Category: Homilies

Mark 5:21-43

I realized (in my preparation this week) that every sermon I have ever heard on this text has been vague about the actual ailment of the woman who reached for the hem of Jesus’ garment.

• So…to be clear…the woman in our Gospel reading today…
• Who was healed when she touched Jesus’ cloak had her menstrual period for 12 years.
• For 4,383 days in a row.
• Take a moment and consider what that was like back 2000 years ago.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

And worse…back in her day such women were considered impure.

• They were treated as so unclean that they could not be around other people.
• They could not enter the synagogue until their bleeding had stopped.
• Why? Because their impurity was considered contagious.
• Like a woman could catch it from another woman.
• And so…for 12 brutal years…our sister was segregated from the…so-called…good healthy people.

 

But…the Gospel tells us…she had heard about a man…a teacher…a prophet…a healer…

• Who did not recoil from women like her.
• She heard about a man who touched the unclean.
• Who did not seem to mind being close to lepers and prostitutes and mad men in tombs.
• She heard about a man who caused a stir.
• A man who caused religious people to clutch their pearls.
• A man who caused the blind to see.

 

She had heard about Jesus…and in a heroic act of self-respect…

• She pressed through those holy people…who if they knew it was her who was touching them that day…would have reported her.

 

She had heard about Jesus…and breaking all the rules…

• She came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak…and said:
• “If I but touch his clothes…I will be made well.”

 

So…she reached with everything she had…

• She reached past her fears.
• She reached past her limitations.
• She reached past the dirty looks.
• She reached past 4,383 days of isolation and disappointment and despair.
• She reached past the hateful things said to her by those who were supposed to help her.
• She reached past her past.

 

Our sister reached for her own healing and her own dignity and her own wholeness and said:

• If I but touch his clothes I will be made well.
• That is to say…if I but touch his clothes I will be made me.
• I will be made me again and not what everyone has labeled me.

 

And immediately her bleeding stopped.

• And she felt in her body that she was healed by the power of Jesus of Nazareth.
• Her Yelp review read:
• Healing was immediate and thorough…5 stars.

 

Immediately…aware that power had gone forth from him…Jesus turned about in the crowd and said:

• “Who touched my clothes?”
• Jesus was looking for the one who reached for her healing and received it.
• He wanted to look this woman in the eye.
• A woman who for 12 years never received a whole lot of eye contact but Jesus knew it was HER he felt.
• And Jesus’ disciples are dumbfounded and say:
• “Get real…everyone is touching everyone’s clothes…it’s a huge crowd.”

 

But Jesus kept looking for her eyes.

• And the woman…who knew what had happened to her in that moment of her healing.
• And who knew very well what had happened to her in her 4,383 days of confinement.
• Came in fear and trembling…fell down before him…and told him the whole truth.
• She did not hold anything back.
• She told him the whole truth and nothing but.

 

Jesus said to her: “Daughter…your faith has made you well…go in peace…and be healed of your disease.”

• Everyone else may have called her impure…unclean…and unholy.
• But he called her daughter.
• In that one-word Jesus tells her who she really is.
• A beloved child of God.
• You are well…you are a daughter of God…go in peace and live as a healed woman.

 

I love this story but I have questions.

• I wonder if that word “daughter” …caused pain…as it surged through the parts of her that had been deprived of love and life for so long.
• I wonder if it hurt to be healed even though it is what she wanted. 

 

Because sometimes it is more comfortable to allow parts of ourselves to die than to feel them have new life.

• Because then we must face the pain of the whole truth.

But mostly…I wonder what her life looked like after that moment.

• Because 12 years is a long time.
• And it is not like there was some kind of re-entry program she could participate in.
• No halfway house between clean and unclean.

 

I wonder if…for our sister…the bleeding woman…

• There were times it felt more comfortable to cling to the identity of being unclean.
• Because at least it was familiar.
• At least then she knew where she stood.
• I wonder if there was an adjustment period for her before she could really live her new identity.

 

Here’s the thing:

• She may have been healed and returned to her community and family again.
• But she may not have really gotten well until she could accept both who she had been…
• And who she was becoming and accept the distance between the two.

 

And ultimately…when the pain of trying to lead the same life when she was not the same person was severe enough…

• She became willing to re-think old ideas about herself.
• Because she desperately needed relief from a life in which she was impersonating an old version of herself.
• She needed to repent of all the ways she had defined herself for so long.
• She did not know why losing things that hurt her…also causes her to hurt…but it did.

 

OK then…here’s the thing.

• Whatever it is that we do not want to let go of:
• Status…fear…bad relationships…victimhood…political correctness…moral superiority…resentment.
• Name your poison…whatever identities we think will keep us safe.
• Are not safe at all.
• They are just familiar and that is not the same thing.

 

Because when these flimsy designations touch even the garment of God…

• They fall away.
• And then Jesus looks us right in our eyes and tells us the truth when he declares:
• Daughter…you are well…go in peace and live as a healed woman.

Mark 4:35-41

 

While they were sailing Jesus fell asleep.

• A windstorm swept down on the lake.
• The boat was filling with water.
• And they were in danger.
• They went to him and woke him up…shouting:
• “Master…Master…we are perishing!”
• And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves.
• They ceased…and there was a calm.
• He said to them: “Where is your faith?”

 

Jesus and the disciples are caught in a storm at sea.

• The text says they were in real danger.
• Their boat was filling with water.
• So…if they were going to pieces it was not due to neuroses or an anxiety disorder.
• It was because their boat was about to sink.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Well…we are wired for certain responses when our lives are in danger.

• Adrenalin is released in our brains.
• Our heart rate increases…our pupils dilate to let in more light.
• And we become hyper-aware of what’s happening around us.
• We do not really choose to react like this.

 

So…it is kind of unfair that…amid a sinking boat Jesus turns to his disciples and says:

• “Where is your faith?”
• It feels like an accusation.
• Is Jesus saying that if we have enough faith…we can somehow transcend our animal brain chemistry?

 

Both New Age and Prosperity Gospel thinking would have us believe that if we just have enough faith…

• Or if we just think positively enough.
• We will draw only good things to us.
• But honestly…life does not work that way.
• We know that bad things happen to all people.
• And to think that storms happen because we did not think enough positive thoughts.
• Or practice the right kind of religion…is just spiritual vanity.

 

So maybe when Jesus said to them where is your faith…he said it not as an accusation…but as an invitation.

• An invitation to reflect on where God is amid storms.
• So…Jesus invites us to reflect on what it means to be alive on the other side of a situation.
• A situation we thought might kill us:
• A divorce…an illness…the death of a parent or a child…the loss of a job…depression…middle school.
• It can feel like it is going to kill us.
• But if it does not…then we get to ask questions like:
• In what did I have faith?  Where was God?  What did I fear?
• Because faith and positive thinking are not some kind of magic formula for a storm-free life.
• But faith is a way to find some calm.

 

So…here is what I mean:

• I am in the middle of a storm:
• A money problem or a relationship crisis or a medical emergency.
• And I say: “I am perishing here…God”
• I am sure I am perishing.
• But when I look back on it six months or a year later…
• After everything worked out or did not work out.
• But I am still alive and the world did not end and I think:
• “I do not know why I was so messed up”.

 

Well…I want some day to get to the point where I can trust God in the moment and not just in the past.

• Maybe things will work out and maybe they will not.
• But I can either have a sense of God’s love during the whole thing…
• Or I can be so out-of-sorts I forget God’s love is there.

 

Because here is what I believe:

• Our God…whose love is powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead…
• Simply will not be separated from me or from you.
• Not by a storm…not by a crisis…not by a pandemic…not by a war and not even by death.
• The love of God in Christ may not separate us from the storm.
• But the storm cannot and shall not and will not separate us from God’s love.
• Be still…and know that I am God (Psalm 46).
• That is what I have written on a big wooden sign as I enter my home from the garage door.

 

Every afternoon…after putting her daughter down for her nap…she moves to the garden in the backyard…and just sits.

• She enjoys the flight of a butterfly… considers a bee hovering over the garden…loses herself in the clouds above her.
• Then she returns to her little one to find her ready to charge through the afternoon.
• And…thanks to her moments of stillness…Mom is re-charged…as well.

 

The morning is filled with phone calls and meetings.

• Like most engineers…convincing…motivating…fixing…adapting…tracking…and computing and completing are what he does.
• But at lunchtime…he walks to a nearby downtown church to catch the 12:10 music and worship time.
• For thirty minutes he hears Christ speaking through the Word and music.
• The gift of stillness covers him with the breath of the Holy Spirit.
• He goes back to the office for the afternoon feeling whole again.

 

Like most teenagers…his life is filled with confusion and questions and discoveries and realizations and anxiety.

• Sometimes the rollercoaster of being 16 becomes too much.
• So…he closes his door…lies back on his bed…and puts on his headphones.
• But the music is not the usual.
• It’s a vinyl record played on a turntable.
• Soft jazz that quiets his nerves and soothes his spirit.
• In the music he finds the sanctuary of stillness.

 

Jesus’ words are addressed to us this morning:

• Peace! Be still!

Mark 4:26-34

²⁶Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,²⁷and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. ²⁸The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
³⁰He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? ³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; ³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; ³⁴he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

 

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you O Christ

 

Today we heard Jesus say that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that when it has grown becomes the greatest of all shrubs.

• The greatest of all shrubs?
• What kind of kingdom is this?
• Yet he says Heaven’s kingdom is like Shrubs.
• We may think that the kingdom of God should follow our value system.
• And be powerful and impressive and shiny.
• But that is not what Jesus brings.
• Jesus brings a kingdom ruled by the crucified one.
• Spread throughout with mercy rather than power.
• The Kingdom is always found in the unexpected.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Jesus talked again and again about the kingdom of heaven and found any image available to tell us how to spot it – like:

• A little yeast leavens the whole loaf…a woman searches until she finds a lost coin…a father throws a festive banquet for a most unworthy son who has returned home…shepherd leaves all the sheep to seek one lost sheep…a wounded insider is helped by an unworthy outsider…a mustard seed grows into a treehouse for birds…the poor – crippled – blind and lame are brought in to a great dinner party…the humble sinner is justified – not the proud law-keeper…a poor and hungry beggar lies in the bosom of Abraham.
• And spotting these images is important.
• And the reason it is important is because there are two kingdoms.

 

OK…remember the Alleluia chorus in Handel’s Messiah?

• For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth: Hallelujah!
• The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord…And of His Christ…And He shall reign forever.
• OK then…there is the kingdom of heaven and there is the kingdom of this world.
• Not as in the world God created and called good.
• But the kingdom of this world we created for ourselves.
• The world according to us.

 

I randomly ask people what they believe the Kingdom of this world is like.

• One said…a thick fog that seems large…scary and impenetrable. But it is passing away.
• Another said: the kingdom of this world is like a rich…good-looking guy whose stock portfolio is as breathtaking as his Italian loafers.
• The kingdom of this world is a seemingly impenetrable system of victim and victimizer…winner and loser…rich and poor.

 

Everything around us can feel like it is demanding our allegiance to the Kingdom of this world.

• Allegiance to the weight-loss industrial complex.
• Allegiance to a worthiness-based system of getting ahead in life.
• The kingdom of this world wages an endless campaign for our loyalty.
• It is on billboards and magazines and TV.
• And the messages we receive lure us in with false promises.
• The promises of a human engineered kingdom are empty.
• The kingdom of this world cannot save us.

 

But Jesus came to bring another kingdom.

• You see…when God could no longer be contained by heaven…heaven came to Earth.
• The love God had for the world overflowed the heavens and was made flesh in the person of Jesus.
• And God’s Christ brought a message of good news to the poor and release to the captives and freedom to the oppressed.
• And he healed the sick and ate with sinners and scoffed at the powerful and he said the Kingdom of God has come near.

 

In the small and the unlikely and the unwanted and the mustard seed the kingdom of God comes to us.

• And it changes everything.
• This is the Kingdom of Heaven says Revelation 21:
• That God had come to dwell with us.  To make us people of God. To make all things new.
• For the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord…and of His Christ…and He shall reign for ever and ever.

 

We need to discover our own images of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

• It is important to have a field guide.
• To listen to Jesus when he says what it is like so that we can see it in our own lives.
• When we can identify the kingdom of heaven sown around us…it is not just an FYI kind of thing.
• It is God peeking through the curtain and letting us know that there is a deeper reality present in the world.
• A reality in which God gets God’s way.
• It is the light of God’s Christ which shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot…will not…shall not overcome it.
• And seeing where God seems to be insistently and dangerously and gorgeously and hilariously sewing signs of the kingdom is important.
• Because seeing signs of the kingdom of heaven loosens us from the kingdom of this world. 
• It frees us from the false promises of human culture and shows us that which is eternal and true and unstoppable.
• It shows us that drug overdoses and sweat shops and divorce and unemployment and senseless violence are not the final word.
• God and God alone will have the final word.
• Even if inconveniently God does not meet our expectations or work on our timeline.

 

You see…the kingdom of heaven is found in the ordinary…the daily.

• The kingdom of heaven is found right in front of our eyes.
• And when you see it…something is made new.
• A part of the world…a part of us is made new.
• Something is made new when the empty promises of the world according to us…
• Gives way to the whimsy…and the true and the eternal in the world according to God.
• And it is always a surprise.
• So…let us tilt our heads and look sideways at our lives and we just might see it in the small and in the unexpected.

 

Let us tilt our heads and look sideways and catch a glimpse.

• For the Prince of Peace has begun his reign.
• The signs are all around.
• They are signs of a battle already won.
• Signs of a world loved so deeply by God that God refuses to leave it alone.
• So…take another look. See if you can spot it.

Mark 3:20-35

In our reading this morning we see some of Jesus family members come and try to take charge of him.

• Why? Because they thought he was crazy.
• They thought he was out of his mind.
• They thought he had gone “over the edge”.
• They thought he was crazy because of what he was doing.
• Preaching about the kingdom of God…healing…and debating with powerful officials.
• You can sense the agony of the conflict as you hear the story of how family members decided among themselves to “put him away quietly”…
• Before he did any more damage to himself and them.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

OK…so what is really going on here?

• You see…Jesus had left home and the carpentry business his father Joseph had set up in Nazareth.
• Jesus’ departure had directly affected the financial security of his family.
• Because he was the oldest son of a deceased father.
• In Jewish culture…as the oldest son…Jesus was responsible for the security of the entire family.
• And Jesus had become an itinerant preacher…which had no security for him or for his family.
• And there was a lot of gossip in Nazareth when that happened.
• The family was embarrassed by what appeared to be an act of an irresponsible man.

 

Why? Because Jesus was on a head-on collision course with the orthodox religious leaders of his day.

• No sensible man would deliberately agitate the PTB (The Powers That Be).
• Jesus’ family knew that Jesus could not win in a battle with the priests…the Pharisees…and the Sadducees (the Jewish ruling elite).
• The conflict with the religious leaders rose to fever pitch when the religious leaders accused Jesus of being “possessed by Beelzebub” saying:
• “He is driving out demons by the prince of demons”.
• Jesus’ family and friends thought he was “beside himself”.

 

And then Jesus says something rather interesting.

• He says: “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him…he said: “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
• The key to understanding this is Jesus saying:
• “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven…he is guilty of an eternal sin”.

 

And so…what is this unforgivable sin?

• If we lie…but regret…we can be forgiven.
• If we dishonor one another…but regret…we can be forgiven.
• If we hurt one another…but regret…we can be forgiven.
• If we hurt God…but regret…we can be forgiven.

 

One of the activities of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to the point where we are willing to forgive and be forgiven.

• To blaspheme or curse the Holy Spirit means to stubbornly cling to our own thoughts and opinions with an unwillingness to forgive and be forgiven.
• This hard-heartedness had set like concrete in the hearts of the Pharisees who were never regretful or repentant.

 

The unforgivable sin is not to repent or to have no regret.

• God’s will is that we have regret and be remorseful.
• That attitude of regret or repentance is what constitutes the faith family and brings reconciliation to the family of faith.
• In this context…Jesus would have meant that it especially included his own biological family.

 

So…reconciliation DID come to Jesus’ family members at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

• We do not really know how it happened.
• But…we only know that it happened.

 

Mary and Jesus’ brothers were there with the believers in earnest prayer.

• Somehow…they had seen the amazing integrity that Jesus possessed.
• And had become followers of the Way.
• Through forgiveness they had joined the faith family.
• Later we are told that James…Jesus’ brother…became the head of the church at the council of Jerusalem.
• James had come a long way from wanting to put Jesus away to heading up the church.
• And Jesus’ family came to know the joy of forgiveness through the power of the resurrected Lord.
• They still believed that Jesus was out of his mind…
• But in a different way than they had originally thought.
• Here is what I mean.

 

Despite a long day at work and a cold coming on…it was Mary’s night to staff the soup kitchen our church helped to sponsor.

• People were depending on her.
• So…with extra Kleenex…water…Tylenol and a face mask…she went downtown.
• Mary was certainly out of her mind.

 

Aidan…a disciple in our parish…was in the middle of a meeting with prospective buyers.

• This deal had been in the works for months.
• But the prospective buyers insisted on changes to the original agreement.
• There was money to be made…
• But a lot of good and talented employees would lose their jobs.
• And the customer service protocols Aidan had worked so hard to establish would be seriously compromised.
• So…Aidan walked away from the deal.
• Aidan was certainly out of his mind.

 

 

The kids loved hockey…but things were getting out of hand.

• Every weekend from October to April was spent at hockey rinks…
• Some a two-hour drive from their home.
• The games were great…but making it work was taking a toll on everyone.
• So…Sarah and Rich…disciples of a church I had been serving…put on the breaks.
• Their kids were all great skaters…the engines of their teams.
• But it was not working for their life as a family.
• They must have been out of their minds.

 

 

Yes…we must be “out of our minds” to do as Jesus would do.

• But to follow Jesus means putting aside the mindset of:
• Me-first…it’s-not-my-fault…take-responsibility-for-yourself…my-time-is-too-important-for-the-likes-of-you.
• For the sake of what is right and just.
• For the sake of those we love.
• For the sake of the common good.
• God asks us to act as Jesus would.
• Even if those around us think we are “out of our minds.”
• But what others consider crazy can be the wisest…sanest and most faithful thing we do.

Mark 2:23-3:6

Once a week…all of us…including the preacher…must decide what we are going to do on the first day of the week.

• “What are we going to do this Sunday?”
• That’s the question that looms for all of us as the week nears its end.
• Will we go to church…or will we find something else to do?

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

The one thing Sunday offers in our society is a lot of choices.

• The weekends have become the ideal time for travel away from home.
• Sundays make a great day for a mini-holiday or a family reunion.
• Sunday is the perfect day to take a drive to the beach or a museum or the pier or take in a concert or a theme park.
• Most of the major sporting events occur on Sunday.
• Amateur golf on Sunday afternoon has become a religion.
• Boating and fishing are excellent choices for Sunday.
• And then there is always shopping!
• And restaurants and movie theatres.
• So…what will you do on Sunday?

 

Mark describes two dramatic actions in the ministry of Jesus that both occurred on the Sabbath.

• And both confront the question: “What is it lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
• In the first…Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grain field…and the disciples began to pick the heads of the grain.
• The Pharisees saw it and were offended.
• Is it lawful to do that on the Sabbath?
• No…they said…and charged Jesus’ disciples with breaking the Sabbath.

 

In the second…there was a sick man present in the congregation…

• And the Pharisees watched to see if Jesus would heal this man in violation of the Sabbath.
• So…Jesus gave voice to the “elephant in the room”:
• “Is it lawful to do this on the Sabbath?”
• As far as the Pharisees were concerned…there was nothing wrong with the actions in either of these episodes.
• The problem was that they were done on the Sabbath.
• Jesus defended his actions by citing the actions of David in the Old Testament.
• Then he said to them: “The Sabbath was made for humankind…and not humankind for the Sabbath.”

 

Well…Christians no longer observe the Sabbath.

• The Sabbath is the last day of the week which is Saturday.
• Christians observe the first day of the week which is Sunday.
• But we attach the same significance to Sunday that the Hebrew people attached to Saturday.

 

One of the most amazing transformations of being a follower of the new way (to be Jewish) was this change from observing the Sabbath day to observing Sunday.

• Since Jesus resurrection occurred on the first day of the week…
• The early Christians thought it only appropriate that they worship the Lord on his Resurrection Day.
• In that way…every Sunday is an Easter Sunday.
• Until Christ had come…we worked toward our Sabbath.
• Since Christ…we work from his Sabbath.
• In the old way… the Sabbath depended upon our work.
• In the new way…our work grows out of the Sabbath.

 

How then…should we observe the Christian Sabbath?

• When we move toward a strict observance for our Sunday activities…
• We are becoming more like the Pharisees with their legalistic rituals regarding the Sabbath.
• I much prefer that we come down on the side of grace rather than legalism.

 

So…what is the real meaning of the Sabbath principle?

• The Sabbath is not one day given to God while we are permitted to keep the six for ourselves.
• It is rather a sign and symbol of the deepest things in life.
• The Sabbath principle reminds us that there must be a time in our week when we stop and take note of God.
• We are being remiss when we let our lives become so rushed and burdened.
• So full of busy-ness…that we fail take care of two vital human needs…rest and worship.

 

As the early believers knew…the day of the week is not the important point.

• You can rest and worship on Saturday.
• Or you can rest and worship on Sunday.
• Some people must work on Sundays…and their days off may be Tuesday or Saturday.
• They can still accomplish the Sabbath purpose whatever day of the week it is.
• The Sabbath reminds us to take time to rest and to take time to worship.
• For me…the Sabbath is the day in which I hand my life back to God to remember that it is not my own.
• The acknowledgment that we belong to a generous God changes how we live the other six days of our lives.

 

In her book Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul…Rabbi Naomi Levy tells the story of Henry…a member of her congregation.

• Henry’s internet startup was booming…he was making more money than he’d ever dreamed of.
• At 36…he was happily married with an adorable…energetic son.
• But Henry was feeling empty.
• Something was missing in his life.
• He sensed that he had “forgotten something” but didn’t know what.
• Yes…he admitted to the rabbi…he was constantly “plugged into” the office.
• Even though he was “there” …he was never completely engaged with his family.

 

So…the rabbi suggested that Henry and his family observe a real Sabbath day:

• Henry turning off his “work mind” for a day and the whole family unplugging from technology.
• And…instead…lighting Sabbath candles on Friday nights as a way to welcome sacred time and enjoying a festive meal at home together.

 

After a few weeks…Henry returned to see Rabbi Naomi.

• So how are the Sabbaths going? Naomi asked.
• “The first Friday night I just kept reaching for my phone…so I finally turned it off.
• But…Rabbi…it felt like an amputated limb.
• I kept listening for it and looking for it.”

 

But now…?

• “I feel like a father for the first time.
• I think I was just faking it before.
• I love playing with Jake and reading books and looking into his eyes.
• No more tech in bed…that’s our new thing.
• I go to bed holding my wife in my arms.

 

“The weird part” Henry said “is that taking Friday night as a Sabbath is actually affecting all the days of the week.

• The nagging feeling is gone…I feel rich.”
• “You are rich” Rabbi Naomi said.

 

Naomi Levy describes the Sabbath as “the soul of the week”:

• “Some think of the Sabbath as a day of prohibitions…you can’t do this…and you can’t do that.
• But the Sabbath is actually a day of permission:
• A day when we give our souls permission to dream again.

John 3:1-17

Well…as we look at today’s gospel reading…we come across a verse that has kind of become a cliché.

• It is probably the best-known Bible verse ever.
• While many people may know very little of scripture…they know John 3:16.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

OK then…our basic school-age understanding of John 3:16 goes something like this:

• God created us and all that is…but because the first woman ate something she should not have we are messed-up for all of time.
• And since we are all so terrible at following rules God needs to punish us.
• But here is where Jesus comes in.
• Jesus is God’s only son…and God only had one child.
• And he loved that child very much.
• But he had to kill that little boy because we stole a candy bar and lied to our mom and used swear words.
• (Mom didn’t need God to Punish me).
• The important thing to know is that God killed his little boy rather than punishing us.
• Because someone had to pay.
• And we should feel so grateful about all of this so that we believe and we behave.
• But the good news is that if we believe all of this and if we try hard to be good…
• Then…when we die…we get a special all-inclusive vacation package called Eternal Life.

 

So…here’s the thing…That version SO misses the point of what Jesus is saying.

• That version has instilled fear in people’s lives.
• That version has created a religion that is permeated with judgement.
• Judgement that Christians impose upon others.
• Far too often…this passage has promoted an understanding in which the story of Jesus is about God having to be pacified.
• Or a God having to be persuaded to forgive.
• Far too often we carry around within us an image of an angry…unforgiving God.
• And a loving…forgiving Jesus.

 

Quite honestly…that understanding of God has been used as a tool to scare people out of hell by promoting what is known as decision theology.

• Ironically…these very words that Jesus was speaking to a rigid and legalistic Pharisee named Nicodemus…
• Trying to help him see salvation more expansively…
• Have become the very symbol of conditional love instead of unconditional

 

God is not someone who sends Jesus in order that Jesus might be punished so that our sins will be wiped out.

• God is not the angry monarch…seeking vengeance or retribution for our sins.
• No…God is more like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son…
• Who is not happy until his wandering children have come home.
• God is love…love is the essence of God’s being.
• So…let us understand this verse for what it is.

 

First…in the gospel of John…the word for “world” refers to the cosmos…to everything.

• And…when John uses the words “eternal life” he is not only talking about life after death.
• John’s use of the words “eternal life” means the same thing as Matthew’s use of the words… “kingdom of heaven” …or Luke’s use of the words… “kingdom of God.”
• “Eternal life” is about the “reign of God.”
• In John… “eternal life” is something that we are already living.
• It is living life that truly matters right here and right now.
• It is living life to the full.
• With that in mind…let’s take another look at today’s reading.

 

In the beginning…God…the source and ground of all being…

• Set the universe into motion through sound and breath and self-giving in a love song.
• God so loved the world that he gave his own breath to speak into existence that which was not.
• And then…God so loved the world that he gave his own breath at another time…
• Breathing into dust to create humanity.
• Through dust and the very breath of divine love we were created.
• In the image of the Songwriter…we were created.
• And we too were given voice and language and breath and song.
• And that love song of creation continued.
• But we tended to create our own melodies in another rhythm…in another key…in our own key.

 

So…there is the song of life which rings through eternity.

• And then there are human-generated temporary alternate songs.
• With our own breath…language…voice…
• We still tend to create our own rhythm and melodies.
• That we think will save us…songs of domination…violence…greed…and power.

 

And so once again…God’s breath was given to us.

• Through sound and self-giving.
• Only this time…the sound interrupted the confused noise of the Roman empire.
• This time…God’s divine love song was heard in the cry of a newborn baby.

For God so loved the world that God gave his own self to it in the form of a son.

• This was such a big deal that angels sang back up.
• The heavenly hosts joined in the divine love song interrupting our regularly scheduled program of soldiers and taxes and purity codes.

 

God so loved this corrupt world of empires and victims and violence that God gave his own self to us.

• God so loved the world that he came to us in the most vulnerable and fragile way possible.
• God so loved the world he created that he walked among us as love.

But not our kind of love.

• Our love is limited by self-interest…biology and time.
• No…God’s love takes no account of opinion or history.
• But insists on ignoring information we think of as important.
• Data about worth…beauty…status.
• God’s love has quite ignored the Kelly Blue Book Value on us.

 

For God so loved the world.

• For God so loved soldiers and prostitutes and traitors and unwed mothers and soccer moms and CEOs and ex-cons and Burger King janitors…
• That God gave of his own self in the form of Jesus.

 

And Jesus was like a clearer set of lyrics so that we might be saved from the noise of sin and self-preservation.

• So that we might not perish.
• But be reminded again of the true beat…the real rhythm…the clear lyrics of the song of creation…
• And salvation that is life and that is eternal.

And those who heard this tune…began to sing it to others.

• They expressed it in Gospels and hymns and art and hospitals and colleges and universities and camps and conference centers and social services ministries.
• And we who are gathered here…hear it for ourselves.
• And we know it is life and it is right here.
• It is eternal life and it is for us.

The love song that God has been singing from the beginning of time…is the song of life for all eternity.

• Sometimes…it is drowned out by the white noise of the world.
• But…this love song will never…ever…leave us.
• Yes…God so loves the world with an immense…redeeming
• A love that holds us…and a love that will never let us go!

John: 15:26-27;16:4b-15

Earlier in my ministry…a near-by Lutheran church gifted Bethany Lutheran church (a church I was serving) …a full set of used paraments.

• Bethany Lutheran church was like every other church’s little sister.
• So…they got a lot of hand me downs.
• As a group of folks went through those beautiful altar cloths…
• They came finally to the red set and found one with an image of a descending dove…
• With completely crazy eyes and claws that looked like talons.
• Yup…it was as though the Holy Spirit was a raptor.
• “O MY…someone said…we cannot use this one. It makes The Holy Spirit look dangerous.”
• That was some completely sound advice.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Yes…The Day of Pentecost IS a dangerous story.

• The story opens with that small group of believers isolating themselves as the text says: all together in one place.
• They were afraid of outsiders…so they all stayed together.
• Well…they were in danger but not from outsiders.
• The danger they were in…as they huddled all together in one place…
• Was from a God who is about to crash the party and bring in everyone they were trying to avoid.
• So then that red parament with the crazy taloned raptor dove is an apt image for the Holy Spirit.

 

The Spirit…while called the comforter…does not bring the warm chocolate chip cookies kind of comfort.

• The Spirit brings the comfort of the truth.
• So…let me tell you a story.

Way back in the 1970’s…at Bethany Lutheran Church in Siren Wisconsin…

• On the 17^th of December…the phone rang…and a voice at the other end said:
• “This is Marie from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services.
• I want to confirm the arrival of your Laotian family on the 19^th.
• They leave Hong Kong tomorrow morning and will arrive at Minneapolis International airport Monday at 11:22 am.”

 

Silence greeted the woman from my end of the line.

• “Are you certain you have the correct party?” I finally managed to say.
• “Is this Bethany Lutheran Church Siren Wisconsin?”
• “Yes.”
• “Sir…I have several pieces of correspondence with Pastor DeSota, one as late as November 3^rd.”
• I was the new pastor at the church.
• Pastor DeSota was my predecessor.

 

Why I did not tell the nice woman it was all a terrible mistake and that she would just have to find someone else to house the family…I didn’t know.

• But I didn’t.

 

For five minutes after I hung up…I sat in shock.

• Then I made two phone calls, confirming a hunch.
• The arrival of the six Southeast Asian refugees was not a total surprise to everyone.
• A few of the younger families had been consulted.
• Though everyone assumed that the former pastor had “canceled the order” when he left in November.

 

On Sunday evening I called a meeting at the church to decide what to do.

• The fellowship hall was packed.
• At first the group was in chaos.
• No one seemed thrilled over the prospect of locating a family just a few days before Christmas.

 

The meeting was approaching its second hour before one of the older members asked me what I thought.

• “There is a great deal about this situation that I do not understand” I began.
• What I do know is this: tomorrow morning six human beings…through no fault of their own…will be arriving at the airport without food…clothing, housing…or friends.
• A Wisconsin winter is hard enough to face under the best of circumstances.
• I intend to be at the airport tomorrow. I intend to be their friend. Do any of you plan to help?”

 

After a moment of silence…the room nearly exploded with excitement.

• No longer did people begin their sentences with “If this family comes.”
• Instead…they said: “When they come…”
• During the next 90 minutes…teams were formed to find food and clothing.
• And a woman in her 80’s…offered her house to the family until a permanent residence could be found.
• Later that evening…I fell exhausted into bed…pleased with what had happened but still apprehensive about what was to come.

 

The next morning the welcoming committee was near to the airport before it dawned on them that they would not be able to understand a single word this family would say.

• As it turned out…they need not have worried.
• When the family of six…a mother and a father in their mid-30’s…two girls…12 and 11…a boy…4…and a grandmother…
• Stepped off the plane…they communicated wonderfully in the universal language of gesture…smiles…handshakes…and even a tentative hug.

 

The next five days were hectic:

• The phone rang constantly.
• People offered food…clothing…and transportation.
• On Tuesday a house was located that needed fixing.
• And several volunteers quickly stepped forward to begin the necessary repairs.
• On Wednesday a pickup pulled into the church parking lot…filled with furniture.
• On Thursday an interpreter was found.
• One of the young women coming home from college brought an international student with her.
• At last…people would not be limited to pantomime for communication.

 

Bethany Lutheran Church…on Friday, December 24^th…normally reserved and silent…was buzzing.

• People who ordinarily entered quietly and sat in their pews until worship began…
• Were in the aisles talking and shaking hands.

 

At precisely 7 pm the church grew quiet…not because the acolyte had lit the candles…or the choir had begun to process.

• But because six people…led by an 80-year-old woman…
• Had entered the church and found their way to the very front pew…right in front of the pulpit.
• When the service began…the church shook with singing.
• I beamed.

 

I read the Christmas Gospel…and when I finished the beautiful poetry from the first chapter of John…I paused.

• “Dear friends” I said. “A great deal has happened in this church in the past few days.
• In a way it is very much like the story of the first Christmas…
• Where room was discovered for our Lord on the night of his birth.
• A night when he and his family were refugees.
• What has happened is that the Holy Spirit of God has broken into our lives.
• Just as he broke into the lives of a people nearly 2000 years ago.
• With a phone call and the arrival of six strangers…the Holy Spirit has interrupted our lives and brought us here together.
• May Christ be with us all.”

 

And that…my friends…is the work of the Holy Spirit.

• And it did not feel like a chocolate chip cookie…at first.
• You see…we are the very people to whom God sends the spirit to mess everything up.
• The very people God loves enough to send that crazed bird with bared talons and a predatory beak to come and snatch out our stony hearts.
• And replace them with the comfort of God’s own heart.

 

That is the thing about the Pentecost Spirit of truth:

• It feels like the truth might crush us.
• And that is right…the truth crushes us.
• But the instant it crushes us it puts us back together into something holy and real.
• Because the mysterious and dangerous thing the Spirit does has always been to form us into the Body of Christ.

John 17:6-19

In today’s gospel Jesus is praying.

• He is not talking to the disciples.
• He is not talking to us.
• He is not teaching.
• He is not giving instructions.
• He is praying.
• And we are listening in.
• And what a prayer it is.

 

What do we hear in his prayer?

• I am not just asking about what he prays for.
• I am asking about what is behind his prayer.
• What is going on in him?
• What is his prayer really about?

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

I ask those questions because one of the things about prayer is that we never simply offer our words.

• Our words are really an offering of ourselves and the circumstances of our lives.
• There is always more going on than the words we say.
• Our words are just the tip of the iceberg.
• An outward and audible sign of some inner substance.
• And that is true for Jesus in today’s gospel.

 

It is the night of the last supper.

• Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet.
• A final meal has been shared.
• He has told his friends he is leaving.
• The end is near.
• Judas left the table and went out into the night.
• John says that Jesus is “troubled in spirit.”

 

Jesus knows his friends will abandon him.

• “You will leave me alone” he tells them.
• Peter will deny him three times.
• Thomas does not know the way.
• Philip wants to see the Father.
• And Jesus feels the world’s hate.

 

No wonder Jesus’ prayer is rambling and meandering.

• Confusing and repetitious.
• And hard to understand.
• It is less about the prayer and more about what is going on inside of Jesus.

 

We have all had moments like that.

• When our prayers were rambling and unclear.
• Back and forth…contradictory.
• I mean…moving all over the place.
• Like those crazy little ants on the kitchen counter.

 

I think this happens on those nights when it seems everything is on the line and we cannot tell if things are falling into place or falling apart.

• They are those circumstances that call everything into question.
• They are times when we wonder what we have really accomplished.
• Did we make a difference?
• Was it worth it?
• What is my life really about?
• They are times when we are overwhelmed by joy.
• They are times when we are devastated by loss and grief.
• They are those times when we are trying to get clarity about ourselves.
• They are those times when we are trying to come to terms with our life.
• Who are we?
• What do we do now?
• Do we have what it takes?

 

They are the transition points.

• Thresholds…moments…and circumstances when we are trying to make sense of ourselves and our life.
• Moments and circumstances when we are working out our life.
• And struggling to be authentic…faithful…and whole.

This is what we see and hear in Jesus’ prayer today.

• He is not as different from us as we often think.
• Or sometimes want him to be.
• Today we see the human Jesus standing in solidarity with us and our humanity.
• Today we see the human Jesus working out his life.
• And all of us here today know what that is like.

 

I was driving…on my way to see a family.

• It was 1974.
• I was 26 years old.
• It was my first parish.
• It was my first death in the first church I was serving in my ministry.
• It was 50 years ago.
• I was scared to death.
• And here I was…supposed to minister to a now grieving wife…amid her husband’s death.
• And my meandering prayer rose to God as I drove to that sorrow-filled home.
• O…MY…GOD…!
• I AM WAY TOO YOUNG TO DO THIS THING THAT YOU ARE ASKING ME TO DO.
• HELP…ME…!
• I…AM…TERRIFIED…!
• I…CANNOT…DO…THIS…!
• I…AM…NOT…UP…TO…THIS…!
• O…LORD…HELP…ME…IN…MY…DEPAIR…!

 

And I went into that home…and I sat with them in their grief.

• I helped my mournful friends make phone calls.
• I ministered to them in the planning of the funeral liturgy.
• They were a Swedish family.
• Their name was Nelson.
• So…we drank coffee and ate cake.
• And it was enough.
• And I was a blessing to them.
• And they were a blessing to me.

 

So then…what are we working out and struggling with today?

• And what does our prayer look like and sound like in all that?

 

Today’s gospel offers us a way forward.

• And it is not what Jesus does.
• But it is what he does not do.
• He does not isolate.
• Or close in on himself.
• He does not get angry or resentful.
• He does not resist or fight back.
• He does not run away or try to escape.
• He does not complain about…
• Or deny the reality of what is happening.
• He does not blame others.
• He does not give up.
• He does not search for an answer to fix it all.

 

Instead…he faces his life.

• He is doing his own inner work.
• He acknowledges what has happened.
• He names his reality.
• He stays in touch with his humanity.
• He speaks from the heart.
• He feels what he feels.
• He grieves.
• He weeps.
• He gathers with his friends.
• He is concerned for others.
• He prays.
• He lives…and dies…with an openness to a future he cannot control.

 

What about us?

• What if we took our cue from Jesus?
• What would that look like in what we are working out and struggling with today?

John 15:1-8

Jesus’ metaphor of the vine and the branches challenges our notion of self-identity.

• I am nothing…if not independent.
• When we are infants…one of our first early phrases is: “I can do it myself.”
• “Yes…I will do it myself…thank you very much.”
• OK then…we want choices. And we want independence.

The Lord be with you

And also with you

 

So…what I wish Jesus had said is:

• “I am whatever you want me to be.
• And you can be whatever you want to be:
• Vine…pruner…branch…soil…knock yourself out.”

 

What Jesus actually said is: “I am the vine. My Father is the vine grower. You are the branches…now deal with it.”

• The casting has already been finalized.
• All these countless vines and branches are all tangled and messy.
• And it’s just too hard to know what is what.
• Not only are we dependent on Jesus…but our lives are uncomfortably tangled up together.
• The Christian life is a vine-y…branch-y…jumbled mess of us… and Jesus…and others.
• Christianity is a lousy religion for the “I will do it myself set.”

 

Nowhere does Jesus teach more clearly that we are not independent do-it-yourself-ers.

• Nowhere does Jesus demonstrate more clearly that we cannot go it alone.
• That we cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps when life puts us down.
• That it is completely unreasonable to expect anyone else to either.

 

Now see in your mind’s eye a wild grapevine growing around an

old wall.

• We can see that the vines and

branches are all tangled and messy.

And it is just too hard to know what is what.

• Sometimes our lives look like this.
• Maybe our families feel like this.
• Maybe the places we work or

study or play are a lot like this.

A vine-y…branch-y…jumbled mess.

 

Now see in your mind’s eye a cultivated grapevine.

• The vine grower has put posts up to anchor the main vine in place.
• The individual branches have been sorted out…trained and disciplined.
• They rest on a wire structure that supports them from below and from above.
• All the dead branches…all the non-

productive branches…

• And anything else that does not

contribute to healthy growth has been removed.

 

Grape vines and branches that have been cultivated end up producing masses of grapes.

• They look quite different from that wild grapevine growing around that old fence.
• This is what God wants for us.
• This is God’s desire and promise for each one of us.
• For this community of faith…for all people everywhere.

This is what God will do with us if we are willing.

• This is what God is already doing with us if we have the eyes to see it.
• The image of the vine and branches shows us that Christ is the source of all life.
• The one through whom all things have come into being (John 1:3).
• Our very existence is dependent on God.
• Who nurtures and cultivates us.
• We are not and cannot be the vine that gives life to all.
• Neither are we the vine grower…the one who cultivates…stakes…supports and prunes the branches.
• Even though all too often we act like we have the knowledge and right to hack at the branches around us.

 

We are not the vine…we are not the vine grower…we are branches to whom God has given a choice.

• We can choose to abide in Christ…or…
• We can choose not to abide in Christ.

 

Jesus tells us what is at stake in making that choice:

• Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.
• Neither can you unless you abide in me.
• Those who abide in me and I in them…bear much fruit (John 15:4-5).

 

• To abide is all about remaining…staying…tarrying somewhere…taking up residence…making oneself at home.
• Jesus teaches us that there are many abiding places…many places to be at home in God’s house.
• In fact…he is preparing a special abiding place for each one of us (John14:2).

 

Jesus teaches us that in choosing to abide in him…we are giving him space to

make him at home in us (John 14:23).

• Today we hear that those who abide in love are the ones who are abiding in God.
• And in whom God abides (1 John

4:16).

 

Abiding in Christ means admitting that we are not independent…do-it-yourself-ers…who can boast “I did it my way.”

• Abiding in Christ means accepting that we are dependent on Christ and on each other.
• It means graciously receiving the support Christ offers us…
• Most often through the caring of our brothers and sisters.
• It means consenting to being pruned.
• To letting go of the things that hinder our growth in love.
• Things like fear and hatred…greed and jealousy…grudges and resentment…shame and guilt…
• And all the other vine-y, branch-y tangly things that mess us up.

 

Abiding in Christ is not always comfortable or easy.

• But abiding in Christ is always about

belonging.

• Abiding in Christ is always an affirmation of our capacity to make a positive difference in the world around us.
• If we so choose.

 

John 10:11-18

Once a year in the season of Easter we get these Good Shepherd texts…and we say the 23^rd Psalm.

• And every single year I struggle with saying something new and profound because I find these rural…pastoral…images in the Bible to be difficult.
• It would just be so much easier if Jesus’ illustrations were about the characters on social media.
• If Jesus were saying…I am the good friend or I am the good cross country walking guide or I am the good kayaking coach…I would have something to relate to.
• But no. We get…I am the Good Shepherd.
• The problem is that friends and guides and coaches are things I have experience with.
• But I have no experience with shepherds.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

So…here it is…the truth about sheep:

• A sermon by someone who does not know anything about sheep.
• But knows a little about humans and only a tiny bit about God.
• But is going to take a shot at this anyhow.

The truth about sheep is that I do not want to be one.

• The sheep I have seen up close have been the sad and dirty ones on the byways and in the adjoining fields of Scottland and Israel and Ecuador.
• Given the choice I would be a wolf or maybe a shepherd…but never a sheep.
• Sheep are stupid and docile and easily manipulated.
• I want to make my own choices and go my own way.
• Even… (I need to be honest here) …if those choices and that way is killing me.

 

So…the truth about sheep is that sometimes we are rebellious.

• We are the sheep who adopt dark contrarian elements…black clothes…black hair…black eyeliner…black nails…dark hoodies.
• We are the ones who stay as far to the edge of the flock as possible so we can try and pretend we are free agents.
• We are anti-shepherdtarians.
• Our insistence that we are not like other sheep keeps us from the one thing we really want.
• Which is to belong and feel safe.
• And it is the complete lack of belonging and feeling safe that has made us turn instead to stand even closer to the margins of the heard.

 

But the truth about sheep is that we want nothing more than to belong.

• And yet never felt we have belonged.
• Some of us are needy sheep.
• We give pieces of our hearts to any shepherd shaped thing that comes our way.

 

We are also sometimes the big sheep…the bullies.

• We try to be sheep in wolves clothing.
• Contending with the shepherd.
• And yet us big sheep are really just scared and afraid.
• We are just pretending to be big bullies so no one will know the truth about us.

 

The truth about sheep is that we have terrible hearing.

• We are the sheep who cannot hear the shepherd because his voice is silenced by the clamor of our self-critique.
• I wish I were taller.
• I wish I were shorter.
• I wish my wool were as white as hers or as curly as his.
• We are the sheep who deplore our sheepness and so we search for our belonging in things that do not really matter.

 

We are the sheep who filter out all the good messages about ourselves and our place in the flock.

• And choose instead to only hear confirmation that other sheep get more attention.
• And that everyone else is having more fun and that we do not really belong after all.

 

But at times…we can shine as sheep… we can shine like the son.

• We are the sheep who do unbelievably tender and perfectly sheeply things for our fellow sheep-mates.
• We show them where the best grass is.
• We nudge them with our noses helping them stand back up when they fall.
• We know when to stop baaa-baaaing so that we can hear the shepherd call us.
• We are the sheep who love and listen to the Good Shepherd.
• And are so often our very best selves.

 

While I wish Jesus had said I am the Good Friend or the Good Guide or the Good coach.

• Because I would rather think of myself as a friend…guide or coach.
• There is nothing wrong with the fact that I am a sheep of God’s keeping.
• And you are sheep of God’s keeping.
• Because…the truth is that we are petty and deceitful and heroic and loving and filled with grace.
• There is nothing wrong with any of it.
• Because it is the truth about sheep.
• And we should not fear the truth because it is the thing that Jesus said would set us free.

 

So…see the truth of who we are.

• The truth of our jagged edges and our icky hearts and our fragile need to belong is nothing to be ashamed of.
• No amount of our rebellion and smallness and bigness and self-sorrow can ever change our belongingness to our shepherd.
• And none of the ways we seek belongingness to lesser shepherds and wolves can ever change our true belongingness to The Good Shepherd.

 

When we wander off and try and get our needs met through all the wrong ways…

• And allow others to be our shepherd.
• And when we let the wolves in.
• And when we do all the other things sheep just do.
• Well…it does not mean we are not worthy to have a Good Shepherd.
• It just makes it all that much better news that we have a good shepherd.

 

The needy…proud…distant…rebellious loving…vain…glorious…kind of sheep are the ones who belong to the Shepherd.

• And the Shepherd loves this mess of sheep.
• This means that the Shepherd’s care and unfolding love is not subject to the sheep being the right kind.

 

The Good Shepherd never holds auditions.

• The Shepherd never bases his protection and love and concern for the sheep on how the sheep look or feel or behave.
• Those are just things we created as a basis for belonging.
• Because grace is just too offensive.
• Grace is just too hard to take since we think that if it’s free it must be worthless.
• But the truth is…grace is priceless.

 

The truth is…the Good Shepherd calls us by name.

• We know the voice.
• It is always there…under the clamor of insecurity and the cry of wolves and the murmurs of our own feelings of unworthiness.
• The voice of the one who lays down his life for us is always right there saying:
• “You belong to me.”
• “You belong.”
• “you”.