Library: Sorted by Grace

 

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God --- what is good acceptable and perfect.  (Rms. 12: 2)

 

Because of government funding cuts, five libraries in the Annapolis Valley were to close. This week a donor gave a substantial gift to keep them open. On multiple platforms people are talking about the value of libraries. Conversations considered the freedom to learn, share, explore, feel, and dream. Much was said about curiosity and imagination, new ideas and new directions of thinking. It was strongly noted that tyrannies and dystopias do not have libraries: books are burned and free thought or expression are banned.

 

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God --- what is good acceptable and perfect.

 

When I teach the books of the Bible to confirmation classes, I begin with a picture of a bookshelf, filled with books. On the top shelf are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – the books ascribed to Moses and called Torah by our Jewish siblings. There is a shelf with history books like Kings and Chronicles. There is a poetry section with the books like Psalms and Proverbs. There is a shelf holding lots of books written by prophets. The library includes four gospels and a section filled with letters.

The literature spans thousands of years. The books are abundant with diversity of cultures, peoples, geography, empires, situations, perspectives, styles, and intended audiences. When one puts the books together in one place, readers will note that between the books there are contradictions, disagreeing timelines, differing details, a variety of theological perspectives, and descriptions of God that don’t easily sit side-by-side. We have put this whole bookshelf together into one. The Bible is a library.

 

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God --- what is good acceptable and perfect

 

Paul, in his book Romans, sets out in the first 11 chapters his argument for salvation through Christ. Paul draws from various books in the library just mentioned, as well as some others, to craft his argument. This morning we enter the book of Romans at chapter 12, where Paul turns the script and gets to the ‘therefore,’ or the ‘now what?’ of what he is trying to say.

Paul does this by creating a new shelving system, a new structure to organize the items in the library. Items are now placed by the structure of grace.

Because of Christ, righteousness is no longer to be understood as a way to earn God’s favour, but rather the response to divine grace given. The structure of grace is living in gratitude for release from the bondage to sin. This is done in holy living that exhibits and grows the grace of God.

 

New Testament scholar Paul Achtemeier, in the Interpretation series Commentary on Romans, says this of the structuring power of grace, Living the power of the Spirit, and accepting the gracious lordship of God, the Christian’s world has been made new; and the task is now to let the structuring power of grace transform that world into the shape of grace. -pg. 195

Chapter 12 of Romans is an exhortation for holy living driven by experienced grace. Paul’s appeal continues through chapter 16. The book calls Christ followers to common life that exhibits and grows the grace of God.

Not to miss at this turning point are three key points: by grace, in Christ, one body.

 

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God --- what is good acceptable and perfect.

 

Through the book of Romans, Paul is addressing an immediate concern: how to live lives of grace in the political and cultural situation of the time. And as faith community to discern the will of God, for them in that time and place.

Jews had been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius in 49CE. This included Jewish Christians like Prisca and Aquila, characters we read about in the book of Acts. Half a decade or so later, under the reign of Emperor Nero, they return to Rome as do others. The returnees, who had lost property and community ties find a church that is now predominately Gentile Christians (no Jewish background whatsoever). Paul sets out his argument in chapters 1 -11 with a summary of the gospel of salvation in Christ. He asks, pleads, that Gentile Christians not boast over Jews, and not participate in antisemitism that is once again on the rise in Rome. Paul’s letter is concerned with animosity and friction between faith groups and house churches, and fears that Rome will consider this as civil disturbance warranting policing and persecution measures.

 

So Paul writes: By grace, in Christ, one body.

Paul uses the full library to convince the faithful to live accordingly. Specifically, to Christ followers that it is by God’s grace, through Christ, that there is one body. Unity whose heart is Christ. Now unity does not mean uniformity like a group think model where everyone states belief exactly the same way or believes exactly the same things. In talking about the individual parts of one body, Romans describes the diversity and multi-faceted abundance of parts, enacted in a variety of expressions of living grace and enacting faith.

 

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God --- what is good acceptable and perfect

 

We are a library.  

Since the beginning of the Reformation, Lutheranism has followed a way of being. Education, reading, curiosity, questions, teaching (not just by the pastor), studying scripture, participating in liturgy, hymn writing and singing, and theological conversation for all, by all have been encouraged and practiced. Each week we step aside so as not to be conformed to this age. We come to church to read a different book, to hear a story from a perspective not our own. The practice of worship exercises our hearts and minds such that they are transformed. When leaving this space, we are not the same as when we arrived. We have new ideas, prayers, hopes, and a renewed spirit. All of this, and as a collection of people from a variety of experiences, we are uniquely equipped as a community to discern the will of God for this community.

 

This week I found September’s Bible studies. They are from Canada Lutheran World Relief and are on the theme of education. Each study includes specifics about how education plays an important role in the work that CLWR does around the world. As we explore the biblical texts we will see the passing of God story through learning, curiosity, and conversation. I noted how much I take for granted – free education, ability to read, liberty of expression, access to information. Sunday School, Bible Study, confirmation, summer camp, faith community, my own Bible  …

Today I give thanks for libraries – traditional library, school library, the Bible, church as library – I see grace working through all forms of library. I give thanks for the gift of libraries, for the gift of grace.

May this library keep our minds discerning and our hearts living that which is good acceptable and perfect.

By grace, in Christ, one body. Amen.

The Kindom of Heaven Is Like: A Parable for Today

 

Many years ago, when I worked at Lutheran Camp Edgewood, I found a poem that really spoke to me. The camp had old rolls of wallpaper for crafts. I took a swatch and wrote the poem on the fancy pearlized and textured wallpaper. Later saving it in a book with collected and written poems. At the time, although I couldn’t explain the poem to anyone else, it felt like an expression of a teenagers world view.

 

The first funeral in my first parish was that of a woman in her early 60s. This beautiful woman had had a hard life with unfair circumstances. This included having a debilitating body wasting illness, that placed her in a nursing home and confined to bed. She was the nicest person, with a warm smile, generous in conversation and care for those who visited and helped her. Meeting her you would not know the depth of hardship she had endured and continued to endure.

In her funeral sermon I shared the poem that I had collected and saved.

The poem written by Canadian poet Raymond Souster is this:

I wanted to smash, something, anything, against their dull stupid faces,

Then you reached down with a certain smile, put a flower in my hand.

The woman could have been the first line of the poem, and yet she was everything of the second line.

Hardship, unfairness, sickness – all the emotions, the physical energy, the impossibility of changing outcomes-

who would not become angry, hostile, scream at the pain, blame God, loss hope, or give up?

Not this kind woman. This beautiful woman, always reached out with a certain smile, coveted prayer, appreciated relationships, shared love, encouraged a new pastor… she put metaphorical flowers in my hand, and in the hands of others.

She represented for me what Jesus is trying to get across in the Gospel. She defined and was the kingdom of God in her actions. Jesus is trying to articulate the kingdom of God.

 

The older I get, the more I witness, this short poem takes on a deeper meaning.

 

It would be easy, understandable, for someone to want to smash something…

How a smoke-filled yellow sky or smoke induced blood red sun feels like being in a dystopian novel

How climate crisis has made 40C a new norm for places around the global

How hatred and greed is escalating the procurement of weapons and elite forces, only to destroy other human beings

How stories of injustice continue to multiply, while arrogant perpetrators and societies aware still double down on doing egregious harm

How someone could once again aim to kill the most beautiful tree in the Public Gardens

…smash something … there are days when, if I am honest, I most certainly want to smash something anything against their dull stupid faces.

 

The older I get, the more I witness, the more Jesus’ words take on a deeper meaning.

The kingdom of heaven is like…

Jesus is filling the ears and the imaginations of his listeners, in doing so he is laying flowers in hands.

Remember Jesus is speaking to an occupied people, a people resented by Roman rulers, who experience violence - torture – crucifixion as common place. Society operates with slavery, widespread poverty, and out-of-touch religious leaders who put rules before kindred.

 

The older I get, the more I witness, the more I understand that the ultimate deeper meaning is Jesus’ action.

The kingdom of heaven is Jesus dying on the cross, crucified.

I imagine the disciples wanting to smash something, anything, against the dull stupid faces of the Roman Empire, regional governors, the religious authorities that incited the crowds. At the foot of the cross, on the killing hill --- I can feel the eeriness of the dystopian inky sky. I can hear the jeering crowds, the crying followers. I am aware of military might; of cringing at the crass treatment, of being silenced by the force of Empire. I am sickened by the glorification of violence, disheartened by the political maneuvering, shocked at the insignificance given to human life, and the inhumanity and terror of the whole scene.

And then, you -Jesus- reached down with a certain smile and put a flower in -their hand – the world’s hand.

Put a flower in my hand; – Jesus put the kingdom of God in the mayhem- grace, front and centre for everyone with ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to receive.

The kingdom of God has drawn near and is present as Jesus acknowledges the man dying beside him and promises him life. Jesus puts a flower in the hand, forgiving those who were killing him. Jesus gives a flower with the care he has for his mother. Jesus brings the kingdom by remaining present – incarnate- when he could have left; got off the cross immediately. Jesus is the kingdom by refusing that kind of  hero glory and instead choosing to be present in hurt, suffering, and death. …and in this, offers a flower, bearing witness to the possibility of the redemption of all that is broken.

 

All of Jesus’ kindom parables in this passage are short, one sentence. The kindom captured quickly in one deep image. One flower. Across the parables there are themes:

The kindom expands – grows like plants, rises like yeast. The kingdom parables are focused on the common good and filled with abundance and diversity. This kingdom of abundance and diversity, values life and wholeness, and blooms into beauty and joy.

 

In our world and in our lives, smashing something, anything, is an understandable human response to all the mayhem  -  but the past weeks Jesus has told parables about planting seeds, growing plants, harvesting – today Jesus speaks about kingdom. Listeners are planted with seeds. Jesus is tending those words and now encouraging blooming into kingdom living, to plant new crops of seeds, to put flowers in the hands of others. Growing the kingdom of God one flower at a time. Being a present and tangible brightly coloured gift  - that warms the heart and offers grace in the world’s suffering, pain, and mayhem.

Let us go and live God’s kingdom – and with a certain smile, put a flower in another’s hand.

 

Waves of Grace and Happiness

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. (Matt. 13: 1-2)

 

When I read the gospel for this morning, I remained in the first sentence. Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. For those of us who live on the ocean, or have lived on a sea or a lake, we understand this with our whole selves: the smell of the air off the water, the sound of the surf, the texture of the beach, the awe filled experience of the horizon and water becoming one far beyond our ability to reach.

Jesus was drawn out of the house to sit by the water. Perhaps Jesus went out of the house to escape the household routines and the disciples going about daily actions of life. Jesus went out for some peace and quiet, to broaden his scope, to calm his nerves, to commune with nature – maybe to get out of doing the dishes. Or to separate from certain insistent disciples who enjoyed nothing more than to talk and debate, ask questions and pontificate. Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

 

Pastoral ministry this week placed me beside the sea. On Saturday for a wedding with the Northwest Arm as the backdrop, where the sermon spoke of beauty – beauty of creation, beauty of gathered community, beauty of love. On Sunday, we have gathered around the waters of baptism. As we celebrate the sacrament of baptism we sit beside the sea. Jesus sitting by the sea is a perfect reading for Minoyia’s baptism. Minoyia’s name means happiness. Is this not our experience of sitting by the sea? Connecting, communing with water; sitting beside the water we are filled with happiness.

Jesus was due for some happiness. If you recall from last week, Jesus has been struggling with rejection from ‘this generation’ and frustrated by the lack of action and unwillingness of people to receive God’s kindom. In this text we notice a growing ‘pro’ Jesus audience who comes to sit beside the sea with Jesus.

 

It is important to note that the sea is the backdrop of today’s story. The crowd comes and stands on the beach, as Jesus gets into a boat and moves out on the water. Jesus will be living water that will come back to shore in the form of parables; stories.  For chapter 13 Matthew has gathered, depending on how you count, 7 or 8 parables. Matthew has linked parables gathered from Mark’s gospel with others gleaned from wider sources.

The parables are about God’s kindom, told with the backdrop of the sea. The environ is as important as the words because the sea affects how the words are heard. The presence of waves, subconsciously wet the imagination, lulling the spirit to float in the waves of the coming of God’s reign. There is an experiential component to living word pushing to shore in stories of God’s mercy and justice, where it ebbs back to sea, only to return and lap at listener’s feet. This cycle of kindom coming is continual, perpetual. The kindom has always been, God’s action has always been. It is in the present washing over us and is a hope of complete wholeness in the future.

 

I recently heard an interview of a couple who moved to the Wales countryside for a fresh start. Their property sat above the Welsh coastline, with a path that led to beach. The husband had retired out of military service. Suffering from PTSD he needed to simplify life and slow down. When he would wake from night terrors, usually around 3am, he would walk down to the beach. On the beach there was an approximately 200 lb rock. One night he wondered if he could move it. He pushed it and it moved a little. Night after night he pushed the rock a little bit. In the interview he described how the moving of the rock, made him feel that he was moving too, one step at a time. Healing a little bit was being visualized as the rock moved across the beach. One day as his wife noticed that the rock had shifted down the beach said, “Why don’t you sit on the rock instead?”

After that he started to sit on the rock, and that is when he started to meditate. The man went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

The man now runs a retreat and workshops for other veterans suffering with PTSD.

 

Backdrop is important. The physical movement of the rock changed the man’s perception of how he was feeling. He witnessed the rock in a new place. Sitting beside the sea, the man found himself. Connected with a power greater than himself and a mystery deeper than himself, his spirit stirred and was moved to return justice and mercy to fellow veterans. The ebb and flow of the waves had healing power.

 

Ocean – sea -  the waters of baptism convey both power and the mystery of kindom. Ocean – sea – the waters of baptism are a vast expanse with great depth, containing the visible and invisible, the known and unknown.

 

Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.

Did the feeling of rejection wash away, as a sense of belonging rushed in to take its place?

Did anger and disappointment ease, as waves of calm and peace rolled in?

Was Jesus reminded that throughout human history manifestations of God were embraced, only to slip away? Did the waves whisper – remember - the mountain tops and the valleys. The deserts and life-flowing streams. Chaos and creation. Bondage and freedom. Faith and doubt. Understanding and a lack thereof. The reciprocity of ministry. The give and take of relationship.

Did the power of the waves speak to Jesus of the swelling of God’s grace that washes across the sand, continually, lavishly, abundantly. Always flowing, always offered, always present.

 

Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. How do we change when we take the time to go and sit by the sea?

 

Dr. Douglas Hare ended his commentary on Matthew 13 this way: In Jesus’ ministry, God is present and active. The disciples have witnessed the evidence. Instead of demanding certainty as did the Pharisees and Sadducees, the disciples must remember and let the memory of God’s goodness overrule the anxieties of daily life. (Interpretation Series, pg 185)

Despite whatever is going on, in the world, in our communities, in our lives, in ourselves – God’s kindom continues to come wave after wave. And it is good.

 

As we sit by the waters of baptism –

Be filled with Minoyia – happiness.

Here in water is power and mystery, death and life, belonging and peace.

Here is grace beyond grace.

 

Come sit with Jesus by the sea.

Amen.

 

Kindom Talk: Viewer Discretion Is Advised

 

Before television shows there is often a disclaimer, something like:

Due to course language, violence, and nudity, this program may not be suitable for all viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

This morning’s sermon comes with a disclaimer.

You will not like what you hear.

 

Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Don’t get excited! These verses are not the “ahh,” the sigh of relief and comfort from the very hearing of these words. The words are not directed at you, or for you, as an individual. They have nothing to do with the removal of weariness or comfort from everyday life situations and circumstances.

These words are part of a holy rant by Jesus. With fiery passion and course language everyone has come under scrutiny and is being lambasted. Viewer – hearer - discretion is advised.

 

We enter the show at verse 16 of Matthew chapter 11. John the Baptist has recently sent his disciples to Jesus to ask if Jesus is the Messiah, the one who is to come, or should they wait for another? To the crowds Jesus praised John the Baptist and the prophetic God-given work John performed.

 

Viewer- hearer- discretion is advised. Jesus uses course language “this generation.” Jesus’ words are not flattering. Jesus is beyond annoyed. God has sent two completely different messengers to the same area, at the same time, because God knows people hear and process things differently.

So, God sends John – the fiery prophet, living on locusts and wild honey, working in the desert, wearing camel hair, Law abiding and offering a baptism of repentance. The people write John off for his austere living and his disregard for societal norms.

God sends Jesus – a respectable teacher who knows the Law and mercifully applies it, a miracle worker who banquets with tax collectors and sinners. The people write Jesus off for liberal interpretation and compassionate application.

The people have been given choice, one message, two very different approaches, both provided by God. And yet people determine that both John and Jesus can be ignored and dismissed as irrelevant.

Kindom talk – living into a full covenant – as in a relationship with God, creation, and each other – is dismissed as irrelevant. It seems too big an ideal – impossible- for everyday life. It takes too much time or energy. It takes one away from human and worldly pursuits of power, greed, and success.

 

Jesus, ever the storyteller, channels his disappointment into a “parable of the children.”

I have to admit, that this text as a parable was a new-to-me insight, gathered from Douglas Hare’s thoughts in the Interpretation Commentary: Matthew.

The parable has a group of children wanting to play. There is a group, likely the girls, who want to play funeral. This is comfortable for them because the cultural practice of the day was to hire professional mourners – a woman’s profession– for funerals. The other group, likely the boys, want to play wedding. Traditionally men were responsible for the round dance that was part of a wedding celebration. The children can’t figure out which to play, so end up playing nothing. The children are bored. They pick on each other and either succumb to laziness or aimlessly get up to no good. Funeral or wedding. Mourning or joy.

 

God invites the people to experience the drawing near of God’s kindom -

From John the Baptist via stern warning of coming judgement, and through Jesus with a joyful announcement of the arrival of kindom. Neither side or approach is wrong. God provided both because God knows people hear and process things differently. Jesus is at wits end because “this generation” has not accepted or committed to either. The people remain idle – as if the kindom doesn’t exist, as if God’s restorative and covenantal work is not important or relevant.

 

Viewer  - hearer- discretion is advised –

Jesus is feeling alone. The learned, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious, the Law keepers, the Synagogue attendees, the people of faith, have chosen to remain uninvolved and unchanged to God’s kindom coming near. All have failed to take either of God’s end-time, kindom-preacher-messengers, seriously.

Jesus, a tirelessly working teacher-preacher-healer, wants to see his message bearing fruit and making a difference in peoples’ relationships and the life of the whole community. Jesus just wants the people to -

Get at it! Embrace kindom living, either because you take judgement seriously, so you act accordingly, or you take the joyful arrival of kindom seriously so live accordingly. However you go about it – make a choice and start playing together. Both playing and working with kindom goals.

 

Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Octavia Raheem, a rest coach and author, wrote, “For so long, I’ve relied solely on the trinity of hard work, grit, and relentlessness. This holy trinity has served me well and, at the same time, left me weary and tired.”

When I read this, I thought about what the trinities are that make us weary and tired? In the same thought, I wonder what keeps us from hearing the Holy Trinity and receiving the joyful announcement of the arrival of God’s kindom (or if you prefer the stern warning of coming judgement). For me these were not individual ponderings but rather, thoughts of the whole church. What are the heavy burdens we carry as a church? Our very human childishness that hinders us from embracing God’s preacher-messengers and making a choice to not sit on the sidelines bored and lazy or getting into trouble – but deciding to play and live out God’s kindom? I wonder how we are hindered by burdens of fear, self-service, expectations, legacy, worry, doubt, scarcity, unbelief, survival, property, comfort, status quo…

 

Viewer  - hearer- discretion is advised.

This text is not about rest, as in no work. It is rest from the human trinity of power, greed, and success. It is about kindom work. It is about work that takes commitment, dedication, and faithfulness. It requires a sense of play and relationship. And Jesus promises it will be ‘easy.’

The Greek word that has been translated as ‘easy’ has a root meaning of ‘kind.’ Yokes used on animals like oxen, can be shaped specifically for an animal to cause the least amount of chaffing. Jesus’ yoke will be kind – enabling us to more easily carry the load. There is an expectation that we carry a load. Yokes are used to connect two oxen to help them work together as a team - to pull the plow through the fields, move heavy carts, and do work impossible, too big to do alone.

At the end of the rant Jesus is calling on people to carry the load he is carrying all by himself!

Jesus is convincing them, imploring them, inviting them – and us- to yoke up with him and be a team.

Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Set aside your worldly burdens and share Jesus’ load and with kindom purpose play as a team.

The Gospel: Flip the Script

 

I arrived at my first parish in the summertime. Churches in the area, including the one I was called to, hired summer students to mow their cemeteries, paint, and do other odd jobs. I enjoyed talking with the summer student and learning about the community through her eyes.

That summer there was a revivalist preacher who set up a big white tent on the main road, in front of parent’s her house. People from all around the province would come to the tent to hear the preacher. The student saw the people coming and going and could hear the extensive and robust singing at their evening gatherings. The student asked if I would go with her to satisfy a curiosity of ‘the show’ inside the tent. So, we went together. Her in leisure pants and a tank top with long hair in a ponytail. Me in pants and a full clergy collar.

The ushers directed us to chairs in the front row. The women around us had their hair pinned up in buns, some with netted hair covers; all had skirts and long-sleeved blouses. Needless to say, we stood out.

We enjoyed the singing, the clapping, and wished there was dancing.

As the preacher spoke, his message went from the general audience, to being directed at the two of us. It went on, and on, in the hope that we would have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment.’

A large presentation board was brought out on stage. The top corner was painted in a bright glossy-white, the light being heaven. There was a tiny footbridge in the shape of cross to get to the light. The rest - 90% of the board- was black and grey, filled with grotesque figures, scary faces, and flames across the bottom. This section of the board was clearly for people like the summer student and myself – it represented sin, death, agony – hell; which was for everyone who was on the outside of this group of revivalists.

After a few hours of trying to save us, the service ended, and we went on our merry way. Over the rest of the summer, we talked from time to time about the tent meeting. We acknowledged that our experience of faith and our theological understanding was far different from the presentation board meant to save us.

 

There is a problem if the focus is sin. Have you noticed the past few weeks, in our reading through the book of Romans, that Paul’s speeches are never just about sin and never end on the theme of sin? Sin is the precursor for Paul to preach the good news. Paul’s words this morning: Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. You having been set free from sin. If sin is preached without the good news, it is not the gospel. That night in the tent there was no gospel.

 

You may or may not realize that we have a liturgy for individual confession printed in our hymnbooks. Many do not know this because as a denomination we have placed a higher emphasis on corporate confession.  Together we confess our brokenness. Sin does not happen in isolation. It is relational. We live in the reality that sin is bigger than anyone of us and our individual indiscretions. In someways it is like the presentation board representing the distance of humanity from God, and thus the brokenness of the world. As a community we make confession of the reality in which we live our lives, and together, we receive forgiveness. Confession moves us as a group, a community, from a focus on sin to embracing good news and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is extremely important because to flip the presentation board, we live out the gospel through good news, not sin.

Paul states, When you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. The trouble is that being a slave to sin, focuses on sin – yours and that of others. You spend your time watching for mistakes, judging righteousness, and concerned about lawbreaking and rules. This inhibits one from directing one’s energy towards participating in reconciliation and wholeness. Sin binds one, leaving one to feel guilty, shame-filled, worthless and subservient to the drudgery and wickedness of not being good enough. Although technically free to act faithfully, righteously, and godly – to live God’s kindom - one focused on sin is so encumbered by sin that they are unable to see beyond sin, to imagine wholeness, to receive forgiveness, to feel absolution – God’s unconditional love, and then to share that good news with others.

 

The presentation board from the tent was backwards. Paul preaching to the Roman community encourages listeners to be focused on and about the fruit you have. Paul is saying to us to flip the script.

Imagine the presentation board with the majority of the space (90%) being bright, glossy, and white – where it looks like light. A beautifully pictured community reflecting inclusion and welcome, courage and strength that is born from the good news. A place where hope and love abound. A place where people have the courage to be intimate in their relationships. Where Jesus’ community extends peace, washes feet, eats with the outcast and marginalized, turns water to wine, multiples loaves and fish, shares bread, heals the sick, and welcomes the stranger.

The thing about this place – this presentation board – is that it is not about a future day; well it is as Paul wrote, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Bu living from freedom and gospel, the picture on the board is a future lived into the present – being focused on living whatever eternity looks and feels like, through an actual human lifetime. Giving and serving from the fruit we have benefits everyone around us and brings God’s wholeness to the world and all creation. The kindom of God is brought near in the creating, sustaining, and encouraging a living of grace that exists now in the essence of all that is good, and kind, and beautiful.

 

The biggest problem with the tent meeting presentation board was that the terror of the images and the mass chaos of sin, overpowered the central core of Christian belief. One could look at the poster and never see the cross; be pulled into fear and never hear Jesus’ peace be with you. One had to navigate through the smokescreen to get to Christ.

We live in structures that promote and operate in the realms of power, exclusion, judgement, fear, and hate.

By grace, as a community of faith, we live in freedom. Confessing sin corporately and receiving forgiveness as a whole, we are a community made whole. We experience the good news in the absolution. The script is flipped. Through the rest of the liturgy the smoke is lifted so that we rest and absorb good news, the gospel.

Christ comes in the cross, in scripture, in music to heal the sin-sick soul, in water, in the breaking of bread, in sharing Christ’s peace, in praying for each other and the world, in community, in coffee.

 

Thanks be to God we are not of the world projected in media, sold by corporations, structured by governments, manipulated by markets. We are free through the cross. The cross is a story of brightness and redemption that shines beyond who the world told Jesus he should be, and beyond who the world tells us that we should be. We do not start or stop in sin.  We start with the cross, telling the good news we share the gospel.

We flip the script to that which we hear and feel from the world -

Our presentation board  - our lives- are filled and overflowing with life, grace, love, welcome, peace, hope, joy, forgiveness and so on. All relational. All community. This is the fruit with which we bring wholeness to the brokenness of world.

 

As Paul draws towards the end of Romans, he writes this blessing – receive these words:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Lazy Harvester

 

 

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. (Mt. 9: 37-38)

 

The end of chapter 9 is a turning point in the book of Matthew. Up to this point Jesus is the preacher, teacher, and healer, the sole missionary if you will. In chapter 10, the disciples are summoned and sent out to preach and share the gospel. The note in my study Bible suggests that the verses are directed to the Matthean community because they are not engaged in mission or sharing the good news, and they should be. Here they receive a how-to manual.

 

Before the how-to manual we have verse 37-38 of Chapter 9. It teaches us three important things:

 

Abundance – the harvest is plentiful

How often do we go into the world with a perception that the world is out to get us? That there are scammers and thieves lying in wait? We go out suspicious of groups or those who are other? Are we not clouded in fear or anxiety, convinced the world is falling apart – with gangs, narcissism, apathy, drugs, violence?

 

For the non-farmers among us, harvest is the product of much work. Someone cleared the land, prepared the soil, planted seeds, tended the plants, weeded, picked bugs, worried that the plants would bear produce. And now after all that hard work, it is harvest time. And it was a good growing season - the right amount of sun and rain – worries can be set aside as there is an abundance of produce. Plentiful!

Before Jesus, before the disciples, before Matthew’s community the farming was done.

 

There is now a plentiful harvest. How often do we go into the world with a perception that God is already there? That there are people waiting to hear that they are loved and welcomed and belong? That someone cares? That there is freedom from bondage, redemption, and wholeness? Do we go with confidence, passion, and faith that people will gladly follow if asked, if invited, if given a ride.

Living from a perception of abundance, this passage makes me think about the harvesting of strawberries in a bumper crop year. Those are the summers where there are so many berries, you start picking a row and remain in the same row. No matter how many berries you pick, and others pick, there are berries that rot on the vine because the harvest can not be picked fast enough. This kind of harvesting is not onerous. It is a lazy person’s dream come true – sit in one spot and pick.

 

The second, important thing to note, there is an invitation to prayer.  – ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers

 

Pray.

The words of Mother Teresa sum up the reason so well. She wrote: “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”

We do that, we regularly ask in the ‘Prayers of the People’ for courage to serve. We pray in the communion liturgy that we may ‘give ourselves away as bread for the hungry.’  I wonder if we approach these prayers with the belief that the prayer will change us. Are we courageous enough to keep praying? And do we dare to pray for God to send labourers into the harvest – when we know that means us?

 

The third point to note is that labourers go into his harvest. – God’s harvest.

Labourers are not working for themselves, not working for their own gain or wealth, not working to fill their church. Labourers are working in God’s abundance in the currency of love, compassion, mercy, gospel-good-news. The magnitude of the work is as big as creation– God’s garden flourishes in the proclaiming of the good news of the kindom and curing every disease and every sickness, along with compassion for the harassed and helpless.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his Advent reflection, “God Is in the Manger,” wrote,

In total reality, he comes in the form of the beggar, of the dissolute human child in ragged clothes, asking for help. He confronts you in every person that you meet. As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbour, as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you, makes demands on you.

God, in Christ, is already in the abundance of the harvest. The Matthean community – we- are being invited into that harvest.

 

And get this, the harvest is so abundant, labourers are so needed –

You can sign up as a lazy picker and still cause change in your part of the berry patch.

You can pick one spot. You can sit on your butt. And you can participate in the harvest.

 

I don’t know about you, but I really do not like to see fruits or vegetables of any kind go to waste.  I am saddened when berries rot in the field. This passage is talking about God’s harvest. I don’t want to see people rot in the field, - succumbing to hopelessness, loneliness, worry, anger, marginalization, guilt - because I am walking in the world thinking it is out to get me, rather than living by grace through faith and sharing good news.

 

So here is a challenge for this faith community – if we each were ‘lazy pickers,’ this part of God’s harvest would get underway:

So here it is -

Choose a few hours each week – or a day or two- through the summer to be at the church. Open the doors so people can peek in or perhaps stop and pray for a moment or two. Talk with those who come in and welcome them. As they leave share a “Peace be with you.”

Sit on the church steps or at the picnic table - say ‘hello’ to the passersby. Welcome and be open to conversation.  

Have some sidewalk chalk and colour the street with words and pictures of welcome and wholeness. Blow bubbles with those interested. Bring cookies and share.

Whatever you do be present in the harvest.

 

And in this harvest you and the neighbourhood will be abundantly blessed.

 

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.

Giving Life to the Dead

 

Paul’s letter to the Romans invites us to ponder who God is and how God is.

 And what that means for who we are and how we are.

Paul asserts that God gives life to the dead and calls things into being that do not exist.

These creed-like statements are, using Abraham’s faith and life as illustration, commended to the Christ-following community receiving the letter. Note that the characteristics of who God is and how God is are in the present tense – active.

 

Let us explore this morning’s gospel from Matthew (9:9-13, 18-26) through the lens of Romans 4: 17, which reads: Also, to those who share the faith of Abraham… in the presence of the God in whom Abraham believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

The Gospel according to Matthew:

 

Jesus walked along.

Jesus saw a man.

            Not just with his eyes, did Jesus see a man. Jesus saw the man – as in “I see you.” The modern phrase of acknowledgment, recognition, understanding, and validation. I see the true you, the one hidden behind the masks you wear. The you, that is under the hate spewed at you by your own people; the you, lost in the conniving and cheating the job requires of you; the you, at a distance from others, alone.

And there was God –

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus called Matthew the tax collector. Follow me.

            An invitation is given to a despised, toll-charging, booth attendant named Matthew. Charging – at his own discretion the amount of coin required to pass by. Paying to walk their traditional lands and unceded territory, this collector was a traitor in the eyes of the people.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus sat down and had dinner with tax collectors and sinners.

            Matthew having felt seen, invites his friends to meet Jesus over a meal. Against social etiquette and religious rules, Jesus said yes – to eat with a group despised for collecting taxes from their own people to pay an occupying force. The franchised tax system was one where tax collectors often charger far more than what was fair, received bribes from the wealthy, and distributed the burden of the Roman tax quota to the poor. The collectors became rich on the backs of others. And the sinners? Bankers, those lending money, others, whose professions violated the Torah.

Jesus stood up for the tax collectors and sinners and remained sitting with them.

            Sitting with them in a demeanor of forgiveness without expectation of repentance or confessions.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus told the religious types to go and learn what mercy means.

            The religious leaders were not any better. The religious were judgers of righteousness in others, following a heavy-handed, hard-line interpretation of covenant laws, and extra laws. Religious nit-pickers, who were comfortable and liked to assume power and wield their authority.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus taught John’s disciples.

            We didn’t read this section of text, but in it is a debate on the practice of fasting, and judgement of those who do not; including Jesus’ disciples who are in a time of celebration for God is near. Jesus alludes to being more than a teacher -

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus was interrupted by a leader kneeling at his feet.

            This leader was a Ruler of the Synagogue in Capernum. He had general oversight of the synagogue with the power to invite visitors to address the congregation or not. The leader was a gatekeeper who turned not to the priests or others in the religious structure of the day. He came to Jesus and was not ignored.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus went to raise the leader’s daughter.

             The leader came for his daughter, one considered the least of a family – being both child and female.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus felt power flow through him.

            Unexpected, immediate, uncontrolled.

And there was God-

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus turned and saw a woman suffering with a flow of blood.

            Once again Jesus saw. Jesus saw her. The fear and hope, her despair and shame. Ostracized from society, community gatherings, and religious rituals because of illness. Jesus saw her faith not the simple-mindedness attributed to women of the day.  She was not rebuked but given dignity and respect.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus spoke to the woman.

             In an open conversation with a stranger in public, one unnamed, considered unclean; a woman - so even when marked clean, relegated to the back of synagogue, and with the responsibility to stay a decent distance from men.  

Jesus called her daughter.

 Validating her worth.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Jesus healed the woman.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus arrived at the leader’s house.

            That would be a rich leader for he owned property. Because his child had died there would be talk. He must have done something wrong to have received disfavour from God.

Jesus sent the mourning crowd away.

Jesus spoke and was laughed at.

            Jesus’ words were incomprehensible, deluded, and irrational. The girl was dead.  And to send to the mourners away was to prevent them receiving their wage as mourners at the house of wealth.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus took the girl’s hand.

            A girl – not as special as a son. A child with no status of their own. Jesus showed mercy and touched a dead body.

Jesus raised the girl.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus’ actions were reported through all the district.

 

The reports were both miracle story and controversy narrative, sharing a theme of opposition.

The scandalous headlines:

Jesus - Counteracts the dehumanization of occupation

Jesus – Courageously challenges religious structure

Jesus – Blatantly disregards social expectations

Jesus – Non-discriminately offers tangible acts of restoration

Jesus -  Recklessly administers mercy

 

And in Jesus’ opposition to the powers and authorities of the world, the systems, the judgement, the negative, the pervasive evil, and even death, in Jesus’ presence and actions, there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

The Greek verb to call in this text also means to invite. As followers of Jesus, Paul reminds us of the covenant and our invitation by the grace of God to the messianic banquet. A banquet where Jesus sits with tax collectors, sinners, the least, the forgotten, the ostracized, the sick, the poor, the landowner, others’ disciples, the dead --- and gives to each the bread of life.  Jesus’ brings into existence that which didn’t exist – belonging, kindness, mercy, wholeness, redemption, restoration, relationship. Matthew’s gospel highlights the relinquishing of old habits and embracing new responses to God’s grace, responses that are kindom work, God’s kindom. With a little help from Paul, we see that kindom comes about through faith, trusting in who God is and how God is. Jesus manifested in his ministry both Who and How God is.

 

In our everyday lives… walking along…

Because of who God is and how God is, who and how are we?

May we be of the same courage as Abraham, Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become… what God promised. Hoping against hope, may we believe in the coming of God’s kindom and in opposition to the world,

bring into existence – in each moment of our day -  mercy, kindness, belonging – giving life to the dead.