Blog Archives

Down By the Sea -- January 29, 2017

1/29/2017

(How many fellow Ohioans are here?)

Recently I came across this statement on Facebook: “24 astronauts were born in Ohio. What makes it about your state that makes people want to flee the earth?” As a former Ohioan, at first I was insulted, but then it got me thinking – and I had to agree with comedian Jeff Foxworthy, who astutely points out: You might just be from Ohio if: driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow. You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows. You know all the 4 seasons: Winter, Still Winter, almost Winter and Construction. If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you may live in Ohio. If you find 10 degrees "a little chilly", you may live in Ohio. The snow storm this past week? Felt like home sweet home.

They say (in Ohio) that you can take the girl out of Ohio, but you can never take the Ohio of the girl. When I moved to New York to go to college, then seminary, I never thought I would be spending the bulk of my life and my ministry here. I slowly became a NY transplant – having left the city that launched a thousand jokes about “Mistake on the lake” “the river that caught fire” Even the mayor’s hair caught on fire, once. That’s my city. Cleveland, Ohio.

So I understand why Jesus had to leave Nazareth. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” his disciple Nathaniel pondered (John 1:46). Not to mention that the hometown people rejected Jesus after his first sermon – unable to accept his new status, ready to run him out of town (in this case over a cliff) causing Jesus to sadly state: “A prophet is never accepted in his hometown” (Luke 4:24). What cinched it for Jesus was the news that his cousin John had been arrested. Jesus was starting a new phase in his life – a time now of public ministry. However, Jesus didn’t chose Jerusalem, the capital, the official seat of all things Jewish to spread the Gospel’s good news. Instead he chose to go eastward, to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and made his home base in Capernaum, a fishing village on the northern shore.

The rabbis declared of the Sea of Galilee that, “Although God has created seven seas, yet He has chosen this one as His special delight.” It was truly a beautiful place – blue water against the backdrop of mountains –hot mineral springs, lowest freshwater lake on earth teeming with fish, surrounded by fertile soil. Jesus would travel along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, traveling to Jerusalem and Judea and back. He encountered all sorts of people, from Jewish zealots, conservative religious leaders, hated Samaritans and despised foreigners, loathed Romans. Jesus’ ministry along the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee was significant: Here he gave more than half of his parables and it is estimated that twenty-five of thirty-three were performed in the general Galilee area -- eighteen miracles performed in the villages near Capernaum.

The significance of the Sea of Galilee in Jesus’ ministry is highlighted by the fact that some of the first and some of the last events in his ministry involving his disciples occur here. Our passage from Matthew depicts how Jesus called four of his disciples from among the fishermen in the area (Mt 4). In Luke’s version, Jesus tells the disciples to go out in to the deep water and let their nets out. Their catch was so great, the boat nearly sank-- (Luke 5:4) -- Peter -- falls on his knees and exclaims, “go away, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus replies, as he does here in Matthew, “I will make you fishers of people.” At the other end of Jesus’ life, recorded in the gospel of John, after Jesus was crucified and resurrected -- the disciples return home to the sea to fish. Jesus appears on the lakeshore, and again encourages them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. The catch was huge, almost sinking the boat, and they counted 153 fish. 153 was the number of fish species cataloged by Pliny the Elder in his "Natural History" – considered the number to symbolize the totality of humanity" (Jn 21: 1-21). Jesus feed his disciples fish on the beach that early morning – reminiscent of the times he fed the five thousand men, women and children from the miraculous multiplication of five loaves of bread and two fish from the shore of the Sea. It is down by the sea that Jesus forges a new family of faith, beginning with a handful of fishermen.

Jesus chose to be near the sea, despite the fact the Jews historically were not seafarers; they were desert nomads. Their ancestors Abraham and Sarah were nomads, and shepherded in the Negev. At one point, the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years before settling in the Promised Land. They rarely controlled the seacoast. Even King David spent his childhood caring for sheep in the wilderness pasture around Bethlehem and wandered in the wilderness of Judea for some time before becoming king. The Israelites were never at home on the sea.

The sea in general has a negative connotation throughout the Bible. To them, the sea appeared alien and threatening. The flooding waters of the sea were often a tool of God's judgment: as in the Great Flood in Noah’s time, which covered the earth. Later, when the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s armies were drowned (Gen. 6, 7; Ex. 14). Jonah was thrown into the depths, swallowed by a large fish, because he turned disobeyed God (Jonah 2:3-6).

In the New Testament, the sea continued to symbolize chaos, evil, and evil beings. The depths of the sea are seen as the home of demons, a place called the Abyss, the home of evil spirits, according to Jewish tradition. The sea was the home of the terrible dragon, Leviathan (Isa. 27:1, 51:9-10). It was believed that someday the devil himself will rise from the sea (Rev. 13:1). Only God could control the sea and the evil it contained (Ps. 65:5-7, 77:19, 89:9, 93:3-4; Ex. 14-15; Isa. 51:10). This is where Jesus chose to make his new home. Down by the sea.

In his ministry, Jesus demonstrated his authority over the sea and its destructive power. He walked on the stormy water (Mark 6:47-50; Matt. 14:22-33; John 6:16-20). He calmed the storms on the sea (Mark 4:35-41; Matt. 8:23-27; Luke 8:22-25) . He even empowered Peter, his disciple, to walk on the water (Matt. 14:28-32). These acts showed that Jesus had authority over the sea and all it contained. Jesus’ teaching and training of his disciples proved that Jesus has authority over the leviathans dwelling in the dark depths of our hearts. Jesus knows how to bring calm and peace to us, as he did to the Sea of Galilee.

Having grown up by the Lake Erie (can you imagine a spookier name for a body of water)—I understand the why Jesus would carry out a powerful ministry by the sea. I think of all those precious summer days that weren’t overcast, hanging out on the beach, just ten minutes from my house. Looking out on the horizon, wondering where Canada was out there. Feeling the pull of imagination and mystery -- open to potential. At the same time I was always reminded, even fearful, of the awesome, deadly powers of such great bodies of water – of boats capsized and people who drowned. The sea spoke to Jesus –for the sea reflected the human condition – and the sea was the perfect training grounds for Jesus’ disciples.

The thing was: people were afraid of the sea – they didn’t know how to swim -- but yet took their main sustenance from the sea. In the gospels, it is never recorded that people ate meat. Meat was a rarity. Fish was the common meal. When Jesus feeds the multitude, it is bread and fish (probably dried fish, since fresh fish was beyond the reach of the poor.) Even the rich grumbled at the cost of fish: The Greek biographer Plutarch reports a complaint that "a fish sells for more at Rome than a cow...)

So Jesus confronted all these ancient, deep-seated fears. He allowed himself to be baptized by his cousin, John, to set a new course. He embraced and reclaimed the water. In his adopted seaside hometown, he made his claim over the sea. He was not afraid of what the abyss contained. He took fishing practices and made them into outreach practices for people: Jesus encouraged his disciples to: “toss the net from the other side,” “go to the other side,” “go out into the deep.” He taught them how to go through the storm, to be still, to have peace in turmoil; to feed people, to teach people from the shore – the marker between the known world and unknown world. The disciples are called to give witness to how God is with us in the storms. God sees us through the life storms. With Jesus, we can find peace, in the storms. The waves fomented by our fears can be stilled, in the boat, in the deep, with Jesus.

Jesus chose ministry by the sea, because we are like the sea – full of potential for new life, possibilities, nourishment, spirituality: as well as the presence of danger, demons and destruction. Energies of both dark and light. Jesus calls us into relationship with God, on the shore/boundary place. Jesus teaches us to fish for our very lives; just as he fishes us out of the deep. He teaches us to fish for the lives of others – others who live in that deep, who can’t escape the abyss on their own. They need help. We need to fish.

It is not surprising that the fish was a symbol for Christianity in the early years. The Greek word for fish (ICHTUS), is an acrostic, as each Greek letter stands for the words "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior" the earliest confession of the disciples. Second-century theologian Tertullian put it this way: "we, little fishes, after the image of our Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in the water."

Our lives are a sea. Jesus has made us fishers of the deep. Beach combers. Fishers in the storm, in the abyss, in the fear, in the stillness, in the promise. We are all called on a journey to new homes, places and situations. We are called to the shore, where Jesus is. In the light dawning down by the sea. We are called: follow me – he says -- it is time to fish – and from the depths will come a new humanity – forged in water and spirit- of dreams that ebb and flow with the waves, where the shore, carrying the voice of Jesus, beckons the sea. Amen.

0 Comments

Wedding Signs - January 22, 2017

1/22/2017

0 Comments

A cartoon has been making its way through cyberspace that depicts stacks of bottles of wine, underneath is the caption: Jesus was here. Out of all the miracles of Jesus, or “signs” as the Gospel of John prefers to call them, the miracle of changing the water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana has lent itself to more jokes than we can imagine. For example:   Jesus walks into a bar with his disciples and tells the bartender, “"Thirteen glasses of water, please!

Satan walked into the same packed bar a week later and shouts, “I'm fed up with hearing all about the wonders of Jesus turning water into wine so I'm going to spoil the fun and turn it all the alcohol into water." There was a blinding flash and all at once everyone’s drinks turns into water.   "Cheers Satan,” a voice piped up, "I was drinking a bud light, so this is much stronger."

        Finally there’s a modern version of Jesus walking into a Starbucks and turning the lemon water into a soy latte.

        So this miracle, or sign, has gotten a lot of mileage over the years. According to John, it is his first miracle of his public ministry. From the sounds of the story, it wasn’t even a planned intervention.   Jesus is an invited guest at a wedding in Cana, with his disciples, and his mother, Mary, is also there.

        Weddings were huge social events in the ancient world, just as they are now, but then they involved not just the immediate family and friends, but the entire village. In dreary, grueling, monotonous village life a wedding was a break from hardships of routine living. So there was an expectation that the family would provide appropriately for the guests who had come to celebrate this marriage. Accommodations along with the best food and drink the family could afford signified not only the importance of the event and but conveyed the value of hospitality, the highest code of conduct people lived by. It was a matter of family honor to pull off what was often a week-long celebration. Families then as now saved for years, sold the prize cow, to afford a proper wedding.

But then an unthinkable emergency happened. Somehow, at some point during the celebration, the wine ran out. An unheard of miscalculation. A social catastrophe in the making. Even today we can imagine the embarrassment of a modern wedding couple if the liquor suddenly ceased to flow at their reception. No more booze? Let the wedding cake topple over, let the chicken be dried out, let the Let the DJ not show up, let the flower girls throw a tantrum, but friends, at a wedding, the alcohol must flow.

It is not Jesus, but Mary, his mother who notices the predicament. Recall that Mary once declared, in the song we call the Magnificat, “he fills the hungry with good things.” Out of this sense of goodness for those who would face great shame in their community, shame from which they would not recover, she turned to her son, says, “They have no wine!” Jesus is respectful but hesitant.   His hour has not come, Jesus says. How often we seek the right timing or wait for just the right moment to make a pronouncement or take a desired action. Jesus, fortunately, realized like Dr. King once said, “the time is always right to do what is right.” So Jesus instructs the servants to fill the six huge stone water jars with water and take it to the chief steward. Upon tasting it, the steward declares it to be the best wine ever – the best saved for last.

Mary took a stand against humiliation and for compassion, and this interchange between Mary and Jesus reflects the encouragement for action between Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. By refusing to give up her seat on the bus on that ordinary day, December 5, 1955, in Montgomery, Parks set the stage for King’s entry into that civil rights moment.

        In their joint action, his ministry to the nation was opened. She declared that the moment was at hand. Dr. King was the relatively unknown but rising force at the Dexter Street Baptist church, when he was called upon to head the Montgomery Improvement Association. Under Dr. King’s leadership the historic Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted 381 days, resulted in a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.   Did Dr. King know his hour had arrived? Surely he had his qualms and indecision. But he responded to the situation brought forth by Rosa Parks, and others before her.

“While Martin Luther King, Jr did not change water into wine, he did change a movement into the new wine of commitment. Thousands gathered to hear him. He did raise those whose lives were decaying in death, he led the sanitation workers strike in Memphis, TN. King proclaimed to the educated of America that they needed to born again in mind and spirit to see the sin of racism and poverty. Writing an unforgettable letter to white clergy in a Birmingham jail, King lifted up the dead daughters of Birmingham, killed in a bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church. Yes King lifted up a cup of living waters, transformed to the wine of justice and compassion and we drink from it still."

“From his studies and years of activism, Dr. King further developed the concept of the Beloved Community as a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. Citing King’s papers, in the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.”

[We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. . . .
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. MLK,Jr.“Strength to Love”]
Our scriptures lift up for us the wedding feast of Cana, the restoration of the land in Isaiah where the redeemed people are renamed, “My Delight Is in Her,” your land Married, so shall God rejoice in God’s people. These are the seeds of the Beloved Community. The scriptures abound with signs of marriage, culminating in the book of Revelation with the New Heavens and the New Earth as an image of the marriage feast with the Lamb, which will last eternally.   So this most intimate covenant between a couple, their family and clans is now a sign of loving care among humanity. The first sign of this heavenly wedding is manifesting under the aegis of the Beloved Community, at which Jesus is at the center and prime mover.

The task has been laid before us. Sören Kierkegaard, the 19th century philosopher, once commented: "Christ turned water into wine, but the church has succeeded in doing something even more difficult: it has turned wine into water." By our inaction, turning a blind eye to sin and injustice, by actively participating in evil, we have turned the wine, the first fruits of the kingdom, the glory of Jesus backed into water. We have disgraced the wedding banquet. We have toppled the cake, ruined the dinner, ran off the DJ, and stopped the flow of the precious wine.

However it doesn’t have to be this way. Our celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks, and through them the civil rights movement shows us the signs of the wedding are everywhere. They are there whenever we say no to oppression and yes to love and justice. They are there when we are invited to take action to help others, and we say yes, even if we are not ready.   The signs are there whenever we take delight in what is right, good and just.

So let us be the signs of wedding by forging the Beloved Community wherever God plants us. Turn water into wine through our caring, our joy, our commitment to turn wrongs into rights, the tragedies and complications into celebration.   This way, the glory of God will be revealed and God will take delight in us—and we as signs of the wedding feast – will be a delight to the world.
Amen.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/biteintheapple/cana-an-unexpected-time/
http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy#sthash.NQCtbq8q.dpuf
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth106169.html

0 Comments

Following Jesus Like Martin, January 15, 2017

1/15/2017

0 Comments

1 Samuel 3:1-10; John 1:43-51

In 1934 a number of significant events happened in Germany.   The state passed the "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" which allowed for the compulsory sterilization of anyone with “questionable” genetic traits – for example, mental illness, blindness, deafness, alcoholism, as well as any number of inherited diseases. In 1934, in Germany, all the police forces came under the direction of Heimlich Himmler, the leader of the “SS” -- the paramilitary organization of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. In 1934 German Christian leaders opposing the church’s support of the Nazi movement issued the Barmen Declaration. In 1934, beginning on June 30, the “Night of the Long Knives” occurred, where Nazi operatives murdered key political opponents. At least 85 people were assassinated in this 3 day purge; some scholars put the total number upwards to 1000. Shortly after the Night of the Long Knives, on August 2, Adolf Hitler is declared Fuhrer or head of state, as well as Chancellor of Germany.

In 1934, the Baptist World Alliance held its conference in Berlin, just shortly after Adolf Hitler rise to power. Many Baptists spoke boldly against the racism, nationalism and militarism so prevalent in the Germany of 1934. The Baptist World Alliance also passed a strong resolution on the separation of church and state. Others however, praised Hitler. They praised his prohibition of women wearing red lipstick in public. They praised Hitler because he did not smoke or drink. One prominent Baptist leader extolled that: It was a great relief to be in a country where salacious sex literature cannot be sold; where putrid motion pictures and gangster films cannot be shown. The new Germany has burned great masses of corrupting books and magazines along with its bonfires of Jewish and communistic libraries (Watchman-Examiner XXII 37 (September 13, 1934).

Present for these deliberations was the Rev. Michael King Sr., Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. King, who already had a reputation as a civil rights leader, returned home and decided to change his name, and the name of his five-year old son, from Michael to Martin Luther, the name of the prominent German reformer who sought to purify the church from corrupt practices back in 1517.    So Rev. Michael King, in the face of Nazism, in the face racism and oppression in the United States, renamed himself and his son with the name of a powerful reformer.

        “Little Mike” known to us as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., a Baptist minister following his father’s footsteps in ministry and leader in the civil rights movement, did not know as a six year old the mantel his father placed on his shoulders.   That mantel could be summed up in King Sr.’s address to his colleagues with the words of Jesus, taken from the prophet Isaiah: -- We must not forget the words of God that describe the true mission of the Church ‘‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.… In this we ﬁnd we are to do something about the brokenhearted, poor, unemployed, the captive, the blind, and the bruised’’ (King, Sr., 17 October 1940).

For Martin Luther King Jr, being renamed after a prominent reformer only made sense in the everyday witness and activism of his father standing up for the poor and against racism. Martin Luther King, Jr. relates a story in his biography that once the car his father was driving was stopped by a police officer, and the officer addressed the senior King as "boy". King pointed to his son, saying "This is a boy, I'm a man; until you call me one, I will not listen to you."

        Today we acknowledge our spiritual debt to King, Sr. and Jr. We are additionally fortunate to have as well the examples of Samuel and Nathaniel in our lessons today. Samuel, a young apprentice to the priest, Eli, is called over and over again by the Lord in the middle of the night. Samuel keeps waking Eli, thinking it is Eli’s voice. Eli recognizes that the Lord is calling the boy, and teaches him that the next time the Lord calls, to say, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” In our gospel lesson, Nathaniel is brought to Jesus through his friend, Philip. Philip gives testimony to Nathaniel and invites him along, despite Nathaniel’s now famous quip: “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Disciples are not born – they are molded by other faithful people. Disciples are forged in response to the love of God and in reaction to the evils happening in the world around them.

        Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was called to faith by many people, especially is father. Today, as we remember and give thanks for so many of his deeds and accomplishments in the civil rights movement, we remember one of his most important tasks that remain today. That task is calling us, his fellow brothers and sisters, to the ministry of justice and reconciliation in a world where racism, poverty and inequality still exist. Dr. King saw this as a natural, sacred duty that flows naturally from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

On March 31, 1968, King preached his last sermon at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington DC. It was appropriately titled, “Remaining Awake through the Great Revolution.” King began his sermon recounting the tale of Rip Van Winkle who fell asleep for 20 years.    When Rip fell asleep the picture of King George the III was on a sign board. Twenty years later, the picture on the sign board was George Washington. Rip didn’t know who he was or what had happened. He had slept through a revolution. Now King’s final church sermon to those people of faith who came to worship that day was the prophetic message which rings true to us today:

“…one of the great liabilities of life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands. They end up sleeping through a revolution.”

The danger is that we can be like Samuel who doesn’t recognize who is calling him, because he is ignorant and asleep. We can be like Nathaniel who judges Nazareth by old traditions, old sayings, unaware of the presence of Jesus for the past 30 years.   We can be like those Baptist ministers, applauding Hitler for not drinking or smoking, for prohibiting red lipstick and smutty literature, all the while blind to the larger evil set in motion that would result in a second world war with up to 85 million deaths within the next ten years.

King in his legacy, teaches us to be disciples, true followers of Jesus. Discipleship begins when we spiritually wake up. Before he was assassinated, King began to not only see the interrelatedness of all life and the threat of what he called the “the triplet evils of racism, materialism and militarism.” In his last sermon King reminds us “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.” Our life of faith is molded by others. Additionally our life is molded in how we respond to others. So part of King’s concern was awakening the white conscience – what he called the “the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time." The time is now to do what is right.

In his last sermon, King explained what awakened his faith to the human revolution taking place. It was seeing the poor throughout Latin America; Africa; Asia; coming to the realization that God’s children went to bed hungry at night; slept on sidewalks at night. Brothers and sisters of ours with no beds to sleep in; no houses to go in. The vast majority who have never seen a doctor or a dentist. These people brought him more deeply to faith.

King said, as he noticed these things, something within him cried out, "Can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned?" he started thinking of the fact that in America millions are spent to store surplus food, and he thought, "I know where we can store that food free of charge—in the wrinkled stomachs of millions of God’s children all over the world who go to bed hungry at night."

     In that last sermon King notes that his discipleship was fashioned by 40 million people in our own country that were poverty-stricken. In the ghettos of the North; in the rural areas of the South; in Appalachia – King found deplorable situations that left him crying. What ate at King’s heart was the knowledge that we have the resources to get rid of poverty. We lack however the will.

King was awakened to the fact that nothing would be done until people of goodwill put their bodies and their souls in motion and became true disciples of Jesus. Because, King noted: “There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right. I believe today that there is a need for all people of goodwill to come with a massive act of conscience and say in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "We ain’t goin’ study war no more.”

Today, through King’s words that were spoken 47 years ago, we are awakened to faith. King points out the way to follow Jesus, just as his father did for him when he was just five.   We are called to reform what isn’t in line with the gospel of love, truth and righteousness. Like King Sr., who was awakened in Germany as Hitler took control -- we must be awakened in the trials of our time – that very same racism, militarism and materialism. Will we be like Rip, busy with our technological distractions, and not see what is happening around us? A revolution of conscience is taking place. It is calling us. Let us wake up and say, Speak Lord, your servant is listening. Let us hear Jesus words: he beckons us: Follow me. Let us follow Jesus, Like Martin – both father and son. Amen.

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/599266/us_has_fourth-highest_income_inequality_rate_in_the_world
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most     -startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/

0 Comments

Like a Dove, January 8, 2017

1/8/2017

0 Comments

Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-18, 21-22

We are still early enough in our New Year to entertain platitudes and wise sayings to guide our journey into the months ahead. Consider this story:

There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails. For a few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired: "Where do you come from?"

"I come from heaven!" replied the swan. "And where is heaven?" asked the crane.

"Heaven!" said the swan, "Heaven! have you never heard of heaven?"

And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations. In eloquent terms the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in the other world, but without arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane.

Finally the crane asked: "Are there any snails there?" "Snails!" repeated the swan; "no! Of course there are not."    "Then," said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, "you can have your heaven. I want snails!"

Besides the debate about snails in heaven, our story reminds us that it is a new year, a new beginning, the start of new possibilities. We are reminded of the potential that lies ahead for us. We are asked, what do we search for and apply ourselves to: Heaven or stay stuck in the mundane matters of life: seeking snails. Here at Union there are great goals to accomplish – growing in faith, as a church community and finding a settled pastor. In each of our hearts are dreams, a 2017 bucket list. We need vision and encouragement to help us recall why we are here and what we are called to do.

        Just last week, we read the story of the child Jesus receiving the affirmation and gifts of the wise men, as he began his life. Now, today we encounter Jesus as an adult ready to embark on a new phase of his life journey – his step into public ministry. In an account captured by all four gospel writers, Jesus enters public life through baptism at the hands of his cousin John. As he enters the Jordan River, and allows himself to be immersed, Jesus identifies as one of us – as a members of the loved, but sinful human community in need of redemption.

The Gospel of Luke tells us that as Jesus was praying in the midst of his baptism, the heavens opened to affirm him as he embarks on his public ministry of preaching the good News and the gospel of reconciliation – to mark this time as sacred and significant. A Heavenly voice affirms Jesus: “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Powerful words to mark Jesus as he begins his work. These are Words to carry him through the trials and joys as he lives out the ministry of healing, teaching preaching, serving, confronting, forgiving and restoration. Jesus is given one more precious gift to mark the beginning of his public life. That gift is the Holy Spirit who descends upon him in bodily form like a dove. (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32).

Why a dove?   Out of all the birds whose shape the Holy Spirit could have assumed, why a dove?   Why not an eagle, the king of birds and ruler of the sky? Why not hawks or falcons, which vigilantly criss-cross the length of the Holy Land many times a day? Why not an owl for wisdom? A pelican as symbol of sacrifice? An ostrich whose eggs were placed in tombs and graves, as symbols of resurrection or immortality? Or a swan which symbolizes grace and purity? Or even the common sparrow for that matter – all birds people would have recognized? Why a dove? And what does that message have for us as we begin our new year, and embark on deepening and exploring ministry here at Union Church?

If you recall, the dove is one of the two birds mentioned in the story of Noah’s flood, which begins in Genesis 6. As the waters began to slowly recede, Noah first sent a raven from the window in the ark, and the raven flew back and forth until the waters were dried up, and it did not return. Next Noah sent a dove, but the dove returned to the ark after finding no place to rest its feet (Gen. 8:7-9). What’s worth noting here is that a raven will eat the bodies of dead animals, but a dove will not. When the dove went forth from the ark, it returned because doves will not rest on a carcass or eat decaying flesh.

Noah sent the dove out a second time and the dove and the dove returned to the ark with an olive leaf in its mouth. Of the hundreds of possible tree leaves to reappear after the earth was covered with water, the dove found the leaf of a tree created by God to produce olives. Olives produced a thick yellow oil, which was used to anoint the national and spiritual leaders of Israel (Ex. 30:25, 31). The olive branch in the ancient world has long been a symbol of peace, so the dove is the conveyor of the symbol of peace, a new start in a sin-ravaged world.

Finally Noah waits another 7 days and sends the dove out a third time – and this time the dove doesn’t return - signifying it’s safe to leave the Ark. So it is the dove that signals when the journey to a renewed earth, cleansed of sin.

Doves bridged the peace between humanity and God in another way. Turtledoves or young pigeons, was the sacrifice for sin in the Old Testament within the reach of the poor, who could not afford a lamb, or a ram or bull to sacrifice (Lev.1:14). Doves were a special offering for purification after a woman gave birth to a child (Lev. 12:5-6), a law about which Luke makes a point to detail that Mary and Joseph complied (Luke 2:22-24).

        There are other traits about doves that give us insight why the Holy Spirit chose to identify with this specific bird. Doves are not predatory. They do not attack other birds as hawks and many other birds do. A dove will withdraw from a fight if at all possible. Doves will not steal from other birds as ravens and other birds do.

Doves are faithful creatures: they mate for life. Baby doves get their milk from both its’ mother and father. Both genders create milk to nurture babies. The dove is the only male bird that creates milk. The cooing of turtledoves has been translated as the language of love, and not surprising the Song of Songs mentions doves seven times. The image of two doves has become a standard symbol for love, commitment and fidelity in marriage ceremonies.

        When most birds hover in the air, their wing tips point toward the back, in the direction of their tail feathers. On a dove, however, the wing tips point toward the head. This is unique and not lost when how the anointing oil was poured upon the heads of the kings and priests and prophets of Israel. The oil was poured from one ear, across the front of the head, to the other ear. It was poured in the form of a Hebrew letter kuf, whose shape is similar to a dove’s wings when it is hovering and its wings are opened. Just as the oil descended upon the heads of priests, the Holy Spirit manifested as a dove at Christ’s baptism and descended upon him, anointing Jesus to service and sacrifice.
Those who really get into dove symbolism love to note that there are nine main feathers on the left and right wings of the dove – as there are also nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7-10) and nine fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23.   So our lowly dove in its very body reminds us of the fullness of faith whose journey began in our baptism, and of the journey we embark on this day.

It is not surprising that the Holy Spirit chose to take the form of a dove to affirm Jesus of the ministry that lay ahead. It was a symbol to all who witnessed Jesus’ baptism, and is a witness to us, that Jesus too comes to bring peace & reconciliation in the midst of the floodwaters of sin. It is a symbol that Jesus is loving, faithful, lowly, non-predatory, as Jesus himself would extoll when he said: (Matt. 11: 28-29)"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."   Yet like the dove, Jesus would be the anointed sin-offering accessible to all humankind.

        Though one of the lowliest and most common of birds, the dove reminds us that the Holy Spirit loves us, is committed to us and anoints us for service – just like Jesus was. In our walk of faith in 2017 the dove reminds us to seek out opportunities to serve, and to be harbingers of peace and reconciliation. The dove reminds us of our forgiveness found in Jesus Christ, so too we can start over and bring the olive branch of good news of forgiveness to others.

The dove reminds us, through its common cousin, the pigeon, which is spread worldwide and everywhere in the city that God’s is also everywhere; and even when we fall, God is faithful. Today as we explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of Union Church, and by extension, of our own lives, the dove reminds us that God’s love and mercy are always present to us even minute of this year. God’s anointing is on us will accompany us wherever we do. The dove points to a vision that will safely guide us through the months ahead.

The dove reminds us we are called, anointed and equipped for ministry. We are capable and we have work to do – that only we can do.   It is one of our most precious possessions. It is a gift from God, like time, this gift of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the Dove, is a part of our life. So be peaceful, like the dove. Be faithful and loving, like the dove. Be a conveyor of forgiveness, like the dove.   Seek out the fruits of the spirit and the gifts of the Spirit as the dove reminds us.   Be an anointer and enabler of good works, as the dove symbolizes. Use time well, so that the Holy Spirit may descend upon you in all you do, in every minute, every hour, every day every week every month.. and create a year of service, love and peace. Like a dove. Amen.

0 Comments

Gifts that Endure -- January 1, 2017

1/1/2017

0 Comments

Matthew 2:1-12

   Happy New Year!
Before there were decked out Christmas trees with twinkling lights, before there were boxed CD sets with your favorite Christmas carols, sung by Glee or Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber; and before there were lawn decorations of glowing Santas and reindeers, candy canes and life sized nativity sets, and before there existed after-Christmas sales with 40% off for early bird shoppers, we are reminded once more there was the original story of the Word made Flesh. There was the original journey and there was those first gifts. The original gifts to Jesus that have meaning for us as we deal with gifts that have already been eaten, broken, stashed away to be re-gifted.    The original gifts given once more to us today to prepare us on our journey into the New Year.

          The visit of the Wise men, or “magi” from the east is one of the most exotic and mysterious stories of our Christmas narrative, that usually falls on Epiphany, January 6, the official end of the Christmas season.   These magi were the scientists, priests, astronomers/astrologers, the philosophers of their culture, advisors to their kings and people in power. Legend even tells us that they came from Asia, Africa and Europe – the entire known world at that time – signifying the fulfillment of the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 2 that all nations shall stream to the house of the Lord.

So the Wise men, or the wise ones, as I prefer to call them, are here to advise and teach us in our New Year. They share their wisdom with us and they guide us as we struggle to name and claim our gifts to bring to Jesus and we seek to set our course for the New Year.

Our lesson begins when the wise ones, following the star, find Jesus and after a journey of about 1500 miles, finally found Jesus. As the wise ones offered their joyful worship to the Child Jesus, they presented gifts, unusual, practical and yet symbolic gifts, to him: Gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Gold has always been symbolic of wealth, beauty, power and royalty. The most essential item to any king or queen’s wardrobe is a golden crown on his or her head. In the book of Exodus, God instructed that the most the most sacred articles of the Tabernacle including the Ark of the Covenant, to be made of gold, overlaid with gold, or interwoven with gold (Exodus 25:10-40; 28:6-30; 30:1-10).

The same was true on an even larger scale in the temple, which King Solomon later built in Jerusalem to replace the tabernacle. Solomon himself took a liking to gold. It is said:   All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 2 Chron 9:20. Many monarchs and extremely wealthy surely find gold an easily acquired taste.

Even today we have a saying, “As good as gold,” or “worth their weight in gold,” implying that someone, or something, is solid, outstanding, tried and true. Gold, which doesn’t rust, is considered enduring, eternal even. Although gold has been used in currency since at least 700 BC, it’s not its monetary value that the Wise Ones want us to focus on. They brought gold to Jesus not just because his family would need it one day, but because Jesus was, in their estimation, King of the Jews, the foretold messiah. They brought a gift worthy of a king.

Most of us do not have much gold, per se, to offer. However, the wise ones would ask us, what is precious to us? Is it our actual wealth? What is of the greatest value in our lives?   What of the gift of our life itself?   Are not these things, these people, these activities, like gold before the throne of God? To worship well, to experience to the joy of the wise, all the gold of our lives must be first dedicated to God as we journey into 2016. Everything.   In turn, God must become the golden standard against which all we do is measured. What is the gold in our lives?   Let us name it and dedicate it to God to start our journey into 2016.

The wise ones offered a second gift; the gift of frankincense, a very expensive gift having a wonderful fragrance. It was used for a variety of purposes such as incense and worship (Ex. 30:23, 34), medical treatment, and as perfume (Song of Solomon 3:6; 4:14). God commanded the use of frankincense as a chief ingredient of the incense which was to be kept burning in the tabernacle and also in connection with the grain offering. (Exodus 30:34-38, Lev. 2) Thus this specially made incense was placed in front of the Ark of the Covenant within the Tent of Meeting in the Tabernacle. Incense produces an aroma, and an aromatic smoke when burned, that rises up into the air. It is thus seen as a symbol of prayers and offerings that are pleasing to God.

When the wise ones gave the infant Jesus a gift of frankincense, it symbolized the gift of our devotion, prayers, and our thanksgiving.   Our words are powerful. The wise ones advise us that the gift of frankincense is a gift of pleasing, praying words and praise that build up one another; a sacrifice of devotion, and a continual giving thanks to God. This is the sweet frankincense God seeks from our lives. To be praying people. An encouraging people, that buildings up one another, nothing is sweeter to God than this. That we proclaim as the psalmist does: “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2”

Frankincense was traditionally seen as a gift that signified Jesus as a High Priest who offered the sacrifices, and who himself made the greatest sacrifice of his life. However as we see, the gift of frankincense, asks us this and more: our journey into 2016 needs to include an active prayer life a life that daily builds people up with the words we have to offer. Do we pray for one another? Do our words build up? Do we make the sacrifices of praise and support that we can offer? This is the Frankincense the wise ones would place in our hands in 2016.

The Wise Ones gave Jesus a third gift called myrrh—like Frankincense another tree resin. In Exodus (30:22-33) God directed that the priests were to be "anointed" with a divinely-designed oil, the main ingredient of which was myrrh. This sacred oil was used in anointing the Tent of Meeting and the sacred articles in it, as well as to anoint Aaron and his sons for service to the Lord as priests. This use of myrrh points out its symbolism of consecration to active service to the Lord.

This type of special ritualistic anointing was also applicable to kings and prophets. For example, Samuel anointed Saul and later David to be king over Israel (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13; Psalm 89:20). Myrrh also was used for a variety of purposes, such as: a perfume (Song of Solomon 3:6; 4:14), an anesthetic, burial embalming, and as a cosmetic used by women. The gospel of John (19:39) records that myrrh was used in Jesus' burial.

It is commonly believed that when the wise ones gave the baby Jesus the gift of myrrh, it was foreshadowing his death. Perhaps this is true.   However, the Old Testament evidence would have us consider that gift of Jesus being anointed, as Aaron, as Samuel was, and David was, to a life of total service to God, as King, prophet and priest.

So when the wise ones gave the infant Jesus a gift of myrrh, for us it symbolizes the gift of our willingness to serve Jesus actively in our lives by living according to the truth that Jesus teaches. Myrrh asks us: how will we dedicate our lives to God in 2016? What is your gift or gifts of service? How has God anointed us to serve?    It isn’t a question of has God called us to serve, but to what has God called us to serve.   Each of us has gifts and talents. Each of us has gold. Each of us has sweet-smelling frankincense to offer up. This is what our Mission Review Team and our Stewardship season calls us to discern – how shall we best serve God through the ministries of Union Church through our time, our talents, and our financial gifts?   Now it is time to use the myrrh to fully dedicate everything we have and who we are to the active service of our Lord.

Perhaps, like for Jesus, will this myrrh of dedicated service will entail some suffering as it will some joy? The wise ones ask us to name our gifts, the gold of our lives, the frankincense of the deepest prayers and words of encouragement we have to offer, the myrrh of the suffering and joy of our service. As we lay our gifts before God today: are we also willing to open the gifts of the gold, frankincense and myrrh that God has to offer us? G        od wants to give us his very self. God prays for us, God gives us His Holy Spirit, and anoints us for service. Our Cup runs over.

We remember as we prepare to pray and come to the Lord’s table, those wise ones, the example of their giving, the giving not just of their gifts, but of their journey and their worship. These wise ones could travels so far on star beams, to encounter Jesus bearing gifts with joy and worship, they avoided the danger of Herod through attention to a dream and they go home a different route. The same is true for us – in the dedication of our lives in this New Year, we accept that these gifts will take us on journeys never before imagined – and new roads, and new dreams by staying open to the gifts and the Great Giver.

Let us dedicate our lives like the wise ones: who although we never hear from them again, their story never ceases to touch us: to follow the star beams to Jesus no matter how long it takes. To bring forth our gold, all our devotions and prayers and words, to dedication our lives, with all its sorrows and joys to God.   Our gold, our frankincense and our myrrh – original gifts from that original journey – a journey that now has become ours to continue this year.
Amen.

0 Comments

Down By the Sea -- January 29, 2017

Wedding Signs - January 22, 2017

Following Jesus Like Martin, January 15, 2017

Like a Dove, January 8, 2017

Gifts that Endure -- January 1, 2017

Author

Archives

Categories