09-17-2023 Who's Keeping Score

“Who’s Keeping Score”

Matthew 18: 21-35

9/17/23

 

          Victor Hugo once wrote a short story titled “93.” In the midst of this tale, a ship at sea is caught in a terrible storm. Buffeted by the waves, the boat rocks to and fro, when suddenly the crew hears a thunderous crashing sound below deck. They instantly know what it is. A cannon they are transporting has broken loose and is smashing into the ship’s sides with every list of the ship. Two brave sailors, at the risk of their lives, manage to go below and fasten it again, for they know that the heavy cannon on the inside of their ship is more dangerous to them than the storm on the outside. (1)

 

          So it is with people. Problems within are often much more destructive to us than the problems we face from without. Today’s passage takes us “below deck,” in a way, to look inside ourselves concerning the whole matter of forgiveness.

 

          As we discussed last week, Matthew 18 is one long lesson for the disciples about living in community. We left off with Jesus’ practical advice about dealing with conflict in the Christian community. His advice – straight talk, due process and grace.

 

          At this point, Peter steps in with a question. He wants to know what exactly is required of him when someone has wronged him. So he asks, “How many times do I have to forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven times?”

          And Jesus responds “Hardly! Try seventy times seven.” Or in other words – there is no limit on forgiveness. Forgiving people has no end. There is no keeping score. Forgiveness is not like a line of credit where eventually we reach our limit – no, forgiveness is a way of life.

 

          That’s a nice thought – but that much forgiveness can be exhausting. Forgiving someone once is strenuous enough, but you have to do it over and over and over again – that sounds kind of pointless. At some point, don’t you have to say enough is enough?

 

          For instance, say you make a lunch date with a friend. You go to a lot of trouble to keep this date, moving things around in your schedule so you can be sure to make it. Your friend chooses a spot like Chester’s or Victoria’s, so place nice downtown – someplace where parking is always an issue.

          So you make sure to leave in plenty of time. Of course, there is no parking available on the street, so you pick one of the parking garages, and make your way up the ramps searching for a spot close to the Skyway – or the Subway depending on your preference. You park your car – take a quick picture of where you are, or put a pin down with your phone, so you can find your car again (I can’t be the only one that does that.) And you hurry off, trying to be on time.

          You arrive at the restaurant a few minutes early – whew- get a table in a quiet section, right by the window, and settle in to wait for your friend. The waitress comes by and you order a drink. Ten minutes go by – your friend has no shown up yet. So the waitress leaves a couple of menus and you look over what you might want to order. Another ten minutes go by – you have another appointment after lunch, so you decide to order and hope your friend shows up. Your food arrives – you are still alone, and after waiting for 40 minutes it begins to dawn on you that you have been stood up. So you get a to-go box, and head off to your appointment – seething at your friend.

 

          Later that afternoon, your friend texts and says, “I’m sorry, I completely forgot. My bad. I didn’t set up my calendar reminders and I blew. Please, let’s reschedule.”

          You put on your best manners and say, “sure, it happens to everyone. How about next week – same time, same place.”

          “Perfect, I’ll be there.”

          But the same thing happens again. You’re not as upset this time, because this is the second time in a row. Are you willing to make another lunch date with this particular forgetful friend – or maybe your calendar is a little too booked up the next time. (2)

          So how about seven X seventy times – or 490 times? Are you willing to be stood up that many times?

 

          Not likely. Human nature just doesn’t work that way. Even the most easy-going among us probably aren’t going to forgive and reschedule even one tenth that amount of times. No, we all keep score in our heads of these small interactions and offensives. We all have calculators in our heads that keep track of how much we are putting into our relationships versus how much we are getting out of it. Not many of us want to be on the giving only side of the equation – sometimes we want to receive as well. When someone lets you down again and again, we tend to turn our attention elsewhere. In the economics of forgiveness and relationship, that seems to make sense. Peter is actually being pretty generous in his estimate of seven times being enough to forgive somebody. After that – don’t we deserve a change.

 

          As is his way, Jesus answers Peter’s question with a story. There is this King who wishes to settle accounts with his servants, many of whom owe him money. It seems that he starts at the top of the list and summons a servant who owes him an enormous sum of money – 10,000 talents, a ridiculous amount of money. It’s difficult to know for sure what that translates to in modern money, but some estimates go up to 3.48 billion dollars.

 

          Clearly, this servant will never be able to repay this debt, so the King orders that he and his family be sold. The price they will fetch is only a drop in the bucket of what he owes, but the King wants to cut his losses, and selling the servant is less expensive than keeping him around. Realizing the spot he is in, the servant gets down on his knees and promises to pay everything he owes if the King will just be patient.

 

          The King realizes that there is no way this is going to happen, but he takes pity on the servant and releases him, forgiving him his debt.

 

          The servant breathes a sigh of relief, and as he is leaving the King’s presence, he spots a man who owes him 300 denarii. In Jesus’ day, a day’s worth of labor was worth 1 denarii. According to the Bureau of Labor Statics, the current value of a day’s labor is 137.00 dollars. So 100 denarii translates to about 13,700 dollars – still a hefty sum, but doable over time. He has a golden opportunity to pass along a bit of the forgiveness that he has just received – but apparently that never occurs to him. Instead, he grabs the man by the throat and demands his money like a mob boss. But when the man uses the exact same phrase to him that he just used on the King – “Have patience with me and I will pay you” – he has the man thrown into jail.

 

          The King hears about all this of course, and does the same thing to the servant he forgave, revoking the mercy he had shown before and sentencing his former servant to life in prison until he paid off his debt. “You wicked servant. I forgave you that huge sum of money just because you asked me. And you can’t find it in your heart to have mercy on your fellow servant.”

 

          Here’s where the story takes a dark turn. Jesus turns and looks the disciples in the eyes and slowly says – “That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

 

          Wow – that sounds ominous. So, we should forgive our neighbors in order to save ourselves. Forgive – or else? Does that sound like Jesus? That doesn’t sound very much like the Jesus were used to hearing. So, there’s got to be something more here than that ominous, threatening takeaway. What went wrong? What made the servant so wicked, so evil, so vengeful and unforgiving?

 

          What we see in this passage is a contrast between a theology of grace and a theology of keeping score. Jesus is firmly preaching a theology of grace. Remember last week – in handling conflict, we use straight talk, due process, and most of all grace. But Peter is still pushing for a theology of keeping score. That’s much closer to what we all do, in some way. We may say, “Oh it’s fine, things happen,” because we want to avoid a scene or anything that might smell like confrontation. But deep down, we all keep score. We keep track of how many times someone has done us wrong.

 

          For instance, I’m sure many of you have experience with youth T-Ball games. Maybe it was your own kids, maybe it was your grandkids – but you know what I’m talking about. In T-Ball, everyone stays at bat till they hit the ball. Everyone gets on base and everybody crosses home plate. And at the end of the season, everyone gets a trophy. The score is never recorded. Strikes don’t exist. Outs don’t exist. It’s all very sweet.

 

          But I am willing to bet that most parents know exactly what the score is. Oh, it’s not on the scoreboard – no one is winning or losing, officially. But every parent is keeping score. Every parent knows exactly how may outs there have been, how many swings each kid took to hit the ball and how many runs would have been scored. They are keeping track of all the errors in their heads. They’re all keeping score. It’s not that they are bad people. It’s just human nature. We like to keep score. Whether it’s children’s T-Ball, or our relationships with friends and family – we tend to follow the theology of keeping score. We can’t help it. We’re human.

          But what Jesus calls to us to do is shift our focus from keeping score to a theology of grace. Simply put – live in the realization that you have already been forgiven. Your debt has already been cancelled. You can live without the weight of guilt, or sorrow or shame. You have been forgiven.

 

          So it costs you nothing to offer that grace to someone else. Once we realize that God is not keeping score on us, we can stop keeping score on those around us. We are called to pass the grace along to those we come into contact with. The Golden Rule of – “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you,” – shifts slightly to “Do unto others as God has already done unto you.”

 

          So don’t worry about keeping score. God isn’t. And focus on passing on the grace of God to everyone you meet.

          May God be praised. Amen.

1. Stephen M. Crotts, “A Severe Mercy”, Sermons on the Gospel Readings, CSS Publishing Company Inc. 2004, p 325.

2. Inspired by a story by Barbara Brown Taylor, “Once More From the Heart”, The Seeds of Heaven, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p 92-93.

09-10-2023 The Path of Reconciliation

Thomas J Parlette

“Paul’s Covenant”

Romans 12: 9-21

9/3/23

 

          Once upon a time, a group of sixty teenagers from a variety of churches gathered for a confirmation retreat at a local conference center. After some food and the obligatory ice-breaker games, the leaders assembled to group to create a “covenant” that would govern their weekend together.

 

          “Ok – let’s make some rules,” said the leader as a white board was rolled out in front of the room. “What do you want to happen… What don’t you want to happen, just shout out your suggestions?” And of course the room erupted in laughter as one teen in the back shouted out, “No Drama!”

          Other suggestions came out fast and furious. Don’t talk when others are talking. Respect the leaders. Participate fully in all the activities. Soon the board was filled, and at the end, the leaders invited each teen to come forward and sign their name to the covenant. The white board would stay in place all week long.

 

          Over the course of the next few days both leaders and participants had occasion to remind the group of the covenant they had signed to govern their behavior toward each other. (1)

 

          I would venture to guess that everyone here as had an experience similar to this. Maybe at a retreat for work, maybe at a church event, maybe at a camp or conference center. We’ve all got some experience with covenant – making exercises like this.

 

          When I read this passage from Romans, it sounds a lot like one of those kind of exercises. I can almost hear the members of the church in Rome calling out their suggestions for what their community should like as Paul scribbles furiously on his first-century white board.

 

          “Let love be genuine…”

          “Hate what is evil…”

          “Hold onto the good…”

          “Be ardent in spirit…”

          “Serve the Lord…”

          “Rejoice in hope…”

          “Be patient…,”

          “Keep praying…”

          “Be hospitable…”

 

          Up to this point of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he has spent his time exploring God’s reconciling work with humanity. Reconciliation for Jews and Gentiles comes about, not by following laws, but by the radical, self-giving grace of God, demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ.

 

          As Protestants, we sum that up neatly in our phrase “saved by grace, not by works.”

 

          In Chapter 12, Paul begins to sketch out what this self-giving grace might look like in the Christian community. For Paul, all of life should be anchored in love. That’s where he starts in verse 9 – “Let love be genuine…”

 

          He then goes on to list lots of other hallmarks of a gathering of Christians – hating evil, holding on to what is good, loving and honoring one another. Rejoicing in hope, being patient in suffering and persevering in prayer.

 

          The real challenge in Paul’s covenant comes in the second part of  his comments, when he focuses on how to deal with people outside the Christian community, people who could be considered an enemy.

 

          Directives such as bless those who persecute you, do not repay anyone evil for evil, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” – those are a little harder to hear, and even harder to follow.

 

          In fact, passages like this and many more from the Old Testament, are what turn a lot of people away from Christianity. I’ve heard countless people say, “I just don’t like the idea of a vengeful God, I don’t like a God who is out to get me.”

          But Paul doesn’t really paint a portrait of a vengeful God who is out to get us. On the contrary, what Paul is saying is that we should not view revenge as something that is up to us. Payback, no matter how good it might feel or how justified it may be, is not up to us. It’s up to God. We must trust that God will work in God’s own way.

 

          Paul closes this section about how to deal with enemies with the interesting bit of advice- “If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”

 

          That bit of advice sounds off – Paul just finished saying never avenge yourselves, and a couple of verses later he seems to change his tune, encouraging us to heap coals on our enemy’s head. But what Paul was getting at is that the burning coals will be like a burning sense of remorse and shame that your enemies will feel when you treat them so well after they were so rotten to you. In that light, Paul’s advice makes more sense.

         

          Paul invites us to live by the covenant he sets before us today, both as we live in community with each other, and as we deal with the world around us. Paul encourages us to consider love and good to be the constant partners accompanying the Christian and providing context for both attitudes and actions. (2)

 

          Paul’s core values expressed in this covenant might be summed up in a phrase used by Dr. Paul Farmer as profiled in Tracy Kidder’s book Mountains Beyond Mountains. Paul Farmer travels the world establishing clinics to treat chronic diseases like tuberculosis in areas of severe poverty and inadequate health care. In doing so, he deals with the medical establishment, various bureaucracies, and local traditions. Kidder explains that Farmer approaches all people with a “hermeneutic of generosity.” (3)

          What that means is Dr. Farmer evaluates people’s actions from an assumption that their motives are good, even if, at first glance, one might suspect the opposite.

 

          To honor people as Paul suggests, which includes attitudes and actions such as not being haughty, being hospitable to strangers, and taking thought for what is noble, reflects an underlying hermeneutic of generosity toward those to whom one relates – both inside and outside the church.

 

          When that group of teenagers made that covenant at the start of their confirmation weekend, they discovered that treating each other in a self-giving and generous manner actually worked. They all had a great weekend, and learned about the power of a covenantal community.

 

          While living according to Paul’s core values is often hard enough in the context of a church community, to do so throughout daily life presents even more challenges. But Paul makes it clear that Christians are called to live by a different standard in all parts of life. A hermeneutic of generosity is meant to extend to everyone – to the person driving too slowly in front of you on the highway, to the cashier taking their sweet time in ringing up your order ay HyVee, to your co-workers, classmates and your extended family.

 

          John Austin Baker has written “Love begins as love for one, or for a few. But once we have caught it, once it has taken possession of us, and has set up its values in the heart of the self – there are no limits to those it can touch, to the relationships which it can transform.” (4)

 

          As we come to the table this morning as a covenant community of Christians, let us be reminded to make love genuine and live with generosity to all we meet – here in this fellowship and out there in our community.

 

          May God be praised. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

1. Rochelle A. Stackhouse, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4, Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p14.

2. Ibid… p14.

3. Ibid… p16

4. Resources for Preaching and Worship, Year A, Ed. By Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p232

09-03-2023 Paul's Covenant

Thomas J Parlette

“Paul’s Covenant”

Romans 12: 9-21

9/3/23

 

          Once upon a time, a group of sixty teenagers from a variety of churches gathered for a confirmation retreat at a local conference center. After some food and the obligatory ice-breaker games, the leaders assembled to group to create a “covenant” that would govern their weekend together.

 

          “Ok – let’s make some rules,” said the leader as a white board was rolled out in front of the room. “What do you want to happen… What don’t you want to happen, just shout out your suggestions?” And of course the room erupted in laughter as one teen in the back shouted out, “No Drama!”

          Other suggestions came out fast and furious. Don’t talk when others are talking. Respect the leaders. Participate fully in all the activities. Soon the board was filled, and at the end, the leaders invited each teen to come forward and sign their name to the covenant. The white board would stay in place all week long.

 

          Over the course of the next few days both leaders and participants had occasion to remind the group of the covenant they had signed to govern their behavior toward each other. (1)

 

          I would venture to guess that everyone here as had an experience similar to this. Maybe at a retreat for work, maybe at a church event, maybe at a camp or conference center. We’ve all got some experience with covenant – making exercises like this.

 

          When I read this passage from Romans, it sounds a lot like one of those kind of exercises. I can almost hear the members of the church in Rome calling out their suggestions for what their community should like as Paul scribbles furiously on his first-century white board.

 

          “Let love be genuine…”

          “Hate what is evil…”

          “Hold onto the good…”

          “Be ardent in spirit…”

          “Serve the Lord…”

          “Rejoice in hope…”

          “Be patient…,”

          “Keep praying…”

          “Be hospitable…”

 

          Up to this point of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he has spent his time exploring God’s reconciling work with humanity. Reconciliation for Jews and Gentiles comes about, not by following laws, but by the radical, self-giving grace of God, demonstrated in the life of Jesus Christ.

 

          As Protestants, we sum that up neatly in our phrase “saved by grace, not by works.”

 

          In Chapter 12, Paul begins to sketch out what this self-giving grace might look like in the Christian community. For Paul, all of life should be anchored in love. That’s where he starts in verse 9 – “Let love be genuine…”

 

          He then goes on to list lots of other hallmarks of a gathering of Christians – hating evil, holding on to what is good, loving and honoring one another. Rejoicing in hope, being patient in suffering and persevering in prayer.

 

          The real challenge in Paul’s covenant comes in the second part of  his comments, when he focuses on how to deal with people outside the Christian community, people who could be considered an enemy.

 

          Directives such as bless those who persecute you, do not repay anyone evil for evil, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” – those are a little harder to hear, and even harder to follow.

 

          In fact, passages like this and many more from the Old Testament, are what turn a lot of people away from Christianity. I’ve heard countless people say, “I just don’t like the idea of a vengeful God, I don’t like a God who is out to get me.”

          But Paul doesn’t really paint a portrait of a vengeful God who is out to get us. On the contrary, what Paul is saying is that we should not view revenge as something that is up to us. Payback, no matter how good it might feel or how justified it may be, is not up to us. It’s up to God. We must trust that God will work in God’s own way.

 

          Paul closes this section about how to deal with enemies with the interesting bit of advice- “If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”

 

          That bit of advice sounds off – Paul just finished saying never avenge yourselves, and a couple of verses later he seems to change his tune, encouraging us to heap coals on our enemy’s head. But what Paul was getting at is that the burning coals will be like a burning sense of remorse and shame that your enemies will feel when you treat them so well after they were so rotten to you. In that light, Paul’s advice makes more sense.

         

          Paul invites us to live by the covenant he sets before us today, both as we live in community with each other, and as we deal with the world around us. Paul encourages us to consider love and good to be the constant partners accompanying the Christian and providing context for both attitudes and actions. (2)

 

          Paul’s core values expressed in this covenant might be summed up in a phrase used by Dr. Paul Farmer as profiled in Tracy Kidder’s book Mountains Beyond Mountains. Paul Farmer travels the world establishing clinics to treat chronic diseases like tuberculosis in areas of severe poverty and inadequate health care. In doing so, he deals with the medical establishment, various bureaucracies, and local traditions. Kidder explains that Farmer approaches all people with a “hermeneutic of generosity.” (3)

          What that means is Dr. Farmer evaluates people’s actions from an assumption that their motives are good, even if, at first glance, one might suspect the opposite.

 

          To honor people as Paul suggests, which includes attitudes and actions such as not being haughty, being hospitable to strangers, and taking thought for what is noble, reflects an underlying hermeneutic of generosity toward those to whom one relates – both inside and outside the church.

 

          When that group of teenagers made that covenant at the start of their confirmation weekend, they discovered that treating each other in a self-giving and generous manner actually worked. They all had a great weekend, and learned about the power of a covenantal community.

 

          While living according to Paul’s core values is often hard enough in the context of a church community, to do so throughout daily life presents even more challenges. But Paul makes it clear that Christians are called to live by a different standard in all parts of life. A hermeneutic of generosity is meant to extend to everyone – to the person driving too slowly in front of you on the highway, to the cashier taking their sweet time in ringing up your order ay HyVee, to your co-workers, classmates and your extended family.

 

          John Austin Baker has written “Love begins as love for one, or for a few. But once we have caught it, once it has taken possession of us, and has set up its values in the heart of the self – there are no limits to those it can touch, to the relationships which it can transform.” (4)

 

          As we come to the table this morning as a covenant community of Christians, let us be reminded to make love genuine and live with generosity to all we meet – here in this fellowship and out there in our community.

 

          May God be praised. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

1. Rochelle A. Stackhouse, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4, Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p14.

2. Ibid… p14.

3. Ibid… p16

4. Resources for Preaching and Worship, Year A, Ed. By Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p232

08-27-2023 Tools in the Hands of God

Thomas J Parlette
“Tools in the Hands of God”
Exodus 1:8-2:10
8/27/23 

          You’ve probably never met an undercover operative (that you know of), but they are everywhere if you believe all the movies and TV shows about them.

          One of the favorite shows in the Parlette household is the long running series “NCIS.” NCIS featured a character named Ziva David, a Mossad operative and daughter of the Israeli spy agency’s director. In an arrangement between the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Mossad, Ziva joins the NCIS team as a liason officer, replacing the agent who died at the hands of her half-brother Ari. Ziva has a background in the military, as do all Israeli women, and she trained in the special-ops unit known as Kidon – transforming herself into an expert in sabotage, assassinations and psychological; warfare. In her own way, and for her own reasons, Ziva sees herself as a player in the national struggle to save and protect the nation of Israel.

          In today’s passage from Exodus, we meet some more female undercover operatives as they struggle behind the scenes to save and protect God’s covenant people.

          Their story is an account of how God saved a nation through their daring and defiant actions. These two women rank right up there with the other biblical female operatives such as Deborah, Rahab, Esther and Jael. All these accounts are stories of incredible courage and daring – tales of how the nation of Israel was saved from certain destruction.

          These women of biblical history are every bit as interesting as some of the female operatives of more modern times – especially those that came out of World War II. For example, there was:

          Virginia Hall, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by OSS chief William Donovan in 1945. And her exploits did not end with World War II, Hall spent another 16 years with the CIA.

          Or, there was Yolande Beekman, also a spy in World War II. She was first derided by the Nazi’s as a “nice girl who darned socks.” But she became a wireless operator for a resistance cell, and her unit was dedicated to blowing up canals and railway infrastructure in the area. Codenamed “Mariette,” she was so successful that the Gestapo brought in teams of radio detector vans to track her down. She was finally arrested in a canal-side café and transported to Dachau concentration camp, she was executed in 1944 at the age of 32.        

          And there was the gun-toting Nancy Wake, known as the “White Mouse of the French Resistance”, perhaps best known for planning and leading a raid on a Gestapo headquarters that left almost 30 Germans dead or wounded. (1)

          Without their exploits, history may have turned out quite differently.

          Our passage from exodus begins with the words, “a new king arose in Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” There was a very good reason the new Pharaoh, probably Rameses II, did not know Joseph – whose story we visited last week, with its own elements of palace intrigue and shenanigans. By this time – Joseph is history, ancient history. It has been several hundred years since Joseph’s administration of Egypt’s granaries saved the nation from starvation.

          In the intervening years, the Hebrew descendants of Joseph and his brothers had been fruitful and multiplied, and the Pharaoh, fearing that they might rise up against them, turned the erstwhile guests of the kingdom into slaves – a condition in which they labored for more than 400 years. Hose alive at the time of our story had no memory of anything but captivity. Their fathers and their father’s fathers were slaves. That’s just the way life was.

          The conditions were bad. The Egyptians “set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor… But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.”

          The crowning blow was the edict that all male Hebrew babies were to be killed at birth. Girls could live – they were not seen as a threat; but the boys received a sentence of death. “Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live,” the story says.

          This is of course how we learn about one particular little boy who was spared – a child who would grow to become the greatest and foremost leader of the Hebrew people, the boy in a basket – Moses. And had it not been for a group of female operatives working behind the scenes, Moses would never have survived.

          There are 4 major players, or groups of players in this story. Two are individuals who know each other and act in concert with each other. And two are teams of players who coordinate a strategy to achieve their aims.

          First, there is Jochebed, the mother of Moses. She defied Pharaoh’s cruel order by keeping her baby boy hidden for at least three months. Then, when she couldn’t hide him anymore, she got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch – interesting, the same stuff that Noah used to make the Ark back in Genesis. Jochebed put her child in the basket and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.

          Then, we have Miriam, Moses’ older sister. Miriam’s job was to linger around the riverside, keeping an eye out for her baby brother and report back to her mother. She was the lookout, the guardian, the sentry. She kept watch to make sure the basket wasn’t attacked by animals, or float away downstream.

          Next up, we have the midwives. They were told by the Pharaoh that male babies were to be killed. But this group of women – two of whom are mentioned by name, Shiphrah and Puah, “feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them.” They were deliberately disobeying orderings from the very top. And when they were called before the king to explain their disobedience, their excuse was a bit flimsy – “The Hebrew women are strong,” they said, “not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

          And finally, we have the princess and her attendants. A royal princess of the court of Rameses II discovers the baby, and finding him adorable beyond belief, disobeys her father’s command.  “The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews children,” she said.

          Now, Miriam, who is watching all this unfold, comes up with an ingenious plan. Risking her life, she intervenes and interrupts the Pharaoh’s daughter and her entourage. “I think I know of a woman who could nurse the baby. Would your highness want me to fetch this woman?”

          Well, the princess thinks this is a wonderful idea, and Miriam runs off to fetch the nurse who, of course, is Moses’ mother, Jochebed.

          It was the princess who gave the baby his name. When the lad grew up, Jochebed took him to the Pharaoh’s daughter, and “she took him as her son. She named him Moses, because, she said, “I drew him up out of the water.” And so Moses was raised by his Egyptian mother, received an education in the court of the Pharaoh and lived the life of a royal. Moses’ mother and her attendants were able to deceive the Pharaoh for years.

          And that is the story of how some female operatives changed the course of history.

          The astute reader might wonder – Where is God in this story. Aside from a brief mention in verses 20-21, God is scarcely mentioned in this passage. So where is God?

          Well, God is present, but God is working quietly, behind the scenes. God is found in the relationships of Hebrew men and women and the children those unions produce. God is sitting in a stool beside Shiphrah and Puah as they grasp the shoulders of newborn Israelites babies and bring yet another life into God’s covenant people. God can also be seen in the brave resolve of those two midwives who refused to carry out Pharaoh’s “final solution.”

          It is striking that the names of these women have been preserved for us in scripture. In the broad sweep of the Old Testament, it is mostly the names of the very famous that are recorded (and almost all of those names are men, not women.) Yet the author of Exodus was savvy in realizing that Shiphrah and Puah deserved recognition in the course of salvation history because it was indeed no one less than God who was fulfilling the covenant with Abraham through them. (2)

          Each of these women had different roles in the drama surrounding the birth of Moses, and each role was vital. Each of them were tools in the hands of God. They all shared some common characteristics, they all were defiant in the face of an unjust order. But maybe we can look at that from a different angle and say that they were all highly defiant – in defense of their objective. Or perhaps courageous in their conviction to do what was right and resist their authoritarian ruler. Although defying the political regime, the head of state and countless officials lower on the food chain, they were united by their belief in the rightness of their actions.

          Is this story encouraging us to resist oppressors and persecutors? Yes, I would say it is.

          Now, none of us want to do serious jail time. But what would have happened to the Civil Rights movement of Rosa Parks had given up her seat on the bus to the white man who asked for it? What would have happened if women like Dorthy Height, Fannie Lou Hamer, Daisy Bates and Septima Poinsette Clark had been afraid to resist and speak out.

          Think about how the absence of defiant women would have altered the abolitionist movement or the quest to secure voting rights for women – women like Jane Addams, Susan B Anthony, and Sojourner Truth. These women were successful because they didn’t believe or behave in the manner expected of them.

          I realize that most of us aren’t called to the vocation of full-time defiance.

          So how can we have a part in saving the world?

          Perhaps we have overlooked another form of defiance that doesn’t involve protest marches, shouting chants or carrying banners.

          The defiance of love and kindness would appear to be counterintuitive. Yet each act of love and kindness is a rebellion against tyranny, bitterness and unkindness. It is a way of saying, “We do not agree with the aggressive, evil, back-stabbing, back-talking, hostile and oppressive behavior we see in play in our culture today. We stand against these. We will openly and subversively sow love and kindness regardless of any perceived outcome. We are united in pursuit of a  common objective.”

          Each act of kindness rebuffs the haters among us.

          Each unexpected demonstration of love helps to restore faith in humanity and perhaps in God.

          The first thing is not to have any expectations. Surely the mother of Moses did not know whether her defiance would have a good outcome. Moses sister, likewise, could only do her job and watch the baby in the river. The midwives could only fear God and do what was right. The Pharaoh’s daughter could only obey her maternal instinct and defy her father to save the child. The actions were grounded in hope, not expectations. Ultimately they depended on an act of God.

          In 1984, Linda Down ran the New York City marathon. She was the last person to complete the race – it took her 11 hours. Even though she suffers from cerebral palsy and ran with the help of crutches – she still finished. When asked by a reporter why she ran the marathon, Linda replied, “We are living in negative times. Things feel impossible today. I thought that if I could try to do this, it might be an inspiration to others, and maybe they would try some big things too.”

          Then she added, “But those last 11 miles were an act of God.”

          The reporter asked, “What do you mean, ‘an act of God?’

          With 11 miles to go, I ran out of my own strength. I didn’t have any more. I finished the race on borrowed power.” (3)

          As the midwives learned, everyone who trusts in God, and takes those defiant steps for what is right, can depend on borrowed power – the power of God.

          As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth – “Therefore my brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” For we are tools in the hands of God.

          May God be praised. Amen.

 1. Homileticsonline, retrieved August 2nd, 2023.
2. Ibid…
3. Ibid…   

08-20-2023 To Preserve Life

Thomas J Parlette
“To Preserve Life”
Genesis 45: 1-15
8/20/23 

          Lately my family has been taking cruise vacations. I’ve never been on one myself, but I hear the stories and share the pictures from cruises my mom and dad and my two sisters have taken. If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you’ve certainly experienced the mandatory exercise known as the “lifeboat drill.”

          It usually happens on the first day, before you even leave port. Everyone is instructed to go to a certain part of the ship and there you join a select group of a dozen or more passengers, along with several crew members. Those crew members may be waiters, cleaners, clerks, even casino dealers, but for a few brief moments, they’re all sailors.

          In the event of an emergency, they’ve been trained to escort your little group over the rail and into a lifeboat, which for the moment, is hanging ominously overhead.

          It all seems kinda weird. There you are, all ready to begin your vacation at sea, when you’re solemnly reminded that – in certain highly unlikely circumstances – the ship you’re standing on might go down.

          There’s something else they teach you to do during the lifeboat drill: put on a life preserver. There you stand with your fellow vacationers with this puffy vest around your neck. Your friendly crew members teach you to cinch it tight across your chest. They point out that it has a whistle and a battery-powered light – then they sound the ship’s horn to signal the end of the drill. You happily hand over your life preserver and head to the lounge to get that image of the boat sinking out of your head. But it is nice to know that a life preserver is waiting for you at your designated muster zone if need be.

          Today’s story from the Hebrew scriptures is about a life preserver of a different sort, Joseph, of Technicolor Dreamcoat fame, declares, “God sent me before you to preserve life.”

          These words that Joseph speaks are among the most extraordinary in all of Scripture – because they are terribly difficult for Joseph to say. In a single day, he travels from death to life, and becomes a life preserver for his brothers.

          There are a number of Joseph’s in the Bible, but only two of them can be called leading characters. First, there is Joseph the earthly father of Jesus – he’s the strong, silent type. And then there is this Joseph, the son of Jacob. This Joseph is one of 12 sons Jacob had by four different women. Jacob was married to Leah and Rachel at the same time, and also had children by Zilpah and Bilhah.

          This was not unusual in that time, tribal chieftains like Jacob often had multiple wives and concubines. As you might imagine, this often led to hard feelings and a lot of family drama.

          Among all the women in his life, Jacob had a favorite – his wife Rachel. Among his 12 sons and an unspecified amount of daughters, Jacob also had a favorite – Joseph, who just happens to be the son he shares with Rachel.

          Thanks to Andrew Lloyd Webber, most of us can recount the basics about Joseph and coat of many colors, and how his brothers got sick and tired of their father’s favoritism. When Jacob sends Joseph out one day to check up on his brothers, their resentment boils over. They decide to beat some humility into Joseph. Things quickly get out of hand, and before they realize what they’re doing, they’ve thrown Joseph into a pit and sold him to some passing slave traders. As a cover-up, the 11 brothers smear some animal blood on Joseph’s coat and take it back to their heartbroken father as proof that wild beasts have killed his favorite son.

          Fast-forward a decade or two and Joseph is by now, only a memory to the family he unwillingly left behind. Everyone assumes he died long ago, including his brothers, who knew the truth.

          A terrible famine has come upon the land. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so Jacob send his sons packing off to Egypt in a last-ditch attempt to broker a grain deal with the Pharoah’s chief of staff.

          Little do they know – this high and mighty Egyptian official, Pharoah’s number-one-advisor, is none other than their brother Joseph. Against all odds – he has survived, and actually thrived!

          Through an unlikely series of events, he has gone from slave to dream-interpreter, to butler to prime minister. Joseph had plenty of time over those long years to brood over what he might do to his lousy, back-stabbing brothers if he ever got the chance. And now – quite unexpectedly – that day has come. Joseph finds himself face-to-face with all 11 of them once more. But this time, they’re on their knees, bowing to him – and Joseph holds all the cards.

          “Revenge is a dish best served cold,” says the old proverb. If that’s true, the emotional atmosphere in that Egyptian royal hall was well below freezing. All Joseph had to do was call for the palace guards, and his brothers would be hauled off to jail, or the slave market or even killed outright.

          But before he says anything, Joseph examines his brother’s faces. They still don’t recognize him in his customary black headdress and Egyptian robes. Their faces are so much older and ragged looking than when he had seen them last. Reuben was losing his hair. Simon’s brow was deeply creased with wrinkles. Issachar walked with a limp. Joseph realizes how much time has passed. These are not the same angry, jealous faces that he stared up at from the bottom of that pit so many years ago. And Joseph is overwhelmed thinking of the ties that bind them all together.

          Suddenly Joseph realizes that if he doesn’t break the grim cycle of anger and revenge – if he doesn’t do it right now, today – no one ever will.

          Finally, Joseph speaks. “Send everyone away.” His guards and scribes can’t believe it. Someone asks, “But my Lord, have I heard you rightly? These are foreigners, and palace security guidelines dictate…”

          “Send them away,” says Joseph, a little more forcefully.

          The 11 sons of Jacob wonder – “What is this all about.” This Egyptian lord, on his golden throne, clad in elegant linen garments with his jet black hairpiece, is looking back at them with the strangest expression on his face. Now he’s standing up and coming down the steps. Are those tears in his eyes – is he weeping?

          The Egyptian lord sits down on the bottom step, his head in his hands. He looks over at his brothers and gestures for them to come closer. His voice is barely a whisper. “I am Joseph,” he says. “Is my father still alive?”

          His brothers are speechless - can you blame them. The next words Joseph speaks are gentle and full of compassion. And that’s what brings him to the remarkable words, “God sent me before you to preserve life.”

          After all those years of licking emotional wounds and dreaming of revenge, Joseph has caught a higher vision – the preservation of life. He now sees the big picture of preserving not just his life, but the life of God’s chosen people. Joseph now realizes that his life’s vocation – aside from all he has done for Pharoah and Egypt – is to preserve God’s covenant, to be the living instrument, the life preserver, by which God’s promise will be passed on to the next generation.

          So standing there in the Egyptian royal palace, Joseph pronounces absolution. He all but commands his brothers to lay aside their guilt, and to cherish instead their precious family tie. His carefully nurtured anger has suddenly left him.

          It may have occurred to you that there is a troubling aspect to this story of Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers. It doesn’t seem very fair. Joseph’s brothers were terrible to him. Don’t they deserve some sort of punishment? The bible has told how this remarkable man Joseph, triumphs over every adversity – story after story shows his guts and determination, cleverness and faith. And we expect that this story should end with some deserved revenge and ultimate, justice.

          That may be the way of the world, but Joseph demonstrates a higher way – the way of forgiveness. Forgiving others – especially when the wound is deep – is one of the most difficult things any of us will ever be called upon to do. Yet few tasks are more important, not only for the person being forgiven, but also for the person doing the forgiving.

          A wise person has said, “Forgiveness is when you set a prisoner free – and then you realize the prisoner is yourself.”(1)

          There’s a story from the Native American tradition that makes a similar point. A boy comes to his grandfather, filled with anger at another child who has done him an injustice. “Let me tell you a story,” says the grandfather.

          “I too, at times, have felt great hatred for those who have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hatred wears you down and does nothing to hurt your enemy. It’s like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times. It’s as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and takes no offense when no offense is intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.”

          “But the other wolf – that is a different matter! That one is full of anger. The smallest irritation will set him into a fit of rage. He fights everyone, all the time, for no good reason. He cannot think clearly because his anger and hatred are so overwhelming. It is hard to live with these two wolves inside me – for both of them wish to dominate my spirit?”

          The boys eyes have grown wide with the thought of two wolves inside him. “Which one wins, Grandfather?”

          And the grandfather replies – “The one I feed.” (2)

          Joseph, too, has been living with two wolves inside him. When, at last, he looks into the faces of his brothers, the choice he has to make is clear. He must stop feeding the wolf of revenge. To release that wolf into the wild is not easy – it never is. Over the years, in a strange way, Joseph had come to love that voracious wolf – but he had to disown it, for the sake of the survival of God’s chosen people.

          Back in 1999, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a story about Amy Biehl, a young woman raised in the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Amy was an active church member, a smart and accomplished young woman. One of the biggest passions in her life was South Africa. She was very active in the anti-apartheid movement in the early 1990’s.

          When Amy won a Fulbright Scholarship, no one was surprised when she used it to travel to South Africa, where she immersed herself in that troubled country’s culture and politics.

          But Amy’s life ended tragically in 1994, when she was stoned and stabbed to death by a mob of angry militants. To them, she was just a  white person, one of the oppressors – they had no idea they were killing a friend of their own cause.

          It was a terrible, senseless tragedy. Amy’s parents were devastated by the news. But instead of lashing out in anger, they decided to try and do what their daughter would have wanted. They set out to understand their daughter’s sense commitment to these people of a distant land.

          So Amy’s parents immersed themselves in the study of South Africa. Soon, they traveled there. Amy’s mother Linda attended the trial of her attackers. She visited the township where they lived. Linda even visited one of the attackers mothers. She sat with her for a long time. Linda told her she forgave the woman’s son for what he had done. Later she told a reporter from 60 Minutes that, after hugging the woman: “I walked out of that home, there was rainbow in the sky. My heart was very light. I felt I had come to terms. And if that is forgiveness – I felt it. I felt at peace with myself. So to me, that’s forgiveness.”

          When they returned to the United States, the Biehl family established the Amy Biehl Foundation, which soon sponsored 15 different programs in South Africa that include job-training and after school programs for thousands of young people.

          Among the children who first enrolled in the after-school program was the 12 year old sister of one of the murderers. When her brother and the other two murderers applied for amnesty after serving four years in jail, the authorities told Amy’s parents that they could block the men’s release if they wished. But the Biehl’s decided not to exercise their right to object. The men were freed. (3)

          Forgiveness is never easy. It goes against the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” ethic that is so prevalent in this world. Forgiveness like we see in Amy Biehl’s or Joseph’s story seem, to some pitifully weak and lacking in justice, soft on crime – but in reality, nothing could be stronger nor more determined. True forgiveness does condone the wrong that has been done – nor does it forget. Forgiveness freely and openly acknowledges past offenses, but then it moves on, seeking ways to preserve and enhance life.

          Only the brave know how to forgive,” writes the 18th-century preacher and novelist Laurence Sterne. “A coward never forgave; it is not in their nature.”(4)

          Probably all of us here today carry some sense of anger or resentment with us. How long have you fed it, how long have you nurtured it? Maybe it’s time to follow Joseph’s example – and let it go.

          The last line of the famous prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi says it well – “For it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”(5)

          May God be praised. Amen. 

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved July 24th, 2023.
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…
4.    Ibid…
5.    Ibid…

08-06-2023 An Odd Time for a Picnic

Thomas J Parlette
“An Odd Time for a Picnic”
Matthew 14: 13-21
8/6/23 

          In the early 1980’s, a quick-serve Chinese restaurant opened at the Glendale Galleria mall in Glendale, California. The owners, Andrew and Peggy Cherng, called it Panda Express. A few years later, Chef Andy Kao developed their signature dish, Orange Chicken.

          The business began to grow. The 100th store was opened in 1993. The 1,000th in 2007. Today they have more than 2,000 restaurants in 9 countries. With more than 3 billion in sales, they serve more than 90 million pounds of Orange Chicken every year.

          At Panda Express, you are going to get “American Chinese food quickly and cheaply,” writes reviewer Kevin Alexander. Plus, “if you choose these winning dishes, you’re going to have a very enjoyable meal.”

          Surprisingly, Alexander’s top dish is Teriyaki Chicken, which isn’t even Chinese. Alexander ranks the top dishes at Panda Express as teriyaki Chicken, Beijing Beef, and Kung Pao Chicken. The famous Orange Chicken comes in fourth.

          Now, nearly 40 years after its founding, Panda Express continues to evolve. The restaurant recently introduced a plant-based version of its signature dish – Orange Chicken without the chicken. They call it “Beyond the Original Orange Chicken.”

          Panda Express is also expanding its philanthropic work. Fast Company magazine reports that a division called “Panda Cares” was established in 1999, and it has raised more than 305 million to help children in need. In recent years, conversations around race have inspired the company to create the “Panda CommUnity Fund”. Since being launched in 2021, more than 2.3 million has been contributed to organizations that support people of color and other marginalized communities.

          Andrea Cherng, the chief brand officer, says, “We are a company founded by immigrants. We continue to look outward.”

          They are trying to answer the question: “How do we best serve our people and the broader community?” (1)

          Speaking of feeding large amounts of people and serving the needs of others, that’s just what Jesus is doing today – although it seems like an odd time for a picnic.

          In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus and his disciples are shocked by the news that Herod has killed their friend John the Baptist. Needing to grieve and pray, Jesus climbs into a boat and retreats to a deserted, lonely spot across the Sea of Galilee.

          But the desperately needy people of the region won’t let him just slip away. They follow Jesus on foot. Even though he himself is suffering, Jesus isn’t irritated or annoyed that his retreat has been interrupted. On the contrary, Jesus cares deeply for these people who are in need and unable to help themselves.

          Matthew tells us that Jesus has compassion for the people in the crowd – which means, literally, that he “suffers with” them. Jesus is moved with pity from the depth of his heart, feeling a sympathetic awareness of their distress, combined with a strong desire to provide some relief. In Mark’s version of this story, Jesus has compassion because they are “like sheep without a shepherd; and he begins to teach them many things.” Jesus becomes their Good Shepherd, one who orders the people “to sit down on the grass”, just like the Lord of Psalm 23 makes his sheep “lie down in green pastures.”

          Jesus has compassion for every one of his people, regardless of their background or circumstances. Jesus is the Good Shepherd promised by the prophets, the one who teaches his people, heals their sick and injured, and provides them with food. “He will feed his flock like a shepherd,” promises Isaiah; “He will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” Ezekiel; picks up on this image as well, when he writes, “I will set up over them one shepherd, and he shall feed them.”

          The feeding of the 5,000 story must be important, because it’s the only miracle of Jesus recorded in all four Gospels. The story harkens back to God’s gift of manna while the Israelites wandered in the desert. It is also reminiscient of the Last Supper, especially in the blessing and breaking of the bread. The disciples only had 5 fish loaves and 2 fish, so Jesus introduced his own version of a signature dish – loaves and fish – and everyone ate and everyone was filled.

          When we receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in worship, we share bread, just as Jesus and the people did, gathered on the grass by the Sea of Galilee. We feel the compassion of Jesus in the meal, and we discover that our hearts are filled.

          The feeding of the 5,000 also reminds us that the Lord does provide. Not millions of dollars, but rather for the physical and spiritual nourishment we need. We find ourselves in a lonely and deserted place, Jesus meets us there and has compassion for us. When we feel spiritually empty, Christ breaks his bread and feeds us. When we are worn out at the end of a long day, Jesus does not send us away to fend for ourselves. He invites us to lie down in green pastures, and he gives us what we need for life.

          Jesus also encourages us to extend his compassion and nourishment to others. He wants us to continue to look outward, and to answer that question raised by Panda Express: “How do we best serve our people and the broader community?”

          Notice that the disciples seem a bit resistant at first, or at the very least a little skeptical. They want to send the hungry crowd away so that they can buy some food in a neighboring village. But Jesus says, “They don’t need to go anywhere; you give them something to eat.” The disciples are mystified by this, since they only have 5 loaves and 2 fish – clearly not enough to feed all these people. But after Jesus blesses the food, there is enough for everyone. And Jesus doesn’t feed the crowd himself – no, he gives the bread and fish to the disciples, and they feed the people.

          That’s the challenge in this story. To take what Jesus gives us and share it with others. “You give them something to eat,” says Jesus – and then he gives us what we need to feed the world around us. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, about 10% of US households were food insecure at some time during 2021.  (2) That means that 1 in 10 households across the country are forced to eat a less varied diet, participate in federal food assistance programs, or get food from a community food pantry. I would venture a guess that that statistic has remained unchanged for 2023, and might have even gone up.

          We respond to the challenge of Jesus when we do something to address this need. Concrete actions could include volunteering or contributing to Channel One community food pantry, gathering a group of people to provide a meal at Jeremiah Program or rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste, like what Community Food Response does. Answering Jesus’ challenge might also mean creating space for people to grow their own food, supporting the farmer’s market or even advocating for the expansion of public transportation to include access to grocery stores.

          You give them something to eat. Such feeding and sharing can go beyond putting food in hungry mouths. Giving might include regular offerings to support work that the church is already doing. Giving could include welcoming visitors to worship and sharing communion with them. Giving might include working creatively on issues like affordable housing and homelessness.

          Remember that Jesus was famous for eating with people he didn’t know, and he was criticized for sitting down at the table with people no wanted to be around – like tax collectors and known sinners. He didn’t consider people to be strangers when it came to sharing food and fellowship. When he reached out to the people around him, he always showed generosity and compassion. Since Jesus has given us what we need for a good life, he wants us to share that goodness with others.

          Sometimes we might worry that all this giving and sharing might mean that we don’t have enough for ourselves – that we will be left wanting. But notice in this story that when everyone in the crowd eats and is filled, there are 12 baskets of food left over – interestingly, that is one basket for each disciple. Sharing with others never depletes us, it never hurts us, never robs us of what we need for a good life. In the wonderful abundance of God’s generous gifts, there is always enough for all.

          In the story of the feeding of the 5,000 we discover that Jesus meets us in our deserted, lonely spots, in our times of grief – and offers us compassion, literally suffering alongside us. Like a good shepherd, he gives us what we need for life – abundant food, drink and protection. And then, because he wants us to be his disciples, he asks us to feed others with the resources he has given us. We join Jesus in compassion and in innovation, looking outward and caring for a world in need.

          We live in the assurance that there is always going to be enough. The Lord does, in fact, provide – for us and for the people around us.

          May God be praised. Amen. 

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved 6/20/23.
2.    Ibid…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

07-30-2023 The Kingdom of Heaven in 5 Parables

Thomas J Parlette
“The Kingdom of Heaven in 5 Parables”
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52
7/30/23
 

          Many of you probably remember the game show “Name That Tune.” When I was growing up I remember watching the original show with my parents and marveling about how much they knew about music. I, of course, hadn’t been exposed to much popular music in my youth – but they seemed to get most of the tunes right.

          I think you remember how the play. The contestants would bid on how many notes they needed to hear in order to identify a song – “I can name that tune in 6 notes.” Sometimes people would boldly get down to 2 or even 1 note to name that tune. I think they just re-launched an updated version of the show somewhere in the streaming universe. I’d like to think I would do better now than I did as a kid.

          Well, this morning, Jesus is doing something similar as he sets out to “Name the Kingdom of Heaven… in 5 parables.

          Everybody has probably wondered what heaven is like. Maybe you think it’s people in white robes lounging on cottony clouds while pluck on a harp. That’s the iconic image of the newspaper cartoons – based in part, on glimpses snatched from the dreamlike visions of the book of Revelation.

          Or maybe the image in your head is a gleaming celestial city, where the streets are paved with gold. That comes from Revelation as well.

          The prophet Isaiah seems to think heaven is a great banqueting table, groaning with food and wine – a sumptuous feast spread out on a mountaintop. The Vikings would have liked that one – their image of heaven was a vast, smoky mead hall, with joints of mutton forever turning on spits over the fire and drinking horns that never run dry.

          Theologian Robert Farrar Capon once wrote that with regard to life after death, we are like oysters dwelling on the ocean floor, looking up at a ballerina on the shore and wondering how she moves. (1)

          Human beings have always speculated about this place called heaven. The Bible speaks of heaven on numerous occasions, but rarely provides much detail. And any specifics we do get resemble more free-flowing poetic imagery that actual description.

          The only honest answer is that heaven is a mystery. It’s a well-attested mystery in the Bible – but a mystery nonetheless. Sad to say, our view of heaven in this life is rather like the view from a ship at sea, sailing through a dense fog. The lookout stands at the rail, peering into the glow. From time to time, shapes seem to loom up, then they vanish as quickly as they came. The chart says that somewhere out there is land, and the instrument readings confirm it. But even the sharpest-eyed lookout cannot see land.

          Patricia Bulkley is a hospice chaplain with many years of experience. She’s heard many hospice patients over the years report vivid dreams they experience in the last days of their lives. Patricia collected some of the dream stories she has heard over the years, and teamed up with her son, Kelly – a psychologist – to analyze them. The result is their book called Dreaming Beyond Death.

          Charles Rasmussen was a retired sea captain, who was dying of cancer. He was filled with fears about dying, until one night he dreamed of sailing on the high seas. He felt the same thrill he’d often known as a merchant-marine captain, sailing his ship at night through a black and empty sea, knowing he was on course. Captain Rasmussen told the hospice chaplain, “Strangely enough, I’m not afraid to die anymore.”

          Or, there was a woman who told of how she dreamed of a candle, burning on the windowsill of her hospital room. Suddenly, the candle was snuffed out, engulfing her in darkness. For a moment she was filled with terror – until, in her dream, she saw the candle spontaneously re-light, but this time outside her window.

          Then there’s the story of the great psychologist, Carl Jung. Jung has spent his life helping patients to analyze their dreams, and he had recorded quite a few of his own. The very last dream he communicated to his followers was of a great round stone. It had these words chiseled into it – “And this shall be a sign unto you of Wholeness and Oneness.” Jung took this to mean that his life’s work had been completed.

          The Bulkleys make the point in their book that these dreams don’t prove that heaven exists. They’re dreams, after all – they originate in the human mind. But they do speak powerfully of our hopes and aspirations as human beings. And for those family members and friends who are left behind, they are powerfully suggestive signs of what life beyond this life may be like. (1)

          In Matthew, chapter 13, Jesus speaks not of dreams, but of visions that are parables. Most of Jesus’ best-known parables are stories – the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the laborers in the vineyard. But this collect is now as well known. These parables at the end of Matthew 13 are brief, evocative snapshots, presented in rapid-fire fashion.

          Each of them, in its own way, provides an answer to the question, “What is the kingdom of Heaven?” But these parables don’t directly answer the question, “What is heaven?” Jesus is speaking here about the Kingdom of Heaven, the heavenly rule over all things. There’s a difference, but I admit, it’s a huge difference.

          The kingdom of heaven is not so much a spiritual reality beyond this world, as it is a spiritual reality breaking into this world. For Jesus – as for many wise, spiritual teachers – the boundary line between earth and heaven is thin. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus begins his preaching ministry by proclaiming “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Mark and Luke usually say “The kingdom of God is at hand,” but not Matthew. Matthew prefers to say “the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus sees his mission as waking people up and making them aware of this dazzling new reality and the nearness of God in daily life.

          Such is the message of these mini-parables in Matthew 13. Here’s the first one:

          The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

          A mustard seed is a tiny seed, but it grows rapidly, maturing into a very large plant. Some biblical scholars think Jesus’ mustard plant is what botanists call “black mustard” – more of a shrub, really than a plant. Occasionally, it grows as large as 6 feet tall. Black mustard is essentially a weed. No self-respecting farmer would let it grow in their field. Once established it’s very difficult to get rid of.

          But here’s what’s different in Jesus’ parable. In his rendition, the farmer intentionally sows the mustard seeds. It’s like Jesus saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a bunch of dandelion seeds that someone sowed on the front lawn.

          Why would any do that? We have enough dandelions naturally – why would anyone plant seeds. And they’re so hard to get rid of. But maybe that’s exactly what Jesus is trying to tell us about God’s heavenly realm. The seeds of heaven may seem tiny and insignificant, but once they take root in the ground, there’s no stopping them.

          The next parable is similar. “The kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures until all of it was leavened.”

          Anyone who has ever baked bread knows what yeast can do. Sprinkle the tiniest bit of the stuff into your wet dough, knead it thoroughly, and let it sit for an hour or so in a warm place. Then place your loaf in the oven – and before you know it, it has doubled in size. That wet, unappetizing lump of goo has been miraculously transformed into a warm, crusty loaf of bread. Break it open while it’s still warm, and you’ll see that Jesus is right. The steamy fragrance is like a little bit of heaven.

          So, the influence of heaven is slowly growing in our world, just as a yeasty loaf expands in the oven. But Jesus is saying even more than that. The woman in his parable mixes the yeast with three measures of flour. That’s an enormous quantity – about 50 pounds. This baker is running a commercial operation. The bread baked from that amount of dough would feed 100 people. (2) It starts with a tiny, insignificant pinch of leaven: and look at the result! In just such a way, the in-breaking reality of heaven has the power to transform the world.

          Our passage skips ahead then to this next one:

          “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

          Imagine a farm worker guiding a plow behind a pair of oxen. The sun is high overhead, the day is hot and he’s growing weary. Suddenly, he hears the sound of metal on metal, looks down, and sees something gold glinting back at him. His plow has broken into a clay jar buried in the ground. The jar is filled with gold coins, hundreds of years old – way too many for him to pick up and take home.

          So what does the farm worker do? He covers the treasure with dirt – then he runs home and scrapes together all the money he can find. He goes to all his friends and relatives, cajoling them into loaning him everything they can for this sure-fire investment. Then he goes to the farmer who owns the field and makes him an offer for the property.

          The farm hand holds his breath while the man considers the offer – and when the farmer finally agrees to sell, the farmhand hands over the purchase price. Inside, he’s bursting with happiness. His heart is racing, for he knows the treasure in the field is his at last.

          The next parable also has a commercial setting:

          “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

          Think of it, though as a modern tale. An antiques dealer is making the rounds of the Saturday garage sales, looking for merchandise. She’s hoping to find some costume jewelry that she can a make a few bucks on – maybe buy a whole box of assorted pieces. It’s almost noon – well past the time for turning up spectacular bargains, everything has been pretty picked over. She’s about to call it a day when she spies on last sale, just a couple of folding tables set up on a lawn. On impulse, she pulls the car to the curb and walks over to take a look.

          And immediately, she sees it. A huge pearl necklace, gleaming with a translucent sheen – the largest pearl she has ever seen. She picks it up and takes a close look with her practiced eye – it is unquestionably genuine, and probably worth $10,000-20,000 dollars. Casually she asks, “How much do you want for it?”

          The owner knows it’s a nice piece and answers, “How ‘bout $100.00 dollars.”

          The dealer looks in her purse, but all she’s got is 20 bucks. She thanks the owner, walks casually to her car, pulls away calmly and when she turns a corner, she floors it to the next ATM machine. Her stomach is in knots as she withdraws another $80.00. She prays under her breath as she drives back – “please let that pearl still be there.” And it is there. She buys it, and returns home rejoicing.

          A treasure buried in a field. An undervalued pearl, just waiting for a knowledgeable buyer. The Kingdom, says Jesus, is already present in our world, hiding in plain sight, but in such a way that not everyone can see it. Having glimpsed its presence, we have only to reach out and claim it for our own.

          For the fifth and final parable, we turn to the world of fishing:

          “Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.”

          Here, too, the gifts of God, the signs of the in-breaking kingdom of heaven, are present among us in great abundance. Anyone who has ever taken a fishing pole in hand knows the feeling of casting a line into the water and hoping something tugs at the other end. In Jesus’ parable, it’s a net rather than a line, and it comes back bulging with silvery treasure. In fishing, every cast is an act of faith, an act of hope. The vast majority of times, nothing happens. But it only takes one fish to make a day worthwhile.

          Jesus then surprises us, by changing the explanation of this parable. We began by looking at it from the standpoint of those who are casting the net; but Jesus informs us that, in this story, we are not the fishers, we are the fish. The keepers must be separated from those that have to be thrown back.

          So, what is the kingdom of heaven like? A mustard seed. Leaven in a batch of dough. Treasure hidden in a field. A pearl of great value. A net bulging with fish. Yes- it’s like all those things. This isn’t really a theological treatise that Jesus gives us today – this collection of short parable is more like a pile of snapshots. Far from providing a street map of heaven, these parables are hints, suggestions, intimations of what lies beyond. These hints are the best Jesus, or anyone else can offer, for the fault lies not in the explanation, but in the feeble understanding of the listeners.

          The Buddhist philosopher Alan Watts has written in a way that speaks to every religious tradition. He says:

          “You cannot understand life and its mysteries as long as you try to grasp it, just as you cannot walk with a river in a bucket… To have running water, you must let go of it and let it run. The same is true of life and of God.” (3)

          Heaven, we must admit, is a mystery. Yet, as the hospice chaplain discovered in listening to the secrets of the dying, it is in dreams, visions and parables that we discern the deepest and most profound truths pertaining to this life and the life that is to come.

          May God be praised for the glimpses of heaven we have all around us. Amen.

 

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved June 10th, 2023.
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…

07-23-2023 Jacob's Ladder

Thomas J Parlette
“Jacob’s Ladder”
Genesis 28: 10-19a
7/23/23
 

          You’ve heard of Truth, Justice and the American Way. It’s Superman’s catchphrase.

          But how about Truth, Justice and Bridge between earth and space?

          That’s the catchphrase of Captain Marvel.

          According to Brie Larson, who plays Captain Marvel, “She’s a believer in truth and justice and she is a bridge between two worlds, a bridge between earth and space. She’s fighting between the flaws that are within her and all this good she wants to do.”

          If you’re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like we are in the Parlette household, then you know Captain Marvel’s story. Carol Danvers was an Air Force pilot whose DNA was fused with that of an alien. The result was superhuman strength and the ability to fly. She became Captain Marvel: a bridge between earth and the rest of the civilizations out in space.

          “She can also shoot things out of her hands, and she’s really funny,” as Brie Larson says.

          After seeing the first “Captain Marvel” movie, one fan said, “It was totally awesome. I’ve never related to a Marvel character like Carol Danvers before.”

          A Captain Marvel sequel, “The Marvels,” scheduled to be released Nov. 10th of this year, contains some additional super-powerful women: A teenager named Ms. Marvel and Captain Monica Rambeau. In the movie, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel and Captain Rambeau will begin swapping places with each other every time they use their powers, and they will have to team up to figure out why. (1)

          The Marvel Cinematic Universe – the MCU for the insiders – has been quite prolific over the last 15 years providing great adventure stories around the idea of a bridge between Earth and other worlds in space and time.

          One of the great adventures of the Bible is found in the book of Genesis, revolving around a man named Jacob. Genesis tells us that Jacob and his older twin brother Esau struggled together in the womb, and their rivalry continued as they grew. As in every good superhero movie, there was some intense conflict.

          First, Esau sold his birthright to his younger brother to satisfy his hunger. Then, Jacob tricked his father Isaac into giving him the blessing that belonged to Esau. Incidentally, the name Jacob means- “supplant,” as in “replaces.”

          Truth and justice were not big concerns to Jacob, at least not at the beginning, and he was certainly not acting like a superhero.

          Esau hated his brother Jacob for stealing his blessing and declared his intent to kill him. Jacob escaped Esau’s fury and went on a journey in search of a wife. Alone and powerless, he stopped and slept at a spot on the road to Haran. Picking up one of the stones along the road, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

          Then Jacob “had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” So, Jacob saw a stairway, which could also be understood as a ladder or a ramp. The angels were messengers from God, going up and down between earth and heaven, but in this case, they were not carrying messages, at least not to Jacob.

          Instead, God stood above the stairway and offered a direct message to Jacob: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.” In these words, God makes clear that the bridge between earth and heaven is strong. The two are not disconnected places. “Earth is not left to its own resources,” says biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann. “Heaven is not a remote self-contained realm for the Gods. Heaven has to do with Earth.” (2)

          Jacob discovers a bridge between earth and heaven, similar to ones we might see in the MCU movies.

          On this bridge, God makes the promise that Jacob and his descendants will have the land on which he is sleeping. These descendants “will be like the dust of the earth,” says God, “and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

          That’s quite an amazing set of promises. Land, multiple descendants, the opportunity to be a blessing to others, and God’s eternal presence and protection. Talk about superpowers – if you wanted to change the world for the better, those promises are not a bad place to start.

          Jacob woke up from his sleep and realized, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” In the middle of his escape from Esau, felling powerless and alone, Jacob discovered that God was present with him. This gift was not a reward for good behavior, but it came to him as a gracious gift from God. “How awesome is this place!” he said. “This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

          At this point, Jacob discovered his superpower – his ability to sense the presence of God. This power did not come from alien DNA, or a radioactive spider or a lab accident with Gamma rays like in superhero movies, but from a willingness to accept what God was doing in his life. He did not wake up and say to himself, “What a crazy dream!”. No, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place.”

          Then Jacob responded to God’s message by picking up the stone he had used as a pillow and setting it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it- which was what the people of Israel did when they anointed a king, a prophet, or a priest. Then he called the place Bethel, which means “house of God.”

          In this passage, Jacob discovers a bridge between two worlds. He senses the presence of God on earth. He believes the promises God makes to him. And he builds something – he stands a pillar on the ground – to create a lasting sign that the place is Bethel – the house of God.

          We too can have Jacob’s superpower of sensing the presence of God, even in times of difficulty, illness or stress. A woman named Anne DeSantis tells the story of being diagnosed with a serious heart ailment at the age of 34. “With a 2-year-old and a brand-new baby,” she says, “I was overwhelmed hearing from my doctor that I had a rare disease.”

          Her doctor made some suggestions for treatment, including the advice that she slow down and rest. She says, “I recall sitting outside on the porch holding my daughter and looking up at the sky… I remember receiving the gift of solitude as my eyes gazed at the beauty of the blue sky in early spring. This memory, and as hard as that time was for me, was a gift.”

          She realized that God was with her, and in time, her condition was cured.

          Like Jacob, we can also believe in the promises that God has made to us. As Christians, we can embrace the promise that “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

          Jesus is the clearest sign that God is present and active in human life. He is the strongest possible bridge between heaven and earth. And because he has come to save us, we can believe that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that comes to us through him. Remember, one of the names for Jesus is “Immanuel” – which means “God with us.” And the last words Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew are, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

          Finally, like Jacob, we can build something on earth to show that God is alive and at work in human life. For instance, in the Bay Area of California, there is a desperate need for affordable housing. People living on Social Security constantly struggle to find decent places to live.

          But a few years ago, All Souls Episcopal Church began to transform an unused apartment building into new low-income housing. Phil Brochard, the pastor, says that they faced some pushback from neighbors, but they persevered because they wanted to serve their community. “We had a number of people who gave up thousands of hours to this project,” says Brouchard: “a journalist, an attorney and a couple of architects did work for us pro-bono.”

          Now, the housing project called Jordan Court is being filled with new residents. The facility includes a shared garden, where residents can pick fresh vegetables for their meals. Says one resident, “We got mint, we got cucumbers and my neighbors are great.” With the help of God,  All Souls Episcopal Church has built low-income housing, and through their efforts many neighbors will be blessed. (3)

          Marvelous things happen when people find bridges between earth and heaven. This was true for Jacob, and it is true for us. When we sense God’s presence and trust God’s promises, our homes and our churches can become Bethels – true houses of God.

          May that be so – for you, for me, and for First Presbyterian Church.

          May God be praised. Amen.

 

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved June 5th, 2023.
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…

07-02-2023 Prison Life

Thomas J Parlette
“Prison Life”
Romans 6: 12-32
7/2/23
 

          Most people are law-abiding citizens who have no desire to spend any time whatsoever inside a jail. Even ex-cons don’t want to go back to prison. Prison is not an attractive option for anyone. And those who are in prison are usually desperate to get out.

          Prison escapes have long been the subject of novels and movies. Even the Bible has stories of prison breaks and escapes from authorities. For example, In Acts 12, the apostle Peter is in prison under tight security: “Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison.” Do you think Peter wanted to be in prison? I don’t think so. And when “the chains fell off”, he went immediately to the house of some friends who were praying for his release and they were astonished to see the object of their prayers standing right there before their eyes!

          A small number of people, however, want to go to prison, and there are some residents of correctional institutions who prefer to remain where they are rather than be released to the civilian population.

          A number of years ago, The Buffalo News ran a feature about an ex-con who said he stole shoelaces, a pair of sandals and some other items so he could get “prison health care that is very good.” Then there is the North Carolina man who robbed a back for $1 for the same reason.

          Consider the case of a man suffering from a life-threatening liver problem who decided his best bet to save himself was to go to prison. Dr. Joshua Mezrich, an assistant professor of surgery in the division of multi-organ transplantation at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, tells the story of a 41-year-old man who turned to crime to get medical care.

          The felon was in prison when he got a scan that revealed two aneurysms in his liver. Later, a follow-up scan showed the aneurysms had grown and the prisoner needed surgery soon, but he was released before the surgery could be scheduled. He realized that a trip back to prison was his best choice since he knew he could get the surgery paid for if he was behind bars.(1)

          But these stories are outliers – most folks going through life, working their jobs, paying their bills and eating too much junk food don’t want to go to prison for even a day. Although most people wouldn’t dream of crossing the ethical and moral lines that could send them to jail, the very presence of the law and the threat of prison helps motivate at least some of the population to walk the straight and narrow and be accountable for their actions.

          Bob Dylan makes the point in his hit song, “Gotta Serve Somebody,” that there’s a real sense in which we all have a boss to whom we’re accountable. No one gets through life without answering to a higher authority. We are all accountable to something are somebody – whether that’s the law, or our boss at work. As Dylan says, “It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

          John Lennon didn’t care much for Bob Dylan’s song, so he wrote a parody called “Serve yourself.” (2) You can do that, I suppose, serve yourself. Lots of people do just that. But Paul makes it clear that he thinks that’s a bad choice.

          “Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey your passions.” Notice the words “dominion” and “obey.” Sin – the principle of sin, our fallen nature as it’s called in other places in the Bible, or our human propensity to make bad choices and fall into bad habits – uses our actual human bodies as a means of getting us to do what sin wants us to do. Sin dominates us; sin is a bully; sin coerces us to obey our basest impulses. And when that happens, we don’t look so pretty. And we’re not happy.

          The jail of the body is a horrible place. Paul refers to us as “slaves to sin.” Sounds terrible.

          But Paul also mentions being “set free,” which implies we were once captured, imprisoned and forced to toil away under the scourge of jailhouse master – but no longer.

          The good news is that we don’t need to stay in the prison of serving ourselves when we could be serving God instead. Why serve Sin, when we could be walking free in the Spirit?

          The bad news is that our mortal bodies, very human bodies seem to provide constant opportunities for us to be tempted every which way.

          We’re tempted by what we see. And what we see always ignites an appetite. Sometimes, that is quite literally true. You see a bag of potato chips or a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream – and we want it. We gotta have it. That’s why we so many fast food commercials on TV between 4:00 and 8:00.

          And it’s not just food. We see wonderful, cool, new gadgets and we can’t live without them.

          We see commercials for vacations at Disneyworld or Viking river cruises – and we want to go.

          We see new clothes and shoes that are coming out – and we want that too.

          And if temptation doesn’t assault us with our eyes, it does so with our other senses. We can smell the aroma of French fries boiling in the deep fryer, a burger sizzling on a neighbor’s grill or the wonderful aroma of garlic and olive oil when we walk into the house for dinner. I know I am tempted almost every day when I drive home up North Broadway when I pass the Burger King in Siler Lake Plaza – you can smell the burgers cooking even when the windows are closed.

          Yes, our bodies and our senses are vulnerable to all sorts of temptations every day.

          But, we do hold a few keys to this jailhouse battle of temptation. We can unlock the cell door and walk out of the prison life – free.

          Paul reminds us in this passage that self-discipline is one of those keys. As he says: “Do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey your passions.” Sometimes we forget who’s in charge of the jail. We might feel like we’re a prisoner to temptations, but we are actually wardens of the prison. We are in control of what goes on within us. To rephrase the Nike expression from years ago – “Just DON’T do it!”

          Remembering our identity is also a key. Remember what we heard from Paul last week – “Consider yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Dead and Alive. We are children of God! Serving ourselves, serving sin, and yielding to temptation is not how we roll. It’s not who we are. We have been blessed through Christ’s redeeming sacrifice with a new nature. We are new creations in Christ: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.”

          Remembering our vulnerability, that’s a key as well. Our bodies make us vulnerable to excessive living. The fact that we are baptized Christians doesn’t mean that we will always do the right thing. Christianity is not a vaccine that ensures our spiritual health. That’s not how it works. Remembering that we are vulnerable to temptation and bad behavior is a key to releasing ourselves from sin’s control.

          Staying alert – that’s a key. The Bible say: “Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary, the devil, prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, stand fast in your faith.” Sin is a slippery slope. Without vigilance, we may not be aware of the traps that line whatever path we might be following.

          And finally – remember to take your keys with you! Have you ever walked out of the house and forgotten your keys, only to remember that you left them inside. Every once in awhile I do that with my car keys and I leave them on my desk. I don’t get far before I sheepishly come back to get them. As Christians, we have scripture, prayer, worship and Bible study on our key chains. Sometimes it’s easy to forget our keys, but without them, we don’t get far.

          The great thing about the Christian life is that we get to choose who we want to serve.

          This was not a choice for Brooks Hatlen in the classic 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption. Brooks, played by James Whitmore, had been in prison for most of his life. When Brooks was finally released on parole as an elderly man, he didn’t really know what to do. Prison was all he knew.

          Perhaps we all have a bit of Brooks in us. Forgetting that we are children of the light, we become accustomed to behaving as though we are children of darkness. Yielding to temptation has become so normal that temptations have ceased to be temptations. Instead, they have become our rule of life.

          Upon learning of his own pending release, Brooks attacks fellow inmate Heywood, played by William Sadler, holding a knife to his throat and threatening to kill him so he can stay in prison.

          Red Redding, and inmate played by Morgan Freeman, explains the attack to Heywood and Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, saying: “Brooks ain’t no bug. He’s just… institutionalized. The man’s been in here 50 years! This is all he knows. In here, he’s an important man. He’s an educated man. Outside, he’s nothing! Just a used-up with arthritis in both hands.”

          And maybe that’s all we are – used-up cons with arthritis in our hands. We can’t get out, perhaps we don’t even want to. We’re used to prison life, and by now our arthritic hands can hardly hold the keys God has given us to release ourselves.

          Unable to adjust to freedom – Brooks commits suicide after his release.

          But we are not doomed to that same fate.

          The Bible says: “The wages of sin is death – but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”

          Know this, my friends – we are free.

          We don’t need to die in the prison of sin and temptation.

          Jesus has blown the doors of the cell off their hinges.

Andy and Red both made it out of prison. Red crosses into Mexico where he reunites with Andy, and they enjoy their freedom by the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Their freedom is a symbol or ours.

In Jesus Christ, we can leave prison life behind, for good.

And for that… May God be praised. Amen.

 

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved June 5th, 2023.

2.    Ibid…

06-25-2023 Wanted: Dead and Alive

Thomas J Parlette
“Wanted: Dead and Alive”
Romans 6: 1b-11
6/25/23
 

          If you caught what you think is a typo in the sermon title today, please don’t leave any notes on Cindy’s desk. Wanted: Dead and Alive is indeed the title, no mistakes there.

          Of course, our first thought is Wanted: Dead or Alive – that’s the phrase we’re used to, especially if you grew up watching old westerns on TV, like Gunsmoke and Bonanza. In fact, from 1958-1961, Steve McQueen starred in a TV show called “Wanted: Dead or Alive” before he got his big break in the movies. McQueen played the role of Josh Randall, a Confederate veteran and bounty hunter. He carried a shortened Winchester Model 1892 rifle called “Mare’s Leg,” and while galloping on his horse, Ringo, he could draw and fire his rifle with blazing speed. But he had a soft spot. He not only caught bad guys dead or alive, but he often turned over his earnings to the needy and advocated for his prisoners – if he believed they had been falsely accused.(1)

          Or, maybe the first thing that pops into your head when you hear “Wanted: Dead or Alive” is that Bon Jovi song from the 80’s.

          Today, those post-Civil War posters featuring a rough-looking character, and the words “Wanted: Dead or Alive” have been replaced by the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Time was, you could stop by the post office and see if the list had changed – I’m not sure that’s still true, it’s been so long since I’ve actually gone to the Post Office.

          In a way, Paul has a similar poster on display here in Romans 6. We are wanted people!

          For the early church, that was often true in a literal sense. Earl believers were followed, harassed, imprisoned and even executed. Some of their adventures are recorded in the Book of Acts and in occasional references made by Paul in his letters. If you were a “follower of the Way” in those days, you become a wanted man or woman. It was risky business.

          But Paul also wants to say that we’re wanted in another sense. God wants us to walk in the Spirit, to be unceasing in our prayer life, to be holy and to enshrine in our daily lives all of the fruit of the Spirit.

          Paul, however, focuses on one aspect of the “wanted” nature of our lives as followers of Jesus. He explains that we’re wanted – dead AND alive. Then he explains what he means.

          He doesn’t say we’re wanted dead OR alive. The root of this distinction is embedded in the great Pauline metaphor articulated here in Chapters 5-8, that begins with the crucifixion of Jesus and ends with his resurrection – and a burial in between. Paul says that when Jesus was crucified, it’s like we were crucified with him. Thus – we are dead.

          But when Jesus was raised from the dead, we were raised with him. So, we’re also alive. Dead – to sin and our fallen, human nature, and alive to new life in Christ. Dead AND Alive. In between, there’s a burial, the symbol of which is baptism. We go down into the waters, symbolizing death, and come back up again revived in new resurrection life.

          So why is this so important? Paul gives his answer in verse 11: “So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” In the ebb and flow of our daily lives, we must consider ourselves to be dead AND alive.

          This is a truth we must reaffirm every day. In 1st Corithians, Paul says, “I die every day! That is certain my brothers and sisters.” He meant it – and we must never forget it. It is the heart of how to walk in the Spirit and be a follower of Jesus. Who is Jesus looking for? He is looking for disciples who are dead AND alive.

          I realize that all this talk about being dead might be a little hard to listen to. We don’t like to talk about death, especially our own. We often have warped or conflicting emotions about death. Margaret Stohl, the author of Beautiful Creatures says, “When you’re alive, you don’t dwell on how you are going to spend your time once you’re dead. You just figure you’re gone, and the rest will pretty much take care of itself. Or, you think you’re not really going to die. You’re going to be the first person in history who doesn’t have to. Maybe that’s some kind of lie our brains tell us to keep us from going crazy while we’re alive.”(2)

          Maybe so. But Paul says we’re already dead – to sin, to self and to death itself. We just need to act like it.

          To be clear, the death Paul talks about is a vicarious death. We are dead because we have died in Christ. When Christ died, he conquered sin, self, and the forces of evil. Even our most feared enemy, death, was vanquished.

          So, Paul argues, we should start acting like we are dead to sin, and not alive to it. We should remember that sinful practices and habits no longer have a hold over us. We should not forget that Christ has broken the chains that bound us to our former life. We are dead to the past. It is gone.

          And in Christ, we are also dead to self. We are dead to that fallen part of our human nature. We no longer need to act like the old version of ourselves. We have evolved; we have grown; we have matured. We are in other words, a new creation in Christ.

          But, the title of this sermon is dead AND alive. God wants both, at the same time. In Ephesians, Paul writes, “God, who is rich in mercy… even when we were dead through our trespasses… God made you alive together with him. Clearly this dead AND alive idea is very important to Paul.

          But there is a problem. If we are alive to God, we may be dead to sin, but we might be dead in another way too. We might find ourselves spiritually dead if we are not alive to God.

          Christians who are not alive to God are often the walking embodiment of negativity. They seem to be against change and opposed to many positive things. To adapt a biblical saying – it’s easier for a camel to slip through the eye of a needle than for negative people to slip a positive thought past the teeth and gums of their mouths.

          Christians who are not alive to God have zero interest in helping others. In that sense, they’re narcissistic, and in the ancient mythology of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Narcissus dies slowly of malnutrition, after he realizes that the one person in the world he loves cannot love him back.

          Spiritually dead Christians don’t react to external stimuli. They just don’t seem responsive to the spiritual side of their nature. They just seem to go through the motions. They live their lives by checking off the boxes, doing just what is required and nothing more. They embody what Henry David Thoreau described as “lives of quiet desperation.”

          Finally, spiritually dead people seem to resent the obligations of the spiritual life. Theirs is a childish and immature approach to the Christian life. For instance, when you ask the kids to do chores around the house, how often do they respond, “Do I have to?”, with a high pitched whining quality to their voice. Spiritually dead people have that same kind of whine. They have little appreciation for the joy and privilege of serving the Lord.

          But thankfully, they are ways to flip or reverse the symptoms of being spiritually dead and become alive in Christ.

          Those who are alive in Christ are generally positive, and unafraid of change. In that sense, many would say they’re progressive and dynamic, not static.

          Rather than just loving themselves, they love others.

          Rather than promoting their self-interest, they lift up the concerns of others.

          Alive-in-Christ people are highly sensitive to their spiritual nature and are intentional about study and prayer time. They talk to God and spend time listening.

          Alive-in-Christ people don’t hold grudges and are hard to offend.

          Alive –in-Christ people are filled with hope, faith and love.

          Alive-in-Christ people are dead to anything that is not life giving.

          The writer and theologian Robert Farrar Capon once wrote “The only qualification for the gift of the Gospel is to be dead. You don’t have to be smart… You don’t have to be good. You don’t have to be wise. You don’t have to be wonderful. You don’t have to be anything. You just have to be dead. That’s it. You see the whole problem with the church is that the church does not want to die. None of us want to die. But that is the one qualification and that is what is outrageous. There can be only one requirement and it’s got to be low enough to include all of us. And it is. All you have to do is die.”(3)

          And as Paul assures us today, Jesus has already done that for us.

          The Good News is that God wants us: Dead AND Alive.

          May God be praised. Amen.

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved 6/5/23.

2.    Ibid…

3.    Ibid…

06-04-2023 Look to the Ant

Thomas J Parlette
“Look to the Ant”
Genesis 1:1-2:4
6/4/23, Trinity Sunday
 

 “It’s the ants’ world, and we’re just visiting.”

 So says a man named Dino Grandoni in the Washington Post.

We tend to think of ourselves as the most important of God’s creatures, since Genesis tells us that we are made in the image and likeness of God. So, why would Grandoni say such a thing? Well, an estimate has been made of the number of ants on Earth, and the total is probably going to surprise you. 20 quadrillion.

That is a staggering sum. To help get your mind around that number – 20 quadrillion is 20, followed by 15 zeros. Five sets of three. Quite a number. Or, how about this – for every person on earth, there are 2.5 million ants! We are outnumbered 2.5 million to 1. I don’t like those odds as we enter the summer picnic season!

Yes, it is the ants’ world. Boy, God must really love ants because God made so many of them.

A group of scientists from the University of Hong Kong concluded that the total mass of ants on earth is about 12 megatons of dry carbon. “Put another way,” Grandoni, “if all the ants were plucked from the ground and put on a scale, they would outweigh all the wild birds and mammals put together.” (1)

Ants may be tiny, but they outweigh us all. Literally.

Now, the ant is not mentioned frequently in the Bible, although the book of Proverbs in chapter 6, does say, “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” Ants are praised in Proverbs for their efforts and productivity, even though they have no bosses breathing down their necks. In addition, ants are known for their strength – they can lift 20 times their bodyweight. They are also very compassionate. Did you know that ants have two stomachs, so they can store extra food in case they need to share. And if an ant is injured on the job, other ants will carry him back to the anthill to recover. Ants can be a little creepy – but they are very impressive.

Our scripture passage for today – the creation story from Genesis – doesn’t specifically refer to ants by name, but I think they fit into that category of creatures created right before humans on Day 6, when God created “everything that creeps upon the ground.”

And when God stood back and looked at everything that had been created, God called it all “good.”

And even though they are kind of an annoyance, ants really are good. An author named Diane Brady points out that “God made so many ants because ants are important housekeepers for the earth. Ants, not earthworms, turn most of the world’s soil, drain it and enrich it. Ants dispose of 90% of small dead animals. As gardeners, ants spread and plant more seeds than any other creature.” (2)

Acting as the world’s gardeners – spreading seeds, turning and the soil – that’s some very good work.

The book of Genesis reminds us of our place in God’s creation, and how important it is for us to preserve and care for what God has made. One of the reasons that the scientists from the University of Hong Kong are counting ants is that they are worried about insect numbers. Scientists are seeing declines in some insect populations in Germany and Puerto Rico. We could be facing a “bugpocalypse,” says Dino Grandoni – one driven by habitat destruction, pesticides and climate change. “Over 40 % of insect species may go extinct,” he reports, “with butterflies and beetles facing the greatest threat.” (3)

Whether the number of ants remains at 20 quadrillion or not, we humans have some work to do. And it begins with seeing ourselves as stewards of God’s creation. Our challenge is to care for creation as we follow the command of God to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Jonathan Merritt, author of the book “Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet,” was sitting in a theology class with one of his favorite seminary professors. The professor was talking about the revelations of God, and he said, “When we destroy God’s creation, it’s similar to tearing a page out of the Bible.”

Merritt was stunned. He was a staunch conservative who thought that environmentalism was incompatible with his Christian faith. At that moment he thought to himself, “I would never tear a page out of Scripture.” He left the class that day as a different person, knowing that he could not continue to live the way he did. (4)

When we destroy God’s creation – even something as small as an ant – we tear a page out of the Bible. We should not harm God’s world or God’s book. Neither belongs to us. They are simply entrusted to our care.

Now active in caring for creation, Merritt encourages people to approach the environment by confessing that we have sinned. He encourages us to deal with our wrongdoing by admitting that we have allowed our air, water and land to be polluted.

In the first chapter of Genesis, God says that men and women should “rule over” or “have dominion over” the creatures of the earth. Unfortunately, that has led some to interpret that to mean that human beings can do whatever they want with creation – after all, God put us in charge, it’s ours. Dominion has been understood as domination. Dominion is actually closer to stewardship and caretaking. Think of your family pet. We have dominion over our cats and dogs, but we take actions that are in their best interest. We don’t abuse or dominate them – we take care of them, because we love them. Merritt prefers to focus on the tilling and keeping that we find in the second chapter of Genesis, in which God put humans in the garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it.”

Other translations say “till it and keep it” or

“tend it and watch over”,

 “take care of it and look after it.”

Or as The Message puts it, “work the ground and keep it in order.”

However this passage is translated, it is clear that humans are commanded to practice good stewardship of the Earth. We are to be like the prudent manager described by Jesus in the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servant, or the good and faithful servant who invests what his master puts him in charge of, so on his return he is still in good shape.

God has given us just one Earth, with precious limited resources, so the challenge for us is rule over creation with care, to be faithful and wise servants, making decisions in the best interest of God’s world. We need to realize that those of us living in the United States are leaving an especially large ecological footprint. If everyone consumed energy the way a middle-class American does, the world would need the resources of 4-10 Earths.

Caring for creation through energy conservation and employing alternative energy sources is an important way for us to take care of our world – as we learned at the Forums@First this past Tuesday. Even simple things like turning off lights and electronics that are not in use, and installing more energy efficient appliances and light bulbs can go a long way. We can look for opportunities to walk, bike or take public transportation instead of driving our car. All of these things help us practice good stewardship of God’s creation.

I know many people have shifted their grocery shopping so that they focus on more organic foods or food that is local and in season. That helps in cutting down the pesticides used to grow what we eat and the cost of shipping food all around the country. Did you know that on average, your food travels more than 1500 miles to get to your table? That’s of energy expended when you could just go to the farmers market, which thankfully we can start doing again now.

As we think about ways to care for Earth, we would be wise to look to the ant.

There is a man named Ndubuisi Ekekwe who recently wrote a piece in the Harvard Business Review about what he learned ants.

He says, “I once stopped at a rest area in Connecticut. A project I was working on was on my mind. As I took a break to stretch my legs, I sat down at a picnic table and I started watching a group of ants in action. I observed that when finds food, others immediately gathered to help pull the food to their storage. I decided to disturb their pattern, just to see what they would do – which unfortunately ended up in wounding one of the ants. Quickly, other ants came together and evacuated it. Then they re-organized and continued on the line they had created. I saw no form of supervision, yet they were accomplishing tremendous tasks, such as moving pieces of food that were about 30 times their individual sizes.”

“As I watched, my project flashed in my mind. Wouldn’t it be good to work like these ants?

They worked as a team. When one of them found food, they called other to help.

They trusted one another. When one was hurt they trusted that the others would get them to safety.

The ants were diligent and focused. They always kept moving. I never saw an ant standing still.

The ants regrouped when necessary – when something wasn’t working, they tried something else.” (5)

So as we come to the table this morning, let us give thanks for God’s good creation – and let us strive to be efficient stewards of the earth’s resources. And for helpful advice on how to do this, and all the other things we are called to do as the church – let us look to the ant. Let us work as a team, trust one another, be diligent and focused on the task at hand and be ready to regroup when necessary.

May God be praised. Amen.

 1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/10/23
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…
4.    Ibid…
5.    Ibid…

05-28-2023 Catching the Wind

Thomas J Parlette
“Catching the Wind”
Acts 2: 1-21
5/28/23

          It’s called The Windcatcher. When it’s finished it will be as tall as the Eiffel Tower. It will be as wide as the world’s largest cruise ships.

          Built as an enormous metal grid, it will contain 126 wind turbines. It will float on a platform, anchored to the ocean floor using the same technology employed by the oil and gas industry.

          A Norwegian company has been developing this new system to generate electricity from wind power. Fast Company magazine reports that when it becomes operational next year, “it could deliver five times the annual energy of the world’s largest single turbine. That’s because the system is three time taller than the average turbine, exposing the blades to higher wind speeds.” (1)

          Imagine 126 turbines spinning in an enormous grid. The Windcatcher’s blades will be smaller than those on a typical windmill, which will enable them to spin faster. And the position of the grid in deep water will enable it to catch the strongest of winds.

          Numbers. Size. Location. Put these elements together, and you have a single structure that will generate enough electricity to run 80,000 European homes.

          That’s a lot of power.

          The Windcatcher is still in development, so its performance is still uncertain. There are certainly questions yet to be answered. “What happens when a big storm or a hurricane hits it?” Could it tip over in high winds? Would about rough seas? Or the blades – will they chop up all kinds of sea gulls? Just some of the questions that need to be answered.

          The subject of wind and power is certainly on our radar today as we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. This is the day that the 12 apostles were gathered in Jerusalem far a harvest festival called Pentecost, meaning “50th day” – the 50th day after the celebration of Passover. Jews from around the Mediterranean region were gathered to celebrate this festival in Jerusalem, including “Parthians, Medes and Elamites,” along with residents of a dozen other regions mentioned in the book of Acts.

          The 12 apostles were sitting in a house in Jerusalem, probably feeling uncertain and a bit powerless. Yes, they had been inspired and energized when Jesus was raised to new life on Easter. But his time among them had come to an end just a few days earlier, on the Day of Ascension, when Jesus “was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

          So, I think they took a long look at each other and thought “Ok, Now what? What are we supposed to do now?”

          That’s when a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. This wind was as fast as the air that rushes at high altitudes, and as strong as the breeze that blows over deep waters. But this wind was no hurricane or freak storm.

          No – this wind, this power, came from God. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

          The Apostles became like the proposed Windcatchers, powered by the Holy Spirit. They were effective because of their number. There were 12 of them, not just one. God had been working through individuals, like John the Baptist, Mary and Jesus. And they were certainly big turbines. But now God was going to work through a community, just like the Windcatcher employs an array of turbines.

          The apostles were also the right size – small. They were not the big shots of religion or politics, people who made an impression on others with their insights or influence. In fact, when they began to speak in other languages, the God-fearing Jews from other nations were utterly amazed. They asked, “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?”

          No one expected a group from Galilee to master all these diverse languages. They were from the boondocks – they weren’t supposed to be multi-lingual – until the Day of Pentecost arrived.

          The Apostles were also in right place – Jerusalem. They were gathered for a religious festival, which was a good place to be as they showed their devotion to God. But their position in Jerusalem also gave them access to God-fearing people from every nation from all around the region. They did not hesitate to declare the wonders of God in a variety of languages. And Peter was not reluctant to raise his voice and address the crowd, saying, “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.”

          On Pentecost, the apostles discovered the secret to spiritual power – right numbers, right size, right place. And we can employ that power even today.

          We benefit from numbers, just as the first apostles did. But notice, that doesn’t mean it has to be a big number – they only had twelve. But they were in community, they were 12 apostles, together. We need to be in community with one another if our faith and Christian commitment is going to grow. This means we put a focus on gathering for worship and Bible study, and fellowship, as well as working together in ministry and mission.

          The first mention of the Greek word “ekklesia” in the Bible is found in the gospel of Matthew, and it’s translated as “church.” What the word literally means is “gathering,” and it comes from the ancient Greek assembly of citizens in a city-state. The word appears again in Acts, when “Barnabas and Saul met with the church” – the ekklesia – in Antioch. It was in this city that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

          We need to gather in numbers to be the church. Jesus is with us when we are together in community, just as he promised in Matthew, saying, “For when two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Assembling for community worship and Bible study and Fellowship gives us the most inspiration, insight and guidance. When we stop taking part. Our faith tends to cool off. If the isolation of the pandemic taught us anything, it is that gathering is a critical factor in the vitality of the church.

          Assemblies are also needed for effective ministry and mission. Individuals can have brilliant and creative ideas, but implementation and follow-through requires a team. Far too often, individuals pursue great ideas on their own, only to become frustrated when they can’t achieve their goal. For any effort to be successful, it takes at least a group of people to support and encourage each other. I have no hard proof – but five feels like a good number to me. You don’t need a huge group to get started – but a group of five, committed, enthusiastic people can get a lot done. Ministry and mission require some numbers.

          There was once a member of a certain church, who had always been an active member, attending services regularly, but then he just stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home, alone, sitting by a roaring fire.

          Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable, but said nothing. In the silence both men contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs.

          After more than a few minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination.

          As the one lone ember’s flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then it’s fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead as a doornail.

          Not a word had been spoken since the pastor first arrived.

          Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

          As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday.” (2)

          We need to be in community or our faith will cool off and end up dead as a doornail.

          As Christians, we also need to be the right size. Now this has nothing to do with height or weight or the number of people in a congregation. Instead, Christians need to be small enough to catch the wind of the Holy Spirit and then act boldly in the world. This is similar to the Windcatcher system, in which small turbines spin quickly in high wind.

          Look at the Apostle Peter in the book of Acts. He did not see himself as a bigshot or a spiritual superstar. In fact, he had denied Jesus three times just a few months earlier. Peter had no special status in the religious, political or financial communities of Jerusalem. But he was exactly the right size to be a disciple of Jesus.

          Although he was small in the eyes of the world, he was big enough to speak the truth. “These men are not drunk, as you suppose,” he said to the crowd. They had assumed that the words of the Apostles in all these languages were the babblings of people feeling tipsy from too much wine. “No”, said Peter, “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” Peter was just the right size to do what God wanted him to do; Connect the gift of the Holy Spirit to the prophecy of Joel, and to share this news with the people of Jerusalem. He concluded by assuring them that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

          Our challenge is to make sure that we are the right size for ministry and mission. You may be a powerful executive at a top company, but you can be the right size for serving a meal to the homeless. You may be an influential attorney, but you can be the right size for teaching a Bible study. You may be a sixth grade student, but you can be the right size for singing in the choir. All that matters is that you can be right-sized for discipleship.

          The final secret to spiritual power is place. This means being in the right place at the right time, just as the apostles were in the right place – Jerusalem – at the right time – Pentecost. For many of us, there will be places that are the right spot for us: Home, school, work, the gym, church. But like the Windcatcher, we need to position ourselves correctly to catch the wind. Sometimes we need to leave the comfort of familiar places and familiar ways of doing things to accomplish our purposes.

          Today, on Pentecost, we are in the right place, we are just the right size for discipleship and we have the right numbers gathered here today. God is only too pleased to bless us with the power of the Holy Spirit Wind.

          David McKirachan tells the story about when he took his four-year-old son sailing for the first time:

          “At that age, my son was just big enough to enforce “No” and “Mine” with more developed language. Her fought with anything that looked like authority. He was “establishing identity” according to the counselor with whom I shared my angst. He was grabbing for power. Dinner time, bed time, play time, school time, any time was another battle. I was exhausted.”

          “One day, I took him on a jaunt to a park where we could rent a little sailboat for the afternoon. I told him that the rope I was going to give him was like the gas pedal in a car. If you pulled the rope, we go faster. If you let it out, we go slower. Then I handed him the rope. His eyes got big. I put the rudder and we drifted off the luff. I said, “Ok, pull.”

          “Sailing is one of the most spiritual activities I know. It requires a finely developed sense of humility and patience, because you don’t go anywhere without the cooperation of the wind. And keeping the sail full of wind requires attention and a constant adjustment of rudder and sheets (the lines that come from the bottom corners of the sails). When the wind fills the sail, you feel more than a tug on the rope. It is the wind, “Ruach” in Hebrew. It’s the same word they use for Spirit. It’s what moved across the deep at creation. It’s not an atmospheric disturbance, it’s power, raw, elemental power in your hand.”

          “That day, on that big pond, in that little boat, the storms of our relationship were stilled. He gave up his search for power and I relaxed, only focused on keeping the breeze in the sail. Teaching him to duck when we came about was fun, but even that became part of the dance that day out there on the water. The spirit of creation blew into our small lives and left us with a peace that passes understanding.”

          “He still struggles for power. Life isn’t easy for him. But as a grown man, with bigger issues than bedtime, he remembers that day on the pond. And he remembers that I trusted him with the power of the wind.” (3)

          Today, on Pentecost, we are called to be windcatchers. God trusts us with the power of Ruach, the power of the Holy Spirit, moving like the wind, to bring God’s Kingdom into existence.

          So let us receive that trust, and strive to catch the wind!

          May God be praised. Amen.

 

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/5/23.
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…

 

04-30-2023 Everything Happens So Much

Thomas J Parlette
“Everything Happens So Much”
Psalm 23
4/30/23
 

          “May your coffee be strong and your Monday be short.”

          “Make today look so good that yesterday is jealous.”

          “Train your mind to be calm in every storm.”

           Believe it or not, these phrases do not come from the Bible. They don’t originate in an ancient book of wisdom, or even in a modern self-help book.          No – they actually come from Twitter, a social networking service with hundreds of millions of users. Twitter is where people go to write down quick thoughts, complain about something, share their opinion or a humorous insight or maybe even a word of wisdom.         
           Twitter is controversial for sure, and many people complain about it – including me, I don’t follow anyone on Twitter. But author Kaitlyn Tiffany, writing in The Atlantic, says “no one can deny that it has brought some amazing phrases into our lives – things we can’t imagine reading in any other place, or at any other time in history.” 

          For example:

“I cried, I screamed, I cursed, I jumped up and down, I thought about trying.”“Everyone says to follow your dreams, so I went back to bed.” 

          Unexpected, funny, sometimes absurd phrases. But there is one treasured sentence fragment that Tiffany says is “astounding in its clarity and salience. It described both the internet and our entire human world, in just four words:

          “Everything happens so much”

           That’s true isn’t it? According to Tiffany, the tweet acknowledges “what feels like ancient wisdom: The absolute best we can say about this moment in time is that everything is happening. As it always has and always will, so much.”

          Twitter users have called it the “general tweet of the decade” and “the defining text of our age.” (1)

          Life just keeps happening… so very much.

          Stress is all around us these days. We stress out sitting in traffic, honking at the car in front of us. We work longer and longer hours in a  sputtering economy, as we contend with the stress of school, relationships, financial challenges, interacting with hurt and angry people, searching for fulfillment in retirement and even coming to grips with death itself.
          In a world in which “everything happens so much” and we are quickly overwhelmed, we need a God who calms us, restores our souls and leads us in the right paths. Fortunately, we have Psalm 23 that promises us that the Lord is “my shepherd, I shall not want.” God gives us green pastures, quiet waters, a table of food and an overflowing cup. The promise of Psalm 23 is rest, refreshment, guidance and protection in a chaotic, stressful, threatening world.
          Yes, that tweet was right – everything happens so much. But since the Lord is our shepherd, we have everything we need. That’s even more true.
          Psalm 23 begins with the assurance that God leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” There are actually a few different ways this could be translated. It could be rendered “God leads me beside waters of rest, he restores my life.” Or possibly, “God leads me to the waters of refreshment.” Or even “God causes me to be refreshed upon the waters of rest.”
          All of these translations underscore the practical work of the shepherd who cares for the sheep and provides for their need.
          In our hyperactive and exhausting world, we need this kind of rest and relaxation that restores our soul. Psalm 23 tells us that God gives us four gifts to counteract the effect of chaos, stress and confusion – water, food, protection and hospitality.
          First, let’s consider water. Geraldine Perriam is a researcher at the University of Glasgow, and she knows that water does more than keep us hydrated. Water evokes “responses in people that are calming, energizing, and can lead to better health outcomes. Just being beside water has a de-stressing effect,” she says. We need quiet waters, still waters, waters of rest. (2)
          Water has essential qualities says geography professor Ronan Foley, such as keeping us alive and cleansing our bodies. (3) In our sacrament of baptism, water is a sign of our cleansing from sin, but also a sign of the new life that comes from following Jesus.
          Everything was happening so much for Martin Luther at the start of the Protestant Reformation. Pastor Grace Pritchard Burson recalls that Luther “lived a turbulent life, constantly debating his opponents and in danger from the authorities. He translated the whole Bible into German while holed up in an ally’s castle to avoid being captured or killed. Not surprisingly, he was often plagued with fear and anxiety, with doubt and discouragement.
          Luther had a unique strategy to deal with all this stress – “he would stand up, face down the devil that he believed to be tormenting him, and yell, ‘I am baptized!” He may also have written the same phrase in chalk on his desk, “to remind himself, as he worked, of his unbreakable connection to Christ and to the communion of saints.” (4)
          “I am baptized!” When everything happens so much, we need to remember that important truth.
          God provides for us not only through water, but also through food. Think about a hot bowl of soup, fresh baked bread, your favorite hot dish in the winter. There’s a reason these foods are nicknamed comfort foods. They make us feel better. Whether we’ve had a bad day, or the weather outside is frightful – these foods bring us comfort.
          I think of the Harry Potter movies, when Professor Lupin arrives as a teacher at Hogwarts. Lupin is cursed with being a werewolf. Whenever he has one of his transformations, he’s always got a chocolate bar in his pocket to restore his strength.
          Whenever Harry has an encounter with the evil Dementors, Lupin is right there, offering some chocolate, saying – “eat this, you’ll feel better.” That’s comfort food for sure.
          Psalm 23 also assures us that that “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me” – that’s protection.
          The Psalm goes on to say, “You prepare a table before me… You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” – that’s hospitality.
          Water, food, protection and hospitality. They are everything we need – and they all come from God. The psalm ends with the promise that “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
          That’s the place to be – especially when everything happens so much. Each of us is given a place in which God offers us goodness, and mercy, and love, along with eternal shelter.
          And because God gives us everything we need, we are invited to put our trust in God, rely on God and have faith in God. The biblical scholar J. Clinton McCann once wrote that, “The proper response to the good news of Psalm 23 and the good news of Jesus Christ is trust.” When we trust, we discover that “life is not a reward to be earned; it is a gift to be accepted.” (5)
          Think about this. There’s nothing wrong with showing up for work, doing a good job, earning money, and providing for ourselves and our families.
          But think about what happens when you look at life as a reward, instead of as a gift. You become worn out and discouraged, like the disciples who followed Jesus through Galilee. At one point, they wondered where in the world they were going to find enough food to feed the people coming to hear Jesus teach.
          One of the small, but notable pieces of the well-known story of the feeding of the 5,000 record Jesus telling the people to sit down on the grass so they could eat and be filled. It’s no accident that Jesus resembles the good shepherd of Psalm 23 who made his sheep “lie down in pastures.”
          In that same story, Jesus challenges his disciples to show compassion to the crowd. The disciples are feeling overwhelmed, everything is happening so much – and Jesus instructs them, “you give them something to eat.”
          Of course, the disciples are baffled by this – but they do it – and everything works out.
          That’s what we are challenged to do – to take what Jesus gives us and share it with others. Take the water, food, protection and hospitality offered in Psalm 23 and share it with the world around us.
          Tom Boogart once wrote about walking through Kollen Park in Holland Michigan along the shore of Lake Macatawa:
           “I overtook a young mother and her daughters. The younger daughter, maybe 4 years old, was forging ahead and the older daughter, maybe 10 years old, was in a conversation with her mother.
           As I passed I heard the mother say “Would you rather have 1 flower or 20 flowers?” I had no idea how the conversation had led to that question, but the older daughter said, “I’d rather 20 flowers,” and she glanced in my direction.
           I wondered, would this young girl ever hear a counter truth, someone who would tell her that one thing in life could be more than enough?...
           I started to ruminate on the theme of “one thing” in scripture. I thought about Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler. The ruler had everything, but Jesus said he still lacked one thing. If you want to be my disciple, sell everything, give it to the poor, then come follow me. Possessing many things was the enemy of the one thing.
           I thought about Mary and Martha – how Martha complained about her sister Mary not helping her the meal. And Jesus said, “Martha, you are distracted by many things, there is need of only one thing. Mary has made the right choice.
           So I want to say to that little girl walking with her mother and sister along the shore of Lake Macatawa – “Do not listen to the peddlers of our materialistic culture; let not your heart be distracted by many things. There is a fullness that is emptiness, and an emptiness that is fullness. An empty heart has more space for God and. filled with the love of God, has more awareness of the world so loved by God and more courage to engage the forces that threaten to undo it.
           I want to say to that little girl that there is one flower more beautiful than 20 other flowers, one worthy of your full attention, a lily crowned with thorns.” (6)
           With the Lord as our Shepherd – we have everything we need.
           May God be praised. Amen.

 1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved 4/4/23.
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…
4.    Ibid…
5.    Ibid…
6.    Ibid…

05-07-2023 Unafraid

Thomas J Parlette
“Unafraid”
John 14: 1-14
5/7/23


          Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”

          Since everything that follows for the rest of this passage for today is commentary on that thought – we need to hear it clearly, before we hear anything else.

          This is the closest English we can get to the Greek of John’s Gospel – “Let not be troubled of you in heart; Believe in God, also in me believe.” (1)

          Other translations put the Greek in slightly different ways, although they maintain the integrity of the meaning.

          The Contemporary English Version says, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me.”

          The Jerusalem Bible says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.”

          Or, maybe you’d like to turn to the New English version, “Set your troubled hearts at rest. Trust in God always; trust also in me.”

          Perhaps you would prefer Today’s English Version, also known as the Good News Bible, “Do not be worried and upset,’ Jesus told them. “Believe in God and believe also in me.”

          And it’s always interesting to see how Eugene Peterson puts it in his paraphrase, The Message, “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me.”

          What follows in this passage is part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples as he prepares to enter his final days in Jerusalem. Jesus is saying to us, have faith and trust, in the face of uncertainty about death, uncertainty about life, and uncertainty about whether anything is to be done about either of them anyway. That’s a whole lot of uncertainty.

          I’ve often talked about the old homiletical model of sermons having three points and poem. This isn’t exactly a three-point sermon this morning. It’s really three short sermons, with one point. As Jesus puts it a little later in this chapter, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

          In the face of death, there is a future for you – it’s with me, said Jesus.

          In the face of life, there’s way for you – and it’s with me, said Jesus.

          In the face of uncertainty about whether it’s worth trying at all, you have my promise. “If in my name you ask ne for anything, I will do it.” Said Jesus.

          Die unafraid. Live unafraid. Ask unafraid. That’s it!

          What God wants for us is to quit being fearful people and start being faithful people. A faithful person meaning not just somebody who believes a lot of doctrine about God, but rather a person whose trust is in God in the uncertainties of life and death.

          Believing, as we Presbyterians put it in our Brief Statement of Faith, “That in life and death we belong to God… and with believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

          Let me underscore one word in there – “Nothing.” Nothing can separate us.

          But in spite of that affirmation, drawn from Paul’s letter to the Romans, we’ve all got a secret list of things we think might separate us or others from God’s love.

          Clarence Macartney catalogued some of our problems in a Memorial Day address given 96 years ago: Widespread murder, rampant divorce, the decline of family religion, rising hemlines, blatant hedonism, and apostate preachers all signal a seriously diseased society.” (2)

          He’s right – pretty much. As right now as he was on Memorial Day, 1927. There’s a lot about the way we live and the way we die that would lead one to wonder whether there is any hope, for here or in the hereafter. There is a lot to be uncertain about.

           But when our wondering hearts become worrying hearts, Jesus says, “Don’t worry. God is still God. I am still with you. Do not be afraid.”

          Jesus didn’t say, “don’t be concerned.”

 He didn’t say, “Don’t try to do anything about it.”

On the contrary, Jesus said, “Do something about your concerns without fear. I am with you all the way!”

           Three points about what that means:

1.    In death, there is a place for you.

2.    In life, there is a way for you.

3.    In uncertainty, we’ll find a way together.

 First sermon – In death, there is a place for us. Jesus assures us that in my Father’s house are many dwelling places. The United Bible Society handbook on John says, “My Father’s house is best taken as a phrase descriptive of heaven as a place having many rooms (that is, room enough for all). (3)

When death is what scares you, be that the death of someone you love, the death of hopes and dreams, the death of some fondly-held belief, or the death that comes to us all – find security in me, says Jesus, In death, there is a place for you, there is room for you.

 Amen to sermon #1.

 On to sermon #2. Jesus said, “In life there is a way for you.” In other words, there is w way to live life that is worth living. What Jesus offers is a place for you at the end of life, but there is also a way for you in this life.

Jesus says here, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” That might sound a little arrogant, unless you understand that what is being offered is the truth about life and a way to live it. The truth, life is worth living. It’s worth living well. And Jesus shows us the way to do that.

Too often, I think, these words get coupled with “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Taken together, some have misused Jesus words to say there is only a place for those who believe as we do, who walk the way we walk and believe as we do. Other times, it’s a blatant attempt to end every conversation about religion by having the last word for ourselves “We know the way, and everybody else better get with it, or God will get them.” That is just not the way of God as we see it in Jesus Christ.

          Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” That’s a clear warning not to misunderstand God’s relationship to us as some kind of “good cop/bad cop” game, with Jesus as the “good cop”, reassuring us that God loves us, and God as the “bad cop” threatening us if we don’t love him back.

It’s one thing to say, “If you want to see God, look at Jesus.”

It’s another to say, “You’re going to hell, if you don’t see it.”

          And that is not the way of Jesus Christ. The way Jesus summed up elsewhere in response to those who asked him what was most important about the way we live is that he didn’t say we should try to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong, but simply live together as Jesus did. Follow the simple maxim: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength – and love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the way Jesus is talking about.

          Someone once said that contrary to what would seem to be true, Christianity has not failed as a way to live – it’s simply that so few have ever tried it. Whatever else this passage may mean, some kindness and love along the way are clearly what Jesus intends for us to try, even when things are at such a point that we longer want to try at all.

          Amen to sermon #2.

           So, now for sermon #3.

          In uncertainty we’ll find our way together. If there is anything that we in the 21st century are looking for, it is a sense that something is certain: and if there is anything we can assume, it is uncertainty.

          That, in fact, sometimes seems like the only thing that is certain – uncertainty. But Jesus said we should be certain about this – “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

          I know that’s a verse that lots of people raise their eyebrows over. We can all recall times we’ve prayed for something and it appears we get no answer. We hear Jesus’ words here and we think they mean “whatever you want, you’ll get, if you ask.” But that isn’t really what Jesus means – his words do not mean that we have a right to whatever we want.

          The biblical scholar, Charles Cousar, writes, “Jesus makes the pledge to the disciples, repeatedly, that their prayers will be answered. The text makes clear, however, that this pledge is not a willy-nilly commitment to give to overly indulgent children whatever their hearts fancy. Prayers are to be made “in Jesus name”, that is, they are to be made out of the disciples’ relationship established with and by Jesus. The answering of the requests does not serve those who pray, but is to the end “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” These are prayers offered on behalf of the community and the community’s mission. They undergird the “greater works” that the church is to perform.” (4)

          Right prayer, says Jesus, is for God’s glory, not just self-aggrandizement. And right prayer is prayed not only with our words, but with our lives.

          I’m sure you’ve heard a version of this story. Once upon a time there was this guy who really needed some money – so he got on his knees and he prayed that the Lord would bless him by winning the lottery. After the prayer, he got up and went about his business. The next day he was on his knees again praying, “Lord, you know I really need this money and to win the lottery would be such a great blessing. Think of all the people I could help with the money. I thought for sure I’d win it yesterday, but I didn’t. Please Lord, I’m begging you.” And off he went.

          The next day, he was back at prayer again. “Please Lord, I need this money! Is something wrong, God? Why don’t you answer my prayer?” Suddenly a voice from heaven calls out, “Look, you’ve got to meet me halfway! Go buy a ticket?”

           Now, I’m not saying God wants you to stop off at Kwik Trip on the way home today to buy a lottery ticket. The point is that what we pray for we need to be willing to work for as well. The only answer to prayer we need to hear is “Well done! You’ve done what God wants you to do.” Does that get you everything you want? No. But can we be certain of everything we need? As they say in Minnesota – You betcha!

          Amen to sermon #3

          So live unafraid! In the uncertainties of life and death, this is certain. “We belong to God… and nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” who calls us together to face life, death and uncertainty together with him.

          May God be praised. Amen.

 

1.    The Zondervan Parallel New Testament in Greek and English Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1980.
2.    Bradley J. Longfield, The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists and Moderates, Oxford University Press, November 1st, 1993, p 118.
3.    Barclay M. Newman and Eugene A. Nida, A Handbook on The Gospel of John, UBS Handbook Series, United Bible Societies, 1980, p 455.
4.    C. Cousar, et al. Texts for Preaching, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV – Year A, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995.

05-21-2023 Invisible Influences

Thomas J Parlette
“Invisible Influences”
Acts 1: 6-14
5/21/23


          Although the first astronauts were all men, crews going into the skies these days often include both men and women. In fact, the Space X Crew 5, which launched to the International Space Station on October 6, 2022, consisted of two men and two women, and one of the women was the commander of the flight.(1)

          It is, of course, a good thing that such opportunities and responsibilities are open to both sexes, but historically speaking, it has taken a long time to get there.

          That seems especially clear in another “going into the sky” moment we have in our text for this morning. Today we celebrate the Ascension, the moment when Jesus was taken up through a cloud into the heavens. As though who witnessed this phenomenon stood by dumbstruck, staring into the sky – two heavenly messengers, specifically identified as “men”, spoke to them saying, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” The original Greek underlying “Men of Galilee” is andres Galilaioi, literally, “men, Galileans.” Unlike the Greek word anthropos, which is usually translated as “people”, andres denotes males only.(2)

          So, is the text telling us that there were only men present at the Ascension of Jesus? Is that true? It’s possible of course, but not likely. We know from several biblical sources that there were women who followed Jesus, and some who traveled with Jesus and the Twelve and provided material support for them.

          For example, Luke 8 reports that “Jesus went through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene… and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susannna, and many others, who ministered to them out of their own resources.”

          What’s more, our reading from Acts goes through verse 14, which plainly states that as the apostles devoted themselves to prayer, they were, “together with certain women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.”(3)

          So, there’s a reasonable likelihood that there were also women disciples who witnessed the Ascension, but if so, why didn’t the angels include them in their instruction to stop staring into the heavens? Is it possible that maybe the women were already moving on?

          We can’t for certain, but the contemporary Israeli-born historian Tal Ilan points out that according to sociologists, young, revolutionary movements often attract women because they are anti-establishment, and that these movements search for and accept followers wherever they can find them. Ilan says that the Jesus movement fits that definition. But she adds that as these movements transition to established religions, they “often shed either their female following or at least leadership roles accorded to women, in favor of becoming more acceptable to the ruling patriarchal ethos of the broader society.”(4)

          If that’s the case, the implication is that this Acts passage may have been masculinized sometime after its original composition. It’s certainly possible because the oldest manuscripts of Acts known to exist date back only to the fourth century, and textual fragments only to the third century. We don’t have the original manuscript at all.

          So, there is room to consider whether or not that masculinizing occurred in other places in the New testament as well. Bible scholar Amy – Jill Levine, who is a Jewish professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, says that when reading the New Testament, we sometimes need to read the women back into the story. As an example, she tells of reading the gospel of Mark and getting all the way to chapter 15, with one chapter left to go, before finding an explicit statement about women following Jesus. She’s referring to Mark 15: 40-41, which reads, “There were many women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, who followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him, and there many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem.”

          Did you catch that? There were women who had followed him since early in his ministry – “back when he was in Galilee”- and many other women had come up with him to Jerusalem. There were women the whole time, but Levine notes that the way Mark says it – and says it so late in his Gospel – gives the statement an offhand feel, as in, “Oh, by the way, there were women who followed Jesus, too.” That led Levine to go back through Mark and “fill in” where these women might have come from. Some of her educated guesses include:

          -In chapter 1, verse 21, when Jesus entered the synagogue and taught, there would have been women in the congregation.

          - In verse 34, when Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases, some of those healed would have been women.

          - In Chapter 6, verse 44, after the miraculous feeding of a large crowd, Mark says, “Those who had eaten the loaves numbered 5,000 men.” Matthew elaborates on Mark and says, “those who ate were 5,000 men, besides the women and children.”(5)

          And this unfortunate situation of overlooking the women of the Gospel isn’t limited to Mark.

          In Luke, we learn about Anna, a prophet who with the four daughters of Phillip also prophesied. She gets just a quick mention, but she is a truth-teller delivering God’s message to the world – on other words, a preacher who packed a punch. Then there’s Phoebe, who gets a quick mention in Romans, who was a deacon in the Roman church and Junia, who the Bible describes not only as an apostle, but an outstanding one at that.

          A woman named Priscilla, along with her husband, is someone Paul names as a “co-worker” in Christ, and in Acts 18, Priscilla teaches Apollos, “a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of scripture.” Despite his considerable expertise, Priscilla is able to explain “the way of God more adequately” to him, and he expresses no dismay at her gender. In many of the passages where she is mentioned, Priscilla’s name is listed before her husband’s, which is significant in a culture that usually placed the husband’s name first, suggesting Priscilla, rather than Aquila, was the leader of this particular couple. It’s getting harder and harder to overlook the women in scripture.

          Did you know the very first Christian preachers were all women? In all four gospels, women are the first to learn of Christ’s resurrection when he appears to them, and they are the very first people to share this news with others. Depending on which gospel you read, the first proclaimer is either Mary Magdalene, the other Mary or Mary, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and others. Mary Magdalene is noted in all three synoptics. So, if women had kept silent in church, there wouldn’t be a church.(6)

          And this tendency to overlook the women isn’t limited to the New Testament. There is no absence of strong women in the Hebrew scriptures – if you look closely enough. For instance, Deborah is named in the Hebrew scriptures as both a prophetess and a judge. The people came to her for a word from God; she leads, directs, and guides them, and no one seems to bat an eye that she’s a woman.

          And there’s a woman named Huldah. She shows up in 2nd Kings, chapter 22, and in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 34. We overlook her these days – but she was far from invisible in her own time. As the story goes, King Josiah’s men were cleaning out the temple when they discovered a scroll of the Book of the Law given by Moses. Josiah asked several men, including the high priest, to go inquire of the Lord about the contents of the scroll. Who did they go to seeking answers from God? They went to Huldah.(7)

          Ok – so there have been women in the Bible all along. So it seems increasingly likely that both men and women were present at the Ascension. And the lift-off of Jesus was so mid-blowing that we suspect everyone – men and women alike – were looking skyward.

          But why is this so important. Why do we continue to set this story aside as a milestone in the story of Jesus and a festival day in the church calendar?

          Well, for one thing, most good things do rise. Preacher and Professor Theodore Parker Ferris wrote, “The heavens always fascinate people… The early Christians looked toward heaven because they believed Jesus was there. Though their sight might have been inaccurate according to our standards, their insight was sound. They knew all good things go up, not down. Prayer is good, and we always speak of prayers going up to God, like smoke rising from bowls of incense. Jesus was good –radically and wonderfully good. When he no longer went about his accustomed ways, they knew that he had gone up, that he had ascended, because he was supremely good.”(8)

          But what these witnesses to the Ascension were about to discover was that Jesus may have left – but Jesus’ mission hadn’t. When the angels asked the witnesses why they continued to stand there looking toward heaven, they were speaking rhetorically. What they are saying is really – “Why are just standing here? Let’s get going. We’ve got work to do before Jesus comes back.”

          We know from the rest of the book of Acts and from Paul’s letters, that the mission was indeed launched. And the mission was crewed by both men and women. For instance, in Romans 16, Paul mentions 29 people who have been workers for Christ in the church in Rome. More than a third of those people were women, and one of them, Junia, is even described as an apostle.

          And as our theology continued to evolve, women were there all along, working as invisible influencers, informing the thought of some of our most impactful Christian thinkers.

          For instance, around the time of Emperor Constantine’s conversion, perhaps the two most important theologians in the development of Western and Eastern Christianity were influenced by the women in their lives. Without the prayers and encouragement of his mother Monica, Augustine of Hippo’s life might have continued on a wayward track. Augustine’s impact on Christian thought and theology can hardly be overestimated, and yet his mother’s name is not nearly as recognized as his own. Still, she is acclaimed as a saint, and those who read Augustine’s Confessions are familiar with her steadfast faith and her role in Augustine’s conversion to orthodoxy.

          For Gregory of Nyssa, another important theological figure, it was the influence of his sister, Macrina the Younger, that made him into one of the most renowned theologians of the Eastern Orthodox Church. She helped educate Gregory and the others in her family. Gregory most directly credits Macrina with his work titled Life of Macrina, in which he praises her asceticism and devotion to prayer and spiritual education.(9)

          So – bottom line – on this day when we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, let us acknowledge that women were right there beside the “Men of Galilee”, staring into the heavens with them.

          The important thing to remember is that we are all called to carry on Jesus’ mission, even though he is not physically with us. We shouldn’t get bogged down on things we can’t know, and aren’t meant to know, like the time or manner of Jesus’ return or why it remains in a  future we cannot see, but in which we must simply trust.

          In the meantime, let’s read the women back in to the Gospel story and remember their invisible influence on the faith.

          May God be praised. Amen.

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/1/23.
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…
4.    Ibid…
5.    Ibid…
6.    Ibid…
7.    Ibid…
8.    Ibid…
9.    Ibid…

04-23-2023 Divine Reverse Psychology

Thomas J Parlette
“Divine Reverse Psychology”
1st Peter 1: 17-23
4/23/23

          On a clear spring day, near an airport north of Madison, Wisconsin, Alan Klapmeier almost met his maker.

          He was taking an advanced flying lesson, with an instructor sitting right next to him, when his plane suddenly collided with another one. Klapmeier’s wing sliced through the strut that supported the other plan’s wing, and that aircraft quickly spun into the ground, killing the pilot.

          Alan Klapmeier had to ram the control yoke hard to the left to keep his plane – now missing part of its right wing – on course back toward the runway. As he neared a landing, he realized that he had pushed the yoke as far as it would go. In moments. He was going to begin rolling over to the right. Then his disabled wing would strike the ground, sending the plane into a cart-wheeling crash.

          But death took a holiday. With a second to spare, Klapmeier felt the wheels touch the runway. He was born anew.

          Now you might think that Alan Klapmeier would walk away from such a harrowing experience determined to never fly again. But you’d be wrong. Realizing that existing small planes were too risky, he committed himself to making them safer.

          He decided to start building planes with parachutes. He and his brother Dale developed the Cirrus SRT20 – a four – person aircraft that contains, as standard equipment, a parachute for the whole plane.

          This is one solution to the long-standing question of how best to protect pilots and passengers. Fired out by a rocket, this strong Kevlar parachute enables a plane to drift safely down to Earth, saving the lives of everyone on board. It’s speed at impact is still violent – rough enough to jar the passengers and total the plane – but the landing is controlled enough to prevent massive injury and destruction. (1)

          Like the Klapmeiers, we too can think of ourselves as parachute people. The apostle Peter reminds us that we “were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ…”

          Peter isn’t talking about a Kevlar parachute, of course, but the blood shed by Christ on the cross as a sacrifice on our behalf. Ransomed, restored and spared, we have been saved by the “precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.” The blood of Christ, shed on the cross, is our parachute of salvation. With it, our feet touch down on solid ground, and we are “born anew.”

          The important thing about parachutes is that you have to trust them. You can’t always see them, packed and strapped to your back. You can’t fuss over them or fiddle with them when they’re lodged deep within a Cirrus SR20. You can’t test them in the safety of your home. You can’t control them as they deploy in a mighty rush of wind. You simply have to trust them, rely on them and have complete faith in them, as they blossom above you in the sky and save your life.

          Charles Plum, a U.S. Naval academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plum ejected and parachuted into enemy territory. He was captured and spent 6 years in a prison cell. He survived that ordeal and now lectures about lessons learned from that experience.

          One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

          “How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

          “I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!”

          It sure did,” said Plumb. “If that chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

          Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man. Says Plumb, “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a navy uniform. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said “Good morning, how are you,” or anything because I was a fighter pilot and he was a sailor.”

          Plumb thought of the many hours that sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t even know.

          Now, when he gives a speech, he asks his audience, “Who is packing your parachute? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.” (2)

          Peter’s point is clear – God has packed our parachute, but it requires an element of trust. God destined Jesus to save us “before the foundation of the world.” God’s divine research and development plan put Jesus in place long before we began to spin out of control and plummet headfirst toward destruction. Just before impact, Jesus “was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake,” announces Peter; he popped suddenly into view and slowed – if not stopped altogether – our descent into a life of meaninglessness, “quiet desperation,” sin, rebellion and disobedience.

          Because of this, “you have come to trust in God,” concludes the apostle, “who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.” The point of Christ’s sacrifice is not to give us a pleasant little parachute ride, but rather to save us so that we will live a new and more abundant life; a life in which we trust in God and set our faith and hope in the Lord.

          In other words, the point of Christ’s parachute is to send us soaring again – like parasailing behind a speed boat. It’s to get us in the air and flying right – maybe for the first time.

          What does such a life look like? According to Peter, it involves the purification of our souls by obedience to the truth. Simply put, it’s about a deep, heartfelt connection to the one person who was sent by God to show us the way to live and save us from death and despair. When we are obedient to Jesus, we are tied tightly to the parachute that can hold us when we begin to plummet and deliver us to safety.

          Peter wraps it up by saying that the purpose of all this is so that we might have “genuine, mutual love.” And as if that were not clear enough he adds: “Love one another deeply from the heart.” Benjamin Franklin put it another way to John Hancock: “We must indeed all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

          Barbara Brown Taylor tells the story of her nephew Will’s first birthday party. The little boy was the center of everyone’s attention, and so he happily did a little dance – until a jealous 7-year-old named Jason charged over, put both his hands on Will’s chest and shoved. Will fell hard, right on his butt, and then his head smacked the ground.

          He looked utterly surprised at first. No one had ever hurt him before, and he didn’t know what to make of it. Then he opened up his mouth and howled - but not for long. His mother hugged him and helped him to his feet, and the first thing Will did was to totter over to Jason. He knew that Jason was at the bottom of this thing, but since such meanness was new to him he didn’t know what to do. So he did what he had always done. He put his arms around Jason and laid his head against his chest.

          “What Will did to Jason put an end to the meanness in that room,” observes Taylor. “That is what love is… not a warm feeling between like-minded friends, but plain old imitation of Christ, who took all the meanness of the world and ran it through the filter of his own body, repaying evil with good, blame with pardon, death with life. Call it divine reverse psychology. It worked once, and it can work again – whenever God can find someone else willing to give it a try.”(3)

          That’s what we are called to do – practice a little divine reverse psychology, by showing genuine mutual affection, loving one another deeply from the heart. We are called to set our faith and hope on God, who raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory – even when the world shoved him to the ground.

          Divine reverse psychology, loving one another – that’s how we will be born anew. That’s how we will be saved from destruction and sail smoothly on the wind of God’s Holy Spirit.

          May God be praised. Amen.

 

1.    Homileticsonline, retrieved 4/3/23.
2.    Ibid…
3. Ibid…

04-09-2023 A New Level of Life

Thomas J Parlette
“A New Level of Life”
Colossians 3: 1-4
4/9/23, Easter


          “If I go down – I’m taking you with me.” How many times have you heard that line? We’ve all heard it, many, many times. We’ve heard in dozens of movies and TV shows and maybe in some real life news stories. Maybe someone has actually said it to you personally. Somebody finds themselves in big trouble, and they have no intention of facing the punishment alone – so they threaten to bring someone else along in their suffering.

          Sometimes there’s even a line that follows: “That’s not just a threat; it’s a promise,” just to let you know that they aren’t bluffing. If they are going to bear the guilt, they are not going to bear it alone.

          It’s human nature not to want to take the blame for something, even if we are guilty of doing something wrong. At precisely such moments of confrontation, of being caught and being held accountable – we turn to our natural defenses. The number one of which is passing the buck, shifting the blame.

          All we have to do to find historical evidence of this type of behavior is to flip to the beginning of the Bible. In Genesis chapter 3, when God asked Adam if he indeed disobey and eat the fruit that he was told not to eat, Adam tries to blame it on Eve. “Well… yeah, I did – but it was the woman, that you gave to me, who handed me the fruit, and I ate. She’s to blame, not me.” Adam is implying that he would never have done such a thing if Eve hadn’t given him the fruit. In essence, Adan was saying, “If I’m going down, I’m taking Eve with me.”

          Anyone who has ever spent time with children, whether they are your own or someone else’s, has seen this tendency in action. You’ve heard a response like – “It wasn’t my fault. It was my sister / I didn’t do it. It was my brother / Julie pushed her down, not me / I did it… but Billy made me do it.”

          It’s our human nature to place blame somewhere else. We don’t want to face the punishment. But to accept blame willingly or even take on the guilt of others – that’s not our standard operating procedure. It’s just against our DNA.

          So when Jesus comes along and accepts not only the blame for the things we have done, but also the blame for the things we have left undone – it’s hard for us to comprehend. Instead of hearing what we are used to hearing from other people, instead of being treated the way we have come to expect other people to treat us, Jesus says, “When I go up, I’m taking you with me – to a whole new level of life.” Then he adds, “That’s not a threat; that’s a promise.” And when Jesus makes a promise, you can count on it.

          Perhaps you’ve used those words yourself. Again, talking to children, we will often us the threat/promise approach. “If you don’t finish your homework, I’m going to take away your phone – and no video games.” / “If you touch those cookies in the cookie jar, you are going to bed without any TV.” / If you don’t sit still in church, I’m going to spank you when we get home.” Oh, that one is always a good way to make small children feel good about going to church. And then we often add the finishing touch, “That’s not a threat – that’s a promise.” So there.

          Unfortunately, the Christian church has taken the threat/promise approach far too often in its history. Some churches say, “If you don’t change your ways, you are going to hell.” / “If you are not actively involved in the worship and ministry of this congregation, you are not a Christian.” / “If your lifestyle does not conform to the standards we have set, you are outside the Kingdom of God.”

          But Jesus did not die on the cross to “take us down” with him. He died on the cross to go down for us. He went down in our place. If we are being truly honest, we would all admit that, in the eyes of justice, humanity should have been on that cross. If the guilty are punished for their sins, then we deserve the punishment. If an eternity with God is dependent upon our worthiness to stand in the presence of God – then we’d never make it.

          Jesus went down. He didn’t take anyone down with him. Not the soldiers who drove the nails into his hands. Not the crowd who gave him up and jeered at him. Not Pilate who washed his hands of the whole business. Not even Judas, the one who betrayed him.

          He went down without a fight. He went down without a complaint. Jesus didn’t whine or try to place the blame on anyone else. But when he came up from the realm of death, he offered to take everyone along – even those who took him down.

          That’s what Easter is all about, Charlie Brown. It’s not just an empty tomb announcing that Jesus defeated death. It’s not about Jesus showing the world he couldn’t be put out of business. It’s not even about Jesus wanting to give his followers proof of who he was. None of that mattered of people didn’t understand the significance of the resurrection for their own lives. Jesus already knew what he was capable of doing – he never felt compelled to prove it or give any demonstrations. But if people didn’t personally connect with Jesus’ death and resurrection in their own lives – then none of what happened on Good Friday and Easter morning meant anything.

          Before his death on the cross, Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them. He shared with his followers the teachings of a better life here on earth. And he promised then that wherever they went and whatever they would be doing in the future – he would be with them.

          That was his promise. He didn’t threaten them. He promised. And to this day, he has kept his promise, among his new disciples, you and me, and all who continue to put their trust and hope in him.

          The resurrection finalized our ultimate connection to Jesus Christ. Because he went down for us, he came up with us, and takes us along with him. He has taken our lives with him to the next step, the next level of life. Through the resurrection, our lives have been “kicked up a notch.” We’re not on the same level anymore. It’s impossible for us to be connected with the resurrected Lord and still consider ourselves bottom-dwellers.

          On Easter, we’re used to hearing the story of Easter, with Mary and the empty tomb. We expect to hear how Jesus died, was buried, and especially the ending where he rose again from the grave. On this Easter, from what has written in Colossians, we are also hearing how intimately our lives as Christians are tied into Jesus resurrection. We have been raised with him to a new level of life. That’s not some future event. That’s now, that’s here, where we are and where we live. And Paul; tells us to seek and to love things that are above. He implores us to focus, to set our minds on those things, things at a higher level of existence, because that is where Christ has taken us.

          Our lives have been changed, not because of anything in particular we have done or will do – our lives have been changed because Jesus has changed them. And because we are eternally connected to his life, we have the power the change the lives of others. When others view in us our “resurrected” lives, they are able to see Jesus.

          Once upon a time, there was a six- year- old boy named Joey. Joey desperately wanted to meet God, but he knew it was a long trip to where God lived. So Joey packed a suitcase with some of his mom’s chocolate-chip cookies and a few juice boxes, and he set out on his journey.

          He hadn’t gotten very far from home when he met an old man sitting in a park, staring at some birds playing in a fountain. Joey sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to pop a straw into his juice box, when he remembered his manners – it would be rude to eat in front of someone else. So Joey offered to old man one of his chocolate chips cookies. The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at Joey. His smile was pleasant and inviting that Joey wanted to see it again – so he offered him one of his juice boxes as well. Again the man smiled at him, and Joey was delighted! The two of them sat there all afternoon eating cookies and smiling back and forth, but they never said a word.

          It began to get dark, and Joey realized how tired he was and he got up to leave – but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to his new friend, and gave him a hug. The old man gave him his biggest smile yet.

          When Joey got home, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on her son’s face, and she asked him, “Joey, what did you do today that made you so happy?

          “I had lunch with God – and you know what, God has the most beautiful smile I’ve seen!”

          Meanwhile, the old man returned to his home, where he lived with his son. His son was puzzled by the look of utter peace on his Dad’s face, and he asked, “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?”

          “I ate cookies in the park with God – and you know, God is much younger than I expected.”(1)

          The world can be a scary, sad and lonely place in which to live. We might not always like what life dishes out. We might not always like the problems and difficulties that we have to face. Sometimes we get tired and worm out. Sometimes it feels like we’ve been robbed of all hope. We may even question the meaning and purpose of life itself.

          That’s why God has given us each other in communion with Christ Jesus. Together, we can see above the pain, the hatred, the mistrust and the violence that goes on all around us. Together, we can reach up to find the strength to endure and the spirit to persevere. Together, we can find the joy in living that intended for us.

          Together, Jesus has taken us all to whole new level of life. Not down – but up. Life is good, when we connect with Jesus. Life is joyous, when we keep ourselves focused on things above. Life is all about being taken up with Jesus. Meaning in life, fulfillment in life and happiness in life come from those simple things that Jesus taught.

          Like sharing cookies and juice with God on a sunny spring day – so it is on the next level of life, which Jesus’ resurrection makes possible.

          May God be praised.

          Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

 
1.    Richard W. Ferris, “Taking You Up With Him”, Sermons on the Second Readings: Series I, Cycle A, CSS Publishing, 2004,       p. 184-185.

04-02-2023 Give It Up for Jesus

Thomas J Parlette
Give it Up for Jesus”
Philippians 2: 5-11
4/2/23, Palm Sunday

          I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “Give it up.” It’s been around for awhile now. To show that you like someone who is being introduced or a song that’s about to be played, the person giving the introduction will instruct you to “Give it up for…” Whoever it happens to be. And that’s your cue to applaud and cheer and jump up and down, if that’s your thing. You do whatever it takes to show that you are really excited to see that person or hear that song or whatever. Go ahead and give it up.

          Now if that phrase had been around a couple of thousand years ago in Jerusalem, someone might well have instructed the crowd to “give it up for Jesus” as he rode into town on the back of a donkey. Along with the waving leafy branches and throwing down garments, the hosannas and alleluias of the assembled admirers could definitely have been construed as “giving it up for Jesus.”

          After all, this was an exciting time. Jesus of Nazareth was an exciting guy. He had the gumption to stand up to those self-righteous Pharisees. He made the little people feel just as important as the powerful and the wealthy. He spoke with such authority that even the Roman soldiers seemed to listen to him. He befriended everybody, saint and sinner alike. And all those stories about him – wonderous!

          It was said that he healed the sick. That he gave sight to the blind. That he could touch someone’s crippled limb and make it healthy again. There were even stories of how he made dead people come back to life.

          Some people went so far as to say that Jesus was the promised Messiah – the long-awaited Savior of the people; the one who would lead Israel back to the greatness it had known under kings such as David and Solomon.

          So why not “give it up” for Jesus? If all this was true – the stories, the speculation, the rumors, the miraculous abilities – then Jesus deserved complete devotion and loyalty. This was Jesus’ day, and this crowd was Jesus greatest fan club. Jesus deserved a welcome fit for a king, and more. For Jesus was truly sent by God.

          Or so it seemed… for the moment at least.

          And this is precisely the temptation that Jesus faced on that triumphant day of palms and hosannas – to be who people wanted him to be – instead of who he really was.

          The temptation to give in to the desires of the crowd; to be worshiped and lifted up as a great charismatic leader; to fulfill the political agenda that others had in mind; to free the people from the Romans, and not from their own sinfulness. That is the temptation for Jesus on this day. The temptation to exploit his equality with God for his own, personal gain.

          It was at this point in his ministry, and in his life, that Jesus had to “give it up” for the people. He had to empty himself, as Paul puts it, and become their servant – not their King. He had to humble himself completely, and walk through the next 6 days not only as one of them, but as one who would be thoroughly humiliated, condemned, and executed as a criminal. Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, handled like a piece of human garbage, so the powers that be might prove him weak and ineffective.

          Those people standing along the roadside on Palm Sunday were willing to give it up for Jesus – but only if they got something in return. They would cheer Jesus on, as long he took them where they wanted to go. They would support Jesus, as long as he fulfilled the role they had picked out for him. But let Jesus waver from the path they wanted him to walk, and suddenly he was walking alone.

          We human beings are a fickle lot. We listen to speakers to hear what they have to say to us, not about anybody else. We want politicians to tell us things that are going to make our lives better, not necessarily the things that will improve the world. We want instructors to teach us things we want to learn, not necessarily the things they want to teach us. We want preachers to tell us we’re doing good things and that we’re headed in the right direction that will ultimate lead us to heaven. We don’t necessarily want to hear the truth. If a speaker doesn’t have something to say to us, something that will directly benefit our lives in the way we want – we have a habit of tuning them out.

          As a speaker, Jesus was no exception. As long as he kept the people entertained, and amazed – they were happy. As long as he promised them a better life – they were impressed. As long as it appeared he might be the One to set them free from the dreadful Romans who occupied their land – they followed him. But as soon as he was tested, and failed their test, they abandoned him.

          How many times have we said, “Jesus could have…”

          How many times have we asked, “Why didn’t Jesus just….?”

          We think that if we were writing the script, we could have done a much better job. That’s what some of Jesus followers thought. One of them, Judas, even tried to rewrite the ending by forcing Jesus’ hand. But it didn’t work.

          Jesus didn’t give in to the temptation of Palm Sunday. He didn’t budge an inch off the course that God had set for him. Yes, he could have. He could have done a lot of things, and in our imaginations we can conjure up all kinds of alternate ending to Jesus’ story.

          Yes, Jesus could have accepted the throne that the Palm Sunday crowd wanted to put him on. He could have led Israel to worldly domination by crushing the Roman empire with the mighty hand of God. He could have healed the nation of pestilence and disease. He could have fed all the hungry of the world with a bumper crop of manna from heaven like Israel had never seen before. He could have eradicated evil from the face of the earth and set up his kingdom right then and there.

          He could have done all that – Yes. But he didn’t. He didn’t because he was Jesus. And that wasn’t what Jesus was about. That was what those people were about. They celebrated him one day and condemned him the next. That’s what we’re about. We’re like that when we try to make Jesus into something that he was never meant to be. We’re like that when we still try to tempt Jesus by waving palms and carrying a banner that makes Jesus out to be a leader who exemplifies our politics and our expectations for the future.

          Jesus was never what people expected him to be. Jesus was always obedient. But he wasn’t obedient to the passing whims and aspirations of the crowds. He was obedient only to God, even to the point of death… death on a cross.

          In our human fickleness, we are also controlling. We have even been taught that we should be able to control our own destinies and who we want to be. Hidden behind the Palm Sunday crowd’s exuberance, was a controlling people. They were a people willing to manipulate the events at hand in order to determine a future that would be beneficial for them.

          But is that any different than we do today? Individuals use other individuals to get what they want. Governments use other governments and even their own citizens to get what they want. And we have adopted the philosophy that the ends do indeed justify the means, as long as the ends are in our favor.

          But Jesus didn’t give in to that philosophy… or did he? For Jesus, the means to the end that he wanted to achieve was the path to Calvary – a road less-traveled. For Jesus, it was a trail of complete denial and sacrifice. To us, it was a mysterious walk that took Jesus from the adulation of the crowds to the glorification of God.

          When you look at it that way, perhaps the temptation of Palm Sunday was not that great. If you have a choice between being revered by the people or applauded by God – which would you choose? Of course the choice is not easy if you consider that the cross stood between you and the glory that would come from God.

          But Jesus resisted the temptation. And because he was able to overcome any inkling to give in to this ego and self-interest, he was able to fulfill his purpose on earth. As a lamb sacrificed on the altar, Jesus was given over to the enemy and died for our sins – crucified for us that we might have everlasting life.

          And God exulted him. God – not the people in the crowd – gave him a name that is above every other name. He made it so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, not just on earth, but under the earth and in heaven as well; and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

          We always have to be cautious not to be lured in by the temptation of Palm Sunday. It’s tempting to jump on the bandwagon and join the cheerleading squad that puts Jesus on a pedestal and hails him as the driving force behind whatever cause the crowds have determined him to be “for” or “against.”

          Jesus’ ministry was a demanding one. His mission was urgent. He could not be side-tracked by every diversion that he faced. He had to keep focused, always, on his ultimate goal. He came into our world for one purpose. He achieved that purpose by “giving it up” – giving it up…for all of us. “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as a thing to be exploited.” Instead – he emptied himself.

          So, on this Palm Sunday – let’s “give it up” for Jesus. And the way to do that is not by being in the cheering section, not by lining the streets and not by getting caught up in the hysterical crowds. To give it up for Jesus, we have to focus on the same mission that Jesus came to accomplish – the salvation of all humankind. Starting with our own circle of family and friends, and venturing out into the world around us, we give it up for Jesus by professing the name that causes every knee to bow and every tongue to confess – and by living a life that screams and shouts the name of Jesus in every kind act we do, and every caring word we speak.

          We “give it up for Jesus” – because he “gave it up for us.”

          We give it for Jesus… by giving up ourselves.

          May God guide our feet as we travel the roads of this Holy Week.

          Amen.

03-26-2023 The Law of Holes

Thomas J Parlette
“The Law of Holes”
Psalm 130
3/26/23

           On August 29th, 1973, Pisces III, a small Canadian deep-sea submersible, sank to the floor of the Irish Sea at a depth of nearly 1600 feet. Two men were inside this capsule; former British Royal navy officer Roger Mallinson and engineer Roger Chapman. When a rear hatch was accidentally opened, sea water rushed in, causing the tiny sub to plummet like a rock to the bottom of the sea.

          It took more than three days to rescue the pair, and when they were finally reached, the two men had only 12 minutes of oxygen left – talk about cutting it close! They’d been trapped in the crushing depths of the sea for 84 hours.

          Or, consider an even deeper hole – the Kola Superdeep Borehole. It is the most jaw-dropping, radical, human-made hole on the planet, and the deepest artificial point on Earth. This shaft was built by the Soviets during the Cold War and it is 40,230 feet deep. It is so deep that locals call it the “well to hell,” and swear they can hear the screams of souls writhing in hell.(1)

          It was at the bottom of such an abyss that the writer of Psalm 130 was writing about, and he or she was just about to lose all hope of ever seeing the light of day.

          It’s quite likely that the holes in which we find ourselves are figurative ones, but real, nonetheless. Even in the face of rescue, we instinctively panic, like a drowning victim trying to climb out of the water on top of a lifeguard. We tend to escalate, rather than deescalate, defuse, calm down or lighten up. We are experts at making bad situations worse.

          As a recent blogpost acknowledged, there a few sure-fire ways to make a bad situation worse. For instance:

1.    Get visibly angry.

2.    Raise your voice.

3.    Be “Problem Oriented.”

4.    Use a lot of “You” statements.

5.    Keep saying “Calm Down.”

6.    Make sure you get the last word.(2)

All these reactions will make the hole you find yourself in even deeper.

The most pertinent advice for people in situations like this has been attributed to many different people over the years, from Will Rogers to Bill Clinton, from Warren Buffet to Pat Robertson – all of whom knew what they were talking about when they referred to the First Law of Holes, “The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.”(3)

That makes sense. Unfortunately, most people only stop digging in order to find a bigger shovel.

The saying can be traced back to October 25th, 1911 – on page 6 of  The Washington Post: “Nor would a wise man, seeing that he was in a hole, go to work and blindly dig it deeper.”(4)

We have other idioms similar to this First Law of Holes, such as adding fuel to the fire, pouring gasoline on the fire, adding insult to injury, and so on.

The Second Law of Holes is “Don’t dig a hole for others.” This is a biblical principle derived from Proverbs 26:27, which I admit sounds best in Elizabethan English: “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.” In other words, “Don’t lay traps for your enemies, because you’re likely to fall in the hole you dug. Consider the biblical story of Ruth. Haman meet his unfortunate end when he died on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai. The writer of Psalm 7 had a similar thought: “Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made.”

The author of today’s Psalm is in a hole of his own. The psalm begins, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!” Obviously, the scene is of a person in a pit from which escape seems impossible. From the bottom of this pit, the writer is now hollering for help. “Lord, hear my voice.” So the Third Law of Holes, is to cry for help.

That, too, might seem obvious – but in a culture where independence and “rugged individualism” are seen as virtues, crying out in any way, shape or form just isn’t tolerated. It’s more often seen as a sign of weakness.

Asking for help might be okay if it is the government we’re hitting up. But polite, intelligent, wise people with strong emotional IQ’s do not ask others for help. I can find what I want on my own in Hyvee or the Home Depot, thank you very much. I mean many of us balk at asking for any sort of directions – although GPS has almost wiped out the need to ask for directions at the gas station anymore. God forbid we should think of asking for help.

But the Bible teaches us that it’s okay to ask for help. It’s especially okay to cry out to God for help – in fact, it’s almost required if we hope to dig ourselves OUT of holes instead of INTO them.

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.” So begins psalm 130, one of the seven penitential psalms known as De Profundis, and also the psalm famously referenced by Oscar Wilde in his letter while he was serving a prison sentence in Reading Gaol. The psalm-writer, probably a poet languishing in despair during the Babylonian exile, describes his location and situation. He calls it the “depths.” We might say, the “pits.”

We may not know the full extent of the author’s distress, but we can be sure it was considerable. It has the tone of a person who has lost everything in life. It has the sound of a parent who has suddenly lost a child. It feels like the anguish of someone whose life and reputation have been destroyed and who now feels there is nowhere to turn.

This is a person at a crossroads. Maybe you’ve been there – standing alone at an intersection in the middle of nowhere, realizing the choices you are facing have been reduced to two. “I either end it all now and forever – or I cry out of the depths of my despair to God. I die – or I ask for help. There are no other options. “To be, or not to be – that is the question” as Hamlet put it. I hope you’ve never been in such a deep, profound, dark place, but many people have.

That is where this psalm-writer is – in the depths.

What’s worse, he is not only in the pit of despair, but it is a pit of his own making. How often has that happened I our lives? It’s bad enough to be in extremis, worse if it is self-inflicted. The psalmist readily admits the audacity and borderline hypocrisy. He wants help from the very source against whom he has sinned. “If you, O Lord, should mark my iniquities, Lord, who could stand?” He doesn’t identify his mistakes, but if we were to take a candid inventory of our own choices, decisions, behaviors and ill-chosen words that have landed us in hot water, we’d probably not have too much difficulty determining where we went wrong.

Would you like it if God kept track of your sins? Of course not – nobody would. Most of us don’t like it when our spouse or our children keep bringing up our short-comings or past mistakes. How enjoyable would it be if someone were keeping a file filled with your mistakes or wrote you up for bad behavior – not very enjoyable at all.

Yet, even when we’re staring at the ceiling at zer-dark-30 in the morning, while cursing our stubborn, intrangient nature – we know the one thing we need to do. “I need to ask God to save me from myself.” We know that God alone can lift us out of the depths. How do we know this? Because we agree with the Psalmist: “There is forgiveness with you.”

Forgiveness, that most gracious of words. There is a repairing and healing balm in forgiveness. We know this from experience. That’s why it is god-like to offer forgiveness when we have been wronged. C.S Lewis once noted that “to be Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”(5) There is perhaps no greater attribute of God’s essential nature than God’s willingness, even eagerness, to forgive the repentant and brokenhearted. Perhaps that is why Martin Luther called Psalm 130, along with the other penitential psalms, the Pauline Psalms – because of their emphasis on faith and forgiveness.(6) This amazing God is one” who forgives all your iniquities… for… as far as the east is from the west, so far does God remove our transgressions from us,” as Psalm 103 puts it.

Human beings may take longer to forgive than God, and perhaps some will never forgive or forget. But, after exhausting all our options, we have to leave it, and be all the more thankful for the amazing grace that God extends toward us in the saving work of Jesus Christ.

So, the writer, in a deep hole, with full knowledge of his culpability, obeys the Third Law of Holes, as should we. The Psalmist asks for help.

Having stopped the digging and having sent up a cry for help, one must then follow the Fourth Law of Holes – wait with hope. “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”

Wait with hope. Sound so easy. But it is incredibly hard to wait. But if you can’t wait, you can’t hope – for one is inextricably tied to the other. Only those who wait upon the Lord, can hope in the Lord. So how do we do that. Well, I’m glad you asked, here are a couple of suggestions:

1.    We wait by staying in the “now”. Going over problems, reliving old mistakes, or getting a case of the “shoulda, woulda, coulda’s” is not very helpful. Rather, we focus on the tasks at hand, the next steps and what positive actions we can take moving ahead. In a hole, there is no way to go but up, and that is not going to happen without waiting with a clear mind and heart.

2.    We also wait with confidence in the One on whom we have called for help. We put in a call to God – we must let God answer. We reached out to the Creator of the Universe. We have to let God be God and do what God does – on God’s schedule, not ours.

3.    We wait with courage. This is the advice of the Psalmist: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” John Wayne reportedly said that “courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”(7) Or, perhaps a climbing metaphor would also work: “Courage is being scared to death, but strapping on a harness, snapping in a carabiner and having faith that the rope won’t break.”

4.    And finally, we wait with contentment. We do not wait as though we’re standing in front of an elevator door, punching the “UP” button again and again as if it will make the elevator arrive faster. The elevator will come when it comes. We learn to practice peace; we learn to be content with God’s timing. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Corrie ten Boom once wrote: “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”(8) When God’s forgiving love reaches down to the depths of our soul, it lifts us up to a new place, a fresh start, and it is then that we realize that when we are forgiven, we indeed have a future. That is what the Psalmist wanted; it’s what we all want. We all want to be forgiven with a future.

Through Jesus Christ – that’s exactly what we have – forgiveness, with a future waiting for us.

May God be praised. Amen.

 

1.    Homileticsonline.com, retrieved 3/2/23.
2.    Ibid…
3.    Ibid…
4.    Ibid…
5.    Ibid…
6.    Ibid…
7.    Ibid…
8.    Ibid…

03-19-2023 Here's Mud in Your Eye

Thomas J Parlette
“Here’s Mud in Your Eye”
John 9: 1-41
3/19/23

          “Here’s mud in your eye.” We know it as a toast now-a-days, but where does it come from. I love looking into the origins of well-known words and phrases and seeing how they come about. This particular phrase has a couple of different origin stories, depending on what source you look up. Some say it originated as toast among farmers celebrating a plentiful crop – the mud in your eye was hoping you spent a lot of time in your field gathering in your harvest. Other sources claim it originated from the mud found in the trenches during World War 1. And still others look to the horse racing world where jockeys often wear multiple pairs of goggles to shield themselves from the mud thrown up by the horse’s hooves. So “here mud in your eye” was a toast meaning – I hope you come in second place, behind me, my friend. But most sources agree, this story from the Gospel of John is probably where that idea of mud in your eye comes from. This biblical image of mud in the blind man’s eyes became a toast to healing and good health.

          In the passage for today, Jesus is walking down the road with his disciples. They come across a man blind from birth. Seeing him, the disciples ask their master a theological question – “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

          So, let’s pause here for a moment and take note of the human factor. This man is more than a theological case study. He’s a human being, with hopes and feelings and dreams. Because he has been blind from birth, his hearing is probably very acute (as is true of most blind people). Very likely, the man heard them talking to Jesus about him.

          How do you suppose the disciples’ question makes him feel? No doubt it’s a question he has heard many times before. Most people assumed, in those days, that any serious health problem or disability was a punishment from God. Blaming the victim was all too common. This man has grown up with all the world telling him he is cursed.

          For a great many Rabbis of that time, the answer to the disciples’ question is easy. The man has been born blind from birth, so it couldn’t possibly be his own sins that made him blind. It can only be the sins of his ancestors.

          But Jesus doesn’t provide the typical response, the one the blind man is expecting to hear and that gives him a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he hears it. Surprisingly, Jesus answers, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.”

          That’s a break from tradition. The man’s all ears. Then, Rabbi Jesus goes on to say, “He was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”

          Now, we shouldn’t read too much into that. Jesus isn’t saying that God is some sort of monster, visiting blindness upon babies just to create a teaching moment. It’s more like he’s saying, “Don’t even ask that question: just wait and see what happens next.”

          So, now we come to the part of the story you might call “the ick factor”- the particular means Jesus chooses to restore the man’s sight. Jesus spits on the ground and makes a little mud pie, then spreads it on the man’s eyes. A little gross, I know. It’s a little like the medical advice I got when I was playing little league baseball – “just rub some dirt on it, you’ll be fine.”

          In the Gospels, Jesus uses a variety of methods to heal people. Sometimes it’s a touch. Other times, it’s just a word. In Mark, Jesus heals a blind man named Bartimaeus simply by saying, “Your faith has made you well.”

          So, what’s with the spit and mud? Why does he choose such a primitive medical treatment?

          The answer may have something to do with the disciples’ question. Sure, they’re voicing the prevailing wisdom of their age, but they’re also incredibly insensitive to the feelings of the man before them. There he is in the all-encompassing darkness that is his life. He’s never known anything different. He’s acutely aware of the footfalls of everyone coming up to him. The voices he hears may be mocking or – if he’s lucky – kind. But it’s not unusual for passersby to spit on him – cursed as he surely is – on account of his disability.

          So, when he hears Jesus drawing up a great wad of spit, he’s expecting the worst. Maybe he cringes, waiting for the insult about to come.

          But this teacher does something different. Something unexpected. Jesus uses the spit to make that mudpie and gently spreads it over the man’s eyes. Then he tells him to go wash it off, in the Pool of Siloam.

          Let’s pause again to consider the story being told. At this point, the story continues for a while without Jesus in it. That’s unusual for John’s Gospel. The second half of this story is the longest stretch in the entire Gospel when Jesus isn’t at center stage. John tracks Jesus’ story very closely, but the action shifts in this part of the story. It follows the blind man and what happens to him.

          John tells us the man does as Jesus instructs, washing his face in the Pool of Siloam. Once he’s done, it’s as though he has new eyes. For the first time in his life, he can see!

          Wouldn’t you expect this miraculous news would set off general rejoicing in the land? Not so. Quite the opposite happens.

          One feature of most human communities – and not a very positive one – is that they don’t adapt especially well to change. In that community, there’s a well-established protocol or pecking order, and Jesus has turned it on its head. Anchoring the bottom of that pecking order, for all his life, has been this man blind from birth. If you wanted someone to spit on, he was your man!

          But suddenly, Jesus’ miracle has changed all that. And those at the top of the religious pecking order – the Pharisees – are not too happy about it.

          Again, we should pause here and recognize the language John uses. Throughout this passage – and others like it – he freely names “the Jews” as the bad guys. He says in verse 18, “The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight.” A little later, in verse 22, he says the blind man’s parents “were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.”

          This makes no sense at all, and here’s why: Jesus and his disciples are Jews. So are the blind man and his parents. What sense does it make for Jews to fear Jews?

          John was writing at a troubled time. His audience was an early Christian church striving mightily to distance itself from Judaism. Not long before, the Romans had brutally put down a revolution in Jerusalem. They destroyed the Temple. Those who persisted in the Jewish faith – the second generation following Jesus’ resurrection – are facing all sorts of persecutions. John wants to keep the Romans off the backs of his own Christian people, so, at many points in his narrative, he identifies the Jews as villains who did all sorts of terrible things, including killing Jesus.

          The consequences of his choice of words have been tragic ever since. Later generations of Christians – overlooking the fact that Jesus and his disciples were Jews – practiced anti-Semitic persecutions, citing passages like these as justification. Passages like this one were used to justify anti-Semitic demonstrations year after in Czarist Russia, and even the Nazi Holocaust. The Oberammergau Passion Play continues to try and revamp the more anti-semitic passages of their famous play. And, of course, we’ve seen it during the rallies in Charlottesville Virginia, when we heard chants of “Jews will not replace us.” Christians have a moral obligation to own that terrible part of our history and to be careful about our language as we talk about how Jesus died.

          What John is really saying is that a certain faction within Judaism – a certain party within the religious leadership – opposed Jesus. For that reason, you may want to try a little experiment. Every time you read the Gospel of John and come across the words “the Jews,” consider doing a little translation in your mind. Replace “the Jews” with “the religious leaders.” That’s what John is really trying to say here.

          OK- back to the story. These Pharisees are alarmed at Jesus. They’re suspicious of his religious reform movement. It’s growing bigger by the day. So, they haul the formerly blind man before them for a courtroom – style cross-examination, right out of an episode of Law and Order.

          The Pharisees have heard how Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath. All they need now is a little evidence to prove it.

          Now, if Jesus had simply said to the man, “Your faith has made you well,” there would have been no problem. But there was this little matter of the spit and mud thing. When Jesus made that little mudpie, he was working. On the Sabbath. Gotcha, Jesus!

          At least that’s what some of the Pharisees think. How could a man who worked on the Sabbath be God’s instrument? But other Pharisees looked at what he’d just done and said, “How could he not be God’s instrument?”

          “There was division among them,” says John. Maybe that’s why Jesus made the mudpie to begin with, rather than just say “Your faith has made you well.” Maybe he did it just to confound and confuse the Pharisees!

          But the Religious hardliners won’t let it rest. Maybe the whole miracle was a hoax. Maybe the man wasn’t really blind at all. They pepper the formerly blind man with questions. They ask him who he thinks Jesus is.

          “He is a prophet.”

          That’s a powerful claim, linking Jesus with the likes of Elijah and Moses. The Pharisees aren’t too happy about that and switch to a new approach. They try to undermine the man’s testimony. They call in his parents.

          “Is this your son?”

          “Yes, it is.”

          “Tell us how it is he’s no longer blind.”

          “We have no idea. Why don’t you ask him?”

          They call the man in a second time.

          “Tell us this man who healed you is a sinner!”

          “Is he? How would I know? All I know is I once was blind, but now I see!”

          They start to question him again about how, exactly, Jesus healed him. But he says, “I already told you. Why are you asking again? Do you want to become his disciples?”

          It’s kind of a snarky answer, but you can’t really blame the guy. He has had enough of this. The greatest thing in his life has just happened, and these people are more concerned with a handful of mud than a pair of blind eyes that can now see! So he tells them – “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing!”

          At which point the drive him out of the courtroom, condemning him as a sinner.

          And now, Jesus comes back onstage. Having heard what the Pharisees did to the man he healed, Jesus seeks him out. Most of the time in the Bible, people come to Jesus for healing, but this time the doctor goes out searching for his patient. When he finds him, he asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

          Who is he? Tell me, so I can believe in him.”

          Jesus says, “You have seen him, and the one speaking to you is he.”

          Under the circumstanced, I wonder, which is more remarkable – the first half of that sentence, “you (the formerly blind man) have seen him, or “the one speaking to you is he”? they’re both miraculous, two sides of the same coin.

          The man says: “Lord, I believe,” then falls down and worships Jesus.

          New Eyes. That’s what this man gets from his encounter with Jesus. New eyes in the physical sense, and new eyes in the spiritual sense as well.

          And what about us? What sort of new eyes do we need?

          We’re not talking, of course, about bifocals or cataract surgery. We’re talking about our outlook on life, the ways we see with the eyes of the soul.

          When we look at the people around us, those we encounter every day, do we see them as they’ve always been… small-minded, petty or otherwise-flawed? Or do we see them as God sees them… human children with infinite potential?

          When we look at people different from ourselves – people who come from another ethnic heritage, or another religion, or a different sort of community – do we assume certain things about them based on old prejudices? Or do we approach each encounter open to whatever God is ready to show us?

          When we look at the physical world around us, do we see it only as a scientist or engineer is taught to see it… a place governed by physical laws alone? Or do we see it as the place where God rules, a place where miracles happen? Do we hear in a bird’s song a hymn of praise, and see a benediction in a sunset?

          When we call Jesus Christ to mind. Do we see him only as a historical figure, a wise teacher, an ethical example, or a superstar who had a ton of fans in his day? Or do we see him as the risen Lord who walks beside us, who speaks to us of love and compassion, and who guides us in the way we should go?

          I think the best news of this passage from John is the very end. When Jesus seeks out the one he has healed. If you only take one part of this story home with you today – make it that. Jesus will seek you out. Jesus will seek out all of us.

          So, here’s mud in your eye!

          And may you see the world and the people around you with new eyes, given to you by Jesus, the one who seeks us out, and enables us to see all people as children of God.

          May God be praised. Amen.

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