The Meat Sermon

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Last Sunday, Catherine took shoes and socks out of a bag… right there.  She told us to be careful with our Parish Hall floors particularly when the weather outside was frightful.  She reminded us that in times of frightful weather, we should change into inside shoes OR just wear socks, so the frightful on the outside doesn’t get tracked into the inside.  Now, she could have just SAID all that to us, but Catherine knew it would stick in our heads better with props!  

When Bible characters use props its called “Prophetic Symbolism” and that’s what Jesus did in the Temple.  Here, at the beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus told and SHOWED people that his whole ministry would be about turning the world upside down… and he did it... with props.  Not to be outdone, here is a piece of meat that I bought at Big Y.  I have declared it to be a Prime Angus Ribeye Steak!  (Hold up Boston Butt Pork Roast) “That doesn’t look like a Prime Angus Ribeye Steak,” you say!  SHUN THE UNBELIEVER!  I’m in a position of authority and I have declared it to be a Prime Angus Ribeye Steak!  THUS IT IS SO!  Oh, ye of little faith!  What’s that you say, “The sticker on it from Big Y says it’s a Boston Butt Pork Roast?”  That is true because the butcher at Big Y, A HERETIC, refused to put a sticker on it that said Prime Angus Ribeye Steak even though I declared it so!  He said that me declaring it, didn’t make it so.  He said changing it was "against the law" and he'd get in trouble with the USDA!  Then he said I couldn't shop at Big Y anymore. 

By now you're wondering, “What's the point of this crazy 'Meat Sermon’”.  Well, the point is to not only tell you, but to use props and Prophetic Symbolism to SHOW you, that just because someone in authority or with influence or with a pulpit, or a big microphone, or who uses a particular set of vocabulary words declares something to BE something, it doesn’t necessarily make it SO.  You can put lipstick on a pig and declare it to be a super model and you know what it is?  Here’s a hint!  It ain’t a super model!  Its still a pig!  What I’ve noticed lately though is that while we as a nation are pretty good at calling people out when they put lipstick on a pig and declare it to be Cindy Crawford... and the USDA is REALLY good at calling out crackpot priests who want to call a Boston Butt a Prime Ribeye... what I’ve noticed is that we as a nation have a lot more trouble calling out people who declare things to be “of God” even when they are simply not, in any way, shape, or form, “of God”!  

Folks are understandably nervous about calling people out about faith stuff, but that’s what Jesus SHOWED us to do when he flipped over the tables in the Temple.  He was showing us how to call out a place that continued to call itself “of God” even though it had stopped being “of God” a long time ago.  To be fair, the Temple Market probably began with good intentions.  After all, aunt Gertie schlepping an unblemished cow tethered to her walker across the desert at age 97 was a genuinely daunting task.  So providing a way for old aunt Gertie to just buy one there instead was a compassionate thing.  But eventually, it changed.  Now it wasn’t just aunt Gertie.  Now it was the 23 year old hedge fund bros who had slipped a few extra shekels into the right palm and shot to the head of the line.  No matter what any High Priest continued to call it, when Jesus showed up, he saw it for what it had really become, a hollow sham, and Jesus called them out for it… with props!

Back here in our day and age we have countless people declaring this, that, and the other thing to be “of God” and/or “Christian”.  The latest examples come from followers of the The Seven Mountains Mandate.  That’s the movement followed by the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and House Speaker Mike Johnson.  This mandate tells followers to take control of seven areas of society: family, religion, government, education, arts and entertainment, commerce and media in the name of God.  Doing that would be the modern equivalent of what Peter told Jesus to do in last week’s Gospel.  To which you might remember Jesus’ replied to Peter… “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

The Seven Mountain Mandate and all the other Christian Nationalist ideas aren't any more Christian than a pig with lipstick is Cindy Crawford!  No more Christian than this Boston Butt is a Prime Angus Ribeye.  No more “of God” than the rich being able to buy a Fast Pass to the Temple!  And as Jesus has told and shown us, that kind of stuff needs to be called out for what it is, flipped over, and run out of town!

So what actually IS that Seven Mountain Mandate and all the Christian Nationalist junk we hear about today?  Well it’s the same thing that the Temple had become in Jesus’ day.  It’s basically a god- vocabulary word salad tossed with flash and show at table side, meant to dazzle folks to the point where they won’t pay attention to the main course they want to serve you, which is a colorless and flavorless white tureen made up of layers of hate, misogyny, homophobia, and authoritarianism smothered in Temple sauce, the sauce that makes the rich richer on the backs of the poor.

All of that stuff is as far from being Christian as it could possibly be!  But I know its harder to call out that stuff than it is to call out a pig with lipstick because its got faith words attached to it.  I know, there isn’t an agency to sound the alarm when things are improperly labeled as “Christian” that are literally anti-Christ!  I know that its daunting to be followers of the One who called ‘em out, flipped ‘em over, and chased 'em out… and to hear today that the job of calling 'em out, flipping ‘em over, and chasing 'em out now falls... on US.  But here we are!  

We are not, however, called to do that hard thing unequipped!  We have the tool given to us by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry… “If it’s not about love, then it’s not about God.”  So measure everything you’re hearing, reading, and seeing these days with that tool!  Does it measure up to love?  If not, call it out!  If not, flip it over. If not, run it out of town!  And if you need a prop to help you do that, I’ll leave the Boston Butt in the freezer and you can borrow it any time.  Amen. 

Bible Trucker Guy

Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Last Sunday I got a call from my niece Leslie.  She was upset.  A lot of you know Leslie.  She often took care of Coda for us while we traveled.  Chris, her husband, is the driver of the semi sometimes parked in our parking lot.  Anyway, Leslie and Chris had apparently stopped at a “Christian Truck Stop” (EEK! Right?).  She basically described it as a version of our Appalachian Trail ministry… but for truckers.  They provide for free what truckers need along the Way… a free and safe place to park, free showers, laundry, and a free breakfast.  She said that when they had stopped there before it really WAS like our AT ministry in that whoever came was unconditionally welcomed and it wasn’t about attacking anyone who was different or about converting anyone.  Leslie was upset because THIS time it had been different. 

In the Gospel, Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke him because what Jesus was planning… was NOT how things were done.  This talk of suffering, rejection, and death did not fit with Peter’s worldview.  This wasn’t just Peter’s view either, it was how LOTS of people saw the world!  Peter knew both from history and his own life experience that suffering was not the way to get ahead in the world!  Rejection was not how anyone, EVER, had built a movement, let alone a kingdom, and he knew with 100% certainty that dying was NOT how anyone, ever, had become a king!  Based on not just Peter’s experience but on literally ALL of human history… Jesus just wasn’t doing things the way things had always been done before!

Back at the Christian Truck Stop, Pastor Mark who ran the place and some Bible Trucker Guy sat down with Leslie while Chris was taking his turn in the showers.  They proceeded to do to Leslie, what Peter had done to Jesus.  They told her she was doing her life all wrong!  As I talked with Leslie it became clear that Pastor Mark and Bible Trucker Guy’s view of the world was not radically uncommon.  It’s actually the way LOTS of the world understands things to work.  They believed their kind of Christianity was the only true religion and that was because, see, that’s what the Bible says and forcing people to their way of thinking was all for their own good.  

Their Christianity did not however include a place for people who identified by gender, sexual-orientation, or religion in any way other than the way they believed.  Leslie, who identifies as not exactly Christian and as not exactly straight told them their version of Christianity didn’t work for her AND it didn’t work for the people at her uncle’s church either where she had been welcomed exactly as she was!  To which they asked, “Are you sure your uncle and the people at his church are really Christians?”  

You laugh, and you should… but this is, in essence, today’s Gospel lesson!  In that story Peter and pretty much the rest of the world, had “set their minds on human things”… accepting the world as it had always been, insisting that Jesus MUST ALSO live and work that way, because that was the way the world must always be.  Jesus told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”  

You see, Jesus wasn’t interested in the way the world had always worked before.  He wasn’t interested in those “human things” because they were terrible!  Human things had put the Jews over here and Greeks over there.  Men over there and women over here.  Free here.  Slaves there.  Rich got richer.  Poor got poorer.  Those same human ways are what Pastor Mark, the government of Oklahoma, Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, and Vladimir Putin use to put cis over here and trans over there.  Right over here and Wrong over there.  Straight here.  Gay there.  When minds are set on human things people get divided.  With minds set on human things people who don't fit one particular box get bullied, imprisoned, and killed!  This past week leaders with their minds set on human things created a situation where a 16 year old trans student named Nex Benedict was beaten to death in a high school bathroom.  With minds set on human things Putin had Alexi Navalny killed in an arctic prison.  People who set their minds on human things divide the world.  Jesus wasn’t then and isn’t now interested in the world working that way!  

To that way of thinking, leading, and living, Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan!”  Jesus wants Peter, and in the next paragraph wants all of his followers, to set their minds instead on DIVINE things.  Because when we set our minds on DIVINE things, the world doesn’t keep working like it’s always worked.  When we set our minds on human things, we grab and hold onto all we can, believing more stuff equals more life.  When we set our minds on divine things we realize the more we give of our stuff and of ourselves, the more alive we actually become!  When we set our minds on human things we believe and live out a life of divide and conquer, using bullying, lying, violence, blustering, threats and death to FORCE our way on others.  When we set our minds on divine things we work tirelessly to surround ALL people with God’s infinite and unconditional love and draw together EVERY part of humanity just as they are, SO THAT WE CAN BE ONE AS GOD CREATED US TO BE!  THAT vision... of the world gathered together as ONE in all of its amazing diversity... it has a name.  It is called, the Kingdom of God and may God's Kingdom COME! Amen.  

Not Just a Me and My Jesus Affair

Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Today, we begin a Baptismal Journey.  And I’m not talking about Jeff here.  I’m talking about the Baptismal Journey that you and I have just committed to make over the next forty days when we said, “We will, and we ask God to help us.”  You see, Baptism for us Episcopalians and Lutherans, is not just a “me and my Jesus” affair.  Baptism for us is God adopting a new sibling into the family.  It is the Body of Christ (which is all of us together) incorporating a new member.  It is a new branch being grafted into Jesus, who is the vine… All of which are ways to understand that Baptism is something we all do together!  

But what is this “Baptism” thing that we are all now journeying toward together?  For Jesus, it was the beginning of his life’s work and mission to tell and show the world about God’s unconditional and unlimited love... a love stronger than death!  It was also the beginning of his life’s work demonstrating for people a WAY to live this life as a JOY rather than a slog.  To show us life isn’t meant to be put off until the sweet by and by!  It’s meant to be lived NOW!  Beginning at his Baptism he lived his life showing us that OUR lives are meant to be filled with abundance in THIS moment and every moment, and then to keep going that way beyond the limits of time itself!  The life God created us to live is meant to fill our present and our infinite future with love, peace, joy, meaning, and purpose.  

But before we get to all of that we’ve got a pitstop to make.  It’s the same stop Jesus made.  For forty days (not coincidentally the same number of days in the season of Lent) the Spirit DROVE Jesus to that wilderness pitstop to be tempted by Satan.  Thank you Holy Spirit?  Actually, yes, thank you Holy Spirit… and here’s why.   It was there in the wilderness that Jesus received EVERYTHING he needed to do what God had called him to do in his Baptism.  It was there in the wilderness, that Jesus did the spiritual equivalent of a chef sharpening his knives for the work ahead.  That’s why, if you really need Satan to be a red guy with horns, then the best way to think about Jesus’ time in the wilderness is imagining Jesus using Satan’s horns as a whetstone, sparks flying as Jesus draws the blade across the devil’s rock hard noggin day after day… the blade, over the course of those forty days, slowly coming to a perfect razor’s edge.

But it’s also really important to remember that out in the wilderness, Jesus wasn’t alone.  He was kept company by the wild beasts and waited on by angels.  For the particular baptismal journey WE are setting out on today with Jeff, THAT will be OUR role for the next forty days!  WE are to be the Wild Beasts!  WE are to be the Angels!  I’ll let you debate in coffee hour who are beasts and who are angels!  But angel or beast, we are called together as a congregation to dedicate ourselves to accompany Jeff and one another through these next forty days.  To do that we’ll need two things.  FIRST we'll need to show up.  That's 80% as we all know.  SECOND we'll need to talk to each other.  Again, Baptism is not just a me and my Jesus affair!

 

Then, having made it through those forty days we will come to the Easter Vigil where Jeff will be baptized and all of us, along with Jeff will affirm our baptisms.  That Saturday night however, will be NO different than the day of Jesus’ Baptism.  God, that night, will most certainly say from the heavens, “You are my Child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” because that is what God says at EVERY Baptism!  And regardless of whether your baptism that night happened a minute ago or a century ago, we will all leave that night with the exact same calling from God that was given to Jesus at his Baptism:  We will be called as a group… as the Body of Christ… to go and tell the world about God’s unconditional, unlimited love... a love stronger than death... and to live our lives together, demonstrating for others a WAY to live this life… through self giving love, compassion, generosity, and grace... that leads to abundant life!

Every Lent (whether we have a particular Baptismal poster Child of God or not that year) is meant to be a Baptismal Journey for each and every one of us.  Every Lent is meant to remind us that we are Baptized Children of God… part of God’s family, a part of the Body of Christ, a branch grafted into Jesus the vine.  Every Lent is meant to remind us that God has declared each of us Beloved, up front, as a free gift and Every Lent we are called to live more deeply into the gift of abundant and eternal life we were created to live and Every Lent we are called remember and do all that... TOGETHER.  

It is TOGETHER that we are called to walk through these next forty days.  It is as the Body of Christ that we come together each week, to lean on one another, to laugh with one another, to support one another, and to encourage one another as we walk together on Jesus Way.  Baptism is not just a me and my Jesus affair.  Lent is not just a me and my Jesus affair.  Christianity is not just a me and my Jesus affair.  Baptism, Lent, and Christianity are Body of Christ affairs and so may we live ever more deeply into that truth in these next forty days… TOGETHER.  Amen.   

The Tale of Joe Bob Jackson

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.

Once there was a man named Joe Bob Jackson.  Most people though, just called him Bubba.  He set out to be the greatest BBQ man in all of Berkshire county.  Determined to achieve this lofty goal he set out gathering all that he needed.  He looked though hundreds of cookbooks, tasted dozens of other people’s Q, he researched the best wood, temperatures, rubs, and sauces.  He visited people with every sort of smoker that had ever been created watching them for hours and hours.  Eventually, deciding on the best way to proceed he had a custom smoker built on the back of a trailer.  It was a work of art!  Black and beautiful with a smokestack stretching up into the sky!  He cooked and tweaked and cooked and tweaked the recipes and formulas until it was perfection.  He paid for marketing gurus and artists to make him a logo and signs and get the word out.  He bought a brand new pickup truck to haul the smoker to every corner of the county.  His name became known from North Adams to Ashley Falls.  He even got the people on the Great Barrington Facebook page (perhaps the most negative and toxic place in all of the Berkshires) to praise his operation!  He had it all!  Well, he nearly had it all.  You see, it turns out he lacked just on thing.  Have you made out the one thing he was missing?  Right.  He didn’t ever actually feed anybody.  He had all the tools, the very best tools!  But having all the tools is not the point of barbecue. 

There are three practices that Christians have traditionally taken up for the season of Lent.  They are… giving alms, prayer, and fasting.  We Christians often mess up these three practices in the same way that our good friend, Bubba Joe Bob Jackson, messed up with his barbecue business.  We focus intensively, obsessively, and exclusively on those TOOLS and forget that the tools themselves are not the point.  They are a only a means to the real and actual purpose of the season of Lent.    

Giving alms, prayer, and fasting are the TOOLS of Lent in the same way that a smoker, recipes, and a logo are the tools of a barbecue business.  For Bubba Joe Bob Jackson, he had spent countless hours, an unbelievable amount of money, and done a ton of real work to perfect his tools.  But in the end, all that time, money and work didn’t matter at all, because all that work, time and money never put even one sandwich into the hands of a real human being hungry for barbecue.  

As we begin this journey today called Lent, keep in mind the lesson of Bubba Joe Bob Jackson who spent countless time, money and effort creating the very best tools anyone has ever put together for a barbecue business and yet never put even one sandwich in another person’s hands.  As you think about picking up the the traditional tools of Lent… giving alms, prayer, and fasting… or as you begin to think about any other Lenten Discipline you might practice in the weeks ahead, continually ask yourself the question, “Am I being just like Bubba?  Am I just playing with the TOOLS of Lent?”  Then, when you’ve asked yourself that question and given yourself a REAL and HONEST answer, remember the lesson of Bubba Joe Bob Jackson… when it comes to both Barbecue and Lent, the point of both is NOT the tools we use.  The point of both Lent and Barbecue is to use the tools we have to connect more deeply with God through our neighbors.  Amen.       

Listen to Him

Mark 9:2-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

 

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 

There are all sorts of people around who will tell you they KNOW EXACTLY what God wants.  Most of them coincidentally claim that God wants EXACTLY what they want!  Yeah, I don’t think so either.  But here, on top of the mountain with Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all super glowy, we hear directly from God what God wants.  “This is my son.  Listen to him!”  LISTEN TO HIM!  Direct, clear, simple.  God wants us to listen to Jesus.  Simple, right?  Just listen.  But what DID Jesus actually say?  

Well, the first thing he said was don’t tell anybody about this transfiguration thing until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead.  Now, Jesus HAS risen from the dead so we’ve listened to him on that one… maybe by accident… but let’s take a win where we can get one!  From there though, Jesus says a lot more.  JUST here in chapter nine you’ve got:  Faith is more powerful than we could ever imagine and can get anything done.  Prayer is also powerful and can work when everything else doesn’t.  We are to be servants of all, not bosses.  Don’t make life hard for people who are not yet Christians.  But, more than that, be helpful and welcoming to all people.  Making faith hard for them or exclusive for you is worse than loosing body parts or being thrown in the ocean with a giant stone tied around your neck.  Both of which, to be honest, sound pretty bad, and then finally Jesus says we should be salty.  Which I thought at first was a big vindication for me, Pastor Potty mouth, but it turns out that when you actually LISTEN to Jesus, he meant we should bring out the best in the people and the world around us, like salt brings out the best of the flavors in the food we eat.    

That’s just chapter nine but it’s plenty to get started with, I think.  So how are you doing?  How are you at LISTENING to Jesus?  Not just hearing his words… but LISTENING to him… hearing what he says, then processing it, letting it sink in, letting it shape and mold and change you?  So-so maybe?  Well, my job description actually REQUIRES me to LISTEN to Jesus and I’M not great at it either and that’s because IT’S HARD!  It’s hard and the world out there is not that helpful.  More than HALF of Americans now call themselves “Nones” which means when asked about their connection to a faith community they say they have “NONE”.  No connection.  None.

I’m not mad at the Nones.  I think probably the Church NOT listening to Jesus has created more Nones than anything else but for those of us TRYING to listen to Jesus, the world out there just isn’t going to be that helpful.  So, for those of us who WANT to listen to Jesus… what do we do?  Well, Peter’s idea was to build a little retreat center on top of the mountain.  Another idea is to wallow in guilt for not listening to Jesus.  We could even combine the two and build little guilt wallowing shacks on top of a mountain and stay in there for the duration.  Another classic is blaming someone else individually for our trouble listening to Jesus.  If blaming one person for our problems doesn’t work, we could try blaming another entire group of people!  HEY!  I KNOW!  We could make it Taylor Swift’s fault!  Or, just maybe, we could listen to Jesus and do what he told the disciples to do on top on that mountain and start walking down the mountain and step after step begin walking into a very different season of life.

This Wednesday at noon we will begin the season of Lent right here with Ash Wednesday worship.  If you are interested in walking into a very different season of life… beginning a journey of deeper LISTENING to God’s Son, THAT would be a good (and traditional) place and time to start that journey.  Ash Wednesday worship will also have, concentrated into this one convenient space, a group of other people looking to make a very similar journey.  With a little courage, you could even ask a couple of them to keep you company along the way.  

What would happen if we did that?  It’s interesting to think about… What WOULD happen if we all gathered together on Ash Wednesday with that shared purpose of getting better at LISTENING to Jesus… not just to get together to HEAR his words… but to LISTEN to Jesus… to let what he says marinade in our noggins, to roll those words, ideas and stories around in our minds and share our thoughts and wonderings with one another?  What would happen?

I’m really not sure what would happen, but that’s what Jesus asked his disciples to do when he led them down that mountain toward Jerusalem.  So, if this is the Lent you are up for that sort of journey I’ll leave you with just a couple of travel tips for the road.  First, it would be good to remember that you’re unlikely to get much help with this journey out there in the world.  They might ask you what you’re giving up for Lent, but that’s about it.  So if you’re going to take this trip I’d recommend coming here.  In fact I’d recommend coming here RELIGIOUSLY as the place you are most likely to find the companionship you’ll want on this journey.  Second, stay a while after worship and talk to someone.  Ask them “what did you hear Jesus say today in the Gospel lesson?”  I know that’s about 100X harder than giving up chocolate for Lent… which is why people give up chocolate for Lent because the other is SO HARD!  But what would happen if you did that?  What would happen if we all began deeply listening to Jesus? Amen.