Communion of the Saints (that someday thin places might stay thin)

As we gather once again on this All Saints Sunday, we see the light of these candles and it reminds us of saints not only from this congregation but who have touched our lives. Those God has given us across time. They are on our minds today. Perhaps today more than ever we sense that presence of the communion of the saints. Today we hear words from Revelation, this last book in Scripture intended to be words of hope. At every funeral I preside over I read words from the book of Revelation and say that they are intended to be words of hope and at least half of the faces crinkle up like that is a strange statement. So many are caught up in things like imagining Armageddon, and the Rapture and who’s left behind and who will be in hell. But what we are really given is saints around the throne of God whose struggles are no more. Tears are wiped away and we’re drawn to God.

The Celtic people in Ireland speak of “thin places”- places where worlds come together- the world here and the world beyond. The barriers we normally experience are not there. There are sacred spaces where you can get that sense. There are also events that function that way and for me All Saint’s Sunday feels like that. Being drawn close to God and a longing to be together when all the struggles are done and all the tears are wiped away. And there’s a moment- that’s communion of the saints. Perhaps you experience it this day as well.

I think that’s what we experience at funerals- the thin place where people come who haven’t been here in a while, drawn closer not only by a life lived for which we give thanks to God, but often a time where people speak of a closer sense of God and what the church means- at least for a moment. We forget the things in life our loved one did that weren’t the best- they fall away and we remember the good of people and community. If only those thin places could stay thin and continue to be communion of the saints.

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a colleague, Sadie, who fought the good fight with cancer and we celebrated her life’s work, in particular, her commitment to criminal justice system ministry. Something I know some of you are connected to in different ways. Most recently she worked as a chaplain at a state correctional facility in Camp Hill where she labored tirelessly. But a mentor said she once called him with a question, in the midst of her labors, she aske- “why did some people respond to God and to help and others did not?"

Her mentor suggested that maybe some people are just broken beyond the point of being helped- their souls are just too broken. And at this point Sadie just laughed at him and said,” Why on earth would God give anyone a permanently broken soul?!” Why indeed.

And for her this was, I believe,  the vision of communion with God and the saints- a place much broader than our vision. A place where the thin place stayed thin.

That’s what Revelation points to this day. That’s what we say each week in our Creed- that the vision John speaks of is so different. The multitude around the throne- different languages, and races and lives lived- all there.

And it’s so captivating he doesn’t even stop to wonder- why are THOSE people there? He’s in awe of what God is doing, calling us all children of God with a place. It’s not about us and “our” beloved- it’s about God who God loves.

And the number continues to grow and grow and the communion gets ever larger because there are no permanently broken souls beyond help-truly. Communion of the saints means we are given this privilege by God. And we are given a purpose.

We are given this vision and we are given words of faith that include saying we believe in this communion of the saints. The words we say in our Creed- our statement of faith. After speaking of God our Creator, and Christ our Redeemer, and the power and work of the Spirit, we say more. That we believe the church is holy- may it be holy when we are here. We say is it catholic- which is a way of saying united and we say we believe in the communion of the saints. That we are in communion with God in Christ and with the saints who have died and for whom God’s promises are made known. And we are in communion here and now-we are each of us, saints. Sinners to be sure, but also saints claimed as God’s children in our baptism. Given communion- a community, and a promise and a purpose. This too is communion of the saints.

Which is why it makes complete sense that after the funeral of a saint committed to criminal justice ministry, I was meeting with a family whose lives are in another part of the system as their son works and indeed labors to make changes and to be reunited with his loved ones.

I asked him what keeps him focused and helps his work and he of course mentioned his family. But the first word was “God.” And he shared with me that he keeps a tiny Bible in his pocket because it reminds him that God is always with him. And he thinks of his family and of this church. And then he shared the work of one of our saints here who, on her own had asked for his address and without waiting to be asked or seeing if anyone else was doing so, sent him a card and a care package. He was in awe, and I was too.

He received a card of encouragement and support and candy that he could share. Candy that helped him make friends with other boys there- and I imagine them all around that box sharing- and while some might look at them and see a group of sinners- God saw communion of the saints.

The gathering of those in this life around God and community is what we are given now to give us hope. Because in this life we labor and struggle, all of us. But God in Christ Jesus gives us communion and community- may it be what we sense each time we are here. Until that day when the thin places stay thin. We’re given these things so we too can be in awe of what God is doing right now and to not rest until everyone knows it.

Missing the Blessing

Today as we began worship, I had one of the kids hand out glow sticks, but only to one side of the worship space. I told him to make sure everyone on the one side had glowsticks and then to sit down with the bag until later. As we were finishing our series on the 10 Commandments today, today was the day to focus on the two coveting commandments. So after the reading from Exodus 20, and then a reminder of the dialogue between Jesus and the expert in the law, I asked if everyone on the one side had a glowstick and handed out one to the person who still needed one. I reminded the congregation of my personal love of glowsticks, and asked if anyone on the side without glowsticks liked them too, and a few people raised their hands. One person wondered aloud why they had not also been given glowsticks. So I asked what they would be willing to do for a glowstick. That’s what coveting is about. Someone has something and we want it, and we set out to figure out how to get it. Specifically how to get theirs. Whenever we do this we upset people’s lives.

It all starts with a look and deciding to act. And usually it involves bigger things than glowsticks. But whenever we try to get the things others have or change relationships, we cause hurt and damage. And it usually leads to those bigger commandments. And we stop trusting in God to provide for us.

Of course we also remembered we are to share and later we did handout glowsticks to the others because Jesus calls us to love and to share.

So then we were ready to move on to the rest of the sermon, but as a way of background, last Monday, a gentleman who worshipped with us week in and week out, died suddenly and unexpectedly of cardiac arrest. He was a quiet man who sat alone each week. A few years ago he had lost his voice in a bout with throat cancer but was able to communicate with an adaptive device. Having met his family for the funeral I learned there was so much more to this man than I knew, and I felt the sting of not knowing more in my three years as pastor. And I was surprised how little anyone else knew as well. I sat with that this week and wondered how God was speaking. And so today’s sermon was in part a moment to draw together as community and start a risky conversation, knowing everyone of us needed to. And for people to hear how a quiet man saw this place in ways he also never shared.

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Perhaps one of the most notorious cases of coveting is David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba was bathing on the roof, which I know seems odd now, but then it wasn’t. She was bathing on the roof and David caught a glimpse, and she was hot. It only took a look. From then on he just had to have her, and he made it his purpose. It led him to send her husband Uriah into battle to fight a fight he couldn’t win, which also means he sent a whole army into a fight they wouldn’t survive. And he had to because he and Bathsheba had already gotten together and she was pregnant. Today on Facebook, we’d say their relationship status was “It’s Complicated.” Massive destruction of relationships occurred involving killing and lying and stealing and adultery. But it all started with a look and a desire. To have something that wasn’t his.

Coveting itself isn’t about infidelity or theft- those are other commandments. But these two coveting commandments are given, according to Luther, to show us that it is a sin to desire or in any way aim at getting something of our neighbor’s- their spouse or their possessions. It’s about relationships.

Yesterday I conducted a funeral for Art and as a part of it got to meet his wife Elizabeth and his family. And you might wonder what on earth that has to do with coveting. Well, Art had been a member here at Holy Spirit since he was a child dropped off at the Childrens’ Home nearby. And as many of you know it was the practice of the late great Pastor Radcliffe to bring children from there to here so they could have a church home. They were adopted if you will into this church family. So much so that when Pastor Radcliffe retired and later died, it was like losing a Dad for those people. Art was 79 and had been worshipping here for about 70 years. He say over there in the last row, and was usually about the first one here. Week after week.

Elizabeth has been a lifelong Catholic. And the family was raised in the Catholic church. So many of the life milestones happened there. But over the years, Elizabeth shared with me that she and Art came to agree that though they worshipped in different places, God would give them the strength to respect each other’s faith. The most important thing was being active in their faith and church. And frankly I think that there were times when as a spouse she would have had a right to say the family ought to all be together. And maybe even times they did try to influence the other. But she recognized the role this church played in Art’s life, and that he was only really going to be a Lutheran, and that his being here strengthened him to be the husband and father he was. So she didn’t work at trying to get him to change. She saw that God’s family is bigger than we think.

That’s what these commandments get at. That even if by right you could obtain something, we shouldn’t alienate someone from it. And it was obvious that Art’s life was blessed by being here with all of you. But there is another aspect of this relationship that ought to be explored and I am going to risk discussing it.

In spite of the fact that Art was here for all these years, when I was announcing his death, it seemed that not many people really knew him or who he was. That most did not. And frankly I myself, as the pastor here for three years, had to ask why I knew so little. Yes, he was quiet, but still I wonder. And it makes me sad.

And I want to suggest a very subtle aspect of coveting that churches can fall into. When I first came here one of the things people wanted me to do as the new pastor was to get everyone back who left. And the truth is that some of them had found other churches. As much as I like you want the place to be filled, going after people who have other churches is coveting. And it was important to say that trying to lure them back would be wrong. We want this place full and sometimes we are very focused on wondering how to draw more people here. At the same time however, coveting skews our perspective. Because when we get so focused on the blessing we are so sure is somewhere out there, we lose sight of the blessings in our midst. That’s the consequence of coveting- missing the blessing.

And Art was a blessing. I have heard stories of how much he adored this place, and all of you. He kept coming year after year because of you. And the encounter with God in this place. Even if you never knew it. He talked about this place with love. I wonder how many of us knew?

Last Sunday none of us knew what Monday would bring but last Sunday I preached on loving the neighbors right in front of you. And during the sharing of the peace, I have heard several of you remark that Art made a point of shaking your hand, every hand, more than usual. Loving all of you.

And then we had anointing as we do on the last Sunday each month- for healing, forgiveness, wholeness. And Art has come to receive this before, but this past Sunday he was intentional, and stood ramrod straight before me so I could make that cross on his forehead. And he was obviously pleased- he smiled, there were tears in his eyes. He was overjoyed to be here.

And I think about the beauty of the Catholic faith where anointing is a sacrament. Last rites and anointing should be offered whenever possible. And I am struck by knowing that last Sunday, Art was blessed to be in this fellowship and at Christ’s table, and to receive that cross on his forehead, the same one made in baptism, one last time- like a bookend in his life. That cross that tells us we are adopted into God’s family, and that salvation is ours. What a blessing.

It reminds us who God is for us in Christ. And we’re freed, to live. Today I hope we can remember that we should never be so focused on looking elsewhere for the blessing we miss out on how God is blessing us right here. God’s celebration is better than we imagine. And if there is someone here you realize you really don’t know- reach out and ask. No one is going to tell you it’s too late. Don’t wait- let’s live into the blessing of God’s reality now.

Entering the Larger Life of God

Today the Sadducees are getting a bad rap in the gospel. It’s the first thing we hear-they don’t believe in the resurrection! But I got to wondering, how about us?

What do WE mean when we say we believe in resurrection? I asked a lot of people this week.

One friend says it simply means God promises life after death. Another said-life never ends, even if it seems like it from a human viewpoint. God's life-giving power will always be more powerful than death and destruction. The crucified and risen Christ is the ultimate promise of redemption and new life for all of creation.

Someone else said-It means that the fundamental character of God is to bring life from death. We receive that promise through Christ and we can depend on it throughout our life and beyond. It doesn't mean that life doesn't pass away. It means that we can depend on God's character to bring life from death…and it's a promise that all can trust in. As a Christian it means that I've been given the Spirit in order to participate in God's action.

Another friend shared-God is constantly creating and recreating. Now. And in the future. We see new life everywhere. Isn’t that resurrection?

Then I talked to our afterschool kids who told me that God's new life comes in how God gives us blessings in this life and promises more to come. Probably with lots of gold and fluffy clouds. "After all Pastor, the Bible says there's a lot of gold!"

And others told me about pets in the afterlife, and I starting imagining My Little Pony. But who’s to say?

I was struck though-all of the answers I got focused upon Life more than death. While many adults focused on the life to come, our kids whose lives are just as complicated think it matters where God is giving life now, even as some of them are still actively mourning the killing in our neighborhood of their friend Wilberto a few months ago.

My seminary President chimed in on Facebook and shared that he has a friend who is an Episcopal priest who always announced a death saying, "Jane/John has moved on into the larger life of God." I love that image! But I would expand it- it’s not only about the great hereafter. We gather here and say that gathered in the name of Christ we can experience this earthy and earthly life as a foretaste of the feast to come. Moments where the larger life of God come to us now. Resurrection starts now and resurrection extends beyond our horizon. But you know, I am also struck by the notion in the gospel today that as much as God desires us to live in this altered reality, God is not making us believe in resurrection. The Sadducees weren’t buying it.

On Wednesday night when we talked about this week’s gospel and right away the question was-just who were those Sadducees?  They were a small group within Judaism in Jesus’ day who had a particular view. Just like lots of people claim to be Christians but the message can be different, so too in Jesus’ day there were different viewpoints in Judaism. The Sadducees believed that even though there were more scrolls others considered to to the Hebrew Scripture, for them,only the first five books mattered- Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers and Leviticus. That’s it. Most others felt God had more to say; they did not. The rest of the words on the scrolls were helping many develop a belief in life after death by the power of God-resurrection. But not the Sadducees. They also only believed that God was in the one temple in Jerusalem- and that’s where they were, so much so it kind of felt like “their” house. So when Jesus has come to Jerusalem and gone straight to the temple and set up shop day after day, it’s like he has occupied “Their” house. They’re miffed. So they come and ask him the question we hear today about an idea they don’t even believe in-resurrection. They can’t imagine even if there is more after this life, that it will look any different than their expectation. Instread they think the way you live on is that your name is carried on by your children- literally your seed lives. That’s why all those barren women matter. People are only children of our earthly creators. Even if there was an afterlife, for that poor woman, afterlife would mean continuing to try to produce that child-hardly paradise. Then Jesus shakes them up by quoting about Moses back to them- God is bringing life out of what seems like death, and the barrenness of the childless but it’s a whole different world. Larger than their vision.

It’s larger but we don’t know much. What will resurrection of the body and that next life be like? Over time this has generated tons of questions. During the Crusades and times of war when people lost hands or feet or heads and whole bodies could not be returned, people worried about how their body would be resurrected if not all of it had been buried. Some people literally went around worried about fingernails! Others worried about what if the ashes blew away, how would that work? How could God fix that? In our data gathering world, if we can’t have proof, we aren’t so sure. Perhaps a modern day version of what we will accept versus not. It’s why books about what heaven will be like are popular. It’s only natural we want to know. And for those missing dear departed saints we just named last week, it’s fresh. How will we know them? What will we look like? Us, only better? Or what it will look like- our favorite time? Who will be there? What about people we don’t want there, who we don’t want to see? We hope Jesus knows how to arrange our next house when he says that there are many dwelling places. When we say we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting week after week what do we know? Whatever the concern, we all worry how God will do it, or sometimes wonder if God even can.

Kind of like the Sadducees- we can fall victim to relying only on our vision, not trusting in the larger life of God. The God who says- you see all this? I created it. You can trust in what seems beyond your full vision. For the Sadducees, life came to a dramatic halt when their temple was destroyed 70 AD- since that was the only place God was, and it was gone, they just couldn’t go on. If, like the Sadducees, we limit our vision to imagine God’s love or power, that smaller view will not bring life for us either. It’s true we don’t know much, but we know God is powerful, God keeps promises and we will be with Jesus.

Now I come back again to what words people shared about resurrection- here’s what I see-all those responses were not so much about death but life. Life! That’s the mysterious good news. God who gave us life, gives life. And the promise that more lies beyond this life.  And in the meantime, we live in this life, and we should live! And it’s life with God! God who is in our beginnings and endings is in all of the in between as well, both the glorious and the frightening. Inviting us to live as those given promises, and power-resurrection now. This is the larger life of God. Where is it found? In all those new life moments-when we remember we are already God’s children claimed in baptism at this font. When we hear that we are freed from our failures and struggles to live anew each Sunday to start worship. When we hear that Jesus Christ is love and food and healing for us each time we gather at this table. When we get that second chance in relationships, or that new lease on life in some part of our lives. Moments of peace we didn’t expect that helps us carry on-resurrection. Given by a God who even more than life is love. That’s this cross for us. God loving us into life after all the kinds of death we experience.

In the end, this is what all the words we say when we gather remind us of-  In Christ, this life and love proclaim we are children of God forever. Children again this day invited even deeper into the larger life of God.

Amen

For All the Saints' Life Songs

Today is All Saints Day when we remember and give thanks for all of those saints in God's church and in our lives who have blessed the world with their faith witness. We'll sing "For all the Saints" but we could just as easily sing a song by the contemporary Christian group Casting Crowns-entitled “Life Song” with a refrain- “let my lifesong sing to you.”  In the purest sense, this is what a truly saintly life looks life- a life song sung to God by a person who loves God and loves people the way God loves. Some saints are martyrs for their faith-Most are not. Some are held up as examples for the whole church. Most are not. Most are ordinary, anonymous men and women. Today we give thanks for them all.  The people depicted in these stained glass windows, people for whom we will ring a bell, and people whose name doesn’t ring a bell. Those whose earthly journey is completed and are now called “the saints triumphant.” Today we remember them all. And hopefully sharing their life songs guides us in ours.

I give thanks for my grandmothers- for Margaret who always made sure to freeze strawberries from the garden for me to eat since I would not be there "in season" and for Marie who shared her love for art with me as we took in a Chagall exhibit in Philadelphia. Neither of them was much for the church, and both struggled mightily in life. But they loved as they could and still are a part of God's saints. And I remember people I met in church-Pat whose sharp tongue was matched by her fierce devotion to God and family. She once told me cancer was a gift because it brought her closer to God. Her last earthly communion was just a bit on the end of a spoon as she told me she knew she was bald but she was beautiful. And she knew God thought so. Virginia encouraged me to be a person of faith. Henri showed me true sacrificial servanthood. And Ray. Ray told me when he first met me he didn't think I got what it was all about, but later what a great pastor I would be. But then he quickly added- "It has nothing to do with your own doing of course. Only the Holy Spirit could make it so." Yes- and I have not forgotten. All Saints now triumphant.

In this life we are saints too- saints militant. When I mentioned this at Table Church I watched faces crinkle up at that word "militant." Why such a war like term? Well, I think if we are honest, we know that the tension between living as faithful Christians and succumbing to other influences can be fierce. We are sinners and life is a struggle. Each of the saints I named and many others I did not, knew this challenge. Sometimes we have to fight to remain in the path of discipleship. The presence of sin in the world means we are often more sinner than saint. It takes being militant. Across our lives as Christians there are times when we will knowingly or not bless the world with our witness and will love people the way God loves. And other times we will not. But thank God we are not responsible to “saint” ourselves. We don't "saint" ourselves. God's love and promises do.  It starts in what we celebrated again last week- baptism. Where we receive the gift of faith, and that Holy Spirit working in us. And we receive something else as well-each other in communion here. Intended to be just a glimpse of a more perfect communion with the saints triumphant. So then what to make of the gospel this day? One scholar notes that some might try to translate Jesus’ teaching into a set of guidelines, as if they amount to a “to-do” list for potential saints. But to do so suggests we just follow the blessings and curses as “how-to” instructions. But since we do not “saint” ourselves, the blessings and curses create something different- a set of values that shapes how we are to understand God, ourselves and the world. It doesn’t make sense to hear, “Blessed are you who weep now,” and then find ways to make ourselves sad. It does make sense to ask, “In what kind of world does God’s blessing seek out those who are hurting?” And make our lifesong be about bringing that glimpse of kingdom. And Jesus’ teaching invites us to stretch our imaginations concerning the saints regarding who are blessed by God. The “saints” include not only spiritual superstars who attain exceptional virtue and the average. The saints include people who are vulnerable, those society routinely forgets about – or worse, takes advantage of.

The neglected, the isolated, those in poverty. Those who crave simply the gift of connection with others, and life with meaning. Who have no one to sing with, no communion to share. How are we connected to these saints? Now hear-Woe to those who keep their riches and enjoyment to themselves! Then the glimpse of God’s feast to come eludes us all. Jesus reminds us not only of how we are to respond but where God’s blessing shows up. Shaine Claiborne shares how he encountered a woman as she struggled through a crowd to get a meal from a late-night food van. Asked if the meal was worth the effort, she replied, “Oh yes, but I don’t eat them myself. I get them for a homeless lady, an elderly woman around the corner who can’t fight for a meal.” Saints militant.

Jesus’ words don’t create a set of policies for looking after others, nor do they amount to a list of demands that his followers must obey. Instead, Jesus’ words and our storytelling shape our values and our imaginations. Where we may see poverty, infirmity, or loneliness, Jesus pronounces God’s blessing and presence. Where we keep accounts regarding who deserves assistance, Jesus seeks disciples who would do for others what we desire done for us. Working for a world in which God is present everywhere, building communities of care and support. It’s a joyful, blessed world. We’re invited to inhabit it and to make our life’s song sing to our God who blesses like that. This is why God gives us a church. Communion with fellow saints in this life. In all its glory and frailty. Together we share love, and celebration, and pain and hurt and challenge. We hug, we laugh and sometimes we tell the necessary word of correction.  And we remember that in all of our glory and frailty God claimed those gone before and claims us- honoring promises, and saint-ing us, empowering us for blessing. So let’s celebrate God's work in those we miss and in those God is placing before us now. And sing a song for all these saints.

 

It's like Play Doh- got you thinking? Reformation Sunday

Just as we sat down for the sermon, I saw two girls sitting in the back behind the glass doors. Girls from the Doves Nest. I invited them to come in, and offhandedly I said, “Come on in, you don’t have to do a thing.” Which really is kind of the point. Nothing is required of us to experience God’s grace. But that is hard to imagine.

When she was little, our daughter Alex was painting an egg in art class, laboring to get it just right, putting colors exactly where they needed to be to complete the vision she had in mind. But paint can drip unexpectedly and just as she was almost done, it happened. Some-thing dripped in the wrong place. In her mind it was life and death-all was lost. It was failure beyond fixing. Heartbroken, she smashed the egg.

That can be how we think of God. We hear in scripture of God, heartbroken, and imagine unforgiving, punishing. Instead of freeing, forgiving, renewing.

That’s what people were debating about 600 years ago when the church was teaching people they could be lost as far as God was concerned. Failure beyond fixing. Whether people would go to heaven or to hell when they died mattered because disease would wipe out entire towns and people didn’t expect to live long. Whether you could be right with God mattered. People thought they had to earn salvation, buying prayers and doing so many things- trying to keep themselves out of hell.

Along came Martin Luther who said it’s time to reform, or

re-shape our thinking.

Because the Bible does tell us we will all sin and fail, but we are all justified-put in a right relationship-with God. We are as Jesus says, “Freed.” But this doesn’t happen by our laboring to be perfect. It’s possible only by God’s promise fulfilled in the gift of grace for us in the cross of Christ. God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Salvation isn’t made possible by what we do or how well we do it. It is ours because God’s grace reaches out-forgiving, reshaping and restoring.

So instead working on a perfect masterpiece, our relationship is more like playing with Play-Doh.

With Play Doh I can make anything, one shape, then another. I can add more. If I make mistakes, it can simply be restored  back to how it started. PlayDoh is forgiving that way. And lots of things are possible. That’s how God’s love is for us.

That's grace. Today we’re celebrating this history, but what about our lives today?  Well, people still hand me flyers warning me I'm going to hell, and maybe some people are worried about that, but I think we’re even more worried about what shape our church is taking, and keeping our identity.

And then I wonder if we like continual love, forgiveness and reshaping for ourselves, but lose sight of it sometimes as the church.

Life or death might be about other challenging things we’re sure cannot be.

Yet, across history God enters into these very places in our lives of faith. That is our strength to rely upon. Even in changing times that is the constant. That too is like Play Doh. No matter how many ways I try to use it, there is something that stays the same-it’s always Play Doh.

In the church, there may be many ways ministry is expressed, and people added but something stays the same. That constant isn’t our desire for “the way we’ve always done it.” It’s the love and grace and power of the cross through which God claims and redeems us all.

Today our music I hope is one way to see this diversity and strength of faith. Our opening song was Scandinavian, "built on a rock the church will stand” and we’ll end with a classic German song Luther wrote. “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” A song some of us know by heart that brings tears to our eyes. Both songs will talk about the strength of the church but there was a time Germans and Scandinavians worshipped separately.

We’ll also sing two newer songs. One from Tanzania, where the African church is growing rapidly, a song reminding us to listen because God is calling. A word for us today. During communion liturgy we’ll sing music by a Latino artist "Santo Santo Santo Santo es nuestro Dios"- Holy Holy is our God. About God’s liberation today.
Signs of God continually re-forming and re-shaping across time. No matter what language or culture or tradition, the vision is still the same. God’s church in every age strengthened and loved and being reshaped. New life and power always centered in the cross.

Sometimes that truth is scary- we want things fixed. In sin, we end up focusing on our efforts as the key. But the constant truth is our loving God meets us when we end up trapped and frees us again. And again. Today we remember again that freeing constant truth-God’s grace, the gift of faith and strength of the word that starts in our baptism-where that cross is made on our foreheads.

Baptism also is not a single moment fixed in time, but a journey for the rest of our lives. Today we celebrate as Victoria and Eddie enter and as Heather, Sean and Megan continue in this life, our life together as God’s people. Through them and us God will continue to work, bringing new life and reshaping. It’s worth celebrating! Let’s celebrate together that we’re freed, forgiven and renewed by this creative, redeeming and powerful love and continue the journey into God’s vision together.

God with us in the muddy water

After seemingly endless wickedly hot and dry days, it has felt like all of the energy has been sapped out of me, especially since I live in a house that has one air conditioned room. Today the blessed soaking rain came and many of my church type friends have been making baptism analogies. As life would have it I am in the middle of "unpacking" the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River as a part of the work those of us seeking approval for ordination must do. I could use a good splash in a cool stream. Part of me felt the sweltering heat of the wilderness in our weather. Which made me think about how when our self-created worlds are challenged we can see just how much we need God and what trust John the Baptizer lived out. Where all of the forces that are much bigger than us are much more clearly in view. Ways of being reminded that it is God and not I who is in charge.
And I was forced to slow down, and contemplate what was critical because it was so hot. More time to think and less time to just get caught up in doing. I realized that the best thing to do was to get out of the heat in the middle of the day- so each day I picked a place to go and a person to meet to share time with. Catching up with what God was up to in other peoples' lives. Sometimes a long time passes from when we see each other til the next time. Sometimes so long we almost forget we'd been waiting to get together.
In the gospel of Matthew, we begin to hear how prophecy is being fulfilled. We hear about Jesus' family tree, we hear echoes of the prophet Isaiah-"I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness...and the coastlands wait for his teaching... new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them." It had been a long dry and dusty time for the people who waited.
Jesus was born and some began to proclaim him "messiah" and "king of the Jews" and "Emmanuel- God with us" but then after those early years, people waited in silence until now when he is 30 and he shows up, not at the temple, not with the people who one would expect, but exactly where people are longing and waiting, at the coastline, at the edge of the river.
As I watched our grass scorch and the ground become parched and dusty, I began to imagine all of those people who came from other places. People who perhaps already felt like they were in personal wildernesses, because they were living out on the edges of it all, not acceptable, not the ones a "God with us" would come to. Out into the wilderness they traveled to the Jordan, a river which was and is one of the only regular water sources that does not evaporate in the hot arid seasons of the region. So I think it would stand to reason that by the time people got to the Jordan, they were sweaty and dirty.
There at the Jordan, John was found, at a popular crossing point for travelers. A popular place to cross because it was shallow, only a couple of feet, maybe waist-high. So there at the Jordan, people and animals were regularly plunging themselves into the couple feet of water. With all of that splashing, of travelers and of those who were being baptized, its's not likely that the water remained crystal clear. Certainly not like the specially purified water tucked away in the temple for people who had to cleaned up to be cleaned up.
It probably was more like the way it was when my cousin and I used to head down the dirt road in rural North Carolina, and then through the brush, to get to our "swimming place." We put our dirty sweaty selves in and splashed and stirred up all of the silt on the bottom of the creek so "seeing underwater" was not possible soon after we arrived. We used to try to get out of taking baths those days, because we were "already in the water" but yet later we would see that we really brought alot of the creek back home with us.
Sometimes we imagine Jesus showing up at the Jordan and it is this pristine moment where his robe is lily white and his hair is perfectly coiffed and the water is pure and still. But I like to think that when he got to the edge of the river, his hot, dusty feet experienced the squish of the cool mud between his toes. And that when he came up quickly out of the water, all of the dirt of all of those baptized before him that day, got stirred up.
That in that moment, before God speaks those words "this is my Son,the beloved" we have already seen the one who has sought us out and has gotten into our dirty water and stood with us. That the first moment of Jesus' ministry in the gospel of Matthew comes in this demonstration of what it really means that Jesus is "God with us." God, there in the river, in that moment, standing with all of us in the river, and that each droplet of water that clung to him had some little part of our dirt that he took on, for us. This is God, the God who will continue to reveal what it means to be "with us." All the way to the cross, so that in our baptism, whether we are "sprinkled" or dunked, that when we come up out of the water, it is little drops of God clinging to us, that we take with us. And we hear God call us "beloved."

Viva Pentecost

Thanks to those who have offered words of encouragement. It is with great joy that I can report that the bilingual baptism, holy communion worship re-enactment went really well! We challenged ourselves as a group to take on the task of integrating an Anglo/Hispanic marriage as a springboard to the parents have joined the church and want their new son baptised by the almost exclusively older, traditional congregation located in the changing neighborhood. We not only had the parents from Mexico attending, we had the madrina y padrino, the godparents, and congregational sponsors at the font. After lots of struggles over how to be appropriate to contexts, thinking about how far we could move the congregation and yet allow every to embrace this, I focused upon the fact our service was to take place on Pentecost. I read the statements in English, immediately followed by Spanish and then collectively the respondents or congregation, responded in either language. We prepared people in the bulletin, in the announcements before the service and right before the congregation would be joining in.
Here is what I used to help them embrace this-

Today is a special day- today is the festival day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent to the disciples who were called to make disciples of all nations. We will be carrying out this vision of Pentecost this day as we add a new member to the body of Christ.
Today we will baptize Emilio Bautista Edwards, the son of Michael and Marielena Edwards who recently joined this congregation. We are thrilled to have Marielena’s family and the Sanchezes, who will be Emilio’s godparents, here with us today from Mexico.
On the day of Pentecost, the disciples began to speak in many languages at once by the power of the Spirit. Today we will experience a small part of what this was like. So that everyone may fully participate in the joy of the baptism, we will be using English and Spanish. For your responses, including the creed, you will hear me speak in English, then our Assisting Minister Jack will speak in Spanish and then you will be invited to respond either in English or Spanish together. I will motion to you that it is time to respond. I know this will feel different but we encourage you to allow yourselves to picture the Pentecost time and also know that we are embracing all present here today.

I also obtained a fair trade Peruvian stole which was mainly red but with the many bright colors woven together that are common for that culture. In my abbreviated sermon, I thanked the "family" for giving it to me. Not only did the stole represent the fire of Pentecost, but in all of the many colors, we can see that though we may seem different, in our baptism we are all bound together in the body of Christ.

It was a wonderful, albeit stress-creating project. I hope to do it again in an actual setting someday.

The Light of Christ

( One example of a very animated Easter Vigil)

Last night we extinguished all of the candles. The Light was gone. Today we do nothing. Suspended between where we were and where, this side of the empty tomb, we know we will be. Tonight we will celebrate Easter Vigil. We begin out side with a fire burning made from greens from Christmas. We will light the Paschal candle and begin a walk into the church. "The Light of Christ" is what I will chant as we move from the darkness and cold into the warmth of the nave. But the nave is dark, except for the persistent light of the Paschal candle. "The Light of Christ"
Tonight we will hear stories starting with creation as the tale of mankind is woven from God's perspective- why we needed The Light of Christ.
And we will break the darkness. And we will celebrate new life, including the new life of baptisms- three tonight. One of whom is D, Lutheran Chick #2's friend, our spare teen. D who has become an integral part of our church family and our family because we are the shelter from the storm. Whose parents are divorced, and for whom their new lives have moved on without her. We are the haven when there is fighting, drinking and when she has been locked out. "The Light of Christ"
Our youth group is becoming a haven for other teens like this, as some of our kids are reaching out to those they see who are at risk. LC#1 has such a friend. A, whose mom and step Dad are fighting. They are both recovering from substance abuse, which is why A's mom has no drivers license. She could get it back now if the fees were paid, but there never seems to be money for that. So when they fight, he strands A and her mom who have no way to get places. This is how he controls them, A says. Now he has had a court date for charges from a couple of years ago. A is scared it will not go well and the anger will surface. He was charged with .. dealing drugs. So A has been here more lately. Whatever spare money the family had will now go to "deal" with this. Come for dinner- relax just a little. "The Light of Christ"
Then there is K. Her mom is divorced and is trying really hard not to drink. When she succeeds, she smokes incessantly and has extreme anxiety- she does not leave the house. K is in charge. But she too has been enveloped by the youth group, and maybe, her mom will come to church some time with her. I have seen K become more like a teen and less like a functional adult. She smiles more and she is getting baptized later this spring. "The Light of Christ."
And this is how I imagine Jesus' ministry, and that of the early church. One by one pulling the oppressed, the confused, the stressed and the messy, out of the darkness and into the light. And Jesus calls us still to take these risks, get our hands dirty.
The first disciples were terrified. And confused. And probably convinced that after Friday it really had been too good to be true. It was back to the darkness. We know what they learned, we, an Easter people. And we are commissioned to carry that light into a darkened weary world, to be "The Light of Christ" - one soul at a time.
So tonight- Rejoice! Shout that repressed Alleluia that has been stifled these weeks! Jesus Christ is risen. He is Risen indeed. Alleluia! And let our light- The Light of Christ- burst forth into the world proclaiming the Good News by living it for the sake of all the weary souls!

“You Have Now Crossed Over into ..The Spirit Zone”

In the lesson from Matthew for this Sunday, we learn that John the Baptist tries to prevent Jesus from being baptized, even though Matthew makes it clear that Jesus is there at the River Jordan for just that very reason. I can almost imagine John, looking at his cousin and saying, "You want me to do WHAT?" Maybe there was even a back and forth, after all this is not how it is supposed to be. "I am inferior; you are the Messiah, and this is not how this works. I won't do it."

As Jerry Goebel has stated, one possible translation of what Jesus says next about fulfilling righteousness could sound like this," Suspend your rational thinking for the moment, God is doing something deeper here than you could possibly understand."

For a moment, I remembered back to my days as a child when the black and white screen began to playing the haunting music, and a man's voice begins," You unlock this door with the key of imagination, a dimension of sound, sight and mind…a land of shadow and substance, of things and ideas, you have just crossed into..The Twilight Zone."

With my apologies to Rod Serling, I would like to suggest that instead in Matthew, we are entering the "Spirit Zone." God's demonstration of radical love which challenges what "should be." Long before this day at the River Jordan, Jesus has already challenged and been challenged. Born to a teenage mother, who was not married when she became pregnant, born "on the road" in a "temporary shelter." Having to flee violence on the streets, being raised by first time parents. Having learned a trade, his hands were callused. A mighty God; a simple man.

His baptism at the age of 30 consecrated his ministry and the paradox between this ministry and who the long-awaited one "should" be was just unfolding. It was the tradition for a rabbi to be baptized at the age of 30 to solemnize the beginning of ministry. This should occur at the temple, a work of ritual and purification. Not just anyone could be there, only the clean, the holy, and the righteous. A triumphal beginning all according to a well-planned, orchestrated proper ritual. This day at the Jordan was not how it was supposed to be.

In the river, where men AND women came, to be baptized, to repent as sinners, those not worthy to enter the temple, Jews and Gentiles. Where maybe laundry was washed; animals may have languished. Where the coarse and the common, the inferiors, came to hear the prophet. He just showed up, without pomp, to fulfill the ritual in a new dimension.

He didn't need to repent, to be adopted, to receive the Spirit. But we did- not just some of us, but all of us. And this time the dove, did not just symbolize a cleansing of the flood, that was good for a time, but a cleansing for all time to come. Not just for Jews, but for all. Not just for those who looked like they had it all together, but for those who definitely did not. Not coming in power and majesty, but humility. And so Jesus' ministry began, and the Spirit Zone was alive.

So what does it mean for us here and now, to live in the Spirit Zone? What does it mean to do what God requires? Luther, in his sermon for this day, indicts us, stating, "Jesus does something here that is not required of him, whereas we do nothing that is not required of us." Harsh words. But, maybe for starters, this Word means, as Brian Stoeffregen has suggested, that as Jesus made himself available to us, we should make ourselves available to others. We should take the time to listen for our purpose, and then walk in this path. Maybe this will unfold and change over time.

I think of my own experience, being told that ministry by women was just not how things were done. For many years, I believed it. I believed that the rules were well established and I should be faithful to them. Did I waste my time as a lawyer? By no means. But there came a time when the message changed, or else I heard it more clearly. As one writer put it, the beginning three words of this text, "Then Jesus arrived.." could be translated "Then I got it."

So what does it mean to live in the Spirit Zone? I think it means doing more than just "meeting needs", instead giving of ourselves, becoming more humble, more determined. It means more than institutional survival, more than being efficient. It is struggling with good and godly things, discerning where God is leading us now. It is a lifetime of discerning, not a singular moment. And just as Jesus took risks, so too there is a risk for us. It means unlocking the door with the key of imagination. After acknowledging the Spirit within, we may hear God asking us, just as He asked Jesus, to step into some new form of ministry. Maybe even one that popular voices say, " isn't how we do things." Then what?

Then hopefully, in prayer and in community we strive to go there. And hopefully we do not let ourselves get sidetracked over the "correct way" to do it. And just as Jesus was not baptized in solitude, but in community to undertake exciting ministry, so we to must work in community. And like John, let us work set aside our needs about how "it is supposed to be" and let it be according to God's will. Our needs tell us, we can't teach, or reach out to the immigrant, or witness to the Gospel. But the Spirit says, "Yes, you can." And we are never alone in .. The Spirit Zone.