Multiple Choice

John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

Four friends gathered around a table with Jesus. Jesus had just raised one of them, Lazarus, from the dead and that made Jesus more than just annoying to the Romans. It made him a leader… and a leader with a following… and that was something the Romans simply couldn’t tolerate. Everyone in that room knew that the next time Jesus walked into Jerusalem, he’d be killed. The multiple choice question asked of those four friends that night was what were they going to do with this horrible thing they clearly saw coming?

Lazarus sat in stunned silence. Martha ran around in a panic, trying to push the reality from her mind by being busy. Judas tried to change the subject… to stewardship, of all things! So you know he was desperate! And then there was Mary. Mary chose to lean in. She went into the bedroom, found a jar of perfume and anointed Jesus not on his head, as you would a King, but on his feet as you would a corpse. Jesus was walking toward the cross and Mary, with complete clarity of what would happen next, chose to walk with Jesus anyway. Why would she do that?

Why would anyone walk into a horror like that on purpose? I think the “Why” for Mary basically boils down to her desire to walk toward the Kingdom of God. But then as now, the path to God’s Kingdom… the path to the reality designed by God from the beginning, where there is enough food, shelter, healing, dignity and purpose for ALL people... is a path perpetually strewn with endless obstacles and far too many horrific plot twists. So how do we do now, what Mary chose to do then? How do we walk through the horrors of the world toward God’s Kingdom?

A couple of weeks ago when we gathered in the wake of our community’s tragedies, Rabbi Liz Hirsch sang the Psalm we just sang. “Those who sow with tears, reap with shouts of joy.” She sang it over and over again, inviting us into the song with her. She did for us, what God’s people have always done for one another as we walk this path. She helped us remember what God has done before, and then asked God to do it again for us now. Today we heard another story like that. Our God is the One who makes a way through the sea, a path in the mighty waters. Our God is the one who parted the Red Sea.  The God who extinguished chariot and horse, army and warrior… like the wick of a candle…to make a way for God’s people. 

THAT is how we walk toward the Kingdom of God, even with the horrors of the world that are always in our way. We tell these stories and sing these songs… to help us remember… to clear the fog of it all… so we can see more clearly, the Kingdom of God.  We tell these stories and sing these songs to give one another direction... to give one another enough HOPE to take one more step.

You and I are more fortunate than those original four dinner guests.  We have one additional story to tell that those four dinner companions didn’t have.  We have the story of Easter. Like the Psalm and like the first lesson, the Easter story reminds us that God has fixed it, so that… every… single… solitary Good Friday type horror the world can throw at us, is always, always, ALWAYS followed by Resurrection which is why we proclaim the mystery of faith! Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again! 

ALL of those stories are there (the Easter story included... even in Lent) so that we might have HOPE in the face of whatever horrors we encounter along the way. This is not a baseless wish or an impossible dream... this is HOPE! HOPE that the God who has ALWAYS been there for God’s people before, will be right there for us again, telling us one more time, “I am about to do another new thing! It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the wastelands. So much water the wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’… drinking water for the people I chose, the people I made especially for myself.”

Our take home for today… is THAT God… the God who created ALL things… THAT God, has a vision for this world. It’s a vision of a creation forged in divine, perfect, self-giving love. A creation made to function fully and solely out of that same kind of love and not out of fear. It’s a reality where everyone has enough, where the sick are healed, the hungry fed… peace, justice, compassion and joy are lived out in our individual lives AND on a world wide scale!  

God continues even now, bringing that vision into reality.  God will continue to provide a crossing through any sea that blocks your path forward.  God will continue to bring water to your every desert, and will continue making a way for your to harvest joy in place of every tear that is sown. God WILL continue to do ALL OF THAT and anything else that is needed, up to and including raising the dead, in order to get God’s way of love to work in all of creation.  

And that, leaves THIS group of friends, gathered in a around THIS table, very much like Lazarus, Mary, Martha and Judas were all those years ago. Like them, we look outside and clearly see… things are not going as we had expected or would like them to go. And we too have the same multiple choice question. Will we sit in stunned silence, paralyzed in fear like Lazarus? Will we run around in a panic, trying to drive the outside world from our minds with our busyness like Martha? Will we desperately try to distract ourselves from the reality of the world by any means, like Judas? Or… will we lean into it and walk the Jesus Way like Mary?  If you’re up for THAT sort of walk, I’ve got a book full of stories that promise you have every reason to have HOPE along the way. Amen.  

Don't Skip It!

Luke 19:28-40

After he had said this, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 

As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” 

Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are very much like some of our favorite trilogies. That’s because Jesus’ life, death and resurrection serve as many of their inspirations! The Star Wars Trilogy… the Lord of the Rings trilogy… they follow that same story arc of a journey through darkness into new life. In all of them… Biblical, Science Fiction and Fantasy… the first episode sets the characters on their journey and introduces the conflict. Then, in the middle episode, you have the dark, seemingly inescapable rise of the antagonist and then finally, in the last installment, we see the victory of the hero against impossible odds.  

Over the last few months, I’ve stood in the aisle on Sunday mornings reading the Gospel. With those lessons, we’ve been working our way through the first episode of the Jesus’s “Kingdom of God” trilogy. We’ve heard of the improbable origins of Jesus, born in miraculous circumstances, into an oppressive world, an early brush with the “Dark Side” in the wilderness and then his journey filled with teaching, preaching, healing and casting out demons, all the while building more and more tension against the Dark Side’s earthly forces. 

Today, with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we end Episode I and in just a few minutes, at the very end of this service, we’ll get the trailer for Episode II in the form of a shortened version of Luke’s Passion. But that will ONLY BE THE TRAILER! It’s no where near like sitting through the whole thing! The FULL Episode II is called “Holy Week” and then, next Sunday we’ll gather for the epic, climactic, Episode III, which isn’t called The Return of the Jedi (although it could be) and it’s not called The Return of the King (although it could be called that too). Episode III is called… The Resurrection of the Messiah: Easter Sunday!  

But today, I’m here to wrap up Episode I and share with you the trailer for Episode II. Like any good trailer, my hope is to inspire you to come see ALL of Episode II this coming week! Because to miss “Holy Week”… to miss the critical Episode II of this, the Foundational Trilogy of all other trilogies… it would be like… well, skipping The Empire Strikes Back and just going from A New Hope to Return of the Jedi. It would be like reading the Fellowship of the Ring, skipping the Two Towers and going straight to The Return of the King? Would you ever consider doing that? Of COURSE not!  

You wouldn’t do that, because it’s HEARING Darth Vader say, “Luke, I am your father” and seeing Han Solo frozen in Carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back… it’s that decent into that trilogy’s darkness, that allows Episode III, the Return of the Jedi, to be so powerful! It’s the overwhelming armies of orcs, ring wraths and the seemingly invincible powers of Sauron and Saruman in The Two Towers that makes the overcoming of ALL of that so AMAZING in The Return of the King! 

In the same way, it’s sitting through the telling of the betrayal at the last supper and the cruelty of the cross and that stone sealing the tomb in an impenetrable darkness, shutting off all hope during Holy Week that allows The Return of the Messiah… that allows Easter… to be for us infinitely more than just colored eggs and chocolate bunnies. It’s that full force, full stop, horrific and impossible death that connects Jesus’s story with our story no matter how dark our story can ever become.  It’s hearing that decent into darkness that allows us to see that Jesus’s path is OUR path too! Because we see in Episode II there is no darkness which Jesus does not know, Episode III is not simply a story on a screen it a galaxy far, far away... It is OUR story too, about OUR darkness being transformed, however impossible that might feel, into the abundant lives God created us all to live as well!

So this year… Come to Holy Week! Come and absorb the darkest depths of Episode II and I promise you that in the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday you will understand with new fullness, new light, new joy… the brightness of God’s light! It is a light that no darkness can overcome!  It is a light that reaches each of us no matter how dark life might be.  Amen.

Sing It!

1 Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in Adonai; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory. “There is no Holy One like Adonai, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for Adonai is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. Adonai kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. Adonai makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are Adonai’s, and on them he has set the world. “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail. Adonai! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven. Adonai will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Let me catch you up on the story behind “Hannah’s Song” which I just read.  Elkanah had two wives.  Peninnah had children.  Hannah didn't.  Elkanah still really loved Hannah and thought that giving her extra food at the annual Temple meal would get God to give her a child.  He was actually trying to help… but he’s a guy, and you know how guys help... so Hannah knew more was needed.  She went to the Temple to pray and promised if she had a son she’d give her son to serve God.  Well, her prayers were answered with the arrival of her son, Samuel.  When Samuel was just a little bit older, she brought him back to the Temple to be a servant of God with the priest Eli.  

As she left the Temple, THIS was the song she sang into the darkness of the world.  You see, the world in which Hannah lived sang a very different, loud, and obnoxiously insistent song.  A song that told women they had no worth and women without children were worth even less.  A song that demonized the poor and hungry.  A song that demanded that might makes right and those with the might, decide what’s right. The lyrics to the world’s song in Hannah’s day said:  You don’t matter.  You don’t belong.  You’re worthless, hopeless, and meaningless.  THAT was the soundtrack that played through the lives of the people of Hannah’s day.

But coming out of the Temple, Hannah sang a different song!  And she sang her song right into the face of the world’s song!  And even when the world tried to drown her out… Hannah just cranked up the volume and sang her song even louder, even longer and even stronger… because she sang her song… as a duet with God!  The world’s song was no match for that!  

The soundtrack of Hannah’s day… the lyrics she heard the world sing then… they're all too familiar, even today.  The lyrics the world sings in our day still insist the poor don’t matter, the hungry should get a job, refugees should go home, and lying is fine if it gets you what you want.  You know the lyrics to the world’s song.  You can’t help but know them! They are the most horrible sort of ear-worm… shouted, broadcast, remixed and Tweeted everywhere, everyday in ALL CAPS.  

So, as the world insists on singing it’s same old horrible song,  we… God’s people… like Hannah, are are called to sing OUR SONG into the darkness of OUR world!  So, what song will YOU sing?  What are the lyrics to YOUR song?  What is the song that you will sing louder, longer, and stronger than ANY song the world could ever hope to sing, because you will sing it as a duet with God!?  

For one of my Episcopal colleagues, Rich Simpson, it’s something from the prophet Bruce… Springsteen.  It’s the song, “Into the Fire.” “May your strength give us strength.  May your faith give us faith.  May your hope give us hope.  May your love give us love.”  Now, just between us, for Rich, it’s not just that one song.  It's actually the Boss’ entire body of work!  “Badlands” and “Rocky Ground” and “My City of Ruins” and… well, you get the idea.  But hey, a playlist works!  If you’ve got a playlist… sing the whole playlist into the darkness as a duet with God!  

For my wife Kelly, her go-to song is “I Shall Be Released” sung by Bette Midler: “I see my light come shining.  From the west down to the east. Any day now, any day now.  I shall be released.” But like Rich she has more of an extended playlist and her's leans distinctly in the direction of Broadway!  “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen.  “You Are Not Alone” from Into the Woods.  “Defying Gravity” and “For Good” from Wicked… lots of Broadway!  But for her, a Broadway playlist is the perfect thing to sing with God into the darkness of the world!  

For Pam, who owns the Bookloft in Great Barrington, her song is “No Rain” by Blind Melon:  “I just want someone to say to me, oh.  I’ll always be there when you wake, yeah.  You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today.  So stay with me and I'll have it made.”  For my friend Cynthia Wade, who suggested I make a Spotify list of all the suggestions (which I did and is still out there), it’s “Born to be Loved” by Lucinda Williams: “You weren't born to be abandoned.  You weren't born to be forsaken.  You were born to be loved.  You were born to be loved.”  

Others tell me they sing, “What the World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love” or “All You Need is Love” or “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”… a love themed play list!  Perfect!  Still others sing “Imagine.”  Rabbi Jodie sings “Turning of the World.”  Others sing “All Good People” or “A Soft Place to Land."  Some play classical music by Mozart, Bach or The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughn Williams into the darkness.  For our daughter Maggie it’s a song in Swedish called “Snooza” whose words insist we stand up to this society, which allows the Tempter to be so effective in telling us we have to always rush and work and never rest.  We stand up to the Tempter by hitting “snooza” on our alarm clocks and tending our relationships first… a very Shabbat sort of idea I think.  

For me it’s a Bob Marley tune sung full on with a Jamaican accent, mon!  “Rise up this morning.  Smiled with the rising sun.  Three little birds.  Pitch by my doorstep.  Singing sweet songs.  Of melodies pure and true, saying, ‘This is my message to you.’  Don’t worry about a thing.  Cause every little thing is gonna be alright.”  

So what’s YOUR song?  Any genre, style, tune… a single song or a whole playlist... It all works!  And God is there to sing it all with you!  God is there to help you sing it longer than the long song of injustice that the world sings.  To sing it louder than the loudest shouted songs of hatred the world can shout and stronger than the deepest darkness the world can sing.  

What’s your song?  What song do you sing to push back the darkness?  Think about that and then look around.  You know these folks?  They want to know your song.  They really want to know, so that when you forget the words, they can help you remember… so when the world is so dark that you lose your voice, they can sing it for you, full out, into the darkness, for as long as it takes until your voice returns.  That's who we are.  We are God’s people, gathered to sing a different song... to sing each other's songs, head on, full force, into the darkness of the world... until the day comes when the dark songs of the world are all drown out, and all that creation will be able to hear are the songs we sing together with God.  Songs of Teek-Vah… hope. Songs of Hesed… steadfast love.  Songs of Shalom, O-shel, and Chai… songs of peace, joy and life for all.  Amen. 

Build A Longer Table

Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

They told Jesus about some Galileans whose “blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices”. Pilate had slaughtered worshipers in the midst of their worship and so the people wondered, does God punish sin that way? That isn’t just a 2000 year old question, is it? Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston. The Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The mosques in New Zealand. That’s a “today” question too! Jesus tells them… and us, NO! God does NOT work that way! And not with collapsing buildings, hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, plane crashes or anything else either! God does NOT work that way!  

That word “sin” carries a ton of baggage with it, and apparently sin, and the consequences of sin have been misunderstood... well, basically forever.  Here, Jesus is talking more about capital “S” sin, otherwise known as our very human condition of being broken.  For me, that root brokenness seems to always boils down to “fear.”  Fear is always the gross, crusty, toxic mess left at the bottom when you boil off  all of humanity’s creative “lower case” sins... things like anger, hate, greed, selfishness, violence and all the rest.  Jesus was less interested in those “lower case” sins here and more interested in healing the root human “capital S” sin of brokenness.  Jesus came so that we no longer had to walk only a path out of brokenness, but could instead know and walk the path God created us to walk... a path toward abundant life.  

God did not create us to walk this life in fear.  We were created to walk a path that leads to abundant life... a life filled with meaning and purpose and dignity!  Jesus told the people then, and tells us today, that when we keep walking a path that begins out of our brokenness... the path of fear... it may feel familiar, but it’s filled with pain.  The world, our culture, the neighbor kids, TV preachers, the devil... they all might insist that path, the path away from fear, is the only one there is... but Jesus came to insist, “NO, no it’s not” and put us on a path toward life!  That “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” path... that “might makes right” path... that is a path that leads only to pain, and God did not love us into being, only to live our lives in brokenness and pain.

The horrific and tragic deaths that happened in Jesus’ time were not caused by a God punishing sinners. The horrific and tragic deaths that happen in OUR world and in our time are not caused by a God punishing sinners either! But in Jesus’ time AND in ours, the reality remains... human brokenness... capital “S” sin... living out of  fear... all of that leads to pain and eventually to death. We see that all too often. Anger, hatred and violence, all born out of fear... fear of not being in control, not being first… THAT is the sin that led to the death of worshipers in Jesus’ time and fear is what leads to the white supremacy that leads to the slaughter of worshipers in our time too.  It’s a pain we walk into, not a pain God inflicts upon us.  So, what’s a broken human to do?

Jesus answers that question with a parable. A vineyard owner plants a fig tree counting on it to make her some figs.  God’s the vineyard owner and we’re the trees... we’ve been planted to bear fruit... to live!  We’ve been planted to reach out to our neighbors, care for the other... mourn with our community after a tragedy... stand up against hatred, selfishness, lusting after obscene amounts of money and power, white supremacy, racism, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and all the rest.  THAT’S what we’ve been planted for, but speaking for myself... THIS particular bald fig tree is full of figgy brokenness.  Perhaps you can relate to some of that.  Bearing fruit is hard.  My neighbors are all too often mean and cruel and ignore science! And so... I just don’t make the fruit I was planted to make.  

But here’s the thing... that may not be very good, but it’s about the best I can do on my own... living out of my figgy brokenness!  And here’s a secret, NONE of us trees can do any better!  We need a gardener! That’s Jesus, by the way... to give us more time, to dig around us and pile on the manure with grace filled abundance.  Then, because that was first done for us, God calls us to get out there and make the fruit God created us to make!  To do the same for others that the gardener has first done for us!  Giving our neighbors... even THOSE neighbors... more time than we are inclined to give them… digging deeper in those relationships than we are inclined to go… AND piling on more of our precious resources than we think we able to share.  

And these days I am more and more convinced that talk isn’t enough.  We need to SHOW the world what that looks like. We can’t just talk about the Promised Land... we need to show them what the Promised Land looks like… not just talk about the Kingdom of God but SHOW them and give out tons of free samples of the fruit that grows there... the fruits of compassion, love and joy.  We must SHOW the world that longer tables are better than higher fences. We must SHOW the world the steps onto a path of love, compassion and peace… so they can SEE where to put one foot and then another and another.  We need to SHOW them that it’s possible to walk a path that doesn’t lead over the edge of a cliff. 

God doesn’t zap sinners from on high.  But a path walked out of fear leads inevitably through terrible places filled with hatred, bigotry and violence and if we stick to that path long enough, it eventually ends at the edge of a cliff where gravity is always turned on.  God’s desire for us is to walk a path toward abundant life and not death.  God desires that so much, God sent Jesus, God’s Son to put us on that path toward life.  May we SEE the path we’ve been loving put on by the Gardener and then boldly show a hurting world what it looks like when a community of regular people, all filled with normal, human brokenness, but lovingly cared for by that Divine gardener, walks together, not in fear away from death, but joyfully in faith on a path toward abundant life instead!  Amen.

Us Chickens

Luke 13:31-35

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Every summer, my grandparents would move their family from the house in the “big city” of Escanaba, Michigan out to Camp for the summer. With new buzz cuts and a large box of .22 ammo for both my dad and his brother they were set for the summer. This was before helicopters, let alone helicopter parents, so there was a ton of unstructured time, but still, my grandparents had plenty of projects and chores to attempt to keep Ben and Bob busy and out of the most serious, life-threatening sorts of trouble... which in hindsight did work... but based on the stories, it was never a sure thing. One of those projects involved raising chickens and one summer that meant painting the chicken coop. My uncle Bob was sent out to start the project while my dad finished up something inside. Before long however a giant commotion was heard coming from the direction of the chicken coop and as my dad and grandma looked out the window, they saw Bob chasing the chickens around the yard with a paintbrush full of green paint, painting not the chicken COOP but the chickens… it was a lovely shade of green as the story tells.

Chickens, it turns out have the reputation of taking a coat of paint well… but not cheerfully. A chicken’s reputation does NOT, however, usually include being an animal of great power and might. But here we have the power and might of God, made flesh in Jesus Christ, living in the world… like a chicken! Jesus isn’t acting like a lion, intimidating the countryside with a mighty roar and razor sharp claws. Jesus isn’t describing himself as an eagle, soaring high above the earth with piercing vision. No, Jesus identifies himself with the animal most likely to be painted green by my Uncle Bob on a summer day in the late 1940’s… a chicken.

Jesus… the Christ… the Son of God… Savior of Creation… is… a chicken? It’s not where you might have expected Jesus to go when he was picking an animal avatar for himself. Chickens are not the most majestic creatures.  Most do not sport particularly colorful plumage. They are neither strong and mighty nor sleek and stealthy. They don’t have a soaring wingspan or powerful claws… they are…. well… chickens. But leave it to Jesus to identify with the underdog. Born to a poor, unwed mother, he ate and spent his time with social outcasts and religious rejects. He constantly healed and ministered to the people that society wouldn’t even look at, let alone touch. Jesus never hung out with the popular or the powerful but, like the hen, he was faithful... even to death, to those whom God put in his care.  

The Pharisees who came to scare Jesus away from his mission with a bogus death threat from Herod were trying to expose Jesus as a fraud. They figured with a death threat from the King, Jesus would turn and run, rather than take the chance of coming face to face with that sneaky fox-like King Herod and his deadly set of razor sharp teeth, otherwise known as the Roman army. But Jesus called them on their bluff and told them he would leave, but only when it was time and not a moment sooner. Jesus knew THIS threat was a bluff. He also knew, however, that if he kept to his calling… walking toward Jerusalem, healing people, teaching crowds, casting out demons and proclaiming a VERY different Kingdom than the kingdom of Caesar, the threat would eventually become all too real.

Jesus deeply desired that all of God’s people, and indeed all of creation would come to him to be cared for, and just like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings for safety, Jesus wanted to gather all of creation into the peace, safety and justice of the Kingdom of God. Like that hen though, Jesus had no real defense. What he did have was an incredible willingness to sacrifice himself for the sake of the people. When a fox comes into the barnyard, a mother hen covers her chicks and bares her breast to the fox, enticing the fox to take her and leave her chicks alone. She can’t fight. All she can do is die for her chicks. Jesus too, we’ll see later, would not take the path that would lead him to fight. He would not return violence for violence. He would only offer himself to be killed, so that God’s children might live.  

The Good News for us is that each and every one of us are one of God’s little chicks! The fox of darkness, pain, meaninglessness and despair has already made it’s way into the human chicken coop and in response, Jesus has already gathered all of us and all of creation under his wings and sacrificed himself to make sure we all have life and not just a get-by life, but an abundant life, filled with meaning, purpose and hope.  

The question for us little chicks is not IF we have been given this gift of abundant life, but rather HOW will we now live into the gift of abundant life we’ve each been given through this sacrifice? We are alive! Even though, by all the laws of nature, we should have been eaten, digested, and left in a pile of fox poo long ago! God’s hope for us, and our calling by the Holy Spirit, is that by knowing and understanding that we have been saved from the sneaky, sly, fox of sin and death; we might live our lives from here on out, thanking God for the gift we have been given by passing God’s love… the love that first gathered us under those wings, to everyone around us. 

That’s the kind of life you and I have been called to. That’s the kind of life we have been saved FOR! That is the kind of life that would fill our Divine Mother Hen with the greatest amount of pride and joy a Divine Mother Hen could ever have!  

May each of us live more deeply into the gift of life we have been given… joyfully, abundantly, and thankfully… and may we do that TOGETHER as the coop of chickens known as the people of Christ Trinity church! And may we share that love of God which first saved us… with just the same sort of reckless abandon as Jesus first had for us.  Amen.

A Plague of Locusts!

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Baptism, is our entry into Christ… into the Body of Christ and the Body of Christ is another name for what we call the Church. That’s one of the reasons our Baptismal font is way back there… because way back there, it’s by the entrance of our Church! Baptism isn’t a destination, but rather, the very beginning of a life long journey.  Because of that, the Church in its ancient wisdom, thought that before a person set out on that sort of life-long journey it would be smart to take some time to help them get ready. How much time? Well, the PERFECT amount of time of course! And that… in Biblical figuring means FORTY. Forty days and nights for Noah and the flood. Forty years for the people of Israel going from Egypt to the Promised Land. Forty days of fasting before Moses received the ten commandments. Forty days for Jesus in the wilderness and Forty days for the season of Lent. Forty is Biblical shorthand for the time God takes to prepare something amazing! And because this is God’s time we’re talking about, it hardly ever ends up being exactly forty by our human ways of counting. That’s why the Season of Lent, is forty days long… as long as you don’t count the Sundays! 

So Baptism is where we all start.  In the water washing of Baptism, God promises us abundant life... a life filled with purpose and meaning and also salvation... a promise that this abundant life God gives us as a gift goes on beyond time itself. Baptism, you see, is God’s work, not ours, so it goes well beyond our ability to fully comprehend.  That’s why we talk about it in so many different ways, trying to get a handle on something that is way too big for us to ever fully grasp.  It’s God giving us a Cleansing Bath, it’s a New Birth, it’s citizenship in God’s Kingdom, it’s being clothed in Christ, it’s being brought Out of Chaos and Death, it is our Adoption as a Child of God, it is God grafting us into Christ and joining us with Christ’s death and resurrection. 

Our second lesson today says we “believe with the heart” and “confess with the mouth.” Notice, it doesn’t say “believe with our heads.” That’s because believing is not so much a decision we make in our heads as it is a step by step journey following the One we have come to love, because we have come to realize that One we love has been loving us all along! At the beginning of the service today we recognized how Peter has begun noticing God’s love working in his life and we welcomed him to join us as a community... a community doing our best to “believe with our hearts” just like him.  In just a moment, we’ll all have the opportunity to bless him and equip him for this forty day journey… Together, we’ll give him the sign of the cross on his eyes, ears, lips, heart, shoulders, hands and feet so that he knows that all of us are walking with every part of him on this journey… both his journey through Lent and his journey through all of life! At the Great Easter Vigil, we’ll all continue with him on this journey and together we’ll “confess with our mouths” and then, in some mysterious way, God will grab hold of him with Water and with God’s Word, binding him together with all of us... a part of the Body of Christ and promise to never let him go, no matter what, from then, to the end of time and to beyond time itself!  

Now all of that might make you think that after you’re Baptized every day will be magically filled only with unicorns, gumdrops and rainbows!  But since Jesus himself was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit after his Baptism, only to run into the Devil and all those temptations, it’s pretty much a sure thing that we’re in for the same.  What Jesus ran into after his Baptism was not a question about whether or not he was God’s Child. That was a done deal and even the Devil agreed with that!  What he ran into, were questions about HOW he was going to be God’s Son. Since in our Baptisms we’ve are adopted as Children of God, the questions Jesus faced are inevitably the questions we face in our wilderness times too.

The first question: Bread for me, myself and I, or bread for US, OURSELVES AND WE? Jesus was hungry and we all get hungry!  The question is will we use the gifts we’ve been given to satisfy me, myself and I, or will we use what God has given us for US, OURSELVES and WE?  Jesus chose not to make bread in the wilderness then, but held off and instead made fish sandwiches for thousands a little later!  

The second question: Arm muscles or heart muscles? Jesus was sent by God to make things right in the world, and so are we!  But HOW do we do that? Do we use the world’s ways of violence, intimidation and manipulation… OR do we do like Jesus did and instead use the power of self-sacrificial LOVE to transform the world to work the way God wants it to work?

The third question: Cheat death or defeat death? Jesus had the power to get the angels to save him after jumping off a tower and cheating death in a spectacular way. That would have brought him millions of adoring fans!  Instead he chose not to Cheat Death, but DEFEAT death, once and for all for all of creation through his own death and resurrection.  Will we avoid the hard things in life or will we dare to go through them, trusting God’s promise of new life on the other side?

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to begin his forty day journey.   You and me, along with Peter are being led by that same Holy Spirit into our shared forty day journey through the wilderness of Lent. We too will wrestle with those same old temptations… Will we live for others or will we live for ourselves? Will we work in the world by "might makes right” or by self-giving love? Will we do everything to avoid what we fear, or will we dive deeply through it, toward the promise of light and life?  

I feel incredibly thankful that Peter has asked us... this beautiful gathering of the Body of Christ... to journey with him this Lent.  I hope that you too can see in these forty days, the blessing and the great honor it is to walk with one another, sharing with each other the joys and the difficulties of this season of life as we walk together toward the Great Easter Vigil and Peter’s Baptism. Peter, thank you for the trust you have placed in all of us and the incredible gift you’ve given us by allowing us to share your journey with you. Come now and let us bless you for the journey we are all about to take together!  Amen.

With Fear and Slipping

Luke 9:28-36

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

Eight days later, my wife took with her, our dog and me and led us to our long table to “talk".  I thought, “This is really bad.”  The dog was fine with it.  There, she became super serious, so before she could say anything I said, “Hey, it’s good you brought us here, because I’ve been thinking about building some birdhouses,” (not really knowing what I was saying.) And while I was still yammering, a voice came from the clouds and said, “Erik, this is your beloved, she is really quite… QUITE a bit smarter than you.  Shut up and listen to her.” 

You see, eight days before that I had driven to Augusta and when I left to come home, I started down this giant, steep hill.  The road was covered in that thick, not-quite-slush… not-quite-snow, sort of snotty, winter mess and as I applied the brakes, my very bald tires slipped and the anti-lock brakes did all they could but I still slid all the way down that hill. The GOOD news was that I stopped before I slid into Water Street. The REALLY good news is that I stopped before going into the stuff beyond that for which that street is named! The bad news was I needed new tires and that filled me with great fear. 

Now, I don’t have a weird new-tire phobia.  What I fear is spending money.  I wanted to take a couple of months to squirrel the money away and pay with cash.  But that snow was just the pre-blizzard, which was going to be followed by the REAL blizzard, which was then going to be followed by a post-blizzard, and Kelly said, “I know you fear putting tires on a credit card.  I know spending $500 will feel like death to you. But I also know your fear won’t magically go away even if I tell you not to be afraid.  So, invite your fear into the car with you, tell it to buckle up, and the two of you GO… get new tires on your car TODAY... because new tires means life.”  So, my fear and I got into my car, buckled up and we went and got new tires, because God was right… she's quite…QUITE a bit smarter than I am.  

The thing that happened eight days before today’s lesson is that Jesus told the disciples he needed to go to Jerusalem, where he would suffer and die and be raised from the dead. The disciples had no idea what he meant by being raised from the dead but they were all TOO clear on what suffering and death was! They, very understandably, had a real fear of going to Jerusalem.  But in the middle of the disciple’s yammering, God spoke and said, “Disciples listen, this is my Son, my Chosen, he is quite… QUITE a bit smarter than you, so shut up and listen to him.” With that they shut up, loaded themselves… and all their fears… on the disciple-bus and drove down the mountain and on to Jerusalem.  Because in that encounter… even though they still couldn’t wrap their minds fully around it, and even though they were still scared… they knew that somehow going down that mountain following Jesus toward suffering and death was somehow ALSO the path Jesus was leading them down toward abundant life.  

Here’s the second most important thing about these stories… Kelly knew that telling me not to be afraid wouldn’t magically take away my fear.  Jesus telling the disciples not to be afraid didn’t magically take away their fear either. But you and I are called to FAITHFULNESS… NOT FEARLESSNESS.  Faithfulness is taking your fear, inviting it onto the bus with you and driving on down the mountain toward new life, even with fear riding shotgun and incessantly changing the radio stations the whole way down.  

If we wait to be fearless BEFORE we make a step toward the Abundant Life God created us to live, we'll never even take the first step.  Cornel West says it this way, “To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely - to step, in the name of love, as if you may land on nothing. Yet to keep on stepping… because “the something” that sustains you… (is something) no empire can give you… and no empire can take away.” To his “dangerously, honestly and freely”… I’d add fearfully. We as Christians are not called to wait for safety or comfort. We as Christians are not called to wait for fearlessness. We as Christians are called to take a step… just one little step in faith and in self giving love… then another… and then another… on down the mountain and out into the world.  One tiny, seemingly insignificant little step toward loving God and loving neighbor... one step… after another, toward LIFE.

All of that is true. But true doesn’t make it easy. Fear is still very real and, by it’s nature, fear is REALLY scary! But here’s the part of this lesson that I think is MOST important for us today. Notice HOW those disciples came down that mountain. They came down that mountain and walked into the scary world following Jesus… TOGETHER. TOGETHER... that’s how God created us to do this thing called life!

Following Jesus. Walking the Jesus Way. Living life in the Jesus Way of living… Loving God. Loving Neighbor. Giving of self. Caring for the lost, last and least of our world. We’re called to ALL of that… BUT NEVER… are we called to walk ALONE! This is the stuff us fear-filled humans can only do when we do it TOGETHER! Today we officially welcome new members to join us hiking down the mountain and out into life with us TOGETHER. It is an incredible gift! To us AND, I hope, to them.  Because we need each other if we’re going to keep stepping out in love and putting one foot in front of the other down the mountain and out into the world. We ALL need others who in our moments of fear are “quite a bit smarter” than us to help us invite our fear on the bus and keep driving. We ALL need others, to remind us that every step taken in love lands on “that something”, even when that next step is anything but clear. We ALL need each other, to remind us that in this life, there’s a Promised Land on the other side of EVERY wilderness and there’s an Easter on the other side of EVERY Good Friday. May we TOGETHER… TOGETHER as the Body of Christ that we call Christ Trinity Church, dangerously, honestly, fearfully and freely, keep on stepping out, each and every day, in the name of love. Amen.