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Sleeping at Night

Matthew 24:36-44    First Sunday of Advent

It is tradition in many homes on Thanksgiving Day for each person around the dinner table to name the blessings for which they are most grateful. What did you give thanks for this past Thanksgiving Day?  Perhaps this Thanksgiving Day interrupted your Christmas shopping; Black Friday sales are now taking place every day for weeks.  Our culture says this is the Christmas season, but in the church, it is Advent.  Our society paints this as a joyful time of year. Our church readings are ominous.

Society’s portrayal of our lives is askew.  While we may be looking forward to parties and dinners and gift-giving, our lives are more complicated than that. How have you been sleeping lately? Chances are that if we are awake when we should be sleeping it is because we are distracted by the many things we have to do.  Sometimes it is out of grief and longing for someone we love who has died.  Worry certainly tops the list, –worry about our health or the fragility of a loved one.

Many things rob us of restorative rest–money, loneliness, children, Aunt Karin making the gravy for Christmas dinner. In case we need more reasons to be sleep disturbed, Matthew gives us more. Leading up to our reading, he tells of nation against nation, torture, and a darkening sun.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.  Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.  TheLeft Behind book series stems from this passage.

It reminds me of a story that I cannot resist telling. On a trip to a preaching conference, my friend and I were driving through rural Georgia.  Looking for a place for lunch, we stumbled upon Cousin Cooter’s Country Cooking.  Our waitress was very friendly, and inquired about where we were headed. We told her about the conference and engaged in chit chat.  As we stood up to leave, the waitress smiled, put her hands up in the air and said, “See you at the Rapture!”  She obviously thought she would be one of the ones taken!

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, a time when we anticipate Jesus’ birth, and look to the day when Christ will come again.  Contrary to our image of Jesus as a baby in the manger, who will grow up to heal the sick and feed the hungry, we hear of Christ as a robber.  When Christ comes again, it will be like a thief who breaks into our house, an intruder who has no regard for boundaries, and will invade our personal space.  What will this thief take from us? Maybe we need a thief to come and take from us all those things to which we cling so tightly, those things that prevent us from being open to God’s presence and desires for us.

The two people in the field, and two grinding meal were doing what they always did.  The day had begun as it always did, a cup of coffee while they read the paper, and then off to work.  But then the unexpected happens.  Half are taken, and half are left.  The waitress at Cousin Cooter’s envisioned that those who are worthy are taken, and those God judges to be unfaithful are left.  Using the story of the Great Flood, Matthew reverses that image.  Noah wasn’t taken, he was left.  In the time of forty days and nights of rain, it was Noah and his family, those who were faithful, who remained on earth.  Just as Noah was before the flood, so now are we, here among those who are faithful and those who are not.

We are in the now, but not-yet time of the coming of the Kingdom of God.  While we are waiting, we are not to simply rest in God’s grace.  Even as we pray for our Father to give us our daily bread, we pray for God’s kingdom to come.  God invites us to participate in its coming.  We are not called to predict when that will be, we are called to be prepared for it.

In the face of uncertainties, how do we prepare?  How do we get ready in the face of those fears that creep through our brain, keeping us awake at night?  What will the medical test results be?  Will I have enough money?  What happens to children separated from their parents? Will the world have clean water for the next generations?

We prepare by entrusting ourselves to God, by surrendering our fear, and opening our hearts. We need to admit that, if Jesus can come as a thief, we need to open our eyes a bit more.  We remember that Jesus said when we feed the hungry and visit those in prison, we are doing it to him.  It can be hard work to see Jesus, especially in dark places, with eyes closed.  To see the Christ who is and who will come again, remember the Christ you have already encountered.

Recently, I read a story that has stuck with me:

During the bombing raids of World War II, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve.  The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and good care.  But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night.  They feared waking up to find themselves once again homeless and without food.  Nothing seemed to reassure them.  Finally, someone hit upon the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime.  Holding their bread, these children could finally sleep in peace.  All through the night the bread reminded them, “Yesterday I ate, and today I ate and I will eat again tomorrow.[1]

Christ has died.  Christ is Risen.  Christ will come again.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] Linn, Dennis, Linn Sheila Fabricant, Linn, Matthew.  Sleeping with Bread:  Holding What Gives You Life.  Mahwah, NJ, Paulist Press, 1994.

Luke 20:27-38 Lectionary 31

There is nothing simple about this story.  The relationship between Jesus and the Sadducees, marriage, Jewish law, and resurrection, –all of these are complicated, and all of them are integral to our gospel reading this morning.

The Sadducees were priests who had power and influence. They kept company with others who had power and could enhance theirs.  They benefitted from the current system.  It was in their self-interest to maintain the status quo.

Jesus, on the other hand, challenged and disrupted those systems that kept people oppressed, and preyed on the vulnerable.  The last shall be first, he said.  Take care of the poor and vulnerable because they are valuable children of God.  Just as you do it to the least of these, you do it to me. Be kind to those who cannot improve your status.  Jesus was a threat because he was bucking the status quo, and changing the system.  Those with no voice and no power, and some others, were listening to Jesus.

Some of the frightened religious leaders decided to ask Jesus a trick question.  As defenders of the law of Moses, they decided to draw on that as a basis to trap Jesus.  Using Deuteronomy, they asked a question about the laws of marriage, which held that when a husband who had no son died, his eldest brother was legally obligated to marry the wife. This brother would be called to father a child.  The child would be considered the son of his deceased brother.[1]  This marital arrangement, called a Levirate marriage, was to ensure the continuation of a family.

Some of the Sadducees posed this question to Jesus.  Suppose a man dies, and has no son, and his brother marries his wife, and they have no son.  Then that brother dies, and so on, and so on, until seven brothers have married the same woman.  When they are raised from the dead, whose wife is she?

Marriage vows today say we are together until death parts us, but many of us envision being reunited with our loved ones after death.  There was a woman who was dying, and grew weaker every day.  In the midst of her illness, her husband died suddenly from a heart attack.  With help, the woman was able to pull herself together for his funeral service.  Sitting at the visitation, person after person approached her.  One after another offered condolences, along with the hope that she and her husband would be reunited in heaven.  After hearing “You will be together again,” for the ninth time, the widow’s chest began to rise and fall, heaving with deep sobs.  With tears were streaming down her cheeks, she cried, “I am never going to get away from him, am I?” Not everyone wants their earthly life to continue just as it was after death. [2]

Know that the Sadducees did not believe in life after death, but they knew Jesus did.  Jesus could not violate Torah, but he also preached that God will do a new thing. Jesus taught that God’s power for life breaks the bounds by which we manage and control our lives.  These Sadducees didn’t want a new thing.  They were perfectly content with being in control.

Jesus wasn’t going to play their game because it diminished God. Jesus’ response was bigger and more threatening than the questioners could imagine.  God destroys all the ways we categorize and measure life on our own terms.

In a world bent on death, God wills life for us.  How ironic it is that we have trouble turning over our lives to God when our own truths, and our own reasoning lead us to cherish the very things that are killing us.  We are in bondage to sin. The power of the resurrection breaks those chains. What feels like the shattering of our lives is God opening up new possibilities for new ways to live.  What the Sadducees viewed as a threat was an invitation.

God works to bring life from death, and to make all things new. Resurrection is about God’s love for us. Now God is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him, they all of them are alive. God’s promise is that we are now and forever in his loving hands.

There are short videos that I show to children who are preparing for their first Holy Communion.  In one video, the young man learning what to do at the Lord’s table is taught to put one hand out, palm up, and then his other hand, palm up, slightly overlapping.  His hands are open, and empty.  Doing this in an exaggerated manner, he says the word “receive.”  The young man practices over and over again, preparing to receive Jesus with open hands.   Receive.  Receive.

In their attempt to trap Jesus, the Sadducees closed themselves off from the new life God brings.  They limited themselves to what they thought they knew instead of being open to the Holy Spirit.  It felt safer to them than relinquishing control that they did not really have in the first place.  When their hands held on so tightly to their knowledge, their misguided truth, their status and their pride, they could not open their hands to receive the only life that matters, the one that God gives.

What is it that you hold so tightly?  Open your hands, and receive life.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] See Deuteronomy 25:5-6.

[2] This story was told by Barbara Brown Taylor.

 

Romans 3:19-28  John 8:31-36

October 27, 2019  Reformation Sunday

 

You will know the truth, Jesus says.  Was truth as muddy and confusing then as it is now?  Postmodernism rejects universal truths.  We question everything, and for good reason. Facts seem to change.  Pluto was a full- fledged planet.  Now demoted to a dwarf planet. I had learned that there were three states of matter, solid, liquid and gas.  Then plasma was discovered, and now there are four.  Eggs were good for you, then they weren’t, now they are. Don’t even get me started on the dinosaur brontosaurus.  Even the fact-checking web site Snopes contains misinformation.  But that may not be true.  What is truth?

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.  Just prior to this encounter, while speaking of his impending death, Jesus declared, “The one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” Jesus invites us into the truth that does not change with new discoveries, the truth revealed in Christ Jesus, God’s truth of salvation, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, life and freedom.  The people listening to Jesus were offended, and cried out, “What are you talking about? We are descendants of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to anyone!” They had forgotten the little matter of Egypt and Pharaoh.  They dismissed their present subjugation to Rome. Their truth, it seems, differed from reality.

Martin Luther pointed to the truth that we deceive ourselves, and that we let the world deceive us. (The media is taking advantage of this.) We deceive ourselves thinking that we can do everything on our own, that power is important, and that money will make us happy. Can we say out loud in front of other people that our life is not perfect?  Can we admit that we need friends and family, and God? As long as we seek to secure our own future, or even our present, instead of trusting God, we live our lives in pretense.  That which drives us to seek our own salvation also chains us to sin.  We cannot set ourselves free from that bondage. To acknowledge the truth that we are in sin, and we cannot save ourselves, gives us freedom in the one who gives us salvation, not because we deserve it, but simply through grace.  Our life comes through Jesus Christ.

To live any other way than being our authentic selves is exhausting!  Did you know that the most popular social media platforms increase negative feeling in users?  Looking on FaceBook at everyone’s idyllic life causes us to feel that our life isn’t as good as everyone else’s.  So we hide the parts of our lives and ourselves that we think are inferior to others.  Portraying a perfect life, or pretending we ourselves are perfect, will not redeem us.  Being wealthy, or educated, beautiful or popular does not change God’s love for us.  In the words of St. Paul, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

This is true, not only for us, but for the church.  Martin Luther pointed to what he saw as errors in the theology and practices of the Catholic Church, but he and Lutherans have been mistaken, too.  Not just mistaken; we have sinned grievously.  Lutherans have since apologized for our denomination’s wrongs.  The ELCA issued a formal apology for Luther’s writings against the Jews.  After 500 years of bloody persecution, Lutherans repented for their persecution of Anabaptists, which includes Mennonites.  Most recently, the ELCA issued a declaration of apology, writing:

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) apologizes to people of African descent for its historical complicity in slavery and its enduring legacy of racism in the United States and globally. We lament the white church’s failure to work for the abolition of slavery and the perpetuation of racism in this church. We confess, repent and repudiate the times when this church has been silent in the face of racial injustice. [1]

Despite this apology, Lutherans remain the whitest mainline denomination in America.  We are sinners, individually and corporately. That we are saved by faith through grace alone is at the heart of our Lutheran doctrine, and the Reformation reminds us that our faith is about God’s relationship with us.

Jesus is God’s truth made flesh.  Knowing the truth means knowing Jesus.   We are free from having to justify ourselves, and free for a relationship with God and each other.  Luther said that anything that is not God’s son will not make us free.  How ironic that the freedom that gives us life is one of dependence. Isn’t that just like God to turn our truth upside-down?  This day, and every day, may the truth we encounter, and the truth we believe, be God.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Slavery_Apology_Explanation.pdf

Luke 17:5-10

17^th Sunday after Pentecost  ~  Lectionary 27

 “Moderation is for monks,” my husband says.  “More is better!” is his motto.  This explains the shrubs in my yard are burnt by fertilizer.  Do we ever have enough?  Do we think in terms of and focus more on scarcity than we do abundance?  Do we wrestle with deficits instead recognizing gifts?  How often do we feel inadequate?  Couldn’t we benefit from more?  Perhaps we could profit from a better ability to speak in public, greater engagement with other people, more knowledge, or greater faith.

Today we hear the disciples cry “Increase our faith! If only we had more! Everything would be wonderful if just had more faith.” Maybe we need to back up to right before this morning’s reading begins. Jesus had told them that they would stumble.  He said that if they caused one new to the faith to trip up, they’d be better off with a boulder tied around their neck and thrown into the sea to sink to the bottom and drown.  He told them they needed to forgive the repentant as many times as they said they were sorry.  In response, they gave their honest gut-reaction to Jesus’ frightening statements.  They cried, “Increase our faith!”

How many times have we said that?  Like the father of an ill little boy in the Gospel of Mark, I have cried out, “Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief!” [Mark 9:24].  I boldly say you have, too.  Increase our faith!

Where does faith come from?  Martin Luther, in his explanation of the third article of the Apostle’s Creed states:

I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.[1]

Faith is a gift.  We think having more faith is a desirable and beneficial thing, but Jesus’ response to them is harsh!  He says that a speck of faith would move a mulberry tree into the sea.  He tells the disciples to think of themselves as worthless slaves.  Jesus can be so difficult!  We know that he is exaggerating to drive his point home, but what is really wrong with wanting more faith?

Thinking about that, what do we mean by “having faith?”  When is it that we don’t feel I have enough of it? Is it when something happens that we perceive is negatively impacting our life?  If our faith is strong enough, we will get that job, or  won’t get sick. We will be happier, and successful.   Fill in the blank. Is this faith? Is our concept of faith about our ability to manipulate God, or self-centered magic?

But maybe our longing for more faith has more to do with feeling like a pseudo-Christian because we have doubts.  We are confused, or can’t articulate our faith.  Maybe we can’t conceive of a virgin birth, “Increase our faith,” we cry.  Maybe what we want is for discipleship, and the life of faith to be easy.

“If you had faith the size of a mustard seed,” Jesus replied to the disciples, and to us.  What he is saying is, “If you had faith, and you do!”  This Greek conditional clause translates that way.  Jesus wasn’t ranking the disciples according to their faith.  They had seen Jesus heal Jairus’ daughter, heard him pronounce forgiveness in God’ name to the woman weeping at his feet, and cleanse a leper.  They heard his teaching to love enemies, and pronounce blessing to these who are poor. Their experience of Jesus sparked their belief in him, and their trust. They believed he had the power to increase their faith.  They recognized their inability to believe on their own.

God’s call to and hope for us is use the faith that we have, no matter how much or how little, to do those things that God calls us to do.  To do them, not to receive honor or reward, but as a response to our love for God.   We are called to pass along God’s grace and love that flows so deep through the dark depths of our lives, and do so because we cannot imagine life without it.  More faith isn’t better faith.

“Faith is the ‘assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,’ says the Letter to the Hebrews (1:11),” Frederick Buechner reminds us. “Faith is laughter at the promise of a child called Laughter. Faith is better understood as a verb than as a noun, as a process than as a possession.”[2]

We already have what we need, more than enough as a matter of fact, to do faith.  It’s a gift from our God of abundance.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] Wengert, Timothy, translator.  By Heart: Conversations with Luther’s Small Catechism.  Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2017. 92.

[2] Buechner, Frederick.  Beyond Words:  Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith.  New York:  HarperCollins Publishers.  2004.  109.

 

Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3   Revelation 12:7-12   Luke 10:17-20

St. Michael and All Angels

 

Are angels real?  A Google search for “angels” turns up pages of entries for the Los Angeles baseball team Angels.  (They have a zero percent chance to win the World Series this year.)  Are angels real? Amazon Alexa won’t commit.  My seminary professor for theology did not believe in angels.  When class got a bit too intense, asking him a question about angels provided a distraction, and often some comic relief.

We talk about angels frequently. This is especially true when we speak of children.  “Oh, she is a little angel!”  We have theorized about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.  When someone bakes us cookies, especially with chocolate and nuts in them, we call them an angel. There are numerous movies and television shows about angels.  It’s a Wonderful Life features a angel named Clarence. My favorite angel movie is Michael.  John Travolta plays the title character, an angel who has the best dance moves.  There are various kinds or functions of angels.  We have guardian angels, cherubim and seraphim, archangels, and Hell’s Angels, just to name a few.  Jesus refers to angels as watching over children (Matt 18:10), and rejoicing over penitent sinners (Luke 15:10).

While our scientific advances have benefitted many aspects of our living and our world, have they also conditioned us to believe only that which is verifiable? How do we conceptualize the things beyond what God has chosen to reveal to us? Few could argue that here are forces of good and evil among us, and within us. How do we speak about that which we cannot see, but know is present? What language do we have for realities that lie beyond what we can explain?    What expresses adequately that which gives life, and that which takes it away?

Today is the Feast Day of St. Michael and All Angels.[1]  This year it falls on a Sunday. Our second lesson is from the Book of Revelation.  There is no “s” on the end because it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. (“Revelations” is a pet peeve of mine.) We hear in our reading from the book of Revelation of the war that broke out in heaven, a war of angels versus demons, and evil against good.

Michael is the leader of the forces of good.  The name Michael means one who is with God, and as an archangel, he is chief of the angels. The Greek word for “angel” means “messenger.”  He was the angel who told Moses he was about to die.  The prophet Daniel asserts that Michael stands guard over Israel.  Michael is a protector.  He had aided those who struggle against the spiritual forces of evil.  I don’t know if St. Michael can dance as well as John Travolta.

Today is a celebration of God’s creation, that which is seen, and that which is unseen, that which we can define and that which we cannot.  This day brings awareness that there are heavenly messengers, empowered with God’s love, who bring with them goodness and truth.

Evil and lies are part of our everyday experience, on a personal level and a global one. There are powers and people who try to subvert God’s desire for humankind, who trample down the poor and the weak. There are those who inflict unspeakable horrors on children and on those who are different than they are.  Today is a reminder that with the power of God’s truth we can boldly face these evils.  God’s truth is love, a gift revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah.  The power of these forces of evil and destruction, of hatred and death, have been broken. God has assured the victory through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In the blessing of the body and blood of Christ, we proclaim the holiness of God’s presence. Using the call of the seraphs in the book of Isaiah, we sing, With the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise God’s name and join the hosts of heaven, singing Holy, holy, holy Lord, Lord God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory.[2]    In this sacrament, we who are imperfect, take in Jesus’ holy body and blood.  As strange as it sounds, we swallow God’s love.  With it, we are given power to be Christ’s presence in this world.  We are formed to live as God’s holy people. Our forgiveness, love, compassion and healing join us with the powers of good in the world.

Here is our challenge—pay attention in these days to where you find the spirit of God’s love. Give thanks daily.[3]  Be God’s light in this world. This is the light overcomes darkness.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] References to the angel Michael can be found in Daniel, 10:13 ff. and 12:1, Jude 9, and Revelation 12:7-9.

[2] Isaiah 6:3.

[3] I strongly encourage you to engage in spiritual discipline of gratitude!  Keep a gratitude journal; write down 3 things daily for which you give thanks.  Some days, it might simply be that you are breathing.  Some days you will see God everywhere you look!

Luke 16:1-13    

Lectionary 25   15^th Sunday after Pentecost

Do I look like I’ve been through a wrestling match?  Is my hip out of place like Jacob’s?  Our reading from Luke this morning challenges even scholars.  It’s been said that this passage “poses significant theological challenges,” and “is difficult to read and difficult to preach.”  One commentary read, “It is no exaggeration to say that the parable’s meaning has stumped even the best and most creative interpreters of Scripture.”  *Someone* even questioned God’s sense of humor. Had I been wiser, Pastor Wertz would have been here and preached this week instead of last.

Look at this parable! The beginning makes sense.  An informant told the rich man that his manager was mismanaging his business, and squandering his property.  The rich man must have believed whomever it was because he said to his employee, “I heard about you!  Give me an accounting of the things you have done.  You’re fired!”  The disgraced manager thought quickly.  He would have no means of income once he turned in his records.  Would he be able to get a job once references were checked? He couldn’t make a living doing physical labor.  He was too embarrassed to beg. If he lost his paycheck, where would he live?  How would he afford to care for his cat?

Apparently, he had no one to take him in, but he had a plan. The manager went to each client and struck a deal.  “You owe $100, make it $50,” he said to one.  He continued visiting his master’s debtors, crossing out their balances and writing in a lower amount.  Their purchases of wheat and oil became more affordable, while the rich man’s profits were erased. $400 became $300, and $200 became $100.  He falsified the accounts prior to turning in his report to the boss. This is where our wrestling match with this parable begins. The manager’s hope was that people would welcome him into their homes when he became unemployed.  If I do this for you, then you are expected to do this for me.

And the master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.  And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. What??!!

Jesus had just told them that when they host a luncheon, their guest list should be the poor, the blind, the lame.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, he says [Luke 14:14].  The dishonest manager was praised for his shrewdness.  What are we to make of him? Is he the shrewd saint, or the shrewd sinner?

The parable of the father keeping watch for his lost youngest son is the story right before this parable. Connecting the two parables is the word “squander.” The younger brother squandered the prematurely given inheritance. The manager was accused of squandering his boss’s property.  Neither one took good care of, or put another way, were good stewards of, those things they were given.  Both were forgiven by the one who gave them those gifts and responsibilities.

We can start to make sense of this all when we recognize Jesus’ parable of the unjust steward is full of forgiveness, of death and of life.  (I give great thanks to Robert Farrar Capon for his insights into this text.[1]) This manager was at rock bottom in our story, not just in his life, but in the social order.  He had lost his job.  If that has ever happened to you, you know that it is a death.  This steward’s death led him to see things differently, to think of things he never would have otherwise.  Through his death, he came alive.  He also became the spark of new life for the others.

The rich man came to life through the manager’s action.  Whatever it was that he was holding on to, he let it go.  He forgave the manager, and he forgave the debts that were written off. He found the good that had come from the bad; he recognized blessing in the situation.

As far as the ones whose debt had been lowered, they found new life, too.  Capon writes, “…the steward is also able to be the resurrection of his lord’s debtors because they wouldn’t consent to deal with anyone but a crook like themselves; they would never have gone near him if they hadn’t been convinced he was dead to all the laws of respectable bookkeeping.”

Eating with tax collectors, and hanging around with prostitutes, Jesus also demonstrates a disregard for respectability, respectability as our world defines it. In forgiving sins, he disrupts the principles of bookkeeping.  He refuses to tally up our transgressions, to keep track of our sins.  Capon concludes that Jesus is the unjust steward, writing:

The unique contribution of this parable to our understanding of Jesus is its insistence that grace cannot come to the world through respectability. Respectability regards only life, success, winning; it will have no truck with the grace that works by death and losing—which is the only kind of grace there is….He became sin for us sinners,–for us crooks, that is—and all the losers who would never in a million years go near a God who knew what was expected of himself and insisted on what he expected of others….Lucky for us we don’t have to deal with a just steward. [2]

Amen!

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1]Capon, Robert Farrar.  The Parables of Grace.  Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing, 1988. 145-151.

[2]Capon, 150-151.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20     Luke 14:25-33    

13^th Sunday after Pentecost

 

We are faced with choices every day.  Some choices, such as which cereal to buy, are relatively inconsequential.  The college we attend, and what major we choose have more impact on our lives.  Choosing to have a life-partner will change our life in ways we cannot even begin to imagine.  We are faced with literal choices when filling out an Advance Directive for our medical care.  Even in our dying, we have choices.

In his book Being Mortal, Atul Gawande explores what it means to live a good life when our bodies are failing.  It is helpful, he suggests, to know what makes your life worth living.  What brings life to you?  What brings life to others?  How would God answer that question for us?  These are questions for you to ponder this week.  Make three lists.  Where do they overlap?

In our reading from Deuteronomy this morning, we hear Moses tell the Israelites to choose life.  Though that sounds simple and obvious, what does it mean to you to choose life?  Is it only your life as an individual, or the life of others, the life of the world, to which Moses speaks?

The Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness for forty years, and Moses had been talking the entire time.  Thirty chapters! By the time the Israelites get to the Promised Land, most of the first generation had died.  The only life these people knew was to keep going through strange territory.  Now the Israelites were on the edge of the Promised Land where there would be milk and honey instead of manna.  Their future is full of possibilities, full of choices, and all come at a cost.

If the Israelites do not keep steadfast in their identity as God’s people, they will be seduced by Canaanite practices. Moses spoke the word of God to them.  See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity….  I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Choose life so that you may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you…. Enabled by God’s grace, the Israelites need to choose to receive what God has already promised.

This is the same for us. We decide if we will receive what God has already promised.  We are called to choose life in response to our God who asks us to be God’s hands and feet in this world.  We are called to choose life so that the people God created in God’s image, whether white or black, short or tall, male or female, are seen as equal without prejudice. We are called to choose life in order that God’s peace prevails instead of our violence and war.  We are called to choose life so that God’s light can be seen through the darkness in our world.  We are called to choose life so that people can hear God whisper, “I love you.”

Sometimes choosing life is not a popular thing to do. Being Jesus’ disciple won’t always make you popular. Even Jesus tells us that! Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.  As disciples, our relationships will be reordered.  Our family will include the poor and the lame, the person with no permanent home, and the one who cannot advance our future.  There is a cost to following Jesus!  Dietrich Bonhoeffer defines cheap grace as grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.[1]

That is what Jesus does when he himself is sacrificed on the cross.  Jesus chooses to give his very life for us to know God’s love and God’s forgiveness. Because Jesus gave his life for us, because of God’s unconditional love for us, we are free to choose life. That’s God’s promise to us. That’s what the cross is about, not just sacrifice, but about abundant life found in radical inclusion and in giving ourselves to others.

One of my favorite writers recounts an interview with a New York City rabbi from the podcast “On Being.” Rabbi Lau-Lavie shared this Talmudic parable:

A large, multi-cabined ship sets sail across the ocean.  A passenger whose cabin is on the lowest level of the ship decides to dig a hole in the floor of his cabin.  Sure enough, the ship begins to sink.  When the other passengers realize what’s happening, they rush to the man’s cabin. “What are you doing?!” they yell.  The man looks up from the hole and says, “It’s my cabin.  I paid for it.”  And down goes the ship.[2]

God offers blessings and curses, exile and restoration, life and death. Sometimes our choices bring pain, and death,–not just for us, but for others, too.  But there is life on the other side when we give up our claim that a good life is one in which we are the center.  God continues to offer us life. Trusting in the God who redeems us costs us our belief in our own power and importance, and our right to live for ourselves alone.

Through the Word, and the waters of baptism, we are joined to all of God’s creation, and to the life and suffering and death of Christ.  We die to our sinfulness and rise to new life. It is a daily struggle for us to choose to receive blessings instead of curses. Thanks be to God for another chance to choose life.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

 

[1]http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standardNo=0684815001&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true  accessed 9-2-2016.

[2]Debie Thomas. https://www.journeywithjesus.net/lectionary-essays/current-essay

Luke 14:1, 7-14     

12^th Sunday after Pentecost

I want to ask all of you who are sitting, how much thought did you give it?  Sitting, I mean.  Not how to sit, but where to sit and why.  Are you in the back row or the front?  And with whom are you sitting?  Maybe you just come and sit in the same space every Sunday and so by now you don’t think about it much.  But if you have ever organized a wedding reception, you must.  If you don’t assign tables, nobody will sit with your crazy aunt.  Is the space large enough for separate tables for cousin Sue and cousin Mary, who swore a solemn oath never to be in the same room with each other?   If you’ve attended a reception, most likely you have thought about the seating arrangements as you walk into the banquet hall and look for your seat…  “Oh, table 23!  This is not a good sign.  It’s over there in the corner, by the kitchen.  Let’s see, do I know anyone at my table?  Who did they seat up front?”

The answer to that comes after everyone finds their place and voices hush, the mother of the bride stands up, and with a smile says, “I would like to thank you all for coming here today to celebrate my daughters wedding.  Just for your information, the seating arrangement has been specially organized such that all of the people that bought large presents are sitting towards the front and those that bought cheaper smaller presents at the back.  (Pause)  There is a special thanks for Uncle Fred, who is all the way in the back, for the oven glove.  (Pause)  The bride would like to ask Uncle Fred if she could have the other glove for their silver wedding anniversary.”

Jesus tells of a similar banquet, one given by a top leader of the Pharisees. You can place odds on who is invited. The governor, the city attorney, CEOs of various corporations, the president of the university and the head of the arts council.  Everyone who is anyone is there. As Jesus steps through the doorway, everyone’s eyes turn toward him; they’ve been keeping close watch lately.  But as they are eye-ing him,  Jesus’ eyes are on them.  He sees them jostling for position as they make their way toward the tables.  It’s the governor in the lead, but the arts council is gaining on the outside.  Coming from behind, the reverend doctor almost sideswipes the president.  They’re neck in neck. You see, the closer you sit to the host, the higher yoursocial status becomes.

The Pharisees made note of where people were seated, who ate with whom, what was eaten, and who washed their hands.  Dinner parties were a matter of honor and pride. This was true whether one was the host or the guest.  Gatherings became a vehicle for self-serving pride. It’s this pride that Jesus rails against, the kind of pride Ted Turner had when he said, “If only I had a little humility, I would be perfect.”

Miss Manners explains this issue this way:  “It is extremely difficult to make others acquainted with how very much one has to be humble about.  No, that’s not quite what Miss Manners meant to say.  What is difficult is to establish gracefully that one has cause to be proud and haughty, before one can be contrastingly humble.”

It is the Pharisee’s lack of humility, their self-serving pride and the jostling for position that cause Jesus to put on his “Mr. Manners hat.”    “When you are invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place,” he advises the guests. Turning toward the host he says, “Don’t ask people to your party because you expect a big gift when it comes time for the wedding.  The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, in case they invite you in return, and you would be repaid.”

Jesus warns his guests, and us, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  In God’s social strata, “The last shall be first, and the first will be last.”  God is unimpressed with our social credentials.  Whether we are of the Vanderbilt family or the Smith’s doesn’t matter.  If we are president of Apple, God doesn’t care.  If Oprah is our best friend, that won’t change God’s view of us.  The protocol of God’s kingdom is different than ours. Honor and glory are given to us by God, not because we are rich, powerful or successful, but because we are faithful. And when it comes right down to it, God’s approval is the only one that matters.  Perhaps its time we learn new table manners.

What Jesus teaches us holds true whether we are hosting a party, sitting in a classroom or riding the bus.  Time and energy spent trying to impress others, and trying to elevate our status is wasted time. Giving because we expect to get more than one glove for the wedding puts our focus on what we think we deserve because we earned it.  In God’s economy, there is nothing we can do to earn God’s love.  God loves us first, unconditionally.  Our love for God and each other is our response to God’s love for us.  Because God loves us, we use the hours and talents that God gives us to help others who cannot help us in return.

On this day of installing teachers and blessing backpacks, we are reminded of the many moments of great kindness without expectations of return.  Our Preschoolers share with each other. Teachers stoop to listen intently to a child.   Parents give their time to help with Winter Carnival.  Placing value on children is what Jesus is talking about; they are people who aren’t expected to further our social standing.

Jesus turns the tables on our human priorities and values.  God knows that when we strive to be the most important person in the room, the richest, the most intelligent,–when we place our value and our values on these things, we end up anxious, alone, stressed and disappointed.

That God cares so much for the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind is good news, because we are them.  We are the poor who struggle to give more than we receive.  We are crippled by our fears of failure. We are the lame who cannot take a step forward into the unknown.  We are blind,– blind to God’s passionate love for us.  This morning, we come together in community to care for each other.   We are reminded that those things that we cannot do for each other and for ourselves, Jesus does for us on the cross.

Today is the social event of the season, and we are on Jesus’ guest list to celebrate at his banquet.  God’s kingdom is one of abundance, of generosity and hospitality. Jesus puts us in our place, opening our hands to receive salvation in bread and wine.  We are invited to the table to eat and drink the body and blood of Christ.  The thing about God’s table is that all the seats are in first-class.  It is a gift that we do not deserve and we cannot repay,– a foretaste of God’s feast to come.  Jesus is our host who says to us, “Friend, you there, in the back, come up to the front.”

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin