Monday, December 7, 2009
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Sunday, November 29, 2009
Keep your head up!
November 29, 2009
Advent 1
Luke 21:25-36
Keep your head up!
How many of you like waiting? Have you ever waited in line for a really long time?
My mother sent me Christmas presents already in the mail, but specifically instructed me NOT to open them. Do you understand what this is like? It’s like putting cookies in front of someone and saying, don’t eat them. This is torture. So I have to wait until Christmas.
We are now entering the season of Advent, which starts a new church year from B to C, from Mark to Luke. What is Advent? (means Coming, Arriving) Advent is the four weeks before Christmas, a time of waiting for Christ to come to the world as a child in a manger at Christmas; and into our daily lives and in word and sacrament; and ultimately to come in the end to bring his Kingdom.
Like we had two weeks ago, we have apocalyptic imagery of distress among nations and the roaring of the seas. We get this amid all the images of 2012 and the Left Behind books, and all the destruction. Two weeks ago, Jesus described these things as “birth pangs,” and now he is using the imagery of a fig tree. Even though it will be “the end of the world as we know it” it is the beginning of something new, Christ is bringing a new world a new way of being, a new birth, new life, a world where pain and suffering is no more. As soon as the fig tree sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near, so you will know the Kingdom of God is near.
We are waiting in eager anticipation and hope…for Christ to bring a new world. Where there is no more suffering no more pain. We can’t wait for Christ to come and bring this new world, like we can’t wait to open the gift that we have just look at until Christmas. We live in the “in-between time” between Christ’s coming as a child, and overcoming death; and the coming of Christ at the end of the world as we know it; we are in the time between the “already” and the “not yet.” How do we live in the in-between time? How do we live in this time of waiting?
Sometimes we wait with our head down.
Jesus says: “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap.”
When I look around these days I see a lot of hearts weighed down, especially in these tough times. I see a lot of people whose eyes are heavy with the burdens they face. Our burdens are too much to carry. As I was walking to church a couple days ago, a man was walking with his food in a bag, and the bag broke and his food fell out of his bag.
Sometimes we’re so deep in the struggle, it brings our head down. As Jesus says, it can lead us to dissipation, drunkenness and worry. That is our struggles and our burdens can be destracting and debilitating.
Dissipation – In English it is a wasting or misuse, or in Physics “a process in which energy is used or lost without accomplishing useful work.” Stewardship is putting our time, talent and treasure to good use. Dissipation is squandering it.
Drunkenness – what happens when you get drunk? Your senses, your judgment is dulled. Maybe while we wait we just check out mentally, emotionally, physically. Maybe instead of dealing with the struggles of this life, we just check out. We don’t want to deal with it.
Worry – Worry can paralyze us. It can consume us. We’re constantly worried about the next thing on our schedule. We can be so bogged down in worry that it hinders us from living life to the fullest. Our worry also exacerbates our hope.
What is weighing your heart and your head down this Advent season? What is keep you from living your life in hope and preparation of the Advent, or the coming of Christ?
What Jesus is saying is: Don’t let your heart get weighed down, But he says “be alert at all times” “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Raise your head! … or in contemporary English “keep your head up.” The message today isn’t complicated, four words, “Keep your head up.”
If your burden is too much to carry and your bag splits, and your things are falling everywhere - “keep your head up.” If you’ve had enough, and you just want to escape – “keep your head up.” If you’ve had setbacks disappointments – “keep your head up.” If you are experiencing loss – “keep your head up.” If you have a lot of worries – “keep your head up.”
We are called to live in this period of waiting with our head up. Therefore, this is not a passive waiting during the time of Advent of Christ’s coming, but an active waiting. Author Henri Nouwen said: “Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. … We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps. Waiting for God is an active, alert—yes, joyful—waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.” “It is this joyful expectation of God’s coming that offers vitality to our lives.”
This joyful expectation is what empowers us to keep our head up. “The expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises to us is what allows us to pay full attention to the road on which we are walking.” We believe the promise: Our redemption is near. This gives us the strength to lift up our heads, and meet our struggles head on. This expectation gives us the strength to work for better world.
Moses and Martin Luther King Jr. went to the mountaintop, they saw the promised land, they saw that their redemption was near, and it gave them strengths to keep their heads up, and in the midst great adversity and struggle, they were sustained by the hope in the promise.
So, this Advent season, let us be sustained by the hope in the promise of Christ’s coming. May this hope fill us with strength to “keep our head up” and to go into a broken world and tell people to “keep their head up.” As you leave church today and go into this Advent season, tell someone to “keep your head up.” In these tough times, those are just the words we need to hear. “Keep your head up.” Amen.
Advent 1
Luke 21:25-36
Keep your head up!
How many of you like waiting? Have you ever waited in line for a really long time?
My mother sent me Christmas presents already in the mail, but specifically instructed me NOT to open them. Do you understand what this is like? It’s like putting cookies in front of someone and saying, don’t eat them. This is torture. So I have to wait until Christmas.
We are now entering the season of Advent, which starts a new church year from B to C, from Mark to Luke. What is Advent? (means Coming, Arriving) Advent is the four weeks before Christmas, a time of waiting for Christ to come to the world as a child in a manger at Christmas; and into our daily lives and in word and sacrament; and ultimately to come in the end to bring his Kingdom.
Like we had two weeks ago, we have apocalyptic imagery of distress among nations and the roaring of the seas. We get this amid all the images of 2012 and the Left Behind books, and all the destruction. Two weeks ago, Jesus described these things as “birth pangs,” and now he is using the imagery of a fig tree. Even though it will be “the end of the world as we know it” it is the beginning of something new, Christ is bringing a new world a new way of being, a new birth, new life, a world where pain and suffering is no more. As soon as the fig tree sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near, so you will know the Kingdom of God is near.
We are waiting in eager anticipation and hope…for Christ to bring a new world. Where there is no more suffering no more pain. We can’t wait for Christ to come and bring this new world, like we can’t wait to open the gift that we have just look at until Christmas. We live in the “in-between time” between Christ’s coming as a child, and overcoming death; and the coming of Christ at the end of the world as we know it; we are in the time between the “already” and the “not yet.” How do we live in the in-between time? How do we live in this time of waiting?
Sometimes we wait with our head down.
Jesus says: “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap.”
When I look around these days I see a lot of hearts weighed down, especially in these tough times. I see a lot of people whose eyes are heavy with the burdens they face. Our burdens are too much to carry. As I was walking to church a couple days ago, a man was walking with his food in a bag, and the bag broke and his food fell out of his bag.
Sometimes we’re so deep in the struggle, it brings our head down. As Jesus says, it can lead us to dissipation, drunkenness and worry. That is our struggles and our burdens can be destracting and debilitating.
Dissipation – In English it is a wasting or misuse, or in Physics “a process in which energy is used or lost without accomplishing useful work.” Stewardship is putting our time, talent and treasure to good use. Dissipation is squandering it.
Drunkenness – what happens when you get drunk? Your senses, your judgment is dulled. Maybe while we wait we just check out mentally, emotionally, physically. Maybe instead of dealing with the struggles of this life, we just check out. We don’t want to deal with it.
Worry – Worry can paralyze us. It can consume us. We’re constantly worried about the next thing on our schedule. We can be so bogged down in worry that it hinders us from living life to the fullest. Our worry also exacerbates our hope.
What is weighing your heart and your head down this Advent season? What is keep you from living your life in hope and preparation of the Advent, or the coming of Christ?
What Jesus is saying is: Don’t let your heart get weighed down, But he says “be alert at all times” “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Raise your head! … or in contemporary English “keep your head up.” The message today isn’t complicated, four words, “Keep your head up.”
If your burden is too much to carry and your bag splits, and your things are falling everywhere - “keep your head up.” If you’ve had enough, and you just want to escape – “keep your head up.” If you’ve had setbacks disappointments – “keep your head up.” If you are experiencing loss – “keep your head up.” If you have a lot of worries – “keep your head up.”
We are called to live in this period of waiting with our head up. Therefore, this is not a passive waiting during the time of Advent of Christ’s coming, but an active waiting. Author Henri Nouwen said: “Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. … We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps. Waiting for God is an active, alert—yes, joyful—waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.” “It is this joyful expectation of God’s coming that offers vitality to our lives.”
This joyful expectation is what empowers us to keep our head up. “The expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promises to us is what allows us to pay full attention to the road on which we are walking.” We believe the promise: Our redemption is near. This gives us the strength to lift up our heads, and meet our struggles head on. This expectation gives us the strength to work for better world.
Moses and Martin Luther King Jr. went to the mountaintop, they saw the promised land, they saw that their redemption was near, and it gave them strengths to keep their heads up, and in the midst great adversity and struggle, they were sustained by the hope in the promise.
So, this Advent season, let us be sustained by the hope in the promise of Christ’s coming. May this hope fill us with strength to “keep our head up” and to go into a broken world and tell people to “keep their head up.” As you leave church today and go into this Advent season, tell someone to “keep your head up.” In these tough times, those are just the words we need to hear. “Keep your head up.” Amen.
Monday, November 16, 2009
The birth is near
November 15, 2009
Pentecost 24
Mark 13:1-8
The birth is near
As I was driving through Arizona recently, I started to see signs for “The Thing” about 150 miles out. See “The Thing” what is the Thing?! After seeing these signs one after the other, I started to get sucked in. What is “The Thing”? I must know what “The Thing” is? I couldn’t think about anything else, only “The Thing”! We kept getting closer… “The Thing” 30 miles, then 20, 15, 10 … “almost there!”
Then, as we pulled in to the lot we saw all the bright signs “The Thing.” We went into the gas station, and the cashier said $1 to see the Thing. Well worth it! I must see the Thing! We followed the signs, “The Thing” this way… We opened the door… walked through, and then… Well I can’t tell you what the Thing is… you have to see it for yourself. I will tell you though, that the Thing was not quite what I expected…
Has this ever happened to you? Did life not go quite the way you expected it would? In today’s Gospel lesson, the disciples say: “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” They are fascinated by the magnitude and the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem. Like walking through downtown LA, we imagine the disciples with their heads up, “wow, look at the size of this building!”
For the people at the time, the Temple was the Thing. This is where God was found. The Temple (which was being constructed) was built of massive stone and we can imagine was quite a sight.
The disciples had expectations in the Temple, this marvelous, beautiful structure.
Imagine the disciples surprise when Jesus said: “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Then after being right there looking up at the buildings, Jesus and his disciples moved out to the Mount of Olives. When I was in Jerusalem back in May, I remember being in the city, looking up at the buildings. It was an intense place to be, lots of people, merchants, soldiers…
Then when you go out to the Mount of Olives, you can see the whole city. On the Mount of Olives, it’s a lot quieter, it’s peaceful. Here Jesus tells the disciples of calamities to come, and later he tells of the persecutions they would face.
This is not what the disciples had in mind when they followed Jesus. The disciples had expectations that Jesus would be another King, like Kings of this world, and they would be at the right and left. Later, Jesus is crucified on the cross along with two thieves and the disciples are persecuted and even killed for following Jesus. The Temple eventually came crashing down, and for the disciples, their expectations, and their whole world came crashing down.
But in the midst of the struggle…something new was happening…
In the texts today, we have apocalyptic images, wars, earthquakes, famines…
I imagine you’ve seen previews for the new movie that just came out this week, 2012. According to the Mayan calendar, the world is going to end in 2012. So we’re hearing a lot about the end of the world. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I know that there is a lot of chaos and destruction. What are we to make of these apocalyptic images… they are troubling.
But Jesus says something very intriguing, he says, “this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” War, destruction, chaos… Jesus describes this as a birth. We hear “The End is near” a lot… but what about “The Birth is near.” It may seem strange, but the Apocalspe, the End of the world as we know it is actually good news!
“The Birth is near” The old age is passing away, Jesus is bringing a new age
When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom Come” we are praying for this Kingdom. A new Reign where there death, poverty, destruction and hate are no more, but where there is only love, peace and justice for all.
Jesus tells us that the Temple will come crashing down… But out of destruction comes the construction of something new, out of death comes life. The cross is a paradox. Out of the shame of a criminals death, comes the glory; out of fear comes hope; out of sorrow comes joy. Out of Jesus’ death on the cross comes everlasting life for all. Out of this tragedy, a new world was being born “The birth is near.”
The disciples looked at the Temple and saw the mighty fortress that Herod built
But in Christ, something new was being built. The Temple (which was God’s presence here on earth) eventually came crashing down. The stones aren’t our proof that God is here… but Christ is.
Sometimes it may seem like things are crashing down around us, especially in these tough times…Sometimes our expectations come crashing down…
But it might just be the beginning of something new. As the psalmist says, sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning
As a part of my seminary training in Chicago I worked at St. Andrew Lutheran Church a multicultural, bilingual church in West Chicago. At St. Andrew there was a fire that burnt the church building down. Even though the church lost their building… it just brought the congregation closer together, even despite cultural and language barriers. They worshiped in a nearby school, and the church was doing amazing ministry, even despite not having a building. God was doing something new.
Sometimes stones may fall. But the church is more than just the building, the church is body of Christ. Just like here at Trinity. This building has certainly gone through its share of disasters, earthquakes, fires, and other struggles…but Christ continues to do new and exciting things in us and through us. It may not always be exactly how we expect it, but something new and exciting is happening.
Stones may fall, but the church lives on. Amen.
Pentecost 24
Mark 13:1-8
The birth is near
As I was driving through Arizona recently, I started to see signs for “The Thing” about 150 miles out. See “The Thing” what is the Thing?! After seeing these signs one after the other, I started to get sucked in. What is “The Thing”? I must know what “The Thing” is? I couldn’t think about anything else, only “The Thing”! We kept getting closer… “The Thing” 30 miles, then 20, 15, 10 … “almost there!”
Then, as we pulled in to the lot we saw all the bright signs “The Thing.” We went into the gas station, and the cashier said $1 to see the Thing. Well worth it! I must see the Thing! We followed the signs, “The Thing” this way… We opened the door… walked through, and then… Well I can’t tell you what the Thing is… you have to see it for yourself. I will tell you though, that the Thing was not quite what I expected…
Has this ever happened to you? Did life not go quite the way you expected it would? In today’s Gospel lesson, the disciples say: “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” They are fascinated by the magnitude and the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem. Like walking through downtown LA, we imagine the disciples with their heads up, “wow, look at the size of this building!”
For the people at the time, the Temple was the Thing. This is where God was found. The Temple (which was being constructed) was built of massive stone and we can imagine was quite a sight.
The disciples had expectations in the Temple, this marvelous, beautiful structure.
Imagine the disciples surprise when Jesus said: “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Then after being right there looking up at the buildings, Jesus and his disciples moved out to the Mount of Olives. When I was in Jerusalem back in May, I remember being in the city, looking up at the buildings. It was an intense place to be, lots of people, merchants, soldiers…
Then when you go out to the Mount of Olives, you can see the whole city. On the Mount of Olives, it’s a lot quieter, it’s peaceful. Here Jesus tells the disciples of calamities to come, and later he tells of the persecutions they would face.
This is not what the disciples had in mind when they followed Jesus. The disciples had expectations that Jesus would be another King, like Kings of this world, and they would be at the right and left. Later, Jesus is crucified on the cross along with two thieves and the disciples are persecuted and even killed for following Jesus. The Temple eventually came crashing down, and for the disciples, their expectations, and their whole world came crashing down.
But in the midst of the struggle…something new was happening…
In the texts today, we have apocalyptic images, wars, earthquakes, famines…
I imagine you’ve seen previews for the new movie that just came out this week, 2012. According to the Mayan calendar, the world is going to end in 2012. So we’re hearing a lot about the end of the world. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I know that there is a lot of chaos and destruction. What are we to make of these apocalyptic images… they are troubling.
But Jesus says something very intriguing, he says, “this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” War, destruction, chaos… Jesus describes this as a birth. We hear “The End is near” a lot… but what about “The Birth is near.” It may seem strange, but the Apocalspe, the End of the world as we know it is actually good news!
“The Birth is near” The old age is passing away, Jesus is bringing a new age
When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom Come” we are praying for this Kingdom. A new Reign where there death, poverty, destruction and hate are no more, but where there is only love, peace and justice for all.
Jesus tells us that the Temple will come crashing down… But out of destruction comes the construction of something new, out of death comes life. The cross is a paradox. Out of the shame of a criminals death, comes the glory; out of fear comes hope; out of sorrow comes joy. Out of Jesus’ death on the cross comes everlasting life for all. Out of this tragedy, a new world was being born “The birth is near.”
The disciples looked at the Temple and saw the mighty fortress that Herod built
But in Christ, something new was being built. The Temple (which was God’s presence here on earth) eventually came crashing down. The stones aren’t our proof that God is here… but Christ is.
Sometimes it may seem like things are crashing down around us, especially in these tough times…Sometimes our expectations come crashing down…
But it might just be the beginning of something new. As the psalmist says, sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning
As a part of my seminary training in Chicago I worked at St. Andrew Lutheran Church a multicultural, bilingual church in West Chicago. At St. Andrew there was a fire that burnt the church building down. Even though the church lost their building… it just brought the congregation closer together, even despite cultural and language barriers. They worshiped in a nearby school, and the church was doing amazing ministry, even despite not having a building. God was doing something new.
Sometimes stones may fall. But the church is more than just the building, the church is body of Christ. Just like here at Trinity. This building has certainly gone through its share of disasters, earthquakes, fires, and other struggles…but Christ continues to do new and exciting things in us and through us. It may not always be exactly how we expect it, but something new and exciting is happening.
Stones may fall, but the church lives on. Amen.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The widow's economy
November 8, 2009
Time after Pentecost – Lectionary 32
Mark 12:38-44
The widow’s economy
We hear a lot about the economy these days. In fact, reading through the newspaper, the word “economy” appears a lot. It’s gotten to the point that when I read the word “economy” in the newspaper, I tense up, because I know it's going to be bad news…
Because the word “economy” is accompanied by crisis, downturn, troubled times, recession, housing market collapse, credit default, job loss. The economy has been spiraling downward. Friday the news came out that unemployment is now at 10.2%, which is double digit unemployment for the first time since 1983.
More and more people are going unemployed, underemployed and uninsured. We are realizing that no one is really safe from this economic system. People that once had stable jobs, are now losing them.
If we were to open up the newspaper 2000 years ago during the time of Jesus, let’s say the Palestine Times… What headlines would we read? The first one from Mark’s gospel lesson today might sound like this “Widow’s house foreclosed”
What do we learn about the economy at the time by reading the first part of today’s Gospel lesson? In this economy, we have the social elites, who have most of the wealth. They “devour widows’ houses”
The widow is society’s most vulnerable. The widow is one who lost her husband, who fell on hard times (like any of us could at any moment). In Mark’s gospel, we read in the preceding chapter that Jesus turned the tables of the Temple “den of thieves” and we learn a little more about the corruption that went on in the economy at the time.
In this economy, status, and being greeted with respect in the marketplace is very important. In this economy, the elite keep getting richer, while the rest have little to live on and are pushed further into poverty. It’s an economy based on profit, on taking as much as you can. The result is a disparity between rich and poor.
After this repudiation of the corrupt economy represented by the scribes, we read another headline: “widow gives everything she owns” Her husband has died, her house has been crushed, and she is the victim of a corrupt economy. Yet she puts in two coins into the treasury. The irony is that the coins the widow puts in the treasury is going in to support the very economic system that is keeping her down.
This widow put in two small copper coins, which was worth one penny or Roman quadran, one sixty-fourth of a daily wage, and this was all she had. As the widow was a victim of the economic system of her time.
We too have been victimized by the current economic crisis in some way. By job loss, fewer hours, loss of insurance, by anxiety of losing what we have. And so we look at this widow with bewilderment…
How does she give when she’s been taken from? How does she give despite a system that keeps her own? How does she give in the midst of an economy that clearly is based on getting ahead and taking what you can? How does she give fully knowing that she’s giving away everything she has to live on?
Her offering may have been the least, but Jesus says that she put in the most
Because out of her poverty she “put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (literally her whole life). The widow’s offering represents a very different economy. An economy based not on profit or taking; but on giving.
The widow’s economy.
Jesus is not only advocating the economy that the widow represents, but Jesus’ very life and death is a different economy, an economy based on giving. Jesus gave all he had to live on by ministering to the widow the orphan the poor and the oppressed. Jesus gave his whole life, so that we would live.
We live in Christ and therefore we are called to live out a different economy
An economy that is not based on how much profit you can make, but an economy that is based on selfless giving; an economy that doesn’t claim everything as ours, but an economy that acknowledges that everything came from God, and everything belongs to God.
Think about it… what would that be like? An economy based on giving rather than taking. What would the headlines look like?
The topic of the conference I attended this week was on stewardship. Our speaker, Dr. Mark Alan Powell, talked about how often the word stewardship in the church as code for giving money to the church to pay the bills and how the offering is understood as a fundraising ritual. On the contrary, the offering is historically the high point of the worship, where the faithful brought their sacrificial gifts to God. He said that the widow’s offering was her worship; it was her expression of her love for God.
Dr. Powell told the story of talking to kids about what they gave up for Lent. One boy said that he gave up kicking people for Lent. He told the boy: what you give up for Lent isn’t supposed to be something bad, it’s supposed to be something you like. To which the boy replied: “I like kicking people”
Giving is not something we have to do; it is something we want to do.
Just like my mom who just sent me cookies, she didn’t have to do it, but out of love, she did it.
During this conference we talked about how stewardship is about more than our money, but our time, our talent, and our treasure … giving our whole life (like the widow).
I think about when I lived in Mexico. I remember being invited to eat with a family, as I often was. I looked around the one room cinder-block house and the kids were barely getting enough food to eat. Out of her poverty she gave me an huge plate of food, steak, rice, beans, tortillas, jalapeños.
The widow’s economy. Even though we are living in an economy that takes, that is tumultuous, and that is unfair … may we live the economy of Christ, an economy of grace, that gives out of selfless love. Amen
Time after Pentecost – Lectionary 32
Mark 12:38-44
The widow’s economy
We hear a lot about the economy these days. In fact, reading through the newspaper, the word “economy” appears a lot. It’s gotten to the point that when I read the word “economy” in the newspaper, I tense up, because I know it's going to be bad news…
Because the word “economy” is accompanied by crisis, downturn, troubled times, recession, housing market collapse, credit default, job loss. The economy has been spiraling downward. Friday the news came out that unemployment is now at 10.2%, which is double digit unemployment for the first time since 1983.
More and more people are going unemployed, underemployed and uninsured. We are realizing that no one is really safe from this economic system. People that once had stable jobs, are now losing them.
If we were to open up the newspaper 2000 years ago during the time of Jesus, let’s say the Palestine Times… What headlines would we read? The first one from Mark’s gospel lesson today might sound like this “Widow’s house foreclosed”
What do we learn about the economy at the time by reading the first part of today’s Gospel lesson? In this economy, we have the social elites, who have most of the wealth. They “devour widows’ houses”
The widow is society’s most vulnerable. The widow is one who lost her husband, who fell on hard times (like any of us could at any moment). In Mark’s gospel, we read in the preceding chapter that Jesus turned the tables of the Temple “den of thieves” and we learn a little more about the corruption that went on in the economy at the time.
In this economy, status, and being greeted with respect in the marketplace is very important. In this economy, the elite keep getting richer, while the rest have little to live on and are pushed further into poverty. It’s an economy based on profit, on taking as much as you can. The result is a disparity between rich and poor.
After this repudiation of the corrupt economy represented by the scribes, we read another headline: “widow gives everything she owns” Her husband has died, her house has been crushed, and she is the victim of a corrupt economy. Yet she puts in two coins into the treasury. The irony is that the coins the widow puts in the treasury is going in to support the very economic system that is keeping her down.
This widow put in two small copper coins, which was worth one penny or Roman quadran, one sixty-fourth of a daily wage, and this was all she had. As the widow was a victim of the economic system of her time.
We too have been victimized by the current economic crisis in some way. By job loss, fewer hours, loss of insurance, by anxiety of losing what we have. And so we look at this widow with bewilderment…
How does she give when she’s been taken from? How does she give despite a system that keeps her own? How does she give in the midst of an economy that clearly is based on getting ahead and taking what you can? How does she give fully knowing that she’s giving away everything she has to live on?
Her offering may have been the least, but Jesus says that she put in the most
Because out of her poverty she “put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (literally her whole life). The widow’s offering represents a very different economy. An economy based not on profit or taking; but on giving.
The widow’s economy.
Jesus is not only advocating the economy that the widow represents, but Jesus’ very life and death is a different economy, an economy based on giving. Jesus gave all he had to live on by ministering to the widow the orphan the poor and the oppressed. Jesus gave his whole life, so that we would live.
We live in Christ and therefore we are called to live out a different economy
An economy that is not based on how much profit you can make, but an economy that is based on selfless giving; an economy that doesn’t claim everything as ours, but an economy that acknowledges that everything came from God, and everything belongs to God.
Think about it… what would that be like? An economy based on giving rather than taking. What would the headlines look like?
The topic of the conference I attended this week was on stewardship. Our speaker, Dr. Mark Alan Powell, talked about how often the word stewardship in the church as code for giving money to the church to pay the bills and how the offering is understood as a fundraising ritual. On the contrary, the offering is historically the high point of the worship, where the faithful brought their sacrificial gifts to God. He said that the widow’s offering was her worship; it was her expression of her love for God.
Dr. Powell told the story of talking to kids about what they gave up for Lent. One boy said that he gave up kicking people for Lent. He told the boy: what you give up for Lent isn’t supposed to be something bad, it’s supposed to be something you like. To which the boy replied: “I like kicking people”
Giving is not something we have to do; it is something we want to do.
Just like my mom who just sent me cookies, she didn’t have to do it, but out of love, she did it.
During this conference we talked about how stewardship is about more than our money, but our time, our talent, and our treasure … giving our whole life (like the widow).
I think about when I lived in Mexico. I remember being invited to eat with a family, as I often was. I looked around the one room cinder-block house and the kids were barely getting enough food to eat. Out of her poverty she gave me an huge plate of food, steak, rice, beans, tortillas, jalapeños.
The widow’s economy. Even though we are living in an economy that takes, that is tumultuous, and that is unfair … may we live the economy of Christ, an economy of grace, that gives out of selfless love. Amen
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The hospital room
November 1, 2009
All Saints Day
John 11:32-44
The hospital room
The theme in our readings today is Death. Because today is All Saints Day, when we remember those who have died. On All Saints Day we are also brought face to face with Death, with our own mortality.
Death. Even saying the word carries so much weight. The weight of fear, trepidation, lament, grief, powerlessness, brokenness and loss. It carries the weight of our own mortality.
In our experience, death has all the power. In battles between life and death, ultimately, death is the winner. We humans have prided ourselves on our achievements and all the advances we’ve made. Despite all our advances in technology and the like, we have not found out a way to stop our own death.
Death, it’s not something we like to talk about. But we can’t avoid it, because there it is…Death, it is the shadow that hangs over all of us… Death squelches our creativity, dilutes our imagination, exasperates our hopes and dreams…Death reminds us of our own mortality.
Death can haunt us like a ghost.
We see this shadow of death all around us. …in the hospital rooms amid the beeping of life support machines …in the fear in the children who live in this neighborhood, who hear the gun shots and can’t leave their own house to go out and play …in the millions around the world who live amid hunger and disease, and have to live with death all around them.
Wherever there is suffering, there is the shadow of death… “the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations.”
Have you ever been in a hospital room with someone in their last days of life? When I worked as a chaplain in a hospital, I saw people as they struggled with the fact that death was imminent, unavoidable. That hospital room where death is imminent… I’m thinking about one time in particular. It was dark, the only light was that of the sun barely creeping through the cracks between the shades. It was cold, the air-conditioner was blasting. It remember the stench of the various odors that travel through hospitals. I remember the sound of weeping and of the tones of the life support machine. I remember the doctor had just come in and given us the news that death was imminent, the shadow of death was cast over us. I remember the feeling of pain as sharp as glass cutting through the room. This feeling that there is nothing in the world that you can do to save your loved one. There is no greater feeling of powerlessness.
To be there with Mary and Martha when Lazarus died, I imagine it was much like being in the hospital room. The sound of weeping, and the stench of the dead body. The shadow of death, the reminder of their own mortality was cast over them. Mary said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.” At times of death we ask, “Lord, where are you?” “Why did you let this happen?”
Jesus comes into their hospital room, and he was “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved” “Jesus wept” Wherever there is the shadow of death, there is Jesus, God in the flesh, weeping.
Rev. William Sloane Coffin preached a sermon to his congregation at Riverside Church in New York City 10 days after his so Alex was killed in an automobile accident.
He said that shortly after his son died a woman approached him saying, "I just don't understand the will of God." He said “Instantly I was up and in hot pursuit, swarming all over her. "I'll say you don't, lady!"” He went on: “For some reason, nothing so infuriates me as the incapacity of seemingly intelligent people to get it through their heads that God doesn't go around this world with his fingers on triggers, his fists around knives, his hands on steering wheels. God is dead set against all unnatural deaths. And Christ spent an inordinate amount of time delivering people from paralysis, insanity, leprosy, and muteness.”
We may ask a lot of questions when death casts its shadow over us. But we know this: God is dead set against death; and when death casts its shadow, God is not far away (even though it may seem that way), but God draws near.
“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. (Revelation)”
Amid the weeping and the stench of a rotting dead body, Jesus says “take away the stone.” Then he screams, “Lazarus, come out!” Then the dead man comes out all bound in cloth, and Jesus has him unbound and he goes out, freed from the power of death.
Jesus, the risen one, the resurrection and the life, overcomes and defies death.
In Jesus we see the power of God to overcome death. What we hear about in our lessons today is this power of God to overcome death:
“And he will destroy on this mountain the shoroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever.” (Isaiah)
In the vision of the new heaven and the new earth “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Revelation)
The good news is that wherever there is the shadow of death, Jesus is there, screaming “come out!” Jesus comes into the hospital room, dark, cold and stale, and weeps with us and defies death by proclaiming “come out!”
When the shadow of death casts itself in our neighborhood …when the gun shots ring …when children are afraid to walk home from school …when there is abuse in the home …when people lose jobs and health insurance …amid hunger and disease …amid weeping and the stench of death
… Christ, the life and the resurrection, draws near, weeps with us and calls out: “come out!”
Death and all it brings, fear, trepidation, lament, grief, powerlessness, brokenness, loss. Our own mortality. Death may seem powerful. The shadow it casts is heavy. But because of Christ…death is not the end of the story.
May we not be cast down and demobilized by death, but may be empowered by our life in Christ, and like Lazarus, may we be unbound from these cloths, from the grip of death…
and may we be liberated to serve as Lazarus was.
Today we are filled with grief as we reflect on death, and the deaths of those so dear to us
…so we light a candle, a sign of our hope in the eternal life in Christ.
May we shine this light wherever death casts its shadow. Amen.
November Newsletter
Harnessing the Wind
William Kamkwamba grew up in rural Malawi, in the midst of severe poverty and hunger. Even though there was not a lot of resources at his disposal, he saw the wind as an asset. He had the idea to use the wind for energy. He began to collect everyday things around him, like motor parts, PVC pipe and an old bicycle wheel. From this junk, he began to design and construct a windmill. He said “with a windmill, we’d finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger.” Kamkwamba tells this story in a new book called, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”
If you would for a moment, I’d like you to think about the wind. The wind is quite a mysterious and dynamic phenomena. Even though we can’t see the wind, we can see the wind blowing the leaves on the trees. We can feel the wind blowing through our hair. The wind can be quite powerful. Just this morning the wind uprooted a tree and sent it crashing onto a car (two cars away from mine).
Because of these mysterious and dynamic qualities, the wind is commonly used as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word “ruah” means wind, breath or spirit, including the Spirit of God. It is the “ruah” from God that blows over the face of the waters in creation (Gen 1:2). It is the “ruah” in Ezekiel’s vision that gives life to the dry bones. We read in Acts 2 that the Holy Spirit at Pentecost came “like the rush of a violent wind.” Throughout the scriptures, the wind provides imagery and insight into the function of the Spirit. Like the wind, we may not be able to see the Holy Spirit, but we can see its effects around us.
So now, look around, where do see the Holy Spirit active in our midst and in our community? How is God active in our church and in our neighborhood? William Kamkwamba was able to utilize the scraps and junk he had around him to build a windmill, and “harness the wind” in a way that he used for the betterment of his community amid severe poverty. As we see and feel the Holy Spirit moving and working around us, how can we “harness the wind”? How can we be a part of what the Holy Spirit is already doing in our midst? It will take a strong will and innovative spirit like that of Kamkwamba.
I can feel the wind blowing here at Trinity, the Holy Spirit is moving and working in our midst. It is not just by chance that I am here, it is a calling, and the Holy Spirit was at work in the call process every step of the way to get me here. I trust that God has a plan for calling me here to Trinity for such a time as this. I am excited to see how the wind will be blowing here at Trinity, and what God has in store for us. May we be attentive to the Holy Spirit and may we “harness the wind” together.
William Kamkwamba grew up in rural Malawi, in the midst of severe poverty and hunger. Even though there was not a lot of resources at his disposal, he saw the wind as an asset. He had the idea to use the wind for energy. He began to collect everyday things around him, like motor parts, PVC pipe and an old bicycle wheel. From this junk, he began to design and construct a windmill. He said “with a windmill, we’d finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger.” Kamkwamba tells this story in a new book called, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”
If you would for a moment, I’d like you to think about the wind. The wind is quite a mysterious and dynamic phenomena. Even though we can’t see the wind, we can see the wind blowing the leaves on the trees. We can feel the wind blowing through our hair. The wind can be quite powerful. Just this morning the wind uprooted a tree and sent it crashing onto a car (two cars away from mine).
Because of these mysterious and dynamic qualities, the wind is commonly used as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word “ruah” means wind, breath or spirit, including the Spirit of God. It is the “ruah” from God that blows over the face of the waters in creation (Gen 1:2). It is the “ruah” in Ezekiel’s vision that gives life to the dry bones. We read in Acts 2 that the Holy Spirit at Pentecost came “like the rush of a violent wind.” Throughout the scriptures, the wind provides imagery and insight into the function of the Spirit. Like the wind, we may not be able to see the Holy Spirit, but we can see its effects around us.
So now, look around, where do see the Holy Spirit active in our midst and in our community? How is God active in our church and in our neighborhood? William Kamkwamba was able to utilize the scraps and junk he had around him to build a windmill, and “harness the wind” in a way that he used for the betterment of his community amid severe poverty. As we see and feel the Holy Spirit moving and working around us, how can we “harness the wind”? How can we be a part of what the Holy Spirit is already doing in our midst? It will take a strong will and innovative spirit like that of Kamkwamba.
I can feel the wind blowing here at Trinity, the Holy Spirit is moving and working in our midst. It is not just by chance that I am here, it is a calling, and the Holy Spirit was at work in the call process every step of the way to get me here. I trust that God has a plan for calling me here to Trinity for such a time as this. I am excited to see how the wind will be blowing here at Trinity, and what God has in store for us. May we be attentive to the Holy Spirit and may we “harness the wind” together.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The sound of these being nailed to the door
October 25, 2009
Reformation Sunday
John 8:31-36
The sound of theses being nailed to the door
(Dalerond is nailing pieces of paper to the door)
“Bang, Bang, Bang…” What are you doing? “96, 97, 98…I’m nailing more theses to the door.”
Today is Reformation Sunday, a day where we remember the Reformation, the movement in 16th century from which the Protestant church emerged. The Reformation is widely regarded to have been started by the 95 theses nailed to a church door by Martin Luther, a monk and professor at the University of Wittenburg in Germany. The 95 theses raised an array of theological issues that Luther had with the Catholic Church of which Luther was a part. The reason these 95 theses had the effect they did was because Luther was attacking the sale of indulgences. Indulgences at the time were documents one could buy for the remittance of sins. One could buy an indulgence and free a relative from purgatory, where souls wait before they go to heaven.
There is a scene in the movie Luther (we are watching tonight) where an “indulgence preacher” starts burning his hand and says: now imagine your whole body burning for eternity…but if you buy this indulgence you can free your self from this eternity of roasting. Later the indulgence preacher tells a woman with a crippled child, “make sure when the time comes your daughter can run to Jesus.” When she buys an indulgence from him and shows it to Luther, he tells her that it’s no good, and that she should “trust in God’s love.” The next scene in the movie is where Luther nails the 95 theses to the door.
One temptation for Lutherans is to look back at the Reformation and say: Luther had it right, he fixed the problems. Lutherans are the best, all the other churches got it wrong.
As we look at the Church (broader Church, Lutheran Church, this church), there are a lot of things we do well. What if instead we took Reformation Sunday as an opportunity to look at the Church through the eyes of Luther.
To evaluate ourselves, and ask, what message is the Church sending to the world?
To pick up our hammer and nails and start nailing more theses to the door (like Dalerond was doing)?
If you could write a thesis, what would you write?
If you could change something about the Church as it is today, what would you change?
I’ve heard a lot of stories about the good that the Church does. I’ve also heard stories about when people have been turned away from the Church… I’ve had some conversations over the past week. One gentleman said he used to go to church, but they were “very judgemental” so he stopped going. Another said that he used to go to church, but they told him that he wasn’t giving enough money.
When Hurracaine Katrina struck, there were some Christians who said, this is the wrath of God bringing judgment down upon the city of New Orleans.
In the midst of this Economic Crisis, what will the Church’s response be? Will the Church be there with those who were laid off? Will the Church help people find jobs?
Sometimes instead of proclaiming the Gospel, the good news of God’s grace in Jesus Christ who frees us from our sin, we send other messages. Instead of a message of love, sometimes the Church sends a message of hate. Instead of a message of unconditional love, sometimes the Church has put conditions on the love of God. Sometimes the Church still sends out a message that salvation is something we have to earn, that we can free ourselves from our sin.
Luther’s principle message for his time and ours is that is by the grace of God that we are free, not by anything we can do.
John “so if the son makes you free, you are free indeed.” period.
If anyone is sold an indulgence, anyone is told that God hates them, if anyone is turned away from the Church, if anyone is judged wrongly…May we say what Luther said to the woman who bought the indulgence: this is no good, instead, trust in God’s love.
So, look at the Church today as if you were Martin Luther, what do you see? What reform would you make? What hopes and dreams do you have for the Church? What thesis would you nail to the wall? (after the service, you can come up and add your own thesis to the wall)
So in the spirit of the Reformation, we realize that the Church is not perfect, we’ve got issues, but we pray that God would help us…As we prayed earlier, we pray for the Church…
Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it. Amen.
Reformation Sunday
John 8:31-36
The sound of theses being nailed to the door
(Dalerond is nailing pieces of paper to the door)
“Bang, Bang, Bang…” What are you doing? “96, 97, 98…I’m nailing more theses to the door.”
Today is Reformation Sunday, a day where we remember the Reformation, the movement in 16th century from which the Protestant church emerged. The Reformation is widely regarded to have been started by the 95 theses nailed to a church door by Martin Luther, a monk and professor at the University of Wittenburg in Germany. The 95 theses raised an array of theological issues that Luther had with the Catholic Church of which Luther was a part. The reason these 95 theses had the effect they did was because Luther was attacking the sale of indulgences. Indulgences at the time were documents one could buy for the remittance of sins. One could buy an indulgence and free a relative from purgatory, where souls wait before they go to heaven.
There is a scene in the movie Luther (we are watching tonight) where an “indulgence preacher” starts burning his hand and says: now imagine your whole body burning for eternity…but if you buy this indulgence you can free your self from this eternity of roasting. Later the indulgence preacher tells a woman with a crippled child, “make sure when the time comes your daughter can run to Jesus.” When she buys an indulgence from him and shows it to Luther, he tells her that it’s no good, and that she should “trust in God’s love.” The next scene in the movie is where Luther nails the 95 theses to the door.
One temptation for Lutherans is to look back at the Reformation and say: Luther had it right, he fixed the problems. Lutherans are the best, all the other churches got it wrong.
As we look at the Church (broader Church, Lutheran Church, this church), there are a lot of things we do well. What if instead we took Reformation Sunday as an opportunity to look at the Church through the eyes of Luther.
To evaluate ourselves, and ask, what message is the Church sending to the world?
To pick up our hammer and nails and start nailing more theses to the door (like Dalerond was doing)?
If you could write a thesis, what would you write?
If you could change something about the Church as it is today, what would you change?
I’ve heard a lot of stories about the good that the Church does. I’ve also heard stories about when people have been turned away from the Church… I’ve had some conversations over the past week. One gentleman said he used to go to church, but they were “very judgemental” so he stopped going. Another said that he used to go to church, but they told him that he wasn’t giving enough money.
When Hurracaine Katrina struck, there were some Christians who said, this is the wrath of God bringing judgment down upon the city of New Orleans.
In the midst of this Economic Crisis, what will the Church’s response be? Will the Church be there with those who were laid off? Will the Church help people find jobs?
Sometimes instead of proclaiming the Gospel, the good news of God’s grace in Jesus Christ who frees us from our sin, we send other messages. Instead of a message of love, sometimes the Church sends a message of hate. Instead of a message of unconditional love, sometimes the Church has put conditions on the love of God. Sometimes the Church still sends out a message that salvation is something we have to earn, that we can free ourselves from our sin.
Luther’s principle message for his time and ours is that is by the grace of God that we are free, not by anything we can do.
John “so if the son makes you free, you are free indeed.” period.
If anyone is sold an indulgence, anyone is told that God hates them, if anyone is turned away from the Church, if anyone is judged wrongly…May we say what Luther said to the woman who bought the indulgence: this is no good, instead, trust in God’s love.
So, look at the Church today as if you were Martin Luther, what do you see? What reform would you make? What hopes and dreams do you have for the Church? What thesis would you nail to the wall? (after the service, you can come up and add your own thesis to the wall)
So in the spirit of the Reformation, we realize that the Church is not perfect, we’ve got issues, but we pray that God would help us…As we prayed earlier, we pray for the Church…
Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it. Amen.
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