Resting

Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.  And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

Here’s what I read this week on the Great Barrington Community Facebook Page: “The silence from local progressive groups and the public at large regarding the potential end of the world is stunning. What the hell is wrong with people? This is the issue you need to focus on.”  That was it!  I thought (but did not write), “Dude, there’s at least half a dozen end of the world scenarios in the works right now.  You wanna be a bit more specific?”  The news, even for those of us who have turned the news firehose down to a tiny trickle, has been overwhelming this week.  But our faithless and perverse generation is not the first to walk the earth, and I’m sorry to say that I don’t expect it to be the last either.  

Jesus faced his own faithless and perverse generation as he came down the mountain.  He felt everything for his generation that we feel for ours.  Every generation, it seems, churns out demons and as a consequence, each generation’s sons and daughters get convulsed and mauled and thrown to the ground.  What Jesus saw then is EXACTLY the same thing we’re seeing now.

The only difference is that Jesus’s perverse and faithless created just generic “unclean spirits” and “demons” whereas in our day, the names of our demons scroll by in HDTV 24 hours a day!  Their names are Invasion, Pandemic, and Climate Change.  Transphobia, Homophobia and Xenophobia.  Fascism, Gun Violence and Civil War and the list just never ends!  Our demons are literally Legion!  So how, Oh Lord, are we to deal with our faithless and perverse generation? I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that we might want to try handling it the Jesus way!

To figure THAT out we need to go back to the beginning.  “Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.”  Translated for us, this passage says, “Jesus took his best friends, left the crazies behind, unsubscribed from 90% of his news apps and went to a place where there wasn’t a signal to anything!”  Now, would you say that going up the mountain was ignoring his call or being unfaithful?  Of course not!  So if that is EXACTLY what Jesus did then, why do we so often think we’re ignoring our call or being unfaithful when we do exactly the same thing?  Taking a break… turning off the fire hose of news… walking away from the people and their drama?  That’s how Jesus did it!  Why don’t we allow ourselves to do that too!?

“And while Jesus was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.”  Translation: Jesus went full stop.  He stopped and prayed.  Jesus knew that prayer doesn’t change the other guy… prayer changes us, so Jesus stopped and didn’t move or worry, or plan, or try to figure anything out.  He did that until his face relaxed, the dark circles went away and even his appearance had changed.  That’s how Jesus did it!  Why then do we think that if we ever just completely stopped, the world would stop as well?  When Jesus stopped, the world didn’t stop.  Why don’t we allow ourselves to stop too?

“The next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son.”  Translated, this part says, “Jesus took one, whole, entire, additional EXTRA day, AFTER he had started shining again with God’s Glory.  Only THEN did he head down the mountain.  There he met the very same faithless and perverse generation he had left when he had gone up the mountain (a week, a month, maybe even a year ago… who knows) and Jesus found they were all still just about the same.  Then Jesus, staring into the eyes of the entirety of the world’s brokenness, found one face… just one… in that whole entire crowd… and did what he could do for them.  That’s it!  Just one!  He didn’t fix Ukraine, or humanity’s fear of the other, or try to debunk Q.  He found the one person who needed something he had, and in that moment did what he could.  Boom.  Done!  That’s how Jesus handled his perverse and faithless generation.  That’s how Jesus handled the evils that generation produced.  That’s how Jesus did it.  Why then is caring for the one in front of us not good enough for us?  Why then is the whole Way that Jesus handled his perverse and faithless generation, not good enough for us?

Now that… THAT my friends, is an excellent question… for next week.  Amen.

Obnoxious Coat and Impossible Dream

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’ And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

That obnoxious coat and those arrogant dreams!  The coat that screamed, “I’m daddy’s favorite” and the dream that he was better than the rest.  His brothers had had enough and that's what landed Joseph at the bottom of a well.   Would the dream make it out the well?  Didn’t seem likely.  But one of his brothers felt a little guilty and another brother figured slavery was just as good as death so they sold him into slavery.  Would the dream make it out of slavery?  Didn’t seem likely.  But as a slave in Egypt everything he touched was successful.  He ran the whole house!  Well, until the bosses wife got jealous and had him thrown in jail.  Would the dream make it out of jail?  Didn’t seem likely.  But even in jail everything he did was impressive.  One day he interpreted the dreams for two fellow prisoners.  A good dream for one and a nightmare for the other but  both interpretations came true.  But still he was in jail.  Would he ever get out?  It didn’t seem likely.  

But then one day Pharaoh himself had a dream that no one could figure out.  The guy from the jail suddenly remembered Joseph and brought him to Pharaoh to interpret his dream.  Seven years of incredible harvests would be followed by seven years of famine… that’s what the dream meant and Joseph told Pharaoh, “You should get someone to manage the country.  Save up in the good times, to see you through the bad times.” Pharaoh told Joseph, "Sounds good.  THAT's your new job!  Would his dream make it out of working for Pharaoh?  It didn’t seem likely.  

But this dream, you may have noticed, is more persistent and infinitely more tenacious than we typically expect.  Neither childhood arrogance, nor wells, nor jails, nor jealousy, nor powerful Pharaohs seem to have what it takes to stop the dream from coming true.  ALL of that had tried to stop the dream, but the dream made it through until one day there was Joseph’s family… standing before him, just like in the dream.  They looked into the eyes of the brother they had put down a well, and sold into slavery!  Here he was, that pain in the butt, arrogant kid who wore that damn technicolor dream coat.  Here he was, running Egypt and in literally EVERY way, he was in complete and total control whether they lived or whether they died.   

He could have thrown them down a well or sold them into slavery.  They had done it to him!  He could have thrown them in jail, sent them home to starve, or plotted to have them killed right then and there!  They had done all that to him too!  Getting even would be easy.  Making them pay a breeze!  But instead he chose grace.  In spite of all he had been through he hadn’t kept score.  He didn’t want revenge.  He set aside retribution and demanding an eye for an eye, perhaps having grown up enough to understand that the only thing that ever does is make the whole world blind!

This whole thing started with that dream.  But that dream WASN'T Jospeh’s dream.  It was God’s dream.  God’s dream to preserve God’s people from a famine and to make sure that God’s people had enough.  Not too much, nor too little, but enough.  That was God’s dream for Joseph's family back then, and it remains God’s dream for us today!  God’s dream back then landed in a dysfunctional family with a dad who could have used some parenting classes, some siblings who acted very much like siblings always have, and a young kid named Jospeh who wasn’t yet wise enough to understand the power of humility.  But in spite of God’s dream landing in the most unlikely of families and following the most unlikely of paths… God’s dream for this family… God’s dream for God’s people... , absolutely DID come true.  

God WILL see to it, it seems, that God’s dreams, both for families then and for families now, WILL come to fruition no matter what.  Granted, like that dream planted in Joseph’s dysfunctional family then, I have found that God’s dream, when planted in my own dysfunctional family now has had to make it’s way along a different but still seemingly impossible path that at every turn made it seem unlikely to ever make it through.  But over the years, with the bumps, bruises, and scars that show the world how slowly I learn, I’m beginning to... maybe, kind of, finally understand that God’s dream for my family… God’s dream for your family… God’s dream for EVERY family, really does find a way through, no matter what we or the world puts in its way. 

And the more I learn that, the easier I find it is not to get hooked when someone demands my coat along the way.  Because I'm learning that I don’t need a coat, or even a shirt for that matter, for God’s dream to make it through.  And when evil swirls and menaces around me in this world… and it does… I’m learning to move beyond my primal reactions of judgement, condemnation and revenge.  I’m learning that retribution only gives those old evils brand new life and doesn’t help God’s dream come true.

You and I… each of us are like Joseph.  Each of us carries God’s technicolor dream.  The dream that you and I and all of creation will have enough.  Enough food, shelter, love, compassion, security, purpose and joy… Enough… so that each of us has exactly what we need to become the person God created us to be.  The world will tell you that's a foolish and impossible dream.  The news will gleefully show you in high definition, each new obstacle parked in the path of that dream coming true.  But I’m here to tell you the truth!  God’s dream ALWAYS finds a way though!  God’s dream WILL come true!  

So I invite you to join me in putting on that completely obnoxious, technicolor dream coat, that goes by the name of unconditional love and inexplicable joy!  And let us join hands and dare to keep dreaming God’s impossible dream and walk together into that dream until it is true for all the world.  Amen. 

Galileo, Galileo

Luke 6:17-26

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he 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.

On this date in 1633, Galileo arrived in Rome to face charges of heresy.  The Church insisted that the Earth was the center of the universe, while Galileo had made the observations, done the math, and had correctly concluded that the Earth was not the center, but instead was a body in motion around the Sun.  The Church was wrong.  Wrong about the math, wrong about the science, and wrong about the whole, “we’re the center of the universe” theology.  The Church had placed the Earth, humanity, and itself at the center of the universe... and folks... we ain’t!  

In today’s Gospel lesson there was a great crowd of disciples and a great multitude of people from both far and wide following Jesus.  They followed because their disease had become all consuming.  They followed to to get rid of the demons that were so loud, they couldn't hear anything else.  They were following so that they might hear a word of hope.  When we’re in pain, hungry, feeling beaten down, or feel powerless, it’s easy to have those things become the seemingly unmoving center and total focus of our lives. 

So Jesus said to them:  “I know some of you are hungry now.  I know some of you are in horrible pain now… physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain.  I know some of you are being bullied now, chased down, persecuted, and cast out of your communities.  I know ALL of that piled on top of you feels all-consuming and overwhelming to the point of tears!  I know it feels like it will never end.  But it will end.  It will.  You are not your pain.  You are not your hunger.  You are not your persecution.  None of that is who you are.  It’s absolutely terrible for now, I know.  It feels like that’s all there is, I know.  But none of that is the unmovable center of the universe.”  

Jesus continued: “I also know that others of you are in a pretty good place today.  Money's not a worry.  You have what you need.  Maybe even more than you need.  Your bellies are full, your health is good, your families are doing alright, and no one (that you know of anyway) is out to get you.  You’re in a place in life where it’s easy to laugh.  That’s wonderful!  But remember, that too won’t last.  Because you are also not your success.  Nor your possessions.  Nor your comforts or popularity.  It’s just as easy to fall into the trap of thinking THAT is how it will always be.  But that's not a forever thing either.  Try not to mistake either the empty or the full for the unmoving center of your universe.  The good and the bad, the full and the empty, the good times and the hard times, the laughter and the tears… ALL of those things in our lives are always in constant motion.”

And that’s where Jesus left it… reminding us that neither being on top of the world nor buried under the whole world's weight is the unmoving center of our universe.  Neither being full nor being empty is who we are at our core.  To see the REAL unmoving center of the universe, the people gathered on that plain just had to look up and see the Son.  Just as Galileo found that the S-U-N is the center of our solar system, we all need to remember that in both our full times and our empty times, it is the S-O-N that is our unmoving center.  It’s the Son… not me, myself or I!  It's the Son, the incarnation of self-giving LOVE.  THAT is what the universe was created to revolve around!  LOVE.  It is there at the unmoving center when we are hungry, hurting and harassed giving us hope, even when hope seems to be a foolish and impossible fantasy.  It’s there at the center when we are full, successful, and joyful to the point of laughter, reminding us to live in those times with thankfulness and to care for others in those times with radical generosity.  

Our pain, despair, and grief, no matter how close they come, no matter how much of our vision they obscure, no matter how loudly they scream, they are not the unmoving centers of our lives.  Our success, possessions and popularity, no matter how much they rise, no matter how bright the lights shine, no matter how loudly the fans cheer, they too are not the unchanging centers of our lives. 

What is the unmoving center of our universe is the Son.  What is the unmoving center of our universe… what does last forever… what is absolutely unchanging… is LOVE.  So in every moment in life, take care to first listen deeply to one another’s triumphant successes as well as each others crushing sorrows and then help one another remember that in every time we face in this life, the genuinely unmoving center of the universe is love.  Amen.  

Have You Seen the Snake!?

Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Nearly every day for three straight weeks I’d walk over two blocks and down one block to the entrance of the National Park.  You might be thinking of something that looks like the entrance to Yosemite or Yellowstone.  No.  This was a little wooden bridge over a mostly unmoving tidal stream that led to one tiny building where you signed in and gave your donation.  

Anyway, as you approached the entrance there would be up to about a dozen guides.  Some were guides. Others were “guides.”  Licensed or not, all of them were quick to tell you that if you are going to see anything, you would need them.  Every day for three straight weeks I said no thank you and kept walking.  Why I came every day and never hired a guide turned out to be a bit of a maddening mystery for this group.  What they decided I was all about apparently spread all over town.  

Their frustration grew and one day a very annoyed guide stopped me and said, “What have you seen?  I bet you haven’t seen anything!”  Another of the “guides” called out to me on the street, “Did you see the snake?”  Seeing the snake was apparently a big deal.  “Did you see the alligator?” he demanded.  I said, “Nope, no alligators”  mostly because there are no alligators in Costa Rica.

These encounters seemed so odd to me but they did make me really think, "Why WAS I there every day?"  Was “seeing the snake” or checking off a list of animals what I was there for?  It was clearly what they THOUGHT I should be there for.  And I'll be the first to admit that seeing sloths, monkeys, birds and snakes was absolutely amazing! But after some real deep thinking, I realized what I was there for was something more.  

Simon, James, and John in today’s Gospel were like those guides… All focused on “seeing the fish.”  Which makes sense, them being fishermen!  They had been out all night and all they had to show for it was a bunch of nets clogged with seaweed.  Even they, the experts, had not “seen the fish”, let alone pulled one into the boat.  Then along comes Jesus.  Can you imagine having had a frustrating night on the lake with no fish and dirty nets, only to have some random stranger walk up, get in your boat and ask you to go out a few feet from shore so he could teach?  Who does that!?  I can only imagine that Simon went along with this request thinking it was probably better to just humor the insane!  

Then, when Jesus was done, he told them… not asked… told them to put out into deep water and let down their almost, finally clean nets again.  I’m sure this locked in Simon’s suspicion about this guy… he really WAS completely fruit loops!  But continuing with Simon’s wise policy of humoring the insane, he said, “Master (meaning Crazy dude), we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets (because I just want to get home and going along with the crazy is probably the fastest way to get there).  At which point, of course, they caught enough fish to swamp the boat.  

You see, Jesus was not then, nor is Jesus now, calling us to check off a list like finding a sloth, seeing a monkey, a snake or even catching a fish.  The world, of course, the Church included, is absolutely obsessed with checking lists and counting numbers and meeting goals… but Jesus?  Not so much.  Jesus, way back then and even now, is calling each of us to the FISHING, to the SEARCHING, to the NOTICING, to the SLOWING DOWN, STOPPING and LOOKING, to the HEARING, to the SMELLING, to the fully FEELING.   

The numbers?  The goals?  The fish?  Jesus showed the disciples very quickly, those all come.  Nets down, nets up, boom, done.  But fish in the boat is not our calling… FISHING is our calling.  The being there is not our calling… WALKING the WAY is our calling… finding Jesus isn’t our calling… LOOKING for Jesus, who is love incarnate, in every human being and every bit of creation… that is our calling. 

Our world, like Simon and those guides have a hard time with that.  They understand a number of fish in the boat.  Sloths, monkeys, and snakes checked off a list and a parochial  report of butts in the pews per Sunday.  And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE fish in the boat!  I loved seeing sloths, monkeys, and even snakes (from a distance) and I love seeing your butts in the pews!  ALL of those things are exciting, wonderful, and awesome… They just aren’t the MAIN thing.  The main thing, Jesus shows us, comes in the day after day fishing, in the always and everywhere looking, and loving, laughing, watching, stopping and noticing… because it is in the LIVING that we realize the we have been gifted with life and a boat full of it!  

When we forget that and instead focus on the numbers, the goals, the check lists, or obsess over “seeing the snake” we end up existing anxiously rather than living abundantly… maybe even to the point of convincing yourself, and a whole tiny town in Costa Rica that the big, bald guy who comes to the park every day for three straight weeks... "You know, he works for National Geographic!"  Amen.