My god's a burning bush

My god’s a burning bush—
     with spry peals of fire
     woven between her nimble branches
a dancing covenant.

My god’s a burning bush,
      a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day,
      a setting sun, a glowing ash,
a quiet whispered sigh.

My god’s a burning bush,
      with hearts entwined like nesting birds
      upon a leafy glowing bough,
a crackling, a smolder.

My god’s a burning bush,
      a poisoned tree, a broken heel,
      a concrete knee upon blood and soil,
a lost wisp, a phantom.

Our god’s a burning bush,
      chains laid to rest, quiet skies broke open,
      freedom, song; spark, catalyst
an open question… ?

Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2011 Part 1

Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2011

This is my first time being at Ecumenical Advocacy Days, and I could not be more excited about the event. I have wanted to go to EAD for a while now, but due to school and the expense it's been hard to make it out. At any rate, for those who do not know what EAD is, here is a description from their website:

"Ecumenical Advocacy Days is a movement of the ecumenical Christian community, and its recognized partners and allies, grounded in biblical witness and our shared traditions of justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Our goal, through worship, theological reflection and opportunities for learning and witness, is to strengthen our Christian voice and to mobilize for advocacy on a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues."

At the bottom of this entry is their logo which, if you click on it, will take you to their website where you can find plenty more information. This year's theme is "Development, Security, and Economic Justice: What's Gender God to Do With It?"

The event began yesterday evening with a Welcome and Opening Worship ceremony, led by Monique and John Nunes. Monique Nunes is the administrator at Baltimore Lutheran School in Towson, MD. Rev. John Nunes is the president and CEO of Lutheran World Relief. The worship service was very moving. We were told that there are over seven hundred people who came from over forty states and several nations, a reminder that we are not alone in the seeking of justice and peace. The worship service focused on women from the Bible, lifting up several stories, such as the Wisdom passage in Proverbs 4, the Woman at the Well, and the Hemorrhaging Woman, interspersed with a sung version of the Magnificat. After each story was told, there was a short testimony from a variety of guest speakers. The most moving of these testimonies came after the story of the hemorrhaging woman who touched Jesus' cloak and was made well. A woman from Kenya spoke about HIV in Africa, and about how many of her friends and family have died from the pandemic. She said "If we claim to be the body of Christ, those with HIV are the woman who is hemorrhaging, reaching out to touch the body of Christ. How will we respond to the people reaching out to touch the body of Christ? With justice, love, lack of condemnation, and education."

Unfortunately, I do not know who any of the people who gave the testimonies are. Another moving quote from the service was "I believe the message of Christ is a message of liberation, a message of liberation for all oppression... thus we advance in the construction of peace based in justice." And, again, "What we need is the reminder that we are not alone in the seeking of peace and justice... [Here, We are reminded] of the interconnectedness of injustice."

The service included a very exciting intercultural choir, liturgical dance, and beautiful artwork, in addition to the aforementioned testimonies and scripture passages. It was quite a moving and exciting opening to the weekend.

Today began with a plenary led by Rev. Dr. Daisy L. Machado, Academic Dean and professor of Church History at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and Regina L. Oldak who is a senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center. They spoke on a topic called "Women and Girls Aren't the Problem; They're the Solution!" from a domestic perspective. This kind of set the stage for the weekend, explaining the problems of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and economic and social discrimination, and injustice. Not only did they advocate for awareness of the issues, they called for men and women to work together to find solutions to these systemic problems.

Then came the workshop sessions. There were three workshop sessions throughout the day, with a wide variety to choose from for each workshop. The first workshop I chose was "The Future of Peacemaking and the Church: Just Peace and the IEPC," moderated by Michael Neuroth, Policy Advocate on International Issues from the UCC. The first speaker, Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, who is the Executive Director of the Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis, spoke about the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation sponsored by the World Council of Churches. In addition, she spoke about the WCC Decade to Overcome Violence. She spoke about how violence is the problem that runs deeper than just aiming for peace. She called us to name violence as a sin.

She was followed by Rev. Dr. Michael Reid Trice, the Director for Ecumenical Formation and Inter-Religious Relations of the ELCA. He spoke about how do we, together as church, continue to live in this "current state of desolation," quoting 1 Peter 2, how we are called to reshape our communities as living stones. He spoke of many emerging efforts to raise up peace-building, inviting us to participate in God's reconciling work that is central to being the church of Christ. Something striking he pointed out is how in the US alone, there are over 1000 documented hate groups, a fifty-four percent increase since 2000. I think that is pretty scary. Trice ended by saying "As the door of the decade closes, we have peace on our doorstep and lots of work ahead of us."

Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, who is the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, was the respondent. He said that "The ecumenical movement is most essentially a movement for peace," quoting Desmond Tutu, that the "Apartheid is too strong for a divided church," saying, "War is too strong for a divided church." Just as God was in the world reconciling the people, we must be a reconciling people, but "we continue to undercut that Christ is the Prince of Peace by not being a church of peace." He said that not just the traditionally peaceful churches are called into peace and nonviolence, such as the Quakers and Mennonites, but that "Every church is a peace church." He spoke about how there are three anti-violence statements that the WCC all agree on:
1. War is contrary to the will of God. That sometimes, war may be the lesser of two evils, but it is never the work of God, and that no church or government body ever should go to war in the name of God.
2. There are some kinds of violence that a Christian can never partake in, such as torture and nuclear weapons, claiming that not only the use of nuclear weapons, but also the production of nuclear weapons are against humanity.
3. There can be no peace without justice, but also, there can be no justice without peace. The two are inseparable. Thus, we need not just to redefine peace in light of justice, but more importantly, we must redefine justice in light of peace.
Then, Kinnamon concluded by saying that "All of this is inadequate," that without education at a local level and development of advocacy networks, anti-violence will never take hold.

The second session I went to was "The Role of Gender in Climate-Displaced Communities," moderated by Shantha Ready Alonso of NCC. The first speaker was Tonya Rawe of CARE International. She spoke about climate change generally, but then spoke about the affects of climate change on global communities. SHe said, "Those who are least responsible are most affected by climate change," and displayed a map showing how places like the United States and Europe are the main contributors to climate change while places like the Caribbean and South Pacific are not nearly as responsible but reap much of the effects due to rising sea levels and more extreme weather patterns. She said that is estimated that 200 million people will be displaced due to climate-change by 2050, from a breakdown of ecosystem-dependent livelihoods, natural disasters, seasonal migration, glacier melt, and sea level rise. She said that there are four ways to help:
1. Mitigation
2. Reducing emission, most especially from deforestation and forest degradation
3. Adaption (stating that the unfortunate reality is that it is too late simply for mitigation, that now we must consider ways to help those most affected by climate change to adapt)
4. Mainstreaming of climate change into "State of Play" development through international negotiations, our own administration, congress, funding, and implementation/USAid.
She spoke about our current budget tendencies as policies that rob Peter to pay Paul, saying ""You cannot balance the federal budgets of on the backs of poor people. It's just not possible."

She was followed by Jasmine Huggins of Church World Service. Huggins spoke about climate change in Haiti. To begin with, even before climate change is taken into consideration, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is barraged by annual hurricanes, and now faces rising sea levels, saying "Haiti is the most chronically affected in the Western Hemisphere by climate change." The climate change causes frequent droughts, flooding, and a permanent loss of biodiversity. Haiti unfortunately has insufficient technology to cope with many of these problems, not to mention the severe flooding, rising sea level, and agricultural land lost to drought. And this was all before the earthquake. Now, after the earthquake, many of these problems have been exacerbated.

Not only this, but due to gender roles, women often have to absorb much more of the negative effects of climate change in poor areas than men, especially since women in Haiti's culture are the main workers in agriculture, and are often relied upon to bring food for the families and to raise the children, often going without food themselves in order to feed their family.

She mentioned several things that can be done:
1. Adapt to climate change on a community level.
2. Reforestation
3. Alternative fuels
4. Alternative energy
5. Sensitizing the population
6. National and international advocacy
7. All of these discussions must, must include both men and women

She concluded by saying that "The Us government needs to become a World Player in climate change," citing the US' lack of serious mitigation and consideration of climate change.

Unfortunately, I did not catch the final speaker's name nor what organization she was with. But she spoke on the 2010 floods in Pakistan, and the resulting displacement of more than ten million people, seven million of which were homeless and three million who lived in camps. Almost two thousand people were killed, but over twenty million were affect. As of 2011, 166,000 people were still in camps. Eighty-five percent of the people affected were women and children. Furthermore, she said, there is direct evidence linking these floods in Pakistan--the worst in recorded history--to climate change.

She said that cultural norms make it very difficult to provide aid for women in Pakistan, and there is a great increase in gender-based violence and sexual abuse in camp settings. She recommended that we support climate change policies, increase disaster preparedness, support US humanitarian assistance, and ensure that aid supports the most vulnerable, including women and children.

Finally, the last workshop session I went to was called "Gender and Faith: What's Power Got to Do With It?" sponsored by the NCC Justice for Women Working Group. This session spoke about structural and institutional power imbalance and sexism. This session also had a more conversational format, and we looked at biblical texts and a case study of Walmart to get into conversation about sexism, gender, and power. There were four representatives of the Justice for Women Working Group: Rev. Ann Timeyer, Loey Powell, Mary Streufort, and Sandy Sorenson. They began with two Rosemary Radford Reuther quotes: "Language is the prime reflection of the power of the ruling group to define reality in its own terms and demote oppressed groups into invisibility." and "All liberation theology is advocacy scholarship."

Much of what was discussed were things that, as a feminist and someone who reads tons of feminist theology, I already knew. But it was still valuable to attend. I figure I'll just share a few quotes from what was said instead of going into detail.

Powell:
"There are forces still at play that keeps those gender stereotypes present, and I would say that our churches perpetuate that kind of thinking."
"Jesus named those things that were excluding and mergenalizing people, he named the unwritten rules."

Streufort:
"Story is important for doing advocacy work."
"If our mind stays on the blah blah blah reading of a text [only paying attention to a text on a surface level], than what happens stays invisible. But if we become aware, and name what is going on, we can get a whole new reading."

Sorenson:
"When it comes to advocacy, we are caught in between now and not yet."
"We don't want to be mainstreamed into a polluted stream."
"Advocacy is about building relationships and telling stories."
"Listen to what's being said and what's not being said."

Building off of what Sorenson said about not wanting to be mainstreamed into a polluted stream, we discussed that the reality is simply that we are in a muddy stream: the systemic oppression means that as of right now we cannot make any progress without getting into that polluted stream. Another analogy she used was why bother getting into the room when you have to sit in the old furniture. She said, "We're going to have to rearrange the furniture at some point." Yet, where we are right now is in a situation of now and not yet--we need to sometimes make compromises, but keep our eyes on the goal of rearranging the furniture. Because what good is getting ahead if we are still in the same polluted stream?


And that was today. I still have tomorrow, in which there will be an interdenominational worship, the second part of the plenary, and another workshop session. Unfortuantly, I am unable to attend the lobby day on Monday, but the information I have learned is beyond valuable and kindled within me a fire for justice. As St. Ignatius said, I hope to leave here to "set the world on fire." It cannot end here.

Click on the picture to learn more about Ecumenical Advocacy Days.

5th Sunday After Epiphany Sermon: Radical

Living into Radical Inclusivity
5th Sunday After Epiphany
Gospel Text: Matthew 5.13-20



Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Austin, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where Packers’ game makes Steelers’ hands unclean.
From forth the fatal linebackers of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd teams play this night;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their game bury their fans’ fights.
The fearful passage of their fans’ great love,
And the continuance of their fans’ great rage,
Which, but their game’s end, nought could remove,
Is now the six hours' traffic of our television’s sage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

My apologies to Bill Shakespeare. But I had to think of something dramatic to open my sermon for such a dramatic occasion as Super Bowl Sunday Forty-Five. Yes, today is the day of television commercials, pop superstar headed half-game shows, parties galore, and the Green Bay Packers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. And so. The Packers and the Steelers are notorious for their large and sometimes violent fan bases. I lived in Steelers’ country for four years while attending college in northwest PA and I experienced firsthand a lot of the Steelers fan-base. As someone who follows football peripherally, but do not follow it religiously, I find it curious the intensity many have, us Ravens fans included, when it comes to sports. It makes me think of an Italian proverb my Italian friend told me: She said “In Italia, we have a saying. You can change your family, you can change your husband or wife, you can change your friends and your nationality. You can even change your religion. But you can never change your football team.” And although she was talking about European football, what we call soccer, I think the same holds true for many of us when it comes to American football.

What is it that can serve as a division between you and someone else? For me, it’s not sports, it’s politics. I have very passionate political beliefs. And there is nothing wrong with that, with being passionate about anything. Having strong and passionate beliefs and sharing those with others is wonderful! And standing up for what you believe in is necessary, and can be good and valid cause for division. The problem for me comes when I let my passions divide me from someone else, when I let it get in between my relationship with another person: whether a friend or family member or anyone else, when I let my beliefs separate me from others in this community or cause harm, I am doing something wrong. Is who wins the super bowl really enough--is who is in the president’s office for the next four years--are these things really enough for me to stop loving my neighbor as myself?
What can separate you from another person? It might be football, it might be politics or religious beliefs, jealousy anything, really.

The early Christian community was even more divided than football or politics might divide us. Believe it or not, the early Christian community had two main competing denominations. I bet you didn’t know that even before the Reformation there were already denominations within the Christian Church. We had the Christians of Judea and the Gentile Christians. The Judean Christians were very much Jewish, and they followed the law of Moses. Led by the Apostle James, Jesus’ brother, these Christians still worshiped at the Temple, still followed the dietary restrictions, such as not eating pork or shellfish, and they preached circumcision. In other words, many of them believed that since Jesus was Jewish and spent his entire life in Judea, someone who wanted to be Christian had to be Jewish first. To many of the Judean Christians, Christianity was a Jewish denomination, not a separate religion.

The second Christian community was led by the Apostle Paul. Paul preached that you did not have to be Jewish before you were a Christian, that indeed, Jesus’ message was meant for everyone. Anyone could be Christian so long as they were baptized into Christ Jesus.

The two communities were often at tension. And it was in this context that the Gospel of Matthew was written. So Matthew wrote his Gospel and selected the stories about Jesus that would most likely respond to the division between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. So, Matthew picked stories about Jesus that focused on unity and getting over divisions.

This particular gospel story is no exception. Jesus is speaking to a crowd right after the beatitudes and he stresses the importance of the law and the prophets. Following the law and the prophets gives one an insight into this community of wholeness. Saying that the law and the prophets are irrelevant is the opposite of what Jesus is about. So what is Jesus saying here?

What Jesus is saying here is that those who think Jesus came and put an end to the law are wrong. Also, those who think that the law is salvation are wrong. What Jesus is saying is that his coming brings about a new understanding of the law, his coming fulfills the promises the law brings, the promises God made to Abraham and Sarah, to Moses and the ancient Israelites thousands of years before, the promise that God loves us and God will bring about peace and healing for our broken world.

And so Jesus invites his listeners into this community and tells them that this community is not just for the people listening to him on that mount, it’s not just for those who follow the law, it’s not just for those who do not follow the law but still follow Jesus, no, what Jesus is saying is that God’s fulfillment of the law is for everyone. No exceptions. And so, we are to be like lights that cannot be put out, like cities on a hill that can be seen by all, like salt, a catalyst to get things cooking. Yes, Jesus said you are a catalyst to get things cooking, you are what can get this radical inclusivity moving, this welcoming community on the road.

Did Jesus say that his coming was going to put an end to the law and the prophets? No! He says by his coming he is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. By his coming he brings about the fulfillment of the community, the unity of the brokenness. By his fulfillment of the law and the prophets, Jesus fulfills the law which preaches unity and wholeness. He fulfills the prophets that beg for the poor the be fed and the outcast to be welcomed. By Jesus’ coming, Jesus does not abolish the law and the prophets, no, but he ushers in a new understanding of the law and the prophets.

So, back to the Gospel writer Matthew’s community torn apart—those who believe they must follow the law and those who do not yet still call themselves Christian. Who is right here? The Gospel comes alive to them through these here Jesus’ words and shows them, shows us, what it means to be a community. A community where the law and the prophets are fulfilled in the person of Jesus. So whether you were a Jewish Christian or a Gentile Christian, you were welcome to be a part of the full community of God. Because, you know what? No one had it right. In fact, anyone who claims full understanding of the law, anyone who excludes another from this table, from this fellowship, from this gospel of the incarnate God, has misunderstood what Jesus was all about. That goes for people on both sides—the Judean Christians and the Gentile Christians.

And what does this mean for us, on the day of the Super Bowl, two thousand years later? It means, well, for one, if you are a Ravens fan, you are welcome here. If you are a Packers fan, you are welcome here. If you are a Steelers fan, yes, even a Steelers fan, you are welcome here. It also means that if you are Lutheran, you are welcome here. It means that if you are Catholic you are welcome here. If you are Presbyterian, a Messianic Jew, a nondenominational charismatic Christian, a Baptist, a Methodist, a seeker, a Mennonite, an Episcopal, Orthodox, you are welcome here! See where I’m going with this? It means that whether you are liberal or conservative, whether you are male or female, whether you are gay or straight or anything in between, white or black or red or yellow, sad or happy, dying or full of life, sick or in full health, young or old you are welcome here. You are a part of this one community, of this unity of Christ that brings unity out of discord, harmony out of dissidence. Sinners all, me and you: We. Are. Welcome. Here.

So, brothers and sisters. Is that where it ends? No! Jesus says you are the light of the world. You are a city built on a hill that cannot be hid. You are the salt of the earth! We let our light shine before others by living into this radical inclusivity, this radical unity, this radical fulfillment that Christ brings. We shine our light brightest by opening our arms and embracing the stranger. The youth today, by their Soup-er Bowl activities, are shining their lights in this world of darkness. We can follow their example, because we let our light shine by forgiving, healing, loving, caring, and welcoming. So, my brothers and sisters. You have been given a light in baptism and the word of God. Together, let us go into the world and let it shine. Amen.

Advent 3 -- Year A

Delivering Signs and Dusting From Their Eyes


Image from http://www.charlierussell.org/blacksunday.htm


On Sunday, April 25, 1935, for many who lived throughout the great plains of America, the world turned black. It was a darkness heavy enough to topple buildings, a thick darkness that covered all the people, so that they could not see past a few feet in front of them, a cloud of dust that blocked out the rays of the sun.

This was the time of the dust bowl. Poor farming techniques that did not use crop rotation drained the top soil of the rich great plains of its nutrients. Due to over plowing, many of the fields lost their natural grasses, which in turn, meant that the ground was now prone to erosion. And after a very fertile period in the early twenties, a dry spell came. This near-nation-wide drought affected this weakened soil. That, coupled with the high winds of the plains, winds that could easily reach sixty miles per hour because there are no mountains or sky scrapers or massive forests to stop them, blasted the plains. These winds picked up the dry, dusty soil, turning them into massive clouds of dust. These dust storms could tower three miles high in extreme cases.

The one on Sunday, April 25, 1935, was particularly severe. It is said that 300,000 tons of top soil were carried by that storm and later deposited into the Atlantic Ocean. Three hundred thousand tons. The day became known as Black Sunday, because of the darkness these dust clouds brought. To quote Bette Wolf Duncan’s poem (http://www.charlierussell.org/blacksunday.htm) inspired by the event,

Black Sunday, nineteen thirty-five...
the day turned into night;
the thick, black dust that plagued us
had blotted out the light.
It looked like some satanic hand
had poured tar from on high.
It blew and boiled above us,
and charred the raging sky.

And to make matters worse, this was just one storm of many that occurred throughout the decade that would later be remembered as the dust bowl. The dust displaced millions of people who attempted to escape west towards California, where false rumors of labor gave them false hope of food and making a livelihood. Due to the stock market crash back in ’29, the economy was so broken that these millions of Americans without jobs or homes could not be supported by the government or any other community.

And the dust storms blew. Apparently, one Christmas it snowed red dust in New England. Baltimore, New York, Washington, D.C., all experienced this black or red dust rain as the storms blew the dust from the great plains over the east coast, depositing the soil over these cities and into the Atlantic ocean.

Bette Wolf Duncan’s poem ends by saying,

Oh, the dreams- all dashed to dust.....
and hopes that wind did quell;
no golden fields of wheat for us-
just bitter grains of hell!

The American Dream proved to be nothing more than a pipe dream for these families. Their hopes and dreams literally turned to dust.

And so, we are in the midst of Advent. This is a time full of expectancy, hope, dreams, yes, and prophecy. And here, today, we have the prophet Isaiah tell us of a day where the wilderness, the dry land, the dust of the earth, will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom! This is a message of hope, a telling of the end of the world when all things bad come to an end and God renews and restores the entire universe, mending wounds, healing the blind and lame and deaf so that the blind can see and the lame can dance and the deaf can hear! The desert, the lifeless, will become fertile and full of life, and praising God with shouts of joy and thanksgiving!

Can you imagine a day like that? A day where there is no more sadness, no more sorrow, no more pain. Where everything broken will be made whole, where everything wounded will be healed, where everything will be made right?

This is the message Isaiah brings for us today. A message of the day of the Lord. Today is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is the Latin word for joy. For rejoicing. And with a lesson like that, I mean, how much more joyful can you get than hearing that the entire world, even the desert and dry places will shout and leap for joy for all the good things that God is doing. Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to thee O Israel! In some churches they even change the paraments to rose colored for this Sunday, which is the liturgical color of joy.

All of this joy! All of this good news!

But now, we live in a time where this is simply not the case.

For as much as Advent is a time of hope, it is also a reminder that the world is still very broken, that we still wait in the in between time. We still wait for the Messiah to return. That is why Advent is so important. Because in the midst of all this holiday preparation, this quest to have the perfect Christmas, there is much hurt in this world. We live in the wake of the dust storms of fright, hurt, pain, loss. Oh, the dreams all dashed to dust, and the hopes the wind did not quell… this was supposed to be a time of joy, looking towards Immanuel.

And yet. We live in a world where we are being barraged with these images of what our Christmas should look like. We hear it on the radio, see it on tv, participate in it at Christmas parties at work and school and wherever else. It’s as if the world is teaching us to sing

We must have a perfect Christmas!
We must have a perfect Christmas!
We must have a perfect Christmas!
And an hectic New Year!

And it doesn’t stop there. Try to find parking at my Mall in Columbia! Or, even White Marsh or Towson. Which brings to mind another festive song of the season:

Joy to the world, I found a spot
To park my S-U-V!
It might be handicapped, let’s hope I don’t get caught!
The mall’s as busy as can be,
The mall’s as busy as can be,
The mall’s as busy as can be!

In spite of all that, in spite of all that, we are called to find that holy time in the midst of the hectic. This advent season is about taking a break from preparing for the perfect Christmas. It’s about finding holy time in the midst of holly time. Where are we supposed to fit God into this celebration of Santa Claus and toys? Wait, isn’t that equation inherently messed up? Shouldn’t it be the other way around, shouldn’t we be trying to fit Santa Claus and cookies and hot chocolate into a celebration of God’s promise and remembrance of the incarnation?

I’m not trying to create an “us” versus “them,” a holy Christmas versus the secular Christmas, for all of us, all of us, secular or not, participate in the consumerism of the holidays, all of us are at fault whether we shopped on black Friday or not, or cyber Monday or any other day. But the call remains for all of us to come back and find a sacred space in the midst of this chaotic time.

For the farmers of the dust bowl, it must have been hard to imagine Isaiah’s words ever coming true, when all around them was dust and the waste lands. When every breath filled their lungs with dust. When the entire world was desolate. And yet, and yet, after the fifteen year dust storms, the land healed. And now, once more, the American Great Plains is one of the most fertile regions in the entire world.

For the Isrealites on the verge of capture and defeat by opposing forces, the city of Jerusalem surrounded by warring nations, the words Isaiah was telling them must have seemed idle and impossible. How can the line of David last forever when we are about to be captured? And they were captured and taken into exile. But they were released from exile and allowed to return home. And seven hundred years later, the Christ child was born along with all the hope of the world in a small Podunk town of Bethlehem.

For us, surrounded by the holiday mayhem, how can we hear these words of Isaiah and find them true? There is loss and sickness, pressure to have the perfect Christmas. But here we are, gathered together, finding holy time in the midst of this holly time. For the promise remains. In the midst of hectic time, we have hope.

The dead will live again. The lame will leap for joy. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The desert and dry land will sing praises of thanksgiving. If you listen, can you hear it? Can you hear the rocks and trees and fields clapping for joy? Can you hear the new creation breaking forth from the dust of the old? Can you feel the promise of God’s continual presence coursing through the very veins of this earth?

The world trembles with anticipation. And so we saunter along that holy road redeemed children of God, in hope and expectation.

Reformation Sunday Sermon

My sermon for Reformation Sunday. I dressed up as a ghost since it was also Hallowe'en and had chains wrapped around me (they were heavy, too!), and also carried a Bible that I had wrapped up in chains. The sermon was in three parts.

The Ghost of Reformation Past
After the second reading (Romans 3.19-28)
I am the Ghost of Reformation Past. I have come to you on this spooky Halloween Day and this spirited Reformation Sunday to bring you a message.

Are any of you familiar Charles Dickens' holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, in which three ghosts — the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future — visit a man named Scrooge on Christmas eve? As this is Hallowe'en, three ghosts have been chosen to visit this church on Reformation Sunday, I am the first, the Ghost of Reformation Past. After I share my message, the Ghost of Reformation Present will appear, and finally, the Ghost of Reformation Future will arrive.

As the ghost of Reformation past, I am here to tell you of a time when the church was in chains to sin, when the church kept the gospel good news bound by chains. A monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517. Brother Luther's own reformation of heart took place after reading this verse of Romans, these words of Paul,

“But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ1 for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement1 by his blood, effective through faith.”
And again, “ 28For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.”

Brother Luther understood these words to mean that a person cannot do anything, do you hear that, a person cannot do anything to get into heaven; rather, it is through God's faith in us, through God's love for us, and through God's steadfast grace that we are forgiven and inherit eternal life.

By this discovery, Brother Luther, in effect, unchained the gospel from the idea of works' righteousness, which, in other words, was the belief that you had to do good things, good works, to get into heaven. Those who do good get eternal life in heaven, those who don't do good, don't. This verse of Paul proves this idea of works' righteousness to be false! Paul says that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That means everybody from Moses to Peter to Mother Teresa – none of them could get into heaven on their own, all of them have sinned and fallen short. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, too, but God loves us and forgives us none-the-less — an all you need is love, love, et al., mother love, love too deep for words – and all of God's children, us included, are justified, forgiven of sin, inheritors of eternal life, through God's gift of grace.

I leave you now with this message of Reformation past: Brother Luther inspired a reformation in the church that continues to the present, where the Gospel is freed from chains and God's word is available to all. (Here I took the chains off the Bible and laid them at the foot of the altar.) Look for the Ghost of Reformation Present to come and speak to you of how this reformation continues here and now.

Please Rise for the Reading of the Gospel.


The Ghost of Reformation Present
After the Gospel reading, John 8.31-36

I am the ghost of reformation present. I come bearing news of the present reformation of this church of God. As you know, the church is at a crossroads. Several churches have chosen to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the social statement and decisions made in August year of our Lord two thousand nine. Mainline protestant churches – from Episcopalians to Pentecostals, Lutherans to Baptists – throughout the country are losing members at a rapid rate. Where the state of the economy has meant the the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has had to lay off over sixty people this past month, where many individual churches throughout the country are facing budget deficits.

It seems like a dangerous time to be the church. Now more than ever we feel the chains of sin that Jesus spoke about in this passage. We are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. It says that right in the confession every Sunday.

Jesus says that we are slaves. And those listening to Jesus said, “We are descendants of Abraham, we were never slaves to anyone!” How quick did they forget that yes, they were slaves – they were slaves in Egypt, they were in exile in Babylon, and currently they were under foreign exile. How quickly did they forget they were slaves. How quickly do we forget!

But Jesus says, “whoever commits a sin is a slave to sin.” Each of us sin. Each of us have sinned. From cutting off someone on the way to church to arguments I've had with my parents, I have sinned. I am a slave to sin, wrapped in these chains of sin. As are we all slaves to sin.

But! We are here together, and together we heard Jesus say that if the Son has made you free, then you are truly free. And I am here to tell you that the Son has truly made you free. (Here I took off the chains around me and laid them at the foot of the altar.) At this font, at this altar, at the foot of this cross, we are reminded by Christ we are forgiven all of our sins. Do you hear that? We are forgiven all of our sins! Cutting off someone on the way to church? Already forgiven. Arguments with family? Forgiven. No matter what sin you have committed, the Son has already made you free by his death on the cross. Do you hear that? You are forgiven! And you did not have to do anything! Every little sin, every big sin, everything you have ever done wrong? It's forgotten. You are forgiven.

Our baptisms reform our hearts and minds, it frees us from sin so that we may go into the world to tell the story and live the story. Thank God almighty, we are free at last. So the question is, what do we do with this freedom?

The church has a choice, we have a choice – to fall back in fear or to boldly follow the spirit as she continues to move us, continues to reform us. We are at a crossroads, for sure, but even here, even now, even as we sit in our pews, arms crossed, teeth clenched, the Holy Spirit is at work. The spirit is moving, yes, the spirit is stirring up within us. As I depart, I pave the way for the last ghost, the Ghost of Reformation Future. Where are we being called as a church? What is the future of the reformation? Now that we have been set free, where are we being called to go? Look for the Ghost of Reformation Future to come and speak to you of how this reformation draws us into the future.


The Ghost of Reformation Future
Following the Children's sermon

I am the Ghost of Reformation Future, of Reformations yet to come. I have come to bring tidings of the future of this church, the future of the reformation.

From St. Paul to Martin Luther, from Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, Jr., many of our greatest prophets have had visions of what the Kingdom of God will look like when fully realized among us. When once and for all the chains of slavery and sin will be laid to rest. A time where there will be no more crying, no more pain, no more sorrow, where all the walls that separate and divide us will be torn apart stone by stone. This vision of the future is certainly not realized right now, as the world is full of pain and sorrow, walls of poverty and class separate and divide us. The chains of slavery and sin still bind us.

However, that does not mean that we cannot be a part of the reformation here and now. As the ghost of the reformation present said, the Holy Spirit is calling all of us, each and everyone of us. We are called to be a part of this reformation, working towards a better, brighter tomorrow. We have been set free from sin so that we can serve others, Martin Luther said. So we can go into the world and bring about, with God's guidance, a reformation here and now.

We are all of us children of the Reformation, made clean in these waters, filled with this bread and wine, and reminded that we are set free by the word of God. Child of the Reformation, stirred up with the power of the Holy Spirit, we leave this place fed and forgiven, set free from the bondage of sin. No matter what, we remain in the love and care of God. We are forgiven! You hear that? You are forgiven! We are free! We are children of God! The question I leave you with my brothers and sisters of the reformation, the question is, you are set free! Now what?

Amen.

Creation as gift?

I am tired of hearing people say that creation is a gift from God. How anthropocentric can we get? Why can we not believe that the universe has its own integrity in and of itself.

Seriously, there are stars out there that are so far away their light does not even reach us. Is that a gift for us?

Why can't we treat the universe, the earth, other creatures, not as gift, but as subject, as other, as something with integrity? The universe is not ours to do with as we please, it was not a gift for humanity. We are a part of this earth, not the beneficiaries of its gift, nor are we the benefactors or stewards of the planet. We have forced our power over this planet rather than treating it as friend, treating it as an object or gift to be played with and disposed as opposed to a subject and friend.

19 Pentecost Sermon

My sermon from 19 Pentecost (3 October). This is one of the shortest sermons I preached, but I like it just the same. :) It is essentially about theodicy, that is, why is there evil in the world if God is all knowing, all powerful, and all good? The text I used was the old testament lesson, Habakkuk 1.1-4, 2.1-4.

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2.1-4

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!"
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous--
therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the LORD answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry,
wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.
Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faith.


Sermon
Several decades ago, the New York Botanical Garden acquired a dried up specimen of Ibervillea Sonorae. This beautiful plant is native to northwestern Mexico. Due to the arid climate, the plants are able to store up water for the summer, and have remarkable survival abilities. So the New York Botanical Garden put this dried up specimen of Ibervillea Sonorae

"on display in a glass case. 'For seven years,' says Joseph Wood Krutch, 'without soil or water, simply lying in the case, it put forth a few anticipatory shoots and then, when no rainy season arrived, dried up again, hoping for better luck next year.' That's what I call flying in the teeth of it all.
"(It's hard to understand why no one at the New York Botanical Garden had the grace to splash a glass of water on the thing. Then they could say on their display case label, “This is a live plant.” But by the eighth year what they had was a dead plant, which is precisely what it had looked like all along. The sight of it, reinforced by the label 'Dead Ibervillea sonorae,' would have been most melancholy to visitors to the botanical garden. I supposed they just threw it away.)" (Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, p. 165).

To all the passerbys that little shoot seemed dried up and dead, but underneath the stem life was still slowly moving along, loud as hope waiting patiently for water that was not likely to come. Think on that for a second. This dreid up plant was able to produce life for seven years without soil or water, waiting for rain that was not going to come. That's a leap of faith, instead of just giving up in the midst of arid and dry climate, in an enclosed case of glass, the plant waited patiently, loud as hope.

Centuries earlier, we have the prophet Habakkuk in a similar situation—the branch of Jesse had dried up, Jerusalem was on the verge of collapse due to corruption and abuse of power, armies were encroaching on all sides. He was surrounded by prophets saying that it was the will of God that Jerusalem would fall, that God was set to punish his people.

To Habakkuk, the world seemed out of control, and Habakkuk wanted answers. So we hear his cry to God, “How long, Adonai, must I cry for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you 'violence' but you do not save!” Seeing the injustice of the world around him, the poor who were getting poorer by the minute as Jerusalem's economy was on collapse, the rich who kept their wealth to themselves without sharing, the illegal aliens in Jerusalem who were being treated like dirt instead of being treated as people, the religious and government rulers who were squandering money from those in need. And Habakkuk cries to God, saying, “Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and conflict abounds.” Habakkuk says, “For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is distorted.”

And God seems silent. Where is hope when God seems silent and the world is going down the toilet? Where is hope when you are like that dried up branch in a glass case, a spectacle for others as you wither without water? Where is hope?

I believe one of the most profound questions in the Bible, and still even to this day is it asked, it was asked by the psalmists, it was asked by the disciples of Jesus, and I have heard it asked so many times today, hope fading in people's eyes as they ask “Why does God let bad things happen in this world?” Indeed, Habakkuk is asking this very question of God. How long, Adonai, must we cry for help, but you do not listen? How can God allow the wicked to oppress the righteous?

Today may seem in some ways not that different from Habakkuk's time. It still seems to me that the wicked prosper while the righteous decline. Look at the homeless men and women, girls and boys on the streets. The economy which is allowing the rich to get richer while the poor continue to get poorer, barely able to make ends meet if they even are able to. Where diseases like HIV/AIDS, and cancer take so many lives. Where loved ones pass away. Where we are involved in an ecological crises that is affecting the poorest nations at drastic rates while the richer nations continue to use and abuse the earth. Where natural disasters like hurricanes and tropical storms can take lives as well as damage property. It's scary to think about sometimes, when the storms of life seem to take control.

Sometimes, we call out, along with the prophets, “Where are you God?” When we pray the prayers of the church later on for world peace, for health, we pray these same things every week. O God why are you silent?

Yet, even in the midst of this silence, though, is there hope? Let us return to our prophet and friend, Habakkuk. After he cries to God in anger and sorrow, this is the interesting thing. Even though the world seems to say otherwise, Habakkuk refuses to believe that God will remain silent. Refuses to believe that God will remain silent. No, because this is the God that led the people out of Egypt, this is the God that made a promise to King David that God would bring about a savior out of his heirs, this is the God that promised to Sarah and Abraham that their descendants would be as numerous as the stars. How can a God like that, a God of grace and love, remain silent? So Habakkuk says, “I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what God will say to me, and what God will answer concerning my complaint.” You see, even though God appears silent now, there is an expectation that God will not remain silent. There is a readiness on the prophet's part to hear and wait, to be patient and wait for the God of promise to speak and break the silence.

Just like that dried up plant in the New York Botanical Gardens waiting patiently year after year for rain, Habakkuk is ready and prepared to wait for God to speak here and now.

And guess what? God answers Habakkuk! The God of ages breaks the silence and says “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.” God is telling him to create the first billboard in human history! God's word should be so large that the runner in hurridness can see it and recognize it as the word of God! And what is the word of God for us today? The righteous will live by faith. Let's say that together. The righteous will live by faith. Righteous does not mean morally righteous, like doing right or wrong. No! Righteous here means being relationally righteous, being in a relationship with God. That the righteous will live by God's faith and steadfast love.

Unlike the curators of the New York Botanical Garden, God sends rain (as you could tell this past Thursday). When we put forth our anticipatory shoots, dried up as the world may be, God will send rain. God will speak, God will act, God will break the silence. Because God's word is so large that a billboard cannot contain it. Because God's word dwells in each of us. That's right! God is never silent because God is speaking through us. That's what God told Habakkuk 3,000 years ago and that's what God is speaking to us today.

My favorite part of this short book is the end. Habakkuk says “Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in Adonai, I will exult in the God of my salvation. Adonai, my God, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights.”

Even when there is no visible sign of blessing, not even a hint or evidence of God, but in spite of that, in spite of, God is faithful. And we have cause to rejoice. And to write that on the largest billboards, to proclaim it in the street.

Because you know what? God was never silent! All along God was speaking. You see, God is never silent as long as we give voice on behalf of those in need. The mothering love of God is never hidden as long as we show that love to the strangers among us, to those who need it most. Let us fashion a billboard with our actions in love, to tell all the world that God is here, God is love, and God is speaking. We are the ones God chooses to act in the world, to love the world, to bring good news and hope to the world. God acts and speaks through us. God you are our strength. I think that gives us cause to rejoice. Can I get an Amen?