Swords into Plows

Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 

In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 

Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Recently at Monument Valley Middle School, one student told a number of Jewish students that he wanted to “nuke the Jews” and that they were “on his list.” The Rabbis from Hevreh met with school officials and then together, they all invited community and faith leaders to meet in Stockbridge. We learned, that sadly, this is not a one time thing. Each year the schools see some sort of incident like this. One year it might be racist, another it will be anti-immigrant, and another year it is anti-Semitic... but it’s something every year. That reality was disturbing but the meeting wasn’t all bad. I came away VERY impressed with how much work the schools have been doing now for YEARS to teach students about hate and bias and to create a safe environment for all students. I don’t like that this happens year after year, but those school professionals have come to understand that this work must be an ongoing effort, because new students continually stream together to learn.

Isaiah’s vision also recognizes an ever flowing stream of people coming together from all over the world.  He too recognizes that people coming together bring all their differences, and inevitably they bring their swords and spears as well. That’s why Isaiah’s vision includes the need for “arbitrating” between the people! Isaiah’s a realist! He expects when people come together from all over the world, they aren’t going to just magically begin to live together in a world of rainbows, unicorns and lollipops! When different people come together, they ALWAYS need help working through their differences and they will need to learn new ways to do that beyond the long-studied ways of swords and spears!

In Isaiah’s vision, that learning is described as beating swords and spears, into plows and pruning hooks. They learn a way to live, NOT out of their fear of loosing place or privilege or their fear of scarcity that is always made worse by swords and spears. They learn instead to live in a way that creates a shared abundance with plows and pruning hooks.  They learn to GROW new life... TOGETHER! This new life however, isn’t a life without differences.  Isaiah’s vision is clear! We don’t live on the mountain of the Lord’s house by homogenizing the world into a colorless, flavorless, slurry of humanity. We live on that mountain by working to help each person and each group of people, grow into the fullness that God created them to be! This is a mountain filled with all the different colors, music, flavors, dances and expressions of joy with which God has blessed the earth. God knows, it is in learning how to share and celebrate all our diversity that we will have real and lasting and abundant life!

Isaiah admits though, making this vision a reality takes a lot of hard work. To beat swords and spears into plows and pruning hooks means heating that metal to over 2000° F. That’s just to get it to the forging temperature, to say nothing of the energy needed after that to shape the metal into something new. And just as the schools seem to have experienced, this is work that never ends.  There are always more swords and more spears brought by more and different people that will always need to be worked into plowshares and pruning hooks. It is simply part of the reality of our world that the ways of swords and spears are taught to our children with both spoken and unspoken lessons. We all do our best raising our kids. But all too often our best comes out of our own brokenness and ends up defaulting to the ways of swords and spears.  The ever flowing stream of people who, out of fear, pick up swords, spears, guns, bias and hate in an attempt to free themselves of what they fear… Those people… US PEOPLE… we need continual Divine In-Breakings to teach us over and over new ways to walk and live together in this world.  

Isaiah’s vision was a Divine In-Breaking, teaching us that embracing our diversity is the way to live and thrive together in the world. It is a Divine In-Breaking that happens in our schools when caring professionals break into student’s lives with compassion and intentionality to teach them new ways to move through their fears. Each Advent is also a Divine In-Breaking where we are reminded that the infant Jesus broke into our world in the most vulnerable way, to teach us how to walk in the Way of the Lord AND that we are also called to look forward to more Divine In-Breakings where Christ enters into our world and our lives again and again, continually teaching us, that the path to abundant life is not made with swords and spears but is grown together with our neighbors by plowing and pruning.

What is our part in this Divine In-Breaking here in South County? How can we help our schools do the hard work of turning fear into calm, hate into compassion and swords into plowshares? What would it look like for us as a congregation… as the Body of Christ… to come to the mountain of the Lord’s House with others, not to homogenize one another into one way of being, but to work together to grow a diverse and abundant life for all people? I invite you to join me in letting those questions become a part of your Advent this year and together see what God’s vision might be for us to join in this Divine In-Breaking work when this year’s Advent season comes to a close. Amen.

X the Rex

Luke 23:33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[ Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Today we celebrate The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Sunday. Or, because that’s about 7 too many super chewy church words, we just shorten it to Christ the King Sunday. It was started in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in the dark shadows of a broken world following World War I. He saw that even though the official war had come to an end the old hatreds, rivalries and political manipulations of the world were still at work. He wrote, “as long as individuals and states refuse to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations.” He argued that “we must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ” if the world was to have real peace. So, he instituted this feast to lift up the Kingship of Christ.

Now at this point we could get horribly derailed by the Papal origins of this day and the king-like hierarchy of Rome and the baggage that comes with it, or by the very “male” focus that comes along with the word “king” or that some still use this concept as a twisted reason to try to “force” people to declare that Christ is their King. But if it’s OK with you, I’d rather just acknowledge, that along with every other metaphor we use to try to wrap our minds around the infinite nature of God, “Kingship” too has baggage and limitations. So, I propose we just put an asterisk here, acknowledging those very real limitations, but for today, look for what it is about this day might be helpful instead.

So, with a bold asterisk firmly in place to help us resist the temptation to dive into one of those very tempting rabbit holes, I’d like to suggest that ol’ Pius the X-I was actually onto something. He wrote how, “bitter enmities and rivalries… hinder the cause of peace” and how “insatiable greed” hides under the “pretense of public spirit and patriotism.” He saw how patriotism, a thing he said was of “noble virtues and so many acts of heroism” could be perverted into an “extreme nationalism” and lead us to forget that we are all part of “one human family” and that nationalism could lead us to dismiss the idea that “all people have the right to life and prosperity.”

If you ask me, it looks like ‘ol Pope Pius the X-I could just as easily have been reflecting on our own world today! Those reflections on patriotism turning into malignant nationalism and how it’s so easy to forget that other human beings are our siblings, seems hauntingly familiar! I think the core of the lesson Pope Pius hoped the world would learn back then, is still very relevant today, because it flows out of this Gospel lesson. I think he wanted the world to learn that it is not our loyalty to earthly kings, emperors, kaisers, presidents, political parties or doctrines that will lead the world to peace, but it is following the path walked by the One who rules all of creation from the seemingly power-less position of hanging on a cross. THAT is the One, who’s WAY will guide us to genuine and lasting peace.

Now, I think this is a good spot to remind us all again about that asterisk we put up before, warning us away from the entrance to the rabbit hole that says, “if everyone just confessed Jesus as Lord” we’d have peace. Because it isn’t REALLY the particular doctrines we believe, or the words we say that really make a difference. What will, as Bishop Curry says, “transform the world from the nightmare it is for so many into the dream that God intends” is our living our lives each day, step by step in the footsteps of Jesus… living our lives modeled after the Jesus-Way of living. Doing what Jesus did... living as Jesus lived... THAT’S what makes the difference!  Searching out the lost, feeding the hungry, embracing the forgotten, maligned and demonized. Speaking truth to power, advocating for justice, lifting up the trampled, healing the sick, reuniting the estranged and raising the dead… THAT is how to live in the Kingdom of Christ! You and I living life on THAT path is how God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Pope Pius saw that earthly kingdoms filled with greed, anger and a thirst for revenge demanding peace by way of a war to end all wars, didn’t bring the world to the peace God intended. He saw that REAL peace is not something that can be commanded from a human throne, but is something that is offered as an undeserved gift from the cross with the promise, "today you will be with me in paradise.”

I know this isn’t easy.  We drive down the road of faith in this life and as we look out the windows we see a world that remains broken and far from the kind of peace God intends. It is very tempting, seeing mile after mile of that sort of injustice, to run off the road into the ditch on one side that says “God can not, or chooses not, to bring peace to the world so it is all on us to make peace happen on our own” or jerk the wheel over and end up in the ditch on the other side that says, “Only God can bring peace to the world so we might as well sit back, do nothing, and wait for God to work it all out.” But faith that “Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done” is found in neither ditch. Faithfulness is holding, in what I admit is a horrible tension, the reality that our King rules us with unlimited power, from a completely powerless place on the Cross. Faithfulness to Christ the King is living and walking in that impossible tension and driving down the road of life as St. Augustine suggested: “Praying as though everything depended on God and working as though everything depended on us.” Amen.

Stay on Target

Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

What was the most important thing of 1977? Jimmy Carter being sworn in as president? No. Elvis’s death? Sad indeed, but no. George Willig, brother of our own Steve Willig, climbing The World Trade Center? Close, but still no. The most important thing that happened in 1977 was the release of the movie Star Wars.  So what does that movie from 1977 have to do with this less-than-cheerful Gospel lesson, you ask? Well, let me tell you!  

In the context of the Jesus story, this bit from today happens as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. Judas is getting ready to betray him and Peter is about to deny him and Jesus is about to walk into a horrible gauntlet filled with betrayal, denial, injustice, and pain.  All the while, the people in power are moving things into position to bring the full force of the Roman Empire down on Jesus which will lead to only one possible, inevitable, end... Jesus’ death on a cross.  

In the Star Wars story, this is Gospel lesson is like the scene where the stolen plans reveal just one weakness in the Death Star.  By flying through an impossible gauntlet and hitting a tiny target… no bigger than a Womprat back home... they MIGHT destroy the Death Star. Han Solo is packing up to leave because this plan is sure to get them all killed and all the while, the Death Star is moving into position to bring the full force of the Galactic Empire down on the rebellion leading to only one, possible, inevitable end… the death of the Rebellion.  

In the Star Wars story things are BAD. BUT! We KNOW that Luke’s X-Wing fighter makes it through the gauntlet of laser canons, tie fighters, the Dark Side and through the relentless progress of the Galactic Empire’s death and terror machine… The Death Star.  We KNOW Gold Five says “STAY ON TARGET, STAY ON TARGET!” and Obi Wan’s voice sounds from beyond the grave saying, “Luke! Let go! Use the Force” and that Luke turns off his targeting computer and fires using only The Force.  We KNOW the Death Star is destroyed, and what had seemed absolutely impossible for a million different reasons… happens! The Death Star explodes into a zillion pieces.  

And we know where the Jesus story goes from here as well. We KNOW that in spite of traps set by the powerful… in spite of being betrayed and denied, Jesus “stays on target.” We KNOW he makes his way through the impossible gauntlet of a Roman Governor, Roman collaborators, and Roman legions and even through the relentless pursuit of the Roman Empire’s death and terror machine… The Cross.  We KNOW... that even with all of THAT working against him, this story ends with Jesus being raised from the dead and Death being destroyed forever.

And so my fellow followers of Jesus and members of the Rebel Alliance. My fellow battlers against the dark side and holders of hope and light in the midst of hopelessness and darkness; my reminder for you this day, is not to get stuck in just one chapter or just one scene and forget how the story ends!  Don’t forget how the Star Wars Story ends.  Don’t forget how the Jesus story ends and don’t forget how YOUR story ends either!  Because I can see all that is wrong.  Children in cages, climate change, gun violence, lies and betrayals and ugliness at the highest levels.  I know that this particular chapter of OUR story is filled with 24 hour news proclamations that “The End is Near” that nation is fighting against nation and that natural disasters and disasters caused by human brokenness are epidemic.  BUT I also know, THAT is not how OUR story ends!  

I KNOW how easy it is to get stuck in just one less-than-cheerful chapter of this life.  A chapter filled with disasters, betrayals or family members who use the dark side of Tofurky in a plot to destroy the joy of Thanksgiving! So we too need to remember that these sorts of stories are not just tall tales meant for an ancient people or for a galaxy far, far away.  THESE stories are meant for us too!  They are made not just out of words and film but crafted with God from Divine promise… infinitely stronger stuff than just human imagination or hope filled dreams!  THESE stories have been made for you and for me, so that we might SEE BEYOND these less-than-cheerful chapters of life and hold on to the Divine promise of light and abundant life that we have been given in Christ!

It’s healthy to honestly acknowledge the less-than-cheerful chapters of this life.  And I’ll be the first to admit it can look bleak out there these days!  And when cold grey days are strung together between 14 hours of pitch black darkness it doesn’t do much to improve the view! BUT as we acknowledge the reality of these less-than-cheerful chapters, don’t forget to look beyond that chapter and ALSO acknowledge God’s Divine promise and remember, THIS is not where the story ends!  

This is the take-home for today:  Our calling is to remind one another that we need not to drink full time from the 24 hour news fire hose.  Remind each other that our politically off center uncles will not be converted to a newly enlightened political position, no matter how good the cranberry sauce might be and remind one another that the way the Star Wars story and the Jesus story ends is meant to be a reminder of God’s promise for how OUR stories will end as well.  God will see us through every gauntlet, God will care for us until empires fall, God will make sure the dead will rise, no matter how impossible life might look in any one particular chapter or scene, God will be with us… always. Amen. 

All the Saints

Luke 6:20-31

Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

I think my favorite image for All Saints comes from Isaiah. “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.” In my mind this looks like the sort of table that a single dining room just can’t contain. It bursts through the walls of both sides of the house, down the street, and out farther than the eye can see in each direction! Everyone, in all of creation is gathered at the table… the saints who are living… all the saints who have gone before us… and those who are yet to be… all included… all fully able to be themselves… all whole, and all enjoying, with full throated laughter and joy, God’s feast of “rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.”

And while the FULLNESS for you and me sitting at that feast is yet to come, God’s Table exists now and each week we are offered a momentary seat at that table when we come to Holy Communion. In some mystical way, our little bit of communion rail, in our little town, in our little corner of the world, becomes woven into God’s Table. As we stand or kneel there, I like to think that if you look carefully, not with your eyes but with your heart, you might even catch a brief glimpse of God’s Kingdom Table stretching out right through the walls of our church and off into infinity. Because in that moment we are... RIGHT THERE... at God’s Table, side by side with those who have gone before us.  It happens in a mystical, but no less real way, than when we sat with them at the feasts we shared with them while they were alive.

It’s with that vision in mind, that I wonder if the Blessings and the Woes that Jesus shares here in Luke’s Gospel are not so much about who is “in” and who is “out” at the end of time, but more a declaration of Divine Truth and Hope for how we choose to live today. I think these blessings and woes tell a powerful truth about how, when our lives are lived one way we are able to see more clearly, far down the length of God’s Kingdom Table… AND conversely when we live in other ways, our ability to see down that table becomes much more clouded.  

When we feel poor, hungry, anguished or despised… in THOSE times… times of deep vulnerability, we look down the rail… down the length of God’s Kingdom Feast Table to the right and to the left and we are able to see more clearly that great cloud of witnesses sitting beside us. In those times of vulnerability we are blessed with greater clarity ... the cloud of our ego doesn’t get in the way. In those vulnerable times we are truly blessed to see friends and family and colleagues and mentors beside us at the rail… those who have gone before us… there, present, with us... caring for us in those darkest of times. But then when are rich, full, happy and popular, is it simply the truth that in those times, we are much more likely to have our ego clouding that vision and we are more likely to look left and right and see, not a great cloud of witnesses, but just a whole lot of cloud. 

God ALWAYS, CONTINUALLY, UNCONDITIONALLY and DEEPLY desires for ALL of us to come to God’s Table.  God invites us ALL to come, regardless of whether we’ve been able to do the past week’s living in a way that has led to more blessings and clarity or to more woes and clouded vision.  Either way, God WANTS us at God’s Table, regardless!  God wants us to come... to look to the right and to the left.  God wants you to SEE the great cloud of witnesses that are always there, whether this is a time we can see them clearly or not.  God wants us to believe, and if possible to even SEE that they are there, giving us their care and support. It is BECAUSE that is God’s DEEP and CONTINUAL desire, God sent Jesus to teach us the way to live our lives so that we might have the greatest possible clarity of vision each time we come to God’s Table.  

Clarity of vision happens, Jesus teaches us, when we love our enemies, when we do good to those who hate us, when we bless those who curse us and pray for those who abuse us.  We come to God’s Table with more clarity of vision when we stand up to abusive power with the creative but non-violent power of the Holy Spirit. We grow in clarity of vision when we live lives of generosity and when we refrain from seeking revenge for the times when we have been wronged.

In some mystical way, God in Christ has given us the incomparable gift of being fully included at God’s Table IN THIS LIFETIME, if only for the time it takes to receive the bread and wine. There, God invites us to look up and down the infinite length of that feast and see just as far as we can possibly see… see all those who have gone before us… parents and grandparents… back countless generations… husbands, wives, partners and children… friends and siblings and those family members who don’t share blood, but something much deeper. Then, with that powerful image of infinite love and support from every age and time, from up and down that table, firmly embedded in our souls, Jesus calls us to go out and do unto others as we would have them do unto us, inviting them to join us at God’s Table so they too may be blessed and strengthened in their lives by All the Saints. Amen.