Let the Party resume...

 

John 2:1-11 is the lectionary text for Epiphany II, Sunday, January 16.

 In John’s Gospel, on Day One John gave testimony to Jesus being the one chosen by God.  On Day Two, Jesus recruited His disciples.  On Day Three, they went to a family wedding.  Weddings lasted 8 days in that time.  We don’t know on what day of the festivities Jesus visited, but they were out of wine.  What a desperate situation that threatened their time of joy and celebration!

 Jesus’ mother directs Him to fix the problem.  Jesus claimed that He had no responsibility for helping in that way, at that time, but He complied.  The large jars of water for outward purification rituals were there, and Jesus turned them into wine – excellent wine.  It is said that in this act, Jesus revealed His glory.

Now, there are lots of jokes about Jesus here turning water into wine.  I have made some of them.  And some comments are regularly made about justifications for drinking wine because Jesus obviously knew good wine and provided between 120 and 180 gallons of it for the party.  I happen to like stout. That’s beside the point.

 I believe that this is all about God’s provision, not just of sustenance like bread or wine, but of joy in the lives of a people who have been beaten down and deprived of joy.  God provides life and all that sustains life, including the joyous gatherings of children of God to celebrate life together.

 Like the feeding of the five thousand, this provision is given to a people who have had anything beyond bare subsistence for living stripped from them.  Empire took everything they had to feed empire, and the occupation and oppression of Rome stripped away every semblance of hope for a good future and joy from God’s children.

 Weddings are a time of great joy in love, the gathering of people who love each other to celebrate the love of those choosing to join their lives and their families’ lives, and the looking with hopefulness at their future together.  Weddings are about promises and the determination to make one another’s lives better.  Under empire, those who are held down, back and out have sometimes ONLY THEIR HOPE that things will change, but they also have the determination to make life bearable for one another in the meantime. 

 Food was weaponized by Rome and is still weaponized under today’s iterations of empire.  Affording life is extremely difficult under Empire, because those few at the top take all that they can from the many at the bottom.  While the elites under empire live in luxury, those under them struggle to keep a roof over their heads, heat in their homes, food on their tables, medical care for their bodies and clothes on their backs.  Our own income inequality and wealth gaps are perfect examples of this truth.  Under the threat of not having enough for their loved ones, people will do whatever they are told to ensure that they at least have enough – they will work longer hours at lower pay, skip time off, work while they are sick and certainly not splurge on vacations or luxuries.  Under the threat of violent occupation and oppression or economic occupation and oppression, people have no choices.

 So, for a few days, after their meager supply of wine ran out, Jesus provided an abundance of excellent wine for a group of folks, weary from their lives under empire, to celebrate fully and pledge their devotion and speak hope about their future together.  The message was (and is) that God wants us to live well – to have enough and not have to kill ourselves to get it, to be able to celebrate life together, and to live in hope and joy.

 Though Empire takes and destroys, the Kingdom of God provides and builds up.

While Empire abuses and demoralizes, the Kingdom of God comforts and provides joy.

Jesus was, in the face of Empire, showing God’s people how life in the Kingdom, living by the Kingdom values of Agape Love and Grace, is different from life under Empire’s values of Greed, lust for Power over others and desire for Status above others.  Jesus was, in the face of the divisions created by Empire, celebrating people coming together and joining their lives with one another.  Jesus was, in the face of the bitter, cynical hatefulness of Empire, showing God’s people how life in the Kingdom, life in Agape Love and Grace, is intended to be the way of humanity, according to God’s Will.   We are meant to live in celebration of life together and in hopefulness.  Life in the Kingdom is all about that – Shalom Community – in which all have enough without fear or threat and can celebrate life together.  That is God’s Will.  That is the Good News of Jesus, in Cana of Galilea on Day Three and in Philadelphia today.

Pastor Jamie

 

Darkness or Light?

 

The lectionary text for Sunday, January 9 - Epiphany I, is Luke 3:15-22.

 

John was brash.  He was harsh and abrasive.  John was many things, but he was also humble.  John was faithful to the God he served.

 John was a prophet.  He was THE prophet who ushered in Messiah.  His baptism was one of preparation of hearts and minds for their transformation in the baptism of Emmanuel.  His baptism was one of recognition that things were not as they should be regarding God’s Will.  His baptism was one of contrition, acknowledging the part of each individual in the community’s plight under the occupation and oppression of empire.  His baptism was one of choosing to see the bad news for what it was in order to embrace the Good News of Jesus.

 Jesus’ Baptism was one of transformation.  It would mean that the people of God had acknowledged God’s Will for them and that the way of empire was not it.  It would mean that people were ready to walk away from the bad news and embrace the Good News.  It would mean that people would repent – change their thinking so that their direction would change – and bring in justice and real peace.  It would mean that in every aspect of life, the application of Agape Love and Grace would be applied in how we live with one another, thus being transformed together, as a whole people.  It would mean living in Shalom – completeness, wholeness and well-being that brings peace.  That is the Good News of Jesus into which we are baptized.

 Baptism is an acknowledgement of which side we are on.  Are we on the side of sin, the ultimate “end justifies the means” way of living, or the side of the Kingdom, which is about living together in unity, justice and harmony?  When we are baptized into empire, we take on the values of empire – Greed, Lust for Power and desire for Status, and they drive how we live our lives, ultimately to destruction.  When we are baptized in Christ Jesus, we live the values of Agape Love and Grace that demand equality, equity and humility, and that drive how we live in the world, ultimately bringing sustained Shalom for all.  

 Baptism is about belonging.  We belong to one another.  Whether we join the forces aimed at preserving and promoting self above others, or the movement of lifting up one another, we belong.   We are baptized into the ideologies and practices of empire, or we are baptized into the body of Christ, the Way of Jesus – the way of Agape Love and Grace and Shalom.  It is the commitment of ourselves to a Way of life.  We are baptized in faith – the belief in an ideology that oppresses and victimizes out of ruthlessness, or the belief that we are called and commanded to build one another up in Agape Love and Grace.  The Holy Spirit brings us to that faith and that baptism.  The powers and principalities bring us to be baptized in the master that empire serves.  We either listen to the Holy Spirit of God and are baptized into Christ Jesus, His Way and Death and Resurrection, or we listen to the forces of empire and evil, and are immersed in its way and destruction and inevitable demise.

 John spoke of this quite plainly.  Eloquence was not a gift needed for John.  He spoke the Good News that the people of God can walk away from empire as a way of abuse and destruction, and follow Jesus in Jesus’ Way of life, life abundant and life forever.  The Good News was that people could be baptized in Jesus’ Way of Agape Love and Grace and find Shalom.  Herod did not like that.  He was heaped in empire.  He was appointed by empire.  He represented empire and embodied its insidious predatory values.  So, he acted accordingly and had John imprisoned for exposing his evil.

 When the people had been baptized and when Jesus had been baptized by John, the act of passing the mantle of leadership of the people, and as Jesus was praying, it happened.  Luke’s Gospel gives us a more succinct account, but no less powerful, of the heavens being opened, the Holy Spirit descending in the bodily form of a dove, and the voice of God declaring Jesus as God’s incarnate Son, the Messiah.  God gave Jesus the blessing, being well pleased to do so, so that Jesus could begin His work – the mission of sharing Good News in a time and place in which the bad news of empire had all but destroyed the people of God.

 That, my sisters and brothers, is light in the midst of darkness!  That is an Epiphany – the manifestation of the divine and new insight.  That is a Theophany – the manifestation of God to humanity!  And in that, is our HOPE.

 Whatever darkness that the ways of empire have imposed on us, we are people of the light of Jesus and His Good News.  In whatever ways the Greed of empire has hurt our lives or infested our souls, we can live instead in the generosity that Jesus’ Way has taught us.  In whatever ways the lust for Power of empire has beaten us up and abused us, or turned us into ruthless purveyors of darkness in the lives of others, we can live instead as people who use our power to empower others and lift them up, as was the example of our Lord.  In whatever ways the desire for Status has pushed us down and demoralized our spirits, or has turned us into egomaniacal jackals who belief we can and should look down on others around us or judge them, we can live instead the humility exhibited by our Lord.  In whatever ways the Hatred born of empire and its values has threatened or victimized us, or turned our hearts toward a falsely justified hatred of others, any others, we can live instead as followers of the one who commands the living of active LOVE and GRACE in the world.  That is the Good News of Jesus!

 So, into which are we baptized?  To which do we belong?  The darkness, or the Light?  The ways of empire, or the Way of Jesus?

 The darkness is all around us.  What is within us?  Who is within us?  Is it the light?

 As the crowd that gathered around John in the wilderness, we are filled with expectation, questioning in our hearts about many things in the world right now.  We see the darkness in which we have been sitting for a long time.  Will it be the darkness that we embrace and live, or the light?  It can be the light!   

 THAT is the Good News of Jesus for today.

 Pastor Jamie

Where else would we be?

Luke 2:41-52 is the Lectionary text for Christmas I (or should be). 

Jesus the “Tweenie.”  It was the Passover, and they all went to Jerusalem to celebrate it. 

 It was a time of joy for the people of God, but they were under the occupation and oppression of Rome’s empire.  The meaning of Moses’ confrontation of Pharaoh, the plagues and the Exodus would maybe mean something different in a time of oppressive occupation.  They were exiled in their own land under a new “pharaoh.”  The fruits of their labor did not go for their families but to continue to build the empire under which they suffered.  The cruelty of those who believed themselves superior was felt in every aspect of life.

 And this pre-teen Jesus went to the Temple.  He went unnoticed as they sojourned back to their own place under occupation.  They noticed when they stopped after a day of walking.  They could not find their son.  They returned to Jerusalem.  After three days of searching for the missing Jesus (note this), they found Jesus in the Temple, asking the teachers questions.  The four questions of the Passover Seder did not cover His concerns.  But it was not like the children asking in the Seder.  They were amazed at His ANSWERS.  Jesus was teaching them.  They marveled at His level of understanding.

 This was Jesus’ sweet spot.  This was His wheelhouse.  Already He is recognized for embodying the Law of God.  He knew exactly where He was and what He was supposed to be about.  This was His confirmation.  Maybe for Him, maybe for the Temple leadership or for His parents, but He was now standing in His own faith before the leaders of the Temple, declaring what He believed.

 And this precocious pre-teen sassed His mother in His declaration of where He belonged.  Mom played the guilt card, but Jesus in matter-of-fact fashion preaches His purpose and calling to His parents.  He went back with them and was obedient to them, seemingly waiting and growing in “wisdom and in divine and human favor.” 

 On the first day in my 7^th Grade homeroom was when I told my class that I would grow up to be a pastor.  I did not know exactly what that meant, but that is what came out of my mouth when our homeroom teacher asked us all what we would like to do with our lives.  I was in church often.  It was my sanctuary from the chaos, anxiety and cruelty of an oppressive home occupied by an abuser.  It felt safe.  It felt like a place where I could collect thoughts shaped by what I heard there in the preaching and teaching of the Gospel.  I was at the church building multiple times a week for classes and activities, but also sometimes just to sit in the dark, still sanctuary and ask my questions, and wrestle with the answers.  I was determined to live differently and to be different.

 In times when our lives are occupied by forces beyond our control, when we are oppressed and abused, turning to God is very natural.  Finding the serenity in moments of wisdom and understanding, Grace and Truth can save our lives for a time.  Gathering with other people facing their own occupations and oppressions can help us feel that we belong, are understood and can stand for another day or week.  Where else would we be?  We have a Loving and Gracious heavenly Father, whose steadfast love and mercy endure forever.  Also, we worship the God of deliverance from oppression.

 I often think about that time with pre-teen Jesus in the Temple and wonder if the discussion may have centered on God’s deliverance of them from empire, just as God had done generations before with God’s people in Egypt.  How could an occupied and oppressed people, exiled in their own land, not think that as they celebrated the Passover together?  My thoughts quickly go to those who are suffering under the oppressive occupation of empire in our own land, here and now.  Those who are systemically, intentionally and cruelly held down, back and out for generations may be able to identify with Jesus here, and with a people who turn to God for deliverance.  Knowing that God sides with the oppressed throughout history, perhaps there is some hope, some solace and determination to be found in pondering God’s presence with us in steadfast love.

 And when others may ask them why they turn to this God, who has seemingly allowed them to be put in this plight for hundreds of years, perhaps they will answer “Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

 Whatever your occupied and oppressed life may look like, please know to whom you belong.  God’s steadfast loving mercy endures forever.  God delivers, using others who have been oppressed and who have been called to stand up to and speak truth to power and lead God’s people to their freedom.  Perhaps God will use you, too for that purpose in the lives of those around you.

 

Pastor Jamie

 

 

Word made Flesh

 

 John 1:1-18 is the text for Christmas I on Sunday, December 26.

    Into every lectionary year, a little John must fall.  This is, without a doubt, my favorite passage in John’s Gospel.  It ties it all together in a nice package with beautiful words.  This is what it is all about.   God.  Jesus is God.  He is God from the beginning.  He is the Word of Creation, the Word of Power and the Word of Life.

   Until He was in the flesh, the world did not know Him as God, even His own people.  John was sent to prepare the way for God’s light to shine in the darkness of the world of corruption, occupation and oppression.  Something inside us is stirred to believe in Him and His Way.  It gives us determination and hope.  Those who are born to believe in this Way of God are spiritually born and live spiritual lives.

   The Word, creative, powerful and life-giving became flesh.  God is incarnate.  God has reached into these lives of hopelessness and sent the Word made Flesh to live among us, identify with us and deliver us from our oppression, physical, political, economic and spiritual. 

   His glory is not in wealth or power, but in Grace and Truth.  The fullness He has come to share with us means Grace upon Grace for us.  The Law of Moses was God’s first covenant to bring us together with God and one another.  In Jesus we have a new covenant built on Grace and Truth.  It is upon this that our lives with God will be restored and upon this that our lives of Shalom will be built. 

   Make no mistake.  This is God.  It is of God.  Jesus, the Word made Flesh has dwelt among us to reveal to us the Will of God in our lives, here and now. 

   And for all who believe, this Good News of God with Us means a different way of life in the new covenant.  It means living the Good News of Jesus – living Jesus’ Way in the world.  We are to be the Flesh Made Word as followers of Jesus, in that we live Kingdom-minded and work to bring agaph and karis to bear in a world that has lived in darkness and needs this light of God.  We are to be Jesus’ hands and feet, Jesus’ Word of creation and power and life in a world that has destroyed the creation, abused power and threatened the lives of countless of God’s children.  We have the opportunity to be the children of God here and now and lift up the lives of others of God’s children here and now.

   Messiah has come.  It means the transformation of the world from one of death, destruction and despair to a world of Love and Grace and the Shalom that comes from living those values of the Kingdom in the world.

   This is what Jesus is all about.  This is now what we are to be about – the work of building Shalom community, full of Grace and Truth, full of Life and Love, full of Shalom, here and now.

Pastor Jamie

 

 

Messiah arrives

 

Luke 2:1-20 is the lectionary text for 12/25/21, Christmas.

A census to count the people, originated by the oppressive occupiers, was instituted.  It meant that everyone had to return to their hometown to be counted.  For the poor, travel is always difficult.  The cost of it is prohibitive.  It is always less expensive to stay in one’s daily routine of survival.  But it was the Law.

 They went, and this betrothed couple had a child.  It is always a scandal that a couple would have a child outside of marriage.  Judgments and stigmas are assigned and attached.  It takes away from the joy and expectation, as does the concern over another mouth to feed, and fears of whether or not this child will have a better life and, indeed, live to see a long life.

 For generations, the poor have been born in their poor surroundings.  No beautiful gowns, no lovely and plush bassinettes, no colorful nursery for this child.  It was cold, dirty and dark.  He was wrapped in strips of cloth.  Hardly the place for the birth of a King, especially the King of Kings and Son of God.

 But wasn’t it?  Wasn’t this where God would be?  Is this not by design, that God would send the Son, in the flesh, born in blood and sweat and tears, a conceived scandal, and in poverty and uncertainty?  That is where God’s people were for two generations at this time of Empire’s occupation and oppression.  Isn’t this where and how God would send Messiah to bring deliverance and hope?

 It was to the night shift of laborer shepherds that the glory of God was shown and heard, while Mary pondered these things in her heart.

 God reached into this part of the Kingdom to deliver it from its oppression and death.  Of course, the Son of God, Messiah, would come to identify with the common people of God and not with Kings and Priests and Emperors.  Of course, scandal would be a part of this.  It is scandalous to think that God would bother to reach into these occupied and oppressed lives to deliver them from those with power and wealth.  Of course, the Son of Man would come in poverty to give hope to the poor, powerlessly to give hope to the powerless and glory for those whose lives were anything but glorious.

 This was their hope.  God was WITH THEM, and on their side.  God came to identify with “the least” in society because of God’s great love for humanity.  God came to deliver those who were victims of oppression from their oppressors.  God came to set God’s people free, again.  This was Good News in a bad news world, liberation from occupation and oppression and deliverance from the hopelessness and despair of life under empire.

 Come, Lord Jesus.  Again.  Come, Lord Jesus.        Pastor Jamie

It has been announced...

 

The Lectionary text for next Sunday, December 19, Advent IV is Luke 1:39-55.

   Mary had been given the announcement.  She was being lifted up by God to do this wondrous thing.  Her life was not her own before this event, and now it would certainly not be her own but for very different reasons.  And she went to see her cousin who was also with child.  Elizabeth’s son leapt within her when he heard Mary’s voice.  John’s destiny lay before him, and he was a “go, getter.”

   John’s whole life was in preparation of Jesus.  The annunciation for his birth came first to Zechariah, revealing that the spirit of Elijah would be in him.  He was born first, served in his ministry first, was arrested first and died first.  His whole life was in preparation for Jesus, and his purpose to be Elijah in ushering in the Messiah.

   Mary magnified the Lord with wonderful images of how God would bring down the proud and powerful, lift up the lowly, feed those who were hungry and send the rich away empty.  This God would do in order to help God’s people, Israel, according to God’s promise of old.  She was one of the people who suffered under empire.  She knew first-hand the emotional strife, lack of well-being, fear and struggle to survive under a people who took everything for themselves and left God’s people with little on which to live.   Mary’s hope was the hope of the people, and she was filled with hope.

   The people who walked in darkness are about to have a spotlight put on their situation.  On those who have been sitting in deep darkness, the glorious light of justice and liberation was about to shine.

   God was using the lowly to do incredible things in the world.  Those young women who had very little means and no power in their society were being lifted up to birth liberation, the salvation of their people.  God did not send Messiah from the clouds, or place him in the palace.  God sends Messiah, the Son of God, to a lowly, poor couple who are among the many lowly and poor people of God, downtrodden and abused by empire.  God sent the Son in scandal to an engaged couple, to restore justice and bring Shalom to God’s people.

   There are millions of young maidens who are powerless and penniless in the world.  Their plight is the plight of women for centuries, being held down, back and out by patriarchal society and by the forces of empire that devalue them.  But God sees their value.  God reaches into their lives to help them see their value in the Kingdom and among God’s people.  Wise people see it too.  Their considerable worth needs to be celebrated by the world again.  Under empire, that will not happen.  In the living of the Good News, it must.

   The Kingdom does not measure strength as does empire.  Strength in the Kingdom is the power within a person to bring about change for good in the world around them by remaining hopeful and vigilant in the living of agaph in the world.  The Kingdom does not measure purity in the same way that empire does.  It is not about pure bloodlines, lineages of power and wealth, life without scandal or other outward considerations.  Kingdom purity is about one’s heart, intentions and motives regarding the lives of those around them.  The Kingdom does not mark righteousness in the same way that empire does.  It is not about appearances of being upright, having status above others in the religious community or ostentatious shows of ritual purity.  Kingdom righteousness is about faithfulness to what God in Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us on how to live His agaph and caris in the world around us, with God’s children.

   In the Kingdom, young, powerless and penniless maidens have strength, purity and faithfulness to God.  They are not ruled by the norms of greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others.  They can live with joy instead of fear, love instead of apathy or hatred and hope instead of despair because they know that the Kingdom of God values them, though empire does not.  In the Kingdom, the young black and brown women of the world who have been held down, back and out all of their lives have value.  In the Kingdom, they are recognized and valued for their strength and purity and faithfulness.

   Thy Kingdom come, O Lord, Thy Will be done on earth as in heaven.  We have sat in the darkness of empire long enough.  Come, long expected Jesus.  Set your people free.  Empire has had its reign in many iterations for many generations.  Let your reign begin on earth.  Now.  Please.

   Live the agaph and caris of Jesus in the world.  Do that in the face of empire’s values, resist empire’s ways and live faithful to what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have that in the Gospels.  The world around you will be transformed – the world in which YOU must live.  The is the Advent of Jesus’ coming to us.  As John’s whole life was preparation for His ushering in Jesus’ coming and salvation, so has your whole life been preparation for Jesus’ coming to you and us now, for the liberation of God’s children from the destruction and despair of empire and the hopeful expectation of lives in Shalom, which is the Kingdom of God.

Prepare His way in the world in which you live.

Pastor Jamie

Turn, turn, turn

 Luke 3:7-18 (through 20 for me) is the lectionary text for Advent III on Sunday, December 12.

Good News is relative.  Here it is good for those who have been occupied and oppressed for a couple of generations.  It is good for those whose lives have been controlled, whose livelihoods have been taken, whose people have been beaten down and exploited and whose own leaders have abused them.  It is not Good News for those who have benefitted from systemic tyranny and exploitation, those at the very top and those in the midst who have engaged in the ruthless behaviors of division and devastation for others.  The Good News here is that God will turn things around, and that all the people had better get with the program of turning from a system and ideology of exploitation and abuse to one of mutual support, equality and equity.

John did not mince words when he spoke to the people.  He accused the crowds that came to be baptized of being "vipers" who perceived God doing something, as ones who came to try and justify their participation in empire and its evil.  He demanded repentance - producing fruits of it - ACTION in turning around in thinking and direction.  He told them that their heritage of walking with God and their ancestry in that walk meant nothing if they did not act correctly.  He threatened them with God's wrath - the wrath they came to have baptized/ritualized away.

So, the crowds asked for direction in their repentance, and John gave them specifics.  Those of you who have lived under the evils of empire, and who still have more than you need must share with those who have nothing.  The devastation that empire creates in the lives of the masses under it has destroyed them, and those who have weathered it better must make sure that the basic needs of those who have been left with nothing are met.  Business folk who benefitted from a ruthless system of taking are to stop gouging people for more profit for themselves, at the expense of others.  Enough profit is enough.  It is a time to change the predatory and consumptive business practices that keep people down, back and out.  Those who use their positions to corruptly make money off the backs of the people must stop doing so.  Those with power over others must stop abusing their power over others.  Believing that one's position or power (or both) entitles him/her/them to exploit others through that position or power is not consistent with the Kingdom of God.  Jesus, Emmanuel, is coming.  It is time to turn around.

John was forceful.  The authority with which he spoke startled them.  Some thought he was the one sent to turn things around, but he pointed out that he was only Elijah, and that the one who was coming had more power and authority, and that His baptism is not just for ritual repentance, but a purifying of our spirits by the Holy Spirit.  Again, he threatened those who would not turn from their thinking and wrong directions in life.

I love that this is GOOD NEWS.  It IS Good News for anyone waiting on the Lord to save them from oppression.  It is Good News for all those who have been told that they are "less than" by others claiming to be "better than."  It is Good News for all those who are powerless and abused by those in power.  It is Good News for families who struggle just to survive because others have milked a system created to hold them down, back and out so that the ruthless can take more for themselves and their families.  It is still Good News for them.

And the reaction was predictable and swift.  John got locked up for talk of God's Kingdom Come and God's Will being done.  He got locked up for saying that God's Way is different from Empire, and that it will change the world.  Like the prophets of old and like our modern prophets, he had to be silenced in order that the status quo might be maintained for all who benefitted from it.  

But we still have this GOOD NEWS, even in the midst of this iteration of empire, under which many in our nation and in the world struggle while a few enjoy their power, prestige and opulent wealth.  In this Advent season, we will either see that God wants this repentance in ushering Emmanuel into our lives and embrace it, or we will see that as something to be avoided and treat this as one more quaint religious story and holiday.

For you, this Advent, which will it be?

Pastor Jamie