What is it about life that doesn't seem to allow time for blogging? -You know, the kind of reflection that is needed in all of living. Then along comes the time to write a message or create questions for the congregation and I'm dry. Is it because I took in the reading but failed to reflect?
or is it the cold medicine and the sneezing that gets in the way?
There's always something isn't there? Something, someone to blame.
I feel the mirror anytime I say something, it's pointed back at me.
Do you thirst?
I thirst.
Have you misunderstood?
I don't understand.
How can these bones live?
How can I be born again?
How will you get water without a bucket?
You can't get blood or water from a stone!
But God can.
....any time now would be nice, O God, beyond my comprehension.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Hearts In Tension
Remember these words of Jesus explaining and radicalizing the Law as the great teacher, while we step much further back in time to Moses’ speech - his ‘last will and testament’.
You recall the book of Deuteronomy is one day long... Just one speech....It is Moses' farewell address to the Israelites as they are about to enter the ‘Promised Land’ It’s his final gift to his people.
This speech was most likely written down many years later when Israel was conquered and exiled to Babylon. Knowing the dire situation of exile, we can understand why they would look to the words of Moses when they were at their lowest point.
And These are inspiring words about choosing life.
But I never hear this story without thinking of my friend Paula.
Paula had a long daily commute. From Nokesville into Maryland. One day she noticed a slightly bad smell in her car.
- The next day it Got worse.
- Soon the smell was really bad.
You know that smell...It was death.
Something had crawled up in Paula's car and died.
By the end of week, she had to choose - between heat and stench because turning on the heat made the smell so much worse.
. . Like a dead mouse in a small car, death/despair can fill a nation.
Israel knew that smell. Death and despair was a real experience over and over in their history. How natural for them to turn to the inspiration of Moses as he implored those who would enter the Promised Land to choose life!
How natural for us to turn to these words to seek inspiration for our living today.
What do you think of when I say, Life!?
What does ‘life’ mean to you?
More than a beating heart?
And what does death mean?
For us, death is an end. Regardless of how we view what comes next; an afterlife, heaven, reunion with loved ones, oneness with God...death is still an end.
Moses knew there was the possibility that the Israelites long partnership with God and their Journey To The Promised Land could all end after his life. But he also held onto God’s faithfulness to this people.
There would be NO END to God’s love..unless the Israelites themselves chose death over life. .
"Death would mean that all human activity would be devoid of the Divine Presence."
Do we ever think of defining death this way?
It May seem strange to us, but Moses idea of life was the 10 Commandments. ....Not your first thought?
We struggle to remember that the message of the commandments are "Laws meant to preserve covenant..."
.. The covenant with God and right relationships among people.
(You recall the 2 sections - The 1st; To love God and God alone, with no other allegiance allowed. And the 2nd; some specifics about how to be in relationship with others.
- Honor your father and mother
- Don’t kill
- Don’t be an adulterer
- Don’t steal
- Don’t lie about your neighbor
- Don’t covet your neighbor’s spouse...or any possessions.
These “laws” are "Not restrictive but prescriptive..."
in nature. They require obedience in order to preserve LIFE, real life, LIFE AS GOD INTENDS.
What do you remember of our discussion about obedience in January?
(you spoke out quite clearly about how you obey God, how you walk each day and what it takes, what did you say and hear that day?)
Obedience is more than obeying certain rules. It’s a way of walking in world. Walking God’s way is how we CHOOSE LIFE. It really is a life-long struggle to learn how to live. Sometimes it’s learned in the midst of struggle.
That mouse thought he was choosing life the day he crawled up into Paula's car to make himself a home. We don’t know how much he struggled.
- According to the world’s standards, he did all the right things.
- He struck out on his own to make his way in the world,
- he committed to a place - and he did so, w/o knowing where his journey would end.
- It sounds like a proper leap of faith...?
but it ended
In death. . .
How easy it is for us to follow, to be CONSUMED with the world’s ideas of life without realizing they too will end in death.
How easy it is to spend our precious life stressing to meet meaningless deadlines
.
Or missing key opportunities for real relationships.
How common it is to be too busy to do things right -
- to pay the fair-trade price,
- to demand a living wage for others.
How easy it is to NOT get involved in someone else’s struggle for justice and equality. . In the workplace, in marriage, in housing.. Why? Because the struggle is painful, or we don’t have the time, or we are afraid of the conflict it will stir up? . . These are only my reasons for avoiding the struggle..what are yours?
How easy it is to fill our days . . . But is this LIFE?
. . .pause. . .
That dead thing was so far into the bowels of that engine that no simple service station stop would get rid of it. Paula would have to choose to be without the car for a couple days so a mechanic could disassemble piece after piece to find the center of the awful smell. It was going to cost a lot of money.
Inevitably it would be a dead mouse, whose only lasting legacy was an odor so terrible that breathing the air felt like poison.
It’s painful to breathe in death.
When surrounded by that deadly smell, (the stench of sacrifices made to lesser gods... How do we choose life?...
Time?
We love having choices.
WE value our freedom to do so.
“I did it MY way!” is an old beloved song because the theme resonates with our love of independence and CHOICE.
Are you choosing the way you want to live right now?
Are you living the way you CHOOSE?
Moses Knew his people and their own streak of independence. He knew their tendency to choose the latest fad and sacrifice to whatever local god seemed helpful, at the time.
But Moses’ heart was wrapped up in love for the ONE God AND love for his people. . . .(He was often torn between the two.) He loved those people so much that he begged them to see and hear the wisdom in choosing life - real life.
We know what life smells like, don’t we?
How do you describe the smell of life?
We know life’s smell. We know it when we see, hear it or smell it. Even if other priorities cloud our senses.
What was true life for the Israelites is true life for our community, our world.
- Choosing life meant/means blessings for entire community -
not just for some. (God’s people are blessed to be a blessing.)
- Choosing life meant (the promised land) a good home -
Not just for God’s people but for resident aliens as well
- Choosing life means economic policies that leave enough for everyone.
(they called it leaving enough in the field for gleaners, we might call it SNAP..food assistance programs, or living wages)
- Choosing life meant equitable distribution of their resources -
What would that look like for us? We live in a world where the richest 85 people have as much wealth as the poorest HALF of the WORLD!
They are called the ‘Global Elite’.
Just 85 people have as much money as 3 1/2 billion people!
. . .
Moses explained what it would mean to Choose Life.
Not restriction but the freedom to really experience life as God intends. ..........
He had to warn them that they hadn’t always chosen God
in their journey thru the wilderness.. And he knew their only hope was to keep walking with God. . .
. .Yet they must make the choice.
But We humans don’t always make the right choice.
We like to follow our hearts, but sometimes our hearts are in tension between our love for God and the desires that pull us away to other paths. . .
Or even the desires that keep us at home, secure and afraid of trusting and following God into the wilderness. . .
Is this boil down to a matter of the heart?
What does your heart call you to choose today?
God's love of Israel is an affair of the heart.
And God’s love of us continues that long tradition of The unstopable love, The unbeatable, undeniable love of God --- for all LIFE.
....And God wants this love to be reciprocal
God wants US to Choose Life.
Eventually the STENCH got too overpowering for Paula. You’d think over time it would lessen, but no, the smell of death just kept getting stronger.
So she made the choice to give up driving the car and pay the very large labor charge to have her car taken apart.. ...all to rid her car of death.
She Chose Life.
It’s our choice too. To leave the stench of death behind and to breathe deeply of clean sweet smelling LIFE!
Choosing life is always an option.
No matter how long we've allowed ourselves to breathe in death.
No matter how long we've allowed that slow - process - of giving - ourselves - over - to priorities - that - don’t - really - matter
...we can still choose life.
conclusion
Listen to Moses’ encouragement again, a paraphrase, (know this!)
“Listen to what I have said today. I have laid it out for you, life and death, good and evil.
Love God. Walk in God’s ways. Keep the commandments so that you will live, truly live,-- passionately, joyfully, blessed by God.
I warn you. If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen, and serve little gods, you will die.
It is your choice, life or death, blessings or curses.”
Do we CHOOSE LIFE? (or)
Hear Moses’ plea to us, “Choose Life!”
1 Carol Dempsey Feasting on the Word - Yr A - theological (Louis:WJK,2010)340
2. ibid
3 Deuteronomy 5”16-21 or Exodus 20
4 Dempsey ibid
5 Brett Younger Feasting on the Word - Yr A- homiletical (Louis:WJK,2010)343
6 Graeme Wearden Oxfam http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/20/oxfam-85-richest-people-half-of-the-world
6 Younger ibid
7 Younger ibid 342
8 Carol Dempsey Feasting on the Word - Yr A - theological (Louis:WJK,2010)342
9 Brett Younger Feasting On The Word - Yr A - homiletcial (Louis:WJK,2010)343
10 Brett Younger, ibid 341
(work on )We even get uncomfortable at a Divine being that " threatens our illusion of autonomy...F past-340
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Pastor's Diary - Snow Edition
It has been a while since I sent out a Diary post. As the first snowflakes fall for this latest storm, I thought I would give you an update. I like winter when there is snow and this has been a good one. Fitz and I took a quick overnight ski trip early in January. We did our annual two-night ski trip to 7 Springs, PA this Monday-Tuesday. We had snow all the way up and light snow during our skiing on Monday. Yesterday was a bright, sunny, and cold day. Here's a pciture we snapped at the top of the mountain.
It hasn't been all cold weather though. The Church of the Brethren Clergy Women's Retreat (every 5 years) was held in Malibu, CA mid-January. I was able to attend along with two members of our Co-hort group that went to Italy in 2007.
Here we are in the sun. (Darlene Meyers, Pastor of Good Shepherd CoB in MD and Paula Bowser on the right, Pastor of Trotwood CoB in OH)
Quite a difference from the ski trip! We spent two afternoons walking barefoot on the beach.
If I've learned anything from these trips it is the importance of Sabbath rest! I hadn't realized how long I had been stressed until I got to Malibu. Fitz and I lost two close friends at Christmas and their funerals filled the weeks that followed the holiday. I had also officiated at two funerals just before Christmas. Even though there is much joy in celebrating a well-lived life, there is sadness when a friend dies. The hours of quiet, walking, worship, good sessions, journaling and prayer were refreshing and renewing. Hours of skiing with Fitz, especially when we get away overnight are fun and renewing for us. Plus some great exercise as today's sore muscles attest!
I encourage you to keep sabbath time in your life. Along with Sunday worship, we each need time in quiet, in nature, in prayer, or doing whatever feeds your spirit and renews your relationship with God. I can feel myself breathing easier now. We don't recognize how tight and wound up we are until we take time to rest. God DID command a day of rest each week. God didn't say, "Take some time off when you can afford it." or "If you have time, take a day off." No, it's 'Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.' Turns out it's for us too.
I hope you are part of the Vital Ministry Journey and participating in one of the small groups. If not, there is still time to join one. I have the names of a couple people willing to host. We just need a few more people to make a couple groups. You can choose based on location or time. Just tell me you are interested and I'll put you in touch with a host. Late Spring when all the groups have completed the six sessions, we will have a celebratory dinner and see what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Arlington CoB through scripture.
The ground is already covered and it looks like this will be quite a snowfall. Stay safe and thank you for being part of MY spiritual journey.
Pastor Nancy
It hasn't been all cold weather though. The Church of the Brethren Clergy Women's Retreat (every 5 years) was held in Malibu, CA mid-January. I was able to attend along with two members of our Co-hort group that went to Italy in 2007.
Here we are in the sun. (Darlene Meyers, Pastor of Good Shepherd CoB in MD and Paula Bowser on the right, Pastor of Trotwood CoB in OH)
Quite a difference from the ski trip! We spent two afternoons walking barefoot on the beach.
If I've learned anything from these trips it is the importance of Sabbath rest! I hadn't realized how long I had been stressed until I got to Malibu. Fitz and I lost two close friends at Christmas and their funerals filled the weeks that followed the holiday. I had also officiated at two funerals just before Christmas. Even though there is much joy in celebrating a well-lived life, there is sadness when a friend dies. The hours of quiet, walking, worship, good sessions, journaling and prayer were refreshing and renewing. Hours of skiing with Fitz, especially when we get away overnight are fun and renewing for us. Plus some great exercise as today's sore muscles attest!
I encourage you to keep sabbath time in your life. Along with Sunday worship, we each need time in quiet, in nature, in prayer, or doing whatever feeds your spirit and renews your relationship with God. I can feel myself breathing easier now. We don't recognize how tight and wound up we are until we take time to rest. God DID command a day of rest each week. God didn't say, "Take some time off when you can afford it." or "If you have time, take a day off." No, it's 'Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.' Turns out it's for us too.
I hope you are part of the Vital Ministry Journey and participating in one of the small groups. If not, there is still time to join one. I have the names of a couple people willing to host. We just need a few more people to make a couple groups. You can choose based on location or time. Just tell me you are interested and I'll put you in touch with a host. Late Spring when all the groups have completed the six sessions, we will have a celebratory dinner and see what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Arlington CoB through scripture.
The ground is already covered and it looks like this will be quite a snowfall. Stay safe and thank you for being part of MY spiritual journey.
Pastor Nancy
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
my my
It's time to say something! since I haven't in so long.
My off day is first taken up by sleeping it! yay.
then work details - boo!
soon to finish my book, put in the laundry and get to the gym
and the dogs are really hoping a walk for them is in there.
I usually try not to do work on my off day. But sometimes it is better to just make the call, take the notes, send the emails.
Do others have trouble with taking an 'unusual' day off?
Mondays are too busy to take off. altho it would be nice to be off after some exhausting Sundays and to have the ½ day along with the whole day. Yet there are too many monday meetings. And too many little things in the office. and now I have lectionary group on Mondays.
So Tuesday is next best. Because at least I take it. If I wait till the end of the week there is always too much not done to take it or to feel relaxed. I get another ½ day and used to try to take it on Wed mornings. Now I find I prefer to take a friday afternoon or saturday afternoon when possible.
Ok, back to a few more notes and then I'm chilling...
My off day is first taken up by sleeping it! yay.
then work details - boo!
soon to finish my book, put in the laundry and get to the gym
and the dogs are really hoping a walk for them is in there.
I usually try not to do work on my off day. But sometimes it is better to just make the call, take the notes, send the emails.
Do others have trouble with taking an 'unusual' day off?
Mondays are too busy to take off. altho it would be nice to be off after some exhausting Sundays and to have the ½ day along with the whole day. Yet there are too many monday meetings. And too many little things in the office. and now I have lectionary group on Mondays.
So Tuesday is next best. Because at least I take it. If I wait till the end of the week there is always too much not done to take it or to feel relaxed. I get another ½ day and used to try to take it on Wed mornings. Now I find I prefer to take a friday afternoon or saturday afternoon when possible.
Ok, back to a few more notes and then I'm chilling...
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Christmas Eve - learning to listen with our senses
Three meditations from tonight's Christmas Eve service. (Harp music begins at 6:45pm) you
got
We use our senses in ways we take for granted. (?)
Fill in the blank, I have a splitting _______, Oh my aching _______,
Ouch, I stubbed my ______, I have a sore ___________,
I broke my ______ ( you fill in the broken part)
..
We need to listen with our senses beyond our typical aches and pains if we are to recognize the sign the prophet spoke of. Otherwise there could be signs, angels, the birthing of new life all around us, and we will MISS it.
God could be (and likely is) working right now in some part of your life, but your senses have been dulled.
Maybe the music or traffic is too loud for us to HEAR, we get engrossed in TV and don’t SEE what is happening in the neighborhood.
Maybe fast food has dulled our taste buds,
car exhaust has ruined the good scents of life, and
all those aches and pains have left us unable to FEEL deep into our souls.
Tonight I invite you pay attention to your GOD-given SENSEs. These are the same 5 senses we always have, but they are fine-tuned in those who really HEAR what GOD has to say.
We will enter this story as if it was a Hollywood musical full of sights and sounds to delight. Maybe like my favorite movie, ‘White Christmas’. …(Remember that movie? people falling in love in a matter of a week. Dreams become real and questions result in a chorus of songs and some very capable dancing.)
We need to sharpen our God-sense so we can delight in tonight story. We need to listen with the ear of our heart to hear a prophet’s words speak about events thousands of years in the future .. and yet tonight, we can SEE them.
We will feel our way into this most favorite of stories and answer some of these questions:
What did Joseph hear in his dream?
Who did the innkeeper see at the door?
What did Mary smell out in the stable?
What did Jesus feel when he was born?
and we will even pay attention to what we TASTE when we eat the communion meal.
Each sense will invite us into the story to hear something new, feel a deeper connection to God’s message or maybe we will even see what they saw. . hear what they heard.
Let the passages suggest songs to you as if you were writing a musical. Picture the scenes in your head the way you would paint them. Design the play or script in a modern form. Imagine the clay in your hands as you Sculpt Mary holding the baby Jesus.
We can Let our imaginations explore each situation behind the familiar words. Because this story is more than the simple scenes we usually act out.
A deeper look will involve noticing
how devastating the visit from God’s messenger must have been for Joseph,
how shocking for Mary to be overcome with God’s spirit
and how life-changing for both of them to go from an assumed normal life…like we all have for our lives at some point…to God’s plan,
which, in their case, was not what ANYONE intended, expected or maybe wanted.
and for some it couldn’t even be believed. . .
What WE believe about this story won’t be as important as what we hear, see, taste, smell, and touch tonight.
Because I am sure that we too will receive a Divine message, like the one the angels sang.
Do you hear what I hear? …. it’s a voice..high above the trees.
. . . .
Tonight on this most special of all nights, listen, look, touch, smell, taste and really FEEL your way into this story. . . .
of God with us.. Immanuel.
Seeing and Tasting
The really memorable stories about Jesus involve the senses. Put yourself in Simon’s house with Jesus. A woman comes in with an alabaster jar of perfume and pours it all on Jesus head in an anointing ritual with which we are UNfamiliar.
I’m sure this was oil based perfume because there are numerous stories of people being anointed with oil. Kings - or those chosen to be a king, were anointed with oil. And we put later pieces of Jesus’ story together to realize this anointing also foreshadows his death.
In this story people are overwhelmed. Those stuck, unable to get past their thoughts — are outraged at the waste.
“It cost too much to pour out!”
Where do you find yourself in this story?
Tonight, Can we forget our bottom line sensibilities and just smell the perfume? It’s so rich you can taste it in the back of your throat..it’s so sweet.
. . .
Smelling is the first step to tasting. I did a coffee tasting once. The coffee was black of course and very dark. First we
Cupped our hands around the coffee and inhaled deeply.
Then we slurped equal amounts of coffee and air into our mouths…sounds funny…
We pay attention to where the coffee ‘hits’ the tongue. You can identify the individual taste buds when you pay attention like this.
Then we described the taste - based on all these observations.
You have to slow down to taste coffee this way. It’s not the way I often drink my first cup..gulping it down to get the caffeine into my system as fast as possible.
. .
Slowing down is counter-cultural for most of us (in the USA).
We hear about slowing down, especially in advent …maybe because the events of Christmas are just TOO much to believe when we try to engage them all together.
We get overwhelmed, so we stay in our unemotional heads, looking for the facts. Or maybe we are so regimented from organizing Christmas plans, that we haven’t found a way to hear the story this year, to taste the spices of Christmastime or to see Jesus as a baby born just like us.
When we focus on one sense at a time we have to slow down.
Jesus knew his life-story would be too much for the disciples to understand, as many times as he tried to tell them. So he did two things:
He knelt down on the floor and touched them with water and a towel. His own hands reached out to their feet and they felt him wash them. . slowly, simply, letting the water flow over the dry skin, watching the water darken as the dirt washed off, feeling the towel in Jesus’ hands, drying each foot in turn.
Then after washing his hands, he returned to the table and gave them something to taste. Simple, ordinary food, that was already before them.
Everyday bread, a symbol to remind them that Divine Love is found in everyday life.
Ordinary wine reminding them of the richness in their lives when he is part of them.
Symbols for us too,
the sweet taste of the grape. Will it be warm or cold? What does it tell you about Jesus as you symbolically invite him in again?
Bread to taste..how will it go down, will it be crumbly, or moist & chewy? Will you BREAK it or BITE it?
What message will God send YOU with the symbol of God’s son?
How will YOU eat the symbol of Jesus tonight?. . .Immanuel;
God IS WITH us!
Smelling and Touching
A friend and I used to say that all we wanted from God was a neon sign to point us in the right direction. The shepherds got the first-century equivalent, an ANGEL and the full complement of Heavenly Host!
They couldn’t miss it, or could they? I’ve passed many a neon sign without notice. I once walked past newly installed 5 foot long decorative stones placed outside my camp office..and didn’t see them.
It takes a lot to get thru sometimes. Perhaps smells, at least BAD smells get to us the quickest. There is no doubt that something is real when it smells bad.
Good smells might be deceiving. There are cookie-scented candles, but they don’t make real-stable scents in candle form. Who would buy THOSE smells?
time check
Rather than getting stuck in the details of the story of Jesus’ birth, or the lack of details (which we tend to fill in from movies and such) tell me what sense has touched you the most tonight?
What is YOUR entrance into the story?
. . .
What we see, smell, hear, and taste is what really touches us, where it counts. Not the details, but the truth.
Did it really happen that way? or a different question..
Is it true?
And did it happen? Iona Community
And did it happen that in a stable long ago, a weary couple,
who no one wanted to know,
should choose a manger,
in spite of the danger,
to hold and hallow the Lord below?
And did it happen that in the stillness of the night, the woman labored to let God see the light,
and bathed and dressed him, …breastfed and blessed him,
The Word incarnate whose time was right?
And did it happen that this news of this first reached the poor,
compelled by angels to tiptoe to the door
and see no trappings,
just linen wrappings,
A baby for certain and God for sure?
And did it happen that all of this was meant to be(?),
That God from a distance should choose to be set free
and show uniqueness
transformed in weakness,
that I might touch him and …he touch me? (1)
Scripture Luke 2:19-20
19 Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. 20 The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told.
1 Iona Community Cloth for the Cradle (Chicago:GIA,2000) 26
got
We use our senses in ways we take for granted. (?)
Fill in the blank, I have a splitting _______, Oh my aching _______,
Ouch, I stubbed my ______, I have a sore ___________,
I broke my ______ ( you fill in the broken part)
..
We need to listen with our senses beyond our typical aches and pains if we are to recognize the sign the prophet spoke of. Otherwise there could be signs, angels, the birthing of new life all around us, and we will MISS it.
God could be (and likely is) working right now in some part of your life, but your senses have been dulled.
Maybe the music or traffic is too loud for us to HEAR, we get engrossed in TV and don’t SEE what is happening in the neighborhood.
Maybe fast food has dulled our taste buds,
car exhaust has ruined the good scents of life, and
all those aches and pains have left us unable to FEEL deep into our souls.
Tonight I invite you pay attention to your GOD-given SENSEs. These are the same 5 senses we always have, but they are fine-tuned in those who really HEAR what GOD has to say.
We will enter this story as if it was a Hollywood musical full of sights and sounds to delight. Maybe like my favorite movie, ‘White Christmas’. …(Remember that movie? people falling in love in a matter of a week. Dreams become real and questions result in a chorus of songs and some very capable dancing.)
We need to sharpen our God-sense so we can delight in tonight story. We need to listen with the ear of our heart to hear a prophet’s words speak about events thousands of years in the future .. and yet tonight, we can SEE them.
We will feel our way into this most favorite of stories and answer some of these questions:
What did Joseph hear in his dream?
Who did the innkeeper see at the door?
What did Mary smell out in the stable?
What did Jesus feel when he was born?
and we will even pay attention to what we TASTE when we eat the communion meal.
Each sense will invite us into the story to hear something new, feel a deeper connection to God’s message or maybe we will even see what they saw. . hear what they heard.
Let the passages suggest songs to you as if you were writing a musical. Picture the scenes in your head the way you would paint them. Design the play or script in a modern form. Imagine the clay in your hands as you Sculpt Mary holding the baby Jesus.
We can Let our imaginations explore each situation behind the familiar words. Because this story is more than the simple scenes we usually act out.
A deeper look will involve noticing
how devastating the visit from God’s messenger must have been for Joseph,
how shocking for Mary to be overcome with God’s spirit
and how life-changing for both of them to go from an assumed normal life…like we all have for our lives at some point…to God’s plan,
which, in their case, was not what ANYONE intended, expected or maybe wanted.
and for some it couldn’t even be believed. . .
What WE believe about this story won’t be as important as what we hear, see, taste, smell, and touch tonight.
Because I am sure that we too will receive a Divine message, like the one the angels sang.
Do you hear what I hear? …. it’s a voice..high above the trees.
. . . .
Tonight on this most special of all nights, listen, look, touch, smell, taste and really FEEL your way into this story. . . .
of God with us.. Immanuel.
Seeing and Tasting
The really memorable stories about Jesus involve the senses. Put yourself in Simon’s house with Jesus. A woman comes in with an alabaster jar of perfume and pours it all on Jesus head in an anointing ritual with which we are UNfamiliar.
I’m sure this was oil based perfume because there are numerous stories of people being anointed with oil. Kings - or those chosen to be a king, were anointed with oil. And we put later pieces of Jesus’ story together to realize this anointing also foreshadows his death.
In this story people are overwhelmed. Those stuck, unable to get past their thoughts — are outraged at the waste.
“It cost too much to pour out!”
Where do you find yourself in this story?
Tonight, Can we forget our bottom line sensibilities and just smell the perfume? It’s so rich you can taste it in the back of your throat..it’s so sweet.
. . .
Smelling is the first step to tasting. I did a coffee tasting once. The coffee was black of course and very dark. First we
Cupped our hands around the coffee and inhaled deeply.
Then we slurped equal amounts of coffee and air into our mouths…sounds funny…
We pay attention to where the coffee ‘hits’ the tongue. You can identify the individual taste buds when you pay attention like this.
Then we described the taste - based on all these observations.
You have to slow down to taste coffee this way. It’s not the way I often drink my first cup..gulping it down to get the caffeine into my system as fast as possible.
. .
Slowing down is counter-cultural for most of us (in the USA).
We hear about slowing down, especially in advent …maybe because the events of Christmas are just TOO much to believe when we try to engage them all together.
We get overwhelmed, so we stay in our unemotional heads, looking for the facts. Or maybe we are so regimented from organizing Christmas plans, that we haven’t found a way to hear the story this year, to taste the spices of Christmastime or to see Jesus as a baby born just like us.
When we focus on one sense at a time we have to slow down.
Jesus knew his life-story would be too much for the disciples to understand, as many times as he tried to tell them. So he did two things:
He knelt down on the floor and touched them with water and a towel. His own hands reached out to their feet and they felt him wash them. . slowly, simply, letting the water flow over the dry skin, watching the water darken as the dirt washed off, feeling the towel in Jesus’ hands, drying each foot in turn.
Then after washing his hands, he returned to the table and gave them something to taste. Simple, ordinary food, that was already before them.
Everyday bread, a symbol to remind them that Divine Love is found in everyday life.
Ordinary wine reminding them of the richness in their lives when he is part of them.
Symbols for us too,
the sweet taste of the grape. Will it be warm or cold? What does it tell you about Jesus as you symbolically invite him in again?
Bread to taste..how will it go down, will it be crumbly, or moist & chewy? Will you BREAK it or BITE it?
What message will God send YOU with the symbol of God’s son?
How will YOU eat the symbol of Jesus tonight?. . .Immanuel;
God IS WITH us!
Smelling and Touching
A friend and I used to say that all we wanted from God was a neon sign to point us in the right direction. The shepherds got the first-century equivalent, an ANGEL and the full complement of Heavenly Host!
They couldn’t miss it, or could they? I’ve passed many a neon sign without notice. I once walked past newly installed 5 foot long decorative stones placed outside my camp office..and didn’t see them.
It takes a lot to get thru sometimes. Perhaps smells, at least BAD smells get to us the quickest. There is no doubt that something is real when it smells bad.
Good smells might be deceiving. There are cookie-scented candles, but they don’t make real-stable scents in candle form. Who would buy THOSE smells?
time check
Rather than getting stuck in the details of the story of Jesus’ birth, or the lack of details (which we tend to fill in from movies and such) tell me what sense has touched you the most tonight?
What is YOUR entrance into the story?
. . .
What we see, smell, hear, and taste is what really touches us, where it counts. Not the details, but the truth.
Did it really happen that way? or a different question..
Is it true?
And did it happen? Iona Community
And did it happen that in a stable long ago, a weary couple,
who no one wanted to know,
should choose a manger,
in spite of the danger,
to hold and hallow the Lord below?
And did it happen that in the stillness of the night, the woman labored to let God see the light,
and bathed and dressed him, …breastfed and blessed him,
The Word incarnate whose time was right?
And did it happen that this news of this first reached the poor,
compelled by angels to tiptoe to the door
and see no trappings,
just linen wrappings,
A baby for certain and God for sure?
And did it happen that all of this was meant to be(?),
That God from a distance should choose to be set free
and show uniqueness
transformed in weakness,
that I might touch him and …he touch me? (1)
Scripture Luke 2:19-20
19 Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. 20 The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told.
1 Iona Community Cloth for the Cradle (Chicago:GIA,2000) 26
Saturday, December 7, 2013
What Are Your Expectations for Peace?
Psalm 85 and Luke 1: 68-75
The amazing part of the text we just heard is that Zechariah is talking about his son, John, just born. Imagine looking at a newborn and ‘seeing’ the vision of all God will do thru him. Seeing the future even to the ‘not-yet-born’ Messiah for whom this child will be a ‘prophet’. .
John will eventually baptize Jesus and later lose his head to the whim of Herod’s wife, because Herod wants to ‘keep the peace’ in his household.
Matching the reality of the story we know from our gospel accounts to this lofty language seems a disconnection, the same disconnect we feel when we speak the language of PEACE in church and then go home to news reports of gun violence, and war.
Today we have voices who will remind us of the disconnect we feel. Listen to these accounts as you try to bring what we know is God’s intent together with what we know is happening in the world.
Robyn and Gary - gun violence
DEBBIE - Sudan experience
Disconnection is a feeling familiar to God’s people. We hear it in the psalms, we hear it in today’s stories of violence and joy. Two strange mates which don’t seem to belong together.
Even the psalmist recognizes the need for partnership between mates that often disagree…between righteousness and peace.
Today we have heard Jonathan speak of Peacemaker teams full of people who literally put their life in the way of violent action in order to make peace.. or die trying in pursuit of a just peace.
Yesterday in our daily COB devotional, Tim Harvey wrote of a brethren congregation’s desire for peace and security in the most dangerous and violent part of Santo Domingo. They address the need for this partnership by “regularly offering to exchange guns for food. They offer life in the place of death on many levels.” Harvey wrote.
For the last several days we’ve heard about Nelson Mandela’s life. In this one person, righteousness and peace made a home.
The President in his remarks about Mandela said, “His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to, whether in the lives of nations or in our own personal lives.”
In Nelson Mandela we saw,
“what human beings can do when they're guided by their hopes and not by their fears.”
Like the plot of a love story in a movie you can watch again and again,
where Two people, attracted to each other, remain at a distance either by choice, or because something (or someone else) keeps them apart.
They pass each other, eyes locked, but with no opportunity to talk. Then they find themselves in the same room, on the same committee so they end up working together. Soon their hands will brush each other, a hand on the other’s arm. . .
Then moment when they move towards a kiss…but are interrupted by someone entering the room
then, the perfect moment, mistletoe overhead, two potential lovers find themselves alone.
They look up at the berries, then into each other’s eyes, and
they KISS.
. . .
Maybe that’s how it is with righteousness and peace.
First it’s righteousness, which is synonymous with right relations or JUST relationships, who finds itself in the same country with peace but they seem so very far apart, with only a little in common.
Then something or someone brings them together for an attempt at reconciliation and they sit across from each other. . .Righteousness stubbornly holding onto the ground of justice. While peace calmly sits nearby.
Soon they are working together, even finding common ground because a person, a Nelson Mandela, gives up vengeance (righteous vengeance but still vengeance) in favor of taking the hand of peace.
and
When the two touch, there’s a bit of electricity. . .
It could spark another fire, …or
It could fuel their desire for each other and begin a love affair of amazing consequence - which will it be?
A new fight?
or
a KISS?
and what will YOUR choice be?
To move toward or away from the kiss of peace?
The End
Blessings and Sending:
“so it falls to us as best we can to follow the Mandela’s example, “to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love”
The amazing part of the text we just heard is that Zechariah is talking about his son, John, just born. Imagine looking at a newborn and ‘seeing’ the vision of all God will do thru him. Seeing the future even to the ‘not-yet-born’ Messiah for whom this child will be a ‘prophet’. .
John will eventually baptize Jesus and later lose his head to the whim of Herod’s wife, because Herod wants to ‘keep the peace’ in his household.
Matching the reality of the story we know from our gospel accounts to this lofty language seems a disconnection, the same disconnect we feel when we speak the language of PEACE in church and then go home to news reports of gun violence, and war.
Today we have voices who will remind us of the disconnect we feel. Listen to these accounts as you try to bring what we know is God’s intent together with what we know is happening in the world.
Robyn and Gary - gun violence
DEBBIE - Sudan experience
Disconnection is a feeling familiar to God’s people. We hear it in the psalms, we hear it in today’s stories of violence and joy. Two strange mates which don’t seem to belong together.
Even the psalmist recognizes the need for partnership between mates that often disagree…between righteousness and peace.
Today we have heard Jonathan speak of Peacemaker teams full of people who literally put their life in the way of violent action in order to make peace.. or die trying in pursuit of a just peace.
Yesterday in our daily COB devotional, Tim Harvey wrote of a brethren congregation’s desire for peace and security in the most dangerous and violent part of Santo Domingo. They address the need for this partnership by “regularly offering to exchange guns for food. They offer life in the place of death on many levels.” Harvey wrote.
For the last several days we’ve heard about Nelson Mandela’s life. In this one person, righteousness and peace made a home.
The President in his remarks about Mandela said, “His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to, whether in the lives of nations or in our own personal lives.”
In Nelson Mandela we saw,
“what human beings can do when they're guided by their hopes and not by their fears.”
Like the plot of a love story in a movie you can watch again and again,
where Two people, attracted to each other, remain at a distance either by choice, or because something (or someone else) keeps them apart.
They pass each other, eyes locked, but with no opportunity to talk. Then they find themselves in the same room, on the same committee so they end up working together. Soon their hands will brush each other, a hand on the other’s arm. . .
Then moment when they move towards a kiss…but are interrupted by someone entering the room
then, the perfect moment, mistletoe overhead, two potential lovers find themselves alone.
they KISS.
. . .
Maybe that’s how it is with righteousness and peace.
First it’s righteousness, which is synonymous with right relations or JUST relationships, who finds itself in the same country with peace but they seem so very far apart, with only a little in common.
Then something or someone brings them together for an attempt at reconciliation and they sit across from each other. . .Righteousness stubbornly holding onto the ground of justice. While peace calmly sits nearby.
Soon they are working together, even finding common ground because a person, a Nelson Mandela, gives up vengeance (righteous vengeance but still vengeance) in favor of taking the hand of peace.
and
When the two touch, there’s a bit of electricity. . .
It could spark another fire, …or
It could fuel their desire for each other and begin a love affair of amazing consequence - which will it be?
A new fight?
or
a KISS?
and what will YOUR choice be?
To move toward or away from the kiss of peace?
The End
Blessings and Sending:
“so it falls to us as best we can to follow the Mandela’s example, “to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love”
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Does HOPE perch in your soul?
There are at least 3 parts to beginning of the Advent story. But the ones I’m thinking of may not be the 3 we hear most often.
Typically we hear about an angel visiting Joseph in a dream, and Gabriel surprising Mary with shocking news, and John the Baptist being born ahead of Jesus to his Aunt Eliz. These are the big stories that get press, artwork, and children’s crafts designed around them.
Instead of just looking at the ‘big 3’, I want to lift up
(1)the angel's visit to Zechariah, John's father. Then
(2) recall Mary's encounter with the Divine Messenger. And preface them both with the
(3) expectation found in THEIR scriptures, particularly the writings of the prophets.
For decades, centuries even, Israel’s scriptures spoke with hope of a time when justice would be the rule. When all the good they had experienced at times in their history would be exceeded by the good that God would bring about.
AND all the evil, discrimination, oppression and Injustice they experience, would be made right in God’s eyes…AND by God’s own hand.
This is what the people’s faith told them to hope in.
The religious leaders, the priests, help the people to ‘keep the faith’. it’s priests who maintain the rituals,
make the sacrifices at temple, and
teach the people the ways that God commands.
Israelites know the ancient promises and find hope in them.
They believe they are back in Jerusalem because God has blessed them with salvation that ‘saved’ them from the Babylonians and Assyrians.
God sent prophets to warn of exile and prophets to share God’s promise of salvation from exile.
Along with Spiritual Leadership, It was the High Priest’s duty to go into the Holy of Holies, wearing special garments and taking sacrifices into the special place in the temple, and burning incense.
High Priests have the greatest authority in the daily world of interpreting and living God’s commands. Zechariah is a High Priest. his select group has been chosen to serve at temple 2 weeks per year. And the high honor of actually going into the inter sanctuary has fallen to him. This is a once-in-a-lifetime honor.
Listen to The rest of Zechariah's Story
In the days when Herod was King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, he belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. He and his wife, Elizabeth were both descendants of Aaron. [Only Aaron’s descendants within the tribe of Levi were selected for the highest duties in the temple. Since there were so many descendants by this time, they took turns with this most high and holy privilege.]
Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright in the sight ofGod, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
Once, when Zechariah’s section was on duty and he was serving as ‘priest before God’, he was chosen by lot to be the one to enter the sanctuary of the Lord [the Holy of Holies] and burn the incense.
Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
(start thinking about what you would do and say next, as we continue with the angel’s announcement)
“He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
(What would you do next?)
Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
The angel replied, “[well] I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to tell you this good news. . . . But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them. and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. She said, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away my disgrace among the people.”
(story from NIV and NRSV, adapted for telling)
Your reactions?
Take away: “He did not believe the words of promise spoken to him.”
Brief comparison with Mary (Brief summary Mary Annunciation)
The other announcement story comes to a very young person, Mary. In Elizabeth’s 6 month of pregnancy, Gabriel gets another assignment. THIS story you know.
(ask them to tell it?)
Mary: In Elizabeth’s 6th month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
But she was much perplexed by his words and wondered what sort of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Mary asks, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. “For nothing is impossible with God.”
[do you immediately think about your own response?]
here’s mary’s
Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
Two people, one an old, experienced, HIGH priest of the Jewish people, the other a very young, inexperienced girl, not yet married, still separated in her father’s household.
Two very different reactions.
Which one has hope?
“She believed the words of promise spoken to her.”
They both received a promise. They both undoubtedly knew the promises that scripture relayed. They have heard the prophets tell of God’s promise to restore justice, to save people from injustice, to make the world ‘right- righteous’ again.
But it is commonly known that there have been NO PROPHETS since Malachi, so these new announcements are signs that the messianic age is dawning. Mary’s announcement tells of a son who will BE the CHOSEN one, the one to save his people. It’s the promise they have all waited for.
When someone makes you a promise do you hope it will come true or take their word as fact?
Are divine promises different?
It is easy to lose hope in the face of disasters, or when we look a the disaster of disease and famine. Or when we see the vast injustice in the world, the kind of injustice and inequity we heard described in Isaiah.
It isn’t easy to hang onto hope the way Mary does and to speak of the righteousness action of God as FACT long before it happens.
These are 2 very similar stories.
Yet we have 2 VERY different responses.
Question: who do we more closely resemble?
I wonder how much their ages and experience (or lack of) play a part in their ability to believe in the promise.
I wonder how much hope they held, in the ancient words of the scripture.
I wonder how we actually would respond if it were us surprised by Gabriel.
My wondering came to a head yesterday at the end of our decorating. Let me tell you one last story.
When everyone left, I was getting ready to lock up when I decided that the narthex needed just a little of the pine we had in these windows. I walked out to get my clippers and ran into someone who had come to help decorate - late. I explained we were done, but since I was planning to clip more, and am a bit too short to do so, I was glad for a little help.
WE brought in the pine and chatted and he began to share a story. Now this is someone who many of you wouldn’t recognize, he is here so infrequently. Mostly he’s away on Sunday. But something had just happened that brought him here hoping to find someone to talk to.
He had just had his own ‘announcement’ of sorts. He told me it was an angel. That was his understanding of the message he received. He was going to be a father and was incredibly surprised, for reasons I don’t need to go into.
His messenger told him that this would be a special boy. One who would make a real difference in the world.
I couldn’t help but think about the words we use at baby dedications that come from the Jewish naming ceremony. The reminder that the prophet Elijah once told God’s people that every child has the potential to be a messiah because within every child is a spark that can repair the world.
He finished telling the story saying he was afraid to tell people. He thought they wouldn’t believe him, but he came to me, thinking his pastor and his church family would believe.
My question to you is, What should I say to him?
You’ve heard two stories of response, and now we are faced with our own church family story. What should we say?
You probably have heard Emily Dickinson’s poem about Hope. The first verse is,
“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
I believe that how we HOLD our ‘HOPE’ determines whether we believe that promises will come true. . .
I wonder how you ‘hold your hope?’
Do you keep hope at a distance?
barely close enough to see, but not close enough to disappoint you if the promise doesn’t come true in your lifetime?
Or does HOPE PERCH in your SOUL?
so close that you can feel the flutters when you hear stories like these?
So close that your HOPES RISE, and you begin to hear angel’s sing ..sing that tune without words. . .
hope… that NEVER STOPS AT ALL.
How do you hold YOUR hope?
________________________________
R. Alan Culpepper NIB Vo. IX (Nashville:Abingdon,1995)46
also Raquel Lettsome http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=436
Typically we hear about an angel visiting Joseph in a dream, and Gabriel surprising Mary with shocking news, and John the Baptist being born ahead of Jesus to his Aunt Eliz. These are the big stories that get press, artwork, and children’s crafts designed around them.
Instead of just looking at the ‘big 3’, I want to lift up
(1)the angel's visit to Zechariah, John's father. Then
(2) recall Mary's encounter with the Divine Messenger. And preface them both with the
(3) expectation found in THEIR scriptures, particularly the writings of the prophets.
For decades, centuries even, Israel’s scriptures spoke with hope of a time when justice would be the rule. When all the good they had experienced at times in their history would be exceeded by the good that God would bring about.
AND all the evil, discrimination, oppression and Injustice they experience, would be made right in God’s eyes…AND by God’s own hand.
This is what the people’s faith told them to hope in.
The religious leaders, the priests, help the people to ‘keep the faith’. it’s priests who maintain the rituals,
make the sacrifices at temple, and
teach the people the ways that God commands.
Israelites know the ancient promises and find hope in them.
They believe they are back in Jerusalem because God has blessed them with salvation that ‘saved’ them from the Babylonians and Assyrians.
God sent prophets to warn of exile and prophets to share God’s promise of salvation from exile.
Along with Spiritual Leadership, It was the High Priest’s duty to go into the Holy of Holies, wearing special garments and taking sacrifices into the special place in the temple, and burning incense.
High Priests have the greatest authority in the daily world of interpreting and living God’s commands. Zechariah is a High Priest. his select group has been chosen to serve at temple 2 weeks per year. And the high honor of actually going into the inter sanctuary has fallen to him. This is a once-in-a-lifetime honor.
Listen to The rest of Zechariah's Story
In the days when Herod was King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, he belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. He and his wife, Elizabeth were both descendants of Aaron. [Only Aaron’s descendants within the tribe of Levi were selected for the highest duties in the temple. Since there were so many descendants by this time, they took turns with this most high and holy privilege.]
Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright in the sight ofGod, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
Once, when Zechariah’s section was on duty and he was serving as ‘priest before God’, he was chosen by lot to be the one to enter the sanctuary of the Lord [the Holy of Holies] and burn the incense.
Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
(start thinking about what you would do and say next, as we continue with the angel’s announcement)
“He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
(What would you do next?)
Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
The angel replied, “[well] I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to tell you this good news. . . . But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them. and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. She said, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away my disgrace among the people.”
(story from NIV and NRSV, adapted for telling)
Your reactions?
Take away: “He did not believe the words of promise spoken to him.”
Brief comparison with Mary (Brief summary Mary Annunciation)
The other announcement story comes to a very young person, Mary. In Elizabeth’s 6 month of pregnancy, Gabriel gets another assignment. THIS story you know.
(ask them to tell it?)
Mary: In Elizabeth’s 6th month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
But she was much perplexed by his words and wondered what sort of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Mary asks, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. “For nothing is impossible with God.”
[do you immediately think about your own response?]
here’s mary’s
Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
Two people, one an old, experienced, HIGH priest of the Jewish people, the other a very young, inexperienced girl, not yet married, still separated in her father’s household.
Two very different reactions.
Which one has hope?
“She believed the words of promise spoken to her.”
They both received a promise. They both undoubtedly knew the promises that scripture relayed. They have heard the prophets tell of God’s promise to restore justice, to save people from injustice, to make the world ‘right- righteous’ again.
But it is commonly known that there have been NO PROPHETS since Malachi, so these new announcements are signs that the messianic age is dawning. Mary’s announcement tells of a son who will BE the CHOSEN one, the one to save his people. It’s the promise they have all waited for.
When someone makes you a promise do you hope it will come true or take their word as fact?
Are divine promises different?
It is easy to lose hope in the face of disasters, or when we look a the disaster of disease and famine. Or when we see the vast injustice in the world, the kind of injustice and inequity we heard described in Isaiah.
It isn’t easy to hang onto hope the way Mary does and to speak of the righteousness action of God as FACT long before it happens.
These are 2 very similar stories.
Yet we have 2 VERY different responses.
Question: who do we more closely resemble?
I wonder how much their ages and experience (or lack of) play a part in their ability to believe in the promise.
I wonder how much hope they held, in the ancient words of the scripture.
I wonder how we actually would respond if it were us surprised by Gabriel.
My wondering came to a head yesterday at the end of our decorating. Let me tell you one last story.
When everyone left, I was getting ready to lock up when I decided that the narthex needed just a little of the pine we had in these windows. I walked out to get my clippers and ran into someone who had come to help decorate - late. I explained we were done, but since I was planning to clip more, and am a bit too short to do so, I was glad for a little help.
WE brought in the pine and chatted and he began to share a story. Now this is someone who many of you wouldn’t recognize, he is here so infrequently. Mostly he’s away on Sunday. But something had just happened that brought him here hoping to find someone to talk to.
He had just had his own ‘announcement’ of sorts. He told me it was an angel. That was his understanding of the message he received. He was going to be a father and was incredibly surprised, for reasons I don’t need to go into.
His messenger told him that this would be a special boy. One who would make a real difference in the world.
I couldn’t help but think about the words we use at baby dedications that come from the Jewish naming ceremony. The reminder that the prophet Elijah once told God’s people that every child has the potential to be a messiah because within every child is a spark that can repair the world.
He finished telling the story saying he was afraid to tell people. He thought they wouldn’t believe him, but he came to me, thinking his pastor and his church family would believe.
My question to you is, What should I say to him?
You’ve heard two stories of response, and now we are faced with our own church family story. What should we say?
You probably have heard Emily Dickinson’s poem about Hope. The first verse is,
“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
I believe that how we HOLD our ‘HOPE’ determines whether we believe that promises will come true. . .
I wonder how you ‘hold your hope?’
Do you keep hope at a distance?
barely close enough to see, but not close enough to disappoint you if the promise doesn’t come true in your lifetime?
Or does HOPE PERCH in your SOUL?
so close that you can feel the flutters when you hear stories like these?
So close that your HOPES RISE, and you begin to hear angel’s sing ..sing that tune without words. . .
hope… that NEVER STOPS AT ALL.
How do you hold YOUR hope?
________________________________
R. Alan Culpepper NIB Vo. IX (Nashville:Abingdon,1995)46
also Raquel Lettsome http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupLectionaryReading.asp?LRID=436
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