Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way." So begins Matthew's "Christmas story" which doesn't really tell of Jesus' birth at all. Instead it tells of Joseph learning that his betrothed is pregnant, and making plans to quietly divorce her so as not to cause her any public humiliation. Joseph acts as he does because he is "a righteous man."

Because he is a righteous man, a person who lives by God's laws and tries to do what is right, Joseph sets out to interfere with God's plans for salvation. Because he tries to play by the religious rules, Joseph finds himself an impediment to God. Fortunately Joseph pays attention to his dream where an angel of the Lord explains what is going on. Fortunately Joseph is willing to break the rules when doing so ends up helping God.

We know the Christmas story so well that it is hard for it to surprise us. Yet God's new thing arrives by most surprising means. It comes outside regular channels, even outside the rules. Jesus' birth will be known only to angels and outsiders, to country bumpkin shepherds and to Gentile foreigners. None of the local religious folks are invited. Perhaps God knows that they would be too offended by all the broken rules.

We need laws. We need religious rules and doctrines. But all these are only instruments. We do not serve them. We serve God, God who sends a Savior we might well have missed, if we didn't already know the story.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come. A blessed Christmas to all.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel, Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, gets his turn to prophesy. His tongue loosed after the naming of John, he utters what is sometimes called the Song of Zechariah, speaking of a Savior, of God's favor that rescues. And all this happens because God "has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham."

In a way, it all comes down to this. Sometimes, when the world seems to be going to pot, it is not so hard to imagine that God has forgotten us, that we are on our own, and whatever happens for good or ill is all up to us. But the biblical story insists that God does not forget. And it insists that God is faithful to God's promises.

I've always thought that the church gets carried away with Christmas, guided more by the culture's fascination with this holiday than by any real religious import. But there is a sense in which Christmas is a confirmation of God's memory, of God's faithfulness. And that certainly is worth celebrating.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Juliet asks, "What's in a name?" in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Today's gospel reading is about a name. After the child who will become John the Baptist is born, those who attend his circumcision assume he will be given a family name. But his mother, Elizabeth, insists that he is to be named John. Zechariah, the boy's father, confirms this, writing it on a tablet. Struck mute by Gabriel for failing to believe the promise of a son, Zechariah's voice now returns as he fulfills Gabriel's command, "You will name him John."

Ancient people tended to think that names had meaning, significance, and power. John's name means "Yahweh has shown favor," and it marks John as one given by God. By following the angel Gabriel's command, Zechariah confirms that this child will be the one God sends him to be, one who will "turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God."

While we may agonize of what to name our children, I think many of us are a bit put off by the notion of naming a child in order to direct her future. We want our children to be able to become whatever they want, and the father who insists his son go into the family business is a stock bad guy in many a TV or movie script. We like to think of ourselves as free and autonomous, and so the naming of John the Baptist is not a practice we'd like to emulate.

Yet one of the basic tenets of Christian faith is that we belong to God, that we are the Lord's. My own Presbyterian tradition has long articulated a strong doctrine of vocation. The term refers not to an occupation but to a calling. We say that God has made or fitted us for certain things and not for others. And we seem to know this intuitively when we ask, "What am I supposed to do with my life?"

When Jesus is born, his name has already been given to Mary and Joseph by an angel. Jesus has a clear calling given him by God, and presumably his parents worked diligently to help Jesus grow into that calling.

When we are baptized, we receive a new name, that of Christian, child of God. In a sense, we share in Jesus' name. But I wonder how often we stop and think what that means, what's in that name.

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Sunday Sermon - "Visualizing God's Future"

Deacons' Christmas Baskets

Each year, the Deacons of our congregation organize a huge effort to provide food and gifts to needy families. This year, boxes filled with food and presents for children were assembled and delivered to 359 families. Thanks to all who helped with this.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading from Luke was also the reading for the fourth Sunday in Advent. It tells of Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth after the angel Gabriel has enlisted her to be the mother of Jesus. Luke's gospel begins in interesting fashion. The only ones who speak of the wondrous things God is doing are Gabriel and these two women (although I suppose we could say that John gets in a bit of pre-natal prophecy from the womb today). Zechariah, Elizabeth's husband, was struck mute for failing to believe Gabriel, and Joseph never gets to speak in Luke's gospel.

Luke's gospel is quite friendly to women. He will later tell of two sisters, Martha and Mary, who are visited by Jesus. Mary sits at Jesus' feet in the pose of a disciple. Women were not supposed to do such things, but when Martha objects that Mary is not helping her do the work expected of women, Jesus says that Mary has made the correct choice.

Today's reading explicitly states that Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit when she speaks. And Mary's words are clearly prophetic. The announcement of the wonderful things God is doing is made on the lips of a most surprising prophet. The surprising ways of the coming Messiah are already prefigured in the surprising way his arrival is announced. All preconceived notions of how God should act or what channels God must use turn out to be of no interest to God. It seems that the Kingdom has little interest in human doctrines, theologies, and traditions. God will not be bound by our small thinking.

I do not think it is possible to be Christian without having theology and doctrines. We cannot be Christians in any profound sort of way without having doctrines and traditions to guide us. But we should realize that our best attempts to live as Jesus calls us never capture the fullness of all God is up to. God and God's plans are bigger and more wonderful that we can fully conceive. And I think that sums up the wonder of Christmas for me.

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Visualizing God's Future

In the Magnificat, Mary takes the role of prophet, singing a song that describes the shape of God's coming new day. The song invites us to catch God's vision of the future.

Dec. 20 sermon.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I've often been perplexed by the parables of judgment Jesus tells. We hear another one today. In some of the last teachings before his death, Jesus speaks of 10 bridesmaids, 5 who are wise and 5 who are foolish. They go to meet the bridegroom, who is delayed for some reason. Falling asleep as they wait well into the night, they awake when the groom finally arrives but only the wise bridesmaids have oil left for their lamps. The foolish ones have to go buy oil and miss the banquet as a result.

The banquet is a common metaphor for the Kingdom, and so the lesson is terribly tragic. Only those who remained ready enter the kingdom. It seems a harsh teaching from one who gives his life for the sake of sinners.

But it may be important to remember that this teaching is done in private. It is for followers only, for disciples. It is not a warning about those folks outside the church being left out. It is a warning to those inside the church. Jesus' long delay in returning sometimes saps the urgency from the work of the Kingdom, but this parable is a not so subtle reminder to followers who would lose sight of its impending arrival.

When Jesus warns his followers, when he warns me, I don't think he is so much describing future events as he is encouraging a change in behavior. Jesus prods me, prods the Church to stay focused on our work.

Maybe our celebration of Christmas can be of help here. If it helps us once again catch God's dream, God's plan for peace on earth and goodwill to all, then perhaps it can help us to remain alert, awake, and ready for God's glorious new day.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's reading in Matthew has Jesus speaking of the proper pose for his followers until he returns. "Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions." Jesus' use of slaves in this little parable is hardly surprising coming from a time when slavery was ubiquitous, and also not the racially based institution of this country's history. But I think there is still significant offense for modern readers even if allowance is made for Jesus' very different historical context.

Even if we update Jesus' language and have him say "servant" instead of "slave," the parable still makes Jesus the boss and us the servants. It still says that our lives are supposed to be about doing his bidding. Perhaps this is so obvious as not to need saying. Still, I find that few of us are actually interested in a faith where Jesus is truly in charge. We'd like to get God on our side. We'd like to figure out how faith and spirituality can make our lives be more meaningful and fulfilled. But we're not all that interested in being told what to do.

My wife once put a quote on the refrigerator that read something like, "Don't ask God to bless what you are doing. Get involved in what God is doing. It is already blessed." (I believe Bono of U2 quoted these words at a Washington, DC prayer gathering, but I have no idea who originally said it.) Sound advice, but the hardest thing in the world is for me to fully entrust my life to another, even when that other is God. I like being my own boss, my own god too much.

We're about to celebrate the birth of our Savior, King, and Lord. All those titles would suggest doing what Jesus says rather than what we want, but that's hard for many of us. Maybe one reason people so like Christmas with the babe in a manger is because the baby Jesus doesn't say anything, doesn't tell us to do anything.

This Christmas, I'm going to try to let a bit more of Jesus the Lord and King be born into my heart.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous.
Praise befits the upright.
Praise the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

On Sunday our choir performed Vivaldi's "Gloria" and performed it marvelously. (You can find video of it on this blog and on YouTube.) I think that some people were pleasantly surprised by how wonderful the music sounded. Like a lot of congregations, we often tend to underestimate our gifts and talents.

In our staff meeting this morning we were talking about risk taking and how to encourage more of it here at Boulevard. The conversation immediately turned to the Vivaldi piece and how it was something of a risk. Doing such a large and difficult selection is a daunting task, and it would have been easy for our music director or for the choir to balk at all the effort required. Thankfully, they didn't.

It is easy to be timid in responding the the call to worship and serve God, to balk because we don't imagine ourselves capable of doing something really big and significant. I'll have to ask the choir members whether or not they thought it was more than they could handle when they first saw the huge score of the Gloria. If so, I'll have to ask what changed their minds.

I wonder what God is calling me to do that I dismiss because it seems to big a task. How about you?

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Vivaldi's Gloria

This clip contains the first five parts of the the cantata "Gloria," by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by the Chancel choir of Boulevard Presbyterian under the direction of Jeremy Roberts. Follow the YouTube link at right to find the rest of this beautiful work.

Sunday Sermon - "Fruitful Lives - New Stories"

A sermon from Luke 3:7-18. Donald Miller writes that the same things that make a movie or story memorable or meaningful also work for our lives. Meaningful lives come from meaningful stories, and John the Baptist tells those who will listen the changes needed to make a good life.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's words from Jesus in Matthew 24 have Jesus speak of two different things that we Christians often ignore. Jesus calls his followers to look for an end and to avoid speculating about its arrival. There is an end, a purpose toward which history is moving. God's full reign will arrive, says Jesus. But he also says to ignore all those who claim to know timetables. When Jesus returns, no one will be able to miss it. "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

It seems to me than many Christians live with no sense that God is up to something within history, at work within history to move creation to God's toward an ultimate destination, nothing short of the redemption of all creation. We often reduce what theologians call "eschatology" to nothing more than a question of what happens to us after we die. Practically speaking, our faith often deals only with the personal. Creation is no longer within God's sphere of influence. Redemption is possible only for individual souls.

But at the very same time, Christian speculation about end times is rampant. The success of the Left Behind series of novels points to this ongoing fascination. Tune in any Christian cable outlet and you won't have to wait long before someone speaks of signs that we are living in "the last days."

If only we could invert these two tendencies. If only we could live with a certainty that God is redeeming and transforming all creation, that nothing is outside the providence and power of God. If only our faith perceived God's sovereign power that dwarfs all the powers and forces we assume control history and destiny. Then perhaps we could live counter-cultural lives, certain that the reality we glimpse by faith is more "real" that all worldly powers. And we could leave the formulas and timetables to the religious hucksters Jesus warns us about.

In the Presbyterian tradition, one of the six "Great Ends" or purposes for which the Church exists is 'the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world." To exhibit something that is not yet here, we must have a clear sense of it. This is not primarily about progress or making the world a little better (not that those are bad things). Rather this is living in ways that befit an "End" that the world cannot see. This is living in ways that are suited to a redeemed creation, ways that do not make sense by the normal ways of the world.

As we draw close to Christmas, we prepare to celebrate the birth of a Savior, to celebrate God's very personal entry into the flow of human history. And this was not simply a one-shot, historic event. It was a beginning of something that is still unfolding, something that can only be glimpsed with the eyes of faith.

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"Fruitful Lives - New Stories"

Donald Miller writes that the same things that make movies and stories memorable or meaningful also work for our lives. Meaningful lives come from meaningful stories, and John the Baptist tells those who will listen the changes needed to make a good life story.

Dec. 13 sermon, Fruitful Live - New Stories.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

As we move through Advent and closer to Christmas, I have to admit that the Daily Lectionary readings' lack of any connection to the season is starting to wear on me. Almost to the third Sunday of Advent and the lectionary passages have the prophet Haggai railing against the people for not rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple and a second straight day of Jesus pronouncing a curse on the scribes and Pharisees.

Fortunately for me, Jesus ends his verbal assault with these words. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" It is comforting to know that Jesus' anger toward some religious leaders is not indicative of Jesus' and God's underlying attitude toward humanity. If these words are a glimpse into the heart of God, it seems to contain, not anger, but a longing mixed with sadness.

Christmas is an act of God's longing for us. It is rooted in God's abiding hope that we will turn to God, that we will allow God to gather us in. And so, even though much of the joy and hope of the season is hyped, manufactured, and trivial, at its core, Christmas is all about hope and joy. God is for us. God longs for us. God reaches out to us. God continues to hope and long for reconciliation with all humanity. Could there be any better news?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading features Jesus, in his last public appearance prior to being arrested, condemning the religious leaders. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."

As I read these words, I immediately thought of the gospel reading for this Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent. In Luke 3:7-18, John the Baptist condemns those who come out to him, demanding that they bear fruit worthy of repentance. When these people ask what they should do, John tells them to do things that are about justice and mercy, that are the opposite of greed and self-indulgence. John and Jesus seem to be in pretty close agreement about what it means to live in ways appropriate for the kingdom of God.

Part of the joy of Christmas is recognizing its promise of hope and something new, a promise of peace, of good news to all but especially to the poor and oppressed. Still, in our troubled world it can be easy to become cynical about such promises. But I want to hold onto those promises because the more I cling to them, the more they sculpt my image of how things will be, the easier it is for me to get ready for that day.

It is hard to get ready for something I cannot imagine. But this season can help provide a jolt for our imaginations, letting us glimpse peace and good will to all. And when we see this hope more clearly, our lives can conform more closely to the new thing God is doing in Christ.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.

These words from the prophet Amos are a dire warning to Israel, but as is so often the case with the prophetic judgment, the sins calling for such punishment are not the sort of things we tend to label "religious." God is angry because of how the poor and needy are treated. It is those with economic power who are in Amos' sights, those who cheat the poor by using false scales who sell the "sweepings of the wheat" as though it was usable grain.

When I was college age, I worked for a very small construction company that mostly did repairs. One of our customers was a small convenience/grocery store located right next to a low income housing project. It was not part of any chain or franchise but an independent business owned by a man who lived in the most elite part of town. While we were repairing the outside of this building I naturally went inside buy a drink or a snack. I also went into the back of the store to plug in our power tools. And I was horrified by what I saw in both places.

The prices in the store were unbelievably high. But because this was the only store within walking distance of the housing project, residents without cars had no where else to shop. And in the back of the store, I saw the butcher cutting off the spoiled and molded parts of meat and then putting it back in the display case. Surely Amos was talking about people just such as the owner of this store.

This owner was a member at the largest Presbyterian Church in town. I don't know, but I imagine that he pledged and that he brought canned goods to the church's Christmas food drive for the needy.

It was easy for me to look with disgust on this store owner, who so obviously profited from the plight of the poor. But it is also easy for me to take part in the explosion of charity that accompanies Advent and Christmas, and then to go right back to my lifestyle that is made possible by migrant workers who pick my food and poorly paid factory workers who sew my clothes.

We will soon celebrate the birth of a Savior who, in his own words, comes "to bring good news to the poor." And while I know that the boxes of food and gifts our congregation will take to hundreds of needy families are greatly appreciated, I'm pretty sure the good news Jesus is talking about is something bigger and more fundamental than this.

Lord, help us become agents of the Kingdom the child of Bethlehem brings.

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Sunday Sermon - "Wilderness"

A sermon from Luke 3:1-6. Our culture is well past Thanksgiving and fully immersed into Christmas. But on the Second Sunday in Advent, John the Baptist shows up, and he's got nothing Christmassy to say. Everything about John is surprising. He, and not the long list of important political and religious figures that open this gospel reading, is the one to whom the word of God comes. And if you want to hear this word, you have to leave town and temple, church and shopping mall, and go out into the wilderness where John is.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

What is the greatest commandment? That is the question asked of Jesus in today's gospel verses. The answer is quite famous, though it is not original to Jesus. It is straight out of the Old Testament. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

As we work our way through Advent, drawing ever closer to Christmas, it is worth remembering that Jesus' coming is the beginning of something and not the end. Jesus' coming calls us to new life that is a fulfillment of "the law and the prophets." If God loves us so much that God came to earth in Christ, then it stands to reason that our lives are meaningful to God. One side of that coin is the joy of knowing God's love. But the other side of that coin is the responsibility to live meaningful lives in return, to love God back and to love all those others whom God loves so much. It's interesting to contemplate. If God considers my life worth "saving," then surely God expects my life to mean something.

O God, continue to show me the meaning and the purpose of my life.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel reading, the Sadducees try to trick Jesus with a question about marriage and resurrection. In the Judaism of Jesus' day, not everyone believed that the dead would one day be raised. This included the Sadducees, who ask Jesus a question about a woman who was married and widowed seven times to seven brothers. (This "Levirate marriage" was an institution designed to protect a man's name and lineage as well as to keep women from becoming destitute in a male dominated culture.) If this woman had been married to all seven brothers, whose wife will she be in the resurrection?

You can almost see the Sadducees snickering as they ask their question, like the old George Carlin comedy routine where he recalls attempts to catch the priests and nuns at his school with questions such as, "If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so big that it's too heavy for him to lift it?" But unlike Carlin's priests, Jesus isn't flustered at all, and his answer speaks of a basic misunderstanding about resurrection. "Jesus answered them, 'You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.' "

Now I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what it means to say they "are like angels in heaven." But clearly Jesus understand the resurrection to be something of such an entirely different order that none of our current understandings of life and relationships fit. And I'm not sure that we modern day Christians have a much better understanding of resurrection than did those Sadducees. The Church has somehow let resurrection morph into "going to heaven when I die." But for Jesus and the writers of the New Testament, resurrection was a total transformation of human existance that happens when God brings "the Kingdom."

It has been more than 50 years since J. B. Phillips wrote the book, Your God Is Too Small. But its reminder that our images of God, and of what God is up to, often do more to constrain faith than illuminate it are as timely as ever.

O God, save us from our own constricted imaginations.

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Prepare the way.... Wait a minute, I'm not prepared.

Oops, there's no audio of today's sermon.  On this day when John calls us to "Prepare the way of the Lord," I forgot to prepare the recording device.  But the video is another matter.  It will be posted tomorrow. 

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel verses, Jesus is in the Temple on the week of his arrest, and he tells the religious authorities another parable. This parable of the wicked tenants again emphasizes the need for the faithful to "bear fruit," to live as servants who do God's work. Jesus skillfully gets the religious authorities to condemn the wicked tenants of a vineyard who did not do their master's bidding before they realize that the parable is about them. But when Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom," they get it.

In Jesus' day, the Jerusalem Temple was a center of religious activity on a scale that would dwarf almost any modern day church. Unlike many churches, where very little goes on most days of the week, the Temple was abuzz with the faithful every single day. But clearly this is not enough for Jesus.

At this time of year, the church I serve becomes a busier place than usual. There are extra choir rehearsals, attendance goes up, and special services are being planned and rehearsed. But there is also another sort of busyness. Food items are piling up in the Fellowship Hall and donated toys are being wrapped for needy children. In the midst of all the religious pomp that this time of year brings, we remember that Jesus calls us to bear fruit.

Lord, help us to remember this all year long.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's reading from Matthew, Jesus is teaching in the temple just prior to his arrest. Religious authorities confront him, but Jesus does not take their bait. Instead he tells them a story.

"What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you."

This contrast between words and actions struck me in this Advent season. We've entered into that annual season of people expressing outrage over whether retailers print "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" on their stores' banners. Every year, people get all worked up over whether or not the word "Christmas" gets applied to a shopping season which has little, if anything, to do with following Jesus.

Words versus actions. As today's reading from Amos makes clear, God is far more concerned about whether the poor and needy are cared for than God is about words or worship services or well crafted religiousness.

Words versus actions. Our culture pays a lot of lip service to God, but how often do we do the will of God?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals,
in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.

So goes a portion of Psalm 146, words that jar me a bit on the day that President Obama will formally announce a troop increase in Afghanistan. Over the centuries, Christians have struggled to define when it is appropriate to resort to military force. Some traditions are pacifist, but my own has tended to embrace military action within the limits of so-call "just war" theology. But though I am theologically comfortable with the notion of a "just war," I struggle with how we are to know when to trust God, and when to take action ourselves.

One of those quotes from the Bible that isn't actually in the Bible goes, "God helps those who help themselves." But still the Bible does present us with a tension between dependence on God alongside personal responsibility. When are we to act, and when should we patiently wait, placing all trust in God? And especially when it comes to killing people and sending our soldiers to be killed, what would God have us do?

Whether or not a country goes to war is as political a decision as one can find. But for people of faith, it is surely as spiritual a decison one can imagine. When does trusting God above all, when does loving God and loving neighbor, call us to kill?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

This is the first Monday in Advent, and the gospel reading for the day tells of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. "What does Palm Sunday have to do with Advent," I thought as I read Matthew's account. This prompted me to consider how Advent has become an extended celebration of Christmas, even in the Church. And I couldn't help seeing parallels with the celebration of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem just days before his arrest and execution.

Any time I tell people that Advent was originally patterned after Lent - intended as a time of repentance to prepare for celebrating the good news that God has not left humanity to fend for ourselves - they look at me like I am crazy. And the surest way I know to upset people in the pews is to sing only Advent hymns and songs prior to Christmas.

The birth of Jesus is wonderful, good news. God has decisively entered into human history in Christ, giving us a sure hope that God continues to bend history to God's will. But truly appreciating the good news and hope of Christ requires recognizing the darkness and brokenness into which Jesus comes. Turning Advent into a month long Christmas celebration is like celebrating Palm Sunday with no thought of the cross Jesus knows awaits him there.

I have no desire to "Bah, humbug" our culture's celebration of Christmas. I love trees, presents, Santa, and the whole bit. But we in the Church should surely realize that good cheer, nostalgia, and a brief upswing in charity won't begin to deal with the brokenness of our world. Only God can do that. At Christmas, we celebrate the fact that in Christ, God has acted. And we draw comfort and hope from the promise that God will bring peace on earth in God's time. But for now, let us spend some of Advent contemplating the ways that we are a part of a broken world that needs saving.

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Happy Thanksgiving to All

I've been taking some time off this week to spend with family. That's something to be thankful for. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Amidst all the food and football, I'll try to do a bit of reflecting on how much I've been blessed.

Sunday Sermon - "Is That True?"

Sunday Sermon - "Is That True?"

Christ the King sermon from John 18:33-37: Many people think faith and politics don't mix, but "king" is a political title, and Christ's rule extends to every facet of life.

Nov. 22 Sermon.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

No Stumbling Allowed -- So Jesus seems to say in today's gospel verses. If you cause little ones to stumble, (the term likely refers to novice Christians) woe to you. And watch out for things that cause you to stumble. Jesus goes so far as to suggest getting rid of anything that might cause stumbling, even a hand or an eye or a foot.

Now Jesus lived in a culture where hyperbole was a regular feature of communication. And so I doubt he actually envisioned many one-armed, one-eyed Christians. But Jesus knew full well that our desire to follow him is always being compromised. All sorts of things trip us up. Sometimes others cause us to stumble, but usually we do it to ourselves.

We hear the culture telling us all those consumer items we need to be happy, and we spend ourselves into debt acquiring them, with little left to give to God or to help those in need. We work long hours and live hectic lives, but we have little time for God--for prayer or reading Scripture, for worship or serving others. Jesus calls us to a single minded faith that puts God above all else. But we prefer a little spiritual window dressing in our lives.

Even though I am a pastor, faith is often far from the center or my life. There is much in my church job that may seem to be about faith, but is actually a stumbling block, religious busyness that keeps me from actually following Jesus. And Jesus says, "Tear it out and throw it away."

I think that one thing Jesus expects us to do from time to time is take stock of our faith walk and see where we've stumbled, where we've gotten off the path. What are those things that have tripped us up, led us astray? And how do we get rid of them?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's reading from Revelation comes near the end of that book. John's final vision is of the new Jerusalem, of God's new heaven and earth. For reasons I don't really understand, people sometimes go to these verses for a description of heaven; streets paved in gold, gates of pearl, and so on. But this is not heaven, and the gold is "transparent as glass," a rather bizarre image. It seems that John is simply trying to say that when the kingdom fully comes, it will be grander than anything we can imagine.

John clearly doesn't expect to be taken with a wooden literalism, but he does expect to be taken seriously. He seeks to encourage and inspire first century Christians who face possible persecution and certain temptation to accommodate to Rome's way of doing things. And although he writes to small groups of believers, the image of the new Jerusalem is incredibly large, a city 1500 miles square, bigger than anyone can actually envision.

Two things strike me about this. First, the immense size speaks of lots and lots of people. God's new day will apparently not be restricted to a few, but will be the home of countless throngs. Second, the image of a city is an image of community. The consummation of history is not about each of us happily communing with God/Jesus. Rather it is about us with God while in intimate contact with others.

Many have noted the contrast this final picture from Revelation makes with the opening picture of humanity in the Bible. It starts in a garden, but it concludes in a city. There is no return to Eden, but rather a redemption of human society. As I said, it's an image or vision and not to be taken too literally. But considering how many of us have fled the city for the suburbs, it is an interesting picture of God's end.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

I don't remember exactly where I saw it. It may have been on a bulletin at a church where I attended a meeting, or it may have been on some congregation's website. But if I can't remember where I saw it, I vividly recall seeing those words and reading them. It simply stated, "Worship is the most important thing that we do."

I grew up in the Presbyterian Church at the time when study of the Catechism was disappearing. I never learned to recite it the way some previous generations did, but I did receive my own little pink copy of "The Shorter Catechism." And the very first question and answer read, "Q. What is the chief end of man?" (This was written in the 1600s when no one had thought about gender inclusive language.) "A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."

Obviously glorifying God can and should include much more than Sunday worship. But the very notion that we are best suited to a life lived to glorify God runs counter to much we learn in our culture. We measure most things by whether or not they make us happy, fulfilled, or feel better. And God is no exception. How could the most important thing we do be worshiping God or glorifying God?

Most of us have fallen in love at some point. When we do, nothing is so wonderful as to make that other person happy, to do something for that person. Life is animated by and lived toward that person. Maybe I need to fall back in love with God.

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Sunday Sermon - Faith for Difficult Times

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading is Matthew's account of the Transfiguration, where Peter, James, and John see Jesus shining like the sun as he talks with Moses and Elijah. Upon seeing this, Peter suggests building a shrine of some sort. "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Peter's suggestion is forgotten when the voice of God speaks, and in Mark's version of this event we learn that Peter makes his suggestion because he's terrified and doesn't know what to say.

I don't want to be too hard on Peter, but he seems to be like a lot of us religious folks, wanting to somehow capture and institutionalize this remarkable experience. Build a shrine. That way they can come back later and commemorate the event as a religious holiday. But when God cuts Peter off, the only command spoken is "Listen to him."

We're fast moving into the Christmas shopping season, and I've already seen a poll on Facebook where people can vote for or against the idea of having a "holiday tree" in the White House as opposed to a Christmas tree. And there will be campaigns directed at retailers demanding that they "put Christ back in Christmas" if their banners announce "Happy Holidays." People, presumably for genuine religious reasons, will get all worked up about this slight against Jesus, will demand that Christmas be an appropriate shrine.

Sometimes I wish that God would show up, terrify us all out of our decorating and singing Christmas carols, and a divine voice boom, "Listen to him!" And I'm pretty sure that what Jesus says won't have much to do with celebrating Christmas, but will have everything to do with caring for the poor, loving enemies, turning the other cheek, and all that other stuff we prefer to ignore.

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Sunday Sermon - "Faith for Difficult Times"

From Mark 13:1-8: Jesus speaks of the Jerusalem Temple being destroyed, but while many read the Bible looking for timetables, Scripture is much less concerned with prediction and more concerned to encourage faithful living in difficult times.

Nov. 15 Sermon.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel reading, Jesus is asked by Pharisees and Sadducees to show some sort of heavenly sign, presumably to prove his identity. Jesus refuses--other than a veiled hint about the sign of Jonah, something that can only be understood in light of the cross and the resurrection. But Jesus clearly thinks that they should have already been able to figure out who he is. But they "cannot interpret the signs of the times."

There was a Bob Dylan song in the 60s about the times. One verse goes:
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

A couple of generations later, people who sang along with Dylan now struggle to lead the church in new times. Especially in mainline denominations like my own, we can struggle to break out of patterns from an older time. As we struggle to connect with those generations born after 1980, we often embody Einstein's definition of insanity, continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results.

But if our faith is in any way true, then surely God is at work in our world. Are our churches decline because that is simply the hallmark of a more secular age? Or are we, like Pharisees and Sadducees of long ago, unable to interpret the signs of the times?

If Christ truly died and rose again; if the Church has received the gift of the Holy Spirit, then God must be up to something, and God must expect us to be a part of it. But if I'm going to glimpse this work of God, I suppose I might need to lift my head up out of the routines of church work to see, and then interpret, the signs of the times.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Those who walk blamelessly,
and do what is right.

How good it is to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds.

These verses from Psalm 15 and 147 seem to me to describe two aspects of God that are often difficult to reconcile. In the first, one can come before God only if she is good and follows the Law. But in the second, a gracious God reaches out to gather in the outcasts. In a sense, here is the dichotomy of Law and Grace. Do we relate to God because we keep on the straight and narrow? Or do we relate to God because God pursues us and rescues us?

I think that a lot of denominations and traditions seek to resolve the conflict between these two views by featuring one component -- Law or Grace -- more prominently than the other. And so in some churches faith is mostly about following the rules, and in other churches faith is mostly about accepting God's freely given love. Problem is, the Bible never resolves the tension between these two poles. The call to purity and God's forgiveness and love are not either/or but both/and.

We humans tend not to like paradoxes, and there is a paradox here. But I think that this paradox serves as a powerful corrective for those of us gathered around either pole. If we emphasize Law and right behavior over all else, we need to be reminded of God's embrace of those who are undeserving. But if we tend to think that God simply loves everyone no matter what, we need to be reminded that God calls us to live holy lives.

You sometimes hear the tension between these two poles explained as the "God of the Old Testament" versus the "God of the New Testament," as though they were different Gods. But instead, what we see in this tension is a God who will not be conformed to our labels, who will not be as we would prefer, but who is more than we can imagine and comprehend. And I know that for me, it is a good thing to be reminded that God embodies more than I can take in at one time.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I've always been fascinated by today's gospel reading, where Jesus at first refuses to help a Canaanite woman who asks Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus refuses because she is a foreigner, a Gentile. He even goes so far as to compare such foreigners to dogs. (Attempts to soften Jesus' words by saying heuses an affectionate term for a family pet don't really help at all.) But after this woman insists that even the dogs are allowed to enjoy the scraps that fall from the table, Jesus commends her for her faith and heals her daughter.

Why does Jesus say he won't help and then change his mind? Is his own, exclusive view of God's grace expanded by the woman's answer? Does he plan all along to heal the child but engages the woman as he does to help expand his followers' view of God's grace? Or does Matthew tell the story in such a way that Jesus becomes an example for the Church which is called to move beyond the limits it knows and embrace those it thinks are outsiders?

However you explain the way Jesus acts, the story clearly insists that the Church and individual Christians call into question the boundaries and limits that they assume are hard and fast. Are our boundaries God's boundaries, or are they simply our conventions, traditions, and assumptions? What conversation do we need to have with those who are not like us so that we can discover that they too are embraced in God's love?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's Old Testament reading Nehemiah speaks to an Israel who has struggled and languished after returning from exile in Babylon. And he recalls their history with God for the people, asking them to remember who they are, a people formed by God, a people who exist because God cares for them.

In the gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus speaks to Pharisees who complain about his disciples' not washing their hands before eating, breaking "the tradition of the elders." But Jesus says that it is the Pharisees, and not his disciples, who have lost their way, have forgotten who they are. "You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'"

In much of traditional, Protestant, American Christianity, the term "going to church" has come to describe the dominant form of religious participation. But more and more, people are finding that this falls woefully short. And they are beginning to ask themselves, Who are we? What does it truly mean for us to be the people of God?

Both Jesus and Nehemiah say that answering these questions requires some deep remembering. It is a remembering that reaches beyond how we've been doing things for a generation or two. It reaches back to remember who we are at our core. It finds an identity in God's saving acts, most especially God's saving act in Jesus. It answers questions about who we are by asking who Jesus calls us to be, by considering how we are called to serve God.

Who are we? Who has God called us to be in Christ? Is what we are currently doing about that? Or do we need to do some remembering?

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Please Stand By -- We are experiencing technical difficulties

Our video camera is on the fritz. Hopefully it will soon be repaired or replaced and sermon videos will again be available.

Sunday Sermon - Faith That Makes a Difference

From Mark 12:38-44: Features "the widow's mite," but also tells of widows whose houses are devoured by the scribes. Is the widow's generosity an example for us to follow, or an example of how religious institutions will sacrifice the needy for their own glory?

Nov. 8 sermon.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
(from Psalm 97)

To say "God is king" sounds like standard religious fare that doesn't provoke a lot of thought. But in my own faith life, I think this may be the hardest thing for me to believe, or at least for me to live like I believe it.

Saying that God is king means that God is ruler, is in charge, is in command of everything. However chaotic the world may appear, God is running the show. Everything, from political events to evolution to the flow of history, is somehow under the rule of God's providence.

One of the other readings today is from Revelation. And while many people think of this as a book of predictions about the future, John writes Revelation primarily to remind struggling 1st Century Christians that God is indeed king. Despite some of them suffering because of their faith, despite the power and might of Rome which insisted that the emperor was divine, God was in fact in charge.

The LORD is king! All of history bends to God's command. And we people of faith are called to live in ways that show others this reality. Like I said, I think this is one of the most difficult parts of my faith life.

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Oops!

Two technical glitches in one week, and so there is no video of Sunday's sermon, just as there was no audio. Hopefully all will be repaired for this coming Sunday.

No audio of worship -- Video will be posted later.

Audit recording device failed today, so there is no audio of today's All Saints sermon, "The End." However, the video will be posted later.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I love the LORD,because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

So begins Psalm 116, and those two becauses jump out at me. On the one hand, they bother me a bit. Should I love God only if I get something out of it? But at the same time, how can I love God if I've never had any experience of God loving me?

I don't know that my experience is typical, but my growing up in church led me to think that being Christian was mostly about believing the right things. It was believing that this and that happened centuries ago. It was believing that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was somehow a good thing for me. And it was believing that believing all these things got me in God's clubhouse. But there wasn't a lot in my religious background that spoke about experiencing God. How was I to know whether or not God heard my voice or favorably listened to my requests?

We Presbyterians are sometimes called "the frozen chosen," but I don't think that our well deserved reputation for staid worship has much to do with my experience growing up. Instead, our position in the mainline, the dead-center of the culture made us such an integral part of that culture that God sometimes seemed to get lost. Mainline Christianity was about the ethics and values of the culture, about morality, about a philosophy that nurtured community and good citizenship. None of these things should be dismissed as unimportant, but they don't have a lot to do with God's ear inclined toward me, God rescuing me from the snares of death, or God keeping me from stumbling.

I don't for a moment doubt that many people in the congregations of my childhood had deep and moving encounters with the living God, but something about the way we did things and the habits we emphasized made it difficult for me to do so. And I think this remains a challenge for many congregations that came of age in middle of the 2oth Century.

I think it was Roy Oswald of the Alban Institute who I once heard say of mainline congregations, "People come to us seeking an experience of God, and we give them information about God." How do with share with them a little "because?"

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's reading from Revelation, we meet "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" who "has conquered." I don't suppose this is all that surprising. John's vision is calling the faithful of his day to remain steadfast in the face of persecution and death because God will soon act. And the Lion of Judah as a stock way of speaking of the Messiah. What is suprising is that this Lion turns out to be a slaughtered Lamb.

Because of the violent imagery depicted in John's visions, some Christians envision a very different Jesus who returns at the end of time. In their view, the Jesus of gospels was meek and mild and went to the cross without protest. But when Jesus comes back, it will be different. He will be "kicking butt and taking names," as the saying goes.

Yet in Revelation we meet a Lamb instead of a Lion. And this Lamb has conquered by being slaughtered. And John calls for the Christians in Asia to conquer in the same manner, by remaining faithful even when it leads to death. It seems to me that seeing an avenging Messiah in Revelation is more the product of some readers' desires than it is what is revealed in John's vision.

The Apostle Paul writes of the cross as God's greatest demonstration of power, but we would still prefer God to act more like us. And just as people of Jesus' day rejected him because he did not exercise power the way they expected a Messiah to do, so many of us still hope for a sword wielding Jesus to show up and act just like the Messiah those 1st Century Jews expected.

Man, this cross business, this power made perfect in weakness thing, is sure hard to embrace. Why can't God be more like me?

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