Maundy Thursday April 17 2025, Meetinghouse, John 13

Artwork by Jon McNaughton

Maundy Thursday April 17 2025, Meetinghouse, John 13

We enter John’s gospel tonight. John points us to the intimacy of Jesus’ relationship with us, God’s beloveds, Jesus followers by using words like dwell, abide, remain. These are words that help us to not just understand this intimate relationship, but also to feel this relationship. You abide with Jesus, like a hen protecting her chicks, you abide with Jesus like the grapes on a vine, you abide with Jesus like the disciple who rests his head on Jesus shoulder during the last supper you share together. Imagine this relationship as you place yourself in the story before us.

The story we have before us on this most holy night, takes place in a gathering of Jesus followers, Jesus’ disciples, Jesus’ beloveds. They are all there. Imagine having been at this particular meal. Hordes of people are arriving in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. The actual Passover meal takes place two days hence. Our celebration this night conflates the Passover meal with this particular meal that John writes about. Indeed, it is the last supper that Jesus and his friends will have together. 

Jerusalem is crowded, and everyone is clamoring for a place to eat the meal. You, being a friend of Jesus, are in this room, with these people, reclining at this table. Bartholomew, James, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, Mary, Thomas, the other James, Joanna, Philip, Matthew, Susanna, Thaddeus, Simon, and all the other men and women and children who were gathered that night. The meal is spread before you, the unleavened bread, the roasted lamb, and the bitter herbs. The hour has finally come, the hour that was introduced to us at the wedding at Cana. 

One of Jesus disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him.  Actually, they were all reclining. Unfortunately, DaVinci’s portrayal of the Last Supper does not give us the picture of how this really looked. All who were gathered for this last meal, though they didn’t yet know it was, were reclining, on pillows and cushions. The beloved disciple was reclining next to Jesus, with his head on Jesus’ breast. 

I want you to put yourself in the place of the beloved disciple, reclining next to Jesus, maybe even laying your head on Jesus. Can you feel that love? That intimacy? In that moment everything was all right. Can you imagine yourself as that beloved disciple? You are! 

Everyone is together, sharing a meal. And in the middle of the meal, Jesus gets up, he takes off his robe and ties a towel around himself, and washes their feet, an incredibly intimate gesture that demonstrates Jesus’ ultimate love. And in this context, the foot washing comes from love, the love that Jesus has for his own. Jesus loved them to the end. This is an act of love and of compassion. 

The foot washing actually takes center stage in John’s gospel. It is Jesus’ final act before his arrest. 

And yet, included in those gathered for that meal on that night, who are gathered for the foot washing, are Judas, who will betray Jesus, and Peter, who will deny Jesus, and the rest of the disciples who after the crucifixion flee in fear. Humans, all of them. This is the truth in this story. Jesus has been with them for three years, Jesus who is incarnation, God in the flesh, God in human skin. The end of incarnation, Jesus’ death, is front and center in this act of love, this foot washing. This lavish loving on the disciples who are also fully human, fully a hot mess, fully dysfunctional, fully alive, fully flawed, fully who they are.

Who are we on this night? Are we the one who betrays Jesus, the one who walks out of the room where it happened? The one who breaks the relationship with Jesus? Are we the one who denies Jesus? Are we the one who reclines on Jesus? Where will we be at the end of this, will we stay in the relationship or not, this difficult relationship. 

The foot washing is framed by the last meal. This last meal in which Jesus gives us the words that make real Jesus’ love for us. 

Sometimes life's events feel so big, and wide, and broad, and overwhelming. The pain and the joy of life bring us soaring to the mountaintops and to the depths of despair. And much of life is lived somewhere in between, in the mundane sacramental moments of making dinner for those we love, or driving our children to dance and music class, or doing our taxes, or taking a bath, washing feet or dreaming dreams. It is in the ordinary that Jesus shows us the sacred. In the muck and mess that is washed from our feet.

In the ordinary meal, our cracks are filled, our fissures healed, we are made whole. In the mundane washing, we overflow with mercy and compassion. Jesus seeps into our very being, washes us, feeds us, heals us. Jesus shows us who God is, and Jesus teaches us who we are, and then we may show that love to others.

Let me wash your feet, take this bread, and you will be healed. Jesus offers love, and forgiveness, healing and compassion. And Jesus shows us how to do what we are called to do.

On this night, the night Jesus is handed over to be tortured, betrayed by his friend, Love really does win. 

The violence perpetrated on Jesus is hard to hear, hard to watch, because you and I are implicated in it. We have not been perfect. We have judged, we have bullied, we have missed the mark. We have offered ridicule when mercy was called for. We have fallen asleep when we should have paid attention. But, we are loved perfectly. Love still wins. 

The gift we are given this night, mercy and compassion, foot washing and food, washes over us, nourishes us, puts us back together. We are re-membered. Come and receive the gift. Come, and remember who you are. Jesus, is here, in our midst, walking with us. Come, be filled with the love that gives everything and takes nothing. And you will know what love looks like. 

 

6 Epiphany Yr A Feb 12 202

Mount of the Beatitudes 

Deuteronomy 30:15-20, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. Matthew 5:21-37, Psalm 119:1-8

 

Our relationships matter to God. At this point of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew really is providing commentary on what Jesus said as he began with the blesseds, the beatitudes. Our relationships matter to God. Our healthy relationships, our broken relationships, all matter to God. God delights in you and loves you unconditionally and desires the best for you in and through your relationships. So this passage is about how we treat each other in relationship. 

 

You will recognize what Matthew is saying as an extension of the ten commandants. The ten commandments are about how God loves us and is in relationship with us, how we love God and how we treat each other. These words can help us create health and healing in our relationships. There is no hierarchy of sin here, breaking relationship is always painful and often tragic. These words remind us that all our relationships are possible only with God's help.

 

To claim that our relationships matter to God is to claim two things. First, that this God creates all that is seen and unseen, and is truly the God who not only is God in our midst but is also God who lived and loved and suffered and died, and who rose from the dead. This God is the God that is not only transcendent, the God who creates the heavens and the earth and all the universe, but also who is deeply and completely immanent, the God whose heart's desire is to be in relationship with us. Secondly, because it is God's heart's desire to be in relationship with God's people, you and me, God is doing something new in this incarnation. God is doing something new with the law and commandments. We hear that in this passage. No longer is it enough just to refrain from murder, or adultery, or lying, or idolatry, or any of the other sins that make up the Ten Commandments. No longer is it enough to not do it, God is calling us to go beyond the law, and to be deeply and completely in relationship with God who is love.

 

The effects of turning away from God, the effects of our sin, the effects of missing the mark, are broken relationships, and broken relationships will kill us. Broken relationships and broken hearts kill us from the inside out. The effect of broken relationships are hearts that are hardened and no longer capable of love, compassion, mercy, justice. They are hearts no longer capable of beating. Well, you might as well cut out your eye, or lop off your hand for as much as your body is good for anything anymore. Do you see what's happening here? God's relationship with us, and our relationship with others is so important in this life that without them and the means to heal them, we may as well be dead, in effect, we have lost life.

 

That’s what this passage is about. Murder, broken relationship, adultery, divorce, broken promises. It’s all here. I am not judging broken relationship; God is not judging broken relationship. I am saying that this passage is about relationship, and this passage calls us to integrity and healing, and asks us, do your insides match your outsides?

 

And this has everything to do with how we respect the dignity of every human being with whom we come in contact. Surely first and foremost the human beings we live with, our partners in life, our children, our siblings, and all the people we encounter day by day. It also has everything to do with how we respect the dignity of those we know only by our common humanity. Those we read about in the newspaper, those we see on our screens in faraway places, those who are in our own communities but must hide because of who they are.

 

So I'd like you to call to mind one of the relationships in your life that is most important to you. One that is healthy and whole and good and sustains you regularly. Picture that person, that relationship. Think about what makes that a good relationship, why is it so important. Give God thanks for that person and the relationship you share. Now, call to mind another relationship that has suffered some damage. Don’t try to figure out who was to blame for the hurt, but rather hold that person and relationship in prayer. Offer that broken relationship to God as an offering and as an arena of God’s help and healing. Think about what action you can take to move that relationship to greater health. Do you need to ask forgiveness? Do you need to extend forgiveness. And now pray with me, Lord God of healing and wholeness, we offer this broken relationship to your care. Show us how to heal and be healed in this broken relationship, give us the words, show us the way, so that your love shows forth, our hearts may be healed, and the world may be a better place. Amen.

 

In these days when people sling outrageous accusations and conjectures into the atmosphere, I am reminded of those who have gone before us, those who have spent their lives being loved by God, and loving others, those who have spent their lives not in fear of showing God's love to the world but proclaiming God's love for all to the world. Those whose hearts could have been hardened because to continue to love was not only difficult but dangerous. I am reminded today of the first black Episcopal priest, Absalom Jones, whose life we celebrate each year on February 13th. Absalom Jones bought his wife's freedom, and went on to buy his own freedom, and became a priest at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. Absalom Jones was known for his abolitionist preaching, in God's kingdom, there is no owning another human, there is no prejudice, there is no bigotry.

 

But of course, I'm preaching to the choir. You know these things; you do your best. You ask for forgiveness. Today I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you to take this love that wins even farther. Take it to people whose hearts have been hardened, and show them that it is love that wins, not hate, not prejudice or bigotry. Show them that Jesus took all that fear into his own body and replaced it with his love. Show them what eternal life looks like, it's not some reward after we're dead, it's the life God gives us, life fully lived before we're dead, it's a heart that is living and breathing and loving, not cold and hard. Show them that you will not live your life in fear of those who are different from you, but you live your life loud and proud for God's love. Show them that you are a person of integrity, your insides match your outsides. Show them what it looks like to follow Jesus.

 

You see, Jesus walked this journey not to uphold the status quo, but to show us that in God's kingdom, everything is different. Jesus goes to the margins to show us that the first will be last, and the last will be first. Jesus protects those who are vulnerable to show us that all relationships matter, respect and dignity matter. Forgiveness matters. Words matter, and the Word matters. Amen.

19 Pentecost Yr C Proper 24 Oct 16 2022

19 Pentecost Yr C Proper 24 Oct 16 2022

Genesis 32:22-31, Psalm 121, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, Luke 18:1-8

 

What an odd sort of story from Luke. Keeping in mind that when Jesus tells a parable, he is trying to shake us up, make us see and hear things differently, what might this parable have to say to us today? I wonder if it has to do with taking a long view. I wonder if it has to do with staying in and participating in our relationship with God.

 

Let’s take a look at a couple of scenarios that may shed some light on this very odd little story. First of all, we know that at this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. This story is one of a series of stories of Jesus imparting as much wisdom to the disciples as possible before arriving in Jerusalem. We are overhearing Jesus instructing the disciples, and it seems like Luke really means for us to overhear these instructions. 

 

And yet we have this very puzzling judge, and an equally puzzling woman. It seems to me that a character in a story Luke is telling should be an upstanding character. In a culture that values honor and assigns shame in its absence, like this one, it seems that the judge in this story should have been honorable, but instead this judge is associated with shame, we learn that because the judge neither feared God nor had respect for people. Eventually the judge granted this woman’s need out of convenience for himself, nothing more noble than that, he just didn’t want to be bothered anymore. The widow should have been respected, but she was powerless, so this was life and death for her. And her coming to this court and this judge was constant and repetitive.

 

There are all sorts of ways this could go; you’ve probably heard many of them. But despite what the world would say to us, despite those whom we encounter that would have us believe God is inconsequential, or God is irrelevant, like this judge in our story, I want to offer something different. First, I think God is calling us to stay in this relationship, God is calling us to participate in this relationship, God is calling us to partner with Jesus in loving one another. And in our world today, that is a hard thing to do. And secondly, having a relationship with God needs a long view. 

 

So staying in relationship with God, participating with God in loving all creation, co-conspiring with Jesus in healing, is about taking the long view. I saw a meme on Facebook this week, a picture of an apple with these words, “the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.”

 

Staying in this relationship with God. Staying in when the going gets tough. Staying in when all evidence suggests it’s a lost cause. Staying in when God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers as you wish. Staying in when death looks you in the eyes. Staying in when everything and everyone in our culture says you are foolish. Staying in is what God calls us to and staying in any relationship is hard. But you can do hard things.

 

The going gets tough, doesn’t it? We have learned to expect results instantly. Our internet speed must be instantaneous. Our email must be answered immediately. Our texts read and responded to right away. Everything we experience today regarding the gathering of information is about having it in the palm of our hand right now. We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom, while starving for relationship. We have lost sight of the value of waiting, of patience, of obedience in the same direction.

 

God calls us to stay in, even when the evidence suggests it’s a lost cause. But that evidence is interpreted through a lens that may not have God in focus. The story of Jesus’ life and death look like a lost cause. People looked to Jesus as leader, as king, and maybe even as magician. And yet, Jesus was put to death on a cross and laid in a tomb and left for dead. Stay in, hold on, wait for it…. Mary and the other women return to the tomb to anoint the body and God does a new thing. 

 

Remember that seed? The day you plant it, it looks nothing like the fruit you will eventually pick and eat. When the seed goes into the ground, it sure doesn’t look like the apple that one day hangs on the tree. Burying the seed in the ground looks a lot like death, and yet what emerges is new life. Letting go of our old selves, our addictions, our need to control, our need for power, our belief in our unworthiness, is a lot like being buried with Jesus, to rise again as new creations. Stay in for the long haul, the arc bends toward joy.

 

Stay in when God doesn’t answer your prayers the way you want God to answer your prayers. How hard is that? You and I both know God is God, and we are not. How many times have you heard from God no, not now, maybe even no, not ever. What we think is best for us is often not what is best for us. And yet, God loves us so very much God lets us choose, God even lets us fail. These are not the times to turn our back on God because God didn’t do it our way. Stay in, participate in this relationship God gives us. Stay in and don’t let the world beat you down.

 

Stay in even when following Jesus may look foolish. Some would say, look out only for yourself, make money at the expense of others, guard your walls so that no one who challenges your carefully constructed contours may show you something new and different. Because looking out for the least and the lost, feeding those who are hungry, caring for those on the margins, won’t get you anywhere, won’t make you money, and surely won’t buy you happiness. Stay in when following Jesus may look foolish, the arc bends toward hope.

 

Stay in because death is not the worst thing that happens to us. The worst thing is not living while we are alive. God gives us this great gift of love, and mercy, and compassion. God gives us this great gift of new life today. Let go of the stuff that gets in the way of relationship, let go of the stuff that pulls us apart, let go of the addictions, let go of the anger, let go, so that you can stay in and your heart may love.

 

Stay in for the long haul, the arc bends toward joy, hope, and love. And as you stay in this relationship that God offers you through Jesus Christ, and through all those you encounter, you are empowered and equipped to love with your whole heart, and what happens then? Love wins. Amen.

Trinity Sunday Yr B May 30th 2021

Trinity Sunday Yr B May 30^th 2021

Isaiah 6:1-8, Romans 8:12-17, John 3:1-17, Psalm 29

 

We find ourselves at the time of our church year and our common life for that matter, when it seems like we are completing one thing and embarking upon another. The Sundays of Easter have come to a conclusion, we have celebrated the Day of Pentecost, although we call these days the Days after Pentecost, and we alight for just a moment on this, Trinity Sunday, our feast day, before we come to rest in the ordinary days.

 

That all sounds so linear, like we can finish up one thing and then begin the next. But you all know that I am not a linear thinker, and therefore in my mind, seasons have a tendency to overlap, or to extend, or to be hurried, but never to happily move in a straight line. That presents a bit of a challenge for me, a challenge to be fully present to the now. It’s good to look back and see where I’ve been, and to look forward to see what may be off on the horizon, but to let the anxiety of the past and the future be the present reality, robs the present of it’s grace. And this time around, that seems even harder. We’ve been through so much, and sometimes just want to get over with it all and get back to normal. 

 

But if we don’t pay attention in this moment, we’ll miss incarnation, and we’ll miss resurrection. In other words, being fully present to now, puts us in a position to see, hear, feel, God in our midst, the reality and the truth of God in you and me and in all of creation. Being fully present helps us to experience the wideness, the boldness, the tenderness, the compassion, of God. It is to be able to listen to God, and to subject ourselves to God’s authority. If our lives are a narrative, a story that we write with God, then God’s authority is as author, creator, maker. 

 

I do believe being fully present is a good way to experience this thing we call Trinity. The three in One, the One in three. Because Trinity is much more like a dance than a doctrine. Imagine, the God of the universe who creates, who authors, who makes, all that is, seen and unseen, who is love, exuberantly spilling over into what we call son and spirit. God being with creation, in the midst of creation, continuing to create, loving, healing, reconciling, speaking, writing the story. So how do we talk about Trinity?

 

Here is an example. I really love being a mother. And motherhood has changed for me these days. My children have grown up and are having their own children. I continue to love to watch Tom and Willie grow and deepen. Deepen in character, faith, expression and relationship. As their mother my heart breaks when they are in pain, and my heart soars when joy finds them. As their mother, I try to prepare them and support them both in their successes and their mistakes. My greatest hope is that they will grow into the full stature of Christ. And now being a mother has made me a grandmother. 

 

Even though my mom and dad have both been gone for years now, I’ll always be a daughter, and I’ll always miss my mom and dad. I’ll always hope that they would be happy for me. 

 

And then there’s being me. A woman who is creative, passionate, stubborn, compassionate, controlling, a woman who has good judgment sometimes not so good judgment once in a while, a priest, and now a widow. 

 

All of these, mother, daughter, widow, are always in relationship. Nothing I do, or think, or am, can be separated from the rest. I bring to this present moment all that I am, all that I have been, and all that I am becoming. It is the story that I write with God while responding to the joys and challenges life presents.

 

If that’s not Trinity, I don’t know what is. Trinity is at its essence relationship. It is relationship among what is, what was, and what shall be. It is relationship among creator, created, and community. Trinity is lover, beloved, and new creation.

 

I remember so very clearly the Sunday night youth group that the priest came to, to explain to us teenagers everything we ever wanted or didn’t want to know about the Trinity. I remember nothing else about that night, except that I left as confused as I had come.

 

Today I know that that is because understanding Trinity isn’t an exercise of the intellect. Nor is Trinity to be described adequately by our language, because Trinity does not dwell in the world of language. I think efforts to construct Trinity are woefully inadequate. Even the Nicene creed that we all recite by memory each week, which was compiled by men who tried desperately to describe what Trinity is not, is only a glimpse of what may be true. Because the real truth of Trinity lives in that part of us that is intuitive and relational. Trinity exists in the part of our humanity that yearns to be in relationship, that yearns to dance.

 

Theologians have written tomes about Trinity, I write only this. Trinity is the truth we find in the God who loves us so much to come into our lives as one of us, to be forever among us and forever before us. Trinity is the way in which our lives are lived in relationship, relationship that makes real the body of Christ. And Trinity is the life that is made absolutely new through our creator God.

 

Sharon Grover’s favorite hymns goes like this. “I bind unto myself today, the strong name of the trinity, by invocation of the same, the three in one and one in three. I bind this day to me forever, by power of faith, Christ’s incarnation…. I bind unto myself the power of the great love of cherubim…..I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven… I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead.” We call upon the authority of the one who is creator, the one who created, and the one who gives new life.

 

We must bind ourselves to the strong name of the Trinity. We must bind ourselves each and every day to the chance for new life given to us and written for us by our Creator. I wonder what Trinity means for us, at Trinity? What is the new story that is being written as we come out of this extraordinary time? 

 

We must bind ourselves to the strong name of the Trinity, to the authority that creates us, redeems us, and makes us new creations. We must be fully present to Trinity, to the relationship that enfolds us, empowers us, gives us new life, and calls us from darkness to light, brokenness to wholeness.

 

In the name of the one who is creator, who is redeemer, and who is sustainer of all life, in the name of the one who is father, son and spirit, in the name of the one who is mother, daughter and compassion, in the name of the one who is Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver may we be present to the power that protects us, guides us, and gives us new life.

 

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God: Come let us adore him. 

Third Sunday in Lent Yr B March 7 2021

Remains of a building on the island of Iona, Scotland

Third Sunday in Lent Yr B March 7 2021

Exodus 20:1-17, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-22, Psalm 19

 

Today we move from Mark’s gospel to John’s, and one thing remains the same, location, location, location. But in a whole new way. Yes, where this story in John’s gospel is important, it’s very near the beginning, and where Jesus and the disciples are located, in the temple in Jerusalem, is also important. But location in this story not only is important, it becomes earth shattering. You see, Jesus is concerned about what is happening at the temple, money changing, desecration, and even idol worship. And, and this is the really important part, Jesus is saying something they have never heard before. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The temple priests could not figure him out. It had been hundreds of years since exile, when God assured the people that God was still with them. And then when they returned to their own lands they built the temple that is in our story today, and put God back inside. 

 

This temple tantrum of Jesus’ was quite unexpected, and Jesus’ words were unimaginable. The new, earth shattering, ground moving reality is that the location of God is no longer in the ark of the covenant, or in the holy of holies, God is now located in the person of Jesus. This is what Jesus is trying to tell them. The arc of John’s story begins in creation, moves through pain and suffering, death and resurrection, and ends in ascension. During the course of this story, God in Jesus is in our midst, and when the incarnation of God dies, rises from the dead, and ascends, humanity is not left alone. 

 

So this is the new reality Jesus is trying so hard to convey to them. But the words are so hard to put together and to understand. How do you describe the glorious impossible? How do you come close to the inconceivable incarnation? How do you begin to conceive of a reality that is unreasonable? This is what Jesus is asking of them, this is what Jesus is trying to tell them. Jesus is trying to show them that everything they thought they knew about a messiah is turned upside down and inside out. 

 

And Jesus tells them that the proper place of worship is no longer the temple. Oh my gosh! Can you hear the weight of that statement? 

 

The proper place to encounter God is in the relationship, it is with Jesus who is God in our midst. God’s heart’s desire is relationship with the beloveds, with you, and me, and those we love, those we can’t stand to be around, those whose presence is a threat to us, those whose gender is uncertain to us. God has left the building, and God is now in our midst. This is what is at the heart of Jesus’ I am statements. I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the door, I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way the truth and the life, I am the vine. All metaphors to convey relationship, and the intimacy of this relationship. All ways Jesus tries to tell those who follow what this relationship really looks like and is about. God dwells in us; we dwell in God. This is what is eternal life, new life, abundant life. 

 

And what is even crazier than God incarnate, God in their midst, God who is put to death on a cross, is God in Spirit. God let loose into the wild. God who cannot be contained, controlled, confined. God in Spirit; Trinity, earth-maker, pain-bearer, life-giver. 

 

This is what Jesus means to be destroyed and to be raised up, and what John points us to. You see, once God is incarnate, once God is human flesh, God can die, and God does die. It looks like loss, it looks like foolishness, but this is the good news. This is the profound reality of Jesus. This is the profound love of the creator. This is the profound sadness of human life. This is the profound healing of love, God’s love for us, and our love for our neighbor. Jesus’s scars reach out to our scars, and we are healed. 

 

The zeal for God’s house is now in the flesh, and this wonderfully good news calls followers of Jesus to be the bearers of God’s love not just in our churches but in every part of our lives. We are to be in the world to do the work we have been given to do; to love and serve God as faithful witnesses of Christ our lord. 

 

And I believe that is what this covid-tide that we are in is all about. We are called out of our churches, out of our boxes, out of everything that has been normal for us, into this new and exciting and sometimes terrifying place. We are called to reorientation, we are called to see, and hear, and feel, all of the newness of this time. It is a time of revelation; God is pulling back the curtain and showing us the ugliness and festering of the ways humanity has not been lovely and kind to one another. But God is also pulling back the curtain and showing us how we can be together. How we can care for each other, how we can love and support one another. What our communities of love and faith can be. 

 

Our heart’s home is where God is, and we bear God with us to all the places. We smell God in the incense and in the oil when we are in our church, and also in the wind and the rain of the land that is home. We see God in the stained glass and the candles, and also in the eyes of the people we encounter. We hear God in the silence, and in the music, and the voices of those we gather to worship with, and also in the sound of the babies, and the cracking of the ice, and the voice of protest. 

 

God has left the building; God is on the loose. The earth trembles under our feet. Thanks be to God.

Second Sunday after the Epiphany Yr B Jan 1 2021

 

Second Sunday after the Epiphany Yr B Jan 1 2021

1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20), 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51, Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

 

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, 

O Lord our strength and our redeemer.

 

Second Sunday after the Epiphany Yr B Jan 17 2021

1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20), 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51, Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

 

What does it mean to follow Jesus? It begins with the invitation to come and see for yourself who Jesus is. It continues with the experience of abiding with Jesus. The disciples come and see and abide. Following Jesus has everything to do with having a relationship with Jesus.

 

This week in these readings about Eli and Samuel, in the psalm, and in John's story of calling the disciples, we are reminded that God already knows us, God already knows you, God claims us, God loves us first, and that IS the abiding relationship.

 

Have you found Jesus? ... Is a question that is asked in certain circles. But I believe we are mistaken when we think we need to find Jesus. Like Jesus is playing a game of hide and seek with us, and he's been behind the couch all along. "Lord, you have searched me out and known me, you know my sitting down and my rising up, you discern my thoughts from afar," psalm 139 reminds us. We don't need to find Jesus; we are already found by Jesus. Sometimes, however, we need to be of a heart and a mind and a posture to listen. That’s where the relationship is. We spend so much time and energy building our own walls, surrounding ourselves with such noise, that we cannot hear God’s call to relationship and we are blinded to Jesus who shows up anyway. We build walls that alienate and isolate ourselves and others from the love that claims our hearts.

 

We build those walls with litanies of excuses. You've heard them, you've said them, you've experienced them. There's the I'm not going to church litany. I've got better things to do, I don't have time, It's the only time we have together as a family, I'd rather drink coffee, read the paper, look at facebook, I don't like the music they sing there, I don't like the prayers they say there, I don't like the people there, they're hypocrites, I don't like the style of worship there, I don't like the priest there. There's nobody like me there, everybody is like me there. And to top it off, worship in a parking lot!

 

There's the I'm spiritual but not religious litany. I don't need organized religion, I can worship God on my own, at home, in nature, on the golf course.

 

There's the I don't believe in God litany. I can't believe in a God who doesn't take all of this pain and suffering away. I can’t believe in a God who can’t change all this madness.

 

And then there's the I'm not good enough litany. I've done something so horrible God would not want me, I'm guilty of something, I'm not worthy, I'm no good. And a related litany, the I'm too good for them litany. They don't believe what I believe, that doesn't fulfill my needs, I don't like that music. We beseech you good lord...

 

But then there is the fear. Because if I really listen, I might have to do something about it. And that, my friends is where the rubber meets the road. Listening and responding to God's call, God's claim on our hearts, is scary. It means that we go outside of what is comfortable, it means that we take risks with our hearts, and maybe even our lives. But, in a world torn apart by anger, hatred and conflict, we have the privilege of being living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds. In a society where racism and misogyny and white supremacy 

are becoming normalized, we have the privilege of being witnesses to the dignity and respect for all God’s people in all parts of God’s creation. In families torn apart by the drive for more, and bigger, and better, we have the privilege of being living signs of a love that can lift up the lowly and bring down the mighty.  

 

The truth is that it is God's heart’s desire for us to be in relationship with God, and any relationship takes work, it takes listening, it takes learning, it takes responding. Around here we believe that God loves, we believe that love shows up in Jesus, and in you and in all of us. But, love is just a word until someone gives it meaning, Jesus is the meaning, you are the meaning, you are the hands and feet of this love.

 

So we listen to God's call, and we discern God's call to us. We put aside all the excuses, all the reasons why not. We put aside our fear, and we respond. We do as the disciples did, we do as Eli and Samuel did, we listen together, in community, with each other, not alone. We listen together, and we respond. Our response to God’s amazing, abundant, and unconditional love, is the way we live our lives, it is the love and compassion and mercy that we offer to others. 

 

How do you live your response to God's claim on your life? How do you live your response to God's call to you? How do we, here at Trinity live our common life together, in response to God's call? How do you, how do we, show up and show forth the light, and the love, the suffering and the death, the hope, that is the truth of this life? 

 

This week we remember Martin Luther King Jr. a man who responded with courage to God's claim on his life. Martin Luther King Jr. showed us that dreams are made of treating every bit of God's creation, every color of God’s creation, with mercy, compassion, and justice. 

 

Sometimes the violence and the tragedy in our world, and in our community seems overwhelming. Sometimes the rhetoric is so crazy we cannot even believe it came out of someone’s mouth. Sometimes we even just stop paying attention. In these turbulent days, respecting the dignity of every human being seems to be in question, seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself seem foolish. But we've also seen how love can change a situation, we've seen how a kind word, a compassionate act, can change the reality in which we live. 

 

I heard a story, about a boy who responded to some teasing that was inflicted on him, not by being mean. Instead, he got to school early, and stood at the front door, holding it open as the students entered, greeting each one with a good morning. Soon, the students were greeting each other with smiles and hellos. Soon, the students were opening doors for each other all over the building. Soon the culture of the student body was changing. 

 

Respond to God's claim on your heart and your life by opening doors for those around you, and you too, will change the world. 

Respond to God’s claim on your heart and your life by standing up with compassion. 

Have courage, do not be afraid, listen, show up and show forth God's love. Amen.  

Trinity Sunday Yr A June 7 2020

The Trinity by Kelly Latimore

YouTube Video

Trinity Sunday Yr A June 7 2020

Genesis 1:1-2:4a, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, Matthew 28:16-20, Psalm 8, or Canticle 13 (or Canticle 2)

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer; Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver. These are all ways for us to imagine Trinity. These words are attributed to St. Patrick, who in the face of the forces of darkness bound himself to the trinity. “I bind unto myself the Name, the strong name of the trinity; by invocation of the same, the three in one, and one in three, of whom all nature hath creation; eternal father, spirit, word; praise to the lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord.” We may struggle to understand the doctrine of the trinity, but there is no struggle in the experience of the relationship of God, Jesus and spirit spilling over into humanity, you and me.

Trying to figure out the trinity, trying to define a trinity doctrine, trying to intellectualize trinity is not helpful to us today, but relationship is.

Because Trinity really is relationship, and it is this relationship, this community, that our images try to convey and our words try to describe. The story of creation sets the stage. Humanity is created by God, and created in God’s image, the reflection of love and wholeness, which God does intend for creation. In God’s own image God created humankind, and God’s own image includes amazing diversity. Human beings are the expression of God’s fullness, of God’s love, of God’s wholeness. And God’s creation is about the interrelatedness of all the created order: every living creature, all of the animals, the waters and the land, the stars in the sky, the planets in their courses.

Trinity is about this relationship in and through and among the created order. Trinity is the real world in which we live, the real world of God’s love for humanity, for God’s deepest desire to not be alone and outside of creation, but to be in, among, and through creation. The reality of God’s deepest desire to love humanity is incarnated, it is in the flesh, in Jesus. Jesus, who makes God’s presence known, Jesus, who lived, loved, suffered and died. Jesus, in whom God began the new creation on that first Easter morning. Jesus who was raised from the dead and who ascended leaving the presence of Holy Spirit with creation, with us. Holy Spirit, present in the water, the flame and the oil of baptism, present in the bread and the wine, present when we gather together, present in the space in between while we remain apart. Present in the sending out into the world to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. Present as we are about the mission of sharing God's love in the world.

Trinity is about a reality of community over against individualism. Trinity encourages participation and welcomes diversity. Community, participation, and diversity look a lot like the church we strive to be, a diversity of which we fall far short. Each person interdependent with the others, where there is no room for any one to be self-aggrandizing and in the system each person empties oneself to be filled by the others, just as Jesus emptied himself to the love of humanity. Participation by all is essential to the matrix; the entity, the body of Christ cannot live without the participation of each of the parts. Diversity presupposes inclusion, and inclusion is the acceptance of all God’s children. We join together, while honoring the diversity among the many, in a unity that does not seek uniformity.

Trinity is one in all and all in one, therefore, we are created in the image of trinity. We are created in the image of diversity, unity, and overflowing love.

Trinity is a very clear picture of God’s intention for humanity. Justice, mercy, compassion. And as we continue to witness, over and over and over again, the killing of our black and brown bothers and sisters, Trinity shows us the way of relationship. But it isn’t enough, it isn’t enough for us to talk about this amazing relationship. And friends, it isn’t even enough for us to know that Love wins. It isn’t enough for us to say we treat all people equally. Because what we see outside our windows, down our streets, and in our cities is not about equality, it is about a country that has built itself on the systematic oppression of those who are not like us.

These sound like harsh words, don’t they? We want to say it’s not my fault, I can’t be blamed, I treat everyone just the same. I love everyone. And as true as that is, it isn’t enough. It is simple to say, I love my brothers and sisters, no matter the color of their skin, but we don’t know what it’s like. We don’t know what it’s like to be prevented from buying any house you want to buy, because there is a deliberate system keeping black people out of particular areas. Now you may say that doesn’t happen anymore, or that never happened, but it did. And today we are seeing the results of that. You see, when you buy a house, any house, any place you want, you are making an investment, building wealth, you may have inherited something from your parents, you may have something to leave to your children, but at the very least you have provided your children with a decent education because you live in a neighborhood that has a good school because of your property taxes that you pay on the house that you could buy. A house, an education, all build wealth and opportunity. Even if you have a middle-class job, the color of your skin keeps you from the middle-class house. And the next generation falls further behind, and hope begins to fade.

Or how about the GI bill. The promise was made to every person who served in the military that they could go to college. What they didn’t say, was that colleges offered one seat for black soldiers, and unlimited seats for white soldiers. Promises made, promises broken.

And I know your first reaction is to be defensive. I know that because I am that way too. But as you get defensive, get curious also. Ask yourself why this makes you defensive, and expose yourself to the lives and work of black and brown people, and open yourself up. Listen to the stories, just listen.

I speak from experience. I spent 12 years in Rapid City SD, listening to my native brothers and sisters. Listening to their stories, listening to their heartache, listening to their joys and the beauty of their culture. I can’t fix or solve any of that, we can’t fix or solve any of that. But we can listen, and we can walk next to our brown and black brothers and sisters. And we must listen because it’s important to our spiritual health. Remember, God is fully and completely present with us, that is what Trinity is about. And God is fully and completely present in every body, and for every body to matter, black and brown bodies must matter.

We bind unto ourselves this day, the strong name of the Trinity.

Thanks be to God.

19 Pentecost Proper 24 Yr C Oct 20 2019

Audio  19 Pentecost Proper 24 Yr C Oct 20 2019

Genesis 32:22-31, Psalm 121, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, Luke 18:1-8

What an odd sort of story from Luke. Keeping in mind that when Jesus tells a parable, he is trying to shake us up, make us see and hear things differently, what might this parable have to say to us today? I wonder if it has to do with taking a long view. I wonder if it has to do with staying in, participating in, our relationship with God.

Let’s take a look at a couple of scenarios that may shed some light on this very odd little story. First of all, we know that at this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. This story is one of a series of stories of Jesus imparting as much wisdom to the disciples as possible before arriving in Jerusalem. We are overhearing Jesus instructing the disciples, and Luke means for us to hear it. Luke says this is a story about praying always and not to lose heart.

And yet we have this very puzzling judge, and an equally puzzling woman. The Judge should have been associated with honor, but instead was associated with shame, he neither feared God nor had respect for people. Eventually he granted her need out of convenience for him, nothing more noble than that, he just didn’t want to be bothered anymore. And she, the widow, had no protection or honor. She should have been respected, but she was powerless, so this was life and death for her. Her coming to this court and this judge was constant and repetitive.

There’s all sorts of ways this could go, you’ve probably heard many of them. But in spite of what the world would say to us, in spite of those whom we come in contact with that would have us believe God is inconsequential, or God is irrelevant, today I want to offer this. God is calling us to stay in this relationship, God is calling us to participate in this relationship, God is calling us to partner with Jesus in loving one another. And the reality is that none of that happens in the time we want it to happen.

So staying in is about the long view. I saw a meme on Facebook this week, a picture of an apple with these words, “the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.”

Staying in. Staying in when the going gets tough. Staying in when all evidence suggests it’s a lost cause. Staying in when God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers as you wish. Staying in when death looks you in the eyes. Staying in when everything and everyone in our culture says you are foolish. Staying in is what God calls us to and staying in any relationship is hard. But you can do hard things.

The going gets tough, doesn’t it? We have learned to expect results instantly. Our internet speed must be instantaneous. Our email must be answered immediately. Our texts read and responded to right away. Everything we experience today regarding the gathering of information is about having it in the palm of our hand right now. We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom, while starving for relationship. We have lost sight of the value of waiting, of patience, of obedience in the same direction.

God calls us to stay in, even when the evidence suggests it’s a lost cause. But that evidence really is interpreted through a lens that may not have God in focus. The story of Jesus’ life and death look like a lost cause. People looked to Jesus as leader, as king, and maybe even as magician. And yet, Jesus was put to death on a cross and laid in a tomb and left for dead. Stay in, hold on, wait for it…. Mary and the other women return to the tomb to anoint the body and God does a new thing. Remember that seed? The day you plant it, it looks nothing like the fruit you will eventually pick and eat. When the seed goes into the ground, it sure doesn’t look like the apple that one day hangs on the tree. Burying the seed in the ground looks a lot like death, and yet what emerges is new life. Letting go of our old selves, our addictions, our need to control, our need for power, is a lot like being buried with Jesus, to rise again as new creations. Stay in for the long haul, the arc bends toward joy.

Stay in when God doesn’t answer your prayers the way you want God to answer your prayers. How hard is that? You and I both know God is God, and we are not. How many times have you heard, no, not now, maybe even no, not ever. What we think is best for us is often not what is best for us. And yet, God loves us so very much God lets us choose, God even lets us fail. These are not the times to turn our back on God because God didn’t do it our way. Stay in, participate in this relationship God gives us. Stay in and don’t let the world beat you down.

Stay in even when following Jesus may look foolish. Some would say, look out only for yourself, make money at the expense of others, guard your walls so that no one who challenges your carefully constructed contours may show you something new and different. Because looking out for the least and the lost, feeding those who are hungry, caring for those on the margins, won’t get you anywhere, won’t make you money, and surely won’t buy you happiness. Stay in when following Jesus may look foolish, the arc bends toward hope.

Stay in, because death is not the worst thing that happens to us. The worst thing is not living while we are alive. God gives us this great gift of love, and mercy, and compassion. God gives us this great gift of new life today. Let go of the stuff that gets in the way of relationship, let go of the stuff that pulls us apart, let go of the addictions, let go of the anger, let go, so that you can stay in and your heart may love.

Stay in for the long haul, the arc bends toward joy, hope, and love. And as you stay in this relationship that God offers you through Jesus Christ, and through all those you come in contact with, you are empowered and equipped to love with your whole heart, and what happens then? Love wins. Amen.