Sermon Notes Oct. 23. Joel 2 Lk. 18:9-14, 2 Tim. 4:6-18

October 23, 2016

Joel 2:23- I’ve done a good bit of work of late with the book of the 12/the Minor Prophets. God’s spirit will fall on the multitude, not merely a chosen few, old and young alike restoration and superior future repayment recompense reparations no put to shame humility v. humiliation. It uses rain as an image to show god showering blessing on us. Physical and spiritual blessings as a sign of restoration.Not only the people of Judah, on all flesh.Such a vision banishes the temptation to be miserly. Again, end times biblical images alternate between visions of doom and visions of restoration. They rarely, if ever, consist of punishment alone.This image is picked up by Luke for Pentecost but it goes far beyond Pentecost. It is inclusive on gender and on age. Look the enlivening gift of the spirit touches all people, no matter their age.It is an antidote to aging’s questions about why am I here, what did I accomplish?

While Joel promises a better future, some day, what do we do in the meantime? Our epistle is for people who will not live to see Christ’s return, even though they expected the messianic age to be in their midst. 2 Tim. 4:6-18 ending verses of an old man As Neil Young said, it is better to burn out than it is to rust.Yesterday we  had the service for Grace Summers. When she looked back at her long life, she was honestly able to say that she had few regrets.This is a word of encouragement to the lonely and defeated soul that even in the midst of total and utter desertion.The power and presence of God will be with us, and in us, and will work victoriously and redemptively through us.  God’s empowering presence for cruciform life and ministry of suffering love is the proclamation of the gospel to all nations (2 Timothy 4:17),  as it is embodied by his Church and empowered by His Spirit. Frederick note  valedictory of old age even when no one came to my support God was with me and gave strength for Paul to be a conduit of the message how did I make it to this point does god have a purpose for me at this age yes to continue to be a conduit for God’s message libation was connected to sacrifices at festival and sabbath and victory connected to unintentional sins of the religious observances connected to meeting and praying with God sacrifice is a sacrament an object made sacred and transformed into prayer. The drink offering of wine fits a sacramental understanding as it is using the gifts of god but changing them through technique.Meal as communion with god and that includes drink.Sacrifice itself is a humble action, as is prayer.

Lk. 18:9-14 Pharisee was a good person  and tax collector was the very image of a collaborator with the Romans who grew rich at the expense of the people Jesus  says that this miscreant goes home justified/rectified/made in proper relationship with god.Imagine telling the Pharisee that.They were both doing the righteous act of prayer.and humility and hubris Comparisons are often dangerous tools.I fall into this trap all the time when I compare different religious expressions with christianity. Listen to liberal compare themselves to conservatives and vice versa. It is a dispiriting game of I am superior to you.The Pharisee’s attention is diverted from his prayer with God to observing the publican. Comparison rarely invites humility.If we  continue to divide each other up into opposing camp we fall into the trap of the Pharisee’s prayer.

God enfolds us within the divine life: young or old, humble or proud, self-righteous or not. In a time when we emphasize differences, it is a good corrective to be reminded that god look through all those differences and ses us as God’s own.

Points for week of Oct. 23

Sunday-Ps. 65 is a decisive look at god’s abundance. Notice the line that all flesh shall come to God.God’s generous blessing seems unlimited.  Do you consider God as the creator or only as Redeemer of humanity?

Monday-We know that if we do not give ourselves over to the darkness and dreaming of nighttime, entering its intimate invitation to sleep and rest, we will be only half-awake to the demands and creativity of the day. Yet at other levels we forget the natural patterns that we are part of. Or we pretend that we can be deeply engaged and productive while pushing ourselves and others in ways that are antithetical to the essential rhythms of earth's cycles and seasons. JP Newell

Tuesday-As we grow older we have more and more people to remember, people who have died before us. It is very important to remember those who have loved us and those we have loved. Remembering them means letting their spirits inspire us in our daily lives. They can become part of our spiritual communities and gently help us as we make decisions on our journeys. Parents, spouses, children, and friends can become true spiritual companions after they have died. Sometimes they can become even more intimate to us after death than when they were with us in life. Remembering the dead is choosing their ongoing companionship. ---Henri J. M. Nouwen,

Wednesday-"If your journey is indeed a pilgrimage, a soulful journey, it will be rigorous. Ancient wisdom suggests if you aren't trembling as you approach the sacred, it isn't the real thing. The sacred, in its various guises as holy ground, art, or knowledge, evokes emotion and commotion," writes Phil Cousineau, in his book The Art of Pilgrimage.

Thursday-Karl Barth encapsulates this way of thinking about the gospel when he says, “The only answer to grace is gratitude…Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning”

Friday-“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

― Winston S. Churchill--“The best way out is always through.” ― Robert Frost

Saturday-"I will believe the truth about myself,no matter how beautiful it is."Macrina Wiederkehr

Sermon Notes Oct. 16-Jer, 31, 2 tim. 3, Lk. 18:1-8, Ps. 119:97

Oct. 16/16 Lk. 18: 1-8, 2 Tim. 3, Jer. 31

Gratitude linked to persistence??

To carry the code within, without it being a matter of coercion, or rules, or duty, deals with the matter of persistence, as being inner directed seems more  powerful than being forced to to something from the outside. Jer. 31:27 covenant written in the heart-punished for the sins of the ancestors-2 examples of development in Scripture due to the looming death of the city state of Jerusalem/Judah-god has grown tired of  the faith being seen as coming from the outside, over top the faithful. No, it must be an internal matter within individual life and demonstrated as loyalty to the faith, to the church of god.

Lk. 18, Persistent in prayer is a sign of faith. It is not giving up on god. God does not give up on us, as the reading for Jeremiah shows.Moves from lesser to greater if an unjust judge will bend, how much more so a good god? Haunting question-will faith be found on the earth. How persistent are we in the faith? We are reaping the results of a nice, undemanding faith.

Now go to the psalm as a look at god-Ps 119:97-104 persistence in prayer because it is useful and sweet-great example of law=instruction/teaching. Weekly worship is not only commanded in Scripture, but in itself it is a model of persistent prayer.

2 Tim 3:14- and to equip us for the good works which flow out of that saving reality and relationship (verse 17). -- that the purpose of teaching, correction, reproof, and training in righteousness is that the Christian might be “complete” and “equipped for every good work.” The Greek word translated as “complete”  or “proficient”  is “artios” -, means to be “well fitted for some function” . What is the function unto which the preaching of the gospel prepares us? Answer: the performance of Spirit-infused good works for the God in Jesus Christ.See C ‘67 and P understanding and use of Scripture

skinner-The rise of digital culture perhaps makes it easier than ever before for people to isolate themselves in echo chambers, It makes it difficult ot  be persistnet with its immediacy giving usw an answer to a trivia question.Be persistent in the faith, the pastoral epistle tells us in and out of season-it speaks of faith as a precious relay race, the torch being passed generation to generation-

Inspiration literally God-breathed-, not dictated. God works through Scripture, but human minds and hearts interpret it. Here Scripture is inspiring. Too many of our fellow christians act as if claiming divine authorship, not inspiration settles the issue of working with the bible, as in the bible says it, I beleive; that ends the matter viewpoint. Here the source for that viewpoint doesn't end there but asks how Scripture functions in the life of a Christian.the older established churches in their quest to be nice have not condemned the biblical literalist view with nearly enough force. At the same time, bible studies are marvels of working hard to interpret the biblical material, but our folks refuse to engage in such study and may have a family Bible gathering dust somewhere that includes the names of the family over generations.We have been willing to look past the lie that we are not a biblical people. Look at our worship-no one, no one reads as much Scripture as we do week after week. No one, no one tries to use the hymns as not only prayers but as attempts to articulate the biblical themes that emerge for the readings of the week.Every week we pray for illumination, for the Spirit to transform the words into vehicle of enlightenment for us.

Column on Dylan

I have lived to see Bob Dylan receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. I recall vividly being in mother’s green 1961 Pontiac Tempest when Like a Rolling Stone came on the radio. Sometimes you had to fight to listen to the lyrics through that nasal whine and later his tubercular rasp, but the words would ring true. In his way, Dylan is a latter day prophet, speaking truth to the powers that be.

For me, his masterpiece is Blood on the Tracks. It came out in early adulthood and helped me process the heartbreaks that may accompany early adulthood. If You See Her “night after sleepless night, I replay the past.” It is tinged with real regret and vagrant hope-“If you get close to her, kiss her once for me. I always have respected here,” but also “tell her she can look me up, if she’s got the time.” I’ve used Shelter from the Storm as an image for the church in our 6PM arts-oriented services. Brownsville Girl” “Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than people who are most content”

For most people, his early work stands out, deservedly so. It is a heavy burden to be called the voice of a generation.

As he grew older, he pushed out some junk, of course. The less said about the Christian material, the better. I do get a cackle out of his Christmas album, especially as the vocals are more suited to Halloween. His dulcet tones have gone through some of the Frank Sinatra material as well. Some of his later material is noteworthy. .” He won Academny Award for Things Have Changed.Lot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff too/Don’t get up gentlemen, I’m only passing through/People are crazy and times are strange/I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range/I used to care, but things have changed/I’ve been walking forty miles of bad road
If the Bible is right, the world will explode/I’ve been trying to get as far away from myself as I can/Some things are too hot to touch/The human mind can only stand so much

Dylan has always had a bit of an apocalyptic streak. All along the Watchtower is a model of alarm. Thunder on the Mountain even adopts a biblical image for a theophany. Facing mortality, he wrote  with the title’s line “it’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.” “In Blind Willie McTell”:Dtlan wrote:

“Well, God is in His heaven, And we all want what’s his. But power and greed and corruptible seed, Seem to be all that there is.” I recall the look on young Chelsea Clinton’s face when Dylan staggered through Masters of War for a festival for her father’s inauguration. Maybe as an adult she examined his mumbled lyrics “You've thrown the worst fear/That can ever be hurled/’Fear to bring children/Into the world/For threatening my baby/Unborn and unnamed/You ain't worth the blood/That runs in your veins.” The first stanza of Tryin to Get to Heaven goes;” The air is getting hotter
There’s a rumbling in the skies-I’ve been wading through the high muddy water
With the heat rising in my eyes-Every day your memory grows dimmer-It doesn’t haunt me like it did before-I’ve been walking through the middle of nowhere-Trying to get to heaven before they close the door”

We use a special word for artistic creation: inspiration. Artists are conduits for the spirit of new life. They open doors of perception to new depths of seeing and feeling; they provide windows into the human soul. Their work  allows us, as Jimmy Carter quoted in his 1976 convention speech to be people” busy being born, not busy dyin.”

Column on Sully

We went to see the tom hanks vehicle, Sully, not long ago. Tom Hanks is this generation’s Jimmy Stewart, an actor with whom an audience identifies and can count on for a steady performance. Heroes do not have to be perfect, saintly individuals. At the same time, when we call everyone a hero, we lose a sense of aspiring to their actions.

Clint Eastwood is the director, one of the oldest active directors ever. He was faced with a difficult problem. How do you make an engaging film when everyone knows how its crucial event turned out? Where is the suspense? Eastwood did three things. First he starts with the heroic actions of the pilots, and then replays it as the film progresses. He mixes time as he goes back into sully’s boyhood and military service and to the investigations as well. Second, his focus is on the aftermath of the miracle on the Hudson.  Also, he makes Manhattan itself a character in the movie. We see so much of the city, without the Twin Towers. Sully’s saving the passengers with his daring landing becomes a beacon of hope for a battered city.

We have moved away from movies about work day heroes, so I was ready to see this movie with alacrity. Some of the criticism of the movie this on this very point. Somehow watching a movie about a person of admirable skill in a crisis is apparently passé. To try to save the passengers, Sully relied on 40 years of experience, including training and flying the particular aircraft.  Competence is a virtue acquired in childhood that grows as we grow, reflect, and continue to learn. He exhibited preternatural calm as it was very possible the plane would have slammed into buildings or fail to make a runway. Like the captain of a ship, he was the last one off the plane, as he checked for injured passengers. Courage is demonstrated on a battlefield; courage is demonstrated in crisis faced when people are going about their jobs. Sully responds to a trauma. He can’t sleep; he needs to process the whirl all around him. The trauma is intensified as the safety commission seems determined to try to fix blame on his decision to land on the Hudson River instead of trying to make local airports. Sully wants to be a safety investigator, but the movie shows us how different it is to be investigated instead of being h the investigator. The same technology that sully used to fly and save the plane is the same force that threatens to undo him in computer simulations.

Older movies sometimes made cardboard heroes, but they often portrayed heroes on any scale as beset with the problems, doubts, and limitations we all share. Hollywood has also been a cultural force in calling out corporate malfeasance in ways our political discourse has failed to do. Again, ordinary people become the heroes in these movies with economic villains. The Big Short was a primer on how the speculations of banks and Wall Street brought the economy to its knees. Now Deepwater Horizon shows the events that brought the disaster on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico not l that long ago in a compelling way. In its different way, it is a testament to the heroes of the events who use their experience and courage in doing their job with competence in a crisis.

I recall a Star Trek where Captain Kirk was under investigation. His attorney was old school, someone who used print instead of the computer screen. He spoke of humanity fading in the shadow of the machine. Using advances in computer graphics, Eastwood is able to place Tom Hanks in a realm where common human virtues shine clearly.

Sermon Notes 10/2 Lam. 1, 3 Lk. 17:5

Anne Lamott divides prayer into three words: thanks, help, and wow. Communion is an avenue into all three types of prayer.Lamentation is more than saying help of course. It is a structured way of being at the end of the rope and not knowing where to go next prayer Lamentations is the voice of the blues, of heartbreak, but keep on keepin’ on.Both voices contribute to an overwhelming tone of sorrow and shame. Both, as well, put the blame squarely on the desolate city herself (verse 8, verse 18)In today's selection (verses 1--6), the narrator emphasizes the difference between Daughter Zion's current desolation and her former glory: Thus, nostalgia permeates the narrator's sense of grief. By contrast, Daughter Zion's cries do not emphasize a past that has been lost, but dwell on her present destitute condition.Yamada- The first word,  “How,” is a word that serves as a standard opening to a dirge  band. She has become “like a widow”. We speak of communion as a celebration, but many of our older hymns song like a dirge. This is appropriate as we do commemorate the death of Jesus, broken body and spilt blood.Bouzard-Chesed  might be read "unbreakable devotion to the promise." Ex 34:6  gives us the character of God and it concludes chesed that steadfast, unyielding, unbreakable love for us..The poet is left without answers, without a divine response --  on the silence of God. What do we do, and how do we carry on in faith when platitudes ring hollow or when they taste like ashes in our mouths when we utter them? How different, after all, is the assertion of some divine albeit unknowable plan in the face of tragedy? How do we persist in faith when pain continues unabated, when God does not answer, and we are left alone? In the fullness of the Scripture, of course, we proclaim a God who knows the anguish that inspires lamentation. This God has suffered and taken death God into God’s own life. Moreover, we know through the resurrection of Christ that life, not lament, is God’s answer to our disappointment, pain, and despair.rauma and O’Connor on Jeremiah Trauma is a word for terrible injuries in hospitals, but it also often entails psychological and spiritual wounds to those who undergo them. PTSD.Trauma is not the last word of course. It too can be healed, in time.  In trauma, people sometimes feel as if they are the only one who has so suffered. We may receive Communion separately, but we receive it together.

Communion and thanksgiving., "The steadfast love (chesed) of the Lord never ceases,"The parallel line of t "God's mercies never come to an end."God's love is like that unique love shared by a woman for her child.Small acts-small faith is plenty-such a little h thing to share a bit of bread and a sip of vine. We unlock a world of new vision when we do so in church. Lord increase our faith-Notice well it is a response to forgiveness-Communion itself bears thanksgiving and lament. As befitting a sacrament, it includes life and death, sorrow and joy, absence and presence in its capacious embrace. The Great Thanksgiving is the primary prayer for this sacrament for as long as we have documents as a Christian community.

Another way Communion is healing is that it points us to a new and better future, a foretaste of the future as the Confession of 1967 states. Wow, we get a glimpse of God’s future thou rough a bit of bread and a sip of wine.We get to participate in the very life of Jesus Christ.

Devotional for week of Oct. 2

Sunday-Ps. 137 is a psalm of exile. It is a search for home when a stranger in a stranger land. When have you felt alone, excluded, or exiled? How can prayer help rediscover a sense of place, of home?

Monday"Healing is not so much about doing but about a way of being that lies beyond all the false divisions we make in our lives. Healing often inspires radical life changes, and brings about ways of being more in alignment with our True Self and nature."

Tuesday-This season calls us to the harvest. Seeds planted long ago create a bounty and fullness in our lives. Autumn invites me to remember the places in my life where I had a dream that once felt tiny and has now grown and ripened into fullness. The element of water reminds me of the wide expanse of the sea and in the Irish landscape the abundance of holy wells which are signs of the abundant source of life available to us.

The directions and elements are a part of an incarnational spirituality, one that honors the divine presence all around us and infusing us, and an intimate part of creation.--- Christine Valters Paintner,

Wednesday-The author of the introduction to Lamentations in my study Bible writes, "Lamentations is first and foremost an eloquent expression of grief that helped survivors come to terms with the historical calamity they had gone through." Perhaps this is the Sunday, then, to preach from it. The prophets were right. Sin has painful consequences. Exploitation, injustice, cruelty, self-centeredness and unmitigated greed won't go unchecked forever. The answer to Langston Hughes' question about what happens to a dream deferred is being answered. Hughes knew his question was a rhetorical one; how could we have been so naïve as to think it wasn't? Presbyterian Outlook"

Thursday The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise, we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them." —THOMAS MERTON

Friday- If we realized, even now and then, how securely we are held in God's arms, if we could meditate on Jesus' words not to fear anything that destroys the body, we might occasionally look around and recognize in our worldly habitat a playground of possibilities.(Weavings) Saturday- it does not matter much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things; or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there. Indeed, we are in the midst of it, and it is in the midst of us, for it beats in our very blood, whether we want it to or not.Thomas Merton