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Thanksgiving Meditation

11/26/2021

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

        As some of you may know, Forrest and I recently spent a wonderful vacation in Florida visiting family near the St. Petersburg area. During the trip the local TV news was plastered with information about Winter, a famous and beloved bottleneck dolphin who lived at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Winter, a local icon, was in critical condition from a gastrointestinal infection and ultimately succumbed to her illness. This is sad story for sure, but what made it heartbreaking is the background about what made Winter so special.

        Winter was found when she was just two months in the coastal waters of Florida on December 10, 2005. She was caught in a crab trap, which resulted in the loss of her tail. Winter was then taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where she was housed for nearly 16 years. The loss of her tail caused Winter to swim unnaturally, with her tail moving side to side instead of up and down. As a result, Winter was eventually fitted with a silicone and plastic tail that enabled her to swim normally.

Winter’s journey became the subject of the 2009 book Winter's Tale, the 2011 film Dolphin Tale, and its 2014 sequel. The story of her accident, the outpouring of support from the human community and her ultimate ability to thrive with her prosthetic touched the hearts of millions of people around the world, especially those living with hardship and challenge.

Over her 16 years, Winter became a highly popular attraction at the aquarium and her kind and playful nature became an inspiration to people who came to see her, especially those living with disabilities. She lived in her pool with two other dolphins, Hope and P.J. So many people visited Winter that she and her cohorts raised enough money to build a whole new wing to the aquarium. The news of Winter’s death has created an outpouring of messages as well as of tens of thousands of dollars to the aquarium.

It is amazing to think of the kind of impact that one of God’s creatures had on those around her.

Take Joey Gillespie. Tony wanted to be a marine biologist since he was 3, but that still didn’t make it easy for him to visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium as a kid.
As someone with high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome, he struggled in situations with lots of people or noise — the perfect descriptors for the tourist-filled viewing area in front of Winter the dolphin’s tank. But when he saw Winter in 2015, the then-10-year-old locked eyes with her, and said they kept constant eye contact for 20 minutes.

“Winter gave me the confidence to do things I don’t usually do, and just enjoy life,” said Gillespie. He said Winter made him feel understood and hopeful for the first time.

Aidan Schmitz of St. Petersburg has been regularly visiting Winter since she was young. She was born with only one bone in her left lower leg, causing it to be amputated when she was a toddler. As a kid, her amputation made her feel constantly alone. Then she met Winter. “If Winter can get a prosthetic tail and swim around just like the other dolphins,” Schmitz thought, “I can stand and walk around like any other kid can.” Schmitz is now 20 and attends Full Sail University in Winter Park.

Austin Garces, an actress who co-starred with Winter in “A Dolphin Tale” tweeted her reaction about Winter. “How can I put into words what Winter meant to me & to millions of kids and people… this one little dolphin changed the world. She touched millions & millions of lives. Her story was reflected in the hearts of so many people’s personal struggles & she inspired countless people to keep going, no matter what. I learned so much from her. Some of my favorite memories were made with this incredible animal. I will miss you forever, Winter. I’m completely heartbroken that I’ll never hear your little tweetybird sound again. I could write forever (about how much this dolphin meant to the world. I love you, Winter.”

        Yesterday The Clearwater Marine Aquarium started a memorial service that will last for four days, until November 29, to celebrate Winter’s life and her impact on all those who met her. Check out the aquarium’s website and read the numerous testimonies to the difference one creature made in the lives of those who knew her.

Winter’s story is an awesome story of gratitude and love to inspire us as we prepare for Thanksgiving. All of us have had a little bit of Winter inside of us. Who hasn’t found themselves trapped in some situation or predicament like Winter was? Who hasn’t lost parts of our lives, our spirit to accidents, to deaths, to other forms of injury and have needed help? Through the love of God, our church, our community, we have learned to use our pain and problems not as barriers to living our best life, but instead to use all our experiences, difficult or happy, to become conduits to love, bridges to care for others in need.

        It’s like how Paul tells us in his second letter to the Corinthians how they are to help their fellow Christians in Jerusalem who have fallen on hard times. It’s like how Jesus, out of love, heals the Samaritan lepers, who were despised foreigners. It’s like how one cured leper returns to Jesus with a profound thank you.

        All these examples, help us prepare for Thanksgiving, a day of gratitude, and sharing, and loving those who God has placed in our lives. We reflect back on 01 social fallout, and despite it all we are called, like Winter was, to be healed through the love and support of family, church and community. Through our wounds, we too become healers. Wounded healers.

        So, in the next week, instead of cramming in black Friday sales, watch “A Dolphin’s Tale” and its sequel, and let Winter’s story become part of your story. Find yourself in the story, in those places of challenges and hurt, in the people who mobilized to make a difference in one animal’s life, who in turn were healed, and help to heal countless lives. What a legacy this is for us to strive for.

May your Thanksgiving be filled with gratitude and the giving of thanks to God, and to all who made a difference in our lives. May this foundation of gratitude and giving thanks prepare us for the sacred seasons of Advent and Christmas and may we find ourselves entering a new year, wounded healers, who can inspire and an inspiration to others whom God places in our lives every day, knowing that we can make a difference, even like a dolphin named Winter. Amen.

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For All the Saints

11/26/2021

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        As a child, I loved to read. Raised as a Roman Catholic, I had a favorite book, a children’s book of saints. I devoured the stories about faithful people who were thrown to the lions instead of recanting their faith. People who sacrificed their livelihood and embraced torture rather than deny the name of Jesus. People who turned down family life and fled to the desert to pray 24/7 in desert caves. Very early on I formed an image of a saint as a super holy person, a spiritually perfect person, who gladly physical and mental cruelties, to live the faith. I devoured stories about famous saints like St. Augustine, St Teresa of Avila, St. Francis who changed the course of western Christianity. I was taught to pray to the saints to get a “in” with Jesus: Then there are many unknown saints over the centuries enough who have risen through the ranks and have achieved esteemed titles such as:
Saint Polycarp of Smyrna: Patron Saint Against Earaches.
Saint Genesius of Rome: Patron Saint of Comedians.
Saint Drogo: Patron Saint of coffee houses
Saint Isidore of Seville: Patron Saint of the Internet.
Saint Barbara: Patron Saint of Fireworks.
Are You Twitching? Pray To St. Cornelius
Have A Hangover? Pray To St. Bibiana

Then of course there was the most useful saint of all, St. Anthony, patron of lost items. We were taught to pray:

“Tony, Tony, turn around. Something’s lost that must be found!”

So, over the centuries there have evolved two different definitions of a saint. The most common definition, the one I believed as a little girl, is a saint as a person who is spiritually perfect, who has been obedient to God in his or her life to such a remarkable degree as to be unattainable to us mere mortals.

However, there’s another, much older definition of a saint. The word saint means one who has been made holy by God. But the understanding in both the Old and New Testaments is that anything is holy that belongs to God. “The Jewish people,” says one theologian, “were said to be holy, not because they were extremely good, but because they belonged to God and were his chosen instrument for effecting his will in the world.
So also, with the Christian fellowship. Members of Christ’s body were certainly expected to be good, but they were members of that body not because they were morally excellent, but because they had been called to share the life which is in Christ. Holiness, in this biblical understanding, does not stem from what a person does, but from what God does.

Thus, we see St. Paul referring to all Christians in Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, Colossae, Philippi, Thessaloniki as saints. Paul would then go on to rant, correct, rebuke, sometimes praise, the actions of the saints. Saint is the most common name for Christians in the New Testament. It is even more common than the name “Christian.”

        A cynic once said, “a saint is a dead sinner, revised and edited.” writer Robert Louis Stevenson said, “the saints are merely sinners who kept on going.” William Barclay, the Bible commentator said, “a saint is someone whose life makes it easier to believe in God.” My personal favorite is from Oscar Wilde who observed that every saint has a past, every sinner a future.

The full celebration of the Feast of all Saints is therefore a celebration of all saints down through the ages to include those who are sitting in the pew next to us. It’s a remembrance in which we give thanks for the many heroes of our faith, some who even died for our faith, because through their exemplary lives we see God’s work in beautiful ways. We thank God for the writers of the accounts of the Gospel, through whose efforts we have a knowledge of Jesus’ life among us. We give thanks for the many Christian martyrs who died that the faith might live. We give thanks in a more personal way for those whom we have known and loved, through whose lives and words we have experienced God’s love—parents, teachers, pastors, and friends.

   Through these heroes of the faith Christ has come real to us and we come to know him as our Lord and Savior. For this reason, we give thanks for Ruth, who would not abandon Naomi, who became the ancestor of David, the ancestor of Jesus. We give thanks for the faith of Eunice and Lois, the mother and grandmother of the New Testament missionary Timothy, colleague of Paul, who helped shaped the early first century church. We remember all the unknown people down through the centuries, simple ordinary people who planted seeds that would sprout in generations to come.

Some of us may remember the famous life of Helen Keller, the deaf, blind child who would become one of the 20th centuries most celebrated authors, disability rights activist, and humanitarian. Her autobiography was another inspiring book I read as a teen. Some of us know to give thanks for her amazing teacher and lifelong companion, Annie Sullivan, who managed to reach a young Helen and help her to communicate.
However, how many of us know of the unknown maid who showed simple kindness to an uncooperative and defiant Annie Sullivan, once an inmate at the Tewksbury Institute, an almshouse and mental health facility? Simple acts of kindness of this unknown saint brought Annie Sullivan out of her darkness, who in turn brought Helen Keller into the light. Today we remember all those countless saints, known in name only to God, whose contributions have made a better world, if even only for a child.

The Feast of all Saints is a celebration of who all of us are and of whose all of us are. God has made us his people. Through our baptism, we belong to God. That’s why we should celebrate this ancient holy day which has its roots to the 7th century and further back - to remind ourselves who we are, whose we are, and how we have come to this point in our journey of faith, in the footsteps of other believers.

        Today let us recall those Super saints. But even more, let us celebrate the extraordinary, ordinary saints who have peopled our lives – grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, co-workers, friends, strangers whose example, whose actions have shaped us and forged us into the believers we are today.

As we look at the names on the stars that are on our church windows, we are profoundly grateful for this cloud of witnesses who have inspired our journey. Let us give thanks for one another, as we seek to support each other on this side of the path of faith. For all the saints we give thanks and praise, grateful that we are numbered in their ranks.
Amen.
https://www.redeemersarasota.org/sermon-saints-day-1-november-2017rev-fredrick-robinson/
Richard Niell Donovan
https://sermonwriter.com/hymn-stories/for-all-the-saints/`

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I Want to See

11/26/2021

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Jeremiah 31:7-9; Mark 10:46-52

I would like to ask a favor of you. The mask you have in your bulletin, I ask you to put it on. Yes, in worship. Yes, in front of everybody. Yes, even though you have never done anything undignified in worship before. If you can bear it, leave it on for the duration of the sermon. If you cannot bear it, take it off after a minute.

How does it feel to wear a mask in church? Uncomfortable? Outlandish? Cool? Sacrilegious? There are a couple of reasons to put on this mask today. The most obvious one it is a reminder that we wear invisible masks every day and don’t even realize it. Every day we hide some part of ourselves. We pretend we are people we are not all the time. Sometimes this is good. For example, there’s a time and place we need to exude confidence to our children even when we are frightened. However, when we are lying or misrepresenting ourselves to a date, a perspective client or an employer that is wrong.

We can get into a habit of hiding ourselves even to ourselves, because we can’t bear what we see. We speak piously in church but rage at a family member in the privacy of our homes. We’re scared and so we act all tough and macho in front of strangers or friends. How many people do we know have this tough exterior but are really teddy bears? Sometimes we are really angry about something, but we pretend we’re not: “oh, it’s nothing, really.” We drive latest model cars and most up to date fashion, flash around the latest cell phone, but, live month to month. We can’t bear that we don’t measure up to the norms passed down from mom and dad or siblings. We camouflage our true opinions and beliefs because we want to fit in – we don’t want to be rejected. Who are we, really behind all the masks we wear? We have become a blind people who cannot see who we really are; children of a loving God, called to an abundant life, called to promote peace and justice, called to serve in God’s name. How did we get so blinded? How is it we cannot let ourselves see ourselves, see each other, as God sees?
Who are you behind your mask?

Today in the midst of our own blindness, we are called to the witness of the blind Bartimaeus, to see the blindness of the crowd surrounding him, and view the sinful blindness which led the Israelites into exiles to become the remnant- that Jeremiah proclaims God is bringing back to Zion, and life shall once again be like a watered garden. Blind to the generosity of God, to God’s profound love for creation and for us
Blindness was a common ailment in the Ancient Near East, with the hot sun and the gritty sand, along with the regular eye ailments that affected vision. At the same time, blindness, along with other illnesses, such as leprosy, being crippled, deaf, having seizures, was seen as caused by sin. Blinding was also an punishment for crime. Blind people could not function as priests, sing in the Temple, or participate in some trades even though capable.
http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/files/lwcF_pdf_ETB_BIPlus_Past_Spring95.pdf’

On the other hand, Jewish people were often reminded to treat the blind with compassion. Opening the eyes of the blind was seen as a special attribute of the messiah.

As Jesus is leaving Jericho beginning his final approach for Jerusalem, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, sitting at the roadside, discovers who is passing by and shouts out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Bartimaeus is the only person in Mark’s gospel who uses the royal title, “Son of David,” implying that Jesus is King David’s rightful and true heir. Given that this is a messianic title, and it is the messiah’s role to bring “sight to the blind” according to the prophets (Isaiah 42:7; 62:1; 35:5), why are they so reluctant for Jesus to help Bartimaeus? They sternly tell him to be quiet. They cannot see the implications of Bartimaeus’ confession of faith. Although blind, he sees Jesus for who he is: the son of David.

The word to quiet Bartimaeus really means a rebuke, and most of the time rebuking happens when the disciples display bad theology or bad manners, or when Jesus rebuked the strong winds sinking the boat, or when Peter rebuked Jesus for proclaiming a suffering Messiah. A rebuke is essentially putting you in your place. The crowd is blinded to the opportunity for the miraculous to happen, for the messiah to bring sight to the blind. Somehow, they do not want to see. This does not stop Bartimaeus, on the contrary, he cries out even more loudly again: “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

At this point Jesus does something he hasn’t done at any point in Mark’s gospel. He stands still. Imagine that. Jesus, our Jesus, is on the move constantly. Of course, at some points in time he was still in prayer, in conversation, in healing. However, this is the first time our Gospel text notes it. Bartimaeus has caught Jesus’ attention. Now Jesus has observed how the crowd has attempted to silence Bartimaeus, so instead of addressing Bartimaeus directly, Jesus has the crowd bring him over.

Bartimaeus doesn’t waste any time. He throws his cloak aside. This is significant. For a blind man, the cloak was his table to gather money. The cloak was his protection against the elements. It was his sleeping bag. Would he be so sure it would be there when he returned? If he returned? He was leaving his past behind, without even a guarantee. He was placing total trust and confidence in Jesus.

Now Jesus has a question for Bartimaeus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks – no beating around the bush, yet no assumptions. Bartimaeus’ responded simple and clear: “My teacher, let me see again.” Apparently, he had vision once. Jesus reacts by telling Bartimaeus “Go, your faith has made you well.” Faith in the gospels means a trusting relationship with Jesus, engaging oneself in the ministry of Jesus to the world. Bartimaeus sees and as a result, he “followed Jesus on the way.” He left the beggar behind and became a disciple.

Our lives of faith go from periods of darkness and blindness to sight. God calls us to recognize how loved we are in Jesus, how gifted we are in the Holy Spirit, how privileged we are to serve as a people of faith in this world. Sometimes, like the exiles returning to Jerusalem, we forget who we are. We have to start over. In our exile we became blinded to the truth of our being. The good news, however, is that, like for Bartimaeus, we get to begin again. We can regain our sight. To see who we are in Christ, and to see others through the eyes of God. This is the vision we are called to embrace.
I wanted us to wear these masks today for another reason: to share a story about one of my children’s favorite movies when they were growing up: the 2004 Pixar computer-animated movie called the Incredibles. Has anyone here seen it? It’s a story about a handful of superheroes who are left in the world and are in hiding because their lives are threatened. There’s a family of superheroes trying to lead an ordinary, hidden life. The children are discouraged from using their abilities. Their former life as crime-fighting superheroes is completely shunned. However, as the nasty super villain Syndrone threatens to take over the world and destroy the remaining superheros, a decision must be faced. Does the family move into action?

Part of being a superhero is being able to see that everyone has a gift to benefit the world. That we are a gifted people. To defeat evil, our gifts must work together. It’s not like Superman, or Batman or the Lone Ranger, who individually get all the glory. Here, everyone’s gift is needed. They must cooperate with one another. So, in the Incredibles, the parents see this, and seeing this they make a decision to support their children into becoming superheroes. Yes, even the children help defeat evil. The rite of passage of course is putting on the uniform and the mask – a mask which looks like the mask some of us have kept on till now. That most of us are holding in our hands, afraid to put it on, afraid to take the chance, afraid to answer the call.

For our church to thrive, we need to see underneath all the masks we wear and see whom God has called us to be in the world – an incredible. I challenge you to put on the mask once more – so you can see yourself as an incredible. We need to open our eyes to our individual gifts and the gifts that are present here, and in each other, and in our community. We must work together and serve together. Call them out. Encourage them in each other. Promote the justice and peace, and faith that following Jesus entails,
Today I want us to see. Look around at each other. Look at each other with new eyes. We can do incredible things, work together making the kingdom of the Son of David a reality. Can you see it? If so, what perfect vision that would be. Amen.

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Though Many, One

11/26/2021

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Amos 5:6-15, 1 Corinthians 12:12-19,
How will you celebrate the federal holiday tomorrow? Long known as Christopher Columbus Day, commemorated to celebrate Columbus’ arrival in the Americas is no longer openly embraced by many people. While thousands will still watch the NYC parade in honor of Columbus tomorrow at 11 – the largest in the world - other cities and states have renamed the holiday “Native Americans Day,” “Indigenous Peoples Day “or “Discovery Day.” NYC calls the holiday “Italian Heritage Day” as well as Indigenous Peoples Day. In total, 27 states including the District of Columbia no longer observe the holiday. In the past year several statues of Christopher Columbus have been taken down, in the belief that valuing what Columbus ultimately did in “discovering” and establishing European values in the Americas has led to denigration of the memory of millions of indigenous peoples already living in the Americas when he arrived. NYS remains so far with 23 other states with Columbus Day still on the books.

The controversy over Columbus Day is but a reflection of the divisions and cultural shifts we face as a country. COVID 19 made our divisions more painfully obvious. Once living by the motto, E pluribus unum (Out of many one), we seem to live by the motto Out of many, chaos. Out of many, distrust. Out of many, conflict. Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals seem more concerned about their own party lines than what’s best for the nation. The gap between the rich and poor has never been wider. Black lives Matter and All Lives Matter camps have drawn battles lines. Gaslighting and cancel culture are popular past times. Rural and city-bred folk are suspicious of each other. Native-born and immigrants mistrust each other. Evangelical and mainline Christians remain guarded of the other’s motives. The list could go on.

Churches and religious institutions reflect the culture they belong to. They often find themselves mired in conflict unable to rise above and resolve the problems they face.
This is exactly the state of affairs in Amos - the prophet depicts a society torn apart by sin that can only be mended by turning back to God. It’s the same case with the Corinth Church when Paul wrote to the community that he had founded. Paul founded the Corinthian church during his second missionary journey- meandering road we talked about last week. During the two years he spent there, the new community thrived and grew strong. Paul had helped them dream God’s dream for themselves and for the world. He had helped them discern God’s calling for their church, the specific ways that they could help heal the hurts of the world. He had set them loving down the pat then he left.

And all hell broke loose.

Before long, some church members were proclaiming themselves to be “followers of Paul.” Others were “followers of Apollos” (another Christian missionary). Others were “followers of Peter.”

In the midst of this mess, Paul asks, “Isn’t anyone a follower of Jesus?”
Paul reminds the Corinthian community that being a follower of Jesus is a lot like being part of a body. A head doesn’t serve itself; it serves the body. A foot doesn’t serve the foot, or even the leg. It serves the body. Each part of the body is important. Each part of the body makes a vital contribution. And each is going to experience the life of the body a little differently.

This analogy becomes critical when a church takes risks to follow God’s Dream to love and discovers that the vision doesn’t match their reality. Churches find themselves fighting over mask mandates. Or music choices. Or mission spending or other interpersonal conflicts. Inevitably, the church will stumble. And inevitably, people will interpret that stumbling as a sign that the church is failing in its mission. But exactly the opposite is happening. A church that takes its calling to live God’s Dream of love in the world will necessarily stumble around as it tries to do its best.

Paul encourages the Corinthian congregation to remember the whole. The body they are a part of isn’t’ just any body. It is the body of Christ. We are living for a relationship, not merely ourselves. Therefore, there are no winners or losers. There is no “my way or the highway.” There can be no “I don’t care about the youth of the church, or I don’t care about the elderly.” No “let’s do away with the traditional service because I don’t like traditional music, or no contemporary music, because I don’t like contemporary sounds.”

There is only, “I care about the youth because Christ cares about the youth, and the elderly, Christ cares for them as well. I care that we all find a way to worship God in the most whole-hearted and respectful way we can.” We say this, knowing that a major part of the reintegrating step of love is remembering that we base our assessment on how well we act and react as a body when the going gets tough. We look out for each other. We care for each other. We are one body. Out of many, one.

During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.

When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension. Finally, they decided that the situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ's commands. Then they came together. Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a friend who was there, "What did you do then?" "We were just one," he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred.

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So, each of us, committed to looking to Christ, are in heart near to each other. This is because through Christ we are attuned to the love of God which seeks to reintegrate us as a whole body. When love prevails among believers, especially in times of strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ.

So today we remember to the words of the prophet Amos, Come back to the Lord and Live! So, whether or not you attend the parade tomorrow, or lift up indigenous people’s culture and tenacity, let us be there for each other. Let us realize that we are all in this journey together. Our fates are intertwined. We fall or rise together. God seeks to reintegrate us with the understanding though many, we are one body in Christ. Out of many, may we be one. Amen.

A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God.

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Learning to Listen

11/26/2021

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Mark 10:3-16, Acts 16:6-15

Do you have a creepy Alexa story? You know Alexa, that virtual assistant technology that you can give commands to and viola! The work is done. Like Alexa, turn off the lights. The lights go off. Alexa play Beyonce. “Single Ladies” pipes up. Apparently, Alexa is now known for listening in to your conversations and trespassing certain boundaries.
Meatmacho, reporting on Reddit, says his creepy Alexa story happened when Alexa butted into an argument he was having with his wife. He says: "Wife and I were arguing about something. No clue what it was, but it was getting a little heated. I don't know what Alexa thought she heard, but she suddenly interjected with, "Why don't we change the subject?"

Nichola Kent shares: Alexa is so rude. I am sitting here watching TV and eating chips and she pipes up out of the blue saying, “Here’s a station you may like. Workout FM”
Tragic Ally reports: I asked Alexa “when will computers become self-aware?” Alexa responds, “When will you become self-aware?”

How well do we listen? We may think we are listening well, but psychologists tell us most of the time when we think we are listening we are actually preparing our responses to what we are hearing. Are we really listening as someone is talking to us? Listening is more than hearing words. Do we listen to the pauses and the silence? Do we capture emotional content unlaying a comment? Can we read between the lines? Can we put our biases aside, our presumptions, our own reactivity, to receive what is being said? Can we listen even like creepy Alexa, who seems to at times respond to the larger picture?

Listening is one of the fundamental pillars to being drawn into God’s dream for us. Listening is an active part of loving well. So, we journey through our “Drawn In” series, listening is the theme for this week, on World Communion Sunday, where we are called to listen and celebrate fully peoples of all nations, cultures and languages.

We learn to listen by mistakes made in listening. One of the more famous examples where a manufacturer did a great job dreaming and risking but utterly failed for lack of listening is the creation of the Edsel automobile in the late 1950s. Who here remembers the Edsel? Not many of us. What we might vaguely know is that the term Edsel in now synonymous with being a flop, a failure despite being touted the next best thing to sliced bread.

Henry Ford, the car manufacturer, dreamed big when it came to the Edsel. A lot of money went into market research to determine exactly what the American public wanted in a car. Ford built state-of-the-art production facilities lined up a cross-country network of dealers. However, the public never had a chance to see the Edsel. All told Ford took a risk of what would be about 4 billion dollars in today’s money. And he had no idea what a flop it would be.

The public found Edsel’s unique styling hideous. The most memorable design feature of the Edsel, its front grille, resembled a horse collar or worse a toilet seat in people’s eyes. The car’s fancy new technology was considered a nuisance as well. Unveiled in a time of recession, when people were looking for deals, the ugly Edsel was too high end. Ford could have avoided this if only they had listened, if only he had tested his porotype on actual potential customers than just marketing executives and salespeople.

All these concerns about listening well find concrete expressions in our scriptures. Look at the life of the apostle Paul. Paul knew that even when you’ve done your homework, said your prayers, and were committed to a course of action you cannot stop listening. In fact, you must listen more carefully than ever.

In our passage from Acts 16 today, we find Paul in the midst of a second missionary journey. Paul, Silas and Timothy and many believe Luke as well, head straight for Ephesus in Asia Minor. Little do they know but the relatively straightforward journey from Iconium to Ephesus will morph into a journey thousands of miles further and a couple of years longer than they had originally been led to believe.

Pauls’ course changed three times during this journey. They plan to go to Asia, but the spirit said no. They plan to go to Bithynia, but once again the spirit said no. After two false starts, Paul has a vision of a man of Macedonia, pleading with him to come and help. Paul ended up in Philippi, a leading city in Macedonia. Now the first Paul would normally do is go find a synagogue to worship in and share the good news. Paul is hoping to find a few good men to pass the message along. Paul can’t even find an established synagogue. Instead, the best he ends up with is the riverbank, the second-best place to find worshippers, but here it is just a group of women. If Paul hadn’t listened to the spirit intently, if he had interjected his own interpretations or biases in the message, he would have felt this whole enterprise was a failure. Every which way being blocked. So, obeying the spirit, Paul shares the word with the women, these second-class citizens. Not much of a prize for most missionaries. Now the text says something interesting. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening. This word for listening is used three times in the gospels. It is used in the context of hearing deeply the good news. It is the way Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, listens. It is how the crowd, listens as Jesus teaches in the temple. It is even how a troubled King Herod listens to John the Baptist’s teachings. Lydia listens. As a result of her listening, Lydia become the first convert in Philippi. She becomes the first European disciple, and establishes, along with the efforts of Paul and his cohorts, the first Christian Church in Europe. And Lydia became one of the most renowned Christian leaders in the early church. All because Paul listened carefully to the moving of the Spirit.

Our lives are no different than Paul’s. The Spirit calls to us just as frequently and as softly as it did to Paul. We get great ideas like Henry Ford. We think our ideas are so great, that we stop listening. When we get an idea, a vision, the listening process is just beginning. There are always false starts. Mistakes. Misinterpretations. Wrong turns. If we don’t listen carefully, we think it’s all over or we got what we need, when everything in reality, is just beginning.

What do we hear if we listen carefully to our Gospel lesson? Jesus embraces and welcomes children, which of course we applaud. It seems natural to us. Something we welcome. Yet in Jesus’ day, children occupied the lowest status. They were most vulnerable. While children were loved, their lives were hard, they were expected to work, and they were hurt and died more commonly than their counterparts today. The disciples, listening to their own biases, try to keep the children away, from an overbooked Jesus. The disciples act the sales force of Henry Ford, pushing an idea that pleases them, not the consumer. Jesus, however, doesn’t listen to them. Jesus actually rebukes them and insists that the children come to him. Jesus listens to the parents, to the children and blesses them. As we listen to this story, what do we hear? If we want to be a church that is relevant to the 21st century, we can’t listen like ordinary disciples. We got to learn to listen again. We got to listen like Jesus. Listen like Paul. Listen like Lydia. Listen like creepy alexa.

What our scriptures today teach us on this World Communion Sunday is that if want to achieve spiritual abundance, we must listen with spirit and heart, not just our ears. God wants to listen and will take us out of our comfort zone, out of the box, to hear from the vulnerable, to hear from what we might call the second class, to hear from the voice of the common person. Because it is there that God has placed his wisdom, his love, his dream, his vision for us, of a new world. So today, listen to the dreams of a child. Listen to the cares of those whose path you cross today. Listen to the voice of those from around the world that differ so greatly from our own, Let us be drawn in to a holy conversion, an unusual vision of help. If we listen, if we follow in faith, there we will truly find Jesus, there we will find that sacred treasure that has been pulling at our hearts…all these months, all these years…hoping one day, we would just listen. Amen.

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Give Generously

11/26/2021

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The Labor Day holiday is an unusual one for the books. On Labor Day most of us actually do as little labor as possible.   It is a notoriously bad weekend for attendance at church. People are traveling, involved in other social activities, cramming in that last weekend at the beach. Labor Day is considered the unofficial end of summer, as most kids are back in school already or will be this week. Naturally, Labor Day sales abound as people are preparing to transition from summer to fall. We relax, enjoy hopefully good weather, taking in as much rest as possible.

In the buzz of activity around Labor Day, something is missing, We don’t talk about Labor. We rarely stop for a moment to think about each other as laborers in God’s vineyard who deserve to be recognized for our work. Do we even know what the person next to us does or did for a living? After all, that’s what the day was set aside for. In 1882 in New York City, the workers decided to hold a Labor Day Parade. They highlighted each other’s accomplishments, union solidarity, and the great strides in workers’ rights since the Civil War. And even after the holiday was established on a federal level on June 28th, 1894, the Sunday before Labor Day was unofficially designated as a time to spiritually recognize the important of the laborer, the treatment of the poor, and the dangers of wealth. How far we have strayed from this basic purpose of a Labor Day holiday.

It is not often that we hear about the Pullman Strike of 1894 that spawned this federal holiday. The strike started in a time of severe economic depression and unrest, when Pullman railroad workers were getting a 25% cut in pay but no subsequent cut in rent or food costs in the company’s lodging. Which six o’clock newscast shows a politician laying a wreath at a monument for the 34 strikers killed or the 57 strikers that were injured in that strike? Which 24-hour news channel is going to remind us of the property damage done which when inflated for our day was over 8 million dollars? And where is the government watchdog group that will remind us that President Grover Cleveland sent over 12,000 Army troops and U.S. Marshalls to break up a strike allowing an attack on American civilians? The Pullman Strike it was this powder keg of events that allowed Representative Lawrence McGann’s call to adopt the Senate Bill to honor Labor on the first Monday of every September to be heeded. It was this set of events that led to President Cleveland signing the bill into law just 2 days later. It was the sacrifice of these workers for basic dignities of wage, hour and living conditions that we are called to honor on this Labor Day.

So, on this Labor Day we lift up the understanding that work is a very important part of God’s will for people. God has always honored and provided work. The book of Genesis begins with God working – creating the world and all that was in it. On the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day as a result. So, God is a worker too and appreciates rest. God created us in His image, in the image of a working, creative being. The first thing that God does with the created human being is to place it in the garden of Eden to till and keep it Gen 2:15). Work is encoded in our spiritual DNA, to care and prosper the creation God produced.

So why do so many people think of work as something bad, or dislike work? Work has become troublesome, unpleasant, oppressive because of sin of rebellion, that is traced right back to Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden. The punishment for this sin is that the ground becomes cursed. Work would be a toil all our days, and bring suffering, often resulting thorns and thistles instead of the good things God intended. People would eke out a living by the sweat of the brow. God, made enough in the earth for all to enjoy, but as a result of sin, some people enjoyed an abundance of resources, causing poverty and need to come into being. The scriptures describe the growth of sin related to work: Cain kills Abel because Abel’s offering is preferred by God. People become competitive and seek to supplant God with the Tower of Babel, forcing them to be scattered over the face of the earth. People grew exceedingly wicked causing the Great Flood. From the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph work becomes a force to outdo each other, fighting over resources, lying and cheating. All this brings us to the great economic and social oppression of the Hebrew people by the Egyptians, until they are liberated by God, led into the wilderness to a vision of being a new people, where the image of work is restored to its rightful place. In our Hebrew lesson we hear God’s admonishments to his people to be open-handed, to give generously to the poor and needy as an act to heal the damage of the sin against work, the divine image of labor that God planted in the Garden.

The spiritual undergirding of Labor Day reminds us to work to bring balance to the world. Because of sin, there will always be poor and needy in the land. Jesus acknowledges as well that as a result of sin, there will always be poor in the land. That doesn’t mean, however, that Christians should sit by complacently and ignore the plight of the poor. If we have been blessed with resources, if we have more than we need we are meant to share. This is a God mandate. Giving generously to those in need is a healing act; it restores our nature to the vision God had for in when we were created. A generous giving working God creates us in the image of being a generous giving working people. When we comfort the sick and those who mourn, feed the hungry, help those in need pay their bills when they are behind, we heal ourselves in the process. It is a blessing to be able to do these things, to be openhanded and give generously. It aligns us with our God nature.

In our gospel lesson, we see a wealthy individual, a good man, a pious man, seeking the way to eternal life. He approaches Jesus and knees before him deferentially. As a wealthy man he is probably used to getting what he wants and he asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus quotes from the second half of the ten commandments that deal with ethical conduct among people: no lying, stealing, adultery, honoring father and mother. The wealthy young man declares he has kept all these commandments perfectly since he was a child. Jesus looking at him with love, points out he lacks one thing. His wealth has gotten in the way of a relationship with God. Paul reminds us that love of money is a root of evil. This evil has polluted the earnest young man. He needs to divest and follow Jesus. The young earnest rich man walks away without a word – in sorrow, because Jesus has exposed that his attachment to wealth has gotten in his way with his relationship with God.

Most of us are wealthy in some way or another.   Do we have a cupboard and refrigerator full of food? Do we have a warm bed? Do we have access to a hot shower? Do we have work, activities to occupy us? People we can fellowship with? Do we have a change of clothes and shoes that fit?   We may not see ourselves as rich, we may not be wealthy according in the standards of the United States or what the media reflects back to us, but compared to rest of the world, we are not doing too bad at all. Instead of focusing on what we lack, we are called today to focus on what we do have, and more importantly, on what we can share. Can we spare some money? Can we give a word of encouragement? Can we spare some time or give a listening ear to someone down and out? We indeed are wealthy is some way or another. Labor Day reminds us of this fact. We are wealthy in God’s eyes, and God yearns to use us, to give generously to us, to restore to the world some sense of Eden, of paradise.

As we begin a new church season next week, we will begin a six-week series of called “Drawn In.” We will be drawn in to explore the seed of creativity, of God-given Labor, so we can be renewed, restored, and rediscover the joy of giving generously to others, to our community in which we are planted. It will be a time to rediscover how to find the vision of giving generously that God is calling us to.

So, this Labor Day, how can you and I give generously? What time, talent or treasure do you have in abundance and can freely share?   Every day is a giving day. We have the privilege to use what we have been given for the good. As we remember those who worked for better conditions for working people, may we continue to work towards a society where giving generously is a norm, where the vision of Paradise is reignited, and where we follow Jesus, in serving, caring and healing God’s creation and all of God’s people, creating a Labor Day that celebrates the gift of work, the creativity of work, the godly joy of work, the as God intended for our world.

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/labor-day-2013-mike-fogerson-sermon-on-work-180968?page=4&wc=800
https://kairoscenter.org/labor-day-sermon-derrick-mcqueen/

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Risk to Love

11/26/2021

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Esther 4:13-17, Matthew 25:24-30

James Bryant Conant, an American chemist and once president of Harvard University, once observed: “Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.”   Today we enter the third week of our “Drawn In” Series, where we seek to be gathered into God’s sacred and eternal dream of Love. This week we acknowledge that if we are going to love, we must learn to risk. Like the turtle, we have to stick our necks out.

Almost 20 years ago, I received an email that would forever change the course of my life. It was email that came from eharmony, an online match making site I had joined with the encouragement of my friend Nan. They indicated a potential match had been found. He was a minister, social worker (same combination as me) and we began a correspondence, and within a few weeks decided to meet for coffee at the Bohemian Coffee Shop in the Columbia University neighborhood where I lived. I had fixed feelings after that first meeting. Was love possible again after one failed marriage, two young children to care for, and a busy ministry? Should I risk it again? Should I stick my neck out? I turned to my good friend Nan. Nan encouraged me to take that risk – give it a try. What did I have to lose? I stuck my neck out and I haven’t looked back since.

We do not advance in life without taking a risk. When you choose to love someone, you open your arms to them. When you stand with arms wide open, you’re exposed and vulnerable for attack or rejection. If we want the rewards of love, if we want to live a full life, full of different types of adventures and experiences, we need to stick our necks out. We risk failure and many times we do fail. We learn from the turtle: stick our necks out.

People stick their necks out in many ways. People take risks to make potential partners or friends. People take risks to end relationships. People take risks with sports and developing skills. People move to another part of the country to begin a new phase in their lives, or to begin a new job. We take investment risks to increase our finances. What child did not risk falling moving from crawling to walking? Like that child learning to walk, to speak, to master a skill, we too are created to be risk takers. So, we risk, we fall, we get up we risk again, and we gain. Risk and growth are built into the DNA of life. To love well we must risk, as Jesus risks with us everyday. We must stick our neck out. Even if we fail, we can try again. It’s the not the trying, it is the not risking that poses the greatest danger to our spiritual wellbeing.

        Our readings today describe for us risk taking as an act of love, as an act of faith. Esther on of the lessor known figures in the Bible, is actually of the greatest examples of risk-taking the scriptures give us. We need a bit of background to understand the risk that Esther undertook on behalf of her people. 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, ruler of a kingdom that stretched from Africa to Asia.

The King, lonesome for female companionship, turns to his officials who come up with a version 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. Most likely she is then most probably discarded into harem B, until the time the king desires her services. And so, the Beauty Games continue. Into this fray comes Esther, an orphan and a Jew in exile from her homeland. What chance did she stand?
Esther is noticed by the chief eunuch of the king’s harem, and he takes a liking to Esther. Eventually Esther’s turn with the King’s comes and she wins his favor. Esther is crowned Queen. But things are not boding well in the kingdom. The king’s highest official, the evil Haman, gets the King to sign off on a decree to kill the Jewish people.
In sackcloth and ashes, Queen Esther’s uncle Mordecai, appeals to her. He reminds her: her royal station will not protect her.   Esther needs to help. She’s the only chance left.
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, to risk or play it safe, and in this situation, Esther could lose her life if she sticks her neck out.

Esther can be killed because she knows that is the penalty to come before the king without his summoning. So, she prepares with a fast, and is joined by the Jews of the capital. She boldly approaches the King, who immediately grants her clemency and in time, grants her appeal. The Jewish people were saved because Esther stuck her neck out.
        This relationship between risk and love is one of the things Jesus seems to be trying to teach us in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. Part of our confusion with the parable comes from the fact that Jesus is not really talking about money. The parable only makes sense when we see talents, a large amount of money in the ancient world, as an analogy about how God ordains love to operate in the world.
The parable tells us that the first two servants immediately take risks with the love they’ve received with wonderful effects. Their efforts are doubled. Do we take risks with love? We bestow Christ-like love by being generous with people with no expectation of return. If we want to multiply the love we have received, we’ve got to constantly be taking risks with it. We have to stick our necks out for someone, or something. Like standing up for someone who has been wronged. By assisting someone who is weak or needy. By making sacrifices on other’s behalf with the resources we have received. Or like in the youth message today, by deliberately upbuilding each other with praise and kind words.

The troublesome third servant in the parable also receives liberal amounts of God’s love too, but he never risks it on anyone. He’s never generous toward the undeserving, nor does he turn the other cheek when someone offends him. This third servant buries God’s love in the ground. He has no interest in living within God’s dream. He refuses to be drawn into God’s vision. He is consumed with negative thoughts about a punishing master, which keeps him from taking risks with the love he did receive.

Love does not abide this. Love was not created to be hid away, buried in some dark hole. Love is a dynamic force. It is made to be given away, generously, without thought of consequence, without judging and criticizing. Love multiplies, not divides, as it is shared. Buried away is the worst thing we can do for love. Buried away love becomes self-centered, paranoid, negative. Love that is buried away, that risks nothing, is good for nothing but to be cast in the outer darkness. For love to flourish in our hearts and in the world, it must stick its neck out.

You and I have been called and drawn into God’s great dream of Love and justice. We are loved into being by God, loved, however imperfectly, by many to bring us to where we are at today. Who is God calling you to love today? Where are you called to love? That grumpy senior whose complaining and criticizing. That obnoxious teenager rolling his eyes, speaking why too loud at the Starbuck’s line. That driver that cut you off. That undocumented migrant living in the shadows. The person we call the enemy, who doesn’t think like us, act like us, love like us. The world is crying out for love, a love that risks being nailed to a cross, God’s extraordinary love which yearns to manifest itself through our voice, our hands, our feet, our resources, our heart. So, stick your neck out and risk to love, risk being loved. This is God’s big dream for us: to be like Esther, to risk ourselves, our reputation, our resources for the well-being of others, for the welfare of the people. We discover if we stick our neck out, we too move to being whom God has created us to be: a part God’s big dream of Love unleashed in the world. Amen.

tps://www.sumasacchurch.com/sermons/esther-5-taking-risks-from-esther-chapter-5-aug-8-10

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Thanksgiving Meditation

For All the Saints

I Want to See

Though Many, One

Learning to Listen

Give Generously

Risk to Love

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