Moral Compromise, August 9th, 2020
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
37:1 Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.
37:2 This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves.
37:4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
37:12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
37:13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." He answered, "Here I am."
37:14 So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me."So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. He came to Shechem,
37:15 and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, "What are you seeking?"
37:16 "I am seeking my brothers," he said; "tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock."
37:17 The man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan.
37:18 They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.
37:19 They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer.
37:20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams."
37:21 But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life."
37:22 Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him" --that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.
37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore;
37:24 and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
37:25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
37:27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed.
37:28 When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
The Bible is a book filled with tragedies.
Lamentations and many of the Psalms witness fully the grief of a people.
Job loses everything.
Jacob betrays his brother Esau.
Cain kills Abel.
Hagar is abandoned.
Jesus is betrayed, mocked, and crucified.
The story of Joseph is especially tragic as it is a story of family conflict, family betrayal, a family torn apart because of a father’s love for one child over and above the others. In fact, Jacob’s kids fall victim to the same sort of narratives and conflict that occurred between Jacob and Esau, that occurred between Cain and Abel. It has at this point become a pattern of family strife.
Stories, narratives and patterns can have a deep hold over us. Even patterns and narratives that are hidden and unknown to us have some power over us. We are not totally beholden to this power, not totally beholden to these narratives and patterns, we can break free, but they do hold power over us, especially if we do not understand the patterns or where they originated from.
Not all patterns and narratives are bad. An example of a family pattern may be that somebody’s great grandfather was a firefighter, their son was a firefighter, their son was an EMS, and their son works with firefighter crews to improve response times using technology. The pattern of the male members of the family is to be involved with emergency health and rescue services, the pattern is helpful and constructive.
But many patterns can be bad, many patterns can be self-feeding; patterns of alcoholism in families, patterns of neglect and abuse, narratives about a family that frames them as losers are frightening narratives and patterns. These narratives can haunt generations, haunt people, and what’s more is scientists have found that trauma literally leaves chemical markers on our genetic code which is inherited by future generations. What we have done, what has been done to us then affects our future generations.
I imagine that this is partially the case in the story of Joseph and his brothers. Painted by hidden narratives of family fighting, of fathers loving their youngest son best, patterns of betrayal, Joseph’s brothers cannot even speak to him peaceably because father loves Joseph best. Joseph is favored by his father to the point where his father makes him a beautiful robe with long sleeves, which has been dramatically re-imagined as an Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber and worn by Donnie Osmond. What’s more, Joseph has given a bad report of his brothers shepherding skills to his father. Is this report warranted? We don’t know, it doesn’t explicitly say but I imagine that with the way they left Shechem for Dothan and the way they treat their brother his report may have been justified.
The hidden narratives and patterns are a generational backdrop; the brothers of Joseph plot to kill him. Unable to cope with his thriving, perhaps seeing him as a threat, they plot to kill him.
The eldest brother Reuben decides that because this is their brother they are dealing with, they should not kill him, they should not shed the blood of their own family. Reuben only says this because he wants to free his brother and earn his father’s favor. Rather, the brothers decide to sell their own kin into slavery. They kick the ball down the field and they supplant the atrocity of murder for the atrocity of selling their own brother into slavery as if that act of moral degredation was any degree better, as if selling your brother’s life isn’t a form of ending it.
The brothers comforted themselves, justified their depravity through a kind of moral compromise. The act that is slightly less morally bankrupt becomes a viable option because the brothers, fettered to hidden narratives, compromise to something not quite as bad as it could be. It is a moral compromise that is in all ways immoral. Instead of devaluing Joseph’s life to the point of his death, they value Joseph’s life to the tune of twenty silver.
We live in a country, in systems of exchange and governance, that has produced and reinforced narratives and patterns which have devastated lives and we continue to morally compromise instead of re-writing these narratives. To be sure groups fight against these narratives, for instance in the women’s suffrage movement women would wear buttons saying “I am a voter” re-writing the narrative of women not being involved in the civic process and Sojourner Truth proclaimed “Aint I a Woman?” at a women’s rights convention. Black Lives Matter is an attempt to rewrite the patterns of abuse and devaluation of black bodies.
But many of these patterns we repeat in forms of gradual moral compromise which only slightly minimize the wrongs we do to other people. We commodicize human lives in the name of profit, it is a pattern that repeats itself again and again and our change is so often just gradual moral compromise.
I think one of the ways we see change as gradual moral compromise is through the exploitation of human bodies for profit. From Slavery to Jim Crow, to Police Brutality and the For-Profit Prison Industrial Complex this nation has a history of abuse and violence of black and brown bodies to profit off of their backs. In a series of moral compromises are in the position where private companies own for-profit prisons and immigration detention centers. We have incentivized bodies to be in jail cells and people to be separated from their families which reinforced generations of narratives of crime and worthlessness cast upon black and brown people which drives patterns of incarceration and unjust interaction with the criminal justice system. Our moral compromise has taken the form of deeming slavery as morally brankrupt except if the person has committed a crime and now companies use prison labor to save pennies while prisons become places of gruelling work and break people in ways that cause recidivism. Prisons have become factories rather than being places where folks can get the help they need and restore themselves to being productive citizens. We have encouraged our justice system to jail people and made empires off of their labor, we have created a system of mass incarceration which inherited the patterns and narratives of slavery.
We see patterns and moral compromise in the way many voices approach school reopenings. It is by no means an easy question or a binary choice but we are offered choices of moral compromise instead of moral courage. In a country where child labor legal until the 1930s the way we frame the conversation of reopening schools hinges on the economic value of our children. Our choices either seem to be to reopen schools, putting our children in dangerous situations so that parents can go to work, or to keep schools online without any help to parents who may struggle to work as a result. National leaders tell us to “not let science get in the way of reopening schools” and offer not a single courageous alternative.
With a more robust moral imagination and with moral courage we can break from the cycles and narratives and patterns. We can reimagine a justice system which rehabilitates and restores people, fixing the barriers to reintegrating into society rather than breaking them down in the name of profit. We can imagine systems of schooling which keep children healthy and safe and provide parents with the benefits and resources they need to make that happen.
We have to stop selling our own brother into slavery in some pretense that it is the right choice because we did not outright kill them. It’s going to require that we have a moral imagination, and that we have each other. We’re going to have to get over ourselves, and get over our jealousy of one another and truly come to rely on one another and treat one another with a reciprocity of love. To break these patterns and narratives we are going to have to live into the change and love that Jesus modeled for us.
To finish the sermon, I’ll George sang that classic, “Lean on Me” which is an imagining of what life together can look like. An imagining of owning our vulnerability, asking for help, and answering the call to help each other. I suggest you listen to a version of the song by Bill Withers.
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
37:1 Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.
37:2 This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves.
37:4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
37:12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
37:13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." He answered, "Here I am."
37:14 So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me."So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. He came to Shechem,
37:15 and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, "What are you seeking?"
37:16 "I am seeking my brothers," he said; "tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock."
37:17 The man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan.
37:18 They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.
37:19 They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer.
37:20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams."
37:21 But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life."
37:22 Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him" --that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.
37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore;
37:24 and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
37:25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
37:27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed.
37:28 When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
The Bible is a book filled with tragedies.
Lamentations and many of the Psalms witness fully the grief of a people.
Job loses everything.
Jacob betrays his brother Esau.
Cain kills Abel.
Hagar is abandoned.
Jesus is betrayed, mocked, and crucified.
The story of Joseph is especially tragic as it is a story of family conflict, family betrayal, a family torn apart because of a father’s love for one child over and above the others. In fact, Jacob’s kids fall victim to the same sort of narratives and conflict that occurred between Jacob and Esau, that occurred between Cain and Abel. It has at this point become a pattern of family strife.
Stories, narratives and patterns can have a deep hold over us. Even patterns and narratives that are hidden and unknown to us have some power over us. We are not totally beholden to this power, not totally beholden to these narratives and patterns, we can break free, but they do hold power over us, especially if we do not understand the patterns or where they originated from.
Not all patterns and narratives are bad. An example of a family pattern may be that somebody’s great grandfather was a firefighter, their son was a firefighter, their son was an EMS, and their son works with firefighter crews to improve response times using technology. The pattern of the male members of the family is to be involved with emergency health and rescue services, the pattern is helpful and constructive.
But many patterns can be bad, many patterns can be self-feeding; patterns of alcoholism in families, patterns of neglect and abuse, narratives about a family that frames them as losers are frightening narratives and patterns. These narratives can haunt generations, haunt people, and what’s more is scientists have found that trauma literally leaves chemical markers on our genetic code which is inherited by future generations. What we have done, what has been done to us then affects our future generations.
I imagine that this is partially the case in the story of Joseph and his brothers. Painted by hidden narratives of family fighting, of fathers loving their youngest son best, patterns of betrayal, Joseph’s brothers cannot even speak to him peaceably because father loves Joseph best. Joseph is favored by his father to the point where his father makes him a beautiful robe with long sleeves, which has been dramatically re-imagined as an Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber and worn by Donnie Osmond. What’s more, Joseph has given a bad report of his brothers shepherding skills to his father. Is this report warranted? We don’t know, it doesn’t explicitly say but I imagine that with the way they left Shechem for Dothan and the way they treat their brother his report may have been justified.
The hidden narratives and patterns are a generational backdrop; the brothers of Joseph plot to kill him. Unable to cope with his thriving, perhaps seeing him as a threat, they plot to kill him.
The eldest brother Reuben decides that because this is their brother they are dealing with, they should not kill him, they should not shed the blood of their own family. Reuben only says this because he wants to free his brother and earn his father’s favor. Rather, the brothers decide to sell their own kin into slavery. They kick the ball down the field and they supplant the atrocity of murder for the atrocity of selling their own brother into slavery as if that act of moral degredation was any degree better, as if selling your brother’s life isn’t a form of ending it.
The brothers comforted themselves, justified their depravity through a kind of moral compromise. The act that is slightly less morally bankrupt becomes a viable option because the brothers, fettered to hidden narratives, compromise to something not quite as bad as it could be. It is a moral compromise that is in all ways immoral. Instead of devaluing Joseph’s life to the point of his death, they value Joseph’s life to the tune of twenty silver.
We live in a country, in systems of exchange and governance, that has produced and reinforced narratives and patterns which have devastated lives and we continue to morally compromise instead of re-writing these narratives. To be sure groups fight against these narratives, for instance in the women’s suffrage movement women would wear buttons saying “I am a voter” re-writing the narrative of women not being involved in the civic process and Sojourner Truth proclaimed “Aint I a Woman?” at a women’s rights convention. Black Lives Matter is an attempt to rewrite the patterns of abuse and devaluation of black bodies.
But many of these patterns we repeat in forms of gradual moral compromise which only slightly minimize the wrongs we do to other people. We commodicize human lives in the name of profit, it is a pattern that repeats itself again and again and our change is so often just gradual moral compromise.
I think one of the ways we see change as gradual moral compromise is through the exploitation of human bodies for profit. From Slavery to Jim Crow, to Police Brutality and the For-Profit Prison Industrial Complex this nation has a history of abuse and violence of black and brown bodies to profit off of their backs. In a series of moral compromises are in the position where private companies own for-profit prisons and immigration detention centers. We have incentivized bodies to be in jail cells and people to be separated from their families which reinforced generations of narratives of crime and worthlessness cast upon black and brown people which drives patterns of incarceration and unjust interaction with the criminal justice system. Our moral compromise has taken the form of deeming slavery as morally brankrupt except if the person has committed a crime and now companies use prison labor to save pennies while prisons become places of gruelling work and break people in ways that cause recidivism. Prisons have become factories rather than being places where folks can get the help they need and restore themselves to being productive citizens. We have encouraged our justice system to jail people and made empires off of their labor, we have created a system of mass incarceration which inherited the patterns and narratives of slavery.
We see patterns and moral compromise in the way many voices approach school reopenings. It is by no means an easy question or a binary choice but we are offered choices of moral compromise instead of moral courage. In a country where child labor legal until the 1930s the way we frame the conversation of reopening schools hinges on the economic value of our children. Our choices either seem to be to reopen schools, putting our children in dangerous situations so that parents can go to work, or to keep schools online without any help to parents who may struggle to work as a result. National leaders tell us to “not let science get in the way of reopening schools” and offer not a single courageous alternative.
With a more robust moral imagination and with moral courage we can break from the cycles and narratives and patterns. We can reimagine a justice system which rehabilitates and restores people, fixing the barriers to reintegrating into society rather than breaking them down in the name of profit. We can imagine systems of schooling which keep children healthy and safe and provide parents with the benefits and resources they need to make that happen.
We have to stop selling our own brother into slavery in some pretense that it is the right choice because we did not outright kill them. It’s going to require that we have a moral imagination, and that we have each other. We’re going to have to get over ourselves, and get over our jealousy of one another and truly come to rely on one another and treat one another with a reciprocity of love. To break these patterns and narratives we are going to have to live into the change and love that Jesus modeled for us.
To finish the sermon, I’ll George sang that classic, “Lean on Me” which is an imagining of what life together can look like. An imagining of owning our vulnerability, asking for help, and answering the call to help each other. I suggest you listen to a version of the song by Bill Withers.
Unexpected Guests, August 2nd, 2020
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
I was watching the documentary Somme with Aneesah this week, which is a documentary about four people taking the Master Sommelier test. When discussing wine, one of the people at the beginning of the documentary mentions that “the only miracle that Jesus’ mother tells him to do is to make more wine. The first miracle is about wine.”
This is true, in the gospel of John, while at a wedding, Mary, mother of Jesus, instructs Jesus to make more wine when the wedding runs out.
Where I might disagree with the commentator is what that miracle is “about.” The miracle is not “about” wine. I like wine, I even took a wine class in college, which counted as a geography credit, and I get the joke; wine is so important even Jesus was concerned about there being enough of it.
But to be clear, while making barrels of wine is pretty cool, the miracle is about hospitality. It is about being a good guest, it’s about custom, it’s about making sure that people have enough, making sure nobody is embarrassed by being unable to meet their guests needs. It is also one of the first public signs of Christ’s ministry, and I think it might be about the value of listening to your mama.
I bring all this up because the feeding of the 5,000, which isn’t an accurate title for this miracle, the last line of the story indicates that the 5,000 doesn’t include the women and children; but the feeding of the multitudes and the miracle of turning water into wine hold things in common.
Like turning water into wine, the miracle of feeding the multitudes isn’t exactly about the multiplication of a little into a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it is about that, but there is more to it. If Christ had multiplied his bread and ate it alone it probably wouldn’t have been written about in the gospels. If Jesus had multiplied the bread for himself alone, it would be miraculous, but it would not have the believing reception of a miracle.
The wedding and the feeding of the multitude have many similarities. In both the wedding at Cana and in the feeding of themultitude a situation emerges in which a gathering of people will have to disperse because there is a lack of food or drink to keep the gathering going. In both instances Jesus provides exactly what is needed for the gathering to continue. In both instances Jesus does not allow a lack of something to ruin a host’s hospitality. In these two miracles Jesus models how to be a bountiful host and a gracious guest. These two miracles reveal what gracious hospitality does; it multiplies what we have, it makes what little we have sufficient, it makes the product more than the sum of the parts.
At the wedding at Cana it would have been a terrible embarrassment for the hosts for them to run out of wine. Jesus models being a good guest by sparing the host of excessive demand and by helping the host provide for the guests. Jesus, by being a gracious guest, transforms what the host has provided into something more valuable.
At the feeding of the multitudes Jesus models what it means to be a gracious and abundant host. Jesus shows that with exceptional hospitality and care, what was a little becomes sufficient, what was little transforms into abundance.
Have you ever had either one of these miracles happen in your own life? You, the belabored host who is trying to get everything together, runs out of food. The guests are still hungry, people are starting to get cranky, children are crying, people are dissatisfied and about to leave, you are embarrassed and feel you have failed as a host and then, one of your guests saves the day. Maybe somebody orders some pizza, or a late arriving guest made a beer run before they came to your super bowl party and re-stocks your fridge. This one act has eased the burden of your shoulders, it’s helped you save face, everybody is happy and having a good time again, your guest stepped up and saved your ability to be hospitable. Their act transformed the situation. It’s small, but it is something.
When I was in Colombia, we went to a town called Mina Nueva, it was a small gold-mining town. To get to Mina Nueva we took a transport from Medellin to Segovia, that took about 4 hours. In Segovia we had to get into a jeep capable of going off-road to ride the dirt roads to Mina Nueva, about another four or five hours. While in Mina Nueva we met with several folks from around the area in a sort of “town hall.” We met with gold miners, farmers, and village leaders to understand better what life was like, to observe how the disarmament of the FARC and the peacekeeping zones were affecting peoples’ lives, to see if the Colombian government was living up to their promises, to build friendship. One village leader arrived late and missed the meeting because it had rained recently and the dirt roads were in conditions that made it difficult for her dirt bike to make it to Mina Nueva in a timely fashion. We spent some time huddled in a room with her, waiting for the road condition to get better, chatting. She left for a bit and came back with a bag of grapes.
I can’t imagine that it is easy for a bag of grapes to make its way down the dirt roads to a literally-being-built-before-our-eyes town centered around an illegal gold mining operation. Our approach from Segovia led us through zones of land in which former FARC occupied territories were undergoing disarmament with the presence of FARC, UN Peacekeeping Teams and the Colombian military. We saw more than one jeep, more than one escalera, which are these beautiful rustic busses used in rural Colombia, stalled or stuck in a rut on the side of the road.
I can’t imagine that it is easy for a bag of grapes to make its way to Mina Nueva and I can’t imagine that the bag of grapes is cheap.
We huddled around, sharing a bag of grapes, and the hospitality of this woman transformed that bag of grapes into something more than a bag of grapes, it made something small more than sufficient for us. She recreated for us the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes, the miracle of gracious and abundant hospitality.
We observe a significant difference between the wedding in Cana and the feeding of the multitude. Jesus is an invited guest at the wedding but when we read the text for the feeding of the multitude in Matthew, the multitude is not invited and Jesus did not become a host on his own volition.
At the start of the passage Jesus secludes himself, he seeks privacy and solitude. It’s one of the many passages in which Jesus does this and one of the scriptures people will point to when they say Jesus might have been an introvert.
Jesus wanted to be alone, but hearing of his departure the crowd, folks who wanted to be blessed, to be healed, folks who sought after a better life, gathered to him.
When Jesus saw the large, uninvited crowd he was compassionate towards them, he healed their sick, he took care of them. He became host to them. He fed them.
The Disciples suggest that Jesus should dismiss the crowd as there is not enough food to feed them all, it’s a remote area and they’ll need to travel back to town to buy food to eat. There is not enough here, they need to leave.
Jesus says no, there is plenty here. Jesus gives thanks for what they have and they are able to feed the multitude of uninvited guests, they are able to feed them and have more than enough to spare. The miracle of Jesus’ hospitality turns something scarce into something abundant. Jesus did not invite the crowd but he cares for them and feeds them, he hosts them as that is the hospitable thing to do.
We often become hosts to crowds not of our choosing. In our communities, in our state, in our country. You may not like that tons of Californians are moving to Colorado, and there’s certainly a lot to be said about the gentrification which pushes people out of their birth places, but we have become hosts to them.
I know Evergreen has an addiction recovery center. I’m not sure how long it has been around but some of the reviews for local hiking trails mourn the fact that we have an addiction recovery center. We might not have asked for it, but we have become host to this center, and the center probably serves people who have already been living and present in the community.
We are one of the richest countries in the world. The United States of America has become synonymous with opportunity and success for many, many people. Folks are being pushed out of their own countries; refugees of the climate crisis, refugees of war, refugees from gang violence and cartels, refugees of governments that threaten their safety because of their identity, refugees from the U.S’ own interventionist policies and many of them, especially from Latin American countries, come to the United States looking for healing, comfort, and safety. Like the crowd that gathered around Jesus they come looking for better life and we have become host to an uninvited guest.
The Disciples urged Jesus to send his uninvited guest home, they told Jesus that there simply isn’t enough here for them and they need to go back. Jesus says there is plenty. Jesus tells them to stay and Jesus in his hospitality reveals that the little they have is more than sufficient. Christ lets nothing come in his way of being hospitable to the unexpected guest.
The Christ-like response to unexpected guests is not to shoo them away. It is not to worry about ourselves and what we will eat. The Christ-like response to unexpected guests, uninvited guests, is to host them. It is to give thanks for what we do have and to share it. To care, to hea, to feed those who become our guests. The Christ-like response is to be hospitable, to trust that God will work miracles and our hospitality will make what little we might have sufficient, may make it abundant.
Hospitality is in and of itself, the miracle.
Amen
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
I was watching the documentary Somme with Aneesah this week, which is a documentary about four people taking the Master Sommelier test. When discussing wine, one of the people at the beginning of the documentary mentions that “the only miracle that Jesus’ mother tells him to do is to make more wine. The first miracle is about wine.”
This is true, in the gospel of John, while at a wedding, Mary, mother of Jesus, instructs Jesus to make more wine when the wedding runs out.
Where I might disagree with the commentator is what that miracle is “about.” The miracle is not “about” wine. I like wine, I even took a wine class in college, which counted as a geography credit, and I get the joke; wine is so important even Jesus was concerned about there being enough of it.
But to be clear, while making barrels of wine is pretty cool, the miracle is about hospitality. It is about being a good guest, it’s about custom, it’s about making sure that people have enough, making sure nobody is embarrassed by being unable to meet their guests needs. It is also one of the first public signs of Christ’s ministry, and I think it might be about the value of listening to your mama.
I bring all this up because the feeding of the 5,000, which isn’t an accurate title for this miracle, the last line of the story indicates that the 5,000 doesn’t include the women and children; but the feeding of the multitudes and the miracle of turning water into wine hold things in common.
Like turning water into wine, the miracle of feeding the multitudes isn’t exactly about the multiplication of a little into a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it is about that, but there is more to it. If Christ had multiplied his bread and ate it alone it probably wouldn’t have been written about in the gospels. If Jesus had multiplied the bread for himself alone, it would be miraculous, but it would not have the believing reception of a miracle.
The wedding and the feeding of the multitude have many similarities. In both the wedding at Cana and in the feeding of themultitude a situation emerges in which a gathering of people will have to disperse because there is a lack of food or drink to keep the gathering going. In both instances Jesus provides exactly what is needed for the gathering to continue. In both instances Jesus does not allow a lack of something to ruin a host’s hospitality. In these two miracles Jesus models how to be a bountiful host and a gracious guest. These two miracles reveal what gracious hospitality does; it multiplies what we have, it makes what little we have sufficient, it makes the product more than the sum of the parts.
At the wedding at Cana it would have been a terrible embarrassment for the hosts for them to run out of wine. Jesus models being a good guest by sparing the host of excessive demand and by helping the host provide for the guests. Jesus, by being a gracious guest, transforms what the host has provided into something more valuable.
At the feeding of the multitudes Jesus models what it means to be a gracious and abundant host. Jesus shows that with exceptional hospitality and care, what was a little becomes sufficient, what was little transforms into abundance.
Have you ever had either one of these miracles happen in your own life? You, the belabored host who is trying to get everything together, runs out of food. The guests are still hungry, people are starting to get cranky, children are crying, people are dissatisfied and about to leave, you are embarrassed and feel you have failed as a host and then, one of your guests saves the day. Maybe somebody orders some pizza, or a late arriving guest made a beer run before they came to your super bowl party and re-stocks your fridge. This one act has eased the burden of your shoulders, it’s helped you save face, everybody is happy and having a good time again, your guest stepped up and saved your ability to be hospitable. Their act transformed the situation. It’s small, but it is something.
When I was in Colombia, we went to a town called Mina Nueva, it was a small gold-mining town. To get to Mina Nueva we took a transport from Medellin to Segovia, that took about 4 hours. In Segovia we had to get into a jeep capable of going off-road to ride the dirt roads to Mina Nueva, about another four or five hours. While in Mina Nueva we met with several folks from around the area in a sort of “town hall.” We met with gold miners, farmers, and village leaders to understand better what life was like, to observe how the disarmament of the FARC and the peacekeeping zones were affecting peoples’ lives, to see if the Colombian government was living up to their promises, to build friendship. One village leader arrived late and missed the meeting because it had rained recently and the dirt roads were in conditions that made it difficult for her dirt bike to make it to Mina Nueva in a timely fashion. We spent some time huddled in a room with her, waiting for the road condition to get better, chatting. She left for a bit and came back with a bag of grapes.
I can’t imagine that it is easy for a bag of grapes to make its way down the dirt roads to a literally-being-built-before-our-eyes town centered around an illegal gold mining operation. Our approach from Segovia led us through zones of land in which former FARC occupied territories were undergoing disarmament with the presence of FARC, UN Peacekeeping Teams and the Colombian military. We saw more than one jeep, more than one escalera, which are these beautiful rustic busses used in rural Colombia, stalled or stuck in a rut on the side of the road.
I can’t imagine that it is easy for a bag of grapes to make its way to Mina Nueva and I can’t imagine that the bag of grapes is cheap.
We huddled around, sharing a bag of grapes, and the hospitality of this woman transformed that bag of grapes into something more than a bag of grapes, it made something small more than sufficient for us. She recreated for us the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes, the miracle of gracious and abundant hospitality.
We observe a significant difference between the wedding in Cana and the feeding of the multitude. Jesus is an invited guest at the wedding but when we read the text for the feeding of the multitude in Matthew, the multitude is not invited and Jesus did not become a host on his own volition.
At the start of the passage Jesus secludes himself, he seeks privacy and solitude. It’s one of the many passages in which Jesus does this and one of the scriptures people will point to when they say Jesus might have been an introvert.
Jesus wanted to be alone, but hearing of his departure the crowd, folks who wanted to be blessed, to be healed, folks who sought after a better life, gathered to him.
When Jesus saw the large, uninvited crowd he was compassionate towards them, he healed their sick, he took care of them. He became host to them. He fed them.
The Disciples suggest that Jesus should dismiss the crowd as there is not enough food to feed them all, it’s a remote area and they’ll need to travel back to town to buy food to eat. There is not enough here, they need to leave.
Jesus says no, there is plenty here. Jesus gives thanks for what they have and they are able to feed the multitude of uninvited guests, they are able to feed them and have more than enough to spare. The miracle of Jesus’ hospitality turns something scarce into something abundant. Jesus did not invite the crowd but he cares for them and feeds them, he hosts them as that is the hospitable thing to do.
We often become hosts to crowds not of our choosing. In our communities, in our state, in our country. You may not like that tons of Californians are moving to Colorado, and there’s certainly a lot to be said about the gentrification which pushes people out of their birth places, but we have become hosts to them.
I know Evergreen has an addiction recovery center. I’m not sure how long it has been around but some of the reviews for local hiking trails mourn the fact that we have an addiction recovery center. We might not have asked for it, but we have become host to this center, and the center probably serves people who have already been living and present in the community.
We are one of the richest countries in the world. The United States of America has become synonymous with opportunity and success for many, many people. Folks are being pushed out of their own countries; refugees of the climate crisis, refugees of war, refugees from gang violence and cartels, refugees of governments that threaten their safety because of their identity, refugees from the U.S’ own interventionist policies and many of them, especially from Latin American countries, come to the United States looking for healing, comfort, and safety. Like the crowd that gathered around Jesus they come looking for better life and we have become host to an uninvited guest.
The Disciples urged Jesus to send his uninvited guest home, they told Jesus that there simply isn’t enough here for them and they need to go back. Jesus says there is plenty. Jesus tells them to stay and Jesus in his hospitality reveals that the little they have is more than sufficient. Christ lets nothing come in his way of being hospitable to the unexpected guest.
The Christ-like response to unexpected guests is not to shoo them away. It is not to worry about ourselves and what we will eat. The Christ-like response to unexpected guests, uninvited guests, is to host them. It is to give thanks for what we do have and to share it. To care, to hea, to feed those who become our guests. The Christ-like response is to be hospitable, to trust that God will work miracles and our hospitality will make what little we might have sufficient, may make it abundant.
Hospitality is in and of itself, the miracle.
Amen
Belief in the Kingdom, July 26th, 2020
There are a lot of sayings about truth and believing:
“The proof is in the pudding.”
“Seeing is believing”
“If you believe it, it will happen.”
“The secret of having it all is believing that you already do.”
These sayings impart wisdom about truth and belief, and they also track along two kinds of belief systems.
“The proof is in the pudding” comes from the phrase “The proof is in the eating of the pudding,” meaning that to know if something was good, you had to actually experience it. For instance, if your pudding was good, you would know by eating it, especially because pudding was a savory meal, made of minced meat cased in an intestine. You would know your pudding was bad if it made you sick after eating it. The proof of something is in experiencing it.
“Seeing is believing” is pretty self explanatory. The implication is that when the evidence is truly before you, when you’ve seen it with your own eyes, you will believe it. Any skepticism is cast aside when a person actually sees the proof with their own eyes. In the age of photoshop and deep fakes, the saying doesn’t hold quite the weight that it used to.
I’d say these fit in with a kind of “scientific” or “skeptic” form of belief system. Belief in something comes after the evidence of it. Truth does not come from belief, but rather belief comes from evidence of the truth. The theory of gravity is true because we have evidence of it.
“If you believe it, it will happen” and “The secret of having it all is believing that you already do” represent a second kind of belief system. Believing in something is what makes it true. The belief in something will manifest it into the world, belief in something is what it makes it real.
The typical person will employ these two kinds of belief systems in different ways in different aspects of their life. We usually use some kind of mixture of the two. For instance we may believe that the wait time at a restaurant will be long because there’s a line out the door. We see the evidence which leads us to believe in the wait time. Self-confidence is a form of belief that makes something true. The belief of “I am worthy” or “I am capable” often makes it a reality, in order to be self-confident you have to believe in yourself. There is both room and need for both belief systems in our lives.
And both systems of belief have flaws. In the first system the evidence that leads to our belief may be wrong, or may be misinterpreted and wielded oppressively. Evidence of something may not be evidence at all but may merely be correlation without causation. Falsified evidence and misinterpreted evidence has been used to employ the mechanisms of racism, facism, sexism, transphobia and other forms of oppression for years. “You can’t argue with data,” but you can argue with the narratives constructed around the data. And sometimes you can argue with the data, sometimes the data isn’t gathered accurately or doesn’t represent the whole picture.
On the other hand, if believing in something makes it true then it is difficult to shake-up or question those beliefs. The belief system which constructs truth from belief has a hard time accepting evidence to the contrary. This comes in the form of confirmation bias, meaning that only evidence and data that affirms an already held position will be accepted, or maybe even just pure pig-headedness. Belief can be warped into an inability and unwillingness to accept that the truth might not be what one believes. One can’t accept the truth even if it walks up and smacks them in the face.
This is the kind of belief system which I believe Jesus is referring to in the parable of the rich man, which precedes the sermon text. The rich man lived his comfort in life and went to Hades. The poor man, Lazarus, received his comfort after life. The rich man begs that Lazarus be allowed to warn the rich man’s five brothers. The response from Abraham, the patriarchal figure in this parable is “If they did not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
Another way of saying it is that they wouldn’t know the truth even if it came up and slapped them in the face. I think the way we politicize things, or the way we grasp on to certain things as being part of our identity tends to radicalize us in this way where the truth can slap us in the face and we refuse to believe because believing would make us wrong, and force us to build our identity around something else.
I’m sure we all know people like this, or maybe even have positions in our own lives like this. All the evidence in the world, the dead getting up and walking around, could not convince us away from our position. LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time and no amount of facts, evidence, or statistics, no amount of people in Chicago saying it’s Jordan could convince me otherwise.
While critiquing this kind of belief, a belief which makes things true, a belief that believes without evidence, a belief in things unseen, Jesus also directs us to know that this is exactly the kind of belief needed to know the kingdom of God’s presence.
“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
The kingdom of God is in our midst, but we must believe in it to know the truth of it. It is no coincidence that Jesus instructs his followers to repent, to forgive one another, and to seek reconciliation because the kingdom of God is the fulfillment of justice and peace. To know the presence of the Kingdom of God is to believe in it and act in a way that fulfills justice and peace. To know the Kingdom of God one must act out the Kingdom of God, and to do that one must believe it is possible.
Our belief in the Kingdom of God will manifest the evidence of its presence in our midst. By believing and acting on that belief, the characteristics of the kingdom of God will be observable among us. By rebuking sin, we will show the evidence of a God who listens and hears those who have been wronged. Through our acts of repentance and forgiveness we become the evidence of the possibilities of healing and reconciliation. Our acts of mercy, justice, and peace become evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven, we, the beloved community, become evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven. The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be seen because it is already here, in our midst. Our belief in the Kingdom of God will make the evidence of it true. We set in motion the Kingdom of God by believing in it.
The fulfilment of the Kingdom of God on Earth starts with our belief in things unseen.
Amen
There are a lot of sayings about truth and believing:
“The proof is in the pudding.”
“Seeing is believing”
“If you believe it, it will happen.”
“The secret of having it all is believing that you already do.”
These sayings impart wisdom about truth and belief, and they also track along two kinds of belief systems.
“The proof is in the pudding” comes from the phrase “The proof is in the eating of the pudding,” meaning that to know if something was good, you had to actually experience it. For instance, if your pudding was good, you would know by eating it, especially because pudding was a savory meal, made of minced meat cased in an intestine. You would know your pudding was bad if it made you sick after eating it. The proof of something is in experiencing it.
“Seeing is believing” is pretty self explanatory. The implication is that when the evidence is truly before you, when you’ve seen it with your own eyes, you will believe it. Any skepticism is cast aside when a person actually sees the proof with their own eyes. In the age of photoshop and deep fakes, the saying doesn’t hold quite the weight that it used to.
I’d say these fit in with a kind of “scientific” or “skeptic” form of belief system. Belief in something comes after the evidence of it. Truth does not come from belief, but rather belief comes from evidence of the truth. The theory of gravity is true because we have evidence of it.
“If you believe it, it will happen” and “The secret of having it all is believing that you already do” represent a second kind of belief system. Believing in something is what makes it true. The belief in something will manifest it into the world, belief in something is what it makes it real.
The typical person will employ these two kinds of belief systems in different ways in different aspects of their life. We usually use some kind of mixture of the two. For instance we may believe that the wait time at a restaurant will be long because there’s a line out the door. We see the evidence which leads us to believe in the wait time. Self-confidence is a form of belief that makes something true. The belief of “I am worthy” or “I am capable” often makes it a reality, in order to be self-confident you have to believe in yourself. There is both room and need for both belief systems in our lives.
And both systems of belief have flaws. In the first system the evidence that leads to our belief may be wrong, or may be misinterpreted and wielded oppressively. Evidence of something may not be evidence at all but may merely be correlation without causation. Falsified evidence and misinterpreted evidence has been used to employ the mechanisms of racism, facism, sexism, transphobia and other forms of oppression for years. “You can’t argue with data,” but you can argue with the narratives constructed around the data. And sometimes you can argue with the data, sometimes the data isn’t gathered accurately or doesn’t represent the whole picture.
On the other hand, if believing in something makes it true then it is difficult to shake-up or question those beliefs. The belief system which constructs truth from belief has a hard time accepting evidence to the contrary. This comes in the form of confirmation bias, meaning that only evidence and data that affirms an already held position will be accepted, or maybe even just pure pig-headedness. Belief can be warped into an inability and unwillingness to accept that the truth might not be what one believes. One can’t accept the truth even if it walks up and smacks them in the face.
This is the kind of belief system which I believe Jesus is referring to in the parable of the rich man, which precedes the sermon text. The rich man lived his comfort in life and went to Hades. The poor man, Lazarus, received his comfort after life. The rich man begs that Lazarus be allowed to warn the rich man’s five brothers. The response from Abraham, the patriarchal figure in this parable is “If they did not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
Another way of saying it is that they wouldn’t know the truth even if it came up and slapped them in the face. I think the way we politicize things, or the way we grasp on to certain things as being part of our identity tends to radicalize us in this way where the truth can slap us in the face and we refuse to believe because believing would make us wrong, and force us to build our identity around something else.
I’m sure we all know people like this, or maybe even have positions in our own lives like this. All the evidence in the world, the dead getting up and walking around, could not convince us away from our position. LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time and no amount of facts, evidence, or statistics, no amount of people in Chicago saying it’s Jordan could convince me otherwise.
While critiquing this kind of belief, a belief which makes things true, a belief that believes without evidence, a belief in things unseen, Jesus also directs us to know that this is exactly the kind of belief needed to know the kingdom of God’s presence.
“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
The kingdom of God is in our midst, but we must believe in it to know the truth of it. It is no coincidence that Jesus instructs his followers to repent, to forgive one another, and to seek reconciliation because the kingdom of God is the fulfillment of justice and peace. To know the presence of the Kingdom of God is to believe in it and act in a way that fulfills justice and peace. To know the Kingdom of God one must act out the Kingdom of God, and to do that one must believe it is possible.
Our belief in the Kingdom of God will manifest the evidence of its presence in our midst. By believing and acting on that belief, the characteristics of the kingdom of God will be observable among us. By rebuking sin, we will show the evidence of a God who listens and hears those who have been wronged. Through our acts of repentance and forgiveness we become the evidence of the possibilities of healing and reconciliation. Our acts of mercy, justice, and peace become evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven, we, the beloved community, become evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven. The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be seen because it is already here, in our midst. Our belief in the Kingdom of God will make the evidence of it true. We set in motion the Kingdom of God by believing in it.
The fulfilment of the Kingdom of God on Earth starts with our belief in things unseen.
Amen
Faith in Things Unseen, July 19, 2020
The Elephant Butte Fire ravaged fifty acres of land in West Evergreen. Over a thousand homes were evacuated. Stiff winds, dry pine needles lining the floor, a heat wave; the conditions were perfect for a fire to ravage through the mountains.
I am on the Evergreen Friends and Neighbors Facebook page and if you’ve never been a part of a community on the website Nextdoor or one of these community Facebook pages, I can’t really recommend it. Something about online posting brings out the worst in people. But I’m on the Evergreen Friends and Neighbors Facebook page and around the 4th of July somebody posted a complaint about fireworks going off well into the night.
It became a debate, because of course it did. Some folks commented about the fire ban in JeffCo, specifically saying that these fire bans are made up and they have no idea what they’re doing and trying to scare us, etc. etc. The reasoning of these posters was that, if fireworks have been shot off and there have been no fires in JeffCo, surely these fire bans and alerts for high fire probability are wrongheaded.
From what I know, they haven’t been able to determine the origin and source of the fire because the fire is still smoldering and being watched. The response was amazing, they have multiple vehicles in the air dropping water on the fire, foresters and park rangers watching and clearing the woods, it was a massive amount of effort. We see, very clearly, very concretely, that the stage 2 fire ban was warranted. It was a very clear demonstration of the power of these factors that may have been invisible to us. Things we couldn’t see or perceive or interpret without the help of some experts, these hidden factors created a wildfire. Now, God’s creation is groaning, it is burning due to these unseen things.
Paul’s writing is heavily theological, heavily apocalyptic, heavily rooted in particular contexts and times, and honestly, just heavy. Luther loved Paul, especially loved the letter to the Romans and that should tell you how much theology and interpretation you can squeeze out of these passages. What is important to remember whenever you read Paul.
1.) Paul is writing to particular peoples and churches. We’re actually missing half of the conversation as we the only words we receive from the churches is what Paul decides to include. There are particular problems and questions the churches are dealing with and Paul is often addressing those problems and questions, or his own observations about the churches, when he writes these letters.
2.) Paul was very influenced by both Jewish and Greco-Roman philosophy. Our understanding of the world and our ethical framework are different than Paul’s. Trying to import Paul’s words and exhortations directly in our lives can be grating and alienating for this reason.
3.) Paul believed that the eschaton, the end of time, was coming very soon, possibly within his lifetime. This affected many of his thoughts about Earthly things and circumstances. If this world is going to end then one would be advised to keep whatever status you have in this life, but prepare for the next. If you were a slave, don’t worry about your liberation in this life as the world will end and you will be liberated in Heaven. Earthly institutions didn’t mean much because we were not supposed to be long for this world.
As we know today, the eschaton did not come in Paul’s lifetime, but I think we can empathize with Paul’s apocalyptic sensibility. I’ve seen and heard a lot of jokes about how 2020 is just a different disaster every month. Global pandemic, there were reports of killer bees in Washington, the deaths due to and protests of police violence, the moving company we hired was a disaster, and just this week there was a wildfire. One could certainly look at the world and feel like it is ending, circumstances are dire. We get his sense of urgency and doom, I think.
There is something disempowering to Paul’s theology, telling people to remain in their earthly circumstances because the end is near, to me, runs coarse against the liberative life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Paul has a bent towards care for one another, right conduct, even towards the liberation of one’s soul, but he was less interested - to my reading - in the changing and liberation of earthly systems. Those systems will pass away with the passing of the world and thus one should rather work on the soul and their relationship with God.
There is also something empowering and liberating about Paul’s theology. Maybe it is Howard Thurman that compels me in such a way of reading but there is mighty power in knowing that we are inheritors of the Spirit, heirs of God and we can place our hope, our confidence, in things unseen. Howard Thurman writes in Jesus and the Disinherited, “The awareness of being a child of God tends to stabilize the ego and results in a new courage, fearlessness, and power. I have seen it again and again.”
We know the power of unseen things. A virus we cannot see, sometimes we cannot feel until it is too late, is changing the world around us. These unseen-to-many factors have caused a wildfire to roar in our town. Thurman and Paul speak to us about the unseen Spirit. The power of our rootedness in our God-createdness gives us dignity, courage, power. Things unseen give us a hope that cannot be abolished by powers or principalities. We trust in things unseen to lead us into life full and abundant.
I think Prof. Kuzipa Nalwamba, my social ethics professor in Bossey, would be upset with me if I did not draw special attention to Paul’s inclusion of creation in this passage.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Creation has been subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. The one given dominion over nature has subjected it to frustration...
Us.
We have subjected creation to our unbridled greed and destruction, to infinite growth squeezed out of finite resources. Often we do not personally see the causes of environmental degradation; overfishing and plastics in the waters, increased carbon emissions, strip mining; these are not things that are often present in our day to day lives, even if we read or know about them.
It might not be real for us, or might not be present in everyday life for us, but its present for so many people.
I don’t think I need to tell a bunch of folks who worship at a church in Evergreen, Colorado about how precious and fragile God’s creation can be, especially in light of this wildfire.
As Paul thought the world was ending and the eschaton was beginning, Paul believed that redemption of all creation, the restoration of our bodies, the restoration of nature, would happen in a New Creation. All creation groaned in the birth pangs of something new, our very souls groan for redemption. What we have come to realize is that we cannot simply wait for the end times. Paul thought that our heavenly liberation would come soon, so soon, that Earthly liberation wasn’t needed.
We know we need both. One cannot come without the other. We need to liberate our spirit while we liberate and restore all creation. We cannot wait to act on climate change much like we cannot wait to act on putting out a wildfire. We must stop subjugating the environment, subjugating other people, and subjugating our souls to the bondage of decay at the same time. Our hope demands that we do not just wait, but we act. Our hope becomes real when we act on it. We hope for what we do not have; a restored creation, freed peoples, full and joyous souls, and we live that hope by acting. Like first responders fly in the air to put out the Elephant Butte Fire we must be first responders to that hope for what we do not have
Unlike Paul we do not wait, but like Paul we do have hope. A hope in things unseen, hope grounded in something unseen. By this hope, we will be saved. Afterall, things unseen are sometimes the most powerful.
Amen.
The Elephant Butte Fire ravaged fifty acres of land in West Evergreen. Over a thousand homes were evacuated. Stiff winds, dry pine needles lining the floor, a heat wave; the conditions were perfect for a fire to ravage through the mountains.
I am on the Evergreen Friends and Neighbors Facebook page and if you’ve never been a part of a community on the website Nextdoor or one of these community Facebook pages, I can’t really recommend it. Something about online posting brings out the worst in people. But I’m on the Evergreen Friends and Neighbors Facebook page and around the 4th of July somebody posted a complaint about fireworks going off well into the night.
It became a debate, because of course it did. Some folks commented about the fire ban in JeffCo, specifically saying that these fire bans are made up and they have no idea what they’re doing and trying to scare us, etc. etc. The reasoning of these posters was that, if fireworks have been shot off and there have been no fires in JeffCo, surely these fire bans and alerts for high fire probability are wrongheaded.
From what I know, they haven’t been able to determine the origin and source of the fire because the fire is still smoldering and being watched. The response was amazing, they have multiple vehicles in the air dropping water on the fire, foresters and park rangers watching and clearing the woods, it was a massive amount of effort. We see, very clearly, very concretely, that the stage 2 fire ban was warranted. It was a very clear demonstration of the power of these factors that may have been invisible to us. Things we couldn’t see or perceive or interpret without the help of some experts, these hidden factors created a wildfire. Now, God’s creation is groaning, it is burning due to these unseen things.
Paul’s writing is heavily theological, heavily apocalyptic, heavily rooted in particular contexts and times, and honestly, just heavy. Luther loved Paul, especially loved the letter to the Romans and that should tell you how much theology and interpretation you can squeeze out of these passages. What is important to remember whenever you read Paul.
1.) Paul is writing to particular peoples and churches. We’re actually missing half of the conversation as we the only words we receive from the churches is what Paul decides to include. There are particular problems and questions the churches are dealing with and Paul is often addressing those problems and questions, or his own observations about the churches, when he writes these letters.
2.) Paul was very influenced by both Jewish and Greco-Roman philosophy. Our understanding of the world and our ethical framework are different than Paul’s. Trying to import Paul’s words and exhortations directly in our lives can be grating and alienating for this reason.
3.) Paul believed that the eschaton, the end of time, was coming very soon, possibly within his lifetime. This affected many of his thoughts about Earthly things and circumstances. If this world is going to end then one would be advised to keep whatever status you have in this life, but prepare for the next. If you were a slave, don’t worry about your liberation in this life as the world will end and you will be liberated in Heaven. Earthly institutions didn’t mean much because we were not supposed to be long for this world.
As we know today, the eschaton did not come in Paul’s lifetime, but I think we can empathize with Paul’s apocalyptic sensibility. I’ve seen and heard a lot of jokes about how 2020 is just a different disaster every month. Global pandemic, there were reports of killer bees in Washington, the deaths due to and protests of police violence, the moving company we hired was a disaster, and just this week there was a wildfire. One could certainly look at the world and feel like it is ending, circumstances are dire. We get his sense of urgency and doom, I think.
There is something disempowering to Paul’s theology, telling people to remain in their earthly circumstances because the end is near, to me, runs coarse against the liberative life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Paul has a bent towards care for one another, right conduct, even towards the liberation of one’s soul, but he was less interested - to my reading - in the changing and liberation of earthly systems. Those systems will pass away with the passing of the world and thus one should rather work on the soul and their relationship with God.
There is also something empowering and liberating about Paul’s theology. Maybe it is Howard Thurman that compels me in such a way of reading but there is mighty power in knowing that we are inheritors of the Spirit, heirs of God and we can place our hope, our confidence, in things unseen. Howard Thurman writes in Jesus and the Disinherited, “The awareness of being a child of God tends to stabilize the ego and results in a new courage, fearlessness, and power. I have seen it again and again.”
We know the power of unseen things. A virus we cannot see, sometimes we cannot feel until it is too late, is changing the world around us. These unseen-to-many factors have caused a wildfire to roar in our town. Thurman and Paul speak to us about the unseen Spirit. The power of our rootedness in our God-createdness gives us dignity, courage, power. Things unseen give us a hope that cannot be abolished by powers or principalities. We trust in things unseen to lead us into life full and abundant.
I think Prof. Kuzipa Nalwamba, my social ethics professor in Bossey, would be upset with me if I did not draw special attention to Paul’s inclusion of creation in this passage.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Creation has been subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. The one given dominion over nature has subjected it to frustration...
Us.
We have subjected creation to our unbridled greed and destruction, to infinite growth squeezed out of finite resources. Often we do not personally see the causes of environmental degradation; overfishing and plastics in the waters, increased carbon emissions, strip mining; these are not things that are often present in our day to day lives, even if we read or know about them.
It might not be real for us, or might not be present in everyday life for us, but its present for so many people.
I don’t think I need to tell a bunch of folks who worship at a church in Evergreen, Colorado about how precious and fragile God’s creation can be, especially in light of this wildfire.
As Paul thought the world was ending and the eschaton was beginning, Paul believed that redemption of all creation, the restoration of our bodies, the restoration of nature, would happen in a New Creation. All creation groaned in the birth pangs of something new, our very souls groan for redemption. What we have come to realize is that we cannot simply wait for the end times. Paul thought that our heavenly liberation would come soon, so soon, that Earthly liberation wasn’t needed.
We know we need both. One cannot come without the other. We need to liberate our spirit while we liberate and restore all creation. We cannot wait to act on climate change much like we cannot wait to act on putting out a wildfire. We must stop subjugating the environment, subjugating other people, and subjugating our souls to the bondage of decay at the same time. Our hope demands that we do not just wait, but we act. Our hope becomes real when we act on it. We hope for what we do not have; a restored creation, freed peoples, full and joyous souls, and we live that hope by acting. Like first responders fly in the air to put out the Elephant Butte Fire we must be first responders to that hope for what we do not have
Unlike Paul we do not wait, but like Paul we do have hope. A hope in things unseen, hope grounded in something unseen. By this hope, we will be saved. Afterall, things unseen are sometimes the most powerful.
Amen.
Not a People Set Apart, July 12th 2020 Sermon
The story of Jacob and Esau is tragic and, honestly, confusing.
Rebekah’s pregnancy is fraught as her children are warring against one another in the womb. The children are born, Esau first, then Jacob, grasping at Esau’s heel. Isaac favored his first-born son, Esau, which is typical of this time, but Rebekkah favored Jacob, the second born. Like happens often in the Old Testament, it seems that God prefers, or destines the younger child for greater success.
You’ll see a theme present in the relationship between Jacob and Esau. Jacob, often at the urging of his mother, tricks Esau to disadvantage him.
In this passage, Jacob makes Esau sell to him his birth rights as the first born, Esau forsakes the inheritance of his father for some food, to quiet a rumbling stomach.
Later Jacob, at the urging of his mother, steals Esau’s blessings. The now blind Isaac, on his deathbed, urges his favorite son Esau to go on a hunt, and to bring him back delicious venison so that Isaac may give Esau his blessing in full strength. Jacob disguises himself as Esau, returning with venison before Esau does, and tricks his father into thinking that he, Jacob, is Esau. Apparently Esau is so hairy that Jacob is wears a goat’s skin and when Isaac touches the goat skin he believes it is the hair Esau. The scene is intensely dramatic; Issac uses all his senses but his sense of sight, he touches Jacob, smells him, hears him, kisses him and is fully convinced that Jacob is actually Esau. Isaac is tricked and gives Esau’s blessing to Jacob
For this, Esau swears revenge, swears to kill his brother Jacob. Jacob, at the urging of his mother, flees. Jacobs puts himself into a kind of self-imposed exile for over twenty years.
Jacob reaches out to Esau, sending him messengers and presents to appease him. Jacob hears that Esau will meet him, but with the strength of 400 men. Esau comes, not seeking vengeance and death, but forgiveness and reconciliation. Jacob, however, is skeptical, not able to trust Esau’s forgiveness and therefore deceives him again. “Let us be on our way, I’ll accompany you” says Esau, but Jacob tells him to go ahead and flees another way. Esau goes to Seir, Jacob to succoth.
Jacob and Esau somewhat reconciled; Jacob insists that Esau takes “his present” which can be translated as “take my blessing.” It is an acknowledgment by Jacob that he has stolen Esau’s blessing and in his insistence Jacob tells Esau “seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably.” Jacob, by leaving for Succoth rather than joining his brother at Seir never fully lives into that forgiveness or the promises of reconciliation.
The story is confusing because Jacob, thorns, warts, and all is patriarch to and symbolic of Israel and the Israelites' understanding of themselves. God’s chosen people descend from Jacob. Jacob, the favored and the patriarch, lies, deceives, betrays his own brother to secure his success and blessing.
Esau, who has been swindled and deceived, is the patriarch of the Edomites; the Edomites in the exilic and post-exilic literature are enemies of Israel, they represent evil.
I suspect the modern reader feels bad for Esau. Upon reading I don’t think of Jacob as a hero but as a complicated protagonist. I feel bad for Esau, I feel he was cheated and manipulated. Yet in the Biblical narrative, Jacob is our main character, he is given the name Israel.
A couple of themes are recapitulated throughout the story of Jacob and Esau and the Old Testament’s telling of the foundation of Israel and its people; the younger son is preferred or destined for greater success than the eldest son; like Jacob constantly controls and dominates his brother Esau, King David will dominate the Edomites, and Jacob constantly works to distinguish himself and his family much like how the Israelites constantly struggle to distinguish themselves.
The story of Jacob and Esau speaks to us in our extremely divisive time and is relatable in so many ways. Isn’t there always the temptation to deceive your sibling to come ahead? As Jacob betrayed Esau to secure Esau’s birthright and blessing, do we not see co-workers throwing each other under the bus for some recognition from the boss? How often do we fight each other for crumbs when there is a whole hunk of bread being owned and hoarded? Would it not have been better for Jacob and Esau to recognize that they are family, so that when one has been blessed they both are going to come out ahead? If they stick together, would they not have both benefitted?
Often there is a response when a specific group calls out for justice, and that response is too often “what about?” It’s a response that is often violent and distracting.
When a black person is killed by police we often hear responses of “what about black on black crime?” or “what about white folks that get killed by police?” These responses ignore the fact that people are concerned about these things, and this “what aboutism” ignores the fact that liberation for some leads to liberation for all of us. A rising tide lifts all ships, justice and reforms in policing and the justice systems for black communities begets justice and reform for all communities. Specificity leads to universality in matters of liberation and justice.
But the impulse is to be like Jacob. To deceive, to shore up what we have, to make sure that we ourselves will be cared for. To think that the blessing of another is a threat to ourselves. In reality, it’s fighting for scraps when the whole loaf of bread is available.
This divisiveness isn’t found only in issues of race. Too often we are directed to fight for crumbs when the whole loaf is available. When women’s rights and pay get brought up, folks respond “what about men’s rights? What about suicide rates in men?” The increased rights and success of women takes pressure off of men, the elimination of an unnecessarily gendered society expands the opportunities and acceptance for men and women. While there are surely male-specific issues, tackling women’s issues helps men as well. Addressing sexism, or transphobia, or homophobia is taking away from anyone else. That is either/or thinking and either/or thinking is a false dichotomy. I don’t have to lose for others to gain.
Helping the poor helps the middle class yet we are encouraged to see safety nets for the poor as threats to middle class welfare. We are offered a limited imagination which, for some reason, helping the poor can only happen if it comes from the pockets of the middle-class. I think we can all think of examples of this zero-sum-gain thinking; in the workplace, in our own families, societally, in relationships. Jealousy and greed are cruel, and they are divisive. We fight over crumbs when there is a whole hunk of bread available. To secure our own blessing, we have the impulse to steal the blessing of our brother. We don’t realize their blessing blesses us as well.
If you remember the themes I outlined in the narrative of Jacob and Esau, one of them is that Jacob and by extension the Israelites, work to keep themselves distinguished from other peoples. Jacob does not join Esau and the Edomites in Seir but rather heads to Succoth, thus maintaining the distinguished status of the Israelites. Jacob’s skepticality of Esau’s forgiveness keeps the people, the brothers, divided.
Church we are not called to be a people distinguished by anything other than our love. We are not a nation set apart, we are not a people set above, but we are to show God’s love to the entirety of the world, heal and restore the entirety of Christ’s body. God’s favor lies upon the whole of the world, for God so loved the World Christ’s blood was shed for many. We are to learn from the story of Jacob and Esau to no longer see another’s blessing as a threat to our own.
We are to stop stealing the blessings of our neighbor, our sibling, but we are to celebrate those blessings, to realize that proximity to the blessing is a blessing in itself.
Where Jacob did right by confessing and atoning how all he had stolen from Esau, we would be wise to follow his example. Unlike Jacob, we are not called to be a people apart, our desire to distinguish ourselves and to secure all blessings as our own has led to division and destruction of everyone involved.
Unlike Jacob, we would be wise to accept forgiveness where it is offered. While in word Jacob accepted his brother’s forgiveness, in deed Jacob isolated himself and went away.
If we are to accept our sibling’s, our co-workers’, our neighbor’s forgiveness, we cannot isolate and go away but we must travel on the road together.
In a time of division, in a time where a mindset of scarcity has set us upon each other, we pray for unity of spirit. We pray for an end to our insecurity and jealousy, we pray for an end to the hoarding of resources and power, we pray for an end of deceiving and manipulating each other to steal one another’s blessing. We pray to no longer be people apart, but to journey together.
Maybe on the road we’ll stop fighting for the scraps but instead share together in all the blessings God gives. On the road we’ll figure out how to make it so everyone can share the loaf of bread so we never have to fight over scraps again. On the road, we learn that I’m going better because you’re going better.
Amen
The story of Jacob and Esau is tragic and, honestly, confusing.
Rebekah’s pregnancy is fraught as her children are warring against one another in the womb. The children are born, Esau first, then Jacob, grasping at Esau’s heel. Isaac favored his first-born son, Esau, which is typical of this time, but Rebekkah favored Jacob, the second born. Like happens often in the Old Testament, it seems that God prefers, or destines the younger child for greater success.
You’ll see a theme present in the relationship between Jacob and Esau. Jacob, often at the urging of his mother, tricks Esau to disadvantage him.
In this passage, Jacob makes Esau sell to him his birth rights as the first born, Esau forsakes the inheritance of his father for some food, to quiet a rumbling stomach.
Later Jacob, at the urging of his mother, steals Esau’s blessings. The now blind Isaac, on his deathbed, urges his favorite son Esau to go on a hunt, and to bring him back delicious venison so that Isaac may give Esau his blessing in full strength. Jacob disguises himself as Esau, returning with venison before Esau does, and tricks his father into thinking that he, Jacob, is Esau. Apparently Esau is so hairy that Jacob is wears a goat’s skin and when Isaac touches the goat skin he believes it is the hair Esau. The scene is intensely dramatic; Issac uses all his senses but his sense of sight, he touches Jacob, smells him, hears him, kisses him and is fully convinced that Jacob is actually Esau. Isaac is tricked and gives Esau’s blessing to Jacob
For this, Esau swears revenge, swears to kill his brother Jacob. Jacob, at the urging of his mother, flees. Jacobs puts himself into a kind of self-imposed exile for over twenty years.
Jacob reaches out to Esau, sending him messengers and presents to appease him. Jacob hears that Esau will meet him, but with the strength of 400 men. Esau comes, not seeking vengeance and death, but forgiveness and reconciliation. Jacob, however, is skeptical, not able to trust Esau’s forgiveness and therefore deceives him again. “Let us be on our way, I’ll accompany you” says Esau, but Jacob tells him to go ahead and flees another way. Esau goes to Seir, Jacob to succoth.
Jacob and Esau somewhat reconciled; Jacob insists that Esau takes “his present” which can be translated as “take my blessing.” It is an acknowledgment by Jacob that he has stolen Esau’s blessing and in his insistence Jacob tells Esau “seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably.” Jacob, by leaving for Succoth rather than joining his brother at Seir never fully lives into that forgiveness or the promises of reconciliation.
The story is confusing because Jacob, thorns, warts, and all is patriarch to and symbolic of Israel and the Israelites' understanding of themselves. God’s chosen people descend from Jacob. Jacob, the favored and the patriarch, lies, deceives, betrays his own brother to secure his success and blessing.
Esau, who has been swindled and deceived, is the patriarch of the Edomites; the Edomites in the exilic and post-exilic literature are enemies of Israel, they represent evil.
I suspect the modern reader feels bad for Esau. Upon reading I don’t think of Jacob as a hero but as a complicated protagonist. I feel bad for Esau, I feel he was cheated and manipulated. Yet in the Biblical narrative, Jacob is our main character, he is given the name Israel.
A couple of themes are recapitulated throughout the story of Jacob and Esau and the Old Testament’s telling of the foundation of Israel and its people; the younger son is preferred or destined for greater success than the eldest son; like Jacob constantly controls and dominates his brother Esau, King David will dominate the Edomites, and Jacob constantly works to distinguish himself and his family much like how the Israelites constantly struggle to distinguish themselves.
The story of Jacob and Esau speaks to us in our extremely divisive time and is relatable in so many ways. Isn’t there always the temptation to deceive your sibling to come ahead? As Jacob betrayed Esau to secure Esau’s birthright and blessing, do we not see co-workers throwing each other under the bus for some recognition from the boss? How often do we fight each other for crumbs when there is a whole hunk of bread being owned and hoarded? Would it not have been better for Jacob and Esau to recognize that they are family, so that when one has been blessed they both are going to come out ahead? If they stick together, would they not have both benefitted?
Often there is a response when a specific group calls out for justice, and that response is too often “what about?” It’s a response that is often violent and distracting.
When a black person is killed by police we often hear responses of “what about black on black crime?” or “what about white folks that get killed by police?” These responses ignore the fact that people are concerned about these things, and this “what aboutism” ignores the fact that liberation for some leads to liberation for all of us. A rising tide lifts all ships, justice and reforms in policing and the justice systems for black communities begets justice and reform for all communities. Specificity leads to universality in matters of liberation and justice.
But the impulse is to be like Jacob. To deceive, to shore up what we have, to make sure that we ourselves will be cared for. To think that the blessing of another is a threat to ourselves. In reality, it’s fighting for scraps when the whole loaf of bread is available.
This divisiveness isn’t found only in issues of race. Too often we are directed to fight for crumbs when the whole loaf is available. When women’s rights and pay get brought up, folks respond “what about men’s rights? What about suicide rates in men?” The increased rights and success of women takes pressure off of men, the elimination of an unnecessarily gendered society expands the opportunities and acceptance for men and women. While there are surely male-specific issues, tackling women’s issues helps men as well. Addressing sexism, or transphobia, or homophobia is taking away from anyone else. That is either/or thinking and either/or thinking is a false dichotomy. I don’t have to lose for others to gain.
Helping the poor helps the middle class yet we are encouraged to see safety nets for the poor as threats to middle class welfare. We are offered a limited imagination which, for some reason, helping the poor can only happen if it comes from the pockets of the middle-class. I think we can all think of examples of this zero-sum-gain thinking; in the workplace, in our own families, societally, in relationships. Jealousy and greed are cruel, and they are divisive. We fight over crumbs when there is a whole hunk of bread available. To secure our own blessing, we have the impulse to steal the blessing of our brother. We don’t realize their blessing blesses us as well.
If you remember the themes I outlined in the narrative of Jacob and Esau, one of them is that Jacob and by extension the Israelites, work to keep themselves distinguished from other peoples. Jacob does not join Esau and the Edomites in Seir but rather heads to Succoth, thus maintaining the distinguished status of the Israelites. Jacob’s skepticality of Esau’s forgiveness keeps the people, the brothers, divided.
Church we are not called to be a people distinguished by anything other than our love. We are not a nation set apart, we are not a people set above, but we are to show God’s love to the entirety of the world, heal and restore the entirety of Christ’s body. God’s favor lies upon the whole of the world, for God so loved the World Christ’s blood was shed for many. We are to learn from the story of Jacob and Esau to no longer see another’s blessing as a threat to our own.
We are to stop stealing the blessings of our neighbor, our sibling, but we are to celebrate those blessings, to realize that proximity to the blessing is a blessing in itself.
Where Jacob did right by confessing and atoning how all he had stolen from Esau, we would be wise to follow his example. Unlike Jacob, we are not called to be a people apart, our desire to distinguish ourselves and to secure all blessings as our own has led to division and destruction of everyone involved.
Unlike Jacob, we would be wise to accept forgiveness where it is offered. While in word Jacob accepted his brother’s forgiveness, in deed Jacob isolated himself and went away.
If we are to accept our sibling’s, our co-workers’, our neighbor’s forgiveness, we cannot isolate and go away but we must travel on the road together.
In a time of division, in a time where a mindset of scarcity has set us upon each other, we pray for unity of spirit. We pray for an end to our insecurity and jealousy, we pray for an end to the hoarding of resources and power, we pray for an end of deceiving and manipulating each other to steal one another’s blessing. We pray to no longer be people apart, but to journey together.
Maybe on the road we’ll stop fighting for the scraps but instead share together in all the blessings God gives. On the road we’ll figure out how to make it so everyone can share the loaf of bread so we never have to fight over scraps again. On the road, we learn that I’m going better because you’re going better.
Amen
Burning Coals, July 5th 2020 Sermon
Isaiah 6
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Isaiah thought he was going to die.
Isaiah, one of the most quoted, most beloved prophets of the old testament, of the Jewish traditions, met God and thought he was going to die. He had a vision of God and believed because he was unworthy, unclean, and his people were unworthy and unclean, he will be “ruined,” he will die.
Where Isaiah expects death, God gives Isaiah a new purpose in life.
When Isaiah expects death due to being unworthy, God makes Isaiah worthy.
Often it is the reluctant, the ones who seem ill-equipped, who are picked by God to be prophets and leaders. Moses says he is slow of speech and slow of tongue, Jonah tried to flee his calling, Isaiah considers himself unworthy, yet God chases and empowers them to do God’s work.
When Isaiah believed himself unworthy, saw a future or ruin for himself and his people, an angel takes a burning coal and presses it to his lips. The burning coal purifies Isaiah’s lips, makes him worthy, he becomes one of the greatest prophets.
Purified, made worthy, called, sent, yet Isaiah’s message will fall on ears that are “ever hearing yet never understanding” eyes that are “ever seeing but never perceiving.”
My school board for the school district I grew up in, Stow-Munroe Falls, received letters because they had not acknowledged or made any comment about the Black Lives Matter movement so the school board held a special meeting to read out statements made by community members about race and experiences at the Stow-Munroe Falls city schools.
Most board members took the meeting seriously, read the printed statements, listened. One board member, throughout the whole meeting, is seen snacking, grinning at inappropriate times such as the mention of a student committing suicide and is seemingly distracted. She may be laughing at the statements, she may be laughing because she’s looking at her phone, she may be laughing because somebody else is in the room; the fact remains that she did not care enough to comport herself in a way that even pretended to be respectful and caring.
They will be “ever-hearing but never understanding.”
There is a striking picture of some black protesters, one holds a sign “Same shit, different year.” It was taken in the 1980’s.
They will “be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
Elijah McClain was killed by Aurora police in 2019, a story which has resurfaced in the american moral consciousness. Elijah McClain was known for dressing warmly because of his poor circulation, he often wore hoodies and ski masks in the cold Colorado winters. He was known for playing his violin to kittens, his mother comments that “he was a massage therapist who wanted to heal others.”
Police were called for an unarmed, “suspicious man in a ski mask.” What little footage we have, due to officers’ “body camera falling off,” indicates that Elijah says he was “introverted and wanted officers to respect his space” and was “trying to turn off his music to listen to the officers” before he is wrestled to the ground and put into a chokehold. Elijah loses consciousness, regains consciousness, vomits, apologizes for vomiting, eventually is given ketamine to sedate him, suffers a heart attack in transit to the hospital, and eventually becomes brain dead. His mother had to make the decision to pull the plug.
During a memorial for Elijah McClain this week, where protesters played violins in a vigil for Elijah, several officers took posed pictures of themselves putting each other in chokeholds near the site where Elijah was arrested, prompting investigation. Riot gear garbed police pepper sprayed the gathered protesters, interrupting the music for Elijah.
“Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
God tells Isaiah "Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
While it sounds as though Isaiah is not supposed to help his people, but rather condemn them to a divine retribution for their sinfulness, rabbinical commentary suggests that these verses imply a future-tense. The rabbinical commentary suggests that Isaiah will go and give speeches but the people will refuse to listen to the truth and thus will not achieve understanding. They will refuse to listen until they are actually ruined. Their towns will lie in waste without inhabitants, the few that remain will hold the seed to renewal and rebirth.
How long will we be “ever seeing but never perceiving, listening but never understanding.” Will it take the destruction of our villages, our people to the point so that only a tenth remain, before listening? When might we begin seeing with our eyes, hearing with our ears, understanding with our hearts and turning and being healed? When will it stop being, “same shit, different year?”
Isaiah thought he was going to die; feeling him and his people unworthy, he appeared before God expecting death.
He received purification.
He received a prophet’s commissioning.
He received life.
Isaiah proclaimed he had unworthy lips and God had an angel take a burning coal from the altar, placed it upon his lips and God declared his guilt assuaged, his sin atoned for.
Perhaps we need to have burning coals placed upon more than just our lips. Maybe we need burning coals placed upon our ears and eyes. Perhaps we need to burn away the that which inhibits us from seeing and hearing.
I’ve preached often, and will continue preaching, about what we need to burn away societally. What we need to burn away personally will differ for each one of us. Practices of reflection and introspection will help lead us to the point where we can know what it is we need to burn away. It may be an urge to get credit for the work we have done. We might need to burn away the urge to think of our own feelings and experiences as universal. I, personally, need to live a little into the hope of our faith and believe in the possibilities for change. To see and hear, I need to burn away my cynicism which can prevent living in the hope and perspective of other people.
Once we have confessed our own impurities, once we have acknowledged what keeps us from hearing and seeing, much like Isaiah confessed he was unable to speak, God will provide us the burning coal from the altar. Both holy and destructive, the coal from the altar of God burns away the iniquities of Isaiah’s lips.
When we accept the burning coal to our own eyes and ears and burn away our own iniquities, it’s gonna hurt. Grappling with privilege, taking a back seat, failing and learning from failure, unlearning and re-learning history from a different perspective, questioning our systems, contending with our families and friends ideologies, these things burn. Especially confronting our friends and families.
Opening yourself up to the hurt and grief of other people, attempting to be attentive and healing, that means opening yourself up to trial and heartbreak. It means being vulnerable and receiving another’s vulnerability.
But a little burn, a little hurt, that is what will give us hearts to understand and the opportunity to turn and heal.
Last week I preached about our church entering in a time of re-welcoming. To be a welcoming church we have to have eyes which see and perceive, ears which hear and understand. We have to have hearts which understand so that our peoples, our nation, can heal. Isaiah was called to restore an exiled people. On this independence day weekend, let us feel a call to restore a broken nation. That call begins with a confession that we have sinned, made ourselves unworthy. That call begins by asking God to place the burning coal to our eyes and ears so we can see and perceive, hear and understand. Then, we can turn and heal, as a peoples, as a nation.
Unfortunately it may not be us who turn and heal. We may have to do the work of placing that burning coal to our eyes and ears, our lips, our hearts so that the future generations can finally turn and heal. We may have to plant a tree whose shade we will never sit under, plant a harvest we will never reap. If we don’t start now, it’ll never be done.
After the burn of the coal which purifies, perhaps we will be able to echo these words from Isaiah 12 and 14
“I give thanks to You, O Lord! Although you were wroth with me, Your wrath has turned back and You comfort me, Behold the God who gives me triumph! I am confident, unafraid; For Yah the Lord is my strength and might. And God has been my deliverance… How is oppression ended! The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked… All the earth is calm, untroubled; Loudly it cheers.”
Amen
June 28th Sermon: Re-Welcoming
Perhaps, mercifully, the advice for in person worship is to not sing and to keep sermons short. Because we’re outside and can spread out quite comfortably I think singing is more reasonable. Especially if we keep our masks on while we sing. We’ve seen some really good data about how wearing masks avoids spread. But I’ll keep the advice of keeping the sermon short.
This scripture selection comes from a part of Matthew where Christ is sending the Disciples out and giving them instructions on how to evangelize, how to be guests, what to expect while out there. Christ ends with these verses, which a commentary suggests is emphatically passionate as indicated by the Greek’s lack of participles. Christ tells his followers that whoever welcomes them welcomes Christ, and welcomes God. He says, whoever gets a cold cup of water to one of these little ones, meaning the Disciples he sends out, will not lose the reward they are due for their welcome. Getting a cold cup of water would not be an easy task in this time, in vast swaths of land covered by heat and desert. Getting a cool drink of water didn’t mean drawing from the cistern one might have in their house, it meant going to the well. A well which could well be miles away.
It is beyond a mere human kindness, beyond a mere greeting for a stranger, it is going beyond what is required or expected. It is a small gift, perhaps the only gift the welcomer could have given, a gift given to those who come in Christ’s name. Much like Christ has told us, “whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me;” how you have received and welcomed folks who come in Christ’s name you have received Christ himself, have received God.
Haven’t we all been sent in the name of Christ? If we truly know the body of Christ to be made up of many members, if we take seriously the imago dei, the fact that all of us are made in the image of God, do we not carry the name of Christ with us wherever we go, and with whoever we receive?
Christ’s promises a reward for a welcome that is beyond mere human kindness. One who welcomes a Lord receives a Lord’s reward, those who welcome a prophet receive a prophet’s reward, so what kind of reward can one expect for welcoming one sent in the name of God? The reward for recognizing the god-image of each person, of caring for the poor, hungry, and sick, is the Kingdom of Heaven. Could we not expect that the reward for welcoming those who come in the name of Christ, with generosity beyond mere human kindness, is the Kingdom of Heaven, a welcome of our very own?
The imagery of cold water suggests to me that as we quench the thirst of those sent in the name of Christ, our own spiritual thirst will be quenched. By welcoming others we begin the long journey of quenching our spiritual thirst; welcoming others begins to answer questions like “what is my purpose in life,” “what does God want me to do,” “where can I do the most good.” Christ has told us that what we do for the hungry, lost, least of these, we do for Christ. The proverb “it takes a village” rings true for many aspects of life; to raise a child it takes a village, to live a full life it takes a village, to sell out the audubon society’s plant sale in 15 minutes it takes a village, and to begin the journey of quenching our spiritual thirsts, we must welcome that village, in extraordinary ways. But because our God is bountiful and gives bountifully, the rewards for welcoming those who come in that name of Christ are also bountiful. I say to you that welcoming those who come in the name of Christ is its own reward. Think of a time when you welcomed somebody with generosity beyond mere human kindness. When the welcome you offered them was intentional, it met what they needed, and it was even inconvenient. If you can’t think of such a time, the challenge is for your next welcome to be such a time.
Think of that time. Think of the kind of impact it makes on your own life to welcome someone that way. Even if the experience lasted a day, the feeling and memories last a lifetime. Welcoming somebody in this way bonds you with them, you learn so much more about somebody when you welcome them, fully. In that time of welcome, you also welcomed Jesus. The moment of human interaction is amplified into a moment of interaction with God. We welcome Christ himself. That is it’s own reward. Christ says “none of these will lose their reward.” Those who welcome others in generosity beyond human kindness welcome Christ. Welcoming Christ is its own reward, a reward we will never lose. That is the imperative of the church, to welcome all who come in the name of Christ with generosity beyond human kindness, and by doing so welcome Jesus.
As states re-open, business re-open, and surely some will shut back down, I don’t want us to think of this church in a stage of “re-opening.” I want to think of this church as in a stage of “re-welcoming,” and to be challenged to re-welcome in ways that go beyond just normal human kindness. As community groups re-find their footing, and re-find their space in our church, it will be frustrating. As we determine how it is we’re going to stay rooted in the community, things will change, things will be annoying. Our re-welcoming requires, though, generosity beyond mere human kindness.
Wearing a mask is inconvenient, especially when it comes to singing in a mask, but it is an inconvenience that meets the needs of this time. Extra precautions of sanitization, last minute changes in plans, these will be inconvenient. But we think of ourselves as a welcoming church, as a safe haven, and to be those things, we will have to welcome with generosity beyond mere human kindness, it will mean inconvenience, it will mean de-centering ourselves and centering the voices and actions of the marginalized folks we want to be a safe haven to.It will mean de-centering ourselves, and centering Jesus.
The states are opening, some might close again soon because these numbers are out of control, but our church isn’t re-opening…
We are re-welcoming, whatever that might have to look like,
And by extending, intimately and intentionally, our welcome, we are welcoming Christ.
Amen
- Rev. Jack Veatch
