Grounded and Rooted in Love

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 9), Year B

2 Samuel 5.1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48
2 Corinthians 12.2-10
Mark 6.1-33

Sometimes we try to diminish it, but physicality is important.

Again and again as we read through the sacred texts of Judaism and
Christianity we find a lot of importance given to physical things like
places and bodies.

Often folks talk about how God is everywhere and how we as individual
believers don't need to be in any one place to commune with God.
Well, we think that is mostly true. However, whether we look to our
own individual experiences or we look to the stories we find in
scripture, we see that while there is not necessarily any one place
people must go to commune with God, there are certainly places where
it seems to the presence of God is "more present" or more available or
more accessible or something.

And specific physical locations and specific aspects of our own bodies
seem to be important to our own spirituality and how we interact with
one another and with ourselves and with God.

As we look toward the Hebrew text for the week, it is no secret even
today how important the physicality of the dirt and stones and olive
trees of Israel or Palestine or Judea or Hebron or the City of David
are. For the Israelites, who were once slaves without their own
"place," the land is critically important and God-given.  The
political stake of land protection and domination mixes and mingles in
this text with the spiritual connection that they feel for these
places.  Truly, their geopolitical interests arise from their
understanding of what God has done for them.  David's kingship over
these places is real because "the LORD, the God of hosts, was with
him."  Think of the importance of place as we approach the birthday of
our purple mountain's majesty and amber waves of grain.

The psalmist writes in praise of Zion, the place from which God's
protection emanates.  It is intriguing to us that it is the
expectation that it was the physical glory of Zion that would bear
witness to the next generation about the glory and power of God.
These praises are written, like 1 and 2 Samuel, as a reflection during
the reign of David, a uniquely unified time in the political history
of Judah and Israel.  But the unity, the good times, the developing
infrastructure must have held great promise.

And then, in the gospel of Mark, we see Jesus returning to his
hometown.  Many of us probably have feelings about "hometown."  Maybe
hometown is a place of refuge and comfort.  For others, it might be a
reminder of the things and places of the past that we choose to
escape.  Jesus has been in ministry with the apostles and has been
teaching and performing miracles outside of his hometown. Perhaps he
was expecting to arrive in his hometown to be recognized for "Who" he
was.  But they were sort of astounded by the teachings he brought, as
if he was somehow out of bounds as a carpenter and hometown boy to be
speaking and acting in the way that he was.

In Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth, he does not directly
address place, but he does talk about receiving a special revelation.
This sort of revelation via cosmic journey was sort of "in vogue"
among Jewish writers in the era in which Paul wrote.  It was through
this revelation that Paul claims to embrace his weakness as a human,
to endure criticism, hardship and persecution because in Christ, he is
strong.

We are bodily creatures attuned to the places in which we dwell...our
work, our home, our hometowns, our holy spots.  And we wonder, is God
equally present in all of these places?  Do we invite God to be
equally present in all of these places? Or does God "belong" somewhere
specific in our lives.

What places seem sacred to you?  Why?
Where are you at home?  Is God's presence known there? Why or why not?

God of sand and trees and rocks and air...
Guide each of us as we discover, and return to,
the places we find and have found you.
Help us as we attempt to respect and rest in Your Presence
in us and in the buildings and people and mountains and rivers
where you have made yourself known.
Help us as we attempt to follow you.
Amen.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 8), Year B

2 Samuel 1.1, 17-27
Psalm 130
2 Corinthians 8.7-15
Mark 5.21-43

In a wonderful book titled All Our Losses, All Our Griefs, Kenneth Mitchell and Herbert Anderson work with this basic premise:  All change is loss.  All losses must be mourned.

All change is loss.

All losses must be mourned.

We can experience relational losses, functional losses, material losses, intrapsychic losses (losing images of one's self or losing future possibilities), role losses, and systemic losses (someone changes offices or a family member moves out of the house or a person leaves an important position in a church).  Losses can be both avoidable and unavoidable.  We can lose things that were important to us and we can loose things that were painful to us.  Whether we liked them or not, when something changes a hole is created.  All losses must be acknowledged and mourned.

This week's lectionary readings show folks being confronted with and processing (mourning) different kinds of change in their lives.

The text from 2 Samuel is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Israel.  David is receiving word of Saul's death.  This military defeat is seen as a defeat of the God of Israel -- David had respected Saul as "the Lord's anointed."  Upon word of his death, David lashes out and has the messenger killed.  Then he "intoned this lamentation" -- he sang a song of mourning and lament.  He praised Saul and his son and called the Israelites to mourning.  He pours out his own pain and anguish.  If you read past the selected text, David then goes on to seek the Lord's wisdom for his next act, and after he is anointed king, he praises the community that had collected Saul's body and respected it with burial.
 
Psalm 130 is also a lament.  The Israelites understood deep within their culture the importance of looking at their grief, speaking to it, naming it and laying it before God.  In their laments, there is also hope.  They look forward to a return to normal - not a normal that was, but a new normal that will be.
 
From the Gospel of Mark, we have intertwined tales of 2 miracles.  Jesus has just gotten off the boat in which he calmed the stormy sea, and he's almost immediately approached by Jairus, who is beside himself because his daughter is dying.  He has sought out Jesus because he believes that this man can do something.  Imagine the scene - Jesus agrees to walk along with this man.  Jesus is attracting crowds and people are curious about the rumors they are hearing.  It would seem by now that there might be sort of a non-stop stream of miracle seekers stalking Jesus.  As the crowd follows along, a woman reaches out in desperation and touches his garment.  And in a moment, she is cured of a lifelong bleeding problem and Jesus is somehow aware that healing power has just gone out from him.  He speaks briefly to to woman, and assures her that it is her faith that has made her well (can you imagine?....what would you have left to talk / complain about if a pain you had known all your life was suddenly gone?).  He then proceeds to Jairus' house, where the gathered are already in mourning for a dead girl.  But Jesus shocks them all, sends them away and gathers the girl's parents to her side. "Wake up, little girl."  And she wakes.  Now these are stories not about seeming loss, but about restoration and gain.  But how quickly everyone's circumstances changed.  Things that people were living with - that they thought they knew - were changed, and all of them left the scene having to integrate these changes in to their lives.

Finally, in Paul's second letter to the church and Corinth, he is appealing to the community for money, a collection, to help the "poor."  It's actually a stewardship Sunday speech that he's giving them, reminding them that Jesus humbled himself in death so that they can have life in abundance (grace). Out of that abundance, they can provide others with abundance in times of need.  Not really about loss so much, right?  Well, this letter was written late in Paul's ministry in the Mediterranean.  That means that the early church is approaching a second generation of members past the death of Jesus.  There are few left, if any, who would have known Jesus' teachings directly.  What sort of loss do organizations experience when a leader goes away, dies, or changes?  The epistles are largely Paul's counsel passed on to communities trying to find their way in changing circumstances.  There are persecutions going on around them.  There are false prophets claiming to have the next answer.  There is the unfulfilled expectation of Jesus' return to set everything to rights.  Change and loss are everywhere.
 
When something changes, a hole is created. 

All losses must be acknowledged and mourned.
 
Where do you hide losses that you are unprepared to mourn?
How do you mourn?  Who do you invite to mourn with you?  Why?
 
Creator...
I think sometimes that creation
is always about generation...
about new emerging from old or void.
And perhaps it is.
Perhaps new holes in my heart
are indeed new creation. 
But it hurts
and you feel so far away.
Everything feels
so far away.
Help me find rest in this space
and time and emptiness.
Amen.

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 7), Year B

Job 38.1-11
Psalm 107. 1-3, 23-32
2 Corinthians 6.1-13
Mark 4.35-41

Wouldn't it be great if we could at least have a list of all the things we did not know?  It seems like it would somehow be helpful to at least know what it is we don't know.  Most of us have a decent grasp on the fact that we do not know everything, but it is often hard to specifically know exactly what it is we don't know at all or what we don't fully understand about the things we do know a little about.  Maybe that would be a step in the direction of a little more humility in the world and in our relationships.

And speaking of things we do not know....maybe there are some things we just cannot know.  No matter how deep or how far the methods of science and discovery can take us, maybe there are just some things that we as humans to not have the ability or capacity to grasp.  Maybe we are not meant to fully understand how the univerise was created, maybe we are not capable of identifying genetic causes of all diseases, maybe it will always remain a mystery why there are so many single socks in our laundry room.

And, traditionally, in most belief systems when faced with a mystery, the response is often (some version of) "Only God Knows" or "Let Go and Let Yahweh" or "It is all in Allah's Hands", etc.

This week our lectionary readings have us look at some of the things we don't know and some of the things folks in the stories didn't even know they didn't know.

The first scripture is such a great example, we could stop with it.  The story of Job is one that lots of folks swing around for a lot of different purposes.  Often people want to focus on the topic of Job being "tested" or on how Job lost everything and then was returned to material wealth, but (for us) the important part of Job comes in the last three chapters.  Chapter after chapter recount Job and his friends questioning each other and questioning Job as to why he lost his family and material success.  And then we get to chapter 38 where it says "and God answered Job out of the whirlwind..."  Job and his friends spent a lot of time trying to answer a question it was not theirs to answer.  God responds to Job and reminds him that there are some things known only by God.

In Psalm 107 we have several verses that describes God Redeeming people from a variety of trouble and distress.  It is a description of folks being "saved" from situations and contexts in which folks normally perish...it is a description of things happening that are not explicable by any human logic...some things are only possible and only understood by God.

In Paul's letter to the followers of Jesus in Corinth he offers many examples of the reasons he and his fellow followers of Jesus should have been killed or changed their minds, but somehow and for some reason they have made it through.  Verses 2-10 are a beautiful testimony by someone who knows what he doesn't know.  Paul knows that he shouldn't have survived those tests and trials and that it is only by the Grace of God that he is still there.

In Mark we see another Classic Bible Story.  Jesus and the disciples get on a boat to cross the sea, a violent storm blows in, the disciples get frightened and ask Jesus to do something, Jesus speaks directly to the storm and the sea, and then Jesus points out to the disciples something that they did not know they did not know.  Jesus stops the wind and the waves in a way that no human can do.  And then he points out to the disciples a lesson they had not really been faced with so far--they did not know that Faith was something that they might not have fully developed, that they could develop and that with their faith, they might be able to overcome the fear instilled by a violent storm out on the sea.
 
The scope of what we do not know - what we cannot know - is sometimes too hard to comprehend and maybe (just maybe) our pride gets in the way of our admitting to what we cannot know.
 
Have you identified unknowable mysteries in your life? What do you do with those mysteries?
Are there things that you cannot accept not knowing?  Why? 
For you, what is the difference between knowledge and belief?
 
God,
There is so much before me every day -
so much that I cannot understand,
so much that I cannot know.
And what I cannot know,
I cannot control - and that is hard.
Help me to relax
to be still
and to know that
You are God,
for some days,
that is all I can know.
Amen

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B (Proper 6)

Ezekiel 17.22-24
Psalm 92. 1-15
2 Corinthians 5.6-17
Mark 4.26-34

Have you ever noticed the prevalence of Growth imagery in our Holy Scriptures?  When we think about why that might be, one of the first responses (from your average contextual critic of the bible) cites the fact that the folks who wrote the scriptures and the audience that was listening were all really rural and really agrarian.  And that is true....except for the folks that lived in places like Jerusalem and Babylon and Rome.

Another important reason for the prevalence of Growth imagery is because this is something that is common to all living things.  Every thing that Lives, Grows.  Also, everything that Lives and Grows, Dies; but that is for another day.

Everything that Lives, Grows.

And something that is always Growing is always Changing.

Sometimes things Grow in ways that are not healthy or productive.  But often, living things Grow up to be exactly what they are created to be.  The Growth process is sometimes slow and it is sometimes fast, but any time something (plant, animal, or otherwise) it changes.

We have quoted him here before, but it is good so we will quote him again...the early Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, "One cannot step in to the same river twice".  And this statement could be reframed as "Once cannot climb the same tree twice" (because they are constantly Growing and changing) or "One cannot kiss the same baby twice" (because they are constantly Growing and Changing).  And so on.

All of that is to say, Growth imagery is around every corner in the bible because the bible is primarily concerned with describing / illuminating the relationship between God and Humans and the resources of the Earth.  The stories we find in scripture mostly deal with the ways Humans Grow and change in relationship to one another and to God and to the world around them.

Now, on to this week's scriptures.

In the words from the prophet Ezekiel we find a beautiful passage that talks of how God will restore Israel [need historical context about where Israel was at this point].  Ezekiel was writing during the time of the fall of the Temple and the Babylonian exile.  His writing reflects experiences in exile and upon return to Jerusalem.  He had seen a lot.  No, really, he had seen A LOT...a lot of culture shifting, life changing, irrevocable change.  In this passage, he's writing about God's power and attributing all, good and bad, to the power of God.  And pay attention here, God / Ezekiel does not say Israel will be just like it was before...what is described is a new Growth, a new establishment, a new Creation.

In Psalm 92, the psalmist writes a hymn of praise for God's vindication of the righteous (a group that includes the Psalmist, we assume).  The Psalms are packed with images of growth, and Psalm 92 is no exception.  The Righteous are compared to flourishing palm and cedar trees that produce on and on and on into to old age.  "In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap..."  --that is such a great verse.  Here, growth is a good thing, a positive response to God's action in the world. 

In his letter to the people of Corinth, Paul does not directly use imagery of Growth from nature.  He is talking (as he often does) of followers of Christ becoming more and more and more like Christ as the days go by.  He talks of becoming a New Creation.  This idea of "new creation" is an old one in the tradition which formed Paul.  The prophet Isaiah speaks often of a new heaven and a new earth after the destruction of Jerusalem.  That new creation represents all sorts of potential for change for the better in this case.

And in Mark's gospel we find Jesus doing what he does so well--trying to explain such a fantastic idea like the Kingdom of God by using examples of plants growing from seed.  Here, the image is one that would have been very familiar in an agrarian community.  Both the image of grain growing up from the ground and becoming fat with ripe kernals and the image of a tiny mustard seed growing into a tremendous plant provide all sorts of things to think about in terms of what the Kingdom of God might be.  Here, Growth represents potential and reach and depth.

Yesterday, we Grew; today we are Growing; tomorrow we will Grow.

What image of Growth might you draw or describe for your own life?
Where do you see Growth around you today?  Is it good?  Is it scary? 
Do you have expectations for future Growth?

God, we are caught in a society that wants us to produce,
But they do not care if we Grow.
Guide us as we attempt to Grow toward your Light.
Guide us as we trust that our DNA
Will take us exactly where we need to go.
Help us allow the seed you have planted in us
To Grow.
Amen.

Trinity Sunday

Isaiah 6.1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8.12-17
John 3.1-17

Well, this week's lectionary readings are labeled "Trinity Sunday",
and boy are they ever steeped (when taken together) in Trinitarian
thought!

As we have said in the past, (for us, at least) the concept of The
Trinity is a slippery one. There is no place in the Hebrew or
Christian scriptures where the idea or concept or formula or
instruction manual for The Trinity is laid out. In current (American)
Christian understanding The Trinity is made up of God the Father and
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. For Trinitarians (folks who
believe in the Trinity....as opposed to Unitarians who believe God
exists as a Whole--a Unity) that pretty much is the line where
consistent similarities end. Some folks put God the Father as the
main player and the other two members of the Trinity are subsequent,
some folks put most of the emphasis on God the Son (Jesus), some folks
put most of their emphasis on God the Spirit, some folks attempt to
hold all three as equally important, and then there are folks all over
the rest of the spectrum. For some The Trinity is an integral part of
their belief system, and for some The Trinity is an unimportant, human-
created side-note.

And then, if you somehow get a hold of who all The Trinitarian Players
are, what do they do? Who is responsible for what? Did they
chronologically show up and chronologically leave? Are they all here
now? Are any of them here now? What are they doing to us or for us
or in spite of us?

And in this week's readings we get to see some fairly diverse views of
what we have come to know as the different members of The Trinity.

In the passage from Isaiah he relates to us a beautiful vision. One
thing to pay attention to here is who does what and what happens.
Isaiah finds himself in the presence of the Lord and the Lord's seraph
attendants and his first reaction is to admit he is unclean and lost.
In the Isaiah passage, at 6:5, "I am lost," is actually a double
entendre in Hebrew that also translates "I am speechless." THEN the
seraphs (not The Lord) bring a coal to touch to Isaiah's mouth and
cleanse him of his sin. And THEN (only then) we see The Lord speaking
to everyone in attendance and Isaiah answering.

In Psalm 29 we get reference after reference after reference to "the
voice of the Lord". The Voice of the Lord does everything--it is over
the waters, it breaks cedars, it shakes the wilderness, etc. It is so
interesting that it is the thing that we humans often depend on for
interrelation with another human (the voice) that is so powerful.
Hearing and speaking...there is a symbiosis and a completeness to
these things. One means nothing without the other and the two
together create powerful and intimate connection and/or division - and
actually, that is sort of a beautiful connection to Trinity...there is
a perfection, a completeness in the whole of the trinity as it is
described and understood by some, and we can be caught up by the
embrace of the three entities.

In this week's short passage from Paul's letter to the church in Rome
we see Paul attempting to do some of the first formal / recorded
fidgeting with the concept of The Trinity...in this case it is
specifically with The Spirit. He is working through some of the
mechanics of how he understands the Spirit of God to work. For
example, in the Romans passage, when we cry out Abba, father, that is
the spirit speaking through us.

And in the passage from John we find the often told story of Jesus
interacting with Nicodemus. Remember, Nicodemus was a teacher /
keeper of the Jewish law, and he has sought Jesus out to talk to him
because he (Nicodemus) believes he (Jesus) is "a teacher who has come
from God." The two of them go back and forth about being born both of
water and of the Spirit. It seems this statement in verse 5 is
something of a Trinitarian Lynchpin: No one can enter the kingdom of
GOD with out being born of water and SPIRIT (spoken by JESUS, emphasis
ours).....and later in John (6:63), Jesus says, "The words that I have
spoken to you are spirit and life." This philosophically and
theologically complicated passage goes deeper and deeper, but take a
few moments and read it with a view toward trying to understand The
Trinity.

Through voices, in our hearing, in our interactions with God, we
identify and relate to God in different ways. It makes us wonder, is
any relationship really one-on-one?

What can the voice of the Lord do in the world?
Have you experienced Isaiah's speechlessness? What changed to give
you voice?
When you relate to God, to whom do you relate? Who do you address?
What connects you?
How do you believe one enters the Kingdom of God?

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Pentecost

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Are we ever really alone?  Were we built to be alone?  Even in our loneliest moments, is there some present with us?

In Genesis 1: 26 - 27, even God seems to be creating with company, "Let us make humankind* in our image, according to our likeness..."  Our likeness?  Who is he creating with?  He goes on to create man and woman "in his image."  Huh.  It is important to note that these texts have been studied and translated and unpacked so many times, this isn't just an error in pronoun.  God is referring to other presences with him at creation.

Even God is not alone. 

It seems like a lot of our conversation around our connections to God involve being in relationship.

It is Pentecost, a day some refer to as the birthday of the Christian Church.  It is the day on which Christian churches recognize and celebrate receiving the Holy Spirit.  Pentecost is a Jewish festival, held fifty days after the Passover as a  celebration of Moses receiving the Law from God on Mount Sinai.  As the story is told in Acts, a group of faithful Jews from all over the world had gathered in Jerusalem for morning prayer on Pentecost when they were overcome by the presence of the spirit, and each of them was able to speak in tongues that each could understand in spite of their geographic and politic diversity.  This community of Christian Jews recognized this experience of the spirit as a sign, and over time, Christians began to celebrate Pentecost as another chapter in the history of God and the people, a time when the spirit descended.

The early church at the time of this visitation of the spirit was in difficult straights.  The end times that they believed messiah would initiate had not come.  Christians were being sought out and persecuted.  There was tension between Christian Jews and non-Christian Jews, and everyone was still trying to sort out how a daily growing crop of Gentiles who followed a martyred Jew fit into the mix. 

We wonder - is it possible that through the spirit, we are never intended to face life alone.

This week we get to see some different insights in to how The Spirit is present with people and how The Spirit works in the world.

First off we read one of the more dramatic scenes in our Holy Scriptures--Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones being regenereated in to life.  We get to read a wonderful conversation between Ezekiel and God where God gives Ezekiel the chance to do some impressive work.  He gets to call the dry bones of Israel back together and once they are back together he calls on The Breath / The Spirit to come and fill the bones and give them life.  Notice, in this description of Israel being revived, none of this is done alone and it is the Spirit / Breath that is necessary to make it all happen.

The Psalmist also sings a similar sentiment as he speaks about the wonders and works and powers of God, he points specifically (in verse 30) toward God sending The Spirit that Creates and Renews.  Again, God is in relationship with humans and the world to make it all work together.

In the passage from John we find Jesus explaining to his followers that after he left he would be sending an Advocate.  He explains a lot of the mechanics of what the Advocate would do for the followers.  It / He would testify on behalf of God the Father, it / He would prove the world wrong where it was wrong, it / He would guide the people in truth and would speak to the people on behalf of the Father and the Son.  It sounds like quite an intimate relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Advocate.

And then in Acts we see in the classic Christian Pentecost text--the story of the flames of fire coming down and the people speaking in other languages, etc.  From the very beginning of this story it is important to note that none of these folks are alone.  The Spirit shows up to them when they are together.

-Are there times when you believe you are alone?  When that time is past, do you think differently about your "aloneness?"
-Do you believe that you have ever been truly alone?
-How are you aware of the "Breath" of God in your life?

WE DIDNT START THE FIRE BY BILLY JOEL

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser aand Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy hn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodsto/ck/, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

CHORUS:
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

Why do Christians love torture?

Rosa and I were in the car yesterday when the top-of-the-hour news came on with clips from President Obama and Vice President Cheney's speeches about torture.  Rosa started paying attention when Cheney's said:

"I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program. The interrogations were used on hardened terrorists after other efforts failed. They were legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do. The intelligence officers who questioned the terrorists can be proud of their work..."

At which point Rosa broke in and said with total incredulity, "Who said THAT??"  At ten, Rosa still has a sense of how ridiculous it is to say that anyone would be proud of torturing anyone else.  I know that some would argue that torture could be justified, but to say that it's praiseworthy?  How have we come to that?

Rosa's comment stayed on my mind because, like her, there is part of our nation's conversation about torture (or "enhanced interrogation techniques" as Cheney likes to call them) which I just don't get.  It's not just that I disagree--I simply can't figure out how anyone could agree with the use of torture.  I can't empathize with the proponents of torture which makes me pretty useless in public conversation on the topic.  My opposition to torture is based on two things that are utterly essential to my morality:  the importance of the rule of law and the sacredness of human life.  (Plus, everything I've read leads me to be opposed on pragmatic grounds as well.  I just am not convinced that torture leads to any useful information.)

But a couple of weeks ago, a study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life came out that really disturbed me.  You can go to the link to see the actual survey results, but in summary, the more often a person goes to church, the more likely they are to support the use of torture (and they used that word--not "enhanced interrogation techniques").  The Americans most likely to support torture are white evangelicals (62%) and those unaffiliated with a religious group are the least likely to support torture.

As I was ranting to Dan about this, he pointed out that the study showed that party affiliation is a MUCH stronger determinant of support of torture than religious affiliation is.  Basically, Republicans are likely to support torture, and the survey just showed where the Republicans are.  And while his point is correct, I don't think it's the whole story.

Here's the thing:  Jesus was tortured.  This is one of the reasons while it blows my mind that any Christian could support torture since we all know that at least one innocent person has been tortured under false accusations by the state.  But what if our religious teachings tell us that while it was unfortunate that Jesus was tortured, it did, in fact, serve a good purpose.  It had a good outcome because (in the words of Isaiah 53:5):

       ...he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.

Could it be that by talking so much about what we've gained by way of Jesus' torture we've actually taught ourselves that torture can actually be a good thing?  A useful and important thing?

This is serious, people.  Obama and his people have their work to do rooting torture out from the practice of our government.  But I think Christian churches and Christian leaders have our work to do too.  We need a better theology of suffering, a better understanding of Jesus' suffering, if we're ever going to clearly oppose it's use by our government.

Fifth Sunday after Easter

Acts 8.26-40
Psalm 22.25-31
1 John 4.7-21
John 15.1-8

Love is (at least) a two player activity.

Of course, it does not necessarily require two humans, but the action of Love does require a Lover and a ....Lovee.  One does not just Love alone in a vacuum.  There is always a person, place, or thing that is Loved.

In the lectionary selections this week we have one narrative example of Love in action and a couple of expositions on how and why we should Love.

In Psalm 22 we see this played out quite well.  The Psalms are often songs of Love and devotion to God, and it is no different here.  The psalmist speaks about how the world is a better and safer and more hopeful place because he Loves the Lord (as evidenced by his respect and praise).

In Acts, we see the narrative example.  Now there are lots of things going on in this passage.  An angel talks to Philip several times...an Ethiopian had come from Egypt to worship in Jerusalem....Philip engages in international relations and engages the Ethopian....they read some of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah together...Philip tells his new friend about Jesus...the Ethiopian ends up almost demanding to be baptized....and Philip ends up being teleported elsewhere immediatly after the baptism takes place.  Now all of this is fascinating and really interesting, but the engine that pushes the whole story forward is the fact that Philip was in relationship...he Loved this Ethiopian man by engaging with him.  If he had not been willing to talk with him and share some of his story with this man, the Ethopian would not have understood Isaiah and would not have been baptized.  Love is a two player activity.

In 1 John we see a fairly detailed, quite rational argument for why followers of Jesus should Love one another.  It is almost as if we need to put Heather at the flip chart with a marker to diagram this whole thing out--love each other because God loved us...if you love you are from God...if you are not you do not...because God loved us we should love one another....etc.  Even though it is a little complicated and a bit circular in its logic, this passage points to a recurring theme--an individual cannot Love alone.  Love is a two player activity.

And then in the gospel of John Jesus really brings the message home with the description of how the Loving relationship works and what it looks like through the metaphor of a vine and it's branches.  Jesus (in this instance also through the pen of John) make a quite rational argument.  Since John was the latest gospel it seems we are seeing a little bit of the influence of Greek philosophy / thought even in this illustration.  Thinking of Love in this way again shows that there is no way to Love on one's own...one is always connected to someone or something else in the process of Loving.  And without someone or something else, one cannot Love.

We come to understand Love by being in relationship with others.

Who / what has most taught you how to Love?
What relationship(s) are the ones that keep you most alive / sustained?
How can you reach out in Love to help someone else learn more about Love?

"All You Need Is Love"
Beatles

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say, but you can learn
How to play the game -
It's easy.
Nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do, but you can learn
How to be you in time -
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where
You're meant to be -
It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
All you need is love. (All together now).
All you need is love. (Everybody).
All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.
Love is all you need.
Love is all you need...

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B

Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18

We like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient, capable, secure people.  For the most part, we've had good access to education, healthcare, jobs, transportation, food and clean water.  We can supplement what we have with an adequate income.  We have clothes and shoes and a very solid roof over our heads.  And we like to think that we are in control of our circumstances.

But we have both had experiences that left us breathlessly aware of how little control we really have.  We've found ourselves in the kind and caring arms of virtual strangers in times of crisis.  We have gone to sleep desperately whispering prayers for support and love and guidance and safety.

Looking back on scary times, it's hard to fathom the arms that caught us and lifted us from the mire, the arms that fed us and nurtured us back from the edge, the arms that helped us learn to stand again.

And somehow, that experience renders us more able to offer that kind of lifeline love and support to others - others we sometimes barely know.

Why is it that in strong times, we stand so solidly upon our own two feet?  What if we were always leaning somehow on others? 

This week's readings remind us that we are not called to be "in control."  We are called instead to love one another and to allow ourselves to be loved.

The reading from Acts continues to follow the actions of the apostles in the earliest days of their movement after Jesus' death and resurrection.  Peter and John have been arrested; their position is precarious.  Leadership in Jerusalem is skeptical of this motley crew.  Peter and John are asked by what power they have performed miracles.  Note that Peter's response is by the power of the Holy Spirit, not his own.  And these men really don't claim credit for the healing that they have done.  Healing has happened "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth."  If you read on, you'll find that Peter and John are instructed by the council to discontinue their healing and teaching ministry in Jerusalem.  But Peter and John cannot keep from doing what itis that God has them doing.

Psalm 23 is probably the best known verses of the Bible.  It praises the comfort that God provides.  Using the image of a shepherd, the Psalmist frames God as a caregiver, a safeguard and a comfort. 

In the First Letter of John, the community is reminded that they have been called by God, in the example and teachings of Jesus to love one another.  The author reminds the community that words and speech are not enough -- we are called to love in truth and action.  During Lent, we were struck by how abundant and extravagant Jesus' love was through his actions.  It is a little overwhelming to think of ourselves to love in that same way.  But that's exactly what the author is calling the reader to do.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is teaching the Pharisees in a style that is close to a parable, comparing a familiar thing with one less familiar, about who he is and what he is called to do.  Jesus claims that he is the good shepherd -- good being the operative term.  He's the shepherd who knows each of his sheep, and whose sheep know him.  Here's where it gets interesting - the Father loves Jesus because he will lay down his life for the one flock.  No one will take Jesus' life from him, he has the power to lay down his life, and this is a command that he has received from God.  So...the shepherd has shepherd, of sorts.

In strong times, we tend to want to be the shepherd and tend to be less able to be shepherded.  But there are arms to catch us and people to love us ALL the time.

How do you let people love you?
How do you extend love to people in unexpected ways?

All the chisels I've dulled carving idols of stone
That have crumbled like sand 'neath the waves.
I've recklessly built all my dreams in the sand just to watch, them all wash away.

Through another day, another trial, another chance to reconcile
To one who sees past all I see.
And reaching out my weary hand I pray that you'd understand
You're the only one who's faithful to me.

All the pennies I've wasted in my wishing well
I have thrown like stones to the sea.
I have cast my lots, dropped my guard, searched aimlessly for a faith
To be faithful to me.

Through another day, another trial, another chance to reconcile
To one who sees past all I see.
And reaching out my weary hand I pray that you'd understand
You're the only one who's faithful to me.
You're the only one who's faithful to me.

Faithful to Me by Jennifer Knapp

3rd Sunday in Easter

Psalm 4
Luke 24: 36b – 48
Acts 3: 12 - 19
1 John 3: 1 - 7

Forgiveness is a tough thing to wrap our minds around, especially when we struggle to take what we have collected and learned from our context and read the biblical texts through our lenses.

Specifically, in the lectionary readings for this week, we see a couple of different perspectives of how the process might work out, and we recognize that we are struggling between the lenses of our lives and with what the text says in black and white, remembering that it was written in a different time and place among a different people with different history, economy, sociology.

We will go at these scriptures (roughly) chronologically as they occurred.

As the concept of God’s forgiveness of humans in the sacrifice of Jesus develops, something of a process gets established:  Name your sin, repent / turn away from it, ask for forgiveness, and receive forgiveness.  And if we read these developments carefully and do some homework, we can begin to understand some of the early theological struggles of the church, and can begin to understand where cultural biases emerged.  And maybe, just maybe, we can peel back some layers and look at the original writings with fresh eyes.

The Psalms were written to be used in acts of worship...offered for both the shaping of the people who participated and for God’s hearing.  The Psalmist did not have this emerging forgiveness/atonement process (and certainly no process that involved relationship with an entity other than God-in-one-being) in place as she wrote.  At that point in theological history, they were working with a different system.  The people of Israel are in direct relationship with their God and speaking to God, they ask for forgiveness and for guidance, and they maintain Torah and keep faith. In Psalm 4.5 she says "offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD."  The writer of this psalm is writing from a vantage point of being in the good graces of Yahweh and is encouraging others in how they should pursue such a situation for themselves.  In the process she warns that folks should just avoid sinning completely and on top of that, offer sacrifices to make sure all is okay. 

Let’s look at both chronology and authorship for the remaining texts.  Luke and Acts are both attributed to the same author — an author who was writing a story about a real person caught in the dramatic conflicts of the age. As the story became deeply imbedded in the church, it came to be read as more of an “anti-Jewish story.”  We need to be careful to peel away some of that interpretation as we read it afresh.  In the passage from Luke we see Jesus in one of his post-resurrection appearances surprising the disciples on the beach.  As he was making another attempt to teach the disciples how the scriptures pointed to him and to The Father, he quotes non-specific teachings of that time (pause and note with some interest that these quotes are not specific to any one Hebrew Scripture text) and essentially tells them that what they are reading / have read is happening and (as we learned last week) it is partially their responsibility to share / participate in this forgiveness.  It is worth noting that this forgiveness is proclaimed for all nations. 

In Acts, we find Peter speaking to some assembled Jews right after the disciples have performed a miracle.  It is likely we can all read this passage and understand Peter had good intentions behind what he was saying...he was trying to encourage people to change their ways and follow God as exemplified and illustrated through the birth, life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  But when we read his actual words it is also easy to feel like he is wagging a disappointed finger at them the entire time.  He seems to be taking the "you will be forgiven, but I am not forgetting" approach to things as he recounts their history for them.  Now on first reading, we felt like this text was an “us” and “them” text that could be used for finger pointing. “You rejected the Holy and Righteous One” can be dangerous content in the hands of someone bent on pinning blame on a specific population. But it is important to remember that at the time of this writing, this would have been an account of dialogue of disagreement among groups of Jewish people – an ongoing struggle within the family to arrive at some common understanding.  But wow, there sure is basis for lingering guilt and shame here!

1 John, as we noted last week, was probably not written by the author of the Gospel of John, but is written in similar tradition and very likely originated in the community in which John might have originally taught.  There are similar references and uses of language.  The Gospel of John has elements of “wisdom” and “special revelation” that are continued in some of these epistles.   This text was also probably written late in the first century, possibly at the same time as Luke and Acts but probably later and definitely to a different community.  The writer of 1 John takes yet another slightly different tack.  He goes back (similar to the Psalm) to writing to someone as a companion.  It even sounds like he is encouraging folks who are already followers of Jesus to continue to be followers of Jesus.  The speaker is gathering people back, reminding them that they are all children of God.  He encourages them that because of Jesus, because of his righteousness, they are all capable of also being righteous and being without sin.  It is certainly a less guilt inducing encouragement.

It is hard to be human.  It is hard to be good.  It is hard to walk a path toward righteousness and to set an example to the world around us sometimes.  And the complexity of the bible doesn’t really make it easy.  We have to use our hearts and our minds and other tools available.  It is work, isn’t it?

Thanks be to God.

Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me (Oh, Lordy)
Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me (Hallelujah)
Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me
Look a way beyond the blue (horizon).

I took Jesus as my savior, You take Him, too. (Oh Lordy)
I took Jesus as my savior, You take Him, too. (Hallelujah)
I took Jesus as my savior, You take Him, too.
Look a way beyond the blue (horizon).

Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me (Oh, Lordy)
Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me (Hallelujah)
Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me
Look a way beyond the blue (horizon).

I've got a home in the land of glory,
That outshines the Sun,
Oh, I've got a home in the land of glory,
That outshines the Sun,
I've got a home in the land of glory,
That outshines the Sun,
Look a way beyond the blue (horizon).

Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me (Oh, Lordy)
Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me (Hallelujah)
Do Lord, Oh do Lord, Oh do remember me
Look a way beyond the blue (horizon).