When the Sermon hits a rocky place

 

 ²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

 

I read the above words and think, “What in the name of all that is holy did Matthew do with the soft, cuddly Jesus I grew up with?”  I think, “Whoa, Jesus!  Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”  Or, to return to what we discussed yesterday, “Lord, help him!” 

 

Deep breath.

 

Jesus is diving into sexual ethics here.  I want to be clear that Jesus is putting the onus not on women, but men.  We live in a world where our sisters continue to be sexualized from the Superbowl commercials to pageants parading God’s beloved daughters in bathing suits to school dress codes that tell young women their clothing choices are the problem.  The obligation Jesus speaks is for men to keep their sexual desires in check.  Let’s confess to each other that the recent news reports shine a harsh, hard light that our culture does not do this and how men continually disrespect women.  Before we say the problem is “out there”, we know in our UCC, women clergy are paid less than men clergy. 

 

We live in a world where the Victorian sexual ethic is still in the water we drink and air we breathe.  We don’t talk about objectification of God’s daughters, we don’t deal with sex trafficking, we turn a blind eye and often blame women who bring charges against men.  This passage might be 2000 years old, but it is as challenging as it was the day the words fell from Jesus’ lips.

 

I don’t have an instant or immediate resolution.  We need to wrestle with legacies of pain women have suffered.  We need to confess how we cling to “boys being boys” as an excuse of behavior.  Human relationships can help or hurt; there is an energy within us and between us and in the other ~ and we cannot control/change the energy in others.  To be sure, when trust in a marriage is broken due to adultery, it is painful as an eye torn out and hand cut off.  Adultery, emotional abuse, neglect, and the pain we cause each other that violate the vows of love are all hell on earth. 

 

Today, I pray for men and women whose marriage vows and relationships are on the rocks because of adultery.  I pray for the ways we sexualize each other, especially women.  I pray for the ways we fail to affirm the holiness of one another and end up using one another to meet our own desires and demands. 

 

Lord, help us.  Lord, heal us.  Lord, hold us accountable to not dismiss or discount all you call “Beloved”.  Amen.

When the Sermon Hits a Bump

 

In my doctoral cohort, one of my colleagues served an African American Baptist Church.  He educated our group on the power of sermon-talk back.  This is more than just having the people in the pews shout back, “Amen”.  Sometimes the shy soul of the people whispered, “Yes, Lord”.  Or when the church wanted you to say more about the preacher’s particular point, the people might call out, “Preach!”  Or, if the sermon hit a rocky, rough patch and place, where the preacher was over his/her/their skis or going to a place the church did not want to go they might call out, “Lord, help him.”  There are times I long for the sermon to be less monologue and more dialogue.  I wish I knew before the handshake at the door what words falling from my lips touched hearts and souls. 

 

We are about to dive and dwell into dangerous territory in the Sermon on the Mount.  There should be a “Warning” sign flashing for chapter 5:26-48.  I want to be very clear that if you are having a difficult, demanding February so far, you don’t need to push or prove yourself by wrestling with these verses.  Or if you’ve heard these words (especially about divorce) spoken by a pastor or a family member/friend in a hurtful way, causing a wound that has not healed, I am sorry.  Too often, as Walter Brueggemann says, the Bible and the pastor gang up and can be used like a weapon on people in the pews.  We wound one another with words of Scripture.  Please know if you want to talk more about these verses that stretch us, perhaps demand too much of us, my door is open.  Scripture was written in a community (Jesus is preaching to his disciples) for a community to be read by a community.  Within the Jewish tradition, Scripture is less about rules to obey and more a conversation to enter.

 

While I love scripture, I don’t have all the answers.  I wrestle with Scripture. I especially wrestle with interpretations of Scripture that have and continue to hurt people.  I invite you today, if you would like, to read verses 26-48. 

 

Is there a place you shout, “Amen”?

Is there a place you softly say, “Yes, Lord!”?

Is there a place you say, “Lord, help Jesus” and “Help me, Jesus, because what you are saying is baffling, bewildering, and I want (like Thomas Jefferson) to cut these words out of the Sermon on the Mount? 

 

Note your response and reaction.  Hold what is stirred in your heart, name/notice your emotions from anger to excitement to suppressing a yawn.  Be held by a mystery of God’s wayless way that isn’t only about understanding but also standing under a wisdom that might not make reasonable, rational sense.  Hold what you have heard in previous sermons ~ the good and the painful.  Or better yet, rather than hold it, write it down!  I invite you to begin to process the pain and confusion and struggle ~ not that one week of Morning Meditations will magically solve it all ~ but I pray might be a moment of release and relief.  With God’s love as we enter this tender, fragile soil of Jesus’ sermon with each other. Amen.

Friday Prayer

 

God of words and wisdom that stretch us, sometimes in ways that help us grow and other times like a sweater that can’t return to its original shape/size, be with us.  We long to be salt and confess that our words and actions hurt and harm (pour salt) in another’s wounds.  We long to be light and confess that sometimes our desire for attention and affection causes us to blind others or push others aside so we can soak in the spotlight.  We long to live a Micah 6 life, but that way doesn’t seem efficient or effective, so we resort back to bullying and demanding our way.  We long to forgive, to stop letting anger feed and fuel our lives, but it seems to be the way of the world.  We are caught between who we want to be as well as who we are, which makes it exhausting to plan the day.  Bring us back to our baptism today, that You love us for who we are and who we are becoming.  Hold us today.  Heal us.  And let Your salty zest, light, wisdom, and forgiveness be our guide now and, in the month, to come.  In the name of the One whose sermon stirs our souls and shapes our lives, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.   

Being Honest

 

Like yesterday, today, we are going to chew on a big bite out of the Sermon on the Mount.  Like yesterday, check in with yourself.  If it has been a hard week, you don’t need to push yourself, there is nothing to prove here.  This morning meditation is saved, and you can read this whenever and wherever you are ready.  If you in a place to dive in and dwell in God’s word, take a deep breath.  Take another, letting the oxygen of God sink and settle all the way down to your pinkie toes.  Now, slowly savor these words with me:

 

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.  Matthew 5:21-26

 

Let’s start with the same questions as yesterday:

What questions do you have about the above words?

What insights do you have?

Where do you want Jesus to explain more because you are confused or curious?

Where are you bored by the words above (it’s okay to admit and accept that this passage didn’t warm your heart)?

Where do the words above feel like truth and where do you resist what Jesus is saying?

 

Now, let’s go a step further, who are you angry with?  Come on, we all carry around a list of people who have stepped on our toes and poured salt into our woundedness.  Who have you called a “fool” …again I have a list!  One note, the phrase, ‘the hell of fire’ might refer to Gehenna ~ a garbage dump in Jesus’ day…while others say that there was no burning heap of trash.  Regardless, there are times in all our lives when things are going to hell in a handbasket, when life is less than perfect or polished.  Hell is not just about what happens when we breathe our last, it is one condition and location of life on earth for many people emotionally or financially or relationally.   There are people who are afraid of hell and people who have and are living through hell.  To be sure, when I am angry with someone there is a loathing that feeds and fuels my life.  Honestly, I keep adding logs to that fire.  I keep finding reasons for why that person annoys me.  It is a living hell to find ourselves residing in a world of constant criticism and yelling and calling each other names…which is why many of us feel so worn down, weary, and burned out today.  Hold this.  Let this be a balm (not salt or judgement or adding ‘shoulds’ to earn God’s love ~ which we can’t) to your broken open life.  Is there someone you need to forgive?  Maybe not to their face, but let go of a bit of the anger today?  Just a pinch of anger?  Hold this.  As always, if you want to talk, because the Bible awakens and alerts us to strong emotions, we need to process with others, I am here.  May God’s love, which is big enough and bold enough, to hold our whole lives, even the tarnished and tattered part, be with you. Amen.

Being Daring

 

This week we are continuing to swim in the sea of the best sermon ever, Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7.  Today and tomorrow, I want to dive and dwell in longer passages.  I invite you to first take a deep breath and check in with yourself.  Where are you physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally?  If you are hurting, you will bring that to the text.  If you are frustrated, you can find plenty in scripture that feels like salt being rubbed in a wound.  So, if it is not, “Well with your soul”, you don’t have to read the passage below.  As a matter of love, don’t!  Breathe, take a nap, enjoy a walk outside, listen to music, do what nurtures your soul.  There are no badges for your heavenly sash for being a martyr and pushing through a morning mediation. 

 

If you are in a place of curiosity and want to keep holding Jesus’ words and wisdom, slowly savor this:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 5:17-20

 

Please remember that the word “righteousness” is not being a Sneetch on the Beaches with stars upon thars who stuck their noses in the air.  Righteousness in Matthew means Joesph, who risked the hostile stare and dared to enter the mystery of God becoming flesh.  Righteousness is a Micah 6 shaped life ~ where we seek justice, live loving kindness, and walk humbly with God.  Not that I don’t do this perfectly or naturally all the time.  But I commitment and covenant to this way of life with God’s grace. 

 

What questions do you have about the above words?

What insights do you have?

Where do you want Jesus to explain more because you are confused or curious?

Where are you bored by the words above (it’s okay to admit and accept that you suppressed a yawn while reading)?

Where do the words above feel like truth and where do you resist what Jesus is saying?

 

Hold all of this.  I encourage you to email or call me if you want to talk more.  Studying scripture is not a game of solitaire, but a group sport.  Studying scripture as an isolated individual can leave us stuck in our own ways of thinking, we need others’ questions and insights.  Find some folks or join the bible study as we seek to find God’s wisdom in these words for our lives today.  Amen.

Being Light

 

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.  People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Parent in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16

 

Yesterday, we played with the spice of salt, today we ponder the metaphor of being light.  The spark of the sacred God lit at your baptism.  The flame of faith God fans by pouring love and grace and mercy into your soul every day ~ as the resource to feed and fuel your life.  Where are you letting your light shine?  Today, get out a candle and your calendar.  Light the candle ~ a symbol of God’s love ~ and look back over the first month of 2025, where did you shine and share your light?  Name and notice what filled your days.  If you had to categorize your life, what are some of the boxes your experiences and encounters fit into and fill?  For example, for me, I can have a box labeled, “work”.  How many hours did that consume?  How about sleep?  How about having fun, being playful?  How about prayer?  How about volunteering?  How about being bored or just being ~ rather than doing ~ all the time?  When we look, listen, and lean into our lives, how we construct a day is how we make a life.  Last month, I said that the questions, what are you seeking, how are you seeking, and why are you seeking, are always at work in you and through you ~ whether we realize it or not.  What does your calendar say you were seeking?  For me, it might be to prove my worth, that I am valuable and that I am in control.  For me, it can be that I love my family.  For me, it can be that I am God’s beloved when I finally stop trying to look so competent and in charge.  Hold your one wild and precious life in the light of God’s love, not trying to be the light, but absorb the flame of the eternal shining on you. Amen.

Being Salty

 

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.  Matthew 5:13

 

I invite you to go get some salt. 

Seriously…don’t worry I will wait for you.  (Insert me humming, “It’s a Small World after all” because I want to make sure that will be stuck in your head all day long.  You are welcome).

Got some salt?  Good.  Put on the tip of your tongue.  What do you taste?  What words awaken within you to describe and define the sensation of tasting salt?  Is the salt a pleasant taste for your or maybe makes you want to reach for a glass of water?

 

Salt is added to increase flavor and zest.  Salt plays and participates with other ingredients.  Salt collaborates.  Salt can be preserved, making something last long.  Too much salt can ruin the soup, or so my grandma used to say.  Rarely do we sit down to a heaping pile of salt for dinner.  Unless we are feasting on McDonald’s French fries, but that is another morning meditation.  Salt is not the main thing but is an important thing.  And too much salt, or salt in the wrong place, can be hurtful.  For example, if you have a sore in your mouth right now and followed my invitation, it probably hurt.  Or, to quote Grandma again, “Don’t pour salt on a wound”.  In the best sense salt adds, plays, preserves, and collaborates. 

 

Jesus calls us to be salt.  To add zest.  To participate and part-take, not seek the spotlight.  And to realize that each of us, as featherless bipeds, hurt and harm one another.  We can all be a drain rather than a fountain to each other.  When we ask, “How can I be salt”, you rewind back to verses 1-12 in chapter 5.  The Beatitudes that we prayed last week are instructive and inspirational to how we seek to be salt. 

 

Today, I invite you to set an intention and attention to one place where you will be salt, seek to bring zest, add flavor, and seek to heal rather than harm.  I am thinking about that meeting on your calendar, that phone call you have been wanting to make, that trip to the store where you will encounter other humans out in the wilderness of life.  One place (not the whole day).  May you find ways to live your saltiness that stirs and swirls and adds Jesus-flavor to these days and those around you.  Amen.