Salt and  light both affect much beyond their size; a little goes a good way.These small things do have an impact. We do notice their effect. Their value inheres in their use. As many of us realize with the power down, a single candle casts a good bit of light. A little can have an impact, a candle, or a small church, or a single life well-lived.

 

Letters for Bread for the World, the check for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance- the food to Human Services-they all make a difference.

Isaiah makes a  fearsome relation of justice, worship and answered prayer. God certainly sees worship as central to the religious life. What God does not appreciate is our dividing life into a worship compartment and an everyday life compartment. God wants us to look at the word with stained glass eyes. God wants us to look at each other as we are led to see each other in worship.Isaiah suggests that prayer is affected by the quality of the nation. Sure, we hear a lot about moral decline in America, especially among those who think it will be connected to the end of the world. I do not hear much about the moral strides toward justice we have made as a nation in our lifetime.

What should we fast from? The examples are good: pointing the finger-blaming the victim-playing the victim When I was young, children were told that when they pointed out someone's faults, three fingers were pointing back at them. With the rise of talk radio in sports and politics, we have become adept at finger-pointing over the airwaves, and it is often directed at leaders and the need for change. Look at the chorus of complaint against the Indiana Pacers coach. Fasting is not a popular spiritual practice. In days past, the presidents used to proclaim a day of fasting and prayer. One way to look at it would be to match an empty heart with an empty stomach. The government re-examined food ratings in light of our nation's commitment to poor eating habits and overeating. If some faraway space alien would come to make a research site, they could well conclude that most of our religious temples are for something called fast food. Perhaps a good way to go at this would be to avoid seeing fasting as a way to diet, but to take a fast from fad diets and the constant pressure to diet. We need a fast from committing injustice, and maybe even being complicit in injustice. Fasting acknowledges that we have limits. Our girls sometimes watch How I Met Your Mother, and I caught a piece where the Doogie Hauser guy said that new is always better and more is always better.Jesus was probably thinking of fasting, and remember that Jesus took fasts, when he spoke of hunger and thirsting...after righteousness. Without power we appreciate its benefits more than merely as something to be consumed. Macrina Wiederkehr writes  "fasting cleans out a body but it bares the souls.  It leads us into the arms of One for whom we hunger....we hunger for what is right. We hunger to be saints....Each of us is called to be bread for the world." One could add or salt or light. Augustine said that god is always trying to give us good things, but our hands are too full to receive them.

 

Jesus is being careful to say that he is not against religious observances such as fasting. Jesus is fulfilling the law. Jesus reveals a way of life that fulfills the law's intent and purposes. Jesus asks us to practice what we preach.

Is, 58:1-12, OT Lectionary Notes

1) This is an alarming reading. It seems to say that the state of a nation's level of right relations with its citizens has an impact on relationship with God. By vv.8-9 it seems to say that fix up social life and then God will hear prayers.

2) God seems to say that religious ritual is sullied by poor social behavior "outside the stained glass."

3) Please note: This is yet another reading that casts down the common Christian reading of Judaism as a ritualistic, formalistic religion. The easy formula of many Christians is a religion of the heart. Here even sincere religious activity is called into question when it does not have corresponding social behavior.

4) Instead God desires a "social fast" to release the bonds of injustice.

5) It then moves into what Catholics called, or still call, corporal works of mercy. In our time, ti would be fast during the Super Bowl, but then have a Souper Bowl of Caring. Purely individual spiritual action and reflection is called into question here, a powerful question for a culture that speaks of spiritual seeking that may well be meditation on the glories of oneself or aesthetic pleasures of nature.

6) Consider the pointing of the finger as our blaming the victim, especially the poor, for their plight. Our insistence on using individual levels of analysis when social categories are called for blinds us to the reality of social condones as impinging on individual life.

7) Social restoration points toward the image of a watered garden, made all the more powerful as this is desert land. Where would social life appear as a watered garden. Where should it appear as a watered garden: schools, retirement homes?

8) I think Robert Schuller pointed Clinton to the line of repairer of the breach.

9) What does it say about us when we castigate those who seek to repair social breaches and celebrate those who seek to widen the breaches?

Micah 6:1-8 Lectionary Notes

1) This may well date back to the time of early Isaiah in the mid 700s. The Hebrew is harder to read ( at least of my poor attempts). While Isaiah is of the elite, Micah (short for who is like God) is from the countryside.

2) The form is the covenant lawsuit or court hearing form. This is used a number of times in the OT. This would enable one to refer to courtroom drams on TV, movies, and books. Richard Fenn wrote a book a number of years ago seeing liturgy as occupying the trial form.

3) I am not sure what to make about making nature the jury. Perhaps it is a way of "talking to the wall." Perhaps it is a metaphor for unbiased listeners.

4) I find v. 3 heartbreaking. God is looking for a reason for the people's actions and indifference. God is trying to find a cause for their response on God's own part.

5) God goes back a few hundred years into the origin of the people in the desert and lifts up the names of the Moses and his family as leaders.

6) The Baalam story acquired resonance over the years, apparently. (Refer to Num. 22-4 for a refresher) . Practice saying Shittim before reading it. It was the last camp on the way into the Promised Land. Joshua 4 has Gilgal as the launching point in the Promised Land.

7) Anybody who claims the old stereotype of the OT being ritualistic gets baked in vv 6-7. This is remarkably self-reflective material. Notice it leads up to child sacrifice. 2 Kings 16 and 21 have examples. One's mind may fall back to Jdg. 11 and notably Gen.22.

8) Many know this last verse by heart. Some would translate humbly as wisely. Mercy could be compassion as well. Some rabbis saw this as the Biblical message in miniature. One could do well in taking the three points one by one and amplifying them.

January 23
Ps 27 is a prayer that moves along different points: from cockiness to spiritual searching and finding in the midst of terrible trouble. James Limburg saw a sign in Denver that said, why pray, when you can worry. When others would worry, our psalmist prays with confidence. I find a difference between cocky and confident. Cocky denies that someone can be a challenge, but confidence realizes it and will face it. This psalm is one of confidence, not cockiness. With God on my side what is the worst you can do to me it admits fear but can move past it due to confidence in God, almost to the bravado of Rex Ryan. In the new True Grit, Maddie tells Rooster that all she has heard from him is mere braggadocio.

 

After the confidence,the one thing the psalmist seeks is to be in the presence of God. Still, the psalmist is troubled. The face is elusive, the voice unheard.  God may indeed be hiding. It is a great illustration of spiritual darkness, even for someone as confident in communication with God..

Even in some uncertainty,  the love of God exceeds that even of father and mother. Maybe especially away form home, we know our parents love us so. To say that God's love is greater than that is a love that enlarges our imagination just considering it. Worship is pictured as a pleasant, beautiful experience here, for there we find God to be shelter in the storm.

 

The psalmist needs a way through all the adversaries, a way, a path through the thicket, even with all of this confidence. I suppose we could turn land of the living to heaven, but it seems preferable to keep it as a protection in this life, a confidence that one will continue to live, even prevail. Where do we live in a dead zone, the land of the lost? How do we find our own path?

  

Our other reading is in the midst of trouble as well. The northern territory was Israel was conquered by Assyria. Later, the Galilee was also outside of the mainstream and the power center of Jerusalem or the new port on the coast. It is not a big step to have Decatur County be a form of Galilee. No place is outside the purview of God. No darkness can withstand the light of God.

 

The joy of relief is evident in both readings. The gospels apply this to Jesus of Galilee in Mt. 4. Matthew picks this up not only a prophetic foreshadowing but also for the emotional content of the passage. He lived in a dark time, but then again, we all do to some extent. Parents know the feeling of waiting for a teenager to come home as curfew approaches, and the relief when the lights swing into the driveway. After all those years, centuries of waiting, the Promised One had arrived. 

 

v. 2 has powerful darkness, deep darkness against the light. The events in Tuscon are good examples of human darkness. Victory is relief.

What would be other ways to express this kind of joy? The news that one is cancer free after five years would be one. To be freed is a great relief.

 v. 4 has great images for being enslaved. That could be easily extended to drugs, ideas, illness, that enslaves us. I would assume the Tuscon killer was deranged, enslaved to mental demons. I just noticed that Therese Rando speaks of the "bondage of grief."

When we feel relief from trouble, when we are rescued from a real jam, we know the feeling of being saved. It closes with the excellent reminder that waiting for the Lord requires hope and courage. 2 times we hear wait for the Lord. It sounds a bit like Joshua preparing for the conquest. When we feel as if we face a mountain of trouble, wait for the Lord. Help will come.

January 9, 2011

 

At the new year, we look at the initiation into the Christian community: baptism. Since it marks a new type of life, it fits this time of new plans and new hopes. Initiation ceremonies usually have a sense of foreboding and struggle, even pain; it could be into the military, an athletic team, or a fraternity. perseverance and peace and therapy and health We often see sometimes surprising courage of the weak. I think of people who fight cancer such as  Elizabeth Edwards. I'm not going to judge her striking her husband from her will, but I would like to highlight her words as she was facing death: " I have found that in the simple act of living with hope...the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious." I think of the researcher who goes through test after test seeking to unlock a secret that could lead to a cure of disease.  I think of a politician who works toward an end year after year in building support and writing bills in empty committee chambers.  I think of the countless hours of a parent raising children.we often say we are looking for a strong leader: bold, decisive. After Israel lost its power, a different picture emerges. Here is someone who would not harm a fly. Yet beneath that meek exterior lives the heart of a lion. Failure does not deter this servant-leader and that representative keeps plugging away.

 

Hundreds of years after Isaiah, the book of Acts is the story of a small group of people who set out to bring a new word of the suffering servant-leader Jesus to an uncaring world. The impartial God is now saying that he is  well pleased with the whole earth, starting with Israel. This God is impartial in that God loves everyone.Peter had a hard time seeing that through Jesus God was opening a door for all people.then the spirit fell on them. God is impartial about the order of ritual as well divine hospitality is all encompassing, but it is not so concerned about making us comfortable as seeing the guest as a representative of Christ. They will get baptized just like Jesus baptized; just like Jesus, just like the first disciples at Pentecost, they receive the gift of the Spirit. Jesus seems almost random in selecting the first disciples to whom he asks to merely follow him and to come and see his work and teaching. Christianity is not a movement for the elite, but it is  in its very nature, democratic and all-embracing.

 

Instead of this open-hearted  God, sometimes the image of the angry God overwhelms our mind. In another case, It may be the constantly disappointed, disapproving God that sometimes haunts my imagination. Here we are given a wonderful new year's image: the delighted, approving God. this week meditate, reflect on god telling you that God delights in you, God's soul delights in you, in you God is well-pleased.

When you were baptized God said this is my beloved in whom I am well-pleased. God said the same thing to people we cannot imagine would get such words. I reminds me of Ecclesiastes saying that God has long approved what you do.

 

Former things and new things-If I understand Isaiah here, the former things, the punishments as a teaching tool have shifted to a new frame of hope. The past if finished, and a new age begins. Far too often, we let the past hang like a dead weight around us. We let it act as a blindfold to our future.With our eyes to the future we can celebrate a future being born in the hands of God. Even when we make some missteps,  we faithfully keep at it. In baptism, we receive the common calling to be servants and leaders together.

January 16

Is.49:1-7 Now the servant speaks. Already the servant is looking backward as well as forward, so it is perfect for a January reading. I think the word servant comes with too much baggage, so we are better off speaking of being of service, acts of service, public service.

 

The view of the servant is reframed as instead of being absent the servant has been  concealed for safe keeping until the time was right..The servants in the readings this morning do not seem to fit the business literature of the CEO as charismatic leader.

 V.4 deep humility is the central theme here. This would be an excellent tool to look back over one's life, maybe better one's work, one's vocation and look at its peaks and valleys. Also, not how the servant points to God as giving strength. Since the servant can point to failure, achievement does not carry the work of the servant forward. How do we serve God's purposes?

 

 For a failure, it is all the more remarkable that the servant is called to be a light to the nations, even though its own light seems to be dimly perceived. It is too light a thing (compared to kabod/weighty/glory?) to merely work with Israel, but now has global import. It is as if too say, no big deal about the small failure, you are now called to a larger purpose. v. 7 is a great example of the Bible's love for reversal, as one day little Israel will be the magnet for the powerful to abase themselves, as Israel itself was abased. Indeed the one despised could be reflexive to oneself as abased in one's own eyes.

 We often take chosen to be chosen with privileges. here, chosen includes hardships and failures. What powers this servant. Not coercion, not access to power, but perseverance due to being allied with God's vision. Right away, Jesus is called the lamb of God, not the lion of Judah. A lamb is not a physical threat, just as in our Isaiah reading.MLK-The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Known as someone who wanted to serve other, who tried to love somebody. The only requirements were"a heart full of grace"  and a soul governed by love."   Drum major for justice...drum major for peace. leave a committed life behind."

 

In the notion of the priesthood of all believers, we have a Common calling/common cause in baptism- water sisters and brothers, invisible ties that bind us as thick as any rope.

Humility underscores our passages. That is not often a virtue we associate with  pastors, although it often should be.. God continues to work through this church.

Pastors are here  to help shine a light on a way to travel and to illumine the dark places we all encounter along our way.

Jesus seems casual about selecting disciples, far more so than the careful work of a pastor nominating committee for instance.

 In all humility, I see the pastoral role as preaching, teaching, pastoral care, including spiritual work.

shifting roles of leaders and participants in different ways in a fluid pattern that befits the water of baptism.All people of the church are called by Christ, so they can not ever be treated a mere hired hands, or lambs, a mere part of the herd.

What does it mean to serve the cause of Christ/ Come and see?

What does it mean to be part of this congregation. Come and see.

How are Christians always both leading and following in the way of Chris?. Come and see.

 

Is. 42:1-9

The servant songs sometimes seem to be directed at all of Israel and sometimes a representative figure. I'm not sure if the individual then stands for the community or if it is directed at a sole person. It fits the baptism of Jesus as God's voice echoes v. 1 strongly. Also Simeon touches on v. 6 when he sees the baby Jesus.

this passage seems to me to be a gold mine for sermon ideas, Bible Study or spiritual work.

 

1) The end of the passage is perfect for the beginning of the calendar year with its declaration of new things before they spring into being.

Maybe that could be a prediction of failed resolutions, but the new year always comes with promise.

 

2) Instead of  the calculus of reward and punishment, the servant is the recipient of delight.

 

3) vv.2-4 is an indicator of the Biblical theme of power displayed through weakness. Tom Long has a sermon somewhere that works with these verses and applies them to Christ. "Would not harm a fly" comes to mind as an old way of saying this.Nonetheless he will not falter. In the TV show Burn Notice the narrator says that crisis can surprise us, and the least likely person will prove ice in their veins when called upon. Even facing difficulty the servant will persevere.

 

4) Then we shift to Isaiah's creator image of God. God is both designer and architect, but also giver of life/breath and spirit, depending on how one chooses to translate ruah in this instance. Some see the light as an example. It is similar to Jesus saying that we should not hide our light under a basket.

 

5) Patricia Tull has edited an SBL book As Those Who Are Taught, and another book on the reception of Isaiah throughout history that look at the servant songs. Some saw traces f the Trinity in v.1 for instance.

 

6) Justice is emphasized again. Look at the contrasting views of justice with the Tea Party and moderates, and the left.

 

7) We will be looking at calling a good bit in upcoming readings. Notice v. 6 and the childlike image used for the call. This could be an invitation to considering vocation.

 

8) v.7 is a great image for spiritual reflecting as well as sermon. When is the dungeon imposed or self-imposed?

 

9) What do you see as the former things and the new things in a spiritual sense?

 

10) This is an explicit attack on idols. We don;t have much of an issue with them, but our tradition always has pointed to idolatry, making substitutes for divine priority. What idolatry troubles you in 2011?