More Than a Pallet

 John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

In John’s Gospel it’s clear… Jesus has a plan.  Every part of Jesus’ life, as John tells the story, is known, mapped out, and understood as “the plan” from before the very beginning.  He knew what tree his next disciple would be sitting under.  He knew he had to say “I am thirsty” on the cross to fulfill scripture.  He knew exactly when his glory was to be revealed… because it was all part of the plan.  

His mom, however, didn’t care about his plan.  Mary saw her friends were in trouble and knew that her Son could help and to Jesus' mom, that mattered infinitely more than any of her son's plans.  Weddings in those days could last for a week.  Running out of wine would have devastated the family’s reputation and labeled the couple the “ran out of wine, loser couple” forever.  So Jesus’ mom did what all moms do with their sons’ important plans.  She changed them.  With a dismissive eye roll at Jesus’ objections and instructions given to the staff, Mary told Jesus, “your plan isn’t as important as the immediate needs of the people around you.”  And here’s the important part… Jesus agreed!

Keep in mind, this wasn’t just ANYONE’S plan, this was the Son of God’s plan, the Savior of the World’s plan, the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Lord’s plan.  It’s one thing for MY mom to change MY plans… but this was the King of King’s plan!  And yet, the first thing we are shown here is that the immediate needs of the people around him were STILL more important than his plans.  So, the first thing this story is teaching us, is that whenever we encounter someone in need, our own plans can wait… the other comes first.  If God’s plan for saving the world could be put on hold to help a neighbor, then we certainly can put our plans aside to lend a hand.  Theological heavy weight Henri Nouwen agrees.  He wrote, “My whole life I have complained that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that the interruptions WERE my work.”

The second thing I think this story it trying to teach us is that when Jesus put his plans on hold, he didn’t just do the minimum to get mom off his back.  No, he helped out with ABUNDANCE!!  He made between 120 and 180 GALLONS of wine!  That’s between 600 and 900 bottles of wine.  That’s a “get a forklift, this is more than a pallet” of wine!  

The third thing this story it trying to teach us is that when the wine was taken to the steward it wasn’t the cheap stuff… it wasn’t even the good stuff they had served earlier in the day!  This was the very best there was!  So, when Jesus put his important “save the world” plans aside to help someone in need he didn’t just do the bare minimum… he gave with abundance… and he didn’t just make “get by wine” either, he made the very best.  

Now, if I was smart and you were lucky, I’d stop right now.  You have a tidy three point sermon, and we’d all get to coffee hour earlier.  But I’m not smart and you’re not lucky, because there’s one more thing about this story I want you to hear.  You remember those jars that held between 20 - 30 gallons of water?  Those are each basically a 160 - 240 pound bag of water.  You know what else is basically a 160-240 pound bag of water?  You are!  I am.  And if an encounter with the Divine could change those 160-240 bags of water into EXACTLY what was needed in THAT moment… just what might Jesus create when he brushes up against you and me?  I am very confident we will be made into exactly what the people around us need in that particular moment?  That right there is Good News!  

With tomorrow happening tomorrow I think that Jesus has maybe brushed up against us with this story just when we needed it to remind us that… 1. We are not God.  Our worry, no matter how large, does not have the power to fix creation.  2.  We are not Mary.  We do not have the power to make God’s Son fix a problem we think needs fixing and 3.  We are not Jesus with the power to turn water into wine, heal the sick, or raise the dead.  Nope.  This story is here to remind all of us today that each one of us is nothing more (and nothing less) than a 180-240 pound bag of water… and OUR job, as bags of water, is to hang out and wait for Jesus to transform us into what our neighbors will need most in a particular moment yet to be encountered.    

What will that be?  When will that be?  Will it happen just once in a lifetime or more than once each day?  Honestly, I have no idea.  But what I do know is that in the moment you are needed, you WILL BE TRANSFORMED into way, WAY more than enough for the situation at hand, you will be transformed into a solution of the very highest quality, and in that moment you will be part of God’s saving work for all creation.  Oh, and you’ll make Jesus’ mom happy… and when mom’s happy, everyone is happy!  Amen.

Singin' in the Rain

 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Baptism is like a satellite dish.  Way back at the end of the last century we got our first, little, satellite dish in Wisconsin.  It was either that or no TV.  Some of you here, I know, are made of exceedingly strong stuff and would thrive without TV.  Our family was simply… not that strong.  So, as Harlan Hansen climbed up on roof of the parsonage and then up the pole to attach the dish, I had a revelation.  These signals for half a dozen good channels and three million useless channels had been raining down on me from somewhere out in space ALL THIS TIME!  They had been pouring down on me day and night.  Me just oblivious!  But, when Harlan Hansen came down, all that had previously been obscured, suddenly become digitally clear!  They had been there all along!  It’s just that with a dish… by tuning in… we were able to make sense of what had been raining down on us for so long.  Baptism is like that.

God’s love rains down on us all and has been raining on us all since way before the formless void got any form!  God’s love rains down universally, unconditionally, and ubiquitously!  But it is in Baptism that all that beautiful divine love begins to come into focus, begins to make sense, and begins to become visible.  God’s love was and is always there for everyone, but in Baptism, God makes it so we can see it, embrace it, roll around in it, and share it with the world.  And I say “God makes it so” because Baptism is something that God does, not something we do, not even something we help with.  That truth I believe becomes the most clear when an infant is Baptized and the only contribution the child makes to that precious, sacramental moment is to fill their diaper.  

Another thing Leonard Sweet said Baptism is like is Popcorn.  Lots of people would say that Baptism is like washing, because Baptism involves water.  But real Baptism does more than just make us wet.  A washing in water alone doesn’t really change us.  It’s like running your car through the car wash, it gets wet, but in the end it’s still just your car.  It’s like sending your clothes into the washing machine.  They get wet, but in the end it’s not like you have a brand new outfit.  A washing with water alone doesn’t really CHANGE things; it just gets things wet.  

Real Baptism, on the other hand, changes everything.  It bathes us in the fire of the Holy Spirit.  It’s that fire that transforms us into something wholly different and new… like popcorn.  After all you can wash a kernel of corn in water all day long, but at the end of the day, what do you got?  A wet kernel of corn.  Washing your popcorn doesn’t give you any sizzle.  Washing your popcorn doesn’t draw people into the kitchen from every corner of the house.  Washing your popcorn doesn’t give you that salty, buttery goodness of a completely transformed, warm and fluffy snack!  No!

But give that kernel of popcorn a baptism of fire... AND IT IS TRANSFORMED!  And not quietly either… it is transformed with an explosive force that completely changes that small, hard, dense, flavorless nothing into something large, soft, fluffy, and delicious.

  

John’s Baptism was just a washing… a simple lather, rinse, repeat sort of baptism.  That doesn’t make John a terrible guy… it simply reminds us that John was God’s prophet, not God's Messiah.  Later, rinse, repeat was all he was called to give.  Jesus, on the other hand, was God’s Messiah and Jesus Baptizes with the unquenchable fire of the Holy Spirit.  That's the Baptism that you and I have had.  Our Baptisms had the fiery heat of the Messiah behind them that transformed us dramatically, explosively, and completely.  In that moment we were changed from a collection of minerals worth approximately $576 according to the internet, into a priceless and beloved child of God… from a corpse waiting to happen, to an inheritor of eternal life.  Baptism… Jesus’ Baptism… Baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire is like that.  The Jesus Baptism of unquenchable fire that every one of us has had, has taken each of us rock hard kernels and transformed us through the power of unquenchable fire and the mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit into something wholly new and wonderful!  

So now what?  What will you do?  How will you live, having  stood under the deluge of God’s love from before you were born?  What will you do and how will you live out your Baptisms of FIRE in the days to come?  Certainly not in a life of just lather, rinse, repeat!!  NO!  God has loved you… God has made you… God has transformed you!  There is so much more to this Baptized life than to just slog through each moment of it soaking wet!  So how are we to live this Baptized life?  (Donnie?  You ready for a slow pitch this week?  Here it comes…)  We are to live this Baptized life… like we are all Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain!  Because in this life we will get soaked and splashed and sometimes it will feel like we're nearly drown… but through it all God has made sure that we will ALWAYS be absolutely on fire... singing and dancing in the rain.  Amen.  

Another Way Entirely

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.

 

My psychology guru, Kevin Polk, sends out a very short, daily email.  It’s sort of a thought for the day that gets the reader thinking.  If you’re a regular reader or have been to his trainings or read one of his books, you can easily see how these little daily blurbs utilize his particular psychology school of thought, but they’re written in such a way that everyone can get something out of them, even if you haven’t been to a seminar or read a book.  One this past week went like this:  “Imagine whatever you are struggling with in your mind as a rope.  You have a tight grip on that rope. There’s no way you are letting go.  Go ahead and tighten your hand on that imaginary rope, and notice how long you can keep that tight grip.  That “rope” in your mind is not going anywhere.  How long can you keep that tight grip on it?  Maybe you could let it go.  You can always pick it up later.”

In today’s Gospel we know the Wise Men had a genuine Epiphany, not because we saw a cartoon lightbulb go off over their heads, but because we could see that they suddenly gave up the previous way they HAD BEEN walking in the world and instead started home by ANOTHER WAY.  They saw Jesus.  They grasped, in some way beyond regular human understanding that… THIS WAS GOD.  Then after that, they went home by another way.  

What I wondered about this week is what happened IN-BETWEEN seeing Jesus, the sudden realization that went with that, AND their first steps on their new way home?  Maybe what happened in between those things took only a split second.  Maybe it was an hour or maybe it took as long as a dream.  However long it took, I think what happened in between first seeing Jesus and tying the last piece of luggage on the camel, was that they let go of the ropes they had always held onto with an iron grip developed over a lifetime.  They let go of the rope labeled proper political statecraft.  They let go of the rope labeled deference for royalty.  They let go of the rope labeled academic accountability.  They let go of all the ropes that had tied them to their previous Way and then… only then… after letting go of all those ropes… they could go home by another way.  

What are the ropes you’re holding onto right now?  Have you noticed how tight your grip is on them?  Have you noticed how your powerful grip makes the rope burn your hands?  Have you noticed how the muscles you use to hold that rope so tightly have become incredibly sore?  Have you noticed how the need to maintain that unrelenting grip has left you physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted?  Have you noticed that all preachers preach to themselves?  Have you noticed that a few preachers will even admit it?  

What are the ropes you’re holding right now?  I know the ropes I’ve been holding onto.  All of you (as far as I know) are fellow humans so it's a sure bet you too have ropes you’re holding onto with a death grip as well.  I suspect there are actually a few ropes that we’re holding onto together!  That rope labeled “the future of our country”… who has a death grip on that one right now?  Have you noticed how holding onto it so tightly has started digging deeply into our hands?  Have you noticed that no matter how tightly you hold that rope, it doesn't change the country?  Yeah, me too.  

I think THIS Epiphany, you and I are being invited to follow the lead of those Wise Ones, let go of all our ropes, and head toward home a different Way.  Those things our ropes are tied to won’t all just magically disappear when we let go, that is true.  But it's also true that continuing to hold onto those ropes with an iron-death-grip won’t change any of the things we worry about one way or another either!  Holding onto those ropes will only leave us with rope-burnt hands, tired muscles, and an exhausted mind.  So this Epiphany, what do you say we just let ‘em go.
 

I know… I know… easier said than done.  But remember, you CAN ask for help letting go of the ropes you have trouble putting down.  The original Wise Ones didn’t do it alone after all… there were three of them who did it together!  And the last thing for us to remember this morning is that Epiphany is a season, not just a day.  Letting go of our ropes is something we can work on together over the whole of this season.  Don't you think Epiphany would be a good season to let go of the ropes we’ve been holding?  Ease our grips, open our hands, and just set them down?  The promise of Epiphany is, that if we do that… loosen our grip, open our hands, and set down those ropes... the promise is that another way home will absolutely present itself…  a way toward the ones we love… a way toward the things we value… another Way entirely.  Amen. 

Les Patins de Hockey

Luke 2:1-14

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

What is the BEST thing about Christmas?  No, not Jesus, but to be fair, that IS the answer to 99% of questions asked in church!  What’s the Best thing about Christmas?  Friends and family?  No.  Friends and only select members of the family?  No.  But maybe closer.  Food, lights, music, tree?  Nope.  You clearly need help.  Bishop… what is… the best thing about Christmas?  (THE PRESENTS!)  That is correct!  The best thing about Christmas is the presents!  Do you remember the best present you ever got?  Mine came one Christmas, way back in the days when phones were all attached to the wall with wires.  

The summer before that Christmas, my family had moved from Florida to New Jersey and my parents had bought a house on a little lake.  The guys in the neighborhood talked non-stop about playing hockey.  They couldn’t wait until the lake froze over.  It was so hard to wait they played street hockey every day in anticipation.  My new friends had me so excited about ice hockey I couldn’t wait either!  There was one problem.  This Florida kid had no “patins de hockey.”  Those were the words on the side of every unattainable box of hockey skates in the sporting goods store.  All I wanted for Christmas was Les Patins de hockey!  

That year the lake froze MONTHS before Christmas… maybe it was really weeks… okay, maybe days… but a torturing time none the less!  No amount of hinting or begging would get me my hoped-for Patins de Hockey early.  In fact, my mom made a point of saying she had no idea if that would even BE one of my presents!  Each day was torture!  But then… it came.  Christmas Eve!  The night we opened family presents… BUT ONLY after church, after the Swedish Julbord dinner, and AFTER my sister and I had cleaned the kitchen!   

FINALLY, we opened our presents but NOT ONE of my presents that night was Patins de Hockey!  I went to bed in a near total panic.  BUT… there was one last hope.  That’s right… Santa.  Santa might still come through with Patins de Hockey where my cruel parents had utterly failed.  Morning came and there beside the fire were presents, wrapped in the paper only Santa used.  Of course my sister and I couldn’t just dive in like maniacs.  We had to wait for mom and dad to wake up… SLOWLY.  Then to make coffee… SLOWLY.  THEN to gather by SLOWLY.  Finally I picked the most promising looking box and peeled the paper off one end.  There under the wrapping I saw the words slowly reveiled… Patins de Hockey.  Santa had come through.  

So at that point what did I do?  I just put them in the box, taped it up and stuck them in a attic with the rest of Christmas, right?  Heck NO I didn’t!  I put them on and skated!  I skated on that lake.  I skated in hockey leagues.  I even skated as Bananas the Bear, the mascot of the University of Maine between periods of a college hockey game!  I unwrapped and put that gift to use like no other gift, before or since!  And THAT my friends, is this Christmas sermon’s take home message.  

We’ve each been given this incredible gift called LIFE and on Christmas we are given the additional gift of the ONE who shows us how to live this life… not as a day to day slog but with joy filled abundance!  That way of living this life is called the Jesus Way!  It’s not a dogma… although sometimes dogma can help.  It’s not a particular denomination or church… although community always helps.  It’s not something you get with a magic conversion or a particular prayer.  Nope. 

The Jesus Way is a way to live this life using Jesus’ life as a model.  The Jesus way is a life lived in kindness, compassion, generosity, and love.  A life with good, healthy boundaries and always speaking the truth, even when the truth is hard for people to hear.  It’s a life lived caring for all of our neighbors no matter who they are, what they look like, or who they love.  It’s a life lived feeding the hungry, healing the sick… Seeing… really SEEING those people around us who are considered by the world to be the least, and the lost.  It’s a life of being the voice of those who have no voice and lifting them into the life of dignity and abundance that God created all of us to live.  

The best thing about Christmas IS the presents!  Particularly the gift of LIFE and the Christ child who shows us how to live the heck out of this life we've been given!  So this Christmas, don’t pack the life you’ve been given away with all the other Christmas stuff.  This year, keep this life you’ve been given out and give a go live the heck out of it the Jesus Way… with compassion, generosity, care for your neighbor and love for everyone you meet.  Live this next year THAT way… the Jesus Way… no matter what might be happening all around you… live it like Jesus showed us to live it and what you’ll find, is that each day you live that way it will feel like Christmas all over again.  Amen.  

Don't Mess with Mary!

Luke 1:46b-55

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Today we’re taking a new look at Mary.  Neither through a Roman Catholic lens nor a Protestant lens (which is typically an over reaction to the Catholic lens).  We’re certainly NOT going to look at Mary through an evangelical lens which turns her into a model for women to be submissive, meek, and mild and do what they’re told.  Today we’re going to do our best to look at Mary through this text alone.  

The text beings with the angel Gabriel saying, “Greetings favored one!  The Lord is with you.”  The angel continues with “Do not be afraid,” an understandable and very standard angel greeting.  But here’s the thing… the text doesn’t say that MARY was afraid at all.  The text says Mary was PERPLEXED, yes, but that’s very different from afraid.  She wasn’t cowering, meek, or submissive here in any way.  Confused a bit, yes, BECAUSE THERE WAS A FREAKIN’ ANGEL IN HER ROOM, but fully in her higher, thinking brain.

  

It’s also clear from the text that the angel isn’t forcing anything onto Mary but is simply passing on the message that God has noticed Mary.  Noticed her NOT for her meekness, looks, or even her available uterus… but for her GRACE.  It was the courage and boldness she already possessed that found Gods favor.  It was her faith… her trust that the God of justice WOULD ACT in her world… THAT’S what God saw.  Her own passion for lifting the lowly and scattering the proud... THAT is what God both noticed and honored that day. 

It’s also important, as we take this new look at Mary, to see what’s NOT in the text.  The text has NO mention of Mary’s age and the word we translate as a “virgin” is a very particular word in the original Greek.  It refers ONLY to a person who has not yet had a child.  Nothing more than that.  All the rest of Mary’s intimate life details we've heard over the years are bits of made up tradition that people (mostly men if we're honest) have added to the story for reasons far beyond and often contradicting what’s in the text.

As the encounter with the angel draws to a close, it’s VERY important to see that agreeing to carry the Christ child, ONLY happens with Mary’s informed consent.  She doesn’t give a cowering yes.  She gives the angel some hard questions.  She doesn’t just go along submissively.  She was an active, informed participant in God’s work, just as she had been before the angel arrived.  In the end, it was HER decision to say, “let it be with me according to your word”...  it was only Mary’s “YES” that moved things along and I am quite sure that if Mary had said “NO,” God would have honored that choice as well, because THIS is a God of justice!  These things are why using Mary’s story as justification to date underage girls or permission to ignore a woman’s choice is not only an abuse of the text, but is also blaspheming the genuine nature of this God of justice!

  

And it's in this text that we so clearly hear Mary proclaim THAT particular nature of God!  It’s in that Magnificat where we see how God’s nature matches the independent, strong willed, revolutionary nature of Mary.  When Elizabeth proclaimed Mary “blessed” it wasn’t just because of who was in her womb, but because, as the text tells us, Mary was one who doggedly believed God would fulfill God’s promise of justice for the world!

It was in that spirit that Mary let loose with The Magnificat… which is nothing less than the ultimate political manifesto, proclaiming the fall of the wealthy, proud, and powerful and the rise of the poor, hungry, and forgotten of the world.  It has remained such a perfect insistence on JUSTICE as the will of God, that The Magnificat has been banned by three governments over the years for being too revolutionary. 

Over the centuries, people have attempted to tame Mary, but Mary isn’t anyone who will be tamed!  She’s an independent, clear thinking, justice-oriented woman in charge of her own comings and goings, in charge of her own mind and in charge of her own body.  She’s clear about what she values and was willing to collaborate with God in a unique, new, way to move the world toward her and God’s shared values of justice, compassion, and peace.  

She’s a powerful model for ministry, demonstrating a faithfulness so strong it drew God’s favor.  She's also a powerful model for discerning God’s call.  She shows us the importance of not simply accepting any new idea that just happens along without question, but also the importance of being open to God doing a new thing… both of which require listening, questioning, and reflecting.  

She was neither tricked nor intimidated into bringing Christ into the world.  She saw, after genuine discernment, bringing Christ into the world to be her next opportunity to collaborate with God to bend the arc of the moral universe toward the justice God intends for the world... the same justice she had embraced long before any angel showed up on the scene.  She is blessed.  But blessed for being willing to bring God’s light into the darkness in a new way.  Blessed for her powerful witness to God’s desire for justice which, even today, continues to humble the proud, bring down the powerful, fill the hungry, and lift up the lowly. 

May you and I be blessed, as Mary is blessed, by embracing God's desire for justice as Mary did.  May we be just as confident as Mary, that God's will for justice and peace WILL reign and may we, like Mary, find our way to  collaborate with God in bringing God’s reign of justice to earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.  

Thanks to Ben Wildflower for the artwork!

Asps... Very Dangerous... You Go First

Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 

In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

John T. Baptist hated snakes.  The trouble was… his world was chock full of em’!  That’s because once the snakes came to power, nobody, it seemed, could beat ‘em… and if you can’t beat ‘em… people figured they might as well join ‘em.  It seemed to be the way of the Roman reptilian world.  That’s why, when folks showed up to hear what John T. Baptist had to say, the first thing he did was hold up a giant mirror and tell the crowd to look at themselves.  You brood of vipers!  Y’all are de-volving!  You’re living each day, more and more like a snake… much less than God created you to be!

The people knew he was right.  They felt themselves slipping deeper into the snake pit every day, but the folks who stuck around to hear the rest of what John T. Baptist had to say were the ones who still didn’t like it.  They knew it wasn’t right.  They knew it in their guts.  They knew God had given them spines for standing up, not slithering around!  But it was hard!  Lots of people in power, and a great number of ordinary folks back then decided to get a gut-ectomy and their spines removed in order to slither with the brood.   

BUT, there were folks who felt themselves being sucked into the Serpentocracy who wished… hoped… even prayed it could be different.  They REALLY WANTED life to be different… but they were scared to be honest in a world that ran on dishonesty… how would they even get by?  They were hemmed in by fear.  Their dreams of running away and living a new life among the Visigoths SOUNDED wonderful, but it wasn’t reality.  They were stuck, like Indiana Jones and Marilyn in the Well of the Souls… surrounded by asps (very dangerous) with just one torch… and it was going out. 

When my psychology friend, Kevin Polk, talks to people who are stuck like that, he invites them to imagine they are all bus drivers.  Each one with their own bus.  He asks them, “if you weren’t afraid, WHO would you drive your bus toward?  If you weren’t afraid, WHAT would be the names of the towns you’d put in the GPS?  Would you drive toward a spouse… kids… friends?  Would you put in town names like Honesty, Kindness, Hospitality and such?  If you had a bus and you weren’t afraid, you’d drive toward the people you love, wouldn’t you?  Toward some town that promised to give life and not take it away?” wouldn’t you?  “Sure BUT” you say… the fear IS here and real!  All my fears are like a menacing, zombie-like horde all wearing matching trucker hats!  Every single fear I’ve ever had is out there!  Even my smallest, most insignificant fear is out there in that horde!

THAT is what those people who came out to see John T. Baptist felt, living in their “Brood of Vipers” world.  They each had a bus, sure, but it was completely hemmed in by this fear mongering horde!  THIS, your fears told them, is how it will always be!  There is no place to go!  No changing it now!  “We LIKE that you don’t like it”, the fears told their people, “but HEY! at least you know us!  We grew up with you!  Can’t we just be friends again?”  The tax collectors who came out to see John had already given up.  Same with the soldiers.  They were stuck because the brood of vipers signed their paychecks.  If they left that way of life… the way of the serpent… their families would LITERALLY starve!  How could they EVER drive a bus toward what they valued… toward the people they loved! 

 

The brilliance of John T. Baptist was that did not have them focus on their final destination, but on just… one… next… small… step.  He didn’t tell the tax collectors to stop collecting taxes.  He told them to collect no more than was prescribed.  He didn’t tell the soldiers to desert the Roman army.  He told them stop shaking down the locals!  But for them, even moving an inch while being surrounded by such a horde of fears shouting at them, “How will you make a living?  How will your family eat?  This is the way it’s always been done” was hard.  The people knew this isn’t how the world SHOULD work, but they also knew this was how it DID work.  “So how, Mr. John T. Baptist… HOW do we move our bus forward when we are completely surrounded…  not by little, silly, insignificant fears, but by huge, genuine fears, created by very real and very powerful snakes?  Should we wait for the Brood to disperse on their own?”  No, because the truth is,  fears never go away on their own.  We know that too, don’t we?  Don’t LIKE it, but we know it.  

So, John told them… here’s how you do it.  You invite that whole horde of fears onto your bus.  THAT’S why you have a bus!  You invite them on your bus.  They are happy because they are still with you, right?  But now that they’re on the bus, guess where they aren’t?  Blocking your way!  So start driving!  Yeah, once they realize it, they will probably make a giant fuss in the back but by then it's too late!  You're driving your bus toward what you value… toward the people you love… toward the Kingdom of God… toward really living again, or maybe toward beginning to live for the very first time.  

Now, I hear you out there… You say “that sounds hard?”  Darn tootin, it’s hard!  Pertinear impossible even!  But wait… There’s more!  You see, there is ONE more powerful than John T. Baptist.  One whose sandals John wasn’t worthy to untie, and it is with THAT ONE on your side that you will have all you need to get your bus moving… even just an inch or two at a time… even with inelegant clutch work… even with all your fears hollerin’ their trucker-cap-wearing heads off in the back… It is with that ONE that you will have what you need to drive each moment of your life… even just a little bit at a time… toward the people you love and the ways of life you value and it is THAT ONE who will be with you single inch of the way.  Amen.