Good for what ails you

 Scripture. Mark 1:29-39. NRSV.  

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

 

35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38 He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

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When I sit down to write the final version of my message early on whatever day I am going to preach - Sundays when we meet in person, Saturdays when I am recording - the first thing I do is read the passage over again, and pray.  I pray to hear whatever God wants me to say. I pray for my mind to settle so that I CAN hear whatever God wants me to say.  Sometimes it takes a little more to get in the right frame of mind.  This morning, after I lit my candle and set up my document and read the passage again and prayed, I still wasn’t quite there.  So I turned to YouTube and I found a video of operatic sopranos Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman singing “There is a Balm in Gilead.”  I got lost in the music, and in the feeling the words inspired.  

Healing has been on my mind for quite a while.  As individuals and as a nation, we are in great need of healing right now.  We have been living through a time like no other in living memory.  We are angry, frustrated, rebellious, depressed, anxious, fearful, and grieving.  We are wounded in spirit.  

In first century Palestine the people were suffering under the yoke of the Roman occupation - the Pax Romana, Roman peace, brought to their nation and maintained at sword point.  They were over taxed.  Rape and forced labor were common.  They were not safe in their own country.  There were frequent rebellions, put down easily by Roman soldiers.  They were wounded in spirit.  They were also hopeful, waiting for the one whom God would send to free them, because God had ALWAYS sent someone to free them.  

John had been preaching repentance and baptizing, and prophesying the Messiah’s coming.  He baptized Jesus, and God spoke, saying you are my beloved son.  Then, we are told, the Spirit forced Jesus into the wilderness for forty days where he was tempted by Satan, after which (and after John’s arrest) he started preaching in Galilee.  He called his first disciples, went into Capernaum to preach in the synagogue there, cast out a demon - who recognized him! but whom Jesus silenced - and then, along with James and John, went home with Simon and Andrew for dinner.  This story takes place at the very beginning of his ministry.  The people who had heard him preach and seen him cast out the demon in the synagogue had begun to spread the story of what they had seen and heard.  And all those who had been waiting began to think that this, this man from Nazareth in Galilee, might be the one they had been waiting for.

Mind you, the people didn’t begin to spread the news of Jesus’ teaching and healing until after the events at the synagogue - and Mark tells us that Jesus and company went to Simon and Andrew’s house immediately, directly from the synagogue that day.  So he wasn’t yet all that famous - his reputation did not precede him to Simon’s mother-in-law.  She didn’t know him as a healer, and yet, when he touched her, when he took her hand and lifted her up, the fever left her.

Meanwhile, the story of what happened in the synagogue spread like wildfire throughout the city.  Those who heard it brought their sick and demon-touched from all over the city for healing - and heal them he did.  And again he silenced the demons, so that they could not tell the people who he was.  

Later on Mark will tell us about the woman who had been hemorrhaging for years, and having  been hearing stories about Jesus’ for quite some time, had so much faith in Jesus’ healing power that she believed if she could just touch the hem of his clothing she could be healed.  And that Jesus would say to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”   

Faith healing.  It’s one of those kind of touchy parts of Christianity.  Like speaking in tongues and casting out demons and prophetic visions. It’s one thing to believe that the ancient prophets and Jesus and some of his disciples and saints can do these things, but now?  When we hear about faith healing we might think about one of those Big Tent revival preachers we see on TV shows and movies touching someone’s head and they fall to the floor, or throw away their crutches and kick up their heels as they dance down the aisle back to their seat, with everyone in the tent calling out Hallelujah!   Of course, on TV shows the preacher is usually a fake, the person who was healed is a plant, and the people who were so desperate for a cure that they would put all their money in the basket, hoping that they, too, could be miraculously healed were invariably disappointed.  They might be told that their faith just wasn’t strong enough.

Way too many people believe that if you ask God for healing, you will be healed IF you have enough faith. When I was in seminary one of my classmates came in, obviously distressed.  When we asked what was wrong he told us his pastor had been fired the night before.  She had been diagnosed with lupus a few months earlier, and it did not go away even after many prayers for healing.  The congregation’s Board told her that she clearly did not have sufficient faith in God, or she would have been healed, and they could not have a pastor who was that lacking in faith.   This was wrong on so many levels . . .

The Hollywood version of faith healing notwithstanding, being healed by faith is definitely a thing. It’s just that asking for a specific type of healing might not be fruitful.  I don’t know whether you have ever been the recipient of prayers for healing, but I have.  When I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1999, facing major surgery I started asking for prayer.  The congregation I belonged to prayed, and all of my friends prayed, and they asked all their friends to pray.  One friend sent a prayer request to a family member in Jerusalem, who stuck the prayer in the Wailing Wall.  I could feel their prayers. I could feel God’s love.  It was like I was being held in giant hands, or like a baby chick safely tucked under the hen’s wings.  The cancer did not miraculously leave, but because of all those prayers I had peace of mind. My anxiety and worries were relieved.  And because we tend to heal better when we aren’t worried, that allowed me to heal from the surgery so quickly it surprised the doctor!  Prayers for healing may not “cure” the body, but they can absolutely heal the soul. 

It is not just individuals who require healing of heart and spirit.  Jeremiah tells us that God lamented over the suffering of his people. 

“For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,

    I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?

    Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people

    not been restored?”  (Jeremiah 8:21-22. NRSV)

I think maybe God is speaking those words again today, for us as individuals and for our nation, indeed for the entire world.  Our spiritual health is in need of healing, of restoration.  We are in need of that balm, that physician.  We are in need of healing touch.  Our souls are tired.  Our hearts are wounded.  Our worries and anger and frustration and all of those things, all of those sins, keep us sick, keep us from being well - they keep us from good spiritual health, from loving as God would have us love.  And God laments, God mourns when we are not well, when we are hurting.   

Is there no balm in Gilead?  Yes!  Yes, there is.

There IS a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole
To heal the sin-sick soul

The physician we need is Jesus, who came into the world, who was sent into the world to heal us all, to reconcile us all with each other and with God, in love.  The balm is prayer, which we feel through the touch of the Holy Spirit, who brings us wisdom, who brings us understanding of God’s desires for us.    

There is a balm in Gilead. And it is in our hands.  Our discipleship challenge for this week is to apply that balm to all the peoples of the earth - to pray for the healing of all the wounded hearts and spirits - for an ending to the anger and hatred and division, the worries and anxieties and frustrations.  For wholeness and healing.  For a restoration of good health to all of God’s people.  And all means All. 

Do I have to?

 Scripture Matthew 26:36-46. CEB.  

36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane. He said to the disciples, “Stay here while I go and pray over there.” 37 When he took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, he began to feel sad and anxious. 38 Then he said to them, “I’m very sad. It’s as if I’m dying. Stay here and keep alert with me.” 39 Then he went a short distance farther and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However—not what I want but what you want.”

40 He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you stay alert one hour with me? 41 Stay alert and pray so that you won’t give in to temptation. The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.” 42 A second time he went away and prayed, “My Father, if it’s not possible that this cup be taken away unless I drink it, then let it be what you want.”

43 Again he came and found them sleeping. Their eyes were heavy with sleep. 44 But he left them and again went and prayed the same words for the third time. 45 Then he came to his disciples and said to them, “Will you sleep and rest all night? Look, the time has come for the Human One to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up. Let’s go. Look, here comes my betrayer.”

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Good morning on this 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany.   If my weather app is accurate, it should be a really lovely morning, with rain cleansing the air and nourishing the earth.  All of our prayers for rain are being answered with “yes,” for which we are grateful.  

As we are still focused on prayer for the rest of January, I would ask everyone to pray for healing for our nation this week.  And for all the world, as the entire world deals with the coronavirus pandemic.  May the vaccines be distributed to all, and may effective treatments be found. 

I think most of us are pretty familiar with these words from the Gospel according to Matthew.   We usually hear them on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday.  These are words that lead us directly into Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion.  We also usually hear about the lack of faithfulness by Peter, James and John, who kept falling asleep instead of keeping watch as Jesus asked them to.  Today, however, we are going to look more closely at what Jesus was praying.

Jesus knew from the beginning of his ministry that if whatever he preached and taught went in opposition to the Temple, chances were excellent that he would be arrested, or possibly even killed.  He knew his Scripture and the history of his people.  He knew how prophets, people who spoke unwelcome truth to power, were typically treated.  He knew also that if the leaders of the Temple could find anything indicating insurrection against Rome in his words, that his very life would be on the line.  Rome did not tolerate insurrection.   Just a few chapters earlier, when Peter tried to convince him to stay away from Jerusalem - because by this time ALL of Jesus’ followers knew the dangers - Jesus said “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”. (Matthew  16:23). He knew what was ahead if he continued on the road he was traveling.  He was ready.  He was able at that moment to say, “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

Jesus was also human and it is important for us to remember that.  As he grew closer to the inevitable end of his earthly ministry and his life, he kinda didn’t want to go.  He did not want to die, yet.  He especially didn’t want to die the kind of horrible death he would suffer at the hands of the Romans.  So he went aside from his disciples to pray by himself.  To speak privately with his Father about what was coming.

And when he prayed he said, “Do I have to?”

Three times he asked, “Do I have to?”

The first time he said: If it is possible, take this cup of suffering away.  However, not what I want, but what you want.

The second time he said: If it is not possible that this cup be taken away unless I drink it, then let it be what you want.

And then we are told . . he left them and again went and prayed the same words for the third time.

I’m pretty sure every one of us, at some point in our lives, has turned to another and said, “Do I have to?”  For example, when children are told to clean their room before they can do the thing, whatever the thing may be, Or worse, when they are told they have to take their little sister along with them to that thing, they might say, “Mooomm.  Do I have to?” Yes.  You do. 

Unlike children, however, Jesus followed up his “Do I have to?”  with “Not what I want, but what you want.” Not my will, but yours.   This is the most perfect prayer.

There are a number of stories in Scripture in which someone is told to do something they do not want to do.  Moses complained to God because he didn’t speak well so he thought someone else should lead the Hebrews out of Egypt.  Jonah ran away rather than speak to the people of Ninevah.  Lot tried to bargain with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Barak refused God’s direction to lead Israel’s army unless Deborah went along with them.  Each of them eventually did the thing God directed.  Each of them paid a price for their initial refusal.  It is painful to try to sidestep God’s will.  

Jesus’ prayer began with “Do I have to?” and ended with “Your will, not mine, be done.”  We are not told whether God spoke to Jesus during this prayer time, but I do know that sometimes no answer is THE answer.  Jesus knew what was ahead on his path, and maybe he hoped that he wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the end, but he knew what he had been called to do. He knew he would pick up the cross that was before him.

In 1517 Martin Luther tacked 95 theses or statements for discussion on the door to the cathedral in Wittenberg.  He had issues with a number of practices and theological understandings in the Roman Catholic Church.  His teachings - like justification by faith - did not go over well.  The pope excommunicated him for heresy.  Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire declared him an outlaw.  At the trial where he was asked to recant his teachings, he said “I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.”  God’s will, not his.

Martin Luther King, Jr. really didn’t want to be one of those activist ministers.  The pastor right before him at Ebenezer Baptist Church had been fired for his activism.  But he agreed to help with the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  He got a call one night, threatening his life.  He sat at the kitchen table having coffee and prayed “God, do I have to do this?” And in his heart he heard these words, “Stand up for justice, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever."  Three days later his house was bombed.  It did not stop him.  There would more threats, beatings, arrests . . . he knew where his path would inevitably lead.  He continued to choose God’s will, not his own right up to his final day.

I’m pretty sure I’ve told my story here before. . . how I started going to church after being away for 25 years and how after a few months I was sitting in a jail cell telling the women there that they didn’t have to keep coming back to jail if they would just stop using drugs and alcohol, when I heard a voice in my mind say, “You need to be doing this for me.”  I said to God, “Do I have to? I do not want to do this.” A year later I was at Chapman University on my path to the ordained ministry.  My path hasn’t taken me any terrible places like it did for Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr., -except maybe student loans - but it wasn’t what I had planned to do with my life. It wasn’t what I wanted.  But God’s will, not mine. . . 

Someone once asked me how I knew whether a certain choice was God’s will.  I responded that as far as I could tell the thing that was harder to do was almost always God’s will.  If one choice was harder than the other AND I didn’t want to do it, it was pretty much a given that it was God’s will.  It would have been easy for Jesus to turn away and return to Galilee.  Martin Luther would have loved to avoid excommunication.  Martin Luther King, Jr. only ever wanted to be a preacher and pastor like his father.  All I ever wanted to be was a secretary.

When we pray “Your will be done, not mine” we are praying the perfect prayer.  It makes no demands.  It does not bargain or make excuses.  We lay out whatever is going on in our lives, whatever choices lie before us, as part of the conversation with God, and even if part of that conversation is “Do I have to?” the end part, the “Your will not mine” part is perfect.  

Do we have to?  Yes.  Yes, we have to.  We have to seek God’s will and follow it.  We can be pretty sure it’s God’s will if it serves God’s people, and not our ego or greed or lust for power. We can be pretty sure it is God’s will if it embodies God’s love of humanity, justice for all persons, compassion for all persons, and mercy.  We can be pretty sure it is God’s will if it is a harder of the choices.  

We have decisions to make all the time - big ones and small ones.  Shall I take on another job? The extra money will be helpful.  Sleep is over rated.  Shall I add another class to my schedule this semester? I’d love to finish up this semester.   Shall I take the job that pays more, or the one that helps people more?  Shall I sleep in, or attend worship on YouTube when it premieres?  Shall I prepare a nice healthy dinner or call for a pizza?  (OK, I’m pretty sure God would prefer that I have pizza.)

Our discipleship challenge this week, then, is to simply pray for God’s will to be done in our lives, in each of our choices.  No demands, no bargaining, no excuses, no running away, no telling God what the “right” answer would be.  When we have a choice to make, and it becomes clear that one choice is almost certainly God’s will, let us then make that choice.  Let us choose to be God’s servants in every way.

Do you know what you are doing?

 

Scripture.  Luke 23:33-34.  The Message

When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them.

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Good morning!  It is the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany -  the time in between the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Lent.  Ash Wednesday is only one month away - February 17th.  But there is a lot going on in these next weeks. There will be a congregational meeting on Zoom January 31st.  Members of First Christian Church in Selma will be receiving copies of the new slate of officers and the proposed budget for 2021 in the next couple of days, which you should mail (or email) back with your vote no later than January 28th.    

We are still in the grip of the pandemic.  Public Health Officials fear it will get worse over the next month.  Please, stay home if you can, only go out if you must, wash your hands, wear your mask.  And pray for everyone, but especially this week for those who have lost loved ones.

We continue our series on prayer with this very short bit of scripture about praying for others.   We should note that this is not simply about praying that other people who have done wrong might be forgiven, but praying specifically for people who do not know that there is anything wrong with what they are doing or saying - who simply have no idea.

There’s a scene in the movie “Spider-man: Homecoming”  when Spider-man takes some kind of alien weapon away from a bad guy - the Vulture - clearly intending to fire it.  The Vulture says “You are messing with things you don’t understand.”  Even though he did not know what he was doing, Spider-man fires the weapon anyway, cutting the Staten Island Ferry in half and putting hundreds of people at risk.  Luckily this was just a movie.  But it really is not all that unusual for people to act or speak when they haven’t a clue about the consequences.

The Roman soldiers followed their orders to execute Jesus, along with two other criminals, then engaged in what was then perfectly acceptable behavior for executioners by dividing up his belongings.  So far as they knew, they were executing the leader of a potential rebellion against Rome, a high crime.  He wasn’t the first rebel leader to be crucified and he wouldn’t be the last.  They did not know that the man they nailed to the cross that day was more than just another rebel, but the son of God.  They really had no idea what they were doing, what would come about as a result of these events.  So Jesus prayed for them, right at the end, while enduring intense pain, saying, “Father, forgive them.  They don’t know what they are doing.” 

Now, there are stories - totally fictitious - about Romans involved with the execution of Jesus later realizing what they have done and living with overwhelming guilt for their actions for the rest of their lives.  This is the premise behind the 1953 classic Christian film “The Robe” which some of you may have seen.  If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it on Amazon Prime or any of several other streaming platforms.  The story is total fiction but it makes an important point about feelings of guilt.   

At some point in our lives we may find ourselves feeling guilty about something that is in no way our fault.  This is fairly common in the children of divorced parents, who frequently believe incorrectly that the divorce is all their fault.  We may experience guilt if we had words with someone who died before we could reconcile.  Sometimes we feel guilty over saying or doing something mean years and years ago, only to find out eventually that the person to whom we were unkind doesn’t even remember the incident - and we wasted all those years feeling terrible. 

People in 12 Step Programs have to deal with guilt and consequences.  We often come into recovery believing “I didn’t hurt anyone but me when I was loaded” but, after some  self examination start saying “OMG. I was a terrible horrible person.  I can never forgive myself for what I did to this person, or what I said to that one.  There is nothing good about me.  Nothing.”  Neither of those things is true.  However, very often we didn’t realize we had done something hurtful until we got to take a sober look back over our lives.  Then comes the guilt. Then comes the self castigation.  Then comes the desire to somehow make up for the wrongs that we have done.   And then we live with that guilt until eventually someone will ask, “Have you forgiven yourself?”

Say what?  

Yeah.  Have you forgiven yourself?  

I can’t possibly.  I am a terrible person.  

Do you believe God has forgiven you?  

Yes.  

Then, if God can forgive you, why won’t you forgive yourself?  Are you better than God?  Well, darn.

Self forgiveness for past wrongs is important, especially in the cases where we didn’t understand that what we were doing was causing pain.  Unlike the Roman executioner in the movie, we are not to wallow in guilt, but allow ourselves to admit our wrong doing - even though we may not have realized we were doing anything wrong - and resolve to go forward armed with this new knowledge.

Or, as Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.”

At my parents’ dinner table I learned every conceivable name for any group you can think of - Black, Jewish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, American Indian, Hispanic, German, French, Protestant, even Irish and Catholic - and we were Irish and Catholic.  My father didn’t limit his use of racist slurs to any particular group.  There are a great number of those words that we don’t use any more.  NOT because of political correctness, but because those words are hurtful.  Their use is intended to make us feel superior to the one we are talking about. They are intended to divide us and anything that leads to division is sinful.  But until we knew better . . . 

This is the weekend we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   His dream was that a day would come when the color of one’s skin would make no difference in how anyone was treated.  His dream was the building of the Beloved Community, a place where there would be no Greek or Jew, no free or slave, no male or female - a time when we believe in our hearts that all persons are created equal.  A time of reconciliation.  Clearly, we are not there yet.

Reconciliation requires justice. You cannot achieve reconciliation by simply ignoring what has gone before.  We cannot work toward justice without knowing what we have done wrong.  Scripture tells us “Before judgment comes, examine yourself; and at the time of scrutiny you will find forgiveness.” (Sirach 18:20 NRSV)  Once we have learned what we did wrong, once we know better, we can do better.  We can no longer claim innocence through ignorance. We can move forward from that sin and make amends by teaching others what we have learned.  By working toward justice in this way, reconciliation can be accomplished. The world can be changed.  

It is hard to ask God to forgive the person who has hurt me even if I am aware that they did not know what they were doing.  Especially if they don’t appear contrite.  But if they truly didn’t know any better - like the Roman soldiers - forgiveness is necessary.  For them, but also for ourselves if we are holding resentments against them for their words or actions.  When we have reached that point we can ask God to forgive them for the  unintended hurt.  The model Jesus holds up for us here is that of a person who holds no bitterness toward those who are causing him injury, who asks that God also recognize their innocence in this matter.  

God forgives all of us, because God loves all of us.  The challenge is for us to forgive others for harm they have done to us, and to forgive ourselves for the harm we have done to others - knowingly or not.  

Forgive us, Father, for we don’t always know what we are doing.  We believe we are doing the right things.  We are doing what we have been told to do, what we have been taught to do, what is right in the eyes of our particular community.  May we examine ourselves, seeking any wrongs we did not recognize before, so that all your children may be reconciled in you, and all divisions healed, through your son Jesus, the Christ.  

Pray for who?

When folks watched our worship service on Sunday they heard me say that I was recording the message two weeks in advance, hoping no big news would occur before January 10th that I would normally address on Sunday.   Because God guides us even when we don’t know we need to be guided, I had selected a passage telling us to pray for those who hurt or harass us.   As it turns out, there was a huge news event, and God had prompted me to choose exactly the right passage for the day. Thanks be to God.

Scripture.  Matthew 5:43-48.   CEB.

You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you 45 so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.

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Good morning!   Today I am doing something very very scary.  I am recording this message two weeks in advance!  Why is this scary, you ask?  Because there have been way too many occasions when things happened in the world that completely changed what I had been planning to preach - often on a Saturday. So I am praying that no big earth shattering news event will happen between today - the day after Christmas - and January 10th when you watch it.  Why am I doing this scary thing, you ask?  Because we are giving Jordan time off after all the incredible amazing work he has done for this whole last nine months but especially during the Christmas Season.  Talk about above and beyond!  In order for him to have this week off we had to record all the parts of today’s worship by December 30 (when I will be enjoying my after-Christmas hibernation).  So here we go.  

This morning we continue our month long focus on prayer.  

Now, I realize that this love your enemy passage generally leads to a message about loving even people you don’t like - feeding them and not killing them and stuff.   But then there is that pesky phrase, “Pray for those who harass you.”  Like, bullies? Internet trolls?  The mean girls at school (or work)? 

Y’know.  Jesus keeps asking us to do all this hard stuff.  Love your enemy.  Pray for those who harass you.  How in the world are we supposed to do these things with any sort of sincerity?  

And there’s another pesky phrase.  “How in the world are we supposed to do that?”  Well, we are not supposed to conform ourselves to the world, so that means that this is one of those places where we must stand aside from what the world tells us is the accepted thing to do.  It is so unusual for us to want good things for our enemy, for those who have hurt or harassed us, that when, for example, a family asks for mercy for the murderer of their child, it makes headlines.  

As Jesus says, if you only love those who love you or only greet your brothers and sisters, how is that different from everyone else?  It is what the Gentiles do. It is what the world does.  The world says “You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Jesus says we need to  be different.  We need to love even our enemy, even the one who wishes us harm.  We need to want the best for everyone, regardless of our relationship with them.  Praying for them is the beginning of love.

Ok, fine.  So we have to pray for them.  A friend of mine was told to pray for a person who had caused him quite a bit of trouble.  “No problem”, he said.  The next day he reported that his prayer for her had been that she might go to heaven.  Tonight.   *sigh*  This is not exactly the intent of “pray for the one who hurt you.”  So he was told to try again, but this time to pray that she receive all the good things he wanted in his life.  Not the muscle car.  But serenity, peace of mind, love, compassion . . . all of those good things.  Even if he had to pray through gritted teeth, he needed to pray for her to get all of these good things.  The time would come when that prayer became easier - he wouldn’t have to force the words out.  He would begin to mean what he was saying.  And eventually he would stop considering her an enemy, having healed himself and learned better how to love.  Having tried this myself, I know that it works.

We can certainly use this practice of praying for those with whom we disagree in our current national situation.  There are disagreements over wearing masks and getting the vaccine and whether or not the pandemic is real.  There are disagreements over the security of our recent elections. Those who hold differing positions on these issues can get very angry, even confrontational.  An important part of this praying for the one who harassed you thing is that we do not get to impose our own desires for that person in our prayers.  So we pray for those with whom we disagree, not that they come over to our way of thinking, and suddenly embrace our own beliefs and positions on these issues, but rather for them to receive the good things we desire, perhaps an open mind and willingness to listen.  We will receive these things, and more often than not that will help us see our opponent in a very different light.  

But what if someone has really hurt us - a stalker, an attacker, an abusive partner?  What then?  How do we pray for that person?   This is difficult - really difficult.  For the longest time, when I thought of my abuser, my rapist there was no willingness to forgive or pray for them to have anything good happen in their lives.  For years, if a male person moved too suddenly or picked up anything they could hit me with, I would duck or move away as quickly as I could to get out of range.  Panic attacks were easily triggered.  Pray for them to receive good things? . . .  I don’t think so.  And yet, once I was able to, once I started praying for them to receive peace of mind and other spiritual gifts I began to heal.  And forgive.  And to truly want good things to happen in their lives.  I began to love, even my abuser, even my rapist.

In his Christmas homily the Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem said:  “Love is the only path to salvation.  We are all connected to and responsible for each other.”  He preached these words at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the city of David. To get to Bethlehem from Jerusalem he had to go through a wall dotted with gun turrets, and guarded by soldiers.  Israel calls the wall a separation barrier against terrorism.  Palestinians call it a racial segregation or apartheid wall.  To preach love in Bethlehem, the Patriarch had to go through that wall, stop at the checkpoints, and show his passport. 

There is little love lost between Israel and Palestine.  They have been at odds, even sometimes at war, with each other since Israel was declared a nation in 1948.  But in Bethlehem, the city of David, a predominantly Muslim town behind that separation barrier, Muslims, Jews and Christians live and work side by side in relative harmony. In Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace was born, peace prevails most of the time.  Acceptance and unity prevail, most of the time.  God’s love prevails, most of the time.

Jesus said, “just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.”  We must let our love and compassion fall upon all persons, and not limit ourselves to loving only those we like, or those who are like us.   Because that is how the world is.  And WE are not to conform to the ways of the world. Just as God “makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous” so too must we pour out our prayers, and shine the light of Christ’s love on even those who have caused us harm.

The practice of praying for the one who has hurt or harassed us leads to love for everyone.  The practice of praying good things for others leads to acceptance of the other, and to unity of purpose.  And that is how God would have us live - loving one another, loving our neighbor, loving our enemy, doing for others as we would like others to do for us - reconciling all God’s children with one another and with God.  That is our purpose in carrying the Good News of God’s forgiveness, love and grace as we have been commanded to do by Jesus, the Christ, our Lord and Savior.

It’s easy enough, as Jesus said, to pray for our friends and neighbors and siblings.  It is harder, much harder, to pray for our enemies, for people we disagree with, and for people who have hurt us.  Let us take that as our discipleship challenge this week - to pray for the people we don’t want to pray for, that they might know all the good that we wish for ourselves.  In this way  let us bring unity and acceptance of the other into our hearts and into God’s world.

It’s Still Christmas!

 Scripture:      Psalm 148

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

    praise him in the heights!

2 Praise him, all his angels;

    praise him, all his host!

3 Praise him, sun and moon;

    praise him, all you shining stars!

4 Praise him, you highest heavens,

    and you waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,

    for he commanded and they were created.

6 He established them forever and ever;

    he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.[a]

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,

    you sea monsters and all deeps,

8 fire and hail, snow and frost,

    stormy wind fulfilling his command!

9 Mountains and all hills,

    fruit trees and all cedars!

10 Wild animals and all cattle,

    creeping things and flying birds!

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,

    princes and all rulers of the earth!

12 Young men and women alike,

    old and young together!

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,

    for his name alone is exalted;

    his glory is above earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up a horn for his people,

    praise for all his faithful,

    for the people of Israel who are close to him.

Praise the Lord!

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Message It’s still Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Yes, it is still Christmas.  It is still time to celebrate the birth of the Child and sing Christmas Carols.  Not everyone gets that.  On my first Christmas as the pastor of a congregation I walked into the church that first Sunday after Christmas, all ready to continue the Christmas celebration - and all the decorations were gone!  The lights, the candles, the tree, the wreaths, the Chrismons, the banners... everything!  So I asked the guy in charge of property stuff what happened and he said, “Christmas is over. I put it away.”  No.  No it isn’t over.  We don’t put Christmas away right after the gifts are opened. There is still lots of time to celebrate and praise God and bask in the light of the Star.  Because Christmas isn’t a Day. It’s a season, a season that begins on Christmas Day.  

When I was growing up we visited family on Christmas.  We would leave our house after church, drive an hour or so into Philadelphia, and stop at the homes of several relatives on both sides of the family, all dressed in our Christmas best, carrying gifts for Grandmother and aunts and uncles and cousins.  Everyone’s home looked a lot like ours, with discarded wrapping paper off to one side, opened gifts displayed under a great smelling tree, and sparkly lights and yummy Christmas snacks and boisterousness.  So much noise and laughter.  It was wonderful to go visiting on Christmas. Our last stop was at Aunt Mary Catherine’s house for dinner and when we walked in  . . . It was nothing like all the other houses, or our house.  All the gifts were put away, the tree was artificial and perfectly decorated, the whole house was totally neat and clean with nothing out of place.  Dinner was always delicious.  But it was so tidy. and quiet.  and proper.

To paraphrase Tina Turner, Christmas is never ever tidy.  or quiet. or proper.  Christmas is kind of messy.  There’s a stable ... have ya been in a stable?  Even if the stalls are freshly mucked out, there is straw underfoot, and there’s an odor that’s nothing like a Christmas tree.  And there are animals - not housebroken.  In that stable, with the animals and the straw and the odor - Mary had a baby - another thing that is kind of messy.  There’s pain and blood.  And once the labor is over and the baby is all wrapped up in cloths, who shows up to see this special child?  Shepherds.  Messy, dirty, smelly shepherds.  Not exactly the cream of society.  

But what those shepherds found in that stable was wondrous.  A baby - and there is  nothing more wonderful than a newborn.  The parents gasp in amazement - look, he has toes. Such tiny perfect toes.  And teeny fingernails. Every infant is a precious gift from God.  But this baby was special even beyond that.  This baby was born into this messy world to bring healing, salvation, to all God’s children.  This baby was heralded by angels, lauded by a heavenly choir.  And his mother would hear all these things that the shepherds told her, about the angels and the heavenly choir,  and tuck them away in her heart, treasuring their words, saving them against the day when his mission and ministry would take her baby son away from her.  

The shepherds stayed for a while and left, went back to their flocks glorifying God and telling everyone they met about the amazing things they had experienced.  Mary and Joseph didn’t get to clean up and leave right away.  The baby had to be circumcised when he was eight days old. Mary had to be purified forty days after giving birth with a ritual bath and a sacrifice at the Temple.   And there was the whole registering for the census thing that brought them to Bethlehem in the first place. No one ever mentions that after it’s given as the reason for their trip, but I’m sure there must have been some sort of process for him to deal with.  Roman bureaucrats had paperwork, too, just like ours do.  No, Mary and Joseph didn’t get to skip over the messiness that lay ahead. They stayed in that stable, I suppose (that’s another thing no one ever mentions - whether they found a better place to stay for the next forty days or two years or how ever long they stayed in Bethlehem.). They dealt with the things that came up as they came up.  They had to stay in the moment and not rush off to the next important event in Jesus’ life, the way we do. They didn’t put Christmas in a box and store it away, to be taken out next year.  For Mary and Joseph and their new precious son, Christmas was a day they would remember and celebrate and praise God for every day.

I think it was probably the same for the shepherds. I mean, it is not likely that they would go back to their flocks and then be all, “Well, that happened.”. I suspect that for years to come they would be telling that story, and praising God for sending the angels to them.  I think that for them, Christmas kept being part of their lives all the time, every day.  And maybe, just maybe, they were part of the preparation . . . you know, when God told Isaiah “prepare the way of the Lord”.  We tend to think that John the Baptist was it, THE one preparing the way in the wilderness, getting people ready for Jesus.  But I imagine John had some help. I imagine that people had heard the stories the shepherds had told and shared them, and later, when John came and then when Jesus started preaching, they remembered what they had heard about that night in the hills above Bethlehem.  I think that the shepherds and all the people they told about the angels and the heavenly choir and the baby in the manger probably raised their voices like the psalmist did when he wrote the psalm we heard read this morning - not just on the morning of the birth of the Child, but every day for some time to come.  I think for those  shepherds, Christmas was a day they would remember and celebrate and praise God for every day.  Even on the cold stormy days when they had no shelter.  Even when there wasn’t enough to eat. Even when a lamb died, or its mother did.  Even on the bad days, those shepherds could look back and remember the night when the angels came to them and they would praise God.

You might have a day like that in your life.  A day when your life changed, when something happened that you know God had a hand in.  A day you remember every day and praise God for.  I do.  And I tell people about it at every opportunity.  So I think probably the shepherds did the same, praising God and telling their story.

We talk about praising God all the time. We sing God’s praises in hymns.  We use words of praise in our prayers.  We lift up our hands to the Lord when our hearts are moved.  If we hear of a bad accident in which no one was seriously injured, we say “Praise God.”   And we mean it.   But rarely do we call for God to be praised the way the psalmist did.  He did not just praise God himself, but called every part of creation to praise God as well - Praise the Lord all of you, in the heavens, in the heights. All you angels and heavenly host, praise him!  Sun and moon and stars - praise him! Earth and sea and all the creatures - praise him!  Rocks and mountains - praise him!  AND all the people of the earth - the kings and princes, men and women, young and old - Praise the Lord!  For his name alone is exalted!  And he is worthy of all praise

Praise the Lord, all you people,

as the heavenly host did above the hills of Bethlehem that night. 

Praise the Lord, all you people,

as the shepherds did when they saw the child.

Praise the Lord and celebrate Christmas, the birth of the child,

every day, not just December 25,

but on all the days thereafter all the year long.

This is not an easy thing.  It is challenging to praise God on the hard days.  

It is certainly challenging to celebrate the joy of Christmas all year long.

Nevertheless, as Disciples of Christ we are called to carry the Good News.

We are called to bring the light of Christ into every heart we touch.

That light came into this messy world with the babe,

born in a stable, placed in a manger, proclaimed by angels, worshipped by shepherds.

Let each person strive to meet that challenge, 

that discipleship challenge, 

to praise the Lord, every day, in every situation.

Even when life doesn’t seem to be going right,

even in the midst of a pandemic,

even when we are worried and fearful.

Praise the Lord, you who are Christ’s disciples,

Remember Christmas and carry its light with you every day,

and proclaim Joy to the World

How do I love thee?

 Scripture Luke 1:26-38.  NRSV  

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

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Good morning on this 4th Sunday of Advent, Love Sunday.  This is one of the busiest times of the year for pretty much everybody, but especially for church folk, and even more especially for the people of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Selma.  In a period of less than a week we offer no less than five opportunities to recognize the holiness of this season in one way or another.  In case you missed it, Friday night Jordan and Jessica and Friends performed their annual Christmas concert virtually to showcase amazing talents and raise funds for charities dear to their hearts.  This year it was for all of the ministries this congregation supports with monthly donations.  Saturday night was the Annual Community Church Choir concert, also a virtual event.  There were fewer participants this year, but they did it.  Both of these musical celebrations were shown on YouTube and are still available to watch, in case you missed one or the other.  Tomorrow evening is our Longest Night  service, in which we recognize that Christmas is not a very joyful time for some of us.  That will be on YouTube at 7 pm.  And on December 24th at 5:30 pm we will once again offer a Christmas Eve service jointly with the First United Methodist Church, also on YouTube.    All of these events have required a great deal of coordination, planning, and technical skill.  Much more than usual as we are still worshipping online for an unknown period of time, and that is much more complicated to put together than when we worship in person.  I would like to lift up the Quarantine Qrew - Kenneshae, Jessica, Jorge and Joe - who are amazing singers and serve as our worship leaders, and Jordan Williams.  Jordan arranges and organizes all of this. Not just the music, but the technical aspects as well.  He takes all of the disparate parts of the event which either he recorded in the sanctuary or which we recorded individually and sent to him and puts all that together seamlessly. He does this for every Sunday service, but this week he has outdone himself, presenting five beautiful, meaningful, worshipful events for the glory of God.  Thanks be to God.

I titled this message “How do I love thee?” after the sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  Like everyone else, I knew the first line and I had heard she wrote this poem for Robert Browning, who fell in love with her poetry and with whom she had a secret long distance relationship because of her father’s objections.  They did marry and move to Italy, so there was a happy ending.  I had learned those things but. . .  (don’t tell anyone) I had never read this sonnet before Friday!  I really avoided all things that even looked like poetry after my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. McClintock, made us all memorize a very long poem every month and then recite it in front of the class.  This was traumatizing.  It wasn’t until I was forced to read poetry in Freshman English at Chapman University (like 35 years later!) that I discovered poetry wasn’t all terrible.  (My thanks to Dixie Durham) I started to like some of it.  I even started to write some.  So, on Friday I read this sonnet for the first time.  It is certainly a love poem, but it seemed to me more about love of God than love of a person.  So I started reading about her life and works and learned that much of her work had a very strong religious theme.  So, for those of you who have also not read this sonnet or disremember it, I would like to share it with you.

 How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love with a passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

(Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/how-do-i-love-thee-by-elizabeth-barrett-browning)

Writing love poems or letters to God is not that unusual.  The Song of Solomon, which has parts that seem to be pretty explicitly about human love also has parts that read much more as if God is the person loved.  Rainier Rilke’s Book of Hours is subtitled “Love letters to God.” Some of the female mystics of medieval times wrote about visions that were almost orgasmic in their description of their love for God.  The vast majority of believers don’t quite get to that point, but there are times, often while singing in worship, when we might find ourselves transported - so very much in love with God at that moment in time that our feelings for any human must take second place. It’s that moment. . .When your hands raise up without conscious effort.  When the tears flow unimpeded and unheeded.  When your heart feels so full of love you almost can’t breathe . . .  And there are no words to express how you feel.    

There are some songs that get me that way when I am singing them . . I love you Lord and I lift my voice.  Step by Step.  Here I am, Lord . . .  There are others that take me to that place when I hear them performed.  I imagine you have your own list of love songs you sing to God.  

And God sings love songs to us, when we are listening.  God tells us in so very many ways just how we are loved.  Throughout Scripture God speaks of the relationship we have with each other as that of bride and groom.  Indeed, that feeling we have for God in those moments of transport can be a lot like the way it felt when you looked in your spouse’s eyes and said, “I do.”  Again, the Song of Solomon can be read as describing the intimate relationship existing between God and human.  God speaks to us through the prophets with words of love and affection.  Even when we have been unfaithful, when our attention turned to something else so that we stopped paying attention to our beloved, our God, still God loved us.  

How do I love thee? God asks.  Here, let me show you the ways.  Let me show you what love looks like.  And then, God chose one young woman out of all the young women in the tribes of Israel to bring Love into the world.  To bear a son, God’s own son, who would go out from her house to tell all the world “God loves you.”  And who would teach us to do the same. 

When we say to God, How do I love thee?  Our answer will be seen clearly in the ways we love one another.

My friend and colleague Sandhya Jha wrote a daily devotional, titled Liberating Love:  365 Love letters from God.   Every day includes a passage from scripture followed by a love note from God to us.  For today, December 20th, the reading comes from Colossians 3:14 “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

and God says

“Today I want to offer you a playful request: what does it look like when you are clothed with love?  Are you decked out in vibrant neon or cool forest colors?  Is it sparkles or silk or denim?  Do the clothes look different depending on the occasion? How will you clothe yourself with love today so that everyone admires your wardrobe? (And when they do, let them know you got your clothes from me...they are priceless.)”  (Chalice Press, 2020.  Pg 355.)

So I present you with a challenge - a Discipleship Challenge.  How will you clothe yourself with love, so that everyone admires your wardrobe?