A New and Better Wilderness--Isaiah 35

vss. 1, 10 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom... And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sadness shall flee away.

As an encouragement for the people in slavery in Babylon to return to Jerusalem through the inhospitable Sinai Peninsula, Isaiah tells of his God-inspired vision that the wilderness will be transformed to accommodate their travels through it back to freedom. This poem that describes the blossoming of a barren place and ordering of a an unsafe place for the sake of home-coming and freedom is beautiful. And as Christians, we look back at this beautiful, hopeful poem through the prism of the New Testament and claim it as a promise being fulfilled in Christ.

Read this whole chapter and ask yourself, how can I be a part of this transformation of creation that God promises? How can I be a part of this blossoming and ordering process?

It is perfect that this text falls on Human Rights Sunday. Just as the Jews were enslaved in Babylon, many are enslaved today. Some are enslaved for sex, some to produce goods, some for soldiering and some to work off debts. Estimates for slavery in the world are between 27 and 50 million people. Many slaves are children. There is slavery in our own country.

How can we as the church witness to the transformation of creation by "setting the captives free?"

Camel's Hair and a Leather Belt--Matthew 3:1-12

Next Sunday is the second Sunday in Advent. The Advent season is given over to waiting expectantly for Christ's birth, and the second Sunday usually is given over to reflections on the ministry of John the Baptist who encouraged the people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah through baptism, repentance and change of life.

Last week I heard the comedian Will Farrell commenting on the now iconic sketch from his SNL days involving the cowbell. If you haven't seen it, you can probably check it out on YouTube or the NBC website. Farrell's superb physical comedy skills and Christopher Walken's suberb acting skills join together to make a hilarious sketch.

Yet in the interview, Farrell says that in rehearsals the sketch was not funny at all. It was just strange. Then he put on a shirt that was way too small, and the skit was suddenly transformed. The skit was not just strange anymore; it was so strange that it was funny.

Sometimes a simple, subtle change can make all the difference. This is probably as true in life as it is in comedy.

Matthew takes time to mention, in his description of John's baptizing ministry, that John dressed in camel's hair and wore a leather belt. I find it odd that Matthew would point that out. He never mentions what Jesus wears during his ministry.

What do you think is the significance of John's attire? How does his attire affect his message? What is Matthew telling us about John here?

Thanksgiving, Colossians 1:11-20

God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

On this last Sunday of the church year, we celebrate Christ the King, the sovereign Lord of all creation. God has picked us up out of the kingdom of darkness and positioned us squarely in Christ's kingdom, the kingdom of order and light. In him, the entire universe holds together and can be trusted. We can find our home here.

God has created, ordered and is present through Christ in this world, according to this great hymn of the early church. Can you make out God's hand in the world and in your own life?

In the confirmation class I'm teaching, the student's workbooks ask them to reflect on Christ's presence in their lives. That's a challenge. It requires that they develop spiritual eyesight. Even for adults, mature in their faith, this can be difficult. At presbytery meeting this week, I plopped down in a chair for dinner, introduced myself to a woman I'd never met sitting next to me and the first thing she said was: "So, Wes, what fantastic things is God doing in your life right now?"

It wasn't the question that immediately discombobulated me. You sometimes get this question when you are hanging out with gregarious religious folk. No, it was her complete enthusiasm and certainty of a positive response, that I would proclaim with great wonder and praise the magnificent workings of God in my life. I stammered a bit, assured her that everything was going so well in my family and church, and asked her to pass the butter.

Developing spiritual eyesight is necessary for a robust prayer life, because so much prayer should be simply giving thanks. Abraham Lincoln, through great personal and national pain, developed that eyesight and proclaimed the first Thanksgiving holiday back in 1863. This week, what are you thankful for?

In Praise of Idleness, 2 Thess. 3:6

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us.

Idle hands are the devil's workshop (not found in the Bible but, who knows, maybe inspired by 2 Thessalonians).

I preached a sermon once about Jesus the moocher. Jesus, during the three years of his ministry anyway, was always a guest at the table of others. He always seemed to be going from house to house eating other people's food. The only time he was the host was at the last supper with his disciples.

Apparently, there were folks in the church in Thessalonica who were trying to imitate the savior. They didn't work but simply mooched off of others in the community. Maybe they were lazy. Maybe they thought they were important teachers and shouldn't have to work. Maybe they were waiting for the imminent return of Christ and thought working to be a distraction from appropriate spiritual preparations. Whatever the reason, the writer of this letter--perhaps Paul--chastised them for not pulling their weight in the church.

Most of us today probably have the opposite problem--we work too much. The church sometimes sends a mixed message. We encourage people to pause, pray, meditate, nap, etc., while at the same time calling (coercing?) people to work on behalf of Christ in the church and the world. Its like watching kids play the old game Red Light, Green Light.

In one scene in the movie Chariots of Fire, the Scottish runner Eric Liddell is in conversation with his sister who challenges Eric's decision to put mission work on hold to train for the Olympic Games. Eric says, "But, Jennie, I know God made me for China someday, but he also made me fast. I feel his pleasure when I run."

Maybe the question is not how much to be active and how much to be idle. Maybe the question is, what activity allows me to feel God's pleasure?

Life after Death, Luke 20:27-38

I was intrigued by the recent story of the Ballard businessman who witnessed a car accident outside his store. As one car burst into flames, he ran to the vehicle, opened the door and pulled out a three-year-old girl, saving her life. The driver, the girl's father, could not be saved.

A few nights later, according to this hero, he was visited by the man who died in the fire. In this vision, the man asked the hero to visit his place of work and tell everyone not to be angry with the driver who caused the accident. This businessman did just that. The deceased man's co-workers, still in a state of grief, were thankful for his visit.

Stories like this make me wonder. Is there an afterlife? If there is an afterlife, is the veil between the living and unliving so thin that at times they interact?

In Luke's gospel the Sadducees come to Jesus to try to discredit him before the people. They didn't believe in the resurrection, not because they didn't have faith in God, but because they believed in strict adherence to the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and the Torah doesn't give mention to an afterlife. They hoped to trap Jesus by showing the resurrection is illogical, using Moses' Law that a women who is widowed is to marry her deceased husband's brother. The Sadducees take this to an extreme, asking Jesus whose husband she would be in heaven if each brother she married after being widowed also died.

Jesus used the Torah in answering. While the Sadducees drew upon an explicit teaching of the Torah to ask the question, he points to a truth implicit in the language of the story of Moses and the burning bush to craft his response. God, in speaking to Moses, says, "I am the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob." They must have somehow still been alive to use the language, Jesus reasons. He also tells them that their question makes no sense since there is no marrying in heaven.

Do you think Jesus' answer is convincing? What do you think about life after death?

Zacchaeus--Luke 19:1-10

This Sunday is Reformation Sunday. One of the gospel truths that the reformers tried to communicate is that Christ meets us where we are. We don't need the intermediary work of a priest or even, as important as it is, the Church. There were a number of cultural developments in Europe at the time of the Reformation that helped Luther, Calvin and others to recognize importance of the individual's place before God. There was the Renaissance and, of course, the development of the printing press. All this went into the proclamation of the "priesthood of all believers."

The gospel reading for this Sunday fits this theme perfectly. Zacchaeus climbs a tree to see Jesus, presumably because he is short so he can't see over the crowd that envelopes Jesus. But also we know that Zacchaeus is a sinner, the chief tax collector for the Romans in Jericho. Therefore, he was hated by the townspeople, who considered him a traitor, a very rich traitor. So maybe up a tree serves the purpose for Zacchaeus of being a safe distance from those who dislike him and also a safe distance from the one holy man who could really deride him if this man knew of his occupation.

Jesus' actions are rather shocking. He calls Zacchaeus to come down from his safe, removed place. He calls him to hospitality by saying that he is coming to Zacchaeus' house. The text says that Zacchaeus came down immediately and received Jesus joyfully. All the good folks of Jericho no doubt left wagging their heads, but Zacchaeus is overcome with thanksgiving by Jesus' initiation of closeness with him. His subsequent commitment to the poor reveal his gratitude.

How is Christ close to you now? Are you safely up a tree or are you receiving the Christ joyfully?

Truer than Truth--2 Timothy 3:16

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

To sustain a journey of faith, an ongoing interaction with scripture is essential. Yet it is hard for us to stay engaged with the Bible. It was written so long ago by a people who understood the world differently than we do. It is full of fantastic stories and strange literary conventions. It is hard to know how to approach it. Should we operate by our modern minds 95% of the time and then shift into a pre-modern mindset when we read scripture or come to church, so that we can somehow affirm a six day creation and believe that Jonah survived in a whale? Is 2 Timothy ruined for us as a spiritual authority if we acknowledge that Paul, though his name is on it, probably didn't write it, but rather it was written by one of his disciples or maybe even someone who just knew of his life and figured that if Paul were writing to Timothy now, this is what he would say? Should we consider this book fraudulent? In what way can we say that the Bible is true?

Think about these questions. I'll be addressing them in the sermon on Sunday. Also think about your own conversation with scripture. Is it satisfying? Is it nurturing your faith? What could make it better?

This Might Take Awhile--Jeremiah 29:4-5

Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.

My eldest daughter, who is doing urban mission work in Chicago, called last week and asked some questions about the Book of Leviticus. Seems she is reading through the Bible and has gotten bogged down amid the Levitical Code. No surprise there. I tried my best to explain who Moloch was (pagan deity, I believe). What I really wanted to advise her to do is to just move on. Skip it. But I didn't, realizing that maybe even Leviticus might have some soul-edifying content. If nothing else, it's a good discipline.

I'm no Old Testament scholar but I know enough to recognize that the two game-changing events in Israel's history were the Exodus and the Exile. This text from Jeremiah is part of a letter written by Jeremiah, who was still with a remnant of people in Jerusalem, to the recently exiled Jews in Babylon. Apparently, the recently exiled were being told by other prophets that their exile would be brief and that they would soon return to Jerusalem. They tended to believe this optimistic perspective. They kept their bags packed.

Jeremiah's message is that they should reconsider because this might take awhile. They should build houses, plant gardens and pray for the people and the city where they reside. God has put them in Babylon, and God would bring them out when God was ready. God's wasn't ready yet, apparently. It would be another 70 years or so before they returned to Jerusalem.

Are you in a place you'd rather not be? Is God saying to be patient because this may take awhile? Here's a cliche for you straight from 6th century BCE Babylon: Bloom where you're planted!

Love of Money

1 Timothy 6:6-10

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into this world so we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

In the state of Washington, one of the biggest news stories is the list of those who are lining up for and against initiative I-1098, which would create a 5 percent tax rate on annual income exceeding $200,000. Among those who are helping to bankroll its defeat are Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, and Jeffrey Bezos, founder of Amazon. No big surprise there, I suppose. These guys are billionaires and stand to fork over more of their income to the government should this initiative pass. No one relishes paying taxes. Why should they?

More interesting are those backing the initiative. It is well known that Bill Gates Sr. helped write the initiative, and just the other day it was publicized that Bill Gates Jr., the world's richest man, supports it. He stands to lose a nice chunk of change if it passes.

How do you feel about the initiative? Should the rich pay more than the rest of us to help our fiscally beleaguered state?

Have you ever had the sense that your desire for money has plunged you into ruin and destruction?

Being Quiet and Peaceable

1 Timothy 2:1-2

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.

I just read in the newspaper this morning of Ernest C. Withers, a photojournalist who was in the inner circle of civil rights leaders in the 1960s. He was in Martin Luther King's room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on the night King was killed. Turns out, Withers was a FBI informant, paid to keep tabs on the movement and report to the government. He died a few years ago, but his photos are famous.

The civil rights movement in the 60s was probably the most visible and successful act of civil disobedience in America in our lifetimes. In large part, it came out of the churches, so it was immersed in prayer for leaders, as the writer of 1 Timothy urges. And it was, for the most part, peaceable, thanks to Martin Luther King Jr., the other civil rights leaders and their spirituality. Yet it was by no means quiet. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, she may not have said a word, but her actions were loud and they threatened southern whites.

It may be that when 1 Timothy was written, probably in the early part of the 2nd century CE, the Roman rulers were allowing strange sects, like Christianity at the time, to exist as long as they didn't stir up trouble. Maybe the church leaders appreciated this freedom from direct persecution and wanted to maintain it. The best way to do that would be to pray for the emperor and try not to get caught up in any kind of resistance to the government. Laying low and staying out of sight might have been their best strategy for surviving.

What do you think these words from 1 Timothy mean for us today?

Divine Examination Psalm 139:1-6

O Lord, you have searched me
and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

The 19th-century French contemplative Therese of Lisieux said: "Our faults cannot hurt God. Nor will our failures interfere with our own holiness, for genuine holiness is precisely a matter of enduring our own imperfections patiently."

Hmm, I always thought that holiness was the absence of sin. The more perfect in thought and behavior you could be, the holier you were. Perhaps, as Therese suggests, holiness is not the pursuit of perfection but rather a matter of bearing with yourself, even the more distasteful parts of yourself, your sin.

First though, awareness is necessary. This patient enduring can only be accomplished by those who are aware of their imperfections. Holiness requires self-honesty. You can't sit patiently with that which you deny exists. Simple enough. But really, who wants to sincerely probe the dark recesses? Self-examination is difficult work. As distasteful as it sounds though, self-examination is much more tolerable than being examined by another.

The psalmist, in Psalm 139, speaks of being searched, or examined, by God. Read through those six verses. Do they make you feel comfortable or uncomfortable?

If Jesus Came to Dinner--Luke 14:1-14

Jesus went to dinner at the house of a Pharisee and "when he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by the host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'give this person your place,' then in disgrace you would have to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher;' then you will be honored in the presence of all those who sit at table with you."

If you threw a dinner party and invited Jesus, where would you set him? Next to your loquacious but boring aunt? Between your two nihilist cousins? Would you leave it up to him to choose his place at the table? Wherever he sat, you can be sure he would have stirred things up, probably offending you and your other dinner guests.

It is hard for us to imagine how his words here can have any more impact than some advice on etiquette by Miss Manners. The words "disgrace" and "honor" should clue us in that he is speaking a language that was more meaningful for the people of his day than for us. All of relational life revolved around avoiding shame and gaining honor. How you were held in the community's regard meant everything.

How does this text speak to you? In what way might God be calling you to the lowest place?

Family Values?

Luke 12:49-52

I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in a family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.

This is one of Jesus' "hard" sayings. It seems to go against the healthy relationships other scriptures call us to. Jesus seems to be saying that even our closest, most stable relationships are affected, not always positively, by his coming.

The fire Jesus is referring to is the kingdom of God. Jesus was convinced that in his own person and mission a new phase in God's plan for the world was beginning. The kingdom of God was coming.

In view of this, Jesus doesn't diminish the importance of the family but instead points to the primacy of following Jesus. Even our most valued attachment's take a secondary place to the call of God on our lives. Jesus wasn't promoting strained relationships; he was saying that sometimes divisions are inevitable for disciples.

So Jesus came to bring fire. Where is the fire in you, that fire of purpose that launches you outside yourself and your piddly needs to a larger, more meaningful existence in God's kingdom? The fire of calling. The fire of following that call. Has the fire been smothered by other concerns? Time to consider anew God's destiny for us.

The Quality of Mercy--Luke 10:25-37

Took my family to see the new "Karate Kid" last week. Most of us thought it was a decent enough remake of the original, but I kept getting distracted by my obsession with comparing the new one to the original, which I venerate as one of those movies of my youth that changed my life (okay, it didn't exactly change my life, but I still liked it a lot).

Much was changed in the new movie--the setting for one, which is in China. I liked that change. One of the things that remained the same is the motto of the "evil" martial arts instructor for the bullies. I can't remember the entire motto, but part of it is "no mercy." He teaches his class to have no mercy on their opponents and to "finish" them when they are down. This vicious attitude is reprehensible to Mr. Miyagi in the original and to Jackie Chan's character in the remake. Fairness, respect and mercy are central to their understanding of martial arts. I know this first hand now that my son, Jack, is taking Tae Kwon Do. At the end of each session, the kids gather around the instructor and shout out their motto, and one of the themes is mercy.

As Jack learns to live into a life called to mercy through his martial arts instruction, I hope he is also learning something about mercy from his family and faith community. The gospel reading in worship on Sunday is the very familiar story from Luke 10 of the good Samaritan. A lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus gives him the basic Jewish teaching of loving God and neighbor. The lawyer wants more specificity (I'll refrain from any lawyer jokes): "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus tells a story in response, rather than give the lawyer the specificity he was seeking. The story of the good Samaritan ends with Jesus now asking the lawyer a question: "Who was neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hands?" Jesus has lobbed one to the lawyer and the lawyer hits it out of the park by answering, "The one who showed him mercy."

Reread this story today. You've read and heard this story so many times before. Try to read it with fresh eyes. What startles you about it? What pisses you off about it? What if you were a priest and heard Jesus tell this story? Would you think it fair to him? Are you the priest in the story or the Samaritan? Not an easy question, I should think.

Make a Joyful Noise--Psalm 100

This Sunday is Music Appreciation Sunday at WPPC. The choir will sing more than the usual one anthem, the congregation will have the opportunity to select the hymns and Christopher, of course, will be magnificent on the organ. I will diverge from my custom of reading from the Revised Common Lectionary readings for Sunday and read Psalm 100: "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord... Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing."

The Psalms have been called the hymnal of the second temple. These poems were put to music and sung during worship. Psalm 100 is one of the most beautiful of the songs of praise we find in the Psalms. Music was an important part of ancient Jewish worship, just as it is a vital part of our worship.

Sure, in the Christian churches, we can't agree on what kind of music God likes best. You can find churches that worship with loud, screeching guitars and drum solos. You can find churches that worship with quiet, meditative Taize music. You can find everything in between. And wherever you are on this spectrum, you wonder with dumbfounded amazement how those other people can worship, can connect with God, using that kind of music. But worship they do. Thanks be to God.

In the 1970s, hymn writer Fred Pratt Green wrote the following final stanza to his hymn "When in Our Music God is Glorified:"

Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always!
Alleluia!

Go make some noise...

The Road to Hope--Romans 5:1-5

Paul writes that "... suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope..." (Romans 5:3-4)

Suffering can lead you down one of two roads. You can go spiraling down that steep, curvy road that passes through anger, self-pity, bitterness and ends up in despair--that is, hopelessness. This, if truth be told, is the path of least resistance when suffering is encountered. It feels like the natural progression. In the classic old story, Job's wife advises him to curse God and die. Given Job's troubles, that seems reasonable. Who would blame him?

The other road, of course, is the one Paul describes. It is a narrow, uphill, rocky road that passes through endurance and character on the way to hope. Even on this road, getting sidetracked for a time on the road that leads to hopelessness is common. Paul knew this personally. But still, the road to hope is the road to life, and it is offered to all of us as a possibility, even in the darkest of circumstances, because of all the benefits God has showered upon us. Paul mentions some of them in these opening verses of Romans 5: Justified by faith, having peace with God, having obtained access to grace, standing in grace, and God's love has been poured into our hearts.

These are the reasons that the gate to the road to hope is open and the road is passable and why hope can be experienced even amid suffering. Granted, sometimes it is a bit of a journey to get there. And the traveling is arduous, without a doubt. But God's presence never leaves us and God's benefits are never exhausted. We can move forward. As a Benedictine nun once advised the writer Kathleen Norris during a dark time: "When you come to a place where you have to go left or right, go straight ahead."

Jesus' Bizarre Prayer Request, John 17:20-26

How do you feel when someone prays for you outloud and you didn't even request prayer? Are you comforted or do you feel intruded upon? Maybe it depends somewhat on what the pray-er asks for on your behalf.

I wonder how the disciples felt when Jesus interceded for them in the 17th chapter of John's gospel. This is the part of the gospel we refer to as Jesus' farewell discourse. Here, Jesus prays for his disciples just before his death. I bet the disciples felt strange though during this prayer. After all, it was not like our intercessory prayers. Now if the Son of God was going to pray for me, I'd really like him to petition God for my health, financial security, joyful family life, health and happiness for those I love, and my happiness and safety. Throw in a request for open parking spaces close to the front door of the church each time I head down there in the evenings, and I'd be ecstatic. Now that would be a prayer!

Jesus doesn't pray like that for his disciples. Rather, he offers a bizarre petition: "As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be in us, so the world may believe that you have sent me" (vs. 21). Jesus prays that his followers would be drawn into the life of the Holy Trinity. This, of course, is not your usual petition. The reality being referred to is deeply mystical. It's hard to wrap your head around. The Johannine theology is wondrous: The Father sends the Son to humanity precisely so that the Son may draw all humanity into the relationship that exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Whatever the status of your life is right now. Whether the glass is half empty or half full or pretty close to downright empty, you reside in God. Even all your seeking, doubts and uncertanties are experienced while in the security of the Trinity's joyful dance of relationship.

Think about that for awhile.

Leviathan--God's Pet Dragon

As an epilogue to our Blessing of the Animals, I offered a reflection on Psalm 104 today. It is a psalm extolling God's wonderful creation, especially animal life. The reading was especially poignant today, hearing the psalmist stand amazed at the "deep wide sea, brimming with fish past counting" as we all with heavy hearts consider the damage to marine life occuring now in the Gulf of Mexico. Humans continue to use and destroy rather than bless and nurture the creation.

This psalm is powerfully beautiful yet very odd. Consider the mention of Leviathan in verse 26. In other Old Testament books, Leviathan is the monster that inhabits the chaotic, unordered watery depths. In Job, it represents the power and mystery of God's creation, unconquered and uncontrolled by human beings. In Isaiah, it is the enemy of God that God had to conquer to bring order to the earth and overcome chaos. Yet in this psalm, Leviathan is God's pet dragon who romps in the waters (The Message). It is not scary at all. It is playful. It is God's playmate.

In verse 31, the psalmist calls God to rejoice in or enjoy God's creation. This is very strange language. No where else in the Psalms is God encouraged or called upon to rejoice or enjoy creation, God's own work. Humans are usually called upon to rejoice in God or enjoy God. The implication is that all of creation is upheld by God's joy. God delights in what God has made, and that delight is the very energy and vibrancy of the universe. This is very different than God as understood in the Noah story, for instance, where God regrets creation because of human wickedness and vows, after the flood, to restrain God's self from ever destroying the world again. It seems to be a commitment made with a sigh of resignation. Whereas Genesis paints a picture of God who sustains creation through an act of self-constraint, this psalm says that creation is sustained by divine revelry.

I like this playful, joyful God proclaimed by the psalmist. What about you?

An Awkward Reunion--John 21:1-19

In this post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to his disciples, Jesus is calling them once again, as he did at the beginning of his ministry, to follow him. They are doing the same they were doing when Jesus first called them--fishing. Isn't it funny how God calls us, not while we're in church or immersed in a blissful, prayerful meditation, but when we are carrying out the mundane activities of our seemingly mundane lives. Better yet, Christ calls in the midst of our failure.

The disciples are fishing and haven't caught anything, and then a figure from shore suggests they try on the other side of the boat. They do and bring in a hugh catch. It's then that they recognize it is Jesus.

Peter, always the first one out of the boat, can't wait to row back to shore with all this fish, so he jumps in and swims to shore, leaving his buddies to wrestle with the fish. Jesus has prepared a fish breakfast for them (Eucharist?). Over breakfast, Peter and Jesus have the necessary conversation. You know the meetings you have with people who you've disappointed or had a disagreement with or an out-and-out fight with. This was one of those awkward conversations. Made more awkward by Jesus and Peter's inability, at least a first, to get on the same page.

Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter loves him. The first two times he uses the Greek word agape for love--you know, that divine, sacrificial kind of love. Peter responds, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Peter uses the Greek word phile for love--brotherly, friendship kind of love. Finally, the last time, Jesus also uses phile when he asks Peter if Peter loves him. And Peter responds that he does, using phile.

Maybe in the moment of reconciliation with the one who has denied him, Jesus was expecting too much. Maybe Peter was offering all the love he good give, though it wasn't perfect. I think Jesus finally was saying, Ok, whatever, Peter. That's good enough. Just follow me.

It doesn't take some miraculous, intense faith or love to follow Jesus and to feed his sheep. Whatever faith you can muster at the moment will do the trick. Thankfully.

The Breath of God--John 20:19-31

In this post-resurrection appearance of Jesus conveyed by John, Jesus enters a locked house (quite ghostly, non-physical) and stands among the disciples, saying, "Peace be with you" (twice). He then commissions them to go forth and serve him and breathes on them (quite physical) saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

And so John presents this Jesus who moves about miraculously--very different from his pre-resurrection movements--yet is clearly a physical body, as he breathes on them, speaks to them, invites them to put their hands in his wounds and ultimately eats with them. It is clear that John wants us to understand that Jesus' post-resurrection appearances were mysterious. The disciples were a bit bewildered by this new Jesus--was he a ghost or a man? They did not understand this Jesus and their role in proclaiming this Jesus until Pentecost.

I like the prayerful meditation where you imagine the breath of God breathing in you and through you as you breath. This is a useful scripture to introduce this contemplative practice. An good Old Testament text to use is from the Genesis creation story where God forms Adam from the dust of the ground and breathes the breath (Hebrew word ruach or spirit) of life into him and he became a living being (Gen. 2:7).

You are breathing God's breath. Breath deeply, joyously.

Anointing the Feet? John 12:1-8

"Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a poind of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?' (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, 'Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.'"

The heads of kings were anointed as part of the enthronement ceremony. Frangrant oil being a sign of empowerment to rule. The only people who had their feet anointed were the dead. I wonder if this bottle of nard is left over from the spices used to anoint brother Lazarus, whom Jesus raised a few chapters earlier. One man in Mary's life was resurrecting, one was about to be put to death. Mary seems to see and understand it all. Maybe that comes from her time spent at Jesus feet while her sister was running about taking care of the household.

As we come ever closer to the end of Lent and the celebration of the resurrection, what in you needs to die and fall away so that new life might spring forth? Anoint it and let it go.

Whose Crops? Joshua 5:9-12

The Israelites have rolled across the Jordan River with ease and entered, finally, the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The first thing they do is circumcise the the males that were born during the journey through the wilderness. This is a renewal of the covenant. Then:

"The Lord said to Joshua, 'Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.' And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.
While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year."

Why did God choose the Jews? This is a question that Jews and Christians have pondered for centuries. We call it the "theology of election." The Hebrew scriptures do not provide a uniform answer to that question. Some passages indicate that God chose the Jews because God loved them more than any other people. Other places say the Jews were less evil than other people, so God chose them. Still, the most consistent reason given for their election is that God has a divine plan to bless the Jews so that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them. They are an instrument of God's love.

This passage from Joshua doesn't seem to support the latter explanation. The Israelites enter the promised land and immediately begin eating the crops sown by other people. And chapter six describes the Israelite destruction of Jericho which was to include, by God's direction, the destruction of everyone but Rahab and her family. They weren't much of a blessing to those in Jericho!

These questions of election still concern Christians today as we seek to understand the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict. How do you understand election--Jewish, and for that matter, Christian (we Presbyterians have been known to say a few things about Christian election)? What kind of view of election would be helpful in the current conflict?

You're Thirsty, Whether You Recognize it or Not

Isaiah 55:1-2

"Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money
for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat
what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food."

It's been a while since I've been to the Grand Canyon. I went as a boy and even then, I don't think we ventured down the long, dusty trail that leads to the bottom. We just stood at the rim and oohed and ahhed like the other tourists. But I am told that every so often on that trail, there are signs that say, "Stop! Drink water. You are thirsty, whether you realize it or not." Makes sense. It is the desert, after all, with very low humidity. Dehydration can catch up with you, even before you realize you are thirsty.

That's the way life is. You're strolling down the trail, taking in the beauty around you or maybe just trying to manage the difficult twists and turns on the rocky trail, and you don't even recognize your thirst until it's too late. You've lost a sense of centeredness, a sense of purpose; things seem to be spinning out of control. God seems distant.

Lent is the church's way of erecting a big sign that says, "Stop! Drink. You are thirsty whether you realize it or not."

How do you know when you are dehydrated, spiritually? What, spiritually, sates your thirst and hunger? Do you know how to get a drink?

Living Elsewhere--Philippians 3:17-4:1

There is an old rabbinic tale that goes like this: Once upon a time there was a man who was traveling through a village on his way to a distant city. He sought shelter with the well-know, hospitable village rabbi. As they ate a simple supper together in the rabbi's home, the traveler remarked at how sparse the rabbi's furnishings were, as he saw only a few chairs, a table and some books. The rabbi responded that he was amazed at how few items the traveler possessed, as he had only a suitcase. The traveler replied, "But I am only passing through." The rabbi said, "So am I, so am I."

The Apostle Paul, a Jewish Pharisee yet a Roman citizen, writes from his Roman prison, telling the Philippians, "Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthly bodies into glorious bodies like his own."

Philippi was a Roman colony in Macedonia. They were proud of their Roman citizenship. They knew how to live in one place yet be citizens of another, with all its benefits, privileges and responsibilities. Paul uses their familiarity with this concept to help them understand their situation in Christ. Yes, they were living in the world, a particular culture, with all it's assumptions and expectations, but they were citizens of another place. Having been firmly planted in heaven, through Christ, their cultural environment was not to hold power over them any more. They could stand back from it and see it for what it was--a transient, temporary phenomenon which would pass away. The anxiety that their cultural environment produced in them could be released; they belonged to an eternal kingdom.

What in your life is making you most anxious today? Can you find, within yourself, that spacious place where you can let go because, in reality, you are living elsewhere?

Pastor Steve

Psalm 91:1-4

You who live in the shelter of the Most HIgh,
who abide in the shadow of the almighty,
will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust."

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

Late last Wednesday evening in a darkened hospital room in Olympia, my step-father, Art, lay in bed heavily sedated, breathing shallow and irregular, while his assistant pastor, Steve, bent low close to his ear and read him Psalm 91, that great Psalm of deliverance. I was a little taken aback. My step-father was facing imminent death after a long battle with kidney failure and other ailments. Deliverance wasn't in the cards for him. The family had decided to keep him comfortable until the inevitable. I was thinking the 23rd Psalm would be more appropriate, offering reassurance that the Good Shepherd would lead Art home. Art died later in the week, comfortably, having fully received the love and care of his family, his pastor and the Good Shepherd.

Since then, I've given more thought than usual to Psalm 91. I like some things about it. I don't like others. The promise of deliverance of course is beautiful. But the promise seems so uncompromising. What happens when God doesn't deliver, when a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, and you fall too? What happens when you can't escape evil? What does this say about God? Is it a matter of believing hard enough or saying the right words?

It is also so conditional. God protects those who love God, but are they the only ones God protects? Do others stand a chance?

Is this an appropriate Psalm when all hope is lost?

Read it for yourselves. What do you take away from it?

Luke 5:1-11--Put out into deep water...

"Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.' Simon answered, 'Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break."

We all encounter failure in life. I think it was Thomas Edison who said something like, "If you haven't experienced failure to a sufficient degree, you aren't trying hard enough." Failure is common but discouraging, especially if it is spiritual failure we're talking about.

Simon--we also know him as Peter--was a fisherman by trade and had worked all night on the lake with his partners to catch some fish. Not a bit of luck. Discouraging but not uncommon, I suppose, if you're a fisherman. Whatever your occupation, sometimes things just don't work out. Jesus, in the morning, encourages them to "put out in deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Don't you love it when someone from another occupation, who knows nothing about the intricacies of your work, tells you how to do your job? Simon complains initially that they've tried all night, but this was Jesus after all who is doing the asking, so they do as he says. They catch an abundance of fish. Immediately, we become aware that this is not a story about the occupation of fishing. It is a story about the spiritual life and ultimately about the kingdom of God.

Is your spiritual life dry and lifeless? Do you feel like a failure in following Christ? Could this text be inviting you to go deeper? How might you do this? I'll talk about these matters in the sermon on Sunday.

Passion and Insignificance

This past week we had a guest preacher at the dedication of our renovated sanctuary at Woodland Park Pres, so I got to take a break from preaching and did not blog. The dedication celebration was a rousing success, as we had many former pastors and members in attendance to help us give thanks to God for the many years of ministry here and look forward to many more years.

This coming Sunday, we'll be reading Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke 4:21-30 in our worship service. Here's part of the Jeremiah passage:

"Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.'

Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am
only a boy.' But the Lord said to me,
'Do not say, I am only a boy;
for you will go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,'
says the Lord.

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
'Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.'"

How many times in your life have you felt frightened, weak and unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead of you in life? Maybe I should ask how many times a day?

All through the scriptures, people express disbelief that God would call them to do something in this world when obviously they are not up to the task for various reasons. For Jeremiah, it was his immaturity, his insignificance. But God can be pushy and says, "You shall go to all whom I send you and speak whatever I command you." Jeremiah is not going to get away.

Joseph Brodsky, a Russian-American writer said, "Passion is the privilege of the insignificance."

In what ways do you feel small now? How is the Spirit calling forth your passion from that insignificance?

Behind the scenes

I find it interesting in this first miracle recorded in John that very few people knew about it. He turns the water into wine and only Jesus' mother, some servants and the disciples are aware of it. The bride and groom don't know where the new wine comes from. The wedding coordinator doesn't know; he or she is astounded by the good wine being served last. Contrast this with, for instance, the feeding of the 5,000 or the healings that take place in crowded synagogues, where many people see them and broadcast them throughout the town.

The purpose in John seems to be that this is a bit of a private miracle intended for the benefit of Jesus' newly called disciples, that they might believe. Jesus starts by developing trust in that inner core of his ministry team.

When you work your miracles (obviously I use the term loosely to mean the use of your gifts), are you comfortable doing it quietly, behind the scenes, or do you prefer that people are aware of it and give you plenty of applause? For most of us, we certainly use our gifts for the glory of God, not to please others, but it sure helps to have some applause from time to time. I guess that's just human. Funny that Jesus, even when many people observed his miracles, often told them not to tell others. He didn't seem to want the acclaim. I guess that was Jesus being Jesus.

What to do when the wine gives out

John 2:1-11

Jesus and his disciples go to a wedding Jesus is imformed by his mother that the celebratory wine has run out. Jesus asks why he as a guest should be concerned with the wedding coordinator's lack of management skill. Mary seems to disregard this and tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. Being the dutiful son, Jesus tells the servants to fill the jars with water, which they do. When the wedding coordinator tastes the water, he finds that it is a delicious wine and wonders why the best wine was served last. The party goes on!

What do you do when life loses its ability to enchant, when you go through your day just marking tasks off your list, without much sense of satisfaction or meaning? What do you do when you lose any sense of the mysterious holy in your life, when the wine gives out?

Conversation with a Scientist

When in school, I ran screaming from all science classes and tried to find the settled warmth of the humanites; it is just where I felt most comfortable and successful. But as a preacher who comes to biblical texts from a theological perspective, I have always wondered how scientists hear the Word of God, particularly when reading some of the great Old Testament poetry which uses images from the natural world. I have always wanted to take some sermon time to sit down with a scientist and reflect on scripture. Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do this Sunday.

Conway Leovy is retired professor emeritus of Atmospheric Science at the University of Washington. He and I are going to sit down during worship and share our reflections on Psalm 29, which you'll find on my previous blog post this week. It is a Psalm that praises the God who is present in the storm, a literal storm. The images are powerful and moving. I'm looking forward to hearing his impressions, since I imagine he knows a thing or two about storms. I'll also be asking the congregation for they're comments and questions. Should be enlightening.

Baptism of the Lord Sunday

Happy New Year!

Christmastide is almost over; it ends with Epiphany on Wednesday, January 6. The Christmas season has been wonderful this year in this community of faith, as we have engaged ancient spiritual practices, both personal and corporate, to prepare for and celebrate the birth of Christ. My favorite is always the Christmas Eve service with communion and candlelight. How about you?

In the liturgical year, the first Sunday after Epiphany is always The Baptism of the Lord Sunday. So, as far as the church year is concerned, Jesus grows up quickly. Next Sunday we will celebrate the beginning of his ministry as he receives the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove after he is baptized.

To go with this theme of water and visitations from heaven, the lectionary provides us with Psalm 29, a beautiful Psalm of God's power in creation as the psalmist describes God's presence in a storm:
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
worship the Lord in holy splendor.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the ceders of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wildreness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, "Glory."

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!


Witnessing a powerful storm even from in a strong, secure house can be an awe-evoking experience. Can you imagine the feeling of the ancient peoples as they experienced storms from much more vulnerable locations? Have you had an overwhelmingly powerful experience of God while out in nature? What has God done lately that makes you want to respond, "Glory!" like the psalmist?

More later in the week.