Untie Him!

Scripture Reading John 11:1-45 (CEB)

11 A certain man, Lazarus, was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (2 This was the Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was ill.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.”

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This illness isn’t fatal. It’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it.” 5 Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was. After two days, 7 he said to his disciples, “Let’s return to Judea again.”

8 The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish opposition wants to stone you, but you want to go back?”

9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? Whoever walks in the day doesn’t stumble because they see the light of the world. 10 But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn’t in them.”

11 He continued, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going in order to wake him up.”

12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, he will get well.” 13 They thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was in a deep sleep, but Jesus had spoken about Lazarus’ death.

14 Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 For your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there so that you can believe. Let’s go to him.”

16 Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other disciples, “Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus.”

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was a little less than two miles from Jerusalem. 19 Many Jews had come to comfort Martha and Mary after their brother’s death. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary remained in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Even now I know that whatever you ask God, God will give you.”

23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, the one who is coming into the world.”

28 After she said this, she went and spoke privately to her sister Mary, “The teacher is here and he’s calling for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Jesus. 30 He hadn’t entered the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were comforting Mary in the house saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her. They assumed she was going to mourn at the tomb.

32 When Mary arrived where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying also, he was deeply disturbed and troubled. 34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?”

They replied, “Lord, come and see.”

35 Jesus began to cry. 36 The Jews said, “See how much he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “He healed the eyes of the man born blind. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

38 Jesus was deeply disturbed again when he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone covered the entrance. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.”

40 Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?”41 So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.” 43 Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his feet bound and his hands tied, and his face covered with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came with Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. 

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I was especially blessed yesterday.  I was a participant in the Relay for Life.  Jane Ono had invited me to give the invocation, which was a great honor all on its own.  But because I am a cancer survivor I was celebrated.  I got a T-shirt and breakfast and a bag full of goodies and even a medal!  The first lap was the Survivor’s Lap, and as we walked around the Fowler High School track the other participants and the Bandits Cheerleaders circled the track and cheered for us.  Some of us were pretty healthy and walked the lap easily.  Some were using canes or walkers, or were supported by caregivers, and it was a little harder for them.  Among the survivors was a woman who had come all the way from LA to join us, who walked very slowly, and who was determined that she was going to complete the circuit.  When she crossed the finish line the applause and cheers were louder than ever, and tears were flowing freely.  It was awesome!  It felt like watching a miracle happen right in front of us.  

As I walked that lap I realized that 18 years ago this week I had the first of many surgeries for my cancer.  I knew that because the Sunday after my surgery the elders from First Christian Church in Orange, California came to pray with me, and the scripture they read was the story of Lazarus.   It meant a lot to me that day, as I was feeling as if I had gotten my life back.  

This particular passage always means a lot to me.  Every time it comes around in the lectionary it impacts my life in a different way.  My freshman year at Chapman I attended worship on this particular Sunday at All People’s Christian Church in LA and Pastor TJ Bottoms preached a sermon titled, “Move the stone”.    He talked about not letting obstacles stop you from doing what God has called you to do.  I kind of needed to hear that as a 44 year old college freshman, and a woman called to enter the ordained ministry.  Both of these things were going to be difficult, but his message that day kept me going through the hardest times.   I even kept a little note on my refrigerator for years that said, “Move the stone,” just in case I forgot.

This is always a pretty hard passage to deal with.  First of all, it’s long.  It’s very long.  There is so much to unpack that a 15-20 minute sermon simply cannot do justice to the totality of this passage.  Second, it has Jesus exhibiting emotions we aren’t used to seeing in him.  In the beginning he seems indifferent to his friend’s illness.  Jesus, who had gone immediately to heal a little girl and a centurion’s servant and many others, stays where he is when he hears his friend is sick.  What was that about?  We think he did that so he could bring Lazarus back later, but it just seems strange that Jesus would let his friends, Mary and Martha, suffer so when their brother died.  He becomes deeply disturbed, some translations even say angry, when he sees Mary weeping and when he approaches the tomb.  He cries, something most of us do when we are deeply moved or grieved.   We tend to think of Jesus as always serene and calm . . . well, except maybe during that one visit to the Temple.  He was pretty angry then . . .  But most of the time, he seemed, you know, Christ- like.  In this passage, however, he goes through all kinds of changes. He exhibits all kinds of emotions. And lastly, after he goes through all of these emotions and then he makes it very clear to all present that he is not raising Lazarus through his own power, but that God is doing it in response to Jesus’ prayer.  By the way, if anyone still doubts that Jesus was fully human, this passage really should convince you of that fact.  

Jesus’ disciples thought he was going to his death, but decided to follow him back toward Jerusalem anyway.  It is worth noting that the one who said, “Let’s go die with him,” was the very same Thomas whom we call “Doubting Thomas” because he questioned whether Jesus had appeared to the others after the resurrection.  (There may be a quiz on this the week after Easter.)   

This time the title in today’s Lenten devotional, which I am sure you all read diligently this morning, took my mind in a whole nother direction.  Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” 

One of my preacher friends this week wondered how on earth Lazarus managed to walk out of the tomb with his entire body tightly bound as they did in those days.  Someone said “The same way Morticia Adams walks in her tight skirts”.  Someone else said that he lost weight during the 4 days in the tomb so they fell off.  Another suggested he hopped like a bunny.  One even said something silly like, “With God all things are possible” which in this case is not a good answer.   Because Jesus does find it necessary to say “Untie him.”  So the bindings were still there.  They hadn’t fallen off due to weight loss.  God didn’t mysteriously remove them.  He probably did walk the way Morticia Adams does.  Or the way prisoners walk when they are shackled.   One of the translations I looked at this week even said, “He shuffled out of the tomb.”   

Untie him and let him go.  I like the way Lynette Johnson spoke of this phrase in our devotional.  She said, “Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb, but he instructs the others present to unbind, to set Lazarus free.  Jesus renews his life, but it is up to others — his sisters, his friends and neighbors, the leaders of his synagogue — to set him free.”  (Society of St. Andrew Daily Lenten Devotional 2017, pg. 28)  

I can’t help but think of all the people who have come forward lately to join the church.  Many of them (but not all) are quite young - high school and young adults. Some have been coming around for years, and some are pretty new to the whole idea of church.  Some of them have come here because in this place they can freely be themselves.  Some of the younger ones have come here because in this place they aren’t told, “You are the future.”  They are told, “You are the Church - now, today.”  Some, maybe even most, come from a different tradition, but find that this congregation and this denomination are the best fit for them.  All of them have said they are willing to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world.  All of them have said they are willing to serve this congregation they best way they can, with the gifts and talents that God has given them.  All of them have heard that still, small, voice telling them, “It’s time to go forward and become an official part of this family,” (even though I suspect sometimes that voice is Jordan’s.)  It is so exciting to me that in this place where I have been called to serve, God is reaching out to such diverse and talented people. 

Jesus has renewed all of these folks, and put them into our hands.  It is our job to untie them and set them free to be the people God intends for them to be.  It is our job to make sure there is a safe place here for them and for all others who come.  Coming to this place, especially for those who are kind of new to the idea of being part of a church family, is pretty exciting.  Now.  But what about later?  Some can’t be here every week, or even most weeks, because of work or family obligations.  How do we continue to nurture them and set them free, if they can’t be here on Sunday?  

Someone said to me recently, “I know I’m ok right now.  It’s the long term I’m worried about.”  When a person has made a significant change in their life, and the excitement of the new thing has worn off, that is when we are most needed.  For Lazarus, everyone would be all over him on this day and for the next week or so, maybe.  But there would come a time when it’s just Tuesday.  The wonderment of his return to life has died down and he has to figure out how to just get from day to day in this new reality. He was dead!  And then he wasn’t!  And that has to be weird to live with.   After I healed from my surgery and my friends stopped coming by to check on me and help with daily chores, I had to find a way to deal with my new reality, one in which the cancer might come back any time or not.  I could ignore it or I could worry about it or … I didn’t quite know what to do, how to live one day after another, in this new reality.  I knew my life would never be the same again.  I had faith in God, of course, and I knew that no matter what, I would be ok.  But what I needed was to have people around who were willing and able to be supportive, even in the ordinariness of daily life, because I really didn’t know how to do ordinary any more, any more than Lazarus knew how to do ordinary anymore.  

Similarly, many among this church family and in my own circle of friends have lost loved ones recently.  Almost before we know it, the services are over, the flood of loving family and friends is gone, and suddenly life is back to “normal,” except that nothing will really be normal again, in the way we’ve always defined normal before.  Ordinariness is taking on a new appearance.  New routines are being developed.   

The work of the church, our work, is best done in the ordinariness of every day.  After the resurrection, after the excitement of new membership, after the surgeries and treatments, after the loss of our loved ones, after whatever it is that marks a new beginning to a life,  that is when the work of the church begins.  The work of the church begins in earnest once the excitement has ended, in the day to day setting free of those who now face a new reality.  To paraphrase Lynette Johnson, we must be the ones who unbind them.  We must be the ones who nurture and encourage them as they go forward into their new reality.  We must e the ones to whom they can turn in their new ordinariness.  When you go out, remember those for whom life has become different - reach out to them, let them know that they are not alone.  Just as our Lord has set us free, let us also be the source of freedom for those who need us in their lives. 

Myth Busting

Scripture Reading:    1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NRSV)  

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

This has to be one of the most difficult days of Samuel’s very long life.  It is clear that Saul, the king, has been disobedient.  God has told him to go find the next king, one of the son’s of Jesse from Bethlehem.  And Samuel is afraid, because if Saul hears about it, he’ll have Samuel killed.  He might even do the deed himself!  He is not exactly emotionally stable, you know.

You might wonder how on earth an emotionally unstable man like Saul happened to be chosen king of Israel.  After all, they selected him from among all the men of Israel by using lots, which they believed was the best way to make sure that the choice they made was God’s will.    And it was God’s will that they choose Saul, but in this case, God’s will wasn’t exactly running in line with what the people of Israel thought.  You see, they had come to Samuel saying, “Hey, you’re old.  Your sons are useless.  We need someone to lead us.  Give us a king.”  This upset both Samuel and God, both of whom saw this as Israel rejecting their leadership.  God said, “OK.  First tell them what it will mean to have a king, then let them choose one for themselves.”   So Samuel told them how kings behaved - about taxes and taking their daughters as servants and their sons as soldiers, and about all the excesses kings were prone to and the abuses that kings had been known to perpetrate on their people.  And they said, “We don’t care.  We want to have a king like everybody else.”  God said, “Go for it.”  Then God, who knows everything, including who is best suited to being king, selected Saul to be anointed as king, the people cast lots to determine which man of Israel was to be their king, and surprise!  Saul was the winner.   

Sidebar:  Casting lots wasn’t exactly the same as throwing dice or choosing the short straw.  There was quite a bit of religious ceremony involved, as they firmly believed that God’s hand was the one making the lots fall in order for God’s will to be made known.  Indeed, God’s will was made known in this case, although God’s  choice wasn’t what the people had hoped for when they asked for a king.

Saul thought that being the king meant he was in charge.  And he was certainly very good at being in charge of the armies, defeating everyone he came up against.  But he was disobedient to God. He made rash vows which bound even people who had no chance to know about the vow (which nearly got his son Jonathan killed), he wouldn’t listen to Samuel, he even set up an altar and performed sacrifices to the Lord in Samuel’s absence, as if he was a priest or a prophet.  And God finally said, ‘“Enough is enough.  I have chosen another king to take over Israel from Saul.”  So we arrive at today’s story.  And the myth of David, the shepherd boy.  

Samuel has looked over all of Jesse’s sons, or so he thought.  There was one more, he was told, the youngest, but he was out in the fields keeping the sheep.  And from that one line comes the image of David as the innocent young shepherd, much beloved of the people who illustrate children’s books.  (May we see the next slide, please?)   We love the image of this young boy going up against the wisdom of all the warriors and the leaders of the armies and even the king himself to face the giant Goliath, armed with nothing but a slingshot.  That is so awesome, right?  God took this young man, a child really, and performed a miracle so that Israel would win the victory!  

Or not.   Consider this.  The flocks that Jesse’s youngest son watched represented a large portion of his family’s wealth.  He would be out in the fields with them for weeks, maybe even months, at a time.  He would help ewes deliver their lambs, he would chase down any of the silly things that wandered off and got lost (and for those of you who don’t know, sheep are not the brightest animals on God’s green earth!).  And he protected them from dangers, from lions and tigers and bears, oh my.  OK, not tigers.  But hear what the Bible has to say about the David who was eventually presented to Samuel.  “Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.”    A few verses later, when Saul asks someone to find him a skilled musician to help combat the evil spirits tormenting him, 18 One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a warrior, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence; and the Lord is with him.”     An accomplished musician, a skilled warrior, proficient in the use of the sling, a man of valor.  Not a child.  Not an adorable shepherd boy.  A man - a man who had God’s favor from that day forward.  

I know, I hate killing beloved myths.   I love myths and legends.  You should have seen me when I first learned that the legend of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox was an advertising gimmick!  I was devastated.  I was a bit disappointed when these truths about David were pointed out to me, too.  But, we all have to grow up sometime, I suppose.  And the fact of the matter is, this young warrior did go up against Goliath, and did defeat him in what was maybe not quite a fair fight because he was armed with and proficient in the use of one of the deadliest long distance weapons  of the time, and Goliath was expecting hand to hand combat.  (I know, another myth bites the dust.  Sorry.  Not sorry.)

But that’s not the point of today’s story.  The point of today’s story is that Samuel listened to God, went to Bethlehem even though he was fearful that Saul would find out and have him killed.  Samuel listened to God and passed over the first, strong and attractive, son of Jesse, and the second and all of the seven who were presented to him, because no matter how suitable they may have seemed, God knew which one was the right one, and it wasn’t one of them.  And although David was every bit as attractive as his brothers and as strong and as brave, he was the youngest.  The youngest son was rarely ever the one receiving the greatest blessing.  Samuel listened to God even though left to his own human devices (and prejudices) would have chosen the oldest, or the best looking, or the strongest appearing, or the most articulate.   Later, David would be disobedient.  He would commit terrible sins.  He would even be denied permission to build a Temple for God.  But he never lost God’s favor.  He was always “a man after God’s own heart.”  

We have no idea who God is going to choose to do God’s work in the world.  God has made a lot of strange choices.  Rahab, a prostitute, helped God’s people defeat Jericho.  Ruth, a Moabite, became an ancestor of David.   Martin Luther King, Jr., who really only wanted to be the pastor of his church, a church which, by the way, had fired his predecessor for excessive activism, became the leader of the Civil Rights movement.  An Albanian nun who expected to teach all her life, heard God’s call to work with the poor and sick in India, and is now known as Saint Teresa.   So many of God’s choices seem strange to us.  But every choice God makes is the right choice.  Even if the outcome isn’t exactly what was expected, as was the case with Saul, God’s choice is always the right one.  God’s direction is always the right direction.  And we should always listen.

On Wednesday I received a card in the mail with $40 cash inside.  I contacted my friend, who said she was told to send it to me, and that it was supposed to let my light shine.  So I took it with me to the MDA Lockup the very next day and the light of that gift will benefit some child with Muscular Dystrophy.  

When you hear God speaking to you, when that still small voice whispers in the back of your head, or when you are hit upside the head with a God-by-4 (which happens to me much more often than the still, small, voice) - listen!   Even if it seems like a strange direction, listen.   Even if the idea of doing what God says is frightening, as it was to Samuel, listen.  Because the Good News from today’s passage is this - God chooses whom God will, and even if we feel unworthy, even if we think we aren’t good enough, even if we are afraid to step out, even if we think we aren’t the right kind of person to do whatever it is that the voice tells us to do, God’s choices to be his hands and feet and voice in the world are always the right choices. There is no right or wrong kind of person.   God selects us, just as we are, to do whatever best suits the gifts and talents that we have been given, to serve God’s people in the world.    Go out, then, without fear, for God is with you.

Soul Deep Hunger and Thirst

Scripture Reading: John 4:5-42  (NRSV)   

5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)[a] 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you[b] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he,[c] the one who is speaking to you.”

27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah,[d] can he?” 30 They left the city and were on their way to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving[e] wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

********************************************************************************************I've preached on this particular passage several times.  It does come around in the lectionary once every 3 years, after all.  Most of those sermons I have preached in the past have focused on the woman as a woman, as an outsider, as someone Jesus, as an observant and law obedient Jew, would never have talked to in public.  A sinful woman, perhaps.  Certainly one rejected by most of the other women in her community - although possibly not the men, although they, too, would have probably shunned her in public.  Just sayin'.   I have focused on Jesus' radical inclusion of everyone, even a Samaritan, even a woman whom he believed was busily committing adultery with one of the village men.  Drinking from her cup, and offering in return water that was different from any she had ever tried.  I have talked about how the message of God's forgiveness sometimes comes best from someone who has been forgiven.  I've even sometimes focused the work of Church World Service, which includes helping villages suffering from a lack of water build wells right in their central square, so that the women don't have to walk miles and miles for clean water - and about the lack of drinkable water even here in the US - on the Navajo reservation, for example, and now in Flint, Michigan.   I've taken this passage in all those directions, but the one I haven't touched on is that soul deep hunger and thirst that clearly this woman was experiencing.  

As I’ve often said, every time I read any passage of Scripture I see something different than I have seen before.   It happens to most of us, I think.  It depends a lot on where we are in our lives at the moment we are reading.   Sometimes we see something that helps us through whatever we are going through in our lives.  Sometimes we recognize something after we have come out on the other side.   

For example, look at the woman in the picture on the screen.  Some of you may have been seeing this picture on Facebook with a caption about health insurance, but that’s not where this image originated.   This image of a woman and her children is used as an illustration in the Hunger and Gender section on Wikipedia.   Look at her.  You can almost feel the hunger and thirst she is feeling.  Hers isn’t the “I missed lunch today cause I was busy doing stuff” kind of hunger that most of us have experienced, or the “I’m hungry because I have made a commitment to eat less and get more healthy,” kind of hunger that comes with a new diet plan.  No.  Hers is that soul deep hunger for, yes, food, but also for hope.  Hers is the kind of hunger that can’t be satisfied with a hot meal at a church, although, trust me, that is greatly appreciated.  Hers is the kind of hunger that can only be relieved by knowing that there is something more out there, something better, some hope that the future won’t just bring more of the same.   Hers is the kind of hunger that wants to have hope that at least her children will know something better, even if her life will never change.  That kind of hunger isn’t just about food.  The thirst that drives her isn’t just about water.  

I recognize that feeling in her because I have felt it.  I have often said that the day when I woke up feeling empty inside and knowing it is the day I made the decision to change my life, stop using drugs, and find a new way to live.  Just getting clean helped me feel better, hopeful that my life really could be different.  Discovering that the God I had been taught about in the church I grew up in wasn’t at all the sort of God that these new people in my life believed in also helped.  As time passed, my emptiness started to fill up with faith.  When I found the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and began attending worship, learning more about this loving, caring, forgiving God, I could feel my soul filling more and more.  It has been a process.  There have been times when I felt completely filled, and other times when I still felt like I was lacking something.  There have even been times when I felt that pain, that emptiness again - after my brother died, for example - but because I knew that God was with me I was able to get through.  It was a terrible time for me.  I could barely function, but I had to.  Thankfully, I had faith, a teensy itsy bit of faith, small as a mustard seed, that I would get through that, that the pain would lessen over time, that no matter what, I was going to be ok, and that we would be reunited eventually.   

When I recognized myself in that woman’s picture the very week that the Samaritan woman at the well came around in the lectionary, I knew that her soul deep hunger and thirst was, for this year at least, the part I needed to address.

Maybe you haven’t ever felt this hopelessness, this depression, this despair.  But I suspect most of us have, even if just for a short time.  But if you haven’t, consider that Samaritan woman.  Alone.  Rejected by her neighbors.  Separated by history and conflict from the religion of her ancestors . . .  because the Samaritans were what was left of the ten tribes of Israel that broke away when Solomon’s son Rehoboam took the throne.  They couldn’t go to the Temple in Jerusalem, so they built their own. . .  and she was unlikely to be welcomed there, anyway, even in the court of the women.  And suddenly here is this man, this Jewish man, who speaks to her when no Jew ever spoke to a Samaritan, no decent man spoke to a strange woman in public (and vice versa). He spoke to her of water, living water, and she didn’t understand.  Until suddenly she did.  And that hole in her soul began to fill.  That soul deep hunger and thirst became satisfied.  Her healing had begun.  So she went to tell everyone, and brought them all back to him, to the one who had brought her salvation, healing, and changed her life.

When I was in seminary learning all kinds of theological goodies, I listened to all of the professors and read all of the books and thought most of the discussion around who God is and what God wants from us were word games, right up there with the arguments over the number of angels who can dance on the head of a pin.  None of it sounded like it was something to do, only something to believe and talk about.  My advisor was not pleased to hear this.  But then I took a course on Liberation Theology from the Rev. Dr. Carmelo Alvarez and for the first time encountered a kind of theology that has us out doing what Jesus said to do, working together to change the world the way Jesus was trying to change his world.  And I knew I had found the thing I needed to fill up my soul the rest of the way.  It was what was missing.  It was the “how to heal the world” part of Christianity that I had been yearning for.   Coming to understand that salvation is healing, that Christianity is an active faith, not a passive one, was my Samaritan woman at the well moment.   Suddenly, it all made sense to me.  And I knew I was in the right place.

A while back my friend Danny Bradfield, pastor of Bixby Knolls Christian Church in Long Beach, wrote this.   “SALVATION. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. The way Jesus used it, it means finding wholeness. "To save someone" meant to rescue them from oppression, from poverty, from being cast aside or thrown out by society. But that's hard work, so Jesus's followers soon decided that salvation simply meant believing in Jesus. After all, it's a lot easier to walk around saying "believe, believe" than it is to actually help those who suffer from all the classism, racism, sexism, and other sins of society.

The Greek word SOZO is often translated as "saved" (salvation) in English but it really means being made whole/well, starting now (in this life)...The Greek word that is translated as "believe" actually means "be passionately committed to." The Greek phrase for "eternal life" would be better translated as "the life of the ages," referring to a life of wholeness now as well as in the future. Jesus LIVED so that ALL may experience this life of wholeness, but those who did not like his message killed him because of it. But God showed his approval of all Jesus stood for by raising him back to life, to show that the way of life will prevail.” 

The Samaritan woman went back to her village and told everyone what Jesus had said.  Of course they all ran back to hear this for themselves.  And they kept him there for two days, to feed their soul deep hunger and assuage their thirst.  The villagers heard the word from her and that was good but then they heard it from Jesus.  That was like the difference between drinking a cup of water someone brought you and drinking directly from the spring.  Have you ever done that?  We had a spring house when I was young.  The water came through pipes into our house and it was good.  But there was just something about going into the spring house and reaching down with my hand to scoop up that cold, fresh water straight into my mouth.  I imagine it would have been like that.   And then, at the end of two days,  “They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”  

This is truly the Savior of the world.  The Word that he brings is the living water, the eternal food, that heals our souls and enables us to go out to heal the world.  It is that Word which feeds our soul deep hunger and thirst each time we gather for worship, each time we come together at the table, each time we share the Word of our Lord with another.   My sisters and brothers, when we go from this place today, let us go forth ready to share that water and that food, that healing love of God, through our every word and action, with each other and with the world. 

Take off your shoes!

Scripture Reading: Matthew 17:1-9 Common English Bible (CEB)

17 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain. 2 He was transformed in front of them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

3 Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good that we’re here. If you want, I’ll make three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!” 6 Hearing this, the disciples fell on their faces, filled with awe.

7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don’t tell anybody about the vision until the Human One is raised from the dead.”

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Sometimes people ask me where on earth I got the idea for a sermon title, or for the direction my message wanders off into.  And I totally understand why they might wonder.  Sometimes I actually know the answer.  Other times it’s more like, I dunno.  I read something somewhere?  Maybe a Facebook post?  Or one of my daily meditations?  But this season, this Lenten Season in the year of our Lord 2017, I have taken my titles and inspirations and scripture readings directly from the Lenten Devotional book you are all reading every single day.  So when you come here on Sunday mornings for the next several Sundays you will hear an expansion on what you just read that morning.  

So, this morning Lynette Johnson wrote about Peter’s response to Elijah and Moses joining Jesus on the mountaintop, noting that this is “one of those stories that highlights Peter’s shortcomings.”  Given that most stories featuring Peter highlight his shortcomings, this is not at all surprising.  She says, “You just want to shake him…!”  Yup.  That’s what I want to do alright.  Most of the time.  I mean, really Peter?  You think that’s  a good idea?

So, in this story Peter, James and John go with Jesus to the mountain top where he is transformed, and the two great prophets Moses and Elijah appear there to speak with him.  Peter says, let us build you huts - or in the translation we used today, shrines - one for each of you.  And you can tell he’s thinking, “Oh Lordy.  Moses and Elijah are standing there with my rabbi!  What can I do?  I can’t just stand here.  I have to do something.  These guys need to have special recognition. I know!  Let’s build something!”  

OK, enough laughing at Peter now.  I mean, which of us would have responded better, I wonder?  I mean, it’s not like we daydream about going with our favorite preacher up to the top of the mountains and Jesus suddenly shows up to talk to her, and we plan out how we will behave, right?   Of course, I’m not totally sure how he knew it was Moses and Elijah - it’s not like they had portraits of them in every synagogue or anything . . . Anyway, the fact that he didn’t immediately fall to his knees in humble adoration kind of makes sense.  Plus, Jews wouldn’t automatically fall to their knees, as they stand up to pray anyway.  But Peter was a do something kind of guy.  When faced with an unknown situation, he looked for something constructive to do.   We understand that perfectly.  Someone dies and we start cooking, or planning how to help the family.  A celebration is coming up?  We start making lists of who is bringing the cookies, and who will open the building.   We hear that a family has lost their home in a fire?  We look for ways to replace what they have lost.   If Jesus, Moses and Elijah should appear here, in this place, I imagine that we would immediately start running to bring out the best chairs for them to sit on and telling the deacons to make sure they are served first, and asking if there is a particular hymn they would like to hear . . .The idea of simply taking off our shoes, of standing quietly with bare feet, in the presence of the holy just doesn’t occur to us.  

I mean, we don’t even always think of taking off our shoes as being a recognition of the sacred.  Yes, Moses was directed to take off his shoes in the presence of the burning bush, as God was present in the bush and in the ground around the bush.  And somehow that makes sense to us, but the idea that we should take off our shoes in the presence of the Holy doesn’t.   Leah and I have a conversation almost every Sunday about shoes.  She takes hers off the minute she gets here on Sunday mornings, and always tells me she’ll put them back on before worship begins. I always tell her I don’t care, and I’m pretty sure God doesn’t either.  (That goes for you, too, Jordan.  When I find a pair of shoes in the church office, I know that Jordan is around here someplace.)  But in this place and time, keeping our shoes on in the presence of the Holy makes sense. Probably because we kind of believe that God is present every where and all the time.  Taking off our shoes in the presence of new carpet, on the other hand . . .  

My mother’s friend Eleanor was one of those ladies whose living room was totally off limits.  It wasn’t a matter of taking off your shoes when you went in.  You simply didn’t go in!  Not if you were a kid, anyway.  Kids were only allowed in the downstairs TV room and maybe the kitchen, but never in the Sacred Living Room, where everything was covered in plastic.  I imagine some adults were allowed into the Sacred Living Room, like for Bridge Club, maybe.  And maybe she even took the plastic off when the Bridge Club came over.  I’m not sure.   But Eleanor’s Living Room was a little bit like the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Only the priests were allowed in there, and only one at a time, and only at certain prescribed times, and only if they were wearing the right clothing, because that room was the place where God’s feet touched the earth.  Normal folks could be in the courtyards, although women and non-Jews were only allowed in the very outer areas.   

I have long made it a practice to meet with a Spiritual Director once each month.  She’s sort of a companion on the journey. She works with me on seeing where God is acting in my life, helping me seek discernment in situations where I am unsure where God is leading me.  Sometimes she introduces me to new prayer practices or spiritual disciplines.   My current Spiritual Director recently had new carpet installed in the room where we meet, and as a result we take off our shoes before entering the room.  Last month - as I was wearing boots and she knows that my back is not always cooperative - she mentioned that she didn’t want to make the new carpet an idol, so if taking off my shoes would be a hardship we could wear our shoes into the room instead.  On the other hand, my former Spiritual Director invited everyone to remove their shoes upon entering the space where she met with directees, as we would be welcoming Jesus into our conversation, thus making our meeting space a sacred space.   There is a fundamental difference between these two ways of thinking.  I will not say that one is right and one is wrong.  They are simply different, and different is ok.

The thing about taking off our shoes, though, is that it makes us vulnerable.  Exposing our feet to whatever might be on the ground, or to the cold, or other people’s view is a bit scary.  I mean, our feet aren’t necessarily our most attractive feature.  They aren’t usually something we go around showing off.  We might show off a new pedicure, maybe.  But not our ordinary, every day, raggedy toenailed, un-pampered feet.  When Maundy Thursday rolls around, and Pastor Ochoa and I get out the basins and the water pitchers and the towels, and wait to see which of you all will come forward to let us wash your feet, as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, which of you will?  Which of you will allow yourself to be vulnerable, to be touched in so intimate a manner, by another person?  

Maybe Peter was feeling so vulnerable already in the presence of Elijah and Moses that he couldn’t even think of becoming more so.  Maybe he wasn’t so much excited as fearful.  And in his fear, he responded in the only way a man of action knows to respond - he looked for some familiar thing he could do.  

Here’s the thing about Peter’s shortcomings that is really, really important for us to remember.  Peter was the one whom Jesus appointed to be the foundation upon which the church would be built.  Peter, with all his faults and shortcomings and even his outright denial of Jesus on Good Friday, Peter was the one whom Jesus appointed to be the foundation on which the church would be built.  If Peter was the foundation, the cornerstone, the strong point on which all else would rest, what does that say about us?  It says that Jesus knew, God knew, that we would make mistakes.  He knew that we would get it completely wrong sometimes.  But he believed in us.  He had faith in us.  Talk about a mustard seed!  Only this time the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak.  Jesus had faith that he could put the responsibility for teaching the world about him and his message, about God and God’s loving forgiveness, about how to live as God’s beloved and loving children, all of that, into our hands, and have it come out right in the end.

My sisters and brothers, the Good News here is we don’t have to have all the answers.  We don’t have to always get it right.  Jesus had faith in Peter, with all his faults and shortcomings, to lead the entire world into reconciliation with God and with each other, and Jesus has faith in us that we will continue to do that very thing.  And if Jesus can have faith in us to do the right thing, even if it takes a bunch of tries, surely we can have faith that through Jesus, we will be transformed into the people God intends for us to be.    When we go from this place today, let us go without fear, knowing that God is with us, and that God trusts us to carry the Good News of his loving care, his forgiveness, and his steadfast love for all, out into the world.  

It Can All Be Yours

Matthew 4:1-11 (NRSV)

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

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When I looked at the slide show yesterday and got to this one, I thought to myself, “Who is that guy?”  It occurred to me after a minute that it’s Bob Barker from The Price is Right, and that this picture is exactly what I asked for.  I just never realized how much he looked like a preacher before!  People have been going on that show to win great prizes since 1956!  Bob Barker was the host from 1972 until 2007.  And he was sort of a preacher . . . every episode ended with him talking about how important it is to spay and neuter your pets.   But the reason I wanted a picture of him is because he would say things like, “It can all be yours!  If the Price is Right.”  And people would come on the show to demonstrate how well they knew the prices of common and unusual products, and even, sometimes, the price of A New Car!!!  Of course, even on the Price is Right, the prizes aren’t entirely free.  You have to pay income tax on the full list price of whatever you win.  Everything in life comes with a price, also known as, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”  

Jesus went away into the wilderness, to fast and to pray and prepare himself for the ministry that lay ahead.  He went away by himself to be closer to God, to avoid all the day to day worries and temptations so he could concentrate.  You know the sort of things I mean - the phone call that comes just as you are about to start your personal Bible Study, or the invitation to go do something with a friend instead of your daily workout, or the smell of Kentucky fried chicken in the air when you are looking at the spinach salad you brought from home . . . all those little daily things that interfere with doing what we know we are supposed to be doing.  Jesus went away into the wilderness to avoid all that, and what happens?  Satan shows up.   

According to Matthew, God’s Spirit led him into the desert to be tempted by Satan . . . and maybe that is so, because Satan did have a job to do, after all.  Throughout the scriptures, Satan fills his role as the one who is sent by God to test those most loyal.  He did a serious number of Job, you will remember, but Job remained faithful.  So now it’s Jesus’ turn. Here’s a man hungry and tired and dirty, who has just spent forty days and nights off on his own, camping rough and fasting, and Satan shows up to tempt him to use his powers for his own personal comfort.    “Are you really ready for this Jesus?”  “Yup, Satan.  I’m about as ready as I will ever be.”   

I don’t know about you, but when I read this I sort of puff up a bit thinking, “See, there Satan?  You can’t tempt Jesus!  He’s Jesus!  Perfect in every way, sinless, and un-temptable!”   But I am not sure that’s right.  After all, if Jesus was un-temptable, why would God set this up?  And Matthew makes it pretty clear that God set it up, just like Job’s temptation was a set up.  We have to remember that Jesus was fully human, which means not only that he got hungry and dirty and tired like the rest of us, but that he was also prone to temptation, like the rest of us.  The whole point of Jesus being human is so that we would understand that what he did was do-able for all of us.  The whole point of Jesus being human is so that we would know he grieved when Lazarus died, just as we grieve.  So that we would know he felt the pain of the lash and the nails, and of death, just as we do.  So that we would know that he had to push aside temptation . . . that his saying “No” to the temptation to turn rocks into bread and let angels rescue him and take ownership of the world was real.  Not the “No” of someone who was never tempted to say “Yes,” but the “No” of someone who had to think about if, even if just for a second.  The whole point of Jesus being human is so that we would not sit around saying, “Well, yeah, but that was Jesus!   I’m not at all like Jesus!  He’s God!  I can’t do what he did!”

It’s tempting, though, isn’t it?   To decide that we can’t follow in Jesus’ footsteps because we aren’t Jesus?  We aren’t perfect.  We aren’t the son of God.  We don’t embody God’s Word, as Jesus did.  We can’t do miracles, or cast out demons, or make the blind see or the lame walk, or feed the 5,000, or raise someone from death.  We’re just human.  It is so tempting to think that we are just human and that Jesus wasn’t and so, of course, we can’t do what he did.  But the thing is, Jesus was human.   Jesus was like us, and we can be like him.  And the temptation to believe that we can’t be might be the most terrible of all the temptations we face.

A side note:  For those of you who remember comedian Flip Wilson’s character “Geraldine” - the devil can’t make you do it.   For those who don’t remember, Geraldine (who was Flip Wilson in drag) would tell all these stories about things she and her boyfriend Killer got up to, and would always excuse her behavior by saying, “The devil made me do it!”  That is just plain not true.  The devil can’t make anyone do anything, but can only present us with temptation.  Some are small temptations - like cookies.  Some are larger - like Grand Theft Auto.  But the devil can’t force us to behave badly, and God won’t force us to be good.  We have free will.  We get to choose in every situation what we will do.  Sometimes the choices we are faced with aren’t great, but we always have a choice.   

Just like Jesus did.  More than once in his ministry, he had a choice.  He could have given in to Satan’s suggestion that he turn stones into bread.  He had been fasting for 40 days, so minimal food and drink for over a month!   And the idea of bread, right now, must have been tempting.  But he said no, that God’s word was more satisfying than bread.  Satan’s other offers may have held more or less attraction, but I think the food thing after 40 days of not much food would be hard to resist.  Of course, that’s just me.  I always find food hard to resist, and that’s without fasting.  Maybe being king of the world would have been more tempting to Jesus.  I dunno.  But I do know that later on, right near the end, Jesus asked God if he could let the cup pass from him.  He could have chosen, even at that late date, to walk away from the hard road ahead.  He could have given into the temptation to prolong his life.  But he chose to go forward to the cross.  

Jesus was human, just like we are.  There is nothing he did that we cannot do.    We maybe can’t do it to the extent that he did, but listen.  How many people do we feed at Christian Cafe?  How many people do we feed at the SMART center?  Maybe not 5,000 all at once, but still, a lot of hungry folks are fed.  How many hearts do we heal every time we make it really clear that at this church, “All means All.”?  How many demons of pain and fear and unworthiness do we drive out when we hug someone who has never felt truly accepted before?  Maybe we can’t say, “Get up, take up your mat and walk.” But we can say, “Your sins are forgiven” and know that we have spoken the truth.  That’s what Jesus did.  And that’s what got Jesus in trouble.   

Jesus mostly did human things, not great marvels. If he had done great marvels, I suspect it would have been harder for the Temple to act against him.  I mean, if someone could make armies of angels appear at his back, would you stand against him?  No.  Jesus didn’t do those huge things that Satan suggested.   Jesus mostly did small, every day things. Human things.  Do-able things.  He healed hearts and souls.  He inspired others to share their food.  He laid his hands on people who weren’t used to being touched.  He encouraged people to help one another.  He welcomed those who felt unwelcome.  He turned away from those who would have him hold himself apart, who would treat him like a celebrity instead of “just” a teacher.  He reminded everyone of God’s desire for all of us to be reconciled with God and with one another.  

Our theme for the season of Lent is “With faith the size of a mustard seed.”  The way to avoid the great temptation to think that you cannot possibly follow in Jesus’ footsteps is to have just that much faith - faith the size of a mustard seed.  The Good News is that a tiny speck of faith is all it takes to step out and do the things that Jesus would have you do, the things that Jesus did.  Feed the hungry.  Heal the sin sick soul.  Comfort the lonely, the tired, the rejected.  Remind people that they are forgiven.  Assure people that they are loved.  Love the unloveable.  Stand against oppression - against bullying and hateful talk.  Act in all ways like a child of God, with faith that in Him all things are possible.  Go out from this place today, and be like Jesus.  

Foundations and Futures

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 (NRSV)

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

“He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

20 and again,

“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,  that they are futile.”

21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

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 Every week Leah and I conspire together on the artwork for the message.  Sometimes we giggle like little girls, sometimes we share that evil geek laugh that means we have come up with something seriously outlandish, and sometimes we have an idea that just seems to come from God.  This week felt more like one of the God weeks - and we didn’t quite get what we were hoping for, but we did pretty well.  I was working toward getting a clear-ish shot of the foundation stone through the rose bush, symbolizing new growth sort of obscuring the beginnings.  When my photography skills weren’t up to the challenge, we asked Jordan to give it a shot.  But I forgot to tell him the concept.  So he went to great lengths to carefully bend the rosebush out of the way, so he could get a clear shot of the stone.  (No musicians were injured in the taking of this photograph.)   

And maybe his concept is better, anyway.  Because here we are, in the now, celebrating our past and looking toward our future.  And right now today the new growth that is the rose bush is sort of covering up the foundation stone, but in a beautiful way.  Not obscuring it, exactly, but enhancing it.   No one looking from the street can see what year we built this building, but everyone can see the beauty that is produced on this land.  And that’s kind of the point of church, don’t you think?

The church in Corinth was having growing pains.  And it was having trouble remembering whose church it was, exactly.  Paul had founded the church, but after he left various other evangelists came and preached for a bit - you know, new pastors, bringing new ideas with them.  As a result, some of them thought they were Paul’s church, and some thought they were Appolos’ church, and some thought they were the church of Cephas.  And Paul says, “All of y’all are wrong.  This is the church of Jesus Christ.  He is the church’s foundation.  I’m just the guy who laid the stones. And they are guys who helped you all build it stronger. But it’s Jesus’ church.  He is the foundation.” 

You know, that still happens sometimes.  Congregations, and even pastors, sometimes forget whose church this is.  Sometimes a cult of personality is built and it seems to be all about the pastor.  You know, like the way people sometimes talk about Joel Osteen’s church, or Rick Warren’s church, or Robert Shuller’s Crystal Cathedral.  As if they are all about the pastor, and the real foundation got lost in translation somehow.  

But if you were here last night, if you were here and heard former pastors Patty Evans and Janet Chapman talk about this church and this congregation, you would know that here, at First Christian Church in Selma, nobody forgets who the church’s one foundation is.  Their stories were about Jesus on the roof, and a congregation caring for its pastor, and about the love that flows out of this place like a river.  If you were here last night, you heard the folks from Visalia Church talk about they love they felt in here, and about the joy with which they made a gift to enable us to move forward.  If you were here last night, you heard us celebrating the building, but even more than that, you heard us celebrating the people whose love for Christ’s church caused this building to be raised, on a foundation of chicken dinners.  And a successful pledge campaign.  You see, I was listening to Alan’s excellent history lesson.  

The church in Corinth was having growing pains.  It wasn’t the same small group of believers that started a house church with Paul as their founding pastor.  It wasn’t even the established church with a Sunday School of over 200 people whose picture normally hangs in the church office.  Or am I getting it confused with the Disciples church in Selma?  Never mind, the church in Corinth did get through their growing pains and changed in ways that no one could have imagined.  They continued to have internal conflicts and theological conversations, some of them a bit heated, and Paul continued to try to help them understand that it really wasn’t just about them.  It was about Jesus.  It was about helping others.  It was about becoming whatever they needed to become to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world.  He said to them, “let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours,  whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”  The church in Corinth grew and changed and moved and spread the Gospel, and that is all Paul hoped for, that this church he started would spread the Good News across the land.

So here we are, a couple of thousand years later, celebrating our 100 year old building.   And we look at pictures of Sunday School classes of 200 people and wonder why it’s not like that any more.  Sometimes I think we forget - and some of you may not even know this - but once upon a time there weren’t any businesses open on Sunday - in 1916, for example, and 1960 as well.  There weren’t places to go and people to see on Sundays, or children’s sports teams playing, or totally important TV shows, or social networking, or video games, or malls.  Most people didn’t work on Sunday.  There really wasn’t much else to do except go to church.  It was entertainment, of a sort. Today, it’s different.  Today, when we are all expected to multi-task and be involved in everything, and we are bombarded with all kinds of opportunities and ways to spend our time, it can be hard to decide where to put our priorities.  The fact that this many of you show up here on Sunday morning says a lot, not about me or this particular church, but about you and your dedication to God.  

The church is going through growing pains.   It’s not like it was in Paul’s day, or like it was when this building was built.  When they built this building it was cutting edge - the very newest thing!  It was, and is, beautiful, a magnificent testimony to architectural creativity and the gifts of an unknown stained glass artist.   And it would be awesome if we could just stay here and bask in this beauty for another 100 years.   But . . .

“We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.  As part of the one body of Christ we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.”

We welcome all to the Lord’s Table….except we don’t.  We can’t.  We are limited by architecture, which, as beautiful and awe inspiring as it is, is not welcoming to all persons.  Our tech guy, Jason, can’t come to this church.  Our older members who have trouble walking, can’t come to this church.  Folks who are in wheelchairs and can’t manage stairs, can’t come to this church.  Oh, they can get in to the sanctuary, but heaven forbid they should need to use the bathroom, because that’s down a couple of sets of stairs.  Engineers have been consulted and long ago the decision was made, with great pain I am sure, to build a new building.  

I take welcoming all persons very seriously.  Sometimes it seems that when we say “All” we have particular sets of persons in mind.  But All means All - everyone!  Including folks with accessibility issues.  My Uncle Frank only had one leg and I saw how hard it was for him to get around.  A dear friend in Florida was paraplegic, and an activist for the Americans with Disabilities Act.  My ex-husband spent the time we were at Chapman caring for a quadriplegic and his service dog, Shadow.  In seminary I was student chaplain in a retirement community, which had been designed with the ADA in mind.  Accessibility is important to me.  Welcoming All persons is important to me.  And I believe it is important to you.

When I was interviewing with the Search Committee they told me about their plans to build a new building.  They were so proud of the concept, and so sad that the economy tanked right at the height of their enthusiasm.  The building was delayed, the ground it was to occupy lay fallow, the building campaign came to a halt.  And, like all search committees have done since the days of that little house church in Corinth, they asked me to grow the church.  But here was a real opportunity to do just that.  A new building, a dream already in place, a place where the entire community can gather, a congregation who is more than willing to take the lead in doing Christ’s work in the world.  I can seriously get behind that.  Or in front of it.  Whichever.  

I know there are still some who aren’t sure we need to go ahead with a new building.  I know there are some who worry how we will come up with the money.    And I want to remind you what our theme for the year is . . . Fear not, for I am with you.   

Fear not.  Have faith.  For God is with us in every circumstance.

If you were here last night, you heard two Disciples from Visalia talk about the future of our church, and how their gift to us of $10,000 for our new building fund is their way of staying alive, in us.  If you were here last night, the Spirit brought you to your feet, applauding and crying out with joy at that sign of love and faith.  If you were here last night, you know that we need not fear the future, that our past makes it clear that we came this far by faith, and that God will take us where ever we need to go in the future.   If you were here last night, you know that this celebration weekend is not just a birthday party, not just a celebration of the past, but a going ahead party.  I believe that those 100 year ago Selma disciples, who had outgrown their beloved wood church over by Berry Park, are standing in heaven cheering us on as we move forward, into the future, into another new building, which hopefully will last through another 100 years of making Disciples.  

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord.  But we are the stones and the mortar and workers who will raise that church from its foundation.  We are the hands and feet and voice of Christ, who will continue to carry the Good News to the ends of the earth, and who will make a place where all persons may come and worship God, and be made whole again.  We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness . . .   Let us go forward into our fragmented world, to make it whole.  

A Matter of Life and Death

Sirach 15:15-20 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

15 If you choose, you can keep the commandments,

    and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.

16 He has placed before you fire and water;

    stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.

17 Before each person are life and death,

    and whichever one chooses will be given.

18 For great is the wisdom of the Lord;

    he is mighty in power and sees everything;

19 his eyes are on those who fear him,

    and he knows every human action.

20 He has not commanded anyone to be wicked,

    and he has not given anyone permission to sin.

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Some of you may be wondering about the reading this morning.  Sirach is part of the collection of books in the Bible known as the Apocrypha.   These are books of Wisdom sayings, stories, and prophetic writings that are considered to be informative and important as to matters of living right, but are not thought to be authoritative in matters of doctrine.  They are generally found in between the Old and New Testament, and more often in study Bibles than in personal or pew Bibles.  They are included in the Revised Common Lectionary used in many Protestant churches - like this one - for the selection of scriptures to be preached each week as one of the Old Testament selections, as all of them are believed to have been written sometime between the last of the prophets and the birth of Jesus.  That belief is pretty much backed up by the fact that many tell the story of what happened in and to Israel after the exile.  I am quite fond of some of the readings to be found in Sirach.  My very favorite is one I use for folks who don’t want to cooperate with their doctors, which ends with the words, “He who sins against his Maker, will be defiant toward the physician.”  (Sirach 38:15).  

Just so you know, all of today’s passages speak of good and evil, obedience and disobedience, the choice between life and death.  I chose this reading because i just really liked how plainly the dichotomy was stated in Sirach.  “If you choose, you can keep the commandments.”  

The reading in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 says the same thing, but somewhat less clearly.  “15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God. . . then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, . . . 18 I declare to you today that you shall perish;”  The problem with this reading is it also seems to set up the concept of “Do right and good things will happen.  Do evil and bad things will happen.”  It was this concept that the Book of Job was written to address, because bad things DO happen to good and obedient people, all the time.

When I was a student at Chapman I said to my advisor one time, apropos of I don’t remember what, “It must have been God’s will. It happened because it was meant to happen.”  He asked if I really believed that.  When I said yes, he asked if I thought God had planned for me to be a drug addict, and if God had caused all the bad things that I experienced before and after those years to happen.  I said no, of course not, because God is good and loving.  I told him I believed that we have a choice, that one of the greatest gifts God has given us is free will, and … at that point my voice kind of drifted off and I realized that I was busy believing two opposite things at the same time.  That’s not terribly unusual.  Lots of us believe in contradictory things all the time.  But in this case, the next thing I knew I had agreed to do my senior project on Free Will, and so I spent the next 3 months doing research, meeting with him to discuss my research, and writing my thesis.   

That work has been incredibly helpful to me.  One man used to ask me all the time if I believed that God has a plan for everyone.  He was especially worried about children who are killed in war zones, or die from horrible, preventable diseases, or die of hunger.  He wanted to know what kind of God makes a plan like that for someone’s life?  Another man, who had once been a very active member of his church, told me he left the church when his teenaged son was killed by a drunk driver.  He couldn’t forgive God for taking his son like that.   Even though he understood the concept that the drunk driver made a decision to get behind the wheel of his car, he still couldn’t get past the belief that God could have stopped it.  He couldn’t accept that God’s plan for his son was to die at age 17 because some dude decided to drive drunk.  

I do, in fact, believe that God has plans for all of us.  But sometimes other people’s decisions, or our own, or even natural disasters, interfere with that plan, and because God is not a puppet master, God’s plan doesn’t come to fruition.  I don’t believe that God’s plan is for children to die of preventable diseases, or in a war because one group of people want the land and rare metals or gems that another people live on, or in drunk driving accidents.  I believe that God has a magnificent plan for everyone’s life.  But droughts and wars and decisions by governments continue to kill children and cut short God’s plans for them.  An individual’s bad decision killed the young man and many others like him, and destroyed the magnificent plans God had for them.  

This is not to say that God is not all powerful.  God is more powerful than we can possibly imagine!  But I believe strongly that God has given us free will, that we get to choose between good and evil, life and death, blessing and curse.  And because God has given us that gift, I believe He feels it necessary to allow our decisions to bear whatever fruit they will.  I believe that, because God has given each of us that choice, when my bad decision impacts someone else, as it often does, I have to live with the consequences.  I find that this passage in Sirach says that so much better than any other reading I have come across.  First, we make the choice to either be obedient or not.  And then, “He has not commanded anyone to be wicked, and he has not given anyone permission to sin.”  God is no puppet master, and wants us to do what is right. But we have to make the choice to do God’s will, or not.  It was never God’s plan for me to become a drug addict, and while maybe it is good now that I have had all those experiences, still, all those years of doing the wrong thing were by my choice.  I believe that I started doing God’s will when I realized that I was dead inside and wanted to live.  I believe I started doing God’s will when I made the decision to change my life, and that decision eventually led me here.  

“If you choose, you can keep the commandments.  and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.

He has placed before you fire and water He has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.   

17 Before each person are life and death,  and whichever one chooses will be given.”

Making the right choices, the obedient choices, can be incredibly difficult.  We talked about that last week - trying to decide what is right and just can be really hard.  There might be no one right answer, no one obviously right choice.  Sometimes it really does come down to, “What will hurt the least number of people?” or “What will do the least harm?”  If the decision I make is on the side of love and compassion, I have probably made the right one.  If the decision I make is a result of selfishness or fear, anger or hatred, then it is probably not the best choice.  

God’s choice for the people of Israel, from his very first conversation with Abram, was for them to follow his commandments, treat each other with the kind of extravagant love that He poured out on them, and be his hands and feet and mouth in the world.  Unfortunately, over and over again Israel wandered off, made the wrong choices, and eventually had to be rescued.  Over and over again, God sent rescuers - judges like Samson and Deborah, prophets like Samuel, Kings Saul and David and Solomon, even foreign kings, like Cyrus the Great.  And then he sent someone different, someone who wasn’t as obvious as David or Samson or even Cyrus.  He sent Jesus, an ordinary man, to simply speak God’s Word to everyone he encountered.  To teach the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness.  To make disciples and spread that Word across all the earth.  To tell everyone that we have choices today.  That we, as descendants of Abraham by adoption, have the same choices that God gave the people of Israel so long ago - to choose the ways of God, or the ways of the world.  That we can choose to do what Love demands and live, or what the world demands and die inside.  

I think I like it best the way Joshua said it, when he faced the Hebrews on the banks of the River.  “Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, . . . but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”   (Joshua 24:15)  

May we all choose to follow Jesus, and serve the Lord, our God.