The Prodigal Child and Loving Father: A Millenial Retelling

I did not expect to write this message. I knew I would be preaching at Christus Victor Lutheran Church, and I was delighted with the gospel text, but I expected to say something else. I sat down and started to study, though, and what you read below is what came out. It started out as scribblings with a purple Bic pen on scraps of paper and then it was done. It's not what I expected to say... but I think it's what I was meant to say.

The sermon was preached at Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Durham, NC on Sunday March 31, 2019. Thanks to Pastor Ben Krey for inviting me to share the word and giving me the opportunity to talk with the community of Christus Victor between services. When a video becomes available I will post a link to it here.

The lectionary texts for this week are:
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Come Holy Spirit. Open our hearts and minds to you. Amen

The Prodigal Son and Loving Father – a Millenial Retelling

Our story begins with Jesus. It also ends with Jesus, because that’s how these things go.

One day, the people at the Synod Assembly were grumbling and complaining… “Why is he always with THEM? Doesn’t he realize how much work we have? How hard we are trying to do what God has called us to do? And he’s hanging out with young people! They never listen to us so they don’t know how anything works! They don’t even CARE about coming to church!”

And Jesus heard.

Jesus, who happened to be in the room next door, talking to some young workers who don’t go to church. Ever.

But when he heard the complaining he ambled on over and asked the bishop for the microphone and told this story:

One time there was this young woman. She didn’t know what to do with her life, she didn’t feel important, she wanted to GET ON WITH HER LIFE so she went to her dad and said “Give me what you have saved for my college education. I’m going out to LIVE.”

Her father had saved and saved and was proud that his child got into a great school far away. He was pretty sure she would be ok, because there was money. And she had been taught reality. They hadn’t spent much time at church – none, really – but they had what was really important. Or so he thought.

The daughter – her father’s youngest child – went across the country and lived large. There were friends! There was money! THIS WAS THE LIFE!

Until it wasn’t. Times got tough. The money ran out. She graduated but jobs were scarce, and everything started catching up with her.

So she threw herself into politics and dug into the debates of the day. Fair wages. Treatment of immigrants. Criminalization of poverty. She knew those issues well. She could relate to the pain they caused. She was bound and determined to make a difference! She loved her diverse friends and loved how much larger her world was compared to when she was growing up.

She thought she would change things.

But it didn’t really work out. The changes she imagined did not come as quickly as she hoped. Her passion ran thin, and in the end nobody paid attention to her. She was just one more voice that went unheard.

Then came the day when she thought “there has to be more to life than this!  Isn’t there a place where someone will notice me? Isn’t there someplace where I can be part of something bigger than myself? Doesn’t anybody have better answers?”

She thought back to the times she visited Sunday School with her friends. It hadn’t resonated with her. She didn’t know how it all worked. But on this day she thought “Maybe I can find a new way to God. I don’t understand those old churches, but maybe there is a place that can help me find these answers.

So she went off and became a Unitarian.

And before she had even learned everybody’s names, God had started pouring our love and grace. And one day something happened:

She realized how big God is. She realized that the “ancient” faiths have worked out a few complicated things.

And she was excited!  So she had a party. She invited all of her friends: pink and olive people, black and brown peopl, gay and transgender people, married and unmarried, pierced, tattooed, the scientists and elaborately costumed nerds. Even the ones she had met while engaging in dissolute living.

She invited her friends and talked to them about her struggle to understand, her disillusionment with politics, about this guy Jesus who did some really interesting things.

And God cheered.

God said YES YES YES!!! THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN HOPING FOR ALL ALONG!

*****

Jesus paused as he noticed some of the pastors and lay leaders at the Synod Assembly looked at each other, visibly uncomfortable. THEY were the ones who were in church every Sunday. They had given funeral receptions and taught Sunday School, endured youth lock-ins and faithfully contributed – not just weekly offerings but all the special offerings, like the pastor’s Christmas gift and the capitol campaigns. One man – one of the senior lay leaders who was well-known across the Synod – stood up and said “Now wait a SECOND, Jesus! She’s messing with the DISSOLUTE!”

“We have put on funeral receptions and taught Sunday School, endured youth lock-ins (even National Gatherings!) and faithfully contributed – not just weekly offerings but all the special offerings, like the pastor’s Christmas gift and the capitol campaigns. How come WE don’t get to have parties? It’s just work work work. The young people never show up for church. They act like they don’t need us. And they don’t do anything the way we have always done it!”

And Jesus replied…

LISSSSEN… you have carried the truth. You have been here, trying hard. I love you for it and you have never been out of my care. Not for one minute. But don’t you see?

That child of your community was GONE! She had tried to replace me with politics! But now she’s back!!

I’ve missed her so much. I definitely will not be complaining that’s she bringing friends with her! It’s ok with me if she has different music, or doesn’t want to hang out in the old places. You have never left and I LOVE YOU.  But she is back, and has brought her friends. I LOVE HER. I LOVE HER FRIENDS.

*****

Jesus looked at that man with eyes full of love and continued:

?The goal of this enterprise that we call church, you see, is that all y’all – everyone ever born – will come to live in the love and joy, the truth and delight of me.

You could have done it. You could have celebrated more with your friends, but you didn’t. But I still love you! None of that has changed!

But please, please do not be confused. I do not love you because you have been here all along. I love you because you are my child.

And I love the woman in my story – your sister – because she is my child. I will never turn away any of my children who seek me. It doesn’t matter to me what they
* Wear
* Or eat
* Or read

I will not reject them based on
* Who they love
* Politics
* Anxiety
* Mental illness
* Disability
* Job
* Hobbies
* Language
* Birthplace
* Immigrant status (especially that, said Jesus… I’ve spent a lot of my time on earth being an immigrant!)

I will never turn away one of my children because of
* Previous dissolute behavior
* PRESENT dissolute behavior
* Piercings
* Hair color
* Number or kind of tattoos

I love you. I love you all. Always.

*****

The story of the Prodigal Son and Loving Father has nothing at all to do with maleness and everything to do with the relationships that God yearns to have with each of us.

Some of you know that my work these days is to help bring together the many gifts of existing congregations with people in our community – RIGHT HERE – who have become disillusioned with how churches go about meeting the spiritual needs of those around us.

In the Sunday School hour today we did some brainstorming around that… talk about how we can be part of God’s plan and enthusiasm for all people, even those who see the world really differently.

And why? Why am I doing this thing?  For exactly one reason:

JESUS.

The Jesus who came and lived as a human being and never drew dividing lines.

The Jesus who wanted the Scribes and Pharisees to see what he could see:
That in creation we are all equally loved because we are God’s children.

The Jesus who lived a life that showed over and over, consistently, constantly, that no one is ever left out of God’s love.

Of course, loving too much can really infuriate folks who have power to lose, and Jesus gave what he was not required to give. He died. But he did not stay dead! He was Resurrected!

That Resurrection is why, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, we are ambassadors for Christ.

To live and worship and be church here, and outside, and wherever people ARE.

When people look or act scary, we are called to be brave and trust that God’s love – redemption in Jesus – is enough.

When people use unfamiliar language and laugh in the wrong spots we are called to learn to know them, to have conversations and find out what they have been through.

When others want to express their love for God – and God wants to express God’s love for them – in ways that we have never heard or seen or done, we are called to pray and trust, to remember the lesson of the Loving Father:

God wants us all. Passionately. Constantly. Period.

Whose hierarchy?

Today (Tuesday) I preached at Atria Southpoint Walk, an independent living community in South Durham. It was a joy, and a delight. The people there tell me that it is hard for them to get out to churches, and in those situations denominational boundaries get pretty blurry. I think places like Atria Southpoint Walk might be a little closer to what God has in mind for us: common meals, gracious living, time to rest and time to be active, and worship that doesn't get bogged down in doctrine because there is no time for that.

I suspect that the first half of today's gospel text is sometimes used as a club, demanding that people "REPENT NOW!" But please... keep reading. That's not what Jesus is saying at all. It's all about grace.

The lectionary texts on which the sermon are based are:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

Have you ever heard the saying “I don’t have to be the fastest, I just have to be faster than the slowest!” There are other versions, like “I don’t have to be the fastest, I just have to be faster than YOU” which, of course, is a more personalized version of the same thing.

What do you think about that?

It seems pretty reasonable, doesn’t it? As long as someone else takes the heat, I’m ok! Whew!

But…. Well… what if you are the slowest?

And beyond that… what does that have to say about the ways we think about the slowest?

Saying “I just have to be faster than you” makes it pretty clear:  the “you” is less important than me.

And I’m willing to sacrifice others to save myself.

AND it’s ok! Because if somebody is slow they probably don’t deserve to live anyway, right?

Well…

Today’s gospel lesson has Jesus saying… mmmm… no. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.

In this section of Luke, Jesus has been teaching people using stories, and in this part his people are telling him some stories, too.

Like… what about those Galileans that Pilate desecrated? Both the Galileans and the Jewish sacrifices?

And what about those people that got knocked over when a tower fell on them? Talk about bad judgment!

But y’know, Jesus has a way of understanding human nature, and knowing what’s behind their comments. And on this one, I think Jesus knew that these folks were trying to justify themselves… to say…

Well… we aren’t SO bad.

Sort of like saying… “we ran faster than they did, so that’s something, right?”

As if they deserved it then those horrible unpredictable things would happen to THEM.

But that is not why Jesus was there. He was not there to line people up in some kind of worst to best order.

It’s really hard to put other people before us, though. But Jesus isn’t saying here that we need to put other people before us. What Jesus is saying is that we need to realize that we are all in the same place.

Yep… we are pretty willing to sacrifice each other to preserve ourselves.

If you pay attention to political arguments these days you know that it’s super-hard to have a real conversation. Instead, when confronted with information, it is a very common strategy to point out what’s wrong with others rather than admit the failings of those we support. You want to talk about what my team did? Well, WHAT ABOUT WHAT YOUR TEAM DID? We sacrifice another to preserve our own self-image.

It starts early! Listen to squabbling children, and see just how long it takes before one of them, when faced with some facts about their own behavior, rely on that old chestnut… HE STARTED IT!

We toss blame back and forth like a hot potato, as if it is possible to settle things by putting our behaviors in some hierarchical order. As if some of our misdeeds are worse than others.

But here’s the big news: Jesus said THAT IS NOT HOW THINGS WORK. He did not come to have us line people up in some kind of worst to best order, based on criteria that puts us at the top!

Quite the opposite, in fact. In the second half of our reading, Jesus replies to his friends’ stories with a parable:

The fig tree hadn’t produced fruit for three years. This upsets the owner who wants to cut down that tree. He does not want to waste his good soil on a tree that won’t even give fruit!

But here are some facts about figs and fig trees:

It takes AT LEAST two years before a fig tree will start bearing fruit, and sometimes as long as six years!

So the owner of the tree was being pretty impatient. He was expecting that tree to get it right the first time, to produce fruit pretty much at the earliest possible time.
But the gardener said, wellllll… let’s give it a little longer, ok? Some nice compost. Some good pruning. And maybe it will bear fruit next year?

How gracious that gardener is!

God is patient with us, too.

Now, while God is being patient it can seem pretty yucky… I mean, do you know what’s in compost? Yuck! But the compost is what feeds the fig tree, and in the same way, the hard and yucky parts of our life help us to grow and become more the people we were born to be.

It is by coming through the trials of life that we learn about our gifts, and all the ways our lives can bear fruit. Jesus is pointing us to a life in which we each become who we were born to be, nurtured and pruned and surrounded in compost so that we bear fruit. And it takes a lifetime to grow a person.

Jesus is saying, throughout this passage, that God does not buy into rewarding folks based on who is best able to sacrifice others.

In fact, God – in Jesus – sacrificed himself for others. This is not to say we should sacrifice ourselves, though! Quite the opposite!

Jesus did all the sacrificing when he stayed fully divine, but also fully human, and lived in this broken world.

Jesus did all the sacrificing when he lived a sinless life, and was killed for it… but then was resurrected.

Compared to that Jesus we are ALL unworthy! If Jesus had lined up people based on worthiness, he would have been at the top of the list, and the rest of us wouldn’t even be on the same page.

Instead of letting the rest of us go to the fate we so richly deserve, Jesus took on our pain and suffering and brokenness.

Instead of sacrificing others to save himself, Jesus… who had no reason to be sacrificed, gave himself up for the rest of us who don’t deserve it.

And in turning things EVEN MORE upside down, he did not live his life lifting himself up above others. He spent his whole life teaching and loving and resurrecting and helping and generally showing us how a human life could be lived.

So the guy who could have lorded his divinity over everyone else, didn’t.
The guy who would have been perfectly justified in saying “I’m faster than any of you, not just the slowest!” didn’t.

And now we are not on our own. Jesus has fulfilled the law and we are free.

Free to give up comparing ourselves to others.
Free to admit the ways we miss the mark.
Free to LIVE, knowing that we are all equal:
* Equally sinful
* Equally redeemed
* Equally loved

So today, let that love shine forth towards everyone. It is no longer about being faster than the slowest one but being fully, joyfully, delightfully, and completely redeemed by the one who turned the race upside down!

Amen.

Rejection or Incorporation?

Vicar Megan Hoewisch at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Durham, NC graciously asked if I would preach for the second midweek Lenten service (how's that for a pile of church words?) Of course I said yes! When part of your shadow side is to get preachy, being asked to actually preach is a great joy - and a sign of God's delightful love for each of us.

Since this was a midweek service the message is shorter than usual, and there is not a full set of lectionary texts. There is just one text, and it carries a lot. I am grateful and humbled that THIS is the text that Vicar Megan read and then thought of me.

The message was delivered on Wednesday, March 20, in the 7:00 pm service.

The text is:
Genesis 21:8-21

And God said… Abraham! Sarah! I chose you!!

Sarah laughed.
Abraham went to Hagar.
A son was born, but not the son God had promised.

Because apparently they somehow thought that God would make a promise but then not provide the means to make it happen.

But God said “No, no, Abraham and Sarah… I am giving you a gift… you do not get to control the how and when of that gift.”

Then the promised son came along, and Abraham’s two sons were playing, and Sarah said well HE can’t play with MY kid!

She just couldn’t shake the idea of controlling God’s blessing. It never occurred to her that the child she advocated for might also be incorporated into God’s plan. She’s not laughing now… she has rejected one of God’s own because God had worked God’s plan anyway.

In fact, God said, “I choose Hagar’s son, too!” God was not going to leave his children Hagar and her son to the confusion of Sarah and Abraham.

So Hagar went into the wilderness with her baby and her bread and her flask of water. When the water ran out, she abandoned her baby under a bush and went away so she would not hear him cry.

But tears break God’s heart so God told Hagar what nobody else had told her before: “I choose your son, too! He will become a great nation!”

And Hagar opened up her eyes and found water.



Now let’s forward a few millennia. What do we find?

God says “I have made all things possible!” but we laugh and say “Oh… yeah… we got it… we are pretty sure we know exactly what God wants!”

Sometimes forgetting that God says GOD will make all things possible.

For example, in what probably started as faithfulness, the church at large has too often tried to say “pastors should be young white men, preferably with young wives and babies!”

Privilege and preference takes the form of rejection rather than incorporation…. not realizing that those same young men are not harmed when others are incorporated.

But God says, no, that’s not what I meant. God says “pink, olive, black and brown people, gay people, gender fluid people, middle-aged people, men and women of all ages and origins… even young white men with young wives and babies… come to me! I CHOOSE YOU. Go to my people and love them! ”

God keeps calling and calling and calling.

Because the God who made Hagar’s son a great nation can do wonders with an older, brown-skinned gender-fluid person. Even if they are vegan Republicans.

God can even do wonders with you. And me. No one is exempt.

Because despite the array of confused ideas of the church on earth, those whom God calls keep finding their ways into ministry.

If you are frustrated tonight because God has called and you don’t see a path to live out that call,

FEAR NOT. You are not alone.

If you are frustrated tonight because things that are dear to you keep being challenged,

FEAR NOT. You are not alone.

Hagar’s son became a great nation by God’s will.

Sarah’s son became part of a great nation by God’s will.

                Ruth the Moabite became a critical link in the lineage of Jesus by God’s will.

                          Levi the tax collector became Matthew the disciple by God’s will.

                                    Elizabeth Alvina Platz became the first woman ordained as a Lutheran
                                    pastor in America by God’s will.

                                                   I have been called to something still unfolding by God’s will.

                                                         YOU are being called. By God’s will.

A God who came to earth as a fully human person,

     who lived a life in complete unity with God,
   
     was killed unjustly,
   
     and then DID NOT STAY DEAD,
   
can easily open up unimaginable new opportunities.

Jesus did not destroy the law, Jesus fulfilled the law.

Jesus did not remove sin, Jesus conquered sin.

Through the saving work of Jesus, God just keeps swallowing up sin with grace

God does not reject. God just opens things up wider – opens US up wider. God opens up new spaces for more people, turns the roadblocks put up by human beings into gateways to more blessing, more love, more grace.

God just keeps loving us all,
          drawing us all into God’s presence.
                     incorporating those who have been rejected in new ways
                                 while continuing to love those at the center in new ways.

Rejection? No. Only incorporation, as God incorporates all of creation into God’s own self.

Amen

Foxes and Chicks and a Good Mother Hen

The imagery of today's Gospel text reminds me of a children's story, not because of any resemblance to an actual story but because I used to love hearing "Chicken Little", with the lyrical characters of Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, and of course, Foxy Loxy. As an adult, I am taken with the humor of Herod being called a fox even as Jesus longs to rescue the baby chicks of Jerusalem.

As a third-year seminary student I did an independent study on preaching to a wide variety of congregations. My advisor would send me a "thing of the week" - a sermon, or text, or something that she thought would help shape my preaching skills. One week was all about chickens - three sermons in which three very different preachers (Lauren Winner, Nadia Bolz-Weber, and Barbara Brown Taylor) take on this week's gospel text. I owe a debt of gratitude to all three of them, and to Christine Parton Burkett who led me through that semester. Although this sermon is completely new, it would not be what it is without the words they have shared.

In another lovely connection to that time, I preached this sermon for the Stewart Health Center at Springmoor Retirement Village. The congregation includes many people with varying degrees of memory loss, along with a variety of other kinds of health problems, and it is a great joy that I get to worship with them once per month. I love them, and I love being able to share... to preach to ALL the people.

Edit: This week 49 Muslims were shot by a white supremacist in New Zealand. It's sickening and frustrating and I know that God continues to cry in anguish at the pain his children cause each other. And yet, the care and protection of God really is open to all: to the Muslims, one as young as 3, who were worshipping God in the best way they know, to the old man who welcomed the shooter and was the first one killed, even to the so-called "Christian" terrorist who clearly was declining the protective love of Christ. For these people and all who are grieving, we pray. For the systems that support the supremacists and their evil, murderous ways, we pray. For the voices of peace that have yet to be heard, we pray. Bring us into your love and care, oh Lord, that we may be sent out to spread that love and confront the forces of evil. Amen.

The lectionary texts for this week are:
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

Come Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Speak to us, protect us, move us to tumble to you when you call and rejoice that you call everyone. Amen.


PHARISEE.

Such a strange word!

If you have hung around in churches much you probably have some idea of what that word means, and it’s probably something like “those were they guys who were all about the church, but not so much about God… the people who gave Jesus so much trouble.”

There are some good reasons to think that, too! But in today’s passage they seem like decent folks, don’t they? They told Jesus to leave, to go somewhere else, because Herod wanted to kill him! And generally I would say that warning somebody to get out of harm’s way is a good thing.

But in this situation I kind of wonder… did they really want to protect Jesus? Or were they maybe thinking of themselves? Thinking that they would just as soon not have one of their own killed, but they also really liked their good relations with Herod. If Jesus would just go away, all their problems would be solved. Or so they thought. People have thought that for a really long time and it hasn’t worked out. But still. Could that have been what they were thinking? I don’t know!

What we do know is that Jesus said… nawwww… I’m not afraid of that fox! And in saying that, he also lets the Pharisees know that HE knows that they are in cahoots with Herod. That the Pharisees and Herod are pals, more or less. “Go tell him….” With the assumption that they COULD go tell Herod.

Herod, the fox. A sly, cunning man. One who would eat baby chickens for lunch.

But it isn’t just that Herod is a fox, and the Pharisees are in cahoots with him… Jesus continues, characterizing himself as a mother hen, protecting the baby chicks from that old fox. Baby chicks that include the Pharisees who are on such good terms with that old fox.

The Pharisees, who are charged with caring for and loving the people, are not doing it. Instead of responding to Jesus as baby chicks respond to their mother, those Pharisees have invited Herod the fox right into the house where the chickens all live. One might say, in fact, that Jesus is implying that the fox is in charge of the chicken coop.

We know that with God – and therefore with Jesus, nothing is wasted. No part of the stories and parables that Jesus told are accidental. So when Jesus claims that Herod is a fox, we take notice. Foxes are sly and cunning. Herod? Sly and cunning. A fox.

And when Jesus then likens himself to a Mother Hen, we take further notice… what else can we get from this characterization? Foxes eat chickens… but what do chickens do?

So it set me to wondering… what are chickens all about?

Have any of you spent much time with chickens?
Well, I have not. But I know some people who learned a lot about chickens while I was in seminary! For example, did you know that chickens make at least two dozen different vocal sounds? They have different sounds for
* Laying
* Courtship
* Pleasure (a peep AND a trill!)
* Hunger
* Pain
* On and on…

There is even one particular sound that means DANGER! DANGER!

When babies hear that particular sound… that DANGER sound, they react without thinking. They do not sit around and wonder “hmmm… what should I do?” they react by racing and running and tumbling all over each other to get to their mamas. The mama makes that sound, and the chicks instinctively know to come running to safety. The mama has her wing stretched out, the chicks fall under the wing, and there is safety and protection – as much safety and protection as a mama chicken can offer. She is using her own body – her own life – to protect those baby chicks.

I also hear from my friends who grew up around chickens that mother hens are not picky about who they take under their wings. You peek, and you might find a little kitten, or a young squirrel… mama hens protect. They don’t ask a lot of questions about who is taking refuge under their wings.

In a very similar way, we are hard-wired to run like that to God – to Jesus – when there is danger. We were created and born to respond to God’s call to safety, to live the lives that God created us to live. And Jesus is open to everyone… anyone seeking protection.

But in general, we really don’t do it that well. We don’t run tumbling all over ourselves to be cuddled up with Jesus. We even make up reasons why we shouldn’t when we think that somehow we have to do things on our own. And in the greatest puzzle, we get upset when those who are not like us DO take refuge in Jesus! It’s as silly a thing as a baby chick thinking he can take care of himself, that she can be safe standing out in the open where the sly, cunning foxes can track them down and pounce, or that if their mama cares for others she won’t care for the chicks.



So Jesus is in Jerusalem, listening to the Pharisees warn him about Herod, seeing how the people have not turned to the God who loves them so. Jesus is watching and it is breaking his heart. He is doing everything he can but the Pharisees – baby chicks to Jesus the Mother Hen – are saying “Go away! Go away Mama! Leave us alone!”

They don’t see the danger they are in themselves, and the people of Jerusalem are fickle. One minute they are insisting GOD IS OURS and the next they are reporting on him and yelling CRUCIFY HIM! Because Jesus has admitted that God loves others, too, not just the ones who have appropriated all things religious for themselves.

Another chicken – this time a rooster – is the herald of betrayal that reminds Peter that he has denied the very one that he earlier called the Messiah. Another chick saying GO. AWAY. MAMA!

We are created to run and tumble and cling to and hide in Jesus… and yet… that is the exact thing we do not do.


Now, you might be sitting there thinking “this is very strange, this talk of Jesus as a mother hen!” And you might have good reasons for thinking that! But if we can talk about Jesus as a Good Shepherd then why not a Mother Hen?

There is much that is interesting about Mother Hens:
* They have friendships
* When their friends die, they mourn.
* We eat them (A LOT!) and eating chicken can help keep us healthy.
* And they have been domesticated for 5000 years!

So also with Jesus:
* He had friends – close friends that he loved
* When his friends died, he mourned. Remember Lazarus? And how seeing Mary cry over Lazarus made Jesus cry?
* We eat Jesus (A LOT!) in Holy Communion – and doing so supports our spiritual health.
* And for 2000 years we have tried hard to domesticate Jesus.

And we behave like baby chicks who are standing out among the foxes, exposing our tender selves instead of tumbling as fast as we can to Jesus.

We give in to the temptation to prioritize politics – the Herod of our day – instead of taking refuge in Jesus and loving one another unconditionally.

We forsake the message of Jesus in an attempt to garner power and safety that we simply cannot find, except in Jesus.

We forget that Jesus did all the work, so we have a place to go be safe and loved and together.


A mother hen does not stop loving her babies, even if they defiantly (or innocently) (or just plain foolishly) refuse to huddle under her wings, and in the same way Jesus has never stopped loving us.

On the cross Jesus, our Mother Hen, spreads out his arms, exposing himself like a chicken exposes herself when lifting her wings to hide her babies – any babies.

After his Resurrection, Jesus reached out his hands to show the disciples his wounds, proof that he was totally human, had actually died, and was now completely alive again – fully human and fully divine.

Through the example of his life, his death on the cross, and most importantly in his resurrection, you, personally and as a community, can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is nothing that will make Jesus stop loving you, calling you, reaching out in the most vulnerable of positions, calling you out of danger and into the safety of his love… protecting each of us and all of us from the foxes of our day.

Yes, our Savior is like a mother hen who has offered her whole body to love us.

Come join the love in those Resurrected wings.

Amen.

Wait, Who's In Charge?

It occurred to me this week that perhaps things are no worse than they have always been... perhaps I'm just noticing it more. After a few sermons of lament, here comes Jesus being tempted and resisting. Then I talked to an activist - a mature grown up person who has faith and is very aware of exactly how serious the work is. This person, a new friend I hope, never seems to forget what is humanly possible and what is not. This person, I believe, is not confused about whether humans can do what only God can do.

That conversation, and my own need to turn to God and start trusting more than I worry, influenced the message below.

The lectionary texts for this week are:
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

It had been announced: 

You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.

Jesus was baptized, and the voice of the Father spoke those words as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus the Son in bodily form like a dove. It was a pretty big announcement. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, completely taken with what had just happened to him. He went off into the wilderness, following the call of that Spirit. He did not eat anything for 40 days and he gets hungry. 

I love that Luke tells us Jesus gets hungry. Because if the voice of God the Father has just pronounced you God’s Son, and the Holy Spirit has shown up in person, it might be easy to think that this Jesus was all divine all the time. And he was! But he was also all human. All the time.

Because Jesus was fully human, it means he could have given in to the devil, right? He could have said “well, sure, this devil is a trick one, but I’m hungry and surely my father does not want me to be HUNGRY? And the Holy Spirit led me here, so it should be ok, right?” But Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus knew that being hungry was the least of his problems when the devil was there, suggesting all sorts of who-knows-what. So Jesus resisted.

But the devil was not done. The devil knew that he was just getting started. Jesus didn’t want the bread? Ok, fine. Jesus resisted things of the flesh.

But what about POWER? What man can resist POWER? So the devil declared that he had all the power, and he was going to make a special deal, just for Jesus!

The thing is… Jesus really was famished. Starving. And being hungry creates all kinds of problems, and good judgment can just slide right out the window. Have you ever been tired, and hungry, and really frustrated? 

I have. It seems like kind of a lot lately. And my mind goes right to “WHY ARE THINGS SO AWFUL?” It is in those moments that thoughts creep into my tired, frustrated brain. Things like 

* “it’s because God has forgotten you” or 

* “that’s why things are so bad, you know… because the forces of evil have finally won” or 

* “how could it possibly be any worse? What difference does it make at this point?”

Those are the times we ask where God has gone, why everything is so impossible, how THE BAD PEOPLE can have so much power… how we can live in a world so inhospitable.

We do it all the time! We look around at the shambles of life in this world and it is so tempting to believe that all power has been given over to

* political affiliation, that tempts us to think of us and them, that urges us to take a stand on the right (or the left) and it will all be good

* patriotism, that tempts us to think that flying the right flag and pledging the right allegiance will somehow protect us when we are hungry and exhausted

* food, that tempts us to insist that a diet with meat but no grains, or grains but no meat, or grains and fish, or whatever combination of things is fashionable – that what we eat is the key to living a good life

* stuff – or the management of stuff – because somehow an uncluttered house with things that only spark joy, or a house that has bookshelves on every wall, or closets full of shoes and beautiful clothing, will bring redemption from the pain of the everyday world.

IT CAN ALL BE YOURS.

But it never works out that way, does it. Because it’s a big old lie – the same lie the devil told Jesus. Authority has NOT been given over to political parties or nation states or food or stuff.

Authority has always been with God. In the Deuteronomy reading, the Israelites are instructed to remember their history as they take their offering – to remember how God is the one who rescued them “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power and with signs and wonders” (Deut 16:8).

And if we can remember that (which, let’s be honest, we really don’t remember on the regular), the devil brings out the biggest trick of all – with Jesus and with us. Except Jesus resisted the temptation that we often do not resist. The devil used God’s own words, but twisted them mercilessly. 

Jesus and everyone at his baptism had just heard it pronounced that Jesus is the Son of God, and the devil used that to say “If you ARE the Son of God….” 

But the devil does not really want Jesus to act like the Son of God. The devil wanted Jesus to act like an ordinary human being who can’t quite completely trust that God is firmly in charge. That the mighty hand and outstretched arm that rescued the Israelites is still firmly in charge, caring for and protecting God’s people (which is to say – ALL people.)

But Jesus, who has been present since before the beginning, is not tricked. Jesus does not give in, but declares that GOD is in charge. So in charge that there is no need to worry. So in charge that you do not have to…

Wait. No. So in charge that you do not GET to decide how God will be in charge.

And how aggravating is that??

Because what if God does things wrong?

What if the things that we are so utterly certain are true, turn out to be different than God’s estimation and behavior?

And if you are thinking that you would never think that God is wrong, take a moment. Do you believe that churches should have armed guards for services because there are dangerous, ugly men out there and it is your responsibility to provide safe environments? Where does God fit into that equation? Why do you have to use violent means to protect those you love, when God loves them (and you) even more?

Or do you worry that conservative people who make strong claims about who is and is not acceptable for various activities and roles in the church will somehow destroy the church and no young people will want to worship and practice faith? Where does God fit into the equation? Why do you have to protect and preserve the church that God started and the people who God loves more than you can imagine?

Jesus knew. Like the Israelites in Deuteronomy, Jesus remembered. And when the devil suggested that Jesus do something plain dangerous and stupid, when the devil suggested a trust in God that was independent of KNOWING God…

Jesus said NO. Nope. Nuh-uh. Because Jesus knew what we so often forget: It is not up to us to decide when or how God saves us. It is up to us to trust that God will save us in ways better than we can begin to fathom.

In all three temptations, Jesus looked to God. Because

Jesus knew that God will always love God’s children and there is never a time that we need to turn to evil for our salvation. 

Jesus knew that God will always keep God’s authority and there is never a need to give up on God and turn to any human promises that cannot do what they promise.

Jesus knew that God is completely in charge. We don’t have to understand how it works (which is both maddening and a huge relief.)

The God who rescued the Israelites from Egyptians and Babylonians and a wide variety of other violent peoples and terrible circumstances is the same God who will rescue us from Republicans and Democrats and flags and diets and the endless array of organizers and marketing strategies.

That God – the Trinity present at the baptism of Jesus – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – are always together, always three, always one. They are the source of 

the divinity that led to Jesus resisting the devil’s temptations even as he led a completely human life.

the divinity that allowed Jesus to fulfill the law and live completely as human beings were intended to live

the divinity that led to the Resurrection when broken human beings killed the one human being who was not broken at all – Jesus.

And because Jesus lived the life, died the death, and was Resurrected, the Holy Spirit came and breathed upon us…. Breathes upon us still so that we can live a full life.

Life as we were meant to live (at least in shining moments that we could not manage on our own)

Life soaked in God’s love

Life redeemed so that every time we go wrong we can be assured that we are forgiven.

That God has done what God promised.

That there are more important things than our bellies

That no human, earthly behavior or organization can or will ever have God’s authority to redeem or rescue us

That God will be with us, for us, in and around us forever.

We cannot resist temptation like Jesus did… but because of what Jesus did, we are redeemed and can live like redeemed people.

We can live like we actually trust God.

Amen.

To Eat or Not To Eat

This Ash Wednesday sermon was almost not written and it definitely was not preached. It also would not leave me alone, so here it is, being posted on the day after Ash Wednesday. I did not intend it this way, but it looks like it will be connected to Sunday's sermon pretty cleanly, so YAY GOD for that! Of course, we will have to see how it all turns out... because we just never know.

The lectionary texts for this week are as follows. There are two alternate Old Testament texts and if you were in church yesterday you most likely did not hear both of them. You may not have heard either of them! However, since I used both of them in preparing the sermon I'm listing them here for your enjoyment and reference.

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 51:1-17
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Here we are – starting another Lenten season. Another Ash Wednesday with smudges on our foreheads, visible indicators of a counterintuitive, countercultural, counter-all-reason faith that promises what the world can never give.

Here we are – on this day when the prophet Joel declares “the day of the Lord is coming – it is near.”

Here we are – listening again to the words of the Apostle Paul when he follows on Joel’s prophecy by saying the day is not longer near, it is here: See! NOW is the acceptable time! See! NOW is the day of salvation!

Here we are. The time is here. Jesus has lived the life of a human being as it was always intended to be lived so that we may all be saved when we fall short.

Jesus has lived the life of a human being as it was always intended to be lived so that we are freed in this acceptable day of salvation to love each other.

Not for our own benefit – Jesus never loved for his own personal benefit – but to carry one another gently and with great hope.

It is the Jesus who lived life as it was intended who calls out those who “love to stand and pray in the synagogue and at the street corners” – the ones who seem to have some self-centered purpose.


This is not to say that we shouldn’t pray, however! Quite the contrary, Jesus assumes prayer:

WHEN we pray – do it in secret. Because prayer is meant to be the most intimate of conversations between each person and God.

And it is not IF, but WHEN we fast that we are supposed to just go right ahead with it, as a private and intimate opportunity to experience God.

It’s hard to pray without being in touch with God but fasting is a big of a tricky thing. To eat or not to eat – even those who care nothing for God eat. Or sometimes they don’t eat for very worrisome reasons like eating disorders, or chronic illness, or anxiety so severe that food is unthinkable. To not eat is no guarantee of being close to God.

Isaiah relays that message from God to the Israelites – not eating can be many things that have nothing to do with God. And if a person is going to fast for the wrong reasons – for their own personal gain, or for reasons of illness or pain or anxiety, then it is better to eat. Eat the food and go do what Jesus did: love the people as God loves the people.

God, through Isaiah, tells us that a fast is a day acceptable to the Lord – whether we eat or not.

So if we are not fasting because we want or need to eat, or because fixation on food misses the point, then what else makes a day acceptable to the Lord?

According to Isaiah there are lots of things:

Humbling oneself
Loosing the bonds of injustice
Undoing the thongs of the yoke
Setting the oppressed free
Breaking yokes of every kind
Sharing our bread with the hungry
Bringing the homeless poor inside
Covering up people who are naked
Putting ourselves out there to be vulnerable before those who know and love us best

Because if you fast, and feel superior, but oppress others – then the fast is worse than nothing.

When we quarrel and fight, offer heated, angry, unkind opinions on facebook, gaslight your friends, and deny the humanity of your human siblings… that, according to God through Isaiah, “will not make your voice heard on high.”

And lest we get complacent and think that was only true pre-Resurrection, and this is now, notice what Paul, that great preacher of the Resurrection, says:

NOW is the acceptable time!
NOW is the day to
* Humble ourselves
* Loose the bonds of injustice
* Undo the thongs of the yoke
* Set the oppressed free
* Break yokes of every kind
* Share our bread with the hungry
* Bring the homeless poor inside
* Cover up people who are naked
* Put ourselves out there to be vulnerable before those who know and love us best

Because Jesus has opened the door to intimacy with God, we can stop acting out of fear and anxiety and harsh, impossible standards.

Because Jesus has opened the door we can live as we were create to live. We can live to love one another.

And in the coming Lenten weeks, and all the other weeks, when it feels dry, and dusty, confusing, and just too hard to continue, we can remember the cross that did not hold Jesus. We can know that death (and the death-dealing things we do when we forget to love each other) can no longer hold us.

So in this Lenten season, pray. Yes, for sure. Pray. But don’t pray to impress people, pray to get closer to God.

Fast, if you feel so moved to do so. But don’t fast because you should or you think it will make you somehow more worthy. Fast to get closer to God.

And when you eat, be nourished in body mind and spirit to
* Resist the temptation to be arrogant or self-serving, and instead act with humility
* Resist the temptation to insist on every letter of the law and seek higher justice
* Free those who are oppressed because they fear your anger, or fear that you will not forgive them
* Break anything that binds your freedom to love and know God
* Share your bread, and peanut butter and fruit, and cheese, and meat, Vienna sausages and ravioli, with those who are hungry
* Work that every homeless person may have safe shelter
* Show grace to those who are exposed and vulnerable, protecting them from pain and ridicule
* Put yourself out there to be vulnerable before those who know and love us best

Not because it is required, but because you know the love that frees you to be wholly you:
Broken.
Loved.
Redeemed.
Empowered to love others.

Amen.

All The Shining People

It's been a hard week. I have so many friends and loved ones who are Methodist. I've seen the people who have not been paying attention to the policies of the UMC be hurt and devastated while the people who're actually affected by the policies and stricter enforcement of those policies are ignored or, worse yet, asked to provide comfort. I've listened to white dudes claim that the road to resurrection goes through the cross without noting that since Jesus already took that road, there is no longer any excuse for crucifying each other. I've listened as other white dudes abdicated their responsibility for moving the UMC closer to Jesus by dumping the responsibility for cleaning things up on slightly younger folks who have been largely ignored in the UMC process.

It's a world of hurt for this Lutheran who attended a Methodist seminary and a Lutheran seminary with a large number of students in the Methodist Studies program.

But I AM Lutheran and that is how I read this week's lectionary texts. Transfiguration is a week for transformation and I hold out the certain hope that transformation will come to each of us and that some day - if not here on earth, then in eternity - all people will be encouraged to let their light shine out bright.

The lectionary texts for this Transfiguration week are:
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2
Luke 9:28-43a

Come Lord Jesus. Come Holy Spirit. Come God of all creation. Shine in us and through us, and keep us from being afraid of that shine. Amen

THE FIRST THING THAT HAPPENED IS… Moses went up Mount Sinai. He got some tablets written in God’s own hand but that did not work out. So he went back up the mountain, got another set of tablets, and came back down the mountain. All that time had gotten under Moses’ skin (LITERALLY) and this time, since he wasn’t infuriated at the people, they saw it. They saw his face shining, and it scared the people. I can imagine all that light from Moses face was WAY scarier than his earlier anger had been. After all, they had messed up earlier but they could also point back to Moses and say YOU BROKE THE TABLETS GOD WROTE!

But this time? Something was shining through Moses’s face and the Israelites could not stand it. Moses had to wear a veil. The veil was not to protect Moses, because when he would go talk to God he took it off. The veil was to protect the people, because they could not handle the shine.

Move forward many centuries and Jesus is walking with and among the people. He had a lot in common with Moses:
* Moses brought the law down the mountain – Jesus fulfilled that law
* Moses brought God’s Word to show the people how to live in community – Jesus was God and showed the people first hand how to live rightly in community
* Moses was a shepherd to the children of Israel– Jesus was a shepherd to the people

And today… we see that Jesus was shining too. Elijah and Moses, whose face had shone with God’s glory, stood next to Jesus, whose entire body glowed with brilliant whiteness in a Transfiguration from human to divine.



This Very Big Transfiguration came “about eight days” after a very busy time for Jesus. At the beginning of this chapter of Luke, Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, and they cured and healed and ministered to the people. The disciples had seen 5000 people be fed with a little bread and a few fish.

And in the most surprising thing off all (at least to me) Jesus had very clearly and specifically told his disciples that he would die and rise again. They couldn’t hear it – they just did not have the mental space for it. Peter did seem to have a dim idea in declaring that Jesus was the Messiah… but it was a lot to absorb!

And then 8 days passed. I wonder what happened during that week-plus? Did they hang out and eat and talk? Did Jesus keep trying to get them to understand what was coming? Or was it a quiet time, with everybody resting up? Or did they just keep dealing with the masses? We do not know – all Luke tells us is that 8 days passed.

And then Jesus took his pals Peter, John, and James up on a mountain. It had been a wild time with all that healing and feeding. They were sleepy, but they were there. And all of a sudden – so was Shining-faced Moses! And Elijah!

And Jesus did SHINE. Full on. Brilliant white. DAZZLING. A glow that woke up Peter, James, and John, and it seems, scared them. James and John didn’t speak. Peter, who ALWAYS had something to say, spoke though. And what he suggested was that they build some dwellings. In the face of all that dazzle, he wanted to box them up, keep them in place, put them somewhere “safe.”

How exhausting must that have been? They were sleepy and then completely astonished. It seems like they might need another week off after that! But did they get a break?

No.

Despite the fact that just a short time before the disciples went out and healed people, this time they couldn’t do it. That seemed to irritate Jesus, who did the healing and declared … someone … a faithless and perverse generation. It’s not clear to me who was faithless and perverse, but I can imagine it was pretty much everybody. And Peter, James, and John certainly did not do the healing.

Jesus told them again that he was going to be betrayed, but they didn’t understand and they were too scared to ask about it.

Then the same James and John who had been up on the mountain got into a fight about who would be the most powerful in the kingdom that they clearly thought Jesus would bring!

And finally… a man who DID manage to cast out demons scared them even further. They wanted Jesus to say he wasn’t doing it right because “he does not follow with us.”

They had seen Jesus in all his divine glory… and they responded over and over and over by trying to shut the door, trying to keep Jesus for themselves, trying to get Jesus to admit that THEY were the only ones who could be right.

But Jesus WOULD. NOT. DO. IT.

They were faithless, and perverse, and selfish…



All the things that we all are.



Why would seeing Jesus in all his glory make them lose everything they had gained in all their years of walking with Jesus?

What on earth was behind that dazzle?


Well, obviously I was not there and I cannot speak with the authority of an eyewitness. I can, however, speak with the authority of someone who has experienced what God offers, and I believe that the thing that made Moses’ face shine, and the thing that made Jesus dazzle was…

LOVE.

Pure, perfect, utterly complete, unshadowed, unedited, freely offered love. The nature of God. The very being that makes God who God is.

The love that Moses displaced on his first trip down the mountain, as he was so angry at the people. The love that remained on his face and was replenished every time Moses spoke face to face with God.

And none of them could stand it – not the Israelites, not Aaron and Miriam, not Peter, James, and John.  I mean… what if somebody SAW? And so Moses wore a veil.

How were they going to explain this???

Well, as it turns out, they didn’t. When Peter and John and James could not put all that shining love away, when they could not box it up and keep it for themselves, they got quiet. They didn’t tell a soul.

They turned off and in turning off they lost their capacity to provide healing – because healing comes from God’s love.

They turned off and instead of rejoicing that someone else had figured out how to love without having to be individually tutored by Jesus, they said BUT HE’S NOT ONE OF US.

And how did Jesus respond? Did he chastise them? Of course not. He loved them. He said it’s ok, whoever is not against you is for you. Because that man doing exorcism was not doing any harm to you, Peter, or James, or John. That man is healing and showing my love… reflecting the love of Jesus, the divine God-man.

Mind-boggling stuff.



Have you noticed in all this that nothing has changed? Today, each person who sees this and all the people who don’t, are just like the Israelites and Peter and James and John. We simply do not know what to do with God’s elaborate, shining, astounding glorious love.

We want the veils and dwellings:

* We ask some people to not shine quite so brightly – often people with black or brown skin, women, gay and transgender people, poor people, powerless people.  Shining forth with all the love God gives can be a big problem so we ask (or require by practice and legislation) that those people wear veils, reduce their shine so that others are not so uncomfortable in their own brokenness.

* We set up systems that try SO HARD to decide who God will or will not, has or has not called into ministry.
o Years ago the UMC put up a veil, keeping out members of the LGBTQ population who might have a call to ministry and who might be shining forth with God’s love.  And when questioned, they made the veil thicker with enforcement.
o The ELCA acknowledges that anyone might receive a call from God but then puts up a veil in the form of a narrative of “pastor shortage” rather than doing the hard work of helping congregations see – and not be afraid – when God’s love shines forth in places they do not expect to see it.
o Episcopalians (and so many other groups) over and over declare that unity means leaving someone out, even when those who are left out are reflecting the love of God.

* And there are so, so many other examples. The veil of Scripture itself, used to dampen God’s outrageous love for all people instead of proclaiming how radical and outside of human behaviors and principles God’s ways are.

* Naked grasping at power and money, in which veils turn into big walls with one purpose: to keep out people that God loves.

* Putting people into boxes and then labeling those boxes in ways that completely ignore the complexity and belovedness of every single human being.


God’s love, shining so brightly, makes us nervous whether we identify as conservative or progressive, Catholic or Protestant, Jewish or Muslim, male or female, gay, straight, or anywhere else on the continua of identities.

But Paul tells the Corinthians, and therefore us, that when we look to Jesus the veil is taken off.  Moses protected the Israelites from God’s loving glory but in Jesus, we no longer have to be protected. We can’t see fully or clearly, but in the Resurrection of Jesus, the need for veils and dwellings is removed. We do not have to hide from God’s dazzling glory. The law has been fulfilled and we can be transformed in the Jesus who showed us how to live, lived to fulfill the Law, died for his living, and was raised again, defeating the fear and sin and death and evil once and FOR ALL. All. We are all transformed.

Transformed as we acknowledge our privilege or anxiety or brokenness and decline to let them block the love of God.

Transformed as we keep our gaze on Jesus and reflect the dazzling perfect love of God in whatever ways we can manage.

Transformed so that the image of Jesus becomes so burned into our hearts that we see Jesus everywhere we look.

So look at the shining love of God, regardless of where it comes from. In the words that Jesus used over and over and over – fear not!

Don’t be afraid!

Let the shine radiate from you and don’t let you or your shining self be put under a veil – even as you resist dulling anyone else’s shine.

Decline to be put into a tent so that only a select few can experience who you were created to be – and refuse to put others in tents.

Open yourself to see the light in others – even the ones that seem to be putting a veil over the way you are called to share God’s love.

Remember that while the road to resurrection did lead through crucifixion for Jesus, it does not have to lead through crucifixion for everyone. In the Transfiguration, and death, and resurrection of Jesus we are ALL set free.

We are all called – and the world is in desperate need of the light from every single one of us.

So step out. Be the mirror of God’s love that only you can be. Be transformed in Jesus. Be transformed into one of the shining people.

Amen.