Reformation: The Posture of Grace

 An Elder tells a story of four frogs. Frog, Frog, Frog, and Frog sit side by side on a log. Before them is an expanse of water. One frog makes a decision to jump off the log. How many frogs are on the log? … Four.

Three green frogs and one orange frog. The orange frog has not yet jumped off the log, Frog has only made the decision to jump off. The frog changed from green to orange when deciding to be open to change. This is being open to Creator. The decision to change spots changed everything. That orange frog can not go back to being green. Even if a few days down the road the orange frog wakes up cranky and wants to go back to being a green frog on a log, it can not return to that version of itself.

 

Martin Luther’s story mirrors that of the orange frog. Monk, Monk, Monk, and Monk sit side by side on a pew. Before them is the book of Romans. Luther makes a decision to ask a question.

In that decision Luther is changed, open to hearing the Word. Luther can not go back to the monk he was before asking the question. The decision changed him. Once pondering Romans and hearing the perspective of grace, being justified by God’s grace, how does one return to not seeing it on the printed page; they don’t.

 

Reformation is a re-forming. Although an historic movement of the 1500s, reformation has been and is continual. For over 500 years, Lutheran Christians have continued to emphasize and ponder God’s grace; and each time the church does, or we do, there is change.

 

This morning when we decided to come to church, we changed, we opened ourselves to hear the Word.

During your time in this space, you hear the Word, you participate in a community experience, you have thoughts, you decide to come for communion, you choose to sing and pray… every decision changes you because it opens you to something bigger than yourself, to more options, to a new experience, to meeting God, hearing Creator. When you leave this space, you are different than when you arrived. You can not go back to the person you were before you decided to come to church.

 

How many of you had a grandmother, or teacher, maybe a parent, who repeatedly told you to stop slouching, sit up straight, shoulders back, head up? When I was young, I was often reminded to correct my posture. I can still hear the words when I catch myself not standing up straight. Paul wrote the words, they are now justified by his grace as a gift. Justified by grace as a gift, were words that repeatedly rang in Luther’s ears. The words changed him. The words changed his posture.

 

On this Reformation Sunday you are invited to ponder the posture of grace.

An American theologian, Cindy S. Lee, writes about de-Westernizing spiritual formation. Traditionally spiritual formation included spiritual practices, disciplines like prayer, fasting, reading the Bible, activities designed to draw an individual closer to God. Lee suggests that spiritual practices are ‘Western’ in orientation, as they are development focused, getting better at something, achievement based, seen as a direct path to a pre-set goal. Her writing offers a different perspective. She orients spiritual formation through the lens of postures. Postures are experience based. Postures do not have an end point or final goal. Postures are a way of being. Postures are integrated learnings and wisdom. Postures are attitudes and ways of facing the world.

 

Have you had the experience of ‘setting your shoulders?’ A breathing in, shoulders up back and down, a breathing out  - a collecting of yourself, before facing a task at hand? Perhaps a job interview, a public speaking engagement, walking into a hospital room of a dying friend. That experience is setting a posture to help you face and live through what is before you.

 

On this Reformation Sunday you are invited to ponder the posture of grace.

We are the orange frog from the Elder’s story with a decision to embrace a posture of grace – this attitude opens us to the expectation of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting; finding and experiencing grace throughout our day; in the people we meet, the places we go, encounters of every kind. We open ourselves to God’s grace.

Lutheran theologian, Joseph Sittler wrote about the occasions of grace, pointing readers to the plethora of phrases in the Gospels: and suddenly…along the way…now it happened… immediately. The Gospels express and proclaim an understanding of surprise, the might-not-have-seen, the indeterminable quality of God’s grace. Rather than a state or attribute of God, “grace is understood as the energy of love, having its origin in the freedom of God who finds “occasions” for the bestowal of that love, not in the regularities of law, but in and by the instant and uncalculated response to man in the matrix of the historical madness of human cussedness and glory, that is according to the dynamics of gospel, then the “occasion” of grace must be thought of in fresh ways. The common life is the “happening-place” of it, and man as man in nature and in history supplies its normal occasions.”pg155-6 (Evocations of Grace)

When we parse Sittler’s words, the surprise is that Grace requires us. Occasions for God’s love to be given happen in human life. Humans are the receivers. God’s unconditional love – the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus – is Grace Incarnate. Among us. For us.

 

The Posture of grace is one that is grace upon grace, an ever-deeper dwelling of God’s presence. The more we experience grace our posture changes. When we feel forgiven, we raise our heads. When we feel like we belong, we stand taller. When we experience compassion and mercy, we no longer slouch. When we feel God’s love, our posture shows confidence.

And this posture of grace, leads to a Posture of grace that sets our shoulders towards the world; a posture that pours the same grace -forgiveness, belonging, compassion, mercy, love- back into the world.

 

My posture of grace is gifted out as it is preached and taught; prayed; painted and written; crafted and gardened; smiled and hugged. I have been told that I have a positive attitude, optimistic, wear rose coloured glasses, but no I do not; today I set my shoulders to boldly share the truth – it is not positivity or optimism that is overflowing. I continually receive and give something that is far more profound and mysterious  - I’ve chosen a posture of grace.

Not only when I decide to come to church on Sunday morning, but every step from the first one getting out of bed I set my posture - Grace. I decide to be open to grace. I expect grace everywhere. I experience grace everywhere. I share grace everywhere.

 

I like the words of American author and activist Anne Lamott, words that draw us back to the story of the orange frog: I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. Amen to that.

 

And as we begin each worship service, with a blessing to adjust our posture, to a posture of grace upon grace – so we end the sermon:

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

To Sit Beside Jesus

 My household had ten people at Thanksgiving dinner. As I set the table, I was particular about where I put the extra chairs, imagining where people would sit. I considered peoples’ needs: a sometimes shy 8 year old, people with hearing aids, those who like to talk, those who don’t, one who is most comfortable beside someone they know well, those who need access to get to the kitchen. It takes a little bit of planning to have a well-balanced gathering around the Thanksgiving dinner table.

This image sat with me as I thought about the reading from Mark.

James and John want to sit beside Jesus.

 

Let’s imagine the story giving the disciples the benefit of the doubt – James and John simply want to sit beside Jesus. Have you ever been going somewhere with a group of people, and you hope that you get seated beside a certain person, or you pray not to get stuck beside so-and-so? Have you attended a social event, a party, where you are attracted to having conversations with some people and avoid others as much as possible?

 

Let’s imagine the story giving the disciples the benefit of the doubt – James and John want to sit beside Jesus.

The beginning of the chapter tells us that Jesus and the disciples, that is 13 men, are on the road to Jerusalem. These 13 men have been a group, teacher and disciples, for 3 years. I am sure that they did not all get along. In fact, some of them may not even have liked each other. There are enough clues in the Gospels to know that the disciples were from various backgrounds, with diverse understandings of Messiah, and have a range of opinions on Roman occupation and how to address this. Let’s just say the disciples tolerated each other for Jesus’ sake.

 

Let’s give the disciples the benefit of the doubt – James and John want to sit beside Jesus because they know something about Jesus. I believe the disciples know a whole lot more than we give them credit for.

Let’s imagine that James and John are not asking to sit beside Jesus -at Jesus’ right or left hand- for reasons of status or ego, or to be chief officers in the Messiah’s earthly court in Jerusalem. Let’s imagine that to sit beside Jesus in glory, was seen not as of this world and realms of ruling, but rather the disciples had an inclining that Jesus was talking about the coming of God’s kindom, spiritual realms, and eternal life. The 10^th chapter of Mark goes on about conversations on the street  - ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus talks about “how hard it will be for the those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ Jesus talks about the age to come and the turning around of circumstances – reward- for those who spread good news, where first become last and last first. Then we get the story of James and John asking to sit beside Jesus. They understand in part, that Jesus is talking God’s vision, larger than their one life. Oh course, they don’t specifically know that Jesus is going to die. And certainly not the surprise of resurrection.

But let’s get real, they know death is a possibility. John the Baptist has been beheaded for what he said and did. There are those who are continually trying to trap Jesus into a fight, to insight anger from Roman authorities. Jesus has been chased out of towns. His talking with the marginalized and foreigner, eating with them, touching them or them touching him are all disruptive radical actions. Jesus draws large crowds, preaching an overthrowing of human ways – a redistribution of wealth, a change of power and authority. The disciples know that it is risky to hang around with Jesus. Jesus’ protest of the authorities in his time through word and deed is anything but quiet. Of course, the disciples know that sitting with Jesus is dangerous.

 

Let’s give the disciples the benefit of the doubt. James and John want to sit beside Jesus, to reserve their seats, to make a statement that they have chosen to sit beside Jesus, believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is bringing change, that God has heard the cries of the people and is about to fulfill God’s promises.

 

This weekend the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth hosted a Eucharistic Congress, with the theme: ‘Communion to Heal the World.’ A Eucharist Congress is a gathering of Catholics to reflect on unity via the communion meal, to reaffirm and re-emphasize the source of faith, and to focus on the heart of the matter Jesus Christ. As part of the event, a 5km procession was walked between the church on Mumford Rd. and the Basilica downtown. The purpose was in a sense – to sit beside Jesus- the procession was a bold witness of faith, proclaiming to the world Christ is alive. The act of procession made a statement by the participants, we have chosen to sit beside Jesus, believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus brings change, that God has heard the cries of the people and has and is fulfilling God’s promises.

 

Let’s ask ourselves, do we have the courage of James and John, to not only ask, but actually sit beside Jesus? Are we prepared to reserve our seats, to make a statement that we have chosen to sit beside Jesus, believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is bringing change, that God has heard the cries of the people and is fulfilling God’s promises.

Every week we come and participate in Eucharist – in Holy Communion- Do you realize that by participating we are putting ourselves in a hot seat? When we participate in Communion, we sit with Jesus at the table. Jesus invites us to sit beside him at the table and share his body and blood; this sitting beside Jesus changes us for we are rubbing elbows with the incarnate Word. The Word that from the beginning has breathed God’s breath into every creature and atom of creation. As we eat at Jesus’ table, Christ’s presence rises to resurrect in us a creative grace that through the Spirit works in us to overflow into the world. Re-unified with God, Christ sits within, and we can do no other than proclaim Christ is alive!

 

Let’s ask ourselves, do we have the courage to sit beside Jesus?

The Gospels recount many instances of Jesus and who he chose to sit beside, and in many of the stories the disciples question Jesus’ choices. Not so sure themselves that they wanted to sit beside those Jesus’ invited: the marginalized and the nobodies of the time, described as widows, orphans, women, children, foreigners, Gentiles, lepers, the demon possessed, sinners. If we chose to sit with Jesus, we also sit with those whom Jesus has invited.

If we eat with Jesus at Jesus’ table, it means that we eat with the marginalized, convicted through our union with God, and Christ sitting within, we eat at a thanksgiving table that is not as nicely curated and balanced as my Thanksgiving dinner table was. When we ask to sit beside Jesus, we are choosing to sit- inviting ourselves to sit- in dangerous and risky places, meaning uncomfortable, maybe unpalatable, and certainly outside of our regular practices. We will be sitting with the least favourable persons we can imagine. When we sit beside Jesus, we will know in our hearts and by the reaction (probably unfavourable) of society around us, that we are in Christ’s presence.

To actively sit beside Jesus –

 We sit in tent encampments, we sit in prisons, we sit beside foreigners, we choose to invite the hungry to our tables and into our homes, we protest injustice with word and deed; we choose to invite others to come, sit with us in church, and to participate in God’s meal. We embrace that sitting with Jesus will be seen as disruptive radical action because we are about sitting in the heart of Christ- where there is a reversal of human ways, a redistribution of wealth, a change of power and authority. To sit in Christ is to be recreated, to experience resurrection from the ashes of humanity to all humanity and creation sitting beside Jesus – for the fulfilment and wholeness of God’s promises; a the healing of the whole world.

Swarming Locusts and Vats Full of New Wine

 

Every week I send the lector the scripture passages, so they know what they are reading on Sunday. This week I loved Bob’s response: “Got it. Swarming locusts and vats full of new wine!” Doesn’t this describe life? Since the beginning, there have been the ups and downs of devastation and abundance that are out of human control. These things happen and indiscriminately affect those in their path.

To this, the prophet Joel speaks to the people, to us, repeating the words:

Do not be afraid. Be glad and rejoice. -Joel 2: 21

 

Do not be afraid – easier said than done –

In the wake of double hurricanes hitting the Floridian coast.

In the continued ravaging of war in Ukraine.

In the ever-escalating war in the Middle East.

In the rise of antisemitism and Islamophobia.

In the stress of systems, institutions, and government.

In the increase of marginalized and displaced persons. …

Do not be afraid.

 

Be glad and rejoice – it is Thanksgiving Sunday-

For the beauty in the colours of autumn leaves.

For the nourishment of food and water.

For the blessing of fellowship and community.

For the comforts of home and shelter.

For the relative safety and peace across the country.

For the allowance to gather to pray and worship God.

Be glad and rejoice.

 

I have to admit there were a number of times this past week, when I realized I had tears in my eyes. I was overwhelmed by things from the realm of swarming locusts, that is things that brought worry, fear, sadness, hopelessness, no control; hurricanes, war, dirty politics, and the like. And then there were other moments where I was overwhelmed by things from the vats full of wine, that is something that brought life, wonder, joy, hope, love: rainbows, the Northern Lights, hearing miracle stories, the giving of gifts, the sharing of a meal.

 

The tears in my eyes, started last Sunday, from being overwhelmed by both the swarming locusts and the vats full of new wine, at the same time!

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land celebrated their Thanksgiving festival last Sunday and posted pictures on their Facebook page from their six congregations.

 

The churches each had a display of food items brought to be shared and distributed to those in need: rice, olive oil, and fresh produce. Children are seen at the front for a kid’s corner. There are readers and preachers.

The picture that touches me the most is a pastor, behind an altar which is decorated with bananas, grapes, tomatoes, eggplant, and cabbage. The pastor is presiding at communion and is holding a large loaf of bread. There is a seriousness about him, carrying the weight of a people who are scared, hungry, and in an uncontrollable situation, and, yet, the pastor’s face has a do not be afraid, be glad and rejoice depth to it.

The ELCJHL page says:

Despite the suffering of the last year and the current situation in the Holy Land, congregations came together this weekend to give thanks to God for all he provides. As the season of many important harvests begin we pray that the coming year will be one of abundance and peace.  -FB page ELCJHL Oct. 6, 2024

 

Coming together to give thanks to God and to pray for a year of abundance and peace. The ELCJHL shares this recipe for living the prophet Joel’s words do not be afraid, be glad and rejoice. Although not in the same extreme of circumstances, we understand the benefits of coming together to give thanks to God and to pray. We fear less, have more gladness, and feel like rejoicing (have gratitude) because we are engaged in faith community.

 

I often find that when I am overwhelmed phrases from hymns come to my mind; I might even catch myself singing them in a whisper. This week I had two phrases that I continually prayed, and eventually they melded together into a mantra like practice that satisfied my spirit’s need for prayers for the swarming locusts and praise for vats full of new wine; holding both kinds of prayers in tension, and embracing all together.

Today, I share this prayer with you as a living practice of the words of the prophet Joel, do not be afraid. Be glad and rejoice.

The two hymn lines are:

For the troubles and the suffering world and For the beauty of the earth.

Both tunes are very different and between them it takes a moment for the brain to remember the other tune. There is a rhythm that is created that overwhelms me more than the locusts and the wine. I enter into a place where abundance and peace seem quite possible no matter what is going on in the world. I pray you find the practice as overwhelming.

I will start. Please join in when you are ready. Note there is a pause to breathe and birth the next tune. We will close out the sermon praying.

 

For the troubles and the suffering world. Breathe. For the beauty of the earth. Breathe.

  …….repeat until…

...

Divorced from the Foundation of Creation

 

God. 

God is relationship.                                                                                                                

God in the act of breathing life created relationships.

God is in relationship with the void.

God is in relationship with water.

God is in relationship with earth.

God is in relationship with Tree and Plant.

God is in relationship with every wild animal, with every creeping thing.

God is in relationship with every animal of the field, with every bird of the air, with every living creature.

God is in relationship with man.

God is in relationship with woman.

 

Scriptures on this 20^th week after Pentecost have us considering relationship. The first and second chapters of Genesis present us with two different versions of the creation story. One is oriented from God’s perspective and God’s work through seven days, highlighting each day of creation in relationship to the day before. The story tells of water before grasses, grasses before animals, because one needs the other for its survival. The second story in chapter 2 is focused from the perspective of man where everything was created for man’s use: the garden, every fruit tree (save one), gold, precious stones, water of great rivers named by man, used by man, and ends with the creation of woman, man’s partner.

By the way I opened the sermon, you can tell which story I have a better relationship with. I understand relationship as crafted in the first story, where relationship starts with God, and God’s relationship with each creation. You have heard me preach many times on the theme of relationship. Relationship with God, with each other, and with creation --- for me this is the Law and the Gospel, as scripture speaks repeatedly, love God and love your neighbour. When humans get this relationship with God and each other in order, all of creation breathes easy. When humans fail in relationships creation groans. When humans get relation with God and each other in order, relationships will be whole. Creation will be whole, as in the beginning when God saw that it was good.

 

Now the Pharisees who approach Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, know the creation stories from Genesis, and the Law from Exodus and Deuteronomy with the commandments about relationship with God and commandments related to their relationships with people and animals. They come to Jesus to ask specifically about one kind of relationship, that of husband and wife, and push Jesus for his teaching on divorce.

The Pharisees who approach Jesus are cunning. They are not as interested in the answer, as they are in tripping Jesus up. This is evident when some of the Pharisees later approach Jesus asking to whom they should pay taxes, to Caesar or God? Here divorce was on their minds, for John the Baptist had recently been beheaded because he had angered Roman authorities by speaking out against the divorce of Philip and Herodias, so that Herodias could marry Herod. Tripping Jesus up would make for a bad relationship between Jesus and the Roman officials, the hope being that ‘the Jesus problem’ would disappear at the hands of angry Roman authorities.

Rev. Philip Ruge-Jones, Grace Lutheran, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, wrote commentary that suggests a deeper meaning, where the author of the Gospel compared the harm done by a husband divorcing his wife, as echoing the regular violence of Rome towards the people of the occupied area. Oh course, in this moment that went above the heads of those asking the question. Stuck in the mechanics of human transaction, their distaste for Jesus, they wait to hear Jesus’ words regarding the Law, a Law where divorce was initiated only by men. Wives, at this time, were at their husband’s mercy. Divorce meant being cast away. Everything was lost: the women was divorced of security, housing, children, family, future marriage, community, safety – for women a divorce was a living death sentence.

But Jesus, in the continuation of the story, is surrounded by people bringing their children to have Jesus lay hands on them. In Mark’s Gospel, being touched, the laying on of hands, is an act that brings healing and wholeness. Jesus welcomes the children – the lowest of the low--- and blesses them, affirming that to receive the kindom of God one must be as a child --- to them belongs the kindom. And in the action of welcoming and blessing the lowest human according to human standard, Jesus also welcomes the women who are cast out and all who are marginalized, those divorced by society.

Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees does not upset Roman authorities. The answer upsets the Pharisees. Jesus takes issue with the relationship the supposed righteous have with Law, as opposed to, the relationship they have with the actual people around them. Jesus takes issue with the relationship religious leaders have with the Law, as compared to their relationship with God.

 

The Gospel is not relegated to the past. Questions about divorce, in fact in some Church denominations, rules about divorce have affected many. But the conversation is bigger that spouses. Jesus’ in answering the question returns attention to creation, mentioning one part of the story brings to life the whole story. Jesus points back to God creating relationship.

When was the last time you did a relationship audit? When has the church, this congregation, done a relationship audit?

We are all divorced. We are all in relationships that are broken, separated, estranged, or tenuous.

We are divorced by never having started relationships.

We are divorced.

Divorced from the vulnerable and marginalized.

Divorced from community.

Divorced from neighbours.

Divorced from friends.

Divorced from family members.

Divorced from children.

Divorced from creatures (mammal, bird, fish, insect).

Divorced from Mother Earth.

Divorced from God.

Long ago, reads the letter of Hebrews, God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days God has spoken to us by a Son, whom God appointed heir of all things, through whom God also created the worlds. The Son is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.

God continually and repeatedly from the time of creation pursued and persisted in tending and furthering relationship. God became incarnate in Jesus, suffering and dying, not because God needed a sacrifice, but to show human beings to what extravagant lengths God will go to unconditionally love creation ---

And so, in relationship with God, as children of God, loved unconditionally--- to what extravagant lengths will you, will we, as a community of faith go to tend our relationships and move from divorce to partnership? Relationship is the foundation of God’s creation, woven into the very breath we breathe; shared breath, shared life. Today experiencing relationship in this place, hearing the Gospel, fed by God’s grace, we are new creations, in better relationship with God and each other than when we arrived. Let us go into the world whole, living relationally and in each footstep plant a furthering of God’s relational kindom. 

For the healing of the world. Amen.