My sermon this morning is a personal reflection on my own calling. My personal calling effects and influences St. Luke Church, but my calling is not the same as the calling of the church or everyone in the church. Still, it’s interesting to think about how the variety of ways that we live out what God means for our lives realizes itself.

Mark 1: 14-20 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.  As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’  And immediately they left their nets and followed him.  As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.  Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

January 22, 2012

Who Gives You Directions?

The last place Jonah wanted to go was the big city – Nineveh, exactly where God was trying to send him.  Jonah would rather stay curled up in the bottom hold of his safe little ship, hiding from God in plain sight. He would rather hide than go to the big city where there were so many people, so many people of different nationalities, different languages and different religions.

The big city looked like the most hopeless place in the world to him. He’d read about those people of Nineveh in the papers – about how violent they were and what bad things happen there.  From all he could tell from the local media those people were hopelessly lost. There were homeless people, beggars, and desperate folks ready to take advantage of you at every turn.

So when God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, that great city, Jonah had boarded a boat to go the exact opposite direction, toward the suburbs of west Tarshish.

Scared, lonely, and confused, Jonah stayed in his room on the boat as much as possible, watching TV and playing video games. When a storm raged outside, he tried not to pay any attention, but he had a niggling doubt deep inside. He felt a twinge of responsibility for the storm, knowing that God had called him and he wasn’t’ paying any attention. Jonah kept playing “Call of Duty” until the officers of the ship came and threw him out – and off the ship altogether.

The story goes that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish – and it was about that time that he began to wonder which was worse – following God’s direction, or going the other way.  He decided to try going to Nineveh, just to see what would happen.

Nineveh was a huge city – a three days walk across. Jonah walked just a third of the way into the city and half-heartedly told them what God was about to do if they didn’t change their ways, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” To his amazement the people of Nineveh listened to God’s warning and immediately started LIFE groups and prayer circles, changing their lives and praising God louder than his people ever did.

When God decided not to destroy Nineveh after all, Jonah was furious. “I knew it God. I knew you were just and merciful. That’s why I didn’t want to go to the city in the first place, because I know you are a God of mercy, slow to anger, and quick to give forgive. This is exactly what I feared – that you would give amnesty to these people I hate. I should have stayed home in the first place.

I can identify with Jonah.  I grew up in a little suburb inside Cincinnati called Westwood. I was scared of people in the city, downtown. I wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on there, except what I learned in the papers. It was only when I went the other way – when I left the country and went to Haiti that I could look back and see my own misconceptions about people in the city.  I wanted the church to get involved with mission to people in Haiti and Africa, but when I got involved in those missions, I saw more and more the needs closer to home.

My work in the city made me realize how much of our attitudes toward the city are shaped by fear mongering in the media that make folks in the city look bad. Folks in the suburbs don’t really know what they are scared of, but when we decide never to go into the city because of those fears, we miss some real opportunities.

The first time I went into the city of Philadelphia, I was invited by a professor at Swarthmore College to go to an orchestra concert.  I sat in the back of the car and marveled at the abandoned houses in the city. Highways were built specifically to make it possible for people to go to concerts and cultural events without having to see or be confronted by city life. But when I ended up living there, I came to realize that people are not so bad, not so fearful, despite the stories in the papers, despite the fears in the suburbs.

I realize that it’s an uphill battle to challenge these kinds of attitudes – to break down these kinds of barriers, but I feel God is calling me to do it, and I feel is calling me as pastor of this church to be breaking down those barriers.  That probably scares some people here, and makes people wonder what I want to get you into – but really this calling brings us many opportunities, preachers like David Brown, interns like Melaina Trice, connections with Edna Williams and the Mary Jane Enrichment Center.

We get to heal our blindness, and undo our fears, make connections with wonderful people that folks like Jonah never get to meet. So, the interesting thing is that God ended up calling me, through the church to come back out here to the suburbs.  Well, I had kind of figured I was better than that. I was living in the city and doing ministry in the city and so I was better than folks protecting themselves in the suburbs.  Well, God has been tearing down that misconception as well.  We’re all just beggars searching for bread.  We’re all broken people in need of the love and healing grace of God in Christ. God will tear down all the boundaries and love us into wholeness, mold us into community.

Thanks for walking this road with me, teaching me, putting up with me, following me, and leading me.  Who gives you direction?  How is God calling you?  I hope we can dare to listen and follow God’s calling together.

This is God’s good news.

Responsive hymn: 2137  Would I Have Answered when You Called

 

Genesis 1: 1-5, 26-27, 31  2: 1-3  In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.  Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.  And there was evening and there was morning, the first day…Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’  So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.  So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

 

The middle part of the story is adapted from the Genesis story by storyteller Michael E. Williams [Storyteller’s Companion to the Bible: Genesis]. “For the second reading this morning, I want you to imagine you were there, at the time of Jesus baptism by John the Baptist, imagine you were in the crowd yourself waiting to be baptized.  You might react something like these two:” T

 

Mark 1:4-11 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

 You Have a Part in the Story           

Jan. 8, 2012

Once upon a time, way back when the Bible wasn’t even written down yet, there was a group of people, a bunch of tribes, who had high hopes of being a nation.  They had an army, which, if the truth be told, had as much chance of standing up to the armies of their neighbors as the Eagles had of winning the Super Bowl this year.  They had a temple, which they rebuilt as best they could every time it was destroyed.  They had a god, whose name was so precious they couldn’t even pronounce it.

But they had a problem.  They liked to think that their god was very great, better than any of the other gods, but they couldn’t force anybody else to believe it.  And force was thought to be the best persuader.  They were wrong of course, and they figured that out when they realized they had a secret weapon. Their secret weapon, their ace in the hole, their last hope was — the storyteller.

She understood the problem very well, and she had an interesting solution.  It was, of course, a story.  She began:

 

Once upon a time, before there was time, before the beginning of the beginning of anything that ever was, there was God and there was nothing.  The emptiness was emptier than anyone could imagine, and the loneliness was lonelier than anyone could imagine.  So God began to tell the story that became the universe, saying,

‘Once upon a time, there was light.’  And there was light.  Then God named the light day and the darkness night, the first two characters in the story.  And at the end of the first day God said, ‘This is sweet.’

Then God continued the story that became the universe, saying, ‘Once upon a time there was a sky that sat upon the water.  (And that took care of the second day.) And once upon a time there was dry land surrounded by oceans, and the land sprouted chrysanthemums & sunflowers, and zucchini and tomato plants, and maple trees & apple trees, all with seeds to reproduce themselves.’  And at the end of the third day, God said, ‘This is sweet.’

On the fourth day God continued, ‘Once there were two big lights, and one will make you warm and lazy, or radiant and energetic in the day, and the other will make you howl or croon and swoon in the night.’  And so it was.  And God said, ‘This is sweet!’

On the fifth day, God told a story about the big mouth bass and the catfish, and about tweety parakeets and bright red cardinals and hooty morning doves and the giant condor.  And when God saw the colors of the fish sparkling in the water and how the birds graced the sky, the Creator sighed, ‘Oh, this is sweet.’

The sixth day, God rushed to complete the story, telling about elephants and tigers and groundhogs and worms (which, by the way, turned out to do more for the earth than just about anybody else in the story).  And God created kittens and bears, and anteaters and aardvarks and zebras and zebus.  But the story still needed something.  And God got an idea.  ‘Let’s put a character in this story who is just like us to take care of all the other characters and things in this story.  This character could pick up the story and tell it just as I have.’

So God told of a character who would be the very image of the divine storyteller.  The character was like God and came in two basic models, male and female (with lots and lots of styles).  And God told the character to tell the story and to continue the story.  And God told them to take care of all the characters in the story and to take care of each other.  When God looked at all the wonderful parts of this divine story, the Creator’s voice boomed across the entire creation like a strong wind, ‘Now this is seriously sweet.’

Then on the seventh day, God rested from telling the story of creation and blessed the day, setting it aside for rest. And to this day, storytellers like that first storyteller in Israel gather on this day of rest to tell God’s stories and to bless the day, each other, and creation, to sing songs and to celebrate the story.

When Jesus was baptized, people who had been telling the story recognized him as the Word who was part of creation from the very beginning. They recognized him as the Light, the Light of the World who connected all people to that first human creature, the Christ who renewed their connection to all of creation. Through Jesus, the story outgrew that one little group of people and became the story of many nations and innumerable people.

Through Jesus people came to understand that the story is more powerful than a thousand armies, & that God is the God of all people and of all that exists.  And today whenever someone is baptized, we let him or her know they are authorized and empowered to become storytellers, to claim their part in the story of the Living God that extends from the very beginning to this very day.  Whenever we celebrate God’s special love for a newly baptized Christian, whenever we share food, and whenever we get together on the day of God’s rest, we tell the stories and we remember who we are as part of God’s story, as people of the Word, as people with a role to play in the rest of the story God has planned.

This is God’s sweet news.

 

January 1, 2012 The New Covenant St. Luke UMC

As the angels fly away at the end of our holiday, as the parties end and we have one or two more days before going back to work or school, let’s just notice that there is a chance to start over today.  I’m always amused by the upswing in people who join the YMCA and exercise clubs right after Christmas.  Some will be there in 2 months, but so many of us start with good intentions and then forget where we were going so quickly. Our religious traditions – Christianity and more specifically United Methodism are set up purposefully to be a constant reminder of our covenant with the Living God, or really God’s covenant with us.  What is the covenant, the oath sealed in blood that we agree to today?

John Wesley first celebrated the Covenant service in 1755 or so. He found the service rich and meaningful and wrote in his journal, “Many mourned before God, and many were comforted. I I do not know that ever we had a greater blessing. Afterwards many desired to return thanks, either for a sense of pardon, for full salvation, or for afresh manifestation of His graces, healing all their backslidings” (January 1, 1775).

The Covenant service was a time of remembering God’s faithfulness, God’s everlasting covenants with humanity, and renewing our part of that covenant, accepting God’s offer of a new start and a chance to renew our promise to live not by our own way, but by God’s way. We renew this covenant every time we celebrate Holy Communion, and every time we celebrate the sacrament of baptism, which we are going to do three times in January on 2 separate Sundays!

Today we are going to use the heavy duty Wesleyan Covenant Prayer in our Communion Service at the place we usually say the Lord’s prayer.  You’ll notice that this prayer uses no uncertain terms to re-commit ourselves to God’s service and God’s love in our lives.

I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

 

If we took this prayer to heart, God would help us let go of every regret from the past year or years. If we take this prayer to heart, God will be in every intention we have for the New Year and we will be able to discern what intentions and plans we really need to go forward with.

 

May the bread of life that we eat this day connect us to all that lives.  May the sweetness of the juice bring us sweetness in a new millenium, a new beginning, a new time of possibilities for all humankind.

Creative God, you make all things new in heaven and on earth.  We come to you in a new year with new desires and old fears, new decisions and old controversies, new dreams and old weaknesses.

Because you are a God of hope, we know that you create all the possibilities of the future.

Because you are a God of love, we know that you accept all the mistakes of the past.

Because you are the God of our faith, we eat this bread and drink from this cup to become a part of you, as you are part of us.

My meditation tonight is a story based on a sermon by Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, called, “God’s Daring Plan.” [Bread of Angels, Cowley Publications, 1997] Rabbis in early Judaism would ask questions about a text or story in the Bible and they might answer it with another story.  This story is based on Dr. Taylor’s way of telling a story to imagine what happened on Christmas Eve.

The Gift of Love

December 24, 2011 Christmas Eve

God had made more difficult decisions. That decision to flood the world back in Noah’s time was very controversial. Some of the archangels thought God was going way too far, threatening baby seals and really messing with the environment. They had argued for a more focused message, like signs to encourage people to pick up their trash. They liked the rainbow sign, though.  They thought that was a nice touch.

Some of the other archangels on the council had disagreed back then. They thought letting any of those rebellious, war-obsessed, self-centered creatures survive was a major mistake and God should scrap the whole experiment and start fresh.

Yes, God had made more difficult decisions. But this decision to be born as a baby human into that very world God had made and re-made, this was proving to be one of the most controversial of all time!

God had come up with the idea himself and at first only talked to Michael about it. “Those babies are so cute,” God said. “I think people might finally come around this time. Babies are the best.  They don’t go to war. They don’t make hate speeches or litter or refuse to play with each other because they’re from different political parties. I could see myself warm and cuddly in some of those swaddling clothes. I could really see myself as one of those delightful creatures.  And people might start to understand what I have in mind for this creation I made.”

When God told the whole cabinet about the idea, though, they were not nearly as excited about it. At first they got really quiet. Then one of the archangels spoke up, “Don’t get me wrong, God. I usually think you have pretty good ideas. I really liked that time when you parted the sea to let your people escape from the Egyptian taskmasters.  That was brilliant. Maybe we could do something like that again. We definitely need to do something. Those human creatures have pretty much forgotten who you are and what you’re about completely.”

One of the other archangels got up and argued that it really was too dangerous down there on earth for any human baby, let alone one born into one of the poorest places in the world. “There are people down there who are really hungry, God. Lots of people. Folks have completely forgotten that there’s enough for everyone. Maybe if you had some super-powers or something! You could make bread out of stones and feed everybody. That would give them something to talk about.”

Another archangel who had been quiet cleared her throat. “At least, if you’re going to go down there, God, go to someplace safe. Go to one of those gated communities where they monitor everybody who’s coming and going. That neighborhood you’re looking at is really dicey. Folks around there fight all the time. You could get yourself killed!”

The council thought they had won the argument at that point, but when they looked around, they saw God walking out of the room. When they got up to follow, they stopped short as they got to the door. There was a big hole in the sky that they almost fell through. A star was blazing in the sky and there were shepherds looking up at them with stunned expressions on their faces.

The angels looked back at the shepherds. They were just as stunned, but they tried not to let the shepherds know it. They tried to look out of the corners of their eyes to see where God went, and they thought maybe they should say something.

Just then, they heard a baby cry from right underneath the star, and the angels sighed deeply. Michael stepped forward and said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for see–I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:  11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

And the angels began to sing:

 

Responsive hymn: 238 Angels We Have Heard on High