The Queendom of God

 Grace to you and peace from the one who is and was and who is to come, and from Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, by the power of the holy spirit, Amen. 

Today is known as Christ the King Sunday, or alternatively as Reign of Christ Sunday. In the liturgical calendar, today ends the church year, which does feel a little weird being right before Thanksgiving. It also feels strange, because we live in a world where a lot of countries are ruled by presidents and prime ministers… and so to speak of Christ as our king seems a bit out of touch.

In our gospel reading, on this Christ the King Sunday we sort of HAVE time traveled – all the way to Good Friday, where we overhear the conversation between Pilate and Jesus after Jesus’ arrest. As the Roman ruler of Jesus’s occupied homeland, Pilate had probably seen it all - rebellions, uprisings, messiahs, unrest, violence…. 

But even he had to be surprised when confronted by this defenseless man who claimed to be a king. Jesus had no throne, no mansion, no wealth, no political influence, no generals, and no crown. The night before this conversation, on Maundy Thursday, all his “loyal” followers had all fled (or at least all the men had). And today, Jesus is alone, arrested and beaten up and looking the worse for wear… yet calmly having a repartee with Pilate about kingship and kingdoms.

Pilate is clearly flabbergasted… and we should be too. We all recognize, as Pilate did, that traditional power - I should specify as male patriarchal power - looks a particular way. And Jesus DOES NOT fit the bill. He never fought a single battle; he didn’t flaunt wealth or command influence: he wasn’t angry or loud or violent or “macho.”

Jesus refuses to fit into the toxicity masculine ruler narrative - Jesus’s birth was witnessed by lowly shepherds and his first crib was an animal feeding trough full of hay and cow drool. His conquering campaign involved wandering around teaching and feeding, hanging out with homeless and sick people. He was crowned with thorns and his coronation was his torture and death, and his throne is a cross.

THIS is why it IS important that Jesus was a man… NOT because God has imbued cis men with something special that women, transgender, and nonbinary people do not have. It’s because giving up power is EXPECTED by women in the patriarchy… but it is an aberration, even an abomination for men to do the same. Men don’t DO that in a regular kingdom. But apparently, GOD DOES. 

We don’t need another kingdom of violence. We don’t need any more Kingdoms, period. What else should we call God’s reign, then? A “Queendom” perhaps?

This idea comes from a fabulous book I just read called “Thy Queendom Come” by Kyndall Rae Rothaus. She’s a Baptist preacher and author who co-founded an ecumenical preaching conference designed to elevate those on the margins. She called it “Nevertheless, She Preached.” This event was created out of the recognition that most preaching conferences are dominated by white male preachers, and she knew that we, the church, can do better than that. 

In her book, Kyndall Rothaus wonders if Christ’s reign is better understood as a “queendom” rather than as a kingdom. Are our ideas we associate with the word kingdom too tainted by hierarchy and patriarchy to be useful in understanding the true upside-down reality that Christ ushers in? Rothhaus asserts that yes, the word “Kingdom” IS too compromised to be useful. Which is why she uses the word “Queendom” instead. This is not a realm where women dominate instead of men – that still falls into the old hierarchical way of thinking. But instead, in a Queendom, power is shared and decentralized. There is no head of the table in God’s Queendom. God’s table is round.

If the word “Queendom” is still a bit too potent a word for you, some have used the word KIN-dom, K-I-N, to better describe this reign, emphasizing that we are all family. No matter what we call it, Jesus did not organize a coup, storm the castle, and replace himself as the new, though much kinder, king. He instead got to work on leveling the playing field, giving up all the power and privilege that was due to him as the Son of God, in order to model for us, his followers, how we are to live. 

This does feel like a scary reversal if you happen to be in the group that previously enjoyed the byproducts of power and privilege. Centering other voices in this kingdom, queendom,  or KIN-dom - feels like suppression to those who are used to having the floor ALL the time. But that’s not silencing, but instead sharing - it’s what justice looks like in God’s reality.  Liberation is not a pie, where giving out one piece means less for others. It’s more like the number Pi - it never runs ends.

Pilate is clearly confused and uncomfortable coming face to face with this idea… as were Jesus’ own male disciples the night before, on Maundy Thursday. Jesus demonstrated the meaning of sharing power by literally stripping down, making himself vulnerable, taking the lowest social position and doing the most demeaning job imaginable - washing the disciples feet. Jesus still washed all the feet… the feet of those who would later run away, deny him, abandon him, and betray him, as had played out by the time Jesus and Pilate had this conversation about kings, kingdoms, power, and truth. 

As a friend of mine reminded me, “[God] is The very Truth of existence and The Reality Upon Whom all reality stands.” Our reality does not stand upon able-ism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, tribalism, white supremacy, discrimination or structural inequities. 

THOSE realties stand directly against GOD’s reality - justice, mercy, abundance, acceptance, forgiveness, sacrifice, welcome… LOVE. And so, as citizens of God’s Queendom/ Kin-dom, we cannot and do not STAND FOR them when they rear their ugly head in our midst, in our laws, in our courtrooms, in our classrooms, and in our congregations. We call out and we speak out the truth - the ways of Pilate, of intimidation and violence and reliance on weapons and taking another’s life at will is never sanctioned by God. 

Today we may be disheartened that this Queendom feels farther from us than ever, as the Bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod wrote in a statement released yesterday: “God’s vision for our world, one in which love conquers evil and peace triumphs over fear, may seem more distant today, but ... it still has the power to shape and guide us all.” 

At the close of this liturgical year and as Advent is set to begin, we wait for the arrival of this vision; and we act to participate in this arrival by stepping up  - or stepping out of the way - for others as necessary. As Kyndall Rothhaus concludes in her book “They Queendom Come,” she reminds us that “this is [God’s] queendom, where the power and the glory are shared.” (137) Thanks be to God, amen. 

Origin Stories and Superpowers

 Sermon 8-30-2020

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Every superhero has origin story. Some of my favorite superheroes and heroines were born with their special powers, like Wonder Woman, Black Panther, and Luke Skywalker. Others - such as Captain Marvel, Spider Man, and Harry Potter - got them in all kinds of unexpected ways. And still others were simply chosen to save the world, like the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

You might be surprised to hear that we are part of a very special league of super heroes, right here in real life. Part of my origin story is growing up in a group of other baptized super hero people, being nurtured and encouraged in my faith by my family and other caring adults, and working at a Bible Camp in Wisconsin. 

Your origin story is probably different. But we were all chosen in the same way: We all had our forehead splashed with water three times, surrounded by others who pledged to help us on our journey. Then we were sealed with the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ forever. It is a cross that we all carry with us, present every moment of our lives. That is OUR shared origin story.

As we wrap up our 90 Day Bible Challenge today – congratulation! – I hope that you noticed some of the really cool “origin stories” of our favorite Bible Heroes and heroines. The devotion of Ruth. The perseverance of Esther. The dreams of Joseph. The strange call stories of the prophets. The conversion of Paul. And today… we heard how Moses got going with his mission to free his people, directly from God, via a shrub that was on fire!

You could also say, in our reading from the Gospel of Matthew, that the origin story of the Christian church began here. Jesus is with his disciples in Caesarea Philippi, a Roman town full temples to every deity under the sun. It is here that Jesus asks the hundred-thousand-dollar question – Who do YOU say that I am? The disciples take a stab at it, but only Peter got it right – “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.” Good job. Peter!

Though we heard those words a week ago in our time… only days, hours, or even minutes elapsed before Peter … then puts his foot in his mouth. Peter, thinking he’s on a roll, says: “God forbid it, Lord!” “That’s not how it’s going to be when YOU are in charge! Suffering and death? You’ve got to be kidding!”

News flash Peter: Jesus wasn’t kidding. Jesus is NOT here to set up his own kingdom made in the image of the world, with power, glory, and might. But…. Peter is also not alone in his hasty judgement about the kind of Kingdom that Jesus is bringing. We often have trouble understanding God’s kingdom when we encounter it, too

We are surrounded by messages of the Kingdom of Might – M-I-G-H.T…where power comes from influence and affluence. Those who have it, flaunt it. Those who don’t have it, want it. And the easiest way to get it is to hang out with the powerful people – and hope you get some of it by association. This is, by the way, what Peter is trying to do with Jesus, and is also why he freaks out when Jesus reveals this is NOT the kind of kingdom he’s ushering into being. After all, who WANTS to be in the inner circle of THAT kind of King? Who wants suffering as part of their origin story?

These messages have become the water we swim in - so totally ingrained in how we live that we don’t notice. It is even built into the very fabric of this country. We are taught our origin story as a nation is one of a scrappy band of settlers who valiantly wrestled their rights and freedoms out of the clutches of the most powerful empire in the world. But is that the whole story?  

We don’t have a time machine… but we do have a show from 2004 called Colonial House (found on Amazon Prime and YouTube), an entertaining blend of historical documentary and just good, juicy reality TV. Two dozen people committed to living in the back country of coastal Maine for four months, in an approximation of how a settlement would have operated in 1628. That’s right – no electricity, running water, or privacy.

Instead of the pure and simple utopia that many of the contestants expected, these “settlers” quickly came face to face with the harsh realities that shaped our early days as a nation, besides the daily struggle to survive.

From the very start, religious intolerance, strict social classes and power struggles, homophobia, the never-ending focus on productivity and output, land-theft from native people, rigid gender roles, and racial tension were very uncomfortably present in our national identity. The realization that the “Origin Story” of our country is not simple or spotless was an eye-opening moment for many on this show – and those of us who watched to the show, too.

Some of us are waking up to threads of a story we didn’t know had been woven into our fabric since the beginning, while others have been awake this whole time, seeing our past play out again, and again, and again, the cycle of violence against the bodies of our black and brown siblings, which turn into rage, blame, and more violence, most lately in my home state of Wisconsin, which is so much part of my own origin story.

In the middle of all the memes and rhetoric, I wonder if in this moment, Jesus is saying to us: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take 7 bullets in the back, and follow me. For those who want to save their life will find it looted, and those who loot their own lives, for my sake, will find life.

The source of Jesus’ power - the power of God – is found in vulnerability. It is strength found in weakness. It is might found in non-violence. It is gaining the whole world by throwing our entire lives away. It is following in the footsteps of Jesus, who was called to die for our sake, so that we may die to ourselves for the sake of others.

This is Jesus’s superpower: Resurrection. And it becomes our superpower too: The broken being made whole. Hate turning into love. Death transformed to new life.  Jesus transforming the cross as an instrument of death into a symbol of hope, the symbol that all of us baptized superheroes carry on our foreheads. Invisible, like a secret superhero identity, but still always present.

Only our secret superhero identities are supposed to be public. We are meant to follow Jesus, to carry our crosses, in a way that others can see. Sometimes, like Moses, we are called to work for the liberation of an entire oppressed people. Sometimes, like Moses, we put our bodies on the line and into harm’s way. Sometimes, like Moses, we are sent to speak truth to power.

Moses’s origin story may have involved a supernatural shrub on fire. But his origin story is similar to our own – God calls us by name. And even in the face of all the questions we have, God reveals to us God’s own name – a God who is Faithful, a god who Liberates, the God who Is and Was and ever will be with us.

In our baptisms, we have died to our old selves, and we rise up as part of a new family in Christ. And so, as God’s superheroes, we are sent into the world as a chip off the old boulder…to follow Jesus’ lead. As the affirmation of baptism (or confirmation) liturgy goes, we are called “to follow the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” In the face of these big tasks, we as a church respond, “We do and we will, and we ask God to help us.”

In the words of Black Panther: "It is time to show the outside world who we are."

Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

Jesus and Open Carry

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

If you are a fan of the reality TV show Queer Eye – as I am – you may have noticed that the first episode of this new season (which is set in Philly, by the way) features an ELCA pastor. If you are NOT familiar with this show, I’ll clue you in. Five Fabulous gay men travel the country “making over” people’s lives. The council members of Atonement Lutheran in Fishtown nominated their beloved pastor, and last summer Pastor Noah spent a week being showered with love. Seriously, get  the free promotional month of Netflix and watch it as soon as you can… and get ready to cry.

But actually I want to focus on the 2nd episode in this season. Rianna is an African American businesswoman who lives in Norristown. Over three years ago she had started her own dog grooming business, but she was barely staying afloat amid many challenges. In typical Queer Eye fashion, the Fab 5 gave her a wardrobe, provided business know-how, and of course, outfitted her with a brand new “Doggy Grooming Mobile Vehicle.”

As an African American business woman in this country, Rianna was less likely to have access to the resources necessary to make her business successful by herself – it is well-documented that persons of color have less access and fewer resources at their disposal, whether we’re talking small business loans, generational wealth, or access to knowledge and role models. In other words, in this country, based on the color of her skin, she has been given fewer things in her “bag” to travel this road we call life than a white person who is the same age and born in the same location.

We like to think that when we are born, we all start out equal. After all, every one of us arrive into this work with literally “nothing.” But in reality, we all inherit things – the skin color of our parents, a particular economic status, generational trauma… all which can help or hinder us in our path in life. It’s not unlike being given a bag for the beach but not having sunscreen, or shoes to protect your feet from the hot sand – without being provided some basic necessary things, you are not going to be ready for your summer beach vacation.

Of course, life is not quite the same as enjoying some time “down the shore” as they say.  Right now, we are we at the beginning of the summer season, when normally we would all disperse to the four winds and we wouldn’t see some of you until September. But we are also at the start of a new season in the Church year. This is “Ordinary Time,” or the “Time after Pentecost.” – or the Big Long Green Season. The season of major events – Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, is behind us, and the weeks of counting the seemingly hundreds of Sundays after Pentecost has begun.

We have jumped back into the middle of the Gospel of Matthew, back to the start of Jesus’ ministry in Palestine. Jesus realize that this whole “Preaching the Gospel” thing is bigger than just one person can do, so he calls on the twelve disciples and gives them their marching orders.

Jesus given them detailed instructions on what to DO, but not on what to PACK. Or rather, he is very specific on what NOT to pack. All the disciples going out were to enter each town exactly the same: no bag, no change of close, no money, no extra snacks… instead of being the “Fab 5” (as much as I love them), the disciples were to be the RECIPIENTS of grace, not just providers or suppliers of it. Life is not a one way street, and a person can and should both give and receive with our God-given humility. An empty bag reminded the disciples of that as they traveled.

But it’s not just “summer season” or just “the season after Pentecost.” We have also entered into another type of season…its Pride Month… but also a season of tragedy and lament, especially for the ELCA. On June 17th, 2015, five years ago, we remember and lament that a white man attended a Bible study at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He opened fire and killed nine people, including their pastor, Clementa C. Pinckney. Reverend Pinckney had graduated with his masters of divinity from an ELCA seminary with a friend of mine. And the shooter, Dylan Roof, a self-admitted white supremacist, had been brought up in an ELCA church.

Two days after June 17^th, on June 19^th is a holiday called Juneteenth. Before President Lincoln signed the emancipation Proclamation, it was legal for human beings to be enslaved on southern plantations, generating wealth for free for their white owners. However, in yet another perversion of justice, the news of their freedom took two and a half years to reach many of these enslaved human beings. They did not find out until June 19^th, 1865.

Tragically, every year (both before and since) has brought more violence around this time: The shooting at the Pulse in Orlando, being just one example. As I went back to all my sermons for the last five years, ever time I have mentioned Dylann Roof and the martyred Emmanuel 9, I have always mentioned some other tragic event that just happened. Why are we like this? Why do we have this legacy we have inherited,  where we say our baptismal vows out of one side of our mouths .....and raise up and teach Dylann Roofs with the other side?

We certainly have a long way to go in our own journeys as disciples following Jesus’s directions. And the way seems overwhelming at times. But once we listen to Jesus and follow his packing list, I think we may find the way to be a little easier. We have to do more unpacking than packing. So, we leave behind our fear, our hate, our apathy, our white privilege, our need to be needed. When we let go of those things, we’ll find that our hands are empty… and open. THIS is the type of “open carry” that Jesus approves of and calls us to duplicate.

WE CARRY OPEN HANDS, so that we can reach out to our neighbors in welcome: our black neighbor, our white neighbor, our police neighbor and our military neighbor, or Jewish and our Muslim neighbor. Our brothers and our sisters, transgender, straight, gay, rich, poor, citizen, and immigrant neighbor.

WE CARRY one another, so that we never have to carry our burdens alone. And through it all, GOD CARRIES US. Always. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Holy Heartburn

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

“Stay with us for it is evening, and the day is almost over…” This is sort of the ultimate “airplane” moment (back when we flew on airplanes!) - you exchange pleasantries with the person next to you as you buckle your seat belt… and suddenly you are sharing with each other your deepest hurts and wildest dreams, and you now have a standing Thanksgiving invitation and you are making plans to go to their son’s wedding.

These two from our reading were walking along the road from Jerusalem, and discovered another traveler on their road, going in the same direction… and found themselves in a conversation they never dreamed they would be having.  And so when this utter stranger, and new best friend, seemed like he would be going on to travel, all alone, in the night… it was only natural that they invited him to share their Air BnB  as the sun set on that Easter day.

It’s still the season of Easter. Jesus WAS there in the tomb, but he is not here any longer. Instead, he has gone on ahead of us, to meet up us out there on the dusty roads we travel. And he has won the victory for us, so that we who have been buried in our own tombs with Jesus may be raised in his glorious resurrection, now and in the life to come.

Which sounds great…. But what about tomorrow, or next week when we are still social distancing, waiting for unemployment benefits, still living alone, and can’t see our loved ones and friends? What about all our disappointed hopes and very real fears that are still up close and personal?

The words of these two walking along the road really resonate with us right now They tell Jesus: “But we had hoped that….”

Perhaps we had hoped that, by now, six weeks in, we had hoped to be done with social distancing and business closures. We had hoped that, even when we are able to get back together, we might go back to the way things were…though now we know that it will not look like it did before. We had hoped a lot of things, but reality seems pretty rough right now for many of us. What can we really expect from the resurrection in these times?

Two disciples, traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus on Easter afternoon, wondering the same thing. I like to think they were husband and wife, debriefing the unbelievable 3-day weekend they just had… when Jesus appears to them, hidden in plain sight. (Maybe Jesus was wearing a mask and staying 6 feet away?)

Theirs is a road of bitterest defeat, for they had seen the man they had put their hope in put to death. It is no wonder that they didn’t recognize Jesus when he began to walk with them.

Jesus asked about what they were discussing, and they gladly shared with him the whole perplexing story. So, Jesus told THEM the whole of GOD’S story, from start to finish. Then THESE two followers of Jesus REMEMBERED Jesus’ message of welcome and took it to heart – they invited him to share a meal and their place of rest for the night.

It wasn’t until Jesus blessed and broke the bread and they ate together – Then they KNEW that this was JESUS! And so, they RAN – 7 WHOLE MILES all the way BACK to Jerusalem, that same night, just to tell the story to the other disciples of what they had seen – the Risen Jesus!!!!

What would make you run seven miles in the dark? Would it be for something that you didn’t expect? That must have been some “holy heartburn.” Remember that they said, “Were our hearts not burning within us?” Their Holy Heartburn – and Jesus - had finally interrupted their despair.

Jesus likes to interrupt things - Jesus interrupted death. He intruded on the funeral preparations of the women at the tomb. He appeared incognito and joined the two travelers walking to Emmaus, and interrupted their dinner as he revealed himself in the breaking of the bread.

In contrast to the rest of the disciples, who were presumably still locked in a room in Jerusalem as we heard last week, THESE TWO took Jesus’ message to heart. They heard the word and acted on it. They welcomed a stranger into their midst and into relationship. They practiced what Jesus preached. They embraced radical hospitality. They created space in their hearts and in their lives. And remember, at this point, they didn’t yet know that is was Jesus.

But isn’t that what being a disciple on the road is all about? Welcoming one another, creating space for each other for all of our stories and all of our experiences, making sacrifices for one another so that the most vulnerable among us can be kept safe and healthy…. We do this, not just because these people MIGHT be Jesus…. But because these ARE JESUS. After all, Jesus told us that whatever we do to the least of these, we are doing to him.

When we see Jesus in one another, we invite, we welcome, we share what we have, and we go out of our way to make sure all people are protected cared for. That’s all we need, really, to do this “following Jesus” thing. Be the Church, not “go to church.” Create relationships, not programs. Build up the body, not buildings.  Open not just our doors – especially now when that is not possible – but open our hearts as well.

Most of you have heard me quote this prayer a lot, but I think it’s more meaningful now than ever. Called “the servant’s prayer,” it has sustained me many times when the way forward doesn’t always seem clear and things seems hard, like now. Please pray with me:

“O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

Between Two Easters

4-12-20 Easter

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Ten “Holy Weeks” ago, while I was on internship in southern Minnesota, I found myself on Holy Saturday in the empty sanctuary of the church, helping to set up a giant paper mache empty tomb with the stone rolled away. As the intern pastor, I had underestimated the importance of this…. Thing… as part of the Holy Week observance of this congregation. Or at least, I had underestimated how important it was to my internship supervisor. So, I did as I was told, and in ten minutes time helped him set up this plywood monstrosity that seemed to necessary to his Holy Week experience.

Under normal circumstances, we all have our “favorite” traditions about Holy Week and Easter – the candles in the Tenebrae, the stripping of the altar, unburying the Alleluia, seeing all the kids come up for the children’s sermon, getting dressed up in our Easter best, ready to celebrate… then go home to eat a bug ham and too much chocolate.

Today, Easter 2020, it’s hard to feel like celebrating. The joyful “alleluias” can easily feel bitter in our mouths as we think about the families for whom this Easter will be full of death rather than life. Instead of stripping the altar on Maundy Thursday, we have been stripped of all the trappings and traditions we have added to this day.

This experience rattles us to the very marrow of our trust in God; it penetrates to the very core of who we believe our God to be. It causes us to ask ourselves, how could a truly good God allow this to happen? There are no easy answers to be found, not even on Easter.

During the very first Holy Week, the disciples had been through a lot in the previous few days and had no answers either. Their beloved leader, teacher, and friend had been arrested and cruelly killed while they had all fled. Now they were hiding – at home - in fear, waiting, watching, praying….. Waiting for discovery perhaps? Watching for whatever might happen next? Praying for a miracle?

And then there was this thing, about an empty tomb and some folded up grave linens. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early in the morning and got the shock of her life – she discovered the stone had been rolled away. While Peter and the other disciple went back home puzzled, she stuck around. So she was the first person to encounter the risen Jesus – even though she didn’t recognize him (was he wearing a mask?) and he didn’t let her touch him – apparently he was practicing social distancing.

These years later, we may wonder at how long it takes for them to “get it” – Jesus is raised! Empty grave! Tada! Party time!  But we have the luxury of knowing the end of this story. Throughout these three days, as we commemorate the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we do so knowing the ending. We know that the end of this story is a triumphant one – Jesus rises from the dead and the power of death is defeated for all time. The good guys win. So why aren’t the disciples living like it?

We know that through Christ’s death and resurrection, our sins have been forgiven and we are new people. But we don’t always live like this. We know that death has been defeated. But we still live in fear of it. We know that Jesus has conquered evil for all time. But there is still so much suffering and sadness  in this world.

It is so hard to live as Easter People, because we don’t know the end of our own story. We are living in the in-between, now more than ever, remaining in our homes behind closed doors, waiting for a miracle. We are the characters in the middle of God’s story, overwhelmed by our circumstances, consumed by conflicts, and persecuted by adversaries.  In every chapter and in every paragraph, we cry out to God, “Is there a plot here?” In this way, we are no different from the disciples. We thought God had come to fix everything. Make our lives better. To end the suffering. To make sure that no one ever had to die again.

During the first Holy Week, the people still prayed that their messiah would come and deliver them from their bitter existence, to mightily kick the Romans out of their land and establish a great kingdom of their own. But I imagine that they were getting very tired of waiting. God had seemed to be silent for so long, they must have begun to wonder if God had indeed forgotten them.

Fast forward two thousand years, and how much has really changed? For all of our modern marvels of technology, our breakthroughs in science, our fast travel and even faster means of communication, are we better off now? In many ways, yes, our lives have vastly improved compared to those in the past. With all our technological prowess, there are so many ways that we can remain connected during this time. But it also means that we have found more efficient and elaborate ways to hurt one another, and make the vulnerable even more at risk. In all this time, we have not really changed.

But in all this time, God has not changed either. And that’s a good thing. The faithfulness, the love, and the goodness of the Lord toward God’s people have remained the same, today, tomorrow, and always – and nowhere is it more apparent than in Jesus’s rising from the dead.

Truth be told, will we really feel like saying – Alleluia- when our lives seem like on long Good Friday that never ends. We are in uncharted territory, which feels both uncomfortable and scary. But, for over two thousand years, Good Friday has always been followed by Easter.  

The church may be empty today, on Easter 2020. The church is empty, but so is the tomb. Easter arrives, even when we are hidden away in our homes. Not unlike how Christmas arrived in Whoville, despite the Grinch’s theft of all the precious "who-trappings." This year there will be no Easter lilies, or gimmicky children’s sermon, or plywood paper mache tombs…. And yet, even so, Easter morning has arrived. It’s here. We made it. We’re still standing.

While at the same time we celebrate Easter 2020, we look to another Easter – and Easter when this pandemic is over, the dust settling, and we can attempt to find a new normal. And we long for the final Easter, when we are welcomed into the arms of Jesus, when illness, suffering, and death will be no more.

In the meantime, we Lutherans do what we do best – live into the nuance of living somewhere between “once upon a time” and “happily ever after,” somewhere between the first Easter and the Last Easter. And in between those two points in time are still a million possibilities to be lived. Some good, some bad, all holy.

Pastor Meta Herrick Carlson wrote a book of poems and meditations called “Ordinary Blessings.” And in her poem called “False Choices,” she writes, “Draw me to the mysteries of an ever-expanding universe, a redemption that is already and not yet, a God who is bending time and space … we are resuscitated wild and holy, wherever death and life blur… Surely, we are made for more than two dimensions and the simple chronology of life!” (70-1)

Though songs of praise and alleluias may stick in our throats today……  that’s ok. Disasters can and will still come, but we do not need to fear them. Jesus is the plot. Jesus is the meaning. Jesus is there, in the prayer, in the waiting, in the watching for what is to come. We may not know what the end of this next chapter might bring for us, but GOD IS THE ONE WHO WROTE THE BOOK. And God loves us so much that God just HAD to “spoil” the ending for us:

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, ALLELUIA! Amen.

Our Good Friday Zoom Tenebrae worship

Good Friday: Grasping and Remembering

GOOD FRIDAY 4-10-20

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Thursday night began in celebration, with Jesus celebrating the Passover with his twelve disciples. They broke bread and shared a cup of wine. But that celebration was bittersweet with the knowledge that one of Jesus’s own closest friends would betray him and the rest would abandon him in his hour of greatest trials.

As the darkness deepened, Jesus is betrayed, arrested, and taken away to be secretly tried by the religious authorities, who falsely try him and hand him over to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. In the meantime, Peter has denied Jesus three times as the rooster crowed, just as Jesus predicted.

Today, Friday, Jesus is taken by the religious leaders to Pilate in order to carry out his death sentence.

But before Jesus is to die, the Roman soldiers under Pilate must put on a show of strength. These soldiers are under the impression that they are mocking Jesus when one takes off his own robe to create a sham of a cape, and another braided a pitiful crown out of thorns, and a third pulled up a tall weed for a scepter. But the truth is, Jesus was never the kind of king to wear gold and jewels and fine robes.

What they put on Jesus is just what a suffering servant-king ought to wear – not trappings of power and might, but badges of pain and suffering. There is one last item that the Christ will wear before that Friday is over, one last garment that this King will put on for our sakes. That is the shroud of death. And his royal palace shall be a stone tomb.

In many ways we may feel like we are waiting in the darkness of a tomb – a tomb of social distancing, made necessary by a virus that is causing real harm to the people we love. In many ways, the only thing we can do is wait with the disciples – huddles just out of sight somewhere, wondering what is coming next.

Pastor Meta Herrick Carlson wrote a book of poems and prayers for the ordinary moments in life, and I think one of her meditations speaks to this moment, both on that first Good Friday and this Good Friday. In her poem called “For Rock Bottom,” she writes with words that clearly resonate to all of us now” “I am separated from friends and neighbors…. My eyes have adjusted to the grim confines of this grave, and I could give up, but even here my hands grasp at the darkness in search of the God who claims to care …. I have nothing but time and will wait for you to remember me.” (128-9)

In less than three days’ time, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, our Lord and savior. On Easter we will be singing “Alleluia.” Truth be told, will we really feel like saying that, when our lives seem like on long Good Friday that never ends…. Where it feels like we have nothing but time to grope around in the dark?

But there is one thing we do know, one thing that we profess even in the midst of intense suffering and even despair - we cling to the hope that the Lord is near and is in our midst…. ESPECIALLY in the midst of pain and suffering, which Jesus has experience and knows well. 

God has always been in the thick of it with us. No amount of misery, no amount of isolation and physical distance, no amount of fear could ever make God turn away from us. No life is too broken, no loneliness is too deep, no death is too tragic for God to be near. Jesus walked that path ahead of us, and now he leads the way, as we walk this difficult Good Friday path with no clear Easter ending date. We walk, knowing and trusting and hoping and feeling and remembering… that Easter WILL arrive. Thanks be to God, amen.

"God... Bless you!'

Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

While I served as a pastor in New Jersey, I had the privilege of being the chaplain at a high school youth retreat at a local camp. It’s a Saturday night tradition to have an open mike night after evening worship, and normally kids sign up to sing their favorite song or play the guitar. But one act surprised us all. A high should senior got up and did a comedy routine, and she was funny.

She began her routine by describing what it was like to ride down to this youth event with her pastor at the wheel. When being cut off, this youth informed us, the pastor might yell, “son of a… child of God!” … Or when someone would suddenly slow down for no apparent reason, causing her to slam on her brakes, the pastor would say, “God… bless you!”

We “adult-type-people” sitting in the back were practically rolling on the floor laughing. It was nice to know that someone else also felt the same frustration that I did about some of the crazy driving I had encountered in New Jersey! But while I laughed, I also cringed. Because I’ve been there. I’ve been the person being cut off, and I’ve said some pretty unkind things alone in the safety of my vehicle. We all knew what this pastor had wanted to say, and we all knew that at one time or another we all had said those things, or we at least thought them.

But if a tree falls in the woods with no one to witness, does it makes a sound? And If no one hears my tirade against that driver, no harm no fowl, right? Jesus says …wrong. In that moment, according to Jesus, when we let our anger get the better of us, and say things we will regret later, we are breaking the fifth commandment – “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”

And so, after building us up for two weeks after hearing about being blessed if we are poor in spirit or mourning or peacemaking, and after hearing about how we are light and salt for the world… The gloves are off, the rubber has hit the road, the other shoe has dropped, and Jesus is done with the appetizers and is ready to get to the main course. And this meal is certainly hard to swallow.

You might say that this is where being light intersects life – after talking about letting our light shine in the world, Jesus here it telling us how that’s done, example by example.  Jesus here is asking us, not just to keep the commandments of old, but to exceed them in a way that sounds beyond human ability.

I don’t know about you, but I think that the 10 commandments are just fine, as is. For the most part where we live it’s pretty easy to refrain from murdering someone. In fact, it’s pretty easy to go down the list of commandments and think we are doing ok – yup, respecting my parents, nope, didn’t steal anything today, nope, didn’t testify in court… so I’m good.. right?

But Jesus stops us in our self-congratulatory tracks. It’s one thing to do the minimum, to refrain from causing someone physical bodily harm. But if you are angry with your sibling, if you insult them and call them names, they are as good as dead to you, and Jesus says that you as good as murdered them in your mind.

We would rather think about the Jesus that is all about love and tolerance and all that good stuff. Love then, becomes a blanket over all the bad stuff I do, and makes it ok that I keep doing it. But thinking about love this way is about as effective as roses and chocolate one day a year, and misery the other three hundred and sixty-four.

Another time Jesus says, love your neighbor as you love yourself. As in, you see your neighbor not as an object to be coveted or as a means to an end to get what you want, but as a human being with thoughts and feelings, with hopes and dreams, with flaws and needs. Love means that we should treat everyone as if they are a beloved child of God. Because that’s what they are.

Truly keeping the 5^th commandment in the Jesus Regime also means not labeling people or not insulting them and their families. AND, as Luther adds, it also means living together in unity and helping our neighbors out when they are in need. 

The same goes for Jesus’ take on the 6^th commandment – “you shall not commit adultery.” Luther’s explanation reads: “you are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse.” Jesus takes it a step farther by saying: “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” 

When a man looks at a woman in this way, he sees her only as function of what she can give to him, he denies her autonomy as a person, and he reduces her to commodity be acquired. Women’s bodies have always been feared, shamed, and controlled. Jesus isn’t telling women to cover up because “boys will be boys.” Jesus is instead calling boys to be men, to put an end to centuries of blaming and shaming.

Jesus lived at a time where marriage provided financial stability and the assurance of a future through children. The idea of romantic love, or our obsession with a holiday that celebrates romance and couples would be completely foreign to them.

Divorce is a traumatic, life-shaking event no matter what the context. Jesus is affirming that, in the words of a colleague of mine, “Each person is sacred and deserves to be treated that way.” Divorce is naming what is, and it is never a sin to tell the truth. Divorce does not break vows – it simply states that vows have already been broken, whether by egregious behavior or “irreconcilable differences.” In fact, staying in a relationship that is unsustainable can only add to everyone’s pain and suffering. Staying can sometimes mean breaking faith with yourself, in not loving and honoring yourself enough to leave. Divorce is the most loving option when it is the only way that the sacredness of human life – YOUR LIFE – can be affirmed and defended, and remarriage between two consenting adults who respect the sacred humanity of one another is never a sin.

So, perhaps then instead a list of things to avoid, these commands become the means of living a life that is full of real love and real relationships, with Jesus leading the way.

And we who are following in his footsteps are going to aren’t going to get it right all the time. We will continue to be the angry ones and the ones who cause others to be angry.  Sometimes we will be ones doing the cursing in our cars and at other times we’ll be the ones doing the cutting-off on the turnpike. But if we choose to look at those around us through the eyes of Jesus, as beloved children of God, we infuse a healthy and much-needed dose of humanity back into the world. We are blessed by God, so that we become a blessing to one another.

Back at that youth retreat with the funny standup routine… That same pastor, the youth was talking about, came up to me after I had prayed individually over a long line of youth during a healing service…. not to receive a blessing, but to give me one.  In that moment I remembered that I too was a “daughter of a child of God.” As much as I was teaching and preaching and ministering to others that weekend, I was also continually learning from, and being surprised by, and being MINISTERED TO by others.

Even when we don’t choose life – when instead we choose isolation over connection, fear over acceptance, hate over love, death over life, death does not have the final say. Life has the final say – the life that Jesus not only tells us about but also shows us in every moment of his life on earth. Jesus came to show us that love has the final say.  AMEN

Casting a Vision at FoG

Sermon 1-26-20 “State of FoG”

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

One summer I went fishing with my uncle and cousin on a lake in northern Wisconsin. I did not notice the beauty that was all around me – the warm sunshine or the relaxing sound of the waves. I only remember that I could NOT get the hang of fishing. My uncle tried his best to teach me, but at every turn I struggled – baiting the hook – YUCK, casting the line – it didn’t get very far, reeling in the fish – the line got all tangled, taking the fish off – YUCK again.

Fortunately, Jesus would probably not ask ME to bait a hook and cast a line. I have other God-given gifts to use for Jesus’s work in the Kingdom. And you do as well. There are as many different ways to follow Jesus as there are followers. I look around this sanctuary and see the vast array of gifts that God is using – understanding of numbers and money, teaching youth and children, expression in music and creativity, practicing hospitality and care-giving, and the love of learning, just to name a few. Take a moment to think about how Jesus as called you. What kind of words has he used, or might he have used had you been the disciples on the beach? How would you finish the call of Jesus for YOU? “Follow me, and I will make you……” a nurse practitioner of the soul. Follow me and I will make you Scout for people. Follow me and I will make you coach for following in Jesus’ footsteps… or pilot for the route to the kingdom of God.

A friend just told me a “dad” joke that works well for today. What is something that you have, that when you keep it in your hand, it doesn’t work at all? Probably a lot of things fit the bill, but he was thinking of a net to catch fish with. A net for fish doesn’t work if you hang on to it. It can only do its job properly if you, quite literally, “throw it away.” Fortunately, no fishing skills are actually required for catching people for the kingdom of God.

For almost 45 years, Family of God has been “Fishing for People” on behalf of Jesus in the Buckingham community. In March it will be the 45^th anniversary of being an official and authorized worshipping community by the Lutheran Church in American, one of the processor Lutheran denominations that eventually formed the ELCA. We have not always been in this location – we’ve been in the Buckingham School, in the Hughesian   Building, at the Holiday Inn, just to name a few of the places we have worshiped early on, before purchasing this land and building this building. Things have not always been easy - between suffering through cold water on Sunday mornings to challenges with the township that never seem to change. But here we are, in 2020, hopefully with a clear vision –on how far we have come and what lay behind us, what God is doing in our midst right now, and how Jesus is calling us to follow him into the future for the next 45 years… or at least, for the next 5, as we look toward our 50^th anniversary in 2025.

But as for year 44… we’ve had our fair share of successes, challenges, and opportunities in the past 12 months, making for a pretty packed year! Way back in the early part of last year, we had our first ever MLK Day of service, along with a seven-week sermon series on baptism, dinners and learning over at Buckingham Pizza during Lent. Holy Week brought us large numbers for our brand-new family-friendly Good Friday service. In the summer we had no chance to slow down, with Kyle Campbell’s confirmation – which you all participated in, in one way or another, a week of visioning during our “Family Chats,” Vacation Bible School with Trinity Episcopal, updating the Multi-Purpose room, and attending the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Milwaukee WI. This left us almost no time to get ready for a very busy fall and winter – the beginning of our Joyful Noise services, Feed My Starving Children Meal packing at Del Val, welcoming new members including a first communion retreat, & painting our windows for Advent & Christmas for the third year in a row.

2019 also brought challenges – saying goodbye to our organist Father Glenn, mourning the deaths of a few beloved members, keeping worship consistent amidst our organist transition, the continuing struggle to keep our aging building in good repair while keeping the budget balanced, and recruiting volunteers and leaders in key positions to help keep our ministries active.

As we look back on 2019, we can ask ourselves how much of our nets are we actually casting. We are spending close to half of our budget on expenses related to internal operations, and the upkeep and management of our property. Almost a third of my time in 2019 was spent in tasks and activities related to administration and property. To put this in perspective, only about 15% of my time and about 10% of our budget was spent on outreach and community related activities. Are we casting the nets of our resources in the right areas?

As we are moving into 2020, and our 45^th year as a congregation, we have more than a few opportunities before us. I hope that through the help of the Holy Spirit, we can rise to the occasion, and motivate us to reallocate our time and our resources. We are the closest Lutheran church to New Hope - on the Pennsylvania side of the river – so the opportunity to becoming an opening welcoming and affirming community for our LGBTQIA siblings in Christ is right there for the taking. The “fish” are there, do we have the courage to do the work?

Now that we have a well-established Joyful Noise service for kids and families, how can figure out to be better reach out to them, especially families who have members with special needs and are on the Autism spectrum? Perhaps it’s time to cast our nets wider, which will be easier and more effective when we have more hands at the task.

Looking ahead, we have successfully reached our pledge goal of 45 pledges for 2020 – next, we must ask, how can we continued to foster a community of generosity in wholeness as a community, rather than sponsoring individual causes or reactively giving only when something goes wrong or need to be fixed… to instead transform into a community that is proactively generous and communally oriented. Much the same as the uselessness of nets for the purpose of fishing for people when they are in your hand… money in the bank or in a wallet does nothing for the kingdom of God.

We started some of this work last summer, during our Family Chats, and we hope to continue this work in the coming year as we explore some of the hopes and dreams that we shared together. I shared a few of these dreams in my report, but I also want to remind you right now of what we dreamed that FOG might live into –

-         More small group events, a summer evening midweek service, a full parking lot each Sunday with people greeting each other as they walk in,

-         Make more use of our building, co-sponsor events with other churches, become a community hub, outdoor movie nights, book discussions, 

-         Become the “go-to” church in the area, to encourage our young people to serve, to be welcoming of the LGBTQIA community, to include interactive elements in worship, update music in the framework of traditional worship....

I could go on and on with all of these wonderful, hopeful dreams we have. And not every one of us will feel called to every item on this list. Jesus calls everyone differently, at different times and different speeds. But we have all been called to be part of this congregation, in one way or another. Like the fish, we have all been caught by Jesus.

The disciples who dropped their nets and followed Jesus that day did not know how their adventure was going to turn out, and right now neither do we. Some days will be easier than others.

But Jesus is the one who chose us, caught us, and called us to a life of living in his footsteps. And we have one another as companions along the way, and we, at Family of God Lutheran church are continuing this journey so long after these first disciples. As we prepare to look back as a congregation on 2019, let’s listen hard to what Jesus is calling us to be and do in 2020. Together, let’s look and listen for how Jesus is causing the kingdom to come near to us, right now, with us and among us. Then we too can take up our nets in our own different ways, to follow Jesus into a new and exciting future.

There is a prayer that can be found in the ELW that is perfect for venturing with Jesus into the unknown. It’s one of my favorites, and we’ll say it again during our annual meeting. But really, we can’t pray it enough, and I think you’ll see why. Let us pray.

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our All Saints Stories

11-3-19

Grace to you and Peace from God our Creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sometimes I feel that my life is one big story, and I have yet to figure out of it’s a comedy, tragedy, drama, fantasy, or all of the above. Most people, I believe, can easily see themselves as the protagonist of their own life story, as the hero or heroine struggling valiantly against adversity, a mystery to be solved, or even as the comic relief for others. Perhaps this is why we are so drawn to a good story. We can sit for hours binge watching shows on Netfix auto-play, or read a page turning book until the wee hours of the morning, and spend hundreds of dollars to go see Hamilton.

We do this, because we know that, at the finish, all the loose ends will be tied up – the villains will get what’s coming to them, the romantic leads get married, and all the world is as it should be. Depth and meaning have come from their sufferings and turned them into something beautiful and inspiring for our viewing pleasure.

One of my favorite classes I took in college was called Mythology and Folklore, where we discussed the underlying cultural patterns found in the writings of many cultures, including our own. One such pattern is called “The Hero’s myth.” The hero myth structure goes something like this: the hero or heroine is called to leave his or her community to go on some sort of journey or quest, leaving the familiar for the unknown. After the departure come the initiation of adventures, trials, tests, and temptation for our hero, where she or he will reveal their true mettle and become a new person. Then our hero or heroine returns to the community and is celebrated for the new skills and abilities earned along the way.

But do our lives have a plot, whether or not it falls within the “hero’s journey”?  All too often it seems that things happen for no reason. There is not necessarily a dastardly villain out to get us. But still, calamities befall our friends and families. People get sick, lose their jobs, move away, or die suddenly, get bullied at school. And often there seems to be no happy ending in sight. That’s where the metaphor breaks down.

Life is not a simple narrative from Point A to Point B, populated with incidental characters. Unlike happy endings in novels, movies, and nexflix, life does not wrap up neatly and fade to black and the end credits.  Life is messy. Life is painful. But life is full of joy too.

This All Saints Day might you might find yourself in a difficult part of your own story. We might have lost someone we dearly loved in the last year or are missing someone special who has been gone for a while, though their loss still feels fresh. It may be hard for us to see that our stories not only have a point, but also have a direction, when things seem stuck or uncertain.

This good thing is that God has a story too. It’s full of love and grace that God wants to share with us. The Bible tells us the story of God’s people – not perfect characters by any means – struggling and living and being saved by God.

All the people of the Bible were once people like us. These people are part of God’s story, they are part of our story as people of faith – the heroes and heroines we look up to and strive to be like. But God wants US o be part of this story too, to share in the love and forgiveness and freedom that faith and trust in God gives us. This is what faith is all about – trusting that, when thing in life don’t make sense to us, and the plot goes askew, we are still loved by a God who continues to make meaning out of these plots.

Jesus the place where God’s story and our story intersect most clearly intimately. Jesus is God revealed in a person who could heal through the power of touch, who could be heard through real vocal cords, and who’s actual blood saved us.

The people that Jesus was talking while he preached this day might have felt stuck in a story they didn’t want to be in – not just his disciples were present - he was speaking to great crowds of people who were forgotten and ignored by anyone with power, influence, or authority, political or religious. Jesus turns the values and “rule” of his world – and ours on their head with his blessing and woes. In God’s reign, what sounds like blessing are actually woes, and vice versa.

But what is a “Woe”? I think we can get a clearer picture from “The message” translation, which reads: “But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you’ll ever get. ….And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long.  ….. And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games. There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.”

For the blessings, Jesus might have used the same words as a friend of mine did, as she rewrote some of them for modern ears, for people who don’t feel blessed:  she shared, “Blessed are you when you come to church looking like a mess, hoping for gas money, for yours is the kingdom of God.  ….. Blessed are you when you’re feeding your kids unhealthy food because it’s also the cheapest and what you can afford, for you will be filled.……Blessed are you when your throat closes up when you try to pray because your grief is overwhelming, for you will laugh.”

As we live through the pages of our time here on earth, as we face challenges and make difficult decisions, we are never alone. In the world of literature these helpers take the form of people like Samwise Gamgee, Hermione Granger, and others. In our real lives, they can take the for of parents, mentors, siblings, and friends. Some of these people have gone on ahead of us to become the cloud of witnesses, whose names we will hear read and candles will be lit in their memory in just a few minutes. Some have even died in the last year… as recent as just a few weeks ago. Even though we miss them, we take comfort in that God has claimed them as beloved children, and they have received in full the inheritance of eternal life that are promised to all of us in baptism. And we also remember, just as we ourselves are far from perfect, these saints are also sinner’s of God redeeming.

As I have walked my own journey, one special prayer has given me comfort over the years – it’s called the Servant’s Prayer, and it goes like this: “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us.”

I have prayed this prayer many times in my life, because it reminds me that God is there to help and guide us. No matter where I am, God is here with me. God accompanies me through this life and never leaves my side. No matter what part of the journey we are one, we are never alone. And our journeys are far from over.

We will meet people who will change our lives. We may be challenged; we may be changed. What we think are blessings might be struggles or troubles. Living through trouble and struggles might end up blessing us in the end.  We may not know how the next book, chapter, paragraph, or even the next sentence of our lives might work out, but we know who is going on our journey with us, every step of the way – the Author of our Lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.