“They’re Closing In”

Sermon-8 Pentecost-Proper 11-July 22, 2012

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Another passage from Mark-another sandwich.  Two short episodes with a big piece missing in the middle. 

Story of the man in the suit.

Sometimes the people who set up the lectionary, the weekly decision on what readings we will hear, look like the man in the suit.  Notice in the gospel for today we have five verses, then a gap of 20 verses, then 4 more?  It’s convoluted for reasons that you’ll get more of next week.  But see if you can remember 2 weeks ago.  Jesus had a bad time in his home town.  Essentially he “failed” as a prophet when he went there.  So what does he do?  He puts the disciples in teams of two and sends them out to proclaim the good news.  Remember that?

Then Mark, the gospel writer interrupts that story with the story of the death of John the Baptist.  Today’s gospel comes back in with the disciples returning after their stint as apostles:

So the disciples are back.  And they mob Jesus to tell him stories about their adventures.  And Jesus says, “listen you need to rest, and eat.  Let’s go across the lake and get away from people and get some r and r.”

Before anyone had ever heard of “compassion fatigue” Jesus is trying to take care of his tired and weary do gooders.  Taking time out to take care of ourselves is important,  Carving out room in our lives for quietness, and thoughtfulness is critical in a 24 hour world. Time for sabbath and rest are Christian values. 

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Then, when the crowds followed Jesus and his friends, who were trying to go off and be by themselves, the crowds were actually waiting for them when their boat landed.  And it says in verse 34 that Jesus “began to teach them many things.” 

Mark Hoffmann, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg  points out that when Jesus really wanted to show compassion to the people he “taught them many things” .  His point being that teaching can be a form of compassionate evangelism.  Hoffmann goes on t say,  “I so like this verse that when we offered an evening worship service that focused on Bible study, we set the time for it at 6:34!).But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Or how about Mark the gospel writer being such a good Jew, that he wove  the Old Testament into every story about Jesus that he recounted.  Tim Slemmons points out that :  “the occasion for Jesus' compassion, namely, that the crowd was like sheep without a shepherd" and again, his response is to teach them (6:34; Num 27:17) was from the Old Testament book of Numbers . ¹⁶‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation¹⁷who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd. The second recalls the original purpose of the fringes that the Israelites wore from Numbers 15:38: "You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God" (Nu 15:39-40).

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

The thing about listening to the Gospel of Mark, is that it makes more sense if you listen with your eyes closed and simply see the picture that is described.  Close your eyes, and listen:” ³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.”….. ³³Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.³⁴As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd;”… ⁵⁴When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him,⁵⁵and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.⁵⁶And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed…”

What’s the image that you get?  People are chasing Jesus, surrounding him, pressing against him..  First his disciples “gathering around”, then the crowds.  The sick, the needy.  What does this make you think of?  The first image I had was the counselors at last week’s Day Camp.  How about the paparazzi following around a movie star?  There is this constant picture of Jesus being pursued, chased, hounded.  Canon David Lovelace once wrote:” I was recently with a group of clergy when one person observed that in Mark's Gospel it seems like people are always rushing after Jesus wanting to be made whole.” 

That’s the sense that you get in Mark-hungry, hurting, needy people constantly encircling, pressing, closing  in on Jesus.  Even the disciples are portrayed this way.

Why does Mark show the people like this ? Why is the crowd in Mark always running after Jesus? Is this passage more about the people-and how desperate they are?  Or more about Jesus-his authority, his peacefulness at the center of great needs? 

Think about your own life, your own faith for a moment.  When are you most open to faith-when things are rolling along?  Or when you are hurting?  When do you most feel the need to be in church-when you are struggling?  Or when you are feeling self-sufficient and strong? When do you most think about Jesus-when things are going well-or when they aren’t? 

Mark has collected all these stories about Jesus and put them in such away to help his own church.  The people in Mark’s church weren’t always hungry, or needy, or hurting.  But when they were, when they were facing great threats or unspeakable violence-they needed a shepherd, they wanted a leader, they hungered for someone who could show them the way out. They sought a savior, they required a calm center in the midst of the chaos of their lives.

Mark wrote this gospel-so the people of his church would know that Jesus was there.  Mark didn’t promise an end to evil.  Mark’s Jesus didn’t guarantee that justice would prevail.  Mark’s Jesus never pledged that life would be fair.  In fact, just the opposite.  Mark devoted a whole chapter to the senseless beheading of Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist-on a whim of a young girl.  The biggest part of Mark’s gospel will be the crucifixion.  Mark was a realist.  Mark stared life in the eye, and he didn’t blink.  Mark understood what his church needed, and why Jesus came.  And he showed that Jesus.  The Jesus Mark revealed was someone who made people whole especially in a broken world-and taught them not to be afraid-despite the fear and tragedy in their life.

Listen to a cousin of one of the Aurora shooting victims: "I hope this evil act ... doesn't shake people's faith in God," .  Mark would say that evil acts are what drive people to faith-not away from it. 

This is the gospel story for today, it’s a story about people who are hungry, tired, hurting, and needy who rush at Jesus looking for healing and hope. 

It can be a tough world at times.  It can be senseless, and angry, and random.  It can be overwhelming and daunting. Mark’s church knew this.  His church knew how difficult life could be.  And so when they heard Mark’s stories about Jesus-they knew that the center would hold, and that they would find wholeness-even when surrounded by brokenness.

It was a tough week.  We saw yet another example of pain and evil.  It hurts us to witness these-it hurts us as Americans, it hurts us as Christians.  Mark knew that people hearing his gospel would encounter weeks like these-and so he put down in writing the story of Jesus.  It is especially for weeks like these that we gather with one another and listen to the story of people who went looking for a shepherd.  Amen.

“Preparation for failure”

Sermon-6 Pentecost-Proper 9-July 8, 2012

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mark 6: 1-13
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

There is a famous story about a 3^rd year seminarian.  He’s about to be ordained and then assigned as an assistant at a new church.  So he’s meeting with the bishop about what church he should go to.  The seminarian says, “Bishop, I am open to any church  you want to send me-except the church at New Canaan.”  The Bishop asks, “why not New Canaan?”  The seminarian says, “well, that’s where I grew up-and you know a prophet is not without honor except in his home town.”  The bishop pauses for a moment, and says, “don’t worry son, no one is going to confuse you with being a prophet.”

I have been telling you that Mark the gospel writer loves these “sandwich” stories about Jesus.  Last week was kind of a club sandwich, this week is open face.  But what Mark enjoys doing are presenting 2 stories that build on each other, connect to one another-and especially reveal each other.

If you have been married for a long time, or you have adult siblings, or if you have parents, a single word or phrase can carry a lot of meaning.  I heard a story about  a couple a million years ago who were meeting with a marriage counselor.  The husband was explaining to the therapist what the problem in the marriage was.  “When I walk in the door at night my wife says “hello, honey, how was your day?”  And I can’t take all the judgement and accusation that she means by that.”

Jesus goes to his home town, and his neighbors, the people who have known him all his life ask, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary….”

We’re so used to thinking about  Jesus as Lord, that we don’t hear all the snide references in this simple passage. “Where did ‘this man’ get all this? “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…?”First they call him, “this man”.  A little subtle.  Then they refer to him as “the carpenter”-a little stronger-this is like saying, “this common laborer”, and then they turn nasty, “son of Mary”. This is a patriarchal society.  Calling someone by his mother’s name was akin to saying he had no father.

So, ok they have insulted and snubbed Jesus.  He couldn’t do any of his miracles there. Barbara Brown Taylor “ compares it to the experience of trying to light a match to a pile of wet sticks”. Things aren’t going well with Jesus in his home region. We’re in the 6^th chapter, earlier In the 3^rd chapter of Mark his family thought he was crazy. A few verses later in that chapter his family tried to remove him from his teaching ministry. 

Jesus has come home-and people don’t give him any respect. This isn’t what we usually expect, but here is the hard news- Jesus is failing. 

So what happens next?  He commissions his 12 friends to go out in his name and spread the good news.  This is bizarre.  Jesus is rejected so he sends out his friends in his name?  And what does he tell them?  “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."

I know I keep reminding you of this, but you have to remember the context of these stories. Mark the gospel writer has collected these stories so that his church can hear all about Jesus.  So when Mark’s church hears first that Jesus was unwanted in his home, that his disciples might be rejected when they take the good news out, and that bearers of the good news often fail-how would his church take this?  They might be discouraged (why try), they might be disappointed (why don’t people like our words), or they might be ….COMFORTED!  “SEE EVEN JESUS STRUGGLED, EVEN HIS DISCIPLES WERE PREPARED TO FAIL!”  Mark wants his church-and all who read his words about Jesus to understand that rejection, discouragement, even failure happened to Jesus and his friends-but they weren’t deterred.  They tried new strategies, they attempted new plans, they imagined new ways to take out the good news.  They believed God was with them.

Years ago we had a Weight Watchers group that met in our parish hall.  The woman who ran it was thin, svelte, beautiful.  But then over the years she put on a little weight.  Then she had a baby.  She never lost those pounds.  She wasn’t obese but she was a little overweight.  I remember asking one of our parishioners who attended the group for a long time how they felt about attending now that the leader was no longer the perfect image.  She answered “The group is more popular now than it’s ever been-everyone knows that they won’t be judged when they attend.”

I think Mark puts these two stories back to back to say to the new Christians in his church, “listen, it will be hard to convince people that what you have is good news.  It was hard for Jesus.  The first disciples found it tough.  Everyone was prepared for being rejected. “  Does that make you feel a little better about your , um, “inadequacies” as a Christian?  Do you feel a little better about what a miserable evangelist you are? 

Let me finish with a few quotes and a story about failure-just to make you feel better.

“the only thing worse than having God speak to you through your spouse is to have God speak to you through your teenage daughter.” Markquart

“Even on our worst days, we can be as effective as Michael Jordan. On his  television ad [several years ago]Jordan said: ‘I've lost over 300 games, I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.’” Rev. Kirk Kubicek

Here’s the story from The Rev. Anthony Robinson.“ Not long ago I visited a once prominent church, a church that had for decades been known far and wide as the home of great preachers and a center of great social causes. Like many, however, this church had declined in recent decades.

When I arrived to give a lecture there, I was met by an officer of the church. As I was early, he asked if I would like a tour of the grand facility. As we walked he told me that twenty years ago he had feared for the future of his church. In fact, he said, "I was pretty sure than by now we would have closed our doors. You see, we were just fifty elderly people left in this great sanctuary." Then he brightened. "But something has happened. Something has changed. We're experiencing a kind of renewal, a revival."

"Really," I said, "that's wonderful." "Yes, these days we have four or five hundred people in church. We have new ministries in the community. We are seeing new people, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight."

"How do you explain this?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, his hand on his chin. Then he said, "Well, it wasn't all our new minister, but he has made a difference."

"What's he done?"

"Well, he got us studying the Bible . . . yes, our minister gives a wonderful Bible Study. In fact, he can give you the entire message of the Bible in just six words."

Inwardly, I groaned. "Another fast operator?" I thought.

"And what might those six words be?" I asked skeptically. My host, ....grinned broadly. "The six words that summarize the entire message of the Bible? 'I am God and you're not.'" We both laughed.

"I am God and you're not."

Don’t worry about your insufficiency, your inadequacy, your success as a sharer of the gospel, Mark tells his church.  Jesus didn’t always hit a 1000,  and the disciples died thinking they had failed.  Be prepared to face opposition.  Don’t get discouraged when people shut the door in your face.  Shake the dust off and move on.  Remember, God’s in charge, and we’re not.

"The Kingdom of God is a weed”

Sermon- Proper 6B/ Pentecost 3/ June 17, 2012

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

First things, Jesus loved a good story.  He loved to teach using stories.  Stories teach without seeming to teach, and they help us to remember the point.  Katherine Huey writes that: “Parables, however, are more than just a good story, or a simple and useful illustration to make things clearer. If anything, they may have made things more obscure to the hard-hearted and the close-minded. Parables make us think, and think hard.”

So in today’s gospel Jesus tells us two short stories, two brief parables to help us understand his teaching.  “In the first three chapters, Jesus brought God’s healing and wholeness through his miracles. Now it was time to explain what was going on. These are Mark’s first parables, and he grouped together several about things that grow.”Rosalind  Brown

“Let me tell you a story”,  Jesus is saying in chapter 4, “let me tell you what the kingdom of God is like.”

And so Jesus begins telling us how strange and unexpected the kingdom is.  It’s like  a seed, a tiny, unbelievably small seed that is planted deep in the earth-where it grows slowly, gradually, relentlessly –but we, as a rule, don’t like tiny, and slow.  Alyce Mackenzie tells this story: “A friend told me about her young son who was doing a science project in his elementary school class. He planted several seeds and was supposed to monitor how quickly they grew. A problem arose, however. Seeds don't grow when chubby, little hands dig them up every day to see how they're doing.”   What if we dug up the Kingdom of God every day to see how it was growing?  What if you charted your faith every day and ask, “ok, am I more faithful today?  Am I more spiritual?”  Look at a child growing inside of a person, it is so slow, so unpersonlike.  Recently a young woman told me, “the fetus is at 3 months, we can hear a heartbeat-I can tell people now.”  For 3 months the kingdom had been growing before it even had a heartbeat. 

Look at your life.  How is the kingdom growing in you?  Is it taking forever?  Do you wish God would hurry up and get you “there”?  Jesus’ first story is that God is developing his kingdom in us and through us-whether we hear the heartbeat or not.  God is moving, the kingdom is growing .  The heartbeat will come.

The second story is the one we like-the mustard seed.  One writer I read said that Americans love this story because we love underdogs.  This tiny seed becoming a huge shrub would appeal especially to us.  But 1^st century Hebrews listening to Jesus’ parable about the mustard seed would have laughed at the first story.  Why, you ask?  Because they knew their Bible.  The great prophet Ezekiel had a prophecy that when the people of Israel returned from exile Israel would be like a huge majestic Cedar tree, beautiful and noble, where the birds of the earth would nest.  Instead, Jesus tells them, that the kingdom of God would be like a giant wild plant.  They would have been amused that God’s kingdom would be like a weed-the mustard bush.  People stand at the edge of the ocean, or look up at the Redwoods, or stare at the mountains and we talk about how it makes us think of the power and grandeur of God as the creator. “How Great Thou Art!” How many times have you looked at that shrub in front of your house, that ugly, growing, impossible-to- kill-bush and thought about the kingdom of God?

The story of the mustard seed was supposed to make people think-and think hard-about how the kingdom looks-and grows. 

The kingdom of God is that seed that surprises, that seed that seems impossible ever  to become something alive, that tiny unbelievably small germ that takes forever to have a heartbeat-and ne day grows into a living breathing force that cannot be quenched. 

There's a scene in the recent blockbuster film The Hunger Games …President Snow, the totalitarian ruler of futuristic Panem, asks his chief Games-maker -- the one charged with creating a spectacle as entertaining as it is barbaric -- why they must have a winner. The answer? Hope. He wants to give the oppressed people of Panem hope that maybe, just maybe, the odds will be in their favor and they may win the Hunger Games and escape their life of slavery. "Hope," he explains, "is the only thing more powerful than fear." But for that very reason is as perilous for a dictator as it is useful: "A little hope," he explains, "is effective- a lot of hope is dangerous."  A spark is fine-as long as it’s contained.”

The mustard bush, the seed planted deep, a spark that cannot be contained, the kingdom of God growing, is this force, this power developing , budding, emerging and one day you wake up and you hear a heartbeat.  Jesus tells stories to shake our world, to shape our vision, to make us think, and think hard about what we’re expecting, what we’re waiting for, where we believe God is.  The kingdom is small, insignificant, hidden, but it is emerging, it is breaking forth into the world and when we finally see it, hear it, feel it we wonder at it. Martin Luther once said: "If you truly understood a single grain of wheat, you would die of wonder."

Jesus tells stories.  He tells stories to help us understand and to make us think hard.  Today’s stories are about growth and hiddenness and underdogs and breaking expectations. 

One last story about the kingdom of God:

“That's what happened with Mr. Ballantine. The day the elderly man was shoved out of a car and deposited on the doorstep of a homeless shelter, another homeless man named Denver offered to help. In response, the drunken Ballantine spat out curses and racial slurs. Denver helped him anyway.
Even more than he hated people of color, Mr. Ballantine hated Christians...so much so that he would rather have starved than endure chapel sermons to obtain a free meal at the shelter. When Denver went through the serving line, he'd always get a second plate and take it upstairs to Mr. Ballantine.
Denver continued taking meals to Ballantine even after the older man had been moved to a government-run nursing home two miles away. When Ballantine's room was messy and unclean, as it often was, Denver cleaned the room and its occupant. Each time he came to visit, Mr. Ballantine cursed Denver and called him names.
One day a friend went with Denver to visit Mr. Ballantine. He asked the old man if he could get him anything. "Ensure and cigarettes," the man said. Denver and the friend went to a nearby drugstore to purchase the items. The friend sent Denver back to the nursing home alone.
Here's how Denver relates his conversation with Mr. Ballantine in the book titled Same Kind of Different As Me:

When I went back to Mr. Ballantine's room, he asked me who paid for the cigarettes and I told him Mr. Scott. "How am I going to pay him back?" he asked. I said, "You don't." "Why would that man buy me cigarettes when he doesn't even know me?" "Cause he's a Christian." "Well, I still don't understand. And anyway, you know I hate Christians."

I didn't say [anything] for a minute, just sat there in a ole orange plastic chair and watched Mr. Ballantine lyin there in his bed. Then I said to him, "I'm a Christian."
I wish you coulda seen the look on his face. It didn't take but a minute for him to start apologizing for cussin Christians all the time I'd knowed him. Then I guess it hit him that while I'd been takin care of him--it was about three years by then--he'd still been callin' me names. "Denver, I'm sorry for all those times I called you [names]," he said. "That's okay."
Then I took a chance and told Mr. Ballantine that I'd been takin care of him all that time, 'cause I [knew] God loved him. "God's got a special place prepared for you if you just confess your sins and accept the love of Jesus."
I ain't gon' kid you, he was skeptical. Same time, though, he said he didn't think I'd lie to him. "But even if you aren't lying," he said, "I've lived too long and sinned too much for God to forgive me."
He laid there in that bed and lit up one a Mr. Scott's cigarettes, starin' up at the ceiling, smoking and thinking. I just kept quiet. Then all of a sudden he piped up again. "On the other hand, I'm too...old for much more sinning. Maybe that'll count for something!"
Well, Mr. Ballantine stopped callin me [names] that day. And wadn't too long after that I wheeled him through the doors at McKinney Bible Church...We sat together on the back row, and it was the first time Mr. Ballantine had ever set foot in a church. He was 85 years old. After the service, he looked at me and smiled. "Real nice," he said. (Ron Hall and Denver Moore, Same Kind of Different As Me. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006, 162-3.)”

The kingdom of God is like a young woman who finally hears a heartbeat. or an 85 year old man who finally hears the voice.  The kingdom of God is like a weed that crawls into our lives and grows, develops,  and changes until it is our lives   It may take  3 months or 85 years but that heartbeat, that call will one day be a living breathing spark, that will not be contained.  And that is the story of the kingdom of God.

v           The Kingdom of God is a weed”

“Another New Kind of Family"

Sermon-Proper 5-June 10, 2012 “Another New Kind of Family”
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." Kate Huey writes: “The Marcan Jesus is on the move constantly, like a man on a mission with little time to spare and even less patience with people who like to criticize everything he does. We're only in the third chapter of Mark now, but a quick read of those first chapters is exhausting: Jesus has gone from his hometown to the wilderness to Galilee to the sea to Capernaum to a house to a deserted place and back out to the towns of Galilee (we're still in the first chapter) and then back to Capernaum and home, and then to the sea, and to Levi's house, through the grain fields and to the synagogue, and then back to the sea, into a boat, before heading up the mountain where he gathered those twelve apostles around him, and then, finally, he went home. Imagine all this travel with desperate crowds around him (people "from every quarter," 1:45), clinging to him, begging for healing, begging to be released from the demons that had hold of them, and then picture a group of carping critics picking at everything he did – breaking the rules about healing on the Sabbath, eating with tax collectors and sinners, and not fasting as they should.”

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons."

Jesus’ family thinks he is not taking his medication. The scribes, the religious people, think he is possessed. Is he crazy? Is he filled with the devil? What’s wrong with Jesus?

And the “crowd”, the people who represent us, “was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." What are you going to do, Jesus? You are acting strangely, being overwhelmed by people-are you losing it? Are you coming unhinged? Your family is worried about you-they want to take you home for a “rest”. And then Jesus says “Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

In the 1st century, people choosing to follow Jesus were sometimes turned in to the Roman authorities as traitors, or to the religious authorities as breaking the law. Christians were a danger and a threat. Frequently Christians weren’t trusted and were portrayed as undermining society. They felt oppressed and alone. And when they heard these words read to them by Jesus-they were comforted and strengthened. "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

ABC has an ad that says their channel depicts “A New Kind of family”. Before there was ABC, there was Jesus. Christians in the first century, abandoned by their blood relatives, would look around at the people who were worshipping with them, sitting with them at the table, suffering with them, dying with them, and say-these are “my brother and sister and mother." There is a commercial on tv a lot right now for the new Dallas tv show. Evil JR looks at the screen and says, “Blood is thicker than water-and oil is thicker than blood”. And Jesus would say,” those who eat and pray and struggle and suffer and rejoice and live and die with you-those who do the will of God-is thicker than oil.”

Today we take a very brief moment to thank those who have assisted us in our worship over the last year. They have led us, lifted us, guided us, and served us. They have shown us what it is to be brothers and sisters. We are grateful for their ministry, and today we let them know that they are our sisters and brothers. We appreciate them and today we let them know that what they have done has helped our worship, and in a 1000 small way, strengthened our faith. As we call your name, could you please come forward.

Mark 3:20-35

And the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

"Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" — for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

"160 Times"

Sermon-Trinity Sunday June 3, 2012 160 times


The Cloud of Unknowing,

"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

Today is Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday is the Sunday after Pentecost every year. As church time goes this is a relatively new celebration-it’s only been around since the 14th century. Has anyone, anyone here ever had occasion to talk about the Trinity (not the church but the theological concept of the Trinity) to someone/anyone in your lifetime? Anyone? Ever? So this is not exactly a critical issue in the life of your faith, right?

Do you know how many times you say one of our names for God in today’s service? Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Savior, How many times do you think we will say one of our names for God (Not counting the sermon or the hymns) in today’s service? 160. At the 8am service that’s almost every 15 seconds/at the 10:30am service that more than twice every minute (not including hymns and sermon). When we’re in church we are using the name of God almost nonstop the whole time we are here, a wide variety of different names-all describing who we believe God is.

Rev. Dr. Tom Long tells the story of-The Reverend John Buchanan ...just retired after 48 years as a Presbyterian pastor; [Rev. Buchanan] remembered one Sunday service in which he was baptizing a two-year-old boy. After the child had been baptized with water, John Buchanan, following the directions of the Presbyterian prayer book, put his hand on the little boy's head and addressed him in Trinitarian language. He said, "You are a child of God, sealed by the Spirit in your baptism, and you belong to Jesus Christ forever." ... the little boy looked up and responded, "Uh-oh."

When St. Patrick went to Ireland to convert the heathen Celts, he kept trying to explain the Trinity to the people there, and finally in frustration at his inability to make them understand reached down and picked up a three leafed clover and told them God was like that leaf-1 in 3, three in one.

Today is the most theological Sunday of the year, a day devoted to an explanation of who God is. We try to find ways to define what we believe about God. There is a very clear definition of what we believe in our Book of Common Prayer. On this one day of the year the church is encouraged NOT to say the Nicene Creed, but rather another one. Turn in your red prayers books to p. 864. This is the Athanasian Creed, and this is the one we’re supposed to say on Trinity Sunday. Look at it.

We could say it today instead of the Nicene Creed if you would like? The problem is, the harder we work at defining God-the more distant God feels, and the less we seem to understand. The problem is that in the west we have to solve, to define everything- Listen to Dan Clendenin: “When Eastern Orthodox believers celebrate the Trinity, they start in a different place than their western cousins. And it's a good place to start when worshipping God. Western theology tends toward intellectual abstraction. Eastern theology emphasizes adoration of the mystery. It has always been wary of the inadequacies of human language, the limitations of the human mind, and the infinity of God. The desert father and intellectual Evagrios of Pontus (345–399), who spent the last sixteen years of his life among unlettered Coptic peasants in the harsh Egyptian desert, one observed: "God cannot be grasped by the mind. If he could be grasped he would not be God." “

This is Trinity Sunday, the day we try to describe God, and eventually we say that God is too much for us to explain. But still we name God, and we call on God, even if we cannot define him. 160 times in this short worship service. We may not be able to define the Trinity. We may not be able to explain God. But like the 2 year old, we know what it is to be “child of God, sealed by the Spirit in baptism, and belong to Jesus Christ forever.” Even if we never come up with a good definition, even if we never commit the Athanasian Creed to memory, we can still proclaim that we are God’s, and God knows who we are. Amen.

Native Language/Our own language

Sermon-Pentecost-May 27, 2012-Native Language/Our own language


The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

Today is the 50th day of Easter, the feast of Pentecost. “In Italy, rose petals will be dropped from the ceilings of cathedrals to recall the tongues of fire. In France, trumpets will sound to evoke the mighty wind,” In Estonia and Finland eggs are dyed as at Easter because their hens (supposedly) don’t lay eggs until this time. In Germany the day is called “Pfingsten” and pink and red peonies, called “Whitsun roses”, are the symbols along with the birch trees. The English refer to the holiday as Whitsunday with reference to the white garments worn on Pentecost by the newly baptized. Some churches lower a carved dove into the congregation and call this “swinging the Holy Ghost”. and here at Trinity we wear red.

I was at a meeting of clergy recently where we were talking about the first lesson, the important one that describes the first Christian Pentecost. And someone pointed out how often we hear about the Spirit speaking in the “Native tongue or language” . It’s referred to twice and then it comes up again “in our own languages”. The Spirit spoke to all these people gathered in that upper room in a way they recognized-in a way that made sense to them. All these people heard “God’s deeds of power” in a way that changed them. That’s the key. The Holy Spirit didn’t just come-it spoke to a wide variety of people in a way they understood. Have you ever had someone tell you about some incredibly powerful life changing experience that happened to them, and you’re sitting there wondering why that would change someone’s life? It didn’t translate for you-it didn’t connect with what changes you. You think to yourself, “that changed your life?”

Do you know what your native language is? How do God’s deeds of power speak to you? When I listened to these clergy talking about “native languages” it dawned on me that what is powerful in my life-might not be so in yours-and vice versa. I hear that from people in church all the time. “You know, I listened to your emotional sermon today-and it didn’t touch me at all.” Yeah, I understand. In this first lesson from Acts, the Holy Spirit came as wind, it came as tongues of fire. It came as the ability to understand God. This story describes several different ways people could be touched by God-not just in one way. Do you know your native language? Do you know how God talks to you? What are the ways God’s deeds of power speak to you?

In his book "The Kingdom of God is a Party," Tony Campolo tells of a time when he spoke in Honolulu. Because of the time difference between Hawaii and the mainland, Campolo was wide awake and hungry at 3:30 a.m. He found a little greasy spoon diner, and as he sat finishing his coffee, several women came in who had just gotten off work. He knew they were prostitutes.

They sat down near him, and one of the women, Agnes, mentioned to her companions that tomorrow was her birthday. This didn't mean much to any of them and they chastised her for mentioning it in hopes of getting a present or party. She replied that she had never had a party.

After they left Compolo asked the diner owner, Harry, about these women and found that they showed up each night about this time. Compolo asked him if he would help him. Harry agreed.

The next evening the place was filled with decorations and when Agnes and her group arrived everyone sang "Happy Birthday." She was so overjoyed that she cried when she was asked to blow out the candles. When it came time to cut the cake, she begged to take it home.

After she left, Campolo led the group in prayer for Agnes and for the other women. They didn't know that he was a minister, and they asked at what type of church he preached. Campolo replied that it was a church that gives birthday parties for prostitutes, the church of Jesus Christ.

Who would have thought that a birthday party could be a deed of power? Do you know your native language? Do you know how God can best show you acts of power?

How does the Spirit speak to you? What deeds of power have you witnessed?

Barbara Brown Taylor says this about the disciples: “Before Pentecost, the disciples were dense, timid bumblers who fled at the least sign of trouble. Afterwards, they were fearless leaders. They healed the sick and cast out demons. They went to jail gladly, where they sang hymns until the walls fell down.” Here’s the thing, the Holy Spirit came and spoke to them in a language that they heard-their native tongue.

Tom Long tells this story about going to church on Pentecost many years ago:

I never will forget the Pentecost Sunday years ago when my family and I were at worship. My children were very small then; and on this particular Pentecost Sunday, the minister had decided to infuse a little drama into the reading of the Pentecost story in the Book of Acts. When he got to that part of the story about the wind blowing with a great sound, that was the secret cue for someone in the choir loft to turn on a tape recorder at top volume with the sound of a hurricane wind. My children were already a little bored by that point in the service, lazily coloring on their bulletins with crayons, but when the loud sound of that wind kicked up, they snapped to attention and began looking around the sanctuary.

When the minister read that part of the story about tongues of fire landing on people's heads, there were people planted in the congregation who had hidden in their purses and coat pockets little red, flashy pom-poms, which they now pulled out and started waving above their heads. When the minister got to the part about the apostles speaking in other languages some people in the congregation, some of them from Europe, some from Asia, some from Africa, stood up and began to speak in their own native tongues. At this point, of course, my children were practically standing on the pew and looking around. When the minister finished reading the passage, the choir began to lead us in a gentle rendition of "Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew." And then we settled in (or so we thought) to hear the sermon, when suddenly a man stood up in the balcony and laughed rudely and raucously at the congregation, saying, "They must be drunk on new wine!" My children, now far from being bored, were beside themselves with excitement. When we left worship that day, my son David, who was just a little boy then, turned to me and said, "Wow, Dad! That was really church!"

It’s a good day to be a little over the top, a little excessive. It’s a good day for some drama and noise and commotion. Today is the day that we tell the story that God comes as spirit and speaks to each of us in ways that we can understand. God shows us deeds of power in ways that touch each of us-in our own way. It’s a good day to talk loudly and listen intensely and to look around. Today we hear that God speaks to each of us in a way that we will understand-and shows us how we are supposed to be church. Today is the day we hear God speaking to us each-in our own language. Amen.

“I’ll Be Praying For You”

Sermon-7 Easter B-May 20, 2012 “I’ll Be Praying For You”


The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

When do you say these words “I’ll be praying for you”? Or when does someone say them to you? Most of the time when I hear these words spoken, it’s almost always because there is nothing more that we can do. And almost always “I’ll be praying for you” are the last words we say, when we can’t say anything more.

Today is the last Sunday of Easter. It’s been 6 weeks, 43 days since Easter Sunday. According to the Book of Acts, on the 40th day, last Thursday, Jesus went to heaven-and left his \ his friends. It was a sad moment for Jesus’ closest companions. In the book of Acts, you hear how the disciples decided that one of the first things that they had to do was build their number back up to 12, now that Judas was gone. And so they rolled dice to see who would get the “honor” of being a disciple-and ultimately, a martyr.

Make no mistake about it, when Jesus left his friends-they were alone, uncertain, and helpless. They didn’t know what to do, where to go, or who to be. I’ve been there. Several times in my life. It doesn’t matter how many times I have been rescued in the past-I always think, “oh no, I’m in it, now-what am I going to do?” And they must have felt that way, too.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is saying to his friends –“I’m praying for you. I told you before that chapters 13-17 in the gospel of John were known as “The long sermon”. The 17th chapter, today’s gospel, is called “The High Priestly Prayer” and it’s as if we are standing outside the window, eavesdropping, as Jesus prays to his Father. It is intimate, and intense. Basically, he’s asking God to take care of his friends, because he no longer can. Just like you or I would, if we thought we were leaving those we love. “”I’ll be praying for you.”

In 2000 an anonymous minister on the Desperate Preacher Site wrote this: “ This prayer that is prayed by Jesus to his Father on our behalf is one that can encourage believers today. We need the encouraging word today just as much as his first hearers needed them. ---The encouraging words that he says.--We belong to Christ thus we belong to God. Even though his immediate disciples were slow in understanding... now they understand and believe and He ask[s] God to protect them, to unite them, to sanctify them in the truth, and to place the joy that Jesus has in his heart into theirs. With all of God’s protection and Christ[‘s] joy then he commissions them and sends them into the world as God sent him. It is as if Christ words jump forward in time and he is speaking directly to us and is still praying that prayer even today.” LPinPA

Jesus asks God that his friends be one, unified, together, one body. He asks his father that they be full of joy. He pleads with God, that God protect them from all that is evil in the world, and finally, Jesus says, “ God, I am putting them out there-just as you put me out there.” How hard that had to be for Jesus. Praying for protection, joy, defending them from evil-all this sounds normal. All this is what you or I may write in a letter to friends before leaving them. But Jesus says to God I am sending them into the world-like you sent me. No wonder Jesus is closing with this fervent prayer for protection. His friends will be following him, going down the same path, expecting much the same consequences as he.

You understand, Jesus knows that his life is near an end. He knows that he will be confronting the powers the next day. He knows what may happen. And he asks that they, the people he loves, be sent to do the same thing he is being asked to do. Does this sound, like an odd final prayer to you? Can you imagine turning to your family, the people you are closest to in the world, and as you are dying, and praying that they go your same life, do the same things you did? Jesus wants them to follow him-even if it means all the way to death. We believe that 11 of the 12 disciples, including Matthias, all died martyr’s deaths.

This is Jesus closing prayer. Protect them, fill them with joy, give them power, and may they be sent into the world as I was. This last night of Jesus’ life, the disciples, these friends, had no idea what Jesus was talking about. They didn’t know that he would be dying the next day. They had to reconstruct this prayer years later after everything had happened. But that night of the Last Supper, they were at the end of 3 years of talking, teaching, walking together.

How often have you been lost? How often have you felt alone? Really alone? How often have you felt like you’re in a foreign land, friendless, and you were unsure which way to go? That’s the Sunday after the Ascension. Jesus is leaving his friends for the final time. First he died. Then came Easter, and his risen presence with his disciples for 40 days. And now they are alone. Again. And they have to face a future, without their companion, without their guide, without their friend. They must have felt even more abandoned than they had after the crucifixion.

To me, Ascension Sunday has always been one of the saddest days of the church year-like Palm Sunday and Good Friday-because it’s all about leaving, it’s all about good bye. We’ve all been there: uncertain, lost, alone. That’s what this Sunday, for me, has always been. The people/person we depended on are/is gone. For me, today has always been a time in between-a time of waiting. Jesus leaves but before he goes, he prays for his friends,

David Lose, the professor of preaching wrote this about today’s “high priestly prayer”: ask folks what they want Jesus to be praying for them right now. We don't get any sense that we'll be taken out of this world, or that all our problems will suddenly vanish, or that being a faithful Christian will be easy. But in light of that, what do we want Jesus to know, what do we need, what do we want Jesus to pray for [us]? Is it patience to be a better parent or friend? Is it encouragement amid a difficult chapter of our lives? Is it courage to stand up to a bully in the classroom or befriend a friendless kid at school? Is it joy in the face of the loss of a parent or the end of a relationship? Is it hope when we feel like we've got no options left? Is it companionship at a time of loneliness? Is it healing of body, mind, or spirit? Is it forgiveness...or the ability to forgive another? What? What do you want -- what do we want -- Jesus to know about and pray for?”

Today’s gospel is at the end of the Last Supper. Jesus is preparing to leave his friends. And so he prays. He says these last sad, intense, intimate words for his fiends. He prays for them that they follow him in the same journey that he has taken. He does not pray that they be safe and careful. He prays that his Father will give them what they need for their journey.

We, too have been scared-alone-fearful-uncertain. We, too, have been lost, unsure what direction to go. This is the last Sunday of the Easter season. We remember that Jesus left his friends on the 40th day, and we read aloud this prayer as we remember his last night on earth. It is a painful, difficult, heart wrenching prayer. It is Jesus saying, Father, I pray for my friends, I can’t help them any more. Father, give them what they need for their journey, keep them strong, help them to be one, and most of all Father, help them to know that when they pray-I am with them.

What do you want -- what do we want -- Jesus to know about and pray for, for us? Amen.

John 17:6-19

17:6 "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

17:7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you;

17:8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

17:9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.

17:10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.

17:11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

17:12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.

17:13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.

17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

17:15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

17:16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

17:18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.