Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter 2012

We live in a culture of hired hands. What do I get out of this? Why should my hard earned money go to freeloaders? What do I care if the wolves eat the sheep? We need to help the job providers.

The job providers don’t seem to be providing jobs these days. They are the builders if you will, who have rejected the cornerstone. And that leaves so many of us scrambling in fear, looking to get hired. Trying to do it all on our own. I don’t even know how long my world's goods will last? I can’t afford to help a brother or sister in need! I need help myself! But I can’t ask for help; that goes against the rugged individual mythos that is my cornerstone!

We try to work for everything, fix things, get things done. Or collapse in despair when we can’t seem to find the “guts” to do it all. And for many of us, this was the attitude we brought to our spiritual lives as well. How do I “get right” with God, on my own?

With all the many forms of prayer in our tradition, again and again I hear prayer spoken of solely in terms of asking for things; as if that defines the word. A have a dear friend who’s faith is strong, but has suffered a lot lately. In her despair I’ve heard her say in essence: I’ve done everything you’ve asked, now give me the life I was promised! We relate to God as a job creator, who rewards our actions with things we ask for.

We forget the good news! We forget the Christian message that knocked Saul off his horse! The truth that God’s love is a free gift! There’s no way to earn it and no need to earn it!

Can we even comprehend this? The creator of this ridiculously vast Universe has counted every hair on our head! The mind boggles! How can this be? Can we take this in? Can we actually let ourselves be loved I this vast, expansive way? Can we let go and be overwhelmed by this amazing love? What would happen to us? How would we be transformed?

Have we ever known human love that comes close to this? Ah but we have our good shepherd, don’t we?  Our readings tell us that we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

If we lay down of our lives without having truly accepted that first we were loved, we make laying down our lives the work of a hired hand; self-sacrifice for reward in heaven; a compulsive need to help or fix others; neglect of ourselves leading to burn out. And we know the difference by the Spirit that is given us when we accept this love.

It is not through our human power that we can love like this. God is greater than our hearts. Jesus says “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.” But follows with “I have received this command from my Father.” The word command in common parlance does tend to make God into a task master, who hires us. Rather than command, think perhaps a charge, a call, a response out of relationship works better.

For this power does not come from “following orders.” We can’t demand it like we would demand our wages. The power comes when we surrender to the vast incomprehensible love of God. We are shored up, defended and shielded by it. We are grounded in our true selves. Because of this we follow the call and do what pleases God; loving in truth and action.

For God is not a harsh employer in the sky. God is our lover. One way to live the heavenly feast we will be participating with in just a little while is as a wedding banquet. The covenant, a wedding vow; a mass marriage if you will, for all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ and love one another, abide in God, and God abides in them.

 

Texts for this sermon:

Acts 4:5-12
4:5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,

4:6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.

4:7 When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?"

4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders,

4:9 if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,

4:10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.

4:11 This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.'

4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."

 

1 John 3:16-24
3:16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

3:17 How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

3:18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

3:19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him

3:20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

3:21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God;

3:22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

3:23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

3:24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

 

John 10:11-18
10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

10:12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away--and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

10:13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,

10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.

10:16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Sermon for March 11th 2012

Your body is a temple. When I was young that phrase was always used to point out something I was doing wrong; “You’re not eating right. You should brush your teeth. You need to take better care of your body, it’s a temple.” That was it, no further explanation. We will tell you what your obligation to God is without any sense of why or how that obligation existed. Just shut up and do what you are told.

Similar, was the instruction about Lent. You have to give up something for Lent. Why? It’s what you do during Lent, now stop asking questions and pick something you like that we’ll deprive you of. I would not be bringing this all up if I didn’t hear many others share a similar experience. At best, the explanation, “you owe it to God” would be given, but not in any way that communicated what God did for us.

Oh we heard that “Jesus died for our sins,” but only in the context that every time we sin we make Jesus’ suffering worse. The cross loomed heavy in the culture of shame and control that many people experienced as Church. The resurrection was celebrated at Easter, true, but somehow the idea that happened for us as well was never quite clearly expressed.

I never really prayed for things I wanted, that seemed out of the question. I often prayed for God to tell me what the hell God wanted of me. What did God want from me next? Hoping that somehow pleasing this tyrant would bring me a moment of peace. I don’t think I understood at the time that I was trying to figure out how to make God love me; which of course, was tragic, because zie already did.

Jesus saw a different, but related tragedy, when he went inside the Temple in today’s Gospel. He saw a system wherein the authorities and merchants were profiting from people believing they needed to buy God’s favor. It seems Jesus lost his temper.

Now there are many times when Jesus lost his temper, often at his own disciples who seemed to not understand what he’d told them over and over again. He on occasion, curses out the folks in authority. But making a whip out of cords? Turning over tables? This does seem out of character for the man who said, “Turn the other cheek.”

The Gospel doesn’t tell us if the disciples were shocked by this behavior, all it says is that they were reminded of Psalm 69. Let’s look then at this Psalm. And while the Psalm does contain a curse, it is not as much the cry of an angry person as it is a person in great distress. The psalm opens with:

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God… O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

This, by the way, is an excellent metaphor for the experience of sin. Not sin in the paradigm of control and shame. Not a life denying idea or what should or shouldn’t be done, of who you should or shouldn’t be. Rather, the experience of being stuck in our lives; of finding ourselves living in ways that aren’t true to our deepest sense of who we are, unable to change that through our own unaided will.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help

rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.

The Psalm contains the faithful solution to the problem as well. Our own unaided will is not enough to lift us from the mire, but God can and does rescue us.

Now while the scriptures are clear that Jesus is without sin, it also clearly states he was tempted. Fully human, Jesus was not unaware of the plight people constantly found themselves in. Don’t forget that in another Gospel on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus told his disciples he would likely die there. Peter insisted that should not be allowed to happen. Jesus said, “Get thee behind me Satan,” indicating how tempting he found Peter’s statement. Certainly going to your impending death would distress even Jesus.

Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of hosts; do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me, O God of Israel.

It is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother’s children.

It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

This is the direct quote that the disciples were reminded of in the Temple. Would not the poor and the least of God’s children be priced out of seeking God in the Temple system? Are the “unclean” not shamed and dishonored? Had not Jesus been reproached for being present to sinners and tax collectors? Have not Gentiles shown more faith in him than his own people? Had not the Temple authorities tried to trap him in arguments?

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Let their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies.

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.

A line that prefigures the crucifixion is said just before the curses in this psalm appear.  Once actually on the cross, Jesus asks for his enemies’ forgiveness. But that is after the agony in the garden, where Jesus wrestles once again with the temptation Peter put before him. Finally surrendering to God’s will, Jesus can bless and not curse his enemies. But now, does Jesus perhaps even trap an enemy or two with an overturned table? If not literally, he’s certainly cost them money. Then again it is the disciples and not Jesus that are thinking of this psalm. They are constantly thinking with the mind of man and not the mind of God.

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify God with thanksgiving.

This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.

Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise God’s own that are in bonds.

Here is the real heart of the matter. Let the oppressed see an alternative to the Temple worship of animal sacrifice. Let God’s own who are in bonds see the example of Christ in the bodily temple of Jesus. Let them see zeal for the Lord that subverts the system which is not grateful for God’s free gift of love. The system that is selling what cannot be sold?

Let heaven and earth praise God, the seas and everything that moves in them.

For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and God’s servants shall live there and possess it;

the children of God’s servants shall inherit it, and those who love God’s name shall live in it.

Heaven and earth and all creation does praise the Lord. The heavenly system of God keeps the whole cosmos in motion. God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. God’s plant life makes the kind of air we need to breathe. On this basic level alone we can see our radical dependence on the free gifts of God.

Ah, but we build our walls around the abundant earth. We have armies to defend our claim to this body of water and the air above the land we foolishly believe we own. We claim our sovereignty over this patch of the earth, and demand that God be on our side when we kill for it.

But the kingdom inherited by those who love Jesus’ name is a different kind of kingdom. The rebuilt Jerusalem is not a physical place. It is a kingdom of living out of the freely given love of God. In that kingdom, God’s temple is within ourselves.

And so in Lent, we might think of these 40 days as a time to cleans the temple of God we are and can yet become. There are so many things in the way of freely given love. So many conditions and expectations we want in place first. So many ways we want to protect ourselves. So many ways we get tangled and stuck in the mud. We may even need to shore up the walls and fix the leaky roof.  Indeed there may be an elaborate façade or a cherished addition that needs to be torn down.

These painful renovations may be our agony in the garden. We may come to realize we want God to spare us the cup of transformation. To die to old ways and live into new ways is stressful and distressing. Halfway through these renovations we can forget why we were even doing them in the first place. Why are we putting ourselves through this? Often these renovations contradict the prevailing wisdom of our time. The values of our neighbors are not the values that propelled us into this. I mean, come on, everything is for sale in the US of A! We hear again and again that spending any of our money, time or resources for the benefit of others is pure madness. As Paul reminds us, in many ways it can seem downright foolish!

But it’s foolish to those who are perishing. Who are stuck in the muck and mire of selfishness and greed; who are preserving their life out of fear, and loosing the true life that is of God. The span of their lives may be longer than ours, they may have more physical things, but they are dying inside. They are denying the truth that is evident all around them in the glory of creation. In comparison with a burden and a yoke that denies God’s freely given love, that comes from an every man for himself view of the world, Christ’s yoke is very light indeed.

For in truth, none of us are free of suffering. The question becomes to what end is that suffering for? What kind of suffering do we choose? What meaning do we give to that suffering? Christ our Lord, suffered and transformed for our sake. Because of this, we need not endure our painful transformations on our own. They are done through Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The Readings for this sermon:

Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,

but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"

His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?"

But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Why I Love Jesus

Sermon from 5th February 2012

Woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!

My sermons so far have been on the personal side, but I try as much as I can to put them in universal language, to try to bring up questions that are universal. Questions we can all ask ourselves. In sitting with today’s readings however, I feel the need to be a bit more confessional this evening. I am going to testify!

What led me to this realization, that this sermon calls me to tell you about the Jesus I know personally, was wrestling with the passage from first Corinthians. Paul’s epistle disturbed and challenged me, as his writing often does; especially his emphasis on “wining” people and saving them. Rhetoric that is so often used to justify any number of shaming, fear mongering and harmful speech in a competitive bid to convert people who are considered damned.

It is not, and never will be my goal to convert another person to my religion. There was a time when I would have said that it’s a violation or at very least an imposition on another to do so. But my reasons have shifted somewhat since then. I now believe the only way one can truly become a Christian is by choosing it for yourself. If I cajole, manipulate or seduce you into wanting to be a Christian, are you embracing Christ or me? No, best let people see the transformation in my life and ask how I became that way. It’s a matter of attraction rather than promotion. And honestly if someone I know and love finds a spiritual path that works for them, I do not particularly care if it’s the Christian path or not. Christianity is not for everyone. But it is for me.

I have struggled with Christianity. It would not let me go. But as long as I felt obligated to be a Christian, pressured into it, I could not fully embrace it. When I was ready God put people in my life that were Christian. People I admired. Who talked about their faith in a way I respected. Who invited me to join them but had no investment in “winning” me over.

I have been embarrassed to be a Christian, based on the assumptions of what that means in this culture. I do not want to be thought of as a homophobic intolerant bigot, who is all in other people’s faces about their sins. I’ve been apologetic about being a Christian as a result. I’ve been careful to hide it in the past. But no more! I have drawn a line in the sand for myself. In claiming my Christianity I am not endorsing all other Christians. I am admitting my deep connection and love of Christ.

I spent a year in deep meditative contemplation of the Gospels; entering the story as if I were a disciple myself. I have profoundly followed Jesus through his ministry, death and resurrection. I have hung on his word, followed him towards certain death, been crushed by his death, and astonished by his resurrection. I have heard direct messages to me from his lips. I worship him, am utterly devoted; continually give him my whole life. Except when I take it back in fear or confusion, but that does not last as long as it used to.

Even when I was doting on Jesus, falling in love with him really, I was never all that impressed by the physical healings or expulsion of demons; those kinds of miracles didn’t speak to me in and of themselves. What drew me to Jesus was his compassion, pity, forgiveness, his charismatic presence; his ability to inspire faith in others. He was willing to come down into the trenches with the least of his society; to party with sinners and tax collectors, to embrace the unclean. He never even took credit for any healings. How many times after a healing did he say: “Your faith has healed you.”

What he seemed most about to me; why I felt devotion enough to sacrifice anything for him, was witnessing how He could take your hand and put it in the hand of his Father. It is not because we are not worthy to reach out to God that Jesus has to intercede on our behalf, but because God could not reach us in our walled off woundedness and despair.

Why would I not want to share this good news? Oh the enemy feeds me all kinds of reasons. This is too personal – no one can relate. Not everyone’s experience of Jesus, even if they give themselves the chance will look like this. It’s inappropriate, boring, and on and on. These experiences were mystical, a gift, and I can’t guarantee another person that they’ll have one. And yet something inside me, a still small voice, insists that all people, made in the image of God as we are, have this potential.

And so, yes there is that part of me that wants to shout as Isaiah did:

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

I do know, though, that I would not serve Christ by being all up in people’s faces. A subtler approach is called for, in many cases.

Let’s look back to what Paul was saying today:

I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.

Ah what a call to co-dependency this can be. In order to help others, save their very souls, are we to abandon ourselves, to be false, conniving, manipulative in order to “win”? Is falsehood and inauthenticity being called for here?

I would say no.   A Jew, someone outside the law, someone who is weak; these are all ways Paul has described himself in other letters.

I imagine this passage is really more about meeting people where they are at. I have found myself in various stages and levels of consciousness about my faith. There are trials and tribulations I my own journey. Remembering where I was at and how much I could hear or grasp at the time can inform me on how to approach someone who I’m trying to communicate with.

Yet I’ve known many people who use Christianity as an excuse to not look at themselves, to not find those places where empathy and compassion reside, because they don’t have time for navel gazing, others need their help. I want to remind them that Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself, not instead of yourself.

Oh, they argue, we’re in a culture of greed and individualism. We’re too self-absorbed and self-pitying for contemplation to be anything but self-indulgent. And indeed, I do not deny that being helpful to others is definitely a way to “get out of yourself” to break with self-absorption and self-pity. But I would argue that self-absorption and self-pity are not reinforced by an introspective practice. They are paradoxically the result of outward focus; taking on the negative messages you’ve received and worrying about what others think about you. Being present to yourself, connecting with who you really are is often the key to compassion and empathy. Observing your thoughts and feelings with the distance and discovering that they are not who you really are is a way to wear these things lightly. Besides, a guide, or spiritual director is vital in this process, it is not an exclusively solitary practice.

As we saw in today’s Gospel, Jesus Christ, true God and true man, needed to get away and pray. To be done with helping in one town and move on to another. If God incarnate needed this to avoid burnout, who are we to think we don’t?

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength…

More than this, I’m convinced that meditative, contemplative prayer, is how Jesus stayed in such firm and empowering contact with His loving divine parent; the source of his compassion, forgiveness and acceptance of the unacceptable. It is through that kind of prayer that I know and love Christ. It is guiding others through that kind of prayer that is the most cherished part of my ministry.

The readings:

Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!

For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.

What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law.

To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law.

To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Mark 1:29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.

He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.

And the whole city was gathered around the door.

And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

And Simon and his companions hunted for him.

When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."

He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."

And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Sermon for the Baptism of the Lord, 2012

While I was in Divinity School, my chiropractor, while I was on the table, asked me what my definition of sin was. Lying on the chiropractic table is a fairly vulnerable place to be, and the question startled me. I started searching my memory for dogmatic answers, for theological answers, for scriptural answers. Then realized he asked me what MY definition of sin was. In that moment I honestly didn’t know what my personal definition was. I had, however, had enough experience opening my mouth and letting the Spirit guide my words that I gave a stab at just starting to speak. “Sin,” I said, not knowing what was going to come out of my mouth, “is the actions based on the lies we tell ourselves when we forget that we’re divine.”

It seemed like a pretty good definition off the cuff, and after checking it out with trusted spiritual friends it did seem to be an inspired definition. It certainly fit my own experience of harmful behavior; which was always rooted in self-deception and amnesia of lessons learned. I specify harmful behavior because the word sin is a difficult word for some, because it’s been misused to shame people for being who they are.  I think it’s worthwhile to mention here, that tax collectors, who usually get lumped in with sinners in the New Testament, were not asked by John to give up tax collecting when he baptized them. When, in the Gospel of Luke, the tax collectors asked John what they should do, he answered them, "Stop collecting more than what is prescribed."

Our readings today make a clear distinction between John’s baptism and baptism in Christ. John’s baptism is one of repentance. Repentance is a translation of metanoia which means a change of mind. This is less about a remorseful; groveling which is what the word often connotates today, than it is about seeing things differently. For example; waking up to self-deception and spiritual amnesia. Wallowing in shame and self-disgust rarely changes anyone’s behavior in my experience. Change in behavior takes a shift in perspective. That shift in perspective seems to be what is offered in the John’s baptism of water. And our readings clearly state that baptism in Christ offers much more. It offers the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s baptism seems to actually offer God. It’s tempting to talk about theology and debates about the Holy Spirit and grace and who and what can dispense grace and the scriptural evidence pro and con for the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father or Christ, but let’s not distract ourselves with that. Rather let us look at what today’s readings can tell us about the experiences of God as the Holy Spirit.

We begin with the wind sweeping over the face of the waters. So begins creation in our tradition. Christ is the Logos, the spoken word, but the Spirit is there in the beginning as well. Later in the creation story, life itself begins with the spirit breathed into clay. Wind, air, breathing, breath… these are the origins of the concept of spirit as well as the concept of the soul. This is true in the experience of many religions. Though techniques of breathing are prayerful practices in many traditions; breathing is the one thing we can’t really fast from. How long can you hold your breath? As in so many traditions breath or spirit is experienced as the mystery of the animating force, what keeps us alive; the divine spark within us.

The Ephesians did not even know there was a Holy Spirit.  They were ignorant of that aspect of God. When I mentioned spiritual amnesia earlier, to some degree I was talking about truth forgotten. However, one might suggest that part of the human condition itself is ignorance of our spiritual connectedness, our spiritual interdependence. We may not have even been able to conceive of ourselves as children of God. Through John’s baptism, the Ephesians had become open to a new perspective. They became open to receiving or perhaps one could say recognizing the Holy Spirit. Many of Jesus’ parables were mind teasers designed to get us to question our assumptions, to open ourselves to new perspectives. In our tradition we still baptize with water, like the water of John’s new perspective, like the water that the Spirit first swept over.

And then they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Sounds awesome and grandiose, doesn’t it? And certainly some people have experienced it this way. Some have had life changing vivid visions. But I also think this passage points to an experience of the Holy Spirit that all people have, though they may not recognize it as such. Some might call it intuition, some may call it channeling, and some call it the still small voice. In spiritual direction it’s called listening for the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Discerning those promptings from our more base promptings, or the promptings of the lies and falsehoods that are symptoms of our amnesia of God and our divinity, is not a task to be done alone. We are baptized into a body; a holy and universal church, a communion of the spiritually wise. This is the body of Christ.

Jesus was with a community, the community of John’s when the Spirit descended on him at his baptism; declaring that he is the beloved of God. I think many people’s experience of being loved by God only becomes possible when they experience God’s love through other people. This could be at the root of Jesus’ commandment to love one another. Jesus tells us time and again in so many ways that we can have a direct intimate relationship with God. We love, because God first loved us.

Readings for this sermon:

Genesis 1:1-5

1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,

1:2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Acts 19:1-7

19:1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.

19:2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

19:3 Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism."

19:4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."

19:5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

19:6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied--

19:7 altogether there were about twelve of them.

Mark 1:4-11

1:4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

1:5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

1:6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

1:7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.

1:8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

1:10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

1:11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Sermon for the third Sunday in Advent, 2011

Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isai'ah said.

It’s Advent, time for the Isai'ah passages that prefigure the coming of Christ Jesus. Passages I must admit I don’t always take seriously. I often find myself giggling when reading Isai'ah, because stylistically it reminds me of the Monty Python Book of Armaments parody in The Holy Grail. I keep expecting Isai'ah to mention fruit bats.

And taken at face value, the prophet Isai'ah can seem pretty naive. All that that lion will lie down with the lamb stuff. Reminds me of a co-worker I had once who was looking at a picture book of lions and was saying how much she loved lions until she came across a picture of one eating a gazelle. She then said she wanted to go to Africa and teach lions to become vegetarians. I all but rolled my eyes. They would die, I explained to her, they’re metabolism just isn’t designed for that.

However, today’s Isai'ah passage opens with the part Jesus himself reads in the synagogue, and something shifts. Oh wait, better take this part seriously. And then Paul tells us, “Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good.”

And when I can put my gut-reaction cynicism aside, get past my Old Testament vs. New Testament prejudice (How many times have I fallen into the trap of saying “I worship the New Testament God, not the Old Testament God.”) I can try to look at Isai'ah with an attitude of how does this speak to me? What is God trying to say through Isai'ah?

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me.” Something we can all claim, by virtue of our baptism. Then follows a list of works, the kind of list that can sometimes bring one to despair rather than inspiration. Look at all I should be doing but I’m not doing.

As Paul suggested, let’s test these things. Rather than feel an obligation to the whole list, is there anything that jumps out, speaks to your heart, does actually inspire? I invite you all to read this passage for what speaks to you. For me one line in particular jumps out:

“to bind up the brokenhearted,” that describes something I can do, have done, want to continue to do. Reading that line opens my heart. It’s where I find the light in this passage. Maybe something else entirely on this list opens yours.

But even as on fire as I get to bind up the brokenhearted, I stumble, fall, fail and doubt when I’m trying to do it from my own power. Which is why this later passage is so important:

my whole being shall exult in my God;

for God has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

It all keeps coming back to that intimate relationship with God. That ultimately is where our strength, passion and desire for such things comes from. The wedding image is one of many analogies for intimate relationship with God, but a powerful one for me. In fact one, way I was able to reconcile that “Old Testament vs. New Testament” fallacy, was to see the God in Hebrew scriptures as a jealous lover rather than a harsh judge.

In fact a scriptural image that captures the Advent season for me is an image from the wise and foolish virgins parable. First let’s get over the gendered “virgin” and “bridegroom” language, make it a civil union if that works better for you. The image is waiting for your lover through the dark night, not knowing exactly when they’ll come, hoping for that commitment which with God, will not end with death.

I’ve heard Advent described as a mini Lent, but personally I think that’s giving the season short shrift. Lent is a hard but wonderful season. A season of repentance (which really means change of mind, or change of heart) being with ways you’ve fallen short, mistakes you have made, and hopefully find a new perspective which can lead to transformation.

I see Advent very differently. Advent for me is sitting in the dark, holding those things that I can find no light in. What in my life is so bleak and dark and opaque that I can’t even imagine finding God there? Offering these things to God, asking for the light that comes with the incarnation to come into these things, illuminate them for me.

That kind of spiritual process is one way to “Make straight the way of the Lord”; to internally flatten mountains and raise valleys, to open parts of yourself up to the presence of God; to deepen your intimacy with Christ who is the light.

He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. Thus John the Evangelist begins his take on John the Baptist. I honestly found this Gospel passage puzzling at first. It seemed out of character for John the Baptist to be so humble. My image of him was of a fire and brimstone preacher, shouting out at those he disapproved of. Sure he acknowledged that Jesus was far better than he was, but here in today’s Gospel, he’s denying that he’s even a prophet.

But then I remembered that John is the wild man of the desert, “clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” Of course he wouldn’t let the Pharisees put any labels on him. Which is actually good news for those of us who are unconventional Christians.

Even though John was a precursor, perhaps even a mentor of Jesus, he was a witness of the light. He was, as the Gospel says, sent from God. He didn’t “clean up” for it. He didn’t claim titles or status. He simply baptized. People came to him wanting to change their mind and heart. He bound up those brokenhearted and told them about the light.

And so I implore you, don’t hide your idiosyncrasies, don’t fear that you need to be less you to be a witness to the light. God sent us all, the Spirit of the Lord is on us all. Opening up to those places where you haven’t let the light in can lead to transformation, but often surprisingly it leads to you being more you. But transformation doesn’t stop; don’t wait for it to end. We are each precious to God as we are, and God can speak through each of us, however wild and crazy we may seem to others. Do not quench the Spirit.

The readings for this sermon:

Isaiah 61: 1 - 4, 8 - 11 

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners;

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to provide for those who mourn in Zion--

to give them a garland instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.

They shall build up the ancient ruins,

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

For I the LORD love justice,

I hate robbery and wrongdoing;

I will faithfully give them their recompense,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their descendants shall be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge

that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

my whole being shall exult in my God;

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its shoots,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise

to spring up before all the nations.

NEW TESTAMENT:  1 Thessalonians 5: 16 - 24 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

GOSPEL:  John 1: 6 - 8, 19 - 28

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Le'vites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, "I am not the Messiah." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Eli'jah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" He said,

"I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

"Make straight the way of the Lord,'"

as the prophet Isai'ah said.

Now they had been sent from the Phar'isees. They asked him, "Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Eli'jah, nor the prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal." This took place in Beth'any across the Jordan where John was baptizing.