"An equal world is an enabled world."Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Saturday, March 7th: Psalm 121; Isaiah 51:4-8; Luke 7:1-10. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day. The motto being shared is “An Equal World Is an Enabled World.” The more people have the opportunity to develop their abilities, the more everyone benefits. The United States has profited from this practice in myriad ways. When we once accepted the unwanted of so many other nations, people who did not have the opportunity to work or to educate themselves, to free themselves from generations of stratification, this released a tidal wave of innovation and enthusiasm, and everyone benefited. If we had been only another place for elites to gather, then the world would have been deprived of so many unexpected gifts. The American Dream didn’t only benefit the ones who came. It changed the world, and it proved that “An equal world is an enabled world.” Everyone has heard at one time or another the beautiful poem on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. "The New Colossus" is a sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus. She writes: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" In so many places and institutions around the world, let me emphasize on the eve of International Women’s Day, women are forbidden the opportunity to develop their abilities. Then it’s not only the women who suffer, everyone is deprived of their talents, their unexpected gifts, their perspective, their insight. Why would we expect anything else when half of the population is limited by the other half to what they are allowed to do? An unequal world is a disabled world. Equality is a blessing in so many ways. It frees us from the tired ideas and ways of the entrenched and allows a fresh breeze to blow through and to bring with it the potential of the new. Today’s selection from Isaiah is actually what scholars refer to as “Deutero-Isaiah.” This is a prophet writing after Jerusalem’s fall and in exile. He’s writing to people who have lost their freedom and dream of it restored. Through the prophet, God promises: “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my teaching in your hearts; do not fear the reproach of others, and do not be dismayed when they revile you. … My deliverance will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.” These are words of the God of outcasts. God promises equality restored. The liberty to be who we are is promised by God above the “reproach” of others. Or look at Jesus, a man oppressed by Rome’s Legions, a Saviour devoted to peacefulness, and yet when the centurion, the leader of a hundred occupying soldiers, begs that Jesus heal a beloved slave, Jesus looks beyond status and position and hears the man’s sincerity and concern. Jesus looks upon people equally. This wasn’t a centurion, a Roman, an occupier; this was a person. As we look ahead to tomorrow’s observance, may the message of “An Equal World Is an Enabled World” be reflected in the lessons of our faith. Too often religion has been used as a repressive force. This Lent let us think of the ways Jesus would have us change the world, fostering equality, and blessing all of us with the potential of what can be.
0 Comments
Sin is a virus. Let Lent be the cure.Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Friday, March 6th: Psalm 121; Micah 7:18-20; and Romans 3:21-31. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Everyone is talking about Coronavirus. I’ve heard that anti-bacterial soap won’t fight Coronavirus, and that makes sense. It’s a virus, not bacteria. Bacteria contain a full copy of their DNA. They are stand-alone. Viruses don’t have a full DNA complement. They have to latch onto some other living thing and force it to sustain the virus. They’re parasites in this way. Sin is like a virus. It latches on to a person and perverts its spiritual DNA to do its will. Paul, in today’s selection, calls everyone a sinner: “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin is not who we are though. The Bible begins by telling us that we are made in the image and likeness of God, male and female. God is not physical nor defined by gender. So we are like God in ways far more important than appearance. We are like God because we can think and choose. This freedom is our greatest gift and our most severe test. This freedom grants us morality. We are privileged to be able to choose God, but we are also capable of refusing God. We are, therefore, not inherently evil. It is not a necessary part of our human nature or our spiritual DNA. If it were, then Jesus would be sinful since the purpose of His life is to share in our human nature. If Jesus is not human like you and me, then His Incarnation is insufficient and His sacrifice on the cross is inadequate. Sin, therefore, is like a virus. It subverts our spiritual DNA. It turns us away from God and trying to be godly. It’s not who we are. When we realize this, we have a better chance of treating the infection of sin. When we see its temptations as destructive, our immune response is stronger. Morality isn’t saying “no” to ourselves all the time; it’s the treatment that fights the virus of sin. Then morality takes on a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Isn’t that what the Psalmist is sharing in today’s passage. It is being sung as pilgrims ascend to the heights of Jerusalem, and then further upwards to the Temple. It rejoices in the assurance that God will protect and sustain, and it celebrates the congregation of all these peoples from all over the world coming together to worship. God and each other raise them up. As we pass through our second Lenten Friday, let us approach the cross as our temple. With faith in Jesus, sin is defeated. Let us live as we should, not because of commands and works continually tallied, but because Jesus loves us as much as the cross and He sees us as we truly are, a godly people. Sin is a disease. Let Lent be the cure. Courage of Christian WitnessThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Thursday, March 5th: Psalm 121; Isaiah 51:1-3; and 2 Timothy 1:3-7. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Today is the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre. While being harassed by a mob in Boston, British soldiers shot several people and killed five. The event was heavily publicized by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams who used the event to stoke anti-British sentiment in the Colonies. When I go to Boston, if I’m anywhere near the Granary Burial Ground, I like to pay my respects at the grave of Sam Adams by leaving a couple of pennies on his headstone. Sam Adams was a Patriot leader and the governor of Massachusetts for several terms. He could have been buried anywhere. He chose, however, to be buried alongside the ones who died in the Boston Massacre. He honoured their sacrifice. They stood their ground unarmed in front of weapons aimed at them. The original Greek word for Christian witness is μάρτυς (martyr). A Christian martyr is like Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles who dies rather than reject Christ (Acts 7). Christian martyrdom is to follow Jesus regardless of the cost. A martyr imitates Jesus, which means that a martyr is often bravely non-violent. Remember in the Passion accounts of Jesus’ arrest that an unnamed follower of Jesus strikes-out with a sword to protect Jesus from assault (John alone, in a different tradition than the Synopitcs, names the sword-wielder as Peter.). Jesus’ response is clear and defiant: “‘No more of this!’” (Luke 22:51) Religious martyrdom has become associated with the savagery of “more of this,” but for Christ and Christian to be a martyr, to be a witness, is to imitate Christ. In today’s selection from 2 Timothy, we hear the advice offered to a young follower: “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” Christian bravery is the bravery of the cross. It is to take the abuses of the world, but not to become like the world. It is the bravery of following Jesus’ example and living the “power of love” and maintaining the “self-discipline” to not revert to the all too natural instinct of anger and vengeance. These are hard lessons. Jesus is a difficult example to imitate. This is the reason to honour the ideal of Christian witness and to strive toward it. May our contemplation of Jesus-crucified help us to nurture our God-given “spirit of power.” The blessed absurdity of 99 = 1Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Wednesday, March 4th: Exodus 34:1-9, 27-28; Psalm 32; Matthew 18:10-14. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
The Coronavirus is affecting the way business leaders plan. Jack Welch is an extremely influential CEO and teacher. When he led General Electric, his business model emphasized shareholder value. He believed that businesses should be run to maximize the return for shareholders. This disrupted the generations-long precedent that businesses had a primary responsibility also to their employees. Welch’s philosophy led businesses to seek the cheapest labour they could find anywhere on the globe. Profit was more important than people. Toward the end of his career, however, Welch may have begun to change his thinking. Maybe a dependence upon far flung suppliers was not the best model to keep a business agile and able to respond quickly to the market and to the consumer. The Coronavirus pandemic is energizing this transformation. Supply chains may bring businesses closer to home, wherever home may be. Employees, people, not just stock-holding people, will become more important. This thinking beyond the dollar makes sense. This re-emphasis upon the value of your employees, all of them, makes sense. But Jesus, in today’s parable, goes so much further than just making sense out of valuing your people as much as your profit. The message of the shepherd searching for the one lost sheep is heartwarming. The practical minded listeners around Jesus, however, would have asked naturally about what happens to the abandoned 99? There is no hint that they were penned in and safe, that they wouldn’t wander off, that a predator wouldn’t attack. Jesus would have known this and expected this reaction. Jesus is encouraging this reaction. He’s getting His audience to think not in normal, human ways, but as God thinks. The parable of the one lost sheep emphasizes that everyone matters, that when one is lost the whole suffers. For Jesus it’s not a matter of mathematical calculation. Mathematically it can be written out as 99>1, but for Jesus it is the absurdity of 99=1. Jesus is trying to get us to think differently. Not that the 99 don’t matter, which is human logic, but that the one is just as important as the 99, which is Jesus’ revelation. This is why our Saviour ministers and preaches to the outcasts: the sick, the fallen, the hated, the helpless, the disposable. It’s not that the others don’t matter, but Jesus wants the others to never ignore the one – because the one matters and also because the restoration of the one restores and blesses the whole. Commandments are useful, but passion is so much more than what is commanded. Lent lets us stand beneath Jesus’ cross. Let us look up at the absurdity of seeing Jesus’ triumph and victory on that cross. And let us hear again the absurd message of leaving the 99 in order to return the one in order to restore the whole, for this is what is holy. A Tale for Super TuesdayThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Tuesday, March 3rd: Genesis 4:1-16; Psalm 32; and Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Let’s start with Genesis. That makes sense since Genesis is where it all starts. The tale of Cain and Able is a folk story. The people of Israel were a nomadic clan. They traveled with their herds. As the herds needed to move so did the people. This lifestyle was threatened by settled people, and vice versa. Archaeology shows that the people of Israel entered the Promised Land and lived in previously unoccupied areas in the hills rather than along the plains by the coast. Their cultural artifacts were simple, not the rich and adorned creations of settled communities. There was a cultural conflict between shepherds and farmers, and it often turned violent. This conflict made its way into the folklore of Cain, the farmer, and Abel, the shepherd. Abel, representing the early people of Israel, offered worthy gifts to God. Cain was grudging in his sacrifices. God favoured Abel, the early people of Israel, and rejected Cain’s offering. Cain grows envious, attacks and kills Abel. The settled communities were stronger than the Israelite herdsmen, but Israel trusted they were chosen by God. We see here a story of the ages. One people feels threatened by another. Change and difference lead to cultural competition and conflict. Violence ensues. This is an ageless tale. It is one still playing out in our world today. Sociologists point to the reactionary attitudes that arise when one part of society sees change as threatening their way of life and security. Difference leads to conflict. Again, this is timeless, but so is the biblical message that even though this is our reality, it is more true that we are our brothers keeper, we are our sisters keeper. The moral of the story is that tensions and conflict are a constant threat, but we must rise above vengeance and violence and protect the other. In a story of perpetual animosity, the greater religious message is that difference and competition are not excused by God as the rationale for violence. The Saviour who goes to the cross epitomizes this lesson. It is a central Lenten theme. But it is also one important for this particular day. Today we have the privilege and responsibility of voting in the Presidential primary. We are a part of Super Tuesday. Many of us have strong political leanings, and the political divide is wide and contentious among us. I have never seen such national divisiveness. In this setting of strong and often contradictory opinions, let us remember the moral of the Cain and Abel story. No matter the difference, no matter the change, no matter the challenge, none of these are justifications for violence spoken or acted. We are each other’s keepers. As a friend often reminds us: “Anger destroys the container that it's in." Elijah's slaughterThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Monday, March 2nd: 1 Kings 19:1-8; Psalm 32; and Hebrews 2:10-18. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Sometimes a biblical story can get you to scratch your head and wonder. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’m not a fan of blind faith. For example, I read in yesterday’s newspaper, yes, actually news-paper, not online, that Pope Francis is continuing the supervision of the Legion of Christ religious order, and that he has ordered them to continue their rehabilitation efforts. It’s already been ten years, but the founder’s cult-like influence within the order, the Pope believes, has not yet been eradicated. Terrible things were done and they were covered-up and allowed because of blind faith. Faith and thinking, and even faith and questioning, are not mutually exclusive. I actually believe they nurture each other. Today we are asked to read a story about Elijah. Elijah is God’s prophet at a time when Israel was energetically unfaithful. Their faith had been corrupted and they were worshiping other gods, and this sacrilege rose right up to the level of the king’s palace. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest. Baal lost. Yahweh had proven dramatically His power and presence. Yahweh’s prophet Elijah had been validated just as dramatically. The people could not ignore what they had seen. The evidence was clear. And yet … Elijah orders the execution of the 450 prophets of Baal. What was to be gained? Nothing except vengeance. 450 people were murdered in righteousness gone bad. This is where I have to scratch my head and wonder. After witnessing the miracle of 1 Kings 18, Elijah fears for his life when Queen Jezebel promises to kill him as he killed the prophets of Baal. Elijah has witnessed fire coming out of the sky and consuming sacrifice and stone altar, and he’s afraid of Jezebel’s threat? I wonder if it is because Elijah has distanced himself from the certainty of Yahweh’s presence and protection. Does God not feel close to him at this point? Elijah’s certainty before the slaughter of the 450 is clear, but did his slaughter of his religious opponents push God away? Is he now any different than Jezebel who wants him dead? Does the name of the god in which savagery is committed make it justifiable? I’ll leave you with that question, but on top of it I’d like to draw our attention to the writing in the Epistle to the Hebrews. I appreciate the theology of this unknown author. He stresses the intimate connection between Jesus and humanity based on our shared human nature. Rather than connect at our lowest common denominator as exemplified by Elijah’s perverted righteousness, that all too human justification of vengeance in a god’s name, Jesus connects with us by taking on the cost of such righteous excess in our God’s name. Jesus is God’s perfect revelation. Jesus brings God directly and personally into our world. Jesus is the central point of connection between God and us. And in Jesus God is willing to suffer in order to stand with us as we suffer. Elijah’s victory leads to wrath. This is countered by Jesus’ victory through suffering: “… [God] should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings … Because [Jesus] himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” Ours is a crucified God who stands in diametrical opposition to destructive righteousness. When we suffer, know that Jesus stands with us because He suffered. This at-one-ment of the cross is a Lenten idea worth some of our time and consideration. "The devil made me do it."“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Ps 19:14) Back in the early 1970’s the comedian Flip Wilson had a variety show on television. One of the characters he played was Geraldine, and one of her catch phrases was, “The devil made me do it.” When Geraldine did something that would get her in trouble, she blamed the devil, and everyone laughed. It wasn’t her fault; it was the devil’s. That’s a pretty convenient card to keep up your sleeve. It’s not my fault. It’s the devil’s. You can even read about this in the Bible. King David got in trouble one day. The original account of the story in 2 Samuel 14:1 says that God incited David to sin. Later writers didn’t like this idea of blaming God so when they retold this story in 1 Chronicles 21:1 they said instead that Satan incited David to sin. Exact same Bible. Exact same sin. Exact same David. But the way it was left in the Bible, it was the devil who was to blame. I tell you these things to help us look at the story of Jesus’ temptation maybe a bit differently. Maybe less Medieval devil with horns and hooves and pitchfork, and maybe a bit more as a complex psychological and spiritual drama as Jesus battles within Himself the implications of who He is and what He’s supposed to do. I mentioned once before the book Lamb by Christopher Moore. It’s a fun, fictional and interesting read. It’s the story of Jesus growing into a fuller realization of who He is as the Son of God. It’s trying to deal with how complicated it had to be for a carpenter’s son to realize He was God’s Son. We don’t want to make Jesus’ spiritual and psychological awakening trivial or purely supernatural. God said “You are my Son.” Jesus said, “O.K.” And it’s over. We can never forget the real human nature of Jesus. It is no insult to His divine nature to treat His human nature as just as real. How did Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son, the carpenter himself, the one who went searching for answers out with John the Baptist, and the one who struggled in solitude and desert isolation for 40 days, how did this Jesus come out of all this as the one who would lead a religious revolution? Or as we mentioned last Sunday, how did Jesus find the conviction and authority to change thousands of years of tradition with nothing more convincing than, “I say to you …” Where did that assurance come from? Two months earlier, Jesus was still searching for answers out with the Baptist. Do we really want to say that this change was forced upon Jesus only by God’s voice from heaven and challenged only by the devil’s voice in the wilderness? Or, is something profoundly more internal and interesting taking place? I think it’s also important to know that Matthew’s, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit …” is an intentionally tamer version of the original in Mark where it is written: “The Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness.” Mark is the oldest Gospel. And in his telling of this story, there are definite indications of a violent reaction. This is not clouds parting, sun shining and rainbows. Jesus is disturbed to the core by the thoughts of who He is and what He is called to do. We soften this story only to make ourselves feel more comfortable with it, and at the same time to make Jesus less like us, and less human. These events have commonly been called “the temptation of Jesus” as if it’s all about sin, but maybe these temptations are more complicated than right and wrong. Maybe they are the authentic struggles of coming to grips with God. Read the chapters of the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah to see what I’m talking about. You can be perfectly faithful and still have a deep-seated religious anguish. What if the imagery of the first temptation is the most basic one? What if hunger satisfied is the temptation to use faith to think of God as nothing more than a magical provider? I’m hungry and I don’t have to be. There is nothing wrong with praying for favours. God help me with this. God watch over so and so. But if we only use God to fill our wants, our faith is wanting. I imagine Jesus quickly dispensed with this distraction. But what if this is also the temptation to be relevant? Just imagine how much Jesus would have loved to alleviate all the needs and suffering of His people. How much did Jesus want to be mostly the humanitarian rather than the revealer of God and of what we’re supposed to do? The second temptation follows upon the first. Jesus struggles with how best to serve God. What if this is a warning about self-deception? What if Jesus knows He must preach and heal, must argue and lead by example, must be peaceful and forgiving without fail, and then the self-deception slips in that He could better serve God by dramatic displays of power and miracle? How much easier that would have been. But Jesus knows the history of the Bible. The generation following displays of power either have to see their own displays or they fall away. It’s more about the show than the faith. And Jesus moves on. The third and last temptation is about power. This is the one that can corrupt the worthiest of saviours. Think about all of the leaders we read about who free their nations from oppression to only turn into oppressors themselves. They can’t imagine giving up power. They rationalize and tell people that they’re doing it for the good of others, but it’s really about the power. This is Jesus’ third temptation. When He faces down power, Jesus is ready to begin His ministry of service and sacrifice. Just like Jesus’ 40 days, our 40 days of Lent give us the chance to look at our faith and how we will live it.
Do we turn to God only to ask favours? Do we sense in our conscience the hard work we should do as people of faith, but convince ourselves it’s not necessary? And do we really accept that as Christians we are called to serve and even to sacrifice? Lent gives us the chance to challenge our faith to live it more sincerely. Lent is our chance to give more time to Jesus in our lives. And hopefully at the end of Lent we will hopefully better understand why we choose to follow Jesus, especially a crucified Jesus, and why Jesus is worth it. For these things may we pray in His name. Amen. |
NewsFaith, love and chitchat. Categories
All
Archives
February 2024
Follow
|
SERVICE TIMES
Sunday 9:30-10:30am Children Sunday School 9:30-10:30am Nursery care available during worship DONATE Make a single or recurring contribution by clicking here |
FOLLOW
|