In the beginning..........

In the beginning...........that is how the story starts for us.  In the beginning when God began creating....God said, "Let there be light" and there was light.

Lately, it has been fairly difficult to hold on to this image of God's created light, the first movement of this God of life.  We are surrounded by a creeping darkness that threatens the great enlightenment of God's outstretched arm.  Our 24 hour news cycle which brings all that is happening around the world to our fingertips in a flash is now bombarding us with images of violence and protests, leaving us raw with too much information and too few ideas about how to move forward.  Certainly this is not the first time that this world has been threatened by descending darkness.  One epoch of our history was even named the Dark Ages.  There have been tyrants and pyschopaths, barbarians and fanatics throughout recorded history.

When I was serving St. Johns-St Marks Lutheran Church in Canajoharie, NY I listened as one of the elders spoke of the dark days of the second World War.  Canajoharie is a small town filled with folks whose roots go back generations.  They know each other; they knew each other's parents and grandparents.  Evelyn said that each Sunday the names of all who were serving overseas were kept in prayer.....not just those who were members at St. Johns-St Marks, but all those known by those members who gathered.  An entire village of soldiers were prayed for in the village churches each week.  Death was ever present; life was precious.

Each time the bread and wine of communion was shared the gift of life in Jesus, a promise made out of love and in the pouring out of his life, was ever more poignant.  Those hours on a Sunday morning were crucial - they renewed hope, provided strength and sustained in times of loss.  They cemented community.

Our faith is grounded in this story of life out of death, of life beyond life, of death defeated by the Creator God.  In those dark days of combat, there was no where else to cling but to this promise, this Christ, this God. With their men far away and in danger, resurrection was no longer abstract.

Each Sunday they experienced that deep darkness into which God spoke these words "Let there be light" and for a moment or two they could hold onto that image of God's divine light.

In these times of great darkness, when we are challenged to confront our role in creating the darkness and sustaining systems which keep others captive in the dark, let us pray for God's light to shine into our hearts and show us our own shadows, and then lead us again to Jesus, who is the light of the world.

Where the wild things are......

Almost anyone in the US who has read the literature of the youngest among us are familiar with Maurice Sendak's Where the  Wild Things Are.  Wonderfully illustrated, it congers up the vibrant  monsters that roam the imaginations of young minds. A little odd looking, a little frightening....but not too much. These wild things are manageable.

As we grow older, the monsters of our imagination are not so tame.  Hiding behind trees or under our beds, these monsters too come out as the darkness falls and we try to settle into some semblance of rest.  These monsters have names like 'sending my children to college' or 'the heart disease in my family' or 'making a fool of myself at work' or 'the dead space in my marriage.' These are the wild things of our imaginations: real possibilities in our frail lives. They rob us of peace.

They, however, are not demons.
Demons are evil.

Demons want death in all its forms and simply for the sake of the terror and pain that are possible.  They worm their way into our minds through our ear canals and take possession of the space where imagination begins and terror develops.  They squeeze in through our eyes and forever mar our vision of this world and its inhabitants.  They are absorbed through our skin and make their way into our hearts and slowly change human flesh into stone. The demons will drive us right out of our minds.

Like that guy in Gerasene, the naked one, raving and howling at the moon and living among the bones of the dead.  With strength that breaks open the strongest chains, these demons hold their victim captive, a prisoner in his own body.  These demons are powerful.....very powerful....and they strike fear into the hearts of all the villagers.  Luke 8.26ff

Yet, they are no match for Jesus, the Divine One, the power of life from the first cell to the last trumpet....and to the very last pig as well.  In the presence of the Creator, they are powerless.

I know that modern, enlightenment folk don't believe in demons.  Yet someone walked into an elementary school and shot 20 little children plus their teachers to death.  Someone walked into a nightclub at closing and methodically murdered 49 young people.  Tomorrow, someone will walk with evil and bring death into a new corner of this world.

Come Lord Jesus, quickly come.  We are killing ourselves here.

The devil? You've go to be kidding me.

Perhaps it is the red suit and the horns, but reasonable, educated people don't talk about the Devil.  Of all the things we are willing to talk about: how you spend your money, your sexual identity, how you raise your children, we don't like talking about the devil.  I'm not sure why because most of us truly do believe that evil is powerful, it is present in our world, and we have experienced it first hand.


The Bible has no such problem.  The serpent in the Garden of Eden takes on the role of the tempter, the sly one who manages to turn the heads of Adam and Eve with disastrous and long lasting results.  When we get to the New Testament, Jesus himself is tempted by Satan (the tempter or tester) both at the beginning of his ministry and during Holy Week when the end is frighteningly close.

So what are we talking about here?  We're talking about powers that want nothing to do with God and God's mission of life and well being.  We're talking about powers who try their best to turn our heads away from the reality of God's love for us.....who try to convince us that we are better off without God and God's notions of love for others and building community.

We're talking about that whisper that says to you: "You are not enough."  You are not smart, pretty, rich, tall, strong, talented.....you fill in the blank.....enough.  Press forward.  Push your way to the top.  Be the winner of all.  Don't listen to that God who claims you as a child of God and calls you beloved. Don't be fooled.

We're talking about that voice which assures you that you are entitled.  You are entitled to the extra money, the front row seat, the fancy title.  You are entitled to have so much food you throw 20% of it away as scrap.  You are entitled to own 10 pair of shoes, or 3 homes, or 4 winter coats.  You are entitled to it.....so pay no attention to that God who calls you to love your neighbor and to care for them.

We're talking about that voice that says...go ahead.  Be snarky, take more than your share, make fun of that weakling, ignore the system that incarcerates too many minority folk, give no thought to the ones who are hungry.

That's the devil.......who wants you to forget the God who created you, loves you and invites you to live a full life which includes life for all.  Good old Satan....he's a me, me, me kind of guy who works to shade the truth, grab your attention and leave you in the dust when it's all over.

Jesus, on the other hand, calls you brother and sister and who, by the time it is all over, will take the cross for the sake of love.  You are a baptized child of God.  Cling to that reality in the face of all.  Amen

Blessed are those who mourn.........

.......for they will be comforted.  Matthew 5.4

Now, that's a promise.  When you are sitting in the darkness of grief, knowing for certain that comfort is coming may be hard to believe, but it is at least something to hold on to. God's comfort in the face of our grief as a very real blessing.

But there is more.  Jesus is not just teaching about our personal faith life; he is teaching about the kingdom of heaven (other gospels use the phrase kingdom of God but Matthew prefers kingdom of heaven).  Jesus is laying out before his disciples and potential followers the dimensions of the kingdom Jesus is creating even as he sits teaching the crowds.

These crowds are well aware of the kingdom in which they currently live.  They understand the power of the ruling Romans, their oppressive taxation system, the tendency of their own people to take advantage of fellow Israelites, and the terrible toll that life itself takes on a body.  Jesus is announcing the intervention of God in this system through Jesus.....and in Jesus....and the establishment of a new kingdom with new ways of being.

In this kingdom, God blesses a series of behaviors and attitudes. Kingdom behaviors include those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful.  These are the folk you will find in God's kingdom. At the same time, those who seek the kingdom of heaven will become those who are poor in spirit, mourn, etc.

So this mourning is rooted in a larger picture.  Jesus is calling out to those who mourn the system that oppresses and destroys.  These mourners are crushed by the evildoers and the powerful elite whose actions lead to the kind of mourning that all families know.  They mourn the very presence of such evil in the world. In God's kingdom, those who have been oppressed will see freedom; oppression will not have the last word.

Perhaps that is the most helpful of images when dealing with the Beatitudes.  They are about who gets the last word - and what that last word will be.

Jesus tells the crowds the last word is blessing...God's blessing... and it will include those who know no blessings today.

To war or not to war

Power is like acid on metal.  It will corrupt, and do it quickly.


We can wish that everyone who is given power uses it to the benefit of all mankind. That won't make it so.

People will convince themselves that their motives are honorable and their actions necessary - no matter what it all looks like to the rest of the world.  We are convinced that at the core, in our heart, we are good, generous people......until we are not.

Human beings take care of themselves and their own self interests. We are blind to the evil that lies within each of us, waiting  to be expressed.  We say, with confidence, "I'd never do that" and then when pushed up against the wall, we go right ahead and do it.  And feel justified; feel no need for repentance, amendment of life, reparation to the victims.

Nations are the sum total of their citizens.  The US has been blessed with a history of balancing interests and relying on situations to right themselves and yet the Civil War points us to a time when our own system failed us.  We couldn't solve that one without killing hundreds of thousands of our own citizens; our social system continues to struggle to right itself and offer true equality to all.

Therefore, we do not have all the answers for all the nations because we are made up of self-interested humans just like they.

The people of Syria and Egypt are struggling mightily against the self-interests of people whose use of power can not be trusted, operating in systems that do not offer the potential for peaceful resolution.

I have no answers, only prayers.  Many will die in this struggle of darkness and light, so I pray for the leaders of all nations that they might have wisdom, courage, discernment and patience.....and a good dose of humility would help as well.

Lord have mercy.