Mind the Gap

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

Jesus said... ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

In London, when you take the Tube, which you Americans would call the subway, there is a sign that says, “Mind the Gap”.  It’s a warning that there is a bit of space between the platform and the train car and since losing tourists in that gap is a bit of bad form, they like to tell you to “Mind the Gap.”  It turns out there’s also a gap between what many think this Scripture means and what Jesus actually meant.  

So, for this Sunday, we're going to Mind the Gap!  The first gap is when Jesus says, “do not resist an evil doer” or in another translation he says, “stand there and take it.”  This has been used to advise people to subject themselves to abuse over and over again.  One of the worst examples is when someone says to a victim of domestic violence that they are not to resist or are supposed to stand there and take it.  That is absolutely NOT, NOT, NOT what Jesus is saying here.  If you are being abused, you don't need to stand there and take it!  You need to leave!  If you or someone you know needs help leaving let me know.  

So that’s what Jesus ISN’T saying here.  What he IS saying here comes from understanding that when Jesus says we should not “stand against” evil he is using a specific military term that the people of his time would have known.  It is the term for the moment two armies met and first strike blows.  When Jesus says we should not “stand against” evil, he is saying that we should not meet evil with evil; we should not retaliate blow for blow, with an eye for eye or tooth for tooth.  At first you might think that the only other option would be to allow yourself to be run over, but in this lesson Jesus goes on to give examples which make it VERY clear that isn’t in any way what Jesus has in mind!  

Take a look at the next gap.  “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn also the other.”  This one takes a little CSI–Jerusalem to understand.  First, in that culture people only used their left hand for… well, let’s say personal hygiene, so the hitter would be using their right hand.  Second, from the text we know the hit is on the right cheek which means it has to be a backhand blow.  Finally, in that culture, a backhand wasn’t meant to hurt so much as it was meant to put you back in your place.  SO, by turning the other cheek you physically denied them the ability to backhand you on your right cheek again.  You would be physically showing them you did not accept them as superior over you but you were also not returning violence for violence.  

Then there is this gap.  “If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.”  In Jesus’ day if you owed someone money they could demand collateral until you paid them back.  The very poorest of the poor only had the cloths on their backs which consisted of two pieces, an inner and an outer garment.  The law allowed the creditor to take the outer garment during the day as collateral but they had to give it back at night so that the debtor could sleep in it, because that outer garment also functioned as their sleeping bag.  Then in the morning, the creditor could demand it back.  It was basically a legal method to harass the poorest of the poor, literally day and night.

To fight that harassment, Jesus suggested giving them both the outer AND inner garments which would leave the person naked (no Fruit of the Looms back then) and while being naked in public isn’t something most of us would go for in our culture, in that culture the public embarrassment would fall on the one who had demanded the cloak in the first place.  Jesus was advocating a brave, nonviolent, strong but somewhat breezy protest that would shame the creditor out of that kind of harassment in the future. 

The next gap to mind in this list of examples is… “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”  Jesus lived in an occupied country and any Roman soldier could legally force a non-Roman citizen to carry their 85 pounds of gear for them at any time, but the law said only for one mile.  Roman roads had mile markers and so most people, as you would expect, would carry the gear to the next mile marker and drop the gear on the spot, but Jesus knew this Roman military law was very strict and if a soldier was caught forcing someone to go past that mile marker, that soldier would be in deep trouble with their centurion.  Jesus suggested “going the extra mile” not to “go along” with an oppressive government, but to use their own laws against them in nonviolent protest, causing the soldiers to think twice before taking advantage of another person on the street.  People might have told Jesus not to mix religion and politics but apparently Jesus didn’t get the memo.

The last gap in this whole passage that needs some minding is the very last verse which says, “Be perfect, therefore as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”  People always want to make this into a personal, moral thing but Jesus isn’t asking us for moral perfection here.  Jesus is asking for something MUCH harder!  He’s asking us to extend our love to ALL people regardless of who they are, what they have done, what they believe, how they have hurt us or anything else.  Jesus is asking us to love... like God loves…completely, perfectly, unconditionally, unendingly and without restraint to every corner of creation.

That’s what Jesus was really talking about back then, but for us here today, we are left with one additional “Gap to Mind” and that gap is trying to figure out how to connect this story from way back then, when the Romans occupied Israel and people only owned the two pieces of cloths on their backs, to our story here in this place and in this time.  We may not have Roman Legions facing off with opposing armies, but where do we see the powerful attempting to get their way through threat, intimidation or violence?  Where do we see might trying to turn things into right for them?  We may not have masters backhanding slaves to put them back in their place, but where do we see those in power attempting to silence the powerless?  We may not have to give up our coat during the day, but where do we see the rich making money on the backs of the poor?

With this last piece of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus drives home two points.  First, YOU and every human being that ever has been or ever will be is a beloved child of God.  Whether they know it or not, whether they believe it or not... they are… you are… we are all beloved children of God simply because God has made us that way!  And second, Jesus is calling us as Christians to not roll over, but to stand up for what’s right and for what is just for all people.  We are to fight, firmly and confidently but never violently for ourselves and for the least, lost and last in our society.  We are called to work for justice in everything we do and insist that people, institutions and governments treat ALL people with the respect and justice due a beloved child of God.

Jesus is calling us with this Sermon on the Mount to open our eyes and see the ways our world is still divided... between the rich and poor, the weak and the powerful, the well connected and the forgotten, the healthy and the sick... Because in the end, you see, Jesus is insisting here that it isn’t simply our calling to “Mind the Gap” but to work with a purpose to “Mend the Gap” between all of God’s beloved children.  Amen.

You are the Magnesium Sulfate of the World

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

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the

lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

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

In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes three common things everyone listening to him then would have known and mixes them into a metaphor cocktail that told the people what their mission was and how far that mission was meant to reach.  First he says, you are the “salt of the earth.”  He isn’t talking about table salt here.  The “salt of the earth” is a specific salt.  It is Epsom Salts or Magnesium Sulphate which you mix in with the soil so your plants grow better.  Magnesium is essential for plants to transform light into energy.  Jesus is telling us that we’re called to transform the world from the way it works now into the way God wants it to work… into the Kingdom of God, a place where everyone has enough… enough food, shelter, dignity, worth, security... enough.  

The second salt Jesus talks about is a salt you taste so this one IS table salt or Sodium Chloride.  That salt is first a food preservative which allows you to keep foods longer, transport foods over greater distances and therefore feed more people.  So the next part of our mission is to feed people, to bring people life.  But Sodium Chloride is also a flavor enhancer, so whatever flavor is already there in food... sweet or savory... it boosts that flavor... kicks it up a notch.  So, Jesus tells us the way we transform the world is to bring people life, but not just any life.  We’re to bring them a life that is kicked up a notch.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus calls it an Abundant Life which is not simply a ‘get by day to day’ kind of life, but an exceptional life, a life filled with meaning, worth and purpose. 

The third metaphor is a lamp which, when used correctly, would shine into every corner of the people’s one room houses.  With this final metaphor, Jesus tells us that life... that abundant, world transforming kind of life he talked about before... is meant to reach into every corner of the world.  It’s meant to shine on all people and when Jesus says all, Jesus means ALL. 

That’s our mission and where it is meant to reach.  Making that happen in the world is what we as Christians are called to do.  BUT... (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) BUT... along with those metaphors that tell us our mission and it's reach, Jesus also acknowledges that sometimes when we walk that path, sometimes when we try to do those things, sometimes when we try to change the world... STUFF happens.  

Jesus says salt can loose it’s taste and sometimes a basket can smother the light.  Now a science nerd, like me, would tell you that pure salt can’t technically loose it’s taste.  However, if you mined your salt from around the Dead Sea in the wrong spot it could be contaminated with a lot of other minerals, or if you bought your salt from a shady salt dealer it might be full of sand.  In THOSE cases, when STUFF happens to your salt, then the salt won’t taste like it should and the salt won’t work like it should.  

We’ve all had times in our lives where our saltiness and our light has run into trouble.... We’ve all had times when STUFF happens.  Grief, loss, abandonment, betrayal, sabotage, tragedy, greed, selfishness, illness, disease, disaster and the list goes on and on but no matter what you call it... STUFF happens!  One minute you were putting one foot in front of the other on your faithful journey... one minute you were working together to bring abundant life to the world... one minute you were making progress and the next minute.... you’re stopped dead in your tracks... clogged up, bogged down, fed up, beat down, oppressed and depressed.  

When stuff happens in our lives, the salt that is supposed to bring abundant life feels more like quicksand dragging us down.  When stuff happens in our lives, our light can’t shine...in fact, it seems to take all our energy just to keep the flame lit, let alone shine it into the dark places of the world.  You all know what it feels like when stuff happens because stuff happens to everyone.  When stuff happens we can get stuck and when we get stuck we simply aren’t able to do the mission God has called us to do.  Getting STUCK is the real STICKER in this lesson!  So what do we do when stuff happens and we get stuck?

Jesus, here in the Sermon on the Mount, doesn’t tell us with words what to do about being stuck.  Instead, he SHOWS us what to do.  First, he doesn’t pretend STUFF doesn’t happen.  Salt can loose it’s taste, Jesus says.  It happens!  Light can get a bushel basket slammed over the top of it, Jesus says.  It happens!  When STUFF happens we often don’t want to talk about it out of a fear that talking about it will make it worse.  Jesus shows us here, that it is NOT talking about it that makes it worse and keeps us stuck.  

Talking about it is important but what I’m about to tell you is the number one key... the take home message for this whole sermon.  So wake up your neighbor and perk up your ears... because even though Jesus said it once already, this is something we all need to really HEAR.  Ready?  YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH!  You are NOT the STUFF that happens in this life that messes with your saltiness!  YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!  You are NOT the STUFF that happens in life that slams a basket over your flame!  

No matter how big or how much STUFF has happened to you over the years, that STUFF DOES NOT DEFINE YOU!  That STUFF is real and it needs to be brought into the open, talked about and dealt with, but that STUFF is NOT WHO or WHOSE you are!  

Take a look at the paper the ushers are handing out now.  At the beginning of worship you each wrote down one word that you felt was the best thing about this congregation.  We've gathered them together in this word cloud …  take a look!  THAT is who you are!  You are all those things and more!  YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH and YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!  YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH!  YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!  It is time to deal with the STUFF and then get on with bringing the world what it so desperately needs from you… God's LIFE AND LIGHT!  Amen.  

Waiting for the Sun

The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke the 2nd Chapter

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It

had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God,

saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

I’m a pastor.  For a little while I thought maybe I wasn’t a pastor and started making haddock sandwiches for a living, but just over a year ago now, it became clear to me again that what I really was... was a pastor.  I’ve KNOWN it now for over a year, but I’m still waiting to BE it again full time.  My wife, Kelly, is a flight attendant.  She left being a flight attendant to follow me out here to Maine and thought maybe being a flight attendant was “just another job” for her.  It isn’t.  She too has KNOWN that for over a year now, but has also been waiting for things to work out so she could BE it again.  Waiting is never any fun.  Waiting for mundane things or important things... either way, waiting is hard.  Waiting for God to clear the path ahead in your life or in your congregation’s life or in the world seems to add another level of “hard” to waiting.  

Today’s Gospel features Simeon and Anna.  The story doesn’t tell us how long Simeon had been waiting or how old he was but it does tell us that the Holy Spirit told Simeon he would not see death until he met the Messiah.  Since that encounter with the Holy Spirit, Simeon had been looking forward to... ‘waiting for’ the “consolation of Israel.”  Anna, we know from the text is 84.  She’s been in the Temple day and night for around the last 60 years praying and fasting... otherwise known as ‘waiting for’, the “Redemption of Jerusalem.”  

Those two things, the “Consolation of Israel” and the “Redemption of Jerusalem” are two terms for basically the same thing.  They meant freedom from the occupation and oppression of the Roman Empire and justice for all the people of Israel.  Justice, here and throughout the Bible, isn’t quite like we think of justice these days; it’s not punishing people for crimes.  Instead, justice in the Bible is transforming the world so it works the way God wants it to work.  Mary sang about it in the Magnificat in the first chapter of Luke... The proud are scattered, the powerful are brought down, the lowly are lifted up, the hungry are filled and the rich are sent away empty.  It’s a social and economic shift in the world so that everyone has enough; enough food, enough shelter, enough worth, enough dignity, enough meaning in their lives.  Simeon and Anna knew their world was out of balance from the way God intended it to be and were waiting for God to set it right.  

It was into their waiting that Jesus came.  So what did Jesus say to them?  He didn’t say anything did he?  He’s just a baby.  What does Jesus do there in the Temple?  Miracles?  Some water into wine, maybe?  Healings maybe?  No, none of that... Jesus is a baby, he is simply “there.”   With Jesus just “there” what difference does that make?  Does the Roman Empire pack up and move out?  No.  Does society change so the poor and hungry and homeless aren’t seen as parasites and are lifted up and given what they need; food, shelter, dignity, worth?  No, that doesn’t happen either.  Even after Jesus grows up, lives his life, dies and is raised from the dead those things don’t happen.  So why was Jesus’ visit as a baby so powerful to Anna and Simeon?  

I think Jesus’ simple presence did something life changing for them… it gave them hope.  It showed Anna and Simeon that God had not forgotten them.  It was something... someone who was physical, touchable and seeable that showed them God was still active and working and transforming the world around them even as they stood there waiting day after day, year after year in the Temple.  

Waiting is so very hard but even the smallest sign of hope can be incredibly powerful.  I’ve been asked to be the part time interim at Prince of Peace in Augusta.  It’s not a full time, permanent position, but it’s a sign of hope.  Kelly got a call from Jetblue Airlines inviting her to interview and just that phone call was an amazingly powerful sign of hope.  Waiting is very hard.  Feeling forgotten and feeling like there is no hope makes the waiting so much worse.  

You know, together, you and I are called The Body of Christ.  It isn’t just a name though... it’s our calling.  Together we are called by God to continue to do what Jesus did.  Together we are called to transform the world, to bring about God’s Justice, to bring down the powerful, lift up the lowly, fill the hungry and send the rich away empty.  Together we are called to bring about the Consolation of Israel and the Redemption of Jerusalem, to transform the world into the Kingdom of God.  

Does all of that sound slightly overwhelming?  Maybe more than slightly overwhelming?  Overwhelmingly overwhelming?  Before you start to panic, look again at today’s story.  What powerful sermon did Jesus preach in this story?  What amazing supernatural actions did Jesus do in this story?  What clever Scriptural reference did Jesus make in this story?  What change did Jesus accomplish in the Roman Empire?  What economic transformation did Jesus facilitate?  He didn’t say anything or do any of those things.  The only thing Jesus did in today’s story was BE THERE.  But look at what being there meant to Anna... she couldn’t stop talking about it to everyone she saw.  Look at what being there meant to Simeon... it literally made him sing!

You and I are called to bring God’s Kingdom to the Earth and make God’s Justice a reality, but you and I are called to start doing that in exactly the same way Jesus started... by simply BEING THERE for someone who needs to know God has not forgotten them... for someone who needs just a glimmer of hope as they wait.  

Who in the congregation needs to be shown they haven’t been forgotten?  Who in the community needs a visit to be reminded that they are remembered?  Who do you know that might just need a glimmer of hope brought by their home or work or school?  You don’t need to bring them sermons or prayers or words or miracles or Scripture verses and you don't need to fix their problems or change their world... just stop in this week and BE THERE with them for a little while.  Then, as you sit there, look them in the eye.  It wouldn't surprise me if somewhere in there deep inside, you didn't see a part of them begin to sing.  Amen.  

Still Wrong-er-er After All These Years

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew the 3rd Chapter

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

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

Have you ever been wrong?  As the saying goes, I thought that I was wrong once... but I was mistaken!  Actually, that’s not true.  I am wrong on a VERY regular basis.  All you have to do to confirm that is talk to my wife or my kids and they will tell you how wrong I am and how often I’m wrong.  In fact, the older they get the more wrong-er-er I seem to become!

When I am wrong, I try not to be too hard on myself.  Now, I don’t try to be wrong or even mistaken, for that matter, but it seems to happen anyway!  But on the up side, being wrong does put me in with some very good company.  We’ve read about two of that good company in the lessons today.  Look at Peter.  The whole second lesson is Peter telling everyone that he had been wrong before, but has now gotten things straightened out.  It took a vision, three Gentiles and a conversation with God, but in the end, Peter did finally get things straightened out.  He finally understood that God shows no partiality, God doesn’t have favorites... God loves all... and all means all!  

Then, in today’s gospel lesson, John the Baptist was wrong too.  He believed that he had no business baptizing Jesus.  Maybe he thought Jesus should be the one baptizing him or maybe John thought Jesus didn’t need to be baptized since he didn’t have any sins that needed forgiving.  But, it turns out, John was wrong and really did need to baptize Jesus after all.

So if by being wrong I find myself in the company of people of faith like Peter and John the Baptist then I’m not too worried and you know why?  Because I too have been baptized!  Neither of them had horrible things happen to them for being wrong; no wrath of God, no fire raining down from the sky, no brimstone or locusts, tsunamis or hurricanes or anything.  What this Gospel lesson tells us, is that with Jesus arriving on the scene, punishing people with all those Old Testament style punishments for being wrong is simply not the way God works anymore!  

Since Jesus arrived in the world, God has decided to do things a new way.  God now handles us being wrong, not by raining hell fire or with bad weather, but by loving us anyway, opening up heaven to be with us through every mess, thick and thin, good choices and bad.  When God sent his Son and the Holy Spirit, that was our clue that God was doing things in a whole new way.  

If you’re like me and tend to mess up and be wrong on a pretty regular basis, the fact that God now loves us in spite of our regular wrongness is really, really good news.   On the other hand, there are people who think they don’t ever mess up and some of those folks really don’t like the idea that God has gotten out of the raining down hellfire and smiting business.  They are the kinds of folks who figure God is angry all the time, sending tsunamis and hurricanes and tornados to punish the world for not hating the same people they hate and not yelling loud enough at the same things they like to yell at.   I’m sorry they’re that angry all the time but the truth is, even though they don’t like it, God’s still doing a new thing.    

Even when I think that a person or a group or a thing is really, really, really horrible.... and I have a list, believe me.... even when I think someone is being horrible and would really, really like God to do some serious, old fashioned lightning bolt and hellfire smiting... God just doesn’t do it... because no matter what I want, God doesn’t work that way anymore!  And really that’s for the best, because sooner or later I would mess up who needs smiting just like I mess up everywhere else in my life.  

So, take a look again at the lessons and see how God does work now.  In the second lesson, God talks with Peter in a vision, convincing him to think in a new way.  In the gospel lesson, Jesus talks to John and quietly and gently tells him that this is what they need to do in order to do things God’s way.  When Jesus comes up from the water the heavens open, the Holy Spirit comes down and God says, “This is my son, I really, really love him and I especially like what he’s doing and the way he’s doing it.”  

John was wrong.  Before Jesus talked with him he couldn’t imagine that God was giving up the good old ways of smiting people with hellfire, hurricanes, lightning bolts, and nasty skin diseases.  But, with compassion and understanding, Jesus convinced him that God was doing things in this new way, through his Son, the beloved.  When we are baptized, we too are baptized into God's new way of doing things.  That new way calls us to try to follow in God's footsteps and give up trying to get back at people who have done us wrong and instead live a life of forgiveness, love and compassion.  Even if that means getting things wrong some times and even if that means being taken advantage of from time to time. 

Martin Luther said that this new way calls us to sin boldly!  In other words, we’re supposed to try and do what God calls us to do... try and love others, have compassion for others, try to care for the least and the lost and the last of our world and not be afraid that we might not get it right.  We are supposed to be bold in what we try!  We can afford to be bold now because we can be confident that God would rather us try and end up getting off track than to never try at all in fear that we might mess up along the way.  God loves us when we get it right... and God loves us even when we get it wrong.  Just like Jesus, you and I are God’s beloved children no matter how far we get off track.  And not if, but WHEN we do get off track, God will gently lead us back to the right path just like God did with Peter and John.  

When you and I were baptized we are baptized for a purpose...part of that purpose is to tell the world that God is no longer in the business of sending horrible weather or anything else to punish people... that’s just not how God works anymore!  God is now into loving and caring and gently leading.  The other part of what we were baptized into is to live our lives and try to treat others in the same way that God now treats us... in the ways of love, compassion, generosity and grace rather than the ways of revenge and punishing.  You and I are called both to tell the world that God is doing things in a new way AND live our lives in that new way so that with God, you and I transform the world into the world God wants it to be... a place of love, compassion, grace and peace.  

So, it turns out that I can be wrong.  I try to be right... I really do!  But even when I try to be right, sometimes... more often than I like.... I end up being enormously wrong... and I am absolutely sure (even though I don’t want to be) that I will be wrong again!  Not because I try to be wrong but because I’m human!  BUT... even though I’m a fairly messed up human, I am also a baptized human… which means I'm a beloved by God human… a child of God... and so are you.

You and I have been set free to take those risks, boldly doing what we believe God is calling us to do, and even if it turns out later we didn’t quite get things 100% right... because God opened up the heavens at our baptisms and sent the Holy Spirit to each of us, we can be assured that God will keep loving each and every one of us anyway... and while I’ve been wrong about a lot of things in my life, I am 100%, absolutely positive that I am not wrong about God’s infinite, unconditional, unlimited love for you and for me and for all of creation.  Amen.

Dreams, Dogs and Darkness

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 1st Chapter

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. 

The other night our dog woke me up needing to go outside.  This was Thursday night... the night of the blizzard.  When I opened the door he felt the snow and wind and he decided maybe he didn’t need to go after all.  I made him go out anyway.  He does this whenever it’s snowing or raining.  If I hadn’t made him go out then, he would have let me go back to sleep for about fifteen minutes and then woken me up... again... to go out... again... because in his little doggy brain he would have, at that point, forgotten that it was snowing but remembered that, “Oh yeah, I need to water a tree!  Wake up dad!”    So, out he went.  I sat down at the dining table which is right by that door to wait for him.  He took a long time.  Apparently there was more than tree watering that needed to be done at one in the morning in a blizzard.  He took so long that I opened my computer and saw on Facebook that a college friend was getting snow in D.C., another posted about our old fraternity and Banana’s the Bear, another college friend posted about his trip to Mexico and three others about a college bowl game.  I tell you those riveting details of my exciting late night adventures with my dog and college Facebook friends because once my dog finally decided to come in and I went back to bed I had a dream.  I dreamed I was in college but it wasn’t a good dream.  

John’s Gospel opens in a majestic and transcendent manner that attempts to connect us with God through Jesus the Christ.  Unfortunately for us, John was trying to connect God with Greek speaking people from a very different culture, 2000 years ago, so for folks like us who don’t speak Greek and who live today, it can be hard to really hear what he’s saying.  It needs some translation.  John starts with “In the Beginning,” intentionally connecting his book and Jesus with the creation story.  When the apostle Paul talks about the Son of God, Jesus gets that Divine connection at the resurrection.  In Mark’s Gospel, it happens at Jesus’ Baptism and when Luke and Matthew talk about Jesus being the Son of God it happens at Jesus’ birth.  In John’s Gospel that connection has always been there.  In fact, Jesus isn’t born at all in John’s Gospel... he’s always been there... with God even before creation began.  

When John talks about Jesus always having this Divine connection way back before creation, he talks about Jesus as the “Word.”  In John’s day, “The Word” was a phrase that meant the creative power of God.  Folks understood it as sort of like the energy God uses, or the mechanism God uses to do things... things like create the universe.  The Word then, is the connection between God and the world... John wanted us to think of Jesus as something like God’s hands at work in the world... still completely part God, but the “make things happen in the world” part of God.  

What my late night dog and college friend induced dream helped me remember was how important it is for my life right now that the Word is that ancient, that powerful AND is also still able to make things happen in my world today.  In the dream I was in college and lived in a dorm but in my dream my dorm room held a very real and very tangible and very scary darkness.  A personified darkness had moved into my little dorm room and was taking over my little cinder block walled world.  In my dream I really needed it to go!  The Word, John says, came into the world specifically to shine a light into the darkness and in my dream THAT is exactly what needed to happen.  In the crazy way dreams go, I did my best Roman Catholic exorcist impression and called on Jesus to expel this darkness from my dorm room.  There was dramatic thrashing around and wrestling and it didn’t work at first and then it was working and then it wasn’t working and in the end the light did shine in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it!

I woke up at that point actually remembering the dream, which is not usual for me.  I laid in bed and took some deep breaths.  It was that kind of dream.  Then I marveled at how my brain had used my dog’s small bladder and a few updates from college friends on Facebook to create a scene in my mind.  Then my brain wove that middle of the night sleepy jumble of dog and college in with the dark parts of my life right now and then stirred all of that into the part of my mind mulling over this gospel lesson.   I thought of the real monsters of darkness that are a part of my life right now:  Medical bills that need to be paid, while we continue to buy groceries and heating oil instead; being stuck in a place where we don’t fit in, working jobs that aren’t a good match for us;  being isolated from friends and being far from family and then there is the real physical darkness of these short, gray days of winter.  That’s a bit of my darkness these days.  I know you have yours too.  Your darkness and my darkness are powerful and very real, but here in the beginning of John’s Gospel we are again given real and more powerful hope than any darkness!  Hope that, with the same power that created the universe, God pushes back with light on the darkest places in each of our lives and on the darkest places in all of creation.  

Listen again to our hope... In the beginning the “make things happen in the world” part of God brought to the world the WAY to live an abundant, meaning-filled life.  A life that is filled with being fully alive and abundant with joy.  A light that has changed and is still changing the world.  A light that overpowers even the deepest darknesses of our personal lives and those that plague the world.   

You and I don’t need to track down this light to have it in our lives... it tracks us down!  Jesus, the Christ, came to us then and comes to us now, wherever we are, like a traveler with a tent, camping on our doorstep.  He floods our lives with God’s infinite light and love... with a lovingkindness that, if it was literal light, would blind us with it’s brightness.  It is a light that always persists no matter what we do… A light that will prevail.  

If we were on our own, the darkness of this world and our personal darknesses would simply be too much to stand.  The promise, the hope that we hold onto though, is that we are not on our own.  We have the One, wielding the same power that created the universe, the One who is the "make things happen here in our world" part of God, shining light into every single darkness everywhere.

Thirteen chapters later in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that as we begin to trust in the hope of that power and love and light, we too can bring that same power and love and light into the lives of those around us and we too will be a part of transforming the world into what God intends it to be.  May each of us grow in the trust of that power, that love and that light.  May it be our hope in the dark places of our personal lives and in the life of the world.  May we come to a place where we, as part of the Body of Christ, can with God’s universe-creating power, endless lovingkindness and bright, blinding light shine that hope into every darkness until every darkness is gone forever.  Amen.

Merry Christmas, Right?

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the Second Chapter

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

Merry Christmas, right?  Does your Nativity set have figures for this part of the story?  I went though my Nativity set box again, but I just can’t find the paranoid King Herod figure and the troop of murdering thugs to put out.  My set seems to run out of figures at the part of the story with Wise Men and their camels.  But here in the Gospel for today is Herod and his murdering troops, showing up on the fifth day of Christmas to chase the Holy Family off to Egypt and slaughter innocents because he felt tricked by the Wise Men.    

I have to admit, I really struggled with this lesson.  One powerful and cruel person forcing a family to leave their home strikes very close to my experience.  In my last Lutheran congregation it was one man who decided that he was going to run the congregation.  Not the pastor and not the council and not the whole congregation either... just him.  When I told him that’s not how things worked he told me yes it was and he would starve me out.  He would make sure people stopped giving so they couldn’t keep paying me and I would have to leave and that’s just what he did.  This lesson is hard because it first reminds me of that painful experience and THEN I feel guilty for feeling that way because even though that experience was terrible, and he was terrible, nobody died.  I think, I should really just get over it... but it’s hard. 

Then I struggled with this lesson because I read somewhere as I prepared for this sermon that in those days, Bethlehem was only about one third the size of Rockport... so, about 1000 people total, so ALL the children under 2 killed would have only been about 20 which is still horrible but not the tens of thousands that is sort of tradition.  Then I remembered that 20 is also the number of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary and so 20 still seems like way, way too many.

Then I struggled with this lesson because not having a home of your own, bouncing from place to place and knowing there is an approaching yet unknown date when you will be asked to move again is something I have come to relate to very much in the last year and a half.  Then that same guilt from before happens again because we actually do have a nice place right now.  Our moves here in Maine have not happened under mortar fire like they do for real, modern refugees.  We didn’t have to leave with just the clothes on our backs.  All our things haven’t been destroyed by a bomb or missile attack; they are just in storage in Lincolnville.  We don’t live in a tent in a refugee camp in the desert of Turkey or Kenya among the more than 10 million refugees in the world.  We live on Norton Pond and the power is even on. 

I’ve struggled with this lesson because on the one hand I feel like I can relate and on the other hand I have absolutely no right to complain.  I’ve struggled with this lesson not because it shows how cruel the world was 2000 years ago, but because the world seems just as cruel today, over 2000 years later.  I’ve struggled with this lesson because even though I think our country should be better than this, there are innocents around us every day who pay the price for those who, like Herod, fear loosing their power; who think they can only be successful only if everyone else is a failure.  So, one in five children in our country don’t know where their next meal will come from and 1.6 million children experienced homelessness in our country last year and at least 194 children have been shot to death in our country since the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown.  

I’ve struggled with this lesson because when I look around at our world today, I find that I am tempted to say something like, if ONLY we could have just ONE family being forced to flee in the night to safety and if ONLY 20 children died... THAT would be wonderful!  Wonderful?  Really?  No!  Not wonderful!  Still horrible!  I’ve struggled with this lesson because it makes the world back then, my personal world and the world we all live in now seem so painfully dark and it feels like God is absent.  So, Merry Christmas?  

Actually YES!  Merry Christmas!  Because mixed in with all the very real horror and pain there is light that shines into every one of those dark and painful places.  Mixed in with all the very real hurt and guilt and suffering that happens in each of our lives to one degree or another is God’s infinite, loving and transforming presence.   

In the lesson God sends an angel to advise Joseph but not JUST in Israel.  God also sends an angel to advise him in Egypt.  Like all of Scripture, the story for the characters way back then is good, but the metaphor... what this story means for us now... is so much better.  What this means is that God can, and even more importantly God DOES, go with us EVERYWHERE!  

Egypt becomes a powerful metaphor for everywhere we would rather not be:  A refugee camp, a hospital room, a prison cell, watching a loved one die, waiting for a box of food at a food bank, lying in an operating room, hiding in a locked down classroom, visiting your spouse in a nursing home, sleeping in a homeless shelter, loading the moving truck one more time, standing on the median holding a sign that says “Any help for my homeless family is appreciated.”  

Not only is God with us in whatever “Egypt” we might be facing but this story tells us that when we listen carefully we will hear that God is guiding us back to where we belong.  It is not God’s desire that anyone stay in those broken and painful places.  It is God’s desire that everyone and all of creation come home.  

It’s not news that my family’s life here in Maine has been a little more “Egypt-y” than we had hoped it would be when we moved here.  But this congregation, all of you have been God’s messenger of hope for us in the last year and a half.  You’ve helped us, hugged us, cried with us and cared for us in overwhelming and miraculous ways that have really helped restore a bit of my faith in the church.   

It is true that our world, even 2000 years later, is still a world where twisted people hurt others for profit and power every single day.  BUT, it is also true that THAT is not how God intends the world to be and over time, working through prophets and truth tellers and people willing to listen to God’s guidance and people willing to trust and hope and work in ways that give of themselves selflessly, God will bring us home from every single one of our Egypts... back to the Promised Land God created for us in the beginning.

So when you and I find ourselves chased by the madness of this world, may we listen carefully like Joseph.  When we find ourselves in any kind of “Egypt” may we trust enough to offer our bodies and minds like Mary and when we look out into the world or deeply into our souls and see only darkness, may we all come together and shine the life changing light of Christ into each others lives here in this congregation and in our community and our world.  May what the prophet spoke be fulfilled through us, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it!”  Amen.

A Vinalhaven Christmas

The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, the 2^nd Chapter

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!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 

When I was a kid, the thing that meant that Christmas was getting really close was when we brought the box with our Nativity set down from the attic.  Our set was a poured, white, ceramic set that my mom had made in a class.  She made it while my dad was in Vietnam and I think she did it more to keep busy than anything else. 

There is a legend that the first person to introduce the Nativity set at Christmas was Saint Francis.  He created this first Nativity set to make the birth of Jesus seem more real to the people where he lived.  He wasn’t trying to convince them that Jesus had really been born.  The people believed that just fine.   Instead, what he really wanted them to understand was that the message the shepherds heard... “to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  He wanted his people, in that time, to hear that as not just a message for Jewish shepherds way back when, but as a message meant for THEM... that Jesus was born for THEM.   

To help them understand that, St. Francis made the Nativity characters to look like them.  He made the place where Jesus was born look like their Italian barns and put animals in the barn that were the same as the animals they took care of every day.  It didn’t teach them the history of the birth of Jesus, but it wasn’t supposed to.  Instead it taught them that Jesus was their Messiah too... that God loved them and cared about them, right there in their everyday, hardworking, just trying to get by, complaining when it’s too dang hot, gripping when it’s too dang cold, laughing in the good times, crying in the bad times lives.  God loved them too.  Right where they lived.  Just how they were.  God loved them too.   

In my family after we got down the Nativity set from the attic we would take books from the bookcase where it went and stack them up in little piles to make little hills and then cover them with a piece of green velvet to place the figures in their proper places.  The pieces didn’t look Middle Eastern or Jewish or like they were from 2000 years ago.  They looked more like they were from Europe in the Middle Ages but we didn’t really care.  Setting up that Nativity wasn’t supposed to remind my family that Jesus had been born.  We knew that.  What we needed from that Nativity is just what it gave us each year.  We needed a reminder that things would be OK.  That in spite of dad being gone on another tour of duty, God loved us and was watching out for us all.  That in spite of horrible things like cancer, addiction, and a deadly fire that hit our family, God was with us through it all.  We weren’t the family with the most troubles, but we weren’t ever the family with the least either.  No matter what happened that year, we set up that Nativity set and were reminded, “To US IS born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  

What Saint Francis had started spread around the world.  As the faith spread to different cultures so too did the Nativity Set.  Each country dressed the characters in the clothes they wore.  When the Nativity Set got to Scandinavia, reindeer looked on at the birth and Mary was blonde with blue eyes.  When it got to Africa, the characters looked African.  There were always characters playing music because music is always played as a woman gives birth.  In one culture there is a guy bringing beer, because in that culture you always bring a gift of beer for a birth!  In Japan, Mary was Asian and wore a Kimono, in Peru there are llamas watching, in far Northern Alaska, seals and polar bears watch while Mary looks over her new baby in an igloo wearing a fur lined coat.  

No matter where the people lived.  No matter what color their skin or hair or eyes, no matter what kind of cloths they wore or the kinds of animals they saw every day, the details of their Nativity Sets would change to look like they did, BUT the message stayed the same, “I am bringing you good news of great joy for ALL people: to YOU is born this day a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

To the shepherds 2000 years ago in Israel, that was the message of Christmas:  God loves you unconditionally and has sent YOU His Son to show YOU that love.  To the people Saint Francis preached to 1000 years ago in Italy, that was the message of Christmas:  God loves you unconditionally and has sent YOU His Son to show YOU that love.  To my family back in the late 60’s and early 70’s with a dad doing a third tour flying combat missions over Vietnam that was the message of Christmas:  God loves you unconditionally and has sent YOU His Son to show YOU that love.  

Now, I can’t carve figures for you and your community like Saint Francis did for the people he preached to 1000 years ago.  The best I could do was to write a story... see what you think:

In those days a decree went out that the Maine shrimp season would be cancelled. It hit folks real hard. Some understood. Some didn't. Understand it or not, like it or not, it hit Joe particularly hard. His wife, Mary was expecting… any minute to tell the truth… and he had really been counting on the shrimp season to see them through the winter. Of course, things like babies don't wait for good times to be born and Mary went into labor. It happened faster than either of them expected, in fact there was no making it into town so she gave birth right there in the office of the Co-op. 

It was really just a shack at the end of the pier; vertical planks of wind and salt weathered wood hung with old buoys and a large sliding door decorated with a "lobster crossing" sign. A hydraulic winch used to swing crates and traps up from below stood by unused.  Inside it was dark.  More buoys were hung in the rafters over a lobster tank alive with the constant flow of water pumped up from the sea.  In the corner of the shack there was an enclosed office with a desk, a chair and a stove made out of an old metal barrel.  On the foot worn planks that served as the floor of that office, Mary gave birth to a son.

Out on the water, lobstermen who hadn't already given up for the season were pulling traps, braving the cold in the hopes of finding just a few more to sell as the price slowly crept up while the temperature quickly raced down.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and the guys were terrified and yelled... (well, you can imagine what they yelled, but we won’t go there since this is church after all) Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, I have come to bring you some incredible news. To you, yes, YOU... THIS day… God has sent his Son, to try once again to get it into your heads that God loves you!  Loves you more than you could ever imagine, no matter what you've done or not done and even in spite of your very creative language skills! To prove it, you’ll find the baby down at the Co-op, over where Fred works, you know the place.” And suddenly with that one angel were a whole ton of angels all singing “Glory to God in the highest and peace to God’s people on Earth.”

They got on their radios and told each other that they HAD to go see and off they went.   When they got to the dock, of course, Jimmy, who's always heavy handed with the throttles, came in too fast and hit hard, but then he’s always hard on his equipment. But as they climbed up, there in the shack at the end of the pier, just like the angel had said, was Mary and Joe... and the baby. 

Outside the sliding door looking in on the scene were seagulls perched on the drums of bait. They were quiet for a change. There were a pair of seals too that had hauled themselves up on a float and were looking in and even though it seemed impossible, the lobsters in the crates inside the tank were looking on too. 

They guys told Mary what they had seen out on the water; what the angel had told them about her baby and about the heavenly host. (They left out the part with their language and being scared, but the rest they told her word for word.) Then the lobstermen all went out and got a beer...or maybe several and they told everyone what they had seen out on the water that day, but Mary back home with her baby, kept it all in her heart.

Now, I know this isn't the way it happened 2000 years ago, but that doesn't mean it isn't the truth:  God loves YOU.  Jesus was born for YOU.  You folks that come here all the time AND you that got dragged here for just today AND everyone else who isn’t here, ALL OF YOU!  God loves you, no if’s, and’s or but’s, and God has sent YOU His Son to show YOU that love.  God loves you so much... thinks of you SO MUCH, no matter who you are, where you are, what you do, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, what you didn’t do... God has sent his Son to YOU to show you God’s INFINITE and UNCONDITIONAL love for YOU!  THAT is YOUR message this Christmas.  May you hear it.  May you KNOW it and hold it in your heart and may you pass it along to everyone you see and in everything you do in this season, and all throughout the year.  Amen.