This Is the Covenant 3-25-`1

The Reading: Jeremiah 31: 31-34
“Behold, the days are coming, Says Yaweh, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was their spouse”, says Yaweh. “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yaweh: I will put my law in their minds and on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they need to teach one another or remind one another to listen to Yaweh. All of them, high and low alike, will listen to me, says Yaweh, for I will forgive their misdeeds and will remember their sins no more.”

The Gospel: John 12:20-33
Among those who had come up to worship at the Passover were some Greeks. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put forth this request: “Please, we would like to see Jesus”. Philip went to tell Andrew, and together the two went to tell Jesus. Jesus replied, “Now the hour has come for the Chosen One to be glorified. The truth of the matter is, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. If you love your life you’ll lose it; if you hate your life in this world you’ll keep it for eternal life. Anyone who wants to work for me must follow in my footsteps, and where I am, my worker will be there too. Anyone who works for me will be honored by Abba God. Now, my soul is troubled. What will I say: ‘Abba, save me from this hour?’ But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour. Abba, glorify your name!”
A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowds that stood nearby heard this and said it was a clap of thunder; others said, “It was an angel speaking.” Jesus answered, “It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours. Sentence is now being passed on this world; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown. And when I am lifted up from this earth, I will draw all people to myself.” By these words Jesus indicated the kind of death he would die.
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This is the Covenant 3-25-12
God, we need to dig deep into our hearts today if we are to understand your message. Help us hear beyond what we have heard before. Give us willingness to open the ears of our heart to hear. May the words that I speak and all things that we reflect upon bring honor and glory to you. Amen
This week’s readings call us to re-think some of what we may have heard before. The theme of both readings is covenant, although I admit that it is more hidden in the Gospel reading—challenging us to do the hard work of getting to our own understanding.
We must surely start with the meaning of the word covenant. There is the legal definition of a covenant: An agreement, contract, or written promise between two individuals that frequently constitutes a pledge to do or refrain from doing something. And this we learn from the on-line legal dictionary. However a legal definition has no place in God’s covenant with us in both the Old and New Testaments.
God’s covenant can only be understood from the standpoint of relationship—so much deeper than the do’s and don’ts of a simple legal contract. In God’s covenant legalism has been replaced with the image of radical acceptance in a relationship that is surrounded by and infused with God’s grace—the same grace we experience every time we partake of the cup of the new covenant in Holy Communion. So, we are blessed to approach these somewhat perturbing readings already fully enveloped by God’s grace.
We begin with Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s words were addressed to the Hebrew people who had, once again, strayed from a relationship with Yahweh. These folks, just like us, had terrible time putting God first in their lives. They were a lot like the story my friend the kindergarten teacher told me. There was this child who just could not or would not sit down. The teacher finally convinced her to sit down and the little girl said, “I may be sitting down with my body, but I’m standing up in my head.” These Hebrew folk just could not find the will within them to remain obedient to God.
Now God used the words of Jeremiah to reveal the divine prophecy to those who had a difficult time with faithfulness and steadfastness. “Behold, says Yaweh, in the days to come, I will establish a new covenant with these people even those who have broken our prior covenant over and over again. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yaweh: I will put my law in their minds and on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. All of them, high and low alike, will listen to me, says Yaweh, for I will forgive their misdeeds and will remember their sins no more.” As we listen to the words of God to Jeremiah, we must remember that prophecy, while set in an historical time and place reaches far beyond those particular people. We, too, are the recipients of these prophetic words. Are we ready to receive this new covenant—to be God’s people fully?
Jeremiah was given the difficult task of speaking God’s word to a people who had been rejecting God’s grace and the ways of God for a long time. They had been rebuked by God for what appears to be their unfailing disobedience. God had called and called and they still did not turn their hearts toward God. In an amazing turn of events, God promised them a new covenant, a covenant where God would place the Divine Law directly on their hearts. In this covenant, they would all listen to God, whether they were high or low, wealthy or poor, educated or illiterate. Not only that, but God promised to forgive their unfaithfulness and to forget all about their sins. Now these were people who had sinned in some of the most important ways, turning their backs on God; nevertheless, God makes a Sacred Promise—and we hear the prophesy of a new Realm of Justice centuries before the New Covenant of the Gospel appears.
You know, we MCCer’s shun the word sin. Having been told that who we are at the core of our personhood is sinful, we tend to reject the notion of sin in its entirety. MCC pastors mostly hate to use the word at all, and as a result, our attempts to preach a Gospel of Radical Acceptance can take us to a place of “all is well” without doing the hard work of preparing ourselves for this New Covenant in Christ Jesus. By failing to respond to God’s grace in a full and complete way that shines the light of forgiveness into every corner of our lives, we fall short of what Jesus calls us to in our Gospel lesson today. And, lest we forget, this is Lent, and during this time we are indeed called again to allow God to work in our hearts, our spirits, and even, our minds. Should we blithely assume, however, that this excavation of our hearts, this preparation of our whole selves for the receiving of the blessing of the New Covenant, takes place only during Lent, we learn to think another way. Lent does not conclude next week with Palm Sunday. Lent is a path that leads us to open ourselves up to the grace of God; and once faithfully started, leads only deeper for as long as we walk with God on this earthly journey.
And here we are at the Gospel. The presence of the Greeks are significant as a way to measure how far the news of Jesus had spread. Jesus knew if news of his teaching had spread to the Greeks, that the time was drawing closer for his death. This brief passage tells us all that we need to know about the New Covenant. Jesus replied, “Now the hour has come for the Chosen One to be glorified. The truth of the matter is, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. If you love your life you’ll lose it; if you hate your life in this world you’ll keep it for eternal life. Anyone who wants to work for me must follow in my footsteps, and where I am, my worker will be there too. Anyone who works for me will be honored by Abba God.” Speaking of his life and ours, at once he brings us to the place of honor and grace.
We often forget that Jesus was, first and foremost, a Jewish man who knew the words of the prophets and the content of the Law. Jewish thought regarded the heart as the seat of the will, not the seat of feelings. Here, he calls us to move beyond the realm of feeling—loving God is not a feel-good event. Jesus is calling us to a way of obedience, just as he is choosing to become obedient to God’s will, even if that will leads him to a cruel and horrible death. Jesus, always in the place of grace, calls us to sacrifice—He calls us to put the work of the harvest ahead of our fear and uncertainty. He speaks to us, gently, as if we are little schoolchildren struggling to understand a difficult idea. Listen to his illustration of what we must do to follow God: a grain of wheat (our lives before we choose to follow God) simply held in our hands will produce nothing. We can gaze upon it and wait for something to occur; but nothing will. However, if we allow God to lovingly plant the seed into the ground, the seed will first die, but will then sprout new growth—growth which will break through the barren soil and will yield a rich harvest.
Just so, allowing God to call us to a place of readiness for the new covenant—going into the ground, a dark and scary place where the truths of our inner heart are found, forgiven, healed and transformed, will result in a great and wonderful harvest. Our lives, when examined and readied by God, will produce wonderful things for God’s glory and will hasten the coming of the reign of God’s justice into our world and into our lives. Jesus is serious here—calling us to discipleship beyond the easy path—Jesus calls us to follow him in grace all the way to the cross and beyond—and he makes us a sacred promise—the promise that is indeed the new covenant: “Anyone who wants to work for me must follow in my footsteps, and where I am, my worker will be there too”.
This, then, is the new covenant—being where Jesus is—in the world, healing, loving and caring. And like the covenant of which Jeremiah speaks—this is a covenant of grace. Within a circle of grace we gather at the table, his table, and drink the cup of the new covenant. And as we do, may we walk in unity—together, as a people called to do the work of Jesus in the world. Amen and amen.

The Message of the Cross 3-11-12

The Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

For the message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God. Scripture says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and thwart the learning of the learned.” Where are the wise? Where are the scholars? Where are the philosophers of this age? Has not God turned the wisdom of this world into folly? If it was God’s wisdom that the world in its wisdom would not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message we preach.
For while the Jews call for miracles and the Greeks for wisdom, here we are preaching a Messiah nailed to a cross. To the Jews this is an obstacle they cannot get over, and to the Greeks it is madness—but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

THE GOSPEL: John 2:13-22
Since it was almost the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep and pigeons, while moneychangers sat at their counters. Making a whip out of cords, Jesus drove them all out of the Temple—even the cattle and sheep—and overturned the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins. Then he faced the pigeon sellers: “Take all this out of here! Stop turning God’s house into a market!” The disciples remembered the worlds of scripture: “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
The Temple authorities intervened and said, “what sign can you show us to justify what you’ve done?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They retorted, “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to raise it up in three days?” But the temple he was speaking of was his body. It was only after Jesus had been raised from the dead that the disciples remembered this statement and believed the scripture—and the words that Jesus had spoken.
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The Message of the Cross 3-11-12

God, when we see things being turned upside down for the sake of Your justice, we know you are there and here with us as we study your word and seek your face in worship. May the words that I say and all the things that we think in our hearts be blessed by you through your holy spirit. Amen.

This is a great story—the one where Jesus swings a whip and throws out the money changers and merchants and clears the Temple of those who would seek to make a fortune because of the laws that were in effect at the time. Those of us who studied this story in Sunday School where all the R-rated portions of the Bible get watered down into G-rated versions, may have missed some of this story along the way.
The assumption behind most of those Sunday School lessons is that Jesus is furious because the animal merchants and moneychangers are there. Yet, according to the Torah, they had good reason to be there. The Torah demanded certain sacrifices be made to God in the Temple and the moneychangers were there, literally, to change the money from those who had travelled from other countries into the coinage that the Temple could actually receive for the purchase of the sacrifice animals, as well as, the half-shekel tax that was levied on all Jews. It does not appear that the presence of the merchants and moneychangers bothered the Jewish pilgrims and, in fact, they actually served a purpose in making the sacrifices readily available. But Jesus took offense.
Now we know that there are four writers of the various Gospel stories: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—each written with just a bit of difference of perspective and perception. The first three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke share much more in common with each other than they do with the Gospel of John. John was a poet, and in his writings, there is a great sense of poetic justice particularly where God’s people are concerned. It is interesting to note that the main differences between the recollections have to do with timing. John places this event close to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry where it serves to serve as a jumping-off place for his earthly ministry. In the other three gospels, this incident serves as the proverbial “last straw” for the religious leaders in Jerusalem who, from that point on, begin to plan to kill Jesus. Now there may have been two incidents when Jesus drove the merchants from the temple—maybe not. The important thing to grasp is that if this incident occurred at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, it says to us—right up front—that things are never going to be the same again. That Jesus is turning the world upside down, just as he turned over the tables of the money changers. And whether or not the money changers were cheating the pilgrims becomes secondary to knowing that in the new Temple, the one that Jesus was going to build in the lives of his followers, that sacrifice would no longer be necessary. John also places this incident against the backdrop of the Festival of Passover. There are two possible reasons for this—this first is that John wants to illustrate that the ministry of Jesus is set in the context of the ancient laws and observances. The second, far more subtle meaning is found in the specific Festival during which the incident is set—Passover, the time when God spared the Hebrew children—just as God will spare and bless the ones who come to believe in this Christ.
Think on these things as they relate to our Lenten study of the radical change that Jesus brought to this world. I have a vision of Jesus, with whip upraised, that I would like to share with you. Imagine that the merchants and moneychanges represent all those things that come between us and God. The Jews had to purchase, according to their status in life, a particular animal or bird, to sacrifice. If they did not have the means to make such a sacrifice, they could not enter the Temple. Jesus, in his all-inclusive ministry turns this concept on its head. Once Jesus raises up the new Temple—that Temple of Jesus himself in the people of God—the Church, no sacrifices are needed. In fact, the earthly Temple itself is gone and replaced by the inner temples of our lives and our hearts on fire with the message of the change. Change which renders God accessible, directly accessible, to all of us. Different from preaching to the crowds, or healing the sick among the people, this one act is one of the most radically inclusive acts of Jesus recorded for us. It’s a somewhat brash act, and it generates trouble with the authorities whether it comes at the beginning or end of the story. In one swing of his whip, Jesus destroys the intermediary, whether that intermediary be a seller of doves, or someone restricting the right of the children of God to be in God’s presence. Laws regarding what we must do or who we must be are banished by Jesus’ radical act—an act played out through his ministry, and finally, his death and resurrection.
So back to my vision—now mind you, I am not a violent person, so it’s a bit of a stretch for me to go here, but it’s a momentarily gratifying stretch. Imagine, just for a moment, that the people Jesus is chasing from the Temple are all those people who have sought to regulate the rest of the world’s access to the Reign of God’s Justice. Think for a moment, about all those who have limited your access to worship God exactly the way God made you. Think for a moment, of all those well-meaning people who say that bullying is really just teasing, and that each and every church has the right to place their own understanding and requirements upon all those that would seek membership. Imagine just for a moment, a very angry Jesus chasing those folks from the Temple—sweeping it clean and suddenly inviting all of us in to worship and praise in a relationship with God, free from rules, prohibitions, and damnation. Ah yes, just as the merchants and money-changers were limiting the access of the poor, the dis-enfranchized, the marginalized of the time; so does anyone who stands between us and God and says, “you are not worthy to enter God’s temple unless you make the sacrifice of changing who you really are into something or somebody we deem acceptable to God.” Now, let me be clear here. I am not just talking about my gay and lesbian, bi and trans brothers and sisters. I am talking about those who are poor, those who dress and act differently than the rest of us. I am talking about women refused the priesthood and those with physical and mental challenges that make us have to work a little harder to say “welcome”. Imagine Jesus’ anger at all those attempts to restrict membership in the Temple of God or make it anything other than the pure, free gift of God through the living, dying, and rising again of Jesus himself.
This is, indeed, the message of the cross. This is a message that you simply can’t understand unless you want to. Why, because it is nonsense unless one is open and ready to receive it. We look around and find that there’s a lot out there other than the message of the cross. Just as Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth—there are those who want miracles, those who want great wisdom and knowledge, and what do we have to offer?—the simple message of the one sent from God to turn everything we know about the world upside down, by walking with, loving, and healing all without discrimination, without judgment. It’s not an easy message to bring, but it is the true message that grants all access to the glorious grace of God. It’s not a message of prosperity—so popular in the mega-churches of our day, but it’s a message that all are welcome into the Temple of God whether rich or poor, learned or simple, sophisticated or plain, gay or straight, young or old. It’s not a message of elitism—there are no special folks who have all the answers, who somehow walk a separate walk with God.
And, it’s not a message that the world longs to accept. Jesus tells us clearly that there are many who will not hear. Perhaps we should be less surprised than we seem to be when it happens again—when we are damned and rejected because of any number of things which keep us from meeting the expectations of the world. And perhaps we should be more careful than we tend to be that we are not moneychangers ourselves—regulators of others’ access to God. “To those who have been called…Christ is the power and wisdom of God”. May we relish our calling and always stand on the side of the One who is that power and wisdom of God.” Indeed, great are you, Lord. Amen and amen.

When God Shows Up-3-4-12

The Reading: Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, GOD showed up and said to him, "I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family." Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.
Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: You'll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that 'I'm making you the father of many nations.' I'll make you a father of fathers—I'll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I'm establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I'm giving you and your descendants this land where you're now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I'll be their God."
God continued speaking to Abraham, "And Sarai your wife: Don't call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I'll bless her—yes! I'll give you a son by her! Oh, how I'll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her."

THE GOSPEL: Mark 8:31-38
He then began explaining things to them: "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive." He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it.
But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. "Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works."
Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? "If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his [Holy Parent], with an army of the holy angels."
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When God Show Up: What Then? 3-4-12
God, we miss the mark over and over again. We just don’t “get it”. Open our hearts in new ways and speak to us in ways we cannot help but understand. May the words of my mouth and meditations of all our hearts be true and pure and pleasing to You. Amen.
It would be easy to ignore the section from Genesis today and just pretend that it just sort of happened into the bulletin as “filler” if you will. And I was tempted to do so. How many of you actually look to see if I am preaching about the scriptures in the bulletin or have gone off on my merry way to something else—no hands, please, either way, I don’t need to know. But God kept calling me to see the way that these two scriptures intertwine to bring us deeper understanding of each. The story in Genesis is pleasant and simple, certainly not like the passage in Mark. When I first chose the name of the sermon today, I must say I was thinking of poor Abram. Abram was 99 years old and had been faithful to God. And God shows up with bigger news. God will be in covenant with Abram and it will be quite a covenant indeed—a long full life (my goodness, he’s already 99) and a huge family. Our passage says this, “overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face”. I’m with Abram on this—flat on my face seems the appropriate place to be when “God shows up.” But God, apparently not seeing or stopping because Abram is now face down in the dirt, continues. “Abram, you are going to be the head of many nations and as a sign of the covenant, I’m going to change your name to Abraham.” Can you see it, Abram lifting up his head, spitting the dirt out of his mouth as God is declaring him to be the great parent of hundreds of people? God continues, as Abram, now Abraham slowly rises from the ground, “And because of this covenant, I’ll always be your God, and the God of all your descendants. I think we often forget when we read about the ancient nations of Israel, that this was a time of multiple gods, and those gods regularly waged huge wars and huge wars were waged in their names. The concept of one God always seemed to come as a surprise to everyone except God’s special servants. This moment, then is a big moment when it is recorded that this is the God for all time for all the descendants of Abraham. Sarai, Abraham’s wife, also receives a new name, Sarah, and she is blessed by God and told she will bear a son. Think of it—lives turned upside down, when God shows up. Have we not, too, been witness to the turning upside down when God shows up and speaks directly to us? But none of this could prepare us for what Jesus now says.
We fast forward though centuries of warfare, pilgrimage, and prophecy, and find ourselves at a particularly difficult place with Jesus of Nazareth. It is important to place this story in context. What comes immediately before our passage is the conversation between Jesus and his disciples regarding what was basically gossip about Jesus. Jesus asks them, and we spoke of this passage not long ago, “who do people say that I am” and, more importantly, “who do you say that I am?” Simon, is the one in this passage who brings the correct answer to the question. “You are the Messiah!’ In Matthew’s version of the story, it is easier to see the connection between the Old Testament passage and the New. Simon continues and says, “You are the Son of the Living God!” And now Jesus does something that clearly connects his covenant with the covenant of God with the people of God. Jesus changes Simon’s name. From here on out, Simon is called Peter, and it is just after this dramatic moment of a new name and new place of prominence in the story that our next rather unfortunate event occurs. Jesus, after determining who others think that he is, begins to tell us in his own words, exactly who he is. Jesus begins to explain things to his disciples: “"It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive." Mark records that Jesus stated this plainly, clearly and in simple words so that they would not miss it. Nevertheless, Peter, hopelessly lost in his love for Jesus and his wanting to protect him, grabs Jesus and protests. The older translations use the word ‘rebuke’ and, if you’ve ever been rebuked, particularly in public, you probably don’t want to go down that road again. All of a sudden, Jesus grabs Peter and says, “Peter, get out of my way—you and Satan get lost! You have no idea of how God works.” At this point, Jesus, more than a little angry, calls the crowd to join the disciples. Even in his anger, Jesus shows us undeniably that none are excluded from his message. His chosen few now lost in importance as those who were outside the inner circle are invited into the larger circle of Jesus’ reign. Jesus continually shows us that the Truth, the Good News, about himself and God is available for all and that no one has an “in” with God.
Unfortunately, most of us are not so crazy about hearing what Jesus says next. This is a hard passage and Jesus must have known that few would be able to hear and embrace what he is saying. But listen closely; in my revised version this is what I hear Jesus saying to us: If you intend to follow me, you have to get out of the way. I am the one who leads. Don’t run from the hard parts of life, embrace them. By following me, by accepting my cross as yours, you will learn how to take the broken parts of yourself and let them become whole. If you’ve tried before, you know by now that it takes more than just willing yourself to change; you must be willing to let me show you the way through sacrificing what you think is important in order to find your truest self. For what good would it do you, if you managed to accumulate all the power and accolades you thought you wanted if you lost your real self along the way?” And finally, Jesus asks us the crucial question, “Is there anything worth giving up your soul for?”
One night this week, I left a conversation with someone in the community feeling very, very “un-whole”. I imagine this has happened to some of you as well. Suddenly in the midst of studying the passage above, I knew immediately what I had done. I had allowed someone other than God’s Holy Spirit to tell me how to fix my broken parts. And, in the midst of it all, God showed up. Face down, I came to understand, yet again, that only God—the God who entered into covenant with us at the time of Abraham and reaffirmed and transformed that covenant through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—can fix our broken parts, if they are truly broken at all; and only God can lead us to the truest sense of wholeness, through the graceful gift of being touched by the One who leads us faithfully.
This longing to be fully connected to God, through the saving grace of Jesus, is what makes this passage accessible to all of us. I believe that Jesus is indeed calling us to a life of sacrifice, but this is it not an, ‘o woe is me, how bad can this get’ kind of sacrifice. This is a sacrifice that gently and faithfully results in our discovery of who we truly are. This ‘taking up one’s cross’ means that we follow the will of God no matter where it takes us—that as we find ourselves able to expand our ministries that there will be those of us who will sacrifice one afternoon a week or maybe two or three to work in our food pantry, or minister to those in need of spiritual or physical food. And that those of us who are able may find ourselves called to support the work of this church in new and exciting ways. It also means that we sacrifice our best notion of who we thought we were for a life of humility—humility that knows that when God shows up—face flat on the ground is an ok response. We celebrate the God of the first covenant, the Christ of the second, and the knowing that when we are present to God’s Holy Spirit, at the oddest and best times of life, God, well, shows up. Amen and amen.

Up a High Mountain-2-19-12

The Reading: 2 Peter 1:16-21
We weren't, you know, just wishing on a star when we laid the facts out before you regarding the powerful return of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We were there for the preview! We saw it with our own eyes: Jesus resplendent with light from God the [Creator] as the voice of Majestic Glory spoke: "This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of all my delight." We were there on the holy mountain with him. We heard the voice out of heaven with our very own ears.
We couldn't be more sure of what we saw and heard—God's glory, God's voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You'll do well to keep focusing on it. It's the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts. The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. And why? Because it's not something concocted in the human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy Spirit prompted men and women to speak God's Word.

THE GOSPEL: Mark 9:2-9
Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses, came into view, in deep conversation with Jesus. Peter interrupted, "Rabbi, this is a great moment! Let's build three memorials— one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah." He blurted this out without thinking, stunned as they all were by what they were seeing.
Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the cloud, a voice: "This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him." The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus. Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. "Don't tell a soul what you saw. After the Son of Man rises from the dead, you're free to talk." They puzzled over that, wondering what on earth "rising from the dead" meant.

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Up a High Mountain—2-19-12
God, you call us to live in the valleys and the mountains. Teach us what we have to learn from the mountains and call us to remember your ways in the valleys. May the words I speak and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing unto you. Amen

This is Transfiguration Sunday or as some of you may have called it in the past—the Feast or Festival of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Some, maybe many of you, may know nothing of this transfiguration story and as one of my dearest friends in Orlando—who just happens to be an incredibly talented performer says in his best drag voice—“Honey, it’s the Sunday of the great heavenly costume change”.
So what is this story all about? And what makes this story important for us today. Transfigure is not a word we use much. In its simplest sense, it means “to change, to transform, to alter—in outward, visible form. Most dictionaries agree that this change is usually for the good. People are transformed, of course, like when the Beast is transformed by the Beauty Belle’s love and kiss into the prince he truly is. But this is no ordinary transfiguration that we witness today.
In this story, the transfiguration of Jesus is at once complicated and simple. Unfortunately, those of us who prefer “simple” really do need to traverse the complicated part in order to understand the significance of this story in our lives. We, throughout the winter weeks, have been studying what it means to “walk in the spirit”. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and is the beginning of the Season of the church called “Lent”. We enter the long weeks of preparation for our remembrance of Jesus’ agony and death and then our celebration of his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. This story is the perfect bridge from our winter studies into our Lenten reflections.
We’re not sure why Jesus chose Peter, James, and John. Most scholars agree that these three achieved some leadership status among the larger group of disciples and that Jesus may have been giving them some extra privilege at this point or it may be as simple as Jesus took his best friends with him. Whatever the case, this brief story comes immediately after a particularly difficult passage. Jesus has been talking with his disciples and a crowd of people about the conditions of discipleship. In the preceding passages, he is talking of suffering and the great cost of following him. He ends this passage by predicting that some standing with him on that day will not die until they see the Kingdom of God come in power. We have no way of knowing to what Jesus is referring, though some translations see great significance in the fact that the transfiguration of Jesus comes immediately after this prediction.
Having looked at the setting and time frame of the event, let’s look at what actually happened. Jesus, taking his friends, goes up high on a mountain so that they can be completely alone. While they are there, Jesus is transfigured in front of them. His clothes become dazzling white, whiter than white—so white that they actually shimmered. All of a sudden, two great figures from the Old Testament—Moses and Elijah, are seen talking with Jesus. They are deep in conversation—the kind of conversation that you can tell is important just by watching—you don’t have to hear a word. Peter, however, is impulsive as he almost always is—and he shouts, “Rabbi, teacher, this is so awesome—let’s stop right now and build three dwellings to commemorate this moment—we’ll build one for you, one for Elijah and one for Moses”. At almost the same moment, a great cloud of light came over the whole scene and enveloped them all. God’s voice—from deep inside the cloud—rings out: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to Him!” And, in the very next minute, the whole thing was over, the cloud lifted and the only one they saw was Jesus who told them in no uncertain terms to keep what they saw and heard to themselves until after he has risen from the dead. These scared and disoriented disciples were so confused, they didn’t even know what he meant.
The only other time we hear God make this proclamation is at the baptism of Jesus. But because it is unlikely that these disciples were present at the baptism of Jesus, this is new for them. It must have been un-nerving and more than a little frightening for them—but it must have also served as a divine confirmation that Jesus was who he said he was. However, we are left with more questions than answers regarding this dramatic occurrence so powerful in the telling, yet somewhat confusing in the hearing. Mere drama? Perhaps, or is there something to bring to our journeys this very day?
First, look at the selection of the characters—Jesus, obviously, was there as well as Peter, James and John. Then, we have the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Moses, representing the law and the great history of the Hebrew people and Elijah, the great Old Testament prophet, speaking to Jesus perhaps of prophesy fulfilled and prophesy still left to be revealed. I believe that the appearance of these two men are far more than symbolic—Jesus, as he begins to reveal his truest identity to his disciples is visited by two men—perhaps the only two men—who could serve as mentors or teachers to this, the Son of God. Is it not comforting to contemplate that Jesus, so alone in his journey, was given the great gift from God of the visitation and perhaps advice and support of these two historically important men?
And then, God’s voice is heard using the same words as those used when Jesus was baptized by John. Just as we ready ourselves for Lent, God reminds us of exactly who Jesus is—my son, marked by my love. Lest we forget where the journey leads and who leads us at every turn, God appears and reminds us of who is in control. “Listen to my son, I love him and he is set apart by my love.” And we, turn and look, just as Peter, James, and John to catch a glimpse of glory before it is gone as quickly as it came.
This story, which demonstrates the identity of Jesus so dramatically ends the season that began with Christmas and moved us through the many weeks of Epiphany. We studied the spiritual walk during those weeks and came to a deeper understanding of ourselves as a people of God walking together as the Body of Christ. What were the moments for you which filled you with some spiritual insight or lead you to some deeper commitment? Did you, like Peter, miss some of what we were wrestling with in our journey together? Once again, in story after story, and passage after passage, we see that God calls and calls and calls until we may finally understand. Peter, so impulsive and limited in his understanding of the nature of the glory in front of him was nevertheless present as God’s voice permeated the cloud of light. Peter, James, and John, like the other disciples never seemed to get it, and yet, Jesus shared his most precious moments with them anyway. Do we need any clearer proof than this that God claims us as divine children whether we are leaders such as Moses, prophets such as Elijah, or plain, common, not-so-astute folk like impetuous Peter?
Our call here in the midst of a somewhat complicated story is actually quite simple—“listen to the one who is marked by the love of the Creator God”. Do not be distracted as Peter was, wanting to stop and mark the event—pay attention to the glory right before you—be on the lookout for the glory of God in the beauty of a sunset or sunrise, or in a tree suddenly ablaze in reds and oranges from the reflection of the sun. Be on the lookout for God’s voice—and, just as important, be ready to listen. Prepare your hearts for the revelation of the glory of the Lord.
Lent is a strange time—some see it as a time of deprivation—a time to “give something up”. But God calls us to take something on during this time—a willingness to stand ready to hear and to listen and to follow. We give up our hallelujahs so that we can listen for deeper truths, center ourselves and long for holy ground. We hear the last hallelujahs in the choir’s anthem today and we put aside the ‘easy truth’ of celebration for the hard truth of learning to live as mature children of God. Here, just before Lent, in a completely unexpected place in the story of Jesus, we suddenly are led to the mountain. And, we are challenged as Peter was challenged, to stay with the glory, to see it through to the end. And, we are challenged as Peter was challenged to see beyond the moment, to resist the limiting of God to the here and now. And we are challenged, as Peter was challenged, to stay focused on God, this God of living cloud and living voice who speaks to us of vision and glory, of power and love. And we are challenged….Amen and amen.

A Winter Walk-Rest Unto Our Souls--2-12-12

The Reading: Genesis 2:1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended the divine work which God had made; and God rested on the seventh day from all the work which God had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it God had rested from all the work which God created and made.

The Gospel Lesson: Matthew 11: 28-30

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

A WINTER WALK--REST UNTO OUR SOULS2-12-52
God, we sometimes hear your Word and don’t know what to do with it. Today may be one of those times, let us listen closely to what You are saying behind the words, to what You are saying to our spirits. May the listening and the speaking bring You honor and glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

I think we are in for a special journey today as we look at these two scripture passages as we end our study on the Spiritual Walk. Jesus promises “rest unto our souls”—whatever does that mean? We will return to the specific Gospel lesson in a moment. Before that, I want to look briefly at why it seems so difficult for us to seek, much less, find, such rest, even though we talk about it quite a bit.
Why are we unable to trust in the divine invitation to rest? Our answer leads us to four truths. Here is the first truth—we take ourselves too seriously. God, must laugh compassionately sometimes at the lengths to which we will go only to prove to ourselves and to others just how important and indispensible we are.
There’s a story I love. You gotta go “back in the day” to understand this—remember when they let the “mature” kids be crossing guards at the schools? Well, it seems that Edward, who lived just two blocks from the school, was late from school. His mother was getting a little worried. In Edward comes, sputtering and muttering and his mother asked, “Why are you late? I was getting worried.” “Oh, Mom, they let Jeremy be the crossing guard today and he made us all wait 10 minutes until a car came along, so he could stop it.” Mmmm, there’s a little of Jeremy in all of us. So perhaps we take ourselves so seriously that we come to believe that our jobs, or those things which define our very selves, are too important to take a few moments away to commune with God.

The second truth is that we don’t take God seriously enough.
The reading today is from Genesis 2, the first three verses. Listen again in RC’s version, The heavens and earth were done—all of them. On Day 7, God ended the divine work. And God rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and even sanctified it for the purpose of rest. This is what God did about rest—later, in the Ten Commandments, God will command us to rest, but here God finishes the creation and creates a space and a time, blesses it, yea, sanctifies it for nothing more than rest.
Regardless of how we describe creation, there comes a time after the chaos subsides, and the world is filled with wonder, God rested. Declaring the day sanctified, a word rich in meaning such as 1. To set apart for sacred use; consecrate. 2. To make holy; purify. 3. To make productive of holiness or spiritual blessing. There are other meanings, but they all suggest the same—the setting aside of a time or place, the making holy of such a time or place. Those of us whose tradition talk a lot about “sanctification” may think we know all there is to know—I think we don’t. I think that in our earnest attempts to live holy and pure lives, we may have missed one of the most ‘sanctified’ aspects of live itself—rest unto our souls.
The third truth that we fail to admit is that we, most of us, are afraid to slow down for fear our lives will overtake us. There is a familiar scene from Indiana Jones and the Tale of something or another, where he steals some powerful statue and runs into numerous problems getting away. You can tell I’m not a big fan of Indiana Jones. However, this familiar scene is a great metaphor for our lives as pretty soon a giant boulder is rolling after Indiana down the tunnel and is gaining on him with every roll. You may be familiar with the quite frightening scene. I sometimes picture my life and the activities I schedule myself for in it in a similar fashion—don’t stop, don’t turn around, and whatever you do, don’t acknowledge the boulder. Sometime, several years ago, I had back stage passes to what was then MGM studios. That used to happen a lot for those of us who knew people in “high places” at Disney. Anyway, I was touring the Indiana Jones Adventure and I saw the big boulder. I asked for a demonstration of how they did it. I was allowed to stay on the attraction and as the boulder threatened to take over the “Indiana for the day”, the floor opened up (unbeknownst to the audience) just as the boulder appeared to crush him and he landed 4 feet below on a cloud of memory foam and was able to walk up the secret pathway to where he would suddenly miraculously appear. Ever since then I have thought a similar escape hatch would be the coolest thing ever. Wouldn’t it be amazing if just as the boulder of life threatens to overtake us, the floor drops out and lands us in a pile of foam, safe again.
We come to our fourth truth—we miss the fulness of Jesus’ call to each of us in Matthew. Why is this?—see Truths 1-3. In reality, I believe that we may confuse Jesus’ call to find rest, here in Matthew, with Psalm 23. Will you think with me now about Jesus’ specific call? “Come to me, all of you who are tired and don’t know where to turn. I am the source of the rest you are seeking. Walk beside me, be yoked to me as an equal—this way you can learn from me. You will learn what it feels like to be meek and lowly of heart and as you do, beautiful rest will begin to flood your souls. Walking beside me, yoked to me is the easiest thing in the world. You’ll be amazed at how light your burden will become.”
Sometimes it’s hard for us to hear these words of Jesus as comforting—we look at oxen, yoked together, straining together, sometimes in harmony, sometimes not. But Jesus is calling us to be in perfect union with him. He wants us to walk beside him as he walks beside us—is this not the perfect description of the spiritual walk. Today, in our last sermon of this series, we end our many week discussion with a glimpse of what we almost all crave—pure, free, graceful, rest. I think I had always envisioned spiritual rest as a kind of hammock made of angels’ wings, where I could swing back and forth in the breeze of the Holy Spirit. Nothing to do but just sigh deeply and breathe in the wholeness of God’s unmerited grace. This is not what Jesus says—no “come over here and lie down and take a little rest and everything will seem better in the morning”. Jesus said, come, place yourself so closely beside me that we are yoked—that everywhere I go you go—in all my compassion work, you are there. In all my caring for the poor, you are beside me, in all my tears for the world, you are there. In all my outrages against injustice, you are there. Suddenly, this doesn’t sound so restful at all. But, this is what Jesus says.
And so I dig deeper to understand. Many of you know that in New York, I did a little showing of dogs, enough at least that I learned the lingo. There is one competition that I didn’t get into to, but I loved to watch and this was showing dogs in a brace. This is where two dogs are shown together on one show lead. The dogs are in no way ‘forced’, and the point of the competition is to get these two dogs to go through the steps of being shown together. Now, even two dogs who love each other with throw a fit or two about being leashed together, so it does require training. But what it mostly requires, is the perfect matching of the two dogs before you ever even try to get them to walk together. There are some obvious rules, you don’t show a big dog with a little—dogs must be nearly carbon copies of each other to be winners. And you don’t usually show a hyper dog with a lazy one unless you, yourself, are a glutton for punishment. Bloodlines are compared, physical traits, character traits—all go into the choosing.
If we assume that Jesus takes as much time, choosing to whom He will be yoked, we can assume that He really, really wants us. “Come to me”, He says. Come, walk beside me, be yoked to me”. Our invitation, then, is that, when we tarry from the busy-ness in our lives long enough to hear Jesus softly call, we learn that the whole of our spiritual walk is described in the words of this invitation. And as the hardened spaces of protection in our heart begin to slip away, we walk closer and closer to Jesus, our feet in perfect harmony, beside the feet of Jesus, not behind, not in front, beside, doing the work of our Lord, finding rest unto our souls. Amen and Amen.

A Winter Walk --A Very Simple Prayer 2-5-12

The Reading: Philippians 1: 3-8

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
It's not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. [God] knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!

The Gospel Matthew 6: 5-15

"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense [divine] grace.
"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Creator you are dealing with, and God knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Creator in heaven, reveal who you are. Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below. Keep us alive with three
square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge!
You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
"In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part.
~~~~~
A Winter Walk-A Very Simple Prayer 2-5-12


When we first moved into our house, there was a rather large bush in the center of our yard. I took one look at it and knew there was a tree waiting to be born. Over the two-plus years we have lived there I have kept at it and now we have a quite attractive tree in the center of our yard. It occurred to me one morning this week, when I was out in the front yard with the dogs and the sun was rising, that God must see a lot of bushes when looking at us—knowing that we are really trees waiting to be uncovered. For me, the sunrise is always a symbol of God’s faithfulness so as I stood in the yard for a few minutes waiting for the dogs to do, well, what dogs do in the morning, looking at the bush-now-tree in my yard, I couldn’t help but reflect on the absolute faithfulness of God as the master pruner and creator of trees-from-bushes. It’s like Paul says, “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.”
Now we know that the early Christians, including Paul, expected Jesus to return in their own life-time. We’re not sure how that misunderstanding came about, and it doesn’t really matter; because it makes the scripture as alive for us today as it was for the early Christians. According to Paul, if you will allow me to continue my pruning metaphor, there has never been any doubt that the God who started pruning you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish in the shape of a wonderful, beautiful tree. What does all of this pruning have to do with prayer—for me, God works with me, prunes me, if you will, most when I am alone in prayer. My heart is most open, and my ears most attuned to God when I find the time that God expects, really demands of me, to spend alone in the presence of my Creator. Jesus, while on earth, did a lot of praying—always alone, many times in the desert, or garden, where He sought special alone-time with God. Strangely, there are not a lot of His teachings recorded about prayer, but the one that is, is enough for us. And so as we continue our Spiritual Walk, we turn to Jesus to hear what He has to say about prayer:
“When you come before God, do it simply. God does not think more of you if you make your prayers into a theatrical production.” This should be great consolation to all of you who tell me that you don’t know how to pray. There is no “how to” and the great pray-ers of the world are not heard any more than you in your talking to God. In fact, Jesus tells us to get away from other people to pray so that we are not tempted to pray in a manner that is insincere, more for the benefit of the listeners than for true communication with God. When we are alone, quietly praying to God, Jesus promises us that our focus will shift from us to God, and we will begin to sense divine grace. I want to challenge all of you to find just such a time to be alone with God, to allow God’s divinely graceful pruning shears to prune away some of what is holding you back in your spiritual walk. For you cannot do it for yourself. We spoke of that last week. It is God who perfects us and continually renews and revives us. Just a quick gardening question: Why do we prune trees or plants? That’s right so they will grow. When they are weighted down with branches they don’t need, with branches that suck the nutrition out of the tree, they cannot grow. Take off those useless branches and they will flourish and reach into the sky.
Sometimes the Bible records the words of Jesus in such a way as to make us think Jesus is walking on the earth today. This is one of those times: Jesus says, the world is full of people who call themselves, ‘prayer warriors’ but they do not engage in this simple kind of prayer Jesus calls us to. Some of you may have run into some of them along the way. Jesus says they have ‘formulas and programs and advice’ which somehow are supposed to get you what you want from God. “Don’t fall for that nonsense” says Jesus. Because God created you, God already knows what you need and because God loves you, you can pray a very simple prayer. I hope you will allow me to give you my translation of Jesus’ prayer:
God, who created the world and all that is in it,
Allow me to know your presence in nature and
in my sister and fellow travelers on this earth.
Make the world into what you intended it to be.
Keep the earth on which we live in tune with heavenly beauty and
peace.
Bless us with just enough to eat.
Forgive us in the same manner we forgive others.
Keep the forces of evil out of our lives.
I worship you in your glory and honor you in all I do.
You are God, now and forever. Amen.
It’s a very simple prayer. However you pray it, it pretty much covers it all. What is Jesus saying to us when we pray like this? “God, who created the world and all that is in it”—we come into God’s presence and first acknowledge that we know this to be the God who created all that we have and all that we are. We sometimes falter here, especially those of us who are made just a little different from what some of the world wants us to be. But this is what we say when we say, “Our Creator”—God created us, all of us, with our talents, with our shortcomings which teach us to trust, with our passions and our needs. God did this and so we pray, “Allow me to know Your presence in nature and in my sister and fellow travelers on this earth”. This is a powerful line in the prayer—if we truly know God’s presence in nature, we will treat this earth and work to get others to treat this earth far differently than most of us do. We will use whatever influence we have to encourage the responsible uses of resources. We will save some for our children and grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren. And when we recognize our creator in each and everyone we meet along the way, we will treat those in our presence with just a little more honor and respect, for when we greet each other, we are greeting the presence of God in each other. I have great respect for nuns and monks of both the East and West who bow to each other every time they meet or pass each other in the hall. They are bowing to the presence of God in fellow monks and sister nuns. What a beautiful sign of respect for each other and for God.
“Make the world what you intended it to be.” You’ve got to know that what we’ve done with the world and the world’s resources brings great pain to God’s heart. What would happen if the major corporations thought about the pain they are bringing to God the next time they had a decision to make? It’s a sobering thought.
“Keep the world in which we live in tune with heavenly beauty and peace.” With one line of a prayer, all the men and women in the world, all of them—no matter what country, could return to their homes and gardens and children and jobs. “Bless us with just enough to eat”. It doesn’t take much information to know that if we all changed the way we eat, there would be plenty of food to go around. Perhaps, if all of us pray this prayer enough, we will live long enough to see all the children of the world full and not hungry. We can pray, folks, we can pray!
“Keep the forces of evil out of our lives.” As we grow spiritually, there will be those who try to limit our growth, who tell us that God is not present in our lives. And so we pray for protection and the courage to trust God through it all.
“I worship you in your glory and honor you in all I do.” What if we made this the focus of our lives—worshiping God in all we say and do—what if that was our first thought in the morning and our last thought at night--:Great God, Creator and Sustainer of us all”—I worship you in all that I do today, tomorrow, and into eternity. “You are God, now and forever.” A very simple prayer for very simple folk. As we pray and sing this prayer today, may it reach as high as the heavens and as deep as our hearts. Amen and amen.

Winter Walk--An Entirely New Way of Living 1-29-12

Ephesians 4: 23-32
But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! 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. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can't work. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don't grieve God. Don't break God’s heart. The Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for God. Don't take such a gift for granted.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 6: 35-38
"I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Creator lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our God is kind; you be kind. "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don't condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you'll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."
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Winter Walk—An Entirely New Way of Life 1-29-12
Father, Mother God, we come to this stop-over in our journeys from so many different places. We seek wisdom and guidance from You, our very source of life. Grant that the words I speak and the meditations of all our hearts be full of Your grace and peace. Amen

I believe that we as a human race are incredibly attracted to the concept of a new life. How many of you have at least one Self-Help book sitting on your shelves, your Nook, or your Kindle that promises a new way of at least some aspect of living? Now how many of you have read those books? And, the hands go down…I will admit it, I was, at one point in my life almost addicted to self-help books. I wasn’t happy, and I really believed that somewhere in one of those books would be the key to my starting a new life. If you were in a room of church leaders the question would sound like this—“how many of you have books on making your congregations new and vibrant?” And the rate of actual readership would probably be much the same. We want ‘new’—new houses, new cars, new churches, and new ways of thinking…and, in the end; we find it in a very old place, in the beginningless and endless God, creator of all.
Our scriptures today lead us to our spiritual walk in community—to this and every community where we gather in God’s name. And we hear first what Paul had to say to the Christians at Ephesus in a letter that is different from his others. Most of the time, Paul would get wind of some crisis or another, and, as the Great Pastor of the early church, he would send off a letter addressing that crisis, and leading the Christians back to the center of their faith—Christ. Strangely enough, there was no crisis at Ephesus and so this letter is more like a pastoral letter that reads a little like “All you ever wanted to know about being a Christian, but were afraid to ask”. In an outline of this letter, our passage today falls in the second half, the more practical half and has to do with all kinds of ways to fulfill God’s purpose in the Church. Chapter 4 begins with Paul’s request of them, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” In the verses right before our passage, Paul engages in a not very generous description of the lives of non-believers. And, then, “But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! He urges us to get rid of our old ways of thinking, “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 the [divine character] in you.”
Because Paul is writing to a church, he is focused on behavior in the community which leads to a new way of living together. He asks us to look at the behaviors that generate this new way of living. First, ‘speak truth’. I tell you, I just don’t know why it seems so difficult for us as Christians to speak the truth—the verb that Paul uses means speak the truth continually. And, he gives us a reason why—because we are all members of one body-Christ’s body. When we gossip and lie either about ourselves or each other, we damage the whole community. Paul calls us to the essential truth, the indwelling truth of the triune God; but he also calls us to be trustworthy—as trustworthy as God. This trustworthiness requires that we speak truth to our neighbor, particularly to those who are a part of God’s community. Additionally, and I am going to be so bold as to suggest, that when we lie to each other or about each other, we damage not only those who are a part of this body with us, we damage our very selves as a part of this same body of Christ.
Second, ‘be angry’. This is no regular anger; this is divine anger—anger at injustice. Again, the form of the verb that is used means that we are to be continually angry, angry at sin and at those who greedily take from those who need the most. We are to be angry when people lie about the people of God, all the people of God. We are to be angry when one member has the arrogance to say, I belong to the people of God, but you don’t. We are to be continually angry, when one expression of the body of Christ says to another expression of the body of Christ—you cannot be gay, or transgender, or poor, or black, or any other characteristic that is used to set people apart.
We are, however, in the same phrase, told to ‘sin not’. We are to know the difference between righteous anger and walking around ticked off at someone or someones. We are to control our anger, and in every case when anger exists among two or more of us, we are to resolve it immediately. Anger must cease at sunset. Anger, held on to, even for a night, breeds a dangerous tendency to engage in sinful behavior and challenges us to speak what we know to be the truth. I don’t know about you, but the longer I hold on to something, the ‘worser’ and ‘worser’ it seems.
This leads us to two more imperatives: “give no place to the Devil’ and “do not grieve the Holy Spirit”. When we hold on to anger, mistrust, and doubt about each other we open the door to the forces of evil to invade the precious sacred space that God has given us in this church or any other church where God’s people gather. And, yes, I do mean forces of evil. And when these forces of evil start working among us, and we do nothing to stop it, we most certainly engage in sin. This sin, this failure to value above all individual agendas, the body of Christ in which we are members, most certainly, fails Paul’s final imperative—‘do not grieve the Holy Spirit’. God’s people have been grieving the Holy Spirit throughout time. But, we are, as Christians, both individually and corporately, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Having received the Holy Spirit and been renewed in mind and spirit by the Holy Spirit, we are honored to have this divine guest in our lives. And we depend on the Holy Spirit throughout our spiritual walk to make us holy.
Paul lists 6 things that we are to throw off as individuals and as a church: bitterness, rage, animosity, brawling, slander, and malice. One commentator that I read suggested that those Christians who walk around constantly bitter “appear to have been baptized in lemon juice”. They refuse to be reconciled and actually seem to enjoy their bitterness particularly when they can use their bitterness to control others. And, rage, here, does not mean an overly aggressive display of anger, the Greek word, thumos, refers to a deep, explosive rage which hasn’t yet manifested. Paul suggests that we should rid ourselves of that rage. By brawling, Paul is speaking of the person who erupts in rage or anger in all the wrong places. Feeling wronged, this person spews nastiness and is out of control. Not caring who is present to hear, this person does great damage to the church, especially to the seekers among us who have come looking for something more in their lives. Slander, speaking in ways about our brothers and sisters that will destroy their reputation, either behind their backs or in full view, does great damage to the church as well as well as every form of malice. Malice is described as “badheartedness”—when we fail to lift our brothers and sisters up, and spend our time seeking ways to destroy their spirit of joy.
Then there are the imperatives we seek. Paul’s use of the verb--to ‘continually become’—allows us to journey on our own paths toward the call of the Spirit to become all we are created to be. These simple imperatives lead us on the path of the growth of the inner life of the Spirit in ourselves and in our church. First, BE KIND. The Greek word is chrêstoi and means to be kind to those in the community, especially folks who you may have wronged in the past. It is not a feeling, it means concrete acts that not only help others, but build up the community. Secondly, BE COMPASSIONATE. Unlike the hardhearted unbeliever, the Christian’s heart is soft and tender. When we entered into the new covenant as we celebrate each week in the Eucharist, our hearts are changed and we not only love God, we love all the others and will actively seek ways to help and bless them. And, finally, FORGIVE EACH OTHER. We are always to be ready to forgive and to forgive every real and perceived wrong. What an amazing place the Body of Christ becomes as we live in constant readiness to forgive even before we are wronged.
Jesus calls us as well--"Live out this God-created identity the way our Creator lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our God is kind; you be kind. Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing.” And so, we walk in our God-Created identity, we love, and we are loved in return. To God be glory in the Church, now and forever. Amen and amen.