Winter Walk-A Spiritual Understanding 1-22-12

The Reading: Colossians 1: 9-11

Therefore, since the day we heard about you, we’ve been praying for you unceasingly and asking that you attain the full knowledge of God’s will, in perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding. Then you’ll lead a life worthy and pleasing to our God in every way. You’ll multiply good works of every sort and grow in the knowledge of God. And by the might of God’s glory you’ll be endowed with the strength needed to stand fast and endure joyfully whatever may happen.

The Gospel: Matthew 14: 34-36

After making the crossing, they landed at Gennesaret. When the people of that place had knowledge of Jesus, they sent word to the surrounding villages. They brought to Jesus all those who were sick, who begged him to let them just touch the hem of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
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Teach us, Good Lord, of how to walk in Your ways. Give us the courage to seek Your will for our lives. May all that I say and all that we think on bring You glory now and forever. Amen
Today we continue our Winter Walk in the Spirit. I hope by now, that you have begun to identify some patterns for your own spiritual growth. There are two main reasons that I like to preach sermon series. One is that God’s truths are so abundant that it is difficult to adequately address most of them in one 12 or 15-minute sermon. And since I don’t advocate returning to the 19th Century tradition of 2-hour or more sermons, it makes sense to continue from one week to another. Secondly, I believe that the Spirit uses the time in between the sermons to raise questions in our hearts, if we will listen. I hope that many of you take the time to ponder or discuss with another the insights that you gain along the way.
Our story today about Jesus is a profound one and, yet, it is so small that many fail to give it much notice. These three small verses record what happened after Jesus had performed some pretty memorable miracles. He had already fed the thousands with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He had already scared the disciples to death by walking on the water across the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a storm. He had already stilled the storm and His disciples had recognized Him as the Son of God. So after all these marvelous, powerful works, it would be easy to miss completely the significance of these few verses.
It is, in itself, a humble story compared to the ones who come before, almost like a bridge in a song that mostly serves no purpose other than to get you from one verse to the next. But, this story has much to tell. I like this story—it gives me hope and something interesting to ponder about my own life. When Jesus and the disciples crossed over into Gennesaret, something very amazing happened. People knew who He was and seemingly what He was. No huge crowds gathered to hear Jesus speak, though the crowds did come. They came for healing. They came to stand next to this man who merely stood or walked among them and allowed people to touch the hem of His garment.
Gennesaret was an interesting little piece of land. It lay along the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, just a little south of Capernaum, which is where Jesus did so much of His earthly ministry. Gennesaret was only 3 ½ miles long and in some places only 2 miles wide. But it was great farming country—its name means “Garden of Riches”. It was a beautiful, but fairly ignored place filled with humble farmers. No rich rulers or learned theologians here, just farmers who cared enough about their neighbors to run tell them of the special Man who had come into their village.
All that it took was for people to know who He was. Our scripture says, “when the people of that place had knowledge of Jesus, they sent word to the surrounding villages”. And the crowds flocked to him for healing and they were healed by touching the hem of His garment. In other words, they were healed because they recognized in their hearts and spirits that He, by His mere presence was able to restore them to health and wholeness.
Is this not the essence of spiritual knowledge? Knowing not only Who Jesus is, but what He can do merely by being present. And growing in spiritual knowledge means that, we like Jesus, can become healing agents in others’ lives merely by being present to them. Ultimately, this is what it means to walk in the Spirit, and to be used by God to heal others. But wait, my mind cried, “surely there is more, perhaps knowing the right words to say, having worked out ahead of time how I’m going to invite this person to church, having all the psychological and emotional insight to say just the perfect thing to this person who is hurting—surely there is something that I must do, or learn to do.” Following the example of Jesus, in this passage, we are confronted with the sometimes hard to hear fact, that there is nothing we must do, we must just be.
And how to describe this be-ing? We are trained to think and reason from a young age. How many of us have heard as children or said to our own children, “now, do you understand this or that?” This does not serve us well in our spiritual lives. This need for reason and explanation stops our spiritual pilgrimage cold as we claim a need to understand and then experience faith rather than experience faith which leads to understanding. We struggle to appreciate the mystery of the sacred journey. The people who came running to Jesus to stand near him, to touch him, to be healed by him believed because of what they had heard, not because they understood how or why Jesus healed, but, simply, because they believed.
Paul, in our passage, which is really a prayer, speaks eloquently to this: “We’ve been praying for you unceasingly and asking that you attain the full knowledge of God’s will, in perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Paul has been praying to God, that the Colossians will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Paul is asking God to do this—the point is clear—we cannot do this for ourselves, God must grant us this blessing of knowledge and spiritual understanding. Sometimes, I think we read Paul’s letters and believe that they are all prescriptions for what our lives should look like. We miss the very real truth that Paul is praying for the churches and asking God to do for the people what they cannot do for themselves. That’s right, we as people can seek God, but only God can fill us with perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding.
It’s a very practical and useful prayer when you think about it this way, and we must not miss the point that Paul is asking God for us to become filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Now as human beings, we often think about God’s will, but, quite frankly, it happens most often when we honestly don’t know what else to do. And so we turn to God—where to work, when to retire, where to volunteer, where to give our money or time. And those are all good reasons to seek God’s will. One pastor I know suggests that those prayers often sound like this, “O Lord, show me your will so I can carefully consider it to see if it fits into my plans.” Ah, honesty, hurts like you know what sometimes, but opens our hearts to something more.
So let’s return to Paul, and here is where it becomes connected with our brief story of Jesus’ ministry in Gennesaret. Paul is talking about a level of knowledge where we are completely filled to overflowing with the knowledge of God’s will. Is it not possible that Jesus was able to heal scores of people merely by allowing them to touch the hem of His robe, because He was filled to overflowing with God’s perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding—that God, the Creator, would continue creating in these people’s lives and by so doing, heal and make whole—that wholeness is God’s will for all creation—that it is good, and pure, and complete.
Jesus, in touch with God, as no other, did not have to ‘figure it out’. He stood and quietly let God do what God does. When we can wrap our hearts and heads around this, it comes as a great relief in ministry and in life itself. But here is where many of us get stuck. We think of doing God’s will as something akin to diagramming sentences or reciting the periodic chart of the elements or memorizing mathematical formulas. And this is where we fail to open our hearts. When we wholly trust God to have at the core of the Divine Heart our best interest, hearing the will of God for our lives becomes a sacred journey that grows more vivid and exciting with each turn. God’s will for us, in itself, is our passion for life. Our passion—what we long to do more than any other thing, becomes one with God’s will for our lives. When we open our hearts to the full knowledge of God, we are brought alive—alive to be all that we are created to be. That may well look different for each and every one of us here and well it should. Think of the overwhelming joy and celebration that we are experiencing as this church becomes the place where anyone who seeks will experience the full knowledge of God. Freed from the world’s expectations of us and propelled forward by the Divine Mystery, we learn that by opening our lives to the overflowing will of God, we will be used, as Jesus was used, to bring wholeness and healing to the world. Amen and amen.

A Winter Walk 3--the Sermon the People Wrote 1-15-12

The Reading: Ephesians 3: 17b-21
May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones, experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine—to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world with end! Amen.
The Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-18
When Jesus came to the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples this question: “What do people say about who the Chosen One is?” They replied, some say John the Baptizer, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “And you”, he said, “who do you say that I am?” “You are the Messiah,” Simon Peter answered, “the Firstborn of the Living God!” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon ben-Jonah! No mere mortal has revealed this to you, but my Abba God in heaven. I also tell you this: your name now is ‘Rock’, and on bedrock like this I will build my community, and the jaws of death will not prevail against it.”
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Creating and loving God, You’ve brought us this far by faith and we sing the rest of the old song as a prayer—no, no, no we won’t turn back, we’ve come this far by faith. May all of our thoughts this day bring glory to You and fill our hearts with hope. Amen

What a delightful past few weeks I have had receiving almost daily from one or more of you your thoughts about Open Circle. As I suspected, your thoughts generated some wonderful themes for our remembering and rejoicing—the ideas of home, family, and acceptance and the spiritual nature of our journeys together. I couldn’t be happier or prouder then to be able to share with you a sermon that you wrote with me with the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit. Please know though, in some cases, I had to do some editing so all could be included.
Our reading from Ephesians has a similar pattern of themes. First, St. Paul talks of experiencing our faith with others—“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones…” From a fairly new member: “Although I am relatively new to Open Circle, I will ALWAYS remember the feeling of being home when I attended services for the first time.” And from two long time members—“We are Home!” Home—that place in our hearts that almost all of us long for, a place where we can sit and breathe deeply. Some of you helped me with my definition of home—“[Open Circle] means ‘home’ a place I can fit in and not be uncomfortable or have others judge me for who they think I am, a place where me, the person, is more important than outer physical appearances or who I choose to live my life with…” You spoke often of the “others” who live here with you—“Open Circle is my spiritual home. When I attend services, I look around at the congregation and know that I’m right where I belong.”
One of our regular visitors says this, “Open Circle is my home away from home; my constant that is always there with open arms for us anytime that we can get there to worship with my family.” Reflecting on the meaning of family, one of you said, “Open Circle means faith, home, family and hope to me. Having the church in my life has given purpose to my life. The church and its members have filled a void in my life that I had not realized was there.” Some of you talked about what makes this family so different for you—“Our church is a blessed family, within God’s total family. This wonderful Church is showing the pathway to a true personal relationship with Christ—one that we can enter into with the confidence of complete approval from our Lord and Savior.”
A few of you shared your deeply personal stories of entrance into this family. They touched my heart. “I was alone in my living room, after losing my partner of twenty years, feeling so lonely, and lost! I prayed for weeks, for God to open doors. Doors that only He knew existed! After an hour or so, …a voice in my head said.. You are going to church TODAY. God lifted me off my recliner, led me to the shower, I dressed and went to [the office] where the service was being held. Now I have family and friends…and my Faith is So much stronger than it’s ever been!”
Another one of you who battles daily with pain and physical challenges offered us this beautiful passage—“ The English language (probably no language) is equipped to enable me to verbalize the depth of spiritual growth that has opened up to me as a result of becoming a member of Open Circle. But then, the Spirit led me to find Open Circle through an unexpected circuitous route. Now I have a new family, a reason to live, a community in which to share my talents and skills, and also be the joyful receiver of others’ gifts. I understand the mysteries of life in Jesus to a depth I never have before, knowing there is much more growth yet to happen. And how exciting is that! My life has more meaning and makes more sense than ever. WHAT A JOY!...MOSTLY, I NOW BELIEVE IN MIRACLES.”
And one of you summed it up for all of us—“MCC is the best thing that ever happened to me. God and all of the people in the church are really all the family anyone could love and want.” St. Paul, in his description of the kind of church that he prays for the Ephesians, tells us that when we experience and grasp Christ’s love, with all God’s holy ones, we will experience this love that “surpasses all understanding, so that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Many of you spoke of the acceptance and grace that you experienced here—perhaps, for the first time. For you, Open Circle is “a very warm and welcoming place to worship—a wonderful group of genuine, caring individuals.” And, from another one of you—“Open Circle is a place I can worship God as I am and not as what I am supposed to be. It radiates love, understanding and caring for me as a child of God. It is a family and not a bunch of parishioners.” And, finally—“ I have been blessed to have found this church and church family. They have taught me that no matter where I have come from or what I have been told in the past, that God loves me just as I am. I am loved and perfect in God’s eye, no matter what!” For some, this is a new journey after a faith journey somewhere else, “I was brought up Catholic, became an Epicopalian for 25 years with my beloved partner, and now I'm on a new journey. I found this wonderful church, and I need all these beautiful people in my life.”
Some of you talked about the welcome you received on your first visit—“ As we walked in those large double doors, there was a lady smiling from ear to ear she greeted me saying welcome , get your name tag here fill out your information here and put your money in this envelope . (Just kidding about the envelope ). That was Laura , I now tell her she is my # one because she was the first to greet us. I then walked into the Sanctuary I heard beautiful sounds coming from the pianist , oh my, that put us in a reverent frame of mind .We knew right away this is the place we want to worship our Christ . Things started to happen in perfect order; the service was moving along with all focus on Christ .The choir sang, oh, so nice; then we heard a voice that stood out from all the rest it was as if a angel were in the back ground singing a higher part. Then the sermon started with the perfect message . All of a sudden we were in a circle singing the Lord’s Prayer. Wow, what a way to close . We looked at our watch and thought where has the worship hour gone . A couple of Sunday's later we attended the Annual Meeting . We were so impressed… We could tell everything was a team effort . To make a long story short , we are now members of Open Circle MCC.”
It might surprise you to discover that not all of you wanted to get acquainted with this family at all. One of you tells it like this—“ I came to Open Circle kicking, screaming, and resisting, while being drug by a friend of mine to come to church. I had not done “church” in a very long time and I liked it that way… But, my friend kept insisting that I go, so I went. What I found when I arrived at Open Circle MCC was a loving, supportive, friendly family that actually cared about me and cared about whether I came to church or not...The more I came, the more love I found. And, the more love I found, the more support and friendships I made. I feel I am at home. Open Circle has touched my life in a very profound way and has made me feel a part of a much larger family. I am forever grateful for this wonderful experience.”
Many of you wrote to me of profound spiritual insights and I am honored to share them with your family. Some of you were concise and to the point—“I have found a place where I do not have to choose between my heart and soul. A place where I feel one in the spirit of God.” Or, “Open Circle completes the space that was vacant in my circle of life.” Another one of you said, “Open Circle was the missing piece to my life’s puzzle. With that piece in place, I feel more fulfilled than ever in my lifetime.” Or, “Open Circle is the rose in the desert of my broken spirit. I love this church!”
One of our friends from another church, watching us become who we are, wrote us a brief poem:
I stand outside the gates of the temple
and cast my eye inward to see the soul
that for too long is as fire frozen -
bless the meltdown!
This friend from a distance concludes, “Every week I read your wonderful newsletter and am inspired by the commitment of the community to the true meaning of the Christ-Consciousness. [The poem] is a testimony to the richness of what happens when people accept their goodness and Light.”
Several of you spoke specifically of finding a way to return to a former place of faith here—“Open Circle MCC is my faith community where the Word speaks through scripture, sermon, and song, and where the human is invited to become united with the Divine in the breaking of the Bread and acceptance of the cup--Christ among us. In this community of faith I have returned to His call: loving, supporting, and journeying with each OC member in building the City of God until all are One.” Another one of you said, “Open Circle has helped me to find God again - I know He never left me, it was I who left Him. Being a member of OCMCC my heart …has been opened and I have come to the realization that God loves me and that he is always there for me.”
Two more of you reflected specifically on the difference this community has made in your life, “Open Circle has done exactly that for me ...opened my circle! It has given me the freedom and the strength to be who I am. God makes a difference in my life every day and in joining this faith community He has blessed me with so many loving, kind and God-Loving friends.” And then, “Open Circle has given me the peace, joy, happiness, love and friendship of a community that I have been searching for all my life. The closeness I have found with God has been enhanced by the love I have experience at OCMCC. I feel God has put His arms around me and has pulled me into His heart. I see OCMCC filling the hearts of many with our Creator's love, and that one day we will do so in our own church building.” Ah, bless you, hope springs eternal…
Some of you were extremely creative. I even received an email from one of your four-legged children who told me, “since my mom found Open Circle or Open Circle found her, she is much happier…I know because she talks to me all the time.” And, you will not be surprised to discover that one of you, quoted a Broadway show tune in your response—he says, “From my visits to Open Circle, reading your e-newsletter, discussions with friends who are church members…, there is an Open Circle “Excitement” and it reminds me of the song from West Side Story “Something’s Coming”
“I got a feeling there's a miracle due
Gonna come true
Coming to me
Could it be?
Yes it could
Something's coming
Something good
If I can wait
Something's coming I don't know what it is
But it is gonna be great”
And great it is!. Finally, some of you simply stated your gratitude—“We attempted to create a GLBT faith community several years ago but failed. Now with the proper planning and structure we are so grateful that Open Circle MCC has been born out of our community…” Or, “SPIRIT has given me the opportunity to sing once again, I have found my voice once more…” Perhaps, for some of you, Sunday has become a special day again—“I am deeply and spiritually moved as I enter the door; from the welcoming greeters to the tinkling of the piano keys and the beautiful voices of the Spirit Choir. Finalizing the circle of worshipers singing the Lord’s Prayer. Thank you Open Circle for starting out my Sunday’s with reverence.” And, finally, “Thank You Jesus for bringing us this house of worship.” And, “It is a privilege to be part of Open Circle and I feel this deeply in my heart.”
One of you wrote this beautiful description of Open Circle and I share it with you as we come to a close. “This is a safe place, where broken and bruised souls can come to be loved and healed. This is a learning place where we can glean understandable theological and philosophical explanations. This is the place where sharing the bread and wine is encouraged to feed our souls. This is the place for prayer, private and public. This is the place for fellowship where we can enjoy each other. This is the place where music becomes a living prayer. This is the place that the Lord has made. He sees that it is good and He is glad indeed.
My friends, what a year it has been—what a new year it will be. I am blessed to be your pastor and I take these thoughts and place them in my heart’s center. Thank you for being who you are. And so, “To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine—to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world with end!” Amen and Amen.

A Winter Walk-2-Moving in the Spirit

First Reading— Acts 17: 24-28

“For the God who made the world and all that is in it, the Sovereign of heaven and earth, doesn’t live in sanctuaries made by human hands, and isn’t served by humans, as if in need of anything. No! God is the One who gives everyone life, breath—everything. From one person God created all of humankind to inhabit the entire earth, and set the time for each nation to exist and the exact place where each nation should dwell. God did this so that human beings would seek, reach out for, and perhaps find the One who is not really far from any of us—the One in whom we live and move and have our being. As one of your poets has put it, ‘We too are God’s children.’”

The Gospel Lesson— Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to dissuade Jesus, saying, “I should be baptized by you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it this way for now. We must do this to completely fulfill God’s justice”. So John reluctantly agreed. Immediately after Jesus had been baptized and was coming up out of the water, the sky suddenly opened up and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and hovering over him. With that, a voice from the heavens said, “this is my Own, my Beloved, on whom my favor rests.”
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A Winter Walk 2—Moving in the Spirit 1-8-12
Come, Spirit, come our hearts control; our spirits long to be made whole. Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship and are freed. May my words be inspired by this same sweet Spirit, and may our thoughts and reflections bring you honor and praise. Amen

As I often do, I went to the internet to see what I would find if I googled the title of the sermon or the scripture. What I found were a lot of pages about living in the Spirit—but most, if not all, of the descriptions of what that looks like, left me cold—lots of talk about denial, control, and restraint. Not too appealing to most of us; certainly not too appealing to me. And then I happened upon a website movinginthespirit.org. Aha! I thought—this should do it—when my computer brought up the website, I was somewhat surprised to find that it is the website for a program in Atlanta that teaches inner-city kids to dance and through their dancing to find purpose and respect, a place to belong, and adults to guide them into discovering who they are and want to be. The description on their webpage says this: “Moving in the Spirit reaches over 250 young people annually through dynamic programs that educate, inspire and unite young people through dance in order to help them become successful, compassionate leaders.” In other places, the website talks about celebrating diversity and making a difference in the world. Almost forgetting that I was reading about a dance program, I found myself reflecting on a life spent moving in the Holy Spirit in similar terms.
I strongly suspect that most of you, if you have been inviting people to come to Open Circle with you, have heard from at least one person—I’m a spiritual person, but I’m not religious. Or “I do my worshipping at the beach or under a tree.” On Dating/Relationship internet sites, under faith issues, “spiritual, not religious” appears as a choice—I assume so that you know that if you begin dating that person you won’t be drug to some church or another. This is all very sad to me—a life long practioner of “religion”, I consider myself a very spiritual person and have, indeed, like many of you, spent at least a few years, staunchly defending my religiously staying away from an organized faith tradition and finding my spirituality atop a mountain, on the meditation mat, or in the middle of a sun salutation in a yoga class. But, if I am honest, I must admit that I longed, even in the midst of anger, rejection, or betrayal for a way to be both spiritual and religious at the same time, in the same place, with the same people. For me, the seemingly necessary distinction between religion and spirituality just didn’t make any sense. I will be bold enough today to suggest that it doesn’t make any sense to God either. Our reading from Acts 17 comes from one of Paul’s most famous sermons. He has gone to Athens to wait for the rest of his group. He is intrigued and dismayed to see all the idols that the Athenians are worshipping. He, of course, begins to tell them of another way—a way consistent with the new covenant forged in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. In a meeting of the highest religious authorities in Athens, he gives this “sermon”.
"The God who made the world and everything in it, this [Creator] of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines… [This God] makes the creatures; the creatures don't make [God]. Starting from scratch, [God] made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find [the Divine Presence]… We live and move in [God]!” Then Paul uses the words of one of the Greek poets to make his point: “One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?” Now here’s what I think—I think Paul would encourage us to make the connection between the idols that the Athenians are worshipping which keep them from encountering the true God and all the rules and regulations that we have, over time, built into “religion”. And it may well be those very rules and regulations that cause people to reject what they see as “religion” and adopt, instead, a spirituality that is more in line with seeking the Creator God of whom Paul speaks in his sermon to the Greeks in Athens. I hope you are still with me—for this is the crux of life in the spirit—this moving and being and living in the spirit. And so, we watch, as the Spirit descends upon Jesus—freely, a gift from God. Hear what the scripture says about the gift of the Holy Spirit to Jesus—“The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my [Child], chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."
And we, like Jesus, are chosen by God, marked by Divine Love, the delight of God. And all that God asks in return in that we yearn for the Perfect Presence of that Divine Love. Those who live a contemplative life in God, have long conversed about practicing this presence of God. N. Graham Standish, a Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania, says this about staying in God’s presence: “Practicing the presence of God is simple, although it does require one major commitment from us. We have to actually believe and treat God as though God is with us. We have to believe that God permeates everything and everyone…We may not be God, and God may not be us, but certainly Christ is incarnated within us, and the Holy Spirit surrounds us and acts through us.” And, along comes Paul saying again, “we live and move and have our being in God”.
And in all of this, not one single rule appears—not one canon law, not one tradition that defies understanding. All that appears is our divinely born longing for the Divine, for the source of life. In the descent of the Holy Spirit on Christ who was, in every way, like us, we are gifted with the same Holy Spirit of God. Why then, is it so hard for us to learn of this in church—the faith family in which we gather to sing and praise, to listen and speak of God who loves us and treasures us as important as any other spark of creation throughout all of time. Let me ask this again—why is it so hard for us to learn of this, and, better yet, experience this in church? Bringing the practice of prayer in the presence of God to a deeper level, the Quaker writer Thomas Kelly has revealed a way to an even more authentic experience of the Holy. He suggests that living or praying in the spirit is to invite and allow the presence of the incarnate God, in Christ, flow through us. Kelly says:
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with the intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life”. And I say to you, is it not amazing that nowhere is all our meditation and contemplation today do we find the rules of such a faith—no step-by-step instruction of some catechism or confirmation process. No memorized scriptures, no threats of eternal damnation for failing to worship aright.
And so I return to the young dancers in Atlanta—certainly there are patterns of dance to be learned, particularly patterns that protect young feet and legs from harm and enable scores of dancers to be on the dance floor simultaneously without running each over, or ending in a heap of tangled toes and fingers. But those are patterns of grace, grace which allows them and us, to move together with other creative beings journeying toward the purest form of worship or dance—pure beauty itself, not filled with unruly self-focus, but alive with the emphasis on the experience of Divine Joy far more than the perfect plié or recitation of creed or prayer. And so, whether at altar or dance studio, we join the creative dance of the gift of divine presence and grace. Come, Spirit, come our hearts control; our spirits long to be made whole. Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship and are freed. Amen and Amen.

A Winter Walk 1-Seeing in the Spirit

First Reading—Ephesians 1: 3-14
Praised be the Maker of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens! Before the world began, God Chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless and to be full of love; God likewise predestined us through Christ Jesus to be adopted children—such was God’s pleasure and will—that everyone might praise the glory of God’s grace which was freely bestowed on us in God’s beloved, Jesus Christ. It is in Christ and through the blood of Christ that we have been redeemed and our sings forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God’s favor given to us with perfect wisdom and understanding. God has taken pleasure in revealing the mystery of the plan, through Grist, to be carried out in the fullness of time, namely, to bring all things—in heaven and on earth—together in Christ.
In Christ we were willed an inheritance; for in the decree of God—and everything is administered according to the divine will and counsel—we were predestined to praise the glory of the Most High by being the first to hope in Christ. In Christ you too were chosen. When you heard the Good News of salvation, the word of truth, and believed in it, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance, the deposit paid against the full redemption of a people who are God’s own to the praise of God’s glory.
The Gospel Lesson—Luke 2: 22-32
When the day came for them to be purified, as laid down by the Law of Moses, the couple took Jesus up to Jerusalem and presented him to God. For it’s written in the Law of our God, “every firstborn heir is to be consecrated to God.” They likewise came to offer in sacrifice “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate of the Law of our God.
Now there lived in Jerusalem a man named Simeon. He was devout and just, anticipating the consolation of Israel, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. She had revealed to Simeon that he wouldn’t see death until he had seem the Messiah of God. Prompted by her, Simeon came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child to perform the customary rituals of the Law, he took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
“Now, O God, you can dismiss your servant in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”
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GOD, we open our hearts to you—as we turn to you in this new year, may we become new in your spirit. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts bring praise to your name. Amen

I will admit it. I am one of those people who has quit making New Years’ resolutions. Couldn’t stand the pressure and that ugly, self-imposed feeling of guilt when I lost my commitment to whatever I thought was important on December 31st that just didn’t seem so important by, oh, say—January 10th or so. And the older I got, the more I realized that change comes gradually and grows out of a new way of seeing—it isn’t something that we can order ourselves to do and expect it to last much past the time it takes us to write it down. Growing spiritually is a very similar phenomena, and as much as we tell ourselves that this year I am going to pray more or study the Bible more or learn to meditate—none of that will happen unless the way we view our spiritual life and relationship with God changes—that is, unless we see with new eyes.
The story told in our Gospel lesson today is crucial in several ways to understanding the new sight that we will receive when we wait and prepare our hearts for our eyes to see. Now, at the time of Jesus’ birth and subsequent presentation at the Temple there were at least two kinds of Jewish Religious leaders. One is the kind we hear the most about—the ones who were waiting for a Messiah who would come as a military leader who would conquer all their enemies and restore the Jewish people to glory as God’s chosen people. They were not looking for a tiny baby to be born in a rough stable to a poor, insignificant couple from Nazareth. They were looking, all right—but in all the wrong places—they had a vision but no way to understand what was really happening. Failing to recognize that God was working out the divine plan in their midst, they were unable to see at all.
There was a second kind of Jewish people at the time of Jesus’ birth. Except for Simeon, we hear very little about them. They were called THE QUIET IN THE LAND. They read the ancient scriptures and spent their lives in constant prayer and quiet waiting for God to send the Messiah. They spent their lives in peaceful and patient readiness to see all that God would show them about the coming of the Messiah. Their lifestyle of unassuming spiritual insight primed them for when the “right time” should arrive.
Simeon was one of these “quiet ones”. He was also, really, really old. He hardly ever left the Temple, spending his days there in prayer and watchfulness. And he was ready. Several weeks after his birth, Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph to the Temple for several reasons. First, there was the “redemption of the firstborn”. Because God had saved all the first-born sons of the Israelites when they were enslaved in Egypt, resulting in the celebration called the Passover, all first-born sons were presented to God at the Temple. There was a ceremony of dedication and redemption. Secondly, because Mary had given birth to a son, she was considered religiously unclean and needed to make an offering at the Temple. Those who were considered with means were to sacrifice a lamb and a pigeon. Women like Mary, because they were poor were allowed to bring two pigeons. This also confirms for us that Joseph and Mary were ordinary people who lived without luxuries and struggled financially. Nevertheless, Mary and Joseph were pious people who made every effort to obey all the laws of their religion.
Simeon was there in the Temple and watched all of this unfold. You can almost see him standing in the shadows, looking up from his prayers every once in a while. Simeon’s name is apt—it means “hear and obey”. All his life Simeon has watched, and prayed and waited for this precise moment. In one of his many conversations with God, the Almighty had promised him that he would live to see the coming of the Messiah and suddenly, the time is right. Simeon watches the sacrifice of the two pigeons, and then, he sees the child—a tiny baby, barely a month old. Led by the Holy Spirit, Simeon goes over to take a closer look. And, after years of waiting, Simeon knows the truth—that this one is the Messiah—this very baby, He is the one. Imagine his excitement—can you possibly put yourself in old Simeon’s place for just a moment? He walks, or shuffles, over to Mary and Joseph and asks to hold the child. Knowing by now, that the child belonged to more than just them, they handed him to Simeon. Holding the child who he knew to be the salvation of the world, Simeon breaks into song. It’s a simple song, but in those four lines, all the preparation and waiting has come full circle—God has made good on the promise--
“Now, O God, you can dismiss your servant in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”
As we start our Winter Walk in the Spirit, what can we learn from Simeon about living in the Spirit? First and foremost, we can learn that we need to be ready for God’s gift of insight and wisdom to be bestowed. Secondly, we learn that being ready is all we can really do. God’s Holy Spirit does not work at our command or on our time schedule. God works with us over time to ready us for spiritual insight. This is how we grow—this is how our walk becomes deeper and we understand more and more as we go along, ever watching, ever ready to hear and obey.
I’d like to tell you a story, a personal one. My call to preach and to sing came when I was 17 years old. And, I, immediately had a plan. I started singing first, because I already knew how to do that—and I grew some—but not so much. After college and a year or two of teaching, I decided to get serious about preaching and went to seminary. And I grew some—but not much there, either. And then, life happened—and I grew some—a little bit more. I dealt with all the confusing questions of life, of identity and of call. I was rejected and hated, and lost and then found—and I grew—quite a bit more. On my 50th birthday, I reminded God that I still believed that I was called to pastor and to preach. And I entered the discernment process for the Anglican priesthood. And God said “wait”—and I grew a lot. A little more than 40 years after my first experience of call—I became your pastor—and I continue to grow every day. I’d like to tell you that I knew all along what God was doing; and, every once in a while, I’d get a brief glimpse of what God could do. Working two jobs most of my life to keep me active in ministry, I grew—not so much in the direction of absolute clarity or revelation, but I became an expert in waiting—not always so patiently, but waiting nonetheless. And while my spiritual practices may have waxed and waned, my belief that God had made me for a special purpose never truly left my heart. And, most of the time, I had no clear understanding of why I thought God was at work in my life, preparing me for another time and place and people, I just did. And so I look at you, every one of you; and I hear, “now is the time”, and I weep, as Simeon must have wept, in joy and expectation.
It is not necessary for you to have all the spiritual insight that you think you need in order to grow. There is no list of characteristics that you might seek to develop in order to become, “spiritual”. This is not how God’s Holy Spirit works. Our only responsibility is to be found ready—ready and prepared to follow the soft, sweet call of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And, so, today we begin our winter walk in the spirit. These winter weeks give us time to ready our hearts, to seek the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to read God’s word and learn of Jesus whom we follow, and to open our hearts and minds to the wonder of prayer.
Now is the time because our eyes have seen the salvation prepared by God for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation for us all. Amen and amen.

They Will Call Hime Emmanuel-12-25-11

First Reading—Titus 3: 3-8
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, we were saved, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of Divine mercy. God saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, who was poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

Gospel Reading—Matthew 1: 18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
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They Will Call Him Emmanuel 12-25-11
God, our creator and redeemer, speak to us this day. Bring us to stand at the stable and worship. Let us hear what you have prepared for us to hear. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be a gift to you. Amen

I’m going to let you in on a little ministerial secret. When the holidays come around, whether it be Christmas or Easter, many preachers put a lot more work into their sermons—either because it just sort of goes along with our ideas that holidays are somehow special set-apart days or because we believe the myth—that some people only come to church on those days and if you are going to reach them, you’re going to have to reach them then. Not completely immune to those kinds of thoughts, I found myself struggling a bit to somehow give you what I thought would be an unforgettable Christmas Message this morning. Well, by Friday morning, I was still waiting for the inspiration for those words and as I prayed, a still small voice said to me, “why don’t you tell them what Christmas means to you?” Now, one of the things I have learned to do in my spiritual pilgrimage, although it took decades to happen—is not to argue with that still small voice. So here I am, my friends, brothers, and sisters, with simple words, telling you a little bit about what Christmas means to me.
Like many of you, I have many childhood memories, some wonderful, some not. I had the kind of childhood that social workers describe as difficult. And so some Christmases are filled with good memories, some not so good. For the first dozen or so years of my life, those negative memories are counter-balanced with the memories of the gatherings of my mother’s extended family. Every year, on Christmas Eve, the cousins of all ages would gather in the living room of the house my grandfather built and perform our own Christmas pageant. It will not surprise you to discover that I was the organizer of these pageants while my sister did all the stage work and costume gathering. I wrote the script or narration and assigned the various parts and acts into an orderly presentation. My Catholic cousins brought the music they had learned from the nuns and I will simply never forget my cousin Teresa’s yearly version of “Winds Through the Olive Trees” in an octave so high that it made my grandmother’s dogs run for cover. It was the annual event where the cousins who had grown old enough to walk, talk, and follow simple directions, made their theatrical and musical debut. We were very inclusive, everybody had a part, whether they wanted one or not, and in the end, it was a show that made these country-folk proud. And in retrospect, I can recount the ways the simple family gatherings began to affirm my vocation, long before I knew that I had one.
I have later memories as well, of course. I still curse the day I decided to buy a specific must-have ride-on toy for my son’s first Christmas. I thought the stories about staying up all night putting together toys were myths—made up by my mother to make me more grateful for Christmas. After that night, I knew the truth, and selected toys the next year that either came assembled or appeared much easier to handle. There are Christmas pictures of David as a two-year-old, shunning the toys to play in the boxes, Christmases when he wanted to be mature and hide the fact that he hoped very much that Santa was real, and one very special memory of my son at 20 agreeing to sing a duet with his mother at the Christmas Candlelight Vigil at the Episcopal Church we attended.
And, what about now—our thoughts and feelings are rooted in the past, but they find inspiration in the insight that comes with living life just a little bit longer than the last time we gave the meaning of Christmas serious thought. In all honesty, I sometimes grow as weary of “Jesus is the reason for the season” as I do of Santa Claus so close to Halloween, that we practically hear Christmas carols in the stores while the pumpkins are being carved. For if we are going to claim Jesus as the reason for the season, we need to be ready to tell people why. And the why is revealed succinctly and precisely in the holy name, given to the baby in today’s Gospel Reading—“Emmanuel”—God with us—Emmanuel! In the moment of a baby’s birth, humankind’s relationship to God was changed forever. God, incarnate in the tiny baby in the straw, eliminated the former distance between God, the creator and us, the creation. Though God had always been present in the creation, we were unable to grasp it. So God, incarnate in a tiny baby, became one of us, taking on the form of the very creation. Creation and Creator become a sacred oneness—turning the world’s idea of God inside out. No longer separate from our Creator, we act, not as mere agents for God; no, we act as men and women who are inhabited by the very God who made us and breathed life into our being.
This is why Jesus is the reason for the season—because through Divine Mercy, says our scripture, God saved us—not because of anything we have done but because God chose to bridge the gap between Creator and Creation. And in the bridging of the gap—Emmanuel, God with us, changes who all of us would be—then, now, and forever. For you see, with the incoming of God into the world, with God incarnate in a tiny human being who would grow up to teach and heal and preach—and suffer and die, we would never be the same. God made, for all to see, the sacred connection between us and the Holy by coming to earth in the person of Jesus. And those who sought to follow Jesus, began the journey of learning to live as changed persons, not just in the moment, but for the long haul. Here was God, our Creator accessible in everyday life. This revolution of God was so radical that some could not believe; some still tried to find what was required of us.
This seeking—this inability to believe that God has reached out with arms wide open and welcomed all of creation into the Divine Reign of Justice, has led humankind to try some pretty wild things at times. Our Church history books are full of folks who refused to accept the simplicity of the gospel and sometimes went a long way in the opposite of simple trying to justify themselves before God. But our scripture is clear: “…when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, we were saved, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of Divine mercy.” We know, then, that humankind was made one with God, through grace. Through God’s action we are “heirs having the hope of eternal life”.
Now lest you think I have wandered off into some not very useful theological gobbledy-gook—let me answer the question one more time. What does Christmas mean to me? Christmas means that God has welcomed me and shown me the way into the divine exceeding abundance that we have spoken of off and on for almost a year.
Christmas means that no matter what, God has issued the invitation to live in Divine Grace and nothing I can do can nullify that fact. God loves me whether or not I love God back, or even love myself. God’s promise, made real, in the walking and talking Jesus, shows me how much I am loved. And I am loved, exactly the way I am, sometimes saintly, most of the time quite a collection of starts and stops along the way. Christmas means that God’s will for the creation is, indeed, peace and sacred harmony; and that God’s will for me is to live in the peace that passes understanding and to encourage others to do the same. Christmas means that I am incapable of making this gift unavailable to me. I can refuse to accept it, I can stand outside the door and fail to knock; but it will always be there for me. This is Christmas—the wonder of it all. Christmas doesn’t end with the baby Jesus; it begins there. And Silent Night comes anywhere where God’s people renounce their hatred and greed, and turn an open heart toward God. Christmas means that I will never be alone again; that God is here, present in the Holy Spirit who fills my heart with peace and love. As we worship together for the last time in this year, may our hearts be made glad by the light of the star that still shines, leading us to the fullness of the spirit, now and forever. Amen and amen.

Sunday, December 18, 2011 --Christmas Musical

Gospel Lesson 1—John 1:1-5, 9-14 --In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has
been made. In him was life, and that life was the Light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from God, full of grace and truth.

Gospel Lesson 2—Luke 2: 8-19
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Advent Reflection 1
Our songs today lead us in the path towards Christmas Eve—that night of all nights when Jesus was born in a stable with only his mother and earthly father present in the midst of God’s creatures. We don’t really know what animals were there. The stable likely held the innkeeper’s camel—not a really delightful animal at all. There were probably oxen, cows, and lambs, and even chickens—animals that either served as beasts of burden or as a future food source. There was no nurse or mid-wife, save the angelic kind, and Joseph was left to tend to the rather messiness of a human baby’s birth all by himself.
Artists and theologians cleaned that scene up as soon as they were able. Even the Gospel writers failed to record the actual birthing of Jesus; a baby simply appears and is wrapped in swaddling clothes. We see lovely paintings and statues from early centuries with a wonderfully bright star and angel floating overhead. Theologians moved rather quickly to argue only the meaning of the child’s birth and, even now, no one thinks that it is polite to mention that most women scream when they are in labor, and human babies and their mothers need a good deal of cleaning up before they are ready to receive company. What is it about this birth that makes us so queasy to talk about the actuality of it as we move rather quickly to singing angels in the heavens, cute little shepherd boys, and majestic royal kings bringing lovely packaged gifts of the highest treasure?
It seems to me that once we acknowledge that Mary probably moaned in labor, that Jesus cried like any other infant when he was hungry and that the new earthly father, Joseph, more than likely was scared to death when left to handle this birth alone, we come to terms with the fact that Jesus truly was one of us. Unfortunately, the theologians began rather early to formulate a saintly, sanitized version of the birth of the savior, which pointed more to halos then to the helplessness of a newborn. This begins, at least subconsciously, a long road of denial that the God of all Creation, became not only one of us; but, in the person of Jesus Christ, was like us in every way. It is in this identification of Jesus as fully God, fully human—that we lose our excuses that God cannot possibly understand all the pain, confusion and rejection that we have experienced in our lives. Only when we embrace the divinity AND humanity of Jesus, can we respond to this Jesus who stands in front of us this day with outstretched arms, welcoming us into a shared sacred journey—a journey of daily walking in the presence of the One who has walked this way before.

Advent Reflection 2
And so we celebrate the birth of our savior; we join in the songs and speak our praise aloud. We rejoice with the joy of God’s exceeding abundance. Is this not the time for us to let go of all that darkens the light of the Christ-child and walk gladly into that stable. Why not imagine with me, just for a second, that you are standing in front of the stall? See the smile of the proud parents, who are protectively, yet proudly, holding their child for you to see. Why here, why now? You have come to this place because of a call that would not let you go—a summons from somewhere deep in your heart that you had to see for yourself. And here you stand, reveling in the knowledge that you have followed the call this time, no excuses, no detours, nothing standing in the way. This time you kneel in worship because you listened with your spirit and followed your heart to the source of the goodness and hope that rises up within you. This time, you open your heart to the True Light, the light that brings focus and clarity to our understanding.
So many other times you have felt the call but have not followed. Why this time? So many other things could have called you away; but you listened and then you took the chance that God would be waiting for you—God in a manger, with straw for a bed. So very simple, and yet so many of us wait—feeling unworthy, unable to come. And, yet, you came. A miracle occurrs. You hear the revelation that God is coming to earth; you open your heart to transformation, and you experience a sacred redemption. In the incarnation of the Holy Child, we come to know that we are welcome, that, like the baby in the manger, we are included as children of God. We come to know this when others come with us, those who have welcomed us into a place where we can feel the sweet touch of God’s love—that transforming love that allows us to know that we are accepted as we are—that we are held in the loving embrace of God because of who we are, not in spite of who we are. You come and we stand together in the light of the star, gazing at a baby, a baby not just like us, but a baby who is one of us—who will grow and hear the taunts and jeers one day and will have to answer the same question that we answer. “Am I a child of God?” And, so God declares to Jesus and to us—“This is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased”. This is our promise today as we stand here, God lovingly lifts us up with a divine wellspring of mercy and grace. This is our promise today, that we know we are loved. And, we are finally home. Amen and Amen.

Holy and Whole 12-11-11

FIRST READING— First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, vs. 16-24
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
Don't suppress the Spirit, and don't stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don't be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what's good. Throw out anything tainted with evil. May God, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it!

Gospel Reading –John 3: 16-21
"This is how much God loved the world: God gave the one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending the Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the only-begotten Son of God.
"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."
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God, you call us to walk with you and talk with you. You promise us your peace and we live in your grace. Transform our lives. May your sacred redemption teach us new ways to love you and care for others. Take the words of my mouth and meditation of all our hearts and bring us new truth this day. Amen
Last week we talked about the relationship between revelation and transformation. We concluded that the so-called “proof” or validity of the revelation could be seen in the transformation of those to whom the revelation is given. There are examples of this recorded throughout Jesus’ life. True encounters with the Son of God resulted in changed people: a Samaritan women finds the reality of true worship when she engages Jesus at the well and she runs off to the entire village telling what she has just learned; sick people are healed and cannot be quieted as they rejoice with their friends and neighbors; the Gerasene demoniac becomes a new man, free from the demons of mental illness and schizophrenia. The disciples, upon hearing his revelational call on their lives, stop what they are doing and become his trusted followers and friends.
In our own lives, we know of transformation after transformation when people meet the real Jesus and learn to journey through life with that same Jesus at their side. We have seen people lost in grief and depression find hope again in the healing words of God through Christ Jesus. We have seen alcoholics become sober, and people lost in doubt and self-hatred transformed into people who are content in this world. We have seen our very own congregation transformed into a warm and loving place by the revelation that God loves us just as we are.
This week, I want to expand our conversation and talk about the relationship between transformation and redemption. I believe that God is in the business of redemption—no fact is clearer in our Gospel reading than that. John 3:16 is a verse of scripture that many of us learned practically before we could read. For God so loved the world, that the only begotten Son was sent to redeem the world and give everlasting life to those who believe. The scripture continues and says to us, that this only begotten Son was not sent to the world to condemn the world, but to bring redemption and salvation to us all. Our translation this morning says, “He came to help, to put the world right again.” Listen to this sentence again, with a spirit that is free from all the condemnation we learned to heap upon ourselves when we were mere children. “He, Jesus came to help us, to put our world right again.” Now there are those who would argue that this passage is only about redemption when it is linked to the hereafter—and while the passage does point to eternal life; that is only half of the meaning of this very important passage, and it is the other half that we will look at today. Our Gospel reading tells us that anyone who seeks the God who loves us abundantly, can have a whole and lasting life. And from this encounter with God through Jesus, the reality of a changed life is revealed. The transformation that is promised in this passage is simple—“Anyone working and living in truth and reality (through the revelation of God’s love) welcomes the light of God, so that their work can be “seen for the God-work it is.”
Everything about this revelation, transformation and redemption reinforces our knowledge of God as a loving Creator, who not only blew the breath of life into the creation, but also continues to love the creation despite our very real difficulty to stay focused on our relationship with God. It always amazes me that many preachers and teachers speak only on the negative aspects of this scripture—you know, the whole damnation part. I think you know me better. I believe that God is much more interested in offering redemption, than in proclaiming the ‘lostness’ of those who choose not to walk this journey. Our God is an inviting God. I believe that God intends for us to gratefully embrace and learn of the great love that we are offered when we walk the sacred walk with God (now and forever), through the welcoming of Jesus into our mind, bodies, and spirits. Less you think that I am preaching an “easy” Gospel, let me assure you that I am not.
This revelation, transformation, redemption journey requires us to spend time learning to walk with God. There is a cute story about a little six-year-old. This little boy was very bright, way beyond his peers in understanding. His mother, knowing that he understood many things about God and Jesus , decided that it was time for her to talk to her son about inviting Jesus into his heart. She found just the right time and softly asked, “Ethan, would you like to have Jesus in your heart?” Ethan thought for a few moments and then said, “No, I don’t think I want that responsibility.” We chuckle at little Ethan and, yet, it is not so different for many of us.
Ethan is right, of course. Even those of us who are well beyond childhood, sometimes tremble at what God’s great love causes us to do in our response. Listen to the words of Paul in our first reading today: “May God, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body…” Here is where sacred redemption enters the story. A very long time ago, I realized that there are many places in my heart that needed God’s redemption. Now, I am still learning what all those places are. We hear the words of the Gospel—that God loves us exactly as we are and welcomes us, through Christ Jesus, into the God’s kingdom. We begin the transformation process the moment we open our hearts to hear the words of Christ—“come unto me”. And as we walk the way of transformation, we open our hearts deeper and wider and we begin the journey of transformation that will lead to redemption.
I believe that the God who makes us holy and whole is a God who will begin, as we are able, to show us those places in our spirits, souls, and bodies that, when healed, will lead us into a realm of redemption that we rarely believe is possible. For me, this process of redemption looks like this—as I travel the roads with Jesus and allow God to continuously reveal the gift of divine love, more and more places in my heart become visible—more and more places that need redemption. I offer those places up to our loving God, and when I am willing to let go of that particular pain or regret, it is redeemed by God’s love. God longs for us to be holy and whole—this means that as we grow in the Spirit, we see a gradual realignment in our heart. The dark and lonely places are slowly replaced with redeemed joyful places. This is our journey this Advent Season—to recognize our responsibility to become the holy and whole people that God calls us to be. And, in a wonderful miracle of transformation and release, we become new.
Now, like many of you, I learned that “being saved” was a one-time isolated event. That does not, however, fit with my experience of the day-in and day-out ‘saving’ of these troubled places in my heart. And the older I grow, the more I see the wisdom of 8-year-old Ethan. We do have a responsibility when we see, hear, and touch the revelation of God’s great love. Our responsibility is to open our hearts to allow God to show us all those harmful thoughts, feelings, and events that we carry around in our spirits, hearts, and minds, and allow the redemption of God to lovingly exchange them, as we allow ourselves to be transformed, into redeemed places of celebration on our shared journey with God. The more we, day after day, open our hearts to God’s grace and forgiveness, the more whole we become. Becoming whole is rarely a one-time event. Becoming whole comes as we struggle and believe, doubt and commit.
As we become whole, we are growing in holiness. Our three-fold process of revelation, transformation, and redemption, allows us to revel in God’s sacred wholeness, Because God has put us back together—spirit, soul, and body—we experience the presence of the holy in our lives. Is this not, indeed, the joy that will fill our spirits to overflowing as we celebrate the redemption of our hearts and the transformation of our lives, through the revelation of God to us? As Christ comes again this Christmas, may we be found ready, may we be found listening, and may we be found longing for the revelation of God ‘s wholeness and holiness prepared for each and every one of us. Amen and Amen.