If You Say So …

A sermon preached at St. Francis by the Lake Episcopal Church, Canyon Lake, Texas.
The Lectionary readings for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany are here.

Do y’all remember ‘back in the day’ when Sunday School teachers used flannel graphs to tell Bible stories? I love flannel graphs, and often I’ve wished I had one when I preach. This is one of those moments, so you’ll just have to picture it in your heads.

I want us to start today looking at the main characters in both our Old Testament and our New Testament readings: The prophet Isaiah and the fisherman Simon (as we start the story he’s not yet a disciple and he’s not yet called Peter).

Imagine the felt cutout of Isaiah and a throne bigger than the flannel graph board as we hear Isaiah describe his grand vision of the glory of God on the throne. God’s robe fills the entire temple and these six-winged creatures are flying around singing praises to God with voices so strong, the building shakes. And just so no one misses the concrete reality of this vision, Isaiah grounds it in history: In the year that King Usiah died. This isn’t just some wishful imagining but the reality of God seeking a relationship with God’s people.

As you imagine Isaiah’s vision, can you feel the presence of God in this place? Can you hear the heavenly voice harmonizing with ours? What is your reaction when you feel surrounded by God’s presence?

Isaiah’s first response it to proclaim himself unworthy. Isaiah is fearful that all of his sins will bring about his death in the presence of God. Yet, far from condemning Isaiah, God purifies that which Isaiah says is unclean and asks him to go and proclaim healing to the people of Isreal. Isaiah learns that God is a God of redemption and restoration.

OK, quick change of scene – let me switch out the temple flannel graph with the one of the Sea of Galilee. Can you see the boats and the empty nets? Can you see and feel how tired the fishermen are?

Simon has been out with his crew fishing all night and has caught nothing. He has nothing to sell, nothing to feed his family. And instead of letting him go home in defeat or despair, Jesus asks Simon if he can use his boat to speak from. Jesus steps into Simon’s workspace, fills it with his Presence and when he has finished speaking, asks Simon to try again.

I love Simon’s response: “well, ok, we tried all night but IF YOU SAY SO, I’ll do it again. Do you think that Simon really expected things to be different or is his tone more like “I’ll show you, you’ll see I’m right. You may be the master teacher but I’m the master fisherman.” If you were in Simon’s sandals, what would your tone be?

And when Simon sees the haul of fish, sees the glory of God revealed, he responds in the same way as Isaiah, “Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man.” Just as Isaiah did, Simon believes himself to be unworthy of God’s presence.

Jesus doesn’t walk away as Simon asks but instead invites Simon, and those with him, to join him in ‘fishing for people.’ Simon declared himself unclean and Jesus heals his self-doubt with the words, “don’t be afraid.”

And here’s a helpful side explanation: in the ancient Hebrew world, catching people like fish was used to describe the vengeful actions of an enemy out to get you. Jesus takes this old way of thinking and transforms it. ‘Learn from me,’ he offers, ‘how to gather all of God’s people together in liberating, life-giving love. Let go of the ideas of a vengeful, condemning God and live in the abundance of God’s Love.’

The Story continues to reveal to us that God is a God of redemption and restoration and relationship.

In both of these in incredible scenes, the one who says ‘I am unworthy’ is offered an invitation to participate with God in the same restorative and redemptive actions they themselves receive.

“Who should I send, and who will go for us?”
“Follow me and I will show you how to fish for people.”

These men were afraid of being condemned because they condemned themselves with their own feelings of guilt. God created us and declared us ‘good’ knowing we’d make bad choices in life. Throughout our holy scriptures, from the very beginning, we have story after story of God’s tender mercy. When the first humans ate from the forbidden tree, he dressed them warmly as he sent them to face the consequences of their behavior.

God worked with the actions of Abraham and Sarah to bring about God’s plan even as they, over and over again, took matters into their own hands.

After his brothers sold him into slavery, God used Joseph to save Jacob’s entire family from famine.

Throughout the history of ancient Isreal, God sends prophets to remind the people of his mercy and yet they chose the path God said would lead to his wrath. And still, whenever they returned, God welcomed and cared for them even as they faced the consequences of their choices.

As we dive deeper into God’s story through our BibleProject groups, my prayer for all of us is that we find a deeper relationship with the God of mercy and grace. Some of us may expect condemnation because we don’t feel worthy of God’s love, but God says ‘you are my beloved.”

Henri Nouwen, a twentieth century Dutch priest and theologian, focuses so much of his writing on feeling worthy of God’s love because for much of his life he felt unworthy. He himself suffered from depression and self condemnation and the effects that has on all of our relationships.

Henri says this about self-rejection:
“Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the “Beloved.” Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.”

Henri goes on to say “Often we are made to believe that self-deprecation is a virtue, called humility. But humility is in reality the opposite of self-deprecation. [Humility] is the grateful recognition that we are precious in God’s eyes and that all we are is pure gift. To grow beyond self-rejection we must have the courage to listen to the voice calling us God’s beloved sons and daughters, and the determination always to live our lives according to this truth.”

God is a god of mercy, The One who created each of us in love, to love and be loved. God’s greatest desire is to restore and to redeem that which we have broken. How can we condemn ourselves or others when God calls us good?

Before we pack away our flannel graph, let’s go back for a minute to Simon’s abundance of fish. Do you see it? Think about it – this would have been a great windfall for his business. And yet he walks away from it. He leaves the haul for the other fishermen who hadn’t caught anything either, sharing this abundant bounty with those who need it, demonstrating that yes, Jesus has come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Perhaps there were those who were one bad night away from losing their boats or their homes or their families. Their night of nothing has been redeemed, their livelihood has been restored. Peter, even before he makes the choice to follow Jesus, has participated with God in healing the world, at least his little shore-line of it.

In our collect for today we ask God to give us the “liberty of the abundant life made known to us in Jesus”. The liberty of abundant life. The liberty granted us in our relationship with God is the freedom from having to solve the world’s issues ourselves; it is the liberty of knowing that God is God and we are not; the freedom that comes from knowing we are loved and that God deems us worthy to participate in the restoring of all things to goodness, knowing the abundance of the ever flowing mercy and grace of God, flowing through us into the world.

When we respond to God’s question of “whom shall I send,” when we answer Jesus’ invitation of “follow me” we are doing so to participate with God in the healing of this world, or at least our little shore-line of it.

Being God’s Beloved is the core of our identity. Living in the fullness of God’s Presence, trusting and knowing we are worthy of God’s love, can we give any other answer but ‘here I am send me?” Amen.

Let’s be Practical

I am a little later than usual getting this post out today, but I pray you find it beneficial. I had decided to use this passage from Corinthians for today’s post late last week but I got waylaid a bit.

Please take a moment to go here and read it before we proceed.

We read/hear this particular passage mostly at weddings, but Paul isn’t talking about romantic love.  Paul is describing the love God has for us, the love that Jesus shows us in flesh and blood how to live; committed love, other-focused, self-giving love.  

One of my favorite writers and podcasters is Diana Butler Bass*.  She wrote about this passage in her blog this past Sunday and I found her words so very beautiful.  And then I started down the “I wish I could write like she does” path.  Before I could take too many steps on that path, however and thankfully, I heard God saying to me, ‘you write the words I gave you the talent to write” and I was able to hear Diana’s words with my soul-ears and not my ego-ears. I could give thanks to God for her words and her ability.  Then I could get back to living within my own god-given ability.  

I write practically. I think practically. This blog of mine started because I wanted a practical way to respond to the violence in this world and yet the solution is seemingly so very impractical.  Compassion doesn’t turn the whole world upside down in an instant the way violence does, but it does impact the lives of those in our immediate circles.  Compassion is a life-long journey into the relationships that build God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

And much of the time, I have to intentionally remind myself to inhabit the present, to experience the poetry of every day life, to look into the eyes of the person in front of me at any given moment and see the reflection of God in them.  

Sitting in the quiet of my morning, a time I’ve carefully crafted, it often feels ‘frivolous” to just sit with God in the silence.  And when it does, I admit it and God draws me deeper into The Presence.  I’ve learned that this seemingly impractical time is the most practical thing I do each day.  All of my relationships, with God, with others, and with myself greatly benefit from it and I cannot fully be who God created and calls me to be without it.  Our faith is grounded in these relationships.  Who and Whose we are is grounded in these relationships. 

So, back to Paul’s words about Love … 

Love is patient, love is kind, 
it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, it isn’t rude, 
it doesn’t seek its own advantage, 
it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, it isn’t happy with injustice, 
but it is happy with the truth.
Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7 CEB)

Very practical wisdom, don’t you think!  Patience and kindness reflect the image of God in which we are all created. Jealousy (better translated as envy), arrogance, rudeness, self-centeredness do not reflect the image of God. Love doesn’t seek retaliation or revenge.  Love endures.

Love IS whether or not it is reciprocated because love isn’t a transaction. 

And the good news, y’all, is that when we get love wrong, we can trust that God is love and welcomes us back into The Presence as we continue to love and learn and grow.  Our life in relationship with God is a journey not a destination.  

Love as God loves and as Jesus shows us how to live in love is the most powerful force against the violence in this world.  Love enables us to be moved with compassion as Jesus was.

May your day be filled with the awareness of the Presence of God.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy

*I highly recommend discovering Diana Butler Bass through her website The Cottage. I’m certain you will be very glad you did.  

A Do-Over

A Sunday reflection for the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.
The Lectionary readings are here.

We begin this week where we left off last week: with Jesus, having just read from the prophet Isaiah, boldly proclaiming that the prophet’s words have been fulfilled. He is claiming that he’s the one whom God has sent to “preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And, at first, they are impressed at the words he spoke. But then they got to thinking and asked themselves how could a simple carpenter’s son, someone they had watched grow up, boldly claim such things? These are God’s promises to God’s people, yes, but to actually have them fulfilled will change everything. Do we want things to change? Life may not be easy, but we like our status quo. How dare this young whippersnapper come in and try to change things!

The regulations concerning the Year of the Lord’s Favor or the Jubilee Year have to do with land and property. Every 50 years, debts were forgiven, land sold to avoid debt would be returned to the original family, and indentured servants were released. It was to be as if someone called out “Do-Over!” and set everyone back on a level playing field.

So why do you suppose that Jesus proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor makes the crowd so very angry? I mean, these are good things, right – the poor getting good news, prisoners set free, the blind seeing, oppressed people liberated? Well, they are good things if you are the poor, the prisoner, or the oppressed. If you are the one benefiting from the poor remaining poor, or the one with the power to oppress, the ones who truly need their sight restored, the news isn’t very good.

But if these folks had the eyes to see the world through the economy of God’s Kingdom, they would come to understand the purpose of the Jubilee Year: to return to God’s intended plan for all people. It is a reminder that all that we are and all that we have comes from God and an opportunity to set right all that we have done outside of God’s intention. God’s people have always been given the purpose of taking care of the poor, seeking justice for everyone, tending the sick, and raising each other up.

Jesus, God incarnate, God with us, reminds us and demonstrates for us what living in God’s purpose for all of creation looks like. From the very beginning, God set us in the midst of God’s creation to tend and care for the earth, the animals, and each other. And it didn’t take us long to decide that we could do better ourselves. This choice didn’t work out so well for the first humans nor for the tribes of Isreal and somehow in our own collective and individual imaginations, we keep thinking we’ll make it on our own outside of God’s intention.

At the end of this cliff-hanging story, we are left to ask ourselves the very challenging question: where in our lives and ways of thinking do we attempt to ‘run Jesus out of town’ because we don’t want to change, because we are afraid that we will either lose what we have or not get what we want? Where are our blind spots? How can we, with God’s help, better arrange our lives to live in all ways within the economy of God’s Kingdom, following Jesus on his Way, the Way of Love?

God is always ready to offer us a ‘do-over,’ a reset, another chance to step back into the path, following Jesus, freed from the burden of building our own kingdom. God’s will for each and every human being is goodness, life-giving, liberating, loving goodness on earth as it is in heaven. God, give us the eyes to see and ears to hear you. Amen.

Words

In last week’s post, I spoke of remembering the beginnings of this blog because of where I was. This week I’m remembering because of another succession of violence. Not shootings or actual physical violence but verbal violence and the threat of physical violence. In a news broadcast late last week, there were two stories: one in which a mother, in a public meeting, says that if the school leadership requires her children to wear masks that she would show up at school with all of her guns; and another one in which a man, in an official court document, says that those who don’t support greater voting restrictions should be ‘exterminated.’

We come together in grief and pain when there is an act of physical violence in shooting incidents, cars ramming through parades, attacks on business owners and public transportation riders, but are we outraged at violent words? Are we shocked by them? Do we even notice them anymore. Words matter. God spoke all of creation into being. Words have the power to create, and to destroy.

Physical acts of violence begin with words. When we use words and statements that devalue the life of another, we cause damage to our own soul. Jesus says even if we think of hurting someone we have caused harm because it affects how we see that person.

From the beginning of my public writing I’ve said the answer to the violence in this world is compassion and that we all need to continuously work on our compassion ‘muscles’. Just as we are intentional with our physical wellbeing, we need to be intentional with our spiritual wellbeing. We are told by the writers of the Good News story that Jesus was often moved with compassion when he encountered crowds of hungry folks. Compassion is what takes us beyond sympathy or empathy to working together to alleviate the suffering and pain of others. Jesus didn’t just acknowledge their hunger, he worked to alleviate it. Jesus gave both physical and spiritual nourishment. And he calls us to do the same.

Human life is the most valuable thing in all of creation. Human beings all have the image of God at their very core. This is how Jesus teaches us to see the world (those who have eyes to see). I do believe that the reason some people place so little value on other’s lives is that deep down they see no value in their own. It was no accident that Jesus says we are to love our neighbor AS OURSELVES. When we truly accept God’s love for us we cannot help but love others in the same way. So, to the two individuals I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, please know that God loves you. And to each of you reading this, know you are God’s beloved child. Sit with that thought for a few minutes. Feel it. Let it nourish your compassion muscles.

The antidote to the lack of love in this world is more love, active love that sees the image of God in everyone and treats others with the dignity and honor due God’s beloved children. When we hear others voicing violence, let’s counter it with loving words. Voicing violence isn’t just making threats, it is also calling others names that make them less human, it is belittling their actions instead of seeing with eyes of compassion. Voicing violence is any thought our words that diminish another’s worth as a human being. When we hear ourselves voicing violence, let’s stop and remind ourselves that the person we are speaking against is also a beloved child of God, created in God’s own image, just as we are. It will heal our souls and help alleviate the suffering and pain of violence in this world.

Let’s follow Jesus in the Revolution.

Filled with the Spirit

A Sunday reflection for the third Sunday after the Epiphany.
The Lectionary readings for today are here.

In his telling of the good news story, Luke tells us that after Jesus’ baptism he is ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ and that being led by the Spirit, Jesus goes into the wilderness to face the temptation of choosing the easy way rather than working within the economy of God’s Kingdom. This isn’t a part of what we are scheduled to read today but it sets the stage for it.

The bit we read today begins with Jesus returning to Galilee ‘in the power of the Spirit.” And Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah’s words, ‘“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Full of the Holy Spirit. In the power of the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Do you see these statements as being specific to Jesus alone? Or do you believe that at our own baptisms that we too are full of the Holy Spirit, in the power of the Spirit, and that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us? Jesus tells us that we, too, have the gift of the Spirit. In the stories told for us by the writers of the Good News Story, Jesus shows us what it looks like to live in the power of the Spirit.

And just to make sure we get the point, Luke follows this bit about Jesus reading in the synagogue with a story of a man who is filled with an unclean spirit (again, not part of our reading today but important for framing what we read; always pay attention to the repetitions and contrasts of the surrounding stories as you read). This man is angry and yelling, and fearful of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is revealing.

In a world that tells us we deserve the easy way, Jesus shows us, in flesh and blood, in the here and now, what it looks like to live within the economy of God’s Kingdom, to live as we are created to live. It isn’t often easy. It takes intentionality. It means we put the greater good of all over and above our own personal liberties. Notice that the verbs in the words of Isaiah that Jesus uses are all actions for the benefit of others: preach, proclaim, liberate. Jesus did these for us so that we can learn to do them for others.

In God’s economy, human beings are more valuable than anything, our relationships matter more than monetary wealth or possessions. In God’s economy, abundance means we all have what we need, no more or no less. To live in the power of the Spirit is to live as God created us to live, our true selves, reflecting the image of God and seeing the image of God in every other person we encounter.

I cannot fully be the person God intends me to be without you. And together, we are all ‘sent’ to proclaim the freedom of being God’s beloved children, no longer restrained by the expectations of the world’s economy of living. We don’t have to go anywhere to do what we are sent to do. We preach and proclaim the Good News by living as Jesus shows us how to live in our work places, homes, shops, and recreation places.

Wherever we are and whatever we are doing, we proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor by the way we interact with others.

Remembering

I am remembering the day I decided to use my voice and writing skills through this blog to speak of growing compassionately. It was a rapid succession of mass shootings that stirred my heart into action. I am remembering that day not because of a new series of events but because I am once again in a hotel room with my husband and our grown daughter, awake early trying not to disturb anyone. There continues to be violence in our world and this country still has an unhealthy obsession with using guns and violence to solve our problems. I don’t know if my words have made much of a dent in any of it but the reason I started making my words public was to help change the lens through which we see others, to help us all see our fellow humans as beloved children of God. Even if I shift the view of only a few, even if only I improve the focus my own view, I will continue to write.

This past week I read a post from an acquaintance on social media that spoke of the rude and inconsiderate behavior of folks in a restaurant. She spoke of individuals who refused to accommodate others walking in the same aisle, folks who could not patiently wait for the waitstaff to finish with one table before calling them to theirs, and people who demanded immediate gratification in a crowded restaurant short on staff. She was lamenting the fact that as a society it seems we have forgotten how to be kind to one another.

On a recent trip to H‑E‑B, I witnessed two grown men yelling at each other in the middle of the aisle and then I realized that a significant number of people had surrounded them and instead of intervening or trying to de-escalate the situation, they all had their cells phones out and were recording the interaction. This shocked me far more than two men yelling at each other. Now, granted, I didn’t try to intervene either but as I was contemplating using my cell phone to call 911, two store managers walked up and asked the crowd to let them through. This distracted the men enough that they could begin a conversation with them about the situation. I don’t know how it all resolved, I just continued my shopping still stunned at the number of people filming this. It was entertainment for them to watch a public display of anger and hostility. We have forgotten how to be kind to one another.

I often think that we have forgotten that we are all in this thing called life together. We are created not to live in isolating individualism but in community with others. Every single thought and action I have impacts those around me whether I witness the consequences or not. We are created to live as companions not competitors. The abundant life God promises us comes to us by sharing our lives with each other not hoarding what we want for ourselves. Together and with God we have all we need and more.

This is the revolution that Jesus came to start: Love is what will change this world from the nightmare it often is to the dream that God intends (a big thank you to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry for that amazing statement). Love, not violence. Kindness, not anger. Compassion, not hate. When we remember this, we are re-membered, made whole again as the beloved we are created to be.

When we want to respond in anger, we have the choice to be kind. When we want to respond in hate, we have the choice to be compassionate. When we want to respond violently, we have the choice to love. We can choose to see competitors or beloved children of God walking this amazing journey as our companions. We can with God’s help make it on earth as it is in heaven. Together, let’s choose wisely.

Water & Wine

A Reflection for the second Sunday after the Epiphany.
The lectionary readings for today are here.

Throughout John’s telling of the good news of God, he uses the word ‘signs’ to label the miraculous things Jesus does. A sign is not the thing itself but points us to what we are looking for. Think of road signs or directional signs in a building. All that Jesus did points us to the glory of God. In the gospel reading for today, John tells us of the first sign of Jesus at a wedding. We aren’t told who’s wedding it is but simply that Jesus and his disciples were there, as was Mary and it is Mary who comes to Jesus to tell him the party is at risk because they are running out of wine. Hospitality was so much a part of their culture that to invite the entire community to a celebration and run out of anything would have brought deep and enduring shame upon the families hosting the event.

Mary’s plea to Jesus wasn’t just a mother sticking her nose into other people’s business, this was community business and whether or not it was Mary’s place to intervene, whether or not she was trying to help in a healthy way, she was just trying to help. This would affect the relationship of the bride and groom’s families with the entire community. So why does Jesus appear to try and stop her with the question, “what does that have to do with me?” And why does Jesus tell her, “my time hasn’t come yet?”

Jesus often asks questions that, if really heard, enable those he is speaking to – and yes, us – evaluate their own motivation and to look deep inside so that the transformation, the healing, the feeding, is both internal and external, impacting not just what we do but who we are. Solving the wine shortage wouldn’t just keep the party going, it would prevent a rift in the community; it redeemed the situation. Jesus wants Mary to understand this. He also wants her to consider why she is asking him to intervene and to better understand herself. With this sign, Jesus points to God’s desire for us all to be well and whole and holy in community with each other. And he does it in a big way, a sign of God’s abundance and provision for everyone.

The water jars that Jesus uses weren’t ordinary jars. They were holy vessels used for purification before worship. The water was holy water turned into wine. Jesus would later say “I am the living water” and would tell the disciples that the wine he gives is his blood poured out for us. This sign points to the entirety of God’s plan for the world: through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we are all redeemed and brought into God’s community, God’s kingdom.

The sub-text of the wine sign is Mary and Jesus’ relationship. Mary asks Jesus to intervene, as most any mother would knowing her son could solve the issue at hand, and Jesus warns her it isn’t God’s timing yet to begin showing signs. He is asking her to trust God’s plan rather than make her own. But Mary persists and sets Jesus up by telling the servants to do as he says. If Jesus had walked away at this moment, Mary would have been shamed: people would have said she had a son who didn’t listen to the authority of his mother. Jesus redeems this situation putting Mary’s well-being in the community and the well being of their relationship above his own need to be right.

John makes a point to tell us that the wine was the best anyone had ever tasted: what God provides is so much better than what we can take for ourselves. I imagine Mary pondering in her heart all that happened that evening, realizing her own unhealthy attempt to intervene and gaining wisdom from Jesus’ response. I imagine she and Jesus having a conversation on the way home in which she shares the wisdom she gained. What does this story spark in your imagination? What are your pondering? How has Jesus’ sign pointed you toward a deeper relationship with God?

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

Friday Feature #3 (on a Tuesday)

Shucks, Y’all! With all that I had going on, I completely forgot to post December’s Friday Feature. I briefly considered just skipping it and waiting to post this one the last Friday of January but this particular podcast has helped me examine and articulate my own personal experiences as a teen and young adult in church, and although I am no longer in the denomination of my childhood, what I continue to experience with others who are. So, consider this regular post on a Tuesday a bonus Friday Feature!

Before I introduce this month’s podcast, let me just say upfront, it isn’t always easy to listen to, especially if you have been harmed, to any degree or at any level, by the type of behavior in a church that the podcast addresses. Let me also say what an excellent job the writers and host do in presenting the hard reality with an atmosphere of grace. Mike Cowper (host) and those he interviews remind us often that even with the emotional and spiritual abuse inflicted by the leaders of this particular mega church, people came to know Jesus. It is a grace-filled approach that reminds me that despite the negative experiences I had in the denomination of my childhood, I found Jesus.

For me, it is a living example of redemption. God continues to take the scars caused by the harm other people have inflicted and is leading me through a season of healing and growth. The Gospel writer Luke tells us that as Jesus grew up as a child and adolescent that he grew in wisdom (see Luke 2:40-52; I’ve preached on this the past two Sundays). Jesus calls us to follow him in this continual growth through the whole of our lives.

When we are harmed by others, especially by those who claim to be christians, we can choose to grow bitter or grow better. We can turn toward God in our pain, trusting and knowing that the God of Love does not sanction in any way the harm caused us, finding comfort with our Compassionate Creator. In time, we can use our own healed pain to help others heal. As we seek to grow and mature in wisdom with Jesus, we can discern where and how we might be, either individually or as a part of a larger group, causing harm to others, intentionally or not.

There are no human institutions that are perfect and absolutely none that are infallible, even churches. When we witness the faults and failings of others, instead of judging or just gawking, we need to ask ourselves “what in myself and the institutions in which I serve needs to be made new by God’s gracious love?” We must work, with God’s help, to extricate the log from our own eyes (see Matthew 7:1-5).

The podcast is titled The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and is hosted by Mike Cowper.

I’d appreciate hearing how you respond to this series, if you are willing to share.

God’s peace,
Mtr. Nancy+

Water & Fire

A sermon preached at St. Francis by the Lake, Canyon Lake, TX.
The lectionary readings for the Baptism of our Lord are here.

Do any of you, like me during this relatively short yet seems so long time from Thanksgiving to New Years struggle with keeping up with what day it is? Even when our world isn’t disrupted by a pandemic, the out-of-routine-ness of this time of year messes with my ability to keep up with the date, time, and what happened when. Didn’t we just talk about Jesus’ baptism? Haven’t we been repeating stories a lot lately? And didn’t we just talk last week about Jesus as a kid? How is he grown already?

Our brains are designed to understand time linearly and sometimes, we seem to get caught in these spirals of memory that leave us a bit discombobulated. My son, the youngest of mine and Jim’s combined family, turned 32 this past week. He didn’t ask my permission to grow up, he just did. And it surely doesn’t seem like 32 years have passed since he was born but that’s what the calendar says, even if I can’t make sense of it in my head.

So, I’m going to try and keep us all on a straight path here as I bring back up a couple of sermons and readings from recent weeks that will hopefully help us all get on the same page today. With last week’s sermon, I wanted us to focus on the reality of Jesus as a person, a baby, a child, an adolescent with parents and friends and family and community activities. One of the more striking verses from last week’s reading that a few of you have noted was that Jesus went with his parents and was obedient to them and the gospel writer Luke associates this obedience with Jesus growing in wisdom.

Jesus, the incarnation of the very God who created us and everything, the universe and beyond, came as a vulnerable baby to be raised by parents and grow as a child and adolescent and young adult. Jesus fully God and fully human, submitted himself to the authority of these parents as he grew in wisdom.

And, as we first read on the third Sunday of Advent and then again today, Jesus submitted himself to the authority of his cousin, John the Baptizer, a prophet and messenger of God.

So, yes, it was just a few weeks ago that we read some of these same verses along with the part where John calls those he is baptizing a brood of vipers. And I promised you that it was a message of Love. Really.

God’s assurance to his children has always been that when we change our heart, when we choose God’s Way, in other words, when we REPENT, God rejoices over us with gladness and renews us in his love. God’s desire isn’t to destroy us in wrath but to embrace us in Love, drawing us always closer toward him.

In our day and age, we don’t consider baptism as a radical act but John’s call to baptism in his day and time was quite radical. Baptism, the ritual immersion in water, was part of the ceremony of non-Jews converting to Judaism. It was a ritual cleansing away of the old way of life so one could begin living the new way. But John tells even the Jews to repent and be baptized. John is saying, “this is a new thing, God is making things new for all of us, let’s wash ourselves clean of the old ways and step into what God is doing here and now.”

And as he proclaimed this new thing, folks wondered if John himself were the One God had promised to send to his people. John emphatically tells them he is not, that someone greater will come one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

When all the people had been baptized it is only then that Jesus also was baptized. Jesus didn’t put himself at the top of the list, the front of the line. The One who is more powerful than John put himself last and submitted to the same baptism we are all called to as God’s beloved children.

So what about this baptism by fire thing? I think we get too caught up in equating fire with God’s anger, and I’m not saying it isn’t in scripture, but the overwhelming majority of the time when fire is mentioned in our holy scriptures both the Old and the New Testaments, it isn’t about wrath or anger but about purification and growth.

Fire purifies, we boil water to make it safe to drink, we cook food to make it safe to eat, precious metals are purified by melting them, steel is strengthened by heating it, new land is made by volcanoes, forests and grasslands are renewed by fire. Yes, fire can also destroy but that is not how the writers of our scriptures used it most of the time.

Gods spoke to Moses through a burning bush in which the fire did not consume the bush.
When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, he went before them as a pillar of fire. At Pentecost, flames sit on the disciples and do not burn them.

And in our OT reading today, God says through the prophet Isaiah, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

We also talked previously about just what winnowing is: the process of blowing a current of air through grain in order to remove the chaff, the husk that covers the actual fruit. The image of Jesus with his winnowing fork is an image of purification and growing in wisdom. What’s burned away in the unquenchable fire is that which gets in the way of our relationship with God. It isn’t separating good people from bad people, it’s about purifying the good that is already in all of us as we are created in God’s image.

Jesus submitted to the authority of God through baptism as an invitation for us to follow him in this submission. Our twenty first century, western world thinking tells us that submitting ourselves to anyone is a sign of weakness. Jesus shows us it is the way to wisdom and strength.

Our ego is the chaff that gets in between us and God. But this ego problem isn’t something new and modern. The very first humans whom God had tasked to care for his garden decided they didn’t have to submit to every rule of God and look where it got them.

In Jesus’ time, those living under Roman Rule would have equated submitting to the oppression of not only the Pax Romana but also the Pharisees of the temple. Part of this “new thing” that John was inviting others to be baptized into was a new understanding of submitting in relationship with God. The God who made us and formed us, the God who says to us “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” invites us into the relationship we are created for with the understanding that God is God and we are not.

At our baptism, we, or our parents on our behalf, enter into a covenant with God as we answer a series of questions that frame our submitting to who God is and Whose we are:
We are asked if we renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God, the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God, and all sinful desires that draw us away from the love of God. These are the chaff that cover the image of God in each of us. This is what God wants to separate us from and burn away.

And after submitting to the winnowing process, we are asked if we will turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior, putting our whole trust in his grace and love, and promising to follow and obey him as our Lord?

When we submit, when we follow Jesus, we are adopted into God’s kingdom so that we, like Jesus, hear God say, “you are my beloved, with you I am well pleased.” When we submit we have the reassurance that God is always faithful to us even when we choose our own way and that when we return, God will always welcome us in love.

Jesus shows us what living in submission to God looks like in flesh and blood and he invites us to follow him in obedience, growing in wisdom as God’s beloved children through the whole of our life, in all that we do and in all the time in which we live.

Our children may grow up without us realizing it, time may pass too quickly at times and we can’t seem to keep up, but God gives us permission and yes, calls us to continuously grow in wisdom and grace, remaining obedient to him regardless of our age. We are always his children. Amen.

Active Prayer

I posted this on Facebook on New Year’s Day:

For the year to come, I pray for the wisdom that will enable me to be an active participant in bringing about the Peace on Earth we all long for. Wishing won’t get us there but prayer and active participation in God’s work will.

If I pray for more love in the world and then do not love God, my neighbor, and my enemy, my prayer is not sincere. If I pray for more unity and peace and then exclude others, my prayer is not sincere. If I pray for change and refuse change myself, my prayer is not sincere.

I pray we all come to know more deeply that we are beloved children of God, invited to walk the Way of Love with Jesus, participating in the answer to our prayer “your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

In part, it’s a response to all of the posts wishing everyone peace and happiness in the coming year. I want the same for everyone as well, for sure, but I also believe that passive wishes are ineffective, even if we label them prayers. Jesus didn’t teach us to pray to make us feel better; he taught us to pray so that, in conversation with God, we are changed and transformed into who God calls us to be: beloved children, heirs of God’s kingdom, participating with God to make it on earth now as it already is in heaven.

There have been countless debates in our theological history with much ink and blood spilled over “works” or “faith” being most important. But it isn’t either/or. It’s both/and. We pray for God’s will to be done and then we listen for what is ours to do to bring it about with God’s help. God chooses to work in and through us, his beloved, to bring about his purposes. And I hope that thought brings you as much joy and excitement as it does me!! God chooses US! He CHOSE us long before he even created us, before he put the stars and planets in their courses, before he created all that is. God chose us knowing we’d misuse the great gift of free-will. God gave us free-will so that we could have the option to choose him back because love is a choice.

When we focus only on works, our tendency is to give ourselves the credit for the good in the world. When we focus only on faith, we tend to use God as the scapegoat for the bad in this world. But when we seek an active relationship with God as we follow Jesus, our faith informs our works and our works deepen our faith.

God’s peace be with all y’all in this year to come as we work together with God to bring about the Kingdom.