Are you there God? It's me, Jane Margaret.
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Thoughts and reflections of a pastor......
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While on vacation in Kentucky this past week, I saw a church sign that read: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Beloved, I think that is NOT how God works at all. Unfortunately, Christianity has often spread a version of God as Judge and Jury that opposes humans who do not live up to God’s standards. But, I don’t think this is how Love, who is God, works. Why not? Today’s readings first of all. Let’s start with the reading from Ezekiel; let me give you some background. Before today’s reading, at the start of Chapter 17, Ezekiel poses a riddle and a parable about Israel. In the parable, a multi-colored eagle takes off the top of a great cedar and plants it elsewhere. This is meant to symbolize when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (in the parable, the multi-colored eagle) overtook the King of Israel and exiled many of Israel’s people—supposedly the most powerful, wealthy, and brightest—to Babylon–including the King!. And then Nebuchadnezzar put a puppet king in Israel so those left, the remnant Israelites, would serve Babylon. The parable goes on to describe a second eagle, abundant in plumage,that came. This second eagle depicts Egypt, whom the puppet king of Israel then sought out —turning his loyalty from Babylon to Egypt, in hopes that allegiance to Egypt would serve him (and presumably Israel) better. Of course, none of it was good for Israel—during this time period the temple of Jerusalem was sacked and Israel, as a nation, was plundered and devastated. By both Egypt and Babylon. And now, in our passage today, God speaks to Israel via Ezekiel saying: But, I will take the lofty crown of a great cedar — in essence, reversing the work of the Babylonian exile—and I will replant this people. And this new kingdom will have space and place, shade and rest, for every winged bird to dwell. This tree will bloom–and even bear fruit. Which is quite miraculous since cedars do not bear “fruit” so to speak. We can only surmise what that fruit might mean. (and trust me, many have done so). In the prior parables telling Israel’s history of exile–the winged birds were other nations, Egypt and Babylon. And now in this hope-filled vision of Israel’s future—God says not only these birds, these nations, but all winged birds—all nations, all tribes, all peoples—will have a home in the kingdom God provides: space and place, shade and rest for all. Every one. Each one. No more divided, warring nations, but one. One Kingdom. For all. This is God’s vision, God’s intention. (the same intention God has had since Creation came to be) In today’s Gospel, Jesus echoes this same Kingdom vision when he compares God’s Kingdom to something grown from a mustard seed—a tiny little thing. But what grows from the very small seed becomes so large and so hospitable that it can nest all birds, all living things. This bush (the Greek here in Mark is actually not even a bush or a tree, but the word means: garden herbs, vegetables) so this garden, then, grows so large that it can nest all birds. Again, be a home for all peoples. Of every kind. Every ilk. Of every skin color, every language. Of every gender expression and sexuality. Of every worldview and way of being. Because this isn’t a kingdom set up with human boundaries and borders, but this is the Creator’s kingdom; this garden is designed to suffice for every living thing, all living things. At least, suffice it will when we live according to God’s justice, God’s sense of good and evil, the Way of Love, the Way of unity, diversity, equity and inclusion. This brings me back to that small seed. Everyone has the capacity to bear this small seed that yields such tremendous results. Beloved, we already know the seeds that bring about this vision of Love where all have shelter and refuge; we know what grows this Kingdom. Seeds of kindness, of generosity, of assistance and accompaniment; seeds of friendship, of hospitality, of inclusion, of providing a seat at the table where decisions are made, laws are written, societies are built. These seeds which we all have many parts to play in planting, tending, growing and harvesting. All so God’s Kingdom comes. On earth. As it is wherever Love dwells (because that, my friends, is heaven—wherever and whenever Love dwells) Now, you might ask: Jane—after thousands of years of varying interpretations and understandings of scripture, of how God behaves, of what we, as church, should believe: How can you be so confident that God is inclusive, loves diversity, and works for equity and intends for this type of community? I mean, after all, there are plenty of Scripture passages when God seems to be more the kind of entity that would oppose the proud, a God who smites the Canaanites so the good guys can win, a God who punishes people when they go astray…. True, that. There are such things. But if those passages are our “rulebook” and “way of being,” if this Christianity thing is really about living in such a way so God doesn’t punish us, then: Why Jesus? What’s the point of Love sending forth Love’s self, wrapped in flesh and blood and bone, into this Creation if humanity already fully understood just who Love is and how Love moves and how we, as God’s people, are meant to live? I believe, Beloved, Jesus came, not to change God’s minds about us, but to change our minds about God. Jesus is God in the flesh—so that we might know how God lives and moves and has their being. And Jesus doesn’t punish. Not once. Not even Peter. Jesus doesn’t cast anyone out. Not even Judas. Jesus doesn’t divide. Not even from the Pharisees or the Romans or those who handed him over. So, if Jesus is God, and Jesus does none of these things, why do we hold so strongly that God will do these things to us? Frankly, if we are honest with ourselves and put ourselves in the Gospel story (which, of course, is the entire purpose) we are probably not the people Jesus would be seeking out. Because we have enough. At least most of us do. Most of the time. We never truly know anyone else’s full story. But, what we do know is that Jesus intentionally went to the very ones that the religious and social structures had cast out. Not the people in the synagogues or the ones who had enough. Jesus went to the lepers who were banned from community. Jesus touched the dead and blessed them. Jesus talked with the bleeding woman and the rejected woman at the well. Jesus called the tax collector to come and follow, live with him. Jesus found himself hung on a cross, like a common criminal, among common criminals. So today, we find Jesus with these same ones. These ones whom the church has shunned, calling them sinners, not good enough, shameful–the lepers of our generation. Jesus is with our siblings who are experiencing depression, addiction, trauma, poverty, mental unwellness–too often these ones are left as dead by society. We brush them aside and tell them to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Not knowing what to do (or knowing but are unwilling) we look away, overwhelmed. Jesus is with those whose bodies have left them bleeding: Our trans-siblings whose bodies do not match their identity, Our siblings in the LGBTQ community whose sexualities challenge our constructed “norms,” Our BIPOC siblings whose skin color does not match those with privilege so they are always moving from disadvantaged realities, Women, our sisters, who have been told that they do not have the right to have autonomy over their own bleeding bodies. And then there all those who have found themselves in our “correctional systems”---of which there is nothing corrective about them. These institutions are simply buildings for punishment, banishment, not rehabilitation. We do not truly intend to rehabilitate and restore these siblings to our societies. Instead we end up crucifying them in so many ways. And that’s another spot we have to wrestle with: the cross. In some versions of Christianity (including some found in both of our denominations), the understanding of the cross is that God was so mad at humans, so mad, that Jesus had to die to “save us.” Jesus was the ransom we couldn’t pay. And maybe that’s right. But I don’t buy it. Never once does Jesus live this kind of atonement out, never once does Jesus demand punishment to set things right. I believe, Beloved, the cross is more about how we are to deal with violence, rejection, and betrayal when it shows up in our lives, our cultures, our systems, our nations. There is no retributive justice here in the Jesus story. No violence in response to violence. There is only mercy, compassion, forgiveness. And then, once mercy, compassion and forgiveness have been given—-there’s new life. Resurrection. This, Beloved, is the power of the cross. Jesus came to show us how to be human. How to live into the kingdom that is a current reality, whenever and wherever Love reigns. I might be wrong about this whole Jesus thing. I hope not. For your sake as well as mine. But each of us must decide, at least if we are going to call ourselves Christian, whether God is a God who forgives and shows mercy or God is a God of retributive justice. A God who demands punishment for a wrong done—even if an innocent one has to pay it. Beloved: I don’t think God opposes the proud. I think our pride—when it turns into self-centeredness and denies another their needs—I think our self-centeredness opposes Love. In fact, I no longer believe Love, who is God, ever opposes me—or anyone else. Like Jesus on the cross, when battered, beaten, rejected and left to die on the crosses of our hearts and spirits, I think God forgives. Waits. Offers us a place in paradise. Because this God who is Love—if we believe our Jesus story at all—this God who is Love absolutely refuses to dwell in eternity without us. Without me. Without you. And God—the Source of all being—is always on our side. And there’s nothing you can do, say or believe, to change that. Love is on our side. The only choice left to us is: whose side will we be on? 6/9/2024 Alternate Realities...June 9, 2024We often think, and have been taught to think, of Christianity in this way:
And this understanding of Christianity may seem to be affirmed in today’s readings:
But, let me reframe this for us and offer another possible understanding…. Beloved, God does decide who gets into Heaven—which is simply wherever God dwells. Another name for Heaven is the “kingdom of God” or “God’s Kingdom.” In fact, Beloved, God has already decided who gets into this Kingdom, this Heaven: Everyone. Every stinking one. Everybody is in. In our Genesis story, what we often glide over is that the word for “human” is A–dam. What this Creation myth of ours tells us is that when God created, God placed humankind in the Kingdom. Love, and then, the Source of all Being, (aka God) says to humanity: this is yours to guard and keep. And it will all be sustainable and balanced if you choose to live by Love’s definition of justice, with Love’s understanding of good and evil. But humankind chooses otherwise. We choose to define good and evil for ourselves; we choose to redefine justice to suit our needs. And as soon as we do that, we find ourselves outside the Kingdom. Beloved: the Kingdom, what we might also call heaven, isn’t for later or after death or any other time/space qualifications. Heaven, which is the Kingdom of God, is now. It is always. It is a constant reality and always present. And it has been such ever since Love created all things and brought all things into being. And as creatures of this kingdom, we choose whether we live within the kingdom or outside of it. And it’s not a once and for all decision. Within an hour’s time we can choose to live within the kingdom’s reach and outside of the kingdom’s reach 10 times over. Because the Kingdom isn’t a destination—-it’s a reality, a Way of living, that is always right here in front of us. That’s what Jesus is trying to get across to the folx in today’s Gospel. Many folx think Jesus is crazy because he is always living in the kingdom—right there in the midst of the Empire (a.k.a. The “world” in Scripture). So his choices and his actions make no sense in the world’s “dog eat dog,” every-man-for-himself reality. Jesus’ actions make no sense in this economy. Jesus is always living and moving and being in an alternate reality. This sense of two realities existing concurrently is described in our Gospel today. At the start of our reading, the first half of the verse says: Jesus went home. The word “home” or “house” is ekonoimia. Which in Greek means:Household or House. Jesus’s household is God’s household, God’s kingdom. I don’t think this is a reference to a building or a structure, but a reality. So when people tell Jesus his family is outside the house, outside the kingdom, asking for him, Jesus says: Whoever is doing the work of Love is in the house, in the kingdom, and are my family. Now, Beloved, whom do you know who is ALWAYS living Love 24/7? No one, I wager. I know I don’t. Does that mean I am not in? Yes, sometimes. When I don’t choose Love. When I choose self-profit over communal profit. When I choose my convenience over my neighbor’s need. I choose to leave God’s kingdom and I take up residence in the Empire, the World. But as soon as I wake up and come to my right mind (the mind of Christ) and choose communal profit and collective good, as soon as I respond to my neighbor's need: I am in the Kingdom, living in the boundaries of heaven, residing in God’s family. I come home. The point of having faith, belonging to a Church isn’t fire insurance to make sure you go to heaven after you die. It’s a community of folx whose lives together shape our hearts, minds, eyes, and ears to know the Kingdom, to see the Kingdom so that we can choose Kingdom reality over Empire reality. As often as possible. In this Beloved Community, we offer opportunities to taste the Kingdom so we can trust that it’s real. We create chances to live into the Kingdom together; to practice Kingdom living. One such opportunity we have here is called the Compassion Response Team, and so today I asked Judi Cumley, a member of the Team, to come and share about this opportunity of Kingdom Living. Judi:
What questions/wonderings do you have—either about the Compassion Response Team or this morning’s Word and Reflection? |
AuthorJane Johnson is the pastor and priest of the Beloved Community of Intercession Episcopal and Redeemer Lutheran. Archives
September 2024
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