The Power of Three--Trinity Sunday--June 19, 2011

The Readings--(The Message)

The Scripture:
II Corinthians 2: 11-14

And that's about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. Greet one another with a holy embrace. All the brothers and sisters here say hello. The amazing grace of the Savior, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

The Gospel:
Matthew 28: 16-20

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
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The Power of Three 6-19-11
God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, fill our hearts with a desire to walk in your ways. Grant us your perfect peace and set our feet to dancing in the knowledge of your everlasting love. Amen

I don’t know which is worse—trying to preach about the Trinity or having to listen to yet another preacher trying to explain it in yet another attempt to make it “make sense”. So, I feel a little between a rock and hard place, knowing that, yes, it is Trinity Sunday—the only Sunday in the Christian year where we are called upon to preach not about the teachings of Jesus, or the prophets of the Old Testament, or the historical narratives of the Jewish and Christian people, but rather about a doctrine that didn’t even come into being until 350 years after Jesus walked on this earth. And what is the question that caused the early Church to ponder and try to resolve the mystery of the trinity—it is this, if God is one God, why do we talk about the God-head as three persons?—we just sang about it—“God in three persons, blessed Trinity”—however, that question has never truly been answered in a way that it universally understood or accepted. The Church Fathers (and, yes, sadly it seems they were all men) met and pronounced simply that we would believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We find these declarations in creeds—you may have heard of them: the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed being the two most widely used. But saying it does not necessarily mean believing it and so the discussion continues to today.
Almost two thousand years later, along came feminist theory and theology, and one of the first things these women said was this: it just can’t be—we cannot have a God who is represented by an old man, a young man, and a bird (meaning the dove representing the Holy Spirit). What these brave women did, most of all, is allow us to challenge the traditional ways we have looked at God, to see beyond mere “names” for God and begin to talk about who God is and what God does in this world. We began to see that calling God “father” doesn’t work for some of us—that we need to work hard to expand our notions of the Eternal to include ‘acting’ and ‘being’ words. For some, God is a verb—a force of motion and action. For myself, I use a trinity of being words to describe God: creator, redeemer, sustainer.
Still we do not altogether understand. How is it possible that God places us squarely in the middle of this mystery and, seemingly, fails to give us the answers we seek. Perhaps it is because it is just that, a mystery. And while we have no need to completely understand the “how” of the mystery, we do need to develop language to convey to the world the “what” of the mystery. What is this God doing among us? How does walking with the Divine affect us? Why would anyone else want to do the same?
Many have tried to come up with explanations. Rev. Richard Fairchild, of the United Church of Canada, compares the doctrine of the Trinity to atomic theory. He says, “We all learned in school that everything in the universe is made up of atoms, which are themselves made up of tiny particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. That protons and neutrons together make up a nucleus, and that the electrons orbit around this nucleus sort of like the planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. But there is no scientist who really believes that this simple model fully explains the substance of matter. Nuclear physics is much more complex…. The most educated physicist will tell you we will probably never know everything about atoms and subatomic particles. The atomic theory is just a model that explains something about how atoms work. It doesn't tell everything about what they are.” He goes on to suggest: “So it is with the Trinity. The idea of the Trinity tells us something about how God is revealed to us, how God works in human events. But it doesn't fully tell us WHO or WHAT God is. And I guess that is the secret of this experience we have of God - this understanding we have of God as a trinity - it doesn't tell us fully - but it tells us some important stuff none-the-less.”
And so, this week, I have pondered anew, all of the ways that I have tried to understand the Trinity over the years. Probably the most common attempt to describe the Trinity is the one using the three forms of H2O (water)—ice, liquid, and steam—to illustrate the three forms of God in the Trinity. Strangely enough, that is one of the least satisfying for me because it completely fails to say anything about what God is doing in our midst. Some of you may have memories of other explanations that you have heard—if you want to share those with me, I’d be grateful for next year!
Many of you know that I treasure butterflies. Truth be told, it is because, as an adolescent, when I was the most miserable kid in all of Apopka, Florida, I secretly believed that I would one day hatch into a beautiful butterfly. This thought sustained me more than once when I found myself throughout my life in places where life and, sometimes, God, failed to make sense. This week, I got to thinking about the life cycle of the butterfly as a way to understand what God is doing in our lives, in our church, and in our world, as three distinct, yet unified, processes.
In the first place, the butterfly, which starts as an egg, hatches into a larva or caterpillar. Creation occurs! Catepillars do little other than crawl around and eat leaves and flowers. They eat almost constantly, as the creative process continues as the caterpillar grows and develops. The caterpillar molts or loses its old skin many, many times as it grows and creation continues to get the caterpillar ready for the next step.
After some time, the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis. At this point, to the outside world, it appears that nothing much is happening. We know, however, that many, many things are happening. The caterpillar is being redeemed—transformed. Just as we are transformed by learning and following the teachings of Jesus, we are being transformed from within. We heard it last week: Paul calling us to be transformed from within by following all that we know about the reign of God’s justice as proclaimed by Jesus. As for our butterfly, although many scientists do, it is incorrect to call this stage in the life cycle, the resting stage—transformation is hard work whether in the cocoon of a butterfly or in the quiet spaces of your soul as you allow God to work in your heart through the teachings of Jesus.
I am reading right now, a book called “Wrestling with Grace”, by Robert Corrin Morris. This book was the source of our Centering Meditation today. It is a book about growing in faith in the midst of challenges. I would imagine that our chrysalis is quite challenged in its work of transformation deep in the cocoon it has spun for itself. This is what Morris says about growing up in God through challenges: “Challenge by challenge, we can let the image of God within us be provoked into a growing-up process…What will the next challenge be? Trying to serve God rather than [others]? Learning to say no when we need to and yes when that response is called for? …Taking time to go “into thy closet” to pray in secret? Developing a gift we’ve been given? Forgiving someone from our heart? Reaching out beyond our own comfortable group? Taking up our cross—for example, being willing to speak up against oppression in a situation where we can make a difference even though it may be risky?...More and more we become “partners of Christ”… Only in learning how to live this way do the deepest yearnings and powers of our own nature unfold in health, vigor, and grace.”
And we return to our butterfly process: finally, when the work is done, a beautiful, flying adult creature emerges. Flying in the spirit to places only dreamed of, the butterfly’s energy is sustained, just as is ours, by the Wind of the Spirit. And God, the Sustainer, as the Holy Spirit, infuses our very being, our every thought, our love for ourselves and each other. And the joy of this stage results in the planting of eggs, reproducing the species and the process time and time again. Likewise, as we fly free in the Spirit, as beautifully winged creatures, we reproduce the process in the lives of others whom God allows and leads us to touch along the way.
I do not know where each of you are in your three-fold process today. But I believe that you are all in a process much like the one I have described. Your presence here today is evidence of that seeking for something more or of your need to celebrate such great gifting by this God who creates, redeems and sustains us even as we are loved and treasured into being. Let this be a place where people can stretch their wings of grace and fly. Amen and amen!

Pentecost of the Heart 6-12-11

Reading: Acts 2:1-21 (The Message)
1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. 5-11There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; even Cretans and Arabs!
"They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!" 12Their heads were spinning; they couldn't make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What's going on here?" 13Others joked, "They're drunk on cheap wine."
14-21That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren't drunk as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk—it's only nine o'clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:

"In the Last Days," God says, "I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes, I'll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both, and they'll prophesy.
I'll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke, the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives, the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help to me, God, will be saved."
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God of rushing winds and quiet whispers, speak to us in ways that we can hear. Nudge us, show us your path. Wake us up and get us moving, speaking and talking, sharing the good news of your reign of justice and peace. Amen
Rushing winds, wildfire, people speaking in different languages—this is quite a scene—this event we now call Pentecost. And the whole affair is finished off with Peter preaching and quoting the Old Testament prophet Joel—making some pretty wild predictions. You’ve got to figure that the folks, these devout Jews from many lands, who witnessed these events were pretty blown away, confused, perplexed. Why they thought that all the believers were drunk even so early in the morning. This was crazy behavior, behavior that inspired awe and fear and chaos. And so, in the midst of this wild scene, enters the Holy Spirit.
Jesus came quietly, as a tiny baby…was born like one of us, grew up like one of us, worked like one of us for the first 30 years of his life. And then spent the rest of his life teaching us about God, and life, and loving each other. He turned the world upside down with his teaching about justice and love; he conquered death in his resurrection and at his Ascension, just last week, Jesus promised “power from on high” to those who follow him. This power came anything but quietly, and it filled the followers with such grace and might that they went out from there and changed the world. The coming of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus promised, changed a miraculous story about a man who lived and died and lived again into the story of how the in-breaking of God’s rule of justice would change the world—when followers, of all ages, cultures and stations in life, went out from that place to spread the Good News.
And, then, we come along. God has been working all this time in the world, in the church, and in our lives. So Pentecost, for us, is not so much about gaining new power, but in recognizing the power already at work in our lives and, most of all, in our hearts. And while I am not limiting God—it is possible that God could send the Holy Spirit to us this day in tongues of fire and rushing winds, I do think that if we spend too much time looking at the ceiling we will miss the Truth—capital T—of the day.
Think of it like going to a movie. If you come late to a movie, the usher (in those places where they still have ushers) does not walk you in and then announce to everyone that you have arrived and, therefore, they are going to start the movie over. And, the usher certainly does not rush you to the projection booth (in those places where they still have those) and tell you that the whole crowd has been waiting for you to arrive so that you could run the projector and show the movie to everyone. No, you go in quietly and find your seat. And you “catch up” with where the movie is and all that has come before. I believe that “catching on” to what God, through the Holy Spirit, has been doing in our lives is a little bit like that.
We would be foolish to believe that today is the day that God starts working in our lives or in our church or in our world. For, in fact, God has been working in our lives and hearts since the beginning of time. We just need to catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight. It is easy to get caught up in the outer plot of today’s story—it’s got all the visual effects of a great epic film. It is harder to tune in to the inner plot, but that is what God calls us to do. And the inner plot is the story of a journey, a journey of a heart turned to God. It’s the story of our coming to understand all that God has for us, and wills for us to be. It’s the story of our coming into God’s exceeding abundance in a real and tangible way. It’s the story of a people, a church, already at work with God’s help, becoming all that God would have the people of God to become. And we enter along the way on God’s timeline in this journey.
But, that’s not all. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about the power of the Holy Spirit removing any barriers between us and God. He compares us to Moses and the Israelites. You remember Moses. When he spoke to God, he put a veil over his face so that he could be in God’s presence without fear. And because the Israelites did not know that the story would end with Jesus, they had no real understanding of what God was saying to them. Paul insists that only through the power of Christ is that understanding made clear. In verses 16-18, Paul reveals the truth as he sees it: that when one turns to God, listens to the teachings of Jesus, accepts the Holy Spirit, there is freedom. And all of us, who live in this freedom, contemplating and living in God’s glory, are being transformed into all that God calls us to be.
And so, today, on this day called Pentecost, I invite all of us to enter into the journey, the inner plot that God is writing on each of our hearts every day that we are alive—whether or not we are aware of it. God’s grace is not dependent on our awareness in order to be present in our lives. God’s grace just is. Richard Heitzenrader, a Wesleyan scholar from Duke Divinity School defines this process through grace like this: “Grace is what God, by the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit, is doing in your inner life.”
We spend so much time planning our journeys—telling God and anyone who will listen where we are going to go and how we will get there. We buy maps, travel insurance, and hatch complicated analyses of the best and proper way to go about doing things. And all of this is well and good, when we are, first of all, in touch with the inner plot already going on in our hearts and spirits. Most of us, I fear, really like running the projector—determining which movie will play next, what time it will start, whether or not it needs an intermission, and when it will end.
But the story is already unfolding and Pentecost invites us to catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight. Paul, in Romans 12:2, calls us to this journey in no uncertain terms: He says: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” And so God invites us into a story of saving grace, a journey that will end us in a much better place than we would end if we write our own scripts with no reference to the Spirit of God who has been filling our lives with grace and salvation, long before we came to understand. It also tells the story of God’s gradual transformation of our lives, our hearts, and our minds as we get in sync with what God is doing in our lives and in our world.
This leads us squarely back to our place in the midst of God’s exceeding abundance. I hope, by now, you have begun to take a serious look at what that means for your life and for the life of this church. This is a great relief to me as your pastor. I did not have to come to this pulpit this morning and make anything happen. The fact is, God started that long before I even began to listen to the still small voice that would eventually land me here. It is not up to me to bring down the tongues of fire, or initiate the rushing wind. God walks before me, around me and within me, and sends the light of understanding into all our hearts so that we can find where we are in this journey of transformation through the love and power of the Holy Spirit.
And so, here we are today listening to the still small voice and the rushing wind that both speak of God’s will for our lives. Here is where we catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight—moving with the ease of a loved one invited to join God on a marvelous, miraculous journey of change, and growth, of grace and peace. Here is where we stop and listen, remind ourselves and each other that God is already at work in our hearts and our lives. Here is the Pentecost of the Heart—the move from old to new, from fear to love, from limits to possibility. Here is where the Spirit says “come!” and here is where we say “yes!” Amen and Amen.

One Last Thing: Remember... 6-5-11

First Reading: Ephesians 1: 15-19

From the time I first heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of the holy ones, I have never stopped thanking God for you and remembering you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe. You can tell this from the strength of God’s power at work in Jesus.

Second Reading—The Gospel: Luke 44-53

Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke with I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled.” Then Jesus opened their minds to the understanding o f the scriptures, saying, “That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah’s name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witness of all this.
Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high.” They Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples. While blessing them, the savior left then and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshiped the risen Christ and returned to Jerusalem full of joy. They were found in the Temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.
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God, show us this day your will for us in all situations. Let us remember all that we know about You and your son, Jesus. And show us how to live and walk in the way of love and compassion and mercy. Amen

I am happy to announce that by the end of our story today, at long last, the disciples ‘get it’. And it’s a good thing because these disciples, who have not been the sharpest knives in the drawer throughout the last three years, are the very people to whom Jesus is entrusting the continuation of His earthly ministry. Indeed, Jesus speaks his last words to these disciples, words that would need to carry them through the planting of churches, spreading the word, and, ultimately great persecution.
So, let’s look first at the words. Most of us believe that last words are important words. We carefully craft goodbye speeches. Some of your favorite last words may have taken the form of that artfully crafted resignation letter from a job that you hated that may have sounded like this: I quit. And while I have your attention, here are a few things you should learn about running a business—dot, dot, dot…etc, etc, etc. In our personal lives, the last words that people say to us before they leave us either by distance or by death take on great significance. We all know of someone or perhaps ourselves who have lived with regret for last words spoken in anger. Terri and I try to end every single email or phone call with the words “I love you”, not just because we do love each other, but because we have a kind of unspoken agreement that should those be the last words one of us speaks to the other one, we want those words to be the right words.
When you are preparing for a leave-taking, you may spend several days crafting exactly what we want to say. I have to imagine that Jesus did the same—that last sermon had to have impact for the ages—enough spiritual meat to last for all time.
Last words are important words. Sometimes we do not know that those words are the last we will ever hear. It is unlikely that the disciples knew what was coming. But we must imagine that after Jesus ascended from their sight, they must have longed for a way to remember every syllable, every inflection of the words of this man who had taught them about life, and death, and living again.
Interestingly, if you ask people what were the last words of Jesus, they will often respond with “Father, forgive them” or “into thy hands I commend my spirit.” We know that Jesus spoke many words between Easter and this day of Ascension. But today, we look only at his last words. For this we re-visit our Gospel passage. In the version of the story we read today, Jesus says these words: “Remember the words I spoke when I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled. That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah’s name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witness of all this. Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high.”
They walked out into the countryside and our writer tells us that in the midst of pronouncing a blessing upon them, Jesus is gone.
Let’s look at the words themselves: First Jesus calls them and us to remember all that He shared with them while He was still with them. He reminded them to remember how the words of Moses and the prophets were lived out through the events of His life—that is was prophesied that he would suffer and die and rise again. He reminded them that while it didn’t make sense to them at the time, it did make sense when they remembered His teaching.
He goes on to tell them that forgiveness of sins will be preached to everyone in His name. And he says: “you are witness of all this”. In some versions, the verb is active: “you are TO witness to all this”. And then he gives them his final directions: “Take note, or don’t fail to notice, that I am sending you what God has already promised. Stay here until you receive this gift of power from on high.” It is important for us to hear this story today, because it is the first half of the story that ends at Pentecost. Jesus leaves them on this day, ascending into the clouds; but they must still wait for the descending of the power from on high—the Holy Spirit—to come a week later. Is this one final test—to see if they will stay where he tells them to stay waiting for the gift? If it was, they passed.
What does all this have to do with us? I believe that God calls us all to be witnesses of these things and to witness of these things by our words, actions, and very lives. If we believe the same about Jesus, that we believe about ourselves and the people in our lives, last words are important. I am glad and somewhat relieved to discover that, at long last, the disciples truly understand. And that with power from on high waiting in the wings stayed put and followed the commands of their teacher and friend. The disciples, prior to the resurrection and just after, would have reached up and tried to grab Jesus’ robe as he ascended into the clouds. “Wait, wait, wait—we don’t get it—what are you trying to say? Don’t leave us—we need you, here with us.” I can almost see them throwing a little disciple temper tantrum—trying to control Jesus again.
But something happened to those disciples in the midst of Jesus’ final words. Jesus opened their eyes. And they allowed their eyes to be opened. In one of the great mysteries of the faith, these not-so-insightful disciples were finally ready for their eyes to be opened. I would suggest to you, that what happened to get them to the place where their eyes could be opened, was the pain, confusion, and despair that followed the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The pain was real, it hurt to be confused and it felt awful to not know what happened. Even in the 40 days after the resurrection, their confusion surfaces time and time again. But they stick with it; they “sit with their feelings” as my AA friends say. They didn’t run away, they stayed through the hard part, and they out-lived the pain. And in the outliving of the pain comes the ability to see the glory. We see the story from the other side of the pain and it makes sense. And thus this mystery is not such a mystery after all—and their story is our story—the story of our lives—and we give witness to this to all who come after.
And as a church and as a people, we will face pain. We will see people we love go on to be with God. We will see relationships that we treasured fall apart. We will stand beside our own as they battle diseases large and small. We will hurt each other. But, we will come through it all to great victory, because that is the treasure that God in store for us. In the power of the Holy Spirit we will love each other through whatever we face as a people and as individuals and families. Today as we gather to sing our final prayer, take a look at that circle of friends whom God has placed in your life. The same disciples who slept through Jesus’ hour of agony in the garden were allowed to see the glory of His ascension into the clouds when His earthly story had come to an end. The same disciples—because they did what they had to do, through their confusion and despair and they become us—and we become them.
Before you think that I am ending this sermon today in the midst of despair and confusion, let me assure you that I am not. I am calling us to understand that our vision of who we are and will be are intimately tied up with and informed by all that we bring with us to the table. And we are all victorious, when we walk through the hard stuff to the other side—that the hard work is worth it—that growth and development of a church takes work—work that we are all prepared for through the working of the Holy Spirit. My prayer for you today is Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe.” Exceeding abundance, indeed! Amen and amen!

A Life Renewed from Within 5-22-11

READING 1: Ephesians 4--portions
God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything… And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we're all connected to each other, after all….Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
READING 2: Luke 7: 36ff

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be accepted and loved into being by you, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen

As many of you know, I spent the last week on a rest and study week alone with God. I will try to spare you the “what I did on my summer vacation” speech, but I do want you to know that I both deeply needed and deeply appreciated the chance to get away. I didn’t go far; just far enough that I could resist the temptations to shut out God’s voice by keeping busy doing whatever caught my mind at the moment. There’s something about sitting in a chair by the side of a creek watching the fish jump in and out in the sunlight that just puts it all in perspective. I came away from last week with a deep gratitude for everything and everyone in my life. I came away with a deep sense of ‘rightness’ about allowing God to move Open Circle into her next phase. As much as I would like to tell you that God drew a picture in some blue sky and gave me an easy to read road map; that did not happen. What did happen was that God gave me peace—peace about trusting God and peace about trusting all of us to listen and respond to God’s voice calling us to increase our ministry in the world.
So today we come to a very beautiful story about Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene is a favorite of many of us—she has come to represent the “bad girl” turned righteous, and she lets all of us who have or had a wild side know that it’s never too late to seek forgiveness and “get right with God”. If however, we stop here, we have shortchanged Mary Magdalene herself and we have shortchanged ourselves. Perhaps we have even shortchanged God. Now, interestingly enough, scripture never tells us that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. That is an interpretation that comes down through time presumably because the early interpreters of the scripture thought that was the worst a woman could be. So, we think of her in sexual terms—but Jesus never tells us the nature of her sin.
At Simon’s invitation, Jesus goes to visit this prominent Pharisee. We don’t know why. Mary Magdalene has heard of his visit and takes an expensive perfume in an valuable jar to offer to Jesus. We’re not sure what she intended to do with this perfume—was it to be a gift, or did she intend to anoint him all along? Whatever the case, she finds herself standing behind Jesus. So close to him, can you feel her mixture of emotions, her awe, her worship? She is crying; crying so much that her tears serve as a fountain of water to wash Jesus’ feet. She doesn’t have a towel, but that doesn’t stop her, she simply uses her long hair to dry his feet. Not stopping to think, she is lost in her worship and pours the expensive perfume on his feet. Now, this was not a man who engaged in weekly pedicures; no, this was a man who walked long dusty roads in sandals at best, and barefoot at worst. This could not have been a pleasant task—Mary Magdalene doesn’t care—so lost in wonder that she cannot stop herself from this act of worship.
Simon is enraged—enraged that Jesus would let her touch him at all. Simon suggests, clearly showing his rigid, stick-to-the-rules take on religion, that if Jesus really was a prophet, he would have known the kind of woman she was and would have jerked his feet away in disgust. Jesus puts a stop to his anger—tells him that he, Simon, did nothing to show Jesus a welcome; while this woman, this so-called sinful woman, cannot stop herself from literally pouring out her praise. And then Jesus tells a story about forgiveness and, suddenly, Simon and we along with him, have a chance to understand. We don’t know the depth to which Simon truly understood, but what I think we must understand is this: that those who feel the farthest from God, the most cut-off from God’s people; when they are welcomed in, they have the most room for praise.
Now some of us react to being lumped in with Mary Magdalene, thinking of her more as a reformed sinner than a woman who had experienced so much of life that her heart was open to the goodness, the healing, the forgiveness, and the welcome of God through Jesus. And these are the folks Jesus calls us to welcome. I think that the more Mary Magdalenes we have, the more we grow into being the full body of Christ. The more we reach out to those who are rejected and hopeless, the greater our potential for compassion and love becomes. This last week, in preparing for this sermon, I prayed this prayer: “God, send to this church the very people wanted by no one else”. And I intend to pray this prayer every day for as long as I am your pastor. I hope and trust that you will pray this prayer with me. For most of us, at one time or another at least suspected that we were among those people, those people that no one else wanted. And look at us now—singing, praying, serving, ushering, preaching, loving, and joining hands as Church!
Enter now, Paul, speaking to the baby Christians in Ephesus: he says, this is what God wants for you—to grow up and know the whole truth and to pass it on with love. Be like Christ in everything you do which will require you to live an entirely new kind of life—a life that is renewed from the inside. This inside change overflows into the part that everyone sees and as you will become new people as God’s character becomes evident. Then he breaks it down—I love that about Paul—he never takes for granted that I am going to understand what he has said—so he sums it up like this: 1. Be who you are—no pretending to be something else. 2. Tell your neighbor the truth because we are all connected in Christ’s body. 3. Tell it gently; be sensitive to one another. 4. Forgive each other—quickly and thoroughly like God forgives you through Christ.
The ability to forgive is a great gift. We need it to be church. For we will hurt each other along the way. Even gently, with sensitivity, the truth sometimes hurts. The joy of loving each other into this new life—this life renewed from within, sends us running into the world to invite all the Marys (and Simons) still waiting to hear the good news of wholeness and inclusion to come to this place, to this Jesus. This may be the greater gift. What Mary felt for Jesus that day was so strong, so powerful that no one could have kept her away. Jesus loved her, he forgave her, he welcomed her. And while he said nothing to her until the very end of the story, she knew, she felt it, she saw it, she lived it. This is the work of the church—this is the work of this church.
We come on Sunday mornings and other times, with broken relationships, broken dreams, and, sometimes broken hearts. But Jesus is always here; here in the singing, the praying, the speaking, the silence. This Jesus who welcomed those who did not know how to love themselves or others, showed us time and time again, that the door is open to everyone. We do not know what sin Mary Magdalene was guilty of, perhaps it was sexual impropriety, or perhaps her sin was that she did not love herself enough as God’s child to cease her destructive behavior, what ever that behavior might be. Whatever the case, Jesus didn’t care. There was no allocution of the facts, in fact, there was no trial—just immediate and free forgiveness.
How simple is that? We have been given this great gift of having been forgiven. Forgiven of what? Doesn’t matter—for some, it may be the simple inability to see oneself as a Child of God; for others, sinful acts or thoughts counted as much worse may lie heavy on your heart. Loving each other in love into this great gift—including all who come on their own, as well as finding those too fearful, too beat down, too hopeless to come—this is our response to the gift we have been given.
Like Mary Magdalene, we worship a God who welcomes us all to the table—some needing much forgiveness, some needing little. Jesus tells us that those of us most hurt, most scarred, most bruised by sin and the sins of others have the most room for praise and thanksgiving. How else can we respond except by committing ourselves to the inclusion of all in our midst, in our community, in our world. God, we open the doors to those not wanted by anyone else, for when we were farthest away from you, you were closest to us. In love, you let us touch you, praise you, and thank you. And now, we go forth to love and serve our God. Amen and amen.

On God's Journey Together--May 15, 2011

God: we thank you this day for Christ, the good Shepherd who
loves us so much that He calls us by name and encircles our
lives with unconditional love. Let us gratefully open our hearts to
receive this great love. Amen
For those of you from traditions that follow the seasons of
the church, you may know that this is Good Shepherd Sunday.
Now most of us have a rather simple understanding of Jesus as a
shepherd—probably inspired by pretty pictures of Jesus cuddling
a lamb, or maybe the one with Jesus, staff in hand, walking with
an injured lamb across his shoulders. It’s a safe and comforting
scene, but it doesn’t quite represent what Jesus meant when he
said, "I am the Good Shepherd; I know mine, and mine know me."
In the context of the scripture passage, Jesus is actually
responding to the Pharisees who had accused him of being evil
because he healed a blind man on the Sabbath. What he was
really saying, was that he was not like professional, hired hands
who were paid for watching sheep and, in fact, only watched the
sheep for the money—never loving or caring for the sheep at all.
In contrast, he is a good shepherd, one who watches the sheep
because he cares about them—that is the only reason—because
he cares about them. Now, for thousands of years, the Hebrew
people had used the image of a good shepherd for God—all the
way back to Genesis—when God is called the Shepherd who
saves. Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial and others used the
image and, David, the psalmist was very fond of the image. So
the Pharisees could not for a moment have doubted what Jesus
was saying to them—that they were like hired hands, supposed to
care for the people, but really not caring at all because they only
cared for themselves and what they could gain.
The Pharisees were probably good people, but they had
become legalistic rulers who cared more about the law than
people—more about rules and traditions that the lives of real,
hurting, needy people. So in walks Jesus, who turns the idea
of leadership upside down, and calls us to be servants and
shepherds, quiet, humble folks who invested their whole lives in
making sure that the sheep of their pastures had everything that
they need.
And it is in the context of this humble calling that we find
ourselves exploring all the gifts that God pours out into the
Church, capital ‘C’, and this church, in particular. The image of
the shepherd comes up again, after the resurrection, when Jesus
tells Peter that, if he loves him, he will be about the business
of feeding Jesus’ sheep. Not necessarily preaching mighty
sermons, or leading great armies of political conquest—just
feeding—the job of a servant—a very down and dirty ministry—
lots of preparation and lots of cleaning up.
Before we look at the gifts Paul enumerates in our passage
in Ephesians, it would be helpful to think about just how a
shepherd, well, “shepherds”. In the days of Jesus, a shepherd
did not walk behind his or her flock, screaming instructions and
beating them with sticks to keep them on a straight and narrow
path, No, a shepherd walked in front, always on the alert for
danger, seeking out the safest path to food, water, and refuge.
Often, several herds would mix together at night, but in the
morning, each sheep knew the voice of its shepherd, and would
follow the right shepherd out of the fold. They followed because
they knew their shepherd’s voice and because they trusted their
shepherd to be worthy of their willingness to follow.
That’s exactly the way it is with the church today—we are
followers of Jesus, we belong to his flock. And, as we follow, we
all have some of that “shepherd” DNA in us. We look out for each
other. If one of us falls, we stop and pick them up. If one of us
is hungry, we find some food; if sick, we find healing. If one of
us strays, we try, as best we can, to point the way. But we don’t
follow each other, we are all following Jesus on the journey laid
out for us by God. One flock, one shepherd—seems like it should
be all quite simple.
So, Paul, while he is in prison, writes this letter to
Ephesians—this same letter that we are looking at as we ponder
together what it means to be “church”, and, more importantly,
a church who follows the leadership of Jesus on this journey
with God. Paul tells the Christians at Ephesus to “get out
there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to
travel.” Paul has no patience for anyone who isn’t serious about
servanthood. He warns against going out on their own—“strolling
off”—our translation says, going “ down some path that goes
nowhere.” And then comes the crux of the matter:
“And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—
not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each
other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at
mending fences. You were all called to travel on the same road
and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and
inwardly. You have, one faith, one baptism, one God of all, who
rules over all, works through all, and is present in all.” And we
know this because we know the voice of our shepherd.
But this is a shepherd who doesn’t expect us all to be exactly the
same—not even to serve in the same way. Paul explains, “But
that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the
same.” Now, that’s a relief for most of us. Paul notes that from
the generosity of Christ we are each given our own special,
unique gifts. And some of these are the gifts of apostle, prophet,
evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled
servant work…
As important as the specific, diverse gifts that Paul
discusses, there is the reason Paul gives us for the gifts
themselves—“to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work”.
We are all to be trained for servanthood. But what of each of
these gifts? Apostles were originally charged with spreading
the Gospel and beginning new churches. In a setting such
as ours, apostles lead us in the development of a love and
justice-centered church and encourage us in all of our outreach
ministries—we have many apostles. I spoke of the prophets
among us last week, those whose faith enables them to believe
in a future that many of us have not even been able to dream.
Just as importantly, the prophets among us remind us of the
power of God at work in God’s journey that leads to places as yet
unknown. They call us to be about seeking God’s will for our lives
and the life of this church. They plead with us to not box God in
with our own narrow understandings and fears.
And then there are evangelists—the very word strikes
cynicism in our hearts. Mostly we equate evangelism with a
black box that sits in our living rooms or strange looking folks who
stand on street corners and preach the end of the world. But Paul
meant much more than that, and we need a fresh start—with the
courage to move out into our lives and tell people about the loving
God who created us, sustains us, and welcomes us—just as we
are—into the fold. We have good news and we need “Good-
News-tellers”—people who will find the courage to ‘come out’ as
Christians, in a world that needs to hear what we have to share.
We have many evangelists among us and as we grow together,
we will experience a wonderful surge in the numbers of you who
find it among your many gifts to go spread the word.
And finally, the pastor-teachers who lead us in deeper
learning and exploration of all that God intends for us to be. If
you think today that I am the only pastor-teacher God has called
to this church, I want to lovingly tell you that you are wrong. God
has placed many with that gift among us and as we develop
opportunities for Spiritual formation and growth, we will see the
number of pastor-teachers rise as many step up to become all
that God has gifted them to be.
And all for servanthood. We gratefully accept such
wonderful gifts because they are part of the exceeding abundance
here in this church. And we are all on God’s journey together,
loving each other, and caring each other into all the giftedness
that awaits us as God gives to us exceedingly abundantly more
than we can ask or think. And we, like Paul, recognize that we
are all “working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all
moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and
graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully
developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.” To God be
the glory. Amen and Amen

We've Got What It Takes 5-8-11

First Reading: Ephesians 3: 20-21 (KJV)
Now unto God that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto God be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

The Gospel: Luke 24:13-35 (The Message)
That same day two of them were walking to the village Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem. They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them. But they were not able to recognize who he was. He asked, "What's this you're discussing so intently as you walk along?" They just stood there, long-faced, like they had lost their best friend. Then one of them, his name was Cleopas, said, "Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn't heard what's happened during the last few days?" He said, "What has happened?"
They said, "The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene. He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death, and crucified him. And we had our hopes up that he was the One, the One about to deliver Israel. And it is now the third day since it happened. But now some of our women have completely confused us. Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn't find his body. They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women said, but they didn't see Jesus." Then he said to them, "So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can't you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don't you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?" Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him.
They came to the edge of the village where they were headed. He acted as if he were going on but they pressed him: "Stay and have supper with us. It's nearly evening; the day is done." So he went in with them. And here is what happened: He sat down at the table with them. Taking the bread, he blessed and broke and gave it to them. At that moment, open-eyed, wide-eyed, they recognized him. And then he disappeared.
Back and forth they talked. "Didn't we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?" They didn't waste a minute. They were up and on their way back to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and their friends gathered together, talking away: "It's really happened! The Master has been raised up—Simon saw him!"
Then the two went over everything that happened on the road and how they recognized him.
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God, creator and sustainer of us all, walk beside us on these roads of life. Open our eyes to know that you are there and our ears to hear your words of challenge and peace. In the name of the one who walks before us, we pray. Amen
“Now unto God that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto God be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Welcome to a summer of exceeding abundance at Open Circle MCC. God has spoken to me in mighty ways in the last week as I have meditated on our scripture passages. We are right at the edge of summer—the hot weather tells us so and the rains, hopefully, will soon come. But the spiritual rain is present with us already and with it come blessings far beyond what we can even imagine. And so we enter a summer of exceeding abundance.
Both of our scripture passages today are about the same phenomenon. In the letter to Ephesians, Paul gives thanks and praise to the God who is able to do far beyond our wildest expectations by the power that works in and through us—catch hold of that for a moment as we look at the story of our weary travelers headed to Emmaus.
There are several interesting facts about this story. One, we have no idea of why they are going to Emmaus and, two, Emmaus has never been identified as a real town. We only know that it is 7 miles outside of Jerusalem—a long way to walk indeed. We only know the name of one of these travelers and many scholars suggest that the other traveler may well have been a woman—un-named because her presence would not have been valued enough to include her name. But, nevertheless, the two are walking on Sunday evening. And they are sad and dejected, hopeless and tired. They are leaving Jerusalem after the longest weekend of their lives with no real answers. And suddenly, there are three.
But we, the audience, are the only ones who know this is Jesus. Cleopas and his friend or wife, have no clue. We don’t know if they even had that vague “I must know you from somewhere feeling”, but we do know that they didn’t recognize him. Jesus asks them why they are so sad. They look at him in amazement, probably in amazement that there was anyone left in their little world who did not know that the death of Jesus of Nazareth, once thought to be a great preacher, teacher, and savior, had dashed all their hopes, snuffed out all the fires of excitement and passion that he had started in the last three years. They tell him about the stories of the women, which rather than giving them hope seem to have confused and frustrated them even further. Jesus, still an unknown stranger to them, responds, “Silly fools, don’t you understand that all these things had to happen in order for the story to be complete—for this Jesus to enter into his glory?” Then, and remember 7 miles is a long way on foot, he “started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him”. These two friends certainly got more than they bargained for from this stranger—still, however, they do not know who is walking along beside them. They cannot see, their eyes, and, more importantly, their hearts, do not yet recognize him.
Finally, when it is late, they reach their home and invite him in to eat. He accepts, almost reluctantly, and then a strange thing happens. As they sit to eat, he becomes the host—breaking and blessing the bread—and giving it to them. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, it comes to them who he is, and just like that—he is gone. Perhaps the déjà-vu of all the other meals they had eaten with him—that time when the 5,000 ate from just a few loaves and fishes, and just a few days ago, when they gathered for the Passover meal—perhaps it was those memories that illuminate their dark minds, shedding enough light for them to get it. And they asked themselves—“surely something convinced us it was him all along. We couldn’t have been that dense. Surely we knew!” But, in reality, they didn’t.
And we, the church, are in a similar position to these two weary folks walking to Emmaus. We weren’t there on Easter morning—not really, and we have not seen the risen Lord with our own eyes—that is, until the bread is broken, the cup is shared and suddenly we know! We know that we are in the presence of this same Jesus, sent by God, our Creator and Sustainer, who waits for us to acknowledge that we know in whose presence we walk. And with this gift comes the knowledge that knocks us to our knees—that this same God, who works in and through us, is able to give us, creations of God, exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or think—not just more—exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think.
And here we are, ready to walk along with Jesus, who wants to show us this exceeding abundance—who waits for our eyes to be open in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup—waits for us to recognize the many gifts that we have been given and will be given in the days to come. This is a church of exceeding abundance—and I think sometimes we forget—we get used to all that God is doing in our lives, personal and communal, and we forget. Or we get lost in the day to day upsets or trials that threaten to rock our sometimes tentative hold on the wonder of the day. But in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup, we remember who we are and whose we are. And this is the gift we are given today—no matter our joy or sorrow, our excitement or complacence, Jesus waits for us to open our spiritual eyes and see.
Now let me be the first to admit that it is harder for some of us to see than others. Some of us have erected thicker walls, have accumulated greater doubts. And I, for one, am glad, that there are those folks among us, who believe in our stead, who bridge the gap for us—while the rest of us catch up to the knowledge that this exceeding abundance waits for us. Perhaps, that is their gift to us—their ability to believe, not just for themselves, but for all of us. Every great Christian movement has had its share of those incredibly gifted folks—those folks who give buoyancy to the rest of us as we are coming to the surface to the knowledge of the abundance waiting for us. And, given the opportunity, I know most of you could name some of those very folks who walk among us. And we are grateful.
But Jesus waits to lead us all to that abundance, which far exceeds our ability to even comprehend what it might look like or calculate where it might take us. And so, we set forth, not just to chart a course for the future of our lives and the life of this church; we set forth to enter into that exceeding abundance that awaits us all. Jesus walked beside those weary travelers—all day he walked, and not once did they recognize the special gift they had been given—that Jesus could have chosen anyone, anywhere to spend his afternoon with, and he chose them. Let us not hold on to our blindness, failing to see that God could have blessed any group of people, in any location the way we have been blessed
as God’s people. This is the gift that we have, right in front of us—that we have what it takes to recognize and celebrate the working of God in our midst.
While I have tried not to, I have lost count of the number of you who have told me that this church has become for you what you never expected a church to be—this family, this dear group of people who gather each and every week—encouraging each other, challenging each other, loving each other. We must not allow ourselves to become, like those weary walkers to Emmaus, tired and unsure of our future. This great gift is already ours—Jesus has risen—and calls us to a place of exceeding abundance. We walk into that place ready to receive all that God has planned, knowing that never in our wildest dreams could we predict what God has in store. “Unto God be glory in the church—and in THIS church—by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.” Amen and Amen.

What Marvelous Gifts We Are 5-11-11

First Reading: Ephesians 2: 7-15, 20-22

Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is God’s idea, God’s work. All we do is trust God enough to allow it to happen. It's God's gift from start to finish! God does both the making and saving. Each of us are created by Christ Jesus to join in God’s work, the good work God has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
God is building a home. We are all being used—irrespective of how we got here—in what God is building. God used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now God’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

The Gospel: John 20:19-31

Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." Then he showed them his hands and side. The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as God sent me, I send you." Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said.
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God—here we are, the Sunday after Easter, seeking your presence in a real way in our lives. Move among us today; breathe your life into us so that we may truly know your will and ways. Amen
God is building a home, right here, right now. And Paul tells us that God is using each and every one of us—irrespective of how we got here. Each of us are created by Jesus himself to join in God’s work, the good work God has gotten ready for us to do. What a marvelous gift we are—a gift to each other, a gift to the world, a gift to God. We don’t normally connect the idea of gifts to Easter—that’s more a Christmas kind of thing. But nevertheless, with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit on the evening of His resurrection day, Jesus calls us to a gifted and giftable life of following the will of God and becoming the bricks and mortar that form God’s holy temple.
What does it mean to receive a gift from God, to be a gift from God to others and to simultaneously become a gift to the very God who made us? It’s a three-fold process, this receiving and giving and being and it will take us several weeks to look at it fully. Today, we begin with our gospel passage. First, Jesus’ friends are hiding; terrified for their lives, uncertain of the future, as low as low can be. And in walks Jesus, the resurrected Jesus—walking back into their lives after the 3 worst days of their lives.
I think sometimes we fail to grasp how those disciples would have felt, they become such minor characters in the presumed ending of a story that focuses solely on Jesus’ death and resurrection. But, in order to understand the magnitude of the gift that Jesus gives, we must understand the enormity of their loss, their desperation, their hopelessness. Prior to Jesus’ death we encounter the disciples first as people who have relinquished their claim to their former lives, their wealth—if they had any, their homes, their prestige and their families. They leave it all and follow this man, Jesus, who says ‘come’. For the next three years we see various examples of Jesus teaching them, molding them into those who would eventually be left behind to carry on the word—his word—the word of who he was and is. Jesus has a tough time with this crew—God didn’t exactly give him the brightest and best scholars of the time and we see these folks troubled and thick-headed at times, but Jesus never gave up and loved them to the end. But nothing could have prepared them for this—so they are hiding, scrunched together in this room, waiting for who knows what.
They’ve heard the women’s story, but most of them have not seen Jesus for themselves and, suddenly, there he is in the midst of a room where the door is securely bolted and locked. And he looks at them—how Jesus’ loving eyes must have scanned the room—seeing who was there—holding each desperate face in his view just long enough for them to know that he loved them and that he cared about the pain they had endured. This Jesus, beaten almost beyond recognition and crucified in the cruelest way possible, looks at them and softly says, “peace to you”. And because he knew their need for more, he showed them his hands and side. And then our scripture says, “The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: ‘Peace to you. Just as God sent me, I send you.’" And then the miracle happens and Jesus gives them his greatest gift. He took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. He breathed into them. He didn’t simply blow over them, he breathed the very life and energy of the Holy Spirit directly into their bodies.
Think of it like CPR. They were defeated, having nothing left to go on—indeed, spiritually as dead as could be. And if you perform CPR on a dying person, you don’t simply blow your breath at the dying person, you fill their lungs with your very breath—you use your breath to become their breath and thereby give them the gift of life. This is exactly what Jesus did that day and the disciples went from there to spread the miracle to all.
While Jesus may not breathe life into us in such a dramatic way, the giving of the gift is the same. It is there for us—the Holy Spirit, the gift of God to us that brings all that we are to life in new and wonderful ways. And so, this is it, the first step, the receiving of the gift itself and all the other gifts that God gives us as parts of who we are, what we are able to do and be, people to love and to love us and, even, a church where we have come home.
Before we reach the second and third steps which we only briefly introduce today, we must look at Paul to see the radicality of this amazing gift. Paul reminds us that we are where we are because of God’s gift. We are where God wants us to be—in a place in our lives where we can receive, but he reminds us: “Saving is God’s idea, God’s work. All we do is trust God enough to allow it to happen. It's God's gift from start to finish! God does both the making and saving.” And then he reminds us of why we are created and how: “ Each of us are created by Christ Jesus to join in God’s work, the good work God has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” The excitement increases. Paul is talking to the Gentiles at Ephesus. And in Jesus and Paul’s time there were only two kinds of people—Jews and not-Jews. So, everyone except the Jews were ‘outsiders’ in Paul’s world. And the radicality of the gift becomes evident in what Paul says next to those not-Jews at Ephesus, “It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.”
Paul, exuberant in his message continues, “The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this…He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance… Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.”
And Paul almost shouts—you can see him rising up off of his stool as he writes: God is building a home. We are all being used—doesn’t matter one bit how we got here—we’re all together in what God is building. And then he gives a quick history lesson—the disciples and apostles laid the foundation—telling the story and starting churches, but now God is using you—some as bricks and stones, some as mortar—all centered around Jesus Christ, the cornerstone who holds all us parts together. Paul says “We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. “
We must not miss the importance of the truth that Paul is calling us to hear. It forms the backbone of all the gifts among and between us. Quite simply, Paul is saying that there are no differences between us—that Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into each and every one of us who will receive—that former differences don’t matter and current differences are washed away in the love of this Christ who broke down the wall. Indeed, we are all engaged in the building of God’s temple—short, tall, heavy, skinny, smart, not so smart, rich, poor, spiritually mature, those new to the faith—we are all gifted by God to build this Temple where God is ‘quite at home’. What a thought—we are building a community where God is “quite at home”.
And so, it is here that we begin this journey, ready for God’s gift to us, the gifting to each other and, finally, the gifting of ourselves to God. Join us for the next few weeks, studying together the specific gifts that God gives us along the way—those gifts that enable us to be gifts to each other and, ultimately, gifts to God. Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Let the gifting begin. Amen and amen!