What Do We Do while the Bread Rises 1-19-14

God, it’s an exciting time here and now in Open Circle.  Show us how to be as excited about us as you are.  Lead us in the ways of love so that we may draw others to the blessings of knowing they are loved and cherished.  We look to you for healing, wholeness and truth.  Amen

I woke up this morning thinking of my grandmother’s cinnamon rolls.  All the thinking of yeast and bread this week had led me right back to one of my favorite tastes in the whole world.  I watched my grandmother preside over this 4-6 hour process and in the end, I would be rewarded with warm, soft, sticky yeast rolls.  On some days, it seemed that was the longest four hours in the world.  I can remember wanting to watch as the dough would rise in the big blue crock with the checkered dish towel laid on top.  My grandmother would always send me off to do some small chore or to go to the mailbox and check and see if the mail was there.  Just like a watched pot never boiling, presumably, watched dough never rises either, or so it seemed. 

This is one of Jesus’ shortest stories ever, but full of meaning, particularly for us at this point in our Capital Campaign.  Back when I was helping my grandmother make cinnamon rolls, the world was a very different place.  And not just in rural Indiana; but, in many places.  Everybody I associated with spent at least a part of their Sunday at church.  All over town, parking lots would be full as “the faithful”  participated in Sunday School and Worship in their mostly inherited traditions.  We dressed up for church—hence, the colloquialism—“Sunday Best”.  My female friends, do you remember crinolines that we wore under our skirts so they would poof out just perfectly.  How in the world did we sit in those things—been too long ago for me to remember.  Our shoes were shined and little boys often had smart three-piece junior suits to wear.  There wasn’t a lot to do on Sundays.  Stores weren’t open in most of the smaller towns and football didn’t yet rule the world—so Sunday pretty much belonged to God. 

We don’t live in that kind of world anymore.  Well, duh, you might be saying.  Here’s the problem—many of us, while realizing that the world we live in has changed, aren’t ready yet to see that the “church”, if it is to be meaningful to the world, must change as well.  In earlier times many churches had what they called an “open door” approach to spreading the word about their churches and the goodness of God.  That consisted mostly of opening the door and ‘viola’ there were the people.  If we merely open our doors, we are likely to see nothing but the cows across the road.  So, what meaning does Jesus’ two line parable have for us in the reality that we face?

Here’s that reality.  In a recent poll, it was discovered that many people who consider themselves to be “good Christians” go to church about once every six weeks.  A majority of people, as high as 66%, now consider themselves to have no active faith affiliation.  Sunday is not a sacred day any more.   Everything is open on Sunday.  There is one, count them, one chain fast food place that closes on Sunday.  Stores are open, and no one thinks twice about scheduling all kinds of things during the Sunday morning traditional worship hour.  If we had more children in our midst this would be made painfully obvious.  Coaches think very little now about scheduling mandatory practices on Sunday.   Play rehearsals, study groups and all kinds of school-related activities happen on Sunday.   Weddings and funerals increasingly take place outside of church facilities which means that more and more people don’t even go inside churches anymore.   People often do not see the need to “give up” their Sundays to participate in an institution that seemingly has less and less to do with their day-to-day lives. 

As a church, we must ask ourselves if we believe that the church, particularly this church, has anything to offer those not yet attending.  This is an important question and should be influencing what we do while the bread is rising.  But we must be careful how we ask the question.  We usually, from our lofty position of being in church, refer to folks who don’t attend church as the ‘unchurched’.  Aha, we show our prejudice immediately.  We would gladly admit that we are Unfed only when we are hungry.  We are unclothed only when we are naked; and, we are unenlightened only when we seek enlightenment.  Since more and more of our friends and neighbors do not see the need for church, we can hardly call them “unchurched”.  In fact, percentage-wise, we are now the “un’s” although I haven’t quite figured out what goes with the ‘un’ yet.  Perhaps, un-changing, or un-fun people.

Now you know that I believe with all my heart that we have many things to offer these folks—many of whom do not state that they are missing anything.  I won’t presume, at this point to list what I think we have to offer—that is the subject for another sermon.  What I want you to hear today is that I believe we must change the way we ‘do’ church.  People, outside these walls, are more interested in how we ‘be’ church than how we do it.  Only inside the walls do we believe that we have the time and interest to debate the ‘how’ of doing church.  It would not even occur to most of the folks outside today on the golf course, at a mall, or sitting on their porches reading the Sunday paper, to even think about how we are worshipping or what words we are using.  That dialog is reserved for those of us already ‘in’ the circle.  When you look at it that way, it’s more than a little humbling. 

Jesus uses the simplest of examples to illustrate truth for us.  While we may not understand the process, most of us know that yeast is what causes bread to rise.  Unleavened bread is usually pretty flat because it doesn’t have those delightful pockets of air caused by the yeast to make it soft and light.  In fact, when the Israelites fled the evil Pharaoh, they left the yeast in Egypt by mistake.  And you have to have some yeast to have more yeast.  So, they ate unleavened bread which has become traditional in Passover and shows up in the communion wafers we use today.  But, it doesn’t take much yeast to make all the difference in the world. 

When you add yeast to bread dough and it gets all mixed in; and, you can’t really ever get it back out of the flour.  Jesus is saying to us that it doesn’t take much to begin to influence the bread.  Compared to the amount of flour one uses, the amount of yeast is very small indeed.  But had my grandmother forgotten to put the yeast in those cinnamon rolls, I would have been eating cinnamon flatbread.   This gives me a lot of hope.  We don’t have to have enough yeast to change the world all by ourselves.  We just have to have enough yeast to influence the loaves of bread we have been called to bake. 

What, then, is Jesus saying to us when he speaks about the Rule of God’s Justice—often called the Kingdom of God?  I believe that this teaching of Jesus calls us to the place of understanding that God often begins in very small ways.  But, once the yeast has been mixed in, it begins to cause the bread dough to rise far beyond the size of the original mixture.  I believe that while we wait for the bread to rise, while we watch it rising before our eyes we can meditate upon what it means for us personally and communally to be like yeast.  Re-thinking Church is re-thinking how God’s unconditional love as it is lived out here on this earth.  As a church, we must do two things:  one—we must begin more and more, to take the church into the world.  The world doesn’t need to hear about church—an institution which has failed in so many ways; they want to see us ‘be’ church.  Even with regard to Jesus:  they don’t want to hear about him; they want to see his teachings at work in their lives and in the life of the world. 

This is the time when the yeast of our hope and faithfulness is beginning to work in the rising of the bread.  This is the time we have to think of new ways of being church in a world that doesn’t want much of what we are offering.  This is the time to rethink all that we are as church.  You can be the yeast of change and power or you can be the flour dependent on another substance to enable you to rise.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be yeast.  I think most of you would.  Next week we’ll talk about how some of those changes—those transformations about how we ‘be’ church—influence our life here together as Open Circle.  This week, be the yeast.  Let what you give of yourself be empowered and enlarged by God’s own abundance.  Begin to be the change in the world and in the church you want to see.  Amen and amen.   

What Day Is It? 1-5-14

God of all of us, render our spirits soft so that we will become like sponges soaking up all the beauty and truth we can hold.  Teach us to show kindness to all who cross our paths.  Grant us spiritual mentors and leaders and hold us fast to the call to be all you birthed us to be.  Amen

         

Most of you, I’m sure have seen the insurance ad that features a camel walking through an office asking everyone “what day is it?”  Most try to ignore him, but, finally, one woman, in utter frustration says, “It’s hump day” and our camel does his famous “Woo hoo…!”  So when I got to thinking about the traditional camels which carry in the magi, astrologers or kings, I got sidetracked with our “Woo hoo” camel.  For some strange reason, completely out of keeping with my fairly low-key sense of humor, I love that commercial.  Many of you know that I occasionally preach sermons from the first person, but when I suggested to Lois this week that I might speak from the perspective of one of the camels, her look told me I probably would be wise to go back to the drawing board.   I love that look and it has kept me out of trouble more than once. 

It’s not entirely clear why we are so certain that these visitors even arrived on camels.  Mary and Joseph had ridden to Bethlehem on a donkey; so, we know that by placing these astrologers on camels, Matthew was setting them apart from the common folk like the earthly parents of the babe.  But kings—not likely—and there is no evidence found anywhere in the Bible that would suggest they were kings.  In fact, it appears that the notion that they were kings is only a few centuries old and is made most famous by the Christmas Carol we sang today.

          So, what day is it?  Today is Epiphany!  Day of light or dawning of insight!  Day when God’s light, just as the light of the star, shows us the way to in-breaking of God’s call to justice and peace on this earth.   As in so many stories in the gospels, this one asks an interesting question.  Why did only a very few people realize the truth of the star while the remainder went their own way, struggling through the ins and outs of daily life while the former’s lives were turned upside down.  One thing has always bothered me (well, many, but we’ll start with this one), if this star was anywhere near as big or spectacular as we are led to believe, why were there only 3 people on earth who figured out that the star or source of great light had some special meaning.  Now, I know they have been called Wise Ones throughout history, but, really, only three wise people?  And,  those folks had to come from the Far East wherever that might have been at the time. 

          What causes some people to see the star and jump to pack their bags, find gifts and take off following that star, looking for God?   Why is it that some people can see the bright life and be practically lifted out of their mundane earthly lives and go off in search of the truth, while others take a look outside and say, quite calmly, “Well, yes, that is quite a star, but I’ve seen it now, and my checkbook needs balancing”?  So, back they go to yesterday’s life, living in yesterday’s truths, figuring things out by what they knew yesterday.   I’ll tell you what day it is—it is the day we can decide to follow the leading to truth and beauty and take in what God is trying to show us—all of us, though there will be some who will want no part of these deeper truths that call us to spend time in introspection, prayer, and meditation as union with God becomes more and more important to us as we mature spiritually.

          There is a story told about the famous Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh,  who many years ago, was speaking in the United States to a group of religious leaders—some two or three hundred of them.  He started his speech by saying something like, “If we are ever going to have peace on this earth, we will need to be quiet,  go inside and listen to our hearts and to our bodies.”  He continued by saying, “And we are going to sit here in quiet until we can listen and hear.”  He closed his eyes and went into meditation.  Ten minutes went by.  He opened his eyes and saw that he and his host were the only people left in the room.  He turned to his host and quietly said, “We have a lot of work to do in the United States.” 

          This is what day it is—this is our Day of Epiphany when we encounter God’s light and embrace it, bringing it to shine on all aspects of our lives.  We make no judgment, no attempt to hide certain aspects of who we are.  Our epiphany is that we are who we are, not who we used to be, not who we want to be, not who we thought we would be.  We are who we are and God, who has journeyed with us thus far, is still there calling us deeper and deeper into truth and union.  I think, perhaps, that our biggest problem, is that we make it (whatever the “it”) is too hard.  We use our reason, our intellect, our experience and try to figure out what God is calling us to be or do or desire.  When we can allow ourselves to be simple folk; when we, like Thich Nhat Hanh are willing to sit quietly until we are one with God’s design for us and for the world, then we will begin to discover the true Gospel. 

We talk about “radical inclusivity” at Open Circle; and, I say to you, none of us, your pastor included, truly knows what that would look like here.  We are in the intellectual stage—we have committed to it, perhaps; but, for the most part, have not allowed God to breathe the breath of unlimited life into our hearts.  We are stuck, wanting to be unstuck perhaps, but fearing the transformation.  The Epiphany that I share with you today, is that we can only learn by allowing God to show us.  Now, the hardest thing for us to do is to get out of the way and allow God through the Universe to work out a plan in our lives and the life of this church.  That means no exceptions, nothing kept back, everything and everyone equally sacred and precious.  It means that we will not limit God by our abilities to understand, explain, or name.  It means that we will not insist on knowing how God works every time—that we will allow God to reach deep into our God-created hearts and stroke that which needs to be stroked into a fire of intense heat and passion—enough passion to save the world and the peoples and life-forms on it from extinction.  It means that we will spend less time trying to restate, categorize, or delineate the mystery that is God, and more time allowing God to infuse our spirits with a love so intense that we neither can nor have need to describe it.

          Paul, in our reading today, clearly identifies what the mystery is that is being revealed.  He says, “The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board”.  And how is this message to be spread?  He says, “Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known.”  This, then is our epiphany for today, that the message of God’s complete accessibility to everyone is spread by way of faith communities making plain the truth of God’s unconditional love.  I think it is time for us to stop using the phrase “God’s unconditional love” until we, like Thich Nhat Hahn, sit in the quiet until it is revealed to us the truth of its meaning for all of us.  Now, I don’t want to cause alarm, I’m not planning on stopping our service and sitting in silence though someday I may have the courage to do just that.

Nouwen’s definition of epiphany takes us further.  I’ll remind us of what he said.  “When Christian community provides sacred space and times for discernment, we will gradually be lifted up into God’s dwelling place and come to see ourselves, our neighbors, and our world in a new light.  This “seeing” does not require intellectual knowledge, articulated insight, or a concrete opinion.  No, it is a sharing in the knowledge of God’s heart, a deeper wisdom, a new way of living and loving.”

          So, what day is it?  Today is Epiphany and you have a choice to make.  Do you enter into the power of Epiphany and acknowledge and recognize God’s shining light in your spirit; or. do you take a brief look today and say, “wow, that’s nice” and then walk away.  My friends, the enlightening power of the Sacred Source of all that is invites you, like the Magi, to follow the Light and welcome the dawn of illumination.  Amen and Amen!

Gift after Gift after Gift 12-29-13

God, creator of us all, help us in the afterglow of Christmas see that our work for justice has only begun.  Fill us with the joy of the angels and energize us to seek new ways of being, and new ways of doing your work.  Allow us to hear your sweet call to peace and give us courage to utter the sacred “yes”.  Amen

What a whirlwind the last few days have been.  Services, parties, traveling, it’s hard to remember what day it is or which holiday we’re celebrating this week.  I’m not sure when it all became so complicated.  This is the week when I want to slow everything down and replay Christmas and enjoy it free from the actual stress of doing it.  The Church Calendar obviously agrees with me—this being the First Sunday after Christmas and next Sunday being the Sunday we traditionally celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men.

We finish our Advent/Christmas walk through the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John today.  I hope you remember some of what we have discussed along the way.  On the first Sunday of Advent, we spoke about the power of the spoken word and, in particular, the power of God’s word in our lives.  On the second Sunday of Advent we spoke of the healing and transforming power of God as the Life-Light.  On the third Sunday of Advent, we said that what was the most real thing about Christmas was the gift of becoming children of God.  Finally, through music and song, we spoke and sang of the Advent-time of being the time of the in-breaking of peace for and in the world.  On Christmas Eve our short reflection focused on the reality of the Christ-child in our lives.  Now, here we are, a few days past Christmas, seeking the answer to the question: What impact did the preceding days have on our spiritual lives? 

Along with the First Sunday after Christmas, we also celebrate Kwanzaa, a unique and interesting holiday.  A reflection on the meaning of Kwanzaa also works quite nicely as a summary of all that we have been talking about.  Let me see if I can describe what I mean.  What makes Kwanzaa different from other holidays is that there is no religious or patriotic meaning behind it.  It is a cultural holiday created Dr. Maulana Karenga.  It is a celebration of African values and affirms that African-Americans are part of a culture with shared ancestors and shared traditions.  Kwanzaa is described by Dr. Karenga as a “creative and cultural synthesis” of both Continental African elements and African-American elements.  Established in 1966, it arose as a response to the fight for civil rights and the turmoil of the 60’s in general.  It was an attempt, and a successful one at that, to bring African-Americans together to celebrate what they believe and, more importantly, the importance of their heritage.  Part of our journey to radical hospitality is that we learn about various traditions and, so today, we greet Kwanzaa. 

There are seven guiding principles which are celebrated, one on each day, during Kwanzaa which begins on December 26^th and ends on January 1^st.  The symbols are few—there are the red and green candles with one black in the center placed in a menorah-like candle holder and lit during the days of Kwanzaa.  There is a mat upon which the candles are situated and an ear of corn for each child in the family is added as well.  It is a simple holiday celebrating simple, yet profoundly powerful concepts.  Modest gifts are given on the seven days and consumerism and materialism are heavily discouraged in Kwanzaa celebrations.

The seven guiding principles may well be unknown to most of us as we may have never really explored the meaning of Kwanzaa before.  The first principle is Umoja (OO-MO-JAH).  Meaning Unity, this principle focuses on the importance of the family and community being and acting together.  There is an old African saying that goes like this—“I am because we are.”  Imagine the impact of applying this principle to our beliefs about what a church or community should be.  What if we truly valued Unity over our cultural, theological, and racial differences?  What if our guiding principle of being in the world focused on our interconnectedness and our interdependence upon each other?  When being equal in God’s sight is valued over ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of a particular doctrine or belief, imagine the power for good and justice that would be released in halls formerly painted in strife and discord.

The second principle is Kujichagulia (KOO-GEE-CHA-GOO-LEE-YAH).  It means self-determination and the understanding that our decisions must be in the best interest of our community or family.  Self-determination means that we have the right to name ourselves.  Think for just a moment about the difference such a principle would have made in the lives of any marginalized people with respect to political or religious power.  What if, what if, lesbians and gay men had been able to name themselves—do you really think we would have called ourselves “Abomination” or “Demon”?  If African-Americans had been able to name themselves, we know they would not have chosen the hateful, odious words chosen for them by some of our great-great-great grandparents.  The importance of naming and of self-determination is crucial in any work for justice and equality.  If we could all speak our own truth, and not have it spoken for us, what changes would we—those of us who live in privilege—have to make?

The third principle we celebrate today is Ujima (OO-GEE-MAH) and reminds us that we are all in this together.  It calls us to rise to whatever role we are to play in our community, society, and the world.  It calls each of us to do our part.  But it is more than just doing.  Think about this—what if every time a decision were made, the decision makers asked themselves if they were being true to all those who came before them; in other words, were they honoring the ancestors and saints who walked before?  And even more radical, imagine the difference in outcomes that would result from decision-makers actually caring about the impact today’s decisions have on the tomorrow’s children.  Would it change our use of limited resources or the way we process our foods?  Would it affect the way we viewed the distribution of money and other valuable assets?

The fourth principle of Kwanzaa is Ujamaa (OO-JAH-MAH), which means seeking an economy that utilizes our collective strengths and reminds us that we best meet our common needs through mutuality and support.  Far different from a zero-sum economics which does nothing more than encourage each one to get “what is coming to him or her” before anyone else can, a cooperative economy focuses on what the community needs—perhaps even the world.  It changes the primary question from “how can I make sure I have what I need?” to “what is in the best interest of the world?”

  Nia (NEE-YAH) is the fifth principle.  Nia means purpose and encourages each one of us to look within ourselves for the good we can contribute to the whole and to set personal goals in such a way as they benefit the community.  The sixth principle can be looked at in conjunction with the fifth.  Kuumba (KOO-OOM-BAH), which means creativity invites us to make use of our creative energies to build and maintain a strong and vital community.  Think about it.  How does your creativity relate to the changes that will make this church a better place in which to worship and the world a better place in which to live?  Can you use those creative energies to improve not just your life, but the life of your neighborhood, church, or world?

Finally, there is the principle of Imani (EE-MAH-NEE) which is translated Faith.  This principle focuses on honoring the best of the community’s traditions and calls upon each person to offer up the best in herself or himself.  This, by its very nature, allows us to strive for a higher level of life for all humankind.  Imani tells us we can do anything in the name of righteous struggle.  It tells us of our power to effect change. 

Just as our Gospel lesson calls us to understand that all gifts—gift after gift after gift—comes from God, Kwanza puts that call into a holiday and celebration for all to see.  Kwanzaa comes from an African word which means “first fruits”.  It is the celebration of the gifts of God.  All that we have explored this season comes from God—all the joy, the excitement, especially the baby come to show us the way—gift after gift after gift.  John tells us that we all live off of God’s generous bounty.  Is it not a right and good thing to celebrate the way the gifts of culture, tradition, and faith impact our world today?  Is it not a right and good thing to learn all we can learn about all people on earth—God’s great earth—God’s great people.  Harambee is an African word which means “let’s pull together” or just “pull together”.  Hear the Harambee and Words of Parting for Kwanzaa:  Peace and Blessings upon each of us, known and unknown, both within and without these walls. Let’s all pull together.  HARAMBEE!  Amen and amen.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Christ-child! Christmas Eve 2013

God, we feel so close to you tonight.  Our hearts are softly open.  May we use this time—this gentle time—to learn more of you.  Amen

In 1897 eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and received an anonymous response in the editorial column.  The response was penned by Francis Pharcellus Church, a veteran newsman who was having his own struggles that year because his wife had died; and became the most reprinted newspaper editorial ever.  As far as I could find, no newspaper editorial has surpassed it even to today.

As I thought about Christmas Eve and our own struggles, most of us far, far away from childhood, I found myself thinking of a very different kind of Christmas quest.  It might go something like this—Dear Editor, I am closer to eighty years old than I am to eight, but I have an important question nonetheless.  Some of my friends say they don’t need religion anymore.  Others say that Santa Claus has driven Christ right out of Christmas.  Others just seem confused.  While I don’t think that everything I read is true, I’d still like to know your answer to my question—“Dear Editor, please tell me the truth; is there a Christ-child?”  Signed by a much older Virginia.

Dear Virginia, your friends are struggling just like you, but they are wrong.  They have been affected by doubt in a doubting age.  They only believe what they can see.  They think that if it can’t be verified by scientific inquiry or explained by complex algorithms, then it can’t be true.  What they don’t understand is that all of our minds, whether they belong to children or adults are limited by our humanity.  Why in this very universe in which we live we are tiny, like little bugs, when we are compared to the vastness we now know exists in the cosmos.  We cannot begin to comprehend because our minds are incapable of that much truth and knowledge.  It is not exactly clear to me how this belief that all things must be understood in order to be accepted as truth got such a stronghold over many minds.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Christ-child.  Whether he is called the Christ or not, he exists wherever love and generosity and beauty exist.  And it is in this love, generosity and beauty that we find our higher meanings as human beings.  Alas!  How dreary and hopeless the world would be if there was no Christ-child, if there were no higher meanings.  It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias, or men or women, or stars or seas.  If there were no Christ-child, there would be no one to show many of us our own child-like faith.  There would be no way for many of us to understand the higher truth and bring it into our lives to fill our lives with meaning.  Our enjoyment of life would be limited to what we could see and touch.  The eternal light of childhood and new birth would be extinguished leaving us as people walking in darkness once more.  The ‘silence’ of the great Silent Night has been replaced with cynicism and territorialism. 

Not believe in the Christ-child!  You might as well believe all those folks who believe that consumerism is big enough and strong enough to make the Christ-child disappear.  To all those people with bumper stickers pleading with us to “keep Christ in Christmas” I want to say, “No, take Christ beyond Christmas and into the world”.  Is it not the loss of Christ and Christ-like love moving in the world that has us doubting the existence of the Christ-child in the first place?  The most real things in the world are those things which we cannot regiment or document, we can only feel.  And the love that God showed to us through this Christ-child cannot be doubted when our heart is open to feeling.  Feeling does not require believing; feeling requires that we stop our human trying and just let the wonder of love happen.  Did you ever see the love of one for another?  Love, itself, is meaningful—it resides in the portions of our hearts and spirits that connect us to the sacred in all of creation.  And the tangible expression of that love is lying in a manger waiting to be born again in our hearts tonight. 

No one can conceive of all the wonders in the universe.  You may take apart an intricate flower, or gaze at magnified images of a million different snowflakes, but you cannot see what “makes” the flower a flower or a snowflake a snowflake.  An unseen veil covers the world beyond our knowing and only love can see through that curtain.  This is a veil so fixed that all the strength of all the strongest men and women in the world cannot break through it.  But, perfect love can push it aside with no effort at all. Perfect love, oh, perfect love.  And, yet, you ask “is perfect love real?” Oh, Virginia, on this night, once again, perfect love is made plain for us in the life of Jesus the Christ-child.

No Christ-child!  Thank God!  He lives and he lives forever.  Every time we bring our quest back to the quiet stable where love on earth was born, he lives.  Every time we fight for justice born of this love, he lives.  Every time, we, ourselves, reach beyond our encapsulated lives and touch a sick and dying world, he lives.   A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, the Christ-child will continue to make glad the hearts of all those who seek with childlike purity and wholeness of heart.  Merry Christmas, Virginia, Merry Christmas to all.  Amen and amen.