Peter and the Messy Middle

Sermon from 9-13-15

Grace to you and peace from God our father and from our lord and savior Jesus the Christ, Amen.

I really enjoyed seeing all the “first day of school” pictures on Facebook! Everyone dressed in their brand new clothes with their new backpacks filled with fresh notebooks, pens, pencils, and crayons. Just a few weeks ago, stores were filled with sales of schools supplies and full to the brim with all the college dorm essentials. Futons, pillows, lamps, crates, mirrors, rugs, bean bag chairs, matching sheet sets, everything you see in the “perfect dorm room” pictures can be yours at your local Target!

Not real life, so much.

But in a few weeks, those clothes won’t be so new, the crayons might be broken, the pens leaking, the notebooks lost or chewed by the dog, the futon legs snapped, the rugs get dirty, and no one but you really cares about the cool design on your duvet. (That’s the fancy Target word for comforter.) In the meantime, real life happens.

Often we begin each fall like a second New Year. There are new classes and schools to attend, new initiatives at work, new routines at home. We try to put our best foot forward, strategizing for how to be a better student, better parent or grandparent, a better teacher, a better leader and role model at work and at home. We have the best plans and make the best preparations…

… And we usually end up falling flat on our faces.

… Like Peter.

Though we are at the very beginning of the academic and program year, in this morning’s gospel we find ourselves in the very middle of things. The disciples have been following Jesus around for about half of the book of Mark by now. They’ve seen Jesus heal people, walk on water, and feed thousands. They’ve heard him preach the good news and tell stories about the Kingdom of God. They’ve seen him defy the religious authorities and risk everything to share the good news. And now we’re halfway through the Gospel of Mark, halfway through Discipleship 101 if you will, and Jesus decided to check their progress with a little surprise midterm exam. “After I’ve done all this,” Jesus asks them, “who do other people say that I am?”

To this, some of them respond with “option A,” a return of John the Baptist, who had at this point been beheaded by Herod for his subversive preaching. Other disciples go with option B - Elijah, considered by many the greatest prophet. And still others respond with option C, always a safe bet, one of the other prophets, which, you know, covers the rest of the bases.

Ok, so Jesus started out with an easy one. It was basically an opinion poll. Now it’s time for Jesus to see how much the disciples have been paying attention in the last eight chapters. Time for the second, and most important question: “But who do YOU say that I am?”

Which option will they pick? Option A, John the Baptist? B, Elijah, or C, one of the prophets?
It is Peter, oh our favorite disciple Peter, who is somehow able to see right through Jesus’s little quiz. Peter goes right for option D, hidden in plain sight for this entire gospel.

“You … you are the Messiah!” Peter answers.

Ding ding! We have a winner! Confetti! Balloons! That’s right, Jesus IS the messiah! The one to save Israel! The one who has been foretold! Way to go Peter!

And then… Oh Peter. Peter, Peter, Peter. You couldn’t stop there, could you? Perhaps inflated with actually getting something right, Peter then proceeds to tell Jesus HOW to be the Messiah.

“Now look here, Jesus. You are the Messiah, and that has nothing to do with all that other stuff you just told us. There will be none of that SUFFERING stuff, none of that REJECTION stuff, and ESPECIALLY none of that DYING stuff! Haven’t you read the scriptures, Jesus? The Messiah is supposed to ride into town on a big white horse and show these Romans who’s boss! No, no, Jesus. You’ve got this Messiah thing all wrong.”

To which Jesus responds, “Get behind me, Satan.”

Ouch.

We tend to be so hard on poor Peter, but we’ve all been there too, wanting to choose the cleaned-up version of Jesus. “Surely Jesus did not REALLY mean for us to welcome those people.” “Surely Jesus doesn’t REALLY mean for us to take up AN ACTUAL cross.” “Surely Jesus doesn’t REALLY mean for us to LOSE OUR LIVES for him, like actually die, right?” Right????

We tend to be so hard on poor Peter, probably because Peter is us. We would all prefer to live at the beginning of the story where everything is still shiny and new; or to skip all the way to the end, where everything is nicely wrapped up.

But we don’t live our daily lives there, at the beginning or at the end of the story. We live in the middle.  And the middle is messy. And what totally stinks is that there is no way to skip it or fast forward ourselves through it. (See Brene Brown's new book Rising Strong).

The middle is the dark place where you don’t know what’s going on, and nothing makes sense, and no matter how hard you try you can’t seem to make any headway. All your excellent preparations and your good intentions don’t count for anything, and honestly you have no idea if this whole mess is going to turn out OK or not, and it feels like you must be the only one stuck down here, face down in the dust.

But you’re not alone down there. The mess in the middle is exactly where Jesus chooses to be.

The good news is that to be a follower of Jesus, we don’t have to have it “all together.” We don’t have to wait until we’ve picked ourselves up after a fall. We don’t have to wait until our schedules get less crazy. We don’t have to wait until our lives look more like the perfect dorm room in the Target catalog.

 But the flip side is that following Jesus is not a path OUT of the messy middle, either, like Peter thought. Peter saw Jesus as a ticket OUT of oppression and right INTO the seat of power for some payback. But that is not the road that Jesus walks, and it is not the road that Jesus calls us to. The road that Jesus calls us to is one he himself followed to it’s very end: the road of self-denial for the sake of others, the road of losing oneself for another’s gain, the road that looks to the world like a road of shame and weakness, everything we all would much rather avoid. A road that leads to a cross.

Following Jesus may lead us directly through the valley of the shadow of death, but in truth, we could not have a better guide than the one who has walked this road BEFORE us, and who continues to walk this road WITH us. Even when, ESPECIALLY WHEN we fall flat on our faces.

Peter took a chance, opened his big mouth, and had a big fat fail. For every step forward on this road, he seems to take a step backward. And Jesus had to know that this would not be the last time that Peter, and the rest of the disciples, would fail Jesus, big time. But still, Jesus does not reject Peter. In fact, when Jesus says “Get behind me, Satan,” he’s telling Peter – not to leave - but to get behind him IN ORDER TO BETTER FOLLOW HIM. Get back in the line, Peter. You can’t follow someone if you are not letting them actually lead.

If we say we follow Jesus, if we, along with Peter, say that Jesus is the Messiah, Lord, and Savior - are we really ready to let Jesus do his job?

Because if we are, we better buckle up because this road is going to be anything but boring. You may lose the world but you will gain your life. You may win a cross but death will lose its sting. You may lose your life but you but Jesus has won the victory over the grave.

So let’s get ready… to fall flat on our faces. Who’s with me? Can I get an AMEN?

#ROARNJ 3013

God's Work, Our Hands

July 14 - 19

Cross Roads Camp, PERC Union City, Brick, Tom's River, and more...

League of Extraordinary Novice Church Leaders 2013

Formerly known as Region 7 First Call Education renamed to Leadership Guild, unfortunately nicknamed "Baby Pastor School."

For the record, not all of us who attend this event are young or pastors. Some of us are second-, third-, or whatever career people, and not all are ordained. But we are all in our first three years of ministry, during which we attend this one-week event. 

Last year's event was pretty much a big blur. It came straight on the heels of my ordination - I was by far the "youngest" pastor there. I pretty much showed up that Monday and walked around saying "Hi. I've been a pastor for about 24 hours now. I'm so exhausted." 

This year, things had been changed for the better, and not just my level of consciousness. The previous year we shared in our feedback that there was too much sitting and not enough downtime, and egads! They listened! Not only did we learn about adaptive leadership from the great book Leadership on the Line, but we were offered different "tracks" to pursue so as to tailor our experience to help our context. Plus we learned a fairly helpful way to discuss problems and brought actual case studied from our congregations to discuss.   The discussions we had at night with the bishops, including ours from NJ, Bishop Riley, were extraordinary. We "got up on the balcony" with them and they heard our hopes and our fears. PLUS I painted some pictures inspired by the 1 Corinthians reading of the upcoming week and did some yoga and a little reading. AND I got to see some old compadres from Luther seminary.


Worship, I think, was my favorite part. We were in this great flexible space and every time we worshiped it was in a slightly different configuration. Nothing too crazy, but it was fun to see how the worship planners shaped the space to fit the service - whether for Eucharist  Holden Evening Prayer, or a healing service. We lit candles, wrote on rocks, prayed for one another's communities, learned new songs and sang some oldies from the ELW lead by some awesome guitarists and musicians. And we didn't almost light the place on fire, like we nearly did last year. :) 

One of the many blessings that came out of this time was a sense of not being alone - we were all in widely diverse contexts, of course, but we were all working together in a common mission. And I now have a mentor, which I'm really excited about!

Well done, Region 7, well done.

First Communion Cuteness

Another first for me at St. Paul. Celebrating First Communion! For the past four months or so, our 10 second-graders have learned about the Eucharist through watching Davie and Goliath, scavenger hunting for things like chausables and patens, and baking their own bread. Last Sunday was their big day, getting all gussied up and taking communion for the first time with their proud parents. The church was full of chaos, but the good kind - "holy chaos." :) And some of those girls looks ADORABLE in their fancy white dresses!


I also busted out the ol' guitar during worship (another first), to teach two songs that we learned during the first communion classes. I say "we learned" because I learned them too, and then taught it to a church full of people. I was a little nervous, but it went really well!  Those kids were so funny - some were looking at me just agog, like they had never seen a guitar-playing-lady-pastor before! :)


I just gotta share this too - during communion a kid I didn't recognize (must have been a relative of someone receiving communion) looked at me as I poured the wine for him and asked in an incredulous whisper, "is this real wine?" It was all I could do not to laugh. I think I did nod, though. I just wanna know that kid's story. 


One of the interesting differences between church at home and church here is the age of first communicants. Back home, it's fifth grade. (I remember at one of my first communion classes, I basically recited the words of institution verbatim from memory. Yeah, I was a big church dork). To be honest, I was a bit shocked when I learned it was SECOND grade here. I couldn't help thinking - "that seems a little young. Are second graders really ready to take communion?" But then again, are fifth graders? Are seventh graders? are 25, 30, 50, or 90 year-olds? Is any one really "ready enough" to take communion? 


Because, you know, it's not about state of mind, it's about state of Grace, brought to you by the very body and blood of Christ that you are partaking. Just look at Sarah Miles - she took communion before she was "properly instructed" and look what happened: she became a pastor (and wrote a book). 


Second or fifth grade - it really just matters that their parents (or somebody) are bringing them to church and taking communion with them. We're all sinners together, after all - young, old, church dorks and athletes, rich and poor. 


"To the banquet come, it's not just for some;
Young and old, big and small, you may come." 

I can has office?

Yes I can! I no longer have to carry around my office (things I need such as planner, important papers, and upcoming bulletins)! A cozy room next to Jim's office that was once the copy and paper storage room is now mine! I have a window and a desk and a file cabinet and a space heater. Soon I will have a lock on the door and perhaps a table and more shelves. It is really shaping up to really become MY space. The pic I'm including is not current - the copier and file cabinets are no longer in there. Other than that, this is it!!! More pics will be forthcoming.

It is currently the budget-heavy time of the year, with plenty of mind-numbing meetings about things I only halfway grasp. I know that it's important work, but no my most favorite part of ministry. I keep telling people, "This is one of my growing edges!"

We are also revving up for my ordination in just over a week. It's so exciting! My family will be coming in less than a week, so we're starting to get ready for them to arrive. On this Sunday I am also reading scripture at an inter-faith Martin Luther King Jr service in Hightstown. There are some cool rabbis in our ministerium, and I met my first ever female rabbi! I am definitely going to ask her to lunch sometime.

It is starting to FEEL like winter, with some cooler temperatures. No snow yet. I wouldn't mind a bit of a dusting, but people here DO NOT WANT. Which makes sense, because the last two years they've been dumped on.

I my free time I have been reading that new bio of Bonhoeffer - fascinating. And I'm also reading my first ever Stephen King novel, Under The Dome. It is fantastic, and has a lot of interesting connections with faith and God - various characters have various levels and kinds of faith, ranging from a pastor who no longer believes in God to a crazed fanatic using God as an excuse for his horrific actions. I'm going to do a full review of the book once I am done - it is quite a task, being a book of 1000 pages. But I can't put it down!