Lowell Allen, guest pastor (retired)

“AN VERY ANGRY PASTOR”

Say “It is not True!” The pastor is the very model of the modern person “Clothed with Christ!”
Pastor Hadaway pointed out last week that those baptized in Christ were Clothed in Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit sent by God at the direction of the risen Christ.
With God’s Spirit directing our lives we are to Love God with all our being and we are to Love our Neighbor as we love ourselves. We exemplify forgiveness, right living, and love for all.
What, then, is this? A very angry pastor? Say it is not so!
Well, I have to admit that I can be angry. Just the other day I drove to a meeting. I parked in a metered area, used my credit card to get the maximum time--two hours for $2.50--and placed the receipt on the dash as instructed. When I came out of the meeting after an hour fifteen minutes there was the Parking Fine envelope on the windshield. I was really ticked and ready to blow my stack. I was certain that “LAZ” --that company that has bought the parking rights on the streets of Chicago--was ripping me off. I was ready to tell the City Revenue Department what was what.!!
I called 311 as soon as I got back home, while there was still time on my meter ticket, and let that operator know in an angry voice that I wanted an explanation. I was promptly referred to the City Department of Revenue. Again very excited and angry I wanted to know why the City was allowing LAZ to get away with ticketing when the meter receipt was clearly displayed. Very sweetly the clerk asked what was the charge on the ticket. I said I only had the envelope. She calmly said, the ticket is inside. What is the charge? I looked inside and pulled the ticket out, and could not immediately see the line that gave the charge. Finally I found it and it said “Expired State License” Even more angry, I said I got that back in February. She quietly said, “go look, it may have been taken off.” She stayed on the line until I went 3 flights down to the parking lot and back. The plate showed expired Feb 2010. I looked in the glove compartment, Sure enough, there was the February 2011 sticker. Like a scolded puppy with its tail between its legs, I ate humble pie, apologized, went on line and paid the $50 fine.
Pastors are human--a fact, not an excuse. Even though we would put the pastor on a pedestal and expect her or him to be a cut above in action and word. We would have them be like Jesus. Was Jesus ever angry? One wonders about his feelings on the occasion of being driven out of his home town, Nazareth. Or, what he thought about the nine lepers of the ten who were healed, and only one returned to give him thanks.
What I do know is the apostle Paul was very angry about the situation in Galatia, the area that we know today as Ankara, Turkey. This area had been on his missionary journeys around the Mediterranean. In each community on his journeys to bring the Good News of The Risen Christ he went first to the synagogues of the Jews. These folk had been scattered throughout the centuries by powers that had overrun the Promised Land. Some believed in Paul’s message about Jesus Christ, but more often he was turned away. That did not stop his preaching faith in Jesus to the Gentile community with great results. So it was that the Christian Community was established and flourished in Galatia. Paul moved on to other cities with similar results from his missionary work. Why the anger in this letter written to the Christian Community in Galatia? There are good reasons.
There are lessons for you and me. When we get hot under the collar and before we blow our stack we need to know the reason or reasons for our frustration and anger. Then, we need to check our reactions and the ways we handle the situation. Look for ways of reconciliation rather than making matters worse by offending God and our neighbor.
I think it was in Thursday’s RedEye that someone noted that today’s bloggers spew so much HATE. They can do so anonymously, using made up IDs, and using technology that is in everyone’s hands these days, spread widely their messages of HATE.
What was St. Paul’s situation? “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?…There is no other Gospel that what you received! [from my preaching.]” He is so disappointed with the Christian Community in Galatia that his usual greeting as we see in his other letters is not in this letter. What is the matter? There were two things which he wishes to confront. The first was a group from the home church in Jerusalem that would have made the early church a sect of Judaism. The second was the nature of persons coming to Faith in Christ from the “Greco/Roman” world where there was a pantheon of gods, each with its practices of worship which they felt were appropriate in the new Christian Church of the first 30 years after Jesus’ crucifixion.
It is hard to say about which St. Paul was most angry.
The first group he identifies as coming from the disciples James and even Peter. St. Paul points out that the question of having to become Jewish Christians had been decided at the 1st Ecumenical Council described in the 15 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. When persons came to faith in Jesus from peoples who had absolutely no knowledge of the Old Testament Law and Prophets, they still were blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This was evident in the gifts they exhibited. The Council gave its blessing to Paul and Barnabas to go preach Jesus Crucified and Risen to the Gentile community. So they did. Why now, were they coming from the Jewish Christian community to claim that the young churches had received only part of the Gospel. They needed to practice all the Law if they were to be truly Christians. The Judaisers like to call themselves “ Children of Abraham.” St.Paul points out that God made covenant with Abraham and Sarah because of Abraham’s faith in the promises of God. This came long before the Law was given to Moses. Paul argues that the new covenant by the Blood of Christ comes by faith alone in Jesus, not by works of the Law. St. Paul expands on the faith of Abraham in his letter to the Romans.
Paul is perplexed by the Galatians embracing the message from Jerusalem when they already had their Freedom in Christ through their faith in Jesus.
St. Paul was a very angry pastor at the Apostles in Jerusalem for sending those persons to Galatia and other young churches seeking the young Christians to embrace the Law. This message was summed up by the practice of circumcision. Paul declares “circumcision and un-circumcision is nothing”--Faith in Jesus is everything.
A side bar of humor. As we read Paul’s words in today’s lesson in the 21st Century. Paul repeatedly speaks of the “offspring” of Abraham. The Greek word that is translated in today’s English is literally “seed “of Abraham. Thus, Paul speaks with what seems great anger, when he says “would that those demanding circumcision would castrate themselves!” Being rendered impotent this would then bring an end to the “seed” they are sowing in Galatia! We can sense a rye sense of Comedy Central humor in his assertion.
Now, what of the second matter, our Freedom in Christ. For Paul, and all Christians, being “free” from the law does not give license to do whatever, and anything, that we please. Many of the practices of the new converts from the gentile community that had many gods were contrary to the Love of God and Love of neighbor. Some practices were licentiousness. These practices are not limited to the First Century. My Comparative Religions professor in Seminary was a Presbyterian missionary on sabbatical from his post in the seminary in Puna, India. He shared the challenge faced by converts to Christianity there in India. He said on one side of the seminary was a Hindu cult which worshiped all things sexual. On the other side was a Catholic cathedral that had its Temple Prostitutes! St. Paul sets forth the new Christian’s disciplinarian. It is the Law of Love. Pastor Hadaway will be expanding on this Freedom in Christ in coming weeks. Stay tuned!

In conclusion we are made a child of God through our faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ. We are freed from the practices of the ancient Law because we have our justification and righteousness in Christ. Jesus Christ gives us a new law in the new covenant which God gives by Grace, not by anything we have done , or could do ourselves. That disclipianarian is Love. Let the Spirit lead us.
Amen.

Private clubs can let in whoever they choose and keep out whoever they deem “not appropriate.”
For example, in the new television series “Justified” on FX, the dry town of Harlan, Kentucky has one establishment in town where a person can get a drink. The problem for some folks is that you must be a veteran (or with a vet) to get it.

When I was at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I wanted to pledge a sorority my freshman year. It was a big school, and someone from home had called her big sister asking her to look out for me. She was in this sorority. As I recall, there were some crazy things we had to do to prove we were worthy to be allowed to join. We were also subjected to pranks and stunts by the sisters. But as crazy as the sororities can be, I think they are tame compared to the fraternities.

My dad was in a fraternity in college. I remember one story in particular. The pledges had to dig up a bunch of earthworms. The worms were put into a large bowl. The pledges were blindfolded and then told to eat a handful of worms. They gagged their way through it. Chasing the worms with some kind of alcoholic beverage or two. What the pledges didn’t know until afterwards is that the brothers had replaced the bowl of worms with a bowl of cold spaghetti noodles. And this was probably one of the milder pranks.

As for me, I did get into the Sigma, Sigma, Sigma sorority. But I remember being very anxious that I wouldn’t get invited to join.

Do you remember a time when you wanted to be a member of an organization, only to be told that you had to qualify first? How did that feel? Did you quality? If so, there was probably a sense of accomplishment and pride that went along with being asked to join. And if you didn’t qualify, do you remember how that felt? Disappointed, maybe angry, but certainly hurt that you weren’t worthy or up to their standards.

Those of you who are looking for work know what I mean. It is brutal out there and the competition is stiff. It’s hard not to get frustrated or feel the rejections are personal, no matter how much people say that they aren’t.

Our scripture text this morning comes from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Paul wrote the letter to a group of “mission outposts/faith communities” located in villages throughout the Roman Providence of Galatia—hence the name--Galatians. During Paul’s time, Galatia was located in Asia, northeast of Israel and just north of the Mediterranean Sea. Today, that same land is part of Turkey.

Most Christian scholars believe that Paul founded these faith communities in Galatia during his first missionary journey between 48 and 50 A.D. The purpose of Paul’s letter was to remind the Galatians what he had preached and taught them while he was there.

As Paul’s letter insinuates, other Christian missionaries arrived sometime after he left. After spending some time with the Galatians, the missionaries informed them that they were not actually a Christian community. Why not? According to the missionaries, Paul had omitted crucial parts of what was required to follow Jesus. In other words, the new mission faith communities needed to qualify to belong to this new movement that was sweeping the land.

How could this have happened? Paul traveled around Galatia for a couple of years. He would have stayed in one village for weeks/maybe months getting to know the people and sharing the Gospel. It’s not like he just came for one night and forgot to share something with them. What could Paul have possibility omitted that would be so crucial to these other Christian missionaries?

The missionaries who followed Paul were Jewish Christians. When they chose to follow Jesus, they were already Jews. These missionaries also believed Jesus was sent to save the Jewish people—Jesus was Israel’s Messiah. So they assumed that if Gentiles wanted to become Christians, they would have to become Jews first.

It made perfect sense to them that the new converts adhere to Jewish laws and customs—(circumcision; food purity laws; all the laws that listed in their Canon) in order to be saved by Israel’s messiah. They did not see how it could be any other way. So they wasted no time letting the new faith communities know that they had more work to do before they could qualify to belong.

What cannot be overlooked is that Paul himself was a Jew. He was a very scholarly Jew, well educated and very well connected. But Paul’s experience of Jesus differed from the original group of disciples. Remember that Paul was actually persecuting the early Christians. It was during his trip to Damascus to find (and persecute) more Christians, that Paul had his conversion experience.

Paul met Jesus face to face. And a short time later, God declared that he was anointing Paul “to bring Jesus’ name to the Gentiles, and kings, and {even} the people of Israel.” (Acts 9:15)

Throughout this letter to the new faith communities in Galatia, Paul makes it clear that he (Paul) was saved by God’s grace alone. Paul’s understanding of God’s grace through Jesus means Jesus came to save all people not just the Jews. Thus, Paul saw no reason to make the Gentiles adhere to Jewish laws of circumcision, dietary restrictions, and the like.

As the Christian movement spread beyond Israel to Gentile nations, this tension grew between Paul and the Jewish Christians. In Acts 15 the issue came to a head. The apostles and leaders of the early church held a special council in Jerusalem to address this very issue. And it was decided that non-Jews who became Christians did not have to submit to all Jewish laws. However, they would be advised to abstain from offering sacrifices to idols and fornication. And the new faith communities would support the widows and the poor in their village.

We can see that from the very beginning, Christianity has had its struggles about what is required to be a Christian. The insiders wanted to make the rules about who could join and who could not. You might say that Galatians is one example of Christianity’s struggles with keeping the main thing of the Gospel the main thing. If we look back over the history of Christianity, we can see numerous examples of this. Two come immediately to mind…

1. In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the castle door in Wittenberg. He did this to protest the sale of indulgences by the Church. People purchased indulgence to fix their (or other’s) relationship with God. Essentially they were paying to get back into God’s good graces. Luther’s actions reminded his fellow Christians of the gospel message of God’s free, unmerited grace.

2. When Hitler and the Nazi’s came into power in Germany, there was a movement to bring the church under the rule of Germany, specifically Hitler. Many of the German Christians were supportive of the idea. But a group of Christian leaders in the Confessing Church, Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer among them, wrote the Barmen Declaration in 1934 rejecting this idea. They reminded their fellow Christians that the church belongs to Christ and as such, his followers answer to him, not the state.

Paul, Karl, and Dietrich, didn’t let others distract them from the primary message of the Gospel. They continued to walk their journey and share their understanding of God’s message of grace, no matter where it led them.

In our own time, there are many loud voices who promote a version of Christianity that is closed minded and legalistic. When will we understand that those of us who are practicing Christians are not the ones who decide who is in and who is out? That’s the role of the Holy Spirit.

We live in a world where people can hop on a plane and travel around the world in 24 hours; where you can communicate with hundreds of people on a social network and never meet each other face to face. Where the family structure has shifted and changed for a variety of reasons.

Henri Nouwen, a contemporary Christian writer referrs to Americans as nomads. He describes our world as one of “strangers, estranged from their own past, culture, and country, from their neighbors, friends, and family, from their deepest self and their God. In such a “world of strangers” where fear, anger, and hostility build walls between people and chip away at communal soulfulness, Nouwen suggests that people need a “free space” where strangers can become friends. The idea is not change people but to offer them space where change can take place.” (1)

If the Holy Spirit’s role is to move and change us from the inside, our role as Christian community is to be hospitable and open to all nomads who walk through the doors of this church. To receive people just as they are on any given day. We’re pretty good at this at the initial point after worship. What would it look like if we really embraced this idea of providing a free space for strangers to become friends?

This implies accepting people at face value, making the effort to get to know newer people, giving people room to find their way in their own time, being interested in their story, and also telling our own.

This idea of qualifying for admittance is not only something we put on others. We also do it to ourselves. I’ve had my share of struggles with depression. If I was feeling depressed and felt as if I could not face the day, I’d call in sick to work and stay in bed all day. Sometimes, the feelings were so overwhelming that one sick day would lead to another, and another, and before I’d know it I’d missed an entire week of work. In the last 10 years, my depression has released its debilitating grip on me.

But in these past two months, since Tom, my step father’s, death, I’ve found the depression creeping back up into my life. My spiritual director informs me that I’m grieving. But it’s hard for me to distinguish between the grief and depression. My mood swings have been lower than I’ve experienced in awhile. This makes me feel inadequate and unworthy of God’s grace and love. How can someone who struggles with depression be a pastor? There is some shame around this and I really didn’t want to share my struggles with depression with you this morning. As I was reflecting on whether or not to do so, I was reminded of an incident that happened when I was in seminary.

It was the summer between my first and second year. We were on our day long retreat at Techy Towers on the north shore. After the morning session, we were given an break and encouraged to take some time for ourselves. Techy Towers has a beautiful orchard on the grounds so I took a walk. During the walk I was having a once-sided conversation with God--expressing my doubts about my qualifications to be a pastor. When I reached a spot and sat down, I heard God’s voice as clearly as if he was standing beside me, “I called you.” In the minutes that followed, my critic quieted and I let these words wash over me. If God called me then God would provide me with all I needed to do the work I was called to do.

It has been awhile since I thought about that moment. I’m reminded that when I stop long enough to ask God for help, when I take a quiet time--read my meditation books and listen, God’s Spirit comes in and gives me what I need.

As Paul offered his testimony, this is mine this morning. Every time I get knocked down, God picks me up and puts me on my feet again. Ever loving, ever encouraging. I don’t have to qualify for God’s grace, it is there. My job is to show up and suit up and leave the difficult stuff to God.

We are imperfect human beings, prone to look at the world through our own lenses and not see the distortion that comes from our own point of view—whether that distortion has to do with ourselves or others. In the coming weeks, we will go chapter by chapter through Galatians and focus on key ideas that inform who we are as Christians in the 21st century. I encourage you to pick up your Bible and read St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

There is more to being a Christian than accepting the invitation. How far we go on this spiritual journey is up to each individual and God. I cannot tell you that everyone must be ordained clergy to follow God. That’s my path. What I can tell you is that all of us are called and we each have a path to follow. While we may choose a certain spiritual path, we cannot mandate this same path for others. But we can walk along side each other on the journey.

Paul’s letter speaks to us now, across the millennium, inviting us to return to the life-giving message of Jesus. Each Sunday we will focus on a word or phrase. Today’s word is Good News. We are not saved by what we do, but because of what Jesus did. We are saved by Grace alone—that’s the Good News.

I was very impressed during a discussion with a father who informed me that he is careful about the promises he makes to his daughter. Why? He doesn’t want to break his promise to her. In all fairness, things happen and not all promises can be kept. It is a fact of life. Promises are made and then often forgotten for a variety of circumstances.

It was called the Michigan Promise--scholarship money for students attending colleges in Michigan that received funding from the Michigan Lottery. The program was signed into law by the governor in 2006. In 2009, after some debate and positioning from various legislators, the Michigan promise ended up cut from the 2010 Michigan budget. This cut affected some 96,000 students, some who don’t have other resources to pull from to cover their college expenses. A promise…“How did this happen?”

This is a question I imagine the women were asking themselves as they arrive at the tomb that fateful day long ago. How did this happen?

Throughout Luke’s gospel, women have had an important role in the life of Jesus. We remember that it is in Luke’s gospel that we get to know Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin; and we are given the gift of the Magnificat. Luke introduces us to Mary and Martha, the two sisters, who host Jesus and his apostles. Jesus encourages Mary to listen and learn from him rather than keeping with the more traditional role of hosting and serving the men.

So in Jesus’ difficult last days, it is not too surprising that it is the women who remain faithful to Jesus, even when male disciples have betrayed, denied, and generally disappeared. In all fairness, we remember that in general women had little status, so they could hover and watch without the same level of threat for their lives. Still, it is a mournful business that they are left with, seeing to the proper care of his body.

Their distress is projected even further because the crucifixion happened just before a Sabbath, and they have to delay their ministries for an extra 24 hours—presumably an agonizing wait for them. Arriving at the tomb, things are not in order. The tomb is open, and the body is missing! More woe for these grieving servants.

But now the text gets interesting. Two visitors, clearly not of this world, present themselves to the women who drop to the ground in terror/reverence. They bring the message of the new age, only it is approached in a round-about way.
They ask the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? And if this mystifies the women, as it probably would, the angels continue, “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

Luke’s account of the Easter story is very similar to the other gospels. The main difference is found here in the dialogue between the messengers and the women. The angels do not instruct the women to go find the disciples and tell them what has happened, as in John when Jesus says to Mary, “Go to my brothers…” In Matthew when the women are told “go quickly and tell the disciples.” In Mark the women are told “go, tell his disciples and Peter…”

The women are not simply reporters of what they have seen. The angels invite the women to recall what Jesus taught them. The women are invited to remember Jesus’ promise that he would rise from the dead. It is only after they remember Jesus’ promise that the women leave the empty tomb, full of hope and joy.

Who are these women? Were they privy to the promise? And are they able to relay that promise? Are they reliable witnesses? Obviously it is important that we know who these women are because the Gospel writer names them for us. Two of the women have been mentioned before in this Gospel, in chapter 8, verses 2 & 3.

The first one is Mary the Magdalene (Mary from Magdala, a fishing village in Galilee). This is the woman who Jesus healed by exorcising seven demons from her. The second woman, Joanna, is the wife of an official in the court of Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee. These earlier reference in Luke 8 to Mary Magdalene and Joanna indicate that these where women of some means, supporting Jesus and the disciples in the Galilee period. Their being listed among the group of women who went to attend to Jesus’ body that morning, indicate their persistent support of Jesus to the very end.

These women who followed Jesus from Galilee provide continuity from crucifixion, burial, preparation of spices, Sabbath rest, and visit to the tomb. They have been present with Jesus for a significant period of time. They have knowledge of and a relationship with Jesus to call upon at this crucial moment. They are not simply reporters. They are qualified and reliable witnesses, with a source of experience to draw on for their testimony.

The women entered an empty tomb, an empty time in their lives. They were reminded about their time with Jesus, his promise to rise from the dead, and they leave the tomb full of promise—His promise, not their own.

The reality of empty times comes to all our lives. We find ourselves in places and wonder, How did this happen? Divorce, loss of work, death of a loved one, problems with your child, remorse, depression, fear. When these empty times come what are we to do? We turn to God’s promises.

In 1979 Becky Bowman of Telford, PA gave birth to her fourth child, Glen, and quickly learned from doctors the frightening news: the baby had defective kidneys. The doctors ordered the child rushed to a children’s hospital in Philadelphia, where he would receive kidney dialysis.

Still hospitalized herself, Becky prayed and prayed for her son, and as she did she soon felt God’s nearness. The words of a Scripture text began to repeat in her heart: “this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God” (John 11:4). Becky wrote it down.
Later her husband called to report on the baby’s condition: “It’s too soon to tell if he’s going to make it,” he said. “He’ll going to make it,” Becky replied, and she read him the verse that God had breathed into her heart. “I believe those words,” she said.
Becky husband replied, “So do I, Becky…so do I.”

After three months of dialysis, Glen kidneys, though still not operating at 100 %, began to operate on their own. Throughout his childhood Glen took medication and tired easily. During that time Becky collected in her journal other Scriptures which encouraged her faith that her son would be all right.

When Glen was 13 years old, the doctors reported he would need a kidney transplant. Though unsettling at first, this news turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. Becky herself provided the kidney, and the operation was a complete success. Glen would be able to live a normal life.

Becky’s daughter suggested they do something special with the Scriptures that had meant so much to them during Glen’s long illness. Becky was a quilter and her daughter was skilled at cross-stitch, so they decided to make a quilt that displayed twelve of the cherished promises from the Bible.

Each Scripture was stitched onto white linen and bordered in a pattern of hunter green and burgundy. Three months later the quilt was complete and hung on the wall of their guest room. When others admired the quilt, it eventually was hung in their church as well as other churches in the area.

God’s promises made a great difference for Becky Bowman and her family. While times were hard, they lived with hope. When she chose to have these promises stitched onto a quilt, she made a fitting choice. As comforting as a is quilt on a cold wintry night, so God’s promises ward off soul-chilling fear. They warm the soul and ease the heart.

Have you experienced the promises of God? It may be a feeling you have that God wants to be a part of your life. Maybe God’s promises to you are coming in messages from friends who call to say they are thinking or praying for you. Maybe God speaks to you in your quiet times set aside for God. Maybe you have recently been reminded about God’s promises because you have children and you want to pass that knowledge and faith on to them. Maybe this morning you aren’t even concerned about God’s promises, but I assure you that they are there for you just the same.

Jesus’ promises to his followers are build on the promises of God, found throughout the lives of our ancestors and people of faith. They didn’t begin on Easter morning. They began before the events of this past week. They started beside a lake, in the synagogue, while being healed, on a hill top as thousands were fed, in a mother-in-law’s home, at a shared meal, when a baby is born.

God’s promises are universal and at the same time different for each of us. But at the core, God’s promise is that we don’t have to go it alone.

As a pastor, I am privileged to be invited into people’s lives. Orla was 100 years old, never married, and all her siblings all preceded her in death. She lived in a retirement home, and her mind was still sharp as a tack. During one of my visits, she shared the following with me.

“Jesus promised the disciples that he would return. He promised them he would never leave us. He promised to return again, and I believe he will, someday. I don’t know when and how, but he promised.”

Jesus’ promise was all she needed. Orla loved life. It was evident in her demeanor, her attitude, her bright blue eyes that still twinkled at 100 years old. Life was wonderful. And yet, she confided to her pastor, she was not afraid to die. As she joyfully talked of her faith, the promises of God brought great comfort to her. And her faith was a powerful witness to me, a young pastor at the time.

Wherever you find yourself this Easter Sunday, remember the promise of the resurrection. Victor Hugo put it this way, “The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare.” We do not always understand what is happening as we travel down this darkened corridor. As Christians, we can count on God’s promise that death and darkness are not the final word. God’s plan for our lives, for our world includes resurrection—new life. Look for them, expect them, and you too will experience the promises of God.

Many of us know this story. It is often referred to as the parable of the prodigal son… a son who was immature, self-centered, and yes, lost. His father had provided him with everything he needed and more. But it was not enough.

One prodigal who shares her story is Maya Angelou; author, speaker, and committed Christian. Ms. Angelou is currently an active member of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. She moved to San Francisco as a young woman. In the process, Maya became sophisticated. It was the thing to do when you moved to San Francisco. And with her sophistication, she became an agnostic. Maya said that it wasn't that she stopped believing in God, just that God no longer frequented the neighborhoods that she frequented. And she didn’t have the time or inclination to look God up.

During one voice lesson, Maya’s teacher had her read a section of a religious pamphlet. This particular reading ended with these words: "God loves me." Maya finished the reading, put the pamphlet down. The teacher said, "I want you to read that last sentence again." So she picked it up, read it again, this time somewhat sarcastically, “God loves me” then put it down again.

The teacher said, "Read it again." Maya read it again. Then she shared what happened. "After about the seventh repetition I began to sense there might be some truth in this statement. There was a possibility that God really loves me, Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the grandness of it all. I knew if God loved me, I could do wonderful things. (1)

She is not alone in this thinking. Many people have a similar “Aha” moment when they come to move beyond their misconceptions that God would care about them. They realize that God does indeed love them and God intimately knows them by name. As Maya testifies, to experience God’s incredible, all encompassing love, through the lens of our own actions toward God and others, it changes you.

Like Maya Angelou, John Newton, certainly identified with the younger child in this parable. As a young man in the 18th century, John left home and went to sea. He lived a rough and wild life. Even though he was raised by a Christian mother, John was highly critical of the Christian faith. He enjoyed tearing down the faith of the people he met as he sailed from port to port. It was only in later years that he realized he had wasted his young life. In fact, he had not only wasted it, but he had been offensive to God and to all God-fearing people.

Like the young prodigal in the Gospel lesson, John repented and sought, in humility and obedience, to serve God for the rest of his days. His experience of God's forgiveness and God's grace is described well in the emotion packed words of the popular hymn that he wrote—Amazing Grace.

Before his death in 1807, he wrote his own epitaph. In it, he describes himself and his experience of God this way: "John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy." (2)

But there is more to the gospel lesson than the young prodigal. And Jesus does not end the story when the prodigal returns home and the mother has a party. The story also includes the eldest daughter …a child who was not at home with her mother’s abundance.

Retired seminary professor Fred B. Craddock shared an encounter he had one of the many times he preached on the parable of the prodigal son. After the worship service a man came up to him and reported that he just doesn’t like this story. When Fred asked the man what he doesn’t like about the story, and the man replied, “It’s not morally responsible.”

Curious and wanting to continue the discussion Fred asked the man to explain. He replied that the father should not have forgiven the boy. In fact, what the father should have done is have the boy arrested. At this remark, Fred waited for the man to crack a smile, thinking he was joking. He was not.

Fred referred to this elder child who did what he was supposed to do as a “quality control person—the moral police.” The man wanted the same strict standards that apply in the law to apply to relationships within a family, as well as our relationship with God. It is a blessing for all of us that God does not operate this way, at least that’s what Jesus is trying to tell us with this story. (3)

As United Methodists, we have a different example of the elder sibling who never left the farm, who did what he was told; an eldest child who was lost because he had not fully experienced how much God loved him. This eldest child was John Wesley. John traveled to the Americas; he visited people in prison and hospitals on a weekly basis; he studied the scriptures; he fasted. But something was missing.

And it was not until his 35th birthday, after years of ministry, when Wesley experienced God in such a way that he was able to write: "I suddenly felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that Christ had died for my sins, even mine and had saved me from the law of sin and death." This happened at a Bible Study on the book of Romans. This is known as John’s Aldersgate experience.

Even though he had never “gone to the far country” or turned his back on God, John Wesley had been looking for some validation of God’s love. He desired to know how much God loved him. And in that heartwarming experience he was found.

We don’t need to go to a far off land to be lost and separated from God’s love.
As you think about this story of the two siblings, do you find yourself in any of these situations this morning?

1) Are you off doing your own thing, God and Christian community far from your mind?
2) Do you have a relationship with God and part of a Christian community, but not experiencing any joy in serving?
3) Is God and a Christian community in your life but only when it serves you and when you have time?

It doesn’t matter to God which category you are in. If you’ve left God and want to renew your relationship with God, surrender your ego and come home. God loves you.

If you have been working for God and you find yourself joyless and disappointed that life isn’t fair, surrender your rule book and come home. God loves you!

If God is low man on a long list of other priorities, surrender your heart and come home. God loves you.

(pause) The two daughters of God each exhibited a truly human propensity, one that has put a damper on our relationship with God since the beginning of time—think Garden of Eden and the apple. It is our “What about me?” mentality.

Youngest child: Mom, I know you’ve given me this great life but I don’t care about that. I wish you would give me my inheritance now. Why would I want to hang out here with you and work like everyone else? When will I get to go play? What about me?

Eldest child: I know you’ve given me this great life and I really could be happy here. But I look around and see how lucky other people are and I think; Why do they get all the breaks when I have to work for everything I have? When is it going to be my turn? What about me?

And that, I believe is Jesus’ point. It is not about us. It is about God and God’s abundant mercy, love, provision, diversity, wisdom. As your pastor, that is my wish for you--that you will be “At Home in God’s Abundance.”

God’s abundance is unlimited and beyond our imagination. It doesn’t run out and it cannot be put into a box by us.

As the church, the body of Christ, my wish for this community of faith is that we would make our home in the middle of God’s abundance. Not worrying about what we have or don’t have. Not caught up in everyone contributing equally to the common good. But trusting in God’s abundance, sharing what we have been given—love and acceptance; financial resources and spiritual gifts to those in need in our community and beyond.

When we, as individuals and the church, make our home in God’s abundance, the focus shifts from “What about me?” to “What do you want me (us) to do God?”

When we are living in the middle of God’s abundance, we are defined by our enduring gratitude for God’s amazing grace. As such, our lives reflect the abundance of God…

On a cold, dreary December evening, several hundred people gathered at a large downtown church in Winston-Salem to celebrate the Christmas season. Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald, present that evening, had gone down a long hallway to help a small boy who was pushing against massive oak doors trying to get outside. The boy was about 2 years old and as he pushed he was crying as if his heart would break.

The Bishop picked him up, thinking he belonged to someone at one of the Christmas parties but as he opened the doors and looked outside he spotted a beat up old car speeding away in the darkness. Gradually, it dawned on him that the child he held in his arms had been abandoned.

Phone calls were made, and soon the church was filled with people wanting to help in any way they could. Within moments, the local TV stations interrupted their usual programs to ask if anyone knew the identity of the little boy. The next morning, one of the city's newspapers put the child's picture on the front page.
Under the picture there was an article describing the events of the evening before. The article began with this striking line: "Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through!"

When Bishop Fitzgerald later reflected on this event he realized it would be a long, long time before he could forget that newspaper headline. So much of the world's future depends on the faithfulness of the people of God to Jesus’ Great Commission. There is a deep hunger across our land as countless people grope for answers to the deepest questions of the human spirit.

The message of Christ speaks to these questions, bringing hope to the hopeless and seeks the lost. Our world will be changed as the hearts of people are changed. Sharing the love of Christ, as we have experienced it, is no longer an option for the church. It is essential to the survival of our world.

The line in that Winston-Salem newspaper is a haunting reminder of what the world expects of the church. "Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through!" (4) Let that be our witness!

When we are able to remember that it’s not about me…it’s about God. Then, we can have an opportunity to be share the love of God in amazing and abundant ways. May God make this a reality in our community and may God begin with each and every one of us, right now!

Isaiah 55:1-9; Luke 13:1-9

Today’s gospel reading concludes a larger section of text that begins with Luke chapter 12, verse 35 on watchfulness and preparation for the coming judgment. The predominately Jewish audience is familiar with a judging God, one that demands adherence to the rules and order set out for them. Jesus is calling the people to judge for themselves what is right and to be attuned to God’s activity now in the world. These are difficult lessons for the people to hear and understand. His listeners seek to test his teachings. They bring up recent events.

Event number one. Pilate slaughtered a group of Jews from the Galilee area presumably while they were worshipping. Why?

During Jesus’ time, there was a variety of Jewish groups, each with a different emphasis on the Jewish religion. Much like we have a variety of Christian groups today. Our relationships with these groups vary. In some cases, we work together, side by side in our community. In some cases, we find ourselves in competition. And in worst case scenario, we find ourselves embarrassed with the attitudes and ways of some Christian groups. If something bad happened to an extreme group of Christians, would we feel a sense of self-righteousness over their misfortune? Is God punishing them for misrepresenting the Gospel?

Event number two. Innocent people in Jerusalem were killed when a tower fell on them. Why? In the aftermath of the two recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chili, we have witnessed people’s need to provide answers to this why question. Remember when televangelist Pat Robertson said that Haiti had made a pact with the devil and that is why they live in extreme poverty and the earthquake happened? His comments were unconscionable.
And yet, we have all heard people on the airwaves and maybe in our circle of friends voice some pious, self-assessments of other people’s tragedy. Are the people of random violence responsible for their own deaths because of their sinful lifestyle?

Jesus does not ascribe to this theology. Jesus informs his listeners, no; these people you are inquiring about did not die because of something they did.

Jesus rejects the OT concept that suffering is God’s punishment for sin. Jesus’ words can help us to avoid scapegoating others or punishing ourselves with inappropriate guilt in times of tragedy. The death of the people in question did not occur because they had been especially bad, nor because they had failed to repent.

When calamity strikes, we hunt for some cause to explain the effect, in hopes that we can stop it from happening. We want to control the chaos of our lives. But in reality, all we have control over is ourselves. Jesus words invite his listeners to stop looking for the Why and instead focus on the How.

Jesus invites us to use the random events in life to remind us how precious life is and to take stock. How am I living my life today? Or as Jesus put it…“Repent now or you will die as they died.”

God does not send disasters as punishment, but God does expect repentance of all people, for we are all sinners, we all fall short. If we are careful we can hear the love behind the seemingly harshness of Jesus’ words. For Jesus invites us not to repent out of fear of retribution, but to repent because of something deeper and ultimately much more positive…Let us go to the Isaiah passage.

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

The Isaiah passage expresses God desire that all people have an abundant life. Water for the thirsty, food for those who can’t pay for it, the end of work that brings no satisfaction, life in a deep relationship with God similar to the relationship David had with God—all these are offered by God who wants to bless. (Isaiah 55:1-3)

The Isaiah passage also challenges us to make a break with old ways of living. These old ways of living could be hiding from God, brazenly living to fulfill selfish desires, not living a committed Christian life, thinking that we are better than others, thinking we are much worse than others.

Jesus invites his listeners to reacquaint themselves with this gracious God who offers an abundant life. The same God who is delights to give a fruitless fig tree another year…

As the landowner is lamenting the fruitless fig tree, the gardener asks for an opportunity to make the fig tree healthy. “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not you can cut it down.”

Who is this gardener who defends the worth of a fruitless fig tree? The gardener is us. Jesus is encouraging us to pay attention to our spiritual lives, to work at them, to become gardeners for God’s glory. If we will not take responsibility for our own spiritual lives, who will?

And there is no time like Lent to ask ourselves, how is it with my soul/my fig tree? Can I be the gardener for my spiritual life? What do I need to do to produce a spiritual life that is healthy and alive?

I love Spring! I think I’d love spring even more if I lived in a milder climate—like Atlanta. But I love Spring none the less. Why? Part of the reason is the anticipation of the growth and new life that comes out of the cold, hard winter ground. We have a small back yard that I love to putter around in. Last fall, I put some new plants into a section near the house…trying to do a small white garden. I’m excited to see how it looks this year.

The other reason I love Spring is the release of the dark cold days to brighter, warmer, longer days. Less darkness and more light. When I renewed my relationship with God in my early 30’s, it was as if I was coming out of a long, dark winter. Every day was exciting as I anticipated the new growth popping out of the cold, hard winter ground. I was like a child, expectantly looking for God to sprout into my life. So Spring/Lent is a reminder to us that a good gardener is observant and on the lookout for a change from winter to spring.

Once we notice a change in season, we sometimes want to head right out to the garden and start digging around in the dirt. But it is usually too early. Before we do that, we need to make a plan. Think about your garden last year—when I refer to your garden, it could be anything green that you planted and nurtured around your home. It could be your back yard, your community garden or your house plants.

Returning to your plan…Were there some areas that need some extra love and attention? If you aren’t sure how to make those changes, you could go speak to a garden expert who can give you some guidance in this area. You also want to ask yourself, what did I like about my garden? And how can I incorporate more?

Once you’ve made a plan, it is probably time to get outside and start cleaning up the debris from winter—the fallen branches, the broken limbs, the empty pop cans and candy wrappers that have blown into your yard. All the extra mulch and leaves that were put around the base of the shrubs need to be picked up. Some plants need to be trimmed back. The ornamental grasses and hydrangea bushes that provided interest in the winter have now outlived their usefulness. So they need to be cut back.

The important thing about the cleanup is to dispose of those parts of the plants that are dead and will not produce any longer and to get rid of the trash in the garden that doesn’t belong.

Now you are ready to tackle the soil—which is key!

It is a good idea to periodically evaluate the contents of the soil. Most soil needs some kind of additive or fertilizer. Slow-acting, organic fertilizers take some time to break down into usable nutrients but generally are excellent for building good soil. Fast-acting fertilizers provide quick results but must be used carefully because they can burn leaves if over applied.

As my gardening skills have matured, I realize that every hardship and difficult time in my life have the opportunity to be the “manure” my garden’s soil needs.

Manure comes in a various forms. It might be not getting into the school I wanted, not being able to have children, not being able to find a job, having a difficult job, watching a loved one die of cancer or dementia. In other words, manure is a part of life. It happens.

If we are willing to take the time to dig into the manure—that means explore our part in the situation then seek God’s healing and clarity—then the manure becomes the slow-acting organic fertilizer that builds good soil for our garden. The manure in my life has helped to make my garden the beautiful place it is today.

It’s when we cut corners and try to rush our healing or growth, that we get burned.

The last item I want to touch on this morning is spend time in your garden. Spend time maintaining it. That means pulling weeds that left unchecked will choke out the healthy plants; watering it; observing what is taking place. By observing what is happening, you can address problems early on and catch them before they get to out of hand. You will know when to prune, pinch, clean the plant with soapy water to get off unwanted bugs or tie up those plants that need it.

Think about how dull and lifeless our city would be without the green space—the public gardens and parks—Grant Park, Independence Park, Portage Park; without the beautiful gardens in individual people’s homes; without the trees; without the boulevards and the parkways; without the community gardens at Keeler and Irving Park, and at Pulaski and Cullen to name a few.

We are drawn to these beautiful places as if drawn by the Master Gardener Himself. Our city is more alive because of their presence.

Likewise, when our spiritual lives are dull and lifeless, God is not glorified and others are not drawn to us. Now is the time, during this season of Lent to ask ourselves. How is it with my spiritual garden, my soul?

• Am I on the lookout for God popping into my life?
• Am I consulting with God about God’s plan for my life?
• Am I willing to throw out the debris and dead parts of my life to make room for new growth?
• Can I dig into the hard issues and make the necessary changes I need to make?
• Can I be patient and trust that God is working things out for me?
• Can I keep at it, each day, striving to maintain my relationship with God from my end?
• Can I enjoy the journey and look for the beautiful blessings I have already received?

The Isaiah passage that was selected for today’s lectionary ended before it could conclude. God informs the people that the heavens are higher than the earth and God’s ways are higher than ours, God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts. While this is certainly true, God doesn’t end there, and the last three verses in Isaiah 55 reflect this. God continues, as God always does in God’s grace-filled way to reach out to us with love and compassion through Jesus Christ. Think of your soul as a garden and received these words from God…

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there until they have watered the earth,
Making it bring forth and sprout,
Giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater…
So shall it be with my Word (as reflected in Jesus Christ) be that goes out from my mouth;

It (He) shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
And succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Him).

For (then) you (my child) shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
Instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
And it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Isaiah 55:10-13 (parenthesis my interpretations)

Sisters and brothers, when we accept the Word of God, Jesus Christ, into our heart and soul,
when we give ourselves as an offering to God as Jesus did,
then we will join the association of gardeners for God
who beautified the world, one life at a time.

The readings for this Sunday are about promise—the promises of God and the people’s belief in those promises. When we think about the promises given to God’s people, one person that immediately comes to mind is Abraham. At the mature age of 75, God came to Abraham and said to him,

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing…by you or through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God’s promise to Abraham was three fold:
1. Land of their own;
2. Large family;
3. Relationship with God that would bless others.

Chapters 11 to 25 in the Book of Genesis give us an account of Abraham’s life. We know he had his ups and down. He didn’t always respond to situations in the best way. For example, twice when he entered foreign territory, and presumably afraid for his life, Abraham asked his wife Sarah to say she was his sister. Each time, they escaped without too much trouble.

We all remember when Abraham and Sarah got tired of waiting for God to fulfill the promise of a family. So Abraham had a son with the maid servant, Hagar. God took care of this son, Ishmael, while still providing a son for Abraham and Sarah—Isaac.

In these six verses in Genesis 15, we catch a glimpse of Abraham’s faith in God’s promises. This is one of many dialogues that Abraham and God have throughout the course of Abraham’s life. We notice that Abraham’s faith does not refer to a single act or experience, but to a continuous response. We see in Abraham that faith is trust and commitment to God, and the acceptance of the promises of God.

We are privy to 100 years of Abraham’s walk with God. During this time, he was a sojourner in the land his descendants would one day possess. Abraham spent 25 of these 100 years waiting for the son God had promised…

In her book, “By Way of Grace—Moving from Faithfulness to Holiness,” Paula Huston has a chapter entitled, “Faith: the art of believing in things unseen.” Huston shares a personal experience of spiritual significance that I believe speaks to liberal Christians in the 21st century.

While in Jerusalem, Paula went to the Holy Sepulchre (the church where Christians mark the spot where Jesus was crucified). There is a tomb located on the premises, and Paula found herself alone in the tomb for a few moments. In this brief interlude, Paula recounts that “I was overwhelmed by the sense of a powerful, loving, invisible presence. The presence was so strong and lingered for so many hours afterward that I found myself breaking into floods of uncontrollable tears for several days following the event.” (1)

What is interesting is how Paula distanced herself from this encounter with the Holy as time went by. At first, she was certain she had been in the presence of the risen Christ. Then, she began to second guess herself. Maybe she was exhausted from traveling. Maybe excited to be in Jerusalem and got caught up in the moment. Maybe, maybe, maybe…The more she tried to explain what had happened, the farther she moved from her original conviction of being in the presence of Christ.

In the book of Jeremiah, God informs the prophet that God will make a new promise to the people. And God says, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…it will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest…for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

In this the post modern age, many of us have a difficult time with this notion that God can and will speak to us directly. Even if we understand faith to be belief in something we cannot prove, we often find ourselves trying to explain it intellectually or fit God into compartmentalized worldly boxes.

C.S. Lewis describes our need to contain God this way. An ‘impersonal God’—well and good (hands lifted above head and as far away as they can get); a subjective God of beauty, truth, and goodness, inside our own heads—better still (hands around my head); a …(spirit) surging through us, a vast power which we can tap into—best of all (making spirit movements around my body).

But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord...sweeping us up into God’s intimate self like a…parent who grabs a teenager in front of friends, hugging and kissing them…
For many of us, this kind of intimate God is quite another thing entirely and we aren’t so sure how and if we can deal with it. (2)

The story of the Sea World trainer, Dawn Brancheau, who was drowned by the killer whale earlier in the week, has been all over the news. It was a tragic accident. But not that hard to comprehend when you think about the fact that a killer whale is a wild animal. What is hard to comprehend is this report from Iran in 2001.

“A 16-month-old baby in Iran was found safe and slumbering in the den of a mother bear after being missing for three days… The baby was the child of nomadic parents working in western Lorestan province. It was after returning from working in the fields that the parents found their child was missing. A search party later discovered the toddler in the bear’s den about six miles from the encampment. After a medical exam, doctors reported the baby was in good health. It appeared as if the child had been breast-fed by the bear.” (3)

I never heard about this. Did you? Is it because it happened in Iran? Or is it because this story is not as newsworthy as the many others coming from that region and our neighborhoods? It seems that many, many people in our world are more comfortable with conniving foxes, no matter what form they come in, than they are with an abundance of love from an ever-present God.

In the Gospel lesson, Jesus, having just referred to Herod as a fox, now refers to himself as a hen. And using this image, Jesus tenderly and compassionately speaks to the city of Jerusalem and all the people there in a manner that defies logic and explanation. In a short period of time, Jesus will be crucified in Jerusalem. He says as much—“I must be on my way for it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”

Speaking to those who will soon bring him before the Council, to those who will turn from singing Hosanna to yelling “Crucify him,” to those who are victims of the power brokers, to all the people of the city of Jerusalem, Jesus laments their inability to accept the love he has to offer.

God incarnate, the mother hen wishes to gather her chicks under her wings…but it is not to be, not now. In response to the rejection, Jesus offered yet another promise. Not a promise of retribution or punishment. But a promise that God is not finished yet.

The people will witness, what Jesus had been telling them during their journey to Jerusalem. In an extraordinary display of the grace of God, Jesus exhibited his own willingness to suffer and die for those who would turn their back on him, betray him, and ignore him. He did it for the people of his day, for our ancestors of the faith, and for us. When we turn and walk away because leading a life of faith is too hard, Jesus is still there for us. When we deny our relationship with him because we are embarrassed, he is still there for us. When we forget about his call and find ourselves sinking deeper and deeper into a sin-filled life, Jesus is still there for us. If we have never met Jesus, he is there for us.

Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection fulfilled a promise Jesus shared with his disciples. Even though at the time he was teaching them, the disciples did not understand. After his crucifixion and resurrection, when they accepted his actions into their hearts and followed him, the disciples came to believe in the promise of God. Abraham was the same too. He didn’t have it all figured out, but he had faith in God’s promises and he did the best he could.

Our book, the Holy Bible, is full of God’s promises—
• My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in me and the one who sent me.
• Ask and it will be given you, search, and you will find; knock and the door shall be opened to you.
• This is my son, my beloved. Listen to him.
• Those who drink of the water I will give will never be thirsty again. The water I give will become in them a spring gushing up to eternal life.
• The Holy Spirit, the Advocate will come in my name and teach you everything.

These promises and more will materialize if we are willing to do our part, believe in the goodness and love of God and be good to each other as we walk in this world.

In Christ, we are all promised eternal life if we will accept this amazing love from God and believe in him. It’s not the kind of love that can be put into a box set on a shelf. It is the kind of love that grows as it is shared. It is the kind of love that is not so much described as experienced. It is a love that gets us to a point where we realize that we have stopped trying to control our lives and have put our trust, our belief in God, come what may.

So pick up this book and get to know the promises of God. And when you are having a difficult day, week, or month, think about Abraham and Sara. To remember God’s promises, all they had to do was walk outside and look at the stars in the sky. We too can look to creation and see God’s amazing goodness there.

Beyond creation, look to the empty cross that exemplifies the grace of God…which we gratefully receive and then are compelled to share with others.
No person stands exempt from God’s tender, compassion and persistent love—that’s a promise.

Today we are one of hundreds of congregations who are participating in the National Preach-in On Global Warming. Preachers are stepping into pulpits and speaking to the connection between our faith and our stewardship of the earth. The church has not always been up front on this issue of climate change. But more and more, we are beginning to see climate change as a moral and spiritual issue. Congregations are exploring ways to reduce their carbon footprints to be examples to the community.

Christians are also walking the halls of legislative buildings and talking to lawmakers about the importance of slowing down the destruction of our natural resources and keeping an eye on the future that our children will inherit.

There is a conscious awareness happening that has awakened many people to the spiritual connection between humans and something greater: the notion that we belong to a divine presence that encompasses everything, not just humans.

And if you are not thinking along those lines, that will be the message to take home this morning. We are part of something larger; something that passes all understanding and we share a meaningful purpose to protect that larger Presence. What is beginning to happen around the world at a deep level is an awareness that we are all in this together.

If the international climate conference, recently held in Denmark, did nothing else, it showed unity from all around the world: all generations were represented, business, labor, faith, science, media and healthcare. The definition of what it means to be human is being redefined and a collective consciousness is surfacing. Never before has the human species been called into a shared global purpose as we have now.

Christians have realized that protecting the environment is about protecting all species of which humans are only one. Political issue or not we have a moral obligation to protect what God loves and called good. We are called to serve one another and leave a healthy future for generations to come. Up until recently the faith community has abdicated this responsibility. But now, we are stumbling over ourselves trying to make up for lost time…

The search for solutions has replaced the need to convince people that global warming is real. Indeed, it is very real and more serious than even the scientists predicted a few years ago. While there is lots of good news about solutions to the climate problem we still have a long way to go. What some believe has to happen and what I work for is somewhat along the line of what happened when Jesus appeared after he had been crucified-- the seemingly impossible appearance of a dead man.

Jesus’ appearance changed the world. And his appearance to the disciples was calling them into a new way of being in the world. They were being challenged to change their behavior and readdress their role in the world and their relationship to others. They were being asked to live the life that Jesus modeled for them and to proclaim the truth of his being... (Jesus’ invitation does not stop with his first disciples. It is extended to those of us in the 21st century.)

The time is now for us to begin to relate differently to each other and nature. The time is now to redefine what it means to be human in light of the destruction of Creation…There still is a major transition that we need to go through as we redefine our relationship with the community of life. We are continuing to commit crimes against Creation. In order to change that behavior, we need a real shift in how we think about ourselves and our human role. This shift is beginning and I encourage you to be part of it.

There are great glimmers of hope on the horizon. In fact, this entire journey of religion and the environment is itself a story of hope. Ten years ago, little was being discussed and the church had not even entered the dialogue. Today, that is very different. Congregations all over this country are serving as examples to the community. Protection of Creation has reached every mainstream tradition in America. We have earth liturgy, earth friendly practices and adult education happening everywhere. Seminaries are teaching environmental ethics. Young people are hearing more about environmental issues than any generation before us.

The ecumenical Patriarch, leader of 50 million Greek Orthodox people called degradation of the environment a sin. Recently Pope Benedict added pollution to the list of sins in the Catholic Church. And in his address on World Peace Day the Pope said, “If you want to cultivate peace, protect Creation.” Sadly, though, the nature of the crisis is far more complicated than any one issue, one disease, one case of drought or flood or the extinction of one species. The problems today are vast, complicated and mostly interrelated. (And that is part of what makes this work so difficult.)

Science can give us all the facts and figures, but science cannot do it alone. It is religion and our faith that provides transforming power and a new way of being in the world. It is God’s love that transforms our hearts. There has got to be a sacred relationship between humans and nature. When God made the world and said it was “good”, we were given the job to keep it “good”.

Life isn’t about being comfortable. Being fully human is challenging and only after one faces the challenges will one receive (the) rewards. Jesus brought a new message that called for behavior change. It was not well received and yet we know he is right. Yes, we are sustainable and we will survive. Humans are resourceful, clever and committed once we see or feel a threat. Our faith will give us the courage to make the changes we need to make. Once we fully understand the threat to our life sustaining systems, we too will change our behavior. Many of us already have and more are changing all the time…

(And so it is appropriate for me to end this sermon series, Practicing Peace: A Nonviolent Witness in the 21st Century, with an invitation to be a good steward of our environment.)… The environmental message is one of peace. It is a peaceful movement rooted in love and justice- a perfect theme for Valentine’s Day. It cries for love and appreciation of all that God created. Every butterfly that flutters: every bee that pollinates our food. There will not be peace on the earth until every species and person has access to clean air and clean water.

Working together we can deliver a message of solidarity, love and peace which will come when we end the war against the earth. When we can stand together and say, enough is enough. We want to live and we choose a resurrected life over death. Thus on this Valentine’s Day we will invite the earth and our neighbors to
be our valentines. We can begin showing acts of Love toward our neighbor and love toward nature. Make this Valentine’s Day the beginning of addressing climate change as an act of faith and do all that you can to lower your own carbon emissions.

We have the opportunity to help build a Sustainable, peaceable kingdom—the New Jerusalem as John writes in the book of Revelation. The New Jerusalem. The River of Life will flow through the center of the city, providing all the inhabitants need and desire. And there will be plenty for all.

To practice peace is to intentionally choose a nonviolent response to acts of violence, whether those acts of violence are against us, our family, our community, or our society. Just as violence demeans and takes life, so peace has the power to give life to all it touches. Practicing peace is a counter-cultural response to the violence that permeates our society, our world.

Emma Harrison chose to forgo vengeance when her fifteen year old grandson, Cerrone, was killed while witnessing an argument over a gold chain. A little while after her grandson’s death, Emma was attending another funeral. She struck up a conversation with a woman she met after the service. And as often happens at funerals, the events of her grandson’s recent death came tumbling out. As more of the details were filled in, the stranger seemed to get quieter and quieter.

When she spoke next, the woman said, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but my son has been arrested for your grandson’s murder.” As the impact of these words reached into Emma’s chest to squeeze her tender heart, she looked into the woman’s eyes. And what she saw made her anger melt away. For Emma recognized that this woman lost a loved one in the same tragic act that took her grandson, one to death and one to prison.

The women instinctively hugged each other and cried together. Emma’s decision not to judge this stranger but to look at her with compassion enabled Emma to practice peace. There was no yelling, name calling, or worse. As peace was offered and received, the violent hold on both women’s lives released its grip just enough to make way for the life-giving power of peace. On that day, a relationship of mutual love and support was born—a relationship that continues to this day. (1)

To practice peace when violence erupts into our lives is very difficult. Revenge is the normal response. And yet there are people who do not respond to violence with violence. We hear their stories and we marvel at them—

October 2006, the counter-cultural witness of the Amish community that lost five of their daughters to gun violence. In just about any other community, a deadly school shooting would have brought demands from civic leaders for tighter gun laws and better security, and the victims' loved ones would have lashed out at the gunman's family or threatened to sue.

But that's not the Amish way. They turned to each other for support. They turned inward to their faith. They responded to the violence against their children in a nonviolent way. The Amish themselves were not interviewed, but Gertrude Huntington, a Michigan researcher and expert on Amish society offers some insights to these people of immense faith.

"The hurt is very great. But they don't balance the hurt with hate."

Huntington also predicted the Amish would be very supportive of the killer and his wife, which they were. Because the Amish place judgment in God's hands, “Judge not, and you will not judged,” they were able to respond in a nonviolent way to the violence that perpetrated their world.

April 19, 1995. Bud Welch's twenty-three year old daughter, Julie, was one of 168 people killed in the bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City. In an honest and open way, Bud Welsh wrote an account of his struggle. Up until that day, Bud had been opposed to the death penalty. But after Julie was killed, Bud did exactly what proponents to the death penalty told him would happen.

When President Bill Clinton stood before the nation and said that the government would seek the death penalty, Bud rejoiced. He was full of rage and the suffering was unbearable. He wanted McVey and Nichols to suffer too. Bud remembers that the rage lasted for about five weeks—his insanity period he calls it. Then he flashed back to an innocuous incident from the past.

It was the time he and Julie were driving across Iowa during her junior year of college, listening to a newscast on the radio about an execution. Julie said, "Dad, what they're doing in Texas makes me sick. All they're doing is teaching hate to their children. It has no social redeeming value." While he didn’t think much about it at the time, after Julie was killed, it kept echoing in his mind.

Nine months after the bombing, Bud was still stuck on April 19. He was drinking heavily and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day. Then one cold January day, he returned to the bomb site. He sat under the old elm tree where Julie used to park her car. He asked himself,

"Once McVey and Nichols are tried and executed, what then? How's that going to help me? It isn't going to bring Julie back." Returning home, he asked himself that question for two weeks. At the end of those two weeks, nine months after Julie was murdered, Bud let go of his need for revenge. He came to the realization that the death penalty was nothing more than revenge and hate. And revenge and hate were exactly why Julie and 167 others were dead.

When we respond to fear with anger, to anger with hatred, to hatred with violence, to violence with vengeance, we participate in a vicious cycle that does not produce life, but kills life— physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.

In a world permeated with cruelty, indifference and violence, it is time for a new witness—a witness of nonviolence, based on Jesus’ teachings of compassion, mercy, and forgiveness. To practice peace is to intentionally choose a nonviolent response to acts of violence. Just as violence demeans and takes life, so peace has the power to give life to all it touches.

The principles of nonviolence are based on the belief that the divine spark of God lives in every human being. Jesus came to save everyone from sin and death. Jesus was willing to die to be a witness to God’s unchanging love and all encompassing grace. No one can earn grace and neither can we ever do anything that will separate us from God’s love.

As Christian disciples in the 21st century, I believe we are called to be witnesses to God’s love and grace as demonstrated by Jesus throughout his entire life. If our witness is to reflect Jesus, it must be based on his nonviolent actions of compassion, mercy, love and forgiveness.

Nonviolence actions do not mean we lie down and let people walk all over us. It means that we resist injustice, violence, and hatred when it occurs in our lives, in our city, and our world. At this point, I want us to focus on practicing it in our own lives. That’s where we need to start. It requires looking for alternatives to our normal reactions, which often match what we receive. In other words, it is normal to return violence with violence, and now we must look for new alternatives.

When I attended the week long Mediation Skills Training Institute taught by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center (2), some of the skills they were trying to teach us also work in the area of nonviolence.

• Be an active listener. Don’t be so focused on what you are going to say when it is your turn to speak that you don’t hear the other person. Everyone has a story.
• Don’t confuse issues with people! Be hard on issues, and soft on people. It is not appropriate to threaten or put people down. Respect and care about people.
• Seek to find common ground.
• Use pauses to give yourself time decide how you will respond
• Practice makes perfect. While conflict is a normal part of life, conflict transformation takes work and practice. We don’t come by this naturally!
• This practice can be done by anyone, no matter what their age or experiences.

One Quaker described a life of nonviolence this way…
“Effective nonviolent…action does not spring from a vacuum. It grows out of daily living grounded in personal and communal spiritual practice, and in constructive service to one’s immediate and surrounding communities…No one can build an integrated nonviolent life as an individual…If I am going to renounce and abandon the violence of my first-world way of life, I need to be surrounded by others whose knowledge, wisdom, and experience will complement mine, and whose example and company will inspire me to stay the course.” (3)

We all deal with violence in our lives on some level…
If we live with a practicing alcoholic or drug addict, tension, fear, and sometimes violence are a constant reality.
If we are living on the streets, violence lurks around every corner.
If we or someone we love is battling cancer, we feel violated.
If we have a verbally abusive boss, customer, or co-worker, violence is in our face day after day.
If we are in the process of getting a divorce, a loved one has died, or we’ve lost a job, our world is in turmoil.
As teenagers, we witness cruel jokes and violent acts against those who aren’t cool.
Have you ever been in an altercation caused by road rage?
What about those of us who have been, or are victims of violence? Crimes of spousal or parental abuse, rape, robbery, or racism, classism or sexism?
If we are struggling with rage or anger, sometimes instead of letting it out, we turn it on ourselves. Depression is anger turned inward. This is an act of violence against ourselves.

This work of nonviolence takes training and practice. It is not easy. However, testimony after testimony demonstrates that when we do not react to a situation, when we give ourselves space to choose a nonviolent response, when we look, really look, at others as a beloved child of God, we create opportunities for God to do a new thing. By practicing peace, we open the door for God’s life-giving Spirit to come and leave its indelible mark of healing and love in our world.

Let’s return to Bud Welsh, the father who lost her daughter Julie. His story is a wonderful example of how an ordinary person—like you and I—who desires to leave a legacy of love, compassion, and mercy, opened the door for God’s life-giving Spirit to leave its mark of healing and love in people’s lives. In Bud’s own words…

A few weeks after the bombing I saw Bill McVeigh, Tim's father, on television. He was working in his flowerbed. The reporter asked him a question, and when he looked into the television camera for a few seconds, I saw a deep pain in a father's eyes that most people could not have recognized. I could, because I was living that pain. And I knew that someday I had to go tell that man that I truly cared about how he felt.

In December 1998, after Tim McVeigh had been sentenced to death, I had a chance to meet Bill McVeigh at his home near Buffalo. I wanted to show him that I did not blame him. His youngest daughter also wanted to meet me, and after Bill had showed me his garden, the three of us sat around the kitchen table.

Up on the wall were family snapshots, including Tim’s graduation picture. They noticed that I kept looking up at it, so I felt compelled to say something. “What a good looking kid,” I said. Earlier, when we’d been in the garden, Bill had asked me, “Bud, are you able to cry?” I’d told him, “I don’t usually have a problem crying.” His reply was, “I can’t cry, even though I’ve got a lot to cry about.”

But now, sitting at the kitchen table looking at Tim’s photo, a big tear rolled down Bill’s face. It was the love of a father for a son.

When I got ready to leave I shook Bill’s hand, then extended it to Jennifer, but she just grabbed me and threw her arms around me. She was the same sort of age as Julie but felt so much taller. I don’t know which one of us started crying first. Then I held her face in my hands and said, “Look, honey, the three of us are in this for the rest of our lives. I don’t want your brother to die and I’ll do everything I can to prevent it.”

As I walked away from the house I realized that until that moment I had walked alone, but now a tremendous weight had lifted from my shoulders. I had found someone who was a bigger victim of the Oklahoma bombing than I was. While I can speak in front of thousands of people and say wonderful things about Julie, if Bill McVeigh meets a stranger he probably doesn’t even say he had a son. (4)

Do not judge; do not condemn; forgive; give and it will be given to you. To practice peace is to intentionally choose a nonviolent response to acts of violence, whether those acts of violence are against us, our family, our community, or our society. Just as violence demeans and takes life, so peace has the power to heal and give life to all it touches. May that be our witness this day. Amen.

This morning we are in week three of our sermon series, Practicing Peace—the call for a nonviolent witness in the 21st century. Week one, I shared a brief historical overview of the western Christian church. Week two, I encouraged you to think about your own life and what you desire for yourself and your family. We heard about two ordinary women, whose Christian witness for peace has made an amazing difference in our world today.

I also want to remind you that our Biblical text for this series is Luke chapter 6, Jesus’ sermon on the plain and the surrounding events as recorded in Luke’s gospel. How is it that ordinary people are able to make a nonviolent witness? One of the necessary characteristics is courage. It takes courage to work for peace…

April grew up in the church. She participated in all aspects of Christian life—summer Bible camp, Sunday school, mission trips, and youth group. When she was a senior at Carleton College in Minnesota, April was elected president of her campus Christian group. It was during this year, that a mosque in the Twin Cities suffered an arson attach. The imam reached out to religious leaders across Minnesota asking them to stand with his community against religious discrimination.

April had many friends who were Muslims from her numerous mission trips to Russia. After hearing about the attack, she felt strongly that the Christian witness would be to stand with the imam and his congregation in the aftermath of this violent act against them. When April presented the idea at the next meeting of her campus Christian group, she was surprised by their unanimous response—cold, unsympathetic silence. One person spoke for the group, “Why are you asking us to support devil worship?”

Unable to see anything that connected them to the Muslims—religious freedom, people of faith, God’s children—the campus Christian group chose to add bricks to an ever-growing barrier between Muslims and Christians.

On the other hand, April went to the rally in support of the mosque and the Muslim people who worshipped there. The campus Christian group voted to remove April as president. April had the courage to stand up against the peer pressure of her group. April had the courage to identify her desire to stand for religious freedom. Lastly, she had the courage to stand with people who were often identified as the enemy.

Unfortunately, the louder Christian witness around this event was one of applause as prominent Christian leaders promoted fear and hate. And the majority of Christians helped add brick upon brick as the barrier between Muslims and Christians continues to grow. But April and others like her, had the courage to make a different statement—her Christian upbringing inspired her to build bridges of understanding and cooperation with people who are different instead of barriers or bombs. (1)

How did April have the courage to do this?
1. She had moved beyond her comfort zone by actually building relationships with Muslims in Russia. She did not see Muslims as the enemy to be feared but as people just like her who were trying to make a life for themselves.

2. She was influenced more by Jesus’ teachings of love thy neighbor rather than the larger Christian hate-based peer pressure. She was not afraid of what the campus Christians might do in response to her actions.

3. She trusted God. Even though this was new territory for her, April was not afraid. She trusted God to give her the courage to follow her heart and be a practitioner of peace.

To be a practitioner of peace, a follower of Jesus, requires courage, especially as we read today’s gospel lesson….Love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
There’s so much in this lesson that requires courage. Let’s look at this idea of loving our enemy…

Before we can love this enemy we need to identify them don’t we? Who is our enemy?

For many of us, our enemy can be our competition for something we want—a job, contract, promotion, children;
someone we don’t know or who looks different;
someone who practices a different religion or politics;
someone who is trying to harm us (personally or because of our group affiliation).

If we had to boil it all down, we could say this. An enemy is someone who threatens our security and thus is someone to be feared. Jesus invites us rather than to fear our enemy we need to love them. And it as we attempt to love this person, that our fears subside and we are able to begin building peace.

If we are to have peace in our lives we need to let go of our fear of others. Let go of our fear of those who are different than us. Let go of our fear of those who threaten our way of life, our security. How do we do this? First, we must let go of this label of enemy. Why is this person my enemy? What is it about this person that makes me fearful? Are my fears based on God’s truth or human lies?

Take the example of April and her peer group of campus Christians. To April a Muslim is a person who practices the religion of Islam. She knows this because she has met Muslim people and her experience validates this. To the rest of her group a Muslim is an enemy of a Christian because they “worship the devil.” Just as we would not want every Christian to be described by the worst actions of any Christian, so we cannot paint all people from one group with the same brush. Also, when we step out from behind fear, we offer a different Christian witness that is based on love, not fear. We need to move beyond labels and get to know each other as children of God.

Second, we must become willing to depend on God alone for our security—not the police, government, not our family, and not our own ability to accumulate wealth and run our lives. When we are able to trust God for our well-being, fear loses its ability to control us and we are free to practice peace.

In the summer of 1778, a British battleship intent on plunder sailed into Nantucket harbor and aimed its guns at the largely Quaker community. One of the Quaker elders, William Rotch, made his way out to the dock and invited the British commander to his home for dinner. It was an uncomfortable meal for the British commander because of the generous, sincere hospitality of his hosts, Mr. & Mrs. Rotch.

As the meal ended, the commander announced that the plunder must begin at once. Mr. Rotch asked the commander to begin with his home as he was a successful businessman and able to absorb the loss better than some of his neighbors. The commander was shocked at this unselfish gesture. He asked if there were other people like the Rotch family, and so he was given a tour of the town. After meeting some of the other generous folks who lived there, the commander returned to his battleship and sailed away. (2)

When faced with a frightening situation, we have a variety of ways to respond. To respond out of faith, not fear, is the beginning of loving our enemy. The British commander did not see the Quaker colonists exclusively as enemies. Having met them face to face, he now had to decide if he could carry out his original plans to plunder the enemy. He found he could not.

Institutions can mandate that we treat each other as enemies. It is easier to do when we see each other from a distance, in a group of them, rather than as people like us. And until individuals take it upon themselves to choose a different way to live, things will not change.

If we will choose the option to love our enemy as Jesus proposes, we will begin to see in each other our common humanity, desires and needs. As we do this, our idea of “the enemy” will shift. By keeping us afraid of each other, the power brokers in this world and the forces of evil keep us from coming together to work for a better world for all people, one of peace and nonviolence.

Ask yourself this...
Is the enemy the kid selling drugs on the corner or a society that is all too willing to write off ethnic minority or problem children?
Is the enemy the young adult who replaces us at work for ½ our salary or a financial system where companies are pressured to report positive quarterly earnings so stock prices will rise?
Is the enemy the latest group of immigrants or a global economy where less than 10% of the people use 85% of all the resources?

Maybe our real enemies are not each other but oppressive systems; corrupt, brutal regimes, and corporations who don’t care who or what they destroy as long as they are making lots of money.

Hunger, homelessness, poverty, greed, torture, war, racism, classism, sexism and indifference—these are the real enemies of humanity. When we are willing to step into the gaps that these “enemies” produce, reaching out to our neighbor in loving kindness, then peace will become a reality in our world.

It takes courage to Stand Up, Stand For, and Stand With. We take heart that we are not alone in this quest. Many people have gone before us and continue the work of peace today. Each day when we take a step toward loving our enemy, away from hatred and misunderstanding, we take a step for peace.

What would it be for us to stand up to oppressive systems, corrupt regimes, and money-grubbing corporations that attempt to keep us quiet, fearful or comfortable? Some of these systems are close to our heart as in the case of Sister Mary Lou Kownacki.

In 1979 when Pope John Paul II visited Washington DC, he addressed a catholic organization called Women Religious. There were hundreds of Catholic women at this event. And in the crowd were 24 Catholic sisters, wearing blue arm bands. These 24 nuns were to stand when the Pope spoke to protest the treatment of women in the Catholic church. Sister Mary Lou remembers being really nervous, more nervous than any other nonviolent protest she’d ever done—including going to El Salvador or standing in front of the White House.

The head of Women Religions, Sister Kane, spoke immediately before the Pope. Her impassioned speech called for equality in the church. Sister Mary Lou turned to the sister next to her and said, “We don’t have to stand now. She said everything for us.” But her colleague in arms pulled Sister Mary Lou to her feet and they stood in silent protest as the Pope spoke to the gathering. Sister Mary Lou said in hindsight, she’s glad she stood. It was hard but the right thing to do. (3)

A well-known UM pastor likes to say, “If you aren’t nauseous when you think about the ministry God is directing you take, it’s not God’s ministry. It’s your own.”
In that same vein, when we begin to stand up against injustice and other enemies in our world, we will be nervous, maybe even nauseous. Because in some cases, we may be called to stand up against those systems and institutions that we supported and participated in for so long.

When it comes to your security and the security of your family, what are you most afraid of? Does it have to do with your children, your home, hunger, your job? (pause)

Is this the area that God is inviting to you serve? Is God inviting you to minister in this area so that others who are experiencing what you fear can be brought to wholeness and peace?

The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is often read at weddings. The paradox here is that the love Paul is writing about is a love that we cannot manifest on our own. It must be God’s love, flowing through us into the lives of others. And this love is not a flimsy, soft kind of love. It is a courageous love, as witnessed in Jesus. This kind of love is manifested when we walk with each other side by side.

Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; and pray for those who abuse you.

This week let’s
1. attempt to move beyond our comfort zone and build a relationship with someone we might normally fear.
2. Follow Jesus’ teaching of love even in the face of peer pressure and fear.
3. Place ourselves in the secure and loving arms of God—trust God with all we’ve got!

If we can begin to do some of this, we will be able to offer those who frighten or anger us Christ’s love. And over time, we will be surprised as we discover a growing peace inside that is beyond our understanding…

Let me introduce you to two “ordinary” women who have given an extraordinary witness to the practice of peace. The first is Mairead Corrigan Maguire. She grew up in Andersonville, the Catholic section of Belfast, in Northern Ireland. Up until the late 1960’s there was no police station in her section of town because it wasn’t needed. People did not break the law.

But in the late 1960’s things changed. Modeled after the example of Martin Luther King Jr. people took to the streets seeking basic human rights such as equal employment, better housing, and a vote for everyone. Unfortunately the civil rights movement did not get the reforms quickly enough and it turned violent in 1969. Between 1969 and 1976, sixteen hundred people lost their lives in the violent struggle in Northern Ireland.

Living in a country during a time of civil unrest and violence, Mairead like any mother was just trying to raise her family. She did not set out to be a leader of a movement. But something happened that changed her and moved some people of Northern Ireland to work for peace. The turning point was the death of three children, Joanne (8 ½), John (2 ½), and Andrew (six weeks old). They died when a British soldier shot and killed a nineteen-year-old IRA volunteer, whose car then crashed into the sidewalk. The children were walking with their mother, Anne, who physically survived the crash. Anne was Mairead’s sister. Mairead was the children’s aunt.

The day of the children’s funeral, Mairead met with two other women. Ciaran McKeowan, a well-known journalist and dedicated pacifist. Betty Williams, also a mother from Belfast, who had responded to the children’s death by immediately organizing a petition against the senseless violence. Within a week, the women knew they were meant to work together and so the movement, Peace People, was born.

They organized a peace demonstration for Saturday, August 21—11 days after the children died. Over 50,000 people came—mostly women and children. There is a picture of the event in her book. It could be Woodstock with the thousands of people sitting on the ground in circle, next to circle, next to circle. It could be Woodstock except that the picture is 99% women and children. It is reported that 50,000 attended.

The Peace People movement continued to organize peace rallies throughout Northern Ireland every Saturday for the remainder of the year. With prayerful conviction, the movement continued as Mairead organized nonviolent actions, spoke out against war, and reconciled peoples on both sides of the dividing wall. Mairead’s core principle is this: “A peaceful and just society can be achieved only through nonviolent means.” (1) As you can imagine, Mairead’s vision of nonviolence was not well received, especially in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. People and institutions dismissed, ridiculed and ignored her. But Mairead continued her faithful walk. And people who met her (whether they agreed or not) could not deny her gentle, life-giving, disarming spirit.

Peace came to Northern Ireland with the Good Friday 1998 peace agreement. For the most part the peace has held. However, in recent months, there has been some disturbances and violence in Northern Ireland. Enough violence that in a recent Newsweek article, one journalist hoped that Northern Ireland would be able to maintain the peace agreement, not only for Northern Ireland’s sake but for the rest of the world. They have served as a shining example to the rest of us that peace is possible.

A Nobel Peace prize recipient, and faithful Christian, Mairead reminds her audiences that Jesus was a practitioner of nonviolence. His teachings and his life modeled this to the very end. With the recent unrest in Northern Ireland, I image that Mairead is there, working for peace in her native land. For she, like many others, know that peace is not a static place that you work toward and as such arrive. It is a constant state of being.

The second woman is Catherine Whitmire. She is a Quaker. Quakers (or the Religious Society of Friends) have a long history of practicing peace going back to the 15th century. Practicing peace is actually a spiritual discipline for Quakers, one that continues throughout a lifetime. Catherine’s first “tentative” (her word) step to practice peace begin when she, like Mairead, was young. Employed as a health care administrator, Catherine had a preschool son, worked long hours, felt overwhelmed and longed for a more peaceful personal life. In response to this longing for a more peaceful personal life, Catherine started making time for prayer and meditation in her life.

Through her meditation, she was led to simplify her life. This produced more time for meditation and Catherine used the time to deepen her ability to listen to God. It was during one session of quiet prayer that she realized her heart was breaking; breaking over the world’s development and subsequent dispersement of weapons of mass destruction. She thought of her young son, and she felt powerless to protect him from the violence and bloodshed that loomed over his future.

Catherine continued to pray and meditate regularly and one morning she was surprised by a spiritual nudge to organize a candlelight prayer vigil for peace. Once she got over the shock of the request, Catherine did what I suspect many of you have done when God nudges you to act. Catherine proceeded to spent her next meditation sessions pointing out to God all the reasons she why she could not organize a prayer vigil.

1. She was too busy to take on anything else. 2. She was not spiritually prepared to do this, being a relatively new Quaker. 3. And, to top things off, Catherine had never even attended a prayer vigil!

She kept meditating and spending time with God. The curtain dropped to reveal what was really behind her hesitation to follow through on this idea God had.

Catherine was afraid of being embarrassed. What if she didn’t pull this off? The thought of holding a candle and praying in public filled her with dread. She was afraid it would affect her relationship with others. Living in a small town people knew her. Would her secular neighbors and friends shy away from her if she prayed in public? And she was afraid of financial repercussions. Would she loose business?

Catherine kept meditating. And God reminded her of a prior spiritual commitment. Five years back, while watching the evening news, Catherine was moved by the prayer of the Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir. Golda Meir prayed that every child born that year be born into a generation of peace. The Prime minister’s words touch Catherine deeply for you see, she was pregnant. And like the time when Elizabeth’s child jumped in her womb when Mary the mother of Jesus visited, so did Catherine’s son stir within her at that precise moment when the Prime Minister prayed.

Sensing God’s deep, compassionate presence, Catherine dedicated herself to trying to make a peaceful world for all children. And God responded by promising to never leave her alone in her practice of peace.

Catherine realized that God was asking her to move her private commitment to work for peace into the public arena. It was time for her to step out in faith and make a public witness. She shared the idea with a couple friends, and they excitedly encouraged and supported her efforts.

The prayer vigil is the first of many public witnesses that Catherine has made over the years. She shares this and other stories about her own journey as well as offering the thoughts of other Quakers on the journey of peace in her book, “Practicing Peace.” (2)

I am captivated and moved by these women’s stories and the stories of others who have chosen to practice peace, to be a nonviolent public witness, rather than allow the violence of our world define them. They aren’t perfect, but they have a desire to walk in the world in a way that leaves a trail of beauty not destruction.
For most of my life, peace has always been about something “out there” rather than “in here.” It has always been something that other people did, not me. I’ve got a Code Pink bumper sticker on my car, but I’ve never been to a Code Pink meeting. I’ve sent them money, but that is not making peace a priority in my life. In my mind, practicing peace has always been one more thing “to do.” And there hasn’t been any extra time.

But while on retreat and reading the testimony of these women and others, I realized that practicing peace is something we do on a daily basis in all areas of our lives, in every relationship, in the choices we make. It is not just another thing we add to our “to do” list. Catherine said it best when she wrote…“I wanted to feel truly alive, and I was tired of waiting for others to create a cul-ture of peace I had been envisioning. So I decided to try living as if it had already arrived by living differently.” (3)

Does this resonate with you? Do you long for peace? It seems like a tall order. Where do we start? Two things we can do right now that will begin to create a culture of peace. We start as Catherine Whitmire did by carving out more time in our life for prayer and meditation with God.

This afternoon, I encourage you to get out your PDA, calendar, or phone and look at the week ahead or better yet the month of February. Where are you spending your time and energy? Put the activities and events into three categories--required (work and school), necessary (grocery shopping, doctor appointments), and extras. Examine your third category. Look at each activity or event and ask yourself. Does this bring peace or chaos to you and your household? If the answer is peace, keep it. If the answer is chaos, why are you doing it? Is it worth it? I want to encourage you to find one activity or event that you can cut from your schedule.

Take that time that you were doing something and relax instead—just be and thank God for the opportunity. If the activity you cut out impacted the entire family, be together as a family and be sure to talk about God or say a prayer after your time together thanking God for this special time. That’s one—check your calendar.

Secondly, every morning ask God to make you a peaceful presence today--your actions, words, and thoughts. At the end of the day before you go to bed reflect on your day. It will take 5 minutes. How did you do? What actions did you make that promoted peace in your day? Which actions or words promoted chaos or angst? Where you consciously taking these actions or reacting to a situation? By examining our day we see our patterns of behavior and seek God’s help to change those patterns that work against peace.

I’m two weeks out from my silent retreat the first week of January. I find that I am more conscious of holding on to my peace and serenity than I was before my retreat. And it helps to look back on the day and see where I chose peace and where I chose anger, fear, or self centeredness.

For example, last week I was running late to get to the office. I was six blocks from home and realized I forgot my glasses. New construction had traffic backed up on North Avenue but I was able to take a quick right and return home. It occurred to me that I could go east a little to get around the traffic, stop at the Brickyard Starbucks to get a coffee, and then get to church happy and only a little later than I originally would be. Forgetting my glasses ended up providing an opportunity for peace in a long day. And looking back on my day, I felt good about the decisions I made that provided a sense of peace rather than getting mad at myself for being late and then forgetting my glasses.

What two actions are you going to do this week?
1. Evaluate your calendar and cut out at least one activity that promotes chaos in your life.
2. Ask God to make you a peaceful presence today and to give you peaceful thoughts.

In today scripture reading, Jesus reminded the people—both those in positions of power and the ordinary person—that laws were made for the good of the people, not the other way around. When we use laws to hurt or ignore those in need, then the laws need to be challenged. If we are listening to God and making time in our lives to practice peace, God will invite us to step out and make a public witness as Jesus, Mairead and Catherine did. The women did not know where their actions would lead. They were just trying to practice peace in their lives, their community.

At the end of her book, Mairead reflects on her work. She writes the following.
“At the beginning of the Peace People movement (1976), some of us started out to change Northern Ireland and the world. In the years since, I have come to believe that the real struggle starts in my own heart and in all our own hearts and that inner change should be the first priority in life. Learning “to be still” and peaceful is our daily work, a lifetime’s work, but it must be done.” (4)

God invites us to step out in faith, and trust that God’s got our back. In the coming weeks, we will look at the courage of peace, the power and soul of peace. But unless we are inviting God into our lives to strengthen us “in here” the work that gets done “out there” will not be sustained.

1. Quote from The Vision of Peace. © 1999 Mairead Corrigan Maguire. Published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY.
2. Practicing Peace. © 2007 Catherine Whitmire.
3. Ibid, pg. 28.
4. The Vision of Peace, pg. 59.

I recall a conversation with a pastoral colleague a month ago about President Obama’s decision to send the surge of American troops into Afghanistan. She was lamenting the decision and I said, “It’s a mess over there. In order to stabilize the country, the President needs to deploy the extra military personnel.” She stopped eating and looked at me as if she couldn’t believe what had just come out of my mouth. Then the look faded and she smiled…and the conversation turned to other subjects. But her look, and the brief interlude, stayed with me throughout the coming weeks.

During the four Sundays in Advent, I asked everyone to look for signs of God’s presence in the world. And the signs we were looking for were Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Now, mind you, I didn’t get as many responses as I’d wished up front to incorporate into the worship service. But when it came to our time of corporate prayer, you all did a good job of expressing signs of God’s presence in the world… except on the Sunday we talked about peace.

And so, today begins a five-week sermon series entitled, “Practicing Peace: The Call for a Nonviolent Witness in the 21st Century.” Before you begin to squirm in your seat too much, let me tell you what this sermon series will NOT be about. I am not going to stand up here and tell you which political party to support because they espouse our Christian values. And I am not going to ask you to help me organize a peace demonstration.

What I hope this sermon series will do is encourage you will reflect on your witness of faith as a Christian in the 21st century—specifically in the area of practicing peace. This way, if asked about something that is happening in the world, in our neighborhood that involves violence of any kind, you might not just spout political rhetoric or dismiss it as something that can’t be changed. I hope you will make a statement of faith that reflects a thoughtful Christ-like worldview.

Maybe you are already doing this, and if so, that’s great. I hope you’ll help me as we journey together in these next five weeks to a place we seldom see—the practice of peacemaking. We’ll spend five weeks, because usually when we see the practice of peace, we all too quickly dismiss it as not possible or irrelevant for our lives.
My sermons will be posted on the webpage by Monday morning. And I’d love to discuss any and all of this with you. So let us start at the beginning with the one for whom Christians are named—Jesus Christ.

When presented with various opportunities throughout his life, Jesus practiced peace. When the Pharisees and Scribes wanted to engage him in bitter debate about the Jewish laws, Jesus chose instead to respond with probing questions or parables (stories) to make the opposition think. When he was seized in the garden of Gethsemane, and one of his disciples grabbed a soldier’s sword and got violent, Jesus demanded that his disciple put the sword down. Then Jesus healed the person who was injured by his disciple.

Jesus was no doormat! Far from it. But neither was he violent in his interactions with people. Of all his teachings, healings, and miracles, it is the way Jesus conducted himself that reminds us of the love of God. He always engaged people in a way that kept the door of conversation and relationship open. Jesus never shut the door on anyone. He always left it open just a crack in case they wanted to revisit with him. His witness was one of nonviolence, compassion, and love.

And what of the witness of the Christian faith? As the story of the Christian faith has been told (and I am speaking of Western Christianity right now), the main emphasis has been placed on the triumphal history of Christianity. It stretches from Christ, Constantine, Christendom, Calvin, and Christian America. This is often referred to as Big C-Christianity.

For the most part, it is a militant history; an us-versus-them tale of winning and losing. This retelling of Christianity tolerates schisms and violence in all kinds of forms (crusades, inquisitions, warfare) as a means to the righteous end—that end being to establish God’s will on earth. And Big C Christianity has been primarily written by Anglo-Saxon males. In recent years, other voices have come to the table, but most of them are still on the fringes and only some (underlying some!) seminarians read these “fringe” historical theologians.

The result of this reading of Christian history has caused many in the 21st century to turn their back on Christianity all together. You’ve heard people say, “I like Jesus. It’s Christianity I can’t stand.” Some Christians have tried to practice the faith while minimizing our history or not even studying it. There is another option.

Author, historian, and practicing Christian, Diana Butler Bass suggests this option in her book, A People’s History of Christianity. (1)

Butler Bass invites those struggling with the Big C reading of Christianity not to turn their back on Christian history. For Christians, when we do this we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If we don’t know our history, our traditions, what are we standing on? Butler Bass invites us to look back at the history of Christianity and visit some of the stories of ordinary people, some well-known, some not so well-known, who have exhibited the characteristics of Jesus. They have something to teach us about practicing our faith today.

So with this in mind, let’s take a couple minutes and look at our Christian history.
After Jesus’ resurrection, came Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit anointed Peter and the disciples. Christianity was born. It was born into a primitive, chaotic, brutal Roman culture that occupied the entire Mediterranean region and beyond. People of unrelated languages, cultures, religions and were “forced into political unity by a brutal (Roman) military.” (2)

Most of the people who lived under Roman rule were subjected to cruel and unfair practices and did not benefit from any social or economic structures. As it did when Jesus was alive, Christianity flourished. In fact, the name for Christianity in the first four centuries was “The Way” and early Christians were called “People of the Way.”

Once you became a person of The Way you had to make some dramatic changes to your life. Some people were martyred. There are accounts of women who were executed in the Roman coliseum because they would not recant their faith. Likewise, some early Christian bishops were martyred. But for the most part, being a person of The Way was to follow the counter cultural teachings Jesus Christ. As they did this, people found their lives were transformed. As a result, the people of The Way were not willing to give up their faith in Jesus for anything, even in the extreme situations where it would cost them their lives.

One of Jesus’ primary teaching is that of peacemaking or nonviolence. The early church leaders were adamant that to be a disciple of Jesus was to closely adhere to Jesus’ own example of nonviolence.
One early Christian theologian (Origen) put it this way. “Jesus forbids any kind of violence or vengeance against another…through Jesus Christ we have become children of peace…and reject all forms of violence.” (3) In fact, if you were in the Roman army and then became a Christian, you had to resign your post. Serving in the Roman army, an organization that persecuted, oppressed, and killed innocent people was not in keeping with Jesus’ practice of nonviolence.

This historical information is confirmed by the witness of St. Martin, born early in the 4th century. His story is depicted in a large stained glass window in an Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. While still studying to be a Christian (back then it could take one to two years to become a Christian), Martin’s regiment was on duty when he met a naked beggar on the road. Martin took of his cloak, tore it in half, and gave half to the man. After he was baptized, Martin resigned his post in the Roman army. He went on to become a monk and later a bishop of the city of Tours. The stained glass window depicts a soldier using his cloak to shelter a man. (4)

This practice of nonviolence lasted until the fourth century. In 313 c.e. when emperor Constantine became a convert, he provided for The Way to become the Roman Empire’s official religion. He labeled it Christianity. It stuck. Christianity was the official religion of Rome. The persecutions stopped and people rejoiced. The church went from being poor and persecuted to being the ones with the power to persecute.

Here’s an example of how quickly becoming part of the establishment can change your core values. Now in order to serve in the Roman Army you were required to become a Christian. As far as practicing peace was concerned, this was the beginning of a long and dark road.

During Constantine’s reign, as the religion of the empire, it was the duty of church leaders to speak theologically to the political realities of war since Constantine continued to acquire more by conquering other peoples. It was reasoned, since God had brought the church out from under persecution, and because God’s kingdom was not yet at hand, they needed to support the emperor and protect the church.

Augustine of Hippo was the first to develop the just war rationale for the Church. Later Rome fell to “Germanic peoples who lived in societies based on blood warrior bonds.” It was the beginning of what we call the Dark Ages—three hundred years of unspeakable violence against anyone and everyone. (5)

(ust before the first millennium, Christianity had spread into these Germanic people and they had finally come to some agreements about just war. One agreement was about who absolutely could not be killed--for example women and children. A second agreement was about when battles could not take place. For example, there was to be no fighting during the holy seasons of Lent and Advent.

As the Christian church moved into the medieval period, warfare was the assumed practice. And now it moved from protecting the church from the Germanic tribes of Europe to protecting it from people who practiced a different religion—i.e. Jews and Muslims. One hundred years after the first crusade, which took place in Jerusalem, killing Jews and Muslims, Thomas Aquinas wrote his just war theory. It is this just war theory, written in the 13th century, that is the basis for the just war theory that we use today.

Referring back to the Big C list—Christ, Constantine, the dark ages and medieval period was Christendom. Next is Calvin. John Calvin is the founder of the Presbyterian Church and one of the major figures in the Reformation. At this time in Christian history the Western Christian church based in Europe splintered into Catholic and Protestant. I say splintered because many of our Protestant denominations came about in that three hundred year period between 1450 and 1750.

And the last C, Christian America needs little explanation. America was built on the separation of church and state because our ancestors saw how the church can infect the government and how government can infect the church. In our American Christian history, this separation between church and state has had its ups and downs—depending on who you ask…

According to Butler Bass, the modern age ended when we dropped the two atomic bombs on Japan to end WWII. She writes, “Modernity had opened with the hope that wars could be ended; it closed with the fear that war could end everything.” (6)

In our time, no one embodied Jesus’ call to nonviolence more than Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is on my short list of people I hope to meet in heaven. Dr. King’s Christian witness changed our country and innumerable lives. Here’s a story of one such life that was changed by Dr. King’s witness of practicing peace.

His name was Father George Zabelka. He was a Catholic U.S. army chaplain. His nickname while he served in the military was “General George.” He served as the chaplain for the personnel of the 509th Composite Group, the atomic bomb team. He was the one who literally blessed their missions. Afterwards, Father George was assigned to serve in Japan during the occupation.

What Father George saw in the hospitals was the beginning of his transformation from violence to nonviolence. The affects of the atomic bombs were impossible to get out of his mind. He knew that just war theory prohibited doing the harm he saw inflicted on innocent women and children. Yet he loved his country and believed they did the right thing. He couldn’t make sense of it all. Discharged from the Army in 1946, he returned to life as a parish priest.

In the early 1960’s Father George was working with Martin Luther King Jr. He was deeply inspired by Dr. King’s words and nonviolent actions. For the first time in his life, Father George realized he was face to face with Christian nonviolent resistance to evil. He realized that not only was Dr. King was preaching the Sermon on the Mount. He was living it too!! At one point after he was released from the Montgomery Alabama jail, Dr. King turned to the people and said,

“Blood may flow in the streets of Montgomery before we receive our freedom, but it must be our blood that flows, and not that of the white man. We must not harm a single hair on the head of our white brothers.” (7)

Dr. King’s words convicted and convinced Father Zabelka. He did an “about face” similar to the conversion of Saul in the Bible, and worked for nonviolence solutions for the rest of his life.

St. Martin, Father George and Martin Luther King Jr. are some Christian witnesses from our history. We will be sharing stories and examples of how to practice peace in the coming weeks. In the meantime, ask yourself these questions?

How would Jesus feel about the last 1,600 years of violent defense of the Christian church?

Did Jesus come to give us a church or a way of life?

Here we are in the beginning the second decade of the 21st century. In a couple minutes we will baptize a young child and commit to help his parents raise him in the Christian faith. What will our witness look like?

Advent is upon us. Advent is the season before Christmas. In Advent we get ready, we get ready for the Birth of Jesus. It is typical in Advent for us to read passages of scripture from the prophets. Why? The biblical prophets, because of their unique relationship with God, were able to see God’s future. While standing in the present, the prophets point people to God’s future…a future different from their current circumstances.

This morning we hear from the prophet Jeremiah. The context of the time is war and destruction. The Jewish people are under siege. Their land, their temple, their way of life is being destroyed by the Babylonians. Jeremiah proclaimed earlier in his book that these events will and must happen. While Jeremiah predicted these terrible events, he also offered the people some messages of hope. Referring back to one of God’s many promises, Jeremiah offered a message of hope in today’s text.

The Lord says, “The days are surely coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to my people…A faithful, righteous man from the line of David will come and rule with justice. All will be saved and live in safety.” Jeremiah knew when to call the people to repent and when to offer hope. His laments or poems of sorrow—name the agony of the Jewish people who feel deserted by God and yet hopeful that God will restore their way of life. The book of Lamentations, which can be found just after the Book of Jeremiah, is a good read for anyone struggling with their faith or circumstances in their life.

There is something about Jeremiah that I’ve always liked. While Jeremiah is a compelling prophet, there is no prophet more compelling than Jesus. While healing the sick and teaching his disciples, Jesus preaches good news to the poor, release to the captives. Jesus, the prophet, stands in the present and points the people to God’s future. And like most prophets, he offers a vision of the future that is not intricately detailed but marked by signs.

Signs…we are all familiar with signs. Help me identify these signs (lift up signs and have people name them). 1. Stop; 2. School area; 3. Construction
Signs give us information about something up ahead on our journey. Signs provide us with important clues to handle life. We all can read people signs—you know when people in our family, our significant other or friends are pouting or in a bad mood? We know to stay away until their mood changes. Likewise, we can tell if someone is in a happy mood. The signs include smiling lips and eyes, lightness in their step, an easygoing attitude.

In this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells his followers that signs will indicate when Jesus will return. He offers a litany of tremendous things that sound as if the earth is coming to an end. Then he uses a sign that we are all familiar with, the changing seasons. (Engage people in the congregation)…

When you see the leaves turn color, what season are we in? Right. It’s fall. And what seasons comes next? And when you see the leaves budding on the trees, what season are we in? And what season follows spring? Right! Summer.

I want you to think about Advent as if we were on a road trip together that will end on Christmas Eve. It’s a busy time and there will be a tendency to wander off the road, getting sidetracked with all the “things” that we have to do this time of the year. What we need in the coming weeks is to pay attention to make sure we’re on the right path—God’s path. And for that, we need to look for God’s signs.

Notice I said, we—you and I. Even though we don’t see each other every day, we are on this trip together. But because I’m only one person, I can’t be in more than one place at a time. Also, I’m not always the most observant person. So this is where the “we” part comes in. I need you to be on the lookout for God’s signs in your life or in the world, and then report these signs back to me each week. Send me an email describing the sign you saw. Maybe you’ll want to paint a picture or write a poem about it, but don’t forget to report back. The signs we will be looking for will match our Advent themes. They are hope, peace, joy, and love.

An email went out on Tuesday, asking for your help because today we’re already on our first Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Hope. The Felckowski’s responded. Wally witnessed hope this past week in the prayers and enthusiasm he received concerning his recent surgery. He also saw hope in the time shared with friends and relatives this week. Tina’s saw signs of hope. She wrote a poem about Hope using the letters in the word. She wrote:

H appy homes filled with love, from
O ur Lord above.
P eople still praying
E ach day, and saying "Thank you, God!"

For Tina, prayers provide us with hope and an attitude of gratitude keeps us hopeful too. Tina and Wally, I’m going to put you on the spot here. Did you find that looking for signs of hope this week made you more hopeful? (Please note they both shook their heads yes and smiled when asked this question.) Thank you Tina and Wally for these hopeful signs.

When I think about hopeful people in the Bible, one couple immediately comes to mind—Abraham and Sarah. They continued to look to God no matter how difficult the circumstances. Their story begins in Genesis chapter 12. At the age of 75, Abraham responds to God’s call, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” God doesn’t even tell Abraham where he is going to take him, but Abraham leaves Haran with his wife of many years, Sarah and his nephew Lot.

For 12 chapters we read about their adventures and trials. They travel to various places in the land of Canaan, go to Egypt during the famine, back to Canaan, Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed, and eventually they settle in the Beersheba area. Neither Abraham or Sarah was perfect. As we read their story, we wonder sometimes why they did what they did.

Why did Abraham instruct Sarah to tell the King of Egypt that they were brother and sister, not man and wife? Why did Sarah have her maid servant Hagar, sleep with Abraham so she could have a baby? But if we are honest, we must admit how much this “first family of the Bible” reminds us of ourselves.

Who among us wouldn’t hedge our bet when going into a foreign country? Even today people are jailed for perceived acts against the government. If we thought our life could be in danger what would we do? It’s not as if Abraham and Sara had the internet to do some research about where they were going before hand. They placed their hope in God and kept adjusting to their life situations—in this case drought and famine. And who among us wouldn’t seek out a surrogate mother using modern technology to our advantage if we really believed that God wanted us to be parents? It had been over 10 years after all since Abraham and Sarah left Haran. They weren’t getting any younger!

At some point, all of us get tired of waiting for God’s time—but that is what we are asked to do. Put our hope in God and wait for life to unfold in God’s time. As people of God, Abraham and Sarah didn’t have an easier life than other people. You may say that because they stepped out in faith, and placed their future in God’s hands, they had it more difficult than those who didn’t take risks and played it safe. But because their hope was in God, and because they recognized and responded to God’s signs along the way, God’s work was achieved through them.

They recognized and responded to God’s signs along the way, and God’s work was achieved through them…

Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. the church phone rang. Joyce asked me if I’d be willing to take the call. Of course, I was working on the bulletin, budgets, mail, both electronic and paper. Some man on the phone needed some help. This time of year, there seems to be many people in need and it can get overwhelming. But I took the call. On the phone was Jim Anderson, the store manager from the Jewell at Elston and Addison. Their store had raised enough money to donate 10 turkey dinners. He had tried to reach someone at our Food Pantry, but their Thanksgiving distribution was last week. No one was in the office. They wanted to give 10 full turkey meals—a 13 pound turkey with all the sides, to families in need for Thanksgiving. Kitchens were required as everything needed to be reheated.

Long story short, within six hours, we had it all worked out. Pastor Cecilia’s leaders knew of three families in need; the YMCA gave us the name of three families in need; Kathy Howe knew of one family; and one was given out to a family who came to the Hands to Help office hours on Wednesday.

I must have called Jim three times in the course of the afternoon clarifying things with him. Every time I called, he was great. Can you imagine how busy a grocery store is two days before Thanksgiving? But it didn’t matter. Getting these turkey dinners to people in need was obviously a priority for Jim. And with the help of many people, we made it work! I asked him why he called our church. He said that when he asked a couple employees who he should call, they suggested he call IPUMC.

Looking back, Jim’s call excited and reminded me. Excited me in that one local store in partnership with a local church network can pass on hope in a short period of time. Jim’s call also reminded me of our current campaign of “Rethink Church.” Rethinking Church is not being so wrapped up in church work that we miss the opportunity to be the church!—Rethinking church is to recognize and respond to God’s signs along the way.

Being the church is to focus on giving, not receiving. So throughout the season of Advent, we will be highlighting a different mission each week.

This week, we are asking you to take one Christmas Angel and purchase a toy for a child who will have a very skimpy Christmas this year. The Christmas Angels are on the poster board on the back wall and there is an instruction sheet that will give all the details.

December 1 is National AIDS Awareness day, and so our mission focus next week will be on a local organization that works with people living with the AIDS virus. As a preview to December 1st, there are some brochures at the back of the sanctuary that provide information about what our denomination is doing to make our world, AIDS-free. The brochure offers a number of ways one person can make a difference. Sometimes the most hopeful stories come from the places where darkness and death are all around…

Her name is Grace Matare. Grace is 20 years old. She has one younger brother. Their mother died in 1993. Three years later, their father passed away too, most likely from AIDS.

At age seven, Grace was an orphan. She writes: "I suffered with my brother. Being a child-headed family, our life was difficult and securing food was hard. At times we would go for days without a meal. We sometimes received food from neighbors."

Grace is one of more than 1 million AIDS orphans in the country of Zimbabwe. In 2004, UMCOR—the United Methodist Committee on Relief received a generous donation by a United Methodist couple from the Midwest. Their desire was to help children orphaned by AIDS so UMCOR established the Orphans & Vulnerable Children's Education, Support, and Care Project (OVC-ESC). For this particular project in Zimbabwe, UMCOR is collaborating with a dean of Health Sciences at Africa University. Africa University is a UM affiliate organization located in Zimbabwe.

Since its inception in 2004—five years ago, the project has supported nearly 3,000 children in 50 schools by providing fees, books, uniforms, food, and some health care (that’s an average of 600 students per year).

After a young person graduates from school, they learn a trade that helps them to become self-sufficient. Grace started with the project in 2005. She received assistance with her secondary-school education. After passing her examinations, she enrolled in the teenage vocational-training program at the Magamba training center, where she currently studies garment construction, design, and dressmaking.

Grace's wish is to have a sewing machine so that she can open her own shop and help her brother and grandparents. "I find the course very interesting," she writes, "because now I am able to make T-shirts, suits, and different styles of clothing that are in fashion. I would like to thank the people of the OVC-ESC project for the assistance they have given me up to this date. May the Lord continue to richly bless them."

Recognizing and responding to God’s signs of hope in their lives, one couple shared that hope with orphans in Zimbabwe. How many people will be touched by the hope of these young people like Grace? Only God knows!

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus reminds his followers. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighted down with excesses, drunkenness, and the worries of this life…” (Luke 21:34)

The road of life is full of blind spots, potholes, hills, and dangerous curves. Where we place our hope in these difficult times will influence the outcome of our lives and the lives of others. The stories of Abraham, Sarah, Jesus, Jim, and Grace remind us once again. Even when the situation looks bleak or impossible, if we can place our hope in God, all is not lost. As Jesus reminds us, God’s Hope is there, if we have eyes to see it. As Jesus reminds us, God’s Hope is there, if we have ears to hear it. God’s hope comes to those who seek and share it with others on the journey of life.

So let us keep alert to God’s signs in the coming weeks—signs of hope, peace, joy, and love. Let us look for the signs that will help us and others in finding our way home.

Picture this…
Lorna’s grandmother from New York recently sent her a sweater for her birthday. Unfortunately for Lorna, it’s absolutely horrible! It’s pink and has bows all over it—perfect if Lorna were turning four, but she is twelve. She couldn’t possibly wear the sweater to school, or anywhere else for that matter. Lorna stuffs the sweater in her bottom drawer, dutifully writes a thank-you note to her grandmother, and forgets about it.

Until last week…That’s when her grandmother arrived for an extended visit with her family. Lorna loves her grandmother. She is fun to be with and always has interesting stories about her travels. (Not to mention fun gifts from her many travels as well!) The last day of her visit, Lorna’s grandmother promises to take Lorna and her sisters out for tea. The girls are supposed to dress nicely.

They are busy planning what they will wear when Lorna’s grandmother walks into the room. “Why don’t you wear that nice sweater I sent you for your birthday,” she asks. “You wrote how much you liked it in your thank-you note.” Lorna is stuck. What will she do now?

Should Lorna…
a. Tell her grandmother that the sweater is at the cleaners?
b. Explain that she would rather wear something not so nice because she’s afraid of spilling tea on her sweater?
c. Tell her grandmother that her mother accidentally shrunk the sweater when she washed it?
d. Put the sweater on and hope she doesn’t see any of her friends or kids from school?
e. Gently tell her grandmother that her taste in clothes has moved from bows—she’s 12 now and the sweater makes her look like a little girl? (1)

What would you do if you were Lorna? What would you advise Lorna to do if she was your daughter? Would that depend on whether it was your mother or your spouse’s mother? Seriously, at what age do we start lying? It’s pretty young.

I’m not talking about the large lies where peoples’ lives are ruined (i.e. Bernie Madoff type lies). We can all agree that this is wrong. What I’m referring to are those little white lies we watched our parents and other authority figures in our life, tell. Sometimes, with our childish innocence, we’ll ask why a lie was told. Often what we are told is that lying is ok, if it is used to protect someone from being hurt, to keep peace in the family, or to keep the family secret.

So when we find ourselves faced with a similar situation, we end up doing the same thing. We tell a little white lie to protect someone else or ourselves.

The problem with this model of living—telling little white lies to protect others and ourselves is that lying then becomes more natural to us then telling the truth. Without knowing it, we have built a protective shell of lies around ourselves that keeps others from knowing us. In most cases, this protective shell of lies also keeps us from knowing ourselves.

In his book, Let Your Life Speak, the author Parker Palmer offers a great example. In his mid-sixties, Palmer was dean at a Quaker Retreat & Spirituality Center, Pendle Hill. He was offered the presidency of a small educational institution. After visiting the campus, speaking with trustees, administrators, students, and facility, Palmer felt certain he was the right man for this job.

In keeping with Quaker tradition, Palmer called together a half dozen trusted Quaker friends to help him with the discern process. In the Quaker tradition, 6-8 people gather for approximately three hours. They do not give advice. The group helps by asking honest, open questions so the person can discern their own inner truth.

Palmer takes us through his process. For a while, the questions were easy for a dreamer, which Palmer is. What is your vision for this institution? How would you change the curriculum? And so on. But after about one hour, someone asked a question that sounded easy but in reality for Palmer, turned out to be very hard. The question…What would you like most about being president of this institution? Palmer recalls that the simplicity of the question allowed him to leave his head and move into his heart. He thoughtful considered the question. At first, he could only name what he would not like…

“I would not like having to give up my writing and teaching…I would not like the politics of the presidency, never knowing who your real friends are…I would not like having to glad-hand people I do not respect simply because they have money…”

The person who asked the question reminded Palmer to share what he would like most about the president position. Palmer responded, impatiently, that he heard the question. Then he continued with his litany.

“I would not like having to give up my summer vacations…I would not like having to wear a suit and tie all the time…”

Again the questioner called Palmer back to what he would like most. Palmer stopped talking. Confronted to speak the truth, he was compelled to give the only honest answer he possessed. The truth appalled him as he spoke it, but he did so anyway.

“Well (hesitant and quietly), I guess what I’d like most is getting my picture in the paper with the word ‘president’ under it.” (2)

While the answer is laughable, the group did not laugh. Palmer had offered his unvarnished, truth. The group immediately moved into a long and serious silence. This allowed Palmer to examine his behavior—how he had rationalized his desire for a job that wasn’t right for him. His ego told him this jobs was the next logical step up his career ladder. He deserved this prestigious position. Palmer realized he was going to say yes to this job for all the wrong reasons.

What happened next is important to note. The original questioner broke the lengthy silence with light hearted humor. “Parker, can you think of an easier way to get your picture in the paper?”

Like, Parker Palmer, we all need a safe, loving, supportive environment to examine and name our deepest truths. We also need support to continue to live a truthful life. For while the truth might set you free, we don’t come by this ability naturally or easily. It’s very counter-cultural. Society prefers that those in positions of power or influence tell us what we need and want. It is their fear that once we see the truth, we can free ourselves from the power broker’s bondage and influence.

Can you imagine how humiliating it must have been for Palmer to speak his truth out loud? But obviously the humiliation didn’t stick or he’d never have written about it. In the silence that followed the fear of humiliation was replaced with the freedom of truth. Because of his discovery, Palmer was free to make his decision based on truth not lies. He did not take the position.

Speaking of humiliation, no one experienced more humiliation than Jesus. In this morning’s Gospel lesson, the chief priests and Jewish leaders have brought Jesus to Pilate to be killed. Pilate is interrogating him. In John 18:37 Pilate asks Jesus a second time, “Are you a king?” Jesus answers Pilate this way, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ relationship with God is identified and claimed from the very beginning of the book. John opens, “In the beginning was the Word (another name for Jesus) and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him (still talking about Jesus), and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” (John 1:1-4)

And again, in Revelation, John calls Jesus, the faithful witness. Unlike the other Gospels, in John Jesus is known as the one who bears witness to the truth. It is in the Gospel of John that Jesus uses the “I AM” phrases…I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6) And again, “I am the true vine” (John 15:1); I am the good shepherd (John 10:11). All these “I AM” phrases are reminiscent of God’s words to Moses when God first called Moses in the burning bush.

As they talked, Moses asked what name he should use when explaining who called him. And God said to Moses, “I AM who I am.” By claiming the I Am saying for himself, Jesus is informing his disciples that God and He are one. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are a testimony to the Kingdom of God.

To contrast this, think about how the Kingdom of God is portrayed in Matthew and Mark. Jesus would say, “the Kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground” (Mark 4:26) or “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened” (Matt. 13:33).

But in the Gospel of John, Jesus does not say, the Kingdom of God is like anything. In John’s gospel, Jesus is presented as the one who uniquely reveals God’s kingdom in the present moment. God’s Kingdom was where Jesus was, with the people who he encountered, all were invited to come—to experience God’s Kingdom in Jesus Christ.

Just as Jesus invited people to follow him, we too are invited to follow Jesus and discover God’s truth for our lives. I can’t specifically say what God’s truth is for you as an individual. But I do know this. God’s truth is not based in violence, fear, hate, oppression, or subservience. God’s truth is based on a never-ending love. It welcomes and embraces all people and desires a relationship with everyone. We are invited as God’s people, followers of Jesus, to live the truth as Jesus lived it. Not to be preoccupied with the lies, pretense, and fascinations of our society. Not to allow others to set our agenda for us but to listen to God and seek God’s truth for us.

And here’s the catch. God’s truth links us together with others in powerful, Spiritual ways. God’s truth invites the individual but is not individual based. It is community based. Think about Parker Palmer. If he had taken that job as president of the college, someone else who really was meant for the job would not have gotten it and the college could have suffered. Palmer would have suffered. His family could have suffered. Our decision to live in the truth of God, as God reveals it to us, has ramifications beyond ourselves!

Here’s a second aspect of God’s truth. It includes you and I but we only see a portion of the truth. The more diverse our community who seeks God’s truth, the truer our vision of what it is. We must continue to monitor ourselves regarding the truth of God. The moment we think we alone have a grasp of God’s truth, we’ve lost it. By design, God’s truth is only given to us in bits and pieces. Some have called God’s Kingdom a tapestry with each of us only seeing a small piece. But God can see the entire tapestry and how beautiful it is and how everything comes together.

I know some of you have had moments of truth in your life— moments when God took down part your protective shell of lies and invited you into a deeper relationship. After a national crisis, one woman realized she was unhappy in her career and so mid life she changed careers. This meant starting over, returning to school and learning a new profession. She’s working hard. She loves it. She might be hesitant to tell you about God’s truth. But she could share her truth with you.

And this is where it starts. We share the truth as God as expressed God’s self in our life—we take someone’s hand and hold on as we experience life together, sharing, caring, listening, questioning. And as more and more people share their experiences, strength, and hope with each other, God’s kingdom grows— weaving a tapestry that is beautiful beyond our wildest imagination.

Today, on this Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate the life of Jesus—his teachings, healings, and miracles. We give thanks for the small group of disciples he nurtured and brought along with him to witness these things. The way that he loved everyone, even those who ultimately procured his death. And today, we celebrate his death. Even though it was brutal, painful, humiliating. Even though people experienced incredible grief, sadness, and confusion. We celebrate his death, because the God who created us, did more than create us. God became us to experience what we experience, death and all.

And on this Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. Death could not contain the Kingdom of God. This is John’s testimony—

“What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5)

Truth lives and flourishes in the Light. Lies live and flourish in the darkness. The Truth has come into the world and we are each free to choose—lies or light. What will you choose? What will your testimony be?

(1) Story comes from Sticky Situations: 365 Devotions for Kids and Families written by Betsy Schmitt. © 1997 The Livingstone Corporation.
(2) From Let Your Life Speak written by Parker J. Palmer. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons , Inc.

Since 9/11 we are painfully aware that great buildings can come crashing down. Just like the institutions they represent. Those in positions of power abuse their power and innocent people suffer. Who could have forecasted the 2008 Stock Market drop of almost 50% from 14,000 to below 7,000? How many of you have lost savings, pensions, jobs or your home because of the misuse of the powerful brokers in the investment world?

And twenty years ago, who could have predicted that newspapers would have to reinvent themselves or disappear? Because of the technology shift over the past eight years major US cities have gone from having two or three newspapers to only one.

For years, the Sun Times office building and Tribune Tower stood on opposite sides of Michigan Avenue and issues. In December 2004, the Sun Times building was demolished to make way for Trump Tower, which has yet to be completed. The Tribune Company is selling assets, the Cubs and Wrigley Field. And while both still operate, they have been in Chapter 11.

And what about the Sears Tower built in 1974? Former retail giant, Sears and Robuck, sells the naming rights to their flagship building--the largest building in the Western Hemisphere--to Willis Company, an insurance broker from England. What did Willis have to do to get the naming rights? Sources have it that they leased 110,000 square feet of office space in the Tower, which has over one million square feet. So for 1/10 of the leased office space, the Sears Tower became Willis Tower.

Talking about building’s coming down or changing, we need not look any farther than our own building. I ask those of you who were members of this church to recall 1996 when Rev. Martin Deppe was here. The offices for Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) offices were on the same floor as the church office, off the Bacmeister Room. That year, the third floor chapel area was remodeled, the Fellowship Hall was painted, and the handicapped assessable ramps at both entrances were built. Pastor Deppe announced at the dedication ceremony that the church was set for another 100 years! Well, 13 years later, here we are again…different issues, same building.

In this morning’s scripture reading, the disciples are impressed with the large stones and Temple buildings and they comment on them. Jesus’ says to them. “Don’t be so impressed. These great buildings will be thrown down.”

Many people have dedicated time, energy, and money—with plans to spend more in all three areas—on this building. Are we doing the right thing? I truly believe God has a mission for us at 3801 N. Keeler Avenue. Part of our responsibility is to fix up this building so that it is in good working order. However, the building is a means to an end—not the end itself.

The building is here so that God’s important work can be done. The work of making disciples, reaching out with love to those in need like the Food Pantry and RMN, providing a home for organizations who make a difference in the lives of others. If we put all our time, energy, and money into fixing up this physical building and not building up the spiritual body of Christ, we’ve missed the point, and we aren’t being faithful to God’s call on our lives.

How often have we heard it said that the church is not the building—it’s the people? Unfortunately, we have too many examples of churches that act like social clubs. The church focuses exclusively on the people in the building and doesn’t care about others. When the congregation cannot maintain the facility any longer, the church building is closed or sold. And the people scatter. Since the church was more social club than place where lives are transformed, when the building closes, people find another social club. Not another community of faith.

This has been a problem with many of our declining mainline churches. We aren’t providing enough nourishment to build up people’s spiritual lives. We are not concerned about those who don’t know Jesus. Our lives don’t reflect a faith in Jesus that is inviting and exciting.

The building that Jesus wants us to focus on is our relationship with God and with each other. So that instead of people being impressed with this beautiful edifice, they will be moved by what they experience when they come in contact with you and me—with this community of faith. A physical building may awe for a moment, but the experience of genuine Christian hospitality, openness, and love will have a lasting impact.

The National United Methodist Church has a campaign, Rethink Church. Maybe you’ve seen our ads in the local newsletters where we mention that we are Rethinking Church. One of the tag lines is, “What if church was not a noun but a verb?”

I have a Rethink Church button on my backpack. While in the airport, a man asked me about the button. My reply was “Rethink Church is worshipping God in all areas of your life, not just on Sunday morning.” Good answer right? The man then asked me back. “Does that mean I can skip worship on Sunday morning and go golfing?” If you don’t make a habit of it, I replied, quietly…feeling unsatisfied with our encounter.

The conversation stayed with me. What does it mean to Rethink Church? We may need to make changes to the way we are operating. If we want different results, we’ve got to move beyond the status quo.

I’m only on chapter three of the book, Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass. But I was intrigued right away. Bass writes about neighborhood Protestant liberal churches that provide a place for Christians who want to be inclusive, loving, socially responsible, and Christ-centered. She started the project because she wondered if there were Protestant churches in American who had a diverse political identity, were not a mega church and were also growing!

Joyfully, what she discovered was a bounty of “quiet” Protestant liberals who practice a faith that is “open and generous, intellectual and emotive, beautiful and just.” Bass identifies 25 of these churches in her book. She writes the following, “Many people think mainline Protestantism is dying…in favor of a more lively form of conservative Christianity found in suburban evangelical megachurches.” (1) She continues...

“I do not deny that mainline Protestantism is in trouble. Some of its institutions, unresponsive to change are probably beyond hope of recovery or repair. I also believe, however, that lively faith is not located in buildings, programs, organizations, and structures. Rather, spiritual vitality lives in human beings; it is located in the heart of God’s people and the communities they form.” (2)

In chapter three,Diana Butler Bass offers three ways to build a vital, living church (3)
1. Embrace Christian traditions, not traditionalism. For example, the Wesley tradition we focused on in Lent: Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God is a healthy, life-giving tradition that encourages a personal commitment to spiritual growth. In contrast, to keep a program that isn’t growing or reaching people just because “we’ve always done it,” is stuck in traditionalism.

Another area of focus is…
2. Embrace Practice not purity. Form communities around spiritual practices not around moral or theological purity. Bass promotes the idea of the church as filled with both saints and sinners. When we recognize that we are both sinner and saint, we aren’t easily drawn into an us/them mentality. It isn’t us telling you how to live. It’s about sharing the journey together and building community.

Lastly, embrace…
3. Wisdom not certainty. Wisdom as a spiritual gift that joins thinking (our heads) with knowing (our hearts) in a way that opened us up to God. The pastor is not the only one with wisdom. All Christians can receive God’s wisdom if they seek it. Being a Christian is not having all the answers to life’s many questions. Being a Christian is trusting God and your community of faith enough to ask your questions.

A good example of this is the story of Hannah from 2 Samuel. We read her song of praise earlier. Unable to have children, Hannah continues to have faith and act faithfully. At one point, she asks God to remember her and she will give her child to serve in the Temple. God does remember Hannah, and when her son, Samuel is weaned, she brings him to the Temple to serve the Lord. Hannah’s wisdom came from her experience of God’s presence in her life, even if it was not in the traditional way of her time--a child. She trusted God and then kept her promise.

A church that is built to last is transforming lives. Jesus reminds us that life is full of devastation, disappointment, pain and man-made things that do not last. This has been a difficult year for many of us in this community. We are grieving the death of loved ones, divorce, and jobs. We are disappointed in our inability to fulfill a commitment or maintain our lifestyle. We are fearful because of a progressing illness—either our own or someone we care about.

And yet, in the midst of these difficulties, we celebrate new jobs, promotions, healthy babies, teenagers in confirmation, new marriage vows taken, and new connections that are happening in this place because of our relationship with God and with each other.

We’ve got our work cut out for us in the coming days, weeks, and year ahead! Let’s seek God’s help to build a community of faith that is vital and alive, reaching beyond ourselves to people who do not know Jesus, and welcome those we meet with openness and love. For a vibrant, spirit-filled Christian life is not walled up inside a beautiful church building. It is lived among the rubble of life!

Since 9/11 we are painfully aware that great buildings can come crashing down. Just like the institutions they represent. Those in positions of power abuse their power and innocent people suffer. Who could have forecasted the 2008 Stock Market drop of almost 50% from 14,000 to below 7,000? How many of you have lost savings, pensions, jobs or your home because of the misuse of the powerful brokers in the investment world?

And twenty years ago, who could have predicted that newspapers would have to reinvent themselves or disappear? Because of the technology shift over the past eight years major US cities have gone from having two or three newspapers to only one.

For years, the Sun Times office building and Tribune Tower stood on opposite sides of Michigan Avenue and issues. In December 2004, the Sun Times building was demolished to make way for Trump Tower, which has yet to be completed. The Tribune Company is selling assets, the Cubs and Wrigley Field. And while both still operate, they have been in Chapter 11.

And what about the Sears Tower built in 1974? Former retail giant, Sears and Robuck, sells the naming rights to their flagship building--the largest building in the Western Hemisphere--to Willis Company, an insurance broker from England. What did Willis have to do to get the naming rights? Sources have it that they leased 110,000 square feet of office space in the Tower, which has over one million square feet. So for 1/10 of the leased office space, the Sears Tower became Willis Tower.

Talking about building’s coming down or changing, we need not look any farther than our own building. I ask those of you who were members of this church to recall 1996 when Rev. Martin Deppe was here. The offices for Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) offices were on the same floor as the church office, off the Bacmeister Room. That year, the third floor chapel area was remodeled, the Fellowship Hall was painted, and the handicapped assessable ramps at both entrances were built. Pastor Deppe announced at the dedication ceremony that the church was set for another 100 years! Well, 13 years later, here we are again…different issues, same building.

In this morning’s scripture reading, the disciples are impressed with the large stones and Temple buildings and they comment on them. Jesus’ says to them. “Don’t be so impressed. These great buildings will be thrown down.”

Many people have dedicated time, energy, and money—with plans to spend more in all three areas—on this building. Are we doing the right thing? I truly believe God has a mission for us at 3801 N. Keeler Avenue. Part of our responsibility is to fix up this building so that it is in good working order. However, the building is a means to an end—not the end itself.

The building is here so that God’s important work can be done. The work of making disciples, reaching out with love to those in need like the Food Pantry and RMN, providing a home for organizations who make a difference in the lives of others. If we put all our time, energy, and money into fixing up this physical building and not building up the spiritual body of Christ, we’ve missed the point, and we aren’t being faithful to God’s call on our lives.

How often have we heard it said that the church is not the building—it’s the people? Unfortunately, we have too many examples of churches that act like social clubs. The church focuses exclusively on the people in the building and doesn’t care about others. When the congregation cannot maintain the facility any longer, the church building is closed or sold. And the people scatter. Since the church was more social club than place where lives are transformed, when the building closes, people find another social club. Not another community of faith.

This has been a problem with many of our declining mainline churches. We aren’t providing enough nourishment to build up people’s spiritual lives. We are not concerned about those who don’t know Jesus. Our lives don’t reflect a faith in Jesus that is inviting and exciting.

The building that Jesus wants us to focus on is our relationship with God and with each other. So that instead of people being impressed with this beautiful edifice, they will be moved by what they experience when they come in contact with you and me—with this community of faith. A physical building may awe for a moment, but the experience of genuine Christian hospitality, openness, and love will have a lasting impact.

The National United Methodist Church has a campaign, Rethink Church. Maybe you’ve seen our ads in the local newsletters where we mention that we are Rethinking Church. One of the tag lines is, “What if church was not a noun but a verb?”

I have a Rethink Church button on my backpack. While in the airport, a man asked me about the button. My reply was “Rethink Church is worshipping God in all areas of your life, not just on Sunday morning.” Good answer right? The man then asked me back. “Does that mean I can skip worship on Sunday morning and go golfing?” If you don’t make a habit of it, I replied, quietly…feeling unsatisfied with our encounter.

The conversation stayed with me. What does it mean to Rethink Church? We may need to make changes to the way we are operating. If we want different results, we’ve got to move beyond the status quo.

I’m only on chapter three of the book, Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass. But I was intrigued right away. Bass writes about neighborhood Protestant liberal churches that provide a place for Christians who want to be inclusive, loving, socially responsible, and Christ-centered. She started the project because she wondered if there were Protestant churches in American who had a diverse political identity, were not a mega church and were also growing!

Joyfully, what she discovered was a bounty of “quiet” Protestant liberals who practice a faith that is “open and generous, intellectual and emotive, beautiful and just.” Bass identifies 25 of these churches in her book. She writes the following, “Many people think mainline Protestantism is dying…in favor of a more lively form of conservative Christianity found in suburban evangelical megachurches.” (1) She continues...

“I do not deny that mainline Protestantism is in trouble. Some of its institutions, unresponsive to change are probably beyond hope of recovery or repair. I also believe, however, that lively faith is not located in buildings, programs, organizations, and structures. Rather, spiritual vitality lives in human beings; it is located in the heart of God’s people and the communities they form.” (2)

In chapter three,Diana Butler Bass offers three ways to build a vital, living church (3)
1. Embrace Christian traditions, not traditionalism. For example, the Wesley tradition we focused on in Lent: Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love with God is a healthy, life-giving tradition that encourages a personal commitment to spiritual growth. In contrast, to keep a program that isn’t growing or reaching people just because “we’ve always done it,” is stuck in traditionalism.

Another area of focus is…
2. Embrace Practice not purity. Form communities around spiritual practices not around moral or theological purity. Bass promotes the idea of the church as filled with both saints and sinners. When we recognize that we are both sinner and saint, we aren’t easily drawn into an us/them mentality. It isn’t us telling you how to live. It’s about sharing the journey together and building community.

Lastly, embrace…
3. Wisdom not certainty. Wisdom as a spiritual gift that joins thinking (our heads) with knowing (our hearts) in a way that opened us up to God. The pastor is not the only one with wisdom. All Christians can receive God’s wisdom if they seek it. Being a Christian is not having all the answers to life’s many questions. Being a Christian is trusting God and your community of faith enough to ask your questions.

A good example of this is the story of Hannah from 2 Samuel. We read her song of praise earlier. Unable to have children, Hannah continues to have faith and act faithfully. At one point, she asks God to remember her and she will give her child to serve in the Temple. God does remember Hannah, and when her son, Samuel is weaned, she brings him to the Temple to serve the Lord. Hannah’s wisdom came from her experience of God’s presence in her life, even if it was not in the traditional way of her time--a child. She trusted God and then kept her promise.

A church that is built to last is transforming lives. Jesus reminds us that life is full of devastation, disappointment, pain and man-made things that do not last. This has been a difficult year for many of us in this community. We are grieving the death of loved ones, divorce, and jobs. We are disappointed in our inability to fulfill a commitment or maintain our lifestyle. We are fearful because of a progressing illness—either our own or someone we care about.

And yet, in the midst of these difficulties, we celebrate new jobs, promotions, healthy babies, teenagers in confirmation, new marriage vows taken, and new connections that are happening in this place because of our relationship with God and with each other.

We’ve got our work cut out for us in the coming days, weeks, and year ahead! Let’s seek God’s help to build a community of faith that is vital and alive, reaching beyond ourselves to people who do not know Jesus, and welcome those we meet with openness and love. For a vibrant, spirit-filled Christian life is not walled up inside a beautiful church building. It is lived among the rubble of life!