May 2, 2010 Acts 11, Rev. 21:1-6  See NIB notes)

As you know, I am stunned, with religious awe, that not only have we found DNA, the blueprint of all life, but also we have decoded it into what is called the human genome, the actual sequence of the codes. If you read the genetic code of an individual out loud, it would take a century. Most of that sequence is identical as human beings, the differences would take only the last seventeen minutes. It is the differences that seem to capture our attention. In our readings this morning we see the difference between a religious vision of a new future and what human beings do when faced with God's new activity.

 

This small section (see Peterson Rev. Thunder) relates to Isaiah with a new heaven and a new earth, in other words a new world. It is not Eden reborn but Eden transformed. Threats have evaporated. The sea is no more, as it is a symbol of death, uncertainty, and anxiety. Recall a beast emerges from it. Death is put to death. Water of life has a ring of Eden to it. Now baptism refreshes from within. The community is in the symbol of the city, where temple and ordinary life are brought together with no need for separation of the sacred and the secular.God's dwelling/tabernacle/tent/presence suffuses this holy city, this new Jerusalem. The new city is the anti-Babylon of 18. Recall that the city's roots are with Cain in Genesis.

The fearsome blasts from heaven are now blessings. It is an open city, not closed as Ezekiel's (40-8),and much, much larger to encompass the masses it imagines within it.   

 

Acts 11 is  story of how an open mind can be changed. Peter knew well the separation between Gentile and Jewish behaviors. This is a problem for the tight community of Acts 4, although it has shown strains in 5 and 6. Shouldn't the new members become Jews? Shouldn;t we be more discriminating aobut the kind of folks we are bringing in? When growth occurs, what problems does it bring? What current analogies can be drawn from this story? Take your pick: music style, clothing style, how to use the church kitchen.  The blessing of the spirit receives criticism. That can never happen in one of our churches, right? How many times I have heard churches looking for our kind of people.

  

Even if Peter is a leader, he is not exempt from being questioned and criticized. No infallibele future Pope is in evidence here in this new community.

This is Exhibit A for the Spirit moving where it will, outside  our structures and strictures. God is not bound by our current understandings of Scripture or doctrine. God is free to respond to new situations in new ways. The Creator of all things is not chained to the past.  Moltmann emphasizes "I make all things new" into a transforming not annihilating ethic in the Coming of God. God's creativity did not come to a screeching halt in the first chapters of Genesis. God's creativity, God's capacity for the new continues undiminished.

 

Revelation shows us the goal of God on the move toward a large view of human community. Its representation on earth includes the church. It is at its best when it reflects that large-hearted goal. It is at its worst when it takes small points and tries to freeze them into principles, unable to move. Instead, we stay alert to the promptings and movements of the Spirit.

The Spirit seems to love overturning our assumptions about the proper. The Spirit moves to open hearts and minds to the ever-new ways of God.

April 25, Acts 9:36-41, Rev. 7:9-17

Most of us have a dear person whom we miss whenever their memory crosses our mind. Rarely are they celebrities but more often they are good hearted people who touch our lives. Tabitha in our section this morning was such a woman. Maybe she was being idealized in death, but I prefer to see her as a good woman being remembered. Take a moment, and I bet that you can conjure up such a person in a few seconds. It makes us smile just recalling them, as models of what people can be.

 

Human beings need ritual for threshold events, for upcoming graduations for instance. No page gets turned in the book of life as decisively as death. . Here we know that stories are shared and that people are mourning her loss, after the body has been prepared according to their custom. With our turn against outward signs of grief, I suppose that we will soon have designated celebrators instead of designated mourners. When we have visitation or lunch after the service, we get to share stories. They serve to encase memories, to keep them from being so fleeting. Even when they bring tears, it is good to share stories about the fallen.  At the same time, we may be given a keepsake. We like something tangible as a reminder of someone who has gone on before us. They are sacramental in a way, containers of grace. If they are expensive heirlooms or something simple, they are treasures for memory. They are special as they are symbols of a life, something tangible to hold on to.

 

The book of Acts shows the church continuing the work of Jesus. Here, Peter's healing replays the raising of Jairus's daughter. He responds to an urgent call and sends out the mourners, just as Jesus did. There, Jesus says, talitha, cum, little girl arise. Here, after prayer,  Peter says Tabitha, gazelle, arise. Then, as Scripture says, mourning turns to dancing. Now the stories about Tabitha will include her raising. As we live, we can give all sorts of Tabitah moments to each other. Sure, the stories will continue to have quirks or silly things, like a guy who called me and said that he got mad and pushed his self-propelled lawn mower through some weeds and saw it tumble down a hill into a retention pond. Wouldn't we like to also be remembered for the good we have done?

 

In our time, we resuscitate people with a surge of electricity instead of prayer. Death continues to stalk us all. In the Easter season, we recall the resurrection. With Ezekiel, Easter tells us that dry bones can live in groups too. Jesus paves the way to a new sort of life, where tears are dried and nothing can harm us anymore, where we drink of the waters of life and continue in the life of God in a new way. Our passage from Revelation has heaven filled with Tabithas and lots of people who do not reach her heights, people like us. Revelation gives a remarkably expansive, large view of heaven, perfect for our large-hearted God. If I am reading it correctly, the 144,000 continue God's commitment to Israel, but then it opens up to a whole wide world in Jesus Christ. Here they all are in the presence of God, with the angels. There we will be safe from the scorching heat or the bitter cold of realtionships gone sour. There we will live in the expansive love of God. At long last, at long, long last, we will truly see God and ourselves at our very best, forever.

Rev. 7:9-17, Acts 9:36-41 First Cut

 

1)this is most decidedly not rapture theology. the 144,000 (JWs, I suppose) are a martyr cadre. they are not protected against death. Notice the play on the 12 tribes of Israel.

2) The myriad of folks are the folks who perish but will  be in heaven.

 

3)Notice the universal thrust of the church catholic (global, universal)

4)The are before the lamb, not the Lion of Judah.

5) Could the white robes be baptismal robes?

6)Palm branches for victory and celebration , even though they may have lost in power terms.

7) I am not sure what the great tribulation would be or means with any sense of definitiveness, but see Dan. 12 and Gen. 49:1. In blood there is life. Here blood becomes a cleansing agent. Indeed, in being Christlike, one may well be a witness (martyr) to the faith and that can end up in martyrdom.

8) Note the echoes of Ps. 121, I. 49:10 and in 17 the shepherd image of Ezek.34, Ps. 23  of course, Jn 10, Is. 25:8 with the image of wiping away a tear. look at the new children's book by bishop Tutu on the last phrase.

9) Sometimes I think that the persecutions were not horrific for the 7 churches but they are allying themselves with trouble. think of how the right wing is linking themselves with the American Revolution with no clear reason why they feel so oppressed.

 

Acts

1) This leads us back to the raisings by Jesus and Elijah and Elisha. Tabitha sounds like Talitha, little girl, as in the raising of the daughter of Jairus.

2) I love how she is famous for her generosity.

3) Notice the bilingual culture extends even to names.

4) Do you see any significance in being in an upper room, a la the Lord's supper and even the "inn" of Lk. 2?

5) Notice he sends all outside, as did Jesus.

6) Simon is a tanner. I would need to do some research on how that was, or was not, an unclean activity.

April 18, 2010 Rev. 5:11-14, John 21

 

All of us are imperfect. All make mistakes. All of us fall short of expectations. Peter then fits our experience. I find it so heartening that Jesus picks him, even after his dismal denials, to be a leader in the church community. For the Christian , forgiveness is an answer to human frailty. When people go astray, we forgive then and begin again. Notice that Jesus has not forgotten that Peter denied him three times, with his three-part question. In spite of the failure, maybe even because of the failure, Jesus continues to stick with Peter. The word love pervades the questions. James Harnish wrote (CC 4/6) 'When we confront our naked failure, we discover that the love of God is deeper than our denials, and the calling of God is stronger than our failure to live up to it." Instead of holding Peter to his failure, Jesus offers him opportunity and responsibility. Jesus knows full well he will continue to fail, but he also sees the potential in Peter to grow far beyond his own expectations and even limitations.

 

In this passage, Jesus honors work, hard work. It must be an immensely frustrating experience to be out all night casting nets and catching nothing. If this is comic, Peter dresses to go swimming. Jesus assigns some hard work to Peter: to tend his sheep. Many of you know how hard it can be to tend animals. (David and chickens) Sometimes working with congregations has been likened to herding cats, like the Super Bowl commercial some time back. A lot of guesswork surrounds the number 153 as a sign of numerology. I prefer to take it as a sign of the number of the people in the congregation to whom this is directed. Presbyterians would categorize it as a middle -sized church. God does indeed know us by name and counts us in the family. In part, Jesus works to take care of the fishermen. He knows that they need refreshment and rest.

 

The churches in Revelation craved some rest and refreshment. Their nets seemed empty. They too were frustrated. For me the key to the book of Revelation is our little section this morning. Instead of the ravening lion of Judah; we see a little lamb., a little slain lamb. Yes Christ was exalted in heaven, but the symbol of that power is a weak little lamb. Pressed by empire, one would look for an image of power. They were being pushed to deny their faith in ways large and small in all likelihood. the slain lamb was more than enough to open the gates of reconciliation and salvation. the little lamb held the key to the scroll of divine destiny, even to the close of the age. Of all creatures, the slain little lamb is on the throne.

 

In Thursday morning Bible Study, the participants lifted up the phrase that net did not break. It is a sign of God's capacity for love. god's expansive love doesn't strain the net. It is a sign of our capacity to give and receive love. Too often we apply to logic of scarcity to our spiritual lives. Instead of worrying about a size of the piece of the pie, the spiritual life allows the piety grow. sometimes the oldest child is concerned that Mom and Dad won't be able to love them as much when a new baby comes along. In spite of our weakness, in spite of frustrations, in spite of being sheep that require tending, we are given abundance, even more than we need at times. In our work, we may be frustrated at times, but at other times we  are fishing rich waters, and do better than we can possibly expect.

4/11 2010 First Sunday after Easter

 

We are so often in a rush to get to the Thomas story that we fail to include the opening section on Spirit, mission, and forgiveness material as resurrection life. Forgiveness brings new life to a relationship threatened with death. Here the church is called to be an  Easter vehicle. If it is functioning as a church court, it can also pass on a death knell for a relationship. When we forgive, we receive the breath of new life. when we forgive or are forgiven, a relationship can breathe again. their souls are given Easter life in forgiveness. Disciple work is the work of the whole church community.

 

Jesus bears his life scars. Jesus is more than a soul or pure spirit. His resurrection body is seen as Jesus, heard as Jesus. Should one explore the scars? In bible Study Thursday, Carol Reger wondered if the scars would be healed at the ascension. The forty days are an interim period. Temple: "The wounds of Christ are his credentials to the suffering race of humanity." Johnson writes that "Jesus bears forever the marks of his wounded humanity." Are they visible marks of the suffering of God for us as well?   (In Habakkuk 2:6) Calvin says that "wherever people cry out for justice, their cries become the very cries of God." Or (Jer. 22:16, "God is known where humanity is cared for."  Promise fulfilled of a spirit-filled life, a life of peace. this is a sign of God in the world. They and we are sent into the world to bear on ourselves, in demonstrating in our lives, the reality of the risen, living, Jesus, to reveal that continuing presence in our lives. Note that 3 times we hear peace be with you. How were the disciples shutting out the fearsome world outside? Were they then locked into their fear?

 

Revelation is presenting us with Easter time, or Communion time, where past, present, and future move together in the Eternal Now.So, time is fluid. We see a bold move where the extension of the divine name in Ex.3:14 covers all time. Jesus is given a series of titles, including the provocative firstborn of the dead. The book of Revelation is directed toward 7 real churches but are they perfect number representatives of all the church? They are in need of Easter life for different reasons, just like any church.

 
Thomas is both disbelieving and believing, his twin sides reflect two sides in us. I do want to emphasize that the word, doubt, does not appear in the Thomas story. Jesus says something on the order of don't be disbelieving or unbelieving but believing. Calvin was most unkind toward Thomas calling him, among other thing, stupid, dull. obstinate, monstrous, arrogant, and contemptous. At no point does Jesus seem angry with Thomas. At no point, is he not a disciple. He, too, is called with us to carry out the minstry of reconciliation. of continuing the work of Jesus in the wolrd.

 

In her comments,Gench reminds us "the same breath that brought Adam to his feet  now send the disciples out the door. Who among us does not have a bit of skepticism in them? Blind faith is gullible faith. We cannot tell people not to ask questions, as that turns faith into propaganda or dogmatic fist pounding. Folks who use the book of Revelation as a cookbook for the future or a codebook for the clever to break bring out the skeptical Thomas side in me. That's a sore point with me. a while a go, we worked with the book the Shack, the symbol of the wound of loss, but god could be found there. We experience Christ in ourselves and others when we are willing to touch the wounds of each others lives, to be agents of healing old wounds.

April 18th Acts 9:1-6, Rev. 5:11-14 First Cut

 

Rev. 5:11-14-

1) While the left behind series revels in the Lion of Judah as does Narnia, Revelation looks to a slain, little lamb. This is a vital image. They replace a martial image (I almost typed marital, thanks Freud) for a weak, slain one. Yet, it is precisely the weak image that is in the throne room, not the Lion of Judah.

2) Notice the myriads upon myriads in the throne room. This stands against ideas of limited numbers in the work of Christ.

3) 7 appears again in the gifts for the Lamb

4) Look at the universal response in v. 13;yet, the work of God is not finished. The scroll of god's upcoming plans  are opened by the lamb, but they are not finished.

5) Of all creatures, a slain little lamb is on the throne. Few passages get at the surprising, hidden nature of the power of God better than this.

 

Acts 9

1) Saul is breathing out violent, even murderous threats.That's who God picks here. I don't know if we should read a link to King Saul, with his murderous plans toward David and his band. Saul was attacking the son of David and his band.

2) Many crave a Damascus experience. Epiphanies do occur, but the nurture and growth of a Christian is no less important.

3) Can you imagine having the chance to get revenge on Saul and accepting him as does?

4) Do you think we should make anything of the shared name Ananias and the man in ch. 5?

5) Physical miracles usually have a spiritual analogue. Here the scales fall from Saul's eyes when he is healed after his vision. Are the laying on of hands an ordination?

Note: After Easter, we won't have OT readings. So, I will work with the texts other than the gospel ones. I will note at times linkages to Easter.

Acts 5:27-32-

1) My sense is that the exaltation theme, a link between Easter, Ascension, and sitting at the right hand of the Father was an important view of the victory of Jesus.

2) Like Jesus, the disciples are brought to trial. Unlike Jesus, they talk a good deal more.

3) Notice the irony of the priest's desire not to bring the blood on the council.

4) To follow god and not people is bold and admirable, but it can also be mistaken arrogance.

5) Again irony, Jesus is indeed made to be sin, the cursed one, but through the cross and resurrection now a leader.

6) Savior appears for the first time in Acts here. recall the emperor was a savior as well.

7) Notice the emphasis is on the spirit and on forgiveness for Israel.

 

 

 

Rev. 1:4-8- Note well that this letter is a circular one to seven real churches in what is now Turkey. One should exercise care in leaping to current evangelical dogma that it is directed toward then unknown American churches with clear predictive accuracy.

1) Obviously, the major Easter link is the wonderful phrase, the first-born of the dead.

2) Again exaltation is apparent.

3) We have the image of the return as well. This is a  link to Daniel 7:13 with the coming on the clouds.

4) Note the blurring of time into the Eternal Now of the one who was, who is, who is to come.this is perhaps a play  on the name of Ex. 3:14.

5) Jesus is given a political designation , even though he was killed by the empire. This is a part of exaltation theology. Jesus represents, if you will, a higher power.

6) Textual issues are here on loose v. washed us from sins.

7_ Piercing refers to John's story of the cross but also refers to Zech. 12:10

8) Look at how the Exodus  19 kingdom of priests is for the churches here.

Maundy 2010

shadow of doubt--shadow of death again. (This time the Destroyer would enter the abode of the Incarnate Message of God (Good Friday note)

Passover-zakar-remember-brings to present life-makes the past come alive. Passover is usually celebrated as a family meal in Jewish circles. Every family follows a liturgy, and the family becomes a little church that evening. We have a taste of its question and answer format again this evening.

 

No fast food sacrament this-sacraments as examples of God's hospitality-old ways reinterpreted This was a goodbye family meal that anticipated family meals of the future. The elements encapsulate the life of Jesus, and in consuming them, we claim that life in our own. We see others as part of the family. We stand within the family prayer of Jesus Christ. We are adopted into the family history of Jesus. Matzoh, the quick Passover bread on the run. We ingest that collective memory. this is a sacrament of connections, horizontally to each other and vertically to heaven. In the free nation, wed live in chains to drugs, to ambition, to an image of ourselves. Communion offers a way out, a path toward freedom. It is a prescription for a passover of the cold hold of death, a sit offers a way into the eternal memory and life of God. (Kaddish prayer from Pennington's Eucharist).Afikomen, some think that toward the end of the meal, when the last piece of unleavened bread, the matzoh, is eaten Jesus reinterpreted the Passover bread as he did with the one of the blessings of wine, perhaps it was when the people say dayenu, it is enough.. Maybe at the Urchatz, the ritual washing of hands, Jesus took on the role of washing feet as well. the bread and wine unite us with the elements of creation but also in our role of transforming the elements of creation, wheat and grape juice into bread and wine by our techniques.

 

How and why do we forget? We repress painful memory. Memories do fade in time.
We dismiss what we see as unimportant. How much of a sense did the disciples have that this was a very special Passover meal?  We get occupied with other events. Did Jesus wonder if he would be forgotten, just another number on the list of executions? Would his work be erased like footprints in the sand? At Passover the destroyer passed over the houses of the Israelites. Was Jesus fasting? At the Last Supper, Jesus realized that the Destroyer was aiming straight for him. Somehow his death would be a gateway to new life in this world and the world to come.

Easter 2010

Police dramas have a medical examiner give the time of death of the body by various indicators. If a medical examiner came to the tomb of Jesus  at some point on Saturday, they could give the time of death that we usually place around 3PM on Good Friday. They would note the cold temperature, the rigor. I say this to remind us that Jesus was in the grave, not in a coma, not in suspended animation, but dead and gone, buried. So he was not merely brought back, not resuscitated, but resurrected, given new life in a new way. He is, quite literally, born again. Only God can bring life from death. Only God can make the tomb into a womb.

 

Why seek the living among the dead? In a way the women were the dead among the living, with their hopes shattered and acting out of brave duty. Now the dream was alive once more. God has done a new thing to have new life arise from the dead. An empty tomb is the womb of a new birth. The dream is no longer dead, interred, but alive and on the loose.

Easter stress the full rich possibilities of life here and now, not living bit by bit being chipped away but grabbing its precious gift. the past gets integrated in us,as a  living part of us, not thev dead hand of thepast.Lliving Easter life is a new full, surprising life. The words of Jesus acquired new life. They had forgotten the words about suffering and rising, but the words of the two men in dazzling clothes clicked the memory switch on. We live in Easter light when we see our lives in the light of Scripture.

 

In Easter we participate in God's new future, maybe better new advent. We can try to forecast the future but not the surprising ways of God. God moves toward us.Death does not win the war between life and death. Love reaches into the cold tomb and warms it with its massive heart. No wonder Luke has two witnesses at the empty tomb. Every year it looks as if the cold of winter takes over. Then, bit by bit, the earth comes to life again. Easter is a spring celebration, but it is the shock of the new, not expecting the predictable return of perennial flowers.

 

Isaiah imagines a new world, one beyond resurrection perhaps, where death will lose its hold on us. It imagines a world of delights and peace, certainly an easier life. People would live a long long time. We are starting to approach such a time, when we expect to live  as long as the biblical patriarchs. This is not a return to Eden, but a new Eden, with its vulnerability to evil and death banished.

 

Ministers often regard the Easter bunny as an intrusive story for children. I have some sympathy for the bunny. It imagines a sweeter world, shorn of the predator, and it points toward the sweetness of life itself. Easter candy emphasizes the sweetness of life. A while back, to emphasize that very point, we give out candy every week, not only on Easter to the children. God's love on Easter is seen in the dazzling light of new life.  We encounter, we engage, the love of God over even death itself in the risen Christ. God not only gives space and time for us in this world, but God has made space, made a place for us in his very presence in the world beyond death. It is our very selves, our very lives, that will persist and grow int eh light of heaven's love one day.