Proper 12, Year BEphesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

Do you like bread? I do. I like the taste and the smell that fills the house as it bakes. It’s one of the few foods that can be fulfilling just to smell. At this point, even if you don’t like bread, I’d recommend developing a taste for it, because we’re going to be hearing about bread in one form or another for the next five weeks.

Amen

Proper 11,B

Psalm 23
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Good morning, and welcome to the small green pasture, and to the sometimes still waters of Rainy Lake. Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to come and worship together this morning.

Because you do have a busy life, don’t you? We all do. It is practically a defining feature of life today. As theologian Henri Nouwen describes, “One of the most obvious characteristics of our daily lives is that we are busy. We experience our days as filled with things to do, people to meet, projects to finish, letters to write, calls to make, and appointments to keep. Our lives often seem like overpacked suitcases bursting at the seams. It fact, we are almost always aware of being behind schedule. There is a nagging sense that there are unfinished tasks, unfulfilled promises, unrealized proposals. There is always something else that we should have remembered, done, or said. There are always people we did not speak to, write to, or visit. Thus, although we are very busy, we also have a lingering feeling of never really fulfilling our obligation.”

We have an on-going thirst for more, and a self-imposed need to work continually to quench that thirst. Professor David Lose opines, We are enslaved to notions of success, and therefore put few limits on work. We are enslaved to ideas about our children having every opportunity possible, and therefore schedule them into frenetic lives and wonder why they have a hard time focusing. We are enslaved to the belief that the only thing that will bring contentment is more — more money, more space in our homes, more cars, more things to put on our resumes or in our closets.”

It seems almost a badge of honor to claim business. The question, “How are you?” or “How was your day?” is as likely to inspire the answer “Busy” or produce a list of activities as a description of the state of one’s well being, or quality of the day.

And it doesn’t end with retirement, a fact that seems to take many by surprise. My brother and I used to chuckle at my father. In his working life, he had a busy, busy job, with long hours, and travel. At some points of his career, he was making decisions that ultimately affected many lives. Yet, after he retired, we were no less likely to hear, “I just don’t have time”, “Today was just crazy.” And it was quite true. All the projects that had to be put on hold in the rush of the working world day suddenly loomed large for him.

Even in our leisure, we have forgotten how to stop and rest and be still. We are connected to computers, iPods, electronic games, ear pieces, even books or radios or projects. Anything to keep us distracted, busy. Spiritual rest demands tuning in, not tuning out. We have a very hard time with the concept of simply being still and knowing that God IS (Psalm 46:10).

Apparently, this is not a completely new issue. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,” the psalmist says. The psalmist does not say “The Lord provides a green pasture that I had an option of lying in for a while if I find the time between other obligations.” The stopping, the resting, the stillness are all part and parcel of the restoration of our souls.

John O’Donohue has this advice:

“You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.”

The apostles came home from the mission that Jesus had sent them on. This crazy mission of traveling 2×2 into unknown regions, casting out demons and healing the sick. They were full of stories and adventures – the grown up version of a little kid after the first day of school…” and we did this… and the gentile said, said…and there was this one kid, you know what he did….and….” The community was excited and the people pressed around, “many were coming and going, and [the apostles] had no leisure even to eat.”

Jesus saw their weariness, their need for communion, for nourishment both spiritual and physical, for rest and re-creation. “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” They needed to step back, and get a perspective. This applies no less to us as we go through our daily lives. We need the Sabbath rest no less than the disciples. The sabbath rest is not a Sunday only thing. It is not about church services, although that can be an important part of it. Rather, the sabbath rest “invites a chance to step back and stand apart from all the things that usually drive and consume us that we might detect God’s presence and providence and blessing, experience a sense of contentment, and give thanks”. (David Lose)

Do not fear that we will be lost in the resting. The world soon calls us back, as it did Jesus and the apostles. Those needs are ever before us, and we are called to respond with the compassion of Jesus.

We are called to rest. We are called to serve. We are called to compassion. We must faithfully do the first in order to accomplish the others. As Crossan explains “[The gosple writer] Mark joins contemplation and action in the healing process. Those who serve Christ must take time for prayer; they must nourish the connections that enable them to experience the lost and broken as brothers and sisters rather than nuisances and nobodies.”

The people of Evanston, Illinois combined rest and prayer and service in this way:
In response to a growing number of homeless people a Baptist church in a wealthy suburb of Chicago decided to open its doors as a shelter. Other church leaders were considering doing the same. When the Evanston city council heard about this, it moved to pass a new zoning ordinance forbidding the use of churches as shelters for the homeless. The organizer of one shelter project had no complaint. They didn’t open a shelter. Instead, they combined spiritual rest, service and compassion. They decided to host an all-night prayer vigil to which all were welcome. Participants in the prayer vigil bulletins and hymnals, as well as pillows and blankets. (Source: Denise Griebler from Aha!!! July-September 1999, Vol. 8, #4.)

Spiritual rest…service…compassion

Let us pray –

Help us to be the fringe on the hem of Jesus’ garment, O God.
We pray that you give us threads of compassion when others reach out for healing.
We ask for threads of awareness of those around us who feel as if all is hopeless.
Give us threads of willingness to become weary for others.
Give us threads of strength and rest when we do indeed become weary.
Holy God, form these threads into fringe, that we may be visible reminders to the world of who you are and who you have called us to be.
Help us to be the fringe on the hem of Jesus’ very call on our lives.

Amen.

adapted from a prayer by anna murdock

PROPER 9, B

2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-10

MARK 6:1-13

In Mark’s Gospel we heard two stories today. In the first one, Jesus returns to his home town to preach in the synagogue. We can assume that the stories of his ministry have preceded him, but the wonder at his wisdom and power is quickly replaced by contempt when they realize that this Jesus is one of their own. Well, how can he be the one? How can someone we’ve known for years as the local carpenter now come to us as a Rabbi?

Jesus responds with his own disappointment clear. “Prophets are not without honor except in their hometown, and among their own kin and in their own house.” Remember that just recently his family had shown up where he was preaching and healing in Capernaum to take him home because they thought he had lost his mind.

So Jesus leaves them to preach among the other villages. And now when he sends out his disciples two by two to spread the word and heal the sick, he tells them, “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet. . .” This is based on the Jewish practice of shaking off the dust of non-Jewish territory when they travel through it.

Jesus is telling his disciple several things at one time. If people refuse to hear you, move on. Treat them as you would non-Jews, not blaming them or blaming yourselves for not succeeding with them. Your job is to testify to the truth and not be discouraged by any failures, but just move on to the next opportunity.

Isn’t this good news? As one commentator noted, “evangelism is not ‘to get them on our side’ or even ‘to grow the church,’ but simply to tell others about the God who has come to mean so much to us. This is an action performed out of love, not competition or anxiety.” We don’t need polished words, sophisticated theology, or clever dogma to speak of our faith. We are simply called to speak truth in love, from the heart, in our own words, and never be ashamed.

The best news is that we are not held responsible for the response to our ministries in Christ’s name, but only for our own faithfulness to the task. So why is it so hard for us to witness boldly and faithfully?

One of the commentators told this story about a woman who worked in a bookstore. She waited on a Hasidic Jew one morning, who asked to know about Jesus. She showed him the section of the store with books on Jesus. “No,” he said, “Don’t show me any more books, tell me what you believe.”

The woman reported that, “My Episcopal soul shivered.”

But she gulped and told him everything she could think of. Such God-talk, especially outside of church, makes most of us anxious and we worry about knowing the right words. Most Episcopalians would rather talk about anything else, even sex or their salary, before talking about what they believe about God or Jesus.

But Jesus has made it very clear, in sending the disciples out and in many other places, that telling the story with words is part of our job as disciples. The good news is that we are not responsible for the response to our words. Like the sower, we don’t have to be successful; we just have to sow the seeds.

And there is more good news in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. The passage we heard today was written as part of a longer message against the so-called super apostles who were having some success in Corinth. They boasted of their personal spiritual experiences and used that personal experience as the basis for their authority. This is a phenomenon that is still current in our times and can be found on TV most any week you care to tune in.

This somewhat explains the convoluted way he talks about a vision he had. He distances himself from it by saying someone else had the vision. So he might boast about someone else but not about himself.

As one commentator noted, “Just as he had earlier affirmed that he regularly spoke in tongues but refrained from doing so in public because it did not benefit the entire community, now he alludes to his powerful vision without directly describing it. Such inward experiences deepen his faith, but they do not constitute a basis for his authority over the church. That authority rests not upon what he has experienced in an inward, private way, but on the manner in which he is living the gospel in their midst.”

Paul then goes on to describe a “thorn in his flesh,” given to him by Satan, but that keeps him from being too elated by his spiritual experience. In other words, this thorn keeps him humble, keeps him grounded, and prevents him from thinking too highly of himself (as, by implication, the super apostles do).

Now there’s always been much speculation about what this thorn might be, but once again, Paul does not describe it. In the days of my youth I heard it said it might have been epilepsy. More recently I’ve heard folks speculate that Paul might have been gay. Really, we don’t know and it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Paul was not perfect either. Clearly this was some sort of spiritual glitch in his character that he had to struggle against and that reminded him that he was like the rest of us. What Satan intended for harm is transformed by God’s grace to blessing.

When Paul asked God to remove this thorn, three times, his request was denied and he claims that God said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

And Paul concludes, “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

Not only does this tell us that we can be disciples in spite of our weaknesses, but that we must be; that our weaknesses make us better disciples than any sort of perfection would; that being a wounded healer is more important and more effective than being perfect, because God can transform our weakness into power. What we do in our weakness can transform others through the power and grace of God working through us.

All God asks us to do is to be faithful to God and to be willing to talk to others about that faith. We know how to live out our faith in the world. We just have to go do it and share it. We don’t have to do it well, we won’t be graded on our performance, and we may never know if we made an impact, but that’s OK. We just have to walk the walk and talk the talk, knowing that God is with us. AMEN

Proper 10, Year B, 7th Sunday after PentecostAmos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Mark 6:14-29

A week ago we had a beautiful display of Northern Lights. Great flowing curtains of green light with some hints of pink and white and blue. I caught a hint of it from inside and couldn’t resist the chance to go outside and bask in the glory of God’s creation. The lights eventually faded into a gentle haze of soft green. I went back inside, but not because the lights had faded. Honestly, I harbored hope they would explode again. Know what drove me in? Mosquitoes. There were probably 10 but it seemed like hundreds of them, whining in my ears and apparently able to find the smallest hint of bare skin. (Why did God create mosquitoes anyway?) The story I tell, though; the experience that was transformative and brought home the glory of God was that heavenly display of lights dancing across the sky.

So, in the midst of that glory and wonder I contemplated today’s Gospel. And I thought, “Mark. Buddy. What are you thinking? Somehow, this story is not imparting the transformative glory of God.” This is more the stuff of bad sensationalist television.

The story that precedes today’s is the one we read last week. Mark shares the excitement of new mission as Jesus commissions the disciples to go forth 2×2. They perform wonders and miracles. The story that follows today’s (spoiler alert – you won’t hear this until next week) is the disciples’ triumphant return, having healed and taught and done deeds of power followed by the feeding of the 5 thousand.

Sandwiched in between these 2 momentous and uplifting events, Mark finds it necessary to tell a gruesome, sordid story of hatred, manipulation, corruption, power grasping and murder. Why? Apparently, Matthew and Luke had the same question. They had access to Mark’s material, yet Matthew skims over the event with a minimum of detail, and Luke doesn’t mention it at all. This is the only story in the entirety of Mark’s gospel which does not have Jesus at its center, and yet he practically lingers over all the unsavory details.

Why? Why does the typically terse Mark find this grisly tale crucial enough to spend so many words on it? Perhaps because Mark does not sugar-coat. This is the world in which we live. This is the world into which the disciples were sent. This is the world into which we are called to bring the light and love of Christ.

We meet the unscrupulous Herodias and her charming, but apparently conscience-free daughter. More interestingly, we are made privy to the internal struggles of the ambiguous villain Herod, a man torn between his own innate sense of the Holy and his insatiable appetite for power. We want to despise him, murdering a holy man at the bidding of a 12 year-old and her spiteful mother. But do we not recognize ourselves in the flawed Herod? Fighting the battle between the truth within us, and the picture we would present to the world.

“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other,” the Psalmist says. “Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.” This is the promise of God, and we rightfully cling to these words. But the promise does not come to us gift-wrapped, fully assembled. This promise is one we are called to keep with God in Christ.

I am not a prophet, Amos tells us in the first lesson. “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees” Yet, the Lord called him to speak truth to power. Met by threats and derision, he followed the Lord. The truth was told, the plumb line set.

The message of truth, and oddly, the message of love, is not always met with joy and earthly rewards. John the Baptist, and later Jesus himself died for the sake of truth, justice and love. In more recent times, consider Martin Luther King, Jr. Born into segregation and anger and hatred, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood and told the truth. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” He let his light shine. He let his love show. He died, but the Kingdom of God came closer.

I am no prophet, you may say. I am an engineer, a grandmother, an administrator, a retired person, a gardener. I’m just an ordinary person. Still, you are a child of God, and you have a choice to make. We can choose the way of Herod, recognizing but ultimately sacrificing truth for our own self-serving purposes. Or we can choose the way of Amos, of John the Baptist, of Martin Luther King, Jr.; living the truth of God regardless of the cost of that discipleship. Living the way of Christ.

You may say, “Um, but I have made other choices. I have, on occasion, chosen self over truth, comfort over justice, anger over love.” The beauty of a life in Christ is that unlike Herod, we get to make another choice, a different choice.

We live in a broken, frightened world. That is the way of the world. It is the world Mark shows us today. But Jesus came to show us this is not the end of the gospel story. It’s not the end of our story. The five thousand will be fed. The aurora borealis will shine again in the darkness. If we choose the sometimes difficult path of love, then amidst the brokenness, amidst the fear, we can live a life in remembrance that joy and praise and gratitude and love are crazy mysteries this broken world (T. Haut, Midrash, 2012) – mysteries far more profound than the creation of the mosquito.

I want to close with the Mosquito Prayer offered by the Reverend Timothy Haut,

O God beyond all understanding,
you have created a wondrous world
which includes mosquitoes.
Everything has its place in the marvelous web of creation,
and certainly these little beings may be a blessing
to swallows and bats, to fish and frogs.
But we, the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve–
we who are made just a bit lower than the angels–
are nothing more than meat to little Anopheles.
Their squadrons are the bane of a summer night;
they are the buzz of disease and death
among your precious people.
We could do without them, please.
But if nothing else, O Lord, let them remind us,
when we are tempted to use each other
to satisfy our own appetites,
that there are already enough mosquitoes in the world.
Help us not to be bearers of distress,
but the givers of life.
Amen.

–Timothy Haut, Midrash discussion, July, 2012

PROPER 7, B

Job 38:1-11

Mark 4:35-41

I love this reading from Job, even though it doesn’t really answer Job’s questions, at least not directly. Poor Job has had terrible troubles. He has always been a righteous Jew, and he prospered in his life. Then God made a deal with the devil to test Job’s faith by taking away literally everything he had, property, wife, children, respect.

Now Job passes that test by staying faithful, but he also rails at God for treating him in this manner. His so-called friends come to console him, but end up saying he must have done something wrong or these terrible losses wouldn’t have happened to him. In other words they agreed with the theology of the day, that God rewards good people with worldly goods and punishes evil ones by taking things away from them.

So if Job is now without any worldly good, without a wife or children, he must have done something to deserve this. Of course, Job knows that he didn’t, and God knows that he didn’t, but when he questions God about this and demands some explanation, God replies out of the whirlwind:

“Gird up your loins like a man, and I will question you, and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.”

In other words, who are you to question God? Rather it should be the other way around. Are you the one who created the cosmos? Well, no. Are you the one who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb? Are you the one who prescribed bounds for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther and here shall your proud waves be stopped?’

This last bit, of course, is the connection to today’s Gospel, in which Jesus calms the sea. He and his disciples escape from the crowds in a boat, when a great storm blows in on them, so that the boat was in danger of swamping. Jesus is asleep on the stern seat. The disciples become terrified and wake him up. Jesus calms the storm, then turns to them and says, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

And what do the disciples do? Do they even hear his question? Evidently not, because they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Sure, the disciples were still trying to figure out who Jesus is, and they were rightfully awed by his power to calm the storm, but they seem to pay no attention to his words to them.

“Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”

There are many places in the Bible where people are told not to fear or to have no fear. We hear these words over and over, and I suspect we pay just as little attention to them as the disciples did.

Remember that to be faithful is to give our trust. To have faith in God is not just to believe that God exists, but to trust God, to give our lives to God, to trust that in the end God will make it right, that all will be well with us. If we really have faith, we will not be afraid. And if we let fear rule us, it means we are not trusting God.

This does not mean that if we have no fear God will do what WE want. It does not mean that God will keep us safe from all harm. Bad things happen in this world and bad things happen to everyone, somewhere along the way. But I think what Jesus was saying to the disciples and what God was saying to Job is that God is with us whatever happens, and if we have faith in God, we can live our lives without fear.

It’s become very clear to me over the years that fear is what makes us hate others, exclude others, avoid others. It is also clear that there are many voices in our culture that encourage us to be fearful. This may be political use of fear to control people.

I hated all the fear mongering that went on after 9/11 and I’m still very concerned about the long-term results of the Patriot Act and other legislation that was passed to “keep us safe.” As if legislation can ever do such a thing. They pass legislation to require us to wear seat belts to “keep us safe,” but we can still die in a car crash. Certainly the church has been guilty of fear mongering as well, whether it used the threat of damnation, or the threat of shunning or excommunication, or the threat of ruining your business.

An article in the current issue of Sojourners Magazine by Brian McLaren and David Csinos talks about how keeping children cocooned safely in bubble wrap to “keep them safe” winds up teaching them to be afraid – afraid of all kinds of things, but particularly anything that is different.

My husband and I have often swapped stories of our childhood. We both were sent out to play with NO adult supervision whatsoever, with only the injunction to be home at a certain time or to return when our mother’s blew our whistle. All the moms had different whistles, so we knew who was being summoned. We couldn’t go outside the neighborhood without permission, but we often got permission to go some blocks away to go to the drugstore for a coke or the dairy for an ice cream.

All through grade school I walked to and from school, about 5 long blocks that were also up and down hill. By the age of 8 or 9 I was taking a city bus after school to go downtown for a piano lesson. Then I walked to Dad’s office to get a ride home. My grandchildren at 8 and 10 were not allowed to walk from their home on Hiway Lane to mine on Riverside Drive. They were driven to and from St. Thomas school. I have never known them to play in the neighborhood or use the playground on Riverside Drive.

When I took them out on the houseboat and asked if they wanted to jump off the roof into the water they thought I’d gone round the bend. They didn’t even believe me when I said I would do just that – until they saw me do it! I saw how easy it is to be paralyzed by fear, and it does not lead to the kind of life God wants for us.

And what about worry? How much time and energy do we spend on that? And isn’t that a direct result of fear? Trust in God can alleviate both fear and worry in our lives, but it’s not easy to overcome fearfulness. Practice gratitude. Practice mindfulness. Notice when fear kicks in and decide whether to ignore it or pay attention to it. Find ways to put it aside when it hinders your ability to do and be all that you can be, all that God calls you to be.

When I took my grandchildren to Washington, DC, they were surprised to encounter homeless people on the streets, but they were determined to give all of them some money. They had not yet learned to be afraid of the homeless and were an example to me in selfless generosity. No one had to tell them that we had so much more that we could surely afford to share. So let us be brave and fearless and trusting as a child who has not yet learned fear. AMEN

PROPER 6, B

Ezekiel 17:22-24

Mark 4:26-34

Today’s Gospel includes two parables about the Kingdom of God. Sometimes this is translated as the Reign of God, pointing to a time when God’s will, in fact, will be done here on earth. Jesus repeatedly tries to explain this idea to his followers because this is the ultimate aim of his presence with us.

In the first parable we have a sower who sows his seed, which does sprout and grow, he knows not how. Now one commentator said this was a dumb farmer, but I think Jesus meant it this way because the growing is ultimately a mystery, and that means that the growing is God’s work, not ours. We can nurture the plants, fertilize, water, maybe. We can watch and pray, but there’s nothing we can do to make the seed grow.

My Uncle and my cousin were both owners and managers of several farms in southern Iowa, and the thing they did the most of was worry – especially about the weather. All summer long they would fuss and stew about the weather, too much sun, to little rain, etc. It was the topic at every meal, but until the end of the growing season, there wasn’t much they could do about it but wait for the harvest.

So, by implication, the sowing of the word, the planting of the word is our job, but the growth of that planting is God’s worry. And if the crop should fail, we just plant again next season, like all good farmers.

The second parable is the familiar one of the mustard seed, which was the very smallest seed know to the people of Jesus’s time. However, from that seed could grow a large shrub, large enough for birds to nest in its shade.

The parable says this is the greatest of all shrubs. And in the tradition of the old Testament, a great tree that provides nesting for many birds is understood to be a symbol of a great empire, with the birds representing the many nations that are part of that empire.

One of those passages is what we heard this morning from Ezekiel. God speaks, and promises to take a small branch from the very top of a great cedar tree and plant it on the mountain height of Israel. “Under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind.”

This is Israel, as a light to the nations of the world, drawing other nations into it’s form of life and justice. And not just some nations, but every kind of nation.

Jesus uses this same sort of image, except that for the mighty cedar tree he substitutes the lowly mustard bush. Jesus is not really talking about empire here, but rather a gathering of the people into a place where peace and justice prevail. The bush is much more familiar to his audience than tall trees too. But the idea of it growing from something very small is the same. It is only God that makes such growth possible.

As we well know, people can help or hinder the growth of the kingdom, but ultimately the future of the kingdom is in God’s hands. What we have to remember is that God’s time is not our time.

When we plant something and check it every day, it’s very hard to see the growth. But if we check it once a week or every ten days, we can see the difference rather easily. I know that sometimes I feel like the Kingdom is no closer now than it was in Jesus’s day. But other times something will catch my attention and I’ll think, “Boy, we’ve come a long way!”

Sometime in the last few months I heard a report on TV that claimed that the amount of violence in the world was vastly reduced from what it was several centuries ago. One of the commentators on this Gospel tells this: “When Elizabeth Fry went to Newgate Prison in 1817 she found in the women’s quarters three hundred women and numberless children crammed into two small wards. They lived and cooked and ate and slept on the floor… She found there a boy of nine who was waiting to be hanged for poking a stick through a window and stealing paints valued at twopence.”

Every generation sees great hardships, wars, disasters, and people who are cruel, but our world today has eliminated slavery in this country and many others. We still go to war, but we don’t kill as many people (just look at the figures from the Civil War, for example or even the Crusades). While our prison system is still based on punishing rather than rehabilitating, there are people working hard for restorative justice.

I think it’s at least possible that the people of the earth are still evolving and may indeed be getting better. That’s not to deny that we have a long way to go, so our job as disciples is a very secure one for the time being. Whether we look at our world, our nation, our state, our community or our neighborhood, there is much to be done.

We must remember, though, that the outcome is not our responsibility. We are called to be God’s people right here where we are, and God can worry about the rest of it. Whether this church thrives or dies, whether this community thrives or dies, in the long run God’s harvest will come in.

Meanwhile, we can choose to be kind or rude, caring or not, servant or selfish. We can answer God’s call to us in Jesus or not. I suspect that for most of us it’s more like sometimes yes and sometimes not so much, but as God’s people in this place, we are trying to do what we can to grow the kingdom.

We do this every day — by how we act, by what we choose to do or not do, by how we vote, by how we talk, by how we pray. And we show who we are by the fact that we continue to live in hope: hope that things will get better in the long run; hope that people no longer will die of hunger; hope that everyone will have enough for a decent life; hope that all children of ability will have access to higher education, hope that kindness will overcome judgement, that inclusion will overcome exclusion.

And we still have the hope expressed in an old hymn:

“God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year,

God is working his purpose out, and the time is drawing near.

Nearer and nearer draws the time – the time that shall surely be,

When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.”

PROPER 5, B

Mark 3:20-35

As you may remember this is the year we are reading the Gospel of Mark, except that Lent and the Easter season used John instead. Today we begin the post Pentecost season and we will be reading through Mark for some time.

Let me just remind you what has happened in Mark’s Gospel prior to this morning’s reading. It began with John the Baptist in the wilderness and with the baptism of Jesus. Then Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee after John is imprisoned by calling the disciples. He goes about preaching in the synagogues and eventually out in the countryside because the crowds who come to hear him have gotten so large. He returns on several occasions to Capernaum, probably to the home of Simon Peter.

Besides preaching he has been casting out demons and healing the sick. The scribes and Pharisees are already around to question him. Why do Jesus and his disciples gather grain on the Sabbath? Why does Jesus heal on the Sabbath? Why is he eating with tax collectors and sinners? The last time he stayed in Capernaum the crowd was so large that four men had to lower a paralytic through a hole in the roof to gain access to Jesus.

This morning we find Jesus and the disciples in Capernaum, where it is so crowded in the house that they cannot even eat. This lesson is really two stories, with one wrapped around the other. One has to do with Jesus’s family and the other has to do with the scribes from Jerusalem who accuse him of using Satan’s power to cast out demons. This helps to create the sense of inside vs. outside. The outside story is family, who hear that Jesus has gone out of his mind and hope to restrain him. And physically they are in the crowd outside the house, whereas the scribes are inside baiting him.

Not until he has answered the scribes does he return to deal with his family. And this is what we’ll consider today, because it’s rather a strange little story. Why does his family think Jesus has lost his mind?

Think first about the sort of society they lived in. Yes, it was settled in farms and villages, but it wasn’t far from the tribal times, and the importance of family and tribe is hard for us to grasp. In that society, individuals did not have the choices we’re used to: to marry whom we want; to remain single; to prefer someone of our own gender; to have or not have children. The future of the community was of greater importance than any individual desires or concerns. Women and men both had the obligation to marry and to have children.

Honor had almost as much to do with your position as did your occupation or your wealth. It mattered what the neighbor said or thought about you and everything you did reflected on the family/tribe.

Where does this leave Jesus? We assume that all his life he’s been a good Jewish son. Then he leaves home, leaves his work, which helps to support his family, and goes off with a ragtag bunch of friends stirring up trouble. Jesus has

• Thrown away the security of job and family
• Thrown away his safety (and maybe theirs) by defying the powers that be.
• Defied the norms of his society by not caring what anyone says about him.

So, after dealing with the scribes, the crowd reminds him that his Mother, brothers, and sisters are outside the house asking for him. And Jesus denies them. Looking at the people around him he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Whether Jesus knew why they had come or not, he cuts them off with two sentences! What about “Honor thy father and mother?” What Jesus models here is exactly what it may mean to put God first. Nation, society, and family come after that. When the goals, wishes, or desires of any of these are in conflict, God’s will comes first.

Do you think it didn’t hurt Jesus to do this? Well, we don’t hear about it, but I have no doubt that it pained him, just as it would have pained him to know they thought he was crazy, just as it must have pained him when they found him in the Temple and were upset with him.

I know you remember the story of his calling the disciples – they dropped what they were doing and followed, leaving their family, their business, wives and children behind. We don’t ever hear how the ones left felt about it, but it’s not hard to imagine. Yet they honored the call of God above all else.

Sadly, this is often the cost of discipleship. If we chose to follow Jesus, to study his life and try to follow in his Way, the costs can be high. When I started the Deacon’s training while I was living in Minneapolis, my best friend started making funny comments. She acted like I’d joined some weird cult. It didn’t end our friendship, but it was never the same after that either. And she never acknowledged in any way my ordination as a priest.

I suspect for many of us, our families and even friends are more important than anything else. And normally this is a good thing. It’s when the pressures of such relationships keep us from putting God first that there’s conflict.

In a community like this one, it’s easy to find families that have been close and comfortable for generations. But in this day and age, I suspect that we all know young people who have had to cut the ties to their families in order to survive or in order to stay healthy. They often find “family” somewhere else or form new families with their friends.

One of the commentators on today’s lesson talked about “true kinship.” Such kinship is based on common experience, common interest, common obedience, and common goals. Many families have this, but some don’t.

It would appear that the family of Jesus had all this, but they did not, indeed could not, understand what he was about when he stepped outside their norms. The crucifixion stories make it clear that Jesus was reconciled with his Mother and at least some of his brothers later. It appears that they came to understand his work later on and became followers as well.

But if you choose to follow, there are no guarantees that the breaches it causes will be healed, at least in this lifetime. And it takes courage and strength to do the right thing when others don’t see it that way. Jesus never said the Way would be easy, but he promised that we would not be alone. The Holy Spirit goes with us and so do all the other disciples. The Family of God is very good company along the Way.

[sing}

“We are the family of God.

Yes, we are the family of God,

And He’s brought us together to be one in him

That we might bring light to the world.”

AMEN

TRINITY SUNDAY

ISAIAH 6:1-8

JOHN 3:1-17

You can relax and sit back because I am not going to talk about Trinitarian theology as it emerged in the 4th – 11th Centuries. Rather I’d like to look at the roots of this theology in the early Christian experience.

As you well know, part of the story of the death of Jesus was that at the time he died, the curtain of the temple was split in two from top to bottom. This curtain was what separated the most inner chamber, the Holy of Holies, from the rest of the temple. It was believed that God dwelt in this room, and even the high priest could only enter that room once a year.

I have come to think of this as the moment that God lept forth into the world – no longer restrained to one place or one “religion.” This is an immanent God, one that is present with us in this world, not a transcendent God who sits on his throne in heaven far removed from our daily grind. Mind you, this God has always been with us, but often we forget.

The resurrection and ascension of Jesus proved that Jesus could not be locked in a tomb, nor locked in death, but lived in spite of being crucified, and not only lived, but returned to the Father. These events cleared the way for the disciples to step into his shoes and continue his work in the world. And they also reminded them of the promise Jesus made to be with them to the end of the age.

At Pentecost, the spirit was turned loose in the world, and it’s power was made evident in the events of that day. This was the promised advocate, the partner who would accompany the disciples on their travels, giving them courage, hope, power, and wisdom.

The message of these events is mighty clear. You can’t keep God in a box. You can’t keep Jesus in the grave. You can’t control the Holy Spirit – it blows where it will.

So why is it that “religion” so often tries to do just that. The Jews were not the only group to try to keep God in a box. Every time we try to define God in any sort of complete or final way, that’s what we’re doing too.

I can remember sermons from my youth that talked about the age of Prophesy, and how it ended after Jesus. Hello? I don’t think so. Are there not prophets in our own day — people who are willing to speak even the most uncomfortable truths? Think about Martin Luther King, Jr. Desmond Tutu, Oscar Romero, those indomitable women who led the suffragettes and fought for birth control.

My experiences at General Convention when the election of Gene Robinson to Bishop was considered surely convinced me that the Spirit is alive and well in this day. Like anything having to do with the spirit, it’s hard to describe what I experienced, but the grace and concern with which this was deliberated, the understanding and respect of most participants towards those who voted against it, the atmosphere of the worship where we all broke bread together could not have been possible without the presence of the Holy Spirit.

To think of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all rolled into one does two things: it makes very clear that God incorporates mystery, things we cannot solve or understand by reason alone. It also changes the focus from something totally unknowable to something we can relate to.

We know about fathers and sons, for sure, and hopefully something about spirit as well. These are words that define relationships, ones that we experience in our ordinary lives.

In this century there have been numerous attempts to improve our language about the Trinity to make the relationships clearer or more descriptive. The new prayer book replaced Holy Ghost with Holy Spirit. What we usually hear is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in other settings I’ve heard the Trinity referred to in other ways:

Creator, lover, guide

Creator, redeemer, sustainer

Creator, teacher, companion

These additional names are meant to expand our understanding of the relationship we have with God and to describe the nature of the God we believe we’re relating to., They help us focus on what God does for us and helps us eliminate the childhood image we may have of God as an old man seated on a throne.

When Nicodemus asks, “How can these thing be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” It’s possible to feel some sympathy for Nicodemus at this point. He is used to the very concrete instructions of the Jewish purity code, and here is Jesus speaking in mystic terms about the Spirit – that like the wind, ‘blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

This is a classic misunderstanding. Jesus is speaking in broad terms, in metaphor, to describe the mystical connection between every person and God, while Nicodemus is still looking for some practical explanation, or better yet, some new rule to follow.

I believe Jesus is talking about the connection between the spirit in us and the spirit in God, and particularly about the need for each of us to recognize and acknowledge that connection. To be born again is to realize that we are a child of God and filled with the Holy Spirit, which can give us strength and purpose to do and to be more than we could have thought possible.

Being born again is clearly what Isaiah’s vision is about in today’s Old Testament lesson. In this powerful vision of God enthroned in the Temple, Isaiah does what most of us would do. He sort of wrings his hands and says, “Woe is me! All is lost – I am unworthy, unable and unclean, and now I’m going to die because I’ve seen God!Isaiah says he has unclean lips, so a seraph puts a coal to his lips and assures him his sins are blotted out. Now when God cries out for a messenger, for an agent to do his will, Isaiah responds, “here am I; send me!”

What a sudden transformation this is! From groveling to self-confidence, from hand wringing to hand raising, and from fear to courage. These are the gifts of the spirit that came to Isaiah in his vision. These are the gifts of the spirit that come to us in all our moments of rebirth, and there may be many of them in a lifetime. These are the gifts that show forth our connection to God the Creator through the power of the Holy Spirit. And these are the gifts that make it possible for us to go forth into the world to help complete the work begun by Jesus.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are a community of faith that we join at birth, that we acknowledge in baptism, and that we strengthen in the prayers and the breaking of the bread. We are joined together to bring about the Kingdom of God wherever we are in this world. This partnership, this community of all believers with the Trinity — is this not the ultimate in Total Ministry?

Let us therefore go forth into the world rejoicing in this partnership, knowing that when God calls, we will have the strength and courage to answer, [pause and let them speak] “Here am I. Send me!!.” AMEN

Pentecost Sunday
Ezekiel 37:1-14

Acts 2:1-21

John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,

Now hear the word of the Lord!

It’s Pentecost. Wind and fire and speaking in tongues. Why are we talking about old prophets and dry bones?

Ezekiel was a prophet who served a people exiled, bereft of home, status, privilege, hope. By God’s bidding he demonstrated the most spectacular, deeply meaningful transformation that his people could imagine, beyond what they could imagine. His prophesy is a metaphor, the story tells us as much, but contains no less truth for being metaphor. By his prophesy, Ezekiel frees God’s people to accept the Spirit of God blowing life into the dry bones of their existence, breathing hope into their souls.

Fast forward to New Testament times. A motley crew of fishermen and tax collectors and assorted misfits, common-folk and hangers on who had followed Jesus huddled together, praying, sorrowful, trying to figure out what to do and who they were. Jesus had promised them an Advocate. They waited together as he had bid them. They had no place to go.

A rush of wind and an burst of flames and all the world changed forever. The church was born, the promise of Jesus fulfilled in the most unexpected, unimaginable way. Within the course of a few hundred years, the transformation of these common-folk in this Galilean backwater ultimately changed history.

I think it’s interesting that as we hear about this cacophony of fire and wind and multilingual discourse, we never learn what was said. The Holy Spirit spoke through the Galileans to each person, each in his or her native tongue. And yet, we do not know the words.

Here is what we do know: The Spirit of God transforms – breathes hope into despair, life into the lifeless, and the Spirit is universal.

Luke, the author of Acts, makes it clear that experiencing the Spirit is not the right or privilege of a select few. Peter’s speech makes it clear enough – I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit. In patriarchal, hierarchical 1st century, you cannot get any more egalitarian than that. Luke, the author of Acts, actually does take it further, though, although it is less obvious in our modern context. Luke made it clear to his readers that the power of the spirit extends still further.

In that list of names that Georgeann so bravely read for us from Acts, Luke includes a geographical cross section, but also reaches across time to pull in long lost brothers. According to Jacob Myers (Working Preacher) “The Elamites were nearly wiped out by the Assyrians in 640 B.C.E. and were eventually absorbed into the Parthinian Empire. The Median Empire entered into a political alliance with Babylon and was later absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus II.” The Medes as a distinct group had been gone more than five centuries before Jesus’s birth. But, both the Elamites and the Medes included descendants of the 2 lost tribes of Israel. Luke makes it abundantly clear that the Spirit comes for all the world, including long lost brethren, eschewing barriers not only of race, gender, and status, but also of time, ancient grudges and political barriers. In wind and in fire the Holy Spirit came to them all, and the church was born.

And what of the Holy Spirit and the church today? In this age of concrete evidence? In this age of “spiritual, but not religious”? Author Peter Senge says, “I think people are attracted to Buddhism because it presents itself as a way of life, while Christianity presents itself as a system of belief.”

Tradition says the Spirit came to the disciples as they huddled in the upper room. They were doing their prayers and observing the Feast of Weeks – the Jewish Pentecost, choosing who would take what roles. I have little doubt they were also worrying about how to pay for the room, how to get their supplies without getting snatched up and crucified, and how long they could do all this before they must go back to practical reality; become once again “fishers of fish”. (David McKee, personal communication) The Spirit called them to action. The Way became their Way of Life.

And this we must also do. We think too easily of church as something we do. The church, led by the Spirit, is something we are. We come to this place, to this table for solace, and for pardon, certainly, but must be ever mindful that we come also for strength and renewal to serve the world in Christ’s name. Not the world in here – the world out there. We must let the Spirit do her work, through us.

Today, we complete our yearly symbolic journey from ashes to fire. Out of the ashes of Lent we are bid to examine our own scattered dry bones, to jettison the detritus of our lives, the baggage that is not of God, the hate, the apathy, the anger, the fear. Easter comes with hope and joy, and the example of ultimate love. And we celebrate. The bones of our lives move back together, but still we do not have life. And then we come to Pentecost, to the fire and the wind that lends life and hope and purpose.

Someone in Lynn’s bible study this week asked how we know that the Holy Spirit is with us. My initial internal reaction is that the spirit has always been with us; think back to the book of Genesis with the wind from God blowing over the formless void. And I believe that the spirit has always been with us. But that doesn’t really answer the question. How do we know? The Spirit made things pretty obvious in this event, but does not always choose the approach of beating us in the head with a metaphorical 2×4 to get our attention.

Sometimes we find the Spirit in a return smile, a trusting hand curled around your loving finger, gentle ripples over still clean water, the fresh smell of a green place preserved, the shy gratitude of an outsider (of whatever kind) accepted without question.

To expound on the words of The Reverend Anthony F.M. Clavier, The Holy Spirit moves in the water; in bread, and wine, and oil; and in our prayers, private and collective. Above all, the Holy Spirit drives us out of the safety and security of our local Upper Rooms, our faith communities. The Holy Spirit pushes us beyond ourselves, our abilities, expectations, and safety levels, to serve, to love, to live….

Today we celebrate the birth of the church. We acknowledge our own rebirth into Christ in the renewal of our baptismal vows. We commemorate the recurring journey from winter to spring, from ashes to fire. Open your hearts and minds to the action of the ever-present Holy Spirit.

God will put his Spirit inside us, and these old bones will live…

Hallelujah!

ASCENSION SUNDAY

May the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts, be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.

What is happening at this time in the Gospels? Christ has risen; He has appeared to the women who had followed from Galilee and now has appeared to two of the Apostles on the Road to Emmaus, about 7 miles from Jerusalem. The whole of the Hebrew Scriptures is interpreted to them without them recognizing Him. Jesus seems prepared to move on ahead, but is pressed to stay with them and eat.

After Jesus had broken bread, their “eyes were opened”, they recognized Him and He vanished.

When the two arrived in Jerusalem, they told the Apostles and their companions what had happened. Jesus then appears among them and proves to them by displaying His wounds and eating that He is indeed the Risen Christ. Then He spoke the words of this morning’s Gospel Reading.

I should like to refer you to a paraphrase of the 47th verse of Luke 24: “and that this message of salvation should be taken from Jerusalem to all nations. There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.” In addition, Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Again, in Matthew 28:19-20, “ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”

It has been said that Jesus had to leave for the church to happen. That is, as long as he was around the disciples could not step into his place — and without that the impact of his teaching would remain local and small. So his ascension (and Pentecost) are what enabled the followers to go forth and spread the message everywhere.

This is the Great Commission. Jesus is telling us to take the Word into all the world making disciples of all men. No longer is mere baptism to be the only requirement; but the additional requirement of being trained in the obedience to fulfil the will of the Father. No longer are the disciples to be limited to Israel and the Middle East but are to go into the whole world. Perhaps, the reason for the Word being taken in procession into the midst of the congregation for the proclamation of the Gospel.

The Word is spread in the world through various means. People such as Dr. David Jeremiah are dedicated to building the local church by building up the people in the church. Others, such as Chuck Swindoll, Pat Robertson, Charles Price, have a mission to bring the dubious and unbeliever closer to The Lord through a radio and television ministry. Other men and women dedicate their lives to the service of God in Monasteries.

Where does this gang of hairy bikers fit into the great scheme of things? First, I must tell you that not all of our members are bearded. The ladies are not, nor are some of the males. Nor are all of the members hairy, several of us are rather sparse on top. Nor are all members riding two-wheel motorcycles; some are on three-wheeled machines, others are on quads. I and my chick ride a quad, actually a Nissan Pathfinder SUV. We, the Frozen Chozen, are a cross-section of peoples with a common belief.

You may remember having seen us in the Bass Tournament with Bob Secrist, on his bike, towing a canoe displaying the sign, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”, (Matt 4:19), and last year’s 4th of July parade with the Bible displaying the sign “A library of 66 books”.

CMA is an association of Christian Motorcyclists whose mission is to change the wold, one heart at a time, by:

ñEncouraging and conducting, among motorcyclists, public worship, ministry and Christian Evangelistic Crusades, whenever and wherever possible

ñProclaiming and teaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

ñEncouraging Christian fellowship among motorcyclists.

ñImproving the image of persons engaged in motorcycling.

How do we as members of the CMA carry out this mission? We have ten ministries in which each member may elect to receive training. I should mention that a biker is not considered a member just by showing up at a chapter meeting. He or she is required to take and pass a basic training course on the aims, beliefs and operation of the CMA. Only then are they entitled to wear the patch.

Additional training is provided specialized ministries. These include:

ñ Children’s Ministry, geared toward reaching the little ones. Children’s Team members will learn what children like to do and what will keep their attention

ñ Youth Ministry, deals with the greatest commandment given by Jesus: to love God and to love others. This is specially designed for youth ages 12-18 and is the entire requirement for them to earn their colours.

ñ First Aid Team members offer basic services to rally participants on a ride for minor emergencies. An outside qualification must be presented to be a member of this team. Although I had several years experience as a St. John’s Ambulance Brigade instructor in Canada, I still had to present an up-to-date card.

ñ Mechanical Ministry Team: is designed for the person with practical knowledge of motorcycles and engines, and a servant’s heart, to use their abilities to meet the mechanical needs of motorcyclists attending the rallies or on a ride.

ñ Hospitality Ministry Team: These team members may provide popcorn, soup, snacks, water, coffee, or just good fellowship at their camp or display for the purpose of building relationships and sharing Jesus. You may recall having seen the Chapter members display at the 4th of July parades offering free cold water.

ñ Music Ministry Team: The theme of this team is "Music to reach their ears, so that the message can reach their hearts."

ñ Prison Ministry Team: CMA has developed a training program for those of you who wish to be more involved in prison ministry. One or our members, Bob Secrist attends the Local Prison weekly, not as a inmate but to minister to the male inmates; his wife, Sharron attends with him on those occasions when female inmates need a visit.

ñ Prayer Ministry Team: Many people are actively involved in a prayer ministry in their local church and chapter, but may not know other ways prayers can reach out to the lost. Part of this ministry is not only to give the basics of praying for people’s needs, but also to put prayers into practice by visiting downed bikers and others in the hospitals. One of our members, Roger Williams, leads a prayer group in his church.

ñ Woman’s Ministry Team: The specialized training required for this ministry is provided to women who are active in one-on-one ministry in the motorcycling world.

ñ Servants’ Ministry Team: Designed for people willing to be used in a variety of ways by meeting practical and physical needs at rallies.

All of this activity is carried on throughout the world. We have National organizations and chapters from Canada to South Africa. In addition to these activities in local areas, we help spread the Word in under-privileged countries. Each year, we hold our sole fund-raising event called the Run for the Son. Each year we ask for sponsors for a ride usually 150 – 200 miles. Last year, approximately 3.9 million dollars was raised by the CMA-USA. We, in our small chapter of 10, raised 1500 dollars. The money goes toward spreading the Word. For example, the CMA has provided bikes to itinerant pastors in remote parts of Africa to enable them to reach their congregations.

There are many more activities that I could mention but since I remember that a congregation’s attention varies inversely as the hardness of the pews …

Now, unto God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, be ascribed all honour, might and majesty this day and forever, AMEN