Why Me?

Luke 13:1-9

Third Sunday of Lent     February 28, 2016

 

Why do people suffer?  There are two popular responses to this question.  One is that it is our fault, which means that we can change it.  Telling a cancer patient that if Lance Armstrong can beat cancer, they can, too, or that they just need to think positively implies that their illness is under their control.  Ask a parent of a child with autism if they have tried juicing implicitly says, “You can fix this!”

The other widespread belief is that God causes suffering.  “It’s part of God’s plan,” they say.  Tell that to someone paralyzed in a car accident, and then think about what kind of God that would be.  Personally, I’ve experienced two different cancers. I know that people do mean well when they say these things.  Sometimes their comments express a theology different than mine. God does not want people to suffer. I’ve heard people tell parents whose child has died that everything happens for a reason. Telling the parents of a child with a disability that God only gives them what they can handle also tells them that God wanted child with disabilities to be born.  Why are children born with disabilities?  Why do people get Parkinson’s disease, or chronic depression, or cancer?  Why do babies die?

Adding fuel to this fire are some TV evangelists.  Picture a wavy haired preacher with a permanent white toothy smile.  He’s authored books entitled, It’s Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase God’s Favor, and The Power of I Am: Two Words that Will Change Your Life Today. This last book preaches that we can invite God’s goodness by saying, “I am.”  Say, “I am blessed, and blessings will pursue you.  Say “I am healthy,” and health heads your way.  Say, “I am talented,” and talent follows you.  This has not worked for me.

Our experience tells us that this is simply not true. We like to think that people get exactly what they deserve in this life, good or bad. Does any child deserve to be abused or to become a refugee?  A tireless worker for racial equality, Martin Luther King was shot and killed as he stood on his balcony to talk to Southern Christian Leadership Conference members below.  On the other side, we all know people who take advantage of their position of power to inflict harm on others.  You simply need to look to the abuse that has happened in churches.  While the Catholic church made the news, no denomination has escaped.  Did you know that no hedge-fund managers or Wall Street bankers were punished for the mortgage-banking crisis?

Things get confusing because, as we have learned through our scientific methods of cause and effect, there are bad things that happen for which we are at fault.  If I eat only cookies, drink only alcohol, and do not exercise, it won’t be long until I get deathly ill. If I jump out of an airplane without a parachute, I will die.  Just like I would if I tried to ski down the Black Diamond slope.  Some bad things are consequences of our actions.  Some things are our fault.  Then there are those things for which we have no one to blame and no answers, like why young people die or why one person gets dementia and another stays sharp until age 94. How hard it is not to know why things happen!

This morning we hear people who came to Jesus asking why, and  longing to make sense of recent events.  Pilate, the Roman governor, had killed some Galileans while they were making their sacrifices in the temple, and then he mixed their blood with the sacrifices they were making.  As these events troubled people’s hearts, Jesus responded to them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?” In other words, did their bad behavior cause this to happen? Pay attention to Jesus’ answer.  He said, “No.”  Then Jesus tells then about another senseless tragedy of eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them.  “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?” In other words, did they deserve what happened to them?  Again Jesus answers his own question, “No.”  Jesus offers no explanation for these tragedies.  He does not say it was God’s will or divine retribution. St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is applicable here, “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (verses 22b-23).

Pilate’s blood bath reminds us of blood poured out at the mass shootings at Columbine and VA Tech.  Those killed by the falling of the tower of Siloam reminds us of those who were crushed when the Twin Towers toppled on 9/11.  Were they worse sinners than everyone else?  No.  Is there an acceptable explanation for these tragedies?  No.  Were these events God’s will?  No. In all these things, God’s heart is the first to break.

Even though these catastrophes are not a punishment for sin, Jesus does not throw judgment out the window.[1]  “Repent,” he tells us.  Turn back to God. God cares about how we live our lives, and how we treat each other, and how we care for God’s creation. God wants all people have a full life.

Jesus continues, telling us a parable about a fig tree in the vineyard, a fig tree with no figs on it. “Cut it down!” the vineyard owner said.  ‘It’s wasting soil!”  We, who are so results oriented, probably agree with the owner.  If your metrics at work are off for the month, you are out of there.  If something breaks, we throw it in the trash.  The gardener, however, wants to provide the tree with all it needs to thrive.  “Give it one more year. I will dig around it.  I will put natural fertilizer on it. I will give it what it needs.”  This is our God, the one who will not give up on those who stray, who sweeps the house all night looking for a lost coin, and leaves the 99 sheep to find the one has wandered away.  Our God is the father who stands on the porch waiting, looking for us to return, and runs in his robe to greet us when we come home.

Jesus did not give any answers to our questions of why.  Jesus gave us a promise and an invitation. “Come to me. Return to me. Bring your tears and your anger.  I will care for you.  I will love you in your living and your dying.”  This Lenten season, you are invited to return

[1] Food for thought –judgment and justice are inextricably linked.

It’s Tempting!

Luke 4:1-13    

Lent 1     February 14, 2016

 

Here we are on the first Sunday in Lent.  If you have given up chocolate for Lent, you might think of Lent as a time of temptation.  Personally, giving up chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, or cookies, or cookies with chocolate in them, for Lent has never been an effective spiritual discipline for me.  The practice of doing without or of adding something is meant to turn us toward God, and strengthen our relationship with God and others. My lack of chocolate seems to result in making people want to stay away from me.

All kidding aside, while it is true that I no longer give up chocolate for Lent, giving up other things for Lent, such as gossip and exclusivism, can help to turn us back to God. Adding spiritual practices such as keeping a gratitude journal or practicing generosity are also ways to observe Lent.  Traditional Lenten disciplines include fasting, prayer and giving to those in need.  Whatever you choose, it should be meaningful to you, and something that will draw you closer to God.

Lent began this past Wednesday with our receiving ashes on our foreheads.  Ashes are a reminder of the cycle of life, that God created us from dust, and when we die, our bodies will decompose into dust.  Ashes are also a Biblical symbol of repentance.  You might remember reading that when people were sorry for their sins, they put on sackcloth, or scratchy clothing, and put ashes on their head. On Wednesday night, the ashes were put onto our foreheads in the shape of a cross.  This ashen cross is put on top of the cross made at our baptism.  When we recognize our need for repentance, remember that in our baptism, God has promised that nothing will ever separate us from God’s love. The ashen cross on top of our baptismal cross is a fitting reminder that God’s claim on us encompasses both our living and our dying. Lent is a time of turning and returning to God.  It lasts for forty days, just as Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness was forty days.

The telling of Jesus’ temptation by the devil always occurs on the first Sunday in Lent.  It begins with the Holy Spirit leading him into the wilderness, a place with which we are all familiar.  The wilderness is a fierce land, where you cannot see when, and even if, life will return to normal. The wilderness is a hospital waiting room, or an unemployment office. It’s a place of extreme isolation and loneliness. You are in the wilderness when your hands shake from withdrawal, and when you discover the one who promised forever love for you has broken your trust.  Fill in your own experience of wilderness; we have all been there.  It’s the place where we pray to hear a word from God.

Jesus’ testing in the wilderness came from the devil.  Jesus had not yet preached a sermon, cast out a demon, or healed a sick person.  Quoting from Psalm 91, the devil puts forth three temptations for Jesus.[1]  When Jesus had not eaten for 40 days, the devil said, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.  Then, pointing to all the kingdoms of the world, the devil told Jesus he would give it to him.  Lastly, he tempted Jesus to prove the God would save him if he jumped off of the highest point on the temple.  Jesus’ temptations were social, political and religious. The devil’s premises and promises are false, of course, but to someone in the wilderness for forty days, they sound temptingly true.

This is how the serpent was with Adam and Eve in the garden.  Theirs is another story of temptation. “Even though God told you that you would die if you eat the apple, you won’t,” the serpent told them.  “God just said that because he knows that if you eat from the tree in the garden that you will know good and evil and then be like God.”  When God discovers this and confronts the couple, the man accusingly said, “That woman you made for me, she did it!  It’s her fault!”  Thus the first wimp was made.

This story is more about insecurity and mistrust than it is about power.[2]  What the serpent did was to foster suspicion between the couple and God.  That led to relationship problems not only with God, but with each other and with the rest of creation.  How easily we are seduced!  We are seduced by power, and money, by good looks, and by chocolate.  These things can bring us into the wilderness, and then we look to them again to get us out.  But that never works.

When Jesus faces the devil, he responds with both his dependence upon and his trust in God. It is all in God’s hands.  We, on the other hand, so easily slip into thinking that our lives are all up to us.  We begin our 40 days of Lent in the wilderness because in the wilderness, we are reminded we need help.  Lent is the time for us to engage in spiritual disciplines that strengthen our relationship with God so that we turn to God to help us through.  Lent is the time for us to practice trust in God so that the temptations and seductions of this world have no power over us.

David Lose suggests this exercise to help us do that.[3]  Think of something that is important to you for which you feel certain of God’s support.  This could be love of your partner, children, or your relationship with God.  These things should be things that matter to you, that you do worry about, yet still trust God with them.

Next, think of something that is difficult to trust God with right now.  What is it that might keep you up at night?  This might be a relationship, a decision you have to make, or uncertainty in your career path or job.  Maybe your mistrust is that the devils in your life can be defeated.

Think about the things that you are able to trust God to care for, and those things that are more challenging for you to give to God.  What makes them different?  Why is one easier than the other?

During this coming week, and during the next 40 days, I invite you to give thanks daily for those things that you entrust to God, and to pray for those things which are difficult for you to place in God’s care.  I invite you to join with one or more persons in these prayers.  My door is always open. Lose reminds us the support of our Christian community helps us “to grow in our ability to trust and live out of a sense of abundance and courage rather than scarcity and fear.”[4]

In the moment of silence that follows, reflect on your joys that God holds and your challenges that you need to give to God.  Remember your baptism, and God’s claim on you in the shape of the cross.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] Many people quote scripture, and sometimes it is out of context or is not a word from God.  God’s word is meant to create, sustain and redeem.  Ask yourself if what you are hearing or reading comes from a place of love.

[2] This assessment is put forth by David Lose,  http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=2089.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

Transfiguration

Luke 9:28-43a

Transfiguration of Our Lord

We here in Williamsburg are known to the people of our VA Synod headquarters in Salem as “flatlanders.”  Indeed, one of the questions that serves as an icebreaker at our youth retreats is “Do you prefer the mountains or the beach?”  Even though Jesus like to hang around with fisherman, Jesus would have claimed both.  Mountaintops in the Bible are places of revelation and extraordinary encounters. They are places of holy mystery that eludes our full understanding.  How fitting that Luke’s account of the Transfiguration, transpires on a mountaintop. Jesus took his inner circle, Peter, John and James, with him up what is said to be Mount Tabor.

Jesus went to pray, and it was during this time of conversation with God that the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes looked whiter than if they had been washed with new and improved Tide.  They were dazzling.  Suddenly, they were joined by Moses and Elijah.  With their presence, the law and the prophets joined the present and the future.  They were having conversation about Jesus’ “exodus”.[1]  Trying to visualize the scene, I imagine something grand and spectacular from Steven Spielberg.  You’ve got to love the humor here.  Luke tells us that the disciples were dog-tired, but that they managed to stay awake through this breathtaking and incredible encounter.  Peter, God love him, wants to build 3 houses, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.  If this were a Spielberg movie, God’s hand would come down from heaven and slap him upside the head.  But instead, God’s voice spoke through the cloud and said, “’This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’”  Then Moses and Elijah were gone.  The disciples never told anyone.

A large crowd gathered around Jesus after they had come down from the mountain.  Once again, Jesus was met with human need.  The disciples had not been able to heal a boy seized by demons. The boy’s father pleaded with Jesus to do it, and he did.  Even Jesus can’t stay up on the mountain.  There comes a time to go back to every day life, but the time spent in prayerful retreat gives energy to come back.  This is what worship does for us.  We are restored, and sent back out to be the church in the world. Encountering Jesus changes how we see things.  This is what happened at the Transfiguration.  Jesus did not change.  How the disciples saw him is what changed.

It is in meeting the transfigured Jesus that we are changed.  If we allow Jesus to transfigure us, we will see people differently.  But there is no way that Peyton Manning will look like Cam Newtown in this evening’s game.  Seeing is an interesting sense.  Did you know that each of our eyes has a small blind spot in the back of the retina where the optic nerve attaches.  We don’t notice the hole in our vision because our eyes work together to fill in each other’s blind spots.  That’s what Jesus does for us, and we can do for each other—fill in each other’s blind spots so that we see people differently, or even see them at all.

Those who have no permanent home are often invisible.  It is much easier not to see them.  There exists pre-conceived notions of “the homeless.”  They don’t work, and they don’t want to work.  They did this to themselves. They are loners and want to avoid other people.  They are dangerous.  They did this to themselves.    If you met someone who has no permanent home, or have talked with anyone involved in a shelter or feeding program, you know these views are not the reality.

Talking with a person in a shelter, you will find that he is so proud of his son, who plays football and is looking at going to college.  You will witness a mother doing homework with her child.  Two guys come in late for dinner because they had just gotten off from work.  Sandy Peterkin, who serves tirelessly to help prepare meals, wrote an enlightening article for our February newsletter.  Taking a train to DC recently, Sandy saw some of the guests of the shelter.  There they were in a different context.  The people hugged Tom and Sandy.  Several people asked Sandy to watch their things for a moment.  Nadine offered Sandy bananas to sustain her on her trip. Those who search for shelter have learned that they are not welcome most everywhere and so become wary of people.  This encounter of mutual embrace was made possible because God opened Tom and Sandy’s hearts to see “the homeless” as people of God’s making.  Because Tom and Sandy were a tangible sign of God’s holy presence, Nadine and her friends saw Tom and Sandy differently, too.

Transfiguration will open our eyes to recognize that we all are valued children of God.  Recently I read a blog written by Sheri Dacon.[2]  Sheri is a Texan who describes herself as a nerd, and a cake snob.  Sheri’s blog focused on her family, including her “special needs” child, Travis. She says that how people treated them taught her that love is conditional. Travis didn’t fit into people’s idea of what “lovable” looks like.  Sheri writes, “I grew ashamed of expecting love.  I was made to feel that it was something wrong on my part.  That I should know better than to expect love and acceptance when my family couldn’t get our act together.”

Making it to church on Sunday mornings, Sheri writes, “is exponentially more difficult than what other families go through.”  She tells us that being the parent of a special needs child is to be in a constant state of alertness, and she had hoped that the Sunday morning faith formation classes would allow her the respite she needed to have fellowship with other adults and time to focus on her own spiritual walk, but was always told that she was required to stay with Travis.

One morning, Sheri and Travis showed up at class, and the teacher told her she did not need to stay.  “’We’ve got it covered,” he said.  “It’s not a problem.  He smiled.  “It’s not ever gonna be a problem.’”  Travis had been treated like a problem since he was age 5, his mom said.  This Faith Formation teacher did not see a problem.  This teacher saw a child. This teacher saw a unique person created by God.  “Tears welled up in my eyes,” Sheri writes, “because in his words, in his simple statement, I felt the presence of the Lord Jesus in that room as clearly as I’ve ever felt anything.  My son’s teacher was awash in the love of the Holy Spirit and it came through in his face, his words, his demeanor, his attitude.”

This is what transfiguration looks like when we come down from the mountain.  Transfiguration isn’t about us, but rather about God shining through us in a way that makes a difference.  Transfiguration is a tangible sign of God’s holy presence.  It is God visible through us.

“He is my Son,” God says.  “Listen to him.”  Listen to him when he says, “I love you.”  Listen to him when he says, “Love one another as I have loved you.”  Listen to him, Jesus, the one who himself is God’s presence, made tangible to us this day in bread and wine, and each other.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] NRSV uses the word “departure”.  “Exodus” is another translation of the Greek.

[2] http://sheridacon.com/2014/11/10/church-is-a-burden-for-special-needs/