Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Acts 2:42-47

I love the descriptions of the first gatherings of Jesus followers from Acts.  They portray groups of people brought together by a common conviction that Jesus has something important to say about how to live in a godly and important way.  They shared worship and meals.  They took care of each other.  They became community and family.  They created a new way of life based on the values Jesus lifted up.  They worked together to make life for themselves and the world the best it can be. 

Acts portrays this effort as unified and straightforward, but those of us, all of us, who live in groups of people know that’s a rosy picture of what was a harder reality.  When groups of people work together, there are always kinks to work out.  It takes work to find consensus, make new rules, accept differences in personality and focus.  If we believe that life in the earliest churches ran smoothly, then we’re surprised when life in contemporary churches is rockier.  So sometimes it’s helpful to go back to the beginning and discover ways that diversity showed itself.  The earliest people were perhaps of common purpose, but rarely of common mind and they created a variety of options of how to follow Jesus.  Those options have been smoothed over with centuries of stories about one way to be the church.  But when we find some true variety, it helps us put our own diversity into perspective.  It shows us that the story is richer and more complicated than most people realize.

For the next few weeks we’re going to explore the story of some early Jesus people through the Gospel of Mary.  We may hear familiar names and we’ll consider some new ideas.  We don’t do this because this story is better than what we’ve always had, but because it’s part of how church began and gives us interesting options to explore.

Contemporary Christians are used to thinking about the Bible as the official writings inspired by God that we are to pay attention to.  It’s the family history and the rule book and it’s official.  The writings there carry weight because they have stood the test of time and proven helpful.  But they aren’t all there is.

We value written words because we live in an time when writing carries authority.  We are used to being able to look up information and to learn from books.  First century people were much less literate than we are.  They valued spoken words.  They learned in conversation with great thinkers and with their neighbors.  Books were rare and fragile.  The books that make up our New Testament were not a collected work in the first 300 years of Christianity.  They were individual pieces circulated from friend to friend and town to town.  Many began as letters written to particular people under specific circumstances.  They were copied by hand, so they show variations from accidental or intentional edits.  There is no original official copy of any of them and no first century collection of all of them.  The ones who are in our Bibles gained popularity and then consensus that they had worth.  But they weren’t the only writings that circulated.  Some scholars estimate that we have only about 15% of the writings shared among early house churches – that much more has been lost than has been preserved. 

The Gospel of Mary is one of those “lost” pieces.  It came to the attention of a German scholar in the late 19th century when a salesman in a booth in an Egyptian market offered it to him.  It’s in a codex or small book made by sewing sheets of papyrus together, from the fifth century and is written in Coptic, a form of ancient Egyptian.  The original was probably written in the early 2nd century in Greek, and two small fragments of Greek text have also been found among ancient manuscripts.  The total gospel was probably 19 pages long and the first 6 pages and pages 11-14 are missing.  The original scholar who bought the text worked several years translating it, interrupted by two World Wars, and the first text was originally published in 1955.  This is such a small fragment that we can only guess at what its full theme was, but it shows some differences with traditional Christian theology and some familiarity with Greek philosophy, which would  have been common in its time.  As the name indicates, Mary Magdalene figures prominently as a favorite of Jesus and a leader among disciples.

In addition to reading the Gospel over the next few weeks, we’ll also read stories about Mary in the four Gospels and discover what scholars are saying about her role in the early church.  The gospel’s key question is this:  What is it that Jesus taught us that we have to share with others?  That’s an important question for any people who want to follow Jesus.  We’re used to hearing that if we believe Jesus we will be saved and our lives will be better.  But what is it that we are to believe – either that Jesus said or that others said about him?  And how does that make our lives better?  Reading something with a little different slant helps us clarify what each of us considers to be the core teachings of Jesus.  It also helps us consider how those teachings improve life for ourselves and for everyone. 

The diversity in contemporary Christianity shows that there isn’t a single right answer to the question Who is Jesus and how does he teach us to live?  Studying the variety of answers to that question from ancient times helps us claim our own answers in our own time.  We may find nothing to agree with in this new gospel, or we may find important ideas that enrich our faith.  Along the way, we’ll understand more about our roots and flex our theology muscles to be clearer about our own faith.  I hope you consider this an adventure!

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Acts 2:42-47

Welcoming Strangers

Today we want to think about welcoming strangers.  The few verses from Acts that are printed in the bulletin are describing the situation right after the starting of the Christian church.  People were welcomed.  Not so different from welcoming someone new into a congregation, or business, or community, or wherever we find someone with whom we are unfamiliar.

I remember one Sunday when I was asked to fill in for a pastor on vacation.  It was a hot summer Sunday.  I was dressed similarly to now.  I got to the church early and stood talking to the usher while people were coming to worship.  None of the people who came into that place for worship said anything to me.  Not one.  After worship people apologized to me that they had not spoken to me, some saying that they would have if they had known that I was the pastor for the day.  I was a stranger that did not feel welcome.

After moving to Grand Forks, I had a similar experience.  I visited a church, not as pastor, just as someone visiting.  No one said anything to me.  Again, I was a stranger who did not feel welcome.

I remember my daughter describing a time that she visited a church after they had moved to a new town.  She described an “elderly woman” meeting her at the door, handing her a bulletin, asking if she was familiar with the worship service, and then telling her where the bathrooms were and where the coffee was.  My daughter felt welcomed. 

What makes you feel welcomed?  For many people it is welcoming to have friends around.  We like to be with people that we like.  Times of food and fellowship can be wonderful times with friends, and often help us get to know others and make new friends. 

We often try to make connections to people through others that we know in common, or through their jobs, or where they live, or other things that they have in common with us.  I remember visiting my Dad when he was in an assisted living facility.  Dad was trying to introduce me to another resident there.  He tried to explain where I lived.  That didn’t work.  He tried to say that I was a pastor.  That did not work.  Finally, he just pointed to me and said, “that’s my son.”  And the other man understood.  The connection was made.

A number of years after my parents had died, I was back visiting in the area.  The pastor of their church asked me to preach.  When he introduced me that Sunday, he did not say my name or profession or where I lived.  He looked at the congregation and said, “remember Harry?  He used to sit by the center aisle right behind Shirley.”  Everyone seemed to be nodding their heads.  “This is Harry’s son.”  A connection was made. 

We make a connection. Then we feel more comfortable. And then feel welcomed.

This scripture lesson from Acts talks about people being amazed at what was happening in the early Christian church.  It was not even known as the Christian church yet, and we are told that many wonders and signs were being done.  Sometimes it does not take much for people to be amazed at what is being done, or what can be done by a group.  Here the point is that they are doing things together to help others.  They are collecting possessions and selling stuff and using the proceeds to help all as any had need.

They were spending time together every day, a lot of time.  Apparently, people were noticing.  We are told that they had the goodwill of all the people.  It is difficult for me to picture that “all” the people were so favorably impressed.  In other words, with spending all that time together, people did not see them as selfish; but rather saw them as people so welcoming that every day more people were coming to join them.

The comfort level, when entering their worship gatherings, must have been wonderful.  Some places are not known as being welcoming.  This early gathering of Christians was known as being welcoming.  That becomes something for us all to think about. 

Not everyone in this church in Acts was a trained pastor, almost positively none, not all were leaders in the group.  All participated and all were part of the group that made this wonderful impression on their community.

God provides a lot of things, really all that is needed.  Our problem is to work on how to get those God given resources to the places and people that need them.

Our job becomes to welcome, to provide as we are able, to help as we can.  Most of all, to share that welcome and love of God with all that we can.

Amen.

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 21:8-21, Matthew 10:29-31

And God Heard

Today is Father’s Day.  Traditionally the Christian church has referred to God in masculine terms, “Our Father who art in heaven.”  Many passages in the Bible that have traditionally been looked at as speaking of God as Father could just as easily be looked at as God being parent, or even Mother.

I want to begin today by thinking of all the characteristics that you would imagine in an ideal parent. This may not be like your parents, but how you picture an ideal parent would be.  Whatever is your ideal, God far surpasses that. 

In the lesson from Genesis, we have the example of Abraham and Sarah as parents.   Normally, in scripture, when God speaks, God expects a response.  But what happens when God listens? 

We are often tempted to respond before the person speaking to us finishes talking.  If we do not receive all their message, we can easily be responding with insufficient understanding.  Relationships strengthen when both parties feel respected and acknowledged, especially in terms of communication.  Who doesn’t want to be heard?

The story of Abraham and Sarah demonstrates the challenge of truly accepting the promise of God and relinquishing control while waiting for its realization.  Many years this Abraham and Sarah were promised to have a son.   Abraham, through this son, would be the father of a great nation.  Then they had no son.  They thought that maybe their nephew Lot would be the son that they never had.  Nope, that wasn’t it either.  They tried the idea of a surrogate mother, with Hagar, a maid to Sarah, being the mother of a son.  Hagar had a son, Ishmael. But that wasn’t it either.  Finally, Abraham and Sarah had a son.   They called him Isaac.

We get the impression, all the way through the stories of Abraham and Sarah, that God was not consulted about Hagar at all.  How could they, or we for that matter, expect God to hear our questions and concerns if we never voice them to God?  Prayers that are never prayed should not expect to be answered.

Chaos results because while Abraham and Sarah plot and scheme, the creator already has a plan.  The two paths—human and divine—seem to be at odds.  Ishmael, son of Hagar, arrives first.  Later, Sarah gives birth to Isaac.  Had they waited on God, would the conflict have been avoided? 

So, we see Sarah as a mother.  She is watching Isaac and Ishmael playing together.  She becomes jealous of Ishmael and even feels threatened that Ishmael would be taking the inheritance away from Isaac. Isaac is the child of the future.  Yet, Ishmael has some claims that will not be so easily reduced.  He is the oldest son of Abraham.  He is not adopted.  He was born to the man of promise.

Abraham and Sarah have a simplistic method to solve their problem.  They send Hagar and Ismael away.  Get them out of the way and then that will solve the problem, or so they think.  Abraham abandons Ishmael and Hagar instead of protecting them within his own household.

When situations in life turn bad, even to threaten life itself, what do you do?  Hagar prayed.  And God heard Hagar.  And God also heard Ishmael, so Ishmael must have been praying also.  Lots of people have great expectations of what God will do in their lives, and I have heard people speak of losing their faith because of God not taking care of things as they wanted.  In situations like that, I have asked people about praying, and often been surprised that they did not pray.  It was as though they thought God would just do stuff as they wanted.  How can God hear us if we do not talk to God?  How can God answer if we do not ask?

As it turns out, both sons were blessed beyond what they could have imagined.  Abraham and Sarah were concerned about what Isaac would receive from God, as though there was a limit to what God could or would give.  We still do that.  We still function out of a mentality of scarcity, so we feel the need to compete for, covet, and hoard resources.  We do that as individuals.  We certainly do it as countries.

What if we embraced the abundance of God’s creation for abundant life?  How many of the wars and disagreements between people and nations would even happen if our response to perceived or contrived scarcity was prayer first over plotting against our neighbor?

Listening is often the most dangerous thing we can do. Listening means knowing, finding out about something and knowing what’s going on.  Our eyes have eyelids that can instinctively close against what we do not or should not see.  Our ears don’t have lids that can instinctively close against the words uttered.  They can’t hide from what they sense they’re about to hear.

What if we truly talked to God, truly told God our hopes, desires, joys, sorrows, as well as our worries? What if we truly trusted God to respond to our needs and circumstances because God is not only still speaking, God is still listening?  And God hears.

Third Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 18:1-15

When I was a child growing up in Minnesota, I never thought of our family as being particularly hospitable.  I just thought that everyone did things like we did.  At holidays, especially Christmas, it was not unusual for us to have someone outside our family or normal circle friends sitting up to the table with us for Christmas dinner.  Both of my grandmothers assumed that if you stopped by for any reason, that you were going to stay for coffee.  My grandmothers could not understand not stopping for coffee.  It was like they were hurt if you did not stay for coffee.  And of course, staying for coffee meant also eating something.  A common theme was simply: “Feed them”!  It was years later that I realized not everyone did things that way. 

Maybe that is one of the unspoken things that attracted me to Family of God.  We definitely like the theme of feeding people.

In the lesson from Genesis, Abraham is relaxing in the shade,  and sees three men. It reads like he does not know them, and they are just traveling by.  It is the heat of the day.  We could easily picture the men stopping for a break and getting a drink.  But look at Abraham’s response: Let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest under the tree.  Let me bring a little bread and after that you may pass by.  Abraham saw them, as they were to pass by, and felt he needed to greet them, welcome them, and feed them.

And not just a couple cookies to go with coffee.  He went to the tent and told Sarah to make bread.  This was bread that had to have the dough kneaded. That takes a while.  And Abraham went to the herd and took a calf, a good one, and gave it to a servant to prepare it.  Then he took the calf and the bread and some curds and milk and gave it to his visitors.  This was an example of extravagant hospitality.  It was more than what was expected.  Think about how long it took—for Abraham, for Sarah, to get everything prepared and how long those visitors had to wait and then eat.

Abraham and Sarah waited to get a message from these visitors.  They had to wait.  For many of us, being told to wait is one of the most difficult things that we get told to do.  Abraham and Sarah were not even told to wait, they had to just wait and wonder, in silence, until finally a message from these visitors.  It is easy to mistake a “not yet” message from God, for a “no” from God.  This story demonstrates that promises from God can take time for them to come to fruition.

And then the punch line of the story, Abraham and Sarah are told that they are to have a son.

Years before this Abraham and Sarah were promised by God that they would have a son.  It had not happened.  This story seems like a story about the tension between that promise from God (that they would have a son) and the resistance of Abraham and Sarah who doubt that word and promise from God and cannot believe the promise. 

There are many times in scripture, Abraham and Sarah are held up as examples of faith.  Here that is not the case.  Here they are models of disbelief.  For them, the powerful promise of God outdistances their ability to receive it.

By this time, Abraham and Sarah have been married for a long time.  They have become accustomed to being childless.  At one time they thought the promised son would come through their nephew Lot.  It did not.  At one time they thought the son would come through their servant Haggai.  It did not.  There had to be a strain on their relationship.  Somehow, they made their way together to forge a life without children. 

I wonder, would we have believed such a promise?  If someone, say someone 90 or 100 years old, told you that they were going to have a child, would you believe them?  Would you think that they were maybe not real mentally balanced?

The whole story can seem unbelievable.  And so, Sarah laughs.  I wonder what kind of a laugh it was.  Maybe she laughs in delight.  Maybe it is a nervous laugh.  Maybe it is a sarcastic laugh.  At any rate, Sarah laughs.  She laughs and then asks, if after she has grown old is she to be fruitful.

And so, God asks Abraham, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”  Many people would quickly answer that nothing is too wonderful, or impossible for God.  Many others would want to see God prove it.  Would we believe God in that situation? 

Is that where we are today?  Are we in a position where we feel we can trust God to somehow get us through the mess our world and our lives are in?  Or are we, like Sarah, laughing at God and the promise that God will indeed take care of us?

Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?   Amen 

Second Sunday after Pentecost

1 Corinthians 13

We have reached the end of our months-long project to name qualities that describe how we believe God envisions the world at its best.  We have considered many words which represent beautiful concepts, and Victoria has made them more beautiful by writing them with her artistic ability on our windows.  The light shines through those windows and reminds us how to be light in the world.  When we first started gathering words, Kim said to me that the last word should be Love because it would summarize all the other words.  Of course, she was right.  Today we come to LOVE and realize that it does indeed summarize all the other words.  Whichever words are your favorites, Love is at the heart of those qualities.  Love is patient and kind, self-effacing, gentle.  Love acts with integrity and accountability.  Love seeks the best for others at all times.  Love is hopeful that what is good is possible.

Jesus told his followers that God is love.  We often hear that as the assertion that God is loving, and we believe that God loves us and everyone unconditionally, thoroughly, constantly.  That is a solid truth on which we can rely.  Over time I’ve come to believe not only that God loves us, but that God IS love.  The essence of all that is holy and eternal in the universe is love.  Science tells us that all life has energy.  Our cells vibrate with the motion of the particles of which they are made.  They are in constant motion and relationship with one another.  Even when we are very still, the invisible particles that make up our being are vibrating with energy.  That is true for every person, every being, and even the parts of creation we call inanimate. 

I want to suggest to you that this energy is the pervasive presence of God in all that is, and that this energy is love.  The essence of God and the very core of your being is love.  So we are most truly ourselves when we act with love.  That love expresses itself in all the good ways that we’ve been describing.  When we follow those values in our daily living, we bring the love of God into the heart of our community.  We become the visible presence of God “right here in River City.”  We partner with God in creating life as it’s meant to be.

I was thinking the other day about our prayers for the world, when we name what we hope will be true.  We pray that God will bring health and peace and comfort and happiness to everyone.  That naming is powerful.  Remember that God created the world by speaking the words of creation aloud, and when we name what is good for the world, we help create its reality.  But it’s not enough to simply ask God to make these good things true and then watch to see what happens.  God has already created the possibility for all good things simply by being – by being love which is everything good - and by placing God’s own love at the heart of everything that is, including all of us.  It’s not enough to ask God to make life better around us.  WE make life better by living this good vision into reality.  By living the love at the heart of our lives into action every day.

Love in Action is the chosen name of a group that’s helping people in our community every day.  It can be our unofficial name, too.  We put love into action when we live out the qualities we want to be true in the world.  We make them true.  Maybe we don’t wave a magic wand and change the character of all societies overnight, but we do change the character of our lives, and the lives of those we touch day by day.

First century Christians talked about Jesus’ vision for how people lived together and treated each other.  They said it was life-changing – New Life!  They didn’t have the power to transform the Empire, but they transformed themselves and their small communities and over time the way they lived mattered.  We continue their faith and their work when we live by Jesus’ teaching, love one another, and transform ourselves and our communities, little by little.  Being the church isn’t just about believing what God might someday do for us.  It’s about being the presence of God doing what we can to be love today. 

How do we deal with those things in the world that are not loving?  They seem to be strong and gaining power.  The targeting of immigrants as “other.”  The disrespect of other races or genders or sexualities or belief systems as “other.”  First we say loudly:  THERE IS NO OTHER!  We are all one because we are all made of God’s love.

Second, we love those who seem most unlovable, whoever that is for us.  It may be leaders who represent what we see as negative values.  People who have power and use it to harm others.  It may be neighbors we don’t understand.  People who make different life choices from us.  People who disobey laws or norms we value.  People who struggle with illness or poverty or disability.  It may be crabby relatives or demanding co-workers or any number of folk.  We love them.  We don’t have to agree with them.  We may choose not to vote for them or go to coffee with them.  We can even condemn their actions when we find them to be destructive of community.   But we love them.  And we recognize that at their core, they too are love.

The foundation of all good things is love.  Even when we don’t love what people do, we love who they are.  Even if they themselves don’t understand that they are called to love, we love them.  We love because God is love and has made love the essence of all that is.  On that we build our common life, trusting that every beginning we make will grow.

INSPIRATION

On a Night When My Daughter Is Struggling
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

I won’t tell her it is up to her
to repair the broken world.
Perhaps that comes later
with pen or needle, pointe shoe or song.
But for now, the thing to do
is to sit together in the broken world
and feel how it is to be broken.
To let shame sit with us.
Let grief sit with us.
To feel the sharp nails of fear.
It is not wrong to feel small,
to feel frightened, to be lost.
Nor must we feel these things alone.
So for now, I sit with her
in the brokenness
with no tools, no salve,
no metaphor of redemption.
It is not enough, perhaps
to meet brokenness
with nothing but love
and breath and a willingness
to be nowhere but here,
but in this broken moment,
it is everything.

First Sunday after Pentecost

Proverbs 11:1-8

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

– Mark Twain

This is the next to last Sunday of our series to name qualities which describe the way we believe God wants the world to function.  Honesty and Intetegrity may not be the best-for-almost-last, but they do summarize much of what we’ve been thinking about during this project.  When we are honest and act with integrity, we can trust one another.  Your neighbor will tell you the truth, not try to cheat you or take advantage of you.

Let’s name some things from the news lately that AREN’T honesty and integrity…

• Insider trading

• Government contracts not bid

• Attacking another country over a weekend break in peace negotiations

• Lying about evidence

• Manipulating grand juries

• Suing yourself and getting a big settlement

We haven’t always agreed with our government over the years, but we have expected people to get in trouble for lying to the public.  We’d be willing to go back to that standard.

Honesty and integrity matter because they build up the community rather than tearing it apart.  We can disagree with one another and still have productive conversations, come to compromises, seek creative solutions.  But we can’t do those things unless we can trust each other to be telling the truth about basic facts.  We can’t make good decisions together unless we are dealing with accurate information. 

When people in our neighborhood act with integrity, we can count on them to have our back.  To share values like the ones we’ve been listing this season and to act on those values in the ways they interact with one another.  Over time, the experience of honest dealings builds up trust.  When we trust each other, it’s easier to live side by side - to relax into friendship.  To leave our doors unlocked when we run errands.  To let our kids play outside in the summer.  To plant flower pots and expect them to stay put.

When we experience each other as people of integrity, that experience is cumulative.  It builds up over time.  We learn to trust what we read in the papers and hear on the news.  We learn to believe what our leaders tell us, although we may keep a little healthy skepticism about political debates.  We believe election results, even when our favorite candidate doesn’t win.  All those things matter to a healthy community. 

Living with honesty and integrity help us pass those qualities on to new generations.  When children can expect adults in their lives to be honest, they learn to trust what they learn from them.  When adults act with integrity, children learn to trust social institutions to have their best interest at heart.  We build strong communities when we can rely on the integrity of schools, churches, councils, businesses.  When youth are treated fairly, they grow up to be fair.  We pass on our values.

It’s all too easy right now to list ways that honesty and integrity are being broken, but let’s not.  Let’s list ways that we can trust people to tell the truth and act with integrity.

Here’s a start…we have more and more groups using our church, but with rare exceptions we leave the noisy offering right here in the sanctuary and it’s never been missing.  Once we thought it might be, but it was a counting error, not a theft. 

What else?

Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21, 37-47

This is one of my favorite Bible stories, as you know.  It’s full of energy and possibility, of lives changed and the world renewed.  There are miracles and miraculous results.  Remember our friend Marcus Borg tells us the Bible is full of many true stories, some of which happened.  This is a true story which didn’t happen.  There’s no way Roman soldiers dealing with a holy-day crowd in Jerusalem just 40 days after Jesus is crucified are going to let his followers preach to crowds and baptize 3000 people.  That’s not how Empires work. 

This story was written down about 80 years after the fact to tell people not part of Judaism or Christianity how the Jesus movement began.  It’s written after Jerusalem is destroyed and people scattered.  It’s written when small groups of Jesus people were found in almost every city of the Empire.  What’s true and important about this story is that at least one author traced that movement to this event.  It tells us how early Christians understood themselves.  So what can we learn?

Primary in this story is the movement of God’s Spirit at the heart of everything that happened.  The story starts with disciples and other followers gathered, presumably in hiding, and afraid.  They were directionless, disorganized, despondent.  Then something happened.  The Spirit moved like fire among them, setting their hearts ablaze.  They changed.  They were no longer paralyzed by fear.  They were willing to publicly tell the story of Jesus.  They were empowered to share good news with anyone who would listen, because they realized that it was indeed GOOD news. Their lives had been changed by Jesus, and they realized that the change endured even when he was physically gone. His presence endured with them even when they couldn’t see him.  The teachings that had turned their lives around and made them disciples were still relevant.  They were words to live by, and they decided they would live by them.  All this they attribute to God moving among them.  It was how God gave new life.

Second, it’s very clear that this good news was for everyone.  They began to speak languages they had never learned so that every person could hear about Jesus and his vision for living.  They did indeed travel the known world sharing what they had learned and how it had changed their lives.  Someone recently noted that the gift of the Judeo-Christian tradition to the world is the belief that all people are equal and of great value.  We see that principle in this story. Everyone is included on an equal basis.  When contemporary churches say some should be excluded – immigrants, those of dark races, women, queer – they are violating this principle and they are not true to our roots.

Finally, we see in this story the centrality of community – our word for this day.  They practiced community.  For the most part they did that in small groups, in house churches, gatherings of friends brought together by a common faith in how life ought to work and how God was enlivening them.  What did that look like? 

Worship.  They went together to the Temple.  They gathered in the presence of God.  They expected to feel the Spirit move among them.  They opened themselves to the possibility of being inspired by God.

Fellowship.  They ate together.  Meals in this moment in history were long.  They enjoyed several courses, told stories, asked questions, complained about the government.  Unlike the custom, these meals included both men and women, young and old, rich and poor.  They were a sign of their belief that everyone was welcome.

Service.  They visited the sick and some shared the gift of healing.  They brought bread to those without food and clothing to those unable to buy their own.  They organized themselves so that no one would be neglected. They pooled their material resources to share with those in need.  They pooled their skills to teach apprentices how to work among them.  They lived as a family and cared for each other.

Teaching.  They shared what they remember from what Jesus had said and done.  They puzzled over how to put his teaching into action and talked through what those teachings meant in each new situation they faced.  They learned how to follow by remembering and by expanding what they knew.

Prayer.  Prayer brought the presence of God and Jesus into each daily situation.  They talked through their lives with God in the presence of one another.  They listened for the ways God responded in heart and mind.  Prayer was the glue that kept them connected to each other and to God.

Joy and Gratitude.  They were followers of Jesus because in the midst of a very hard time his teachings made life better.  They named what better meant.  They celebrated when they experienced something good.  They gave thanks to each other and to God.

I wonder how we experience these or other signs of community as we walk together with God now.

Seventh Sunday of Easter

Matthew 25:31-46

 The Seven Deadly Social Sins

• Wealth without work

• Pleasure without conscience

• Knowledge without character

• Commerce without morality

• Science without humanity

• Religion without sacrifice

• Politics without principle

- Mahatma Ghandi

We have been busy collecting words that describe the way we believe God wants the world to work.  It’s been interesting to reflect on what is the best vision for life together as humanity, and we’ve made a good collection.  When I walk past Victoria’s beautiful rendering of our words on the windows, it lifts my spirits and gives me hope.  Today’s word, accountability, reminds us that all our good visions are useless unless we commit to actually putting them into practice.  We have to hold ourselves and our leaders accountable for our actions and measure actions against values on a regular basis.

For a change it was easy to choose a scripture to hold against this value.  Jesus was very clear that people would be held accountable at the end of life for their actions during life.  There will be a judgment.  And he was very clear about the criteria against which we would be judged.  Jesus’ bottom line was whether or not we treated other people with compassion and generosity.  Did we share what we have to meet needs?  Did we make connections when people were in trouble? Were we good neighbors?

Let’s start by asking how we as a congregation are doing against this standard.  It’s a good place to start because we come out pretty well.  We feed people.  We help people in need of shelter – motel rooms, rent deposits, payments to forestall evictions. We are generous with used clothing.  We pray for folks who are ill and occasionally send a nice card.  More than many congregations we have connections with people who are imprisoned.  Good job!

When I think about how we got here, I realize that we didn’t start at the end.  We took one step at a time – one meal, a few coins in the noisy offering, a friend in need – and gradually meeting needs became easier.  If we’re honest, we don’t work at a single high level all the time.  We do more in one area for a while and then we step back and rest a bit.  As people come and go our focus shifts.  That makes this work manageable.  We aren’t meant to do everything all the time.

Our accountability as individuals is pretty good, but I think we struggle with holding ourselves accountable on a wider level.  How much are we responsible for what’s broken in our community, our country or the world?  I’m getting better at naming what’s not working, but I’m not sure I’m getting better at fixing it.  Because I carry our church credit card and give out assistance, I can tell you that many people in economic trouble are there because they don’t have health insurance or paid sick leave.  That may be the primary cause of not being able to pay rent or meet other expenses.  Fixing that is beyond my pay grade.  Fixing that clearly meets Jesus’ criteria for accountability. 

Mahatma Ghandi’s list of social sins helps us think about systemic change.  It’s a clear critique on most of today’s nations.  We are not prioritizing the kinds of qualities we’ve spent several months lifting up.  Notice that Ghandi doesn’t say that wealth, pleasure, politics and other big categories are wrong, but that they are prone to abuse.  When they benefit individuals at the expense of the whole, they have lost their benefit.  They become sinful, to use religious vocabulary.  Each area needs to be held in balance by qualities that connect us to each other.  I notice how Ghandi’s list and Jesus’s list align.  They match qualities that have been listed by the world’s major religions over millennia.  They match our list.  People don’t lack vision that describes how life works best for everyone.  People lack incentive for implementing that vision.  It’s not impossible to describe systemic change that benefits everyone.  It’s hard to implement that change.  We think we stand to lose personally by giving up taxes or personal preferences.  We forget what we stand to gain.  Maybe the role of people of faith is to remind the world what could be gained if we lived by the vision.

Today our government is sponsoring an hours-long celebration of faith and nation. It’s described as a kickoff to our 250thbirthday.  It will lift up a vision of what’s good about our nation – and there is much to celebrate.  We will hear about how this nation was founded in faith, which is true, but it is not true that we were founded in only one faith.  We will hear how we have fulfilled that founding vision of equality and opportunity, which is true, but it is also true that we, unlike any other time in our lives, are watching equality and opportunity be taken away from many people.  A stage full of white, rich, Evangelical Americans will celebrate – but they will not celebrate diversity, they will not call us to lift up those who are hungry or ill, they will not ask us to welcome the stranger, they will not name the many ways Christian values match those of our Jewish and Moslem and Buddhist neighbors.

On the day we’re talking about accountability, we’re being gifted an opportunity to compare our vision of standards to those of some of our leadership.  It’s going to be very clear that there is a disconnect.  We begin by naming that.  What will we do next?

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Proverbs 31:10-31

 A good woman is hard to find,
    and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
    and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
    all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
    and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
    and brings back exotic surprises.
She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast
    for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
    then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
    rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
    is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
    diligent in homemaking.
She’s quick to assist anyone in need,
    reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn’t worry about her family when it snows;
    their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
    and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
    when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
    brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
    and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
    and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
    and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
    her husband joins in with words of praise:
“Many women have done wonderful things,
    but you’ve outclassed them all!”
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
    The woman to be admired and praised
    is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
    Adorn her life with praises!

Today’s passage from Proverbs is traditionally associated with Mothers’ Day.  Often called, “The Good Wife,” it can lean toward sexism – the woman of the family must care for everyone, working from dawn into the night, ignoring her own needs.  In that vein I’ve rarely chosen it for a Sunday scripture.  But today I want us to hear it not as a list of jobs women must do, but as a description of how people shaped their lives 2500 years ago.  What was necessary for a family to thrive in ancient times?  And what attitude did people bring to that work?  I’ve chosen the word nurture for today partly in honor of Mothers’ Day, but mostly because nurture is the attitude we bring to our life together.  We nurture one another.  We provide food and shelter, support and encouragement.  Most of the words we have in our list are nurturing words.  They describe an attitude that wants the best for everyone and does what’s necessary to make that happen.

This is a nurturing church.  The community fund supports people who are falling short in the basics needed for life. Because of us people avoid eviction and utility shutoffs.  They have essential transportation to get to school and work.  They have clothing and can do laundry.  They can get IDs necessary to function in the world.  We do these things without judgment.  We don’t say, “Try harder so we don’t have to help.”  We say, “Happy we can do this.”

Yesterday we celebrated Monica’s graduation from law school.  She has done an amazing job and we were able to help a little.  We fed her family once a week this last semester.  We made her a quilt to remind her that she’s special and we’re proud of her.  Those are nurturing things.

Sometimes we think of nurturing as women’s work, but it isn’t really.  It’s an attitude that we bring to life.  It says everyone matters.  Everyone deserves respect and encouragement. Everyone should have the basics of life.  The good things in life are meant to be shared among us all and no one should struggle to live.  That’s the way the followers of Jesus formed the first churches and it’s a basic Christian principle.  When society gives excess to some while others go without, we aren’t following Jesus.  Some would criticize saying “That’s socialism.”  But socialism is an economic principle of ownership and saying everyone deserves food, clothing and shelter because they are human is Christian love, not socialism.

American Christianity tries hard to avoid political positions, but sometimes just being loving brings us up against political realities.  We’ve been nurturing New Americans who have become our friends.  Now we realize that policies which endanger these people are wrong.  The recent increases in deportations, sometimes of legal immigrants, are unnecessary.  They don’t represent the love of God among us.  We are all connected in one human family.  Caring for one another doesn’t harm any of us.  It makes our world a better place. 

There’s danger in putting the word nurture on Mother’s Day, because for too long mothers have been tasked with being the nurturing ones in our society.  But nurture is a positive value for us all.  Each of us can be kind and caring for others in our own unique ways.  And we can form communities that lift up nurture as a positive value.  We can support and encourage each other.  We can advocate for inclusion and justice that makes life better for everyone. 

What are the important ways that the church has nurtured you?  Or that you can nurture others through the church?

Fifth Sunday of Easter

1 Thessalonians 5:12-23

 “Recognizing human goodness – in ourselves and others – may be the most radical act we can take.”

– Tara Brach

Today’s word is “respect.”  I expected this to be one of the more obscure words in our series.  It was difficult to find a scripture to use, because the vocabulary of respect wasn’t much used in biblical times.  The concept shows in many ways as our ancestors told stories about themselves and God’s way, but the word itself is rare.  Then when I was scrolling through my phone looking for any way to procrastinate writing a sermon, there was “respect” in many places. A story about Lawrence Welk showing respect for a young accordion player.  A podcast about how our country struggles with lack of respect for one another and needs leaders to speak respectfully as an example.  A sermon about how Jesus respects us and welcomes a variety of viewpoints, encouraging us to do the same..  A definition of respect that lifts up courtesy and diversity.  Maybe respect isn’t an incidental idea on this journey of values, but a core value that makes life better for us all.

I like the way the author of the letter to the church in Thessalonica encourages people to respect their leaders.  On the surface that reminds me of parents who insist that children show respect by obeying them, agreeing with everything they tell them to do.  That kind of respect comes with a position of authority.  But before the passage is done, people are also encouraged to test out the ideas people express and follow those that seem best.  Respect comes to those who earn respect.  Maybe respect in a family is meant to be mutual – honoring ideas and preferences from every member – young and old.

That’s also true in the many ways people are encouraged to treat each other.  The author begins by seeming to criticize those who aren’t pulling their weight.  But no one is given permission to be rude or unkind.  Instead those who need to rise to the occasion are to be encouraged with patience and understanding.  Look for the best in each other, the author says.  Tara Brach says the same in today’s reading:  Recognizing human goodness – in ourselves and others – may be the most radical act we can take.

Respect naturally comes to those who show wisdom or compassion, those who follow the advice of our scripture in the way they treat each other.  But what about our current situation when many leaders treat others without respect, making fun of those with disabilities, intentionally harming immigrants and minorities races, lying, cheating…  How do we show respect to those folks?  We follow the advice of scripture to weigh the behaviors against our standards and reject behaviors that are harmful to others.  At the same time we respect the humanity of everyone.  In a couple of weeks we’re going to talk about accountability, and that holds people responsible for bad behavior.  We don’t give respect to the actions which harm others or break laws.  In all cases, we respect the humanity of all people.  Bad behavior needs to be gently corrected, with love and discipline, but the person doing the behaviors is to be respected as capable of good.  Called to a higher standard and treated with hope that they are able to learn those better ways.

Respect asks us to listen to opinions we disagree with.

Respect asks us to honor freedom of speech and thought, even when we hope to persuade some to see another way, too.

Respect rejects racism, sexism, gender discrimination, economic belittling… and lifts up equality and justice.

Respect prevents anyone from harming another, and does so without harming those who need to do better.

Respect asks us to value all people, and when we find reasons to be critical, to do so kindly and with humility.

We live in a time when people are particularly polarized.  It’s not the only time in history that’s been true, so we have hope that it’s not a permanent condition.  One of the keys to learning how to hear each other and reach common ground is to begin with respect.  To listen deeply, waiting to form a response until another person has been fully heard.  To listen with an open mind.  Maybe we won’t agree, but there may be some points of connection. 

The effort we’re making to name values important to us is a step toward respect.  When we can name our values, we can identify values people hold in common.  When we can explain our values, we can invite others to consider why we find them important.

I wonder what respect means to you and where you have given and received respect yourself?

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Matthew 5:21-24

The Good Shepherd, who gives his life for the flock and has other sheep not of this fold, is Christ, our peace, who has conquered death and broken down the walls of division that separate humanity.  His presence, his gift and his victory continue to shine through the perseverance of many witnesses through whom God’s work carries on in the world, becoming even more visible and radiant in the darkness of our times. The contrast between darkness and light is not only a biblical image describing the labor pains of a new world being born; it is also an experience that unsettles us and affects us amid the trials we face in our historical circumstances.  In order to overcome the darkness, it is necessary to see the light, and believe in it.  This is a call that Jesus’ disciples are invited to live in a unique and privileged way; yet it also finds its way into every human heart.  Peace exists; it wants to dwell within us.  It has the gentle power to enlighten and expand our understanding; it resists and overcomes violence.  Peace is a breath of the eternal: while to evil we cry out “Enough,” to peace we whisper “Forever.” Into this horizon the Risen One has led us.  Sustained by this conviction, even amid what Pope Francis called “a third world war fought piecemeal” peacemakers continue to resist the spread of darkness, standing as sentinels in the night.   – Pope Leo XIV

Our word for this week is peace.  We have a general impression that peace is God’s way for the world, but we don’t always have the evidence that this is true, or that peace is even possible.  When we turn to the Bible to teach us about peace, we have a difficult starting place.  The Hebrew scriptures, which reflect very ancient cultures, support both peace and war.  There are stories of God’s people conquering the promised land, defeating neighbors and taking their lands as God’s gift to them.  Some even report God’s anger when the people win a war and don’t slaughter every one of their opponents.  Their God seems violent and vengeful, and if we focus on those stories, then God seems to be on the side of battle.  Let’s put those most ancient stories into perspective.  They are “origin stories” rising from the pre-history of a very ancient people, more than 4000 years ago.  They are not history recorded contemporaneously, but remembered over generations which pass the stories down, perhaps embellishing them along the way.  What’s important isn’t so much the facts, but the meaning people found in the stories.  The people of Israel were wandering tribes which over time followed their flocks and moved into the territory of other groups in what’s now Israel.  There undoubtedly were skirmishes as the bands argued over who would control which pieces of land and occasional attempts to take good pastures away from neighbors.  Over time our ancestors believed the good land was indeed a gift from God, that their success in holding it was due to God’s favor, and their victories were signs of God’s blessing.  They became the primary occupants of a nation.

Three thousand years ago that nation was located on major trade routes between what we now know as the Middle East and Egypt.  As empires rose and fell and influence over centuries, many of the armies they raised traveled right through this route as they fought for power.  The prophets of the time knew that their people would be called to battle and even conquered.  They interpreted the losses they experiences from larger empires as God’s judgment on the nation – often pointing out that abuse of the poor and disadvantaged among them resulted in national losses.  Just as God had gifted them the land, God could take it away at the hands of invaders if they didn’t care for one another, worshiping wealth and power instead of God.  In a time when war was common among nations, the Hebrews developed these ways of understanding why they happened and how they should respond both to the wars themselves and their outcomes.

Two thousand years ago Jesus lived under Pax Romana or the peace of Rome.  This was a peace imposed by violence. The roads were relatively safe and the economy was strong because of widespread trade, but that was because soldiers were everywhere and dissent was crushed.  It was a peace that was not peaceful.  In that atmosphere, Jesus had things to say about peace.  At the end of his ministry when he was violently arrested, but insisted that his followers not fight back, healing the ear of a soldier when one of the disciples wounded him.  In reality, fighting wouldn’t have made a difference against overpowering force.  When you are a conquered people without recourse or political power, you resist under the radar by the way you live your daily life.  So early in his ministry Jesus laid out a vision of peace which we read in our scripture lesson:  make peace with each other, avoid quarrels, apologize to each other, learn to get along, practice nonviolence.  Those are some of the teachings which shape our understanding of peace today.

Beginning in the fourth century CE Christian leaders began to shape a response to the many wars around them based on the way they understood Jesus.  St. Augustine of Hippo formed the beginning of what’s been called “Just War Theory.”  The first part of this theory outlines when war is justified.  It requires those who go to war to be on defense, never the aggressor.  It asks questions like:  Do we have a chance of winning?  Will we be able to protect civilians from harm?  Will the benefit be greater than the cost?  In recent history  World War II is seen as a just war, defending the world from the Axis aggressors.  Other recent wars are less clearly just.  The second part of the theory describes the way war is waged if it can’t be avoided:  Can civilians be protected?  Is the use of force limited to what is absolutely necessary?  Is the goal to quickly come to peace?  I leave you to think about how recent wars meet those criteria.  In recent conversation about whether or not the war in Iran is a just war, the criteria applied seem to be more about who is stronger and who has the right to be more powerful.

It seemed good to find a statement about peace from Pope Leo XIV to inform this conversation since he’s found himself pulled into the discussion about whether or not our current war is necessary.  He, of course, says no.  The statement we read today was from a sermon more than a year ago, so his position on peace isn’t new or targeted at recent aggressions.  It’s based on the firm belief that Jesus wants to give us peace – personally, in our hearts and minds, in our daily interactions, and in the world.  By following Jesus’ example and loving one another as he loves, we are able to live in peace.

There are those who say that human nature is prone to evil or violence, to excesses of power and abuses of privilege and therefore war is inevitable.  That may be true.  But those who follow Jesus aren’t constrained by the realities of this current life.  Instead we believe that life can be made new.  We look toward an afterlife in heaven which will be perfect, without conflict or pain.  But Jesus himself wasn’t focused on promises to be fulfilled after death.  He believed in what was possible in community now and taught people new ways of thinking and living together that made life better in the present.  Rather than give in to the inevitability of war, Christians hold up the possibility of peace and work toward learning the skills that make peace possible:  negotiation, forgiveness, compromise, mutual respect…

This week we celebrated the 81st anniversary of the gathering which established the United Nations.  It took place while World War II was still raging.  Nations gathered to talk about what peace should look like when it happened. They set out principles, including the principles of just war, to guide their interactions on the international stage.  They described ways to cooperate, to avoid conflict, to describe war crimes so they could be avoided.

It’s easy to say war is inevitable, but it’s also true that throughout history people of good faith have worked to limit war.  To provide places for conversation so differences can be managed before war begins.  To agree to humanitarian guidelines to minimize the damage caused by war.  To build strong communities across national boundaries so peace can thrive.  It is indeed the duty of the Pope to remind the world that peace is the goal and war should be avoided whenever possible.  And it’s the duty of those of us who follow Jesus to reinforce that teaching.  To call leaders to account when war is too easy and international guidelines are ignored.  To believe that peace is possible and then to make peace possible by living into peace in our lives and demanding peace in our national life.

Third Sunday of Easter

Genesis2:4-15

 It’s Like This (Rosemary Wahtola Trommer)

“The odds of you being alive are basically zero.”

Dina Spector, reporting the work of Dr. Ali Binazir, Business Insider, June 11, 2022

It’s like this: the sun itself
is constantly moving through space,
and yet it never leaves us.
Add this to the list of marvels –
like how a glass of water
was once a cloud,
like how love can grow in us
despite despair, fear.
Given such gifts,
one must wonder how it is
our arms aren’t constantly raised
in spontaneous praise for life.
I know and you know
Why sometimes our hands stay down.
But now, standing still together,
even as we’re spinning
and racing through space,
even if it’s only a whisper,
when faced with the truth
that great forces hold
our lives in place,
it feels right to say
thank you, thank you,
eyes lifting, heart trembling,
the improbable earth
so solid beneath our feet.

Let’s begin today with a check-in on our “word” project, the effort to collect words which describe what we think life should be like, how we should work together toward a good, god-sized vision for the world.  We’ve collected quite a few so far.  I suspect the supply is endless, but our attention isn’t endless.  So the current list will take us through the first Sunday in June, and then we’ll try something new for a while. 

Today our word is steward, or stewardship, which is too long for the index cards we’re using.  I put that word on the Sunday closest to Earth Day, because one of the important ways we are stewards for God is in the ways we care for the earth.  When I served rural parishes, we celebrated this day as Soil Stewardship Sunday with resources from the state soil conservation folks, and acknowledged that the agricultural enterprise depends on our being caretakers of the soil.  We know from the history of settlement on these plains that we love that there have been times when the soil and its fertility have been in danger, and then scientists and earth-lovers stepped up, learned better ways of care, and saved a way of life.  I’m not an expert on climate science or soil science, but we don’t have to be experts to realize how important it is for us to care for the planet we call home.  Recently the Artemis astronauts reminded us of Earth’s beauty and her fragility in the vastness of space.

Rather than make the case for conservation, let’s just admit that we like it when our water and air are clean, and we remember when they weren’t protected.  We’d like to continue to thrive as people, creatures and plants on Earth, and we bear responsibility to be sure that’s possible.  Maybe more responsibility when some of our leaders dismiss the need to be careful.  All the mainline denominations have done studies and issued statements calling people of faith to recognize the need to minimize humans’ impact on the future of Earth.

Those statements come from our understanding of what it means to be stewards of the earth; from the ancient story of God creating humanity and placing the gardens of earth in their care.  Let’s spend some time thinking about what it means to be stewards of life as we know it.  There’s a long American tradition that this biblical story means God created earth and her resources for our benefit, and humans are meant to take advantage of any good thing Earth provides – for profit, or for entertainment.  Early colonists enjoyed abundant harvests of seafood and wildlife, never thinking that over-fishing or over-hunting might diminish that abundance.  Southern states grew rich on tobacco and cotton, which over time wore out the fertility of soils and caused farmers to move west, never realizing that there might be a limit to how far west one could go.  I remember when fracking returned to western North Dakota I was in a conversation with a friend about how new drilling techniques would be hard on the land and exhaust the oil.  His reply was, “That will take 50 years, so we don’t have to worry about it.”  Fifty years isn’t a very long time, especially when it takes a billion years or so to press plants into oil.  The argument goes that humans are the pinnacle of creation, so everything good must be for our benefit.  If we’re smart enough to develop technology and industry which uses resources to make life more comfortable, good for us.  That’s God’s blessing.

But there are other ways of thinking about humans’ role on Earth.  We are all descended from hunter-gatherer groups which understood Earth’s bounty as gifts for survival, practiced good harvest practices so that species weren’t depleted, took what was needed and left some for another time. We encountered this knowledge among the indigenous folk on this continent and unfortunately didn’t learn from them.  It’s not too late to learn to respect our place as one creature among many, not the rulers or abusers of all.  People today are trying to re-learn how to grow healthy food in ways that do less harm to the land, how to be grateful for what Earth produces rather than entitled to it.  Think of the difference between those who used all parts of a few bison to sustain a village and those who slaughtered the herds for fun.  We have all paid the price of their excess.

The more I learn about other religions, the more I see that the best of each turns out to be what most hold in common.  The great themes of good (like our words) run through all the highest religions over time.  When a religious thought turns out to be harmful, it may well have been misunderstood. A common theme among religions is connection.  Humans are meant to be part of all the diverse creatures of earth, not masters over all others.  We are meant to be careful of resources, using our knowledge to help plants and all creatures thrive.  We are also meant to be connected with each other.  To share gladly so that everyone eats, works, learns – not taking advantage of some for the benefit of others.  Jesus shared this wisdom:  love your neighbor; welcome the stranger; share your bread.

The idea that stewardship of resources is meant to be a human privilege, may be a distortion of God’s intent.  Maybe the emphasis isn’t meant to be on what we can use, but on how we can care for what’s provided.  When we care for the earth, make sure resources are shared by all with need, and preserve abundance for future generations, we come closer to God’s vision for how creation functions to support all life.  When we respect other people, creatures, gardens – all life – and see the ways we are interconnected, our lives become blessed far beyond when we grab what’s good for ourselves and let others fend for themselves.  Stewardship is about interbeing – a wonderful Buddhist word which describes how life flows among us, connecting us, overcoming division for the good of all.  Learning to be stewards of the Earth leads us to be stewards of all civilization.  It lifts up mutuality and belonging.  It focuses on the good of the whole, and celebrates that together we are whole.

All of our “words” are reflected in the concept that we are one creation. Seeing ourselves as caretakers of the complex systems of life helps us clarify what it means to support and encourage one another.  To make life good for ourselves by making life good for all.  To be a steward is to hold life in trust for our neighbors and for the future.  That is a high calling.

Second Sunday of Easter

Luke 24:13-35

 Don’t Hesitate - Mary Oliver

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate.  Give in to it.  There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be.  We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left.  Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world.  It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins.  Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty.  Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Today’s word is Joy.  Which leads me to write a sermon about how Joy is always possible, even when life is the pits.  I was going to start by creatively listing all the hard things that happened to me this week, just so you would know that I understand completely that there is no logical reason to be joyful these days.  I have a very long list this week!  But then I realized that your list is probably longer and harder.  And after all, it is my job to write a sermon even on hard weeks and it’s a pretty cushy job, all things considered. 

The disciples of Jesus walking to Emmaus had had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad  week, so to speak, and were happy to tell the stranger who joined them about how their best friend and leader had been executed, just for starters on life falling apart.  They didn’t expect to get a lesson in scripture for their trouble, but they did.  And since the week was terrible and the stranger was pleasant, why not invite him to dinner…  There in that simple meal of bread, because they had been travelling and couldn’t cook, he breaks the loaf and they recognize Jesus. He disappears, but their grief is now joy and they run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others.

In our world a lot of very bad things have happened this week.  We can’t count the bombs that have fallen and the lies that have been told  and the bad news dispensed at doctor’s offices and airport ticket counters and job service and all those other places we’d rather not hang out.  And yet, I heard lots of joy this week.  I said yes to a car repair without any red tape at all.  I saw young actors and musicians do a bang-up job in a school play.  The Bergeson garden catalog came, full of garden possibilities.  Around the world a whole lot of babies were born, meals shared, projects completed. Even if the news is pretty bad, the stuff that’s not at all newsworthy can be pretty good.

I suspect that someone put “joy” on our word list because it’s joy that gets us through when the job seems overwhelming and we don’t really feel much like doing it.  Mary Oliver reminds us that the best thing to do when joy shows up is to enjoy it.  To receive it like a gift and expect it to overpower all the gloom, or at least push it back for a while.

Experts tell us that joy and happiness are not the same.  Happiness depends on circumstance.  We’re happy when good things happen, when people are nice to us, when we win the door prize.  Happy is a good thing, but joy is better.  If happiness is a reaction to positives, joy is a world-view that expects positives,  Joy is what can surprise us when there’s no reason to be happy, because we’re willing to see what’s good in the middle of life being messy and real.  To watch for almost-hidden signs that the mess isn’t the whole story.

I believe in joy because I believe that deep down, under all the muck, the world is beautiful and the world’s people are good.  Not perfect, but doing what they can each day to be kind and responsible and all those other things we’ve been lifting up.  I believe God is, and God is good, and love is possible.  So if we look even a little bit, we’ll find something good peeking through the clouds and casting rainbows.  And since those bits bring joy, we may as well embrace them.  If we focus on the joy, not pretending life can’t be hard, but insisting that joy can lift us up anyway, then joy does just that.  It lifts us up and gives us strength and determination to keep going.  Joyful people make life better, just by existing.  They show us the presence of God, who is always present.  They remind us that Jesus comes to break the bread, whether we expect him or not.  If we look for God and Jesus and joy, we find them.

So… tell me where you have seen joy lately!

Easter Sunday

John 20:1-18

 Meeting Your Death by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer

Because there are no clear instructions,
I follow what rises up in me to do.
I fall deeper into love with you.
I look at old pictures.
I don’t look at old pictures.
I talk about you. I say nothing.
I walk.  I sit.  I lie in the grass
and let the earth hold me.
I lie on the sidewalk, dissolve
into the sky.  I cry.  I don’t cry.
I ask the world to help me stay open.
ask again, please, let me feel it all.
fall deeper in love with the people
still living.   I fall deeper in love
with the world that is left –
this world with its spring
and its war and its mornings,
this world with its fruits
that ripen and rot and reseed,
this world that insists
we keep our eyes wide,
this world that opens
when our eyes are closed.
Because there are no clear instructions,
I learn to turn toward the love that is here,
Though sometimes what is here is what’s not.
There are infinite ways to do this right.
That is the only way.

We are here today to celebrate Easter.  What a wonderful thing to do.  Across the world today there will be loud brass and clashing cymbals.  There will be banks of lilies and children hunting pretty eggs.  There will be singing and feasting among all those who believe Jesus is risen.  And there will be singing and feasting among those who hardly know who Jesus is.  And chocolate.  Mounds of chocolate, food of the angels.  You don’t have to believe in Jesus to love chocolate.  So before we move on with this celebration, I want us to take a deep breath and sit, just for a minute, with the realities of the first Easter.  The one before the celebration.

Easter morning begins in grief.  Those who knew and loved Jesus were in the deep shock of mourning.  They were huddled together in hiding, fearing what Rome had done to Jesus and wondering if they were next.  It was the women who left that hiding place to do their work, women’s work, unwrapping the broken body of their friend so they could clean it and rewrap it, packed with spices.  They were the ones who discovered the body was missing.  In John’s version they run fast to report this further loss.  This insult to their grief.  Someone has taken him!

Some of the disciples run with them back to the grave.  They see the evidence - open tomb, folded cloths - but they don’t know what it’s evidence of.  They go home, confused, demoralized, even sadder and more afraid than before. Mary stays by the stone, weeping.  She sees two angels, who ask her, “Why are you weeping?”  Why indeed.

Let’s stop there a minute, because Easter doesn’t happen in a vacuum.  It happens at the end of Jesus’ life, and we’re told that life was worth mourning.  Mary weeps.  Mary weeps because of what she thinks is lost.  Because of what for a short time she had.  That’s the part of the story celebrations take for granted, but let’s not.  Let’s remember this Jesus who lived.  He said, “God is love.” And then he showed people what that meant. God loves and values every person – rich and poor, old and young, kind and cruel, those with their act together and those falling apart. Jesus treated every one with respect and compassion.  He believed the world should be just, as God is just.  He believed the world should be generous, as God is generous.  He called people into community, to care for each other, in opposition to Empire, which destroyed community for the benefit of the powerful.  He changed lives.  Knowing Jesus was so amazing that people left everything they had built in their lives just to be with him, to live like him.   

That’s why today’s word is vision.  Jesus brought the world a God-sized vision of what life could be.  When he died, people thought they had lost more than a friend.  They thought they had lost that vision, and God along with it.  No wonder Mary weeps.

Mary turns, and sees Jesus.  But not the crucified, broken Jesus.  A Jesus she mistakes for the gardener.  “Tell me where you have taken him!”  That’s the only logical explanation.  Someone has taken him to a place of disrespect.  It’s then that Jesus speaks her name.  Mary!  He names her – seeing her for who she is, right to the heart.  Mary knows him as her beloved friend because he knows her as his beloved friend.  She sees him because he sees her.  The way God sees her, beloved friend.  And in that moment, she begins to believe that he isn’t gone and neither is all he stood for, all he taught them, all he invited them to believe is possible. 

We say Easter is the celebration of the fact that Jesus gives us new life.  We say that because Jesus gave his followers a new way of living, a God way of living.  We miss the profound miracle of Easter when we don’t stop long enough to see the ways Jesus makes our lives new.  We miss the ongoing miracle of Resurrection when we don’t stop to name the ways our lives are shaped by Jesus every day.  We have been invited into living the vision of love and community that is God’s vision, that remakes the world.

Mary and the disciples didn’t stop grieving Jesus’ death that Easter morning.  They didn’t stop fearing Rome or missing their friend at the table.  But over time they became certain that he was not dead, but alive and with them.  They learned to tell people of his vision, God’s vision, for what life in this world can be.  They came to know what people have come to know across the millennia, that Jesus is alive among us.  His vision of love for the world is powerful because it is true.  He loves us profoundly and completely.  He knows our names, and he invites us to know each other and to love each other.

Rosemary Wahtola Trommer reminds us that when we lose someone precious, there are no instructions.  Surely Jesus’ friends felt his loss the rest of their lives, just as we feel the many losses we have known.  Since there are no instructions, the best we can do is to fall more deeply in love.  To fall completely, profoundly in love with God, and with Jesus who shows us God.  Easter is a celebration of life.  Let it be for us a celebration of love.  And let us resolve to do all we can to be in love with the world and its peoples as God is in love with us all.  Let Easter be a vision of what can be, and let’s hold it not just today, but always.

Palm Sunday

Luke 21:1-11

Welcome to Palm Sunday, which has become the day when Christians celebrate that Jesus is King.  I love waving palms and singing Hosanna!  It’s a great festival, and we should enjoy it.  And we should unpack and understand that this isn’t what Jesus is about.

Yesterday many of us stood on the street to declare NO KINGS!  That’s a very American statement, stretching back to our founding revolution.  There were signs declaring “No Kings but Jesus!”  Those of us who consider Jesus Lord can identify with that, although it’s problematic as a political statement in a country built on religious freedom and no state religion.  We’ve recently been paying attention to Christian nationalism which wants to establish Christianity as the national religion and give power to those who claim Christianity as theirs.  So we should probably clearly say a few things:

Jesus wasn’t Christian, he was Jewish. The teachings we treasure from him are consistent with the theology and the values of the Hebrew scriptures he knew, taken to their most loving and inclusive extreme.

Jesus did not claim to be king and never aspired to be king.  His movement was all wrapped up in politics and religion, which have never been truly separate things, but he was not trying to lead an uprising, and he didn’t aspire to political power.

Jesus himself and the movement he initiated were nonviolent.  There was a movement advocating for war with Rome in his day.  They were called the Zealots, and while Jesus would have been in conversation with them, he wasn’t a Zealot.  He was unarmed and the changes he called for in society, while wide-ranging and profound, were nonviolent, starting with “love your enemy and do good to those who persecute you.”

Recent scholarship paints an important picture of Palm Sunday, a picture people of faith across the country are going to use to protest our government this afternoon when they call on people to take their palms home from church and into the streets.  Jesus was coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  All Jews who were able traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover each year, so the crowds in the city were massive. Knowing the potential for trouble, the Roman presence in the city was also massive.  Roman soldiers were marching into Jerusalem from their fortresses near the coast where the weather was better.  They would have been led by officers on mighty war horses and they would have marched in formation, several men across, so that when they entered the streets they pushed the gathering crowds out of the way.  They carried shields and swords and spears, and they looked dangerous because they were.  They were there to give a clear message that no trouble would be tolerated. 

Jesus and his followers would have been part of the gathering crowd, coming into the city from the east, opposite the arriving army.  They traveled on foot, although at the end of a long journey an exhausted Jesus may well have borrowed a donkey to rest his tired feet.  They were unarmed.  Jesus’ reputation as a teacher had spread, and it’s quite possible people recognized him.  Looking for some excitement, they called out to a religious teacher to “save them” from the oppression of Rome.  Surely some of the people who didn’t know Jesus well wondered if he might lead an insurrection.  Honoring him like an approaching dignitary gave them a nice diversion on a hot day.  Fifty years later when this story was written down, the authors make the most of the contrasts – Rome vs Jesus, military might vs the power of love, those able to murder him vs the teacher standing up for what’s right.  We will never know if Jesus himself staged this day in those confrontational terms, although knowing what we do of his teaching, it’s unlikely.  But the juxtaposition of values we treasure and those we oppose is striking to those who follow Jesus today.  It’s why the story is at the heart of this afternoon’s protests.  And it’s why on this day, when we celebrate this story, our word for the day is courage.

Jesus was a prophet and a teacher with a message of reform.  He wanted people to change the way they understood God – as love – and the way they treated each other – with compassion and justice.  So he surely welcomed attention from the crowds in Jerusalem as a way to expand his message.  But welcoming attention was dangerous.  In his lifetime he’d witnessed many executions by crucifixion.  He had to have been afraid.  Some of our secondary readings remind us that courage isn’t the absence of fear, but the determination to continue in fear’s presence.  Jesus had the courage of a message he believed with his whole heart.  It was a message of hope that had the potential to transform life for everyone.  It was the salvation of the people, and he was willing to proclaim it in the face of danger, in the face of almost certain arrest, torture, and execution.  Because he was brave, others were brave with him.  After he died for that message, they kept right on sharing it.  In some ways it has transformed the world, and it still can.

Christian nationalists hold up our current government as God’s way and celebrate its actions as the fulfillment of God’s blessings for our country.  But Palm Sunday reminds us that governments can be challenged with faith and Jesus is a bearer of God’s message.  It takes courage to stand with Jesus and say “no” to government when they violate God’s way.  So we say, “no” to mass deportation and violating the rights of immigrants and refugees.  We say “no” to war which kills innocent people, even as we acknowledge that some rulers in this world do not deserve to govern.  We say “no” to ending programs which provide medical care, food, education, and life to people in our country and around the world in order to enrich a few folk.  We say “no” to anything which isn’t loving and kind and just.  And if being loving and kind and just isn’t the way of power, then we will say “no” to power, but Jesus shows us that the power of love overcomes in the end.

Who has courage today?  Peaceful protestors.  Soldiers who uphold their oath to the constitution even when they are forced into unnecessary wars – and who ask if orders are lawful.  Judges who rule fairly, often at the risk of their lives and the lives of their families.  Immigrants who believe in the American dream in spite of new dangers.  People who buy extra groceries and give strangers rides to work or school and continue to set up refugee apartments.  Donors who support independent media and legal aid.  Ordinary folk who continue to love their neighbor, even if they disagree…to love their families, even if they disagree.  People who speak up in the face of hateful remarks, particularly those who do so quietly and respectfully. 

Courage looks like folk who undergo difficult medical treatments in hopes of a better tomorrow.  It’s friends who sit beside those who are dying so they won’t be alone.  It’s teachers who show up every day, hoping that the most troubled student will have a bit of success.  Tell me what courage looks like to you….

“Courage does not always roar, sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.’”

– Mary Anne Radmacher 

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Luke 6:27-38

You don’t have to be a holy man or a spiritual teacher to [practice spiritual giving]. Spiritual giving can involve giving wisdom and teachings to those who may need them, but it can also involve helping others to be more joyful through the generosity of your own spirit. Seek to be an oasis of caring and concern as you live your life. Simply smiling at others as you walk down the street can make an enormous difference in the quality of human interaction in your community. And it is this interaction that is most responsible for the quality of human life on our increasinglycrowded and lonely planet our affluent and still impoverished planet.
- The Book of Joy

Today’s word is generosity. Over the years I’ve preached my share of sermons on generosity. Many of them started with the biblical “rules” for giving. Jesus has a lot to say about money, and so does the Hebrew scripture. There’s the rule to tithe or to give 10% of income to the church.  People sometimes ask me, “Does that mean gross or net income?”  The answer is “yes.”  Or they’ll ask, “Does the “church” mean the congregation I attend or all the good   causes asking for donations?” The answer is “yes.” Islam has the rule of Zakat which requires Moslems of means to give an annual gift of 2.5% of their liquid assets to charity.  Imagine all  the questions you could ask about that rule.   (There’s  a zakat calculator on Google, I see.)   When we try to make generosity fit a rule, we realize that there are so many exceptions   because circumstances vary. I was the third generation expected to tithe in my family, and   from grade school I put the required amount in my weekly envelope, but adult life showed me the rules didn’t always fit my circumstances. Sometimes the demands of a growing family exceeded 90% of my income, and giving away a tithe didn’t make me a cheerful giver; it made me bitter and angry. Other times it was easy to give much more because it was so much fun to meet needs around me.

My ideas about giving have been shaped by a field trip I took in a college class called “Sociology of the Family.” It was a few hours of my life, and they have been formative ever since.   We  traveled to the Bethany Commune in Bloomington, MN.   You  might know them as the makers of Bethany lefse grills, travel trailers and paperback novels.  They were embedded  in an evangelical church whose goal was to support 200 missionaries around the world.  To   free up money for this project, some of their families chose to live communally on the campus of the church and industries.  Families were assigned rooms in the dorm according to their  size.  They ate communally.  They shared a fleet of vehicles.  Some worked in the businesses and others worked off campus because they could earn much higher salaries. Everyone took turns maintaining their living spaces and providing meals. I looked them up while I was writing this. They sold their businesses over the last 2 decades.  They put their training programs  online and sold their campus last year. They still have over 200 missionaries in the field. And their commitment still impacts this kid who spent a couple of hours with them more than 50 years ago.

Bethany thought they were following a biblical model of communal living and it worked for a time. And then it didn’t and they found other ways to support their goal. The realities of first century living, which was a subsistence modelfor most people, and the demands of twenty- first century living are not the same. The economics of living in a developed country and in those struggling to keep up are very different. Anything we can say about generosity hasto be said with humility and flexibility, so that people can find what works for them among the options. But there are some things we can say with confidence.

Jesus clearly believed that God intended everyone to have enough resources to sustain life. And he expectedthose who had excess to share with those whose lacked the basics. He expected people to share. But he didn’t just repeat the ancient rules. He talked about the way  we see life and the way we treat each other.   Today’s passage is about generosity, and it contains words like “love your enemies” and “do unto others what you want them to do for  you.” The passage Victoria found for us in The Book of Joy is also more about how we enter  into life than it is about how much we give away. In a section on generosity, it talks about smiling. I love the image of becoming “an oasis of caring and concern.” That matches the way Jesus entered into the world.  Generosity grows from a mindset that believes everyone   deserves enough as a basic right of humanity, and doesn’t ask who deserves more or less. It grows from a heartset that connects with everyone without boundaries or judgment. It’s a  matter of looking at reality and seeing possibility. Generosity doesn’t ask, “What’s required?”  but instead “What can I do and who can help me do more?”

It feels a little silly to be talking to this congregation about generosity because you live so generously every day. I feel a little guilty because you give away so much money, but I get the fun of passing it out. I get to hear the daily stories about heavy needs and see the joy when those loads are lifted just a little. This community is a more joyful place because of what you do.

It’s not just money that shows our generosity. You are generous with your building. More and more people are seeing this as a place to gather.  A place where there’s tea and coffee, books  to share, food to enjoy. We’rebecoming a place that affirms community without judgment.

You have to pick up after yourself, but you can be yourself here.

We’re learning in this process to be good stewards.   We say yes to many things, and no to  those we can’t afford. We are learning to identify what is a true need and what is a want or a luxury. In this building I wanted a dishwasher. We needed new furnaces. Needs take priority.

I suspect that over time in your personal lives you’ve shifted a bit in what you want and what is a true need. We each have to make those decisions for ourselves, because their isn’t a blanket answer.  I don’t need cable TV but I need lots of flowers.  Your answer on that one might be  quite different.

Here are some things closely related to generosity:

Confidence - that God has provided enough for everyone. If I share, I will still have enough.

Gratitude - It is a privilege to be able to be generous. Giving makes us thankful.

Joy - Jesus tells us that those who give receive more in return - not usually material things, but deep abiding joy. The joy that know we are connected to all people and all creatures and that what we share more than anything is God’s love.

What do you know about generosity? What can you add?

Third Sunday in Lent

Galatians 6:1-10

Empathy, by Megan Harper Nichols

Let me hold the door for you.
I may have never walked in your shoes,
but I can see your soles are worn,
your strength is torn under the weight of a story
I have never lived before.
Let me hold the door for you.
After all you have walked through it is the least I can do.

Today’s words are compassion and empathy.  I put them together because they are very similar, but not identical, and both speak to the very heart of our enterprise, creating a better world.  These two words almost don’t need a definition.  We recognize their importance right away.  We practice compassion when we write a check for someone in our community with a need – rent, bus pass, birth certificate.  It’s an important thing to do and it makes a difference to that person.  Sometimes, we don’t just write the check, we hear the story.  Why is someone in danger of eviction?  Illness, job loss?  What else is true about them?  They are parents?  They have been without shelter before?  When we enter into their story, we feel their need in a deeper way, with empathy.  When we help these folks it not only makes a difference for them, it also changes us a bit.  We see the world more clearly.  We know more about the experiences of people in our community.  So compassion and empathy are interwoven.  Both the giver and the receiver grow into a new place through their interaction.

In my teens my grandmother gave me a copy of the Good News Bible, what was originally called “Good News for Modern Man.”  This edition was illustrated with simple line drawings.  The drawing for the verse, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ,” showed a line of people of all genders and ages, each one carrying a sack that looked heavy over their shoulder.  In the line the artist drew people’s left hand holding the sack on their shoulder and the right hand reaching forward to lift the bottom of the sack of the person ahead.  Each one carried a heavy load, but no one carried it alone.  When we live in an atmosphere of compassion, giving and receiving empathy toward one another, all our burdens are lighter.

 Our second reading talks about the need to know the story others are living by.  I want us to focus on that word “story” for a minute.  When we think about our own lives, there are many stories we tell ourselves about our history and our experiences.  Our Buddhist friends remind us that there are events, and then there are the stories we tell about the events.  Those of us with adult siblings know that the stories about what it means to have grown up in our families vary from one person to another.  My favorite grandmother was my brother’s nightmare, the same person experienced in very different ways.  The story we assume about a person standing on the Walmart corner with a sign and the story they might tell us about their life are probably very different.  But we both put meaning into the stories we tell.  We need to hear another person’s story in order to understand how they experience life.  Listening to that story is part of lifting their burden.

Our Buddhist friends also tell us that we don’t need to be trapped by a story, once we see it for what it is.  Every story can be told in more than one way.  We wave to a friend across a crowded room and he doesn’t wave back.  We can tell a story about being offended:  he’s ignoring me; I must embarrass him; he never liked me.  Or we can tell a different story:  he can’t see me without his glasses; the crowd is so large; I’m going to tease him about not seeing me the next time we’re together.  How we tell the story changes the experience.

 Our effort to describe a better world is giving us many words, but those words don’t change us or our world unless we put them into action.  Part of practicing compassion toward ourselves and others, part of living with empathy, is learning not to be carried away by the stories we tell.  We practice compassion toward ourselves when we make room for positive stories about our experiences, rather than focusing on hurt or pain.  We practice empathy when we listen to the real story someone wants to tell us, rather than just the story we have in our head.  And when we really listen, we first honor the story folks tell as theirs.  And we may be able to help them see small ways to tell that story differently, ways that bring healing to their pain.

What do you have to add to the conversation about compassion and empathy?

When have you experienced receiving compassion from someone else?

When have you acted on compassion or empathy you felt for another?

Who comes to mind when you think about persons you would like to show more compassion to?

Second Sunday in Lent

1 Cor. 12:12-26

A reading from the Inclusion Hub by Lisa Dunn

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) encompasses the symbiotic relationship, philosophy and culture of acknowledging, embracing, supporting, and accepting those of all racial, sexual, gender, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, among other differentiators.

Diversity: Acknowledges all the ways people differ: race, sex, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, and more.

Inclusion: Is about diversity in practice. It’s the act of welcoming, supporting, respecting, and valuing all individuals and groups.

Equity: Is often used interchangeably with equality, but there’s a core difference: Where equality is a system in which each individual is offered the same opportunities regardless of circumstance, equity distributes resources based on needs. We live in a disproportionate society, and equity tries to correct its imbalance by creating more opportunities for people who have historically had less access.

Belonging: Infers that an equitable structure is in place and functioning to make all people, no matter their differences, feel welcome. When you reach for equity, you’re striving for a system that benefits everyone, no matter their circumstance. Belonging is when this not only works, but no one feels as if their inclusion is questioned. Equity, diversity, and inclusion all mean different things, but interact with and rely on one another. Equity is the goal of diversity and inclusion.

Justice: Is the mission of equity, in which an equitable system works so well it eventually eliminates the systemic problems driving the need for the latter. In other words, everything is fairly and evenly distributed to people no matter their race, gender, physical ability, or other personal circumstances. Where D&I focuses on making all groups feel welcome, DEI also addresses the systemic ways access to things—such as education, food, the web, and more—are unequally distributed.

Sermon

Our scripture today is a clear case for the importance of today’s word:  diversity.  Each person is unique and important.  It takes all of us for the community to be whole.  The apostle Paul refers to the people who followed Jesus as the community, but it is just as true that it can apply to all people – the whole human community. 

We’re used to narrowing our understanding of community.  Last night’s hockey game identified the Central High fans and the Red River fans.  Either way, the wider Grand Forks community wins.  Americans are notorious for thinking we’re exceptional, caused in part by our history and by our geography, an ocean or more away from much of the rest of the world.  When we became more active with Global Friends, we soon met people who had come from far places and learned that we had so much in common.  Plus we learned that those with different life experiences added to the goodness of our community.  We’re better together! 

Our mission this season is to describe the world at its best, and diversity is one of the descriptors we’ve chosen.  In choosing that, we stand up to some of our neighbors who don’t see it that way.  Part of our government is targeting diversity as a negative attribute these days.  Our scripture lesson gives us a way to counter that idea.  So does our second reading, taken from a website that explains the importance of diversity, along with equity and inclusion.  DEI has been banned from official communications, but we can still advocate for its importance.  I can’t add much to the reading in describing why we all benefit from welcoming diversity, advocating for equity, and including everyone.  To say that we live in a system that has benefitted some more than others isn’t meant to make us feel guilt; it’s an opportunity to make corrections and do better going forward.  It’s possible to see DEI programs as benefitting everyone, not punishing those who were once advantaged. 

I find it interesting that the letters DEI spell the Latin name for God.  DEI isn’t a substitute for God, but it’s an attitude that God would approve of – having created diversity and valuing every part of life equally.  Sometimes I’m tempted to hang a big banner on every church that reads “Imago Dei” (in the image of God) to remind the world that God recognizes each and every one as being part of God’sself, of the whole.

When we watch current events or listen to the partisan conversation that fills our airways, we see what happens when we forget that every person is made in God’s image.  We can’t see God in one another and still approve of warehousing immigrant detainees or bombing folks from other countries.  I think we’re struggling to know how to stand up for the rights of our neighbors – those who look and live like us and those who don’t.  It’s more complicated than just shouting back, “Thou shalt not…”  People who agree with us matter and so do all those folks who don’t agree.  If our goal is to create a world that reflects God’s vision more closely we have to advocate for what we think is right, but we have to do it in a spirit of love and   openness.  We need both backbone and humility, and that’s what one of my granddaughters used to call “pretty tricky.”

My hope for this series is that we’ll find positive energy in describing what we believe life can be, not just longer lists of what’s going wrong.  But keeping that positive energy isn’t easy.  It seems like we’re all carrying heavy loads just now.  Aside from the fact that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, there’s the daily stuff we all deal with.  Friends, family, personally there’s the health stuff and the job stuff and the family stuff.  We’re a pretty small group and yet the heaviness of what we’re facing is real.  I was thinking about that this week when another “word” came to me.  I share it with you, hoping it’s as helpful to you as it was to me.  That word is cherished.  In a time when it’s understandable to feel dumped on and a little unloved, God says to us, “You are cherished.”  Not only loved but loved because of who you are and how you live.  Loved because you are you.

I bring you that word in the context of diversity, because it seems that’s how God sees us and is asking us to see one another – cherished.  In all our diversity of color and culture, we are good – loved beyond imagining.  When we see one another through the eyes of God’s love, it becomes much easier to value both our similarities and our differences, and to ask every person to treat others from that perspective.  We can disagree about our preferences – language, food, recreation, style – but God has told us we have equal value.  God hasn’t just accepted each of us, but actually cherished each and every one.  That may be the entry point for our doing the same.

I wonder how you have come to value diversity.  What benefits do you see in the rich variety of the world?  How have you learned to love your neighbor?

First Sunday in Lent

Mark 7:24-30

There’s an assumption in Christianity that God is unchanging:  the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  That’s a comfort when we want assurance that God is faithful to us, ever present.  It’s wrong, I think, if it means that God is fixed.  God begins completely perfect and never changes. Today’s scripture clearly refutes that, if we see Jesus as God present.  In this story, Jesus changes his mind.  He’s been travelling.  Everywhere he goes people flock to him, wanting something – usually healing.  He’s burned out and wants a rest, so he travels off the beaten path – to Tyre.  He stays in a home where no one  is expecting him; you can almost hear his sigh of relief when the door closes and the crowd is gone.  Then here comes this woman, begging him to heal her daughter of a disturbance.  Jesus frankly is rude to her:  You’re not even Jewish.  Why should I help you?  Leave me alone, you dog.  But she is spunky back at him:  even dogs get crumbs from the table.  It works!  You can see Jesus thinking, “I like this woman.  She has nerve.  Maybe I can help someone other than the Jews.  Why not?”  And he cures her daughter.  Not only is this a nice story for the daughter who is healed, it’s a pivotal moment for a movement which eventually focusses no just on Judaism but on the whole world.  Jesus becomes more inclusive in this encounter.  Good news for us gentiles!

Today’s word is flexibility.  This story is a moment in which Jesus shows flexibility – able to take in new information, change his mind, and behave differently.  It made me think about times I’ve changed my mind about important things.  I suspect you have done the same.  My mind-changes include realizing that gender identity isn’t only male/female but much more complicated, and that I need to be on the side of LGBTQ rights.  Or realizing that the world’s religions have more in common than they do differences and we can hear truth from one another.  What are some of the shifts you have made in your thinking over time?...

Many of us were raised by parents who wanted to teach us right from wrong.  Unfortunately, that didn’t always come with nuance.  In my world it was “right” to be American, Christian (Presbyterian version), Republican.  It was also “right” to support civil rights and befriend the Jewish students who opposed saying the Lord’s Prayer in public school every morning.  You’ll recognize that there were benefits and drawbacks on my list.  It’s part of growing up to be able to say, “Maybe I should re-evaluate my list of absolutes.”  But that doesn’t make it easy to make significant changes. 

Tara Brach’s reading reminds me that people often fear change, partly because we’re not sure we’re up to it.  There’s comfort in staying the same.  We don’t have to take a risk or figure out new ways of thinking or acting.  Becoming flexible is an act of trust – trusting ourselves to be able to grow and trusting the rest of the world to help us.  There’s freedom in flexibility, opening ourselves to new information, new people, new possibilities.

I wonder how we would describe flexibility as a positive attribute?

• Being open to new information is part of it.  We’ve recently lived through a few years of new awareness – becoming woke.  We woke up to the ways systems privilege race and class and education.  We’ve learned to recognize that our assumptions about the world aren’t the only ones.  Maya Angelou reminds us that “when we know better, we do better.”  We’re receiving more information than was available to us before. We’re learning to do better. 

• Seeing the world through others’ eyes is a part of flexibility.  That’s how we get new information, sometimes.  Our Community Fund puts us next to people who’s reality is very different from our own, and shows us the humanity behind poverty. Knowing many refugees shows us the inequality of the world right now. 

• Compromise is an important part of flexibility.  I’ve heard many folk expressing nostalgia for times when government was about compromise – give and take that got us to a better place for everyone.  Here’s a simple example from my week – I had to decide whether I wanted to be right about the way I took minutes for the quilt guild or I wanted to be friends with the people who wanted to make corrections.  I chose friendship.  I wouldn’t have always done that.  People grow.

• Relationships matter in flexibility.  We bend a little in deference to others.  Fifty yeas ago there was a big to-do about truth not being relative – truth is truth and there’s only one right answer.  At the time I thought truth wasn’t relative, it was relational.  When you are in relationship with another person, you listen to their viewpoint, you hear their story, and you realize there are many right answers in complex situations and each of you might have an important piece of a way forward.

 If it’s good to be flexible, is there ever a time not to be?  I think Jesus gives us a hint about that.  What matters most is the people involved.  He healed the woman’s daughter, even though she wasn’t Jewish, because he cared about her humanity.  Flexibility is good, but there are red lines that shouldn’t be crossed.  People shouldn’t be harmed.  Everyone should be treated with respect and dignity.  It’s ok to say that some behaviors aren’t ok when humanity is paying a price.  I love the image of the people in Minneapolis singing to ICE agents:  It’s OK to change your mind.  And I love that they are doing their best to keep ICE agents from harming their neighbors.  They are showing us how to say “no” but still keep lines of communication open.  To say “no” to actions while keeping the door open to human connection.

Last Sunday after the Epiphany

John 9:32

Today is our annual observance of Religion and Science Sunday, falling on the weekend closest to Darwin’s birthday.  This observance is 21 years old this year – a coming-of-age moment.  It began when clergy in Wisconsin stood up for science in opposition to an attempt to mandate the teaching of creationism in schools.  Teaching the beautiful stories of God creating life is literature or religion, but not science, and the clergy wanted to be on record as supporting both religion and science as compatible but not the same.  We’ve honored this Sunday for many years at Family of God as a celebration of how faith and science complement each other.  This year’s national theme is Truth Matters, a timely assertion, so we’ll choose the word truth for our values project today and see if we can’t coordinate the two efforts.

The question, “Is it true?”  seems like a simple question, but Wikipedia reminds us that nothing is simple.  Truth can mean many things.

Jesus tells those who become his disciples, or adopt his world view, that the truth will make you free.  Seeing the world through the eyes of love – or as we’ve suggested so far in our series, the eyes of kindness, welcome, inclusion and truth – is freeing spiritually.  It describes a better way to live as a community or a country.  When we say that the teachings of Jesus are true, we say that they reflect the values we believe should be universal.  Some folks assert these values are universal because God has endorsed them and then given them to us through Jesus and the prophets, reflected in scripture.  But then those of us who follow Jesus disagree on exactly how the teachings are to be applied.  Is truth in the official interpretation?  Or the most loving application?  Or the actual words, even when they aren’t clear?  I suspect we aren’t the only ones who want the truth to reflect our preference!

In the context of Religion and Science Sunday truth matters refers in part to the scientific enterprise.  It includes the effort to describe reality accurately.  To conduct controlled experiments, verify results, and propose summary statements about discoveries.  Over time, our understanding of what those discoveries mean can change and grow, but in any given moment we are able to say, “These are the facts.”  Or “This is true.”  A number of faith communities have put their weight behind the assertion that finding facts and making life choices accordingly is important. 

All of the mainline Christian denominations have adopted statements in support of climate science.  We have said that we have a God-given responsibility to care for the earth, and so we need to pay attention to the way human activity is harming creation and creatures.  Just this week our government declared that climate science is wrong, the earth is not in danger, and we no longer need to regulate how people treat the environment.  We would say in response, “Truth matters.”  When there are facts that support particular conclusions, we can’t responsibly pretend those facts don’t exist.  We can debate appropriate responses, but neither religion nor science can make something true simply by wishing it to be so.  Some truths are hard and demand change in our behaviors, changes we may not want to make.  But I suspect that the more difficult a truth is, the more important it is that we pay attention.

Truth Matters also applies to telling the truth in social situations.  It’s a kindergarten lesson to be honest when telling the teacher how something got broken or someone was hurt.  It’s not easy to admit fault, but it builds character in us and promotes trust among us.  When we learn as children to tell the truth, then we can trust our justice system, our work environments, our media.  The functioning of our social system depends on being able to believe what others tell us.  When that’s in question, we have a stake in protecting truth as a value.

Truth Matters when we are describing our history and our common life.  Over time people make choices about how they will treat one another and how society will function.  Those choices change.  As Maya Angelou said, “When you know better, you do better.”  It can be painful in a personal relationship or in a whole country to admit that we need to do better, but pretending there was never a need to change doesn’t serve us.  We learn from what we do well and from mistakes we make.  That’s part of being human.  It’s not a failure to recognize a need to change and to make improvements.  It’s how we build life together.  It’s how we evolve as a society and come closer to reflecting the values we share – the values we believe God has taught us.   It’s not helpful to try to erase facts about the past just to feel better.  Being able to see progress also feels good, and we can be proud when we do better.

What else matters to you when you think of the value of truth?