Monday, July 30, 2012
The bread of life
These next 4 weeks the gospel text comes from the 6th chapter of John and is known as the Bread of Life series. As is usual with John, each time Jesus repeats this image his meaning has shifted just a bit to give us a different perspective. The folks at LM will have 4 different preachers yielding, I expect, a bread basket of images and meanings. Our practice of weekly communion is a ritual acting out the words of this series of texts. May you eat and be filled, again and again.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Hunger
This is a heads up. Eat a good breakfast Sunday because the sermon is going to be about hunger, and if you are like me, all it takes is someone talking about hunger to get my stomach rumbling...or is that grumbling?
Our lessons are the story of David and Bathsheba (see two previous posts) and Jesus feeding the 5000. Now I know why I chose the 2 Samuel story of David for the Old Testament text.....it is just too good a story to miss. But it wasn't clear how that story connected in any way to Jesus' feeding the 5000. (And to tell the truth, the lectionary folks didn't intend it to. 2 Samuel is the alternate OT text).
But then the word struck: HUNGER. What we want, what we need, and where it all leads us. For some it leads to Jesus and God. For others, it becomes a great abyss into which we fall.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled." Mt5.6
The writer of 2 Samuel tells us "But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD and the LORD sent Nathan to David." 2 Sam12.1 When the prophet comes a-callin' at your door, be prepared to repent.
That's what we are talking about Sunday, but it certainly is a good topic for conversation all week.
Our lessons are the story of David and Bathsheba (see two previous posts) and Jesus feeding the 5000. Now I know why I chose the 2 Samuel story of David for the Old Testament text.....it is just too good a story to miss. But it wasn't clear how that story connected in any way to Jesus' feeding the 5000. (And to tell the truth, the lectionary folks didn't intend it to. 2 Samuel is the alternate OT text).
But then the word struck: HUNGER. What we want, what we need, and where it all leads us. For some it leads to Jesus and God. For others, it becomes a great abyss into which we fall.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled." Mt5.6
The writer of 2 Samuel tells us "But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD and the LORD sent Nathan to David." 2 Sam12.1 When the prophet comes a-callin' at your door, be prepared to repent.
That's what we are talking about Sunday, but it certainly is a good topic for conversation all week.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Sex and the Sinner, part 2
Penn State removed the statue of Joe Paterno from the entrance to their football stadium. They pried the brass plaques off the wall which listed his winning seasons.
The one often referred to as "Joe Pa" proved to be a flawed individual who was anything but a responsible Pa to the young men being abused in the Penn State locker room.
His was a sin of omission; a failure to do what needed to be done. It was a failure to protect the powerless, and for a person of faith, a failure to live an ethical life.
Both the university and the NCAA took away from Joe Paterno, now deceased, that which he apparently valued more than the lives of those young men: his record as a football coach, and with it his place in history and his reputation. Of course his family is devastated; they will be carrying the shame he has avoided.
In the story of David and Bathsheba, the child born of David's power grab of Uriah's wife, was struck ill and died. At least that young man was spared the humiliation of forever being known as 'the one' - the living example of David's sinfulness. His life was cut short but he was spared the shame that would have been his.
David repents wholeheartedly, apparently. But the damage was done. A life was taken.
The irony of having the David and Bathsheba story on the week when Penn State begins to bear the consequences of its shameful behavior is not lost on me.
Neither is the fact that lives were taken - and all for the sake of football. Sex and the Sinner, a modern saga.
The one often referred to as "Joe Pa" proved to be a flawed individual who was anything but a responsible Pa to the young men being abused in the Penn State locker room.
His was a sin of omission; a failure to do what needed to be done. It was a failure to protect the powerless, and for a person of faith, a failure to live an ethical life.
Both the university and the NCAA took away from Joe Paterno, now deceased, that which he apparently valued more than the lives of those young men: his record as a football coach, and with it his place in history and his reputation. Of course his family is devastated; they will be carrying the shame he has avoided.
In the story of David and Bathsheba, the child born of David's power grab of Uriah's wife, was struck ill and died. At least that young man was spared the humiliation of forever being known as 'the one' - the living example of David's sinfulness. His life was cut short but he was spared the shame that would have been his.
David repents wholeheartedly, apparently. But the damage was done. A life was taken.
The irony of having the David and Bathsheba story on the week when Penn State begins to bear the consequences of its shameful behavior is not lost on me.
Neither is the fact that lives were taken - and all for the sake of football. Sex and the Sinner, a modern saga.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sex and the Sinner
I have chosen the alternate Old Testament text for Sunday: 2 Samuel 11.1-15, the story of David and Bathsheba.
For those who aren't familiar with this lurid tale (one of several equally lurid tales in the Old Testament), King David catches a glimpse of his neighbor's wife bathing in the courtyard of her house, sends for her, lays with her, causes her to get pregnant, and eventually has her husband killed in order to hide his infamy.
See? You don't have to buy the National Enquirer to get this stuff. It's right here, and it's a story about the most honored of Israel's kings. In fact, YHWH promises that an offspring of David will always sit on the throne. [You can see where the title Son of David is important when applied to Jesus.] Throughout the Bible, we watch God using flawed, sinful individuals to bring about God's will.
In this story, we have the perfect storm of lust and power; not unusal then nor is it unusual now. Wrong then; wrong now. It is ironic, however, that this lesson coincides with the announcement of the NCAA penalties against Penn State and the removal of the Joe Paterno statue from the front of the college stadium.
There are many ways to talk about this story. Here is the first. Sin lies deep within the heart of every single one of us (and some of us, it is not so deeply seated). Power / prestige often functions as the accelerator to sinful behavior. I am speculating when I say that King David was so full of himself he had little space to consider the other. He chose to respond to the announcement of an imminent birth of a child with the order for the imminent death of the husband.
Never found yourself in that position? Really? Never thought you were in the right and you had the power to make the other person agree with you? Your child? Your spouse? At work? At the check-out? Desire and power, a volatile combination.
For those who aren't familiar with this lurid tale (one of several equally lurid tales in the Old Testament), King David catches a glimpse of his neighbor's wife bathing in the courtyard of her house, sends for her, lays with her, causes her to get pregnant, and eventually has her husband killed in order to hide his infamy.
See? You don't have to buy the National Enquirer to get this stuff. It's right here, and it's a story about the most honored of Israel's kings. In fact, YHWH promises that an offspring of David will always sit on the throne. [You can see where the title Son of David is important when applied to Jesus.] Throughout the Bible, we watch God using flawed, sinful individuals to bring about God's will.
In this story, we have the perfect storm of lust and power; not unusal then nor is it unusual now. Wrong then; wrong now. It is ironic, however, that this lesson coincides with the announcement of the NCAA penalties against Penn State and the removal of the Joe Paterno statue from the front of the college stadium.
There are many ways to talk about this story. Here is the first. Sin lies deep within the heart of every single one of us (and some of us, it is not so deeply seated). Power / prestige often functions as the accelerator to sinful behavior. I am speculating when I say that King David was so full of himself he had little space to consider the other. He chose to respond to the announcement of an imminent birth of a child with the order for the imminent death of the husband.
Never found yourself in that position? Really? Never thought you were in the right and you had the power to make the other person agree with you? Your child? Your spouse? At work? At the check-out? Desire and power, a volatile combination.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Led astray
Ever been led astray....by clever advertising or outright lies? By pie in the sky promises or fast talking con men/women (which includes fast talking teenagers!)?
Ever been led astray because of your own desires, insecurities, dreams, hopes?
Ever been led astray by professional religious types who seem to be promising to have all the answers....if you'll only do this.....and you find they have no answers at all? You discover that people you love still die, tragedies still happen, evil does strike out, and prayers are occasionally answered with a 'no.'
Living a life of faith is not the same as walking along a garden path. Faith is trust, not answers. Faith is hope, not control. And ultimately, our faith is in Jesus, who himself went to the cross. Anything or anyone who dilutes the power of that message with the suggestion that we are in control and must add our own little part to Christ's eternal gift..............is leading you astray.
Jeremiah has a word to those people. Jesus does as well. It's not pretty.
You can't go wrong trusting in the one who gave it all for the sake of others: Jesus. AMEN
Ever been led astray because of your own desires, insecurities, dreams, hopes?
Ever been led astray by professional religious types who seem to be promising to have all the answers....if you'll only do this.....and you find they have no answers at all? You discover that people you love still die, tragedies still happen, evil does strike out, and prayers are occasionally answered with a 'no.'
Living a life of faith is not the same as walking along a garden path. Faith is trust, not answers. Faith is hope, not control. And ultimately, our faith is in Jesus, who himself went to the cross. Anything or anyone who dilutes the power of that message with the suggestion that we are in control and must add our own little part to Christ's eternal gift..............is leading you astray.
Jeremiah has a word to those people. Jesus does as well. It's not pretty.
You can't go wrong trusting in the one who gave it all for the sake of others: Jesus. AMEN
Monday, July 9, 2012
Prophet's work: speaking truth to power
A prophet's job is to speak the truth to those who are in power. All is well when the truth you are speaking coincides with the interests of those in power. When the truth you hold confronts the practices and attitudes of those in power, then you better duck.
No one wants to hear that their behavior is inappropriate, arrogant, greedy, nasty, oppressive. No one. You didn't like it when your mother told you to 'straighten up' nor when a teacher called you on some behavior. Consider our tendency as teens to 'mouth off' (however you might define that) and the sting of being called on our disrespect.
So we are all familiar with the emotional experience of being called out by another. Therefore when we look at a story where a prophet challenges a king because the king is acting poorly, we can understand how the king might feel.
But few of us have ever had the power to silence the speaker - destroying both message and messenger. For most of us the closest we come to that experience of power is in our relationships with our children. With only a little imagination we can take the role of the mis-behaving king while our children speak the uncomfortable truth to us. Not all of us have reacted kindly.
That is what makes the prophet's calling so dangerous. A prophet (that is, one who speaks the mind of God) is only called in when there is bad news to report - bad news that will leave folks feeling shamed, angry, embarrassed. And who knows what the king will do next?
This Sunday we have the prophet Amos going head to head with King Jeroboam and his chief counsel, Amaziah, and John the Baptist at the mercy of King Herod. Only Amos gets out of these encounters with his head still in tack.
BTW, we who follow Jesus are called to speak God's truth as well - especially for the sake of the oppressed, specifically to those in power. For Jesus, this led to a cross. Where will it lead us?
No one wants to hear that their behavior is inappropriate, arrogant, greedy, nasty, oppressive. No one. You didn't like it when your mother told you to 'straighten up' nor when a teacher called you on some behavior. Consider our tendency as teens to 'mouth off' (however you might define that) and the sting of being called on our disrespect.
So we are all familiar with the emotional experience of being called out by another. Therefore when we look at a story where a prophet challenges a king because the king is acting poorly, we can understand how the king might feel.
But few of us have ever had the power to silence the speaker - destroying both message and messenger. For most of us the closest we come to that experience of power is in our relationships with our children. With only a little imagination we can take the role of the mis-behaving king while our children speak the uncomfortable truth to us. Not all of us have reacted kindly.
That is what makes the prophet's calling so dangerous. A prophet (that is, one who speaks the mind of God) is only called in when there is bad news to report - bad news that will leave folks feeling shamed, angry, embarrassed. And who knows what the king will do next?
This Sunday we have the prophet Amos going head to head with King Jeroboam and his chief counsel, Amaziah, and John the Baptist at the mercy of King Herod. Only Amos gets out of these encounters with his head still in tack.
BTW, we who follow Jesus are called to speak God's truth as well - especially for the sake of the oppressed, specifically to those in power. For Jesus, this led to a cross. Where will it lead us?
Thursday, July 5, 2012
What's with all the insecurity?
Yesterday I claimed that the hostility of Jesus' hometown crowd was born out of insecurity.
What's with all the insecurity?
Don't you see it everywhere, and if you reflect on it, are aware of how it impacts your own behavior?
Insecurity - just normal, everyday insecurity (not the kind that is born out of trauma or abuse) is one face of original sin. Now, I know that Original Sin (notice the caps?) is a much maligned doctrine of the Church, but try this.
When you look at the world as one gigantic competition, where scores are being recorded and judgments made......then insecurity is a natural response. Am I good enough? Did I do that as well as could be expected? Others are so much ahead/better than me.
Almost everyone is insecure; we simply differ in what we are insecure about. Ask any preacher how daunting it is to preach for a congregation filled with other clergy, bishops, seminary professors, etc. Makes the sweat break out!
One of the ways that Sin manifests itself in this world is in the notion that everything is a competition and somewhere in the great beyond, someone is keeping score.
No one is keeping score (well, I can't answer for your spouse or mother-in-law or teenager, or even the mean girls in high school). Remember John 3.16? For God so loved the world. Let it go. Be the best you can be. Live generously. Trust in God's love. Tuck this in the back of your mind, and hide it in your heart.
You know we won't remember this perfectly. Our insecurity will well up. We will participate in the score keeping. That's when we will need to remember that God's love is first and there is nothing God doesn't already know about his children.
AMEN
What's with all the insecurity?
Don't you see it everywhere, and if you reflect on it, are aware of how it impacts your own behavior?
Insecurity - just normal, everyday insecurity (not the kind that is born out of trauma or abuse) is one face of original sin. Now, I know that Original Sin (notice the caps?) is a much maligned doctrine of the Church, but try this.
When you look at the world as one gigantic competition, where scores are being recorded and judgments made......then insecurity is a natural response. Am I good enough? Did I do that as well as could be expected? Others are so much ahead/better than me.
Almost everyone is insecure; we simply differ in what we are insecure about. Ask any preacher how daunting it is to preach for a congregation filled with other clergy, bishops, seminary professors, etc. Makes the sweat break out!
One of the ways that Sin manifests itself in this world is in the notion that everything is a competition and somewhere in the great beyond, someone is keeping score.
No one is keeping score (well, I can't answer for your spouse or mother-in-law or teenager, or even the mean girls in high school). Remember John 3.16? For God so loved the world. Let it go. Be the best you can be. Live generously. Trust in God's love. Tuck this in the back of your mind, and hide it in your heart.
You know we won't remember this perfectly. Our insecurity will well up. We will participate in the score keeping. That's when we will need to remember that God's love is first and there is nothing God doesn't already know about his children.
AMEN
Monday, July 2, 2012
"Is she feeding the poor, again?"
"I really don't get it."
"She's one of those religious fanatics."
"One of these days she'll get burned, and then she won't be giving so generously."
"I was always taught that charity begins at home."
"Right, well, she might do all that, but I heard her yell at her kids."
"She just thinks she's better than us."
Not everyone understands why people of faith live and serve the way they do. They will often dismiss or denigrate their work, their intentions or their character. Should you attempt to explain that the point is not the 'feel good' result of helping others, but a perspective on how to live in this world, then the understanding quotient goes way down.
Or to put it more succinctly, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished or at least, un-remarked on! (don't think that is a real word).
Sunday Jesus returns to his home town and meets just this kind of hostile reception. It is hostility born in insecurity but it is hostility just the same. "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this he carpenter, the son of Mary ..." Mk6.2
The result stuns some readers of Mark "And he could do no deed of power there....and he was amazed at their unbelief." v. 5 Notice it says 'could' not 'would'. Their unbelief became a barrier to the great gifts Jesus had to offer.
So, my friends, when your family or friends or neighbors or even complete strangers fail to understand your work for the gospel.....in fact, when they are downright snarky, know that you are in good company. It happened to Jesus as well.
"She's one of those religious fanatics."
"One of these days she'll get burned, and then she won't be giving so generously."
"I was always taught that charity begins at home."
"Right, well, she might do all that, but I heard her yell at her kids."
"She just thinks she's better than us."
Not everyone understands why people of faith live and serve the way they do. They will often dismiss or denigrate their work, their intentions or their character. Should you attempt to explain that the point is not the 'feel good' result of helping others, but a perspective on how to live in this world, then the understanding quotient goes way down.
Or to put it more succinctly, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished or at least, un-remarked on! (don't think that is a real word).
Sunday Jesus returns to his home town and meets just this kind of hostile reception. It is hostility born in insecurity but it is hostility just the same. "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this he carpenter, the son of Mary ..." Mk6.2
The result stuns some readers of Mark "And he could do no deed of power there....and he was amazed at their unbelief." v. 5 Notice it says 'could' not 'would'. Their unbelief became a barrier to the great gifts Jesus had to offer.
So, my friends, when your family or friends or neighbors or even complete strangers fail to understand your work for the gospel.....in fact, when they are downright snarky, know that you are in good company. It happened to Jesus as well.
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