Sermons and Reflections

3/17/2025

Stand Firm in the Lord. 3/16/2026

Contemporary theologian Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and best-selling author. Shane worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and founded The Simple Way in Philadelphia. He heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to living "as if Jesus meant the things he said.”

This week Shane posted online: “I keep thinking about the prophets - how fiercely they advocated for the most vulnerable people in their land, and how fearlessly they spoke truth to power. We all need that prophetic courage right now.” And then Shane shared the prophetic words from the 10th chapter of Isaiah:
Doom to you who legislate evil,
who make laws that make victims--
Laws that make misery for the poor,
that rob my destitute people of dignity,
Exploiting defenseless widows,
taking advantage of homeless children.
What will you have to say on Judgment Day,
when Doomsday arrives out of the blue?
Who will you get to help you?
What good will your money do you? (The Message translation)

In today’s Gospel I see God doing, at least, two things— using prophetic courage to name evil and then, also, staying the course of Kin(g)dom living. More than once in the Gospels, Jesus calls out evil for what it is. One time was when he turned those tables in the temple, a story told in all four Gospels—calling out a corrupt institutional system (of the religious institution and society nonetheless) that was exploiting the poor to line the pockets of those who were more well off, those who had some status and influence. And again, the story we hear in both Matthew and Luke of the widow who gave her two mites—all that she had—to provide the temple offering.

Now often, this story of the widow’s mite is told during stewardship time as an example of generosity. I don’t negate that this widow is faithful and generous. But, I don’t think that is why Jesus points out her offering. The Kin(g)dom truth Jesus is pointing out to the disciples, and to all of us who will listen, is that the system is corrupt. This religious society is letting the rich pay a pittance while the poor have to give all that they have—even if it is a measly sum. This “taxation,” if you will, that calls for very little from the rich but an overwhelming amount from the poor only serves to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Jesus is pointing out that this is not God’s way, the Kin(g)dom way. This is the world’s way. And it is evil.

Today too, a bit more overtly but still critically, Jesus is pointing out evil to those who have ears to listen. Some Pharisees come and warn Jesus: Careful, Jesus, you better take off because Herod is looking to catch you and kill you. And Jesus tells them: Well, you go and tell that Fox I’ve got work to do: healing, casting out evil, making folx whole and well. I will not be distracted. I’m gonna keep doing me.

Did you hear the evil called out? It came in the form of one word: “Fox.” Now, even back in Jesus’ day, the fox was thought of as sly and conniving, but this one word is much more layered than that. According to Randall Buth, director of the Biblical Language Center and a lecturer at the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, another common usage of “fox” in Hebrew had to do with one’s value. Lions and foxes were contrasted with each other to represent the difference between great men and inferior men. The great men (of greater power) are called “lions,” and the inferior men (of lesser power) are called “foxes.” Buth further explains that “The word “fox” can also have moral connotations, as a saying from the Mishnah demonstrates: “Be a tail to lions rather than a head to foxes.” This saying could be paraphrased, “It is better to be someone of low rank among those who are morally and spiritually your superiors than someone of high rank among scoundrels.”

Jesus knows Herod for who he is: a human who has allowed evil to enter his heart and control his actions. Beloved, maybe you don’t know this, but Herod was a Jew. As was his father, Herod the Great—you know the dude who wanted to kill the baby king in the Nativity story so he has thousands of innocents killed. Well the Herod in today’s story is Herod Antipas, Herod the Great’s son, and like his father, he is the Roman Empire’s puppet. Oppressing his own people so that he can live a life of wealth and luxury—at their expense. Bowing to the Emperor to make himself richer.

But, according to Jesus, Herod—-this person who seems to have all the power, the one who has the authority, who enforces corrupt laws—Herod is a small fry. A Fox, not a lion. And Jesus refers to himself as a hen. This is not a slip of the tongue, but a deliberate message to the ones listening and to us today. For the hen, after all is a chicken—-the prey of the fox, the one foxes eat for breakfast. And, interestingly enough in that patriarchal culture, Jesus identifies himself with a female image. Jesus, this Son of God, identifies himself in feminine form. Even though we still resist this truth and we have failed to make it clear in our texts, prayers, liturgies and music: God is not male nor female, but both and every other bit on the gender spectrum. But, here’s the other important Truth we may very well miss in this story: Jesus is also declaring: God—and therefore whatever is good and whatever is love— God is not the predator. God is not the fox. God is the hen. Because what is good and what is love— what is righteous, what is just, what is moral—-belongs to those who gather up the endangered under their wings.

And that’s where God makes God’s second move in today’s story. Not only does Jesus stop and call out evil for what it is with the intention to disrupt and overturn evil systems—whether they be political, institutional, religious or all of the above—Jesus then says: And this evil will not stop me from living the Kin(g)dom. This evil will not put an end to the mission of Love in the world. I’m going to keep on healing, casting out evil, making folx whole and well. I will not be distracted. Because, Beloved, Jesus knows and trusts that Love is a greater power, a greater force, a greater energy than evil. The answer to Evil is Love. The answer to evil is to unveil it for what it is.

We hear Jesus’ lament in today’s Gospel; a lament I currently feel deep in my bones: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem….you will not see me….how I long to gather your people safely under my wings. Jesus laments that God’s Beloved people do not see him for who he is, that God’s Beloved refuse to be gathered in, that God’s Beloved allow themselves to be the people of the Fox instead of the people of the One who Saves.

In the book The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny, the protagonist Armand Gamache, a homicide investigator who has seen his fair share of the inhumanity of humanity, realizes this: “How easily humans could adjust to darkness. To dark thoughts and darker deeds. Until finally, the darkness became normal. And they no longer missed, or looked for, or trusted the light…..If so-called men of God could turn a blind eye to those atrocities, and so much more, then anything could be done by anyone.” (180)

In the Gospels, Jesus calls out wealth, greed, and apathy as our greatest weaknesses—as the traits which are most dangerous to humanity and Creation. We live in a society that idolizes wealth, a society rewards greed. Elon Musk—an ultra wealthy, unelected person with great political influence and power—has recently said that empathy is a fundamental weakness of Western civilization. But Jesus calls out wealth and apathy as pathways to evil because wealth allows us to create buffers around us. Yes, it can give us more security and safety, but also when things go south in the economy, wealth (and by this I mean having leftover money after we pay for basic needs), wealth gives us the ability to lessen the effects that economic downfall has on us. This means, and this has been historically true, that the ultra wealthy become extremely reckless when they feel there is economic instability. Since they are so well buffered, they can afford to be extremely reckless. And when they are apathetic, they become reckless with the lives of others—especially those to which they attribute no value, the ones Jesus names as “the least of these.” Typically they become reckless with others’ lives for the sake of keeping their wealth and/or increasing their wealth. So when you put power into the hands of ultra wealthy who have a disregard for empathy then what comes out of that equation is evil.

Like Jesus—not only is it our job to be light and to point to light, to be love and to point to love, but it is also our job to call out evil. To name it for what it is so that we do not become immune to the dark. So that we —nor our neighbors—stop looking for or trusting the light.

Therefore, my sisters and brothers whom I love…., who are my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord. Stand firm in Love. There is no other way forward.

1/20/2025

1/19/25: Nevertheless, she persisted.....

Let me start with some historical context that you may or may not already know. This wedding feast at Cana would have been a communal event with a large guest list—pretty much everyone in the community. It was a huge feast, lasting several days—even up to a week, and wine was an important hospitality element. To run out of wine before the end of the event was a disaster for the hosts. And, it meant that those who arrived later in the feast—whether they were traveling or working or ill—arriving later would have meant that there would be no wine for them. The hospitality would have run out. And the latecomers and the last would be denied.

This story of the wedding at Cana can have many meanings. But most of my life I have heard this story referred to as “Jesus’s first miracle.” The first of seven signs in the Gospel of John. And it is certainly the first sign in the Gospel of John, but this wasn’t Jesus’ miracle. Or, at least, not simply Jesus’ miracle.

Just like the entire Incarnation—Love becoming flesh; God showing up as human in the world—this miraculous story begins with Mary. She is the one who looks up and out and takes note of the impending disaster for those who would have been her neighbors, and most likely, close friends. She knows how this one thing could affect the entire community, and in particular, the hosts themselves, and the last to arrive.

Mary not only notices, she goes to the one who can make a difference. She nudges the divine and says: “Houston, we have a problem.” And then Jesus tells her: ”not now.” He doesn’t call her Mother or Amma; Jesus says to her: Gunai, Woman, what is this to you or to me? But Mary, Woman, she knows that this impending social disaster is not only about the family hosting the feast, or the couple getting married. This is a communal event; it will create cracks and crevices within the community. Mary knows it is her business AND the business of the Christ. Surely, this is Mary’s miracle too.

And then, ignoring her son’s reluctance, his short-sightedness, if you will (can we say that about Jesus?), Mary turns to the servants and tells them to do whatever Jesus says to do. This action not only empowers the servants, but it sets Jesus into motion as well. Without these servants—-listening to Mary, the Woman—without them, there is no wine. Surely, this is the servant’s miracle too.

There are a couple of takeaways here that I never heard growing up even though I have heard this Gospel preached and taught MANY times.

This is a miracle that comes about because of several actors: the servants, Jesus, and Mary. It isn’t a fiat that happens because Jesus snaps his fingers and does it; it happens because the Woman saw the disaster unfolding, she went to the ones who could do something about it. Those ones then acted. Everyone involved had a part to play, as we hear in 1 Corinthians 12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Our gifts are not given to us so that only we, or those who are ours, will profit from them. Our gifts are given to us for the common good. Mary knows this. She understood this. This woman persisted. Nevertheless.
And let’s give the servants their due. So often we take for granted so many things that are provided for us, at feasts and every day at the grocery store, and we fail to recognize and give credit to the laborers. The laborers that carry the weight of the world’s economy, and our capitalism, on their backs. In today’s Gospel, whether these stewards were hired for the day or they were the family’s regular servants, these stewards acted on behalf of the Common Good, the societal good. They too would have known the issue of the hosts running out of wine before the feast was over; they took action when called to do so; action that benefited the whole.
Today the Word, the Good News is clearly saying that the feminine gift of seeing and seeking the Common Good is vital. For every community. Notice I didn’t say a “woman’s” gift, but the feminine gift. Because all of us have this feminine gift within us. We all have feminine gifts and masculine gifts and non-binary gifts within us. Some gifts we diminish; some gifts we enhance. Beloved, let us all strive to enhance this feminine gift of seeing and seeking the Common Good within us. God’s reign requires it.
And last, but certainly not least, the Word lifts up today—as it does throughout Scripture—the importance and power of women’s intuition. And yes, I did say Women and not feminine. Because perhaps this is why the Christ calls his mother “Woman” (not only here but at the foot of the cross). Perhaps, with this one Name, the Divine is pointing out the power and importance of the Woman and how without her there is no incarnation, the Common Good suffers, there is no proclamation of resurrection.

Women’s intuition throughout history has too often been degraded, demeaned and devalued. This is one of the reasons we are in the state of brokenness that we are in today as humanity. When we devalue the traits and gifts of an entire 50% of humanity—-everyone loses; everyone is weakened; we all pay the cost. It is a communal disaster.

As we hear from the prophet Isaiah today, God says: “I will not stay silent; I will not rest…until vindication shines out like the dawn, and salvation like a burning torch.” Mary enacts that promise in today’s story. As God’s agent, she will not stay silent; she will not rest when she sees impending disaster. She speaks up; she acts; she calls upon the gifts of many to make the miracle happen.

Now, there may be some among us, and there are certainly some in wider theological circles, who are going to think, and perhaps say, that I am putting too much emphasis on this “Woman” thing. That maybe there’s a little something there, but I am going overboard, missing the point. Beloved, perhaps what has happened is that the Institution and the univocal translations and interpretations of this Miracle story have missed the point and they are the ones who have emphasized this Truth too little. Like Mary Magdalene and the women at the resurrection, and like every woman who tries to tell her account of the harassment and/or abuse she has received, Woman’s intuition, and the feminine gift of seeing and seeking the Common Good, have been silenced, seen as a nicety but not a necessity, and not believed. Too often she has been told she only has an idle tale; nothing of importance.

And yet, for the good of the community, the water was turned into wine. Nevertheless, she persisted.

12/16/2024

Advent 3: Joy to the World...

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”

Wow! Happy Advent to you, John the Baptist! When I was younger and heard this reading, or a similar one from the other Gospels depending on what lectionary year we were in, I always heard it as so harsh. And punitive. And there is some harshness here, but it is truth spoken in Love.

The ritual John was performing at the river Jordan was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. John has a warning for those who are coming to do this ritual simply as “fire insurance” in order to get on God’s good side and get into heaven, and John’s warning is also for those who are participating in the ritual only so that others will perceive them as a “good” and “godly” person, but they actually do not want to change their way of living. John is warning them that this ritual is not at all effective without their participation.

And by calling them vipers, John is calling out the toxicity of their inauthentic and hypocritical behavior and naming that their hypocrisy is poison for the collective, poison for the community. Because it’s like a wolf in a sheepskin—others are going to believe that this is what God’s people look like, this is how God’s people behave—-putting self comfort and self preservation before anything and everything else. It’s like this quotation I came across this week from Mark Van Steenwyk, Executive Director at the Center for Prophetic Imagination: If you reject the idea of merit in your Christianity (it is by grace that we are saved) but affirm the idea in your politics or economics (I worked hard for what I have, so I deserve to live better than others) then your Jesus is Lord of the dead, not the living. Spirituality without politics is dead.

The idea that it is by grace that we are saved is a core belief and tenet of Christianity. And at its most basic definition, God’s grace is life. Everything we have and everything we are and everything that has been given us is through God’s grace, God’s love. And we understand that grace is freely given. No strings attached; no requirements needed. Given simply because as God’s created we are worthy of it. Worthy of life. Worthy of having what is needed to live.

But, if we are honest with ourselves, there are many times we do not extend this grace to others. Most of us work hard for what we have. We have been given the ability and capacity to earn what we need to live. We are fortunate to have the capacity to earn a living wage within our economic system that says: if you want to have what you need to live, you have to earn it. Because that is the economic system we live in. It may be the American way, but it is not the reign-of-God-way at all.

In God’s Kindom, in God’s Creation plan, everyone is worthy of having the basic necessities to simply live. For humans this means shelter, a place to sleep, healthcare, water, food, and human connection. These are the basic necessities of life which God has already provided for all. But in our economic system, all of these necessities have been monetized so you can only get them if you can earn them. Think about it, Beloved: we have school children who have “hot lunch” debt. Even our schoolchildren are not worthy of being fed if they can’t afford it. Grace thrown right out the window. And the Good Samaritan parable tells and shows us that we are to provide for one another’s healthcare. That’s an undeniable takeaway from that story.

Now, I don’t know how to go about changing the entirety of our capitalistic economy, as much as I would like to….. as much as I think Gospel calls us to, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do. Yes, we live in an economic system that fails grace, and an economic system that fails humanity. Therefore we must live differently.

A key question and answer from today’s Gospel is when folx ask John: What then should we do? What does it look like when we live a life of repentance? John answers: You live differently. When you have more than what you need—two coats and not just one—you look for someone who needs the more you have and you give it away. Because that’s grace. And if you are in a position of wealth and collecting wealth, like a tax collector, you use only what you need—what is prescribed for you—and you look for who doesn’t have enough and you give your wealth away. Because that’s grace. And if you are in a position of power, like a soldier, where you can leverage your power for your own benefit, increasing your wealth. You do no such thing. You do not use your power to accuse falsely or threaten others. Power is not for the benefit of building up your ego or your wealth, but instead, it is a responsibility to care for the collective. Because that’s grace.

Beloved, we may live in an economic system which requires everyone to earn the basic necessities of life—and if they don’t or can’t—--our economic system just doesn’t give a damn. But, Beloved, we can be the ones to disrupt the economic system. We can live and move from grace.
Homelessness and poverty are complicated. There are many reasons they exist. But an answer is easier than we think. If people are hungry, feed them. If people are unhoused, house them. If people are impoverished, give them the means and the tools, the time to heal and turn their lives around so that with our accompaniment, they can find a sustainable pathway forward. Why do we think that people who are not housed, who don’t have the capacity to afford the basic necessities of life can somehow turn their lives around without first having their basic necessities met? How much would you be able to accomplish if you didn’t know where you would sleep or where your next meal comes from or how you were going to be able to afford your medications?

When John talks of the ax lying at the root of the trees, he is not threatening violence to the people around him. The trees are not people. The trees are the traits, the tendencies, the temptations we have that keep us from living differently, that keep us from living Love out loud with all others. Our selfish control over time, presence, wealth, and resources. The idea that the basic necessities of life should be monetized and only available to some, but not all. Making sure we have what we want instead of looking to see that the collective, that all others, have what they need. God’s love is an ax that cuts these traits, tendencies, temptations that miss the mark of love right at their roots so they can be removed from our hearts, minds, and spirits. Because when you cut something at the root, it withers and dies away.

Like the refiner’s fire we heard about last week in our readings. Love is a fire, a burning fire, that cleanses us from whatever keeps us in a status of unhealthy self-centeredness. Because there is a healthy self-centeredness—--making sure we are caring for self so that we can know wholeness and wellness and thereby extend wholeness and wellness to others. But then there is unhealthy self-centeredness as well. Self-centeredness that tempts us to hunker down into our own comfort and wants—turning a blind eye to whatever is happening outside of that comfort zone so that we can pretend it has nothing to do with us.

The prophet Zephaniah refers to God who is Love as a mighty warrior. This might lead us to believe that all these great things that come from our relationship with Love will be like “spoils of war.” God will fight our enemies on our behalf and struggle with our oppressors on our behalf and we will just kinda “win” the good stuff.

But just as John is not talking about people when he claims the ax is at the root of the trees, Zephaniah is not talking about people when he prophesied that God will remove disaster from us and God will deal with all our oppressors. Our disaster and the oppressors are not people. They are within us. The only enemies are those that lie within us: the traits, tendencies and temptation toward unhealthy self-centeredness. Focusing on our wants instead of others’ needs; caring for our own wellness while dismissing and ignoring the wellness of others; living in ways that negate that we are not related and obligated to all of humanity, and all of Creation.

Beloved, you already know how this works. Think of any loving relationship you are in or have been in. I mean, truly loving. You were changed by that relationship. You began to live differently because of Love. You chose to share—time, talents and treasure. You stopped certain behaviors because they damaged the one you love. You started certain behaviors because they helped the one you love.

A week ago I got a new doggie, Ralphie. He’s about four months old. I have never really had a puppy this young. But I fell in love. And I find myself doing things that I never thought I would do. Willingly. Because I love Ralphie. Love has turned me around—living a new way. Now, not always conveniently or without annoyance. But in the end, love wins. And I am choosing differently. Because this relationship with Ralphie is improving my life, making me well and whole in a new way.

Love is a burning fire that we walk through to remove the unnecessary and unhealthy self-centeredness within us so that we can walk out on the other side and be more of who we are designed to be: God’s beloved. Each relationship of Love helps us to become more and more connected to wider and wider circles. Helping us to see more clearly that we belong to and with all of humanity, to and with all of Creation. It’s all God’s and God is in all of it.

And this process, Beloved, this process of the burning fire of love, removing the chaff, cutting toxicity at the root, this is what enables and empowers us to live in peace and goodwill for all of Creation. Talk about Joy to the World; Love bringing us home.

11/26/2024

Christ the King Sunday. November 24, 2024

Beloved: today is Christ the King Sunday; it is always celebrated on this, the last Sunday of the
Church’s calendar year. It serves as the last Sunday before we begin the season of Advent, which is a season of hopeful expectation, a season of preparing room within us for Love to find its way home in our hearts, minds, and spirits. Emmanuel, God with us.

Let me share the history of this holy day called Christ the King Sunday with you because, you see, ELCA Lutherans only added this holy day to their calendar in the 1990s, the Episcopalians added it in the 1970s; it is a fairly “new” holy day. But it all began back in 1925 with Pope Pius XI.

You see in the 1920s fascism was on the rise in Europe. According to Merriam Webster dictionary, fascism “refers to a way of organizing society with an emphasis of autocratic government, dictatorial leadership, and the suppression of opposition.”

In the 1920s in Italy it was Benito Mussolini. Growing in power at the same time in Germany was Adolph Hitler, and in Japan it was the Imperial Way Faction with Hirohito as the Emperor. In response to these nationalistic, oppressive regimes, in 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted Christ the King Sunday—-reminding Christians to whom their allegiance belonged. Not primarily to a nation or a ruler, but to God. To a Way of Love, to a Life that is grounded in Love, to the Truth that Love is who we are. That’s how Christ the King Sunday started—as a pushback against Nationalism and oppressive regimes corrupted by power and greed.

And, Beloved, like it or not, we are living in a time—the world is living in a time—when fear is showing up as nationalistic yearnings and tendencies once again. A time when we have forgotten that, as theologian Barbara Holmes puts it, “everything is enfolded into everything.” But this holy day, this Christ the King Sunday, reminds us of our global and Creation-centered obligations, relationships and identity. It reminds us of who we are and whom we follow; that our origin and citizenship comes from God’s Kingdom, not any worldly or earthly identity.

“King” and “Kingdom” are kind of wonky words for Christians because they have too often come wrapped up in oppressive regimes that we have often fought to separate ourselves from, especially as Americans, right? We fought to be freed from the tyranny and oppression of a King. And, if we remember our story from the Bible, there was a time when God tried to tell us that earthly Kings are not meant for us who are followers of the Way of Love.

Our story tells us that after God’s people reached the Promised Land and had settled down, the people realized that they were “different” from other nations. When they looked at other nations, the people thought the other nation’s power came from the fact that they had a King, so the people cried out to God: give us a King! God’s response was pretty much: Hmmmm, that’s not a good idea. But the people wanted their nation to be like all the other nations, so they continued to cry out: Give us a King!

And Free Will, a trait of Love, means God lets us have our way when we demand it; God is not a tyrannical authority. And here’s the thing Beloved—the Truth within this ancient story and the Truth in our own contemporary story for us who claim Christ is this: When we follow in God’s ways, when we walk in the footsteps of the Christ—--we will no longer look, act, respond or choose like other nations. The desire to look and function like the way of the world that prizes money, power, possessions and luxury—this desire leads us to “miss the mark”--in other words, to sin. To forget who we are and whose we are.

In chapter 8 of the Gospel of John, Jesus says: I am not of this world. (Which: hint, hint Christians, means neither are we to be) In Greek that word “world” can also be translated as “system.” Jesus is not of these worldly systems that enrich the powerful and oppress the poor, these systems that are built to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, any system that gives tax breaks to the rich while requiring the poor and the middle class to carry the weight on their backs. These are the systems that Christ takes no part in; these are the tables of injustice that Jesus flips and demands to be changed.
Beloved: that is who our King is. God’s Kingdom, God’s Kingship is “otherworldly” to those who work within the world’s systems. Because Love, as the Magnificat proclaims, turns this upside-down world rightside up. And this holy day, this Christ the King Sunday, comes along each year to remind us that when we follow the Way, the Truth and the Life of the Christ—-we actually live and move from a completely different country, a different landscape, moving from an altogether different citizenship, led and obedient to an authority whose primary concern is communal—worldwide communal—whose primary objective is the wholeness and wellness of each and every speck and being of Creation.

Beloved, our baptism is a radical act. It is the claim that our life is not our own. It is God’s. God–specifically Christ—is our authority—--our “King” to use this world’s term. And to follow this King is to leave this world’s systems and objectives behind. Literally, to die to one way of life and to be raised up, restored and renewed to another way of Life. And when we live this new life, casting aside how we once were for who God made us to be, when we do this—-God is glorified.

Most of us, for most (if not all) of our lives, keep trying to have it both ways. To live as this world does, and then sometimes—whenever it’s not too costly—to let God’s ways take a turn. One question I have started to ask myself is this: Am I trying to have a seat at the table that Jesus has flipped? And what if, Beloved, what if we were to take our baptismal promises seriously? What if we were to take our Biblical narrative seriously—what if we were to understand our citizenship not from any worldly nation, but from God’s Kingdom come? Beloved, what would change in your life, in our life together, if we lived as if Jesus is our King?

11/18/2024

God's Enemies..... November 17, 2024

Since then, Christ is waiting until his enemies are made into a footstool for his feet,
—Letter to the Hebrews 10:13

Beloved, there is a form of Christianity that has been lying to Christians for years. Or maybe I should say that there is a form of Christianity that has been deeply mistaken for years. And it has infected many folx. Maybe you. I know that for a time of my life — me.

This mistaken form of Christianity would hear this verse from the Letter to the Hebrews and understand those enemies the Christ is waiting to have as a footstool for his feet – to be people. Maybe even particular persons.
But, Beloved: God—neither in the Creator aspect of the Divine nor in the Jesus aspect of the divine—-God does not have any people nor persons as God’s enemy. In fact, that is antithetical to whom and what God is. God is Love, and Love does not see any person or people as an enemy.

Oh yes, there are enemies to God, enemies to Love, but never—let me say this clearly and rather loudly—NEVER–is God’s enemy a person. God’s enemies are not people. Not even the people you are most disgusted with. God’s enemies are the thoughts, the beliefs, the ways of being that oppose Love. I am not talking about rom-com/hallmark-card love. I am speaking of Love which is the active intercession in order to gain another’s wholeness and wellness. And Love has no limits or exclusions for whom the “another” is. All others are the “another.” Each and every one. Because, Beloved, all are God’s. God’s created. God’s people. God’s Beloved.

In this creation, in this universe, it is impossible for any person to be God’s enemy. But God—that which is Love—does have enemies. Greed is God’s enemy. Thirst for power over other people is God’s enemy. Self-centeredness is God’s enemy. Apathy is God’s enemy. Nationalism is God’s enemy. Prejudice and bigotry is God’s enemy. Religious certainty is God’s enemy. Hoarding wealth and considering that wealth to be our own—solely Microsoft Word - Preparing to Become the Beloved Community - Year A.docxfor our purpose, comfort and enjoyment—is God’s enemy.

And Beloved, what if all of these enemies: greed, corrupt power, apathy, self-centeredness, nationalism, hoarding wealth, bigotry—what if these are the demons of Legion? The demons Jesus kicked out of people’s bodies and spirits when Love showed up and called them out? Of course, it is easier just to go on hating people as enemies. It is easier to simply dismiss half of our siblings as folx we no longer have to stay connected to; that is certainly easier than finding the enemies within ourselves and using Love to root the enemies out of our neighbors.

In today’s Gospel Jesus is describing an apocalypse—the end of one era and the start of another. And in apocalyptic times, there is always death; there is destruction. But from the ashes of that death, new life arises. Beloved, we find ourselves in such apocalyptic times. The world as we knew it is changing, has been changing. No longer is it so clearly tribal—-we are becoming more and more of a mixed ecology. And for some people—that is scary. They want what has been; they either cannot understand or do not want what is becoming. And so, they fight—tooth and nail—to try to keep us in the past, to keep Creation in their comfort circle: the way of being where their own status and comfort is afforded. Even at the cost of their siblings’ status and comfort, life and being. Their fear is God’s enemy.

But, we Beloved, we followers of the Way of Love, we know that we are a creation that is always becoming. While the new can be scary and uncomfortable, it is necessary for deconstruction to happen so that re-construction can take place and something new can be born. The Message translation of today’s Gospel story tells it this way: Jesus began, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When you hear of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history, and no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over.

What we, as followers of the Christ, must remember is our own story. Jesus was born into a time of the Empire, the Roman Empire. He did not understand his mission and ministry to be one of toppling the Empire—at least not through warfare and Institutional means. No, what the Christ does is topple the Empire from the ground up. He reminds people of who they are and whose they are. He lives out Love—simply by tending with Love to whomever is right in front of him. When injustice gets in his face, he turns the tables. He takes the time to rest and recover. But then gets back up and keeps moving forward—-all while the Empire looms over him, over society, over the land. The movement of Love begins, exists, and continues right there in the middle of Empire. The Empire cannot stop it nor put an end to it. Even though it surely tries.

So, let us remember who we are and whose we are. Let us have a pattern of Love as our rule of life such that Love shapes us: our reactions, our responses, our sense of justice. Let Love remove God’s enemies from within. When we recognize that we are holding on too tightly to our wealth mainly to serve our own purposes and not for the purpose of ensuring that all God’s people have enough, let us open our hearts, our minds, and our spirits, and let the apocalypse of Love have its way with us.

When we begin to fear because we are too uncomfortable with all that is not what we have known, let us open our hearts, minds and spirit and let the apocalypse of Love have its way with us.

When we begin to see our neighbor—any neighbor—all neighbors—as the enemy, oh Beloved—let us then open our hearts, minds, and spirits and let the apocalypse of Love have its way with us.

And when the enemies of Greed, fear, power and corruption begin to reshape our culture and society into the antithesis of Love, let us create sanctuary together. Let us collectively care for one another, feed one another, quench one another’s thirst, lighting candles of hope and persistence, creating havens of resistance and revolution so that the apocalypse of Love can take root here—in our hearts and homes, in our community, our state, our nation, this world we love that is our fragile island home.

This weekend, Murray and I saw the movie Conclave—about an election of a pope, which is an apocalypse of its own kind with the ending of one era and the beginning of a new one. A cardinal from Afghanistan interrupted another cardinal who was speaking from fear—a fearful cardinal who called out those from other religions as monsters because he saw those others as the ones destroying his church. This quiet cardinal from Afghanistan–who had been eyewitness to humanity’s cruelty in times of war –he reminded his siblings, his fellow Cardinals: The Church is not tradition. The Church is not the past. The Church is what we do next.

Beloved: our story tells us that there is no force, no enemy, no system, no form of government that can stop us from being who we are: the Beloved, followers of the Way of Love. And as history shows us over and over: Nothing can stop the apocalypse of Love from having its way. Love is the greatest power and force that there is; so, Beloved, let us choose to commit to being part of the Revolution, this Apocalypse of Love. We were born and baptized, shaped and formed for times such as this.

11/12/2024

This is Who we Are.......November 10, 2024

Beloved: Maybe like me, you are struggling right now. Maybe not. While I am not surprised by what has unfolded this past week in our country, I am deeply saddened that so many of our sibling citizens see and understand our nation so differently than how I interpret and understand the Gospel, and therefore, how I understand who we are meant to be as a nation. I think we have very difficult times ahead of us because the division is deep and wide.

An election is an apocalypse of sorts—an unveiling of the state of a nation. I have heard many citizens say that: “this is not who we are.” Beloved, as a collective, this is who we are. It will not help us to turn away from this truth. Yes, we can lament the truth; lamenting is part of the grief process, but let us not stay in lament for too long.

What do we do now? Leave? Maybe. Some may do that very thing—hopefully finding safety and creating sanctuaries beyond our borders—but most of us do not have that as an option.
Most of us have been called to remain and resist. Resist the division. Resist the movement toward dehumanizing and subordinating groups of people. Groups of people that include women—particularly women of color. And all people of color. Our siblings in the LGBTQ community. The Disabled. Many of us are called to remain so that our presence – our words, choices, actions and investments – will act as subversive resistance. Disrupting and turning the tables that seek to exploit the vulnerable in order to make the weak look strong.

Like these women in today’s Word. They gave all that they had for the sake of others. Literally. Probably like most of her neighbors in the story from 1st Kings, this woman, this widow, and her son have been devastated by the country’s drought. Using her last measure of flour to make bread, this woman, this widow had been preparing their last supper. But God’s prophet comes along, this foreigner from another land, and asked her to share. To share from her paucity, not her abundance. And she did. She made bread for another - a stranger, an alien, in fact. She didn’t offer her leftovers; she gave her only. Her very last resources. And today’s Word tells us that because she trusted the word of God that she was hearing (even though she wasn’t an Israelite, a believer, herself), because she was grounded in hospitality as an absolute for her life, she did the unthinkable, the unreasonable, an act that may have been seen as foolhardy by those who think only of themselves: she gave the last of what she had, all that she had—and this generosity, this selflessness, changed everything. This act of love, of compassion, hospitality and radical generosity literally brought prosperity to her and her son. Their lives changed from near death to full life.

And then there’s this other radical woman in the Gospel, too “woke” for her own good. Even though it seemed to make no sense for her own wellness, she followed the communal regulations and gave her last pennies—all that she had—trusting that this communal act of giving alms would also provide for her sustenance. We do not know what happened in her life next, but we do know that the Christ holds up her action to us as the ideal of how we should all live: giving all that we have for the communal good. Trusting that this way of collective giving, living and loving is what restores us all to wholeness.
Here is the Gospel, the Holy Truths, we hear in today’s stories:

Only a life given away for love’s sake is a life worth living.
Acts of love are the only thing that changes the world.
Women have the power to effect profound goodness and change.
Communities of love are the solution.

And Beloved, right now in this perilous time, we are called to live these truths out deliberately and intentionally. Let’s talk specifics:

Let us take seriously this call to regularly gather in community so that we might provide space and time for folx to be restored and re-centered in Love. Any folx, all folx, us folx. This must be a priority for us.
Let us be vigilant about caring for those who are most vulnerable. We can be sanctuary for those whose lives have been imperiled by the rhetoric and proposals made by those who have just been elected. As a community of love, we are obligated to be vigilant for the exploited and vulnerable, the marginalized and outcast, and to offer them sanctuary and aid.
Let us listen. Beloved: while I am not surprised by the election, I am still dumbfounded by it. This means I do not understand many of my neighbors. We need to find and create safe and meaningful ways to listen and hear what has brought us to where we are; why my neighbors voted in a way I cannot fathom. I think this can only be done one-by-one or in smaller conversations. We do not understand one another; we have completely different narratives of our shared nation. We must address this devastating gap in our nation’s character and reality instead of simply trying to triumph over each other.
For us to be able to do this listening, to take the risk of helping those whose rights are threatened, we will need to be empowered and equipped—trained to do this breach-repairing work. This Way of Love, this life of discipleship, must be seen and understood as our training ground. If you have ever wondered, why Church? Beloved….this is why.
Like the women in today’s Word, we are going to need to grow generous hearts—radically generous hearts. Our wealth is not our own. Our wealth—of time, of talent, and yes, Beloved–of treasure; yes, I am talking about money—our wealth is not ours for only our personal sake. It has been entrusted to us, earned by the gifts God gave us, it has been entrusted to us that we may be radically generous toward the collective good, the common good. Both women in today’s Word understood this in every fiber of their being—to the point of putting their lives at stake. They understood that as a people of Love, radical hospitality is who they are. Giving their lives for the sake of all. This is the cross we are called to bear; the cross that Christ gave his life on. The cross we bear isn’t whatever “burden” we think life has handed us; the cross we bear is sacrificial love, sacrificial giving—giving our lives for the sake of all.

Being a Christian isn’t about wearing crosses around our neck, showing up on Sunday, singing praise songs or parading around in red hats. Those are too often only costumes, put on to present a facade to the world. What truly reveals who we are is what we do, how we live, how we give, how we love.
This is nothing new. It is what we have always been called to do and be. Our job description hasn’t changed, but it has been intensified. Beloved—let us commit to who we are and whose we are. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride; there’s no getting around that, but living into our truest identity—as the Beloved Community—is what I believe is the only way forward now.

From the words of the prophet Isaiah, let us have ears to hear Love speaking:
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of Love shall be your rearguard.
Then you shall call, and Love will answer;
you shall cry for help, and Love will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
Love will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

10/31/2024

We are called to be Arc Benders.....

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This statement is affirmed in Scripture—in the Gospel. After all, even Jesus didn’t bring about the completion of the kingdom, right? Jesus didn’t say: “Well, God, nice idea about Kingdom living, nice vision you got there, but it’s never gonna happen in my lifetime, so I think I’ll just sit this one out.” No, Jesus was an arc bender—living a life of justice so that we would follow in that way. Knowing it wouldn’t happen in his lifetime, but arc bending nevertheless.

But, it’s hard being arc benders. It’s the long, slow work of God, and we would like some immediate results, thank you very much. Because being an arc bender means you have to live in the tension. The tension of already, but not yet. The tension of the conflict that arises because to bend the arc toward justice is to change the status quo. It is to move progressively toward new life, new possibilities and to move away from what has been because what “has been” is oppressive. Maybe not to us or for us, but oppressive for our siblings or for Creation, so that means as People of the Way of Love—we must choose to become arc benders. Because as Christ followers we believe that injustice for anyone is injustice for everyone.

But, Beloved, living in that tension—and the anxiety that comes with the “not yet”----is exhausting. It can become absolutely debilitating. I think the people Jeremiah is talking to in today’s reading understand this well. In case you didn’t know, way back in the 10th century BCE, the people and nation of Israel became divided. The people were divided about who was the legitimate king, who they wanted to be their leader. Sound familiar? So they split up—the Northern Kingdom, often known as Ephraim, following one leader, and the Southern Kingdom, known as Judah–or sometimes just Israel, following another.

Then 200 years later, in the 8th century BCE, the Northern Kingdom, Ephraim, was conquered by Asssyria–with many folx getting exiled and all folx living under oppression. Another 200 years later, in the 6th century BCE, the Southern kingdom, Judah, was conquered by the Babylonian Empire—many of those folx also sent into exile. And that’s when Jeremiah comes in. Jeremiah lived in the years leading up the Babylonian exile and into the time of exile itself. And it is at this time that Jeremiah declares this beautiful promise that God has for God’s people:

God says to us: You will be restored, my people, you will be gathered from all directions. From the division you have built between you, from the exile and oppression that resulted from that division, you will be restored. God declares that this gathering for restoration will include all people—the most weak and lame, the blind and those who do not understand; but also, among the gathered will be the ones who will give birth to new life, those who will do the work of resurrection and rebirth. The restoration of God’s people requires the entire breadth of humanity.
Okay, great. That sounds great. So, when you gonna make it happen God? How long, O God, how long?
Beloved, let me remind you of our origin story in the book of Genesis. God created all things—six days of Creation work. But then, on the seventh day, God rested. God stopped. Not just because the Creator and Source of all Being needed a nap. No, because the Creator’s work was done. Done. Beloved, God no longer intercedes in Creation—-at least, not alone. What our Genesis story tells us is that God now intercedes in Creation, on behalf of Creation, THROUGH HUMANITY. Through the arc benders, those pregnant with justice who push back on the oppressive status quo and help humanity and Creation to progress into a fuller life with more abundance for all of Creation.
We hear this truth in the Gospel story today as well. Here’s this blind man, Bartimaeus, who cries out to Jesus—this blind man knows who Jesus is, what Jesus offers, so this Blind man cries out. Son of David, have mercy on me! Those closest to Jesus try to silence him, stop him, thwart him, but he will not have it. He continues to cry out. Jesus stops. Stands still. And asks for the Blind man. This man then throws off his cloak—as a blind beggar he would have been homeless; this cloak is his only shelter, his security, his home—but he throws it off and jumps up and goes to Jesus. Because Jesus has stopped still, the man is able to use the sound of Jesus’ voice and his stillness to come to Jesus. And the man is made well. He is given back his sight—which in Scripture is also always about his understanding, his worldview. He gets “woke,” in other words.

But did you notice, Jesus did nothing to restore him. In this story, there’s no mud put on the man’s eyes, no spit. It was simply the efficacy of his faith—his trust and belief in Jesus, in love, this Way, this Truth, and this life—that saved him. His faith has made him well. God intercedes in Creation through humanity. Miracles are wrought through humanity. Restoration comes about through humanity. Resurrection happens through humanity. Yes, of course, inspired by Love (aka God), inspirited by Love (aka God) but not without the intercession of humanity—shown and modeled to us by the one we call Jesus the Christ.

When I was teaching high school, every hour when the bell rang to end class, I would always send my students off saying: Play well with others; make a positive difference in the world; always choose joy.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” And Beloved, we are the arc benders. Use your vote to be an arc bender. Let us move toward the Kingdom, knowing it will not be completed within our lifetime, but we shall not be the ones to send us backward nor to stymie the progress of justice and love. Let us intercede on the behalf of all Creation.
Using the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Let us pray:
Lord…We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray,
but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon you.
Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity.
Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace.
Help us to walk together,
pray together,
sing together,
and live together
until that day when all God’s children
- Black, White, Red, Brown and Yellow -
will rejoice in one common band of humanity
in the reign of our Lord and of our God, we pray.
Amen.

10/8/2024

Created to be Ezer Kenegdos. 10/6/2024

For years and years, these two readings have been held and read as if they are primarily about marriage. Whether I was explicitly taught or I implicitly caught this lesson, I heard the reading of Genesis to be a story to explain how all of humanity came to be: via the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve. And I know I was explicitly taught that our reading from the gospel of Mark is all about why getting a divorce is a dealbreaker (with the implicit message that to do so casts one into the category of “bad christian”).

I know I am not alone in these understandings of “this is what the Bible says”. And, one may surmise, the topic of marriage is why these two readings are put together on this Sunday. But, Beloved, I no longer believe any of these to be “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. “
I don’t think this story in Genesis is a factual declaration of how humanity came to be.
I don’t think the Living Word is declaring that divorce is a dealbreaker.
I don’t think either of these stories are primarily and strictly about marriage.

First of all, let’s look at the story from Genesis. It is the 2nd Creation Myth that begins our Love story with God. Yep, the 2nd. Right away that’s a clue that this story can’t be “just the facts, ma’am.” Having more than one version of our Creation, with the 2 stories right next to each other in the book of the beginning that we know as Genesis, this is our first clue that these are myths and not factual stories. Myths are stories told to help us get a grasp on large Truths. So, while they are not stories of facts; they are stories of Truths. And the Truth in these stories, at least one of the Truths, that we are meant to grasp is that God is Creator and we are the Created.

But this particular myth has been spun for centuries with a very specific outcome. And here’s the outcome: The Bible says women are subordinate to men; that Women were created to be men’s “helper,” aka: servant. And Beloved, that is just not what this text is about at all. And it isn’t what the text even actually says….. I know, I know….the text reads: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”

But, let’s do a little work here. The word that is translated as “man” isn’t actually the Hebrew word for man. The Hebrew word for man is eesh. What is in the text here is adam, (which is where we get the name Adam), and this Hebrew word, adam, actually means “human” or “humanity.” So, first of all this one sentence actually reads that God says: It is not good that a human, humanity, should live alone. And then what is often translated as “helper” or in the King James’ version: “helpmeet” is so much more than that. The words are ezer kenegdo. Kenegdo means: alongside, and ezer means one who takes active intervention on behalf of someone else. This is about having someone, a partner, who comes alongside you—equally, not subordinately—to actively work on your behalf, for your wholeness and wellness.

SideNote here: there’s another clue in the reading from Genesis that we hear today to let us know this is a myth—did you catch it? God makes a human from dirt, then decides the human shouldn’t be alone. God then auditions a lot of animals as possible ezer kenegdos, but nope, none of them are right. So God then takes a piece of the human made from the dirt and creates a second human. An eeshah (Hebrew for woman) for the eesh (Hebrew for man). AND THEN, the first human says: Yay! Here’s another one who is just like me: flesh of my flesh; bone of my bone! Woo Hoo. And then our story concludes with this: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Wait! What? What father and mother? These are two humans made from dirt! They don’t have a mother or a father…..what? Yep, myth. A story to help us understand that God is the Creator and humans are made for standing alongside one another in order to actively intervene on behalf of the other. We are created to be ezer kenegdos. Not just the eeshahs, but the eesh(es) as well—the entire spectrum of humanity. Ezer kenegdos, every one of us.

But that one last sentence from today’s reading has been used to narrow our understanding of the ezer kenegdo down to two married people. One man with a subordinate wife (meaning a woman who will serve the man). Because that is how the patriarchy wanted us to understand this story. This narrow translation serves the narrative of patriarchy very well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually match the narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I say that because did you catch this detail of that little nugget that is added: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh? In this Living Word of God…..the man, the eesh, leaves his family, his ways, his house, his comfort…..and joins—not just joins—-but clings to his wife, becoming one. In this image, the woman, the eeshah, is the pillar and the man is the one who must cling to her. Imagine if we actually used THIS as our image of traditional, Biblical, and family values…….

And Mark’s Gospel story continues this narrative of pushing back against the patriarchy to raise up women—and children—in our human narrative. In Jesus’ time, marriage wasn’t about romantic love as it often is in our culture. Not that there wasn’t room for romantic love in marriages when Jesus was alive, but Marriage was, primarily, a contract. A contract between two families and their property, their status, and honor. Divorce wreaked havoc on these things; it was about more than the two who were once-married. Many suffered from a divorce.

And the one who stood to suffer the most was the wife. Only men could demand a divorce; Women weren’t allowed to enter a contract; a woman’s father entered the contract for her. Women were property. So if the man was not satisfied with his wife for any variety of reasons (and in much of Scripture, a man could have more than one wife), the man could ask for a divorce. Doing this put the woman at a great disadvantage. Her husband provided her entire security. If she had no family available who could or would take her (and any children her husband may not want) back into their home after the divorce, she was left homeless with no means to care for herself or her children. Jesus’ prohibition of divorce isn’t about prohibiting a divorce because it’s not nice to break a sacrament. This is a justice statement.

Jesus is declaring: Don’t forget who you are created to be: ezer kenegdos. You were made to walk alongside one another and actively intervene on the behalf of one another so that each and every one can live into wholeness and wellness. Jesus is declaring that no one in God’s Kingdom should be placed in a position of homelessness, of not knowing where to get the next meal, no one should be left to feel as if one is not worthy of having security. These two passages are primarily about God’s sense of justice and God’s design of humanity for each of us to understand that we are created to live with others—-particularly as ezer kenegdos.
These two passages are the opposite of the patriarchal domination and oppression of women. In fact, the truths of these biblical passages condemn patriarchy, not support it.

God calls us to look at one another and in our hearts, minds and spirits to say: You are flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone! I am your ezer kenegdo and you are mine. And yes, this is particularly lived out in the covenant of marriage—for the purpose that within this particular relationship, if we choose it, we can be shaped and formed to live differently. Marriage serves as a laboratory where those who choose marriage can learn to become better ezer kenegdos. Living differently with everyone we encounter, and even those we don’t. So that when opportunities, decisions, choices and possibilities are offered to us, we stop and consider: How will this enable me to come alongside my sibling to actively intervene on behalf of their wholeness?

Churches are then meant to be the next wider circle. A gathered community growing as ezer kenegdos. Sundays are weekly gatherings so we can widen this practice of becoming ezer kenegdos beyond our home circles and practice this accompaniment within a wider circle. 7 years ago, Redeemer and Intercession agreed to be each other’s ezer kenegdo. Stretching and reshaping us from the inside out. As the Beloved Community, we gather, and we hold our children close and bring them into the center of our gathering, so we can say to them: Your story will be different than ours.

9/23/2024

Conditioned by Love...... September 22, 2024

From the moment we are born, when we take our first breath and life begins, we are being conditioned. We are being shaped, formed, re-formed and transformed. We are always becoming.

As children, it is usually our parents—or our guardians—who decide who and what conditions us; at least, at first. But, as more people enter our lives—-grandparents, aunt/uncles, family friends—-church members, Sunday School teachers, teachers, coaches, friends—-the sources of our conditioning becomes ever wider. And let us not forget: Technology. Technology brings many voices into our conditioning. Many voices and perspectives that now have access to our ever growing and learning minds, hearts and spirits.

And it is our conditioning that then determines how we live and move and have our being. Even more so than the circumstances of our life. Because our conditioning—how we have been shaped to see and understand; how we have been formed to receive and process—-our conditioning determines how we manage/deal with/live through the circumstances of our life. Be they fortunate or unfortunate; joyful or disastrous—-we respond and manage all of our experiences based on our conditioning. And here’s the Gospel Truth that we sometimes try to avoid, Beloved: We don’t control all the circumstances of our lives. Neither does God. What God does do is show us, teach us, invite us to be Conditioned by Love. Because, once we become of age and have the capacity to choose, HOW we are conditioned—by who and what we are conditioned--IS in our control.

And here’s what God knows about this existence, this creation, and about us as human beings. There are really only two forces that condition us: Fear or Love. And truth be told, throughout our lives we are conditioned by both. But, we do have the power and agency to decide which force we feed, and therefore, which force will feed us, condition us, shape us. Beloved, I have come to understand discipleship—all these stories and ways of being that we see and know from the Jesus story—-all these practices, rituals, symbols and images of the Church—-our discipleship is really about choosing Love to condition us and also, allowing Love to be what re-conditions those parts of us that have been shaped and formed by Fear.

Now, I am well aware that this is not always true. Some churches, some religions, and at times in our own church history, fear has been used to condition its people. But look at where that has gotten us.

Fear conditioning results in conflicts and disputes, envy and anger, vengeance and violence. Fear conditioning shapes us to see stranger as enemy and difference as dangerous, so we circle the wagons and live in silos. Fear conditioning leads us to live and move from scarcity, leading us to grab and hold onto as much as we can for ourselves because we are afraid we won’t get what we need….or what we want. Fear leads to division, hate-mongering, lies and nationalism of every kind. We become afraid and demonize anyone and anything we don’t understand.

Love conditioning, on the other hand, leads to collaboration and cooperation. It leads to unity and unions rather than diversion and division. Love conditioning shapes us to see stranger as kin and kindred, to know diversity as a strength. Love conditioning shapes us to trust that there is enough—because we remember that we are called to break it all open so it can be shared. We enact that truth every Sunday. Take, bless, break, share.

This is what the Christ is trying to remind those disciples of long ago when they realized that their leader was no longer going to be with them in the near future and they began to worry: Wait! What’s going to happen to me? And they began to fear which among them might get to be the leader. And that fear leads to self-centeredness and grabbing for whatever they can. Fear broke them apart as a community and turned them into a disputing group of individuals. Each one looking out for himself.

But the Christ says: look at this child. This one who has no prestige in this society. This one who has no power, one of the lowest ones when it comes to status because a child is simply one who serves. This is the One the Christ says you should welcome. Not just welcome as in “sure, yeah, you can come in, you can be here.” No, the welcome embedded in this Greek work is the welcome that one gives when receiving someone as an honored guest. The kind of welcome that includes cleaning out your house, making room, providing the seat of honor—our best food and drink—thinking of the guest and what that guest may need or want even before they reach your home. This is a welcome of radical hospitality.

This kind of welcome comes from Love conditioning instead of fear conditioning. In a fear-conditioned world or society, this upside down kind of hospitality that Love demands sounds impossible. Maybe even crazy. And yet, it is this way of being, centered and grounded in Love, that God tells us restores all of creation—which of course includes all of humanity—back to wholeness, wellness, sustainability. Because in God’s Kingdom, as Christ tells and shows us—serving others is what deserves the highest prestige. Not being served.

Beloved, in 44 days our nation will have an election. Local elections, state elections, nationwide elections. Electing our next round of SERVANT leaders. Love means we participate if we are eligible—because elections set policies, laws and procedures which govern us as a people. Love doesn’t expect us to elect servant leaders who are of the same faith as us. That’s not the test (in fact, that test is not allowed according to our Constitution). For we who are followers of the Christ, we are looking for leaders who have been love conditioned rather than fear conditioned. And here’s the telltale sign: Fear constricts and Love expands. So if the leader’s concerns are constricted to only some, they are moving from fear. If the leader’s concerns are wider and expansive, inclusive and ever-widening—that’s a leader leading from Love. A Love conditioned leader. As voters, let us be love conditioned and look for servant leaders who fight for more than “whoever best meets my needs and wants,” and elect the ones who are seeking to bring wholeness and wellness to the widest circle possible.

And Beloved, let’s keep our eyes on our purpose: to not only become Love conditioned, but as a community, to be conditioners of love. That’s what we promise at Baptisms: that we will provide gatherings and opportunities, teachings and rituals, music and liturgy—that will be those voices and experiences of Love which shape each one of us as individuals—and all of us together as community—to be agents of Love, and the always becoming disciples of Love.

You are Beloved for God is Love; You are Beloved of God.
You are Beloved for God is Love, for God is Love.
Sung to tune of “The King of Love My Shepherd Is”

9/3/2024

Time to redefine "religion"

How then shall we live? Isn’t that the question? Hasn’t this always been the question before humankind? How then shall we live? For what purpose? With what sense of meaning?
Today, Jesus’ answer seems to be: Religion.
Wait, what? Really?
That doesn’t sound like Jesus. That doesn’t seem like a very Jesus-y answer.
The meaning of life, the purpose of life is: religion? This is how we shall live?

Well, it depends on what is meant by the word: Religion.
If we use the dictionary definition that reads: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices …..well, then, maybe not. But, I don’t think that was Jesus’ definition of religion….not if we listen carefully. James tells us Jesus’ view: Religion that is pure and undefiled before the Source of all Being is this: to care for the orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself pure while living in this world.

Let’s unpack that word, pure, first of all. In the Hebrew context, in Jesus’ context, pure means to be undivided, unadulterated. It isn’t about sexual behavior or physical cleanliness—in fact, it’s about the state of your heart. To be pure, or unstained, was all about having an undivided heart. To live a life focused on one thing—-to have loyalty to one purpose. Of course, for Jesus this is to live a life focused on God and a heart loyal to Love because God is Love and love is God. Love is our entire purpose: 24/7, 365 days a year.

That takes me back to the definition of “religion”; this word that has come to mean: to strictly adhere to doctrine, dogma and church practices, and if you don’t, then you are not “very religious.” The word “religion” now has such a negative connotation that folx, even Christians, who are focused on a way of life that is centered on Love often say: Well, I am spiritual, but I am not very religious. But, Beloved, I believe that our understanding, and our usage, of this word “religion” is the problem.

The word “religion” comes from Latin, but there are three possible root words: relego, religare, and re-eligare. Clear as mud, right?

Relego means “to re-read.”
Religare means “to fast or to bind, to tie fast to”
Re-eligare means “to choose again”

I love that we have all three of these options for they all hold truth and beauty.
What if religion, for us, becomes the understanding that our purpose and meaning is to re-read. Re-read everything. To re-read every person we meet with Love. To re-read every situation we encounter with love. To re-read our beliefs, our processes, our systems with Love as our critic. To look in the mirror and re-read what we see with Love’s eyes, Love’s measure. Relego, re-read.

Or what if we understand, as Jesus reminds us to do over and over, that religion is really all about re-eligare—-choosing again. Religion is about turning around, repentance, choosing a do-over, a second chance. It’s about turning away from beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors that hurt others and choosing love again. Choosing life again. Choosing the Common Good over personal profit, again and again and again. That religion is the understanding and belief that we have the ability to learn to choose differently, or choose again, when we have failed Love’s commands, Love’s way of being. Re-eligare, to choose again.

And, of course, there’s religare—to fasten or to bind to, to tie fast to. What if being religious is really about being so fastened to Love that we can choose no other? That we naturally care for those in need, those whom life has left destitute, those whose security has been stripped by death, by warfare, by poverty? What if we tie Love so fastly around our hearts, our vision, our purpose that Love flows from our mouths and justice streams from our hearts and kindness is our every action?

Because here’s the thing that Jesus’s life—this life and death that is the perfect law in human form, Love incarnate—here’s the thing Jesus’ life shows us: Love is the transformative filter that changes everything. Love is the transformative filter that moves us from beings of reactions to beings of response. It is Love’s filter within us that transforms hate into forgiveness and hurt into redemption. And, Beloved, we know—-we are witnesses to the truth— that when our Love filter is deactivated or when it is missing: devastation is the result. Warfare and injustice are the outcome. Instead of purity—undivided hearts whose purpose is Love—our hearts become stained by the world and we end up with division and name-calling; we diminish ourselves into becoming “us versus them” instead of becoming E pluribus Unum: "from the Many, One" that God, that Love, calls us to be. That Love created us to be.

As Hebrew scholar and theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: “It is customary to blame secularism for the eclipse of religion in modern society. But it would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive and insipid. When faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain, when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than the voice of compassion—----its message becomes meaningless.”

Beloved, it is time that we—by how we live and by who we are becoming as the Beloved Community—it is time for us to redefine religion.

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Are you there God? It's me, Jane Margaret.