Sermon January 3, 2010 Mt. 2:1-12, John 1:10-18

The Magi were magicians, maybe sorcerers, maybe astrologers. We get our word-magical-from their name. Unlike magicians who keep their tricks secret, they shared their gifts. We crave magic still-delight in the tricks. We picture them a kings, of differing ethnicity,due to conflating Ps.72 and Is 60, and that's where we get the camels in the manger scenes as well.. The were connected to power, but they did not hold power. they are looking for new power, the King of the Jews, a title which will be on the cross for the baby one day. they may think they are paying homage, but for Matthew it can also mean worship. Stars associated with rulers and Num. (24:17) star out of Jacob's (region of the sky) applied to a later Messianic claimant. They are filled with joy at their discovery. all of the gifts are expensive, with a variety of meanings. God works with anyone, poor shepherds or elegant magicians, and folds them into the story of restoration and redemption.

 

We find irony in the  God of Israel using pagan gifts. Who are we to tell God how to work? Right away, in the story of Jesus, God moves outward toward the world. Right away, even though they are mistaken, they become instruments, maybe unwitting, of the spread of the gospel. After all, their misunderstanding is superior to people who could have understood more clear about the in-breaking, the revelation, the shining light, of the new way of God in the world- if only they had eyes to see the light. Of course we have the murderous irony of Herod asking an innocent question with murder in his heart. These gentiles act on a dream, just as Joseph did and will again in the next scene. The darkness is ever-present threat. God works in the midst of real life, and God can use mistakes to work toward a vision for the world. God responds to success or failure in seeing the divine will reflected in daily life. I was speaking with someone convinced that if they don't find the exact right answer, then god will punish them. We find God's will exactly, in their view. No, in spite of our decisions, God's will is at work; sometimes in spite of our decisions and sometimes right along with them.

 

Logos means an idea, reason, plan, vision, logic. It is visible only in the humanity of Jesus.

Gift theology is a hot topic of late, and the gifts we give or receive can be gospel, good news for each other.  Some of the work done on theology and gift insists that it builds a bond between the giver and receiver. We rarely passively receive a gift without creating some feeling of loyalty to the giver.The gift of God through humanity was Jesus, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 says the Word, god's vision, dwelt among us. It may be related to the Hebrew word, shakan.that means tented, lived in. The Christmas season is always a good time to consider what we mean by this. God is at home here with us, in us, not outside of our condition as a passive observer, but actively engaged in our happiness and our struggles.

 

Sometimes the truth is right in front of us and we aren't able to see it. That's why light is such a powerful spiritual symbol. The fancier word for the visit of the Magi is -epiphany- to shine around; God's light was starting to reach the outer reaches of the known world. In Christmas hymns, we just sang of the sun of righteousness from Malachi. We picture a light bulb as an idea, as we move from darkness of unknowing or confusion to an insight.

 

May this dawn of a New Year shine brightly for us in hope. May our eyes be opened to see the best way to proceed. No matter our path, God is with us through our decisions, whether we are shepherds or Magi.

 

Jer.31:7-14-

1) For spiritual imagery, few things match the watered garden image of v. 12.

2) Here is one of the examples of mourning turning into joy (v.13)

3) Who has hands that seem too strong for us now? (v.11) Don't be afraid to make it a force, such as illness.

4) The feast images of v. 12 fit all of the parties during the season. Do our parties have this radiance? For that matter, does Communion? Notice that God is doing the feeding in v. 14.

5) Notice how v.13 gets everyone involved in the celebration.

6) The weeping of v. 9 could be the same cries of Mary and the baby as they run for their lives to Egypt in Mt. 2's account after the Magi.

 

 

The epiphany (shine around/about) readings, Is. 60:1-6, Ps. 72, are perhaps the classic examples of pulling together disparate materials to form a story, in this case the wise men. Where do the camels come from? See 60:4.How did they become kings instead of magi? See 60:3.How did they acquire ethnic characteristics? See 60:6 (Most Protestants don;t hold to the names given them).The reading mention at least some of the gifts, so early reading brought them into the Mt. 2 story.

I would note that the only place that I am aware of the three gifts in the same place is the collection of materials in Ex. 30 around the tabernacle instructions.

 

Ps. 72 emphasizes justice again, v.2,12-14

v.10 ethnic kings again with gifts,  gold in v. 15

 

One could use the light image ina variety of ways. The new movie avatar is carful in its use of light on the computer screen.

Adam Smith used this passage for his economics text.

Sermon Dec. 27, 2009 Lk. 2, Col. 3:12-17

Right after Christmas we see that Jesus grows up. Here here is demonstrating some powerful ability to discuss religious interpretation with elders in the great temple. So taken with the discussion, he loses track of time and stays back when his parents leave.The fears of responsibility are made so apparent here. Like any parents, Joseph and Mary are beset with so many awful possibilities when Jesus disappears. Even though this is Jesus, he remains obedient to them, the word has more of a sense of being under someone's authority. We do not know how long he stayed with them, or started out on his life when he turned thirteen. He's on the cusp of adulthood, so it does not have quite the terror it does of losing a small one in a big store.  CCHS select the attributes of the growing up of Jesus as the motto of the school to grow in wisdom and stature, in favor, or grace with God and others. This is the only place we hear of Jesus as a child after the infancy stories. He grows, just like us. Jesus needs to grow, not only  physically in in a cardinal virtue such as wisdom, Jesus develops into his calling.

 

Before this we meet two of my favorite characters Anna and Simeon. I picture them both as old, so they make a frame for the story of young and old alike. Like New Year's it represents the passing of one age, and the dawn breaking of a new age. Sometimes, we wonder if we will live to see a hoped for change. Simeon brings a mixed blessing. Just as in Mary's prayer, some will do well and some won't. Even Mary, the mother of the child, will not live outside the realm of trouble and pain.

 

As New Year's approaches, the idea of a new set of clothes as virtues is appealing image as the New Year's baby. A lot of us get some new clothes for Christmas presents. I think this is a takeoff on the new baptismal cloak to symbolize the death of the old and the birth of the new. Its rule on forgiveness is a great way to try to let go of the resentments that pole up during the past year. With what should we decorate our lives? The answer is kindness, gentleness, and compassion. the crowning touch in the outfit, what pulls the outfit together, is love. All these words deal with how we treat others. Kindness has the sense of kin, of family, as in kindred spirits. Gentleness in Greek can have the sense of being well-balanced, neither too hot nor too cold., neither a doormat nor someone who insists on their own way, as Paul has it in the love section of Corinthians.

 

I saw Up in the Air, as our daughters recommended it by saying 'this is really quite sad, Dad would like this." George Clooney plays a type of Scrooge, but he likes the solitude of travelling. Over the course of the movie, he changes some, most notably he starts to do acts of kindness for others, without regard for his own time and comfort. It seems to be a first for him. As he reflects on human nature, he realizes as he says, "it's good to have company, the best times in your life as usually with other people." The virtues of Colossians allow us to enjoy being with other people. It is rare that we have to fight for a principle. We often wish to fight over small things as a way of dealing with some other resentment. Some folks wish to deal with potential conflict by trying to run roughshod over others by control.

 

**

We presented the story Christmas Carol for adult class. As you all know, the spirits of Christmas past, present, and future appear to Scrooge. I'm going to use those as a way to organize the end of Luke's story, where Mary treasured and pondered them in her heart.

 

Scrooge discovered that he let love slip through his fingers as human love was replaced by greed. The thought unnerved him and began to open his cold, closed heart. Christmas past Mary retold the story every year when they remembered the birthday of Jesus. She always told the part where he didnt have a proper cradle, but was placed in a feeding place, the Manger. Christmas and memory are entwined. We create memories for others. I just talked with someone whose mind is starting to slip away. She repeated a lot, but how she described her Christmas memories, of taking a sleigh to the wooods to cut down a Christmas tree that was always too big, and her father's efforts to cut it to fit the ceiling of the house. Go back to some early Christmas memories, your role as a shepherd n a bathrobe, the time your angel wings almost caught fire, or a family tradition like watching It's a Wonderful Life or a Christmas Story.

 

Scrooge becomes more human when he views the warmth of his nephew's party and the love of his clerk's poor family. Scrooge realizes that he would like to try to help Tiny Tim live a longer life by letting go of some of his wealth. Imagine Mary with Jesus at 12, noticing some shepherds. Imgaine a Christmas angel passing through our time like the ending of Joyce's story, the Dead, could see a divorced father, a crowded dining room,a hospital room, a toddler delighted with a box. Christmas present doesn't measure up to the burnished memory, or the fantasy of the perfect Christmas we've created. This applies to church as well, to be expected to be carried off in a haze of spiritual fireworks and depth may well be expected too much. In its way, it is a denial of the Incarnation as it tells us to work with reality, the world as it is, a world in need of but on the road to restoration. This Christmas is the one we have. Emmanuel, God wth us, continues to enter into the fullness of the human situation.

 

Scrooge saw his own, unmourned death, and the impact that the death of Tiny Tim would have on the family of his clerk, Bob. He saw his precious things, like Golem's ring, pass into the hands of thieves. Imagine a Christmas future- Mary was older, her son gone to follow his calling, and she celebrates his birthday-but the prophecy comes to her- a sword would pierce your soul. The angels sang of peace. We still crave it. The angels form a choir instead of the militant host of an army.-imagine yourself older. Maybe you're seeing your great grandchildren for the first time. Chirstmas forms a vision of what the world should look like, a goal not easily attained but well worth pursuing. 

 

Treasure the time we have, not only the treasures we will soon receive.  Take some time to ponder the true Christmas miracle, the Incarnation. God's own vision for human life was enfolded within the human life of Jesus. In this way, the Incarnation then sanctified human life, or at least put it within a divine perspective, that cast new light on it daily. In one of my favorite carols, the Scrooge in all of us is addressed as we pary that we are reborn this day by having the dear child enter in, to have us all be the manger wherethe child is born in us today.

Two women make this scene, with two new lives within them. Two expectant relatives meet for the first time since their startling news of being with child. Churches like to have what they term living nativity scenes (Nativity means birth, of course).  Here are two living manger scenes talking to each other. I wonder how clear it was to them that the new lives they carried would create a vast change  for generations to come.  When I was little, one of the first prayers we learned was the Hail Mary. Its first words are drawn from Elizabeth's inspired greeting. Even early, religious language confused me. What did fruit of the womb mean? Elizabeth is certainly not blinded by pride with her miraculous conception, but she is able to see Mary as carrying a very special child as well. Their words carry  the narrative here; no male speaks. Of course, Zechariah is still mute, and Joseph is nowhere to be seen. God notices a lowly pair of women. God favors them both with a miracle. God hears the words of two women, often silenced in their day and time. One of the newer Christmas songs is "Mary Did You Know"  with some thoughtful lyrics. Two spring to mind: "when you kissed your baby boy you kissed the face of God, and the one you delivered would soon deliver us."

 

In her burst of praise for God, Mary doesn't express fears and doubts about being the mother of Messiah. Now she may well have done so over the years, but we are not privy to it. Mary slides from the personal to social. Like Hannah on the birth of Samuel, she sees herself as a representative of a people. She is the chosen instrument of a new future. Mary imagines a generous social realm, where Scrooge is transformed but so is the system that makes and rewards Scrooge. Mary imagines a world were the rich get a taste of their own medicine, but the poor, whom she terms the lowly, get more than their share for once.  God sees an invisible one, oppressed by invisible forces, the idea that human beings have some sort of right to violence and exploitation of those a rung below them on the social ladder. She sees mercy as an act of God to life people hope; the rich and well-born don't need much material help; they are already filled with good things./.

 

The words, to take Israel  by the hand, imagines a people still in childhood.. As their children grow, they will take them by the hand, to help, to guide, to lead, to protect. It has the sense of course that this old ethnic and religious group is still like a child.Even in the womb, the future John the Baptist has a connection to the arrival of Jesus. A major moment in expecting a child is when the baby kicks, but to say the child leaped in womb leaped for joy is a special connection. In its ancient roots, the word gladness refers to shining. That fits this season of craving light at the time when the days are so short.

 

Every generation faces a time pregnant with meaning and change, where we are expectant for something. With the election of President Obama, we take a new direction as a country. Christmas, though, is intensely personal for us, and we anticipate what it means and brings. Mary, did you know that people would be gathered in church over 2,000 years later, in a country you did not knew existed, would gather together and read of you? Mary did you know that the fruit of your womb would continue to bear fruit for all of these years. Mary did you know, that we would celebrate the birthday of your baby boy as Christmas all of these years later?

 

 

Is.9:2-7 Ist Cut

1) REB has the last line of v. 2 read dwellers in a land as dark as death. I think of Mordor.

2) How is every birth a sign of hope. Note hope, not certainty, not optimism.

How does joy get increased (v.2)?

3) Not everyone is familiar with farming. In v. 3 what would be analogies to joy at the harvest.

4) v.6 The translation is has been born to us. This bothers folks who want this to be precisely predictive of the Messiah.

5) For Christians the royal titles get reformed in light of Christmas and Handel's Messiah.

6) I love v. 5's future sense that combat boots and bloody clothes will be used for a funeral pyre for oppression

7) Day of Midian I would assume refers to Gideon in  Jdg. 6-8

8) government is a tough translation, due to its rarity, so authority works well in NRSV. It has a sense of the burden of office, maybe some symbol is being referred to in royal regalia.

 

Is. 52:7-10

1) The angelic messenger brings word of peace. Publishes salvation, in an internet age, it acquires new potency.

2)Sing for joy 2x, like the stones of Jerusalem for Jesus, even the ruins will sing

3) Where do we wish to see the bared arm of God right now? How did the Incarnation change that expectation, if at all? Even here, the bared arm brings peace, comfort, and redemption.

4) The Zion watchmen are presaging the sight for everyone.

 

Ps. 96 Sing a new song to the Lord. Why would one sing a new song? Notice that at the end of this and 98, nature itself sings, a la Joy to the World. Ps. 148 continues the thme, with texcellent addition of sea monsters. If you wished, this would be a good place to introduce chaos v. creation motifs. Raising up a horn=raising up the standard of power, here it is reconfigured for us as the Messiah, Jesus.

 

I really don't knwo what to do with the piece about Hannah, other than to note that her prayer is almost a template for the Magnificat.

Dec. 20-We read the story of Mary today. Another lectionary reading is the famous quote from Micah on the place of the Messiah's birth. Bethlehem is still a hamlet. God does not always work with the large. God can work through the small to inaugurate a great work. We carry a Bethlehem inside of us; each one of us does.Our very lives are a manger for Christ to rest.

 

Monday- In the new Christian Century, Rodney Clapp ends his piece with this quote by the Blumhardt's (father and son) "our prayers are hammer strokes against the bulwarks of the princes of darkness; they must be oft repeated. Many years can pass by...before a breakthrough occurs. No single hit is ever wasted, if they are continued the most secure wall must finally fall. Then the glory of God will have a clear path to stride forth with healing and blessing for the wasted fields of mankind."

Where can you imagine that your hammer blow of prayer finds its easiest and most difficult object?

 

Tuesday Calvin on the Incarnation- "Jesus Christ is our mediator. We can know Jesus familiarly as one of ourselves. No one can be perplexed where to seek the Mediator, or how to reach him. He is near to us, no, contiguous to us, as one of our flesh.The proximity was near enough, the affinity strong enough, for us to see God dwelling with us." (Inst. 2.12.1, order edited)

 

Wednesday-The holidays can be difficult for the bereaved. I don't think pushing them out of one's mind is all that helpful. Perhaps  better is to admit you miss them and make a ritual, a letter, a special ornament, a memorial for them. Include your grief in your prayers, even at table grace. that way, the looming aura of absence is addressed and it loses some of its potency.

 

Christmas Eve-We are to light luminaries for tonight. A girl, maybe already older than Mary was, will sing O Holy Night. In our house, we eat when the first star appears at night. I don't know if anything can live up to the expectations that encompass this night. I'm glad that so many churches allow us to worship together tonight. May your time with family have a worshipful cast to it, so that your gathering has a semblance of Communion to it.

 

Christmas-For me Silent Night always applies a bit to this day. Just as I always think of Good Friday as cloudy and gloomy, I think of this day as peaceful quiet, even when the kids are ripping away at presents. When I was little, I would always go out at some point to luxuriate in the silence, especially if the only sound was the snow or sleet hitting my coat, or the runners of a sled going downhill. Christmas quiet is a peaceful spirit that knows Emmanuel, God with us.

 

Saturday-Do not let this day after Christmas take the spiritual wind out of your sails.With some of the business done, maybe you can actually give yourself the gift of time to reflect on Christmas. Some folks have a celebration today, as the needs for the families require. I always admire the generosity of folks who don't insist that their family must, must be there at a certain day and time. In that sense, we are not bound to the exact date on a calendar, so we can carry the spirit of Christmas no matter the date. Some things, such as family visits, are not at our control. the spirit we carry to our families is available to us, even the day after Christmas.

The worst part of Christmas stress is that it is often self-imposed. With the explosion of TV channels, the Food Network gives us hours of menus we could not hope to try to emulate. Perhaps the best antidote to holiday stress is to adjust our expectations. Really, after 30 years, do you think that the in-laws will suddenly turn gracious and sane just for this one week? All of a sudden you'll find that you like Aunt Clara's carrot-cranberry noodle pudding? Do we have to accept the illusion of making a perfect Christmas? Some folks bring themselves to expect that a perfect present is possible, and then, we poor gift-givers are treated to disappointment when the wrapping is ripped away. Of course, what law requires the recipient to go overboard in the face of a present for the benefit of the giver, anyway?

 

A good way to start to move away from the self-focus of Christmas disappointment is to look outward. Consider scaling back a bit, instead of succumbing into adding to the holiday needs. Then, use the time to help the community. Consider pulling back a bit from the gift list and donating he money to, say, the Cheer Fund. If it is difficult to get into the spirit of the season, consider the arts. We've been doing a class on A Christmas Carol as a guide to spiritual life. A Christmas Treasury has lots of poems and stories to get at the moods of Christmas. Music may move us from being Scrooge to someone capable of giving and receiving holiday cheer.

 

Of course, some stressors are not self-imposed, especially holiday grief. Instead of denial or keeping the absence of the loved one unspoken, it may be wiser to admit that we miss them at this time of year. that will reduce the tendency to make the holidays another memorial service, or to allow the absence to cast the sole, heavy pall over the season. Sympathies and compassion get awakened in this season, so tears may flow more copiously than usual. In other words, if we face the absence; we don't expend a lot of psychic energy pushing it away. In spite of the loss, we can find more room inside to be able to celebrate.

 

A Biblically inspired imagination reminds us that the Holy Family must have suffered  some serious Christmas stress, before we had the word Christmas.  She takes a look at the manger and says "I guess it could be worse." Can't you hear Mary wondering aloud why they have no place to stay, or why Joseph didn't get directions to Bethlehem? Think of the pressure on these new parents to be caring for the Messiah? Tragedy,well. terror in Bethlehem, almost immediately followed the visit of the Magi in Matthew's gospel. They were forced into exile in Egypt, uncertain of when they could return home.They had an \most decidedly imperfect Christmas.

 

Maybe that is one of the lessons of the Incarnation. God's own incarnate love for us is present in a most imperfect world. Lighting a candle in the darkness is the essence of Christmas lights. Christmas is the birthday of Emmanuel, God with us, not only in joys and sorrows, in times bad or good, but with us in our own human, creaturely condition. God moves from sympathy to empathy at Christmas, for Jesus had to learn to walk before he could walk in our shoes. Christmas opens the human task of making the world of proper place for a Messiah to live, to work with that saving power to make human life worth living. God waits fr our gift, to make love clear, at least once more.

Phil. 4:4-7, Zeph. 3:14-20 December 13, 2009 Sermon

 

Rejoicing is the link in our readings this morning. With all of the early decorations and endless Christmas music, I fear I become a bit of a Scrooge as I feel that we impose a feeling of holiday joy instead of inviting people into it. I don't like being told what or how I should feel. I trust those feelings when they emerge naturally. I went to Saralyn's Phi Beta Kappa banquet on Tuesday night, so I got to see a lot of parents bursting with pride at the academic achievements of their children. the prolonged applause for them wasn't forced, but an outgrowth of beaming esteem. I like to think of God often bursting with pride at our lives. 

 

Zephaniah's name may have the sense of God sheltering us.  Yes, we can be  in difficult times, but it does not always have to be that way. End times vision give purpose, a goal, a compass point to our travels. When your heart gets broken, you are engulfed by the sheer weight of pain. You cannot imagine that you will feel better again. You will. One day you will be able to rejoice again, to see the rainbow and not only the rain, again. Ministry needs a future orientation, beyond the brute tyranny of the way things are but imagine the way things could or should be. Is v. could be, what if. It is good not to live in the future, but the future does give us direction and energy to work toward its shape. Bonhoeffer said "the will of God is not a system of rules established at the outset, but a living will, the grace of God that is new every morning." 

 

I love this image of God rejoicing, even singing a song over us. think of it . God rejoices over you.  Is it classical or country, Mozart or Mellencamp? Does heaven sing Christmas carols? God rejoices over us when we are doing good, and for the sheer unique fact of your existence.I sometimes picture God as basically disappointed in me and the church in general, so I would picture God singling laments or the divine equivalent of a break up song. Does the music have words? What type of music is it?  So then, when does God sing the blues? Song lifts us beyond mere prose; the music lifts us to a different place. The translation in the next line is uncertain. The NIV has God to quiet us, like a mother soothing a hurt child, there, there, or is God quiet, silent, by no longer issuing condemnation, or even the quiet of people comfortable with each other? In the Greek translation it is renewing in God's love? How does that work? Does Advent serve to renew God's love? Maybe in our tired struggles to stay afloat instead of being overwhelmed, we get the strength we need when we no longer can do it all on our own.

 

In Phil. 4:4-7-the rejoice command fits the turn to a new phase in Advent and the lighting of the pink candle It's repeated. Can one rejoice in the midst of troubles? I don't know how that works, except that we continue to look for the good portions of life even in the midst of difficult times.  My sense is that Paul sees   prayer as giving us perspective that our troubles are not the only thing in our lives. As a virtue to deal with troubles, Paul recommends gentleness=magnanimity/generosity/ being considerate. Prayer works against against anxiety/worry-We certainly can hear those words in the face of the pressures of the season to try to make a perfect Christmas, or the best Christmas ever. Total well-being is the meaning of peace here. In all of life is in prayers, that includes thanksgiving,  So we can cover all of the holiday activity with prayer and see them as enacted prayers.

Micah 5:2-5  second cut

1)As usual in apocalyptic  pieces, this description of a better future is in contrast to issues of punishment and judgment.

2) Of course, one could emphasize that the immense god is one who seems to like to work at small scale. One could talk of the "butterfly effect"

3) I don't know why mosel=ruler is used and not king. Still God reigns, not kings.

4) The shepherd imagery is often used for leaders. This time he will be a "good shepherd.'

5) In history this goes back to David, around 300 years. Christians see it as taking 700 years to come to pass. I see a tinge of exilic material here, but that will not happen for some time, unless we are seeing some insertions over time.
6) I tend to read this less as direct prophecy of Jesus and more in line with the apocalyptic themes in 4:9-10, for instance, as Paul does in Rom. 8 It uses the pain of birth as a prelude to a miracle to come.

7) One could look at Bethlehem, house of bread. A then and now approach could work. One could plumb its association with David and Ruth

December 6-Let's deal with one of our neglected readings from today, Phil. 1:3-11. It's a good reading for the time after Thanksgiving, as Paul says that he tanks God for the church there. . Look at v.6 about the completion of good work in you on the day of Jesus Christ. Notice that Paul transform the day of the Lord from the OT into the day of Jesus Christ with no fanfare. For whom are you thankful in your life? Do you tell them that? Who is thankful for your life? Are you told? 

 

Monday- Calvin on Mt. 1:20 when Joseph is considering his position: "We see at this very point that God aids his people.When it appears that God does not observe our cares and distresses, we are under his eye. How slow or late God's assistance may be thought to be, it is for our advantage that it is delayed."

 

Tuesday-Our resistance to seeing Jesus as fully human is revealed when we think of him as a child. We may stumble on young Jesus learning to walk and talk and read. Somehow we figure that the divinity within obviated the need to learn those things. It is good to read the hymn in Phil. 2, where "Christ emptied himself." We can ever come to grips with the reality of the Incarnation, of two natures and one person somehow being integrated, but it is certainly worth prayerful consideration.

 

Wednesday-We don't have many Advent hymns, but look at verses 2 and 3 of O Come Emmanuel (God with us Is 7:14). " O come thou Dayspring (Job 38:12, Lk.1:78) come and cheer/our spirits by Thine advent here/Disperse the gloomy clouds of night/and death's dark shadows put to flight/ 3) O come Desire of nations (Hag.2:7)  bind/all peoples to thy heart and mind/bid envy,strife and discord case/fill the whole world's with heaven's peace"

 

Thursday-A Christmas Treasury has a section from Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. A Mexican woman is enslaved to a Protestant family from Georgia. They hate Catholics, so they forbid her from going to church. She sneaks out on a frigid night and encounters the archbishop who lends her his cloak. they pray together. she returns the cloak but he is able to press a medal on her, all the better as she cannot read. When have you felt the need to pray when it may have proved dangerous, at least risky? Do you have an emblem of the faith that means much to you? What does your Nativity scene look like, if you have one at home?

 

Friday-By the time of Jesus, the image of shepherd as suffered with failed leaders and in the occupation itself. So, it is a surprise to have shepherds be the first recipients and speakers of the gospel. Of course, the gospel reaches the most unlikely people, people who resemble us, or better, the gospel is directed toward us, failed leaders, failed shepherds, all bit shiftless and suspect. If you were writing a Christmas movie, what unlikely people would be the carriers of the good news?

 

Saturday-How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb at church? ...What do you mean change it, my family donated that light bulb"? Advent is all about keeping alert to impending change or our eyes fixed on the changes that must come for human society to become better, to catch a glimpse of them now.

December 13-Lk. 3:7-18 wasn't read in church today, but it is part of the lectionary on john the Baptist as the opens who prepares the way for Jesus.. The Baptist talks social justice in v. 10, even the poor should share with one another clothing and food. In v. 18 Luke says he preached good news, gospel. It sounds  fairly strict. How was it good news? For whom was it good news? What good news should we, who are more comfortable, hear? What do you need to hear?

 

Monday-Calvin on Lk. 2:7-"When Jesus was thrown in a stable, and placed in a manger, and a lodging refused him among people, it was that heaven might be opened to us, not as a temporary lodging, but as our eternal country and inheritance, and that angels might receive us into their abode." I don't generally see Calvin as someone appreciative of irony, but here it is. If I read him correctly, he wants us to use the Nativity scene as a starting point, not a goal for our spiritual lives.

 

Tuesday- When to be tender, when to be tough? I am thinking of Zechariah speaking of God's tender mercies. It is a matter of the art of discernment when to demonstrate tough love and when to be tender. Pushed too far, or using one at the wrong time, can have effects opposite of what we desire.We probably would do well to keep those sides in balance as we look at god's dealings with us, even as they seem to lean toward the tender side.

 

Wednesday-We don't know if Bethlehem had inns at the time of Jesus. The word, kataluma, has the sense of way station or rest area, a break from the journey. The word appears in the infancy story but also at the end of the life of Jesus, where it is the "upper room" of the Lord's supper. In the first use, no room was to be had. In the second, Jesus opens up room for everybody.

 

Thursday- As you know, I look to children's books for worship time with young people. here's a quote from a new one, Voices of Christmas by Nikki Grimes on Anna. "I have welcomed the serene routine of prayer, fasting, and worship in the temple for sixty years....I glimpse his sparkling eyes and my withered hand flies to my chest." Anna waited a long time to see the embodiment of the hopes of Israel. Here the prophet sees the present reality of God's plans coming into sharp focus.

 

Friday-Lots of people set up Christmas decorations right after thanksgiving this year. So, it makes it harder to deal with Advent themes of preparation for Christmas when the culture has Christmas songs going before Advent even starts. the trick is in not letting the decorations take over the spirit of the season. How do we combine the yearning of a child for Christmas into a spiritual yearning for a better world? A Christmas gathering acts as a foretaste of the spiritual joy of Christmas.

 

Saturday- From a poem in Weavings, Heather Murray Elkins on the Magnificat (Mary's great prayer in Lk. 1). ""Nothing's as soft as a young mother's song/ Who but God could trust it/ to sustain creation with a thin thread of breath?/...Nothing's as strong as a young mother's song/ vowels of the gospel start her. Think of the enormous risk god was taking in entrusting the Savior of all to a young woman from Nazareth. think of the risk for continuing creation God gives to each of us with children. Imagine Mary singing a lullaby to baby Jesus. Imagine Jesus singing a lullaby to us.

Sermon Dec. 6, 2009 Lk. 1:68-78 mal. 3:1-5

Advent is a time of waiting in the dark, where the light of love is obscured by violence, in its variety of terrible shapes and guises. All of us continue to live under the shadow of death, in mortality and as a nation. The president with his Nobel Peace Prize announced another troop increase in Afghanistan, with a date to start to remove them. I sincerely pray that this will be a path toward peace, but I fear that we are throwing more blood and treasure down the drain. Zechariah's prayer spoken under Roman occupation,  is certainly appropriate to our day and time. I have long loved the words, tender mercies. in a tough world, we certainly need the tender mercies of heaven, to ease our way through.

 

In a dark time, Zechariah's prayer sees the private matter of a surprise birth as a harbinger of a change for the people of Israel, a multi-layered salvation. His prayer is one from the side of the underdog, more sinned against than sinning. The prayer get more and more specific as it moves toward his new son. Zechariah strikes me a a thoughtful person. of course, he's had time to think, as he has been struck mute during the pregnancy of Elizabeth. He sees deeper meaning behind the birth of John.The birth of John is a signal flare that a new day is coming. The hymn, O Come Emmanuel, speaks of a dayspring, instead of the more pedestrian dawn. It's the dawn of a better days, that sees signs of tender mercies, of forgiveness, of light in the darkness of trouble.

 

Malachi means my messenger or my angel. He too awaits a messenger to bring news of a change. Our passage is directed at the people's complaints that life is not fair. Malachi's messenger is turned into John the Baptist or Jesus by Handel. God is wearied by a mixture of personal and social sins. The image is different here. God's judgment is portrayed in terms of removing impurity or stain, refining metal or doing laundry. Judgment is directed against improper worship. It reminds me of the priestly Messiah of the Dead Sea Scrolls where the temple would be cleansed; think of how Jesus cleansed the temple in the gospels. When worship is purified then judgment will be directed against  public sins, sins that stain social foundations and institutions. Older cultures often saw sin as polluting or staining the community. When I would stain something, my mother would tend to its cleaning and say, "it's like it's as good as new." Here, the judgment is directed against the destructive, corrosive effects of social evils, but it is not annihilation but a clean-up operation. Social sins affect the quality of our lives together. A better world would remove those blights that keep human life from flourishing. 
 

To close, we can take a clue from the name of the Scripture, Malachi, my messenger or my angel. Our lives are messages about the Christian life. They broadcast our commitments, worship-our sins-our prayers. When people gathered at the Methodist church and brought 75 meals to the jail, they were angels with food. Two folks, Carol and Joann, who have done Bible Study as the Lake Santee group with Marilyn as long as we have been doing it, took off on Thursday as they had to prepare a 75 person meal for Tony Miller's funeral. Right around Thanksgiving two people were ringing bells for the Cheer Fund at LoBill/Marsh on Main St. Their message announces paths of peace and tender mercies. What we choose to do with our time announces to heaven and earth what gospel mesage we want to publicize or waht bad news we prefe to shout from the rooftops.

Zeph. 3:14-20

 

1) Since this is not in the top ten of biblical books, let's do a little background. the preface says that this is in the time of he reformer Josiah, but before his disastrous loss to the Egyptians in 609, by the way, in Megiddo. Josiah may have put a form of Dt. as an important biblical text. Soon Assyria will get theirs (2:13-15)

2)  This ending is a good example of apocalyptic being a message for losers. When Israel was on top, we don't hear this kind of speech. Having lost faith in their own power, they look again for a repeat of the Red Sea episode.

3) Notice with the last point, how much concern there is for the weak. Under threat, they return to an appreciation of the ethics of say, Dt. 15, that emphasizes concern for the weak.
4) v. 17 is a wonderful evocation of God's joyful love, a good image of spirituality and a fine sermon image. the renewal line could also be " hold his peace in his love" 17b reads god will be silent in his love or renew you (Sept reading) or quiet you

5) This (vv18-20) is a good example of the textual journey. How could this all be written in Josiah's time, when the end supposes an exilic time?

6) Notice that this is not a deist conception; God v. 15 is in their midst.some see a temple basis for this section in liturgy.

7) His name means God has hidden/kept a secret, or protects. That certainly fits the end times. Zephaniah is a prophet who expect the Day of the Lord soon (1:14) ben cushi could mean that as a son of Cush he could be African.

 

Is. 12

10 Some think that this closes the section of the book with a song of thanksgiving for an individual and the community.

2) What doe sit mean to draw water from the wells of salvation/ What other metaphors could one use? Apply it to the water images of the NT.

3)The temple Mt. Zion is a spatial center of Isaiah in general.

4) We don't talk much about God's anger, at least in mainline churches or in the contemporary services that I've suffered through. How could we speak in convincing ways of God's anger turning away and becoming comfort instead? What human responses are similar to this change of heart?

 

 

Sermon Frist Sunday Advent 2009 Lk. 21:35-46, Jer. 33:10-16

Both readings look toward a new day, better days and both reflect on the fall of Jerusalem, the political and religious center of Israel.  Jeremiah looks at the fall of Jerusalem and assures his readers that better days have to come.Destruction would not be the final word for Jerusalem, nor would exile.  Luke has Jesus taking a classic apocalyptic posture where the shaking of the cosmos reflects the coming of something new and big. Both dream of a dawning day of redemption. Would Luke have Jesus make a clearly obvious timing mistake, or is it more likely that he and his readers saw the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of its newly refurbished temple was an apocalyptic sign?  I think Luke may be telling us that all of Luke's readers live in end times, as we can look beneath terror and know that it is not the last word. Paul Tillich entitled his first volume of sermons, the shaking of the foundations, as he saw the upheavals of the middle of the 20th Century  as events that shook the way we look at life, a mental and spiritual earthquake if you will.

 

Jeremiah sees the destruction of Jerusalem as a reversal of creation, where chaos and emptiness reign again. Would God start over, or would it be left as a ruin? I saw that the ship New York sailed  with material salvaged from the 9/11 attacks.We have images of the new coming from the old. The mythical Phoenix rises from the ashes. In Jeremiah, a branch emerges from a dried up old stump as the sign of new life in the face of the worn out and exhausted. Life is persistent; its urge to continue is powerful. Yes, the old do die out, but the new is being born before our very eyes. Christians read this piece with reference to Jesus, the son of David. A different kind of Davidic messiah emerged. We should be more careful when we think we can read the Bible as precise prophecy.

 

End times readings tend to be concerned with the ordering of human life much more than issues of individual salvation. As the new church years begins, we are pushed into seeing, as King said, where the long arc of the universe is bending toward justice and right relations. Communion is a great vehicle to consider this, as I bow to the wisdom of session in selecting this as a Communion Sunday. Communion itself that is a gift born from tragedy. Jesus reworked the Passover of death and the movement to freedom into a sacrament that both remembers his death but his passing over into resurrection and new life. Advent is a liminal time, and Communion is a liminal act, on the boundary between heaven and earth. Like a Thanksgiving meal, everybody in the family is included, but here we don't have a children's table. Everyone is given the same spiritual food and drink, more than they need. Scarcity is not an issue; distribution is not an issue. Here, everyone get more than they deserve or need. The Advent theme is to keep alert. Our eyes soon grow tired scanning the horizon. One benefit of Communion is that it keeps us alert; it keeps our eyes open. It helps us to discern the hand of God in events and people during our days. God often seems obscure. Communion is an apocalyptic unveiling, as we look beneath the surface of bread and cup and find Jesus Christ. As we await the Second Advent, the gift of Communion opens us up to the reality of the gift of the Incarnation, the first Advent. The generous god who shares Creation with us, also shares the very divine life with us in Jesus. The patient God gives us a glimpse of what human life can and should be this morning. we get the presence of the living Christ as a present to get ready for Christmas.

Thorton Wilder said that "we are truly alive when our hearts are conscious of our treasure." We often speak of the blessings of this country on Thanksgiving.  We say how blessed our country is, but nations rise and fall, but they do not ever approach the reign of God. It lifts one's position to realize that the powerful do not possess ultimate power. In our lifetime, the Soviet Union fell.  Prayers such as Nehemiah 9 rehearse the history of Israel. He is grateful for creation and the gift of life,of God's compassion for our many needs, the gifts of land, and God's hearing of prayer and patience.We can grab moments of history of our own land, over 400 years of European settlement.. Almost after founding Jamestown, we sullied a paradise with slaves. The Pilgrims came, as would others for religious freedom. In time, we threw off our colonial masters and as Paine said, we have it in our power to begin the world over again. We expanded at terrible coast to the Indians and the social plague of slavery needed in horrific bloodshed. For the last hundred years, we have been a world power, defeated Hitler and been defeated. Still, we stand as a beacon of hope and freedom for billions.Some see the hand of God quite visibly in our history; while others may see it more as a hidden hand behind the scenes of human events. He is grateful for the connection, the unbreakable connection between God and God's people. I would add the connection between God and seedtime and harvest, as we say and sing at this time of year.

 

It's been said that thanksgiving requires memory. Can we be grateful for things we have forgotten, or all of those things that pass by unnoticed? Cameron wrote "nothing is possessed unless it is appreciated." I hope that we take a bit of time out from food and football, especially since the afternoon games don't promise much, to make a small inventory of gratitude, maybe in increments of years of one or five or seven.What are some memories of Thanksgiving past? What are some treasures that rise to your awareness this evening? I remember trying to walk off a big dinner, so that I could eat more for a supper of leftovers and my favorite, hot turkey sandwiches. I walked by a house ablaze with light, as a family was gathered around a large dining room table with their heads bowed for grace, like a living Norman Rockwell painting. Every year, my mother would tell us her hypothesis that all of the ovens caused a minor brownout, so that's why the turkey was taking longer than she thought it should, notwithstanding that it hadn't thawed when it had been placed in the oven. There's a Thanksgiving memory: numb hands trying to loosen frozen goodies from the cavity of the bird, after trying to get the roasting pan out from the back of the cupboard without waking the whole house..

 

Unknown blessing are on the way. That, too,  is a test of spiritual life, to be grateful for blessings not yet seen. It is a mark of our view of God and human life,, if we expect things to go downhill or to possess a mixture of good and bad, with plenty of surprises in between. What would you love to be grateful for next year at this time? What would you like to see more evident in our communities, even our country? Prayer does indeed affect the future and we will find a future filled with good things and people, expected and unexpected. To say grace is to give thanks, whenever we feast together.

Thorton Wilder said that "we are truly alive when our hearts are conscious of our treasure." We often speak of the blessings of this country on Thanksgiving.  We say how blessed our country is, but nations rise and fall, but they do not ever approach the reign of God. It lifts one's position to realize that the powerful do not possess ultimate power. In our lifetime, the Soviet Union fell.  Prayers such as Nehemiah 9 rehearse the history of Israel. He is grateful for creation and the gift of life,of God's compassion for our many needs, the gifts of land, and God's hearing of prayer and patience.We can grab moments of history of our own land, over 400 years of European settlement.. Almost after founding Jamestown, we sullied a paradise with slaves. The Pilgrims came, as would others for religious freedom. In time, we threw off our colonial masters and as Paine said, we have it in our power to begin the world over again. We expanded at terrible coast to the Indians and the social plague of slavery needed in horrific bloodshed. For the last hundred years, we have been a world power, defeated Hitler and been defeated. Still, we stand as a beacon of hope and freedom for billions.Some see the hand of God quite visibly in our history; while others may see it more as a hidden hand behind the scenes of human events. He is grateful for the connection, the unbreakable connection between God and God's people. I would add the connection between God and seedtime and harvest, as we say and sing at this time of year.

 

It's been said that thanksgiving requires memory. Can we be grateful for things we have forgotten, or all of those things that pass by unnoticed? Cameron wrote "nothing is possessed unless it is appreciated." I hope that we take a bit of time out from food and football, especially since the afternoon games don't promise much, to make a small inventory of gratitude, maybe in increments of years of one or five or seven.What are some memories of Thanksgiving past? What are some treasures that rise to your awareness this evening? I remember trying to walk off a big dinner, so that I could eat more for a supper of leftovers and my favorite, hot turkey sandwiches. I walked by a house ablaze with light, as a family was gathered around a large dining room table with their heads bowed for grace, like a living Norman Rockwell painting. Every year, my mother would tell us her hypothesis that all of the ovens caused a minor brownout, so that's why the turkey was taking longer than she thought it should, notwithstanding that it hadn't thawed when it had been placed in the oven. There's a Thanksgiving memory: numb hands trying to loosen frozen goodies from the cavity of the bird, after trying to get the roasting pan out from the back of the cupboard without waking the whole house..

 

Unknown blessing are on the way. That, too,  is a test of spiritual life, to be grateful for blessings not yet seen. It is a mark of our view of God and human life,, if we expect things to go downhill or to possess a mixture of good and bad, with plenty of surprises in between. What would you love to be grateful for next year at this time? What would you like to see more evident in our communities, even our country? Prayer does indeed affect the future and we will find a future filled with good things and people, expected and unexpected. To say grace is to give thanks, whenever we feast together.

Week One Advent Devotions 2009

 

November 29-Advent arrives. More than 1500 years ago, the church waited for six weeks before January 6th, Epiphany. In time it was shortened to four Sundays before Christmas and its focus included the Second Advent (arrival) of Christ, along with preparing for the First Advent, Christmas. I like to see it as a time to prepare, getting the Christmas list together; it should be a time to prepare for another celebration of the Incarnation, of God's own being united to a human life.

Monday-The Second Coming of Christ is an indicator of how we read Scripture and how we follow traditions. Without realizing it, many Christians follow the teachings of Darby from 1829, as in the Tim LaHaye series, and his influence of the notes of the Scofield Bible. Its an attempt to try to put passages into a sequence that is thought to be a divine itinerary. From paul, they predict a physical "rapture" (as in raptor) of the church off into heaven to avoid the trials of the last days, again seen as physical events. Scripture does speak of chaos in the last days, but it also almost always speaks of hope and transformation in the same passages.

 

Tuesday-With the 500th birthday year of John Calvin coming to a close, I thought I'd include quotes from him this Advent season. In his look at Luke 2 and the decree to go to Bethlehem, he says "the holy servants of God, even though they wander form their designs, still keep the right path, because God directs their steps. It was accomplished by a wonderful Providence of God that a registration by Augustus would  have them arrive in Bethlehem at the very point of time (needed.) 

 

Wednesday-Is a dream alive when it doesn't come true? What are some unrealized personal dreams that cause you some pain? What are some dreams that have been reached? Even with our quick move to realize that time for God is not time for us (a day is like a thousand years) it does seem that 2,000 years is a long time to await the Second Coming, especially when its quick movement seemed to be expected.What would you like to see the way of God changing in the way the world?

 

Thursday-Malachi 4 closes our version of the Old Testament, from the Greek translation. It looks toward "the Day" in a mixture of fear and hope. While the wicked will be gone, the good will see "the sun of righteousness with healing in its wings." The Bible is bold enough to borrow the images of other religions if they give glory to the God of Israel.

 

Friday-Weavings magazine's theme is "Where is Your God?" Its editor says that the self-concealment of God  reaches its most concentrated expression when God chooses to dwell with us in the opacity of human flesh. God seems to be constantly before our eyes and  yet consistently shielded from view." God is in our very seeing, making possible a depth of vision that the darkness of suffering cannot dim." 

 

Saturday-We have all seen too much bloodshed in our lives.Advent is a great time to consider where we do encounter the Prince of Peace within our lives. Why do so many of us thrill to battle and grow bored with moves toward peace? At the same time, I wonder  about churches issuing calls for peacemaking among nations, when they are riven with mistrust and infighting?

 

 

 

Malachi 3:1-4

1) this section answers the question at 2:17.

2)Is messenger human or an angel, especially since the name of the book is that of my messenger? Is the messenger a purifier of the temple, a la Dead Sea Scrolls and then God comes in v. 5? Dating of this passage is uncertain, but most place it in the Persian period.

3)Is the day of coming justice or judgement or both? How one translates this indicates how one sees the Day of the Lord.

4) Is the messenger like that of Isaiah 40:3 paving the way for the great king?

5)Some hear an echo to Ex. 23:20

6) the temple is once again the portal for the presence of God

7) Reflect on your acceptance or rejection of the image of refining as suffering.How do you see purification here and elsewhere? does the metaphor work well today? If so, why? If not, why not?

8) I'm uncertain if the offerings are in righteousness (right relations) or right offerings.

9) Notice that intent may well be indicative if an offering is pleasing. Note then it is not legalistic.

10) How much do you want to bring this into line with Advent themes? Certainly the gospels line up the messenger with john the Baptist.

 

Christ the King 2009 Dt. 17, Ezek.34

Christ the King Sunday marks the end of the church year, even though a lot of us don't mark it with particular force. I always have trouble with the very name, king, in a democratic country. My trouble is really the same trouble as the Scriptures have, because their experience of kingship was rarely positive. More to the point, their leaders consistently failed their faith and their people. As Advent looms, we are asked to think about the kind of world we have and how to get to a better one. This includes a change in individual behavior, but it also depends on changes in the way we organize our live stogether in socieity.

 

The Dt. passage is a prophecy of kingship or an insertion from an age when disappointment with kings became obvious. Kingship started out of imitation and fear of other nations, resulted in empire, then fell into a continual burden on the people. The messianic hope was one where finally a good king would emerge. We can have little doubt that Ezekiel's vision is in the experience of exile. Having seen kings fail over and over, the vision still has reason to hope for a different future. Ezekiel imagines that the new kingship will look out for the public interest, the interest of the whole flock, not just a few. Leadership won't be taken as a license to gain personal advantage at the expense of the public good. It looks toward a time when public servant would be a reality, but here it is God who will intervene to change things for the better. In that way, messianic hope is born of human disappointment and failure..

 

The nature of divine power/rule is not only one type. Just as people in the time of Jesus expected a certain type of rule with a political messiah, we have not changed too much in our expectations. We want God to directly intrude on the political decisions. Instead of being guided by Scripture we mew about putting up big statues of the 10 Commandments. We want God's power to be directed against our enemies and to give us a dose of miracles. If anything, the messiahship of Jesus should show us that it is long past time for us to move away from such a childish definition of power. Divne power gets pictured as help, of rescue. That certainly is advanced by Jesus and healing, but Jesus not not force, coerce, control. God works from all sides of leadership, not only above but along w9ith us, or giving us a prodding from behind.

 

Andrew Carnegie spoke of his philanthropy as doing real and permanent good. for me that is what distinguishes charity from justice. Charity is not permanent but seeks to ease a burden, but justice seeks to eliminate the causes of unfair burdens. Ezekiel's oracle has God detailing the failings of leaders and the insertion of a divine mandate to : strenghten the weak, bind up wounds, seek and save the lost, and keep an eye on the strong or enemy. In other words, god will rectify the failing of the political order to take care of th epeople. Justice arranges the system to prevent the strong from preying on the weak. In so many ways, we live in a more just world. Social Security has its problems but it is a much better set of problems than consigning most of the elderly to poverty. Put differently, leadership, charity, and justice are spiritual issues where private and public meet. The new divine regime will be one where the needs of the public will be matched by private virtues, where persoanl ambition will be wedded to the progress of all of us.

Jeremiah 33:14-16 First Sunday in Advent

 

1) The name,the Lord is our righteousness links us to 23:6 and its ruler as opposed to Jerusalem.

2)Here is a great example of the priestly and the political being linked. No wonder it continued to be worked together in the time of Jesus.

3) Note the emphasis on right (right relations); it can have a sense of salvation/deliverance as well (Is. 46:13, 51:1) and justice. How would you examine those in both a political and religious sense? Where have we become more just and righteous in our lifetimes, and where do we fall short.

4) Of course, we look to a better future when things aren't so good, look at the early part of ch. 33. What elements of the future do you hope will become better?

5) Safety is a political goal. What effects and affects safety.

6) A righteous branch sprouts when something has been pruned or even cut down. It certainly would send us to Is. 11:1 with a different word but is in Zech.3:8, 6:12.

7) Do you read this as eschatology?

I Samuel 23:1-7

1) First, I am not a complete slave to the lectionary. I am going to use Dt. 17 and Ezek. 33 for Christ the King Sunday.

2) How comfortable are you with the designation, king? What contemporary analogies do you make? How do the analogies threaten its biblical meaning as did the political readings of messiah in the time of Christ?

3) I would think that some would see this as a high point of Zion theology mixed into the power of the king.

4) What do you think of god's working through human beings as an element of providence? Are these still free agents or puppets?

5) What do you think of the curse toward the end? When do you feel like cursing someone, not in terms of vulgarity but a curse for harm?

6)I am struck by the immense trust in v. 5 that God will bring to fruition David's help and desires.

7) Here is a prophetic utterance, another example of anointed being priest-prophet-king.

8) Translation issue; it is either David sweet singer or related to God as Strong One

9) Note that God is the source of power here, not the king, not the people.

10) Note the emphasis on justice. Define it. Where do we march toward it and when do we fail. Especially consider, at this time of year, the difference between charity and justice.

 
Sermon Nov. 15, 2009 I Samuel 1, Heb. 10

Hannah is tired of unanswered prayer. She is tired on being the favored wife but having to put up with the taunts of the second wife since she does not have children. She is tired of her husband trying to make it up to her and doing so clumsily. As Bruce said, "is a dream alive that won't come true, or is it something worse?"Every once in a while, I'll see some polygamous Mormon offshoot on TV and they always say how great they get along. I don't believe it. It is a situation bred for trouble. Men have enough trouble working with one wife; I can't imagine keeping a number happy. Anyway, at rock bottom, she goes into the shrine to pray, even though her prayers have been to no avail, and her desperate prayer is mistaken for the drunken mutterings of a reprobate. Elkanah's name means God fashions; Eli's means my God. Both these men with godly names misunderstand her, even as she may fear that even God misunderstands her plight.

 

The congregations in the book of Hebrews are tired of trying to be good and not seeing much benefit for it.Some are bringing in home troubles, others work troubles; some are stressed out, and others depressed, in other words, a typical congregation. He has them hold on to hope. When hopes have been dashed, that is a hard task. As Langston Hughes said, "what happens to a dream deferred?" Hope imagines a different future and lives expecting and working toward its realization, almost as if it is already at the doorstep.

 

How do you provoke someone into doing good? How does one exhort, especially about the end times? I don't know if nagging pushes someone into doing good, or more likely puts them into a more passive mode. Good examples are ignored as much as found inspiring. It's not easy to exhort into the end times when Christian predictions have always been wrong, when we've seen 2,000 years pass by,l even as the new movie 2012 adopts a Mayan calendar for Hollywood's latest apocalyptic venture. We get a triad of hope here: boldness, endurance, faith. How to hold on? Boldness comes in short supply when you are in trouble, especially when you try and try and keep on spinning your wheels to no avail. Endurance is a word often translated as patience. Its sense is not giving up or giving in, hanging in there all the way. Faith here strikes me as closer to a sense of abiding trust in the promises of God. He recalls the days of the congregation at its best to remind them of their resources.

 

After all the years of strife, Hannah's prayer gets answered. Every year she would go to Shiloh and make a new priestly robe for her vowed and dedicated son. she and Elkanah would have more children, and I guess Penninah stewed in her anger, or I hope grew to appreciate Hannah and her children. I hope that the congregation of the Hebrews found the energy they were lacking.I hope they came to see that God notices and appreciates all of their good work, even if thy felt under-appreciated at the time.

 

I pray that all of our unanswered prayers find a good resolution, even if it is not quite what we demand or expect. I pray that we see that the future does not have to repeat the mistakes of the past but is open to the fresh breeze of the new. God does realize that we all need fresh infusions of energy from time to time.God is an unfailing spring of energy that we often leave untapped. Go to that source of energy and hope, find refreshment and strength for the days ahead.

I Samuel 1:4-20, 1 Samuel 2:1-10

 

1) Bruce Birch (NIB,p.973) cites the critic Polzin that the family drama plays out national issues for Israel. It reminds me of Lasswell's saying that political psychology is private issues played out on a public stage. We are in the hill country south of Shiloh, northwest of the Dead Sea.

 

2) Elkanah's name means God makes (Canaan in there perhaps)? Hannah means grace, charming attractive. Peninnah means fertile, prolific ( once again someone lives out the meaning of their name in childbirth this time).

 

In words reminding us of Ruth 4, Elkanah says that she is worth more than 10 children.

 

3) Eli is a blind priest to the spiritual condition of Hannah. v. 15 She is not drunk but what is being poured is her soul, her nephesh, her self, her life force. He then changes course and at least does bless her prayer. A brave pastor could use the Eli story to speak about pastoral weaknesses in the face of God's call. I think of Diary of a country Priest in this regard.

 

4) her vow to have him be a Nazirite reminds us of the Samson story. After all, he is a surprise child fro Manoah (secure/safe/restful place) and his wife.

 

5) Some say Samuel is related to asking God, as in Saul's name, other s see it more like Ishmael's name with God hearing, perhaps.

 

6) pay attention to her fear of being considered worthless. The word is applied to the sons of Eli. God does not see us as worthless, even if society does.

 

7) She prays because she is deeply troubled (some translate it as stubborn).

 

8) Infertility is an issue for many couples, and this is a good text to approach it, for tis pain to the childless.

 

 

S Samuel 2:1-10

 

1) Hannah's prayer evokes the power of God.

 

2) At the same time, she then discovers personal power (raising the horn, a symbol of power)

 

3)An element of the curse psalm is here, as this is prayer with a warning.

 

4)She sees God as a God of reversals of society. This leads into the Magnifcat of Mary in Luke 1

 

5)Like a lament, she then moves to praise. i have a sense that this type of prayer now looks into a future where god ahs indeed acted.

 

6) For not by might 9v. (0 has haunting national comeuppance for all of us.

 

7) notice anointed one, messiah, here. 

Sermon Nov. 8, 2009 Mark 12:38-42, Ruth 4

We look at three widows this morning, Ruth, Naomi, and a nameless woman. They lived a a pre-Social Security time.the law and prophets agreed that how we treated vulnerable widows was a fundamental ethical test. If one's family did not fulfill their obligations, a widow was in desperate straits. Then and now, the widowed occupy an uncertain social place. It can be a dependent social space and one that is a ready reminder of our own fears about the future. So, it is surprising to see all of them as givers of gifts of various sorts when thye were usally in a dependent situation. I don't think that Social Security absolves us of our social resposnibilities toward the widowed.

 

Gifts depend on perspective, like many things. From one angle, the widow gave a pittance. When you have a big building program, you want some big donations. From the angle of Jesus, she gave everything she had. Maybe Jesus is aware of widows, if our suspicion that Joseph died between his early teens and adulthood is correct. Gofts bind giver and receiver in new ways.A meaningful gift pours something of ourselves into the gift and shows our esteem for the receiver. Her small gift does not symbolize a small person. since it is everything she has, it is symbolic of an astounding generosity, a symbol of all she is and maybe hopes to be, in making her offering to the temple. It relies on intent. care in selection. Newly married couples have to learn about giving and receiving gifts, as they interpret different things as sign of love: price, thoughtfulness, usefulness. I think of the O. Henry Christmas story, the Gift of the Magi. The poor young wife cuts her beautiful hair to get a proper present for her young husband. The young husband tries so hard to get beautiful ornaments to hold that beautiful hair.Our gifts to the work of god create a new set of relations with the divine. For many of us, nothing comes from the heart as much as money and property.

 

Ruth and Naomi don't even have a penny to spare. They live on gleaning the field at this time of year.It would be as if they would need to subsist on what falls from trucks during all the harvesting now. They give each other loyalty, as family, even though Ruth is from Moab.  They seek a safe and secure place that Boaz can provide. They find the gift of security. Ruth has the gift of a new family, as does Naomi. She goes back to her name, joy and pleasantness. No longer is she the one of bitter tears, Marah. Then, miraculously, she receives her youth again, this female Job. The women give the child the gift of its name.

 

The widow's plight is one of emptiness in these stories, financial and emotional. they all move toward fullness. We always hear about inclusiveness. In so many ways widows are excluded in social situations.We do well to give some thought about inclusion of widows as the social swirl of the season will soon be upon us. A few disgustingly organized people probably have their Christmas shopping planned, done, and wrapped. We are moving toward the time of year when we are asked to give all sorts of gifts to good causes and for friends and family. It is easy to read the story as claiming th rich were showing off their wealth in their offerings. The rich give from their heart too and may give until it hurts sometimes. Jesus is looking at both intent and the depth of the commitment shown, not the actual amount. In the end, how we decide to spend ur time, talent, and treasure is all a prayer in action to the God of all good gifts.

A Prayer for All Saints Day 2009

 

On All Saints Day we count our losses,

too many of them for most of us: parents and other family,

friends and celebrities we knew more about than friends.

We miss them at odd times, a hint of fragrance open the floodgates

of memory and longings.

 

We are told that we are all saints, in your household. O god.

We are skittish about it, for we think saints are perfect.

No saint was, or is, perfect, but all have something to admire,

a virtue toward which we aspire.

 

It is true that loved ones are in a better place.

We pray that visions of heaven sweeten hard times.

May we find room to hope amidst the rubble of pain.

May we try to bring bits of heaven down to earth every day.

With you O god, it is never over; we are never gone.

 

On All Saints Day we count our blessings.

Lives touch each other, embrace each other.

We seek to recall the good that the departed brought us.

Even if we forget, we know that you do not forget, O Divine Storehouse.

All lives remain connected to you, the Great Connection

Sermon All Saints 2010-Rev. 21:1-6, John 11

A lady at Crown Pointe said that she needed to hear of heaven more, as she was too upset to hear about it at funerals. So, All Saints Day fits her need and our need to hear more of heaven when we recall those who have gone on before us. Death's hand haunts all pastors, and turning 55 has turned my thoughts to mortality even more.I visited Chicago for a discussion of the christian funeral last month and read the poet/funeral director Thomas Lynch's book, the Undertaking.  I've looked into making my own casket but then wonder about storage. I was pleased to see that Walmart now has a number of caskets for less than $2000 on its web site.

All Christians talk a good game about death being defeated at Easter, but the old Halloween Grim Reaper scares us most of the time. Yet, "our eyes are fixed on a distant horizon" (Long Accompanying: 40).

 

Our readings this morning look forward to that distant horizon when Death will be banished from the kingdom of God. As Moltmann said one day Death will die and Hell can go to hell." (Long: 44) At long last, the last enemy will be cast into the outer darkness. The cause of so much pain and misery will be removed. All of us are surely in need of that hopeful vision, as we endure too much loss in this world. At the same time, we are in love with this world, maybe too much. Nathaniel Hawthorne said that passengers on the celestial railroad stop at Vanity Fair, our version would be the mall and call the stop the true and only heaven; they have no interest in the shining city  over the horizon. However the streets of Vanity Fair, the world of the mall, would be filled with churches. In heaven, eternal life and worship life will be mingled together, in a seamless garment of life.

 

With God bringing us into a new world, our lives will count  for something more than the discrete sum of events and experiences. they will be connected to the life of God and the countless other lives on this planet. In eternity their sound will echo and their effects will ripple through time. Our baptism will be complete. As our deaths will be gathered into the death of Christ, our new life will be gathered into the new, resurrection life of Christ. I am the resurrection and the life says Jesus. Notice the present tense, even as Martha speaks of a future state. In heaven the resurrected will live with the Living Resurrected One.

 

God has all the time in the world for us.Revelation says that God's dwelling place will be with us. Our lives will be with God, in God, united in the peace and restoration of God. Those afflicted with dementia will have their memories and their best selves restored. those who wake up in the morning with pain could run and dance again. In heaven, we will have all the time in the world to come to know God and each other, face to face, without all of the masks and defenses we need for protecting our fragile selves. I love the phrase I first heard in process theology, "in God nothing worth saving is ever lost." I don't pretend to know of heaven beyond the few tantalizing biblical images and hints. I do believe in the life of the world to come. We yearn for a place where are dreams for peace, justice, fulfillment will meet in salvation's halls. In the end, heaven is all about life with God, so the images we draw of all the good we associate with God gets imagined in heaven. Heaven will be what we need, how we need it, as we live together in what our souls crave, for all the time in the world.

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

 

1) I picked the All Saints reading for last Sunday. The regular reading was the introduction to the story in chapter 1.

2) I've always like the Trible essay in God and the rhetoric of Sexuality

3) Death stalks the characters in chapter 1. Naomi, a female Job (see Janzen's thoughts in his new book on Job) loses to Death,2 sons and a husband. Orpah and Ruth lose husbands and a chance for children by them

4) Where we start off, one could talk about the phases of grief where one starts to reconstruct a new future in the absence of the loved one.

5) One could also choose to emphasize the end, how family issues can ramify into important social considerations down the road.

6) One could speak of the connection of Jesus to Ruth.

7) One could use it to speak about inclusion/exclusion as Ruth was a foreigner. I suppose one could talk about conversion to the faith as well.

8) One could use this to introduce inner-Biblical dialogue, as the story stands against the divorce decree against non-Israelites in Ezra.

9) Ch. 3 Ruth needs security, a safge secure place (manoah)

10) The plan is bold. It is laden with sexual tension, if not power, The bit about sleep, uncovering feet could well be a sexual allusion (Gen. 19, Lev. 18, Ezek. 16, Dt. 28:25) Spread your wing/ cloak kanap goes without saying

11) Nice word play in unocver gala and redeem ga al.

12) Boaz is generous and he works through the system to defeat possible obstacles to marriage to this foreigner.

13) Notice Naomi is herself again and even young again, the oppositie of what she told her duaghters in law in ch. 1

14) Ruth is a eset hayil, a worhty woman, the companion to Boaz a gibbor hayil, often translated as mighty man of valor. Note Boaz was a temple column.

15 So many ways to go with the emptiness, economic, social now being filled.;

 

1) This passage is picked for All Saints. I think about something an old woman told me. "The only time we talk about heaven is at a funeral, and I'm too upset to hear much."

2) The New Int. Study Bible has good material in its notes on the religious views of Cananaan that may be reflected in the passage. 'm then not sure that it is Mt. Zion, the mountain of the north of Baal, now taken over by Israel's faith, or a mountain that calls up old memories.

3) One could sieze on banquet imagery all over the NT as well. In our presbytery, a form of the Emmaus walk is called the Great Banquet. See also Ex. 24:9

4) This passage is within a "little apocalypse" of chs. 24-27.

5) I'm wondering why well-aged wines is repeated. In life, we think that in life, we are not well aged, as we grasp at youth.

6) Note how v. 8 is picked up in Rev.7 and I Cor. 15:54.

7) Think of how the shroud of death hangs over our world in violence, and now maybe in the looming catastrophe of global warming.

8) In this time, Death was seen as a swallowing force, but now it is being swallowed.

9)

Job 42 returns us to prose, away from the poetry of the bulk of the book. It fills the frame of the first prose section.

1) Immediately, one needs to decide for this day, which of the many possible translations of Job's exclamation is close to the mark. See the NIB for a full listing. Basically, is Job apologizing, or is he repenting turning from his mourning and lament? See Donald Capps in Reframing as well.

2) Job gets a lot restored. Does restoration somehow make up for the loss of his first set of children? Do new riches make up for the loss of a fortune?

3) Does Job have 10 kids with Mrs. Job?

4) v. 5 now my eye sees thee. What does the creation speech do to Job's image of God? What does it do to yours?

5) Why comfort now from brothers and sisters? Why money?

6) Spell out why God is angry at the friends. How has Job spoken of God what is right? (v.7) Why is this repeated at 9?

7) See ch. 7 of G. Janzen's new book, At the Scent of Water.

 

Baptism Sermon Benjamin Enoch Parker Job 38, Heb. 5  October  18, 2009 Kingston Presbyterian Church, Greensburg, IN 

God gives Job a tour of the known universe. Our universe has vastly expanded. We can click on a computer and see pictures whose light has taken almost the entire history of the universe to reach us. We have seen into the structure of our heredity. In the immensity of this cosmos, God is looking at us, in deep focus, because Benjamin Enoch Parker is joined to the church of Jesus Christ. Lately, I picked up up a new book for the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing, Rocket Men. One of the striking thing is that taciturn engineers turned into poets when they looked at the earth from the lunar perspective. One said (274) that it looked like a Christmas tree ornament, so fragile and colorful in a black background. God see the globe as a whole, but God sees us as individual as well; so we are never merely statistics in a pattern, but always a unique creation. Out of the entire universe, God is paying special attention to the sacrament of baptism in Kingston Presbyterian Church.

 

Both of this boy's name are Old Testament names. Benjamin is a powerful name, the son of the right hand, the side of right and might. Benjamin would be the name of a tribe of Israel from whom sprang its first king, Saul. The name Enoch is more complicated. One instance of the name is the father of the ancient Methuselah who walked with God and was taken up by God. It has the sense of someone devoted or dedicated but it could also be a play on words as an enlightened one, a teacher perhaps.This is more than a dedication. Baptism brings him from the water into a new life, even at his young age. All of his life, he can face the east, the rising son that marks that God's mercies are new every morning. Maybe he will live into the 22nd Century and continue to live in the presence of God in heaven.

 

As Hebrews says, we need instruction in the faith to match our stage of development. just as Benjamin can handle milk right away, we can provide him spiritual sustenance in a way he can handle. As he grows, as he can handle sterner stuff, so too will his faith have a chance to mature and grow. Jesus can deal gently with us, even when we are the ignorant and the wayward. Baptism will not make him perfect, but it opens a door for him to find reconciliation time and time again. Baptism lasts a lifetime. Its beacon led his folks from Ohio to the place of Lola's baptism and their wedding. Its beacon can light the way of his life, and ours. It shines a light on this. God chooses. elects, selects us to be adopted into a new family, the household of God's very own. Benjamin did not choose to be born, to be named, to be a citizen of the United States. these are givens in his young life. God has reached out to grasp his little fingers, and as you know, a baby can hold on tight. As he grows, we know that he lives in the light of baptism, in a life claimed by God's path as shown in Jesus, the light of the world.

 

I always imagine that heaven takes a breath today. I imagine that that great cloud of witnesses, that gathering of the tribes, strains forward to look at the baptism of Benjamin this morning, ancestors near and far great grandparents and those distant in time beaming proud smiles as another citizen of the kingdom of heaven is added to the divine roll call. He is part of the communion of saints, as he is brother to all of this creation of God.

Sermon Sprinhill Job 38, heb. 5 October 18th, 2009
Job and his friends go back and forth for over thirty chapters. Finally God answers Job. It is in the form of a challenge. God is acting as a hostile witness. God may be on defense, but God is not going to let Job set the terms for the debate. God does not answer Job directly, but God does approach Job's complaints obliquely.

 

God takes Job on a long tour of creation. I think that this has the outcome of showing Job that he is not the center of the universe. God essentially challenges Job to make a better world than God created. It moves him past the "oceanic ego" of the suffering victim. It has the intent of moving Job out of depression by giving him a tour beyond his own suffering. Think of how we say that taking a trip does one good. We speak of not being able to see the forest for the trees. God wants Job to expand his horizon from his intense suffering to the bigger picture. If you will, it is a God's eye view of the world. The world is a living place of change. God gives creation the room to grow and change. Sometimes that change does harm some of the pieces of a puzzle. Can we seriously expect God to interrupt the flow of planets and suns to be at our beck and call, to subvert the careful balance of so many forces to prevent us from coming to harm?

 

I picked up a new book on the Apollo 11 flight, Rocket Men, as we marked its 40th anniversary in the summer.  It emphasizes the intense planning in creation, along with its immensity and complexity. Apollo 11 had some near misses, but it also had the astronauts marvelling at the sight of the earth from space. I sometimes think that the environmental movement gained steam when we saw the picture of earth rising from the moon view. In the midst of all that black emptiness is a jewel of a place for us. On a later flight (274) Bill Anders said "It reminded me of a Christmas tree ornament. Stu Roosa said, "it's the abject smallness of the earth that gets you, or "all I know, it's down there on that little thing, and it's so insignificant in the great big vastness of space." 

 

If this is such a terrible world, then why joy and happiness? God does note that the world is complex. It has wild animals and tame ones. It has storms and calm. It has suffering and the sheer, exultant joy of nature. The shift in perspective will allow Job to count his blessings and his pain. God is not commanding him to grin and bear it. God is not telling him to not complain. God's perspective will allow Job to count his blessings along with his pain. It is just as unrealistic to look at the world with grief-tinged glasses as rose-colored glasses.

 

Our section concludes with a discussion of something we still do not control, the weather. God makes an argument about human incapacity to manage creation. We do not control as much as we would like. We are often unable to control ourselves.In one sense, Job could feel very small and insignificant at this point. On the other hand, wait. God has responded to him in the midst of this buzzing hive of universal activity. For Christians, out of all of the worlds yet unknown to us, we know that God  worked through one of us, Jesus Christ, to bring a message of healing and hope. God so loved the world. this world, that Jesus was born and raised into it. Through that life, you know, you know that God knows you, not something about you. God knows you. God follows your life, in the midst of a universe, God knows you.

 .

Job 23:1-10, heb. 4:12-16 Sermon October 11 2009

At this point Job's friends have gotten nervous about job complaining that it is not fair that he suffers so. They have defended God by telling him that he must have done something terribly wrong. he insists on his innocence, but he is falling into deep despair. The trial image  keeps a suicidal Job alive is his desire for a trial. He wants to face his accuser. he wants habeus corpus, a face to face encounter. God is ineffable and elusive. How do you serve a legal notice to God? God sees us , but we don't see God. Sometimes prayer seems as if we are talking to the wall. We feel nearsighted in our prayer, unable to focus  through the separating distance. Seeing is different for the hunter and the hunted? In its way, liturgy is a form of trial. Is Ps. 139 being parodied? Is this an accusing eye, a loving eye, a searching eye? Who wants a punishing God to be close? We do want the helping God to be close to our needs and condition.When we lose someone, we have unconscious searching behavior. We think we see that person in someone else.

 

As we said, Hebrews is written to give encouragement to people who are tired of trying so hard to be good. Now they hear that someone is on their side. Hebrews imagines a sympathetic high priest, or a judge who is sympathetic more than objective, or critical and accusing. This high priest sees inside of us.He can slice through our defenses, the layers upon layers of protections and find our core self. This high priest knows intimately what we go through. This high priest knows what we do not or cannot face about ourselves. I would like to imagine that the prayers of Jesus on our behalf are ever bit as potent as Job's challenge. This passage tells us to be bold in our prayer, as bold as Job in his desire for a divine trial.

 

Is Job's complaint bitter or defiant? In the end, it doesn't matter. God supports Job in his fervent desperate prayers for justice. In other words, the relationship between us and God is so strong that our prayers can be full-throated pleas for help, frustrated arguments, as well as songs of praise and adoration. In relationship with us, God is open to our full lives, in ups and downs, in their pleas for making sense of things when they are unravelling.

 

After seeing Bill Smith before his surgery, I went to CTS. I couldn't resist going to the bookstore, and I picked up a new book on  Job by Gerald Janzen who taught there. He had written, 20 years ago, one of the best, if not the best, commentary on the book of Job. The nice lady at the counter said that he had been fighting prostate cancer but was doing well.Then, the new Dan Fogelberg CD came in the mail. It was composed when he was fighting the cancer that took his life. People suffer as did Job for no clear discernible reason. It is part of our common human experience. Hospital doors do not shut out God.  Nursing home locks do not exclude God. God has the distance to see us clearly, and is close enough to know our inmost thoughts.If god didn't keep some distance, we would be engulfed, overwhelmed. At the same time, God is as near as the next breathed, or shouted, prayer.We are never far enough away from God so that God is not much more ready to hear us pray than we are to pray. Whenever we pray, we are heard by someone sympathetic to our plight and our cause, a reliable listening ear.

Job 23:1-9

1) It may well be that Job is contemplating suicide. One thing is keeping him alive,k the thought of having a trial where god is on the defensive.

2) By the way, with the passing of william Safire, ntoe that he wrote a book on Job as dissident.
3) Job has just been told that he must have done something wicked to deserve all this pain, but he persists in his integrity.

4) Not submission for Job but a dispute contest, a rib, in hebrew.Job wants vindication.He is definat (meri) I don't know if that is close to the bitterness of mar, as in naomi, a female Job, wanting to be called marah, bitterness.Lament is insufficient.Job needs a contest to show justice. this is protest within a structure.

5) Surely God will give him a just verdict (v. 7) See Wiesel's The Trial

6) We worship an elsuive God, however. All religious people fluctuate between the revealed, accessible god, and the distant, mysterious, elusive God

7) So, if he can't find god, God certainly finds and knows him. the trial undercuts the hunter and prey aspect of God's sight into one of vision.

8) Job chooses a motif, of metal being tested, that is picked up in the NT struggle with suffering.

9) I don;'t recall if I mentioned last week that my favorite Job book is by Janzen of CTS in the Interpretation series. In Theology Today or Princeton Sem. bulletin, he goes over some of the arguments again.

Sermon Job 2:1-10 and Heb. 2:1-10 October 4, 2009

 

No theological issue captures me as much as the issue of God and human suffering. Job is the most sustained piece in the Bible on this topic. Our prose beginning is a way of framing the issue, of getting us started, but I certainly don't take it to be a transcript of a heavenly conversation. I do not recognize this arbitrary God as the God we see in Jesus Christ. In the same way, one can hardly see the cruel response of Mrs. Job as a loving response. Still, I will give some leeway to her for she has lot property and children the same as her husband. She cannot face another problem; the straw has broken the camel's back, and she lashes out in anger at her ill husband. As Hebrews quotes Ps. 8, we are a little lower than the angels, so I cannot imagine God treating us as mere playthings for a wager. It is set up to see that Job cannot possibly deserve suffering. How will he respond to unjust, arbitrary suffering? It is a way of setting up Rabbi Kushner's great question about when bad things happen to good people. 

 

Jesus is comparable to Job in suffering, but at least Jesus grasps the meaning and import of his suffering. Job is left out in the cold. If anything should tells us that no one is immune from suffering, Job and Jesus show us that. To cry out why and find only silence or poor answers is hard to bear.

 

In Communion we take in, receive,the life, death,and resurrection of Jesus. It is more than a mere recitation of the first Lord's Supper. In Hebrew to remember, zakar, has the sense of the past coming alive in the present.That life included suffering. We are in communion in joy, but also in sorrow; this we share with all of our fellow human beings, just as in the marriage vows. In baptism, Paul says that we carry the death and resurrection within us. In Communion we carry the life of Jesus within. Communion joins us to the emblem of the cross so that it  lives within. Jesus is in communion with us in sorrow and joy, want and plenty, sickness and health. Sometimes i wonder that our hymns sound too mournful for communion. this Sunday, they have the right feel, as I am wondering if the lament, that biblical cry of pain and protest is a Communion song as well. Brothers and sisters in Christ gather around the family table this morning. Our entire lives are joined to the life of Christ in this sacrament.

 

so communion gives us one aid in suffering: we are not alone. Second, the examples of Job and Jesus tell us that god is not about the business of hurling divine thunderbolts at us to gt our moral attention. We can and do learn through suffering, but the lesson is not that we are unworthy wretches who deserve punishments for sins, real or imagined. Third, we are not above other people, but as Jesus said the rain falls on the just and unjust alike. Suffering is part of the human condition. finally, may we act on the sources of lament after communion. We who are fed to the brim in this spiritual feast should shake our fist at the thought of hungry in this country. We who receive the sacrament of healing should sit dumbfounded at a system that consigns one in five of our citizens to poor health care and more if we include dental and mental health services. Suffering is not the last word in our faith, healing and restoration are. Know that as you receive bread and cup, we get a taste of the heaven where suffering at long last is ended.