God is Relentless.

 

 Luke 5:1-11 is the lectionary text for Epiphany V. 

Jesus needed a platform and Simon gave it to Him.  He put out off from shore so that the crowd would not press on Him and so that He could teach them.  They had been pressing on Him because He was healing the sick, but now was the time to heal souls.  Jesus brought in the Kingdom to transform lives, which meant that their hearts and minds had to be transformed – their thinking and direction and passion would have to be transformed.

After speaking, Jesus instructed Simon to put the boat out further to catch fish.  Simon called Him “Master,” but informed this carpenter’s son that they had fished all night and caught nothing.  Yet, out of deference to this Master Teacher, he complied.  The results were astounding.  Now called Simon Peter, he fell to his knees and submitted himself to Jesus, physically and interpersonally.  He confessed his sinfulness.  As always, Peter spoke for his mates.  Jesus told him/them not to be afraid and issued them a call.  They would now be fishing for human beings.  They left everything, their livelihood, the lives they knew, their families and all to immediately follow Jesus.

It was extraordinary.  What Jesus taught, perhaps was extraordinary.  What Jesus did was extraordinary.  Jesus’ call to sinful people was and is extraordinary.  They were ordinary people, but they were called to follow an extraordinary Lord.  If the message didn’t get them, the actions born of the Kingdom would.  And it did not end there, but rather with a commitment of their lives to living within the Kingdom of God, even in this part of it, as they walked through life.

The Kingdom means life, life abundant and life forever.  It means life here and now.  It transforms lives by transforming hearts and minds, so that God’s children are led to live the Kingdom values that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in how to live in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now.  It transforms whole communities, and it can transform the world to bring life abundant, here and now.  When we live as God calls us to live, that all should have enough and that all have Shalom (completeness, wholeness and well-being).  When all have enough and all have Shalom, we all have Peace.  That is life abundant. 

Peter and the others had been struggling under empire for two generations.  They had seen their freedom, their power, their prosperity and their hope striped away by Rome’s iteration of empire.  They could hardly make a living and could hardly see a way forward that was hopeful for them and their families.  What Jesus taught and did among them introduced them to a different and better way for the world.  It provided them with a hope that even life under empire could not kill, because it meant transformation in spite of, in the face of and toward the elimination of empire and all for which it stood.

Jesus’ call was the call of God to walk a different way and teach that way in the world.  It was the call of God for God’s children to not participate in the values of empire (Greed, lust for power over others, desire for status above others), to resist empire’s ideologies and transform hearts and minds so that the Kingdom of God, rather than empires of evil would influence the world.  Simon Peter and the others were sinful, ordinary people who wanted to live the extraordinary liberation and abundance that life in the Kingdom alone could bring.  They followed Jesus in order to do the work of teaching and leading people in the living of Kingdom values (Agape Love and Grace) here and now.

The life forever part is a GIVEN.  It is a given by God out of Grace.  The life forever part is not the goal.  It is not based on merit and cannot be earned.  It is not about OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, but God’s.  It is extended to ordinary, sinful people.  When we skip the part of following Jesus, especially in those things that lead us to the Cross and tomb, we miss the point that our lives are about living within the Kingdom of God here and now.  We miss the point that life forever is God’s to give and not ours to achieve.  We miss the point that faithfulness to God is marked by Jesus as how we live and act on behalf of God’s children here and now, how we are transformed and how we transform the world to live the Agape Love and Grace that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us.  When we focus on following Jesus in that way, we are already within the Kingdom of God, and it transforms lives, communities and the world.  That is the work of God through us.

 God is relentless.  We have not yet learned as a world or nation or church the lessons of Jesus on how to walk faithfully to God in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now.  We have not yet worked toward a life abundant for all of God’s people, so that all may have Shalom.  We have not yet begun the real work of transforming the world through the teaching and living of Agape Love and Grace.  Oh, some folk get it.  Some see the extraordinary things that can happen when Agape Love and Grace are applied to life under, in spite of and in resistance to empire.  Some of them are Buddhists, Muslims and even Atheists.  Is it not time that the church which bears Jesus’ name leave the futile attempts to make a life under empire, and walk with Jesus in transforming lives, communities and the world?  Is it not time for us, ordinary and sinful people, to leave the ideologies of empire on the shore and follow Jesus?  If not now, when?  Empire has run roughshod over God’s children for long enough.  It is time for life in the Kingdom – a life abundant.

God the Holy Spirit is relentless.  As much as it seems that empire is relentless, with its countless reincarnations throughout the history of the world, and currently through the economics and politics of our own nation, God is more so in offering life in the Kingdom, a life abundant because it is a life of Shalom for ALL people.  God is relentless.

What are we?

Pastor Jamie

On whose side?

 

Luke 4:21-30 is the Gospel lectionary text for Epiphany IV, January 30.

 Jesus went too far.  He told the truth which did not coincide with their myths about events and how God works.  He challenged their long-held ideologies.  He dared to counter their imbedded anthropomorphized theologies.  The reaction was swift and unsubtle.

 They could go along with His mission to the poor, the imprisoned, the infirm and the oppressed.  These were words, no doubt heard before in the synagogue from the prophets.  The people could go along with one guy spouting off about such things, knowing that nothing would systemically change to bring about such liberation, especially under empire.  It sounded good, theoretically.  It would surely never be fulfilled actually.

 The people were amazed at his gracious words, especially since the synagogue in this corrupt time was not known for gracious words about the poor, sick, imprisoned or oppressed.  They heard blaming words regarding the victims of empire, because those in power had spread like leaven the ideologies of empire throughout the world.  Those on top must be blessed by (the gods) God.  This must be God’s will.  God must value power and wealth for the few who are enlightened, so those who do not have it must have done something wrong in God’s eyes to receive their plight under empire.  “Thems tha rules.”

 They had already started dismissing the words as quaint reminders of the prophets by pointing out that this was just one man’s opinion.  What could Joseph’s son know?  He was the son of a carpenter from Nazareth, after all.  But Jesus pointed out that this would not keep them from seeking whatever benefits of the Kingdom He could throw their way, as in the things he was doing to bring healing and wholeness to people elsewhere.  “We want ours.”  Jesus pointed out that He was recognized as being something other than Joseph’s son when He ushered in the Kingdom elsewhere, but here they diminished His identity to suit themselves.

 Jesus’ message to those who would not recognize His Messiahship was that this is not about Israel being on top, no matter what, because of their status as God’s chosen.  God was the God of all nations and peoples, after all.  He pointed out that God blessed foreigners of different beliefs at times, while allowing Israel to suffer and struggle to survive.  He pointed out that their identity as the people of God did not entitle them to some kind of nationalistic ideology of “we can do no wrong,” or being above the Will of God.  They did not own God.  God did not reflect their nationalistic ideology and did would not stand by idle as they perpetrated evil on their own people or others out of their corruption. 

 Now Jesus went too far.  We are not the “exceptional” ones?  God does not reflect our values and ideologies?  God is not only on OUR side?  What kind of blasphemy is this?  They were filled with RAGE that Jesus (God) was not in compliance with their Will and Ways.

 They staged a full-blown insurrection against God in Jesus, drove Him out of town and were about to throw Him over a cliff.  But He was Jesus.  He walked through the midst of them and went on HIS WAY.

 Their ideologies and the theologies they had twisted around them were not in alignment with Kingdom values, because they reflected the values of empire.  They believed themselves to be exceptional, higher and better than others in the world and thus entitled to a status and the power and wealth that being superior should bring, according to the ideologies of empire.  Jesus dared to point out that they were not above God’s Will for them, and that God’s Will was not theirs.  Their reaction revealed who they were.

 Is Jesus still speaking to empire?  Is Jesus speaking to us?  How have we twisted even Jesus’ Good News to justify our empire values of Greed, Lust for Power and Desire for Status or to justify our hatred of others because of them?  How have we imbedded theologies within ourselves and in our culture that reflect and promote empire, rather than the Kingdom of God?

 When the Gospel challenges us, do we smugly nod and think that the words are nice, but will never be lived in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now?  Do we dismiss them as the words of the mere humans who wrote or speak the scriptures?  Do we react extremely when our lack of exceptionalism in the eyes of God is expressed?  Are we on the side of God or of empire?

 Pastor Jamie

 

Declaration of the Mission

 

Luke 4:14-21 is the Lectionary text for Epiphany III on next Sunday, January 23.

 Luke’s Gospel has Jesus coming back from His temptation, full of “the power of the Spirit,” and going to His hometown.  He went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and stood to read the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah.

 Jesus stood on the scriptures.  In His temptation, He stood on the scriptures, even debating the devil over them.  Now, Luke’s Jesus returns to the Prophet to explain His Mission in life.

 And His mission is vast.  He is going to usher in Jubilee.  God’s Kingdom is come and God’s will shall be done on earth as in heaven.  He is Messiah, Emmanuel.  And what it means is not what some would think it would mean.

 Some would think that it would mean an end to Rome.  That iteration of empire had run roughshod over the people of God in Galilea and the world.  Here, a bold young man would claim to be Messiah, and surely that would mean a defeat of Rome and a restoration of Israel as a powerful political and economic player on the world stage, whose sovereign was none other than the Almighty God.  If you are going to claim to be Messiah, Jesus, surely it is to restore the nation to its former glories.  That Israel will be on top once again.

 Some would think that it would mean and end to the world as we know it, and the spiritual salvation of a people.  This has nothing to do with politics or economics.  Humans get all caught up in politics and economics, justice and peace.  This has to do with God’s Day of bringing an end to the misery of this world and ushering in a spiritual age in which God is King and everyone recognizes it, or else.  Those who have not been on the side of God will get theirs and those who have kept the piety and practice will be duly rewarded.  The people of God will be on top, finally.

 But Jesus in Luke spells out His vision and mission quite plainly.  He is here, as Messiah, Son of God, to proclaim God’s Kingdom on earth.  He is here to usher in the living of Kingdom Values in Agape Love and Grace.  It will have an impact on every aspect of life in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now.  It will not mean a political shift at first, as hearts and minds need to be transformed first.  It will not mean pervasive economic justice at first, until hearts and minds see the wisdom and necessity of economic justice.  It means that God is on the side of the poor, those wrongly incarcerated and enslaved, those suffering physical ills and those who are held down, back and out from Shalom.  It was a proclamation of the mission of God to let those who are suffering the ill effects of empire, that God is on their side and will give them comfort in God’s presence, power and love.

 It is a declaration to all the people that God values something other than greed, hatred, lust for power and desire for status.  God values the lowest, the least, the beaten down and beaten up, the victimized and abused, the infirm and broken.  God values Shalom for All in Agape Love and Grace.  God sent the Son of God to proclaim God’s allegiance will those who have been most shamefully treated and affected by empire’s evil.

The reaction of Jesus’ hometown crowd is quite telling.  We will cover their reaction on next Sunday.  I find it to be consistent with those who claim to follow Jesus in our nation, today.  That’s all on that for now.

 Jesus’ proclamation and declaration of God’s intention and value, God’s heart, is powerful for us.  Any who claim to follow Jesus must look at this momentous occasion of Jesus’ public mission statement as our own.  It must be our mission.  If we follow Jesus, we must go where Jesus went, do what Jesus did and “have the same mind (and heart) that was in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 2:1-11)   If we still await God’s intention for our lives as followers of Jesus, we have missed this.  If we think that it is purely about putting us on top in the world, finally, we have missed it.  If we believe it is all about taking us up into heaven, we have missed it.  This is about us living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have that in the Gospel witnesses.  It is about siding with the poor, releasing those imprisoned or enslaved, healing for those with physical illnesses and disabilities and ending oppression by ending the oppressive systems of empire.  It is about changing hearts and minds so that is possible, by living the examples of Jesus.

 We have much work to do.  If followers of Jesus are all about replacing one oppressive system with our own, we are not following Jesus.  If followers of Jesus are all about waiting for God to sort it out and take us to heaven, we are not following Jesus.  There is power in the Good News of Jesus.  We are called to share the powerful Word of Agape Love and Grace to change hearts and minds so that ALL may have Shalom in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now.  Proclaim that Good News.  Live it.  Show people a different and better way – Jesus’ Way of being in the world.  THAT is our mission.  It is not just talking the talk, but walking the walk of Jesus, even to the Cross for the sake of the Kingdom and God’s children in it. 

 Jesus boldly declared His mission before a hometown crowd that did not exactly, immediately get on board.  We will face such crowds in our nation today if we proclaim Jesus’ Good News and value the poor, imprisoned, sick and oppressed.  We will be called all manner of things other than faithful.  But to be faithful to God is to be faithful the one sent by God to usher in Kingdom values and change hearts and minds to live in alignment with them, thus transforming the world.  To be followers of Jesus, we must follow Jesus where He went and in what He did and said in this part of God’s Kingdom.  That is faithfulness to God.  Jesus’ Mission is Our Mission, or we are not followers of Jesus. 

 Pastor Jamie

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