Visions of the Spirit

This Sunday is The Day of Pentecost, when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to God's people and the birth of the Church.  Our texts for this Sunday are Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-21, which can be found here.

This week, I invite you to consider how you imagine God's Spirit.  In his commentary on Luke’s Gospel, Fred Craddock points out that the narrative work of Luke-Acts has distinct things to say about the Holy Spirit. In addition to the author of Luke-Acts, Paul and the author of John's Gospel each have a great deal to say about the Spirit.  It is interesting to see, however, that each of these three voices emphasizes something different.  

Take time to meditate and reflect on the images of the Spirit given in words and art below…which ones resonate with you?  Which ones surprise you? How do you envision the presence of the Holy Spirit and the work it does in the world?

John 14: 16-17, 25-27  “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

1 Corinthians 12:3-13

3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but

the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Pre-Sunday Homework!

This coming Sunday can be celebrated, according to the Lectionary, either as Ascension Sunday--a celebration of the day Jesus ascended into heaven, promising to send the Holy Spirit to be with us always--or as the Seventh Sunday in Easter.  We will be having one reading from each of these, with our Gospel account that of the ascension from Luke 24:44-53 and our Epistle reading continuing the story of Paul and Silas' ministry in Philippi which we began last week, from Acts 16:16-34.  Both of these texts can be read here.

I am not, however, going to blog directly about either of these readings today.  Instead, I want to give you an assignment of sorts to think about--something we will be talking about this coming Sunday as part of our reflection on the meaning of Jesus' ascension and of these texts.

Here is your assignment:  think about all the biblical texts with which you are familiar.  Which have been most formative in your faith?  Which do you cherish most?  Which have shaped you?  

The things that pop to mind may be some of the familiar stories pictured above--things like Jesus walking on water, the Creation story, the Easter story, Jesus' baptism, the Good Samaritan. Or they may be more unusual ones, sometimes that aren't stories in the traditional sense--for instance, on my list would probably be Psalm 139, Isaiah 43, Romans 8:28-39, and 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (ironic that two of the passages that came to my mind were penned by Paul when I frequently declare my difficulty with him!).  Anyway, just think before Sunday on the overarching story of scripture--the story Jesus took time to explain to his disciples before he ascended, the story Paul and Silas shared with the people of Philippi to mixed results.  Which parts of this Great Big Story have been most formative for you?  Which parts would you like to continue to be shaped by?

Think, remember, contemplate, and we will talk about it on Sunday!

Responding with Openness (Again!)

Our texts for this sixth Sunday in Easter are John 14:23-29 and Acts 16:6-15, which can be read here.

Just to let you know, when you see Sunday's bulletin, the sermon title is NOT a typo.

Last week, my colleague and friend Elizabeth Hagan preached a great sermon for us  on the topic of Responding with Openness to different ideas and different people as a way of expressing resurrection in the world.  It may seem silly that this week's sermon is again titled "Responding with Openness," but try as I did to choose a different "responding" word to accompany this week's story of Paul and Lydia--and there were possibilities (Responding with Vision, Responding with Risk, Responding with Attentiveness, and Responding with Discernment all made the final list)--"Openness" was the word I could not avoid.  It is a key word in our passage, which says that God opened Lydia's heart to respond to the good news.  But it's a story with openness all over it--the opening of a whole new frontier to the Gospel message, the gospel preached in the open rather than in a synagogue, the opening of a home to strangers--all in response to the news of the risen Christ.

So this week, we will be thinking about what it means to Respond with Openness...Again!  Because I think it is important enough to deal with twice, first as it occurred in the lives of Peter and Cornelius, and now as it happens in the lives of Paul and Lydia--and as it happens in our own lives as we make room for God's Spirit among us.  So forgive me for repetitiveness, but let's think together--again--about how we, too, may be those who respond with openness!

Responding with Passionate Prayers

Our texts for this fourth Sunday in Easter are Acts 9:36-43 and John 10:22-30, which can be read here.

As much as I've wanted to spend time with these wonderful texts this week (and have been privileged to do so), it has been hard to pull myself away from the texts of our time:  the news of this week, which has seemed laced with little but sorrow.  I believe both of this week's passages offer us promise in these days:  Peter bringing the power of Jesus' resurrection into a community shattered by death, and Jesus promising that no matter what, his beloved sheep will never be snatched from his hand.

But most of all, I believe this is a time to pray for peace and, as we pray, to live as wagers of God's peace.  To that end, I wish to share the liturgy our Prayer and Meditation group worked through last night, one that was inspired by and adapted from some of the great peacemaking work done by the Mennonite Church.  The below pattern for prayer is greatly indebted to them and, though designed for a group, can be done on your own as well.  I encourage you to carve out some time to pray in these tumultuous days, that we may be made more and more into instruments of the peace of the risen Christ.  I also commend to you this prayer published at Associated Baptist Press, which offers us both comfort and challenge.

Peace be with you, and hope to see you Sunday as we seek God's hope and God's light and celebrate a God whose love has overcome even death.

Prayers for Peace--Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Adapted from various resources at peace.mennolink.org

Voice 1: Jesus said,"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:18-19

Voice 2: "There is no peace because there are no peacemakers. There are no makers of peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war – at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake." (Father Daniel Berrigan)

Reading of Luke 19:37-38, 41-42

37 As Jesus approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole throng of his disciples began rejoicing. They praised God with a loud voice because of all the mighty things they had seen. 38 They said, “Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord.  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens.”…41 As Jesus came to the city and observed it, he wept over it. 42 He said, “If only you knew on this of all days the things that lead to peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Voice 3:  With Jesus, we weep; with Jesus, let our hearts be broken as we pray.

Contemplative Silence

Voice 3: "I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits…..

Voice 1: ……I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, other-centered people can build up.

Voice 2: "…. I still believe that one day humankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land…

Voice 3: "……we still have a choice today: nonviolent co-existence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action.

Voice 1: "…..Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world… The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history… We shall hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."--Martin Luther King, Jr.

Contemplative Silence

Reading of Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble.

That’s why we won’t be afraid when the world falls apart, when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea, when its waters roar and rage, when the mountains shake because of its surging waves.

There is a river whose streams gladden God’s city, the holiest dwelling of the Most High. God is in that city. It will never crumble. God will help it when morning dawns. Nations roar; kingdoms crumble. God utters his voice; the earth melts. The Lord of heaven is with us! The God of Jacob is our place of safety.

Come, see the Lord’s deeds, what works he has imposed on the earth—bringing wars to an end in every corner of the world, breaking the bow and shattering the spear, burning chariots with fire.

“That’s enough! Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among all nations; I am exalted throughout the world!”

Contemplative Silence

Voice 3: Longing for peace, we are thankful for the stirrings of peace and the promise of peace in our world.

Voice 1: Less than a month ago, we celebrated the stirrings of life in the death and suffering of Jesus.

Voice 2: We continue to celebrate and hope for resurrection.

Voice 3: All around us, the spring grass, flowers, and buds remind us that life comes from death.

Voice 1: We celebrate and hope for the spring of hope.

Voice 2:  We are promised in Isaiah: "My people will abide in peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places." (Isaiah 32: 18)

Voice 3: We hope for the resurrection of our world.

Contemplative Silence

Reading of Isaiah 2:1-5

This is what Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

In the days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of the mountains.

It will be lifted above the hills; peoples will stream to it. Many nations will go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of Jacob’s God so that God may teach us God’s ways  and we may walk in God’s paths.” Instruction will come from Zion; the Lord’s word from Jerusalem.

God will judge between the nations, and settle disputes of mighty nations.

Then they will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools.

Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war.

Come, house of Jacob, let’s walk by the Lord’s light.

Contemplative Silence

“We are Listening”:  An adaptation of a prayer for peace written by Mennonite pastor Samantha E. Lioi  

Great and loving God,

you have set us to work with you for good in the midst of great beauty and great evil.

In your world we are dwarfed by giant trees whose thick limbs stretch out shelter and shade

and breathe out oxygen and scents that please the creatures who walk beneath them.

We stare at the ocean, stretching beyond our seeing, endlessly crashing in, pulling back.

And we are dwarfed by the scale and depth of human grief and sin.

We are choked by the number of people killed by our bombs, our guns, our hands.

We stare at our screens without hope and without answers for our children..

We pray for them; we bring suffering before you, a reflex like reaching for the lamp when the phone rings in the middle of the night.

We have been taught, “When you pray, move your feet.”

How shall we walk, O Lover of all you have made?

How shall we love mercy, we who are so small in the face of all that is?

How shall we do justice, God of the friendless, the moneyless, the landless, the motherless?

You are the source of all well-being and the hope of all the earth.

Creator of life, ancient and surprising--we are listening.

Contemplative Silence

Reading of Revelation 21:1-4, 22:1-5

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb  through the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life, which produces twelve crops of fruit, bearing its fruit each month. The tree’s leaves are for the healing of the nations.  There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  Night will be no more. They won’t need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will be their light, forever and ever.

Time of Spoken Prayers

Song of Response:  “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” verse 5

O come, Desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind;

Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease; fill all the world with heaven’s peace

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

The Lord’s Prayer 

Responding with....?

Our texts for this Third Sunday in Easter are two big ones: John 21:1-19 and Acts 9:1-20, which can

be read here.

I know I talk with some frequency about how the layout of the Revised Common Lectionary, from which we draw our weekly scripture readings along with countless other churches around the globe, can baffle me from time to time.  This week, however, is a true head-scratcher:  how can one be expected to tackle two such lengthy, rich narratives about two of the most central figures in the early church, two post-resurrection powerhouses--Peter and Paul--in the same week?  How, I ask you?

There is too much here to know where to begin.  Our Eastertide theme is "Resurrection Responses," and I am titling most of my sermons in the format of "Responding With..."  For instance, on Easter Sunday we had Mary Magdalene "Responding With Tears."  Last week we had Thomas "Responding With Doubt." But in these two narratives there are so many "Responding with"s that arise from these two tales that I cannot decide which way to go.

My initial thought for this week was "Responding with Zeal," looking at how Saul/Paul and Peter were both passionate dudes before the resurrection and how their zeal got reappropriated after their encounters with the risen Jesus.

But then I thought about "Responding with Reconciliation"--an encounter with the risen Christ led to reconciliation between Jesus and Peter, as well as between Saul and those he was persecuting....and how community was created through Resurrection Reconciliation.

There is "Responding with Humility"--both Peter and Saul's encounters with the risen Christ knocked them down off their high horses in some life-changing ways.

There is "Responding with Participation"--meeting Jesus after the resurrection gave each of these guys a different, life-altering calling that required them not just to intellectually believe in the resurrection, but to participate in it with how they now lived their lives.

There is "Responding with Great Cost"--what did their encounters with the risen Christ require Saul and Peter to give up?  What did they leave behind to follow a resurrected Lord?

And then there is "Responding with Suffering"--acknowledging and encountering the risen Christ made Peter and Paul vulnerable in ways their stubborn selves likely could never have imagined.  They chose to embrace a way that led not to comfort and power, but to letting God have control over their lives.

So...before I write this sermon tomorrow, any thoughts on which of these you might be interested in hearing more about?  What captures you in these two stories?  Where do these two powerhouses call ordinary folks like us to responses that may not be as flashy, but that are equally important, as we encounter the risen Lord in our own lives?

Resurrection Responses

Our texts for this Sunday are Acts 10:34-43 and John 20:1-18, which can be read here.

As we prepare to celebrate Easter in the morning, an important caveat:  Easter is not a celebration of just a single day!  Actually, tomorrow is just the beginning of what are called "The Great Fifty Days" of Easter; over the next seven weeks, we will be returning to the resurrection again and again, trying with the earliest witnesses of the Risen Jesus to figure out what on earth just happened and what it means for us.  And then, actually, every Sunday is a "little Easter"--each Sunday is a day meant to celebrate and contemplate the resurrection, not just tomorrow!

This is a relief to me, because the resurrection is hard to get our minds and hearts and souls around.  It is unfathomable even to those who should have been most prepared for it--this is seen in the disciples' first responses of being pretty clueless and, after taking in the empty tomb, returning home and locking the door.  Jesus had told them this was going to happen; but still, they didn't know what to do with it.

What are we to do with the resurrection?  What does it do to us?  How do we respond to it, not just on the one day of Easter, but throughout our lives?  These are the questions we will be asking ourselves not just on Easter Sunday but throughout the Great Fifty Days and beyond. Jesus’ resurrection was not something people could hear about or experience and then just move on unchanged. It was an event that changed history and challenged all who learned of it to respond. And so, each week we will focus on a different character who learned of the risen Christ just hours, days, and years after the first Easter, considering how their lives were transformed. How are we, 2000 years later, still called to respond to the resurrection and live as Easter people, both individually and as Christ’s church?

We start with Mary Magdalene, who all four gospels agree was among the women who made it to the tomb before dawn on that inaugural Easter Day, and who was commissioned by Jesus as the first to share the news of the resurrection (I love how this encounter is depicted in the picture above, which I took of a sculpture in a Spanish mission church in Santa Barbara last year, as Mary sees Jesus outside the tomb). Join us as we celebrate the good news of Easter--that Jesus is standing beside us, even now, and that, as this great essay put it, "Resurrection is more than dead men walking: it points to the inbreaking of God’s rule over all that alienates itself from him." As we begin to encounter and respond to resurrection once again, thanks be to God for this news we need to hear again and again!

Solemn Reproaches

On this Good Friday, I would encourage you to read Psalm 78, which recounts God's deeds of love for God's people throughout history.  This Psalm is the basis of the text I would like to share with you for your reflection in the darkness of this night.

I had never heard the Solemn Reproaches of the Cross until I started participating in our Ecumenical Crosswalk Good Friday Service with the Methodist and Presbyterian churches in our community upon arriving at Broadneck 3 years ago.  Today, in our noonday service, I led them for the first time, and was absolutely undone in a way I did not expect by reading these words that have been read over the centuries by Christians to conclude Good Friday worship.  Each is crafted as a response to the amazing deeds of God as told in Psalm 78, with the concluding line that despite all God has done, "you have prepared a cross for your Savior."

Take time to read these tonight.  And may God's peace be with you as we keep vigil, waiting for the light of Sunday morning and the new life God is working to bring forth beyond all our brokenness.

O my people, O my church, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? Answer me. I led you out from the land of Egypt to make you free, but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

What more could I have done for you that I have not done? I planted you, my chosen and fairest vineyard; but when I was thirsty, you gave me vinegar to drink and pierced my side with a spear.

God, have mercy upon us.

I went before you in a pillar of cloud, and you have led me to the judgment seat of Pilate. I gave you a royal scepter, and the keys of the kingdom, but you have given me a crown of thorns.

God, have mercy upon us.

My peace I gave, which the world cannot give, and washed your feet as a sign of my love, but you draw the sword to strike in my name. I offered you my body and blood, but you scatter and deny and abandon me.

God, have mercy upon us.

I sent the Spirit of truth to guide you, and you close your hearts to Him. I pray that all may be one in the Father and me, but you continue to quarrel and divide, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I grafted you into the tree to my chosen Israel, and you turned on them with persecution and mass murder. I made you joint heirs with them of my covenants, but you made them scapegoats for your own guilt, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I came to you as the least of your brothers and sisters; I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. And you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.