, sisters Corrie and Betsie ten Boom were imprisoned in the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. In the evenings, after the two sisters had finished their hard labor, they led a worship service in the women’s barracks. The women knew that if the guards caught them worshipping together, they could be beaten or killed. Still, the risk was worth it to them. They gathered around a Bible that someone had smuggled into the camp. They began each service by singing hymns so softly that they were almost a whisper. And then Corrie or Betsie would read something from their smuggled Bible.
       There were women from various countries in the concentration camp, and they all spoke different languages. So Corrie and Betsie would read the Bible in their native Dutch, then translate it into German. Then other women would translate from German into French, Polish, Russian and Czech. In waves of whispers, the women ensured that every person in the barracks heard the word of God in their own language,
       As Corrie would later write of these secret worship services, “They were little previews of heaven…”(6) Or perhaps little models of Pentecost.
       In Revelation, chapter 7, John writes about a vision of what heaven would look like. He says he sees “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” They are gathered to sing their praises to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. So Pentecost was a preview of this explosion of praise that naturally flows from God’s people.
       Every time Jesus-followers get together to worship and pray and sing, study the Bible or engage in mission work – there should be an outbreak of praise.
       The final blessing of Pentecost is a call to prophesy. That may sound a little intimidating. Not many of us think we have the gifts to prophesy. But don’t let that word “prophesy” scare you. Prophets are simply truth-tellers. They are chosen by God to share the message of God. Sometimes it’s a message of warning – but it can also be a message of hope. In verse 21 of our passage we read, “All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” That is the truth we are called to tell, to prophesy. We share that message with family, friends, neighbors, co-workers… everyone we meet. Share it with our words. Share it with our actions. Share it with our lives.
       God didn’t pour out the Holy Spirit so we could keep God’s glory, power, love and truth inside these four walls. A Franciscan friar from the 14th century once said, “There is little good in filling churches with people who go out exactly the same as they came in; the call of the church is not to fill churches but to fill heaven.”(7) I like that too. The call of the Church is not to fill churches but to fill heaven.
       A woman named Helen shares her story of how a moment of truth-telling brought her to God. Helen and her husband were having marital problems, and they had separated. While separated, Helen’s husband returned to their home country of Russia to get his citizenship papers straightened out. He ran into an old friend who invited him to church. And Helen’s husband was so impressed by the change he saw in his old friends life that he agreed to go with him. When he got back to the United States, he began reading his Bible and attending church. He even got baptized, and he and Helen reconciled.
       However, Helen wanted nothing to do with her husband’s new-found faith. A few months later, some friends invited the two of them to church. Helen was resistant, until her husband said, “Honey, I love you. You’re beautiful, kind and smart. You are the love of my life. But you’re dead inside without God.” A tough bit of truth-telling to be sure. And then he said, “I believe it’s time for you to go and learn the truth about yourself.”
       So, Helen started attending church, and reading the Bible for herself. As she was reading through the Gospels, Helen suddenly realized that she believed in Jesus. She went to her husband and said, “I want what this Jesus offers.” And her life was changed for good.
       We heard Peter quote Joel saying, “And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” That’s what Helen found out. As Helen says about her faith journey, “You have to love somebody enough to tell them the truth.”(8)
       Pentecost was a world-changing moment. It was the moment when the Spirit of Jesus was poured out on ordinary people, men and women from every tribe and nation and tongue for the purpose of accomplishing the work of Jesus all over the world, until the day Jesus returns. It began with a shared passion. It resulted in an outbreak of praise. And it left behind a calling for us to prophesy, to tell the truth, to share the awesome grace of a God who promises that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
       And for that, May God be praised. Amen.

1.              Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p 29.
2.              Ibid… p 29
3.              Ibid… p 29
4.              Ibid… p 30.
5.              Ibid… p 30
6.              Ibid… p 30-31.
7.              Ibid… p 32.

05-29-2022 Outward, Upward and Onward

Thomas J Parlette
”Outward, Upward and Onward”
Acts 1:1-11
5/29/22, Ascension

       Pastor and writer James Moore tells a wonderful story from the days of the old west, when the major means of transportation across the country was the stagecoach. What you might not know, says Moore, is that the stagecoach had three different kinds of tickets – first class, second class and third class. If you had a first class ticket, that meant you could remain seated during the entire trip, no matter what happened. If the stagecoach got stuck in the mud, or had trouble making it up a steep hill, or broke a wheel, you could remain seated and let other people deal with the situation. You had a first class ticket.
       If you had a second class ticket, you could also remain seated – until there was a problem. If something came up, the second class ticket holders would have to get off the stagecoach until the problem was fixed. You could stand off to the side and watch, but you weren’t expected to do anything or get your hands dirty. You just had to get out of the coach until things were ready to go.
       Now, if you had a third class ticket, you would not only have to get off the stagecoach, but you were expected to help fix the problem. You might have to get out and push the coach out of the mud or up a hill or help fix a broken wheel. As a third class ticket holder, you were expected to chip in and help if a problem arose.(1)
       Sometimes we see this issue become a problem in the church – not because we use stagecoaches anymore, but people sometimes come to think of themselves as ticketholders in the church. Sometimes it seems we have too many people who think they are first class ticket holders. They expect to be catered to, waited on, and pampered. If a problem comes up, they stay seated and watch while other people deal with the problem.
       Some people might act like second-class ticket holders. These folks ride along until something comes up, and then they became detached spectators. They’ll attend church regularly – but don’t expect them to get involved.
       But thank goodness we have some people in the church who are willing to travel like third-class ticket holders. Every church has that small group of members who are ready to get out and push when they have to. They are the ones who are not afraid to get their hands dirty.
       There was once a pastor who was talking with a man who was about to join the church he served. The man said, “I want to join the church because I want to be fed.” And the pastor replied, “Well, that’s fine – but we’d all be better off if you would take off your bib and put on an apron. We’ll still feed you.”(2)
       The disciples were certainly the kind of people who took off their bibs and put on their aprons – you could say the disciples were third class ticket holders in the Kingdom of God. They were the ones who were charged with the responsibility of telling others the good news of Christ – to go out into the world and get their hands dirty. This Ascension story tells us a couple of things about this mission that we are called to.
       First, the Christian faith always looks outward. In some religions the emphasis is on looking inward. “Navel-gazing” is what it is sometimes called. And there is a time and place for some introspection, to be sure. But the primary focus of Christianity is to look outward at the world around us.
       Jesus challenged his disciples to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” He was calling them to a great adventure. They were to leave their homes and familiar surroundings and travel to the far corners of the world proclaiming the Gospel. They were to look outward.
       Dr. Harry Ironside used to tell a story about a group of dissidents who left a church to begin what they hoped would be the “perfect church.” The new congregation considered themselves to be such a spiritual blessing to God that they put a sign outside their church: “JESUS ONLY!” The church didn’t reach out to their community, however, they only ministered to themselves. One day when Dr. Ironside went by the church, he noticed that the first three letters had fallen off their sign to reveal a new message: “US ONLY!” How fitting – the new sign revealed a lot about that church’s ministry(3) The Christian community is called to look outward, not just inward.
       The church is also called to look upward. Christ told his disciples to wait and pray. If we’re honest about it, there is something about waiting and praying that goes against our nature. We don’t like to wait for anything or anyone. We want immediate results, with our satisfaction guaranteed or our money back. We want instant happiness – instant success. We don’t want to wait for the good life – we want it now immediately. And if we don’t get what we want, we’ll look someplace else for it. Who wants to sit around and wait? Who wants to sit around and pray? That feels a lot like doing nothing. Maybe –  or maybe not.
       In his book, The New Art of Living, Norman Vincent Peale gave us an interesting picture of our modern situation. He tells about a man in London years ago who had regained his sight after having been blind since he was two years old. He could not remember his perceptions from his infant years, of course, but he had certain images in his mind about how people looked. For example, he imagined most people to be tall and slender. But the most startling image he kept in his mind was that all human faces looked peaceful.(4)
       Tomorrow morning as you make your way to work, look around and see if most of the people you encounter have a peaceful expression on their face. You might find a few – but I would guess not too many.
       I once heard about a lady who was riding a considerable distance on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for the first time. This meant she had to go through some long tunnels. Her son asked her how she enjoyed it. She replied that one of them was a 2 ½.
       “What do you mean… 2 ½ miles long, 2 ½ minutes to get thru/”
       She replied that it was 2 ½ times through the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd…”(5)
       I know just the tunnels she was talking about.
       There is a peacefulness that only waiting and praying can give us. There is also a power that only waiting and praying can provide. That’s what the disciples discovered. Prayer and waiting are necessary preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Followers of Jesus are to look outward. They are to look upward. And finally, they are to look onward.
       The apostles watched as Jesus was taken up to heaven in a cloud. They stood there looking up, amazed at what had taken place. Suddenly two men in bright white robes stood before them. They asked the apostles, “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in the same way…”
       And then the Apostles looked onward. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They met daily for prayer. They began to prepare themselves for what lay ahead.
       Billy Graham once told of visiting an elderly man who had spent most of his life in China as a missionary. This former missionary had always enjoyed good health and was an unusually strong man. His deep dedication to Christ and his love for his wife made people love and admire him. He was indeed a faithful witness.
       Unfortunately, this former missionary contracted cancer which spread to many parts of his body. Graham went to minister to him and share some words of comfort. But instead, the sick man ended up ministering to Dr. Graham. “There was a joy and radiance about him that I have rarely seen,” recalled Graham. “He got up out of his bed and walked me to the car when I left. I’ll never forget my last glimpse of him. With a great smile and a cheery wave, he said, “Keep on preaching the Gospel, Billy. The older I get, the better Christ is to me.”(6)
       The good news for today is that can be true for all of us. The best is yet to come.
       Jesus had not gone away, not completely. He had gone…up. His disciples received a promise that one day he would return. That’s an important promise. It says that this world is headed somewhere. It says that third-class ticket holders will one day see the fruits of their labors. It says that one day Christ will reign over all the Kingdoms of this world.
       Several years ago, a group of Christian musicians traveled to Russia to proclaim the Gospel in word and music. They had the privilege of taking their talents to Moscow during the Russian Orthodox Easter. They met in the Palace of Congress where the Supreme Soviet had met for years. It was a massive room, with the enormous oversize picture of Lenin hung in front for all to see. Except that day, Lenin’s portrait was covered. In that massive hall the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to a huge gathering of Christians and non-Christians alike. The hall was filled with glorious music, and Christ’s message of forgiveness and grace was broadcast by television to millions of viewers throughout Russia. For the American Christians who made the trip, it was an experience they would never forget.
       On one Sunday afternoon, the group went into Red Square and distributed more than a hundred thousand pamphlets about the Gospel, including small Bibles in Russian. They were warned against doing that too aggressively – but not for the reasons you might expect. Turns out the authorities were not opposed to it, they were concerned that the group might be mobbed by people hungry for more information about Jesus and Christianity.(7)
       That is but a foreshadowing of the way the whole world will look someday. There will come a time when Christ will rule over all, and people will hunger for God’s Word.
       In the meantime, let us look outward, let us look upward and let us look onward – anticipating the day of Christ’s return.
       May God be praised. Amen.

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

05-22-2022 Present Joy

Present Joy

Jay Rowland

(Deuteronomy 34:1-8,10-12) & Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

10 And in the spirit[a] he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

 22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing [foul] will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

 22 Then the angel[a] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Present Joy

Where are you right now?

Yes I know you’re here but … are you? Are you all here or partly here?

 It’s always fairly obvious when our body is present. But our mind? Not so obvious. Our attention, our thoughts can leave our body without any warning or outward indication. At any moment our minds detach from our body. That’s quite a trick. Sometimes this can be a good thing--a defense mechanism; the mind’s way of protecting the psyche and the overall person. But sometimes it’s not a good thing. Especially when we get stuck spending too much time in our head, absent from the present moment where life happens.

I wonder about the states of mind of our spiritual ancestors the Hebrews as they follow Moses out of Egypt and slavery in the pages of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. I can imagine their minds in constant motion just like their feet as they walk and walk and walk through the wilderness to wherever Moses is leading--remembering the past, wondering about the future and increasingly dissatisfied with the present. 

Any relief or joy they feel over their freedom from slavery is quickly overtaken by the demands of the present moment—survival in the wilderness. As they make their way to the land God has promised, their minds must be overwhelmed by the abrupt changes they’ve experienced. Life in Egypt wasn’t good but at least it was a world they understood. Their current reality—life in the wilderness without any clarity about how long it will take to get where they’re going and how they’ll survive—was becoming more and more terrifying by the day.   

They want their new life in their promised new land. They are anxious to be there--anywhere but “here” which is an endless transition between past and future. And they’re not handling it very well. They’re tired. They’re on edge. There’s division in the ranks. They start taking out their fear on Moses and they begin to doubt God. Moses is exhausted by their incessant conflict and complaining and worried about mutiny, and revolt.

Fast forward a couple of thousand years to the final book of the Bible. At the time of Revelation, God’s people are struggling and suffering in a completely different period of history. Violence and persecution by the Roman emperor have them on the run also--but there’s really no place for them to go. It simply looked to them like the world was ending as human violence and cruelty freely devoured anyone and everyone who believed in Jesus Christ.

I suspect that every period of history-including the current one-brings profound challenges to the people living in it. The two scripture passages before us today offer us glimpses into the lives of God’s people during two vastly different historical periods. The threats to their existence in each period are unique to their time. But both periods are marked by great suffering and grief, many good people have suffered and died along the way. Daily life is filled with uncertainty and fear, doubt and despair, threatening to drown all of God’s people.

But God’s people did not drown. Despite all the adversity, suffering, conflict and division the church doesn’t drown in despair and doubt. The wandering Hebrew people eventually enter the promised land as God promised. The convulsions of violence and persecution and mayhem against the church during Revelation ceased.

In every generation God’s people are threatened from without and within but the faith and the church survive. During WW1 and WW2 and after many openly wondered if God was dead. But the faith and the church have survived to endure yet another generational crisis. 

Here in the year 2022 the future of God’s people is uncertain--again. The threats to our existence seem far worse to us than anything our ancestors may have faced--unrestrained gun violence. Racial conflict. Pandemic. Climate change. Long-standing economic and political morals and assumptions and presumptions have all changed. Democracy and governing and voting has changed. Education has changed. It’s hard to think of some aspect of life that has not changed in some fundamental way in recent years. 

In other words the future is uncertain. Again. We don’t yet know how all of this will turn out. Just like the Hebrew people in the wilderness. Just like the disciples and followers of Jesus after Jesus was murdered by authorities. Just like the early church when it appeared all hell broke loose to burn it down.

But the faith and the church have survived every change the world has thrown up. The Church has changed right along with it--that’s what a living breathing organism does. It changes. It adapts. It responds. We don’t know what the church will look like in 20 years or 50 years, or even five or ten years from now.  But no matter what it looks like, rest assured that, as our Hebrew ancestors discovered, and as the first-century church discovered, and as the church all through the ages from its high-water mark of membership to its weakest pulse discovered, the church will survive.

The church has always survived because its survival doesn’t depend upon individual efforts to keep it alive, but rather the church survives because God is in the business of bringing dead things to life.

Above all else, the church will continue because people are still people—every generation proves that we are utterly lost without God. And every generation has witnessed God’s faithful shepherding through what appeared at the time to be the end of the world or the death of the church.  

Because God took on human flesh and bone to become our forever shepherd--the One and Only Shepherd who knows how to navigate through every nook and cranny, every hairpin turn, every Exodus and exile, every sandstorm and hurricane, every change, every crisis, every death, and every end.  “Jesus is the great pioneer in every realm of life.  … The world of things as they are has changed. This means that men and women must learn to live for others. It is only when we can live a life of service that we get our truest joy out of life.”  (Alexander Stuart Baillie, “The Seven Last Words”)

God created us to be spiritual beings. Though our spirit is framed in flesh and blood and bone what keeps us centered in any storm is our spiritual nature … our interior spaciousness.   The things that expand our interior spaciousness are things like silence, meditation, prayer, music, nature, art, worship, poetry, etc.

The less time we spend with those things that expand our interior spaciousness, the more we find ourselves reeling from disorientation, alienation, isolation, anxiety, and our minds detach from our body leaving us fear, jumpy. Whenever our groundedness in the present decreases we lose our bearings. Increasingly, it seems to me, we’re bombarded by hurricane-force winds of change and panic, reacting to events rather than seeking to find refuge in God so that we can keep our hearts open in spite of all the fear and anxiety and uncertainty that compels us to react or become overwhelmed.

The greatest challenge to this generation is to carve out time for our spirit, time for expanding our interior spaciousness so that we may always have access to calm in the present moment where life happens—no matter what is happening in the moment.  The pace of life moves at warp-speed. We don’t take time to process or feel. It’s so easy to immerse ourselves in social media, scrolling the day or the night away, or follow the wall-to-wall coverage of the latest crisis breaking news. We are daily bombarded with information and misinformation nearly everywhere we turn. And so it’s too easy to forget or neglect our heart/spirit and our deepest need to commune with the Lord.

Tara Brach writes “We can find true refuge within our own hearts and minds—right here, right now, in the midst of our moment-to-moment lives. This refuge does not depend on anything outside of ourselves—a certain situation, a person, a cure, even a particular mood or emotion. The yearning for such refuge is universal. It is what lies beneath all our wants and fears. We long to know we can handle what’s coming.  We want to trust ourselves, to trust this life. We want to life from the fullness of who we are.” 1 It seems to me that’s what Jesus came to show us.

“We find true refuge whenever we recognize that silent space of awareness behind all our busy doing and striving.  We find refuge whenever our hearts open (and expand).” We find refuge whenever we connect with our interior spaciousness where we have access to spiritual clarity and wisdom, and to our true nature, our spiritual nature.   

A place of refuge is available no matter where our body is and wherever our mind may have gone. This refuge is always available, even in the present moment where life happens. And that’s because God isn’t out there somewhere, but is right here with you now, not in the abstract, but in the very center of your heart and spirit.  “No matter how challenging the (current) situation, there is always a way to take refuge in a healing and liberating presence,” Brach writes. “This presence is hard to describe because it is an embodied experience, not a concept.  … when I sense the silent, inner wakefulness that is here, I come home to a sense of wholeness. I’m at home in my body and heart, at home in the earth and with all beings. Presence creates a boundless sanctuary where there’s room for everything in life.”

It is the answer to the question nobody is asking but everyone yearns for. It is the kind of presence and joy Jesus came and gave his life to reveal.

Notes

1. This and the other quotes below it, Tara Brach, True Refuge—Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (2013), p.14-16

05-15-2022 Two Kinds of People

Thomas J Parlette
“Two Kinds of People”
Acts 11: 1-18
5/15/22

            If I were to start a sentence with the words, “There are two kinds of people in the world…” how would you finish that sentence?
            There will be some quick witted people out there who would say, “The two kinds of people in the world are those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who do not.”
            To that I would say – good one!
            I think if I were to divide people into two groups, I would say there are rule keepers and rule breakers. Some people just have an internal compulsion to follow the rules, even if those rules might be questionable. There are others who don’t seem content unless they are breaking the rules. I have to admit, I’m probably more of a rule keeper than a breaker.
            There’s an old joke about a little boy named Johnny whose mother had just returned from the grocery store. Johnny pulled a box of animal crackers out of the grocery bag and spread all the crackers out all over the table.
            Mom asked, “What are you doing?”
            And Johnny said, “I’m looking for the seal – it says right here not to eat them if the seal is broken.”(1)
            I’ll give you a second…
            I would say Johnny is a rule keeper. I can respect that. People like him keep society from descending into chaos. But sometimes we follow rules that no longer serve any real purpose. Sometimes our rules only serve to put up walls between ourselves and others. For instance, how many of us – consciously or unconsciously – have rules to decide who is, and who is not acceptable to God?
            Pastor Joe McKeever once shared an experience from his early days in the ministry, back in the late 1970’s. A visitor to one of his church services had said to one of the ushers, “Your Pastor is going to hell.”
            He is? What makes you say that?
            His hair is too long.”
            The usher thought for a moment and asked a follow-up question, “And how long should his hair be?”
            The visitor said, “Ohhh, about like mine.” (2)
            I see – well I guess that figures.
            I suspect that all of us are guilty at times of passing judgment on people who are different from us. We even go as far as to create rules in our heads about who is, and who is not acceptable to God, as if we are God’s bouncers at the church door. We decide who comes in and who gets turned away. We decide who’s on the list – and who isn’t.
            And, to be honest, it’s not a new problem. Our scripture passage today is about the new and growing community of Jesus-followers that sprang up after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus’ apostles were leaders in this young community of faith. They were doing exactly what they thought Jesus called them to do – spread the good news of Jesus as the Savior, beginning with the nation of Israel first. But then somebody broke the rules. Peter, of course, the leader of the Apostles. Peter was guilty of a big no-no. He actually went into a non-Jewish home, ate a meal with those uncircumcised heathens, and shared the message of Jesus with them. What was he thinking?  So when Peter got back to Jerusalem, he faced a mountain of criticism from the Jewish believers.
            It reminds me of a time the famous British pastor, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, once had a woman from his church corner him and just spew out a long list of criticisms at him. Spurgeon just stood there and smiled at her.
            When she paused to take a breath, he responded, “Yes, thank you, I’m quite well. I hope you are the same.”
            The confused woman started over with her long list of criticisms, so Spurgeon responded, “Yes, it does look like it’s going to rain. I think I had better be getting on.”
            At this point, the woman just gave up. As she turned to walk away, she said, “Bless the man, he’s deaf as a post. What’s the use of storming at him.”(3)
            I wish I had the wherewithal to react like Spurgeon when I’m facing criticism. Fortunately, Peter didn’t need to pretend he was deaf when the circumcised believers criticized him. He just told them about the vision he had had.
            Peter had a vision of a large sheet that came down from heaven. In that sheet were all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds, both clean and unclean. In Leviticus 11, we read that God commanded the Hebrew people not to eat certain animals, birds and reptiles as a sign of the holy relationship with God. Peter and the other circumcised believers would never consider breaking this rule. But in Peter’s vision, a voice from heaven commanded him, “Get up, Peter! Kill and eat.”
            Peter protested. “Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” The voice spoke again, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times, and then everything was pulled back up into heaven. Then, as soon as Peter saw this vision, he was approached by men from Caesarea and was asked to come and share the message of Jesus with a Gentile family. What was he to do? When Peter began preaching to the Gentile family, they received the Holy Spirit. Gentiles – received the Holy Spirit! And suddenly the walls that kept Gentiles out of the early church started tumbling down.
            So, Peter shifted from being a bouncer at the doors of the church to being an ambassador instead. Peter ends his story by saying, “So if God gave them the same gift He gave us, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” He was referring, of course, to the gift of the Holy Spirit. If God gave Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter is saying, how could they be excluded from the church?
            This story calls us to consider: Are we withholding the love and truth of Jesus Christ from certain people or certain groups because we think they are unacceptable to God? Are we standing in God’s way, or standing in God’s will? How big is your spiritual family?
            That is what Jesus came to do, after all – to enlarge our spiritual family, to make the circle of the church bigger.
            In the recent movie Belfast, set in Northern Ireland in 1969, Buddy is a nine-year-old Protestant boy who has a crush on a Catholic classmate. This disturbs him, because he knows that is widely frowned on. So he asks his father if he could ever have a future with this girl, and his father gives an inspired answer. He says, “That wee girl can be a practicing Hindu, or a Southern Baptist, or a vegetarian Antichrist. But if she’s kind, and fair, and you two respect each other, she and her people are welcome in our house.”(4)
            A very Christian response, I think – one that lines up well with this story today. The circle just gets bigger.
            Dr. James Forbes, a pastor in New York City, came from a family of 10 children. He grew up in South Carolina, and he tells the story of how his mother would call the Forbes clan to the dinner table each night. Every evening, Mrs. Forbes would stand on the front porch and yell, “Are all the children in? Are all the children in?”
            The meal couldn’t be blessed or eaten until all 10 of the Forbes children had taken their place at the table. As Dr Forbes says, “That is how God calls each and every one of us in the church. “Are all the children in? Are all the children in?”(5)
            That’s the whole reason Jesus came into the world, shared the message of God, and died on the cross – it was to gather all God’s children into the Kingdom of God. And that’s what we are called to do as well.
            This story also calls us to consider how great is God’s grace? Remember, in our passage when Peter first had the vision of the sheet filled with animals, he backed away because some were designated as unclean for God’s people. Then the voice spoke from heaven and said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
            We don’t have the power to make anything clean. We can’t even clean ourselves up enough to qualify for God’s approval. Only the sacrificial death of Jesus is enough to make us clean in God’s eyes. So who are we to stand in judgment of others? Read though the book of Acts and one message is abundantly clear. God’s love and grace is greater than our limitations. God’s plan is greater than our pre-conceived notions.
            The only reasonable response to grace – the unearned, undeserved love of God – is gratitude. Thank God for sending Jesus to defeat the power of death and open the way for us to eternal life. And then, make sure to tell that story as often as we can, in whatever way we can.
            There’s a great old story that you may have heard before about a missionary physician working in the interior regions of mainland China. One day, he performed cataract surgery on a blind man. For the first time in years, the man could see clearly, and he was overjoyed.
            A few weeks later, the previously blind man returned to the missionary compound. But this time, he was not alone. He came dragging a long rope and holding on to this long rope were more than 50 men, women and children – all of them blind. Some had come from as far as 250 miles away, journeying through the wilderness, holding on to the rope for guidance. The healed man wasn’t just grateful for his own healing; he was determined to lead as many people out of the darkness as he could.(6)
            And that’s exactly what Peter and the apostles were called to do when they shared the message of God with the Gentiles – make the circle bigger and lead as many people out of darkness as possible.
            And that’s what we are called to do as well – share the good news of God’s love, grace and forgiveness – whatever way we can.
            In southern California, there is a desert region called Imperial Valley. Sometime in the 1980’s, a man named Leonard Knight moved to Imperial Valley. Leonard was a welder and handyman from Vermont. He was also a Korean War vet. Sometime in his life, he became a follower of Jesus. His philosophy in life became, “Love Jesus and keep it simple.” So Leonard packed up a few belongings in his old truck and moved out into the California desert to fulfill a calling he felt was from God.
            Leonard didn’t have many resources, but he had a dream to share God’s love with the world. So he began gathering adobe clay and paint and various other items. And he slowly began building a monument to God’s love. Over a thirty-year period, Leonard added more clay and straw and other items to the monument, until it took the shape of a man-made mountain 50 feet tall and 150 feet wide. Leonard named his monument “Salvation Mountain.” On it, he painted Bible verses and prayers and birds and flowers and stars. On top of Salvation Mountain is a large white cross, and underneath the cross, in huge red and pink letters, are the words “God is Love.” In fact, the word “love” is prominently displayed all over the mountain. And just as Leonard had hoped, thousands of people have come from all over the country to visit Salvation Mountain.(7)
            In 2002, Senator Barbara Boxer entered Salvation Mountain into the Congressional Record as a national treasure.
            Leonard Knight understood that God’s family is huge and God’s grace is great, and he wanted to invite everyone to God’s party. So he created a giant, man-made mountain with the sole purpose of telling people about God’s love.
            So it seems that for Peter, the two kinds of people in the world are bouncers, who look for ways to keep people out of God’s kingdom, and ambassadors, who seek to make the circle bigger and invite more people into the kingdom.
            May we all be known as welcoming ambassadors for the Kingdom of God. May God be praised. Amen.

1.      Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No, 2, p13.
2.      Ibid… p13.
3.      Ibid… p14.
4.      Sarah Scherschlight, Christian Century, May 4th, 2022, p22.
5.      Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No.2, p15
6.      Ibid… p16.
7.      Ibid… p16.

05-08-2022 An Epitaph of Excellence

Thomas J Parlette
“An Epitaph of Excellence”
Acts 9: 36-43
5/8/22

            Good morning, and happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers, grandmothers and mother-figures out there this morning. Parents, both mom and dads, have the hardest and most important job in the world. Shaping the next generation takes a lot of love, sacrifice and perseverance. It’s not easy, and it’s often thankless.
            In a TikTok video, a woman named Nicole DeRoy explains one of the challenges of motherhood. She says, “My kids wanted to know what it was like being a mom, so I woke them up at 2:00 a.m. to let them know my sock came off.”
            Another woman on Twitter wrote, “Parenting is 70% me yelling, 20% asking the kids why they’re yelling, and 10% trying to find where I left my coffee.(1)
            Speaking of misplacing coffee, here’s one mom’s “Recipe for iced coffee.” She writes, “Have kids… Make coffee… Forget you made coffee…… Put it in the microwave… Forget you put it in the microwave… And finally.. Drink it cold.”(2)
            Yes, there a lot of sacrifices that come with being a parent and especially a mom. So it’s good to take a day to appreciate what all the mother-figures do in our lives.
            I don’t think you can overestimate the influence of a parent on a child’s sense of compassion – and compassion is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Compassion is concern for the suffering of others. It’s an active response to another person’s pain. Compassion is at the heart of scripture passage for today.
            Elton Trueblood, former chaplain at Harvard and Stanford Universities, once shared a letter from a young woman he knew. She wrote, “I’ve often realized that it takes courage to care and be compassionate. Caring is dangerous. It leaves you open to hurt and to looking like a fool… I have found many places in my life where I keep a secret store of indifference as a sort of self-protection.”(3) A secret store of indifference – interesting. I wonder, how many of us have a store like that.
            Maybe that’s why the world seems less compassionate, less caring these days. Perhaps we have lost the courage to care. Maybe it’s true that we all have a secret store of indifference as a protection mechanism.
            These are some of the questions that flow from our passage for today. Today we meet a remarkable disciple of Jesus named Tabitha. “In Joppa there was disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.”
            Someone once wrote that a truly great life can be summed up in just a few words, an epitaph of excellence. That was true in Tabitha’s case – as the scripture says “she was devoted to good works and acts of charity.” A wonderful epitaph indeed.
            Sadly, however, Tabitha died, evidently before her time. The other disciples in Joppa were so upset that they sent for Peter to come to them from a nearby town. As you no doubt recall, after Jesus’ death, Peter became a key leader among the 12 apostles.
            When Peter got to Tabitha’s house, he was taken upstairs to the room where they had laid her body. Among the mourners in that upper room was a group of widows. Widows and orphans were the neediest members of society in Jesus’ day. They were completely dependent on the help and compassion of others. Without help, many of the widows would have to turn to begging in order to survive.
            All the widows stood around Peter weeping and showing him all the things that Tabitha had made for them, no doubt telling him stories about her kindness and compassion. It was obvious that Tabitha had cared deeply for the widow’s needs. And she showed her compassion by making them clothing. She saw a practical need and she filled it.
            So, having listened to the women sharing about the kind of person Tabitha was, Peter sent them all out of the room, and he prayed for Tabitha. And then he said simply, “Tabitha, get up.” And Tabitha, whose body had already been washed and prepared for burial, opened her eyes and sat up! I can see why Peter cleared the room first – that would have been overwhelming to see. And of course, everyone was amazed, and soon word spread around the whole town of Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
            Quite a story about Peter and Tabitha. Living like Tabitha lived – living with love and compassion for others, just like Christ lived, is the best way to live as a disciple of Jesus. A life of compassion is the key to living a fulfilling, faithful life.
            Notice that Tabitha lived with a sense of purpose. A sad thing is that so many people live with no real purpose at all for their lives.
            Charles Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship, had a healthy perspective on living a life of purpose. He was once a powerful attorney and political adviser to President Nixon. He was also involved in the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon’s impeachment and eventual resignation. Colson spent seven months in prison for his role in Watergate. He suffered a loss of power, prestige and wealth. But, as a result, he became a Christian while he was in prison, and this gave him a new purpose in life. Subsequently, he founded an international prison ministry and wrote more than 30 books. He also became a popular speaker. He donated the proceeds from his book sales and speaking engagements to his ministry, Prison Fellowship. Charles Colson discovered what it meant to give up a life of power for a life of purpose.
            Colson once noted that his hometown of Naples, Florida, is one of the best spots in the country for golf. He would see all these wealthy CEO’s retire from their big corporations and move to Naples so they could spend all their time golfing.
            But a strange thing would happen in their retirement. These CEO’s would begin measuring their days by how many rounds of golf they could play. Colson asked some of these CEO’s, “Do you really want to live your life counting up the number of times you chase that little white ball around the green?”
            And he said that these guys would laugh nervously at the question. But after a few months of golfing, he could see in their eyes that they were becoming bored. Purposeless. They had discovered that there is no real joy in just playing golf every day. What looked like freedom and pleasure to them had become meaningless.
            Colson writes, “The object of life is not what we think it is, which is to achieve money, power and pleasure… The object of life is the maturing of the soul, and you reflect that maturing of the soul when you care more for other people that yourself.”(4)
            Tabitha, a disciple of Jesus, cared for others. She understood that God had given her particular skills and resources she could use for good works. She had the skill of sewing that she could use to provide for the poor and for the widows. A good example for us all – an epitaph of excellence.
            The best way to find a fulfilling life is to translate compassion into action. Jesus’ ministry didn’t consist of simply telling hurting people, “I’ll pray for you.” Now there is nothing wrong with telling people you will pray for them. That can be very helpful… if you really mean it… and if you follow through with it. But there some people who tell others that they will pray for them who simply use that as a substitute for doing anything else to help the person who is in need.
            That was not Jesus’ way. Jesus never even told anyone to go to church to find the answers for their needs. Instead, he went to them. He went to the marketplaces and into people’s homes. He preached to crowds in the countryside. He went where the needs were, and he took action to heal the hurts right in front of him.
            I’m sure we’ve all seen the stories of how domestic violence rose through the total lockdown phase of the pandemic. Most of us feel great sympathy for victims of domestic violence, but few of us take direct action to improve the situation. However, there was a Polish high school student named Krystyna who used her skills and resources to get help for people in dangerous home situations.
            She set up a fake online cosmetics store. You might wonder – how does that help anyone? Well here’s how it works. A woman shopping on this site could place an order that was actually a request for help without alerting her partner to her actions. If a woman placed her order and typed in an address, that is a sign she needs a visit from the local authorities. Since the websites launch, this creative site has helped over 350 women and girls get the help they need.(5)
            That’s a wonderfully simple, and creative and compassionate response to an aching need. Jesus would be pleased.
            Tabitha, this caring and compassionate disciple of Jesus, lived a fulfilling life. She had a sense of purpose. She translated her compassion into action. And because of the kind of life she lived, she will continue to live forever in our scripture.
            What a legacy Tabitha left us. As long as the Gospel story is told, Tabitha will be remembered. – “She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.” That truly is an epitaph of excellence.
            May God be praised. Amen.

1.      Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p8.
2.      Ibid… p8.
3.      Ibid… p8.
4.      Ibid… p9-10.
5.      Ibid… p10.

05-01-2022 A Dangerous Misunderstanding

Thomas J Parlette
“A Dangerous Misunderstanding”
Acts 9:1-20
5/1/22

       Can you remember the last misunderstanding you had with someone? You said one thing, they heard something different, and the result was a mess. It may seem funny when you look back on it – but in the moment, it can be very frustrating.
       A man named Norm Williams shared a misunderstanding he had at his local library when he requested copies of two books by author Deborah Tannen. Tannen is a communication researcher. One of her most popular books is titled That’s Not What I Meant. Another popular one is called You Just Don’t Understand. Williams went to his local library and asked the librarian to check the availability of those two books.
       “And what’s the first book,” asked the librarian.
       “That’s Not What I Meant.”
       “Well, what did you mean?”
       “No, that’s the title of the book.”
       “OK, and the other book?”
       “You Just Don’t Understand.”
       “Excuse me?” said the confused librarian.
       It took awhile of sounding like the Abbott and Costello routine, but Williams finally got his books(1)
       Misunderstandings can be frustrating, and yet amusing. But they can also be dangerous. Such is the case in our scripture passage for this morning. It revolves around a young Pharisee named Saul who misunderstood the nature of God, and this resulted in tragic consequences for the new community of Christians known as The Way.
       We are introduced to Saul here in Acts 9 with the words, “Meanwhile, Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…”
       That kind of says it all about Saul at this point – “breathing threats and murder…” It’s not like you could read that sentence and say, “I’m sure he’s got some good qualities. I could still hang out with him.” No- I don’t think so. After reading this one sentence, you would probably un-friend Saul on Facebook and block him on Twitter.
       Many years ago, some political pollster came up with the craziest measure for choosing a presidential candidate. It was the “who would you rather have a beer with?” poll. Every four years, some organization polls the American voters all this all-important question: which Presidential candidate would you rather have a beer with?”
       Clearly, Saul would have lost that kind of poll.
       Saul was a member of the Pharisees, a religious group that advocated a strict interpretation of Old Testament law, especially the laws of purity. Saul’s mission in life was to protect the purity of Judaism by destroying what he saw as the heretical cult of Jesus-followers known as The Way. In verse two of our passage, it is noted that Saul went to the high priest and asked for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to The Way, whether men or women, he might take them prisoner and bring them back to Jerusalem. Here is where the dangerous misunderstanding comes in.
       Saul did not believe he was an evil person; Saul’s fellow Pharisees didn’t think so either. No, in Saul’s mind, he was doing God’s work. But God obviously disagreed, and wanted to correct Saul’s misunderstanding of the situation.
       Steven Weinberg, a theoretical physicist and recipient of a Nobel Prize in Physics, once said, “With or without religion, good people can behave well, and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil – that takes religion.”(2)
       I don’t want to believe that’s true – but I suppose there’s something to it. People can do some evil things in the name of religion. That certainly was the case for Saul. Saul thought he was doing God’s work by persecuting Jesus’ followers.
       But on the way to Damascus, Saul was confronted by a bright light flashing all around him.  A voice spoke to him, asking: “Why are you persecuting me.”
       “Who are you,” said Saul.
       “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now go to Damascus, and I will tell you what to do.”
       So the men traveling with him, who heard the voice but saw no one, led him by the hand to Damascus, because he could not see anything.
       This well-known story of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus shows us what kind of God we believe in. I hope you can see how messed up Saul’s mission had become. His primary motivation for persecuting Christians wasn’t hatred or destruction. His primary motivation for hunting down and arresting the followers of Jesus was his desire to serve God. A dangerous misunderstanding. Serving God, whose very nature is love, by persecuting and killing innocent people. On the road to Damascus, Saul needed to confront his entire approach to life. He needed to see that any mission that isn’t aligned with the heart and will of Jesus, isn’t from God.
       A mission that is divorced from the heart and will of Jesus may have noble intentions and yet bring about tragic results. Such a mission will drive people further from God rather than draw people to God. Saul’s faith wasn’t in God; it was in the misunderstanding of the kind of god God is. Saul served the law – not the Lord, Our God is not about rules and laws, but rather grace and love. We Christians can be just as short-sighted and destructive if we don’t align our lives with the heart and will of Jesus.
       I like what Pastor Robert C. Roberts once wrote on the subject. He said, “There’s something comfortable about reducing Christianity to a list of do’s and don’ts… you always know where you stand, and this helps reduce anxiety. It has the advantage that you don’t need wisdom. You don’t have to think subtly or make hard choices. You don’t have to relate personally to a demanding and loving Lord.”(3)
       Too many Christians are passionate about the laws of God – but completely miss the love of God, the grace of and forgiveness of God. For Saul, that began to change on the road to Damascus.
       This passage also demonstrates who Jesus is and how he expects his followers to live. The only way to understand our own identity and purpose is to understand the character and will of God. And the best way to understand the character and will of God is to look to Jesus. God in the flesh. In Jesus, we don’t see an angry, condemning, punishing God. No, we see a man who ate with sinners and welcomed outsiders and loved the least, the last, the lost and the lonely, who extends grace, forgiveness and love instead of judgement. That is the kind of life that is in tune with the heart of God.
       There is a well-known quote from writer Anne Lamott that I like to turn to now and again. She writes, “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” That’s a real danger for Christians- for anyone really- the desire to create God in our own image. It’s so easy to take Bible passages out of context, or to assume that God hates the same people or issues we hate. It’s so easy to think that our anger somehow honors God, or pleases God. It doesn’t. In the book of James we read, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” Another lesson Saul learned on the road to Damascus.
       So – How does this dangerous misunderstanding get cleared up? We get an answer to that in the verses of Chapter 9 that our lectionary puts in parentheses.
       When we read this story about the road to Damascus, we usually focus our attention on the pyrotechnics – the bright, flashing light, the voice of Jesus and Saul’s three days of blindness. It is very dramatic. But the lectionary labels verses 7-20 as optional, in parentheses, when they are actually a big part of the story. In those verses, we meet the supporting actors in this conversion story. First, Saul’s traveling companions lead him the rest of the way to Damascus. Then we meet the Jesus follower Ananias. To be clear, this Ananias is not the one from the Old Testament, or the one associated with Sapphira who runs into difficulty over finances. This Ananias was likely a refugee from Jerusalem. He skipped town when Saul was persecuting and killing Jesus’ followers there and he found a safe refuge in Damascus.
       When Ananias heard that Saul of Tarsus had come to Damascus – he was understandably concerned and probably more than a little frightened. But at the Lord’s direction, he took him in, baptized him and guided him through Jesus teachings. Ananias and the rest of the early Christian community in Damascus helped guide Saul on the way to becoming the Apostle Paul – our most influential Christian theologian.
       Some of the best stories in the Bible are those in the parentheses. The unsung, overlooked, supporting actors who make it possible for the heroes of the Bible to fulfill their purpose. Ananias and the disciples in Damascus are surely some of those supporting actors.
       “It takes a village to raise a child” is the African proverb made widely known by Hillary Clinton. That proverb holds true for raising Christians as well. Think about your own faith journey, or your own professional journey – who were the supporting actors who helped you on your way. Who were the people guided you and taught you in your early days. If you sit down with any pillar of the church or successful business person, it won’t take long before they are talking to you about the people who supported them, taught them and guided them along the way. So who has been there for you in your own challenging times.
       Today, we are taking some time in our worship service to express our thanks and gratitude for those who work in the healthcare field. It’s been a rough few years for everyone in the healthcare community and their families. But without their skills and sacrifices, support and guidance – we would not be in the more positive position we are in today.
       So will you join me in A Prayer for our Healthcare Community printed in your bulletin…

1.  Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII No. 2, p3.
2.  Ibid… p4.
3.  Ibid… p4.

04-24-2022 Here to Stay

Jay Rowland
“Here to Stay”
Acts 5:27-40

April 24,2022 Easter 2C

Here to Stay

There’s an old saying, “it takes a thief to catch a thief.” 

Sometimes it can take a thief to prove someone is NOT a thief too. 

Exhibit A: the late Charles Colson. Some may remember Colson was in President Richard Nixon’s inner circle (Special Counsel to the President). Colson is an early example proving that while mistakes and even crimes by government officials are bad enough, lying or trying to cover it up always makes the consequences more severe. But rather than admitting guilt and taking responsibility, Colson like many other government types before and after him, figured he could successfully lie and deny his way around the truth. News flash: it didn’t work and Colson was convicted and imprisoned for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up—including obstruction of justice.

In prison Colson obviously had a lot of free time on his hands. Apparently, he decided to pass some of the time reading the Bible. When he read the New Testament and the Gospel Colson had an epiphany—a conversion experience. His experience in the Watergate cover-up convinced him that the New Testament witness to the resurrection was valid.  He later wrote that people involved in a lie, in a fraud, in a cover-up will eventually succumb to the pressure and tell the truth. Very few people, Colson explained, are willing to suffer for very long in defense of a lie. Very few people are willing to let their family members and friends suffer long in defense of a lie. And very, very few people are willing to die for a lie.

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

When Peter and his fellow disciples make it clear that they will not be intimidated by religious authorities (Sanhedrin) or by Roman authorities, a certain wise rabbi felt compelled to speak.

The rabbi’s name is Gamaliel. 

After Peter’s speech, Gamaliel looks around the room at his peers and sees the wrath in their eyes. He knows Peter and his merry band of apostles are either going to the dungeon or something worse.

For some reason, he feels compelled to intervene and speak his mind. Gamaliel's speech is one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. It explains how, in spite of very long odds, a bunch of nobodies entrusted to carry on Jesus’ message after his death succeeded. Let’s hear it again with slightly different wording:

“Distinguished colleagues, let’s all take a moment—let’s take some deep breaths and calm down. It seems to me we’re all suffering from amnesia. We’ve seen all this before.  Many times. Remember Theudas? How about Judas the Galilean? These zealots are the latest in a long line of failures. 

“We know how this goes: charismatic personality catches lightning in a bottle; word quickly spreads; people desperate for someone to lead the uprising that finally kicks the Romans out of Jerusalem and Israel get all worked up and ready to go.

“ … until the Romans arrest the big personality with the Big Ideas. Then what? We all know what happens next, right? Every … Single … Time:

 “Crickets. Silence. Nothing.  Oh, but what about those excited crowds?

“We know what: when the Romans flex their imperial muscles and start killing people, the crowds instantly disappear.

“And that’s the end of it until another sweet-talking, big-promising, charismatic catches lightning in a bottle and the process repeats all over again. 

“Right? C’mon you guys! You all completely forgot about Theudas until I said his name just now. So listen: if this Peter fellow and a few Jesus-people want to start some cult based on a ridiculous story of resurrection—let them try. Nobody cares about that. The agitators only want a messiah to wage holy war against Rome and restore Israel to prominence. Let them do what they want—one way or another it will fail just like every other atttempt. 

“But also hear me out on this: if all this Jesus business truly IS of God, then we don’t want to be on the wrong side of it.

“So our wisest course of action is let them go, let this end exactly the way all the other movements ended.”

Gamaliel was persuasive.  He was able to calm down his colleagues from their highly agitated and reactive state. In the process he helped his them think this through. What he said made sense.

So they let Peter and everyone go … with strict orders to stop talking about Jesus … or else!  (which they knew wasn’t going to happen)

Luke, the writer of Acts quickly adds that the apostles left there with joy. Not because they beat the system or pulled a fast one—remember they were all flogged before they were released.  No the joy Luke reports they felt had nothing to do with what happened and everything to do with Jesus. Jesus told them the violence and wrath of the world would rise up against them, just like what happened to Jesus himself … because that’s what human authority and power always do.  And so that out-of-place description of joy came over them every time there was violent opposition to their testimony. Every time chaos and terror threatened to devour them, they felt close to Jesus, they felt Jesus deep in their bones.

Remember: they saw Jesus die a gruesome and violent death.

These followers of Jesus are not naive. They are not deceived. They know full well what they’re in for as they continue to teach about Jesus and proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection!

They aren’t defiantly proclaiming the Resurrection of Jesus because they think people will instantly support them or because they think that if they do God will make the Romans magically disappear. 

The only way a bunch of average folk like the apostles would do what they did--knowing what it would cost them--is because after they witnessed Jesus’ awful death, they also witnessed Jesus’ resurrection.

… the resurrection wasn’t magic

… it wasn’t a theological premise

… it wasn’t a fairy tale

… it wasn’t an opiate for the masses. 

 And, just as Charles Colson realized after he landed in prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up: people involved in a lie, in a fraud, in a cover-up will eventually succumb to the pressure and tell the truth.

People will not suffer long in defense of a lie.

People are not willing to let their family and friends suffer long in defense of a lie.

People are not willing to die for a lie. 

(Many people do die for a lie, but more often than not it happens against their will.)

Ordinary people like the apostles and the first no-name followers of Jesus don’t sign up for arrest and beatings and certain death for a lie or a theological premise.  Or a fairy tale. Or an escape from reality.

You don’t sign up for that unless you know that arrests and beatings and the reality of certain death are no match for the Risen Christ.

Only Resurrection could provoke in Peter and a few dozen others the courage it takes to face the wrath of violence and rejection they knew they were in for. In the face of all the blowback and all the threats breathing violence on them from every authority with leverage over them, they refused to keep silent about Jesus’ Resurrection.

The more fierce the violence and the danger, the more they clung to the truth that Jesus’ love is stronger than death.

Fast-forward to the year 2022. Gamaliel was proven correct on two counts:

1 -- if the Jesus “cult” was not of God it would have died on the cross with Jesus.  And …

2 --if God truly was in Jesus, no person or group of people will be able to sabotage the power of Jesus’ Resurrection or erase it from human history.

Even though Jesus was executed in a remote little occupied territory in the shadow of the Mighty Roman Empire, and even though Jesus’ death and resurrection was remembered by a only handful of ordinary people,

They know what they saw and they refused to keep quiet or shut up about it upon risk of death or worse.. And so because of them, and because of God,

 … here we are some 2000 or so years later!

And in spite of all the crazy going on in the world, here we are again today the Sunday after Easter Sunday!

Sure it looks and feels different here and in other churches today, but that’s okay.

Because even though this week there are plenty of places to sit …

And even though sometimes it seems like people are sleepwalking their way past the church and faith community ...

What Gamaliel said is still as true today as it was last week and as it was when he said it more than 2000 years ago: “If this Jesus thing is of God it is here to stay.”

That’s Good News to embrace on this Sunday after Easter 2022:

Jesus and his Resurrection Church are HERE TO STAY …

… as the pandemic continues to disrupt and confuse and frighten and divide;

Jesus and his Resurrection Church are HERE TO STAY …

… as Putin and Russia continue to pretend there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing in Ukraine;

Jesus and his Resurrection Church are HERE TO STAY …

… as the climate crisis countdown continues like a ticking bomb and elected leaders argue about science and individual rights …

Jesus and his Resurrection Church are HERE TO STAY …

… as churches in the 21st century learn new ways to testify to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

My hope, my life and my sanity are rooted in the basic message Gamaliel declared to his skeptical colleagues back in ancient Jerusalem: If this whole Jesus thing is of God it is HERE TO STAY.”

I am grateful for and acknowledge Scott Hoezee from the Center for Excellence in Preaching for the ideas shared in this sermon. https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2022-04-18/acts-527-32-3/ 

Acts 5:27-40 NRSV

[The disciples were brought in to] stand before the council. The high priest [addressed] them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,[a] yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.”

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.[b] The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted [Jesus] to God’s right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. Then he said to them,  “Fellow Israelites,[c] consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”

They were convinced by him, and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

Acts 5:27-40 Footnotes

[a] Other ancient authorities read Did we not give you strict orders not to teach in this name?

[b] Gk than men

[c] Gk Men, Israelites

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

04-17-2022 Mary on the Run

Thomas J Parlette
“Mary on the Run”
John 20: 1-18
4/17/22, Easter

                When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance – what did she do?
                She ran!
                Mary ran to Simon Peter and to John, the one referred to as “the one whom Jesus loved.” Then the two men ran back to the tomb, with John outrunning Peter. Don’t be misled into thinking Easter morning was a quiet, reflective time of contemplation. It was anything but! Easter is a morning full emotion, intensity and action!
                Very similar to the morning of a marathon.
                Tomorrow morning will be like that for the runners taking part in the 2022 Boston Marathon. On Monday, April 18th, thousands of runners will line up in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and run into Boston.
                Did you know that exactly 50 years ago today, April 17th, 1972, the Boston Marathon started allowing women to compete. Nina Kuscik emerged from the field to win the women’s race, and all eight of the female runners entered completed the 26.2 mile course.
                The Boston Marathon didn’t officially have a place for women for 75 years. They were underestimated, ignored and shut out – one running coach believed the distance was too much for what he called “fragile” women. But then Roberta Gibb became the first woman to run the full Boston Marathon in 1966. She couldn’t get an official race number, so she hid in the bushes and jumped into the race when it started.
                The next year, Kathrine Switzer registered as K.V. Switzer, not identifying herself as a woman. When she began to run, race officials tried to remove her from the marathon. One of them frightened her, grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to rip off her bib number, but her boyfriend shoved the man to the ground, and she finished the race in about 4 hours and 20 minutes.
                Only when the Amateur Athletics Union accepted women into long-distance running did Boston open the race to women. Now, of course, women are running in Boston every year, as well as in marathons all over the world.(1)
                Just as 1972 was a turning point for female marathoners, Easter morning was a moment of truth for the followers of Jesus. Until then, Mary Magdalene wasn’t mentioned much in the Gospel of John. The only clear report is that there were three Mary’s standing near the cross of Jesus - his mother Mary, his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
                Obviously, the name Mary was very common among Jewish women of that time, and John tells a number of stories about another Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.
                But suddenly, Mary Magdalene slips into the race. Like Roberta Gibb, popping out of the bushes, or Katherine Switzer, running as K.V. Switzer, Mary Magdalene makes a dramatic appearance. Early on the first day of the week, while it is still dark, Mary comes to the tomb. She is the first of the followers of Jesus to make the trip. She arrives before Simon Peter… before John… before any of the other men. Like a woman training for a marathon, she hits the road early, and Mary is on the run!
                What Mary sees is that the stone had been removed from the tomb. This discovery upsets her, since she assumes that grave robbers have been at work. So she runs back to Simon Peter and John and tells them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.” Notice that she calls Jesus “the Lord” and she says that ‘we don’t know where they have laid him.’ By calling Jesus “the Lord” and using the plural “we,” she is identifying herself as part of the community of Jesus followers. So clearly, there were more than 12 disciples, and not all of them were men.
                Beth Moore is one of the most effective Bible teachers in the Christian community, especially among women. She has spoken at big-name evangelical churches, and her studies can be found everywhere. In fact, a leader of the Southern Baptist Convention has said that it would be hard to find a church “where at least some segment of the congregation has not been through at least one Beth Moore study” And this is in a denomination known for its predominately male leadership.
                But now, Moore has been transformed, “The old way is over,” she says. “The stakes are too high.” She is appalled by the sexual misconduct in the world of politics and the church. She is adamant that Christian men should always treat women exactly as Jesus did: “always with dignity, always with esteem, never as secondary citizens.”(2)
                Jesus treated Mary Magdalene with dignity and esteem, never as second-class. And I would argue that that seems to be the attitude of Peter and John here in John’s Gospel.
                In Luke, the women’s story was dismissed as an idle tale, but not here in John. Here, Mary’s story is taken seriously. And now it’s the men’s turn to get in the race. Peter and John race each other to the tomb, with John arriving first. John looks in and sees the linen wrappings, but he doesn’t go in. When Peter gets there, huffing and puffing from the run, he enters the tomb and sees both the wrappings and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head. Strangely, the cloth is rolled up in a place by itself. Perhaps a clue that this was no grave robbery. Why would a grave robber take the time to roll up and cloth and carefully set it aside?
                Finally, John enters the tomb and the gospel says that he “saw and believed.” That is a curious phrase, isn’t it? It leaves us wondering exactly what he saw and what he believed. Perhaps he saw that the tomb was indeed empty, and he believed the truth of Mary’s story. That may have been enough for him at that moment. He heard Mary’s story, and he believed her.
                Now it’s probably true that John did not yet believe that Jesus had conquered death. For us, it seems pretty self-evident what happened. We rattle off our beliefs quite easily. The tomb was empty, Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and gives us eternal life. As modern Christians, all that rolls off our tongues pretty easily. But there are actually a number of belief steps there. For now, John just believes that something happened, alright. Mary’s right - Jesus’ body is gone. But what that means is not clear yet. We need the rest of the story in order to understand.
                At this point though, it’s enough to see the empty tomb and believe. Then Peter and John return to their homes. They are done running, for now.
                But Mary, even though she is weeping, dos not drop out of the marathon. Looking into the tomb, she sees two angels in white and tells them she is weeping because someone has taken away her Lord. A moment later, she turns and sees a man that she assumes is the gardener, and says, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” For Mary, Easter morning begins not with joy, but with weeping and struggle.
                If you are feeling that same way, don’t lose heart. Hang in there, just like Mary did. She is hitting her Heartbreak Hill at mile 20 of the Boston Marathon. It is natural to struggle with doubt and uncertainty, especially when you are being challenged by something you have never encountered before.
                Then Jesus announces himself to her, “Mary!” he says. She turns and says “Rabbouni”, which means “teacher.” In the middle of her pain and struggle, Jesus sees her for who she is. The very same is true for all of us. Wherever you are on the marathon of your faith development, Jesus sees you and recognizes you. All you have to do is respond, and let Jesus be your teacher.
                Finally, Jesus sends her. He says to Mary, “Go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” He is saying to her – run Mary, run! The race isn’t over yet. So she does, and she announces to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she tells them what Jesus said to her.
                Mary crosses the finish line as the very first Apostle – a word which literally means “one who is sent off.” Although she had been struggling at mile 20, she flies past mile 26.2, carrying forward the message that she has seen the risen Jesus. Easter is the anniversary of women on a mission, but it’s significance goes far beyond gender. Easter is an invitation to men and women to run together. Whatever our gender, we are people who are equally recognized by Jesus, and equally sent off to be his people in the world. We are the ones sent to announce “Christ is Risen.”
                For more than 1400 years, a Cathedral dedicated to St. Paul has stood at the highest point in the City of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of this great city with so many historic sites.
                St. Paul’s was designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London destroyed an earlier cathedral that stood on the same site.
                Before work could begin on the new cathedral, the remains of the old cathedral had to be cleared away. Once the site had been cleared and the necessary measurements taken, Wren asked a workman to bring a stone to mark the center of the new building. By pure chance, the worker handed Wren part of a gravestone from the old cathedral. On the stone was the inscription RESURGAM, which means, “I shall rise again.”
                Sir Christopher Wren was so moved that the words “I shall rise again” should appear on that stone strictly by chance, that he had the word RESURGAM engraved on the exterior of the new cathedral, where it can be seen today above the great south door.(3)
                Jesus had tried many times to tell his disciples before his death on the cross that he would rise again. But they didn’t understand.
                So today, we are called to announce to the world the bedrock of our faith – “Christ is Risen, He has risen indeed!”
                Would you join me in the Festival of Resurrection printed in your bulletin….

1. Homileticsonline.com. retrieved 4/2/22.
2. Ibid…
3, Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p73.

04-10-2022 A Donkey Named Christopher

Thomas J Parlette
“A Donkey Named Christopher”
Luke 19: 28-40
4/10/22

            One of the most unsung heroes of Hollywood are the background animals. They used to be thought of as cheap and disposable props on the movie sets of the 1920’s and 30’s. As films were being made, horses were shocked, tripped, and forced to run into trenches. Wires were strung around their ankles and then yanked by the rider to make the horse fall on cue. Six horses were killed during the filming of Ben- Hur in 1924, and 25 were killed or euthanized during The Charge of the Light Brigade in 1935.
            But then an organization called “American Humane” got into the act and opened a Hollywood office to enforce some standards for the protection of animals.
            In the 1950’s, American Humane sponsored the first of an annual PATSY award ceremony. The Performing Animal Top Star of the Year is the Academy Award for animal actors. Francis the Talking Mule was the first PATSY winner in 1951, and later awards were given to Roy Roger’s horse Trigger; Arnold the Pig from Green Acres; Lassie, of course, multiple times. Flipper had a good run; as did Mister Ed – of course, of course; Benji; Ben the Bear from Gentle Ben; and Morris the Cat from the TV commercials.(1)
            I like to think that if the Performing Animal Top Star of the Year award had been around in first century Jerusalem, the donkey that carried Jesus certainly would have been a strong contender for the top prize.
            Luke tells us that Jesus sends two of his disciples into the village of Bethphage to fetch a colt. “If anyone questions you,” he says, “just tell them ‘The Lord needs it.’” And Jesus rides into Jerusalem on this donkey.
            Those of you paying close attention to the reading might have noticed that Luke doesn’t say anything about palms, or even leafy branches. No, on this Sunday – nicknamed “Palm Sunday” – they are absent from Luke’s telling. Instead, the people lay their cloaks on the rode instead, but no palms.
            You also might have noticed that the shouts from the crowd are a little different than we expect. Luke does not mention “Hosannas.” In his story, the people offer their blessing – but not hosannas. The words of the story may be slightly different from the other Gospels, but the effect is the same, Jesus rides a colt into the Jerusalem at the beginning of the Passover festivities. As for the colt, the donkey plays his role as intended. We can actually learn a lot about serving Christ from this modest donkey.
            Now, I know most people don’t consider it a compliment being compared to a donkey. Consider the story of Lloyd George who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916-1922. One day Lloyd George was giving a political speech before a big crowd and a heckler yelled out, “Wait a minute, Mr. George. Isn’t it true that your grandfather used to peddle tinware around here in an oxcart hauled by a donkey?” – which of course drew some big laughs from the crowd.
            But George replied, “I digress just a moment and thank the gentleman for calling that to my attention. It is true, my dear old grandfather used to peddle tinware around with an old cart and a donkey. As a matter of fact, after this meeting is over, if my friend will come with me, I will show him that old cart – but I never knew until this minute what became of the donkey.”(2)       
            Touche!
            But when you consider this story, I think you’ll see there is much we can learn from this donkey.
            After all, the disciples are not particularly good Palm Sunday role models for us. They may stand with Jesus now, but in a matter of days one will betray him, another will deny him and the rest will get into an argument about who would be the greatest in the kingdom. In fact, this whole trip made them nervous, what with Jesus talking about death and suffering, and with visions of regime change disappearing like a mist in the wind. They’re falling off the bandwagon faster than a blind roofer, as the old saying goes. They had seen a lot, done a lot, listened a lot – but in the end, when Jesus gives them the faith test, the final exam, it turns out they’re not much more than a bunch of hangers on with not much of a clue.
            I suppose that could describe a lot of us. We’ve followed Jesus for years. We’ve sat in church, we’ve dropped our money in the plate, we’ve taught a class here and there, so we think we’ve done our part. Although some of us no doubt have made it to the cross, some of us have endured the fires of suffering and embraced the faith test and passed it convincingly – there are also many of us who don’t know it’s like to follow Jesus into the storm, or we’ve bailed out as the clouds started to gather. No, the disciples are not quite the ideal role models we’re looking for on this Palm Sunday.
            And neither are the crowds. They might be worse than the disciples. They’re curious, but not committed. In fact, their loyalties can be bought and sold. They’re shouting their blessings today, but soon they will reject Jesus and call for his death. New Testament scholar Eugene Boring points out that the members of the crowd know the truth about Jesus but they cannot bring themselves to do the truth.(3) They are like college students who earn an “A” in a course on ethics … but still flunk life when they fail to live by those ethics they learned so well.
            Even today, Jesus can still draw a crowd. His picture pops up on our news feeds twice a year, Easter and Christmas. People will flock to what Rex Miller, in his book The Millennium Matrix, calls “celebration” churches, where people can see a show – choreographed and stage-produced, with fancy lighting, great costumes and loud music.(4) Still, not the best role models for this Palm Sunday.
            Perhaps we can turn to our religious leaders. I don’t think so. They had more than their share of draw backs. They were corrupt, mean-spirited and jealous. When Lazarus was raised from the dead, they conspired to put him right back in the tomb – where he belonged. They offered and took bribes. They solicited false testimony. They created a bogus trial. And they sent an innocent man to his death.
            Today, 95% of the pastors and priests and rabbis in this country are without a doubt caring and committed people. But it’s the other 5% who’ve abused children, had affairs, avoided paying taxes and solicited donations on TV – and then buy sleek new jets for their “ministry”, palatial mansions and fleets of cars. These are the false shepherds whom God will remember come judgement day, and who in the meantime cause unbelievers to scoff and say, “See, I told you so. That’s why I don’t go to church.”
            So what’s left? Who is our role model on this Palm Sunday? I suggest perhaps this PATSY, this top performer, this unnamed donkey.
            There is an old legend about this donkey from Palm Sunday. As the story goes, the donkey woke up the next day, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.
            So he walked into town and found a group of people fetching water from the well. “I’ll show myself to them,” he thought.
            So he casually sauntered by – but nobody noticed him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind.
            “Hey, what’s going on. Throw your garments down like yesterday. Don’t you know who I am?”
            They just looked at him in amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move.
            “Miserable heathens!” he muttered to himself. “I’ll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember me.”
            But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market.
            “What about the palm branches? Where are the palm branches? Yesterday, you threw palm branches!”
            Hurt and confused, the donkey went back home to his mother.
            “Foolish child,” she said. “Don’t you realize that without him, you are just an ordinary donkey?”(5)
            This donkey can teach us a lot, because this colt is the one who carries Christ into the world. And that is what our faith life is all about – carrying Christ into the world. The donkey was a Christ-bearer, or a Christopher, derived from the Greek word “Christos” and combined with “pherein”, meaning “to bear, to carry.” So that really would be the perfect name for this unnamed donkey – Christopher, or Christ-bearer.
            Today is an opportunity to take the name Christopher, or the feminine form Christophera, as our own. By doing so, we commit to bearing Christ into the world. Which means exhibiting some of the qualities seen in this donkey:
            Serving Christ humbly without caring who gets the glory.
            Following Christ’s direction and being willing to go where he wants to go, instead of where we want to go.
            Not getting spooked by the crowds, the noise or the attention.
            Sometimes taking Christ into enemy territory.
            Never asking Jesus to get off our backs.
            Being obedient to the will of the One who holds the reins.
            Clarence Jordan was the founder of the Koinonia Farm, near Anericus, Georgia. It was set up to be an interracial community before anyone knew what civil rights were all about. Jordan himself was a pacifist as well as an integrationist and thus he was not a popular figure in Georgia, even though he came from a prominent family. The Koinonia Farm, by its very nature, was controversial and often faced problems. In the early 1950’s, Clarence approached his brother Robert Jordan, later a state senator and justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, to represent him and Koinonia Farm in court. They were having trouble getting propane gas delivered for heating during the winter, even though it was against the law not to deliver gas. Clarence thought Robert could get a lot accomplished with a simple phone cal.
            However, Robert said, “Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. If I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.”
            “We might lose everything, too, Bob.”
            “It’s different for you.”
            “Why is it different? I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church on the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me the same question he did you. He asked me, “Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior? And I said Yes. What did you say?”
            “I said yes – and I do follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point.”
            “Could that point be by any chance – the cross?”
            “That’s right Clarence – I follow Jesus to the cross, but on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”
            “Then I don’t believe you are a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer, not a disciple.”
            “Well, now, if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn’t have a church at all, would we.”
            And Clarence said, “I think the real question is, Do you really have a church?”(6)
            As we carry Christ into the world, we are challenged to do a particular kind of work, and to show a distinctively Christian lifestyle. This means letting love be genuine, hating what is evil, holding fast to what is good. It involves rejoicing in hope, being patient in suffering, and persevering in prayer. To live this way means that we are going to contribute to the needs of others, extend hospitality to strangers, and even go so far as to bless those who persecute us. It means that when our city, our nation or our world is in turmoil, as Jerusalem was on Palm Sunday, and the people around us ask, “Who is this?” – we’ll be able to give an answer that shows them the way to everlasting peace and salvation.
            If we can pull that off, and model our lives on the donkey who should be named Christopher, we will discover the joy that comes from carrying Christ into a dark and broken world.
            There is no better role we could be asked to perform.
            May God be praised. Amen.

1.      Retrieved from homileticsonline.com, 3/28/22.
2.      Ibid…
3.      Ibid…
4.      Ibid…
5.      Ibid…
6.      Ibid…

04-03-2022 The Upward Call of God

Philippians 3:7-14

7 But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, 9 and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone. 10 Now I have given up everything else—I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him. 11 So whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead.

12 I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.  13 No, beloved, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward [a] call of God in Christ Jesus.

The Upward Call of God

“the upward call of God in Christ” has a nice ring to it. 

 Whatever it means.

 Same could be said about “forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”

  … I don’t know: forgetting the past is easier said than done, but even if it was easy, forgetting the past just isn’t necessarily helpful.

 As the saying goes, “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Sometimes I feel like so much suffering in the world could be avoided if we’d remember the past long enough to not repeat our mistakes -- especially when it comes to war.

There’s been so much collective suffering on a massive scale for two going on three years now and just when that seemed like it might be improving, along comes the unbearable, ongoing suffering in Ukraine. As much as we might want to forget it all somehow, even if we could, our consciences wouldn’t allow us to.

And so Paul’s description of the upward call of God in Christ comes to us in the midst of prolonged collective suffering. I have no doubt that Paul knows what he’s talking about, but it’s not immediately clear to me from his brief words how the rest of us get there.

Paul’s words here to me beg the question: how do we integrate the spiritual values we receive from Jesus Christ? That is, how do we respond with abiding care and compassion when it comes to the suffering in Ukraine--or for that matter any suffering we encounter--without being devoured by the intensity of the suffering? How do we live with spiritual, Christ-infused mindfulness in the face of so much needless suffering?

For guidance I turn to Tara Brach* She is an experienced practitioner and teacher of meditation and spiritual awakening. What I sense in Paul’s upward call of God in Christ I hear Brach describe as Engaged Spirituality—intentional and purposeful engagement with suffering without getting pulled under.

Brach teaches that first we have to be aware of the three basic ways people commonly react to collective suffering which blocks meaningful spiritual engagement:

1. anger/blame (bad othering): Detaching by blaming bad actors. If we get stuck in “you’re bad” we don’t get down to what is really going on under all that anger/blame which is that WE CARE  

2. Dissociation. Disconnecting from the wider, hurting world. Staying in our own bubble. Refusing interest or care. It’s newest form is called “slack-tivism” - minimal output through comment on the internet / social media. Ignoring it or pretending it isn’t as bad as it seems. Disassociation generally comes from fear, fear of the raw impact of suffering and how easily it can overwhelm. But it’s not so easy to turn away from the horrors of the world. It’s not supposed to be.

3.  The third reaction which blocks our spiritual integration is over-association or emotional overwhelm. Getting so wrapped up in it that it takes over everything else. Being unable or unwilling to fully concentrate on your own life.

Brach fleshes out a delicate balance in which we allow ourselves to actually see the suffering and accept it while remaining grounded in our own reality. True acceptance, she says, is radical because it undoes our resistance to reality. It allows us to face the present moment with a wise and caring heart.

It’s about allowing acceptance to touch and provoke the spiritual qualities which have ALWAYS moved us forward as a people:

--compassion,

--kindness,

--mindfulness,

--and reverence - for life; for all human beings -- all living beings.

… the same qualities with which Jesus moves toward suffering.

And so the upward call of God in Christ is about cultivating these qualities Jesus embodies and delivers through his life, his suffering, his death and his resurrection.

Jesus revealed the kin-dom of God. Jesus embodied it. And he also showed that it increases and grow. And so this upward call of God in Christ is about believing that the kin-dom Jesus revealed can and will continue to emerge from all of the human regression and suffering.

The upward power of this upward call is that God uses us to actually, consciously help shape the evolution of humanity. … it’s about trusting in what’s possible … it’s about belonging to a larger movement of goodness that carries us forward through all the suffering moments.

Clearly this spiritual engagement is not something that comes easily or quickly to any of us. We can’t just snap our fingers or flip a switch and do it. It takes time. And patience. And as Tara Brach teaches, it doesn’t happen without carving out quiet time, or time apart, for prayer and meditation. I thought it would be interesting to offer an experience in guided meditation … guided reflection. as a kind of “spiritual experiment”

So let’s take a moment now … take some deep breaths.  Invite stillness in.

 Close your eyes or lower your gaze … whatever allows you to actually feel yourself right here.

As you begin to resume normal breathing, feel your bottom and your legs touch the chair or the pew or place where you sit. Let yourself be anchored, grounded.

Now allow yourself to bring to mind a sense of our world as it is right now:

 both the suffering … (pause)    and all the people who truly care deeply right now. 

Think of how the people of Poland responded to the first influx of refugees from Ukraine.  Poland did not have to set up any main refugee center in advance b/c millions of people simply opened their homes ... 

… ponder that scale of human care.

Let yourself consider the multitudes of people who, like you and I,

truly want a more peaceful, more collaborative world.

… consider that there are multitudes of people working to awaken in themselves more mindfulness, more kindness …

… multitudes of people all over the world, dedicated to a path of love in action,

 … trying to make a difference,

 … helping the most vulnerable,

  And consider the multitudes of people who are in the midst of their own great suffering and difficulty who are also vulnerable themselves in the midst of war or pandemic or natural disaster who are helping others through the violence and disruption of war …

 … through oppression,

 … through pandemic,

 … through famine, flood and fire.

 Recognize and feel the GOODNESS that’s out there right now. 

 And in here. All of us here right now. … hearts that care.

Consider the goodness in the hearts of the people in your apartment building ... 

 … in the hearts of the people in your neighborhood … .

 … in the hearts of the people where you work ...

 So much active caring.  This profound human collective of active caring is our hope.

 It’s the ground of what’s possible for humanity.

Spend time reflecting, reminding yourself what you long for for our world.

 … and feel the millions of people around the world, who all long for that same thing.

 And now let yourself see Jesus … or sense his presence … Jesus receives all of this, brings all our caring and all our actions into his broken body, and then, like in the gospel story where he feeds the multitudes with bread and fish, Jesus shares our broken, imperfect efforts … and he multiplies what we share … to feed, to care for the multitudes…

Recognize Jesus here, now in this very moment:

 feeding, sustaining, upholding life,

 your life, my life, the life of the world,

unleashing the goodness of the human heart/spirit.

 … our hearts--grafted onto Jesus' own heart through our baptism--guided by His heart.

I invite you to open your eyes, come back from the guided time of reflection.

And listen again to Paul:

“ … everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  … the mighty power that brought him back to life again, and … what it means to suffer and to die with him.”

And these words from Martin Luther King Jr

“I believe that unarmed goodness and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. … good temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”  

* to learn more about Tara Brach or meditation: https://www.tarabrach.com/

 all credit to Tara Brach for the guided meditation shared in this worship service.

03-27-2022 To An Audience of Outcasts

Thomas J Parlette
“To an audience of outcasts”
Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
3/27/22

            Did you know that today is a special day? Well, it is. Today, March 27th, is officially National Joe Day. I’m not kidding. I don’t know who decides these things, like National Goof-Off Day (March 22nd) or National Waffle Day (March 25th), but March 27th is designated as National Joe Day. It’s a day for celebrating anyone with the name Joe. I guess I’ll jump on board with this since my middle name is Joe!
            Years ago, there was a national survey measuring how well people liked their names, and about 21% of people said they disliked their names enough to consider changing them. So if you are part of that 21%, maybe today is the day to start going by the name Joe.
            Speaking of making changes, our bible passage for today, the well-known and beloved Parable of the Prodigal Son, is the story of a young man who wanted to make some major changes in his life. He didn’t want to change his name, exactly, but he did want to get away from his family and his hometown and make a new life for himself in a faraway place. Even if that meant hurting the people he loved the most. Even if that meant burning bridges and losing his way. Even if that meant ending up in a place he never imagined he’d be.
            Consider the story of 49-year-old Erwin Kreuz from Germany. In 1977, Erwin spent his life savings for a special trip to the magical city of San Francisco, California. The flight had a short layover in Bangor, Maine, before reaching its final destination. While on the layover, a flight attendant casually wished Mr. Kruez a good time in San Francisco. She was unaware that that he didn’t speak much English. All he heard was “San Francisco” – and assumed he had reached his vacation spot. So he got off the plane in Bangor, Maine – and began touring the town.
            He wandered the streets of Bangor for three days before he discovered his mistake. But a local family took him in, and his story made it into the local paper. And soon, the whole town rallied around this lost foreigner. The locals threw Kreuz a 50th birthday party. The Penobscot Indian Nation named him an honorary member. A local songwriter wrote a folk song about him. The Bangor government even gave him a small patch of land in northern Maine. The Governor himself even stopped by to visit him.
            Within a week, Time magazine published an article about Erwin Kreuz, and the Today Show did a segment on the lost foreigner who received a hearty welcome in an unexpected place. Not to be out done, the San Francisco Chronicle covered the story and paid for Kruez to come to San Francisco, where he rode a cable car, met the mayor and attended a rodeo – where he received a standing ovation.
            One year after his whirlwind trip to the U.S., Erwin Kruez returned to Bangor, Maine, for a visit with the folks who had so generously welcomed him to their town. And according to the local property assessor, he continued to pay property taxes on the plot of he had been given in Maine – even though he never came back to see it.(1)
            It’s nice when a story about being lost has a happy ending – so many don’t end well. But sometimes a trip to a faraway place takes us away from our sense of self, our sense of security, our source of strength. Sometimes a trip to faraway place ends in brokenness or loss or regret.
            A University professor in Australia recruited 657 adults between the ages of 20 and 80 and asked them to discuss the 10 biggest decisions they had made in their life so far. It’s interesting to think about that, isn’t it?
            The professor and the study subjects then sorted and ranked the decisions according to how often certain decisions were mentioned, how significant the decisions were in the course of each person’s life, and the emotions connected to the decisions. The professor reports, “The most enduring regrets in life result from decisions that move you further from the ideal person that you want to be.”(2) That makes sense I think.
            It’s important to point out before we get too deep into the passage that we have all made decisions that have moved us further from the ideal person we’d like to be. We’ve all made decisions that have moved us further from what God intends us to be, as well. You could look at that as a definition of sin – moving away from what God intends. So today’s story is good news for us all.
            There is a lot to be said about this story. You could approach it from the Father’s viewpoint – or the older brother – or even examine why the mother is never named at all. But the primary story revolves around the younger son who rebels against his family. He asks for his share of the family inheritance so he can go off to a distant country and start a new life. The end result was he squandered his fortune and ended up broke and alone in a foreign land. When a severe famine spread throughout the whole country, the young man became desperate and hired himself out to a pig farmer just to keep from starving. Feeding pigs was rock-bottom, the most shameful job a young Jewish man could have.
            The son in Jesus story had rejected his father, lost his inheritance and brought shame on his whole family.
            This is one of Jesus most famous stories. But Jesus’ stories are never just about the story. They all are told to reveal something about God. And every story is told for a particular audience. Notice who is in the audience when Jesus tells this story.
            Our story begins with the words, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
            Not long after, Jesus tells this story of the prodigal son. Jesus told this particular story for this particular audience. We sometimes overlook that little detail – Jesus is telling this story to an audience of outcasts. The big takeaway from this story – God welcomes you. You are important to God. You may be seen as sinners and outcasts, but God welcomes you home. God accepts you.
            There is healing in acceptance. Jesus was known to notice people that others overlooked. He touched people that were thought to be untouchable. He had no walls of acceptability around him. And this openness caused the local religious leaders to view him with suspicion and contempt. Even today, we struggle to just accept and love people as they are. Even today, that kind of love is radical.
            In 1989, Mother Teresa visited Phoenix, Arizona, to open a homeless shelter. There was a huge celebration to welcome her, crowds packed the local Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum to hear her speak. She was also invited to do a radio interview on Phoenix’s largest radio station – KTAR.
            Before the interview, the radio host asked Mother Teresa if there was anything he could do to help her work. He was accustomed to lending his celebrity to various charities or making donations to good causes. But that’s not what Mother Teresa wanted from him. Instead, she said, “Yes, there is. Find someone no one else loves and love them.”(3)
            That’s how Jesus lived his life. He found people no one else loved, the people who had been told that God couldn’t love them – and he loved them. He made them the center of his attention. He made them the good guys in his stories. That’s the whole reason he was telling this story.
            Consider the story of a man named Ron Baptiste. Ron is a biker, who became a Christian during a short stint in prison. When he was released, he couldn’t find a church where he felt comfortable. So Baptiste started his own church – Covenant Confirmers Ministries, near Nashville, Tennessee. Covenant’s members include fellow bikers, former drug addicts, gang members and prostitutes as well as a local police sergeant.
            Tommy Hollingsworth, a Covenant member who also spent time in prison, says of his church, “You don’t have to clean up. You just get connected to God. Anybody is welcome here. Anybody.”(4)
            Just get connected to God. That was the point of every one of Jesus’ stories. That was the point of his whole life. That’s what led him to the cross – to connect us with God. First and foremost, this story tells us that we are welcomed.
            Jesus is telling his audience of outcasts that God is waiting for you. The son in this story is starving and desperate. So, he decides to head home and beg for mercy. He knew he had destroyed any chance of rejoining his family. He’d destroyed any chance for forgiveness. But he thought to himself, “I’ll confess my sin to my father, and I’ll ask him to take me on as a hired hand.”
            But as Jesus tells the story, while he was still a long way off, the father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
            This father who had been rejected and shamed by his son’s actions – was sitting by the window, waiting for his son to return. When he saw him, he was overjoyed. He couldn’t even wait for his son to get to the driveway. He didn’t wait for an apology or the carefully rehearsed request to take his son back. Nope – while he was still a long way off, the father ran to him, embraced him and kissed him.
            William Muehl tells a story about a 5-year-old boy who had made a ceramic dish as a Christmas gift for his parents. As his parents were picking him up from daycare, he was gathering up his stuff to go home, and his dish fell to the floor and shattered. The boy froze, then burst into tears. He had ruined his parents gift.
            His father put his arm around him and said – “It’s Ok, son, don’t cry.” But mom picked him and didn’t say a word. She let him cry, and cried a little herself. When the boy had composed himself, mom put him down and said, “Let’s pick up the pieces and see what we can make out of what is left.”(5)
            God is waiting to welcome us home. God is waiting to restore us. No matter how far you may have wandered off course, God saying through Jesus, “Let’s pick up the pieces and see what we can make out of what is left.”
            And this isn’t just a moment of restoration – it’s a moment of celebration! The story ends with gift – the best robe, a ring and some sandals. And then there’s a party – ring the fattened calf! “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now is found.”
            There is a story about a teenage girl who rebelled against her family and became increasingly estranged from them. One night, she was arrested for drunk driving and her mother had to pick her up from the local jail. It was a long car ride home. The daughter could only imagine all the angry words her mother must be holding inside as she drove them home.
            The next day at breakfast, the mother slid a small box over to her daughter. “Go ahead – open it. It’s a gift for you.”
            The daughter opened the box – and inside was a rock.
            “Nice Mom – thanks, I’ll treasure it forever,” she said with sarcasm dripping from the corners of her mouth.
            “Good, I hope you do. Read the card.”
            The card read, “This rock is more than 200 million years old. That’s how long it will take before I give up on you.”(6)
            God is never going to give up on us. We are accepted. We are loved. You are welcomed and you are waited for. That was the message of Jesus’ life and the motivation for his death – to show us that God would give everything to save us, restore us and bring us home. In fact, God is just like the father in this story – running to meet us with open arms.
            May God be praised for that. Amen.

1.       Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p58.
2.       Ibid… p59.
3.       Ibid… p60.
4.       Ibid… p60.
5.       Ibid… p60.
6.       Ibid… p61.