Provisions

Installation of Fred Becker

1 Kings 19:4-8

August 12, 2012

Grace and peace to you from God, creator, redeemer, sustainer.

It is such an honor and pleasure to be with you today--a joy to be here celebrating with Pastor Fred Becker celebrating this new relationship between pastor and people. It seems like only yesterday that I was preaching a sermon to push Fred out of internship and into the world of pastoral ministry.

I remember that day; It was August the 15th two years ago. Pastor Fred, before I remind you of some of the things I said on that day. I want to talk for a few minutes about Elijah.

As we enter the story in 1Kings chapter 19, we see that Elijah has decided to give up. You heard the text. He travels a day’s journey into the wilderness, ploops himself down under a broom tree and petitions God: “It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life...” Now we don’t hear the entire story in our reading this afternoon but if we go back .....We will see that Elijah has had a tremendous victory.

With the help of God, at Elijah’s command  450 of the prophets of Baal and Asherah are killed.  I am sure we cannot even imagine the energy, the nerve, and the amount of work it takes to accomplish such a task. Elijah must be exhausted and to top that off he is being threatened by Jeezebel. She sent a message to tell Elijah: So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.

As if Jeezebel as the wife of King Ahab could be a threat bigger than hundreds of prophets. No matter Elijah flees, gets out of dodge-- seemingly fatigued and in utter despair.

Have any of you at Holy Trinity felt like that... You have been working at keeping the church together for these past years and you have done it. You should see that as a great victory. You have carried out your purpose as a host congregation, Hearing the call of God  Outreach to your neighbors near and far, good  Stewardship of your time talents, and treasure, and Teaching others. All of a sudden the fatigue sets in and you feel like you just can’t do another thing.

Perhaps Elijah is depressed considering all his enemies are gone there is nothing left to do....Burned out, he thinks he is used up, washed up and can be of no further use to God. Or could he be overcome by what one writer calls  “the magnitude of evil around him.” We know that story when people are killed in movie theaters and houses of worship we know that evil is everywhere!

Perhaps what overwhelms us is the talk of the demise of the church. If you read or listen to media you will hear that mainline protestanism is dying---and if we are dying who will speak against such evil? I would say we are dying to be reborn. We are after all a resurrection people. Certainly resurrection is availabe to us because we serve a God who dies on a cross only to be resurrected from the dead..

Elijah falls asleep wanting it all to be over. But death from sitting under a broom tree feeling sorry for himself isn’t what God wants for Elijah. That’s what the angel of the Lord is subtly conveying to him

“Get up and eat.” While he longs for a way out, God sends him a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water/. In the middle of the wilderness....provisions, to renew his strength.....

Holy Trinity, God has sent you provisions.

I don’t know if you realized it yet but you guys have gotten quite a gem in Pastor Fred Becker. I spent a year with your new pastor and what I know is that Fred Becker has a heart for God and for the people of God. He has the gift of radical hospitality, a gift for encouraging, a knack for exhibiting God’s love and energy to spare. And have you heard him laugh? It is infectious -- enough to move most people from gloom to joy. Being with him, hearing him preach, you will no doubt hear of the goodness of God, and God’s love for all of you.

But, try not to get angry with your new pastor when he pushes you in directions you have never gone--

When he leads you to look around in your community to see what God is up to-- When he asks you to let go of unrealistic and false views of who you are, and things that haven’t worked for years. Don’t get mad when he pleads that you ban those poisonous words, “ we have always done it that way” from your vocabularies. That’s his call!

Remember church if he is always saying a word that you like to hear because it confirms you in your positions, supports you in misdirection, and promises no upset in your way of life---you should be worried. He may be acting as a great chaplain but he’s not being prophetic and the mission and ministry of God well?

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Elijah stays under that broom tree and is nurtured until he no longer feels like a victim and his strength returns. Then he travels forty days and forty nights on that strength to the mountain that Moses stood on, hears God in a still small voice and goes on to do God’s work in the world.

I hope you will hear the Word and the message of God in the voice of your pastor; sometimes those words will be of encouragement and love. Sometimes they will be words of challenge. A professor of mine used to say that the Word of God was meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Through Pastor Fred I hope they might have the appropriate affect on you.

Sometimes Fred you will be hesitant to issue those words of challenge; sometimes you will want to hold back from the prophetic utterances that God gives you to speak. You might fear angering some Jezeebel and having to hide under you own broom tree. I understand, because I have felt like running and hiding myself a few times, but I am a witness that God provides. So listen again to the words I spoke to you on that last day at St. John’s two years ago.

Remember I told you that while we don’t want to upset our comfortable positions in our comfortable congregations, sometimes: 

-----a word that challenges us all to think about how we perpetuate unjust systems of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia,

----a word  that cautions us that hanging on to all of our stuff affects those who are hungry and living in poverty,

---a word that reminds us that we are called to respond to tragedy or disaster on the beaches of Wildwood or faraway places of Wisconsin, Aurora, or Haiti, might be necessary.

Fred  if we just tell people that God loves them and don’t call them to love one another and the entire world that God has made then we might be inching toward false prophecy. If we don’t tell those we are called to serve, that perhaps Jesus wants us to have more than just a Sunday morning faith that sits and sings hymns that feels good and expects Jesus to love us and take care of ONLY --- our needs.

If we don’t challenge them to a Monday thru Saturday faith that dares to walk out of these doors to look around see what is happening in the world to do what matters to God----for the sake of the other, for the sake of the world---we might be missing the mark.

Fred, preach the damn gospel! and love the people! Listen to them, observe what is important to them

value what they value and they will value you and engage- work with them laugh with them, cry with them. Engage them in and with the words of scripture. Engage them through and with the love of God

that you know so well. And feed them Fred! At this table share with them the provisions of God. 

But don’t let them off easy! Show them how to respond to God’s love. Because here in Wildwood Jesus still has work that needs to be done.

“Get up and eat pastor and people of Holy Trinity otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”

Eat, be fed and nourished with the bread of life that God provides. Be strengthened to do the work that God has given you. In the name of Jesus and for the sake of the world, Get up and eat! ....

Brian, Baptism and Bread

Brian, Baptism and Bread

John 6:24-35

August 5, 2012

Grace, peace and love to you from God.

You know I have a lot to do in this sermon, today. I have to say goodbye to an intern, welcome a baby into the community of faith, say something about the youth gathering that I spent so much time in the last three years working on, and proclaim the goodness of God through Jesus the Christ. So I have titled this sermon Brian, Baptism and Bread.

I don’t know if you realize it, but preaching is a daunting task and every time I stand to talk to you about God I get knots in my stomach. Perhaps I take it too seriously; but I try not to think that I am smart enough, good enough or even able to preach in a succinct and interesting way all the time. Some sermons come easy and others ---- well, God has to pull them out of me.

One thing I do is give thanks to God that the lectionary text, the old testament, new testament and gospel lessons are chosen by someone other than me. So along with writing a sermon, I don’t have to decide what the scripture text for a giving Sunday should be.

This week the choice of what to preach was hard. I wanted to use the words of the text from Ephesians to say to Brian: "I beg you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility.... These are words that everyone needs to hear occasionally, especially we who are called to word and sacrament ministry, we who plan to live our lives as those who teach, and proclaim the word of God, as those who accompany God’s people in times of joy and crisis, we need to hear this plea ---- those of us who are tasked with helping pass on the faith, who live as examples, and witnesses of the love of God for all to see--- all the time.

It is so easy to take our calling fore granted. It is easy to forget that to preach and teach and to be involved in the lives of a community of faith is an honor and a privilege.  None of us are good enough, smart enough, able enough. It is all the gift of God. I forget this sometimes. So, I wanted to remind myself and Brian, as he is just at the beginning of this vocation, that this calling to parish ministry is by the help of God,“to equip the saints for the work of ministry.”

One scholar says, that the goal of these words are the advancement of unity, love, maturity and that we grow in faith. All of our vocations and the vocation of pastors are especially for “building up the body of Christ.”

The scripture says: “We must no longer be children tossed to and fro and blown by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”

I wanted to use the well known story in Exodus, the story of “the bread that the Lord gave the Israelites to eat,”as we baptize William Grant Shannon, to assure his family that God is a God of love and provision. That this God who hears the complaints of the people in the wilderness will always hear our cries: the cries of parents ----- as well as the cries of children as they grow, learn and negotiate the world.

William is joining a community of faith, composed of members who understand that God hears but also know that they are called to hear the word of God and try their best to reflect the grace of God in who they are and move from this place sharing Christ’s love in tangible ways in the world: by helping those in need, feeding the hungry, and speaking words of encouragement.

Yet, I decided to focus on that text in John’s gospel to continue the bread discourse and to ask the question: why bother to feed 33,309 young people? But first......

In last week’s gospel lesson Jesus feeds 5,000 with two fish, five loaves of bread, prayer and the power of God. When the people are feed, the event was so spectacular;  they proclaim,“This is the prophet who has come into the world.”

They try to make him king; he withdraws: later Jesus catches up with the disciples and travels to the other side of the shore with them.

In today’s lesson the crowd who ate their fill get into their boats and go looking for Jesus. When they find him they are a bit confused. They never saw him get in a boat; they never saw him travel to this side of the lake with the disciples. So they began asking him questions. “Rabbi when did you come here.” Perhaps Jesus is slightly annoyed with their question. So he accuses them of looking for him

not because they saw the signs pointing to God, but because they ate their fill and want more.

He tells them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” A back and forth conversation ensues and they have no idea what Jesus is talking about. They simply want to understand who he is how and why he fed them in the first place.

Jesus is trying to tell them it isn’t about the food that filled their stomachs. It is about the one who God had sent into the world to feed them. So he proclaims,“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Did you know that settng up a staging area for communion during a youth gathering is a major fete? Ask Jane Bowman, she helped. First you have to find where the shipping company has dropped all the supplies: the vessels, the many bottles of wine and the 900 loaves of bread. When all that is done five rows with five tables each are positioned and an assembly line of volunteers unpack the pottery communion vessels trying not to ding, chip or break any of the pieces while placing 8 communion sets on each table. Now we are ready to feed 33,309 participates plus volunteers on Sunday morning.

But why bother? Hadn’t all the excitement already taken place. Night after night, the participants had heard the proclamation of God’s goodness through the stories of amazing speakers. They heard the Sarcastic Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz Weber and Shane Claibourne who lives in community in Philadelphia and has been arrested for serving meals to the homeless. Leymah Gbowee a Liberian woman who protested for peace in the middle of a civil war was there. For her efforts she received the Nobel peace prize. Andrena Ingram my friend who has the distinction of been an HIV+ Lutheran pastor spoke.

For three days they left their hotel rooms to go out and practice discipleship, practice peacemaking, and practice justice--participating in service projects all over New Orleans.

So, why feed them? Wasn’t Sunday going to be kind of anti-climatic? Besides most of the participants had already eaten there way through New Orleans: beignets at cafe du monde, gumbo, jambalya and oyster po boys at Mother’s Restaurant. Was it really necessary to work out all the logistic to place over 150 teams of communion assistants to offer the Eucharist meal to tens of thousands of people in a football stadium?

Hadn’t they had enough fun? Hadn’t they cried enough, sang enough, danced enough? With all the conversations, the stories, the activities the explanations of who Jesus is and what God has done for us, didn’t they get the message? Hadn’t they had their fill? 

The purpose of the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering was:

to help to pass on the faith to young people,

to help them see they are not alone,

to point to God, 

to help them understand that believing in God through Jesus Christ does make a difference.

Yet with all the dancing, music, and spectacle one has to wonder did the message get confused?

You see we had no illusions that we were smart enough, or good enough, or even able to further this purpose on our own. Even though the collective wisdom of all those who worked to plan the gathering was amazing.

The youth gathering wasn’t about the lights or the music or even about all those wonderful speakers or service for the sake of service. It was about the one who God sent into the world, the one who gave up his life on a cross, the one who rose from the dead.

So we fed them 33,309 young people plus volunteers; we fed them bread and wine, body and blood of Jesus, so that the living body of Christ in this world might be built up---so that fed and nourished that they might go out into the world and make a difference---that they might experience--receive the precious gift of God --- Jesus the Christ in the simple form of bread and wine.

As we send off our fourth intern, as William Grant Shannon is baptized, as we come to the table might we all receive this precious gift of God in the simple form of bread and wine. May we all be fed.

Being fed, may we contemplate and remember the words Jesus spoke: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  Amen

“We live in a time of momentous historical change that is both exhilarating and frightening. Christianity itself is becoming something different from what it was.”

(Diane Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion)

My head is spinning.  I have just finished a month of reading, preaching presentations and conversations. Many of these events had as the topic: the changing climate of the Church. An eye opening question from a  pastoral counselor was: “If we are intent on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, why are we so caught up in the delivery system?” Part of the issue with the state of the Church today is that we think that the only way to spread the gospel is for folks to walk into our congregations and sit in our pews on Sunday morning. Traditionally this is how we have measured the success of our congregations; this is the way it has always been done.

The thing is, there is no "the way things have always been done," only "the way we've done them in recent memory" -- which of course really means "the way I've gotten used to them being done."

(David Lose, “Pentecost Change” Working Preacher)

Vicar Brian’s sermon on June 10th was a passionate reminder of this very statement. He called out the reality of the Church, the worry and the wringing of hands. He said out loud what many of you may be feeling and thinking. The text he used from 1 Corinthians was about “not losing heart.” Not only did he talk about the fear of low attendance and changes in the church but he also lifted up what God is doing here: through our youth, our continued giving, and the gifts many members of the congregation offer in service to God. These excellent traditions are enough to give us heart.

Still, as pastor, I struggle with how to honor the traditions of this congregation in a pluralistic, increasingly less Christian society and still move forward. I wonder if the way we have always done things (expecting folks to sit in the pew) is the way things should be done now, especially when I continue to read:

“When do we stop…stop trying to do things that clearly aren’t working just because we’ve always done it this way? When do we stop and let programs die even though it hurts our pride, . . .  to do so? When do we stop giving our time to failed or failing efforts so that we can devote our time, energy, and creativity to developing new ministries, new relationships, new projects that prove more effective and, in this sense, more faithful?”

(David Lose, “In the Meantime” Feb. 29)

In prayer, with the urging of the Spirit, I will in the next year devote my time and energy to: creatively attempt to change what is not working, lifting up new ministries, trying to establish new relationships and measure success in not how many “folks are in the pews,” but how many lives are being affected by the ministry done by our members. In this vein, you will see a change in the way Confirmation is done, a change in adult education, a new connection with the interfaith community in Summit and new possibilities in young adult/emerging ministries. I have lots of ideas, but they are only my ideas; I would like you to weigh in, not with negative criticism, because that is rarely helpful. Please, weigh in with constructive ways that you might see to spread the good news of Jesus the Christ, or any new innovative ideas that you have that may help us more fully be the people of God in this place. 

St. John’s has always been in the vanguard of positive change. I would like to enhance this tradition. I know that we can, because I am confident that God is still at work in the world, and our little corner of it. I am convinced that God is still in control and that the Holy Spirit still has the power to enliven and make us able to reimagine church.

I have decided not to live in fear of “oh, my, what is happening to the church” but to proactively seek new ways of being the community of faith called St. John’s Lutheran Church located in Summit, New Jersey. I am excited and exhilarated about new possibilities for ministry. I hope you will get in on the excitement!

Wishing you abundant grace.

Pastor Walker

Pentecost Sunday 2012

Catching Fire or Something to Say

Acts 2:1-12

Grace and peace to you from God: Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer,

I have really been struggling with this homily the last few weeks and it took a long while before I put anything down on paper. I hadn’t decided what aspect of the Holy Spirit I wanted to talk about.This allusive member of the Trinity is called by so many names--comforter, paraclete, sustainer; you heard one in John-- advocate. The Spirit has been described as dove, breath, wind and fire. It is unpredictable, violent and at the same time it creates a space of safety and security. Jesus breathes the peace of the Spirit into the locked room as he surprises the disciples.

I thought it would be cool to try and explain this Spirit called Holy by asking do you remember me talking about the incredibly popular book, now a movie the Hunger Games? It is the first of a trilogy, the story of Katniss Everdeen from district 12 who becomes a hero by the end of the first book and movie.

The plot is that two children from every one of twelve districts is forced to compete. The are called tributes and the competition is basically a fight to the death. In the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss and the male tribute from District 12 survive. This was not supposed to happen, there was supposed to be a sole survivor. Peeta is allowed to survive because Katniss convinces the television audience that they are in love and threatens to kill herself if Peeta dies. So, for the first time in 74 years there are two victorious tributes and the organizers of the games are furious at Katniss’ defiance.

As the second book of the trilogy Catching Fire, begins, Katniss and Peeta are warned that they must continue this act of being star crossed lovers as they do a victory tour. As they make their first stop on the tour Peeta and Katniss give speeches and it is clear that Katniss’ initial defiance and her strength have already begun to incite a rebellion. By the end of the book, we see that the rebellion has ‘caught fire.'

This story helps me talk about how this idea of catching fire is related to the text for the day. There are tongues as of fire that land on the heads of the disciples as they are gathered for festival. These tongues of fire spark a new movement, a movement of those who follow Jesus the Christ. This moment and this movement is a mass visitation of the promised Holy Spirit. This day of Pentecost, where everyone around catches fire is the day that marks the beginning of the Christian Church. I was going to end this homily by saying: “may the Holy Spirit blow through St. John’s and might we Catch Fire!”

Because certainly that’s what we need -- to catch fire and for sure the Holy Spirit has been talked about as that thing wind, breath, flame that stirs us up and gives power to all sorts of things in Jesus name. This Spirit even has the power to breathe new life into the Christian Church of the 21st century, a Church that seems to have lost some of its fire and excitement, a church that we speak of as the church at the end of Christendom and in decline as she faces the distractions of a culture that is more and more secularized. I wanted to tell you of this Holy Spirit that holds up the institution of the church even while it sends us out in a new ways as the body of Christ in the world.

I was going to remind all who will listen, that Pentecost ---the giving of the Holy Spirit  is not simply an occurrence that happened---long ago and far away but the Holy Spirit is present and active in our lives here and now.

I was going to tell you about the places here at St. John’s where I have seen the Holy Spirit at work: I have seen the movement of the Spirit as this congregation moved from deficit budgets to surplus....I have seen the Holy Spirit in the generosity of this community as we have raised money for world hunger, as we send youth on mission trips, and as we supply goods to those in need.

I felt the presence of the Spirit on Easter Sunday when two ten-year olds stood in the midst of the congregation and proclaimed the days scripture. I watched as your faces showed amazement and how some of you twisted and turned to see where this proclamation was coming from.

I see the movement of the Holy Spirit when anyone offers their musical talent or any talent as gifts in worship. I was struck with the joy of the Holy Spirit as I opened a card and read that little Charlotte baptized in the hospital just a few weeks ago is on the road to recovery. I could go on and on talking about how I see the work of the Spirit in many of you as you live out your faith in so many ways.

So many things I wanted to say in this sermon to Isabella, Emily, David and Brett, so much about faith, and doubt. I wanted to them how God promises that the Holy Spirit will hold us up in the midst of uncertainty, to emphasis that they were given this gift in the baptism they are affirming today:

the spirit of wisdom and understanding

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord,

the spirit of joy in God’s presence.

We can’t touch or see when these gifts are active. So, what I want these four young people and all of you to know concretely is that the Holy Spirit is indeed a gift, the gift of something to say!

I want to explain that the day of Pentecost was that day when people gathered together and tongues of fire landed on their heads and they began to speak in languages so all could hear the good news. When the words of the prophet Joel were once more announced in the assembly:

“In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

   and your old men shall dream dreams. 

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

     and they shall prophesy.”

They will prophesy, we will prophesy and have a word to speak to a broken and sinful world, a word to speak in the hardest of times, a word to speak in silence or in deafening noise, a word to speak in the midst of disease, disaster, even death, a word of faith in the middle of doubt....The Holy Spirit is the gift of something to say, a word to speak. This word was made flesh and dwelt among us; this word spoke out on a cross for our sake. This word rose, ascended and now sends the holy spirit that we might be witnesses. So that this generation and the next generation and the next generation and the next generation, might hear and tell the story of Jesus and his love.

Pentecost….. yes, long ago and far away, but also here and now

The Holy Spirit is the gift of something to say. So, instead of may we catch fire this homily will end with me pleading “Come, Holy Spirit, come!” that we might have something to say, in this 21st century world when no one wants to hear. .... a heart wretching plea of  “come, Holy Spirit, come! Amen

Just Rambling!


****The idea of Holy Spirit as something to say comes from a sermon by Thomas Long "What is the Gift?" heard of day1.org

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Err on the Side of Love
Acts 10:44-48; John 5:1-6 and John 15:9-17
May 13, 2012

When I came into the church on Wednesday, I looked in my church mailbox and pulled out a copy of Sojourners Magazine. This magazine that has been existence for forty years has as its mission “. . . to inspire hope and action by articulating the biblical call to racial and social justice, life and peace and environmental stewardship.”

In the June issue there are articles on human dignity in Guatemala, a contemporary reading of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth and and article on the rebirth of Detroit. But what caught my eye was the cover. Sitting in a chair looking out the window is a teenaged girl holding a sign that in big bold letters reads: GOD HATES AMERICA

That’s not what I have been hearing in church for the past few Sundays as a matter of fact I have been hearing an awful lot about love and God’s love relationship with us.....“we love because he first loved us.” “for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God who they have not seen.”

That’s just a few of the messages from scripture lately and the tenor of that conversation continues this morning: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.You are my friends...”

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So the sign on the cover and the other signs shown in the article: AMERICA IS DOOMED--DESTRUCTION IS IMMINENT -- GOD HATES THE WORLD, cannot possibly represent the God I know through Jesus the Christ who gave up his life in a self-sacrificing act of love for the world. These negative messages are not what we believe, not what we teach here at St. John’s in Summit New Jersey on the east coast of the United States of America! This not what we want those soon to be confirmed to learn!

Anyway, the magazine cover drew me in! The cover article was titled: “The Face of Hate.” Rebecca Barrett-Fox a professor at two Mennonite Colleges was being interviewed about her time doing ethnographic research with the Westboro Baptist Church.

WBC for short is a congregation in Kansas that spews hate filled rhetoric and protests daily against people and things that they believe are destroying this country. The list is long: Jews, Blacks, Amish, those who are outside of their small Topeka community. They are especially bigoted against those who are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered.

They have picketed the funerals of Matthew Shepherd, the Amish girls who were killed while attending school, Elizabeth Edwards and they often appear protesting at the funerals of soldiers killed in action. The people of Westboro practice what can be termed hyper Calvinism; they believe in predestination to the extreme--that God has already decided who is in and who is not. And for some repentance is not an option...it is too late.That’s the rhetoric.

This “church” is led by Fred Phelps a disbarred civil rights attorney.The membership of the church consists of 9 of his 13 children and their families. Most records say there are somewhere between 70 to 100 members.

Why would a magazine that has as its mission the promotion of justice, life and peace feature an article about a group that is sooooo negative? The explanation according to the editor and I am paraphrasing is so those who sit on the edge of hateful rhetoric might be warned!

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The bible tells us: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey God’s commandments.”

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The most disturbing thing about this “so called” congregation is the presence of so many children; Phelps children and grandkids are taught this hate. I found this out watching a documentary titled “Fall from Grace” As these children are interviewed you see them holding signs and calling those outside of their small group Fags and Evil beast. They cannot, in the lest, explain why they believe what they believe, but the children can certainly recite the venomous party line.

The documentary also shows Phelps preaching; many of his sermons have as their subject obedience. One of the signs his group holds up in protest is OBEY OR PERISH! The members of WBC do what they do because they believe they are following the commandment of God. To obey God to Fred Phelps and his followers is to condemn, criticize, ostracize and shame people, but God’s command that we hear this morning is a command to bear the fruits of love.

Jesus says: “If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.”

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But following Jesus’ commandment is hard. It takes an act of will to love as Jesus loves; it takes obedience

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While Westboro Baptist Church’s rhetoric is extreme we hear such ideas about who is condemned, who is in or out, who is entitled to rights and freedoms and who is disenfranchised all the time. It doesn’t matter if we lean to the right or left as people--we human beings-- always want to say who is good and who is bad, who has the correct opinion and who is incorrect. It is hard for us to love all the people of God all the time.

 
We are especially tempted to delineate the in groups and out groups, the good and bad, when our economy is in the tank, when banks fail, when all we hear is bitter political rhetoric, when circumstances and situations in our lives seem precarious. Sometimes we speak of the other with venom and hatefulness.This hatefulness whether from Phelps or from our own lips stems from fear.

Fear about our own place in the world-fear that we will be left out-fear that our status and well being will be threatened-fear that we won’t be accepted, included, loved. But we have heard in this season of Easter that “perfect love casts out fear.” Love, acceptance, and inclusion, is what we hear in all of our text for today.

In Acts, we hear the change leading to inclusion that happens in the minds of those first disciples. While once they were arguing about making those who were different subject to conditions to enter their group.----Once they believen that gentiles who would be part of their crowd needed to be circumcised, but here, because of what they have witnessed through the Holy Spirit there has been a reversal---Peter asks: “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

Peter realizes that he doesn’t want to be the one who has to decide who is right or wrong, but with the urging of the Holy Spirit Peter errs on the side of love and, welcomes “even these gentiles” into the community through water and the word. Phelps thinks he is being obedient as he spews hate. Peter believes he is being obedient when he acts from the urging of the Holy Spirit. We believe that we are being obedient when we hear and respond to God’s commandment to love!

How can we know?

Is our obedient act of love-- really loving?
Does it benefit someone besides ourselves?
Does it lift up others?
Does it help us grow into the people God is calling us to be?

How can we know? Perhaps we might look in the bible not just for laws and commands of what we should or must do but ways in which we believe Jesus might respond. We might look to our own experiences and decide how we would want to be treated. We might look around at our context and community and ask those we are about to criticize, ostracize or leave out how they will be affected. And in all we do when it comes to exclusion and humiliation we might err on the side of love.

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The sad thing about Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church is that they have created a small narrow world to live in. While talking about an all determining all powerful God, that smites and condemns, they have in the same breath limited the width, the depth and the breath of God’s,mercy God’s forgiveness and God’s love. They haven’t realized that when Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross that his arms were opened wide enough to encircle the entire world.

A pastor being interviewed for the documentary about WBC said that Phelps was one of those people--one of those children of God--that needed love the most, but deserved it the lest. . .And so are we. We are sinners in need of God’s love. Thanks be to God we don’t get what we deserve. What we get is God’s unmerited, unconditional love......

And so we hear the story of Westboro Baptist Church. From the tone of the conversation we can see that Professor Barlett-Fox believes that what the people of this family congregation do is awful. But she is able to seperate the actions from the people. She looks at the children and believes: “There is hope here for transformation.” We even have evidence in scripture. Saul who once stoned followers of Jesus became Paul and Peter adamantly against the gentiles changes his mind.

Transformation or not, the people of Westboro Baptist Church are those who God loves no matter what they think, no matter what they do. All those who WBC condemns, Jews, Blacks, Amish, LGBT are also those who God loves; as are we:

No matter our perfection or imperfection, no matter our right behavior or wrong behavior, no matter our good or bad, no matter our sins, no matter our flaws we are those who God loves. In this we have faith and this faith that is grounded in God’s love conquers the world!!!

Amen

Just Rambling!!!

Ewww Snakes

4rth Sunday in Lent
Numbers 21: and John 3:14-20
March 18, 2012

Grace and peace to you from God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer

In our gospel lesson this morning Nicodemus confronts Jesus in the middle of the night.
He questions whether Jesus really is from God. Nicodemus a Pharisee understands what Jesus has done and is doing ‘as evidence that points to God, but doesn’t quite get it. So he comes to Jesus under the cloak of darkness that he might understand.
And Jesus explains:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”...
And we wonder why Jesus compares himself to a serpent, a snake, a disgusting reptile?
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But we know that throughout the gospels Jesus uses common everyday examples and comparisons to help us understand who he is. We will hear him talk about being the light of the world, living water and the bread of life, but a snake!
But Nicodemus has heard the story about his ancestors in the wilderness that Jesus is referencing and he might just get what Jesus means -- but serpents, snakes? We all just want to say ewwww…..
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Just this week, did you guys hear the news report of a man who found a snake in his toilet bowl? The report says; “A four-foot-long California Kingsnake slithered into the commode at Allen Shepard’s apartment and scared him half to death. He turned the light on at 6:30 a.m. and went to open the vanity when he saw something move in the toilet . . . He called the building’s plumber and the battle to get the snake out began. The bathroom battle lasted some 30 minutes. The snake, a non-poisonous variety, was taken off to a sanctuary in Manhattan. . . So how did this reptile end up in the toilet?
The best guess is that it was a pet of one of the tenants of the apartment complex. It escaped and somehow slithered into the complex plumbing system.”

I don’t like snakes; you have probably heard me say that even when snakes appear on the television screen I turn the channel. And you would have certainly heard me screaming, shouting and complaining if a snake showed up in my bathroom
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Whining, complaining and griping, that’s what the people of Israel are doing in the 21st chapter of Numbers this morning. Griping, complaining and whining about their journey and God’s provisions.
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Professor Oswald Bayer spoke last week about our making a compliant to God and not resigning ourselves to a situation that was untenable. That’s what Jacob did as he wrestled with the unnamed “it” as he crossed the water, in the middle of the night, possibly all alone. What Bayer was talking about was complaining in the midst of sickness and disease, struggling through trials and tribulations daring to make a complaint to God and holding out hope against hope that God will respond.
 
But that’s not exactly what’s going on here? Yes, the people of Israel were complaining, but it was more of an incessant whining,
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You know that kind of complaining -- when we are tired and out of energy, when we don’t get what we want, when things aren’t happening fast enough for us, or we can’t see what is up ahead. Sometimes we can live our lives in a state of complaining?
“Are we there yet?”
“I don’t want that!”
“It doesn’t taste good!”
“Can you hurry up?”
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The people of Israel were impatient. They were tired of traveling in the wilderness.
They were ready to get where they were going, because, they had been going there for almost forty years. And they were sick and tired of the food,
They were eating manna for breakfast-- manna for lunch and manna for dinner. Yes they had food but it was manna, always manna.

One commentator writes, “It is not the absence of food that makes them impatient, but rather the kind of food that God has provided does not match their palates.” (John Holbert)
Perhaps the people of Israel had a right to complain at the moment they weren’t really thinking about what God had done for them...After all God had delivered them from slavery, divided the waters so they could pass, brought forth water from rocks and gave them the law to govern their lives. God had even sent them quail and manna to eat. God made sure they didn’t starve and they have the nerve to whine.

God seems to be impatient too...God was tired of these ungrateful people, frustrated with their lack of faith. God told them they would get to the promised land. But they just couldn’t seem to hold up and hold out and they whine.

The bible says:
“They spoke out against God and Moses:
Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this country?
No decent food; no water--we can’t stomach this stuff any longer.”
And this is not the first time they complained. Ten chapter ago they were complaining about not having anything to eat. And God does something that I don’t understand and I can’t explain. God does something that seems to make little sense.
“God sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit them and many in Israel die.”
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Someone in the crowd realized the mistake they had made and went to Moses to see if they could get God to relent, to call off the snakes. Moses does, but instead of simply removing the snakes, God makes this instrument of pain and fear--this instrument of death the very thing an antidote---that saves them. “God promises a means of healing in the midst of death” (Elizabeth Webb) They look to the snake on the pole and live.
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Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”...

Yes it is an awful image a serpent on a pole…to me a snake as a symbol of healing is disgusting. But no less disgusting then a man dying on a cross, an innocent being made guilty for the sins of the world.
No matter our complaints whether we find ourselves in an untenable situation --sickness, death, disease, or whether we whine over our tiredness or are bone-weariness, or things just don’t seem to be going our way, Jesus is made our healing in the midst of death -- our forgiveness in the reality of sin -- our love in a loveless world --our deliverer in the wilderness -- our peace when there is no peace -- our comforter, consoler, counselor.
Jesus is lifted up for us, given by God. We look to the one lifted up and live.

Jesus explains to Nicodemus and to us: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”...

The gospel in a nutshell…..

An Incorrect Assumption

2^nd Sunday of Lent
Mark 8:30-37
March 1, 2012

Grace and peace to you from God who is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

 Some people when they walk into this church, when they see an African American woman, especially if I am not dressed in the obligatory black with a white collar around my neck, don’t see a pastor. Early in my ministry here at St. John’s I remember on a few occasions I was asked by guest using the building on week days what I was doing here as if I were in the wrong place.

One Saturday, while we were hosting a blood drive I walked in the door with jeans and a casual sweater. I walked around the room speaking to various people who were giving blood, chatting and laughing with members of the congregation. One of the Red Cross volunteers, a kind elderly lady, as one of the members said hello --- asked if I were the cook.

After all I was the only African American in the room, I had to be there to cook or clean or serve. And I laughed and said, “No I am the pastor.”

She stuttered, and everyone around the conversation felt embarrassed as she explained away her mistake “you look too young to be a pastor.” I wanted to say, “you should tell that to my thirty something son.” Of course I didn’t fit her idea of the senior pastor of a successful Lutheran congregation.

In hindsight, my answer should have been: “No I am not the cook but the pastor and I do serve a meal every Sunday that you are of course invited to.” This volunteer had made an incorrect assumption.

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As we walk in the wilderness of Lent we turn to the eighth chapter of Mark’s gospel. We pick up right after Peter has made his amazing pronouncement about Jesus. “You are the Messiah.” He says. It is a stunning confession, a particularly stellar moment for Peter. I can imagine that he is beside himself because he has finally gotten it. He finally realizes that Jesus is the Messiah.  And we think-- “but of course.” But for Peter, for any of the disciples this is a remarkable response to the question, “Who do you say that I am?”

Many thought it was more likely that Jesus was John the Baptist or Elijah returned to life, both incorrect assumptions, rather than the Messiah who has come to save the people from Roman rule. But Peter, bless his heart, has figured it out. The evidence has always been there right in front of him; he has seen Jesus feed thousands, unstop the ears of the death, bring sight to the blind, and even walk on water. But only now does Peter realize that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who has indeed come to save Israel.
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Yet “Jesus warns them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone.” Peter has made the confession, but Jesus is sure that none of them truly understand. So he pauses from his questions and begins to explain. “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests and religion scholars, be killed and after three days rise up alive.”

And surely this breaks the hearts, disappoints and disabuses the assumptions of all who hear.

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And Peter, being Peter can’t help but react. He can’t stand to think that Jesus his friend, his teacher was looking toward suffering and death.

So I can imagine he grabs Jesus by the arm and says -- no way.

Suffering unto death isn’t really necessary is it? And so Jesus uses very harsh language in his rebuke of Peter, “Get behind me Satan  for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Peter a little embarrassed wonders what he has done. We can see he has caused Jesus to name two opposing ideas: what God wills -- divine things and what people want -- human things. An incorrect assumption is that Jesus has come to do what Peter wants, what the disciples want, what people want him to do, or to be what people expect him to be. But Jesus has come as the Son of God to do God’s will!

Jesus’ idea and Peter’s idea of what it means to be Messiah do not match up. Peter’s is a cultural assumption, that he learned most likely at home, at the knees of his parents or grandparents. He thinks of the Messiah in terms of human strength and power. But Jesus has come to turn these assumptions on their heads. Jesus wants to let this disciples know to help all of us to understand---It is not about military power and might, but about the power of love and forgiveness.

It is not about ruling with an iron fist, but serving with compassion and mercy. It’s not about having it all, but giving it all away for the sake of the world. Hopefully, these harsh words by Jesus help Peter to understand that Jesus didn’t come to lead a physical revolt, but came to follow the path set for him by God even as it leads him to a cross

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The assumption is that Jesus will defeat an army.

The reality is Jesus will defeat death.

The assumption is that Jesus will show military might.

The reality is Jesus will show the power of God’s love.

The assumption is that Jesus will rescue them from oppressive rule.

That reality is Jesus will deliver the world from sin.

Jesus has come to do God’s will! Do you get it?

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Even we make incorrect assumptions about Jesus. We assume Jesus is a cosmic Santa Claus and if we pray hard enough we can have whatever we want. Or Jesus is a Genie in a lamp that if we rub the right way we will get our wish. We assume that Jesus hates all those we hate and we forget that Jesus’ story is about ultimate love. We assume that Jesus gives us what we deserve. We forget we deserve the destruction that sin brings.

We assume that we are smart enough, educated enough, good enough to get right with God; we forget that it is Jesus that makes us right.

We assume that Jesus came just for us good church going folks. We forget that Jesus came for all people: Jew and gentile, male and female, black and white, gay and straight, healthy and diseased, the sober and those struggling to be sober, the sad, the suffering, the sick, the poor, the hungry, the homeless, not just me--but you too.
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We have so many incorrect assumptions about Jesus including that he came to do everything, to give us everything we want. The reality is that Jesus came to love us, to free us from sin and death so that we can be active for good in a world of trouble.
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Jesus’ explanation continues; he tells his disciples:

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

And by now Peter is again beside himself, but in a different way.
He thinks what Jesus is asking is ridiculous. “Does Jesus really want us to pick up an object of suffering, degradation and shame? That’s a crazy idea, when is he going to defeat the Romans?”

We forget just how counter cultural Jesus was in his day. We forget how counter cultural truly following Jesus is even today

Jesus asks them; Jesus asks us to put away our incorrect assumptions, to pick up our cross and follow him into life giving service. Jesus advocates risking our lives for the sake of others, putting ourselves on the line, in harm’s way.......going the extra mile, getting out of our comfort zones, doing the unexpected...for the sake of the gospel, and in response to the incredible love of Jesus who stretches his arms out on a cross for our sake and for the sake of the world.
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Picking up a cross-- I am only just now figuring out how that looks for me.
I know it has something to do with the kindly red cross volunteers incorrect assumption picking up the cross for me means crossing over borders and boundaries, going sometimes where I don’t want to go, being a stranger in a foreign land and in the wider Church being the one who speaks up against oppressive systems of racism, sexism, homophobia and even sometimes being called an angry black woman. Yet, anything I could ever do falls far short of what Jesus has done.

Picking up a cross---I don’t know how that looks for you. Rarely will it mean actually dying, in this time and place. But it will mean living boldly into who God has called you to be. It will mean giving of yourself as you live out your baptismal identity.
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Picking up a cross was really hard for Peter. Peter, you remember him. He is the one who denies Jesus three times as the cock crows. But he finally did, he finally had to put away his incorrect assumptions because he and the other disciples learned the reality. After many ups and downs starts and stops they picked up their crosses... and carried the message of the gospel into the world.

No matter the incorrect assumptions people make about you, let them think that you fit into every stereotype, every convention, every idea they have of normalcy. But pick up your cross and live as though you are loved. Live as though you trust the promises of God. Live as though you really know that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God......

Just Rambling!