A Different Depth of Field

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? 

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This year I’d like to invite you to adjust the focus of the lens through which you see the season of Lent. We often come to this day zoomed in on ourselves.  What will be our confession? When will I get ashes? What will be my Lenten discipline? That’s not a bad focus and if that’s where you’re called, Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel, would advise you to make sure the “WHY” you are doing those things is not to draw attention to yourself but as a means for you to connect more fully with God. 

On the other hand you may feel called to zoom all the way out this Lent.  To take time considering the world as a whole.  It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to see things like Climate Change, the Corona Virus, and the growing hatred for the other as parallels for the plagues of locusts and the darkness of an army gathered on a mountain, talked about by the prophet Joel. That fully zoomed out view is also not a bad focus, but again, Jesus would advise, that if this is to be your Lenten focus, make sure to do it for the right reasons. Do it for the healing of the world, for the lifting up of the sick, for the protection of the oppressed and not to play the part of either the hero coming to the world’s rescue or the martyr dying for it.

Zoomed in on our own personal journey or zoomed out to address the larger needs of the world are both good and faithful options this Lent. But there’s another option… an option with a different depth of field… which to be honest I seem to have missed in all my previous years but it is the option to which I seem to be called this year. It’s depth of field focuses somewhere between the individual and the entirety of creation. It comes out of that last bit of the lesson from Joel. “Call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast.” This different depth of field seems to call for a focus neither on the individual nor on creation as a whole but on the gathered body. My focus this Lent is on our particular assembly of people, old and young, who worship together, cry together, laugh together, and care for one another together.  Our assembly which so very often seems to live into the call to create a corner of kindness and compassion for smallness of single individuals, but right the midst of the enormousness of all of creation. 

Joel saw pulling his congregation together, with the entire range of all of it’s diverse people as a key element needed to address both the brokenness of the individual AND the brokenness of the world around them. The gathered congregation, Joel seems to have believed, had the power to not just make a difference in individual lives, but to make a difference in the larger world as well.  The first step in doing that was simply for EVERYONE to come together. Something I think that I... maybe we... often dismiss as insignificant.  

Perhaps you feel called to the individual disciplines this Lent… prayer, fasting, giving alms, doing acts of service. If that is what you are called to this Lent, may those acts turn you toward God and strengthen your relationship with the Divine. Perhaps this Lent is calling you to address the large existential crises of our day… things like climate change, poverty, racism or fear. If that is what you are called to this Lent, may you do that work in a way that seeks to shift the focus away from yourself and onto those most deeply affected by the plagues of our day.

But, if this Lent you too feel called to something with a different depth of field.  I would invite you reject the notion that our gathering itself is insignificant and instead renew your commitment to being fully present in our purposeful gatherings HERE.  To recommit yourself to being here, not just for what you can receive, and not just because you may in fact BE what someone else needs that day, but because like Joel, you too feel called to connect more deeply with this gathering… in all of our amazing and often laugh-out-loud diversity.  I think Joel was telling his people what is also true for us... that our gathering itself is a thing that God is purposefully crafting and that our gathering itself somehow has the power to work for the healing of individuals, for the healing of our community and somehow even…  for the healing of the world.

Incredible things happen when this congregation gathers. Whether it’s on Sunday, or at beer and hymns, or on the Appalachian Trail, or in those rainbow chairs out front… If you haven’t yet noticed how God works through this congregation when it is gathered together, this Lent might just be the perfect time to re-dedicate yourself to gathering as an essential part of this solemn (and often not so solemn) assembly and really taking deep notice of what God is miraculously doing in and with this holy gathering. Amen.

Six Days Later

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 17^th Chapter

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Six days later. That, is when today’s story begins. But six days later from what? Six days before this, Peter had declared to the world that Jesus was the Messiah! The Son of the Living God! Then, in nearly the next breath, he turned around and told Jesus that under no circumstances should Jesus go to Jerusalem and be killed. Six days before this story, Jesus had told Peter first that he had been blessed with a vision of truth from God and then, immediately, had to turn right around and tell Peter, “Get behind me Satan.”

Peter had tremendously brilliant moments of holy clarity… an amazing ability to see how God was intimately involved and at work in the world. AAAANNNNNDDDDD Peter ALSO had equally tremendous moments of not-quite-as-holy distractions from the world around him.  Distractions from a world which was violent, oppressive, corrupt and actively out to get Jesus… a person he loved and had committed his life to follow.

I’m personally inclined to go easy on Peter for getting distracted by the “crazy” of his world and losing his faithful focus on Jesus. I’m mostly inclined that way because I am also VERY easily distracted by the “crazy” of my world! I too, all too easily lose my focus on Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Thankfully, it also looks like Jesus was also inclined to go easy on Peter when he got distracted by the crazy, violent, corrupt, out-to-get-them world in which they lived. After telling Peter “Get behind me Satan” Jesus didn’t kick Peter to the curb. Instead, he took Peter, along with James and John, and led them up the mountain for some time apart from the crazy world for God to help them all get undistracted from the “crazy” and refocused on Jesus.

There on top of the mountain Jesus was transfigured. Which means he got super shiny… as shiny as the sun… shiny enough to turn the disciples attention back from the crazy of the world! Then, God pointed at the super shiny Jesus and said, “Look! THIS is my Son, HE is THE most important thing…LISTEN to him…DO what he does…LIVE like he lives… He is right HERE with you!”

The world Peter lived in WAS super distracting. It had a corrupt local ruler who was the puppet of a dictator in a foreign country. The local corrupt ruler was supported by one religious faction that had twisted their faith because twisting it lead to power and profit. The rich were getting richer with the help of the corruption and the poor were getting poorer with the help of that same corruption. Peter’s world was a constant distraction, constantly pulling Peter’s attention away from Jesus… and that was without Twitter or 24 hour cable news!

Like I said before, I’m inclined to go easy on Peter for getting distracted by the world he lived in, mostly because I know how much I get distracted and lose my focus on Jesus in the crazy world in which we live. I am incredibly thankful that it is Jesus’ way, NOT to kick distracted disciples to the curb, but instead, to take them by the hand and lead them to a place of calm where distracted disciples, like me and maybe you, can become refocused on the Way, the Truth and the Life that is Jesus the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

Now there are many mountains and other places out there where that MIGHT happen. A holy moment of divine clarity can and does happen in lots of different places all the time. For some of those unforeseeable moments we’re even lucky enough to be looking up at just the right moment and there it is! A transfiguration moment… a moment of divine refocusing. It CAN happen anywhere… it’s true!  However, there is ONE place where that kind of transfigurational, divine, refocusing happens in a time and a place that is much more predictable than all the others.

That place is here. That time is now. Each week the Holy Spirit basically takes each of us distracted disciples by the hand and leads us here. To this place. At this particular time. Each week we hear again the stories which commend to us the Jesus Way of living life. A Way that is distinctly different than the world’s ways. Each week I hold up the bread and the wine and together we see Jesus, lifted high, shining like the sun. THIS is the time and THIS is this place, where we can predictably count on seeing Jesus. The Messiah. The Son of the Living God!  And with that vision we can be refocused from the distractions of our crazy world and in that moment, in some mystical way God reminds us over and over again that THIS is my Son, HE is THE most important thing…LISTEN to him…DO what he does…LIVE like he lives… He is right HERE with you!

You and I are called to live the Jesus Way of living, which is an infinitely challenging thing to be asked to do as we live in this crazy, distracting, corrupt, violent and difficult world of ours. God knows we, like Peter, will inevitably be distracted and lose our focus on God’s Son. But in God’s infinite love, with Christ’s deepest compassion and with the Holy Spirit’s guiding hand we are led each week to come together... to hear again how we are called to live in our crazy world by this unique Jesus Way of living... to see again God’s Son lifted up in bread and wine, shining like the Sun and be invited again to take Jesus with us… to take Jesus IN US… back down from each mountain top encounter with God, into the crazy, distracting, corrupt, violent and difficult world in which we live.  The hope.  My hope.  Our hope, is that what we take with us... and in us... will somehow, in some way, seep out of us and infect the entire world.  Eventually turning the whole crazy lot of it, into the Kingdom of God.  Amen. 

A Fork in the Road

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Moses said:  See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Matthew 5:21-37

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then 6come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

The great Yogi Berra once gave directions to fellow baseball player Joe Garagiola saying, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” It turns out, that in that one unique circumstance, the choice didn’t matter because both roads led to Yogi’s house.

There are some choices in this life like that, where the choice we make doesn’t really matter... where one way is just as good as the other. But sometimes in life, the choices we are asked to make really do matter. Those kinds of choices are like the ones Moses asked the people of Israel to make as they were on the threshold of moving into the Promised Land. When they finally ended their journey across the wilderness and were about to settle into this new, non-wandering way of life, Moses told them they needed to choose. They needed to choose between living toward life and prosperity or living instead toward death and adversity.

If they lived in this new land by following the commandments of the Lord, which boiled down to loving God, walking through life in God’s ways, and going by God’s rules, they would be choosing to have a blessed life. If however they chose to turn away from God… to bow down to other gods and live their lives by the rules those other gods set down, they would perish.

This wasn’t God on a power trip setting up booby traps to trip up the people of Israel or giving them pointless hoops to jump through for God’s perverse entertainment. This was God telling the people, “HEY! I know how you all are put together! I know what makes you tick because I’m the one that made all your tickers!” God was letting them know that if they chose to live in a way that was in harmony with the way they had been put together, they would have life. If, however, they lived in a way that went against their manufacturer’s recommendations, they would inevitably tear themselves apart. God was sharing some Divine inside-information about how humans work.  God was sharing that out of God’s unconditional and unlimited love, so they might choose to live and live to the fullest!

Jesus was doing that same thing with the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus reminded the people on that hillside that the choices they made about how they lived together really DID matter. Following God’s commandments, ordinances and decrees, not just by the technical letter of the law but by the even deeper spirit of the law as well, would lead them and all of humanity toward abundant life. Walking down another road would lead to death. Jesus wasn’t sharing what we needed to do to make God love us.  God loves us.  Period.  It’s actually BECAUSE God loves us unconditionally that God wants to let us in on how to follow our Manufacturer’s recommended settings and experience abundant life! Jesus was reminding them that when those recommended settings are followed they allow us to get the most out of life!

And now here WE are. We are at a spot like the people of Israel who were camped outside the Promised Land listening to Moses.  We are at a place in history like the thousands sitting on a hillside in Galilee listening to Jesus. Here we are, sitting down once more and being reminded once again of the choices we are facing. Like the people of Israel… like the people on that hillside in Galilee… we too are facing our moment to make our choice. Today, you and I sit at a fork in the road but this one isn’t like the road to Yoggi Berra’s house where either choice will bring us home.  This choice absolutely matters and is a matter of life or death. 

One way will lead us toward life and blessing. The other will lead us toward death and curses. One way leads us to welcome the stranger, the other way asks us to place the stranger in cages. One way shares our food with the hungry. The other way cuts programs and demonizes the poor and tells them to get a job. One way seeks to heal the sick simply because they are sick. The other way leads to providing healing only for those who can afford it. One way leads us to confront the causes of climate change. The other way denies this thing called “climate change” even exists. One way deals with others with honesty and integrity.  The other way insists that the ends of power justify any kind of means.  One way seeks to be reconciled with brother and sister. The other way seeks revenge on entire families. One way walks toward the higher calling of loving our enemies. The other way just doesn’t know if they agree with that idea of loving enemies.  

You and I… we are at a fork in the road and we have a choice to make. One way, we are told in these lessons, leads toward life and the other way... well, it just doesn’t. Like Moses and Jesus, I want for you to choose the way that leads to life.  I know how difficult that is these days but it is the only way toward life!  So that you might have the abundant life you were created to have I call you to stand up, speak out, advocate, write, march and vote for the way that leads our community, state, country and world toward life and away from death. We are at a fork in the road my friends and unlike the road that led to Yoggi’s house, the way we now choose, at this fork in the road, will make the difference between death and life. Amen.

Stay Salty My Friends

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 5th Chapter

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Today’s Gospel text was the last text Pastor Martin Niemöller preached on before being sent to a concentration camp. The Nazis had been insisting that genuinely patriotic churches and religious leaders would support them without question. Niemöller said the Church’s salt was in danger of “being thrown into the same pot as the world.” Niemöller had been a prominent and influential pastor until he began to resist the “pot” the Nazi’s were cooking up. The Nazis told him, “When you start to suit your message to the world around you, then you will again be influential and powerful.” But for Niemöller, the church’s call was NOT to “suit the world” around them but to stay SALTY regardless of the cost! “If the salt remains salt” he said, “we may trust God will use it in such a way that it becomes a blessing.” The world around him was cooking up a stew that openly rejected the teachings of Jesus and was pressuring the church to throw its salt into that horrible stew.

Niemöller reminded his congregation that the Church’s “saltiness” is meant to be used to ENHANCE the love of God, LIFT UP the Way Jesus taught us to live in the world, and BRING OUT the worth and dignity of all people. In food, that’s what salt does. It enhances, lifts up, and brings out flavors. The Church’s saltiness therefore, is there to LIFT UP justice, to ENHANCE the lives of the poor, and to BRING OUT the truth, particularly when the world is working hard to hide it. Pastor Niemöller told his church to save their salt. NOT to keep it safe for better times, but so that when they saw others, even in the midst of all the horror around them, cooking up a dish that lifts the lowly, welcomes the stranger and gives bread to the hungry, they could then add their salt to THAT pot and enhance THOSE flavors!

When Niemöller turned to preach about the light, he told his congregation they also needed to resist the temptation to hide their light away from the gale-force evils of the world blowing around them, EVEN if their intention in hiding it away was to protect it. Our calling, he told them, is to put the light of Christ on a candle stand, NOT hide it under a bushel! He told them to let God worry about the winds of the world, but for us he says, “Away with the bushel!” He was absolutely right! Because what is the bushel? THE BUSHEL IS FEAR. It is fear that temps us to cover the light which God has given us to shine into the world. It’s fear that causes us to shy away from standing up to the powerful. It is fear that leads us to horde what we have and not share with our neighbor. It’s fear that plows the soil for racism, anti-Semitism, increasingly violent oppression, and evil to grow. We must not let fear lead us to mistakenly believe the lie that sharing God’s light in times such as these could somehow make it grow dim or even blow it out. With fear, the Nazi’s convinced many religious leaders to throw their salt all-in to the horrible stew of denial and anger, hatred and genocide. Then they convinced nearly all of the rest to hide their light away and not speak out about the horrors happening all around them.

The world around us today is once again brewing a horrible cauldron of cowardice and hate, exclusion and scarcity, violence and horror... all fueled once more by the flame of fear. Many religious leaders and people of faith have once again thrown their salt into this latest boiling stew of fear and hatred or they have bowed to the pressure to hide God’s light under a bushel, not wanting to make waves in their congregations or denominations by talking about politics.

But like Isaiah, Jesus, and Pastor Niemöller told the people of God in the past, I’m going to tell you now... WE MUST STAY SALTY! We must care for one another and help each other stay out of the world’s simmering caldron of fear. But NOT to simply hide from the fray. We stay out of THAT cauldron to be ready to add our saltiness to the small, little pots that, if we look closely, are even now cooking up savory little dishes of justice and loving kindness all around us.

In that same way must also not hide our light under a bushel, fearful of it being blown out by the blow-hard winds of our times. Instead we must hold it high and light the paths which promote the dignity of all people, lift up the poor, the refugee and the stranger and in doing that, bring life into our world. YOU ARE SALT! In your Baptism you were given more salt than can be found in all the oceans of the world! You are light! In Baptism you were given the light of Christ! A light that shines in the darkness! A light NO darkness can overcome! So be ready with your salt and away with the bushel! May you resist the temptation to throw your salt into the horrible stew brewing in our world and instead throw it into those pots that are even now, cooking up the radical message of Jesus. May you be part of enhancing the flavors of unconditional LOVE and LIFE in our world and may you let your light so shine before others so that they may see your good works and glorify God in heaven! Amen.

As On The Day of Midian

Isaiah 9:1-4

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

Matthew 4:12-23

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Wow!  It was just as it was on the Day of Midian!  What’s the day of Midian? Good question! On the original Day of Midian, God asked a leader named Gideon to select 300 soldiers from his army to make an against-all-odds attack on the Midianite army. God and Gideon did this by picking the 300 soldiers who lapped up water from the river like dogs (instead of any other way you might drink from a river). Then, in the middle of the night those 300 rushed into the Midianite camp while everyone was sleeping and slipped Bibles into every single one of their bedside tables and that’s why the Gideons put Bibles in hotel bedside tables to this day! Okay, that’s not entirely true. The choosing 300 soldiers by how they drank part? That’s actually true. The slipping Bibles into the Midianite’s bedside tables part.  Not so much. What they actually did was sneak up at night with trumpets, and torches hidden in jars. They smashed the jars all at once, blew the trumpets, and overran the camp. The point of picking so few troops, was to show the people this could only have been a victory given by God.  So, anything that is “AS” on the Day of Midian is an unexpected victory given by God against impossible odds.

So, with the Day of Midian explained and a bonus Gideon joke to boot, it’s time to go back to the beginning of that passage from Isaiah. This passage is the take-home portion of a sermon Isaiah preached to a specific people in a specific time. They were living in between a “former time” filled with gloom, anguish, and darkness, and a coming “latter time” where the people would experience glorious light, overwhelming joy and unexpected victory. The “former time” was led by King Ahaz. An oppressive, horrible, failure of a king. The time to come, would be under his son, Hezekiah, and that time to come, Isaiah preached, would be a time where the darkness would be overcome with a great light which would begin a time of peace and prosperity. The take-home message of Isaiah’s sermon for that time and that place was that God turns darkness into light, anguish into joy, and defeat into victory as on the Day of Midian.

Even though Isaiah preached that sermon to a particular people in a particular time, his hope-filled take-home message couldn’t be contained to just that one moment in time. Even by the end of the Book of Isaiah, that same hope-filled take-home message is being recycled and preached again to a new people in a new situation. In this new place and time, the darkness took on the form of living in exile in Babylon.  But into that new darkness, Isaiah’s same message gets preached again!  The people, place, and situation were different but Isaiah’s take home message still rang true!  God turns darkness into light, anguish into joy, and defeat into victory, as on the day of Midian.

Fast forward now to Matthew’s Gospel and Isaiah’s take home message is pulled off the hard drive and preached once more. This time the dark shadow comes in the form of the arrest of John the Baptist. The overwhelming odds this time take the shape of the imperial powers of Herod and Rome. But Isaiah’s sermon preaches just as well into THIS darkness A.D. as it did when Isaiah first preached it into THAT darkness, 600 years B.C. This time the light, the joy and the unexpected victory come in the person of Jesus whose whole life, death and resurrection are a lived-out version of Isaiah’s same take-home message to all of creation.  God turns darkness into light, anguish into joy, and defeat into victory, as on the day of Midian.

When Isaiah first wrote his sermon, he didn’t have foggiest notion about the Babylonian exile or the anguish caused by the Roman empire or our darkness today! Isaiah simply preached a message reminding his people of the truth about God, trying to instill hope in the people he loved. But as it turned out, the truth Isaiah preached about God THEN, was JUST as powerful and JUST as true when it was preached again between exile in Babylon and coming home to Israel.  The truth Isaiah preached THEN was JUST as powerful and JUST as true when it was preached next between the Imperial occupation of Rome and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus!  And the truth Isaiah preached THEN is STILL, JUST as powerful and JUST as true for US… TODAY… when it’s preached into our world’s particular darkness, gloom and anguish. Isaiah’s hope-filled take-home message, recycled and preached over and over again for thousands of years is that God ALWAYS turns darkness into light, anguish into joy, and defeat into victory, as on the day of Midian! Always has. Always, always, always will!  

May you and I encourage one another to not despair in our age’s present darkness, gloom and anguish.  May you and I instead support one another as we turn our attention away from the perpetual onslaught of darkness, anguish and gloom, and TOWARD the bright, dawning light of Christ.  May you and I together, follow the One who calls us out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary life we were created to live... a live of loving God and loving neighbor.  May you and I together follow the One who knew and modeled that extraordinary way of living in love, trusting that His way of love is indeed, the way and the truth and the life which leads all of us and all of creation ever more deeply into God’s gifts of light, joy and victory, as on the day of Midian. Amen.

The Rubberband of Baptism

Isaiah 42:1-9

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, 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. I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

The longest rubber band chain was assembled by the kids of Gettysburg Elementary School in California and it stretched 19 miles long which may seem to be an odd way to begin a sermon BUT this seemingly random fact from the Guinness Book of World Records AND today being The Baptism of our Lord, actually combines to offer some incredible hope!

The Baptism of our Lord is not just an occasion to remember Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. It is that. But more than that, it’s an occasion for us to remember what Baptism does for us and WHO is the One who does it. The WHO that does it, is God. The first lesson today starts by hammering that notion home… I am the Lord. I have called you. I have taken you by the hand. I have kept you. I have given you to be a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners and free those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord. I give to no other. New things I now declare.

Baptism is God’s work. Period. We see it again in the Gospel story itself. The heavens were opened. The Spirit of God descended like a dove. A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” God wasn’t well pleased with Jesus because of anything Jesus had done. Jesus hadn’t done anything yet! God was well pleased with Jesus simply because God decided, with immeasurable love and unconditional grace, to be WELL PLEASED with Jesus. And here’s the thing… God didn’t just decide that for Jesus. God has decided that God will be WELL PLEASED, for no other reason than immeasurable love and unconditional grace, with every single one of God’s Baptized Children which includes even the likes of YOU and ME as well.

When our heads came up out of the water… whether we were young or old… whether that was in a river, stream, pond, tank of water, or baptismal font… whether that was with a dunking, a splashing, a pouring or a sprinkling… regardless of ANY of those details. When our heads came up from that water, the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Child, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Did you hear that? Did you hear what God said about YOU? “YOU are my Child, Chosen and Marked with my love, my eternal delight.” YOU are God’s eternal delight! Not because of anything you have done, said, confessed, believed or anything else, but simply because God, with immeasurable love and unconditional grace has decided… THAT is how God wants to see you in God’s Divine eyes… forever.

Now here’s the spot where that 19 mile long, Guinness Book of World Records rubber band chain enters back into the sermon. Because while God is 100% certain that naming you and claiming you as God’s beloved child was and is and will always always be, a brilliant idea. It may happen in your life that YOU might begin to suspect that the all knowing creator of the entire universe was WRONG about that decision. Actually it is almost certain, that you will, more than once even, in all of your flawless humanity, decide that God, in all of God’s deeply flawed Divinity (that’s sarcasm if you couldn’t tell), was wrong about you and you actually SHOULDN’T be God’s child, chosen OR marked with God’s love, nor should you be God’s eternal delight. (Yeah, it sounds dumb when you put it that way, but we all do it… many of us more than once). BUT God has connected with us in our Baptisms like that 19 mile long rubber band chain, so that no matter what we think or how far we go… no matter how we fail to live our lives in a thankful response to the gift of our Baptisms by being a light to the nations, or giving sight to the blind, or freeing those who sit in darkness… No matter how well we do that or how poorly we do that... The Guinness Book Rubber Band Chain of Baptism remains firmly attached to us and will, at some point, snap us back into the embrace of God’s immeasurable love and unconditional Grace.

Some of us will stretch that Rubber Band just a little in our lives before returning to God’s embrace. Others will stretch that sucker out to the full length over our entire lives! Some will learn how securely we are attached to God by stretching it out and being snapped back just once. Others of us... the slower learners among us (raising hand), will stretch it out and get snapped back over and over and over again, never seeming to fully believe the strength and resiliency of God’s Baptismal Rubber Band. It might have even entered your mind that while you, yourself are not currently in doubt of God’s ability to hold onto you personally with that Baptismal Rubber Band… you may have wondered recently if God could, or even would, hang on to humanity as a whole, as we, in our collective hand basket, stretch God’s love for this creation to what in human logic, must be FAR beyond it’s breaking point.

The hope-filled Good News for today is that neither you nor me, NOR even all of humanity in our collective hand basket can ever, ever, EVER break the bond that God has made with you and me and all of creation in Baptism. We ARE God’s Children! Simply and only because we have been Chosen and Marked with God’s love, attached forever to God’s eternally resilient rubber band of Baptism and because of that, God is even now, snapping you and me and all of creation back into God’s unconditional, loving embrace to remind us yet again, we are indeed God's eternal delight. Amen.

Home, Another Way

Matthew 2:1-12

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 

When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”

When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

While we were all still working through our refrigerators full of Christmas leftovers, the lectionary squeezed in the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents. They snuck it in, completely out of order, since chronologically it happens after today’s story… but snuck it in they did… in-between Christmas Day and Epiphany… in-between leftover cheese and slices of Christmas ham piled high on crackers, eaten in sweat pants, feet up by the fire.

I don’t know why they stuck it there... right after the crackers and before the two and a half pieces of manicotti warmed up and eaten right out of the container it was crammed into on Christmas Day. But that’s when they wanted us to remember that all of the male children under the age of two were slaughtered by Herod in and around Bethlehem. Herod had hoped, that amongst that carnage, would lie the body of that infant would-be King of the Jews the Wise Men had told him about. Joseph had, however, listened to yet another dream. Joseph, the patron saint of men who listen… yes, there are TOO men who listen! Joseph had listened… twice now! And this time he took Mary and Jesus and fled for their lives to another country. There is no rational objection to seeing the Holy Family’s status here as refugees, but then fear has never fancied itself as rational… neither in ancient times nor in our own.

Indeed, it’s fear that’s at the very bottom of all of the horror that happens in this second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. The text doesn’t just hint at it either, it just spits it out! “When King Herod heard the news from the Wise Men about the birth of the King of the Jews, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.” Indeed it’s fear that is the seed of every horror inflicted on the innocent in every age. Fear of losing power, privilege, status or place is what leads weak and fear-filled men to justify all sorts of horror. Each horror acquires a different name in it’s infamy… the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents, The 100 Year’s War, The Inquisition, Manifest Destiny, The Holocaust, The Killing Fields, The Rwandan Genocide, The War on Terror, and all that is happening around us right now.  More mass shootings than there are days of the year and child refugees held in cages until they die. Those don’t yet have an infamous name of their own, but one day they will… they all do. But no matter the name of the horror, or the culture, country, or religion of origin... no matter what people point to as the reasons for the horror, either real or imagined... Down at the very deepest depths of every horror from every time there is always that dark, pervasive, all consuming and festering fear which drives them all.

Fear is what incubates in the muck infested bottom of systemic racism, lived in for so long it has made people nostalgic for infested muck. Fear is at the core of the need to build concentration camps and separate families for the crime of following in the Holy Family’s footsteps fleeing certain death. Fear is at the deepest essence of the once again growing number of anti-Semitic attacks. Fear is at the corrupt dark heart that rhythmically pumps out the stinking dregs of white nationalism.

Fear is not new. It has motivated humans since Adam and Eve hid from God, as the Divine walked through the garden looking for them hiding in the bushes. It existed long before Herod and it has endured long after his death. And ever since the garden, good and faithful people have stood up and spoken up, fought and marched and even gone to war to stop the horrors that inevitably grow out of the worst of our festering human fears. Yet, through the ages, fear continues to fester in the darkest parts of our human souls.  Fear continues to grow out of the shadows where it had been chased and out from the shadows it drives fear-filled men to once again repeat the horrors of the past.  The horrors are always exactly the same. They just sport a new slap-shod paint job, in the present age’s trending colors. Fear festers. Horrors grow. Good and faithful people rise to confront the horrors. The horror of the moment is beaten back into the bushes, but then as surely as the sun rises, the hatred, violence and horror grow out of the shadows of fear once again.

What I am wondering this Epiphany… and I’ll warn you right up front that I don’t have an answer to my wondering. My wondering for this Epiphany is:  Have we missed the lesson those Wise Men were trying to teach us when they listened to a dream and went home by another way? Our inclination as good and faithful people has been, for as long as humans have walked the earth, to rise against each horror. Protest every hatred. Stand with the oppressed and even place our own lives in between the fearful and the latest color of an age old horror. Each of those chapters eventually end the same way, with the faithful exalted as heroic winners and the fear-filled men, who launched the latest horror, retreating into the shadows as resentful losers, left to fester there until they come out once again in another time and place, bringing with them the same old horror in another new paint job. Have we missed the lesson of those Wise Men they were trying to teach us by going home another way?

Through the ages, as each horror rises, we’ve gone at them head on, right into the horror itself. We don’t, however, seem to ever confront the fear which lies at every horror’s core.  What would it look like to confront the echoing, repetitive, horrors of our world in another way?  How can we get ALL of creation HOME, another way? What does HOME look like? Are the fear-filled men welcome in this place called HOME? Can we call it HOME without them? It seems, after all, they are the ones who need HOME the very most.  What does the WAY to this place called HOME look like? How can we know the WAY? 

I don’t think the Wise Men are asking us to abandon the faithful, holy work of standing up and speaking out against the horrors of this world.  I think they are asking us to consider taking on an additional, harder part of the task at hand. I think they are asking us if we can stand up to the latest horrors that fear-filled men endlessly launch into the world AND ALSO find another way... a way to get at that festering fear-filled core… to heal the fear which drives horror after horror into the world.  Like I said, I don’t have the answer to this wondering, but I think perhaps the place to start is to pay closer attention to our dreams.  Maybe if we, like Joseph and these Wise Men, would listen to our dreams, they might show us a WAY to a TRUTH which just might lead to a LIFE... a life free of a perpetual parade of fear-fueled horrors... A way for all of creation to find its way home by another way. Amen.