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.