March 24, 2013 Palm Sunday - Look Again There was something in the air. It was more than the sounds and smells. It was excitement, joy, expectation, curiosity, adoration, respect, awe, apprehension, skepticism, distrust, anger, hatred. There were lots of somethings in the air – it was thick, it was palpable, it was unavoidable. If you were there...you couldn’t escape it. It was the Festival of the Passover – for 8 days --- people – thousands and thousands of them coming and going from the city of Jerusalem. For some it was an annual pilgrimage; for others it was a once in a lifetime event. Some were lucky enough to live right there in the midst of it; others traveled days to worship and celebrate in the holy city. Some came alone, serious, searching, determined; others came with their neighbors and their children and considered it an adventure. There were the priests with all their pomp and authority – bustling through the Temple with robes billowing out around them, scribes carrying scrolls, and all those attached to the Temple, busy at some such task or another in every direction one looked. But as important and wonderful as this festival was, with old friends united, and new sites to be seen, and family reunions, the beauty of the Temple – a black cloud of Roman soldiers on high alert //// hovered over them, and the city, and their religious feast days. They were standing on every corner, walking in twos and threes through the crowds, gathered in groups at the city’s gates, vigilant, and lined up on the city’s walls. All of this was in the air...and on this Passover day there was more. Some followed him; some came to see him for the first time; some had heard of his coming- but kept their distance; some were glad to see him; others turned and scurried away so as not be counted among them. There was something in the air like hope, and trouble...like fear and awe...relief that the waiting was over...and a worry that perhaps they were mistaken. He came to the top of the hill - a teacher, a healer, a leader, a wise man, a reformer, a trouble maker, a thinker, an instigator, an advocate, a strong voice, yes all of those things, --- but was he a king, was he the messiah? What they did not yet know ....was that this man who rode on the back of a colt, with cloaks spread out on the path before him, ...this man was the suffering servant. And a suffering servant does not look like a king. And a suffering servant does not look like a Messiah. The suffering servant will not cry out or lift up his voice, neither will he make it heard in the street. The suffering servant does not draw attention to himself; he does not have to be the loudest voice in the room; or make sure that he’s the center of attention. People who are already hurting, already powerless, already lost and disappointed in themselves, people who already feel unworthy, embarrassed, helpless, people who are already down and out....all those people who are bruised reeds - the Messiah will not break. The Messiah will not make them feel worse about themselves by shaming them or humiliating them, or scolding them - a dimly burning wick he will not quench...he will not snuff out because the Messiah knows that God’s spirit no matter how low the flame – God’s spirit flickers in each and every one. The suffering servant has been given a mission – no matter what he does...all that he does is focused upon this pinpoint of a mission. His mission - it is singular - it is to bring forth justice. He will not be swayed, his mind cannot be changed. He will not be bribed or coerced, ...the suffering servant will persevere; no matter the threats or the risk. 4He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth The suffering servant is calm, unassuming, quiet, gentle, faithful, true to his word, true to his calling – and because the Lord upholds him, because the Lord has chosen him, delights in him, has put his spirit upon him...the suffering servant will be triumphant. The description of the suffering servant was first heard by Jews in the 8th century BC -- and – if it did nothing else – these words of Isaiah challenged their thinking about God’s purposes, and who God is, and how God acts in the world. Not like a king, surely and nothing like the Messiah for which they hoped. Still, it caused them to reconsider, re-imagine, caused them to look again at who their Messiah would be, and for whom their Messiah would come. This Palm Sunday, marks the end of yet another Lent – the season when we are to take another look...the season when we are to look again at ourselves – at our behavior, our words, deeds, and thoughts- in light of Christ’s teaching; to look again at our commitment to Christ and to Christ’s church; to look again at Christ’s mission and our mission to the world. This Palm Sunday, as Jesus was welcomed, ushered, and hosanna’ed into Jerusalem, ...only to be crucified because he was not who they thought and wanted him to be. This Palm Sunday may also be our time to look again at our ideas about Jesus Christ. Look again to make sure we do not make the same mistaker...look again to make sure we have not made our Messiah in our own image. THOSE WHO HAVE EARS, LET THEM HEAR: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching. 5Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, 7to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. 9See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

March 10 - Breaking the Mold

We all know that a parable is a story within a story whose message teaches us a lesson. And because Jesus had a lot of lessons to teach, he made good use of the parable. And the parable we know best is the one we heard this morning. At first read this is a story about a father and his two sons, one of whom went wild and squandered his inheritance; the other who stayed down on the farm – and got very upset because the father threw a big party when the runaway son returned home. We however, know that there is more to the story. But do we really know how much more? To make sure that we do, today we will take a hard look at this passage. First off, we must recognize that the story is set at a time and in a culture where one’s behavior either brings honor or shame to the family. Though not unusual, the younger son’s request for his inheritance went against all that was acceptable behavior, and would be considered shocking and shameful. What the young man is saying - in so many words – is I am so important that I can’t wait around for my father’s natural death. The insult cuts deeper as in this request, the younger son infers that - for all intents and purposes...his father is of no more use to him, has nothing more to offer him, his father is already dead to him. Next sentence reads, so the father divided his property between them. Traditionally, that would be 2/3rds to the elder and 1/3 to the younger. However, the word property – in the Greek – means more than land or possessions...it literally means one’s essence, one’s living, one’s life. The son is asking for his father to give up his life’s work, all he has worked for, all that he stands for. In essence – the son is dismissing all his father is and has been. In this culture, both father and eldest son had the duty to protect the honor of their family by refusing the request of the younger son. If anything, the youngest son should have been disinherited immediately. Furthermore, when word got out into the community, that the father decided not to disinherit -- it would be a scandal....and if they chose to do so, it would be appropriate for the whole community to shun the father and the elder son. And the scandal worsens as the father is further disgraced when the youngest son took off to a foreign or a distant land. And did what...but squander his property. We have two meanings to consider here. Again the word property meaning one’s living, one’s life or essence = we read and understand that the youngest son squandered all that he was...his very being – in short – his soul. The second meaning of the world property is ...literally the land. You see the father didn’t go to the bank, sell the land, and hand the youngest a bag of cash. He gave him the land. So when the youngest squandered his property = he did so on credit, so to speak. Promising his creditors pieces of his family’s land – as a trade off to finance his wild living. No longer is this about one family – now it’s about the whole community. Because of the young man’s selfish and irresponsible behavior – strangers now have access to the land in this village. Strangers, foreigners, people of ill repute, and who knows what kind of people - will come and they will bring with them strange ideas, strange habits...all of which will upset the established order and perhaps pose a threat to the townspeople’s very lives. All of this brings more shame and disgrace on the father and the eldest son.... – and now shunning is not the issue because this family is at risk of being banished. When there is nothing more to lose = the young man heads home. We read that while the son was still far off, the father saw him. The Greek lets us know that this was not just happenstance. In fact, the Greek lets us know that this was a common practice. The father went out on a regular basis, maybe every day, maybe every time he was outside = surveying the horizon = not only looking = but waiting..and waiting expectantly = trusting that somehow, his son would come home. And when the son’s frame finally showed itself on that horizon, what happens...but the father did a few more shameful and disgraceful things. First, the father went to him...when it would only be right that the son come to him, and asked if he could come into his father’s presence and plead his case. Second, the father ran – grown men with some status and reputation – (even though at this point that status and reputation if pretty well in tatters) grown ment don’t run, cuz when you run - you have to pick up your robes and expose your legs == and you get disheveled and you don’t look respectful - all unacceptable behavior in this culture. Third, the father put his arms around the son and kissed him....literally in the good ol’ Greek – the father fell upon him, actually collapses on him, hung on his neck, sobbed, overwhelmed, tears of joy, and smothered him with kisses – an emotional display that would make anyone blush = and worse, an embarrassing display of emotion toward a wayward son--- who we all know should have been disinherited and sent out of the community from the get go. And then a celebration – a party and people, and a feast. We all know that a parable is a story within a story. This is a story about us – the wayward sons and daughters. A story about God, the father, who goes to any length to love and welcome us; God who waits every second of every day for us to return to him; God who for the love of us is willing to be disgraced and shamed in the streets of first century Jerusalem; God who is willing to be shunned and banished from society; God who goes against the status quo to show his love for us; God who no matter how many times we turn on back on him - embarrasses himself by overlooking our indifference; embarrasses himself in his relentless pursuit of us. God who is willing to literally give up his life, his essence, his very being for a people who have taken off to distant lands and squandered every good gift we have received by his hand; God, in Jesus Christ who upon our return is ready to celebrate by inviting us to a great feast. As Christ sets his face toward Jerusalem and prepares to be nailed and hung on a cross – surely this God – who breaks every mold for our pitiful sakes – is worthy to be considered during this Lent.

March 3 - God is Everywhere

The questions have been asked for years: Where to find God? How do we reach him? Where do I go, what do I do, is there a special formula, a secret code, are there certain words I have to say? But we answer: oohhh that’s way too much to figure out – because I’ve got way too much to figure out already. Running from here to there, deadlines, appointments, commitments, responsibilities, expectations. I can barely keep up with what I’ve already heaped upon myself. The over scheduled calendar already reaches out into July and August, and it’s only the third of March. Even thinking about adding one more thing to my busy busy life makes the brain freeze up. And ya know....when you think about it... what does God expect....certainly God understands how busy we are in 2013, and the stress of getting ahead, or more often...just keeping our head above water. God must have figured out by now, that this life is way too full to spend much more than an hour on Sunday with God. Still, the questions persist. Where can I find God? How do I reach him? But the alarm clock goes off and we are off...and running...day after day... And we work overtime, and decide not to take our vacation days...and we sit at our laptops and work well into the night. And just like us - the kids and grandkids have to be here and there and everywhere.... and when we are not so busy busy...we have contraptions in our hands, at our fingertips, or in our ears that connect us to the world, and information, and friends, and games, and we can’t communicate anymore unless we are typing our conversations out on a little plastic pad of letters, or doing some such silliness in cyberspace. And we think nothing of spending hours watching the unexplainable on television: heartbreaking things like people who are hoarders, and people who are addicted to all kinds of things, shows about vampires, and reality shows about bachelors, and moonshiners, and wild and drunk young people in Brooklyn, the Jersey shoremand West Virginia. The world and its people are falling apart, but we won’t see it, cuz we’ve been lured into believing that all this stuff is most important. //// And somewhere back in our brain - somewhere under all that junk, we hear God asking us once again: Why are you wasting time on that which does not satisfy you, fill you, connect you...to anything? And we push that thought back further back in our brains...And we go on line to shop, and we go the mall to shop, and we go to QVC and shop...and we buy stuff we don’t need...and we buy stuff we can’t afford...and even when we go to the store to pick up just a few items, we end up with way too much stuff in our shopping carts... And again we hear God ask: Why are you spending your money on that which is not bread? I have fond memories of spending Saturday mornings at the West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio. Built in 1912 the outdoor fruit and vegetable stalls stretch out 500 feet in front of you. Inside the adjoining building are cakes and pies, breads and fish, and any kind of meat you can imagine. The family owned kiosks and stalls have been there for 101 years. Shoppers yell out – a pound of German hotdogs please, a dozen perioges, two loaves of rye... a bunch of grapes, how about a dozen ears of corn. The sellers hawk their wares. C’mon now – this cheese is the freshest you will find – look at these strawberries as big as a tennis ball. There is banter across the aisle as vendors who have known each other since childhood participate in friendly competition. They point at the shoppers passing by and them “ You’re making a mistake if you buy from anyone else.” It’s busy, it’s loud, it’s hard to take it all in, it engages all your senses, and takes every bit of your attention. Just like this life. This scene from the Isaiah is much like that of a marketplace. And right there in the midst of life...between the strawberries and the rye bread...between the overtime, the ridiculous and obscene on TV, and the too full shopping cart -is God, speaking through Isaiah and telling us that in between it all, all around it all, in and through it all....that’s where God is. He picks you out of the passing crowd and points, and calls out, Hey you, are you thirsty, do you have money, no? No matter, it’s not important. I just want to say... listen to me ...pay attention, over this way, I’m here, come closer. I’ve been telling people for years, but they don’t take the time....but forever now -- I have wanted everyone to know ...that --- I have what you are searching for and what you need......I’m only asking you to partake of the good and the richness that I offer...so that you will have life. We think that so much has changed since Scripture was written – changed so much that it couldn’t possibly apply to us. And to be sure we have come a long long way in a few thousand years. So many discoveries, inventions, phenomenal leaps of in science, medicine and technology we cannot count. But human beings, human nature = not changed at all. From then until now, we have been obsessed and addicted, enamored and distracted by everything under the sun....everything except one thing = God. Augustine said our hearts will be restless until they rest in God...and so until we carve out a space for God in our busy busy lives, the questions will persist. Searching? Thirsty? Longing for a whole lot more than what the world offers you? Lent is a time – time enough to seek the Lord while he may be found...time enough to call upon him while he is near; more than enough time to realize that God – God is everywhere.