The Good Shepherd is My Lord and Savior

Acts 4:5-12
John 10:11-18

              As we journey together as a community of faith you will find that I am a bit of an academic. As I have said to you before, I love to pick apart the gospel stories word by word to figure out what they were saying back in the day.  The joke in my household is that there are biblical scholars who write fifty page articles on one word in the bible, I’m the person who reads them, what I like to call beach reading.

This week my research was all about the Greek word soteria translated as salvation and soter which means savior.  This morning we read from the book of Acts Peter telling the Jewish rulers, elders, scribes and high priests (some of whom were involved in Jesus’ trial before his execution) that salvation can only be found in Jesus.  Peter states, “This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;   it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’” (Acts 4:11-12)  In order to understand this passage we have to look at the previous stories in the Book of Acts.  In chapter three Peter and John are going to the temple to pray.  A lame man is carried in and laid at the gate of the temple so that he could beg for money from the people coming in.  When Peter and John are about to go into the temple, the lame man asks them for money.  Peter tells the man that he has no money to give him but he has something better.  Peter then cures him saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” (3:6) Peter takes the man’s right hand and pulls him up.  Immediately the beggar’s ankles and feet were made strong.  Jumping up the man began to walk and he entered the temple leaping and praising God. 

            The crowds in the temple surrounded Peter, John and the formerly lame man because they were amazed by the healing.  Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to preach about Jesus Christ, the Messiah who was crucified and now risen from the dead. His message is so powerful that he converts 5000 people into claiming the risen Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Now the Sadducees who were part of the priestly aristocratic Jewish sect were annoyed because of what Peter was teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there was resurrection from the dead.  And so the Sadducees had Peter and John arrested.  This morning we hear their testimony in front of the Jewish Church Council.  Religious historians note that Christianity began as a sect within Judaism.  Jesus and his followers were part of the Jewish religion, attended services in the Jewish temple and followed the Mosiac laws.  The only difference was that Jesus’ followers understood the risen Jesus to be the Messiah.[i]  Thus Christianity began as Jews telling other Jews that Jesus was the Savior sent by God.  In this morning’s reading we hear Peter is defending himself within his own family of faith. 

            Now in the book of Acts it says that Peter and John were arrested for their preaching and teaching, but they are interrogated about the healing of the lame man, The Religious Council asks “By what power or by what name did you do this?”  Peter tells them that the lame man was healed by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they crucified, whom God raised from the dead.  Now the question that begs to be asked is this, why are the authorities more concerned about the preaching than the cure and why are they asking about power?  Perhaps because the religious authorities knew they were losing their hold on their power over the Jewish people, which was quite a dangerous predicament for them to be in.  At the time of Jesus life on earth and when this text was written Israel was occupied by the Roman Empire that ruled with domination and violence.  Anytime there was a hint of rebellion it was squashed under the boot of the empire.  Religious historians note that the crucifixion of Christ was one of those instances.  While he was on earth, Jesus was stirred the passions of the poor and pious Jews of Palestine with his messages of “God’s love, God’s acceptance of all, and the coming of a new world order under God’s rule, [what Jesus called] ‘The Kingdom of God.’”[ii]  Jesus “aroused the anger of both the Roman and Jewish authorities.  The Romans accused Jesus of [treason] for the claim that he was ‘King of the Jews’ and the Jewish leaders accused him of blasphemy for claiming to be the Messiah.”  The Romans ordered the Jewish religious authorities to stop Jesus from his rabble rousing.  The Jewish religious authorities tried to stop Jesus in order to keep the peace with the empire but they were unable to.  So they complied with the Romans who in turn executed Jesus like a common criminal by hanging him on a cross and leaving him to die.

            Another way the Roman’s wielded their power over the people was by forcing those living in the empire to give sacrifices to the Roman gods which included the emperors of Rome.  They were given the title “Son of God.”  Statutes were erected in their likeness and people were expected worshiped them just like they worshiped the statutes of the legendary Greek and Roman gods.  It is important to note that during the time of Jesus the Roman Empire was beginning to fall and the people were anxious.  The people were longing for salvation which meant to them “a release from the barriers of finitude, the misery and failure of human life.”[iii]  They wanted a personal savior who would deliver them from the difficulties of this life, protect them from all ills, heal them or guide them.  This title was given to all individuals, divine or human, male or female who “improved a situation or had prevented a perilous one, either personal, political, social or intellectual.  These saviors included the classical Greek gods, Roman gods… Roman emperors and even philosophers.[iv]   To claim someone as Lord and Savior at that time was not a theological implication, rather it was a political one.  The empire required worship of the Emperors as gods to maintain sound order and cohesion across their vast domain.  To refuse to give sacrifices to the Roman gods was perceived as a disruption of the bonds of society and be disastrous to the empire.[v]

            Now the Jews and all the sects within their tradition were not required to make sacrifices to the Roman gods because the Empire respected the Jewish thousands of years’ tradition of not worshiping anything other than their God Yahweh.  But when the Christian sect split from the Jewish religion, the Romans believed them to be a new religion and thus forced them to the point of persecution to make sacrifices to Roman emperor gods.  The Christians refused, stating just as Peter did, that they cannot find salvation in something that is human or made of human hands.  Their salvation is found in risen Jesus Christ who was sent by God to share the good news of God’s love to the world.  It is this good shepherd who willingly laid down his life for his sheep who was their Lord and Savior.  And in the same way these early Christians lost their lives by the persecution of the Roman Empire that persecuted Jesus.

            So looking at things historically it is clear to see that claiming Jesus as our Lord and Savior is not about religious exclusivism.  We know that God is a great and unknowable entity.  As hard as we might try, we cannot put God in a box.  Just as God has many paths of reaching us, God has provided many paths to reach God.  Our path is through Jesus.  It is possible to respect other religious traditions while claiming Jesus as our Lord and Savior.   You see when we state that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we are stating that we find our salvation through a man whom we know as a son of God, whom we know as the good shepherd, whose ministry was about love and justice.  And emboldened by the promise of new life that Jesus gives through rising again on Easter morning, we find that he is our hope in this world and the world to come.  May it be so.  Amen.

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[i] Tripolitis, Antonia. Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age. (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans, 2002.), 92

[ii] Ibid., 91

[iii] Ibid., 2

[iv] Ibid., 16

[v] Ibid., 101

We are Witnesses

Luke 24:36b-48

                       “You are witnesses to these things.”

This week we read another account of Jesus’ resurrection appearance, this time from the Evangelist Luke.  Just like the other accounts we read in Mark and John, the apostles react with terror, this time thinking that they were seeing a ghost.  However Jesus meets them where they are at and gives them what they need in order to see that he was not a ghost.  Jesus invites disciples to touch him and see that indeed he was flesh and bone.  He shows them his hands and feet to prove that yes, he did die while hanging on a cross.  The apostles reaction is bitter sweet, they are joyful that Jesus was with them, yet they still couldn’t believe what they were witnessing.  It hasn’t sunk in yet.  They are flabbergasted. 

            “You are witnesses to these things.”

So Jesus asks them for something to eat to prove to them that he was fully human even in his resurrected state.  They give him a piece of broiled fish, which Jesus consumes.  Then Jesus reminds them that he had predicted his death and resurrection several times before he was crucified.  Suddenly it begins to sink in for the apostles, it clicks, they start getting it, and everything that Jesus had preached finally makes sense.  “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44)  We can imagine that as the apostles heard Jesus say this, their eyes get wide and they experience what Oprah Winfrey calls the ah-ha moment.

            But Jesus doesn’t stop there, he gives the apostles their marching orders.  They are to go out into the world and proclaim to all the nations the good news of God’s grace freely given.  That God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day to show the world that death does not have the final word and that God’s love will always prevail.  And just as the apostles were called to be a witness to the resurrection power of God, we who are Christian are also called to be witnesses. 

            The call to witness to the power of God in our lives can be quite intimidating, especially in today’s world where talk of religion in certain settings is discouraged and rightly so because in today’s pluralistic society we need to respect the diversity of the different religious faiths around us.  There is a fine line that we walk when we share our faith because we want to show respect.  The witness that Jesus is calling us to is in sharing the gospel to help people love God and love their neighbor.  Unfortunately there are those who have taken this call to witness for the sole purpose of winning souls for Christ and nothing else. Now let me unpack this for you by sharing two experiences where I was on the receiving end of Christian witness.

When I was in ninth grade I struggled to make my way through the treacherous waters of the high school popularity pool.  My father was deceased just a year and my family was still deep in grief as we adjusted to life without him.  I was living in a new family configuration, in a new neighborhood, going to new school and all this without the trappings of popularity. I was awkward, bookish and shy…I wasn’t interested in boys, makeup or clothes…I struggled to keep up with the other students and in the end I was teased and bullied by my peers because I didn’t fit in.  Now there was an adult who worked in the school office who took a special interest in me.  Nancy was a young woman who was the secretary to the two assistant principals.  Because of her position, Nancy knew that kids were getting sent to the principal’s office for harassing me.  So she took me under her wing because she could see that I was struggling.  At that time I thought Nancy had it all.  I knew that she used to be a cheerleader in high school, that she was married to her quarterback high school sweetheart and that they lived in a small bungalow in the city with a big back yard and a dog.  I was thrilled when one day she invited me to her home so we could have lunch together. 

            I had thought that it was going to be a friendly visit, but I was wrong.  After we ate, she plopped a bunch of books and a Bible in front of me.  She opened the Bible and told me to read the verse that she was pointing to.  I read it reluctantly.  Then she opened one of the books and had me read a passage that essentially said that if I took Jesus Christ into my heart and became born again that my life would magically change and that I would get everything that I desired.  This text implied that the struggles that I was experiencing were due to my unwillingness to become a “true Christian.”  It didn’t matter that I was raised Catholic. 

            My friend went on to tell me that when she was in high school, she became born again and that all she had to do was pray and God would give her what she wanted because she was on the true path of faith.  When she prayed to God to make her popular, she became popular, that when she prayed to God to make her a cheerleader, God put her on the cheerleading squad, when she prayed to God to be able to date the quarterback, God handed him over to her.  I felt broadsided by her Christian witness.  I didn’t feel like she understood what I was going through.  Her profession of faith felt like a conversation stopper.  While I know that her intentions were good, I felt even more alone after our meeting because she was disappointed that I had my doubts that her magical God would make all of my struggles disappear if I just became born again. 

            Now many years I experienced another kind of Christian witness from my dear friend John.  We went to college together and a few years after we had graduated from college, my life had hit rock bottom.  John had heard I was struggling and asked me to go out to lunch with him.  During lunch he told me how much I meant to him, how our relationship had helped him through struggles of his own and that he wanted to be there for me just like I had for him.  He told me about this wonderful church that he found, that had helped him sort out his spirituality.  He talked about how this UCC church had changed his life by giving him a beloved community to be a part of.  He then invited me to go to church with him some Sunday when I was free.  I politely turned him down, thinking that church was the last thing I needed in the midst of my struggles.  But John gently pushed, he offered to drive me there and drive me back.  I again declined but he pressed on.  He offered to take me out to lunch his treat after church.  Well, that got me because we all know that I’ll do anything for a free meal.

            So that Sunday we went to Spirit of the Lakes, UCC, a just peace, open and affirming church whose members were predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.  Like the disciples in the presence of the risen Christ, I felt joy while sitting in the sanctuary, but I also had disbelief and wondering.  Could this be real, my whole life I struggled with my faith because of my sexuality and now here I am worshiping God in a roomful of gay people.  And then came communion, as the pastor broke the bread and lifted the cup, I could feel Christ’s presence at the table.  When the pastor invited us to the table with these words, “All are welcome to share in this bread and this cup, because Christ is the host, Christ sets the table, and Christ welcomes all.” I finally got it, I had my ah-ha moment, I realized that I was and always will be a beloved child of God.

            Being a witness to the resurrected Christ is not about shoving our faith down someone’s throat or promising them a magical solution to all their struggles.  It’s simply sharing others where you think God is working in your life and in your world. (1) Bearing witness means meeting people where they are at and sharing the good news in a way they can hear it.  Bearing witness is extending an extravagant welcome to others to join us in this community of faith where they can be witnesses the transformative power of God’s love and grace within in the life of this congregation.  We have seen the power of resurrection in our lives and we are called to be witnesses to these things.  May it be so.  Amen.

(1) David Lose "Witnesses" www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=579

Who Will Roll Away the Stone

Mark 16:1-11

            This morning we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We remember the story leading up to his rising from the dead.  How he was betrayed by one of disciples and abandoned by the rest, how he was arrested like a common criminal and put to trial, first by the religious officials and then the Roman authorities.  Then there was the long walk to Golgotha, the grisly death on the cross and Jesus being laid to rest in a borrowed tomb for three days.  The story is quite believable as we hear of Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome walking to the tomb saying to each other “Who will roll away the stone for us from the tomb?”  But what comes next is quite unbelievable, they find an empty tomb.

            We are taught to believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, but it stretches the limits of our rational thoughts.  How many of us really really believe that this was what really happened?  How many of us have had that uncomfortable thought that the bodily resurrection is just too preposterous to believe in?  Well to those who come here this morning with a bit of skepticism, who may be feeling a bit out of place sitting here in this sanctuary with these thoughts on Easter morning, I have these words for you today, “Welcome!  You are in good company here.”

            When I taught confirmation class last year, I played a game with my teenaged students called, “Questions in a bag.”  Now I knew that these young people had big questions burning in their hearts, but I also knew how shy they to ask these questions in public.  So in order to make them feel comfortable, I had them write their burning questions on a slip of paper and then put them in a bag of which I would draw them out of.  I assured them that I would try to answer their questions to the best of my ability and that if I couldn’t answer it right away that I would research it and get back to them.  The questions ranged from silly, “Is my younger brother an alien?” to which I answered “I will have to ask your mother and get back to you.” to serious “Is God meaner in the Old Testament than in the New Testament?” “Nope, God is forgiving and merciful in both..”  Most of the questions were quite thoughtful and challenging.  However, there was one question that stood out, “How do we know that Jesus really rose from the dead?  I mean, he was nailed to a cross and all, but how do we know that he didn’t just lose consciousness and just woke up in the tomb.” Out of the mouths of babes I tell you.

            The Gospel of Mark’s account of the resurrection story shows the same honesty and integrity of this student’s question.  The resurrection stories of Matthew, Luke and John all have the women reacting with joy when they found out about Jesus’ resurrection, but Mark’s resurrection account is abrupt and awkward.  Instead of feeling joy, the women feel terror and amazement. Instead of running to tell the disciples that Jesus was back from the dead, they ran away from the tomb and told no one of what they saw.  The Gospel of Mark gives us the most realistic response to the resurrection which really is fear.  The tension of Mark’s story thickens as he takes us with the women walking to the grave wondering who will roll away the stone, and we become perplexed as the women see that the stone rolled away.  And we are right with the women alarmed as they hear the young man, dressed in a white robe telling that that Jesus was not dead, but waiting for them in Galilee just as he told them.  But the question begs to be asked is this, were the women terrified because of the empty tomb and the angel or was the thing that really frightened them that Jesus said that he would rise, and guess what, HE DID!  And what about everything else Jesus said, about the cost of discipleship and building the kingdom of God that must be true too.  And if all these things are true, then they have a lot of work to do. 

            In real life resurrections do happen, but when they happen they are down right scary.  Why, because resurrection means that life will change as we know it, and change good or bad always causes anxiety.  For example, many of us have had a loved one recover from an addiction from alcohol or drugs.  While they are in the throes of their addiction we obsess about them worrying about the consequences of their chemical abuse.  We worry about their reputation and subsequently ours, we worry about their safety and ours.  We spend much time and energy trying to work around their addiction to have some semblance of a normal life in the midst of the craziness that addiction brings.  And while we cry out “who will roll away the stone of this addiction that is entombing my husband, my wife, my child, my parent” we have strangely gotten used to living dysfunctionally with the addiction.

            When our loved one does stop using and goes into a treatment program, we feel relieved at first, but eventually fear does rear its ugly head.  When the addict gets out of treatment, the dysfunctional life as the family knows it will change dramatically.  We are told that when the addict comes home, that a new normal begins to set in, where once family life once rotated around the addiction, it will now become all about recovery.  Strangely, we may feel uncomfortable with the removal of the obstacle of the drugs and alcohol because now we have to deal directly with the issues that started the addiction in the first place.  The newly recovered person almost becomes a stranger to us as they begin using new ways of communicating and processing feelings that they had previously masked with chemicals and alcohol.  We may find ourselves frustrated at how some things have stayed the same, our loved one’s drinking buddies have been replaced by AA buddies, but they are still not home because now they are spending all their spare time at meetings.  Then there is the all encompassing fear that wonders what if this isn’t for real.  What if treatment doesn’t stick and my loved one starts using again.  This anxiety seems even more overwhelming than any fear we may have had while our loved one was using.

            For those of us staring into the empty tomb, wondering if this is all for real, if we can deal with the changes, we can take comfort in the real-ness of Mark’s story.  Mark shows us that God reveals the good news precisely at the point where things seem to be at their worst.  God hears our cries, “who will roll away the stone?” and gives us the courage to turn what looks like an ending into a new beginning and take what looks like a lack of faith into a new opportunity to believe.

            Yes resurrection is a hard and scary thing to believe in, but my brothers and sisters in Christ, the resurrection is a very real and beautiful thing.  Because within each resurrection lies our hope and dreams, so that no matter the amount of obstacles, no matter how dark it may get, no matter how difficult life can become, we know that in the end God will always roll away the stone and break us open so that new life can pour forth.

Alleluia—Christ is risen Indeed—Alleluia.  Amen!

Learning to Fall

            What does it mean to be church in this time and place?  We remember that the church was the center of life for many Americans in the 1950s.  Every Sunday the pews were filled, the CE classrooms were bursting with children and there were plenty of resources to keep the church going.  Growing a church was easy because all a church had to do to get new members was open its doors.  In many towns and cities at that time, the only way a person could connect to the community was through the church.  In many circles the only way to legitimize a relationship was marriage in the church and later on legitimizing families through baptizing children in the church. 

            The times have changed since the churches hey day of the 1950s.  Now, we are doing more funerals than baptisms.  A majority of mainline churches have experienced extreme declines in membership and shrinking financial resources.  In our anxiety we think that if we just change the music, or add a contemporary evening service, that will bring the people who will save our church.  However these small changes aren’t turning things around for many of our churches because our culture is shifting away from the church.

            As a community of faith we feel very much like the exiles to which the Prophet Jeremiah preached to in this mornings reading.  In the aftermath of the Babylonian invasion of Judah the Israelites wondered where did God go?   Their temple was destroyed and their king had been taken off in chains.  These were the two things that God had promised them, God’s presence in the temple and political power.   Prior to the invasion Jeremiah had warned the people that if they kept doing what they were doing:  worshiping other Gods, not caring for the poor and ignoring God’s commandments, that calamity would fall upon them.  Perhaps it was the people alone broke the covenant but I wonder if maybe God didn’t keep up the divine end of the covenant.  I am sure there were many in Judah who did lived faithfully according to the covenant and yet their way of life had died in the ashes of their destroyed temple.   So it would seem for the mainline church.  Didn’t God promise to protect those who kept the covenant??

In the gospel reading, when Greeks came to the festival because they wished to see Jesus, they were not looking for the real Jesus, but their version of Jesus.  They were seeking a savior, a miracle worker, a protector, someone so full of power that he will keep them from catastrophe.  Instead of a superhero, they found an ordinary man resigned to his fate of death, “Very truly I tell you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”  (John 12:24-25)  These are hard words to hear because our human instinct for survival gets in the way.  It is as preacher Barbara Brown Taylor puts it in her sermon on this same scripture “hard to preach the gospel to people who are scared of death of dying.”[i]  Because Jesus keeps telling us that we have to follow God’s will even it takes us to the cross and “It’s hard to preach self preservation in the presence of the cross”[ii] 

You see when individuals and organizations get anxious about its survival they become inwardly focused.  Rather than continuing to seek the common good, we who are anxious about our survival only seek what is good for us, hanging on to our resources with tight fists only to have it fall through our fingers anyways.  What the great recession of 2008 has taught many of us is that as much as we try to seek security with jobs, nest eggs and real estate, we can lose it all in a heart beat.  We fall as we get the pink slip, we fall as our retirement savings dwindle, we fall as our mortgages go upside down.  However it is only after we’ve fallen we begin realize that “There are worse things than falling to the ground that could happen to a grain of wheat.”[iii]  Since the market fell, I had suffered two lay offs, one by the church that I was serving as associate pastor and one by a church media center where I was serving as director.  Beloved and I had to bring $11,000 to the table to sell our home in Big City because our mortgage went underwater and we were the lucky ones because at least we were able to sell our home.  It was only while I was falling that I learned the power of letting go and trusting that God will provide.   

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” 

What the gospels tell us is that death needs to happen before resurrection.  Naturally we are more interested in learning to rise than in learning to fall.  But in the season of Lent, we are called to empty ourselves to make room for the resurrection that Easter brings.  In dying to the world’s ways of consumerism, survival by any means necessary and domination we become open to God’s new life in us in ways we’ve never imagined. 

Today the church does not look like it did sixty years ago.  In sixty years the church will not look like the church of today.  That is because God is continually doing a new thing.  “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant…I will put my law within them, and I will write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33)  God constantly changes the church by breaking down that which is causing the church to die so that something new will take its place.  This is all to the glory of God in building God’s kingdom here on earth.

In the short time that I’ve been your pastor, I’ve witnessed actions in your community that reflect a desire to build God’s kingdom here in Tiny Town.  At the faith forum last week I heard conversations about where the needs are in the city of Tiny Town and how we can use the resources that God has blessed us with to bring new life to our town.  The world may think us foolish for making programs that aren’t about contributing to our bottom line, which is about membership and money.  But in turning away from our anxiety over our institutional survival and turning towards Gods way of building God’s kingdom here on earth we open ourselves to becoming church in ways we’ve never imagined before.   

God calls all churches to be God’s hands, feet and voice in the world to sustain God’s creation.  Let go and have faith that God will provide us what we need to do God’s work in the world.  May it be so.  Amen

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[i] Barbara Brown Taylor “Learning to Fall” Sermon Delivered at Festival of Homiletics May 2011.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

For God So Loved the World

“For God So Loved the World”

            “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  (John 3:16) These words have been immortalized not only in our scriptures but also in our secular lives, most especially on Sunday…afternoons.  At any sporting event you can see this passage everywhere…in every end zone, in every crowd shot there is always someone holding up the placard that says: “John 3:16”  And now we have the Bronco’s quarterback Tim Tebow wearing  the words John 3:16 under his eyes as sun block.  What is it about this verse that has captured our imagination so much especially at sporting events?  Is it because faith gives one a leg up?  If so, then why did the Bronco’s lose in the playoffs?  Wait a minute, they were playing against the Patriots…maybe skill trumps faith.  Now Tebow is in danger of losing his job to Peyton Manning…I guess faith doesn’t save football careers.

            In this season of Lent one of the things we contemplate is our salvation.  What does it mean to be saved? How do we become saved?  Is salvation for everyone in the world or only reserved to those who have faith in Jesus alone?   Is salvation freely given or is it earned?  And does salvation work here on earth as well as it does in heaven…you know does faith in Jesus help us win the big game, get the great jobs and succeed in winning a Grammy. 

When I was a little girl growing up in the Catholic Church I had a healthy curiosity concerning the things that the nuns and priests were teaching me and much to their consternation I was not afraid to question what they were teaching me.  For instance I was taught that the only people who were saved, that is the only ones who were going to go to heaven were Catholics, and only the good ones at that.  Oh sure there were exceptions such as babies who were not baptized that would go to limbo but everyone else was condemned to eternal damnation. Well that didn’t seem fair to me.  At that time I was friends with a bunch of Baptist girls down the street and I had a hard time believing that were they not going to heaven because they weren’t Catholic.  What about the people in other countries, you know the starving children in China that I heard about every time I tried to not eat my vegetables, these kids didn’t even know about the Catholic faith, were they condemned as well.  How could a God who loves the world so much send over half of all creation to the fires of hell just because they weren’t Catholic? 

Fast forward to seminary, as you can salvation was a hot topic of discussion in and out of the classroom.  Many of us who grew up in the church had been taught to believe that Christianity was the only way to salvation.  For many of us, salvation through the belief in Jesus was of great comfort because could know what we needed to do to be saved.  However some of us felt that this notion of salvation through faith alone in Jesus was quite disturbing because it implied that God’s grace is reserved for just a few insiders.   What we learned is that salvation is not an either/or supposition.  If we are saved by belief in Jesus alone than it makes salvation a purely human accomplishment, thus taking away possibility of God’s ability giving us the gift of grace freely however if salvation is God’s initiative alone then we are in danger of taking God’s grace for granted and not responding to it, it is what theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer calls “cheap grace.”  Ok, are your heads ready to explode…yep mine too.

It wasn’t until I was a hospital chaplain that I learned the true meaning of salvation and the heart of the verse John 3:16.  I was assigned to the cardiac care unit; there I met many patients face to face with their mortality, many for the first time.  Most were forced to consider major lifestyle changes to accommodate their weakened hearts.  For some it was a matter of changing their diet and activity level, for others it meant adding a pace maker or medication to get their heart to beat normally and still others had to consider major surgery, cardiac bypass or a valve replacement to heal the damage done to their heart.  Needless to say, the fear of death was a prevalent in the cardiac care unit as patients and their families made decisions regarding their medical course of action.  However, I met a woman who faced her future with no fear.

On a busy weekday morning I was paged by the nurses of the cardiac unit to intervene in a family situation.  “Edna” had just been told by her doctor that she needed a valve replacement in order to survive the latest injury to her heart.  Edna decided quickly that she was done with surgical intervention and that she just wanted to go home to let nature to take its course.  Edna’s daughter did not agree with Edna’s decision.  When I came into the room, Edna was in her bed, connected to IV’s tubes and monitors.  Over the beeping of the machines her daughter argued with Edna, urging her to get the surgery, “Mom if you don’t get the surgery, you won’t be able to breath and you’ll choke to death…Mom, if you don’t get the surgery your heart will stop and we won’t be able to do anything about it….Mom, if you don’t get the surgery you’ll just drop dead.”  Edna listened to her daughter just nodding her head.  I tried to talk to them both but in her Edna’s daughter kept interrupting me with more arguments as to why Edna should get the surgery.  Eventually I had to ask the daughter for a moment alone with Edna so that I discuss with her the reasons for her opting not to get surgery.

The atmosphere in the room calmed down considerably when the daughter left.  I asked Edna how she came to the decision to not get surgery.  She replied, “Because I’m not afraid to die.” 

“Really” I asked “Why is that?”

“Because no matter what happens I know I’ll be OK.” She said

I continued probing “How do you know that to be true?”

“Because John 3:16 in the Bible tells me so.” She stated.

Unfortunately my beeper went off and I had to leave.  I asked her if she’d like me to come back later and she said yes, and asked me to bring my Bible so we could read it together.

When I came back to Edna’s room that afternoon with Bible in hand, I was taken aback by what I saw.  Gone were the wires, the monitors and IV tubes.  All there was was Edna in her bed waiting to be discharged.  The room seemed strangely quiet without the beeps and buzzes of the monitors that had previously kept track of Edna’s vital signs.  I sat down and opened the Bible to the Gospel of John chapter 3.  I asked her if she would like me to read her the whole chapter rather than just a snippet to which she enthusiastically agreed.  It was then, sitting in a hospital room, reading scripture with a woman fearlessly facing death that I finally got what salvation was all about.  It was all about our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that we are saved by grace through faith.  I witnessed Edna facing her future graciously through her faith in God just as Jesus faced the cross.  Edna had eternal life her whole life long, not only because she believed in the promise of resurrection from death that Jesus had on Easter morning, but also because she had the close and abiding relationship with God that Jesus did. 

God’s love is abundantly poured out for the whole world so that all, not just a select few, can experience the good news of God’s love and grace freely given to all.  This salvation, this relationship with God, is what propels us to move beyond our fears to do God’s work in the world.

May it be so.  Amen.

The Joy of Covenant

            I would like to begin this morning’s sermon with a big thank to this congregation for all of the hospitality that you have shown beloved and myself since we’ve moved to Tinytown a week and a half ago.  The visits, the warm wishes, and especially the food were very much appreciated as we went about the work of settling into our new home.  I just wanted to let you all know that the dishes that you brought the food in are in the kitchen on top of the checkered table cloth.  All dishes not claimed by the end of the day today will be sold in a rummage sale next week.

            Moving to a new place is an exciting yet overwhelming task.  In the short time that we’ve been here, Beloved and I have had to find a new place to go grocery shopping, gas our cars, get our hair cut (ladies you know how important that task is) and even open new bank accounts which I tell you was quite an adventure.  Thanks to the Patriot Act our interview with the Banker was quite extensive, not only did we have to give her our previous banking history but we also had to give the banker our past and present employment information as well.  When the banker asked me who my supervisor was at my current place of employment, I thought for a second and then said, “well God of course.”  To which she replied, “I can accept that.”  It helps that I am the pastor of the church next door, because thank goodness she didn’t ask for God’s phone number to verify my employment.

            All joking aside, as people of faith we all can claim God to be our ultimate supervisor.  One of the marks of discipleship is being accountable to the one who is the God of the promise and the God of the law and part of God’s law are the Ten Commandments which were read this morning from the Hebrew Testament.  The four thou shalts and 6 thou shalt nots cover how we are to live with God and with each other.  Some believe these commandments to be universal moral principals and would like to see the Ten Commandments in the public square, whereas others shy away from the commandments preferring to dwell on the promise of God’s grace freely given than on the anything that implies we have to earn that grace.  However it is as preacher Barbara Brown Taylor puts it, “Promise without law is like a tent without tent poles.  It is amorphous.  It will not hold up.  It will not hold up.  It looks one way to one person and another way to the next, with know way to tell which way is right.”[i]

            In order to truly understand what any passage the Bible is saying, we have to understand the time from which the scripture was written, the place in which it was written in, who wrote it and why it was written.  We remember that the book of Exodus tells the story of God saving the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through the work of God’s servant Moses.  The Israelites had been wandering in desert looking for the Promised Land and the longer they journeyed, the crankier they got.  When the Israelites encountered hunger and thirst they complained to Moses that they would have been better off staying enslaved in Egypt.  Moses would cry out to God, “What am I to do with these people?  They are almost ready to stone me.” (Exodus 17:4)  Then God would provide food and water.  And yet even though God was providing for their basic needs, the people continued to behave in ways that were irresponsible and detrimental to the community as a whole.  God needed to get the people back to a way of life that works for having a relationship with God and with each other.  God gave them the law.

            What is interesting is the form in which the Ten Commandments are written.  It is written just like a treaty between a king and his vassal-that is a person or nation that is dependant upon the king for land and protection.   There is a power difference between the parties of the treaty.  The commandments comes from God to the people, this is not a dialogue.  However, the Israelite people are free to agree or disagree with the terms of the treaty.  This is a binding agreement based on mutual commitment.  In it are promises and obligations, reliability and durability.

By using the form of a treaty that puts God in the role of King, the authors of the book of Exodus are trying to portray God as all-powerful and benevolent.  Had the authors used a treaty where the power relationship was equal, this would have put God on the same level as the people, which would have been problematic.  The purpose of the Exodus story is to promote the one God of Israel.  To show the people of Israel that the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Joseph has a plan and that God has the power to intervene in history to make that plan come to reality.  The people of Israel are thus utterly dependent upon this sole God and should show their gratitude to God by following the commandments. When people are dependent upon God of Israel, they are less tempted to follow the religious traditions of the gods of other communities such as Canaan.

            The language of the Ten Commandments may sound harsh but the intent behind them is not.  God knows what is life giving and what is not.  If you murder, steal, commit adultery, covet etc. etc. life will be miserable.  If you honor God, honor your parents and keep the Sabbath, then life will be good.  Obedience to the law does not earn the promise of God’s grace, that promise has already been granted by God unconditionally and forever.  Obedience to the law is a sign of belief in the promise and a witness of your faith.[ii]

            In this season of Lent we remember that God came to us to make a new covenant in the human form Jesus, not to have power over us but to be in solidarity with us.  To the world this way of sharing power with would seem foolish, especially because the way Jesus lived landed him on the cross. However the Apostle Paul states, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God… God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18, 28-29)  On Good Friday it would seem that death won, but Easter shows us that in the end, God’s love wins.

            In January you have called me to be your pastor and I was honored to accept this call.  We joyfully made a covenant together based on a relationship of mutuality and equality.  As your pastor I will not have power over you but I will share in God’s power with you in this community of faith.  The future holds so much excitement for all of us as we begin our journey together.  It may feel awkward at first as I try to learn your ways and you get used to mine.  There will be challenges ahead but I am confident that God will give us what we need to meet each challenge and together we will continue to fulfill First Congregational Church’s mission to be  “followers of Jesus Christ and servants of God, striving for love, truth, justice and peace within our congregation, community, and the world."  May it be So.  Amen

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[i] Barbara Brown Taylor “Promises” Gospel Medicine.46

[ii] Ibid 49

Remembering our Baptism

Genesis 1:1-5

Mark 1:4-11

            We’ve all heard the saying, “You are only as good as the company you keep.”  It begins with our parents trying to protect us from being influenced by the bad behavior of other children.  Then as we get older we learn to avoid the naughty children in order to steer clear of the dreaded “guilt by association.” However our sense of cautionary associations becomes warped as we get into junior high.  In the midst of the unpredictable growth spurts, uncomfortable voice changes and newfound acne we are at the zenith of our insecurity.  Some of us join cliques so that we can hold on to our friends like life preservers as we traverse the treacherous waters of adolescents.  While others of us decide to become our own island, becoming a loner so that our social destiny is determined only by our own Holy Trinity, me, myself and I.  Either way, we become obsessed with who is in and who is out.  Popularity is not won by being friendly and kind, rather it is earned by who you are seen with.  The goal becomes being seen with the right people and shunning those who are less than perfect.  What is interesting is you become who you are seen with.  Hang out the wealthy kids and you are perceived as well off, even if you are from a family of humble means.  Hang out with the cheerleaders, you are perceived as the big guy/big gal on campus.  Hang out with the kids in the parking lot who smoking cigarettes, you are perceived as a burn out, even if you’ve never smoked, drank or did drugs. hang out with the kids who are in the math and science club, you are a nerd and so on and so on. 

Unfortunately we do not totally outgrow this behavior. Part of the human condition is the need to feel secure and in the quest for security it is natural for us to want to align ourselves with individuals and groups that will give us the most benefits, be it socially, vocationally or even financially.  In a competitive culture such as ours, it is not what you know but who you know, or really who you are seen with that gets you ahead.  However that’s not how Jesus saw it.

            This morning we hear the beginning of Jesus’ life as remembered by the evangelist Mark.  The Gospel of Mark has no account of Jesus’ birth or early childhood.  Instead he begins with the story of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist.  The gospel states that John the Baptist was an unusual person, dressed in camels hair, eating locusts and honey and running around warning all who would hear him, ““The kingdom is near! The Messiah is coming!  Prepare the Way!”  Basically John the Baptist was the Ancient Near East’s version of the bumper sticker, “The Messiah is coming…look busy!” 

Now, an important part John’s ministry was baptizing people in the waters of the river Jordan for the forgiveness of their sins.  Through the baptism of repentance that John gave, the sinner is ritually washing away their sins so that they may be inspired to let go of their worldly desires and to turn towards God’s desire for the world.  To repent, which literally means to turn, is really all about re-orientation so that the baptized becomes open to and obedient of God’s will.  John never claimed to be a big shot, no quite the opposite, he told his brethren that one more powerful than him was coming that would baptize them with the Spirit rather than just water.

            So imagine if you will John chest deep in the water, dunking sinners one by one in the river when suddenly he finds that the next man in line is none other than Jesus.  This is the Messiah, the son of God standing in front of him waiting to be dunked in the muddy waters of the Jordan.  This was downright scandalous! 

In her sermon on the Baptism of Jesus, Barbara Brown Taylor tells us that the Christian church has always had a certain discomfort with the baptism of Jesus.  She says, “Compare the accounts of each of the four gospels and you cannot miss the un-ease of the authors.”[i]  “Matthew elaborates on Mark’s story by adding that John tried to talk Jesus out of being baptized, and Luke will not even come out and say it was John who did it.  The fourth gospel [the gospel of John] is the most ticklish of all.  In it, John bears witness that he saw the Spirit descend like a dove upon Jesus, but he does not mention anything about the baptism at all.  Scholars say all this embarrassment is our surest proof that Jesus really was baptized by John, because when someone tells you something that is not in his best interest for you to know, then you can be reasonably sure he was telling you the truth.”[ii]

When Jesus took his place in line, he didn’t care about being associated with the sinners.  If Jesus was concerned about reputation he would not have allowed himself to be baptized by some eccentric guy in the muck of the river Jordan.  Instead we’d see Jesus standing on the shore and encouraging those sinful people as they went into the water or we’d see him holding out his hand and helping these mere mortals as they came out of the river or even offer to take over the baptizing so that John could take a break.[iii]  But no, Jesus did something more radical than that, the son of God who is without sin take his place in the long line of sinners to share in their baptism.  As the one sent by God to share God’s love with all of creation, Jesus began his public ministry by showing humanity that he is one of us by getting in the “river with us, in the flesh with us, in the sorrow of repentance and joy of new life with us.”[iv]  It is then that he hears the voice of God say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:10-11) 

In this morning’s Hebrew Scriptures we hear the beginning of the creation story.   As God’s spirit swept over the waters God created the heavens and the earth with just his voice. The voice of God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.  God said “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, and let dry land appear.” And there was the land and the seas.  God called the earth to bring forth living things of every kind and it was so. Then God created humankind, in God’s image, male and female both.  And with each step of creation God saw all that had been done and declared that it was good.  God didn’t say that the trees were better than the plants, or that the sea animals were better than the land animals or that some humans were better than other humans, as the scripture states in Genesis 1:27 “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them [and] God blessed them.”

Some note that when we read the story of Jesus’ baptism in combination with the creation story we find that Jesus’ baptism is less about sin and more about solidarity.  “When Jesus steps down into the waters of the Jordan, with the Spirit now descending from above, he steps down into the chaos of [humanity] and trusts the power of God to make order out of chaos, even through him.”[v]

Today we remember our baptisms.  As we look at the baptismal font we recall the long line of people who have been baptized before us and the long line that follows us.  Through the waters of baptism we become part of the church, which is full of sinners and saints and everyone in-between, and we love them all.  In baptism, God works in us the power of forgiveness, the renewal of the spirit and the knowledge of the call to be God’s people always.  In every Christian Church we share this sacrament of baptism within a worship service in order to welcome the newly baptized into our community of faith and to vow to always remind them that indeed they are a child of God. 

            Jesus got chest deep into the chaotic and muddy waters of the Jordan to be in solidarity with us in our humanness.  When he emerged from these waters, he began his active ministry soaked to the bone with these words of God’s love.  “This is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased” Let these words soak into your very being just as they did Jesus, as a proclamation that we are all God’s beloved children. 

May it be so.  Amen!

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[i] Barbara Brown Taylor. Home by Another Way. (Cambridge, Mass: Cowley Publications, 1999.), 34.

[ii] Taylor Home by Another Way, 34

[iii] Taylor Home by another way, 34-35.

[iv] Taylor Home by another way, 35

[v] FOW Genesis exegetical perspective 223