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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