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God Is Faithful, November 27, 2016

11/27/2016

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1 Cor. 1-9; Mark 13:24-37

 
God was finally fed up with the human race and decided to end it for good. So God called up a reporter at the New York Times to tell her the news: The world would end the day after tomorrow.  The reporter tried to talk God out of it, but God was firm and wouldn't be swayed. The reporter then asked if she could have an exclusive. God said that He was sending the message around to other newspapers:

These were the Headlines the next day:
The New York Times: "God says world to end tomorrow; story and analysis on page B11."
The Wall Street Journal: "God says world to end tomorrow; market to close early"
The Washington Post: "God says world to end tomorrow; women and minorities hardest hit."
Inc. Magazine:  11 ways you can profit from the Apocalypse
Playboy:  Girls of the Apocalypse
Ladies’ Home Journal:  Lose 10 pounds by Judgment Day with our New Armageddon Diet
TV Guide:  Death and Damnation:  Nielsen Ratings Soar!
Ms. Magazine: The Messiah -- Redemption, or More Male Oppression? 

      Today is the Christian New Year, more commonly known as Advent.  Advent opens with images of  a darkened sun, stars falling from heaven, with the Human One coming in clouds’ with great glory and power, sending out his angels to gather the elect from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. No one can escape this gathering.   Paul prays that we will be enriched and strengthened by Jesus on the day of his Revealing, or return.   These natural calamities and out of the ordinary events spark terror and fear. Yet it is not fear but hope that our first week of Advent traditionally teaches us.

       What does hope have with such terrifying images?  Some have wondered where do we find hope in the Grand Jury’s decision to not indict police officer Darren Wilson - which is not a judgment of innocence or guilt, but just gives the green light for a trial to occur?  How do we find hope in looters in Ferguson destroying nearly 25 blocks, and burning down many businesses – most of them black owned? Even Flood Christian Church, the church of Michael Brown’s father (the 18year old black youth that was shot and killed by officer Wilson) was burnt down.   We have mastered the art of Armageddon.  Hope is more a challenge.

      End of the world images are a very vivid part of the Christian tradition and holds sway over our collective imagination.  Everything in historical time must come to an end.  A tension is planted in our psyche with Jesus’ words” Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have take place…”  While Jesus prophesized the end of Jerusalem in 70AD, he also spoke of his own return, which the early church thought was imminent.  Once Jesus returned all wrongs would be righted, evil doers would pay for their deeds,  and Justice and peace would finally prevail.

     So we being Advent with the unfinished business of centuries and we are supposed to find hope.  We enter advent knowing that what has taken place in Ferguson is deeply flawed and leaves us despairing of the healing of the racial and economic divide.    We enter Advent with conflict in the Middle East still raging, and the fight with the militant group ISIS gearing up.  Some of us enter Advent with worries around work or family, problems with health.   Even in the face of Black Friday, women duking it out over a Barbie doll, brawls over speaker systems and TV.  Gun sales went through the roof. I don’t know about you, but those images are scarier than anything found in the scriptures.

    Advent doesn’t wait until everything is right, and in its place; until all is well with the world and our lives; and all the loose ends are tied up.  Because Advent refuses to wait, we are called to reflect on hope -- to learn patience and holy waiting.   

One of the prominent Hebrew words for Hope, Tikvah, can also means cord.  Hebrew scholar Tamara Cohn Eskenazi suggests,  The imagery in this idiom suggests that our life is spun out like a cord, and hope arises from the strength of that cord….  Imagine hope as a bound cord, rope, or interwoven thread  -- something we can grasp hold of with our hands. In other words, hope is something real enough that we can cling to it. Hope is something we can twist together in one strong, living rope that can be used to bind people together and keep them safe. One strand is easily broken.  But many interconnected strands is strong and is not  so easily snapped.

      The first occurrence of the word tikvah-hope in the Bible is enlightening for us.  The book of Joshua recounts the story of two Israelite spies on a reconnaissance mission to Jericho – the first City the people of Israel would capture.  They are assisted by a woman named Rahab - a prostitute. She may have been a cultic prostitute but there’s no denying what she did to pay the bills and support her family.  

Rahab believed in the Israelites spies and their God. Perhaps, given her profession, she was tired of the way she was treated and wanted a new life.  So she risked her life and her family to aid the Israelites. She turned against her own people.  So when the spies said: to Rahab, “tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household. (Jos. 2:17-18).  Rahab said, “According to your words, so be it.” ….and she tied the scarlet cord in the window. (Jos. 2:21)  So Rahab’s family was spared and she began a new life.  Even a prostitute can have hope in the realm of God. In the Jewish midrash, Rahab is named as one of the four most beautiful women the world has ever known, along with Sarah, Abigail, and Esther. Rahab  is one of four women named in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. In two other places in the NT she is described as a harlot, a woman of faith.

      One strand of hope.  That’s all it takes.  People in Ferguson are showing us how to build hope in the face of deep-seated oppression, grief and anger.   Volunteers are working to restore Natalie's Cakes and More.  Earlier this week, looters ransacked her bakery.  After the community and other parts of the world heard Natalie's story, donations started to pour in---$200,000 to be exact. One strand of hope.

        17 year old Molly Ferguson went around and  painted boarded up businesses with the phrase 'love will win.' Another strand of hope.

       The Jenkins family, owners of Cathy’s Kitchen, saw seen video of protesters locking arms in front of their restaurant to protect it from vandals. The Jenkinses woke up early, rustled up relatives and got there by 8 to begin cleaning up. But by the time they arrived, people were already picking up the shards of glass from the window that was shattered. They weren't members of the National Guard. Or any federal disaster agency. They were her customers, loyal to her on a day of tragedy. There were no seats inside Cathy's Kitchen on Wednesday, and a line had formed at the back of the building. A diverse mix of residents, business people with the day off and journalists covering the protests enjoyed a pre-Thanksgiving lunch.  More strands of hope.

        This is how hope is forged. Each one lights a candle, each one contributes a step.  This is the body of Christ  -- this is the vision of the kindom of God after the great tribulation. 

We are planting the seeds even now. We have spoke repeatedly over the last month of the power of individual and collective action to create a renewed Union Church.   We create hope by reclaiming the proud heritage of Dr. John Paul Jones, former Union Pastor of 25 years, who worked tirelessly against Nazism, intolerance, and for the integration of the races, at a time when such things were not talked about.  He was a voice of hope.  That voice is still here and we need to be it.  That heritage of hope is here, all the amazing programs and service Union has stood for – it’s waiting to be reclaimed. All the new ways hope needs to be present in the world – it’s here- if we each contribute our strands to make an unbreakable cord.  We create hope in the simpliest of ways:  by taking part of the Thanks-Living challenge the church has invited us to. Have you completed yours yet?  Let us know!  We create hope by each one pledging as generously as we can.  We create hope by bringing in food and delivering goods to the pantry.  We create hope as we stand by Union as it enters a time of renovation, renewal and mission study – a study that will show us the beacon of Hope Union has been and is called to be.  How about donating a book to a child in need by next Sunday?

​  Helping out with the Angel pageant and the Christmas Concert? Visiting, calling the home bound, or inviting a friend to worship.  That’s how we begin to create a season of hope this Advent. Hope can turn lives around – like it did for Rahab and her family.  God is faithful – let hope enter your heart  and be that cord that ties you  to a new future rooted in Jesus Christ  and to all people –  a cord that will  hold us together until the Day of the Lord’s return. Amen.
/graceintorah.net/2013/10/26/tikvah-hope/
 

py’s Bar and Grill.
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Sow Bountifully, November 20, 2016

11/20/2016

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2 Cor. 9:6-15, Luke 17: 11-19

        Last night my 19 year old daughter, while seeking a job in her trade, settled for a seasonal job at a large retailer, and texted me her schedule.  On Black Friday she has to be at her minimum wage job (which is a 1 ½ hr., two bus ride, away) – at 4am and works until 4pm.   Saturday she has to be at the store at 6am.  Did I mention that one bus line is not running that early so guess who gets to drive her to the mall?
        Don’t get me wrong.  I ‘m all for Hannah developing a strong work ethic.  I’m glad she wants to work and is working.   We want to support her.  It’s just that we are concerned about what is happening to what used to be Thanksgiving week end.  It wasn’t too long ago that this time was down time, time spent in a post-turkey coma snoozing, then eating more turkey, maybe watching football, catching up with family and friends, maybe washing the dishes,  just plain hanging out.  It was a time to experience  gratitude and give thanks.  Apart from the jumble of national myths about thanksgiving – the act of gratitude is a spiritual habit that is part of our biblical heritage.

        Giving thanks is the hallmark of our spiritual life. Giving thanks and giving doesn’t happen overnight. How many times do we have to remind our children to say, “please,”  “thank you” or to help out.  The instincts to do good are there, but they must be encouraged, trained, even as we train to learn the piano, to cook, to garden, to learn a trade or profession. We put in hours, over months and years, to learn something well. Is not the spiritual life, rooted in gratitude and grace, worth as much?    Learning to say thank you is acquired in the nitty-gritty of life.

         We are in a time of profound shifts in the church and we don’t know where we’ll end up or what new alternatives we’ll reach.  One thing is sure: somewhere in this mix the Holy Spirit will renew us by the power of divine and human generosity.  We will find our way as we carve out the time (as well as the turkey) to care and to enjoy each other’s company.  That is what it takes for a new vision to crystalize. Through time and togetherness. We know this because our souls are created for love, giving and gratitude. Our bodies and spirits are healed by the acts of love in sowing bountifully. 

        Let us turn to our Scriptures for clarification.  Paul’s second letter to Corinth is basically a benefit drive to help the poor in Jerusalem. For Paul, it was important for Gentile Christians, for Christians outside of Judea, to help Jewish/Christians in the mother church.  Paul wrote appeals at least three other times to the Corinthians and to other churches he established Thessalonica, Philippi and Galatia – on behalf of the poor Christians in Jerusalem.  

While we don’t know the specifics of the struggles of the believers in Jerusalem ---although we know there was political instability and we know there was a  general economic depression that probably created profound need among the people.  Some say Christian Jews were being ostracized from already scarce jobs.  So Paul made a big deal about giving.  Giving, Paul reminds the Corinthians, not only glorifies God, it proclaims the gospel and brings good news. 

Giving even enriches the givers’ life. Paul describes a spiritual cause-and-effect principal:  we reap what we sow.  If we give to help others in need we are blessed – blessed in many ways.   Sometimes we are also financially or materially blessed. Sometimes our blessings are profoundly spiritual – we gain peace, joy and a sense of connection and belonging through giving. 
Then there is the flip side of giving that we see in the gospel lesson of Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers. Jesus is in the region between Jewish and Gentile and heretics.  Normally there’s not much generosity and giving going on there.  Yet in illness ten lepers of mixed backgrounds, united in their misery, approach Jesus and cry out to him for mercy.  Jesus heals them all. The Lord sends them to the priest so that they can be ritually examined, pronounced clean and reintegrated into community.   What a profound gift – healing of an incurable illness, leprosy, and of the loneliness of ostracism.  

Yet only one came back and thanked Jesus. This leper didn’t get his official pronouncement of cleanliness – then decide to return to Jesus when everything was in order.  This leper returned as soon as he realized he was healed.  Saying thank you was more important than getting his social pass. Only one leper stopped to think what happened to him, turned around, praised God publically, threw himself at Jesus’ feet, and said Thank you Jesus.  One person – a Samaritan – a so-called heretic.  This one person said Thank you.  Somehow, even in the context of adversity, or because of the adversity, this leper learned to value what is precious.  The relationship to Jesus. So he returned; with thanks.

        A couple of weeks ago I shared with you that Union Church is at a pivotal, transitional point in its history.  Where it shall go is in God’s hands, but we have a lot to say.  We’re a small congregation that has all the seeds of growth.  Amazing music, thoughtful and joyful worship, intergenerational,  faithful, sensitive to mission, a progressive congregation that loves scripture and is committed to peace and justice.  Yet only ten percent of our budget is paid by the people who sit in the pews.  This level of giving would only keep the church doors open for six weeks, if congregational giving were the only source of income.  Now we all know that this is not healthy or plausible for the long-term.  There are costs to run a church community.  Just as important, a healthy church needs grateful people.   It needs you. It needs your Thank you, for you to bountifully sow your investment of time, money and talent to make this dream possible.   I was at the Presbytery meeting last week and saw what is called our “per capita” figures – that amount each church pays for every single member to support our connectional network of churches.  Union Church pays slightly over $1,300.00 that goes to national missions, our missions in the northeast, and local missions – in additional to the specific missions we engage in throughout the year.  Every member‘s contribution into this network of mission is about $56 dollars a year. This church pays that  “membership donation” if you will, no matter how little or much one gives, no matter how often one comes to worship, no matter how little  or much one participates in the life of this community.  We do this to Thank God for the privilege of giving; to thank God for the gift of faith we have received in Jesus.  We give because we believe in giving. It makes us better people.   

Just as Jesus healed Samaritans as well as Jews, and Paul taught the churches to give not just to themselves but to others, we remain committed to giving to others in need – in spite of our own pressing needs. We remain committed to connection – we are not an independent church, standing on its own. Nor are we a church taking orders from the top on down.  We are a connectional church. It is that connection, where loving, giving, caring, sowing – thrives.  It is in connection that God finds us and will transform us.

Bottom line is that we need to take back Thanksgiving Day.  Not the cozy myths. Not gorging ourselves into oblivion on food and football, then the mall at midnight.  Let’s take back thanksgiving the way today’s scriptures show us.  Let us take time, real time, to reflect and experience  how God has blessed us.  Yes, each of us has troubles and trials.  But think:  if we woke up breathing indoors in a comfortable bedroom with heat, had a nice hot shower, if we got our body here, if we are wearing decent clothes, if ate breakfast or had food within the last day,   can read the bulletin, can hear this music and respond to the prayers, if you have the opportunity to say please or thank you, well there are your first 12 blessings.  It takes time, real time, to understand we are blessed, even in our failures or if hard times upon us.  It takes a network of churches, communities, to form our spirits, and inform our hearts. Where else can we go to get what we experience here, with one another? 
​
        This Advent season as we prepare for Christmas, instead of giving up, let us give.  Let us not give up on family time – whether your family is your pet, nature, or a three-generations from all around the world, or the human family God has put you with this week.  Instead of giving in mindlessly to consumerism, give thoughtfully, prayerfully to give healing and joy to others.  Instead of giving up on the church, give yourself wholeheartedly to the mission of Union Church and make it a beacon of light in Bay Ridge.  Instead giving up on yourself, give yourself.  Give yourself sacred time.  Give yourself opportunity to know Jesus, to the one who can make us whole - Give yourself – bountiful sower full of blessing, full of promise, capable of making a difference.  And Give thanks for it all. 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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