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"Eyes Wide Open"  March 26, 2017

3/26/2017

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Some tme ago a video on the internet that depicted the response of 40 year old Joanne Milne, deaf from birth, also blind, being able to hear for the first time.  Her tears of shock and joy, her struggle to capture the nuances of pitch and sound;  has been seen around the world. She wept to hear the names of the week, the sound of her voice, the turning of a light switch. A good number of people certainly wept with her in  her outpouring of joy.

For those of us who have all our senses intact, it is hard to imagine what is like to live without sight, without hearing.  Our brains are intricately wired and calibrated to capture all we see, hear, smell, taste and touch – we don’t give it a second thought.  Those who recover sight or hearing have a challenging road ahead of them.  Those who recover sight struggle to learn judgment around depth perception and shape. Mike May, a man who regained partial sight after being blind from birth for 43 years noted the following:

“I have just returned from a conference and my first intense business and social interaction with the use of low vision. I found it very distracting to look at people's faces when I was having a conversation. I can see their lips moving, eyelashes flickering, head nodding and hands gesturing. …It was easier to close my eyes or tune out the visual input.”  

Learning to see is a process – adjusting, naming, integrating all the subtle features and processes that someone who has had sight from birth has gained naturally, without thinking, over time.  So it is with our spiritual sight – it takes time to learn about compassion, forgiveness, love, justice and peace.  It takes time to get to know Jesus, the Light of the World. It takes us time to act with love in a consistent manner, to forgive, to go from spiritual blindness to eyes wide open.

Since it is holy humor Sunday, let me illustrate with a clever story   told by the Indian sage Jiddu Krishnamurt:

Once Satan and his demon sidekick were walking down the street, closely watching a man 20 yards ahead who was on the verge of realizing the Supreme Truth. The demon grew worried, and began to nudge Satan, but Satan looked quite calm. Sure enough, the man did, in fact, soon realize the deepest spiritual Truth. Yet Satan still did nothing about it. With this, the demon nudged Satan harder and, getting no response, finally blurted out, “Satan! Don’t you see? That man has realized the Truth! And yet you are doing nothing to stop him!” With that, Satan cunningly smiled and announced, “Yes, he has realized the Truth. And now I am going to help him organize the Truth!”

It is not enough to experience the truth.  What is key is how we relate to and align our lives to Truth.  To take the time to understand what Truth means for us, and how we are to live our lives are aligned with the truth. The question Satan  poses to his apprentice is this:  do we pattern our lives to Truth, as Jesus revealed to us, or do we fit Truth in according to the pattern of our lives?

        Our lessons present us with situations where there is spiritual blindness to the truth because hearts are not aligned with God. The prophet Samuel is sent by God to the house of Jesse of Bethlehem, to anoint one of his sons as the next king.   Jesse brings out all his seven older sons, all strong and good kingly material.  Samuel believes God would surely chose one of these brothers.  God however says no.  God doesn’t see like mortals see – while we look on outward appearance –  God sees what’s on the interior,  in the heart.  Finally Jesse had to send for his youngest son, David, out keeping the sheep, out doing the dirtiness, grungiest job on the farm.  Jesse didn’t even bother to include David. Yet God chose David.    God was no respecter of human customs – customs which assigned spiritual and cultural power to the prominence of the eldest – the one who receives the best blessings and the bulk of the inheritance. As the devil knew too well – the experience of power, wealth, education, and privilege organize how we see the world. God sees a world organized around the matters of quality of spiritual character and principle. 

This dynamic is carried out in the lesson from John’s gospel, in the story of the blind beggar whose sight is restored by Jesus.  First the disciples want to know how this man or his parents sinned, that he was born blind.  They think they are asking an enlightened, reasonable question.  They are seeing this beggar through their prevalent cultural lens that considered deformities, disabilities or illnesses as caused by a demon or sin.  Jesus sees it differently.  This situation was not caused by sin – and furthermore, they would God’s glory manifest even in a lowly, blind beggar.  And with mud and spittle Jesus anoints the blind man,  and sends him to be washed in the pool of Siloam – a word that means sent.  The blind beggar obeys Jesus and his sight is recovered.

The healing of the blind man, instead of causing joy and praise – creates suspicion among the religious leadership. They go on and on  --  Jesus can’t be sent from God, why, he worked on the Sabbath!   They doubted the miracle. They interrogated the blind man at least twice, as well as his parents, and then they interrogate Jesus. They put down the blind man and Jesus as sinners; while exalting themselves as disciples of Moses.  Ironically, this healing, this sign of restoration of sight – they remain blind to God’s truth in Jesus, that Jesus is the light of the world.  Their rigid interpretation of the laws and their pride leads them to deny that the miracle came from God. And so Jesus tells them – “You say – “we see, “so now your sin remains.”

Jesus heals this overlooked blind beggar to show that God sees. God sees. God sees the lowly blind beggar.  God sees the youngest son, David who is not considered worthy enough to bring in from the fields.  God sees what we are blind to; how we have taken the Truth and made it captive to the observations which bolster how we see the world.  We pass judgments yet God sees the truth. God sees the heart of the matter; God alone knows what is really going on with those who are different from us.  It is the devil’s task to get us to organize and interpret truth through the lenses of our blind spots.  Jesus, who is Truth,  heals us so our eyes can be open wide – and our lived ordered by the Truth that awakens us to spiritual sight.

        Here’s another cautionary tale how we think we see, but in fact remain blind:
A rabbi and a cantor are standing in the largely empty synagogue one day, talking mystically about how, given the awesome glory of God’s Infinite Divine Presence, they are each really “nothing.” “Yes,” says the rabbi, “I am nothing!” The cantor also affirms, looking up to the heavens, “O God, I am completely nothing!” And they go on like this for several rounds—”I am nothing… I am utterly nothing.”

Meanwhile, the synagogue’s janitor is off in the corner on his hands and knees, scrubbing the floor. Filled with piety and a fervent spirit, he has all the while been repeating in a gentle voice, “O Lord, You are everything and I am nothing… I am nothing.” The rabbi and cantor at one point listen in and, after a few moments, come to realize what he is saying. At this, the rabbi nudges the cantor and smugly says, “Look who thinks he’snothing!”  Or as one Buddhist monk leaned over to another and quietly asked, "Are you not seeing what I'm not seeing?"

        We have about  two more weeks in our journey of Lent. The task before us is to learn to see – as Jesus sees..  To see all we overlook – in others and in ourselves.   To see how we are often mistaken in our judgments about who is worthy, who God uses to reveal God’s glory.   To put it in a different way, in light of our Holy Humor theme, the philosopher Voltaire once remarked "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."  We don’t laugh because we are afraid. We are proud. We are blind. 

        It might help us on our journey to sight to know that the words, human, humor and humility all come from the same root – humus –  ground – organic material that brings fertility to the earth.  It is not surprising that Jesus put mud – stuff of the ground – onto the man’s eyes.  Sight – spiritual sight that can see into the heart – is connected to the earth from which we came.  Humility and humor are precious gifts of the earth – that ground us and enable us to see as Jesus sees.

Over the next few weeks, as we prepare ourselves to journey with Jesus in Holy Week – let us pray for eyes open wide to the world around us.  Its beauty and its pain.  The sinful and the holy.  The prejudice and the diversity – the mundane and the mysterious – the tragedies and the miraculous.  The oppression and the freedom.  The connectedness and the brokenness.  The known and unknown.  Death and the resurrection. 
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May truth order us – and may we laugh with God as we reveal God’s glory in the service and love we manifest – through Jesus – the light of the world.  Amen.


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"Thirst Quencher"   March 19, 2017

3/19/2017

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In 1996, a young marine corporal named Joey Mora was standing on a platform of an aircraft carrier patrolling the Iranian Sea.   Incredibly, he fell overboard.  His absence was not known for 36 hours.   A search and rescue mission began, but was given up after another 24 hours.   No one could survive in the sea without even a lifejacket after 60 hours. His parents were notified that he was "missing and presumed dead. Yet two days later  Four Pakistani fishermen found him, treading water.  He was delirious.  His tongue was dry and cracked and his throat parched. He said it was God who kept him struggling to survive. What was the most excruciating thing of all?  Joey said that the one thought that took over his body and pounded in his brain was "Water!"  [NBC Dateline: Nov. 1998]

         Physical thirst is a terrible thing. Extreme dehydration damages organs, especially the brain, and quickly leads to death.  Water is the main component of our body, and is involved in its smooth running – to carrying nutrients to and waste materials away from cells, to regulating body temperature.  On average, with right conditions, we could only survive 3-5 days, 12 days in extreme cases, without water.  It has been predicted, that with the effects of climate change, water will become more precious than oil, and the conflicts of the future will be over clean, fresh water. According to a UN Report -- one out of 10 persons in our world lack access to clean water -- Six of the world’s seven billion people have mobile phones – but only 4.5 billion have a toilet – actually it is the lack of water to flush and a sewage system for waste to be flushed into.

From our lessons today we see that the need for water is paramount on everyone’s mind - from the people of Israel crossing the wilderness, to Jesus and his disciples traveling through the hostile territory of Samaria.  The people of Israel have been freed from slavery in Egypt. They’ve reached camp; they are thirsty and there is no water to be seen.  Here, in the wilderness, they are realizing the price of freedom which is stirring up a deep thirst in them.  So they quarrel and they blame Moses for their predicament. Even Moses fears for his life. Eventually God sends Moses and the elders and commands Moses to strike the rock at Horeb, through which God provides water. 

Thirst can bring out the worst in people. And it is the leadership here who get the brunt of the people’s frustration and needs. It is a good reminder to us that when Moses and the elders find themselves “in hot water,” they exemplify true leadership—they do not retaliate or start fights with the people. Instead they take their problems to God, and allow God to provide the solution. God gives the people water.  A good protocol to keep upfront as Union’s leadership expands.

In the gospel of John, we see a different kind of thirst.  Jesus and his disciples have entered Sychar, unfriendly, Samaritan territory. – Samaritans and Jews had centuries-old bad blood – so there was no welcome party here for the famous rabbi and his disciples.  Jesus was tired from the journey and he was thirsty.  A Samaritan woman comes at noon to the well, and Jesus initiates a conversation with her.  He asks her for water. Already there are unusual things afoot:  A woman comes alone at noon, instead of morning, to draw water – and Jesus publically addresses a woman, and a Samaritan, no less.  Thus begins the longest dialogue of Jesus in the gospels – around water, thirst, life’s priorities.  All this with a woman enslaved to the judgments of her day—judged an outcast as a Samaritan, judged an outcast because she’s had five husbands—and currently living with a fellow without the benefits of marriage. Jesus does not judge her or condemn her. He treats her like an intelligent, worthy human being. Legend names this woman Photene – meaning the enlightened one -- who not only engages Jesus in a thoughtful, lively manner, but ends up becoming the first Samaritan missionary of the good news.

        Photene came to the well to draw water and left with living water – ironically leaving her bucket behind. Like Jesus, we become thirsty. We know the symptoms of dehydration: dry mouth, nausea, lightheadedness, weakness, heart palpitations. We recognize less the signs of spiritual dehydration.  We forget that just as our physical body is predominately water and cannot survive long without water, so too we are made of spirit, a spirit that thirsts, a thirst that often goes unrequited because we do not easily see that at our core we are spirit, a spirit we need to hydrate on a daily basis.  Impatience, quarreling, gossip, stinginess, bitterness, greed, intolerance and prejudice, are all symptoms provoked by spiritual dehydration. 

If we don’t take a Sabbath, we become spiritually dehydrated.  If we don’t have a prayer life, a devotional life, we become spiritually dehydrated.  If we do not practice love, mercy and forgiveness we become spiritually dehydrated.  If we don’t have a relationship with Jesus – we are spiritually dehydrated.

Without the living waters that Jesus gives us our spirit is thrown off. Like the people of Israel we can become complainers and criticizers; testing God instead of praying and having faith. Without living waters of Jesus we can become a community that ostracizes – Photene was ostracized by her village – as much as she was ostracized by the disciples – they didn’t know anything about her – but because she was a Samaritan and woman --   yet when they saw Jesus speaking to her they were astonished – and thought it inappropriate of Jesus. 

Jesus has a different vision for us – he wants to give us living water that will transform us – make us wholly hydrated spiritual persons.  People that can go through the wilderness and thrive.  People who can take the steps to be free of what has enslaved them.  People who do not flee uncomfortable territory.  People who can engage others unlike themselves -- with respect, with care and with love.  People willing to listen, to change, to share.  That’s who will are called to be. Spiritually hydrated people – through Jesus, the thirst quencher.

        It may come as a surprise to us, but the One who appeases our thirst, is also the thirsty one.  Jesus first comment to Photene is “Give me a drink.”  God does not need water, but God, a being of unconditional love – seeks to love us.  The great mystic Julian of Norwich, writes:  God has a great thirst for us, that draws us near to Him, …. He draws us (as water from a well) and drinks deeply, and still He thirsts for us, and for us he longs.  (Mother Julian, Chapter LXXV).  Dag Hammarskjold, one of the early founders of the United Nations; concurs:  “I am the vessel,” he reflects: “The draught is God’s ---And God is the Thirsty One.” 

God’s water is love, which we see and taste in Jesus Christ.  God’s greatest desire is to love, and be loved freely in turn by us.  It is of no surprise to us that Jesus’ final words on the cross, that wilderness that closes his earthly life, are all statements of relationship and love.  Towards the end, he says, “I thirst.” John 19:28.   Of course Jesus may have been physically thirsty.  The greater thirst, is the thirst Jesus has for us – to love us, forgive us guide us to all righteousness – to be connected to us by love.  Jesus, the living water, thirsts.  We are thirst quenchers for Jesus.
Our journey through Lent is intended to be a spiritual wilderness – a journey to Samaria – a foreign place, a sojourn to a place that pushes us out of our comfort zone.  A call to go to the well.  Our experience during these weeks awakes us to thirst.  What do we thirst for? To be more loving? To be more patient?  To serve more? To be more giving?  To stop fighting so much? To have more faith?
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It is God’s desire to give us these things: as the prophet Isaiah affirms: “The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. (Isa. 58:11)”
God gives us more.  The desire for us to be the thirst quenchers in the world – not doubt to make clean water available to all – but the spiritual water the world needs – How to connect – how to care – to love.  Today, Paul and Thomas have given us all an example – to step forth where there is a need – to help us make this church an oasis – a well of deep refreshing water for God’s people gathered in this community.   May we realize that we are living wells – hydrated and hydrating, thirst quenchers – in how we care for each other and in the love we bear to the heart of God. Amen.


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"For Such a Time as This"  March 12, 2017

3/12/2017

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Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, once said:  “To the world you are only one person, but to one person you can be the world.”  The story of Esther is a tale of the ripple effect of powerful decisions made by individuals -one person at a time.

The story of Esther is set in an opulent, decadent royal Persian court, where no expense is spared for entertainment, the wine flows endlessly, and banquets last months.  At the center of this hedonistic display is King Ahasuerus,   also known to history as King Xerxes, one of the most powerful men in the world at his time, ruler of a kingdom that stretched from Africa to Asia. 
The story begins as King Ahasuerus makes a snap decision, in one of his more inebriated moments, to show off Queen Vashti in all her splendor. The King is not introducing the Queen as an official, but as the royal playtoy, one among other beautiful objects, the golden goblets, stunning robes, and luxurious décor of the palace.  

Queen Vashti makes a momentous decision of her own:  she refuses to be displayed before a group a lecherous, drunk, men, setting off a major diplomatic scandal. How dare the Queen humiliate the king in front of the officials of the kingdom?  To help the king save face, the court officials draft a declaration to banish Vashti, and to make sure no other woman gets an idea to get uppity, a decree in motion that every man is is due honor and is king of his own home.  Now we know where that started!

In Queen Vashti’s absence, the King, lonesome for female companionship, again turns to his officials who come up with the making of an ancient beauty pageant. Beautiful young virgins from across the entire realm, are taken (not asked, not volunteered) into one of the King’s harems.  Today we would call it sex-trafficking.  Each candidate prepares with an extravagant year’s worth of beauty treatment. Then by chance, each girl is called out to spend the night with the king.  She is then discarded into harem B, where she essentially is imprisoned, unless the king desires her services. And so the Beauty Games begin. Into this fray comes Esther, an orphan and a Jew in exile.  What chance did she stand? 

Then Esther is noticed by the chief eunich of the king’s haram, Hegai and he takes a liking to Esther.  Esther cultivates his friendship and follows his advice carefully. So Hegai makes a decision to help Esther and promotes her to the best spot in the harem, out of hundreds of other candidates.  Eventually Esther’s turn with the King’s comes and she wins his favor. Esther is crowned Queen.

Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, stays close to court. He does two things that change the course of events. First, he exposes a plot to kill the king.  Second, when Haman is made the king’s highest official, Mordecai refuses to bow to him, for his faith had taught him to bow to God alone.  Something similar happened  in the book of  Daniel –  in the exile in Babylon – remember his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down before the gold statue the king built – and were sentenced to death in the fiery furnace.   Haman, with his grandiose ego, is infuriated and decides to kill not just Mordechai but all the Jewish people in the Kingdom.  Like when Queen Vashti was vanquished, the king merely rubber stamps what Haman before him. He could care less it seems managing his kingdom – unless it deals with him directly. So the lot is cast and the Jewish people are to be killed.  Haman even builds the gallows and waits in glee to see Mordecai hanged. 

In sackcloth and ashes, Mordecai turns to Esther.  He reminds her: her royal station will not protect her. What happened to Queen Vashti proved that.  Esther needs to help.  She’s the only chance left.  Mordecai suggests that perhaps Esther has come into her position for such a time as this – to be in the unique position to save her people.
Esther didn’t choose any of this.  She didn’t choose to be an orphan.  She didn’t choose to be an exile.  She didn’t choose to enter the King’s harem.  She didn’t choose to be made queen.   She didn’t choose to be a spokesperson for the Jewish exiles. Like many of us, we find ourselves caught between choosing to ignore an injustice or taking action, an action that may cost us dearly – in Esther’s situation, her life.

Esther knows if she approaches the king without being summoned she can be killed.   She prepares with a fast, and is joined by the Jews of the capital, Susa.  She approaches the King, who immediately grants her clemency – and she asks the king to attend a banquet along with Haman.  The King, Esther has observed, has a fondness for banquets, and Haman a fondness for power.  She repeats her request another night.  Then Haman’s plot unravels.  Haman ends up hanged, his position and positions turned over to Mordecai. At Esther’s request, the King rescinds the order to kill the Jews, and the story ends with much merry making and banquets – although in the full story of Esther is darker than what we read this morning – revenge is taken by the Jews – but in a sense all works out for Esther, Mordecai and their people – they are saved and they rejoice.  In the midst of exile and threat the heroic deeds of two Jews give cause for celebration. 

Despite being a powerfully written story, the book of Esther has not held favor in the church.  Only one passage of Esther is normally read in our lectionary. Its place in the bible has been disputed. Nowhere is God mentioned.  No one prays.  There’s nary a miracle. While some early church fathers approved of the book, very little was written on it for the first seven centuries.  The reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin questioned whether Esther should be a book in the bible.  How could such a secular work, filled with decadence and debauchery and lust for power, become an instrument of God’s grace?

Maybe that’s the point.  God works through each of us – right where we are at.  God works through all kinds of circumstances – whether we would label them holy or unholy.  God is not limited to or by our prayers, to overt religious actions.  Did not Jesus find grace with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors?  Bidden or not, God is there.

 So in fact we need the book of Esther.  Esther reminds us not just of a rags-to-riches story, not just of a Jewish Cinderella tale – but of a young woman, caught in the circumstances beyond her control, an  orphan, an exile, forced into the king’s harem, who, with help, chooses not to play it safe, but to risk her life on behalf of her people. 

It is a lesson for us this Lent.  To take the time to remember God uses us wherever we are to bring healing and justice into the world.  Every time is God’s time.  Each of us can make a difference, wherever we are.   We are the power of one – interwoven, working together for the power of good.  So today we acknowledge the power of one in God’s hands:
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One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake the dream
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what’s true,
One life can make a difference,
And that life can be you!
 
You are the world to somebody. Spoken or unspoken God is there.  God will work through you –in whatever situation you face - for you have been born for a time such as this. Amen.
 
 
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"First Things First"   March 5, 2017

3/5/2017

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       The name Disney is a household name. There is Disneyland, Disneyworld, the Disney Channel, ESPN, A&E Networks, Walt Disney studios, ABC broadcast, the merchandising, cruise lines Disney Magic and Disney Wonder - and on and on the list goes. It all began with the vision of Walt Disney, a vision that only Walt Disney himself could see. When the project was still in the planning stages, Walt took his friend, TV host Art Linkletter, for a ride out to Orange County.

     Linkletter recalls: "We went and went and went and went and went, down through the orange groves. And finally we came to the place where it was going to be, and I couldn't believe my eyes--because it was so far from downtown Los Angeles. And it was so small-the communities in those days were so straggly. And I thought, "My gosh, to put up a bunch of merry-go-rounds out in the middle of a cow pasture is ridiculous!"

       As they walked around the property, Walt described in glowing detail the various lands of his park: Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and more. Then Disney advised Linkletter to buy property around the park and sell it to developers. "You'll make a fortune," said Disney. But Art Linkletter failed to grasp Walt Disney's vision. He said thanks but no thanks. Looking back on that decision, Linkletter calculated that each step he took on that property was worth about $3 million.

      All too often we make bad decisions out of fear or worry.  A businessperson can make decisions that can result in the loss of both their job and career.   Churches, worrying about dwindling memberships or a deficit budget, hunker down, and refuse to embrace a changing neighborhood.  Parents refuse to let go of their children as they need to learn how to grow up.

      We all have made mistakes.  We worry and let anxiety or fear to get the best of us.  Our gospel lesson today, going back the past five Sundays, introduces us to the Kingdom vision. Jesus has been teaching us a new way to live, how to see the scriptures and the world through God’s perspective.  We have traveled with Jesus as he moved to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee and called his first disciples. We have sat next to Jesus as he proclaimed the blessings-- what we call the Beatitudes – that named human sufferings and declared God’s presence with us, in all circumstances.  Jesus assured us of our worth. He proclaimed that we are salt of the earth and light of the world, and that we must aim for righteousness in all we do.   In stark terms Jesus demanded our lives be focused on reconciliation and right relationships – and that we must practice love – even love for our enemies.  All these things make us children of our God in heaven. 

      Today, Jesus reinforces his teachings of the past month by telling us how to put into practice his powerful teachings – teachings that can transform our life, teachings that reveal the heart of the ancient law to us.  We must seek first the Kingdom of God.  We must follow that first commandment God gave so long ago-- “I am the Lord your God.  You shall have no other God before me.”  We cannot serve two masters: We are not created to be divided.  Who will it be – God or wealth, mammon, the Aramaic which means possessions, money, and wealth.   Jesus warns us how mammon, wealth, becomes an idol in our lives, leaving us divided, consumed by an obsessive worry that is opposite of faithfulness.

Jesus fundamental teachings these past six weeks are to lead us to righteousness – right living -- to be whole in body, mind and spirit, and to be just. Jesus focuses so much on worry in our passage today because worry means to have a divided mind; in English it comes from the root meaning to chock.  Worry gains a foothold in our life when the things of the world consume us and consume our time. Worry divides us, diminishes us, it chokes the joy and happiness out of our lives. It is said that 92% of what we worry about is needless.  Yet our lives are enslaved to worry, because we believe that only money and wealth can keep us safe and worry-free.

Jesus seeks us to be healed of a having a divided heart. Jesus has laid out for us how we are to commit to the God’s Kingdom, and engage God’s vision  of a more compassionate, equitable and peaceful world. If we desire to live a whole life, a free life, then we must seek God’s Kingdom before all else.  First things first.  We need to embrace our identity as disciples who live out Jesus’ teaching in all the ways the Sermon on the Mount has laid out for us this past month.  We are to be blessing in the world. We are to be light in the world. We are to salt the earth.  We are reconcilers and peace-keepers of God’s kingdom. We love our neighbor and we love those we call enemy. 

This comprehensive vision comes into focus only when God is first in our heart.  We are like Art Linkletter, looking at the straggly landscape of our lives – the cow pasture our world has become – and Jesus’ vision of righteousness doesn’t fit.  Yet Jesus  shows us the plan with the words of the prophet Isaiah -- say to the prisoners “Come out,” –    to those in darkness—show yourselves.  There will be food – the bare heights will become a pasture -- they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.”  That’s the kingdom. That is what is possible when we make God first.
Jesus has given us the hard tools to manifest this kingdom in our midst. Not the Disney kingdom.  The kingdom of God.  Discipleship.  Righteousness. Of Light. Of Salt. Reconciliation.  Unconditional Love. Single-hearted devotion to God.

We have the tools, the teaching of Jesus laid before us these past weeks. Now with the Season of Lent starting this Wednesday, we are given the opportunity to spend 40 days in reflection, repentance, realigning our lives with these powerful teaching of Jesus.  In Lent we are made aware of the cost of the Kingdom.  The price we pay to listen to God. What discipleship implies. Lent leads us to discover the spiritual depths in our heart to love, forgive, to remove whatever stands in God’s place, so we become salt and light and blessing in the world. These are the tasks that lay before us this Lent.

    Lent reminds us of the stark questions we need to face: the purpose of our lives. our mortality.  What are our priorities – how do we fritter away our time  –  is it of value?  Do we make a difference?   Jesus faced his mortality as he journeyed to Jerusalem to face his death. Jesus was prepared. Will we be?
   To give us some perspective, there have been many studies about how the average person spends their life. There is one study that states, if we live to 70 years, on average we will spend:
Sleep................23 years...........32.9%
Work.................16 years...........22.8%
TV....................8 years...........11.4%
Eating................6 years............8.6%
Travel................6 years............8.6%
Leisure.............4.5 years............6.5%
Illness...............4 years............5.7%
Dressing..............2 years............2.8%
Religion............0.5 years............0.7%
Total................70 years............100%
 
It is clear that this chart is already outdated. It is now estimated that the average adult spends 3.2 hours in social media each day.  However, notice however what is last – and hasn’t changed much in recent years.  If this chart is correct, the average person spends 7/10s of one percent of their life in matters of religion. That 6 months over 70 years.  About 180 days.  4,320 hours out of life-span of 613,200 hours. That comes to 10 minutes a day.
Also missing from this chart, and ones similar to it, are the hours spend in charity work or volunteering.  While none of these studies can be completely accurate, it does tell us overall trends.  Religion and spirituality are not high on the to-do list of most Americans in this increasingly secular society. We are assured that we are high on God’s list – our names are carved on the very palm of God.

As we approach Lent, our task is to put God first in our lives. Not just for ten minutes a day.  God is looking for ways that we turn to prayer while traveling or waiting. God is looking for the Christ-like attitudes we assume at work, at the fast-food counter, on the highway, in raising children, in engaging our neighbors. Perhaps unmeasurable in human terms, but not in the kingdom of heaven.  The attitudes and actions that Jesus asks of us are woven in to fabric of our daily life – that form living building blocks of God’s kingdom, here and now, in the same way that Walt Disney had a vision in a cow pasture.  We just need to know what comes first.    
​
So this Lent, what do we need to change to put God first?  How will we shift the hours we spend or the money we give?  This Lent, let us transform that vision of the straggly cow pasture into the blueprint of the kingdom of heaven – through our loving, forgiving caring, shining and salting. First things first. God is first. Seek the righteous kingdom. We will gain fortune – treasure forged  in heaven.  Amen.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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