Wednesday - "The Faithful Work of Smashing the Patriarchy"

 6-2-21

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

At the seminary I attended in Minneapolis, at the end of every semester was something called “Reading Week.” While it was a week of no classes… it was right before all of our final papers were due – a time to catch up on all our reading and writing. Ever since then, every so often I take a “Reading Week” for continuing education, to catch up on some of the books that I have become quite a tall stack.

This is one of the books I recently picked up after hearing about it on NPR – “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth.” Now, granted, may seem like an unnecessary book to read for an ELCA pastor… after all, the ELCA and her predecessor bodies have been ordaining women for more than 50 years! Emmanuel has a few women pastors, and we even have a woman bishop – Bishop Leila Ortiz! AND we have a woman Presiding Bishop – Elizabeth Eaton! We are SOOOO Enlightened!!

Perhaps… but we are also swimming in a sea of other Christians who perhaps aren’t so…. “enlightened” let us say. There are plenty of LUTHERAN denomination that do not ordain women. 18% of the Lutheran denominations that make up the Lutheran World Federation DO NOT ordain women. Additionally, many women pastors IN the ELCA even now find themselves the first woman pastor ever called to the church they serve and face less respect and are paid less than their male counterparts would be.  

It also happens that some of the loudest Christian voices out there tend to subscribe to a very narrow view of women’s roles in and outside of the church and baptize these ideas in the name of Christ. Using the Bible, and more specifically the writings of Paul, certain branches of Christianity don’t allow women to: preach, teach mixed gender Sunday school classes, and live fully into their identities as beloved children of God.

Dr. Beth Allison Barr, the author of the book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood, knows this all too well, and tells her stories of being a Ph.D. in Medieval Christian history, and yet, needing special dispensation from her pastor to teach Sundays school when no men where available. Her book reminds us that the patriarchy existed well BEFORE Christianity… she writes: “Patriarchy may be part of Christian history, but that doesn’t make it Christian.”

Lots of the letters of Paul ARE used to make the Christian Patriarch into some kind of Gospel – that part I was well aware of. But in reading Dr. Barr’s book last week, I was also astonished that Paul didn’t always mean what we think he meant. All those “wives should submit to their husbands” clobber passages might actually be counter cultural. It turns out, ancient pre-Christian Roman society was SUPER patriarchal – no huge surprise there – but early Christianity was seriously shaking things up. For Paul to directly address wives at all in these “household rules” as he did was radical and unheard of.

Paul also wrote for Christians to not be conformed to the world. Do Christians really want to look MORE like the world, meaning MORE like patriarchy? It’s just as rough out there in the “secular world” for women as it is inside Christianity, between sexual harassment, the pay gap, lack of affordable childcare, and lots of old men in the government telling women what to do with their reproductive systems.

It was not PAUL who told my mortgage lender to send mail to our house in MY HUSBAND’S NAME, rather than mine, even though I was the primary point of contact through the whole process. Paul did not stipulate that upon marriage my name MUST BECOME “Mrs. Husband’s First and Last Name.” It confuses Christians AND non-Christians alike that I still go by my last name of origin.

You see, the same man who wrote “wives submit to your husbands” also wrote the passage from Galatians 3… words that I image would also be just as likely to come from the lips of Jesus. After, all it was not Paul who died and was raised for us, it was Jesus. And Jesus talked to women, healed women, were sponsored and supported by women, were friends with women, and called women to share the good news of his resurrection with all.

In the era that Dr. Barr knows best- the medieval period in Europe, plenty of women preached and taught. Instead of moving forward, Christianity as a whole has gone backward. And when one of us is not free, none of use are free.

A long time ago, Jesus set women free… why has it taken us so long to do the same? In baptism we have been set us free… why are we holding hostage the potential of any who has been called to do the work of God’s kingdom?

Dr. Barr ends her book as she ends each of her classes in Medieval History – Go, be free! She writes: “Once again, I propose that we stop making Christianity look like the world around us, and starting fighting to make it looked like the world God inspired Paul to show us was possible” – I would add, a world where there IS no longer Jew, Greek….slave, free… male, female… rich, poor… citizen, immigrant…. Housed, homeless… outsider, insider… for all of us are one in Christ Jesus. One, Free, Empowered, and beloved. So, go, be free! Thanks be to God. Amen.

"Bring the wine, eternal life is mine!"

11-10-19

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.

When I was in seminary, I did my “field education” at a church that was made up of about half social justice-passionate white retirees, and half first- and second-generation immigrants from Ethiopia and Eritrea. One year we went on a women’s retreat, where I learned that after marriage, women in these two countries traditionally retained their last names, and secretly laughed at the still-popular tradition or assumption of American women to take their new husband’s last name. These Ethiopian and Eritrean women thought the irony particularly funny. 

It’s funny, because there are also plenty of grown-up shirts out there targeted to brides that say things like “pop the champagne, I’m taking his last name” or “bring the wine, his last name is mine!” Which is cute and funny, until these brides find themselves standing in the slow line at the DMV with their 6 points of legal identification in order to “make his last name theirs” on their driver’s license. Bring the wine, indeed.

We are about to embark on a deep dive into some marriage practices that are going to seem very surprising to us… and then we are going to explore how this is actually a red herring. Buckle up, we’re about to get nerdy.

Luke chapter 20 begins with some of Jesus’ opponents questioning his authority, like a big game of “Stump the Savior.” Enter the Sadducees – who are not “sad you see” because they don’t believe in the resurrection, but perhaps because they’re branch of Judaism was not the one that survived to this day. The Sadducees were a group within the Jewish faith that were well-educated and well-connected to those in political power – meaning the Romans.

They also knew their Torah, but rejected the idea of the resurrection - and to play “stump the savior” by asking a question that has no “right” answer. It’s like imagining that in heaven there was a game show going on called, “will the real husband please stand up?” where this woman gets to pick which one of her seven husbands will be her husband in the resurrection. "First up is Greg! Oh, no, Greg - we have video footage of you putting an empty milk carton back in the fridge and never once doing the dishes. Husband number 1, you're not it!” BZZZZZZT!

It was a silly scene that came from a real practice, though… in fact, one of Jesus’ own ancestors was someone caught in this type of situation, known in history as “levirate marriage.” Her name was Tamar (Gen. 38), daughter in law of Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. You may not have heard of her, since this story gets left out of pretty much every Sunday School curriculum. When Judah’s son – Tamar’s husband – dies without Tamar having a son, Tamar’s brother in law was legally obligated to marry her, and their first born would be considered her first husband’s son and heir. But… that’s not exactly what happens……when the second son dies, Judah is reluctant to wed her to his last son… so she literally has no status and no place. Instead, she tricks Judah into making her pregnant, does have a son, and secures her future…. Thanks to her father-in-law. Yes, not everything in the Bible is rated PG.  

Tamar put up with this – and used it to her advantage - because she had nowhere else to go. Levirate marriage – one of MANY versions of “biblical” marriage, was a deeply flaw solution to an incredibly unjust system, where childless widows literally had no place – they had no place with their in-laws, and yet, she could not go back to her family of origin and be “marriageable” again. This was the only way that women like Tamar had a shot at eternal life – in a world where having sons was the only way to leave a legacy behind, to have your name live on forever.

Fast forward to her great something Grandson Jesus, who was clearly following his trickster Grandma Tamar’s footsteps. In Advent we will be changing from the year of Luke to the Year of Matthew, where Matthew records’ Jesus’s lineage… including Tamar as one of 5 amazing women of faith listed (Matthew 1). Like Grandma Tamar, Jesus flips expectations upside down.

Jesus knew that this wasn’t really about marriage… or Moses…. Or even what happens to us after we die. Levirate marriage wasn’t even being practiced at this time. So Jesus does what he does best… turns the tables and uses their best and most clever arguments against them.

At her death of this theoretical woman, Jesus assured the Sadducees that she would be no man’s property. She isn’t going to spend all of eternity as a the wife of brother A, B, C, D, E, F, or G… she’s going to spend it as a beloved child of God, first and foremost. That is the identity that will define her – and all of us – in the age to come. Not by who’s last name she has, or whether or not she has a son. … the wrong question is “whose wife will she be?” and the right question is, “Whose child is she? And who loves her?”

So, for Jesus – and for us – “Whose wife will she be?” is 100% the wrong question. Jesus clearly separates marital status from resurrection status. Marriage is a human institution, created and sanctioned by God, but not made permanent in eternal perpetuity once you “put a ring on it.” At death “marital status” will never determine our eternal status.

As God was creating the beautiful and complex world that we live in, God did not just create one human being to be in charge, all alone. God created another person, and they in turn created other people, and that means we are created be in relationships with one another – spouses, parents, sons and daughters, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and our adopted family in the form of friendships too. We can’t help ourselves. It’s in our DNA.

We believe in a God who sent his son into our world to experience what we experience - not just the good and happy parts of life, but also suffering and pain, anxiety and grief. But over and over again, Jesus promises his followers that he will be with them, and he is also promising to be with us, as God’s beloved children, here and now. We are people of the resurrection, children of God, who put our hope in a God of the living, a God who IS alive… who has a relationship with us… and created us to be in relationship with one another, in many forms.

God delights in our relationships, and brings us together, and then promises to be present with us in those relationships in all their complexities, in all the ups and downs, on the good days and on the bad days…. Even in suffering, and even death. Because nothing can take away our “child of God” status - not our last name, not the suffering we have endured, not the mistakes we’ve made.

As one wise pastor wrote: “We are meant to be whole and complete in our relationships, all of our relationships, whether they are relationships between neighbors, friends, family members or spouses. We are meant to be able to treat others as they should be, and we are meant to be treated in the same way.” I think that is why we hear the “1 Corinthians love passage” at so many weddings: we strive for the eternal ideal of love in our pre-resurrection life as we will be able to achieve in our post-resurrection.

Living this type of stubborn, persistent love here on earth is a challenge ….But, of course, God will outstrip us all in the stubborn love department now, and in the life to come. Because our God is good, and God’s steadfast, stubborn, unrelenting love will stretch on forever. This love will never cease, not even in parting or death, not also long as God has created days for us to live. The love we have for one another is powerful, but it is only a small manifestation of the love that God has given us. Life is not endless or certain, but the love of God is both certain and endless. No matter where life brings us, love will be there. Love is here, with you and with me. Love is here today… but not just this day only. Love with be with us today, tomorrow, and always, in this life and the next, whatever that may look like. Thanks be to God, amen. 

Lent 2: Chicks in the Roost of God

3-17-19

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

My friend from college has a parrot has a favorite phrase: “Where’re Daddy?”         

One night when my friend and I were chatting on skype, I could hear her two parrots in the background. On this particular evening, my friend’s husband, a Lutheran pastor, was away at a meeting, and her parrot, who is named Checkers, was not happy about it.

“Where’s Daddy?” “Daddy’s not HERE!” My friend answered.

“Where’s Daddy?” “Daddy’s at a MEETING!"

“Where’s Daddy?” “Still not here… seriously, stop asking!” (That one never works).

Last summer I got to visit them in Illinois and meet Checkers for myself finally. And apparently, according to my friend, Checkers really really likes me. So maybe he’ll be asking where I am next!

We all want something – sometimes they are little things, like wanting your parrot to stop talking for five minutes. But sometimes we long for things that are bigger than the names that we have for them – love, belonging, safety, community. Things that will make us feel whole, wanted, and at peace. 

Last week, on the first Sunday in Lent, we learned what Jesus didn’t want in the wilderness. This week, the second Sunday of Lent, we fast forward to Jesus setting his feet and his determination toward Jerusalem and the completion of his ministry - one step closer to the hour of his death.

Herod, bad ruler in a long line of bad rulers, wants to kill Jesus, like he did to John the Baptist. John criticized Herod and paid with his life. And, like John, this Jesus is ruffling too many feathers.

By now in Jesus’ ministry, he has gone through “one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem” (Luke 13: 22) causing all kinds of “trouble.” He’s been healing on the Sabbath. He’s been casing out demons. He has fed over five thousand people. He has been hanging out with sinful people, healing women, and teaching things like “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” while boldly making his way closer and closer to Jerusalem, into the very den of the foxes like Herod and the religious authorities.

Jesus, as the face of the love God has for us, longs to comfort those who cast him out. He longs to reach out to those who reject him.  He longs to embrace those who abandon him. He longs to gather the most stubborn of us underneath the outstretched protection of his wings, like a mother hen. He longs for us to return to God, the source that gave us life. And he spread his arms in order to gather us, ALL of us - spreads his wings so far out to receive us. All are welcome in the embrace of Jesus.

Julian of Norwich once wrote a beautiful prayer and often quoted prayer, “In you, Christ, we have our restoring and our saving. You are our mother, brother, and Savior. In you, our Lord the Holy Spirit, is marvelous and plenteous grace. You are our clothing; for love you wrap us and embrace us… “

This scares Herod and the powers of the world to death. Because they can never have ENOUGH. Enough power, enough control, enough riches, enough influences. And so, slyly and sneakily, the rest of us scared, lost chicks are manipulated in every image we see, movie we watch, store we visit, song we hear, every click and ever page we scroll through. Algorithms, advertisements, everything is telling us, need more, want more, get this and then you will be whole and valued.

And so, we are caught between the fox and the hen. If you listen to the fox, you might believe that only certain types of people have value, and some have more value than others, based on the color of your skin, your physical and mental capabilities, your age, your gender identity, who you love, and how you present yourself to the world.

But the hen tells us that a different world is possible. After all, a hen is a mom who would lay down her life for her chicks. And if you haven’t noticed, Moms can be fierce. And when they get together in the name of God and children and justice, they beat the fox at his own game.

Have you heard of Leymah Gbowee? (No relation to David, her's is spelled with a G) She’s a pretty famous Lutheran who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 and spoke at the 2012 ELCA youth gathering in New Orleans. She is a Liberian citizen who almost singlehandedly brought an end to fourteen years of civil war in Liberia. Liberia had been in the throws of a civil war when she gathered together both Christian and Muslim women to protest for peace every day for years - and they did this along the commute of Liberia’s president.

Peace talks finally started between opposition leaders, but soon stalled when the men got distracted enjoying the fancy hotel rather than what they were there to do – negotiate peace.  Gbowee and a few hundred women marched into the hotel and actually trapped the men inside the conference room where the talks were supposed to happen – literally laying down their own bodies to barricade them in. The women stayed there for days, singing and demanding to be heard.

Because of their protest, the war ended a few weeks later. This all came about because one woman loved her three children too much to give them a future filled with violence and death. So, she put her body on the line in order to fight for a better future. And she and her “mom posse” got it done.

A mother’s love for her children, biological or and chosen, is uncompromising and unconditional. You better not mess with the mom posse, because this club has some mighty members. Mary, mother of Jesus. Hagar, the mother of Ishmael. Rebecca, mother of Jacob and Esau. Hannah, Mother of Samuel. Every day, everywhere, mothers feed, clothe, and care for their children whether their children are naughty or nice, whether they are happy or sad, whether they will become the next president of the United States or the next in line at the unemployment office.

So, it is only natural that so often in the Old Testament, God’s love is described to be as powerful as the love a mother has for her child. God’s love for us is like a nursing mother for her baby, like a mother bear protecting her cubs at all costs, like a mother hen extending her wings of safety over her wayward young chicks. It is a beautifully tender image, marred only by the fact that these chicks do NOT want to be gathered under the wings of their mother hen. These chicks not only refuse the love offered to them, they seek to kill the very one who wants to protect them. But still, the mother hen continues to love her chicks, even her rebellious ones, whether they are from first century Jerusalem or twenty-first Buckingham.

In a world that wants “Daddy,” We are under the mothering and comforting protection of Jesus, who, through the giving up and laying down of HIS body, we are saved, healed, and given a future with hope.

And so, as followers of Jesus we too are called to seek out the lost chicks, because we are lost chicks ourselves. We are called to but our bodies on the line for the sake of others. And it might cause us to get a little bit out of our comfort zones and might just makes us give something up, which is why Lenten “practice” can be a good practice for life. It may not feel like we have skin in the game, but we all do. We are all children of God, siblings of the family of God everywhere. When one of us chicks suffers, we all do.  

In our own journeys through the season of Lent, we remember that we too are on our way to die – to die to the ways of sin and death at work in the world, to die to the way of the Fox. But because we follow the crucified and risen Jesus, we can find hope in the face of suffering; we see life in a tool of death. What was done on the cross needs never to be repeated, but today, tomorrow, and the next day we all continue the work that Jesus began. When the world tells us to leave the way because it is too hard, we can press on - because there are still demons to be cast out and cures to be given. There are Jerusalems to be saved and chicks to gather. And hopefully we will find that day by day we too are being transformed into instruments of life and hope. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Jesus is Not Special

3-3-19

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.

One Saturday when I was in middle school, my youth group carpooled out to Devils Lake State Park, about an hour north of Madison. It was a gorgeous fall day as we trekked up and down the hills around Devil’s Lake and enjoying the spectacular view. After a while, though, I noticed that my knees were starting to feel sore – not from going UP the steep hills, but more from going DOWN them. This is apparently a common phenomenon among people who do a lot of climbing – it often takes MORE energy to get DOWN a mountain than to go UP… and sometimes climbers get into trouble when they use up ALL their energy on the way UP, and don’t have enough strength to get back down again.

It’s sort of a wonder, then, that Jesus came down the mountain at all. After all, who would not want to just hang out with Moses and Elijah, with just your 3 closest friends, and keep your clothes dazzling white when you lived in a dusty climate WAY before TIDE was invented. Jesus COULD have taken Peter’s suggestion of building some tents for Moses and Elijah too, so they would be tempted to stick around for an extended camping vacation. It sounds like heaven for an introvert like me. Just set up shop and make people come to YOU. Especially knowing what would happen to Jesus after he came down.

But if Jesus HAD stayed up there on the mountain forever here in Chapter 9, where would that leave the rest of us? Sure, Jesus would remain shiny and nice, flanked by the Big-League Prophets and Peter, James, and John. But then, Jesus would never have taught us the Lord’s prayer, which doesn’t happen until chapter 11. Jesus would not have taught his parables about God’s kingdom. Jesus would never have healed the sick and blessed children or encountered Zacchaeus “the wee little man.” Jesus would not have his last supper, and he would not have suffered, died, and risen again.

We can’t live up on the mountain, and neither can Jesus. Jesus obviously did come down the mountain, the very next day, and just in time too.  Almost immediately from the crowd that was following Jesus, a father comes forward begging for help. It sounds to our modern ears that his son is suffering from some kind of epileptic fit. Whatever the cause, this helpless child is suffering, and no on else but Jesus can help.

As Jesus approached the boy, the illness cast the poor kid down to the ground yet again, which must have been terrifying to witness. But Jesus got closer, and so his pristine, dazzling white clothes became covered in the dust that the convulsing boy must have invariably kicked up. And, both still covered in that dust, Jesus healed the child and gave him back to his father, who I’m sure was too overjoyed to notice all the dirt. His boy was whole again, and that’s all that mattered. I’m sure that father was glad Jesus came down the mountain.

Peter didn’t want Jesus to come down the mountain. Perhaps he was afraid that Jesus’s shiny special-ness might wear off if he didn’t stay up there. But what Peter didn’t know yet is that Jesus is for everyday use, not just for special occasions. He didn’t know yet that Jesus was serious about getting involved with the messiness of being human, and that meant getting a little bit dusty sometimes… and other times it meant staining his face with tears or even bleeding from a cross. But this is how we know that the love of God is real – real love gets dirty. Real love gets shabby and threadbare from use.

In that favorite children’s story, The Velveteen Rabbit, the stuffed toy that became so well-loved by his boy that all his fur rubbed of, his whiskers fell out, and his lovely brown coat had faded to a dull grey. This boy too became sick, and the velveteen rabbit stayed by his side as he got well again.

But when the boy was better, all his things – which were thought to be “germy” - were packed up to be thrown away, including the rabbit. As the rabbit sat out with the rest of the garbage that night, The Nursery-Magic fairy came to visit him. The rabbit’s scruffy and well-worn appearance proved that the boy had loved him very much. Love had already made the toy rabbit real to the boy… and so the fairy simply completed the process of becoming real by changing the toy rabbit into a real one.

I love what the Skin Horse says to the velveteen rabbit early in the “becoming real” process: “Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you…You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily…  or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off… and you get … very shabby. But these things don't matter at all.”

Being real is being a little rough around the edges, a little dusty and mundane. Because that is where we live MOST of the moments of our lives – up the mountain but also down it. 

As some of my United Methodist women clergy friends wrote in a devotional (We Pray With Her), “Life has those big, beautiful moments, but mostly it’s made up of mundane things…  The good news is that God is in the business of making mundane things holy.” (page 65) Another friend said to me, “Jesus is not birthday cake… Jesus is our daily bread.”

Jesus is not special and doesn’t have to be put away up on a mountain to be kept safe to be used only on special occasions, like breakable fine china. Jesus also uses very “non-special” things for his work. Water and a promise become the means we are called beloved Children of God in our baptisms. Ordinary bread and wine become the means we are welcomed and fed by Jesus’s presence so that we don’t lose the strength to keep going down the mountain and survive and thrive in this dusty world. Jesus is with us every moment, in the breaking of bread, in the dust and in our tears, in our sweat as we work for justice.

We are about to embark on the season of Lent, which begins on Wednesday with a smudge of ash on our foreheads and a reminder that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Jesus gets down there in the dust of life, and next week he’ll be spending 40 days in the dust of a barren wilderness. But we’ll take more about that next week.

For now, Jesus is both up on the mountain, shiny and savoring the glory of his identity of be the Beloved of his Father, before descending into the dust that makes up our daily realities. Jesus is up there on the mountain, but Jesus is also down here on the flat places as well – as he preached last week in his sermon on the plain. He is down here where real love gets a bit messy, and love might get revealed in the ordinary things, hidden in plain sight.

One of my favorite poems is called “To be of Use,” and part of it goes like this:

“The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.”

Real Love is not about the big birthday parties or cakes you got on your birthday – you saw their love every time your parents kissed your booboos better, or changed your diaper, or taught you how to tie your shoe. Real Love is not about the vows that you made on your wedding day in a white dress or immaculate tux, but it’s every time you said “I love you” before leaving the house, every time your spouse folded the laundry or loaded the dishwasher. Real Love is being present in all the little moments, not just the big ones. Real Love was made to be… useful. And it was made to be used OFTEN… every moment of every day.

This means that we might get a little dinged up on this journey called life. When follow Jesus’ example, WE are likely going to get dusty, smudged, faded, or even broken. Like one of our communion chalices – it came apart right at the seam. But we glued it back together, and we will be using it again. Jesus does the same – healing our broken and loved-off bits, so that we can continue to be vessels of the Real Love of God in the world. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Jesus Leaks

Sermon 7-1-18

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.

This past week, over thirty thousand ELCA youth gathered in Houston for their Youth Gathering, which happens every three years in different cities around the country. During this week, they learned together, worshiped together, and served their neighbor together. If you haven’t already, go and watch the videos of the nightly speakers, they are amazing. 

But in the days and weeks before the Youth gathering, my Facebook feed was flooded with the travel preparations questions of my pastor friends, on how to be ready for everything: from minor injuries, sunburn, dehydration, Hangry-ness, and boredom. As you can imagine, that’s a lot to stuff to try to pack in one bag. Like putting too many toppings on your sandwich… with things falling everywhere when you try to take a bite.

The gospel of Mark, which we are reading through this summer, LOVES to pack too much into his sandwiches. You may have noticed during the reading that there is a story within a story here – a story sandwich – where story A is interrupted by Story B, then we hear the end of Story A again. For a short Gospel, Mark packs a lot in his sandwiches.

I remember packing my bag the last time I went to the Youth Gathering 3 years ago in Detroit. A friend who was a Youth Gathering Novice asked us what not-obvious things she would need. My suggestion is something that you will not normally here in a sermon AND related to today’s healing story. I told here there is one thing I ALWAYS bring on a youth trip: menstrual products. Yes, I’m talking about pads and tampons.

Are you uncomfortable yet? We should be, because we pretty much avoid this topic at all costs. Even the translators shy away from it, using the euphemism “hemorrhaging.” Which is just a fancier way of saying “on the rag,” “Aunt Flow was visiting,” or, according to one study… about 5,000OTHER slang terms for saying “period” around the world. I bet you REALLY wish you had stayed in bed today.

Are we uncomfortable yet? OUR discomfort is nothing compared to what this woman was going through. And I am not just talking about the pain that must have been horrible from having a period for twelve straight years. For the Jewish people thousands of years ago, “that time of the month” wasn’t just inconvenient and awkward. There were strict rules in the Old Testament saying what you could and could not do at this time. Bear with me as we get a little “Levitical” for a moment.

Back then, when a woman is menstruating, she is considered “unclean” for seven days. Everything she touches, including people, becomes unclean too. And everyone who touches what SHE touches becomes unclean. Imagine what that does to your family life and social life. Fortunately, when that time of the month is over, she takes a ritual bath and becomes “clean” again (Lev. 15) and resume regular life. … But what do you think would happen if “that time of the month” never stopped? No one would want to be near you. No one would want to touch you. Sooner or later, you would be completely alone.

I should explain that the terms “unclean” does not equal dirty or messy. The ancient Israelites divided everything into two categories: “Holy” or “ordinary,” “Divine” or “earthly” and heaven forbid that the two should be mixed. Blood was believed to be the source of life (Lev. 17) – they didn’t have any biology classes back then – and that is one reason keeping kosher does not involve eating any blood. Blood is holy, and so you do not eat it.

But women have blood monthly - and do not die – and that does not fit nicely into these categories. So, these women during this time were “unclean” – a dangerous mix of holy and human, and the ancient Israelites dealt with this by ritual separation once a month.  

Fast forward a few thousand years, and these rules still applied. And pile on the prevailing medical ideas stated that healthy bodies were balanced, controlled, strong, and dry. And this woman, with her bleeding, was none of those things. (from the article "The Man with the Flow of Power: Porous Bodies in Mark 5:25-34" by Candida Moss, JBL 129, no. 3 (2010) 507-519)

Her cultured viewed her (apparently incurable) condition to be a disability. Everyone in her life up to this point seemed to fail her. Her family had abandoned her, her doctors had taken her money and left her with no cure, and her religion had no place for her. And so, cut off and alone, she came to Jesus – to what she might have thought was her last hope.

She came to him in secret, because she had no reason NOT to believe that Jesus, would fail her too, as all the other men in her life had up until that point. She had no reason NOT to think that, once she knew what she was, Jesus would reject her and cast her off too. Surely, he would not notice a small touch on his clothes. Because that’s also all she thought she was worth.

Well, Jesus DID notice…. He felt the power go out of him, in an action that he could not control. Jesus ‘s body leaked power, just as the woman’s body leaked blood. Blood that represents divine power and the gift of potential life. Jesus… power…. Blood…. Life…. Is it really a stretch to say that in this moment Jesus felt what it’s like to have a period? I don’t think it’s much of a stretch at all.

I honestly don’t remember a lot of sermons… my own and other people’s. But I do remember the first time I heard this idea, at a conference through an organization I’m a member of called Young Clergywomen International. An episcopal pastor who would become a friend preached a sermon on this very text and this very thought just blew me away.

Because if this is REALLY TRUE… Jesus has also experienced something that is such a central aspect to what it means to have a female body. Jesus has experienced the very thing that biological women spend at least 25 percent of their lives worrying over, preparing for, having discomfort due to, and using precious resources over. And Jesus knows what it’s like struggle with having other people have agency and power over your body.

In other words, Jesus knows what a period feels like – and that sounds totally weird to us. Because he body of Jesus is not safe – Jesus is leaking power all over the place and ruining our perfectly ordered and controlled lives. Jesus is breaking down the boundaries between earthly and holy, between sacred and ordinary. Between men and women. Between black and white and brown. Between the Haves and the Have-nots. And things GET. MESSY. When this happens. And we don’t like it AT ALL.

The ancient Israelites tried to control this boundary by shutting their women away. But WE in our technological and “egalitarian” societies are not much better. Yes, the technologies of pads and tampons are awesome to help make one quarter of the normal lives of female bodies less challenging. But we can do better. The stigma is still there, and injustices are still happening. Pennsylvania is one of ONLY 9 states in the US that DOES NOT TAX menstrual products…. Let me say that again: 41 states TAXES things like tampons, but does not tax dandruff shampoo, candy bars, and Viagra. This is called the “Pink Tax,” where products that women and biologically female bodies NEED to do normal human daily things … if TANG is not taxed, neither should be tampons.

And beyond this, some people still suffer in silence from illnesses related to menstruation and reproductive health, isolated by embarrassment, being ignored, or being taken advantage of.

So… Jesus WAS a dude. But more importantly, Jesus was a human being, who encompassed ALL of our humanity: the messy parts, the embarrassing parts, the holy parts, the parts that contribute to new life. And the truth is, Jesus’ maleness didn’t heal her… her faith, and the power of God healed her.

Jesus’ own body crossed represented the crossing of borders, the pouring out for the sake of others, and contaminating others with the love of God. In short, Jesus leaks…. He leaks God’s love all over the place, and as followers of Jesus, we are called to do the same. This includes working for justice for ALL bodies, including women’s bodies, and especially vulnerable bodies.

Youth at the gathering did this by putting together two thousand toiletry kits for women escaping human trafficking. But we don’t have to travel half way a cross the country to be with 30,000 of our closest friends to do it. Right here, right now, we can ask ourselves – how are we contributing to menstruation justice?

Like this story having too much to talk about in one sermon, there is too much do for one person. But we can do something… like work to end the pink tax or donate toward organizations to help women and girls around the world.

We are the body OF Christ. I can’t put it better than to borrow the words from the newest ELCA draft social statement on “women and justice.” In this draft, people smarter than me have written:

“As this church seeks to value the bodies of all people and recognize that we depend upon one another, we will not dominate or politicize other people but respect them, promote their health and well-being, and suffer and rejoice together as we strive for justice for all bodies.  …We must continue the task of embracing our unity and diversity so we welcome and uplift people of every sex and gender—indeed, every body—in our work together as the Body of Christ in the world.”

To that we can roll up our sleeves and say, we can do it. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Words that Matter

Sermon 2-4-18, Mark 1:29-39

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 so often an article by Sojourners magazine from a few years ago resurfaces and makes the rounds on social media. It’s called “Thetop 10 reasons men should not be ordained for ministry.” This list includes, but is not limited to, these reasons:

“The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to […physical work]. It would be ‘unnatural’ for them to do ministerial tasks."

“Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.”

“Some men are handsome, and this will distract [some of the] worshipers.”

“The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man.”

And perhaps my favorite reason, appropriate especially for today: “Men are too emotional to be pastors. Their conduct at football games” such as the Super Bowl, clearly demonstrates this.

It’s easy to think this type of humor is funny because we think we’re passed all this…. It’s 2018, and little girls can grow up to be anything they want to be, including pastors, right? Especially when we contrast this world with other periods in our history, even recent ones, when women rarely held roles like senator, surgeon, or the owner of a prominent national newspaper like the Washington Post. Kay Graham, owner of the Post who faces many doubt that she could handle the crisis described in the movie of the same name, she uses a quote by Samuel Johnson to make fun of her detractors: “A woman's preaching is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well, and you are surprised to find it done at all.”

We laugh at this line… But really the joke is on us…. Though this is not the 1700 when this quote originated, or of 1970s of Kay Graham and the Pentagon Papers…. but we’re actually still stuck in a world that CLEARLY is not a safe place for women and those who identify as women, especially in leadership roles. We sometimes forget that there are still denominations that call themselves Lutheran who do recognize women’s ordination. I remember being shocked to learn that 18% of the member churches in the Lutheran World Federation do not ordain women, and just 2 years ago the Lutheran Church in Latvia voted to rescind women’s ordination entirely, after women have been ordained there for over 40 years.

As women in public ministry, myself and my female colleagues over and over again have been forced to defend our calls to other people who doubt that such a call could possibly come from God TO US. All too often, their interpretations of the “word of God” is used against us. All women I know have experienced inappropriate comments about how much we weigh, how we do our hair, the clothes we wear, how young we look. We have been mansplained, stalked, harassed, and called names online and in real life. Our calls are belittled when the culture automatically assumes that the operative pronoun for “pastor” is obviously “he.”

Fixed it. 

For example, the internet meme that makes the rounds this time of year that goes “You should be as excited about church as about the Super Bowl. So, when your pastor makes a point this Sunday, pour Gatorade over HIS head.” Did you notice what’s wrong with that sentence?

Words matter. And word choices matter. Especially when writing supplies are limited, and stories passed on must be copied by hand or remembered by heart. The Gospel of Mark is a short Gospel, and there is not a single word wasted. Do any of you remember the homework I have you a few weeks ago? How many of you have read through all the Gospel of Mark yet? Or even started? Don’t worry, there is still time…. We have Mark until Advent.

Mark isn’t wordy, but Mark knows what he’s doing. He’s painting for us a picture of Jesus who is a man of both words AND action. Jesus chooses his words carefully. He means what he says and leads by example. And when he calls us to follow, he expects us to do the same.

Marks is called a “cosmic Gospel” highlighting the battle between good and evil, such as last week when Jesus encountered the man with the unclean spirit in the synagogue. But today we’re going to cut through the cosmic to get to the core of the Gospel… Jesus’ encounter with a single person person, Simon’s mother in Law, in this case… and focus on one single, vitally important word Mark uses in reference to her, and why that single word changes everything.

Words matter. And the words we choose to use in every moment matters. And we’ve had two thousand years to pars to death the words written about Jesus… and we will still never know all there is to be know about him. Jesus will always still surprise and confound us. Like this week, when I actually cracked open my Greek New Testament. It was a little bit dusty…

Now, I’m going to get nerdy on you, and if you bear with me, I promise this will be worth chasing Greek words through the Gospel of Mark. We heard today about how Jesus healed Simon’s mother in law from a fever. Jesus took her by the hand …. And lifted her up. He touched her, and he raised her…. She was on the edge of death, and he gave her back her life.

And then she got up and began to make everybody some sandwiches… oh wait, what? The feminist in me rankles a bit at first to her response to the gift of new life…. as she seems to repeat the broken systems in place in her old life. Until, that is, we dig into Mark’s word choice.

After the fever left her, she began to serve… “serve” from the Greek word “Diakoneo…” where we get the word deacon (and deaconess). It means to serve, to minister, to wait at table, especially as a servant to other people. So, at first glance, not terribly counter-cultural…

But how and when words are used matters too, and this word diakoneo is used other times in Mark’s Gospel…. Going back in chapter 1, immediately following Jesus’ baptism, he was driven into the desert to be tempted by Satan. After his ordeal, angels came to wait on him… diakoneo.

And it turns out Simons’ mother in law, though she was the first woman to minister to Jesus, she was certainly not the last. After a man betrayed him, and Roman men had mocked and murdered him, and after all the other men disciples had run away and fled… the women stayed and kept vigil and mourned from a distance…the same women who had provided for Jesus over the course of his ministry…. diakoneo again.

And last, but not least, Jesus himself uses this word… about himself. As Jesus and the disciples walked along the road to Jerusalem, to where Jesus would be crucified, James and John – who also featured in today’s story – asked Jesus if they could be his wingmen in the coming kingdom. And the other disciples where ANGRY. So, Jesus called a “time out,” made them huddle up, and told all of them that those who want to be first should be last, and that he came not to be SERVED but to SERVE, and to give his life as a ransom for many… Diakoneo, yet again.

Clearly, James and John completely missed the point that day at Simon’s house. What they thought they saw was a woman healed and restored back to her previous role in a patriarchal society. What they didn’t realize they were actually witnessing was a woman who WAS healed and restored…. healed and restored, to respond out of her gratitude as a mode of true discipleship, following in Jesus’ footsteps. She is raised up by Jesus, to follow his call to service, and shows us the way by then opening her home and her doorstep to be the staging ground for the healing of an entire city in need.

Though Simon, Andrew, James, and John were CALLED first, SHE is first to live out her call - freed, restored, healed, and made whole again. SHE, who was not even given a name in Mark’s Gospel. SHE is the one who shows us the way – the way of Jesus. The way of service to our neighbors in need. And we would all do well to follow her lead.

She was the first woman who followed Jesus, and she certainly would not be the last. Women ministered to Jesus and even stood vigil at the cross. Women were the first to witness the empty tomb on Easter morning. Women like Priscilla, Tabitha, Junia, and a pretty cool one from Greece named Lydia, and also many, many others worked solo or side by side with their male counterparts to help be midwives at the birth of God’s kingdom here on earth. This is what all of us are called to do – members of the family of God with no exclusion for gender, orientation, income level, race, color, language, zip code, marital status, or age. Thanks be to God. Amen.