What is REAL Believing, Following, and Christianity

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”

So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

There is so much in this Gospel lesson.  We could go with Jesus flipping “The Cootie Rule” upside down.  The Cootie Rule states that Cooties ONLY pass FROM the infected TO the uninfected.  In both the case of the woman with the hemorrhage and the dead little girl, both of those SHOULD have, by the Cootie Rule, ONLY made Jesus unclean.  But in this story Jesus flips the Cootie Rule TWICE and INFECTS both the woman and the little girl each cleanliness, wholeness, and life.  We could go with that.  But we aren’t.  

We could go with this Gospel as an “Inclusio” or a “Story within a Story” or, “a Gospel Sandwich.”  Stories told like this have a multiplying effect on the main point.  We could even look beyond just today’s Gospel sandwich and see that chapters 4 and 5 of Mark’s Gospel are actually more like a Gospel Smörgåstårta which, of course you know, is a multi level Swedish sandwich cake.  A bread layer, then a shrimp salad layer, then a bread layer, then a hard boiled egg layer, then a bread layer, then maybe a smoked salmon layer, then more bread… and so on.  Chapter 4 starts with a layer of Parables, then Jesus stills the storm, then he sends a legion of demons into a herd of pigs, then there’s another layer of crossing the sea, then the layer meeting Jairus on the beach, then a layer with the woman, then a final layer with Jairus’ daughter.  We could have gone that way and driven home the two chapter point that there is absolutely NOTHING… not religious leaders, not slow witted disciples, not the chaos of creation, not demons, not any illness, and finally... not even DEATH… there is absolutely NOTHING that it OUT of Jesus’ control.  But we’re not going to go there either.  

We could go with Jarius’ daughter.  We could see that what really matters with her is not whether or not she is dead or sick, but that either way, SHE did absolutely NOTHING to get Jesus to give her wholeness and life.  She didn’t say a prayer.  She didn’t make a decision for Jesus.  She was given wholeness, healing, and life as Jesus always does for everyone… with no strings attached... a complete gift.  But we’re not going to go with that one either. 

What we’re going to go with today is Jairus and what we can learn from him about what genuine believing really looks like and what it doesn’t look like…  What following Jesus really looks like and what it doesn’t look like… and what being a Christian really looks like and what being a Christian doesn’t look like.  

The first thing Jairus teaches us about real believing, following Jesus, and being a Christian is that Jairus shows up where Jesus is and by extension Jairus is with the people Jesus is with.  He’s not in the synagogue.  He’s not kneeling on the floor of the House of Representatives in a circle praying.  He’s not sharing posts on social media to prove his faith.  He’s not angling to get the ten commandments posted in every classroom.  Where is he?  He’s with Jesus and the people Jesus cares most about.  He’s with a woman who the health care system has let down.  He’s with a woman who has been thrown out of her own community.  Jesus is with the sick and broke and outcast and because that is where Jesus is, THAT is where Jairus is.  THAT’S what real believing looks like.  THAT’s what genuine Christianity looks like.  

From Jairus’ time to our time, that has not changed!  When WE are with the sick, outcast, beaten down, cut off… then WE are with the people Jesus is with and we are with Jesus. THAT is what genuine Christianity looks like.  Public prayers, kneeling, posting tests of faith and commandments… none of that puts anyone in the presence of Jesus.  Jesus is always with people in need.  If you’re looking to be in Jesus’ presence as Jairus was, then put yourself in the presence of the broken, the outcast, the oppressed!  

The next we see of Jairus he’s been stopped in the street by people telling him his daughter is dead.  Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.”  Now, I want you to really see here… I really want you to completely understand exactly what Jesus was telling Jairus, when he told him to believe.  Jesus wasn’t telling Jairus to believe in his head.  Jairus’ head was swimming in a pitch dark pit of horror having just heard his daughter is dead.  Jairus’ head couldn’t believe.  Jesus wasn’t telling Jairus to believe in his heart.  His heart was profoundly broken.  It was completely shattered.  Jairus’ heart couldn’t believe.  Jesus was telling Jairus to believe in the place where all true and genuine believing actually happens… in his legs and in his feet.  Jesus was telling Jairus to follow in his footsteps… one foot and then the other… to walk where Jesus walked… no matter where that led. THAT is what believing looks like.  THAT is what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus… THAT is what it looks like to be a Christian.

These days fewer than half of the people in our country have any connection with a faith community.  Over half the country has no idea what real Christianity is and what's a fraud.  It is time for the church... which is regular folks like you and me to point out real Christianity when we see it so those folks will know.  Its also time for the church... for regular folks like you and me to point out fraudulent christianity when we see it, so people will know that too.  

Before Reinhold Niebhur was sent to the concentration camp, when much of what passed for christianity had become intertwined with the Nazi government Pastor Niebhur told his congregation, "away with the bushel!"  He told them it that while it tempting to keep their heads down, to shelter genuine Christianity like a candle under a bushel basket until the storm blew over, THAT would not be REAL believing, following, or Christianity.  They needed to believe and follow and live as genuine Christians, living and speaking the Truth as Jesus did.  It is our time to do the same.  It is time for us to say "away with the bushel", to walk step by step in Jesus' footsteps and to call out at the top of our voices both the real Christianity we see around us and the fake.  Amen.  

Jesus Christ! Wake UP!

Mark 4:35-41

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

In the ancient world, the sea was the embodiment of chaos.  Today, it seems like the whole world is the embodiment of chaos!  In the Gospel story the disciples’ reaction gives us a good idea of just how bad that particular chaos really was.  These were fishermen, who made a living on that very body of water, and this particular chaos ruffled those pros’ feathers so it must have been big.  Our chaos is equally big.  New Mexico on fire, a Tropical storm coming ashore in Texas, an August-like heatwave in June.  All the result of the self inflicted chaos called Climate Change.  Then there’s the storm in Israel and Gaza and, in case you’ve forgotten, there’s a presidential race that is chaos on a Biblical level, in and of itself.  

Then, in addition to our shared chaos, we each have our own personal storms and chaos rocking our own personal boats.  Mine is currently rocked by being tired and by people who invoke the word Christian to promote actions and policies that are blatantly anti-Christ!  You can’t be against feeding the hungry, against healing the sick, and against welcoming the stranger and claim the title “Christian” at the same time.  These are all things that Jesus himself modeled for us to do as his disciples… as Christians.  So, if you are against feeding the hungry, you are not Christian.  In fact you’re anti-Christ.  If you are promoting policy that will take away health care from those in need, you are anti-Christ.  If you are unwelcoming to the foreigner you are anti-Christ.  The time for us to allow people to freely use the title “Christian” while at the same time acting in ways that are anti-Christ is long since past.

  

So how are we together or as individuals supposed to deal with all this chaos?  Well I think it’s time for us to wake Jesus up!  We’ve got real, Biblical sized chaos raging all around us and up to this point, we like those disciples in the story from today, have not as yet roused Jesus from his cushion!  It’s time!  It’s past time!  So Jesus!  Rise and shine!  Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakie!  Like the original disciples, we disciples have let the mess go on way too long without calling the One who has the power to actually manage the mess, calm the wind, and still the raging storms.  But like the original disciples, in spite of waiting too long, we too can do it now!  The question is how?  How do we wake Jesus who is asleep within us all?

When it comes to waking up the sleeping, the internet (the repository of all knowledge), suggests that one of the best ways is to slowly let in the light!  What’s that look like?  As a church letting in the light looks a lot like our corners of kindness shining light into the world.  But what about for us as individuals?  How can WE rouse Jesus from his cushion where he’s sleeping within us?  Generosity always brings light into darkness.  Compassion does as well.  What is just one simple generous thing that you can do today?  What might be one simple act of compassion you can make happen today that will let some light in and begin to wake the Christ within you?

The internet also suggests that music is helpful to move folks out of their sleep inertia or grogginess and into wakefulness.  Is there a way you can rouse the Christ within you from his pillow with music?  Maybe try singing with others?  A good idea I think.  I know a place you can do that once every week!  Sing for a Sunday in the summer choir?  Buy a ticket for a friend to the next Lichgate concert.  Create a playlist of rise and shine music?  Maybe just whistling while you work will help to wake up Jesus within you?

Gentle touch is also said to rouse those who are sleeping.  But for touch to work you need to be within range.  So as either Woody Allen or Stephen Hawking said, showing up is half the battle.  Others on the internet insist it is much more than just half!  To rouse Jesus from his sleep within us we need to put ourselves within physical range of others who can help to rouse him within us with a handshake or a hug.  We need to be there for one another to remind each other that the One who can calm the chaos du jour, isn’t at all that far away.  He’s right there and yes please!  Go and jostle him awake!

The disciples in the midst of their fear and in the face of raging storms and chaos forgot Jesus was right there.   In the midst of our raging storms and the world’s chaos around us we tend to forget that Jesus is just as close for us as he was for them.  So wait no longer!  Let’s wake him up!  Let’s let in the light!  Sing out loud!  Let's reach out to one another with a touch and get him off that dang cushion!  We need him!  We need him awake and giving the storms of this world what for!  It’s time we wake Jesus up within us all so that we and all of creation might have the peace we need.  Hey Jesus!  Wake up!  Amen.  

The Kingdom of God is Like...

Mark 4:26-34

Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

The kingdom of God is as if someone would order a porta-potty to be delivered the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend (it’s Jean…Jean orders the potty).  After that she sleeps and rises night and day and the porta-potty gets used, she does not know how… and really she’s okay not knowing how to be honest.  The cyclists stop by and use it themselves, first the NYC Cycling Club, then weekenders, then the 80+ year old cycling folks led by Nancy and Catherine.  But when the porta-potty is ripe, at once the man who services the potty goes in with his pump truck, because the harvest has come. 

With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?  It is like the Appalachian Trail Ministry, which when it was started upon the trail had the smallest of all the tents; yet now that it has grown, it has become the greatest of all tents along the trail.  It puts forth an enormous spread of tarpaulin, so that every hiker upon the trail can sit under it in its shade.

Both the original parables and the modified ones all remind us of five truths about the Kingdom of God.  Yes, that makes this a five point sermon but I’ll go quick.  First, God’s Kingdom is universal.  It’s everywhere.  In those original parables God scatters the seed “in the earth” the Greek says, with double entendre fully intended.  There is nowhere in all of creation where God has not planted seed.  Hikers from every corner of the globe will use the tent.  Bikers from near and far are welcomed at the hospitality station.  God has planted God’s Kingdom in ALL people and in all of creation.  

Second, God’s Kingdom is a mystery.  It starts small.  Sometimes so small, as in the case of seeds sown in the earth, its pretty much invisible!  Yet it grows into this enormous thing.  How?  Don't really know!  Its a mystery!  But it becomes like a shrub in the desert providing shade for the birds, a tent on the trail, a burger in the hand, a water fountain and a potty along the way.  Out of the empty corner of a field or a parking lot, God’s Kingdom grows into something enormous, welcoming all and large enough to embrace all of creation.  

Third, God’s Kingdom is real.  It isn’t just an idea in the noggin.  It isn’t just some spiritual dream of the sweet by and by.  It’s not a doctrine or a statement of belief or a religious word salad that lives only in someone’s head.  Its REAL physical shelter from sun, sickness, disease, thirst, hunger, and hate.  It is a place, here and now, of universal belonging.  It is our REAL world, transformed into the REAL world Jesus pointed us toward with his REAL, flesh and blood life.  

Forth, the Kingdom of God always gets some pushback from folks who are scared that sharing the Kingdom will leave them without enough.  Some call that pushback "the work of the devil".  While I’m not a “big red guy with a pitchfork” sort of guy, I will admit that makes for an easy “catch-all sort of way” to talk about all the unintentionally placed and intentional planted pit falls that get in the way of the world changing fully into what God intends for it to be.

Lastly, the Kingdom of God is something that never stops.  It always goes.  It always grows, and it does that mostly while we’re sleeping, or if not actually sleeping, while we’re miles and miles away.  That’s because growing the Kingdom is God’s work, not ours!  These parables show us that in how it grows.  It grows at the rate of 30, 60, or 100 times with grain.  3, 6, or 50 a day with hikers.  One, a half dozen or a score with bikers.  Why is it different?  Don't know!  That's just how God chooses to do it!  

The Kingdom of God is quite a thing then, isn’t it?  (Looking around furtively)  Wanna see it?  God's Kingdom growing... wanna see it?  I know a guy.  There's this spot over on West Road where you can see it in person!  Now if you go there here's what I want you to look for... Notice first how big that tent is and how it covers hikers from all over the world!  Have someone tell you the story of how small it was in the beginning and how it has grown!  Notice how its an actual place.  Not just an idea or a dream, but a real place in our real life world.  Ask someone to tell you about challenges... from storms to fire to government officials!  But most of all what I want you to do most as you sit in the shade on the trail is to do what Eugene Peterson says we all need to do much more of in this world which is to stop sometimes and just watch what God is doing when we're not doing anything.  It turns out that while we’re not doing anything God is doing nothing less than turning our world into the Kingdom of God!  Amen.

Transitioning Jesus

Mark 3:20-35

Jesus went home and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

In this Gospel story Jesus is transitioning from being just Mary and Joseph’s son… from being just his siblings’ brother… from being just the smart kid in Bible class (all of which is what he had presented on the outside to his family and community for the last 20 years)… and he’s transitioning into being the Son of God… into being the sibling of all of humanity… into being the Messiah.  I realize that the word “Transitioning” is obsessively and exclusively applied to gender transitioning these days but I picked that word on purpose.  I picked it on purpose because the reality is that we all “transition” constantly throughout our lives and ALL of those transitions, including gender transition, are simply part of the ongoing human work we all do throughout our lives to align our inside and outside selves to become the person God is calling us to be.  

The common denominator with every sort of transition is that it is work to get our outsides to better align with our insides.  Just think about all the transitions you’ve made in your life.  Kid to adult.  Single to married.  School to work.  Work to retirement.  Living with family to living alone to living with a roommate to living with a partner to living without a partner.   In every one of these transitions, either our outsides or our insides inevitably make the change first and then we’re left with the very hard work of getting the rest of us caught up.  Here's an example most of you will get.  When you retired, your outside self was suddenly at home!  How long did it take to transition your inside self to be comfortable at home as well?

Our transitions are hard for us, and they are also hard for our family and our community around us.  Those around us knew us one way on the outside, sometimes for decades.  Now, from their perspective, this thing has happened in the blink of an eye and it’s all different!  You might have been thinking about retirement for years, but the day you transitioned from being at the office to being at home, it still felt like a whiplash for you AND particularly for your family!  In those whiplash-y moments people often say things that are unthinking, reactive, unhelpful and unsupportive, things maybe along the lines of, “he’s got a demon” or “she’s just plain nuts!” or “who is my mother and my brothers?” 

Jesus offers good advise here, both for those who are transitioning and for those around them.  He says, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.”  Jesus is suggesting the way to handle these transitions is with forgiveness and GRACE.  Forgiveness and grace for those doing the deep and difficult work of transition AND forgiveness and grace for those who are trying to move beyond their moment of whiplash and into a place of being supportive.  Forgiveness and Grace is what Jesus’ family needed from Jesus as they came to see him.  They were genuinely worried to death about what was happening with him and out of their fear, started off with less than the best words.  Forgiveness and Grace is also what Jesus needed from his family, as he himself responded to their whiplash reaction with less than the best words, “Who are my mother and brothers?” 

Forgiveness and Grace is what is needed all around and it turns out that they are powerful enough to cover a much greater multitude of sins that we might have previously imagined.  Forgiveness and grace cover almost EVERYTHING.  

Only when you get to blaspheming the Holy Spirit does forgiveness and grace come to an end and blaspheming the Holy Spirit is actually a whole lot harder to do than you might have been led to believe.  You can’t blaspheme the Holy Spirit by accident, or casually, or with the slip of the tongue.  The Greek makes it clear.  To blaspheme the Holy Spirit you have to oppose God RELENTLESSLY.  To blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you need to insist that God has never, and will never, do anything new and you have to set your heart in stone and insist that God (God mind you… the One who created all things) will never, can never, must never be part of this person’s work aligning their outside self with their inside self.  

This lesson, then, is a call for us to allow God to be God.  To allow God to call and guide each one of us and all of creation through the changes and transitions needed to allow them to fully embrace and outwardly express the person God made them to be from the beginning.  It is a call for us to be open to God doing new things and trust that God might actually know better than us, both the outsides and the insides, of the people around us.  It’s also a call for each of us to set out on our own journey to discern who God is calling us to be as our authentic selves in this moment of our lives and this lesson is a call for us to be gentle, and filled with forgiveness and grace for those on that journey and for those who do their very best to be supportive of you on your journey and still haven't gotten it exactly right.  Lastly, with that call in this lesson there is also a promise.  A promise that as we sit in the darkness and chaos of our insides and outsides being out of sync, God will find a way to turn on the lights and the Holy Spirit WILL COME and provide the next step.  Amen. 

There's a Manual for That

Mark 2:23-3:6

One sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

The Pharisees in the Gospel lesson today really don’t seem to have understood what the Sabbath commandment is really all about.  To be fair though, I’m not sure we do either.  The Pharisees were focused on WHAT people either did or didn’t do on the Sabbath.  Was he harvesting grain or traveling?  But that’s really what we do too, isn’t it?  Should we shop, go to the movies, or play sports?  Even Martin Luther thought about the Sabbath that way?  We should fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.  In other words… go to church!

But when Jesus got to the Synagogue and saw the man with the withered hand, he chose to use that situation as an opportunity to challenge all of us to look at that commandment more deeply.  He wanted them to stop with the obsession of WHAT we do on the Sabbath for just a minute, and begin to consider WHY God might have put Sabbath as third on God’s big list.  The Pharisees weren’t interested in doing that and their silence left Jesus angry.  They refused to even TRY to go deeper.  This is the only time in the Bible we read in black and white that Jesus was angry.  Even when Jesus turned over the tables at the Temple, it might have looked like Jesus was angry there, but only here does his anger make it into print.

 

The Pharisees were unwilling to budge, because the rules themselves had become their god.  They were worshiping the letter of the Law rather than the Alpha and Omega who gave them the law!  It’s understandable really… WHAT we do to honor the Sabbath is something we can wrap our minds around.  WHAT we do is something we can make into a set and finite list and with that list we will know for certain if we are right or wrong.  But when we begin to think about WHY we do Sabbath, that involves a conversation with the infinite and  conversations with the infinite invites mistakes, it invites corrections, it acknowledges we’ll never have it all locked down on a lovely little list. 

The Pharisees were stuck because of their fear of the infinite but we don’t have to stay stuck the way the Pharisees did.  If we can embrace the truth that God did not make the commandments as traps to catch us, then we can be free to think about the question the Pharisees refused to even consider.  So, WHY do we do Sabbath… or maybe a better question is WHY does God think Sabbath is a thing we humans should keep?  “Because I say so”?  We know that’s a terrible answer even when WE use it!  So, WHY does God think a Sabbath is a good idea for us?  Well, it’s not because the Divine’s self esteem needs a boost and its not a way for us to somehow get closer to God.  God made every molecule that exists, including the ones that make up each one of us and the Holy Spirit runs in and out of us constantly as we breath, getting into our blood and touching every cell in our bodies.  I don’t think “getting closer to God” is something we can do better than God is already doing in us.   So then WHY Sabbath?

  

When Jesus said to the folks gathered in the Synagogue, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath” he hit the WHY of Sabbath, right on the head.  God has told us to do Sabbath… to take one seventh of our lives as off-time… time apart… down-time… battery-charging time… and God asks us to do that, because the One who designed us… the One who created us… the One who loved us into being… the One who is constantly running around inside of us keeping us alive, turns out to be the One who best knows how we tick as human beings.  God didn’t just create us… God also wrote the instruction manual for us!  

And this one-seventh off-time thing isn’t just meant for us humans alone.  God, it turns out, has designed all of creation to work that way.  Donkeys, oxen, livestock, migrant labor, men, women, boys and girls… everyone and every living thing needs one seventh of their lives spent in Sabbath time… a time of rest… a time of renewal.  As the theologian Lady Gaga reminds us, “we were born this way.”

Folks often think of the ten commandments and all of God’s Law as something put in place to get in the way of us having fun.  Either that or a set of random rules sent by a god who just waits for us to break them so He can zap us!  But that isn’t the WHY of the ten commandments… that isn’t the WHY of the Law.  The best way I have heard to think about God’s Law is that God’s Law defines the playing field for being human.  Following the law keeps us on the field… it keeps us in the game… it keeps us being fully human.  When we break the Law we go off the field, out of bounds, into foul territory… and when we do that, we are operating as LESS than the human being God created us to be.

  

Following the commandments was never about God setting traps for humans.  It was always about God, the One who made us, sharing with us how our human machine runs best.  God’s desire for us, and for all of creation, is for us to live an abundant, joy-filled, and purpose-filled life.  The WHY of Sabbath is that Sabbath is a necessary component of experiencing that abundant life!  So go and do Sabbath and live the abundant life you were created in love to live.  Amen.

That's Not the End!

John 3:1-17

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Williamina Stevens was born in Dundee Scotland in 1857.  In 1877 she married widower James Fleming and in 1878 the couple and their son emigrated to Boston.  After her husband abandoned her and their young son, Williamina began to work as a maid for Edward Charles Pickering.  Pickering was the director of the Harvard College Observatory.  Pickering’s wife, Elizabeth, realized that Williamina had untapped gifts and encouraged her husband to give her a role at the observatory.  Williamina began working part time doing administrative work.  

Recognizing her talents himself, in 1881 Pickering formally invited Fleming to join the observatory team and she learned to analyze stellar spectra.  She was part of a group of people who analyzed data and did the complicated mathematical calculations to classify what the observatory saw in the sky.  From there she was put in charge of a massive project to classify as many stars as possible and in the process she developed new methods and a classification system which used not only what could be seen with the eye but also looked at stars in the ultraviolet range.  Fleming’s most notable discovery was the Horsehead Nebula.  

On the back of your bulletin is the black and white picture in which Fleming discovered that Nebula.  It’s that little nub to which the arrow points.  In that picture she captured the whole of the Horsehead Nebula.  But that picture was not the end of humanity’s looking, noticing, thinking, calculating, studying, discovering, learning, and wondering about the Horsehead Nebula. That discovery was not the end!   

Look at the next pictures in that series.  Those are pictures from the Euclid space telescope, the Hubble, and the last one is of just the tip of the Nebula’s mane, taken by the Webb telescope.  You can see SO MUCH MORE in them than you could in Fleming’s photo but still, even with what those photos show us… we know that an infinity still remains to be seen!  

In the year 325, the Council of Nicaea established the Doctrine of the Trinity.  Before that, the Church had within it, VERY different ideas about how to think about God.  Settling on just ONE idea as a place to begin wasn’t easy.  In fact at one point the Bishop of Myra, Nicholas, that’s St. Nicholas, you know… Santa Claus… punched another bishop in the face… but I’m sure it was in a loving, Christian way.  

But in the end, the Council settled on the Doctrine of the Trinity as a picture of the wholeness of God.  But that Doctrine was not the end of humanity’s looking, noticing, thinking, calculating, studying, discovering, learning, and wondering about God. That Doctrine was not the end!  On the contrary, that Doctrine put theologians in a similar place to where Fleming’s photo put astronomers.  BOTH are human descriptions of what people see when they look into infinity.  Neither are meant to give us the complete picture or give us the ability for us to wrap our minds around the infinite.  Rather, both are meant to be meeting spots in which people can gather, and from a common starting place, begin to further notice, to more deeply look, to more profoundly wonder, to more wholly think, and to more openly talk with one another about things we know we will never fully wrap our minds around.    

Williamina Fleming did not believe that she was done when she took that photo and in it discovered the Horsehead Nebula.  She took that moment as an invitation to look even deeper into something she knew she would never fully understand. The bishops too, in the Council of Nicaea, didn’t think they were done when they settled on the Doctrine of the Trinity.  They too took that moment as an invitation to look always deeper into what they knew they would never fully understand. 

That is our invitation as well.  Out there in the world we, like Williamina Fleming, are called to never stop looking more deeply each day into the gifts we have been given.  There is always more for us to discover and always more to share with the world.  That is also our invitation when we think about God and the Trinity.  We are are called to never stop looking more deeply each day into the depths of the Divine.  There is always more for us to discover and to share.  And finally that is our invitation when we read Scripture.  We are called to never stop growing or to stop looking more deeply into what we have been given.  Because when we read passages like “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” we must understand that is NOT the end.  There is always more!  “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  No matter how firm a discovery we might make, when it comes to the universe, Scripture, or God… we must always remember there is always, always more.  Amen.