Nazi Is As Nazi Does...

Nazi is as Nazi does.

Klan is as Klan does.

Bigot is as Bigot does.

Peace is as Peace does.

Love is as Love does.

Jesus Didn't Say

I'm not preaching this week, but I have some thoughts bubbling on the lectionary:
(you can find the text here: Forgiving 70x7)

Jesus Didn't Say

Jesus didn't say, "Feed the deserving." Jesus said, feed the hungry.
Jesus didn't say, "Clothe the deserving." Jesus said, clothe the naked.
Jesus didn't say, "Welcome the deserving."  Jesus said, welcome the stranger.
Jesus didn't say, "Visit the deserving." Jesus said, visit those who are sick and in prison. And not just those who were wrongfully imprisoned, but those in prison, period.
Jesus didn't say, "Forgive the deserving." Jesus said, to forgive those who hurt you, not just seven times, but seventy times seven.

The rhetoric of today, which is not unlike the rhetoric of Jesus' day, is that if you have problems, particularly problems related to poverty or marginalization, you must have done something to deserve them.  Therefore, by deserving the mess in which you find yourself, you do not deserve the public's help; you are a waste of resources; you have no value.

The thing about forgiveness is that by its very essence, it isn't deserved.

As Christians, we are to love not only our friends but our enemies. We are to risk looking foolish in order to carry out acts of love as we live out the kingdom of God here on earth.  If we are too afraid we might be taken advantage of, if we become too obsessed with only helping those who 'deserve' it, we cannot practice love.  We cannot practice our faith.  Our churches become meaningless, no better than country clubs or 'members only' exclusive societies. Our closed hearts and closed doors create further harm in the lives of those who already hurt.

The foundation of our faith is loving, caring for and forgiving others beyond what they deserve, because we ourselves are already loved and forgiven far more than we will ever deserve.

Reconciled in Christ, Called to Be Disciples

Third Sunday After the Epiphany

Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

(look these up on bible.oremus.org or biblegateway.com)

credit: www.providencecpc.org

These past three weeks we've been following the Gospel story of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, and the interactions he's had with his long-lost cousin, John the Baptist--who has had quite the public ministry himself, heralding the arrival of the Messiah he did not immediately recognize, and sent his followers to see if he was really 'the One,' then Jesus came out to John to be baptized in the Jordan, and the heavens parted to anoint Jesus for this public ministry.  Next, John began proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, and sent his own followers to become some of Jesus' first disciples.  And now, John has been arrested, his own public ministry coming to an end, and Jesus begins to proclaim: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.'  

The Gospel goes on to say that Jesus went about Galilee teaching the good news of the kingdom of God, and calling more people to become his disciples.

Now, to be honest, even as a pastor, the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near," do not immediately strike me as good news.  Actually, it sounds like maybe slightly scary news.  Maybe you even grew up feeling the same way.  Part of this, I think, is in the word 'repent.'  Repent means to turn away from one thing, and turn towards something else.  

Since the kingdom of heaven is good news, to repent means to turn away from the bad news!  But what bad news could that be?  Given the time and place in which Jesus was speaking, I could imagine several things: believing it's a dog-eat-dog world, that there's not enough to go around, that the future is hopeless, that your past mistakes condemn you to a life of shame; and even just the basic human divisions among religious and ethnic groups and nationalities in the Mediterranean crescent.  Also, there was the military occupation of the Roman empire, the reality of slavery, having your country overthrown and ending up in exile, ongoing wars, and so forth.

The good news, by contrast, is love: God is a loving, involved, forgiving God, and we can live in a world where we treat one another with love!

Now, the very idea that you might love someone outside your own ethnic or religious group, let alone a total stranger, not from your own tribe or town--or even an enemy with some threat of violence towards you, such as a Roman soldier--the very idea is enormously revolutionary!

And it makes all the sense in the world, these past few weeks as we've studied the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus, and John's followers who are now becoming Jesus' disciples--it makes sense that the followers of John would be suspicious of another traveling teacher coming to town.  After all, in the Greco-Roman world, it wasn't only John the Baptist and Jesus, but hundreds of wandering philosophers spouting advice and making proclamations, usually in exchange for money.  This economic enterprise was so pervasive in the society that even after the death and resurrection of Jesus, even within the Christian community, Paul is still trying to address the problem.  In Corinth, there are divisions among those who have been baptized by different early church leaders.  However, the baptism is in Christ, and the community is in Christ--and this ties back into the story of the original reconciliation of followers between John and Jesus.

That was a long time ago, and yet I think this can be tough for us even today.  This past week has been the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is not always the best-publicized Christian festival, but no less necessary.  How often do we say, "I belong to the Presbyterian church, the Lutheran church, the UCC, the Baptists, the Catholics, etc?"  Yet, we belong to the Christian church.  We are one body in Christ.  

That's not to say that there aren't multiple valid ways of teaching and preaching and ministering to one another within the Christian community; not that there aren't multiple versions even of the Gospel stories--each varies from one another at least a little, and really, that's alright. Unity is not uniformity.  Unity is not the absence of difference.  Difference does not have to mean division, retreating into one's own little camps and eyeing anyone else with suspicion.

Yet, it's so easy to fall into this trap, that we have to keep reminding ourselves of the bigger picture, the gift of love, a love large enough to cast out fear.  Love is not naivete; love holds one another accountable, but does not exact revenge or even pettiness.  Love listens, even in times of disagreement.  Love realizes that the other people involved are also children of God.

One last thing.  I've been thinking today about these passages which talk about light:  The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?  Or, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, a light greater than the depths of darkness they have seen in their lifetimes--even such despair that it seemed like the shadow of death, as the Gospel says.

This light is love.  Love transforms the darkness and dispels fear.  Love encourages building bridges, seeking understanding, healing hurts, and reconciling old divisions.  It is not always easy to see the light, and look at each other through the lens of love, but when we do, we are able to forgive.  We let go of our fear, and we might even find joy in love--just as God has first loved us.

Thanks be to God!

Youth Moment: On Baptism and Sand Castles

The second weekend in December seems like a funny time to talk about being at the beach, and actually, the snow is piling up outside our windows.  But, have you ever gone to the beach and built a sandcastle?  Have you ever worked really hard on it for a long time?  It's really neat what you can do with just water, and sand.

from raisinggreatkidsblog.com

Now, have you ever gone back the next day?  Was the sand castle still there?  Usually not, though sometimes there's a few traces left behind.  Sand castles don't keep, except for the memories or if you take a picture, and then you have to begin the next time all over again and build another one.

I like to think of building sand castles on the beach when I think of what it means to live out our baptisms. Our baptisms are eternal--just as God is eternal, and how very much the sand and water at a beach appear eternal to us.  We are God's children forever, whatever we may do in this life.  But building sand castles is a little like the daily practice of living out our baptisms--we respond to others in acts of love, to make our world a better place.  Sometimes the good we do is preserved in the memories of ourselves and those around us; but really, each day, we get to begin again by loving people all over again--especially the people who are hurting and need extra love to heal those hurts.

Now, this can be a lot of work, really.  But, we shouldn't be discouraged, and we don't have to do it alone, because we know God is always with us, and because we have each other to support one another.  Even in those times when it seems like all the good we may do just gets washed away in this world, we can and should still do beautiful things whenever we can, acts of love...and, like sand castles, we may even have some fun doing it.  Thanks be to God for sand and water, the world around us, and the daily opportunity to live out our baptisms by loving one another!

That We May Have Hope

Second Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-7; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12

(Look these up on bible.oremus.org or biblegateway.com)

[These are some of my favorite Bible passages, especially the Isaiah, so I have a few other things in writing [in brackets] that time did not permit me to share on Sunday.  However, I share them here to peruse at your leisure].

Many of you know that on Tuesdays a bunch of us pastors get together to study the Scriptures for the week and get started thinking about the sermon.  And most weeks it’s helpful, but this week it somehow got dragged down into one of those discussions where you try to figure out how to fix the world--and an hour later you haven’t fixed anything and you’re just kind of tired, and maybe a tad cynical:  One says, raise the minimum wage, another says that’ll just make everything more expensive and folks’ll end up back in the same place. And on, and on.

I don’t want to sit there and dwell in cynicism too long, so let’s get some basic assumptions out of the way before we begin: We know there’s brokenness in the world, and we wish it were not so.  We wish there were some easy fix, but we also kind of know there’s not.  We know that whatever can change the world for the better, will take an enormous amount of energy and effort.  We know we can’t check out of the situation entirely either.  And we know we don’t want to think about all of that and just end up tired, we’d like to have something to hope for!

Isaiah 11:6 '...the calf and the lion...and a little child shall lead them.'
Found at doveandcross.org

Today in our Scriptures we’ve got some amazing and perhaps a bit confusing imagery of a hoped-for world: A world where nature is re-ordered such that predator animals and their prey can live together peaceably and no one fears harm; a world where a king does not just look out for his rich and powerful political allies, but creates justice for the poor, who can give him nothing in return; and how even from a seemingly-dead stump, new life can spring forth.  

Wouldn’t it be wonderful!  How can we get there?  How can we have such a world where these things that we deeply in our hearts hope for, could come true?

Ah, that’s what folks have wrestled with throughout all time!

So, now, enter this strange character, John the Baptist, kind of a wild and crazy-seeming guy, a prophet proclaiming the kingdom of heaven is near, and the people of Jerusalem and all Judea are going out to him to be baptized, and they’re confessing their sins.

And many Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious establishment leaders of the day, are coming out to join them.  And that’s where John gets angry.  Why is that?

It might be worth noting that this idea of using water for spiritual cleansing is nothing new even in John the baptists’ time.  Jewish people for centuries had been using mikvehs, sort of like a big baptistry or if you don’t know what that is, a jacuzzi, with stairs that you descend on one side until you’re pretty well submerged, then you come back up the other side, ritually clean.  You do this after doing anything makes you ritually 'unclean'--such as preparing a loved one’s body for burial, or after childbirth, or a list of other things that I’m going to send you to Wikipedia for, since the list is a little 'earthy:'  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh

And here's a link to images of both ancient and modern Mikvehs, via Google image search. (Note that a person may not be wearing clothes in a Mikveh, so view at your own discretion).

Going Through The Motions

That makes you ritually pure to enter the Temple, the house of God, and worship.  It’s a powerful symbolic ritual, designed to prepare people to increase their relationship with God by leaving behind distractions of daily life.  But the real importance is not really the physical ritual, it’s the internal preparing of your heart for worship and relationship with God.  In other words, it’s not magic.  Going through the motions might make you look acceptable to your peers, but it doesn’t really do much for you if your heart isn’t in it.

That said, why is John so angry at the Pharisees and Sadducees?  It’s because they’re going through the motions, and they’re also relying on the privilege of their bloodline for their security in this world.  Rather than being accountable for their own actions and how their own corruption is harming other, especially vulnerable people, they are seemingly smug, and they hold everyone else accountable to the motions, without consideration for their human struggles, whether physical or spiritual.

Don’t Be Too Quick To Judge

We shouldn’t be too quick to judge, though.  Sometimes I think, If the Sadducees and Pharisees are there trying to get baptized, then really, maybe they’re not feeling all that smug and secure. And let’s be honest: we, too, could become smug, to say that we’re Christians, that Jesus reconciled the world 2,000 years ago, and that’s that.  Well, yes, we believe that our eternal salvation is in the death and resurrection of Christ, but if we do not let that affect how we live out our daily lives in relationship to God and one another, we really lose out on so much in this life.

The Gift of Baptism

In our faith tradition, we baptize infants because we believe that God does the work of salvation, that we do not and cannot earn our salvation, any more than an infant could.  God has done that work for us, that is God’s gift to us.  That is our gift whether we keep it up on a shelf, or whether we take it out every day and use it.  The gift is still ours either way, but in our daily lives right now, we are made richer by using it.  

[This brings up a tricky situation that many families wrestle with:  when grandparents want a child baptized sort of ‘just in case,’ even if parents don’t want the child baptized or plan to teach them the faith.  If you are a grandparent worrying over grandkids that aren’t baptized or don’t get to church, don’t fight with the parents over it.  And of course, you would never threaten a fiery hell or whatever else folks sometimes threaten others with, because that doesn’t help anyone.  Instead, you teach them the love of God and inspire that relationship two ways:  you show them God’s love with your own compassionate and gentle presence, and you teach them what it means to love others.]

In a world where we are living out our Baptisms, we aren’t afraid to love our enemies, to show compassion, or to forgive those who have hurt us. We hold each other to a different kind of accountability, one that says, ‘we’re all in this together, we care about the same things, we want a more peaceful world for our children here on earth,’ not a legalistic or revenge-based accountability that is so common in our world, yet so ultimately empty and unfulfilling.  

[After all, how many times have we heard where a person said about a lawsuit, it wasn’t really about the money and it didn’t make them feel any better, they just really wanted more than anything to hear that the person who hurt them was sorry for doing so.?

Sometimes in life, we cut off or try to avoid people who have done us harm because we think it’ll hurt less.  Granted, sometimes in life-threatening situations, such as a history of abuse or domestic violence, we do have to do that.  But in the more routine difficulties of relationships, the distance doesn’t really heal.]

[I’ve told you before as a pastor I’m often surprised by how many people worry whether they are actually saved or if they are going to hell.  And yet I take those concerns seriously.  If we ourselves haven’t faced that kind of anxiety before, we can at least sympathize with the people in the Gospel story, who are going to John the Baptist to be baptized for the repentance of sins.  They want  to be washed clean of whatever’s been bothering them that they’re not proud of.  But again, it’s not a magic trick.  It’s not a thing to check off your list.

Ideally, we’re reminded of the bigger picture, that world and kingdom of God we are hoping for, when we gather to worship, and then we are sent forth to figure out how to live that kingdom hope and those kingdom values in our daily lives--in how we treat our coworkers or fellow drivers or the store clerk or waitress or the person on the street asking for change.]

A Transformation Of Hearts

The Gospel for today happened to be the text for Friday’s Bible Study group, and one question came up, how do you really know that you have repented and are forgiven?  And I would answer, you know in your heart.  If that’s confusing, because I think that can be, even for me sometimes, then ask yourself--about a situation where you’re upset with someone, for example.  If you have something that you are sorry for, some harsh words, well, are you really sorry?  You know when you’re holding back in your heart.  When there’s someone out there that drives you nuts that you see everyday, (maybe even at church!), have you learned to feel compassion for them and whatever they may be going through?  

Are you just being nice to someone’s face, or do you truly deeply care about them?

There’s a quote in the book, Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, which really stuck with me this week: “I find that by the time I truly understand my enemy... then I also love them…”  Those of you who know the book know that the quote ends with gaining advantage over and destroying the enemy, which isn’t all that loving.  But for our purposes today, let’s just take that first part:  

Can you go up to a person who drives you nuts and say directly to them, “hey, I know we’ve had our differences and probably still will, but I just want to let you know I care about you and I want to keep trying to work things out?”  When we are living out our Baptism, we don’t have to destroy our enemies.  It is enough just to love them.

(You can read the full quote here via Goodreads.com).

Anxiety and Hope in an Uncertain Future

While we’re talking about total transformations of the heart, let’s be real.  I’m a pastor, and I can be totally loving and forgiving and compassionate and understanding of each and every human being I meet for oh, at max, about six or seven days in a row. (And sometimes, if we’re really going to be honest, maybe some days, only a few hours, or a few minutes.  Some Sundays, I’m not even home from church before I’ve grumbled about three other drivers along the way). But, six or seven days, let’s say, and then I need to be reminded that the Kingdom of God is built not by resting on our laurels or by going through the motions, but by the active, daily practice of love.  Love in forgiveness, love in compassion.  We will all need to keep working at this, every day, for the rest of our lives.  Our eternal salvation does not depend on this, because that work has already been done.  But our world today, very much needs these daily doses of love.  By love, true community is built.  By love, all obstacles and challenges can be faced together.  By love, our world is transformed.

While I’m not likely to take the Isaiah passage literally and allow my young children to go play with nests full of snakes anytime soon, I do still fervently hope for a day when no one will hurt or destroy within the realm of God.

In an uncertain future, we can take hope.  And really, no matter how good or bad the present times are, the future is always uncertain.  We can allow that to paralyze us with fear, or we can allow that to turn us into cynics, or we can live into hope.  As Paul has written: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayers this Week:

For all who struggle in body, mind, or spirit, with the winter weather

For all who are hungry or homeless at Christmas, and at any time of year

For all who are grieving or hurting at this time of year

For all who are unable to gather with family and friends for the holidays

For the hope and justice and inspiration brought to all people by the life and leadership of Nelson Mandela

Youth Moment: Why Can’t We Be Friends?

We have a lot of kids gathered here today, which is wonderful, and I wonder if everyone knows each other already.  Let’s introduce ourselves.  Now, let’s say I’m friends with this group of kids on my right.  If I also become friends with the kids sitting on my left, does that mean I have to stop being friends with the first group of kids over there?  Of course not.  Friendship grows as it is shared!

I had a friend in kindergarten and first grade, who didn’t know this.  So she told me that I could be her friend one week, and then another girl we knew would be her friend another week.  We had to take turns being her friend.  It was kind of silly, because we all could have been friends together!

Sometimes older brothers and sisters in a family worry when a new baby comes along, because they think that the baby will get more of their parents’ love and they’ll have less.  But in reality, parents’ love grows and expands to include all of their children.  And this is what the Gospel story is about today.  People are worried in a situation that they’ll get less because they had to share so much, when Jesus just wants them to realize that they are all children of God, and to stop their silly argument.  And we will be God’s children forever, both now and in heaven. 

Thanks be to God for the gifts of friendship and love!

Youth Moment: Just Like Ketchup...

Have you ever thought much about ketchup?  Go to your fridge and get a bottle out if you can.  What kind of bottle is it?  Is it the squeeze variety?  Do you remember back to the old glass bottle kind?  Yeah.  Squeeze bottles are much easier:  you squeeze, and you get your ketchup.

Lots of adults remember the old glass bottles.  You tip them upside down to get the ketchup....and wait....and wait....and wait....then you try to help things along, maybe by patting the bottle or shaking it, or getting a knife up in there to get it down....and wait some more.....and wait again....and eventually you'll get your ketchup, hopefully before your fries get cold!  

Heinz actually capitalized on this phenomenon of waiting for the ketchup to come out with its advertising slogan, "Good things come to those who wait."  And they do, but it's not just passive waiting.  After all, if you get your ketchup bottle out of the fridge and just set it on the table and wait, you're not going to get any ketchup.  You've got to at least open the bottle and turn it towards your food!  

And sometimes it's the same with wanting to work for justice, or for a better world.  God has given us every good thing in this world, and has equipped us with minds and spirit and skills in order to do good in this world. And God loves us the same, whether we do good things or don't.  However, if we just sit around waiting hoping that good might be done, maybe not all that much good will result.  Sometimes, when folks need our help, we have to do what we can, even when it's only a little bit that we can do, to make the world just a little bit better than it was.  And when we each do what we can to share things like love, hope, joy, and peace in our world, then our world becomes a more, loving, hopeful, joyful, and peaceful place for all people, including us!

The scriptures for today teach us about the importance of being persistent in doing good, even when things are difficult for us.  And even in those times that are difficult, we are reminded that we are not alone, because God is with us, and sends the Holy Spirit to help guide us.  This helps us to follow in Jesus' footsteps as disciples, which is not always an easy task.

Scripture Readings (look them up on biblegateway.com)
Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8

Seriously: Be Annoying for Jesus! (A Children’s Sabbath Sermon)

Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8

(look these up at bible.oremus.org or biblegateway.com)

Friends, today in the life of the church, we observe the Children’s Sabbath, a time to lift up the needs of children in our churches, communities, and world.  This year, the organizers want us especially to raise awareness of the fact that every half-hour in our country, a child is injured by gun violence.

Click here to see a video on the work of the Children's Defense Fund.

I find that an especially difficult reality--as a pastor, as a parent, just even as a decent human being who wants decent, peaceable childhoods for all children everywhere.

We know how most of it happens, we hear about it in the news, whether it happens at school, on the streets, or in their own homes, whether it’s accidental or intentional.  It is very, very hard news to hear.

And I think when we hear difficult realities like this, it can be really hard to see any hope for things to be any different.  It all seems so overwhelming, doesn’t it?  What can be done to really put a dent in a statistic like this?  Is it all hopeless?

Ah.  And while we’re at it, let’s talk about all these special-themed Sundays we’ve been having as good Presbyterians, to raise our social consciousness, in these past several weeks surrounding the Peacemaking Offering.  It all does get a bit overwhelming, doesn’t it, to hear about domestic violence, human trafficking, global warfare, massive poverty, natural disasters, and so forth.  What are we to do with all of that?  Perhaps also as good Presbyterians, we can call on that first “T” in TULIP, that yes indeed, the world seems totally depraved, and I dunno, does it seem like we really can’t begin to do anything to change a whole wide world gone wrong?

I know, I hear ya.  I feel the same way often enough.  I find myself asking in all of this, sometimes even just getting bogged down in the preaching of it all, wondering, “Where is the hope?  Where’s the joy?  Where’s the peace?  Where’s the love?  And, Where’s the good news?”

And then I go home to my kids.  That’s what I do, when I can’t take another minute of bad news.  

My kids, they’re little.  They don’t know a big bad world out there full of danger, like we too-often do.  They’re joyful.  They are hopeful.  They are loving.  Sometimes they’re even peaceful!  But seeing my kids and spending time with them, is always, good news.

Now, I’ll admit as a parent, sometimes my kids are annoying!  Sometimes they’re hanging off my arm saying mommy, mommy, mommy...But it’s generally for good reasons--like they need food or want to cuddle, or just to know something more about this world we live in, because they are imbued with a spirit of wonder.  Sometimes we’re in the car and they’re pointing out the stars or the cows or the beautiful fall leaves, and I remember, God has created a good and glorious world.

And I think when we do spend time with children, even with their persistent questions, we do ourselves recapture a sense of that wonder in the world--we are encouraged, and see everything around us with new eyes again. I find a great deal of hope and joy in those moments.  These moments are reminders of God’s irresistable grace: grace that has the power to overcome all sin, to work in every heart, to bring healing and wholeness even in the midst of pain and brokenness.

And those moments give me the courage to be persistent in this big world, persistent in seeking justice and peace, persistence in showing love in places love is needed, persistence in doing even just the little bits that I can to make a better world for my kids and the kids around me.  I can’t do it all, but I can do something to make the world a better place, that at least in the spaces around me, people might be able to see hope, joy, peace, love and goodness in this world.

In the Gospel today, the widow doesn’t get justice because the corrupt judge finally becomes un-corrupt and sees the light.  She gets justice because she is persistent.  She annoys the judge into doing justice.  Sure, it’s a partial victory of good over evil, but it still counts!  In the Psalm we hear how persistent study of the Scriptures brings sweetness and wisdom into our lives.  In the letter to Timothy we hear Paul telling to be persistent in everything he learned from childhood, not to let go of it in the midst of so many complicated adult realities in this world.  And in Jeremiah we hear that even in the worst of circumstances, God is still persistent with us, still sowing seeds of peace, love, hope, joy, and goodness.  God will be our God, and we will be God’s people.

So, Presbyterians, I realized here I just did preach a sermon on TULIP, and in case you forgot your confirmation classes, let me put it this way:  Yes, there’s some really bad stuff in the world, and to an extent, some of it’s always going to be bad.  And we can’t fix it all.  But God’s grace and goodness, wherever we might find reminders of it--in spending time with children, or seeing it in each other’s faces, or even in the wonder of creation around us--that gives us what we need to persevere as the saints of God, spreading a message of hope, joy, peace, and love, in a world that so often needs it.  Thanks be to God for the children in our lives, in our churches, in our communities, and in our world.  Let us not give up but persevere, that they may know peace and love, and we might know hope and joy.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

And this next hymn, is full of just such childlike wonder about our world.  I think you’ll enjoy it, it’s called God, the Sculptor of the Mountains.

Prayer Requests:

For children everywhere, that they may live in peace, surrounded by love, filled with hope and joy, and that we may find ways to help them to do so.
For all who work with children, be they parents and grandparents, teachers or childcare providers, that they may have passion and patience in all they do.

Called to Action, and Renewal

Jeremiah 1:4-10, Psalm 71:1-6, Luke 13:10-17

In our scriptures today we hear of Jeremiah, who is anxious about being called as a prophet because he’s only a boy.  Yet God affirms his gifts for this line of work, and he’s going to need that affirmation, because being a prophet is not an easy job.

And we know it’s not an easy job because in this week’s Gospel, Jesus, that prophet of prophets, gets into loads of trouble with the religious authorities for healing a woman on the Sabbath.

So...what exactly is the Sabbath, and why is it such an issue?

The Sabbath comes from the word ‘seven,’ as in, ‘on the seventh day, God rested.’  It’s one of the 10 commandments, to remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Everyone in the Jewish tradition was supposed to rest on the Sabbath.  You could not plow fields or harvest or grind grain or fix your roof or any number of other tasks, especially if they were your means of business.

You were also to make sure you gave any employees or servants you have an opportunity to rest and spend time with their families, and you were to ensure that your livestock, such as your donkey or oxen, had time to rest from their labors.  This was to help prevent the exploitation of workers or other vulnerable people by the ‘big bosses,’ so to speak, and certainly, people who did hard physical labor six days a week, would need a day of rest!

Observing the Sabbath was so important that it carried some heavy penalties--including the punishment of death for violating the command to rest.  You could act to save a life, but even the dead had to be buried either before or after the Sabbath day--after the crucifixion on Good Friday, Jesus had to be buried before sunset, or have his body left up on the cross until Sunday morning.  It will not surprise you to learn that violating the Sabbath was one of the reasons the religious authorities wanted Jesus crucified.

What does Sabbath look like today?

For some folks, Sabbath looks much the same as it did in ages past.  In modern-day Israel, the most conservative groups of Jews block off streets to vehicle traffic and everyone walks everywhere--perhaps to the park, or more especially to the synagogue, and nothing else is open in the conservative neighborhoods.  When I lived there I found it tough if I ran out of milk or needed a taxi, but otherwise it was really quite...peaceful.

Much of the 20th century labor movement recognizes the Sabbath--the need for at least one day of rest, giving us our weekend, and limits on the hours many employees in physically demanding jobs may work.  In fact, the concept of the Sabbath gave us our first Sunday Schools in this country, in the early 20th century, primarily to give child laborers a day of rest from the sweatshops by offering large group religious instruction.

In our 24/7 world, perhaps it is now harder than ever to observe a full 24 hour day of rest.

After, all, how many of us, thanks to technology, can be reached by our workplace any time of day or night--or weekend? How many of us may never feel like we’re truly away from work--even on vacation? How many of us feel anxious if we don’t check our work email even when we’re at home with our families?  How many of us wonder if we’ll still be employed if we don’t answer emails, texts or other messages immediately?

I have a pastoral colleague who has perhaps more guts than I do, and in the signature line of her email, writes, “I ordinarily do not answer emails on Saturdays and Mondays.”  Therefore, everyone with whom she emails knows her policy well in advance.  After all, if it’s a true pastoral emergency, she’ll probably get a phone call.  She has found it important in an active ministry to ensure that the time she spends with family, is time when her full attention is given to her family.  Other pastors are starting to take note.

After all, religious leaders are supposed to lead by example, to demonstrate what Sabbath truly is, and how to keep it holy.  No doubt the religious leaders challenging Jesus thought that was exactly what they were doing--stopping this radical sinner in his tracks.  But Jesus, the true leader, demonstrated the true intent of Sabbath.  He was teaching in the synagogues, as any good rabbi would do on the Sabbath; and folks were listening, as any good folks would do.  And then he turned everything they knew upside down.

So, what is lawful on the Sabbath?

There’s a long list of things that are forbidden on the Sabbath, but by comparison, the list of things that are good to do is relatively simple.  Sabbath is a time to rest, beginning at sundown the day before.  It’s time to get out for a walk and take the long way home.  It’s time to reconnect with your family.  You light the candles, put on the good china, have a simple but fulfilling meal, and pray together, like doing devotions at the dinner table.  

It’s also time to reconnect with your significant other.  Put mildly enough, some Sabbath time needs to be spent in the bedroom.  You have six other days to be too tired, have a headache, or be arguing with your partner.

Sabbath starts and ends with worship.  Traditionally, you head to synagogue twice, once in the evening and once the next day, for worship and study of the Scriptures.  After all, perhaps you’ll be too busy the rest of the week to study them.

And to make all this possible, there is a Day of Preparation.  You clean the house and make the food ahead of time, so that it can be enjoyed with a minimum of effort, and the day can be truly a day off--traditionally speaking--for women as well as men.

*A detailed description of Shabbat in conservative Jewish households may be found at: http://www.jewfaq.org/shabbat.htm.

Not Just a Weekly Thing

So, that’s your regular weekly Sabbath.  But there are other kinds of Sabbaths, which are kind of big breaks from our lives of work.  Jewish people have larger, multi-day holidays which are classified as Sabbaths.  Some folks, particularly in academia, get seventh-year sabbaticals, taking a year off to travel, study, and get re-charged so they can return to the work of teaching and leadership, which can be rather draining.

And I would argue that it’s a Sabbath to be healed of a condition which has crippled you for eighteen years.  It’s significant that the healing in today’s Gospel is taking place in a synagogue, where the woman continues to come despite obviously great difficulty getting there.  I would also note the woman wasn’t even necessarily healed because of her level of faith, according to the Gospel text, but because Jesus saw her, and did the right thing--breaking the laws, but also fulfilling God’s intent.

God has called us to action, and action for good.  Sometimes, we need to break with human rules or convention in order to do good, to come to someone’s urgent aid.  But God has also called us to times of rest and renewal.

And that is the point of Sabbath, both big and small:  to have time for activities that bring rest,  re-newal, re-creation,  and re-juvenation (literally, “to make young again”).

So, what are you doing later today, on this Sabbath?  You here in the room have come to worship and praise God.  What will you do today to make yourself new, to make yourself feel young again, or to create within yourself or your family a new sense of well-being and wholeness?

Where will you walk?  Where will you find your drink of water?

Maybe this isn’t such a bad Sunday to think on these themes, when children prepare to go back to school and there is only one real week of summer vacation left.

I know for myself, August zoomed right by, with some seriously long days in the office, considering all that is needed to get ready for September, and maybe once all the lovely lawn concerts in our area ended, which had made it so appealing to make a picnic and take the kids, it seemed more pressing to tackle lengthy to-do lists.  Soon the workweeks, crammed with many tasks and needs, crept longer and longer.  I finally realized this week how just plain tired I was, and now I’m trying to practice what I preach, and will hopefully undo this pattern over the next few days.  So far, we’ve been out on some good walks, to enjoy the kids singing and dancing in the park, playing in the sand, or just to hold Maya (our three month old) a little longer.  After all, they grow up so fast.

What is causing you to feel bent down and burdened?

You might have noticed that line at the end of Jeremiah, when God gives the power to tear down and to build up.  This power isn’t given to fulfill any personal whim, but to dismantle what needs to be dismantled.  The illness the woman had, needed to be dismantled.  The woman needed to be built up, healed, to stand up straight.  The systems which forbade healing on the Sabbath needed to be dismantled.  Systems of human concern for one another, rooted in love, needed to be built up.  This is God’s justice, that love prevail.  That people be unburdened, and not exploited.  That we be created anew.  That we be motivated not by fear and not by legalism, but solely by love.  Thanks be to God!

Prayers for This Week:

Syria, Egypt, all who have died in the violence

Colombia, where 140 young people were kidnapped by armed militia in a village this week.

Equality and unity among people of all races, on the 50th anniversary of the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech

For our earth, and the wise stewardship of all creation

For all who are sick, or nearing the end of their earthly lives

For outreach efforts and new ways of being aware of our community

Back to school children and their families, including ‘empty nesters’