Giving as Worship 10-6-12

The Reading: Colossians 3:15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Jesus, thanking God every step of the way. The Middle Reading by Henri Nouwen “Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me.” The Gospel: Mark 14: 3-9. Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head. Some of the guests became furious among themselves. “That’s criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year’s wages and handed out to the poor.” They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Giving as Worship 10-6-12 Great God and Creator of us all, teach us to worship you in our living and in our giving. Lead us in your ways of grace and gracious forgiveness and reconciliation. May we learn new ways to worship you today and may we hear your truth. Amen It is another one of those stories that begs to be told—a story, just like the story of the Samaritan woman, where the outcome is far different than what we think or would predict. Here is a woman, held in disgrace and disgust by all who knew her, who, nevertheless, managed to make her mark on the history of a religion so new, yet steeped in all those things very, very old. She is un-named and, though, many have thought that she must be that famous woman of ill repute, Mary Magdalene, she remains unknown to us. Until now… You don’t need to know my name. It’s been unimportant for centuries, and it’s unimportant now. What you need to know is what I did and when I did it, and what my actions caused Jesus to say to those gathered there. I’ve always been grateful that in just a sentence or two, I managed to make a difference—whether you know my name or not. We were all in Bethany for Passover which was just two days away. I went about my usual work, nothing very special about Passover for me—no family to celebrate with, no friends to speak of, and the people I lived and worked with didn’t care one whit about Passover. So, it was just any old day as far as I was concerned. And, then, I went to see him…but wait, I’m ahead of myself already. I got word through one of my more respectable friends that Jesus was coming to town for Passover. I’d met him before and knew only one thing—he was all that I ever knew or thought about God in one very real living person. You know how you meet someone and they just seem so much more than anyone you’ve ever known—more kind, more generous, more understanding, more everything. It’s difficult to describe—just more. When I found he was coming to Bethany, I began to look for a way that I could show him how all that I’d heard him say changed my life—not that I became perfect after I met him, but things began to matter to me—how I treated people, how I treated myself, and how I communicated with God. I’ve always believed in God, known that I was part of something so big that, all by myself, I can’t do much, but that little bit matters a lot when it gets put with everyone else’s little bit. I hope I’m making sense to you. I’d been so hopeless before I met him, Jesus, that is—wasn’t planning on living very long since something was bound to happen to me the way I was living. People like me don’t live very long—it’s hard to explain, perhaps, we don’t care enough about ourselves to look after ourselves, or perhaps we are so discounted by the rest of the world, we just slip away into real oblivion. And, then I learned that he was going to Simon’s house. Simon’s house! Now Simon is our town leper. He’s only allowed to live in the town because a few townspeople feel sorry for him. But he’s still a leper and treated as such. Isn’t that just like Jesus to go to a leper’s house? How many more ways can he show us that he cares about everyone and loves us no matter what? I ask you, how many ways? So, bit by bit, I add up everything that I have managed to save along the way. It surprises me how much it turns out to be. All I know is that I want to spend every last penny showing Jesus how much he means to me. I hadn’t figured out quite what I was going to do, just that I was going to do something and no one was going to stop me. I made a plan and waited—not very patiently, I might add, but I waited. Finally, the time has come and everyone knew that Jesus was now at Simon’s house. I walked slowly in that direction carrying my special gift very carefully so that it does not get broken too soon. I wondered how to make it happen, this special blessing I want to show Jesus. As I stood outside the door, sorta behind the big tree in Simon’s yard, I noticed all the important followers of Jesus arriving—the disciples, Jesus’ relatives, those in the town who have believed in him and supported him—all of them striding into Simon’s little house and sitting around outside the house as well. I began to doubt my plan—doesn’t seem so important now—maybe he won’t even notice. I wanted so badly for him to know that his love made all the difference to me at a time when no one else in the world had anything but hatred for me. Suddenly, I made a dash for it—now or never, I decided. I got to Jesus’ feet, quickly broke the bottle and began anointing him with the wonderful smelling oil that was spilling out of the bottle and covering him in the most wonderful scent—did you know that gratitude has a scent? At least it did that day. Jesus doesn’t say much, but he looks at me and his eyes, sad around the edges, say all that I need to hear. I am completely accepted by him even as I am completely known by him—all the things I’ve done and said and believed—all washed away in that love that pours over me as the sweet-smelling oil pours over him. Suddenly, I heard voices—angry voices that broke through and interrupted that beautiful moment of pure worship. People were yelling at me, telling me to stop. They told me I should have sold the oil—given the money to the poor. All the yelling—self-righteous, obnoxious snobs telling me what I should have done. And what have they ever done to show Jesus how much they love him—not much from what I hear. Most people want something from Jesus—all I wanted was for him to accept something from me. I can’t say a thing, out loud, but I don’t stop the flow of the oil. Suddenly, he speaks and they began arguing with Jesus himself. And by raising a hand, Jesus brings it all to a close. Jesus said something like this to them, “Stop your shouting! This woman has showed her true worship of me, the Son of God. You all are more worried with what you think is right, than allowing this child of mine to treat me with love and respect. Why look, she has anointed me for burial, even before it is necessary. She will be highly thought of anywhere people really understand all that I have been trying to say. Of course, you should take care of the poor. You will always have the chance to do that. She has done something that you will not be able to do soon. Leave her alone!” I looked into his face and his gaze erased all my fear and my shame. His eyes, deep with love and grace let me know that he appreciated what I had done. I turned and left then, but I knew that I had done the right thing. My heart was light with praise and love for God. Only a couple of days later, Jesus was arrested. They, those Pharisees and High Priests told Pilot to kill him. Where were all these high-falutin’ friends then? The crowd went kinda crazy, I watched from the edge of the crowd as they screamed for Pilot to crucify Jesus. I watched as Jesus fell under the pain of the beatings. After all that, they still made him carry his own cross up the hill. Well, you know what happened then. I am relieved that I did what I did when I did. Jesus was so close to dying even though we didn’t know it then. I’m glad that I got the chance to tell him how much all that he was and did meant to me. Someone asked me what it felt like when I was pouring the oil over Jesus. I’d have to say that it felt perfect—perfect because I was telling Jesus what he meant to me and he was taking all that I had to offer. Not many people want what I really have to offer. Oh, they’ll take what I sell, my work, myself, or my body. All I wanted to say was “thank you” and Jesus received my praise when no one else would even allow me to be present in their midst. How does it come to be that God, through the love of Jesus, is able to show us how giving of all that we have, is the greatest worship there is? How does it come to be that Jesus, the one who knows all, loved me in spite of all that is in my past, and made me feel that my gift to him in the form of worship made all the difference to him. I’m not sure I’ve ever made a difference in someone’s life or heart before, but Jesus let me know that loving him enough to brave all that I had to brave to get to him mattered—really mattered. Jesus told me that people like you would know who I was. Doesn’t really matter—as long as God loves and grace redeems and regenerates all that I am, all that matters is that you know from hearing my story that God blesses us when we lovingly come into his presence with praise and thanksgiving for all that we are made to be. Jesus takes our lives, no matter what, and turns them around in the moment we bring our all to him. He replaces all our worship and gratitude with blessing after blessing. I did a good thing that day. You are welcome to do the same. Amen and amen.

This Incredible Extravagant Generosity of God 9-30-12

The Reading: Acts 20: 17-27 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the leaders of the congregation. When they arrived, he said, “You know that from day one of my arrival in Asia I was with you totally—laying my life on the line, serving the Master no matter what, putting up with no end of scheming by Jews who wanted to do me in. I didn’t skimp or trim in any way. Every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you, you got. I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus. “But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God. “And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you. The Middle Reading—a prayer written by Sir Francis Drake: Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord when with the abundance of things we possess we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the starts. We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love. The Gospel Reading: 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 Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father 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.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Incredible Extravagant Generosity of God 9-30-12 God, teach us to be a people who are generous at heart; who love before we are loved and give before we receive. May all my words bring you glory and all our reflections of heart bring you praise. Amen We all know the Golden Rule—do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s not in the Bible, you know. Well, at least not exactly like that. I recently read about a Platinum Rule—it goes like this: “Treat others in the way they like to be treated”. That switch takes just a bit of pondering. These kinds of conversations can lead us into a discussion of generosity, but it is not enough. Generosity is sharing with others freely, without thought of return. It is a willingness to offer money, assistance, and energy and time when it is needed. Generous giving means giving something that has real value to you—without expectation of anything in return or even reward. We know that Jesus spoke of generous giving a lot and I have always been comforted, especially at times when I had little money to give, that Jesus valued the single coin of the widow more than all the gold and silver donated by those who were wealthy and had lots to give. I’ve always wondered about what motivated that widow to give of her last mite. I think that’s an important question when we talk about generosity, and not just of money, but of talent and time or energy. What does it take for us to give of our last ounce of energy, our last minute, our last dime? I took the title of the sermon from our passage in Acts where Paul calls all the religious leaders from Ephesus to him for a final meeting before he leaves for Jerusalem and what would, more than likely, be the end of his life. This is his “goodbye” message to them and he makes sure they understand that very fact. He reminds them of his teaching and sacrifices along the way. And, then, he says his farewell, telling them that he has but one task on his mind as he begins his final journey: “What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.” Kinda stops you dead in your tracks to contemplate this incredibly extravagant generosity of God. Now, if I asked you right now to shout out what you think makes up this amazing generosity of God, you would list many, many things and they would all be a part of how we experience God’s generosity. And, if I asked you to name appropriate responses to that generosity, you would be able to list many more approaches to show our gratitude to God. Paul leaves no room for mis-understanding. Responding to this generosity of God demands that we make a radical life-change before God and begin to trust Jesus with an equally radical trust. Now, this is where the so-called rubber hits most of our roads. According to people who study this sort of thing, it seems that people who claim to be religious are much more likely to make the connection between the gifts of God as a motivator for personal generosity and the fact that they enjoy giving to others. And, if we are truly open to it, it is in the making of this connection that we experience what Paul calls a “radical life-change” which includes “radical trust”. So, here we are, at the beginning of Fall looking at all God has done for us as a people. You may know that the Stewardship Team and some Board members went last week to a Stewardship Summit sponsored by MCC. Two of our Elders were our presenters—giving us the same information that they had shared several times with other MCC churches. There were many churches from all over the US and Canada there. It was an amazing thing to watch the Spirit work in all those church teams and feel the energy and passion in the room rise and expand. The same was true for your team as we spoke of the hard task of asking for time, talent and treasure, and looked for ways to make it a spiritual practice or, at the very least, a growing opportunity for all of us. At this point, we began to study together what we thought it would look like if Open Circle more fully lived into and expanded what we call “a culture of generosity”. And, before, or at least just slightly after, you start thinking that the pastor has gone to meddlin’ and talkin’ about money again, let me try to assure you that this is not the case. So, the Team decided that this Fall was the time we wanted to talk about and live into a culture of generosity—a radical life-change before God. But, where to start? What does such a culture look like and how shall we encourage everyone at Open Circle to try on whatever part of that culture feels comfortable and safe. So, today, I want to talk a little bit about what a growing into a more intentionally developed culture of generosity might look like. This is not to say that we, as a people, are not already generous with our time, talent, and treasure; but, we have much to learn about how this generosity, already planted among us, can grow, and flourish, and blossom into a culture and place where God’s incredible extravagant generosity can be felt and shared every moment of every day. So, I began to think about the things that have nothing to do with money first. I don’t know about you, but that is where I am most comfortable and where I feel that I can explore and expand what I already know. I know that ever since I turned, oh, about 50, I have been thinking about my legacy. What do I want to leave in this world? Since it unlikely that I will come into great wealth before the end of my journey, I want to focus on the other wealth that I have to give away here, at Open Circle, and in the wider world. Nelson Henderson once said this, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit”. Think about that for just a moment. A culture of generosity will cause us to think about our intentionality. In other words, what is it that we are intending to do? If we are not actively thinking about our intentionality, we tend to slip into old ways, or ways that don’t generate excitement or gratitude, or ways that simply don’t enable us as people and as a community to grow. Borrowing a little here and there from an article on Generous Leadership by Bruna Martinuzzi, I want to make some suggestions of attributes or characteristics of a culture of generosity that we can contemplate at the beginning of our study. First, we can, as a people, make sure that all who are already here and every single person who walks through our doors feels important—important to us and important to God. We can be more deliberate in our thanksgivings for the valuable work that each of us does in this place. And we can be more purposeful in recognizing the efforts that our visitors made to spend their Sunday morning with us in this place. Secondly, we can work to see the positive in everyone, by honoring the other person, even at a time when we may need to disagree or work for a change of heart. In the third place, we can give people visibility by encouraging everyone to find a place of ministry in this community. And, when you and they do, we can recognize well and often the callings and ministries of each and every child of God in this place. We can understand and practice forgiveness. Martin Luther King said that "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind." A generous person carries no resentments. A generous church harbors no negative memories of previous hurts or altercations. What if we could learn to face each challenge on its own merits and let the past truly not just be past but fade into the oblivion provided by God’s grace for just such a moment as this. Living into a culture of generosity will cause each of us to answer two very important questions: “Who do you need to forgive? What do you need to let go?” In the fifth place, we can offer encouragement and support freely—even before the request is received. When you consider that some of us sitting here have never really received encouragement in our lives—a word of encouragement takes on incredible value. The sixth attribute of a generous culture is that it gives everyone a chance—a chance to serve or not and a chance to make mistakes. So what if you don’t quite know what to do the first time you try something out. The importance comes from the trying on, not the ability to be perfect. In the seventh place, people who live in a generous culture share what they know with others. They share their expertise and their experience—all for free with no strings attached—just for the sheer joy of watching someone else learn a new skill. And, in the end, it is up to us to determine whether or not we will become a truly generous people. It takes work and it takes practice. But Jesus calls us to such practice— “Generosity begets generosity”. Walt Whitman must have borrowed from Jesus when he said, “Giving is like building a muscle. It requires practice and persistence…” And, finally, a generous culture inspires people to be present to each other—in pain or sorrow or in celebration and joy. There is an African village where the greeting words for 'good morning' or 'hello' are: "I am here if you are here." Imagine the gift we give others when we are fully present with them – when we truly see them. And so, present to each other, we live as receivers of God’s incredible extravagant generosity and freely give way to God’s generosity as it flows through us again, and again. Amen and amen

Don't Lose a Minute 9-23-12

The Reading— 2 Peter 1:5-9 So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. THE OTHER READING— from The Way of Perfection by Teresa of Avila Let us imagine that within us is an extremely rich place, built entirely of gold and precious stones…within us lies something incomparably more precsious than what we see outside ourselves. Let’s not imagine that we are hollow inside. A prayer by Mary Ruth Broz, A Religious Sister of Mercy: O Spirit of Life, You call us to be more than we can ask or even imagine. Help us to uncover the rich inner life that is ours. Surprise us with hidden treasures we never knew we had. Give us the courage to uncover a mystic and prophet within ourselves. And show us the way to bring their wisdom with us as we struggle to leave this world a better place. The Gospel Reading: John 17: 18-23 Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes so they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission. I’m praying not only for them but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind— Just as you, my Creator, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they’ll be as unified and together as we are—I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me. Don’t Lose A Minute 9-23-12 God, we turn to You in troubled times and when others ask us to pray for them. Teach us to pray continually that we might learn more of You and grow into the people You intend us to be. God, turn our hearts toward You in the words that I speak and the reflections that we share together. Amen How many of you remember being measured as you grew up by marks or notches in some door. Now I was always excited to see where my next mark would be. I was, as you can clearly see, often disappointed, but, nevertheless, I would wait with excited anticipation to see if I had indeed grown any since the last 6 month measurement. Our passage from the apostle Peter today, gives us a list of the elements of spiritual growth and we could easily draw up a measurement stick using these qualities instead of numbers. Seems that Peter is pretty clear about the elements of spiritual growth that he believes should be on every Christian’s measuring stick. Our contemporary translation gives us some very good meanings of each of these elements. First, Peter lists “good character” which others have described as virtue or having spiritual energy. Second on the list is spiritual understanding with knowledge in scripture and spiritual practices. Third, we find a call to alert discipline closely linked to self-control. In the fourth place, Peter lists passionate patience or steadfastness, faithfulness, and consistency. The fifth element is reverent wonder, Godliness, or worshipping well. Peter’s last two elements are closely connected, warm friendliness or the desire to be a blessing to others, and, finally, generous love—a love for serving Christ and others without self-regard. I don’t know about you, but this would take me a lifetime or two to be able to mark a notch for all six of those characteristics of spiritual maturity. Fortunately, Peter is not writing to us as completely mature followers of Christ. He says that if we are actively cultivating these characteristics, we will mature and complement what Peter calls our “basic faith” with the more mature, but desirable attributes that he names for us. The urgency of the journey is evident—“Don’t lose a minute”. Begin immediately on the building and maturing process. This increasing maturing is the way we grow in our experience of God’s forgiveness and grace. Urgency, though, does not necessarily mean that we rush out and tackle all these growth areas at once. Now I love the Peanuts gang. I must admit that I used to picture myself in the Lucy character—always with a quick comeback, dispensing wisdom and knowledge from behind a counter for a very small charge. The longer I am in the ministry, the more I see myself as Linus, perhaps, or even PigPen. Snoopy’s wonderfully creative imagination has always played just a little part in my alter ego. Anyway, there is a Peanuts story that fits here. Charlie Brown is at bat. STRIKE THREE. He has struck out again and slumps over to the bench. "Rats! I’ll never be a big-league player. I just don’t have it! All my life I’ve dreamed of playing in the big leagues, but I know I’ll never make it." Lucy turns to console him. "Charlie Brown, you’re thinking too far ahead. What you need to do is set yourself more immediate goals." He looks up. "Immediate goals?" Lucy says, "Yes. Start with this next inning when you go out to pitch. See if you can walk out on the mound without falling down!" Every time I walk up here and stand in front of you, I feel just a little like Charlie Brown trying so hard to just get to the mound without falling down. What would Lucy’s advice be to us, right here, right now? With just a glance back to Peter (no that’s not a cartoon character, I mean Peter, the apostle), we will notice that he is not advocating that we focus on only one attribute at a time. He is clear that “each dimension” fits into and develops the others. So what if we merely started with a vision of loving one another and loving this particular expression of Christ’s body? We have talked much about worship in the last 5 weeks. It would seem that if our focus during worship is to bring glory to God and share the love of Christ for us all, will not love for each other and for this church not be a natural outgrowth of our worship? I rarely take illustrations from the business world, but this one seems to fit the odd and particular place in growth in which we find ourselves. It seems that we may be able to learn something from Domino’s Pizza. Thomas Monaghan was founder, president, and chief executive officer of Domino’s Pizza, Inc. From 1970 to 1985, Domino’s grew from a small debt-ridden chain to the second largest pizza company in America. When asked to account for the phenomenal growth of the company, Monaghan explained, "I programmed everything for growth." And how did he plan for growth? "Every day we develop people-the key to growth is developing people." Not special cheese, not a tasty crust, not fast delivery schedules, but people! Dominos has the slogan, "Our most important ingredient is our people!" Taken completely out of context, we might answer a similar question the same way. How do we account for the phenomenal growth of Open Circle in it first 18 months as a fully affiliated MCC church? Our answer must be the same as Mr. Monaghan’s—it is the people—only this time it is the people allowing God’s Spirit to work through them and in them that makes Open Circle what it is and is becoming today. It isn’t fancy robes or the liturgy or even the choir—it’s the people involved in all of those things. Of course, the other side of this is that we really are people and as truly alive human beings living our lives in the context of this community we sometimes run into events and circumstances that we do not like and do not want to embrace. And that is where our true maturity is either present or it is noticeably absent. Let me ask you a question and I hope you will think about it before you answer it for yourself. Why do you come to church? One of you sent me an email this past week and I couldn’t believe how perfectly it fit into our discussion today. A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" Here at Open Circle, we acknowledge that we are real, sometimes tired, cranky and suffering human beings. Things don’t always go the way we want them to. But what sets us apart from many churches that I have attended is that we are real with each other. Real with our support, real with our challenges and real with our love. We may disagree, we may even fight every once in a while, but our relationships, established and nourished in God’s love, will always emerge stronger giving us more inspired to walk beside each other no matter what. Now, of course, it is the “no matter what” that sometimes gets the better of us. But I trust that no matter who it is who is experiencing some of life’s ups and downs, from the newest member, to the oldest to your pastor herself, that we will recall the spiritual maturity that we are called to again and again by the Gospel writers, the apostles, and Jesus himself. For those who have difficulty traversing this sometimes bumpy terrain we call Christian community, this can be a challenge, but Peter is clear when he says, “Don’t lose a minute, be about your own Christian maturing and utilize it to help bring others to a better understanding of this call that we are following to ‘share the unconditional love of God and, to call us, through the grace of Jesus Christ, to ministry by all for all.’ A little paraphrasing goes a long way, but keeps us focused on our mission and call. You may, along the way—make that, you will—along the way run into people who simply cannot grasp the notion of loving and forgiving, forgiving and supporting and loving again. This is what you must do, invite them into this warm and loving circle and provide them with the context in which to place their misunderstandings, disappointments, and confusion. Most of all, be true to what you have experienced here and welcome, again and again if need be, those who have not yet discovered that which we hold so precious in our fellowship and care for each other. Perfect, no—growing, oh, my, yes. And we find comfort in the words of Jesus Himself. Jesus is praying for us! Can you hear him? Calling us to be united in Him—shining forth with the possibility that people can experience this union with God through their unity with Christ Jesus. Jesus calls us to understand that this oneness is for only one reason: to give the world evidence that is behind all this loving—both for each other and for God. Let us be about the process of maturing in Christ in worship and in other activities where we come together as God’s children. Let us stand together, united in the knowledge that God loves us, that Jesus shows us new ways to live, and that the world is dying for the unconditional love of God. Don’t lose a minute. Stand with us and allow the Holy Spirit to use you and fill you as you are used. And, we say, yes, Lord, yes. Amen and amen Yes, Lord, Yes

Word to Build a Life on 9-16-12

The Reading— Romans 14: 1, 13-14, 22-23 Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it. Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong. The Other Reading—sayings by Dr. Seuss • “My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond 'Z' and start poking around!” • “If things start happening, don't worry, don't stew, just go right along and you'll start happening too.” • “Don't give up. I believe in you all. A person's a person no matter how small.” • “And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.” • “So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act.” • “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!” The Gospel Reading: Luke 6: 47-49 These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on. “If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.” Words to Build a Life on 9-16-12 God, we know that you call us to see the holy in the everyday things—the things that are so close to us we sometimes trip over them without seeing them. Help us to build our lives on the foundation of your love and grace. Teach us to listen. May the words that I speak and the reflections of all our hearts reflect the holy in this hour. Amen Today our reflections about worship ask us to take a closer look at ourselves as individuals, in all our shared and separate pasts, our hopes and dreams for the future, and our gifts and blessings which call us to different and differing kinds of worship experiences. Not necessarily different kinds of worship, but certainly, different kinds of worship experiences. And so, here we are, joined in our circle of a faith community all trying to reach out for those things that touch us and call us to the divine wholeness that lies at the core of each of our beings, WHILE simultaneously trying to love each other and call each other into shared worship in a community of radical welcome! WOW! That’s some heady stuff—I want to try to unpack it for us as we go along to day. And, along the way—don’t forget about last week’s porcupines! Some of our quills left over from last week are stated in the negative—this is NOT what I want or don’t think I’m going to do this. And some we can state in the positive—this is what I want or need or think would be a good idea for worship—but they are all quills just the same and we sometimes chafe against the prick of those quills no matter what they look like. Now, lest you think your pastor went away for the week, and lost her mind completely, I want to explain why Dr. Seuss found his way into our sacred readings for today. Thanks, Jamie, for answering the call to read today even after you discovered you were going to read from Dr. Seuss. You did great! Some of you may remember that my mother was an elementary school librarian for over 40 years. She instilled in me a great love for the written word. Strangely enough, I did not much care for Dr. Seuss as a child—I thought his books were quite silly and, because I was a literature snob, they seemed just a little below me. As an adult, reading those same books to my own child, I came to appreciate the great wisdom in his writings. His commitment to the good in all of us must surely seep just a little into the minds of little children reading such lines as the ones we heard today. I’d like to think he played a role in my spiritual development even if I did not appreciate him the first time around. Most of all, he calls us to think and act and be beyond how we currently describe ourselves, our abilities, and who we think we are. Of all his sayings that I chose for today, the one that most calls to me today is “Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!” And here we are today, thinking about what worship means to us as individuals, all sitting together in this place. I have challenged myself and challenge all of you, to try thinking of some things you may never have thought of before. But as we think and answer the questions of why worship, why here, why now and what do I really need and want to find a way to return to or discover for the first time that sense of divine wholeness. I want to speak just briefly of our Gospel Lesson here. Jesus is telling a story and we, in Florida, should be pretty familiar with the elements in the story. It’s a simple story: two people build a house. One of them takes time, hires an engineer, figures out the best way to anchor his house deep into the ground. Why? Because he has seen the pictures of houses blown away by fierce hurricane winds. The second person is much more interested in the outside of the house. She consults with decorators and orders the fanciest of outdoor décor to set her house apart from all the rest. You know how this story ends—the hurricane comes and all that is left of the second house is a pile of fluff and frill in the midst of empty space where the house once stood. Worship is not so different. When we take time to make sure that our worship is anchored deep into the sacred by knowing the scriptures that enable and enhance our learning of God, and the prayers, praise, and common bond that calls and holds us together as a community of faith, we are well on our way to a corporate worship that makes possible the appreciation of individual elements about which we may differ in preference and style. Just as we do not all learn the same, we do not all experience the sacred in the same ways. But the foundation of worship finds itself embraced by that which calls people to experience the holy. This is far different from entertainment or motivational speaking. We have but one purpose for worship and that is to align our thoughts, our hearts, our desires, and our minds with the sacred place of wholeness in our very selves. Hear what Quaker mystic Thomas Kelly says about this phenomenon: 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 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. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Light Within which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the face of [humankind]. It is a seed stirring to life if we do not choke it. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. My response is this: What, then, does it require of us to enable as many as possible of you to enter this holy place, this place where, if we do not choke it, will stir itself to life. Now, this may sound a little “out there” to some of you, perhaps, even a little frightening. But, just for a moment, I want you to pretend that you are alone in this room. Would everyone please close your eyes so that you block out your neighbors visually. Now that you are alone with your thoughts and your heart, I want to ask you just three questions: First, when was the last time I truly felt the presence of God, the Divine Light in my spirit? Where was I and what did I experience? It may have been here at Open Circle, and it may have been some place else. Don’t limit your answer. Some of you may have a difficult time with this question—that’s ok, if you cannot think of an actual time, try to imagine what this might feel like. PAUSE Second, is the experience of the Sacred Presence something I value in my life? Do I long for that sense of connection? Have I perhaps shut myself off from that experience, having tried before and been dissatisfied with the result? What are the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that might be limiting my natural ability to enter into that sacred time and space? Are there elements of worship missing for me? PAUSE As I suggested earlier the purpose of worship is to align our thoughts, our hearts, our desires, and our minds with the sacred place of wholeness in our very selves. With one more brief moment with eyes closed, think on this question: what can I do to transform the worship at Open Circle from one where there are sparks of divine grace and where there are moments of Shekinah glory to a worship that invites us all of us in as many ways as possible to enter a place where we are fed when we don’t even know we are hungry and where our hearts are joined together in common purpose however that may emerge from each of us as individuals. PAUSE Feel free to open your eyes if you have not done so already. This sacred place of wholeness, comes directly from God’s unconditional love and radical welcome. I am not speaking of new things here. I am asking us to think deeply and clearly about what worship could be in this embodiment of the Body of Christ. Worship is sacred, but it is not concrete—it can flow and change and try on new things. Paul tells us quite clearly to stop trying to decide what is right for others and to cultivate our own relationship with God. This is what I have called us to this morning—the willingness to share with each other, with me, with Bill, with Elaine and others who have leadership in the worship—to share your thoughts from your divine place of centered relationship with God. Our shared investment in drawing each other to that Holy Place of God calls us to honesty and willingness to change. And, for many of us, change is hard and rather frightening. We remember those quills—they have a way of reminding us they are still here. A line of advice from our good Dr. Seuss might be in order: “So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act.” God welcomes us to this great balancing act we call community; and as we are called we say together: Amen and amen.

Hundreds of Ways 9-9-12

The Reading— Ephesians 5: 18a-20

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Special Reading--Rumi

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.


The Gospel Reading: John 4: 23-24

"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Creator is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before God in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship God must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
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A Hundred Ways 9-9-12
O God, our God, we are so different from each other and, yet, here we are—gathered together as your people—hearing, singing, breathing into your holy presence. Help us learn to love each other with the same love as you love us. May I speak your truth and may our hearts be turned to you. Amen

We’re in a sort of informal series of sermons surrounding the topic of worship. How often we say that we are going to worship and we usually mean that we are coming to a place such as this or this place at a particular time each week. We may give a great deal of thought to what we expect and even need; or it may be an action that we take because it makes us feel good, gives us a place to gather with God’s people; or, for some of us, it is the lifeline which keeps our heads above water for the week to come. There are many, many reasons we come to worship and, while we may sometimes examine our hearts and minds regarding worship, it is a conversation that we—as a church—must encounter and explore with each other.
Last week we talked about the ‘what’ of worship. We talked of longing for holy ground and the availability of the ‘holy’ at all times, but, particularly during this hour we call worship. We are called here—I truly believe that. I do not see any reason for any of you to get up on Sunday and come to this place unless you are called. Now, it may not be an audible call, but the call is there—everything from a quiet little tug at your heart to the cries of a deeply wounded person looking for a place of healing and rest. And, just as there are many reasons for coming, there are many more expectations, hopes, and desires all placed upon this one hour of the week. Here’s the rub—all those expectations, hopes, and desires can come crashing into one another and cause us to slide a little backwards on this holy ground upon which we stand.
One of you sent me an email this week so I can’t take credit for this story; but it fits right in to today’s study of who we all are in worship, in the beauty of difference,. I am always amazed at the simple ways God’s Spirit shows me where we are all headed together. You may have received this same email—listen to it with new ears. It seems that it was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, thought they had a good idea. They decided to group together to keep warm. This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions. After awhile, they decided that the pain was too intense so they decided to distance themselves one from the other to keep from hurting each other and getting hurt. They began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.
Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive. This story finishes with this simple truth—the best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities. And, as much as I would like to deny it, we all have quills. Some of us have quills of pain and grief. Some of us have grown quills in the scars of past hurts. Some of us have quills of defensiveness born of a deep fear that we are simply not good enough to be here in this place with these people. Some have quills of sadness, or bigotry, or fear, or hate birthed long ago by some imagined or real offence. But they are quills nevertheless and we will hurt each other along the way when we gather close together to pray or study, sing or share our stories. And some will ask “Why?”—why get that close when one risks the painful prick of disagreement or misunderstanding. Because, my friends—the alternative is a kind of spiritual death born of isolation and loneliness.
Our reading from Rumi is one of my favorites. In its truth, perhaps, lies the secret to what we try to follow in our worship planning—“there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” You see, in MCC, we talk a lot about honoring diversity and facilitating an environment where everyone can feel and experience God’s radical welcome. And, we say, “Come, just as you are”. But, this is a lot harder than it looks or sounds. Why? Because it is really, really hard to set our own prejudices and preferences aside long enough to celebrate those expressions of authentic faith by someone who doesn’t know and may not care about our preciously held traditions and habits. The brief passage from Ephesians 5, if we really read it for understanding, should open the door to wonderful conversations about what worship looks like. But here’s the amazing thing—Paul never really describes what liturgy the church should use, how to evaluate the theological significance of our hymns and songs, nor whether the preacher should preach from notes, a manuscript, or walk around speaking, as some would say, as the Spirit leads. In other passages Paul insists on order in worship to honor God’s Spirit which is not a spirit of confusion. Within the parameters of order, however, Paul here gives us all complete permission to worship “from our own hearts to God’s” with little to no explanation of what that actually looks like.
In our Gospel lesson, from the Gospel of John, Jesus makes it clear that who we are and how we live out our lives is what matters to God. Your worship, says Jesus, must speak to your Spirit who leads your heart in the pursuit of God’s holy truth. God wants people to be “simply and honestly themselves” in their worship. Because God is being itself—that is—Spirit, we must worship from the core of our being, our spirits, who, since they are our true selves, will lead us in adoration of God. We will worship, as Jesus says, “in Spirit and in Truth”. When our worship is true worship, authentically connected to the core of our beings, we will be drawn to the Divine Holy—to God, who embodies the very meaning of diversity in a Sacred Trinity, made up of three persons, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. True worship will result in a sacred fire in our hearts, fueled by the direct interchange of God’s Spirit to ours and ours to God, and will lead us to action and response. In other words, within the context of authentic worship, our hearts will be ablaze with the desire to share with others the wonders of simple honesty before the God who made us.
Now, I would like to suggest that being “simply and honestly ourselves” in worship is a bit of a puzzle for some of us. We are called to engage with God on a spiritual level—and so our worship must touch us in our innermost places, our spirits as well as our bodies and minds. How does this get us back to porcupines and the quills that stick and sting others along the way? Quite simply, it calls us to allow our own preconceived ideas regarding the nature of worship to be pricked by the needs, wants and preferences of others. It says to us that living together and loving together is more important than any single decision about form or style of worship. It says that staying warm—sharing the Very Good News that God loves us and accepts us right where we are—is more important than a prick now or then, when we might struggle to find meaning in a particular moment in worship.
Rev. Elder Lillie Brock says this about styles of worship in MCC churches—and I am paraphrasing: “there will always be elements of the service that not everyone finds meaningful or worshipful. That is the time to remember that what fails to set your heart on fire is igniting the heart of the person sitting next to you.” And so, we sing and celebrate with each other, welcoming the new and traditional, young and older, and rejoicing in the fact that together we open ourselves and each other to the light of the Gospel made plain in the diversity of the Triune God in whom we move and live and have our being. Amen and Amen

The Center of our Lives 9-2-12

The Reading— Ezekiel 37 (Portions)

God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. God led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.
God said to me, "Ezekiel, can these bones live?" I said, "Creator God, only you know that." God said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'" God, the Creator, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"
I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them. God said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, God’s Child. Tell the breath, 'God, the Creator, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!'" So I prophesied, just as God commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! …
"When your people ask you, 'Are you going to tell us what you're doing?' tell them, 'God, the Creator, says, Watch me! I'll take the Joseph stick that is in Ephraim's hand, with the tribes of Israel connected with him, and lay the Judah stick on it. I'll make them into one stick. I'm holding one stick.' …They'll be my people! I'll be their God! My servant David will be king over them. They'll all be under one shepherd.
"'They'll follow my laws and keep my statutes. They'll live in the same land I gave my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren will live there forever, and my servant David will be their prince forever. I'll make a covenant of peace with them that will hold everything together, an everlasting covenant. I'll make them secure and place my holy place of worship at the center of their lives forever. I'll live right there with them. I'll be their God! They'll be my people! "'The nations will realize that I, God, make Israel holy when my holy place of worship is established at the center of their lives forever.'"

The Gospel Reading: Luke 7: 11-17

Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman's only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, "Don't cry." Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you: Get up." The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.
They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!" The news of Jesus spread all through the country.


The Center of Our Lives 9-2-12
Eternal and holy God, bring us to that place of holy mystery—that time of knowing without a doubt that your Holy Spirit is in complete control. Lead us in your way everlasting and bless us with your truth. Amen

Noreen, you, did a great job bringing those bones to life as you read the passage from Ezekiel. The older I get, the more fascinated I am by this story—how God reaches out and makes these old, bleached out bones come to life. Now I will admit that I almost asked the choir to sing “Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones”, but thought better of it. Our Gospel passage brings us another moment of absolute worship and I thought about calling the sermon “Quietly worshipful and noisily grateful” but, that sounded a little too much like the title of a recent movie. Both passages, though, have much to tell us about worship—the nature of worship, why we worship, and how we are to worship.
Look at what happened. Right from the start God is in control. Ezekiel tells his story: “God grabbed me”. There was no gentle nudging of God’s Spirit, no still small voice, no, God grabbed me. The Spirit of God carried me somehow to the middle of an open plain where everywhere I looked there were bones. And there were lots and lots of bones, all dried out and bleached by the sun. It was a pretty incredible sight. I got lost in looking at those bones and forgot all about God for a moment.
Out of the blue, God says to me: “Can these bones come to life?” Now, I’m wondering just exactly what the right answer to this question is. Seems pretty obvious, but this is God I’m talking to, so, perhaps, I should rein it in a little and not say what I’m thinking. “Creator, God” I say, “you are the only one who can know the answer to your question”. God says, “Prophesy over these bones!” What, they’re just bones and ugly bones at that. God, then speaks directly to the bones: '”Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!" God, the Creator, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"
So I, Ezekiel, began to prophesy just as God commanded. Saying words that were directly from God’s Spirit, I let go and told those old bones all I knew about this God who created them and who could bring them back to life. Suddenly, there was a rustling sound. I looked, in unbelief, as those old bones began to move and come together just as they were supposed to—leg bones to hip bones and wrist bones to arm bones. And then, the muscles that hold the bones together began to form, followed by the skin. They looked like people, but they were still—they had no breath in them.
God said to me, “Prophesy to the breath—prophesy, you are my child, you can do it. Tell the winds to come from every direction and breathe life into these bodies”. And so I did, again, letting the words spill out as the Spirit inspired me. And suddenly, “Winds blew, and the breath entered them and they were alive.
And then, God told them directly what this was all about. God was pulling together the separated tribes of Israel. God pulled those tribes together in a way just like those dry bones. God united them and reclaimed them, appointing David to be their King and shepherd. These reclaimed people will follow God’s laws and obey all the rules. They will live in the original land that was given to the Jewish people. And this will be for all time—so that their grandchildren and grandchildren’s grandchildren will live there as well. And David will be their prince forever. God said, “I'll make a covenant of peace with them that will hold everything together, an everlasting covenant. I'll make them secure and place my holy place of worship at the center of their lives forever. I'll live right there with them. I'll be their God! They'll be my people! The nations will realize that I, God, make Israel holy when my holy place of worship is established at the center of their lives forever."
Well, there is more to the story, but we’ll let Ezekiel go back to what he was doing before God grabbed him. What is important from this story is not seeing the bones dancing wildly around as real human beings after God brought them back to life, though that would have been quite a sight to see; we must come to grips with the fact that God intends for worship to be at the center of our lives. And that should stop most of us dead in our tracks. For most of us, the question “What is worship?” is not an easy question to answer. Is it praise? Is it teaching? Is it communion with God and others? And, just how is it like God making those old dry bones alive again?
Interestingly, people have been asking those questions for a while. So, I looked at the writings of a specific Anglican Bishop, named William Temple. He wrote and ‘bishoped’ in the first half of the Twentieth Century. He answers the question “what is the purpose of worship?” with five specific attributes.
First, the purpose of worship is “to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God”. I want us to take another look at our Gospel lesson. Jesus and his disciples are walking to a village. They have quite a large entourage following them. They came upon a funeral procession. Jesus soon learned that the deceased was the only son of a widow. She could not be consoled. Luke records that when Jesus saw her and understood her circumstance, his heart broke for her. He then stopped the procession and quickly, with no fanfare, healed the young man. Let’s not lose sight of what happens next. Luke states this: “They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery; that God was at work among them.” Let’s sit with this for just a moment. Is God at work among us? If so, this place is a place of holy mystery. Now the people who witnessed the healing had three responses. First came quiet worship, then noisy gratitude, and then they spread the good news about Jesus. Perhaps this is a possible litmus test to determine if we, too, are experiencing the holy mystery of God at work among us? Let’s think about that in the coming weeks.
Second, Bishop Temple suggests that the nature of worship is “to feed the mind with the truth of God”. This calls us to listen to God’s word—spoken and sung and preached. We gather each week for a new understanding of God’s truth. For me, and I think for many of you, that truth is wrapped in God’s unconditional love and radical welcome into the Reign of Justice. Each week, our worship, if it is true worship will fills us with the sense of that truth—that we, and everyone on this earth, are acceptable to God exactly where and who we are. And so, our participation in worship is the visceral acting out of the Good News of the grace and forgiveness, the mercy and love of God, made known to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
In the third place, Bishop Temple invites us to experience worship as a place and time “to to purge the imagination with the beauty of God”. The beauty of God has different meanings and I will not try to give you a universal definition. The scriptures call us to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”. Each week our service includes a brief prayer called “Commitment to Worship”. I hope that you do not miss the intent of those prayers and that they have not become mere wallpaper for you. I invite you to engage your whole self in our beginning readings each week—they invite you to worship—to put off the things that leave you unable to be present in this moment. Each portion of our worship service has its own significance and is part of a whole experience of worship that takes us to a place of the possibility of the beauty of God. We, each, take responsibility for our real participation in this act of formal worship, just as you invest yourselves fully in the small or large experiences of worship throughout your week. God invites us each week to give ourselves over to divine beauty and grace.
The fourth purpose of worship for Bishop Temple is to give us a place where we are called “to give the heart to the love of God”. This is not mere poetry, this is a call to hand over our hearts and allow God to change them, to fill us with the love of God for each other and for ourselves. When we love God with our whole hearts, we are filled with love that transcends bitterness, or dissension, or difference. Worship is the place where we allow God, in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup, to enter and transform our hearts. This is why we slow ourselves as we enter into the time of communion at God’s table. If you do not already take advantage of the moments of reflection and prayer in the process of communion, I invite you to do so—to invite God to open your hearts anew.
Finally, Bishop Temple says that worship is the time that invites us “to devote the will to the purpose of God." We close every worship celebration with the singing of the prayer that Jesus taught to his disciples. “Thy will be done” we sing, “on earth as it is in heaven”. At this moment, if not in other moments, we, caught up in the love and beauty of worship, pledge ourselves to the will of God, to the coming of the Kingdom and to the ongoing experience of the beauty, majesty, and love of our Creator God. “For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever!” Amen and amen.

Now That You Know 8-26-12

The Reading— Philippians 2: 4-8
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
The Gospel Reading: John 13: 1-17
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to God. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that [God] had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.” “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, [servants] are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

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God, make us willing to become your servants. Teach us to love one another with a servant’s heart. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts bring you honor and glory. Amen

As many of you know, the Board and I with some other team leaders have just returned from a church size summit. It was an exciting 2 days—we learned much that we will want to share with you in the coming months and, although, I couldn’t have known it, today’s sermon somehow fits in with what we came away with.
Throughout the four Gospels, Peter gets a good bit of attention and not all of it good. But there are some interactions between Jesus and Peter, both in John’s Gospel and in others that might shed some light on Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ actions in this passage, the passage that will conclude our study of John this summer. Now, those of you who follow the liturgical calendar may find my choice of passages confusing. It is true that we most often study the practice of foot-washing on Maundy Thursday or some other time during Lent or Holy Week. I believe that if we limit the profound truth inherent in this passage, though, we miss a crucial message in the Good News itself.
Peter, according to most accounts, was one of the first 3 or 4 disciples chosen by Jesus. Peter is the only disciple whose name is changed by Jesus. The story in the first chapter of John goes like this: “Andrew, Simon’s [Peter's] brother, was one of the two who heard John's witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, "We've found the Messiah" (that is, "Christ"). He immediately led him to Jesus. Jesus took one look and said, "You're John's son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas" (or Peter, which means "Rock"). There is no real explanation of why Jesus changes Simon’s name to Peter, but since we know how the story ends, we can see that Jesus is laying the groundwork, or the foundation, for the community that would be left on this earth after he returned to God.
At one point, somewhat early in the ministry, things are really difficult for the disciples and for Jesus. Many were walking away at this point—finding it too difficult to follow Jesus’ radical break with tradition. Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: "Do you also want to leave?"
It is Peter who replied, "Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We've already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God."
Jesus responded, "Haven't I handpicked you, the Twelve?”
Peter, as one of the chosen disciples, would have been present during all of the miracles that are recorded in the Gospel of John and elsewhere. He would have heard all the teachings. He would have known that Jesus had declared himself to be the light of the world, the bread and water for spiritually hungry and thirsty people. Though John does not record it, we know through Matthew’s telling that Peter was the one disciple who trusted Jesus enough to attempt to come to him by walking on the water as Jesus was doing. Peter fails in his fear, but knows enough to call out to Jesus to save him.
Peter was with Jesus at the moment of his transfiguration atop the mountain. Peter, lovable risk-taking Peter, is jubilant at having witnessed this moment and in his excitement misses the spiritual meaning of the event as he is busy planning to build monuments to commemorate the moment.
While found in Matthew’s Gospel, though not in John’s, it is Peter whom Jesus declares to be the rock of his church. Peter is consecrated, right then and there, as the leader of Jesus’ followers after he departs.
And, so, close to the time of the end of Jesus’ ministry and time on earth, the Disciples and Jesus are gathered to celebrate Passover. One by one, Jesus is washing the feet of the Disciples. Now, in itself, the washing of feet would not have been uncommon in that time and place. People, if they had shoes at all, would have worn sandals. Roads were dirt, and people and animals shared the road which created a certain problem, if you know what I mean. It was common courtesy to wash the feet of your visitors. What was unusual and unsettling for the Disciples is the Who in the story. Cultural norms would have required that someone of servant or student status wash and dry the feet of those gathered there. In fact, it would have not only been a servant, it would have been the lowliest servant of the household who would have this inevitably dirty task. And, although this was a private gathering where there would have been no servants, what Jesus is doing is completely out of order. So Peter would have been extremely confused as he watched Jesus take on this role.
Put yourself in the role of Peter and the other disciples. What in the world was Jesus doing now? Surely, he knew that this task was far beneath him. He was their teacher, they his students. What he is doing is very unteacherlike. They wait for an explanation as one by one they submit to this process. All of a sudden, it is Peter’s turn. All the other disciples appear to be shocked into mute acceptance of Jesus’ actions. But not Peter, when Jesus bends down to wash Peter’s feet, Peter exclaims, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" Jesus simply says, “You cannot understand what I am doing now, but later you will”. Later was not satisfying impetuous Peter. He protested that Jesus should not undertake this lowly, dirty job. “You’re not washing my feet.” Jesus, with love and calmness replies, “If I don’t wash your feet, then you will have no part in me.” So, Peter, in a jump of attitude that would shock anyone, says, “Then not just my feet, wash all of me.” Jesus replies, “because you have already bathed, you need only have your feet washed and you will be clean.” Now, with the wonder of hindsight, we know that Jesus is speaking completely in spiritual metaphors. But these metaphors caused great confusion among the disciples. Without the insight of the Holy Spirit, the disciples could not understand everything until later. Jesus asks them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as 'Teacher' and I appreciate that because I am your Teacher. Since I, your Teacher have washed your feet, you must now be willing to wash each others’ feet. This is an example of how you are to treat each other. A servant is not ranked above the master; and vice versa”. And then, the requisite and expected call to action from Jesus: “If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life”.
Now there is both relief and burden in knowing how the story ends. The relief part is obvious. Jesus is Lord and rises again in defeat of death and evil. But the burden is real. It is painfully clear what Jesus is suggesting. With no regard to status or title, we are to take on the tasks that usually belong to the outcast or bottom of the barrel folks and do these tasks joyfully for each other. No one who follows Christ is to set themselves above any other human being or group of human beings. God blesses those whose commitment to others leads them to countless ways of serving as conduits for divine love and grace.
Many churches believe that Jesus’ actions on that night are to be followed in actual rituals. In other words, we should literally wash each others’ feet in a service set aside for that purpose. You’ve got to know by now, that I do not agree with that interpretation. I am not saying that ritual foot-washing cannot be meaningful for we are people with real bodies and we think in physical, corporeal ways. Nevertheless, if we confine foot-washing to a once a year event, we lose the broader meaning behind the action; and, we have missed the significance of what Jesus is saying in this passage. The disciples were familiar with the act of foot-washing and the need for it; but Jesus turned their actual experience of foot-washing upside down and told them to follow his example. Jesus is calling us to understand the heart of his servanthood. Not only would he lay down his life, soon after this occurrence, he also wanted his followers to understand the truest, purest form of his message—service and obedience to God which shows itself through service to and love for others. Serving others in this way does not limit our giving, nor does it promise any rewards.
Though rarely followed, Jesus is here revealing a living out of the spiritual life, through the gift of grace, that insures that no one is left behind or left out. How do I know that we—that is we humans, everywhere—are not following this kind of spiritual life?—because there are left out and left behind people at every turn in our lives. So, IF we are to follow Christ and live out Christ’s spirituality of servanthood, we have some serious questions to ask ourselves. Will we as individuals and as a church consciously choose and intentionally live out a life of outgoing, humble service toward others, or will we be content to live out our lives satisfied with the joy of worship and pleasure of fellowship in our lives?
In the last image of Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John there is a conversation between Jesus and Peter. It is the third time that John records Jesus’ appearance after the resurrection; they are again at a meal. After they dine, Jesus says to Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter assures him that he does and Jesus says, “Feed my lambs”. Jesus asks again, “Do you love me?” Again Peter assures him that this is so. “Feed my sheep”, responds Jesus. One last time, Jesus asks, “Do you love me?” Peter, wondering where Jesus is going with this, says, “Jesus you know all things, so you know that I love you”. One last time, Jesus responds, “Feed my sheep”. And this we know for sure, if we love him, we will feed his sheep. And Jesus says, “follow me”. Amen and amen.