Give it all up already

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. For I command you this day, to love the LORD you God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and increase, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess. But if your heart turns away and you give no heed, and are lured into the worship and service of other gods, I declare to you this day that you shall certainly perish, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life - if you and your offspring would live - by loving the LORD your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that the LORD swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.

Psalm 1

Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful! Their delight is in the law of the LORD, and they meditate on God’s teaching day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; everything they do shall prosper. It is not so with the wicked; they are like chaff which the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, nor the sinner in the council of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall be destroyed.

Philemon 

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother. For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love - and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother - especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about you owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciples. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

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For some reason this weekend, when I hear this Gospel reading I am reminded of, among many other things, the famous Kennedy quote: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” On Labor Day weekend, it's good to remember that doing for our country means protecting the workers on whose backs our economy is built. And maybe Kennedy was so young and idealistic as a President that we don’t really hear his words as he meant them. Maybe we have gotten so used to expecting 'our' country to give us the power and privilege we 'deserve' that we have forgotten what it means to be a country of diverse people living together. Part of calling our country to be its best self sometimes means disagreeing with its behavior and calling it out, part of calling our country to its better self means protesting, means working to change laws and policies, means holding those with power accountable for their actions. And it is not always comfortable, and it is certainly not always welcome.

But to stand up for the lives of those who are oppressed and suffering is to walk in the ways of Jesus. To allow injustice to continue while we ignore it as though, just because it doesn't affect us directly it does not exist, that is choosing the ways of death. We should all be familiar with the lines about ‘when they came for the Jews I said nothing, for I was not a Jew, when they came for the communists I said nothing, for I was not a communist, when they came for me, there was no one left.’ There has been a lot of protest in the news lately, a lot of conflict and controversy in the news - which isn’t terribly new, though what we argue about does say something about what we value, doesn’t it? From the rapist who only served three months because the judge saw he had a bright future in swimming (and don't pretend he would have gotten just as light a sentence if he had been black), to the football player who is being threatened and reviled for sitting down during the national anthem, to the Native tribes protesting the construction of an oil pipeline across their protected lands and under a major water source, we have been seeing more and more clearly what people are holding onto and what they are willing to let go of for what they believe.

Jesus calls his disciples to give up everything if they are going to follow him, because in the process of following his example they may well lose everything anyway, and they need to be prepared for that eventuality. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr. served some jail time because of their values, as have many peaceful protestors. What would you risk your reputation for, your livelihood? We know the apostle Paul lost a lot when he converted, so many of his letters are written from prison once he became a follower of the Way. His power and authority, his position, his access to certain spaces and people, his colleagues… Becoming a disciple of Jesus basically ruined Paul’s life. He even gave up his name, changing it to Paul from Saul.

The letter Paul wrote to Philemon, which we read today, illustrates another way that being a disciple can turn somebody’s world inside out. Philemon had a slave, named Onesimus, who went to Paul, either as a runaway slave or as a servant sent by his master, and Paul treated him not as a slave but as a brother in Christ. This was a big deal. Even if slavery was run a bit differently two thousand years ago than it has been here in this country in the last hundred and fifty, it’s still labor and ownership and status and power on the line here. Paul was asking Philemon to let his slave Onesimus live as a free man, appealing to his love for Paul, invoking the history of his mentorship in the faith, maybe being just a bit passive aggressive about it: "not to mention you owe me your very life." But, as we know from our history, giving up a slave, really, giving up slavery, is more than just giving up free labor, it’s giving up a mindset. Giving up possessing other people, giving up controlling others, giving up symbols of wealth and power. Putting down dominance for the sake of living into everybody’s freedom is not an easy thing. Those with power never give it up without a fight, which is why those with seeming less power protest and petition and struggle day in and day out to be heard and seen and acknowledged.

Being a disciple of Jesus means we do not set our identity on things we own or jobs we have or money we have earned or who we are related to. It does not even mean setting our value on how well we keep the religious laws, because we all know we all miss the mark there, and that power has been abused for as long as it has been in existence. It almost sounds Buddhist, this letting go of everything in order to follow. We let go of expectations, of demands, of pressures, so that we can freely focus on living, on tending to life all around us, on knowing God and knowing ourselves as created in that Divine Image. When Philemon was able to let go of owning Onesimus, he was granted a brother, belonging with a family, a family which had always been there but had been stifled by slavery and misuse of power.

The lure of the gods of power and prestige and superiority is a strong one, make no mistake. It is tempting to think ourselves better than others because of accidents of birth or systems set up in our favor before we were born. False gods of hate and fear worm their way into every crack and crevice they can find. But to choose life means to choose to disregard those false threats to our value and to see the world around us as it is, to break the bonds of oppression even if we do not see them in our own back yard, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to announce the year of the Lord’s favor rather than the fear of damnation. Following Jesus is not easy, putting down these fears and guilts after being surrounded by them at every turn can take some effort, but the Lord of Life has made it known that life is the ultimate goal, that death no longer holds sway over us, that love wins through the struggle, that we are not ever truly alone in our wrestling and searching.

Our God is merciful and compassionate. We need not be afraid. The God who chases after us will forever seek to give us wholeness and hope and new life.

Come to Dinner

Sirach 10:12-18

The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker. For the beginning of pride is sin, and the one who clings to it pours out abominations. Therefore the Lord brings upon them unheard-of calamities, and destroys them completely. The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers, and enthrones the lowly in their place. The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations, and plants the humble in their place. The Lord lays waste the lands of the nations, and destroys them to the foundations of the earth. He removes some of them and destroys them, and erases the memory of them from the earth. Pride was not created for human beings, or violent anger for those born of women.

Psalm 112

Hallelujah! Happy are they who fear the LORD and have great delight in God’s commandments! Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in their house, and their righteousness will last forever. Light shines in the darkness for the upright; the righteous are merciful and full of compassion. It is good for them to be generous in lending and to manage their affairs with justice. For they will never be shaken; the righteous will be kept in everlasting remembrance. They will not be afraid of any evil rumors; their heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. Their heart is established and will not shrink, until they see their desire upon their enemies. They have given freely to the poor, and their righteousness stands fast forever; they will uphold their head with honor. The wicked will see it and be angry; they will gnash their teeth and pine away; the desires of the wicked will perish.

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Luke 14:1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely…. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return , and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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It’s beginning to look a lot like pumpkin spice season is upon us. Pumpkin flavored everything is popping up everywhere, from muffins to cream cheeses to ice cream. I guess summer is wrapping up. Which puts me in mind already for the holidays. Summer has been great, don’t get me wrong, but I love the chill in the air some mornings, and I look forward to sweaters and crunching leaves and an end to the humidity. Beginning pumpkin spice season also means we are getting close to stewardship season, looking at budgets, asking for pledges, preparing for charity events, food drives, and the like.

Do we do those things here? Is this parish connected to charity work? Or is it basically an individuals do as they can sort of thing? Every place does it differently. And everybody seems to have a different reaction to that word, ‘charity.’ Around Thanksgiving and Christmastime it’s the big thing on people’s minds when they want to ‘do good and feel good’ about themselves, but the rest of the year we basically call it ‘un American’ to receive charity or ask for public assistance. How many times do we need to hear about how lazy the poor are before we start to believe it?

I have a friend to tells the story of when his neighborhood church decided to do some charity work for the homeless in their neighborhood for Thanksgiving. The way he tells it, these well-meaning people figured the best thing to do would be to get dozens of frozen turkeys to donate, because who doesn’t want turkey for Thanksgiving? Except who can store and cook a turkey when they don’t have a place to sleep at night, let alone a working oven? And, really, in that time and place, socks would have been a far better gift to give, since those folks hardly ever took off their shoes to sleep, lest someone steal them in the night, and they walked all day and needed sturdier footwear more than they needed frozen butterballs. But this group of well-meaning folks sure wanted to ‘do good and feel good’ about themselves. They just didn’t actually think about doing the work of getting to know these homeless neighbors, building those relationships, learning how to address the roots of the issues that left the homeless out on the streets in the first place. A one-time tax-deductible gift was more in their line of thinking.

That almost seems to be what Jesus is advocating for here in the Gospel this morning, doesn’t it? I mean, he’s talking to a group of people who are seeking places of honor at the dinner table, and trying to look good in public. He’s talking to people who are vying for social status, and he lays out this plan for them to move up the ladder by first sitting with the poor and class-less. Everybody knows that who you eat with says a lot about what your value is and where you stand in the community. It’s basic even today. Gotta make a good first impression when school starts so you can sit at the cool kids table, right? Gotta sit with the right coworkers at lunch break if you want that promotion, right? Even at nursing homes there’s a hierarchy of who sits with whom and what that means. But Jesus tells the folks at this dinner that if they want to climb the social ladder they need to start at the bottom, to ‘look good’ to those at the top. Find the lowest class of people, sit with them, so you can be publicly called out as better.

That’s gotta make the poor, homeless, hungry ones feel real good about themselves, doesn’t it? To be a photo opportunity for somebody looking to look good, to be seen only for the way you can help somebody else gain status? Yikes, Jesus, I’m not sure that’s what the kingdom of God really looks like. I mean, sure, at least then the poor get fed, at least then the hungry are invited to dinner, but does community really grow when we use one another for our own position? Granted, the folks at dinner that night were already doing that with the wealthy, making sure to keep ‘good’ company, the way one might put up with the boss’ racist jokes at work because there’s a promotion on the line. But is this really the way to get ahead? Or is getting ahead really the point at all?

But can we really criticize Jesus, of all people? Isn’t that bordering on blasphemy? Don’t we have to agree whole-heartedly with everything he says so that we can climb that ladder to heaven? But if that’s the case, how are we treating Jesus any better than that racist boss who’s holding out on hiring the next manager? If we can’t call Jesus out on his words from time to time, how’s that different from following authority blindly into terrible things and not taking our own responsibility for our actions? No, we can’t make more of ourselves than we are, pretending to be the most important in the room by shoving others aside, but neither can we completely abdicate our power to reason, to challenge, to decide and act.

See, here’s the thing: the core of our teaching is this gift of new life, resurrection, forgiveness, and mercy that flows from the cross, right? But if we take that freedom and bind ourselves up again in rules about who deserves which position and what sort of treatment, we’ve basically spit in the face of God. God has created a beautiful, diverse, great big open wide world, and has made each and every human being in the Divine Image. Each and every one. Rich or poor, divine. Homeless or housed, divine. Hungry or overfed, divine. But these unequal value markers, these divisions between us, they are not of God, they are something that has been created by a few in power and sustained in our systems of oppression for generations. To the point that we believe these value markers more than we believe the free gift of God, even when it comes to knowing our own value. Consider the ways we believe the words we hear about ourselves: the way misogyny eats away at women who stand up to say women shouldn’t be in leadership, the way men wrestle with the fantasy that they simply must be the bread winners in order to have value in a marriage, the way people who aren’t pastors are led to believe it’s only the pastor’s place to pray.

But then there’s the other thing we say about Jesus: that he is God with skin on, right? So if we are all caught up in the idea that somehow we human beings have to prove our worth, have to reach for perfection in order to be ‘good enough’ for God, consider that God Herself became one of us, and that it was plenty good to Jesus to have flesh and bones and hair and teeth and aches and pains and hunger and a chosen family of people who didn’t always know what they were talking about and didn’t have much social status of their own. For God it was good enough to be a human being, why isn’t it good enough for us? How have we forgotten that we are, all of us, reflections of God’s creativity and love and compassion and complexity?

Let me say that again: No matter where you sit at the table, you are created in the image of a God who is creative and loving and complex and full of compassion. No matter where anybody sits at the table, we are all part of God’s kingdom, we are all holy, we are all deeply loved, we are all enough. Whatever place in the charity cycle you’re in right now, giving or receiving or ignoring, your worth is not in your status, not in your ‘usefulness,’ not in your position of honor or dishonor. And the same goes for our friends, and the same goes for the people we’d rather not sit next to at the table. What you do with that is up to you, but we all start from that same place of inherent freedom, that freedom which we Christians say was created in us at the beginning, lost when we decided we would rather earn our value by trying to divide each other into categories of worthiness, freedom restored to us on the cross, that freedom which we remind one another of every time we gather for confession and forgiveness, that free gift of grace which welcomes us all to the table of life everlasting.

Thanks be to God.

Lift up your heads

Isaiah 58:9b-14

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom will be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, of pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Psalm 103:1-8

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all God’s benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with steadfast love and mercy; who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s. O LORD, you provide vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. You made known your ways to Moses and your works to the children of Israel. LORD, you are full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Hebrews 12:18-29

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken - that is, create things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Luke 13:10-17

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set fee from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she was set up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from his bondage on the sabbath day?” When he had said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at the wonderful things that he was doing.

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Do you see the woman? It’s a question Jesus asked his host six chapters ago when eating at the table and having his feet washed by a ‘known sinner.’ Remember? We had that story in our cycle of readings three months back, but it’s a theme again here, in a way. Here is a woman in the synagogue on the Sabbath who does not call out to Jesus for healing, who does not make a scene yelling for him to heal her ailment, but still he sees her. And presumably he knows her, or talks with her, to find out she had been carrying that weight that bent her back for eighteen years. If Jesus was 30 years old when this ministry of his began in earnest, eighteen years ago would have been about the time of his bar-mitzvah. But that’s purely speculation, filling in the gaps which aren’t all that important to the authors of the text. Except, eighteen years is the length of Jesus’ own adult life so far. While he was learning and working, living into his adult faith and gaining his reputation, she, too, was getting a reputation. I wonder if she had given up asking to be seen, or if she appeared defiantly in that place despite everything that weighed her down. I wonder if the way Satan bound her up those long years had anything to do with the way her family, or neighbors, or that synagogue leader, might have piled expectations on her, and shames, and disappointments.

Do you ever feel that kind of weight on your shoulders, pulling you down? Some days it’s hard to imagine living without guilt, without accusation. And if we don’t feel it ourselves, the evidence of it happening all around us is commonplace. Slut-shaming, moralizing, talk of revenge, dehumanizing others who disagree with our political views, making excuses for why another black man deserved to die... how much can we pile on top of each other, and how much pressure can we carry ourselves, for how long?

Sometimes, we find ourselves like this woman in the synagogue, going about our business, so used to being weighed down that we can’t even think to ask for help standing up again. Or having made peace with our burdens and showing up anyway, daring those around us to say anything about it. Regardless of her motives, Jesus saw her in the midst of the assembly and called her out for healing. Then he did the work of God, which is what the Sabbath day is for, and of course those who had shamed this woman into her lowered position tried to reclaim their power over her. “There are six other days!” they shout at the assembly. “Come and be healed on those days! Not on this, the Lord’s day! What is wrong with you, using our holy Sabbath day like this!?” They said this to the crowd, not to the woman directly, not to Jesus directly. They tried to stir the crowd with them to move against Jesus and the woman who could now finally stand tall.

But the Sabbath is a day for putting our work down, for letting go and resting. And it’s a day of rest for everyone, rich and poor, factory workers and CEOs, servants and elites. Sabbath is not a day for putting more burdens on one another, but a time of remembering God’s day of rest at the beginning, and of observing that holy rest ourselves. In other words, Sabbath is a day of liberation. Unfortunately, the spirit and the letter of the law get conflated when fear and power get involved, and the synagogue leader was very clear that, by being healed, this woman was going about the whole thing all wrong. Or, rather, it was Jesus who was messing up their day by setting the woman upright in the first place.

But was he, really? Or was Jesus acting in freedom to bring about the freedom of everyone in that place that day? Whatever burdens that woman was carrying (and the fact she doesn't get a name, but neither does the religious leader, is problematic because it leaves her defined only by this one event), whatever weight bent her back would have been affecting her walking and her breathing and her ability to look other people in the eye. It wasn’t the community that stood her up again, and it wasn’t the religious institution, either. If Jesus is here acting on behalf of God, living into his divinity, that liberation work is God’s act. If God is worth our worship, it is because of that liberation, the grace and mercy, the freedom and new life and unconditional love which stands us upright again with power to reflect that life into the world around us. This phrase used in our story today, where Jesus ‘sets her upright,’ is the same one Luke uses in chapter 21, where Jesus tells the people to stand up and raise their heads, to be on the lookout because their ‘redemption is drawing near.’ Over and over again we see the work of redemption in the loosing of bonds, the letting go of guilt and grudges, the insistence on freedom and justice for the oppressed. This is Sabbath work, holy work, living into our freedom day by day, set upright over and over again, being seen and known and released from the assumptions and expectations and burdens so that we can breathe freely and walk upright, offering praise and thanksgiving not only on the Sabbath day, but every day.

Rain and fire

Jeremiah 23:23-29

Am I a God nearby, says the LORD, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed!” How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back - those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD. Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Psalm 82

God stands to charge the divine council assembled, giving judgment in the midst of the gods: “How long will you judge unjustly, and show favor to the wicked? Save the weak and the orphan; defend the humble and needy; rescue the weak and the poor; deliver them from the power of the wicked. They do not know, neither do they understand; they wander about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. Now I say to you, ‘You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.’” Arise, O God, and rule the earth, for you shall take all nations for your own.

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets - who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Luke 12:49-56

Jesus said: "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed. Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

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How about this weather we’re having? It used to be easy and relatively innocuous to talk with your neighbors about the weather, didn’t it? I’ve gotten long letters from my dad talking about the weather and the household chores he’s done that day, just to stay in touch without really saying much of how he feels or what he’s thinking. It’s somehow safer, isn’t it? If polite society rules say we don’t talk religion or politics, what else is left except the weather? I mean, until somebody brings up climate change, and then even the weather has gotten into the territory of religion and politics.

Jesus may not be scolding his listeners for talking more about the weather than about what’s on their hearts, but that external stuff, even when we can’t control it, sure seems easier to talk about with strangers, or with people who we’re on shaky ground with. And it's a nice distraction when things get uncomfortable, because the weather is always changing, it’s pretty obvious to anybody paying attention, and if we like complaining about things it’s easy to complain about. Nobody is going to shoot anybody over saying the clouds look pretty today or it’s going to rain soon. We sure shoot each other over religious and political differences, though, don’t we? It’s no wonder we don’t talk about those things with people we don't know. Even talking about those things with our own families can be difficult.

There's this thing that happens when we’re afraid of conflict, but we still feel really hurt or angry, and some call it ‘Minnesota nice,’ but we also know it as passive aggressive behavior. It's the quiet tension that builds when people are anxious, and fearful, and manipulative. You know that sort of thing, when somebody makes a complaint in a voice that expects somebody will understand the personal injury and hurry to fix it without being asked directly. It’s how we guilt one another into behaving certain ways, and it’s not healthy. But it’s a habit we need to get out of, and speaking directly with one another, not just here but out in the rest of the world, too, will sometimes stir up conflict. And I don't mean speaking thoughtlessly whatever comes into our heads. But the prophets who were speaking out of turn, the ones in our first reading today, were trying to soothe their people and win favor without being honest about God’s will for the world. They were keeping the peace, they were saying what people in power wanted to hear, instead of speaking truth to power for the sake of the vulnerable and oppressed.

Our Churchwide assembly this past week talked about a lot of things that have been points of conflict, things like immigration and racism and refugees and full welcome for people of diverse sexualities and hospitality for our Muslim neighbors and what we have in common with the Roman Catholic Church. We as a national church body voted on these issues, too, about how we would live in accordance to our understanding of the Gospel. Because we are a diverse group, it was never a unanimous vote, but because we are tied to one another under the cross of Jesus Christ, we  live with one another, engaging one another in these questions of life together for the sake of the world. Does being tied together mean we have to agree on everything? No, of course not. But does freedom in Christ mean we can disagree without being afraid of being thrown away? Of course it does! Getting along just to get along, avoiding being honest with each other just to ‘keep the peace,’ speaks far more to fear than to faith.

This is not the life to which God calls us, nor the ministry for which Jesus frees us. God does not save us from fear of guilt and death so that we can all be the same. Rather, we are empowered by this freedom to live boldly, to stand for justice and compassion, to stand in that great cloud of witnesses and know that the same God who stood with Gideon and Barak and Sampson stands with all the oppressed. Believe it or not, conflict is part of the Good News, friends. And Jesus doesn’t run from conflict. I’m not sure I would say he runs full throttle into it, except that does seem to be his m.o., doesn’t it? Nearly everywhere Jesus goes, there is conflict. It's what happens when freedom enters situations of captivity, when health is introduced into areas of sickness, and when justice stands up in the midst of oppressive power. He doesn’t come to simply calm the waves or to put a bandage on our injuries. He comes to stir us up, he comes as a surgeon, moving more deeply in our hearts and in our world, going where our closest held secret fears are hiding, opening them up to the light so they can be named and be put in their proper place. Because in the light of Grace, we don’t even need to be afraid of those powers. The fire of Jesus is a fire of purification, burning away not we ourselves, but all that keeps us from living freely, all that holds us captive, all the chains and fears and guilt that stop us from being who we are created to be.

It’s no wonder he says he is under great stress to be baptized with this baptism of fire. We are, too many of us, still living like we are captive to sin, like we are captive to assimilation and to the status quo, like we are defined by our class or ability or circumstance rather than by the holiness of life itself. Jesus comes to set us free from all of that, and it’s no wonder he’s chomping at the bit to get on with it, to save us from even one more minute of living like we’re always afraid of something. Because a life of freedom, love, and justice is what we are made for. A life of holiness is not a life where we are always feeling guilty about not meeting the demands other people put on us, even if those other people are religious leaders or family members. The freedom God gives to us freely means that, in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we are not only no longer afraid of dying, but we are no longer afraid of living, either. And I know that’s not an easy switch to turn off, and I’m not saying we aren’t allowed those feelings of anxiety and all of the learning that comes with making decisions and making mistakes. But those fears no longer define us. Rather, we are identified now by our freedom and our power to engage with the holiness among us.

This is the life Jesus came for us to have. This is how the fire works. These conflicts are the birth pangs of new life, both around and within us. We are being given our freedom, friends, again and again. Freedom from chains we have imposed on ourselves, and from the expectations we have put on each other. We are God’s people, and God is alive and active here. The Spirit blows where She will, with compassion and justice that fall like rain upon the thirsty earth.

Thief of our hearts

Genesis 15:1-6 (JPS)

Some time later, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision. He said, “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what can you give me, seeing that I die childless, and the one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!” Abram said further, “Since You have granted me no offspring, my steward will be my heir.” The word of the LORD came to him in reply, “That one shall not be your heir; none but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He added, “So shall your offspring be.” And because he put his trust in the LORD, He reckoned it to his merit.

Psalm 33:12-22 (JPS)

Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD,

the people He has chosen to be His own.

The LORD looks down from heaven;

He sees all sons of Adam.

From his dwelling-place He gazes

on all the inhabitants of the earth —

He who fashions the hearts of them all,

who discerns all their doings. 

Kings are not delivered by a large force; 

warriors are not saved by great strength;

horses are a false hope for deliverance;

for all their great power they provide no escape.

Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,

who wait for His faithful care

to save them from death,

to sustain them in famine. 

We set our hope on the LORD,

He is our help and our shield;

in Him our hearts rejoice,

for in His holy name we trust.

May we enjoy, O LORD, Your faithful care,

as we have put our hope in You. 

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 (NRSV)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old - and Sarah herself was barren - because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40 (NRSV)

[Jesus said:] “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where to their comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure it, there your heart will be also.

“Be dressed for action and have your laps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

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Do you remember being afraid of the dark? What was that like? Little noises, shadows on the wall, trying to relax enough to fall asleep, but unsure of what was happening so you couldn't really relax? Are those monsters under the bed? I remember having one of those ‘read-along’ storybooks when I was little, where Bert and Ernie went to the Bijou and saw a scary movie, and then Ernie couldn’t sleep all night because he kept imagining monsters from the film coming through the windows at night.

Nowadays, it's like every time we turn on the television or listen to the news it’s the start of a scary movie, the sound of another monster under the bed. And we just can’t seem to relax. Is the economy failing? Are those people we don’t know going to end up being terrorists? Who should have the nuclear codes? Is my job safe? Are my kids safe? Does my spouse still love me? What’s that lump, that soreness, that new pain in my body?

And the media ramps it up so well, keeping our anxiety high so we’ll tune in every night for more news on how the world is going to either end or be saved. And our anxieties feed each other, our past pain feeds our anxieties, our fear breeds fear, until everything around and inside us feels like a scary, dark night where we can’t sleep because the monsters are coming.

Or maybe I only think we feel this way, maybe we’ve gotten so used to yellow and orange threat levels at the airport that we don’t even give it a second thought. Granted, I’m a pretty privileged person, so I don’t have a lot to be afraid of, given that my skin will make me seem less of a threat to any police officer who might pull me over, and my Christian faith is culturally in the majority, and my first language is English. On the other hand, my boyfriend and I don't look like the typical heterosexual couple, because we’re not, and I know there are places where I could get beaten up for using the bathroom that fits with my gender. 

But how much does fear really serve life, and how much does it destroy life? There are certain anxieties that keep us safe, certainly, lots of ways to notice when situations need a bit more carefulness so that nobody gets injured or eaten, but to be afraid of each other, and to fear the things we can neither see nor control, such as people’s hearts and intentions? We were created for community, for interdependence, and fears like that isolate us and turn us against one another, turn us against God’s good kingdom work among us.

When it is darkest at night, however, the stars shine more clearly. Abram thought that for sure his future was dark and empty, like Sarai's barren womb. Yes, God had promised offspring, but time was running out. Isn't time always running out? So Abram had convinced himself that his name would live on through his steward instead, who wasn’t a blood relation, but was the closest thing he had. And God had to remind him of who he was, of who God is, to remind Abram how big is the universe. That dark night was when the stars shone most clearly. God did not say ‘wait until daylight, and you will feel better,’ God met Abram in that empty dark and showed him what treasures he had been missing so far. 

In little less than a week, our fragile planet will fly through stardust on its annual pass around the sun, and the meter shower will of course be most visible at the darkest time of night. Of course, as any basic science class or kid at overnight camp can tell you, if you’re too scared of the dark to sit in it and let your eyes adjust, if you’re using flashlights and streetlamp and other distractions to avoid the dark, you won’t be able to see the stars. They’ll still be there, just as there is always far more to the world than we are ever able to see, but if we don't sit with the dark we will miss them.

God’s promises are sure, dear people. They are like the stars of Abram. And if that story is far too old for you to count, consider our central Christian story, consider how dark that tomb of actual, literal, physical death was, before that first Resurrection Sunday. What more is there to be afraid of than actual, literal, physical death? Well, I suppose sticks and stones are bad enough, but words can strip away our lives while we are still breathing, can’t they?

So God’s promises for physical life are easier to test out than promises for kingdom living. Like the difference between forgiving a paralytic and commanding a paralytic to get up and walk. Or the difference between expecting prosperity to be a sign of God’s favor and experiencing shared poverty in community as such. We have many struggles that seem to us far more pressing than literal, actual, physical death, and yet the physical, actual, literal death and resurrection of Jesus speak to that, too.

Even in the dark, no matter how we may or may not see the stars shining, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus bears witness to a God who would not let us wander aimless and alone, who would not ever abandon us or let us be abandoned. It’s not just physical, literal, actual death and resurrection where God comes with promises of eternal faithfulness, but it’s in the emotional, mental, interpersonal, daily grind of ups and downs and hopes and fears where God walks with us so that we do not stand isolated or forgotten in the dark. All of those stars, all of those pinpricks of light across the beautiful inky blackness of sky, those shone together, could be seen as constellations, or great swaths of Milky Way light, or used as a compass to travel by when out at sea.

When God give us the kingdom, as is God’s good pleasure, God gives us the kingdom, not you alone, not I alone, but we, us, together, are given each other in this kingdom. We are given so many hopes and dreams to counter all of those fears, we are given so much love to help us meet those monsters under the bed, we are given every ounce of welcome we can stand, and often more than we can make sense of. So while we are in the midst of our living, God surprises us like a thief in the night, a lover who falls in love at first sight, a shooting star. It is far more complicated than that, of course, once we get to the nuts and bolts, but we each do have our own way of figuring out how those pieces fit into our own lives, and the basics are there the same for all of us: the God who made you as you are, is the God who loves you and claims you as you are, is the God who longs to be in relationship with you as you are, is the God who will never abandon nor forget you. Have no fear, little flock, the night sky is tremendous, and there is room enough for all of these stars to shine.

What about just enough?

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity, and a chasing after wind. I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me - and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes the one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity. 

Psalm 49:1-12

Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all you who dwell in the world, you of high degree and low, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and my heart shall meditate on understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb and set forth my riddle upon the harp. Why should I be afraid in evil days, when the wickedness of those at my heels surrounds me, the wickedness of those who put their trust in their own prowess, and boast of their great riches? One can never redeem another, or give to God the ransom for another’s life; for the ransom of a life is so great that there would never be enough to pay it, in order to live forever and ever and never see the grave. For we see that the we die also; like the dull and stupid they perish and leave their wealth to those who come after them. Their graves shall be their homes forever, their dwelling places from generation to generation, though they had named lands after themselves. Even though honored, they cannot live forever; they are like the beasts that perish.

Colossians 3:1-11

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of such things - anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

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Something I am learning about the hard work of relationships, is that it is much easier to work toward being financially secure and professionally successful, much easier than it is to be with other people, and with myself, as we are. We have a long history of working ourselves to death to have something to show for ourselves, which is not to say we should go the other way and be completely wasteful stewards, but how much living do we miss when we fill up on earning value for ourselves instead of celebrating the value we already have?

My paternal grandfather worked every single day he could, never taking vacation until the very end of his career with the US Postal service, when he had so much vacation and sick time accumulated it was two years’ worth when he retired. Or at least that’s the way I’ve heard the story. And I really admire his work ethic, but he missed out on a lot of his family’s life by being on that train all the time to deliver the mail, and he wept over that loss when he was dying. To illustrate more recently than a century ago, I have worked hourly wage jobs with people who do not stop to take breaks even though it is legally required to do so. Which may not seem like a big deal, but people who are so afraid of a bad review that they even clock out for their lunch and keep doing little work-related things, that prevents their coworkers from feeling free to take their own breaks as they need them. 

This Gospel reading today makes me think of these people. The ones who work their way to wherever they think they are going, not so much out of passion for the work as for anxiety over their reputation and usefulness. They get so consumed by their work that, at the end of the day, a lot has been accomplished, much has been built, except there are no personal relationships grown. I’ve been one of those people, and I know a lot of people who would also identify with that struggle. It’s not that I’m not passionate about the work, but sometimes it feels like, if I stop working long enough to look around I might not like or even know what I see in the mirror. This story feels very familiar to the Mary and Martha experience from two weeks ago in that way.

Looking at the way the lectionary organizers put this together, I wonder what they were intending by keeping the prologue to this parable in the reading. Because the question that sparks this story is as important as the story itself. Two brothers coming to have Jesus decide who gets which part of an inheritance. Or, rather, one brother trying to use Jesus to get the other brother to divide things more fairly, it seems. Now, we won’t get the story of the Prodigal Son for a few more chapters in Luke, but this division of inheritance usually means that someone has died, and the two young men who can’t share what’s been left to them are having some sort of, what, family spat? Identity crisis? Like, who are they and what’s to be done with their reputations now that their patriarch is gone? What do they have to show for who they are now that they’re not identified by the previous family mascot? Or, even at its most basic, who are they to each other? Because if they need to bring in a third party to act fairly with one another, what must their relationship be like? Why do they rely on the law to navigate their brotherhood?

It’s so much easier to deal with stuff and with laws than with people. Logic is easier to wrap our heads around than feelings and anxieties and pains and vulnerabilities. But we are so much more than what box we fit into or what kind of paycheck we bring in. Going through the upstairs office next door, I’ve found all kinds of records of this parish’s history, and the papers and articles are absolutely fascinating. I was particularly excited to find the notebook of youth ministry, the Luther League records, to see how that ministry was done fifty or sixty years ago, but I was so disappointed to find only attendance and offering tallies. Not that it wasn’t cool to see last names I recognized, but I was so sad that the memories of what that ministry was had been reduced to statistics. Where were the campfire stories? The narratives about feeding the hungry or even having a social get-together? We are so much more than our numbers can tell. And yet isn’t that how we measure success? Isn’t that how we measure fear, too? After all, we're talking about sharing two pastors with eight congregations, and each parish has its own reasons for being part of the conversation, but de we expect to feel better about our value if we get more stuff done? Why do we do that to ourselves?

Something that the commentators brought up a few times on this Gospel today is the way the rich man talks to himself. His land produces much, and he takes credit for it. Then he is so turned in on himself he doesn’t even consider who else around him might be hungry, he doesn’t plan for a harvest festival for the community, he doesn’t celebrate his laborers who planted and brought in the harvest, he decides that what he has already isn’t enough and he must build himself larger storage units. What does he do for his soul? He takes his leisure, isolated from community, completely self-absorbed.

We’ve got this gap, this wall, this break in relationship between ourselves and one another, between ourselves and the Holy. It’s as though we’re trying our hardest to be something we’re not because there’s something we find inherently wrong with being mortal, with needing food and drink and sleep and other people. Well how much more could God do to tell us we are indeed good enough as we are, how much more than by putting on that same humanity completely to live and walk with us? And if we think there is anything less worthy about our pain, the very act of dying on the cross is what we identify as Jesus’ saving act for the world. 

Because being human is enough. It’s what we were created to be. Whatever we hide from behind our possessions and our status symbols, whatever fears of not measuring up to standards or not being worth loving, we tell a story of a God who has not only declared us very good from the beginning, but who has come to be with us as one of us. We tell a story of a God who loves us so deeply and completely, based on nothing we have done, based on nothing we have earned. Our story is of a God who loves us. Without measurement. Without requirement. Which also means that love, that acceptance, that embrace, is not something we can ever lose. Take a day off, God will still love you. Lose your job, you are still worthy. Close our doors, God still loves us. Our value does not rely on anything we do, and that can be really hard to sit with. Because it means we can’t control it. We can’t say we deserve more than anybody else. Or that we deserve less. It means we are good enough as we are, and always have been, and always will be, because God loves us just as much now as ever, and that love will not fade or waver, ever.

Afraid or curious?

Genesis 18:1-10a
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on - since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said,” And Abraham hastened into the tend to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calk, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.  Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is your wife Sara?” And he said, “There, in the tend.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.”

Psalm 15
Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? Who may abide upon your holy hill? Those who lead a blameless life and do what is right, who speak the truth from their heart; they do not slander with the tongue, they do no evil to their friends; they do not cast discredit upon a neighbor. In their sight the wicked are rejected, but they honor those who fear the Lord. They have sworn upon their health and do not take back their word. They do not give their money in hope of gain, nor do they take bribes against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be overthrown.

Colossians 1:15-28
Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers - all things have been created through him and for him. He himself if before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him - provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel. I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I because its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Luke 10:38-42
Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

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The night before my ordination, there were at least a dozen of my friends from seminary all packed together in my parents house for a party. We knew it wouldn't be very likely we could spend time together at the reception, since I'd have to make the rounds from table to table and greet everyone who came from college and high school and other local churches to celebrate, so we decided a night together was the best way to have quality time together. And it was. But it was also a bit overwhelming, and I found myself from time to time retreating to the kitchen and a sink full of dishes, just to catch my breath. I have really amazing friends, and to be together with them all that night was almost too much to handle, thinking of all we had been through together and what was ahead and how far they had traveled to be together. So I remember that night feeling a kinship with Martha, torn between wanting to be really present and wanting to be a good host. And when Jesus came to visit, I wonder if Martha was torn like that, too. We don't know that she was in the kitchen, per se, but she was 'distracted with much serving,' much of the very work of service Jesus had just been commending to his disciples.

It can be a hard balance to strike, between action and contemplation. I remember on internship hearing about a seminarian who was caught in the act of praying for his congregation one day, who was told they weren't paying him to pray and he needed to get up and get back to work. But if we aren't listening to God, holding each other in the Light, as the Quakers say, how do we stay connected reason and power behind our service? Far too often we get overly busy, as though being exhausted earns us a merit badge, and then make the excuse that we are doing God's work, even though we haven't actually talked with God about it. I know I'm guilty of this, expecting pastoral ministry to look a certain way and putting pressure on myself and my calendar to match that expectation, even when the context and needs and gifts call for something different. But when do we stop to listen, to contemplate, to just be with Jesus and let that be enough?

This is one of the reasons I love making hospital visits, believe it or not. Because I am not a medical professional, and there is no place I can be where it is more obvious I cannot fix whatever is broken. All I can do is sit with a person at the hospital. Wait with them. Listen and bear witness to whatever is going on. Watch for God and do the hard work of being present, without being distracted. It's so hard sometimes to be focused like that, without checking my phone or wondering about what I'm going to be late to next, without getting sucked into despair over the headlines or another debate about the value of Pokèmon Go. Because we get distracted with much doing, much busyness, much that is not the relationships in front of us.

This model has done much damage in the world of mission work, too, not just on our personal small scale, but on the bigger scale. Think about the way colonization happens, assimilation, when the ones with power come with an idea of progress and impose it upon another culture, without listening to what the other culture values or where its traditions come from.  Rather than the busyness of tearing down and rebuilding according to their ideals, missionaries do far better to accompany, to walk with, to sit at the feet of Jesus in the midst of a foreign culture and simply learn for a long time before acting. How often do we give ourselves the grace to learn and be curious before we act, or do we feel the pressure to be the expert in the room at all times?

Being busy seems like it holds a lot of power, running from one important thing to the next, but what happens if we stop running? There was a great podcast I heard this week with the author of 'Eat, Pray, Love', Elizabeth Gilbert, where she talked about the paths of fear and curiosity. It seems the sort of anxiety produced in Martha could be read as fear, and Mary's 'better part,' as Jesus called it, would be curiosity. Mary sat at Jesus feet just like any of the male disciples, her curiosity overwhelming the social expectations of patriarchy, and that freedom to be curious, rather than afraid, is another aspect of the kingdom of God. Martha, on the other hand, was so caught up in those social norms that she didn't even ask her sister directly, or not that we are told, but told the man in the house to command her sister to get back to work.

So what is the good news, then, in the middle of this story about an average, typical day in the life of Jesus and his friends? How does this make a difference in our world today, with all of the news of violence and fear circulating in the air? How does it help us clarify what matters, where we can focus and where we can stop to breathe? Is that even a question we should ask when so many people don't have the luxury of taking a day off, let alone a vacation, because they are living paycheck to paycheck, or living on even less? I mean, it's a nice image, and all, to be able to stop and pray, but when you're working multiple jobs just to pay rent, or have to decide week to week between medication and groceries and diapers, this image of sitting at the feet of Jesus is one of those 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' kind of fantasies. But the experience of such poverty is not one I have listened to as deeply as I should, so I cannot say where they are refreshed, though I imagine there are resources there that would surprise us.

Maybe that's why we make ourselves so busy, we who can afford not to be.  Stopping to listen might well mean changing our minds or connecting with somebody we would rather avoid. It might mean feeling a pain we have been running from, or noticing that empty chair, that sense of loneliness. It wasn't until a few weeks after mom's funeral that dad slowed down enough to notice how quiet the house was, and when I went back to visit a month after she died, it was a lot more clear she was gone than it was when everyone was around with casseroles for the visitation. We have a lot of work to do, it's true. Many are hungry, homeless, hopeless, and we can't repair the whole world on our own. But we can sit at the feet of the one who is repairing the world. We can be amazed as Jesus repairs us, and bear witness to where God is repairing the relationships around us.

Even if we only notice in hindsight, because of our many distractions, Jesus is sitting right here among us, at your kitchen table, at the water cooler, on the sidelines of the kids' baseball games. Better to let him refresh us than to pour ourselves out to completely empty, but he will refresh us again and again anyhow. And even when we have given our last bit and have no more to give, remember that Jesus works with all kinds of life, all kinds of people, even the sick and the dead. There is nowhere we can go where Jesus can not love us, nothing we can do that will distract him from accompanying us on our journeys. He is more dedicated to us than the most dedicated Pokèmon Go player, and he has all of eternity to catch us all up in the love that is strong enough to die for us and big enough to live again and again and again.