Psalm 80:1-7 Mark 13:24-37
Rev. Alan Claassen
November 30, 2008
Please pray with me.
"From the cowardice the does not face the truth
From the laziness that accepts half truths
From the arrogance that thinks it knows the whole truth.
Lord, deliver me."
There’s a moment in one of the Winnie the Pooh stories where Piglet is stranded in the middle of a fast flowing river precariously balancing on a plank as he heads for a waterfall. Owl is flying overhead and counsels Piglet to be brave.
Piglet responds, “It’s hard being brave when you are so small.
Imagine a time, remember a time, think of the time you are in right now. Helpless in the face of something that is shaking all your security, feeling small in the face of something much bigger than you are. And you have been praying and finally you feel like saying, like the Psalmist in today’s reading:
Whatsamatta, God! We are in trouble here! Don't you care!
Where are you, God! Can't you hear us!
Say something, God! Wake up! Do something!
God, help us! Save us! Please!
Help me get up, I just need to get up and get through the door.
Do you know the story of the disciples were in a boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. They had started their journey in the evening, so it was dark or getting darker. There is nothing more peaceful than a boat on the water.
It was quiet out there, away from the crowds. The waves slapped against the side of the boat in a steady, soothing rhythm. The oars added their soft cadence.
All in all, it was a wonderful counterpoint to the hustle and bustle of the day. Jesus, sitting on a cushion in the stern, fell asleep. He must have been tired. It had been quite a day.
But then the wind began to blow. That little sea was famous for its sudden storms, and this one came out of nowhere. It blew and it blew, and the waves smashed into the boat. The disciples panicked.
But nobody who has ever been caught in a storm in a small boat, far from shore, will be surprised. There are very few places where one is more helpless and more alone than in a small boat in a storm. The wind blows˜ and the rain falls˜ and the waves smash into the boat. Worse than that, the waves wash into the boat.
The sailor caught in such a storm has much to do:
˜If the boat gets sideways to the waves, the waves will flip it over, so the sailor must keep the boat facing into the waves.
˜The sailor must also bail the water out of the boat. With any luck, the sailor will be able to bail the water out faster than the waves bring it in.
˜And, of course, the sailor must try to stay in the boat. That sounds simple, doesn't it, but it isn't simple at all. Trying to keep one's footing, or even one's seat in a small boat at sea in a storm is a full-time job itself.
Trying to keep your footing during a time of change, controversy, or financial crisis can also be as challenging.
Have you ever been caught in a big storm in a small boat?
Some events in our life make us seem small. Sometimes events in our life can seem like we are out in the middle of a lake or sea and the waves are crashing all around us. It may be an illness, or a loss, or a sense of something left undone. It may be coming face to face with reality that things just aren’t going according to our best-laid plans. We know that “It’s hard being brave when you are so small.”
The disciples, including the fishermen among them, were just as afraid as any of us would be. The fishermen were afraid, because they knew. They knew how much danger they were in.
And through it all, Jesus slept. There he was on his comfortable cushion in the stern of the boat sleeping through everything. How could he sleep! That was pretty amazing in itself. You would have thought that the rough ride would have awakened him. But there he was, fast asleep
That was almost as upsetting to the disciples as the storm. Jesus was their leader, and right now they needed some leadership. They wanted him awake and alert. They wanted him to take command of the situation, to help them to get organized. It was frightening to think that their leader would sleep through such a crisis.
They woke him. They said, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Whatsamatta, Jesus! Don't you see what's happening! Don't you understand the danger we are in! Don't you care! Where are you, Jesus?
We left our homes and our jobs to follow you. We put a lot of our trust in you. Look how great things were going. You were healing people. People were coming to you to hear you preach. All of those people we left back on the shoreline. Now this storm is threatening to kill us all, and you are blissfully asleep in the back of the boat! Wake up! Take charge! Do your job! Save us!
We all feel like that at times, and sometimes we feel like that most of the time.
And yet, part of what this story is about is,
that instead of rushing to communicate our panic to God,
we should allow God to communicate calm to us" (Luccock, 710).
In her book, Two-Part Invention, author, Madeleine L'Engle talks about her husband's illness. They had just learned that it was much worse than they had originally expected. The cancer had spread. He would have to undergo surgery and chemotherapy. The prognosis was uncertain at best. It was one of those moments when we say, "God, help us! Save us! Please!"
Madeleine tells of her devotions on the evening of the day that they received the bad news. She read the Psalm for the day, Psalm 22. It read, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These are the same words that Jesus cried from the cross.
Of reading that verse on that day she says, "Exquisitely painful timing. The psalmist's words. Jesus' words. I feel anguished. I feel that I have been kicked in the stomach and the wind knocked out of me. My spirit hurts."
And yet she was grateful for those words, because hearing them as they had come from Jesus' mouth made it all right that they had come from her own. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
When the disciples woke Jesus, they said, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Jesus didn't answer them directly, but turned instead to the wind and the sea saying, "Peace, be still!"
I believe those words were also meant for the disciples. "Peace, be still!" That was what those disciples needed to hear.
They needed the world around them to be peaceful and still, but they needed even more to be at peace within themselves. When our world is coming unglued, we need to hear Jesus say, "Peace, be still!" As much as we need him to calm the storms around us, we need even more for him to calm the storms within us. "Peace, be still."
We need a prayer and meditation practice that begins and ends our days in the peace of Christ. Instead of rushing to communicate our panic to God, we should allow God to communicate calm to us"
Madeleine L'Engle's husband died. It didn't happen suddenly. She had to watch as he declined day by day, and then he died. She felt empty, and she was full of grief. It was a confusing and terrible time.
Then someone told her a story of an Episcopal Bishop who had lost his wife and child in a tragic accident. The bishop said to his people, "I have been all the way to the bottom.
And I found that it is solid."
In the worst storm of her life, all the way at the bottom of her life, Jesus said to Madeleine L'Engle, "Peace, be still!" And she put down her feet. And it was solid!
Jesus comes to us in the storms of our lives. When the wind and the waves threaten to undo us, we cry, "Do you not care that we are perishing!" And Jesus says to us, "Peace, be still!" He calls us to trust, to put our fear down, to discover that the love of God is solid!
What storm are you in right now? What seems like insurmountable odds against your hard- to-be-brave small self. Turn your eyes for a moment from the storm to the Captain of the vessel. Speak to whomever you choose when you are in prayer, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Big Love, and share what is on your heart.
And then wait for the pause
and hear the call,
"Peace, be still!" And keeping your trust focused on Life that is eternal, put your feet down, and discover that it is solid!
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote,
The wise person in the storm prays to God,
not for safety from danger,
but for deliverance from fear.
It is the storm within which endangers him,
not the storm without.
There are moments when we pray for a miracle to end the storm. There are many more moments when we pray for the faith and courage that helps us ride the storm, helps us find a way to calm the sea and the wind, to calm the fear and anxiety.
May we in our prayers for this church, in our prayers for one another, and in our prayers for our nation and this planet, face whatever it is that is making us feel small,
not alone,
but with our inner resources,
the resources of one another,
and of course, our connection with the Spirit of the Living God which will guide us through this storm until we reach the other side, safely.
The blessing that comes with the Season of Advent, the source of hope that is burning in the candle that was lit this morning, is that we will see a deeper course of truth opening before us. When we ask God for deliverance a way through the wilderness will be revealed.
When we remember with gratitude, the times when God has already been a source of increasing our courage in our lives, a deeper strength will be made available to us.
When our own way has run it’s course and we cry out, like the Psalmist, “Restore us, O Holy One, let your face shine upon us, teach us to love,” a renewed courage and creativity to do what has to be done will help us find a God’s way through the storm.
Where is God?
Wherever and whenever we let God in.
Amen
Monday, December 1, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Are You Ready for Trust?
Rev Alan Claassen
Psalm 37:1-9 Matthew 25:14-30
November 16, 2008
Last week-end we were blessed with a special guest. Ron Buford was here on Sunday morning to deliver a sermon that would inspire us, motivate us, and consecrate us, Ron Buford was here to help us to see that we have been entrusted with a unique ministry and mission as members and friends of First Congregational Church, Murphys, United Church
of Christ.
Where would you go if this church wasn’t here?
That was a question Ron asked us.
Where would go if this church wasn’t here?
And you know that this church, this community that welcomes you whoever and wherever you are on life’s journey, is here. Ron asked us to think about the people who do not know we are here.
Ron told us about his church in Cleveland that grew from 50 to 500 in ten years living and preaching the all-inclusive United Church of Christ’ message of unconditional love for everyone. He said that people who were new to the church all said the same thing. It was the same thing that people coming into UCC churches all over the country are saying.
I didn’t know a church like this existed.
Do people in Calaveras County, Tuolumne County know that we are here? How are they going to know? Because you invite them.
Each of you has been given a coin of the realm of the kin-dom of God. Are you going to keep it to yourself so it goes no further than you? Will you tell people who are already here how much you receive from this church? Or will you share give your coin of the realm of God’s inclusive away?
Ron asks good questions. Ron was here in worship on Sunday morning and he asked us, “Are You Ready for Success?” He also met with members of the Church Council on Saturday evening, and he asked us another question, “Are you ready to grow?” Are you really?
Churches are realizing that they cannot do what they did in the 1950s to provide a meaningful experience to the youth born at the turn of the 21st century. And churches are realizing that the longtime faithful members have wisdom to share and pains that need mending.
Are you ready to grow? Can you imagine what that would like? Can you turn a vague lament for something that is not here, into a clear vision of what you believe could be here?
Are you ready for trust? Are you ready to accept that you have been entrusted, whoever and wherever you are, with the ongoing creation of a community of faith that is based on an open, affirming, inquisitive, supportive, nurturing, Biblically and Scientifically literate understanding of God’s presence all creation?
When God calls to you can you echo back? Amen! Alleluia! Alright! Yes!
When Jesus our Christ calls you can you echo back? Master, where are you going?
And when Jesus says, “Come and see,” “come and see” me through the very events of your life, will you follow?
When the Holy Spirit says, may the goodness that is within you, in this moment, just as you are, whoever and wherever you are, may the goodness that is within you become real, growth in strength, heal the wound, create the next artwork that your life is, will you release yourself into the uplifting power of life?
In and through the very events of your life, as wonderful, confusing, or painful as they are, we are entrusted with one thing, the choice to grow in our relationship with God and neighbor.
Sometimes we grow by adding something new. Sometimes we grow by letting go of something familiar.
Pray enables to trust in God, as much as God already trusts in us.
All we need to do is ask for God’s guidance in the moment at hand and then listen.
God is still speaking.
Listen. And then do something!
Last Thursday at the Men’s Fellowship we watched a new DVD produced in honor or the 50th Anniversary of the United Church of Christ. It was a documentary of an extraordinary week-end when 12 active young adults in the United Church of Christ came together to discuss the future of the church.
There were some very interesting comments, as one would expect from a group of
20-somethings raised to love God and question authority.
One of the young men said, “I am NOT the hope of the UCC. Jesus Christ is the hope for the United Church of Christ.”
Someone else said that she didn’t need “clap-clap, praise music” in order to be engaged in worship. She challenged all people who attend church to ask themselves, “Where are you bored in church? Let’s ALL talk about that.”
One of the core themes of the conversations that occurred over that week-end of young adults was that the church needs to balance social action with spirituality. They saw so many church leaders who looked tired. They saw the need for everyone to be engaged in times of prayer, reflection, study so that we would have the spiritual energy and foundation to do the work we are called to do.
All work and no pray just didn’t cut it for these young adult leaders in the UCC.
I want to share with you two writings by that great novelist, Alice Walker. Both of them have to do with this question of being entrusted with a vision, living our lives in such a way that we show we are worthy of our calling as followers of the teachings of Jesus our Christ. Both of these quotes from Alice Walker, one short, one longer, help us tap into a power greater than ourselves to do the work that will bring ourselves to greatness.
She writes, “What I have noticed in my small world is that if I praise the wild flowers growing on the hill in front of my house, the following year they double in profusion and brilliance. The universe responds. What you ask of it, it gives. I remember I used to dismiss the bumper sticker, “Pray for Peace.” I realize now that I did not understand it, since I did not understand prayer; which I know now to be the active affirmation of our inseparableness from the divine.”
The second one is a letter that was forwarded to me by wife, Betsy, from a friend of hers. There are lots of letters and photographs flying around the Internet these days, not even two weeks after the historic election.
This is an
Open Letter to Barack Obama from Alice Walker
Nov. 5, 2008
Dear Brother Obama,
You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance.
A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white- haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate.
One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.
I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn, actually, not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries, who are ourselves in disguise.
It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led.
A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies.
And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
In Peace and Joy, Alice Walker
As the young adults said to us, we need to find the balance between prayer and action.
Let me close with these words from Ron Buford’s sermon. “We are not just another social club. This is a place of transformation where the Holy and ineffable God and things that are best and worst in each of us intersect. And we are transformed from weakness to strength, from darkness to light, from fear to hope, from hate to love, from limits to boundlessness. It is here, in places like this one, that God takes the boxes of our lives, opens them, and turns them into dance floors.”
This is a time for embracing, trusting that God will show us the steps to turn our mourning into dancing. May God’s love echo through us to all creation! Amen.
Psalm 37:1-9 Matthew 25:14-30
November 16, 2008
Last week-end we were blessed with a special guest. Ron Buford was here on Sunday morning to deliver a sermon that would inspire us, motivate us, and consecrate us, Ron Buford was here to help us to see that we have been entrusted with a unique ministry and mission as members and friends of First Congregational Church, Murphys, United Church
of Christ.
Where would you go if this church wasn’t here?
That was a question Ron asked us.
Where would go if this church wasn’t here?
And you know that this church, this community that welcomes you whoever and wherever you are on life’s journey, is here. Ron asked us to think about the people who do not know we are here.
Ron told us about his church in Cleveland that grew from 50 to 500 in ten years living and preaching the all-inclusive United Church of Christ’ message of unconditional love for everyone. He said that people who were new to the church all said the same thing. It was the same thing that people coming into UCC churches all over the country are saying.
I didn’t know a church like this existed.
Do people in Calaveras County, Tuolumne County know that we are here? How are they going to know? Because you invite them.
Each of you has been given a coin of the realm of the kin-dom of God. Are you going to keep it to yourself so it goes no further than you? Will you tell people who are already here how much you receive from this church? Or will you share give your coin of the realm of God’s inclusive away?
Ron asks good questions. Ron was here in worship on Sunday morning and he asked us, “Are You Ready for Success?” He also met with members of the Church Council on Saturday evening, and he asked us another question, “Are you ready to grow?” Are you really?
Churches are realizing that they cannot do what they did in the 1950s to provide a meaningful experience to the youth born at the turn of the 21st century. And churches are realizing that the longtime faithful members have wisdom to share and pains that need mending.
Are you ready to grow? Can you imagine what that would like? Can you turn a vague lament for something that is not here, into a clear vision of what you believe could be here?
Are you ready for trust? Are you ready to accept that you have been entrusted, whoever and wherever you are, with the ongoing creation of a community of faith that is based on an open, affirming, inquisitive, supportive, nurturing, Biblically and Scientifically literate understanding of God’s presence all creation?
When God calls to you can you echo back? Amen! Alleluia! Alright! Yes!
When Jesus our Christ calls you can you echo back? Master, where are you going?
And when Jesus says, “Come and see,” “come and see” me through the very events of your life, will you follow?
When the Holy Spirit says, may the goodness that is within you, in this moment, just as you are, whoever and wherever you are, may the goodness that is within you become real, growth in strength, heal the wound, create the next artwork that your life is, will you release yourself into the uplifting power of life?
In and through the very events of your life, as wonderful, confusing, or painful as they are, we are entrusted with one thing, the choice to grow in our relationship with God and neighbor.
Sometimes we grow by adding something new. Sometimes we grow by letting go of something familiar.
Pray enables to trust in God, as much as God already trusts in us.
All we need to do is ask for God’s guidance in the moment at hand and then listen.
God is still speaking.
Listen. And then do something!
Last Thursday at the Men’s Fellowship we watched a new DVD produced in honor or the 50th Anniversary of the United Church of Christ. It was a documentary of an extraordinary week-end when 12 active young adults in the United Church of Christ came together to discuss the future of the church.
There were some very interesting comments, as one would expect from a group of
20-somethings raised to love God and question authority.
One of the young men said, “I am NOT the hope of the UCC. Jesus Christ is the hope for the United Church of Christ.”
Someone else said that she didn’t need “clap-clap, praise music” in order to be engaged in worship. She challenged all people who attend church to ask themselves, “Where are you bored in church? Let’s ALL talk about that.”
One of the core themes of the conversations that occurred over that week-end of young adults was that the church needs to balance social action with spirituality. They saw so many church leaders who looked tired. They saw the need for everyone to be engaged in times of prayer, reflection, study so that we would have the spiritual energy and foundation to do the work we are called to do.
All work and no pray just didn’t cut it for these young adult leaders in the UCC.
I want to share with you two writings by that great novelist, Alice Walker. Both of them have to do with this question of being entrusted with a vision, living our lives in such a way that we show we are worthy of our calling as followers of the teachings of Jesus our Christ. Both of these quotes from Alice Walker, one short, one longer, help us tap into a power greater than ourselves to do the work that will bring ourselves to greatness.
She writes, “What I have noticed in my small world is that if I praise the wild flowers growing on the hill in front of my house, the following year they double in profusion and brilliance. The universe responds. What you ask of it, it gives. I remember I used to dismiss the bumper sticker, “Pray for Peace.” I realize now that I did not understand it, since I did not understand prayer; which I know now to be the active affirmation of our inseparableness from the divine.”
The second one is a letter that was forwarded to me by wife, Betsy, from a friend of hers. There are lots of letters and photographs flying around the Internet these days, not even two weeks after the historic election.
This is an
Open Letter to Barack Obama from Alice Walker
Nov. 5, 2008
Dear Brother Obama,
You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance.
A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white- haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate.
One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.
I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn, actually, not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries, who are ourselves in disguise.
It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led.
A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies.
And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
In Peace and Joy, Alice Walker
As the young adults said to us, we need to find the balance between prayer and action.
Let me close with these words from Ron Buford’s sermon. “We are not just another social club. This is a place of transformation where the Holy and ineffable God and things that are best and worst in each of us intersect. And we are transformed from weakness to strength, from darkness to light, from fear to hope, from hate to love, from limits to boundlessness. It is here, in places like this one, that God takes the boxes of our lives, opens them, and turns them into dance floors.”
This is a time for embracing, trusting that God will show us the steps to turn our mourning into dancing. May God’s love echo through us to all creation! Amen.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Are You Ready for a Blessing?
Are You Ready for A Blessing
Matthew 5: 1-12
Rev. Alan Claassen
November 2, 2008
Last Sunday, we reflected together on the response that Jesus gave to the question,
“Which commandment is greatest of them all?” Jesus responded by saying, ‘love God with everything that you’ve got and love your neighbor as yourself.”
As I thought about this response over the course of the last week, it seemed to me that to love God with everything that I’ve got, and to love my neighbor as I love myself, is to begin a conversation with God. In each moment, in each decision I have to make, in each observation, judgment, response I have for another person; in each moment where self-reflection comes into play, I can ask, “I am I giving all my heart, all my mind, all my strength and spirit to this moment?”
And rather than this being an overwhelming idea, it seemed to me that something is going on in that moment when we ask that question, have that conversation with God. It is to receive a moment of blessing, an awareness, a gift that God is also in that moment of self-reflection. When we engage God as a partner God is giving with a whole heart, whole awareness, whole strength, and wholly spirit.
There is in that moment of seeing ourselves as a reflection of God, that God sees God’s nature reflected in us.
It may be hard for us to imagine this. But that is exactly why we come to worship God, hear the Scriptures, sing the hymns, share our prayers, and receive communion together. Jesus knew completely what it is like to have an ongoing conversation with God and he shared that conversation, with his disciples. Jesus knew this presence of God so completely that he could see the improbable gift of blessing moments where we would think that we are down, out, cursed, forgotten, or given a challenge that is beyond our strength.
When we engage our whole lives in conversation with God, we bring a source of strength, insight, compassion, and courage into our lives. What would that sound like?
Matthew 5, verses 1-12. The opening words of the Sermon on the Mount as told in the Gospel of Matthew.
You have heard two readings of this passage already this morning. First in our call to worship and then from our morning scripture reading.
I would like to give us all another moment to immerse ourselves in these words from a holy conversation from Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible. His use of contemporary language and his own study of the meaning of the text can sometimes open provide us with new insights into Scripture.
“When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”
This is what can come of a sacred conversation with God, where we bring all of who we are, whoever and wherever we are, and listen to God who is still speaking, still loving, who is still creating this Universe.
Several years ago I heard a Fred Craddock, a preacher’s preacher, reflect on these passages, these Beatitudes. I remember that he observed that the blessings didn’t come at the end of sermon. The blessings didn’t come as a result of the hard work and discipline and service of the people. The blessings did not come as a reward for holiness. They were freely given.
He also observed that they didn’t fit our normal idea of when blessings should come to us. The people are told that they receive a blessing when they realize their need of God, when they are at the end of their rope, when they have lost someone or something that is precious to them, when they are called to speak a word that may bring them criticism from their community.
In moments of struggle, when we are faced with a moment of decision and response that calls for self-reflection,
and we turn it into a moment of God-reflection by asking, “Am I giving all my heart, mind, strength, and spirit to this moment?,
God responds with a blessing, “Be not afraid. I am with you always.”
What is God beginning in you now, through poverty, simplicity, loss, challenge, persecution, …
What is new in you in this moment?
Is there something that you need to let go of in order to receive the blessing of this moment where God is beginning something new?
Is the sacred conversation that is born out of self-reflection in a time of struggle going to reveal something new being born?
What is the meaning of resurrection for us at this time?
In you, individually.
In us, as a church?
In us, as a nation, as global citizens,
In us, as one species in an amazingly diverse and intricately woven creation of God?
Each of us has our own ongoing sacred conversation with God. We also have an ongoing conversation going on in this nation with the upcoming election. And we also have an ongoing conversation with the planet as the result of the economic meltdown that is taking place. The blessing in this moment, when it all seems to be falling down, is that we may be able to see the policies and practices of governments, financial institutions, and individuals caused that caused this crisis. And we may also be able to see that we have an opportunity to rebuild this nation based upon sustainable and environmentally conscience policies that will help us address the crisis of global warming which have avoided for so long.
Whether we are looking at our lives as individuals, or as a community, we can be engaged in a conversation with God that enables us to see where we move whole-heartedly.
A few weeks ago I summarized the message of the bible with three words, gratitude, humility and compassion. I think that I can summarize the beatitudes by saying
Blessed are those who know that they need God.
Blessed are those who know that our lives are the work of two wills, not one; God’s will and ours.
When we are engaged in an ongoing conversation with God, may we always be ready to listen for a blessing. And then be a blessing to others.
Let the people say:
Amen
Matthew 5: 1-12
Rev. Alan Claassen
November 2, 2008
Last Sunday, we reflected together on the response that Jesus gave to the question,
“Which commandment is greatest of them all?” Jesus responded by saying, ‘love God with everything that you’ve got and love your neighbor as yourself.”
As I thought about this response over the course of the last week, it seemed to me that to love God with everything that I’ve got, and to love my neighbor as I love myself, is to begin a conversation with God. In each moment, in each decision I have to make, in each observation, judgment, response I have for another person; in each moment where self-reflection comes into play, I can ask, “I am I giving all my heart, all my mind, all my strength and spirit to this moment?”
And rather than this being an overwhelming idea, it seemed to me that something is going on in that moment when we ask that question, have that conversation with God. It is to receive a moment of blessing, an awareness, a gift that God is also in that moment of self-reflection. When we engage God as a partner God is giving with a whole heart, whole awareness, whole strength, and wholly spirit.
There is in that moment of seeing ourselves as a reflection of God, that God sees God’s nature reflected in us.
It may be hard for us to imagine this. But that is exactly why we come to worship God, hear the Scriptures, sing the hymns, share our prayers, and receive communion together. Jesus knew completely what it is like to have an ongoing conversation with God and he shared that conversation, with his disciples. Jesus knew this presence of God so completely that he could see the improbable gift of blessing moments where we would think that we are down, out, cursed, forgotten, or given a challenge that is beyond our strength.
When we engage our whole lives in conversation with God, we bring a source of strength, insight, compassion, and courage into our lives. What would that sound like?
Matthew 5, verses 1-12. The opening words of the Sermon on the Mount as told in the Gospel of Matthew.
You have heard two readings of this passage already this morning. First in our call to worship and then from our morning scripture reading.
I would like to give us all another moment to immerse ourselves in these words from a holy conversation from Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible. His use of contemporary language and his own study of the meaning of the text can sometimes open provide us with new insights into Scripture.
“When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”
This is what can come of a sacred conversation with God, where we bring all of who we are, whoever and wherever we are, and listen to God who is still speaking, still loving, who is still creating this Universe.
Several years ago I heard a Fred Craddock, a preacher’s preacher, reflect on these passages, these Beatitudes. I remember that he observed that the blessings didn’t come at the end of sermon. The blessings didn’t come as a result of the hard work and discipline and service of the people. The blessings did not come as a reward for holiness. They were freely given.
He also observed that they didn’t fit our normal idea of when blessings should come to us. The people are told that they receive a blessing when they realize their need of God, when they are at the end of their rope, when they have lost someone or something that is precious to them, when they are called to speak a word that may bring them criticism from their community.
In moments of struggle, when we are faced with a moment of decision and response that calls for self-reflection,
and we turn it into a moment of God-reflection by asking, “Am I giving all my heart, mind, strength, and spirit to this moment?,
God responds with a blessing, “Be not afraid. I am with you always.”
What is God beginning in you now, through poverty, simplicity, loss, challenge, persecution, …
What is new in you in this moment?
Is there something that you need to let go of in order to receive the blessing of this moment where God is beginning something new?
Is the sacred conversation that is born out of self-reflection in a time of struggle going to reveal something new being born?
What is the meaning of resurrection for us at this time?
In you, individually.
In us, as a church?
In us, as a nation, as global citizens,
In us, as one species in an amazingly diverse and intricately woven creation of God?
Each of us has our own ongoing sacred conversation with God. We also have an ongoing conversation going on in this nation with the upcoming election. And we also have an ongoing conversation with the planet as the result of the economic meltdown that is taking place. The blessing in this moment, when it all seems to be falling down, is that we may be able to see the policies and practices of governments, financial institutions, and individuals caused that caused this crisis. And we may also be able to see that we have an opportunity to rebuild this nation based upon sustainable and environmentally conscience policies that will help us address the crisis of global warming which have avoided for so long.
Whether we are looking at our lives as individuals, or as a community, we can be engaged in a conversation with God that enables us to see where we move whole-heartedly.
A few weeks ago I summarized the message of the bible with three words, gratitude, humility and compassion. I think that I can summarize the beatitudes by saying
Blessed are those who know that they need God.
Blessed are those who know that our lives are the work of two wills, not one; God’s will and ours.
When we are engaged in an ongoing conversation with God, may we always be ready to listen for a blessing. And then be a blessing to others.
Let the people say:
Amen
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Be the Message
October 26, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Matthew 22:34-40
The scribe asked Jesus, "Which commandment is the first of all?"
Unlike the Pharisees whom we discussed last week, who tried to trick Jesus with the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?”
there is no indication that the scribe in this week’s reading was trying to trap Jesus.
In their deep affection for the law, the scribes continually examined it from all sides as a jeweler would examine the facets of a precious diamond, always hoping to discover a treasure.
Working with 613 commandments, they would sometimes focus on one, dividing it into scores of rules tailored to particular situations. Coming from the other direction, they would try to summarize the whole of the law in one commandment or verse.
Thus Micah says, "…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).
Rabbi Hillel, asked to summarize the law while standing on one leg, had responded, "What you don’t want done to you, don’t do to your neighbor.
The Scribe is asking Jesus, the Rabbi, looking over all 613 commandments, which is most important?
Jesus replies, Love God with everything you have got. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This summarizes all the law and all the prophets.
The Greek word that is used in the Bible for love in this commandment is agape. It is love of all creation. It is love for humanity. It is love that goes beyond partnership and family. And it is more than affection or positive feelings.
When Jesus says that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, he is telling us to love God with all that we are and to demonstrate that love, make it real, act on it.
Jesus is also challenging us to love God with the gifts and opportunities that are uniquely ours.
Members of this church recently received a letter for this year’s Stewardship Campaign. Besides for the card that asks you to make a financial commitment to the church, there was also a Time and Talent form, that lists tasks in the church that are an opportunity for you love God with the gifts that are yours uniquely.
I am so excited with the new members who have joined the church today, and those who will be joining soon. They are new neighbors who have just moved into the neighborhood. They have seen something in this neighborhood that makes them feel at home, something that makes them feel loved, accepted, welcomed as they are and called to become something new.
These new neighbors, just by being here, just by being who they are, are going to shake up the neighborhood with their gifts. Evidence of this can be seen in the current make-up of the Stewardship Board which includes three new members and, who in concert with the other members have put together a creative Consecrating Stewardship Campaign. Who would have thought a Stewardship Board could be a place of creativity and enthusiasm?
And you, the current members of this church, are going to shake up the new members with your gifts that are a part of a 144 year old history that has made this a unique congregation in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
There’s going to be a whole lot of shaking going on.
And what a blessing, what an opening of a new way of seeing our lives if we consider that this is God’s love echoing through us to all creation.
What I first came here, just over a year ago, I asked the question, “What in God’s name is going on here at First Congregational Church, Murphys, United Church of Christ.
There’s a whole lot of shaking going on.
Christ calls us to keep our balance with all this shaking going on with these two great commandments; love God with all that you are, and love your neighbor as yourself
The person who loves God but does not love neighbor is gravely deficient. In fact, the First Letter of John tell us that "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also" (1 John 4:20-21).
That is very tough language, given the difficulties that many of us have with particular family members or church members. Jesus expands the requirement by his definition of neighbor in the parable of the Good Samaritan. For Jewish people, living at the time of Jesus, there was no such thing as a good Samaritan and certainly no one was expected to love them. Except for the ones, like Jesus, who remember and believe as it says in Genesis 1:27, “Humankind was created as God’s reflection: in the divine image God created them;…”
Love for neighbor can fall into sentimentalism or selective love, unless it is grounded in love for God. Love of God is the first commandment, not the second. Love of God is the foundation upon which all the other commandments depend.
The United Church of Christ is a denomination where the tents of hope are wide, the table of extravagant welcome is long, and the invitation to partnership is extended to all people. We don’t decide who is neighbor and who is not. God’s love echoes through us to all creation includes all people regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, political party, or how we vote in the upcoming election.
When the election is over we will need to quickly set aside ideas of winners and losers, we will need to remember that we are Christians, Americans, global citizens, in a word, neighbors.
It isn’t easy. That’s why the first commandment is to love God.
Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman-philosopher, says, "It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor." In other words, it is easier to love the world than to love the guy next door. It is easier to love our neighbors in theory than it is in practice.
We are called to Be the message. Love God with all you’ve got. Love neighbor as you would love yourself.
G.K. Chesterton put it this way: "The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are the same people." Loving neighbors can be difficult, but loving neighbors can also be very powerful. Love changes lives.
We are called to Be the message. Love God with all you’ve got. Love neighbor as you would love yourself.
Mother Teresa said, "Prayer in action is love. Love in action is service." Love is not a concept or a peaceful easy feeling. Love is a decision, it is a commitment born of a vision, baptized by the holy Spirit to a lifetime of learning to grow in compassion.
In our offerings of time, talents, and treasure we unite our commitment, our vision and our love for this dwelling place of God.
Let me share a story with you about love in action. It’s a simple one.
I saw a story on Bill Moyers Journal on Friday evening. Filmmaker and music lover was walking down his hometown Santa Monica beach one day when he heard a street musician playing, Stand By Me. He was stopped in his tracks. He listened until the song was done and march Johnson asked the musician if he would mind being recorded and filmed performing that song. The musician said that would be fine.
That began a project of Marc Johnson taking that film and recording around the world to street musicians who added their harmonies, the instruments, their images to this film. Stand By Me, went walking all around the world, including to the poorest section of South Africa. When the local musicians came out to play, women and children came out of their homes, and out of their despair and began dancing, and singing. Stand By Me.
Marc talked with these people in this village and his heart went out to them. He asked a local bass player, “What do you need?” The man said, “We need a music school so our children can learn to play the music.”
Proceeds from the film that will include other songs than Stand By Me will go to the creation of schools of music all around the world. Playing for Change will change communities. Loving God, with all your heart, strength, mind and spirit will change communities. Loving your neighbor as yourself will change, YOU.
Thomas Merton wrote, “We do not exist for ourselves (as the center of the universe), and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others. What do I mean by loving others properly? I mean, first of all, desiring to live, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give others.
Remember your baptism, your rebirth in the Spirit of the Living God.
Remember that we were wonderfully made in the God’s reflection.
Let our actions been a sign in the neighborhood that love makes a family, mutual respect makes a family, and forgiveness makes a family.
Be the message. Love God, love neighbor, love yourself.
Let the messengers say.
Amen
Rev. Alan Claassen
Matthew 22:34-40
The scribe asked Jesus, "Which commandment is the first of all?"
Unlike the Pharisees whom we discussed last week, who tried to trick Jesus with the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?”
there is no indication that the scribe in this week’s reading was trying to trap Jesus.
In their deep affection for the law, the scribes continually examined it from all sides as a jeweler would examine the facets of a precious diamond, always hoping to discover a treasure.
Working with 613 commandments, they would sometimes focus on one, dividing it into scores of rules tailored to particular situations. Coming from the other direction, they would try to summarize the whole of the law in one commandment or verse.
Thus Micah says, "…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).
Rabbi Hillel, asked to summarize the law while standing on one leg, had responded, "What you don’t want done to you, don’t do to your neighbor.
The Scribe is asking Jesus, the Rabbi, looking over all 613 commandments, which is most important?
Jesus replies, Love God with everything you have got. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This summarizes all the law and all the prophets.
The Greek word that is used in the Bible for love in this commandment is agape. It is love of all creation. It is love for humanity. It is love that goes beyond partnership and family. And it is more than affection or positive feelings.
When Jesus says that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, he is telling us to love God with all that we are and to demonstrate that love, make it real, act on it.
Jesus is also challenging us to love God with the gifts and opportunities that are uniquely ours.
Members of this church recently received a letter for this year’s Stewardship Campaign. Besides for the card that asks you to make a financial commitment to the church, there was also a Time and Talent form, that lists tasks in the church that are an opportunity for you love God with the gifts that are yours uniquely.
I am so excited with the new members who have joined the church today, and those who will be joining soon. They are new neighbors who have just moved into the neighborhood. They have seen something in this neighborhood that makes them feel at home, something that makes them feel loved, accepted, welcomed as they are and called to become something new.
These new neighbors, just by being here, just by being who they are, are going to shake up the neighborhood with their gifts. Evidence of this can be seen in the current make-up of the Stewardship Board which includes three new members and, who in concert with the other members have put together a creative Consecrating Stewardship Campaign. Who would have thought a Stewardship Board could be a place of creativity and enthusiasm?
And you, the current members of this church, are going to shake up the new members with your gifts that are a part of a 144 year old history that has made this a unique congregation in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
There’s going to be a whole lot of shaking going on.
And what a blessing, what an opening of a new way of seeing our lives if we consider that this is God’s love echoing through us to all creation.
What I first came here, just over a year ago, I asked the question, “What in God’s name is going on here at First Congregational Church, Murphys, United Church of Christ.
There’s a whole lot of shaking going on.
Christ calls us to keep our balance with all this shaking going on with these two great commandments; love God with all that you are, and love your neighbor as yourself
The person who loves God but does not love neighbor is gravely deficient. In fact, the First Letter of John tell us that "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also" (1 John 4:20-21).
That is very tough language, given the difficulties that many of us have with particular family members or church members. Jesus expands the requirement by his definition of neighbor in the parable of the Good Samaritan. For Jewish people, living at the time of Jesus, there was no such thing as a good Samaritan and certainly no one was expected to love them. Except for the ones, like Jesus, who remember and believe as it says in Genesis 1:27, “Humankind was created as God’s reflection: in the divine image God created them;…”
Love for neighbor can fall into sentimentalism or selective love, unless it is grounded in love for God. Love of God is the first commandment, not the second. Love of God is the foundation upon which all the other commandments depend.
The United Church of Christ is a denomination where the tents of hope are wide, the table of extravagant welcome is long, and the invitation to partnership is extended to all people. We don’t decide who is neighbor and who is not. God’s love echoes through us to all creation includes all people regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, political party, or how we vote in the upcoming election.
When the election is over we will need to quickly set aside ideas of winners and losers, we will need to remember that we are Christians, Americans, global citizens, in a word, neighbors.
It isn’t easy. That’s why the first commandment is to love God.
Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman-philosopher, says, "It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor." In other words, it is easier to love the world than to love the guy next door. It is easier to love our neighbors in theory than it is in practice.
We are called to Be the message. Love God with all you’ve got. Love neighbor as you would love yourself.
G.K. Chesterton put it this way: "The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are the same people." Loving neighbors can be difficult, but loving neighbors can also be very powerful. Love changes lives.
We are called to Be the message. Love God with all you’ve got. Love neighbor as you would love yourself.
Mother Teresa said, "Prayer in action is love. Love in action is service." Love is not a concept or a peaceful easy feeling. Love is a decision, it is a commitment born of a vision, baptized by the holy Spirit to a lifetime of learning to grow in compassion.
In our offerings of time, talents, and treasure we unite our commitment, our vision and our love for this dwelling place of God.
Let me share a story with you about love in action. It’s a simple one.
I saw a story on Bill Moyers Journal on Friday evening. Filmmaker and music lover was walking down his hometown Santa Monica beach one day when he heard a street musician playing, Stand By Me. He was stopped in his tracks. He listened until the song was done and march Johnson asked the musician if he would mind being recorded and filmed performing that song. The musician said that would be fine.
That began a project of Marc Johnson taking that film and recording around the world to street musicians who added their harmonies, the instruments, their images to this film. Stand By Me, went walking all around the world, including to the poorest section of South Africa. When the local musicians came out to play, women and children came out of their homes, and out of their despair and began dancing, and singing. Stand By Me.
Marc talked with these people in this village and his heart went out to them. He asked a local bass player, “What do you need?” The man said, “We need a music school so our children can learn to play the music.”
Proceeds from the film that will include other songs than Stand By Me will go to the creation of schools of music all around the world. Playing for Change will change communities. Loving God, with all your heart, strength, mind and spirit will change communities. Loving your neighbor as yourself will change, YOU.
Thomas Merton wrote, “We do not exist for ourselves (as the center of the universe), and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others. What do I mean by loving others properly? I mean, first of all, desiring to live, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give others.
Remember your baptism, your rebirth in the Spirit of the Living God.
Remember that we were wonderfully made in the God’s reflection.
Let our actions been a sign in the neighborhood that love makes a family, mutual respect makes a family, and forgiveness makes a family.
Be the message. Love God, love neighbor, love yourself.
Let the messengers say.
Amen
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Live The Message
Live The Message
Exodus 33:12-23 Matthew 22:15-22
October 19, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Jesus had a way of seeing things that was different from most of us.
He could look at a mustard seed and see the kin-dom of God.
He could look at lilies of the field and see an example of trusting in God.
He could look at his own disciples’ fears of not having enough and in five loaves of bread, two fish, and a prayer to God Jesus could make a way to feed a multitude.
He could look at a man ignored on the side of the road because of his blindness and Jesus could see that man back into sight and back into his community.
And in the passage that was read this morning from the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus could see a trick question. More than this he could see the false choices that the religious and political leaders were presenting to him and to all the people.
The choice between Caesar and God is a false choice. Just as it false to believe that we have to choose between jobs and the environment. Just as it false to say that we have to choose between prisons or more schools. Just as it false that have to choose between responsible fiscal management and making a profit. Just as it is a false choice that have to choose to allow our nation to be a leader among industrialized nations in selling weapons but way behind the pack when it comes to investing in our children’s future through education or health care.
Jesus was able to see the false choice because of his deep love and commitment to God. And it is good to remember that this love was informed by the knowledge that Jesus had of his tradition, which included the prophets: Amos, Jeremiah, and Isaiah.
Quoting Jim Wallis, in his book, The Soul of Politics, “The biblical prophets encourage us to be suspicious of concentrations of wealth and power; to mistrust ideological rationales that justify subordinating people to causes; and especially to become sensitive to the poor, the disenfranchised, the stranger, and the outsider.” (pg 38-40)
Jesus knew what the prophets taught and so he turned the trick question into an opportunity to see what is most fundamental in life, what has the deepest source of strength, and what is most needed by people to realize their intimate connection with one another and all God’s creation.
The question put to Jesus by the religious and political authorities was, “Rabbi, teacher, we know that you’re honest and teach God’s way sincerely. You court no one’s favor and don’t act out of respect for important people. Give us your opinion, then, in this case, “Is it lawful to pay tax to the Roman Emperor Caesar, or not?”
It is important to see the set-up in the question, when those who posed the question were trying to butter up Jesus. They were setting up a false choice in question. They implied, that to give all one’s attention to God means that we shouldn’t care the affairs of humanity. And this was very important -- as the setting of the story – the country in which Jesus was living—was an occupied territory. Rome was the occupier and the Jewish religion was only allowed to continue it practices if it kept itself within the confines of the temple. Don’t mix religion and politics. It’s alright if you feed the poor, Jesus, but don’t start asking any questions about the conditions of a society that creates poverty in the first place.
But this was a false choice for Jesus because he knew, from the prophets, that love of God and love of neighbor are not able to separated and that even kings are accountable to law of the Covenant.
And so Jesus, replied to the question, in his kind, sweet, don’t want to upset anyone manner, saying,
“You hypocrites.”
Even when we allow Jesus to vent a little frustration by calling the hypocrites out for what they are, he does still love and he still works for their transformation by posing a question. “Whose face is on the coin you use to pay taxes?”
They look and see Caesar’s face and Jesus says, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s.”
And those of the trick question, those trapped within the realm of false choices walked away amazed. Maybe the seed of transformation was placed within them. Maybe one of them later showed up at a house church meeting of the followers of Jesus, seeking to remember to call of the Covenant.
Whose face is on the coin we use to pay our taxes? I am thinking of the faces of former Presidents who are on the face of our coins and I wish instead that there were a child’s face on those coins. Or a mother’s face. Or the face of student who attends a school of 1200 students in a building designed for 800.
Whose face is on the coin when we decide where to spend it, give it, invest it, share it?
Remembering the call of the Covenant where do we as a nation choose to place our coins? Jim Wallis, the author of The Soul of Politics, which I quoted earlier, said that our country is in need of a spiritual renewal that is based on social justice, compassion, and community.
I remember the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “All that evil requires to prosper is that good men and women do nothing.”
I remember our own United Church of Christ, which sponsored a nationwide conference a few years ago on Freedom of Conscience and the rise of the Religious Right.
One of the papers that came out of that Conference says, “ When political power is exercised in the cause of love, care, and compassion, it deserves our respect and support, not cynical indifference. When political power is not used toward these aims it is the church’s calling to hold accountable those who would use power and authority for selfish ends, to do violence, and to divide human communities.”
(Freedom of Conscience and the Radical Religious Right
Office for Church and Society, Board of Homeland Ministries)
This Sunday is a special day in many churches and faith communities. This day is being celebrated around the country as Children’s Sabbath Day. This is a day for faith communities to take a good look at how we are caring for our children and grandchildren.
It is a day for us to lift up the historical values of health care and public education that our church so vigorously supported, as we were a part of the building of this nation.
And so I remember the words and work of Marian Wright Edelman, Director of the Children’s Defense Fund. It was her organization that first created the Vision Statement, “Leave No Child Behind.” For Marian Wright Edelman this is more than a slogan, it is a call to put our coins in the places where the need is greatest for the health and well-being of our nation’s children.
She writes:
“We must convey in earnest the importance of participating in the civic life of the community, state, and nation. Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Indeed, the religious community must lead the way in taking a stand for children to bring their needs before the conscience of the nation.
We have come to a moral crossroads in our nation, one at which we have to decide whether or not to stand up for children. Will we take the path of least resistance, or selfish indifference, or the road less traveled?
As Christians we called to be relentless in our pursuit of social justice, resolute in our efforts, and renewed in our spirits.
We must live by the Word and keep walking down the road to justice. So use your walking stick, your wheelchair, or your own two feet to stand for children and keep moving on down that road.”
Living the Word, the Message means wanting and working for the same thing that Jesus wanted and worked for—a universal community of peace, compassion, and justice sustained by the experience of a loving God.
Living the message means making the connection between the love of God and love of neighbor.
Living the message means thinking seriously about where you are going to place your coins.
For me, all things belong to God first of all. Whether I decide to place my coins in the hands of a local grocery store clerk, in paying taxes as a citizen of a great nation, in making a contribution to my church or favorite non-profit organization, I am always first rendering unto God what belongs to God. Every choice is a sacred choice.
We live the message of God’s love and compassion when we vote, when we contribute, when we pay our monthly bills. Everything we have, in time, talent, and treasure comes from God, and we live the message when we consciously choose to give what we have received back to God through healthy, life-giving choices.
Marian Wright Edelman once said, “I may not be able to be a great leader, I may not be able to move mountains, but I can take a stand for children.”
So I encourage everyone to vote. Vote with your coins. Vote with your ballots. Live the message of compassion with the conscious awareness that all of God is in all places. When we quiet our anxieties we can listen and hear music over our heads.
Because there is a God somewhere, right here, right now. Let’s sing the message!
Exodus 33:12-23 Matthew 22:15-22
October 19, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Jesus had a way of seeing things that was different from most of us.
He could look at a mustard seed and see the kin-dom of God.
He could look at lilies of the field and see an example of trusting in God.
He could look at his own disciples’ fears of not having enough and in five loaves of bread, two fish, and a prayer to God Jesus could make a way to feed a multitude.
He could look at a man ignored on the side of the road because of his blindness and Jesus could see that man back into sight and back into his community.
And in the passage that was read this morning from the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus could see a trick question. More than this he could see the false choices that the religious and political leaders were presenting to him and to all the people.
The choice between Caesar and God is a false choice. Just as it false to believe that we have to choose between jobs and the environment. Just as it false to say that we have to choose between prisons or more schools. Just as it false that have to choose between responsible fiscal management and making a profit. Just as it is a false choice that have to choose to allow our nation to be a leader among industrialized nations in selling weapons but way behind the pack when it comes to investing in our children’s future through education or health care.
Jesus was able to see the false choice because of his deep love and commitment to God. And it is good to remember that this love was informed by the knowledge that Jesus had of his tradition, which included the prophets: Amos, Jeremiah, and Isaiah.
Quoting Jim Wallis, in his book, The Soul of Politics, “The biblical prophets encourage us to be suspicious of concentrations of wealth and power; to mistrust ideological rationales that justify subordinating people to causes; and especially to become sensitive to the poor, the disenfranchised, the stranger, and the outsider.” (pg 38-40)
Jesus knew what the prophets taught and so he turned the trick question into an opportunity to see what is most fundamental in life, what has the deepest source of strength, and what is most needed by people to realize their intimate connection with one another and all God’s creation.
The question put to Jesus by the religious and political authorities was, “Rabbi, teacher, we know that you’re honest and teach God’s way sincerely. You court no one’s favor and don’t act out of respect for important people. Give us your opinion, then, in this case, “Is it lawful to pay tax to the Roman Emperor Caesar, or not?”
It is important to see the set-up in the question, when those who posed the question were trying to butter up Jesus. They were setting up a false choice in question. They implied, that to give all one’s attention to God means that we shouldn’t care the affairs of humanity. And this was very important -- as the setting of the story – the country in which Jesus was living—was an occupied territory. Rome was the occupier and the Jewish religion was only allowed to continue it practices if it kept itself within the confines of the temple. Don’t mix religion and politics. It’s alright if you feed the poor, Jesus, but don’t start asking any questions about the conditions of a society that creates poverty in the first place.
But this was a false choice for Jesus because he knew, from the prophets, that love of God and love of neighbor are not able to separated and that even kings are accountable to law of the Covenant.
And so Jesus, replied to the question, in his kind, sweet, don’t want to upset anyone manner, saying,
“You hypocrites.”
Even when we allow Jesus to vent a little frustration by calling the hypocrites out for what they are, he does still love and he still works for their transformation by posing a question. “Whose face is on the coin you use to pay taxes?”
They look and see Caesar’s face and Jesus says, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s.”
And those of the trick question, those trapped within the realm of false choices walked away amazed. Maybe the seed of transformation was placed within them. Maybe one of them later showed up at a house church meeting of the followers of Jesus, seeking to remember to call of the Covenant.
Whose face is on the coin we use to pay our taxes? I am thinking of the faces of former Presidents who are on the face of our coins and I wish instead that there were a child’s face on those coins. Or a mother’s face. Or the face of student who attends a school of 1200 students in a building designed for 800.
Whose face is on the coin when we decide where to spend it, give it, invest it, share it?
Remembering the call of the Covenant where do we as a nation choose to place our coins? Jim Wallis, the author of The Soul of Politics, which I quoted earlier, said that our country is in need of a spiritual renewal that is based on social justice, compassion, and community.
I remember the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “All that evil requires to prosper is that good men and women do nothing.”
I remember our own United Church of Christ, which sponsored a nationwide conference a few years ago on Freedom of Conscience and the rise of the Religious Right.
One of the papers that came out of that Conference says, “ When political power is exercised in the cause of love, care, and compassion, it deserves our respect and support, not cynical indifference. When political power is not used toward these aims it is the church’s calling to hold accountable those who would use power and authority for selfish ends, to do violence, and to divide human communities.”
(Freedom of Conscience and the Radical Religious Right
Office for Church and Society, Board of Homeland Ministries)
This Sunday is a special day in many churches and faith communities. This day is being celebrated around the country as Children’s Sabbath Day. This is a day for faith communities to take a good look at how we are caring for our children and grandchildren.
It is a day for us to lift up the historical values of health care and public education that our church so vigorously supported, as we were a part of the building of this nation.
And so I remember the words and work of Marian Wright Edelman, Director of the Children’s Defense Fund. It was her organization that first created the Vision Statement, “Leave No Child Behind.” For Marian Wright Edelman this is more than a slogan, it is a call to put our coins in the places where the need is greatest for the health and well-being of our nation’s children.
She writes:
“We must convey in earnest the importance of participating in the civic life of the community, state, and nation. Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Indeed, the religious community must lead the way in taking a stand for children to bring their needs before the conscience of the nation.
We have come to a moral crossroads in our nation, one at which we have to decide whether or not to stand up for children. Will we take the path of least resistance, or selfish indifference, or the road less traveled?
As Christians we called to be relentless in our pursuit of social justice, resolute in our efforts, and renewed in our spirits.
We must live by the Word and keep walking down the road to justice. So use your walking stick, your wheelchair, or your own two feet to stand for children and keep moving on down that road.”
Living the Word, the Message means wanting and working for the same thing that Jesus wanted and worked for—a universal community of peace, compassion, and justice sustained by the experience of a loving God.
Living the message means making the connection between the love of God and love of neighbor.
Living the message means thinking seriously about where you are going to place your coins.
For me, all things belong to God first of all. Whether I decide to place my coins in the hands of a local grocery store clerk, in paying taxes as a citizen of a great nation, in making a contribution to my church or favorite non-profit organization, I am always first rendering unto God what belongs to God. Every choice is a sacred choice.
We live the message of God’s love and compassion when we vote, when we contribute, when we pay our monthly bills. Everything we have, in time, talent, and treasure comes from God, and we live the message when we consciously choose to give what we have received back to God through healthy, life-giving choices.
Marian Wright Edelman once said, “I may not be able to be a great leader, I may not be able to move mountains, but I can take a stand for children.”
So I encourage everyone to vote. Vote with your coins. Vote with your ballots. Live the message of compassion with the conscious awareness that all of God is in all places. When we quiet our anxieties we can listen and hear music over our heads.
Because there is a God somewhere, right here, right now. Let’s sing the message!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Let It Begin With Me
Rev. Alan Claassen
Romans 12:9-23 Matthew 16 21-28
September 21, 2008
Children’s message: a story attributed to St. Francis. It was the story a village that was being terrorized by a wolf. St. Francis is said to have struck up a deal with the wolf. The wolf would stop eating the pets and little children of the village if the townspeople would simply leave a bowl of food out on their doorsteps for the wolf to eat each night. St. Francis’ plan worked.
I have another wolf tale for you this morning, called…
The Wolves Within.....
An old grandfather told this story to his grandson who came in to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story,” said the grandfather.
"I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those who have taken so much with no sorrow for what they do; but hate wears you down and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking a poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times."
He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But..... the other wolf...... Ah! The littlest thing will send him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all of the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing."
"Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."
The boy looked intently into his grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"
The grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed."
This morning’s passage from Romans is about choosing which wolf within us we are going to feed. Feed with our thoughts, habits, actions.
This morning’s Gospel passage is about the inherent difficulty that may well arise within our world when we say that we have chosen the path of non-violence, and non-violent resistance. For Jesus himself paid the ultimate sacrifice, giving away his very life, by proclaiming that we should love our enemies and not seek to destroy them.
Which wolf do we feed with our thoughts, habits, and actions?
The one that is good and does no harm, lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended or
... the wolf who fights everyone, all of the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing."
The one we feed is the one who wins.
Paul makes it very clear in Romans which one we are to feed. "Let love be genuine. Bless those who persecute you, repay no one evil for evil, and never avenge yourselves." Nothing could be clearer than what is listed in these verses.
There are those in our world today, in our American religious and political spheres today that claim to people of Christian values. They seemed to have skipped this passage.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. For evil response to evil only creates more evil. It make take years or decades but and violent response to evil brings about more evil.
But that wolf within that is quick to temper, quickly says that non-violence is wimpy, can’t work, and the poor need to find their own way out trouble, they found there own way into it. And we ourselves may read this passage and simply say, out of the kindness of our best hearts, it just can’t be done. It’s too difficult, I may get hurt.
And in a way that is correct. It is too difficult, to do alone. It is impossible if we only have the tools of our “do-it-yourself,” greedy culture. But Paul is speaking from the vantage point of one whose ego is no longer the center of his awareness. Through his mystical vision on the road to Damascus, and the tending of the followers of Christ who baptized him and care for him, Paul became one who spoke with the mind of Christ. The one who taught reconciliation, forgiveness, non-judgment, and non-violence.
Which brings to mind for me the story of a woman that we all know.
We all know Rosa Parks; the African-American woman who participated in the bus boycott organized by a young preacher, Martin Luther King Jr. We all know that Rosa parks refused to go the back of the bus. She refused to participate any longer in the culture of domination that told her and her people that she was inferior.
We all know about Rosa Parks. But do you know what helped Rosa Parks, stay put at the front of the bus? Do you know about the Citizenship Schools founded by Miles Horton?
Well, I didn’t until just a few years ago. Miles Horton was a white man who went to the hills of Tennessee, in a poor rural part of that country near the North Carolina state line.
And he found people who did not know how to participate in their own government. They did not know their rights as citizens of this country. Without education democracy cannot survive. So he taught the people.
He began this work in the 1930s. By the 1950s he was holding classes and workshops where white folks and black folks were study together. Two of his students were,
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.
Rosa Parks gained her self-acceptance and lived the dream of all people living together through her participation in these schools, which included all races studying together. She got to practice the beloved community in this citizenship school and then take it out into the world.
I think that is how the Apostle Paul saw what he was doing in building those first communities that followed the way of Christ. He was trying to create places of safety and support, worship and prayer and service where people could experience a vision of something that they could take out into the world. He was creating communities that fed the better nature of our humanity.
Now we all know that Rosa Parks had to go through a lot of threats and misrepresentation. This is carrying her cross as is said in the reading from the Gospel according to Matthew. Carrying her cross. Not hiding it. Not staring at it. Not running from it. Carrying it. Moving forward. Being pulled forward. Why? Because she belonged to a vision of the beloved community that she had seen with her own eyes. Just as Paul belonged to Christ, the one that helped him see the world with new eyes.
One of the things that I most appreciate from the Romans passage is the verse,
“Hate what is evil, love what is good.” I can be angry but I must temper how I may express my anger. The “wolves within” story said it well, “He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.”
The right way is a very powerful way and it is a way that breaks the cycle of violence without getting rolled over and playing dead. It means speaking out against those who take more than they need at the expense of the poor. It means sometimes getting in trouble for doing the right thing, even to the point of risking security, comfort, and life itself.
There is one other verse in the passage from Romans that I want to lift out before closing this sermon.
“If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.”
So far as it depends upon you.”
I am reminded of a quote from the Dalai Lama.
He said that each one of us should ask ourselves this question,
“What can I do to preserve the beauty and wonder of the world, and,
What can I do to eliminate the anger and hatred in the world,
in that part of the world which I touch?
What can I do to preserve the beauty and eliminate the anger and its root causes
in that part of the world which I touch?
This statement encourages us to ask and to affirm, what can I touch? Not what can’t I touch, but what I can touch? It empowers us into action rather than the despair of being overwhelmed. It asks us to be clear about that which does depend on us. I think it also encourages us to allow ourselves to depend on others sometimes, too.
Our sphere of influence begins right here, and within in our homes, and at the check out stand and coffee shop.
As members of the United Church of Christ our touch reaches around the country and world through the offerings that we give to special offerings such as Neighbors in Need, which is coming up in a few weeks.
Our touch reaches out to families who have no homes as we places our coins in the simple cardboard boxes provided by Habitat for Humanity. And our sense of compassion and call for restraint is awakened when we follow that Habitat for Humanity calendar and see how richly blessed we are.
And in this election year our touch extends all the way to the County Supervisors, Congress and the White House.
What can I do to preserve the beauty and eliminate the anger and its root causes
in that part of the world which I touch?
Today is the International Day of Peace which was founded by the United Nations in 1981. In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.
By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the U.N. Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:
"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."
International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Declare a personal ceasefire with someone, some group, and some candidate in the world that you can touch. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind.
Imagine a world.
In this passage from Romans, Paul has some words of advice for us that will help us feed the good wolf. As Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, “Love from the center of who you are, don’t fake it. Don’t burn out: keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be inventive in hospitality. Surprise your enemies with goodness.”
We are enabled to do this through worship, prayer, study, and service. Don’t try this at home if you are trying it alone. Let God help. Give God something to do, by trusting the incarnation of the Holy Word in Jesus Christ. Let us, explore the possibility, so far as it depends upon us, to live peace, to love genuinely, to hold fast to what is good.
And may both wolves within us, learn how to get along.
Romans 12:9-23 Matthew 16 21-28
September 21, 2008
Children’s message: a story attributed to St. Francis. It was the story a village that was being terrorized by a wolf. St. Francis is said to have struck up a deal with the wolf. The wolf would stop eating the pets and little children of the village if the townspeople would simply leave a bowl of food out on their doorsteps for the wolf to eat each night. St. Francis’ plan worked.
I have another wolf tale for you this morning, called…
The Wolves Within.....
An old grandfather told this story to his grandson who came in to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story,” said the grandfather.
"I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those who have taken so much with no sorrow for what they do; but hate wears you down and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking a poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times."
He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But..... the other wolf...... Ah! The littlest thing will send him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all of the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing."
"Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."
The boy looked intently into his grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"
The grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed."
This morning’s passage from Romans is about choosing which wolf within us we are going to feed. Feed with our thoughts, habits, actions.
This morning’s Gospel passage is about the inherent difficulty that may well arise within our world when we say that we have chosen the path of non-violence, and non-violent resistance. For Jesus himself paid the ultimate sacrifice, giving away his very life, by proclaiming that we should love our enemies and not seek to destroy them.
Which wolf do we feed with our thoughts, habits, and actions?
The one that is good and does no harm, lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended or
... the wolf who fights everyone, all of the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing."
The one we feed is the one who wins.
Paul makes it very clear in Romans which one we are to feed. "Let love be genuine. Bless those who persecute you, repay no one evil for evil, and never avenge yourselves." Nothing could be clearer than what is listed in these verses.
There are those in our world today, in our American religious and political spheres today that claim to people of Christian values. They seemed to have skipped this passage.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. For evil response to evil only creates more evil. It make take years or decades but and violent response to evil brings about more evil.
But that wolf within that is quick to temper, quickly says that non-violence is wimpy, can’t work, and the poor need to find their own way out trouble, they found there own way into it. And we ourselves may read this passage and simply say, out of the kindness of our best hearts, it just can’t be done. It’s too difficult, I may get hurt.
And in a way that is correct. It is too difficult, to do alone. It is impossible if we only have the tools of our “do-it-yourself,” greedy culture. But Paul is speaking from the vantage point of one whose ego is no longer the center of his awareness. Through his mystical vision on the road to Damascus, and the tending of the followers of Christ who baptized him and care for him, Paul became one who spoke with the mind of Christ. The one who taught reconciliation, forgiveness, non-judgment, and non-violence.
Which brings to mind for me the story of a woman that we all know.
We all know Rosa Parks; the African-American woman who participated in the bus boycott organized by a young preacher, Martin Luther King Jr. We all know that Rosa parks refused to go the back of the bus. She refused to participate any longer in the culture of domination that told her and her people that she was inferior.
We all know about Rosa Parks. But do you know what helped Rosa Parks, stay put at the front of the bus? Do you know about the Citizenship Schools founded by Miles Horton?
Well, I didn’t until just a few years ago. Miles Horton was a white man who went to the hills of Tennessee, in a poor rural part of that country near the North Carolina state line.
And he found people who did not know how to participate in their own government. They did not know their rights as citizens of this country. Without education democracy cannot survive. So he taught the people.
He began this work in the 1930s. By the 1950s he was holding classes and workshops where white folks and black folks were study together. Two of his students were,
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks.
Rosa Parks gained her self-acceptance and lived the dream of all people living together through her participation in these schools, which included all races studying together. She got to practice the beloved community in this citizenship school and then take it out into the world.
I think that is how the Apostle Paul saw what he was doing in building those first communities that followed the way of Christ. He was trying to create places of safety and support, worship and prayer and service where people could experience a vision of something that they could take out into the world. He was creating communities that fed the better nature of our humanity.
Now we all know that Rosa Parks had to go through a lot of threats and misrepresentation. This is carrying her cross as is said in the reading from the Gospel according to Matthew. Carrying her cross. Not hiding it. Not staring at it. Not running from it. Carrying it. Moving forward. Being pulled forward. Why? Because she belonged to a vision of the beloved community that she had seen with her own eyes. Just as Paul belonged to Christ, the one that helped him see the world with new eyes.
One of the things that I most appreciate from the Romans passage is the verse,
“Hate what is evil, love what is good.” I can be angry but I must temper how I may express my anger. The “wolves within” story said it well, “He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.”
The right way is a very powerful way and it is a way that breaks the cycle of violence without getting rolled over and playing dead. It means speaking out against those who take more than they need at the expense of the poor. It means sometimes getting in trouble for doing the right thing, even to the point of risking security, comfort, and life itself.
There is one other verse in the passage from Romans that I want to lift out before closing this sermon.
“If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.”
So far as it depends upon you.”
I am reminded of a quote from the Dalai Lama.
He said that each one of us should ask ourselves this question,
“What can I do to preserve the beauty and wonder of the world, and,
What can I do to eliminate the anger and hatred in the world,
in that part of the world which I touch?
What can I do to preserve the beauty and eliminate the anger and its root causes
in that part of the world which I touch?
This statement encourages us to ask and to affirm, what can I touch? Not what can’t I touch, but what I can touch? It empowers us into action rather than the despair of being overwhelmed. It asks us to be clear about that which does depend on us. I think it also encourages us to allow ourselves to depend on others sometimes, too.
Our sphere of influence begins right here, and within in our homes, and at the check out stand and coffee shop.
As members of the United Church of Christ our touch reaches around the country and world through the offerings that we give to special offerings such as Neighbors in Need, which is coming up in a few weeks.
Our touch reaches out to families who have no homes as we places our coins in the simple cardboard boxes provided by Habitat for Humanity. And our sense of compassion and call for restraint is awakened when we follow that Habitat for Humanity calendar and see how richly blessed we are.
And in this election year our touch extends all the way to the County Supervisors, Congress and the White House.
What can I do to preserve the beauty and eliminate the anger and its root causes
in that part of the world which I touch?
Today is the International Day of Peace which was founded by the United Nations in 1981. In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.
By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the U.N. Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:
"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."
International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Declare a personal ceasefire with someone, some group, and some candidate in the world that you can touch. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind.
Imagine a world.
In this passage from Romans, Paul has some words of advice for us that will help us feed the good wolf. As Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, “Love from the center of who you are, don’t fake it. Don’t burn out: keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be inventive in hospitality. Surprise your enemies with goodness.”
We are enabled to do this through worship, prayer, study, and service. Don’t try this at home if you are trying it alone. Let God help. Give God something to do, by trusting the incarnation of the Holy Word in Jesus Christ. Let us, explore the possibility, so far as it depends upon us, to live peace, to love genuinely, to hold fast to what is good.
And may both wolves within us, learn how to get along.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Love First
Love First
Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:15-22
September 14, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Before I forget, and before I get started on this morning’s sermon, I want to ask you all to do me a favor. Don’t recycle this morning’s bulletin. And don’t throw it away. I am asking you to take it home and look up and read the two Bible passages for this morning.
And don’t just read them once. Read them once a day.
And don’t just read them. Practice. See the events of the week through the lens of these words. And maybe find yourself thinking at some given moment, in the choices you make in your relationships with others, with yourself, and with God, here is a moment where you can practice some wisdom, some truth, some value that you have found for yourself in the words, in the Spirit, of these scriptures.
I am making this request for two reasons.
1) I can’t say all that I want to say about these two passages.
2) My life will be better if you practice the wisdom that is in these scriptures. Your life will be too. In fact the life of the entire community of this church, this town, this county, this nation, this earth and this heaven, will be better if we follow the better way to live that these two passages reveal to us.
And I promise that I will do you the same favor of living into these passages as best as I can also.
What is in this morning’s scripture?
What did you hear when they were read?
Allow me to tell you the little that I can about what I hear.
Last Saturday 26 of us gathered for the Annual Planning Retreat. As I was preparing for the day,
reading over the statements that many of you wrote during worship on the last two Sundays in August
in response to the questions, “What do you love about this church?” and
“What goals would you like to see discussed at the retreat?”…
an simple song, a chant came to my mind. It was one of the first songs I learned when I first entered the Pacific School of Religion.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Christ takes form in the midst of the world.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Alleluia.
Christ takes form in a band, of persons. And so we sang that song to get the day started on the track of listening to one another.
We shared what we love about this church:
reminds me, prods me, encourages me to think and act in Christian love;
people are inspired with the spirit of service
our extravagant welcome
in the midst of people who may differ we are one in God’s love.
We took some time to try to create a Vision Statement for this church that wrap all that we do in less than 10 words. That is still a work in progress for the Vitality Team, but one statement that came from that exercise that I remember was simply, “Respond to God’s love!”
Then we got together in groups of threes and more to share what goals we see for the church in the year ahead that match watch we love about this church now with the vision that we have for this church.
The statements that were written by you in worship included:
increase active membership
get the message of love and acceptance out to our neighbors
be reconcilers in the community, local and global
develop study of our faith and how our faith can relate to the changing world
show why it is important to become open and affirming
Then we had lunch and we remembered something we love about this church, we have great cooks among us!
After lunch we broke out into four groups, each with the three goals we had agreed were the ones to focus on for the year ahead and come up with objectives that would realize those goals.
On a bookshelf in Fellowship Hall you will find a summary of the goals and the objectives that were the result of a band of persons searching for Christ’s form among us. We ended the day by forming a circle and answering a different kind of a question, which was, “Where did you see God in something that you saw or shared today?’
What I remember most vividly from that time of sharing was that people saw God in being able to speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
The sharing of what we love, the crafting of a vision statement, the lifting up of goals and objectives, were important, but if Christ is going to take form in a band, of persons, we need to have a community where we can speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
Which brings me to the importance of why this morning’s scripture readings are so important, and why they will make my life easier, your life easier, the church’s life easier, if we take these words to heart and put them in the soles of our shoes. In other words, walk the talk.
Paul, as a result of his mystical vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, was given, what he called “the mind of Christ.” And his task as a missionary around the eastern side of the Mediterranean was to create communities, churches, that took on the mind of Christ. For Paul this did not mean that everyone thought the same way. Paul called on the people to practice extravagant welcome right from the start.
At the beginning of chapter 14, (The Message)
A person who has been around for awhile might be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat?”
Which reminds of a story that comes from a UCC church in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Pastor Eric Elnes was in conversation with a member of his church one day, and this person, this member of the band, said, “I am tired of saying what we are against, I want to say what we are for.”
So Eric pondered that thought for a few days when all of sudden he had this crazy idea, “Christ takes form”
It was so crazy that he shared it with the church moderator just so he could hear how crazy it was and stop thinking about it. He shared the idea of inviting members of his progressive Christian church to walk with him across the United States, across New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, and all the way to Washington DC telling everyone that they met what they were for, and doing it all in the name of Jesus.
The Moderator said, “Great idea!”
And so 20 people began what was called Crosswalk. And they traveled across America with the central ideas of the United Church of Christ. And they stopped in a churches of all sorts along the way. And they were welcomed and prayed for all along the way.
They came to a town in Hereford, Texas. Big cattle growing country. And they began telling their story about loving Jesus and being open and affirming of all the people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or age, and the people welcomed them into their church and big picnic.
They did have one question, “We don’t care what you think about homosexuality, are any of you vegetarians?”
And even vegetarians were welcome with big salads and beans.
Reading from Paul again,
“God, after all, invited them to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off of God’s guest list or interfering with God’s welcome?”
I want to acknowledge the difficult challenge that is being presented here. I know that I am not talking about something that is easy for any of us to do. I say this because of what comes a few verses later in this chapter.
Paul lays out a very difficult challenge for us, but when we perceive and live its truth, our lives will be easier and our relationships will be based upon trust.
Chapter 14: 13ff (The Message)
“So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways that are inconsistent with what you believe, some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them, then know that you are out of line.”
The challenge for living in Christian community is to find a way of balancing not passing judgment on others, and at the same time, not letting what you think of as a good thing, be spoken of as being evil.”
Which brings to my mind so many of the famous verses written by Paul.
“The good that I want to do, I cannot do, and the things that I don’t want to do, I end up doing.”
And the most familiar of all, the so called love passage from Corinthians 13.
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, and it is not snobbish; it is never rude or self-seeking; it is not prone to anger, not does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices in the truth. There is no end to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.” (The Inclusive Bible)
And this also brings to my mind the vital importance of the passage that we heard from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Peter asks Jesus, how many times must I forgive. Is 7 enough?
Jesus responds by saying, 7 times 70.
To have the mind of Christ is to live a practice of letting go of the need to be in control, the need to be right, the need to be good, and instead move into a way of life that is built upon freely speaking and attentively listening to God, to yourself, to the ones you trust with your life.
The point is to honor God and express our love and devotion to God. Put love first and other things may not loom so large.”
The Vitality Team who designed and led this year’s Planning Retreat will continue to work on a Vision Statement for this church. The Council, Boards. Committees, and Teams will continue to realize that goals that came out of the Planning retreat.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of these goals and objectives in a document on a bookshelf by our library in Fellowship.
And I encourage to take this community building project personally. Because it will make my life so much easier. And yours also.
Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:15-22
September 14, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Before I forget, and before I get started on this morning’s sermon, I want to ask you all to do me a favor. Don’t recycle this morning’s bulletin. And don’t throw it away. I am asking you to take it home and look up and read the two Bible passages for this morning.
And don’t just read them once. Read them once a day.
And don’t just read them. Practice. See the events of the week through the lens of these words. And maybe find yourself thinking at some given moment, in the choices you make in your relationships with others, with yourself, and with God, here is a moment where you can practice some wisdom, some truth, some value that you have found for yourself in the words, in the Spirit, of these scriptures.
I am making this request for two reasons.
1) I can’t say all that I want to say about these two passages.
2) My life will be better if you practice the wisdom that is in these scriptures. Your life will be too. In fact the life of the entire community of this church, this town, this county, this nation, this earth and this heaven, will be better if we follow the better way to live that these two passages reveal to us.
And I promise that I will do you the same favor of living into these passages as best as I can also.
What is in this morning’s scripture?
What did you hear when they were read?
Allow me to tell you the little that I can about what I hear.
Last Saturday 26 of us gathered for the Annual Planning Retreat. As I was preparing for the day,
reading over the statements that many of you wrote during worship on the last two Sundays in August
in response to the questions, “What do you love about this church?” and
“What goals would you like to see discussed at the retreat?”…
an simple song, a chant came to my mind. It was one of the first songs I learned when I first entered the Pacific School of Religion.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Christ takes form in the midst of the world.
Christ takes form in a band of persons, Alleluia.
Christ takes form in a band, of persons. And so we sang that song to get the day started on the track of listening to one another.
We shared what we love about this church:
reminds me, prods me, encourages me to think and act in Christian love;
people are inspired with the spirit of service
our extravagant welcome
in the midst of people who may differ we are one in God’s love.
We took some time to try to create a Vision Statement for this church that wrap all that we do in less than 10 words. That is still a work in progress for the Vitality Team, but one statement that came from that exercise that I remember was simply, “Respond to God’s love!”
Then we got together in groups of threes and more to share what goals we see for the church in the year ahead that match watch we love about this church now with the vision that we have for this church.
The statements that were written by you in worship included:
increase active membership
get the message of love and acceptance out to our neighbors
be reconcilers in the community, local and global
develop study of our faith and how our faith can relate to the changing world
show why it is important to become open and affirming
Then we had lunch and we remembered something we love about this church, we have great cooks among us!
After lunch we broke out into four groups, each with the three goals we had agreed were the ones to focus on for the year ahead and come up with objectives that would realize those goals.
On a bookshelf in Fellowship Hall you will find a summary of the goals and the objectives that were the result of a band of persons searching for Christ’s form among us. We ended the day by forming a circle and answering a different kind of a question, which was, “Where did you see God in something that you saw or shared today?’
What I remember most vividly from that time of sharing was that people saw God in being able to speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
The sharing of what we love, the crafting of a vision statement, the lifting up of goals and objectives, were important, but if Christ is going to take form in a band, of persons, we need to have a community where we can speak freely and listen attentively to one another.
Which brings me to the importance of why this morning’s scripture readings are so important, and why they will make my life easier, your life easier, the church’s life easier, if we take these words to heart and put them in the soles of our shoes. In other words, walk the talk.
Paul, as a result of his mystical vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, was given, what he called “the mind of Christ.” And his task as a missionary around the eastern side of the Mediterranean was to create communities, churches, that took on the mind of Christ. For Paul this did not mean that everyone thought the same way. Paul called on the people to practice extravagant welcome right from the start.
At the beginning of chapter 14, (The Message)
A person who has been around for awhile might be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume all Christians should be vegetarians and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat?”
Which reminds of a story that comes from a UCC church in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Pastor Eric Elnes was in conversation with a member of his church one day, and this person, this member of the band, said, “I am tired of saying what we are against, I want to say what we are for.”
So Eric pondered that thought for a few days when all of sudden he had this crazy idea, “Christ takes form”
It was so crazy that he shared it with the church moderator just so he could hear how crazy it was and stop thinking about it. He shared the idea of inviting members of his progressive Christian church to walk with him across the United States, across New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, and all the way to Washington DC telling everyone that they met what they were for, and doing it all in the name of Jesus.
The Moderator said, “Great idea!”
And so 20 people began what was called Crosswalk. And they traveled across America with the central ideas of the United Church of Christ. And they stopped in a churches of all sorts along the way. And they were welcomed and prayed for all along the way.
They came to a town in Hereford, Texas. Big cattle growing country. And they began telling their story about loving Jesus and being open and affirming of all the people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or age, and the people welcomed them into their church and big picnic.
They did have one question, “We don’t care what you think about homosexuality, are any of you vegetarians?”
And even vegetarians were welcome with big salads and beans.
Reading from Paul again,
“God, after all, invited them to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off of God’s guest list or interfering with God’s welcome?”
I want to acknowledge the difficult challenge that is being presented here. I know that I am not talking about something that is easy for any of us to do. I say this because of what comes a few verses later in this chapter.
Paul lays out a very difficult challenge for us, but when we perceive and live its truth, our lives will be easier and our relationships will be based upon trust.
Chapter 14: 13ff (The Message)
“So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other.
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways that are inconsistent with what you believe, some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them, then know that you are out of line.”
The challenge for living in Christian community is to find a way of balancing not passing judgment on others, and at the same time, not letting what you think of as a good thing, be spoken of as being evil.”
Which brings to my mind so many of the famous verses written by Paul.
“The good that I want to do, I cannot do, and the things that I don’t want to do, I end up doing.”
And the most familiar of all, the so called love passage from Corinthians 13.
“Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, and it is not snobbish; it is never rude or self-seeking; it is not prone to anger, not does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices in the truth. There is no end to love’s forbearance, to its trust, its hope, its power to endure.” (The Inclusive Bible)
And this also brings to my mind the vital importance of the passage that we heard from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Peter asks Jesus, how many times must I forgive. Is 7 enough?
Jesus responds by saying, 7 times 70.
To have the mind of Christ is to live a practice of letting go of the need to be in control, the need to be right, the need to be good, and instead move into a way of life that is built upon freely speaking and attentively listening to God, to yourself, to the ones you trust with your life.
The point is to honor God and express our love and devotion to God. Put love first and other things may not loom so large.”
The Vitality Team who designed and led this year’s Planning Retreat will continue to work on a Vision Statement for this church. The Council, Boards. Committees, and Teams will continue to realize that goals that came out of the Planning retreat.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of these goals and objectives in a document on a bookshelf by our library in Fellowship.
And I encourage to take this community building project personally. Because it will make my life so much easier. And yours also.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Fulfillment
Fulfillment
Reading the Prophets Again for the First Time
Micah 6:1-8 Luke 4:14-24
August 17, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
My first class at the Pacific School of Religion was Old Testament taught by Dr. Herb Otwell, may he rest in peace. I have already shared a little about Professor Otwell with you in this summer series on Marcus Borg’s book, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally. I shared with you how stories about how strict, how tough, how demanding he was reached us new students almost as soon as we walked on the quad of the campus. And I shared with you how I found all those frightening stories to be true, but only half of the story, because Professor Herb Otwell was also the most inspirational, well-informed, and passionate teachers that I had while in seminary.
I have already told you about Herb Otwell. Today I want to tell you something about the classroom in which the brilliant lectures were held. It was a long room, holding up to 60 students. Windows facing the west on one side and a long wall on the east side. On that wall was a simple drawing of the ancient near east. And on that map were written these words, both in Hebrew and English.,
“What does the Lord require of you?
Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”
Those words were written by the Prophet Micah, one of the so-called Twelve Minor Prophets.
The ancient Hebrew people were freed from slavery by God. They were led by Moses through the wilderness and in their years of wandering, as the story is told, their law codes were developed. Their laws helped them become a people. Their laws created a culture and ways to be holy in relation to God, their neighbor, and the land.
One thing that unified all the law codes was their memory of being slaves in Egypt, strangers in a strange land, foreigners, and sojourners. Their law codes put into their memories that they would always care for others as they had been cared for by God. They were commanded to give special treatment to the poor, the widow, the least among them.
Micah put this all together with these words that I read every Tuesday and Thursday morning for my first year of study.
What does the Lord require of you?
Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.
This quote comes from chapter 6:8.
In light of what I have been sharing with you the pats two weeks of this summer Chatauqua on Marcus Borg’s, Reading the Bible Again, it is interesting to read a passage that appears earlier in the 6th chapter. Micah is speaking on behalf of God who has a question for the God’s people.
“O my people what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Give me an answer!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from slavery; and I sent Moses to lead you, and Aaron, and Miriam!”
Why is God asking such a question?
Remember last week when I shared the word, “covenant” with you? How out of the affirmation that God is Creator of the Universe, and Creator of Humanity which God gave the particular task of choosing goodness and caring for the integrity of creation, God established a Covenant with the people saying, I will be your God, I will provide for you, I will care for you, and I ask something of you in return.
Last week I said that what God asks of humanity is that we show compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility.
And that this compassion and restraint comes directly from the affirmation that life is a gift to us,
and community is a gift to us,
and freedom is a gift to us.
And the right response to this abundance, to this human family, to this unique place that hold in creation, is, compassion and restraint.
Remembering all of that, and then knowing what happened next in the lives of the people as they made their home in promised land, will explain why God would ask a question such as, “Have you forgotten all that I have done for you and little that I have asked of you?”
As the ancient people of Israel came into the promised land they eventually developed a tribal confederacy, each tribe being rules by a chief or what was called, a judge. It is interesting to note that there were male as well as female judges.
Eventually the tribes wanted to have a king. And as the story is told God was not happy with this desire for a king. Why do you need a king, you have me? I have given you all you need to live, why do you need a king?
The people cry out for a king and God begrudgingly grants their request, as the story is told. But the kings are to remember the covenant. Care for the least among you. Care for the widow, care for the sojourner, the traveler, the poor. Show compassion and restraint.
And this is not what happened. In this ancient civilization, “the social systems (comprising economic, political, religious, and social structures) were controlled by elites of power and wealth to serve their own interests. This type of society began to develop with Israel with the emergence of the monarchy around 1000 BC. By the time of Solomon, Israel’s third king, the major features of the ancient domination system were in place: a politics of oppression centered in monarchical authority; an economics of exploitation centered in the monarchy and aristocracy; and a religion of legitimacy centered in the temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem.” (127)
“…by the time the classical prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, began to speak in the eighth century, Israel and Judah had become miniature versions of the ancient domination system that had enslaved their ancestors in Egypt. The victims (the majority of the population) were Israelites, of course, but now the elites at the top were also Israelites. Egypt had been established in Israel.” (127)
And the prophets, whether they were Major or Minor, all had angry words for the rulers who were exploiting the poor to make themselves rich. The kings and merchants had “deformed Israel, changing her from the exodus vision of an alternative community living under the lordship of God to just another kingdom living under the lordship of a native pharaoh.
The prophets were “prosecuting a covenant lawsuit on behalf of God against Israel.”
Listen to some of the words of these ancient prophets speaking on behalf of God and on behalf of the poor, the widow, the elderly, the sojourner, the common person.
Listen to the prophet Amos, whose words had a transformative, life-changing impact on Marcus Borg when he first read them while college.
“Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell those who have done no wrong for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way. You oppress the poor and crush the needy. You trample on the poor and take from them taxes of grain. You trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land.”
Those words from Amos are mild compared to these,
“Thus says the Lord,
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of your fatted animals, I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.
It isn’t that worshipping God is a bad thing. It is wrong only if that is the only thing we are doing we keeping our side of the covenant. And it isn’t enough to care for the poor that are cast aside by the oppressive ruler or system. The prophets are calling for a critique of the social structures themselves. They are calling for social justice.
“Social justice is concerned with the structures of society and their results. Because it is results oriented, it discerns whether the structures of society are just in their effects. Do they produce a large impoverished class or result in a more equitable distribution of resources? Do they benefit some at the expense of many or serve all equally? Do they produce conflict or peace? Do they destroy or nourish a future?” (128)
When I was putting this series together and writing about it in the Nugget, our church newsletter, I put a question under the heading for each Sunday’s theme for the sermon. I am especially proud of the question that I wrote for the prophets,
“Why are the prophets so angry and so hopeful.”
The prophets, whose writings span two centuries, were blessed and cursed to be living in challenging times. They were called by God to speak the truth to power, with power at a time when the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. They lived during a time when the monarchies fell under their own weight of greed and oppression. They lived during a time when the officially sanctioned prophets of the Temple who provided divine sanction for the all that the governments were doing were saying, “Peace, Peace, when there was no peace.
The prophets had to speak the word of God to a people who lived during a time of occupation when their God-promised land was overrun by the nations of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon. The prophets had to speak the word of the Lord when the ruling elites of Jerusalem and Israel were taken away from their God-promised land to live for almost three generations in exile.
The prophets were angry because they believed that all of this calamity was a direct result of the rulers and the wealthy of Israel who had abandoned the Covenant with God to compassion for others and conduct themselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility. A sense of responsibility to the whole body, the whole society, the whole world.
But herein lies the source of the prophet’s hope. Instead of seeing the exile as a time when God had abandoned the people, the prophets new task in Babylon, and back home in Jerusalem was to tell the people that God is incapable of going back on the promise to fulfill the vision that was planted at the first moment of creation.
Micah gave voice to that vision when he said,
“God shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Micah 4:3)
And in the Book of Isaiah, beginning at 40th chapter and following we hear a new voice. It is such a new voice that contemporary biblical scholarship refers to these chapters as Second Isaiah, believing that the author is different that the one who wrote the first 40 chapters. Second Isaiah was writing from Babylon, during the time of exile and during the time of return home to Israel.
His task, also born out his experience of the presence of God, was to give his people hope, strength, courage to return home and see it again for the first time.
There are so many beautiful passages to choose from Second Isaiah. I selected Isaiah 43:15-19 because the language spoken to a people discouraged, broken, homeless, and called to return home, reminds the people of God’s presence in the creation of the universe, the exodus from slavery, and the Covenant of compassion and restraint that made them into a nation. These words are:
“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished like a wick. Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
“The solution for exiles is, of course, a journey of return, a way or path through the wilderness. Both Judaism and Christianity are about a “way.” Indeed, the word “repent,” so central to the Christian tradition, has its roots in the Jewish story of exile. To repent does not mean to feel really bad about sins; rather, it means to embark upon a path of return. The journey begins in exile, and the destination is a return, to life!, in the presence of God.”
This way of life includes many spiritual practices. It includes worship, prayer and singing! It includes education for all ages. It includes a commitment of our God-given resources to build a God-given community of faith. It calls for caring kids, caring young-timers and old-timers. And it calls for service, which not only cares for the least among us, but also calls some, not all of us, but some of us, to prophetic witness to call the principalities and powers to account when they care more for themselves than the community. The path brings the earth into balance love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self.
One of the reasons why I am a minister in the United Church of Christ is because the UCC and its forebearers; the Congregational and Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, have a long history of making and living the connection between the presence of God and the call for social justice.
We were the first denomination to ordain an African-American man, Reverend Lemuel Haynes, the first to ordain a woman, Rev. Antoinette Brown, the first to ordain a gay man,
Rev. William R. Johnson. Our ancestors were deeply involved in the abolitionist movement of the 1830s and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Members of our church stopped a General Synod meeting flew out to Cochella Valley to support Cesar Chavez and the farm-workers who were striking for a fair wage.
I could go on. I love to tell the story.
But there is only thing that I want to say at this point.
Not everyone is called to be a prophet. Not everyone is called to be engaged in social justice work. Not everyone is called to push the frontiers of social change to end oppression.
I just want you to see that when people of faith are engaged in this work, its source is not some democratic socialistic pinko commie leftist propaganda agenda.
How do we know these things to be the call of God?
The Bible Tells Me So.
You can find it the book of Exodus, the book of Isaiah, Amos, and Micah.
You can find it in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus says in his hometown synagogue,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Today this words are fulfilled in your hearing”
There is a saying in the United Church of Christ. To believe is to care. To care is to do.
What is that the Lord requires of us? Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.
Let these words be fulfilled not only in our hearing but also in our doing, in whatever way calls us forward on this day, which the Lord has made. Let the people say: Amen.
Reading the Prophets Again for the First Time
Micah 6:1-8 Luke 4:14-24
August 17, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
My first class at the Pacific School of Religion was Old Testament taught by Dr. Herb Otwell, may he rest in peace. I have already shared a little about Professor Otwell with you in this summer series on Marcus Borg’s book, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally. I shared with you how stories about how strict, how tough, how demanding he was reached us new students almost as soon as we walked on the quad of the campus. And I shared with you how I found all those frightening stories to be true, but only half of the story, because Professor Herb Otwell was also the most inspirational, well-informed, and passionate teachers that I had while in seminary.
I have already told you about Herb Otwell. Today I want to tell you something about the classroom in which the brilliant lectures were held. It was a long room, holding up to 60 students. Windows facing the west on one side and a long wall on the east side. On that wall was a simple drawing of the ancient near east. And on that map were written these words, both in Hebrew and English.,
“What does the Lord require of you?
Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”
Those words were written by the Prophet Micah, one of the so-called Twelve Minor Prophets.
The ancient Hebrew people were freed from slavery by God. They were led by Moses through the wilderness and in their years of wandering, as the story is told, their law codes were developed. Their laws helped them become a people. Their laws created a culture and ways to be holy in relation to God, their neighbor, and the land.
One thing that unified all the law codes was their memory of being slaves in Egypt, strangers in a strange land, foreigners, and sojourners. Their law codes put into their memories that they would always care for others as they had been cared for by God. They were commanded to give special treatment to the poor, the widow, the least among them.
Micah put this all together with these words that I read every Tuesday and Thursday morning for my first year of study.
What does the Lord require of you?
Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.
This quote comes from chapter 6:8.
In light of what I have been sharing with you the pats two weeks of this summer Chatauqua on Marcus Borg’s, Reading the Bible Again, it is interesting to read a passage that appears earlier in the 6th chapter. Micah is speaking on behalf of God who has a question for the God’s people.
“O my people what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Give me an answer!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from slavery; and I sent Moses to lead you, and Aaron, and Miriam!”
Why is God asking such a question?
Remember last week when I shared the word, “covenant” with you? How out of the affirmation that God is Creator of the Universe, and Creator of Humanity which God gave the particular task of choosing goodness and caring for the integrity of creation, God established a Covenant with the people saying, I will be your God, I will provide for you, I will care for you, and I ask something of you in return.
Last week I said that what God asks of humanity is that we show compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility.
And that this compassion and restraint comes directly from the affirmation that life is a gift to us,
and community is a gift to us,
and freedom is a gift to us.
And the right response to this abundance, to this human family, to this unique place that hold in creation, is, compassion and restraint.
Remembering all of that, and then knowing what happened next in the lives of the people as they made their home in promised land, will explain why God would ask a question such as, “Have you forgotten all that I have done for you and little that I have asked of you?”
As the ancient people of Israel came into the promised land they eventually developed a tribal confederacy, each tribe being rules by a chief or what was called, a judge. It is interesting to note that there were male as well as female judges.
Eventually the tribes wanted to have a king. And as the story is told God was not happy with this desire for a king. Why do you need a king, you have me? I have given you all you need to live, why do you need a king?
The people cry out for a king and God begrudgingly grants their request, as the story is told. But the kings are to remember the covenant. Care for the least among you. Care for the widow, care for the sojourner, the traveler, the poor. Show compassion and restraint.
And this is not what happened. In this ancient civilization, “the social systems (comprising economic, political, religious, and social structures) were controlled by elites of power and wealth to serve their own interests. This type of society began to develop with Israel with the emergence of the monarchy around 1000 BC. By the time of Solomon, Israel’s third king, the major features of the ancient domination system were in place: a politics of oppression centered in monarchical authority; an economics of exploitation centered in the monarchy and aristocracy; and a religion of legitimacy centered in the temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem.” (127)
“…by the time the classical prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, began to speak in the eighth century, Israel and Judah had become miniature versions of the ancient domination system that had enslaved their ancestors in Egypt. The victims (the majority of the population) were Israelites, of course, but now the elites at the top were also Israelites. Egypt had been established in Israel.” (127)
And the prophets, whether they were Major or Minor, all had angry words for the rulers who were exploiting the poor to make themselves rich. The kings and merchants had “deformed Israel, changing her from the exodus vision of an alternative community living under the lordship of God to just another kingdom living under the lordship of a native pharaoh.
The prophets were “prosecuting a covenant lawsuit on behalf of God against Israel.”
Listen to some of the words of these ancient prophets speaking on behalf of God and on behalf of the poor, the widow, the elderly, the sojourner, the common person.
Listen to the prophet Amos, whose words had a transformative, life-changing impact on Marcus Borg when he first read them while college.
“Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell those who have done no wrong for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way. You oppress the poor and crush the needy. You trample on the poor and take from them taxes of grain. You trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land.”
Those words from Amos are mild compared to these,
“Thus says the Lord,
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of your fatted animals, I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.
It isn’t that worshipping God is a bad thing. It is wrong only if that is the only thing we are doing we keeping our side of the covenant. And it isn’t enough to care for the poor that are cast aside by the oppressive ruler or system. The prophets are calling for a critique of the social structures themselves. They are calling for social justice.
“Social justice is concerned with the structures of society and their results. Because it is results oriented, it discerns whether the structures of society are just in their effects. Do they produce a large impoverished class or result in a more equitable distribution of resources? Do they benefit some at the expense of many or serve all equally? Do they produce conflict or peace? Do they destroy or nourish a future?” (128)
When I was putting this series together and writing about it in the Nugget, our church newsletter, I put a question under the heading for each Sunday’s theme for the sermon. I am especially proud of the question that I wrote for the prophets,
“Why are the prophets so angry and so hopeful.”
The prophets, whose writings span two centuries, were blessed and cursed to be living in challenging times. They were called by God to speak the truth to power, with power at a time when the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. They lived during a time when the monarchies fell under their own weight of greed and oppression. They lived during a time when the officially sanctioned prophets of the Temple who provided divine sanction for the all that the governments were doing were saying, “Peace, Peace, when there was no peace.
The prophets had to speak the word of God to a people who lived during a time of occupation when their God-promised land was overrun by the nations of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon. The prophets had to speak the word of the Lord when the ruling elites of Jerusalem and Israel were taken away from their God-promised land to live for almost three generations in exile.
The prophets were angry because they believed that all of this calamity was a direct result of the rulers and the wealthy of Israel who had abandoned the Covenant with God to compassion for others and conduct themselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility. A sense of responsibility to the whole body, the whole society, the whole world.
But herein lies the source of the prophet’s hope. Instead of seeing the exile as a time when God had abandoned the people, the prophets new task in Babylon, and back home in Jerusalem was to tell the people that God is incapable of going back on the promise to fulfill the vision that was planted at the first moment of creation.
Micah gave voice to that vision when he said,
“God shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Micah 4:3)
And in the Book of Isaiah, beginning at 40th chapter and following we hear a new voice. It is such a new voice that contemporary biblical scholarship refers to these chapters as Second Isaiah, believing that the author is different that the one who wrote the first 40 chapters. Second Isaiah was writing from Babylon, during the time of exile and during the time of return home to Israel.
His task, also born out his experience of the presence of God, was to give his people hope, strength, courage to return home and see it again for the first time.
There are so many beautiful passages to choose from Second Isaiah. I selected Isaiah 43:15-19 because the language spoken to a people discouraged, broken, homeless, and called to return home, reminds the people of God’s presence in the creation of the universe, the exodus from slavery, and the Covenant of compassion and restraint that made them into a nation. These words are:
“Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished like a wick. Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
“The solution for exiles is, of course, a journey of return, a way or path through the wilderness. Both Judaism and Christianity are about a “way.” Indeed, the word “repent,” so central to the Christian tradition, has its roots in the Jewish story of exile. To repent does not mean to feel really bad about sins; rather, it means to embark upon a path of return. The journey begins in exile, and the destination is a return, to life!, in the presence of God.”
This way of life includes many spiritual practices. It includes worship, prayer and singing! It includes education for all ages. It includes a commitment of our God-given resources to build a God-given community of faith. It calls for caring kids, caring young-timers and old-timers. And it calls for service, which not only cares for the least among us, but also calls some, not all of us, but some of us, to prophetic witness to call the principalities and powers to account when they care more for themselves than the community. The path brings the earth into balance love of God, love of neighbor, and love of self.
One of the reasons why I am a minister in the United Church of Christ is because the UCC and its forebearers; the Congregational and Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, have a long history of making and living the connection between the presence of God and the call for social justice.
We were the first denomination to ordain an African-American man, Reverend Lemuel Haynes, the first to ordain a woman, Rev. Antoinette Brown, the first to ordain a gay man,
Rev. William R. Johnson. Our ancestors were deeply involved in the abolitionist movement of the 1830s and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Members of our church stopped a General Synod meeting flew out to Cochella Valley to support Cesar Chavez and the farm-workers who were striking for a fair wage.
I could go on. I love to tell the story.
But there is only thing that I want to say at this point.
Not everyone is called to be a prophet. Not everyone is called to be engaged in social justice work. Not everyone is called to push the frontiers of social change to end oppression.
I just want you to see that when people of faith are engaged in this work, its source is not some democratic socialistic pinko commie leftist propaganda agenda.
How do we know these things to be the call of God?
The Bible Tells Me So.
You can find it the book of Exodus, the book of Isaiah, Amos, and Micah.
You can find it in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus says in his hometown synagogue,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Today this words are fulfilled in your hearing”
There is a saying in the United Church of Christ. To believe is to care. To care is to do.
What is that the Lord requires of us? Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.
Let these words be fulfilled not only in our hearing but also in our doing, in whatever way calls us forward on this day, which the Lord has made. Let the people say: Amen.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Word is Love
The Word is Love
Rev. Alan Claassen
Psalm 119:105-112 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
July 13, 2008
Prayer before Sermon
Gracious God, May more light and truth break forth in our lives today from your Holy Word in ways that transform us and influence the world around us. Amen.
Can you tell I’m excited?
I am excited. And remembering my sermons back in May, I might even say that I am enthused this morning. It’s summertime, the time of the summer vacation, cross country trip,to see relatives or cross continent trips to see some foreign country such as Italy, the Netherlands or Costa Rica.
But the trip I am enthusiastic about is not back to Tulsa, Oklahoma or Amsterdam.
I am thinking about this journey that I have decided to lead us on this summer. This journey that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. This journey that will be filled with stories to tell when we get back home. In fact, that is one of the main stories of the Bible, leaving home, living away from home, living in a strange land and making it feel like back home, seeing our land as our home, and seeing strangers as our own family.
There will be stories about creation and creativity, there will be stories of being lost and found in the wilderness, of corruption and courage, there will be stories of wise men and women and children, there will be stories of dying and living.
Can you see why I am excited?
Now I am know that some of you are thinking that you have been to these places before. You know these stories. But I am not worried about you. You know that these stories are worth seeing again. You might say that you will be seeing them again for the first time.
You know that as you open up these stories they open you up, they open up your heart, your strength, your soul. No, I am not so worried about you all.
I am concerned that some of you might need persuading that this is a journey worthy of our excitement. And I understand that. And so does our tour guide, Marcus Borg, who has written our travel itinerary.
And so let me take just a moment to talk to you folks who are not persuaded that the Bible is not the best place to go on a summer vacation.
Marcus Borg sees three reasons why the Bible, at least as it was taught to most of us when we were growing up, is no longer persuasive.
One of the reasons is because “We are aware of the world’s religions in a way that most people have not been for most of human history. We are now global citizens. Either through the Television series by Joseph Campbell or Huston Smith, or just meeting some of our neighbors we are coming to some level of familiarity with the world’s religions and wisdom traditions. And so many find the exclusivist claims of Christian tradition impossible to accept. Some of us know that there are others ways to God than the way that Jesus taught. And if the Bible is used to say there is only one way then some of us are likely to go another way.
A second reason why some find the Bible no longer persuasive is that we are aware of the influences of cultural relativity; “that how people think is shaped by the time and place in which they live, as well as by their social and economic class. Our concepts, images, language, knowledge, beliefs, are all profoundly shaped by culture.” And so when the Bible is used to say that the ideas of some middle eastern men are true for all time and all people some people are likely to go look elsewhere for meaning and truth.
A third reason that people have been turned off rather than excited about reading the Bible is that we are modern people, influenced by science. Much of what we know to be true is based upon knowledge gained through experimentation and not revelation. And so when the Bible is used to give scientific explanations for the creation of the universe we are likely to say, “You must be kidding.”
The sad thing is that many people leave the church not knowing that the church has been living quite well with this knowledge of the wisdom of the world’s religions, the influence of cultural relativity, and the gifts of science for decades. In fact, applying the techniques of what in seminary is called “historical criticism” has brought the Bible back into play for many people. When the Bible is not taken literally, but is taken seriously, as a way to transcend our self-centered egos and see ourselves, our neighbors, and our planets from the perspective of our God-centered selves we experience the charity, compassion, loving-kindness that is the core of all the world’s religions.
My own father is the perfect example of this. Both my Mom and Dad were active in church when I was growing up. They taught the college age group at church when I was in grade school. They were loving kind people. But my Dad always, trained as a lawyer, also felt a little disconnected from what was often taught in church. A few years ago I began sharing with my Dad some of the books that I was excited about, including books written by Marcus Borg.
After he read a few of them he was upset. He asked me, with an equal measure of frustration and disbelief, “Why didn’t you ministers tell us about this 25 years ago?”
I noticed a similar experience last Fall when a small group of us studied Marcus Borg’s book, The Heart of Christianity.” Several in the class commented that the ideas that Borg was sharing were ideas that they had already, or questions that they had already been asking, but that they didn’t know it was OK.
Now the gift of a scientific approach to reading the Bible has given us a new appreciation for how the Bible came into being. Rather than thinking that it was written by God and is so holy that we cannot touch it, the results of approaching the Bible as a historian, a cultural anthropologist, a linguist, enables us to see the human beings who wrote the Bible. It enables us to see what made the Bible sacred, what gives it authority, what makes it a sacrament, a bridge between us and God that carries us to the promised land of compassion, tolerance, and caring for the earth.
So I hope that I have persuaded some of you reluctant ones to go on this journey with the rest of us. And if I made those of you were already excited, a little nervous, remember one the core ideas that you learned from your study of the Bible. Be not afraid.
Now I would like every to listen to this. What does it mean to refer to the Bible as sacred Scipture. We say that the Bible is the Holy Word. We say that the Bible is the word of God. But we don’t say that God wrote the Bible. Another way to say that is that Bible is not the words of God, it is the word of God.
“The Bible is a collection of divinely inspired written clues that by the power of the Holy Spirit reveal mysteries about God's nature and intent to real people. It was written by real people struggling to understand "God," --real people who became holy reflections and human witnesses of Divine intention.” (Ron Bufford)
As your tour guide let me share with you the first interesting fact of this journey. It took a long time for the Bible to be considered sacred. “The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, which we commonly refer to as the Old Testament, were regarded as sacred by the Jewish community around 400 years before Christ. But some of the writings and stories in those first five books of the Bible are approximately 4,000 years old.
The second part of the Hebrew Bible, the Prophets achieved sacred status by about 200BC. And the third part, the Writings, which include the Psalms, Proverbs, and Job became considered as sacred by the community 100 years after the birth of Christ.
For the 27 books of the New Testament the process took about three centuries. Though most of the books of the New Testament were written by the year 100 the first list that mentions all 27 of them as having special status is from the year 367.” Pg 29
The Bible became sacred, not because it was thought to be written by God, not by its origin, but because over time people treated certain documents differently in study and in worship.
This gives us an awesome responsibility. What is sacred for us in the Bible? On what basis can we say that a passage is no longer meaningful for us today? Can we just pick and choose which passages we like and leave out the rest? How do we decide?
There are certain sections of the Bible that we no longer consider as valid for our time.
Many of us enjoy eating pork and shellfish. Why did the Jewish community write into its laws and Scriptures that the eating of shellfish is an abomination?
According to the Book of Timothy in the New Testament some in the early church thought women had no place in the church. Women were not allowed to speak. Certainly not be lay leaders, or serve communion. I am sure there are many in this sanctuary who remember a time, not so long ago, when women did not serve in worship. How did we come to the conclusion that we could disregard this section from Timothy?
The women told us to.
In our class sessions on the book reading the Bible again for the First Time we have the benefit of short guest lectures by Marcus Borg on DVDs. In the presentation we heard last week Borg said that Adult Theological Education is the most pressing need in the church today.
The Bible shapes us, is our foundational document, our moral compass. And so it is vitally important that we know, both how it was written and what it means for us today. It is a living word, not a dead one. And that even though we are not to take it literally, we are to take it seriously, if we are to call ourselves Christian. Being a human document written in response to God we are called in our day to let it be a bridge between us and God. But all bridges need inspecting. There are some planks that need to be replaced. The plank that says women are inferior is one that in most, but not all, churches has been removed.
So we are almost ready to get begin our journey into the stories and the history of the Bible. In fact, the one thing remaining before we depart is to understand that in our journey we will be seeing history and story, fact and metaphor, two ways of telling the truth of God’s presence in our lives, the reality of love.
I am excited to be at the beginning of this journey. I have done a few sermon series in my ministry but never one on the Bible in 9 weeks. I am excited to see what is familiar, and I am looking forward to making connections I have never made before. After last week’s sermon someone came up to me after church and said that they were going to go home and read their Bible. Now that made me feel real good.
This coming Wednesday evening some of us will be discussing a book written by Eckhart Tolle called a New Heaven. I recently learned that Mr Tolle took the first name of Eckhart after discovering an entirely new approach to Christianity through the writings of the 12th Century monk, Meister Eckhart. A New Heaven is filled with Biblical references and through Eckhart Tolle we are invited to read the Bible again for the first time.
Meister Eckhart said that every creature is a word of God. I’d like to close with this poem by Meister Eckhart. I’d like to dedicate this to Clarissa, Murphys’ town burro..
LOVE DOES THAT
All day long a little burro labors, sometimes
with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only
burros.
And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.
Once in a while a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings
a pear, but more
than that,
he looks into the burro's eyes and touches her ears
and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,
because love does
that.
Love Frees.
~ Meister Eckhart ~
That’s what the Bible tells me.
Love frees.
Blessed be the gospel that unbinds
our hearts and sets us
as a community
free.
Rev. Alan Claassen
Psalm 119:105-112 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
July 13, 2008
Prayer before Sermon
Gracious God, May more light and truth break forth in our lives today from your Holy Word in ways that transform us and influence the world around us. Amen.
Can you tell I’m excited?
I am excited. And remembering my sermons back in May, I might even say that I am enthused this morning. It’s summertime, the time of the summer vacation, cross country trip,to see relatives or cross continent trips to see some foreign country such as Italy, the Netherlands or Costa Rica.
But the trip I am enthusiastic about is not back to Tulsa, Oklahoma or Amsterdam.
I am thinking about this journey that I have decided to lead us on this summer. This journey that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. This journey that will be filled with stories to tell when we get back home. In fact, that is one of the main stories of the Bible, leaving home, living away from home, living in a strange land and making it feel like back home, seeing our land as our home, and seeing strangers as our own family.
There will be stories about creation and creativity, there will be stories of being lost and found in the wilderness, of corruption and courage, there will be stories of wise men and women and children, there will be stories of dying and living.
Can you see why I am excited?
Now I am know that some of you are thinking that you have been to these places before. You know these stories. But I am not worried about you. You know that these stories are worth seeing again. You might say that you will be seeing them again for the first time.
You know that as you open up these stories they open you up, they open up your heart, your strength, your soul. No, I am not so worried about you all.
I am concerned that some of you might need persuading that this is a journey worthy of our excitement. And I understand that. And so does our tour guide, Marcus Borg, who has written our travel itinerary.
And so let me take just a moment to talk to you folks who are not persuaded that the Bible is not the best place to go on a summer vacation.
Marcus Borg sees three reasons why the Bible, at least as it was taught to most of us when we were growing up, is no longer persuasive.
One of the reasons is because “We are aware of the world’s religions in a way that most people have not been for most of human history. We are now global citizens. Either through the Television series by Joseph Campbell or Huston Smith, or just meeting some of our neighbors we are coming to some level of familiarity with the world’s religions and wisdom traditions. And so many find the exclusivist claims of Christian tradition impossible to accept. Some of us know that there are others ways to God than the way that Jesus taught. And if the Bible is used to say there is only one way then some of us are likely to go another way.
A second reason why some find the Bible no longer persuasive is that we are aware of the influences of cultural relativity; “that how people think is shaped by the time and place in which they live, as well as by their social and economic class. Our concepts, images, language, knowledge, beliefs, are all profoundly shaped by culture.” And so when the Bible is used to say that the ideas of some middle eastern men are true for all time and all people some people are likely to go look elsewhere for meaning and truth.
A third reason that people have been turned off rather than excited about reading the Bible is that we are modern people, influenced by science. Much of what we know to be true is based upon knowledge gained through experimentation and not revelation. And so when the Bible is used to give scientific explanations for the creation of the universe we are likely to say, “You must be kidding.”
The sad thing is that many people leave the church not knowing that the church has been living quite well with this knowledge of the wisdom of the world’s religions, the influence of cultural relativity, and the gifts of science for decades. In fact, applying the techniques of what in seminary is called “historical criticism” has brought the Bible back into play for many people. When the Bible is not taken literally, but is taken seriously, as a way to transcend our self-centered egos and see ourselves, our neighbors, and our planets from the perspective of our God-centered selves we experience the charity, compassion, loving-kindness that is the core of all the world’s religions.
My own father is the perfect example of this. Both my Mom and Dad were active in church when I was growing up. They taught the college age group at church when I was in grade school. They were loving kind people. But my Dad always, trained as a lawyer, also felt a little disconnected from what was often taught in church. A few years ago I began sharing with my Dad some of the books that I was excited about, including books written by Marcus Borg.
After he read a few of them he was upset. He asked me, with an equal measure of frustration and disbelief, “Why didn’t you ministers tell us about this 25 years ago?”
I noticed a similar experience last Fall when a small group of us studied Marcus Borg’s book, The Heart of Christianity.” Several in the class commented that the ideas that Borg was sharing were ideas that they had already, or questions that they had already been asking, but that they didn’t know it was OK.
Now the gift of a scientific approach to reading the Bible has given us a new appreciation for how the Bible came into being. Rather than thinking that it was written by God and is so holy that we cannot touch it, the results of approaching the Bible as a historian, a cultural anthropologist, a linguist, enables us to see the human beings who wrote the Bible. It enables us to see what made the Bible sacred, what gives it authority, what makes it a sacrament, a bridge between us and God that carries us to the promised land of compassion, tolerance, and caring for the earth.
So I hope that I have persuaded some of you reluctant ones to go on this journey with the rest of us. And if I made those of you were already excited, a little nervous, remember one the core ideas that you learned from your study of the Bible. Be not afraid.
Now I would like every to listen to this. What does it mean to refer to the Bible as sacred Scipture. We say that the Bible is the Holy Word. We say that the Bible is the word of God. But we don’t say that God wrote the Bible. Another way to say that is that Bible is not the words of God, it is the word of God.
“The Bible is a collection of divinely inspired written clues that by the power of the Holy Spirit reveal mysteries about God's nature and intent to real people. It was written by real people struggling to understand "God," --real people who became holy reflections and human witnesses of Divine intention.” (Ron Bufford)
As your tour guide let me share with you the first interesting fact of this journey. It took a long time for the Bible to be considered sacred. “The first five books of the Hebrew Bible, which we commonly refer to as the Old Testament, were regarded as sacred by the Jewish community around 400 years before Christ. But some of the writings and stories in those first five books of the Bible are approximately 4,000 years old.
The second part of the Hebrew Bible, the Prophets achieved sacred status by about 200BC. And the third part, the Writings, which include the Psalms, Proverbs, and Job became considered as sacred by the community 100 years after the birth of Christ.
For the 27 books of the New Testament the process took about three centuries. Though most of the books of the New Testament were written by the year 100 the first list that mentions all 27 of them as having special status is from the year 367.” Pg 29
The Bible became sacred, not because it was thought to be written by God, not by its origin, but because over time people treated certain documents differently in study and in worship.
This gives us an awesome responsibility. What is sacred for us in the Bible? On what basis can we say that a passage is no longer meaningful for us today? Can we just pick and choose which passages we like and leave out the rest? How do we decide?
There are certain sections of the Bible that we no longer consider as valid for our time.
Many of us enjoy eating pork and shellfish. Why did the Jewish community write into its laws and Scriptures that the eating of shellfish is an abomination?
According to the Book of Timothy in the New Testament some in the early church thought women had no place in the church. Women were not allowed to speak. Certainly not be lay leaders, or serve communion. I am sure there are many in this sanctuary who remember a time, not so long ago, when women did not serve in worship. How did we come to the conclusion that we could disregard this section from Timothy?
The women told us to.
In our class sessions on the book reading the Bible again for the First Time we have the benefit of short guest lectures by Marcus Borg on DVDs. In the presentation we heard last week Borg said that Adult Theological Education is the most pressing need in the church today.
The Bible shapes us, is our foundational document, our moral compass. And so it is vitally important that we know, both how it was written and what it means for us today. It is a living word, not a dead one. And that even though we are not to take it literally, we are to take it seriously, if we are to call ourselves Christian. Being a human document written in response to God we are called in our day to let it be a bridge between us and God. But all bridges need inspecting. There are some planks that need to be replaced. The plank that says women are inferior is one that in most, but not all, churches has been removed.
So we are almost ready to get begin our journey into the stories and the history of the Bible. In fact, the one thing remaining before we depart is to understand that in our journey we will be seeing history and story, fact and metaphor, two ways of telling the truth of God’s presence in our lives, the reality of love.
I am excited to be at the beginning of this journey. I have done a few sermon series in my ministry but never one on the Bible in 9 weeks. I am excited to see what is familiar, and I am looking forward to making connections I have never made before. After last week’s sermon someone came up to me after church and said that they were going to go home and read their Bible. Now that made me feel real good.
This coming Wednesday evening some of us will be discussing a book written by Eckhart Tolle called a New Heaven. I recently learned that Mr Tolle took the first name of Eckhart after discovering an entirely new approach to Christianity through the writings of the 12th Century monk, Meister Eckhart. A New Heaven is filled with Biblical references and through Eckhart Tolle we are invited to read the Bible again for the first time.
Meister Eckhart said that every creature is a word of God. I’d like to close with this poem by Meister Eckhart. I’d like to dedicate this to Clarissa, Murphys’ town burro..
LOVE DOES THAT
All day long a little burro labors, sometimes
with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only
burros.
And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.
Once in a while a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings
a pear, but more
than that,
he looks into the burro's eyes and touches her ears
and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,
because love does
that.
Love Frees.
~ Meister Eckhart ~
That’s what the Bible tells me.
Love frees.
Blessed be the gospel that unbinds
our hearts and sets us
as a community
free.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I Am A Wright Brother
A Wright Brother
Rev. Alan Claassen
March 30, 2008
In response to the treatment of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Trinity UCC in Chicago.
Written before the interview with Bill Moyers
and the appearance before the National Press Club
It is has been a quiet week on Lake U.C.C.
Actually I have been so busy with Holy Week and the lecture by Michael Dowd that I have not had time to watch TV, see the repeated soundbites of Rev. Jeremiah Wright damning America or hearing Barack Obama’s speech on racism. But I have had time to do a little research on our ucc.org web page and I would like to share with you what I learned from others about my colleague and our brother in Christ, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the church that he built from 87 members to over 1,000 members.
J. Bennett Guess March 14, 2008
“In the wake of misleading attacks on its mission and ministry, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ is being lauded by United Church of Christ leaders across the nation for the integrity of its worship, the breadth of its community involvement and the depth of its commitment to social justice.
Located in the heart of Chicago's impoverished Southside, Trinity UCC's vast array of ministries include career development and college placement, tutorial and computer services, health care and support groups, domestic violence programs, pastoral care and counseling, bereavement services, drug and alcohol recovery, prison ministry, financial counseling and credit union, housing and economic development, dozens of choral, instrumental and dance groups, and diverse programming for all ages, including youth and senior citizens.”
The Rev. Steve Gray, the UCC's Indiana-Kentucky Conference Minister, describes Trinity UCC as a "jewel."
"It's everything a Christian community is supposed to be," says Gray, who has been working with Trinity UCC for the past three years to develop a new UCC congregation in Gary, Ind. "Trinity has given well over $100,000 in support of its partnership with us, and in 15 months of regular meetings with Jeremiah Wright, we always found him to be a man of gracious hospitality, humor, generosity, who paid attention to detail but also a man who does not call attention to himself."
Gray, a member of First Congregational UCC in Indianapolis, has worshiped several times at Trinity UCC and is most impressed by the overflowing sense of welcome it extends to visitors.
"When you're Euro-American, the people [at Trinity UCC] are so exceedingly gracious, warm and welcoming. They hug you and say, 'Welcome to our church!'"
The Rev. Bennie Whiten, retired Massachusetts Conference Minister who prior served for 15 years as associate director of Chicago's Community Renewal Society, says, Whiten, a member of Pilgrim UCC in Oak Park, Ill., is especially taken with Trinity UCC's commitment to the need and importance of quality theological education. More than 60 members of Trinity UCC are currently enrolled in seminary and pursuing masters-level degrees. Moreover, the congregation pays for students' tuition costs.
"They firmly believe in the UCC's commitment to an educated, seminary-trained clergy," Whiten said, "and they have probably had more people feeling the call to ministry than any other church in the denomination."
The Rev. Susan Thistlethwaite, president and professor of theology at UCC-related Chicago Theological Seminary
"Another thing I really appreciate about Trinity is that its ministries are always directed both inward, toward the congregation itself, and also outward in supporting other congregations ecumenically and supporting community organizations that are dedicated to lifting up the wider society," Thistlethwaite says. "We have had so many fine students come through Chicago Theological Seminary who were helped to discern their call to ministry through this church's dedication to serving the wider church."
The Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel, pastor of Victory UCC in Stone Mountain, Ga.,
While Trinity UCC is the denomination's largest congregation, Samuel's 5,300-member church is the UCC's second largest. Founded in 1987, it joined the UCC in 2004.
"Trinity was really one of the churches that inspired me to want to affiliate with the United Church of Christ," Samuel said. "My church was originally National Baptist and Southern Baptist, but it was the critical-thinking that [Trinity] brought to this work, the justice work, that helped me to want to become a part of the denomination. I have no regrets about that."
Carol Brown, national president of United Black Christians and a member of Cleveland's Mt. Zion UCC for more than 50 years, describes Trinity UCC as "the flagship church of the United Church of Christ."
"I think it's very interesting that a minority group within a denomination can have the largest church, support the most ministries and give the largest number of OCWM [mission] dollars," Brown says. "That speaks well for us as an accepting, open and affirming denomination. Especially, as a justice-oriented church, [Trinity UCC] sets a standard for all the denomination that all are welcome."
The Rev. Dr. John P. Gardner is senior minister of Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne, United Church of Christ, Fort Wayne.
How ironic that a pastor and congregation which, for forty-five years, has cast its lot with a predominantly white denomination, participating fully in its wider church life and contributing generously to it, would be accused of racial exclusion and a failure to reach for racial reconciliation.”
m
By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News
“More than two dozen well-known black preachers and scholars, in Dallas for a long-planned conference, offered unequivocal support Friday for one of their number who was not there.
“The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, now world-famous as the former pastor and spiritual mentor of presidential candidate Barack Obama, was to be the guest of honor at the Black Church Summit held by Brite Divinity School. Amid the recent controversy about some of his sermons, Dr. Wright decided not to attend, but the summit started Friday as scheduled.”
Most of the event was not open to the media, but several of the scholars and preachers spoke at a news conference. They said that Dr. Wright's sermons fit into a long-standing black tradition of prophetic preaching – one that the Rev. Martin Luther King also emerged from.
Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, director of the black church studies program at Brite, said that the controversy over Dr. Wright's sermons is an indication of how little many whites know about what happens routinely at many black churches.
"It's news to you," she said. "Black America has long known about the tradition of religious formation within mainline white congregations. Now, for the very first time in history, mainline America, white America is finding out something about its black church."
“Mr. Wright has been cited by Mr. Obama as his longtime pastor and spiritual mentor. In the last couple of weeks, parts of some of Mr. Wright's sermons have been repeatedly rebroadcast. In the sound bites, he attacks the Iraq war, says that AIDS was produced by the U.S. government and calls for God's condemnation of the U.S. for its policies on illegal drugs.”
But that needs to be set into the context of preachers like Dr. King, who once called America "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today," Dr. Floyd-Thomas said. And he had been scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "Why America May Go to Hell" on the Sunday after he was assassinated in 1968, she added.
That is some of what I read at ucc.org. Here is what I read in the gospel of John this week.
“When it was evening of that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his wounded hands, his wounded side.”
And Jesus said to his disciples. As God has sent me, so I send you. When he said this he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
The healing begins and peace enters our hearts when we forgive one another the sins of our frightened forefathers who taught us to fear someone because they were different than us; whether the difference was race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, age, nationality, political party, or denomination.
The healing begins and peace enters into our communities when we move from the safety of our familiar homes and move out into the wider world and see how the other half lives, to walk a mile in their shoes.
The healing begins and peace enters our world when receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit that unites all of humanity with all of creation and with the understanding that peace and reconciliation can only come through our commitment to:
Sacrifice – Sacrifice that is spiritual; that is courageous and steadfast in its willingness to endure great hardship for others. Service to Others – Service that is predicated on empowering others; engendering self-help, self-determination, and self-sufficiency versus charity.
Acceptance of all People – An essential ingredient for success in organizing diverse forces to achieve social change, create community, and actualize democracy is the acceptance of all people; an absolutely indispensable necessity to the well-being of this country.
By the way, those three commitments to Sacrifice, Service, and Acceptance come from the Core Values of Non-violence of Cesar Chavez, who birthday was today. Happy birthday Cesar Chavez. Another prophet like Jeremiah Wright whose complaint about what is wrong in our society and his commitment to the foundational values of this nation caused him to do something …right.
Also, in the Gospel reading for today we read that Thomas needed to touch the wounds of Jesus in order to believe that he was the risen Christ. The wound that we in America need to touch is the wound of racism, that in spite of all the distance we have come, including a black American, possibly becoming the next President, too many Americans of color are treated as second-class citizens in this great nation. It is not an excuse for violence or victimhood, but it is an illness that needs to be treated with peace, with honesty, with forgiveness and reconciliation.
Finally, as a sign of life coming out of death, the United Church of Christ is currently raising funds to buy a full page ad in the New York Times to explain to the nation who we are as a nation and what we truly stand for.
In the meantime, you can be a part of this work by simply telling one another what you know and love about this church where it is said, every Sunday, “No matter who you are and where you on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
Rev. Alan Claassen
March 30, 2008
In response to the treatment of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Trinity UCC in Chicago.
Written before the interview with Bill Moyers
and the appearance before the National Press Club
It is has been a quiet week on Lake U.C.C.
Actually I have been so busy with Holy Week and the lecture by Michael Dowd that I have not had time to watch TV, see the repeated soundbites of Rev. Jeremiah Wright damning America or hearing Barack Obama’s speech on racism. But I have had time to do a little research on our ucc.org web page and I would like to share with you what I learned from others about my colleague and our brother in Christ, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the church that he built from 87 members to over 1,000 members.
J. Bennett Guess March 14, 2008
“In the wake of misleading attacks on its mission and ministry, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ is being lauded by United Church of Christ leaders across the nation for the integrity of its worship, the breadth of its community involvement and the depth of its commitment to social justice.
Located in the heart of Chicago's impoverished Southside, Trinity UCC's vast array of ministries include career development and college placement, tutorial and computer services, health care and support groups, domestic violence programs, pastoral care and counseling, bereavement services, drug and alcohol recovery, prison ministry, financial counseling and credit union, housing and economic development, dozens of choral, instrumental and dance groups, and diverse programming for all ages, including youth and senior citizens.”
The Rev. Steve Gray, the UCC's Indiana-Kentucky Conference Minister, describes Trinity UCC as a "jewel."
"It's everything a Christian community is supposed to be," says Gray, who has been working with Trinity UCC for the past three years to develop a new UCC congregation in Gary, Ind. "Trinity has given well over $100,000 in support of its partnership with us, and in 15 months of regular meetings with Jeremiah Wright, we always found him to be a man of gracious hospitality, humor, generosity, who paid attention to detail but also a man who does not call attention to himself."
Gray, a member of First Congregational UCC in Indianapolis, has worshiped several times at Trinity UCC and is most impressed by the overflowing sense of welcome it extends to visitors.
"When you're Euro-American, the people [at Trinity UCC] are so exceedingly gracious, warm and welcoming. They hug you and say, 'Welcome to our church!'"
The Rev. Bennie Whiten, retired Massachusetts Conference Minister who prior served for 15 years as associate director of Chicago's Community Renewal Society, says, Whiten, a member of Pilgrim UCC in Oak Park, Ill., is especially taken with Trinity UCC's commitment to the need and importance of quality theological education. More than 60 members of Trinity UCC are currently enrolled in seminary and pursuing masters-level degrees. Moreover, the congregation pays for students' tuition costs.
"They firmly believe in the UCC's commitment to an educated, seminary-trained clergy," Whiten said, "and they have probably had more people feeling the call to ministry than any other church in the denomination."
The Rev. Susan Thistlethwaite, president and professor of theology at UCC-related Chicago Theological Seminary
"Another thing I really appreciate about Trinity is that its ministries are always directed both inward, toward the congregation itself, and also outward in supporting other congregations ecumenically and supporting community organizations that are dedicated to lifting up the wider society," Thistlethwaite says. "We have had so many fine students come through Chicago Theological Seminary who were helped to discern their call to ministry through this church's dedication to serving the wider church."
The Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel, pastor of Victory UCC in Stone Mountain, Ga.,
While Trinity UCC is the denomination's largest congregation, Samuel's 5,300-member church is the UCC's second largest. Founded in 1987, it joined the UCC in 2004.
"Trinity was really one of the churches that inspired me to want to affiliate with the United Church of Christ," Samuel said. "My church was originally National Baptist and Southern Baptist, but it was the critical-thinking that [Trinity] brought to this work, the justice work, that helped me to want to become a part of the denomination. I have no regrets about that."
Carol Brown, national president of United Black Christians and a member of Cleveland's Mt. Zion UCC for more than 50 years, describes Trinity UCC as "the flagship church of the United Church of Christ."
"I think it's very interesting that a minority group within a denomination can have the largest church, support the most ministries and give the largest number of OCWM [mission] dollars," Brown says. "That speaks well for us as an accepting, open and affirming denomination. Especially, as a justice-oriented church, [Trinity UCC] sets a standard for all the denomination that all are welcome."
The Rev. Dr. John P. Gardner is senior minister of Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne, United Church of Christ, Fort Wayne.
How ironic that a pastor and congregation which, for forty-five years, has cast its lot with a predominantly white denomination, participating fully in its wider church life and contributing generously to it, would be accused of racial exclusion and a failure to reach for racial reconciliation.”
m
By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News
“More than two dozen well-known black preachers and scholars, in Dallas for a long-planned conference, offered unequivocal support Friday for one of their number who was not there.
“The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, now world-famous as the former pastor and spiritual mentor of presidential candidate Barack Obama, was to be the guest of honor at the Black Church Summit held by Brite Divinity School. Amid the recent controversy about some of his sermons, Dr. Wright decided not to attend, but the summit started Friday as scheduled.”
Most of the event was not open to the media, but several of the scholars and preachers spoke at a news conference. They said that Dr. Wright's sermons fit into a long-standing black tradition of prophetic preaching – one that the Rev. Martin Luther King also emerged from.
Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, director of the black church studies program at Brite, said that the controversy over Dr. Wright's sermons is an indication of how little many whites know about what happens routinely at many black churches.
"It's news to you," she said. "Black America has long known about the tradition of religious formation within mainline white congregations. Now, for the very first time in history, mainline America, white America is finding out something about its black church."
“Mr. Wright has been cited by Mr. Obama as his longtime pastor and spiritual mentor. In the last couple of weeks, parts of some of Mr. Wright's sermons have been repeatedly rebroadcast. In the sound bites, he attacks the Iraq war, says that AIDS was produced by the U.S. government and calls for God's condemnation of the U.S. for its policies on illegal drugs.”
But that needs to be set into the context of preachers like Dr. King, who once called America "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today," Dr. Floyd-Thomas said. And he had been scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "Why America May Go to Hell" on the Sunday after he was assassinated in 1968, she added.
That is some of what I read at ucc.org. Here is what I read in the gospel of John this week.
“When it was evening of that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his wounded hands, his wounded side.”
And Jesus said to his disciples. As God has sent me, so I send you. When he said this he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
The healing begins and peace enters our hearts when we forgive one another the sins of our frightened forefathers who taught us to fear someone because they were different than us; whether the difference was race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, age, nationality, political party, or denomination.
The healing begins and peace enters into our communities when we move from the safety of our familiar homes and move out into the wider world and see how the other half lives, to walk a mile in their shoes.
The healing begins and peace enters our world when receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit that unites all of humanity with all of creation and with the understanding that peace and reconciliation can only come through our commitment to:
Sacrifice – Sacrifice that is spiritual; that is courageous and steadfast in its willingness to endure great hardship for others. Service to Others – Service that is predicated on empowering others; engendering self-help, self-determination, and self-sufficiency versus charity.
Acceptance of all People – An essential ingredient for success in organizing diverse forces to achieve social change, create community, and actualize democracy is the acceptance of all people; an absolutely indispensable necessity to the well-being of this country.
By the way, those three commitments to Sacrifice, Service, and Acceptance come from the Core Values of Non-violence of Cesar Chavez, who birthday was today. Happy birthday Cesar Chavez. Another prophet like Jeremiah Wright whose complaint about what is wrong in our society and his commitment to the foundational values of this nation caused him to do something …right.
Also, in the Gospel reading for today we read that Thomas needed to touch the wounds of Jesus in order to believe that he was the risen Christ. The wound that we in America need to touch is the wound of racism, that in spite of all the distance we have come, including a black American, possibly becoming the next President, too many Americans of color are treated as second-class citizens in this great nation. It is not an excuse for violence or victimhood, but it is an illness that needs to be treated with peace, with honesty, with forgiveness and reconciliation.
Finally, as a sign of life coming out of death, the United Church of Christ is currently raising funds to buy a full page ad in the New York Times to explain to the nation who we are as a nation and what we truly stand for.
In the meantime, you can be a part of this work by simply telling one another what you know and love about this church where it is said, every Sunday, “No matter who you are and where you on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
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