Does Your Sabbath Feel Like Work?

Some of you have heard me tell of my time on silent retreat recently, where my commitment to God was to try to sit and listen for five days. And about half way through the time there was a severe thunderstorm which whipped up and rain began pounding and blowing in all of the open windows of the retreat center and dripping everywhere, and then the power went out, and smoke detectors went haywire and the elevator got stuck, and we all left our silence and began scurrying around, closing windows, wiping up water, looking for towels, checking on people-talking. And we could hear the sirens of an accident at the bottom of the hill. And sometimes we need to attend to important things. But after awhile, everything that could be done was done. But it was challenging not to keep looking for things to do or rehashing what had happened as we waited for power. But really there was nothing I could do. And I heard God saying in the midst of the busy-ness around- there is only one thing. And I felt drawn to enter the chapel. Even at a religious retreat center it was empty. And there I sat alone because there was one important thing. To sit and to listen to God and to pray for those who really did have things to be doing. Be here with me, sit. And it was hard because surely I should be doing something, or even could wonder or feel guilty that I was not doing something. But there I was in this holy moment with God doing what was most important.  And wishing others were sitting there too.

And I wonder if that’s how Mary felt.

And the other day we had more time than we expected before Table Church and it was relaxed as we set up and could then instead of racing and saying, “Go ahead and start without me…” we could sit and welcome others as they came and become centered and show real hospitality. And I wonder if that’s how Mary felt.

And what Martha longed for. Because in that more Christ centered time on Wednesday it reminded some of us of that longing.

And I was struck again by a question that has been on my mind since that retreat as someone remarked how relaxing Wednesday night is because it is not like Sunday worship- here is the question.

Does Sunday morning feel like a Sabbath or like work? Do we come here and sit at the feet of Jesus together or are we, all of us, individually distracted by many things?

I’d like to invite you into a space by starting with our eyes closed. And I want to ask a series of questions. If what I ask sounds true for you raise your hand, and when what I say does not sound true, you may put your hand down.

Do you make a point of coming to Sunday worship when you have something to do?

But find you’d rather not when you don’t?

Does it feel like coming on Sunday is running the gauntlet of people looking to give you something to do?

Do you find rest here?

Has someone ever said- “Sorry to bother you but… and then finished by talking
“Church business?”

Or told you that the reason they are doing this now is because they are not sure when they will talk to you other than Sunday morning?

Do you feel distracted from spending time with Jesus here?

Do you feel that way today?

Hello, fellow Marthas- fellow distracted ones pulled in lots of directions.

All of our distractions that we brought with us and the ones we met here challenge our ability to be really present with God and with each other.

So now I want to invite you to enter a little deeper into a space where we are all here together but where I encourage you to stop and be still with God. For a minute. …….

Was it easy to be present in this moment with God?

Martha is busy and distracted- in many directions. She actually wants community ( why I am doing this alone?) and wants to be valued and loved. But she looks to her own actions as the center. Jesus is not mocking her, or belittling her, but he is trying to break the cycle to invite her to step out of herself. Because he loves her.

And he loves her and values her just as much as Mary, and he loves and values her for her own sake. And he longs to meet her and draw her to both himself and her sister.

It’s not that what she is doing is not worthwhile or even important, it’s just not critical- it does not define her or her worth, and it does not give love or life. And Jesus knows the time with him is short. What Jesus knows is that he is headed to Jerusalem and he will not be with them soon. There is only awhile. And his clarity is like that of a person who has learned there is not much time to live who can see that all the titles, or achievements by themselves are not a life. Real relationships matter.  I once met with a person who was always a doer, always giving and sending cards and striving to fill everyone’s needs. But when that was no longer possible, there was a sadness- all those years “I thought if I did, that people would do in return. I sent hundreds of cards every year, I only ever got a couple.” All those deeds did not make anyone love deeper. And all the time away from family had not created a life. And over and over there was a refrain- look what I did- why didn’t others? Why don’t people do for me? I never got to rest.” Our time here can feel like that too.

Whether you are distracted by many things here or many things elsewhere or both, Jesus says- you don’t need to do that for me to love you. And you do not need to feel alone. Come, sit, share, listen, learn. Celebrate! The most important thing is to be in my presence. To know the love, the peace, the forgiveness and the healing Jesus brings into our midst and to share it with each other.  

I invite you into a new way that I think will help us live together into the life God intends. Where our Sabbath doesn't feel like too much work. Fellow distracted ones, our time with Jesus on Sunday morning is limited. So let’s not transact business here in God’s house on the Sabbath. Let’s not track down greeters, lectors, ushers and others, or exchange papers or hand notes. There are 6 other days, and 166 other hours, each week, and many ways to communicate. When this is our focus, we miss those holy moments.

Jesus is inviting us to see our time here is precious, to listen to God, to share life with each other. To step away from distractions and into a holy moment. To rest in the word and celebrate at the table together. What give us real life and love is such a Christ centered presence. Come enter this moment- we need it and God’s deepest desire is to give this to us.

 

 

 

 

Living Saints

One of our youth attending Catholic school lamented having to read a book called “The Lives of the Saints.” Seemingly a boring book about old dead people. It would seem to me however, that such a book is one that is still being written. When I was in seminary I was blessed during internship to meet a saint named Julius. A fascinating man who was the black sheep of the family because in the midst of generations of sainted pastors, he cut loose and became a lawyer instead. I met him in the hospital and his situation was grave. After I chatted awhile with him and his family, they stepped out so Julius could speak to me the things he needed to say. Thus began a series of conversations about life and death and life eternal, reminding ourselves that God’s promises of resurrection and new life are true. Because it’s all theory until those moments we have to try to believe. Then sometimes we need help to live faith and say resurrection is a word we can believe. Julius didn’t seem long for this life, but he pulled through. Several times I visited him and Louise in their apartment crammed full of art collected in world travels, all of Julius’ books, and tangled up walkers and oxygen lines. Our conversations about faith and culture left me feeling I was far richer than they were by our encounters. But then Louise became ill and rather suddenly died. I was blessed to share in her service of resurrection victory, but when we arrived with family at the nursing home chapel, we learned Julius had himself taken a turn for the worse. We may in fact lose him that very day. How hard to finish that service wondering his fate. I wondered how hard it was for Jesus hearing of Lazarus.

In his room, Julius was pale and weak. We cried with him as he wondered how life could go on. And I made the sign of the cross on his head, commending him into the hands of his Savior expecting full well the imminent outcome. Amazingly he recuperated, but was weakened. But my last Sunday at the church, he insisted his son come and help him get up and bring him to worship. This blessed 95 year old saint put on a suit, held onto his walker, and came to hear God’s words and be revived. Since then I’ve heard from Julius three times. The most recent was this past week. The day after the hurricane came through. I’d come to the church with no power or heat, water in the basement and alarm systems screeching, wondering how long it would be like that and how hard it would be to recover. There at the church office, still wet from the day before was the mail. For a moment I paused and thought about our postal carrier Sandy and her faithful witness to be out when most of us had packed it in. Looking through the mail, I came across a letter, hand addressed, from Julius. In it he noted it’d been about a year since we’d last been in touch, and that he’s been praying for our ministry. Then he went on to say he wants to give me his father’s stole. What a blessing to be connected not only to Saint Julius but to a saint who shaped his life. At 98 years of age, Julius is still busy saint-ing. Helping others grow in faith and be strengthened as disciples, as those who believe in the resurrection AND in the life. That letter revived me.

Today we gather to praise God and to give thanks for the saints we’ve known, and the saints of every age. To linger over names spoken and ponder their faithful witness. And it’s perhaps a time of tears and thoughts of loss. Maybe even hard to say “I believe” to Jesus’s words, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  Surely we long for the beautiful words from Isaiah, echoed again in Revelation- a time without tears, when a new creation with God will come. Sometimes these words can seem like it’s just about remembering the past and waiting for the future.  But there is more. All Saints Day is about connecting to God’s story in the lives of saints departed and living, and helping each other try to live those words “I believe.”

 

Today we hear the story of Jesus and Lazarus and Mary. Before it though was the one about Jesus and Lazarus and Martha. Jesus learned Lazarus is ill and by the time he arrives, Martha meets him and tells him he’s too late. It’s all passed. To which Jesus asks-do you believe in resurrection? Martha responds with the theory about the future. Jesus then tells her resurrection and life are real in him. Now. He meets her and helps her say again, “I believe.” But when Jesus encounters Mary, she responds in different way. She cries. Rather than lecture her, Jesus cries with her and then instead of telling her about resurrection, he does it. Telling Lazarus to get up and keep living. Jesus not only offers a future, he restores their present. We are Marys and Marthas and Lazaruses.  Sometimes we need to talk and be reminded to believe, and sometimes we just want to cry, and sometimes we need to hear, “get up.” Jesus is present in all these moments, through saints living and past who show us resurrections start in this life. There will be losses and challenges, but yet God’s desire is that we be freed, and lifted up in this life. God uses us and fellow saints to show us this. Sometimes to help us believe, sometimes to comfort and sometimes to encourage us to get up and keep living.

For Mary and Martha and Lazarus, Jesus changed it all. But there would be many more moments of joy, fear and sadness where they probably took turns telling the story, walking together, pointing to Christ together. In their ordinary lives telling of the extra-ordinary power of Christ and trying to believe. We too are the very ordinary people God makes to be saints who take turns hearing and speaking across the ages as we all try to hold onto “I believe.” We have moments when we want to cry and when we hope to see. And moments when we need someone to unravel what is holding us down and help us get up. The saints across time were people with doubts, who needed to overcome sadness, who struggled. People whose lives had really lovely parts and a lot of other bits too. They were flawed, yet called saints and people of resurrection and life because Jesus said so. And this is also true for us, fellow saints. This is our common bond.

This is a place full of saints this day-as we are connected with the saints of every time through Christ, not only for a future day but so that we can live THIS life. Julius and I have taken turns reminding each other of this- Jesus is the resurrection- the promise of life eternal; and Jesus is the life-the power of resurrection starts now. And God continues to speak to, and to walk with, and to lift up to new life all of us, as people who by God’s hand, can “saint” others, and speak resurrection and new life together in God's story.

Let us give thanks for all who have blessed us, and share the rich story that God’s resurrection and life are words we can believe not only for the day when we will join the throng around the throne, but for today as we help each other live the words “I believe.”  

 

Onward Christian Soldiers

When I was talking with the girls, one of the things they immediately told me when we were planning the service was the fact we had to sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” because it was Donald’s favorite. As I looked at the many accomplishments in Donald’s life I could see that pattern of always moving vigorously forward the way the music suggests by its very beat. Always onward. Throughout his life’s work, and his commitment to conservancy, evidenced this day, his commitment to local government. And vigorous describes his commitment to this place, where it was well known and understood that unless you were sick, you were here! Onward! And in his life in the military and many years beyond he also lived in that overarching theme of victory. But then I thought about this day.


A day where we are here to celebrate the life and witness of a man who touched lives and lived fully and also here to proclaim resurrection victory through Christ in the face of his death. And in our loss we sang “Onward Christian Soldiers.” No matter how strong or weak we feel this day, joining that same voice across time. Yet words that sound different as the cross is not leading a throng of mighty men, but a single casket. “Like a mighty army moves the church of God, walking where saints have trod.” We join the song across the ages of the many who now are the saints. And it is at this moment made clear-these are words we can only sing in faith. Grasping in faith that improbable kingdom of God where our only weapons are faith and the Spirit. Reminded that our hope comes from reliance on more than the promises and protection we can muster, but what comes only from the power of God.

As I read Donald’s obituary he seemed larger than life, he was a giant. Not in a self-proud way, but simply a man who used well the gifts he was given by the Creator. I only knew him in this past year- in a very different time. And he was aware of its difference. He had suffered significant chronic health concerns though, in spite of them, in later years, he marveled in the year 2000 that he never expected to see the turn of the century yet through the power of prayers God brought him moments of unexpected healing and another 12 years after that century mark. All the way to 85, sharing yet again that birthdate he and Donna have in common. I believe in these fading years Donald grasped not so much a feeling of marching by one’s own strength, but a feeling of being carried by God.

Our Scripture readings this day all point to the fact- that no matter how accomplished we were in our lives, no matter whether you can trace your family back to the 1700’s, it all comes down to what God gives us- new life in Christ, and faith and the Holy Spirit to believe. In the words of Isaiah, and the words of our Psalm- we hear we can look to God for comfort, and strength, believing that we will receive them and have peace. That God is our helper. Certainly in these last days for Donald and for his family God has provided what only God could give- helping hands, moments of serendipity and the ability to be together with him at the critical time. In these waning times, there have been many such tender moments to sustain.

In later years as Lillian and Donald were separated in two different units for care, Lori was able to arrange to take them to a Hampton Inn overnight so that they could have a meal together and stay together and share in times of closeness that feed our souls. A great act of love shared made even greater by the fact that the Hampton Inn chose to not charge Lori for the room- an act of love and kindness. And there are many of these stories- of God placing people and blessings at just the right time. Right down to the loving care of the folks at St Joe’s who were able to let the family know it was a critical time. They say that the last of our senses to fade is hearing and I believe it brought peace and comfort that he could hear his family in that moment God gave them together. They could gather like that small but mighty army, to surround him with love that greatest of gifts- To be able to be there to complete an earthly circle. As someone said, he was there for our first breath and we were able to be there for his last.

These are the moments when we truly hang upon Jesus’ promise in the gospel- I am the resurrection and the life as an earthly life ends. This is the moment when we have to believe that it is more than living this life excellently. We are here to speak and sing that resurrection and to say-I believe. Over and over again Jesus uses this word in the Gospel of John often. Believe, believe believe…It’s actually best translated “keep on believing, keep on living into belief.” Over and over again. Said by a God who knows we need to be reminded and offering up for us to hear-Jesus words as we read them, and as we share them with one another. Sharing faith in the cycle of places we travel- not only in places of joy or victory or birth, but in places of fear, and death and doubt. Keep Speaking, keep believing.

Words for us this day. These words of Jesus day came as Martha meets Jesus to tell him that her brother is dead and to chide him- “if only you had been here.” This day we instead give thanks not only for Donald’s life but for eternal life he has now received through the power of the cross of Christ. And to this we say- Lord we thank you that you are here!

And that because of you, death does not have the last word

Because ultimate victory is yours in Jesus the Christ. A victory you give to us to share. This is what pushes us onward- your power alone. And this is how you carry us- as we await the day when we’re gathered with Donald and all your army of saints

In peace and for eternity. Amen.



POSTSCRIPT: Because the deceased was a former Fish and Game Commissioner, there was an honor guard in uniform who stood watch at the casket and who served as pallbearers. Because he was a military veteran of distinction there were military honors at graveside. As we arrived at the cemetery, there was a dove that came and sat in the tree above my head. (A little worried about how that would turn out for me) After the committal, and the salute and taps were played, the dove flew away. As it happened the Fish and Game officers caught notice as did I. When we shared this with his daughters, one said that when he father helped her work on her house, every day there was a dove that came and sat there while they worked on her porch. It gave her comfort to think of her father checking one last time before flying off.