Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Tuesday Sermon: Belief


          The phrase that caught my attention this morning came from the Gospel:  "And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And he was amazed at their unbelief."
          Why should belief have an effect on whether Christ could perform miracles?  A miracle is a miracle; an achievement of great mystery; a scientific wonder – what difference should belief have?
          In the Gospel, Jesus is dealing with people he grew up with, who knew him as Mary and Joe's kid, the carpenter's son.  All of a sudden, in their minds, Jesus changed the rules, becoming something that there was no way he could actually be. 
          People have a tendency to be skeptical.  Now, some people are convinced through science.  Some through enormous amounts of eye-witness testimony.  And yet others will deny what is right before their very eyes – claiming conspiracy, tricks, sleight of hand. 
          There are people today who deny the moon landing ever took place; who deny the Holocaust took place, claiming it to be a Zionist conspiracy that robbed Palestinians of their home; who think the Earth is flat, despite photographic evidence to the contrary.  "Fake news" is the buzzword of today. 
          Today's fake news about vaccinations has created an outbreak of measles in Washington State that has, just 12 hours ago, caused the state to declare a state of emergency.  Fake news can be as benign as Elvis sightings or as real as people dying because they believed a report, long since debunked and declared fake itself, but which is bringing back a rise in diseases that had almost been eradicated. 
          Belief in Christ, in who He is, in what He can do is a necessary component to miracles – not because He is incapable of performing them, but because those watching are incapable of believing He caused them to happen.  Belief is at the basis of faith.  As baptized Christians, despite the fact that none of us ever saw the miracles performed during Christ's life, we choose to have faith and believe. 
          Let us pray:  Holy Spirit, I know the great joy of salvation is being indwelled by God himself. I pray that God would grant this honor to those unbelievers, that He would choose to take up residence within them. May He fill the hearts of those who have yet to see Him! As Ezekiel 36:27 states, “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” I am blessed to have the Spirit within me, and I pray for that blessing for unbelievers so that they can know true happiness. Amen.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Tuesday Sermon: Building Awareness


          "You must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds."  All three of our readings here today emphasize that your awareness of reality must be beyond the immediate, beyond the modern conveniences and relationships that feed our egos.  Christ speaks of the reality and unity of God.  Paul calls us to recognize the presence of Christ in all people we meet, the need to exercise wisdom and discernment that all we have been provided comes from God.  Our idols or our daily bread do not come from some devising of our own mind – which makes it less than ourselves, and thus much less than Divine.  To elevate a human creation to a state of worship is an insult to God, and, as Christ emphasizes, if we are divided, we will fall.
          So how do we build that awareness, and remember to lessen the impact our created things have on our lives? 
          The Celts have a tradition of living life being aware of their blessings.  As with all things Celtic, most things are done fairly rhythmically in threes, and at the same time are fairly similar to the parallelism found in the Hebrew poetry of the Psalms.  Each line is related in some way, contracting an idea from the world view to the city, or from the family to the individual; or continuing an idea in such a way that it builds on the parallel lines.  The Trinity is a common concept found in Celtic triads, along with matching things to the natural order of the world created by God. 
          An example of a Celtic blessing would be:

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the Son of peace to you.
                                      Traditional Irish Blessing
          Christine Paintner writes in her book The Soul's Slow Ripening:
"Everything the Celts did was carried out with a reverence and sense of blessing.  Blessing is really acknowledging the gifts and graces already present and entering into partnership with the divine.  All the mundane activities of the day become opportunities to witness grace at work.  Blessing is a way of life, and prayers are written to honor the sacred rhythms of the earth and to celebrate the ordinary tasks of the day."

          So for one day this week, I challenge you to pause before each and every task you undertake.  Find the holy aspect in what you're about to do, and take the time to acknowledge the presence of the blessing and grace you receive in doing it.  So for example, a mundane task that we have to do is washing dishes.  Here we have the blessings of running water, soap, dishes on which to eat or prepare food, the opportunity to care for those we love by keeping things clean – and in my own case, the opportunity to play in water.  So, God created water, Christ taught us about love, and the Holy Spirit guides our hands and joyful thoughts to be aware of the grace and blessing present in washing the dishes.  So for just one day, try being aware of God's blessings, of the importance of not just the reality we've been ignoring, but the unity we share with every other person on earth.  The blessings we each have may be different, but building that awareness is a great first step in making unity a reality.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Sermon: Gifts


          There's an interesting tradition in Japan, among other countries, with regard to housewarming gifts.  The gift is less about what's inside, and more about how it appears when you wrap it.  It doesn't have to be expensive, but it does need to be thought out.  A gift from your home country or city is much better than an expensive gift from a shop around the corner.  One month after you receive a housewarming gift from someone, you must send a gift of approximately half the value of the original gift, and again, how the gift is wrapped is quite important.  There is a whole list of gift giving etiquette surrounding gifting in Japan.
          It's not uncommon for people to collect housewarming gifts and return gifts in the closet, in order to ensure you're always prepared.  So today, I'd like to talk about those gifts we set in the closet – only these were given to us by God at our baptism.  Paul's letter to the Corinthians is pretty clear:
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

          Now keep in mind, Paul lists gifts of the Spirit in both this letter to the Corinthians, and his letter to the Romans – which some of you may be studying with The Good Book Club during Epiphany.  And there's also a list in 1 Peter.  There are similarities and differences in the lists, but what's important is that these are examples – not the totality of the gifts you may receive.  You may get one gift, or more, depending on your capacity and what the Holy Spirit thinks you can handle.  And let me tell you – we vastly underestimate what we think we can handle.  God knows much better than each of us just what we are capable of.  And sometimes, He sends a push.
          God will give us the ability, and the desire to use it. Many Christians seem to sit on that desire, or put it on the closet shelf. Steve Goodier shares the story of a piano player. He played in bars and he was pretty good at it. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a customer told him he didn't want to hear him just play the piano anymore. He wanted him to sing a song. The piano player said, "I don't sing." But the customer was persistent. He told the bartender, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!" The bartender shouted across the room, "If you want to get paid, sing a song. The customers are asking you to sing!" So he sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And nobody had ever heard the song, "Mona Lisa" sung the way it was sung that night by Nat King Cole! He had a talent he was sitting on. He might have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But because he HAD to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.  Was it the Holy Spirit that prompted the customer to demand he sing?  I'd have to believe so, because music is a language all its own, and the gift of tongues given to Nat King Cole, son of a Baptist minister and member of the famous Harlem Abyssinian Baptist Church, spoke to many people.
          Developing the gifts we have is a good way to honor God's belief in us.  We probably all know people who are wise or knowledgeable, but it doesn't seem like those are particularly spiritual gifts.  We may merely foster and develop talents as we pursue our interests.  What makes these talents and gifts, different from simply learned faculties?  The answer is in the New Testament lesson:  "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."  What makes them activated by the Spirit is when we are inspired to use them for the common good.
          Now the other aspect of spiritual gifts that I want to mention today has to do with the whole concept of spiritual gifts being "supernatural" in some fashion.  As Episcopalians, we're not big on supernatural, despite the fact that our beliefs are about God, who begat a child with a human through the Holy Spirit, and that His Son died for the sins of the entire world, and came back to life.  Can we get any more spiritual and supernatural than that?  No – but we need to not discount that spiritual gifts and understanding exist.  We need to be prepared to use the gifts that God gives us for the common good, and to encourage others to use their own gifts.
          The fastest growing section of the population have marked on surveys that they are spiritual but not religious.  Many of our religions are rejecting the concept of the supernatural, while at the same time, we recognize that not only did Christ perform miracles – the first of which we learned about in today's Gospel – but he instructed every single one of us who is baptized in His name, through Mark Chapter 16:
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

          Again, He's not giving an exhaustive list, but He is telling us to use the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us – don't set them in a metaphorical closet to be ignored.  We are each given gifts to our own capacity, and each of those gifts are equally important in the common good of the Church.
          A young schoolboy was trying out for a part in the school play. His mother knew that he had set his heart on it, though she was afraid he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, she drove to school to pick him up. The young lad rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. Then he said some words to her that should remain a lesson to us all: “I have been chosen to clap and cheer.” In the same way, God has lovingly chosen each of us for different and special tasks.
          So this week, think about your own gifts.  Think about the minister who once worked with two men who had opposite attitudes toward their gifts: the one man constantly insisted that he was unable to believe he had a gift, and would not use them, and the other man constantly boasted about gifts that he did not possess. Actually, both of them were guilty of pride, because both of them refused to acknowledge God’s grace and let Him have the glory. Moses made a similar mistake when God called him in Exodus.  Individual believers in a church should know their gifts, accept them by faith, and use them for God’s glory. 
          If you need help in determining what your gifts might be, let me know.  I have a fairly easy test you can take for some of the spiritual gifts.  It might give you a direction to go in, and see what you want to accomplish this year in developing and using those gifts from God.  Let's clear out our closets.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Tuesday Sermon: Named


          A friend of mine recently posted something online about how difficult it could sometimes be to just be yourself, which didn't necessarily mean fitting in with those around you, but rather accepting you might have unique qualities that weren't exactly socially PC.  I told her about a lesson that I'd learned from my mom, who has probably regretted it ever since.  She made me aware that God doesn't make two of anything - every single bit of creation is unique, down to the smallest snowflakes. As a result, if I were to be someone other than myself, I'd be insulting God, rejecting His gift to me of being the very best me that I could be. God always trumped everyone else, so I was always weird, and perfectly comfortable in my weirdness, 'cause it was a gift.
          Today's Old Testament lesson is reminding us, once again, to be aware of all those things created by God.  It reminds us to look up, and open our eyes, to realize that not only is every single creation unique, but God knows the name of every single one – not just humans, but animals, creatures, mountains, rivers, stars, planets, every grain of sand and drop of dew. 
          And yet, with each generation, we read in the Old Testament, each prophet reminding God's chosen people to look up, and be aware.  And with each generation, the past is forgotten and mistakes are made yet again, and we make gods of political correctness and sameness and how each person should be unique only in societally acceptable ways.  We neglect to elevate our eyes to see or our hearts to listen and comprehend God's presence all around us. 
          Paul reminds us that since the prophets were obviously not working to convince each successive generation the importance of remembering God's authority and power and dominion, He sent His only Son to teach us, once and for all, "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come."  Christ knows the name of each and every person that He calls to be a part of His body in the Church.  He knows those who are found, those who are lost, and those still striving to discover their path.
          So when we become like Jacob, and think that any part of creation is hidden from God, we practice the foolishness of the generations that repeatedly forget who God is, and what He has done.
          God asks in Isaiah, "Have you not known? Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth."  If you haven't heard, then hear and be aware; if you have heard, then remember that the "ends of the earth" include everything in between; and if others have not heard, then our responsibility is to spread the good news!

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Tuesday Sermon: Listening to God


          Do you remember your dreams?  My son has vivid, technicolor dreams that are very detailed that he remembers.  Me, my memory of my dreams are bits and pieces of stuff that make no sense, and often involve words in another language that have me searching for dictionaries upon awakening.  My husband, on the other hand, had prophetic dreams.  He would dream about things that would later happen to other people. 
          Dreams are a fascinating subject that get into more psychology than we have time for here this morning.  But modern-day psychologists would tell you that within a dream, each important aspect is some part of your own psyche, trying to communicate with you in some way.  It seems that the concept of dreams over time have changed.
          Dreams and visions – or waking dreams/daydreaming – are methods by which God communicates with us.  In the passage in Daniel, not only was Daniel expected to know the dream the king had without being told, but to interpret it such that it made sense to the king.  Daniel explains that the reason he can do this is because God gave him the power to interpret visions and dreams because he has kept his body and soul clean. 
          And here is where the letter from Paul to the Ephesians comes in, that tells us not to be foolish or to get drunk with wine, but rather to experience the wisdom and joy that being filled with the Spirit can bring.  The thing is that Paul is not speaking only about inebriation, but the "busy-ness" that we often fill our time and minds with, leaving no room for the Spirit to enter.
          I don't think God has stopped communicating with us in dreams and visions.  I think oftentimes, we have forgotten to listen, to put down our technology, our clubs, our work and activities - and to exercise the wisdom and discernment we can have when we pay attention.  For one week, try this exercise:  keep a pen and paper by your bedside.  Before you go to sleep, pray, and end with asking God to tell you what you need to know.  If at any point during the night you wake up after dreaming, write down what you can remember before you go back to sleep.  The next morning, sit in meditation with what you've written.  See if there's some part of you trying to communicate a message, or if perhaps God has answered a question you had.  Then open your Bible at random and read something on the page.  You might be surprised at the answers you receive.
          God has never stopped communicating with us.  We just have to be ready to listen.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Sermon: Do As I Say...


          How often have you understood, "do as I say, not as I do"?  How often have you wanted others to do as you say?  How do we reconcile what people say with what they do?  Just look at all our politicians.  Eventually, we realize that it's actions that count, and while words are important in establishing authenticity, actions are even more so. 
          So did you hear that Christ came for the Jews, not the Gentiles?  He says so, in Matthew 15:24, and in Mark 7:27.  Or later in Mark when he cursed the fig tree, a tree long representing Israel, but then explained that faith and prayer could make it better again.  Or when later he cleansed the temple, making His Father's house again one of prayer and not of trade.
          Did you know Peter was listening when Jesus spoke to the woman who asked Him to heal her daughter, as He said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel", and then watching as Jesus healed the Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter?  Did you know it was Peter who asked him about the withered fig tree the next morning, having heard Christ say no fruit will come from you again?  Or that Peter was watching when, as Christ cleansed the temple, He reminded them:  "‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?"
          Peter, bless his soul, was called the Rock for a reason.  Not just because he was steady and stable, steadfast in his faith and willing to take risks.  He was the ultimate Gryffindor, not generally inclined to think things through.  He is often the one most like ourselves – devout, but not necessarily the brightest bulb.  He needed some prepping before he was ready for the dream he would have in Acts, where he realizes that Christ came for all people; that God broke down the walls of separation, created all of humanity, and our responsibilities as Christians is to the whole of mankind, not just the Jews.
          We, on the other hand, have the benefit of 2000 years of history – and a whole Bible in one place.  We know that Christ came for both Jew and Gentile, because today, we celebrate Epiphany, the day that the Magi arrived to recognize this Manifestation of God.  And the Magi certainly weren't Jews.
          One of the fun parts about explaining the liturgical year to someone who doesn't follow the liturgical calendar is how we fit all of the events into one year.  Epiphany falls on what has traditionally been known as 12th Night of the 12 Days of the Christmas season.  This is usually celebrated with gift giving, cakes and a drink called wassail, as we commemorate the arrival of the Magi.  In actuality, it took quite a while for them to arrive, as the star didn't appear until the night Jesus was born.  Fortunately, they'd been expecting a sign of His birth, so they were pretty well prepared to travel quickly. 
          Some people speculate that these three were "kings" in their own right, come to welcome the new "king" to the club.  It is actually more likely that they were priests following the Zoroastrian religion from Persia, and their own writings foretold of Christ's coming.  As you'll notice in the Gospel reading, " On entering the house (not stable), they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."  So again, the idea of the three wise men in the stable, didn't happen. 
          Time-wise, the Leviticus laws under which Mary was constrained said that she would be separate for 40 days after the birth of the baby.  It was likely that the shepherds came the same night Jesus was born, but after that, no one but family would have been around Mary.  So, we know the Magi came at least 40 days after Christ was born.  But!  We're a liturgical people, and we have assigned Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas, as the day to celebrate their arrival.  We don't claim they got there that quickly.
          However, their arrival helps us to understand that Christ was born to redeem all mankind, not just the Jews.  His actions confirm this throughout His ministry.  The first person He told of His mission here as the Messiah was a Samaritan woman.  The Samaritans also played a part in the parable of being a good neighbor.  His actions always included everyone, but His words were often very specific to the Jews.  Even though Paul emphasizes his own mission to the Gentiles in most of his letters, including today's letter to the Ephesians, it was Peter's dream and decision that the Christian religion would be all inclusive that helped the church expand so quickly into the areas of the Gentiles.  Paul, of course, had a huge influence on the inclusion of the Gentiles as well, but Peter was the "rock upon which [Christ] will build [his] church."  Peter learned to listen to Christ's "words" – which certainly included more than the spoken word, but most particularly His actions – and did as Christ both said and did.
          Today, however, actions tend to speak louder than words in our life lessons.  We have become so used to the PC speak and unfulfilled promises of others, we often don't even trust the words of others.  Minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. “I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me.”
          Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan: “Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that you’re getting a divorce. That will really hurt him.” With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, “Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!” And she did it with enthusiasm. Acting “as if.” For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, sharing. When she didn’t return, Crane called. “Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?”
          “Divorce?” she exclaimed. “Never! I discovered I really do love him.” Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds.
          The wise men traveled hundreds of miles, after having studied their own religious writings for decades.  They came to pay homage to the Christ child.  They let their deeds speak for themselves, and on their return, taught others of the birth of the Messiah.
          So here today, I'd like to challenge each of us to take Christ's commandments that you heard at the beginning of this service:  " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."  Don't say the words.  Live them.  Do as we were commanded to do.  How will you show, by action, the love of God?  How will you show love to your neighbor?