Hand Washing, Schmigadoon, and the 8th Commandment

 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.

Bye-bye, Summer of Bread! It’s time to get back to Mark. And what a doozie it is to get back to - on the surface it may seem like the Pharisees have a legitimate complaint to bring against Jesus and his followers – it IS kind of gross not to wash your hands before you eat. Especially now, after 18 months of a pandemic where, at least at the beginning, we obsessed about disinfecting EVERYTHING - hands, packages and mail, food from the store, hymnals, library books…. maybe we all went overboard, but at least it’s better safe than sorry, and in the end, no real harm done, really. 

But… Palestine 2000 years ago had never heard of germ theory, disinfectant, or vaccines. What, then, is it about this behavior that has gotten the Pharisees bent out of shape? At the risk of oversimplifying, they took issue, not with the lack of cleanliness, but the disregard of long-respected traditions. 

In a world full of trauma, violence, and regular upheaval, at their core Pharisees are a group within Judaism making sense of their Jewish identity in a situation that is hostile to them. They are rightly concerned with questions of identity, and they choose to live out their faith through a clear - though very lengthy - list of purity codes. And really, we can’t fault them for this. Who wouldn’t want specific answers to the question - how in the world do I live out my faith in this “bananas” world?

One way to do this IS to follow a specific code of morality. This reminds me of the ridiculous but awesome miniseries/musical that just came out called Shmigadoon on Apple TV. If you are a fan of big bombastic mid century musicals, this is right up your alley. Schmigadoon is a magical small town that regularly bursts into song, and is pretty much run by the pastor’s wife, played by none other than Kristin Chenoweth. Two newcomers from the outside world cause delightfully predictable chaos, and the pastor’s wife is not happy.  In a big epic musical number, she calls out all the bad things that would happen with the coming changes brought by the new people. By the end of the song, she is running for mayor, to set things right again - back to the way they were. 

To the Pharisees, this newcomer Jesus person might be trying to break down a social order that SEEMED to work well enough. Jesus was causing change, upsetting the delicate balance they had worked so hard to establish, which really was a matter of life or death. They are extremely concerned at the breaking down of the identity they had worked hard to maintain as a people, and rightly so. 

But Jesus is concerned too - concerned that rules for rules sake - even good rules, might do more harm than good. What was once meant to help now harms. What was once meant to include has been used to exclude, that means missing the point of what it means to be God’s people. 

Rules are good… until they are not. Rules are helpful, until they harm. This most recent Afghan refugee crisis is a very relevant example. 

A few years ago, I read a book from Spark house called “Dialogues on the Refugee Crisis,” and learned a thing or two about the many RULES that exist for refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates it takes 2 years from initial screening to resettlement – 3 years or more to unite families. All refugees here are expected to repay the resettlement cost within 4 years, and the first bill comes six months after their arrival. 

Recently in a webinar from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, I learned that now, the refugees who land here from Afghanistan are on “Humanitarian Parole,” and will not have access to normal safety nets that are available to others in the pre-citizen ship process. They get 90 days of help from the government… then that’s it. That’s three months…. three months to learn to navigate a language and culture, three months to get a job, three months to get through a horrendous, life changing trauma, and figure out how to achieve what we claim as the American Dream.

On the flip side, one one of the many non-profit organizations that are helping resettle Afghan refugees are reporting that over forty thousand people have signed up to help. Churches are filling up with donations before they even advertise. I heard on NPR an Afghan restaurant in DC has already filled up its basement with donations. 

We also have to remember that we’ve been here before. Where I grew up and around other parts of the Midwest is the home of a large Hmong population, brought to the United States for their help in the Vietnam War. Before they settled here, they were landless people who didn’t have any physical acreage to call home. Unfortunately, unless you’re an Olympian like Suni Lee, the Hmong people are still treated with suspicion and distrust, rather than gratitude for how they helped our country, their new home. 

In our own lives, we are guided by that something you may have heard of - the Ten Commandments? Believe it or not, they were not given to us to make us into super holy people. Instead, they are to strengthen relationships and community. God gave us the Ten Commandments in order to minimize the damage we could do against our neighbors. 

Some of the Ten Commandments appear pretty “easy” to follow - killing, stealing… but others are sneaky. Like the 8th commandment, the one I argue might actually be the hardest.  “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Seems simple enough on the surface, right? Until we read Luther’s explanation, which goes: “We do not tell lies … or slander our neighbor…. Instead, we are to come to their defense… and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.”

My thoughts, words, and actions don't always reflect this, especially based around behaviors that I deem to be impolite, unhealthy, or peculiar.  Perhaps the Pharisees, like us, were not interpreting the actions of Jesus’ disciples in the best possible light, and THAT is what was upsetting to Jesus. They focused on the rule not being followed as the most important thing. Jesus focused on feeding hungry people as the most important thing. 

The Pastor’s wife in the magical singing town of Schmigadoon condemned the newcomers in her town with damnation, but these newcomers ended up giving her a chance at salvation. When she was overcome with the changes happening around her, they didn’t drive her out with a closed first, but instead extended an opened hand. And she and all the Schmidadoonians join in singing the final number, saying: “This is how we change, reimagine, rearrange. See ourselves through others eyes…  This is how we grow.”

This is how we grow - with Jesus. We reimagine what a new future might hold, even though that thought might be frightening. We may not feel prepared at the rearranging and reordering of our priorities, but we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, to keep pushing the boundaries of compassion, especially for those who have been pushed to the outside. Jesus shows us the way of compassion with constant self examination and reassessment - seeing ourselves through others eyes, and seeing others stories through our own eyes. 

Our journey with Jesus does not end when the final note of the closing number fades and the curtain falls. But we can take the advice of the fictitious singing nondescript midwest town, as the last line in their musical - “What the future holds, we just don’t know, but there’s hope for all, and we call it, Schmigadoon!”

What the future holds, we just don’t know, but there’s hope for all…. and we call it…. YOU, body of Christ. 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.”

Resurrection in Locked Rooms

4-19-20

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our crucified and risen Lord and savior, Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Lent is OVER, and Easter is HERE. All seven weeks of it. That’s right folks. We have six more weeks of the Easter season left to go. It’s the Sunday after Easter, and what about the world has changed? Anything? It’s after Easter, but some days the world feels more like it is still Good Friday. Yes, Jesus has been raised from the dead – and hallelujah for that! – But what, exactly has that gotten us?

I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s been an entire month since Easter. Probably because after Easter, we were well into our fifth week of social distancing, waiting and wondering when or even life as we know it will ever resume, and knowing it will look different when we do. Not unlike the disciples, one week after the very first Easter morning, the second Sunday after Easter… AKA “Doubting Thomas Sunday.”

Poor, poor, Thomas, forever to be saddled with the nickname “doubting.” He gets such a bad reputation. We can’t really blame him for his reaction to the other 10 disciples. If I were him, I might think that the rest of them were playing some cruel version of an April Fool’s joke while I was out. But Thomas is not actually the most egregious doubter in this resurrection account. The true doubters are the other 10 disciples.

Earlier that day, according to the gospel of John, Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb of Jesus, only to find the stone rolled away. And later, after Peter and the other disciple had corroborated her story and went home, Mary encountered the risen Jesus while she was still weeping outside the tomb. Their Lord was alive! He had risen from the dead! And what do you think happened next? Did they start running around, telling people the good news? NOPE. On Easter evening, they locked themselves in a room.

After the FIRST Easter, on the very evening that Jesus had been raised from the dead and appeared to Mary, the disciples actually WERE of one heart and one soul. But not the heart and soul we are supposed to emulate, a heart of love and a soul of generosity. They were united in fear, and of one soul in the desire to hide. So, they locked the door. They were still afraid.  It was after Easter – but the disciples were still stuck in Good Friday.

And so that is where Jesus found them, when they were all together, except for Thomas, locked in a room out of fear, when he burst INTO their locked room, just has he had burst OUT of the tomb.

Perhaps a better game plan for Jesus would have been to go and find some new disciples, for heaven sakes! But he didn’t. The evening after he was raised, he showed up in the very locked room that they had hidden themselves away in. Their fear had locked them IN, but it could not keep Jesus OUT.

But after other ten disciples saw Jesus for themselves, a week later - one week after Easter – where did Jesus find them? Yet again, they were sealed up in their old familiar tombs out of fear. And so, Jesus had to bust in YET AGAIN.

I think this year we understand the disciples just a little bit more. We are all in our own homes, physically distant from one another, because of some very real fears. We have sealed ourselves off from one another to keep each other safe from spreading a contagious illness, it does not buffer us from the very real fear we might feel about the unknown. We can wear masks and social distance as much as we can, but it doesn’t always completely protect those we love from getting sick ... and it certainly doesn’t protect us from things like job loss, loneliness, and depression.

So we ask ourselves: What’s now? What is the way forward? How do we walk through these uncertain, fearful times? How will we be living our lives now? Questions that I’m sure the disciples themselves were facing in that locked room.

In her book, “Learning to Walk in the Dark,” (which we will be reading together as a congregation) Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “We are all so busy constructing zones of safety that keep breaking down….. We keep thinking that the problem is out there, in the things that scare us: dark nights, dark thoughts, dark guests, dark emotions. If we could just defend ourselves better against those things, we think, then surely we would feel more solid and secure…..” And we are just as scared here in our locked rooms as we are about the scary things that wait for us outside of them. Nowhere seems safe, and we are trapped in the locked rooms of our own fear, immobile and isolated, fearing that there is no way out and no way forward.

But, we have seen and heard what Jesus does with sealed tombs and locked doors. We have seen and heard what Jesus does with the bonds of sin, with the sting of death, and the captivity of the fear.

The Good News of Easter, which is just as true today as it was a week ago, is that Jesus has busted open the stone of your tomb like it as if it were nothing; he has ploughed through the doors of your locked rooms as if they were butter. He stands in the doorway, reaching out to take your hand, showing you the marks of the crucifixion that still remain his body. And he calls you, as he did to Lazarus, while standing outside of that dead man’s tomb, calling to him, “Lazarus, come out!”

As Barbara Brown Taylor also writes in her book about the darkness in our lives:  “...new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.” Fortunately, Peter, Mary, Thomas, and the rest of the apostles DO eventually get out of the locked room. And someday we too, will be able to leave our locked rooms, and we can still witness to what God was up to in our lives even as we were social distancing and under quarantine. New life begins here, shut away, but it doesn’t stay there. Nothing can hold it at bay and keep it from transforming our lives forever.  

The way forward is unknown, but it also well-tread. Thomas has walked this way before, as has the other 10 disciples, and Mary Magdalene, and the other women at the tomb. Together, we learn to walk in the dark, knowing that we are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.

A Holy Week - And a King - We don't Expect

4-5-20- Palm Sunday

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, when you’re having a good time, or you’re “in the zone,” and hours or an entire day can pass in the blink of an eye. Other times, time can stretch out and feels like an eternity. Especially when you are at home, social distancing - an hour may feel forever, or you may collapse into bed every night wondering where the day went, and we can’t stand the thought of doing the exact same thing tomorrow.

During these forty days of Lent, we are deliberately stretching out time, so that we are spending six weeks with our eyes on the cross. And now we are here, the beginning of Holy Week, starting with today, Palm Sunday.

It all began with such high hopes, when Jesus entered Jerusalem in a parade, palm leaves flying. It’s no wonder – for the people have seen some pretty amazing things from Jesus in the last three years. Jesus has healed people with skin diseases and people who were paralyzed. Jesus has calmed storms and cast out demons. Jesus has feed thousands and told story after story about the amazing love God has for his wayward people. So they shouted “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosana – save us! But these are dangerous words, especially when this country is under occupation by a ruling force that is both powerful and swift to punishment.

The people wanted this Jesus to be a king to rise up and send the Romans packing. Those backed by Roman power and authority feared that this Jesus would rally enough support to be a threat. Later on this week, Jesus will pay the price, and be labeled as a failed king by his enemies.

This was not the first time, though, that Jesus had been called a king. Long before this, back at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, a group of wise men from the East arrived in Jerusalem, and asking “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” This terrified the entire city of Jerusalem, and with good reason. Then, as now, there can only be one king, and his name is Caesar. So, when Jesus was arrested, the religious elite imagined charges that would get the Roman’s attention – that Jesus claimed to be a king.

Jesus, who seems so harmless to us – welcoming children, talking to women, feeding people, healing the blind and the infirm. But the great irony is that Jesus is actually guilty of the trumped-up charges against him. Jesus really IS the King. “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, it’s his title. It means the one who is anointed, selected and set apart by God, to rule as king.

But Jesus is not just a regular old king, like the brutal and cruel Caesars of this world, set apart above and beyond the people they rule over. Jesus is not a king that comes with armies and weapons to vanquish his enemies. Jesus came to be a king WITH his people, to rule them by example of self-giving love. His is a kingdom that conquers by peace, rather than the violence and death that SEEMS to win by taking Jesus’s life. Death seems like the only option to shut Jesus up. After all, even kings die. No ruler, no emperor, no king, no matter how powerful, has ever defeated the power of death. But then again, Jesus isn’t just a regular old, king, is he?

And this is not going to be a regular old Holy Week, is it? This is a Holy Week for the history books, and years from now our children and grandchildren will ask us – what was it like, in 2020, when there was no palms and no parade and no in-person gatherings at all?

I admit, this year I had such high hopes. I really wanted to try Dinner Church for Maundy Thursday, and I was excited to have an even bigger turn out for our Noon Five Senses Good Friday service than the forty we had last year. I think we could say that we would all love for Jesus to rise up and send the virus packing. Hosanna – save us! We could really use it right now.

But this isn’t the first time that unexpected circumstances have stretched us and challenged us, and it’s not the last time that Jesus is going to show up in ways we didn’t expect. So this year, instead of a parade around the church to usher in Holy Week, we stay home to protect our vulnerable neighbors and keep it safe for all the medical staff and essential workers who are working hard to heal the people who are sick. They are the real, unseen heroes, putting themselves on the line, who are working hard and so doing are showing us the way of Jesus. And so, the least we can do is help them – by staying home, by not stashing away toilet paper….. but also for advocating for fair pay and compensation for those left vulnerable.

This is not the Holy Week we’re expecting, just as Jesus is not the king we expect. Jesus may not be the king we want, but he is exactly the kind of King we need. Because no matter what happens, Jesus is here.

This week is what the forty days of Lent have been leading up to. We are about to enter a week where time is more than just seconds ticking by on a clock. Where the cross - an instrument of torture and intimidation - becomes the means through which we are saved. Where our sacred and meaningful rituals have been temporarily stripped away from us… but our faith remains. Jesus remains. And, as the Roman officials and Jesus’s enemies found out the hard way at the end of this week – Jesus is NOT going anywhere. Thanks bet to God. Amen.   

Living Water for Challenging Times

3-15- 20

(I also streamed this live on our church FB page) 

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.

Nearly 8 years ago, the theme for Cokesbury’s VBS program was called “Everywhere Fun Fair.” Not one of their best or most memorable, but the theme of being a neighbor to all of God’s children, even across countries and continents, is still a pretty solid theme.  That fall though, an event happened that was MUCH MORE memorable: Hurricane Sandy. Just after the power went out the evening of the storm, I shared leftovers with my Jewish downstairs neighbor. When the storm subsided, the apartment complex was still without power. Four days later, when power was finally restored, my neighbor went out of his way to call a coworker of his to tell a mutual friend to tell me that power was back on when I wasn’t home to witness it. That was VERY neighborly of him!

Jesus’ call for us to be neighbors isn’t just for kids during vacation Bibles school, or only in dire circumstances for natural disasters when the power is out, or even now, as we face a lot of unknowns surrounding the increasing stress that the spread of the Coronavirus is bringing. Jesus’ call to be neighbors is a call for everyone, everywhere, every day. Karen Gonzalez, author of the book, The God who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible, and the Journey to Belong, reflects: “I had never realized how much the scriptures tell the stories of people who began as strangers and then became a part of the family of God.” And we certainly heard a perfect example of what living this out means from our reading from the Gospel of John…

Jesus had never met this woman before. They began their encounter as total strangers… At this time, the common practice was “social distancing,” but not for hygienic reasons. One of my seminary professors, Dr. Karoline Lewis, is a John scholar, and this is one of her favorite story in her favorite gospel. She writes: “Jesus shares is true self with the last person on the face of the planet whom people would have thought God could love… Not to the disciples. Not to the religious elite. Not to those in power….. [but he reveals his true self to] This woman. This Samaritan. [A woman] with no name, no credibility, no respect.”

And yet… SHE is the one chosen by Jesus. She is a person whom the world sees as fallen and sinful, though she is never described by or treated by Jesus that way.

Karen Gonzalez also reflects on this encounter: “Jesus reveals his identity as Messiah to this unnamed woman, and she is the first to spread the Gospel to her own people.” After her surprising conversation with Jesus, the woman departs joyfully – practically running - even leaving her water container behind at the well. Jesus transforms her life, her view of herself, even her calling. But she remains both a Samaritan and a woman. John shares with us – pointedly in fact – her gender and her ethnicity for a reason. Her social status is an integral part of this story, not happenstance or an afterthought.

In fact, her encounter with Jesus remakes her – through this conversation, her identity and purpose are found anew, and she sets out on a journey to share her powerful encounter with other people. But not in a way that makes her gender and her ethnicity submerged, changed, or covered up. It is because she is a woman, and because she is Samaritan, that she can become an emissary, or missionary, to her people. Who she is, and where she is from, is fundamental to HER story. Her testimony – “he told me everything I have ever done!” – tells us that she experiences being deeply known and loved by Jesus, just as she is. And this changes the course of her entire life.

The story of the woman at the well deeply affected Karen Gonzalez, who came to the United States from Guatemala as a child. For a long time, Gonzales believed that to be “Christian” was to shut away or even shed the parts of herself that made her different from “American Christians” – being a woman, being from Guatemala, being an immigrant, being a multi-cultural person. But, thanks to exploring the story of the Samaritan woman, and seeing herself in this woman’s encounter with Jesus as a whole person, Gonzalez now firmly trusts Jesus’ accepting her, in all her intersections, in all her “God-Authored Complexities” – as a Latina, Guatemalan, immigrant, and woman. Gonzales was able to say “yes” to her whole self, as a beloved child of God, because Jesus says “yes,” to all of her SELF.

The woman at the well is part of a long line and long tradition of biblical women who said an wholehearted “Yes” to the difficult call of God on their lives  – women like  Hagar, Vashti, Esther, Ruth, Mary mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Junia, Phoebe, and the woman at the well, just to name a few - some of the VERY few women in the Bible we get to hear from. These words we hear from the woman at the well are part of only 14,000 words that are spoken by women in the entire Bible.

This may sound like a lot, but all of the words that women speak in the Bible can be read out loud in less than 2 hours. For reference, the Gospel of John would also take about 2 hours to read out loud. To read the whole Bible out loud take almost 72 hours…. That’s three days straight. But ALL the words of women would be completed during a round trip to and from Philly on a good day.  And so, the mission work that this woman is doing on behalf of Jesus takes on even more importance. Every word she says, to Jesus, and to her people, take on even greater significance. Especially when HER sermon – which was extremely effective, was just one sentence long – “he has told me everything I have ever done!” That’s all the missionary training this woman needed – a conversation with Jesus.

When you hear the word “mission,” we think about traveling to faraway places, not people in our own backyard.  Maybe as a youth you’ve been on a “mission trip” to another part of the country, or possibly your family have been on a work camp trip, or sponsor a child through an organization, or raise money for world hunger. These are very worthy means to spread God’s message of love and can enrich our own faith communities in many ways.

However, “mission” is not necessarily something that happens far away.  Being “a missionary” is no longer the special ministry of a dedicated few. We are ALL missionaries for the gospel, here in our very own Buckingham and Bucks County. There are people right here, in our own community, who need a word of hope in their lives…. Especially right now. They are probably right in front of you: your neighbors, coworkers, customers, and even friends and family members.

Trust me, you don’t need a specialized degree in ministry to be a messenger of the gospel.  The woman at the well didn’t. Jesus gave her everything she needed. Just as she did, you can simply let your words and actions do the talking – by going out of your way to help another in need, by comforting those who mourn, taking care of those who are sick or lonely, by carefully using your God-given resources, by taking the time to read the Bible or pray as a family, remaining calm when the world around us wants to increase our panic-buying of toilet paper. Our mission is to speak a word of hope when its hard to find some calm to hang on to, to point to the person – Jesus – to keeps us going in times like these.

Living out your life with faith can be a powerful witness to others.  And others WILL take notice. You may be asked questions. That’s ok – don’t feel that you need the “right” words to tell people of how the love of Jesus changed your life. Like the women at the well, just speak from your heart and the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

This is God’s mission, after all. Our part in that mission, every day, but especially during times of stress and uncertainty, is sometimes to also let our actions be message – in being a neighbor by caring for our neighbors near AND far. We are about to leave this place for perhaps an undetermined about of time. This week has proven that we never really know what the next day will bring. But we will always remain connected – as neighbors – through our love for one another. We, like the woman at the well, can leave our jar behind knowing that Jesus is our living water, and will sustain us. So, when someone asks you – using the appropriate amount of social distancing, of course – what is getting you through this difficult time? We, along with this woman, can say, “Jesus.” 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

Fear Not, Hang On.

11-17-19

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.

The Holidays seem to begin a little bit earlier every year. The Halloween candy aisle cropping up like fields of some sort of massive sugar harvest… in August. Blowup and light up pumpkins in yards in September. Sales on cranberry sauce and turkeys in October. The morning after Halloween, on All Saints Day, some places are fully decked out for Christmas. Already, pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks are “over” and done with– it’s not even thanksgiving and they are already pushing “winter holiday” drinks, like peppermint and gingerbread.

It’s almost as if by starting early we can make the holidays come a little faster. Or maybe our rush comes from the struggle to have everything ready and perfect for the holidays. We think that if we can just start a little earlier, we would feel just a little less stressed this year. All I know is, this year is going fast enough without the help of Elf on the Shelf and Christmas trees before Thanksgiving, thank you very much.

But looking back on last year, it might really be a GOOD PLAN to get a jump on some holiday shopping, before it REALLY gets crazy. Because plans are good. We like plans. They help us be organized and get stuff done. We’ve made all sorts of pithy quotes about plans: “A failure to plan is a plan to fail.” “Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” “To be prepared is half the victory.” “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” “A man; a plan; a canal; Panama!” Actually, that last one is the same backwards as it is forwards, now THAT is planning!

But while the rest of the world is gearing up for Christmas, making plans and preparing, fussing and bustling, Jesus is talking about the end of the world. And, incredibly, he’s also telling us not to worry about it.

This week especially it seems like Jesus was quoting from last week’s newspaper as he is talking to his disciples. And then he says, don’t be terrified. Really, though, Jesus, it’s hard not to be at least a little freaked out when reading the newspaper headlines lately. The swirling chaos of the world going on around us and Jesus harsh words about what is in store for believers would make anyone want to shut the newspaper, turn off CNN or NPR, and hide under the bed until Jesus comes back and fixes everything.

But we MIGHT come out from under the bed, Jesus, if you would just tell us your timetable about things, in order to take the guess work out of it. Could you just be a little more specific?

But Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Jesus knows our tendency to take the littlest hint and make it into a fixed event in time to plan for. He knew that there would be people making predictions, writing books about being “left behind,” and that Hollywood would make blockbuster movies about the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. Remember that? That was over 5 years ago!

But at the same time, Jesus wanted to give his followers a heads up on SOME things – like how following him would not be all snowflakes and lattes. By the time followers of Jesus were reading the Gospel of Luke for the first time, it was already pretty tough going for them. What Jesus was describing as future events were actually happening to those who joined this Jesus movement. They were getting called out and put on the spot, and were being treated in ways that we find hard to imagine withstanding today. The people of the early church, listening to Luke’s account of Jesus, needed some encouragement for living in the while waiting for Jesus to come back. They needed strength in order to continue to share their faith in Jesus despite all that stood against them.

And we’re still at it, two thousand years later, still trying to figure out what it means to live while we wait. And we need just as much encouragement and support from Jesus.

So when asked point-blank about the timetable of the end of the world, Jesus didn’t take the bait. Instead, Jesus echoed the refrain – fear not – found throughout the Gospel of Luke that began with an angelic baby announcement to a childless priest and his wife, announcing that Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist was on his way. The message “Fear Not” continued when an unexpected visitor came to an unsuspecting teenaged girl to announce a second unexpected pregnancy – this time, Jesus. The message “Fear Not” continued through the sky with the angel host who scared the pants off some shepherds on the night shift the night that this baby was born. And Jesus says it over and over again to his bewildered and beleaguered followers, both then and now: “Fear not. Do not be afraid.”

There is so much to be afraid of in this world. And so, we make plans in order to be ready, and to help us feel safer. But we would drive ourselves crazy if we tried to cover every contingency. We would simply end up spending our lives under the bed, too afraid to come out.

At the same time, we can’t expect Jesus to do all the work. Sometimes, most of the time, doing God’s work is just about showing up or taking the chance to open your mouth.

But it’s really hard to live between those two realities. It’s daunting, and it’s exhausting, and we’ll still want to give up. But it’s sometimes the tiniest things that God decides to use, the smallest action that you never think about again, but changes someone’s life.

I worked at a Lutheran Bible camp, like Crossroads, in Wisconsin for three summers. My third summer I was on the leadership staff, so we came early to welcome all the regular counselors for staff training. The morning they were all due to arrive, I don’t remember why I was in a bad mood, but I just remember feeling terribly grumpy about something. irritated that I had to be cheerful and welcome all these first-year counselors. But I put on my big girl pants, showed up, and did my job.

Much later in the summer, I got a note from one of these “chipper first year counselors,” telling me that when she had first pulled up to the camp, anxious about this new experience, I was the one who greeted her, and put her at ease.

And miraculously, just this last week, I got a note in the mail from another person, whom I had not seen or talk directly to in many years, saying, “if you ever wonder if being a pastor has made a difference in somebody’s life and faith, keep this [note] somewhere where you can find it. You made a difference in my life and faith journey.” This was someone who had remained connected, though eventually being on different parts of the country. Over the years, my friend has been through many rough patches, but had seen the ministry work I had posted about on Facebook, and had inspired him from a distance.

Siblings, do not be weary in doing what is right. Whether the world itself is falling apart around you, or you are just having a bad day, by your endurance you will gain your souls – or, in the words of another translation - by holding fast, you will gain your lives. By holding fast to what? Jesus, of course. And we can’t do that with our hands full of fear.

We let go of fear and hold fast to the hope that there will be a day where what is evil in the world will be burned up and blow away like paper… where evil will have not a root or branch to grow from. It is by holding fast to the name of Jesus, who  will give us the strength to face the next sunrise, no matter what it brings. Amen.