A Scattering of Poems in the Sky

In the notes of scene 6 in the Glass Menagerie, the playwright, Tennesse Williams, describes the lighting for the scene: the light comes up in the living room---a delicate lemony yellow. It is about five on a Friday evening of late spring which comes “scattering poems in the sky.” 

This was my experience of reading the scriptures for this week, a scattering of poems in the sky. You know that change of time: when the sky softens, and what clouds there are manipulate through a series of colour as if kaleidoscopes dancing the departure of the setting sun; in the soft and darkening hues, the night lights –the stars, the milky way- are seen twinkling in the evening sky. The poets and songwriters catch it all in the tips of their pencils, capturing in words the glimpses of the beauty before them. It is that change of time that if we are paying attention touches our spirits and our emotions – it affects us and we bathe in wonder and awe.  

The Glass Menagerie has other stage notes.  It is suggested that in the setting of the play, screens are used to project words, phrases, titles, memories – snippets of this or that. The scripture texts for today struck me in this way. I read them, not as a full text, but, rather, snippets that scattered before my eyes. I can see them illuminated on a screen, or scattered as poems in the sky.  Words that I have heard many times before, words that have been used at funerals or weddings, words that are in some way treasured because they are remembered.  Imagine these words twinkling across the evening sky: 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen 

Don’t be afraid, little flock, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

though your sins are like scarlet they shall be like snow...become like wool 

Cease to do evil/learn to do good/seek justice/rescue the oppressed/defend the orphan/plead for the widow 

A beautiful cacophony stretched across the sky, across the universe, out beyond time; and in the very dust and gas that forms life. 

The Glass Menagerie is a play where the characters are imprisoned by life circumstances.  There is a sense of hopelessness and uncertainty. Confined to a small apartment the characters seek to break away, to find freedom, change, meaning, hope --- for a moment. The mother returns to old memories, to get lost in a time when life was full of options and opportunities, with a hope that these opportunities may once again become real for her children. The son writes poetry when not at work, he watches the sky from the fire escape, and escapes by going to the movies and living other peoples’ adventures --- seeking adventure to be freed from circumstance. The daughter is physically fragile, she has taken to collecting tiny glass ornaments; by manipulating them in light, she catches fleeting glimmers of beauty, of hope. 

Their treasures: memories, adventure, glass ornaments. 

Sometimes I feel like I live in a glass menagerie; a place of fragility, where any movement might break the last pieces of sanity and scatter what hope and optimism I can muster. The world is in precarious times – not that it hasn’t been before, but, for those my age – the reality of unrest, blatant racism, gun violence, political vitriol, bombs, inadequate social systems, crisis brought about by global warming, movement of displaced people, were things that we deemed happened in other places; not in North America, not in Canada. Perhaps our emotions have caught up to a reality that has always been present.  We are now watchful, alert. 

In times like these- --in times like that of the people to whom Isaiah was talking, when at their door were the armies of the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Persians; when vast armies marched through them, trampling their crops, pillaging and plundering; taking people into captivity, displacing others; ---in times like that of the people who first heard Luke’s gospel, when the rich were rich and the poor, poor; when the foreign occupying power enslaved, and killed, and prevented people from honouring their God; --in times like these, the uncontrollable circumstance of life, what is one to do? Where is one to find their treasure? 

The author of Hebrews, writes about people of faith; people who were legends in the eyes of the listener – the section we heard was of Abraham and Sarah. By faith Abraham and Sarah became as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea. And where or what was their treasure?  It was not in the land from which they came, not in memories. The text says that, They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth (for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.) Their treasure was not in a memory, not a material place, a thing, a glass ornament; or living other peoples’ adventures.  Their treasure was faith. And by faith they had confidence and assurance and conviction. Their treasure was in the heart of God- those things unseen. 

Until a Sunday like this, when the scripture texts are not really a story, not easy to get into, not particularly themed, I forget about “those things unseen”– the very heart of God.  Today I am reminded that the depth of the scripture, the treasure of the text – is the Word.  

Within Lutheran circles, Word used in this way is capitalized.  The Word –God's heart- is Christ coming to us through words. When watchful, alert, listening, and open – the Word filters into our being and waits to blossom in those times when we are feeling paralyzed and imprisoned by the circumstances of life. 

In the community of the Hebrews, the people of Isaiah’s time, and those to whom Luke was writing, the texts offer the listeners a glimpse into “those things unseen.” Each text eludes to a time when all will be set right, a time when human circumstance will be but a shadow of memory eclipsed by the reality of  

God's lifegiving kingdom; an inclusion and welcome to live in the heart of God.  The texts are a paradox: speaking of a glorious time to come, remembering glimpses of past faith brought to life, and the directive to live God’s coming kingdom in the present. Time conflates. The Word is in all time and all place and all circumstance and all substance and is the unseen. 

The Word as articulated through sacred text across the centuries, repeats and scatters the same familiar poems through the sky. Humans are reminded that treasure, is living by faith in the Word. It is the Word that tells us how it is that one can journey toward and live more and more in the heart of God. The words flash before our eyes, as twinkling stars: Plead for the widow, defend the orphan, rescue the oppressed, seek justice, learn to do good, cease to do evil. 

Currently, there are a couple of television commercials that have children unplugging, going outside, lying on their backs and looking up into a vast evening sky.  With wonder and delight in their eyes and voices, one is left with hope and possibilities of what is to come. In that moment one feels, 

though your sins are like scarlet they shall be like snow...become like wool, the Word present to snuggle us closer into the heart of God. 

Living into God’s heart we find there the widow, the orphan, the oppressed; and surprisingly our circumstances, lives circumstances, are but glass ornaments collecting dust on a shelf. Our treasure has changed from: memories, seeking adventure, and glass ornaments – expanded by faith, in relationship with the Word – to new a treasure. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

By faith, and with continual practice, living the Word is treasure.  We become the mirrors that reflect Christ’s light – the Word- through the very ornaments that are collecting dust; we shine through the circumstances. We are the Word in motion – the words going up on silk screens to dislodge memories, shine through fixed ornaments, bump into those lost and hiding in the next adventure; the snippets of text –of Word- we carry with us interrupt and blossom into the lives of the imprisoned and fearful world. And with it the unseen...the kingdom passes through us. 

Don’t be afraid, little flock, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 

With awe and wonder look up to the heavens and take with you this morning snippets of sacred text.  Take with you the Word in the fullness of faith and the promises that lie therein; treasure the Word in your heart, and live into the heart of God.  Look up, be alert, see – believe – act into... 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen...so it is written – a scattering of poems in the sky.  

Their Home is Our Table ---- Pent 6C

I heard this phrase earlier this week, referring the story of Martha and Mary.  No explanation was given.  I thought it was an apt title:  Their Home is Our Table.

As readers, Luke invites us into a home in Bethany, specifically the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus…at the exact time when Jesus is staying with them. We enter into an intimate domestic scene. They were not the ones to open the door to us, they have not offered us hospitality; we are only observers, invisible. The household is going about being a household. There is a guest - Jesus a close friend, one who is closer than a brother – and probably not seen as a guest but extended family. There is hanging out, relaxing, and conversation. There is the preparation of food and drink. There is nattering, complaining, and teasing.

As observers we eat stories like this up!

Luke’s story has become a table of conversation for centuries; fueling many a duel about a woman’s place – at home, at church; and feeding a moralizing opposition between action and contemplation. It has also been reinterpreted to focus on Jesus acting contrary to cultural norms: alone with women who are not his relatives, he allows a woman to serve him, and teaches a woman in her own home.

Consider for a moment, that Luke invited others into your home yesterday. People enter into your intimate domestic scene. You did not open the door to these people, you did not offer them hospitality; Luke’s audience were only observers, invisible. Yesterday, your household was going about being a household.  What would the observer have noticed?  In the heat, were you wearing less than acceptable clothing to be seen in by others?  Perhaps you had words with another family member? Did anyone display a moment of jealousy or passion? Were you acting lazy or anxious? Dropping into your conversations, what would people hear? What were you reading or doing?  Did you indulge in guilty pleasures? Ignore the cat, hang up on a telemarketer…?

Being privy to the intimacies of your household yesterday, what story would observers tell, and what table conversations would they have about you?

What I appreciate about Luke’s domestic moment with Jesus, Martha, and Mary is its ordinariness. Their intimate household scene is honest and could be in any household. The story is relational. This scene allows us table conversation – a place to start- to contemplate: the emotions involved in relationships, the human struggle for balance and managing polarities, wrestling with tensions of being and/or doing.  I also appreciate the safe place that Luke describes in his domestic scene. The characters are in many ways free- free to live outside cultural norms, to be themselves, to express their feelings, to speak their opinions- all in the presence of Jesus.

Last Sunday I returned from the National Assembly of the ELCIC.  When meeting in Assembly 150 delegates, from across the country, come together under one roof.  We gather as members of a family;  a Lutheran expression within God’s family. The Assembly floor is our home. Home is created in our opening worship, as we covenant to worship and work together. In house, there is discussion, debate, differing opinions, emotions, a way of proceeding through business, a code of conduct, opportunity for learning and challenge. Everything we do is in relationship. Our theme, Called to a Journey of Reconciliation: is the Biblical story. In the story of Jesus, Martha, and Mary, the domestic scene is all about the intricacies of relationship; in house, in the culture, in reflection by future generations; including relationship with God, with others, with ourselves, with tasks at hand. This is our home, others come to the table.

Guests were invited in relation to their specialties and the specific table conversations we hosted.

In our conversation on the Journey of Reconciliation with Creation, with guests Dr. David Sauchyn and Dr. Mary Vetter, our home was filled with scientific data from climate researchers from the University of Regina, data used as food for thought as table conversations reflected on the churches relationship to creation. Dr. Sauchyn made it clear that science produces data and information, that households are the context and that wisdom and knowledge, and thus action come from conversation around the table. The take away for me, the challenge I keep chewing on, -dare I say the word’s of Jesus in our midst- were the words of Dr. Vetter’s, that in a world where humans feel deserving, that they have earned the right to consume --  as a faith family the most important virtue to instill, the way to living out of faith, the theological conversation of today is this,  “Teach the values of restraint.” 

Relationship was on the mind of Rev. Dr. Martin Junge, President of the Lutheran World Federation, also an invited guest at the table. He spoke of our relationship with the 75 million Lutherans in the world, 148 member churches, in 99 countries; a global communion … on a common journey of renewal.  We strive to put our faith into action within and beyond the communion, and seek God’s Word and Spirit to guide us.

Liberated by God’s grace, a communion in Christ living and working together for a just, peaceful, and reconciled world.  He reminded our household that, “God’s mission is not about numbers.”  It is about relationship through “liberation, transformation, and new life.”

When we met in our own house, we were invisible observers in the home of our Anglican siblings who were meeting in their General Synod. Invisible observers getting our updates by text, Twitter, news feeds – all observers of the intimate happenings of a group of faithful people trying to figure out where the Spirit was leading them. There was lots of emotion, passion, debate, decisions, proposals.  We only caught scenes of their domestic life together. At the end, we remain with them at their table, and they at ours, as we continue in our Full Communion relationship; living and working together warts and all.

Perhaps the most filling and nutritional food brought to our house was by Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.  She shared with us, in an honest, yet tongue and cheek way, how the ELCA household lives and practices faith amidst the politics and social lean of the United States.  She is Bishop of a large church, diverse in table conversation, a variety of actions and inactions, walking a line of entering other houses and speaking truth without being crucified.  Her observations of the ELCIC, of our household, is that we are BOLD!  She only wished she could say the same for her house. When our household met in Assembly, she said we faithfully worked toward bold responses to address the state of the church and issues in the Canadian landscape. 

Our home is now someone else’s table. Assembly happenings are available for the world to access via documents, live streams, sermons being preached today, delegate reports, and stories that continue on social media. Others will take moments of our intimate household time together and interpret scenes for their own purposes. It is out of our hands how our deliberations and actions will be interpreted.  Our household is sharing documents with our partners, writing letters to government bodies, continuing justice and mission work--- we are purposefully expanding the conversation outside our doors.  We the ELCIC are committed to four vision priorities: courageous innovation, reconciled relationships, being one body working together, and being empowered disciples.

Reflecting on Luke’s account of the domestic scene of Martha, Jesus, and Mary-  I come away pondering the intricacies of relationship and what it means to be a household. What it means to be a faithful household in reconciled relationships with each other- even when holding seemingly conflicting perspectives, and also in reconciled relationships with society, with creation, with those who are observers. Thanks to the table conversation exhilarated by invited guests, the ELCIC -that is us as a whole-, has been challenged; guests were Jesus speaking in our midst. From Assemblies intimate domestic scene -our home for a few days in July- take these snippets, wrap them together and be:

Liberated by God’s grace, a communion living and working together -

Strive for a just, peaceful and reconciled world. /Teach the values of restraint./ And respond boldly.  

Liberated by God’s grace, a communion living and working together -

Strive for a just, peaceful and reconciled world.

Teach the values of restraint.  /And respond boldly.