Kitchen Table Associates  

Acts of the Apostles 2:1 – 21 

I called the Confirmation Class the Fun Faith Formation Experience. We met on Sundays after church. We began each class eating together, most often at the round table in the church kitchen. 

The heart of the family home is nearly always in the kitchen. In some families, it is even more specific, the coffee pot is at the center of gravity. But for matters of the heart, there is no place like the kitchen table. 

There is very little pretending that can stand the heat of the kitchen. In the kitchen, it has to be real. It might get spicy, it could get rich, but it must be real. 

Jesus promised his followers that they would receive his spirit, the Holy Spirit. Like the presence of God, we are always in the presence of the Spirit. What is lacking most often - is our awareness. Sometimes, our emotional response to the immediate issues of life, make it hard for us to feel the spirit. 

Today, we are conferring the sacrament of baptism and the rite of Confirmation on young people from our congregation. The congregation both grows in number and decreases in average age. The work of the church in the world is sure to continue, as more hands commit to sharing God’s love and forgiveness. 

The visitors to Jerusalem were amazed at the behavior and speech of the disciples on that first Pentecost. We had planned confirmation for Pentecost Sunday, June 4, the traditional birthday of the church. The families graciously allowed me to compress the schedule and finish the confirmation class with the kids. Like the first disciples, the class demonstrated their faithfulness when we met with the Deacons. 

What faith does for us is hard to define in only a few brief statements. Still, I think it is useful to consider where we stand in the greater sweep of humanity. 

We believe that there is a God, who created the heavens and earth, and believes that all creation is good. From that premise, we see how Jesus of Nazareth worked to relieve the people from their obsession with rules, and focus on love and forgiveness. Even saying that may seem strange, because so many churches continue to devote their time and attention to rules and judgment. 

This congregation, and the wider church that we are in relationship with, do our best to encourage each other to keep our focus on the gospel truth. The task can be a challenge, but we have the resources of the church to support us. Those resources include; the scriptures, the sacraments, our community worship, and the community itself. We bless each other with our faithfulness. 

Now let us be candid. Faith, in even the most faithful of human beings, is not an inanimate thing like a rock. We cannot take our faith, and stick it in a shoebox, and store it under the stairs, ready to be pulled out at full strength when the troubles of the world crash down on us. 

Instead, I like to think of faith as a living thing. It needs to be fed. It needs to exercised. It needs the promise of love. 

The church is not a museum full of the artifacts of faith, but rather the kitchen in the family home of the faithful. It is where the resources of the faith are used not displayed. The church is where the faithful coordinate their love for the world in ways that can be effective. 

But most of all, the church is where we can go in good times and bad. Some of us feel best when we can lend a hand, and be present for others when they are hurting. When we hurt, our faith can take a beating. In those moments, we lean on the faith of others. We pray in the name of the God that our community believes in, until that day our faith can sprout once more. 

There are subtle points of theology that may make us crazy trying to define and polish. The heart of the faith is less about the fine points of belief, and more about the living of life with grace and graciously offering forgiveness. 

Today we celebrate that the long line of saints being extended. The reach of God’s love continues and has a future. The promise of the new life, is carried into all of the places these young people will be a part of. 

In a good many of our homes, it is the kitchen table where the major decision of life were worked out. It is where the family gathers in good times and bad. It is where the wedding announcements are addressed, the baby showers are organized, and the funerals are planned. The food may not always be served in the kitchen, but it is where the potatoes are peeled, and in the end, where the pots are washed and put away. 

But the pots are not displayed, just saved for another day. Saved for another holiday, another baptism, confirmation, graduation, another chance to celebrate the ways we are connected. This is the church. This is a place of connections. 

You may grow up in one church, but then find yourself in another. It is the same spirit that is shared in that place. It is the same God that demands our faithfulness. The usefulness you learned in one kitchen, is recognized and welcomed in another. 

We are part of a greater community. I first learned the church life at St. Alexander, then Divine Heart Seminary as a boy; then First Congregational - now Open Table UCC in Ottawa, McCormick Theological Seminary, and shared what I learned in St. Luke’s in Downers Grove, Edward Hospital in Naperville, Spring Valley UCC and now Somonauk. 

No one knows where we will be called to represent our faith. But kitchen skills travel well. No one knows when the next wave will come crashing down, and anxious people look for the love of God. Still, we know that God is faithful. We know that there are saints, who love God, and share God’s love, and will move the chairs around to make room at the table for one more. 

Today we shuffle the chairs in the kitchen, where the Fun Faith Formation Experience started every class, to permit the church to grow with intention and joy. Amen.  

The Disciple the Jesus Loved

The Disciple that Jesus Loves  

10:00 am Acts 10:34-43 

John 20:1-18    

The story of the Resurrection in the gospel of John has a couple of unique features. The writer of this gospel associates himself with the apostle John, often referring to himself as “The disciple whom Jesus loved.” While much is made of Peter as the leader of the band, in this gospel at least, the apostle John is given most favored status. 

Even in the story of the Resurrection, the most important story in the entire gospel, the writer will not let the chance go by without throwing in one more, “the one whom Jesus loved.” He is not shy about self-promotion. 

But it does make one wonder, is he only seeing what he wants to see? Is he looking at the whole picture? 

None of the accounts of the Resurrection are actually accounts of the resurrection, but accounts of the female disciples discovering the empty tomb, and then getting the explanation. The key moment in our faith in Jesus the Christ, is completely left to a second-hand report. 

Mary Magdalen, Mary from the town of Magdala, goes to the tomb while it is still dark and finds the stone has been removed. She runs back to the Upper Room to report her findings to the apostles. Peter and John immediately take off for the tomb. 

They enter the tomb, and find the burial cloths of Jesus, but nothing else. The text says that John saw and believed, but he did not yet understand. Perhaps most of us are like that, we have to absorb new information in steps or pieces. New information cannot be swallowed in one gulp. 

The two of them, Peter and John, observe the scene and then leave. Like most guys I know, when there is no problem to be solved, they shrug and return home to ponder what it all might mean. Mary, stays behind. 

Now that the men have left, she is free to go into the cave and observe for herself. Two angels appear to Mary. She has a conversation with them. The men did not see angels. Were the angels present, but the men were not able to see them? Maybe, they saw them, but unnerved, they backed out and went their own way. 

Mary sees them, hears them, and converses with them. Then she turns and has a direct encounter with the Risen Christ. She does not recognize him at first. She is not expecting to see a man raised from the dead. It is hard to trust your eyes when you find the unexpected. 

The text is clear, Mary saw what the men could not see. Mary heard what the men could not hear. Mary was able to relate to the Risen Christ, before the great apostles could absorb what was happening. Maybe Mary Magdalene is “the disciple that Jesus loved.” And this is the stuff where imaginations take off, and a variety of stories and fables have their beginning. 

What is truly happening, is that we are being given an opportunity to see the world through the eyes of the divine. The creation includes both the physical world and the spiritual world. The resurrected Christ had a body, but it had characteristics that made it not immediately recognizable.

We can see that while the powers of this world dealt Jesus a violent and public humiliation and execution, the truth of God does not stop. The love of God alive in the world does not depend on the continued life and work in the world of any one person. Not even the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 

In time the disciples will be ready to see Jesus. In time the apostles will be able to talk with him. In time, they will be ready to live and act as Jesus lived and acted. 

You are “the disciple that Jesus loved.” The Risen Christ is here, in this room, to lift your spirits and make you ready for your mission in the world. As you are able to see the way that love changes our perception of reality, you will find yourself less anxious. You will be ready to respond with love, even to those who chose to be your enemies. 

Others around you might not be able to see it yet. Others around you may still be intimidated by the power of the world over our bodies. The public humiliation and execution of Jesus was meant to intimidate and silence his followers. But you are not silenced. 

So brothers and sisters, be of good cheer. Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed! And you have the power to bless all of creation, with no exceptions. Amen. 

The Grand Opening - of An Empty Tomb

The Grand Opening - of An Empty Tomb    

7:00 am Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 

Matthew 28:1-10   

The resurrection story in the gospel of Matthew is short and sweet. Here, there are two women who arrive at the tomb, and experience an earthquake and witness the angel rolling the stone away. Then the angel says the classic words of angel introduction - “Do not be afraid.” Angels nearly always say that. It is on Page One of the angel handbook. 

Then the angel tells them that Jesus has been raised from the dead. So we have a report of what happened, but no eye witnesses. But before the women can leave the garden, they have a direct encounter with the Risen Christ. 

You are here in this early hour of the morning. You came with certain expectations. You came to join in the company of these faithful people. You came expecting to hear this classic story. You came to renew your memory of Easter Sundays that came before. 

Maybe, if you would permit yourself a quiet moment, you too can feel the presence of the Christ. Perhaps we cannot see the Christ, but maybe you can sense the presence of the Spirit of the living Christ. 

Jesus appeared to the women, but promised to meet with them again in Galilee. Jesus promises us this morning, to be present with us in Spirit everyday, and meet us in the resurrected form at the end of the age. 

On Maundy Thursday, we paused at the communion table to make ourselves aware of the way the presence of the Spirit of Christ is essentially a way of being in the Kingdom of God, right now, right here. We have the living God. We have the community of the faithful. We have a clear reason to rejoice in the Lord, I say it again, Rejoice! 

This is more than a promise for tomorrow, it is a present reality. We can carry this reality as far as we are able to live in the presence of God. Certainly, the Kingdom of God extends to the Fellowship Hall. We can easily stretch it to the Parking Lot, or the spaces along Washington Street. 

With intention, we can carry the Kingdom of God all the way into Easter Dinner with the family. Maybe you will call members of the extended family later today, call the folks who cannot make it home. You can try out that presence of the Kingdom through the technology of the phone or remote video. 

The resurrection is not a one time event restricted to the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The point of the resurrection is the defeat of the entire expectation that this life is all there is. The resurrection of Jesus is our assurance that a life lived with love, is a life that does not end. The key to that life is the love of God. And the love of God is love for you, and the love in you, and most importantly, the love you share. 

The threat of death and the powers of this world have been revealed - in the empty tomb. There is no true death in the cave. There is no defeat in the cave. The real power is in the love of God. That is love is vital - and real - and it belongs to each of us. And better yet, it grows whenever we share that love. 

And so we celebrate, celebrate Jesus, and the new reality that Jesus has shared. We move forward, not made perfect, but made whole and empowered to live without fear. No matter how disturbing the powers of this world may be, the truth of God and God’s love lives on. 

As we live, aware of the presence of the Spirit, as we live, empowered by what we know of the truth, we can live with greater freedom and joy.  

Celebrating with Our Eyes Open

Celebrating with Eyes Open  

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Matthew 21:1-11

Today marks the beginning of Holy Week. We call it Holy Week because it contains the events of Jesus in Jerusalem during the time up to and including; the passion, crucifixion, death and burial, and resurrection from the dead. This is the very core of our identity as followers of Jesus the Christ. 

Palm Sunday is an enigma. For people like me who prefer simple logical progressions, Palm Sunday is a detour. The mood of the Temple authorities toward Jesus had taken a turn towards the dark side. We have already noted through the Lenten scriptures, how Jesus of Nazareth fits the profile of a violent revolutionary who threatens the precarious balance of power between the Roman occupation, the puppet Jewish King - Herod and Sons, and the Temple Council. 

There is no greater proof of the validity of the Council’s concern than the historical record. In 70 CE, 30 to 40 years after the death of Jesus, Rome responded to an uprising by destroying the Temple and causing the Jews to scatter and abandon Jerusalem. While they misinterpreted the role of Jesus of Nazareth, the evidence is clear, the status quo relied on control of the population. 

Palm Sunday does not fit the straight forward progression. Jesus and his band of merry men arrive in Bethpage at the base of the Mount of Olives. They acquire a donkey for Jesus to ride. There is a humorous side to this. Matthew follows the same outline in discussing the life of Jesus as was played out in the gospel of Mark. In many places where Mark says there was one person healed, Matthew has two. Here he says Jesus rode both the donkey and the foal. 

It is no accident that a donkey was chosen. The gentiles would mock the Jews as being a lower or working class people. While an important gentile would ride a horse, only a Jew would make an entrance on a domestic animal. So Jesus fulfills the scripture, arriving on a donkey, but he also works in and through the cultural bias alive in the land at the time. 

I am sure that the crowd gathered rather slowly. The procession that takes place in Jerusalem today starts at the church at Bethpage, at the base of the south side of the Mount of Olives. The road leads up to the top. Today it is a narrow residential street with plenty of traffic, even our tour bus went up the hill to the Church of the Pater Noster. 

The walk down the west side of the Mount of Olives, directly facing the Temple Mount in the walled “Old City”, is a narrow, stone path. There is very limited vehicular traffic on any given day down this portion of the ceremonial path. Today the march ends at the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations. The Kidron Valley, between the Mount of Olives and the city, now contains the equivalent of an Interstate Highway, so it is no longer a part of the procession.

I imagine that the location helped feed the growing crowd - as the gathering would be visible for miles, as they made their way down the west side of the Mount of Olives. People who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover at the end of the week would be very interested in any diversion. When they heard it was the talked about prophet Jesus of Nazareth, the crowd would swell with the faithful and the curious. The whole thing took on a party atmosphere. 

They called Jesus the son of David. Being a part of the family of David is a requirement for being the rightful Messiah. David was the second King of the Jews. He was the leader of Judah, the south portion of the land for seven years after the death of Saul, before uniting the entire land. When he joined north and south together, he selected Jerusalem to be the capital. It was near the line between north and south, and it had never been the capital of either the north or the south. It was conveniently only 4 miles from David’s hometown of Bethlehem. 

So David selected Jerusalem as his capital. It became a holy city when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city. Later, his son Solomon, built the glorious First Temple on the prominent Temple Mount, with a commanding view of the countryside, and the natural safety of being situated on the side of a cliff, limiting ways in which it can be attacked. 

Jesus made his entry clearly within the view of the Temple Mount. The Palm Sunday procession, with all the shouting, echoed up the walls of the canyon, and the priests and scribes had a clear view of the arrival of the prophet. And their anxiety builds. 

The shouts of the crowd make a book end to balance the shouts of the crowd later in the week, imploring Pontius Pilate to “Crucify him!” The fickle nature of crowds is exposed by this sharp contrast, only days apart. Public opinion can be swayed pretty easily, at least in those days. It should be clear that when Pilate places the label “King of the Jews” on the cross of Jesus, he forever links the faithful and the political. For us, Jesus expresses the fundamental sanctity of all creation.  

So here we are. It is Palm Sunday. We wave our palms to welcome the arrival of our Lord and Savior, knowing full well that some in the crowd are just caught up in the moment. Some in the crowd do not have a genuine understanding of how Jesus represents the love of God, and represents the perfect way into eternal life with God. 

We live in a world where many profess to be Christians, but seem only to be attached to the cultural and sentimental values of the faith. The call to live with God’s love and forgiveness, the command to love our neighbors and our enemies, these are often lost in the translation. We are not judging others, but acknowledging that faithfulness requires that we do more than follow the crowd. 

We celebrate Palm Sunday with our eyes open. We know where we are headed. We know that being faithful does not mean that we get a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. We face all of the challenges and heartaches that everyone else goes through. We simply do not face our troubles alone. We count on the love of God, supported by the faith community, so that we can persevere no matter what pain and evil comes our way. 

We pray that the love of God strengthen our faith as we move through our own challenges. We pray that this year, as we walk through Holy Week, we are blessed with new understanding, greater appreciation of God’s love. We pray that the light of God’s truth within us, be enough to comfort and support those around us, who feel the call to faith, even while they are growing an understanding of what that might mean. 

Not What Is Expected

Not What Is Expected  

John 9:1-41

What are you afraid of? Does your known fear cause you to do or avoid doing things or saying things, just to protect yourself? 

We have all tiptoed around hot political topics, especially around the loudest and most aggressive our friends and relatives in these recent days. Some people are wound so tight that it does no good, even if you just stick to the facts and avoid inserting your opinion. Given an opening, they just flame out. 

While this is awkward in personal situations, there are times when these same kinds of issues have direct implications on your freedom of speech and movement. 

The nation of Israel is highly insulted by the movement, based on the international pressure that was brought to bear on the apartheid regime in South Africa, to use Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against businesses in either Israel or the Settlements in the West Bank. The BDS movement is now illegal, and Israeli citizens are under direct threat of prosecution if they encourage the movement against either Israel or the Settlements. The local people take this threat very seriously. 

A new law permits the state to refuse international visitors entry, if they are part of a group that promotes the BDS movement. Today the Israeli ministry is building a database of organizations that are no longer permitted to enter the country. Recent reports show that this ban has not been strictly enforced to date. 

The past two weeks, a new law has been hotly debated in the Knesset, that would permit the ministry to build a data base of Israeli citizens who are associated with the BDS movement. The very conservative faction within the Israeli government is taking an aggressive stance against their critics. This challenges the definition of democracy. 

In the gospel this morning, the parents of the man born blind are very careful when talking with the “Jews.” They are aware of threats made against those who speak in favor of this Jesus of Nazareth. When questioned, they carefully avoid speaking up for Jesus, or speaking against their son. They do not want to get in the middle of this debate and risk being shunned in their community. 

While the parents have fear, clearly the Temple authorities are very anxious about Jesus. We might want to understand their position better. 

The Holy Land in the time of Jesus was an occupied country, under the direct control of the Roman Empire. The people were heavily taxed. It costs a lot of money to maintain and deploy a huge army to police the world. Rome justified their taxation because the great local benefit was the “Pax Romana,” the Peace of Rome. 

Since Rome controlled the greater swath of civilization surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, all the typical squabbles between neighbors over control and access to ports, and shipping lanes, and trade routes were settled (or simply squashed) by the powerful and ever present Roman army and their conscripted soldiers. 

The Temple in Jerusalem continued to exist and have its own level of control, through a negotiated arrangement with the puppet King Herod, and then his descendants. The Temple and the priests, received a share of the taxes, and in turn, they were expected/required to help root out and eliminate violent revolutionaries. Over the years, there were many violent revolutionary responses to the heavy-handed occupation. Jesus of Nazareth fit the model of a political revolutionary. He also, took great delight in mocking the authority of the Temple. The Temple authorities were motivated to quiet him. 

In the gospel of John, it was the raising of Lazarus from the dead that prompted the Temple authorities to action. Chapter 11:47 - 50 reads, “So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, "What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed." 

These patterns of fear and repressive laws and aggressive enforcement, continue to exist with the world today. I have highlighted the response of Israel to the BDS movement, and you have heard news stories about the United Nations Reports, that are critical of the inhumane treatment of the people of Gaza and the West Bank. But these temptations exist wherever nations try to make a systemic response to threats, real or perceived. 

Jesus cured the blind man, on a Sabbath morning. The Jews could not accept that a holy man would do work on the Sabbath, in direct violation of the 10 commandments. You and I, do not live in a culture that supports the Sabbath with such a clear set of expectations. Although there was a time, when Sundays were treated very differently than they are today. As faithful people, we still have the option to honor the Sabbath if we choose. 

Jesus has set himself apart from the Temple authorities, by making compassion for the poor and sick more important than abiding by strict rules. Rules are a substitute for relationships protected by respect. Jesus has set himself apart from the Roman authority, by living a nomad’s life, with no taxable income. That can tick off the government. 

Jesus sets himself, and his movement - apart from the expectations of the culture. You and I know that he was not raising an army. You and I know that he was not building a cache of weapons in remote rural hiding places to arm the revolutionary forces when the time was ripe for attack. 

We even know that Jesus was not insulting the God of the Temple. He did enjoy mocking the pretentious who acted holy, but lacked humility and compassion. What are we to learn from Jesus, that can empower our living in this day and place? 

First, let us recall and embrace the story of Jesus. These narratives are rich with models for living in a charged atmosphere, but staying grounded in the truth. The truth is continually pulling on our own self-deceptions, helping us to be real with our selves, our friends, our neighbors, and in the political world. (This Lent we have taken to calling this “A Posture of Confession.”) 

Grounded as we are in the truth about our own limitations, we can see with fresh eyes, what are the legitimate needs of our neighbors, near and far, and what might be considered fair game for challenging and confronting. We are able to challenge the pretentious. We are able to “see” where unjust laws are used to prevent detection of greater systemic injustice, and overt lack of compassion. We can recognize the manipulation of information to foster prejudice and bias, build fear, and justify huge armies and the taxation required to support them. 

Like the Pharisees in the story, let us ask Jesus, “are we blind, too?” If we are blind to our own pride - and worse yet, blind to the kind of prejudice and fear that make us willing partners to injustice, may Jesus open our eyes. Let us trust Jesus enough, that with his love we can handle the truth about ourselves, and change our ways. Let us wash our faces in the pool, and with open eyes, be ready to worship the God of Jesus. Truth will set us free, free to love and share, without inordinate and inappropriate fear. Amen.  

The Flow of Living Water

The Flow of the Living Water

John 4:5-42  

Today we have a relatively long passage from the gospel of John. Many of John’s stories are relatively long. John is all about the power and authority of Jesus, even the authority to provide entirely new ways of understanding God. Just last week John encouraged us to have a new take on the perception of God as love, and talked about it in a way that we could imitate. Today, the passage encourages us to again try to check our egos at the door. 

I showed pictures of Jacob’s Well, located in the modern city of Nablus in Samaria. We assume that this is also the location of today’s gospel story. Jesus sits by the well, as the disciples run into town to McDonalds to get some cheeseburgers. A woman approaches the well  by herself to draw some water, and Jesus asks for a drink. 

Samaritans are regarded by the Jews as half-breeds. The Samaritans have intermingled with the locals in mixed marriages. Rejected by the Temple Jews, the Samaritans have their own version of the Jewish religion, and regard the Temple worshippers as arrogant and self-serving.

One thing these people share, are pretty strict cultural rules about women’s work, and communication between the genders. It was pretty bold of Jewish Jesus to speak with this woman, let alone think that he would drink water from a Samaritan’s bucket. This violates a whole host of purity laws, and this was not lost on the woman at all. 

Women were uneducated, even among people who were not known for great learning. She was a product of the culture, so  conversation between Jesus and the woman was rather unexpected. It turns out she knew a lot about the rules of the Jews. 

Jesus asks her to get her husband. This might be seen as resolving the issue about speaking to a woman who was alone. In the Christian church we always see this as Jesus creating the opportunity to demonstrate that he knew her personal situation. How odd is that, the this traveling Jewish prophet would not only speak with a Samaritan woman, but recognize her individuality? 

We might notice that going to the well for water is a social event for poor women all over the world. They go to the well in groups to chat, and share stories. This woman is alone. We have to believe that the other women do not hang out with this woman - who has a reputation with men. She has a particular status in town. 

Jesus tells her that he knows who she is. That knowledge not only does not stop Jesus from talking with her, it seems to empower his invitation to her - to recognize him as God’s anointed. 

This woman - who knows who she is, runs into town to proclaim she met a man who might be the Messiah. The people, who know her reputation, also seem to find her a reliable witness. Interesting, don’t you think? She might be a sinner, but what she says can be taken for the truth. Whatever else she might be, she is no liar. 

Meanwhile, Jesus decides the bag of sliders the disciples returned with do not interest him. He is anticipating a crowd of curious Samaritans who will want to know about him - and hear him talk about who God is. The disciples are puzzled by Jesus. He leads them through this territory that “good Jews” always avoid. He is chatting up a strange, lone woman, who leaves her water bucket to run to town.  Jesus is doing things that the disciples were taught was wrong. They are uncomfortable. 

What makes you uncomfortable identifying yourself with Jesus? Many of us have had over-enthusiastic born-again Christians - anxious to share what they have discovered, and share their judgments about those who do not have their own sense of enthusiasm. Many of us were trained to treat our faith as a private matter. Avoid talk of politics, sex, and religion in polite company.  

A good part of the message today includes asking us to be more aware of how quick we are to judge others by their labels. - She is just a woman, what could she know? - She is only a Samaritan, and they do not believe the right stuff. - She is out by herself during the day, that can’t be good. - Why waste our time with these inconsequential people? 

But Jesus found her to be articulate. She knows about her faith, the practices of the Jews, and some of the things that they share. She quickly sees that Jesus is a holy man, a prophet, and he may well be the Messiah. She reveals herself to be a pretty sharp woman. 

Jesus reveals God has a sincere and specific interest in all of creation. The love of God is not reserved for those with an engraved invitation, or a birthright, or the best reputations in town. What is being revealed is a model of interactive caring. 

In the sermon last week, we considered the image of the Holy Spirit, flying between and amongst the faithful, nurturing courage and wisdom. We considered how that might be a more useful way for us to consider the person of God, and even be a model for how we can imitate God’s love for the world. 

Here Jesus has gone down to Jacob’s Well, and set aside a host of traditions. He has dealt with a woman who is a classic outsider. Not welcomed by the Jews, not even respected by her own people. Jesus treats this woman with interactive caring. He talks with her, and listens to her. He talks about things that are true and important. He avoids passing judgment, setting aside even the most ordinary of ego needs. 

It is basic for us to have respect for ourselves, and treat our needs for nourishment, rest, and respect, as important. When we know ourselves, we are able to keep our ego needs in check. This allows us  to extend to every other person the understanding - that they also have legitimate needs. The love of God is alive in the world, whenever we demonstrate interactive caring for another, while setting our own ego needs aside while we honor theirs. 

A Posture of Confession - is simply a willingness to accept that we may need correction. A Christian during Lent assumes that posture, accepting the probability that God may pull back the curtain, and reveal sins we had hidden from our eyes. Only then can we choose to repent, - to change our ways and our habits. 

When I visited Israel I was struck by the pattern of the Israelis, when asked about the Occupation of the West Bank, how they used a standard practice of changing the subject. They avoided the issue of the Occupation, by never saying the word, and shifting to a standard rant about “All Arabs,” and security concerns, and a need for Israel to feel safe from attack. The pattern is so ingrained, they do not realize they are changing the subject. They ignore any specific question, and go into the litany of diversions. This is a model of how we all deceive ourselves from recognizing our own sins. 

Even though change is hard, a Christian has to be willing to let their sins be revealed, and then change the sinful behavior and make way for sharing the love of God.  

This turns out to be a useful definition of being faithful. We do not have to leave home and homeland like Abram to be faithful. We may simply need to recognize our own bad habits, that make it hard for us to be like the Christ, sharing interactive caring each and every day. 

The woman at the well is a woman; with a past, and a reputation, and a pretty healthy sense of herself. She did not have a whole load of ego baggage to keep her at a distance from the love of God in Jesus. 

Today I pray that we can learn to make peace with our real selves, and honor our legitimate needs. Then we might quiet our appetites, because it is not all about us, and respect the legitimate needs of others. It is only in the lives of the faithful, that the love of God can be shared, and doing so - we can hear the flow of the Living Water in the world today Amen. 

God In Every thought. Word and Deed

God in Every Thought, Word and Deed  

Genesis 12:1-4a 

John 3:1-17   

Change is hard. Change is so hard, that we ordinarily think of young people as an example of those who willingly choose to make changes in the their lives. We think of the excited young people choosing to go away to college, or join the military, and we see that as healthy and ordinary. 

Those of us who are more mature, often identify the major changes in our lives with losses, and most often with losses we cannot control. The big ones are; loss of a spouse, loss of our jobs, and the continual degradation of our health and vigor. These are changes that are accompanied in no small part with grief work. 

There are other changes that adults make that are distinctive in the exercise of choice and intention. Changing careers in response to a long held dream has seen an increase in this day and age. As the loyalty and benefits of living with the corporate world are so often less reliable than in the past, more people are choosing to follow their passions. Or sometimes we grow emotionally and intellectually and need to spread our wings. Martha and I belong to that category.

I told my pastor friends this week that the Hoy Spirit had given me a sermon to preach this Sunday, that would offer a persuasive new image of God. And more than simply understanding God in a new way, I would share how to be like Christ and nearer to God. As soon as this was preached, and posted on the blog on Tuesday, we may never need another sermon, and all of the pastors would be done. 

Abram had a close relationship with God. Please note, this is before any of the traditional kinds of religious structures were even imagined. God found a soul willing to be in relationship. Abram did not have to try to define his relationship with God to fit any preconceived notions or theories. God was just his partner in conversation, where Abram grew in wisdom and peace. And then God compelled Abram to set out and do something totally different, leave home without a clear destination or assurance. 

In John’s gospel we meet Nicodemus, who was a thoughtful and respected member of the inner circle in the Temple. He heard of Jesus, his preaching and acts of healing, and sought him out in the cover of the night. There is no point in advertising a new direction, when you are simply reaching out to see and understand. 

Jesus recognizes and respects Nicodemus. But he offers Nicodemus a teaching that sounds more like a logic riddle than it sounds like moral exhortation. Born from above, kingdom of heaven, kingdom of earth, language that does not fit into the constructs of faith as Nicodemus and the Temple knew them. This is an invitation to “see” a relationship with God in a whole new way. 

I frequently use the image of the Holy Spirit as the active and caring presence of God that passes between and among people of faith gathered together. I believe that this Spirit is most evident when we gather for worship, or simply gather at a church meeting, intent on honoring the gifts each person brings, and honoring the wisdom the Holy Spirit breathes into our conversation. We become more than ourselves, and wiser than our individual selves. 

In recent personal devotions, it has been suggested that I try to think of that interactive and caring Spirit as the very nature of God. If God is love, which is such a nice and tidy handle to use, God may indeed be characterized by interactive caring. When we honor the Spirit in our midst, our egos are reduced, and we become accessible to the person of God. 

This is a new way to think about who God is, and how then we can put ourselves in the presence of God. This allows us to reduce our reliance on the attributes of God the Father the Creator. The attributes of God the Almighty, eternal, all-powerful can be recognized as a projection of our own ego needs, and less a description of God. 

If we allow the model of the Christ in the gospel to physically express this interactive caring, and be less a projection of our desire to be /or be served by a super human savior, again projected from our own experience of needs, the presence of God seems so much more immediate, and available, less reliant on the boundaries of our own projections on a screen of heroic proportions.  

And you may be thinking, “Uh-oh, if Nicodemus was confused, this kind of talk is not helping make it clearer, Pastor Chuck.” Sorry about that. But you see, Lent is a time when we are intentionally allowing God to invite us to grow spiritually. And spiritual growth often comes meeting new ideas, and turning them over in our hearts, often in the cover of the night. 

It is in the setting of inviting the respected Nicodemus to know God in a new way, that Jesus intones those favorite verses, 3:16 and 3:17. 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” 

In 3:16 John says God so loved the world that he “gave his son.” In all of the other places in the New Testament, the language is more like “he sent his son.” Here the emphasis is on the incredible and boundless generosity of God. Even as human beings, we know the power of love to inspire us to acts of sacrifice for people we love. With God, this inspiration is magnified. It is expanded to the eternal dimension.  

3:17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” At the heart of 3:17 is a conflict with the presumption that we are unworthy sinners and beyond saving. But we are assured, God LOVES the world and PROVIDES eternal salvation. 

We confront the natural human condition to consider the limitations of our existence. We believe that we cannot afford to be generous, because there is not enough to go around. “If I give to others, I will not have more, and I want more - power, prestige, and possessions.” These are the attributes of our egos. 

God explodes the myth of scarcity by denouncing condemnation - in favor of love, sacrifice and eternal salvation. I listened to the test of the emergency siren that calls the volunteer first responders to face danger in service to the community. Let this gospel message act as an emergency siren in this house, calling the faithful to adopt a willingness to let an interactive caring be our typical response, acting in the image of the Christ, who demonstrates the model of God. 

Change is hard. But we do not have to abandon house and home like Abram in order to be faithful. We might need to learn to permit our sense of self to align closer to the divine model of interactive caring, and less bounded by the appetites of the ego. 

Nicodemus was encouraged to encounter a non-traditional image of God. This new image of God, provides new ways of being like the Christ, new ways of being in the world, and honoring the presence of God in ways that are much more readily available than we ever knew. 

We recognize now the presence of God does not require super human powers of superior prayer and discipline. God meets us more than halfway. God is everywhere. Let us incline our hearts to feel the presence of God, every time we demonstrate interactive caring; with every thought, word and deed. This changes our hearts and minds to be more like the Christ, in harmony with all the ways we have been singing the praises of God our whole lives long.

The whole “posture of confession” that is part of the theme this Lent - is letting the ego’s desire for “More” be replaced with interactive caring. To take our focus off of our own appetites and instead listen with care to others - does not seem like a big deal, or the stuff of Christian mystics. But in truth, it is an admission that God is THAT CLOSE to us every moment of every day. Here we see the symbolic “giving up chocolate for Lent” is an exercise in quieting our human appetites, and that would be valuable if it were coupled with intentional acts of listening with our hearts open, to the legitimate needs of others. 

Facing change does not need to be as scary as leaving home and homeland. The best change can be as easy as choosing to actively look for opportunities to “feel close” to God, as we care for others. These simple steps can provide great gains in our spiritual life, just like that! 

The “posture of confession” we seek in Lent, is allowing the image of God in our hearts to have a different, and more inviting form. The fear of change is replaced by our intentional focus on the legitimate needs and concerns of others, without first testing those needs against our own egos. We intentionally align our spirits with the Holy Spirit, that lives and breathes life into our interactions with God and neighbor. 

Thank you God for alerting us that you are so close. Thank you God for making it easy for ordinary people to draw near to you, this day, and every day, Amen.