Truth is Love

1 John 1:1-2:2

This world is dominated by death.  It is evident in how plants turn to the sunlight, sometimes crowding out others.  It is evident in the speed of rabbits and the speed of foxes.  Humans are not as cut and dry.  It is not the smartest or strongest that inherently succeeds, for socialization adds more nuances to how we are affected by the shadow, the darkness, of death.  It is not all bad, as it is why we generally stop at stop signs, but it plays out through rivalry and violence, both physical and emotional.  This is done both via individuals and groups. It is the darkness.

God has no darkness at all.  Jesus went to the cross not because of death but because of the light; life not the opposite of death, but life of God totally other than life and death.  As the writer of Hebrews shares:

looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (12:2)

It was not that he knew he would be raised, it was because of the Divine Light; life that knows no death.  Even our early martyrs would be kidding themselves if their death was not in part motivated by pride.  As those that bowed to Caesar and hid the church, were scared of death, the martyrs too were motivated by the darkness in part (just as those that kept the church going in secret were motivated in keeping the knowledge of the Light alive).  It is impossible for humans to completely leave the shadow and darkness of earthly death, yet we are called to bring the light forward. 

Light that does not require violence, for God does not require the sacrifice.  It is humans that do.  The Old Testament seems to have God wanting sacrifices, but truly it is actually the people who do.  Take Genesis 22 when Abraham is to sacrifice is only legitimate son.  God provides the ram instead.  The sacrifices are the people's ritualized way to demonstrate love to the God that saved them and provides everything for them.  Thus in Jerusalem God provides His only Son as the sacrifice  to our violence.  God only has love, so much so He gives Jesus.

This act on the cross is what creates the eighth day.  That is it finishes creation.  If we think of creation as only the beginning of time, we ignore the scriptures that say Jesus was there in the beginning.  This Christian idea of Jesus being part of creation is why Creation is completed at the resurrection, opening up the Light of the world so we know about this Light without any darkness that has taken away the sting of death.  We are still affected by the darkness but we have a way to follow to avoid rivalry, war, violence, and all the darkness, for we know of the greatest love of all, that God gave his only son into our darkness to give us light and salvation.

 

 

 

 

*Note this sermon was a review for the congregation of themes I was working on.  It was an attempt to weave together God as Ultimate Other, Love, atonement and creation.  Must admit it was preached better than written. 

Forgiveness Blooms

Mark 16:1-8

Here in the original ending of Mark we see the women going to anoint Jesus’ body. This is part of life; death.  It is known that all living things die.  It hangs over all of us and its reality is important to how we live on earth.  Call it survival if you want, call it thriving, but death shapes how we live. 

Fear is an important theme in this passage, but it was not fear of the dead body or of death.  I am always struck at how fearful some people are to be with a dead body, but these women were going to do the things we have professionals do today.  They were going to handle the body to pay deepest respects to the one lost.  No the fear was that Jesus was not there.

It is in this fear that Christian hope begins.  Remember Sarah laughs when she is told she will bear a child.  Yes because it is funny, but out of fear of this great possibility that can only happen because of the Divine.  The empty tomb is much more radical and hence the running in fear, not just nervous laughter.

God is the only true other.  What I mean is that because of death being part of life on earth, we are all in the same boat, or globe, what have you.  God is however beyond this as the creator.  I remember learning about Creation ex nihilo, in seminary, and questioning it like any good seminarian, for in the first verses of Genesis, there is reference to the deep, to chaos, as if something existed before creation.  Well I was studying with Dr. Rev. Joe Jones in a study group (a great theologian of the Christian Church), and he made it clear it was less about the existence of matter before creation, but that creation was not made of God’s own self.  That is nothing God created is Divine, we may see something or experience something and say “Wow that is Divine,” however I believe we are pointing to the great Divine with that experience.  God created, to have relationship with, not to simply be an extension of God.  This is however, not to support the gnostic idea that all earthly and physical is inherently evil.  I remember that God said it was Good when it was created, but it is not God.  It is physical and that with life does die.

Thus the fear of the women was the realization that God is truly the only other.  We are all invited to the wedding banquet, as the parable Jesus tells in Mathew 22.  We are all invited and we wear our wedding robe (of course the people on the street did not really have their special robe with them), but when the one not wearing a robe asked he was without word.  He did not understand, he would have stood at the empty tomb and thought “I wonder who took the body?”  He would question the angel and may had experienced fear, but not the fear that sent the women running.

Their fear was that the resurrection did happen.  It meant they would have to deal with their doubt, their sin, their shortcomings to the one that is coming with a winnowing fork.  The one that would separate the chaff from the grain with the help of the Holy Spirit.  To accept you were that loved that Jesus would go to the cross and to face him, is wear the fear comes from, and the hope begins. 

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. Revelation 3:20

Hope stirs when we realize Jesus does not avenge, but witnesses as the ultimate other.  The one that knows the truth is that forgiveness blooms on earth as it is in heaven. For when Jesus comes through the locked door He says, “Peace be with you.”

April 2012 Newsletter

 

Easter is a time to celebrate life. The tomb is empty demonstrating to humanity that death is conquered by the divine love of God. Jesus was hung on the tree because of the earthly violence that permeates life on earth. Most sin comes from the breaking of the greatest commandment as Jesus sums it up,

He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22: 37-40)

It is a call against coveting, a call to follow a different model of desire. Earthly desires are tied to the desires of others, and thus jealousy, hatred, rivalry, etc. become the basis of most sin. The perfect and completely sinless Jesus is murdered and demonstrates not only God’s power over death, but the reaction of love and forgiveness by God. The empty tomb turns the earthly world inside out and upside down.

Jesus does not simply mean for us to wait for Heaven, but to bring the Heavenly model to earth as he did. Our desires are to be in line with that of His. As John shares in his Gospel, Jesus demonstrates that model with the washing of the disciple’s feet. Jesus even clearly states he has set this as our example:

You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. (John 13: 13-15)

Let us go forward in the season of Easter, following this model of Heaven. As His Disciples we are all servants of each other and the world. We are called out of the world together to share this wonderful good news, this wonderful example of Heaven on Earth.

Blessings,

Pastor J.C.

Lifted Up

Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33

The writer of Hebrews suggests that Jesus is of the order of Melchizedek.  It is an obscure reference, to the  priest who blessed Abram.  Psalm 110 picks this up as well, and it seems to be a way to demonstrate an old old way as if it is new again.  Which is what I am interested in doing here, for we are looking at the cross today, and there are many theologies of atonement, but the one I will explore I believe is one of the earliest, with its simplicity, that has come to a greater understanding these days.

I do not believe that any of the theologies of atonement or the cross are wrong, but rather a unique view of a great mystery that cannot be completely understood.  Prof. Mark Heim explains it by saying the actual cross is three dimensional and thus when you look at it at one angle the other side is not visible, but that does not mean it doesn’t exist, it is part of this great mystery.

As the Hebrews writer suggests, not only is Jesus designated by God from an old line, he went as a perfect sacrifice via submission and obedience.  The writer even suggests that He “learned obedience through what he suffered,” which is hard to phantom.  However, that demonstrates to me that Jesus was fully human and thus understood something divine on the cross when he was lifted up.

Lifted up for John seems to have a double meaning for he does not separate the resurrection from the cross. In this pericope, John makes it clear he is referring to Jesus being lifted-up on the cross, yet we only are aware of this cross moment because of the resurrection.

In the news, Trayvon Martin is much of the discussion.  He was no perfect boy, but he was certainly innocent of deserving death.  I do believe there are demons of racism and anxiety, and I am certain that one civilian following another is not standing one’s ground.  It is so very tragic.  If Trayvon survived we would be able to have his witness.

Jesus the perfectly innocent man, who was tempted to enter our desires of a worldly kingdom.  Who told Peter to put the sword away despite being scared of the tree he was to be hung on.  Jesus was not just a good man, but acted and taught that participation in rivalry was not the divine way.  He desired people to love the neighbor as they would love themselves. And be perfect as the heavenly Father is, raining on the righteous and unrighteous. 

He did nothing but teach love, healed all who wanted healing, and taught peace, and the authorities of the state and the religion condemned him to death.  He followers fled.  Alone though on that cross he drew us all to Him.  For we would have the witness of the victim.  The witness that did not come back with the heavenly hosts (army), did not command his Disciples to guerilla warfare, or even with a judgment.  He came back and said, Peace be with you, demonstrating the scars and thus the love and forgiveness the Divine has for us all. 

It is sad and awfully tragic we do not have Trayvon’s witness, as he certainly did not deserve death for being a  black youth with a hoodie.  It reminds me that I have been drawn to the salvation of Jesus, for His perspective as victim, questions the individual and corporate sins that pave the earthly realm through rivalry.

The victim saved us and forgave us, so we would have no more death. 

Teacher & Savior

Exodus 20:1-17; John 2:13-22

The “ten best ways,” as we call the ten commandments in Godly Play and Worship and Wonder curriculum, are very important.  I believe they are the foundation of our society together.  It is not that they are put on court lawns or in our court houses, which I do prefer to statues I have seen on court lawns, but that it is the covenant for God’s people.  Let us review, God made a covenant with people, starting within the garden, but accumulating with the great covenant with Abraham and Sarah. 

Then in Egypt, God hear their cry and remembered the covenant.  To make the long story short, salvation from slavery was provided by God’s leadership through Moses.  Then God provided the “Ten Best Ways,” the ten commandments, or better yet the covenant.  This promise was the ways humans should live together.  The first four are about loving the One True God, and the remaining six are about how you treat others, or rather neighbors.

It seems to me  a wonderful Rabbi was asked to choose the most important and he said something like this: 

What you yourself hate, don't do to your neighbor. This is the whole law; the rest is commentary. Go and study. (Rabbi Hillel)

And my savior and the great rabbi Jesus of Nazareth said something quite similar:

He said to him,  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

To me Jesus is restating the convenant God made with people, love God and Love neighbor.  Basically Love, and as Hillel states if you don’t get it read on and study.

Thus when according to John, Jesus enters the temple and drives out the money changers, you must realize that they were the most “religious” people he was angry with.  The priests knew that this market place existed, and instead of worrying about treating the neighbor they were only worried about the institution, the rules and the money.  I am sure many were not being fair with their trading practices, but it developed with a need for people to fulfill the law, the commentary.  It made sense, but the anger I believe came from robbing people of the meaning of the covenant, the Best Way, LOVE of God and Neighbor.

Powerful Prayer

Psalm 22; Philippians 4:6-9

There is a Target commercial that is quite colorful, and if I sing the first word of the song you would probably be compelled to sing it aloud (or at least in your head).  “Alouette…”  I am sure you can imagine the tune and many of the words, despite reading this post in English.  Well I must share that this popular French Canadian song, does annoy me, for it is about a lark being plucked.  However, I brought it up for the fact that everyone seemed to know this little song by heart, just as we would most nursery rhymes. Or just as we respond when we hear, “Our Father who….” or when I start saying, especially at a funeral, “The Lord is my shepherd…”  We know these prayers and psalms by heart, and we can almost not stop ourselves when we hear it begun.

This is important for us to understand to understand Jesus’ words from the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me…” it was not simply a statement of angry at God for letting Him die on the cross, rather this traditional lament we call Psalm 22 today.  Dyeing of affixation Jesus had very little breath to spare on the whole Psalm, but once he started this, I imagine, that those gathered, even those who did not follow Jesus, were finishing the Psalm.  It would be part of the Jewish tradition to know the Psalms by heart, for they were sung as part of worship, part of life. 

Why Psalm 22? It is a classic lament from an individual’s perspective, and Jesus would certainly lament as a human being crucified.  But you may notice that as the lament moves into thanksgiving for God, it becomes more communal.  By the conclusion of the Psalm the writer is admitting that God is for not only Israel, but families of the nations (gentiles) and not only for those now, but who have gone before and those yet born.  So Jesus makes it clear that God will rescue Him not to simply rescue His Son, but the whole of Humanity.

  Just as we should remember when Paul writes:

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

It is not to an individual Paul is writing.  He is writing to a community, and we know in our hearts that when we ask in prayer God does not see us as the center of the universe.  God will answer prayers for one only in community.  So if we think we are praying for what we think the church should like like as per our individual perspective, we may be disappointed that God has not answered our prayers.  However, if we understand that even Jesus while lamenting about His awful and painful emptying on the cross, knew God in Heaven was responding not just to save Him, but to save us all from this worldly way of sin and death. 

Vision First

Habakkuk 2:2-3; Mark 1:9-15

This first Sunday of Lent we generally start with the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.  This year we are concentrating on the Gospel of Mark, who only writes of the occurrence and not interactions with Satan.  Mark mentions Satan three other times.  The next time is in chapter three, and refers to “Satan casting out Satan.” Jesus is making the point that even Satan doesn’t succeed split, then in chapter 4 is in the explanation of the Parable of the Sower.  The last is in chapter 8 and is actually the lectionary scripture for next Sunday.  This one is the most pertinent to today’s reading.  It is when Jesus tells Peter to get behind him, Satan.  Right after Peter answered correctly who Jesus was. 

Of course in the first chapter of Mark Satan is the tempter but what is he tempting?  In chapter 4 with Satan coming and taking the word from the one’s on the human created path.  That is not where the seeds will grow, so Satan seems to tempt the word away with the what we humans create.  This is goes right into Jesus’ use of the word “Satan” for the man who just identified Him correctly.  Jesus knows that Messiah has a connotation of an earthly king.  He realized when Peter rebuked Him about the way being the death and resurrection, Jesus knew Peter mind, “was not on divine things but on human things.”  Peter was thinking of the packed down earthly path was the way, but Jesus knows that is Satan’s temptation.  That we take the ways of the world to be the ways of the church.

So when Jesus went from His baptism, into the wilderness, driven by the Spirit.  What was the temptation according to Mark?  For Jesus to start His ministry it was important He did not sin, but the ultimate sin would have been for him to rule the earth like an earthly king.  It is clear this temptation by Satan was squashed, for as John reported in his Gospel, when Jesus feed the 5,000 they wanted to force him to be king, he slipped away.  And found the twelve in the middle of the Sea of Galilee in rough water, thus demonstrating with His power over the elements, was not a king as they know earthly kings.

Now before I was a minister I was a pastry chef in a Manhattan Restaurant.  I was thinner then and so often people would state they would not be so thin if they did what I did.  Well little did they understand it was hard physical work as well as you do get tired of the desserts.  I would encourage my workers to always try the desserts for it was important to keep things tasting their best, and they would consume the least attractive versions.  It was never an issue.

I do remember my first week as the head pastry chef, three weeks into the job (it was a surprise to me as well).  I was working on a hazelnut linzer torte with a fig filling as I had developed at a previous restaurant.  I made a small version for the chef.  This was inspired by the fact the kitchen had a plate with black mission figs, but they were not using enough.  She suggested using Madeira Wine to enhance the fig filling.  So the next morning before anyone was at the restaurant, I went to the bar to sign out my two cups of wine.  I started by searching the well and then the lower shelves.  I found no Madeira Wine until I looked about eye level (important to note I’m tall).  So I signed out the wine and made my tasty torte and served it with cardamom ice cream (it was very tasty).

So the next day when the bartender arrived he came to talk to me.  Well yell in my face, and as I took it I did realize that the numbers he mentioned would mean the 12 slices of that dessert at 12 dollars would not pay back those two cups of madeira.  I knew the chef had said Madeira and I know I did not miss any cheaper version in the bar.  When I apologized to her, she apologized to me, that I was not yet informed of the cooking madeira and red wine in the kitchen.  I never really got upset at the bartender for even today I can feel my blood boil when someone cuts off the entire top of a strawberry to remove the stem.  It is simple with a small pairing knife to remove just the green, and waste no strawberry meat.  In the kitchen I had talked to many assistants about that, even making some go back to cut the green out of the scraps for a strawberry sauce.

For in a restaurant it is really a business.  The vision may include tasty gourmet food, a wonderful dining ambiance, but it comes down to money.  It is all about making a profit. The church does need to be in the black, which is difficult for many congregations.  However the vision cannot be the worldly path.  That path seems the easiest and is the path for businesses, but the church is different.  It is not of this world.

Our path is among the good soil.  We are rooted in God’s Word and Love and yet we are running off the path that Satan tempts us with.  We need a vision that resembles the one Habakkuk writes of:

Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
   make it plain on tablets,
   so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
   it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
   it will surely come, it will not delay. (2:2-3)

Jesus knew the worldly path, the worldly kingship, would be our temptation as well.  Church we need to look for Jesus’ vision and get behind him and follow.