On Message

Lectionary Scripture: Mark 13:1-8

Christians spend a lot of time pouring over everything Jesus is recorded to have said. We would be better off if we paid attention to the things he didn’t say. Things like:

“Oh, Peter, I just said that to make her feel better. I don’t REALLY think she has a great faith.”

Or

“Blood is thicker than water, help yourself first.”

Or

“The Kingdom of God thrives on competition. Only the best get in.”

Most importantly, a phrase I notice Jesus never said was:

“Everybody Panic!”

In fact, he frequently said the opposite – “Do not be afraid”. However, in our modern age, fear and panic are quite popular. The news is full of H1N1 statistics, unemployment numbers, and nuclear missile tests. Popular television shows deal with biological warfare, government conspiracies, and alien oppression. At the movies this week, we get to see the Mayan prophecy that the world will end in 2012 (End of the world complete with storms, earthquakes, fire and ice). In short whether we turn to news, entertainment or fantasy – the message is the same:

“Everybody Panic!”

Of course, before we all started focusing on 2012, there was a great deal of speculation (due largely to a miscalculation of the word “thousand”) that the world would end in 2000 but it didn't. (Even Y2K computer prophecies fizzled out by half past midnight). During the cold war, Russia was supposed to trigger the end of the world. Prior to that, World War II was seen by many to be the “wars and rumors of wars” and on and on throughout history. Some folks don’t even bother naming a date. The popular “Left Behind” series of books about the rapture and events of Revelation try to tell us what will happen (in the writer’s minds), but don’t bother to tell us WHEN it might happen. The message is still clear: Everybody Panic!

Our lectionary passage from Mark today shows Jesus trying to undo the fear and beef up the faith and it points us to a more powerful message.

Keep Perspective

Walking around Jerusalem the people with Jesus are very impressed by the large stone buildings. In some ways it would be like a person from the country walking through the National Mall in Washington DC – big impressive stone buildings everywhere you turn. But Jesus is not impressed. He knows that inside some of the stone buildings of Jerusalem are greed, corruption, judgment, self-serving leaders and things that won’t stand the test of time. (again, maybe like some certain buildings in Washington DC…).

Jesus points out to them that a day will come when not one stone will be left. Jesus is reminding them, and us, to keep perspective. Buildings don’t have glory; God does. Pageantry doesn’t last forever, love does. The work of God isn’t to be set into stone, but carried from person to person to person. Let’s never get so caught up in the big and impressive that we forget the real mission and focus of Christ is to meet each person on the road where they are, let them know he loves them, and save them. The message Jesus is giving the disciples is:

“Focus, people, FOCUS!”

Discern Reality

I remember being about 13 years old and seeing a commercial on a local station about a show called “The World Tomorrow” in which the pastor was going to talk about the world ending and when that would happen. Although our family didn’t go to church, my mother confidently told me that the world would end in 2000. I sat for a minute counting up my future years and said with some measure of fear, “But I’ll only be 35 when the world ends.” Noticing my obvious distress she replied, “If you don’t finish your homework and clean your room – your world is going to end a lot sooner than that!” My mom had a grip on what was real.

Not only do we need to keep a good grip on what is important and what isn’t, we also need to keep a good eye on what is real and what isn’t. Jesus warns his disciples privately that in the time to come many will come claiming to be Christ (or at least claiming to speak for him) and they will be false prophets. How do we know the real Jesus from the “claims” that aren’t right?

The best way to discern if someone is truly following Christ is to know Christ well. Invest in your day-to-day relationship of prayer, bible reading, and reflection. When someone claims to be acting on the authority of Jesus – look for the things you know are attributes of him – is that person wise, devoted, in touch with God, in touch with humans, forgiving, sacrificing, and loving? Before we can know who is NOT Jesus – we must learn who Jesus is.

We should also avoid fear. Fear is not based in reality but frequently is a prediction, perception, or expectation with no basis in fact. Fear tells us what “might” happen, but makes it seem to us that it IS happening. Fear is what keeps us awake half the night when the bump we heard was just the cat. Fear is what makes us clutch our abundance and avoid sharing our gifts because of the scary tapes of rejection playing only in our head.

Jesus warns the disciples that scary things are going to happen. There will be wars and rumors of wars. That is a usual state of being with our human species. “These things happen,” Jesus tells the disciples. Do not be alarmed. He wants us to keep a grip on what’s real (wars are real, and they happen) and not get lost in the forest of fears, sign reading, and panic driven faith.

An End is Really a Beginning

Finally, to teach and prepare his disciples for whatever the future may hold he puts forward a simple, beautiful truth: “There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”

We are not being told to prepare for the end. We are being told to prepare for a beginning. Jesus didn’t say “This is the death rattle.” He said “These are the birth pains.” He is already paving the way for our understanding: Change is not a form of death, but birth. Death is not the end but the beginning. Pain is not the result, but the path through which new things, new life, new hope comes to us.

So in a world where even Christians are prone to say, “Everybody Panic” we need not heed that call. That’s not the message. The message is “Look and see, watch and work, but do not be alarmed, new life is coming.” Now that’s a message I can live with!

What Does It Mean To Believe?

Reading: John 6:28-29

I attended a workshop on treating teenagers with HIV and AIDS this last week and heard a sad and stunning story from a pediatric AIDS nurse from New York. She told us the story of “Ben” – a 14 year old who died from AIDS.

His CD4 count cascaded dramatically downward and medical intervention seemed helpless to stop it. After his death, his grandmother who had raised him searched his room. She found two very telling objects: a diary of sorts, and pills. She found pills under his mattress, stuffed in his dresser drawers, hidden in books, and behind bookshelves. She found pills everywhere. Why had he died so young? The answer became clear. He hadn’t taken any of his medicine. But why? The diary held that answer.

“They keep telling me to take my medicine. They say I will die if I don’t take my medicine, but I don’t think I’m really going to die. The only time I even feel sick is when I take the medicine.”

The nurse then spoke of the challenges faced getting teenagers with HIV to take their medicines and follow a very complicated medical regimen. It’s very hard when your disease as no symptoms (until its too late to stop it) to convince teenagers they need the pills to keep from getting sick – particularly when the pills have side effects that make them feel sick.

Ben died, in part, because he didn’t believe:
* - He didn’t believe he was sick. His disease had no symptom of its own.
* - He didn’t believe he would die. He was still in the “immortal age” teenagers go through that tells them they will live forever.
* - He didn’t believe the medicine was helping. The medicine made him feel worse, not better.
* - He didn’t believe there was anyone he could talk to who would understand. So he stopped taking the pills in private.

In John 6:28-29 the disciples ask Jesus for work and he tells them, “believe in the One he has sent.”

For the disciples – it wasn’t too hard at that moment to believe in Jesus. He was standing there with them. He had just feed 5,000 out of a loaf and fish kid’s meal. He had just walked on water in front of them. They were already amazed, and in awe. They already believed.

But soon belief in Jesus would require work for the disciples.

* - They believed he was invincible – and he would get tricked like a common thug and arrested.
* - They believed he was immortal - the messiah – and he died right before their eyes.
* - They believed he was going to change the world – and soon they were hiding from both Romans and Pharisees.

Their easy beliefs became hard for at time – but they held together and kept working at the belief in the One whom God had sent.

To believe is not to have an idea. We sit and talk about what we believe all the time. And while we are having enlightened conversations – the poor starve, the oppressed are beaten, the widows mourn, and the children suffer. We can talk ourselves blue about what we think about God, faith and the bible – but if that’s all we do – we don’t really believe.

To believe is not to close the doors to change. Too often once we decide what we believe – we don’t want to hear anything to the contrary or even consider it for a minute. We shut off literature and lessons from other cultures. We scoff at the faith stories of people not like us. We know what we believe and don’t want to be influenced. But just as people grow and change from the moment of conception to the day they die – our beliefs must also grow and change.

To believe is to live. Believe is not an adjective – it’s an action verb. To believe means you step out on a truth and know it will hold you up. To believe is to get new ideas and test them with your life and discover their change and merit. To believe is to love with the love of Christ – not in our talk, but in our actions.

Recently the state of North Carolina commissioned a “Christian” license plate. It has a stained glass window and a cross. At the bottom of the plate it says I BELIEVE. Some say that’s a violation of church and state – other are worried about the hypocrisy that drives people from faith when they see an “I believe” car cutting them off on the highway or speeding through an intersection. When I was asked my comment was, “I think our world would be better off if we had less Christian stuff, and more Christian people.”

Believing in the One who was sent – means living like the fact Jesus is alive makes a difference – and makes you different. Believing means working to see God even in the dark times when God isn’t so evident. Believing means going out of your comfort zone and into God’s world. Believing means you accept the fact that death occurs and after life exists.

Believing is the hardest work, for the best reward, you will ever do.

So when you are concerned, confused, or resentful – don’t let your disbelief make you isolate yourself and make decisions that affect your relationship with God and your life on earth. Talk to others, seek God’s wisdom, and believe in the One he has sent.

What is up with That?

Lectionary Reading: Luke 24:13-35

"'Do you want to honor Christ?'
'Then do not glorify him here in the church with silken garments
while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked'
Archbishop of Constantinople - John Chrysostom (347-407 CE).

The story of Jesus and the walk with the men to Emmaus is a frequent passage for preachers to pull and discuss during Eastertide. We tend to focus on how they didn’t know it was him until he broke the bread (emulating communion, or just a meal), and how they seemed to have lost hope, only to rediscover it once they encountered Christ is his new form. But at some point its time to be truthful and ask the honest question we have been dying to ask since Easter Sunday. The question is:

What is up with that?

Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and she thinks he’s the gardener. She followed and loved him for years, yet she doesn’t recognize him until he says her name.

What’s up with that?

Jesus appears to the men on the road to Emmaus, but they do not recognize them because the Bible says, “they were kept from recognizing him” (v16).

What’s up with that?

Jesus appears the next morning while they are fishing. He calls to them, but they do not know it is him until a large haul of fish comes in the net.

What’s up with that?

Why is it, exactly, that the people who were closest to him, who loved him, and who followed him had no ability to recognize him when he returned to earth? He is capable of revealing himself – in time his voice, his habits (breaking bread), his scars all reveal his true self to his community. Why is he so mysterious to begin with?

To reveal the nature of the truth

There is a famous scene in the novel “Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain where Tom and Huck, fresh from their adventures, sneak back into town just in time to attend their own funeral. Crouching out of visual range, Tom is shocked to see the tears of weeping and wailing that occur on his behalf. Even Aunt Polly has kind words to say about him. Tom is stunned to learn what the people really think.

I think the time after the resurrection allows Jesus to do that same thing. With his beloved community believing he is dead, Jesus can hear what they really think. Jesus always had a little trouble getting people to tell him the truth. “Who do they say that I am?” he asked the disciples once, just to learn what was going on behind his back.

Thinking he is the gardener, Mary of Magdala cries “They have taken my Lord away,” and Jesus learns he is still the Lord of Mary and she still walks his way and wears his yoke. Walking with the men from Emmaus, Jesus gets to hear what they truly think of who he was. He hears how they thought he was a prophet, and would be the one who redeemed Israel, but he was killed and they are disappointed. I doubt they are the only ones.

Imagine how disappointed Jesus must be to hear these travelers and realize that after three years of teaching, they are still getting it all wrong! He’s not a prophet, he’s a savior! He’s not a military leader who cares about government, he’s the son of God who takes away the sin of the world! I sometimes wonder how he feels listening to us when we neglect, reject, and misuse his mission and words. Does he think – 2000 years of teaching, and they are still getting it all wrong!

To experience the joy of revelation

Any teacher will tell you that wading through tons of paperwork, administrative issues, unsupportive parents, uncaring students, and lunch duty are not what they love about teaching. What they love about teaching is the moment – that amazing moment – when the light goes on, and the lesson makes sense, and the student learns. The moment a human learns (hence changes) is so beautiful its worth all the work to get to it. That's when the angels rejoice.

I always sense a certain joy in Jesus when he reveals himself. He sees Mary’s tears change from sorrow to relief to joy. He sees the disciples turn from fear to purpose. He bursts on the scene usually saying “Peace Be With You” – just loving the reaction he gets. There is a little mischief in the post-resurrection Jesus. He disappears on a moment’s notice, and appears without warning through locked doors. In short, he’s loving it. And, after the pain of separation and death, what’s not to love about new life?

Someone asked me once how I knew people would be better and more understanding in heaven. My answer was, “Because the experience of physical death is a life change that won’t leave you the same. If surviving a car accident or fighting cancer can change you – imagine what death does.” Jesus is alive, and his joy in not diminished by the work he has left to do.

Jesus reveals himself to us daily – in the wisdom of a morning devotional reading, in the kind word of a mentor, or a note of encouragement from a friend. Jesus reveals his truth to us when we are lost in the lies of the world, and Jesus reveals the light of God when a dark day threatens to overcome us. Jesus heals us, talks to us, sings with us, laughs with us, breaks bread in our groups, brings us lots of love and calls us by our name. Like his followers in those strange days after Calvary – we get a chance to have the joy of seeing Jesus again and again. Don’t take those for granted. Enjoy them, and praise God for them.

To help us see Jesus in the world

Mary sees a gardener. But he’s really Jesus. The men walking to Emmaus see a traveler whom they ask to stay for dinner so he won’t have to walk at night. But he’s really Jesus. The disciples see some know-it-all man on the shore shouting out fishing tips. But he’s really Jesus.

It could have gone differently. Mary could have thought the gardener was beneath her – a common laborer and ignored him or brushed him off without thought. The men walking to Emmaus could have though the traveler wasn’t informed enough to talk to or a “stranger” who probably didn’t speak their language, best avoided and passed him without out word. The disciples could have dismissed the fishing advice of the ravings of a fool. After all, if he were really a fisherman wouldn’t he have a boat?

But Jesus is training them, and us to see him in the people of the world. Remember this:
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' (Matthew 25).

Jesus is out there in our homes, in our city, and in our world. Jesus wants us to seem him in the hungry lined up at food shelters, and the homeless sleeping in our gardens. Jesus wants us to see him in the “strangers” who speak a different language and need hope, help and compassion. Jesus wants us to see him in the elderly who need a listener, the disabled who need medicine, transportation, and companionship, the victims who need healing and protection, the survivors who need to speak and to help others, the lonely who need love, and the overwhelmed who need peace. Jesus is out there on our roads to Emmaus, work, play, Walmart and the drive we make to church.

So, that’s what’s up. Jesus is waiting to see how we really feel, to reveal himself to us again, and let us see him and serve him in this world.

"'Do you want to honor Christ?'
'Then do not glorify him here in the church with silken garments
while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked’.”

Spiritual Hearsay

Lectionary Reading: John 4:5-26

Hearsay – (def) –1: talk or opinion widely disseminated with no discernible source 2: a statement or report current without known authority for its truth. (Miriam-Webster Online).

As Christian people we are taught to avoid “heresy” (ideas or opinions contrary to the position of the official “church”). However our faith and our world would be much better if we were taught to avoid “hearsay” as well. Spiritual hearsay are the things we are told or believe about the Bible with almost no real evidence, scholarship or reason. Sometimes we repeat things other pastors have told us (repeating what they heard from someone else most likely) or we just hear something that “sounds right”. Either way, Spiritual hearsay is all around us. Think of the things we hear from pillar, pulpit and post:

“Well, the Bible says ‘God helps those who help themselves’.”
No, it doesn’t. Benjamin Franklin said it (and it was an Athenian Proverb from Ancient Greece before Ben published it).

“Mary Magdalene was a prostitute”
No, she wasn’t. There is no biblical evidence to support that view – just popular (and papal) gossip.

“The Samaritan Woman whom Jesus met at the well was a shameful woman who drew water in the middle of the day when the other women weren’t there because she didn’t want to face society.”

Not necessarily. She could be there at the time for any number of reasons including she was drawing water to feed livestock back from droving (like women in the OT), or she just wanted a drink in the middle of the day or the Holy Spirit brought her to the well to prepare her for an encounter with the Messiah. For centuries, this poor woman has carried a mantle of “shame” that is nothing but unnecessary gossip preached from the pulpit.

Dr. Frances Gench called this kind of church sanctioned character assassination “interpretive litter” in a lecture I attended last fall. To paraphrase her, “I often go to Wal-mart in the middle of the afternoon to accommodate my schedule or sometimes can’t sleep and shop at 2:00 AM. I would hate for people to announce from the pulpit I am a woman of loose morals, simply because I shop at odd hours.”

Yet year and after year, sermon after sermon – the poor Samaritan Woman is relegated to the “bad girls” of the bible on nothing but circumstantial evidence at best. In fact, clergy get so excited about talking bad about her and the fact that even though she must be a terrible sinner – Jesus talked to her – they miss so much of what this story really could teach us. Let’s look at a few of the real lessons in this wondrous tale.

A life of racism

We know she has lived a life separated from Jews, and has felt the sting of prejudice. She’s shocked when Jesus – a Jewish male - talks to her – a woman, and a Samaritan. She has been used to being treated “less than” because of her race, and her gender. She is astounded and taken aback by the equality represented in this conversation.

In our xenophobic country, where the immigration debate sometimes hinges on the fact laborers from Mexico don’t readily assimilate into American culture (because we are egocentric enough to think they should turn their back on their beautiful language, their rich heritage, and their family-centered lives), we need this woman’s experience to ring in our hearts more than ever. We need to remember Jesus encountered people on his life journey every day who had been separated and stung by racism and cultural ignorance and what he did was treat them with respect, guidance, generosity and hope. He didn’t suggest she should stop being a Samaritan (as if she could. As if any of us can truly stop being the person God made us to be) nor did he withhold the good news from her because she wasn’t a “citizen” of the temple. He explained that the day was coming when all people would have a chance to access the Messiah equally and worship in spirit and truth.

A life of loss

Of course, a lot of the “shame” people have dumped on her shoulders is due to the fact she tells Jesus she has no husband, and he rightfully assesses she has had 5 husbands and the man she is living with now is not her husband. Does that mean she’s a prostitute or loose woman? Certainly not.

She could have been legally divorced (“put away”) because she was barren, and the law allowed for that to happen so a man could have children by a wife. She could have lost her husbands to death – life expectancy was very low and disease, hunger, Roman occupation or farm accidents could easily take her men away. We don’t even know how old she is. We don’t know about the man she has now – is he a lover, a neighbor who has taken her in as a servant (to fetch his water in the middle of the day), a lame or blind man who requires her help but can’t marry her in the temple? In short – we simply don’t know.

What we do know is that this woman has had a life of loss. For whatever reason her marriages were ruined, lost or taken. She was involved with vows and promises 5 times and each time something disappointed her. How heart breaking her life must have been. Jesus rightfully tells her story to prove to her he is a prophet. He also rightfully understands that what this woman needs is not our judgment and scorn, but our empathy and our hope for her future. In meeting Jesus her life will change. She has found the one whom, in spirit, she will never lose.

In a world of divorce, multiple divorce, blended families and all kinds of family units – let us not be so quick to condemn, but be swift with mercy, hope and love. We don’t need to know someone’s “story” to know that the story of Jesus says we are to love first, foremost and always.

A life of thirst

The woman has lived a life of racism, sexism, injustice, disappointment and change. She, like any who have been denied justice, security and constancy – has developed a thirst. A thirst for a God who will never forsake her or take her loved one, a thirst for equality and spiritual freedom, and a thirst for hope and peace.

I’ve had that thirst. Maybe you too? I have had a thirst for a family who would love me without harm, and a community which would accept me without expecting to me fulfill their expectations of my personhood. I have had a thirst for justice for the poor and poorly educated, so that opportunities are given to them to know real peace, real hope and real escape from hunger and disease. I have a thirst to see people in community, and worship filled with diversity. I have a thirst to know the Messiah has come and because he has come, our world will be different, better and whole.

Perhaps I find myself frequently defending the Samaritan Woman because we have the same thirsts, and because we have the same experience. We have both met the Messiah, and he has told us both the truth about our lives. He gave us living water that will never run dry, and he sent us both into our community to tell the others the light of life has come. Once we dispel the need to cast her as a villain – we see her as she could truly be: as our sister, our mother, our daughter, our friend – certainly our neighbor.

Perhaps if we all stop with the spiritual hearsay, and look at spiritual truth – that we are all God’s children and all able to encounter the sacred (no matter what time we go to the well) – we would know a stronger forgiveness in our own lives, and feel a more sincere welcome in our churches, hearts, and homes.

Let us pray for that day, now and ever more. Amen.

Hearing Your Vocation

Lectionary Passage: Matthew 3:1-3, 13-16

One of the neat structures in the Old Testament is the many forms of poetry that exist between the pages. There are acronymic poems in proverbs and psalms (each verse starting with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in succession), cuplets, doublets, and something very close to the idea of a sonnet. However, that poetry isn’t just found in the pages of the people of Israel. The New Testament has some poetic elements in it as well. Matthew 3 is a perfect example. It starts and ends in a circular pattern. It begins with John’s voice calling (Latin – “vocatio” or “de voco”) and it ends with God’s voice calling (Latin “de voco”). The first call is fulfilling the scripture “Repent. Prepare the way for the Lord”, the second call is “This is my son, whom I love.” (in another text we are also called to listen to him). It is clear in the beautiful circle of God interacting with people that we are called. We are invoked (invoco). But to what?

It’s not hard to see how we get confused. The same word used in these scriptures is the root of the word we use for the word “vocation”. But the meaning of the word “vocation” has been irreparably damaged by both secular and religious language. It is up to us, in the story of Jesus’ baptism to find its true meaning.

Vocation: It’s not your job!

In the secular world “vocation” (verb of invoco) is a word we use to describe the job we have. We even use it to describe a type of schooling that teaches job skills over academic accomplishments. Remember Grease? “If you can’t pass high school, there’s always hair school!” We have begun to think of the word “vocation” as an every day working word or descriptive of “career”. This brings us into great confusion – suddenly we mix our identity with our job and lose huge chunks of our self, our time and our sanity. I’ve heard it from many professions:
“Nursing isn’t what I do, it’s who I am!”
“I don’t teach for a living, I’m a teacher!”
“The accountant in me doesn’t rest, even on Sundays!”
and something I was told after I retired from pulpit ministry
“How can you retire from who you are?”

But vocation – the call of God - isn’t about that thing we do because we have a contract, or a pay check, or a schedule. Vocation is to be called of God and hear that voice telling us who we are – defining us by our relationship with God. It is not telling us to define who we are by what job we do. Jesus comes to John the Baptist as a rabbi – a teacher. But just as John’s first call was to “repent!” – Christ’s response is to come to him for baptism – to repent of the past, and start anointed with a public witness of the fact he is a child of God, first and foremost. Although John points out Jesus doesn’t need to repent, Jesus says he needs baptism and as a child of God wants to start out like the rest of us.

Notice God didn’t say “This is my teacher” or “This is my healer” or “This is my minister”. God said “This is my son, whom I love.” Jesus would be a rabbi, healer, minister, savior and so many other things but first his vocation was to be God’s son.

So it is with you. You are God’s daughter. You are God’s son. You are beloved of God. That’s your calling. That’s your identity. That’s your job. The places God puts you, the jobs God will give you, are guided and blessed because you are God’s child.

This may sound like semantics, but in our world it can have very serious consequences. Mixing up your identity with your employment can have lasting and bitter effects. I have known many people who lost their jobs, and nearly lost their minds. Suddenly without their work they seem to lose so much of themselves that they begin to treat their partner/husband/wife with hostility, they either ignore their children or become hyper-critical of them – pressuring them to “do better than I did” or “go into nursing/teaching/computers/funeral directing so you will always have a job”. They sink into depression, despair, and chaos. Why? Because they have lost a part of themselves. In counseling folks in that situation, I have frequently used this scripture of Christ’s baptism to bring them back to the starting point – to who they are. God's child. Don’t lose that. Don’t forget it.

Vocation: It’s not your religion

The clergy have done just as much damage to the word vocation as the secular world. We throw that word around to mean “religious life” (if you’re catholic), or to have a calling to work in the church – minister, missionary, youth worker, musician. We talk about ministers being “called” without remembering that teachers, nurses, army folks and the unemployed are also “called”. I have a friend who is very proud of being a pastor. He talks incessantly about it and claims, sometimes unaware he’s doing it, “pastoral” privileges. I once heard him start a sentence by saying “Jesus was talking to the pastors…” My first thought was “who the heck are they?” Jesus talked to fishermen, tax collectors, lawyers and gatekeepers. There weren’t any “pastors” until much much later. The problem with such thoughts is it creates a hierarchy that destroys the common beautiful witness of God’s people.

Being called to a “religious vocation” makes you no more holy, correct, or spiritual than any one else. Relying on and triumphantly praising professional ministry gives people an opportunity to ignore their vocation as God’s children and bearers of Christ’s light. “Well, I wasn’t called to the ministry so I don’t have to witness,” we say. Or one of the more interesting things I was told once in regard to a person misquoting the bible and causing damage to her family in the process, “Look, Rev. correcting scriptural issues is your job, not mine.”

But we are all called of God, and we are all responsible to shine the light of love and mercy to one another. Don’t downplay your part in bringing the kingdom of God to earth (as it is in heaven). John doesn’t really want to baptize Jesus. It seems silly to him to use a symbol of repentance on someone with no sin. But John is called to baptize and Jesus wants not only to fulfill his ministry but fulfill John’s as well. Jesus didn’t need to be baptized half as much as John needed to baptize him. Supporting the mission and witness of a pastor is a beautiful thing, and clergy add a lot to the spectrum of faith. But the job doesn’t belong simply to the clergy.

One of my favorite old hymns is “Softly and Tenderly” – it reminds us that invocation (which is the act of calling to someone, not just the prayer we say before a fancy dinner or religious event) is not only coming to us from God who calls us son or daughter, and the Holy Spirit who calls us to our job, our gifts and our worship but also from Christ who offers us the greatest vocation of all: coming home.

“Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
calling for you and for me;
see, on the portals he's waiting and watching,
watching for you and for me.

Come home, come home;
ye who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, O sinner, come home!”

May we hear, live and love our vocation, now and always. Amen.

The Week of Joy: Shower!

Read: Matthew 11:2-11

Reflect: So far this Advent we’ve woken up and stretched, now its time to prepare to go out into the world. Waking up is about orienting yourself to the day at hand. Stretching lets your mind and body become involved in your day. But the thing that will really get you ready for work or play is getting in the shower. The shower is the place we wash off the traces of our yesterday and the dust of sleep. Cold or warm, the vibrant water hitting your skin will enliven you and get you ready to head out the door.

The Pink Candle

On the day of Joy (otherwise known as the “pink candle day”) we are encourage to do just that – shower in God’s goodness and blessings, wash ourselves with the forgiveness and love of Jesus and come alive under the flood of spirit. Only in this way can we prepare to go into the world with the good news.

We should be joyous this week – for it is the week of the pink candle. Why pink? The Advent Wreath is a Germanic Catholic tradition that has found a home in many protestant churches in the last 25 years or so. Three candles are purple – the color of repentance – to signify Advent as a time to repent and prepare for Christ. In ancient times Advent was a time of fasting and going without (really contrasts with our currently holiday of cookies and excess, huh?) but on the third Sunday – the day of Joy – the candle is pink to remind us to celebrate because the time of fasting is almost done and the time for the Christ child is close at hand. The pink candle is the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the amazing feel good shower after hard work. If anyone needs a shower – Christians do.

“Christian Thugs”

On December 13, 2007 in a packed subway in New York City a group of 14 men and women attacked a Jewish man and nearly beat him to death. The reason? They said to him “Merry Christmas” and he responded “Happy Hanukkah”. They ganged up on him and physically assaulted him, telling him Jews killed Jesus. What’s more bizarre than beating someone up so they’ll celebrate Christmas? A man of Muslim faith jumping to the victim’s rescue and fighting off his attackers. The victim, Walter Adler said, “A random Muslim guy jumped in and helped a Jewish guy on Hanukkah - that's a miracle." Right before the first man hit the victim the attacker rolled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo of Jesus Christ. I know how heavy my heart felt when I saw this headline in an article by Christopher Leavitt:

“Muslim Defends Jew Against Christian Subway Thugs”

My first thought is probably the same as yours – those people are on the fringe – they don’t represent Christianity any more than Fred Phelps and his “God Hates Fags” group represents it. I want to believe Christians are still the primary force of good and peace in the world. However, the evidence to the contrary is popping up all over. In just the last 3 months:

1. David Kinnamon from the Barna Organization releases the book “Unchristian” revealing a three year study that showed a majority of unchurched and churched young people (ages 16 to 29) describe Christianity as “ignorant, judgmental, hypocritical, homophobic, and political”.

2. Sherry Shepherd, a self-proclaimed evangelical Christian on “The View” tried to defend Christianity by saying the Bible’s view of creation is correct. When she was asked if the earth was flat or round – she didn’t know that answer. Three weeks later she proclaimed such startling ideas as “Christians began about 200 years before Jesus”, and “Christians were the first people in the world and came long before the Greeks”. Thousands of people begin to blog about the ignorance of the average Christian. (Tens of thousands of Christians begin to declare they are not that dumb). I love Sherry as a performer, but I’m starting to think the best thing she could do for Christianity is to be quiet.

3. Top Christian leaders from eight mega-churches are being investigated by congress for vast financial misdealing. Only 2 leaders cooperated with the investigation.

4. The many news stories about the subway incident all focus on the amazing thing that cultural enemies of the Holy Land (Muslims and Jews) were able to help each other and find friendship in the midst of Christian oppression. No one seems surprised to see the phrase “Christian Thug” enter the national vocabulary.

Okay okay – you’re thinking – “Helloooooooo Rev. Kellie --- it’s the day of JOY, remember?” Yes – Yes I do. That’s what we have this week – the joy that Jesus Christ is among us to showers us with the gospel of healing, power, hope, truth and love. If anything thing can change the distortion of Christianity people are seeing in our country, it is the joy of Jesus.

The Unexpected Joy

In the lectionary reading – John the Baptist is as worried about Jerusalem as I am about Christianity in the USA. He’s sitting in prison for calling Herod to repentance and he has left his movement to his cousin Jesus to run. But John is hearing strange tales behind the prison walls.

John’s movement was based on repentance – people being sorry for their sins and starting anew. He was, by many accounts, a part of the Essenic movement – believing in self-denial (hence the camel hair coat and locust eating) as a way to purification. He thought the Messiah would come and wipe away the materialism, judgment and corruption from the church and the world. He knows Jesus was sent by God, and he expects to hear stories of mass repenting – people sobbing over their sins and the stock in sack-cloth and ashes rising. He expects evidence of people living simply, selling their goods and giving up status comforts. That’s not what he hears.

John hears about crowds of people being fed luxuriously – as much bread and fish as they can eat. He hears about Jesus lecturing in temple court yards and open fields. He hears about Jesus talking to women, talking about Samaritans, and touching lepers. He hears tales of how much joy people are getting in Jesus’ presence and how he promises them abundant life. John is in prison and Jesus is getting popular! So he sends a messenger to Jesus asking “Are you the one?” – In other words – John is not so sure his cousin was the right man for the job after all.

Jesus answers him by telling him all the joy Christ is bringing. He says, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." Jesus tells John that he is the right one to bring God’s message alive on earth. That Holy Will involves healing people, raising people, and preaching the good news of God’s love.

Jesus then says, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." What does that mean? It means Jesus knows he isn’t doing what John expected. “I know I’m not what you had in mind,” Jesus is saying. “But don’t fall away, because Christianity is full of the unexpected – forgiveness instead of revenge; acceptance instead of hatred; peace instead of war; life instead of death.”

That’s what we need to proclaim this week of Joy – the unexpected amazing joy of Jesus Christ in the world. Don’t just brush away terms like “Christian thugs” as “a few local nuts who don’t go to our church anyway.” – Take that image and destroy it with your joy. Show people how God has healed you and is teaching you to bring healing to others. Reflect your gratefulness to God, and smile – laugh- sing – forgive. Stop acting like some old dowager stuck in a pew who hasn’t cracked a smile in 40 years and shower in the luxurious love and grace of God. Walk into your church, your kitchen, your work place and your prayer place refreshed by God’s love and ready to live it.

The gospel of John tells us what Jesus told John the Baptist to explain why Jesus isn’t turning the culture into self-denying mourning penitents, but freeing them from sin to live full and joyous lives. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17.

Respond: In what ways can you reflect the joy of Christ into a world that needs to see God’s love?
For me:
1. Speak out against oppression – not just the groups or people that oppress women and children and the economically disadvantaged – but when people claiming Christ oppress others as well. I need to stop pretending “Christian violence” (spiritual and physical) doesn’t exist, and start working as a witness to an embracing peace-loving God.
2. Reflect the joy of Christ in my life and my day. I am trying to learn to speak in a way that brings hope, not just awareness and spirit not just knowledge.
3. Take prayer and personal meditation time not just to pray for what ails me and the people I love, but to celebrate God and the gift of salvation in my life. I think I take that salvation for granted sometimes, and I need frequent celebrations of what an unexpected, beautiful gift it is.

How Does It Look On You?

Lectionary Reading: Luke 19:1-10

The movie Chocolat features a story about a free-spirit single mom who opens a chocolate shop during Lent in a provincial French village. Because Lent is seen by the Catholic church as a time of self denial, the opening of a shop selling rich, delicious and healing chocolate seems pagan and terrible to the people who openly demonstrate against the shop (although they manage to privately purchase and eat the chocolate). Through this whole struggle, a young priest is working on his first self-written sermon. After the intolerance of the church folks reaches critical mass and a terrible fire results, the townspeople are divided between self-righteous justification for their meanness and guilt over the tragedy when the young priest finally delivers his sermon. Here is what he says:

“…we can't go 'round measuring our Christianity by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist and who we exclude... we've got to measure our faith by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.”

What a perfect message of Christ – for those people and for us.

Measuring Christianity is an interesting notion. Some people have a Christianity measured by their love of Christ and their continuing efforts to walk in his Way. For others the measure isn’t something that beautiful or eternal. Others measure it by how good they are (or look), how much they donate to or attend church, how other people think of them, or how successful they have become. If you measure cloth with the wrong tool, your clothes won’t fit and they look bad on you. If you measure your faith by the world’s view, it looks bad on you too. In fact, to the rest of the world it looks bone ugly.

In his new book “Unchristian”, researcher David Kinnamon looks at attitudes of 16 to 29 year-olds (churched and unchurched) and finds the age group to be “skeptical and frustrated with Christianity”. Only 16% of that age group said they had a “favorable view of Christianity”. The age group’s most common comment was, “Christianity no longer looks like Jesus. Its “unchristian”. When asked to describe Christians with 5 adjectives the top five were:

Judgmental
Ignorant
Hypocritical
Homophobic
Political

Wow. That’s certainly a tragic vision of the Christian Way, and sad news for that generation. But in today’s very familiar lectionary story we find some great news. It’s a story that helps us use the right tools – and measure our Christianity in a way that befits Christ, and show’s God’s beauty to the world.

A Christianity Measured by Vision

People who have grown up in church have heard that song over and over. “Zacchaeus was a wee little man; a wee little man was he. He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for Jesus he wanted to see…”

Have you ever wondered why the Bible pauses to tell us that detail? Who cares if he is short? Why do we have to know he climbed sycamore tree? The purpose of this tidbit is to give us a sense of where Zacchaeus is in his faith walk. He’s a tax collector (a person the Jew’s consider a traitor because he works for Rome, and probably cheats people in the process), so we assume he is not at the beginning of Christ’s way. BUT, look again. He WANTS to see Jesus – so much so that he climbs a huge tree (sycamore-fig trees can grow to be 20 meters tall) just to see him. Salvation comes to Zacchaeus’ house because he is looking for Jesus.

Christians should still look for Jesus. Are you looking for him? Not just in prayer and at church or when you are sitting in the doctor’s office waiting for test results, but are you looking for him when it’s not easy? When you are too short (short on patience, short on time, short on grace) to see him, are you willing to go out of your way to look for him? When you have that person in your office or kid in your classroom that you’d just like to strangle – can you see Jesus sitting by him or her – holding hands, talking, healing? When someone disappoints or hurts you badly, are you willing to see him walking down the street, knowing forgiveness of that person is what he wants from you? Don’t measure your walk by how many times you think you show Jesus, measure it by how many times you climb to see him.

A Christianity Measured by Transformation

The people all scoff and snicker when Jesus goes to Zacchaeus’ house (and let’s be honest – we would too – we are all a little short on mercy sometimes). But the act of being with Jesus changes Zacchaeus in a way nothing else could. Suddenly the man whose only claim to fame was his ill-gotten wealth gives half of it away, and offers refunds that will take the other half. One visit from Jesus and the little guy goes from being Bill Gates to being Bob Poor-house overnight (plus, he has to get a new job). And it doesn't seem to bother him! Zacchaeus’ encounter with the Holy Christ transforms him into a man who values God's opinion and lives Christ's way.

Transformation isn’t just what happens when we meet Jesus. Its not the case that we encounter Christ, get changed and just live the rest of our lives as the aging new creation we’ve grown comfortable being. Transformation is an on-going life journey in a relationship with Jesus. It involves communion every day with God (churchy folks call that prayer or meditation), reviewing our ideas and actions, learning new things and correcting old habits. To the Christian, transformation is transportation – a way of getting closer to the person God made you to be.

A Christianity Measured by Intention

Notice everything Zacchaeus says is a “gonna”. He’s gonna pay the folks he cheated 4 times what he owes – he’s not getting out his wallet at the table – but he intends to make it right. I hope he did. Sadly, this like many encounters ends without telling us what happened next. Did Zacchaeus really give away his money? Did he pay back 4 times what he owed?

What do you think Zacchaeus did when he found out Jesus was crucified? He lived in Jericho – not Jerusalem – but he would have heard the news about that radical rabbi who got hung on a cross. So what does he do when he gets the news? Does he feel like a fool and say, “Dang, I gave away my wealth to follow that guy – now I’m broke and he’s dead! Call my Centurion boss; I want my old job back!”? Does he mourn the too young death of the rabbi who changed him from a money-grubbing sinner to a man who followed God’s justice and hope? I hope for Zacchaeus that he kept on the Way he intended and heard to good news that Jesus rose again.

Our Christianity means we need to keep our intentions before us. We need to keep following the path of peace, justice, love and transformation God set us on through Christ no matter what the future holds. If we give up on faith; if we give up on each other; if we give up on ourselves or give up on God because we meet some resistance - we have left our intentions in the dust and need to climb that tree and start over again. Christianity is measured by the walk we make in the rain, as well as the sunshine of God’s love.

So, look in the mirror of God’s eyes and show your walk of faith to God. Ask God as honestly as you ask your best friend when you’re shopping, “How does this look?” If God’s answer isn’t one you want to hear, then accept God’s forgiveness and start your walk anew. Sooner than later you’ll look around and see brothers and sisters – churched and unchurched – willing to share the journey of Christ with you step by step and day by day. Be open to them. Then, the Bible says, in the end God will say, “Well done my good and faithful servant” or translated into our modern words, “looking good!”

The Pride of Lions

Lectionary Reading: Luke 17:11-19

During the U.S.-led Invasion of Baghdad in 2003 a pride of lions escaped the bomb damaged Baghdad Zoo and roamed the deserted streets of the city for three days. The keepers of the zoo had fled a few days before troops arrived, leaving the captive animals without food or water. Residents looted the zoo – taking many of the animals for food or to sell on the black market. After American soldiers took over the city, they assigned a unit to repair and take control of the zoo and somehow capture the lions.

Using large armored vehicles and the temptation of food, all but 3 of the lions were guided back into the repaired habitat. The remaining three, terrorized during the previous bombing, confused by the noisy tanks and hungry, would not be led and were killed by soldiers. With three days of freedom the lions could have gone anywhere, but instead the pride wandered no farther than 2 miles from the zoo – cruising the streets of Baghdad looking for some thing to eat. Years of captivity dulled their instinct, and extinguished their ability to comprehend the natural, wild world. Even though the escape had given them liberty – they were not truly free.

Our lectionary reading today is a popular story from the healing life of Christ. Ministers who don’t use the lectionary usually tell it when church attendance gets low or at Thanksgiving. But this story isn’t just about our need to come to Jesus and say, “thank you”. It’s about us and it reminds us that unless our relationship with Christ liberates our minds and restores our instincts as God’s children we will wander aimlessly even though we have been liberated.

Held In Captivity

The men of this story were on the outskirts of the city in an area known as the “valley of the lepers”. It’s interesting to note that the Greek word used here does not really mean leprosy. It is a word that means more like “unspecified skin disorder”. The people of that age could not always tell the difference between leprosy and other diseases and so anyone with a severe skin disease was thrown into the leprosy category and banished from the temple and the city. Because some folks just had a rash, eczema or severe acne – there was a set of laws that allowed priests to proclaim them healed if it cleared up and re-admit them into society.

Yet these men were captive to their disease. As long as physical evidence showed them to have a skin disorder (possibly leprosy) they were left in the valley to starve or eat what ever someone was willing to throw to them (or at them) and warn people to stay away. Their family, their jobs and their ability to worship were gone. Think of it -- every day they woke up, looked over their bodies and hoped:
Today was the day their skin cleared.
Today was the day they could have everything back.
Today was the day they could be with God.
Today was the day they would be free.

Then as the sun broke the horizon they saw the white patches on their arms, legs and reflected on each other’s downcast faces – the next 23 hours and fifty-seven minutes would just be the same old captivity to loneliness and hunger.

We are captive too, only our captivity is somewhat more sinister because we can’t see it on our skin. It lives in our hearts. We are captive to a world where success means material comfort which chains us to work addiction and starves our loved ones for our attention and wisdom. We are captive to a media obsessed manipulative culture where concepts like “fact”, “truth” and “dignity” don’t sell, aren’t used and we are starved for justice and peace. We are captive to fear that keeps us from honestly relating to others, learning from mentors, asking the hard questions or sharing God’s answers. We stare through the bars of our own inability and pray to God to feed us where we are.

Sometimes, we can even be captive in church. Like a spiritual zoo, we sit in our pew, go to our groups, wait to be fed, and hope the world can learn the Gospel from us as they encounter us in our cage Sunday morning. We create programs to bring people in to where we are -- instead of understanding ourselves as God’s children who were called to be sent out. There is a call to repentance in this passage of the Word. We all need to stand by the roadside as Christ passes by and pray with these lepers, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Delivered to Destiny

Please don’t misunderstand – church is a good thing. It is the gathering of saints – the body of Christ where we learn and worship in community. Notice Jesus sent the lepers to the temple so the priest could proclaim them healed. But the temple didn’t heal them. Jesus did. Church is where we learn of how we can be healed and proclaim our healing and redemption – but church doesn’t heal us. Jesus does. We need to relate to Jesus. Sometimes in our captivity we forget the feeder while we enjoy the food.

That certainly is what happened to 9 of the 10 lepers. They were so excited to be liberated from their disease and so hungry for their loved ones and a good meal that they forgot the one who healed them. They got their religion back, but they had no real relationship. Like the lions of the Baghdad zoo who were led right back to their benevolent captivity – they were back to “normal”. But one wasn’t. One healed leper – a Samaritan (the Pharisees version of “less than”) – knew he was liberated but wasn’t’ free until he related with the one who healed him personally.

“Where are the other 9?” Jesus asked, although he knew the answer and so do we. The other 9 were at home, hugging their families and stuffing bread in their mouths. They would tell the story of their healing later – if they remembered it, after all it had been quite a dramatic day and there was so much of life to catch up on. They were busy. The other 9 are content to sit in their temple and be seen as healed -- after all it was just a skin disease. Maybe later the 9 would get together and sue the priest for wrongful diagnosis.

And the 1 who returned? He thanked Jesus. He fell at his feet and praised God. He remembers who healed him. He will go and tell the story of the one he praised to anyone who will listen. He wasn’t just liberated from possible leprosy. He was truly set free.

Live your faith then share your life

What about us? No matter what chained us we need to go to the temple and show ourselves healed as we rejoice with our brothers and sisters who were liberated too. Then we need to go back – to go out – and to thank Jesus every day in our lives. We need to live as God’s children who are truly free to show the story of grace in every place we go. Don't wander around the war-torn city seeking something else to eat- go in your freedom as one sent by God and thrive. In other words: Live your faith then share your life.

The Baghdad Zoo, with the help of international animal aid organizations, has been rebuilt. Out of 700 animals, only 40 survived the 8 day invasion of Baghdad, but animals taken from private “zoos” at the homes of Saddam Hussein and his family were brought to the city zoo. There are currently 86 animals at the zoo, and it serves as a center of peace and escape from the war for the residents of Baghdad.