Sermon for September 29

The readings

 
Exodus 1:8-14:  Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
 
Exodus 3:1-15:  Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”
 
13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”[a] He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,[b] the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever,and this my title for all generations.
 
Mark 12:26-27 
26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”


The message


Today, we hear one of the main events in the history of Israel, and of God’s communication to the world.  This is the start of the Exodus, the people of Israel escaping slavery in Egypt through the great interventions of the God who created the world, gave a child to Sarah and Abraham, wrestled with Jacob and walked with Joseph.  (If you remember the 10 commandments movie, the plagues and parting of the sea).  This was not a get free quick moment, this was not an instant answer to right, intense prayers. This was after a 400 year wait, generation after generation in brutal slavery in Egypt,  This was a community that wasn’t feeling particularly blessed. That was a time when God had said very little, if anything to people. (compare with the story of Joseph, where God’s presence is constantly experienced and intervening).  


As we often do during this long Advent, the wait for Christmas, for the birth of Christ our savior, we start with a little history, specifically, How did the Israelites get into Egypt? They come as welcomed guests. It starts with Jacob’s youngest son, Joseph, an unexpected child with Rachel, who today we would call Jacob’s true love. Joseph was the youngest but favored by his father (an unfair thing back then).  Joseph’s jealous brothers ditch him in the desert and pretend he was killed (covering that famous colored coat with animal blood and using it as evidence, telling Jacob that Joseph was eaten by lions). This begins a series of events that no one could have predicted would turn into good or imagined how they would work together to fulfill God’s promises.  Joseph is rescued by slave traders and ends up as a servant in Egypt.  Joseph ends up falsely accused of a crime, imprisoned and finds favor with the pharaoh after correctly interpreting a dream. Joseph ends up responsible for the food distribution. During a famine that job makes him one of the most powerful people in Egypt. From this position, he can save his family from famine and brings them to his new country.  After Joseph confronts his brothers, he talks of Divine providence, all things come together for God’s will to be done, the wicked actions of his brothers were necessary to save their family (and God’s promise to Abraham of many descendants).  Soon after the pharaoh and people of Egypt forget Joseph, The people complain that the family of Joseph, the Israelites, were too numerous, too rich, not adopting Egyptian gods or culture, couldn’t be trusted and needed to be stopped.  (pretty much the same things we hear all over the world about immigrants today).  The Israelites are enslaved.


400 years later, we come to today’s reading, the start of the exodus.  God speaks to Moses from a bush that is on fire but not consumed. This site shocks Moses to the point that he ignores his flock of sheep and goes to the bush to see what’s up.   Moses was born an Israelite, hidden and rescued from a death decree by midwifes, found by a member of Pharaoh’s household and grows up in the Pharaoh’s house.  Moses’ kills a slave master who is abusing people and then flees where he starts a new life in the wilderness. God calls a man who grew up privileged, fled his people at the time of their greatest need and hung out raising sheep in the wilderness while they slaved away in Egypt.     


Moses answers God’s invitation “So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” with “id rather not” and a series of excuses., I stutter, I do not know the right words, I will not be listened to, the Israelites will not listen to me, the Egyptians will not listen to me.  Despite this, God remains with Moses (sending his brother Aaron as well).


Now, of course, we can understand why the mighty Egyptian empire would not listen to two men, from the slaves, who claim to speak for a God the Egyptians do not believe in, who has not helped the people for 400 years.  What could happen to them, a nation no earthly army could stand up to, whose buildings and cities still amaze us today. That will take plagues and signs of great power. Why the Israelites would not listen, well that’s a little more complicated.  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a father, son and grandson who all walked with God, found improbable success, The story of Joseph is one of God’s constant intervention,  but they were all a long time ago,  Is that religion still around, does anyone still believe those things happened,  seriously, if there was a God, if God were strong or good, God would have done something by now, a remnant keeps the faith and remembers the promises. God set things in motion a long time ago but after those centuries people would ask, what good will it do, why pray, why bother. Convincing the people that God is with them will be a constant, trying and annoying ask. It will be filled with great disappointments after the Exodus. (for instance, the people will constantly complain, we were better off as full slaves in Egypt than starving in the wilderness, they will make a golden calf to worship and give thanks to for freeing them from slavery, they will fail to keep their ever shrinking part of the covenant, what can God do for us, is that enough).  Despite all this, God remains with the people.      
  

Jesus looks at this story of the call of Moses as evidence that God is with us, in life and even after death.  Our reading from Mark 12, is part of Jesus confrontation with the Sadducees, a group of wealthy powerful and privileged people who were concerned with property and inheritance. They were a group of religious leaders who weren’t particularly religious, there was maybe a God but not really one concerned with us.  They were opposed to the Pharisees.  The Sadducees disagreed with them on several points.  Most relevant for this argument, the Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead.  They pose a question about multiple marriages and who ones spouse would be in the afterlife.  One of the ways that Jesus addresses their argument is referencing God’s words to Moses “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”, they speak of these long gone people in the present tense.  (to God those who have died are still actively related to.  He is not God of the dead but of the living. Jesus’ point was that if God could identify himself as God of the three old patriarchs, then they must still be alive when God spoke to Moses; and so there must be life after death.  Even the Sadducees, who rejected so much, could not reject Moses and still make any claim to religious authority.


For us today, this story can challenge our politics, our world views, our understanding of being blessed.  We can easily be tempted to ask what can God do to us. We and many other nations say the same exact things about immigrants that the people of Egypt did.  We are also the ones living in a world of great suffering, poverty and fear, called to see God is there, keep faithful, knowing God remains with us.

Sermon for September 22

The readings

Genesis 32:[9-13] 22-30

[9 And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,' 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. 12 Yet you have said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.'" 13 So he spent that night there.]

22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." 27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved."

Mark 14:32-36 
 
32 They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. 34 And he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” 35 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 He said, “Abba,[a]Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.”


The message


(no mauscript this week, so heres a decent summary)

Today, we continue our Long Advent season as we wait for Christmas, for the moment when we yell Christ our savior is born, when we see and know God is with us like no time before or after

So far, we heard creation, a story I shared at Rainbow at the children’s church this week on Friday,  connecting to the climate march, why did people not go to work or school today, God’s instruction for us to care for the world entrusted to us;.  


Last week, we heard about one of the major patriarchs of Israel, Abraham who first hears God’s covenant, him and his wife Sarah will have a child. After years under this promise, never fulfilled, they start to think yeah right. In old age Sarah and Abraham have Isaac.  Aferr this, the Lord tests Abraham, asking him to sacrifice Isaac but stopping him at the last minute


Today, we meet Jacob and Easu, Issac and Rebakh’s twin sons and Abraham’s grandsons. Jacob’s story is a soap opera, a collection of deceitful actions, sometimes to level an unfair situation (Jacob leaving Laban) other times out of sheer greed or necessity. Jacob’s actions are sometimes seen as deceitful or scheming, other times celebrated as doing what he had to do, sometimes both, However we see Jacobs’s actions, he is the one God has chosen to build the kingdom of Israel, his 12 children will become the heads of the 12 tribes his name will literally be changed to Israel.


Heres the highlights of what Jacob did.   He is the younger of the twins (a big deal back then in terms of inheritance and privilege, Esau the first born male is special, I tease my own younger twin brother about this sometimes).  Jacob buys this birthright for a meal,  from a starving Easu who just returned from a long hunt and was desperate for something to eat, only thinking about food,  Then Jacob tricks their father a now old, blind Issac into giving him the blessing meant for Esau (by pretending to be Esau) .  After this Esau wants to kill Jacob, so Jacob flees to his mother’s brother Laban.  Here he falls in love with Rachel. Laban promises his daughter in marriage if Jacob works for 7 free years.  He does, Laban tricks Jacob into marrying Leah, Rachel’s older sister.  Jacob works 7 more free years and then marries Rachel.  After several more years, Jacob plans to leave with his family, after a tricky deal with Laban and some clever animal breeding, Jacob leaves with a great wealth.


Today’s reading has Jacob and his family on the trip home.  Esau is looming ahead of them (its been 20 years but Jacob suspects the promise to kill his betraying little brother is still very real).  Esau is there with about 400 soldiers (not a good sign and not good odds for Jacob and his 0 soldiers).  Turns out all is forgiven, Jacob and Esau reconcile, those 400 soldiers get the day off.  Before their meeting, Jacob has this night of wresting with God.  This is one of the oddest stories we will hear. A young girl at Rainbow once asked me, do I know about the guy who wrestled with God”, I said yes that’s Jacob. Then she asked me if God is so great why cant he beat that guy up,  It was super important to me that this little girl not think God could get beat up by a person.  Well God didn’t want to beat Jacob up, God wanted to teach him something, to teach the world something.  


Today, we all wrestle with God sometimes, our reading from the start of Jesus last hours, he is wrestling with his life and death, Jesus is powerfully forcing himself to accept what is next,   Today, people wrestle with “why hasn’t it happened yet”, why are things so bad in the world. Ancient Jewish commentaries suggest that Jacob limbed for the rest of his life, after his hip was moved to stop.  We are changed in the wrestling, we come out marked or scarred but loved by God.

Sermon for September 15

The Readings

Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3 He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." 7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 9 They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." 10 Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" 13 The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, "Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."

21:1 The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." 7 And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

The message

As we look at today’s reading, we have to start with 2 questions. First -What happened between creation last week and the events of this week, the good news to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son and the birth of that son, Issac, Second -who are Abraham and Sarah, what happened to them up to this point


First, after creation, there is the fall, Eve and Adam disobey God’s command and eat fruit from a tree that God had told them not to. They do this so that they can have knowledge of good and evil, falling for the enticement of god-like power and knowledge. For this, they are punished, thrown out of the kind garden and left in a harsh world.   After jealousy over a sacrifice, one of their children kills the other, Cain kills Abel.  The world continues to deteriorate and grow further from God., ⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  After this, there is the great flood to destroy a failed creation. Noah and his family build a very large boat.  Along with pairs of every animals, Noah and his family ride out the flood in the ark and spared.  When the waters recede, God sends them to “be fruitful and multiply”, to repopulate the new world.  After this, we have the tower of Babel. People come together to try and build a center of the world that is not God, a place of ultimate power that is not God, a place of decision that is not God. Part of this plan is a universal language and a city with a tower that reaches heaven.  In response, God scatters them and confuses their languages. 


After a series of genealogies that tell the generations of Noah and his children, we meet Abram, a descendant of Noah’s first born son Shem. In the midst of ordinary life, we suddenly learn The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.² “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot (Abram’s nephew) went with him.  Abram goes, building a family, encountering war, struggle and success.  The thing that was missing was a child, a son, a true heir with his wife Sarah. How could God’s promise I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you be true if he does not even have a single heir, who would this promise happen through.

With Sarah’s suggestion and permission, Abram did have a child, Ishmael, with Haggar, one of their servants. Although Ishmael was not considered a true heir, this creates a great deal of jealousy and a rupture in their house.  After this God once again repeats the promise to Abraham  “you shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations” and more specific, “as for Ishmael, I will bless him but my covenant will be with Issac whom Sarah will bear in the season after next.   (To Abram and Sarah who are now old, disappointed and frustrated, this sounds impossible)

That brings us to today’s visit where the Lord appears in some way as these three visitors to Abraham and Sarah’s tent.  Starting here, there are moments in the story we are unsure about. We do not know if Abraham recognizes the importance of his visitors. Regardless, Abraham responds with immediate and great hospitality, insisting they stay, offering a little food and water and then giving even more. The guests repeat the promise that Sarah will bear a child. Sarah overhears this and laughs to herself (we learn at another point in the story Abraham laughs as well), We are not sure if this is a laughter expressing relief, a laughter sharing uncertainty or a laughter of seriously, now, after all these years, when I am too old you talk about this promise.   Sometimes, all we do is laugh at our attempts to figure things out or do them our way.

While Abraham and Sarah wait for this promise of a son, we have the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, places and communities so corrupted by sin, they must be destroyed (for instance, when angels of the Lord, disguised as men, go to visit Sodom and see what is happening, all the men of the city go out and try to rape them, not exactly the best thing they could have done during an inspection to determine the fate of their city).   

Scripture returns to the story of Abraham and Sarah, with God’s promise kept, the birth of Issac.  Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me” Issac’s name literally means “he laughs” and unlike the uncertain laughter of before, this is laughter of joy and relief.  It is an invitation for us to remember with God all things are possible. This story sits in the Bible as one of the first examples of the message, With God all things are possible.  The history of Israel is filled with examples of people who remember nothing is impossible for God who gave a child to Sarah and Abraham.   They will constantly experience this in their lives and their history. God will act powerfully and decisively in the world, There will be times when all their efforts fail or fall apart, wisdom is wrong, armies are powerless and all that is left is to depend on God.     

With God all things are possible is a quote we see printed on coffee cups, sewed on pillow cases, hung up on church banners (We had one right there for a long time), prayed before big moments, spoken in love to people in crisis to bring comfort, spoken in encouragement to people who have lost hope. Of course, with God all things are possible is not a magic phrase we can use to get what we want. If you say “With God all things are possible” 10 times and buy a lotto ticket, you are not guaranteed a win. This is not simply a self help trick, to encourage you to act boldly or stupidly assuming God will push the outcome in your favor.  It is a statement of God’s ultimate authority in and over the world. Like the rest of our long Advent, it is a promise that God is with us.   

With God all things are possible is the message Jesus shares in our verse from Mark 10. In that case, Jesus shares these words after a series of very difficult comments on how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.  After laying out why it is virtually impossible, Jesus’ frustrated and scared disciples watch the crowds disappear and they had enough, they ask Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”  Here, God’s power is applied to salvation,  it cannot be earned  by keeping the law, it cannot be purchased or accomplished by some (or a ton of) good works, it will be given as a gift because with God all things are possible.  Today, we say all things are possible for God who was made flesh and dwelled amongst us, who healed the sick, welcomed the stranger, taught the crowds, calmed the storms. who died and rose again.

Sermon for September 8

The reading

Genesis 2:4b-25

4b In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up — for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6 but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground — 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." 18 Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." 24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

Mark 1:16-20 ¹⁶As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." ¹⁸At once they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. ²⁰Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him





The message


Happy Year 2, happy church new year. This morning, we begin another church year. Like our January 1^st New Year, this is a time for looking forward and for looking at what is important.  The narrative lectionary starts with a long Advent, the time of waiting for Christmas, centuries in a community where things were often not quick or easy, there were wars, famines, defeats, abandoned faith, disobedience, betrayals and horrible events. At Christmas, we often hear the word / name Immanuel, meaning God with us and that is the message of our church year.   


We will have a series of Old Testament readings that take us from creation to the birth of Jesus, we will (or should) struggle with some of them. We also need to make sure we do not get lost in the details. The first people to be healed by, talk with, learn from and experience God in Christ, knew these stories, hopes and voices well, we should too.  


This new year, we will focus on the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark is the earliest Gospel book that was written. It is fast paced (the Greek words Kai Ethos, and immediately occur every few verses, it was written to be read cover to cover in one sitting), 


The Gospel of Mark focuses on Christian Discipleship, what it looks and feels like to follow Jesus.  The Gospel centers around a series of escalating conflicts between Jesus and religious and or political empires.  You can’t do both, you can’t be fully part of the kingdom of God and of the world. At the same time, you can follow Jesus and work with faith, care for your family and community with faith, build relationships with love.
  

We start the new year with 2 readings that show “God with us” is at the message told to us from the start. There is creation and Jesus first invitation to come and follow. Today, we start with the second creation story, from the very start, time with people, God being with us, is at the heart of God’s kingdom. Each verse has filled entire collections of books.  We can easily get lost in the details Now countless centuries of work and interpretation have been spent on these stories, their own origins, relationship with each other, relationship with science / what we can discover from observing what we can observe.  People have spent huge amounts of energy trying to figure out where these rivers are, where the garden was, what fruit was on the tree (probably not an apple), I want to look at something different, at the heart of this story is God with us.  God’s time together with people. The first creation story, God is in heaven looking down, seeing and saying “:it is good”, in the second story, God is in the garden, forming life from the earth, witnessing Adam’s loneness, feeling the wind,  God is very much with us.    Jesus first call of the disciples is simple follow me and I will make you fish for people.  Jesus goes to the center of the city and life, the place where people were fishing.  God is with us.  


We will hear a lot about the ways people have seen and felt God with us.  We will also do, show and help others experience God with us. In our ministry this year, I want to focus on a few main ways of care and community outreach.

1-      Our Rainbow Christian Preschool:

2-      Woodside Neighborhood Association: 

3-      Stacey’s food pantry

Sermon for September 1

Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 7-11; Luke 15:11-32

Deuteronomy 15:1 Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbor, not exacting it of a neighbor who is a member of the community, because the Lord's remission has been proclaimed.

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9 Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, "The seventh year, the year of remission, is near," and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land."

The message

(I read our second reading in the middle)

This morning, we complete our Summer with our last readings on the Sabbath / Rest. Today does not focus on refraining from work on the Holy Day, it does not invite spiritual reflection, it invites real, scary actions. This part of the law focuses on something most of us pray everyday but don’t think a lot about, one of the petitions in the Lord’s Pray, forgive us our sins or debts as we forgive our debtors, those who sin against us (we do not use debt / debtors much but the original Greek word does have an economic tone). Without a sabbath, we struggle to realize we are loved by God and that it matters, without a sabbath, we struggle to realize just how bad life is for many people

Our reading from Deuteronomy presents a radical world view in a simple command (one that we are not sure was ever practiced), every 7^th year you shall grant a remission of debt.  It is work to be poor, it is work to be homeless, It is work to be part of a persecuted, discriminated against group, lots of stuff to think about and worry about. There is supposed to be a sabbath from that.  This is one of the verses that many people who focus on just a verse or two of scripture avoid. Inequality was not part of God’s creation and Sabbath is returning to God’s creation.  Poverty was not part of God’s creation and Sabbath is returning to God’s creation, Sabbath is not just for us to rest, it means understanding the consequences of our work and life in terms of relationship with God and understanding its impact on others, calling us to allow others to rest. We hear a lot about the impact of our life styles on others, environmental, world poverty, warfare, the use of others resources, slavery, the cost of cheap prices, distribution, a serious accounting of our impact on the world can only be done if we stop and notice.  

To forgive debts is not fair.  Nothing in this commandment for the forgiveness of debts has anything to do with deserving or fairness. We are called to be something better than fair. Our second reading is one of the most well known parables in the bible and world, it is not fair  

Luke 15:11 ( I added some comments in the parenthesis) Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me. (what, that’s a terrible thing to ask, that is like saying dad, act like your dead so I can party) ' So the father divided his property between them (what are you nuts, a friend should have dragged you to court for a judge to decide you were not of sane mind and couldn’t do this). 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. (this guy is a grade A piece of crap) 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. (sure now that hes abandoned and devested his family, he might as well turn his back on his faith, violate the laws that have organized his faith for centuries and take care of unclean pigs) 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' (I think that’s the best way back in, let me practice it)  So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion (not anger, not practical thoughts,) ; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 (this is an act of grace, the son’s well thought out line does not matter) But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly,(restore him to his status as my son)  bring out a robe -- the best one -- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, an let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. 25 Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' 28 Then he became angry (realizing that this kid who stole and devastated his father, who wasted so much of what was theirs was home and not in prison or killed or settling into slave quarters or punished at all)  and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' 31 Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 T. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

This parable comes about because the religious authorities see Jesus with the people, healing, teaching (while they are by and large ignored, a observation that enrages them).  They start to whisper, “he eats and tax collectors and sinners”.   This was not fair, if Jesus was the savior, the messiah, a healer, a prophet, a great teacher, the son of God, why wouldn’t he spend all his time with the deserving, the law keepers, the generous givers, reward the good people. 

Sinners had broken the law, Tax collectors were Jewish people who worked for the Roman Empire, collecting the “so the empire does not kill you all” payments from the people (and earning wages by overcharging)  The Pharisees would ever eat with these people,  why soil their image, there would be no social, economic or political gain.  When challenged about who he stays with Jesus responds with several stories Jesus responds by talking about a lost sheep (the shepherd leaves 99 to find the one) and a lost coin (the owner scours all over for it despite having so many others).   In the case of the coin and sheep, the ones left are less protected, watched or cared for. It is not fair.   The final outcome in the story of the prodigal son is not fair to the elder child,  The dad knows it is not right, everyone knows it is not fair.  It is better than fair, it is mercy, love and compassion, that is the way to joy.

A quote I share from St Issac the Syrian, a teacher and mystic in the early church (5^th century) Never say that God is just. If He were just you would be in hell. Rely only on His injustice which is mercy, love, and forgiveness.