A Glorious Triumph - Sermon from September 14 - Based on Exodus 14 and 15

When I began my study for this week’s sermon, I wanted to take a look at the epic movie The Ten Commandments. I have to confess that I’ve never watched this old classic before, and I wondered how the studios of Hollywood would depict the scene of the parting of the Red Sea. Since the public library’s version was out, I had to settle for a clip on YouTube. It starts with the Israelites and Moses trapped between the Egyptian army and the sea. Then after the pillar of fire separated the two camps, Charlton Heston, as Moses said in his deep, resonant voice “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” Then, as if moved by an invisible zipper, the sea separated gradually and left the ground dry. And so the people passed through.

When Israel had nearly made it, the pillar of fire left the Egyptians and they started chasing after their enemies through the dry seabed. As the last Hebrew family reached the other side, one person turned and shrieked at the sight of the army in pursuit. Moses turned around and said, “The Lord of Hosts will do battle for us; Behold his mighty hands!” And the zipper was pulled up again and the sea came together, covering the horses, chariots and Egyptian soldiers.

The YouTube clip stops there, but Exodus itself gives me a pretty good picture of the next scene. Imagine the camera sweeping the shoreline as you hear these words again. “The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained…Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.” And the Israelites sing in the next chapter, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

A glorious triumph. In some ways this story is so very familiar to us. Bad guy chases good guy into a tight spot, but in the end the good guy prevails. Just think of Tom and Jerry, Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, Popeye and Bluto, Indiana Jones and the Nazi’s, Superman and Lex Luthor, Batman and the Joker, 007 and the KGB. As long as we can identify with the good guy, we are entertained by the story line and laugh or cheer when the enemy gets what is coming to him.

But this morning I’m inviting you to take another look at this Bible story. Look at that scene at the end. A whole army of dead bodies, washed up on the shore. It raises a whole lot of questions for me and I’d like you to ponder them with me for a while.

First think about the power of the waters of scripture. A flood destroyed the whole earth except for those floating in Noah’s ark. The Red sea kills a whole army. No wonder Jesus’ disciples panicked when they were caught at sea during a storm. In other ancient religions the sea is a god who represents chaos, death and destruction. Such power is presented to us daily this time of year as we keep track of hurricanes Ike and Hannah and remember the devastating results of Katrina and the Christmas Tsunami of 2006. Does our loving God really use the sea as a weapon of destruction? And how can we tell when God is punishing people, from times when innocent victims are just swept away, or worse when victims are created by human systems of social injustice. Remember the Israelites had just escaped from Pharaoh’s policy of drowning every boy child in the Nile.

In Exodus God tames the sea long enough for the Israelites to escape, but then lets it come crashing down on the whole Egyptian army. Though we are clearly supposed to cheer at salvation for the Israelites and ruin and destruction for the Egyptians, I think about how the families of the soldiers must have mourned when they heard the news that their boys wouldn’t be coming home. I hear the news that America is much more reluctant to help the citizens of Cuba (still our enemy) from Hurricane Ike, than we are to help citizens of Haiti. And clearly we are giving far more attention and resources to the much wealthier people of Texas than we give to any of our neighbors. Do stories like the Red Sea help to contribute to this injustice? Somehow, the glorious triumph is tarnished, I have trouble singing to the Lord when I think of all the dead riders and horses along the sea.

As I continued to ponder, I remembered the work of Walter Wink called Engaging the Powers and I began to re-read it. It’s a dense scholarly book of over 300 pages with tiny print and many foot notes. His argument is complicated but he addresses my questions and agrees that there is something wrong when a scene of death and destruction is called a glorious victory for God. For Christians who believe that the One who created the universe loves it and sent Jesus to save it, the idea that the same God is responsible for the dead Egyptian soldiers on the seashore is problematic.

Walter Wink proposes that the perspective that good guys beating bad guys with violence is normal, is actually part of an evil domination system, often referred to in scripture as the “world.” This worldly view of life includes fictional stories like Tom and Jerry, Batman and the Penguin as well as the histories most commonly recorded were cowboys kill the savage Indians, the Union army beats the Confederate Army, and the Nazi’s were defeated by the Allied forces.

And the biggest problem with the domination system is that the violence is perpetual. Think again of Tom and Jerry, or Indiana Jones. The “indestructible good guy is unalterably opposed to an irreformable and equally indestructible bad guy. Nothing can kill the good guy, though for the first three-quarters of [any story] he suffers grievously, appearing hopelessly trapped, until somehow the hero breaks free, vanquishes the villain, and restores order until the next [time]. Nothing finally destroys the bad guy or prevents his reapparance, whether he is soundly trounced, jailed, drowned, or shot into outer space.” Another feature Wink brings to our attention is that in this drama of redemptive violence there is no real change or growth, no discipleship. “No premium is put on reasoning, persuasion, negotiation, or diplomacy.” “Repentance and confession are…alien” Wink quotes the final episode of the old spy thriller “Get Smart” when “the villain [is] tricked by a loaded cigarette and blown off a cliff to his death on the rocks below. Agent 99 watches in horror, then comments, ‘You know, Max, sometimes I think we’re no better than they are, the way we murder and kill and destroy people.’ To which Smart retorts, ‘Why, 99, you know we have to murder and kill and destroy in order to preserve everything that’s good in the world.”

While Wink’s argument is carefully documented, and I find it persuasive, I admit that Wink moves into contested ground by claiming that God’s order, which is domination free, stands opposed to the domination system we all know so well. From this perspective Christ’s reign of the universe is domination free, non-violent, self-sacrificing so powerful that it sealed a new covenant in which God requires no more human sacrifice to accomplish the work of salvation.

There is not time in one sermon to fully deal with these complex ideas, so I plan to come back to this theme again as we move through Exodus over the next few weeks. But one idea I offer for you to ponder, according to Wink’s line of thought, is that we must read the stories of the Old Testament differently than we read the stories of the New. The blueprints for Christ’s domination-free order can be found most clearly in the Gospels and among the early followers of Christ. When the world runs according to the way God ordered it through Christ then power is used to give, support and nurture life, to seek win-win situations. Equality and partnership are lifted up, exploitation and greed are replaced with sharing and sufficiency. The image of a jealous, wrathful, punishing God is replaced by Christ who is both loving and judging, compassionate and severe, merciful and demanding. Thus the good news of the New Testament directly challenges the idea that Exodus 14 depicts a glorious victory.

While many stories of the Old Testament seem to promote a domination system where God chooses the side of Israel, we can also see many places in the Old Testament where God’s domination free order shines through. Look at creation where the entire universe came into being, not through battle, or struggle or death as other ancient cultures believed, but through God’s strong and peaceful word. “Let there be light! And it was so.” We remembered five strong non-violent women when we first started reading Exodus a few weeks ago. Shiphra and Puah, Moses’ mother, sister Miriam and the Pharaoh’s own daughter committed acts of civil disobedience in order to preserve live. Even the story of crossing of the red sea makes clear that the Israelites were not saved by their own might. They did not fight the Egyptian army in any way, but trusted fully in God who protected them.

The church names the issue I’m asking us to consider here Salvation or Redemption. It is the question of how God saves God’s people and it also has become a question of which people God will save. Some people read the Bible and see evidence that God chooses to save some, but not others. God saves the Israelites, by killing the Egyptians soldiers. God saves those who have faith, but condemns others to outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Many Christians, like John Calvin have read the Bible and been convinced that God decided at the beginning of time who would be saved, and who would be damned. This is called pre-destination.

But other Christians, including Methodists, read the scriptures and see in it the love of God and the hope of salvation for all the world. They see how Christ passed through this violent world in a non-violent way, embracing especially those whom the world had condemned. They hold fast to the promise that all who come to faith, all who learn God’s way of love can be saved, and that God’s compassionate heart is yearning to save all of creation. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” In this view the glorious victory of God is shown in the image of all of creation gathered in peace around the throne of Christ singing our praises, “Holy, holy, holy!” and worshipping our loving God with joy and abiding love.

I’m sure by now you can see my own bias. I am a pacifist, and I am deeply concerned about these matters. But I don’t expect everyone to stand where I do. I only hope that my reflections will lead you to reflect some more on your understanding of Jesus Christ and his work of salvation, and that you will share your perspective with me. Let us pray…

Wedding at Wesley - September 6

On Saturday September six, Joeseph Elewononi and I were blessed to be wed at Wesley United Methodist church, surrounded by church members, friends and family. This lovely altar arrangement was created by Mrs. Kim.

Standing on Holy Ground - Sermon from August 31 - Based on Exodus 3

“Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” When I was a child at Camp Farthest Out we would gather on a lush grassy field in the late summer sun for devotions in motion – a time of prayer combined with music and movement – The woman who led us in those days, Anne Allen, would always quote this verse as we gathered. A few moments latter, after a wonderfully relaxing spine stretching exercise, Anne would instruct us to walk very tall, milling about with each other and greeting each other by name. “Good morning St. Sarah, Good morning St. Anne, Good morning St. Jean, Good morning St. Paul…. Other times at camp I would hear about the miracles God had done in some people’s lives, and witness others being deeply touched and healed through the power of God’s Spirit. All of this together gave me the impression that when I was at camp I was in a holy place, surrounded by saints and angles. It was a powerful feeling. “Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” I gladly kicked them off, and planted my bare feet on God’s good earth, and felt the power of holiness all around me.

When we experience the holiness of God, standing in his presence on holy ground, it is thrilling, amazing, and wonderful. This is what Moses experienced at the burning bush. He was witnessing a miracle – the bush was blazing, but was not turning to ash and soot. The angel of the Lord appeared to him – he saw the angel in the bush and had to stop what he was doing and take a closer look. He was drawn to the place that had become holy with God’s presence. Some people are attracted to such a holy experience because it is thrilling, it make your heart beat a little faster – makes you feel alive. But the thrill of standing in God’s holy presence is not all we are meant to learn from Exodus chapter three.

Moses also heard God speak to him directly, call him by name. Moses! Moses! And God told Moses that he had come to Moses’ people, the Israelites to be with them in their suffering and help them out of their troubles. Do you remember the old popular tv show, Touched by an Angel and the inevitable moment in every episode when the music changes and Roma Downey begins to glow, her hair gently blowing and the character in front of her display their wonder and amazement when she proclaims “I am and angel, sent from God.” Students of the Bible know that the Hebrew and Greek words for angel simply mean messenger. And in the tv show, the message is always the same, “God loves you.” It’s a wonderful thing to stand in God’s holy presence and know that God loves us and will help us out of trouble. But I don’t think this is all this passage of Exodus is trying to say to us today.

Another aspect of standing on holy ground is becoming aware of the power of God. The first instruction the Lord gave to Moses was “Come no closer!” In Old Testament days it was thought that if humans were too close to God, or looked directly at God the power would overwhelm and destroy them. God’s holiness is truly AWE-SOME in that when we become aware of it we are both attracted, and a little afraid. In the Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis depicts Christ as a Lion, Aslan. The children in the story were so attracted to him - that soft, warm mane and beautiful face – but they were also always keenly aware of his powerful muscles rippling under the fur, and his very sharp claws and teeth. It was the power of God that caused Moses to hide his face.

But it’s also tempting for humans to try to harness divine power for our own purposes. We want the holy power of God to rub off on us. In the 70s there was a children’s show I used to watch called Shazam. Every Saturday when young Billy Batson got into trouble he would call on to the godlike elders Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – Shazam! - and they would send their power to him, transforming him into Captain Marvel, able to meet any challenge and defeat any enemy. Some Bible scholars speculate that Moses, like Billy, might have gone intentionally to the Mountain of God and had the desire to know God’s name so that he could tap into God’s holy power and use it. Sometimes humans fall into this same mindset when only turn to God in prayer, or make our way to certain holy places when we want something from God. But I don’t think Exodus three means to encourage us in such a one sided relationship with our God.

I think Exodus three become much more clear when we notice everything God is doing in this passage. God is the active one in the story. Moses was just shuffling along with his sheep when all of a sudden the angel of the Lord appeared. Then God called to Moses, gave him instructions and made an introduction “I am the God of your ancestors. I have observed the misery of my people. I have heard their cry. I know their sufferings and I have come down to bring them up out of Egypt and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey.” God is the active one here, not Moses.

There are two really important aspects of Moses encounter with God. First God teaches Moses who God is. Yes, God is holy, and powerful. God is too awesome for any human to take full strength. But this God is a particular God, not Mercury, or Atlas or Zeus. Our God’s name (show card). When Christians try to say this Hebrew name for God they usually pronounce it Yahweh, or Jehovah. But the Israelites and even Jews today never actually pronounce this name, in respect for God’s holiness. Instead, when they see these letters in they say Adonai, which means Lord. This is why so many of our bibles us the word Lord – all in capitals, for the name of God. In Hebrew these letters for God’s name look like the verb “he is”. And so when Moses asks God, what his name is, God replies. “I AM who I AM or I Will Be who I Will Be. Tell the people, “I AM has sent me to you.” But God doesn’t just give Moses his name. The Lord makes sure Moses knows that he is the same God who chose a particular family, a certain people and made a covenant with them. “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah. This is also my name, the title you shall know be by for all generations.” Furthermore the Lord is not just a God of long ago and far away, a God of faded memories and old stories. The Lord is alive and is acting today. As we just noted, the Lord is a God who acts. He appears before us, he calls to us, he gives us instructions, he teaches us his name. He also watches us, hears our cries, knows our sufferings and comes down to bring us up out of our troubles and lead us to a better place, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

But the second very important thing God wants us to know today is that our holy encounters with God are not just meant to give us a thrill, or to assure us we are loved, or we will be saved. When we become aware that we are standing in God’s presence, on holy ground, we can be sure that God is also giving us a vocation. God appeared before Moses and called him by name because God had a plan for Moses’ life. And this plan was not just for Moses to find a job, get a wife, settle down and live happily ever after. No, just like last week when God called Shiphrah and Puah, Moses’ mother, sister Miriam and the Pharaoh’s daughter, the plan God had for Moses involved using Moses himself as an instrument of salvation.

The experience of standing on holy ground, in the presence of the Almighty God is the preparation stage for our vocation. It is a time to experience God’s power, God’s love for us and God’s assurance that God is and always will be with us, just as God was with our ancestors. It is a powerful way for us to gain trust in God, and God’s promise to stand by us. I think all human beings need such a time before we can ever dare to accept God’s mission. Like Moses most of us resist the call of God on our lives when we first hear it. We don’t feel worthy, we think we are inadequate for such an important task. For that matter it takes time to get used to the fact that God is calling us. Such a calling is usually an intrusion, disrupting our plans, making us redefine whom we are and what our lives are about.

If I am completely honest, I can remember God’s call on my life going way back. God blessed me greatly, gave me wonderful Christian parents and teachers along the way and probably gave me more than a normal share of holy experiences. Yet I still resisted God’s call on my life. I was ready to serve God’s people and after college took jobs as a preschool teacher, a nanny and a houseparent at a boarding school. But I resisted the call to ordained ministry. I kept telling God that I wanted him to let me settle down and be wife and mother before I started thinking about seminary and ordained ministry. For four years after college I hung around Amherst and Northampton, doing everything I felt I could morally do to find a husband, in an area full of young single people. But God was not answering my prayers. When, in desperation I turned to my pastor Gregory for counsel, he actually was angry with me, accusing me of waiting around for God to act like a fairy godmother and make all my dreams come true.

But it took an especially holy experience, the experience of keeping watch a couple of years latter, as Gregory died before I said yes to my vocation – God’s call on my life. The holiness of God is mysterious, very hard to put into words. The time we spent in the parsonage during Gregory’s last days were holy. I could palpably feel the presence of saints and angels, more clearly than ever before, every time I walked through the parsonage door. Our friend Lisbeth matter-of-factly stated that she sensed the presence of Gregory’s beloved grandmother in the corner, near his bed. It was a time of waiting, and watching, of prayer and singing and though I was sad, I also felt extremely peaceful – the peace that passes understanding. I still have trouble describing just how that holy experience led me to finally accept my call and tell my church, my family and my friends that I was going to seminary. Perhaps it was the reassurance of experiencing God’s abiding presence even in death. Perhaps it was my slow realization of how God had worked in Gregory’s life, even though he was not perfect, to spread good news of salvation to God’s people. Perhaps it was the experience of ministering to the other members of my church during the early weeks of our grief together. I still can’t quite explain it, but I am sure that this experience of standing in the holy presence of God was key to my ability to say “Here I Am, Lord.”

And now, after allowing God to use me to spread his good news of salvation through my ministry and through my studies, and has caused me to grow even stronger in my faith, God has also granted my prayer for a husband. Neither Joseph nor I would have been ready for marriage 20 years ago. God had to work on both of us to prepare us for each other, and for our vocation as husband and wife. When we were ready, God answered our prayers and put us together. Our vocation now is to travel through life together, even when the destination is as unclear to us as it was to Abraham and Sarah, trusting that God will guide us.

After a period of resistance to God’s call on his life, Moses also returned to his initial response to God, “Here I Am, ready to obey, to submit my own plans and will to God’s perfect plan and will for his life and serve as God asks. Here I Am is the common response of many people in the Bible who, after standing in God’s holy presence are empowered to take the risks. As God’s beloved, chosen people, the Lord has given each of us a vocation to serve him and our neighbors in our own unique ways and be instruments of his plan of salvation. The experience of standing on holy ground in God’s presence is given by God to empower us to say yes! Here I am Lord. Let us pray,

The Risky Will of God - Sermon from August 24 - Based on Exodus 1 and 2

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” When I hear these words I always remember Mt. Level Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, NC. This is the church I attended for the whole last semester of my seminary days at Duke University. The head pastor is Rev. Dr. William Turner, my preaching professor and the one who also taught us about the history of the Black church in America. While I attended Mt. Level I joined an adult bible study class focused on the Mind of Christ. This twelve-week course is devoted to helping Christians learn to think the thoughts of Christ, to have the mind of Christ as we are instructed to do in Philippians Chapter two, “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.”

The authors, T. W. Hunt and Claude N. King see three scriptural stages in developing the mind of Christ. First we set our minds, as Colossians 3:2 says “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Philippians 4:8 also shows us that we have the ability to set our minds. “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” Hunt and King call this stage the Will Principle. “[We] must set [our] mind. [We] must decide, choose, or determine the focus of [our] mind. That is where [we] start in developing the mind of Christ.” Unlike animals, we human beings have the will to control what we do. This enables us to obey God in spite of our feelings or intuitions.

The second stage Hunt and King call the growing stage. This is when we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. After we give our will to God, we “must continue to allow [our] minds to be changed (transformed) by a renewing process.” This is when we, as disciples of Jesus, grow. When we are in this transformational stage we experience newness; new thoughts, new insights, new strength and energy, flowing ideas, new ways of looking at the same old problems, and new ways to resist our temptations.

The third stage is when we become ready for action. This is when we gird up our minds so that we are ready to move. Men and women wore long robes in Jesus’ day, and if they wanted to run, they would have gird them up, or lift up the edges and tuck them into their belt. I often think of girding up, being in a state of readiness as keeping my tennis feet. Remembering that the ball might come from any corner and being ready to move quickly and agilely to face and meet whatever comes my way. Jesus was like this, mentally ready and alert at all times to meet challenges of life, such as the shrewd questions of the scribes, chief priests and Sadduccees, without getting flustered, or unduly angry.

I agree with Hunt and King that when our wills are set and our minds have grown through constant renewal, we will be ready for any test God allows to come our way. It is also important to remember that we are not expected to do this on our own. Paul doesn’t tell us to go transform ourselves, right? He uses the passive voice, be transformed, that is, let God transform you by renewing your mind. “God wants us to develop the mind of Christ. He causes you to want it. He enables you to do it. Then one day Christ perfects the work that God began.”

Our stories from Exodus show this principle at work. Though the main characters in Exodus may not have known Christ as Jesus, we can trust that since Jesus assures us that he is one with the Father, Christ was at work in their lives helping them to have his mind and to do the risky will of God.

First we have the midwives. I love these two women, Shiphrah and Puah for their faithfulness in the midst of adversity. While last week we left Joseph in Egypt reuniting with his father and brothers and protecting them from the famine in the land, now we have jumped many, many years, until the Egyptians have forgotten Joseph, and the children of Israel have multiplied in the land. Like many powerful governments, the Pharaoh started to become fearful, even paranoid of the immigrant population, and this fear propelled a policy of greater and greater oppression. But God was good to his people, and the more they were oppressed by Egypt the more they multiplied and spread. This increased Egypt’s fear and the Israelites were enslaved, forced to do the hardest work and treated ruthlessly. Such hateful measures never work, the king was still afraid of the Israelites and ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all the Israelite boys at birth.

Shiphrah and Puah knew better, they knew God and they knew that killing babies was never God’s will. It was such a daring act for them to disobey the king, that they must have had their minds set on God, allowed God to renew and transform their minds. They clearly discerned the will of God and were ready to meet the king’s challenges. With their minds set, transformed and ready, Shiphrah and Puah were enabled to disobey the king’s command, and continue their work as midwives should, striving to help all the mothers safely deliver all of their children. Their state of readiness is seen in their answer when the king asked, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?” “The Hebrew women, they are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous! Before the midwife can get there, they’ve already had the baby!” God was pleased with the midwives and because they honored God, they were blessed with families of their own.

Next we are introduced to three more heroines in Egypt, two Israelites and an Egyptian princess. The Hebrew mother gave birth to a fine baby boy in the time when the king made it a policy to drown every boy child in the Nile river. Knowing that it was God’s will for this child to live, the baby’s mother disobeyed the law of the land and kept him quietly hidden for as long as she could. After three months she was inspired to give her son up to God’s care alone. Like Noah, she made a boat, just big enough to protect her boy from the deadly water, and placed it among the reeds along the riverbank. In this case the mother didn’t just have to break the laws of the world, she also had set her mind upon God’s will to even be able to fight her own maternal instincts of trying to keep her son safe with her. With nothing but trust in God’s mercy, she let him go in his little boat.

The other Hebrew heroine of this story was a girl, the baby’s sister Miriam. She was brave enough to stand by the river and watch and see what would happen to her brother. And her mind was ready for action, so that when the princess found the basket, Miriam bravely appeared, encouraged the princess to keep the child, and shrewdly offered the baby’s own mother as a nurse. If this mother and daughter had let their minds be conformed to the world, they would have never in a million years thought it would be possible for God to use the Pharaoh’s own daughter to keep their boy safe from harm. Not only did the princes adopt the baby, name him Moses, and unwittingly pay his own mother to nurse him. She also insured that he would have a fine education, enabling him to do the work God ordained for him of helping lead the Israelites to freedom. Our minds are not big enough to fathom the ways of God. But when we allow ourselves to be transformed by God so that we can discern and do God’s will we can be sure that blessings will follow.

And even the Egyptian princess, in some way, must have been open to the transformation of her mind in the act of defying the laws of her land in order to save one precious life. Her willingness to take a holy risk, inspired by God, enabled God’s plan for the salvation of his people to unfold.

American history is very similar to the history of Egypt found in Exodus. Like the rulers of Egypt, the white rulers of this land became fearful of the immigrant workers they had “imported” from Africa. In 1740, in the colony of South Carolina, a law called the Negro Act was passed that made it illegal for slaves to gather in groups, earn money, raise food and learn to read. The act permitted slave owners to kill any slave that rebelled. Similar laws were adopted in many other parts of this country. In spite of terrible oppression, through what can only be the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit, many black people in this country accepted the religion of the white oppressors and came to Christ. As they did so, they came to know the mind of Christ, which made them strong enough, and free enough to defy evil civil laws. Many black Christians would give up precious hours of sleep in the evenings to gather for worship. And there were many Americans, black and white who defied the prohibition of teaching slaves to read and write.

Sophia Auld was one such woman who taught her slave Frederick the alphabet when he was about twelve. When her husband Hugh discovered this, he strongly disapproved. But Sophia had opened the door for the boy who was able to continue his education by trading bread to the poor white boys of Baltimore in exchange for their knowledge of reading, and by carefully observing the writing of the white men where he worked and copying the letters in his dictionary. Frederick latter wrote, “I wished to learn how to write, as I might have occasion to write my own pass.”

Upon finally learning how to hold a pen, his immediate response was to write three passes for himself. One pass stated, “I, the undersigned, have given the bearer, my servant, full liberty to go to Baltimore, and spend the Easter holidays. Written with mine own hand, &c.”

Frederick Douglas went on to teach other slaves how to read the New Testament at a Sabbath school on a plantation. As word spread, the interest among slaves in learning to read was so great that on any week over 40 slaves would attend lessons. For about six months, their study went relatively unnoticed until one Sunday a group of white men burst in on the gathering, armed with clubs and stones to disperse the congregation permanently.

But Douglas’ writing career did not come to an end. After he escaped to freedom, Douglass wrote a book about his life as a slave, which was promoted by the abolitionists until he became famous. Fearing the publicity would draw the attention of his ex-owner, Hugh Auld, who might try to get his “property” back Frederick’s friends sent him on a book tour to Ireland and England. The people there were so inspired that they soon raised the money necessary to pay Mr. Auld, who gave a signed manumission to Douglas in return.

This story is just one example of how God will bless us when we refuse to be conformed to the ways of the world, and let our minds be transformed to have the mind of Christ, so that we may both discern and do the will of God – those things that are good and acceptable and perfect. Can you think of example in your own life when God has done this work in you? When have you set your mind to doing the risky will of God, which defies the ways of the world?

Two cases I can think of in my life are the choices I had of which college and which seminary to attend. In both cases I had safer options. I could have gotten my degree from an Ivy League university that cost less and was closer to home. I could have attended seminary where I was pretty sure most people thought and felt the way I did about the world. But God also gave me options with more risks; an expensive but innovative college where I would be free of tests and grades could design my own major; a seminary where I would be forced to consider very different points of view and stretch in new directions. Through careful consideration and prayer, after weighing the risks I could see, and listening to the tug of my heart I opted each time for the risky choice; the choice which would push me farther, give me more opportunity to grow, and stretch in new directions. Both times I was strengthen to take these calculated risks in favor of what most seemed like God’s will by the assurance that God would be with me, and that God was arranging my life so that I would meet fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who would help me overcome the challenges involved. As a result both educational experiences offered me far more blessings than I could ever have imagined. In college my faith was challenged in a way that made me both much stronger, and wiser and I began to face the ugly, judgmental part of myself and be transformed. In seminary, not only was I stretched in ways that made me much more balanced as a pastor, but also I was given the blessing of spending a whole year of study in Germany for free. Something I would never have imagined beforehand.

The next time you are faced with a choice about what to do, remember to let your mind be like the mind of Jesus. Stop and pray about which choice is most in line with the teachings of the Bible. Remember that the will of God often seems risky from the perspective of the world. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.” When you open yourself up to the risky will of God you will be amazed at what the Lord will do with your life.

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, we are hungry and thirsty after Your righteousness. We do want to be like You. You are the Bread of life itself. Fill us with Yourself so that we may experience the abundant life You came to give. Give us the ability to set our minds, to allow you to transform our thinking and our actions and help us to be ready to meet any challenge or test that comes our way. Lord Jesus Christ, give us your mind so that we may more fully live our lives according to your will. We ask all this in your precious name, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Roller Coaster of Faith - Sermon from August 17 - Based on Genesis 45

Often times I come across people who tell me, “I’m not a religious person.” I think being “religious” in this case means doing certain things, like participating in worship and reading the Bible and praying on a regular basis. Being religious, in this sense, means setting aside some portion of one’s life for interaction with a particular faith community. From this point of view religious people seem to be on a kind of merry-go-round passing through quiet prayer or Bible reading time each morning or each evening and passing through a church building at least once or twice each week. Perhaps being religious is also associated with certain prohibitions; religious people don’t smoke, or drink or play cards or dance or gamble or have any fun. All they do is work hard, and go to church. Religious people are often seen by the world as dour, frumpy and boring.

If we look at Joseph’s life in this way, I don’t think he was a religious person either. If you read through the stories of Joseph, you will see there is no account of regular worship, or any regular prayer and in those early days there was no Bible to read. Joseph was not frumpy. He was a dreamer and he wore flashy clothing, and sometimes he slacked off from his work. And Joseph’s life was certainly not like a boring merry-go-round. It was more like a roller coaster with tremendous highs, and terrible low points.

Joseph’s life started in a good place and moved up. He was the first son of Jacob’s favorite wife, so his dad favored him over the other sons. Joseph thought well of himself, and dreamed that his brothers and even his parents would bow down to him.

But then Joseph’s life took a downward turn. His jealous brothers stripped him, put him in a pit and sold him to merchants who took him to Egypt to sell him as a slave. This crisis must have helped Joseph make an attitude adjustment, and led him to turn to the God of his parents for help, for when Potiphar the Egyptian official bought him, we read that the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered in his new position, and the Lord blessed Potiphar’s household. Soon Potiphar trusted Joseph to manage his entire house.

But hold on to your hat, for Josephs’ life dips down again, and this time through no fault of his own. Potiphar’s wife was attracted to Joseph and invited Joseph into her bed. When Joseph refused, she accused him of adultery and had him thrown into jail. This was even worse than being captured as a slave. But again we read that the Lord was with Joseph in jail, and again Joseph was soon entrusted with responsibilities over the other prisoners.

While he was there, Joseph befriended two servants of the Pharaoh and helped them by interpreting their dreams. A couple years later, when Pharaoh had his disturbing dreams and none of his counselors could help him interpret them, the cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about him. So Joseph continued his climb up, from the pit of jail, to the top of Egyptian society. After Joseph interpreted his dreams, Pharaoh was so impressed he made Joseph second in command and asked him to organize the Egyptian empire to be prepared for the impending famine. Though together with the whole region, Joseph was heading back down into a valley of seven years with no rain, no good crops, the roller coaster of Joseph’s life had taught him to have faith that God would always be with him, and would help him prosper.

I think this is the goal for Christians, not just to simply be religious, doing the same thing over and over again and being “good” according to someone. Few of us who are part of the church actually have a merry-go-round life. We all experience the roller coaster of good times and bad times, joys and sorrows. It’s part of being human. The difference that Christians have as we journey through all the ups and downs of life is that we recognize that God is beside us all the way. When we gather together to worship, it strengthens us to hear about our God through scripture, hymns and sermon. When we are part of a church it means that we have a community to be with us when we find ourselves in the pit. We can be companions together which makes the pits more bearable, and the high points more celebratory. Living a life of faith means turning to God for help and guidance in the life choices we make so that even in the bad times our lives will prosper. Living a life of faith means living in such a way that those around us can’t help but be touched by God’s amazing grace.

I think of faithful Christians like Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who, together with her family, was part of the resistance to the Nazis. In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie describes how they managed to help many Jews escape to safety. But though this work prospered for a time, she and her father and sister were eventually all arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Corrie’s story is most compelling when she describes how God was with them and answered prayers even in this most terrible place. And, Corrie stands as a witness to us that living a life of faith also helps us to choose which role we should play in the drama of our lives.

We see this most clearly at the end of Joseph’s story. Now that he was at the top of his game, with a great important job, a wife and two sons he was presented with a choice. For during the famine his brothers traveled from Canaan to Egypt to buy food, and Joseph recognized them. When they looked at Joseph they only saw a mighty Egyptian official who had the food they desperately needed. Now Joseph’s roller coaster was at fork in the tracks. He needed to choose which way his life story would go. Joseph might have just treated his brothers like the other foreigners coming to Egypt for food, let the past stay in the past and remain separated from his family. Or, Joseph could get even with his brothers. He had so much power he could easily punish them. Or he could seek to reconcile with them. It seems to me from reading Genesis 42-44 that Joseph was toying with the first two options. He did not let his brothers know who he was for a very long time, and he used his power to put them on a downward roller coaster ride.

Joseph accused his brothers of being spies and put all of them in jail for three days. Then keeping Simeon in jail, Joseph sent the others home with food, demanding that they bring little brother Benjamin to him. But Joseph also seems uncertain about being kind, or cruel because he has his servants give back all the silver the brothers brought to pay for the grain – so his family was given the food for a gift. Their father Jacob was unwilling to part with Benjamin, but when they ran out of food and were hungry enough they returned to Egypt with the boy. When they arrived, with twice the money and Benjamin, they were surprised when Joseph welcomed them, released Simeon and gave them a feast. Joseph was overwhelmed with emotion now that all the brothers were reunited, but he still didn’t let them know who he was.

Instead he toyed with them some more, this time having a silver chalice placed in Benjamin’s sack before they left for home. Joseph then sent his men after his brothers to arrest them. When they were brought back to Joseph, the brothers begged to let Benjamin return home, pleading on behalf of their father Jacob. They explained that Jacob had already lost his favorite son, and he couldn’t bear to loose Benjamin too. Seeing their love and loyalty to their father Joseph finally made up his mind. It was time to let them know who he really was, and to forgive his brothers.

While God’s power in Joseph’s life had done much to bring him out of the pit to the top of the world, Joseph’s own choices played a role too. Only when Joseph chose to forgive his brothers and reconcile with them could he ever know the truth proclaimed in today’s psalm, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” The fullest blessings of God come when we align our wills with God’s will. This is a mark of a faithful Christian, and it is a purpose of the church that we encourage one another choose what is good, and right and noble and true.

Being a faithful Christian means first to always remember that God is present with you through the roller coaster of life and turn to God for help and strength. It also means that we seek to do God’s will. Finally, faithful Christians stop to look back every now and then and notice how God has been working even in the places of life that seem the worst and when God seems far away. Through the eyes of faith, Joseph began to realize more than ever before that God had really been with him through the whole roller coaster ride. He proclaimed to his brothers, “God was behind [all this]. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives…to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant [of our family] in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. So you see, it wasn’t you who sent me here but God.” Faithful people need to pause every now and then in life to look back with eyes of faith for signs that God was with us all the time, and was using our times in the pit to lift us to new heights.

As a college student I was blessed when God answered my prayers and sent Gregory Harrison to be my pastor. Gregory had attended Camp Farthest Out every year since he was a boy, and had grown to become a teacher and a pastor with a special gift for working with youth. He had been leading the college group at CFO for years and often brought teenaged boys to our camp from the city where he lived. Gregory also had a deep prayer life, and a great, dry sense of humor. So when I heard he was coming to Wesley UMC, in Amherst I jumped for joy at the thought of everything he would teach me. I was sure that God was bringing Gregory to Wesley to bless me and help me to grow in my faith. Many of my prayers came true as Gregory’s presence brought many of my dear CFO friends to town, and he started a weekly prayer group which prayed a Sunday School into existence. But I also came to know a different side of Gregory, one that was moody, and stiff and hard to work with. His feelings easily got hurt and he had a hard time getting along with the wonderful people at Wesley church.

A lot happened in the six years that he served us as pastor. I saw Gregory change, becoming softer, more playful and develop good relationships with our members. But in the end he died of cancer. I was present when he died and it was a very holy experience. But as he was dying I also realized I was very angry because Gregory had never taken me under his wing and taught me all the things I had hoped he would. How could I have been so wrong? It took some time for prayerful reflection, and discussion of these things with Christian friends for me to begin to see that God had indeed been working in our lives for good, but not just for my good, for Gregory’s and the church’s too. I began to realize that as much as Gregory’s presence had blessed my life, God had been calling me to bless Gregory by constantly expecting him to be the wonderful person he was at camp all year round; by loving him and helping others to love him in spite of his prickly nature. And God also used this time to teach me a great deal about being a pastor; that an effective pastor does not have to be a perfect person; that communication of expectations and desires is critical, and much more. When I took the time to prayerfully look back over this section of my roller coaster I more clearly saw God at work in my life and in the lives of others.

And the best thing is, that once we truly see how God has been with us through the roller coaster of life, helping us out of the pits, and encouraging us to do God’s will, then our faith becomes even stronger and we can weather future, and deeper pits with more trust that God is with us. This is what equips us to share the good news with others by first seeing, and then testifying to God’s mighty work in our lives. A church that can do that will be able to attract even those people who say that they are not religious.

So, what about you? Are you a religious person, doing religious things in a way that seems like a merry-go-round? Or are you a faithful person, who is learning to trust that the Lord is by your side on your roller coaster of life? When have you last looked back on your life to better see how God was with you in the dips? Or if you already know how the Lord has preserved you, helped you use the low spots for good and caused you to prosper, have you shared this story with your friends? Let us take a moment to ponder these questions in prayer…

Life in the Pit - Sermon from August 10 - based on Genesis 37

Genesis 37 adapted from Eugene Peterson:

This is the story of Jacob. The story continues with Joseph, seventeen years old at the time, helping out his brothers in herding the flocks. These were his half brothers actually, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought his father bad reports on them.

Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons becaue he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him – they wouldn’t even speak [a peaceable word] to him.

Joseph had a dream When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said, “Listen to this dream I had. We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.”

His brothers said, “So! You’re going to rule us? You’re going to boss us around?” And they hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked.

He had another dream and told this one also to his brothers: “I dreamed another dream – the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me!”

When he told it to his father and brothers, his father reprimanded him: “What’s with all this dreaming? Am I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?” Now his brothers were really jealous; but his father brooded over the whole business.

His brothers had gone off to Shechem where they were pasturing their father’s flocks. Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are with flocks in Shechem. Come, I want to send you to them”

Joseph said, “I am ready.”

He said, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, [see if there is peace with them,] and bring me back a report.

[When Joseph appeared on the horizon his brothers] spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them they had cooked up a plot to kill him. The brothers were saying, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.”

Reuben heard the brothers talking and intervened to save him “We’re not going to kill him. No murder. Go ahead and throw him in this cistern out here in the wild, but don’t hurt him.” Reuben planned to go back later and get him out and take him back to his father.

When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern. The cistern was dry; there wasn’t any water in it.

Then they sat down to eat their supper. Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way from Gilead, their camels loaded [with goods for use in medicine, cosmetics, and embalming] to sell in Egypt. Judah said, “Brothers, what are we going to get out of killing our brother and concealing the evidence? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not kill him – he is, after all, our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

…His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt.

Later Reuben came back and went to he cistern – no Joseph! He ripped his clothes in despair. Beside himself, he went to his brothers. “The boy is gone!” What am I going to do!”

They took Joseph’s coat, butchered a goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. They took the fancy coat back to their father and said, “We found this. Look it over – do you think this is your son’s coat?”

He recognized it at once. “My son’s coat – a wild animal has eaten him. Joseph torn limb from limb!”

Jacob tore his clothes in grief, dressed in rough burlap, and mourned his son a long, long time. His sons and daughters tried to comfort him but he refused their comfort. “I’ll go to the grave mourning my son.” Oh, how his father wept for him.

In Egypt [Joseph was sold] to Potiphar, on of Pharaoh’s officials, manager of his household affairs.

****

Today we continue our focus on the parents of our faith found in Genesis. Since the first week of July we’ve been considering the lives of Isaac, Rebecca, and their twin sons Jacob and Esau and what we can learn from these scriptures about human nature, and the nature of God. This is a family God chose in a special way and blessed with a covenant relationship. In exchange for worshipping the Lord and living according to God’s ways, God promised to bless this family by giving them a homeland, and a very large family. If you follow my suggestion to read up on these Genesis stories on your own, especially the ones we don’t get to on Sundays, you will find out how God’s grace was at work in Jacob’s life to produce twelve sons and a daughter. Finally this family was on it’s way to becoming as numerous as the stars of heaven. Last week we focused on the story of Jacob returning home to the Promised Land with his large family and all their wealth. So finally, it seems God’s promise is being fulfilled. But don’t get too comfortable, because in just a few short verses this family’s fortune reverses again and they experience life in the pit.

Though Jacob had wrestled with God and received a new identity as Israel, it would take a while for him and his family to live into the transformation God was working in them. Many of the same old troubles remained in this family. Like Abraham, Jacob has more than one wife, and he favors one over the other. Like Abraham and Isaac, Jacob also chooses to favor one son over his other children; causing jealousy and family discord. And the apple doesn’t fall far from the stem as the younger brother Joseph relates to his older siblings, constantly pushing to be first. Finally, like their father, Joseph’s brothers deceive Jacob, causing him great grief in the process.

Joseph was son number eleven. It’s not surprising that Jacob felt especially close to Joseph because he was the first-born child of Rachel, Jacob’s first love. I think it’s probably normal in a big family for each member to have favorite relatives. Having a special bond with one person in a family wasn’t really the problem. Jacob’s mistake was in showing his favoritism publicly by giving Joseph a special gift, a beautiful coat. Such an act could only stir up resentment in Jacob’s other children. And Joseph was not the least humble about his relationship to his dad, but acted as the bratty little brother, tattling on everyone else. The result – a relationship where there was no peace, no shalom, between Joseph and his brothers. The brothers grew to hate Joseph and wouldn’t even speak to him peaceably. In the end, thinking Joseph dead, even Jacob had no peace.

Now besides the coat Joseph had another gift, a God-given talent of being able to interpret dreams. In Genesis there are three times in Joseph’s life when Joseph interprets dreams with accuracy. But the way the young Joseph used this gift the first time, in a narrowly personal way, only poured salt on the wounded relationship between him and his brothers. His dream was that his bundle of wheat stood up in the center while the other bundles bowed to him, had truth in it. Joseph would later prove instrumental in preserving the lives of his family from a great famine. But interpreting this dream as though God ordained that his older brothers worship him was not kind or wise. It did not bring peace to his family and it provided fuel for his brothers’ resentment and anger.

Last week I spoke of the dark night of the soul, a term given to us by St. John of the Cross, to name the experience so many Christians have when things are just not going right in our lives. This week we can think of life in the pit as a similar experience. We feel stuck, abandoned, unloved by everyone, even God. While we can sometimes find ourselves in this pit of life through the actions of others, often we find that we contribute to our own misery. In Joseph’s case he wound up in the pit, not only because his father chose favorites and his brothers were jealous, but because of his own focus on himself. Joseph was prideful, haughty, a tattletale, a brat. And even though God gave him gifts he them with a focus only on himself.

This gives us reason for us to wonder, when we find ourselves in our own dark night of the soul. How might we ourselves be contributing to being there? How might we be misusing gifts from God in a way that blocks shalom? A key word in the scriptures today is the Hebrew word shalom. Shalom is a rich word, which sometimes means peace, but also means wholeness. When we sing It is Well with My Soul, we are singing about God’s shalom. It is a deep peace, where everyone has everything they need, and people actively share, and participate in God’s work of blessing the world around them. But it is clear from Genesis that there is no shalom between Joseph and his brothers. Remembering this, we can laugh at the irony when Jacob sends Joseph to find his brothers and learn if there is shalom with them. It is clear that everyone’s actions in this story further hinder shalom from growing among them. When we find ourselves in a dark night of the soul, when we experience life in the pit, it is often because our sin is somehow blocking God’s shalom.

My own childhood, though full of blessings, also contained much darkness, and looking back I can see how I, like Joseph, contributed to this experience by misusing a gift from God. In my case the gift was my faith. As I’ve mentioned in my little biographical statements, I was blessed by a family who nurtured me in the Christian faith from the time I was born. Not only did we participate regularly in church as a family including Sunday school, choir and youth group, but we also had bible stories at home and from my first allowance my parents taught me to tithe. My grandparents starting bringing me to Camp Farthest Out when I was five and we never missed a year. My faith gave me some measure of blessing in my life. But like Joseph, I looked at my gift in a narrowly personal way, which ended up being a barrier to shalom.

I mistakenly looked at faith as a very good thing that I did. I was well aware that not everyone worshipped God on Sundays, not everyone followed the Ten Commandments. And so I saw my gift of faith, not as a gift to be shared, but as a way to puff myself up and boss others around. I remember in fourth grade telling my classmates in school not to say “God” unless they were praying, for that was breaking the third commandment. A few years latter I felt inspired one night and wrote a new verse to the old song “One Little Candle” moralistically exhorting people that they should go to church every Sunday. To my shame, my parents and the Jr. choir director let me sing it in worship. As a teenager I embraced some of the ethics of the Christian faith in a way that really separated me from my peers, completely avoiding the normal stage of adolescent rebellion in high school. In all of these actions I was placing myself in the seat of the judge, thinking that I was a good sheep and they were the bad goats. I was just like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable, looking down on the tax collector thanking God “that I am not like other people.” As you might imagine, this way of “sharing” my faith with others did not lead to shalom, and did not win others to Christ. It only separated me from the kids around me, probably gave them a bad impression of the Church and made me very lonely. And it also adversely affected my relationship to God. Having to prove myself good all the time, meant I could not admit to my own sins, confess, or know the grace of forgiveness. My image of God was the eternal judge who I secretly feared would condemn me forever if I screwed up. So in the end, the way I was using my gift of faith prevented that gift from being used as a blessing of Shalom for others and even for myself.

But we can give thanks that our God does not leave us in the pits we dig for ourselves. Our Lord is called Emmanuel, God with us, and promises to be with us in the darkest night and the deepest well, to continue to bless us, and give us a way out. As we read through Genesis we see how God stayed with Joseph. When we get to chapter 40 we read of how God caused Joseph to be jailed with two other dreamers, and how he used his gift of interpreting dreams, not for his own benefit, but for their sakes. And by taking his eyes off of himself, Joseph was no longer blocking God’s shalom, but allowing it to flow. In chapter 41 we then read of how God makes it possible for Joseph to interpret the Pharaoh’s disturbing dreams and understand that the next seven years of plentiful harvest would be followed by seven years of famine. Josephs gift thus enabled Egypt to wisely bank up grain from the years of plenty and thus save not only their own people, but neighboring people, including Joseph’s own family from Canaan. Finally, Joseph had opened himself to the Spirit of God and had learned how to use his gift to bring God’s will, a life of shalom, to all around him.

When we find ourselves in the pit of life, we can, as people who trust God, hold fast to our faith that God’s has gifted us with everything we need to turn any evil situation into an experience of shalom. In fact, I suspect that most of us need a dark night of the soul, God’s version of time out, before we take a good look at ourselves and see how the inappropriate ways we are use our gifts in contributes to suffering in the world.

All of the gifts God gives to us are meant to add to shalom in the world. In several communities across the nation now, time banks have sprung up with the express purpose of helping people use their gifts to bless others, giving all a place to go when they, in turn, need help. Jon and his wife Doris came to time bank orientation to see what it was all about. Doris came to find a way to get Jon companionship for when she was out working. Jon has a disease that has caused him to be in a wheelchair. He spends his day at home alone. Doris was interested in finding ways that she could help others in order to earn hours so that Jon could receive companionship from others.

During the orientation, however, they learned that even as Doris could earn hours for Jon, he would also be able to earn his own hours. They were both a little surprised but went ahead with the enrollment for both of them and soon became very active.

Jon not only can finish any mailing job in record time, he also teaches piano, weeds by getting out of his wheel chair going from section to section in the garden on his hands and knees and provides entertainment for social events. He has also offered to help others rake leaves. All in all, Jon and Doris have a network that has helped them make connections that have been very beneficial to them and many others.

Time exchanges are not direct. Instead, the project promotes a circle of giving and receiving. Members ask for what they need – babysitting or pet sitting, music lessons, meal preparation, baking, sewing, an oil change and more – and return the favor with one from a similar list of services. Though focusing one’s gift to meet another’s need might seem sacrificial, it’s really a means to create shalom for everyone, because the giver is ensured of receiving what he or she needs too.

When the church is truly functioning as Jesus meant it to, it is like a time bank, with God at the center. At Camp Farthest Out we have a beautiful dance that shows God’s method of using us to spread gifts of shalom to the whole world. Though we can’t do the dance right now, I’d like you to imagine it. We are standing in a perfect circle, like the sheaves in Joseph’s dream, but the only one in the center of the circle is the Lord himself. We are facing the center of the circle, focused the throne of God. But we are also united with one another, by holding hands. Each of us carefully holds our left hand up, and or right hand down, so that everyone is both giving and receiving our gifts. As the music plays we gently sway from side to side, then we take slow steps toward the center, lifting our arms, and swaying from side to side in praise and adoration. In return for our worship of God, gifts are distributed to each one of us. Still facing the center, each one receives his or her gift, bringing arms down as we slowly take steps back out. Then when we are in place, each one of us turns individually in a complete circle, arms outstretched, to share our gifts for the shalom of the world. We repeat this pattern over and over, praising the Lord who gives every good gift, giving and receiving gifts from each other, and using them to bless all of creation. This is the way out of any pit we might find ourselves in; it is a life of true shalom. May it be so for us all.

Wrestling with God - sermon from August 3 - based on Genesis 32

I don’t believe Jacob was planning to wrestle with God. He was just trying to go home. Home to Canaan where he was born. Home to the old neighborhood, home to his brother Esau. Jacob had been away 20 years. God had blessed him at that time with a large family 11, sons a daughter and their four mothers and great wealth. Now it was time to take them home. So he rounded up all the kids, and the women, servants, sheep, goats and cattle, packed up the camels and headed off across the desert towards home. Angles of God met him along the way. Jacob even sent messengers to his brother to let him know he was coming. All was going well, until the messengers came back with news that Esau was coming part way to meet Jacob, and he had an army of 400 tough guys with him.

Then Jacob became scared. Jacob had never really forgotten how he had wronged his twin brother. That he had swindled Easu out of his birthright for a measly bowl of stew. That with his mother Rebekah’s help he later deceived his father, elderly blind Isaac into giving him Esau’s blessing as well. Deep down Jacob remembered the way he left his home, in fear for his life with his brother’s raging curses and death threats ringing in his ears. But after 20 years he had hoped that Esau calmed down maybe even forgotten all that and would welcome him home. But now, Jacob wasn’t so sure. Now, as he was heading home, Jacob was finally facing the reality of the mess he had made of his life. Now Jacob prayed to God. “Save me from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I’m afraid he’ll come and attack us all.”

Jacob probably slept rather fitfully that night, wondering how he could pacify Esau. In the morning he sent his livestock, herd by herd to Esau, hoping that these generous gifts would appease his brother.

But Jacob was still scared, still uneasy in his spirit. He couldn’t sleep. So, in the night he got everyone out of bed, made them pack up and sent them across the river. Imagine the noise and the chaos this created. This was only an outward sign of the distress and chaos that Jacob felt inside. Finally, he was all alone, with no one to distract him, no reason to keep his cool and pretend that all was well. Jacob was no longer running away, he was facing home, facing the troubles he had created, facing himself. And he began to wrestle with God.

Many Christians find themselves in this place where Jacob was; this place of darkness and struggle. This place where it seems that our lives are in danger, things aren’t going as we planned, and we are full of fear and dread. Spanish Christian St. John of the Cross, who lived in the 1500s calls that place the Dark Night of the Soul; a time when we are touched with God’s pure light. John writes, “When this pure light strikes in order to expel all impurity, persons feel so unclean and wretched that it seems God is against them and they are against God. Because it seems that God has rejected them, these souls suffer such pain and grief that [like Job we say], ‘Why have you set me against you, and I am heavy and burdensome to myself.’ Clearly beholding its impurity by means of this pure light, although in darkness, the soul understands distinctly that it is worthy neither of God nor of any creature. And what most grieves it is that it thinks it will never be worthy, and that there are no more blessings for it. This divine and dark light causes deep immersion of the mind in the knowledge and feeling of one’s own miseries and evils; it brings all these miseries into relief so that the soul sees clearly that of itself it will never possess anything else.”

Surely this is what Jacob was thinking and feeling as he struggled in the middle of the night. Surely he had already learned that God’s blessing could not be swindled, or stolen, or in any way forcibly taken, and that by his very own sinful actions, he was not worthy to receive anything but death. If Esau killed him, well, he deserved it.

When we truly encounter the living God, and blink into God’s bright countenance, we cannot help but notice our own sinful nature and be ashamed. I truly believe this is why so many people, even those who are part of a church, do not have a close relationship with the Lord, why they let others pray for them, or they avoid talking about God all together.

Sometimes, when we are only half open to a relationship to God, God sends us angel messengers to help us along. We look for someone to give us some good news, or help us feel better for a time. But for real healing and transformation from our sinful nature to a life of holiness no angel will suffice. We must dare to encounter the living God. St. John writes words that could easily be Jacob’s, “Ah, who has the power to heal me? Now wholly surrender yourself! Do not send me any more messengers, they cannot tell me what I must hear.”

The story of Jacob is here to testify, and all of us who have been through our own dark nights of the soul can also testify, that there is no way to experience the true blessings of relationship with God without entering into a dark night of the soul. If we want the blessings God has in store for us, we must first come face to face with ourselves, and face the ways in which we have sinned, the ways in which we have blocked, diverted or ignored God’s will for our lives. Only when we come face to face with our true selves, in the strong embrace of our Beloved, are we ever close enough to God to receive the true transformational blessings God has been waiting to give to us all along.

This dark night, though frightening and even feels like death, is not something to avoid in this life. It is a holy encounter! The dark night is when God gathers us in and embraces us and brings us into the true morning of resurrection life. I can say this because I’ve been there. Sometimes my dark nights have lasted for days; sometimes they have lasted for years. But always I have experienced the purification and loving embrace of the Beloved. It is in the dark night that we become united with God. St. John writes of this as well

There he gave me his breast
There he taught me a sweet and living knowledge
And I gave myself to him
Keeping nothing back
There I promised to be his.

The time of wrestling with God is a precious time that helps us first to be reconciled with the One who made us, the One who walks beside us, and the One who died and rose again for our sakes. But it also blesses us by enabling us to reconcile with one another. For when Jacob finished wrestling with God, received his blessing and his new name, he was ready to meet Esau and be reconciled to him as well. As we prepare for holy communion this day, let us use our time of confession to expose the darkness of our souls to God’s purifying light. Let us wrestle if we must, with our sinful nature as we come close to the living God. And may we receive our own transformational blessings this day and in the days to come.

The next time you find your soul entering a dark night remember God is calling you to come close, as close as it takes to wrestle with God. Wrestle all night long if you must. And like Jacob, don’t let go of God, even when it hurts. Remember, Jacob held on even when his hip was put out of joint. This was a sign that God had changed Jacob and blessed him. When you wrestle with God and don’t let go you can trust that you will receive a blessing. Jacob came out of this night a new person, a changed man with a new name, and you will too.