Leftovers

Leftovers

II Kings 4:42-44, Matthew 14:13-21

(YouTube)

In our world today, it is hard to avoid food – it’s everywhere! Ads show up on TV and radio, billboards proudly pronounce the latest fast food fad, and even here at church, there’s always coffee and treats on a Sunday morning. Before the pandemic, the church hosted a pastor from Malawi in Africa, and he said something that has stuck with me all these years: he said, “You American Presbyterians, you don’t just practice fellowship – you practice swallowship!” Food is such a part of how we interact with others, too – when meeting someone new, we often “go for coffee.” Lunch meetings aren’t uncommon either – especially as video meetings allow us to turn off the camera and mic and still enjoy a treat.

All that being said, however, it is not that way for everyone. There are parts even of Tulsa that are considered “food deserts” – that is, areas where more than a third of the population cannot easily access fresh groceries.(1) While Elana and I were living in Corona, New Mexico, the town grocery store closed – leaving the nearest small store with anything fresh about 45 miles away, and the nearest supermarket about 90 miles away. If we hadn’t had access to transportation, we wouldn’t have been able to live in our home. In the first years after moving to Tulsa, we found ourselves buying waaay too much at the grocery store, just because we were so trained by experiences in New Mexico – we always needed to have extra on hand, to prevent a 4 hour grocery run. Now, we trust in the availability of food, but during the height of the pandemic, it was hard to not revert to those old habits.

In the ancient world, there were no such things as supermarkets, of course. In rural areas of Galilee and Judah, people would grow some of their own food, fish and ranch, and trade with others. In urban areas, food was brought in from the countryside and sold in markets by individual vendors, a lot like farmers markets today. Jews, though, had a cultural difference from most of the ancient world – they usually tried to keep kosher, making sure that if they were in an area where they weren’t sure they’d have access to kosher food and preparation methods, that they’d bring their own. So, most Jews would carry a woven bag or basket whenever they’d leave home, making sure that they had food. Bread, fish and maybe even cheese might be carried this way, wrapped in beeswax-impregnated cloth to keep it clean and dry.

Now, let’s turn to the story from Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus gets the bad news that his cousin, John the Baptist, has been executed by Herod. He, perhaps grieving, sets out in a boat with his disciples to find a place to be alone for a while. But, at this point in his ministry, he is well known as a healer and teacher, and so people from all around the lake track him down, wandering in on foot to where Jesus is trying to pray by himself. It’s a bit like a celebrity sighting, mixed with hope for healing! Jesus has compassion for them, and proceeds to heal them for many hours, as more and more people stream in. By the evening, the people are hungry – and all the disciples have are two fish and five loaves of bread. They might even have caught the two fish on the way across the lake!

Fish and bread are interesting fare for another reason – it is evidence of the prevalence of Greek ways of thinking. You see, traditional food in the Hellenized or Greek-speaking world always consisted of three parts – sitos, opson, and oinos. Oinos is wine – every complete meal included wine in the ancient world. Sitos is bread, the main dish, the base of every complete meal. But bread on its own is boring, and needs opson – relish. The most common opson was, of course, fish. In the Greek culture, people would scorn those who ate too much relish with their bread, or even would eat without bread at all. By including both bread and fish, Matthew is pointing out that the parts of a complete meal were there, even if nowhere enough for the 5000 men, plus women and children – as many as 20,000 people gathered there!

Nevertheless, Jesus tells the people to relax and recline – as though they’re at a fancy feast, a symposion or as though this wilderness area is formal as the home on Passover. Jesus blesses the meagre food before him, and the disciples distribute it among the people. This distribution method – with elders and deacons taking the place of disciples – is how the early church worked to distribute communion. Only later did the practice begin of approaching the table.

Now, as for the specific blessing that Jesus used – it may have been a blessing like the one still used by Jews today.

Baruch atah Adonai, Eluheynu melech ha’olam, ha-motzi lechem min ha’aretz.

(Blessed are you, Lord our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.) This blessing is based on Psalm 104 – but I love that it includes the line, “brings forth bread from the earth.” Bread doesn’t grow on trees – but ultimately, God is responsible for all food that we eat, from the growing to the preparation, to the consumption of it.

This story, and the subsequent miracle of feeding of 4000, echo the Elisha story from II Kings – in both cases, bread forms the basis of feeding a group of people, and when everyone has eaten, God has miraculously brought forth such an abundance of food that there are leftovers for all. In the feeding of the 5000 (+women and children), the disciples gather twelve baskets of leftovers – basically, each disciple’s food pouch or basket is more full than when they started! Jesus feeds everyone gathered – not just the disciples, not just the men, but the women and children too – and there are leftovers aplenty. Matthew directly mentions the women and children, even though Mark left them out. In some ways, they may feel like “leftovers” themselves in the Biblical account. Yet, not to Jesus – Jesus provides for everyone, from the poorest person who wore their feet out walking around the lake to the wealthiest townsfolk who wandered out to figure out what was happening.

The traditional place of this miracle is today called Tabgha,(2) and a Byzantine church was built at a small rocky ledge that became known as Mensa Christi – the Table of Christ. In front of that ledge was built a beautiful mosaic representing this miracle of the feeding of the 5000 – the very mosaic present on your bulletin cover! The mosaic was uncovered in the 1800s after centuries of being buried – and today is a pilgrimage site for groups who like to share a meal in memory of the meal that Jesus provided thousands of years ago. Even without travelling to Tabgha, we know that every time we eat a meal together as a church, we are celebrating the memory of Jesus’ miracles.

And communion, too, is a celebration of that miracle! When we celebrate communion today, imagine yourself reclining on a lakeshore with people you’ve never met, sharing food that was blessed by Jesus. And that miracle continues, as we provide food through the community garden, and through the blessing box, and through welcoming people into the “swallowship” practiced here at Trinity. In so doing, we remind people and ourselves that we are not “leftovers” but members of God’s beloved family, extended throughout time and space. And there will be enough and more than enough to feed us all!

May God multiply your food – enough to share with all you meet. May the Holy Spirit fill you with compassion and love, that you share what you have with total strangers as well as family and friends. May Christ walk with you, blessing you with abundant grace and hope, even when you find yourself in places of despair. Amen!

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(1) The technical definition is, in urban areas, those in each half-kilometer square who are more than a mile from the nearest source of fresh food. For rural areas, it’s the same half-kilometer square, but who are more than ten miles from the nearest source of fresh food. This is set by the USDA Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/

(2) An Arabic pronunciation of Tapego, a shortened form of Heptapegon, the Greek translation of Ein Sheva – Seven Rivers

Love and Prayer

My dad, Chuck Keppel, recently found a collection of my Grandfather's sermons from the late 1960s. I'm hoping to transcribe and upload them - and this *cough* rather dusty blog is a great place to do so.

Love and Prayer

October 29, 1967
Rev. Lucian T. Keppel

"If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." ~John 14:23
Text: Romans 12:9-21

I am very happy to be back in the school situation, observing the direction or trend of scientific thought in our social sciences today, but my years of independent study of Christ have helped. Thirty years ago the atheistic tendencies of Freud met very open or ready minds that were filled to the ears with "straight-laced" Victorian ideas of what was right, proper, and ethical, so far as thought, word, and deed in public were concerned. Then the excessive hedonistic forces of humanism and Dewey rocked our homes with their "permissive" approach to child raising - a "fad" from which we are suffering now in the uninhibited, frequently violent outbursts against social practices with which many young adults - individually or in collective groups - disagree - even to the point of rioting.

Of interest to note concerning many of these followers, is the fact that they tend to be - at times - very religious - from a Judean point of view. I mean, they will affirm a strong belief in a God of justice, who, through them, is realizing the justice in which civil rights was conceived. This God of Justice - the pre-Christian authoritarian God - demands that men be ready and willing to fight to see that "justice" reigns. Of course, many wars, in the name of this God, have been fought to determine what, really, constituted justice.

But now there is emerging through, or out of, the neo-Freudian, existentialistic, personalistic  group of social scientists a definite trend of thought, which, while not backing Jesus' thinking about the reality of a Spiritual God who is all knowing, all powerful, and all wise, at least recognizes a spiritual essence in man as over against his strictly materialistic make up. For Freud the idea, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" was the whole story of man. For a psychologist like Eric Fromm (one of these "emerging" social scientists), the Christian God transformed the jealous, despotic God of the early Ten Commandments into a God that ceases to be considered a super person, but becomes the symbol of the principle of unity behind the manifold phenomena that makes up our lives - the vision of the flower which will grow from the spiritual seed within man. God has become now the symbol of principles - of truth, justice, and love. That is, God is truth; God is justice; but God is also basically love - which raises the level of significance and value of the other two.

These scientists did not go much beyond this. God, these men felt, could not have a name - something like God's answer to Moses' plea for a name, when he said, "my name is nameless; I am that I am!"

Recently, however, (perhaps as an outgrowth of this modern skepticism which so many of us are watching with considerable anxiety), there is emerging a school - or rather a trend - in the direction of virtually Jesus' own beliefs. These have not focused as yet into a set pattern of theories or hypotheses, but their writings reflect a full recognition of the spiritual essence of man that runs parallel to, interacts with, but is separate from man's physiological being - and the source of this "spiritual" unity of the "soul" of man with the "soul" of his maker is love. Now they recognize love as God - (but not the God of any Christian sect) - in its highest sense - Spirit!

Communication with this God-Spirit by man is possible; but must be learned with much greater intelligence and determined practice than the large, large majority of so-called Christians is showing or is inclined to show today. Jesus' teachings and demonstrations were keyed to a theme He frequently mentioned, that the Good News of His relationship with God was tied up in forgiveness, personal communication, grace, faith, and humility. All individual prayers must reflect such convictions; but even these convictions could not of themselves produce the inner peace He promised to all who really followed Him. Basic to all prayers - and indeed to all response to life's stimuli was a new power Jesus alone introduced and demonstrated - LOVE, in its third dimension: not love for wife or child; not love for relatives or friends; but love for neighbors - all neighbors, even those who are enemies. Such an unselfish love must also include an equal share of love for the self, in which God has also placed a portion of His own essence, just as He did in all other human beings.

Here, then, is the initial basis for personal prayer to a personal God whose actual form is Love's Spirit. How foolish it would be to treat such a spirit as if it were part of a "super man." Such a Spirit-essence of intelligence can reach us- or we can reach it - only through the intelligence God gave us - the same, intrinsic, human soul that no scientist has been able to explain away on a materialistic basis, though many have tried to do so.

Now, since the foundation of our souls is the same as that of which God is compounded, i.e. love, no communication (no attempted prayer) can bear fruit or be effective unless it springs out of - or originates in - this same spirit substance which we call brotherly or holy love. Holy in this sense, means separate or apart from the human characteristics that have limited love to such a low, sensual level in so many lives today. 

From our discussion one can see that developing our life reactions and our communications through the guidance of prayer, grounded in holy or godly love, is not quite as simple as running up to our earthly father and asking him childishly for something we want to have. Yet, the very fact that we can see in a spiritual power a force that - even in our own experiences as a church group - has been able to rise above natural law and produce unquestioned miracles - this fact, I say, should be sufficient to make us sense at least part of love's nature, and of our ability to participate in it. Surely it will be at least as intelligent as we, a condition that calls for humility from us; it will demand a voluntary degree of giving (without strings) on our part, since it was similarly given to us purely out of "grace + love"; it will further unify our behavior toward this God as well as toward all our fellow man to be grounded in a love that must inculcate the elements common to all forms of love mentioned before. These are care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. When these elements are coupled with the traits of forgiveness, personal communication, grace, faith, and humility, we have an atmosphere that is charged with an intriguing way of life and thought. This means, care is shown by us as the active concern for the life and growth of that which we love. The responsibility we must assume today is often meant to denote something imposed upon us from the outside. But responsibility - in its true sense, is an entirely voluntary act; it is any response to the needs expressed or unexpressed of another human being - to be responsible when we pray in love means to be ready to respond!

Respect is an element, a thesis component of love, that prevents the deterioration of responsibility into domination and possessiveness. Respect is not fear and awe; it denotes in accordance with the rest of the the word (respeciere = to look at) the ability to see a person as he is, to be aware of his unique individuality... Respect thus implies the absence of exploitation.

Knowledge involves still more practice with respect and presupposes careful thought before love's power can be fully unleashed. To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge. Knowledge could be empty if it were not motivated by concern... The knowledge which is an aspect of love is one which... penetrates to the core... I may know that a person is angry, worried, (or more deeply) that he feels lonely, worried, is anxious, or feels guilty. Prayer, of course, is a familiar presence which coupled with faith will bring about those miracles that we so often seek. 

Thus, prayer and love are mutual exercises that are basic to spiritual identity with this power we call Love. Frequent use and practice of these to communicate with God's essence is extremely rewarding and challenging. In its intelligent-love-centered form it can produce tremendous results. Please join us all in regular practice.

The revealing statement by our Founder will add new interest and dimensions to our prayers and prepare us for the answers that the spiritual power of God can give us. Let's listen to the reading of CJK's Love and Prayer:

"Prayer is Love's language toward God. No truer or more profound conception of the highest type of prayer can possibly be held. Every question as to the actual meaning and value of prayer finds its ultimate answer in this understanding of it. We pray because we love. When we love we cannot help but pray. We do not first ask: "Well, what is the use of it anyway? To what extent can I expect a direct and definite answer to my petitions? Can, indeed, the God of Law and order reach in and change the direction or results of the unfailing processes of nature, the law of cause and effect?" No, we do not first ask that. We may, indeed, never understand that very clearly at all. But we do pray because we love!

We love God for what we know of Him. All that is beautiful, noble, pure, honest, gentle, loving, righteous, eternal -- that is God. Throughout the ages men's highest conception of deity progressively trended in this direction. Then came Jesus. And God became not only more marvelously holy and beautiful, loving, forgiving, restoring, but He became more intimately and gloriously personal. Father, very near, very patient, very holy, very generous, very mighty in restoring and empowering love -- that God became through the life and ministry of Jesus. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
That Father men could love, and do love, whenever He is so revealed to them. And when they see Him thus in the gentle glory of His personal Fatherhood, they pray. Love must become vocal. Love cannot remain silent. The highest faculties of speech are reserved for the expressions of purest Love. 

But have you thought of it, that while loving makes prayer possible, so also does praying make Love grow, for it is love's expression. All our emotions strengthen as we give them outlet.

Try this in your own experience."

(Rev. Charles John Keppel)

Rebuilding Neighbors

Ordinary 15

July 10, 2016

Ancho + Corona

Isaiah 58 (selected) (NLT)

What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me…. No, this is the kind of fasting I want: free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help….

Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. [Adonai] will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a re-builder of walls and a restorer of homes.

Luke 10: 25-37 (CEB)

Connecting with the Spirit (Rebirth 4)

May 1, 2016

Ancho + Corona

 Scripture: John 5:1-9a  and Acts 8: 4-25 

On the way back from our latest Presbytery meeting - this time in Las Cruces - Elana and I passed a billboard advertising a church in Alamogordo. Perhaps you've seen this sign, or one like it - it read, "Relationship - not religion." Relationship - not religion. Elana and I both pulled a face, and of course, kept driving. But you see, for so many people, even the word "religion" is a pejorative, a word used to describe and dismiss the spiritual practices of others. Now, I'm not dismissing that a relationship with God is important - far from it - but I think we need to talk about what religion is, and why it is NOT a bad word. Religion comes originally from Latin - Religare - which meant to bind together. Later, it became Religio - obligation, bond, or reverent observation, and then in Middle English, Religion, meaning "life under vows". One could have a faith of one's own - but in religion, you were bound to a code that you either chose for yourself, or that you felt God had led you to. There's a fine point here: you choose to be bound by the vows you make, and are not forced into the choice. Yes, it did occasionally happen that people were forced by their family or circumstance into the monastery or convent - but usually, it was something chosen for yourself. A spiritual practice of restriction - a lot like what people today may do during the season of Lent.

Maybe you've heard the phrase, "Spiritual, but not Religious". The sense in this is that one can be connected to the Spirit of God without being bound into one religious track. And true - the Spirit of God does work in and through people that we find surprising choices, but this phrase too dismisses religion as something that holds you back. Yet, if that's the case, why would anyone choose voluntarily to be religious? To join in the dance of the universe, you must give up everything that is not the right step at the right time. Or, as the Renaissance artist Michelangelo is reported to have said, you must remove everything from the block of marble that is not the beautiful sculpture inside.

John Philip Newell reminds us of the 20th Century monk, Thomas Merton, a man who gave up a loving relationship to take vows as a Trappist monk in Kentucky. He chose to take on additional religious activities in order to become closer with God. Merton believed that we live in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God shines through it all the time - in people and in things and in nature and in events. But we don't see it. We need to remember to see. We need to seek not to know ABOUT God - but to seek to KNOW God. That direct, personal experience.

For everyone, that direct personal experience of God is found through spiritual practice. Prayer is a spiritual practice. So is Yoga. So is walking through the woods, or along the fence line, and appreciating God's hand in the world. So is the acceptance of additional burdens - like the vows of monks and nuns - or the choice not to curse, or to remove your hat in church - or to put on a hat in worship! Spiritual practice is everywhere - and it is the root of religion. To claim that you can have a relationship without religion is nonsensical in the extreme. Think of relationships you have had - you have to have a relationship with a specific person, not with a person in the abstract. As such, it involves voluntary restrictions of one sort or another, hopefully to the benefit of you both. It is the same with the relationship with God - you take on voluntary obligations to strengthen your ties with the Divine - and it ought to spill over into strengthening your ties with your fellow human beings.

The scriptures are full of this sense of religion as voluntary restriction. From the Nazarite vows, like Samson took, to the Pharisees choosing movement restrictions, and even the disciples leaving everything behind to follow Jesus, it can seem like religion is all about giving up something. But - it’s a choice of giving something up that was distracting you from seeing the Divine in all things. In our passage from John, we learn of a man who, for thirty-eight years, sat by the pool at Bethesda (or Bethzetha) in Jerusalem, waiting for it to bubble and stir - and try to be the first in the water. Day after day, for 38 years, trying to make it in before anyone else, and yet being unable to make it, due to his paralyzed legs. Jesus comes up to him, and asks him simply, "Do you want to be healed?" Does he want to be healed? For 38 years, he's been trying! And he's nearly given up hope - he says, "I cannot walk, and if I am going to make it into the pool first, I need someone to carry me. Someone beats me there every time." For him, it has become a matter of life-long faith that one day, someone will carry him in to the water. His spiritual practice is to wait for that time to come - actively wait, asking passers by to help him in. And finally, he's asked the right person - not to help him into the water, but to heal him, his actual goal! Jesus doesn't lay hands on him, doesn't do anything other than tell him to stand up, pick up his mat, and walk. And just like that, 38 years of waiting by the pool's edge come to an end. He doesn't stop to ask who Jesus is, he just picks up his mat, and walks away - probably filled with joy!

In our Acts passage, similarly, we learn of a man named Simon who has converted to believing in Jesus. He was a magician, and people thought he was possibly the Messiah, given all the things he could make happen. Oddly, we know of Simon from three different texts of the first Century - he's an actual historical figure of note! But though he had begun to believe in Jesus after seeing Philip perform miracles, he didn't quite get it - he didn't quite give up those things that were separating him from seeing God at work in the world. So when John and Peter show up, and people start responding to the Holy Spirit at work in them, Simon thinks that this is a trick like those he used to do. So, he asks to buy the knowledge of passing on the Holy Spirit through laying-on-of-hands from Peter and John - and Peter tells him off. "May your money tarnish and rot away, you who think to buy God's power! Give up this way of thinking - repent of your wickedness - and pray for God's forgiveness, and that God transforms your heart." For this, we get the concept of Simony - trying to buy church office or spiritual power. Simon needed to give up his conception of how the world worked in order to become close enough with the Divine to see the Holy Spirit at work in the world. Simon had a relationship with Philip - and through Philip, Jesus - but hadn't quite gotten the religion part together. Simon wants to lead in the dance with God and the universe, but hadn't learned the steps. Hadn't listened to the rhythm. Yet, after this admonishment, he asks Peter to pray on his behalf, that he might change his ways - Simon wants to change! The text leaves him there, but I think the implication is that Simon worked to change his heart, and acted out of love - and joined the dance with God.

So, how do you connect with the Spirit of God? Most Presbyterians, when asked this question, will respond at least partially with "Prayer". Now, in our Directory for Worship - part of the constitution of the PC(USA), prayer is defined as "a conscious opening of the self to God, who initiates communion and communication with us. Prayer is receiving and responding, speaking and listening, waiting and acting in the presence of God. In prayer we respond to God in adoration, in thanksgiving, in confession, in supplication, in intercession, and in self-dedication." Or, as Brother Roland of the Community of the Transfiguration puts it: "There are two types of prayer: One is the dozing kitten prayer, purring by the warm fire of God's presence. The other is the yappy dog prayer, scratching at the door of heaven, imploring God's help in our lives." We focus a LOT of effort on the yappy-dog prayer - trying to choose the right words, thinking that if we just pull the right phrase from the air, God will do what we want. Yet, if we focus more on the dozing kitten prayer - "listening in silence, an expectancy" as Merton puts it - we might be able to hear where God is leading us to what we need.

"Spiritual practice," John Philip Newell says, "is not about self-important seriousness. Rather, it is about doing something that... is both less serious and more serious - a Cosmic Dance in which we discover that we do not have to take the lead. We cannot take the lead, for we do not know how to. But we can give ourselves to the Dance. We can let go with abandon to it, to be carried by its endless rhythm in a relationship that is deeper than our consciousness can comprehend. But what is most serious about the dance is that each one of us is needed. There is a place in the dance of the universe that no one else can take but each of us. "

Religion is about learning the steps to the Cosmic Dance - giving up of the things that distract us from the rhythm, that prevent us from seeing God's shining light in the world. To connect with the Spirit, we need to listen more - to seek the rhythm, and move with God and each other.

May God bless your dancing, that you may bless others. May Christ lead your steps, that you may not stumble. May your spirit be caught up in the Holy Spirit, until you see nothing but the light of God, hear nothing but the rhythm of Christ, and feel nothing but the love of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Eyes Open (Ruth 2)

Ordinary 33B

November 15, 2015

Ancho + Corona

Scripture:
Ruth 3: 1-5; 4:13-17 + Mark 13: 1-8, 32-33

Comfort in Troubled Times

Earlier this week, there were several terrorist actions throughout the world. On Thursday evening, two bombers killed forty people in a Shia suburb of Beirut. Then, on Friday morning, a Daesh (ISIS) militant blew himself up at a funeral in Baghdad, killing 18 more. On Friday night, several more militants across Paris killed over a hundred people. As it happens, all of these actions have been connected in one way or another to Daesh - and it seems that threats of greater violence to come have been made around the world.

We live in dark times - when hatred can reach across the entire globe. But we also live in times when hope can spread more rapidly than terror. 

You may have seen on Facebook or other social media a new image - a symbol of peace in Paris. Constructed of a sketch of the Eiffel Tower and the cold-war era peace sign, made of the semaphore symbols for the letter ND - Nuclear Disarmament - it seems in description to be mish-mash of parts. 

But this symbol has transcended cultural boundaries, and is being shared from countries all around the Earth - this image of hope, a wish of peace, a simple sign does not require translation. And subsequently, people have been showing support for Beirut and Baghdad as a result of the high-profile nature of the Paris attacks. It's truly wonderful to see the forming of a global consciousness of peace.

In the time of Mark's community of faith, the world they knew was also experiencing troubled times. At the level of Empire, Rome was continuing their practice of execution and torture of people rebelling against their rule by crucifixions. Outside the empire, Parthia was threatening to not only war against Rome - but possibly to win that war, as they had already defeated several legions sent after them. Parthia, at the height of its power, stretched from modern-day Turkey, through Syria and Persia, and reached all the way to India.

Additionally, a Jewish revolt had been forming for years against Rome, as the people continued to be oppressed, kept from their worship practices in the Temple, and taxed heavily by a succession of Roman governors. 

Mark's Gospel was written to a community of Christians who found themselves stuck in the midst of a very chaotic world. Not only were these continent-wide events transpiring, but persecution against Christians had begun in Rome itself. Though the depredations of Nero were still in the future, the Christians were a large enough minority to be noticed - and their refusal to fight in the army or in the Colosseum meant that they stood out against the power of the state quite visibly.

In Jerusalem, the situation was equally tense. Word was spreading that Rome would move against the city, and Christians feared that the city would be razed or torn down. Some groups of Christians even were spreading sayings of Jesus that suggested exactly that - and many were urging the community to leave the city before a Roman siege began. To help comfort his community - and other Christian groups who would read his words - the author of Mark wrote the Gospel, the first to be written, and compiled it from many sources. Several of these sources included predictions of a future time of trouble, and Mark stitched most of those together in Chapter 13, our reading today.

This chapter is often titled the "Little Apocalypse." No, that doesn't mean a short end of the world, or a small disaster - it means a short time of opening eyes. Apocalypse - apokalupsis in Greek - means, literally, "to raise the veil" - that is, to see something previously unseen. To describe eye-opening moments. These predictions of a future are not meant as a literal roadmap, but are a part of an ancient culture of prophesy. Notice how vague many of the descriptors are - "There will be wars," "earthquakes," "famines." These apply at many times, in many ways, to many groups of people. The point isn't that it will happen just-so - but that no matter what happens, in the midst of this darkness, Jesus will be there. That this isn't it - this isn't the end. And when Jesus returns, the Kingdom of God will not contain this pain and suffering.

All that said - the time of Jesus' return is unknown, even to him. He made that point specifically in the end of the passage. When I re-read that portion of the scripture, I was reminded of a news article I read this week, of a family in Texas that pulled their kids from school because the Rapture would be coming soon, and surely their kids didn't need to learn anything! Hmm...

These times of darkness - the wars, the quakes, and famine - represent the "birth pangs" - labor pains - of the coming kingdom. As painful as all of this is, to us today and to the early church, the promise is that this isn't all that will ever be. When my wife Elana and I were talking this week, she put it this way: On the one hand, if Jesus comes immediately, all this pain is turned into joy at the new kingdom that has finally arrived. On the other, the worst-case scenario is that the kingdom doesn't come in our lifetime, and we get to be a part of building it. 

All of this is a comfort to us in these dark times - when lives are lost, they are not lost forever. Even as far away as we are, there are ways in which we can help, if we keep our eyes open.

Darkness leads to light - but requires change

The story of Ruth and Boaz illustrates the point of keeping our eyes open. Last week, we talked about Ruth and Naomi leaving Moab for Bethlehem. Their lives were practically over; even though they had each other, they were in a very dark place personally. The lectionary text skips over part of their story, but they did find shelter on the farm of a man named Boaz, who is a cousin of Naomi's. Ruth has been working with him on the farm, and hoping that he will notice her and ask her to marry him. It hasn't happened - he has referred to her as "daughter" and made references to his older age - but now, Naomi decides to make things happen. She give some advice to Ruth to meet with Boaz and be direct in her affection for him. Then the lectionary skips over more parts - we'll call it a holy yada, yada, yada - and things end up working out for Ruth and Boaz, they get married, and have a child - a child whose name means "provider" - and provides not only for Naomi but for all of Israel in the form of his grandson, David, who was later to become king.

You see, Ruth and Naomi begin the story in a dark place - they exist only on what they can glean from the fields and then later on what is given to them by Boaz. Naomi has been keeping her eyes on Boaz' routine. She's decided, with Ruth's consent, to try to encourage Boaz to see Ruth differently. This threshing-floor story thus becomes the closest story in the Bible to anything illustrating that non-Biblical phrase, "God helps those who help themselves." 

Ruth and Naomi are working to change perceptions in their community - and they do it according to an ancient practice. As widows, they are low on the status ladder - so low, that there's not much hope for them, even together. But, in Israelite society, the closest male relative was supposed, if able, to take a widow as their wife in order to continue the family line, if at all possible. That's what's happened here - despite Ruth not being Israelite, she has claimed Naomi's family as her own.

Even in their darkness and fear, Ruth and Naomi keep their eyes open. Naomi even literally says to Ruth, "Notice where he lays down" - that is, hide and keep your eyes open for the right situation! And that right situation brings hope - not just for themselves, but for all of Israel. And, as Jesus is in the line of David, hope arises for all the earth, too.

Eyes open to see the light

In times of darkness, you have to keep your eyes open to see even the faintest hint of light. Look at Ruth and Naomi, who take risks to build a better life for themselves - and are willing to deal with the consequences if those risks don't work out.

But, it's very important that, even with your eyes open, you focus on the right things. Look at the beginning of our Mark passage - the disciples point out the beauty of the Temple to Jesus, looking closely at it, noticing the huge stones. But Jesus responds that the temple will not stand - that nothing human made will last - but that God will be there with the people the whole while. That this isn't the end, but the beginning - the birth pangs of a new and better world to come.

With your eyes open, work to make the world more like the coming kingdom. Take care of yourselves and your family - and warn others of danger. Like Mark did, in warning the community to flee Jerusalem for Pella. Like Ruth and Naomi did in changing the perceptions of their community. Like we can do in changing perceptions about Christian love - to show that, no matter where the darkness falls, Christ's light will live in our hearts, and shine like a beacon.

And not just in our hearts, but in the hearts that love all around the world. Hearts that can shine brightly in the darkness, till that time of peace, love, and joy finally arrives. 

Until then -

May God hold you close in the darkness around. May the Holy Spirit point you in the direction of the light. And may Christ's way of love and peace fill your heart with light at every turn. Amen.

If You Seek God, Circumspice (Job 3)

Ordinary 29B 

Oct 18, 2015 

Ancho + Corona 

Scripture:
Job 38: 1-7, 34-41 + Mark 10: 35-45

(This sermon has been transcribed from an audio recording)
In Sept, 2012, I was on my way to Nome, Alaska. I was waiting around in the Detroit airport, preparing for the many legs of the journey - my flight would take me from Detroit to Minneapolis to Seattle to Anchorage to Kotzebue and finally, to Nome. As I was waiting there, just past security, I saw over the windows a large Michigan flag hanging on the wall.

State Flag of Michigan

Now, the Michigan flag contains the state seal, complete with a Latin motto, and as I had a bit of time to kill, I walked up and read the motto to myself. It reads: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice. It means, If you seek a beautiful peninsula, look around you. So I did look around me, and it was a beautiful peninsula. Later - many, many legs later - we were heading from Anchorage to Kotzebue, and the stewardess hopped on the intercom: "Thank you for flying Alaska Airlines," she said, "and welcome to God's country." Now, that's the first time I'd ever heard that expression, and at first, I thought it's the state motto, kinda like Land of Enchantment is the New Mexico state tourist phrase to bring people here - same idea, I thought "God's country" was it for Alaska.

State Flag of Alaska

But it's not. Alaska means "The Great Land" - it has nothing to do with God's country, and since then I've heard it in multiple places and learned that it's usually referring to wide open expanses of land. Thus, I've heard it in New Mexico as many of you probably have too, referring to the wide open expanses of land here in New Mexico.

State Flag of New Mexico

Why open land? Because apparently we don't see God in areas of population density. It's - it's as though, when people get together, God's not seen. As though we need to be away from people. Is God's presence masked by the freewill and choice that we all have? Is God drowned out by the swirling masses of humanity? These are questions. Questions that you will see are related to our story from Job today.

So, let's listen to this story from Job, chapter 38, some selected verses: 1 through 7 and 34-41.
The Lord answered Job from a whirlwind: Who is this, that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you MUST answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much, who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together, and all the angels shouted for joy? Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear, and cause it to strike as you direct? Who gives intuition to the heart, and instinct to the mind? Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven when the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods. Can you stalk prey for a lioness, and satisfy the young lion's appetites as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket? Who provides food for the ravens, when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?

Job has been crying out to God for 35 chapters - and finally, finally God responds. Job has been crying out to God to "lift this veil of darkness" from in front of Job's face - we talked about that veil of darkness last week. Job has been crying out to God to answer Job's subpoena to appear in court - I still think that's pretty audacious, to say, "God, appear before me - I'm serving you!" I don't know how you would serve God with a subpoena, but that's what Job's been trying to do.

And now, finally, finally, God does appear to Job - in a whirlwind - and starts asking Job questions that Job and all of us can only answer, "No, God, I wasn't there. No, I didn't do that. No, I can't do that. Only you can." Our little snippet of God's answer to Job today gives you a taste for these questions, and you'll note, it's a very abbreviated taste - this questioning runs on for three chapters, right up to chapter 41.

Job, through these questions, is taken from one end of the universe to the other, and then, on a zoology tour of the earth, looking at all the animals, and all the ways they interact together. Whether or not he's actually taken, and whether it's just the questions that are leading his mind there, he's got a very wide breadth of these answers of "No" that he's gotta be constantly saying to God. This "constant barrage of questions", as one commentator puts it, leaves you wondering what God's purpose is. Is God trying to overwhelm Job? Is God trying to make Job insecure?

Another commentator wrote, that if Job were the example given of God in Seminary, God would have failed pastoral care 101. None of these questions seem to answer any of Job's questions - at first glance. It's really easy to get overwhelmed with these questions.

So, let's take a moment - slow down, take time to look at these carefully. Despite the whirlwind, despite the presumptive booming voice of God, God isn't telling Job anything new. Throughout Job's ordeal, he has claimed that God is magnificent, just, holy, and so on. Job has still claimed God, throughout everything. That's why Job wants God to appear, after all, because Job wants a good, fair trial, and Job trusts God to give that. And now, God is taking Job on a journey through creation to show how God is involved in everything.

There are three major threads that run through these questions that God asks: First thread - God has been present, is present, and will be present in the largest and smallest of all things. Second, God sets limits on chaos, but doesn't remove it. Third, God provides for creation.

God provides for creation. We see this in the questions, "can you stalk prey for a lioness?" "Who provides food for the ravens?" "Who tilts the water jar of heaven onto the parched earth?" God is clearly the one who does these things, and God is the one who is providing for all of creation in them. There are many more questions like this, these are just exemplar questions.

God sets limits on chaos. "God defines boundaries" is another way to put this. "Who determined the limits of the earth? What supports its foundations?" Who determined the limits of the earth, saying the earth should be the sphere with the atmosphere, and no further? God. Who determines where earth is placed in its orbital path? God. In the Goldilocks zone, as scientists like to call it, the place where we have liquid water abundant, heat and light from the sun, but not too much - just... right. God is the one who sets the limits on chaos around.

God is present, has been present, and will be present. "Who laid the cornerstone while the stars and angels sang for joy?" God is saying, "I was at the very beginning, I am now, and I will be."
Truly, from these, we can see that everything is God's country. God is present in greatest joy, in deepest suffering. In widest plain, in narrowest alley, God is present. God sets limits on chaos. Job thought he had lost everything - in fact, this is a point I've been making through and through, week-by-week, but truly, Job had not lost everything. He still had life. He still had breath. He still has friends, a wife. He had his speech, he had mobility, he had more than anything I can list here. Not everyone is so lucky. Even Job, as much as he had before that was taken from him, was loved by God. God loves all, from the greatest lion to the littlest raven, from the most beautiful star in the distance, to the depths of the human heart, God loves all of us.

God sets boundaries on Job - takes away some things, narrows the boundaries around Job, but hasn't taken everything away. Job had many options available - he has the freedom to act in many ways. Though his grief is crippling, he did not need to argue with his friends for many chapters. I think many of the Biblical scholars would appreciate that. Maybe ONE friend. Not three. This didn't need to happen for so long.

Nor did he need to remain in this ash-pit; for however long 35 chapters of arguing has taken. Job could have gotten up. But Job became so focused on God that he neglected everything and everyone else - his mind was so focused on connecting with God and proving himself innocent that he wasn't looking for other ways to live, other ways to be in the world. Instead of looking for God around him, Job looked only inward and upward.

God provides for creation. Even though Job had these other options, and God could have left Job alone, God provides for Job. God appears, exactly what Job has been asking for, God does. God didn't have to, but God does appear before Job, and brings Job on this tour of creation. God shows Job where God is active, what God is doing, has done, and will do. God is encouraging Job to look outward, to see God at work, providing in the world, instead of narrowly focused inward and upward. Look for God around you. If you seek God, look around you.

Our Gospel lesson from Mark tells us the other half of this equation: that not only do we need look around us to find God, but when we do find God, we need to listen to God. It's not just about finding God in the first place. Listening is just as important. Our Gospel lesson shows James and John angling to get the best seats at the glorious banquet they believe is coming soon. You can just see these two brothers, the "sons of Thunder" - I imagine they were loud and pushy, that's just how "sons of thunder" rings in my mind - sons of thunder, James and John, angling to go to Jesus, and say, "Hey, Jesus, grant us this thing..." Waiting for Jesus to say, "Ok, sure, you're my friends!" But no, he says, "What do you want?" He's canny, along this way. And they say, "Ok, well, we would like to sit on your right and left hand at the glorious banquet to come."

 Now - that's all fine and dandy, except... do you know what this follows in the Bible? Jesus telling them that he's going to be tortured and killed. Jesus tells the disciples that he's going to be tortured and killed, and James and John's reaction is, "Hey, Jesus, we want to sit next to you." I don't think they're listening to what Jesus is saying. When Jesus tells them, "Are you ready to take this cup of suffering, this baptism of suffering that I have?" they say, "Yes, Jesus, we're ready!" And Jesus says, "Well, you will," referencing James' death. He has to tell them that, sadly, they're right, they will take part of this cup and baptism. But even though they do this, who is honored in heaven isn't for Jesus to say. Following that passage, he tells the disciples once again that it is the ones who serve - yes, the ones who serve even as far as slaves do - who will be honored in heaven.

Jesus, you see, is present with the disciples. Jesus is present, just like God is present. Jesus is present with the disciples, though he's not happy with their not listening to him, he is still present with them. He's present with James and John and with the other ten disciples. He doesn't leave them for another set, say, "Ok, you guys, that's the last straw, you haven't listened to me anywhere along the line, I'm going to go find another twelve. Maybe they'll listen to me over in Egypt - or in Syria - or in some other area near here. You guys are done." He doesn't do that. Jesus stays with them - and tries time and time again to get them to listen to what he's saying.

Jesus sets boundaries. Jesus won't tell James, John, and the other disciples, or whoever reported this story to Mark, who specifically will be honored in heaven. This gives us wonderful freedom within these boundaries. It gives us a freedom to think, "Hey, it might be you! It might be me! It might be my grandchildren, it might be my great-ancestors." There's a freedom in wondering, and that leads us to act in a good way, to act as God would have us act, to use our freedom to choose to choose wisely, to choose for God. He does provide the boundary, though, that it's about serving. Those who serve will be honored. Not those who take for themselves, who make themselves better, who puff up and wear the best of bow-ties, and top hats. No... it's those who serve.

Lastly, Jesus provides for the church. These stories, though they weren't understood originally, as we can tell by Mark's depiction of the disciples completely missing the point, were passed on, and give us a chance to understand them today. A chance - maybe we have it wrong, too - maybe we're not understanding completely either - that's fine. Jesus has provided throughout the years, giving us much to think and ponder on, and helps to guide our freedom and action to be more aligned with God's plan for us. Just like the disciples, after Jesus' death and resurrection, finally get it. Finally start telling people who Jesus is, and what that means, that God loves you, the Good News is that there is NOT an angry God - but a God who loves you - and you - and you - and everyone.

So, Job tells us to see God around us. Mark tells us to listen to God when we find God. God is telling us that God's Country isn't just Alaska, or New Mexico, or even America - God's Country is all the heavens, all the stars, all the planets, all the heavenly host, all the mountains, all the prairies, all the lakes, streams, oceans. All the people, all the rural areas, all the urban areas, and yes, even all the suburban and exurban areas.

If we want to see God, we have to look around us. Not just in our nature walks, our homesteads, and our isolated hunting and fishing, hiking and skiing trips, but also in our trips to town. Our talks with friends. Our interactions with people we meet at Knowledge Bowl, or Sports events, or anywhere else. Because God is present in it all. Is, has been, and will be. We look for God in our environment around us, and we will find God. Then, after we've found God, we should listen - and try to understand what God is telling us. Even if we don't get it immediately. Even if, like the disciples - and thank goodness we have their example - we don't get it on the first try... or the second... or the third... we need to listen to what God is saying, and get it, eventually, when the time is right.
You've heard it said, preach the gospel constantly; use words if necessary. I say, God is preaching the Gospel constantly, use your eyes and ears to see and hear it.

When you see and hear God's Word in all creation, that's when you can share God's word with others. Sing along to the tune. Mesh with harmonies of the stars and the depths of the human soul. If you seek the Good God, look around you. Amen.

Lament in Unknowing (Job 2)

Ordinary 28B
Oct 11, 2015
Ancho + Corona

Scripture:
Job 23: 1-17; Mark 10: 17-31

I’d like to open and close this sermon time with a song that my Great-grandfather wrote the lyrics to:

Stars that shine above
Tell of God’s love
For even when clouds hide,
Still, they are there
So, we, dear Father
Though shadows hide Thee,
Know Thou art keeping watch
With tenderest care.

Last Friday was the day of the Ancho Star Party, when we gathered to study the heavens and marvel at God’s beautiful creation. Yet, in Corona, the world seemed shrouded in cloud. It was like a blanket, covering over everything – that cloud clung to the ground and to the sky above. As I drove down to Ancho, I kept thinking that it was like the world was disappearing around me. Even after heading through the Tecalote pass, the clouds covered the skies above. We had gathered to view the heavens, but the heavens were closed to us.

Yet, like the blanket it resembled, it was comforting too. After all, we were able to have fellowship and food – to warm the church not only with the woodstove, but with love and affirmation. Even not being able to see the stars, we studied about the history of the constellations, and practiced with our star charts. Could we identify the stars? Could we remember their relations to each other?

That’s where Job is in our passage today – in the midst of cloud-wrapped darkness. Verse 17, in the Revised Standard Version, reads “For I am hemmed in by darkness, and thick darkness covers my face.” For Job, it’s worse: not only can he not see the stars, but he has no food or fellowship with his friends or his wife. He and his friends have spent 20 chapters discussing theological points, about why Job “deserves” to be punished with suffering, and Job refutes all their points. The arguing has already gone on so long that it’s stopped being about what the other person said. We’ve all had arguments that have done this, right? Where you stop listening to the other person , and just argue, almost against yourself? Well, Job’s response to Eliphaz, which we read today, does not directly address the concerns he raised in the last chapter. It seems as though these friends did their best for Job while they sat with him silently, in vigil for the first week; now, all their yammering is just making things worse.

This darkness that Job finds himself in is a form of unknowing – Job is asking, “how can I know how to find God?” After all, Job desperately wants to see God – look at verse 3, “If only I knew where to find God, I would go to his court.” But why does Job want to go to God? To argue his case before the great judge.

It’s clear that Job initially thinks that God either doesn’t know about his situation, or that God just hasn’t taken everything into account. Look at verse 7 – “Honest people can reason with [God], so I would be forever acquitted by my judge.” Job’s not wrong that God is an honest judge – but he is wrong in thinking that God is avoiding him. Every direction that Job goes, he feels like God is not there. This is directly opposite the experience of God described by the Psalmist in Psalm 139:

Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and settle at the furthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Compare that to verse 10 of our Job text: “For [God] knows where I am going, and when [God] tries me, I will come out as pure as gold.” You see? Job thinks God is purposefully avoiding him, so as to not let him come to trial – as Job thinks he will surely come out “as pure as gold.”

Job’s reaction is not to curse God, as his wife suggested last week, or to falsely seek absolution for sins that he truly hasn’t committed – but to lament. Now, this isn’t immediate; remember, we’ve been listening to Job talking for 20 chapters about God; but here, Job starts to address his own fears.

Lament is a Latin word that we’ve adopted through French influence into English. It means, literally, to “weep, wail, or mourn” in Latin – and that’s a good translation of the Hebrew, “saphat”, meaning literally to “tear your hair” or figuratively, to mourn openly. Mourning and Lamenting tend to go hand-in-hand, but lamenting has an extra sense of seeking retribution for unjust treatment. Therefore, we lament more situations than we mourn – after all, when we say the Lord’s Prayer, we are lamenting that God’s kingdom is not yet on earth, and asking for the strength to help build it. When we stand up for not only ourselves, but those whose voices are not heard, we are participating in lamentations.

Job, in the darkness of unknowing, illustrates what to do: Lament! Cry against the systems that hold back justice. Speak up for yourself and others who are being mistreated.

To see what happens when we don’t lament, let’s take a look at our Gospel lesson. Here, we see Jesus approached by an unknowing man. He runs up, throws himself at Jesus’ feet, and asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life. The man is showing such enthusiasm – even calling Jesus, “Good Teacher,” a title which is never repeated by anyone else in the Bible. But Jesus deflects his question, first responding that no one but God is truly good. The man shows that he is listening by next calling Jesus by the plain title, Teacher.

So, Jesus asks him if he’s kept a series of commandments: Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t cheat/defraud. Honor your father and mother. It’s interesting that these commandments are all (but one) from the Decalogue, the ten commandments. The ones left out from that list are all about God: Keep God first, make no idols, keep the Sabbath.

Oh, and one is swapped – Jesus says don’t cheat or defraud, instead of don’t covet. We’ll come back to this in a bit.

The man responds that he has kept them all, and Jesus tells him, “But wait… there’s one more thing! Go, sell all you have, give the money to the poor, come and follow me.” There are five verbs in this “one more thing” – Go, sell, give, come, follow. And this seems straightforward, if a bit convicting: Just keeping the commandments isn’t enough. One must also eek the bettering of the world – acting against the injustice of poverty.

But… that’s not the whole story. Look at the question and answer again: “What must I DO to INHERIT eternal life?” Jesus' answer: Commandments. The commandments Jesus lists – even the wonky “don’t cheat/defraud” – are proscriptions against actions that you DO to get an inheritance. Don’t murder – you can get an inheritance usually only after a person dies, so murder might seem like a way to get it. Don’t commit adultery – Well, Jesus has just finished saying that divorcing someone and remarrying is committing adultery. Whether or not we still hold to that today, the point is that by re-marrying someone, you could receive an inheritance from someone else. Don’t steal – this is straightforward, don’t steal someone else’s inheritance. Don’t lie – don’t say that an inheritance is yours in order to receive that inheritance. Don’t cheat/defraud – this is similar to don’t lie – don’t pretend to be someone else to receive their inheritance. If Jesus had said, “don’t covet,” it wouldn’t have been as strong an indicator, as coveting often leads to a desire to cheat/defraud. Honor your father and mother – after all, if you don’t, they’ll cut you out of their will, and you won’t receive an inheritance.

All of this is Jesus checking to see if this man has done anything that he REALLY shouldn’t have. It is this man’s unknowing – of the fact that inheritance isn’t something you DO something to get – that leads to Jesus’ exchange that it is difficult for the rich to enter heaven. Often, wealth is associated with power, or with goodness – just look at Job’s friends, who think he must have done something bad, since he’s lost all of his wealth. With that mindset, you might very well think you can DO something in order to secure for yourself what you want – that is, what you covet.

This man wanted eternal life for himself – and wanted to throw his wealth at the problem in order to get it. But you can’t buy eternal life! It’s not like you’ll find it on Amazon or E-bay, listed under “Salvation – Eternal life!” So, Jesus is telling the rich man to publicly lament – to cry against the injustice of poverty and do something about it.

Job has lost everything, and laments that God seems far away – and so, Job laments in the darkness of unknowing. He cries against the injustice and cries for a fair trial. The rich man has lost nothing, has much, and wants more. Jesus calls him to lament against the injustice of his standing, and the way society is structured, and he refuses, going away sad. 

That leads us to this question: Which of these men does God look on with favor?

The answer? Both of them – but only one is truly seeking God.

Just as we at Ancho were seeking the stars – by studying, and waiting together, the clouds cleared up just in time. It was a beautiful miracle that that which we were seeking was revealed to us when it suited God – in God’s own time. As we’ll see next week, that’s how it is with Job, too.

May you seek God – lamenting against injustice, and doing what you can to help bring God’s kingdom here on earth. Amen.

I am not afraid
When the shadows fall
And it grows too dark to see
For Thou, dear Lord,
Who watches over all,
Will care for my loved ones and me

Creative Peace (Job 1)

Creative Peace
Ordinary 27
Oct 4, 2015
Mountain Ministry Parish

Scripture-
Job 1:1; 2:1-10

A tree grows despite adversity

In 1933, two Jewish men named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the first modern superhero – Superman. Now, most of us have encountered Superman at some point in our lives – the comics, the movies, the audio dramas, they’re all around us – but just in case you haven’t, let me give you a bit of background. He is an undocumented immigrant to this country, arriving as a baby to be raised by a couple from Kansas with no ties to his birth family. He blends in with society as best he can, and ends up reporting for a newspaper in the biggest city in America. He struggles with his identity – who is he really, the immigrant or the Kansas farm boy? – and falls in love with a fellow reporter, Lois Lane, who is initially indifferent towards him. As part of his identity crises, “Clark Kent” uses his gifts to help the people of Metropolis while wearing his ancestral crest proudly, but hiding his identity as the reporter. When physically reminded of his origin by a rock from his homeland, he becomes weak and nauseated, and loses many of his special gifts. His gifts are many – originally, speed, strength, and a terrifically tall jump, but later “improved” with flight, heat and x-ray vision, cold breath, and nigh-invulnerability. Yet none of these physical gifts, which are taken away by kryptonite, match his moral gift – his ability to maintain morality in the face of difficult choices. This gift is one instilled by his adopted parents, and at its core, is the true super-power of Superman.

Return of the Taleings

It has been a long while since I last wrote in this blog... three years have passed, and a lot has changed. Before I reboot the blog with some new content, I thought it would be a good idea to share where life has taken me!

In 2012-2013, I worked for KNOM in Alaska. My morning show co-host and I ended up winning five communicator awards between us for our spots and promotions. She alone out of the five of us volunteers stayed at KNOM for a second year. The rest of us went off into the lower 48, in various positions and to various new lives, enriched by our living together, and by our work at the station.

Communicator awards!

My position was to be a Teaching Elder (that's Pastor, for non-Presbys) for two small, rural churches in central New Mexico. Soon after submitting my PIF to the Church Leadership Connection, I received a call from the Pastoral Nominating Committee (PNC) of this yoked call. They had me fly out to preach to them in April, and I accepted the position that evening, though I wouldn't start working at the churches until October 2013.

My first blessing over the table at Corona - at the installation service!

Meanwhile, my best friend from Seminary and I started to realize that we were called to be more than friends. We dated long-distance, as she was still in Kentucky, and ended up getting engaged in September 2013, and married in March 2014 - in a city that neither of us lived in, Greensboro, NC (though it was her hometown before Seminary). We like to joke that we have the shortest time of anyone we know between first kiss and engagement - only a month!

From the wedding - we asked everyone to wear hats!

So, since May 2014, Elana and I have been living in New Mexico, putting our lives together, and adjusting to married life. It sounds simple, putting it that way, but there have been some significant challenges - including an 8-month bout with low blood pressure that kept her confined to the couch that was resolved only after realizing she was one of the "lucky" 1-in-10,000 that have a low-blood-pressure reaction to a particular asthma medication.

Recently, I've been asked by several of the church members to make the written text of my sermons available online - and I recalled that I had set up this blog three years ago! To that end, then, I will be posting my weekly sermons here - and perhaps some other thoughts as appropriate, too. I know it marks a shift in tone for the blog, but since it's been three years, perhaps that's appropriate!

Sometimes, we even worship outside!

Experiencing the Divine

Over the past month, I've been agonizing over my PIF (Pastoral Information File), that piece of Presbyterian bureaucracy that functions as a resume and "church-dating" profile, matching me with churches that I might serve (or be a good fit for). One of the questions of the PIF is about a theological issue facing the church today, and I will reproduce my answer here:

The biggest theological challenge facing the Church today is the lack of value placed on our daily experience of God. This often translates into a perceived lack of imagination on the part of the Church – a one-for-all idea that says your experience isn't valid because there's no scriptural basis for encountering God in that way.  Experience and scripture both reveal God's actions in the world, and must be checked in light of each other. Jesus is revealed within Scripture – but so too are the all-too-human reactions of greed, selfishness, and untruth. For many within society, if one interpretation of Scripture doesn’t hold up against experience, then all of scripture must be rejected. For many within the Church, if an interpretation of scripture doesn’t hold up against experience, then all that is experienced must be flawed. I maintain that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of these extremes – a balance must be found between scripture and experience. I believe that many of the conflicts that our denomination faces are the result of this tension. Whether historically or today, this balance underlies flare-ups over most of our issues. My ministry, then, tries to refocus our attention from the bottom of our own entrenchments to the Sun that we share, the light of God's love.