Noah's Ark take one

When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.  Genesis 6:1-8

Geesh, talk about turning on a dime! One minute everything is sons with flowing locks of hair and people getting married, next minute humanity's age clock is turned back like daylight savings time, and the next minutes everything goes to hell in a hand basket.  Talk about a roller coaster of verses!  What in the world is going on?  And more over, is every single thought of our heart really evil...continually?  

I will own up to my own stuff...I don't always look at every person with "Bambi eyes" and an open heart.  I judge and whisper sarcastically under my breath.  I am sure God has occasionally shook God's head like I do when my children are less than their brilliant/loving/amazing selves.  That is to be expected.  But the judgement here is so swift it makes your head spin.

Was everyone really that corrupt?  Was Noah really the only one who found favor in God's sight?  Or perhaps the real question is not, "Is this true?"  But, "How is this true?"

Again, I am sure I do things that grieve's God's heart.  There are moments I feel disconnected and disoriented from the grace of God.  And to be sure, one of the most heartfelt words we can offer in prayer is "Sorry".  Yet we live in a world where there is the non-apology apology.  Some politician or athlete gets in trouble or in some scandal and the first attempt is to deflect and blame.  "I did not know!" or  "I am innocent".  As the media reports pile up, eventually the person comes on with some sort of statement like, "If I offended you, I am sorry."  What does that really mean?  Is the person sorry because:

a).  I got offended      OR

b).  the actual situation?

It is hard to tell.  Sorry is one of those words we utter quickly to try to make things better.  To be really be sorry will linger for days with a heavy heart.  The truth is when we are in broken relationships and situations words will not heal...only time and God's grace and different actions will.  Sorry helps...but it is only one small step.  

Which is why prayers of confession are often not understood, but certainly necessary.  We need to say we are sorry.  Not because of God's judgement, but because we need to own our own stuff.  AA says that until the person realizes she or he has a problem, true transformation is not possible.  Confession shines a light on all the ways our words and actions are out of tune and out of sync with God's realm.  Confession reminds us that NO ONE has all the answers.

One of the reasons why I love the United Church of Christ is that as a minister I am not expected to have all the answers.  I am expected to walk faithfully among the people, help those struggling and accept help when I struggle.  

I invite you today to ponder who you need to say "Sorry" to?  Who are the people you hurt?  Notice I did not ask, "who hurt you?"  That is a post for another time, another place.  This is about brokenness each of us causes.  And it is important part of reconciliation that I just posted about.  

I pray that you will do more than keep this to yourself.  That during Lent you will reach out with apologies and seek to rebuild relationships to people you care about in your neighborhood, at work, at church, in your family and community.  We often talk about the hymn, "They will know we are Christians by our love."  Perhaps one way of letting that hymn be sung in our lives is to admit we are sorry.

May there be traces of God's grace as we enter into the brokenness of our lives and seek reconciliation!

Blessings ~ 

Lenten Posts

At the end of March, Hollywood is coming out with a version of Noah's Ark. You can click here to watch the trailer.  But before you go see the movie, I thought it would be good to read or re-read the narrative as it is written.  You may want to go right now and re-familiarize yourself with the whole story.  You can find it starting in Genesis 6.  The story goes through chapter 9.

I invite you to read the all three chapters in one setting.  Think about these questions:

1).  What as new for you or what surprised you as you read?

2).  What detail stuck out for you in a good way?  Or in a bad way?

3).  What questions do you have?

4).  Why in the world do we use this narrative to decorate a baby's nursery!??

Sorry, that last question is more of a personal issue I have.

I look forward to posting on this narrative throughout March and early April...then going to see the movie when I finish.  May God's presence guide us and grant us a holy Lent.

Blessings ~

Ash Wednesday...Better Late than never

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Please note this is the sermon I preached yesterday on Ash Wednesday:

"Normal" is one of those words in the English language that awakens a variety of responses, depending on where you find yourself at in life right now.  If life has become mundane, stuck in a rut, spinning your wheels on problems that flat out refuse any solution you try to stick to the situation, then normal is not a welcome word.  You want to break out of normalcy, leaving skid marks on the ground as you set off for somewhere, anywhere else.  However, if by chance, life has been chaotic, unsettling, like say moving your family one thousand, three hundred thirty five point five miles across country, trying to buy a house, settle into a new job, new schools, and you are not even sure which box the wrapping paper is located in …I know these are outlandish examples, but stay with me.  If you find yourself today feeling like life is turned upside down and inside out then normalcy might be like an ice cream cone on a hot May day in Sarasota.  The season of Lent is a time set aside in the rhythm of the church year.  And for some, Lent carries with it all this baggage of thou shalt not eat-th meat-th on Friday.  And this whole thing with ashes, are you sure that’s kosher in the UCC?  And then for others, Lent barely registers.  Come on, the weather is beautiful outside, do I really have to focus on my relationship with God and with others right now?  All this talk of prayer and forgiveness and reconciliation, it sounds like a lot of work.  Okay, what if I schedule God in between, say 9:45 am and 9:47 am on the second Thursday next month, does God happen to have an opening then by chance?  Lent is not about being normal.  Lent is about as abnormal a church season as it gets.  Advent at least has a baby born at the end and candles with cool names.  Lent, gets a crown of thorns, a Last Supper, and something called “Good Friday” which is a misnomer if I ever heard one.  With an invitation like that our first honest response might be, Who-hoo.
No wonder UCC folk are leery of Lent.  But what if we could recapture some of what has historically been at the heart of Lent?  What if Lent was not about raining guilt so hard you bring your umbrella to church or about a time of self-denial?  Originally, Lent was about preparation, study, and immersing our whole lives in our relationship with God.  Lent was the time converts to Christianity spent learning about the church, worship, Scriptures and what it means, really means to our lives to follow Jesus our Christ.  Then, on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, the people would gather.  They would read Scripture for hours, I know I am really selling you on this now.  Wait for it, then those who wanted to join the community would come in, be baptized, and they would have the best party you have ever been to just as the sun was raising in the east ushering in Easter morning.  But in order to get to the party, you need to do some planning.  You need to do some preparation.  If you are going to have guests over, it is work to vacuum, dust, clean the bathrooms and whatever was in that take home container from three weeks ago…I mean besides home grown penicillin!  You plan a menu, you shop, you cook, and you get all ready.  And when it is over, hopefully you think, “That was worth it.”
Lent is about preparing for the transforming mystery of Easter morning.  To be sure, you can do what you’d like for the next forty days, plus Sundays which are not counted in Lent.  But if we are going to somehow grasp hold of the truth the Apostle Paul gives us that Christ’s death is transformative; if somehow, in some small ways after these forty days life is no longer going to be normal, then it does require something of us, some kind of response to God’s presence in our lives here and now.  Paul says clearly that transformation is work.  It means first and foremost that we cannot live only for the unholy Trinity of me, myself, and I.  It is not all about me.  Because God’s love is not some treasure I possess and keep in my pocket.  Paul writes in verse 19  that when Jesus became flesh, took on human skin, that action was for the sake of the whole kosmos.  God’s love is expansive and encompasses the entire universe.  Lent is a time of broadening our understanding and realizing that we don’t have the whole truth in our minds.
Second, Paul says that we cannot just live according to the flesh.  Jesus’ incarnation that is the climax of the Advent season, God in the flesh, and that might invite us to think that as human beings we really are at the top of the food chain.  But, we miss the mark continually.  And not only that, we have a tendency today as humans to skim and slide down the surface of things.  To be human has blessings and we bare the fingerprints of God, and yet, we cannot think we’ve got it all figured out.  Instead we seek to be open and to be guided by grace that will challenge and potentially change us in the coming forty days.  We are a new creation, Paul says.  Or put another way, Richard Rohr says, you cannot think your way into a new way of living, you have to live your way into a new way of thinking.  We set aside time in the coming days, because our time with God is never wasted, it is always valuable.  We need prayer, especially when normal feels about as far away from here as Oklahoma.

What is at stake, Paul says, is the very continuation of Christ’s ministry here on earth.  We are called to be about reconciliation, to be ambassadors.  Now, I know that brings to mind images of Condoleezza Rice or Hilary Clinton, our secretary of state who darts and dashes around the world to solve international problems.  But in Jesus’ day, if you were an ambassador, you had to know, deeply know the heart and mind of the king and queen you represented.  Because you could not call them up with your iphone and ask them a question.  Often ambassadors were sent in to tumultuous situations.  What was at stake was violence and war, and some say that if an ambassador failed to negotiate peace and a new agreement, the opposing king would send the ambassadors head back as a sign.  To be about reconciliation is a matter of life; health and hope; or divisiveness, debates and death.  To be about reconciliation matters.  To be about reconciliation means we need to be willing to change our understandings, to listen and love another person, and to ultimately be open to God’s grace.  Paul invites us to hear this not as some word that comes down from a judge in a courtroom, but from the intimate invitation that is found in our family rooms.  Practicing reconciliation, listening honesty, with openness, and with heartfelt love.  Who knows, maybe that can become our new normal around here this Lent.

May the traces of God's grace guide you these 40 days of Lent.

Also:  Looking for an on-line Lent devotional??  Try Busted Halo's Lenten Calendar!!

Healing

2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Healing stories are woven into every gospel.  And to be honest, given our scientific understandings and the growth in health care/hospitals, alongside new understandings of medicine with methods like acupuncture and vitamins and the complex make up of the food we eat; the stories as the ones above seem like a remnant of a bygone age.  They feel antiquated and perhaps the less said about these narratives, the better.  After all, is this even true?  How could commanding someone who has longed to walk for so many years suddenly stand up and start strolling or skipping along his merry way?  

There are two thoughts this narrative awakens in me.  First is the difference between healing and cure.  Healing relates to our overall wellness, the interconnection of mind, body, and spirit running on all cylinders - in sync and in harmony with each other.  Cure relates to an absence of illness.  I can be cured of what ails me without really being healed.  And I can feel healed while still living with an illness.  Most of the time, these two do go together, so it makes sense that we use the words interchangeably and conflate the meanings.  At other times, there are those who live with incurable cancer who have a tremendously peaceful/healed spirit they share with all those around them.  

The second thought is how often I get in my own way of feeling healed.  Something externally happens (some kind of loss) and my whole body/health/life/emotional/spiritual well being is turned upside down.  And while that is normal and natural, I can also let those bad days fester; and what is really making me ill is my own anger and excuses.  Of course I don't feel good, my co-worker is always being mean to me.  Of course I self-medicate with chocolate, I have teenagers.  The man, sitting by the edge of the pool had all sorts of reasons not to wade in the water.  Other people budged in line and they were just meanies!  

Sometimes what is really causing me to be un-well is a pity party with an invitation to just me.  Other times the illness needs a doctor.  Other times the illness needs companionship.  Other times the illness needs someone telling me to suck it up and realize that life is not fair.  Other times the illness confuses everyone and there is no one explanation or pill to solve my problems.

Life is that complex.  Healing and wellness inside that life is often even more complex.  And sometimes the best invitation is to spend today trying to notice and name the traces of God's grace in our life.  And I pray you and I will both attempt to do that today.  Who knows, we might even feel better.

Blessings ~   

Fresh and In Season

Click here to read John 4:31-42

Ever since moving to Florida, I have been trying to adjust to a different rhythm and setting in life.  One of the many blessings is that right now it is strawberry season here in the Sunshine state.  The other night our family feasted on ripe, ruby red berries that were sweet to the tips of our tongues and a special treat to our still adjusting palates (after all nothing much grows right now in the bleak mid winter of the Midwest).  

Jesus has just had a life changing conversation with a Samaritan woman.  He has just offered her living water.  Then, the disciples come back and sound like my mother-in-law.  "Eat something, Jesus, you are skin and bones.  Why not have seconds on the pot roast?  More potatoes?"

Jesus then talks about the harvest.  While his words are a bit cryptic, at least they make some sense given the disciples were talking about food.  But, Jesus was not talking about harvesting strawberries or snowballs if you are reading this in the northern part of the country.  I think Jesus was using this as a metaphor for sharing our faith with each other.

Now, I am sure many of you just had flashes of being Jehovah's Witnesses, knocking on your neighbor's door, and trying to convert someone.  That is not really what I am talking about.  I don't know why this is the only image that comes to mind when we think about sharing faith.  Because the truth is, there are a multitude of ways we who drink from living water and seek to follow Christ can invite others to "Come and see".  It is not, to use Shane Hipps' words, trying to "Sell Water by the River".  What we are called to do is to let our faith shine like a light.  

But we also have to find our voice.  We can no longer assume "They will know we are Christians by our love."  It just does not work that way.  Neither do we need to be aggressive (or passive aggressive) about sharing our faith to every single person.  But there is a lot of room to roam in-between.  Current stats say that you already know lots of people who do not go to church.  Some because they are angry at church, but some are just waiting for someone to ask.  Some need to come to church and have their stereotypes of what church is dismantled by our extravagant welcome to whoever they are and wherever they are on live's journey.  

Too often I think the UCC is the best kept secret.  We hide behind long historical names on our church signs that have lost their meaning to many in this world (but not to the people in the pews - hence the tension).  So, short of changing our name, we need to find our voice and invite people.  Invite them to sit beside you in the pew.  Invite them to have coffee.  Be rude to your friends at church on Sunday morning for the sake of the stranger in your midst.  Learn the person's name, a bit about their history, and help connect them to others.  The earliest Christians were known for their care, that is how the church grew.  I think we can still care for people better than any other organization.  In that, we find living water.  That kind of vision for the church today is always fresh and in season...no matter the month or the weather outside.

May our churches abound with more than traces of God's grace, but with an extravagant welcome this Sunday.

Blessings ~

Love is in the air

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

Recently I was talking with our music minister and he asked a GREAT question, "What made you fall in love with the church?"  What/when was that moment that sent a chill sensation down your spine or goose bumps on your arms or the tiny hairs on your neck to stand on end?  Maybe it was singing "Joy to the World" on Christmas Eve drenched in candle light or maybe it was "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" with brass blaring and you sang out with more gusto than you ever had.  Maybe it was an ordinary day when a church member asked how you were doing and you told the person you were having a rotten day, and the person listened to you!  Maybe it was the soup or Jell-O salad they brought when your mom died or the hug you receive every Sunday.

The story of the church is a love story; a story of God's love incarnate in Jesus and in us as the living the body of Christ today.  Since it is almost Valentine's Day, it is good to remind ourselves the truth about love.  Love is patient and kind, according to 1 Corinthians 13.  Love forgives and seeks reconciliation when wronged.  Love is prayerful and persistent.  Love is playful.  Love does not always look like the Twilight series, it is not always intense or passionate or send chills down your spine.  Sometimes love is washing dishes and seeing the hope/peace/joy in the mundane of life.  

The story of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman is a love story of sorts.  She falls in love with the truth and promise that she is a beloved child of God.  Maybe this was the first time, or maybe it was the hundredth time.  She realizes she is no longer defined or confined by societal roles or debates about where to worship.  She is drenched in the bright light of God's love.  

We need moments like that and we need moments to remember why, when, where, and how you fell in love with the church.  Was it the liturgy or hymns?  Was it a sermon?  Was it the caring hug or note you received that strangely warmed your heart?

When and why did you fall in love with the church?  As you prayerfully ponder that question, may the traces of God's grace stir with love around you.

Blessings ~

Samaritan Worship

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

There are two important issues that arise from these ten verses.  First, the conversation about the Samaritan woman's husband.  We need to name and claim the unfortunate legacy that too often preachers have used Jesus' words in verse 17 as either a reprimand or judgment upon the woman.  But I don't read those words that way.  I don't think Jesus was condemning the woman in any way.  Rather, I think he saw her heartbreak.  Remember in Jesus' day, women had very little say in who they married.  And if a woman's husband died, something that was quite common...as in the book of Ruth, then the woman was passed along to one of her husband's brothers.  Imagine that!  I don't even know if I want to.  Such blatant disrespect of a woman's rights makes my heart break.  It is NOT the Samaritan woman's fault that she does not have a husband.  More to the point, Jesus does not seem to condemn her for this situation AND he does not even seem to care all that much.  It is a passing comment on the way to a greater point...one verse in the midst of a very long narrative.  It is our own unnamed sexism that has shined a light on this verse and it is good to re-think our understanding of this.  

Second issue and I think the bigger point of these ten verses is worship.  How you worship and where you worship is vital.  The Samaritans were not only a mixture of foreign and Jewish DNA, but also when the people of God came back from Exile, the Samaritans opposed re-building the temple in Jerusalem.  We need to remember this is a family fight, like all disagreements in families, they are painful.  Words get said that should not have been spoken, people's feelings get hurt because in families we often know just the right words to push each other's buttons.  When the Samaritans raised the question about rebuilding and where to rebuild, there were some in the Jewish family who were offended.  OF COURSE they should re-build Solomon's temple in exactly the same spot...that is holy ground.  Others were not sure.  

We face such difficult decisions in the church today.  The decisions center around budget and buildings and worship styles.  God created us to reflect the beautiful diversity of God's fingerprints.  But the truth is there are moments when that diversity is a blessing and time when it is a challenge...because it can bring out our differences in opinions and how we see the world.  Anne Lamont is fond of saying, 'Of course we think our opinion is the RIGHT opinion...otherwise  we'd get a NEW opinion'.  How true.

Yet, the value of diversity is that we don't see as clearly as we think we do.  Everyone's vision is skewed and blurred.  No one has all the answers...remember that come November with an election!  The Samaritans and some Jewish folks differed on who you should marry and where you should worship. The same can be said today.  Those issues remain in our world today.  Yet, Jesus was more interested in the how, then the where or the when or the other logistics.  Worship can happen anywhere.  Yet, worship also needs to lean into and strive to embrace the beautiful diversity of thought. 

Today there are people who want more Bach in worship and people who have heard all the Bach they need in their life time.  There are people who want a hymnal in hand and those who want a screen on the wall.  There are people who want the comfort of tradition and those who want to shake it up every week.  Which is right?  Yes...all the above and more than we can fathom or understand.  

What is meaningful worship to you?  And how can you be open, really open your heart, to another's perspective?  I think if these questions were asked and engaged in faithful ways in our churches today, there would be more than a trace of God's grace found within our conversations.

May it be so for where you worship and where I worship.

Blessings ~