09-01-2024 The Raciest Book in the Bible

Thomas J Parlette
“The Raciest Book in the Bible”
Song of Solomon 2: 8-13
9/1/24

         Once upon a time – this story actually happened. It happened in a local high school in Toms River, New Jersey, in the early 1960s, before the Supreme Court ruling that banned Bible reading in public schools.
          Back in those days, the school’s opening exercises included a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, daily announcements, and a selection from the Bible read by a student over the PA system. According to school tradition, it was up to the student to choose the Bible reading.
          Students sat sleepily at their homeroom desks most days, only half-listening as the opening exercises droned on, even the teachers sipped their coffee and read their newspapers as they waited for the day to officially begin – until one particular morning that would be forever etched into local history.
          On that morning, one by one, the students in homeroom sat up straight and paid close attention to the words of the Bible reading from the venerable King James Version:
          “How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O price’s daughter!
          The joints of thy thighs are like jewels.
          Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor:
          Thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.
          Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
          Thy neck is like a tower of ivory…”

          Then the PA system and whistled and crackled, and suddenly went dead – as you could hear the principal shout, “That’s enough of that!!”
          The effect of those words on a school full of adolescents first thing in the morning was, to say the least, memorable. So memorable that the townsfolk still tell the story decades later.
          As you might imagine – by order of the principal himself, the student leader was replaced, despite his fervent protests that all he had been doing was reading from the Bible! From that day forward, at least until the Supreme Court banned Bible reading in public schools on June 17th, 1963, the principal chose the Bible passages for the opening exercises. (1)
          Dangerous, scandalous stuff those bible verses!
          The offending student was reading from the Song of Solomon in Chapter 7, that sensuous love-poem sandwiched between the stern philosophy of Ecclesiastes and the soaring prophecies of Isaiah.
          To generations of Christians, the Song of Solomon – or the “Song of Songs” as it is sometimes called – has been a bit of an embarrassment. It is without a doubt the raciest book in the Bible, and it’s one of only two books in the Bible that don’t mention God by name. Esther is the other one, by the way.
          Back in the Middle Ages, Bible scholars went to elaborate lengths to interpret this book as highly symbolic. Some taught that this explicit love poetry was really about the soul’s relationship to God. Others claimed that it was about God’s love for the Virgin Mary, and she for God. If you think you’re hearing lovers sighing to each other in a moonlit glade, then think again, say these medieval scholars. When you the woman’s voice crooning, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine,” – well all that lovey-dovey romantic talk is like a secret code for an earnest and devout, and thoroughly chaste, piety.
          I know that sounds pretty far-fetched. What possible reason could the author have for hiding religious sentiment behind steamy love poetry? It’s more faithful to take the Song of Solomon at face value. It’s a joyous celebration of committed love – in every respect, including the physical – as a wonderful gift of God.
          But still, something about the Song of Solomon makes many of us feel uneasy. This has as much to do with the hang-ups of our society as with the book itself.
          Our society tends to understand human love in a binary way. Love is either idealized and spiritual – or it is sensual and physical – but never both. On the one hand, you have lacy valentine hearts and bouquets of roses. On the other is graphic content from the darkest corners of the internet. One extreme, according to our culture is good – the other bad. There is no middle ground.
          But in the Song of Solomon, there is no separation between the physical and the spiritual. “Love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave,” the poet writes in chapter 8 “Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.” The author sees no need to construct a wall between the spiritual and the physical. To this divinely inspired poet, they’re two sides of the same coin.
          So what are we to do with the Song of Solomon, this most racy of books in the Bible? This is where it becomes helpful to read this passage alongside the one from James for this morning. There we’ll find a principle for interpreting the Hebrew scriptures. One of the wonderful things about the lectionary – those readings recommended for each Sunday – is often the Scriptural texts have conceptual links between them. They often elaborate or interpret each other. Not always – but sometimes. Today, the lectionary works out pretty well.
          In James 1: 19, we hear these words… “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger…” When we hold that text up next to the love poem from Song of Solomon, it gives us a new perspective. If there’s one thing the two impassioned lovers have elevated to a fine art, it’s the skill of listening to one another.
          Listen to how Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message:
          “Look! Listen! There’s my lover!
          Do you see him coming?
          Vaulting the mountains,
          Leaping the hills.
          My lover is like a gazelle, graceful;
          Like a young stag, virile.
          Look at him there, on tiptoe at the gate,
          All ears, all eyes – ready!
          My lover has arrived
          And he’s speaking to me!”
          The Song of Solomon is one of the few places in Scripture where we hear a woman’s voice. The voice in this song is listening attentively for her lover – every thought, every action is attuned to his return. When she hears the sound of his footsteps, and moments later his voice, “Get up, my dear friend, fair and beautiful lover – come to me,” her heart is thrilled.
          In today’s epistle reading, James advises everyone to be “quick to listen” Listen like the woman who sings this song about her lover. Listen intently just as she does.
          We all know that when a relationship is young, listening comes pretty easy. We can’t wait to hear each other’s stories and listen for our loved one’s opinions and feelings. Yet, as the years go by and loving relationships mature, whether it’s marriages or long-term friendships, we reach a point when we’ve heard the stories, perhaps many times. We’ve heard our loved one’s feelings and opinions maybe too often. The what becomes of listening?
          You may have seen the classic cartoon that depicts a husband reading from his newspaper. “Honey, it says here that one of the reasons for marital problems is that couples don’t really listen to each other.” Then you look over to the where the wife ought to be sitting, and you see an empty chair. Turns out she got up and walked out of the room some time ago, but her husband never noticed. Such are the challenges of love that’s no longer new.
          Listening is in fact, one of the greatest gifts we can give to those we love – or anyone else, for that matter. There’s a universal human need to be listened to. Listening is a wonderfully easy gift to give. Anyone can do it – but it does take conscious effort, and some practice. Once you figure out how to do it, you discover, as writer Fran Lebowitz points out, “The opposite of talking isn’t listening… but waiting.” (2) All you need to do to be a good listener is open up some space and give the other person time. The space will get filled. As the bumper sticker says – “When I listen, people speak.”
          The late psychologist Carl Rogers was an expert at attentive listening. The non-directive school of psychotherapy he developed is all about waiting, reflecting, and opening a gracious space for clients to share what’s on their hearts. Here’s what he had to say:
          “Hearing has consequences. When I truly hear a person and the meanings that are important to them at the moment, hearing not simply their words, but them… many things happen. There is first of all, a grateful look. They feel released… Almost always, when a person realizes they have been heard, their eyes moisten. I think in some real sense they are weeping for joy. It is as though they are saying, “Thank God, somebody has heard me. Someone knows what is like to be me.” (3)
          One of the marvelous aspects of being in love is precisely that feeling of being heard – the certainty that someone else “knows what it’s like to be me.” Jesus assures us many times that God listens to us when we pray. And Jesus certainly knows what it’s like to one of us. Look back to the very first human, Adam – in Genesis 2, he looks at Eve for the first time and says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Someone who knows what it’s like to be me.
          The Song of Solomon, for all its racy bits, revels in this sort of meticulous attention – this exuberant recognition and naming of another. In Song number 4, the man says of the woman:
         “You’re so beautiful, darling,
So beautiful, and you dove eyes are veiled
By your hair as it flows and shimmers,
Like a flock of goats in the distance
Streaming down a hillside in the sunshine.”
          And in Song 5, the woman describes the man as,
          “Strong and deep-rooted, a rugged mountain of a man,
          Aromatic with wood and stone.
          His words are kisses, his kisses words.
          Everything about him delights me, thrills me
          Through and through!”
          The rich cascade of metaphors (some of them odd, I admit), tumbling down one upon the other sound almost ridiculous after a while – but whoever said two people in love are the picture of dignity. Remember that time when Tom Cruise was on the Oprah Winfrey talk show and jumped up and down when talking about his love for Katie Holmes? Not very dignified.
          The point is, lovers demonstrate a high degree of very focused attention for each other, and it is this attention that makes love wondrously renewing – both the kind of love we experience in our personal relationships, and the love and intimacy with God that we experience in our spiritual relationship.
          “Let everyone be quick to listen,” says James. The couple in the Song of Solomon has no trouble with that.
         It may be the raciest book in the Bible – but it does show us how much God cares for and listens to us, and how much we should care for and listen to God. To re-word song 5 just a bit – “Everything about God should delight us, thrill us, through and through.
          May God be praised. Amen.
1. Homileticsonline.com, retrieved 8/5/24. Used with permission.
2. Ibid…

3. Carl Ransom Rogers, A Way of Being (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995), p 10.

08-24-2024 Words That Live

Thomas J Parlette
“Words that Live”
John 6: 56-69
8/25/24

          This morning we come to the end of our long journey through John, Chapter 6, where we have come to know Jesus as the “Bread Guy.” For the last six weeks, Jesus has been describing himself as the Bread of Heaven. Today, he pushes the metaphor even further as says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.”
          It’s quite shocking when you think about it. I’m sure there were some gasps and a lot of murmured questions among the disciples when they heard Jesus say this. This was one of the verses that really caused the early believers some trouble, because people outside their fellowship thought they were some weird, cannibalistic cult or something. Eating flesh and drinking blood – no thank you.
          Finally, the murmurs subside and one of the disciples says, “This teaching is difficult, who can accept it.”
          And Jesus answers, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
          There are many ways we could approach this passage from John:    - We could focus on the eating of flesh and drinking of blood part, emphasizing that the Reformed view is that is meant symbolically, not literally.
-         We could focus on the eating of this bread from heaven resulting in life-everlasting.
-         We could take a deep dive into Jesus knowing that there are some who do not believe and no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father. Seems like some pre-destination going on there for sure.
-         We could look at the disciples who evidently gave up and left the fellowship – or Simon Peter’s statement to Jesus, “Where are we going to go, you have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
But today, let’s think some more about Jesus’ words “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Jesus words are words that live. We have an opportunity today to think about how we should approach Jesus’ words, how we should approach reading and interpreting the Bible.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has written: “Every text needs interpretation. Every interpretation needs wisdom. Every wisdom needs careful negotiation between the timeless and time. Fundamentalism reads texts as if God were as simple as we are. That is unlikely to be true.” (1)
The problem is biblical illiteracy is quite common. Many people in our society place a great deal of importance on the words of scripture. But the majority of those people don’t really read or interact with the Bible. In her book, The Preaching Life, Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “My relationship with the Bible is not a romance but a marriage, one I am willing to work on in all the usual ways: by living with the text day in and day out, by listening to it and talking back to it, by making sure I know what is behind the words it speaks to me and being certain I have heard it properly, by refusing to distance myself from the parts of it I do not like or understand, by letting my love for it show up in the everyday acts of my life.” (2)
Not everyone approaches the Bible in that way. It’s much more common for people to digest small morsels of scripture. They look for verses that function as a slogan for their lives, and commit those to memory, or perhaps have them tattooed on their arms or torsos. But memorizing a couple of verses doesn’t really fit into the broader framework of the scriptural narrative.
Another touchy area is topical bible study. Too often we look through scripture or perhaps ask a pastor to explain what the Bible says about a current event or a social issue. It’s tempting to pluck out a couple of verses that seem to address the concern and overlook the big picture of what scripture says.
For example, Yale University religion professor Stephen Prothero addresses both these areas when tells a story about a controversial case a few years back involving a death penalty verdict in Colorado. A judge overturned the guilty verdict on appeal because, at the original trial, members of the jury had brought Bibles with them into the jury room. They had done so because they wanted to read and discuss the biblical phrase, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
The Christian-right group Focus on the Family – which favors the death penalty – was outraged at the judge’s ruling. They made national headlines when they blasted the judge for turning away from what they consider America’s core biblical values. A spokesperson said, “It’s a sad day when the Bible is banned from the jury room.”
The only problem is, the one place Jesus mentions “an eye for an eye” is in Matthew 5:38, from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins by quoting that verse from Leviticus and Deuteronomy  - “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…” But then he goes on to say “But I say to you, “Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” He completely contradicts the old way of thinking.
Professor Prothero points out that both the jury members and the Focus on the Family lobbyists completely misrepresented what Jesus says. What Jesus means is “Don’t follow the ancient law. Don’t seek revenge. It goes against my teachings of compassion and mercy.” (3)
Taking that scripture out of context, it may seem, to proponents of the death penalty, that it helps their case. Yet, examine the phrase in its full context, paying attention to how Jesus uses it, and you see that it’s completely opposite to what he is saying. Context matters. Interpretation is vital.
It is a rather modern development, since about the early 1900’s, that we read the Bible as God’s word to us as individuals – what is God saying to me personally. But both the Old and New Testaments were not originally written to be read like that. The Bible is about God’s forming of a community of people. Throughout most of the New Testament, the pronouns “you” and “your” refer to communities, gatherings of individuals – no one had their own private copies of the Gospels or Paul’s letters that they read by themselves by candlelight. They heard the scriptures read or told to them as a group. When you begin to see scripture through it’s intended communal lenses, it drastically changes how you interpret it.
As Jayson Bradley writes in a blog post on Patheos.com from February 26th, 2019:
“If you think the Bible always agrees with you, that’s one of the biggest signs that you are biblically malnourished. Real familiarity with scripture should lead us to deeper self-reflection and acceptance. If it helps to fuel an “Us vs Them” worldview or a culture war construct, you’re doing it wrong.” (4)
Notice that Jesus says – “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” The words that Jesus speaks bring life. Not the words written on ancient papyrus – the words that Jesus himself speaks, right now. Those are the words that live. Those are the words that are spirit and life.
So, how should we go about reading and studying the Bible? How do we open ourselves to these words that are spirit and life?
Well, a couple of basic thoughts.
First, I know it’s tempting to simply start at the beginning with Genesis. After all, that’s the way we’ve been trained to read. Start with chapter 1. And there are, of course lots of great stories in Genesis and Exodus. But eventually, we get into Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, with all the laws and bloody battles and it gets difficult to read. That’s where a lot of people get bogged down and quit reading.
When setting out to read the Bible, I think it might be better to start with a simple, straightforward book – like the Gospel of Mark. You could read that comfortably in an afternoon if you’d like. And then you can move on to some of Paul’s shorter letters – like Philippians, for instance – before diving into the complicated theology of Romans and Corinthians.
Secondly, feel free to take your time. You don’t have to read a whole book straight through, not even the Gospel of Mark, in one sitting. Focus instead on manageable chunks – a couple of paragraphs or so is fine. Most modern Bibles divide chapters into chunks using bold-faced headings that summarize the story – use those as your guide. When you’re done with a passage – read it again and make a note or two about what stands out to you- a concept, a particular character maybe, a word or a phrase that caught your attention.
And lastly, it is always helpful to read the Bible with other people. Could be a friend or two, maybe a family member, or one of the Bible study groups that meet here at church. It’s a great opportunity to hear what someone else takes away from a biblical story. You don’t have to agree about what the story says, you are not looking for the one, right answer – you are looking for what God is saying through scripture. And God speaks to all of us in different ways.
As Jesus says today – “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
May God be praised for Jesus’ words that live. Amen.

1. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence (Schocken, 2017) p 207.

2. Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life (Cowley, 1993) p 56.

3. Stephen Prothero, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – And Doesn’t (HaperOne, 2008).

4. Jayson D. Bradley, “Biblical Illiteracy Is a Big Problem – for Christians,” Patheos.com, February 26th, 2019.

08-18-2024 At All Times and for Everything

Thomas J Parlette
At all times and for everything”
Eph. 5: 15-20
8/18/24
          What would you take with you if you might never come back?
          That was the question residents of Greenville, California faced in July 2021, hours before the Dixie Fire – the most expensive wildfire in American History in terms of fire-fighting costs.
          After the flames roared through Greenville, everything was utterly destroyed.
          When the evacuation order came, the locals had just a few hours to decide what to take with them as they fled for their lives. In an article from August 14th, 2021, a couple reporters from the Washington Post caught up with some of the evacuees and asked them to show them the things they had decided to take with them, and why.
          Stephanie Fairbanks, age 33, took the ashes of her two deceased dogs, some antique meat grinders and some antique bottles and cans she’d collected.
          Brianna Angel, age 10, was given the job of rounding up the family cat, which she did. Then she packed her guitar, a few favorite books, a polaroid camera and a photo album with pictures of her friends’ birthday parties. She also brought her Pokemon card collection.
          John Olson, age 32, rescued his grandmother’s antique sewing table, because he knew how much it meant to his mother.
          Teresa Hatch, age 61, carried out her Jack Russell Terrier, a few bags of clothes, her mother’s ashes and a rosary she wears around her neck. “Just talking to God makes it a little bit easier to forget about the fear,” she said, “the what if, where are you going to go, what are you going to do. God told me that I’d be fine, just give it time.”
          Mary Joseph, age 44 – a Native American of the Maidu people – brought an antique baby basket in which she and each of her sisters had once slept.
          And Mary Smith, age 69, carried out her family photos. “I can’t replace any of these,” she explained. “Everything else in the house, I can replace.” (1)
          What would you take if you only had a couple of hours to decide, and you knew you might never come back?
          It’s a question of profound spiritual importance. Disasters have a way of focusing our priorities in life
          In Today’s passage from Ephesians, we hear talk about “giving thanks to God at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
         When you first hear those words, you may say to yourself, “Yea, I’ve heard that before. Giving thanks to God… Isn’t that what every Christian is supposed to do?”
          Yes, but there is a little more to it than that. Notice that Paul says, “at all times and for everything.” That’s the challenge in this passage – Paul is raising the stakes here much more than just being thankful. We are called to give thanks at all times and for everything.
          You might be wondering – “Is Paul serious here? Are we really supposed to give thanks constantly? Do we really have to give thanks for everything – what about those people running from the wildfire, are they really supposed to be thankful for that. Maybe you have the voice of John McEnroe in your head saying – “You can not be serious!”
          I mean, come on - isn’t Paul engaging in a little “holy hyperbole” here.
          No – not a chance. Paul is setting the bar pretty high, that’s true, but just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Giving thanks – at all times and for everything is certainly tough – but that the goal of the Christian life.
          Of course, that does mean, we’re going to have to give up some things – some things like complaining.
          Complaining is an odd thing. In a backhanded way, it makes us feel good – you know, “misery loves company” kind of thing. Of course we would prefer that that huge problem looming over us would just go away. But if it shows no signs of doing that, we’ll settle for the next best thing – we’ll milk it for all it’s worth. Complain to anyone who will listen.
          We’ve all known chronic complainers – folks who hardly ever have a good word to say about anything or anyone, just a whole lot of negative comments about whatever topic that comes up. People like that can certainly be challenging. Sure, there are times in life when complaints are in order, but when complaints and negativity become a constant habit, a state of being, the only thing it accomplishes is to drag us further down, sometimes taking everyone around us down as well.
          The only antidote is developing the discipline of giving thanks. On the wall above our staircase leading downstairs, we have a sign that serves as a reminder – “Find the wonderful in today.” A constant reminder that giving thanks at all times and for everything is a discipline that you have to work on each day.
          An Army chaplain once told the tale of being out on a training exercise with a battalion of soldiers. He was assigned to the Signal Corps. In those days before satellite phones and GPS, these were the soldiers who set up radio antennas and other communications gear so the generals could communicate with their officers in the field. Once they’d set up the antennas, they divided up into little teams and lived out of their trucks as they maintained the equipment.
          This Chaplain was out visiting one of these communication posts when he happened upon a soldier with a notably sour attitude. “Soldier, how’s it going today?” asked the Chaplain.
          “Chaplain – it’s’ pretty bad day.”
          The Chaplain went on to talk with the soldier about all the things that were bothering him. None of them had anything to do with the field exercise, which actually was going very well. The complaints were all of a personal nature.
          The next day, the Chaplain moved on to another installation. He knocked on the door of the truck, and to his surprise, the same soldier opened the door. He had moved during the night.
         “Well, how’s going today?
          “Well, Chaplain, it’s’ pretty bad day. And the soldier recounted the same down-in-the-mouth, doom and gloom litany as before.
          The third day, to his surprise, the Chaplain ran into the same soldier yet again. And you can guess what happened – same question, same laundry list of complaints.
          “You know,” said the Chaplain, “I met you yesterday and it was bad day. I met you the day before that, and that was a bad day too. Same thing today. It seems to me that if this continues, someday you’re going to stand before your Maker, who’s going to ask, “So, how was your life?” I’ve got a feeling the only answer you’ll be able to give is “It was a pretty bad life.” Maybe there’s something you should do about that.”
After a moment of hesitation, the soldier smiled and nodded his head. “I see your point, Padre, I see your point.” (2)
          Paul also advises us to give thanks for everything. That’s the really tough part of this passage. Give thanks for everything. Not only are we supposed to giving thanks at all times, but also for everything that happens. That can be tough.
          It’s one thing to thank God for the good stuff – the promotion at work, or friends who are there when we need them. But it’s quite another thing to thank God when we get a pink slip, or the doctor walks in with bad test results. There are certainly circumstances when thanksgiving does not come easily, when the act of saying “Thank You, Lord,” is a spiritual challenge.
          Yet that is what our text instructs us to do: Give thanks for everything.
          The storyteller Kathy Culmer tells a fable about two good friends who are on a journey. One man is a believer, the other is not. The two friends love to debate one another, especially on the question of whether there is a God and whether God is good.
          Besides their packs, they have three things with them: a donkey for carrying their packs, a torch to provide light at night and a rooster.
          Stopping at a village, they find no one willing to rent them a room, so they set up camp just outside the little town. The one man has just been telling his friend how good God is. His friend replies, “If God is so good, then why could we find no room in the village?
          “I still believe God is good and I give thanks. God has decided that this campsite is a better place for us to be this night.”
          Just then they hear a terrible sound. A lion has killed their donkey and is dragging it off.
          “Do you still believe your God is good?
          “Yes I do. I give thanks that the lion took our donkey and didn’t come after us.”
          Just then they heard another terrible noise – the rooster crying out in terror. They grabbed the lighted torch and climbed a tree – just in time to see a bobcat carrying off the rooster.
          “Do you still believe God is good?”
          “Yes, I do. I’m thankful that the bobcat took the rooster and didn’t attack us.”
          Moments later, a powerful wind came up and blew out their torch, their only source of comfort in the dark night.
          “Where is your God now?” demands his friend from the pitch black night.
          To this, the man of faith has no answer, but he continues to insist God is good.

          The next day, they walk back to the village hoping to find food, only to find that a band of thieves has attacked it during the night and stolen everything from the villagers. The man of faith shared his outlook, “If we had stayed in the village, they would have stolen everything from us too. And even if we’d been at our campsite, the thieves would have seen the light of our torch and come after us as well. You see, my friend, God is good.” (3)
          So, give thanks at all times and for everything – even when things look bleak. It might be hard in the moment, but the old saying is true – “every cloud has a silver lining.”
          In the meantime, consider offering this simple prayer, “Lord, I don’t know what you’re doing with this situation, but we give me the faith to thank you for it anyway.”
          There’s a great old story about St Teresa of Avila, a notable spiritual leader of the medieval church. One day, Teresa was out for a walk with several of the sisters from her order, when they happened to cross a rickety, old footbridge. Halfway across, the bridge began to swing and sway, and before long, Teresa and her sisters found themselves knee deep in the frigid waters of the stream they were trying to cross. Teresa is said to have offered this prayer – “Lord, I know you have promised never to give us more than we can handle, but sometimes I wish you didn’t trust me so much!” (4)
          It may not look much like a prayer of thanksgiving – but you have to admit, it comes from a stubbornly thankful place. A place we would do well to dwell in. So, I encourage you to remember and practice Paul’s words for this morning – “Give thanks always and for everything.”
         May God be praised. Amen.
 

1. Marlena Sloss and Marisa Iati, “What they saved from the flames”, The Washington Post, August 14, 2021.

2. Homileticsonline, retrieved 7/13/24.

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

08-11-2024 Loopholes for the Devil

Thomas J Parlette
“Loopholes for the Devil”
Ephesians 4: 25 – 5:2
8/11/24
          I have a soft spot for real estate shows. You can find them everywhere – from House Hunters to Beach Front Bargain Hunt, from First Time Buyer to Selling Sunset. There is something to suit everyone’s taste.
          My favorite is Million Dollar Listing on Bravo. There have one series that takes place in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. I enjoy them because you get a chance to see some houses that I could never have guessed existed. They are truly mind-boggling. Floor to ceiling, sliding glass windows and doors, infinity pools, kitchens fit for a chef , all in Italian marble, and 10 car garages that make you feel like Batman.
          And these houses have a room for everything. Workout room – check. Sauna – check. Home theater, seating 20 – check. A wine cellar – check. Perhaps you prefer an English pub – check. Maybe a golf simulator room – yep, we can do that. A Primary bedroom with a walk-in closet that looks like a high end department store, with 8 guestrooms, all with their own en-suite bathrooms. Mind-boggling. I can’t imagine living in a home like that – but it sure is fun to look at!
          But in all these episodes featuring high end real estate, there is one room that none of these houses ever have. A room for the Devil. Perhaps they are following the wise words that we hear from Paul in today’s passage from Ephesians: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.”
          The letter to the Ephesians was probably written by Paul, but there is some scholarly debate on that point – some think it was one of Paul’s associates that may have written the letter, a common practice in the ancient world. The letter can be broadly divided into two sections. First, there is the teaching or theological section that consumes the first three chapters. Paul opens by pointing out God’s choice for us to be God’s people, and he talks about Christ’s achievement in bringing us to salvation. He gives a quick historical overview of how humanity was once separated from God, but now, through Christ, we have brought back into a relationship with God. Then Paul talks about the unity of the Church and offers his prayers for the Church.
          Section Two starts with Chapter 4, as Paul turns his attention to how to live together as a new creation. He focuses very much on day-to-day, face-to-face relationships. And he is pretty direct, he does not pull any punches. Martin Luther once described the list of behaviors to avoid listed here as a “domestic bulletin board,” (1) much like a job board or post-it notes on the refrigerator of chores that need to be done:
         “Put away falsehood.
         Put away anger.
          Put away stealing.
          Put away unwholesome talk.
          Put away every form of malice.”
          These are the household chores to be done to live as a new creation.
          Perhaps some of you remember Dikembe Mutumbo. Mutumbo was an NBA basketball player in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. At 7 foot 2, his specially was blocking shots. But his greatest claim to fame was probably the commercials he made for Geico Insurance, where he would block accidents from happening like he would block a basketball shot – and follow up with his trademark finger wag, saying, “Not in my house, No, No, No.”
          Paul seems to be channeling Mutumbo in his words to the Ephesians – lies, anger, stealing, gossip – I don’t think so. Not in my house, no,no,no.
          Keep in mind, Ephesus was a major port city, with a thriving shipping industry, right up there with the city of Corinth. Goods and people from all over the known world passed through Ephesus – you could get literally anything you wanted. And people took advantage of this. Pagan temples were on every street corner, dishonest merchants and thieves lurked in every alleyway and the brothels and bars were well-populated.
          It’s not too surprising that many of the new converts joining the fellowship in Ephesus were a bit lax in some of their morals and ethics. Paul will have none of this, not in this house, no, no, no. All these behaviors run the risk of making room for the Devil.
          The trouble is, we don’t take the Devil very seriously in modern times. When we talk of the Devil, we do so a bit tongue in cheek. You probably remember the well-known quote from Charles Baudelaire, who said, “The greatest trick the Devil ever played was convincing the world he did not exist.” To a large degree, in our modern world, it appears the trick has worked. A man named Ken Ammi, added to Baudelaire’s thought when he wrote “The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he was a good guy.” Another trick that has worked.
          But if we take Paul at face value, on his own terms, we must take the Devil and his influence seriously. The whole letter to the Ephesians is meant to show how different life as the body of Christ should be from the pagan life previously led by the Gentile Christians, the life they saw all around them in the city of Ephesus. This means that we must not make room for the Devil.
          When studying the Bible, it’s always interesting to compare translations, especially with this text this morning. In our NRSV translation, the word used is “room” – as in a resting place. Give no resting place to the Devil - “Not in my house, no, no, no, you can’t stay here.”
          In the New International Version. The word for room is translated as “a foothold” – don’t allow the devil to get a foothold, meaning a secure grip or vantage point in spiritual terms. It signifies any area of life where temptation can gain influence or control. As Arnold Glasow once said, “Temptation usually comes in by a door that has been deliberately left open.” (2)
          The New English Bible has probably my favorite translations of the phrase Paul uses here. It says, “Leave no loophole for the Devil.” A loophole suggests a gap, a potential vulnerability that might allow negative or harmful forces to enter one’s life. A loophole is an opening in a system of defense or policy that can be exploited to our advantage, even when we know in our hearts that our behavior is violating the spirit of the law we’re trying to get around. Simply put, a loophole is a workaround. For accountant’s, this is part of their job, especially at tax time. Nothing unethical about it – they just want to give their clients every advantage under the law they can.
          But in our context, Paul cautions us not to look for loopholes or work-arounds when it comes to moral, ethical or spiritual behavior. We must resist the temptation to rationalize taking advantage of others.
          Henry Beard has written an interesting book called Rationalizations to Live By. He points out the many and varied rationalizations we come up with to cut corners in life. For instance, in golf – “I’m only moving the ball to where it should have landed.” Or, my favorite – “The course owes me a better score.” I know better, the course owes me nothing. Here are some other examples you might recognize:
          “All this shopping is good for the economy.”
          When booking an expensive flight – “I’m earning frequent flier miles.”
          “All those video games are good for my kid’s motor skills.”
          “Picasso didn’t do his best work until he was 70.”
          “I only smoke at parties.”
          And the classic – “Everybody does it.” (3)
          These rationalizations open up subtle loopholes for the Devil. The comedian George Carlin once said: “I’m not concerned about ALL hell breaking loose. I’m concerned that a part of hell will break loose. It’ll be much harder to detect.” (4) Exactly Paul’s point.
          The original Revised Standard Version of the Bible translates this passage as “Give no opportunity to the Devil.” That word opportunity comes to us directly from the Latin Opportunus, meaning “fit, convenient, suitable, favorable.”          These translations of opportunus derive from the interesting phrase ob portum veniens, which means “coming toward the port” – a reference to an approach to a harbor – especially appropriate given that Ephesus was a port city. (5)
          So when Paul warns us to give no opportunity to the Devil, he is invoking a metaphor from the maritime world – Don’t give the Devil a compass heading to your port. Do not, at all costs, allow the Devil to drop anchor in your harbor.
          We’ve covered a lot of “don’ts” this morning – it’s time to talk about some “do’s.” In this passage, we are called to be imitators of God. As Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message – “Watch what God does, and then you do it… Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with God and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.”
          When it comes to directions about how we should live as children of God – I have two favorite verses that I think sum it up perfectly.
         First, is the passage from Micah: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with you God.”
          My other favorite are these words from Ephesians. Let’s sing that song again, because if you take nothing away with you today but that camp song, well, the morning has been worthwhile. 
“Be ye kind, one unto another,
Tender-hearted, forgiving one another,
Even as God, in Christ’s name has forgiven you.
Do, Do, Doodle – Dee, Do. Ephesians 4: 32”
          I think you’ll be humming that song for the rest of the day…
          And for that, May God be praised. Amen.

1. Harold Warlick, “Sweet-Smelling Fragrance”, Sermons on The Second Readings, CSS Publishing Company, 2002, p. 314.

2. Homileticsonline, retrieved 7/8/24.

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

5. Ibid…

08-04-24 The Jesus Diet

Thomas J Parlette
“The Jesus Diet”
John 6: 24-35
8/4/24
 
          If you’ve been thinking about trying to drop some of those unwanted pounds, you certainly have no lack of options. Just google “best weight loss programs”, and you’ll get lots of suggestions. Noom, Simple, Reverse Health, Weight Watchers, Keto Cycle, Better Me and Nutrisystem are just some of the programs that you can subscribe to to help you lose weight.
         Many people aren’t so keen and subscribing to programs though, and opt to follow some basic dietary principles in their quest to slim down. Again, the options are numerous. You can follow a Keto diet, which stresses high amounts of fat, moderate amounts of protein and very few carbohydrates. Typically, a keto diet will be heavy on things like butter, cheese, eggs, meat, nuts and oil. That may sound good, but keto is also very low on fruits and vegetables, potatoes or any other carbohydrate – rich foods.
          Others may prefer a Paleolithic diet, or caveman diet. It’s based on the idea that obesity is caused by eating modern food loaded with sugar, fat and highly processed ingredients. Instead, we should get back to how our ancient hunter/gatherer ancestors ate – meat, vegetables and fruits.
          Lately another option for dieting has popped up called Intermittent Fasting. IF, as it’s known, is a dietary routine that regularly alternates between periods of eating, and periods of fasting- sometimes for to 40 hours at a time.
          Because I’m on a variety of mailing lists, every once in awhile I get an email about the Biblical diet, or sometimes the Christian diet. In one of these emails, a dietician noted that, “you can’t go wrong eating foods we find mentioned in the Bible, like fish, grapes, olives, olive oil, flax, whole grain bread, pomegranates and figs.”
          It would be very similar to the Mediterranean diet, that many people try to follow – heavy on fish, fruits and vegetables and olive oil and low on red meat and carbs. Add some bread and that might be pretty close to the way Jesus and his followers actually ate in the first century.
          Today, we have the well-known story of Jesus describing himself as the “bread of heaven.” This part of the “Bread Discourse” as scholars have nicknamed it, follows right on the heels of Jesus feeding the 5,000. In that story, we are introduced to the Jesus diet – a simple eating plan, bread and fish.
          At the end of the meal, the disciples gathered up 12 baskets full of the leftover barley loaves, and presumably left them for the people to eat later. That night, they crossed back over the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, and the disciples witnessed another sign – Jesus walking on the water.
         Our story for today picks up the next morning, when we see that the people from the picnic have found Jesus again. But Jesus does not appear too impressed that they’ve shown up again. They ask, “Rabbi, when did you get here,” and Jesus answers, You’re not interested in signs or in any of the work I’ve done – you’re just looking for more bread.”
          Maybe so. That could be why the crowd followed him. They wanted to see what else might be on the Jesus diet menu. Moses fed the people quail and manna in the wilderness, so what might Jesus have in store for them.
         Then Jesus gets a bit philosophical – “Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food. Work for food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your whole life, food the Son of Man provides. That food will last.”
To that the crowd says, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works.”
          “That’s easy,” says Jesus, “Listen closely – Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of commitment gets you in on God’s works.”
          The crowd then asks for a sign again – they want some proof. As Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message – “Why don’t you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what’s going? When we see what’s up, we’ll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert. What have you got for us?”
          Then Jesus offers an explanation for what happened in the desert. “The real significance of the Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from heaven, but that God is, right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread,” said Jesus, as I imagine he tapped both hands on his chest, to signify – “Me.” But they didn’t get it.
          “The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.”
          “Give us this bread always.”
          As I picture it, Jesus leans back a little, hands on his knees, and takes a deep breath. He takes a long, look around, catching everybody’s eyes, and slowly says – “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns themselves with me will never be hungry, whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
          Jesus’ identity as “the bread of life” is very important to John. He spends a whole chapter on developing this part of who Jesus is. John 6 has always held a special place in the hearts of theologians. St. Augustine once described the significance of the things recounted in John 6 as in magno sacramento, “a grand symbolism.” (1)
          And what does this grand symbolism mean. What does it mean to say that Jesus is the bread of life. St. John Chrysostom, the “golden-tongued” preacher of antiquity once said of Jesus’ words here – “By his words, he was all but saying this, “It is not the miracle of the loaves that has struck you with wonder, but the sense of being filled.” (2)
          As O. Benjamin Sparks writes in Feasting on the Word, “As a Christian church, what we have to offer – on Christ and by Christ and because of Christ – first and foremost is “soul food.” Food that lasts forever and does not change with the changing circumstances of the church or the world. It is this soul food, the bread of heaven, that we desire, and it is this soul food in which we will rejoice, long after our bellies are full.” (3)
          So it is not the quenching of hunger or thirst that Jesus is talking about here – it’s more about meeting the emptiness we face even after we’ve had our fill. The Bread of Life continues to meet the needs we have beyond mere rumblings in the tummy.
          Sara Miles is someone who has found this to be true. In the prologue to her book “Take This Bread”, Miles wrote about the time she wandered into a church one cloudy day when she was 46 years old – ate a piece of bread and took a sip of wine. “A routine Sunday activity for tens of millions of Americans – except that up to that moment I’d led a thoroughly secular life, at best indifferent to religion, more often appalled by its fundamentalist crusades. This was my first communion. It changed everything.”
          “Eating Jesus, as I did that day to my great astonishment, led me against all my expectations to a faith I’d scorned and work I’d never imagined. The mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a symbolic wafer at all but actual food – indeed, the bread of life. In that shocking moment of communion, filled with a deep desire to reach for and become part of a body, I realized that what I’d been doing with my life all along was what I was meant to do – feed people.”
          “And so I did. I took communion, I passed the bread to others, and then I kept going, compelled to find new ways to share what I had experienced. I started a food pantry and gave away literally tons of fruit, vegetables and cereal around the same altar where I’d first received the body of Christ. I organized new pantries all over my city to provide hundreds and hundreds of hungry families with free groceries each week. Without committees or meetings or even an official phone number, I recruited scores of volunteers and raised hundreds and thousands of dollars.” (4)
          And so begins the unlikely spiritual memoir of one 21st century Christian. And it all started with communion. The great Reformer John Calvin was once asked to explain the Eucharist, what we call Communion, and he said that he would “rather experience it than understand it.” (5) And when we do, we are empowered for great things.
          The Jesus diet of the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation is what nourishes us for the life of faith, and empowers us to do great things for God in this world. So, let us come to the table and share the Bread of Heaven.
        May God be praised. Amen.

1. Christopher Morse, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 3, Westminster John Knox Press, p310.

2. Ibid… p310.

3. O. Benjamin Sparks, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 3, Westminster John Knox Press, p310.

4. William Willimon, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 3, Westminster John Knox Press, p313.

5. Sara Miles “Take This Bread”, Ballantine Books, 2007, prologue xi-xii.

07-14-2024 Back to Basics

Thomas J Parlette
“Back to Basics”
2nd Samuel 6: 1-15, 12-19
7/14/24

          Before Caitlin Clark, before Kevin Durant, before LeBron James, before Kobe Bryant, before Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird – there were two other basketball players that dominated the conversation when sports fans began talking about who was the best ever. Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
          One big advantage that Russell always had over Chamberlain was the fact that he led his team, the Boston Celtics, to 11 championships in 13 years – a record that will probably never be equaled.
          Once, in the deciding game of the NBA Championship, the Boston big man stepped to the line for a pair of crucial free throws. The crowd went silent. If Russell made the two shots, the Celtics would once again be on their way to another championship.
          As he was about to shoot, one of his teammates, Larry Siegfried came over and whispered something to the giant center. Russell grinned, then sank both shots, and once again the Celtics were champions. After the game, a reporter asked Siegfried what he said to Bill Russell at the free throw line. The Celtic guard replied, “Well, sometimes Russ forgets to bend his knees. I just gave him a quick reminder.”
          There is nothing more basic to shooting free throws than bending your knees. Even one of the greatest basketball players of all time needed to be reminded of one of the basics of the game.
          Back to basics. Not a bad strategy. It worked for Bill Russell, and it worked for King David as well, as he tried to work through a crucial time in the establishment of his dynasty. David had been anointed, he had defeated the great warrior Goliath of Gath, and now he has been rightfully installed as the King of the Israelites. He has made Jerusalem his capital and established it as the center of his young nation’s spiritual life.
          David’s problem now was – how do you unify a people that have never been unified before? How do you bring a nomadic people, loosely bound in a scattered tribal governmental system, into a people bound together and unified, with one King, one capital, one government and one worship center? It was the emerging and clashing of two ages. Out with the old and in with the new. As history shows, when one age bumps up against another, when one era begins to crowd another out – there is almost always hostility and chaos.
          For example, when our own nation made the transition from an agricultural, agrarian society, represented by the South – to an industrial culture, like the North, look what happened. We had the Civil War. David faces a similar problem. How do you unify a people who are not unified? How do you make the transition from one era to another with a minimum of discomfort?
          In response, David had a stroke of pure genius. He brought back the long neglected Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, a symbol of the power and presence of God, was the symbol that helped unify God’s people during their wilderness wanderings in the desert. In bringing back the Ark, David sought to avoid the chaos and conflict that often occurs when one era bumps into another.
          The church is no stranger to these sort of clashes. When it comes to worship style, one era has definitely been banging into another. Traditional, liturgical, organ-led worship is slowly being crowded out by praise-oriented services led by contemporary rock bands and large screens set up in worship centers that look more like theaters than traditional sanctuaries. In our post-modern era, denominationalism has been slowly declining for years. “Brand loyalty” – identifying oneself as a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, or an Episcopalian, is getting to be a thing of the past as denominational lines become more and more blurry. Mainline denominations are on the decline, while independent, evangelical and charismatic groups continue to grow. And more and more people identify themselves as “Nones” – not belonging to any faith tradition. They describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.” For many people, church was something they did as a kid, but they participate as an adult.
          This is really nothing new. The church and Christianity itself has gone through transition before. Even the early church wrestled with growth and change. We see the questions throughout the Book of Acts. “Do you have to become a Jew first in order to become a Christian? Is it by grace or obedience to the law of Moses that we are saved? The move from Jewish to Gentile Christianity was a painful and chaotic time for the early church, but they lived through it.
          Then for over 1,00 years the Gospel was the exclusive property of the church. One was a Christian because of membership in the Church. Then the printing press came along and voices like Martin Luther and John Calvin began saying, “We are saved by grace,” and that the essence of Christianity was not the Church as an institution, but faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what made you a Christian. One era overlapping into another – we call it the Reformation.
          History has its cyclical nature and certainly David’s problems were not unique to him. But overcoming the problem of unity was crucial to David, and to God’s overall long range purposes. How could David make a more peaceful transition from one era to another and establish Jerusalem as the spiritual heart and center of this new nation? Do his methods have any implications for us as we seek to navigate through these fast flowing transitional waters? How did David do it? How can we do it, since we do live in rapidly changing times.
          Well, first, David preserved the best from the past. He didn’t ditch everything. He didn’t throw out the old ways completely. In bringing back the Ark of the Covenant, David enlisted even the most conservative of Israel’s leadership in the establishment of his monarchy. How could anyone net revere and respect the sacred objects contained in the Ark? How could anyone speak against the Ten Commandments? Whether you’re the star center of the Boston Celtics or a shrewd political King, a resolve to get back to the basics is often a good move.
          There is an old story told in football circles, some say it was Vince Lombardi, some say it was Herman Hickman, the coach at Yale in the 1940’s – but the story goes that one day a practice session was not going well. The timing was off, the tackling was atrocious, and the blocking was non-existent. The coach called the squad together and said, “Everything is going wrong. So we are going to start at the very bottom and work on fundamentals.” The he held up a football for everyone to see, and carefully and precisely said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” And one of the veterans was quick to respond – “Not so fast coach, not so fast.” Back to the basics – never a bad idea.
          Second, in bringing back the Ark, David also helped his people to rediscover a fresh awakening of the presence and power of God. The Ark was the ancient symbol of “God with us”, as it accompanied the children of Israel from Mount Sinai. With the Ark, they had walked around the walls of Jericho and saw God’s power displayed as the walls came tumbling down and the city was conquered. The Ark was a constant reminder of God’s presence in many other battles, especially during the time of Eli, always guaranteeing success for Israel.
          We have the opportunity to become Christians today because generations of believers past have preserved the best of our tradition. As John Claypool once said, “God has no grandchildren, only children.” Every generation is connected directly to God, and comes to know God personally through as awareness of God’s presence and power. By bringing back the Ark, David was reminding his generation that the very same God who had led their ancestors out of Egypt and into the Promised land, was now with them as well. That very same God speaks to us today and reminds us that God’s power is not diminished.
          Third, David not only preserved the best of the past, and gave his people a fresh vision of the presence and power of Go – he also threw a party! As Walter Brueggemann writes, “David staged an event that evoked extravagance. This is a party. This is excess. This is extravagant.” David threw caution and cost to the wind. Did it really take 30,000 men to carry a small box – probably not. Was it a bit excessive to sacrifice a bull and a fatted calf every 6 steps? Yes , it was. And what about all those other burnt offerings that David sacrificed? And there’s David’s dancing. Was that appropriate for a King? His wife Michal didn’t think so – she thought he took his dance a bit too far. Was all this really necessary?
          But David wasn’t finished. After all this extravagance, David gave each person a loaf of bread, a portion of meat and a cake of raisins, “And all the people went to their homes.” So, even though they were all in their homes, the people were unified around a common meal from a common source – a bit reminiscent of communion, as we gather to remember and celebrate around the Lord’s table.
         So what was David trying to do here? What’s the point of all this?
          David’s excess in this passage gives us a window into the nature of God – it shows us how excessive and extravagant God can be showing love for us. After all, most reasonable people would deem it terribly excessive for a father to sacrifice his son for a bunch of sinners – and yet that is exactly what God did.
          There was once a young man who grew up on a farm during the Great Depression. It was a long-honored tradition within his large family that as they gathered around the table for the evening meal, his father would parade in from the barn with fresh milk drawn from one of the family’s cows. With every eye fixed on dad, he would strain the milk and first pour a glass for his wife. Then he would dance around the table and fill all the children’s glasses up to the brim. Then his father would turn his back to the family, pour what little was left into his own glass, and top it off with water so it looked like his glass was full too.
          Many years later, when this man learned the truth behind his father’s elaborate dance, it dawned on the now grown man with a family of his own, just how much love and sacrifice had come through his father’s generous act.
          Love’s excess and extravagance can take many forms – from an empty pitcher of milk, to a cross in a place called Golgotha.
          That’s really the most basic aspect of our faith. When we “get back to the basics”, we talk about God’s excessive, limitless, generous love in sending Jesus Christ. As our church and our community changes, sometimes faster than we would like, we would do well to remember what David did here in this passage from 2nd Samuel:
          He preserved the best of the past.
          He put forth a fresh vision of what God might have in store.
          And he celebrated God’s extravagant love for God’s people.
          May God be praised. Amen.

07-07-2024 What? No Plan B?

Thomas J Parlette
“What? No Plan B?”
Mark 6: 1-13
7/7/24

Today marks a homecoming for Jesus. Today we hear about how Jesus preached to the people of his home town synagogue in Nazareth.And some people did not take his message very well. One of the reasons for this rejection was apparently over-familiarity – they just knew him too well. Jesus was going around healing, casting out demons and preaching about the need for repentance. Some people rejoiced over this. But apparently some were offended. They knew who Jesus was, or at least what he had been like as a boy. They had watched him grow up. He was the son of Joseph, a local carpenter. Sure, he was an energetic,sensitive and intelligent young man, but there was nothing special about him. He played with the other kids in town and got into his share of trouble, just like every other little boy. So, there were those in town who weren’t all that interested in listening to him telling them they needed to change their ways and repent.
So, Jesus was rejected in his own home town. In response, Jesus made plans to send out some of his followers to preach the message of repentance. Verse six of today’s passage says, “he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching, village to village. Calling the twelve, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.”
When Jesus was rejected in Nazareth, he saw it as a sign of what was to come – his suffering, death and resurrection. When he was gone, others would have to carry on the work of salvation by offering healing,
lasting out demons and preaching the gospel. Jesus began to execute a new plan by sending out the twelve disciples two by two. Later, he would send out seventy and then commission the whole church to go and make disciples. The plan of bringing salvation would be the same plan Jesus followed. His followers are called to heal the sick, cast out demons and preach about repentance and forgiveness, just as Jesus himself did – but before receiving the Good News, people would need to be aware of their need for salvation.
I know that sounds like a pretty self-explanatory situation. Of course people would have to identify a need before looking for salvation. People need to know they are sick before they start looking for a cure. Before anyone can accept salvation, they must be aware of their predicament. In a sermon to the graduates of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Paul Tillich once preached on the theme of healing,casting out demons and leading people to faith. He told the graduating seminarians that they would experience difficulties as they went to their new parishes with this message. Why would there be difficulties?
Because, many people think they do not need to be healed; many laugh at the absurdity of casting out the demons that rule their lives; and many reject the notion that they need to trust in Jesus for salvation.
“Therefore,” said Tillich, “the first task of the pastor is to make people aware of their predicament.”
It’s hard enough to heal people who know they are sick, harder still to heal those who don’t believe they are sick. It’s hard to heal someone else when you yourself are sick as well. It is so hard, in fact, that no one
can accomplish that feat – at least not by human power alone. Healing and cleansing are the work of God.
Some of the difficulty with this predicament comes from the many misunderstandings we have about healing.

One misunderstanding comes from how you define healing. The Bible defines healing in terms of
salvation. To be saved doesn’t just mean you’re going to heaven. Salvation means wholeness. And wholeness includes the body, as well as the soul. The Bible thinks of healing in wholistic terms.
Another misunderstanding comes from establishing who is to do this healing. Jesus’ view is that healing is not limited to health professionals. Jesus sent his followers out to heal. Some people see
healing as limited to the body, physical ailments. They are aware of physical pain and suffering, and see doctors, nurses and hospitals as the only means of dealing with their sickness. Some people are not as aware of the mental and spiritual sides of healing, and some are not aware of the fact that faith can play a major role in healing. Disease literally means “not at ease.” Disease is disharmony, disturbance, dysfunction or disunity in the parts of the whole person. Healing means restoration of the unity of the body, mind and spirit. The disease that seems physical may be mental at its root; the disease which
seems mental may actually be spiritual; the disease which seems individual may be social at the same time. The human spirit must be reunited with God’s divine spirit for true wholeness to be restored.
That’s why repentance is mentioned alongside healing in this passage. “Heal the sick” means to help people regain their lives as a whole, not just cure a specific illness. For example, standing in front of a
starving man while preaching the gospel, but neglecting to give him something to eat, adds to his sickness. For a medical doctor to remove a stomach ulcer, but neglect the condition that caused the ulcer – whether its spiritual, psychological or social – is far less that the healing Jesus calls for. Healers in Jesus’ name are called to do more. Miracle healings occur – yes, but that’s not the central meaning of Jesus’ command that we should go forth and heal people. The meaning is deeper and wider than that. Healing in this instance is the act of reuniting the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of life.

Dr. Lou Kettel, the one-time dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona once described wholistic medicine this way –“The patient’s physical well-being, mental well-being and spiritual well-being are the three traditional aspects of whole person care. Regardless of who treats the patient, all who care must deal with the whole patient.” Healing is a ministry of God. Jesus commanded that we bring healing to one another by his power. Sometimes we protest, “I can’t do that, I’m not qualified. I’ve gotten problems of my own, I can’t heal someone else.” But even with our flaws, we, like the original 12 disciples, are sent to bring healing to the body, mind and spirit. Now, God is actually the one who brings healing, to us, and then by extension,
to others, through us. Henri Nouwen is famous for saying that we are all “wounded healers,” healers in need of healing ourselves, casting out evil forces and at the same time in need of our own cleansing. That is our predicament.
That is why we need Jesus as Lord and Savior. Jesus sends his followers but to heal, facing the predicament of sickness. He also sends us to cast out demons, facing another predicament – the predicament of evil. We don’t fully understand the nature of demons or how they work in this world. But we know that they exist. Maybe not in a bodily form, but more as a spiritual entity. We can see their results of their work. How often do we come across a story on the news about some upstanding member of society that succumbs to temptation – drink, drugs, gambling, violence, adultery, what have you – and everyone in
town says the same thing…“I can’t believe it – He was such a nice guy, she was such a good person.”
Demons are real – they get the best of people sometimes. That kind of division within our human nature is a sign of demons. It doesn’t mean we’re all possessed, but it does require us to be alert and vigilant, so that demons don’t overrun our better nature. We may not fully understand the nature of these demons – but Jesus does. And he has come to cast out the demons that plague us. Let’s consider some of these demons for a moment…

Resentment, for instance – that’s a demon that almost all of us have wrestled with. Resentment can be thought of as internalized anger. If we have a resentment for a short time, after something unjust or unfair happens to us or a loved one – that is natural. But if we cling to a resentment for months or even years, we can do serious damage to our health. The demon gets us, and division sets in.
Revenge is another powerful demon – closely tied to resentment. Revenge can be resentment taking action. Revenge can take possession of us, driving us on and controlling us. “We have a right to revenge,” weconvince ourselves. “Look at what so and so has done to me – they should pay.” Revenge gets a foothold, encourages us to hold on for the ride and begins to take possession of our life, until eventually the demon whispers, “You are mine now, you belong to me.” Unless this demon is cast out, division sets in.
Lust can be a demon too. It starts naturally enough, a healthy attraction to a loved one – but it can get out of control, taking over a person’s every thought and action.

Lust can ruin your life if you let it. Martin Luther once said – “You can’t keep the birds of temptation from flying over head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” Lust can become a demon and take over your life. It can divide from the inside and make you sick. Jesus says – “Cast out demons.” We reply, “but we can’t do that.”
And Jesus says, “You’re right, you can’t. Demons are too strong for you. So, I’ll do it. First, I will heal you, then I will heal others through you. And you don’t have to do it alone. You are called to work
together.”

You noticed, I hope, that Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs, two by two, so they could work together to bring healing. People might scoff at us we go forth to fight the predicament of evil like so many Don Quixotes, swinging at windmills, trying to bring good and failing so often, seeking treasure where others see only trash, seeking beauty where others see only ugliness, seeking to cleanse evil spirits where other see none at all. Many people are not even aware of their predicament with the powers of evil, and many people simply don’t acknowledge their predicament of sin.
That’s what happened to Jesus in Nazareth. The people of Jesus’hometown refused to acknowledge their sin and sickness, and therefore saw no need to repent, much less look for a savior. Those kind of people are still around today. They don’t see the need for repentance or a Savior, because they don’t see their sickness, they don’t see their own need.
Jesus told the 12 to go out for him, healing and casting out demons. He also told them to preach the gospel of repentance, by casting out the demon of unbelief – one he himself faced in Nazareth. Hearing
Jesus’ call, the 12 went out and preached Jesus’ message of repentance.The followed Jesus’ plan.
The plan was go out and talk up repentance. “Now is the time to turn back to God,” that’s your message, says Jesus. “Do it together, with a partner, because you’re going to need each other’s help. And don’t
worry whether you can do it, or if you’re qualified enough, because I will empower you with the Spirit. Don’t worry about your own flaws and weaknesses. God’s power, through me, will overcome all that.”
A story is told about what happened in heaven after Jesus ascended. Jesus told some of the angels about his plan to have his disciples go out in his name to heal, cast out demons and preach the Good News. The angels listened politely, then one of them spoke up.“You mean those guys, down there. The ones who don’t understand anything you tell them and get all the answers wrong. Those guys.”
“Yes, that’s the plan.”
“Well, that’s a nice idea, Jesus – but they’ll never be able to do it. They’re not up to it. They’re too sinful, they’re too weak, too many character flaws. I think you’re going to need a back-up. What’s your
Plan B.”
“There is no Plan B,” said Jesus. Sending out my followers in my name is the only plan I’ve got.”

Jesus repeatedly says “Come to me” throughout the scriptures. We’ve heard that many times. But today, Jesus says something else. “Go for me.” The church is not only called to be a welcoming place, it is also
called to a sending place. Jesus’ plan is to welcome sinners into the church – and then send them out into the world. Jesus says, “Heal the sick, cast out the demons and preach the Good News. Do it together so
you don’t get too discouraged. Do it by my power, because your power is insufficient, I know that – but do it anyway.”
That’s the plan. There is no back-up. There is no Plan B. We are the plan. We are the ones, healed by God and sent by Jesus to tell the world that the time has come to turn around and head back to God.
May God be praised. Amen.

06-23-2024 It is what it is... or is it?

Thomas J Parlette
It is what is it is… or is it?
2nd Cor. 6: 1-13
6/23/24
 

         The New England Patriots former head coach once took the podium in Gillette Stadium to face reporters before an upcoming game with the Buffalo Bills. He was asked if he expected the Bills to do anything differently. The coach said – “I think relative to Buffalo, they’re Buffalo.”
         In other words – it is what it is.
         Later, when he was asked if he was proud of what the team had been able to do in the post Tom Brady era, he said, “Whatever happened in the past, whatever it is, it is… Nothing we can do about it. We’re moving on.”
         In other words – it is what it is.
         That expression has been around for quite a while. In 1949, an article appeared in The Nebraska State Journal in which J.E. Lawrence used a phrase unknown to that point in English journalism or literature. He was describing the difficulty faced during the frontier-era life in rural Nebraska – “New land is harsh, and vigorous, and sturdy. It scorns evidence of weakness. There is nothing of sham or hypocrisy in it. It is what it is, without apology.” (1)
         That phrase lay dormant for about 50 years before gathering steam in the early 2000’s. It was used frequently in sports.
         In 2004, President George W. Bush was told by an aide that his opponent, John Kerry was leading in the polls. He responded with a shrug and said, “It is what it is.” (2)
         That phrase is now used in all walks of life – psychology, business, the military and even from the pulpit. One observer notes – “Throughout these contexts, “it is what it is” is used as a kind of verbal shrug signaling resigned acceptance of an unchangeable situation.”
         Someone once posted this question on an online bulletin board: “What does “It is what it is” mean. The responses were varied and interested. Some liked the phrase:
         “To me, it has a connotation of “letting go”, of accepting a circumstance for what it is, and moving on, or going with the flow.”
         “For me, it means, “That’s life. You can’t change the situation, problem or reality. No sense talking about it or getting too stressed out. You have to make peace with reality and keep going.”
         Or this, probably my favorite – “It means, I wish the tree hadn’t fallen across the road, but it is what it is. No point in raging or crying about it. Time to break out the chain saw and get to work.”
         Other people really hated the phrase.
         “It’s used as an excuse to be complacent, for whatever reason.”
         “What does the expression “It is what it is” mean? Generally, it means the person using it has no explanation for why something has happened, but wants to sound wise. My usual response, mostly suppressed, is to punch them. Its meaningless drivel intended to make the speaker sound profound.” (3) Wow – ok, strong reaction.
          Perhaps people are tired of over analyzing life. I guess it’s possible that, in this world of ever-changing realities, we are simply getting more comfortable with change and the unknown, and see no need to worry, resist or change anything. After all, it is what it is.
         Or maybe we’re just throwing up our hands, resigning ourselves to what is. We give up. We keep a stiff upper lip, keep calm and carry on. As Jimmy Buffet once said – “Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
         John McWhorter, writing in an op-ed piece in the New York Times, admits that he is not in love with the phrase, but notes that many people don’t have a problem with it, saying that it means “that one must sometimes make one’s peace with misfortune or difficulty rather than get torn up about it.” (4) With that interpretation, “it is what it is” is essentially an English version of ‘que sera sera’ – whatever will be, will be. A kind of verbal shrug.
         You are essentially helpless. There is nothing further that can be done. And moreover, I don’t care.
         It is what it is – or is it?
         The apostle Paul encountered more than his fair share of adversity. “As servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way; through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights and hunger.” Paul’s list of tests and trials clearly shows that he did not take an “it is what is” view of life. For him – it isn’t what it is. Punished – but not killed. Sorrowful – but rejoicing. Poor – yet making many rich.
         Paul would not and did not say to others – “It is what it is.” And he wasn’t ready to fatalistically say that about his own life either. He was realistic, for sure – but he always saw beyond the obvious nature of his circumstances.
         Perhaps Paul is suggesting that it is not always what we think it is. What is happening to us is not biologically determined, nor is it in anyway inevitable. “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” Here, Paul cites Isaiah 49: 8, in which Isaiah predicts that the time will come when Judah will be brought back from exile. What we now see as an interminable situation is not that at all. This is why we’re better off thinking, “it is not what it seems,” rather than “it is what it is.”
         If you ask a young man named Cole Fitzgerald what it is like to face childhood cancer for a second time – years after his first rare cancer diagnosis – he will say – “It is what it is.”
         And what it is in his case is a second bout with Pancreatoblastoma, a type of cancer that has been documented only 50 times and just once following a neuroblastoma diagnosis. That one case? – That’s Cole Fitzgerald.
         “It definitely came out of left field,” says Cole. “I definitely didn’t see it coming. Nobody saw it coming. And it brought a lot of frustration, anger and confusion because I’ve been clean for the past 15 years,”
         Before Cole’s second diagnosis, he was slated to move into the dorms at Temple University; now all that is on hold.
         “It’s hard living in a world where other kids aren’t cancer survivors, says Cole. “It’s hard to relate to other people. It’s like you stand out. I have some moments when I’m stereotyped with being a childhood cancer survivor. It’s a blessing and curse in a way.” 
         Through it all, Cole kept going – excelling in school and pursuing his dream of working in athletics while serving as a high school football team manager.
         Pancreatoblastoma is so rare there is no standard of care and virtually no research specific to his disease. But even though it is what it is – Cole and his family have hope and continue to fight.
          As Cole says -“You know it’s almost like when you are driving your car on a paced road and there’s a pothole. I’ve had a lot of potholes in my life, and sometimes I have to go around them. But sometimes I have had to drive straight toward them. And this one, I am driving toward it at full speed. No matter the pain of chemo, the frustration of not being in school, not living a normal life, it is all going to be worth it when I get that scan says I am free.” (5)
         It is what it is… or is it?
         Too often when we say “It is what it is”, we are suggesting that there is nothing that can be done. But Paul would not agree. Paul would stand with Cole Fitzgerald. There was nothing in Paul’s faith that inclined him to accept what was apparently his fate. Although others saw their lives from a ground-level perspective, Paul was able to see his life from a 40,000 feet perspective. Even as forces beyond his control tugged at him, he assessed the situation as one who was above the fray. To casually accept what was happening to him with a verbal shrug of his shoulders, was completely foreign to Paul.
         Paul’s words today suggest some ways that we might push back against the fatalistic aspect of “It is what it is.”
         First, Paul points out that there is no time like the present – “Now is the acceptable time; Now is the day of salvation.” Now is the time to get a new outlook at what your obstacles and challenges might be. Obstacles are simply challenges to take on.
         Second – keep in mind that others have successfully overcome difficulties and adversity. Paul uses himself as an example.
         Third, Paul makes it clear that we shouldn’t get hung up on what others say or think. As he puts it; “We are treated as imposters, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see, we are alive… as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”
         And, never forget the value of community. We are not meant to navigate the storms and obstacles of life alone. Our community of family, friends and fellow believers, plays a vital role in helping us overcome adversity.
         That is the essence of the gospel. We are called to proclaim to the world that “It is not what it is.” Things are not what they seem. Obstacles and adversity are simply opportunities to grow. Instead, we are reminded that the Good News is all about rebirth, fresh starts, being born again, being alive once dead, walking in light rather than darkness, restoration, regeneration and renewal. With this outlook, obstacles move from hardships to challenges.
         There is an old Zen story about a King, whose people had grown soft and entitled. Unsatisfied with this state of affairs, he hoped to teach them a lesson. His plan was simple – he would place a large boulder in the middle of the main road, completely blocking entry into the city. He would then hide nearby and observe their reactions.
         The king watched as subject after subject came to this obstacle and turned away. Or at best, tried half-heartedly before giving up. Many openly complained or cursed the King, bemoaning the inconvenience, but none managed to do anything about it.
         After several days, a lone peasant came along on his way to town. He did not turn away. Instead, he strained and strained, trying to push the boulder out of the way. Then an idea came to him – he scrambled into the nearby woods to find something he could use for leverage. He came back with a large branch he had crafted into a lever and used it to dislodge the massive rock from the road.
        Beneath the rock was a purse of gold coins and a note from the King, which said, “The obstacle on the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.” (6)
         It is what it is… or is it? There might be an obstacle before us, and it is what it is – but it is also an opportunity.
         Coach Belichick told reporters: “Whatever happened in the past, whatever it is, it is… Nothing we can do about it. We’re moving on.”
         Coach Paul expresses the idea even better in a letter he wrote to the Philippians: “This one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
         The past - with all its struggles, mistakes, adversity and pain – is what it is.
         The future – is moving on. It’s straining forward, and pressing on, as Paul says
         Whenever we are tempted to utter “It is what it is” – let us always follow it with the question – “is it?
         That be so for you and for me.
May God be praised. Amen.

1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/30/24.

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

5. Ibid…

6. Ibid…

06-16-2024 Seeds, Seeds, and More Seeds

Thomas J Parlette
“Seeds, Seeds, and More Seeds”
Mark 4: 26-34
6/16/24
          The kingdom of God is like the eruption of a massive solar storm, causing the collapse of modern civilization. Computers stop working, phones go dead, machinery grinds to a halt and airplanes fall out of the sky. About the only people who have the resources to survive are the Amish, who do not rely on modern technology.
          No, this frightening story was not a parable told by Jesus. It sounds more like the plot of a summer block-buster movie, coming to your favorite streaming platform soon. No, it’s actually the plot of a novel, written by a Presbyterian pastor named David Williams, called When the English Fall. Of course the Amish call all non-Amish people, “the English.” The English really suffer when their technology fails. The premise sounds kinda interesting – I might add When the English Fall to my summer reading list.
          The novel is a parable – a story that holds up a mirror for us, helping to see ourselves in a new way. Based on reviews, the tension in the book increases when the English become desperate and start to go after the Amish and their food supplies. Facing the threat of invasion, the non-violent Amish must decide how to respond as Christians. How much are they obligated to share their resources? And, they wonder, when is violence an appropriate response to aggression? (1)
          These are questions not just for the Amish, but for all of us. They give us a mirror, which helps us discover how we should respond as followers of Christ. This parable invites us to wonder about the nature of the kingdom of God.
          As you know, Jesus loved parables, he told them throughout his ministry. In the fourth chapter of Mary, Jesus tells a trio of parables that revolve around seeds – the parable of the sower, the parable of the growing seed and the parable of the mustard seed. All of them are stories that help us see ourselves more clearly, but for today, we are just dealing with the growing seed and the mustard seed – we’ll leave the sower for another day.
          In the parable of the growing seed, Jesus says, “The Kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
          In this story, we see the growth of the kingdom as something automatic, something that is not dependent on our efforts. In fact, in verse 28, it says, “The earth produces of itself.” The Greek for the phrase “Of itself”, is automate. We are invited to scatter seed, go to sleep, and when we rise, we will see the seeds of the kingdom sprouting and growing. We do not know how the emergence happened, except that Jesus says it happens on its own, automatically.
          Then Jesus tells the parable of the mustard seed. He begins with a question. You can almost see him looking around rubbing his chin and wonders out loud, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, what parable can we use for it – hmmm let’s see? I know, it’s like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
          Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like one of the smallest of seeds. It is not impressive to look at, but once it is sown it becomes a shrub large enough to put forth large branches. These branches become places of safety and hospitality, where the birds of the air can make their homes.
          These parables help us see ourselves and the kingdom of God in a new way. Mark tells us that Jesus did not speak the word to the crowds of people “except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
          So, what do these parables teach us?
First, the emergence of God kingdom will happen on its own if we plant the right seeds and trust good things will happen.
Second, the seed of the kingdom is often small and unimpressive when you first see it, but it grows into something large that can be a much-needed place of safety and hospitality.
We need the growth of the Kingdom now, more than ever. In the past 25 years, about 40 million Americans have stopped going to church. That’s about 12% of the population. Writing in the Atlantic, Isabel Fattal says, “Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to promote mutuality, care or common life. Rather, it is designed to maximize individual accomplishment as defined by professional and financial success. (2)
In America today, large numbers of people simply aren’t that interested in mutuality, care or common life. They have left the church because they don’t they need it – they don’t see the point. They are like birds of the air who fly away from the branches of the mustard shrub, not taking the time to make nests in its shade.
Our culture has told people that the priority is individual accomplishment, defined by professional and financial success. Get a good education, work long hours and make it on your own. Many people are finding their identity more in individual accomplishment than in community participation.
On this Father’s Day, we are certainly grateful to all the “father figures” in our lives who have been good role models for us. But we also know that many of them have fallen into the trap of defining their worth in terms of professional accomplishments and financial success. And it’s not just the men, either – lots of women fall into this trap as well. This can lead to some great and satisfying highs, but there is also a risk of a deep sense of despair as well if we define ourselves in terms of professional accomplishments and financial position.
Writer Derek Thompson coined the term workism in 2019. He uses the term to describe how work has morphed into a kind of religion, promising identity, transcendence, and community.” (3) People think that work will provide them with a sense of identity, an opportunity to go beyond normal human experiences, and a deep sense of connection with people around them.
But I’m not sure about that. Workism doesn’t really deliver on those promises. The problem with workism is that there is no automatic growth provided by God. Workism looks down on things that are small and unimpressive, like a mustard seed. And workism does not provide a safe and hospitable environment, one in which people can nest in safety and security. Workism is, at its core, kind of a selfish concept – everything revolves around us and our efforts.
What people need to hear today is a new story- the parable of the growing church. This is a 21st century story of how the Christian community might better serve its members and its neighbors. When we look in this mirror, we gain a new understanding of Christian identity, transcendence and community. Like the parables of Jesus, it reveals to us the kingdom of God.
The story begins with identity. Picture this – In a growing church, people see themselves as followers of Jesus, not as workers in a global economy. They consider themselves to be disciples of Christ, trying to love as Jesus loved and serve as Jesus served. They see themselves and others as precious children of God, valuable for who they are, not for what they do. In a growing church, members identify themselves as being made in the image and likeness of God.
Next comes transcendence. A growing church provides opportunities for transcendence in worship, bible study and spiritual growth activities. This means that people go beyond normal human experience and gain a sense of God’s nature and power. “A vibrant, life-giving church,” writes Jake Meador, “asks people to prioritize one another over career, to prioritize prayer and time reading Scripture over achievement.” (4) When we do these things, we go beyond workism and have an opportunity to grow closer to God. We discover that the kingdom of God really does grow automatically, on its own, without any effort from us, if we let it do so.
Finally, the parable includes community. The tragedy of contemporary American life is that it does not support care, mutuality or common life. Isolation is on the rise in the United States today, and loneliness is a big problem. I’ve referenced it before, that the Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy calls it an epidemic. But he also says that churches can combat isolation and build neighborly bonds. He writes, “Religious or faith-based groups can be a source for regular social contact, serving as a community of support, providing meaning and purpose and creating a sense of belonging around shared values and beliefs.” (5)
In growing churches, congregations focus on providing people with a safe and welcoming community of faith. Like the mustard shrub that provides branches and shade for the making of nests, churches offer their members and neighbors a place of security and comfort. Churches can be better, truer sorts of communities, says Jake Meador, “ones in which the hungry are fed, the weak lifted up, and the proud cast down.” (6) Like the Amish in the novel, When the English Fall, we are challenged to respond as Christians to the needs of the world around us.
Stories can change our perspective, and the parable of the growing church helps us to see ourselves in the kingdom of God. Each of us can help provide much needed identity, transcendence and community, for ourselves and for our neighbors. We don’t have to be a part of a megachurch – remember, the small mustard seed becomes the greatest of shrubs. And we don’t have to do it all on our own – remember, the seed of the kingdom grows automatically, through the power of God.
The challenge for each of us is to put our trust in the work of God’s kingdom, not in the workism of the world. The parable of the growing church is a story that we can bring to life. Together, we can provide identity, transcendence and community, but only if we let the seeds of God’s kingdom grow among us.
May God be praised. Amen.
 

1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/23/24.

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

5. Ibid…

6. Ibid…

06-09-2024 Inside Out: The Jesus Way

Thomas J Parlette
“Inside Out: The Jesus Way”
Mark 3: 20-35
6/9/24
           Something I often do before sitting down to write a sermon is go back through my Pastoral Record and see if I’ve preached a certain passage before. So, I did that for this week, I found out that I have never preached this passage from Mark.
          In my 34 years of ministry, I’ve preached my way through the lectionary cycle 11 times – you would think I would have run out of things to say by now – but somehow the Holy Spirit always points out something new.
          But for some reason unknown to me, I have possibly unconsciously avoided this passage from Mark 3. The other texts that show up this Sunday are where I have tended to land. The Genesis passage about Adam and Eve with the serpent in the Garden of Eden has been a popular pick, as has the passage from 2nd Corinthians about our “outer nature wasting away, but our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” I’ve preached those passages on numerous occasions.
          So, for today, I decided to stretch a little bit and try a new passage. I suppose I’ve avoided it because it’s a little troublesome. Whenever Jesus shows emotion in our scriptures, it can be a difficult to handle. Many of us picture Jesus as eternally calm and pious, almost detached, always in control, even-keel, never out of control or angry or upset. But there are moments when Jesus shows emotion.
          The 3rd Chapter of Mark opens with the story of Jesus healing the withered hand of a worshipper at the synagogue, on the Sabbath, no less. The leaders of the synagogue are watching closely to see if they might be able to accuse him of wrong-doing, and Jesus reacts with anger. Then the passage tells us that he was “grieved at their hardness of heart” – disgust is a word that would probably work as well.
          Right after that incident, Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee and a large crowd followed him. On the way to his boat, unclean spirits would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” And Mark tells us that Jesus sternly ordered them not to make him known.
          Then Jesus commissions his disciples to go do some healing of their own, and he gives them the authority to cast out demons. In this, Jesus shows another emotion - compassion
          So before we get to the encounter we hear about this morning, we have seen Jesus show anger, disgust, and a stern tone of voice, maybe bordering on anger again and a sense of compassion.
          And then Jesus’ family shows up, because they have heard about what’s been going on. And they are experiencing lots of emotions – anxiety about the waves Jesus is creating; embarrassment about the things Jesus’ was doing and saying; and downright fear that Jesus was going to get himself arrested, or they themselves might get arrested. So Jesus’ family shows up to “restrain him,” as Mark says.
          Lots of emotions on display in the 3rd Chapter of Mark -  anger, disgust, compassion, anxiety, embarrassment and fear.
          Perhaps you’re familiar with a Pixar movie that came out in 2015 – Inside Out. There’s a sequel coming out next week. The original movie told the story of Riley, a happy, hockey-loving 11 year- old girl. One day, her world was turned upside down when she and her parents move to San Francisco. At first she tries to navigate the transition with Joy, but the stress of the move puts Sadness in control. Then Joy and Sadness get replaced with Anger, Fear and Disgust. All of these emotions are portrayed as different characters.
          When the family moves to San Francisco, Fear says to Joy, “I sure am glad you told me earthquakes are a myth.” Fear has more than a few worries about their new location.
          On their way to their new home, Joy imagines that Riley will live in a house from a fairytale, made of different desserts. Disgust registers his opinion, “Joy, for the last time, she cannot live in a cookie.”
          But there is more to this movie than just laughs. The emotion Sadness is initially seen as a troublesome character, but in time she reveals her wisdom. At one point, Sadness says, “Crying helps me slow down.” That’s something that everyone needs to learn isn’t it. Crying gives us an opportunity to pause and reflect, sometimes about the more difficult aspects of life. (1)
          Josh Larsen wrote about “Inside Out and the Theology of Sadness” on the think Christian website. He wrote:
          “Inside Out is about learning to reconcile joy and sadness, whether you’re a tween forced to move away from friends, as Riley is, or a parent who can no longer protect your child from life’s hardships. It’s a rich subject – one mined with Pixar’s usual combination of wit, intelligence and emotional resonance to – not in denial of – deep sadness.”
          He goes on: “Writing earlier, I referenced a Frederick Buechner quote on joy from his book The Hungering Dark. “Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in your eyes.” (2)
          Author James Grebey writes that the first film shows what things are like inside a young girl’s head. So, how do you raise the stakes for the sequel, Inside Out 2? Gerbey’s answer – “go inside a teenager’s head, of course. Inside Out 2 will revisit Riley that she’s older, and it will fittingly introduce a host of new emotions.” (3)
          In addition to the original five emotions, the sequel will introduce Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy and Ennui – meaning weariness or unsatisfaction.
          So, the third chapter of Mark might be called Inside Out: The Jesus Way, as we see lots of emotions on display – from Jesus, his family, and from the people listening to him.
          Reports are circulating that Jesus has gone out of his mind. His emotions they say, are out of control.
          A group of religious leaders from Jerusalem, the scribes, use this moment to go on the attack. They say, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” In essence they are saying – It takes one to know one.” If Jesus can communicate with demons, and demonstrates control over them, well – he must be a demon himself.
          No doubt Jesus feels another wave of anger and frustration building as he points out the ridiculousness of this argument. “Why would Satan cast out Satan. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would Satan undermine his own power?
          Jesus then shifts gears and compares himself to a man entering a strong man’s house, and tying up the strong man before plundering his property. This is Jesus’ way of showing he has come to defeat Satan, literally tie him up and take control of this world. I suppose this could be another reason I have avoided this passage in the past – I don’t like to think of Jesus entering a house and tying someone up to plunder the house. But the point is clear, if a bit unpalatable – Jesus has come to defeat the strong man Satan and take control of this world in the name of God.
          Then the family of Jesus arrives at the house. They call for Jesus and the crowd reports to Jesus that his family is here and they are calling him. Jesus looks out the window and he sees a teachable moment.
          Jesus turns to the crowd and says, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” The crowd was probably wondering what he was talking about as they motion outside – “they’re right over there Jesus, what are you talking about?”
          Then, looking around at those who are sitting around him in the house, Jesus says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
          In the movie Inside Out, the emotion Joy asks the question, “Do you ever look at someone and wonder?” That’s what people were doing as they looked at Jesus in that house in Capernaum. They were wondering, “What does it mean to do the will of God? What would it mean for me to be part of the family of Jesus?”
         Jesus makes it very clear that his true family is whoever does the will of God.
          Inside Out: The Jesus Way is full of deep and powerful emotions, Grief, Compassion, Hope, Anger, Frustration and Disgust. Jesus felt them all, and we should not be afraid of feeling them as well. Our lives as disciples of Christ should not be lived in a cold and completely intellectual way, separate from the pain and struggles that are part of every human life. Jesus wants us to put our hearts into discipleship, not just our heads, allowing our emotions to be part of doing the will of God.
          In a commencement address to the Class of 2021 of Boston College, David Brooks said: “People talk about emotional intelligence. But being a respectful and considerate person is not an intelligence; it’s a skill you learn with practice. It’s the skill of taking time to label your emotions as you feel them, to understand them and be able to tell them apart. That’s knowing the difference between angry, aggravated, alarmed, spiteful and grumpy. It’s the skill of knowing how to express your emotions openly, and in that naming, to regulate them… There is one thing that I have learned. You have more to fear from your inhibitions than you do your vulnerabilities. More lives are wrecked by the slow and frigid death of emotional closedness than by the short and glowing risk of emotional openness. (4)
          In this 3rd Chapter of Mark, Inside Out: The Jesus Way, Jesus demonstrates that emotional openness has a vital role in faithful discipleship. Jesus encourages us to listen to our hearts, including our emotions, as well as our heads as we live as disciples of Jesus.
          May that be true of us all.
          May be praised. Amen.

1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/5/24.

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

05-19-2024 The Many Ways to Spell "Church"

Thomas J Parlette
“The Many Ways to Spell “Church”
Acts 2: 1-21
5/19/24
          Let’s start off this morning with a little test. Or perhaps an interesting experiment, or maybe sort of a brain teaser would be a better way to describe it. I wonder if you would join me in reading the short passage that is under the sermon title for today.
          “According to researchers at Cambridge University, it doesn’t matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter are in the right place. The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without problems. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole.” (1)
So how was that? Did it get easier as we went along? You may have run across this statement before, it was a pretty popular meme on the internet. A writer followed up by contacting some researchers at Cambridge University, and none of them had heard of any such research taking place – so it’s probably a hoax. But it sounds like it could be true, doesn’t it? It has that ring of “truthiness”, as Stephen Colbert might say.
          But in reality it is totally false. The order of the letters in a word does matter. Let’s take a look at the second sentence in your bulletin this morning. Have you already been trying to read it? Let’s see how this one goes:
          “Baseball players performing similarly absolutely deserve comparable compensation.”
          Raise your hand if you already figured that one out ahead of time.
          Don’t worry if all this sounds confusing. That’s kind of the point on this Pentecost Sunday. It’s hard to commemorate the birthday of the church with a nod to the confusion and chaos that was a big part of that day. 2000 years ago, the universal church came into being – so this is good day to consider how we understand church – how do we spell “church.” Today is also a good time to consider how we can do church with a proper beginning and good ending – even when the middle can, at times, be a confusing mess.
          In New Testament Greek, the word for church is “ekklesia.” It’s usually translated “church”, but it can also mean “assembly, congregation or meeting.” The Greek literally means “called out ones” from ek – meaning “out” and kaleo – meaning “to call.” Some scholars have stressed that this “called out” sense of the word provides a hint as to how we should understand the church: “an assembly of those who have been called out, or separated, for a special purpose or called out from the world to live godly lives” (2) – something we are celebrating today as we recognize our confirmation class.
          So, how might we spell “church” in English? We could do it as an acrostic, as you see in your bulletin:
C – Charis
H – Healing, Hopeful or Healthy
U – United
R – Radical
C – Compassionate
H – Hospitable, Honest or Helpful. (3)
          Let’s start with Charis – another Greek word. It appears more than 100 times in the New Testament and is usually translated as “grace.” It emphasizes goodwill, kindness and favor. Certainly a good place to start when describing what it means to do church. Not only is this a gift extended to us by God, but it is a quality that the church offers to the world. It is the mark of a Christian. Charis refers to that which offers joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness and the grace of speech that is seasoned and moderate, resulting in harmonious fellowship.(4)
          Then there’s the letter “H” – Healing, Hopeful or Healthy, any of those words would work well in thinking about church. After Peter preached his sermon recorded in the passage for today, he performed his first act of healing. Jesus was not there anymore, so when a beggar approached asking for money, Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” The church has always been known as a movement concerned not only with spiritual healing, but with the healing of the body as well. So it makes perfect sense that so many hospitals around the world, including the world famous Mayo Clinic, were established by the institutional church to alleviate suffering and pain.
          But the church has also been characterized by our sense of hope. The hope of the church is grounded in the faithfulness of God. Therefore, as Paul notes, we have hope: “Character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
          The church also strives to be healthy. It always distressed Paul when he had to scold a congregation because of it’s in-fighting, quarrelling and disagreements. On the other hand, his joy knew no bounds when believers were strong and vigorous, fulfilling the church’s mission. Notice his affection for the church in Philippi: “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.”
          Which leads us to the word “United.” This is a prickly one to be sure, especially in our current social climate. It’s difficult to see how we can be united about anything. How can we possibly create unity amidst all the various values, theologies, rituals, ideals, causes, institutional agendas and ideological “isms” that we champion, or protest, or rail against on social media. That difficulty in finding unity extends to the church as well. Put 100 Christians in a room and ask them to agree on something, and, as they say in Texas, you might as well try to put socks on a rooster.
          And yet, the bible tells us that unity is possible. We can disagree, but we are called to do so in love. We may not agree on whether we use debts or trespasses in the Lord’s prayer, but we can still treat each other with respect, kindness, gentleness, patience and love. That’s the kind of unity that is possible through the Holy Spirit.
          In the September 22nd, 2020 issue of Stewardship Kaleidoscope e-newsletter, Princeton Theological Seminary Professor Eric Barreto observes that, at Pentecost, God does not give us a new, perfect universal language. Instead, God enables us to understand each other’s languages. Rather than reversing what happened at the Tower of Babel, when people were scattered and given different languages so they couldn’t understand one another, on Pentecost God enables us to understand one another’s languages. The change is in us. The curse of Babel is our desire for uniformity. What God gives us at Pentecost is the gift of unity (5) – the gathered believers given the Holy Spirit.
          We have some other words and letters that help us spell church. The “R” world might rub some people the wrong way. The word “Radical” is another tricky one because it has been co-opted to insult and demean people for their political beliefs. But when you consider the call Jesus extends – to live according to the will of God, not the ways of the world, to be guided by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the demands and expectations of our society – you can’t deny that it is a radical way to live life.
          To treat everyone we meet with “Compassion” is also a hallmark of what we are called to be as a church. It’s difficult to spell church without compassion.
          And finally, we have another “H”. This could be Hospitable, Honest or Helpful. We are definitely called to hospitable, or welcoming to people. There is no “if” or “when” attached to being part of the church. You are welcomed and loved as you are – not if you measure up or when you believe a certain way or live in such a way.
          To spell church, we begin with a “C”, for Charis – a sense of grace, goodwill and kindness – because we believe that God loves us and has found favor with us. And we end with an “H”, for either Hope or Hospitality, both are important parts of what it means to be and do church.
          There are many ways to spell church these days. After the gift of the Holy Spirit swept through the early church, they continued to do and be the church around 5 simple practices, which we still do today. They didn’t come to a stone building with beautiful stained glass windows like we do – more than likely they gathered in people’s homes, or sometimes they gathered in the catacombs in the interest of safety. But the practices are ones we would recognize:
          1. They would hear some teaching.
          2. They would experience fellowship, probably not coffee and donuts, but I imagine they had their own version of delectable treats.
          3. There was breaking of bread, which may have been similar to communion, or maybe the first century equivalent of hot dish and bars – the archealogical evidence is sketchy.
          4. There most certainly was praying at their gatherings.
          5. And Paul mentions singing and encourages the early Christian community to “Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts.”
          There are many ways to spell church these days – but if we start with grace and wrap in kindness, gentleness, compassion and hospitality, and gather for fellowship, teaching, breaking of the bread, praying and singing, we aren’t going to go too far wrong. Gifted with the Holy Spirit, that power from above, we can continue to be the church that Jesus intended.
          May God be praised. Amen.
 

1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/1/24.

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

5. Ibid…

05-12-2024 Power from on High

Thomas J Parlette
“Power from on High”
Luke 24: 44-53
5/12/24

          Jesus had a lot to say about a lot of things during his life on earth. His most beloved sayings have come down to us, faithfully preserved by the gospel-writers. You probably have your favorites, perhaps they are among these all-time greats:
          “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
          “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
          “I am the resurrection and the life.”
“Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.”
We could go on, of course – there’s no shortage of wise sayings by Jesus. But have you ever wondered about Jesus’ last words – the final thing Jesus said before he ascended into heaven?
For Matthew, the Lord’s last words are the last part of the great commission. After Jesus charged his disciples to spread the good news and baptize in his name, he concludes, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark’s gospel – at least in its shorter, original ending – contains no last words of the resurrected Jesus. The disciples simply discover his empty tomb. The nook ends inconclusively: “Terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
Sometime later, another writer, uncomfortable with the ambiguity, tacked on an alternate ending in an attempt to bring things full circle. That writer followed Matthew’s lead, having Jesus commission the disciples. And then he promises them some superpowers. This comes in a verse most people avoid, because it sounds so strange: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: using my name will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” In the backwoods of Appalachia, there are “snake-handling” churches that gravitate to that verse. Their members court disaster by passing around live rattlesnakes to one another during worship services. Those who don’t get bitten are considered particularly blessed. There is certainly no shortage of strange things in the world of religious expression.
According to the gospel of John, Jesus’ final words include speaking to Peter about the “beloved disciple,” who may have been John himself. Jesus says, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”
But onward to Luke, our focus for today. Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus promises his disciples, “And see, I am sending upon you what my father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” After that, Luke continues his narrative for a few more verses, telling how Jesus lifts up his hands and blesses the disciples. Those words of final blessing are a mystery. So, Jesus’ last-known words are a promise of “power from high”, as Luke tells the story.
Power is a source of endless fascination. Our earliest years are characterized by a burgeoning search for power. First, it’s power over our own bodies, as we learn to move and walk on our own. Then it’s power over others, in the motional wrestling matches that define the “terrible twos.” It’s not long before we learn that tantrums aren’t the best way of achieving lasting power.
For many of us, our choice of occupation may be swayed by our desire for power. Lots of daydreams about becoming wealthy are really about power. It’s true that money can’t buy happiness, but it can certainly buy power. Some people even choose career options because of the power the job promises. Anyone who aspires to a job in politics or management or even your own small business must contend with the lure of power – over other people or just power over your own schedule. Everyone must reckon not only what the desire for power can do to us, but also to those around us.
As our personal power grows, there’s an adverse spiritual transformation that can ambush us of we’re not careful. The Jewish theologian Martin Buber once wrote about this topic. He observes that power can be handled safely only so long as it remains “bound to the goal, to the work, to the calling.” If powerful people lose track of that essential connection – if they begin to think of power as their personal privilege, their perk, their possession, then Buber says power becomes “evil; it is power withdrawn from responsibility, power which betrays the spirit, power in and of itself.” (1)
You’ve probably heard the proverb spoken by the British aristocrat Lord Acton in the Victorian era: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” A century before, on our side of the Atlantic, the former President James Madison said something similar: Power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” (2) Years earlier, as he was contributing to the writing of the U.S. Constitution, that same insight inspired Madison to set up a system of checks and balances, making it difficult for government officials to abuse power.
But is this the sort of power Jesus is promising his disciples in his last words in Luke’s gospel? No, it’s not. Jesus is promising them something other than human power, Jesus promises “power from on high.”
What does he mean by that? The word for “power” that Jesus uses here is “dunamis”, in the Greek. That same word inspired the Norwegian inventor Alfred Nobel as he sought to name a new explosive he’d invented – dynamite. But Jesus doesn’t use the word “dunamis” here without qualification. He modifies it with the words, “from on high.” If such power originates on high – with God- and comes to us as a divine gift, then it’s impossible to misdirect it towards selfish ends.
Nobel’s dynamite can be used for peaceful purposes, like blasting through bedrock to tunnel under a mountain. But it can also be used to destroy and kill. Not so with power from on high. Godly power – if it is truly Godly – is only capable of being used for good.
There are two kinds of power in this world – destructive power and creative power. A stick of dynamite blasts a tree stump to smithereens. That’s destructive power. A growing tree root presses up against a slab of concrete walkway, slowly and methodically heaving it up as though it were a piece of Styrofoam - that’s creative power. One type of power is short, intense and loud. The other is slow, persistent and silent. Of the two, creative power is the strongest by far, and the promise of our faith is that this power wins out in the end. But let’s be honest – destructive power too often reigns supreme in this present age. In the wrong hands, it threatens to demolish all that’s good and kind and lovely.
There’s a scene in Steven Spielberg’s movie, Schindler’s List, when Oscar Schindler – the factory owner who convinced the Nazi’s to give him the Jewish people being sent to concentration camps, so he could put them to work in his factory – arguing with the brutish Nazi commandant, trying to get him to release yet another group of prisoners for his business. The commandant is an inhuman monster. For entertainment, he sits at the window of his quarters and randomly shoots Jewish prisoners with a high-powered rifle.
Still, Schindler seeks to reason with this barbarian. He argues that the commandant’s life –and-and death authority is not real power. Real power, Schindler argues, is the power not to deal out death indiscriminately, but to hold back – to restrain oneself. Real power is the power to forgive.
Eventually, Schindler gets his workers, and for a few days the commandant cleans up his act. He gets a sort of perverse satisfaction out of pardoning prisoners. But before long, brutality triumphs over reason, and he’s back to his murderous ways. He fails at forgiveness because to truly forgive others you must feel something for them – sympathy, compassion, love. But this Nazi officer doesn’t feel a thing for the Jews, or perhaps anyone – maybe not even himself. (3)
Peter writes in his first epistle that “Like a roaring lion, your adversary, the devil, prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” There are too many in this world that fit that description, people who build their lives around grabbing as much of this sort of power as they can. “Do unto others BEFORE they do unto you,” seems to be their motto.
The convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy once gave a lecture on a college campus in Missouri. Throughout the evening, Liddy, who had just been released from prison, harangued his audience with the idea that only force, brute strength and iron will could earn the respect of friends and foes in this “real world which is, in fact, a very tough neighborhood.”
During the question and answer period, one of the college professors rose to speak. Rather timidly, he objected to what he’d just heard. “In our country, most people, after all, do base their ethics on the teachings of Jesus… and this doesn’t sound much like the teachings of Jesus.”
Liddy is said to have glared for a moment before taking a deep breath and bellowing, “Yeah – and look what happened to Jesus. They crucified him!” For Liddy, the case was closed. The audience responded to his put-down with laughter and thunderous applause. (4)
G. Gordon Liddy was right. We’ve all heard the story of how Jesus stood before the terrible power of Rome in courageous, virtuous silence. And that power rose up and crushed him.
To the likes of G. Gordon Liddy – and Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas. Herod and even the emperor of Rome – that should have been the end of the story. But we all know it wasn’t. There was another power at work in the life and death of Jesus. A power from on high.
That creative, life-giving power began its work in the cool silence of the tomb. This power worked a lot quicker on that occasion than it usually does in this world. A mere three days later, life coursed through Jesus’ veins again.
Ever since that day, the power of life so active in Jesus has continued to grapple with the power of death. It’s a long, slow struggle – but the witness of our faith is that life is winning and will one day triumph.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once wrote about power in his book Lessons in Leadership. He wrote: “Power works by division, influence works by multiplication. Power, in other words, is a zero-sum game: the more you share, the less you have. Influence is a non-zero- sum game: the more you share, the more you have…”
“The most important forms of leadership come not with position, title, or robes of office, not with prestige and power, but with the willingness to work with others to achieve what we cannot do alone; to speak, to listen, to teach, to learn, to treat other people’s views with respect even if they disagree with us; to explain patiently and cogently why we believe and do what we do; to encourage others, praise their best endeavours, and challenge them to do better still. Always choose influence rather than power. It helps change people into people who can change the world.” (5)
The power from on high is the power of influence, the power to help change the early Christian community into a group who would change the world.
Today, we wrap up Volume 1 of Luke’s gospel. The story ends with a promise made – the promise of a power from on high. Next week, we will shift our focus to Volume 2 of Luke’s story. Next week is Pentecost, when we will hear how the promise made today will be fulfilled for the early church. The power from on high, the Holy Spirit will descend upon that little band of followers and so transform their lives that they were able to change the world.
So, stay tuned.
May God be praised. Amen.
 

1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 4/10/24.

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

5. Ibid…

05-05024 To Conquer the World

Thomas J Parlette
“To Conquer the World”
1 John 5: 1-6
5/5/24
          “He came from nothing. He conquered everything.” That’s the tagline for Ridley Scott’s film Napoleon, that recently started streaming on Apple TV. Most reviewers gave it pretty good marks, including Joaqin Phoenix’s understated performance as the French general who terrorized Europe in the early part of the 19th century, after literally crowning himself emperor of France.
          Napoleon really did come from nothing, or pretty close to it. Born on the remote Mediterranean island of Corsica, he faced discrimination as a young army officer. He had an Italian name: Buonaparte (he later changed it to the French sounding Bonaparte.) Because he’d spent the early part of his career on the fringes of respectability, he found himself one of the few military officers still standing after the carnage of the French Revolution.
          Napoleon never saw a power vacuum he didn’t want to fill – and there was a huge power vacuum in France after so many leaders had gone to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror. When the few remaining royalists seized the moment to push back against the Revolution and restore themselves to power, Napoleon ordered his men to load their canons with grapeshot and turn them on the mob of aristocrats. The cobblestones of Paris literally ran red with blood. After the smoke cleared, this fierce Corsican military officer was the most powerful man in France.
          Napoleon seized the moment. In the coming years, his army would overrun nearly all of continental Europe. By 1812, his empire stretched from Spain in the West to Poland and Austria in the East.
          But the juggernaut of conquest, once set in motion, was too hard to stop. Rather than quitting while he was ahead, Napoleon boldly sent his army into Russia in late summer, expecting a swift victory. Who could defeat him – he was the great Napoleon.
          The Russians like to say it was General Winter who defeated him. His overconfident soldiers outran their supply lines. Many of them, still wearing their summer uniforms, starved to death in the snowbanks. The elusive Russian soldiers, bundled in heavy fur coats, came out of their hiding places and made short work of the survivors. After a brief return to power and his legendary defeat at Waterloo by the British general Wellington, Napoleon lived out his days on a remote and rocky island in the South Atlantic, the world’s most notorious prisoner.
          In Napoleon’s heyday, it looked like he was a man who could conquer the world. But in the end, he couldn’t do it. No one ever has.
          The writer of 1 John might beg to differ. “Who is it that conquers the world,” he declares, “but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
          We are soon to enter the season of graduations – both high school and colleges. Noted speakers will soon be addressing eager graduates in their caps and gowns, delivering a message along the lines of – “If you believe in yourself, you, too, can conquer the world.” But apart from a few Christian colleges – commencement speeches rarely have anything to do with religion or believing in Jesus.
          They’re much more likely to have something to do with achieving success, especially financial success. Maybe you’ve seen the 1967 classic movie, The Graduate. In one scene, the title character Ben Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman, is taken aside by an older man at a party. This businessman, Mr. McGuire, whispers to the promising young college graduate, “I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.”
          “Yes sir,” says Ben.
          “Are you listening?” asks McGuire.
          “Yes, I am.”
          McGuire looks around like someone might be eavesdropping, and then whispers, “Plastics.”
          “Exactly what do you mean?”
          “There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?” (1)
          Plastics manufacturing was just taking off in 1967 – it looked like a promising field. They were making all sorts of things out of plastic, and hardly anybody had ever heard the word “recycling.” Graduate from a top school, get your foot in the door of the new plastics industry, and who knows how fast and how high you might climb. Who knows – you might even conquer the world.
          Coincidently, the same year that Ben Braddock was hearing the whispered mantra, “Plastics,” a young teenager named Bill was learning how to play tic-tac-toe on a school computer. Back then, a game of computer tic-tac-toe demanded a whole lunch period to come clattering out of a dot-matrix printer – they didn’t have monitors back then, let alone smartphones. But Bill wasn’t giving up his lunch periods for nothing – he was enough of a visionary, even at that young age, to realize that computers wouldn’t be that slow forever.
          When Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard eight years later and joined with his friend Paul Allen in starting a little company called Microsoft, no one ever dreamed he’d become the next Andrew Carnegie or John D. Rockefeller – but that’s exactly what happened. If you want to talk about someone conquering the world in our day, you’d have to put Bill Gates on the short-list. (2)
          But that’s not the sort of conquest the author of 1st John has in mind. “Who is that conquers the world but the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God?” That statement’s not about accumulating vast wealth or enormous political power. The author of this letter knew perfectly well there was only one person in that day who could fit that description of “conquerer” – and that was the Emperor of Rome. It was the sort of role Napoleon sought for himself, but he couldn’t make it stick.
          No, the sort of world conquest this ancient disciple is describing is very different. It’s more of a spiritual reality. Let’s consider what it means when we say “Jesus is the Son of God”, and seek to follow him.
          For many years, the church has rolled out three great words to describe the person and work of Jesus Christ – prophet, priest and king.
          First, Jesus was a prophet. Now that may sound strange to say when so many of us think of prophets as people who predict the future, but there’s a lot more to being a prophet than that. Prophets foretell the future, but they also speak powerfully to the present. Prophets are those rare individuals who defy convention, challenge injustice and raise a cry of protest when every other voice in the land is silent.
          Prophets have vision – not so much of future events, although that may be part of it, but of the world as God created it to be. If Jesus is our prophet, it means he’s continually calling us to share his vision of things as they could be – always pulling us out of complacency and cynicism, so we can make our little corner of the world a better place.
          Second, Christ is our priest. In the days of Hebrews, priests were those who made public sacrifices. Killing a prized sheep or goat, then roasting it upon an altar, that was how you kept God happy – or so the people thought. The high priest of Israel had an especially important role. On the Day of Atonement, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies and perform the sacrifice for the sins of an entire people.
          The letter to the Hebrews famously identifies Jesus as a “high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” In going to the cross for us, Jesus has entered the Holy of Holies, that inner sanctum of the temple. There he made a sacrifice for the sins of the world, not with a sacrificial animal, but with his own body and blood. Unlike the high priest of Israel – who had to make the sacrifice every year – Jesus’ high priestly sacrifice is once and for all.
          The biblical accounts of the crucifixion tell how, as Jesus breathed his last, the veil of the Temple was torn in two. The temple veil was a huge, floor-to-ceiling curtain that served as a gateway to the Holy of Holies. Only the high priest was permitted to venture through it, no one else.
          When the gospel-writers describe the rending of the temple veil after Jesus’ death on the cross, the symbolism is powerful. No longer do we need the offices of a priest to make sacrifices for us. Christ, the great high priest, has already done that. Whenever we turn to God and confess our sin – in worship or in private – we can assure ourselves of God’s forgiveness, knowing that Christ has paid the price.
          To live our lives with Christ as our priest means that when life deals us low blows and we sink into suffering, Jesus is right there for us. Jesus knows what it means to suffer pain, to endure indignity and heartache. And even more than that, in his resurrection, Jesus has triumphed over every human limitation – even death itself.
          Finally, Christ is our king. Now, this is no easy concept to take in – especially since we don’t have that many real kings in the world today. We don’t really have a modern example to point to. What our tradition means to say, in talking about kingship, is that Jesus, in being raised from the dead, has been exalted and rules the world from God’s right hand.
          Of course, this vision of kingship is not only unfamiliar. It seems at odds with the ways we usually see Jesus. Most people would like to see Jesus as a wise teacher, an extremely spiritual person who was closer to God than anyone else. Such people enjoy the lively vision of his parables and profess to follow his ethic of loving neighbor as self – but there is no room in their worldview for one who is Lord and Master. They prefer a spiritual sage, whose teachings they can take or leave, as it suits them.
          In his classic book Mere Christianity, CS Lewis has this to say about the impossibility of separating Jesus’ teaching from his kingly rule: “A man who was merely a man and said the things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (3)
          Christ, then, is the Son of God. He is our prophet, priest and king – born in a manger, died on a cross and rose to defeat death itself.
“He came from nothing. He conquered everything.”
          But what does it mean, in this ancient disciple’s understanding, to conquer the world? Most of our Lord’s victory is yet to be realized. It won’t be revealed until he returns one day or we find ourselves face-to-face with God. But in the meantime, we can take assurance in the promise that, if Christ is on our side, the world will never conquer us.
          Sometimes it may appear that, in the great struggle of life, the world is winning. But those struggles are only temporary. As Paul famously writes in the second letter to the Corinthians:
“We are afflicted in every way – but not crushed.
Perplexed – but not driven to despair.
Persecuted – but not forsaken.
Struck down – but not destroyed.
Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus – so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.”
          To conquer the world, in Christ, doesn’t mean we get everything we’ve ever desired. It doesn’t mean we can crown ourselves anything. It doesn’t mean we’ll all become software barons, Wall Street tycoons or even emperor of France.
          It does mean that in the daily struggles we undergo and persistent challenges we face, the world has no power to master us. How could it? For we are not our own masters. We belong not to ourselves, but to Jesus Christ. And he has already conquered everything.
          Mother Teresa used to say:
 “People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives – be kind anyway.
          If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies – succeed anyway.
          If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you – be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight – build anyway.
          If you find eternity and happiness, they may be jealous – be happy anyway.
          The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow – do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough – give the world your best anyway.
          You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God – it was never between you and them anyway.” (4)
          That’s what it means to conquer the world.
          May God be praised. Amen.

Homileticsonline, retrieved 4/1/24

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

06-02-2024 But Not - The New Normal

Thomas J Parlette
“But Not”- The New Normal”
2nd Cor. 4:5-12
6/2/24
          He’s the unlikeliest of folk heroes. Khaki pants. Team jersey. A whistle dangling from his neck. A Ned Flanders mustache and a sun visor covering his receding hairline.
          He is, of course, Ted Lasso, the character created by Jason Sudeikis that became a runaway hit for Apple TV during the pandemic years. Ted is an American college football coach, who goes viral for his enthusiastic dancing after he leads his team to a Division 2 championship. He is plucked from obscurity by a wealthy English divorcee, who recruits him to coach her Premier League football team – which in America, we call soccer of course. The problem is, Ted has never coached that kind of football – he knows virtually nothing about soccer. On his way over to England on the plane, Ted and his assistant coach, Beard, try to learn as much as they can about this new kind of football.
          Not too surprisingly, the British sportswriters are underwhelmed by Ted and his folksy ways at his first press conference. They think Ted’s boss, Rebecca is crazy. And it turns out, she is – she is crazy like a fox. Her secret goal is to run her football franchise into the ground to punish her ex-husband, a thoroughly unlikeable man named Rupert. She recently won the team from him in their divorce settlement, and she knows how much he loves it, the pet project of his life. Rebecca doesn’t care how many millions it will cost her; she just wants to stick it to Rupert and destroy what he loves most. And how better to do it than to hire a coach who is clearly unqualified and certain to become a laughingstock as his team flounders. The bottom line is that the bitter team owner is setting Ted up to fail. He’s the sacrificial lamb she needs to take her revenge.
          Much hilarity ensues, with too many heart-warming moments to mention, I won’t ruin it for you. But what’s truly surprising about the series is the character of Ted Lasso himself. He is truly likeable, despite all the ridicule he faces. He never lets it get to him. As he says to one of his players when he makes a bad play…
         “What animal has the shortest memory? A goldfish. A gold fish has a memory of about 10 seconds. Be a goldfish.” In other words, forget about those mistakes and move on. Live in the now.
          An unflappable optimist, Ted never seems to notice how the odds are stacked against him. Instead, he remains a decent human being, reliably doing the right thing, while flashing his trademark ear-to-ear grin. As he says to Rebecca’s ex-husband during a game of darts – “Be curious, not judgmental.”
          One of Ted’s earliest actions is to tape up a homemade, crudely lettered sign over the door of the team’s locker room. The crooked sign displays just one word – “Believe.” That’s the essence of Ted Lasso. He is a true believer.
          What Ted believes in is his team’s potential for victory. The question for us is, if we taped the word “Believe” to our bathroom mirror, what exactly would we be reminding ourselves that we believe in?
          Life has a way of testing and revealing what we truly believe. With illness, suffering and grief, no human life – not even the life of a Christian – is free of soul-shaking experiences. Some of life’s crises arise quite suddenly. When faced with looming spiritual obstacles, how do we respond?
          Ted Lasso has a little advice to offer on that score. One of his many memorable sayings is “There’s two buttons I never like to hit – panic and snooze.”
          Think about that for a second. If you were to receive some terrible news tomorrow – a bad medical diagnosis, the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job – would you be inclined to hit the panic button and drop into a deep despair. Or would you hit the snooze button and pull the covers up over your head, and hope the problem just goes away?
          I can understand both responses – depending on the situation, I’ve hit both those buttons in my life. But maybe there’s an alternative. We can choose to hit another button, somewhere between panic and snooze. We can decide, in faith, to hit the “accept” button, and live into the new normal. Sure, there may be grief for the old normal that is no more – but we know those days are not coming back, not how we remember them, anyway. The hard truth is, the Lord has picked us up and dropped us off right into the middle of a new normal. So, what is there to do but unpack, arrange our clothes in the dresser drawer and make ourselves as comfortable as we can.
          In our passage for today from 2nd Corinthians, Paul talks about this new normal, without ever using that phrase exactly. He says
          “We are afflicted in every way – but not crushed.
          Perplexed – but not driven to despair.
          Persecuted – but not forsaken.
          Struck down – but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be visible in our bodies. For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh.”
          Paul doesn’t mince words here. He’s not like one of those prosperity preachers you might see on TV, who promise that if you just give your heart to Jesus, every good thing will come drifting your way – that you’ll never have any pain, difficulty or heartache, ever again.
          No, Paul is brutality realistic. Just look at the words he uses: “afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down.” No hint of a prosperity Gospel that I can see – just a frank acknowledgment that is hard, and sometimes very hard, for everyone, Christians included.
          But there is some good news. Such affliction is not forever. Eventually, we can grow to accept the new normal        . We can learn, in time, how to push that “accept” button between panic and snooze. We can claim the difficult experience as our own. And we can come to realize that, while life may knock us down sometimes, it can never, never, KEEP us down – not if we approach such obstacles with Christ by our side. As the writer Paulo Coehlos once said, “The secret of life is to fall 7 times and get up 8 times.” (1)
          Kate Bowler, a professor at Duke Divinity School has become an inspiration to many, not so much for what she has taught and written as an academic – but for her personal story as a survivor of colon cancer. Kate – at the time a young mother – was diagnosed at age 35 and was given just a few months to live.
          It turned out she did a lot better than expected and is still very much with us, but the experience changed her life. Ever since then, in addition to her teaching and research, she has spoken about her own experience claiming and owning the new normal.
          In an email devotional from 2021, Kate shares something Anthony of the Desert, a monk from Egypt, probably the most famous of the early monastics, once said. Kate was writing in the midst of the pandemic – which certainly forced a new normal on all of us for awhile. Someone asked Brother Anthony what we ought to do to please God.
       The ancient replied with a very simple piece of advice: “Wherever you go, keep God in mind. Whatever you do, follow the example of Holy Scripture. Wherever you are, stay there and do not move away in a hurry.”
          Kate Bowler commented: “What I hear in those instructions is to try to eliminate double-mindedness. BE WHERE YOU ARE. I know that’s not a favorite choice right now in that we are stuck in isolation behind masks – but it’s also a great permission slip. You don’t have to be extra, extra holy. You simply have to be where you are, and keep God in mind.”(2)
          That’s a pretty good motto for getting used to the new normal. Be where you are, and keep God in mind.
          There are many stories about Christians who find, amidst their new normal, new strength for living. One such story is about a now retired Episcopal priest from Massachusetts named Paul Bresnahan. Late in life, he found himself undergoing radiation treatments for prostate cancer.
          Sitting in the waiting room one day, accompanied by a friend and member of his congregation, Paul heard the technician call out his name. He quipped – for everyone to hear in the glum assembly to hear – “My turn to shine!” And the room erupted in laughter.
         “Who is that guy?” somebody asked.
          “That’s my parish priest,” answered Paul’s friend.
          Here’s what Father Paul wrote later on about that experience:
          “Inside the treatment facility, as I lay on the table with a giant metal fork rotating around me and beaming its rays within my body, I saw the hand of God and sensed a healing touch within me. I saw no vision other than the hand of science and medicine ministering to me out of the gifts God so generously bestows upon the caregiving community in my home city. The beaming rays of radiation give me the gift of healing and life, and I am brim full of gratitude.” (3)
          Brim full of gratitude. In the radiation suite? How is that possible?
          With that sort of faith, Paul articulates that it is indeed possible: “Afflicted, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair.” Battling cancer, but not without hope. It’s the gift of God to all who resolve to be where they are and keep God in mind.
          None of us get very far as survivors of one affliction or another by pretending that bad things don’t happen to good people. The reality is bad thing do happen – to anybody. Nor can we claim that God protects Christians from pain and struggle. But one thing most any Christian survivor of hard times learns from tough experiences is that, along with the affliction, God gives us what we need to get through difficult times. All of it is built on awareness and acceptance in faith of the new normal.
          Yes, there are losses in life. Accepting a new normal means bidding farewell to the old, knowing it may never really return in the same form. Countless survivors of health challenges, fires, floods and hurricanes had had to say farewell to their old homes and ways of life – but they have also learned to look forward rather than backwards, knowing that the life they are living is still a good life.
          We Christians are a resurrection people. We know that out of death comes new life. Out of a shattered, old normal comes a new normal. There’s still joy to be found, hope to be cherished and a resurrection faith that sustains and strengthens us.
          And for that, May God be praised. Amen.

1. Inspiringquotes, retrieved 5/23/24

2. Homileticsonline, retrieved 5/2/24

3. Ibid…

05-26-24 A Vision in the Temple

Thomas J Parlette
“A Vision in the Temple”
Isaiah 6: 1-8
5/26/24
          Have you ever had an experience where time seemed to stand still? For a moment, everything seemed perfect, everything in life fell into place and made sense – even if just for a few seconds. Time stood still, a veil was lifted and you knew your place in the universe.
          I had a moment like that when I was 13 years old. We were living in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, in the state of Eastern Pennsylvania – which by the way is very different than Western Pennsylvania, but I digress.
          For my birthday, my parents took me to see my first real, professional musical in Philadelphia. We went to see Man of La Mancha, when Richard Kiley was touring with the show after it finished its Broadway run. As soon as the overture started, I was hooked. And as soon as the lights came up onstage, time stood for me – and I have loved the theater ever since. Man of La Mancha is still my #1 favorite musical.
          The comedian Billy Crystal had a moment like that when his father took him to his first Yankees game. It was a beautiful late spring day, and Crystal vividly recalls how time stood still as he emerged from the tunnels and saw the field at the old Yankee stadium for the first time. The sky was so blue, it hurt your eyes, the smell of the grass was intoxicating. Everything was right with the world as Crystal and his father shared their first game in Yankee stadium together – and he’s been a devout Yankees fan ever since.
          Bill Carl, a former President of Pittsburgh Seminary, had a somewhat similar experience. He was riding the bus in Pittsburgh one day and noticed a large, elderly, white woman trying unsuccessfully to reach down and tie he shoe. She strained forward, but she just couldn’t reach it. Across from her sat a young black man with wild hair and tattoos up both arms, listening to music on his phone. He watched the woman struggling to tie her shoes for a moment, then he knelt down in front of her. Carl watched as the young man tied her shoes gently in a nice, neat knot, then grin up at her. She nodded and smiled and mouthed the words, “Thank You.” No words were spoken. Carl says, “The scene glowed before me like a bright painting that blocked out everything else happening on the bus. When the spell broke, I looked around and saw everyone on the bus beaming with joy.” For that moment, time stood still.
          The prophet Isaiah once had a moment like that too. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord,” says Isaiah.
         This is a mysterious passage we have before us this morning – full of curious images and the mist of incense in the air, as we consider with Isaiah this otherworldly vision of God in the Temple.
          And that is appropriate, because this is Trinity Sunday – the Sunday that rolls around every year when ministers across the country from all denominations, struggle to explain one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith – the highly complex, theological idea that God is three in one. “God in three persons, blessed Trinity”- as the old hymn says.
          There have been lots of attempts to simplify this concept of the Trinity. Many people have tried over the years to offer up their own versions that would capture the richness of the image in a simple way. Some I have heard are ones like:
          God the Father, is the One who is over us,
          God the Son, is the One who was with us,
          And God the Spirit, is the One who remains with us.
I like that one – that’s a good way of explaining it.
Another I’ve heard is:
          God the Father, is the God of the Old Testament,
          God the Son, is the God of the New Testament,
          And God the Spirit, is the God of Today.
Not bad, it’s an interesting way to think about the Trinity, but perhaps it puts a little too much importance on the Spirit, and not enough on God and Jesus Christ.
Another way of thinking about the Trinity is:
         God, as the Creator,
          The Son as the Revealer or Redeemer,
          And the Spirit as the Companion or Sustainer.
That’s probably my favorite way of describing the Trinity – God as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
          This passage from Isaiah is often cited as a cornerstone text in the theology of the Trinity. Nowhere does Isaiah expressly use the word Trinity, or refer to God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But if we read carefully, we do see God wearing three different hats in this passage:
         God, the unknowable mystery,
          God, the incarnate being who forgives and saves us,
          And God, the One who calls, commissions, sends and supports us in our prophetic calling.
          But standing with Isaiah in the Temple this morning, we can’t help but be overwhelmed with the sheer mystery of God, the utter holiness of the Lord.
          Indeed, Isaiah’s favorite way of referring to the first person of the Trinity, God the Creator, is as “The Holy One of Israel.” This hidden, Holy One, shrouded in mystery, comes to us in glances and whispers, always dwelling in obscurity, never quite showing the full divine nature.
          There was once a pastor who wanted to teach a group of young children about this mysterious, holy aspect of God. He led the group to the door of the sanctuary, and before entering, the Pastor stood silently until they all qui9eted down. Speaking in no more than a whisper, he said, “We’re going into a very special room. You must be completely quiet. I don’t want to hear a sound as we walk into that room, because God is in there.”
          Then the Pastor pushed open the door of the sanctuary. As they walked in a sat down, you could hear a pin drop. They all held their breath as they gazed up at the stain glass windows, the vaulted ceilings and the rose window, one just like ours. There was a holy hush in the room as they felt a little bit of the mysterious holiness of God.
          But despite the unknowable aspect of God in three persons, take note of what happens to Isaiah in this story. Especially notice where and when this encounter takes place. This vision happens in the Temple, in the Sanctuary. This vision occurs in the form of a worship service.
          First, Isaiah sees the Lord, he becomes aware of the presence of the Holy One. Adoration and praise are offered as the seraphim sing:
          “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts.
          The whole earth is full of his glory.”
Very similar to what we do each week in our Call to Worship.
          Isaiah’s response to this awareness of the holiness of God? He confesses his sinful nature.
          “Woe is me, I am unclean, I am not worthy to stand before God.”
Again, something we do every week in our prayer of confession.
          Then one of the seraphs flies over to Isaiah with a hot coal and touches his mouth, saying, “your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Isaiah has been forgiven, assured that he has received God’s grace – Words of Life to be sure.
          Then the voice of the Lord, the Word of God confronts Isaiah, “Whom shall I send, who will go for us?” – just as God’s Word confronts, challenges, comforts, assures and challenges us each week in scripture, sermon and affirmation of faith.
          And finally, this model of worship ends with commitment. “Here am I, send me,” just as worship service ends with an offering of our gifts to God and a challenge to walk in God’s ways as we leave this sanctuary.
          The point of all this? Yes, God is mysterious. Yes, God is, to a large degree, unknowable. Even our best efforts in developing this idea of the Trinity to describe God falls short.
          But God still comes to us. God comes to us in our worship. This worship time is the meeting ground between the human and the Divine. In this space, we are confronted with God’s holy presence. We offer our adoration and our praise. We are forgiven and receive assurance of God’s grace. We are comforted and challenged by God’s word. In this space, we are then commissioned to go forth and live holy lives, imitating the Holy One of Israel.
          This is why I think it’s especially appropriate that we recognize and bless our graduates today – for they now venture forth in their lives, commissioned to live their lives for God in whatever profession they choose, acting in the world for good.
          As Dag Hammerskold once said, “In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.”
          The Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev would agree when he wrote, “To desire and expect nothing for oneself – and to have profound sympathy for others – is genuine holiness.”
          The Holy life that we are called to imitate is not “ME- centered.” It is “OTHER –centered.” It is “GOD – Centered,” fulfilling both the Great Commandments – to love God and love your neighbor.
          The Holy life is not lived in gloomy isolation, hidden away from the world. The Holy life is lived in the world, while we remain not of this world.
          The Holy life is as Frederic Huntington once wrote, one in which “religious principle is put into action. Holiness is faith gone to work.”
          As Thomas Merton once said, “The Holy one wants to be a window through which God’s mercy shines on the world.”
          Isaiah’s vision in the Temple confronts us with the presence of the unknowable God who comes to us in glances and whispers. This vision in the Temple assures us that God comes to us in our worship to comfort us and challenge us. Isaiah’s vision also reminds us that when we experience the presence of God, time stands still and we are changed forever. We are called, commissioned and sent to live Holy Lives, imitating the Holy One of Israel.
          So whether you are just graduating or whether you’ve been laboring in the world for many years now – when the Lord asks, “Whom shall I send? – may we be moved to answer, “Here am I, send me.”
          May God be praised. Amen.

04-28-2024 No Matter Which Way the Wind Blows...

 Thomas J Parlette
“No Matter Which Way the Wind Blows…”
1st John 4: 7-21
4/28/24
          Well, the reviews are in…
          “The Yankees game on opening day took 2 hours and 33 minutes,” said baseball fan Molly Knight on opening day, 2023. “The pitch clock is amazing.”
          “The greatest thing since the invention of baseballs,” said Neil Best.
          “The game has a cadence that would be familiar to Ted Williams and Sandy Koufax, unhurried but crisp,” said Ben Goldfarb. “I love it.”
          “The pitch clock is a big help, even if your team is terrible. I didn’t have to watch the Giants play for three hours. Instead, it took just 2 hours and 30 minutes for them to get shut out and lose,” said Giant fan Geoff Swartz.
          Echoing many others, Royce Young said, “It feels like I’m watching a new sport.” (1)
          Yes, the reviews are in – and they are good. The pitch clock has made baseball a whole new game.
          My apologies to all those who are not baseball addicts – I get it, I’m not a big fan either, but I did make an effort to watch some games with the new pitch clock rule. And it does make a difference.
          The pitch clock was introduced last year in an effort to make the game shorter and more exciting, because many younger fans just did not want to sit watching a game for 31/2 to 4 hours. And so far, it has worked out pretty well.
          Mark Leibovich has written in The Atlantic, “The pitch clock is a kind of pacemaker to re-regulate the game’s lagging heartbeat. Pitchers are now allowed just 15 seconds to begin their motion to deliver the ball to home plate, and hitters have to be set in the batter’s box by the 8 second mark.” (2)
          This might seem like a small adjustment, but it’s a radical change. Previously, pitchers could take as long as they wanted between pitches, and batters could shuffle around endlessly in the batter’s box. “The goal is to curtail dead time,” says Leibovich, “the endless velcroing and re-velcroing of batting gloves and strolling around the mound.”
          And the results seem worth it. We are seeing a whole new ballgame – one that is faster and more thrilling, depending on how into baseball you are, I guess.
          For centuries, God’s people lived by complex religious rules and regulations – The Ten Commandments, laws about clean and unclean foods, rules about ritual and moral holiness. The regulations went on and on and on, sometimes like a baseball game that lasts up to 4 hours.
          But then, God’s love was revealed in Jesus. The compassion and mercy of God became visible through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. This inspired John to offer a new rule to the followers of Jesus in the first century: “Let us love one another, because love is from God.” This change came from the discovery that love is the very heart of God’s will for our lives.
          And that’s a whole new ballgame.
          John knew that love had been part of God’s game for many years. In fact, the commandment, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” was first introduced in the book of Leviticus. But the game changed when God chose to put a human face – the face of Jesus – on the commandment. “God’s love was revealed among us in this way,” says John: “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us, and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
          So why was this change necessary? Many people would say, “But we like the game the way it is!” The problem with the love commandment in Leviticus was that it could easily become a matter of endless philosophical debates, like discussions of baseball’s infield fly rule, which I can’t begin to understand. So, John changed the rule by attaching it to the sacrifice of Christ. Now, when we look at Jesus on the cross, we see the love of God for us. We discover that even before we could express our love, God showed love by sending Jesus to be an “atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Jesus died to show God’s love for us, and to restore the relationship with God that had been broken by our sin. Now, when we look at Jesus, we see God’s love revealed. We see the loving face of God.
          Like the introduction of the pitch clock, this change had a powerful effect. “Beloved, since God loved us so much,” said John, “we also ought to love one another.” Suddenly, the love of God in Jesus became more than a good idea. It became a vivid illustration of how we are to love.
          In addition, John found that God helps us when we attempt to love. “God abides in us,” says John, “and his love is perfected in us.” With this intervention, we can be confident that God is with us and working through us. Our love gets stronger because it is based on the activity of God. The New Testament professor  C. Clifton Black says “God’s love for us is the source of our power to love God and one another.” (3)
          “We love because God first loved us,” says John. God’s love is the source of our power, making it possible for us to love. The result, said John, is that those “who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” When we show this kind of love, God’s love lives in us and God’s love is perfected in us.
          The rules began to change when God’s love was revealed in Jesus. With the arrival of Christ, the compassion and mercy of God became visible to the world. Then God promised to live in us and perfect his love in us, so that we would be able to love one another. This transformation occurred when John discovered that love is the heart of God’s identity. John captured this fact in three simple, but profound words: “God is love.”
          Once upon a time, there was farmer who installed a weather vane on top of his barn that was inscribed with the words “God is Love” – big and bold, so you could easily read it from the ground.
          One day, a traveler stopped by the farm and watched as the weather vane swung back and forth with the breeze. Then, with a bit of a smirk on his face, he asked the farmer, “Do you mean to say that your God is as changeable as the wind?”
          The farmer shook his head and replied, “No – what I mean to say is that no matter which way the wind blows, God is Love.” (4) God is love.
          Not only does Jesus reveal God’s love, but Jesus reveals that God is love. And that’s a game changer.
          In the novel City of Peace, a pastor named Harley Camden makes a visit to jail to see a Muslim inmate named Muhammad Bayati, who is accused of murdering his daughter. The two begin to talk about their beliefs, and Muhammad says “God is merciful and just.”
         “God is also love,” adds Harley. “Our Bible says that God is love.”
          Muhammad cocks his head slightly. “That’s different from our understanding. We have many names for God, but love is not among them.”
          “For Christians, love is at the core of who God is,” explains Harley. “God reveals his love by sending Jesus to bring us forgiveness and new life. And the response we are supposed to make is to love one another – a love that should be extended to friends, enemies, black, whites, Muslims, Jews and fellow Christians. It is supposed to come down to love. In fact, the Bible insists that those who say, “I love God” but hate their brothers and sisters, are liars.”
          “I would agree with that,” says Muhammad. “Loving God does require that we love the people around us.” (5)
          Richard Rohr has written that “People who know God well – mystics, hermits, those who risk everything to find God – always meet a lover, not a dictator. God is never found as an abusive father or a tyrannical mother; God is always a lover greater than we dared hope for. How different from the “account manager” most people seem to worship. God is the lover who receives and forgives everything.”
         “When we go into the Presence, we find someone not against us, but someone who is definitely for us! Mystics recognize someone else is holding them. People who pray always say, “Someone is for me more than I am for myself.” Prayer is being loved at a deep, sweet level. I hope everyone has felt such intimacy alone with God. I promise it is available to all. Maybe a lot of us just need to be told that this is what we should expect and seek. We’re afraid to ask for it; we are afraid to seek. It feels presumptuous. We can’t trust that such a love exists. But it does.” (6)
          Like baseball, religion is a change-averse environment. Many people of faith prefer to play by traditional rules and are nervous about innovations that run counter to their understandings. As Muhammad says to Harley, “We have many names for God, but love is not among them.”
          If we have multiple names for God, why do we need any more? Religion, like baseball, is not comfortable with change.
          Traditional baseball fans were not happy about the pitch clock when it was first proposed. “Baseball is a timeless game,” they would argue. “It is the only game without a clock, and it will last as long as it needs to last.” A clock was not part of their understanding, even though most of them wanted the game to move more quickly. “They craved more action and offense,” says Leibovich; “more balls hit into play; more doubles, triples and stolen bases.” (7)
          Finally came the innovation – the pitch clock. And it was a game changer. In the same way, John came along and said, “God is love,” changing the Christian faith forever. This assertion, “God is love,” is a powerful “pacemaker” to regulate our heartbeat, keep us spiritually healthy and inspire us to love one another, just as God has loved us. As Harley says to Muhammad, “It is all supposed to come down to love.
          Yes, love one another is the heart of the whole new ballgame. Because “God is love… those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” To abide is to live or to dwell in something – to accept, observe and follow a particular path. For John, to love God is to love our brothers and sisters, and to abide in love is to abide in God with no distinction between the two. This is a whole new approach to faith, based on the love of God in Christ, and the love that God has for each of us.
          So, if you feel that your spiritual game has a lagging heartbeat – install the “God is love” pitch clock, and let it help you to love your brothers and sisters. This is a change that will draw you closer to God and to the people around you. It will focus you on the action, and keep you excited and engaged. Once you “love one another,” you’ll never want to go back to the way the game was played before.
          As that wise farmer said about his weather vane – “No matter which way the wind blows, God is Love.”
          May God be praised. Amen.

1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 4/1/24.

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

5. Ibid…

6. Ibid…

7. Ibid…

04-21-2024 Good Shepherd Sunday

Thomas J Parlette
“Good Shepherd Sunday”
John 10: 11-18
4/21/24
          There’s been a recent trend over the last couple of years of movies focusing not on people or events, but on name brand products. The blockbuster movie Barbie was the most popular film in the summer of 2023, followed by the Super Mario Brothers Movie, another film based on a product.
          After just two months, Barbie had sold $575 million worth of tickets across the country.
          It was “a children’s film made for adults,” said one reviewer, “done in a thoughtful and loving way.” Watching the movie was like finding an old doll in your parents’ house and discovering it had a message you. Even GI Joe had a series of live action movies based on the doll and accessories aimed at young boys.
          In fact, theaters and streaming services have been featuring more movies featuring products, such as Air, Tetris, Blackberry, and Flaming Hot. According to The New York Times Magazine, the movie Air told the story of Nike’s game changing sponsorship deal with Michael Jordan “and the world-conquering shoes that emerged from it.”
          The film Tetris did the same for a video game, while Blackberry told the history of a “Canadian tech company whose cellphone went extinct.” Flamin’ Hot was a drama about the creator of spicy red Cheetos, a snack food that many people find to be addictive.
          And there’s more on the way. Future product-based movies will focus on American Girl Dolls, Barney, Hot Wheels, the Magic 8 Ball, Rock’em Sock’Em Robots, Thomas the Tank Engine, and the card game Uno. (1)
          Not sure how you make a movie about Uno, but it should be interesting to find out!
          People are drawn to these movies because they trust the brands. Children grew up loving their Barbie dolls. I had GI Joe’s and Rock’Em Sock-Em Robots when I was a kid. The Super Mario Brothers video game was played by kids across the country. Air Jordans are still worn by teenagers and adults who idolized Michael Jordan – I have a pair, so I get it.
          And according to a recent survey, 46% of Generation Z say they love Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. (2) That is brand loyalty.
          But sadly, for the church in the United States today, the Christian brand is suffering. The Covid-19 pandemic prevented people from gathering for worship for more than a year, and many never got back in the habit. Church membership in the United States has fallen below 50% for the first time. “In addition,” reports CNN, “a cascade of headlines in recent years have stained the Church’s reputation, including sex abuse scandals, the spread of White Christian Nationalism; and the perception that the church oppresses marginalized groups…” (3)
          The Christian brand could use some polishing up.
          Fortunately, Jesus remains the most popular and recognizable aspect of our faith. If we are going to improve our standing in the community and our nation, we need to make sure we’re focused on his ministry and mission. While fewer than 50% of Americans have membership in a church today, a recent poll in the Episcopal Church reveals that 86% consider Jesus to be an “important spiritual figure.” (4) I’m sure the statistics would be much the same for the PCUSA.
          We need to align ourselves with the Jesus brand. That means being a church that acts like Jesus. Which brings us to this Good Shepherd Sunday.
          Jesus reveals his personal brand in the 10th chapter of John. He says, “I am the good shepherd,” using an image from the Middle East. He understands himself to be like the shepherd of Psalm 23, responsible for giving water, food and protection to his flock. But he goes even further than we might expect when he says, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
          This is one of those verses that we’re so familiar with that it’s impact has been somewhat muted. Give up your life for a flock of sheep? How many shepherds would really do that? Not many. They might work hard for their sheep, lose sleep when they’re sick, maybe even fight off wild animals to protect them. But lay down their life for the sheep. No – that’s the mark of a truly sacrificial shepherd.
          Jesus then compares himself to a more typical caretaker of a flock. “The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.” We can understand the reaction of the hired hand, seems only sensible. Hey, I’m willing to work hard and lose sleep – but dying is not in my job description. I’m out of here. Which is exactly what Jesus says the hired hands will do, run away, because they do not care for the sheep.
          But Jesus is a very different kind of caretaker. He is committed to the Good Shepherd brand. Charles Dickens writes in his novel Nicholas Nickleby – “Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also for those whom we’d give blood.” (5)
          Jesus would give his blood for ours – he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
          What would it mean for us to be a church that acts like Jesus? We have to make changes, just as Barbie did when she said, “We fixed everything in the real world so that all women are happy and powerful.” Mission accomplished… right.
          Not exactly.
          As the church, we need to make changes in line with the Good Shepherd brand, beginning with a focus on personal relationships. For too, the church has been transactional, inviting people to join the church so that they will fill the pews, put money in the plate and volunteer for activities. But the Jesus brand demands a focus on relationships, between people and Jesus, people and God, and the people and one another.
          “I am the good shepherd,” says Jesus. “I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” Here in the gospel of John, writes professor Gail O’Day, knowledge is not an intellectual category, “but is a category of relationship.” (6) Jesus does not simply know about us; Jesus knows us personally. He does not simply know about God; he knows God intimately.
          At the heart of the Christian faith is a web of relationships: Jesus knowing people, people knowing Jesus, God knowing Jesus, Jesus knowing God, God knowing people and people knowing God. Everything that matters in the church is based on these deep-spirited relationships, which give rise to all the good that the church can do in the world. These bonds can even lead to tremendous acts of sacrifice, as Jesus reminds us, when he says, “I lay down my life for the sheep.”
          One of the greatest gifts that the church can give the world is the gift of community. At a time in which isolation and loneliness are reaching epidemic proportions, a church can connect people in life-giving ways. “Over the past several months,” writes columnist E.J Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post, “an old truth has become new again: Houses of worship and other religious institutions play an essential role in promoting social connectedness, mutual aid and community building. What has brought this realization to life is widespread concern over the rise of loneliness and the decline of forces that pull communities together. With religious disaffiliation soaring, especially among younger Americans, there is reason to worry about secular alternatives to religion that are not growing fast enough to fill the void.” (7)
          He makes a good point. Congregations can overcome isolation and loneliness, provide regular social contact, serve as a community of support, provide meaning and purpose, encourage service and sacrifice, and motivate people to take action to improve the world around them.
          That is the Good Shepherd brand we promote on this Good Shepherd Sunday.
          Jesus also wants us to grow in relationship with people who are not yet a part of our congregation. He says, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” I think that is Jesus challenging us to welcome those who might not be the same as we are, the ones who might be hard for us to understand, the ones who might make us comfortable. Jesus is also challenging us to welcome and include Christians from other parts of the world.
          Wherever you stand personally on the issue of immigration, the incorporation of immigrants is going to be an important part of the growth and vitality of the church in the future. Immigrants from the Southern Hemisphere are particularly important because they are coming from regions in which the church is growing rapidly. Our churches can actually benefit from their faith and enthusiasm if we are open to receiving them into our existing congregations.
          This passage today concludes with a connection between God’s love for Jesus and the willingness that Jesus showed to lay down his life. Jesus says, “I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” Jesus is returning to his earlier focus on sacrifice, but here he is making it clear that he giving of himself freely, for the good of others. In a world in which may people focus more on themselves than on their neighbors, the complete self-giving of Jesus is memorable and distinctive.
          Rodger Nishioka likes to tell the story about a wedding he once performed. The couple had decided to recite vows that each one had composed for the other. Neither of them knew what the other was going to say beforehand. The young man went first and told his bride to be how much he loved her and how much he looked forward to their life together, no matter what it might bring. He told her how she had already made him a better person and how he was going to strive every day to love her and honor her. Then he ended with a four-word phrase – “I am all in.” (8)
          In the same way, Jesus is “all-in” when it comes to his relationship with us.
        The Good Shepherd brand is based on sacrifice, on a deep relationship with people and with God, on the power of community, on a desire to reach new people, and on complete self-giving. In a world with so many competing religions, we need to focus on saying and doing what Jesus said and did. We need to be “all-in” as well.
          At one point in the Barbie movie, a wise woman tells Barbie an important truth: “Humans have only one ending. But ideas live forever.” She’s right. At the heart of the Christian faith is the Good Shepherd brand that we honor on Good Shepherd Sunday. That’s an idea that will live forever.
          May God be praised. Amen.
1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 3/26/24.

2. Ibid…

3. Ibid…

4. Ibid…

5. Inspiring Quotes, retrieved 4/8/24.

6. Homileticsonline, retrieved 3?26/24.

7. Ibid…

8. Rodger Y. Nishioka, Connections, Year B, Vol. 2, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, p. 248

04-07-2024 Life After Easter

Thomas J Parlette
“Life after Easter”
Acts 4: 32-35
4/7/24
          In these post-COVID days, there has been a great deal written about finding ways to entice people back to church. So, here’s a question for you: If you were called upon to design a bumper-sticker slogan to get people to take a good look at coming to this church, what would you write?
          A few years back, the United Church of Christ came out with a marketing campaign that many of their churches used, built around the slogan, “God is still speaking.” I like that. It’s short, catchy, easy to remember - and I think it’s Oh so true.
          For many years, the United Methodist Church got a lot of mileage out of their slogan – “Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors.” I like that one too.
          There was a Baptist group a while back that tried “Be kind, be merry, be Baptist.” Good – but the word “merry” might not be the first one to pop in your mind when it comes to Baptists – but, it’s worth a try I suppose.
          You could also go with the old standby – “CH, blank, blank, CH: What’s missing UR.” Well besides the fact that lots of people have heard that one for a long time, it really doesn’t tell a prospective churchgoer anything about your church – it just uses the guilt angle. (1)
          Our own denomination – the PCUSA – doesn’t really have a slogan. The closest thing might be “Reformed and always reforming”, although that’s more a slogan for the Protestant Reformation in general, rather than the Presbyterian Church in particular.
          We might look to today’s scripture passage from Acts for a worthwhile slogan, right there in verse 33, which says, “Great grace was upon them all.” It’s kinda catchy – but I’m not sure how well it would work, because it uses a loaded theological term in there. Grace.
          Grace is one of those words we say a lot in church, but it is perhaps not widely known beyond our own doors. There are lots of meanings of the English word “grace.” It may suggest a graceful ballet dancer, effortlessly gliding across the floor. The term “social graces” might pop into your head. Or maybe you think of the “grace period” you might get before being assessed a late fee or have to begin paying off a loan. All good things.
          Our English word “grace” comes from the Latin “gratia”, which means “something pleasing.” In classical Greek and Roman mythology, there are three sister-goddesses, known as “the three graces.” They’re identified with charm, beauty, and creativity. Again, all good.
          The dictionary gives another meaning – favor. Now that gets us closer to the theological meaning of grace. If parents have a favored son or daughter – it usually means that they put that child on a pedestal. It’s the proverbial child-who-can-do-no-wrong.
          So too with the grace of God. God’s favored Son, of course, is Jesus, who is without sin – meaning he does no wrong. But God doesn’t put Jesus on a pedestal. Instead, Jesus ends up on a cross. The beneficiary of God’s favor that dreadful day is not actually God’s Son Jesus, but us. We are God’s favored one because we are the beneficiaries of God’s grace.
          In our passage from Acts for today, or we could call it Luke, Part 2, we get a glimpse of what life was like in the early Christian community after that first Easter.
          I wonder how many of you recall the opening scenes from the 1970’s sitcom “All in the Family.” As the show opened, the viewer was in a car driving slowly through a neighborhood of neat, bungalow houses. In the background, a man and woman, Archie and Edith Bunker, belt a song around an upright piano – “Boy, the way Glenn Miller played. Songs that made the hot parade. Guys like us we had it made. Those were the days!” That theme song set the stage for the show, in which Archie Bunker struggled with all the changes in modern society, while longing for a world in which things were clearer, simpler and easier to understand – the good old days, as they say. (2)
          There is a bit of that kind of nostalgia at play in this passage, as Luke recalls that the Christian community were of “one heart and soul and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.”
          I remember a time when I was leading a bible study on Acts, and when we came to this passage, a couple of people got pretty irate, because they thought this passage made it sound like Christianity was like communism, or at the very least socialism. And they stormed out, saying, “That’s not the Bible I know.”
          I admit, they had a good point – it does sound that way – especially when we read the NRSV.
          But in other translations, like the New International Version or the New American Standard Bible, the aspect of sharing is what is emphasized. The notion of “no private property allowed”, changes into the early Christian community willing to share their individual resources to provide for those in need.
          That isn’t communism or socialism – it’s showing love for your neighbor, which is exactly what Jesus told us to do. So it’s reasonable to conclude that the early church aspired to the practice of generously sharing resources rather than a hard and fast communal ownership of property.
          This portrayal of life after Easter shows the Christian community doing their best to live out their resurrection hope. The grace that has been extended to them through Jesus death and resurrection allows them to approach others with a sense of grace – and they begin with those closest to them, their fellow believers.
          Our human nature tells us that people ought to get what they deserve – “if you do the crime, you do the time” sort of thinking. That’s the way we think life works. The Franciscan theologian Richard Rohr calls this approach the “economy of merit.” (3) Those who have merit can expect good things in life, and those who don’t can expect punishment. That’s only fair right?
But life after Easter can be lived a different way, with a different attitude. After Easter, we can make a switch from the economy of merit to the economy of grace.
Granted, that switch does not come naturally, it’s a hard thing to do – especially for those of those who tend to be our own harshest critics. We don’t need people judging us or telling us we’re bad people – we’re already convinced of that. At times we are so busy judging ourselves, it can be impossible to extend grace to others.
Here’s how Richard Rohr describes the revolutionary power of grace:
“It is God’s magnificent jailbreak from our self-made prisons, the only way that God’s economy can triumph over our strongly internalized merit badge system. Grace is the secret, undeserved key, by which God sets us free.” (4)
Living the way Luke portrays these early disciples was a radical witness and a challenge to the society of that time. After Easter, they had a new perspective on the meaning and purpose of worldly possessions: in the light of the resurrection life “things” were for meeting needs. Need trumped greed. Grace trumped merit.
The image of a community so at one in heart and mind that not even physical possessions would be spared in the face of need, shows us an absurd picture of a people whom many might accuse of being naïve, maybe communist, or even socialist, or just plain dumb with poor judgment. But that is how resurrection words and lives will always look to a world that lives in fear, isolation and individualism.
We don’t really have a good analogy for resurrection in our life experience. We preachers point to examples like the return of spring, or butterflies emerging from the cocoons, or baby chicks that crack open their shells to explain resurrection and new life.
But today, we have a different image to draw upon, from a people willing to live as a resurrection community, displaying the grace they have received through Jesus death and resurrection. We would do well to risk becoming a resurrection community, as well. I think the poet Wendell Berry got it right in his “Mad Farmer’s Manifesto”:
So, friends, every day do something
That won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the World. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
The flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all who cannot
Understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
Has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers…
Practice resurrection. (5)
That is life after Easter. We are called to practice resurrection.
We are called to live out the grace we have received, displaying our unity as Christians, and demonstrating generosity to those in need.
So, as we gather at the table with our risen Lord – let us practice resurrection.
May God be praised. Amen.

1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 3/5/24.
2. Cynthia M. Campbell, Feasting on the Word, Year B, vol.2, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, p382.
3. Homileticsonline, retrieved 3/5/24.
4. Ibid…
5. Andre Resner, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 2, Westminster John Knox Press, p393.

03-31-2024 An Unscheduled Stop - Easter Sunday

Thomas J Parlette
“An Unscheduled Stop”
John 20: 1-18
3/31/24, Easter
          I recently heard about something new, at least to me. The major airlines, like Delta, American, United and Southwest among others are up in arms about an increase in what is called skiplagging passengers. The fine print of a passenger’s ticket forbids the practice. The airlines are threatening to impose a lifetime ban on travelers who get caught skiplagging flights. They also warn that they’ll take away the culprit’s frequent flier miles. In some cases, they rage about taking the crafty customer to court.
          So what is skiplagging anyway? It’s a sneaky way to travel to your real destination while pretending you’re going somewhere else. It’s called hidden city ticketing. Let’s say you want to travel from Seattle to Phoenix. Instead of buying an expensive nonstop flight to Phoenix, you buy a one-stop trip to Oklahoma City, or Dallas or New Orleans – but the one stop is in Phoenix. Since Phoenix is where you really want to go – you get off. You make sure you have no checked bags and away you go. You paid for the flight, and it’s cheaper for some crazy reason than buying a nonstop flight that ends in Phoenix.
          Naturally, an online search will bring up lots of websites that will help passengers find skiplagging opportunities that can save them anywhere from 20 dollars to 100 dollars. (1)
          So maybe you learned a little something new – I sure did.
          In the gospel reading for today, there’s also some traveling going on. There’s definitely a traveler – Jesus. And he’s not where he’s supposed to be, at least not where everyone thought he was going to be. Everyone – his disciples, the religious leaders, the Roman government and the guards at the tomb – are up in arms. The tombstone is rolled away, and Jesus is not where he was supposed to be.
          Jesus is on the move, and his final destination is eternal glory at the right hand of God.
          But first, Jesus skiplags and stops over to visit some friends.
          Of course, unlike true skiplaggers, he will ultimately continue on to his final destination. So, Jesus’ experience is more like an extended transition or pass-through – and unscheduled stop, if you will. Call it a multi-destination trip or an extended stay. Jesus had about 50 days left on his earthly visa, and come Pentecost, he will be taking off on the final leg of his remarkable journey among us mortals.
          So, why has Jesus decided to make this unscheduled stop for a few weeks with his followers?
          Let’s set the scene of what happened on Easter morning. Peter and John race to the tomb after getting word from Mary Magdalene that the body was gone. John beats Peter to the tomb, but he doesn’t go in. Peter arrives, and he goes in. Mary was right! Jesus is gone. John went inside, and he saw and believed, that is he now knew with certainty that Mary was right, she wasn’t just being hysterical. The Bible says, “Then the disciples returned to their homes.”
          A bit hard to believe. They just went home? Not a big deal, I guess. Perhaps they assumed that graverobbers or the Roman guards had made off with the body – happened all the time. It was out of their control. Jesus was dead anyway. The whole city was abuzz about it. Remember what Cleopas, one of the two disciples walking toward Emmaus, said to Jesus, whom they didn’t recognize at the time: “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know these things that have taken place?” Everyone knew what had happened, and they also knew that reports were circulating that something had happened to Jesus’ body.
          You can almost hear Cleopas breathlessly tell the story: “Some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and they did not find the body, they came back and told us they had seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see Jesus.”
          In Luke’s account of the resurrection, the disciples have gathered in Jerusalem, along with the companions, as well as the two men Jesus encountered on the road to Emmaus. Suddenly Jesus popped unannounced into the midst, saying “Peace be with you.” Of course, they were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. They thought that Jesus was dead, yet here he was asking them for something to eat. They fumbled around, found some broiled fish and they ghost ate in their presence.
          Why did Jesus do this? Why scare his followers with surprise pop-in visit? Why doesn’t Jesus just fly off to his ticketed destination, instead of getting off early to visit his friends and followers?
          What is striking about the post-resurrection events is Jesus’ insistence – and persistence – in dispelling the notion that he was a figment of their imaginations. He is so adamant about this that he’s a little over the top. He goes to great lengths to prove that he is not an apparition, or a ghost. He quickly establishes the physicality of his presence. “Look at my hands and my feet.” He said to them. “see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones as you see I have.” At this point he shows them his hands and his feet, wounds and all.
          Years later, the apostle Paul and all the Gospel writers – especially John – would adamantly insist that the Jesus they knew was a real human being, a person of flesh and blood, who ate and drank with them, who laughed and cried with them, who got tired and angry sometimes and even experienced temptation, although he never succumbed to it.
          For example, the writer of First John begins his first letter with unequivocal assertion: “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it.” Then he adds, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”
          So, Jesus has a ticket for heaven, but he gets off early in Jerusalem to see friends. Why? Here’s why – to demonstrate that his post-resurrection body was a body of flesh and blood. He was no ghost, He was the real deal, fully human and risen from the dead.
          From the time of Jesus’ resurrection to his ascension into heaven, approximately 50 days passed. During this time, Jesus had conversations with hundreds of people. The first person he saw was a woman – Mary Magdalene. He also saw Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, Peter and the two men on the road to Emmaus. Later, Jesus confronts Thomas and shows the doubting disciple the stigmata – the scars on his hands and feet and the gash in his side. Whereupon Thomas pretty much tells the Lord, “I get it, I get it, too much information, I believe!
          Later, Jesus would have breakfast with seven disciples on the Sea of Galilee. There is no record that Jesus had a reunion with his mother – but it’s hard to believe that he wouldn’t have sought her out. Paul tells us that Jesus appeared to more than 500 hundred brothers and sisters at one time.
         The question is – “Why are these appearances and his real physical presence important?”
          Some of the answers are due to what was going on in the world of idea in the ancient Greco-Roman era. Then, too, we must consider theological answers as well. Finally, there’s the matter of what Jesus’ humanity means to us, and all people of every day and age.
          First, let’s consider the ancient world. In what’s known as the Hellenistic culture of Jesus day, Plato was the star in the philosophical universe of ideas and the cosmos. One of his assertions was, to put it simply, that matter was bad, if not downright evil. It was absurd in Plato’s view, to think that what was divine and therefore good would become matter or flesh. For him, the Incarnation was laughable. And, so was the Crucifixion. The apostle Paul acknowledges as much when he writes that the divine crucified was “foolishness to the Gentiles.” So false teachers in the early church – nurtured on Greek philosophy – suggested that Jesus only appeared to be human. He wasn’t really human. It was against that sort of teaching that Paul and John both reacted so strongly against and explains why the Bible mentions Jesus eating and drinking like a normal hungry and thirsty person.
          Next, let’s consider theology. The Bible says that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Jesus is described as the Agnus Dei – the lamb of God. It was a metaphor that every Jew in Jesus’ day understood. If there was to be any atonement for a person’s sins, or the sins of the world for that matter, there will be a ram in the thicket or a sacrificial lamb for the altar. In essence, the Bible insists that there will be blood involved. The Christ must be human, as Saint Anselm of Canterbury would later explain in his book Cur Deu Homo.
          And finally, what does it mean for us and the world. It means, quite simply, Jesus is our brother. The Bible stresses that Jesus was one of us. The writer of Hebrews explains: Jesus “had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect… Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” The author continues: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” The importance of this is what we can pray to Jesus because, as a national ad campaign suggest, “He Gets Us.”
          Sam Allberry, canon theologian with the Anglican Church in North America and a senior fellow at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, puts it this way: “What we see in the Christian gospel is that Jesus didn’t just appear as a man out of thin air; Jesus didn’t beam down as a 30- year-old man and start his ministry. Jesus coded himself into human DNA. He was fetus in a womb. He was a baby in his mother’s arms. He was a toddler who would have stumbled around as he figured out how to walk and all the rest of it. He was a teenager; he would have gone through puberty. He was a 30—something-year-old man. So, he didn’t just experience a taste of humanity – he experienced the fullness of what it means to be physically human.”(2)
          In today’s reading, Mary Magdalene has the most touching encounter with the post – resurrection Jesus. She was weeping among the olive trees in the garden. Jesus found her. She was confused, she didn’t recognize – she supposed he was the gardener, and begs for the body. The Jesus spoke – “Mary.” And her eyes were opened and she saw Jesus. She went back to the disciples and announced, “I have seen the Lord.”
         Isn’t that what we all want – to see the Lord? That’s why we are gathered here today – for an experience of the Risen Christ.
          Jesus’ detour en-route to the right of God served a purpose. It serves to prove that Jesus is one of us. The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. But they were wrong. He was one of them – fully human, fully divine, risen from the dead. So, I invite you to put aside any lingering doubts you might have about this remarkable story of death defeated and experience the wonder and the power of the resurrected Christ.
          Today is Easter! Christ is Risen, Alleluia. Alleluia. Amen.
          Will you join me…
1. Homileticsonline, retrieved 3/5/24.
2. Ibid…

03-28-24 Worth Remembering - Maundy Thursday

Thomas J Parlette
“Worth Remembering”
John13: 1-17, 31b-35
3/28/24, Maundy Thursday
          Philosophers and anthropologists have long debated over what makes human beings different from other creatures. It isn’t our ability to build our own shelter – birds and beavers both build their own houses. It isn’t over use of tools either – many animals use tools. Even a simple seagull can employ a rock to open a shell. We aren’t different because we organize ourselves into societies. Ants have an elaborate social structure, including “hospitals for their sick, and “nurseries” for their young. Nor is it our use of language that sets us apart. Whales and dolphins have sophisticated language as well. It isn’t even our larger brain. Dolphins actually have bigger brains than ours, in comparison with their bodies.
          There are lots of things that human beings have in common with other creatures. But one thing that sets up apart is the act of remembrance. Human beings are the only creatures I know that both remember and honor their dead. I have seen stories about faithful dogs that won’t leave their owners sides and they have attended their funerals. But when it’s over, it’s over, and even man’s best friend moves on. I’ve also read stories about elephants, coming upon the dead body of another elephant, will stop and touch it with their trunks, and trumpet loudly, as if mourning the loss, sometimes for hours. But then they move on.
          Only human beings erect mausoleums and tombstones to keep the memory of a loved one alive. We are the only species who endow colleges, hospitals, libraries, parks and scholarships in a loved one’s name. Remembrance seems to be one of the things that is truly unique to human beings.
          We don’t want to forget our loved ones. And we ourselves don’t want to be forgotten either. In a cemetery in Hiawatha, Kansas, there is a strange tribute to one man’s desire to be remembered. John M. Davis was a wealthy but eccentric local farmer. His wife had died decades before him, in 1930. Soon after her death, Davis began commissioning a series of statues, using Kansas granite and later, Italian marble. The statues depicted important scenes in Davis’ life.
          The Davis memorial is large, impressive and expensive – but it draws a lot of visitors to Hiawatha, Kansas. Davis sought to be remembered – and he is, as a bit of a curious man, maybe even an oddball. But he is remembered.
          Human beings remember. We all want to be remembered. What did Jesus ask for us as remembrance? Jesus wrote no books. He established no organization. He chose no clear successor. He built no memorials.
          No, the way Jesus wanted to be remembered was through a simple act. On the night before he died, he gathered his twelve closest followers together in what I imagine was a smoky, dimly lit room, a floor or so above the busy streets outside. Those gathered were mostly poor, mostly uneducated, mostly unsophisticated and usually unreliable individuals. One of them was a betrayer and one of them was a denier and all of them would abandon Jesus in the end. But Jesus knew all this already. Still, he entrusted his life’s work and his memory to them, in the simple act of communion.
          “This is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
This cup is the new covenant, sealed by my blood. Drink this in remembrance of me.”
          No building, no books, no structure, no successor. Just bread and wine. Doesn’t seem like much, does it? Yet, some 2000 years later, we still do this in remembrance of him.
          Tonight, as we receive communion, let us remember Jesus.
Let us remember the character of his life.
Let us remember his prayerfulness, how he got up early and stayed up late, to pray to God.
Let’s remember his gentleness, how he called little children to himself.
Let us remember his joy and enthusiasm for life that was infectious.
Let’s remember how he resisted temptation and never gave in to sin.
Let us remember his concern for the sick, the needy and the forgotten
Let us remember how he spoke for what he believed.
Let’s remember his courage in the face of death.
Let’s remember how, when he was dying, he prayed for his enemies.
Let us remember how he was obedient to God, even though it meant suffering and death.
          When we share the bread and the cup, as he asked us to, and remember, we are remembering the purest, best and most remarkable human being that ever lived. Let us remember Jesus’ life.
          Let us also remember he willingly gave up his life for our sake. In Norway there is a small church known as The Church of the Lamb. Its steeple is topped, not with a cross, but with a wooden carving of a lamb. Not an uncommon symbol for Jesus – but that’s not why is lamb is on their steeple. It seems that as the church was being built, a crew of workers was up on the roof. One man lost his footing and slipped off the roof.
          He might have been killed, except at that precise moment a flock of sheep were being driven past the church. This unfortunate workman, fell on top of one of the sheep, which broke his fall and saved his life. But the sheep was killed. Later when the church was completed, the congregation put a carving of a sheep up on the steeple – to be reminded of the animal itself, but also Jesus, known as the lamb of God.
          Jesus, not accidentally, but knowingly and willingly gave up his life for us all. This evening, as we receive the bread and cup, let us remember Jesus sacrificial death. But most of all, let us remember, sense, experience, and be guided by his continued presence with, in this supper shared in memory of him.
          That, my friends, is something worth remembering.
          May God be praised. Amen.