This week's scriptures are Mark 1:21-28 and 1 Corinthians 8:1-13.
Some of us were having a conversation about the Markan passage for this week when Jeremy asked, "What is a demon doing in church?" Immediately my weird little mind started turning and you got the title for this week's blog.
Many of us remember the first "Take Your Daughter To Work Day." It's a wonderful idea in which our daughters were reminded though being with us at work that they could do and be anything they wanted to (not a bad idea for boys either). And over the years, it's borne fruit. You can see by the rise in the number of women in various professions that 50 years ago would have been almost unheard of.
"So what's this got to do with the passage from Mark?" you ask.
In Jesus' day a person with a demon was unclean. He or she had no business being in the synagogue. How did this one get in then? Maybe it was a quiet demon...one that spoke only to its victim: telling him what a rotten human being he was; how if anyone knew what he was really like, they'd hate and despise him; how God found him vile and would eventually destroy him.
Week after week this man went to the synagogue...desperate for a way to worship; yet secretly sure that he was damned; his demon whispering constantly in his ear. Imagine the emotional pain, the anguish of feeling this way.
Is it much different though than how many of us feel? We've become convinced somehow that some trauma in our lives, some behavior with which we struggle, some secret from our past as put us beyond God's redeeming love. We look at our friends and think, "if they only knew...." We try to pray, but the words catch in our throat. Whether you believe in demons as an entity or not; few of us would doubt that this kind of view of ourselves is 'demonic'.....evil, seperating us from the good that God desires for us.
It's no wonder that when Jesus showed up at the synagogue the demon broke its silence and screamed out in fear. And Jesus screamed back; telling the demon to go away and leave this child of God alone.
The Power of God is loose in the world. In Jesus that power took on the demon that seperated this man from God's love (whatever kind of demon it was) and restored him to both God and community.
The lie that our 'demons' tell us is that we don't belong in the community of faith, that God's love and forgiveness and redemption don't include us. They tell us that the community of faith is no place for us to be. They tell us that if we show up, we'd better hide who we really are and use the time to wallow in our shame and beat up on ourselves-rather than worship and praise the God who frees us and brings us home.
When our demons come into the presence of the One who is the Truth, then the gig is up. The lies they tell won't work any more. Oh, it doesn't always happen instantly, some things take time. But once we've met Truth and Love, and know that "nothing can seperate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" then our struggles and our labor take on a different meaning for us. They're not the agony of torture-unending and unrelenting, but the labor of a journey toward the wholeness that God intends for us all.
With this in mind, I declare this Sunday to be "Bring Your Demon To Church Sunday"....I've got Someone I'd like them to meet.
See you then.
Shalom,
Stephen
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Choices
This week's scriptures are Jonah 3:1-5, 3:10-4:11 and Mark 1:14-20.
This week's passages offer a lot of places to jump off and think about our relationship to God and to the gospel and its calls to us. Enough that it would probably take months to unwrap them all and examine them. (This, by the way, is one of the things that draws me to scripture: it is not a simple, straight line, but a deep and complex, multi-layered thing. Much like our lives in God.)
Having said that, let me touch on some of the places that I can see these passages possibly taking us this week. Obviously I will wind up at one of them for Sunday's sermon (not sure which one yet), but I'd also like to invite you-as fellow Christians involved in the 'priesthood of all believers'-to follow some of them out yourself in your own prayer and study.
One of the first thinks that we notice in the Markan passage is that Jesus calls the disciples-and us-in the middle of our normal, daily activity. If we're waiting for Jesus to speak to us; if we're praying and listening; we are most likely to hear His voice in the middle of the ordinary.
Second, I'd like to say something about the part of the Jonah story that isn't in the passages for Sunday (but which will, undoubtedly be mentioned); Jonah's being swallowed by the whale.
This Hebrew parable (which is what I think the story of Jonah is) is, at least partially, about how we respond to God's call to us. That call includes an embracing of the fact that God's love is inclusive of all humankind. This is what Jonah was running from when he headed off in the opposite direction from Nineveh where he had been called to speak a prophetic word. Jonah's rejection of that inclusiveness and his pouting in Jonah 4 at God's grace, reflect the attitude which landed him in the belly of the fish. God's will is going to be done. We (and Jonah) can be part of that completion or we can stay in the belly of the fish until we decide to get on board.
And finally, we might want to look at the comparison between the responses of the disciples in Mark and that of Jonah. Jonah hears the call and runs. He wants no part of an inclusive God-doesn't even want to warn them-and throws a pout when God spares Nineveh. The disciples, we are told by Mark, immediately dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus. They didn't know where the road would lead, they only knew that they had been called; and they followed.
So what about us? What is our response to God's inclusive love; a love that includes our enemies as well as our friends? What about our response to God's love for us-warts and all? We do not know where that love and that call will take us, and it's a scary moment when we look into the depths of that great love. Will we run...and land in the 'belly of the fish'; or will we drop everything and follow Jesus?
Let's talk about it more on Sunday. I hope to see you there.
Shalom,
Stephen
This week's passages offer a lot of places to jump off and think about our relationship to God and to the gospel and its calls to us. Enough that it would probably take months to unwrap them all and examine them. (This, by the way, is one of the things that draws me to scripture: it is not a simple, straight line, but a deep and complex, multi-layered thing. Much like our lives in God.)
Having said that, let me touch on some of the places that I can see these passages possibly taking us this week. Obviously I will wind up at one of them for Sunday's sermon (not sure which one yet), but I'd also like to invite you-as fellow Christians involved in the 'priesthood of all believers'-to follow some of them out yourself in your own prayer and study.
One of the first thinks that we notice in the Markan passage is that Jesus calls the disciples-and us-in the middle of our normal, daily activity. If we're waiting for Jesus to speak to us; if we're praying and listening; we are most likely to hear His voice in the middle of the ordinary.
Second, I'd like to say something about the part of the Jonah story that isn't in the passages for Sunday (but which will, undoubtedly be mentioned); Jonah's being swallowed by the whale.
This Hebrew parable (which is what I think the story of Jonah is) is, at least partially, about how we respond to God's call to us. That call includes an embracing of the fact that God's love is inclusive of all humankind. This is what Jonah was running from when he headed off in the opposite direction from Nineveh where he had been called to speak a prophetic word. Jonah's rejection of that inclusiveness and his pouting in Jonah 4 at God's grace, reflect the attitude which landed him in the belly of the fish. God's will is going to be done. We (and Jonah) can be part of that completion or we can stay in the belly of the fish until we decide to get on board.
And finally, we might want to look at the comparison between the responses of the disciples in Mark and that of Jonah. Jonah hears the call and runs. He wants no part of an inclusive God-doesn't even want to warn them-and throws a pout when God spares Nineveh. The disciples, we are told by Mark, immediately dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus. They didn't know where the road would lead, they only knew that they had been called; and they followed.
So what about us? What is our response to God's inclusive love; a love that includes our enemies as well as our friends? What about our response to God's love for us-warts and all? We do not know where that love and that call will take us, and it's a scary moment when we look into the depths of that great love. Will we run...and land in the 'belly of the fish'; or will we drop everything and follow Jesus?
Let's talk about it more on Sunday. I hope to see you there.
Shalom,
Stephen
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Speak....I'm Listening
This week's scriptures are 1 Samuel 3 and John 1:43-51.
Many of us grew up on the Bible story of Samuel being called by God in the middle of the night. As a kid, I could picture him getting up from his bed and running in to Eli saying, "you called me...here I am" and Eli sending him back to bed those two times before he caught on the third time that God was calling Samuel.
After that, Eli told Samuel that if he heard the voice again he was to respond, "speak Lord, for your servant heareth" (I memorized it in King James English in Sunday School...can't help it).
There are a couple of reasons why Eli and Samuel might not have caught on to who was doing the talking. The first is found in verse 1 where we're told that "in those days the word of the Lord was rarely heard, and there was n outpouring of vision." The second is that "Samuel had not yet come to know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not been disclosed to him" (verse 7).
Neither Eli or Samuel (for different reasons) was tuned in to the idea that God might be saying something here; that the 'disturbance' might be God created.
Nathanael, on the other hand, rejects the idea of Jesus being the Messiah when his brother Philip comes to tell him about it based on where Jesus came from. Nathanael's first comment is, "what good can come out of Nazareth?" Now this may have been a reflection on the lack of scriptural connection to Nazareth; or it may have been a slur on that little podunk place that was nowhere near as good as Cana in Nathanael's mind.
In any event, all three of these folks could well have missed what God was doing based on their biases and presuppositions. These had to be overcome before any of them could say, out loud or internally, "Speak.....I'm listening."
I wonder about us. What biases and presuppositions about how God is going to do things have blocked us from hearing something that God was trying to say to us?
In my own life, I try to pay attention to my dreams as one of the ways that God talks to me. Part of the reason for this is that when I'm awake I often have so much stuff buzzing around in my head, so much that has to be done, so much that I'm busy being anxious about....that I can't be still enough to listen. It's often only when sleep makes me be still that I can be open to hear what God may have been trying to tell me all day long. Sometimes I've missed the (in this case) warning during the day, and then ignored it when it came in my dreams, only to find on down the line that I'd been given plenty of opportunity to avoid the emotional 'pothole' that I stepped in.
Being open, listening, expecting that God will be speaking to us causes us to approach our day and our world in a radically different way. What would happen if we went to sleep saying, "speak to me tonight God, I'm listening" and if we woke up and began the day asking, "Lord, let me be open to what You're trying to tell me today."
I wish I could tell you that this particular spiritual discipline is an ongoing part of my life every day. But it's not. I'm growing into it. What I can tell you is taht the times that I do make myself this vulnerable, this open to what God is trying to say and do in my life the results have been immeasurably important in my growth as a Christian and in my attempt to live out my faith day to day. I can also tell you that it's often very, very scary; because God is frequently leading me places that I've been avoiding (which is probably one of the reasons I'm not as disciplined at it as I would like to be).
A final question: what would happen if a whole faith community attempted that spiritual discipline for even a week? It's an interesting thought isn't it?
See you Sunday.
Shalom,
Stephen
Many of us grew up on the Bible story of Samuel being called by God in the middle of the night. As a kid, I could picture him getting up from his bed and running in to Eli saying, "you called me...here I am" and Eli sending him back to bed those two times before he caught on the third time that God was calling Samuel.
After that, Eli told Samuel that if he heard the voice again he was to respond, "speak Lord, for your servant heareth" (I memorized it in King James English in Sunday School...can't help it).
There are a couple of reasons why Eli and Samuel might not have caught on to who was doing the talking. The first is found in verse 1 where we're told that "in those days the word of the Lord was rarely heard, and there was n outpouring of vision." The second is that "Samuel had not yet come to know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not been disclosed to him" (verse 7).
Neither Eli or Samuel (for different reasons) was tuned in to the idea that God might be saying something here; that the 'disturbance' might be God created.
Nathanael, on the other hand, rejects the idea of Jesus being the Messiah when his brother Philip comes to tell him about it based on where Jesus came from. Nathanael's first comment is, "what good can come out of Nazareth?" Now this may have been a reflection on the lack of scriptural connection to Nazareth; or it may have been a slur on that little podunk place that was nowhere near as good as Cana in Nathanael's mind.
In any event, all three of these folks could well have missed what God was doing based on their biases and presuppositions. These had to be overcome before any of them could say, out loud or internally, "Speak.....I'm listening."
I wonder about us. What biases and presuppositions about how God is going to do things have blocked us from hearing something that God was trying to say to us?
In my own life, I try to pay attention to my dreams as one of the ways that God talks to me. Part of the reason for this is that when I'm awake I often have so much stuff buzzing around in my head, so much that has to be done, so much that I'm busy being anxious about....that I can't be still enough to listen. It's often only when sleep makes me be still that I can be open to hear what God may have been trying to tell me all day long. Sometimes I've missed the (in this case) warning during the day, and then ignored it when it came in my dreams, only to find on down the line that I'd been given plenty of opportunity to avoid the emotional 'pothole' that I stepped in.
Being open, listening, expecting that God will be speaking to us causes us to approach our day and our world in a radically different way. What would happen if we went to sleep saying, "speak to me tonight God, I'm listening" and if we woke up and began the day asking, "Lord, let me be open to what You're trying to tell me today."
I wish I could tell you that this particular spiritual discipline is an ongoing part of my life every day. But it's not. I'm growing into it. What I can tell you is taht the times that I do make myself this vulnerable, this open to what God is trying to say and do in my life the results have been immeasurably important in my growth as a Christian and in my attempt to live out my faith day to day. I can also tell you that it's often very, very scary; because God is frequently leading me places that I've been avoiding (which is probably one of the reasons I'm not as disciplined at it as I would like to be).
A final question: what would happen if a whole faith community attempted that spiritual discipline for even a week? It's an interesting thought isn't it?
See you Sunday.
Shalom,
Stephen
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
This week's scriptures are Psalm 29 and Mark 1:4-11.
Do you remember the old question that became repeatedly famous in both the Nixon and the last Bush administration: "What did the president know, and when did he know it?"
The story of the baptism of Jesus raises a similar question for us. "What did Jesus know about His call to present the Kingdom of God, and when did He know it?" Did He grow into His understanding? Did it come in a flash? Or was it something that was there all along?
In Jesus' milieu it was not unusual for persons to hear voices. Nor was it unusual that those voices would quote scripture. What was critical was the passage that Jesus heard. That Jesus would hear the words of Isaiah might well have helped to focus His understanding of His call. The picture that Isaiah paints of what the messiah would do and be was one of inclusivity and compassion...themes that pervade Jesus' teachings and ministry.
There are a number of reasons why these questions might be important to us. One of them has to do with the idea that Jesus experienced life like we do. Very few of us come into the world with a clear sense of who we are and what we're called to be. Some of us spend the greatest part of our lives trying to find our place. For many it takes almost a lifetime. Winston Churchill was in his 60s before he came to the task that his whole life seemed to be moving him toward...prior to that time, to call him 'unsuccessful' would be a kindness. That Jesus would come into the world with an immediate, clear understanding of who He was and what He was to do-all from the very beginning-leaves Him outside the human experience of growth and struggle.
A second reason is the fact that once He got a vision of what He was called to, Jesus followed it clearly....even when it alienated Him from the religious structures he had grown up with. Such an understanding of call, and our responsibility to it once heard, offers us a powerful example. Jesus listened; and when He heard, He obeyed.
We'll spend some time Sunday exploring this further. We'll also be celebrating the inclusiveness of Jesus' ministry as we gather for Communion.
I hope to see you then.
Shalom,
Stephen
Do you remember the old question that became repeatedly famous in both the Nixon and the last Bush administration: "What did the president know, and when did he know it?"
The story of the baptism of Jesus raises a similar question for us. "What did Jesus know about His call to present the Kingdom of God, and when did He know it?" Did He grow into His understanding? Did it come in a flash? Or was it something that was there all along?
In Jesus' milieu it was not unusual for persons to hear voices. Nor was it unusual that those voices would quote scripture. What was critical was the passage that Jesus heard. That Jesus would hear the words of Isaiah might well have helped to focus His understanding of His call. The picture that Isaiah paints of what the messiah would do and be was one of inclusivity and compassion...themes that pervade Jesus' teachings and ministry.
There are a number of reasons why these questions might be important to us. One of them has to do with the idea that Jesus experienced life like we do. Very few of us come into the world with a clear sense of who we are and what we're called to be. Some of us spend the greatest part of our lives trying to find our place. For many it takes almost a lifetime. Winston Churchill was in his 60s before he came to the task that his whole life seemed to be moving him toward...prior to that time, to call him 'unsuccessful' would be a kindness. That Jesus would come into the world with an immediate, clear understanding of who He was and what He was to do-all from the very beginning-leaves Him outside the human experience of growth and struggle.
A second reason is the fact that once He got a vision of what He was called to, Jesus followed it clearly....even when it alienated Him from the religious structures he had grown up with. Such an understanding of call, and our responsibility to it once heard, offers us a powerful example. Jesus listened; and when He heard, He obeyed.
We'll spend some time Sunday exploring this further. We'll also be celebrating the inclusiveness of Jesus' ministry as we gather for Communion.
I hope to see you then.
Shalom,
Stephen
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
How We Come Home May Be As Important as That We Come Home
This week's scriptures are Jeremiah 31:7-14 and Ephesians 1:3-14, 2:4-10.
In the latest edition of the Christian Century magazine is a vigorous discussion about the right of Israel to the land in Palestine. The various writers range from those who believe that the right of Israel is based in a promise from God which over rules everything else; to some very thoughtful discussion of God's call to treat its neighbors as though they too were Israel.
This argument might be simply academic if it weren't for the fact that a great deal of American policy toward Israel has been affected by the theological stance of both Zionists and conservative Christians. And it becomes an even more important discussion in light of the current military retaliation by Israel in its attempt to destroy Hammas.
The problems of Israel and Palestine are incredibly complex. And I am not wise enough to have a solution to this centuries old problem. But I would suggest that any viewpoint about the current situation that ignores the radical disparity in military capacity between Israel and the areas being attacked (i.e. the age and quality of the weapons); as well as the practice of the Israeli army in bulldozing Palestinian homes in south Gaza and their impact on the political situation in the region is both politically and theologically naive.
The rhythm and flow of Israel movement in and out of exile is part of the scriptural basis for the discussions noted above. It is also the context for our Jeremiah passage which is a promise of homecoming and restoration. The Ephesians passages are similarly Paul's claim that the believers had been chosen by God to be raised up as an example of God's great mercy. The pattern to the discourse is similar: once we were seperated/exile; now we are brought home from the places (geographically/spiritually/emotionally) to which we have been scattered. This is God's action in the historical moment.
The danger for all of us is that we can come to view and interprete these passages as a kind of triumphalism....a sign of entitlement....as opposed to expressions of God's mercy that call us to a quality of life with our neighbors...be they Palestinians or folks who live around the corner on Cape St. Claire.
Let me push this a little further. During the holidays many of us are reminded of where we came from. We go home to see family, we recieve Christmas cards, we make phone calls. Some of those memories warm our hearts. Some of them are not pleasant at all. Some of our memories have to do with how far the pains of our past may have taken us into destructive or harmful behaviors...and how long it took us to come back to health and spirituality and relationship.
I'm going to maintain that the quality of our homecoming...whether it is Israel's desire for a homeland or your and my connection/re-connection to our family of origin....has a great deal to do with how we treat the 'neighbor' we find there.
We can come home as though it's something we're entitled to and bring all our bitterness and rage and desire for revenge with us; and we'll sour the very moments that we once prayed for. We'll bomb villages, snip at relatives, and make ourselves miserable in the way that only a good resentment can. Or, we can follow the guidance of scripture. We can see all our neighbors as like ourselves. Loved by God....searching for healing....on their journey home too.
Family systems theory talks about how intergenerationally a family can be trying to heal an old wound over and over and over again. The patterns repeat from one generation to another. Just as Israel went out into exile again and again, these families repeat the patterns of illness and addiction and pain.
Maybe the trick, internationally as well as interpersonally and intrapersonally, is to see our 'home' as gift. To respond in gratitude. To live, not out of entitlement but out of blessing. Just like the Israelites were told when they brought in their crops to "leave something for the sojourner, for you were once sojourners in Egypt"...maybe we are told 'respond with compassion to those who move you to resentment; for once you were resented, yet God came to you in compassion.'
What would this new year be like if our lives were marked by that kind of biblical obedience?
Hope to see you Sunday.
Shalom,
Stephen
In the latest edition of the Christian Century magazine is a vigorous discussion about the right of Israel to the land in Palestine. The various writers range from those who believe that the right of Israel is based in a promise from God which over rules everything else; to some very thoughtful discussion of God's call to treat its neighbors as though they too were Israel.
This argument might be simply academic if it weren't for the fact that a great deal of American policy toward Israel has been affected by the theological stance of both Zionists and conservative Christians. And it becomes an even more important discussion in light of the current military retaliation by Israel in its attempt to destroy Hammas.
The problems of Israel and Palestine are incredibly complex. And I am not wise enough to have a solution to this centuries old problem. But I would suggest that any viewpoint about the current situation that ignores the radical disparity in military capacity between Israel and the areas being attacked (i.e. the age and quality of the weapons); as well as the practice of the Israeli army in bulldozing Palestinian homes in south Gaza and their impact on the political situation in the region is both politically and theologically naive.
The rhythm and flow of Israel movement in and out of exile is part of the scriptural basis for the discussions noted above. It is also the context for our Jeremiah passage which is a promise of homecoming and restoration. The Ephesians passages are similarly Paul's claim that the believers had been chosen by God to be raised up as an example of God's great mercy. The pattern to the discourse is similar: once we were seperated/exile; now we are brought home from the places (geographically/spiritually/emotionally) to which we have been scattered. This is God's action in the historical moment.
The danger for all of us is that we can come to view and interprete these passages as a kind of triumphalism....a sign of entitlement....as opposed to expressions of God's mercy that call us to a quality of life with our neighbors...be they Palestinians or folks who live around the corner on Cape St. Claire.
Let me push this a little further. During the holidays many of us are reminded of where we came from. We go home to see family, we recieve Christmas cards, we make phone calls. Some of those memories warm our hearts. Some of them are not pleasant at all. Some of our memories have to do with how far the pains of our past may have taken us into destructive or harmful behaviors...and how long it took us to come back to health and spirituality and relationship.
I'm going to maintain that the quality of our homecoming...whether it is Israel's desire for a homeland or your and my connection/re-connection to our family of origin....has a great deal to do with how we treat the 'neighbor' we find there.
We can come home as though it's something we're entitled to and bring all our bitterness and rage and desire for revenge with us; and we'll sour the very moments that we once prayed for. We'll bomb villages, snip at relatives, and make ourselves miserable in the way that only a good resentment can. Or, we can follow the guidance of scripture. We can see all our neighbors as like ourselves. Loved by God....searching for healing....on their journey home too.
Family systems theory talks about how intergenerationally a family can be trying to heal an old wound over and over and over again. The patterns repeat from one generation to another. Just as Israel went out into exile again and again, these families repeat the patterns of illness and addiction and pain.
Maybe the trick, internationally as well as interpersonally and intrapersonally, is to see our 'home' as gift. To respond in gratitude. To live, not out of entitlement but out of blessing. Just like the Israelites were told when they brought in their crops to "leave something for the sojourner, for you were once sojourners in Egypt"...maybe we are told 'respond with compassion to those who move you to resentment; for once you were resented, yet God came to you in compassion.'
What would this new year be like if our lives were marked by that kind of biblical obedience?
Hope to see you Sunday.
Shalom,
Stephen
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Waiting Expectantly
This week's scriptures are Isaiah 52:1-13 and Luke 2:22-40.
UCC minister Ozzie Smith, in a sermon on this Lukan passage tells the story that Harriette Tubman was know to wait in railroad stations without a schedule or knowing when the trains would be running. When asked about this, she is said to have replied that she knew the train would be coming. She trusted that the tracks had been laid and the station built for a reason.
Simeon and Anna trusted. They waited. And because they waited they saw what they had been promised.
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve service. It was a worship service about a promise. The promise that this baby was the Messiah; that his coming was going to be the thing that brought in the Kingdom of God.
Now this is an interesting promise because it's both a "here now" and an "it's coming" promise. We're promised some things in 'end times' language: God will speak the last word and that last word will be rooted in God's love for God's creation...you and me included. It's also "here and now" language. We're told that "the kingdom of God is within you" and that this kingdom is here, now among us.
Both of these promises require a particular kind of faith. It is the faith of Simeon and Anna. It is the faith of Harriette Tubman. The faith to look and see that the track has been laid...so the train that the track was built to run on will come. The promise made to Simeon and Anna will be kept; and they will see God's glory revealed.
Sometimes it's hard to have the eyes to see the track though. We have difficulty believing that this isn't some mirage...what Marx referred to as "the opiate of the people." A figment of our imagination meant to pull our attention away from the difficulties that surround us. But what we find is that when we trust, when we have faith that the train really is running, we also find that we move toward, not away, from the pain and the trouble. Not because we are some kind of spiritual masochist, but because we trust that in moving, in trust, toward the places of need and pain in the world and in our lives, we are moving toward the healing that has been promised.
The tinsel may fade. The lights may seem to have dimmed. But the promise...the promise is as fresh today as when it was made to Isaiah...was made flesh in the birth of Jesus...and breaks into our world on a daily basis.
Simeon believed. Anna believed. You and I are called to believe. Like Tubman waiting for a train we trust and live and wait for the glory of God to break through.
Merry Christmas.
Shalom,
Stephen
UCC minister Ozzie Smith, in a sermon on this Lukan passage tells the story that Harriette Tubman was know to wait in railroad stations without a schedule or knowing when the trains would be running. When asked about this, she is said to have replied that she knew the train would be coming. She trusted that the tracks had been laid and the station built for a reason.
Simeon and Anna trusted. They waited. And because they waited they saw what they had been promised.
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve service. It was a worship service about a promise. The promise that this baby was the Messiah; that his coming was going to be the thing that brought in the Kingdom of God.
Now this is an interesting promise because it's both a "here now" and an "it's coming" promise. We're promised some things in 'end times' language: God will speak the last word and that last word will be rooted in God's love for God's creation...you and me included. It's also "here and now" language. We're told that "the kingdom of God is within you" and that this kingdom is here, now among us.
Both of these promises require a particular kind of faith. It is the faith of Simeon and Anna. It is the faith of Harriette Tubman. The faith to look and see that the track has been laid...so the train that the track was built to run on will come. The promise made to Simeon and Anna will be kept; and they will see God's glory revealed.
Sometimes it's hard to have the eyes to see the track though. We have difficulty believing that this isn't some mirage...what Marx referred to as "the opiate of the people." A figment of our imagination meant to pull our attention away from the difficulties that surround us. But what we find is that when we trust, when we have faith that the train really is running, we also find that we move toward, not away, from the pain and the trouble. Not because we are some kind of spiritual masochist, but because we trust that in moving, in trust, toward the places of need and pain in the world and in our lives, we are moving toward the healing that has been promised.
The tinsel may fade. The lights may seem to have dimmed. But the promise...the promise is as fresh today as when it was made to Isaiah...was made flesh in the birth of Jesus...and breaks into our world on a daily basis.
Simeon believed. Anna believed. You and I are called to believe. Like Tubman waiting for a train we trust and live and wait for the glory of God to break through.
Merry Christmas.
Shalom,
Stephen
Monday, December 15, 2008
Subversive Scriptures and Banned Bible Verses
This week's scriptures are Luke 1:26-38 and Luke 1:46-55.
I was intrigued as I began reading and preparing for this coming Sunday's sermon to find that in the 1980's the government of Guatemala prohibited the public reading of the Magnificat, or the Song of Mary.
Listen to the word and you will not find it particularly difficult to understand why:
He has scattered the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from
their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good
things,
and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:51-53)
I found myself remembering the little cards that we would get at Vacation Bible School. They had five to ten bible verses on them and we would get a gold star next to the ones we memorized. Some of you may remember them as well. The were filled with verses like "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" and "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" and other verses that spoke to the need for salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus. Now I believe that a deep and personal relationship with Jesus is what we are invited to; but I also believe that this relationship calls us, among other things, to acts of justice and mercy. This is part of living as God's people in imitation of our Savior.
I don't remember any verses on those cards that said, "He has brought down the powerful from their thones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" or "I take no pleasure in your sacred cermonies...Spare me the sound of your songs, I shall not listen to the strumming of your lutes. Instead let justice roll down like water and rightousness like an everflowing stream." (Amos 5:21 and 23-24).
I deeply appreciated Jeremy and Susan's singing of Rebel Jesus on this past Sunday. They reminded us that it is too easy to let this wild, subversive, 'turn the world on it's head' Gospel be co-opted as a tool for the status quo, the oppressor, the systemic blindness to the cry of those around us who suffer.
Mary knew in the depth of her being that what was growing in her was a new world. The baby she welcomed as "the handmaiden of the Lord" would bring about a radical change in creation.
Next time you hear the Magnificat...listen to the words. Enjoy the music; it is truly beautiful. But listen to the words of this marvelous young woman who knows in every fiber of her being that something new is about to happen.
And so the questions come to us this season: Are you and I that open, that willing for God to use us? Do we see something new and radical and powerful about to happen in our world because of how we have said "yes" to God's invitation to give birth to some new part of God's work of redemption?
God broke in at Christmas in a unique and marvelous way...becoming flesh-one of us. But God also continues to break in to our world; birthing freedom, and redemption, and healing whenever and wherever we raise our voices like Mary and say, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
See you Sunday.
Shalom,
Stephen
I was intrigued as I began reading and preparing for this coming Sunday's sermon to find that in the 1980's the government of Guatemala prohibited the public reading of the Magnificat, or the Song of Mary.
Listen to the word and you will not find it particularly difficult to understand why:
He has scattered the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from
their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good
things,
and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:51-53)
I found myself remembering the little cards that we would get at Vacation Bible School. They had five to ten bible verses on them and we would get a gold star next to the ones we memorized. Some of you may remember them as well. The were filled with verses like "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" and "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" and other verses that spoke to the need for salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus. Now I believe that a deep and personal relationship with Jesus is what we are invited to; but I also believe that this relationship calls us, among other things, to acts of justice and mercy. This is part of living as God's people in imitation of our Savior.
I don't remember any verses on those cards that said, "He has brought down the powerful from their thones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" or "I take no pleasure in your sacred cermonies...Spare me the sound of your songs, I shall not listen to the strumming of your lutes. Instead let justice roll down like water and rightousness like an everflowing stream." (Amos 5:21 and 23-24).
I deeply appreciated Jeremy and Susan's singing of Rebel Jesus on this past Sunday. They reminded us that it is too easy to let this wild, subversive, 'turn the world on it's head' Gospel be co-opted as a tool for the status quo, the oppressor, the systemic blindness to the cry of those around us who suffer.
Mary knew in the depth of her being that what was growing in her was a new world. The baby she welcomed as "the handmaiden of the Lord" would bring about a radical change in creation.
Next time you hear the Magnificat...listen to the words. Enjoy the music; it is truly beautiful. But listen to the words of this marvelous young woman who knows in every fiber of her being that something new is about to happen.
And so the questions come to us this season: Are you and I that open, that willing for God to use us? Do we see something new and radical and powerful about to happen in our world because of how we have said "yes" to God's invitation to give birth to some new part of God's work of redemption?
God broke in at Christmas in a unique and marvelous way...becoming flesh-one of us. But God also continues to break in to our world; birthing freedom, and redemption, and healing whenever and wherever we raise our voices like Mary and say, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
See you Sunday.
Shalom,
Stephen
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