Immediate Wealth: Jesus' Investment Strategy

 

Imagine that you are visiting an Indigo or Chapters bookstore. Laid out at the front of the store and down the centre aisle are the hottest new titles. There are must-read selections skillfully chosen by staff and national best-sellers lists. The books include everything from serious non-fiction to romantic novels. In these must-read books there is a display themed around money and wealth management. You find a book with the title: Immediate Wealth: Jesus’ Investment Strategy

 

Immediate Wealth: Jesus’ Investment Strategy … Are you inclined to pick up this book?

The poor – the poor in spirit- might pick up this book with the hope of realizing the kindom of God. The curious might pick up this book to investigate any truth to be found in the claim of ‘immediate’ wealth. Analysts and investment brokers might take a gander at the book, to debate it on industry panels or social media. But would YOU read the book?

Honestly having heard the Gospels proclaimed here on Sundays, you have already heard Jesus’ investment strategies told in parables and stories like the one from this morning. Jesus was always talking about investment and wealth management.

 

How rich do you feel? … I wonder if our individual consideration of what ‘rich ‘means and how rich we feel, depends on how we have interpreted and put into practice Jesus’ investment strategies? The same could be said for the church. How is the wealth of the church globally, locally? Here, now?

 

Jesus’ strategy exemplified in today’s Gospel is all about intentional investment; bringing to life the old adage, ‘you reap what you sow.” Jesus has invested time and teaching on a group of 70 or so, followers. Jesus sends these followers out in pairs to every town and place that he intends to visit. Jesus is preparing the market for his upcoming investment of time and presence. Jesus is intentional, having a strategic plan and a marketing plan. The plan for those creating hype for Jesus’ investment strategy have some rules that make strategic sense when we consider financial investing today.

Don’t delay – the sooner you start the more your investment has the potential to exponentially grow;

Stay put – invested funds go up and down, don’t get distracted by immediate greener-grass and shift about, be patient and see the long view of a well-balanced portfolio;

Add more – continue to save.

Don’t delay. Stay put. Add more.

Jesus’ investment strategy then gets awkward and not so recognizable to traditional ideas about investing. And really, are you surprised by this? It is a reason many followers would shy away from picking up a book about Jesus’ investment strategies. Consider the notable chapters written and expanded from Jesus’ ministry:

Scatter Seeds Indiscriminately Everywhere

Upset the Apple Cart- Turning Economy Upside Down

Pay Caesar

 

Jesus’ investment strategy for the 70 is for them to start out without purse, bag, or sandals. This means having no money, no extra possessions, and bare feet. It is akin to me at the dismissal of the service asking you to remove your shoes, leave your purses and wallets, and any other bags or jackets you have with you, in the pews, and to go out. Once out in the streets, don’t delay, knock on a door … keep knocking on doors until someone invites you in. Say to that person, ‘Peace be with you.’ When you leave, tell your host, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

See what I mean, I can’t imagine any of you doing that, Jesus’ investment strategy is awkward.

But there is something to the strategy. It is old wisdom that has been lost to many of us and to our society as a whole. Jesus sends the followers out to intentionally sow seeds that grow kindom –

The investment strategy requires the gift of hospitality: a place to stay, a cup of soup, a helping hand, a pair of shoes, a loaned jacket. It requires having to take the time to find necessities and in the process meet others and enter conversations. This investment strategy requires a letting go of the notion of being self-sufficient and to willing receive hospitality given. In return the followers offer what they have, the story of Jesus, the words, “The kingdom of God has come near to you,” and really in the exchange to them too. Jesus’ very intentional investment strategy requires making connections and being relational. Jesus’ investment strategy grows community – love toward each other – and this IS the kindom of God being near.

 

In, Immediate Wealth: Jesus’ Investment Strategy, I imagine a chapter titled: Growing Tomatoes and Harvesting Zucchini

Jesus often returns to imagery of seeds and harvest. It is a good image that has stood the test of time. For anyone who knows about gardening, growing tomatoes from seed is not an easy task. Even getting already grown small plants requires investment. You know that one will need to invest time, water, patience, space, expense, labour, to get the best crop possible. If you want tomatoes there is investment required: someone needs to get the supplies, someone needs to plant the seeds, someone needs to tend the seeds. When there are tomato plants, intentional investment is needed to assist them through to the harvesting of the fruit. And it never hurts to pray - Great Gardener, help these seeds grow.

 

To grow in faith, grace, and community; to have robust worship, full pews, thriving ministries; to be noticed in the neighbourhood, the city, the wider world …  it involves intentional investment. Counter-intuitively it is not money, resources, or youth; not pastor, programs, or more people, that makes a church thrive. It is the investment of going out in pairs or little groups and planting seeds that make connections and grow community – the reciprocity of hospitality and relational living. It is acknowledging, aloud, that in those moments God’s kindom has come near.

 

A few weeks ago, when we visited Grace in Cole Harbour, their musician commented that she had never heard Lutherans sing so well – that was a compliment to the music ministry that has continually and intentionally invested in worship and liturgical music here – for the people by the people and it started long before Tim, and way before Isabel who invested 50 years as organist and choir director. Planted seeds and an investment of time are continuing to bear fruit. To note past music directors would have had no idea that their ‘tomatoes’ would end up at singing at Grace. The crop changed, this change is the zucchini part. You never know what God is going to do. If you know about zucchini once they produce, they just don’t stop! There is an abundance of fruit that the harvesters pass on for free to anyone who will take some.

 

This morning, I am not going to ask you to take off your shoes, or to leave your purses, wallets, or other bags and jackets. But I am inviting you to invest without delay. Intentionally make connections, have conversations, ask for help, draw people into a hospitality role, share a cup of tea – and remember to offer God’s peace, “Peace be with you.” For this week, intentionally invest in bringing God’s kindom near. Plant the seeds – next week and the week after you can check on the seeds you planted and invest more time and energy in connecting your seeds with your church family. Let us plant tomatoes and harvest zucchini. Intentionally following Jesus’ investment strategy there is much and immediate wealth, for the kindom of God comes near.

The Story that Followed: When the Days Drew Near For Jesus to Be Taken Up

 This sermon is composed through reflection on Luke 9: 51-52 (Luke 24: 44-49) and 1 Kings15-16, 19-21

Long ago, in a land far far away…

When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

I love a good story! I feel an anticipation when I hear a classic beginning, that beginning with expectation of what is to come. The stage is set.

How disappointing it is when it all falls apart and there is no story at all. If I paused here and asked you to tell me the story from the Gospel this morning could you do it? Do you remember what you heard just a few moments ago? While there are story elements in today’s Gospel it is more of a segue between stories and an input of information to help with the bigger story told in the Luke-Acts narrative.

I can also imagine this interlude kind of like reading a book with children. As you read a good story, inevitably the children will interject a comment or ask questions, sometimes the storyteller will point out something in the pictures or add their own questions or reflections.

This morning, I am going to interrupt the story.

 

When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Messengers were sent ahead. Along the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for Jesus’ arrival, but they did not welcome them because Jesus’ face was set on going to Jerusalem.

 

The Samaritans lived between the Galilee and Jerusalem. Due to a past resentment that grew over the years, the region was not frequented by other Jews. And yet, you would not believe the increased foot traffic through the region during a festival in Jerusalem. It seemed that everybody from the Galilee did a pilgrimage through their territory with their eyes focused on Jerusalem to do their required rituals there. Jesus’ messengers were not the first or the last to seek hospitality. The Samaritans were overwhelmed by requests from people who at any other time would have derided them, been rude to them, and argued that their way of worshiping God was wrong and unlawful. Why would travellers from the Galilee expect to be treated with anything other than distain?

 

When Jesus’ disciples, James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them. They went on to another village.

 

Sorry, pausing the story again. To me, this is the most interesting part of the whole reading. If I was writing the story in a book the words of the disciples would fill both pages of the open book. The pages would have great art with lots of vibrant colour and movement. James and John, in their anger and disgust, were ready to command fire to consume these Samaritans who had shut their doors to them.  Other than this being a terrible unneighbourly thing to do, shockingly they believed they could do it!

Just like in the stories of their childhood hero, Elijah, where Elijah in this same Samaritan territory called down fire that ignited and consumed an army captain and the 50 who were with him. This story was bigger than life, adding fuel to quench the disciples fury using violence.

The reader doesn’t know that the wielding of supernatural powers was plausible through the hands of disciples, until the story gets back on track later in chapter 10. There it is told that seventy others whom Jesus had sent out, return, telling that in using Jesus’ name even demons submitted to them.

Before we carry on let it be noted that Jesus rebukes the disciples. Also, a double page of graphics if I was putting a children’s book together. It is a classic children’s book theme. No matter who the bully or what the antagonist, it is never okay to retaliate in an anger-fueled vengeful wrath to totally annihilate that which you deem enemy; and if you do it will come back to bite you. There are always other options, here Jesus simply moves on to another town. So, I guess if they had tried in Jesus’ name to bring fire they would have been very disappointed, as Jesus would have none of it.

 

As they were going along the road, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replies, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

In other words, following Jesus is hard and uncomfortable. It can mean leaving home without a solid plan in place, without hotel rooms booked, travel arrangements made, or a bag packed.

 To another Jesus said, “Follow me.” But the person answered, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

 

Those on pilgrimage to Jerusalem have more than a day’s journey to get there. On the rough roads in the less than favourable conditions, what was there to do but solitary reflection interspersed with conversation with other pilgrims. Those in Jesus’ group shuffled for their turn to walk with him, to question this teacher, or in turn ask for healing. As the hours pass psalms are sung and ancient well-loved tales are told. Someone tells their favourite tale told to them a hundred times by a grandparent when they were being tucked into bed.  “Long long ago, there was a prophet named Elijah.” As the story progresses Elijah gets to a point where he is isolated, depressed, and slowly slogging through his days avoiding tasks to be done. The children’s bedtime story would have the narrator’s wise voice rising, Elijah get on with it already! There are kings to anoint. Prophets to appoint. You are not alone. There are others who are faithful. The child starts to get animated, Come on Elijah get on with it already! Cheering Elijah on, Get on with it already. Eventually Elijah does get around to it. Dragging his feet he does reach Elisha, who will eventually wear Elijah’s super prophet cape, and says to him ‘follow me.’ Elisha says ‘yes, but ...’ Elijah is only too happy to give Elisha the time to say his goodbyes, put an end to the oxen in his care, prepare and eat a whole feast. It was as if there was all the time in the world.

 

But not in this present story. Jesus walks in a determined manner, only stopping when necessary. Time is of the essence – time is short. For those us who have read the whole book, we know the ending, that it is soon time for Jesus to die and rise. For Jesus and the disciples their earthly time together is running out.

Jesus’ stern replies point fingers at those who say they want to follow but the whole heart is not behind their words. Using excuses of responsibility or what-have-you to procrastinate in making a full commitment to discipleship. What Jesus is really saying: the spiritually dead should be left to bury the physically dead. Jesus has moved into kindom talk, where the kindom of God is at hand. Where the world as the disciples know it, is going to completely change in a twinkling of an eye. This whole interlude in the Gospel is planting seeds for what is to come. A foreshadowing as it is called in the writing world. For Jesus a foreshadowing of the feast to come. Foreshadowing is part of telling a great story! A life-changing story!

 

And it came to pass, as the story drew to a close that Jesus gathered the disciples close, and continued the tale, “These are my words, the story I have lived with you – where everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms has come true.” The words of Jesus’ story opened their minds to understand God’s bigger story, where the Messiah suffered and died and rose from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins was the story to be proclaimed in Jesus’ name from Jerusalem, back through Samaritan territory, to the Galilee, and to parts unknown. You, - the disciples, the hearers of this story, are witnesses to these things. You are the story-bearers, and the thus the storytellers. And with the story Jesus sends the promise of God, the Spirit who has come down in fire to ignite story-bearers to passionately and with power deliver the greatest story ever told, to the ends of the earth and to the end of days. Praise be to God. 

This Short Story: A Story of Mercy, Freedom, and Community

 

We have been on an exciting journey celebrating 7 weeks of Easter. Pentecost. Holy Trinity. Today begins what is known as ordinary time in the church year. There is no outrageous miraculous event where Jesus rises from the dead or where a room is filled with a violent wind and tongues of fire. Ordinary time is marked with scriptures of Jesus teaching in the hill country around the Sea of Galilee. We spend the summer learning and digesting the words and ministry of Jesus and how to apply the teachings to our lives. It is kind of like going to school, sitting in a classroom rather than being out on field trips.

 

Today is ordinary time … And yet today is an extraordinary day. This is Laura’s confirmation day.

 

To our ears the Gospel today sounds extraordinary and yet, this story is one of many recorded in Luke’s Gospel. The story is rather ordinary for the disciples and those walking with Jesus. Jesus has been telling parables and performing one healing after another. Healing is common practice in Jesus’ ministry. What is not ordinary is that ordinary time begins in a place that can only be described as ‘outside’ of expected.

Jesus and the disciples have taken a boat across the Sea of Galilee, venturing into Transjordan, an area that is predominately populated by non-Jews, and therefore an out-of-the-ordinary place for an excursion.

An ordinary day for Jesus and the disciples, morphs into extraordinary -not just because of the place- but the lessons to be taken to heart from the experience. The excursion is an extraordinary story of mercy, freedom, and community.

 

A Story of mercy –

Did you notice that it is the demons who ask Jesus for mercy? It is rather narcissistic on their part as they had shown no mercy to the man they occupied. Ancient stories and tales from the world at the time of Jesus, would consider this ordinary. Spiritual powers were tangible and active. Spiritual powers – like demons- recognized and submitted to powers stronger than themselves.

What is extraordinary is that Jesus shows mercy to them and grants their request. In the same action the pigs are not shown the same mercy, or those whose livelihood depended on the animals- but we will come back to this in a moment. For now, take note that that which was labelled demon, - a force that isolated, bound and held captive – everything that Jesus wasn’t, was given mercy.

 

A Story of freedom –

The Gospel of Luke spends much time encouraging the coming of the kindom of God. Recall the passages written in metaphor, the kindom of God is like. Then there are Jesus’ parables with grand descriptions of God’s kindom. The parables always turn economy and empire inside out and upside down. This ordinary healing story is not about the physical healing as much as it is stressing that God’s kindom is NOT empire! Jesus brings Freedom from the ruling powers and authorities that are in the world and hold the world’s people captive. The ‘demons’ are named Legion. Legion is a name that describes the largest Roman military unit of 5000 men. To Jews who heard the story the presence of pigs symbolized the occupying Empire of Rome. This story is about freedom from that which puts and holds people, collective humanity, in bondage – whether that be empire in from of governments, movements, economics, greed, status, race, gender, societal -isms, ideals, status quo, and so on.

 

A Story of community –

As the story unfolds and carries on, the people come back to find the cause of all the commotion. They find Jesus sitting with the man, or the man sitting with Jesus. The people were afraid. For the first time in who knows how long, the man is no longer isolated from the possibilities of community because he is no longer unclean. And yet, the people are afraid and ask Jesus to leave, not bothering to also sit down with Jesus and the man.

Chelsea Brooke Yarborough from the Association of Theological Schools in Pittsburgh writes, “Deliverance is a step in healing, not the whole experience. The deliverance was from the demons, but the healing was that there was a community of people that this beloved could now be a part of – most immediately, the community of Jesus.” As Paul later writes, One in Christ Jesus. Baptized into Christ you have clothed yourselves with Christ.

 

This story of mercy, freedom, and community leaves the reader with many questions. It is not a neat little story where all the ends are wrapped up between, Once upon a time and a happily ever after. This story is more like the short stories many of us were given in high school English classes – stories that took lots of discussion to understand them in part, asking questions, ferreting out answers, determining the point or more often than not, an array of equally plausible interpretations.

 

Consider for a moment the present – think of the news from around the world and the issues closer to home. I am positive that each of us can identify places, peoples, and situations that are in desperate need of mercy, freedom, and community. We know that there are troubles and sufferings the world over, much of it caused by those in positions of power -the Empire- who have little or no regards for the commonwealth of the earth’s creatures. Perhaps this is why Christians continue to pass down this short story from Luke. The body of Christ is to continue wrestling with the questions that come up:

What is it to show mercy? To whom? Does mercy for one, potentially harm another, or offer the other new options? Who in the world today withholds or thinks not of mercy – how is it we can show mercy to them?

How does Empire hold the world in bondage? How does living clothed in Christ usher freedom into the world and offer humanity release? And is the church a community who sits with Jesus and the man, a community who sits with that which scares us, and is actively present  and bringing God’s kindom?

 

On social media this week, I saw a poster from a protest in the US that said, “In this country, compassion is deemed radical.” Putting on Christ through baptism means living radically in ordinary time.

Confirmation Sunday is a good day to be reminded of this. For me the vision statement of the ELCIC expresses and applies the story of the Gospel. It says, God’s grace and unconditional love call us to be a diverse, inclusive community that celebrates all and upholds life-giving relationships. Isn’t that a radical statement that inspires – a community of people to work together to bring this, God’s kindom now?

The tagline -that quick easy phrase to remember is - Living out God’s grace and unconditional love. That is living a story of mercy, freedom, and community. In Laura’s promises today, in our renewal of baptism through participating with her, we are reminded who we are in Christ and how we are to be living God’s kindom.

 

At the end of the story the man wants to go with Jesus. But, Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” The man had experienced mercy, freedom, and community. The man had experienced the kindom of God. There was nothing else that Jesus could teach him or do for him.

So the man went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

 

This is ordinary time in the church. We spend much of our lives feeling ordinary and doing ordinary things. We live in a world where compassion is no longer ordinary – it is radical, according to the protest sign. Mercy, freedom, and community are also no longer so ordinary. In this time, living Jesus’ way is extraordinary.

Living out God’s grace and unconditional love, in today’s world is an extraordinary radical way of being.

Jesus says to us, Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. So confirmed and affirmed in faith we go away, proclaiming through the city how much Jesus has done for us.

the Lessons of Ocean for Pentecost Sunday

 

Today is a very exciting Sunday because… it is World Ocean Day.

The 2025 theme is Catalyzing Action for Our Ocean and Climate. Thousands of organizations and millions of people around the globe are actively participating in the movement. Ocean health is a daunting task, consider just one ailment, pollution by trillions of pieces of plastic. The United Nations, World Ocean Network has a theme for the entire year, Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us.

 

Today is a very exciting Sunday because… it is confirmation Sunday. We are celebrating Heidi Bells’ 50^th anniversary of confirmation and the affirmation of faith of 6 young people. It is a Sunday of wonder at God’s continued grace and a coming together around baptismal waters, reminding the whole community of the water of life that sustains us.

 

This mornings’ texts reveal that Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit changes everything for the followers of Jesus. With the coming of the Spirit, the people are given great power and great responsibility. Jesus tells the disciples:

If you love me you will keep my commandments;

The one who believes in me will do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these;

Jesus teaches them that the Spirit abides with you and will be in you.

2000 years later we have been adopted into God’s family through baptism and have heard Jesus’ words spoken to us. We have been given great power and great responsibility.

At confirmations we articulate Jesus’ words into promises. Confirmands promise, along with a few more,

To live among God’s faithful people; To proclaim the good news of God in Christ Jesus through word and deed;

And to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

 

Ocean and Spirit have much in common. Both share great power. What we learn from Ocean can inform our understanding of the Holy Spirit and how it is that we can live as God’s faithful people, proclaiming good news, and striving for justice and peace.

 

Lesson 1 – OCEAN influences and regulates earth’s climate, acting like the planet’s heart. Ocean is responsible for circulating heat and moisture around the globe. It does this with the El Nino-Southeran Oscillation in the Pacific and Gulf Stream current in the Atlantic. With the Spirit we can act with heart influencing and regulating the climate around us. With the Spirit’s power we can be responsible: to bring calm into situations of stress, to be messengers of hope, to act as peacemakers, and to follow our heart and participate with actions whether that is doing climate advocacy, poverty reduction, or reconciliation work.

 

Lesson 2 – OCEAN is Earth’s greatest source of oxygen providing 70% of atmospheric oxygen. Ocean does this by providing a habitat for kelp, algae and tiny ocean phytoplankton that make oxygen. In addition, Ocean absorbs 1/3^rd of the carbon dioxide produced on Earth. Through the Season of Easter, the communion prayer included the words, You breathe and give us life. Our stories of faith tell us that God’s breath creates life: in the beginning breathing life into creation, the raising of the dead by Elijah and Jesus, and the spirit and peace of God breathed on the disciples in an upper room. With the Spirit we have the power and the responsibility to breathe life into the world. Jesus gave many examples of letting go rules and practices that did not bring life – he brought life by speaking to the marginalized, healing the forgotten, and accepting and welcoming people as they were. Jesus brought oxygen to those having a hard time breathing – those struggling to survive – by following the command to love your neighbour.

 

Lesson 3 – OCEAN is vast and deep. In the deepest waters, more than 500 metres (1640 ft) below the surface, 90% of creatures are bioluminescent, meaning they are light-emitting; they glow in the dark. When we baptize, we light a candle and say to the newly baptized: let your light so shine before others that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Through the Spirit we are given power and responsibility to shine in the dark; to illumine pathways to brighter places and kindle new ways of being. We walk by faith and in faith, emitting a glow of hope and promise.

 

Lesson 4 – OCEAN is moving!  Not only the constant circulation of water, but the actual floor of Ocean is in movement because of tectonic plates. The plates are separating creating underwater mountain ranges and islands above. In other places one plate slips under another creating deep crevices. In the transition zones there are continual new discoveries: deep sea mineral deposits, chemosynthetic life forms and whole ecosystems. The Spirit is moving! It came with the sound of the rush of a violent wind, filling the house. On Pentecost Sunday, on confirmation Sunday, we find ourselves in a transition zone. For the 7 weeks of Easter, we have heard stories of resurrection and life, and today are reminded that we are bearers of Jesus’ miraculous story. We are to get moving, carrying the good news into all the world. Confirmation is an important moment where prayers are specifically said and blessing given to each confirmand, that the Spirit will flow through you and move you to be an ongoing expression of God’s grace in the world.

 

Lesson 5 – OCEAN is one. We are one. Although Ocean is talked about with five names: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic – all are connected waters. Although Church is talked about as denominations: Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and so on – all are connected by the Holy Spirit. We are one as Jesus is one with the Father and the Spirit abides with you and in you. We are one – one community – one big ocean. Christian community working together has power to change that which is not love and that which is not whole. It is our commission – our baptismal promise – our responsibility - to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

 

And finally, Lesson 6 – OCEAN is mystery and unknown. Humans know little about Ocean having only mapped 10% of the world’s oceans. We know less about Ocean’s floor than we know about the surface of Mars. The number of species living in Ocean remains unknown – vast biodiversity and ecosystems is estimated to have 2.2 million species of living creatures. It is believed that 91% of ocean creatures are yet to be classified. Confirmands you have finished confirmation classes and are ready to affirm your faith. If you look around you, you see your faith family. Believe it or not most of us have few answers to questions about God. We spend our lifetime experiencing and learning more of God. There is so much of God and life that remains a mystery and unknown. What we do know is that regularly gathering in community strengthens our faith and fuels our hearts so that we can illumine pathways of grace, and peace, and love in a world that lives in the shadows, dust, and hurt.

 

On this your confirmation day, and every day -

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Live the lessons of Ocean:

With heart influence the climate around you, breath life into the world, illumine pathways to brighter places, keep moving as an expression of God’s grace, work together as one, and continue to discover and experience the Mystery of God ---

Do all this to fulfil the promises you make today before God

For the healing of Ocean and the healing of Mother Earth and all her people. To the glory of God. Amen.

Walls that Bear Witness to the Resurrection

 

Imagine that I have handed you a piece of paper and a box of crayons. I ask you to draw a picture of a house.

I expect that the drawing starts with a square or rectangle to be the body of the house and on top of that a triangle roof. Doors and window are placed in various combinations on the front of the house. Then what – do you add curtains, flowers boxes, a car… a hedge or a picket fence?

Children doing this exercise draw houses, trees, grass, family, clouds, sunshine… and NO fences. Geographypods.com explains the phenomena of ‘the house drawing:’ Children don’t draw fences because they do not care about fences or walls. Walls are an adult thing.

 

This morning’s scriptures talk about walls, boundaries, and barriers.

In Acts, Paul went outside the city wall through the gate by the river.

Revelation draws an image of a what we call heaven, describing it as a walled city with gates that will never be shut by day- and there will be no night there – the gate is always open.

“Sundays and Seasons” worship resource generated the following as a starter idea for scripture reflection: One both challenging and life-giving image in Revelation is the city wall. Within the wall people thrive and God’s divinity dwells. The wall, combined with open gates, allows for that. What might this say about us and our communities, made in the image of God? Boundaries are easily interpreted as exclusive rather than inclusive. However, boundaries are also necessary for healthy living and for growth both as individuals and as a community. Here we learn that even the New Jerusalem has boundaries. What might our welcoming and inclusive community’s boundaries be in order for us to continue loving as Jesus loved?

 

This morning’s scriptures are not just about physical walls with gates.

The stories in Acts are a continuation of the Gospel of Luke. In that gospel, Jesus crosses barriers to minister and love the marginalized, those on the boundaries, and those outside society – women, the poor, the sick, the unclean, the traitor, the foreigner. Luke’s resurrection accounts speak of barriers to sight and recognition of the risen Jesus. Here in Acts we witness stories where Paul encounters barriers in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul navigates barriers of vast distances into territories unknown – today’s trip venturing into present day Europe. Paul also faced hurtles of acquiring transportation. There are barriers of culture and religion – Greek cities with their shrines and gods, communities of Jewish diaspora, and a larger polyethnic society. Paul faces boundaries – divides of class, economics, and gender.

 

Paul meets a woman, Lydia, outside, the city wall by the river. For whatever reason, despite there being shrines, synagogues, and holy sites inside the walls – Paul anticipated that there were those, particularly women, who gathered outside the walls to pray.

Lydia worshiped God. Scripture says that God opened her heart to listen eagerly – as if a gate was opened inside her. Whatever walls or barriers Lydia might have had, they were opened or taken down, so that she clearly heard the good news. The good news made new walls – reconstructed Lydia’s very being and understanding – created in baptism through faith on the foundation of Jesus. The good news was embodied into her being – she lived in a new home. Lydia’s embodiment of the gospel, of Jesus, has her in return opening doors. She invites Paul and his companions to her physical home – offering hospitality and her resources to the early church.

 

Through history adults have built walls, barriers, and boundaries. Walls like the Berlin Wall were built to keep people in. Walls like the Great Wall of China were meant to keep people out. Both scripture texts speak about physical walls and each of us interprets who is on the inside and who is outside; deciding if the walls were built to keep people in or out. What is important to note is that both walls have open gates  - I interpret this to mean that there is freedom and possibility for people to come and go; there are options to be inside or outside and that where one is can change. There is room for people to be sheltered and protected, to feel safe; to explore, to be included and loved, no matter which side of the wall one is on. The open gate also symbolizes a pathway between division, a connection of different perspectives, a wholeness of diversity – and the necessity to remain linked together.

 

“Sundays and Seasons” asked, What might this say about us and our communities, made in the image of God?

There is an undeniable interconnectedness of the peoples and creatures of this world. We witness the effects of  climate change, pollution in the atmosphere, movement of viruses, and the relationship of tectonic plate activity, all working outside of geographical boundaries drawn on maps. We live in a time of globalization, where trade, economies, travel, and media cross boundaries many times the world over. And yet, despite interconnectedness and globalization, a practice of eliminating walls if you will, we live in an age of division:

with firewalls, physical walls, borders, warfronts, tariff barriers, immigration rules, trade regulations…

 

What might our welcoming and inclusive community’s boundaries be in order for us to continue loving as Jesus loved?

Church – Easter living people – are made in the image of God and our communities are called to reflect the risen Christ. In dying and rising, Jesus lived the interconnectedness of death and life, God’s love and connectedness to humans and creatures, the relationship between wholeness and brokenness; Pathways between fear and peace, marginalized and belonging, despair and hope, exclusion and inclusion. In a fractured world the Church is called to open the gate in humanmade walls – to breathe life by building and restoring connection.

 

Tim Marshall of BBC Free Thinking, said in 2019:

“65 countries wall or fence themselves and that’s 1/3 of all nations in the world. Of all walls built since WWII, the majority have been built in this century. We are now living in an era of wall building!”

Walls with few gates that are heavily monitored – we know of these walls: the Mexico-United States border wall, the West Bank Barrier, the Korean Demilitarized Zone to name just three. The walls disrupt the migration of land species, the flow of water, and the movement of people. The barriers are huge physically, heavy emotionally, and harmful spiritually.

It is an auspicious moment for us to consider walls and barriers, as we consider a literal building of walls, the boundaries of living units, a contained community space. We have the opportunity to open the gate to flexible spaces, the crossing of boundaries -the blurring of or the erasing of boundaries- between children and adult ministry, sacred and everyday space, coffee and worship, tenants and members. How does the building -the very walls of this place, this property- preach and share the Good News, telling of resurrection and the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what the church is about after all.

Just as in the Gospel of Luke and the sequel of Acts, the Church is about countercultural building, meaning building community   that is in stark contrast, to empire wall building. Whether the walls are physical, emotion, or spiritual.

 

Lydia creates home. --- Going outside the wall to pray. Having an open heart. Letting down barriers to hear the Gospel. Giving herself to God. Belonging through baptism. Walls, barriers, and boundaries become a home where she ministers, providing hospitality and resources, an interconnectedness for and with others to the glory of God. In the name of Jesus Christ.

May our walls have open gates and bear witness to the resurrection – may this property embody home for all, in all, and with all – to the glory of God. Amen.

Radical Love Is Living Easter

 

RADICAL LOVE Is Living Easter.

 

Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with a bib number. That was in 1968, when women were not allowed to run the race.  Inadvertently her name was overlooked as she registered with the Syracuse University men’s team with whom she trained.

 

Katherine’s memoire explains that in the early days, everything was unknown territory.  Track and field events let women run up to 800 metres. The conventional wisdom was that women’s bodies simply could not endure more, and what woman would want to run more anyway.  Kathrine did.  She loved running. As Kathrine trained for unprescribed distances - always with another runner- she continually ran in fear, that, all of a sudden, her body would stop, not being able to take another step. Experts at the time said that running long distances would make women’s baby making parts fall out.  Imagine that.

Kathrine was running in unknown territory…she was outside the box, in a wilderness, where there was no scientific research, and no studies or books to consult.

 

The year she ran Boston, she ran with her coach and two male teammates. The other runners were skeptical until they saw that she had trained and that this wasn’t a publicity stunt. The runners encouraged, supported, and protected her from the crowd and the press. Her teammates pushed aside the race organizer who tried to remove her from the course. Fellow runners showed respect and invited her to run with them again. Among the runners in the race there was love one for another.

 

Following the race, running clubs and university track teams started to host longer races for women. Clubs held their events at schools and in small town America, by doing so, they grew small town spirit and curiosity. People began running just to try it---- running was a sport that didn’t cost a lot of money (there were no fancy shoes in those days). Businesses provided items free of charge, householders set up water stations, school children handed out cookies. There were plenty of volunteers, spectators, runners, and mentors. The running movement grew quickly.

 

By 1972 women could officially run the Boston marathon. This didn’t mean that in a twinkling of an eye everyone was on board or that attitudes changed instantly.  It took another 12 years for those passionate about running to convince society and the powers that be, that it was safe for the women’s marathon to be added to the Olympics. That was in 1984.

A seismic shift has happened since 1972 to today. That first official race had a handful of women runners. Today participants in half-marathons across the country are over 50% women and full marathon numbers have grown too.

 

I tell this story because it reflects the feelings and nature of Peter’s story from the book of Acts.

Peter is in unknown territory!!

When Peter goes to Cornelius’ house – a house of a non-Hebrew- he is setting aside conventional wisdom, turning over cultural beliefs, and disobeying religious laws that he has practiced his entire life. Following Jesus is changing everything and there is no how-to manual for guidance.

Peter is confronted by plenty of nay-sayers. There was lots of debate and arguing about how Jewish one needed to be before one could be a Jesus’ follower. There were people, like Saul the pharisee, who persecuted Jesus’ followers – taking them off the course so to speak. Stoning them and killing their passion to share the Good News.

In the early days of the Jesus’ movement those who were committed were very committed.  They were passionate in sharing the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and in loving one another. And in doing so, their numbers quickly grew. Every other day it seemed, there were a thousand more in the community.

 

It has been said that: The Bible is the story of human beings figuring out those whom God has already included.

Would you like me to repeat that? The Bible is the story of human beings figuring out those whom God has already included. The day that Peter went to Cornelius’ house he realized that God had already included the gentile Cornelius. God loved Cornelius and filled Cornelius and his household with the Holy Spirit, just like Peter and the disciples had received at Pentecost. Completely mindboggling to Peter a first century Jew.

 

Radical love is living Easter. We learn from the stories of the Apostles and people of the early church that being a follower of Jesus was costly. For Peter and his friends, it meant being pushed out of the Synagogue, away from friends and family who didn’t change, who continued to stick by the law that had served them so well. They lost their childhood faith, to accept a new interpretation of the faith they had held so dear. In the end, many lost their lives because they passionately shared the Easter story and dared to love one another.

Radical love.  It costs something. It means the letting go of attitudes and allowing for change in perception. Radical love is a seismic shift that goes into unknown territory --- a place where there is fear and apprehension. To love radically is to courageously move outside known boundaries with curiosity, discipline, and passion. Radical love is embracing those we have not yet figured out that God already has. When was the last time you did this, or we as a church did this, to share the Good News and to show love for another beyond what we presently know and practice?

 

Growth of the running industry and the increase in running clubs has been extraordinary over the past decade. As quick -- is the decline of the mainline church. I would hazard a guess that on a Sunday morning there are more runners than church goers.

Is that because runners and running groups possess more passion? Demonstrate a more obvious sense of community – love for one another? I wonder, has the church’s passion fizzled out? Have we put ourselves in comfortable pews rather than walking, or running, the race set before us?

Perhaps church no longer expects enough? Dedicated runners are committed despite the weather or the terrain. Runners are disciplined. There is an expectation that it is going to hurt. There is potential for injury, one loses their pride and ego- one gets over themselves and gains freedom. There is accomplishment and an exhilarating feeling for a race well run. There is benevolence in giving encouragement and advice when asked, a generosity of story telling, and an interest in hearing about other’s running and race experiences…

When was it that you heard the church talked about in this way?

As people of God, we are in unknown territory.  Those things for which society once looked to the church, are now being found in other places… like Sunday morning running groups.

 

This morning John’s Gospel pulls us back to reflect on Jesus’ last conversation with the disciples. We hear a segment that gets repeated many times throughout the Last Supper: love one another. It started by Jesus washing the disciples’ feet as an example. It was a radical action because it broke protocol, tradition was pushed aside, and the disciples were made uncomfortable. Their perceptions shifted.

 

We stand as a woman at the starting line of that 1968 Boston Marathon.

We step over the threshold into a house considered unclean and eat with the residents.

Facing uncharted territory, looking out at the unknown, God says to us three times: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you [have] love [for] one another."

It Is Spring ...

 

 

It was winter … and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.

It was winter, is akin to starting a story, “It was a dark and stormy night.” The words set the mood for what is to follow.

This is the 4^th episode in the Gospel of John that places such a conversation during a Jewish festival. Here it is Hanukkah (the Festival of Dedication). It is important to note that the four conversations all discuss Jesus’ identity. For the hearer the texts link Jewish festivals and Jesus’ identity. For starters Jesus is a practicing Jew who participates in the religious and cultural festivals of his time. This morning’s text is the only incident that not only mentions a festival, it also mentions the season of the year. A mood is being set for the hearer.

 

Put yourself in this scene from John’s Gospel. … It was winter … for us, that conjures up cold and wind and snow, or heavy rain, sleet, ice. It means layers of clothing and heavier footwear.

It was winter… In this created mood, we can imagine Jesus and the disciples under the shelter of the portico, walking tightly together, wisps of breath crystalizing around them. Their cloaks pulled firmly around their collars; hands stuffed under the fabric. They are quickly getting to where they need to go, when they are delayed.  Others in the Temple have come once again, like an unrelenting wind, to demand of Jesus an answer if he is the Messiah. Maybe they will get a quick answer. Jesus does not give the yes or no they want. Rather Jesus’ response sounds like ice pelleting the face, sharp, pointed, I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe… It sounds curt and harsh … you do not belong, bone chilling.

To the religious authorities Jesus’ words are blasphemous, for he had denoted himself in oneness with God.

From festival to festival, from miracle to miracle, from teaching to teaching, from one ‘I am’ statement to the next a storm is brewing. The stormfront expands throughout the Gospel of John escalating from a Nor’easter to a White Juan storm event. The storm’s climax is at Golgotha where Jesus is crucified for claiming to be the Son of God.

 

It would be different if it was summer … and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.

Different yet again if the text said, it was autumn … and Jesus was walking in the temple. The scene would be more relaxed and open. There would be a sense of repose and leisure. Questions would sound inquisitive and conversation warm and inviting.

 

At that time the festival of Easter was taking place. It is spring … and we hear that Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. We hear these words as the season of Easter continues, as the natural world is greening, flowers are blooming, birds are nesting, and pollinators are out and about. Jesus’ mention of sheep has us consider green pastures, dandelions and daisies, running water, warm sunshine, blackflies and butterflies. Glorious!

My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

In the midst of Easter, it is spring and a time of opening windows and doors, shedding cloaks and heavy shoes, a lifting of spirits, venturing outside, all around us things are being made new. It is a fertile time in which to hear the Gospel and let it warm our hearts and beings; to believe or at least entertain the thought of belief.

 

Have you ever considered how the season of the year effects how we receive or experience the hearing of the Gospel? We journey through Lent in the depths of winter – considering themes of sin and repentance. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday can be accompanied by darkness and cloudy skies, harsh wind, and either snowbanks or mud. During the seven weeks of the Easter Season, spring arrives, and creation wakes from its winter slumber. Creation reflects the mood of the liturgical church year – Easter is greeted with actual earthly illustrations of resurrection. We hear resurrection appearances of Christ as we are experiencing the physical greening of creation accompanied by the singing of birds.

 

Now imagine living in the Southern hemisphere and celebrating Easter in autumn rather than spring, or in equatorial regions where Lent, Good Friday, Easter is accompanied by consistent warmth and sunshine – no change.

 

When pastoring in New Denmark, NB, the closest Lutheran church was in New Sweden, ME. The congregations did cross-border events. I recall being at an event in New Sweden the week after Canadian Thanksgiving. The women in New Sweden had the sanctuary decorated with coloured leaves, straw, pumpkins, squash, and corn – harvest bounty was everywhere. I asked the women if they had decorated like that because we were coming. I was told the congregation moved the in-church celebration of harvest (American thanksgiving) to the same date as Canada in Oct. because by the end of Nov. northern Maine is frozen and under snow. All harvest items have been put up for the winter. The people were most thankful for the abundance of harvest, at the time of harvest! Their experience of giving thanks to God went hand in hand with the natural environment.

 

At that time the weeks of Easter were taking place in Halifax. It is spring … and Jesus having been resurrected is now Christ living in their hearts through faith.

I wonder if now, is the opportune time to share the Good News? To mirror the natural world by sharing Easter’s story, Jesus’ resurrection. I wonder if people receive and experience the story of resurrection easier, are more open and relaxed to the thought, when the same is witnessed simultaneously in creation?

 

It is spring … on Friday morning newly elected Pope Leo XIV preached, We are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Christ. This is how the sermon began. We are called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Christ. Although speaking to his colleagues the words are most certainly true for all who hear Jesus’ voice and have choose to follow.

Pope Leo’s words included a warning, but not winter words, in a harsh icy tone, but rather a reflection on the importance of spring and resurrection words. He said that: a lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society. Warm resurrection words bring life to faith, grow meaning, create mercy, plant dignity, and heal wounds.

 

At that time the weeks of Easter were taking place in Halifax. It is spring … and Jesus having been resurrected is now Christ living in their hearts through faith. A people  - we - are living out being Easter people, called to bear witness to our joyful faith in Christ. Springing to life through sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, we participate in the greening of hearts and souls throughout the earth.

 Glory be! Amen.